#Very young love very going to prom as friends and hanging out after school and Anetra going to see Marcia in all the school plays/musicals

[lady-assnali]

Anarcia x Barbie Movie

I’m back with the collab nobody asked for that I desperately needed. Based on the events of my own Barbie movie premier being cancelled because the power went out, this is just…this is what came out. (I’ve been writing a bit but not too much, I’m remembering to post this for you all instead of just sending it to @sexynetra and letting it float away like I’ve been doing. I’ve been holding out, so sorry!)

——

The sky is just beginning to clear when they pull in to the parking lot of the cinema. There’s a crowd outside the door, and Jax leans in from the back seat of Anetra’s truck to see better.

“Do you think they lost power?”

Marcia shakes her head vigorously, whipping around to glare at her friend.

“Why would you say that? The storm is over, I think there’s just a lot of people coming to see this movie. That’s why it looks like it’s so packed.”

“Yeah, that’s it.” Jax snorts. Anetra shoots her a look from the driver’s seat, unbuckles herself and leads them to the lobby. Their group has dressed up for the occasion, from Luxx mimicking a holiday Barbie to Marcia’s nearly identical shorter, handmade replica of the movie’s famous gingham dress. Anetra had even come in-theme, her Barbie logo shirt and jean shorts a tad brighter than her usual wardrobe.

There’s a soft alarm blaring, clumps of people talking in disappointed murmurs to themselves. The lights are off, the cinema feeling empty without the sound of popcorn popping or tickets printing. It’s all a bit ominous; although nobody wants to admit it, they’re all thinking the same thing. 

This isn’t a good sign.

A man wearing a gigantic, cartoonish pink cowboy hat and chaps stands up on the bar, which has been cleared of its pink plastic cups and commemorative popcorn tubs. He shouts, and an entire lobby full of costumed people look over at him warily. His lips scrunch up in a sort of nervous wincing, and Anetra has never heard an entire room sigh all at once in the way this crowd does. He doesn’t even have to make the announcement before people are gathering their things, phones pressed close to their faces as they attempt to make other plans. 

“So because of the crazy storms today, we clearly lost power. The seven o’clock viewing of the Barbie movie has been cancelled. You can hang around to see if we’ll get power back soon, but only if you’re ticket holders to a later showing. We’re so sorry for the inconvenience.”

Their group is huddled together, ranting over each other about the situation. Sugar and Spice are chatting to the group of girls next to them, Robin and Jax calling out showtimes to one another and grunting when they’re coming to the fateful screen reading sold out. There’s such a turn into chaos and yet Marcia’s leaned up against a pillar with her eyes unblinking, her lips pouted. She hasn’t responded to any of the plan making, has been thumbing through her phone looking at the same screens as everyone else. 

“I think I’m going to call it.” Aura’s the first to say anything other than calling out a showtime, and the group looks up at her curiously. She’s pulling her keys from her belt bag with a non-committal shrug. 

“Oh.” Marcia replies. There’s a shift in the air, barely noticeable to the untrained eye. But of course, Anetra notices. She’s spent the last couple of months doing just that; noticing, observing, trying not to let the fumes from her lovesick heart take over the entirety of her brain space. 

Marcia’s shoulders drop, her fingers fidgeting with the hem of her little gingham dress. Her bubbling energy has faded to a manageable simmer, not quite deflated yet flat enough to be declared standard. She’s not a standard person. They wave goodbye to Aura and they’re down their cheetah Barbie.  Sugar and Spice are next to leave, having clamored for new plans the moment they’d been denied their current ones. They kiss Marcia on the head affectionately and walk off giggling, heads bent over Spice’s phone. Then Jax has plans to help at home, Luxx has a date, and suddenly it’s just the two of them standing in the dissipating crowd in front of the theatre. 

The sun has begun to attempt a breakout, slivers of light caressing the rain-blackened tar of the parking lot. There aren’t many people left, just groups of bright pink sorrow slouched over their smart phones, calculating their next moves. Marcia hasn’t looked up much other than to say her goodbyes, and when she finally does Anetra’s heart breaks for her right there. Her eyes are round and widened and brimming with tears which she immediately tries to shake off.

“This is so stupid.” She moans. She brings the back of her hand to her eyes and wipes them furiously, carefully, not wanting to mess up the makeup she’d painstakingly worked on all afternoon to make herself look even more like the doll than Anetra believes she naturally does. 

She fusses with the slight curl of her corn silk hair, then lets out an involuntary sigh of defeat.

“I was really looking forward to this.”

“I know.”

“I just feel like…what now? Everyone just left. And I get we can see it another day, it’s not the end of the world at all and it’s definitely a privileged thing to be so upset about a movie, but I just…” 

The thought lingers incomplete in the air between them. The power alarm still beeps in the distance, a nagging reminder of the night’s disappointment.

“You can feel sad, y’know. It doesn’t mean you don’t care about other people’s problems. It just means that you’re human.”

“It’s a movie about a plastic doll.” She deadpans, rolling her eyes. Anetra chuckles at the display of silly ridicule; Marcia’s feigned attitude, her crossed arms and her self-scolding. There’s still something simmering underneath her wobbling sort of improv, but it’s a glimpse back into the girl she’s come to adore. 

“It’s something you’ve been looking forward to for weeks.” Anetra’s insistent, a tentative hand on Marcia’s shoulder. “We’ve had these tickets for a while, everyone got dressed up…you’ve been planning things around this for a long time. I’d be upset too.”

“I just wish it would’ve worked out. After the week I’ve had?”

“I know.” She’d been there for it all, the passed notes between classes and the frantic texts at night, drowning in a sea of homework and student council and an audition that had her climbing into Anetra’s very old truck after school crying so hard she couldn’t talk for the first three stoplights. They’d driven that day until Marcia’s curfew, stopping only to get ice cream and fries to eat on the metal benches by the walking trail downtown. She’d FaceTimed Anetra in tears twice while trying to finish her dress (because of course Marcia had to make hers from nothing but bolts of buttery soft gingham instead of buying one. And of course, even at 2am, this endeared Anetra to no end). 

This movie is what had been holding the pretty blonde together, and Mother Nature had decided to throw another wicked little wrench into Marcia’s unmatched positivity. 

Anetra won’t stand for any of it; Marcia’s posture slumped into a slight curve, her lip-shaped purse dangling recklessly from her elbow, her pretty, prized wedges dipped into a puddle made by the storm that had ruined the night.

“Come on,” She gestures across the parking lot, where her beat up truck sits proudly next to a Tesla. “It’s not over until I say it’s over.”

“What?”

“You called her a plastic doll but she’s a lot more than that to lots of people-every theater is playing this movie right now. We just have to find one with some empty seats.” 

“It’s been selling so fast. Do you really think,”

“-Who’s supposed to be the optimist here?” Anetra smirks. The truck chugs a bit when she starts it; familiar, reliable. Marcia leans her head on the passenger window, watches as Anetra puts it in reverse. She lays one hand over the back of her seat, and for a brief moment their eyes meet. Marcia’s thankful when her eyes go back to the road, thankful for the little bit of coverage the dark clouds allow her cheeks now that they match her dress. Then, both of Anetra’s hands go back on the steering wheel and they’re on neutral ground, worrying about the poor employees having to deal with their inflated version of the night’s events.

They pull up to the town’s tiny little shoebox restaurant and Anetra opens her door with the excuse of her parallel parking (although she knows it’s not as smooth as she thinks; typically, there isn’t really a danger of being hit by a car when you’re getting out on the sidewalk.) She asks if Marcia’s hungry and takes her flattened nod as a yes, leads them into the restaurant and to a table in a unfamiliar silence. This is disappointed Marcia, but it’s also hungry Marcia-a little bit of food is bound to make her at least feel human again.

She’s right.

Once they tear into their mozzarella sticks Marcia’s laughing again, taking more than her share of sauce and pretending to fight her about it like they usually do. She’s joking about the sold-out movie, about how this is a tell-tale sign of the universe taking a strike against the gays again just for fun.  Anetra has one hand on her phone, a list of cinemas open. She’s anxious and yet she still finds it hard to concentrate on anything but the girl in front of her.

The way Marcia’s smile stirs her heart, leaves it aching to burst from her chest and shout gleefully from the rooftops…she hasn’t felt anything more sacred than this in her entire life; not when winning a match, or finding people she belongs with, or even during her first time out at a pride event. There is something about the way her body aches, her thoughts feel like they’re always skipping back to the chorus of her favorite song when Marcia leans back in her seat to ask her a question during chemistry. There is something so innately tuned into Marcia within herself that she’s recognized as maybe being love, if not a heftily settled infatuation-a big fat crush, because she has to assign a term that represents the fumbling, jittery kind of longing she feels for her friend.

So she’s locked it away a bit, listening to their friends rave about their latest date or their current flings or whoever they’re looking at on dating apps with the skilled precision of the active listener she always has been. Because she’d rather call herself delusional than speak her feelings into the air. Saying it out loud would make them real. That would mean that other voices could say the same things her brain is rattling off on repeat;

She’s out of your league

She can easily get anybody she wants

You’re a really good friend-you always have been. 

That’s who you are…

A friend.

            She’s a friend who would move mountains for the pretty blonde in front of her, would willingly relinquish the aux chord for her, or skip lunch to help her run lines.She’d even spend an hour on the internet jumping through online hoops to make sure Marcia gets to see this damn movie. Because she didn’t buy the logo t-shirt she’s currently wearing with the intent to make it a staple part of her wardrobe.

            So when they pull up to a different theatre two hours later, she’s bursting with anticipation to make her announcement.

“We’re seeing the movie.”

“What?”

“I was looking the entire time we were at dinner and I found two tickets to the 9 o’clock showing. We’re not waiting until tomorrow; not when you made a dress for this. Not when you’ve been talking about this for months on end. This is important to you. We can go right now.”

Her face lights up, and it’s brilliant. She’s smiling the bright, wide smile Anetra can’t stop thinking about, jumping in her seat and dancing all of her unbridled, happy energy into the universe. She stops herself to hug the redhead, who almost melts into the touch. Then, Marcia steps back. She’s smiling still, but with a hint of apprehension-it doesn’t reach her eyes not completely. 

“I think we have to talk first.” She says. Anetra’s heart sinks into her throat.

“Why?”

“Because I’ve been trying to say something for so long but it feels like my hints aren’t being taken the way that I want them to, and now I just need to tell you directly to your face that I really, really like you. When you do sweet, thoughtful things like this it makes it impossible to stand here and accept it graciously and not grab your face and kiss you. And if that’s not how you feel it’s really okay, it’ll be alright if you give me time. But I honestly can’t take it anymore, you and your stupid truck and the blanket in the back and your cute little Barbie t-shirt, and,”

Anetra moves closer, one hand on Marcia’s shoulder and the other on her cheek. It’s taken a moment to process exactly what’s happening, the sound of Marcia’s voice and the cut of her dress and the excitement of the surprise bringing her back to life a complete distraction to the words that are coming out of her mouth. But she’s staring at the red-haired girl now, lips slightly parted, her breath hitched in her throat. And her skin is so soft under Anetra’s fingers, her eyes are so wide, and then she lets herself decode what’s happening.

I really, really like you.

Something ignites in her, propels her to close the rest of the distance between them. The initiation is quick, Anetra fearful that she’ll chicken out. But once Marcia’s lips are on hers she doesn’t want it to stop. She’s so soft, so beautifully feminine and delicate, and her fingers thread lightly through Anetra’s freshly-dyed hair like they’re trained to do it. And then she smiles into it, sighs, and Anetra’s lost all sense of time or place or direction. She’s just Anetra, the girl with the red hair and the beat-up truck and the sense that if she didn’t have basic human needs she could stay here and kiss Marcia for the rest of her life, and that would be just fine.

“So…” Marcia’s practically singing when they finally break for air, leaning her head on her seat. She’s flushed pink, and she bites her just-kissed lip with a brow raised in curiosity. “This is a good sign, then.”

“I really like you too.” She’s still nervous to send the confession into the air, even after their kiss had shattered her ability to think straight, even with Marcia’s incandescent smile upon finally hearing the words for herself.

“I didn’t want to tell anybody.” The redhead elaborates. “I think, for me, it just…I felt ridiculous. And maybe delusional.”

Marcia laughs, then-actually tilts her head back and giggles. And then she’s reaching for Anetra’s hand, linking their fingers together with that same unmatched fluttering feeling. 

“The only delusional thing about you is that you couldn’t see my very clear motives. I have moves.”

“You have moves.” She deadpans. Marcia leans back incredulously, crosses her arms like a child.

“I tried my hardest, okay?! I’m not really used to reading signals that aren’t just gross men trying to get into my pants.”

“So you’re saying that instead of doing the technological gymnastics of trying to get these tickets all I had to do was grab your ass and call you princess?”

The blonde splutters a bit, rakes a hand through her hair. She makes a quick move for her seatbelt, tugging it over her chest.

“We can go now, I don’t really want to see this movie anyway.”

Anetra stares back at her, mouth opening and then closing abruptly before Marcia lets go, sending the belt flying back into its clip.

“I’m just kidding!” she shuffles herself over the console and takes Anetra’s cheeks in her hands, kissing her hard and pulling away with a satisfied smirk. “I’m just mad that I won’t want to do anything but kiss you for the next hour and 54 minutes.” 

The shuffles herself out of the truck, smoothing out her dress and checking her reflection in the side mirror one last time. Anetra watches in a daze, her lips tingling and her body humming, the world a soft cocktail of disbelief and absolute bliss. She starts when Marcia calls her name, opening the drivers side door with sweet-natured, dramatic impatience.

“Come on! We’re going to be late!”  

She grabs hold of Anetra’s hand, pulls her so their sides brush together as they walk. She keeps a grip on her arm, and it’s still shocking every time she leans over to kiss her cheek. The cinema lobby is covered in pink; balloon arches and streamers and big cardboard cutouts. 

“Can you take our picture?” She hands her phone to the cowgirl with enthusiasm, pulls Anetra eagerly into the life-sized box. Her arms fly around Anetra’s neck, her lips lingering on her cheek for the pose. Anetra’s arms wrap tentatively around Marcia’s waist and she’s met with her body pressed as close as it can be, the blonde squeezing her in a tight embrace. 

And as the stranger calls out an enthusiastic ‘cheese!’, Anetra has never loved this little plastic doll more.

[kimmiessimmies]

What Went Before: The Gang

This story of mine has been going on for years, mostly over on my WordPress blog. Since I have gained quite a few new followers recently, I understand not everyone is up to date with everything that went before, and sometimes it can be worth knowing a few things. So, every so often, I shall do summary posts on what went before. In this case, on the history and relationships of my deeply loved friend group, sometimes referred to as "The Gang": James, Seth, Daniel, Jill and Sarah. Beware, though, I may say "summary", but this one will probably be quite long. Are you sitting down? Do you have a spare half hour? Here we go!

"The Gang" started with James, Sarah and Dan(iel). They have known each other their whole lives, with James and Sarah being twin siblings and Dan being their cousin.

Seth and Jill joined them when they started school. As is frequently the case with young kids; it was often the boys together and the girls together at first.

But as they grew older, more and more often, the five of them played and hung out together.

The boys formed a band, which they called The Hot Wings as a joke, and making music together only strengthened their bond.

Sarah and Jill were their biggest fans and Dan's parents turned their garage into a rehearsal space for the band.

Jill's crush on James kicked in the moment the hormones did. At that point he was oblivious to it, but as puberty progressed, James started to notice the way Jill was looking at him. While he didn't hold the same feelings for her as she did for him, he did like her and was curious, so when Jill finally mustered up the courage to ask James if maybe they could hang out together sometime, he accepted.

They shared their first kiss and went from there. When they started sleeping together it was huge for Jill. It was huge for James too, but for different reasons which will be divulged by himself later in the story. Jill couldn't wait to tell bestie Sarah all about it. The only problem is... as stated above, Sarah is James' sister. And while she didn't directly say anything to James about it, she couldn't help but give him telling looks or sometimes make suggestive remarks.

So, James got fed up and ended up confronting Jill during a prom night.

This was actually one of the first "story" posts I ever made. It's... well, let's say, if you go back to this one, you can clearly see my growth...

Breaking up at prom is not a very decent thing to do, to say the least. But teenage boys are not usually known for their decency, and James was no exception.

So, that was that, James and Jill were broken up.

After the first heated emotions of the prom night had died down, Jill and James agreed to stay friends. They were both too attached to "The Gang" and felt they could make it work. And honestly, they seemed to be doing okay.

When Jill and Dan threw a party at the teen club because they both turned 18, The Hot Wings played their music, and from the way Jill was looking at James on stage that night, it was clear she was, in fact, not over him at all...

Time went on and the dynamics within The Gang were always shifting. Seth and Sarah fell in love...

...And Seth made their relationship official when he asked her to be his girlfriend on New Year's Eve of 03.

Seth and Sarah were solid from the get-go.

Things were a little more complicated where James and Jill were concerned... After a school Christmas party, they had a so-called "bonus night"...

Even though James was honest about his intentions upfront, this night had reignited a spark of hope in Jill's heart.

Six months later they sat for their final exams and were the first group of teens to initiate the fire walking ritual which Rachel, Finn and Sadie adopted 2 years later upon their high school graduation.

Jill held on to her little bit of hope until The Gang was about to start university and Sarah and Seth got word of this bonus night, which had remained their little secret up until then. It became evident right there, and then that Jill was hoping something could still be, while James had clearly moved on.

They had a good talk after which it appeared the message was clear, even to Jill: they would never be a couple ever again.

And then it was uni time. I truly had a bit of a proud parent moment when I saw the five of them with all their stuff on the lawn of their student residence.

We had come a long way and the friendship was still strong as ever. Little did we know then how much the strength of this friendship would be tested during the uni years.

Because of course life didn't stop there. Jill truly appeared to be over James when she got together with housemate Narai.

