#When I think about their student days I can only see all the mutual pining...

[whirlybirbs]

— CAN'T WE BE SEVENTEEN? ; shoto todoroki ; 焦凍

summary: he's loved you since he was seventeen. pairing: f!reader x pro hero!shoto ; reader was a 1-A student tags: mutual pining, heavy make-out, thinly veiled sugar daddy shoto, reader does not go pro, touya might be a dick but he's a hero now, shoto is bad at feelings wordcount: 5.6k a/n: i do not fucking know what came over me, enjoy your food my little todorokinas. yes the title is what you think it is. no i will not elaborate.

You never did go pro.

Truthfully, you thought there would be more pushback when, in your senior year, you announced your plan to pursue a degree in early childhood education with a focus on non-conforming quirk development. 

The War changed a lot. It changed you, your classmates, and the world. But, through it all one thing stuck with you:

What if someone helped Tenko Shimura?

How different would his life have been? How different would history have spun? 

You graduated at the top of your class and joined the faculty at Chiba Prefectural Preparatory School for Quirk Specialties two years ago. 

Chiba Prep was opened eight years ago in response to a societal cry for more infrastructure around what was dubbed "non-conforming quirks": a nice way to say quirks that can injure, maim, or kill. Maybe even all three on a bad day. Some parents still see their child being labeled as a non-conforming quirk user in the national database as akin to social suicide. 

You see it differently.

Your quirk allows you to manipulate emotions — anger, sadness, betrayal, love, hatred. If you can feel it, you can sink it into another's psyche deep enough to drive them to act. You can even imbue things with feelings. For example, a cup of warm milk can transform into more than just a simple comfort, now it can hold the feeling of home and safety, or even exhaustion strong enough to put even the biggest foe to rest. 

You could easily use your quirk with nefarious intent. 

You could steep hatred in someone's bone so deep it drives them to harm themselves. You could sew fury so solid into someone's mind it drives them to violence. 

Just a touch and you can control others with something so intrinsically personal it only exists within themselves: their feelings.

What makes you any different from little Asuke, a shy little girl with a quirk that allows her to see people's greatest fears, and then manifest and control them? You're convinced she can use this for good, if only with practice. In your mind, her future is bright and glimmering. Perhaps she will become a therapist, focusing on exposure therapy? Or, maybe the most prolific horror novelist in their time? 

Or, bright and sunny Tao — a transplant whose parents sought out Chiba Prep's specialized education — whose heteromorphic quirk makes his bodily fluids, namely saliva, eat through nearly anything but his own biologics. A sneeze is quickly the most dangerous thing in the world for the cheery, lizard-bodied class clown. 

He's just a boy given a quirk that needs more care. 

He isn't a villain-in-training. 

None of them are.

It's important to teach them that young — and as their teacher for Year 3 of their elementary schooling, you aim to hammer that in as much as possible. They deserve to feel normal. To feel loved and supported. They aren't scary, they're children. 

So, you take it upon yourself to insist on pushing for privileges like field trips. There aren't many public spaces that welcome the classes of Chiba Prep with open arms. Over the years, there have been plenty of incidents. But, a day trip into the city to visit Tokyo's Hall of Heroes is green-lit with bubbling excitement from both faculty, the children, and their parents. 

You usually keep your history as a graduated member of Class 1-A quiet. 

After all, you never did go pro.

And even still, Shoto Todoroki never stopped thinking about you.

He remembers that weekend everyone moved back in for their last year before graduation. He remembers you smiling at him, and helping him drag up a duffel of luggage from the common room to his dorm. You made a joke about how you're sure he got taller over the summer, and how his hair is longer now. You said you liked it. 

It was the beginning of the end, then.

His crush was a silent, smothering thing. It made it hard to think. Shoto had enough on his plate thanks to Touya's acceptance into the Villain Rehabilitation Program and his father's insistence on staving off retirement. Not to mention his parent's divorce — no matter how amicable, it was still a separation. Add on training, tests, studying, finals, and j-term classes... And a desperate, writhing, burning crush on the nicest girl in class? 

Touya's elbow digs into Shoto's side.

It drags him back to reality — to the stifled quiet of the historical Hall of Heroes. 

Suddenly, the doors to the wing squeak open, and a tour guide ushers in the elementary school class. The buzzing excitement and wonder are visible on each of their faces as the attendant — one of the HoH's lead tour guides — excitedly explains the newest, in-progress addition to the Hall:

Endeavor's wing. 

There's a whisper of awe that ripples through the children as their teacher and co-teacher follow, and as the class moves through the large, open space. They're staring up eagerly at the gilded statue in the center of the room. It's larger than life and intimidating. Years ago, Shoto might have had to fight the odd tremble in his knees at the reminder it brings: to be small in his father's shadow again. But, things are different now. 

Very different.

Touya scoffs. "I thought this wing wasn't open to the public yet."

"They're just children," Shoto hums, turning his back on the gaggle across the way to inspect the large mural winding along the back end of the installation, "I'm sure it's—"

"Oh, ho, no way!"

Shoto quirks his brow at his brother's outburst. His elbow digs into Shoto's ribs again. 

"Ain't that the pretty girl you never got the balls to ask out your senior year?" comes the rasped drawl of his older brother's voice. Touya is clearly amused, his white hair hanging in his eyes as he leans forward to squint, "She is cute, Sho'—"

"Shut up," Shoto grits, turning his head over his shoulder; he tries to bite back the flurry of nerves that ignite in his gut, "Stop talking."

It is you.

You look... good. 

Happy. 

You're crouched by a small, timid girl in the back of the crowd. Your hand is in hers, and you're pointing upwards at the large paneled screens replaying Endeavor's most historic fights. You're explaining something to her, your knees bent as you squat. You look... the same. As if in the six years since they graduated, you sat still in time. 

For a second, it's like he's seventeen again.

It's his senior year, and he's stuck at the corner of the gym's edge with a half-empty glass of punch in his hand. The lights are low, and there's slow music playing. His tie feels too tight. Bakugo keeps telling him to 'ask her to dance already', and Kirishima is considering bashing his head through the wall. Even Midorya is trying to persuade Shoto. 

"It's prom, man! C'mon, this could be your last chance—"

Touya is about to be a real pain in the ass — his favorite pastime — and make some comment about your ass, but when he turns to lob the one-liner at his baby brother, Shoto's gone.

Shoto is on the move.

The crescendo of gasps draws your attention first.

Then, the cry of "WOAH, IT'S SHOTO!" leaves you dumbfounded. The rippling murmur of excitement bleeds into the children as their eyes — and the eyes of the tour guide — widen at the sight of the approaching Pro Hero. 

Shoto Todoroki.

He looks... good. 

Really good.

He's a bit older, and a bit more filled out than when you were both teenagers. You can see the strength in his arms and shoulders — it's a distant echo of his father's physique, though Shoto is so much more elegant and much... prettier. He's always been.

For a second, you're seventeen again.

It's your senior year, and you're sprawled across Momo Yaoyorozu's bed.

They had finally wrangled out of you who your crush was: something they hadn't been able to do in all their years as classmates.

There's a sticky, Miss Midnight-themed face mask clinging to your expression as you try to flip through the large magazine in your hands as nonchalantly as possible. Mina's voice, as she paints Ochaco's nails a bright pink on the floor, is sweet and saccharine as she looks up at you.

"I think you and Shoto would be, like, the cutest couple ever." 

You're still crouched when the tour guide nervously — like she was caught doing something naughty — introduces The Pro Hero Shoto to the already-aware crowd of elementary school students and their teachers. It's like igniting a match; the uproar of excitement leaves you laughing as three of your boys push forward to bombard him with questions about his quirk. 

Asuke is smiling shyly, now. That's a small win. She's intrigued by the appearance of a real hero, not the "scary statues" — and her big, fat tears stopped rolling the moment you laid a gentle hand on her to quell her anxiety over the new environment with a push of comfort through your quirk. She unhooks her pinkie finger from yours as you guide her towards your co-teacher. 

"Boys," you call with a crisp air of authority as you stand and lead Asuke toward the bulk of the field trip group, "What have we learned about personal space?"

"It's fine, really, Insight," comes Shoto's voice; as warm and placid as you remember. 

"Insight?" mutters your co-teacher at the presumed hero-name; a look of confusion plasters itself on her face, and her big, feline ears perk up. She leans in to whisper in a way that borders on conspiratory, "Do you two know one another?"

"Old classmates," you confirm, not daring to get into the finer details.

Shoto's attention is entirely rooted in the way you manage the kids. There's something beautiful about the ease with which you handle the bouquet of students; you quell the excitement into a manageable decibel like it's as easy as breathing. 

"Shoto," you start as you gesture to him, "Has a very special quirk — Toyamai, he has ice like you. And, fire like Tojiro. He can regulate his temperature. Can anyone tell me what that means?"

There's a wave of hands shooting up, a few me, me, me's rise from the gaggle. 

You're using him as a teaching moment.

Shoto's smile is soft.

You nod at Ogomi, excitedly nodding as the reserved child speaks up. Normally, he hates public speaking. But, recently, he's started working with the speech pathologist during lunch. The boy bounces a little as he answers. "He doesn't g-get too hot, or too c-cold."

"Exactly! Isn't that cool?" you grin at the lazy attempt at a pun, "This is why it's important to learn about our quirks as much as we can!"

Touya thinks this whole thing is just too cute. 

You're different than he remembers — but, granted, things were sorta different last time he saw you. He was a little too busy tryna kill his old man and lil' Shoto. He's different now, too. A changed man! A real licensed hero. Support items and all. 

He hangs back. 

He... I mean, he is a jack-ass but he isn't gonna ruin this for Shoto. 

...It's kinda cute.

Just about as cute as Fuyumi said it was. 

Apparently, Shoto had opened up to her and Natsuo about his feelings after graduation — about how he regretted not doing anything about it. Fuyumi then told their mum, who then off-handedly mentioned it to Touya... and well Touya dug in because, duh, he is a whore for good gossip. He might be the family's black sheep, but Shoto is the glue that binds. 

And he deserves to be happy.

Your co-teacher is ushering the kids to the next installation — a viewing of All Might's Legacy, a new documentary following the retired pro's teaching career. It will be a good wind down for them, in comfy seats and the dark. It's hardly the sort of content an elementary school student would find riveting, but it is All Might. And they love him.

You hang back. 

Shoto's heart is hammering in his chest.

"Hey."

"Hi," you greet back, closing the door to the theater and stepping forward as you weave your arms around you, "Long time no see."

"Yea," Shoto breathes, his hands in his pockets as he meets you halfway across the museum's marble floors, "I... I see you're teaching."

His eyes are as pretty as they were back then. Slate grey and piercing turquoise. "I'm in my second year," you confirm softly, fiddling with the material of your sweater, "Congrats to your old man."

You gesture up at the statue, then wave around to the rest of the installation.

Shoto inhales, then nods; he's staring at your face, blissfully realizing you're just the way you were all those years ago. Kind. "I'll pass it along."

"How's he handling it?" you ask, your eyes raking across his expression and trying not to stick to the sharp slope of his jaw, or the bob of his Adam's apple, "Retirement, I mean."

"He's happy, I think. Touya and I are working together and... things are...  good."

Last month, Endeavor finally retired. He cited his age, and his dedication to passing his legacy to his two sons: Shoto and Touya. Shoto has planted himself firmly within the Top Ten in the last year or so, and shockingly, Touya isn't far behind. People love an underdog's redemption story, you suppose. 

And the underdog in question can read a room. 

This is getting a little too sexually tense for even him.

"Heeeeey, girl," he rasps out, staggering backward with a thumb over his shoulder, "Nice t' see ya. I'll let you two catch up, yea? I'm gonna go pop my head into the theater, see how the kids are handling the snooze fest on screen—"

You jump.

How long has he even been there?

"Hi, D— Touya," you strain, wincing a little; the rehab'd villain doesn't seem to mind.

"Hi, teach'. That cool with you?" he asks, wobbling his thumb and quirking a pierced eyebrow; it's comical, like he's trying to disarm you with humor, "Don't want you thinkin' I'm corrupting your youths—"

"It's fine," you breathe, ignoring the sting of age-old mistrust. You know better. Shoto wouldn't be here, with him, if Touya Todoroki hadn't changed. Endeavor wouldn't be entrusting his legacy to the ex-League of Villain member if he didn't believe in his capacity for good, "Just don't be disruptive."

Casting judgment on someone whose life was nearly destroyed by his own non-conforming quirk would go against everything you taught the kids anyway.

"Touya's whole thing is being disruptive," Shoto grits as his oldest brother slips silently through the doors, "I apologize for him—"

"No," you wave him off, laughing a little, "Don't. It's... nice to see you two together."

Shoto's expression is soft as he wanders a little closer. "It took time — and a lot of therapy — but we've all managed to come out the other side."

"That's great to hear, Shoto," you breathe, your eyes flitting across his face, "I'm really happy for you."

There's a long silence, then — and you can't help but ignore the roil of butterflies in your stomach. The eye contact is heavy with some unspoken thing, and both of your tongues are weighted by secrets-never-turned-confessions. 

It's like finally this dance you've been doing around one another for years breaks — and the two of you throw caution to the wind at the exact same moment. 

"Would you like to—"

"Are you free—"

Hesitant, slow grins bloom on both your faces.

"Dinner?" is all he manages after a sweet moment of soaking up your soft smile, "If you're available...?"

You make yourself available.

Yaoyorozu almost dies when you call her that night — winded from tearing through your entire wardrobe. You explained you had nothing to wear a-and you needed something nice, and you only have an hour to get ready, because Todoroki — yes, stop screaming, Todoroki — is picking you up at 8pm.

Little bro is nervous. Touya can tell. 

From his spot on the sofa, the white-haired ex-degenerate scoffs. Natsuo is digging around for some cufflinks in Shoto's dresser.

"Seriously, Sho'? A suit?" 

"It's a nice restaurant," his brother says tightly, adjusting the collar of the black button-down, "I booked the upstairs dining room for privacy." 

"Who the hell told you t' do that?" Touya quirks a skeptical brow.

"Father was the one who suggested it."

"...That old dog." 

Natsuo rolls his eyes at the exchange before throwing his hands as he emerges from the closet. "Do you have any links that aren't emblazoned with U.A. High School's crest?"

The ones in Natsuo's hands have his graduation year on them.

Shoto winces.

"Want me to ask dear ol' dog of a dad?" Touya snarks from the corner, his posture becoming less and less upright as he scrolls on his phone.

"Already did," comes the soft voice of Fuyumi; she's smiling, padding into Shoto's room with a velvet box, "He offered up his nicest pair. He also says not to screw it up with Insight. He likes her."

Of course, he likes her. You worked under Endeavor for a brief work-study period during your third year. Shoto remembers hearing grumbled praise over dinner one night about your talent for de-escalation.

"You told him who I was seeing?" Shoto asks incredulously, taking the box and working the cufflinks on. He's starting to feel exasperated.

Fuyumi nods, popping down beside Touya. 

"He asked. I'm not gonna lie to him."

"Did y' tell ma?" Touya rasps, peeking up over his phone to inspect Shoto's outfit. Not half bad, honestly. He looks good in all black. A man after his own heart, "M'sure she's gonna be real excited—"

"Yes," Shoto grumbles, "I called her earlier—"

"Chiba Prep is a really good school, y'know," Natsuo buts in as he tries to find a tie that matches Shoto's outfit. Ultimately, though, the middle brother decides against it and tosses the options over his shoulder, "They're, like, on the leading edge for quirk therapies."

"Hey, nerd? Quiet down. The big kids are gossiping," Touya shirks, turning back to Shoto, "What did mum say?" 

"She wants me to call her after—"

"One, you're gonna call mum the morning after," Touya raises a finger, "Because if you don't get laid, I'll be so fuckin' disap—"

Fuyumi slaps Touya's chest. He lets out a pained yelp at the solid smack.

"Uh, ow," he rubs his sternum. "An' two, take a deep breath. You look like you're gonna shit yourself. Those are my pants and they're expensive."

Shoto lets out a long breath. 

Fuyumi's smile is sweet like honey. "Aw, Sho'! It's gonna go great. You two have known each other for such a long time, and catching up is going to be amazing. Just be yourself! Confident and kind—"

"—Hold the door open for her, and pull her chair out," Natsuo adds as he adjusts Shoto's collar for him, "Car door, too—"

It's Touya's turn. He's dead serious. "—And do not chicken out on kissing her at the end of the night. I swear to god."

Easier said than done.

You never did go pro.

Those years of hardened battle instincts have lost their edge. You try to remind yourself this is just Shoto, not The Shoto — but you're a little lost in the whole celebrity of it all when he picks you up in a very nice, sporty little car with ENDVRplates. 

You answer the door and he forgets how to breathe.

He has flowers for you. They're blue and blooming and beautiful. 

Fuyumi's contribution. 

You settled then you were going to kiss him at the end of the night.

The restaurant is... nice. Really nice. The sort of nice you could never aspire to experience on your teacher's salary. Even the valet is a concept that has your head spinning. But, Shoto handles it all with cool ease. The entire time, his hand is settled on your lower back. 

It feels like you've been lit on fire.

You're glad Momo was able to create a dress fitting for the occasion. It's sleek and black. Comfortable, too. Not much can be said for your heels on that front, but it's fine. 

Somehow, Shoto managed to book the entire upper floor of this place in all its glimmering glory — it's just the two of you alone in a sea of tables. 

The waiter is pouring you a glass of the chef's suggested pairing of sake.

You thank him, smile, and take a sip as Shoto unbuttons his suit jacket and watches you. 

For a second, you're seventeen again.

Sero and Kirishima were always in cahoots when it came to parties back then — somehow, between the two of them, they always managed to smuggle enough booze onto campus to obliterate any semblance of promised sobriety from even the most stoic members of 1-A. 

You remember one night, after a lot of hounding, you finally gave in and joined a few of your classmates on the back lawn for a few drinks. 

A few beers turned into a cup or two of wine, and then another big gulp of whatever deranged jungle juice concoction Kaminiari managed to cook up. It tasted terrible, but you were too drunk to really care. Shoto was no better. He was nursing his fourth drink of the night — a rarity he was even drinking at all — and seemed completely fine with the way your arms brushed as the two of you sat close in the grass. 

He was always so nervous around you. Now, he just seemed... happy. 

"I can't believe there is only one week left until graduation."

Graduation day was the last time you saw him. 

Until this morning, that is. 

You smile into your drink. 

"What?" you ask when his eyes never leave your face.

His fingers twitch towards his own glass. Shoto blinks, then rolls his jaw. He was caught staring. He clears his throat, looking a bit shy. "Nothing."

"Nothing?" you press playfully, cocking your head to the side.

"You..." he starts, then bawks. You're stunning, and it's making it hard to even think straight. He thought these feelings might have mellowed out over the years but seeing you again has just reignited everything. He feels like a hormonal teenager again, "You look beautiful."

Your expression falters into something lovesick. You chew your lip. "You're not so bad yourself, Todoroki."

He manages a half-smile. "Touya had me worried the suit was a bit much."

The idea of Touya offering him advice on his outfit strikes a chord in your heart. It makes you smile even bigger than before. "Well, you can tell Touya that I like it. A lot."

You rake your eyes up and down him. On purpose.

He notices.

Shoto's face feels hot. 

He tries to shake the bone-deep want that has swept his entire body up in its grip, but it's difficult when every single word out of your mouth reminds him just how in love he was with you back in school. You explain, excitedly, why you chose to teach at Chiba Prefectural Prep and catch him up on where you've been living since graduating. He's pleased to learn you're still in the area, living in the city, and decidedly in love with the commute to the school. 

Shoto's always been a good listener — but you can see how much he's changed when he begins to speak about his career. He seems so much more sure of himself than he was all those years ago. It wasn't that he was... unsure... but, no. He was shy. Quiet.

Now, less so. 

It's adorable. 

Dinner comes and goes with conversation over sushi that is far too good for you to even process. It's easy talking to him. It was easy talking to Shoto back, then, too but... Things are different. You're both different. Not in a bad way, but in a way that feels like coming home. 

While you both wait outside for the valet, Shoto shrugs his jacket off and puts it over your shoulders without a single word. Suddenly, you're cradled in a warmth that's very Shoto — his cologne clings to the collar and you bury yourself a little deeper into it. 

Shyly, you step closer and steal his hand. It's calloused and warm. He laced his fingers with yours as if practiced. You bite back a grin. You give his hand a little squeeze when you spot the car coming around the corner.

His silence is calming — and he squeezes your hand back. When you look up at him, you realize he's already looking at you. 

His face is close. It's so... intimate. Very. Nearly better than a kiss. 

But, you've wanted to kiss Shoto Todoroki since you were seventeen. 

The valet driver interrupts the moment with a respectful call of Shoto's name and offers the keys with a shake of the hand. With a little bit of hesitancy, Shoto remembers the thing Natsuo said — the car door, too — and moves around the passenger side to open the door for you. 

It's sweet.

Really sweet. 

The car ride back to your apartment is punctuated with easy conversation — you ask him about Bakugo and Midorya, and you're pleased to hear they're both doing well. He asks about Momo, and if you still keep in touch with Mina and Ochaco. He smiles to himself when you admit you did call Momo for help with an outfit. 

"She did a beautiful job," Shoto breathes, a palm moving from the gear shift to brush over the dress' fabric on your thigh.

His hand settles there. 

Your stomach does a flip. 

You chew your lip, swallow down a sudden burst of nerves, and let your hand rest over his. You squeeze it. Shoto tries to focus on the road. His gaze drifts for a moment at a red light, his heterochromatic eyes dancing across your figure. 

Keep it together. 

He isn't seventeen.

He's twenty-five. He's a Professional Hero. One of the Top Ten in all of Japan. He's more than capable of keeping it together in the face of physical touch from the woman he's dreamed about for years. 

...Right?

Green light.

His hand is still on your thigh when he pulls up to your apartment. 

The touch is relinquished in favor of putting the sports car in park. 

It makes your chest ache.

Shoto swallows thickly.

Do not chicken out on kissing her at the end of the night.

He'll never forgive himself. But, admittedly, he's bad at this. He's not good at reading body language, or even knowing himself enough to realize he looks mildly terrified as you blink up at him in the passenger's seat. His heart is hammering a mile a minute.

What if you don't want to kiss him?

When would he even kiss you? Now? Or at the door?

Why does he feel like he's going to die?

"This was really... Shoto, are you okay?" you ask as you unbuckle your seatbelt; you pause, your brows knitting tightly. 

"What?" he asks, blinking back to the present moment. The look of fear disappears, "Sorry. Yes. I'm fine."

You're working his jacket off your shoulders, gently leaning to fold it neatly in your lap. Your voice dips low, into something playful. "You didn't look fine..."

"I—" Shoto clamps his mouth shut as he leans an elbow on the center console, "Sorry. I suppose I'm just nervous."

"Nervous?" you grin, a little giggle punctuating your words as you wriggle in the red, leather seat, "Why?"

Your expression makes his expression crack. He ducks his head as he huffs out a laugh. You continue to egg him on via expression alone. "I... Stop it."

"Stop what?" you push some more, your back pressed to the door as you face him in the car, "You're the one being weird—"

"I'm not being weird—"

"Then what's wrong, Shoto?" you tease in a sing-song voice.

"I'm nervous because I want to kiss you."

His words are punctuated by a slow look that takes in every inch of your face. Butterfly wings kiss your stomach walls. And your knees. You feel a little tremble in your chest. 

It feels like someone has sucker punched you square in the sternum. Shoto's no better. He isn't entirely sure what the expression on your face means. Is that... good? Are you happy?

Your voice is a little quieter now. You duck your head and fiddle with his suit jacket as you lean back against the seat, a little closer now. 

"You don't need to be."

Shoto's breath catches at that.

So, he makes his move.

His hand comes first — his calloused palm settles nicely against your face, his thumb brushing your cheekbone as his pointer finger brushes the underside of your jaw. Shoto is slow. Methodical. It's like he's trying to ground himself in the moment. 

Truth be told, he thinks he might be blacking out.

Your eyes flit up his wrist — a dark leather band around his wrist with an expensive watch face, a dark dress shirt with glimmering cufflinks, strong arms and a broad chest, and you can see the dip of his collarbone where the top two buttons of his shirt remain undone. 

He looks so damn handsome with his sharp jaw, pretty eyes, and his trademark white and crimson hair. Even his scar is beautiful. 

The touch pulls you in like he's got his own personal orbit.  

Your elbows are braced along the center console, your eyes flicking across his face as his fingers continue to brush along the soft expanse of your cheek. You wring your fingers together. 

Then, his eyes stick to your lips.

"Can I kiss you?" he whispers, his breath fanning across your face. 

You never did go pro.

But, Shoto did. 

It shows. 

Because, at this moment, all you can do is nod feebly before you're swept into the sort of kiss people go to war for. It's the sort of kiss that sticks to your ribs, that feels like warm, fresh food. It's the sort of kiss that would drive you to the brink, that would make you nod and agree sure, let's get married and have three kids, let's name one after your father, and paint the house blue like your mother's favorite flower—

His mouth is eager, but not in an overbearing way. It's gentle. Slow. As if he needs to remind himself this is real and not some midnight fiction that leaves him aching and alone. Shoto reminds himself to be tepid, pliable, and easy, which is easier said than done when somewhere deep inside of him there's a seventeen-year-old screaming in victory. 

It's better than anything he could have ever imagined. 

And then you whimper. 

It's a sound tied between bliss and relief and it's muttered against his mouth as you lean in and let your fingers brush the fabric of his dress shirt. The tips of your fingers brush his abdomen and he flexes, the feeling foreign and warm. It warrants his other hand to drift to your face and you break for a breath; he doesn't care that there's lipstick smeared across his mouth. He's kissing you again — this time a little bit more feverish, a little bit more aching. 

You melt against him, this time your hands trembling to grip his wrists.

He needs to slow down.

He is not having sex with you in his father's car.

That's shameless.

He needs to slow down.

He has to, or he'll lose himself in this and he refuses to fuck this up. 

Shoto's breath is ragged when he finally peels himself away, his lip parted and eyes half-lidded. His grip on your face is still so soft, so gentle. It's very him. 

You're glad you didn't do this when you were seventeen.

It would have permanently altered your brain chemistry, you're sure of it. How could you ever kiss someone else again after that? 

He's rubbing your cheek with his thumb. You swallow, and try to level out your breathing. It's hard when he's still so close, when he's so... perfect. 

"I've wanted to do that," he murmurs against your cheek, "Since our last year at Yuei."

A well-kissed smile breaks across your face. You reel back, your nose wrinkling as you shake your head in disbelief. Shoto is smiling. A real smile. The sort that's so rare you can count on one hand the amount of times you've ever seen it in person. 

"Are you serious?"

"Very," he says, chastely pressing another to your other cheek as he leans back.

"Me too," you admit shyly, "Can we... do it again sometime?"

Shoto's eyes widen incrementally. Then, his smile eases back onto his face. 

"Are you free this weekend?"

"I can be," you reply easily with a honeyed look, "And I will be. For you."

"I get off patrol on Saturday around seven," he explains before asking timidly, "We could... do dinner again?"

"Works for me," you breathe as you move for the handle of the car door, "After all, I never went Pro. Weekends are free."

Shoto scoffs. 

Then, as you open the door and swing a leg out:

"Oh, and tell Touya I thought the suit sexy."

Shoto's laugh is dry. You leave his jacket on the seat and scurry into your apartment with a lovesick wave. He swears he sees the silhouette of a familiar ponytail greet you at the door, but he doesn't dwell on it. He waits until you're inside and the lights to the front door are shut off.

Then it hits him. He has another date with you this weekend. 

Not so seventeen anymore, Shoto Todoroki. 

[babysukiii]

regina’s puppy (1)

// regina has a soft spot for you, but when she refuses to accept why, someone else might swoop in and take your attention away from her. //

warnings: mean!regina (not to reader), protective!regina, oblivious/innocent!reader, pinning, mutual pining but reader thinks it’s one-sided, use of “y/n”.

regina george definitely has a soft spot for you. if you ask her, she’d refer to it as a weak spot; resembling more like an invisible bruise inside of her that only you could see. you’d push and push it, til it bruises some more. until she’d sickly do just about anything you ask. it wasn’t a secret either; regina could be in the middle of being the worst human being on campus, and you’d just walk up to her with those big eyes of yours.

“hey gina!”

“did you see the new shake flavor at sonic? wanna ditch and go?”

“i stayed up all night reading the bell jar!”

regina would shift her undivided attention onto you within a millisecond, and you didn’t even realize it. you were so obliviously innocent. you didn’t have an underlying reason for getting close to the queen bee, you just caught her reading a book one day and started talking her ear off about it. the blonde, who got pure joy out of making girls like you cry, for some reason didn’t have it in her to tell you to fuck off or call you a dork. there was something about you that regina couldn’t quite place; it was something that made her heart flutter in her chest.

maybe it didn’t fully hit regina just how bad she had it for you until junior year. it was the middle of fall, and you had rushed up to her with a pair of sad eyes. “hey gina.” you greet her, but it isn’t your usual eager greeting. regina looks away from the mirror in her locker, looking at you. her brows furrow and a wave of concern washed over her, as she realizes you appear upset. “what’s wrong?” she demands, not even bothering to say hi back. “stacy matthew’s said i can’t be in debate club. she says i’m really nice and that’s not what they’re looking for.” you admit, and regina can feel the rage course through her before she slams her locker shut.

“where the fuck does stacy matthew’s get off telling you that you can or can’t be in debate club? she’s a fucking dork. come on.” she grabs your wrist and your eyes widen, shaking your head in protest but the blonde is already set on giving the raven haired girl a piece of her mind. nobody was going to make you sad and get away with it. “gina it’s okay i—“ you try but regina is already turning down the hallway, making her way up to a random group of students. they all go quiet as soon as regina is near. “where’s matthew’s?” regina questions demandingly, causing one of the students to nearly begin to tremble.

“st-stacy? she’s in the library i think—“ regina doesn’t even let the poor girl finish before she’s dragging you in the direction of the library. you weren’t really sure what you were expecting when you told regina about why you got rejected from the debate club, but this certainly wasn’t it. you weren’t expecting her to storm into the library. “everyone out.” she commands, and just like that, every student in the library is scurrying out. “not you.” the blonde hisses as she glowers at stacy who was in the middle of gathering her belongings. you watch the girl tense up, freezing, and a part of you feels guilty because of how terrified she looks.

“so it’s come to my attention that you think your dorky little debate club is too good for y/n…” regina trails off, and stacy’s eyes widen as her gaze flutters over to you. “don’t look at her for help, look at me.” regina snaps her fingers in stacy’s face; her behavior should cause you to be horrified, yet you can’t deny the heat at the bottom of your belly that comes from watching regina defend you. “it’s not— i didn’t say we were too good, i said she was too nice, regina. you know it too, that’s why you’re here debating for her.” stacy’s comment causes you to look down at your shoes, knowing she isn’t wrong.

“y/n is smarter than you will ever be. her gpa is higher than yours, and she had better exam grades last year. she doesn’t need to be a cunt to debate, she just has to be right… and she always is. you didn’t deny her a spot in your club because she’s too nice. you’re afraid she’s better than you.” regina hits her right where it hurts, and the way stacy’s face morphs into an ugly angry expression causes your eyes to widen. you had actually believed stacy when she said you were too nice for debate club, but now as you watch her react to regina’s accusations, you realize she only said that because she didn’t want you in the club at all.

“i’ll give you the rest of tonight to reconsider giving her a spot on the debate team. if you don’t, i have no control over whether or not the club gets banned… i mean, considering my parents are the ones who fund it.” regina puts on her best falsified sorry expression, and it causes stacy’s eyes to widen at the threat. her eyes lock with yours before regina clasps a hand around your wrist. she drags you out of the library, muttering angrily as she does so. “ugh, the nerve of that fucking bitch.” regina sounds genuinely upset, and you frown.

“you didn’t have to do that…” you whisper, barley being able to find your voice. she comes to a stop, turning around to face you with a deadly serious expression etched onto her features. “i did because you would’ve just let it go. she can’t just act like the queen of debate club; even the cheerleaders started being inclusive!” regina rambles a bit, and you can’t stop yourself from giggling. “yeah but i’m pretty sure debate club is all stacy matthew’s has. it’s fine. i mean, it’s not fine, but it’s clearly more important to her.” you shrug easily and regina huffs in clear frustration.

“that’s exactly why people think you’re too nice! you can’t just let people do or say whatever they want to you, and just let it go! just twelve minutes ago you wanted to cry about it.” regina points out, and you press your lips together. “if i held on to it every time someone upset me, i’d be a really sad person.” you confess lightly, but this does nothing to ease regina’s anger. “well, i’ll hold on to it for you. she’s going in the burn book.” regina mutters the last part, making you a quirk a brow at her. “the burn book?” you question, and she purses her lips tightly, realizing she might have said to much.

“it’s just this thing the girls and i have been working on…” regina’s demeanor shifts, and your brows knit together. “you and the girls? as in gretchen and karen? can i see?” you ask hopefully, and regina shakes her head quickly “no way.” she answers, and as soon as she sees you deflate, a look of disappointment taking over your features, she relents. “it’s not finished yet, and it’s kind of a secret…” she trails off, “i promise i won’t tell anyone! at all! not even riley.” you promise, mentioning your best friend who’s being home schooled this year. regina chews on her bottom lip; she’s well aware the burn book is just a harsh joke her and her friends came up with. but she isn’t sure whether you’d think it’s funny or not.

though regina can’t seem to be able to tell you no. “okay, but most of it was gretchen.” she lies as she begins to lead you towards the exit of the school. karen and gretchen furrow their eyebrows in clear confusion as they watch their best friend leave with you. even though school ended almost half an hour ago, usually regina would opt to hang out with the plastics. sometimes she even just stayed after school to “ogle” the football team during practice. but here regina was, leaving school with you. sure, her friends knew about her weird tolerance of you… but now you were hanging out?

