#I’m also skipping class to drive her which. is not a great start to the semester

[victory-cookies]

in a really fun situation where, because of the aforementioned incident, I really really don’t want to drive again for a little bit bc it’s making me absurdly anxious, but my sister, due to her aforementioned though undisclosed situation, needs a drive somewhere tomorrow without the parents knowing

[nino-rox]

ANOMALY PART 1

STILES STILINSKI x MALE READER | O

Warnings : None, Teen Wolf AU, Teen Wolf x Original Male Character, Teen Wolf SPOILER ALERT

Disclaimer : This is a Fan-fiction story written for entertainment purposes only, no part of the story implies or affirms anything regarding real world events or individuals. Please be of the appropriate age ( i.e, Adult as per your country’s stipulations and regulations) before interacting with this post.

Author’s Note : the car in the picture below is Y/N’s new car

“Y/N, I’m leaving for work. Make sure you don’t get late for school, and drive safe, honey!” You heard your mom say as you packed your back for your first day of school, “Okay, Mom! Have a great day at work,” You responded.

You had just moved to Beacon Hills with your mom a day ago because of her new job at a hospital here. The school was about 20 minutes from your house, and you���d only visited once before for admission.

You made your way to the main door, manoeuvring between the still unpacked cartons. Your new house wasn’t particularly big, it was a small 2 Bedroom, 3 Bathroom apartment on the 1st floor. It wasn’t fancy, but you liked how the windows opened into an amazing view of the town.

You sat into your new car; it was by far the thing you were the most excited about, after all… that’s how your mom managed to bribe you when you said you didn’t want to move to some small town and leave Los Angeles. Your new car was a Black 5-seat Volvo XC40 Hybrid. It was as beautiful as they come - the best breaks, sexy design, brand new release, Electric + Gas - And it felt amazing to drive.

With those thoughts in mind, you drove off to school.

Your mom had given you strict instructions that if you got caught skipping school, she would ground you until the next semester and take the keys to the car. As you reached the school, reality began to set in. You were in some faraway town, away from home, away from your only close friend, and didn’t know anyone. But at this point, it was nothing new to you. Your mom was a famous double board-certified general surgeon, and thanks to that title, her job always made her move around the country.

Perhaps this was why you looked down at your new school - Beacon Hills High School - it wasn’t as big, pretty, or well-known as your previous one. Still, on the upside, you had heard interesting stories about the place and how “weird” things kept happening, so you at least hoped you’d run into Bigfoot or something on one of your regular late-night walks. ( A/N: LMAO HE ABOUT TO REGRET THAT- Sorry)

As you parked your car, a chill went up your spine. You really had no idea what to expect. You took in your surroundings as you got down; the grass was long and wild, the buildings were old, and everyone was … well… they didn’t have the same flair as people in LA.

Suddenly, your phone buzzed. It was a message from your best friend that said, “Hey, listen, Y/N, I’m super late for class right now. I wish you all the best for the first day at Beacon Hills. Oh, and don’t be a judgmental bitch, please. It is a town, not LA, but I’m sure you’ll survive. Don’t worry, stay safe and DO NOT GO LOOKING FOR DANGER…also, let me know if there are any hot guys. Maybe I can come over then.”

It was crazy how she basically knew what you were thinking, so you sent her a message saying, “No hot guys in sight … not one,” to which she replied, “STFU and get to class bitch.”

And as you walked towards the school entrance, you decided it was time to start working on becoming a bit more social and meet some friends here… or not, because who cares…right…?

As you locked your car and began walking to the entrance, you saw a blue Jeep parked next to it; it looked pretty banged up as if a lion had scratched it. You just hoped they didn’t accidentally scrape your car.

Two boys were getting out of the jeep. One was tall and athletic, the other an inch shorter and much skinnier. They looked around your age and looked like they were talking about something serious.

You continued walking in. Your first class of the day was AP (advanced placement) Biology. As you walked in, you prayed the teacher wouldn’t make you introduce yourself; you weren’t in the mood… but oh well.

The teacher spoke as you walked in, greeting and asking you to introduce yourself to the class.

“Hey everyone, my name’s Y/N Shepherd. It’s a pleasure to meet all of you!” You said as you saw a beautiful redhead who later introduced herself as Lydia Martin smile and wave at you, signalling for you to sit with her.

You welcomed the friendly gesture, smiling back and walking over to her before taking a seat.

“So, pretty boy, where are you coming from ?” Lydia asked. “LA, and thanks, you’re quite beautiful yourself,” you said, winking at her, which made her blush slightly.

You were always good at this part, faking a smile, being all friendly, sweet and social when really you never cared.”

Before Lydia could continue interrogating you, the class started.

Over the next hour and a half, the lecture went by.

After the lecture ended, Lydia told you that she would go find out where your locker was. She also gave you some tips on the teachers she thought would be easy and hard and things like that and warned you to not step out too late in the night in Beacon Hills. She mentioned that sometimes people hung out together outside of school and invited you along.

“Thanks! This will definitely help me fit in better,” you smiled.

Lydia smiled and walked off after showing you to your locker. As you began to open your locker, two boys suddenly ran up to you and held the locker door shut. You turned around, ready to rid anyone of the false notion that they could even try to bully you, but your gaze softened a bit when you saw the two boys from the jeep next to your car,

“Heyyy, man, sorry I kinda put some stuff … uh … in there and forgot to take it out last semester. Could you just give us a bit so we can take it out?” The shorter, skinnier one said, almost suspiciously, as if there was a dead body in there. “So? Take it out now. I need to put my stuff in,” you said, opening the locker as you noticed the taller boy sigh in defeat. Suddenly, your eyes went wide; the moment you opened the lock, a huge, maybe 10-foot iron chain began to fall out; the loud sound even made teachers step out to see what was happening. The skinny boy spoke up, “Yeah …. About that … uh.. we can explain … um, it was,” “Don’t bother, I don’t really care, just get it out before you make me late for class”, you interrupted, visibly mad that the whole school probably thinks “you” were the psycho who had iron chains in his locker - when that really wasn’t the case. “We’re really sorry about this,” the taller boy said, grabbing the chains and leaving you in peace. You were judging…you were really judging them. You didn’t care about the chains, but the fact that everyone’s gonna think it was you.

You made your way to your economics class, and to your most unpleasant surprise, both those boys were in your class. As if it wasn’t bad enough already, only one seat was left, and it was right beside them. You chuckled at the irony of the situation - You didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or strangle them, so you decided to ignore them and keep it cool.

The class was easy; you already knew everything, so you couldn’t help but get bored. As you began observing the classroom, the skinny boy passed you a chit - you took it hesitantly - it read, “SO SORRY - Stiles.” And had a smiley face drawn next to “stiles,” which made you think. What the hell is a stiles?

You glance back at the boy only to see him grinning at you; at that moment, you feel something - confusion - before you can do anything, you hear the teacher call you to solve a question on the board.

While solving the problem, you kept glancing at the two boys - you could feel their stares burning through your skin. The teacher seemed impressed when you finished solving the question and said, “You see that, Greenberg? That’s how it’s done.” Damn, this man really hates this Greenberg dude, what’d he do? You thought to yourself as you returned to your seat.

You could still feel the two boys staring holes into you; you were beginning to get irritated. You needed to finish some work, and these boys clearly weren’t helping you concentrate.

As you tried to return to your book, the taller boy mumbled something and pointed his finger at you. You were really starting to lose it, but the two boys suddenly got up, telling the teacher they had to go and ran out of the class - what the fuck is wrong with those two, you thought to yourself.

A while later, you were finally done with classes for the day. So far, it had gone well. The teachers liked you, and your classmates did too. The only issue was the whole corridor thing with those two boys, but as long as you stayed away from them, you’d be fine, you thought.

You received a message from Lydia asking you to come to the benches outside the cafeteria. That’s where she was hanging out with her friends after school. You texted back, letting her know you’d arrive in 5 minutes. You were in the mood for a walk and wanted to get some fresh air after that awkward morning.

As you reached the benches, you were absolutely fucking appalled; how is it that wherever you went, you’d run into those two boys - they were sitting next to Lydia - you sighed, taking a deep breath as you walked over, putting on your best smile.

[giggles-and-freckles]

Hey there! Can I get brand new neighbors au with Anakin and Satine?

from this prompt list

“You walk up this every day?”

Anakin passes him on the stairs and laughs. “Getting old on me, Obi-Wan?”

“No,” he cries. “These are steep.”

“Give me the box,” Anakin instructs, dropping his own load at the top of the stairs and coming back down toward Obi-Wan.

“I can handle it.”

“You’re wheezing. Give it here.”

Obi-Wan clutches the large box closer to his chest. “I am quite capable of carrying a box up some stairs, thank you.”

“Then stop complaining so much and do it, old man.” Anakin bounds down the rest of the steps to retrieve the last things from the car and manages to catch back up to Obi-Wan, skipping a few steps along the way, just to annoy Obi-Wan.

“I’d say don’t mind the mess, but I know you will,” Anakin calls over his shoulder as he unlocks the door and leads the way in.

“Good heavens, Anakin, you’ve lived here for a week.”

He flops onto the couch and grins. “And you missed me so much you’re already here to visit.”

“You asked me to drive up with your last things,” Obi-Wan reminds him, taking a seat on the other end of the couch.

The truth is, Anakin wanted to call Obi-Wan the second he drove off in the first place. 

Sure, he’s excited about a fresh start. Classes haven’t started yet, but he’s already met some new people and they seem great.

But it’s also terrifying and Anakin hasn’t felt this lonely in years.

“We can order take-out later. I found this place around the corner with great burgers. Nothing like Dex’s, of course, but I’ll survive off of it for the next five years.”

“A degree is typically acquired in four years.”

“But I’m not typical, Obi-Wan. I’m above average.”

Obi-Wan closes his eyes and leans back on the couch. “I don’t think you understand what that means.”

“Of course I —” He’s cut off.

Obi-Wan shoots back up. “What the blazes…”

“You’re kidding.” Anakin stands and storms toward the window, throwing back the curtain to get a view of the street. Just as he expected.

Her.

“What is it?’ Obi-Wan asks, coming up behind Anakin to see out the window.

She continues to lay on her horn.

“Oh,” Obi-Wan says. “Am I in her parking spot? I’ll go move—”

Anakin’s hand shoots out to grab Obi-Wan. “Don’t you dare.”

“But —”

“I’ll handle this.”

If he was flying up and down the stairs earlier, it’s nothing compared to the speed with which he descends them now, billowing toward her car.

She sees him coming and times her horn honking to his footsteps.

“Satine! It’s a Saturday morning! Half the neighbourhood is still sleeping!”

She rolls down her passenger window. “I don’t understand how it concerns me that they’ve decided to waste away their days. What does concern me is this piece of trash in my spot.”

“It’s my —” He fumbles for a word, never knowing how to refer to Obi-Wan when speaking with a stranger. Father? Mentor? Brother? “Friend. He was helping me move.”

She smiles and claps her hands together. “Oh, you’re moving already? Delightful!”

Anakin smiles sweetly in return. “If I were to move, who would stop you from running over puppies and eating children?”

“Is there a problem?”

Anakin groans and looks over his shoulder. “Go inside, Obi-Wan. I’ve got this.”

“The only thing you’ve got is an ego the size of Texas and an apparently tragic barber, if that dreadful haircut is anything to show for it,” she points out, then leans forward in her seat to see around Anakin. “You there,” she calls. “This is your…vehicle?”

Obi-Wan comes to stand beside Anakin. “It is. I was unloading some boxes earlier and parked here for convenience. I didn’t realise this was assigned parking. It’s completely my mistake. If you’ll give me a moment to fetch my keys, I’ll get out of your way.”

She purses her lips into a thin line, clearly unsure of how to respond to Obi-Wan’s kindness. She gives a curt nod. “I should appreciate that.”

Obi-Wan walks back toward the house to retrieve his keys and Satine resumes her glaring.

“Your friend is not a student,” she says.

“Great observation, genius.”

“I’m surprised you have peers who know how to speak in complete sentences.”

“He does his own taxes and everything.”

Obi-Wan returns then, jingling his keys in victory.

“Thank you for being so patient. Again, I’m sorry to have set your morning back.” He turns toward Anakin. “Is there a metered area somewhere nearby? Or —”

Satine opens her car door and steps out. “Oh, never mind that.”

Obi-Wan looks at her — too closely, Anakin thinks. “I’m sorry?”

She pulls a small, genuine smile. Anakin didn’t know she was capable of those. “You’re visiting. It isn’t right that you park blocks away. Besides, my car is small. I’m fine here.”

“Are you certain? It’s really no trouble —”

She waves him off. “Nonsense.” Her smile grows as she offers a hand. “I’m Satine.”

“Obi-Wan,” he says, flashing a smile of his own.

Anakin hates this.

“Well, now that that’s all sorted,” he says, clapping his hands, “Obi-Wan and I have some boxes to unpack.”

“There’s only a few things, Anakin. It won’t take us but a half hour.”

Obi-Wan knows this. Anakin knows this. But Satine didn’t have to know this.

“Are you here for the weekend?” Satine asks.

“Just the day, I’m afraid,” Obi-Wan replies. “I have some things to get done before the work week begins.”

“What do you do?”

“I’m a teacher.”

“Oh, that’s lovely. What do you teach?”

Lovely. She said it was lovely. 

Anakin needs to lie down.

[therandomavenger]

Liminal Space

I’m going to be honest here, people, it’s been a rough couple of weeks. I thought I had everything worked out with regards to my housing situation, but in the middle of march it became apparent that my fiancé and I were not going to be approved for a mortgage on my house, and my parents desperately needed to sell it, so the hammer fell. My fiancé moved back to his house and started working to get it out of the state that it was in. So, I had to move out of my house and in with my parents, which really makes you feel great about yourself when you are my age.

It is what it is. In six months, or so, my fiancé will be ready for me to move into his house, and that will happen. For now, I have taken over One and a half rooms in my parents’ house. I’m grateful they’re giving me a place to stay for a while, and we get along, in general, but it still has been a rough transition.

When bad things happen to me, such as when I suffer a loss, my general strategy is to pivot to whatever is next and focus on things that I can actually control. Now, as strategies go, that is not the worst one, but it usually means that I never deal with the big feelings the loss as brought up, sometimes never. I’ve been working through a lot of this in therapy, finally grieving things that happened years and years ago. And it’s allowed me to accept my role in some of what happened and speak honestly about for the first time.

So, when this happened, and it kind of happened out of the blue, for a lot of reasons I won’t go into here, I did what I usually did. I focused on moving my stuff and Jimmy’s stuff, deciding what was going where, renting a storage unit for the stuff I didn’t have room for but didn’t want to give away, then moving into my parents’ house and getting things set up in a way that suited me. None of those were bad things. They needed to be done. No actual mistakes were made in this stage. That was all the first week of April, which coincided with spring break.

Then, week two hit. I’d done all the stuff I was excited about, the stuff I’d pivoted towards. Now came the work of removing everything else from the house and doing the clean-up. It was a big job, and I started the process and then … I just kind of unraveled.

I didn’t sleep for four days, even though I felt extremely tired. I couldn’t face anything. I had fantasies about driving my car off a bridge (no serious ones, but still). My parents and my daughter and son and law were helping me in this stage. I got everything out that I wanted, and then just collapsed for a couple of days. Still not sleeping for more than an hour or two at a time once or twice a day. School had started again. I skipped all of my classes for a week. I did no work.  I don’t even remember exactly what it was I was actually doing. Nothing helpful, that’s for sure.

It just so happened that, on the Wednesday of that week, I had an appointment with my therapist. I was honest with her about what I was feeling, and said, “I don’t know why I’m like this right now. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” I think if she’d had a rolled-up newspaper she would have smacked me with it. She was like, “I know exactly why this happened. You just lost your home. This is grief. And also, probably a dysphoric mania episode. You did okay last week because you had something interesting to do and did not think about what was happening. Now … here you go …”

And she was right. That night, I took a larger than usual dose of my anxiety medication (which I’m allowed to do occasionally) and I finally slept through the night for the first time in a week. In the morning, I helped Dad with a dump run and then I went to my afternoon class. I emailed my professors and said basically, “Hi. I just moved and had kind of a mental breakdown, which is why I disappeared, and everything is late. But I’ back now and will catch up.” They were understanding. Turns out, I’m not the first student to take an unscheduled vacay in the middle of a semester.

So, I’ve taken the last few days to kind of embrace the grief and really feel the feelings, which is super uncomfortable. I’d much rather pivot, but that will only kick further mental breakdowns further down the road. So, yeah. I moved. I lost my home. The place I raised my children, the place I first became myself. The first place I lived with my fiance. And it wasn’t my choice. I don’t really know exactly what is coming next.

My fiancé and I are committed to living mostly apart for at least the next six months. Our relationship is fine. We are still planning on getting married (probably next summer), but a lot of stuff has come up for both of us and we both have some work to do. I won’t be discussing the nature of that work because it’s very personal, but we are still in love and committed to each other. Last year for a lot of reasons we sped-run through a lot of relationship milestones and it’s probably a good idea to pull back a bit and then move forward together from a stronger place. 

What’s going to happen in six months? I have some ideas, but I don’t really know. None of us really knows anything about the future, no matter how much planning and preparation we do.

So, I find myself in a sort of liminal space. The past is gone. The future is only in dim view. I find myself in the doorway between one place and another. I can’t stay in the doorway forever. But I can stay here for a while and enjoy what I can of my present circumstances. I have a roof over my head. I brought most of the stuff I loved about my house into my new space, so it feels like home.

I have a place to sleep and a place to work and even a place to relax. I spend at least one night a week at my fiance’s place. I am good for now, and as I write this, I realize that we are all of us in a liminal space, no matter our circumstances. The Past is gone. Any certainty we have about the future is an illusion. We live in an eternal now. But here’s the good news: present you has solved every problem you’ve ever had. It will continue to do so.

Of course, I’ve done no writing this month. But the house is finally sold and out of my area of concern. I left it for the last time this past Friday. I can finally move on to what’s next. And writing will begin again this week. The truth is, I have everything I need to be happy. I am thankful for the time I spent in my home, and the safe space it provided me to become myself fully and express myself in my environment, but I do not actually need it to live or feel safe. So, I thanked it for its service and said goodbye. And then cried in my car. Lol. Shut up.

This entire post is probably an overshare, but I don’t regret it. That’s the state of things. You can think you have things figured out, but sometimes life is waiting to ambush you. It’s a feature, not a bug. I will be okay. You will be ok if it happens to you.

[bi3eamtress]

You’ve Always Been My Wizard

original on ao3: You’ve Always Been my Wizard

my ao3 account: purplebookgeek17

Chapter 2 “Just be there for them.”

“Passengers we are landing in HAWKINS COUNTY AIRPORT in 10 minutes.” “Please stay seated, and fastened please we land.” Juno and Howard both looked out the window, and both of them. Were excited at how many more trees there where then in LA. Mike curiously looked out the window too. He too giggled to himself as he remembered how much greenery surrounded them. He was excited Lucas, Max, Dustin,Susy, Jonathan, and Nancy. But he especially was excited to see Will. Both him and Will were busy with work, and Will had opened an art studio that hosted art classes for every age. Mike had yet to see since being in California.

“Passengers we have official landed in Hawkins, Indiana.” Mike smiled and sighed and smiled. “Ok kids grab all your things, and then we are going to head to baggage claim.” “Okay dad!”  Mike, Juno, and Howard swifty to baggage claim. “Okay whoever can find the last bag gets to be shot gun in Uncle Wills car!”

-- “Okay I have both Juno, and Howards suitcase.” “Now where is my duffle bag.” Juno jumped excitedly onto Mike, and exclaimed that she had found the last bag. “Hahahah Dad! Dad!.” “Found the duffle bag! Haha” “ Amazing now lets go outside, and wait for Uncle Will.” 

Will waited outside his car and kept keeping a look out for Mike,Juno, and Howard. It had literally been 4 years since I last seen all of them. It wasn’t because of because of a bad relationship. We’ve all just been really busy i guess. I still call them with every chance I get. But yeah I guess everyones been realy busy…..

“Hey Will!” “Huh, oh hey Mike!.” “Do you guys need some help with your bags.” “Oh yes please thanks Will.” They successfully get everything in car, and Will starts driving to Mike’s parents house because that is where they will stay for most of their trip. Everyone catches up with eachother Will asks Howard how starting kindergarten has been for him.

Howard then has a 20 minute conversation about how he loves the macaroni at school. It honestly a great review though. Juno has also been doing soccer, and her team has one 2 games so far. Mike and Will also talk about how work has been going. Will says that he loves how many more kids are more interested art now. He also met some very talented artists in the studio.

“Okay everyone we made to grandma grandpa wheeler’s house.” Will parker in front of Mikes house. They all got out of the car and walked to the door. Mike quickly knocks on the door. Karen then opens the door and cries “OH MY GOD.” Karen also gets pretty emotional because she also hasn’t seen all three them in 4 years. “Oh *sniff* sweeties I have missed you.” “Come give your old grandma a hug. “You too Will even though I see you every day I barely get many hugs from you.” 

“Haha of course Mrs. Wheeler.” They all have a long embrace, and Grandpa Ted sneaks into too. Ted and Karen had been to couples therapy for 10 years now and their relationship was little bit better. Mike and El also tried that but it seem to have the same effect. “Hey Junnie and Howwie bug I have some cookies for you.” Juno and Howard skipped excited to the kitchen with the grandparents. “So Mom how’s Holly and her Girfrien been in New YorkI hear that they just had their first baby.” “I have yet seen them but they are next to see after Hawkins definitely.” 

“Oh my goodness their baby is beautiful she has the same asian eyes as Lena.’ “But even though Holly didn’t use her she really looks like both of them which is crazy.” “Really thats amazing.” “Thats great and I think I’m going to unpack do you want ot help me Will?” “Of course dude.” 

Mike and Will started unpacking. Mike for sure knew he overpacked but it’s always best to be prepared I guess. “So how long has the art studio been open now?”. “Well..” said Will “It unbeilivably has now been open for 10 years now. Will smiles to himself at what he’s accomplished. “You know I’ve missed that smile it always comoforted me.” “Oh really I always thought you hated my smile.” says Will sarcastically. “Haha no.” Will then looks at Mike longingly, and he takes a deep breath he then asks. “So…” “How has it been with divorce and all.” “I’m not picking anyones side either because I love both of you so much.” 

Mike stays silent for a while he then looked at Will. He soon then slowly to cry. He then his face and body fell to the ground, and tears started streaming down his face. “Will *sob I not looking for attention but It’s…J-just been.” Will rushes to Mike ,and puts a hand on his back. “Mike your not doing anything wrong now tell me what’s bothering you.” “It’s just I though I had gotten through the hard feelings about my divorce but.” “I feel like like I’ve failed at having the perfect marriage.” 

Mike then lays on everything on to Will. He goes into detail on how he’s alwasy wanted to have a different outcome then his parents. But he feels like a failure because he didn’t fulfull his dream. “ And also Will what about the kids for everyhting has changed so fast for them.” Mike then pauses and continues to sob. Will draws circles on his back, and listens, and speaks when he thinks it will help Mike. “Mike is it okay if I give you some advice.” “S-sure..” “As a kid of divorce, and sepration I have learned many things from my mom.” 

“Is that listen to what your kids have to say.” “And support them through this time.” “Because you might think their obliviouse, but their not your world and also their world is being turned upside down.” “So just listen them, and comfort their troubles.” “*sniff* thanks Will.” “Do you want to go on a bike ride and get some beer to get your mind off things.” “Yeah I think that would be great.”

—--

“That will be $15.00 for two beers.” “Ok thanks.” Will then went and sat down to where Mike was. He then placed the beer in front of Mike. Mike slowly sipped it. “It’s good you dont’ have to deal with divorce since you never got married Will.” Will laughed a low laugh. “Why did you never get married?” Will looked back at Mike. “Well I guess I just haven’t found the right person yet.” Mike laughed then too. “Really! there’s got to be some cute guys in their forties.” “I bet there are .” 

Mike and Will then spent the 2 hours talking about life, and remebering their childhood days. Even if they didn’t have much of childhood. Then both of them had to get going and they said their farewells.

[not-a-space-alien]

All Creatures Great and Small Chapter 6: Clap Your Hands if You Believe

In this chapter: dont talk to strangers on the internet, unless you want to i guess, also shrimp colors

Thanks to my beta readers @appelsiinilight and @static-stars!!! <3

Story Masterpost

On AO3

PS unfortunately my writing will probably be going on hiatus for a little bit because my classes are starting back up this week...and I will have to be spending all my writing juice writing my thesis essay 😅 If you want to make sure you get notified when my active story(ies) come back, make sure to either subscribe on AO3 or ask to be added to the tag list!

Sierra was coming.

Everything was prepared.  She’d gotten her plane ticket, and Marcy had the couch folded out so she could have somewhere to sleep.  They’d made sure they had food in the house that was to Sierra’s taste, and they had a full agenda of activities to do while she was in town.  Marcy had beaten back the endless tide of graduate school tasks requiring her attention to get the whole time off.  They were ready for a great trip.

There was just one problem.  Thistle still hadn’t told her he wasn’t human.

He’d tried.  But she’d responded as though they were still playing make pretend.  He’d even sent her a photo, to which she’d responded as though it were an impressive photo manipulation.  Did you do this yourself?  It’s awesome!

He chickened out after that.  Marcy offered to take over and try to find the right words, but Thistle declined.  He had to do this himself.  It was only proper.  He would do it himself, he repeated over and over, as he continued to not do it himself.

“Eeeee, I’m so excited!”  Sierra’s voice came out through the tinny phone speaker.  “The plane just landed!  It’s gonna take me a while to get through the baggage claim and stuff though.”

“Okay!” said Marcy.  “We’re just leaving the house now.”

“See you soon!” said Thistle.  He hung up and then immediately exploded into terrified trembling, like a neurotic Chihuahua.

Marcy’s hand came over and palmed him, flat against the car seat.  “Shhh.”

“What if this is a horrible mistake,” said Thistle’s muffled voice through her fingers.

Marcy lifted her hand, and he immediately popped back up into shape.  “Then we’ll deal with it,” she said.  “You can’t get anything nice in life without risks.  You have to take the good with the bad.”

Thistle nodded, expression hardening.  “Right.  I’m not nervous at all.”

On the drive to the airport, he continued to climb all over Marcy, anxiously searching for a good place to sit, on her lap, in the crook of her neck, on the dashboard, in Marcy’s jacket pocket.

“All right then, totally not nervous little guy,” she said, removing him from the steering wheel and plunking him down into the cupholder.  “Why don’t you just chill out.”

He wrung his hands.  The street signs pointing towards the airport pickup started whizzing past in the window.  Thistle moaned and popped open the hatch that sealed the compartment in the center console.  “I’m–I’m just going to hide.  Just a little bit.  Just for a little bit.”

“Okay,” said Marcy.  “You come out when you’re ready.”

Thistle scrabbled up into the nook, banishing himself among the pens and loose change and discarded, crumpled up papers.  He shut it on top of himself.

Marcy pulled over near airport arrivals.  There was a young woman, roughly matching Sierra’s description, waiting with a suitcase, neck bent over to examine her phone.  Her fingers moved across the screen just as Thistle’s phone in the cupholder dinged with a notification that said I think I see you.

Marcy beeped the horn and rolled the window down, waving enthusiastically.  “Hey!  Fancy seeing you here!”

Sierra’s face lit up with delight.  “Marcy?”

“Sierra?”

Sierra practically skipped over to the car, the trunk popping open cuing her to put her bag in there.  She then came up front and clambered into the passenger’s seat.  “It’s so great to meet you!”

“You as well!”

Marcy glanced down at the center console.  When there was no movement from it, Marcy gently started to open it, but she felt tiny hands shoo her away and then click it back shut.

A smile tugged at the corner of her lips.  Fine, then.  She pulled away from the curb and started to drive off.

Sierra cleared her throat.  “So, um, not that I’m not thrilled to meet you…But I thought Thistle was coming too?”  Sierra’s grandmother had warned her to avoid getting kidnapped and murdered while meeting people off the internet, and Sierra was now giving second thought to the previously-disregarded worries.

“We’ll meet him soon,” said Marcy.  “Don’t worry.”

Sierra bounced with excitement.  “Ooh, I’m so excited–and nervous, but I mean you probably don’t think I have anything to be nervous about, but you know him already, you probably think I’m silly and stupid and–”

Marcy laughed.  “I think you’re overthinking things a bit.”

Sierra nodded, biting her lip.  “Right.  Well, Thistle speaks of you so highly, I’m just afraid he’ll be disappointed if I can’t measure up to you.”