And there was a slightly awkward corridor run-in with James when she left Narai's room one morning, thinking she could cross over to her own room quickly.

All in all, things seemed to be going well for the gang. Jill appeared to be over James and order was restored.

Maybe now is a good time to bring Dan in, because not much has been said about him yet. That's mainly because Dan is maybe the most steady friend within the group. He likes to keep the peace and is usually the mediator when things get a bit more heated. Dan was the only one to find romance outside of the friend group (Sadie!)

Dan and Jill have a special friendship within The Gang. Being born only a few days apart, they started school at the same time and always celebrated their birthday parties together.

In May of 06, Eva, James and Sarah's older sister, married Jasper, Jill's cousin, in Monte Vista. All these family connections meant the entire gang got to go on a trip together!

Both Jill and Dan weren't in the happiest of moods though. Dan was upset because he and Sadie had just broken up and Jill was doubting her relationship with Narai.

Together they decided that getting drunk at the wedding was the best solution.

Which led to Jill drunkenly telling James she was definitely over him...

...and a drunken kiss with Dan...

They both immediately realised this was definitely a big mistake, had a good talk about their friendship and knew they'd never go there again. Jill also realised that her relationship with Narai wasn't going anywhere either though and broke up with him when they got back home.

And that brings us close to the present. In which Sadie started university and stirred up a lot of emotions throughout The Gang, as we have seen. And which showed Jill is actually NOT over James yet... Time will tell how this all unfolds...

If you are curious how Miss Sadie connects into all this, I actually did a "What Went Before" on her a few months back. You can read it here. I should add though that I wrote this right before she started university, so also before she locked eyes with James again and f-ed up my entire storyline. xD

[hobbyarchivist]

Daughters of Eve 2023 Interview

I'm excited to say I've had the honor of interviewing the 1960's girl band 'The Daughters of Eve'! I was able to speak with three of the members of the former group, Marsha (guitarist, keyboardist and co-vocalist), Andrea (bassist), and Debi (drummer). You may have heard their viral hit 'Hey Lover' or seen pictures of them back in the day circulating the web. Without further ado, the interview:

What was it like being in an all-girl band back in the 1960’s? You’ve mentioned before you felt like a novelty.

MARSHA: We definitely knew that there wasn’t anyone like us. We were always advertised as an all-girl band and people were pretty much in awe that girls could play music. Once we were playing, we knew we were good. I think all of us were of the same mind to wanna play electric guitars, play in a band and play as good or better than some of the guy bands.

ANDREA: We weren’t like ‘Yeah, we’re girls, we’re gonna do this!” We were just musicians.

What was it like being in the Daughters of Eve so young, as teenagers?

DEBI: It was really fantastic. It was the happiest time of my life. I love music. It’s like when kids get into sports, they start really young and by the time they’re in high school, they’ve worked out all the bugs. When you play an instrument with a group of people and a sound the people like, it builds endorphins in your body. It’s almost like a high. You’ll see pictures were I’m totally excited about playing. I always have been. It was a wonderful time.

MARSHA: To be so young and to be able to do that, I think it was really good for us. The only downside is that maybe I would have engaged more in more social situations in school. I was a cheerleader and we had this big game of the year. Because they chose our band to play at the dance afterwards, I had to chose ‘Am I gonna do the cheerleading or play in the band?’, and I chose band. I felt really torn, but I knew I wanted to play, I didn’t want to give that up.

ANDREA: There’s no hanging out with your friends, no having a date, there was no going to junior or senior prom. Forget that, I had to work those nights! It’s really not a normal life that’s just enhanced by this fun opportunity to be on the road.

How did DOE shape you?

DEBI: I was a very shy, insecure teenager because I was so short and everyone seemed so big to me. But, when I was playing drums I was sitting down; there was no size. It gave me a sense of security and confidence in myself. It shaped me to this day.

MARSHA: What I know about brain development is when you’re playing music, there’s a lot of neural connections that are made. And it really does help you in other areas, whether it is academics or anything else. It’s a tremendous opportunity to create all those creative neurons. I think it’s good.

ANDREA: After being in the band and traveling, there was no normal anymore. I had a hard time relating to people my age. I had been on the road and they were just coming out of their sheltered lives. At this point in my life, what’s kind of fun, is knowing I’m one of the only grandmas who’s had the history I’ve had.

How did you feel about ‘Hey Lover’ going viral?

ANDREA: A few years ago, my grandson calls me up, ‘Grandma, you’re not gonna believe this — one of the songs from your band went viral on TikTok!’ And my first question was ‘What’s TikTok?’ (Laughs) The popularity and hearing from people and getting fan letters, I’m just amused that it’s out of the blue. There’s a little part of me that’s a tiny bit irritated that the four of us original Daughters of Eve, who are all four still alive, are not getting a penny of any of the Spotify or iTunes or Youtube or anything.

MARSHA: It’s kind of surreal. I was very surprised, but very happy and honored that the younger generation is still listening to our songs and that they really like our music. It’s interesting that almost 55 years later the music is becoming popular again. I think it’s wonderful.

DEBI: Im happy that they like our music. I get all kinds of emails everyday, or through Youtube. Even people I work with are happy for me. It’s probably how Paul McCartney felt after The Beatles broke up, being happy that people still have interest in the music. Thats how I feel. They still like it, still want to hear it, and Im happy about it.

What’s next?

ANDREA: I think we might talk about how we can put up some ‘Youtubes’ or make a DOE fan-page that’s from us. In other words, be a little more in control about what’s on the internet.

MARSHA: We’re talking about a lot of things that we might get started.

DEBI: We’d like to see some compensation eventually, maybe that will happen. It wouldn’t really matter financially, but it would be nice to know that we could be compensated rather than people just making money off of our songs. It’s never over until it’s over, right? I hope that we make an impression to other girls who want to be in bands. The positive nature of this, it’s a relationship, a friendship, a sisterhood.

Thanks for reading!

(This interview has been greatly edited down, so come back to see more snippets to be posted later!)

(Pics from members' Facebook)

[blxxeu]

happy

i want to be four again.  to play with my toys on the kitchen floor while my mom is making apple pie next to me, to scream at the top of my lungs when i'm running down the hill next to my house, to cry of happiness at the news of my mother being pregnant with my little sister, to hold my tears in whilst trying to look tough after falling and getting scars on my knees, to wake up in the darkness of my room from my baby sister crying, to feel unconditional love for my first “forever” best friend when i hugged her for the first time under the christmas tree,  to wake up confused in my bed the morning after i fell asleep on the sofa. 

i want to be seven again.  to smile big at my first attempt to ride a bike and making it, to not be able to contain my excitement for learning how to read, write and do math at school, to cry when i have to leave my friend’s house after playing together the whole afternoon, to eat cold sandwiches on breaks, to witness my sister taking her first steps, to watch disney shows when i come back home from school, to climb the tree in our house’s garden withouth falling for the first time, to eat the biggest ice cream cone in existence that my grandad gifted me on my birthday, to be devastated for having to start wearing glasses for the rest of my life. 

i want to be eleven again.  to relive my first music theory class, to try on my mom’s high heels and fall to my knees, to be scared of soon going to middle school, to get my first ever computer with an internet conection in the house, to start dressing the way i like even if no one else likes it, to start playing instruments and singing in choirs, to announce to my mom that i will become a fashion designer when i grow up and proceed to fill up millions of notebooks with my designs, to play “chefs” with my sister while we are feeding each other dirt mixed with water from the ground, to read books for the first time and realise how much i love them. 

i want to be fifteen again.  to find my very first friend group in high school, to go to my first out of country trip, to win choir competions, to study hard because academic validation is my coping mechanism, to hang out with my friends at the local playground on summer afternoons, to listen to music in my room while singing at the top of my lungs, to find my first part time job, to fall in love with my first ever serious crush, to hang posters of my favourite bands on my bedroom’s walls, to start getting into fights with my sister because she is too young to hang out with me now, to look at the falling stars from my balcony at night, to play video games with my friend who visits every summer.  

i want to be eighteen again.  to cry for days non-stop because my only friends left me, to start attending art classes, to sit on the bus and try not to fall asleep because of my exhaustion, to go to my first and last prom dance, to really feel lonely, to draw every chance i get, to leave my music studies behind, to travel to athens for the first time, to throw up from exams’ stress and anxiety, to hear the news of me getting into my first choice university, to finally reach my goal of moving out of my parents’ house and crying my eyes out for starting a new life, to make new friends from all over the country on my first day at uni, to visit home after months of being away. 

i want to be twenty again.  to walk back home from university while it’s raining and i have forgotten my umbrella at my appartment, to barely sleep because of my assignments, to fail my first uni class, to start contemporary dance lessons, to come to terms with the fact that i may be studying architecture but this is not what i want to do in life, to go out with my two best friends at whatever time of day because i no longer need permission from my parents to do anything, to go to the cinema next to my appartment complex late at night and watch horror films, to travel and meet my internet friends, to journal and draw when i have free time from studying, to do presentations of my architecture projects, to feel like i am finally finding my way. 

oh, how nice it would be to turn back time, to tell myself how much happiness was there when i was younger, how much less worried i should have been, how useless all those tears i've shed were, how silly little me was for not knowing she was letting the best years of her life slip through her fingers by always being sad. i never realised how truly happy i was when i was four, seven, eleven, fifteen, eighteen, twenty and all the ages in between. but, i do know it now, at twenty five, when life has changed for one more time and i feel like it’s out of my control, just like all the other times that life changed and i felt lost... 

maybe in five years from now i will know what the happiness i am feeling now feels, tastes, smells or sounds like. because i always feel happy way too late, i don't know how to feel it when the time is there, i am always a step away from it no matter how close i try to get.  

[killiansprincss]

When Emma Falls in Love

SUMMARY: When Emma falls in love, it's all on her face. Hangs in the air like stars in outer space. Emma Nolan falls in love three times in her life. After experiencing heartbreak Emma is more wary of love, but when she moves across the hall to Killian Jones, an asshole she knew in college, things start to change and Emma begins to falls in love in a very different way than she did before.

Link to AO3

In honour of me getting Eras tour tickets for August 2024 I thought I would post this because if like me you’re obsessed with Captain Swan and Taylor Swift then this song has been on your mind since last week

When Emma falls in love, she paces the floor Closes the blinds and locks the door When Emma falls in love, she calls up her mom Jokes about the ways that this one could go wrong She waits and takes her time 'Cause Little Miss Sunshine always thinks it's gonna rain

Emma Nolan was 16 when she first fell in love. When she was young, her parents would read her a fairytale to get her to go to sleep, and when she started reading herself, it was always stories about princesses and dragons. So I guess you could say she was a hopeless romantic. Neal Gold was in her High School English class, and they would share notes and he would smile at her and Emma felt butterflies in her chest whenever he did. She would dream about him at night and hope that tomorrow would be the day he finally asked her out,

 When he eventually asked her to Prom after months and months of wishing and waiting, she would tell her mom she was in love. Her mother would smile and listen to her daughter, hoping this boy would treat her right and love her the way she deserved to. She and her mother went dress shopping and Emma was sure it would be perfect, he would kiss her and they would start to date before going off to college together. He brings her a corsage that matches her dress, shakes hands with her father and promises to be home by midnight. 

 Prom night is as magical as Emma hopes it is. They dance, they laugh and she gets her very first kiss that night. Emma can’t help but feel like a Princess. He asks her to be his girlfriend and Emma feels like she is living her fairytale life. This was her prince charming, and she was going to live happily ever after.

 “I can’t do this anymore.” He tells her 6 months later. He’s leaving for college early, and didn’t want to be tied down with a girl back home. So he leaves for the big city, away from their small town and she never sees him again. She can’t help but hope she might see him for the holidays, but that never happened. He was a ghost and that was when Emma experienced heartbreak for the first time. It was then that she grew up and stopped believing in fairytales. 

___________

When Emma leaves for college, she kisses her mother and father goodbye and promises to come home for Christmas. College is the next place that Emma falls in love. Graham. She’s invited to her roommates party one night and he’s there and Emma swears she feels her heart flutter. They get talking and realise they have a lot in common, they both come from a small town and want to go to Law School and are majoring in English. Of course that means she sees him in her classes, and she makes a point of sitting next to him as much as she can.

 They’re at another party and Emma isn’t sure if she was feeling brave or it was the liquid courage doing that, but she grabs his face and kisses him. His lips tasted of whisky and her heart did the butterfly thing again. She didn’t want to fall in love again, but  oh  was she falling.

 “There's a guy.” She tells her mother when she calls. Her mother was her best friend, she wanted to tell her everything about college (well maybe not  everything, but a new guy she was falling for was top of her list)

 “What’s his name? Where is he from? Have you kissed him yet?” She asks eagerly, her mother lost her own mother when she was ten, so she made a real effort in the years she was lucky to have with her daughter,

 “His name is Graham, I met him at a party and we have a lot of classes together. Don’t get your hopes up though mom, who knows how it’s going to end.” Since getting her heart broken, she had a new perspective on life. Didn’t want to fall in love if it only ended in heartbreak.

 “Don’t rain too hard on the sun.” Is her mother’s advice. Forever the optimist.

 But she takes her advice still, and pursues a relationship with Graham. And it’s amazing. She was a lot more mature now, they would debate about things and they would ask each other about the future. She knew this love was different to the one she had with Neal. He’s on the soccer team and she gets to watch his games and be his cheerleader. He blows her a kiss when he sees her in the crowd and her heart is wild. She’s invited to all the after parties, and most of his team are nice, she becomes fast friends with Ruby, one of the other players' girlfriends. It’s also where she meets the most arrogant and aggravating man ever. Killian Jones. Captain of the soccer team, a total asshole. Thought everyone should worship the ground he walked on. “He’s a bloody bastard.” Graham tells her, “gets angry and takes it out on us. Gives me especially a hard time considering we're both from the same bloody country.”

 When Emma falls apart, it's when she's alone She takes on the pain and bears it on her own ‘Cause when Emma falls in love, she's in it for keeps She won't walk away unless she knows she absolutely has to leave

Emma has one more year left of college. Boston has been great but she does miss her small town and its quirks. She brings home Graham to meet her family and they love him. Her mother gives him extra potatoes and stuffing at Thanksgiving and tells him he’s welcome at Christmas. He appreciates the offer but has to decline as he has a paper he hasn’t even started yet. Emma knew family was a difficult thing for him as he was raised by foster families, so she understands why he isn’t jumping at the chance to spend time with his girlfriend's family. 

 In between Christmas and New Years Emma decides to go back to campus early and surprise him. Which is when Emma experiences heartbreak for a second time. She walks into their shared apartment expecting to find her boyfriend surrounded by books and coffee as he works on his paper, not in their bed with a naked brunette. 

 “Emma, this isn’t what it looks like.” He tells her as she grabs her stuff, if this is how he treated a three year relationship then she was very wrong about him.

 “Oh please enlighten me on how your dick fell onto Regina,” She trusted him, told him her fears and how she was terrified of getting her heart broken again. She let him into her home, he ate with her family. She had visions of them moving in together for real after college, imagining starting a life with him. Three years of love down the drain. And Emma reminded herself trusting men was a bad idea and falling in love was a trap. 

 She avoids Graham as much as she can when they have an almost identical class schedule. But somehow she fights through it and graduates with honours. But no job prospects unfortunately. So unable to afford rent in the city she grew to love, she moves back home to her parents house. Her dad is sheriff of their small town and she helps out when she can, whether it be filing paperwork or trying desperately to update their ancient computers. 

 The only perk of living in a small town was the dating scene was practically non-existent. Everyone knew everyone, she knew who dated who in high school and who to avoid. Being back here felt like she was in high school, broken hearted after a boy she trusted and loved broke everything in her. Emma didn’t cry much, never in front of other people, she thought it made her look weak. But when she’s alone, she lets it all out, cries herself to sleep because what was the point of love if it only brought torment and heartbreak. 

 Emma met a boy with eyes like a man Turns out her heart fits right in the palm of his hand Now he'll be her shelter when it rains Little does he know, his whole world's about to change

Finding a dream job is hard, just because you graduated college didn’t mean employers were lining up to employ her. She had failed interviews and was questioned why she didn’t take certain lectures or why she didn’t land an internship when she was already up to her limits in work. It was rough as hell. But eventually she finds success. Bail bonds. Not her first choice in careers, but she was desperate to get out of her small town. 

 Her apartment in Boston is a shithole. There is no other way to describe a studio apartment on the outskirts of the city centre. It’s small and dingy and the previous owners must have eaten fish every single night as that scent clung to the wallpaper, forcing her to open the tiny window to breathe fresh air. But it was all she could afford on her crappy salary. Her job also doesn’t consist of much other than coffee runs for the first year. She felt like an overpaid intern. But she works hard, she stays late to research the assholes and what could be used to bring them down, and it helps out. When she’s assigned her first case, she kicks ass. Brings the guy down and she earns respect from her colleagues. She realises she doesn’t hate bail bonds as much as she thought, she originally wanted to study law to help people but realised quickly into her second year she didn’t want to be a lawyer. But this was still helping people and as her paycheck got bigger and bigger each month she was able to move out of her crappy studio apartment and into a one bed apartment in a nicer area of the city.

 She has a neighbour across the hall. She sees the back of his head occasionally but has never had a conversation with him but he doesn’t make much noise or hold late night parties so she’s happy with that. 

 The one night she does meet him, everything changes from that point.

 She’s carrying two paper bags from the grocery store, she had a craving for pasta and realised she had no marinara sauce, and going to the grocery store when you were hungry was always a bad idea. So here she was, two brown bags covering her face whilst struggling to get her key in the door.

 “Here let me help you.” A stranger's voice says, reliving her struggle and taking one of the bags so she can open her door.

 “Thank you.” And that’s when she gets a proper look at the stranger, who she presumes is her neighbour. “Killian Jones?

 “Emma. Emma Nolan” 

 Killian Jones, captain of the soccer team. Total asshole and Graham's friend. Great. This was fucking perfect. 