“wait are we going to your house?” you ask uncertainly as you both approach her expensive car. she flashes you a look that says “duh”, “that’s where the book is.” she states as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “shouldn’t you call your mom and ask her for permission for me to come over?” you inquire timidly, and although the butterflies in her stomach flutter due to how adorable you are, she rolls her eyes feigning annoyance. “she doesn’t care. get in, loser.” she commands, and you immediately obey; getting into the passenger side.

regina’s car smells like her perfume, and the backseat is messy. “your moms so cool for letting you drive by yourself with just your permit.” you say out loud and regina shrugs, “she’s alright.” she mutters as she hands you her phone. “pick a song.” she insists and your cheeks flush. “o-okay.” the way you stutter causes you to mentally facepalm, but regina finds it hard to stifle a smile at how cute she finds you. you put on a taylor swift song, and she snorts, “so cliche.” she says, her eyes unusually soft, as the sky and your heart does this pathetic little lurch at the sight of her smiling. regina looks so beautiful when she smiles; it almost makes you forget how she almost made stacy matthew’s piss herself a little while ago.

regina’s house is even bigger than you imagined. you knew her family was rich, but you didn’t think they were this wealthy. your eyes are as big as dinner plates as you look around the house. as soon as you walk in you can hear regina’s little sister in the living room; practicing dance routines in front of the tv. “ignore her that’s my sister kylie. everything she does, i did it first.” regina retorts simply, and you raise your brows as you follow her through her house. “hi honey! i made lunch— oh, who’s this?” a woman who you assume is regina’s mom comes out of the kitchen.

she’s wearing tight leggings and a top that barely covers anything. regina grimaces at the sight of her mom, “this is my friend, y/n. we’re gonna be upstairs for awhile. don’t bother us.” she warns harshly, and you offer the older woman a bashful smile. “it’s nice to meet you, mrs. george.” you let out before regina pulls you up the stairs, and towards her room. “your mom seems… nice.” you say as nicely as you can, and she scoffs. “she’s totally embarrassing. she lives vicariously through me.” she deadpans as you both walk into her bedroom.

her room is exactly how you imagined it. it’s pink and girly; there are various posters of celebrities on the walls. her bed was huge. “your room is so cool!” you exclaim, and she tries to fight the grin tugging at her lips. “it’s okay. i’ve been meaning to redecorate it, but i’m gonna make gretchen do it.” regina snickers and you giggle. “that’s mean.” you halfheartedly respond, and she tenses up. she wonders if you’ll laugh that way when you see the burn book. even though you aren’t in it, she isn’t sure if anyone you know is.

“so where’s the book?” you ask curiously as you take a seat on the corner of her bed. regina’s smile falls as she keeps her back to you, she reluctantly disappears into her closet, only to reappear with a big pink book in her hands. your eyes light up as she makes her way over to you, and sits by you. “you have to promise you won’t leave after reading this.” she states stringently, making you pause. you look at her in confusion, “it’s just… this book is like a fucked up version of the year book. we make fun of all the girls from school in it.” she admits hesitantly, and your face falls.

“am… am i in it?” you quietly ask, and regina shakes her head rapidly. “no! no, you’re not.” she promises and you nod. “okay, so why would i get mad?” you question, and regina sighs as she opens the book. you begin to read all of the cruel things her and her friends write about other girls. when you get to the part where regina makes fun of becky martin for getting a bob freshman year, you involuntarily giggle. suddenly there’s this lightbulb that lights up above her head.

“y/n, you should sit with me at lunch tomorrow.” she says, and you tense up, prying your eyes away from the burn book to look at regina. “you mean with you and the plastics?” you ask uncertainly, and regina rolls her eyes. “why does everyone call them that?” she mutters, and you shake your head. “because you’re all perfect like plastic barbie dolls.” you answer simply, and this causes the blonde to quirk her eyebrows to her hairline. “you think gretchen and karen are perfect?” she asks with a scoff, and you nod quickly. “duh! you’re all so… pretty. everyone knows girls like me don’t sit at the “it” table.” you half joke, and regina rolls her eyes.

“i decide who sits at that table, and i’m deciding you’re sitting there with us from now on.” regina stringently states, her tone indicates she’s up for no debates. “we’ll start by giving you a makeover.” she declares, as she gets up. “come on, we’re going to the mall.” she adds, and you throw her an “are you serious” sort of look. “gina… i really don’t think that’s a good idea.” you try, but she pulls you off the bed, and onto your feet. “i’m already picturing how cute you’d look in bellbottoms.” she says, as she drags you out of her bedroom, the burn book long forgotten.

“i can’t buy bellbottoms! they’re like forty bucks a pair!” you stress, as regina leads you down the stairs, never once letting go of your hand. “i have my dads card, relax.” she assures you easily, and you frown, but don’t protest. you know better than to try and argue with regina, especially when you’d let her get away with anything and you think she knows it.

regina ends up spending over four hundred dollars on you, much to your dismay. no matter how much you protest, or try to secretly put items back, she was hellbent on giving you a makeover. thankfully regina claimed you had flawless features that didn’t need makeup, so you avoided the makeup stores altogether. when regina drops you off at your house, you have a hand full of shopping bags and you have to rush to your room in secrecy. fortunately your brothers are too transfixed with some horror video game, and your older sister was nowhere to be seen.

as soon as you’re in the privacy of your bedroom, you let out a little breath. today was the strangest day ever. you were used to your strange friendship with regina, but it was usually only a few meaningful conversations here and there. regina george was never full on “queen bee” around you for some reason, but she had never defended you like she did today. a part of you felt bad about telling regina what stacy did, but the way the blonde threatened the debate teams captain for you made your heart flutter.

tomorrow you were having lunch with regina and “the plastics”; you had to pick an outfit before you went to sleep which was out of the ordinary for you. you’ve never been the type to get ready for school, but there’s this insistent need to impress regina that you suddenly have. the way she ogled you when you had tried on the out of character outfits made your stomach tingle. the nerves in your body only increase as you think about it. as you stare at the various shopping bags, you know there’s no going back now; you feel indebted to regina george.

[asdfghjklmals]

LOVE AT FIRST FIGHT✩༶‧˚

GENRE + T/W: sfw, fluff. slowburn. i don't usually go for slowburn, but you have to know oc gojo girlfriend's background if you want to understand oc gojo girlfriend's au... WORD COUNT: 11.2k words. TAGS: satoru gojo x fem!oc, enemies to almost lovers. lovesick!gojo, lovesick!oc. mutual pining.

SYNOPSIS: oc gojo girlfriend has finally convinced her clan to let her attend school in tokyo, but the real reason her clan elders decided to let her go was so that she could meet the one and only, satoru gojo. if you want to skip to see gojo without knowing oc gojo girlfriend's background, he appears at [at the sparring field]. AUTHOR'S NOTE: oc gojo girlfriend was inspired by katara's water bending from ATLA and the main antagonist in the cardcaptor sakura movie, madoushi who controls water and spirit birds in ribbons. i tried to think about how jogo uses fire as a curse to write her abilities. oc gojo girlfriend's clan practices elemental cursed techniques (fire, earth, electricity, etc.) and her brother is named touya (inspired by cardcaptor sakura), and i chose water because i love water as an element. enjoy learning about oc gojo girlfriend and reading how these two idiots met 💚 REMINDER: if you want to imagine yourself in oc gojo girlfriend's character descriptions instead, please do!

intro

"i think having (y/n) (l/n) here in tokyo would be a good idea." masamichi yaga proposed to the principal of kyoto, yoshinobu gakuganji.

"the (l/n) clan has requested that she attend school in kyoto so that she can be close by. they are from osaka." principal gakuganji said. he honestly didn't care whether or not you attended tokyo or kyoto. because your grandparents were part of the jujutsu society group of elders and your family had a lineage of jujutsu sorcerers, you were automatically admitted either way.

"i'll speak with the clan head. it's not every day you get a water and ice cursed technique user from the (l/n) clan with their elemental cursed techniques. i hear this one can be considered a special grade."

the principal was surprised, "you want three special grades in your class? sounds like a handful. you do know that these special grade students will be a lot of responsibility... right?"

"she is the only special grade in her family. the last person in the (l/n) clan to have the element of water was over 400 years ago, just like the gojo clan with the six eyes and limitless. i think satoru and (y/n) would be good partners. maybe they can learn a thing or two from each other." yaga laughed at the thought.

"maybe you can have her reel in that damn satoru gojo while you're at it." principal gakuganji stressed.

satoru gojo was a troublemaker and he was known for defying the elders. he could get away with anything just because of his cursed technique, he was a gojo after all. yaga sighed at that fact, he already knew that satoru was a handful, but he was one of the only people besides shoko ieri and suguru geto that could get through to him. he had hoped that you would be able to relate with satoru since you had similar backgrounds of being "special".

"you can try to convince the (l/n) clan to let her join tokyo. i will not convince them otherwise. to take on three special grades... you're looking forward to your promotion as principal aren't you?" gakuganji teased yaga.

"it's what i've been working on since i became a teacher." the teacher got up from his seat and bid the kyoto principal farewell.

yaga took his phone out of his pocket and dialed a familiar number. it was your brother, touya.

touya was one of yaga's very first students when he started teaching. he was known for his eletric cursed technique and he excelled in close combat fighting. your brother was known as a very powerful grade 1 sorcerer in osaka after graduating from tokyo jujutsu high.

"sensei, to what do i owe the pleasure?" touya laughed as he picked up the phone from his favorite sensei.

yaga started his small talk, "touya, how are you?"

he was going to have to butter him up in order to get him to agree to let you attend school here in tokyo.

"i'm doing great. my sister mentioned that she was going to be attending kyoto jujutsu high school, but i heard that you were still teaching at tokyo."

"that's right. i currently have 3 first year students. do you think she would be interested in training here with your good ol' sensei?"

yaga hoped that touya would take the bait.

"our clan wanted her to stay close to osaka which is why kyoto was the first choice... but knowing my sensei would be her sensei as well and that you have 2 other special grades... that makes me feel reassured," touya rambled. he wanted to make sure that you would be safe at whichever school you attended, "so sensei, tell me about your students."

"shoko ieri, she's studying in the medical field so she can be our in-house doctor. she is a healer who specializes in reversed cursed energy, a natural may i say. suguru geto is one of my special grades and he's able to manipulate cursed spirits. he's very rational and calm. satoru gojo—"

"—oh, the gojo clan," touya interrupted, "i hear the gojo kid is the first in 400 years to hold the six eyes and limitless."

"yes, you're right. which is why i think your sister would fit right in with this year’s class."

"sensei—you know my family has practiced elemental cursed energy for over a thousand years. the last time someone specialized in water and ice was 400 years ago. i wonder if the gojo kid and my little sister are reincarnations of the ancestors from those 400 years. you know that story, right?" touya asked yaga. the history of your clan was not known to many.

"that is exactly why i want (y/n) and satoru to train together."

touya laughed and teased his former sensei, "are you sure you aren't trying to play matchmaker to recreate history?"

"i think (y/n) could teach satoru a thing or two." yaga laughed at the thought of satoru gojo getting his ass handed by a girl.

"i'll talk to my sister and our clan elders. i think having her attend tokyo would be a great idea—send me the admissions paperwork." touya smiled at the thought of you attending his alma mater.

hook, reel, and sink em', masamichi yaga grinned. he just got your admission to tokyo jujutsu high.

osaka, japan

"hey sis!" your brother called out into your clan's dojo.

you continued to do what you were doing, attention never swaying. "what do you want, touya? i'm busy."

you were balancing three ice shards with your cursed technique. touya watched as you focused on multiplying the shards by 3's. 3, 6, 9, 12... you threw the ice shards forward into the circular targets placed ahead of you. you sighed and the ice shattered.

"nicely done—just last year, you could barely summon 6 shards." touya complimented you as he patted your back.

"did you hear back from principal gakuganji if i can attend kyoto jujutsu high?" you asked your brother with a gleam in your eye, you were so excited to finally not be homeschooled. you wanted to get out of your clan's estate. as a matter of fact, you were tired of your clan elders dictating your every move.

"i actually have better news—remember when you used to come visit me in tokyo?"

when touya was a student, you would visit him at tokyo jujutsu high all the time. it was the highlight of your childhood summers.

"yes..." you leered at him, eyes full of suspicion.

"remember my sensei? the one that can make cursed corpses?"

"yes! he was the one that fixed my doll when i was seven!"

"bingo! sensei is still teaching there. he wanted to know if you wanted to be one of his students!" touya said excitedly. he wanted to make sure that your decision was to attend tokyo too.

"tokyo is pretty far from home, touya... do you think the elders would approve? it took me forever to get permission from grandma and grandpa to even attend kyoto." you asked with concern in your voice.

touya just laughed. he never took anything as serious as you. for as long as you could remember, touya was your cool and easygoing older brother. touya was 10 years older than you, and he ended up being like a father figure to you when your parents passed away.

you hoped to be just as strong as your brother someday. for the past 10 years, he had been taking care of you along with your grandparents, training you, and making sure you grew up with a good heart. the clan elders did give him a lot of shit for giving you anything you wanted, but you were automatically spoiled since you were the one that wielded the element of water, the first in 400 years in your clan.

you knew you were strong, and your amount of cursed energy was almost infinite due to water being everywhere. you were even starting to be on par with touya in terms of skill and power at your young age.

"i'm pretty sure the elders can't say no to you. you are their little water princess after all," your brother teased, "—and i'm also 100% confident that your cool and awesome older brother, touya (l/n), is great at getting things his way."

"i hear kyoto is prettier, but if you really think i should go to tokyo, i trust you."

your brother held your hand, squeezing it with reassurance. touya winked at you and said, "alright, lil' sis. we're going to tokyo."

first day at tokyo jujutsu high

touya had spent all morning getting your admissions paperwork ready while you had spent the last three days packing up your stuff.

"ready to go little one?" your brother asked as he carried two large suitcases. you nodded at him and smiled.

you said goodbye to your grandparents and the rest of the clan elders as they saw you and touya off. to your surprise, they let you go to tokyo instead of kyoto. you weren't going to ask touya what he said to convince them, you just went along with it.

when you were only 5 years old, the clan elders started to see glimpses of you playing with water. during dinners and lunches, your water cup would overflow with water whenever the other kids would steal your treats, making you upset. when you had temper tantrums, large pools of water would start to surround you. they even noticed that you could heal yourself and others with reversed cursed energy. it was then that the clan realized that you were a water cursed technique user.

using the technique was extremely rare and it only came around once in a blue moon in your clan. the reason that water was so powerful was because there is always water (or moisture) around. curses form around negative energy, and your cursed energy was so strong because water is involved with negative connotations like drownings, natural disasters like floods and tsunamis, and just the simple fear of water. the cursed energy produced was almost infinite. your technique took a lot of practice to control, especially with the input and output. without control, you could get overwhelmed easily. whenever you overdid it, you felt extreme waves of exhuastion.

"if you're wondering about what i said to convince grandma and gramps, i just told them you'd be training with the gojo kid with the six eyes." touya said.

he knew you were curious about that conversation with the elders, but you wouldn't ask. it was like he could always read your mind.

"the gojo kid?" you laughed, "what do you mean by that?"

touya started his history lesson, "the gojo clan. they hold the most powerful jujutsu in history. their clan sits at the top of the big 3 families."

"i see. and the other families? the zen'nin clan and the kamo clan?"

"correct. the zen'nin clan known for their ten shadows technique and projection technique, as the kamo clan is known for blood manipulation."

you nodded your head as you gazed out of the car window. touya turned to you and said softly, "you, my sweet sister, are a threat to the kamo family. that's why the kamos and our clan do not get along."

touya had explained to you that because you could control water... blood doesn't fall far from the tree. (a/n: blood blending from avatar anyone?!) if you really wanted to, you could manipulate blood, but not in the way the kamo clan does. and blood doesn’t do well when it’s within water as it dissolves easily, making it uncontrollable to most blood manipulation users. a water cursed technique user was like a cheat code against the kamo clan.

400 years ago, your ancestor was killed because they were able to control any person's body due to their blood. they were that strong, which made them a threat and a target. it was believed that a member of the kamo clan had murdered your water wielding ancestor, which is why there was tension between the two clans.

after the 5 hour long car ride, your driver pulled into a forest.

"you probably don't remember because you were so young at the time, but the school is actually hidden by master tengen's barrier." touya said.

"oh, the barrier technique, i sensed it a couple miles back." you said nonchalantly.

"i'm sure you did." touya chuckled. you never failed to surprise him with your keen sense of cursed energy.

touya got out of the car and grabbed your bags and luggage. you walked up to the barrier and raised your palm. 12 ice shards appeared and flew towards master tengen's barrier. the ice shards made a perfect rectangle for you and touya to walk through. as you entered the barrier, the shards dissolved and the barrier closed back up again. you saw two black birds swarming around in the sky.

"looks like mei is watching." touya laughed as he recognized the birds.

mei mei was touya's junior, and she was the best in close combat. touya wanted you to train with her since he knew that close combat was your weakness.

you and your brother walked down the cobblestone pathway towards the entrance to the school. it reminded you of home. you looked around and jumped when you heard a loud voice.

"god damn! touya! is that you?!"

you watched as your brother put your bags down and walked over to the large man. he hugged him and introduced you to the one and only, masamichi yaga.

"sensei, this is my little sister, (y/n)."

yaga turned to you and studied you. you had an immense amount of cursed energy, just about the same as suguru geto and satoru gojo.

"(y/n), welcome to tokyo jujutsu high school," he said while shaking your hand, "i'm masamichi yaga, the head of the first years."

"thank you for having me." you said to him as you bowed respectfully. you followed behind him and touya as they talked about the school facilities. you walked passed classrooms, the sparring field, the dojo, the dining hall, and the shared kitchen.

"this will be your room," yaga said while opening the door to an empty room with nothing but an old bed and dusty desk.

at least it had a nice view of the courtyard.

touya cleared his throat, "i know it's not much, (y/n), but we can move some of your stuff from back home to make it... better—" he was trying to be supportive, he patted your back, "—or, if you want, we can go to shibuya and you can pick out whatever you want to decorate your new room."

you kept your mouth shut as you didn't have anything nice to say about your room. this wasn't the life you were used to. maybe you made the wrong decision about leaving the estate. no—you couldn't go back home. you wanted to experience more in life. you swallowed your pride and nodded with a fake smile.

"next door is shoko ieri's room. she will be your dorm mate. this area is for the girls and the dorms across the hall are for the boys. suguru geto and satoru gojo are in the other hall. those are my first year kids." yaga informed you and touya.

"speaking of the kids, where are they?" touya asked while looking around the dorms.

"i'm sure they're out wreaking havoc somewhere. they're about to get back from a mission, it’s almost lunch time." yaga sighed.

touya turned to you and put his arm around your shoulder, reassuring you. "you're gonna be great, sis."

you faked another smile at him.

"so, sensei. what grade are you giving (y/n)?" touya asked curiously. when he first started at the school, he was already graded as a grade 2 sorcerer.

"the elders and i have already discussed that she would be classified as special grade."

"why? cause i can wipe out towns with floods and control people's blood?" you muttered under your breath.

you knew about the rumors that were spread of you. you were also quite sensitive about the topic of grades. you knew from the start that you'd be a special grade sorcerer. hell, they'd probably give you a white uniform since your powers were still somewhat unstable.

"(y/n)." touya called your name sternly, warning you.

"it's okay, touya." yaga patted his shoulder, "i can explain, (y/n). we grade jujutsu sorcerers on how much cursed energy they can output. not only that, but also on how well they can control their cursed energy. sure, clan influence and their cursed techniques come into play as well."

you listened to your future sensei, but looked out the window at the sparring field, avoiding eye contact with him and your brother.

"touya has told me that you've been working on your cursed technique since you were a child. you're now 17, almost an adult. that's ten plus years of using such powerful cursed energy. if you really wanted to, you could probably beat your brother in a spar and flood our entire field." yaga joked.

touya laughed nervously, "you might be going a little far there, sensei."

you turned to your brother, "what? you don't think i can beat you in a spar?"

your blood started to boil. everyone always treated you as if you were a fragile baby. you didn't think your brother did too—at least not until today.

"(y/n), no one said that." touya said calmly. he didn't want to upset you.

"let's test her on the sparring field." yaga suggested.

touya glanced at him with panic in his eyes and chuckled, "sensei... you're gonna get me killed."

at the sparring field

"you ready lil' sis?" touya called out to you from across the field.

you saw touya hold up his palms upright. you could sense his electric cursed energy running through his fingers. you hated when he would spark you to wake you up in the morning or to get you to behave. you knew it was the least amount of electricity touya would output though. touya could summon thunderstorms and bolts of lightning if he wanted to. his close combat skills paralyzed people and curses, and even his domain expansion was terrifying.

you swirled your hands and 12 shards of ice appeared. the shards floated behind you, ready to dive forward at your command. you focused on touya, you could tell by the way he shifted his body and the way his blood rushed to his palms. touya was going to summon his shikigami, raijin.

raijin was the japanese god of thunder, lightning and storms, and his shikigami was one of touya's techniques. (a/n: this also a pokemon reference to raikou hehe)

you summoned your own shikigami, the spirit birds—two white iridescent birds very similar to mei mei's black crows. if spirit birds were used offensively, they are able to wrap around the target and burn them. you personally liked to use them for spying.

while raijin and your spirit birds kept each other busy, you noticed that touya wasn't in front of you anymore.

damn it.

you let your guard down and you didn't catch that touya had moved.

"boo." touya whispered behind you, attempting to knock you off your feet. you shielded yourself with a large body of water, knocking him back and sending him flying across the field from the water pressure. you threw all 12 ice shards at him.

on his back, touya flipped back on his feet and caught his balance. right before the shards hit his face, he zapped them with his cursed technique. the shards fell to the ground, dissolving into the grass.

touya called out to you, "that was a close one, sis! let's kick it up a notch. domain expansion: electric terrain."

the thing about domain expansions in spars was that you could lay out your domain, but you couldn't attack your opponent with it. this would show who could lay out their domain the fastest, and who had the most refined domain.

touya's domain was a large steel room. you could feel the electricity in the air. you could see and feel static.

you called out your own domain, "domain expansion: iridescent ocean."

the walls of touya’s steel room started to fall as water started to cave in. you knew your domain was much more refined than touya's. as water filled the domain, you saw touya grin. he started swimming towards the bottom of your domain to avoid the blinding lights at the top. if your opponent tried to swim towards the top of your domain, they would be blinded and immobilized, giving you the sure-hit. but if your opponent swam to the bottom, they would surely drown and be crushed by the water pressure.

just as you were about to form more ice shards, a burst of cursed energy cracked your domain from the outside. your domain had collapsed. it sounded like glass shattering as water flooded the sparring field.

you jumped down onto the ground and immediately formed a water barrier around you to protect yourself from whatever just attacked you and touya from the outside.

"somebody’s feisty." an unfamiliar voice stated.

"who the hell are you?!" you asked, "why did you break my domain, you idiot?! i was just about to win!"

you looked up at the boy who just broke your domain. he had tousled, frosty white hair and was wearing black circular sunglasses. just behind his sunglasses, you could see big cerulean blue eyes with long white lashes. he had a lollipop in his mouth. he was actually really cute—wait a minute… why were you thinking about his looks at this very moment?

"who the hell am i? i'm satoru gojo. who are you? and i'm not an idiot!" he retorted, pointing his lollipop at you.

"(y/n) (l/n), meet satoru gojo." yaga interrupted with a sigh.

you scoffed in disbelief, "that's the gojo kid you were talking about, touya? god, what an idiot!"

no one had ever broken your domain before. no one ever attempted to or dared.

"sorry, touya. looks like satoru might have saved you from drowning." the teacher teased his former student.

"sensei, i could sense this crazy cursed energy all the way from shibuya," satoru said sarcastically, "i just had to make sure you were safe."

yaga ignored him and turned to the other student that was with him, "suguru, let's all head to the dining hall and have lunch. i want you to meet your newest classmate."

satoru and suguru looked at each other with wide eyes and then at you. they said out loud in unison, "new classmate?"

your emerald green eyes glared at that stupidly handsome blue eyed idiot named satoru gojo. the classmate next to him, suguru geto, had a man bun and a couple strands of hair in front of his face, framing his jaw. he was smiling at you. it seemed like you're going to have a lot of fun at this school, you thought to yourself sarcastically.

yaga led the way to the dining hall from the sparring field. you walked next to touya as suguru and satoru followed behind you two. you noticed that touya had a cut on his cheek.

"touya, did i cut you?" you asked, surprised that one of your shards actually landed a hit on your brother. he wiped his cheek with the back of his hand. he saw the blood.

"i guess you did, sis." touya chuckled. you hovered your hand next to the cut on your brother's face, a thin layer of water formed on the cut, healing the small wound.

"did she just heal her brother?" satoru whispered to suguru, his hands shoved in his pockets as he walked side by side with his bestfriend.

"seems like it," suguru said while smiling, "she seems very powerful, satoru. that was using a reversed cursed technique."

"i guess," satoru grumbled with dissatisfaction, "not as strong as us though." he playfully punched suguru's arm with his left hand.

satoru was surprised that someone as young as you could also use reversed cursed energy. he was working on honing in on his own reversed cursed technique to be able to heal himself. the only person he knew that could heal was shoko. you looked behind at him and caught his gaze. he quickly adverted his eyes to the ground and shoved his hands back in his pockets.

at the dining hall

"welcome back, losers. lunch is almost ready." shoko called out. yaga cleared his throat as the two boys snickered. shoko didn't realize that you and touya were also present.

"shoko, we have guests for lunch today." yaga announced.

the female sorcerer turned around and blushed, "sorry—uh, we're having sukiyaki beef!"

"shoko, i'd like you to meet your newest classmate and dorm mate. (y/n) (l/n)."

"no way, you're from the (l/n) clan? i thought your family only homeschools in osaka!" she said with excitement. shoko was glad to have a female classmate.

"my brother studied here, so i wanted to follow his footsteps! and i was also getting tired of my clan elders dictating my every move." you said jokingly, your eyes hidden behind your cheeky smile.

satoru stiffened up at your comment and peered over at you and shoko. he wondered if you had the same mindset about the elders as he did. they were just old fashioned geezers to him. he was the type to defy orders and challenge the higher ups. he knew they couldn't do anything to reprimand him because well... he was satoru gojo. being as young as he is, he had some pull being the gojo's family pride, holding the six eyes and coming from the most powerful jujutsu family. he was now curious about your family and what you thought about the higher ups.

"we're going to have so much fun! being the only girl is so exhausting, especially having to deal with gojo and geto." shoko said, rolling her brown eyes. she grabbed your hand and you jumped with excitement, "i've never had a dorm mate before!"

"i guess it's time for a formal introduction," yaga said, clearing his throat, "(y/n), this is suguru geto. suguru is a special grade sorcerer and he can manipulate curses. next to him is satoru gojo from the gojo family. satoru is known for having both limitless and the six eyes, both inherited from his family. and lastly, shoko ieiri. she is studying to be our in-house doctor. these three are my first year students."

touya introduced you to the students, "kids, this is my sister, (y/n). she is the first in the family in 400 years to use a water and ice cursed technique in the (l/n) clan."

suguru smiled at you, "that's amazing—you're just like satoru. he's the first in 400 years to hold both six eyes and limitless."

you and satoru made eye contact, glaring at each other. you sensed some sort of rivalry—no, you weren't even sure what the feeling was. your heart raced as he looked away from you, his cheeks turning a shade of pink.

"come now, let's have lunch." yaga herded everyone to the dining table.

you listened as shoko, suguru, and satoru talked about their last mission and how satoru got injured. he was caught off guard without his infinity. satoru had mentioned that his clan elders wanted him to work on having infinity on at all times, but he would get too tired and stop halfway throughout the day or he would only have it on when he was out on missions.

you wanted to stir up some trouble today and get revenge on the white haired sorcerer that broke your domain. underneath the dining table, you twirled your fingers to control the bowl of miso soup sitting in front of satoru. the soup swished into his lap as he jumped up from his seat. miso soup covering his pants. his infinity was off. you laughed smugly to yourself.

confused, satoru muttered, "what the hell was that?"

you quickly looked back at your plate, pretending to be interested in what your bother and yaga-sensei were talking about. you felt a small jolt of electricity jabbed into your side.

"behave." touya scolded you.

you glared at your brother, rolling your eyes and turned to look back at your new classmates. suguru smiled at you and then at satoru.

"seems like there's finally someone who's able to give satoru gojo a run for his money." suguru laughed. his smile was just like yours, cheeky, and his warm eyes disappeared behind his smile.

satoru peered at his bestfriend, "what do you mean by that?"

"(y/n), are you done eating? let's go back to the dorms! i can help you unpack!" shoko grabbed your hand and dragged you out of the kitchen. she didn't want to be stuck with dish washing duty.

suguru and satoru watched you two run out of the dining hall.

"you do know that (y/n) is the one that spilled the soup on you, right?" suguru teased his bestfriend.

"nah, she can't catch me off guard like that." satoru muttered. there was no way he was bested by some random girl who just joined the school. even though he initially thought you were really cute, there was no chance he'd let someone like you get the best of him.

"i think you're underestimating her." suguru grinned as satoru stuffed his mouth with more rice.

at the girls' dorm

"so what did you do to get on satoru gojo's bad side?" shoko asked you out of the blue.

she was helping you put your clothing into your drawers as you unpacked all your vanity items on your empty desk.

"he got on my bad side," you answered, "he broke my domain expansion when i was sparring with my brother. shoko, i was about to win too."

"i'd like to see you and gojo battle it out on who's domain is stronger." she giggled, "so far, gojo's the best and fastest with laying out his domain.

you changed the subject. you didn't want to talk about the cute blue-eyed sorcerer anymore. he was a pain in your ass already.

"so are all of you the same age?"

"yeah, we're all 17. what about you?"

"i'm 17 too. i'm turning 18 on november 11th!" (a/n: yes, oc gojo girlfriend is a scorpio lol)

"that's coming up soon! we'll have to celebrate! i can't wait to take you to shibuya and shinjuku to show you all our favorite hang out spots!"

satoru and suguru walked down the hallways of the dorms after cleaning the dining hall. satoru could hear yours and shoko's voices down the hall.

he wondered what kind of person you were. he wanted to know what kind of things you liked, what you didn't like, and what were your ticks. he was interested in you. satoru had never wanted to get to know a person more than he did you.

"you should try to be her friend, satoru. she's only here for the same reason we all are." suguru lectured.

"why do you have to be the angel sitting on my shoulder?" gojo asked with a hint of vexation in his tone. "i'll try being nice i guess..."

later that night

earlier shoko had mentioned that if you needed anything or if you were hungry, the dining hall was open for the students at all times. she had retreated to her room for the night as she needed to study for her upcoming medical tests.

your stomach growled. you were hungry again after all the unpacking you did. you looked in the mirror that hung over your door. you were in your pajamas—a green oversized t-shirt and gray shorts. your black hair was in a high messy bun with white ribbons tied into a bow. you put on your slippers and walked down the hallway to the dining hall in search of something to eat.

"what are you doing up this late?"

you jumped at his voice, whispering to yourself, "god, you scared me."

you turned back to the pantry, ignoring him—the cute blue eyed sorcerer. you filled a cup noodle with hot water.

that damn satoru gojo.

he was leaning against the door frame of the dining hall's entrance, arms folded with disappointment in your lack of reaction.

satoru was wearing a white shirt that hung low enough to show off his collarbones and broad shoulders. his gray sweatpants emphasized how tall he was, he must have been more than six feet tall. you noticed that he didn't have his sunglasses on anymore.

"so... you didn't answer my question. what are you doing?"

"i'm hungry." you answered his question with attitude, "what are you? the kitchen police?"

you looked over to see him sitting at the dining table across from where you were standing. his arms were still crossed, fingers drumming on his right bicep. he grinned while he studied you and it made you nervous. you felt like your heart was going to jump out of your chest.

scoffing, satoru chastised you, "you know, if you eat cup noodles this late at night, you're going to wake up with a puffy face."

you held your head high and turned to look away from him, eyes closed. "that's the price i'm willing to pay."

you were about to grab your cup noodle, but satoru was swift and quick. he grabbed your noodles, mixed it up, and took a large bite.

"honestly, i was a little hungry too since someone spilled my soup earlier. thanks for this." he took another large bite as your jaw dropped in disbelief. he was so arrogant—and hot. but you weren't going to say that. he already had an ego.

you rolled your eyes at him and sat down across from him. "so are you ever going to give back my noodles? make your own if you want more."

"sure," satoru passed you back your cup, "the chicken flavor is my favorite. good choice."

you looked at him and then into your cup. there was exactly one bite left. you sighed and kissed your teeth in annoyance. "why are you here? i thought i was on your bad side."

satoru was taken aback, "you're not on my bad side... i just wanted to get to know you more. since were going to be partners and all..."

you put down your cup noodle. there was nothing but broth left now.

"well, what do you want to know about me then?" you questioned him.

"well... what are you hobbies, i guess?"

"i don't really have any." you lied. your brain wasn't thinking straight. you definitely had hobbies. you liked to write, go shopping, and go to coffee shops.

"oh come on—everyone has hobbies."

"okay then, what are your hobbies?" you questioned him back.

"easy. i don't have any hobbies because i can do pretty much anything. i try not to get too involved in things."

he was so full of himself, almost impossible. you looked into his eyes. in this lighting, his eyes were as blue as the ocean.