Marcy looked over and saw Sierra wringing her hands.  “I don’t think you need to worry about that.”

“I’m just…”  She nervously flapped her hands.  “I don’t know what kind of relationship you guys have, I was too nervous to ask but I don’t know if you guys are, like, dating, or I thought maybe he was gay, but the way he talks about you…”

As Sierra trailed off, Marcy stared straight ahead, stunned by the awkward turn the conversation had taken.  “Ah…Well that’s a good question, I don’t think he and I are entirely sure, either.  But I promise there’s room for more people in his life.”

Sierra twirled her hair.  “O…Okay.  I…Well, I’ve been meaning to ask, but I was too shy.  His name isn’t…isn’t really Thistle, is it?  I just assumed that was a name he used online.”

“It’s a normal name where he’s from,” said Marcy.  “It’s a translation of his name in his native language.”

Sierra perked up.  “Ooh, that’s so cool!  He has a pretty thick accent, so obviously I figured he wasn’t from around here, but…I could never tell where he was from?”

“I’m sure he’d love to answer all these questions for you,” said Marcy.  “When we meet him.”

This last part was said slower and louder than necessary, with another glance down at the center console.  Nothing.

Marcy sighed.  “Thistle, please.  This is fucking unbearable.  Please end my suffering.”

Sierra looked at her wide-eyed.  “I don’t get it.”

The center console compartment popped open.  Just a crack.

Marcy rolled the car to a stop at a red light.  “Come on, bud.  You can’t put it off forever.”

“Is he…in the car with us?” Sierra said, puzzled, looking into the back seat.

The lid lifted.  Marcy could see he was having a bit of trouble, with his arms trembling, so she helped him out and lifted it up all the way.

“Sierra Mist!” said Thistle, holding his arms out and waving.  He’d clearly meant to be enthusiastic, but the crack in his voice betrayed his absolute terror.

Sierra looked down at him, face totally blank, eyes wide.  The light turned green, and the car started to roll forward.

Thistle’s eyes darted around the seat, up to Sierra’s face, trembling.

Marcy glanced at the interaction from her peripheral vision.  “Well?  Say hello.”

Sierra’s mouth moved to form words, but nothing came.

“Please say something!" Thistle said through an agonized smile.

"I… thought you'd be taller?"

Thistle and Marcy exploded into laughter.

"You're real?" said Sierra, tears in her eyes. "You're really real?"  She looked up at Marcy. "You're not tricking me somehow?"

"If I was talented enough to fake something like this, I'd be a lot richer than I actually am."

"Can I …. Can I hold him?"

"Why don't you ask him?"

Her shock redoubled, as though she hadn't considered it just because her brain was so thoroughly broken.  She cast her eyes down at him. "Can-Can I–may I hold you?"

He nodded enthusiastically.

"Just cup your hands together and hold them in front of him," said Marcy, helpfully providing what she'd discovered to be the most comfortable for him after much trial and error.

Sierra did as instructed. Thistle hopped up into her hands and sat down cross-legged, ears twitching nervously.

She brought her hands up closer to her face. "You…you're the one I've been talking to online?"

He beamed a great big smile.  "Why do you think I type so slow? The internet was made for people with much bigger hands!"

Sierra was in tears, overwhelmed.  "You're really real?"

He frowned.  "Normally I would just say yes, but your persistent disbelief is making me question it myself."

Sierra's face slowly cracked into a smile. "Ha…it really is you…that’s exactly the kind of stupid joke you’d make…"

Thistle giggled.

Sierra slowly lifted her thumb up towards his head.  He flinched away, prompting her to stop–it was instinct, but then after a moment, he recovered and steeled his nerves.

The thumb brushed against his hair, rubbing his head.  They’d talked about physical contact over the phone….but this was quite different from what she had been picturing.  Thistle had been picturing pretty much exactly this, more or less, and had just been worrying about if she could be gentle enough.

She was gentle enough.

***

Colin was cooking when they came home.  “Hey!” said Teddy from the living room.  “Nice to meetcha!”

“Woah!”  Colin came out of the kitchen at top speed, as though he were afraid to miss Sierra.  “She’s here!  Hah!  Hey, what’s up!”

Sierra nervously curled in on herself, wilting under the attention.  “H-hey, nice to meet you!  You must be Colin and Theodora?”

“Hope you don’t mind I’m sitting on your bed,” said Teddy, patting the folded-out couch.  “I was just watching TV.”

“What are you cooking?” said Sierra.  “It smells really good!”

“Tacos!” said Colin, beaming.  “And it’s almost ready!  I figured you’d be hungry after your long flight!”

Sierra expressed the appropriate delight, and Colin went back into the kitchen.  Teddy followed a minute later, setting the table.

Thistle crawled out from Sierra’s jacket hood.  “It doesn’t smell that great to me,” Thistle mumbled.

“What?” said Sierra.

“It smells like dead meat.”

Marcy plucked Thistle off her shoulder, dangling him in front of the two women in the living room.  “That’s because it is dead meat.”

Thistle gave her a sour look, then wiggled out of her hand and landed on the table.  “Hey, oh, Sierra!  I can finally show you my stuff!”

Sierra bounced excitedly.  “Stuff!  Stuff!”

Thistle leapt off the table and jogged to his castle.  It was still on the living room floor, but it’d been pushed to the side to make room for the couch to fold out.  He skipped over to a plastic critter cage next to it.  “These are my worms!”

“Worm time!” Sierra chanted.

Marcy knelt and helped Thistle take the lid off the enclosure.  Thistle had a wonderful time bringing different worms over to Sierra, telling her their names, because somehow he could keep track of which was which.

“Oooh, and, and–”  Thistle darted into his castle, dragging out a mess of paper after him.  “These are my art supplies!  I was just–just coloring in this drawing before we left!”

He held it up proudly.  Marcy took the tiny artwork between two careful fingers.  It was a pencil drawing of Thistle sitting on Marcy’s shoulder.

“Oh, it’s lovely!” said Sierra.

Marcy furrowed her brow.  “Yeah, it is, but…” 

Thistle shuffled his feet.  “Oh, but…?”

Marcy pointed to the pixie in the drawing.  “This is you, right?  Why did you color your wings like that?”

It had to be Thistle; the torn up wing was too on the nose to be someone else.  But unlike the iridescent, semi-transparent, whitish color of his actual wings, the one in the drawing had vivid purple wings, with electric blue markings.

Thistle took the drawing, examining it very hard.  “Why did I color them like what?”

“Purple and blue?”

Thistle rubbed the back of his head.  “Well, I haven’t found a colored pencil yet that has the same color as my wings, so I just used the ones that were closest.”

Marcy cocked her head at him.  “Um…”  She rifled in his colored pencils, most of which had their tips broken off so he could use them like chalk.  She withdrew a silver colored pencil.  “You don’t think something like this is closer?”

He looked embarrassed.  “What?  No!  Are you blind?  That color is–is–so dull!”

Marcy put the pencil down, then used her finger to gently rub his back.  “Thistle, are you…Are you insecure about your wings?  That you feel the need to embellish them?”

Thistle recoiled, offended.  “What are you talking about?”  He tossed his hair over his shoulder, put a hand on his hip, and smirked.  “My wings are beautiful, the most beautiful thing in the house.”

Marcy looked at Sierra.  “You’re seeing the same thing I am, right?  I’m not missing something here?”

Sierra fidgeted awkwardly.  “Yeah, Thistle, I have to agree with Marcy on this one.  Your wings look much closer to the silver pencil than what you colored.”

Thistle looked aghast.  “What?”

“Wait a minute,” said Marcy, gears turning, and then an electric thrill of realization cannonballed into her head.  “Can you…Can you see colors we can’t?”

Thistle took a step back, eyebrows raised, shocked at her enthusiasm.  “What…what do you mean?”

“Some kinds of animals like bees and butterflies can see ultraviolet wavelengths of light.”

He stared at her, uncomprehending.

“Here–you–you’ve seen a rainbow in the sky before, right?”

He nodded vigorously.

Marcy dumped all his colored pencils out with shaking hands.  “Here–draw–draw one for me.”

Thistle did as instructed, running through the whole gamut of ROY G BIV before…

He hemmed and hmmed and looked through the colored pencils.  “I, um…There isn’t a good color for this one.”

“Holy shit, Thistle,” said Marcy.  “We don’t make colored pencils in that color because we can’t see it.”

He looked up at her, worried.  “Oh….you…”  He cocked his head.  “Can’t see?  But–but–but then…”  He covered his face and flickered his wings.  “Then that means to you, my wings look ugly!”

“No,” said Sierra soothingly.  “No, they’re nice!  They’re pretty!  They’re shiny!”

Thistle huffed. "Well now I have to think about all my outfits again."

He stomped into his little castle, muttering to himself about how humans had the audacity to have eyes that couldn’t even appreciate his wings correctly.  The light in the ceiling came on–Teddy had helped him with that, a little bulb powered by a single battery sitting in the corner of the castle.  He started unfolding his clothes and dragging handfuls of them out.  “What does this one look like to you?”

“It looks green,” said Sierra, examining the shirt.  “With a white trim.”

Thistle hurled the shirt to the ground, looking on the verge of an aneurysm.  “The trim is not white!”

“Dinner’s ready!” Colin called from the next room, saving them.

Marcy promised they could talk more about it later and grabbed Thistle, carrying the steaming pixie over to the dinner table.  She set him down at his setting–the chair next to Marcy remained empty, and on the place setting there was a small table and chair sized for him.  On the table was a small fork and spoon–made for dolls, but roughly the right size.  He had a cup and plate from a tea party set that matched his hands a little more closely, nice porcelain that was intended to be given only to the most careful of children to play with.

Colin brought out the pot of ground beef and set it next to where Teddy had laid out all the trimmings.  Then he laid out a few tortillas that had been painstakingly cut out from full-sized ones, about an inch in diameter, on Thistle’s plate.  Thistle clapped.  “Thank you!”

Teddy gingerly set a plastic cup of small crickets next to him, suppressing the disgusted crunching of her face.  “For your protein.”

“Thank you!”  He bounced in his chair.

Sierra took a seat on the other side of Thistle, watching him with adoring fascination.

“Let Thistle pick his toppings first,” said Marcy.  “So he’s not scrambling to get some.”

Thistle picked up his plate and eagerly pattered across the table, winding around Teddy’s silverware and past Colin’s cup to get to the chopped olives.  He took a few handfuls, then piled them on the plate next to a few shreds of lettuce, a bit of salsa, and the tiniest dab of sour cream.

Plate piled high, Thistle scampered back to his place, and then the humans started serving themselves, taking scoops of things almost as big as Thistle’s entire body.

“Um,” said Sierra nervously, politely waiting to serve herself last.  “So–So–Maybe this is–So I don’t know if it’s rude to ask this, but…”  She tapped her fingers together.  “Um, isn’t fae food, like, like a thing?  Is there some special way I should eat?”

The other humans all laughed.  “Yeah,” said Teddy, “there is a special way you should eat.  You should make sure not to look at him while you’re eating, because you’ll lose your appetite.”

This, of course, prompted Sierra to instinctively glance at him out of the corner of her eye.  He was in the process of eviscerating a cricket, which he stopped, blushing, hands still covered with its goupy innards.

“It’s a mixed bag what folktales about fairies are actually accurate,” Marcy said.  “That’s what it seems so far, anyway.”

“Oh,” said Sierra.  “I guess that makes sense.”  She seemed to be hovering in the clouds, mentally, watching Thistle lay cricket legs onto a tortilla.  Fusion cuisine.  “So…magic isn’t real, then?  Or is it?”

Thistle’s hands wavered on his food, movements growing hesitant.  After he was silent for a moment, Marcy prompted, “I think Thistle is probably the best one to answer that.”

“Oh, um…”  Thistle rubbed the back of his head.  “Yeah, it’s real.”

Sierra’s eyes lit up.  “Oh my gosh!  That’s so cool!  What all can you do?”

Thistle’s face grew redder and redder, distress growing.  “Me?  Not–Not–Not all that much, the only thing I can reliably do is fly.”

Sierra looked a little disappointed.  “Oh.  But that takes magic?  But you have wings.”

“They’re small enough that they probably don’t really generate enough lift to carry him by themselves,” Marcy interjected.  “Just, you know, by the physics of it.  Even though he’s pretty light.  People always underestimate how big wings would need to be to achieve flight.”

This was the point at which Marcy noticed Thistle’s increasing mortification.  “Ah…” she said, easing back.  “Well–you–you’re probably wondering about the mantis wing.”

Sierra perked up.  “Oh, yes.  Thistle said he’d been in an accident, which you helped him through.”

“Right,” said Marcy.

Ah, now this was safer territory.  Thistle stood up straighter.  “Right.  A mantis bit me and tore most of my wing away.  Marcy put this one on to help.  It mostly works.  I just can’t stay in the air for more than a few seconds.  The difference in shape makes it harder to use.  And I can’t pull on it too hard.”

“Oh,” said Sierra.  “That’s so sad!  You can’t use magic to fix it?”

Thistle stiffened.  “Um, well, doing that sort of magic is pretty hard…Most people can’t.”

This was the point at which Teddy picked up on Thistle’s discomfort.  She cleared her throat.  “So, Sierra, tell us more about yourself.  What do you do for work?  Or are you in school?”

Sierra looked jarred.  “Oh, me?  Oh yeah, I’m in school.”

“Awesome!” said Colin.  “What’s your major?”

Sierra fiddled with a nearby fork.  “Um…I actually haven’t picked yet.”

“She’s good at everything,” said Thistle, puffing up.  “So that makes it hard to choose.”

“Haha,” said Sierra bashfully.  “Well, I get mostly A’s and B’s.”

“That’s great!” said Teddy.  “And you don’t have to pick right away.”

“Ahaha,” said Sierra nervously, “well, I mean, I’m graduating next year, so–”

“Girl,” Marcy whispered.

“--I should probably pick soon.”

“Marcy, you should tell Sierra about your work,” said Colin.  “It’s super interesting, I bet it would make her go into biology.”

“I study the effects of pesticides on native animal life,” said Marcy, preening.

“Oh, yeah!” said Sierra.  “Thistle told me about that.  That’s how you found him, right?  Out in the field?”

“Yeah!”

Sierra turned towards Thistle.  “I’m kind of surprised you let Marcy catch you.  I figured you’d be able to get away using magic.”

Thistle bristled again.  “Um…”

This was the point at which Colin took note of Thistle’s nervousness.  “Thistle’s a pretty nimble little guy, but Marcy had a net.  She’s pretty good at catching little things in a net.”

“Yeah!” said Marcy.  “Recently I had to catch a bunch of insects for this grant that was studying bioaccumulation at different trophic levels on agricultural–”

“Okay, but, like,” interrupted Sierra, “Surely you must have some magic you can use to defend yourself?  You can use magic, right?”

Thistle recoiled, looking on the verge of tears.

This was the point at which Sierra herself finally noticed Thistle’s anxiety.  She eased back a little, as though she hadn’t already just trucked past polite boundaries.  “I–I’m sorry, I just–I’m curious.”

Thistle was experiencing a tumultuous mix of emotions.  He was scared that if he flaunted the fact that he was a magical creature too much, it might give them ideas about how to take advantage of him.  Jewel’s harsh speech about humans extracting magic from him, and how they always captured and tortured aliens and whatever extraordinary creatures they found, had made him perpetually nervous about talking about magic in too great of a depth with any of the humans…Even the ones he trusted.  He knew, logically, that they were his friends, he could trust them, and they would never do something like that…  But still.  His prey instincts kicked in, warning him to stay away from anything that could be seen as something to be used.

And…he was not a proud creature, generally.  But he was a little embarrassed.  Everyone always got excited about the prospect of him being capable of supernatural feats, but he had just…never learned.  It seemed very silly to try and explain, but he’d never had reason to.  He wasn’t embarrassed when he’d been at home with his family, because nobody batted an eyelash at the prospect of magic–they were all better at it than he was.  Why would he put in the effort to get good at it, when he was useful in other ways?  When his natural talent lay elsewhere?  When he could sew and craft things way, way faster than anyone else, and see the delight on their faces when he gave it to them?  When they were a family unit, and all made up for each other’s strengths and weaknesses?

But now he was the only one around who could use magic if he tried, with the potential for magic.  They were all so interested in it, the big thing he had never been very good at, and it was so easy to imagine them forcing him to try it for their own curiosity.  It could be as simple as his humans good-naturedly pressuring him to demonstrate some of the simpler applications, all the way up to the horror of some malicious Robert-type human catching wind of him and stealing him away, locking him up and demanding the use of his magic for themselves.

He didn’t have any reason to be nervous.  He knew he didn’t have any reason to be nervous.  They were his friends.  They wouldn’t do anything to him.  He knew they wouldn’t do anything to him.

But he was just so scared.

Thistle started crying.

“Oh  no!” said Sierra, mortified.  “Thistle I–I’m so, so sorry!  Don’t cry!  It’s okay!  We don’t have to talk about it!”

The other three humans all started to get up from their chairs, which startled Thistle, prompting him to hunch over.

Marcy’s hands came at him slowly, comfortingly.  “Do you want to go to the living room?”

He nodded mutely.

Marcy’s hands closed around him–something that at one point was so so terrifying, now a solid and reassuring presence.  The overwhelming world disappeared as he curled up and she carried him.

She opened her hands when they were in the corner of the living room.  It was quieter here, and dim, the humans talking distantly in the dining room.  He uncurled and let himself be held, looking up into Marcy’s compassionate eyes.  His eyes flickered briefly to the fishtank behind her–Jewel was peeking out from behind a plant, brow furrowed in worry.

Marcy’s finger brushed his jaw gently.  “What’s going on?  Talk to me.”

“I–I just–”  Thistle’s voice wavered.  “I just got scared.”

“Do you want to be alone in your castle for a little bit?”

He nodded tearfully.

Marcy set him on the ground, and he scampered forward into the castle and shut the door.

Marcy came back into the dining room, taking her place at the dinner table with a sigh.

“I’m so sorry,” said Sierra, seeming on the verge of tears.  “I’m so–so sorry, Marcy, I’m really sorry, I’m so stupid, I’m an idiot–”

“All right,” said Marcy.  “Okay, just listen.”

Teddy jumped in.  “It’s hard to read his facial expressions sometimes, because his face is so small.”

“Right,” said Colin.  “But–but he’s really an open book in other ways.”

“You have to pay closer attention,” said Marcy.  “You have to be more careful to check how he’s feeling.  It’s harder to notice, and he’s sometimes too timid to let you know.”

“I’m sorry,” said Sierra, again.  “I’m so stupid–”

“Just–just listen,” said Marcy.  “Don’t make the same mistakes we did.  He’s been through a lot of trial-and-error with us, because we had to, to try and figure out how to interact with him.  I don’t want him to have to go through that again with a new person.  Especially one that’s supposed to already care about him.”

“I’m so stupid,” blubbered Sierra.

“Then stop being stupid and listen!” Teddy snapped.  “That’s not helpful.”

Sierra’s mouth clamped shut.

“I know you can do this,” said Marcy.  “I wouldn’t let you even try if I didn’t think you could.”

Sierra nodded.

They spent a few minutes going over some things–what to watch out for, how to read his body language including his wings and ears.  The humans felt weird talking about him like that when he must surely be able to hear them, but Sierra needed to hear it.  From his castle, Thistle crouched and listened, suddenly self-conscious.  Do my ears really go back when I’m scared?  Do I really flare my wings out and rustle them when I’m happy?

He came back out after a few minutes, when he’d calmed down.  The humans all immediately ceased their conversation, looking at him cautiously.

“Hey, bud,” said Colin.  “Ready to come back to the table now?”

He craned his neck back to look up at them from the floor, nodding meekly.  He jumped up, catching the edge of the table and hauling himself up.

“I’m sorry,” said Sierra.  “I should have realized you might be upset by my questions.”

“It’s–it’s okay,” said Thistle.  He sat down at his little table-on-a-table.  “I just got–just got a little nervous.”

“You don’t have anything to be nervous about,” Marcy soothed.

“I know,” said Thistle.  “Really, I do.  I know in my brain.  It’s just…”  He moved a hand from his head down to his chest.  “...hard to feel it sometimes.”

Sierra nodded.  “We don’t have to talk about it.  I promise it’s okay.”

Thistle fiddled with his fork.  “I…would like to talk about it, I think.”

Marcy’s eyebrows shot up.  “Really?”

“I think it might make me feel better.  I’ve been avoiding it on purpose.”

“All right,” said Teddy.  “As long as you’re doing it because you want to, and not because you feel like you have to.”

Thistle swallowed, then nodded.  He lowered his eyes.  “I don’t really use magic because I never learned.”  He blushed all the way to the tips of his ears.  “I could have, and it’s embarrassing to admit I didn’t.  It’s like how I’ve noticed humans are sometimes embarrassed that they don’t have a driver’s license, or don’t understand taxes.”

Sierra flushed now.  She didn’t have a driver’s license.

“Did your family make you feel bad about it?” Marcy asked.

“No!” said Thistle.  “No, definitely not.  They would never.  It was just frustrating watching my older siblings who got it a lot faster than I did, so I decided to just focus on things they weren’t good at.  I enjoyed those things more anyway, and it was more useful since we had enough people to do magic already anyway.”

“That makes perfect sense,” said Marcy.

Thistle kept his eyes glued to his food.  “It’s still–It still makes me feel unsafe, because I know humans are very interested in magic, and if someone like Robert didn’t care about my feelings as much as you all, they could try to take my magic for themselves.  And the eldest members of the family were usually the ones who used magic to protect everyone, so it feels a little bit like I don’t know how to keep myself safe anymore.”

“We’ll keep you safe, don’t worry,” said Sierra dutifully.

Marcy held up a hand.  “I’m sure Thistle appreciates our help very much, but I’m sure he would appreciate it even more to not be in a position where that was necessary in the first place.”  She used a finger to take his hand comfortingly.  “Do you think you’d like to be able to do magic?”

His eyes flashed over to the fish tank.  “It—Maybe.  I’m not sure.  It would be much harder here, without my family to teach me.  But I have plenty of free time now, and I’ve already learned so much.”

Marcy released him and went back to picking at her food with a fork, forcing well-regulated casualness.  “Well that’s certainly something we can try.  But only if you want to.”

Thistle gave a flushed smile, warming from the inside out.

“So how does it work, exactly?” said Sierra, eyes sparkling.  “I mean, if you want to explain it, of course.”

“It’s kind of like flexing a muscle,” said Thistle.  “You just try and wish and think really, really hard about it.”  He gave a laugh, rubbing the back of his head.  “I can’t explain it very well.  Maybe that’s why I’m not very good at it.”

“No, that makes total sense!” said Sierra.  “That’s really, really cool.  Are there like magic words or anything?  How do you learn new spells?”

“Oh, well, no I don’t think so.  I mean, I can do magic to fly, because that’s the easiest one, and when I was younger I would…”  He waved his hands.  “I had this thing I could do to speed up sewing, but eventually it just got easier to do it by hand when I had more practice.”  He tapped his chin.  “As for, like, learning new things…Well, I don’t really know how you learn the techniques necessarily, someone else can give you directions but it’s like, either you can figure out how to do it or you can’t.  But it’s easier when you have lots of magic stored up, because it kind of…”  He made a shaking motion, as though grabbing a bottle of soda and letting it explode.  “...bubbles out of you.  It’s like a force of will thing.

“So there aren’t, like, spells or anything?” said Sierra.

Thistle shrugged.  “Uh, I don’t know–I guess not really in the way you think about them like that.  It’s more like an extension of your natural abilities that you can use if you have enough magic stored up.  Usually it doesn’t just happen; you have to practice, and some things are easier to learn than others.  I’ve just kind of…never had the right circumstances.”

“What do you mean by stored up?” said Teddy.  “You make it sound like you can find it somewhere and bury it for later.”

“Oh it’s–it’s sort of like.  Well, it’s like how you have to eat food to fuel your muscles.  And plants generate energy with the sun, and store it in their leaves.  It’s kind of like that.”

“Woah!” said Colin.  “That’s rad.  So you’re solar-powered.”

“Er, no…”

“I think that was a metaphor,” said Marcy.  “Unless…?”

“No,” said Thistle.  “The sun is nice, but I don’t get magic from it.”

“Then how do you get it?” said Marcy.

Thistle once again went beet red, absolutely mortified.

“You don’t have to tell us!” Marcy rushed to clarify.  “If it’s–”

“You all!” said Thistle, and he hid his face in his hands.

The humans all looked at each other.  “...us?” said Marcy.  “But we’re not magical at all!”

Thistle’s ears twitched, still hiding his face.  He said something, too muffled and quiet to hear.

“What was that?” said Marcy.

He removed his hands.  His eyes were big, and he had an embarrassed smile on his face.  “I generate magic through social connections!  I charge up when people are nice to me!  I’m more powerful when people who care about me are around!”

Teddy went awwww.  Colin looked like he didn’t really understand.  Sierra put a hand to her chest and the other to her mouth, tears in her eyes.  Marcy’s lip wobbled.  “I didn’t know that.  That’s–that’s–that’s so sweet.”

“Yeah, so, so–” said Thistle, suddenly unsure of where to go from here.

“So if I playfully tease you, that’s good for you?” said Marcy.

The mischief in her voice was enough to snap Thistle out of his own head, dispersing his anxiety immediately.  “Uh–”

“So if I did this–”  Her hand stiffened into a claw and came over him.

“Don’t!” Thistle laughed, already knowing what was coming.

“It would actually be good for you–”  Her fingers came down and gave him a full-body tickle.

He was on the floor instantly, rolling around under her merciless assault, giggling and pushing at her hand.  “Marcy!  Marcy, no!  Marcy!”

“Too bad,” said Marcy, rolling him over into her hand.  “We love you, so now you’re stuck here dealing with us.”

Thistle flared his wings out and rustled them.

***

After dinner, they watched a movie and went to bed.  Thistle looked like he was considering asking to sleep with Sierra, but ended up going the safe route and sleeping with Marcy like he usually did.

They had a full agenda of activities planned the next day.

The natural history museum was the first item of the day, and the one for which Thistle was the most excited.  He quivered in the crook of Sierra’s neck excitedly, hiding under her hoodie when others were around.  Fortunately since they were there on a weekday, it was quiet and there were few others around, so he was able to stay out most of the time.

He said he felt guilty for dodging buying a ticket and made Marcy donate some extra money.  There was a delightful donation box that made it look like a Tyrannosaurus Rex was eating your money.

Thistle was impressed by the dinosaur skeletons at first, but as they started seeing more and more of them, they started to get repetitive.  Clearly the different shapes all meant something to Sierra and Marcy, but to Thistle, they were all looming, hulking forms he was having trouble comprehending.  He seemed more interested in the little pictures on the information placards, which depicted the beasts with flesh and skin.

He was absolutely in love with the hall of gemstones.  Every single one he stopped and gazed at adoringly, appreciated the grooves in the stones, the shimmers and sparkles, the craftsmanship on the ones which were cut.  Unfortunately, this was the one Sierra and Marcy found the most boring, and Thistle probably would have kept them in there all day if he hadn’t been small enough that Sierra could just walk him away to something more interesting.

Into the hall of mammals they went.  It was filled with taxidermied specimens.  Thistle was delighted by the opportunity to see up close animals it was normally too dangerous to interact with, especially the small predators.  Thistle got very quiet when they started seeing snake skeletons and mounts.  Sierra pointed out that a snake wasn’t a mammal, to which Marcy responded that they’d wandered into the hall of reptiles.

It was harder to let him see things in the gift shop, because in the enclosed space it was easier for the employees to see what they were doing.  But Thistle made it abundantly clear that they could not leave until he picked out a gemstone to take home, promising he would pay Marcy back by selling extra things on Etsy.  He eventually picked out a blue geode whose tag said it was chalcanthite.

They went to the mall next.  Mostly window shopping, although they did stop in to the comic book store where Thistle begged Marcy to buy him some action figures, which she did.  They stopped at the soft pretzel booth, and when no one was looking Thistle clambered onto the table and started wrestling with the twisted, salty dough to make both women laugh.

There was a miniature arcade there, and Sierra tried repeatedly to win a small stuffed cat from a crane game, without success.  Thistle devilishly implored them to make sure no one was watching, then darted up into the claw machine through the prize flap, swimming through the stuffed animals until he reached Sierra’s coveted cat.  He pushed it over–with some effort, it was bigger than he was–and rolled it down into the flap.  He performed a similar trick later on a vending machine when Marcy wanted a candy bar that had gotten stuck in the dispensing coils.