 “Small world huh.” He comments and Emma wanted to roll her eyes at how small it fucking was. She hadn’t seen him in years, since she ended things with Graham, she stopped going to his games or parties with his friends. Of all the people to end up living next to.

 “How long have you lived here? Do you live with your girlfriend?” She briefly remembers Killian having a girlfriend, dark curly hair.

 He cringes at the mention of a girlfriend, clearly a touchy subject. “No uh, it’s just me. Been here around a year now.”

 They make polite conversation about what they were doing in the city, and he lets her get back to unpacking her groceries, but at the door he turns and says, “I wanted to tell you Graham was a complete dickhead, you were too good for him anyway.”

 She doesn’t know why he says it, but she’s grateful anyway.

 The next few months pass in a blur, she sees Killian in the corridor in the mornings and says hello, she holds the apartment building door open for him when he's coming back from a run. One night though Emma decides to impulsively start baking brownies because she was bored and craving something sweet. So after googling a recipe she gets her ingredients and mixing bowl out, and begins the messy process of combining flour, eggs and chocolate. It’s only when the mix is ready to be put into a dish does Emma realise she has nothing to add the mixture to. And only after rifling through her cupboards does she knock on her neighbours door. Hair up in a messy ponytail, no makeup and possibly flour on her face. Great.

 He opens the door looking almost as dishevelled as she was, grey sweatpants and a loosely fitted white t-shirt, which is where she also notices something she didn’t before. A stump in place of his left hand. She rattles her brain trying to think of when it could’ve happened, he had to have two hands in college-right? “I’m sorry, this is so random but do you happen to have a baking pan I could borrow? I had a craving to make them and I realise now that I don’t have anything to bake them with.” 

 The corners of his mouth turn upright as he smiles at her, and that goodman smile made Emma's stomach flutter again, she didn’t deny she found him attractive but she wouldn’t go there. “Say I do have one, do I get to try the brownies once they’re done?” 

 “Well that depends on how good your brownie dish is. Every good baker knows it's the tools that make them delicious.” There was no harm in flirting a little, he was her type too-dark hair, light eyes and an accent that made her weak at the knees.

 This makes him laugh as he goes into his apartment which is an identical layout to Emmas, to grab his brownie dish. “I expect great things from this.” 

 She walks back into her apartment with a giddy smile on her face. This man across the hall from her was different to the boy she thought she knew in college. So maybe she adds extra chocolate to the brownies to make them extra fudgy and then tops them with extra chocolate chips and brings them over to his apartment and waits eagerly for him to open the door. 

 “These are easily the best brownies I have tasted in my life.” Emma doesn’t know if he means it or if he's just saying it to be nice, but either way she can’t help the smile on her face growing as he takes a bite.

 Emma sits in his apartment for hours that night. They chat about college and how it felt like a lifetime ago yet also not that long ago. They speak about their lives now and she learns Killian is a high school teacher, a History teacher specifically, she learns he has a passion for mythology, and Cleopatra is his favourite story. And she tells him about how she fell into bail bonds but actually enjoys it. She learns that he moved from London when he was 17 and misses very few things about his home, “except for tea, you bloody Americans put shame on the drink.” 

 “You can ask about it, I won’t get offended.” He says, referencing his hand which she now sees is a prosthetic.

 “When did it happen? Am I a bad person for not realising in college?” She asks, hoping he won’t be pissed off.

 He just shakes his head, “don’t worry, it happened just a few months before graduation. It was a terrible storm and me and my ex-girlfriend had just had a huge fight and I wasn’t in the right headspace so I was driving alone and out of nowhere a truck hit me and my car spun and spun. I’m lucky to be alive considering I was in hospital for 3 months, the doctors tried to save my hand but it got stuck in the steering wheel and it could’ve led to a bad infection so now I have to wear a prosthetic.” He says unclipping his hand and re-clipping it in. He then goes on to explain that he ended up graduating later than planned as he missed a semester due to hospital and rehabilitation. 

 When Emma is back in her apartment that night, she feels like something has changed. There was something about her that made her want to keep getting to know him and tell him everything about her. Whenever they see one another in the hall now, they chat about their plans for the day and he lets her vent when she’s had a stressful day or no luck catching a perp. She makes sure to buy more baking pans so she can keep bringing him baked goods when he’s working late grading homework. She isn’t sure what they are exactly, there has been flirting but nothing more, she knows he doesn't have a girlfriend and he knows she hasn’t dated anyone since Graham. 

 So she decides to be bold, to take charge. She knocks on his apartment door and almost as soon as he opens his door, she pounces and kisses him. She thinks she’s made a huge mistake but then she feels his hand push the back of her head forward as he engages in the kiss and deepens it. His lips taste of rum and salt, and the kiss feels  right  , and it was so different to how she felt when she kissed Graham or even Neal. Things escalate pretty quickly, and one moment she’s up against the wall on the inside of his apartment with her legs around his waist as he places kisses down the side of her neck causing a moan to escape her lips. Clothes are being torn off and scattered across the apartment as they make their way to his bedroom.  Every touch was hungry, wanting to taste more of one another, scratchings of pleasure and wanting to make sure this was actually happening. The sex was something else, it was energetic and the way he made her feel felt like fireworks were going off in her head. His touches were soft when they needed to be, and rough and fast when she asked. Their bodies were like two puzzle pieces that had finally fit together.

 That night was a catalyst for everything good that happened. The very next night he takes her out to dinner, a small Italian restaurant which did the best pasta. They walk hand in hand and they’re both happy. They talk about life, they tell each other things they wouldn’t tell anyone else. Emma tells him her fears of being left alone and how she used to dream of a fairytale but grew out of it when she got older, to which Killian tells her his mother used to read him fairytales as a bedtime story and they always remind him of her.

 “Whose Liam?” She asks one night. They were lying in bed together and she notices there is a tattoo on his chest, of that name surrounded by a wave. He had a few tattoos but this one was different, hidden, tucked away, sentimental. She had noticed it a few times but felt like it was never the right time.

 “He was my brother.”  Was . Oh. Shit. “He died about ten years ago.”

 “Will you tell me about him?” They had been together almost every day, and she loved learning all she could about him, she knew little about his family, just that his mom died and his dad was an alcoholic and he didn’t have a relationship with him.

 “Liam was my best friend. He practically raised me after our mother died and our fathers drinking got worse. He wasn't the best in school so he dropped out early and joined the Royal Navy. He wanted to rise up through the ranks and make a name for himself. There were a lot of people who didn’t agree with the royals and the money being spent on the Navy, he got into quite a few bar fights when those kinds of people liked to pick fights. He’d come out battered and bruised, but one night he got into a fight with a big bloke who hit with-That he didn’t-the force that Liam got hit with.” This was the first time she had seen him get emotional and flustered, and she could figure out the end of that story, so she laces her fingers with his and let him recover. “It's why I came to the states rather than pick a uni closer to home, I had to get away, I wanted a fresh start where I wasn’t constantly reminded of him.” 

 She understood why he was the way he was in college, his pain was fresh and he didn’t know how to control his emotions so he likely lashed out when he got angry, Graham probably reminded him of his brother which explains why he always complained about him giving him a worse time than the others. She wanted to be there for him as much as she could, help him heal.

 This was the third time Emma had fallen in love, and she wasn’t afraid anymore. Her feelings were developing faster and she found herself looking at the sun rather than waiting for the rain. Killian felt like home. Her mother of course is thrilled and asks when she can meet him, to which she tells her soon. And when they do make the trip to her small town, he is the perfect gentleman, bringing flowers to her mother and a British beer that her dad loves. They welcome him with open arms, and despite not having any family left, Killian had found one in the woman he loved.

 Her family loves him. Which is when years pass and he is asking for their blessing they give it to him with no doubt or hesitation. 

 “Emma. When I first met you I didn’t know how important you would become in my life. These past few years have been the happiest I have felt in a long time, and I would be a bloody idiot if I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

 Emma cries. She loved Killian with all of her heart. She used to dream of a fairytale when she was younger, and as cliche as it sounded, she just had to kiss a few frogs before finally finding her Prince Charming. And when she takes her fathers arm as she walks down the aisle, dressed in white, she has to force herself not to cry so she doesn’t ruin her makeup. But it's his wedding vows that end up making her cry the most.

 “Loving you Emma was the best thing to happen to me. You’re like a book I can’t put down, you make me excited every single day and I love talking about you to people. I swear you have the power to change a bad boy and a broken thing who didn’t know he was capable of love into a good man who loves with every fibre of his being. With this ring I am also giving you my heart, and a promise of a life together filled with light and love.”

 When Emma falls in love, she falls hard and she dreams of a fairytale come true, with Killian she felt just that and more.

[koskela-knights]

Smalltown Boy HCs & Lore dumping

https://archiveofourown.org/works/53524066/chapters/135478702

The fic is finished for a while now, so today I wanna share my thoughts and HCs behind this fic of gay! Ilmo 👀

Whatever my personal HC is regarding his sexuality (it switches constantly lol), I still HC Ilmo to have looked up to the lumberjacks and fishermen of his town and it's what inspired him to contribute to his community and try to save it 🥺 Together with a few other minor hints I tried to drop in there

More random ramblings, sorta spoilers and kind of me-lore dump about this whole fic becos I love talking about these things <3

Idk how accurate it would be in this part of the US + time, but my dad used to tell me stories when he was a young lad (in the 70-80s) nobody rly blinked an eye if he hung around with adults. Like on holiday, going on a boat trip with others that were non-family) But I liked that vibe/idea so I made the Koskela kids hang around the lumber mill etc. a lot when they were young and that those men were the father figures/role models after their own dad passed away.

I HC their parents being part of the Torchbearers but it was a secret for them until they got older and their mom finally came clean about what really happened to their dad. EDIT: In the final fic, it ends up to be Zeke who tells the Koskelas the secret. This also cements Ilmo and Jaakko's desire to follow in their parents' footsteps later in life.

The whole red thread of questions is inspired by the book Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe which is such a wonderful book ldkfdsj

The mention of the trailer park owner is how I imagine the reason for Ilmo to strive to become a better owner later in his life (as we can see with him 'taking care' of Saga's bills after she supposedly left Watery for a while. It was illegal but he's like fuck the government + class solidarity which I think is very fitting for him and Jaakko)

The conversation with Zeke was inspired by a scene in Moonlight where the MC asks his father figure about the F-slur.

In this story, Zeke is really one of the biggest inspirations for Ilmo to pursue the motor club thing, bike & cool jacket and all :')

Initially, Zeke was going to be gay but ICR what changed my mind 😅

Jaakko’s throwing hands is both a HC but also now more confirmed/supported by the dropped Cult lines Jaakko has where he expressed violent tendencies lmao

The Koskela kids sneaking into the mortuary is my attempt to show them learning to illegally sneak into things from an early age xD also to show their fuck the establishment vibes once more

Originally, the Prom fic was going to be the final chapter but then I finished writing the coming out scene with Jaakko and thought that'd be narratively more fitting to end the story on. So the prom fic became its own bonus thing :D

I wasn't gay in my early childhood/mid teenhood but homophobia and the gender binary were rampant in school. Which were partial inspirations for what Ilmo's dealing with in this story. I was a very gender non-confirming cis girl who looked androgynous and it fucking sucked in high school. I downright feared going to the public bathroom becos of catty girls talking shit behind my back, within my ear range of course)

Additionally, high school students knew if you were different. Whether you were super flamboyant or not, they'd notice something was 'off' about you. I noticed it happen to myself and to a friend of mine.

[oseytorvan]

Dislocation?..

Annotation: Astrid finds herself in Hiccup's arms for the first time, and... damn, it looks like she fell in love with him even more. (Modern AU) 

***

“Ah, my leg! Aw, aw, damn, I can't get up! Oh, what a terrible pain!..”

The sky blinded Hiccup for a moment when he rolled his eyes and bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing.

Astrid's moaning made want to slap myself on the forehead rather than help. However, Hiccup didn't even mind — at least some variety among the annoying chatter about the prom. Which, by the way, will come in five hours.

“1 out of 10 for acting. My girlfriend has too much ego to ask for help.”

“Hey!”

“Persuaded — 1,01 of 10. For the effort.”

Astrid, sitting on the lawn near the school building, finally stopped defiantly grabbing her leg.

“Come on, Hiccup!” she exclaimed, throwing off the pretense. “It doesn't take much from you. Just pick me up already and carry me past that bunch of ram!”

Hiccup cast an indifferent glance where her hand waved.

“Past your friends?” the guy clarified, looking at Astrid again and raising an eyebrow skeptically. “You do realize that you're acting like a child, right?"

“It would be easier if you agreed to go to the ball,” she retorted grumpily. “They think you're too weak to hold me while dancing!”

“I don't care what they think of me,” said Hiccup patiently. The devotion with which Astrid defended him in front of her company could have made Hiccup smile with emotion. If she hadn't reached the point of absurdity, as now. “We've already discussed this, Astrid. And we agreed that you would go to the prom with your friends and have fun. And then I'll pick you up. Shall we go?”

Hiccup adjusted the strap of the backpack hanging on his shoulder and jerked his head towards his car. Astrid frowned at the gang. Ruffnut was flirting with the young teacher with might and main — poor Eret Eretson did not know how to wriggle out of her tenacious grip. Fishlegs and Snotlout looked at this spectacle with jealousy, Tuffnut — with undisguised disgust.

With a snort of displeasure, Astrid started to get up, but after a second she landed on the grass again.

Something in her face  — either the curled lips, or the wrinkles that gathered for a second near her nose — made Hiccup alert.

“Are you all right?”

“It's okay. Go. I'll see you later,” Astrid began to lace up her sneakers for some reason, but Hiccup managed to notice how her hands carefully walked over her ankle.

It doesn't really look like a practical joke.

Hiccup dropped his backpack into the grass and squatted down next to her. Ignoring Astrid's protests, he took off her sneaker and examined her foot closely.

“So you really sprained your leg?” Hiccup looked up at her in confusion.

“Well...” Hofferson faltered, which made her even angrier at herself. “Don't make a drama, it's just a dislocation. I can walk!”

“Are you sure?”

“Are you doubting me?”

With an air of offended pride, Astrid took her sneaker from Hiccup and put it back on, wincing again.

Haughtily sticking out her chin, she leaned on Hiccup's shoulder and tried to get up again, but a weak exclamation gave her away.

Without waiting for Astrid to lose her balance, Hiccup caught her in his arms and…

“Hey! What are you...” clutching his shoulders, Astrid blurted out confusedly when he lifted her.

“I have a first aid kit in my car,” Hiccup explained, changing the position of his hands to make it more comfortable for her.  “We're going there. Just be patient, okay?..”

A pumped-up guy carrying his beloved in his arms… It's always very romantic. According to books and movies. Even she, Astrid, sometimes loved to look forward with gamble and vindictive pleasure to how the faces of her friends would stretch when it came to those that Hiccup was not a weakling at all!

But... in fact, everything turned out to be not so amazing at all.

Hiccup's skin didn't seem stretched from the muscles, but his hands were strong, safe and confident. In them, Astrid felt weak and dizzyingly light — her legs, suspended in the air, seemed to consist of cotton wool. But this sensation didn't make her feel like floating at all. This sensation caused her embarrassment.

She clung awkwardly to Hiccup's shoulders and didn't know where to put her eyes. Ruffnut's cooing, her brother's indignant exclamations, Eret Eretson's confused mumbling—all this subsided. Astrid felt her ears light up at the thought that they were all staring at her now.

Astrid wanted to moan and bury her burning face in Hiccup's shoulder, but there was a special fragrance coming from his skin, exciting, penetrating deep, deep into the lungs, and…

“I'm going to patch you up,” the slight grin in Hiccup's voice made Astrid blink.

She sat on the edge of the open trunk and looked at her sneakers, scattered on the asphalt in inappropriately bright spots.

“So…”

Squatting down, Hiccup gently took the aching foot in his palms — the same palms that had recently been warm on her back and under her knees…

A sudden chill went through Astrid, snapping her out of her trance. She jerked and hissed when Hiccup put a bottle of water to her leg.

“Shh, be patient, you'll get used to it quickly,” Hiccup assured her as if nothing had happened and lightly patted her shin as a sign of support. Astrid felt herself blushing again. I wish he hadn't done that...

“By the way, if it makes you happy,” Hiccup continued to chatter, wrapping Astrid's foot in a bandage with the dexterity of a doctor. “Your friends saw everything. And they seemed to like it.”

That was the last straw.

“I'm not going to the prom,” she said with grim determination and, slightly pushing Hiccup away with her foot, jumped off the trunk.

“What?” he was confused, watching Astrid with hissing and swearing trying to put on sneakers.

“I need to clear my head. Don't follow me.”

“But…”

“Don't follow me.”

Wincing and limping, Astrid resolutely hobbled away. Dumbfounded, watching her, Hiccup caught himself thinking that feeling her weight in his hands... was quite pleasant.

[chcsinghcppiness]

______________________________________________________________

name:  Gabriel Campbell

age: 34

occupation: vender

sexuality: straight

status: single

current location: Newark, New Jersey

shipping status: open

Gabriel grew up in Philadelphia, Pensylvania and living a picture perfect life. His family had been wealthy enough to afford them a big house with a huge garden. He had always been good at school from the very first day on, he was basically good at everything he did. As part of the school’s football team, Gabriel was one one of the popular guys, the one everyone wanted to hang out with. Along with the status, he dated the prettiest girl at school. He and Alice of course became prom king and queen and the couple stayed together after both of them finished High School. A year ino college, Alice found out she was pregnant with their child and they decided to move off the campus and rent a little apartment for their new growing family. Gabriel was very loving and patient throughout the whole pregnancy. Even if he was still young, he was looking forward to the new direction they life had just been directed in. They spent the next months decorating their apartment and preparing the baby’s room. They sorted things out, Gabriel was taking on a job to pay for the rent and bills and still continued going to college. He was happy when his parents offered them some help as well. 