"what? cat got your tongue? impressed with my amazing skills?" he teased.

you rolled your eyes at him, "so, you think you're perfect then?

grinning, satoru chimed. "you said it, not me."

you got up from your seat to dump the rest of the broth down the sink. you washed your chopsticks and leaned against the counter, looking at him. you studied his body language, he was more open now. he sat down comfortably in the chair across from you, legs spread out, hands behind his head.

"i like you, (y/n). you're actually not too bad."

"what is that supposed to mean?" you felt your cheeks turn red.

no, there was no way he was making you blush right now.

you sat back down in front of him, leaning forward on your elbows, your hands cupping your chin. was this satoru gojo’s idea of flirting?

he ignored you and matched your body language, leaning forward, inches away from your face, asking you another question, "so tell me, (y/n), how was it growing up in osaka with the mighty (l/n) clan?"

you leaned back and broke his gaze, folding your arms and pursing your lips, "it was very... confining." you admitted about your childhood.

"what do you mean?" satoru questioned your answer.

"my family is very overprotective of me because i'm the first water user in 400 years. my brother had to convince my clan elders to let me attend school here."

he kept digging, "i see, how did he convince them?"

"you're so nosy, satoru." you giggled, "he said i'd be training with the gojo kid."

and that was the first time satoru heard you laugh—it was like music to his ears. he wanted to hear you laugh again.

he looked back at you and grinned, teasing you, "i feel like i'm being used."

"anymore questions?"

"yeah, what exactly is your cursed technique?"

"i can heal people and myself. i can shoot out shards of ice. i can use water at different pressures and amounts. i can create a protective shield with water too."

"show me." satoru challenged you.

"give me something that you really like, that you would hate for someone to steal from you." you grinned at him.

you watched him head to the fridge to grab a piece of kikufuku.

"don't drop it... it's my favorite one." he placed the kikufuku in your hand.

you held out your hands towards him, "okay, so now, try to take it from me."

"you're kidding. that's a piece of cake." satoru scoffed at you.

you anticipated his speed as satoru appeared behind you and attempted to grab the kikufuku from your hand. a wall of water blocked him from reaching the sweet treat.

"you can't get past my barrier." you said smugly.

"i can totally get past your water wall, (y/n). i just don't want to right now, i might wreck the dining hall." he laughed.

you looked at him as you backed away from his reach. you drew down your barrier with a wave of your hand. you attempted to give satoru back his kikufuku, but he grabbed your hand and used your fingers to pop the doughy treat into his mouth instead. you gulped, heart racing again.

you changed the subject. "i can heal people too. i heard you got injured on your last mission. can i see?"

"you don't have to do that, (y/n)... shoko can fix me up in the morning."

"satoru, let me show you what 10 years of training looks like." you laughed—and there was your contagious laugh again. there was no way satoru could say no to you. he finished chewing his kikufuku and paused. he eventually took off his shirt to show you his cut on his chest.

"all you had to do was tell me you wanted me to take off my shirt." satoru teased. he laughed while you turned red again. he did have a very nice body—but that was besides the point. you reached your hand out, but stopped short of touching his injury. you couldn't actually touch him.

"so this is the infinity i've heard so much about." you blushed while laughing to yourself.

"whoops, sorry. i'm in the process of training my infinity right now." satoru temporarily let down is infinity to let you touch him. you put your hand on his chest, focusing reversed cursed energy into his wound.

"is this your way of getting to touch me?" satoru continued to poke fun at you.

"maybe."

if you weren't so nervous, you could've sworn you heard his heart racing—or maybe it was just the sound of yours.

water started to surround satoru's wound and it slowly started to heal. once the cut was healed up, you took a deep breath and exhaled. you felt a wave of exhaustion.

satoru looked at you with concern in his eyes, "you used up a lot of cursed energy today, didn't you?"

you thought about the domain expansion you laid out today and all of your techniques you used. you haven't rested at all since you arrived at the school grounds this morning. you did overextend yourself today.

"i guess you can say that."

satoru grabbed your hand to help you get up from your chair. you noticed that he still hadn't turned back on his infinity.

"i guess i have a personal healer now," satoru smiled, "i'm working on using reversed cursed energy to heal myself. i was going to practice that later, but you healed my cut for me. thanks (y/n)."

"you're welcome, satoru… uhm, i should probably get back to my dorm to get some rest." you said shyly. he was making you blush, again.

"oh, uh—i'll walk you back to your room. just to make sure you're okay."

your heart skipped a beat. you waited as satoru put his shirt back on. he walked closely next to you, in fear that you would collapse. his six eyes sensed that your cursed energy was weak at the moment. it was a quiet walk back to the girls' dorm. you stopped in front of your room, hand on your doorknob.

with a smile, you voiced your gratitude, "thanks for walking me back to my room. goodnight, satoru."

"and i don't even get invited in?" he joked.

"maybe next time." you laughed.

satoru grinned, "goodnight, (y/n). hope you have sweet dreams of me."

“so cheesy." you flashed him a smile before shutting your door on him. you stood behind it, collecting your thoughts.

why did satoru gojo make you feel so nervous?

one month later

satoru, shoko, and suguru were spending time studying at the pavilions next to the sparring field. except, satoru didn't do any studying. instead, he was stealing glances at you while you were practicing your close combat with mei mei. suguru noticed that satoru wasn't focused on the open book in front of him.

"so, what do you think about (y/n) so far? she's been at the school for a month now." suguru instigated, knowing exactly what his best friend was thinking about.

shoko looked up from her book, "she's really great. she's smart and she's pretty too. we're planning on going to shibuya to buy stuff for her room today after her sparring practice with mei. it's her birthday soon, so i thought we could do something for her."

suguru added in his two cents, "i agree with you, shoko. we've gone on a couple missions together and i've showed her around the school grounds. she's very nice."

satoru was districted and wasn't listening to either of his best friends, instead, he was watching you.

you looked tired. he saw mei mei pat your back after a grueling spar, the both of you walking back to the community showers. you had been working on your close combat for the past month since you've joined jujutsu high.

"hello? earth to satoru? what do you think about (y/n)?" suguru waved his hands in his bestfriend's face. suguru could sense that satoru felt some type of way about you. he was sure shoko could too.

"i think satoru has a crush on (y/n)." shoko said out loud.

"shut up", satoru grunted trying to avoid the subject, "she's not my type."

"whatever! she totally is!" shoko said, punching his arm.

suguru reminded the white haired sorcerer, "you were the one that wanted to show off how great you are at close combat when yaga-sensei told her she'd be training with mei."

satoru rubbed the spot on his arm where shoko punched him and glared off towards the showers again.

"maybe i'll ask (y/n) on a date!" suguru joked while peering at satoru, testing him.

"no way, suguru. you're not her type either." satoru mumbled.

shoko laughed, "seems like gojo already called dibs."

*************************************

after a brutal close combat session, a hot shower was just what you needed. you blew dry your hair in your bathroom as your phone started to ring.

you answered your phone, "hey shoko!"

"hey (y/n)! yaga-sensei just called me and suguru for a mission, so i can't go to shibuya with you today. so sorry about that.” shoko lied. she was never called on missions, but you didn't need to know that.

"that's okay, we can plan a different day if you want."

"no way! your birthday is coming up! i found a replacement for myself!" shoko said proudly.

"you did? who?"

your dorm mate cackled, "the one and only—satoru gojo!"

your heart skipped a beat at the mention of his name. you were going to spend a whole day in shibuya with satoru gojo? you started to feel nervous again.

it had been almost a month since the incident in the kitchen. you and satoru talked whenever you had the chance and you would hang out with the trio, but you've never actually spent time alone with satoru. shoko and suguru were always there with you.

"alright, shoko. how much did you have to pay him? did you hold a gun to his head?" you joked.

"no! nothing! he actually volunteered to be my stand in!"

you tried not to sound too excited, "oh, that was nice of him, i guess."

"he'll drop by the dorm in a couple minutes to come grab you. have fun! i can't wait to see what you buy. gojo is the perfect shopping partner!"

shoko hung up immediately. you grumbled, "thanks shoko..."

once you hung up, you went to your dresser to pull out a bright green bodycon dress and white boots. you put on your favorite pink iridescent sunglasses and looked at yourself in the mirror. you tied your hair into cute space buns with white ribbons.

four knocks on your dorm room door caught your attention.

"hey (y/n), are you ready?" satoru called out to you, leaning against the doorframe. he made his way into your room. the white haired sorcerer was wearing a black t-shirt, sunglasses, and jeans. he always looked so chic in his casual clothes.

"yeah, i bought tickets for the bullet train!" you rummaged through your purse for the train tickets.

satoru just laughed at you. you cocked your head to the side, confused on why he was laughing. "why are you laughing...?"

"the bullet train? come on, (y/n)."

you were still confused at why he was laughing. the school was located in the outskirts of tokyo. you would have to take a bullet train to get to shibuya.

"do you have everything you need?" satoru peered at you. you grabbed your bag and nodded at him. "grab onto my arm."

you paused, you got nervous again.

"come on, i don't bite." satoru teased.

you reluctantly grabbed his arm. he clasped his hands together and just like that—you two were in the middle of the air in shibuya.

"did you just teleport us?" you were still clinging to his arm, floating in the air.

"yep. just one of my favorite abilities." satoru said, grinning.

"so you can teleport others? or only if they're holding your arm?"

satoru explained, "i can teleport others, but i have to draw a seal on the ground before i do. if i'm going with them, i don't need the seal."

"do you teleport other girls like this?" you teased the six eyes.

satoru gave you his signature shit-eating grin. you tested him and he liked that about you.

you both jumped down to the ground and started walking towards the bustling shibuya streets. you ran ahead of satoru towards the bright lights, loud music, and the shops. everything was calling your name. you were so excited.

"hey (y/n)," satoru called out to you, "by the way... you look nice."

you smiled at the blushing sorcerer, "thanks, satoru."

satoru gojo had never felt this way about a girl, he wanted to change the subject quickly so he wouldn't turn as red as a tomato.

"so, since you wanted to get some stuff for your room, i figured we can stop by muji."

"wow, the satoru gojo is taking me shopping?"

"consider yourself lucky." satoru retorted.

your released your shikigami birds so that they could monitor the area and enjoy themselves. as you and satoru walked together, you could hear whispers of girls talking about how good looking satoru was, questioning if you two were dating. you could hear girls squealing about satoru all throughout the streets. every corner your turned, it was the same reaction.

"do girls always act like this every time you go out?" you turned to ask satoru, annoyance laced in your tone.

"why? you jealous?" satoru asked.

"no, cause you're the one who has hands on me." you pointed out.

satoru didn't even realize his hand had drifted to the small of your back while he was guiding you through the busy crowd. he just laughed. he loved how feisty you were.

he then thought about the time where he was throwing crumpled paper balls at you in class and how you created a small ice shard to throw back at him discreetly. his infinity caught it, of course—but he loved that fire in you.

"i'm not trying to toot my own horn or anything, but yeah." he said, winking at you. he removed his hand from your lower back, opening the door to the shop, "ladies first."

you mouthed "thanks" to him. as you walked into muji, you immediately felt overwhelmed at the large selection of home goods. satoru trailed behind you as you walked towards the bathroom supplies.

"hey, (y/n), i'm gonna stop by a coffee shop, do you want anything?"

you gave him your usual order, "sure, can i get a vanilla latte with soy milk?"

satoru gave you a thumbs up and turned to leave.

you needed bathroom organization items like a toothbrush holder, acrylic drawers, and organizers. you picked up a couple trays and laundry items as well. this muji store was huge compared to the one in osaka. as you walked through the store, satoru found you again. he held your coffee towards you.

"thanks, satoru." you smiled at him again.

satoru felt his heart racing. your smile was adorable to him. your cheekbones became prominent, your eyes disappeared behind your smile.

‘so cheeky.’ satoru thought to himself.

"no problem, what'dya find?" he asked while peering into your basket.

"just a bunch of bathroom stuff. now, time for the bedroom!" you said, marching towards the bedroom area. satoru followed you around obediently and sipped his coffee quietly. he had a cake pop in his other hand.

"you have a sweet tooth, don't you?"

"i actually started eating sweets to stimulate my brain, but i ended up getting a sweet tooth instead." satoru explained.

"what kind of coffee did you get?"

satoru grinned mischievously, "a pumpkin spice latte."

"how basic," you laughed, "—satoru, what do you think about these sheets?"

you held up a light blue and a light green bedsheet set side by side for him to choose between.

"the green one, it matches your eyes." satoru replied with a mumble, avoiding eye contact with you.

you felt your cheeks heat up, "actually, i don't think i need sheets." you laughed nervously and quickly put the bedsheets back, "—i think i'll get some slippers instead."

after about an hour inside the muji store, you and satoru got in line to pay for your items. satoru went first. you watched the way satoru carried himself. you admired how he was so confident in himself and how he walked with his head held high. he really was the pride and joy of the gojo clan.

"welcome back, satoru!" the employee greeted him, "how have you been?"

satoru smiled at the employee, "hey, i've been greet." he paused and turned to look back at you, "can you ring up her items up with mine?"

"sure thing!"

satoru walked back towards you and grabbed your basket from you. you stuttered and called out to him, "wait—satoru, i can pay for those..." your voice trailing off.

he shrugged, "it's your birthday. i'll pay for it. consider it your birthday present."

"you do know my family has money right...?" you chuckled.

"happy birthday, (y/n)." satoru said, putting his arm around your shoulder.

"thanks..." you smiled back at him. you were sure thanking him a lot tonight.

"satoru, is this your girlfriend?" the employee asked as they scanned your items, "you're usually here by yourself."

"oh, no, we're not dat—" you put your hands up in denial as satoru interrupted you, "she's a new student at the high school i attend. we're just friends."

"well... you guys look good together." the shop employee winked at both of you.

you and satoru blushed with sheepish looks on your faces, avoiding eye contact with each other. he took his arm off your shoulder and scratched the back of his head. after what felt like a lifetime, the employee bagged everything up and swiped satoru's black credit card. satoru held your shopping bags while you both walked to the next location.

"so, where to next?" satoru asked you.

"i was thinking we could go get some kikufuku at the place you like." you suggested. you didn't want satoru to be bored hanging out with you, so you decided to do something he would like as well.

"it's near the bullet train station, follow me." he said excitedly.

satoru led the way as you trailed two steps behind him. it was a busy friday night in shibuya. the streets were packed and you could easily get lost. good thing satoru was over six feet tall and looked like a damn model with his white hair and sunglasses. he was easy to spot in these streets.

"satoru, do you always wear sunglasses when you go out?"

"that's a random question." satoru replied, peering behind him to look back at you through his dark sunglasses.

"well... i was just thinking about that night when we talked in the kitchen. i just realized you weren't wearing sunglasses back then."

"why were you thinking about that night?"

"no reason." you said quickly. you couldn't have satoru gojo know that you were thinking about him. he would never let you live it down.

"with the six eyes, i see everything on a heightened level. it makes me tired. the darker the sunglasses, the easier it is on the eyes. sometimes, i wonder if i should just wear a blindfold."

satoru explained that he could still see everything even if his view was obstructed by something opaque.

"so you can see how much cursed energy is around you?"

"i can see every little piece of cursed energy even if my eyes are closed. right now, your cursed energy is bright blue and it feels like it's screaming at me since you're right next to me—and you have a lot of cursed energy. i can also see any residuals of cursed energy even if a curse stepped here a week ago. if a building has cursed energy, i can see where it's located inside the building."

touya never got into the specifics of the gojo clan, you thought it was because he didn't know anyone that had the six eyes. a majority of the gojo clan inherited limitless, but satoru was the first in a long time to have the six eyes which went hand in hand with limitless. touya liked to say that the world shifted when satoru was born.

"you're quiet. still processing?" satoru asked you.

"i didn't realize how complex your clan's technique was. you have the six eyes and limitless..."

"and you have water and ice. (y/n), we're the first in 400 years in our families to change the way—oh, here's the kikufuku stand."

the stall owner recognized satoru right away, he started to package up his usual order.

"oh, wait a minute. can you also package whatever she wants too?" satoru asked, pointing at you.

the stall owner smiled at you and let you pick what you wanted. satoru recommended the matcha cream and an edamame cream one. those were his favorites. you ended up choosing the strawberry and matcha cream ones. you two sat down at a small parlor table and ate your kikufuku, continuing your talk.

"so what elements do your family members have control of?" satoru asked.

you thought about your family, "my brother has electricity. my parents passed away when i was 6, but my brother told me that my dad was one of the strongest with earth. my grandpa is pretty bad ass with fire."

"what happens if you're born without any cursed energy in your clan?"

"nothing, you're still part of the clan. you just don't get to learn any jujutsu, i guess. they are usually teachers, housekeepers, cooks, or assistants at the family minka."

"i see. do you mind me asking what happened to your parents?"

"they were killed," you said quietly, "touya won’t tell me what happened, but i think it has to do with our rival clan."

satoru shifted in his seat, cocking his head to the side. "rival clan?"

"the kamo clan." you said.

gojo related with you, "it's just like the gojo clan and the zen'nin clan. a ten shadows technique user and a limitless six eyes user killed each other in the fight for the aristocracy in the past."

"a member of the kamo clan was rumored to have killed our last water user. i'm not gonna lie, satoru, it does make me a little nervous knowing that." you sheepishly said to him.

"it looks like we have a lot more in common than we thought, (y/n)." satoru said softly, "—and we're friends, right? i'll protect you from the kamo clan."

you smiled at him, "right, we are friends… thanks, satoru. i'll protect you from the zen’nin clan too."

satoru sat back in his seat, legs spread open, and his arm folded across his chest. he tipped back in his chair, balancing on the back two legs, "what do you say we get out of here? ready to go back to jujutsu high?"

you nodded at him as satoru reached out his hand. you looked at him, confused.

"did you forget that we teleported here?" satoru laughed.

you realized he didn't want to hold your hand, he wanted to teleport back to jujutsu high. you reached out to grab his hand as satoru looped your arm under his. he clasped his palms and just like that—you and satoru were back at jujutsu high.

you walked together under the dusk sky, the cobblestone pathway to the school was dimly lit. a warm connection surrounding you and the white haired sorcerer. the invisible red string of fate slowly connecting you two together.

"can you teleport anywhere in the world?" you asked satoru.

"hmmm, as of right now no. i've been practicing my long distance teleportation. shibuya is the furthest i can go since shoko, suguru, and i always go there. and i can teleport back to my clan's estate—i'm working on it though."

you nodded and watched him walk ahead of you. satoru gojo was actually kind of amazing. you walked faster to catch up to him. when you both arrived at the dorms, satoru brought your shopping bags back to your room for you.

"do you want to come in?" you asked him quietly, "curfew doesn't start until 10."

satoru scratched the back of his head nervously, "uh... sure."

this was a different side of satoru than the one that asked ‘no invite?’ a month ago.

"have you ever been in a girl's room before?" you teased the white haired sorcerer.

"oh, so you think you're funny?" satoru quipped back at you. he stepped into your room and dropped your bags on the floor. you could see through the corner of your eye that he was looking at your belongings.

"you like to shop at some of my favorite stores." he mentioned as he picked up your sunglasses, "i like these sunglasses."

"how many pairs of sunglasses do you have? 100?" you joked.

"234."

you looked at satoru. was he serious? what kind of person owned 234 pairs of sunglasses?!

"you're joking."

"nope. you can come into my room and check it out. unless... you've never been inside a guy's room before." satoru winked at you.

you rolled your eyes at him. he started to take out your stuff from the shopping bags, handing you a couple of organizers.

"i don't have anywhere for you to sit besides my vanity chair... you can sit on my bed if you want."

the first week of school, touya had multiple people from the clan estate bring you a custom king sized futon that was identical to the one you had in your room back at home.

"damn, a kind sized bed? must be nice." satoru said sarcastically.

"what size bed do you have in your dorm?" you asked him.

he slyly asked, "wanna come find out?"

"i would rather die than get caught laying in your bed. you probably have diseases in there." you retorted back at him.

"fine then, don't ask to come cuddle with me when you're cold then—and i wash my sheets weekly for your information."

"you have a lame way of flirting, satoru gojo. and it's a good thing i don't get cold easily."

satoru continued to grin as he laid on your bed, putting his arms behind his head. he crossed his legs and watched as you started to organize your bathroom with your birthday gifts from him. he liked pushing your buttons. he wondered if you were into him as much as he was into you. the way that you both bantered with each other excited him. sure, he flirted with and teased other girls, but he didn't feel the same way about them as he did you—you intrigued him.

satoru thought about how nice your hair looked with your white ribbons. you had taken out your space buns and let your long black hair run down your back and chest. you looked so pretty to him in your green dress that emphasized your bright emerald eyes. he shook his head at his intrusive thoughts, he was tired after using his infinity all day.

you noticed satoru had his eyes closed. you were almost done reorganizing your bathroom as you looked over at him again. he was sleeping. you leaned against your bathroom door, admiring him.

you heard a knock on your door. you opened the door to find suguru geto.

"hi, (y/n), is satoru here?" suguru asked with a smile.

you whispered to him, "hi suguru, he's sleeping right now."

"oh, that's surprising. satoru never sleeps anywhere but his room." suguru said while peering into your room, "and on your bed too?"

"my bed is really comfortable." you chuckled, "it's a custom futon from osaka."

"well, if he wakes up, can you let him know that yaga-sensei wants to talk to all of us tomorrow at 8am?"

"sure thing, thanks suguru!"

suguru geto was so nice. he always had a smile on his face. you enjoyed his company whenever yaga-sensei paired you up with him. and all the times you've studied with him, he was patient and kind.

"do you want me to wake satoru up?" you pointed back at the sleeping sorcerer.

"no, it's fine. let him sleep. see you tomorrow morning. goodnight, (y/n)!"

"goodnight, suguru."

as suguru left your room, he thought to himself, "they'll probably start dating soon." he laughed to himself on his way back to the boys' dorm. he knew that satoru would probably try to pull a move on you tonight. suguru was happy that satoru had finally met his match.

you shut your door and looked back at satoru. he had readjusted his body to lay on his side, his right arm under your pillow. you carefully took off his sunglasses from his face and put them on the nightstand beside him.

you slowly got ready for bed after washing your face and brushing your teeth. you put your chin in your hand as you thought to yourself ‘where am i supposed to sleep tonight?’

would it be okay if you and satoru slept in the same bed? you thought that since you had a king sized bed, you could sleep on one end and satoru could stay on the other end.

you gently sat down on the edge of your bed and snuck under the covers. you grinned, stealing another glance at him one last time before you turned your body to face away from the sleeping sorcerer.

the next morning

your alarm rang bright and early at 7:30am. you stretched your body as you noticed a slender arm across your abdomen, pulling you close. a head full of messy white hair snuggled between your shoulder and neck. you threw satoru's arm off of you as you sat up quickly.

"satoru gojo! wake up!" you hissed at him.

the sly sorcerer groaned and turned away from you to rub his face and eyes. "where's the fire, (y/n)?"

"we cuddled last night?! you were spooning me?!" you asked him, mortified at what you woke up to.

"hmmm, must've happened on accident."

you grabbed your blanket and covered yourself in disbelief, "oh my god. i've only known you for a month and you're already sleeping in my bed and trying to cuddle me."

"might as well be friends with benefits."

"i dare you to say that to suguru and shoko when we see them at the morning meeting."

"we have a morning meeting?"

"yes, we do. suguru came to find you last night, but you fell asleep."

"oh, he probably thinks we smashed last night." satoru laughed.

"you are gross." rolling your eyes at him, "—so are you going to get out?"

satoru frowned, "wow, you're kicking me out already?"

"yes, i am! go do your walk of shame to the boys' dorm. i have to get ready."

satoru got up from under the covers and stretched. your jaw dropped.

"since when did you have the time to take off your shirt last night?! you really tried it, satoru gojo!" you shrieked, throwing an ice shard at him.

of course, the ice shard just hit his infinity and evaporated when you called it back. he knew exactly what he was doing. he laughed and grabbed his shirt from the floor and threw it over his shoulder.

"see you later, (y/n). let's do this again sometime." satoru winked at you before sneaking out of your room. it was not a regular occurrence that satoru gojo would be walking around the dorms shirtless doing the walk of shame back to this room. he was better than that.

"gojo, please don't tell me you slept with my dorm mate." shoko begged as she opened the door to all the commotion next to her room.

"oh, hey shoko!" satoru greeted her.

"(y/n)! please tell me you didn't!"

"absolutely not! he's such an idiot!" you yelled back, disgusted at the thought.

satoru just hehehe'd down the hall.

later that morning

suguru and satoru were the first to arrive at the classroom as they sat cross legged on the floor. shoko and you arrived a few minutes later.

satoru had forgotten his sunglasses in your room this morning. you had them in your hands, placing his sunglasses on yaga-sensei's desk as you walked in. suguru and shoko looked at both of you, grinning. they wanted to tease you so badly, but they didn't dare. they didn't want a blast of water in their faces from you.

yaga-sensei opened the door and spoke. "as you may know, the school year is ending and we are going to have two new first years. you four will move on to become second years."

satoru raised his hand, "who're the newbies?"

"kento nanami and yu haibara."

all four of you looked at each other excitedly and smiled. you were all excited to have new classmates.

"also, one more thing—satoru, let's not be sneaking around campus shirtless. especially coming from the girls' dorm where you shouldn’t be." yaga-sensei sighed.

you turned bright red and refused to make eye contact with your sensei or satoru. shoko and suguru started laughing. you prayed that yaga-sensei wouldn't tell your brother about this.

© 2023 ASDFGHJKLMALS — ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PLEASE DO NOT COPY, TRANSLATE, OR REPOST MY WORK.

DIVIDERS PROVIDED BY @/ANLIAN-AISHANG

[yuuuhiii]

handpicked with love

includes : Inumaki toge x reader, 1.2k words , fluff, canon story followed, reader has a ct, a start of something new?, mutual pining

note: couldn’t stop thinking of this :( so I wrote thisss. Should I make this a series???:0

shake = agree

okaka = disagree

takana = worried

Transferring to a new high school was never easy. Especially when it was in the middle of the year. However, you didn’t transfer alone, a very timid boy with a ton of cursed energy that he didn’t know how to control was with you.

Hooray! 

Introductions were pretty rough, due to Okkotsu and his unsettling curse but you all got through it. The only girl whom you soon knew as Maki wasn’t very impressed by either of you. You also didn’t get a proper explanation about the Panda that you and Okkotsu were dying to be told. He was the most welcoming though.

However, there was a specific person that caught your eye and no it wasn’t Panda.

A spikey white-haired boy with half his face covered to be precise.

Since you had arrived he hadn’t seemed to acknowledge your presence at all, it was a bit hurtful, even more so that he seemed to hit it off with Okkotsu.

You walk with Maki in the front, yet she‘s already asking about training with you, you turn around making eye contact with the boy.

His eyes were beautiful, the light doing a perfect job of illuminating his violet irises.

However, he quickly averts his eyes, staring outside the window. You pout, turning back to Maki.

“Eh? Don’t worry about him, he can’t talk.” She shrugs and when you’re about to ask Panda speaks.

“Maki you can’t just leave it at that.” He sighs, shaking his head.

“He has a cursed speech technique, allowing anyone who’s listening to obey whatever he says. So in protection for everyone, he speaks in riceball ingredients.” Panda holds a thumbs up and you can hear a small ‘shake’ leave the boy.

You blink at him and smile. “You must be pretty strong then.”

Upon your reply a huff leaves him, his hands shoved in his pockets, his red ears going unnoticed by the students. It makes Maki groan and Panda tease him.

Over the weeks, despite your liking for the boy and wanting to engage in conversation with him, he didn’t seem to meet you halfway.

Nonetheless, the students knew something you didn’t and Toge made sure they wouldn’t open their mouths.

You sigh in your dorm room, it was a pretty day outside, spring was just around the corner so the days were much prettier. You rest on your windowsill taking in the scenery of your school.

Out of the corner of your eye, you see someone moving around. You’re met with Toge walking around with a watering can, watering various plants and flowers.

He looks so at peace, humming a little tune. It’s a rare occasion when his scarf is not fully wrapped around his mouth and you’re met with his beautiful smile. You smile fondly at him, in complete awe.

He feels your stare and he looks around, catching your eyes. A small gasp leaves you as he blinks at you. You pull away from the window, your heart beating erratically.

He definitely thought you were weird now.

To make everything even better (worse), the spawn of Satan (Gojo-Sensei), had appointed you to a mission with Toge.

“Now I know you might be nervous but you’re in good hands! Inumaki is a Semi-Grade 1 so he’ll take care of you.” Gojo smiles, walking away with a wave.

You were still a little confused about how he could just leave to two teenagers to fend off curses but you had to accept it.

You glance over at Toge as he walks through the hospital. You fidget with your hands, chewing at your lip.

He stops abruptly holding his arm out, you glance at him and he gestures for you to stay.

“What? No, I’m coming with you.” You frown and he blinks, shaking his head, he gestures for you to quiet down.

Your frown deepens as you stalk slowly behind him. The next second he’s pushing you as a huge unsettling blue curse hurdles toward him.

“Inumaki!” You shout as he rips down his scarf, yelling at the curse to plummet. However shortly after he falls to the ground, coughing up blood. You run to him, kneeling next to him.

“Are you okay?! Did it hurt you?” You’re hovering over him, he’s trying to say something else but his voice is too raspy for you to determine what he is saying.

As you’re about to say something you feel the presence of the curse behind you. Before you can think you’re forming a bubble around Toge.

Due to your expert channeling of cursed energy, your cursed technique was making force fields or small balls of force.

However, the force field didn’t hold for long since you were launched into the wall by the curse, prompting you to black out.

You blink your eyes open and you’re met with a bright light and white room. You groan sitting up, taking in your surroundings.

It's only then that you recall the events that had got you in Shoko’s office making you snap your eyes open.

“Where’s Inumaki!” You shout and Shoko stares at you confusingly, yet before she can say anything you’re shooting up, running out the door.

You run down the halls, and even though your head is pounding so is your heart. You’re breathless, looking like a crazed lady as you roam the dorm.

You slow down once you see Inumaki in front of your dorm door, with flowers that look all too familiar. Hand-picked flowers from the bunch he’d been growing.

You could tell he looked distraught as he contemplated leaving the flowers in front of your door, a small with them as well.

“Inumaki?” You call out to him and he jumps, snapping his head towards you.

His eyes are wide as he blinks at you. You slowly inch towards him, stopping right in front of him.

“Are those for me?” You ask sheepishly and his ears flush red holding the flowers and note towards you.

You smile down at them, moving to open the letter he rests his hands on top of you preventing you from opening it. You both are shocked by his action but he pulls away fast. He coughs awkwardly, patting your head and then he’s rushing away.

You enter your room, eager to read what he has said in the letter. You sit down on your bed, and opening it.

‘Hi Y/n, I’m sorry for not protecting you on the mission, I hope you feel better. Thank you for saving me, that was brave of you since we don’t really know each other that well. I hope you like the flowers, I’m pretty sure you know they're from outside the dorm rooms, I saw you staring >:) Anyways…I’m sorry if it seemed like I didn’t like talking to you, you make me nervous lol, but I like being around you. Even though you’re not talking to me, I like how it feels to be around you. Here’s my number, it’s easier to talk with me like this. I really hope you get better and I’m still sorry, I also hope we can get to know each other better :)’ — Inumaki.

You smile fondly at the letter, and you hug the note close to you, already clicking his number in your contacts.

You finally got the opportunity to talk to the boy you admired, you weren’t gonna waste any time!

© yuuuhiii 24 : don’t plagiarize, translate, or post my work on other platforms

[oharababe]

★ 彡 ALL THE MEMORIES (OF YOU). ✧ EREN JAEGER { I }

✮ main summary. . eren realises two things when he started college. 1) everything is different but not everything has changed. and 2) his feelings for you are growing stronger and noticeable even without his subtle hints.

✮ chapter 01 summary. . the reason why eren is the way he is right now is that you have always been part of his youth.

✮ tags. . modern + college au, fem reader, friends to lovers, fluff, eventual romance, mutual pining, slight angst. divider creds: cafekitsune.

✮ wc. . 2,027

When he thinks back, which he often does, you are always part of his every memory. 

Eren has known you since he was ten years old. He met you when he was only ten years old, merely a fifth-grade student, and you were the new kid. He was also the new kid and so was everyone in that class, since it was the new academic year. 

Back then, he didn’t think of anything special about you. You were someone in his age group, a classmate of his, and just someone who sat at a desk next to him, close by the window that Eren used to escape away to his thoughts. Someone as sweet, nice and an ambivert butterfly as you do not match his personality - rough, abrupt and stubborn. You shouldn’t really be friends with him. 

But fate had other plans in store for him. Because somewhere between the blurry lines of time of seeing each other so many times and being grouped together in activities and projects, a thought occurred to him back then that he should try to get to know you better. 

He never forgets how you open up to him so easily. Eren knows he is a handful to deal with — he’s a boy full of passion, hardheadedness and impulsiveness for someone who is only ten years old. He does not get along with the children his age unless it’s Armin, until you came along.

Eren made the initiative to get to know you better for an activity he’s long forgotten about. But he never forgets how you open up to him without feeling intimidating, knowing that he can be a handful to deal with. But with you, he is rather decently palatably tolerable to you. Listening to your talks and answering your questions without feeling irritated. And spending time with you in those young days, Eren opens up to you easily, too. 

Since then, you became more than his desk mate at school. You became one of his lunch buddies (his favourite) starting in sixth grade. The one who is always invited over to his house for ‘after-school activities’ and on weekends. The one who always gets paired up together with him for school projects in middle school to senior high, and comparing class schedules to see how common you and him share classes, and where and when to meet up if neither of you get to see each other through hours of school. 