They decided to go home because Marcy and Sierra's feet were getting tired. Thistle's weren't, so he was disappointed.

He slept with Sierra on the couch that night. Thistle could see Marcy trying to hide her disappointment, but she nevertheless encouraged him to do so.

Sierra's sleeping patterns were different than Marcy's, and he woke up once being squished under her shoulder, but it was easy enough to wake her up.

He didn't have any nightmares that night. He felt like an actual person, one who had people who loved and respected him.

The next day they went to the conservatory.  Thistle had never been more in his element in a human-controlled space.  He could not stop commenting on how good all the trees were, and more than once they had to hurriedly grab him because he failed to hide on their remark that someone was coming. One time he went missing for a whole ten minutes, the two women scouting the entire place for him, trying not to look too panicked. They eventually found him in the butterfly room, where he claimed he'd been playing hide and seek with them.

Things weren’t crowded because it was a regular workweek.  They just had to be a little cautious, but they ended up being able to do pretty much anything they wanted to.

They took the train to sightsee downtown.  They got ice cream.  They played board games.  They went swimming.  They went to a fancy restaurant and got weird, gourmet soups.  They sat contentedly at home, watching meaningless videos on their phones.

He was in Heaven.  He didn't have nightmares.  He was a person.  He had friends.  He never wanted it to end.

***

After confirming the coast was clear, Thistle stood on the car door, next to the door lock, as Marcy rolled the window down.  Behind them in the background, the commotion of the airport chattered distantly.

Thistle was misty-eyed.  “Well…I guess this is goodbye.  For now.”

Sierra held her hand out, and Thistle curled up in it.  She brought him to her chest.  “I know plane tickets are expensive, b-but I’m sure I can find some way to come again soon.”

Thistle hugged her back as best as he could as she squeezed him. 

She set him back down, wiping her eyes.  “Well…you definitely weren’t what I was expecting, but–but it turned out even better than I could have hoped.  Thank you for letting me meet you.”

“Thank you,” said Thistle.

“I don’t know how I’ll…go back to just–just living a normal life.  And just pretending this didn’t happen.  That you’re not real.  But I’ll keep quiet, I promise.”  Her face went red.  “Maybe I’ll–maybe I’ll look more closely at the ground when I’m outside back at home now.”

Marcy smiled.  “That sounds nice.”

“Thank you,” said Thistle.  “I love you.  Goodbye.  Have a nice flight.”

Sierra cleared her throat, then looked at Marcy through the window.  “Thanks for the ride.  Drive safe home.”

“Have a good flight.”

Sierra hovered for a few more moments, then patted the car and walked off, rolling her suitcase behind her.

Thistle jumped down into the passenger’s seat, and Marcy rolled the window up and pulled away from the curb.

Thistle slowly lowered himself down and curled up into a ball.  “Thank you, Marcy.  That was. Very nice.”

Marcy reached over and gave him a little pat.  “I’m glad.”

“I can tell you found her a little annoying.  Thank you for not saying anything.”

Marcy let out an embarrassed laugh.  “That’s okay, I still had fun.  You can have her come back over any time.”

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.  He seemed totally wrung out.  “It’s natural to be feeling a little down after your friend leaves…is there something we should do?  I…”  She bit her lip.  “I–I hate to ask this–I know that, well–I think–I um…”

“What is it?”

“You wouldn’t…Would you rather go live with Sierra?”  When there was a pause, Marcy rushed to add, “I don’t know how we could get you through the flight there, but–but if that’s something you would–would want, I mean, you know I would be disappointed, but that’s your decision and I want what’s best for you.”

She felt a microscopic hand on her thigh.  “No, Marcy.  Sierra could never replace you.  But thank you.”

He sounded so sure.  Guilty relief washed through her.  “Okay.”  She kept her eyes on the road.  “Still…it’s OK to miss her.  We should–We can try and make some efforts to find you some more local friends.  It’s–it’s a tricky needle to thread, of course, but I saw how happy you were…if you want, it might be nice to, I don’t know…find somewhere where you could have a sleepover?”  It sounded stupid as she said it, but it seemed like the exact kind of activity he would like.

He was silent, so impossible to tell what his actual thoughts were.

“I don’t know who exactly you would want to–Well, I don’t know, but I know you’re sociable, and–and now we’ve eased into it, surely we can find some other people closer here so they could visit more often?”

No response.

“What do you think?”  She glanced down to look at him.

He was gone.

***

You just try and wish and think really, really hard about it.

It took Thistle a decent minute to get his bearings to even figure out where he was.  It was so dark, but he heard the sounds of many, many humans nearby, their voices muffled, and felt himself jolting and bouncing off soft fabrics accompanied by a rolling clicking sound.

He scrabbled to get upright, finding something solid to grab onto, looking around wildly.

As his eyes adjusted, he realized what he was looking at….A zipper.  The clacking was the clacking of wheels over tile.  Astonished, he looked down at the fabric under his hands and recognized it as the pink strawberry-patterned dress that Sierra had worn yesterday.

He was in Sierra’s suitcase.

He was in Sierra’s suitcase.  Somehow.  He had just been there with Marcy, and he’d blinked, and his stomach lurched, and then he’d just found himself in Sierra’s suitcase.

Either Thistle or Sierra had just used magic.  Those were the only two possible explanations.  They had both been so sad to leave, wishing they could stay together, and so pumped full of magic from their long vacation doing nothing but bonding, that it had just spilled over and yanked Thistle over and dropped him in Sierra’s suitcase.

Thistle didn’t feel like he’d done magic.  To do something as big as teleporting himself from the car to inside the airport, that would have taken an enormous amount of magic that would leave him feeling very drained, which he didn’t feel.

Did that mean…Sierra had done it?

Was Sierra just…naturally very good at using magic?  That would be ironic, a pixie who sucked at magic accidentally befriending a human who happened to be a savant at it.  Sierra had never met a magical creature before now and so wouldn’t have had any actual magic in her body to actually perform any magic until now.

Was that how it worked?  Were humans…able to use magic, but unaware of it?  Unable to generate any themselves, but able if someone like Thistle helped them?

Sierra, of course, didn’t notice any of this.  She just found herself suddenly feeling very tired, rolling her suitcase to a stop at the back of the security line and yawning, head drooping.

Not far away, on the road from the airport, a little red car with an I fucking love science bumper sticker slammed on its breaks, screeching into the most aggressive U-turn ever seen in the tri-state area.

***

Sierra was almost to the front of the line when she spotted Marcy, power-walking towards TSA, very clearly trying to strike some balance between her volcanic anger and her desire to not make a scene in front of security.

“Marcy?” said Sierra nervously.  “What is it?”

“Come over here,” said Marcy venomously.  “Get out of line and come over here.”

Sierra regretfully looked back at TSA, then ducked under the dividers to step out of line.  Looking chastised, she rolled her suitcase behind her and met Marcy.  “What is it?  Is something wrong?”

Marcy grabbed Sierra’s wrist in an icy grip.  She leaned in.  “Listen to me.  I don’t know what you did.  I don’t know how you did it.  But we both know you’re not going to get him past security.  They’ll see him on the X-rays.  So I’m just going to say this once.”  She held out her other hand.  “Give him back.”

“What?” said Sierra, eyes wide, looking like a kicked puppy.  “What are you talking about?”

“Where is Thistle?”

“He was in the car with you!”

“And now he isn’t.  I don’t know how you did it, but–”

“You think I–You think I tried to steal him?”

“You’re not getting on that plane until I have him.  Open your suitcase.”

Sierra drew back, looking overwhelmed.  “I–I didn’t!”

“Then open your suitcase!”

She looked at TSA out of the corner of her eye.  “Can we–can we at least go into the bathroom or something?  For some privacy?”

“Fine.”

They managed to find a single-stall family bathroom with a lock on the door.  When they were alone, Sierra turned her suitcase on its side and used the little key to undo the luggage lock.

She unzipped it and flipped it open, revealing Thistle tangled in her socks.

“What?” said Sierra, mortified.  “How did you –How did–”

Marcy swiped Thistle out of the suitcase, holding him as far away from Sierra as possible, opening her mouth to wring Sierra out.

“Wait!” said Thistle, waving his hands urgently.  “Marcy, wait!  Wait!”

Both women looked on the verge of tears, but they broke eye contact from each other and looked down to him.

“It’s…It’s not Sierra’s fault.”

***

It was nearly eleven o’ clock by the time they got home, Marcy dragging herself in through the door and not turning the lights on, moving through the dim and quiet into the living room.

She set Thistle down on the coffee table.  The room was lit just by the soft light from the fish tank.  She folded her arms on her knees.  “Okay, so…Sorry if I scared your friend off so much that she doesn’t want to visit anymore.  There are only so many Auntie Anne’s pretzels I can buy someone as an apology.”

“I think she understands.”  He sat down cross-legged.  His cheeks were rosy.  “I don’t–I don’t think any of us really expected that, and you were…worried.”

Marcy tented her fingers.  “So…you think that humans can do magic too?  That’s what you think happened?”

“Yes.  I–I didn’t think it was possible.”

Marcy’s hands started to tap in excitement, but she was clearly trying to stay level-headed.  “Right.  Okay.  That’s cool.  That’s interesting.”

“Yeah.”  He wound a lock of hair in his finger.  “I honestly wasn’t sure.  But I guess it makes sense.”

He smiled at her.  She was grinning like an idiot.  “What are you thinking?” he said.

“Just…about what you said to us about magic at dinner.”

“Yeah?”

“About learning it.”

“Yeah?”

“Maybe we could…could learn it together?”

He beamed.  “I’d like that.”

****

@cloudwatchingtoday   @theepiccreatorofmagic-blog-blog  @waitisthatgt @itssmoltime @ratcatcher0325  @alarcomet  @borrowerbecca @crazytinygirl @bittykimmy13 @cheeseybeans8 @whumpsday @theroyaleemily @kitn-underfoot @lucentbliss @jewel-fan-wys

@cheeseybeans8

[hiddennerdworld]

MHA Couples Dynamics with art by @leecheedoodles| Too Cool for Skool x Keener (Reader x Iida)

Masterlist

Warnings: none, all fluff stuff

A/N: eeeee I’m so excited about this. I saw this art and immediately was inspired. I would really like to do a series based on these. This is all thanks to leechee doodles here on Tumblr. They are v talented so check them out! I’ve seen others use their art, but if they don’t want me to I can always take it down. Enjoy :)

You and Iida definitely got off on the wrong foot

You guys didn’t hate each other per say, but you annoyed each other for sure

Iida just wanted his fellow classmates to be successful and tried to encourage you as class rep. And you just wanted to only take part in the aspects of hero work that you actually enjoy

In your own ways, you both stressed each other out

Iida would give you lectures any time you ditched class, saying you needed to be responsible in order to be the best hero you can be

You just stood and rolled your eyes the entire time with your arms crossed over your chest

Eventually, one day Iida just said fuck it (he didn’t actually phrase it that way bc he doesn’t use the bad words) and picked you up and carried you to class.

The whole time with you kicking and screaming, which doesn’t affect him bc he’s a fucking tree

This became routine. Iida was with you almost 24/7, keeping you in line. This caused even more tension between you guys

“I don’t need a babysitter!”

“Well you wouldn’t if you stopped acting like a baby and attended to your duties!” *snickers* “You’re gonna tell me you’re not a baby when you can’t even not laugh at the word ‘duty’?!!!”

The bickering wouldn’t stop and it was driving EVERYONE crazy

So as Aizawa solves all problems, he paired up the duo with pent up frustration for their final exam

You guys were rolling your eyes when you saw you had to work together but weren’t surprised tbh

It seemed like you guys weren’t gonna make it, but at the last second you were able to distract Cementoss and give Iida an in to dash up and capture him

You guys cheered and high fived when you realized you’d passed, the negative feelings towards each other forgotten

Afterward you guys had a talk.

“Good job out there today, Iida. I’m impressed on how you came up with a strategy so quick. I guess studying so much does actually help, huh.”

“Thank you, L/N! I appreciate the kind words, especially coming from someone who has such good control over their quirk like yourself!”

The whole time both of you were staring at the ground, blushing to hard to look at the other person while complimenting them. Iida still did the hand waving tho lmao

Afterwards, Iida still kept an eye on you always bc he thinks you have a lot of potential and wants you to do well

And you don’t find him as annoying anymore, so don’t really try to avoid him

This ends up with you guys basically just hanging out rather than him chaperoning you.

Training, studying, making food, you guys are together a lot

You and Iida occupied a table in the dining area for your studies for the millionth night in a row. The other students know better than to disturb you at this point. Yes, you guys are friends now, but you still bicker like an old married couple.

“I could really go for some ice cream right now,” you said while leaning back in your chair.

“L/N! You know that stuff isn’t good for you! Why do you wish to consume such sugary content?! Why don’t you eat an apple instead?!”

“I don’t think that’s how cravings work. Besides we have training tomorrow and always so I will still be keeping myself in shape. It’s one treat.”

“L/N, we are studying to become the best heroes! We need to be responsi-“

“But that’s just it! We are always going to be working to be the best we can be. You need to be able to enjoy yourself. Life isn’t all about work, you know?” You said standing up and grabbing his arm, “We’re going out. Come on!”

“Absolutely not! It is after curfew! It would be dangerous and-“ Iida lectured on and on until you guys were basically in front of the ice cream place. He tried to get you to stay back, but you were surprisingly strong when you were determined. (Also, he probably wasn’t resisting as much as he could’ve).

You guys went in and ordered. You got cookie dough with some chocolate syrup on top, and Iida got a scoop of vanilla on a cone, only because you insisted he get something. After you got the ice cream you went to a nearby park and sat on a bench.

“Mmmmmm this is so good. Totally worth it.” You say as you take your first bite, eyes closed while enjoying the delicious dessert.

“I’m not sure if it was worth breaking the rules, but as long you are enjoying yourself I guess it’s alright.”

“That’s because you got the most boring flavor. Here try some of mine.” You said raising a spoonful up to him.

This caused his face to go red and he stared at you with wide eyes for a few seconds before speaking. “No, L/N! I appreciate the offer but it would be inappropriate. Mine is perfectly fine and-“

As he was rambling, you shoved the spoon in his mouth, making him blush even harder. “L/N! You could’ve choked me.”

“But was it good though?”

“Yes, I suppose so.” He said at almost a whisper.

A shit-eating grin grew on your face, “Told ya so. See, Iida look.” You gestured over to the sight in front of you. There were people scattered throughout the park enjoying their night, and you could even see the glowing city in the distance. “We are a part of what makes this all possible. There wouldn’t be people out here living their lives if we didn’t keep them safe. It may not be too often, but we still get to relish in the world we created too. It reminds us why we do what we do.”

Iida couldn’t help but just stare at you for a hot minute. You looked gorgeous under the moonlight while you looked around in awe. You were more wise than he ever gave you credit for. He had always thought you were carefree, but actually you just had cared about things differently than him and he failed to realize.

“You’re right, L/N. We should be able to enjoy this more often.”

“We?”

“Of course. Why would I do something fun without you?” Now you started to get all flustered. Feeling heat rush to your face, you covered it with your hands and looked toward the ground. “Are you alright? Sorry I didn’t mean to say anything that would upset you.”

“No, don’t worry. You didn’t upset me. I would love to spend some time with you.”

So you guys did. Well you already spent a lot of time together already but now you guys would go out and do something fun if you had free time

Like instead of training on the weekends, you guys sometimes walked around the park.

And every time you’d go, you guys would also visit the ice cream shop you guys went to that one night and try a new flavor

You also were participating more in class. You’re grades were getting better from the beginning of your guys’ relationship, but now you actually were invested.

After a test, you would show Iida your grade and thank him for all his help, and he would be so proud and excited for you

Of course, your classmates started to catch onto you guys being more and more friendly with each other

Hagakure snuck up on you guys one day while you were studying. “Alright, when did you two start dating? We all thought you hated each other but now we know it was all an act to throw us off, so spill the beans.”

“Oh, no we’re not dating.” You replied

“Well..” Iida started to talk and your eyes darted towards him

“I mean now that someone has said it, I wouldn’t be opposed to dating you, L/N. I really enjoy my time with you and think you’re a great person. Could I take you on an official date?”

“Y-yea I would really like that.”

“Awwww that was so adorable! I can’t believe I just help you guys get together!” She skipped out of the room, on her way to tell everyone her accomplishments

“Sorry, L/N, that probably wasn’t the best timing.”

“Call me Y/N”

“O-oh okay… Y/N. I’m looking forward to going out with you.”

“Me too, Tenya.” You said smiling and grabbing his hand.

Barely anything was said the rest of the time, but you guys couldn’t stop smiling and you didn’t let go of each other’s hands. Safe to say no information was retained from this study session

[jungshookz]

what if y/n's friends come by for a surprise visit or smth and mr park is like right there, how would that work out 😟

:-) 

➺ pairing; park jimin x reader

➺ genre; balletteacher!jiminiverse!! smerhaps smut (slightly suggestive content!!!) also y/n’s not good at improv and it shows womp womp 

➺ wordcount; 2.4k

                                     »»————-　♥　————-««

“god, you smell good...” jimin murmurs against your neck, his fingers giving your hips a gentle squeeze before his hand slides down to hitch your leg up against his waist 

you’re so warm and so soft against him... 

he’s obsessed with you 

“you say that a lot.” you tease quietly, reaching up to tangle your fingers in his soft hair before tugging lightly, “we should probably get up soon... we can’t spend the entire day doing nothing.”

“well, we won’t be doing nothing-” jimin pulls away suddenly before pressing his forehead against yours, “we’d technically be doing each other-”

“what? oh my god, you are such a boy-” you feel your face flush immediately and you turn to the side so you don’t have to look at that cocky smirk on jimin’s face that never fails to make your tummy flutter 

“c’mon, pretty girl...” jimin purrs lowly, taking the chance to bury his face into the crook of your neck again before rolling his hips against yours, “i wanna make you feel good.”

the chains hanging around his neck tickle against your heated skin and your eyelids flutter when you feel jimin’s hand creeping towards your centre 

“i-” you perk up in alarm when you swear you hear the slight sound of the front door clicking shut, your brows knitting in concern as you stare up at the ceiling 

...and then you hear faint footsteps...

...and you’re pretty sure that’s the sound of giggling... 

...

what the hell

are there people in your apartment right now 

oh my god 

are there people in your apartment right now?! 

“oh my god-!” you immediately shove jimin off of you, wincing when he rolls off the bed and lands on the ground with a loud thump

oops

“ow-! what was that for??” jimin whines quietly, sitting up before rubbing at his lower back, “also, you are… so much stronger than you look-”

“sorry, sorry-!” you whisper, frantically pulling your shorts up your legs before grabbing a shirt off the end of the bed, “you need to-”

“party of five for miss y/n y/l/n! get your ass out here, girlie!”

"you know, i bet she’s still asleep-” 

you feel like you’re about to pass out when you hear lisa getting closer to your bedroom and you reach up to run a hand through your hair in panic 

“uh- no! no, i’m up!” you announce loudly before clearing your throat, “just- just gimme a second, lisa- don’t come in here because i’m, like, super naked right now-” you chuckle nervously before spinning around to face jimin (who’s still a little dazed from hitting the ground so hard and so fast, which explains why he’s just sitting there basically doing nothing), “jimin, hurry!”

“fuck, hold on- did you- did you know they were coming over today?” jimin hisses, scrambling up from the ground before pulling the sheets up around his hips so that his lower half is decently covered, “where the hell is my shirt…?”

“oh, yeah, i planned for them to come over the same weekend you’re here so we can all get together and i can tell everyone that mr. park was the one who gave me that hickey they saw last week-” you pause before looking over at your currently-denser-than-a-block-of-tofu boyfriend with wide eyes, “obviously not, jimin! you need to hide-”

“but you’re wearing m-”

you don’t give jimin much of a chance to say or do anything else before you’re grabbing him and basically shoving him into your open closet

“i-” he raises a finger and you shake your head, slapping his hand down quickly

“not a single word-” you warn, shoving your hand against his chest to push him in even deeper before abruptly pulling the closet doors shut

your bedroom door swings open right as you trap jimin in your closet and you spin around with a wide smile, pressing yourself up against the doors, “i’m not doing anything!”

“good morning, sunshine!” lisa chirps, her smile faltering as she takes in the state of the room, “uh…”

geez louise

she knew you were messy, but…

the blanket is drooping off the bed, your clothes are strewn everywhere (your panties are literally hanging off the lamp) - it looks like someone came in here and ransacked the place, if she’s being honest

“i’m doing some spring cleaning.” you chime in as soon as you note the look of concern on her face, “you know how it is! everything has to be super messy before it becomes super clean.”

“it’s… it’s nowhere close to spring, so i wouldn’t call it spring cleaning.” she snorts, crossing her arms before turning on her heel to look at you, “so, how much time do you need to get ready? the girls are waiting in the living room.”

“i, um- it’s just that i said…” you trail off, trying to find the right words to let her down easy, “you know, i did say that i wasn’t going to join you guys this weekend, so i will... not be getting ready... because i won’t be leaving the apartment?”

“oh, i know you said that, but… this is the second time this month that you’ve ditched us to hang out in your apartment by yourself! that’s why we decided to come and surprise you and drag you out instead!” lisa smiles, your heart skipping a beat when she starts to walk closer to you, “now, let’s pick out a cute outfit for you-”

“no!” you snap, slamming yourself up tighter against the closet doors, “no way!”

“woah-!” lisa stumbles backward in surprise before frowning at you, “jesus… what’s your problem this morning? god, you’re so jumpy-”

“i’m fine! i’m just- uh- i’m on my period so- you know how it is since you are also a human girl who has her period every month-” you cough into your fist before letting out a chuckle, “there’s just something about bleeding profusely out of your hooha that drives you crazy, right?! just girly things. so crazy. it’s wild.”

“what are you talkin- wait, what are you wearing?” lisa suddenly changes the subject and you frown before looking down at your-

?

oh 

oh no

this,..,., 

this is not your shirt

this is jimin’s shirt

and you’re pretty sure lisa knows this is jimin’s shirt because she made a comment last week about how nice and biteable his arms looked in it when he pushed the sleeves up

and yeah, one might think that all white t-shirts look the same and that there’s really no difference between them, but lisa pays special attention to detail and would be able to tell about fifty white t-shirts apart if she had to 

“a… white t-shirt?” you scoff playfully, trying to play it off and keep things super chill and super casual, “my goodness, you’re certainly a little ditzy before mimosas-”

“well, yeah, it’s a shirt, y/n, but...” she places her hands on her hips before tilting her head, her eyes narrowing into slits, “it looks so familiar and i can’t quite remember where i’ve seen it…”

you chew on the inside of your cheek anxiously as she continues staring at you

god

you hate this

you’d very much like for a wormhole to appear and swallow you up if that were possible 

should you say something??

you’ve been quiet for too long

you should say something and change the subject so that she doesn’t have enough time to figure out that you’re wearing mr. park’s shirt because then that’d lead to a discussion as to why you’re wearing mr. park’s shirt and then that’d lead to oh, yeah, by the way, i’m in a relationship with our teacher and before you got here we were in the middle of having sex so it’d be great if you could leave-

“you know, you’re probably thinking about a shirt you saw in a magazine or something- i-” you’re cut off when seulgi suddenly wanders into your bedroom, immediately letting out a snort at the sight of your bedroom

“wow, y/n! i’ve heard of disorganised chaos, but this is a little much.” she whistles lowly before turning to face you, “what’s taking you freaks so long?”

“we were about to pick an outfit for y/n but- hey, does that shirt look familiar to you?” lisa asks quietly, seulgi leaning in a little closer before pursing her lips in thought

“mm… i don’t know. just looks like any old ratty t-shirt y/n would own. why?”

“ratty-“ you gawk, looking down at your shirt, “this isn’t ratty!”

“okay, miss fuzzy-legwarmers-”

“okay, you guys should probably leave because my cramps are, like, killing me-” you step away from the closet for the first time since lisa came in before gesturing for the two of them to go, “i promise i’ll come to brunch next week, but right now, i just need to be by myself-”

(and you know it would never happen but you hope the closet doors won’t spriNG open like they do in the cartoons when the closet’s been overstuffed)

“are you sure you don’t wanna join us? we’re going to talk about how yummy mr. park looked in class on friday-” seulgi turns to glance at you with a smirk as you continue to shove them down the hallway and back out to the living room, “and we all know how you just won’t shut up about mr. park-”

“hA, okay- very funny-” you chuckle nervously as you glance back towards your open bedroom door, hoping that jimin won’t be able to hear any of this 

you don’t need to embarrass yourself in front of him any further! 

“there’s no point in denying it, y/n!” lisa chirps, “you looooove mr. park and you just wanna sit all over that pretty face-”

“you know, i already know that i’m never going to live that down and you guys aren’t helping-” you grumble, shoving against their backs to get them to move faster, “you basically remind me of it every day-” 

“aw, c’mon! you know we’re only teasing, you wuss.” seulgi rolls her eyes, “besides, i wanna talk about how sexy his arms are, so if you come to brunch with us, i can do all the talking and the fantasizing on your behalf- do you think he’d be able to pin you down using one hand?”

you feel your cheeks flush because you happen to know the answer to that particular question (the answer is a big fat ABSOLUTELY he can)

“you know, i don’t know why you always get so quiet whenever we talk about him-” wendy chimes in once the three of you reach the living room, “this is a safe space! we’re all allowed to talk about how much we want mr. park to fuck us into oblivion-”

“i just feel like-” you choke, clearing your throat quietly before averting your gaze to the ground, “you know, he’s our- he’s our teacher, so… so it’s a little weird? to be talking about all the things you want him to do to you?”

also you’re dating him and it’s weird to hear about how much your friends want to fuck your boyfriend 

also they talk about him like he’s a piece of meat - and yes, you’re guilty of displaying the same behaviour sometimes - but it’s still not cool!! 

jimin’s so much more than just a (very) pretty face and a (very) fit body 

“you were the one who said you wanted to sit on his face-”

“yes, i’m aware- you know, i only said that to get seulgi to shut up- anyway!” you scurry over to the door and hold it open before gesturing for everyone to get the hell out of your apartment, “it was wonderful seeing you girls, but i’ll see you on monday at class-” you force a smile on your face and praY that no one is too suspicious of your very odd behaviour

you think you’ve done a decent job at keeping it cool so far... right? 

“fine. but we’re not going to share any of the details that we talked about as your punishment.” lisa shakes her head disappointedly as she adjusts her purse strap over her shoulder, “it’s your loss! you don’t get to dream about having sex with the most beautiful man on earth-”

you almost let out a snort but you stop yourself before it happens

you’ve never been one for bragging, but... you don’t have to dream about having sex with the most beautiful man on earth because you’re already having sex with the most beautiful man on earth 

(what you’re trying to say is that God has favourites and you clearly made the list) 

:-)

“well, that’s a consequence i’m just going to have to suffer with-” you push your bottom lip out in a pout before waving frantically, “goodbye, you guys-!”

you let out a breath of relief as soon as you slam the door shut behind you

holy moly

that was close!!!!!

that was TOO close

you and jimin need to have a better plan to prepare for this if it happens again

hopefully this won’t happen again but you can never be too sure... 

maybe you should take your spare apartment key back from lisa 

“are they gone?” you jump when jimin pokes his head around the corner and you nod before shooting him a thumbs up

“yes, thank god- but that was… that was way too close.” you shudder, turning and making sure the door is double-locked before walking towards jimin, “i don’t even know what i’d do if they saw you.”

“judging by your improv skills, you’d probably tell them i’m mr. park’s twin brother-”

“you know, that’s actually not half bad!” you raise a brow before reaching down to brush your fingers against the growing red spot on jimin’s bare chest from where you shoved at him earlier, “also, sorry i pushed you onto the ground. and then shoved you into a closet.”

“eh, i’m fine.” he hums, taking your hand before turning and walking back towards the hallway, “also, i’m going to have to ask to join one of these brunches one day since i seem to be a hot topic.” 

“oh my god, jimin-”

“by the way-” he glances at you over his shoulder for a split second with a particularly cheeky smirk, “i don’t think i need to remind you again that the offer for you to sit on my face still stands...”

“oh my god, jimin-!”

✨why don’t you explore the rest of the library while you’re here?

💫or perhaps you want something shorter to read?

🌟or something even shorter?