Nine months later, Grace was born but Alice died in childbirth. Complications appeared and the young woman lost too much blood to survive. Gabriel was devastated and before he knew, he was moving out of his apartment and back home to his parents. He had tried his best keeping his life in order, continuing going to college and getting his degree but life with a baby had been harder than he thought. And he decided to give all of his attention to the little wonder than remained in his life. He was working different jobs here and there. When Grace was 11, Gabriel and her moved to a new city where they both started a new life.

There he met Isabella, a beautiful woman who was a single mum to a daughter as well. Penny and Grace became best friends and due to the connection between the two girls, Gabriel and isabella slowly started to fall in love as well. he currently works at the local DIY market. 

[edentorresxkingston]

Basic Information

Full Name: Eden Marie Torres-Kingston

Nickname(s): E, probably a few less-kid friendly ones

Age: 31

Date of Birth: January 9th, 1992

Resident/Visitor: Resident

Hunter/Gatherer: Hunter

Gender: Cis woman

Pronouns: She/her

Sexual Orientation: Bisexual

Occupation: Funeral Home Director

Faceclaim: Adria Arjona

tw: death, pregnancy

Bio

Born and raised in Huntsville, Eden grew up around dead bodies. As morbid as it sounds, her family owned the funeral home, and funerals were a part of her life. Her mother liked to say that death was a natural, beautiful part of life that everyone had to embrace, and she loved teaching her daughter that. So, by the age of ten, Eden was more than accustomed to the dead, and more than used to chasing after anyone who dared to make fun of her for that.

Not everyone did. As cheesy as it was, at the age of sixteen, Eden found her very own high school sweetheart. Johnny was kind and sweet, and a football player, and his upbeat enthusiasm and keen sense of adventure were a stark, albeit fitting contrast to Eden's usual gloom and doom. He managed to bring out the best in her, and open her up to new experiences and the kind of world she had never known before. Her parents told her to be careful, and make sure that she was taking her future into consideration, but when Johnny popped the question during their prom, she immediately said yes.

That didn't mean, however, that their life was easy. It took her parents a very long time to warm up to John, and an even longer time to trust him to treat their daughter right. But Eden remained stubborn, swearing up and down that he was the love of her life, and, after another year or so, the two got married.

Happiness didn't last long when, not long after their wedding, the paradox occurred and the newlyweds, along with the whole town, had to get used to the new twisted reality. While they lost many friends and family over the years, it hurt so much more when June's parents passed, albeit peacefully, in their sleep. If there was ever such a thing as a peaceful death in a place like this. Within a matter of days, Eden had lost and buried her parents, and taken over the family business, becoming a young and inexperienced funeral home director.

It was rocky at the beginning, and then for some more time, but over the course of the years, Eden grew into her position. It was a never-ending business, especially in a place like this, and while some kids liked to whisper about the oddities of the job, Eden paid no attention to it. She tried to live her life as happily as she could, with John at her side, hoping that should death come knocking again, they'd leave this world peacefully.

All changed when she figured that her period was late. First, Eden wrote it off as nothing, assuming it was due to the never-ending stress she and everyone went through, but then the morning sickness came. The worse-than-usual mood swings. And when she finally pushed herself to buy a pregnancy test, it didn't show anything too surprising. Eden was pregnant, despite her and John's attempts not to bring a new life into the hell this town had turned into. Yet, the first time she got to hold Oliver Mateo Kingston, the beautiful little boy who looked so much like his father even mere minutes after being born, she knew that she had no regrets. Who knew that love could be so strong, that she could so easily swear to herself that she would do whatever it takes to protect her son?

The next few years were filled with love, happiness, worry, and so many nightmares. Eden and James had to raise their son, telling the little boy that the people outside, at night, weren't really people, that they weren't his friends, and that he couldn't go hang out with them. Every night, Eden feared for the worst, even as Oliver slept between her and James, and every night, she struggled to get used to the nightmares as her parents' twisted faces stared out the window, or banged on their door.

While the nightmares remained nightmares, what Eden expected the least happened just a little over a year ago. The family of three was home, watching one of the many VHS tapes that they knew so well at this point when Oliver wandered off, wanting to get crayons for a drawing that he was making. Eden and James should have expected the boy to return just moments later, but he didn't, and the two of them had gotten far too lost in their moment alone to pay attention to anything. A second turned to a minute, a minute turned to minutes, and the two lovebirds were snapped out of their little dream at the sound of their front door unlocking. Oliver was merely five at the time, but the boy was smart enough to know how the door worked and naive enough to think that the noises outside were those of friendly beings. The very moments that Eden and James couldn't get enough of suddenly became the longest of their lives as they bolted to the front door. While that felt like it was slow motion, everything else wasn't. Eden raced to the front door, desperate to pull her son away from the porch, and back into the safety of their home, all the while watching the monsters come closer, their faces twisting, ready to feast on the little human. She couldn't hear the shots fired from James' gun that he had somehow managed to take within the seconds this last, all she could feel was the cold night's air as she got outside, pulling her son from the stairs he had managed to get to, desperate to get him back inside. She expected to be pulled back, wishing that she could somehow save her son, wishing that he would have a happy life even if she was to be ripped open. She expected physical pain, but all Eden felt, as her arms wrapped around her son, was a shove back inside. James was by her side, firing one shot after another at the monsters that were just feet away, infuriating them even more. With a single look, filled with so many emotions, Eden watched James glance back at her and Oliver one more time before the door was shut, despite her protests. All Eden could do was listen to the loud thump against the door that happened mere moments later, all she could do was lock the door and cover her son's ears as James' screams echoed through the night. She remained pressed against the door, rigid with fear and terror as her husband's blood coated the ground, seeping into the house. She remained there, wide open and holding onto Oliver even as the boy fell asleep, even as the sun finally rose, bringing her to the first day of being a widow.

Ever since, Eden had closed off once again, focused solely on Oliver and her job, and trying to keep to herself as best as she can. She still hunts, making sure to help provide for the town as best as she can, secretly hoping that it would somehow lead to them finding a way out of this wicked situation. It never does, but it keeps her busy, it makes her feel like she's doing something, and at night, in the warmest dreams, she can almost hear James telling her that she's doing okay. But when she awakes, sometimes catching glimpses of the creatures wearing her husband's face, whispering sweet nothings, she knows it's all a lie. She knows that she cannot go back to the life she once had. She knows that every night, she has to tell her son that the voice he hears and the face he sometimes sees isn't his father's, that his father isn't there, playing hide-and-seek with him.

[dem-obscure-imagines]

Nightcrawler and the Princess

Kurt Wagner x Reader

Fandom: Marvel/X-Men

Summary: Being the princess of a small kingdom has its perks. However, you’re not sure this is a secret you can share with the rest of your friends…

Note: Did I make this a subtle crossover with the Princess Diaries? Yes. Yes I did. Don’t worry about it.

Reader is: Female

Warnings: Swears

Word Count: 1.8k

You carried the large box to the lunch table and set it there, in the middle of your friend group. Jean eyed it curiously.

“What’s that?”

“Care package from my mom.” You replied, using the pair of scissors you kept in your school bag to cut open the packing tape. “She said there’s stuff for the rest of you in here too. Probably candy or something.”

“That’s nice of her.” Scott smiled, watching as you opened the cardboard box.

“Ah, yep.” You reached into the bag and pulled out several packages of Genovian chocolates. “Here you go, guys.” You told them.

Kurt’s eyes narrowed at the bags, his tail hovering behind him curiously. He recognized that packaging. “These…I know these chocolates. Does your mother live in Genovia?”

“Oh, uh, yeah. I’m from there, actually.”

Peter thought for a second, already munching on chocolate. “Wait, I thought you were American.”

“Nope.” You laughed, reaching further into the box and pulling out a handful of little Genovian flags she’d sent. “Ah, right. Independence day is coming up.”

“Where even is Genovia anyway?” Warren asked, admiring the little flag once you handed it to him.

“It’s a tiny little country between France and Italy.” You explained. “It’s really beautiful there, though.”

“It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever been.” Kurt reminisced, sighing fondly.

“When did you visit?” You asked him.

“Several years ago.” He said. “The circus had a few shows there when I was young. The people were so kind, and the coast sparkled like diamonds.”

“You were with the Munich circus, right?” You asked him, trying to remember. He nodded proudly, a smile settling onto his face. “I was at one of your shows! I knew you looked familiar! Oh my god…” You laughed and shook your head. “I should have put those pieces together sooner.”

“You were there?”

“Yeah! My mom took me for my birthday.” You smiled, remembering the show fondly.

And Kurt knew then the information that you were withholding from the rest of the group. His eyes widened slightly and he studied your features. He remembered you. He remembered that day and he remembered the feeling of his heart hammering when after the show, the Queen of Genovia herself introduced him to her daughter, who was about his age. She’d taken her there because it was the princess’ birthday. Though your meeting was brief, he’d remembered it all this time, thinking of it every once in a while…the time he’d met a princess.

You didn’t look all that different now than you had then. Why you hadn’t told the rest of your friend group, he wasn’t sure, but he would keep the secret for you. Of course he would. He smiled softly, admiring you with his new revelation in mind. Even before he’d figured it out, you’d already been a princess to him anyway.

Peter studied the look on Kurt’s face and squinted. Something was going on. Something was going on and he would get to the bottom of it…

***

Over the weekend, your friend group had decided to go to the mall, but before you left, Kurt knocked on the door to your room.

“It’s open, come on in.” You told him.

He pushed open the door and stepped into the room timidly. You were at your desk, reading what appeared to be a letter written on a piece of paper.

“What’s up?” You asked, not looking up from the letter when you asked it.

“You’re coming to the mall, right?”

“Yeah, what time is it?” You glanced down at your watch. “Oh shit. Sorry I’m late.” You chuckled, folding the note and tucking it into your dress drawer. “My mom wrote me a letter with her package.” You explained.

“How nice!” Kurt smiled and you couldn’t stop your heart from fluttering at the way it lit up his face. “Do you write each other letters back and forth?”

“When I have time to, yeah.” You nodded, shoving your hands into your pockets. “Well, shall we?”

Kurt nodded and offered you his arm. You took it and in a poof of smoke, suddenly, you were standing in the living room, where the others were all standing.

Peter had a weird look on his face and you weren’t sure why, but you knew he was up to no good. He always seemed to be…

The squad piled into the car, as usual, and arrived at the mall in under thirty minutes. Jubilee picked the tunes, which was always a good choice, so the ride there was pleasant and relatively uneventful.

You all walked inside and started the routine of shopping around in all of your usual stores. The prom was coming up, so you all spent some time in the dress place on the upper level of the store.

“What color dress do you think you’re going to get, (Y/N)?”

“Mmm, I’m not sure.” You thought for a moment. “Maybe something pink. Or…blue?”

“I think blue would look great on you.” Jubilee grinned, flipping through the rack of blue dresses.

“I agree.” Jean smiled, her eyes flicking over towards Kurt, who was on the other side of the store with the boys.

“Hey now.” You warned, your cheeks warming at the thought. “What did I say about reading my mind?”

“I didn’t need to read your mind. You’re more obvious than you think you are.” She chuckled.

“What she said,” Ororo agreed, causing your cheeks to flush even hotter. “Why don’t we ask the boys which one you should wear?”

“That’s a great idea.” Jubilee agreed, despite your shaking head. “Hey boys!”

“Yes? What’s going on?” Kurt bamfed over beside you, looking at Jubilee curiously.

“Which dress should (Y/N) wear to prom?” Ororo held up one pink dress and one blue dress.

“The blue one.” Scott said knowingly, crossing his arms and smirking. Okay. So he and Jean had talked, then. “Definitely the blue one.”

“I agree.” Warren nodded.

“What do you think, Kurt?” Scott nudged the teleporter.

“I think you’d look beautiful in anything. But I do like the blue one. It brings out your eyes.”

“T-thanks.” You blushed, giggling. None of you committed to dresses, so after looking around for a while the squad decided to hit the food court while looking over movie times.

“So…” Peter looked up at you and cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the rest of the group. “When were you planning to spill the beans…your highness?”

You swore your blood ran cold. You looked up at him, your heart racing in your chest and the color drained from your face. “Excuse you?”

“You heard me.” Peter raised an eyebrow, leaning back in his chair confidently. “When were you going to tell the rest of us your little royal secret?”

You froze, staring at him for a long time. “Maximoff,” you said through gritted teeth, your eyes glowing faintly. “Choose your next few words very carefully.”

“Oh I have. (Y/N)’s the princess of Genovia.”

“Pfft. As if.” Scott scoffed, chuckling, but he stopped when he looked at the look on your face. “Oh shit, is he serious?”

“Who the fuck told you?!” You asked him, your voice raising the teeniest bit. “The only people who know are Professor Xavier and Dr. McCoy, so which one do I have to kill when we get home?”

“Neither. I snooped in Xavier’s office. Found your file.” Peter shrugged. “And of course, that begs the question: Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Listen…” You exhaled a long breath, looking to each of your friends faces for a moment before fixing your eyes on the table. “When people know, they treat me differently. I don’t think they mean to, but they do and it sucks. I like having friends and I love hanging out with you guys and I didn’t want to ruin that because of something as stupid as status.”

“You’ve got us.” Jean promised. “We’re not going anywhere. This doesn’t change anything. And…I already kind of knew. Not that you think about it often, but every once in a while…”

“I figured that might happen, yeah.” You chuckled. “Thanks for keeping it on the DL.”

“Of course.” She nodded.

“I knew too…” Kurt confessed, looking you in the eye.

You crinkled your eyebrows and then nodded, understanding. Of course he knew. You two had met before, after the show. You’d asked your mother if you could meet some of the performers, and she’d pulled some strings to make it happen. You distinctly remembered meeting Kurt. You remembered his smile and his adorable pointy ears.

“That’s right.” You smiled. “We met.”

“We did.” He agreed, nodding, a smile tugging at his lips and a faintly purple color creeping across his cheeks. “Although, I’ll admit, I didn’t realize it was you until…very recently. We aren’t kids anymore.”

“We sure aren’t.” You agreed, a chuckle escaping your lips.

And it was fine after that. It was normal. Much more normal than you’d expected it to be. Another week came and went. You finished your letter to your mom, Queen Clarisse, and when its response came back in the mail, you found it accompanied by a small picture she had saved all these years. As soon as you looked at it, a smile on your face, you knew you had to show Kurt.

So, you ran out to the courtyard, where you knew he was, and found him reading under the shade of a large tree in the front yard.

“Kurt!”

“What’s up?”

“My mom sent a few copies of this photo. Do you want one?” You asked, sitting next to him in the grass and handing him the photo. He looked it over, holding it very carefully in a large, three-fingered hand.

“This is us, ja?”

“Mmhmm.” You hummed, nodding. “A very long time ago.”

“We were so young…” He murmured, admiring the smile on his face as well as yours. He remembered you’d been nervous to meet him and at first, he thought it was because of the way he looked, but quickly learned it was because you’d been enamored by his performance. Absolutely blown away. You’d been so kind to him then, just as you were so kind to him now.

“We really were.”

“Do you mind if I keep this?”

“It’s all yours.” You told him. “So, what’cha reading?”

“Beauty and the Beast.” He told you. Ever since remembering that one of his best friends was a princess, he’d been on a bit of a fairytale kick.

“Mmm, that’s a good one.” You smiled and tilted your head, your eyes sparkling. “Read to me?”

“Of course.” He laid back against the tree again, holding the book open with his tail.

You got closer to him, wrapping an arm around his waist and resting your head against his lean chest. His arm wrapped around you and tugged you closer, and without even thinking about it twice, he pressed a soft kiss to your hairline before starting to read again.

Kurt decided then that there was no place in the world he’d rather be than under his favorite tree, a princess resting contently against his chest.

Part 2?