Two individuals of distinct personalities and going through a spectrum of life and challenges, make the most out of the friendship through each other’s lives. He and you are inseparable from a bond like no other. Like tied together in red strings. A separate fusion of two souls that were once one united.

****

Eren remembers the late-night conversations between you and him having stayed up at night during high school. Telling about each other’s hopes, dreams, and picture painting thoughts. 

It’s months ahead that the two of you will graduate from high school, but Eren remembers talking to you a lot about college life and what it would be like. What kind of accommodation you both hope to live in for the college commute and what kind of new friends will form in college. 

The two of you like to joke about getting ready to sacrifice a full eight hours of sleep and pulling all-nighters after hearing the graduated kids moving on with their lives. Balancing studying and part-time working for financial support. And trying to stay sane with deadlines for the next four years of higher education.  

He knows what you’re taking in college, a degree in the medical field (he thinks that it’s so you, and well, it suits your future career). He’s going for architecture and Eren knows well that both of your degrees are so different. Most likely, his schedule won’t align with him by much, and the two of you might have internships to do as well. 

One thing’s for sure is that neither of you want to be distant apart and forget each other during that four-year journey. So when Eren brings up a particular topic casually, he didn’t expect your response.

“Maybe we should live in a two-bedroom apartment together,” Eren said on one of those nights. It made sense, as he did many things and shared those memories with you. He didn’t want to stop spending time with you, finding it difficult to wrap his head around the concept of not seeing you as much as he wished. But of course, he doesn’t say that to you. “I think that could work. It’s a lot cheaper than living on campus grounds.”

The two of you spent two hours looking into the apartment renting with him in his bedroom. Eren’s gone further and becomes quite invested in the process and idea of apartment hunting with you in Marley, looking at listing websites even after you called in for the night.

Only Eren doesn’t just think about moving in together with you for an apartment. He didn’t tell you about that yet, keeping that thought to himself, envisioning the idea of you and him living the domestic life as the two of you are about to embrace the college student life. He wishes he could just ask you to run away for an adventure in the main city. Riding the train all around and exploring the new world differently to the island. If he could, he would go wherever you would go if asked. Follow you to the edge of the world if you ask him to. 

It’s silly for someone who is only fifteen years old to think such thoughts. But as long as he gets to create and share memories with you, Eren wouldn’t stop himself from contemplating that said life. 

*****

Eren doesn’t give too much thought to the term ‘soulmates’ until his best friend, Armin Arlert, brings up the conversation one day in a study session during college.

When his blonde friend explains what he learns from his philosophy class on what the Ancient Greeks thought about soulmates, he doesn’t mind listening to Armin’s thoughts and also gives in his opinions. As they both conversed about how two people are constantly in search of looking for their other half, Armin says; “I feel like she could be your other half, Eren.”

He stops and almost stutters at Armin’s opinion as he averts his eyes elsewhere. His cheeks are warmer than the heater provided in the cafe they’re studying at. Eren sees him holding back a laugh, and he huffs recessively. “What makes you say that?”

He only smiles, “you have always been close to her since we were kids. Sometimes, you two are in your own world that I don’t see. I’m sure some of our friends and the people we knew feel the same way as I do.”

“Oh.” Now he’s even more embarrassed. Eren had an obstacle of realisation about his feelings towards you, perhaps a little too late now that you and he are now nineteen and ready to step into college. The way he sees you is different, how his gaze seems to linger on you longer than intended. 

He definitely has come a very long way from the boy, whom he was at ten years old when he first met you. If understanding complex feelings in the adolescent stage is tough, it’s no different when he’s in his late teenage hood and soon embracing adulthood. 

“I just…” Eren blushes and rubs the nape of his neck. He’s just thankful that you are not here with him and Armin. “Yeah, she means a lot to me. She’s our friend.” 

“Right, friend.” Armin repeats with an obvious grin curving up his mouth.  

That whole afternoon of study session, Eren thinks back of the term soulmate, and wonders if you ever felt the same way. It rings and sits right in him. You are, perhaps, a soulmate of his. 

*****

Time flies quickly as a student, with so many things changing. Though, there are some things that haven’t. 

Eren believes he remains the same as he used to be when he first entered college with you. Now three years older and currently in his fourth year of studying architecture. He’s different physically with a longer hair that he ties into a half, man bun and being good-looking for an adult in his very early twenties. Eren wouldn’t imagine that he was having the time of his life.

The night club is full of people with mostly familiar faces. Its dim atmosphere that changes coloured light on occasions makes it feel like it’s truly a party celebration. Music is playing in the background that Eren recognizes most of the tracks. He’s having fun tonight, surrounded by people he knows that are invited. 

Across the room, he sees you dancing and swaying your body to the music. You’re looking so carefree and uniquely you it brings a smile to his face. His eyes gazingly, lovingly at you too, that he could not focus on anything else but you. You’ve grown and changed, but Eren always knows that you are still the same young person he met back in fifth grade. And here you are still with him, even though now he is definitely looking at you differently, like how a man has found his first love. He’s grateful to you.

After a moment of thinking, Eren decides he should come closer. So he walks towards the dance floor, walking towards you. You hadn’t noticed him even when he stood behind you, not until Eren’s fingers gently caressed your earlobe.

Ticklish at the sensation, you now turn around and there’s a carefree grin and laugh ringing loud in his ears. “There you are! I thought you hadn’t been in the mood for your birthday party.”

Eren chuckles and shakes his head. Even though his birthday passed three months ago and it’s already June, final year projects and examinations completely occupied everyone’s time and energy that it wasn’t the right time to throw a party exactly on his birthday. Though he did celebrate his birthday in a rather small event with you and Armin, you still insist on making the best birthday party to celebrate him turning twenty-two. 

“I was catching up with the seniors.” Eren says. “Hey, thank you again. You didn’t have to do this — and I know you still feel bad about not having this part rightfully on my birthday, so stop pouting already.” He laughs a little when you make that petulant annoyance and push your bottom lip forward. He’s still smiling tenderly at you, “but thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” You smile under the coloured fluorescent lights. And he looks at you like he’s been infatuated with you for the first time. Unable to take his eyes away from you. You’ve always been pretty and stunningly breath-taking for years, that it’s like the air is knocked out of his lungs. 

Eren entrusts his hand out to you open palmed. You gladly take it and twirl yourself around and he guides you spinning and into his chest. The beat of the music drops in the background, a familiar beat Eren is sure that he’s heard of years before. He remembers this song; it describes a romantic fantasy of two young people in love amidst running away and living together freely. A declaration of how the other is the master of one of their youth. It’s rather a reminiscing song since it’s been a while since he hears it blasting in public. 

Eren gazes down at your face when he hears your laugh. When your hand lands directly on his chest as he circles you in his arms, there’s a wide grin on your face and Eren hears your laughter and his laughter in the mix. If any of his friends sees him now, he knows they will bring it up soon, and he’ll have to blame it on all the supposed drinking he did. 

An anthem that he holds in his heart as he relates the music with you, who has been in his youth all these years.

feel free to support me further on my ko-fi page!

[strawberrystepmom]

i love you more than being seventeen

pairing: nanami kento x f!reader

word count: 2.7k

about: all that kento can think about at the end is you and you and you.

contents: MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH, JJK SHIBUYA ARC SPOILERS. mutual pining over the course of many years, angst, no happy ending i’m sorry :( but the story itself has a few cute moments

notes: this is a repost from my old blog. title is from evening sun by the strokes! i still love this fic so much and it’s one of my favorite things i’ve ever written BUT there have been edits made and the ending is a little different. same impact, just more concise. thanks for reading!!!!

divider is thanks to @/cafekitsune

When Nanami's consciousness begins to fade, darkness enveloping the edges of his vision, one of the things he can recall most clearly is you.

You're 15, it's your first day of high school. You're the only person in your class, just like him. He's graduating this year and has already mentally checked out, doing just enough to get through, but he can see how anxious you look. The sleeves of your uniform are a bit too long, he wonders if it's on purpose like his are and your backpack is clearly brand new and covered in pins you probably picked out just for your first day. 

A breeze picks up and blows the hem of your pleated skirt, exposing the skin just above your knee and he looks away immediately although you certainly can’t tell he’s even looking at you. Assessing you, the better term perhaps.

“Can you help me?”

A sweet and uncertain voice asks him. It belongs to you and he’s surprised that you asked him. It doesn’t take a very intelligent person to take one look at a 17-year-old Kento and see that he isn’t necessarily the approachable type. He isn’t unkind but his face is just as solemn as it will be when he grows up, mouth always set in a firm line. 

“Sorry, you’re probably busy,” you mumble and he shakes his head, hiking the strap of his bag back up over his shoulder. “It’s alright. First day?” You nod, your uncertainty obvious in every one of your movements as you grip the straps of your backpack tightly. 

“Someone was supposed to meet me here otherwise I wouldn’t be bothering you,” you explain as the two of you walk toward the sweeping entrance to the school itself. Your eyes widen as you take in the pillars and stairs, the greenery and flowers - it’s grand to say the least. Part of Nanami is amused watching you take it all in but he focuses on the task at hand. “It’s alright, like I said,” he starts and clears his throat. “Do you know who you’re supposed to be meeting?”

Your brow furrows, as if you’re thinking really hard, and you scrunch your nose.

“Gojo?”

Nanami rolls his eyes at the mere sound of the name. Of course he’s late and left you standing outside of the school, confused and alone. He knows that Gojo is technically his sensei now and he should respect him but he finds him just distasteful enough that it serves better to ignore him than to feed into his nonsense.

“Yeah, he does that,” Nanami shoots back cooly as he walks beside you up the steps. The zippers on your backpack jingle and he’s shot back into reality, ringing in his ears loud enough to quiet the sound of pumping blood. 

He swears you can hear you call his name through the chaos, the footsteps and the screeching, but he closes his eyes. Tightly. Tries to concentrate on the source of the sound before realizing it’s in his own head, the cinematic reel in his head playing on a strange loop of fragmented pieces of his life spent wishing for you.

You.

The two of you are thigh to thigh inside of a photo booth, music playing through the little speaker underneath the tiny screen where you can see your two faces. 

Kento isn’t sure how you roped him into this, an evening away from the school and in the city something you probably both needed, but it feels correct and inappropriate at the same time. The last few months have given him tiny glimpses into your life through the shared area of the student dorms. 

He knows that you leave your shoes wherever you carry them after you take them off with a disgruntled whine. He dutifully places them next to your door when he sees them, the soles touching and the toes of each shoe pointed toward the wall.

He knows that you stay up too late watching television when you should be studying, the fighting noises of shonen anime coming from beneath the door of your room or the common room while you giggle or gasp along. He always wraps you in a blanket his grandmother made him when you fall asleep on the couch, drool crusting over on the corner of your lips.

He would do these things for no one else and he believes that strange dedication he feels to your comfort has led him here, long legs jutting out in front of him a nearly too small photo booth. Your bare thigh is pressed against the side of his jeans and he finds it hard to breathe with the sweet smell of your floral shampoo filling the entire left side of this enclosed space.

Fight or flight begins to kick in as the situation overwhelms him but you place a comforting hand on his forearm and smile easily, reminding him that the countdown is about to begin and to smile. He doesn’t smile but the corner of his mouth quirks in a way that you find adorable enough to giggle at, your big smile filling the screen as the flash snaps the first of four photos.

“Another! Make a funny face this time,” you order and Kento nods, lifting the other side of his lips in what one could almost call a smile while you stick out your tongue and hold two of your fingers up in bunny ears behind his head.

You like him. Even Gojo has noticed it, calling you out during your last mission with him.

“So…Nanami?” He asked with a little sideways grin and you groaned in frustration and stomped away. Satoru knew it then. 

The shutter clicks and the flash explodes and you withdraw your fingers from behind Kento’s blonde head, feeling compelled to barely touch the top of it with your pointer finger. His hair is soft, brushed in front of his face, and you think you’ll remember the electric zap you feel like your heart forever as you gather your hands back in your lap.

Nanami assesses you carefully and shifts closer to you and you feel heat rise into your cheeks. The tips of your ears are warm and dangerously close to the side of his face and you look down just in time for the camera to click and to capture the top of your head and the side of his face. 

You laugh, shaking your head as the two of you compose yourselves long enough for the final photo and you gasp a little when Kento hovers his face just inches from yours. Your soft cheek nearly touches his cheekbone and you fist the fabric of your skirt to keep from freaking out as you grin. 

Giddiness rises inside of you, the proximity to the older boy sending your mind reeling with possibilities. You even notice both corners of Kento’s mouth have risen in a sort of smile as the final camera shutter sounds and the two of you file out of the booth and you reach to grasp the strip of photos, easily tearing it in half.

“Why did you do that?” 

Nanami asks, brow furrowed as he watches you look over the sets of photos contained in each of the pieces of the strip. You hold the one with the last two photos out toward him, the top photo showing him staring at the top of your head and the bottom his attempt at a smile. 

“Half for me and half for you,” you respond easily. 

He wishes all of this came that easily for him. These feelings, these moments, this tender sense of compassion he feels just for you. 

As the memory leaves, he’s reminded that the same strip of photos lives in the wallet in his left back pocket. Buried beneath business cards and bandages, a talisman to bring him back to you even when the two of you were separated after he graduated and left the school.

He hates thinking of those times, those years where he left you behind, but he’s too weak to will those memories away for better ones. The waves of his consciousness drift to another piece of his life, those lost years. His graduation. The ignored text messages.

“Happy birthday, Nanami-san! Miss you and hope to see you soon. Have a great day.”

He opened the message on his 22nd birthday and left it on read, just as he had with the message on his 21st, his 20th, his 19th. You’ve wondered several times if he changed his number and didn't let anyone know.

You’re 19, a year past your own graduation and you are working as a full time sorcerer. You aren’t particularly challenged in your role but you find it fulfilling in its own strange way. Pulling your phone out of your pocket, you sigh as you scroll through the messaging thread and an indescribable wistfulness falls over you.

You’d go back and do it all differently if you could. Beg him to stay, encourage him in the work of a sorcerer, but that would make you selfish. Keeping him here would have been for you and not for him and there’s nothing saying you had the power to convince him anyway. 

Locking your phone, you drop it on the table and walk to the fridge where your half of the photo strip sits on the fridge all of these years later. It’s tucked beneath a magnet that holds up a copy of the graduation invitation you sent Kento last year. You texted him, asking if he’d like to come and perhaps you should have taken the hint back then. 

He doesn’t want to be friends anymore.

The realization hits you at once and you open the fridge, plucking out leftovers, and shut it with an unenthusiastic slam. Padding back toward your living room, you pick up your phone and unlock the device. The screen still shows your text message thread with Nanami and against your better judgment, you type. Thumbs moving thunderously, you continue typing until you feel satisfied you have laid it out for him and your finger hovers over the message. Pressing down, you try to highlight the text to erase it but instead you slip and hit the send button.

“Fuck!” You shout loud enough you’re certain that your neighbor will file another noise complaint and you feel more horrified reading over your words the second time.

Kento’s phone pings from where it sits on his desk, another late night in front of the computer keeping him from doing anything enjoyable on his special day. He doesn’t bother to check the sender, knowing it’s probably something asinine from a client or a coworker, but his eyes widen as he sees the preview of the paragraph sent with your name attached.

“It’s okay if you hate us now but it would be nice to know that you’re alright,” his eyes scan each word carefully and he isn’t surprised by their bite but he feels guilty. Raw and bubbling deep in his gut, feelings he contained through college and far beyond surfacing in ways he didn’t expect. “I was your friend. I still want to be and hopefully someday you will let me.” 

Swallowing the lump in his throat, he looks over the honest appraisal of his character (“you’re a good person and that will always be true”), the tough love approach you tested halfway through (“I don’t want to do this job any more than you did and here I am”), and finally the thing you wanted to erase the most before you sent it.

“I’ll always love you even if you’ve never had it in you to do the same for me.”

He wonders for a moment if you mean that. Do you love him? Did you feel it back then the same way he did? The syrupy light feeling in your limbs, the heaviness in your head every time the two of you would study or eat or spend time together.

Setting his phone back down, he wonders for a moment how much sending that message cost you considering the length and if he should respond. Was this your goodbye? A way of finally freeing him from your mind? 

Before he has time to truly think about it, his desk phone rings despite the time of day and he answers it with a sigh.

You look down at your screen and once again see a delivered notification with no sign of any other life on the other side.

“Kento!”

He’s glad you’ve dropped the formalities even if the timing is bad, his fatigued body stumbling in your direction. The smell of burnt flesh fills the air and blurry vision still shows him your face, gasping as you run to meet him from halfway across the train station that feels cavernous.

The last time he heard you shout his name was when he arrived back at the gate of Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College, an employee ID card clipped to his slacks and his cursed tool snug in the harness strapped across his broad back. It’s new and familiar all at the same time and he hates thinking of the smug look on Gojo’s face when he called him to ask to come back.

“I wonder why,” Satoru teased from the other end of the phone. 

Nanami only sighed from the other end, the two of them continuing their quick back and forth and scheduling a time where they could meet with the administration at the school. Their conversation is quick and polite but the final words out of his old friend's mouth are what remind him of the first domino that fell and led him back to these stone steps. “She’ll be glad to see you again.”

You’re standing across the courtyard and he’s surprised to see you for the first time in 6 years. You look the same as you did on that first day in a lot of ways. A pleated skirt, breeze lifting the hem just slightly away from your bare thighs. He doesn’t bother to look away this time, the peek of skin enough to send heat up his neck.

“Kento!” You shout again, hopping and running in his direction. He shakes his head as your heavy boots smack against the pavement and before he can blink, you’re in front of him with a grin. “Holy shit!” 

Ever humble, he nods in your direction and tips his chin toward the ground to hide a burgeoning smile. He looks the same but different, just like you. The sides of his hair are shorter than you’ve ever seen them, the longer top slicked away from his face. He’s handsome - he always has been and you try to ignore the little fluttering feeling inside of your chest and in your stomach. 

“Welcome back,” your final choice on what to say as you clap your palm against his shoulder and he smiles at the familiar feeling. He never thought he’d experience it again. 

“Hey,” he says and you look up at him. The sunlight frames your face in a way he wants to memorize forever, emblazoned in a metaphorical heart shaped locket in his mind. He wants to look at you every day. He hates that he let pride keep him from doing that. Exhaling, he says the words he has wanted to since you were 15 and he was 17.

“I love you.”

The sound of your heavy boots across cement and tile are what he chooses to focus on as you continue your mad dash in his direction, his lips mumbling those three words over and over. He knows you can’t save him and he has come to terms with that reality but he wants to see you standing in front of him one last time. To see a breeze blow the edge of that skirt up just enough he can picture where he’d put his hands on your thighs if he ever had the chance. 

Before you can make it the distance, so close to him you can read his lips, his words change. You think you know what he was saying before his stumbling continued but that patchwork curse steps in front of him and blocks him from your view. 

“You’ve got it from here.”

He points in the direction of Yuuji Itadori who is on the opposite side of you and you turn your head to look at the pink haired young man for a single moment, confused.

You gasp when you turn back toward Kento and he’s gone.

He’s gone.

[twisted-tales-of-all]

Just as the Kids Predicted

Summary: When the new student mentor catches first-grade teacher Mr. Yang’s eyes, he tries to keep his crush to a minimum. However, when they get too drunk at the annual holiday party and confess their feelings for him as he drives them home, he begins making moves, and a snowstorm during a staff-only workday helps them move things along even faster. Pairing: Yang Jeongin x afab!Reader Genre: fluff, smut, one-shot, collab Tropes: teacher!AU, forced proximity, mutual pining Word Count: 6k Contains: cursing, alcohol consumption, drunken confessions, snowstorm, pet names (babe, baby, love), lots of heavy kissing, sex in a classroom, unprotected sex, handjob, fingering, begging, teasing, praise, temperature play (cold room vs hot bodies), overwhelming orgasm (fem. receiving) A/N: Welcome all to Our first entry to the 16 Days of Smutmas! We hope you've all been enjoying everything so far and will enjoy this piece as well! Also, special thanks to @binniebeams for helping me figure out my banner<3

He never thought that simple things could affect his feelings, but seeing all the kids accepting you as the new mentor brought a smile to his face. Your general kindness to the staff and students alike warms his chest. Your offers of help never fail to cause the butterflies in his stomach to flutter. You affect him in ways the kids use as examples of true love, and he tries his hardest to keep things professional.

And he's done so well so far. Despite the strength of his crush, he breezes through the first four months of the school year without a slip-up. Even when you visit his class daily thanks to little Ethan acting up, he keeps his emotions in check. Even when his first-grade class begins shipping you two together and singing their little songs about your alleged relationship, and he sees you redden at the idea, he doesn't mention how cute you look.

"Morning, Mr. Yang!" Your joyful voice greeting him brings a smile to his face.

"When are you going to use my first name, Miss Y/N?" He teases you by calling you the same way the kids do.

"I'm sorry," You giggle out at his adorable fake irritation, continuing, "It's just a habit after working with the kids all the time."

"I'm starting to think you don't actually know my first name."

You puff your cheeks at his claim, jokingly upset that he'd even think that, but he stands there and waits for you to prove otherwise. To egg him on, you dramatically spin on your heel and walk away. Wondering if his assumption is correct, he follows, calling after you with an underlying disappointment in his voice.

"Oh, come on, Y/N! You didn't actually forget my name, did you?"

Stopping without warning, you turn around to confront him. Before you can speak, however, Jeongin runs into you, unable to stop his momentum quickly enough. You both turn red from embarrassment and stumble over apologies. In your apology, you address him using his first name, so he instantly feels butterflies in his stomach and stops talking.

"See, I didn't forget."

As the first bell rings, he bids you farewell for the time being. He walks over to his class with the joy of a little puppy thanks to the interaction. His class notices and tries to ask about it to distract from the tasks for the day, but he quickly brushes off their questions and starts the class.

Just before the first-grade classes go to lunch, Mr. Yang calls you over to help with a little boy throwing a tantrum. His whole class is so excited when you walk in that you have to scold them, but you look over and find their teacher staring at you as well, making you flustered. Bringing the boy to the far corner to talk, you hear giggles from other students as the teacher tries to remember where he left off. After calming down the boy, Mr. Yang sends them to lunch, leaving the two of you alone.

"Thank you for helping. He always responds better to you for some reason."

"No worries, it's just the job. I'm sorry that your kids get distracted when I come in."

He laughs and waves away your apology, explaining that kids will always be drawn to a new distraction rather than whatever they're learning at the time. Then, he asks whether you'd like to join him for lunch, assuming you don't get another call. You agree, walking with him to the staff lounge to grab your lunch. As you sit together to eat, the vice principal walks in and sees you, using the opportunity to talk to you both about upcoming events.

After reminding you of the schedule for parent conferences and holiday break, she brightens her tone to ask, "And you're both coming to the holiday party, right? It'll be so nice to get all the staff together to celebrate and let loose a little!"

You joke that you can't imagine certain staff members letting loose, even for a party, but you also confirm your planned attendance, "Not sure how long I'll stay, but I'll definitely show up. My car is out of commission right now until I can save up to fix it, so I have to figure out transport first."

Jeongin makes sure to take mental note of your situation before confirming that he'll be there whether he wants to or not, "The other first-grade teachers refuse to let me spend the holidays alone this year, so they'll bring a task force to drag me there if I don't show up."

"They'll drag you?!" Shocked that the teachers who act so nice to you would threaten violence against Jeongin, you can't hold back your reaction.

As the vice principal laughs and leaves the story for Jeongin to explain, she walks away wishing you well. Jeongin sighs at the thought of reliving the story but begins telling it regardless.

"I didn't show up to the holiday party last year. When they asked why, I made the mistake of saying that I've never had a good time at holiday parties before. Now, they're forcing me to join this one to break the cycle."

You can't help but laugh at him as he puts air quotes over the last few words and rolls his eyes after. You come to their defense, claiming, "Well, you don't know until you try. They're just trying to help you have a great time here - don't be too upset with them."

"Not you, too! I guess now I really have to go; even the new mentor is telling me to."

As the warning bell rings, you both finish up lunch. You're pleasantly surprised that you weren't called to a class for the full break, but right as you throw out your trash, you hear your name over the walkie. You respond before wishing Jeongin a good rest of his day.

Since conference week means shorter days for the kids, they get a bit hectic. So, you bounce around between classes all week, and Jeongin only sees you in passing or for a short time when his students act up. Although he can feel the empty feeling in his chest as he misses the small interactions between you, he pushes that feeling down and reminds himself that he'll see you at the holiday party tomorrow.

As the last day before vacation wraps up, you see him in the copy room, so you approach, "Hey, Jeongin, why are you working when vacation is starting?" 

"I have to make sure I have everything ready for when we get back to work. I don't like to leave it for the last minute."

"Oh, that's smart. Get it done now so you can forget about work and have fun tomorrow~!"

"That's my only other stressor. Then, I'll be able to enjoy my break."

Lightly hitting his shoulder for his lame joke brings a cheesy smile to his lips that makes your heart skip a beat. You try to stabilize yourself long enough to tell him that you'll see him tomorrow, but your words don't roll off of your tongue as well as usual. Despite your choppy sentence, Jeongin happily says he'll see you tomorrow, claiming that he's excited to spend some more time with you.

As you go home, you question his phrasing. As you wonder whether he meant the comment towards all of his coworkers or specifically you, Jeongin beats himself up for letting such an obvious flirt leave his lips when he thinks you only see him as a friendly coworker. As you both wrestle with yourself over the conversation, you both land at the same - completely incorrect - conclusion: "We're just friends."

Following this conclusion, you also decide to use alcohol to forget your feelings, and, with the party quickly approaching, it's the perfect opportunity. Drinks with good company always go well. You go to sleep with that idea in mind.

Meanwhile, Jeongin stares at his closet as time ticks by, wondering what the perfect casual party outfit would be. He puts together a few outfits before falling back to the first one he put together - a pair of khaki cargo pants with a simple white turtleneck and a long black coat. He readies the outfit and goes to sleep hoping for a good day.

As you both get ready for the party, you can't get each other off of your mind. Even when you remind yourself it's just a day to drink with friends, his face keeps popping up. Despite his constant reminders that you don't see him the same way, Jeongin can't help picturing how wonderful you'll look.

He arrives right on time to save his coworkers from wondering if he'll show. However, this doesn't save him from constantly checking the door when people arrive, eagerly awaiting your arrival. As he slowly sips from the cup of mystery juice that was shoved into his hands by a fellow teacher, he keeps himself within eyesight of the door at all times, but he didn't even need to.

When you arrive about an hour after the party starts, an eruption of voices welcomes you, "The newbie is here!" "Hi, Y/N!" "Oh Y/N, I'm so glad you're here!" "Ooh, look at Y/N! Who are you dressed all cute for?"

As you laugh off the comments, you curse yourself for choosing the fancier outfit. Despite both of them being similar to what everyone else wears, you should've known they like to tease new employees at get-togethers like this. As Jeongin sees you, he takes a massive gulp from his drink, hoping for the alcohol to keep him from thinking improper thoughts about you.

By the time you reach Jeongin in your circle of hellos, someone already handed you a drink. You take a sip as you approach him, only to find that they threw extra alcohol into your cup. You try to hide the wince from the feeling of drinking such a strong mix, knowing your colleagues will use your reaction to tease you.

"Hi, Y/N. Glad you made it. Did they make your drink too strong? I can go get you a new one, if you want."

"No, no. They want to test me. I saw it in their eyes. I'm not standing down." You tilt the cup towards him slightly as a mini toast before taking another swig and letting the liquid warm your body.

As he watches the effects of the drink flush over your face, he finds that the alcohol is enhancing his feelings for you rather than burying them, so he decides not to drink anymore for the night. This also leaves him the opportunity to be a designated driver for you, since you mention paying for a taxi to get here.

You two spend a lot of time together, with plenty of teasing about being 'the lovebirds' from your coworkers. They also make sure your cup never runs dry, so that they can see what happens when you get properly drunk. Since you know your limits and love playing competitive games, you pace yourself enough to slowly give them their satisfaction, but never fully.

As the party begins dying down, you mention that you should probably call yourself a ride home, but a handful of people get upset about you drunkenly getting into a stranger's car. Silently thanking everyone for giving him an easy way to jump in, Jeongin offers to drop you off at home, stressing that he hasn't had any alcohol in over two hours and that he'd feel better knowing you got home safely. Although you fight a bit at first, you eventually agree, accepting his offer and saying goodbye to the rest of the group.

Despite being mostly stable, Jeongin stays close to you, ready to catch you or offer himself as a crutch if you need one. He opens the passenger-side door and helps you get in, even buckling your seatbelt for you. He's so focused on your safety that he doesn't even register how close he gets to you, but you notice and feel the thumping in your chest quicken. As he walks around to the driver's side, you take a couple of deep breaths in a sad attempt to stabilize your emotions.

As he buckles up and turns on the car, you thank him again for his kindness and enter your address into his GPS.

"Don't even worry. I'd much rather be certain you're safe. I don't know what I'd done if something happened to you tonight. Oh! You live close to me! How convenient!"

You mess with the radio a bit, landing on what might be the only station that isn't playing Christmas music. Even though you don't usually listen to the sappy love songs they play, you've had more than enough holiday cheer today, so you'll take it. Mindlessly, Jeongin sings along with some of the songs, leaving you in awe of his hidden singing talents.

"Wow, I love your singing voice, too." You blurt out, the mix of alcohol and amazement dropping your filter before you can notice.

"Too?" He chuckles, "What else do you love to say it like that?"

With a hazy mind, you forget that you've chosen to hide your feelings and erupt into your confession, "Well, your regular voice, for starters. Your face - especially your smile. Hmm... the way you act with the kids. Oh, even your fun little teases at me. There's a lot to fall for, you know! That's not even scraping the surface."

As you finish, you look up to see that the car has stopped. Looking over at the man next to you, you find him staring wide-eyed and slack-jawed in your direction. Suddenly, it hits you that you just admitted your feelings so strongly, directly to your crush. Your hands fly up to cover your mouth, but you babble out some apologies for your ramblings, insisting that he can forget everything that you said if it makes things easier.

"You like me?" He asks, an excited tone held back for your confirmation. After you nod, he adds, "I've liked you for a while now! I can stop hiding my feelings now, right? Thank you, fate and alcohol, for this moment!"

As excited as the kids at school when the cafeteria gives them cookies, Jeongin pulls back onto the road to finish the trip to your house with a giddy smile. Although it takes a bit longer for you to register his words, his smile contagiously reaches your lips as you recognize that he reciprocates your feelings.

Arriving in front of your home, you hesitate to leave, but Jeongin quickly unbuckles and rushes to open the car door for you.

"You're so sweet, Mr. Yang." You tease him as you exit the car by using that name again.

He pouts, asking you to call him a better name, "Anything but what the kids call me. Please."

Holding your chin to think up a name, you decide to lean into the lovey-dovey angle, "Okay, Innie~. I'll call you cutely from now on, I promise!"

His cheeks flush at the nickname, and he stumbles over his next words, "Ah, thank you. So, uh... Y/N, shall we call this day one? Er, I mean - do you want to date - er... Can I be your boyfriend?"

Out of embarrassment, he looks off to the side, but you ask him to lean in closer to you so you can whisper something in his ear. When he gets close, you leave a kiss on his cheek and giggle as you make your way to the front door, "Is that a proper answer?"

As soon as you're inside, you start dancing happily around your home in excitement. Jeongin smiles brightly the whole drive home and similarly begins excitedly flailing around in the comfort of his house. You both feel childish for feeling so strongly about the start of a new relationship, but neither of you cares since the overwhelming joy feels so great. When Jeongin gets to bed, he faces a bout of insomnia that he hasn't had since childhood - he's so excited for what's to come that he can't fall asleep. Even though he still has nearly a full week before the staff prep day - and he can't even be sure that you'll be there, since you might not have anything to prepare as a mentor.

As young, blossoming love tends to do, Jeongin keeps you on his mind all week long. He can only hope he's taken over your mind in a similar fashion, as the smallest things remind him of you out of nowhere. All sorts of questions come to mind: Does Y/N like sweets? What music is her favorite? Does she have any phobias? Do they prefer calling or texting?

Suddenly, while preparing a smoothie that begs him to wonder about your favorite drinks, Jeongin's phone dings. It isn't his usual text tone, so he grows interested immediately and unlocks his phone to find a message on the school's app. Since vacation started, only messages marked as urgent ping him, so he's even more confused. However, he can't help but laugh as he opens the inbox to see your name. Your email immediately apologizes for surpassing his DND protocols, but it continues on about how you'd like to thank him for driving you home and not having another form of contact. You leave him your phone number, suggesting that texting will be more convenient. Since the work emails are monitored, you leave no indication of anything beyond a friendly coworker relationship, but Jeongin smirks as he finishes reading it. He quickly adds your number to his contacts, saving your name with a heart in the notes.

Thinking up a witty first message, Jeongin lands on referencing your drunken confession: Couldn't wait all week to find out more things that'll make you fall for me?

Within five minutes, he sees you reply, snarkily asking whether he wants to wait all week before talking to his new girlfriend. He has to admit, he might've gone crazy if he went all week thinking about you without being able to reach you. Now that the option is there, he's quite relieved. Especially as the text banter between you two shifts to include compliments and flirts. You lay on your bed, kicking your feet the whole time; His smile never fades as he leans into the phone so intently after every new message.