[bellasprettywords]

Hi! Alright so I finally made up my mind on which Taylor’s Red TV song to request for and I ended up with “I Knew You Were Trouble”. I was thinking a Draco Malfoy x Ravenclaw Reader (cause I’m Ravenclaw help-) for this one but maybe you could make it into a happy ending one? I just need some romance in my life right now with all the school work that’s driving me crazy. thank you soooo much!!

a/n: Thank you so so so much for this request!!! I knew you were trouble is one of my favorite jams, so I hope you enjoy this little one shot as much as I enjoyed writing it🥰

y/n – your name

y/ln - your lastname

Warnings: Maybe a little sadness, but cute overall

Word count: 1,348

Join my 🍂Red Taylor’s Version release party🍂

Fairytales usually start with “once upon a time”, but even in the Wizard World, this can’t be considered one. You met Draco Malfoy in the beginning of 6th year, and even then, when you first met him, one thing was certain: he was trouble.

Now, that you were about to finish your 7th year, and you had been paired up with him to work on the Veritaserum for Portions Class, you knew some other things about the Slytherin Prince: You were aware that the Malfoy boy had a tendency of leaving a trace of broken hearts behind him, you knew he loved having girls revolving around him, and now, you also knew had… acquired a special interest on you: the perfect Ravenclaw student, with kind of a good girl complex, and ambitious dreams of becoming the first female, and youngest Alchemist to reimagine and study Spagyric.

“A pleasure to finally meet you” Draco extended his hand towards you

“Enchanted” you replied taking it and it felt soft, and warmer than you had anticipated, when it finally clicked you “What do you mean with -finally meet you-?” you questioned, and he chuckled

“One would think I’d meet the other future Alchemist at Hogwarts at any point, don’t you agree?” he said, still holding your hand and making you blush, and he flashed that infamous Malfoy smile that made girls melt, and honestly, your heart fluttered a little when he did.

The class was slow, but Draco somehow made it bearable with his comments, and his charming grins, you were sure that if you kept getting carried away by his charms, and your heart kept skipping beats when he smiled, this was going to be the beginning of something you were definitely going to regret in the near future. You were finally dismissed, and your best friend Hermione approached you before you could make any plans with Draco.

“Please don’t” Hermione said as you walked together out of Snape’s classroom

“Don’t what?” you said oblivious

“Just don’t, you know he is not… precisely the nicest person” she pointed out, and she was right, at the end, Draco Malfoy had spent the last 6 years bullying her, and your friends Harry and Ron

“I know you are right” you said giving up and trying to kill the flicker of hope that had been building up for the last two hours

“He is trouble, so please be careful around him” Hermione added before leaving you at the entrance of the library, where you were picking up a couple of books on Alchemy and Spagyric to study, as you wanted a research internship with Professor Dumbledore after graduation

You spent most of the afternoon prepping for an interview you had scheduled with Dumbledore by the end of the month, but you knew it was never too early to start planning your future. Everything was going great, and you felt incredibly confident, when your study session was cut short

“Hey, Alchemist” you heard Draco approaching behind you

“Oh, hello Draco” you said smiling softly and doing your best to make the butterflies in your stomach stop moving around

“What are you working on?” he asked sitting next to you

“Just learning a little Spagyric” you replied showing him the book, and the butterflies in your stomach were revolving around uncontrollably

“Maybe I can tutor you, I’m quite interested in Spagyric as well” he said and before you could make a mental pro and con list about the situation, your mouth agreed

🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂

Study sessions with Draco were innocent enough until they weren’t: the whole mess began with a kiss, and it ended up turning your study breaks in full make out secret sessions. You agreed on keeping things in the downlow, as you knew your friends wouldn’t be pleased with the situation, and you didn’t want to become an addition to Draco Malfoy’s Conquests List; although sometimes you already felt you belonged there, and the rumors of Draco trying to get a Ravenclaw girl into bed sure weren’t exactly helpful.

“Is everything alright, Darling? You seem really distracted today” Draco said, taking you out of your thoughts

“Hu? Yeah, everything is great” you replied distant, still processing the last couple of weeks, the rumors about Draco’s Ravenclaw future conquest, and the anxiety you felt when your heat skipped a beat whenever he was around

“Come on, talk to me y/n” Draco said leaning closer to you and taking your hand into his

“I… I just can’t do this anymore” you said taking your books and leaving the abandoned greenhouse that had become your usual study spot.

You didn’t walk, you ran, until you reached the Gryffindor Common Room, where you knew you would find your best friends

“Hey, y/n, is everything okay?” Harry asked with a concerned look when he saw you entering the room

“You looked like you’ve seen a ghost, and not the kind type” Ron added, and you could feel your eyes tear up a little

“Hey, it’s okay, it will be okay, we are here for you” Hermione said embracing you, and quickly Harry and Ron joined the hug

“I’m probably overreacting, but I think I’m Draco Malfoy’s newest conquest” you said with a string of voice “And that’s not the worst part, I think I’m actually falling for him” you added, and you felt your friends hug you tighter

“I’m gonna punch that a-hole” Ron broke the silence making all of you laugh.

“I want to apologize” you said “I’ve been ditching you the past few weeks to hang with Malfoy, and I shouldn’t have done that, you are my friends, after all” you added

“Oh, we noticed, but it’s okay” Harry said and even if you were a little confused and heartbroken by the whole situation, you knew you’d be okay because you had the support of your best friends, and somehow, that was all you needed

🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂

Days passed, and you avoided Draco, although it wasn’t that hard because it seemed he was avoiding you as well. He was so indifferent at you not speaking to him, that you broke down a couple more times, but it was obvious you’ve fallen to his charms, and he was just… unbothered by your presence, or lack of it. You didn’t speak more than necessary for potions class, and even although it was hard at first, you almost got used to Draco being as emotionless as a rock

“Today you must complete and test the Veritaserum, I’ll go with every couple and test it, so keep working and be ready” Snape said and walked towards Draco and me “I’ll start with your Veritaserum, future alchemists” he added standing in front of our cauldron

“Hello Professor!! Yes, how do you want to try it?” you asked a little too excited

“With each other, if you made a successful potion, both of you are going to tell me what you think of each other” Snape said so unbothered it was almost hilarious

“I’m not drinking that” Draco scoffed

“For that comment, you’ll get to try the potion first” Snape glared him and Draco and he had no option, but to sip a little “So, Malfoy, what do you think about Miss y/ls?” the professor added

“I think she’s amazing, and I may like her a little too much, but she’s been avoiding me, and I don’t know what I did wrong” Draco blurted out, blushed and immediately covered his mouth

“Quite interesting, seems your Veritaserum is working well, but it’s only fair if I test it with you Miss y/ln” Snape added and handed you the little bottle so you could sip it, and you did “What do you think about Mister Malfoy, Miss y/ln?”

“I knew he was trouble, but I couldn’t help to fall for him” you replied and felt your cheeks blush while Draco starred at you

“Well, seems that your Veritaserum is working perfectly, so I’ll move on to the next table” Snape said leaving you and Draco to deal with the aftermath of the truths spilled by the Veritaserum

Taglist: @nikkitc0703

If you want to send a request, join my 🍂Red Taylor’s Version release party🍂

[vampiregirl1797]

All Because of a Jacket

Stiles x Reader

 GIF Not Mine

 Summary: A collection of the times Stiles lends Y/N his lacrosse jacket.

 Warnings: None.

 Word Count: 2,039

 A/N: I have no idea where this came from guys. Actually, I do—I ordered myself a Stiles lacrosse jacket and I’ve been living in it since it came, so that’s most likely what inspired this little imagine. I hope you enjoy it! Leaving a link HERE to the jacket I got off Etsy if you’re interested—I cannot recommend it enough!

 Click Here For my Masterlist.

 It started off subtle, something I didn’t notice at first, and was merely grateful for. The pack had met in the middle of the lacrosse field on a Sunday evening, the location chosen as a way of avoiding any police cruisers who were out enforcing the town-wide 9pm curfew. Still, I didn’t understand why we couldn’t just have met at someone’s house, though I suppose that did run the risk of neighbours ratting us out.

 I’d been trying to listen to what Scott was saying, and the whole reason we were gathered in the middle of the freezing cold lacrosse field in January, but I couldn’t bring myself to focus. It was my own fault, really. I’d assumed we’d go inside the school once we’d all gathered together, which was why I’d forgone grabbing a jacket as I left my house. Now, I was there, scrunching the sleeves of my jumper in a vain attempt to retain some heat and reverse the cold settling in on my bones. I had my arms crossed over my chest, and was seriously considering just wrapping my arms around Derek and burying my face into his back—he wouldn’t have minded and the man gave off more heat than a damn space heater, but I was startled out of my thoughts by a curtain of warmth being wrapped around me. I blinked, surprised and my eyes fluttered closed for a second in complete and utter relief, before my brain registered that the wonderfully warm jacket hadn’t just landed on my shoulders of its own accord. I looked to my left and straight into a particular pair of honey brown eyes that I was more than a little fond of. His eyes were soft at that moment, and when I murmured a quiet thank you, he responded with a bashful smile that made my heart skip a beat in my chest.

 As I slid my arms through the long sleeves of Stiles’ lacrosse jacket and buttoned up the front in an attempt to retain the warmth the sarcastic boy’s body had provided, I found myself grateful that Stiles, like me, was one of the only humans of the group. It meant that I’d been able to successfully keep my more than platonic feelings from him. Of course, he was the only one who didn’t know.

 I narrowed my eyes at Derek’s teasing, barely there, smile and discretely flipped him off by scratching my nose with my middle finger. The action didn’t go unmissed by the blue-eyed wolf and he breathed a chuckle before returning his attention to the alpha in front of the group.

 My cold state now taken care of, I was able to concentrate on Scott’s words, subconsciously stepping closer to Stiles as I listened, my body seeking out the comfort his presence always provided me with without my consent.

 That was the first time Stiles gave me his jacket.

 //

 The second time had been during a “stake-out” with Liam and Stiles. The honey-eyed boy was adamant that there was something off with Theo, and honestly I hadn’t got the best feeling about him popping into our lives out of nowhere for one, adding in the fact he was also a werewolf… well it was just too much of a coincidence.

 ‘I’m telling you, there’s something not right about him, Y/N.’ Stiles said, for what must have been the hundredth time in the last four hours.

 ‘Stiles.’ My hand covered his on the steering wheel, and I felt us both immediately relax at the touch, ‘I believe you, okay? You don’t need to convince me of anything. If you say there’s something off with Theo, I’m not going to question it.’

 His usually honey-brown eyes were dark with emotion as his hand squeezed mine, ‘why? Why do you believe me?’

 ‘Because you have great instincts and I trust you and your opinions more than anyone else’s.’ I told him honestly.

 I felt my heart beat pick up the longer his eyes bore into mine, but I refused to look away, even knowing that Liam was probably smiling in the same smug way all the werewolves had mastered whenever my heart misbehaved around Stiles. What felt like hours later, Stiles blinked and bought my hands in-between both of his.

 At my look of confusion, he elaborated, ‘you’re freezing.’

 ‘Huh, I didn’t even notice.’ I shrugged, trying to fight the blush forming on my cheeks at what felt like an intimate gesture.

 He opened his hands a little so he could blow some hot air onto mine, and the warmth generated from the act seemed to travel through my whole body.

 ‘Better?’ he asked after a few minutes of repeating the gesture.

 I cleared my throat and kept my answer short, not trusting my voice, ‘much. Thank you.’

 ‘No problem.’ He released my hands and I slid them underneath my thighs to retain the heat he’d created.

 My eyes moved over to where we’d been watching for most of the night, to see Theo was still playing his video game, like he had been for most of the night. It made me frown; sure video games were what teenagers usually did, but it just seemed too convenient to me. I was about to voice my opinion to Stiles and Liam when familiar cotton was placed onto my shoulders. My arms moved through the sleeves almost reflexively as I offered my best friend a grateful smile, and tried to resist the urge to bury my face into the fabric to inhale his sweet and husky scent.

 ‘Thank you.’

 ‘Can’t have you freezing on me.’ He joked his hand squeezing my thigh briefly before returning it to the steering wheel.

 I couldn’t have stopped the blush that formed on my cheeks if I tried, so I turned my gaze to stare out of the window, my hand resting where his had touched me, and I wondered— if I were to remove the denim barrier provided by my jeans, would my thigh display a brand of his hand print?

 Because the heat left behind by his touch felt exactly like I had been branded as his.

 //

 The third time had been in the cafeteria.

 We were all sitting together, minus Derek and Liam, and all having different conversations in our own little groups. Allison and Isaac were making weekend plans, provided she could sneak out without her father noticing, Lydia, Aiden, Ethan and Danny were talking about something they could all do together on a double date, and Stiles, Scott and I were all talking about collages we wanted to apply to. Well, they were. I was trying not to fall asleep using my sandwich as a pillow; I’d been up late the night before, helping Stiles put together his criminal bored. Nothing had been solved, but we both found it helpful to have everything, every clue, and every detail all in one place.

 Of course, time had gotten away from us, and our party had been broken up by the Sherriff returning from his shift and gently informing us it was past three am. I’d been too tired to drive home and had slept on the couch, but two hours sleep wasn’t enough time for me, unlike Stiles; he was as hyperactive as ever.

 I pushed my tray away from me with a sigh, too tired to eat anyway, and laid my head down on top of my arms. I’d heard a few chuckles from the pack, but I ignored it; they knew how I could be when I was tired so they just left me to it. I was on the brink of passing out, knowing someone would wake me for our next class, when I found myself surrounded by what was becoming my favourite jacket emitting warmth and a scent I couldn’t get enough of. I slid my arms into the sleeves and nuzzled my face into the fabric once I’d returned them to my original position. Had I been fully conscious of my actions, I’d have been embarrassed at my audience, but the chuckles simply faded into nothing as I finally found sleep.

 What I hadn’t noticed was Stiles’ fond smile, or the knowing and frustrated expressions the rest of the pack wore.

 //

 The fourth time had been during a lacrosse game.

 I’d been standing in the bleachers, wearing a jacket that was not keeping me warm in the slightest and discretely trying to huddle closer to Malia—she gave off as much heat as her uncle did—when I’d heard Stiles shouting my name.

 I’d frowned, but manoeuvred my way out of the row I’d been sat in and made my way down to the benches, where he was waiting. He was holding his helmet under his arm and when I reached him, he held out his jacket and I took it, but didn’t put it on in case I’d misunderstood his meaning. Did he want me to give it to Malia? I’d noticed they’d been particularly close since she had joined the pack, and as much as it made my heart ache, I was glad the female wolf had someone to offer her comfort when she’d been without it for so long.

 ‘I noticed it’s pretty cold and figured you could use a jacket.’ He said, seeming nervous.

 I felt a genuine smile form on my lips as I slid the cotton on and buttoned up the front, ‘thank you. I feel like I should rent this from you with how often I wear it.’ I chuckled, pulling my hair out from underneath the fabric.

 He joined me in my laughter, ‘nah, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I like seeing you in my jacket.’ He looked nervous again and my heart skipped a beat in my chest.

 Did he mean…? ‘You do?’ I asked, my voice quiet to my own ears.

 ‘I do,’ he stepped closer and I felt wonderfully dizzy as a stronger wave of his heat and scent washed over me, ‘Y/N…I’ve liked you for a while. As more than a friend, and I’ve been too scared to say anything, but Scott practically threatened to kill me if I didn’t admit it to you.’

 ‘You like me?’ I repeated, dumbfounded. How had I missed it? Had I been so preoccupied in hiding my own feelings that I’d been blind to his?

 ‘Yes.’ He looked more nervous now and I found myself reaching out, my hands falling on top of his in an attempt to comfort him.

 ‘Stiles…’ I took a breath, finding the courage to say the words I’d been holding in for so long, ‘I like you too.’

 His honey-coloured eyes bore into mine for what felt like hours, but in reality it was only a few seconds, before his lips formed a face splitting grin that made my heart warm in my chest.

 ‘So, will you go on a date with me?’ he asked, seeming more confident but not much.

 ‘Absolutely.’ I grinned, my face leaning into his hand as it came up to caress the side of my face.

 ‘Awesome.’ He grinned again, and I was sure that we would both be wearing these giddy expressions for the foreseeable future, ‘pizza after?’

 ‘Perfect.’ I laced my fingers through his and almost jumped a mile when coach blew his whistle. I’d been so lost in him, his touch, his warmth, and his smell that I’d completely forgotten where we were.

 ‘I should get out there before Coach kills me.’ He chuckled.

 ‘Okay.’ I replied, reluctantly releasing his hands.

 He leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss to my forehead that I made my heart melt. Before he could leave me completely, I grabbed his jersey and with a teasing grin told him, ‘by the way, this jacket is mine now.’

 He blinked, and when he’d processed my words a bright, fond grin broke out across his face. He leaned in, kissed my cheek and whispered against my skin, ‘you won’t find me objecting to that, sweetheart.’ He winked, waved, and left to join the huddle in the centre of the field.

 My cheek didn’t stop burning for the rest of the game.

[bluemoon-writer]

Childhood Friends AU: Marikim part 4

In which two dumbasses fall in love

AN: You don't have to read the previous parts to understand this one, but it might add a little context. parts 1-3 are only headcanons about their friendship though, there's nothing romantic included unlike in this part.

Read them here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

-Kim catches feelings first

-he doesn’t realize it at first, but ever since Lila accused him of having feelings for Mari he started wondering what dating her would be like

-they would be doing something mundane like homework, or walking to school together, and he would start to wonder how different it would be if they were dating.

-he assumes they would hold hands, maybe give each other quick kisses when no was looking

-and he starts to think that he wouldn’t mind holding hands with Marinette or kissing her

-just as friends tho, because he totally does not have a crush on her

-but then, Ondine confesses to him

-and his first thought is ‘but I like Marinette’

-he says that out loud though

-“oh shit, I’m sorry Ondine. I didn’t mean to say that. I don’t know why I said that, because I totally don’t have a crush on Marinette…”

-Kim is in denial

-Ondine is a little sad, but she’s also a total bro

-meaning if she can’t be with her crush then she’ll make sure her crush is at least happy

-Kim doesn’t make it easy though, because he’s also a bro

-once he accepts that he genuinely likes Marinette, he doesn’t even consider the possibility of them dating

-because Marinette likes Adrien

-Kim’s heart aches a little when he remembers that

-so there’s only one thing for him to do

-get Marinette and Adrien together

-Ondine agrees to help, but secretly has an ulterior motive

-which is: get Marinette to fall for Kim while Kim is trying to get her and Adrien to date

-it’s a mess

-but together they make a rough plan

-the first step is to get Marinette to actually hold a normal conversation with Adrian

-they’ll have her practice on Kim to start

-kim wanted to team up with Alya initially, but Ondine convinces him that it’s best if they work separately

-bc Ondine doesn’t want Marinette and Adrien to actually get together. Alya would take the planning seriously, while Ondine is not

-they rush over to Marinette’s house after swim practice

-Kim has a key to Marinette’s house so he doesn’t even knock

-he just pops into the bakery to hug Sabine, wave at Tom, and grab some snacks

-Ondine marvels at how close they have to be for Kim to be this comfortable with Marinette’s family

-they run up to Mari’s room

-again, Kim doesn’t knock, he just walks in and flops on her couch

-Ondine awkwardly walks in with a wave bc she doesn’t really know Marinette and doesn’t want to seem rude

-Marinette had been expecting Kim but is surprised to see Ondine

-her shipper brain starts wondering if she should help them get together?

- “We’re going to help you get together with Adrien!” Kim announces.

-Marinette collapses back in her chair with a groan

- “Ugh, not you too! Maybe I’m happy just watching him from afar.”

“No offence Mari, but that makes you sound like a creepy stalker,” Kim argues.

“I can’t even talk to Adrien properly! Much less get the courage to ask him out!”

“That’s what we’re going to help you with!” Ondine interjects. “With our help, you’ll be able to talk to Adrien without a problem!”

-Marinette’s curiosity is piqued

- “How?”

-Marinette reluctantly agrees with practice on Kim, not convinced that it’ll actually work

-they sit on the floor facing each other, with Ondine in the middle like a referee

-they tape a picture of Adrien to Kim’s face

-Kim does bad impressions of Adrien’s voice and Marinette can’t collect herself well enough to hold a conversation

-not because she’s nervous but bc she keeps laughing at Kim’s impressions

-Ondine is in serious coach mode tho

-she pretends to blow a whistle every time they mess up

“Come on team! I know you can get this right!”

-eye holes are cut in the picture of Adrien so that Kim can see

-but that just makes Marinette laugh harder

-a mouth hole is added so Kim can eat some snacks

-Kim tries to impersonate Adrien while eating

-does a dramatic hair flip and chokes on a cookie

-Marinette is sobbing from laughter and Ondine has given up on whistling

-eventually (after they run out of snacks) they calm down

-Ondine throws away the picture of Adrien

-Things are serious now

-Kim takes Marinette’s hands and gives her a gentle smile while leaning forward slightly

“Hey Marinette,” he says in a low voice

-and Marinette’s heart skips a beat. Just once.

-but there were no thoughts of Adrien in her head

-once she does think of Adrien doing this, then she turns beat red

“uh, h-hey A-A-Adrien! How’s you do? I-I mean, h-how do you? How are you!”

-Kim is starting to blush now because Marinette is just so cute

-He wants to bop her on the nose

-so he does

-Marinette blushes even harder, but it ruins the roleplay

“KIM! Adrien isn’t going to randomly bop me on the nose!

“He might! I’m trying to prepare you for all possible events!” Kim argues to save his ass

-Ondine lowkey feels like she’s third wheeling

-but on the upsides, the longer she watches Marinette and Kim interact, the more she ships them and the smaller her crush grows

-soon she’ll be a full-time Marikim shipper

-after that first instance, Marinette can’t imagine Kim as Adrien

-Kim insists that she just needs to “focus on the blonde part of his hair”

-but it doesn’t work

-their conversations turn into inside jokes about each other

-eventually hunger drives them downstairs for dinner

-Ondine is invited to stay and the conversation turns to swim practice

-eventually Ondine stops feeling like a third wheel

-the next step is to have Marinette interact with Adrien in a group setting

-so another study group is scheduled

-in the days leading up to the study group, Kim starts lowkey hyping Marinette up to Adrien

-when Marinette gets an A on a test Kim is holding it up to show Adrien how smart Marinette is

-when Marinette stumbles through a few lines in another language Kim shouts to Adrien, “Dude, did you hear that? Marinette is BILINGUAL”

-when Marinette makes it to class just before the bell rings, Kim nudges Adrien and goes, “Isn’t Marinette cute when she’s running late?”

-whenever someone compliments Kim on something he goes, “Psh, Marinette is twice as good as me. DID YOU KNOW THAT ADRIEN?”

-Adrien assumes this is Kim’s weird way on trying to become friends, by talking up one of their mutual friends

-so, he starts talking up Marinette to Kim

- “did you know Marinette is so talented that Jagged Stone asked her to design his album cover?!”

-this leads to full-blown conversations about Marinette in the hallway

-which actually leads to them becoming friends?

-through talking about Marinette, they realize they have a lot in common

-both like sports, video games, jagged stone, and Marinette

-Ondine overhears Kim hyping Marinette up to Adrien in the hallway and decides to copy him

-She starts coming over every day after practice under the guise of ‘helping Marinette learn to talk to Adrien’

-really it just devolves into the three of them joking around after an hour

-but during these ‘sessions’ she starts hyping Kim up

- “Kim nearly broke a world record at practice today! I swear he’s going to the Olympics!”

-Kim always returns the compliment tho

- “If I’m going to the Olympics then so are you! You’re just as good!”

-which further convinces Marinette that they like each other

-Finally, that Saturday is the study group

-its Max, Nino, Chloe, Adrien, Kim, and the newest addition of Ondine

-(if you want to know how the study group started read part 3)

-Marinette spends the morning nervously cooking snacks

-Kim and Ondine come over early to ‘help’

-Kim knows how to cook, but he spends most of the time stealing bits of batter

-Ondine doesn’t know how to cook, so Marinette shows her the ropes

-This helps Marinette calm down too

-Marinette is more nervous than the last time their study group met because this time she has the ulterior motive of trying to get closer to Adrien while last time she was focused on studying

-the study group gathers in the living room of Marinette’s house

-Kim and Adrien are next to each other and Marinette is strategically placed across from them

-this way if Marinette gets too nervous to look at Adrien, she can look at Kim instead and pretend she’s talking to him

-the first couple minutes of the study group are filled with laughter and snacks as everyone piles into the living room

-but eventually they quiet down to do some independent studying

-Adrien is great at science so Marinette figures she’ll ask him to explain one of the concepts listed on their science study guide

“Hey Adrien,” Marinette starts confidently, however, almost as soon as the words are out of her mouth she starts to get cold feet. She glances at Kim who gives her a subtle thumbs up and a wink. Marinette swears the blush that starts to cover her face is just from being nervous about talking to Adrien.

Adrien glances up from his book, “What’s up, Marinette?”

Marinette glances back and forth between Kim and Adrien before settling her gaze on Adrien.

“C-could you explain how the potato is used as an example of osmosis? I don’t understand it.”

-Adrien is happy to help, and launches into an explanation

-Marinette so is high of the rush of dopamine from successfully asking Adrien a question that she’s able to ask two follow up questions after Adrien is done speaking

-Nino pinches Max to keep him from intervening

-Kim is proud of Marinette, but he can’t help but also be a little sad because she’s never been that excited to simply talk to him

-however, what he doesn’t know is that after Marinette successfully talks to Adrien, she finds her thoughts not centered around Adrien, but around Kim

-She knows science isn’t Kim’s best subject and her thoughts keep drifting from questions to ask Adrien to how Kim is doing.

-she doesn’t realize it yet, but her feelings for Adrien have shrunken a little which is partly why she found it easier to talk to him

-the other reason is that she’s just become more confident in herself due to the ‘practice sessions’

-when the study group ends Kim and Ondine stay behind to help clean up

-Kim is hiding the fact that he’s bummed about Marinette and Adrien and Ondine realizes this so she tries to distract him

-she sticks two pretzel sticks in her mouth

“Guess what I am?”

“Uh, a walrus, duh.”

“No! I’m the giant spider from Harry Potter.”

Kim chokes on a laugh from surprise, “What the hell? How was I supposed to guess that?”

-Marinette watches them mess around and becomes certain that they like each other

-but now she feels…off about it.

-together the three clean up quickly

-the weekly Dupain cheng/Le family dinner is tonight, so Kim isn’t leaving after study group, but Ondine gets ready to leave

-Marinette invites her to stay for dinner though

-even though she feels weird about Ondine and Kim getting together she’s still gonna do what she can to help their relationship

-bc she’s also a bro

-also, Ondine has been around so much the past month that she’s practically a permanent fixture in Marinette’s life

-she also doesn’t knock anymore when entering Mari’s room and is on a first name basis with her parents

-Ondine is honestly glad to have become such good friends with Marinette

-After the success of the first study group, more are planned

-it becomes a biweekly event

-Ondine is worried at first that this might backfire and Marinette and Adrien will actually get together

-but she notices that while Marinette talks to Adrien more she also blushes less

-in their practice sessions Marinette has also stopped gushing over Adrien

-what convinced Ondine for sure that Marinette’s crush on Adrien was gone though was when a new exclusive photoshoot of Adrien came out and the first thing Marinette commented was the design of his outfit

-how did things get to this point?

-well, interacting as friends and focusing on becoming friends made Marinette see Adrien in a platonic light

-Marinette just doesn’t realize her crush is gone bc it was so ingrained in her that it became a facet of her identity

-she has black hair, blue eyes, and a crush on Adrien

-it’s when Marinette has zoned out while staring at Kim that Ondine decides they’re ready to move to the next step

-it’s time for Marinette and Kim to go on a fake date

-the official reason is so that Marinette gets practice before asking Adrien out

-the unofficial reason is that Ondine is 90% sure that Marinette is also crushing on Kim now, and she thinks that if they’re in a romantic setting then she’ll realize the reality of her feelings

-and so, after school, instead of going home like usual, Marinette and Kim go to the movies instead to see the newest romantic comedy

-Ondine secretly trails after them with binoculars, just to make sure everything goes well

-Kim pays and refuses to split the price, much to Marinette’s dismay

-as the trailers play, they get into a mini popcorn fight and waste half their popcorn

-a bunch of it ends up stuck in Marinette’s hair

-Kim, heart pounding, holds Marinette’s chin to keep her head still as he gently pulls popcorn out of her hair

-The darkness of the theater is the only thing hiding Marinette’s blush.

-Kim leans closer, focusing on getting all the little pieces of popcorn

-Marinette’s gaze is locked on Kim though. Their faces are only inches apart.

-Suddenly, Kim looks down and realizes the position they’re in

-He’s frozen, unsure of what to do.