[elysianslove]

hihi!! can i have some platonic miya chinen headcanons? even better if it’s childhood best friends. fem reader pls !!

yes of course!!! he’s so cute :((( i wanna squish his cheeks n ruffle his hair :( 

the two of you have been around each other since birth omg!!! 

there is a scrapbook of the two of you and it’s just a collection from when you were babies up until now, and there’s empty space for when the two of you grow up. it’s in chronological order, and there are so many embarrassing ones of both you and him. your parents and his have captured every phase the two of you have ever gone through. every single one. 

when he started to get into skating, he definitely tried to get you into it too! and of course, you indulged him, let him rope you into it (even if he just wanted to watch you fall on your butt)

if you do end up becoming a skater, he’s so happy to be able to share something like this with you. it does scare him a little, when he ends up going national and all, but the fact that you stick by him regardless and prove your loyalty to him makes him feel so loved :( he’s already so trusting of you, but that trust only grows after, especially how instead of distancing from him out of envy, you only go to cheer him on, and talk about how proud you are of him, and boast about him to your friends. he just really appreciates you, especially having been one of the only people to truly stick by him :( 

and if you don’t end up becoming a skater, that’s okay too! you let him teach you how to skate, listen to him ramble on and on about it, cheering him on still. and he does the same for you too, whatever your passion may be. like, if you’re an artist, he lets you paint his skateboard, even if it’s just a small portion of it, to kind of leave you stamp on it. 

actually, even if you’re not an artist he’ll let you do that. 

you two have a lot of sleepovers!! you stay up all night gaming or watching movies and snacking 

one time miya convinced you to sneak out with him but y’all got caught and were in trouble and the punishment was not seeing each other for like 2 weeks. both of you were like easy peasy until you realized just how much time you spent with each other. your parents pitied you and lessened your sentence to 1 week </3 

you’re such a staple and steady part of his life that like some things are a given. so like if he’s celebrating his birthday, he’s talking to you about it without having to invite you cause consider yourself there obviously? 

not even joking you’re together 24/7, and if you’re not, you’re interacting in some way, like texting, facetiming, calling. you also do it a lot when either of you is just minding their business, like you’ll both be studying but also on call with each other. and omg, sometimes when he’s practicing skating, he calls you on facetime, and every time he slips up he can see the notification of ‘took a facetime photo’ pls.

you have so many of these

he immediately introduces you to his friends, like reki, langa, etc, and they start whistling and cheering and some of them (read: reki) moping, cause miya has a girlfriend!!! and he just deadpans like what 😐 not my gf 😐

and at the start they really didn’t believe him cause you two are so close but!!! it really is just platonic with the two of you. obviously you’re close??? you’ve known him since before the two of you could even talk.

wait back to the photos thing for a second. your parents make you dress up in matching or paired up halloween costumes every year and it honestly just becomes a tradition for you to do it every other year after???

aged up, you two are seniors at school and kind of just end up going to prom together? and it’s actually very fun? you’re already very comfortable with him, so it made everything so much more relaxed and fun

oh my god. when you first got your period, the two of you were still pretty young that miya didn’t really know what they were and he came over to your house and asked you to go swimming and you were like uhhhhhh i can’t. and he was so confused for so long until he learned what they were and one day, while the two of you were just hanging out he sits up all of a sudden and goes, “oh my god,” as realization from years ago sets in. 

he’s a great secret keeper. if you tell him something you really don’t want your parents knowing, don’t worry, he won’t ever say anything. will he threaten you? sometimes. will he tease you? absolutely. why? cause he’s a little shit, obviously. 

when you two were really young, just like you’d get roped into doing his favorite stuff with him, he would have to do things you were into too, and yes, that includes dress up. there are so many photos of his hair done by you, butterfly clips in his hair, in like a princess gown or something. the things you do for your bestie </3 he’s ngl tho, those dress up games were fire 😔

he still lets you try hairstyles on him when you’re bored tho

or paint his nails 

or do his make up

it’s honestly kind of fun and it’s a nice, chill way to pass time

so yeah, childhood besties with miya v cute i say 👍🏼 

this was so long oh my god i’m so sorry 😃

[sevlgi]

how it feels

requested: no

group: stray kids

pairing: hyunjin x gn!reader

genre: fluff, slight angst

contents: high school!au but there’s not much school involved, best friend!hyunjin, mutual pining, hyunjin’s a hopeless romantic

warnings: none

synopsis: comforting your best friend after a breakup usually doesn’t involve making him fall in love with you, but both of you just want to know what it feels like.

a/n: yes hello please enjoy this fic that i’m randomly dropping in the middle of my hiatus 🙃 i’ll hopefully be able to write a gg fic of some kind for y’all soon! the ending of this is so fucking lazy, sorry

word count: 5.3k

“Why, Y/N? Can’t she just tell me why?”

“I know,” you comfort, rubbing your best friend’s back as he sniffles with his knees up to his chest. It’s hard to see him in the darkness that’s brought by the blanket resting over the both of you like a tent, but in the glow of Hyunjin’s phone, you can see the tear tracks on his face. “I’m sorry, Jinnie.”

He pouts and scrubs yet another tear off his cheek, lamenting, “Why can’t I never fall in love with someone who loves me back? We’re only in high school, it shouldn’t be this complicated.”

Dabbing at his face with a tissue, you sigh, “I guess you have bad luck. Or bad judgement, could be both. There are plenty of people who are dying to love and appreciate you, you know, you’re the one who never spares them a glance.”

Hyunjin shakes his head. “No, those people only think I’m the long-haired guy from the dance team. They would treat me the same,” he frowns tearily. “I just want someone who likes me first.”

It always goes this way for him, you know-- you’ve seen it too many times, the stages of your best friend falling in love with someone who leads him on, enjoys his company for a while before dumping him and his expectations in the dirt. Maybe it’s the undeniable pressure to be the perfect partner that Hyunjin wants more than anything, or maybe he just always ends up liking assholes. But either way, it’s carnage for Hyunjin’s heart, and he never gets used to it no matter how many  times it happens.

He’s too sensitive and warm-hearted for his own good, so all he can do after the latest breakup is cry into his favorite pillow on a Tuesday night. If you weren’t so willing to immediately come to comfort him, Hyunjin would’ve been doing it alone, too, and he would’ve cried for far longer than he has.

“Who do I go to prom with now?” he questions sadly, breaking you from your recollections about the many times you’ve done this before.

Unfortunately, all his question does is make you laugh. “It’s a serious question!” Hyunjin protests, scowling at you.

“Okay, I’m sorry,” you say, still chuckling. “I mean, would it be so bad to go to prom with a friend? I’m sure Yeji- wait never mind, not Yeji… I’m sure someone would go with you for appearances’s sake. Or if you don’t mind, just ask Lix, he’s too nice to say no even if he wanted.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better,” he says, flopping back onto his bed. The clock by his bedside reads 2:33 am, and you can already feel your physics final cursing you. “I want to go with someone I feel something for, you know? It’s our prom, Y/N, I want to feel the prom-ness of promposals and picking out outfits and all that with someone I love.”

You shake your head and push his knee lightly. “Unfortunately, most people our age haven’t even been in love yet, so I doubt many people can help you feel it. But you know what I’m feeling right now?”

“Please don’t say pancakes,” Hyunjin groans, “I’m not waking my parents up to teach us how to use the stove again.”

Throwing a pillow at him, you roll your eyes, “I feel tired, dumbass. And we have finals tomorrow, so how about we invite our friends out to get boba afterwards so we can find you a prom date? You can complain all you like about how the three weeks before prom happens are too short to fall in love, yadda yadda.”

“Fine. But don’t mock me, my many feelings are perfectly valid,” your best friend warns you, and rolls over to turn the light off.

Seungmin frowns when Hyunjin finally shows up at the entrance of the school’s closest boba shop, looking slightly disheveled from dance practice. “Finally. You’re annoying, and late.”

“Jeongin’s later,” Hyunjin objects, plopping down in the spot next to you and accepting the drink you hold out to him. The amount of mango yogurt with boba he drinks is definitely unhealthy (and expensive), but he’ll only groan more about his breakup if you didn’t get it for him. “Why do you literally never complain about him?”

“Jeongin’s cute, and you aren’t.”

The long-haired boy scoffs and sips at his drink sulkily as Felix returns with his own order. “Oh, hey, Hyunjin. I didn’t see you arrive,” Felix smiles sunnily. “Jisung’s not coming today, by the way. Something about having to stay for detention.”

You raise your eyebrows at that new piece of information. “Really? For what?”

“Playing a song entitled ‘Fuck You Bitch’ in Bio, I believe.”

Seungmin snorts in laughter, sighing fondly, “Sounds like him. Anyway, I heard we’re here to solve the problem of Hwang Hyunjin’s prom date. Or… lack thereof?”

“You’re so mean,” your best friend groans. 

Ignoring him, you clasp your hands on the table and lean in conspiratorially. “I doubt any of you haven’t heard at this point, but he got dumped, for lack of a better word, and now, like the rest of us, Hyunjin has no prom date. But unlike us, he actually still wants one.”

“I’ll go with you,” Felix offers, still chewing on the straw in his mouth.

You elbow Hyunjin, who pushes you back before responding. “Thank you, Lixie, but like I explained to Y/N, I want to go with someone I’m in love with. I want to know how it feels, you know?”

“I don’t know,” Seungmin deadpans. At Hyunjin’s crestfallen expression, though, he says, “I mean, we can definitely try, but I feel like the rest of the people left in this school are either too young or not your type. And is 3 weeks really enough for you to be ‘in love again’?”

“Knowing me, maybe…? But I think I’d need to know the person already,” your best friend pouts.

Jeongin arrives then, conveniently missing most of the conversation before he squishes in on the end of the booth. “Well, you better not try to fall in love with me,” the youngest grins.

“I’d never pick you,” Hyunjin jabs back. “But out of the people I do know…”

“I volunteer,” you joke.

Your friends snicker, thankfully, but the boy sitting right next to you turns with a thoughtful expression on his face. “Actually…”

“I don’t like that expression,” Jeongin narrows his eyes.

“I think I could fall in love with Y/N in 3 weeks,” Hyunjin says nonchalantly, as if it’s nothing. He completely ignores all the shocked expressions around him.

In truth, as easy as Hyunjin falls in love, he’s also incredibly easy to fall for. You’d never admit it to him, but you have loved him before, with the kind of burning passion that he somehow has with every one of his relationships.

You’re over it, and you have been for a long time, but him saying that maybe he could love you so very easily makes it all come back up to the surface. “For real?” Felix questions.

“I mean, I don’t like you yet--” your heart falls (stupidly)-- “but I think I could.”

“So… what do you want me to do?” you ask.

Hyunjin smiles, so pure and beautiful that you wonder how his girlfriend just left him, and says, “I want you to help me figure out how it feels to really be in love.” He scrambles to interrupt Seungmin, whose mouth is opening. “It’s just three weeks before prom. We’ll just feel happy together, none of the other shit--”

“You are so cheesy,” Jeongin interjects. “And I think you’ve watched too many dramas. Did you pause to think how Y/N feels about your plan?”

You appreciate your younger friend’s considerateness, but the guilty expression on Hyunjin’s face prompts you to say, “I mean, I don’t think I could like you like that, so… sure. I’ll help you.”

“Really?” All three of your friends ask as they turn to you. 

“Yeah,” you shrug. “What, you fall in love with me in three weeks for prom, I don’t reciprocate, but we move on as friends? I think it’ll be fine.”

“It never works like that though,” Seungmin doubts. He isn’t as cynical as he seems, but in the presence of overly-optimistic Felix and Hyunjin, he and Jeongin always end up as the voice of reason. Usually, you’re with them, but this time, you’re the one enabling the idiocy of the new plan.

Hyunjin grins, “Then we’ll make it work like that.”

With the amount of time that passes before Hyunjin mentions his plot again, you almost forget about it. The first week is normal in a way that makes you nervous-- you hang out like normal, doing homework in the library with your friends as Minho harrasses Chan, eating lunch wherever you can find a spot. There isn’t really time to be alone, just the two of you, and you aren’t sure how Hyunjin is supposed to ‘fall in love’ with you if it’s just normal.

Of course, it doesn’t last long.

It takes a while for it to set in that when Hyunjin asks you to go watch a drive-through movie with him, it isn’t just so he can show off his brand-new car. It’s a date, and it’s stated painfully clearly in his text from the night before.

However, you don’t realize it until you’re literally getting into his car in front of your house.

“Wait. This is a date, isn’t it?”

Hyunjin chuckles nervously, looking over at you in the passenger seat, and you notice for the first time that he’s put on a bit of makeup, and his car doesn’t smell like Jisung’s hot cheetos for once. “I mean, yeah. I meant it when I said I wanted you to help, and I thought you did too? It doesn’t have to be one if you’re backing out, though, it’s totally fine.”

“I’m not backing out,” you shake your head. You really aren’t-- so far, nothing has happened that would make you want to back out yet, and no freshman-year feelings for your best friend have resurfaced just yet. “I just forgot. You know me.”

“Yeah, I know your goldfish brain,” Hyunjin teases, setting the car in motion. There’s lo-fi playing, and he’s a good driver, so you relax. “You forget everything.”

“I do not! You’re the one who has to be reminded of everyone’s birthday but mine,” you protest. If he wasn’t driving, you would shove him, and you remind him of that, to his dismay.

Hyunjin hums as soon as the two of you fall into comfortable silence, your foot tapping lightly to the music, and with the sun setting on the distant horizon, it’s so familiar. You try to interrupt the peace anyway. “So, what movie are we seeing?”

“10 Reasons I Hate You,” he answers. “It’s a classic, and you haven’t seen it.”

“And you love romcoms,” you finish.

He doesn’t protest, only sending you a small smile. You’re pulling into the theater already anyway, in one of the better rows to watch the movie as Hyunjin turns his radio on and starts fiddling with it. “There’s snacks in the backseat,” he offers, to no surprise.

They’re some of your favorites, though there are also the chips that he can’t live without. There’s a blanket, which drapes awkwardly over the cupholder between the two of you, and a bottle of juice that you place in his lap immediately. “You like watermelon juice more than I do.”

“Thanks,” he says quietly, almost surprised.

You scowl and poke him, allowed to now that you’re safely parked and waiting for the movie to begin. “Don’t act all shocked, we’ve been friends since orientation and I’ve spent more than half my paychecks getting this damn juice for you.”

“Mean,” Hyunjin protests, but he hands you your favorite soda from under his seat anyway. “And shut up, it’s starting.”

He seems to know the intro to the movie, smiling when the first line of dialogue sounds, all crackly over the shitty radio, and you eventually stop staring at him to watch the movie instead. Of course, you can’t keep yourself from asking, “Why do you like romcoms so much, anyway? You’ve never explained to me, for all the ones I’ve watched with you.”

“I like happy endings, I think,” the long-haired boy responds after a short pause to think. “Not to be dramatic, but I haven’t had one yet, so maybe watching other people being happy makes me happier too.”

You nod, taking it as a perfectly acceptable answer. Knowing how sentimental your best friend is, it’s nowhere near a stretch, either, being something that just fits with his personality.

He talks occasionally to tell you a little tidbit that he knows: by the end, you’ve learned about how it’s a modern adaptation of a rather misogynistic Shakespeare play, how the entire movie was shot without sets, and how the scene of Kat reading the poem was the first take. It’s interesting, of course, but you’re more captured by the way Hyunjin’s smile glints in the weak light filtered through the car windows.

The sky is dark when the credits roll and Hyunjin reaches for the steering wheel, almost too dark for you to see anything outside when you’re driving back to your house.

“So? How was it?”

“How was what?” you ask, moving your hands around vaguely. “The snacks? The movie? The date?”

“All of the above?” Hyunjin says hesitantly.

You answer immediately, “It was perfect. You knew that, though.”

“I didn’t really. I mean, I’ve never taken you on a date,” he muses. “And plenty of the people I’ve dated before weren’t even willing to watch a rom-com with me.”

“Then that’s their problem,” you say. “Anyone who isn’t willing to watch a rom-com with you is just an asshole, and I stand by that.”

Hyunjin smiles sweetly. You’re parked by the curb in front of your house at this point, so it’s slightly more easy to see the silhouette of your friend’s face. “That’s nice of you. I dunno though, I wouldn’t want to label everyone who doesn’t like romcoms as an asshole.”

“That’s not what I mean.” You shift a little bit to face him, pausing before you explain, “I think that if someone is so unwilling to try something that means so much to the person they like, then they don’t really like them.”

“I guess. You know, there’s another reason why I like romcoms so much.”

You don’t speak, waiting for Hyunjin to explain. And he does. “I think romcoms give me hope,” he nods. “Like… they make me think that anything’s possible, not just happy endings. Maybe the person who I don’t even have a chance with secretly likes me back, you know?”

“I can’t really imagine someone who wouldn’t like you if you liked them, but I think I get it,” you smile.

“At least you try. See you at school next week?”

“Come on, we both know that Binnie’s dragging all of us out to beat Chan’s ass at bowling,” you sigh, taking it as a sign to open your car door. 

Before you make it completely outside, though, Hyunjin’s hand rests on your wrist. “Y/N, thanks for tonight.”

“Anytime,” you respond breathlessly, closing the door a little louder than you probably should.

You do mean it.

“Remind me again why we have to go prom outfit shopping together?”

Hyunjin pouts, peering in the window of yet another shop. His arm rests gently on your shoulder despite the way you jokingly pushed it off at the beginning of the day, but you really don’t mind. “Isn’t it cute to have matching prom outfits? We should be color-coordinated in some way.”

“I mean, sure… but isn’t online shopping just easier?” you ask, raising your eyebrow. “It’s the 21st century, Jin.”

“You’re so unromantic,” he groans, and finally pushes the door open to a thrift store to lead you inside.

You wrinkle your nose at the heavy smell of perfume that hits you as soon as you step inside. “And you watch too many movies. You’ve known me for almost four years, you aren’t going to have some magical moment where you realize you like me just because I put on a sparkly outfit of some kind.”

“Who knows? Maybe you’ll suddenly think that you love me when you see me in a tux,” Hyunjin grins.

You don’t respond to that, and he doesn’t push it, taking it as just another joke of his. Of course he doesn’t know about freshman year, and he definitely doesn’t know about how you still aren’t sure if that crush ever subsided. He shouldn’t know. 

He’s too picky to pick something at the first store, you know, so you just follow him around as he flicks through things that are either too fitted or too loose, too patterned or too plain. 

It takes three stores for him to finally something that he likes, and he appears from the dressing room with a gorgeous grin on his face. “What do you think?”

“It’s… good. I mean, you look good,” you clarify. Of course Hyunjin looks perfect in anything, but the dark navy jacket over the patterned button-down he was already wearing just seem like they were a combo meant for him. 

He isn’t satisfied with your response, towering over you as you slump lower in the chair. “Just good?”

“Hot. Stunning, beautiful, sexy-- is that what you want to hear?” you respond sarcastically.

“That’s exactly it!”

Rolling your eyes, you pick up your things from the chair and say, “Then we’re done? Are you picking this one?”

“Yeah, but what about you?” Hyunjin asks. “Do you already have something, or are we going to get something? I’m still waiting for my kdrama moment, you know.”

You definitely don’t have something at home, but you don’t think you could bear being on the receiving end of the drama moment that your best friend so desperately wants. Something about having him suggest something for you to wear, reacting as dramatically as you know he will, just won’t allow your old feelings for him to sit still.

“I’m good. Let’s check out, and get some ice cream?” you offer to placate him.

Hyunjin grins and offers his arm to you again, practically skipping to the checkout. “Sounds perfect to me.”

“Y/N, what the hell do I wear on a date?”

“How should I know?” You sound listless, flicking through one of the mangas that one of Changbin’s friends left as his house.

“You literally went on a date with your freshman year crush last week and then picked a prom outfit with him,” your friend scowls, tossing a shirt at your face. It’s clean, thankfully, but you still chuck it back at him.