The day passes quicker as you occupy each other's time, and he nearly forgets to ask about the prep day. When you say that you need to sleep soon, he quickly asks: Oh, before you go, will you be using prep day? I wanted to know whether a beauty would grace my presence on Friday :P

You roll your eyes at his comment before explaining that you sadly do need to prepare more disciplinary notes and good behavior cards, so you will be there. His heartbeat speeds up when he reads it. Giddy at the idea of seeing you again without the kids around, he responds by expressing his happiness and wishing you a good night.

Although you text each other throughout the day, it isn't taking over your lives like yesterday's conversation. You both have plans, so the messages are slow and sporadic, but reading every message brings a smile to Jeongin's face, and his friends point it out quickly. Since they've been friends for over a decade, these friends know Jeongin's cues instantly, even though he initially tries denying their teasing claims that he's finally dating.

"Come on, Jeongin. There ain't no way you can hide that smile. Out with it; who is it?"

With a sigh, he gives in, "You remember how I told you that we got a new mentor for the kids?"

"Told you he liked her!"

"Oh, shut up. Let him talk! We finally got the baby dating, it's a big moment."

"Baby? Big moment? Come on, it's not that big of a deal. They confessed while drunk, and now we're together. That's all. Nothing big."

"Nothing big? Dude, if you got a runken confession, that means she was thinking of you a lot."

"Probably kept it hidden for a while, too."

Taken aback by his friends' thoughts, Jeongin flushes as he entertains the idea of you having a crush on him for a while. Maybe they're right; maybe you liked each other early on and kept hiding it from the other person.

"Mommy! Mommy, look! That's my teacher! Mr. Yang! Hi, Mr. Yang!"

Quickly greeting his student and their mother, Jeongin's mind drifts away from the thoughts of you for a moment, only for the student to bring you up.

"Where's Miss Y/N? Are you not together today?"

As his friends try to contain their laughter, he explains that you aren't always together, even at school. As the kid dives into how you're together whenever you can be, Jeongin stumbles over trying to explain. Luckily, the mother makes up an excuse to pull them away, apologetically waving to Jeongin as they leave. Once out of earshot, his friends let their laughter erupt.

"Dude, even the kids ship y'all! That's so crazy!"

The rest of the meet-up consists of catching up on everything, including a massive focus on the relationship. It wears him out, so he falls asleep almost immediately after lying down. When he wakes, he quickly pulls on a casual outfit fit for the freezing weather to prepare his class materials.

He arrives and greets a few coworkers on his way to the copy machines. Walking into the room, he sees you alone, with your back to the door. Passing you, he slides a hand into the small of your back. You tense up, not knowing who touched you, but you relax when you see his face next to you.

"Morning, Innie. Do you have a lot to prepare?" Although you keep your focus on the machine, you quickly turn on the cute tone and nickname for him, which warms his heart on this cold morning.

"Not too much. I finished most of it before break. Only a few more copies and some work in switching up the classroom decor. How about you, babe?"

You quickly look around to make sure nobody heard him before lightly hitting his shoulder, "Not at work! I don't want them to tease us yet! I don't have much left to do. I can help you organize your room if you'd like."

"You sure you don't want to head home? It'll probably be really cold in the room since the heater doesn't run over break, and I heard that it's supposed to snow today. You're okay driving in it?"

"Oh, don't worry. I don't really think it'll be much snow, and I've handled snow plenty of times before."

As you both finish up in the workroom, he grabs his papers and leads you to his classroom. The clouds in the sky look thicker and darker than earlier, but you don't pay it much mind. Instead, after checking your surroundings for listeners, you joke that his breath shows more since he's clearly the hotter of the two of you.

"I can make your breath show clearer if you want to try me." He rebuts, making your brain freeze at the thought.

He unlocks the room and holds the door open for you as the lightest bit of snow begins falling. He quickly runs through the plans for the change but looks at you and loses focus. Even all bundled up in the cold, you look so cute that he can't resist.

"Can I kiss you? You look so adorable."

After you nod, he holds your face in his hands and leans in to kiss you. Even though people talk about sparks, this feels nothing like that. Instead, it's warm, comforting, and welcoming. However, as it continues and you snake your hands around him, the kiss blends into an urge for more. By the time he pulls away, your body has heated up in anticipation, with your breath pooling thickly into the air as you try to pace it back to normal.

"Told you I could make it clearer." He snarkily jokes, trying to move his focus off of his urges to learn you fully and completely.

Suddenly, something thumps against the door, making you both jump and separate. Jeongin approaches the window to see the cause, finding a snowstorm brewing outside and a pile of snow against the door.

"Uh, Y/N, how long were we kissing?"

You look at the clock to find that its hands have jumped quite a bit, "Maybe 15 or 20 minutes? Why?"

You rush to the door to look outside, but you can't push it open. Your eyes widen as you look at your boyfriend, wondering what to do now.

"We're stuck."

"Fuck. I have some snacks and water, but I don't know how long the storm will last."

With the snow blocking the exit, the room grows colder due to the lack of insulation. You bring out your phone to check how long the storm is predicted to last.

"It's a dead zone. I saw it as a blessing since the kids can't play on their phones in class, but it's the opposite now. And wi-fi is shut off for the vacation to save money, so we just have to wait."

He begins pacing as you curl into yourself on one of the desks, trying to get as much warmth as you can. Noticing you shivering, he stops pacing to offer his coat. You decline, insisting he'll just get cold instead.

"Well, I can hold you instead, then. Is that okay?" He holds his arms open as he waits for your response.

Although you find it a bit embarrassing to accept so quickly, you pull him around you before you can offer a proper verbal response. Whether the urge for warmth or the desire to move forward with your boyfriend drives your quick acceptance is unclear, but the feeling of being in his arms warms you in both your body and soul.

"Thank you, Innie. This really helps."

You settle with your head on his chest, becoming acutely aware of his racing heartbeat. However, he's far too distracted by the fact that you pulled him in between your legs to think about that. A tent begins to form in his pants, and he thanks everything for you being far enough back on the desk that it only hits the material and not your thigh. His luck runs out quickly though, as you become uncomfortable leaning forward and scoot into a more comfortable position. Feeling the warmth hit your thigh, you quickly joke about it.

"You sure are warm there. Share it with me, why don't 'ya?"

Looking up, you watch his face quickly turn bright red at your comment, and you feel his member twitch at your words. Unsure of the meaning behind your words, he looks down and meets your eyes. The lust in your eyes is anything but subtle, and he catches it as soon as he looks.

"Is that really what you want? You want me to warm you up more? The hug isn't enough?" The more he speaks, the more he teases, but all he wants is to confirm your consent.

When you lock your lips with his, it shocks him, but it answers his questions well enough. He lets you lead as you snake your hands under his shirt, the sensation of your cold fingers melting in the warmth of his back egging him on more than either of you expected. He deepens the kiss by gripping your hips, massaging small circles into the soft flesh with his thumbs. Instinctively, you grind your hips, but he holds you still, not wanting to move past the make-out session yet. As you melt into each other, the snow outside has already settled, and the storm quieted. But you'd never know - not when you're both distracted, with the heat of your actions clouding up the window and obscuring the view outside into a blur of grey and white.

The blur of your bodies becomes harder to distinguish where one ends and the other starts as you reach into his pants and set him free. As the air hits him, he winces, but the warmth of your hand quickly combats the cold air. You stroke his length as you continue to kiss, feeling his breath catch in his throat before he breaks the kiss, his head falling back as the sensations of your handjob overwhelm him. Your lips fall to his exposed neck, making him melt further into your touch. As you feel his body slowly lower itself, you stop and tell him to get ahold of himself or lay on the desk himself. He quickly puts his dick back into his pants in response.

Eager to prove himself, he grabs your arms and places them around his shoulders before tapping your legs to get you to wrap them around his waist. He lifts you up and brings you to his desk - one more solid, bigger, and a bit taller. Although you expect him to place you on top of it, he stops a bit before it, letting you down to stand leaning against it. He places a quick peck on your lips before turning you around to lean over it. He kneels down, pulling your leggings down with him. With a hand around you to keep you from leaning too far forward, he uses his other hand to tease you through the thin fabric of your underwear. You cover your mouth to hide the sounds you find embarrassing, but it only makes Jeongin more eager to hear them. Moving your panties to the side, his fingers rub between your folds, using your slick to lube up his digits. Slowly, he inserts a finger, curling it up once it's fully inside. Your sounds become harder to hide as he hits the right places, egging him on. He pulls it out completely, adding another finger as he enters again. The stretch of your walls earns him a barely-muffled moan. He continues moving those two fingers, feeling your body react as you rock your hips against his hand.

Kissing the soft skin on your backside, he coos, "Does it feel good, baby? You just need my fingers to become a total mess?"

Unable to form a full sentence, you simply whine in protest, with one word leaving your lips, "More~."

"Y/N, that's not how we ask kindly. Let's use our words properly, now, love." He halts his motions to let you speak.

"Jeongin, I need more. Please, can you fuck me?" You beg, your breathing heavy in between your words.

"Since you asked so nicely."

Removing his fingers, he undoes his pants, pulling his pants and underwear down together. Holding himself at the base, he runs the tip between your folds, teasing you a bit more. You beg him to put it in, but he doesn't listen. Instead, he rubs his length in between your folds, coating himself in your juices. He ignores your whines and pleas, taking his time to make sure it'll feel good and as pain-free as possible for you both. Although you're truly glad he knows how to prepare properly, your lust wins out, begging and bucking your hips in an attempt to rush him along.

When he finally feels ready, a silence pairs itself with him lining himself up as you both hold your breath in anticipation. As his tip passes through your entrance, a light pain surges through your body as he stretches you out. He praises you as he continues, bottoming out after a while.

"Good job, babe. I'll wait like this. Tell me when you're ready for me to move. You take me so well. You're so warm and tight, hugging me so nicely."

"Jeongin, less talking, more moving." Your lust still finding its way out on top, you know you won't be satisfied until he moves; the pain will fade into the pleasure.

"Are you s-?"

You grind back against him, cutting his words short. Finally taking the hint, he pulls back and thrusts back into you roughly. With your walls tightening around him the whole time, he tries to focus on something other than the sensations so that the experience lasts longer for you both. His grunts fill the room first, louder than you expect. When your moans join, it brings a cocky smile to his lips and some extra determination. He moves faster, hitting all the right places without trying.

"Jeongin, yes!" Just like that babe~ keep going!" The words fall mindlessly from your mouth, encouraging him well as you near your climax.

"Are you close, Y/N? Cum for me, baby. Cum on my cock."

The grit in his voice sends you over the edge, and your orgasm overtakes you so strongly that you nearly collapse. Your legs shake as the sensations ripple through you, somehow desperately forgetting how to hold up the rest of your body. Your vision goes white for a moment before returning to you as a blurry mess of color and motion. Noticing the strong reaction, your boyfriend stops his movements and holds you tightly to keep you steady and aware.

In a whisper to limit the toll on your senses, he coaxes you through it, "I'm right here, Y/N. You did so well, and now you can rest and relax. We can lie down for a bit to calm down, okay? Let me pull your pants up for you - there we go. Now, carefully, let's move back from the desk and lie down."

You don't even register when he removed himself from you. Usually, the emptiness strikes you as soon as someone pulls out, but your orgasm must've been too strong for you to notice. As your vision slowly refocuses, you notice that he's draped his coat over you as you lie there together. When you try to move it to cover you both, he gently stops you.

"Shh. Stay here like this for a bit, love. We have time, so you can take as much rest as you want. I'll be right here next to you."

"I wasn't getting up, Innie. I just wanted to share the coat-blanket with you."

"I'm warm enough. I just did a full workout, after all." He pets your head as he reassures you.

A thought pops into your mind that makes you sit up quickly despite your previous statement, "Did you get to finish?"

He shakes his head, "But it's okay. You seemed really overwhelmed, so I wanted to make sure you were okay. It felt really good; I don't need to finish when I had that good of a time."

Although you fight with him over it for a bit, he eventually convinces you to lie back down with him. You cuddle until you nearly fall asleep. To wake yourself back up, you get up to check the door. It's still difficult to open, but you manage to crack it open a bit. Jeongin brings you inside and slides through the opening, and you watch him shovel the snow out of the way with his hands. When he gets the door fully open, you greet him with a kiss before holding his ice-cold hands in yours, trying to warm them up for him.

"The kids will get a kick out of this story."

"Hell, I think they would've tried to plan this themselves if fate hadn't."

[wonilye]

♫ the story of us | k.sn

freshly broken up with sunoo, you turn up to a party, one where you already know he’s going to be at. the catch? nobody knew you ever dated. keeping your past under wraps is one thing, but throw in the lingering feelings, and you have yourself a hot mess…

read the rest of the series here! (for taglist)

pairing ➭ popular boy sunoo x class president reader

genre ➭ lovers to strangers (a terrible attempt really), angst, mutual pining but they’d never admit it, post-breakup, secret dating

word count ➭ 3.4k (i like drabbles)

a/n ➭ i popped this out first because i’m crazy for sunoo recently lmao...more to come in the next two months, my schedule is gonna get wild so imma try to wrap this up asap. sunwonki's parts are actually interconnected, but they're not in chronological order haha. if u want to figure out the timeline/see bonus moments of each couple, read them all (shameless self promo i know). enjoy!

Damn, do you hate high school.

It’s friday, and you’re at your locker, arranging your books after the last class of the day. Students have started leaving the classrooms by now, and the hallway’s one big traffic jam. Normally, you’d be thrilled to have a nice weekend, unhindered by your teachers’ incessant nagging. But this week isn’t the same as every other week, is it?

Because it’s the first weekend you’re spending without Sunoo. 

It was a quiet affair, really. Literally nobody even knew you and Sunoo were dating. Please, you two were worlds apart – you, the class president, and Sunoo, the popular it-boy. No one, not even you, could’ve seen it coming. You two had gotten off to a rough start, having classroom cleaning duties together. You were particular about everything, from the way he held the broom to the direction he swept in. He, on the other hand, was more concerned with what time he’d be let off so he could go out with his friends. So yeah, your first interactions were essentially petty bickering.

But somewhere along the line, you began to see eye to eye. Maybe it was the way the light sparkled in his eyes when he smiled, even on rainy days. Maybe it was the way he’d invited you to grab boba after your duties for the first time, a conspiratorial glint in his eyes (yeah, you had a thing for his pretty eyes). Or maybe it was the way he’d kissed you in an empty classroom, rays of the setting sun streaming in through the window shutters as he held you in his arms, a silent promise to never let go.

You scoff to yourself. Not all promises can be kept, especially when it comes to you and Kim Sunoo.

In the corner of your eye, you spot Sunoo and his friends leaving a classroom, laughing amongst themselves. He passes you, never once looking at you, and you force yourself to turn away. You don’t care. You cannot care.

Slamming your locker door shut, you sling your bag over your shoulders, ready to find your friends for a trip to some cafe. It would make a good distraction. Or so you think, until Soobin runs up to you, hands on his knees as he tries to catch his breath. “Y/n! Have you heard? There’s a birthday party tonight at Kim Sunoo’s house.”

The very mention of Sunoo sends your head spinning, and you have to lean against your locker to ground yourself. Soobin doesn’t know, and you’d like to keep it that way. “Whose birthday is it?”

“Nishimura Riki, I think? That guy in the fencing club.” As if you need the introduction. Sunoo talked about him a lot, his love for his best friend ridiculously wholesome. But it’s the way Sunoo never told you he was hosting a birthday party for him, and the fact that you only broke up a week ago, that pisses you off. Just a little.

Gosh, you really have to stop thinking of him.

“Honestly, does it really matter? You don’t do parties.” Soobin’s the head of the student council, a token good boy. It’s one of the reasons why you get along with him so well. The student council president and the class president are friends. Shocker.

Soobin grins sheepishly. “Yeah, but you know how I’ve been talking to the captain of the fencing club about this year’s budget recently? Turns out she’s Nishimura’s girlfriend, and she personally invited me tonight. And, um…” he trails off, handing you the invitation. “She said I could bring a plus one.” He looks at you with so much hope and despair, as though he’s begging you not to let him go alone to a party where he knows no one.

You eye him warily. “This the kind of party with alcohol and shit?”

“Think so. All the more reason for you to back me up, be my voice of reason, no?”

“If you need me to tell you not to drink, you probably shouldn’t be going at all.”

Soobin groans, pleading you with his eyes. “C’mon, you know I never drink. Just come, please? Don’t leave me to die.”

You two enter a staring contest, the persuasion practically emanating off him. It’s not even that you don’t want to go, you’d just rather not see Sunoo more than you have to. And that thought alone is what makes a twisted sort of determination flare in your chest. Who said you were gonna let Kim Sunoo dictate your life, huh? “Fine, I’ll do it,” you finally relent, and Soobin whoops. “Knew you’d come around. Let’s meet at seven at the mall, and we’ll go together. You can’t go back on your promise!”

As Soobin disappears into the crowd, you can’t help but sigh, banging your head against the wall. What exactly have you done?

Hours later, you’re at the mall, checking your wristwatch. Soobin said to be here at seven, but it’s quarter past seven and he still hasn’t shown up. Typical.

You tug on the hem of your hoodie. It’s oversized, the sleeves too long, the front too baggy as it reaches where your shorts end. Of course it is. It’s Sunoo’s. He never took it back from your house, so it’s still in your possession. You’re here to mess with him, and you want him to know it. 

Finally, finally, you spot Soobin waving at you as he rushes over. He’s dressed simply too, though his clothes are pointedly better fitting. “Sorry I’m late. Student council meeting overran.”

You roll your eyes. Sunoo’s place isn’t far, so the walk isn’t long. “Let’s go over the rules. No drinking more than two cups of whatever they’re serving that has any kind of alcohol in it, or our parents are gonna kill us. And we are definitely leaving together, got it?”

Waving his hand dismissively, Soobin agrees. “Yeah, yeah. I got it. We’ll stick together until we can’t. If we do get separated, I’ll call you.” As you continue chatting, you realise your feet have moved on their own in the direction of Sunoo’s house, and Soobin’s staring at you weirdly. “Wow, did you memorise his address already? Your sense of direction is insane.”

Shit. “W-well, I just followed the street signs. Oh look, it’s right up ahead.” You walk ahead, trying to hide the way your ears flush hot. You’re a few blocks away, but already you can hear the thrum of the music coming from one of the houses. “Hurry up, we’re already late.”

The party itself is already well underway. It looks like your whole cohort and more is here, what with the massive crowd of people in the house, spilling into the front yard. The place smells of sweat and alcohol, a very foreign scent. You’re used to this house when it’s quiet, just you and Sunoo, the only words spoken shared between you two. Not this…rave of a birthday party. To think it isn’t even Sunoo’s.

Would he have done the same for yours?

Shaking your head, you shove those traitorous thoughts to a corner of your mind. Tonight isn’t supposed to be about him, yet everything is making you think of him. 

You follow Soobin into the house, slipping past the crowd and into the doorway. In the living room, seated on a couch is Riki himself, laughing at something someone said. His arm’s slung around a really pretty girl, who Soobin tells you is his girlfriend. 

And on Riki’s other side is him.

While you were dating Sunoo, he refused to go to parties, saying he’d go only if you agreed (which of course you didn’t, because that would be hard-launching you). This is the first time you’re seeing him really dressed up, and gosh, he looks good. He always did look good, but that half-unbuttoned collar of his shirt is driving you mad, more so than you’ve ever been. You’re desperately trying to hold on to any remaining shred of your sanity, but when his eyes meet yours, you feel it all slipping away.

There’s something weird about looking into Sunoo’s eyes, especially when he’s looking at you with a strange expression you know is only meant for you. It’s as though time has stopped completely, the background noise dulling, and the only thing in your world is his gaze on you. Knowing Soobin is here, you definitely have to pretend you don’t know Sunoo. He’s daring you, daring you to do something, right here in front of everyone. It’s also the reason why you broke up in the first place. Oh, the irony. 

You ignore Soobin’s garbled protest as you march up to Riki. “Happy birthday!” you exclaim, handing your carefully-wrapped gift to him. “It’s not much, but I hope you like it anyway.”

Something odd lies beneath his gaze as he looks at you, receiving the gift coolly. “Thanks, Y/n. You’ll probably want a look around the place, won’t you?” He smacks Sunoo’s thigh good-naturedly. “Oi, house owner. Be a good host and give her a tour.”

Oh. So he knows after all.

Gritting your teeth, you’re about to reject his kind offer, when Sunoo rises to his feet. “No problem! Right this way, Y/n.” The fake cheeriness in his voice makes you inwardly scoff. You definitely don’t miss the way Sunoo’s hand instinctively moves to take yours, before retracting it in a sharp movement, as though he realises a second too late. The way he avoids looking directly at you afterward is indescribably satisfying. 

As you pass Soobin, he does a double take. “Not even five minutes in and you’re abandoning me?” he splutters. 

“Change of plans. Just stay put, I’ll come find you after this.”

“Why can’t I come with you?”

“Wanna follow me to the bathroom?”

At this, Soobin winces. “Okay, definitely not. Don’t forget about me, please?”

Patting him on the shoulder, you grin. “Not a chance. I’ll be back before you know it.”

You are not back before he knows it.

Sunoo mostly ran through the motions, showing you the kitchen, a games room, and all the food. Though you both know it’s useless. You already know all this. So it’s not unexpected when he leads you up the stairs to the hallway. There’s his room, straight on. Glancing around to make sure no one’s looking, he grabs your wrist and tugs you in, locking the door behind the two of you.

The room looks exactly like you remember, albeit void of the picture frames that once had photos of the two of you. There used to be a string of polaroids hanging above his bed, but even that’s gone. Gosh, this is so unfair. Clearly he had better luck in getting rid of every trace of you. At least, that’s what you think, until he slumps against the door, sinking to the ground with his face in his hands. 

“Why’d you have to do that?” he groans. You can’t see his expression behind his hands, but by the sound of it, he doesn’t seem very pleased at all.

“Do what? You’re the one who told Nishimura you’d give me a tour. Don’t try to pin this on-”

“Nice hoodie you got there,” he interjects snarkily. “Get it now? Damn it, and I was doing so well, but here you are, wearing my clothes, in my house.” He finally looks up at you, and you can see the frustration he’d tried to hold in all this time. He runs his fingers through his hair, and for the first time, you realise he looks utterly despondent. It’s a sharp contrast to all the ignoring he’s been doing the past week, pretending you don’t exist, even when you’re just metres away from him. He’s been his same smiling self, a ray of sunshine to everyone, as though everything that ever happened between the two of you was a figment of your imagination.

You should be happy about this, really, that he’s no better than you. But you can’t deny the twinge of pain in your chest as you watch him. You’ve come to know the kind of person he is – sunny on the outside, only letting the mask fall in front of the people he trusts most. The fact that he’s even letting you see this right now is enough to render you speechless. 

You swallow a lump in your throat you didn’t even know was there. “I…I’m not going to apologise.” It’s honestly a terrible thing to say, when your ex is on the ground and lamenting your relationship, but you really can’t think of anything to say that won’t let on more than you want to.

The laugh he lets out is rough, almost self-deprecating. “I don’t expect you to. This is…this is partially my fault.” He sighs, looking about as tired as he sounds. “We made the choice together, Y/n. We can’t…”

You know what he’s going to say – you can’t just go back on your word now., not when it took so much to part ways. To fall back into each other, or even admitting the desire to, would mean weakness. Heaven forbid you show any, being the prideful pair you are. Because what really mattered all along was the status quo, wasn’t it? Popular pretty boys don’t date nerds. It’s a disgusting stereotype, really, but at the end of the day you know what everyone will say if they ever found out. Selfish, but you need to be selfish if you want to protect yourself.

“What we had, we knew it couldn’t last. Life isn’t a romcom.” It’s less of a reply than it is a half-hearted attempt at convincing yourself that it’s true. 

“You’re telling me that while wearing my clothes. Low blow, Y/n.”

Well, at least he can joke with you now. But it’s short-lived, and before you know it he’s getting to his feet, smoothing out his tousled hair. “This can’t happen again. We just have to be…strangers to each other. It’s easier that way.” 

There’s this traitorous part of you that wants to reach out and grab him, pull him back into one last kiss. But you know it won’t do you any good, only make everything worse. He’s right. It’s easier to pretend nothing ever happened, because as far as anyone’s concerned, nothing ever happened. Besides, you suspect he’d really, really hate it if you did that. 

Or so it seems, until it’s his hands that reach for you, his face buried in the crook of your neck like it’s the most natural thing in the world to do. Because it was. For a long time, it was. “Just give me a moment, will you?”

So you let him. You let him wrap his arms around you, let his fingers trace your jawline as he leans in and-

“One last kiss? Can I have it?”

Oh.

His voice shakes as he speaks, a moment of vulnerability, and the last one you will see. He’s searching your eyes for something. You don’t know if you have that something anymore. Wordlessly, you capture his lips in yours, letting yourself drown in his touch for the final time. It’s a bittersweet feeling, knowing your heart wants to stay in this moment forever, but your head tells you this can’t - won’t - happen again. Kim Sunoo knows every inch of you by heart, and he shows it in the way he holds you with a gentleness no one else could have towards you. Now, he will have to unlearn it, unlearn you.

Sunoo is the first to pull away. His lips are red and swollen, eyes glassy as he tries to get himself together. You’re guessing you don’t look much different. A quick glance in the mirror above his vanity is all you need to know that yes, you’re every bit the mess you think you are.  Even as you turn the doorknob to leave, the lingering feeling of his hands on your waist refuse to fade. It takes all your effort to step out, descending the stairs alone. You know Sunoo’s right behind you, but somehow he already feels far, far away.

You scan the room for Soobin’s face. The crowd’s more dispersed by now, so it isn’t long before you spot him in a corner of the kitchen, munching on a pack of biscuits. “Took you long enough. They’re playing games right now, wanna join?”

“Sure, I guess.” You glance around, forcing yourself to ignore the footsteps on the stairs. “Where’s the birthday boy?”

Soobin shrugs. “Had to run an errand for his family, apparently. He’ll be back. It’s weird, though, what kind of errand has to be run so close to midnight?”

You turn to the dining table to see Riki’s girlfriend seated on one side, grinning as she watches a bunch of people play some sort of card game on the floor. Sunoo’s amongst them; you can see a tuft of blond hair peeking out from underneath the table. He’s laughing, the light in his eyes back again. Lots of people are clapping him on the back, and he only laughs louder. Watching him like this, in his comfort zone, you realise this is where he belongs. He belongs with people who shine like him, not you, the part of him that has to be hidden away. It’s for the better. It has to be.

So why do you still fantasise being by his side, even now?

Enough is enough. “Soobin, I’m leaving,” you murmur. Your fingers are tightly gripping the hoodie you’re still wearing as you start to zone out. What does it mean, really, that he didn’t ask for it back? “You coming?”

“Yeah, yeah.” You vaguely register him gather his things and follow you out, leaving the raucous party behind you. As you’re leaving, you spot Riki, who’s entering the house with a slight limp. Weird.

You walk down the empty street, the only sound being your footsteps and a few crickets in the bushes. It’s a good time to gather your thoughts, sort your emotions out before you have to talk to Soobin. He’s ridiculously perceptive, and sooner or later he’s gonna notice something’s off.

“Can I ask you a question?”

You jump, feet faltering as you turn to look at him. “Y-yeah?”

“How long have you been with Sunoo?”

This time, you come to a complete stop. “Come again?”

Soobin sighs. “I know, Y/n. You kept staring at him, and he kept staring back.”

“...did he now.”

You wrap your arms around your stomach, looking away. Soobin gets the hint, grimacing slightly. “Didn’t end well, huh?”

That’s all it takes for you to start spilling everything to him. To his credit, he doesn’t seem very judgemental of you, although you can’t really tell from the look on his face. “It’s just…people would say things about us, you know? It’s easier to maintain the status quo than it is to go public with him. So we ended things.”

“So you ended things with him because you didn’t want a taste of his world, and he didn’t want one of yours either?”

“Something like that.”

Soobin is silent for a moment, as if he’s trying to think of what to say. “So at the end of the day, it was pride.”

“What?’

He shrugs. “Pride. You were both too proud to give up what you’d built. In his case, it was his social standing. Yours was your good girl title.” Before you can even protest, he slaps a hand over your mouth. “Deny it all you want, but you know I’m right.”

His statement doesn’t warrant a reply, you know that. He knows you’re not the kind to change your mind easily, but he can at least make you think. And thinking you are. Soobin isn’t wrong, really. In fact, he basically summarised the whole conversation you had with Sunoo, with a lot more honesty. It’s not very comforting. 

As you walk on, the music from the house drops to a soft thrumming, as though it’s saying goodbye. Walk on. Walk on, and don’t look back.

(You looked back once. Then never again.)

a/n pt 2 ➭ YO IF U GOT THIS FAR CONGRATS LMAO thanks for reading!! @stariikis i love u <3 im delivering the nishimura fanservice. tbh idk why i picked soobin, ig he suits the vibes??? couldn’t use the rest of enha cus they all have parts in this series lol. hope u liked this!!!!

[ephedrathirsts]

Treehouses and Car Seats

Synopsis: Childhood best friends reunite. Cigarettes, pot and unaddressed mutual pining- would could possible go wrong?

Contains: friends to lovers trope, smut, handjobs, sub!Hunter x dom! OC, praise kink, weed and cigarette use, fluff at the end, anxious Hunter

Pairing: Hunter Sylvester x Female OC!

Word Count: 3900

It was about a week after the battle of the bands- a glorious moment in time for Skullflower. Thanks to their stellar performance and Hunter's accident they transformed into micro-celebrities, the talk of the town. People were lining up to talk to Emily, Kevin, and Hunter, asking for autographs, acting like they were always friendly with the metalists, as if the entire school wasn't treating them like a bunch of nobodies a minute ago.

They had a lot of attention thrown their way, especially from the female side of the students, and mostly directed at the vocalist and only bachelor of the group, Hunter himself. So it came as little to no surprise when he got stopped in the hallways, getting offers from girls to sign his cast. He was flattered by the newfound popularity even though he knew it wasn't going to be long-lasting, but a good time was a good time right?

One day, just before first bell an unfamiliar face showed up at Hunter's locker while he was talking to Kevin. "No, I'm telling you, ever since the psych ward I'm a changed man- no outbursts, no-nonsense." Hunter was waving his hands around theatrically, slouching, back against the locker door.

"I will believe this once you actually start seeing a therapist. It wouldn't do you any harm, ya know." Kevin replied with a friendly smile and patted him on the shoulder.

"I don't think a shrink that isn't into metal would get my passion. It would be a hard time finding one on the same wavelength as me..." He started before getting cut off by a person that seemingly appeared out of thin air.

"Killer performance in the battle of the bands. It definitely made picking a new school all the easier! Mind if I sign your cast?" Animatedly uttered a girl that looked vaguely familiar while holding up a sharpie and pointing at Hunter's leg with it, asking for permission.

"Thanks... sure, go ahead." He replied distractedly, looking at her with a quizzical expression. She had wild, long hair, frizzy, sticking in many different directions. She was wearing a lot of rings and dangly necklaces, one of which he could have sworn he had seen before. She had a nose piercing and a very striking tattoo of a feather on her collarbone."Do I know you from somewhere?" He asked a bit rushedly, trying to process what he was seeing.

The girl bent down and quickly scribbled something on his leg. "Is that supposed to be a pick-up line, Hunter? Come on, you can do better!" She answered while standing up and straightening out her skirt. "We are classmates after all!" She playfully retorted, winked at him, and disappeared into the crowded hallway.

"What does it say? I can't bend down to look." Hunter looked at his friend for help.

"It's very weird... It says 'i know you were doing it just to look cool' and a kiss emoji thingy... wait... No way! There is absolutely no way!" Kevin paced around in a little circle, massaging his chin, his eyes moving as fast as his thoughts when the puzzle pieces finally came together.

"She looked familiar, didn't she?" Kevin whisper-shouted at Hunter while moving his eyesight from left to right and backward.

"Yeah? So what? She obviously goes to school here. I've seen her around, that's that." Hunter chirped a bit annoyed at his friend, picking at his cuticles to soothe the new bundle of nerves.

"Dude... choosing a new school..." Kevin supplied slowly, moving his eyebrows in a playful motion.

"Yeah..?" Hunter asked, still visibly confused by his friend's display.

"Summer camp... year eight... the treehouse..." Kevin teased, wanting to give a hint instead of spelling out what was already obvious.

"No way...! It can't be... Raven? Is that Raven?" Hunter screamed in shock, bumping his head on the locker door as he did a little jump in place. "Fuck, ouch!" He squeaked through gritted teeth.

The bell rang, making the boys put an end to the conversation, both of them going in opposite directions. Until Hunter screamed again "Corn-pickle!"

A golden rule upheld through the years- one does not evoke corn-pickle unless in great danger, confusion or inner turmoil. It was the safe word, the friends' version of an SOS, and it was reserved for emergencies only.

"You called Emily?" Hunter spat out, irritation written on his face.

"She is my girlfriend, a band mate, and also your friend, even though you like to deny it. She deserves to be here for a corn-pickle situation as much as I do!" Kevin defended while lacing his fingers with Emily's. She gave him a loving look in return.

''Plus getting my perspective would be of help. You, as much as i love and appreciate both of you, are clueless doofuses. You need another point of view. Especially when it comes to something as serious as Hunter's first love returning!" Emily explained in a brisk and knowing manner.

Hunter's face fell, disapproval radiating from him. He fidgeted with his hands and nervously pushed his hair backward. "What?! First love? What do you mean? It's just... It's just... Raven..." He was out of breath, flushed red with both embarrassment and anger.

"Hunter, please, don't lie to yourself. You were head over hills for her. Just because you don't feel comfortable expressing other emotions than your anger doesn't mean I didn't catch you sobbing into your pillow the day she moved" Kevin whispered reassuringly, placed his hand on his friend's shoulder, and gave him a sympathetic look. Hunter quickly shook it off and started drumming on the sinks' countertop with his fingers.