-He wants to lean in and kiss her, but he thinks she still likes Adrien

-Adrien, however, is the last thing on Marinette’s mind. The only thing she can focus on at the moment is the warmth of Kim’s breath on her face.

-The moment is ruined however, by a group of people jostling past them to get to their seats

-The movie begins shortly after, but both teens are distracted by other thoughts

-They head for the park afterwards

-They’re hearts stopping each time their hands bump into each other.

-Ondine finally gets fed up and texts Kim to hold hands with Marinette

-Kim looks around in confusion, unsure where Ondine was watching them from

-But he does what she says

-Marinette looks up in surprise

-“We’re on a date, so we should hold hands, yeah?” Kim says with a blush.

“O-oh! Right, yes!”

-Both of them look away and blush

-Their conversation on the way to the park is a little awkward as neither of them are sure what to say until Kim blurts out, “By the way, I think Ondine is stalking us.”

-This launches them into a game of “spot Ondine without her noticing.”

-They fail miserably, completely unable to find her

-But they have an amazing time guessing where or who she might be

-Each time their guesses get more and more ridiculous

-Which has them laughing uproariously in the middle of the park

-This garners the attention of several people, in particular a blonde model who is in the middle of a photoshoot.

-Kim walks Marinette home, and, unable to stop himself, kisses her on the cheek before leaving

-Marinette can only stare at Kim’s back as he leaves

-Half an hour later, her mom opens the door to take out the trash, and scares Marinette out of her reverie

-Marinette is supposed to confess to Adrien the next day, but when she goes to bed the only person she can think of it Kim

-(she dreams about him too)

-The next day, Marinette asks Adrien to stay behind after class so she can ask him something

-Kim and Ondine wait anxiously outside the classroom

-Kim is torn between excitement for Marinette and heartbreak for himself

-in the classroom, Adrien gazes at Marinette expectantly

-He’s not sure what she needs from him, but he’s ready to help

-Marinette breathes in deeply, mentally preparing herself utter the three simple words.

-But they don’t come out.

-They can’t come out, and Marinette realizes with shock that it’s not because she’s nervous.

-In fact, she doesn’t feel anything at all except a sense of wrongness

-For some reason, the only person she can imagine confessing to is Kim

-her eyes widen as the realization sets in

-She doesn’t like Adrien anymore

-She likes Kim

----

AN: There we go! The long awaited Part 4 is finally up a year later. Don't worry, part 5 won't take as long. Though, it probably won't be up until after I finish finals and move home.

I didn't intend for Ondine to have such a big role, someone mentioned that I forgot about Ondine in the last part, and I slapped myself for forgetting her, so I made sure to start with her and then it just snowballed until she was part of the crew lol.

Also, I discontinued the taglist because it got too big and I got overwhelmed.

[bts-reveries]

expect the unexpected | 12

text in between images!

“I’m so excited to see the kidssss,” you squeal. You got out of the car and ran straight to the front door. 

It was locked, of course. 

“Jin!” you called behind you. “Keys please!” You turn around with your hands out, palms facing up. He looks at you with his brows furrowed, arms crossed over his chest.

“Help me with the luggages first,” he says, pointing to the trunk. “At least take the carry on full of oranges?” 

You roll your eyes, jokingly, skipping over to him and taking the bag of oranges. Specially for your daughter and Yoongi. You grab Jin’s carry on as well while he carries yours and his luggage. You close the trunk and start running to the door again.

“I still have the keys babe,” Jin says, pulling the luggages behind him as he walks towards you.

“Finally.”

The two of you turn to the door, which was now open thanks to--

“Taehyung,” you and Jin say at the same time, both confused.

“What are you doing--”

“Hey you’re home!” Hoseok interrupts Jin, throwing his arm over Taehyung’s shoulders.

“We’ve been waiting for you two, come on in,” Taehyung says, moving to the side to let you two inside. Your eyes widen as you hear the screams and giggles of not three but nine kids. Yeah... everyone was here. 

“Mommy! Daddy!” Soojin yells as soon as she sees you two come into the living room. You drop the bags you were holding to catch her as she was running into your arms. 

“Hey baby,” you say, peppering her cheeks with kisses. “I missed you! How was it with grandma and grandpa?”

“It was good,” she says in between giggles. Jin went straight to your shared room to put away the luggage. You two will be unloading it tonight once everyone’s gone of course. 

“I heard you had nightmares last night, is everything okay? You wanna sleep with us tonight?”

Soojin shakes her head, “I’m okay mommy. I can sleep in my room.” You smile and nod at her, she was such a brave little— big girl you mean.

“Did you get the oranges,” Soojin whispered as she had her little arms around your neck. You lean your forehead against hers.

“It’s in the bag behind me,” you say, making her eyes light up. Immediately, she runs to the carry on.

“Yo Yn, bring us back anything?” Jimin says, wiggling his eyebrows at you. Yuna comes up next to him, making the same expressions. You pointed to Soojin behind you, who was currently unzipping the bag.

“We have oranges,” you say, laughing as his expression drops. Yuna, on the other hand, got excited and rushed next to Soojin. 

“I love these oranges,” she says. “They’re so sweet, Mingyu loves them too.” Yuna turns around and yells out her son’s name. The next thing you know, a couple of pudgy feet start running towards you. Haneul and Moonji not far behind him.

“So how was the trip guys~ what did you two youngsters do,” Jungkook says, sitting on the arm of your couch, wrapping his arm around Rina’s head. 

“Jungkook,” she mumbles underneath his hand. He moved his hand a little lower, cupping her chin. He raises his eyebrows at you, twice.

“It was fun, the beach was great, the flower fields were beautiful~” You answered.

“And what else,” Jungkook asks, giving you a stupid smile. 

“And we slept a lot because we don’t get to do that often,” Jin says, diverting the attention elsewhere. “So anyways, tomorrow? 10 right?”

“In the morning, yes,” Taehyung says. Youngjae comes running to Taehyung, leaning over the arm of the couch where Taehyung was sitting next to.

“I’m so excited!!” He yells, “we’re going after school right?” He asks Taehyung. Taehyung laughs, ruffling Youngjae’s hair. 

“Yeah, mommy will take you.”

“The kids can start tomorrow right?” You ask, hugging Moonji as she came along with Mingyu and sat on your lap. 

“I wanna start tomorrow,” Moonji says, smiling up at Taehyung. Taehyung smiles down at her and reaches for Moonji.

“You can, but only if you come and give me a kiss,” Taehyung says, pointing to his cheek. Moonji giggles, standing up and running to Uncle Taetae. She jumps onto the couch to press a sweet, little kiss to Taehyung’s cheek.

“That should count as her payment for the classes,” Namjoon says, tipping his drink at Taehyung. He was standing by the hallway, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a cup and taking a sip from whatever liquid was in it.

Taehyung rolls his eyes at his hyung. 

“Moonji go to daddy, I cannot say no to your cute face so it’s better if you leave,” Taehyung says, pushing Moonji away from him, making her slide off of the couch. Byul comes by and snatches the little cutie from the floor. 

“To answer your question Yn, yes,” Taehyung answers. 

“Is Haneul starting tomorrow right after the opening or is he starting with his siblings?” Jin asks, sitting down next to Taehyung. 

“I think he’ll start right after the opening with Mingyu and Moonji,” you say, turning to Yuna and Namjoon. They both nod, saying yeah. 

“Yeah, okay, then the maknaes will start in the morning, the rest of the kids will all start after school,” you say. 

“Sounds good, I’m so excited!” Taehyung says with his boxy smile. 

“Yoongi and I will bring the cake and cupcakes with us at 8:30, so we can help prepare everything,” Sohyun says, walking out of the hallway. “We’re talking about the grand opening for tomorrow right?” Bora follows from behind, and Sarang comes too.

“Where have you three been?” Jin asks. He looks around and notices a few people gone too. “Where’s Yoongi, Minseok…  Hana, Huimang... and Sian?” 

“The kids were filling us in with the school drama,” Bora says with all seriousness, sitting on the floor in front of Taehyung. He wraps his legs around her shoulders. Seemed like a normal thing, she was unfazed. 

“Oh, well tell them to come here, we have Yoongi’s oranges,” Jin says, pointing at the bag the little boys were digging through. By little boys, he meant Haneul, Mingyu, and Jungkook.

“Give me that,” Jungkook says, taking the one Haneul was holding. Your son glares at uncle Jungkook. Which Jungkook laughs at. “This is like.. the size of your head bro,” he says, walking away from the little ones.

“Hyung! Your oranges!” Jimin yells. Minseok and Sian come running to the living room. Your son immediately comes to greet you.

“I didn’t know you were back,” Minseok says, kissing your cheek. You laugh.

“We’ve been home for a little while now sweetie. I’m glad you’re having fun with your cousins though! So it’s okay,” you tell him, rubbing your thumb on his cheek, before giving it a little squeeze. 

“Go say hi to daddy too,” you whisper to him, lightly pushing him towards Jin. He had Soojin on his lap. 

“I don’t want to waste my time on boys,” Hana says, walking out of the hallway with Huimang, she nods her head. Meanwhile, Yoongi was walking behind them, smirking as the so called “school drama” was just getting good. Knowing he doesn’t have to worry about his daughters and boys for the meantime.

“Hyung, think fast!” Jungkook says, throwing an orange at Yoongi. He laughs when it hits the older one’s head. 

“Hey don’t hit my dad!” Hana yells angrily, walking over to Jungkook and hitting his lap. 

“Yeah don’t hit her dad,” Yoongi says, pointing at Jungkook. He still turned around to pick up the orange from the floor though.

“Thanks hyung, thanks Yn,” he says as he leans over one couch, peeling the orange he picked up. “So.. what’d I miss?”

“Wait a minute,” Jin says, a confused expression etched on his face. A sudden thought occurred to him. He looked around, like he was counting everyone that was there. Everyone was kind of everywhere now. Some were standing, some were sitting on the floor, others on the couch, and some kids were running around the living room. It was a full house for sure. But something was missing. 

“Wait, where’s mom and dad?” you ask, referring to your inlaws. Jin nods, pointing to you as if you just took his words right out of his mouth. 

“Who?” Taehyung asks, with a little head tilt. 

“The house was empty when we came here,” Hoseok says, trying to bite his cheek. 

“Yeah we were surprised when we found out you left the kids home alone,” Namjoon plays along. “No adults were home when we got here.”

You look at the girls and they all shake their heads, shrugging. Like a simultaneous agreement that they don’t know what the boys are trying to get at. 

“Did you guys kill my parents?” Jin asks. Looking around the room.

“Grandma and grandpa are taking a nap in the guest room,” Soojin says, ruining the uncle’s joke. 

“Soojiiiin,” Jungkook whines. “Little snitch.” He got an elbow nudge from Rina for that. 

“Yeah they said they were tired and wanted to take a quick nap before their long drive,” Yoongi says. “Rumor has it, the kids were a handfuuul~”

“Umm.. by kids, I think Uncle Yoongi meant Haneul,” Minseok says. “Me and Soojin were good. Well Soojin was good most of the time.”

“Woow, another snitch,” Junkook says again. 

“Shut up,” Rina says, stuffing a whole orange in his mouth. 

expect the unexpected

♡ part twelve: little snitch ♡ 

pairings: ceo, dad!jin x interior designer, mom!reader

a/n: finally the group hangout and the babies :) also this was so hard to include everyone bc there are so many characters andhka i tried!

taglist: @silentlyimpractical @jillianmarie @waddlebby @cecedrake2217 @ddofa @samros95 @sope-and-shine @joonjoonsmiles @codeinebelle @aianloveseven @Chamchamcham @princessjazzyjazz @notvantaes @casspirit0705 @ramyagovindraj @brinnalaine @ephyra1230 @betysotelo18 @thoughtfultaledreamer @salty-for-suga @cosmicdaylight @dreamcatcherjiah @kookoo-kachoo @justinetingball  @josierosie @jayhope88 @butterflylion @hobiismyhopeu @momma-said-that-it-was-oke @shinyplaidbagellamp @catspancake  @somewhereofftheglobe @strawberryforever25 @rjsmochii @prdshobi @beeeb05 @eatjeanjin @taekookcaneatme @Cheeely14 @kookietsukkie @anpanman-sonyeondan @glitteringcoffeefreak @chocobetterknot @alpaca1612 @ohmy-fandoms @liljooniecutie @Jikachoo @preciouschimine @fan-ati--c @Joondala @httpmuffin @dammit-jjk @jikooksgirl19

TAGLIST IS CLOSED!

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[quokkacore]

with great power I [lee jeno]

summary: there are two things jeno loves most about his life. one being spiderman, the other being you, his best friend. there’s just one issue: after your father’s death, you decide you hate both spiderman and yourself.

pairing: lee jeno x reader

genre: superhero au, high school au, coming of age, best friends to strangers(ish) to lovers, fluff, ANGST, minor crack

warnings (for this chapter): language, violence, gun violence, the mafia, parental death, police presence, sexual references, bullying (ily san im sorry), the dreamies being dicks to each other, police corruption, towards the end jeno experiences something similar to sensory overload, americanized names, pop culture references, VERY jeno centric

song rec: we go up - nct dream // any song - zico // 21 questions - waterparks // talk (remix feat. megan thee stallion & yo gotti) - khalid // sunrise - ateez // i really like you - carly rae jepsen // dare - gorillaz // stray kids - the tortoise and the hare

word count: 10.5k

a/n: this is so late...... i blame attack on titan. but hey!! better late than never :] a huge thanks to @doderyscoffee​ for beta reading <3

main masterlist // story masterlist

chapter one: jeno and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week

Jeno despised Tuesdays. He was pretty sure that Tuesdays despised Jeno as well because all of his worst days just so happen to be Tuesdays. He was 96% sure that, if there was a god, his day off was on Tuesdays, or that the planets aligned in such a manner on Tuesdays that it caused universal despair and misery. If he was to take Donghyuck's word for it, his chakra attracted negative energy the most on Tuesdays.

When Jeno was 5, his goldfish Pippin had died on a Tuesday. When he had his ass handed to him on the playground by San Choi in the third grade, it was a Tuesday. And in the seventh grade, he'd failed his Spanish test, missed his bus and walked home in the rain only to find out that his Aunt Sunny was at work, he'd left his keys in his locker and that had to wait an hour before she got home to unlock it for him, all on a Tuesday. 

And wouldn't you know it, here he was, late for the first day of senior year, which was, of all days, a godforsaken Tuesday.

In his eternal wisdom, he'd stayed up gaming with Renjun until two in the morning, and because of it, slept through his three alarms, one set at six-thirty, the other at 6:45, the last one at 7:00. 

He'd woken up at 7:17, to the sound of his elderly neighbor's pet chihuahua barking at a pigeon, checked the time, immediately panicked, sped into the shower, gotten dressed in a haste, grabbed a few granola bars from the pantry, and ran out the door while trying to jam his backpack closed, and managed to catch the train at 7:40, which took about twenty minutes to get to his stop, plus a ten-minute walk to school, and class started at 8:10. Not to mention he’d have to stop by the office and pick up his schedule. At best, he’d be five minutes late to his first class. But tardies were tardies, regardless, and the last thing he needed was to lose his perfect attendance streak. 

He fished out his phone while standing on the train, waiting for his stop, scrolling through Instagram, and liking random pictures. A ping! from his phone caught his attention, then two, then a third. He smiled softly when your name popped up on his screen.

[7:48 AM]

y/n: pssst

y/n: shithead

y/n: where r u ????

[7:49 AM] 

y/n: i can sEE u online on ig u know

jeno: …… i'm on the train

jeno: woke up late

y/n: YOURE GONNA BE LATR

y/n: LATE*

y/n: ON THE FIRST DAY OF SENIOR YEAR

[7:50]

jeno: probably, yeah

jeno: it's the school district's fault, why would they make the first day of school on a fkn TUESDAY 

y/n: ohhh yeahh its terrible tuesday

y/n: [sent an attachment!]

[7:51 AM]

jeno: SHUT UP

jeno: you're not funny >:(

jeno: how dare you laugh at my misfortune

y/n: au contraire im hilarious

jeno: meanie :(

jeno: im gonna be late i hate it here

jeno: it'll end up on my permanent record and i'm not gonna get into college and then i'm gonna die,,,

[7:52 AM] 

y/n: sometimes ur worse than hyuck i swear 

y/n: FIRST OF ALL permanent records dont even exist !!!!!! its propaganda duh

y/n: also ur literally never late 

y/n: im sure o n e tardy wont do anything chill

y/n: dont be stupid youll be fine

Don’t be stupid. Too little, too late, he thought, already having got off the train at a previous stop. Now, he was looking for an unoccupied street or alleyway, which, for once, was easy, taking a deep breath before he did the exact opposite of what you’d told him not to do. Don’t be stupid. 

The buildings are low, he thought to himself, it’ll be easier to see me. 

Don’t be stupid.

Too late!

Thwip!

Jeno didn’t hesitate to use the web fluid to pull himself up onto the wall, climbing in a haste, before running and jumping onto the next building. He quickly built up a quick pace, using the web fluid occasionally to swing onto a building slightly out of jumping range. 

Signs in English, Chinese, Korean, and Spanish flew past him as he seemingly flew over the Queens traffic, leaving Flushing behind and crossing quickly into College Point quicker than he would if he took the train. He glanced to his left and caught a view of the bay, and far across it, the LaGuardia airport watchtower.

Jeno had lived in New York City his entire life. He knew Queens like the back of his hand, knew every dingy alleyway, every sketchy street, which restaurants to avoid if you didn’t want to get food poisoning, which convenience store aunties were the nicest and didn’t pinch his cheeks too hard. It was his home, and most likely would be for the rest of his life. 

But seeing it like this, flying past him below as he glided with ease from building to building would never cease to be a sight to him. It was like watching from the perspective of an outsider, seeing people in their cars, walking along the street gave him a brand new perspective. A Jeno’s eye view, he called it, since he was pretty sure he was the only one in New York City.

Another noise from his phone brought him back to reality. He shook his head, stopping briefly to catch his breath and fish out his phone briefly. 

[7:57 AM] 

y/n: let me know when u get here !!!

No time to respond, he put away the phone and continued his trek to school. He had less than ten minutes to get there. But he knew he was already at least five minutes away, much quicker than he would be if he had decided to stick to the train. He smiled a bit to himself, feeling ever so slightly smug.

The hustle and bustle of the city definitely proved challenging to find a place to land without many eyes, but he figured it out eventually, landing behind a dumpster in an alleyway behind a restaurant that he knew was about three or four blocks from the school. He figured it would be a lot better to take it on foot from here. The notebooks he was carrying in his backpack bounced up and down with every step he took. 

After what seemed like forever, the gates to the school appeared in his view, and Jeno felt a joy in his heaving chest, something he would have never thought would happen upon seeing the absolute hellhole that was Samuel Morse High School. 

[8:06 AM]

jeno: just did >:D

Picking up his schedule was both quick and insanely long. He couldn’t stop himself from tapping his left foot while the secretary found his schedule and handed it to him. “Kibum, please hurry,” He muttered, and Kibum raised an eyebrow at him, but his gaze was teasing. “That’s Mr. Kim to you, in school at least.” 

He handed Jeno his schedule a few seconds later. “Tell your Aunt to come pick up her casserole dish, by the way. She left it at my house after my last viewing party.”

“The Bachelor?”

“Please. We’re too classy for that. Drag Race.”

“Ah. I see.”

“Jeno,” Kibum said, staring up at him from his desk, his gaze now much more serious, “Get to class. Happy first day of senior year.”

“Thanks, Mr. Kim.”

He managed to make it to chemistry class at 8:09 with seconds to spare. His eyes quickly scanned the room upon entering, hoping his friends were in the class with him. He caught a few familiar faces, most of which, like San Choi's, he wished to avoid. No one paid him any mind. Everyone was still speaking to the people next to them, no doubt exchanging stories of summer vacation. 

  A hand shot up towards the back, waving at him. A smile stretched across his face as he registered your face, feet not hesitating to carry him towards the empty seat next to you. His heart skipped a beat at seeing your smile, and he tried his best to ignore it.

“Hey,” You greeted, “That was fast. I thought you said you were gonna be late.”

Jeno shrugged, eyes landing on the dark shade of the lab table. “The train was a lot faster than I expected, apparently.”

You wrinkled your nose. “Why do you smell so bad?”

“I, uh… ran a little.” 

You grimaced, and Jeno tried to casually sniff at his slightly sweaty clothes. It’s not that bad. “I still don’t understand why you won’t let me drive you to school. You’re literally next door.”

“I don’t know,” He answered, rolling his eyes, “Maybe it’s because when it comes to that truck, you are absolutely insane. You won’t even let me drink water in that thing.”

The truck in question, a faded red 1998 Chevrolet S-10, had been your gift to yourself for your 17th birthday. You’d spent two summers saving up to buy yourself a truck, and that was what you were able to get for what you had. To say it was a huge piece of junk on wheels was an understatement. 

The thing smelled like mothballs no matter how many air fresheners you bought it, the engine sounded like an old man having a coughing fit, and there was a very suspicious stain in the backseat that wouldn’t go away no matter how many times you scrubbed it. But for some reason, you treated it like it was your own baby. The amount of times you’d yelled at Jaemin for trying to put his feet on the dashboard was too high to count.

You mirrored his movement, eyes rolling as you sighed. “At least let me drive you home after school today. Maybe you can stay and we can finally watch Blade Runner.”

You’d been trying to get him to watch the film for almost a month now, begging and pleading because you insisted that he’d love it. He offered an awkward stare, before opening his backpack and pulling out a notebook. “Can’t,” He mumbled, “I’m headed into Manhattan. I have my internship afterwards.”

“Oh, yeah,” You said nonchalantly, eyebrows shooting up as you remembered, “Park Industries.” 

He was about to reply when Mrs. Baker, the chemistry teacher, finally entered. She’d been working at SMHS for 30 years and had never, apparently, been nice, if his Aunt Sunny’s stories were anything to go by. However, she had apparently always spoken as if she smoked two packs a day. She was rambling about the importance of making the most of senior year academically, adult responsibilities, college, and whatnot. You and Jeno exchanged glances often throughout the monologue, hoping it would end soon. 

“Enough of that,” She said after what seemed like an eternity, “Everyone quiet down, I’m going to call roll.”

Names were quickly called, and Jeno was ready to pull out a pencil and start working with you until Mrs Baker demanded a switch in seats, beginning to call on random names in an effort to deter everyone from speaking. 

"Please not with Choi, please not with Choi," Jeno muttered under his breath, glancing warily at San, who was staring ahead, looking bored. 

San had had it out for Jeno ever since day one, in first grade. For some reason, everything Jeno did seemed to annoy the other boy. He wasn't funny enough, or too nerdy, or too quiet. Jeno was always too much or too little for him. 

You touched his forearm, and he looked towards you. 

“You’ll be fine,” You said softly, trying not to alert the teacher, “You’re not gonna get paired up with him, and you can take it to the office if you need to.” “Yeah, because I’m sure Coach Peralta would be thrilled if someone tried to get his precious midfielder in trouble.”

“Choi, San,” Mrs Baker’s voice rang throughout the room, and Jeno braced himself for the worst, eyebrows furrowing with worry. 

“You’ll be sitting with… L/N, Y/N.” 

Jeno’s shoulders slumped, but your face remained impassive. You picked up your stuff, and pouted silently at Jeno in apology, before making your way to the front. 

“Lee, Jeno,” Mrs Baker called a few minutes later, “You’ll be sitting with Jang, Yeeun.”

He breathed out a sigh of relief. Yeeun is nice, Jeno thought to himself, I could sit with Yeeun. She wasn’t part of his main friend group, but he had tutored her in math during sophomore year in exchange for her helping him with Spanish, and they’d been pretty friendly ever since. 

“Hey,” Yeeun greeted as Jeno sat down, and Jeno smiled at her. 

“Remember, these will be your assigned lab partners for the rest of the semester. No changes, no exceptions.” Mrs. Baker sat down at her desk, before beginning to talk about something Jeno didn’t really pay attention to.

You exchanged glances with Jeno, and he gave you a look of sympathy as you gestured at San with your eyes. San was talking to you about something—probably bragging about some soccer achievement—but you weren’t paying him much attention. Jeno swallowed something growing in his throat as he looked at how your hair looked today. 

It was nothing relatively new, the same hairstyle you used on most days. But still, there was a bit of a shine to it. He wondered vaguely if you had changed your shampoo, the other day you’d been complaining about how itchy your normal shampoo made your scalp—

“You still haven’t told her about how you feel?” Yeeun asked quietly, and Jeno’s head snapped back to look at her, eyes wide.

“W-what? Me. Like Y/N…” He laughed nervously, trying to keep his voice down. He scratched the back of his head, avoiding Yeeun’s accusatory stare. “You’re hilarious, Yeeun. Tell another one.”

Yeeun shook her head. “You’d better hurry before someone else snatches her up, Jen. She’s not gonna wait around for you forever.”

 “I don’t like her, Yeeun.” 

“Keep telling yourself that.”

“Hey! Jeno Lee!”

“Hey! Jaemin Na! What do you want!” Jeno answered as he sat down, mimicking Jaemin’s tone next to him.

“Well, for starters, a million dollars, and second, a date with Yiren Wang, but I doubt you can help me with either of those, so...”

Jeno glanced at the rest of the table. Along with Jaemin, Mark,  Renjun, Donghyuck, and you were watching the interaction between the pair. “Where are the munchkins?” Jeno asked, noticing Chenle and Jisung’s absence. No one could really call them munchkins anymore. That nickname dated back to middle school, before the two underclassmen had gone through growth spurts.

“Eh, they should be here soon,” Renjun said, chewing on a french fry, “How’s your day been?”

“Pretty good so far, I guess. I got AP Calc with Mr. Washington later, though. That man wants me dead.”

You rolled your eyes. “He doesn’t want you dead. I’m telling you, you and Hyuck have been spending way too much time together. You’re being more dramatic than usual and Hyuck’s being more… weird than usual.”

“And just what is so weird about being enthusiastic about senior year, Y/N?” Donghyuck asked, shaking his head, “It’s our last year in this hellhole, I’m excited that we’re finally getting out of here. And besides—”

“Please don’t bring up the fact that you’re abandoning us next year.” Chenle seemingly appeared out of nowhere, sitting next to Renjun, Jisung following quickly behind him.

“Hi, Sungie,” You said with a smile, and Jisung smiled back. “Hi, Y/N.”

“What were you saying, Hyuck?” Jaemin looked at Donghyuck, who had taken the quick interaction as an opportunity to take a bite of his sandwich. His wide eyes darted to the slim boy, cheeks stuffed with chicken. 

“Oh,” He replied after swallowing, “This is gonna be my year. I’m getting male lead for the winter musical and no one is gonna stop me.”

“Do you even know what musical you guys are doing yet?” Mark asked, “What if it’s like… Shrek?”

Jisung made a face. “There’s a Shrek musical?”

Mark nodded, and Renjun laughed.

“I don’t know about male lead, if it’s Shrek. You should try out for Donkey,” The Chinese boy joked, “With those front teeth, you’re a shoo-in.”

The entire table was silent for a moment, before snorts and chortles started pouring out from everyone except Donghyuck.

“Fuck you, Huang.” 

Renjun flashed the friendliest smile he could muster. “Not if you paid me a million dollars.”

The subject remained on extracurriculars, everyone in your group except for Chenle and Jisung now wary of college applications. Donghyuck had been in theater ever since middle school, Renjun was in the robotics club and the debate team with Jaemin, who was also in the student council. Mark was on the math team with Jeno, and you had founded the film club. 

"You're not gonna believe who asked to sign up for film," You huffed, looking kind of confused. The rest of the table looked at you expectantly, and you pursed your lips, almost as if you were trying not to laugh.

"San Choi."

Renjun scoffed. Jaemin raised his eyebrows before letting out a single, humorless laugh. Jeno made a face, poking his plastic fork at you. 

"What is San Choi doing asking to sign up for film?"

"Fuck if I know. He said he needed one more extracurricular if he wanted to get into some college in Florida and he liked going to the movies, so he wanted to try out film."

Mark rolled his eyes. "I swear there's nothing in that guy's head but hot gas. It blows my mind."

"He's a dick," Chenle grumbled, "I'm still not over how he and Wooyoung taped Jisung to the flagpole last year."

Jisung scowled. "I thought we agreed to never bring that up again."

“Do you think they’ll finally calm the fuck down this year?” Jaemin wondered, looking wistful.

You took a sip of your coke and shook your head. “Doubt it. They’re not the hateful eight for a reason.”