“In my defense, I forgot that it was a date,” you respond, “and shut up about the ‘freshman year crush’ thing. I never would’ve told you if I knew you would use it against me like this.”

Changbin throws yet another piece of clothing in your direction, narrowly missing your face, and you raise a pillow to threaten him with. “You got me into this mess with Felix in the first place, so I think it’s even.”

“It’s not a mess if it’s what you asked me to do,” you complain, “and besides, you wouldn’t stop talking about this date for the past week despite it literally just being something we do together all the time.”

“I like Felix, I don’t like you.”

“Then I’m leaving you to agonize over your collection of colorful track pants on your own,” you warn, and he subsequently shuts up. “There we go. Don’t wear one of those, by the way, even though Felix wouldn’t say a single thing about it.”

“How was the date, by the way? And the three-year-old feelings?” Changbin asks as he continues to dig in his closet.

You hesitate. “It was… nice? Hyunjin knows way too much about Julia Stiles, but he was super enthusiastic and the movie was pretty good. He got the good snacks, too.”

“You know that’s not what I meant,” he sighs. 

“Then what did you mean, Mr. ‘I Love Lee Felix With My Whole Tiny Brain’?” you challenge.

Changbin doesn’t take the bait, unfortunately. “Jeongin told me about the whole plot you and Hyunjin have going on. Are you really dumb enough to think that you can get him to love you without falling for him again, and then leave him after it?”

There’s no way to respond to his question without making a complete fool out of yourself, and so, you simply don’t. Apparently in one of his more coherent moods, Changbin continues on, “I’d say that you watched too many movies, but I’ve seen you avoid Hyunjin’s movie nights. What the hell is going on with you?”

“I mean, have you seen the way he looks when he wants something?” you answer unintentionally. “Obviously you weren’t with us at the at the boba shop, but I’m serious. I couldn’t say no to him, especially when he’s heartbroken.”

“What does he look like?” Changbin asks.

You sigh, “He… his eyes get kind of shiny, almost like he’se about to cry but not really like that. And I don’t really know, he just looks like he’d be sad if you said no but wouldn’t talk about it, and that’s the part that makes you want to say ‘yes’.”

“It sounds to me like your three-year-long crush is still here, then,” your friend replies. “Because I have never felt that way about Hyunjin before, but I know what expression you’re talking about.”

Staring at him like he’s grown two heads, you realize that he’s wearing a jean jacket that shouldn’t have taken so much time to pick out. “That’s a stupid conclusion.”

Changbin shrugs and picks his phone up on his way out. “You can think about it as stupid if you want, but I’m usually not wrong about this. I’m going now, do you want a ride or something? You can stay here as long as you want, though.”

“I’ll walk home, it’s still noon,” you answer. You need to think, anyway.

He walks to the kitchen for a drink of water, he claims, but he picks up his phone on the way there, presumably to talk to Felix like the lovey-dovey fool he is. You wrinkle your noise and wander in the hallway, fully intending to bully Changbin about his crush as long as possible.

But his low voice, echoing from the kitchen, definitely doesn’t sound like flirting. When Changbin strides out, on a mission, it’s obvious that something is wrong. “We have to go,” he says. “Jeongin and Hyunjin got in an accident.”

Fear bubbles in your throat, and you yank the front door open harder than you could’ve thought possible. “What? How? When? Is it just the two of them? Are they okay?”

“Minho says that he doesn’t know yet, he’s driving there too. They aren’t calling the police, they’re apparently fine enough to get us,” Changbin says as he backs out of the driveway. “But we better get there as soon as we can.”

“Then drive,” you exhale sharply, slamming your seatbelt on as if it’ll stop your heart from beating out of your chest.

You leap out of the passenger’s side before the car even stops moving, finding Minho and Chan’s cars both parked at the side of the road behind the silver one that you remember to be Jeongin’s parents’. There’s a huddle of people there, Seungmin and Jisung parting so that you can make your way to the center.

To your relief, both your friends are okay; Hyunjin’s sitting on the trunk of the car, massaging his legs, and Jeongin’s definitely wincing a bit too much when he moves his neck. The car is dented, but not to the point of no repair.

Still, anger clouds your vision.

“What the hell’s wrong with the both of you?” you almost shout. “And what the fuck happened?”

Hyunjin starts, “Y/N, calm down. I was trying to teach Jeongin to drive, and we went a little off course--”

“Teaching him to drive, on the damn highway?” you question furiously. “You barely got your license three months ago, I get that you’re a good driver, but you aren’t a good enough driver for this! Whose idea was this?”

Jeongin timidly raises a hand, but Felix stops you from saying anything more. “Let’s all calm down, okay? Y/N, our friends are fine,” he says, low voice barely audible over the wind whipping around. “Everyone’s alive, which is the most important part here, and we can fix the car, which isn’t all that important. Let’s just focus on getting someone here to help, okay?”

“I’ve called my uncle to come and tow the car, we’re just going to get Hyunjin and Jeongin to the hospital, okay?” Seungmin reassures you. “Changbin’s car is too small, and you’re the better driver, so you and Hyunjin take it. Jeongin will come in Minho’s car with me, and we’ll meet you there.”

You nod stiffly and get into the driver’s seat first, pretending like you don’t notice how Chan pulls Hyunjin back to talk with him.

You shouldn’t have gotten angry; it doesn’t make sense to be angry at all. You should’ve been scared, worried, anything but angry, and so, you can only try to calm your breathing by the time Hyunjin sits next to you and Chan’s car sets off.

“Why are you so mad?” he asks quietly.

It’s the wrong thing to say; you turn your head to him, incredulous. “Why am I mad? You could have died, both of you could have died!”

“And? How many things have we all done together that could’ve ended with us in a ditch?” Hyunjin raises an eyebrow. “Hell, you were the one who decided that it would be fun to jump from the roof into Seungmin’s pool last summer, what’s changed? I get it, it was stupid, but you’ve never been so mad about something like this before.”

You exhale, tapping your fingers on Changbin’s steering wheel as you follow your friends’ cars. “To be honest, I don’t know.”

“Okay.”

It’s completely silent after that, at least until you reach the emergency room.

Jeongin and Hyunjin are fine, thankfully; the youngest has twisted a muscle in his neck, but it’s nothing that can’t heal on its own, and Hyunjin’s knees are merely bruised. Jisung’s the one who tells you, the older two of your friend group apparently dealing with the parents of the injured.

“Are you okay, Y/N?” he asks, patting your arm. “You reacted a little… adversely earlier. Did you and Hyunjin have a fight?”

“Why is it always about me and Hyunjin?” you ask with narrowed eyes. “Can’t I be mad because they almost got themselves killed?”

Jisung raises an eyebrow. “You never get mad when we almost get ourselves killed, that’s Chan’s job. And you were basically yelling straight at Hyunjin, I’ve never seen the guy so scared.”

You exhale and sit back in the creaky hospital chair. You wish you could tell Jisung if there was something wrong, but you honestly don’t know what it is. “I don’t know. Do you think there’s something wrong with me?”

“You tell me, dude,” Jisung chuckles. “I think you should think about it. I mean, there’s barely two weeks until prom now, you barely have time to back out anymore.”

“Why would I back out?” you stare at him.

He pushes you to stand, and only says, “Think about it yourself. Okay?”

You don’t tap out, but only because you don’t get Hyunjin alone enough to do so.

After your little yelling fest at him, he obviously doesn’t want to just talk to you, despite how you publicly apologize to both him and Jeongin. You don’t sit together during movie night, you sit at opposite corners of your study table in the library.

Until Felix’s parents invite all of you over to take prom pictures, all you get is a stilted silence.

“You look nice,” he mumbles when the two of you get ushered together in a pair. Except for Felix and Changbin, all the others are by themselves, and you wonder why Hyunjin was so hellbent to get himself a prom date when almost everyone else didn’t bother.

He himself looks absolutely perfect, his hair styled to perfection and a slight pink glittering on his lips. The suit that you picked out together is paired with a patterned shirt that you’ve never seen before, and it perfectly matches your own hastily-purchased outfit. Hyunjin offers a flower to you, color-coordinated, and you hold it in one hand with the other on his arm. “Thanks. You too.”

“Okay, smile, everyone!” Felix’s mom grins behind the camera. “Couples, stand closer together a little bit!”

With a (rather convenient) nudge from Minho, Hyunjin’s hand slips onto your waist, and heat rises to the tops of your ears. Felix’s mother is pleased, though, and the photos carry on with the occasional hoots of laughter when Jisung smacks a kiss onto Seungmin’s cheek and gets clocked as a result.

Conversation is never stilted when you’re with your friends, so despite the silence between Hyunjin and you, there’s no awkwardness during the ride there. Silence only falls when it’s just the two of you standing together in the corner of the venue, all the others off to dance or raid the buffet table.

You decide to speak first. “Are you pissed at me for yelling at you? Because I said I was sorry, and I am.”

“I’m not pissed at you,” Hyunjin shakes his head.

“Well, you’re sure acting like it,” you snap. With a sigh, you end up apologizing again, “Sorry. I just… I know that the plot was mostly a joke, just to take your mind off of the heartbreak and stuff. I kind of messed it up.”

“You messed it up?” He stares at you.

“Well, yeah… I yelled at you, didn’t I?”

Hyunjin sighs, almost like he expected a different answer. “No, that didn’t mess anything up. I mean, I got what I wanted, anyway.”

“And what was that?”

“I fell in love with you.”

It’s your turn to watch him, completely shellshocked. The sparkling, multicolored lights of the venue bounce off him like an otherworldly glow, and his eyes sparkle even though he’s avoiding your gaze. Maybe all the people falling at his feet, you included, are onto something. “I mean, it’s not exactly what I wanted,” he blabbers. “I wanted to be in love without it hurting, and obviously that failed, but… I should’ve known that it wouldn’t even take three weeks for me to love you.”

“Hyunjin.”

Your best friend still doesn’t look up, so you just ask softly, “Why does it hurt?”

“You don’t like me back, of course it hurts,” Hyunjin frowns. 

“Who said I didn’t like you back?”

He’s quiet, eyes flicking up to you like he thinks it’s Jisung pranking him or something. “Do you mean it?”

“We’re stupid, Hyunjin,” you laugh. “We’re so, so stupid. I had a crush on  you since we met, for two whole-ass years.”

“Well, I liked you for almost four, so I think I beat you there,” he says. But there’s a relieved smile on his face, his eyes curving prettily as he reaches for your hand. “Then… do you want to dance?”

“No romcom shenanigans,” you warn, but you allow yourself to be tugged out to the dance floor next to your friends with a smile.

Hyunjin’s grin as you twirl him around under the burning neon lights suddenly makes it seem like everything will just... magically be okay. If you had just been a little more courageous (or a little less stupid), maybe you could’ve seen it earlier.

But good things come with time and patience. And with all the patience you’ve had, waiting for this to happen, the way you finally feel with him makes it all worth it.

[angeli-marco-writes]

Ann’s Old Masterlist

UNUSED AS OF JULY 2021 - Current masterlist here

Rules for my page. PSA.

All works are original and legally my own. Do not repost. More works coming soon: each Saturday currently, schedule will change.

Please read the warnings at the top of every post: Items marked 18+ are mature/smut, and I don’t recommend you read if you are under eighteen, but it’s up to you to mediate your media consumption. The warnings you heed are entirely your responsibility. 

Disclaimer: I do not know any of the people I write about, nor do I claim to, and I simply write about fictional figments of them. The fictional worlds I write within (the MCU, Harry Potter etc.) I do not own either, I do not own the characters or the settings, but merely write about a further fictional figment.

I currently only write Fem!reader. Works marked Ღ are the most popular. My inbox is open to requests but they may take a while to get a response.

Ann's TS 200 blurb event! (Mini Masterlist)

Regulus Black

Romeo, Juliet & Quidditch

Summary: One very eventful Quidditch final can do more than Regulus and his Juliet ever imagined; strengthening family ties, Y/N's mind, and Reg's feelings all at once.

Charlie Weasley

Secret. (18+)

Summary: You have a secret regarding the dragon taming Weasley. The only issue is that he sees you as the child you were a few years ago. When you become legal, he seems to seek you out wherever you are. Maybe he has a secret too.

Couple Blurbs

Lily & James Potter - First Kiss.

Summary: When Lily sees a new side of James, she thinks maybe falling for him isn’t so bad after all.

Albus & Scorpius - Before You Go.

Summary: At the 5th year prom, Albus and Scorpius find they can’t hold back their feelings anymore. Just one dance, before you go

Bill & Fleur - Our Spot.

Summary: After the final task, Fleur finds herself in despair, and goes to the only spot she can think of to unwind, not expecting to be approached by a handsome stranger.

Dean & Seamus - At Last.

Summary: Years of tiptoeing around one another and hidden feelings come to a head when Seamus finds a stack of art beneath Dean's bed. At last, something might happen.

Doctor Stephen Strange

ᲦBaby Blues & Tattoos (18+)

Summary: After a tiring mission, the last thing you want to do is have to crash at a hotel, especially with the cockiest man alive. Will things change with the fact there's only one bed on such a sleepless night?

Loki Laufeyson

ᲦDress.

Summary: This dance between you and Loki has been going on for far too long. The night of the palace ball gives you the chance to make your next move, wearing the dress you bought only for him to take it off.

Peter Parker, Spider-Man

Everything Happens for a Reason.

Summary: Stark!Reader x Peter Parker, post endgame. Months after the death of your father, your aunt, and your uncle, you find yourself in a sticky situation, and to make it even worse, your childhood crush doesn’t even recognise you now. Then again, doing most of your growing up while half of the population is dead doesn’t exactly bode well for your love life nor your commitment issues. When things finally start to turn around while learning to live with a disability, will you still be taken away to live with your step mother, or will love pan out at last? After all, everything happens for a reason.

Steve Rogers, Captain America

Promise? (18+)

Summary: Being an apprentice at the Avengers Tower is never easy, especially not when you make a promise to your favourite person there and fail to keep it, through no fault of your own. In a matter of seconds, your world comes crumbling around, but Steve seems to come around in order to pick up the pieces.

Clint Barton, Hawkeye

Rough. (18+)

Summary: After the snap, you never think you’ll see Clint again. Hanging around the tower alone day in and day out becomes tiring, especially when your hormones are in overdrive and you can’t stop thinking about the one avenger you haven’t yet had in bed, until he walks through the door more attractive than ever. (Seriously read the warnings for this, it’s very kinky).

Tom Hiddleston

Ღ BAFTAs.

Summary: Tom thieves your panties after you rile him up the night of the BAFTAs, and he doesn't anticipate the consequences of keeping underwear in his pocket on the red carpet. (Definitely mature with heavy implications, but no explicit smut)

Ღ Stripped Sunday

Summary: Sunday's are always the best, especially when you and Tom walk around the house nude, but it's been a while. Too long a while. So, obliviously, you take matters into your own hands...

NSFW Alphabet. (18+)

Summary: An incredibly explicit NSFW alphabet about Tom Hiddleston, detailing his deepest fantasies and darkest truths; or how I imagine them to be, at least.

Tom Holland

Just Friends?

Summary: You and Tom have been best friends for a long time, and inseparable for just as long. The boys welcome you as one of their own, and you’re basically a part of the family. That’s your main issue, because when you begin to harbour feelings for your best friend, you’re not sure if he feels the same.

Harrison Osterfield

Quarantine. (18+)

Summary: Quarantine with a bunch of sex deprived twenty-odd year old boys isn’t your idea of fun, especially not when the only one you want refuses to pay even the slightest bit of attention. Taking measures into your own hands is only simple until you get caught.

A Happy Day (& A Puppy)

Summary: Today is the day you and Haz get a puppy. It's the next big step in your relationship, and despite your anxieties, you know it's a happy day.

Sebastian Stam

The Ballet Teacher.

Summary: Ballet teacher!reader. Sebastian's daughter attends a very prestigious ballet school, but when she's late out one day, the last thing he expects to happen is to meet her wonderful new teacher, who has him head over heels.

Timothée Chalamet

Ღ Concerto. (18+)

Summary: At a classical music concert, the last person you expect to meet is a young man as charming and suave as Timothée. And the last thing you expected is for him to invite you back to his flat. Turns out music really is food for the soul, and other things...

Fair Game. 

Summary: Your boyfriend, Tim, has hurt you for the last time. You didn’t realise you could ever feel this broken, especially because of someone you once loved so much, but maybe, just maybe, it’s for the best.

Tom Felton

Risk.

Summary: After your break up, one that pained you to the bone, you try to escape and you find yourself taking that one risk you always thought you should, travelling. A simple day out, and the one person you don’t want to see is the one person who can help you with your car troubles. Could he help with your heart troubles too, over a reminiscent dinner perhaps?

Baby on the Brain.

Summary: Visiting Tom’s brother and his new baby should be a walk in the park, really, but some unwitting truths come to ahead that you can’t refute. You’ve always wanted a family, but does Tom? (Request for Tom Felton: you guys meet his brother's new baby and then decide to have your own.)

Elizabeth Debicki

Gorgeous.

Summary: Elizabeth is gorgeous, just look at her, the world can see it. A drunken night leads to some tipsy confessions, but does Elizabeth feel the same?

Christmas Morning. (18+)

Summary: Christmas morning in a hidden wintry lodge is everything you could’ve dreamed of. Then again, it’d be perfect even without the setting and the heating, because all you want for Christmas is Elizabeth, and that she gives you. Wholly.

Reunion Revenge. (18+)

Summary: At first, when your brother roped you into attending your high school reunion with your wife, you hated the idea. Now, all eyes are on you, all the focus on your career, and maybe this is the revenge you always needed, of course aided by Liz's quick thinking and hidden surprises.

Hailee Steinfeld

Live.

Summary: The first night of Hailee's tour, you're a guest singer... and her girlfriend. Everything will go to plan, surely, even when she looks that good and sings that well...