"You weren't supposed to say this out loud, ever! It was a million years ago anyway... It doesn't matter anymore!" The long-haired boy was pouting like a child, avoiding all eye contact and focusing on the tile floor instead.

"Then it wouldn't be a problem for you to... I don't know... Maybe talk to her. She is here after all. It would be just two old friends catching up." Emily suggested

"Look guys, corn-pickle was a fluke, ok. I'm sorry, everything is fine, I'm alright. Plus standing in a triangle formation talking about life in the men's restroom is stressing me out!" Hunter pleaded to be spared from all of the questioning and smug looks.

"See, I told you this is a bad place to hold an intervention." Emily pointed her finger at Kevin's chest.

"Intervention~"

"It's in the name, alright? 'Rest- room'. He was supposed to be... calmer in here." Kevin struck back.

"How does that make any sense?"

"You don't know the intricacies of a corn-pickle situation!"

"This is my first corn-pickle situation!"

The couple screamed at each other, giving Hunter the perfect excuse to run out of the room... Or more so steadily jump out, supporting himself with his crutches.

"Se ya later, losers" he waved at them with a shit-eating grin while they were still arguing heatedly and screaming, too distracted to notice him go.

"And that's why we should have done this at the cafeteria or the football field, but no! It had to be the smelly restroom. Three people used the urinals as we were speaking! Three people..!" Emily stopped, seeing her boyfriend's puzzled grimace.

"What? I'm sorry, are you mad at me? What happened? She asked hushdly, a bit more aware of her previous tone.

"He is gone... he just dipped..."

Hunter was close to furious. He couldn't bare being around people anymore, so naturally, he headed for the parking lot. Driving around with the windows down would help him clear his head, returning to a semi-peaceful place. While he we digging in his pockets, desperately searching for his car keys, he noticed a figure pressed up against the brick wall through his peripheral vision.

He turned around and saw her, listening to music on her headphones, one foot planted on the wall, the other on the ground, with a cigarette between her lips. "Of course It's you" he mumbled to himself, looking around nervously. It didn't seem like she had seen him. There was still time to hide but he decided against it and marched up to her.

Hunter tapped her shoulder so she removes her headphones and pressed his back next to hers. "Are you doing it just to look cool, you little hypocrite!" He coed with an inviting smile.

"I learned from the coolest. Do you want a drag?" She held up the cigarette to him in proposition.

"Yeah... Of course..." He took it from her, grazing her fingers lightly, and put the cancer stick up to his lips, inhaling slowly, dragging smoke out of his mouth...

...And then he started coughing profusely. The girl couldn't contain her laughter. "Still a poser, huh? You should have just said no. This is fine tobacco, you know! My uncle grinded it himself!" She explained accusatorially.

Hunter scratched the back of his neck, looking down at his shoes. "Oh, wow, really? I'm sorry... I just.. I don't know what came over me..."

To the boy's dismay, Raven began giggling to herself yet again. She was shaking and gagging with laughter. All of a sudden Hunter became more alert and entered first stage of panic mode. She punched his shoulder in a teasing manner and took another drag, exhaling the smoke in his face. "I'm messing with you. These babies are store-bought. And you are a singer anyway- I don't want you messing up that beautiful voice of yours."

He felt more at ease now... maybe enough to do something stupid."How did you know about me singing? About the battle of the bands? "

Raven got lost in thought for a moment, trying to get all of the right words out. She knew about Skullflower (previously named Skullfucker) for some time now. She had seen a Facebook page of the group on one of her many Hunter Sylvester online deep dives. But she needed to keep it cool, calm, and collected, so she did:

"I remember this scrawny little boy from a couple of years ago. He had a terrible fringe and he used to lash out at people. He lived on Gatorade and Sour Patch Kids, but he always saved me the red ones. He used to go on and on about making music, about his idols, about metal! He barely paid attention to anything else..." Raven's cheeks became rosier all the more as she revealed her obsession with him. That wasn't her idea of 'cool, calm, and collected' at all, but there was no stopping now.

"...Then one day I was looking through high schools in the area with my parents and I saw this video, the name of this kid written on top. He wasn't a kid anymore, and he definitely wasn't scrawny. He looked like a real rockstar! So I decided this is definitely the school I wanted to attend.. " She felt exposed but continued nonetheless.

"...Until i met him in person and saw he was kind of a poser... Never meet your heroes, I guess." Her shoulders fell down. She put out her cigarette and gave him a cocky smirk.

Hunter was flabbergasted. His heart was beating out of his chest, his palms sweaty and his vision blurry. Raven came there for HIM. She was talking with such passion about HIM. If he weren't none the wiser he would have kissed her right then and there.

"Is this your first day in this shit hole?" He asked instead

"Yeah, it is. Why?" Raven looked a tad confused at his excited expression.

"Wanna skip class?" He suggested, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

"Fuck, shit, I thought you'd never ask!"

Change of plans- no solitary ride, it's a joined ride now, with Raven getting cozy in the passenger seat, lighting cigarette after cigarette and dusting them off out the window. The wind was playing with her hair, humming in tune with her. She was lazily observing the city she once used to call home. She looked like a cat- playful, blissful, and relaxed.

A new song started playing. Hunter reached out to change it and she grabbed his hand in response. "Please don't, I really like this one." She asked softly.

He obeyed, trying hard not to think of her skin touching his. She had taken off her shoes and put her feet up on the front bar of the car, her skirt rising up to reveal more of her thighs. Hunter was finding it particularly hard not to gauge, but he tried his best. They drove together through narrow, hole-filled roads, leading to the woods and put the car in park.

"Do you want to have the best nap of your life?" Raven asked and reached for her bag, fishing something out of it

"What? What do you.." then he saw it, a blunt rolled up in brown, musky paper.

"It's ok if you don't want to, I know this isn't everyone's idea of a good time. But you seemed tense today. I think you need a bit of a break." She explained caringly.

Come to think of it, it wasn't an unreasonable idea. He was amazed by her noting his nervous ticks like he was good at hiding them. He sifted the thought in his mind- laying back on the car seat, next to Raven, touching her fingers in-between puffs, smelling her shampoo, drifting off next to her... It sounded exquisite!

He was ready for a lazy, calm noon with his old hide-and-seek partner. "Sure, what the hell?!" Hunter smiled expectantly.

"That's my boy!" Raven caressed his chin as declaring.

Hunter felt himself lose vision for a minute.

The air was thick with rain, the smell of pine trees and cones. There was the occasional sound of a bird chirping or a squirrel climbing up a tree. The sun had hidden behind a curtain of cottony clouds. It was peaceful, as if time had stopped.

Hunter had forgotten all about the anxiety he once harbored. He was laughing wholeheartedly, talking freely, making jokes, and even throwing a flirty line or two. There was nothing to worry about- no school, no interventions, no people staring at him in the restroom.

He started remembering his childhood, a time he didn't particularly cherish, but what he did cherish were the shared memories, being able to look back and recognize that he has grown somehow, managed to become better.

He returned to the last summer camp he attended, waking up early in the morning, swimming in the lake with his friends, sneaking off to Raven's cabin after curfew, unbeknownst to the councilors. They used to talk for hours and come up with elaborate schemes to make the stay of everyone else a dreadful nightmare.

They were both childish in nature, little menaces, that's why they used to get along so well. Two slightly insecure, slightly douchy kids that spoke the same language, trying to seem more rebellious than they actually were.

"Do you remember the wishing ceremony?" Raven brought up.

"Yeah, it is probably the most wholesome thing i have ever participated in.." He replied lazily.

"Yeah... But you didn't. You were a cheater!" She stuck her tongue out at him and scrunched her nose. "There's nothing wholesome about being a cheater!" Raven demanded.

"What do you mean cheater? You can't cheat at making a wish!" He tried defending himself after the unforeseen attack

"The wishes only come true on one condition though- not denying or failing to complete a dare!" Raven struck again "What did you carve out in the tree trunk? Did it come true?" She was genuinely interested.

He searched around in his mind. The truth was much too revealing to say aloud so he offered the best next thing he could muster."I wrote that i wanted to be the leader of a successful band.. i guess it's happening... Maybe..." He pushed himself back into the seat and distractedly played with the ends of the girl's hair.

"You know you're gonna jinx yourself if you don't complete the dare soon. You're gonna jinx your dream!" Raven pointed at his chest with her finger

"You are right! Fuck... What was the dare... I don't remember anymore..." Hunter yawned.

"You have to pick up where you left off at the treehouse. We already established you aren't a smoker. No excuses now...no reason to try to impress me with silly antics..."

It came back to him in a flash. The story was charming if not a little embarrassing. All of the preteens had gathered in a circle, playing truth or dare, but nobody was picking truth because it was for 'wusses'. When it came to Hunter's turn, his friend tried to do him the ultimate favor- Kevin dared him to kiss Raven.

He got very agitated and nervous. He explained he didn't want to kiss his 'bro', he didn't want to catch cooties and everything. To alleviate his distress, Raven suggested they go up into the treehouse, so there wasn't any added pressure from the others.

When they climbed up, Hunter began fidgeting with his fingers, trying to find a distraction. He told Raven he wasn't anxious at all. He told her he was only experiencing nicotine withdrawal.

The girl dug in her pocket and gave him a curious-looking stick. "My dare was to steal something from Sandy's room." She offered the cigarette to her friend.

Hunter sighed, thanked her, and lit up the cancer stick with shaking hands. It tasted atrocious and the smoke made his chest heavy, but he had committed to his bit.

"I never realized you were this cool nicotine addict. Smoke your cigarette, then we can climb back down and tell everyone we did it. I don't want to kiss a person that tastes like an ashtray!" Raven proposed, knowing the boy was struggling.

"I'm not doing this to be cool, I have a problem alright!" Hunter screeched, voice cracking in the process. He was relieved. He looked to Raven with gratitude and put out the cigarette the minute she wasn't looking.

Hunter became painfully aware of his body, his hands shaking, his stomach tying in knots... And his member twitching.

Raven had gotten out of her seat and positioned herself on his lap, her chest pressed up against his, her thighs fully exposed to him. He was engulfed in her scent. He could see all of the little freckles on her face, how close her glossy lips were to his.

She grabbed his chin, making him look directly into her eyes, and whispered into his mouth. "I won't tell anyone you're a cheater, I just don't want this weighing on your conscience."

He put his hands on her hips timidly and pulled her closer. "Should i... Do you want me to..?" He whispered back.

Raven grazed Hunter's bottom lip with her thumb and nodded in response. Their lips came together quickly, a peck. Hunter opened his eyes and cursed a little "ah, fuck it!", pulled the girl close in again and kissed her for real.

Raven's lips parted slowly and Hunter's tongue delved in. They were making patterns in each other's mouths, kissing hungrily, gripping on clothes, exploring each other's bodies. Raven began rocking her hips on top of him ferociously. Hunter returned the favor by bucking his hips upward, hitting her sweet spot with his member.

He was as hard as a rock and horny beyond comprehension. They pulled apart for air, chests heaving. It was sticky in the car, hot and sweaty. Hormones were drifting around into the night air.

Hunter bent down again to go in for another kiss but Raven stopped him. "You did it, pretty boy, no need to do any more work now, let me take care of it," she said and pulled on the roots of his hair. He whimpered in response.

Raven licked a strip down Hunter's neck and blew on it. She began sucking on his jaw, on his neck and collarbones, while humping him at a rapid pace. Hunter was dumbfounded, his underwear already drenched with precum. His dick was twitching hard beneath Raven's core and she relished every little moment of it.

She hovered her hand over Hunter's bulge. "Mind if I help you?"

He huffed and groaned a throathy "please".

The girl palmed his cock, feeling it out in her hand through the fabric of his jeans. She brushed it with her fingers and slowly unzipped him.

"Do you want me to make you come, pretty boy? Do you want my hand on your cock?" Raven asked not even trying to cover her lust for him

"Mhm" he moaned.

"Use your words, handsome! Otherwise, I won't know what you want." She teased again

"It's embarrassing" he turned his ruby face away

"How could it be embarrassing when you're so hot, writhing under me? Be a good boy, good boys always get rewarded" she purred into his ear.

He couldn't pretend anymore. He wanted her to drain him dry. "Please, fuck me with your hand!" He groaned and faced her again.

"Such a sinful little boy..." Raven spat on her hand and started pumping him fast. She bit on his neck, sloppily leaving marks along the way. Hunter was moaning hard, surrendering all control to his master. He could feel her cold rings stroking his shaft, her fingers toying with him.

Raven smeared the precum leaking out of his dick over his tip with her thumb, and cupped his balls with her other hand.

"Do you want to kiss me still, pretty boy?" she breathed into his mouth.

Hunter lowered his head and collided with the girl, his groans stifling in the kiss. He was sucking on her tongue passionately, bucking his hips upward yet again to fuck her fist, expecting the incoming irruption.

Raven broke away from the kiss. She knew he needed one last push. "If you are so needy for my hand, I can only imagine how fast you'd come when you're balls deep in my pussy." She giggled

That was the nail in the coffin- Hunter was thrusting into her hand, bursting all over her fingers, riding out the best high of his life. Raven was still pumping him hard, milking out each and every drop.

"Wasn't so hard now, was it? Good boys get to come, scared ones just smoke a pocketed cigarette in a treehouse." She smirked and stroked Hunter's hair, putting the strands sticking to his forehead back in place.

"If I knew you were going to do this, I would have begged you a long time ago." He chuckled and cleaned her hand with a tissue. She was staring down at him, still on his lap, a victorious expression adorning her features.

"Thank you for helping my dream come true," he said timidly

"That was just an excuse, I already know you'll be incredibly successful, you are an amazing player!" She caressed his cheek.

"That wasn't what I carved into the tree trunk. I just wanted you..." Hunter confessed

"I'm here now, here to stay" she answered reassuringly and kissed his temple.

[aquariius-rising]

Lavender Latte (Shikamaru x reader)

Thinking about a slow burn situationship with Shikamaru Nara, who you meet during your first year at university. I got carried away with the mutual pining, but I’d like to eventually make this into a series of fics that can also be read as standalones.

feat: fem!reader, university student! reader, fluff, angst, comfort, mutual pining, two idiots in love

wc: 2.4k | masterlist

It was a general education class, which had little to do with your major, but you were determined to maintain a perfect GPA. Shikamaru did not care too much about GPA, he just wanted to graduate (D’s do get degrees, after all). 

On the first day of class, he was the last person to arrive. The only seat available to him was up front, next to you. You smiled at him and passed him an extra copy of the syllabus, which you saved in case someone came in late. He mumbled a quiet thank you. 

He found your attitude grating at first, especially since the class was at 9am. He couldn’t understand how you managed to show up early, eyes bright and well-rested with your color coded notes that you took ahead of each lecture. 

You answered every discussion question and hosted study sessions in your dorm room. Shikamaru, on the other hand, showed up late (if he showed at all). He didn’t talk unless he had to, and he certainly didn’t take notes. You were sunshine in human form, and Shikamaru preferred to stay in the shadows. 

When he showed up 15 minutes late one morning, he noticed that you’d saved his seat and left an energy bar with a smiley sticker on it. A sticker! 

‘Tch. troublesome.’ 

He cursed you for being so sweet, but the lazy man made a point to grab your favorite coffee as a thank you for the next class. He scoffed at your order, a flowery latte with plant milk. 

‘Women,’ he muttered to himself, ordering it and a black coffee for himself. 

Despite your differences, the two of you got along.

You only see each other in the context of the single class you share, but you make a powerful study team. The rest of the class, sensing that they could never keep up with your high energy and his intellect, slowly stopped showing up to your sessions. 

Noticing this, Shikamaru began to come each week. Eventually, you two had a private study session. You tell him you need an A in this class because you want to apply to law school, and for some reason he decides he wants to help you get there. Your grades soared, and Shikamaru found himself making a point to get to class only 5 minutes late.

His group of friends teased him about it every time they met for a kickback. Since when do you care about gen eds? They’d ask. Shikamaru could only curse at them and roll his eyes. 

Your friends were equally confused. They couldn’t understand why you’d spend time with a slacker like Shikamaru. You laughed them off, assuring them that he’s actually the smartest person you’ve ever met, and that he’s just waiting until his higher level classes start next year.

Exam week looms over campus like a thick fog. You were especially anxious to set the best foundation for your academic performance, which is why you were camping in the library. You spent a solid 6 hours staring at your textbooks, willing your brain to understand what you were reading. 

“The answer is C,” a voice drawled behind you, startling you back to reality. And there he was, smirking down at your disheveled appearance, your latte in hand. 

He’s never seen you so flustered, and for a moment, he wondered what else could make you look like that. He wanted to be the one to tousle your hair and make you stare up at him with those wide eyes. A slight blush crosses his face and he averts his gaze. You don’t notice. 

He offers the caffeine to you and you accept it, your eyes filled with gratitude and he settles in a seat beside you for a quick tutoring session. It helps, and you try in vain to offer anything in return. 

You both get the highest grades in the class, of course. Your friends go out for a night to celebrate and to loosen up after 16 weeks of focusing on classes, volunteering, and internships. They meet you in your tiny dorm room with 2 bottles of cheap red wine and dress you in your roommate’s old little black dress before sneaking out to a bar on campus.

The smell of cigarette smoke mixes with greasy pub food, and you can’t maneuver around the space without bumping into someone. The experience is equal parts mortifying and exhilarating.

Shikamaru notices you walk in. He’s surprised you’d come to this shitty establishment since he’s never seen you out during the regular semester. He puts out his cigarette and ambles toward you, ignoring his friends’ prying questions. 

You beam when you meet his gaze, and emboldened by the unfamiliar territory, you offer to buy him a drink. To make up for all the coffees he got you, of course. Shikamaru lets out a laugh at this. 

‘Troublesome woman,’. You giggle at the nickname and loop your arm with his, dragging him to the bar. Your shoes stick to the linoleum flooring, making your inebriated steps clumsier. 

He steadies you, rolling his eyes despite the mirth dancing in his eyes. You let him order for both of you since you don’t know what you like, and he hands you a yellow drink. The bartender smirks knowingly at Shikamaru, and you quietly pay and offer a meek “thank you”. 

His eyes drink in the way your hair sticks to your neck and the soft sheen of sweat that gathers at your hairline, causing the tiny hairs there to curl from the moisture. You smell like summertime, citrus and wildflowers. It cuts through the heavy smell that lingers around the venue. 

“Tequila pineapple,” he offers. You look at him with slight confusion. 

“Your drink. It’s not a real cocktail since this isn’t a real bar, but it works,” he said simply. You thank him again and try it. It burns, of course, but the pineapple juice offers sweet relief. He laughs at your attempt to drink without wincing. 

Your friends find you before you can talk properly and you follow them to the dancefloor, careful not to spill on anyone. You shoot him an apologetic glance before getting lost in the fervor around you. It’s sweaty and maybe a little gross, but the tequila makes it difficult for you to concentrate fully. 

Shikamaru returned to his friends, his beer half finished. Lately, your conversations have left him feeling uneasy. He’d hoped it was because of exams but he knew what was happening. Every shared laugh, every conspiratorial look, felt like a punch to his gut. It was a tangled mess of emotions he was ill-equipped to deal with. 

He tried to pay attention to whatever Kiba was talking about, but his eyes kept flickering to you. Eventually, Choji followed his gaze to your form. 

"So that’s why you’re up at 8AM on Mondays?" Choji asked, darting between his childhood friend and you. The rest of the group, sensing a juicy conversation taking place, turned to face you too. Kiba whistled, causing Naruto to burst in a fit of laughter.   

“It’s not like that,” he muttered, watching some guy wrap his arm around your waist and whisper something in your ear. The dazzling smile you give him in response could have stopped Shikamaru’s heart. His hand tightens around his beercan, denting it a bit. Choji looks at him, sympathy clear on his face. 

You swayed, holding onto someone’s shoulder for extra stability. The air around you was electric. You hummed in tune with the music, loud and overpowering. 

A guy from your political science class, Sasuke was it?, approaches you. He tells you he was impressed with your final project, making you blush. He was handsome, but the connection between you was friendly. He leans into you and asks you about your roommate and you grin, ecstatic to play matchmaker. 

You grab your roommate to introduce her, but she surprises you with her own observation. 

“He keeps staring,” 

You blink, once, twice. She motions for you to turn around, so you spin dramatically. Your friends groan at your lack of subtlety. You lock eyes with Shikamaru, who finishes his drink without breaking eye contact. A shiver races down your spine.  

Shikamaru Nara didn’t like girls with so much energy. Shikamaru Nara will never put in the effort to date. You knew this, but the hours you spent together made it impossible to ignore the way you craved his attention. 

Frozen on the dancefloor, all you can do is watch as he leaves the bar. The night continues, wholly unaware of your pity party. 

Shikamaru stalks toward the exit, ignoring the calls from Choji and pushing past drunk people more forcefully than he should. He needed air. Stepping outside, he leaned against the brick wall, a cigarette dangling unlit from his lips. The cold air felt welcome after being in the hot and humid bar for the last 2 hours. 

He groaned and searched his coat pocket for his lighter. It was unfair how much you affected him. He hasn’t felt quite like himself for months, and you seemed to be completely oblivious to the effect you had on every fiber of his being. 

Taking a long drag of his cigarette, Shikamaru reflects on just how much he wishes he could say something to you. He has no idea if he’ll see you again once he left campus for winter break since you were going to be in different programs. 

Tonight felt like a gift until you were ripped from him by circumstance. He hears commotion near the exit, so he turns to the source of noise. His heart rate skyrockets when he sees you, searching for something. 

You talk to the bouncer, but the wind makes it difficult for him to hear your words. The burly man motions in his direction, and you see him. You start to head in his direction with that same dazzling smile. 

He offers you his cigarette and you laugh. Of course you don’t smoke, but he wanted to break the ice somehow. There’s a heaviness that lingers between you both. And for once, he notices, you seem to realize it too. 

You shiver, December weather finally penetrating your liquid jacket. He shrugs out of his jacket and offers it to you, ever the gentleman. It’s hard not to swoon when he treats you so sweetly. 

The jacket smells like smoke and his cologne, a distinctly masculine scent. You nuzzle the collar and inhale, earning a laugh from your normally stoic companion. The sound sends goosebumps over your skin. He tells you the dress looks good on you, that it makes you look cool with his jacket. He asks you how it feels to go out for the first time. You retreat into the jacket, but will yourself to respond. 

"It's...different," you admit, the words muffled by fabric. You weren't sure if you meant the change in style or the shift in your dynamic that you both seem to be acknowledging tonight. 

Shikamaru chuckles again,"Good different, I hope?"

You meet his gaze, the playful teasing you usually shared replaced by a hesitant vulnerability. "Different...and confusing."

He pushes off the wall, shoving his hands into his pockets. 

"Confusing?" He echoes, his voice a low murmur. He looks dangerous and you gulp despite yourself.

"You," you blurted, surprised by your own boldness. "You looked upset. And then you were gone,"

Shikamaru flinches, a flicker of something akin to embarrassment crossing his face, seeming to wrestle with the right words. You take a step closer to him. 

There was a beat of silence, thick with emotion. Finally, Shikamaru sighs.

 "Look," he mumbles, scratching the back of his neck, a nervous habit you noticed on the first day of class. "Don't get the wrong idea about… back there."

You feel the moment slipping away before you’ve said what you’ve been too afraid to say for 4 months. You reach for him, desperate to prevent him from sabotaging what they had before they could confess to each other. 

“Sasuke was interested in my roommate. He’s my friend,” you say, firmly. 

He meets your gaze, the air crackling between you, tension reaching a fever pitch.  "This isn't..." He paused again, frustration evident in his furrowed brow. "This isn't how I thought things would be. I hoped to tell you before now, I guess"

Your heart hammers against your ribs. Did he just...? But before you can press him further, a mischievous grin spreads across his face. "Besides," he continues, a hint of his usual playfulness returning, "You wouldn’t want to waste your time with a troublesome guy like me, would you?"

The playful tease sent a wave of relief and confusion washing over you. Before you could decipher his mixed signals, he flicked his cigarette butt onto the ground, an almost defeated sigh escaping his lips.

"Come on," he said, offering you his arm. "Let's get you back inside before you freeze."

You hesitate for a moment, the weight of his unspoken words hanging heavy in the air. Then, with a small smile, you grab his hand, intertwining your fingers with his. Before nerves can convince you otherwise, you brush your lips against his.  Time stands still as he takes a step toward you, deepening the kiss for a second longer before parting. Your breath heaves from excitement and he swears he could cry tears of joy. 

“Okay, now let’s go back,” you whisper against his lips. He nods, unable to say anything. 

You join him inside, this time meeting his friends. 

Choji watches Shikamaru joke with you, his demeanor more excited than he’s ever seen. And you stare up at him, the depths of your feelings obvious to everyone but the two of you. Even Kiba, normally the jokester and playboy, can’t help but smile at your obvious chemistry. 

Sasuke buys everyone in both groups a round, as a thank you for setting him up with your roommate. Despite your differences, everyone chatters excitedly about their upcoming plans during break and your schedules for next semester. 

You have no idea what the future holds, or what tonight means for you and him, but you decide not to think about it for now as you take a sip of your second tequila pineapple. 

Shikamaru never thought a troublesome 9AM class would inspire gratitude, but looking at you tucked beside him warmed him like a sip of perfectly brewed coffee on that fateful morning.

[just-some-random-blogger]

Hello! I feel un gran oso (shame, cringe, etc) for this, but I wanted to request a morpheus one shot hehe. I just NEED this situation to be written or something cause in my opinión its ✨✨

Based on the song Ballroom of Romance of Celtic Woman, where the reader is a human that somehow fell into morpheus grace, and as such she can enter the Dreaming every time she wants through a earring that morpheus crafted, and she wants to celebrate the Day of the Book or the day of the Librarian in honor to Lucienne, and for unknown reasons she gets permission to make a ballroom and well, a lot of dancing and a beautiful dress and Morpheus from his throne like: 🙂 (💓💓💓)

Mutual pining of course ✨

Thank you very much, have a nice day/noon/night!

Here's the song;

😊

Granny's Superstitions

Dream of the Endless x College Student!Reader

Summary: Your grandmother told you stories of how her grandmother was friends with the King of Dreams. You didn't think much of it, not even when you inherited your great-great grandmother's earrings on your 18th birthday. I mean, why would you? They did not correlate. And yet, your granny should have told you it did, so you weren't so surprised when you found yourself in the halls of the Dreaming.

Word Count: 5k+

Warnings: Dark post capture!Dream, fem!reader, themes of misogyny, exasperated college student!reader, reader has a potty mouth, angst, enemies to lovers(?), typos, etc.

A/N: this was an exciting request! I love that you even added a song <3 I enjoyed it very much!! The syncopation in the chorus, its UGH SAUR GOOD. Because of this, I made reader a music major, like me HIHI. I will say, this became quite a dark and angsty fic and for that 😅 im sorry ig. ALSO I CHANGED SO MUCH ABOUT YOUR PROMPT I- ASODHASFOIAHFAHSF:HASF I do hope you still enjoy it my dear T_T [CRIES] IDK WHY I DID THIS TO YOUR REQUEST AND MYSELF IT WAS THE EARRINGS I HYPERFIXATED ON IT AND EVERYTHING JUST WENT BOOM T_T this is literally escapism PS the character Tim Henson in this fic is real, he's from a band called polyphia, which I love, and you don't have to imagine him as Tim, but I sure did LOL

I was effectively buzzed by the alcohol in my blood stream, and yet no amount of booze would make the unwanted stares from my classmates ever palatable.

Had I known making an effort in dressing up would merit the reaction I got for attending this party I didn't even want to attend in the first place, then they should all be glad that I wasn't in fashion department but in music.

Yet another rando turned to me and smiled, complimenting my outfit, to which I forced out a chuckling thank you.

I don't know why they're so upset that the guy they liked thought I was hot! It's not like it's my fault I got attention I didn't want.

I huffed as I pushed the restroom door open. I wash my hands as I stare at my face in the mirror. I behold the efforts I put on painting my face, on doing and redoing my liner, on perfecting the color on my lips.

I clench my jaw tightly at the feel of tears pricking from my eyes.

I thought they were my friends, finally I had friends, and yet all it took was one guy to ruin all that.

I close the faucet and lean on sink, releasing a sigh. I look at my reflection, watching the sapphire earrings dangle by my jaw.

I scoff at myself. I wore my heirlooms for them?

"Gosh, I miss home," I say, screwing my eyes shut as I straighten myself up. I begin to fidget with the small jewels on my lobes and head for the door. "Who cares if I leave early," I pull the door open, "no one's gonna-"

My ghost leaves me and I still when I see the dark expanse of the hall. There was no way this was the room I just exited, no way it was a dark, high-fricking-ceiling hall with marble floors, and massive stained glass windows that were broken. There was no way because there was not a single piece of furniture or intoxicated student in sight, only debris.

From my frozen stance, I push my hand behind me in an attempt to catch the knob I just let go. When I turn, my heart drops when I am faced with the fact I was in the middle of an empty hall with no door in sight.

Did they drug me?

I begin to pant as I do a 360 of the area.

I choke on my spit and go reeling back when I see a dark face in front of me. I am not nearly fast enough in my movements as the man's large strides allow him to quickly catches me in his tight grip.

"How have you come here, intruder?"

His voice is impossibly loud and deep that it seemed it was spoken by the very room itself. My hands dart up to cover my ears, but his grip on my biceps prevented that.

I open my mouth to speak, but the furrow of his brows and the tension of his jaw bring render me mute.

His darkened blue eyes widen a fraction. He scoffs, "I see. You are a thief."

My brows knit at the accusation.

He steps closer, fingers digging into my flesh, "what did you wish to achieve with those earrings?"

A shiver runs down my spine and I begin to stutter.

"What did you do to its owner?" his voice demands, going an octave lower. My eyes widen when his form begins to grow larger and the room begins to darken, "did you hurt her?"

My sight begins to blur with fearful tears when his pale skin disappears into nothingness, "I never met my her! She was dead before my mother was even born!"

"What?!" his voice echoes, seemingly endlessly.

"I NEVER MET GRANNY JOSEPHINE!" I scream, "I just inherited the earrings, I swear!"

When his form begins to revert, I decide it was do or die. I break away from his grip and manage free. However, when I pull away from him, I fall on my butt and freeze at the pain. I crawl away from him as far and as fast as I can, but as much as I didn't want to, I halt when pain shoots up from my palm. I pull my hand toward me and find blood on it.

"You are her progeny," he says.

When my eyes dart back to him, he is just a man in with black hair and a trench coat.

My pulse quickens when he walks over to me.

In an act of self preservation, I grab a concrete rock nearby and throw it to him as hard and best as I can. I goes right through his form and my eyes blow wider than they already are.

I push myself back, through the pain and blood on my palms, "STAY AWAY FROM ME! I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU WANT BUT-"

"I apologize," his voice mutters, silencing me in pure bewilderment.

I look up to the man and examine his face and his outstretched hand.

He cannot possibly believe I would take that.

I prefer the pain of pushing myself up and make sure not to break eye contact with him as I do. Once I am back to my feet, the man looks at me then the blood dripping from my fingers.

"What the fuck are you?" I shudder out, slowly backing away from him.

His eyes lift back to me and he raises his nose, "I am the King of Dreams."

My body trembles at his words. My hands shake as I chuckle in disbelief, "no way- no fucking way. My grandmother- those bedtime stories- you're-"

"Real?" he finishes for me, "as real as your blood staining my floors."

My eye twitches at his remark. I scoff, still on edge, and yet I cannot withhold the retort in the back of my throat, "you're annoyed by my blood dripping when your your filthy floor?"

The Dream king seems not to enjoy that comment and yet I could not help myself, "my blood is the least of your problems, don't you think?"

I grip my injured hand.

"Leaving unwanted traced of yourself is not good for my domain."

I raise my brows at that, "well if you didn't shapeshift and scare the living shit out of me, then maybe I wouldn't have had to crawl away from you."

"I thought you were an intruder."

"But aren't you all knowing, or some shit," I heave, "so much for a king."

"You dare insult me in my own abode right after I've scared you out of your wits?"

I dare a step forward, "well to be humbled, your majesty, for bringing me here just to intimidate me-"

"I did not bring you here," he cuts me off, diminishing the space between us.

And though my pulse was loud in my ears, I remained steadfast in my place.

His hot breath hits my face as he speaks, "you thought of the Dreaming and travelled here yourself."

I pull my face back as it contorts, "I did not think of this hellhole. I thought of home."

"Yes, and this place is a home for all who are weary."

I hum, "you mean before it crumbled to the ground."

My breath hitches at the sound of his growl, "you inherited not an ounce of congeniality from your great-great grandmother."

The way he knows how far off granny Josephine was to me really struck a chord in me. I press my lips together, "well, I'm glad to have disappointed you so soon so that you wouldn't expect anything from me."

He bellows, "mortality never loses its audacity," he brings his face down to me, making my skin rise with gooseflesh, "I would withdraw the earrings you clearly do not deserve, but out of respect to Josephine, I shall allow you to keep it," he seethes, "but for your insolence you will know how much of a king I really am."

BUZZ.

BUZZ.

BUZZ.

BUZZ.

BUZZ.

BUZZ.

BUZZ.

BUZZ.

I slam my hand on my alarm and rip my heavy lids open.

I groggily groan as I struggle out of bed.

Ten days it's been since the last time I slept properly. If falling asleep wasn't the problem, then it was trying to wakeup from the horrible nightmares that plagued me.

I slam my books on my desk, making my seatmate turn to me and watch as I sit down next to him.

"Well, good morning to you too, zombie girl," Tim greets with a shit eating grin.