The mood at the table turned tense, until Jaemin frowned at his french fries, before sighing and clapping his hands together dramatically. “I would like to hear,” He mused, “About the nuance that theatre gives the cinematic masterpiece that is Shrek when converted into musical form.”

Donghyuck beamed. “Oh, it’s amazing. You see…”

If it was difficult to get Donghyuck to stop talking in general, it was impossible when it was about theater.

The conversation continued on until the bell rang, and the eight of you had to go your separate ways. Jaemin and Jeno had the same class, so they both walked together down a relatively calm hallway. Jaemin looked both ways, before finally lowering his voice. 

“So, you’re going to see Mr. Park today?”

Jeno nodded, looking down at his shoes. “He said he wanted to give me an assignment. Says there’s something big going on.”

Jaemin’s eyes lit up with curiosity. “Did he say what kind of something?” 

Jeno shook his head, pouting slightly. “I’ll let you know tomorrow.” 

Once school was out, Jeno was getting ready to get onto the subway once again, this time heading towards Midtown. It was only day one and, as Jeno had predicted, Mr. Washington probably was out to get him, because he’d swamped the class with homework.

As he left the school, he spotted you in the parking lot, leaning against your car door, texting someone. He glanced at his phone. He still had plenty of time, he figured. He walked over to you, and when you looked up, you smiled. 

“Hey!” Your voice had that signature tone of enthusiasm to it, and Jeno smiled back immediately. 

“Hello,” He sing-songed. “So, I was thinking… are you free on Friday night?”

You looked somewhere above his head, furrowing your eyebrows before you perked up again and nodded. “Yep! Why?”

“I’m free after nine. Maybe then I could come over to your house? So I can finally get you to stop harassing me about Blade Runner.”

You grinned, pumping your fists enthusiastically. “Hell yes,” You answered, “Do you want me to get like, some frozen pizzas or something?” 

“Pizza sounds good,” He said. “Who are you even waiting for?” 

You made a face that made it seem as if you’d just gotten a whiff of rotten milk. “Well—”

Your response was interrupted when the school doors slammed open, and eight figures poured out, carrying themselves with confidence Jeno both envied and despised. He frowned, trying not to react at their loud whooping and laughing. The Hateful Eight.

“Oh.” Jeno averted his gaze, meeting your eyes again.

“Yeah. If you don’t hear from me later it’s because I jumped out of my truck because I don’t wanna work with—”

“Well, hello, gorgeous!” San’s voice filled the parking lot, and Jeno took a deep breath. Your mouth stretched into a tight-lipped smile at the unwanted ‘compliment’. 

“Hey, San.” Your friendly passive aggressive tone almost made Jeno smile. “I’ve been waiting here for like, fifteen minutes. You could have just given me your number and asked me to send you pictures of my notes, you know.”

He shrugged, turning his body so that his back was turned to Jeno. “Sorry, babe. Coach wanted to talk to us about the upcoming season. When he gets going, it’s hard to get him to stop. And besides, where’s the fun in just asking for pictures when I could come here, talk to you, and take the pictures myself?”

You didn’t respond, but rather pulled out your backpack and began digging through it. When you pulled out your notebook, you handed it to San, who flashed a wink at you. You barely held back a gag. 

“Thanks, Y/N. I’ll just be a minute.” 

He walked over to the hood of your truck, and just as you were about to continue your conversation, two figures slung their arms around both of Jeno’s shoulders, causing him to flinch. 

Out of the fifteen soccer players on the team, San and his best friends—seven of them, to be precise—were the worst. The others were pretty nice. But right now, seeing two of those seven surround your best friend made you uneasy. 

Wooyoung was loud. He was also a temperamental brat. His dad owned three used car dealerships over in Brooklyn, so naturally, he thought he owned the entire world. He wasn’t someone who would get too physical in fights, like San, or Jongho, or Yeosang. But when he was angry, he could easily get you to jump into the stratosphere by yelling at you once. Over the years, he’d made several teaching assistants and substitute teachers cry, only getting let off with a slap on the wrist every time. 

 Yunho was terrifying for completely different reasons. He was friendly, but a little too friendly to the people he wanted to control. He could read people like books and could easily manipulate whoever he wanted. But he wasn’t afraid of getting physical either, especially not when he was built like a goddamn Power Rangers Megazord. 

All in all, they definitely weren't anyone you wanted near you, near your friends. Especially considering how much they had it out for your friends. 

"Hey, buddy," Yunho said, looking down at Jeno with a wide smile. "How was summer vacation?"

Jeno gnawed on the side of his cheek as he considered his answer. "Um, it was okay." He looked at you to catch your eyes darting between San, Yunho and Wooyoung, like you were analyzing the situation. "I kinda stayed in and played video games most of the t—"

"Cool, cool," Yunho answered, carding his free hand through his bleach blond hair. "What about you, Woo?"

"Oh, dude, it was so cool," He bragged, "I went to Brazil for like, a month. I went clubbing with Instagram models and shit, it was wild."

You stared at him as he patted Jeno on the back rather aggressively. "Where did you go? Have you ever even left New York?" 

You knew the answer. Only a few times when the debate team went to compete in different states. Jeno spoke up again. "Well, yeah a few t—"

"Doubt it," Yunho scoffed. He craned his head back. "San, you done yet?"

"Almost!" San answered. Yunho turned to face you, and for some reason his smile seemed genuinely kind. “What about you, Y/N?”

You never understood why it was that the soccer team hated your entire friend group, but seemed to tolerate you. It made no sense.

So you shrugged. “Not a lot, I guess. Did my summer reading. Hung out with my friends.” You flashed a reassuring smile at Jeno. “Right, Jen?”

Immediately, he relaxed a little bit. “Yeah.”

San appeared from behind Yunho, Jeno and Wooyoung. “Thanks, Y/N. I owe you one.”

You waved your hand, wanting them to get rid of them quickly. “Don’t mention it. But next time, just text me for my notes. I have to get to work, so…”

“Oh! My bad,” He answered with fake remorse, before unlocking his phone and handing it over to you. “Here. For next time.”

You stifled a deep sigh, punching in the numbers hesitantly. “Just for homework, got it?”

San took his phone back, holding a hand over his heart and raised his head. “On a gentleman's honor,” He declared, and you bit back a laugh. Jeno looked like he was going to hurl.

“San!” The team captain—Hongjoong—called from a few feet away, “Are you guys done yet or what?”

“Coming!” San yelled back.

“Alright, we’ll let you go,” Wooyoung said, patting Jeno on the back again, a bit too harsh for comfort. “Bye, Y/N! See you around.”

 The three of them stalked off, leaving you and a very frazzled Jeno. “Dicks,” You muttered once they were out of earshot. “You good?”

Jeno shook his head, waving his hand dismissively. “I’ll be fine.”

You tilted your head, frowning. “Jeno—”

“I gotta go,” He said quickly. “I’ll see you later?”

You nodded, offering a lopsided smile. “Yeah. Be careful!” 

Jeno offered a deep bow, fluttering his eyelashes. “On a gentleman’s honor,” He sighed, adding a very bad British accent to it. You burst out laughing, eyes squeezing shut.

You didn’t catch the way Jeno’s shoulders relaxed at the sound.

I want you to know now

Baby, it could go down

I don’t wanna talk about it

Baby, let’s just go now

The train ride into Midtown didn’t take too long. He spent it digging through his backpack for his Park Industries lanyard, listening to music and thinking about you.

When you talk right to me 

You gon’ have to do me

Every time you think you’re leaving 

You running back to me

You’d met Jeno when you were six. Truth be told, he didn’t really remember. For him it was like you weren’t there at one point and by the time you were, you were thicker than thieves. It was a difficult time for him. He had just lost both of his parents, and was moving in with his Aunt Sunny and his Uncle Jinki, who were barely out of college at the time. He’d had to move to a new school and basically restart his entire life. You were the first sense of stability in his life for months. 

Your mom lived next to his aunt and uncle. So naturally, you went to the same school and went on the same bus. And somewhere along the way, you two clicked. You’d introduced him to Renjun, Jaemin and Donghyuck. You were there to comfort him whenever he got pushed off the slide by San or Wooyoung. 

He was there for you when your stepdad and stepbrother moved in when you were nine and you weren’t sure how to deal with it. He was there when your mom died when you were thirteen. He’d introduced you and your friends to Mark, Chenle and Jisung. 

And you were there when his Uncle Jinki got killed when he was fifteen. And because fate had an especially cruel sense of irony, it had happened on a Tuesday. You didn’t know, but at the time, he had just gotten his powers. Your comfort and words unknowingly had a secondary effect: he made the decision to use them for good, and… well. The rest was history. 

Can we just talk? Can we just talk?

Talk about where we're goin'

Before we get lost, lend me your thoughts

Can't get what we want without knowin'

Just like when he met you, he didn’t recall an exact moment where he realized he’d fallen in love with you. He knew there was a world where he loved you, but wasn’t in love with you. And he knew that there was a world here he’d fallen in love with you—he was living in that world now. He realized he was living in that world maybe when he was sixteen, and had been stuck in it ever since. 

You were it for him. He’d had crushes before. But never something like this, where he was so aware of your presence around him. It wasn’t the way he was hyper aware of someone like San, or like Yunho or Jongho. It wasn’t out of anxiety or fear, where a shift in mood activated his fight or flight. He was aware of you in a way that only people who truly know each other do, where he could pick up on subtle changes in your behavior, but not out of fear. Rather, out of a desire to take care of you and to not have you worry about anything. 

I've never felt like this before

I apologize if I'm movin' too far

Can we just talk? Can we just talk?

Figure out where we're goin'...

As the train rolled into the station that was a fifteen minute walk from Park Tower, Jeno put away his headphones and took a deep breath.

The “Jeno Tingle” as his Aunt Sunny called it—Jeno hated the term—had taken him a few years to gain control of. And while he could never truly turn it off, he could at least tune it out enough to be more at ease. The only time he did so was at school or when he was studying, just because he wanted to feel normal, and because being aware of everything going on around him really messed with his concentration. 

Jaemin didn’t understand. “If I was able to tell whenever Seonghwa was behind me because he wanted to scare me into doing his chemistry homework, I’d never turn that shit off,” He’d said once. But truthfully, Jeno didn’t really care. Because while yes, he was still slightly scared of the “hateful eight”, he knew damn well that if things got to be too much, he could kick their asses if he wanted to. 

It was his friends he worried about. He couldn’t be around them 24/7. You, not so much. He knew you knew how to fight. Even worse, he knew that San had the hots for you so you were off limits to the rest of them, be it bullying or flirting. But for everyone else… Well. He couldn’t hover over them like some guardian angel. 

Now that the “Jeno Tingle” was on, it allowed him to sense everyone within a certain range around him. He could zero in on certain sounds with ease, and his reflexes became heightened. Halfway on his walk up Park Avenue, he jumped away from a chihuahua on its leash a second before it started barking at him.

When he entered the first floor lobby of the Park Building, he scoured the crowd of employees and visitors until he landed on one familiar face. 

He'd met Doyoung about a year after his dad started dating your mom. Things between your parents were starting to get serious, and Doyoung was four years older than you were. When they moved into your house, Doyoung as your new stepbrother became the de facto chaperone and babysitter. If you wanted to go to the mall with Jeno, he had to take you. Every time you dragged Jeno to the movies, Doyoung had to go also. 

To an extent, it wasn't that bad. Doyoung was cool, and he was smart—he was the one who got Jeno interested in computers and chemistry. He graduated high school at 16, and finished his bachelor's degree at 19. He'd also interned at Park Industries, and secured a job there almost immediately after college. 

To an extent, he was the whole reason Mr. Park knew who he was, because of one incident. It was relatively soon after he started the whole vigilante thing. Jeno, still figuring out how to maneuver on the webs that shot out of his wrists, had accidentally crashed into your backyard late at night, when only Doyoung was awake. He was standing in the back door while he was waiting for his dog to finish peeing. 

Initially, the older boy had freaked out, thinking that it was a burglar or something. When he yelled out that his dad was a cop and was asleep in the house, Jeno panicked, and pulled off his mask, holding up his hands.

“Woah, woahwoahwoah! Doyoung! It’s me, it’s me!” 

Doyoung’s eyes had widened to the size of saucers, paying no mind to the dog as it sauntered up to Jeno, before turning onto its back in a request for belly rubs.

"You're the spider guy everyone's been talking about!?"

"Spider man," Jeno had answered, voice cracking as he dusted himself off. He cringed at the sound of his voice. "...and yes."

Of course, his cover was blown, and he'd begged Doyoung not to tell anyone, especially not you. And while Doyoung had promised not to tell you, it didn't stop him from telling his boss. 

That had been almost three years ago now. The rest was history, and after that Jeno didn’t have to run around in bright red sweatpants and dollar store swimming goggles. Now, he had a nanotech suit that allowed him to activate protocols of the suit through voice commands using something top-secret Mr. Park called D.R.E.A.M technology. Direct Response Engaged As Machine—yeah, Jeno didn’t get it either. 

Doyoung offered Jeno a smile as he escorted Jeno past security, showing them his employee clearance pass. "Hey. How have you been?"

Jeno shrugged, recounting his day in minor detail as he was led into an elevator labeled authorized personnel only. 

This elevator only went up to the 35th floor, seeing as everything past that was only cleared for a certain list of people approved by Mr. Park and his security team, and everything past the 90th floor were Mr. Park's private living quarters. 

Now, as Doyoung led him to another elevator to head up to the 85th floor, which was always where Jeno got to meet with Mr. Park—which wasn't often, maybe once or twice a year—he wondered where he would be if he hadn’t surprised Doyoung that night. He would probably still be using those ugly red sweatpants as part of his disguise.

"How's Y/N?" Doyoung asked. 

"Oh, she seems okay. That guy who hates me keeps coming onto her though. He's a huge douchebag."

Doyoung frowned. "He's not harassing her, is he? Because if he is—"

"He just won't stop flirting, even though she clearly isn't interested," Jeno said bitterly, "He isn't physical or anything. Trust me, it wouldn't end well for him if he was."

Doyoung wasn't quite sure how to respond to the younger boy's dark tone. He looked down, clearing his throat awkwardly.

“So… how’s the apartment?” Jeno asked. Doyoung perked up instantly.

“Oh, now that Taeyong’s moved in and did his interior design thing, it looks great. He’s really done a great job at it.”

“When am I gonna meet this guy? He sounds cool.”

“He’s really cool,” Doyoung hummed, cheeks heating up. “Things are getting really serious.”

Jeno smiled at how flustered Doyoung, who was normally so level headed and calm, became at the mention of his boyfriend.

“You guys sound like a really good couple,” He said. Doyoung chuckled, waving his hand. “Oh, well—” 

 The elevator dinged, and Doyoung sighed. “I’ll tell you later. C’mon.”

The hallway it opened up to was lined with pictures of the company's history, starting from pictures of black and white of people in vintage clothing, to pictures in sepia tones to finally pictures of the current CEO at locations around the world: Chanyeol Park.

Jeno walked behind Doyoung as he led him down the hallway, before stopping in front of a door, and a friendly looking man in a suit. 

Junmyeon was a part of Chanyeol’s Security and Intelligence team, and often sat in on these meetings with Jeno. The chain of contact also included him. If Jeno couldn’t contact Doyoung (which rarely happened), he’d contact Junmyeon. And if he couldn’t contact either of them, or it was an emergency, only then could he contact Chanyeol. So far, that had only happened once.

"Hey, Junmyeon," Doyoung said, "Mr. Park's 4:30 is here." 

Junmyeon nodded, before smiling at Jeno and giving him a wave. "Hey, kid."

Jeno offered an awkward grin. "Hi, Mr. Kim."

Junmyeon rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Kid, you're making me feel ancient. I've told you a million times, just call me Junmyeon."

Jeno shuffled awkwardly, before nodding at the older man, watching as he pressed a button on his earpiece. "Hey, Yeol. Jeno's here."

The muffled response was barely heard, but Jeno automatically understood what Mr. Park said. Junmyeon turned to open the door, and let the pair inside. The “office”—if it could even be called that—opened up to more of a lounge, than anything. A wall of glass overlooked the Manhattan skyline, but Jeno knew that from the outside it looked only like a wall, due to camouflage technology developed by Mr. Park himself. As Doyoung and Junmyeon stayed back, closer to the door, Jeno took a few steps toward the man in question.

Chanyeol was standing a few feet in front of the glass window, working on a holographic model of a new piece of tech. His face was turned downward in a concentrated frown. He barely spared the teenager a glance as he said fondly, “Hey, kid.”

Jeno was used to this. Chanyeol wasn’t cold per se, but he wasn’t warm at all. He knew that Chanyeol cared about him, even if he didn’t really show it in a conventional way. Chanyeol was a very… eccentric man, so he had his own way of saying and doing things. 

“Hi, Mr. Park. Um… you wanted to talk to me?”

“Yep! Needed some help from the friendly neighborhood Spiderman… A little birdie told me about something going on in Queens.”

“Queens?” Jeno asked, gripping the straps of his backpack. “You mean, other than the usual stuff?”

“Other than the usual stuff,” Chanyeol repeated, nodding. With a wave of his hand, the hologram disappeared, and another one appeared in its place. This time, instead of a 3D model, a few pictures and another, smaller 3D model appeared. Chanyeol turned to face him, frown deepening. He pointed at the model—a long, shiny oval-shaped purple stone. It reminded Jeno of an amethyst, but instead of turning white at the base, it turned to an iridescent jade tone. “You know what this is, right?”

Jeno nodded, remembering seeing the rocks all over the news when he was a kid. “That’s… that’s a Chitauri stone. From the invasion a few years back.”

Chanyeol nodded, standing up straight. “These stones have the potential to power weapons with no need to recharge, or change them out. They’re an infinite, extremely strong power source, Jeno, and in the wrong hands can be very dangerous.”

Jeno took a deep breath, feeling his stomach sink slowly. Chanyeol sighed. “Cleanup of the city after the invasion was long, and difficult, and obviously the government and the company weren’t able to get everything. It caused a black market to pop up. Now, the NYPD has been investigating it for years, but they have their limits… that’s where you come in.”

“M-me, Mr. Park?”

Chanyeol gave him a crooked, reassuring smile. He pointed at one of the pictures, which was of a man who most likely didn’t know he was photographed. He was walking somewhere, face looking angry and stern.

“You don’t know who this is, right?”

Jeno shook his head, and Chanyeol turned his head to nod at Junmyeon. “You’re up, tough guy.”

Junmyeon huffed, before walking up to Jeno. He put his hand on Jeno’s shoulder as if he could tell that he was growing anxious. 

“Jeno, that’s Henry Duke. From what we understand on the intel team, he’s one of the cornerstones of the alien tech black market. He’s one of the top dogs. From what we understand, he likes to be present for all major negotiations that his group makes. A source of ours told us that there’s going to be a negotiation on Friday night not too far away from LaGuardia. We want you to go out there and just get a feel of what’s going on.”

“Just watch them, right?” Jeno looked at Junmyeon, who patted his back reassuringly. “Just watch. Don’t engage unless you absolutely have to.”

“You can do that, right?” Chanyeol said quietly, crossing his arms. “Because if not, then it’s totally—”

“Yeah, of course I can! Friday—shit, Friday. At what time are they supposed to be meeting up?”

Junmyeon furrowed his eyebrows, before answering, “Around eight or nine.”

Jeno bit his lip, thinking about the promise he’d made to you. It would just have to wait, he supposed. Chanyeol rarely asked anything this big of him.

“Alright,” Jeno agreed, “I’ll do it.”

Chanyeol grinned, clapping his hands together. 

“Perfect.” 

They discussed logistics briefly after. Doyoung would be on call with Jeno, his custom made suit allowing them to communicate, letting Doyoung see everything Jeno was seeing via a video feed coming from the ultra thin lenses placed in the white eye sockets of the mask. Doyoung would then report to Junmyeon, who would report to Chanyeol, who would probably report to the FBI. Jeno was only to engage if absolutely necessary.

After that, he set out on patrol. He usually found some discreet place to hide his backpack, and then went all over Queens looking for trouble, quite literally. Around five thirty, he stopped a robbery in Murray Hill. Then, around seven, he stopped a man from stealing a woman’s purse in Elmhurst. Nothing too much.

Around eight, he finally headed home, this time dressed normally, using the train and not web fluid. He walked home, tired, knowing that he’d immediately have to do that cursed AP calc homework. When he got home, he opened his backpack pocket to look for his keys, rummaging between his notebooks and other things. 

Shuffling through his stuff, he furrowed his eyebrows as he couldn’t find them. Thinking back, he remembered this morning, when he’d left in a rush… and had very obviously left his keys on his desk.

“Shit,” He muttered to himself. He rubbed his eyes tiredly, remembering that Aunt Sunny had said she’d be working overtime tonight. He could very easily sneak in through his window, but he was pretty sure he’d locked it the night before, and it was too early. People’s lights were still on—anyone could see him if they just looked up, and then he would be screwed. 

Huffing and zipping his backpack up, he marched up to your house, before ringing the doorbell. He shifted his weight back and forth, from his heels to the balls of his feet, until the door opened up. A familiar man with a face just like Doyoung's, but older, with graying hair and arms scarred and muscled from years of working on the police force stood in the doorway.

“Jeno?” Your dad offered him a warm smile. “Hey, kiddo, what’s up?”

“Hi, Mr. Kim,” Jeno said, smiling back. He shifted nervously. “I, um… I left my keys in my room this morning, and my aunt’s working late, so… could I… maybe wait here? Y/N’s home, right?” 

The man nodded. “Of course, of course. Come in!” 

Your dad had always been super friendly, even from the day Jeno had first met him. You'd told Jeno once that he was the only real father figure you'd ever had. Once everything settled after him and your mom got married, you started calling him dad altogether. And since you and Jeno were practically glued at the hip, he got along with your dad almost as well as you did.

“Okay.” Jeno stepped in and set down his backpack at the base of the coat rack next to the door, as he’d done a million times before. Jeno stepped into the living room, and sat down on the couch. He folded his hands in his lap and looked up at your dad.

"I think Y/N's in the shower, but she should be done soon. You can just wait here if you want… have you eaten anything yet?”

“Uh, I had a granola bar on the train, but that’s it.”

“We have some leftover pasta here, if you want—”

“Thanks, Mr. Kim, really! I’m fine.”

Your dad nodded, sitting down on his recliner. “So, have you started your college list, yet? Y/N said you wanted to stay here in New York.”

Jeno nodded, pushing some hair out of his face. “Well, yeah. It would make things a lot easier, I think. I might want to apply to NYU, but I think I’ll just go to community college, or something.”

Your dad shook his head. “You’re a pretty smart kid, Jeno. I think you could get into Columbia if you set out to. Plus, Chanyeol Park doesn’t give out internships to anybody. That’s your secret weapon.”

Jeno smiled. “Well, you’ve got a point.” 

Your dad gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder. “Come on, trying won’t hurt!” Your dad made a face, and then rubbed his knuckles. “Have you been working out? Those muscles weren’t there the last time I did that.”

Jeno laughed, trying to think of an excuse. “Oh, a little bit? The house needed some fixing up over the summer, and I wanted to help Aunt Sunny, so…”

“Jeno?” 

He turned immediately, eyes landing on you at the base of the staircase. You’d changed into an old t-shirt and pajama pants. Your hair was slightly damp. “What are you doing here?” You asked, with a curious smile.

His shoulders slumped, and he grinned sheepishly. “Terrible Tuesday strikes again. I forgot my keys.”

You grimaced. “Brutal, dude. You wanna come up?” Your eyes moved to your dad. “Or am I interrupting guy time?”

“Oh, definitely,” Jeno answered, playing along. He took a cocky tone as he rested his hands on the back of his neck. “Your dad was just telling me about how much the NYPD needs me.” 

You stifled a laugh. You dad seemed to be holding back a laugh too. "Hey, you're joking, but if you keep working out like that, and if by some impossible chance, the college thing doesn't work out… We might just be able to catch Spiderman if we finally got some brain cells on the force."

"Ugh, dad," You groaned, unaware of Jeno's gut twisting, "Not again."

"Yeah, Mr. Kim," Jeno said, scratching the back of his head, "He's not that bad."

Your dad shook his head. "Look, I don't hate the guy. In all honesty, crime rates have dropped since he started doing his thing. But he thinks he's above the law, and his methods can be a bit… unorthodox sometimes. He’s been undermining us for years and his tech is state of the art. Makes me wonder about what we should do to modernize the force."

Jeno looked downward, wondering what would happen if your dad knew the truth.

"Well, I guess we may just never find out. Jeno'd make a horrible cop. He couldn't hurt a fly if you paid him a million dollars."

But you came to the rescue as you grabbed his backpack, and soon enough he was up the stairs with you, heading into your bedroom, laughing to yourselves when you heard your dad jokingly call out, "Fifteen inch distance, you two! Door stays open!"

He sat on your desk chair while you lay on your bed, limbs splaying out. 

"So you left your keys."

Jeno groaned. "Don't remind me. I was in such a rush to leave, that I… I forgot. I'm so stupid."

You rolled your eyes, rolling over onto your stomach to look at him. "You're not stupid, Jen. You made an honest mistake because you were in a hurry." 

Standing up, you walked over to him and leaned against the desk. "Seriously, Jeno. What's gotten into you, lately? You freak out about every little thing. It's starting to worry me." 

Jeno shook his head. "I don't know," He admitted. "I think I'm just scared about how after this year, everything changes. Renjun’s headed upstate. Jaemin’s going to Boston. You want to go to LA. I think Hyuck and I are the only ones who want to stay here. I just… I don't want things to change." 

Your expression turned sad as he continued. "Everyone is expecting great things from me. You're smart, Jeno. You can get into an Ivy. Or, you have a Park internship, you'll be fine. What if I don't want things to be fine? What if I want them to just stay the same?"

You stayed silent for a few moments, trying to think of what to say. Jeno was relatively level headed for someone your age, but even he had moments of doubt and panic. It made moments like these difficult.  You sighed before grabbing him by the hand. Wordlessly, you tugged him over to the bed, sitting him down and leaning your head on his shoulder. He could feel the dampness in your hair seeping slowly into his shirt.

"I guess I understand what you mean," You mumbled, trying to reason with him, "But come on. You wouldn't really want everything to stay the same. You can't tell me you want to keep getting AP calc homework. And I definitely doubt that you'd want to have your ass kicked by San for the rest of your life."

Jeno looked at the floor. "You're right. But you know that's not what I mean—"

"I know," You huffed, "I'm just saying. Change… it's inevitable. The longer you fight it, the harder it is."

Jeno nodded. "This sucks."

"It does," You agreed, taking his hand in yours. "But at least we have each other's backs, y'know?"

Something of a smile appeared on his face. You were so close to him, leaning on him, stroking his knuckles with your thumb. He hoped you couldn't hear his heart pounding in his chest. 

"We really do, huh?" His voice turned quiet, with a bit of a sleepy lull to it. He allowed his head to rest on yours. "You're so comfortable. Can I like, use you as a pillow for the rest of my life?"

You giggled. "I'll consider it on two conditions."

"Oh, you'll consider. How generous of you."

"Yes, I'll consider. Now, do you wanna hear my terms or not?" 

Jeno raised an eyebrow. "Go ahead," He said, before putting on his best Marlon Brando voice, "Make me an offer I can't refuse."

Snorting, you lifted your head off of his. "Okay. One, you finish your calculus homework here before Sunny gets home."

He pursed his lips. "Okay, I could probably do that. What's the other one?"

"Let me drive you to school for the rest of the year." 

Jeno stared at you, and you nodded, eyes wide. "Trust me, Jen. You wouldn't need to wake up so early! And plus, you can't text the guy manning the subway asking him to give you five minutes because you need to find your keys."

Jeno gnawed on the inside of his cheek. You did have a point, and to be honest, he could probably refrain from putting his feet up on your dashboard.

"Deal." 

You grinned. "Awesome," You answered, before nodding towards his backpack. "Now get to work, Einstein."

The rest of the week wasn't that bad. Yes, you were absolutely batshit insane about your truck in the morning, but he soon realized he didn't really mind. Not when it allowed you both to spend some twenty extra minutes together in the mornings, and they were spent joking around and listening to your extremely varied playlist. 

On the other hand, he was saddled with more and more homework, greater and greater expectations. The looming threat of Friday's mission rolled around, and it made Jeno feel like time was passing much too slowly but also way too quickly. There was so much on his mind. He had chemistry with you on Thursdays in the afternoon, which also meant that San was there. Which also meant that sometimes, his heightened senses would pick up on San dropping a tacky pick up line which made Jeno want to punch him in the jaw.