Sherlock Holmes

Ღ Kiss Me, Mr Detective. (18+)

Summary: After a fight with John leaves Sherlock feeling particularly down, he calls on the one person who is always there to support him. Only tonight, it’s different. Feelings come to a head, exploration ensues, but is this just a one time thing? That depends on whether she stays the night…

Chuck Bass

Safe.

Summary: A small British village version of Constance & St Jude’s. The aftermath of your drive home from Saturday’s house party becomes haunting and brings out a new side in you. Not that you’re complaining, especially not when you have the well-versed Chuck Bass as your friend and safety. 

(Send in any requests to my inbox.)

[sleeperswakewriting]

First time smut? Could be both or one inexperienced with a dose of comedy ^^

Summary: Childhood friends to lovers, Levi finally works up the nerve to ask Petra to go to prom with him. After years of pining, they decide to lose their virginity to each other on prom night.

Rated: M

Word Count: 5.4k

Prom outfits based on this!

now playing inevitable by anberlin and I think we're alone now by tiffany

If you told Levi Ackerman that the best night of his life would include loud music, drunk teenagers, and a broken air conditioner, then he would have called you crazy and told you to piss off.

Except, of course, unless you mentioned one small detail.

He would be attending prom with his childhood crush, Petra Ral.

Friends since they were babies, neighbors both raised by single parents, they were the best of friends.

Even if they were polar opposites.

Petra was on the cheerleading team, doing cartwheels and somersaults by the time she could walk and was a social butterfly with a heart of gold.

Levi had exactly five friends, not including Petra—Erwin, Hange, Mike, Eld, and Gunther. He met them when they were in elementary school and his friend group had stayed the same ever since.

Throughout the years, their friendship faced trials and tribulations, mostly due to the fact Levi had been in love with her for as long as he could remember, and Petra was absolutely oblivious to the fact.

So much so, that she would dance around the room while they did homework, clad in booty shorts and a loose t-shirt with no bra on. He knew she saw him as a brother, going as far as to kiss him on the cheek in times when she was feeling particularly affectionate, and allowing him to wrap his arms around her with each heartbreak she faced.

"Levi, why don't you ever date? You could get any girl you want!"

He didn't dare tell her why. Even though Petra would never actually leave him, he enjoyed their affable candor, her free touches, and smugly, their Friday night movie nights, a ritual they had since they were children.

Which was also the point of contention between her and her current boyfriend.

He had a bit of a reputation as being a hard ass, also Petra's silent bodyguard even though she didn't need it, and one guy in particular—Oluo, had the nerve to come between their sacred time.

And Petra being Petra, invited him to their movie night, to Levi's chagrin, but miraculously, Oluo had taken a liking to him and the three had a few more movie nights together.

Eventually, they broke up amicably, with Petra teasing Levi that it was because Oluo had a bigger crush on him than her.

It was their senior year, which meant college applications were rolling out, and for the first time in Levi's life, he faced the reality that he might be alone.

Petra had gotten a full scholarship as a cheerleader, Erwin was going to business school, Hange to a STEM school, which left him...

"Directionless!" His mother called him. "I've worked so hard raising an intelligent young man and you can't pick a school?! Application times are ticking, Levi, you need to choose something—-a major, a school, something!"

He asked Petra what she thought about him going to school across the country, and in her infuriating smile, she patted him on the shoulder and said whatever made him happy.

I want to make you happy, he wanted to say.

The summer of their junior year was filled as it always was; late nights talking around the bonfire, camping, and summer jobs.

Petra had gotten him a gig as a camp counselor, a job he wouldn't have gotten if it weren't for her since he had "the personality of a boar," as Hange aptly put it. But, with her sweet persuasion and way with people, she had convinced the manager that Levi would be a fine addition to the team.

And he could lead the children's soccer league!

As luck would have it, he was pretty good with kids, and they latched on to Levi's stoic personality with glee.

It was a sleep-away camp, and while the girls and boys slept in separate cabins, counselors included, Levi knew Petra had a rule-breaking streak (that she got from him) and snuck out after curfew so they could watch the stars.

"The night sky is easier to see than in our hometown!" She exclaimed, leaning against his shoulder.

There was no way she would be able to hear how fast his heart was beating, how his cheeks were heated from how close she was, but all of that seemed to change when she took his hand in hers.

"This is our last summer like this, isn't it?" She whispered, and he dared to wrap an arm around her, even though it was far from the first time.

"Yeah," he agreed gruffly, not wanting the cruel reminder. Would they stay friends? Would she leave him? Did he fuck up all his chances to be with her?

Erwin and Hange kept telling him to tell her how he feels—they weren't getting any younger, and Levi morosely pointed out that she's dated several people, with none of them like him at all.

Well, there's a reason why none of them worked out, they observed.

Petra leaned in closer, burying her face into his shoulder as she sniffed. "I'm not ready for senior year. So many choices to make. I mean, I'm glad to be more independent, but I like living with my dad, you being right next door, and our friends all being in one place. Everything is going to change."

Levi swallowed, her words like bile in his throat, but choosing to placate her.

"Well, not everything."

She looked at him, eyes watering with hope.

"I'm not going anywhere," he said, looking away from her, not being able to tolerate her steady laugh, her playful friendly shove, and an "Oh, you!"

But she did neither of those things, and he looked back cautiously, noticing a different look in her eyes.

Maybe it was the moonlight, but her gaze was tender, her lips puckering in a way that he'd never seen before, and before he knew it, she was leaning in to kiss him.

Levi had his first kiss when he was 13 years old in a game of spin the bottle, with Petra in attendance. She had been making eyes at a boy all night, and in a fit of frustration, he spun the bottle furiously, hoping it would land on her, but instead, on another girl who he was fairly sure had a crush on him.

Petra walloped with the rest of their friends, cheering and loudly goading, and it was over before he could blink twice.

Hange took pity on him later, locking them in a closet for 7 minutes in heaven, but it turned into Petra crying over the boy who wasn't paying attention to her, with him consoling her as best friends do.

She was bliss, her sweet pea body spray engulfing his senses, as he tentatively kissed her back, wondering if this was some delirious dream he was having.

Petra was moaning in a way that he thought was only in fantasy, at night when he dared imagined himself as her boyfriend, and when she pressed her body against his, breasts deliciously folding against his chest, he groaned in return, releasing them from the kiss to catch his breath.

"Petra, what's going on?" He asked, caressing his forehead to hers, begging that this wasn't some mistake.

She kissed his cheek, then his nose, as she giggled, "I love you, Levi. You've always been there for me, I guess what I've been looking for has been here the whole time. You...You feel the same way about me, right?"

Nifa and Nanaba had teased her relentlessly that she was building a harem since, for every guy she dated, Levi was very much a part of her life, even accompanying her on some group dates.

"I don't want him to be lonely!" She argued, putting on her watermelon lipgloss. "You know how he is, all by his lonesome. Everyone knows he's like my brother."

Nanaba laughed, giving her a look, "Well someone better call the cops because brothers shouldn't be looking at you like that. I can't believe you wear this around him," she said, pinching Petra's thigh that cut off just at her ass by her extra-large PJ shirt.

Rolling her eyes, "Please, we've seen each other in diapers. And in cringey Halloween costumes. I think we're past feeling embarrassed."

"Whatever you say," Nanaba said, noticing the pink hue on Petra's cheeks as she talked about him.

Levi thought he would be caught dead before he said I love you to anyone but his mother, and even then, it was given in brief, stilted tones.

But with Petra, he said it as quickly as he could, pulling her in for another kiss, wanting to hold on to her for as long as she would allow him.

His mother was thrilled, always having a feeling that her son harbored feelings for their ginger neighbor, and her father awkwardly patted him on the back.

"Glad it's you, son. I'm tired of all the jocks she brings around," and with a crane of the neck and a stern look, he said, "By the way, Petra, same rules apply, door stays open at all times!"

Petra groaned, stomping up the stairs. "Daddy, it's Levi! We used to listen to music on my boombox when we were 10, remember? We'd keep the door closed so you couldn't hear the CDs we bought from the thrift store."

Her father gave her a cautionary glance to her, then to Levi, who for the first time in his life, felt scared of the serene man.

"Door. Open." Her dad said with a final word, and Petra huffed, dragging Levi into her bedroom as she bemoaned how much she wanted to kiss him, earning a cough from downstairs.

Their relationship was "going steady" as some would call, with it being Levi's first relationship (he hoped his only), and Petra getting used to the idea that he was now her boyfriend.

He got jealous quite often, to the extent where he would hold her hand in the hallway or would walk with one arm wrapped around her shoulders. If he was feeling particularly whipped, he'd hold her books, but he wasn't sure if the snickers from Erwin and Hange were worth it. Not the one for PDA, Petra was surprised when he asked to hold hands, and she was more so endeared at his exuberant affections.

So far, these were the happiest days of Levi's life.

When springtime came around, with the seniors abuzz with the promise of graduation and more importantly, prom, he came to the dreaded realization that Petra was expecting a "promposal," something he had seen throughout his four years of high school but always wrote it off as annoying.

He supposed he didn't think he'd be lucky enough to go with the girl of his dreams.

It started with Nifa, who received a promposal from Gunther in the most saccharine way possible, a candy gram.

Then Nanaba and Mike, the latter coordinating a flash mob with their friends. (Levi didn't dance, but Petra told him all about it and showed them the final video they recorded).

It was a given that Eld and his long-time girlfriend would be going together.

Hange dropped on Levi that she and Erwin were also going as a pair, but it was nothing serious, and decided to go together just so they wouldn't have to deal with the headache of finding an actual date.

Which left Petra, waiting for Levi, and not being the one for grand gestures, he sat himself down to work on a promposal in the only way he knew how to.

Coding a video game.

Petra may be a cheerleader, but she was also a huge nerd thanks to Levi, where they spent most of their childhood playing every video game between his Gamecube, her PS2, and subsequently, their Nintendo DS's, and trading and exchanging games throughout their adolescence.

Their personal favorite was Zelda, with Petra often handing the controller off to him for the harder dungeons, and he knew just what to do when they had their usual Friday night movie, this time at his house.

Cuddled up on the sofa, they were kissing, barely paying attention to the movie as the white of the TV illuminated their bodies. A half-eaten box of pizza was open and cups of soda were on the table in front of them.

It was getting late, and he knew Petra had to be home soon, and he tried to focus on not losing his nerve. Hands at her waist, her plush body against his, he told himself there was nothing to worry about since this was Petra and she chose him when she could have any guy in the school. Eight months of dating should have said so.

Petra seemed to catch his hesitancy as she broke the kiss, but suckled at his lower lip in a way that he adored before she whispered, "Something wrong?"

She knew him so well.

Pulling her in for one more kiss, he reached for the remote to shut the TV off. "I coded a game," he said seriously, wondering if his face gave away his nervousness. "I was wondering if you could try it."

Eyes sparkling, Petra nodded excitedly. "It's been a while since you've made something!"

He ran to get his laptop, already having the file ready while he opened his computer, sliding it in front of her.

"It's, uh, standard WASD to walk, and you can use the numbers to click on objects," he explained as a black screen opened, showcasing a pixelated version of Petra. She held a magic wand with some fire at the end, and she was smiling, wearing her cheerleading outfit.

"Is this me?" She asked, giggling as she went through the dungeon, shooting fire bolts from her wand.

He nodded, staring at the screen in apprehension.

"Not to be a critic, but it's a little easy. Maybe add some mazes so it's not as linear?" She suggested, blasting through a monster.

"Sure, yeah, I'll keep it in mind," he said absently, chewing at his lip as she made it to the final room.

A dragon with a letterman jacket appeared, and Petra easily dodged his fire while she gave more flicks of her wand. The dragon poofed away in a cloud of smoke, revealing a chest, and as she clicked to open it, the chest opening sound from Zelda played, making Petra squeal.

"Oh boy, what am I gonna get?" She asked with an excited clap, and the screen enlarged, a picture of a blue rose and a question in pixelated letters asking,

IT'S DANGEROUS TO GO ALONE. WILL YOU GO TO PROM WITH ME?

YES / NO

Mouth gaping, Petra looked to Levi, who was nearly squirming out of his skin in panic, clasping his hands together firmly.

Petra smiled, moving the cursor over to "YES" and clicked on it, playing the item received sound from Zelda, and confetti popped on the screen.

Crashing into Levi, Petra kissed him, wondering why it took her so long to see that she had been adored her entire life.

"You're so romantic," she sighed, tugging at his hair and running her fingers down his undercut.

Levi wanted to nearly cry from relief but quickly forgot about his distress as Petra flicked her tongue down his earlobe. She whispered she had five minutes until curfew, and it was a good thing they were neighbors so she wouldn't have to hurry home.

---

It's too damn hot, Levi thought to himself, tugging at his cravat that contrasted with his black button-down and white suit. A chain tied the two ends of the jacket together, also accompanied by a white pocket square, and even though he liked his ensemble when his mother first helped him pick it out, it was starting to feel too tight as sweat clung to his skin, the layers of the fabric suffocating him in the mid-spring weather.

Maybe it wasn't the only reason he was hot, he entertained, seeing Petra dance with their friends, dressed in a spaghetti strap orange dress and matching cream ribbon. Around her wrist was a blue rose corsage, the one he gifted her when he picked her up from her house in his mom's beat-up minivan.

She looked radiant, and perhaps what made her even more attractive was the fact that she was dressed for him. He had seen her in dozens of outfits ranging from sweat pants to middle school formals, but tonight, this was just about the two of them.

Blushing, she accepted his flowers and corsage, posing for pictures by the stairwell he used to climb with her, pretending monsters were chasing them.

Wrapping his arms around her had never felt so right as they slow danced, the dim light and rainbow disco ball illuminating their touch starved bodies. Levi Ackerman didn't dance, but for her, he would do anything as long as she was by his side.

Pressing her cheek to his chest, happy she chose only an inch for her heels so he was still taller, she whispered to him, "Are you nervous about tonight?"

Petra had agreed to go as fast or slow as Levi wanted, especially with it being his first relationship, but there was one request she had after he had asked her to prom.

"I want to have sex with you if you're ready," she said after a heated make-out session.

"Here?!" He asked, looking at his childhood bedroom, the same navy walls he had known for 18 years staring back at him.

"No, not here!" She giggled, flopping down onto his body.

"Prom night," she said quietly. "I've been saving myself for someone special and I want it to be you. I've never gone all the way with a guy...."

"Really?" He asked in wonderment, assuming Petra had sex, a thought he kept firmly shut off at the back of his mind.

"It just never felt right before. Until you." Scooting up to meet his lips, he groaned, evidence of his arousal for her apparent from the first time they kissed and then after. Sometimes she palmed his pants, sometimes he took care of himself right after she left, but he never wanted to push too far, or come across as inexperienced to Petra.

"We're both 18, I was thinking we can rent a hotel room. I can tell my dad I'm sleeping at Nifa's. You can say you're at Erwin's."

A million thoughts and images flashed through Levi's mind, but the only thing he could hear was I'm going to have sex.

"Prom night, then," he agreed.

He had stayed up hours the night before reading up on sex, the technical side of things, the intimate parts, and discussing protection with Petra the weeks leading up to it. They agreed on condoms, so he went to the store in the middle of the night to get a box, and stuffed them in the back of his underwear drawer so his mother wouldn't find them.

Before he left for Petra's, his mother embraced him, giving him the speech that he was growing up so fast, how proud she was of him, and that she was so happy he and Petra were dating.

It was then she pulled out a plastic shopping bag of condoms and started putting them in his pockets, both his jacket and pants, and Levi nearly pushed her to the ground, face flaming.

"What the hell, mom?!"

She gave him a stern look. "I know what kids do on prom night, Levi. I just want you and Petra to be careful—Don't make me a grandmother just yet! Look, I got you different sizes and flavors—"

They were not having this conversation, and Levi haphazardly unlocked the front door, barely sliding his shoes on, "Stop. Just stop. We're, uh, we're fine. We have everything we need."

Kuchel breathed a sigh of relief, placing three more condoms into Levi's hand, accompanied by forty dollars. "Good. Just be safe. Tell me if you need anything, and have fun at the hotel," she winked, and Levi gaped at her.

"What?" She asked innocently. "I know you guys are 18. And I might have heard Petra in the grocery store gossiping with her friends."

He facepalmed, groaning. Of course, Petra would be broadcasting losing her virginity.

To you, he reminded himself.

Levi stepped back into the house, kissing his mom swiftly on the cheek, muttering I love you as he took the car keys and drove down the half a block to Petra's house. Kuchel waved as she closed the door, happy her son was finally with Petra.

"A little," he admitted to Petra, back in the present. He kissed the crown of her head, holding her close. "Are you?"

Nodding, she raised her head to look at him, though they were nearly at eye level.

"But I'm happy it's with you."

A more upbeat song began, causing the numerous couples on the dance floor to break away and spin onto the dance floor. Petra let him go, but grasping his hand as she guided them back to their friends, encouraging them all to hold hands.

"To senior year!" They shouted, and as much Levi wanted to say he hated crowds, the sweat, and the lack of personal space, he found himself not caring, savoring the last tendrils of adolescence.

---

Petra was talking nonstop as they drove to the hotel, only 15 minutes away from the prom venue, and while she was usually a chatterbox, she found it was more from nerves than actually having anything significant to say.

Levi had one of their mixtapes in the CD player, burned during their middle school years written in sharpie Levi and Petra's mixtape, volume 5. Stolen songs from the internet, coupled with tracks from both of their iTunes libraries, Petra always marveled at how opposite they could be, and yet shared similar interests.

The songs were so familiar to her that she involuntarily sang along, reminiscing how often she played their shared songs and rolling over in excitement on her bed when she found a track she knew Levi would like.

Levi parked, hand still resting at the clutch as he looked to her with a steady breath. "We're here," he said quietly and Petra nodded sweetly in return.