"I am not in the mood, you ass," I grunt, crossing my arms as I lean back on my chair.

"You haven't been in the mood for two weeks," he says, "Don't you think you should do something about it?" he leans on the table and knits his brows in concern.

I wipe my face and give an annoyed chuckle, "what can I do when I'm literally beefing with the king of dreams," I carefully word, "and nightmares."

"Poetic," he rests his hands on the back of his tattooed hand, "a true sign of insanity."

"Go fucking annoy someone else, you rat."

"Nah, if I do, you'll be lonelier than you are."

I shoot him a dirty look as he then places something in front of me.

I look at the grey packet as he explains, "sleeping pills."

I turn back to him and push the medicine away, "don't work. I've tried."

He raises a brow, "without prescription?"

"There is such a thing a over the counter drugs, Tim."

"Spoken like a true druggie."

I scoff.

He continues, "this was why I told you not to attend that snobby party. You ever noticed that ever since then, you've gotten fucked up in the brain. It's no coincidence."

"Again, thank you captain obvious," I slam my hands on the table and turn to him, feeling my head pulse in exhaustion, "and so sorry that not everyone can be a cool and popular as you."

"Why'd you even wanna make friends with them when you-"

"SHUT UP!" I scream, making the entire class turn to me. I feel embarrassment rise up my neck, and was only lucky that our teacher wasn't here yet. I sink down into my arms and bury my face as I mutter, "Enough. Enough! I get it, Tim. 'I told you so.' Geez, just get off my ass."

He calls my name, making me groan, "I'll do something about my insomnia! Just please, shut the fuck up."

"You better," he scoffs, "or else I'll plant a pea shooter in your lawn."

And so later that day, I did what I perhaps I should have the very moment after I met the Dream King.

I called my grandmother.

"Hi, granny," I smiled, holding my phone up to my face as I waved at the harshly zoomed face of my grandmother on the screen.

"How are you there?" she excitedly answers, "I'm so glad you thought to call."

I nod and chuckle, "me too, granny."

She takes a moment before responding, "you look tired. Have you been sleeping and eating well."

"Yeah, about that..."

After explaining everything to her, her voice grills the audio of my device because of how loud it is, "HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO DREAM OF THE ENDLESS?!"

"Granny, that-"

"YOU MUST APOLOGIZE TO HIM AT ONCE-"

"I think we're past apologies. I have to do something more to make it up to him if I'm to ever sleep well again."

"Darn straight," she mutters in agreement, "now, oh goodness, let's see..." she sighs and wipes her face, "PIE!"

I raise a brow, "pie?!"

"My grandmother absolutely loved baking and everyone who ate her apple crumble pie adored-"

"Hello," a voice calls, making me turn to whom spoke. I see a woman with glasses walking over to me and I give an awkward smile as I raise the tray in my hand, "hi... is Dream here?" Once she is before me, she takes in my appearance then raises a finger, "ah, you're the one who inherited the Sapphire Dream Walk." "... do you mean my earrings?" "Yes. I-" "What are you doing here, girl?" I look over my shoulder and see the annoyed expression on the Dream of the Endless, as my grandmother put. "A peace offering," I release a sigh and hand him the tray, "my grandmother said that granny Josephine made you pie and you so enjoyed." The two of them only stare at me. "It's most definitely not as good-" "Lucienne, I don't have time for this," he says, turning to the woman who greeted me. Dream turns about and debris from the room begins to float up. Lucienne places a hand on my arm then gratefully accepts the tray from me, "I thank you on behalf of my master for your most generous gift."

"Yeah, that's not gonna work," I sigh, running my hands through my hair, "I did not inherit any homemaker skills."

My grandmother says my name gravely.

"What? It's true!" I shake my head, "if I did, then I would have been better off marrying a rich man," I dryly joke.

My grandmother ignores this as she suddenly says, "if your baking skills are that bad, perhaps just make an effort to eat with him every lunch."

I make a twisted face, "you want me to waste my precious free time on that emo prick-"

"Hi," I raise a hand, making Dream and Lucienne, who seemed to be getting into a heated argument, halt and turn to me. Dream scoffs, "you again." I awkwardly chuckle and rub my arm. "What? No bribe this time?" he narrows his eyes at me as he walks over. I purse my lips and twist to reveal my backpack, "I bought lunch for all of us..." There is a sound of thunder from the outside. I look away from the stalking man, finding there was even less debris now compared to yesterday, "it seems your efforts to liven up the place are-" "Silence."

"Oh, so you have a better idea?!" my grandmother quips.

"Granny, I can already imagine-"

"You said," I grip my earlobes tightly in my fingers, "you wouldn't take my earring back for the sake of Josephine." "But that was before," he presses close to me that our bodies were nearly touching, "you were turned out to be a meddlesome insect." "How is being friendly to someone who clearly needs friends meddlesome?" "Friends?" his deep voice darkly chuckles, "it is you who needs friends," his voice echoes, "you think I did not sift through your memories to verify your words? I know well the day you came here you were at a party on the pretense of making companionship," he leans in that his nose nearly touches mine, "but they turned you away, did they not?" My eyes glass at his words and my breathing grows jagged at the words he next spoke. "If your fellow mortals do not want you, what makes you think that I would?" "My lord!" Lucienne calls. I do not grant him the satisfaction of another moment of my time and will myself back to my room.

"-how bad it'll be-"

I hold up a cupcake in a plastic container to the man who was reading on his throne. "Your insolence knows no bounds, girl." "Actually, it's chocolate chip cheesecake." He eyes me darkly, slamming his book closed, "you think you can win me over with food?" "I can tr-" "It is by my own power than I am sustained," he stands and swats my cupcake away, "and by my mercy that you have not slipped into madness." I gulp as he adds, "not yet."

"-if I force myself-"

I try to contain my giggles as Lucienne and I sit on a picnic blanket I bought for today. "It's so weird to know that without him, Bach would've never finished his most famous piece, which is so gentle and sweet and-" I finish with a whisper, "unlike your boss." She sighs as her lips press into a soft smile, "you know... he's not actually that bad. He's just... going through something." I roll my eyes, "what puberty?" Lucienne shakes her head "he has been hurting for a long time." "Just because you've hurt doesn't justify the hurt you inflict on others," I mutter, "you don't have to keep defending your petty king." Dream, who had just finally fixed and tidied the last of the rubble, speaks up "you are aware there is no such thing as hushed whispers in my realm?" He turns to us and walks over with a storm cloud over his head, "every crude remark you've uttered as you stuff your face with your cheap, store bought snacks has echoed in my ears." I look up at him, opening my mouth, but Lucienne's hand grabbing mine silences me. "If you wish to insult me as retribution, then perhaps I should darken your mind more than I already have." "Dream! She has not-" "I've had enough of you as well, Lucienne," he quips, "you tell her things that is not yours to tell." "But you have withheld rest from her, my lord!" she says as she stands, "and for what? Because she told you the realm was in shambles, when it clearly was?!" "I shall heed none of your flippant words and continue to do so as I see fit."

"-to hang around him when he clearly doesn't like me!" I exclaim, already frustrated by the idea.

"Then, do something you like... together."

I release a sigh.

"Perform for him, you are a musician after all, and he is every musician's muse."

Lucienne claps as I release a sigh and allow my guitar to rest on my shoulder on its strap. "A splendid performance indeed," she smiles at me. I awkwardly thank her and turn to Dream beside her. "Pitiful that talents are wasted on a girl as unsavory as she." I shake my head and release a scoff, "aren't you tired of being an asshole?" His lips curl in disgust, "perhaps nightmares aren't enough. Maybe taking your voice-" "You think just because you're powerful and fucking old, all your actions are justified?" I remove the guitar strap and begin to put it back in its case, "I just want to sleep! And I've been making an effort to pacify you, but you're acting like a child." "I'm acting like a-" "THEN I'M ACTING LIKE A CHILD, DAMMIT," I heave, "and you are the perfect Dream of the Endless!" I get on my knees and bow to him mockingly, "none could defy his will."

"Granny, that's-"

"Oh! I've got it. I've got it! I remember. The king is absolutely fond of ballroom dances. Perhaps you can convince him to allow you to plan a dance for him."

"Granny, where would I even plan such a thing?"

"The dreaming of course," I press my lips into a smile, watching Dream's dark face eye me impatiently. "I've had quite enough of your games, girl," he snips, "first you bribe me with food, now you're trying to fool me into dancing with you." "What-" I whine, "is it going to take-" I huff, "for your petty ass to forgive me." He scoffs, "well perhaps you could start by dropping the unnece-" "But I have! I did! I tried being nice, but you do nothing but attack me." He scoffs, "and if that were true then you would not be sufferings still." "I JUST WANT TO SLEEP!" I scream, lunging at him as I grab his stupid collar, "you have NO idea what it feels like to be so tired but restless." "I think I would know-" "BUT YOU DON'T! Because you don't need sleep, or food, or anything! You are just an all powerful monster, devoid of emotions and any sense of compassion." He shoves my hands off him and I pull back as I heave. Dream tilts his head at my tear stained face with disdain. "Lucienne told me you were captured-" "It was not her place to tell you anything." "You would know what it feels like to be trapped!" I release a shudder, "or perhaps you are so caught up in your own self-pity that you will never believe anyone else can suffer, at your cruel hands, no less."

I slam my head on the cafeteria table repeatedly until I feel my forehead sting. I feel tears prick my eyes in frustration.

I just want to sleep.

"I just wanna sleep, you royal douche bag-" I whimper, "can you fucking hEAR ME-"

"Hey!" someone catches my forehead, mid head bang, and I crane my neck up to see the worries and breathless face of my classmate, "where have you been? I haven't seen you at lunch in forever."

I groan and straighten up, just to slump down on my chair and rub my eyes in frustration. "I'm so fucking tired, Tim."

"Yeah, no shit," he says, right as the sound of a chair being dragged back fills my ears, "you look like shit."

I let out a whimper, unable to withhold the tears from my eyes, "you think I don't fucking know that?"

I break down against my palms, incapable of keeping my emotions in anymore. Tim stiffens at the sight and lets out a string of curses before placing a hand on my shoulder, "I didn't mean to-"

"Look, if you're here to annoy me too, just leave, Tim."

"What?"

I rip my hands away and look at him with my wet eyes, "I don't know why you're here, but just leave!"

He scoffs, "you don't know why I'm here?" He crosses his arms, "well maybe because I'm worried about you?! Because we're friends?!"

"..."

His brows furrow, "how's that, asshole?"

"... we're... friends?"

Tim's face twists, "are you fucking stupid for real?"

I don't get to reply as my name is suddenly called. I turn to my side and feel my blood still at the face before me.

"You called me," Dream says, turning from me to Tim, "are you in trouble?"

I still and turn between the two, as an incredulous chuckle leaves my throat, "now hold on," I scoff, "hold on just a damn second."

Dream turns back to me and I peer up at him, "are you trying to tell me that you came here because you thought I called you and that I was in some sort of trouble."

"You did call me," he mutters, completely ignoring the rest of what I just said, "I am not one to lie."

Tim turns to me as I laugh. His face is warry as when I stand from my seat. The serious expression Dream's face disturbs me and I chuckle yet again.

"I'm so sorry," I place a hand on my chest, "where are my manners? I should introduce you two first: Tim, Dream, Dream, Tim," I turn to the latter, "you wanna know where I go at lunch? This is the Dream Lord I've been duking it out with every time."

Tim rises from his seat, grabbing my arm.

It seems, Dream does not take kindly to this and shows it by stepping close to the man. As Tim turns to the glaring Dream, I scoff and push the Endless to face me, "you're insane. Aren't you?"

Tim speaks my name softly.

"No," I turn to Tim, "he's the reason why I can't sleep because I questioned his kingliness or some shit-" I snap back to Dream, "in fact I'm so fucking tired I don't remember why you've been giving me nightmares in the first place."

"Okay, calm down," Tim tugs me towards him as he repeats my name, "we should just go to my place now and have lunch there."

"And who are you to take her anywhere?" Dream demands, making Tim's face contort in anger.

"I'm her actual friend, dipshit."

"Except she doesn't have any friends."

Tim snorts in annoyance, "as I'm sure you've been gaslighting her to believe."

With that, we walk away from Dream, even though I was so ready to lunge at him. Tim gave me an absolute earful about something, not that I actually listened. But still, even as his words entered one ear and out the other, I still cringed at the severity of his harsh but concerned tone.

Out of spite of myself, I told him I would skip the rest of my classes and sleep the entire day. After arguing about it, Tim eventually walked me back to my home and I punished myself by actually trying to go to sleep.

You have no idea how shocked I was when it worked.

I didn't realize I was sleeping because I was suddenly in a glimmering black dress.

Lucienne came running over to me with a wide smile, "You did it! You did it, dear, you did it!"

"What?"

"You've put sense into that old fool's head," she grabs my face, "and convinced him to throw a ball in honor of the reconstruction of the Dreaming."

"Wait," I shake my head, "so I'm-" I grip my earlobes and find only the smoothness of my skin, "dreaming?"

Lucienne beams at me as tears glass my eyes.

"Now, is not the time for sadness," she sighs, grabbing my hands, "today we celebrate!"

Seeing all sorts of beings dancing and making merry in the grand halls with such festive and upbeat music made it hard to resist. Of course I was reluctant and in denial. It was all happening so quickly, But when I was drawn into the middle of the room by Lucienne, who linked her arm in mine, and started spinning around, I couldn't help but laugh and dance with her.

My spirit is livened by the sound of the fiddles and the sweet voice singing to the music.

By the time the chorus comes along, I am relaxed and try to hum along with the music as Lucienne and I giggle at how poorly we were dancing.

I am promptly halted when the arm linked in mine pulls away and I slam into a firm dark chest.

I grip on a pair of biceps and tilt my head up. Dream he looks down at me with an expression I have never seen before.

I pull away quickly, but he catches my wrist, "it was your idea to have a dance," he leads me back near to him, "might you share one with me?"

I'm surprised he actually waits for my response. And so I reluctantly nod my head.

The moment I do, he does the weirdest thing. His lips curve upwards and he spins me to the beat of the music.

All the stiffness and unwillingness begins to melt away as Dream leads me to the music. Though his gaze on me is heavy and scrutinizing, I cannot bring myself to look away.

"It really took a man showing his concern for me for you to finally change your mind," I mutter.

"No," he readily denies, "it was you who made me change my mind."

I roll my eyes, "but it took Tim to set the wheels in motion."

He shakes his head, "you truly could not be farther from your great-great grandmother."

I huff, unable to understand him, "she must have meant a lot to you."

"She did," he pauses for a moment, "she was the gentleness to my indifference."

"So, what? Is this the part where you tell me you're my great-great-granddaddy?"

He spins me around and presses his chest against my back, "if Josephine were here, she would be horrified to know how filthy her daughter's lips are."

"I'm not her daughter..." I mumble, feeling my pulse rise at our proximity, "I'm her great-great-"

Dream spinning me cuts me off. When he retrieves me by my waist, he softly tells, "you were right. I have been cruel and devoid of emotion."

Our dancing comes into a stop as he willingly admits this.

"My own hurt and the unjust expectations I had of you to act like someone you are clearly not is what lead me to be so," he mutters with a solemn expression, "it does not make it right, and it is not an excuse, but I wanted to tell you this."

My brows furrow tightly at his words. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"I apologize for my wrongdoings. I do not enjoy what I have become, and I know I am disgracing the memory of my friend for being so brutal to her child."

I feel a shiver run down my spine. In pure disbelief, I grab his face, "are you seriously Dream of the Endless?"

His teary eyes crinkle in amusement and it causes me further bewilderment, "I am."

When he places hands on my wrists so gently, I feel goosebumps form on my arms.

"You are so familiar yet so foreign to me all at once."

I pull away from him, not knowing what to say.

Just then, the music ends and everyone but us breaks into applause.

When another song plays, I press my lips and extend my hand out to him, "how about another dance?"

Tim was lying on the other side of a cafeteria table, while I was sat opposite to him as I typed away on my laptop. He was playing on his electric guitar connected to his tiny, rechargeable amp, which was propped on the table. His nonchalance while expertly riffing made passersby stop, watch, and swoon. Typical Tim. He sits up just as I turn back when I hear my name get called. A small smile finds my lips as I greet my caller, "Dream. What are you doing here?" "It's lunch time and you have not come to the Dreaming yet." Dream catches the fact that I was not wearing my earrings, just as I chuckle, "and why would I go to the Dreaming?" Tim had already straightened up and stopped playing at this point. I shake my head and shrug, "I'm not going to pretend like I didn't go to you to convince you to stop my nightmares. And now you've gotten rid of them, I won't bother you." I examine Dream's expression, but there was nothing to examine, he was as still as a statue. "You don't have to worry about me. You can do your work in peace now," I nod and turn back to my laptop. Tim's eyes widen at what he hears and he decides to just lie back down and play again. I stop myself in the middle of typing to steal a look behind me in case Dream was still there. When I found no one, I pushed the thought of him away and finished my homework.

[kumeko]

Prompt: I like the war phase of 3 Houses so much for these 2. Something filled with yearning (or the crescendo of the yearning). I like the idea of them liking each other so much but not pursuing until "things are settled", or whatnot. Being scared of losing them. Best friends who pine. Anything like that.

A/N: For LucyGringe for the @claudelethgifts.  I love pining and ahh, these two just spending the war phase yearning is chef’s kiss, I can only hope I wrote it well. I feel like Claude would know it’s mutual, while Byleth would be a bit more in the dark (even to her own feelings). Does that make it harder? Easier?

It was a bit hard to figure out how to connect this until I went for a “five times he grabbed her hand and the one time she grabbed his” format.

…

…

…

…

0

The ring weighed heavily in his pocket.

1

They were in the middle of a war, a simple fact that Claude had to remind himself of over and over again. He’d spent five years in this war, had fought and bled and killed as the months and years passed.

Despite that, it was all too easy to forget the calluses on his fingers as he walked in the forest. Around him, his former classmates chattered, dappled in shadow and light, and if he squinted, he could almost see their teenage selves. They could be returning from a class mission instead of a bloody battle.

It was all Byleth’s fault.

Claude peeked at the woman by his side. She didn’t look a day older than when she’d disappeared. Maybe he’d slipped back in time, turning back the clock to when the worst opponents he’d faced were bandits instead of former allies. When he could justify the blood that had stained his hands.

He wasn’t the only one feeling this way. A jovial mood filled the air as his friends reunited for the first time in years. Leoni led the pack, smirking as she taunted Hilda and Lorenz. “Your attacks were sloppy.”

“As though yours were refined.” Lorenz scrunched his nose. Despite the mud and blood streaking his robes, he still held a dignified aura about him.

“Ugh, you’re making me agree with him,” Hilda bit out, grumpy. She snapped at Leonie, “That’s really the first thing you say to me in months?”

Behind them, Ignatz rubbed his neck shyly as he glanced at Marianne. “It’s nice to see you again.”

Marianne flushed and gave a soft smile. “M-me too. I think so too.”

“I missed you guys!” Raphael shouted as he wrapped his arms around Ignatz and Lysithea, dragging them into his embrace. Somehow, he’d grown bigger, more muscular, a feat that Claude hadn’t thought possible.

And on the exact opposite end of the spectrum, Lysithea hadn’t even gained an inch. She hissed, “Get off me, you big oaf!”

Though he’d never admit it aloud, Claude had missed this banter. There wasn’t really any room for it when all of Fódlan was in flames. And he wasn’t the only one to think so—from the corner of his eye, Claude watched as Byleth’s lips twitched, her expression softening as she studied her former students. A far cry from the old days, when she’d been hard to read.

Or maybe he’d just gotten better at it.

“Whatcha thinking, Teach?” Claude asked, the old moniker slipping off his tongue out of habit. He hadn’t said her nickname in ages and yet, it was impossible to think of her without it.

“It’s really been five years,” Byleth replied, finally turning away from the group to him. Her eyes widened slightly, as though realizing something.

She’d left an easy opening, and he couldn’t resist. “I couldn’t tell looking at you.”

Byleth didn’t seem to hear him. “You’re taller.”

“That’s old news now, Teach,” Claude teased. Their growth spurts had come and gone, and he’d almost forgotten how short he’d used to be, how they’d used to be on the same eye level. “Is that all you noticed?”

“No…” Byleth studied him, overly serious for a throwaway comment. Whatever she saw, she frowned. “You know battle now.”

“You’ve seen me fight before.” Claude raised a brow, not quite following.

She pursed her lips, considering her words before replying, “You know of war.”

He wondered if it was that obvious. He wondered what signs he’d shown, that they’d all shown.

He wondered when she’d first learned the lessons he kept learning every day.

“In ways I wish I hadn’t,” Claude replied wryly. He glanced at his friends in front of him. Even the way they walked was different, their steps quieter, their bodies tense. They were always ready for a fight these days. “Maybe we can keep up with you now.”

“I liked it better when you couldn’t,” Byleth replied honestly, clenching her fist.

“Me too.” But if Claude had wanted easy and comfortable, he would have gone home to Almyra, leaving Fódlan to clean up its own messes. Or maybe he’d have never crossed those mountains in the first place. “But it’s our choice.”

Byleth’s frown deepened as she clenched her fists tighter. Despite her feelings, she didn’t say anything, just walking quietly next to him. Rocks and twigs crunched underfoot, the rest of his old classmates’ bickering fading into a soft murmur.

This wasn’t how he wanted Byleth’s first day back to go. There was plenty of bad to deal with as it was. If only for now, if only for this moment, he wanted her to be happy.

Reaching down, he wrapped his hand around her balled fist, squeezing lightly. “Glad you’re back, Teach.”

Byleth glanced down, then at him. Her eyes were as green as the forest and she offered a rare smile. “Me too.”

Something in him tightened at her expression.

Before he could say anything, he heard shouts in the distance.

“Another fight?” Hilda complained, readying her axe.

“That’s what war is,” Claude quipped as he reluctantly let go of Byleth’s hand. “You survive one fight just to get into another one.”

2

If the rest of Fódlan was still in the middle of a war, the monastery was stuck in the aftermath of one. Even now, years later, it was still a mess of rubble and scorched bricks, the academy no longer the same as it had been in his youth. The rebuilding had been slow, with only key structures needed to house their soldiers rebuilt. Wild flowers and grasses grew along familiar paths, nature reclaiming what had been abandoned.

If it was this hard for him to see, he could only imagine how much harder it was for her. Dismayed, Byleth trailed after him as he guided her to where the dorms used to be.

“We haven’t had time to clear this up,” Claude explained, a paltry excuse. Broken glass crunched underfoot and he winced. “Nor the resources.”

Byleth’s jaw tightened. “That’s war.”

“That’s war,” he agreed with a sigh.

As they passed by the pond, Byleth stopped by the dock. Kneeling, she reached over the side and skimmed her fingertips on the cold water. “It’s shallower.”

“It is?” Claude stared at the murky waters. He could just see their reflections. It had never been this quiet here before—even outside of the big fishing tournament, there had always been a few students hoping for a big catch. Flayn had almost drowned once, trying to use her hands instead of her rod, and Seteth had almost banned everyone from getting within a meter of the shoreline. “Good eye, Teach.”

“It’s not my eye.” Byleth stood, wiping her hands on her pants. “It was just yesterday for me.”

“Yesterday…” Part of Claude still couldn’t believe she’d slept through the past five years. Despite all he’d seen, it still felt too fantastical, too magical. But there had been nothing logical about how she’d disappeared and returned, about how her hair turned green or even how she always seemed to already know when an attack was coming.

More importantly, he couldn’t deny the truth in front of him. Byleth really hadn’t aged a day since he’d last seen her. Her knowledge of the present was abysmal and even hermits knew of the current state of affairs.

“Then maybe you can help with the rebuilding,” Claude suggested, keeping his voice carefully upbeat. He nodded in the direction of the main hall. “Lysithea hasn’t found the blueprints and it’s a little harder for the rest of us to remember where everything was.”

“I thought there weren’t enough resources?” she asked.

“This is headquarters now.” Claude gestured at the academy behind him. “And you’re Rhea’s heir apparent, or so the true believers say, so…might as well. It’ll help raise morale.”

“…Rhea.” Byleth bit her lip, glancing at the direction of the church. Despite Edelgard’s best efforts, it still stood strong, the towering walls peeking over the rest of the academy. “Is…my father…”

Claude knew what she meant. “He’s still there,” he answered gently.

“Ah.” Claude could guess what she meant. “He’s still there.”

“Good.” While she didn’t run, Byleth’s pace picked up as she headed toward the academy’s graveyard. Luckily, the battle had managed to avoid most of it, leaving Jeralt’s marker untouched by the forces of war or the tides of time.

Well, not entirely. Weeds grew around the gravestone. He’d have to make sure to clear this out later.

Not minding the overgrown grass or mud, Byleth knelt in front of the marker, her fingers gently brushing her father’s name. “It all happened so fast,” she murmured, her fingers tracing the a. Her eyes were dry. “Too fast.”

In more ways than one. Claude remembered losing Byleth once, remembered her returning, remembered the earth disappearing underneath his feet as she vanished once more. There had been little time when it had all gone down. Jeralt had died. Edelgard had betrayed them. Dimitri had gone mad.

He’d spent five years with regrets, his chest heavy with all the things he’d never said.

And now Byleth had survived and he still couldn’t say them.

“Now’s the time to go slow,” he said instead, kneeling next to her. Had he always been this much of a coward? He covered her hand with his. “I’m here, if you need me.”

3

Claude grinned as he sat down in his old seat in the Golden Deer classroom. The layout was different, but there were still tables and chairs, still a blackboard and a desk, and that was more than enough to feel like he was back in class. Out of all the repairs, he had looked forward to this one the most.

For almost a year, this classroom had been a home of sorts.

“It’s been ages since I sat here,” he said, sprawling across the table. It was still an uncomfortable spot for a nap, but if he turned his head just so, he could discretely watch Byleth as she examined the room.

She ran her fingers along the desks before approaching the blackboard. “What will this be used for now?”

“Nothing much,” Claude admitted. If he closed his eyes, he could smell chalk in the air, hear the chatter of his classmates. “Strategy meetings, I guess. Leonie and Raphael just couldn’t stand seeing it destroyed so they fixed it up whenever they had the free time.”

Byleth pressed her hand to the blackboard. She didn’t look at him as she asked, “And the other rooms?”

He had never spent too much time in the other classrooms, but he could still picture them now. The crimson red of the eagles, the vibrant blue of the lions—Dimitri’s flustered smile when he was teased, Edelgard’s sharp smirk whenever she had a comeback.

A better memory than Byleth’s sword, red from Edelgard’s blood, the tatters of Dimitri’s blue cape as he fought like a man possessed.

Regrets that he couldn’t think, let alone voice.

“They’re still in disrepair,” Claude finally replied, sitting up.

Byleth didn’t say anything but her shoulders slumped slightly. With a quiet sigh, she tapped the blackboard. “I never knew what to write when I was up here.”

Claude chuckled. “I could tell.” With how awkward her first few weeks as teacher, it was easy to tell how unprepared she was for it. “Why’d you accept the position?”

“I don’t know.” She turned around, her eyes meeting his. “I just felt…I had to. That something might change if I did. Why’d you ask me to come to your house?”

“Because I knew something might change if I did,” Claude echoed. Though, he had expected Fódlan or his house to change, not himself. Feeling mischievous, he grinned. “You know, we never finished our classes, Teach.”

“That…” She pondered, crossing her arms as she leaned against the board. “No, we didn’t.”

“And we didn’t really graduate,” Claude continued, walking over to her slowly.

She squinted at him, sensing a trap. “That’s true.”

“Then…” Claude smiled innocently. “Maybe you should give your last class. Just to wrap things up.”

Byleth shot him a dubious look. “…no one else is here.”

“It’s a private lesson,” he cajoled, ready to counter any objection. He grabbed her hand. “You wouldn’t leave a student in need, would you?”

“You don’t actually need it,” Byleth pointed out, but she couldn’t hide her own smile as she figured out his game. “You’re leading the army just fine.”

“For how long?” Claude wiped an imaginary tear. “What would my grandfather think about his uneducated heir? What about our men?”

“Fine.” It was faint, but he heard a laugh as she nodded. “Just one.”

4

It was strange to study again. Claude sat in the monastery’s library, a stack of books around him, the musty smell tickling his nose. Most of the library had survived the fire after the Adestrian Empire had attacked, from the books down to the literature, and he spotted more than a few doodles on the table from bored students decades past.

And in the book he was reading too. History made a good teacher for tactics, though someone hadn’t told the kid who’d drawn a stickman running on the bottom of the book. Repressing a sigh, he peeked over his book at his companion.

Next to him, Byleth hunched over the table, her brow furrowing as she examined the continent’s map. As a student, he’d never imagined learning with her. War and time had a funny way of making everyone equals. For all of her fighting expertise, Byleth had five years of geopolitical changes to catch up on before she could help spearhead any attacks.

Her knees knocked into his as she sat back to compare the map with an open book.

Claude grinned and tapped her shoulder. When she turned to him, blinking owlishly, he poked her forehead. “Don’t scowl too much. It’ll freeze like that.”

Her lips pursed as she considered his words. “How?”

Half a decade of sleep hadn’t made her any better with jokes. Claude shrugged and laughed. “I’m not sure, actually. It’s just something my mother used to say.”

“Oh.” She turned slightly, considering him. Her arm brushed his. Propping her chin on her hand, she asked idly, “Is that why you’re always smiling?”

“I wouldn’t say always,” he answered, mirroring her posture. It felt childish but when her lips quirked, he knew he’d made the right move. “But smiles work better than frowns. You can get more done.”

Byleth’s expression softened. “…Jeralt said something similar before.”

Claude winced. He hadn’t expected that landmine. “He did?”

“Yes.” Despite his fears, she didn’t appear down. Fondly, she recounted, “He used to say, ‘It’s easier to get clients and a bonus if you’re approachable.’”

Now that sounded like a mercenary’s advice. Claude laughed. “He wasn’t wrong.”

“He rarely was.” Byleth nodded. “I wasn’t very good at it.”

“You’re still not good at it,” he teased. “That’s what you have me for.”

She smiled. “Yeah, I do.”

He could only watch as she straightened and reached for her book once more. Byleth had always been blunt and straight to the point, but…this was something else. Something different. She smiled more. Talked longer. Sat closer. Even now, as she pulled her book closer, he could feel her proximity, the way her arms grazed his whenever she adjusted her position, the way her hand lingered when she handed him her map.

“Who has the Ordelia territory now?” she asked, looking at him with her bright green eyes. Even the way she looked at him had shifted to unfamiliar territory.

Claude had never thought of himself as a scholar, not in the way Lindhardt had been, but he knew Byleth well enough to write a paper.

And he knew this truth: She liked him.

Unfortunately, that led him to his second conclusion: he couldn’t push this any further. Not now, not with the weight of Rhea’s position on her shoulders, not with the fate of the war riding on their efforts.

“The empire, but it’s a little more tricky than that,” Claude replied, resisting the urge to grab her hand when she pulled back. “Never thought I’d be the one teaching you, Teach.”

He’d swallowed his words five years ago. He could do it again.

5

War killed; a fact that was all too real as Claude stared at the very injured Byleth. Lying on her cot in her tent, blood matting her hair to her face and staining her armour, she was barely conscious as Manuela took care of her. The older woman huffed as she chanted under her breath, her hands glowing as she healed the worst of Byleth’s wounds.

“You shouldn’t be in the vanguard like that,” Manuela barked, irritated as she inspected Byleth for further injuries. Despite her sharp tone, her hands were gentle as she poked and prodded.

“Someone has to be,” Byleth replied tiredly, raising a hand to cover her eyes. She groaned softly as Manuela touched a particularly tender spot.

“That someone isn’t you!” Manuela snapped, her touch turning rough from irritation as she finished checking Byleth. Claude had a feeling their wine inventory was about to miss a few bottles. “You’re too important to fight every mercenary that we cross. You’re our leader!”

“Claude is,” Byleth argued feebly.

Manuela snorted. “Please. Don’t try to wiggle your way out of this.”

Claude released a breath he didn’t know he was holding when Manuela straightened and stepped back. “All’s good?” he asked, somehow managing to keep his voice from cracking.

“For now.” Manuela crossed her arms and glared at Byleth. “If not for yourself, think of me! It’s tiring patching you up!”

Byleth gave her a flat stare before nodding. “I will.”

“Just do it. Why are all of my patients masochists?” Manuela groaned, running a hand through her hair. “Make sure you don’t overexert yourself—I fixed most of the injuries but there’s a few that need to heal naturally.”

“… yes.” Byleth agreed.

“Are you just saying that? I heard the hesitation!” Manuela whirled to Claude, fire in her eyes. He took a step back defensively as she jabbed his chest. “You. Make sure she gets her rest.”

He’d have done it even if she hadn’t asked. Claude forced a grin. “Aww, you trust me now?”

“Not a bit, but you’re better than her.” Manuela picked up her staff and stalked past Claude. “I’ll leave the rest to you.”

Claude winced as she stomped out, no doubt heading toward the supply tent. Well, just this once, he’d overlook it. It had been a bad fight. Their healers had worked overtime to the point even Lysithea had admitted she was tired.

And Byleth hadn’t so much as lifted her head since they’d brought her to her tent.

Despite the healing, she was still covered in blood, her minor scratches and injuries left untended. Manuela claimed that it promoted natural healing. He’d long suspected she was just too tired to do it all. Quietly, he perched on the cot next to her, trying and failing to put words to his feelings.

His heart was heavy. Heavier than his unsaid words, heavier than the ring that had sat in his pocket for the last few weeks.

Byleth lowered her hand, staring back at him. Her mouth opened, as though to say something, before she closed it once more.