Finally, finally, Friday afternoon rolled around. As he bid you goodbye and promised to see you later, he tried to ignore the feeling in his stomach. The feeling that something was about to go very, very wrong. He went out on patrol, ready for Doyoung to set up the call and tell him where he needed to go. It didn’t help that there wasn’t a lot for him to do that day. Crime had seemed to slow down altogether. 

When the time finally came, and the sun was beginning to set, Doyoung rang in at about 7, telling him the location. An old warehouse near LaGuardia airport, hidden from prying eyes. Jeno made his way to the place, avoiding security cameras Doyoung warned him about, and found a place to hide. There was a hole in the warehouse roof, which allowed him to peer right into the building without being seen. It was about thirty feet from the ground.

“Why is it always old, abandoned warehouses?” Jeno grumbled. He heard Doyoung laugh quietly. 

“Beats me,” Doyoung sighed. 

And so they waited. Jeno wondered vaguely if you were still working. He wasn’t sure. They made time talking quietly, until a black SUV rolled into the warehouse. “Woah, Doyoung,” He murmured, “Hold up.”

Jeno leaned forward, but quickly realized he probably wouldn’t be able to hear what was being said. “D.R.E.A.M, activate Heightened Intelligence Protocol.”

Activating Heightened Intelligence Protocol.

The protocol allowed Jeno to use the lenses over his eyes to zoom in on specific targets, as well as use a microphone embedded in the suit to pick up audio from far away and feed it directly into his ears.

He watched as three figures got out of the car, a fourth remaining in the driver’s seat. The trio stood in front of the car, and Jeno recognized the man in the middle as the man Junmyeon had been talking about.

“Alright, there’s Henry Duke,” He said, “The one in the middle.”

 “Got it,” Doyoung replied, sounding satisfied. “Now all we have to do is wait for the other party.”

“Did Junmyeon’s sources say anything about who it would be?”

“No. They weren’t able to find that out. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Jeno’s eyes never left the man. “Do you think it’s something international?”

Doyoung sighed. “I’m not sure. If it is international, then you need to be even more careful.”

“Got it. I think—Wait, here they come.” 

A second vehicle, this one another black SUV, rolled up not too far away from the first car. The lights turned off and the engine sputtered to a stop, and four men stepped out of the vehicle.

Jeno’s stomach dropped, and of its own accord, his mouth let loose a quiet, “What the fuck,” as he registered the person leading them. 

“What?” Doyoung asked, before realizing what—who—he was looking at. “...Is that my dad?”

“I think it is,” Jeno whispered, fingertips suddenly numb. Who was he kidding? They both knew who it was. 

“So,” One of the men next to your dad said, “You show us yours, we’ll show you ours?”

Henry Duke clapped his hands together with an impish grin. “I suppose. Reagan, get the case.”

One of the two men standing beside him started off toward the trunk of the car. “It caught me off guard when I heard that the force wanted to purchase these. Almost made me wonder if this was your attempt at a sting operation.”

“What made you change your mind?” Your dad asked. Jeno swallowed at how cold he sounded. This wasn’t your dad, and it didn’t seem like Officer Kim either. This was someone Jeno had never met before. 

“Honestly, Kim?” Duke raised an eyebrow, shrugging. “It was you. Your cooperativeness and willing to feed us information, as well as your… insurance agreement. And besides, you made a very interesting point when you said that the Avengers Initiative and Park’s alum Spiderman is ruining the way the law operates around here. That type of bitterness… hard to fake.”

Your dad huffed. “We’re fucking tired of it.”

The man leaning against the car your dad had stepped out of scoffed. “If this helps us catch the little asshole, then so be it.”

Jeno frowned. “I’m not little—”

“Jeno, shut up!” Doyoung snapped. 

“—Alright, then.” The man holding the briefcase—Reagan—clicked it open, as if it were a prize reveal on The Price is Right. Five guns, all modified to hold glowing Chitauri stones were placed carefully together side by side.

“You know the basics. No radiation. Keep it away from security scanners and x-rays. They will blow up. And second of all, these are at half the price, along with the promise from the chief of police that my business won’t be touched, and will only be distributed to officers in on the operation and have agreed to turn off their body cameras when they decide to use these weapons. Should this not be a sting operation, we’ll be back here to negotiate.”

Jeno leaned forward, watching anxiously.

“Yes, sir,” Your dad answered, nodding. “We have the money here.”

“Hand it over, then.”

That was when Jeno made his mistake. He leaned forward too much, and proceeded to fall right through the hole, bringing down some scraps of the roof with him. As he tumbled through the air, the zoom on his lenses caused him to grow dizzy as he had no idea what he was looking at. He caught himself before he could fall, clumsily commanding D.R.E.A.M to go back to turn off the current protocol. His vision returned to normal, and he swung up onto a rafter holding the warehouse up.

“So, we have company.” Duke didn’t sound as amused as he had before. His face turned into a sneer. “Get him.”

In less than a second, before Jeno could say anything, five guns were pointed directly at him. He managed to swing away before any bullets could hit him. 

“Jeno, get out of there now,” Doyoung ordered. 

“What about the guns?” Jeno asked, swinging to another rafter. “They know I’m here, I might as well get them before I go—”

“No! Jeno, listen to what I’m telling you. You’ve done more than enough, and you need to let it g—”

Your dad aimed, and a bullet fired right at Jeno’s chest. For a second, he forgot that the chest area of the suit was lined with bulletproof material. While it didn’t shoot into his chest, it ricocheted right off him, and since he was in motion, it somehow caused the bullet to bounce back in the direction in which it came. 

The wind was knocked out of Jeno, but it was nothing compared to watching the bullet land in the middle of your father’s chest. On the other line, he heard Doyoung yell, followed by the sound of something falling. And then, as he made his way back towards the hole he’d fallen out of, he couldn’t rip his eyes away from the body as it crumpled to the ground. 

The others around him scrambled to get back into their respective cars. Jeno was back on the roof now, trying not to hyperventilate. “I’m sorry,” He gasped, “Do—Doyoung, I-I’m sorry, I didn’t want to—”

“Jeno, you need to get out of there, now,” Doyoung said, voice raspy. “GO!” 

So he did, and Doyoung cut off the call once he was out of the vicinity. Jeno didn’t blame him. He swung across buildings, feeling numb as he looked for the apartment complex roof where he’d decided to hide his backpack.

When he finally did, he changed in a hurry, before slumping against the wall and forcing himself to take deep breaths. 

Doyoung’s dad—your dad—was dead. And it was all his fault. 

He cried on the way down the staircase. He cried on his way to the subway. The entire time, he ignored people’s stares. Suddenly everything was too loud, and if he met someone in the eyes he’d just about break down in the middle of the station. 

As he got onto the train, Jeno thought about all of the things your dad had done for you, and for Jeno. All the times he'd taken you both to Coney Island in the summer when you were younger. The year Pokemon Go came out he took the both of you driving around in his car so you and Jeno could catch as many Pokemon as you could. 

He’d formally adopted you when you were thirteen. You were his daughter in nearly every sense of the word, regardless of blood. And now he was dead, because of a stupid mistake that Jeno had made.

What would you say if you knew? He didn’t want to know. Checking the time on his phone, he saw he’d gotten a message from you just three minutes ago.

[8:36 PM]

y/n: lemme know when ur outside!! :)

“Fuck,” He murmured, wiping his eyes. He knew he needed to stop crying before he got to your house, and he had about ten minutes before he got to his stop, and then another five minute walk to the neighborhood. He focused on taking deep breaths and taking long swigs from his water bottle in the meantime, trying to tune out the sound of other people talking and the sound of the train on the rails.

The walk was the longest five minute walk he’d ever taken. The flashing lights of convenience stores did nothing to calm him down. As the stores in his peripheral vision began transitioning into suburban homes, he felt his heart speed up again. The constant movement as he walked meant he missed his phone vibrating in his backpack as you rang his number.

After what seemed like an eternity, two familiar houses came into his line of vision, and his shoulders slumped as he spotted you on your porch, looking small and teary, curled up into a little ball. In one hand, you were clutching your phone.

His stomach twisted as he put on a confused tone, even though he knew damn well that you knew. “...Y/N?”

You stood up, running to him and burying yourself into his chest, crumpling into his arms. You would have fell over if Jeno hadn’t held both of you up. 

“Jeno,” You sobbed, “You’re n-not go-onna believe it.”

He brought a hand up to caress your hair, holding back tears of his own as he asked a question he already knew the answer to.

“Y/N, what happened?”

taglist: @decembermoonskz @itsapapisongo @lenaluvs​ @crescentjen​

[dandelionflower]

(Some salt fic september)

Francois DuPont was an artistic school. With talented students varying from designers, to journalists, to DJs, to comic artists and writers. The art room of the school was always the busiest, the loudest, and the favorite room of the school.

So it would make sense for the school to have a yearly showcase. It was called a talent show once upon a time, but eventually the staff and students agreed that ‘talent show’ didn’t suit the talents the students were bringing to the table. Thus, the Francois DuPont showcase was born.

Students worked for months on their piece for the showcase. More than fifty percent of the works in the art room were pieces for the showcase.

It wasn’t mandatory by any means, but most students with a talent in the arts would participate. But with almost all the students participating and some having more than one piece to showcase, the show usually lasted a few days.

Lila, of course, didn’t know any of that so when asked if she was participating in the showcase in a few months, she grinned and said “Of course!”

Alya lit up. “Great! It’s going to be my first showcase too, and I want someone who knows what I’m going through. C’mon, we have to sign up.” And she dragged her into the halls.

Sign up? But it’s in three months. Lila shrugged and allowed herself to be pulled to the sign up sheets.

Alya immediately wrote her name underneath the ‘verbal’ column, putting a ‘journalism’ next to it.

Lila surveyed the options. The easiest thing to fake would probably be photography, so she marked her name under ‘media’ and wrote a ‘photography’ next to it.

“Ooh, photography? What do you take pictures of? Because I know Mari’s been looking for a partner to take pictures of her designs with her.”

Lila bit back a grimace. “Thanks, but I prefer to take pictures of...” Art? Buildings? “Nature. I find that taking pictures of people is narcissistic as a society.”

“Aren’t you a model?” A judgmental voice came from behind her.

“I- well-“ She stuttered.

“It’s completely different, Felix! Lila doesn’t think her photo shoots are art worthy, she’s just doing it as a job.” Alya snapped, throwing an arm out to almost shield Lila from the chill radiating from Felix’s entire person.

“Very well.” Felix stepped around the two and signed his name in perfect cursive beneath Lila’s name and walked away without another word.

“That guy gives me the creeps.” Alix remarked as she scratched her name under the ‘performance’ column, then the ‘piece of art that cannot be moved’ section.

“And he’s doing photography too! Don’t worry Lila, there’s no way he’s better than you.” Alya grabbed her arm reassuringly and began walking with her back to class.

“Yeah, right...” Lila held in a wince as she found her way back to her seat.

Surely photography can’t be that hard.

—

It was that hard.

Lila had waited one week before the showcase to start taking pictures on her phone. She walked to the park and snapped a few pictures, called it a day, and went home.

They were terrible. Blurry, ugly, terrible.

The next thing she tried was looking up stock images and photoshopping the watermark off.

She was awful at photoshop.

Finally, she resorted to her escape plan.

“Sorry, Alya. But I completely forgot that I’m volunteering at the elementary school all day on the day of the showcase, and I can’t just cancel on them. I’m so sorry.”

“Girl, it’s no problem! Marinette told me that the showcase is going to go on for four days. We’ll just reschedule your slot. It’s no problem at all.”

“Great.” She muttered through gritted teeth. “See you then.”

...crap.

She had only one plan now.

And it was risky.

—

Lila walked into class on Monday, prepared for her showcase.

She explained to Alya that when she explained what was going on to the leader of her organization, they gave her a rain check.

“I’m just so thankful.” She brushed away a tear. “I really wanted to make sure I could see everyone’s talents.”

“That’s so sweet!” Rose cooed. “I can’t wait to see your pictures either!”

“I just hope they correctly portray the beauty of my subject...” Lila pressed a hand to her chest in modesty.

“Students, I need all of the media students to come to the art classroom with your flash drives and cameras.” Miss Bustier put her phone down and smiled. “And anyone who paired with a media student for their talent please also join the students in the art room.”

Lila stood and gave everyone a hug. “Wish me luck!”

She noticed Sabrina stand as well and accept a half hearted hug from Chloe and a nod of support from Max. Juleka stood too and hugged Rose tight.

“Bye Alya! Wish me luck.” Marinette appeared from seemingly nowhere and hugged Alya tight. “And don’t be worried about your presentation. We’ll find some time to rehearse before tomorrow.”

“Thanks girl. Look after Lila for me? She’s just as new as I am.”

Marinette’s eyes darkened for just a second, but she quickly broke into a grin. “No problem. And don’t be worried, Lila. I’m sure your photos are just unimaginable.”

“Thanks Marinette. That’s just so sweet of you.” They linked arms and waltzed out of the room.

The moment they were out of eye shot of any of their classmates, they stepped aside.

“You don’t even have pictures, do you?” Marinette growled.

“What do you mean Marinette? Of course I have pictures.” She smirked. Or at least, I will in just a minute.

—

The art room was bustling and chaotic. Perfect for a camera or flash drive to go missing.

Marinette was bombarded by a group of kids from Felix’s class.

“Ready to see the product of our hard work?” A girl with two dark buns on the top of her head asked.

“I hope so.” She gave them a bashful smile.

Lila stopped paying attention. She had a goal in mind.

Her eyes landed on an expensive looking camera sitting on a desk at the side of the room. A sitting duck.

With a side glance for witnesses, Lila walked right by the camera and slipped the memory card right out and into her awaiting palm.

With her goal met, she sat primly in her chair, waiting for them to be called to the stage.

“Alright, photographers, models, actors, directors!” The art teacher stood. “Let’s go!”

Lila skipped up to him, a look of concern on her face. “Sir?”

“Yes Lila?”

“My camera broke on my way here and all I have left of it is my memory card; is there still a way for me to present my photos?”

“Of course there is. Don’t you worry a bit.”

“Perfect!” She grinned.

Once backstage, each student needed to give the teacher their SD cards or cameras and wait to be called onstage to describe their works to the audience.

Lila spared a quick glance towards the onlookers. Talent scouts of every kind were sitting in plush, reserved seats, notebooks and pens at the ready.

She was the first one up, the first one they would see and, unless she used all of her charisma and improvising skill, the first one they would forget.

“...and now, Lila Rossi with her photography!”

Lila strutted out to the greetings of applause.

“Hello, and let me just say I am so honored to be here today, especially considering that a year ago I wasn’t expected to be able to walk to school every day. Photography was really the only thing that got me through the day.”

A murmur of pity rippled through the crowd.

“Pictures like this one.” She pressed the clicker and a picture appeared on the screen behind her.

A picture of one Marinette Dupain-Cheng, mid-twirl in a beautiful hand-made dress.

Lila heard Alya gasp.

“I wanted to show simultaneously the mundanity of walking and the undeniable splendor of it. My dear friend Marinette had some designs she was willing to model for me to help achieve my goal. Marinette, come on out!” She held a hand out, daring Marinette to come out from where she was waiting to go next along with her other friends.

Felix stood behind her with a look of horror and disgust on his face; and a particularly fancy camera hanging around his neck. A very familiar camera.

“No? Okay then.” She turned back to the crowd. “She’ll be out with a different group; Mari doesn’t want me to have to share the spotlight, isn’t she sweet?”

The crowd applauded and Lila continued making up technical terms and thought processes for each photo, all of which were of Marinette in different designs.

“Thank you.” She bowed deep before walking off the stage.

Now to hold her breath and hope that Marinette, Felix and all their friends were too chicken to call her out onstage.

—

“Now, with their short film; ‘solving love,’ please welcome Bridgette Cheng, Claude Lambert, Mercury Bernard, Allegra Harthorn, Felix Culpa, and Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

“Hey everybody!” A boy with brown hair and a blue striped shirt grabbed the mic and shouted. “How are we doing today?”

A scattered amount of applause.

“Nice! I’m Claude, and this is Bridgette.”

The girl with the buns waved.

“We were the main idea folks for this video; but the idea only came after the filming.”

Bridgette grabbed the mic. “We asked out friends if we could film them, and then a few weeks ago, we reviewed the film and noticed something... interesting.”

“Allegra here,” a girl with a long blonde braid waved, “did the music and Mercury,” a boy with dark glasses and a green beret, “did the narration. You’ll be seeing more of them soon. My cousin Mari,” Marinette waved, “and Felix are the main subjects of the film. You would have seen more of them, but for some reason Felix’s memory card went missing.”

Lila swallowed, this wasn’t great. The seeds of dissent were planted and now she had to risk either spinning another fake story or hoping that it all went well.

It’s not like they had any proof though; she should be fine.

“Anyway, here’s ‘Solving Love.’”

They all stepped to the side and the video began with a smooth piano.

“Love.” The screen showed couples going up to Andre’s and sharing ice cream. “The answer to everything. To ourselves, to the meaning of life, to the questions we cannot ask.”

“But how? How do we get from complete strangers, to people so close they are the same person?” The video changed to a showing of Marinette and Felix shaking hands, both with sardonic smirks. “People rarely get to see the entire process of when people fall in love; there are always pieces missing, hidden moments only for the people in question to recall. Love is left for the investigator to discover for themselves, when the time is right.”

“But maybe,” it showed Marinette talking animatedly, as Felix yawns beside her, “maybe one day, we’ll be lucky enough to see most of the picture.” Felix’s eyes droop and his head falls to rest atop Marinette’s, in the beginnings of a nap. Marinette flushes red.

The rest of the video shows the stages of Marinette and Felix’s relationship, from sarcastic rivals, to peers, to friends, to partners. The narrator described different relationships and how love is a constant through all of them.

The video showed Marinette dancing, twirling in a brilliant dress as Felix kneels and snaps pictures. “Ah, but is this all of it?” They lean down for a swift kiss. The image pauses there. “The full picture? Or is it only a snapshot,” the screen lights up white, “a minor clue, to solving love?”

The auditorium was quiet for what seemed like minutes. Then, the room burst into uproarious applause; a standing ovation.

Lila growled as she turned to sulk and maybe get her makeup so she could fake an injury and get some pity points to heal her bruised ego.

She ran face first into the grey suit of Mr. Damocles.

“Oh, hello sir.” She beamed. “Is there a problem?”

His eyebrows furrowed. “Yes Miss Rossi, there is. Did you take those pictures of Miss Dupain-Cheng? Because that video tells a different story.”

“Yes sir, I swear it.”

“You swear it, huh? Well you best come with me to the office. Miss Dupain-Cheng and her friends will join us when they’re done.”

“What?”

“Miss Rossi, you are accused of stealing Mr Culpa and Miss Dupain-Cheng’s creative work. We will be calling your mother to discuss this.”

Back on stage the crowd of students and talent agents alike had taken to shouting questions to the group of students.

[dialovers-translations]

Diabolik Lovers DARK FATE ー Sakamaki Prologue

← RETURN TO GENERAL PROLOGUE

ー The scene starts in the classroom

Yui: ...I’m going home by car today.

Female student C: I see. Well, we might be getting some bad weather, so that is probably a wise choice.

Yui: Eh? Really?

Female student C: Yeah. They said so on the weather forecast. I’ll be heading home then. Bye bye!

Yui: See you tomorrow! Bye bye!

ー The scene shifts to the outside of Ryoutei Academy

Yui: ( Speaking of which, Ayato-kun didn’t attend classes today. )

( We both went to school together, so I wonder if he was skipping class somewhere? )

( He should know he’ll be in big trouble if Reiji-san finds out though... )

Driver: ーー My apologies for the wait.

Yui: Thank you very much.

ー She gets inside the car

*Thud*

Yui: I’m the first one here. That’s neーー

Ayato: Yo, Chichinashi!

Yui: Ayato-kun! I haven’t seen you around all day, where have you been?

Ayato: Aah? That’s none of your business, is it?

Yui: That’s true but...

Laito: ーー If you’re curious about Ayato-kun’s whereabouts, I spotted him over at the infirmary...Sleeping soundly with a cute expression on his face. Nfu~

Ayato: Wha...!? Cute!? Stop spoutin’ disgustin’ crap!

Laito: Eeh~? I’m complimenting you, so you should just honestly thank me.

Yui: And where did you hang out instead of attending class, Laito-kun?

Laito: Bitch-chan, you want to know my secrets? If you insist, I suppose I could tell you...

Every・single・one, okay~? (1)

Yui: No, I’ll pass.

Laito: Geez! I wish you wouldn’t turn down my offer so quickly?

Kanato: What made you think she would be curious about your secrets? I wouldn’t want to hear about those even if I was forced to.

Yui: Kanato-kun!

Laito: Kanato-kun, how cruel! You don’t have to be so mean, do you?

Kanato: Being forced to listen to something you don’t want to hear is pure torture after all...

That being said, Laito. The space next to her. That’s my seat so could you make some room?

You move away a little further too, Ayato.

Ayato: In your dreams! (2) The seat next to Chichinashi is obviously mine!

Kanato: Haah?

Shuu: ...Noisy as always. I could hear you guys’ voices all the way from outside the car...

Yui: Shuu-san...!

Laito: Oh geez~ You’re acting as if you’re the only outsider.

Shuu: I’m not picky about which seat I take after all.

I understand why you’d want to sit close to her, but making too much of a fuss proves that you’re all still kids.

Ayato: Aah!? Who are ya callin’ a kid!?

Reiji: ...Good grief. You lot are at it again?

Laito: Nfu~ Nice observation, Reiji. I can’t believe you’d guess we’re quarreling.

Reiji: This happens every day after all. How ridiculous. Do you not think it is about time you fight over a different topic for once?

Furthermore...Shuu. Could you not hog the seats all for yourself? You are in the way.

Shuu: There’s plenty to pick from right? Just take one of the other ones.

Reiji: If I sit on the opposite side, I will have no choice but to pain my eyes with the sight of you, no? Come on, make way.

Shuu: Haah, annoying...

Reiji: I am not being ‘annoying’. As the first heir to this family...

Subaru: Can’t you guys pipe the fuck down?...Geez...

*Thud*

Yui: Welcome back, Subaru-kun.

Subaru: Y-Yeah...

Oi, you shitheads. Move out of the way. I’m sittin’ next to her.

Kanato: Hah? You want to sit next to her as well?

Subaru: I never...! It’s not like I want to sit next to her...

I just like the way that seat feels.

Laito: Nfu~ Dare I say that’s a rather cringy excuse? Kukuku~

Subaru: Aah!?

Yui: ( Somehow seeing the guys are still the same as always makes me feel relieved. )

ー The car starts driving

Yui: ( Quite a lot has happened since I came to this house, but I’ve sort of gotten used to it over time... )

( I might just be imagining things, but I feel like the guys have become a lot kinder compared to when I first met them as well. )

( I guess feelings really do change... )

Reiji: ーー Speaking of which, did you all hear?

Ayato: What?

Reiji: Apparently there will be two transfer students coming from the campus in Great Britain.

Yui: Yes, now that you mention it, our teacher said something about that.

Subaru: Props to those guys for goin’ through the extra trouble.

Laito: Do you know something about them?

Reiji: No, not really.

Laito: Then why would you bring that up?

Reiji: It’s simple idle talk. The silence was getting on my nerves.

*CRASH*

Yui: ...!

Kanato: That was the thunder.

Ayato: It started pourin’ as well. What a dragー

Yui: ...The sky is pitch black as well...

Shuu: I mean, it’s night-time after all, so obviously it’d be? What are you saying?

Yui: That’s true but the moon was out earlier so...

Ah, speaking of which, the lunar eclipse will be happening soon, right?

Subaru: The eclipse?

Yui: Yeah.

Reiji: Exactly. I actually wanted to give you all a warning regarding said topic.

Laito: Eh~? What is it~?

Reiji: As you should be well aware, we are not unaffected by the lunar eclipse.

Yui: Eh? Is that so?

Reiji: Well, I doubt there will be any large changes.

We might say or do some things which are out of the ordinary...As well as grow somewhat unstable.

Yui: I see...

Ayato: Oh? Are you worried, Chichinashi?

Yui: Just a little.

Shuu: ーー During last time’s lunar eclipse, the Old Man was so fussy about it, I thought I was gonna go crazy.

Laito: ...Ahー ...I just remembered. We were still living in the Demon World back then, weren’t we?

Kanato: The night is much longer over there, so it was the worst...

Ayato: I remembered. He locked us up inside the castle, didn’t he?

I wonder why that old fart was so wary of it?

Kanato: I picked up some things about that. Apparently...There is a possibility some evildoers could come and attack us...

Yui: Evildoers...?

Ayato: Yeah! You know! He means the bad guys!

Laito: Do you want us to applaud you for that answer? (3)

Reiji: Either way, please be even more cautious than usual, understood? 

Unlike the one in the Demon World, the eclipse will be over in just a few hours this time. I am sure you can at least endure it for that long?

Yui: ( Out of the ordinary...Will everything be okay? I’ve gotten a little worried. )

Laito: Nfufu...

Subaru: The fuck you chucklin’ for, Laito...? It gives me the creeps.

Laito: I figured out what’s on Bitch-chan’s mind~

Yui: Eh...?

Laito: You were wondering just now...What exactly he meant with ‘saying or doing things out of the ordinary’, no?

Yui: ...!

Laito: I figured it out by looking at your expression. You really are such a lewd girl~

Yui: Wha...!? Why does it translate to that!?

Laito: You want to experiment, don’t you? Doing all sorts of things...While we’re being toyed around with by the moon...~

I mean, it would be different from usual, right? I totally relate to you wanting to switch things up every once in a while, nfu~ 

Reiji: ...Laito. I think you’ve said enough. You are corrupting my ears.

Yui: ( The lunar eclipse, huh...? I hope it passes without anything happening. )

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to the living room

Yui: It’s this late already...? I suppose I should hit the hay soon.

Reiji: Oh dear? Going to bed already?

Yui: Yes. It is starting to become a little light outside as well.

Reiji: How about a cup of tea before bed? I got my hands on this new brand of herbal tea.

I would not mind treating you to some?

Yui: Ah, I’ll gladly have some!

Reiji: Very well. Then please wait a few.

ー Reiji walks away as Ayato enters the living room

Ayato: Oh, who do we have here! Not goin’ to bed yet?

Yui: Reiji-san offered me some tea, so I’ll get some rest after I’ve finished my drink.

Ayato: Che...What’s so good ‘bout that crap which tastes of grass?

Yui: Grass...? No way, it’s delicious. 

Ayato: That’s what it tastes like to me. I’m a carnivore (4) rather than a herbivore after all! ...This stuff’s more my ‘cup of tea’. 

ー Ayato moves closer and pins her down

*Thud*

Yui: W-Wait, Ayato-kun! What are you...!? 

Ayato: Lemme suck you. I’m thirsty for blood right now...

*Rustle rustle*

Yui: ( ...At this rate, he’ll take my blood...! )

R-Right! Ayato-kun, did you know?

*Rustle*

Ayato: Aah!? 

Yui: ーー S-Speaking of carnivores, I heard this rumor about a wolf being spotted in the city...

Ayato: A wolf!?

Yui: Y-Yeah. Apparently tons of people witnessed it, so the rumors are spreading like wildfire...

Ayato: Che. What bullshit are you spoutin’? You actually believe there was a wolf!?

Yui: But you know, at school...I alsoーー

Laito: Spotted~ (5)

Yui: L-Laito-kun!

Ayato: ...Laito, don’t get in my way.

Laito: Oh no no. If you want to suck Bitch-chan’s blood, you have to get my permission first.

Ayato: Why do I have to get your permission for everythin’, huh!?

Laito: Ehー? Why, you ask? Well...

*Rustle*

Yui: Kyah!?

Laito: Because Bitch-chan belongs to me~ Right?

Say, Bitch-chan? Wasn’t this ‘wolf’ you saw wearing a hat?

Yui: Eh!? 

Laito: The Big Bad Wolf wearing a hat always has his vision locked on the cute Little Red Riding Hood, you know~?

Ayato: Keh. ‘Big Bad Wolf’, my ass! Anyway, Chichinashi. Did you seriously see a wolf?

Yui: Y-Yeah...Probably...

Laito: When? Where?

Yui: After classes today. On the rooftop at school...

Ayato: Aah? The rooftop? Hah, ridiculous. I bet you just mistook some shadow for a wolf.

Laito: Besides, that’s exactly where I was after classes today.

Reiji: ーー Why were you there after school?

Laito: ...! R-Reiji. Didn’t see you there.

Reiji: Yes. I sure am. Is that a problem for you?