Both brought two small duffles to change out of their prom clothes, and shuffled into the hotel, checking in, trying not to look like two teenagers about to have sex for the first time, but ultimately failing as Levi's hands shook as he slid the key card in.

Booking the cheapest room they could find that wasn't a motel, there was little space to walk other than the perimeter around the king-sized bed, a TV with a dresser, and a door leading to the bathroom where Petra excused herself to.

Levi switched the lights on, checking for anything unsavory, and dropped his duffel bag to the floor, checking himself in the door mirror.

Should he change? He didn't want to look too casual, not having the faintest idea of what "sexy" pajamas looked like for men, and he awkwardly paced, debating to at least take his jacket off, unhooking the chain to let his lapels break free.

He hung the jacket over the nearby loveseat, then fiddled with his cravat, wondering if he should take that off too since Petra may find it to be a nuisance, and before he could debate with himself any longer, he heard the bathroom door open up, revealing Petra in a pink baby doll outfit.

Blinking at him with doe eyes, she blushed furiously, not meeting his wandering eyes.

She was definitely not wearing that before they got in, so she must have changed, and suddenly, Levi felt very overdressed as his mouth went dry.

Licking his lips, he hurriedly got the "sex stuff" from his bag, throwing the box of condoms onto the nightstand, followed by lube, and Petra started giggling as he undid the condoms from his pockets as well.

"How many times do you think we're going to have sex tonight? 50?" She joked, eyes raking at the varieties.

"My mom insisted," he grumbled, heat creeping up his neck and Petra's eyes widened in embarrassment and fear.

"You told her?!"

"No!" He blurted defensively. "She figured it out. You know how perceptive she is."

Petra hummed in agreement, scooping up the condoms and putting them back into his duffel.

"I think it's safe to say we can just use that box," she said, pointing to the Trojan extra-large, then running her hands down his arms.

Levi shuddered, unsure if he wanted to keep staring at her or rip the lingerie off, but found himself unable to speak as Petra kissed him heatedly, tongue diving in, and placed his hands on her breasts.

"You can touch them, you know," she whispered, and Levi could have come alone from the contact, his hands touching the silken mounds he had fantasized about ever since they hit puberty.

He backed them into the bed, with Petra's back falling against the plush sheets, and she moaned as Levi pressed his weight against her, gently rocking against her body. She reached for his cravat, tugging it off so that it hung around his neck, and began unbuttoning his dress shirt.

"Have I told you how handsome you look tonight?" she purred, her pearl earrings catching the light in the room.

"Yes, but I can stand to hear it a bit more," he replied, daring himself to touch her legs, each graze of his fingertips like electricity down her spine.

The babydoll deliciously pushed her breasts together as a cute little ribbon sat in between her breasts. The material was nearly opaque, and his mouth watered, thinking of Petra in a thong, despite the number of times he'd seen her in a bathing suit.

"And you look, uh, amazing," he breathed above her.

"Really?" Petra exclaimed in relief. "Nanaba helped me pick it out, said that you're probably more into cute-sexy than sexy-sexy."

Gently sliding the straps down so he could kiss her bare shoulders where her freckles met, he said, "Anything you wear for me is sexy."

"Mmm," Petra sighed as he continued working at her top, finding the ribbon in the back and letting it fall off her arms until she was left in her bare breasts.

Instinctively, she went to cover then, but at Levi's eager and furtive look, she released them, guiding his hands back onto her chest, encouraging him to knead and caress her.

He was clumsy, but in an endearing way, fascinated that he was able to elicit such sounds from her, and when he realized she was only wearing her underwear, and he was wearing too much, he immediately discarded his shirt, then moved to unbuckle his pants.

"Let me help you with that," Petra said, sliding onto her knees to unzip his fly, then eagerly sliding them down his legs as he kicked it off.

"Wow," she breathed at the tent in his boxers, and he had the urge to cover himself as well until Petra reached for him, stroking his length and he moaned loudly.

"Y-you can't do that, I'm gonna come," he coaxed himself to say despite how magnificent it felt.

Blushing, happy she was able to make him feel so much with so little, Petra removed her hand and embraced him as they fell back onto the mattress.

They kissed again, feeling each other's bodies for the first time in this state, hands needy but asking for permission, Levi skimmed the tips of his fingers over Petra's ass, earning a hiss of pleasure.

"I need you," she whined, and unsure of how to proceed, Levi detached himself and grabbed a condom, hands shaking as he undid the wrapper.

"You know how to put it on?" Petra asked out of concern and fascination.

He nodded, slipping it down while pulling the tip. "I've done a test run just to make sure. I, uh, was thinking of you the entire time—-" Fuck, this was not romantic in the slightest, Levi chastised to himself. Petra didn't want to hear how he tested the physics of it, how to avoid using it incorrectly which led to him snapping it against his fingers.

But practice makes perfect, and he felt confident as he hovered above Petra, kissing her neck softly while feeling awkward from the latex between them. She hooked her thumbs over her panties, taking them off, and spread her legs for him, her expression yearning and hopeful.

"I've heard it might hurt," Levi said, breath heady at the sight of her womanhood, a cute ginger patch of curls.

"It's okay. You can't hurt me, it's you," she said gently, resting her hands against his shoulder blades, egging him forward.

Levi placed the tip at her entrance, holding his breath as Petra wriggled beneath him, gasping from the friction and he slid in very slowly, both moaning from the contact.

Petra was slick with arousal, and as he continued to push in, they gasped in time, and Levi had to keep himself from moving too firmly because she felt absolutely wonderful, all warm and tight.

"You okay?" He asked, noticing her wrinkled expression, and Petra gasped, opening one eye.

"Y-yeah, you're just really big. But I feel okay."

Pride swelled within him, kissing her gently as he throbbed with desire, and asked her permission to move.

Lifting her hips, he groaned, pumping into her once, then twice, then on the third—-

"Argh!" He gasped, already coming, not being to restrain himself because that's how good she felt.

Shame washed over him as Petra realized what was happening, and she held him gently as goosebumps danced across his skin.

He immediately removed himself from her, hobbling to the bathroom, and Petra looked worried as she processed what had just happened, but pleased that nothing unsafe occurred.

She squeezed her legs together, disappointment and frustration throbbing between her legs, but Levi reappeared, looking thoroughly abashed as he tucked his underwear back on.

"Petra, I'm so sorry about that. Let me make it up to you—"

And before Petra could protest, he crawled to her on all fours at the base of the bed, and placed his hands on her knees, opening them slightly.

"I read that most girls like this better away," he began, kissing her inner thigh, and Petra rolled her head back, happy he was tending to her, but squeaking as he immediately dove his head between her legs, then licking her core with an unpracticed tongue.

"Eek!" She screeched, kicking him in the chest out of reflex from the surprising sensation.

"Ow!" Levi exclaimed, falling back and looking like a mixture of pissed off and fear.

"Did I hurt you?" He asked, inching back to her, and Petra plopped her head against the pillow, laughing hard to herself.

"I should be asking you that, I'm sorry I kicked you," she said, giggling into the popcorn ceiling, then turning to face him. "I think for that, we need to warm up a bit. But...I don't want that tonight. Another time," she added with a hopeful look and Levi smiled sadly, hanging his head.

"I'm shit in bed."

Petra weaved a hand through his hair, realizing how much pressure he was under. "No, you're not, Levi. You were just excited. If anything, it's flattering," she said, an adorable pink blush filling her cheeks.

"We'll get better with time and practice. While we wait for you to reset, I brought something for me. I figured something like this would happen."

She padded to her duffel bag, taking out a pink dildo, and clicked it on. It vibrated, and Levi looked at her with a dumbstruck face as she smirked in response.

"Maybe we'll need all those condoms anyway."

[meduseld]

I hope you never get tired of answering fear street questions cause I'm currently obsessed and I love your answers lol Anyway, do you think ziggy had any friends at all? I know most ppl like to headcanon that Nick had "friends" but was actually lonely and isolated (I agree) but I think Ziggy might have been an actual loner. Could the shadysiders also thought she was a bit of a weirdo? It almost seems like she only hung out with Nurse Lane while at camp. But, I mean, was she really into any weird stuff to begin with?

Aww thank you! I really enjoy answering them :)

I think neither of them really had friends, before, after or really ever. I mean Ziggy was a full on loner at camp, I think it's mentioned explicitly that she has no friends, but then again it's at camp where most if not all kids her age appear to be snobby Sunnyvalers. So possibly she had friends in Shadyside, but I'd be willing to bet they were more like acquaintances/people she loosely hung out with than real friends. Partially bc she was into "weird" stuff like King, as we know, and partially I think as a defense mechanism: we saw her having that abrasive "i don't need anybody" attitude and that's a way to keep emotionally safe by not letting people in/get close. Which, given what we know of her family makes sense. And definitely had no one after the massacre, that made her the super weirdo, probably meant she left school to heal and so forth and if she went back (but likely just got a GED or similar on her own time and moved on. Being the 80s or so, and her living on a settlement/insurance as I head canon since she clearly didn't have a job or leave the house much, she wouldn't really need one anyway) she'd be too old for her grade range. Making her feel like more of a freak, what with being with kids way younger and hearing them gossip about her. Not to mention, whoever she did know on friendly terms probably felt weird about it and had no idea what to say about what happened or to interact with her so they didn't and Ziggy likely wouldn't have let them in anyway. Which didn't contribute to her recovery or mental state because isolation is generally bad for people.

And Nick also had no friends but in a very different (seeming) way. He too lets no one in/keeps himself emotionally aloof, but in this case he's shielded them from his secret besides guarding his own heart. He's keeping the family code of silence, and it makes it really hard if not impossible to really connect to others. But, given how he's a Goode and so on, and we see people listen to him/want to be around him with Kurt and the Deputy, he also has a lot of shallow connections and acquaintances and people he like had lunch with in High School. So externally no one would call him a loser or weirdo, as that's not the perception and he seems to be hanging with the right crowd/going to the right events. But there's no closeness and no connection: no one knows him or his interests, no one goes to his house, no one dates him just like gets asked to Prom or whatever where he is polite but distant and has you home before curfew where your parents swoon over such a well-educated young man from a good family! while you know it's not gonna go anywhere because, and you'd never say this out loud because he's a Goode and it would be bad for you, social suicide really, but Nick is.... Weird. Everyone thinks it but doesn't say it and wants to be in his good graces because he has power and money and social standing.

Which is another reason they clicked so well. They're both lonely weirdos with similar interests who felt a deep and genuine connection to each other and never managed to replicate that with anybody else. In a way, they are kind of the perfect, symmetrical match.

[lyssismagical]

22 and 4 for physical affection prompts?

a hug after not seeing someone for a long time

kissing someone’s cuts/bruises/scratches

 Being the guy in the chair meant that Ned had to deal with a lot of the fallout Peter left behind him. He’d been doing it for all of five years, now bringing his skills to Massachusetts and to a much bigger scale.

This is a little outside of his paygrade, though.

Peter had been MIA for three months.

At the beginning, it was just a matter of giving people the hope to push through another day. It was telling people that Peter would be fine, he was Spider-Man and he had all of the avengers looking out for him. Nothing would happen. It wouldn’t take long for everything to go back to normal.

But days kept passing with no word from the Avengers. He knew they were all on it, but they hadn’t found even a trace of what happened to their beloved hero.

May was handling it, spending her days down at the cabin with the Starks to keep her mind off things, and to keep Tony sane. He couldn’t help, not when he’d been hurt so badly fighting Thanos.

It was Ned’s job, though, to take care of everyone else. MJ, Flash, Harry, Gwen, the rest of Peter’s friends. And Harley.

Harley was losing his mind every moment that went by without his boyfriend.

“Hey, c’mon, dude,” Ned says, knocking on Harley’s door. To save money from living in dorm rooms, and to keep Peter’s identity a secret, the six of them got a three-bedroom apartment in the city. “You’re going to be late for class.”

“Not going,” Harley grumbles.

Ned sighs, looking over at where Harry’s sitting at the kitchen table. “You wanna try today?”

Through a bite of cereal, Harry goes, “Nah, you get to deal with him.”

Sighing, he pushes his way into Harley’s bedroom, heart aching at the sight.

Harley’s curled up in the bed, wearing one of Peter’s very old Midtown High sweatshirts, tight across Harley’s wider shoulders. Lights dimmed above, a video on his laptop playing next to him. Upon further inspection, it’s the video compilation from their last week of high school. Prom clips, graduation clips, senior skip day, the homework bonfire, the huge party. MJ filmed a lot of it, but there’s plenty of shots with her as well, camera being passed around. Peter and Harley are hand in hand through most of the shots, never once leaving each other’s sides.

“Harley, this isn’t healthy,” Ned says, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

Peter and Harley have been together since their Junior year, three years now, living together for a year. They won for best relationship in the yearbook, and they’re known to be attached at the hip. The local Starbucks employees know them as Harley-and-Peter because they never go to Starbucks separately. Their room is entirely catered to the both of them. They have an entire life together planned out.

It’s scary to think of just how irreparably broken Harley would be if he lost Peter.

“Anything?” Harley asks monotonously.

“Sorry.”

Ned pauses the video and for a moment, they both stare at the screen, where Peter is shown, arms in the air, smile bright on his face, eyes peacefully shut, fire glowing behind him. Harley reaches out and gently strokes a finger over the screen.

“God, I miss him,” Harley says, voice breaking.

“I know.” Ned feels the grief hitting him now more than ever. He’s been trying so hard to hold everything together that he hasn’t really had the time to think about it. “I mean, I’ve been through him going missing before, I know you have too, but never this long. Never without any leads. Never with this little hope.”

Harley sniffles, looking unbelievably young and hurt, eyes red and hair long and messy. He doesn’t take his eyes off the screen.

“I know you don’t want to think about it, but you can’t destroy your life just in case,” Ned says. “You have to keep going to class and doing your homework and taking care of yourself. You can’t put everything on hold until he comes back.”

“If he comes back.” Harley’s voice comes out dripping with venom. “After my dad left, everyone told me he’d come back eventually. That it was a when, not an if. That it wasn’t a question whether or not I’d see him again. It’s been ten years and nothing.”

Ned feels his chest tighten at the thought of Peter never coming back. “He’s Peter fucking Parker. It’s not an If.”

Harley doesn’t reply.

Eventually, Ned has to give up. He’s going to be late for his own classes if he doesn’t head out. “Harry’s home all day, so ask him if you need anything.”

He makes it all the way to campus, driving a car gifted to him by Tony because Peter never got his licence and somebody needed to be able to take him places. He got all of the roommates some kind of crazy expensive gift when they moved out of state like paying for Harley’s entire tuition.

He’s about to get out of his car, grabbing his bag from the passenger seat when his phone lights up with a text from Sam Wilson.

Immediately, he fumbles for his phone and his keys, restarting the car and swerving to get back on the road.

“What.”

“Get up. Quick shower, get dressed, pack a little bag with extra clothes and the quilt that’s in the bottom dresser of your dresser. Meet me outside, I’ll be there in twenty,” Ned rushes out, feeling a little bad about talking on the phone while driving.

Harley pauses for a long moment. “Please don’t tell me this is just you wanting to get me to class.”

“Sam texted,” Ned says, speeding up to just over the speed limit. “They found him. We’ll meet him at the compound.”

Harley lets out a brokenly relieved sob, gasping out, “Oh god, thank you, oh my god, I’ll be ready. Focus on driving, I’ll see you there.”

Ned tosses the phone onto the passenger seat as soon as Harley hangs up, jittery with excitement.

Peter was okay.

Ned hangs back while Harley goes racing ahead of him into the compound. And right there, standing in the lobby, right in front of the elevators, is Peter.

He’s roughed up, that’s for sure, bruised and bloody, thinner than ever, hair longer than he’s ever kept it and greasy too. He’s wearing a pair of loose sweats, stained beyond recognition, and a thick sweatshirt that definitely belongs to Natasha. But despite everything, despite being missing for three months, Peter’s grinning.

Harley lets out a teary laugh and pushes into a sprint across the lobby.

If not for Peter’s stickiness and super strength, Harley would’ve tackled him right to the floor.

But Peter catches him, straightening them out, laughing softly.

Harley lifts Peter right off his feet, spinning him a circle, arms so tight around his waist. They’re both laughing like they can’t help themselves, just so ecstatic over finally being in each other’s arms again.

“Oh my god, I love you,” Harley breathes out, kissing Peter hard.

Peter smiles too big for them to keep kissing, pressing their foreheads together.

“Could you put me down, babe, you’re kind of pressing on my broken ribs?” Peter says it as a joke, but Harley immediately sets him down, eyes going wide.

“I’m so sorry, are you okay? What happened? Are you okay?”

Nodding, Peter gently kisses Harley again. “I’m just fine, sweetheart. I’ll heal up in no time.”

So carefully, like Peter’s made entirely of glass, Harley presses a gentle kiss to every bruise, scrape, and wound he sees. Hands, arms, head. He even falls to his knees to press extra kisses to his stomach and ribs.

“I’m all better, thank you,” Peter grins, pulling Harley up and into his arms again. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” And then, pulling back and face going stony, he says, “Don’t you ever do that to me again, you jerk, if you ever even get lost at the mall, I’ll have a heart attack and die.”

Peter kisses his cheek. “I’ll be extra careful. I won’t ever leave your side, okay?”

Taglist: @littlemissagrafina  @spideyspeaches  @romeoandjulietyouwish @c-artara @shadedrose01 @likeaphoenix13 @misskirkstark @you-get-killed-walk-it-off @kitkatwinchester  @emo-girl10  @hold-our-destiny @imalivebecauseirondad @spiderman-peterman @dykeragee @maryserrao @heeeyitskay @parknerandirondad @lilacsandlilies4 @loveliestdisappointment @joyful-soul-collector @genderfluid-and-confuzled @fallenstar07 @gyurolls @sdottkrames  @you-did-it-sir {Let me know if you wanna be added or removed}