Laito: Not really~?

Reiji: Good grief. With you guys, I never know what to expect the second I take my eyes off you.

You’re either trying to suck her blood, or skipping class...

Ayato: ...! H-How do you know I tried to bite her just now!? You weren’t around earlier, were you!?

Reiji: ーー It became clear as day to me the second I saw her disheveled clothes.

Yui: Eh...! Ah...

*Rustle rustle*

Reiji: You lot truly are beyond hopeless.

ーー Here you go, Yui. I’ve prepared your tea.

Yui: T-Thank you very much!

*Cling*

Reiji: ...Well then, regarding what you said just now...

Yui: Eh?

Reiji: Could you fill me in on the details?

Yui: You mean about the wolf?

Laito: It was just Bitch-chan’s eyes playing tricks on her, no?

Isn’t it like those people who say they can ‘sense’ ghosts after they’ve been told a place is haunted? 

Reiji: I am talking to her.

Yui: U-Uhm...

ー Yui tells him the full story

Reiji: I see.

Yui: However, I’m pretty sure I just saw a wild dog or something along those lines...

Subaru: ...What would a wild dog be doin’ up on the roof? That was a wolf.

Yui: Subaru-kun...?

Subaru: You probably don’t know, but in the Demon World, there are other demonic species who can alter their appearance into those of a snake, eagle or wolf.

We’re livin’ here too, so it wouldn’t be that far-fetched for some wolf to show up.

Yui: T-Then, a resident of the Demon World has changed into a wolf and come to this city?

Subaru: Guess so? There aren’t any wild wolves livin’ ‘round these parts, right?

Reiji: I considered that possibility for a second too, however...

Ayato: What?

Reiji: The Wolf clan living in the Demon World is extremely territorial. Well, the same could be said about the snakes too...

I simply cannot fathom they would come to the human world.

Laito: Ahー ...Now that you mention it, they really are.

I went through hell and back once after messing around with a girl on Wolf territory...

Subaru: ...Then how do you explain the wolf wanderin’ ‘round this city!?

*Thud*

Yui: S-Subaru-kun, calm down.

Reiji: Exactly. Do you really need to lose your temper over everything?

Ayato: Can’t we look at it this way? It’s probably not that concerned ‘bout us.

Vampires aren’t territorial after all.

Reiji: That might be the case for us, but I doubt the same can be said about them.

It is part of their natural instinct after all...

Laito: Nfu~ Then, basically you want to say that the wolf which has been sighted in the city is just a regular one?

Reiji: Or rather, there is one other possibility I can think of.

Yui: Another possibility...?

Reiji: In the Demon World, one more species going by the name of the ‘First Bloods’ exists.

They are said to be the ancestors of every species living in the Demon World.

Ayato: The fuck? That’s a first to me. Besides, I’ve never run into one of those over at the Demon World either.

Reiji: Of course not. They suffered defeat in a war against our Father and Demon Lord Burai, before being banished to a castle.

They are forbidden from leaving.

Laito: Then wouldn’t it be impossible for them to show up here in the first place?

Reiji: You are indeed right. But well, they possess the abilities of the wolf, eagle, snake and bat all at once. 

Therefore, it would be possible for them to transform into wolves as well. I simply wanted to bring it up as one possible explanation.

Subaru: Well, I don’t give a damn. Whether it’s a Wolf or a First Blood.

If they get in the way, I’m gonna crush them!

Reiji: Well, a wolf is hardly a threat to us, but I suppose it would be dangerous for a human such as yourself.

Please be careful, okay? If things take a turn for the worse, do avoid being eaten. Understood?

Yui: Y-Yes...

( Seems like there’s still many things about the Demon World I don’t know. )

( Also the rumored wolf in town...I wonder if he actually exists? Then what I saw might just be... )

( ...I don’t really know yet, but I should definitely be careful for now. )

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to the classroom

Yui: ( Today’s first period is English, huh...? I should take out my textbook and notes...My homework sheet isーー )

*Rattle*

Homeroom teacher: Oiー. Everyone, sit down. I’m going to introduce the new transfer student.

He won’t be transferring into this classroom, but I’ll at least let him introduce himself.

Shin: ...I’m Tsukinami Shin. Nice to meet y’all.

Ayato: ...That guy...

Yui: ( Ayato-kun...? )

Homeroom teacher: He only recently returned to the country after living in Great Britain, so he’ll be taking class in a special classroom for quite some time.

That being said, you’re all students of the same academy, so treat him well, okay?

Homeroom teacher: Ahー Also...If possible, I’d like for someone to show him around the campus.

Shin: Sensei, may I?

Homeroom teacher: Yes, what is it?

Shin: I would like to ask the young lady over there to give me a tour of the school.

Yui: Eh? M-Me?

Shin: Exactly. Can I count on you?

Yui: ...I don’t mind but...

Shin: We’ll see each other during the break then?

ー He leaves the classroom

Yui: ( ...Why me? )

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to the hallway at school

Ayato: Oi, Chichinashi.

Yui: Ayato-kun? And Kanato-kun as well? ...What’s wrong?

Kanato: No, I simply had...somewhat of a weird hunch...

Yui: A weird hunch...?

( Could they be talking about Shin-kun? )

Ayato: You’re gonna show that dude ‘round the place now?

Yui: Yeah, that’s the plan.

Kanato: Do you truly believe you have the right to decide that?

Yui: ( I-I should have figured they’d be upset about that. )

B-But he asked me out of the blue...and the teacher also told us to be nice to him...

Ayato: ...I know that, but still.

Listen up. Be careful of that dude. ...I can’t really put it into words, but he’s givin’ me bad vibes.

Yui: Eh?

Kanato: ...I shall warn you as well. Although I believe it would be best for me to tag along.

For some reason, I feel like I want to keep my distance from him...

Yui: You too, Kanato-kun...?

( I wonder why the two of them are so wary? )

Ayato: Well, we’re ‘round as long as you stay on campus, so it should be fine.

Don’t let your guard down, ‘kay? Understood?

Yui: Y-Yeah.

Kanato: Ah...He has arrived. Well then...

ー Ayato and Kanato leave

Yui: ( ...I wonder what he meant with ‘bad vibes’? )

Shin: Hey, thanks for earlier.

Yui: Yeah. Well then, let me show you around right away...

Shin: I don’t need to see the campus. Instead, why don’t we drop by the rooftop?

Yui: Eh? The roof...? I don’t mind but...Why...?

Shin: ...I figured you might want to witness the lunar eclipse.

Yui: Aah, now that you mention it...

Shin: Also, the inside of this school really reeks (6) for some reason...

Yui: Eh?

Shin: Nothing. Let’s hurry up and go.

Yui: Yeah...

ー The two of them walk away

Shuu: ...

ー The scene shifts to the rooftop

Shin: Aah, the eclipse has begun.

Yui: You’re right...!

( The moon’s colored a bright crimson...slowly becoming chipped, amazing! )

Shin: Is this your first time witnessing one?

Yui: Yeah. It’s a first for me...How beautiful, don’t you think?

Shin: Beautiful, huh?

ー Somebody walks up to them

???: ...Shin.

Shin: Hey, Nii-san.

Yui: Eh?

Shin: Let me introduce him. This is my Nii-san, his name’s...

Carla: I’m Tsukinami Carla.

Yui: N-Nice to meet you...! My name’s Komori Yui.

( I see. Now that you mention it, when the teacher said two transfer students...He must have been talking about Shin-kun and his older brother. )

Carla: ...

Yui: ( ...That being said, he is somewhat of an intimidating individual... )

Shin: Neither of us are used to living here, so we’ll be counting on your help, okay?

Yui: Yeah...If you’re fine with me...

Carla: Shin.

Shin: Yes, Nii-san?

Carla: Take a look.

Shin: Eh?

Yui: ...Ah...!

Shuu: ...

Yui: Shuu-san?

What’s the matter? Are you perhaps here to watch the Lunar Eclipse as we...

Shuu: Haah? Does it look like that to you?

Yui: ...Right.

ー Shuu walks up to Yui

Shuu: ーー Let’s go.

Yui: Eh? M-Me?

Shuu: Yeah. Hurry up.

Yui: B-But...

Carla: I don’t mind. Go if you must.

Shin: Nii-san, are you sure?

Carla: Yes.

Yui: T-Then...See you later. Please tell me if you need anything. Now if you’d excuse me.

ー Yui leaves with Shuu

Shin: Nii-san, do you think we’ll be able to use her?

Carla: No chance.

Shin: Eh? For real? Geez. I was kind to her for nothing then...

If she won’t be of any use to us, why don’t we take her down alongside this school which stinks of Vampires...

Burning everything to the ground...Kukuku. What do you say?

Carla: While it would be impossible in her current state, if we cleanse her, she might just...

Shin: Cleansing, huh? What a drag. For one, I doubt I’ll be able to stand the stench of those Vampires.

But, if we have no other choice, guess it can’t be helped.

Carla: Get everything in order by the end of tonight. Understood?

Shin: Roger. Well, I could probably win against those Vampires while they’re weakened by the lunar eclipse using just one arm.

Carla: Do not let down your guard. That man from just now...He seemed to have caught on somewhat.

Shin: I know.

ー The scene shifts to the hallway

Yui: Wait, Shuu-san!

Shuu: ...Did those guys from earlier tell you anything?

Yui: Eh? No...nothing...

Shuu: I see.

Yui: ...What’s gotten into all of you? I feel as if you’ve been very wary of those two this whole time...

Shuu: You saw it too, right? The lunar eclipse has started.

Because of that, our intuition is off compared to usual. Reiji mentioned it yesterday as well, remember?

We may act or say things out of ordinary...And at the same time, our five senses don’t quite work as well.

Yui: ( Right...That’s why everyone is even more on guard than usual. )

I understand. I’ll be careful.

( I wonder if everything will be okay...While they’re under the eclipse’s effects? )

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to inside the limousine

Yui: ( Phew, I’m glad the day passed without anything happening in the end. )

ー Ayato boards the vehicle

Ayato: Hm? It’s just you today?

Yui: Yup. Where’s everyone else?

Ayato: How should I know? Since they’re not here, I guess they’re not going home by car today?

Yui: ...

Ayato: What are you making that face for?

Yui: No. I’m just a little worried, considering the lunar eclipse has begun as well.

Ayato: Keh. I’m the only one you should be concerned about.

Driver: ーー May I start the vehicle?

Ayato: I don’t mind.

ー The car starts driving

Yui: Will everything be okay...?

Ayato: Are you that worried? You piss me off. You’re just a Chichinashi too!

Yui: I mean, you were all acting kind of off today as well...

Ayato: Che. They’re no kids, I’m sure it’ll be fiーー

ー The car suddenly comes to a halt

Yui: Kyaaah...!!

Ayato: Woah...!?

Driver: A-Ayato-sama...!!

Ayato: ...The fuck was that...!?

Driver: W...Wolves are...!!

Ayato: Aah!?

*HOOOOOOOOWL*

Yui: ...!

Ayato: Oi, Chichinashi...! Move closer!

*Rustle*

Yui: Ayato-kun, what on earth is...?

Ayato: I don’t know...

Either way, don’t leave my side...!!

Yui: Y-Yeah...

*HOOOOOOOOOWL*

Yui: ...!

Ayato: Rest assured...Chichinashi, you belong to me. No way in hell I’m handin’ you over to some wolf!

Yui: Ayato-kun...!!

ー One of the wolves breaks through the window

*SHATTER*

Ayato: Che!!

ー Ayato is attacked by the wolf while protecting Yui

Yui: Ayato-kun!!!!

Ayato: Fuck...That hurt! The fuck’s your problem!!? 

ー The wolf continues its assault

Ayato: Guh...Chichinashi, don’t you dare move from underneath me...!!

Yui: B-But...!

Ayato: Shut up...Guah...!!

*RIIIIIIP*

Ayato: ...Guh...Uu...!!

Yui: ( Oh no, at this rate, Ayato-kun will...!! )

???: Tsk...Where did you all come from...!? Fuck off...!

*THUD*

ー Subaru enters the car

Subaru: What are you doin’!?

*THUD*

ー The wolf backs off

Yui: ...Subaru-kun...!

Subaru: Che...Things are this bad even tho Ayato was ‘round? ...Take that!!

*THUD*

Ayato: Che...

Yui: Ayato-kun...! Things will be okay now...! Hang in there!

Subaru: Oi. Which one of you bastards is next, huh!!?

*Whistle*

*HOOOOOOWL*

Subaru: ...!? Makin’ a run for it...!? Wait...!!

Yui: Subaru-kun...! Wait! Please...Don’t go...!!

Subaru: Che...Fuck...

Yui: Ayato-kun is...!

Ayato: Ugh...

Subaru: He’s out cold...Did he protect you?

Yui: Yeah...!

Subaru: Che...He’s got bite wounds all over...Fuck...They were Wolves from the Demon World after all.

Oi, you. Lend me a hand for a sec. Support this shoulder...

Yui: Okay...!

*Rustle*

Subaru: There we go. I’ll handle the rest. Let’s go. We gotta head back home asap.

Yui: ...Is Ayato-kun okay?

Subaru: Dunno. I’m not a doctor. We gotta show him to Reiji first.

ーー Oi, driver! Che...Our Familiar was beaten as well...

*Whistle*

Yui: What are we gonna do?

Subaru: I called over my Familiar for now. We can leave things be here. Let’s go!

Yui: Okay...!

( Why were we suddenly attacked...? )

( Also, those Wolves from earlier...Where did they...? )

*TIMESKIP*

Yui: Ayato-kun, stay strong...!

Reiji: ...His wounds are rather severe. We will have to make a visit to the Demon World to receive help from a clinic.

Kanato: Is it that bad?

Reiji: If he had been a human, this number of wounds would have resulted in an instant death. 

Yui: ...!

Laito: Ayato-kun tried to play the hero all by himself...

Reiji: We were fortunate Subaru rushed to the scene at once, if he had been even a second delayed...

His throat might have been ripped up to shreds.

Subaru: ...The fuck did those wolves want...? Is the Wolf clan trying to declare war on us!?

Shuu: ...How did you feel about the situation? You’re the only one who actually went head to head with them.

Subaru: I don’t know...I just felt like they were kinda different from the Wolves I would often spot ‘round in the Demon World...

Reiji: If I recall correctly, our Father and the King of the Wolf clan have always been been on good terms.

I find it hard to believe that they - who are so loyal to their own leader - would come and assault us.

Subaru: Then what are they!?

Shuu: First Bloods...

Laito: ...Aren’t those guys locked up in a castle at the Demon World?

Shuu: They should be. However, there’s a possibility they have managed to find an opening to leave the castle.

Reiji: Either way, let us return to the Demon World at once, Shuu.

Shuu: Yeah. Let’s go back. We need to report this to the Old Man too.

Laito: Good grief. We have to return to the Demon World during the eclipse again, huh...?

Kanato: ...We have no other choice...

Yui: Uhm, I...

Shuu: You will stay behind here.

Yui: Eh!? But...

Shuu: The Wolves attacked Ayato. Which means you aren’t their target.

Reiji: That sounds like a good idea. Furthermore, the eclipse is ongoing over at the Demon World as well.

We do not know what may happen. You are a human as well.

Yui: ( Good point...If a human such as myself goes to the Demon World, I’ll only end up slowing them down. )

( I’m worried about Ayato-kun and the others but... )

You’ll be able to come back once the lunar eclipse has ended here, right?

Laito: I’d love to, but I’m not sure?

Reiji: Depending on the wolves’ identity, we might have to end up staying at the Demon World for a while.

Yui: But, there’s an eclipse going on over at the Demon World as well, right? Isn’t it dangerous since you don’t know what may happen...?

Subaru: That’s true but the castle’s bein’ protected by our shitty father’s magic, so don’t worry.

Yui: ...

Subaru: Oh come on, don’t look so anxious. I’m hesitant to leave you all by yourself as well...

Shuu: Haah...It’s a pain but we have no other choice. Oi, let’s get going guys.

ー They start walking away

Shuu: I’m leaving the house in your care.

Yui: Yes...

Laito: It saddens me to have to leave your side...But we can’t leave Ayato-kun like this either.

Kanato: I’ll let you have my pudding, so please wait here like you’ve been told to, okay?

Reiji: Well then...Subaru, please carry Ayato.

Subaru: Haah!? Me again!? Don’t be shittin’ me!!

Yui: ( You guys... )

( Please don’t let anything happen... )

*TIMESKIP*

Yui: Haah...

( Everyone left for the Demon World so I’m all by myself...Somehow the manor feels even more spacious than usual... )

*Rumble*

Yui: ...!!

( I’m a little lonely. Actually, now that I think of it, since I’m alone here now... )

( I could just run away, right? It’s not like anyone’s keeping an eye on me... )

( But...It’s not like I have anywhere to go still...Besides, is there still even a point in running still...? )

I wonder since when I’ve gotten this used to my life here...? 

( At first, I was so terribly scared. It still hurts to have my blood sucked even now...But. )

( Through getting to know everyone, it’s only still a little but...I... )

*HOOOOOWL*

Yui: !!!

( Oh no, the wolves again...? They didn’t target me last time though... )

( Don’t tell me, they think everyone’s still here...? )

...Uu...

ー The scene shifts to the underground waterway

Yui: Haah...haah...!

( In this case, I should try going to the Demon World, even if I end up being a burden. )

( Who knows what will happen to me if I remain here... )

( I’m sure...He will for sure save me... )

[ Choose Shuu ] [ Choose Reiji ] [ Choose Ayato ]

[ Choose Kanato ] [ Choose Laito ] [ Choose Subaru ]

ーー TO BE CONTINUED ーー

Translation notes

(1) He literally just says ‘my secrets’ and pauses between each syllable of secret (ひ・め・ご・と). However, in English ‘se・crets’ doesn’t have the same effect since it’s only 2 syllables, so I changed it a little. He already mentions ‘secret’ in the previous sentence, so it doesn’t change much about the meaning of this interaction.

(2) やーなこった or ‘yaanakotta’ is a very childish and playful way to say ‘no’ or ‘don’t want to’ in Japanese. 

(3) Literally Laito asks if that is the answer they get after he puts on airs while proudly proclaiming his words. Laito often makes these low key sarcastic or snarky comments at Ayato, so I wanted the English translation to have that same feel to it. 

(4) The term 肉食 or ‘nikushoku’ may mean ‘carnivore’, in recent youth culture, it is also used as a synonym for man or woman who are very assertive when it comes to relationship and sex. Meanwhile 草食 or ‘soushoku’ is used for the exact opposite, referring to those who are hesitant to interact with the opposite sex. I don’t know if Rejet intended for it to have this hidden meaning, but I found it an interesting theory nevertheless!

(5) When Laito says ‘見ちゃった’ or ‘micchatta’ here, it can be taken two ways. Either he refers to him walking in on Ayato trying to suck Bitch-chan’s blood, or he actually finished Yui’s sentence, referring that she saw a wolf at school. 

(6) While におう or ‘niou’ could mean ‘to smell’ in general, when it is written as 臭う, it refers to a bad smell. 

[jawabear]

First date (Marcus Moreno x Reader)

Not my GIF

A/N: This was suggested/requested by the wonderful @lunaserenade I hope this is what you had in mind, I think I went off track a little as it’s a bit long. But I hope you enjoy it anyway! Sorry for any mistakes. Stay Safe.

Genre: fluff

Warnings: fem!reader, Marcus talks to himself, mentions of eating (idk if that counts as a warning), be nice to Marcus, he tries his best, awkwardness, fluff, Pedro Pascal comes with his own warning

Summary: Marcus finally has the chance for a real date. Surely there’s nothing that could go wrong...right?

Marcus let out a deep breath as he gripped the steering wheel of his car trying to calm himself down. “You got this Marcus. You got this” he whispered to himself “you’ve done it before. And it’s (Y/N). You got this. You’re just going to go in there and be yourself. Just relax”

He loosened his shoulders by shaking himself while taking in deep breaths and letting them out again. “You can do this Marcus”

“Uh...Dad?” Missy said from beside him with a confused but also amused look. He had completely forgot his daughter was sat in the passenger seat.

“God, I’m sorry kiddo” he said, his head falling onto the steering wheel. “I’m freaking out”

“Why? That was such a good pep talk” she teased.

“Ha ha, very funny” Marcus said turning his head to look at Missy. “Are you sure you’re okay with it?”

“Why do you keep asking me that? I want you to be happy Dad. And (Y/N) does make you happy” Missy smiled as she patted her dads shoulder. “But you do have to sort yourself out. You can go back in this state”

Marcus sat up and ran his hands over his face “well, when you haven’t been on a date in god knows how many years, it’s not exactly easy to be calm. Especially when it’s with a girl you really like” he paused for a moment and gave a sharp look to his daughter “not that you would know anything about dating right?”

“N-No! Of course not Dad. You think I’m interested in people like that?” She laugh, a little nervously as he looked away from him making Marcus a little suspicious. “But what you were saying was right. Just be yourself. That’s what (Y/N) likes. She likes you”

Marcus gave Missy a gentle look before kissing her cheek “I love you Missy” he smiled.

“Yeah, I love you too Dad” she said sounding a little unimpressed. She grabbed her bag and opened the car door.

“I’ll be round lunchtime tomorrow to get you. Be good okay?”

“Always Dad. Have fun tonight okay? You deserve it” she then shut the car door and skipped off happily to his mums house.

Marcus sat there for a little while longer before working up the courage to start the car and drive back to his house. He glanced at the clock every five seconds. She was coming at 7 and it was 6:32. He had time but he wish he didn’t. He wanted her to arrive sooner so he could get it over with.

Not that he wanted it to end, but he wanted it to hurry up and get going so that he didn’t feel so scared any more.

He and (Y/N) had technically been dating for about three months, but he had liked her for a little longer than that. They had always been great friends but Marcus had always felt a little something more for her.

For the first year after his wife died, he didn’t think about relationships. He wanted to be there for Missy who was surprisingly mature about the whole situation, but of course she was still absolutely devastated by her mother’s death. Missy had always noticed the way he looked at (Y/N), and the way (Y/N) looked at him. It was actually her who convinced him to get back out there and to ask her out.

So they had been dating for three months, but he had never taken her on a date. They were both extremely busy and their schedules were constantly conflicting. But now they had finally settled in a day to have their first actual date. But he wouldn’t really class it as a proper date. He was just going to be attempting to cook her a fancy dinner but he didn’t hold much hope that it would be successful. When he told her that was his plan, she smiled the brightest smile she ever had and told him she was overjoyed at the idea.

Finally he got home and checked his watch. 6:47. He still had a little time. He went around the house to make it look perfect even though she knew what it looked like anyway. She had been there enough times when it was a mess so maybe she would be impressed with his effort to make it look nice.

He then came to a sudden realisation that he was yet to get changed. So he legged it upstairs init his bedroom where he pulled out his outfit. He didn’t really know what to wear. He didn’t want to dress alarmingly smartly, but he didn’t want to dress too casual. He had told her to dress casual but their casuals could be two very different things.

So he pulled out his best plaid shirt, black jeans and fancy shoes, decided it was both casual and smart, and comfortable, and him. He then spend the next ten minuets in front of his bathroom mirror trying to fix his hair so that it didn’t look like he had just woken up, but also make it so it wasn’t flattened down. Who would’ve thought that dating was so difficult to get right.

Then the door bell rang.

He looked at his watch and it was bang on 7pm. Of course she would be right on time.

He began to panic. His hands began to sweat. He grabbed his most expensive cologne, one he rarely used but really liked, and spray two pumps on himself before running down stairs. He was second guessing his outfit choice. He was second guessing everything.

He began thinking that he couldn’t go through with it. He was too scared. But she was stood outside his door. He couldn’t leave her out there, it was getting colder as they got into the winter months of the year.

He took some deep breaths “you got this Marcus” he told himself again. He walked to the door and pulled it open.

When his eyes fell on her, all of his worries and anxieties were washed away from him. She looked beautiful. And they were somewhat matching which was kind of awkward but nice because it meant he had made the right outfit choice. Under her long black jacket, she wore a red plaid shirt but under that a plain white shirt, black leggings and black ankle boots.

“Hi Marcus” she smiled with a small wave.

“H-Hi (Y/N)” He said, his eyes looking her up and down. “You look beautiful”

“You look very nice too” she complimented.

“Thank you” He stepped to the side to allow her inside. She walked past him and allowed him to close the door.

She placed a quick kiss on his cheek making him smile before he lead her into the kitchen where everything was perfectly set up.

He had put his best table cloth over the wooden table and set a candle in the centre along with rose petals. “Marcus” she was a little lost for words as she looked upon his efforts.

“Do you like it?” He asked quietly as he came round to stand in front of her.

“Marcus it’s beautiful” she smiled before taking his face between her hands and kissing his lips gently. He smiled into the kiss and allowed himself to relax a little. Although he was still a little sceptical about his cooking.

He pulled away from her and lead her to the table and pulled out her chair for her. She smiled graciously and sat down.

“Do you want a drink?” He asked her as he wrung his hands together. “I’ve got wine, whiskey, or something softer like lemonade if you’d prefer”

“Can I have a glass of lemonade?” She asked.

“Of course” he rushed to the kitchen and pulled a glass out of the cupboard and the bottle of drink out of the fridge. He poured her a glass and brought it over to her “there you go”

“Thank you sir” she smiled to him.

“So...I’m going to cook. So you just sit there” he told her.

“Do you want any help?” She asked.

“No. I’ll be fine” his voice wasn’t convincing as he looked between her and the kitchen that was now suddenly the scariest place on earth. He’d much rather go back out into the world and fight evil then have to attempt to cook her dinner. “I’ll be fine. You stay there”

(Y/N) watched as she began messing around in the kitchen. She would occasionally ask him if he needed any help, to which he would always reply no, but he did need help. His nerves were getting the better of him and he couldn’t focus on what he was doing.

He kept muttering to himself as he looked between the pan and his phone to make sure he was doing it right. (Y/N) was tempted to get up and take over but she didn’t want to activate him any more than he already was. But what she could tell, the dish he was making wasn’t all that complicated. It was some kind of pasta. Perhaps a sort of carbonara of some sort.

She turned away from watching him, it was getting too much. She desperately wanted to help him or at least tell him not to worry, but she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. So she pulled out her phone and tried to pass the time using that, but his muttering could still be heard and it made her feel awful.

Eventually though, he had finished cooking and plated it up. He didn’t look very convinced in his efforts as he set her plate down in front of her. It didn’t look all that bad actually. But it smelt a bit off. But it was a hard recipe to master, she used to make it all the time which is why she thought it was a simple dish. Clearly Marcus did not agree.

“Thank you Marcus” she smiled as she picked up her fork and twirled it within the pasta. He did the same.

At the same time they took a bite of the food and...well it was awful. But she really didn’t want to say that so she swallowed it down and tried not to react to the strange taste. Perhaps the cheese or whatever he used had gone off and that’s what was causing the taste.

Marcus wasn’t so good at hiding his reaction. But it was his cooking after all so it wasn’t like he was offending anyone, only himself.

He dropped his fork to the plate and looked at her, it was clear she wasn’t enjoying it but she was too nice to say so. “Well this is disgusting” he told her. He saw her face change as she somehow managed to swallow down another bite.

“I mean...I didn’t like to say” she said quietly as she set her fork down as took sip of her drink.

“You should’ve (Y/N)” he laughed as he took her plate and walked back into the kitchen placing the two plates beside the sink before he lent again she counter making her worry. She stood and walked over to him. His head was hung low.

Her hand rested on his back feeling his tense muscles through his shirt. “Marcus” she said quietly “what’s wrong?”

“I’m so sorry (Y/N)” he apologised “I just wanted to make our first proper date perfect and I ruined it...”

She laughed softly and slipped her arms around him, hugging him from the side “you didn’t ruin it, silly. It was perfect”

“But...I messed up the food...”

“That was one small part. It doesn’t matter. The evening so far had been one of the best I’ve ever had in my life. I’ve been able to spend it with you. The whole night, just me and you. That’s all I could ask for” she told him.

He lifted his head and looked at her, seeing her smiling at him. “Really?”

“Really” she said with a nod “Marcus, you are the kindest man alive. And I can see that you have put so much effort into this date and I really appreciate that. But you didn’t need to. It didn’t need to be fancy like this. Any night alone with you would be perfect”

He managed a smile as she wrapped his own arms around her. For a while they just stayed like that. He felt a lot better being in her arms. But then he spoke again, he had to address the food issue.

“Should we just order a pizza?” He asked.

She chuckled quietly and looked up at him “you read my mind” she said before he leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips.

27/12/20

Taglist: @linkpk88