Those eyes had almost closed forever. “That was dangerous.”

“War is dangerous,” she stated.

He tightened his jaw. She was alive and she was here and part of him had feared that this might be their last time together, that he’d just be left with his regrets. “You don’t have to make it more dangerous. The idea is to come home alive.”

Byleth’s brow furrowed. “I did.”

“This was close.” His voice caught in his throat. Keeping his hands from shaking, he squeezed her hand. She always fought close combat, sword in hand. As accurate as his arrows were, he could only pick off so many enemies before they approached her. All it took was one wrong move, one slip up, and she’d be too far for any aid.

And even Byleth couldn’t come back from death.

But he could tell from how her jaw set that there was no use in telling her that. Byleth was stubborn, ever her father’s daughter, and it would take more than a few words to change that. “Just…be careful,” he pleaded.

Her expression softened and she forced herself to sit up with a groan. Before he could move, she covered his hand with her own, sandwiching it between her palms. “I am, always.”

Her hands were still cold. Claude smiled wryly, not quite believing. “You better be.”

6

Tomorrow, the war would be over.

It was a strange thought. The nightmare of half a decade would soon be over. No, it had been longer than that—their enemy had existed centuries, making their mark in the annals of history. And now, a final one.

Win or lose, the world as they knew it would change after tomorrow.

Maybe that was why he’d convinced Byleth to take one last walk with him through the monastery’s grounds. She’d kept quiet for most of the walk, as they passed by familiar haunts. The repairs had patched up most of the school’s grounds; even the greenhouse’s panes were all replaced.

Byleth stopped in front of the Goddess tower. In the late evening, most of it was hidden in shadow, the upper floors almost impossible to see. Her expression was distant, hard to read. “Do you still not believe in the Goddess?”

“Does it matter?” he asked, standing next to her.

“No…just…” Byleth closed her eyes. “I suppose she wasn’t entirely a Goddess.”

She. Byleth spoke as though she’d known the Goddess. Perhaps she had. Even now, even after all this time, Claude only had question after question for Byleth. There was so much he didn’t know, so much he wanted to know.

But for now, he’d just start with this: “Do you have one now?”

“One what?” Byleth asked, perplexed.

“An ambition.” Claude grinned. “You said you didn’t really have one, back then.”

“Oh…” Byleth turned back to the tower, staring up. The wind blew softly through her hair, making her already messy hair messier. She turned back to him and nodded. “I do.”

“And you’re not going to tell me.” He sighed, faking a pout. “Well, I guess I do believe in her a little then.” When Byleth raised a brow, he covered his mouth in mock-horror. “Teach, don’t tell me you forgot our wish?”

“Oh.” Byleth rubbed her chin thoughtfully before realization crossed her eyes. “Right.”

Now he actually felt a little hurt. “Seriously?”

“Do you want to make another wish?” she asked as a way of apology.

Well, he couldn’t say no to that. Claude sighed. “What to wish for…to win the battle?”

“No,” Byleth said decisively. “We’re going to do that anyways.”

How was he supposed to disagree with that? Claude laughed. “Well, if you’re that confident…”

“For a brighter dawn,” Byleth said, her eyes locked on his.

“That’s poetic.”

“You told me that once.” She stared at the tower. “We’re going to make a better Fódlan.”

Her hand was close and if he wanted to, he could reach across and intertwine their fingers. No, not want, that wasn’t the right word—there was nothing more that he wanted. The ring was still in his pocket, the words stuck in his throat.

But to a fault, Claude had always been pragmatic.  As was Byleth.

And now was not the time.

“To a brighter dawn,” Claude said instead. “And this time, it won’t take five years.”

“It won’t.” To his surprise, Byleth turned and took his hand. “We still have that other promise.”

For once, she’d struck him speechless. “Promise?”

“You told me to save you a dance,” she said, gently chiding him. “Now who’s forgetting?”

He burst into laughter. “That’s fair.” Still clasping her hand, Claude bowed deeply. “Will you honour me with a dance, milady?”

If there was one thing Claude had learned, it was that now wasn’t forever. The ring weighed heavily in his pocket, but only for now. His words were stuck in his throat, but only for now.

Tomorrow, come hell or high water, he’d finally take that last step to her side.

[agirlwholovesrockstars]

out of touch

OUT OF TOUCH PART 2 ♡

OUT OF TOUCH PART 3 ♡

OUT OF TOUCH PART 4 ♡

OUT OF TOUCH PART 5 ♡

word count : I honestly don't know it's a bit long so enjoy sorry 😭🫶🏻

summary : you're a new girl at Hawkins High who came from a very wealthy family and Steve is your childhood friend in your life, you're very different from the rest of the wealthy kids around Hawkins, you're not doing anything the same thing like the rich kids do, you don't want to be a part of them when you try to get in with their circle before, that's when you became an outcast which is odd for some people "a rich kid but not popular" the problem is that you transferred to a lot of different schools and you can't really just fit in with all of them until you met Eddie at Hawkins High all of the sudden, you felt a connection with him and now he met you he just can't function without having you around.

warnings : 18+ Eddie x FEM!reader language, the reader has a bullying trauma, no use of y/n but reader is Amanda Jones, age gap Eddie is (21) and reader is (19), yeah, I think that's all

what to expect : strangers to lovers, fluff, mutual pining, it's a cute fiction, clueless idiots who can't make the first move lol

author note : HI! THIS IS MY VERY FIRST EDDIE MUNSON TUMBLR FIC I'm just doing this for fun and I have so many ideas I would like to share! excuse my horrible writing but I will try my best! 🥺❤️

THE STORY IS SET IN 1987!

and yes I remove the part where Eddie DIDN'T DIE! 😤

#pov : you're Amanda Jones, new girl at Hawkins High

you're a new student at Hawkins High and your parents are the most respectable and wealthy people....

your parents are having a hard time on which school that you can easily socialize with- it's not that you got a lot into trouble it's just that you're different than the others, the only friend that you ever had in your life is Steve Harrington- the most popular guy in town- you're childhood friends and both of your parents are like a member of the family so your bond is pretty solid.

you're nervous and shy about your first day at school but since your mom informed you that Steve goes to the same school- you calmed down a bit and get ready for school.

"Honey, hurry up you might missed your bus!" your mom exclaimed

"Yeah- I'm almost done!" you quickly ran into the table and grabbed your backpack

when you entered the school bus a lot of rumors going around the bus that you just pretend that you didn't hear it-

"oh my god isn't she the one from the Jones family that transferred to a lot of different schools because she couldn't fit in?" one girl student whispered to the other

"I think she's friends with Steve" laughs jokingly "why would someone like her could be friends with Steve?"

you just rolled your eyes and looked all of them stared at you like some kind of a freak and thank goodness there's an available seat where you could just avoid them all-

when you finally arrived at school you're hoping to see Steve was there so you can survive this shithole but sadly you didn't saw him at the school entrance so you just continued walking-

while you're preparing all of your school supplies for your locker and your class schedule- you suddenly heard someone talking about that one guy at school.

"can you believe he made a club for weird guys like him? they're so lame." one school jock said

"yeah- right but I admire his bravery coming up to school after 3 years of failing at class and still not graduating if I we're him I would be so embarrassed" school jock's friend added

"can you guys please just shut the fuck up you are just a bunch of assholes who can't even look into his eyes because all of you are cowards." Dustin annoyingly glares at them

"oh really?!? is he that strong and tough?! get the fuck out of here we don't believe every word you said." school jock teasingly said

"hmm, well, be my guest look who's behind you right now." Dustin looks behind at the two school jock's with a smirk on his face

"OH SHIT- IT'S EDDIE MUNSON."

"WHAT THE FUCK?!?"

the two school jock's shouted and quickly ran away as far as possible

you watched the whole scenario and felt amused by Eddie and his club- while watching the two school jock's still running Eddie saw you on the far left side of the hallway and you looked at him and you quickly looked away and kept going on with your stuff

"wait- woah- who is she?" Eddie eyes still glued to you while he asked Dustin

"oh her? I didn't know she's coming today it's her first day at school and yeah she's a new student." Dustin surprised that you came today

Eddie irritated groans at Dustin "why you didn't tell me that someone else is coming?"

Dustin confusingly looked at Eddie "hold up- Eddie are you okay? wow, this is the very first time that I saw you completely don't know what to do because of a GIRL!"

Eddie bits his bottom lip and before Dustin closes his locker door Eddie beats him into it slams door locker himself "oh yeah? fuck you- Henderson?! keep your voice down."

Dustin flinched closed his eyes for a sec and Eddie asked "so um- fill me in about her do you know more?"

"uh- all I know that she's friends with Steve and she comes from a wealthy family-

Eddie realization hits him as he remembers that Steve when they we're kids before mentioning a girl bestfriend, he's never seen Steve with a girl other than Nancy is his ex in the past, but he's positive that you're the one childhood bestfriend that he's talking about even Steve doesn't mention it's name. He can feel it.

"wait, is she a Jones?" Eddie cuts off Dustin before he can finished

"yeah- the one who transferred to different a lot of schools like- god knows how many there are-" Dustin while furrowing his brows out of confusion

"Hmm that's kinda interesting- do you know why she did it?" Eddie sparks interest at that information

"from what I heard from Steve said to me is that she can't make friends easily and some of the teachers from her last schools that she go to can't stand her." Dustin shrugs

"so in conclusion- she's one of us!" Eddie almost jumps out of excitement

Dustin laughs "you're gotta be kidding me-"

Eddie made an death stare to Dustin

"oh my god, you're not kidding!" Dustin shockingly said

Eddie looked back at you but you weren't there anymore because the school bell already rang and him and Dustin quickly go to their seperated ways and to their classes

"damn- we will continue this discussion later at the cafeteria." Eddie narrows his eyes to Dustin

"alrighty then-" Dustin nods

so you arrived at your first class early and you can't pick which seat because all of them won't let you until you found Mike and Dustin on the same room and they have a an open seat next to them behind the back

"Hey- here's a seat available!" Dustin waved at you and that heavy weight of your shoulders just fades away

"excuse me- Dustin, did you know-" Mike said

"Mike- she's a new student and she deserves a warm welcome to the school even though it's shit but we try to do something about it am I right? come on, Mike try to keep up." Dustin while he roll his eyes to Mike

Mike scoffed "fine- hello ms?" *He let his hand out to shake his hand with you*

"Jones, Amanda Jones" *you shaked Mike's hand*

"Oh my god, so what is the meaning of this- since you shitheads find about her history and you decided to recruit her to your dumb club?" one bully teasingly said

"what are you guys? a freak magnet?" the whole class laughs

"go get a life losers!" Mike shouted

your teacher finally came in and recalled there's a new girl at school and fuck you guessed it right you're going to introduce yourself

you walked infront of the class and then everyone started whispering and you take a deep breath stand up for yourself infront of them

"so, Ms. Jones would you like to introduce yourself and share what are your interests and how's the school?" Your teacher said

"probably she's going to brag about how rich they are but too bad no one likes her" one bully said

(the whole class laughs)

"even the popular ones doesn't like her- aww poor thing." Angela sarcastically lets out sympathetic expression to you

you glare at all of them annoyingly

"PLEASE EVERYONE BE QUIET!" Your teacher shouted out loud and everyone went quiet

"okay hahaha" you sarcastically laughed- you clear your throat "first of all my name is Amanda Jones and you guys all probably knew that already because how "fAmOus mY fAmiLy is" and it's so strange that I am not the other kids who are so very perfect in their own way and gets along with everybody- NEW FLASH PEOPLE OF HAWKINS HIGH!"

you shouted and left all the class in shock

"Y'ALL SO FUCKING JUDGEMENTAL BUT I GUESS I CAN'T PLEASE EVERYBODY BECAUSE THAT'S HOW THE WORLD IS- THERE'S SO MANY MEAN PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRY AND AVOID THEY'RE ALWAYS KEEP SAYING THINGS ABOUT YOU- AND YOU CAN'T EVEN THINK DEEPER MAYBE SHE DOESN'T LIKE TO BE IN THAT CIRCLE AND SHE WANTS TO DO HER OWN THING RATHER THAN BEING BOASTFUL OF HER OWN FAMILY NAME!!!!!"

"You don't fucking like me?! well- that's fine with me I don't care about that but don't you ever put dirt on my family's name!"

you quickly ran into your seat and sat down and you feel proud of yourself because you're already fed up with all the people's bullshit and you glad you did what you keeping in for so long-

everybody was shocked and the whole class are now afraid calling you names but they never stopped staring at you like they're so disgusted on how you behave-

Mike and Dustin watched you as you sit down and they looked back at each other while we're watching you, they're so surprised, they didn't expected of what just happened.

while you're walking your way back to your seat

*Dustin applauded of what you did and he's very impressed at you"

"Yeah- that's right Amanda, go on tell them-"

"Never let them get into you and you did it, you proved them wrong." Mike proudly added

you smiled at them and you said "oh- thank you."

"Eddie was right, you're really one of us- I can't believe he already saw that in you and he haven't even met you yet." Dustin raises both of his brows out of realization

Mike gasped "What?! w-what?! Eddie did really said that?!"

"shockingly, yeah- I know it's the very first time that Eddie gets all wrapped up with her."

you eyes light up to what you just heard but you keep it not too obvious for them to see and you're so curious why they're so shocked about it so you asked them

"I'm sorry- can I ask why?"

"I honestly don't know yet- maybe we will see this different side of Eddie." Dustin lets out of deep sigh and thinks to himself yeah Eddie is nice and fun and all but he knows deep down he doesn't fully know him yet.

"yeah, I agree, I guess we really didn't knew him yet, we're friends and all but we really don't know nothing or anything about him. I'm kinda excited to see soft Eddie era" Mike chuckles

you giggled- "oh really? how come?"

"A lot of people here in Hawkins High hated him because he likes to listen to metal music and he wears black all the time which is ridiculous like who fucking cares right?! that they're scared because of that- most of the people here don't like it because it's "sATaniC" and odd you know- Dustin annoyingly explains

"OH- HE SELLS DRUGS!" one bully shouted out loud

"Wow- thank you for the wonderful information- you asshole!" Mike scrunches up his forehead annoyingly

you raised your eyebrow and looked at them

"Okay, Amanda it's not what you think- he's a very nice guy and he's a gentleman! don't believe every word that they said about him they're hypocrites! it's not like he just shoved them drugs onto their faces against their will!" Dustin rolled his eyes after explaining it to you

"yeah, I understand- it's okay to react, Amanda, that's what I thought before but we also understand why Eddie does it- his uncle is the only one that he has as a family you know- I know it's not right thing to do but it helped his way out to survive and provide help out his uncle." Mike explains while he lets out a soft eyes glaring at you and hoped that you're fully convinced he is not like the others think about him

you look at the both of them and you suddenly felt this comfort in your heart and you haven't felt that in such a long time, for all the years you spent suffering in those past schools that you attended before- it's not that you found something about Eddie- maybe this school is different, maybe it's better where you can finally be happy and free and also make unexpected friendships and just be yourself.

"No it's okay- I only reacted that way because I've never encountered something like this." you nod to reassure them

"So we're cool then?" Dustin glares at you in concern

*Both of them looking at you for your approval*

"yeah- we're cool- don't worry about it."

*the three of you paid attention to the class and after 30 mins- the bell rang and it's time for lunch*

"oh- finally I'm starving." Dustin exclaimed

"I'll catch up with you Dustin! You can come with us, Amanda." Mike said while he tugs out a soft smile in the corner

"sure." You eyes light up at Mike because finally someone is nice to you and hoping that you guys will became friends

while sitting at the cafeteria- everyone is talking about the three of you

"I fucking hate high school." Dustin angrily said while clenching his jaw

"Tell me about it." Mike while looking down at his food tray

"We'll just ignore them, they're not worth of our time so- where do we sit?" you groan after you asked them

they looked at you with their smugs all of their faces

"I like this girl-" Dustin saids with a silly grin

"oh god- please stop it- the day isn't over yet and I'm really hungry." you scoffed and chuckled

"wait- no wonder Eddie already liked you." Mike teasingly said while Dustin laughs

"CAN WE PLEASE JUST SIT DOWN?!?" you shouted out loud while you're so annoyed by them

"Alright, alright fine- jeez- you and Eddie both have the same temper." Dustin said wide eyes open

you rolled your eyes and put your bag into the table and picked up a tray and you find something to eat

while going back to the seat you saw Eddie already in there and all of the sudden you felt awkward and never felt this to anyone before maybe you liked him as well so you slowly walked towards to a different table

"hey, you little shits- what's up? have you met the new gal?" Eddie walks towards to the table and leans at them

"We already interacted with her and she's our acquaintance." Mike proudly said

"oh really? then what- she's doing on the other table?!" Eddie saids while his annoying expression appears as he sats down

"What?! Where?!" Dustin worriedly said

"LOOK ON THE OTHER SIDE YOU DUMB FUCKS!" Eddie shouted out loud and throws food at the both of them

"Jesus Christ-" Dustin startled

"Please believe us, Eddie! We literally saying the truth." Mike said while begging for his dear life

"I think she got shy when you came over." Dustin furrowed his brows with confusion

"hmm- is that so? I'll go right over to her then." Eddie let out a smirk while he looks at you

Mike and Dustin watches Eddie goes straight to you and Mike is so flabbergasted of what he just witnessed

"holy shit- you're we're right Dustin he never acts like this before what is going on with him?." Mike said scratching his head out of confusion

"I told you so-" Dustin shrugs

while you watched the three of them arguing with each other and you look back to your food and you suddenly feel someone looking at you- you raise your head and look at them again and saw

Eddie walking straight towards you and you feel your heartbeats so fast rapidly and you feel you're about to faint and you didn't even notice that you're hands are shaking and you don't understand what you're feeling right now and it feels like you have to get up from the table and ran away but you can't, you froze as he finally appears to the side of the table- looking at you from up and down

You can't even look at him in the eye and you don't even know why- maybe you had a crush on him? there's plenty of other students but he's the only one who can make you feel this nervous and right there at that moment you really want to get out of there and walk away from him

you try to get up until he stops you by holding your arm and you look back at him and finally you met his eyes- oh god- his eyes are so beautiful and you see him begging for you to stay even he doesn't say anything but somehow you already know it just by looking straight to his eyes

the tension is different- your heart flutters because of him holding your arm and you both didn't noticed that you're both staring for a long time and it felt like the time stops and the whole room is filled with silence you can't even hear the loud cafeteria anymore just him and you staring at each other

Eddie felt a connection towards you and he also doesn't understand why but he feels comfort just by looking at you and you feel the same way

you're both strangers- you didn't know him yet and he also doesn't know you that you even existed and god how he wished he already knew about you and kept thinking all over his head that where have you been all of his life? and you sudden had a thought about destiny, maybe this school is an only exception because of this moment you're having right now.

Eddie is the one who stopped the eye contact from you as he clears his throat and removes his hand from your arms and puts inside of his pockets breathing nervously

And you just wished he keep holding you until the school is over

you kept staring at him and you haven't gotten out of the trance yet and you see him blushing out of his cheeks and you realized what you're doing and that snapped out of you to go back to normal

you let out of a nervous chuckle "Oh- hi- I'm sorry-"

Eddie scratches the back of his neck as he thinks what he will do to make this not awkward and not fuck it up

you both sit down to the table and you feel like an idiot doing the same thing as he did and there's nothing funny about it but you just let out a smile on your face while looking down at the table

Eddie noticed it as he lets out a smirk on his face but he quickly removes it before you even noticed it and acts serious

"Uh- how are you?" Eddie asks with a concern on his eyes

you look at him with his soft chocolate button eyes and makes you wanna melt in his arms and never letting him go away

"I'm- I'm good, thank you." you said to him while you give him a sweet smile on your face

Eddie feels weak as he watch you smile at him and he is surprised you're not scared of him- well- all of the students we're afraid of him except for the friends he had on his club.

you on the other hand had the courage to speak up out of nowhere a sudden confidence not to feel awkward anymore cause you don't wanna waste this moment you're finally met him and you really want to be friends or maybe just maybe.... build a relationship?

"I'm Amanda, by the way" as you let out of hand in front of him offering him to shake hands with you

Eddie tilts his head and smiles while looking down at your hand and he shakes it.

"Likewise, I'm Eddie-"

"Munson" you cutted him off "yeah, I already heard about you, Dustin and Mike told me everything."

"Oh, really?" he straightens his back from the chair and put his arm around the chair and stares back at you

"Okay, so what do they told you about me?"

you scrunch up your forehead and squint your eyes and put your index finger tapping on to your chin while you think

Eddie lets out a small giggle while watching you he just wanna say how cute you are while you're thinking

"They say that you love D&D, you have this club." you pointed out to his shirt while he looks down on it nodding on you. "You hate bullies, I am still confused why everybody is afraid of you like there's nothing to be afraid of, you're not even scary!" you scoffed and laugh while explaining it. Eddie face lights up to what of you just said and this makes him love you even more. "You um- sell drugs..." You shrugged "but I don't even mind it all." Eddie lets out of a soft sigh and smiled at you as he worriedly thought of you didn't want to be near at him anymore but here you are, so sweet and so kind to him "and oh- one more thing." You added. Eddie furrows his eyebrows in confusion. You pointed out again his whole outfit and my god you wanted to tell him how hot he is and you realized you really have a type and that's exactly him "judging by the way you dress, you have exquisite music taste." you smiled while looking back at him

"Wow" Eddie lets out an impressed expression in his face and applaused at you

"You got them all right, sweetheart, and yes I do have exquisite music taste." Eddie nods and leans at you while tugs out a smile on the side of his lips

"Sweetheart" right there you just wanna crawl up to him and kiss him

"and in fashion as well." while you tug out of your clothes and you smile at him again, how many times I smile back at this boy? You think to yourself

he giggled and smile at you again "I already know who you are as well but it's just a little information that I know about you."

He pouts while looking at you

"Aww, that's too bad, it's not my fault tho- your boys have a big mouth." You gesture to the table where Mike and Dustin sitting and you noticed there's another group of people with them and you already know they're part of his club too cuz all of them wore the same shirt.

"Yeah, I know" he laughed while he is still looking at you "I can't stand them sometimes but I do care a lot to all of them." while he looks at the boys on the other side, Your eyes sparked up of how he expresses his emotions without any shame he doesn't care if the others thinks that he is too soft towards his friends, he really meant it just by the tone of his voice and it makes your heart full about it.

You look down on your lunch and you noticed that it's only 20 minutes left for lunch

"I'm sure you do, Eddie." you smile at him and he look back at you with his soft eyes and smiled back at you and he stares at you AGAIN

you're the one who cut the eye contact off because there's not time for lunch anymore if you continue to look back at him again, you cleared your throat "I think we should eat lunch now." you giggled

Eddie realizes of what he's been doing and he hadn't thought of you that you might be hungry since the two of you interacted earlier and brushes his hands up to his face out of disappointment

While you're watching him and you can't help but laugh at his reaction, Eddie removes his hands away from his face as he watches you laughing. oh- your laugh, your sweet voice, makes his heart warm and he laughs with you as well

"oh god- yeah you're right- shit- I'm sorry, you can eat with us if you want." Eddie asks and wishing you would say yes

"yes, I'd love to." you smile at him as you both get up and walk back towards to the table where all of his friends already eating lunch

It became quiet when you and Eddie finally infront of them at the table

Gareth already knows what happened as Mike and Dustin explained earlier but he is still absolutely confused why Eddie is with you maybe it's because he isn't used seeing Eddie with a girl around.

Jeff smirks at the both of you and thought to himself of what good looking couple you both are.

Dustin gets up and whispers to you and said "we already told them everything just ignore them." And he look back at the gang and give them a cold side eye not to say or do anything stupid to make you feel uncomfortable and he sits back down.

"Um- hi?" you waved your hand at them shyly

Eddie looks at you and he smiles as he put his arm around your shoulder and you widen your eyes at his action and look up at him and thank goodness your cheeks didn't go red as you control yourself.

"Guys, please be nice, this is Amanda and I'm sure she will make a fine member to us." Eddie carefully explains to his boys

all of them rolls their eyes and groans

"We already know, Eddie" Gareth scoffed

"and we also already know that you like her." Jeff teasingly said as he smirks

Mike and Dustin giggling as they're watching you completely froze of what you just heard while Eddie's arms is still around your shoulders.

and shit- you fucking blushed- as you thought to yourself that you handling yourself pretty well but you guessed not, you cleared your throat and you remove yourself from Eddie's arm as he watches you and the gang while you walk you quickly where your backpack is besides Mike and you sat down and said "I'm going to eat now, lunch is going to be over soon." you showed a shy smile at them

"Right." Eddie said and he sats down at the center of the table while he sneered at Jeff

Jeff rolls his eyes at him

"Wait, I get it now, This is so obvious, the tension-" Gareth finally realizes but before he finished Eddie shouted "SHUT UP!" as Gareth sighs out of frustration.

"Okay, so about on Friday, after Hellfire, all of us are going to Steve's house and cuz it's movie night!" Dustin excitedly said

"Oh- shit, yeah I completely forgot about that what are we going to watch then?" Mike asks

"Harrington?" you asked while you leaned back at Dustin as he almost chokes on the sandwich and take a gulp of his Coke he looks back at you "oh my god, I'm sorry I didn't told you before, yeah I know him, we're buddies." as he runs his hands up and down to his thighs

"Oh, wow, small world, that's cool." you smile at Dustin while you reach out for his back and pat him down.

Dustin clears his throat and nods and he hasn't recovered from the choke "Thank you."

"We should definitely watch Dune." Gareth exclaimed

"Absolutely not, The Nightmare On The Elm's Street it's a must watch!" Jeff argues with Gareth

"I think that is too dark, maybe we should Legend instead?" Mike suggests as he put his hands out in the table.

"How about Little Shop Of Horrors?" Dustin joins the argument

"Oh, god- that's so boring!" Gareth annoyingly said

"No one can argue on me on this one." Eddie shrugs

The whole gang went quiet as they wait for Eddie

"Indiana Jones must be on that list." he slams his hand down at them as they continue bickering with each other

You watched them all argue with every movie coming out of their mouths as you ate the last piece of sandwich on your food tray

from "Teen Wolf, E.T, The Goonies, Fright Night, Back To The Future, Footloose, The Shining."

"Labyrinth" you said as you swallow your sandwich and grab your Coke with the last ounce of it left.

They stopped arguing as they look at you and Dustin and Mike with smiles at their faces and Jeff and Gareth looked back at each other completely confused they didn't expected that to happen, meanwhile Eddie with his lips apart and his jaw almost drops on the floor and let out a smirk on you

"Well, aren't you full of surprises?" Eddie crosses his arms while he looks at you

You tilt your head at him and said "I am a movie lover, if you don't know that yet." You grin at him.

Eddie grinned back at you and giggled.

"Oh yeah? who directed Dune?" Gareth asks you seriously.

"Gareth, oh my god stop-" but before Dustin he can continue, you answered Gareth "David Lynch"

Gareth's jaw dropped and laughed he looks back at Jeff who is also impressed

You roll your eyes at the both of them shaking your head off at the same time until Jeff asks you another one "How many John Hughes movies that he created?"

"That's too easy, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Pretty In Pink, Some Kind Of Wonderful." Jeff and Gareth are in shock as you kept going naming every movie

"Damn, okay, she even knows Some Kind Of Wonderful." Jeff exclaimed as he looks back at Eddie

Little did you know that's one of Eddie's favorite movies and his heart almost stopped that you're aware of the said movie, he can't help himself to let out a big smile while looking at you.

"Okay, so in conclusion- all of the movies that we mentioned you already seen them all?" Mike politely asks

"Yeah, I do, I love to watch movies it's like my favorite thing ever, it makes me happy." You didn't even notice your face radiates as you talk about what you love.

"I'm sorry, was that too much? I get so excited when I talk about what I love the most." you look all of them in concern

"Nah, you're fine, I would love to hear more about movies that you like." Dustin reassures you as he put his arm on the table resting his chin to look at you and he nods at you to proceed

"Well, um-" all of them watching you as you shift on your seat and look down out of embarrassment because you haven't gotten this much attention before and you're not used to it and you're surprised that they will listen to anything that you liked to say "I also love action and historical movies! but most of the time I just really enjoy every kind of movie genre, but, maybe that's just me, I'm a movie goer so, I guess I liked movies when it's good, it depends sometimes though if it's really shit and boring then I don't like it." you laughed and they all laughed as well

Eddie checking you out as he looks at you from top to bottom, your hair is brown beautiful volume layered haircut it's a little bit curled at the sides and he loves the way you put it on the other side when it's hitting your face and you style it so perfectly and nicely just the way he likes it and you have this rock n' roll hand sign pendant necklace and sword earrings and he notices that you have painted black nail polish with a black scrunchie on your right wrist and you also have a few rings and a simple black leather belt bracelet on your left wrist and his eyes widen as he realizes that you both somehow have the same taste and you wear an off shoulder long sleeve black blouse a little ruffled at the top of it with denim ripped jeans with Nike with beige, cream and rose colors on it as your shoes.

He still watches you, continue to talk about movies with all of them, your smile and laughter fills his heart with comfort, he wanted to be with you so bad.

"My god, she looks amazing." as he thought to himself but he wanna said it, but he doesn't want you to be teased by his friends but he loves the way you flustered by him.

"You guys, should watch The Untouchables! I promise, you won't regret it!" You exclaimed that made Eddie snap out of his thoughts

"If you say so, I'm in!" Dustin happily voted

"Same here" Mike raises his hand

"I admit I judge you too harshly but now I think you're going to be one of favorite schoolmates here, so fuck yeah, I'm in." Gareth nudges Jeff's arm

I highly agree with you on that one." Jeff looks at Gareth and back at you and nods

You smiled to all of them, you noticed almost all of them agree to what you said but there's one more person left..... It's Eddie

While they noticed you're looking at Eddie all of them sigh as they realized, it's hard to impress Eddie, they all been there before.

Hell- you already won his heart at the first place but of course he's not going to admit it but soon he will be, he just wanted to test you more, if you really KNOW every bit of movies to music that he likes as well.

Since he noticed how you dressed, he let out a smug smile on you, he uncrosses his arms and taps on the table as he thinks of he's going to say

"Whoops, this is not going to end well." Gareth glares at you

You burrow your eyesbrows in confusion

until Eddie asked you a question "So, tell me, Amanda, what kind of band that you reminds of how I style?"

You raised your eyebrows "it's obviously you look like Kirk Hammett from Metallica." you huffed

Gareth, Jeff, Dustin and Mike laughed controllably and they look at him with his face of defeat on his face

Your answer is right that's why he's pressed about how quickly you answered, He nods while looking at you licking his lips as he thinks another question

You smile at him sarcastically

"Name every band from the 70's, you think you can handle that?" Eddie shrugs

"OOOOH- now that's a tough one." Jeff raises his eyebrows at you

"Are you sure you can handle me?" You crossed your arms and you said that so confidently that made Eddie flustered.

The boys are giggling and teasing Eddie as they watch their Dungeon Master getting defeated by you and he hasn't been defeated like this before.

"Oh- don't you underestimate me, darling." Eddie while he moved his lips to the side

"Fine, I'm terrified!" you rolled your eyes as your put your hand out as you count down putting finger down one by one while you mentioned every band from the 70s from "Black Sabbath" "Deep Purple" "Led Zeppelin" and much, much more you said every important details about them and even the fun facts you also told him as well.

The whole gang was left in a state of shock and Eddie is stoned and couldn't even blink to hear everything what you just said, legend saids he is still processing....

You put both of your arms infront of the table and rest your chin to your hands looking back at Eddie "Well?" you smiled at him teasingly.

"Man, you're so fucked up right now." Jeff looks at Eddie while giggling with Gareth

"Looks like we got another metalhead around." Gareth nods at you

"it's the same thing with movies though, I enjoy every genre of music as well, I love Michael Jackson, he's my idol." You smiled at Gareth

"That's awesome." Gareth agrees

Eddie doesn't stop there, he didn't knew much about Michael Jackson's music but he already listens some of his work and admits that his stuff is very cool, he likes it. He knows only one fun fact about his one song though.

"Who's the one played the guitar solo on Beat It?" Eddie asks you while he smirked

Jeff and Gareth looks at you with wide eyes and Mike and Dustin crossing their fingers hoping you will be able to win this once and for all.

"Are you seriously being for real now, Eddie? You even have the same name as the guitarist!" You raised both of your hands out of annoyance

He raises his eyebrows at you as he already know that you knew the answer but he still wanted to hear you say it. "You haven't answered my question though, Tell me, Who is it?"

You sigh, shaking your head while you answered "Eddie Van Halen from the band Van Halen."

Jeff and Gareth cheered for you and Mike and Dustin shouted "YES" as they slammed their hands on the table

"You really got me, Amanda, I guess I'll be seeing you at Friday." Eddie salutes at you as he lets out a smile.

"I'll be there, Eddie." you smile back at him

You thought Eddie will get mad at you because he loses, but you're happy how he celebrates with the others with you that you won over him

The bell rings and the lunch is over, all of you stand up and quickly ran out of the cafeteria

Eddie waves back at Gareth and Jeff and he told them "Later."

Mike and Dustin asks you which class you're going to and you hand out your paper to them and they look at your schedule and they frowned at you because this next period you're not going to the same class with them "Oh, that's okay, guys, I'm not going anywhere away from you." You laughed "We will see you later okay? Just find us if you need anything, You'll be fine." Mike said in concern "Oh shit-" as Dustin look at his watch and they're going to be late "We gotta run for it Mike! Don't forget us Amanda!"

"I won't!" You shouted back at Dustin and Mike waves bye to you as he almost trips off and follows Dustin, you giggled at them as they quickly ran into the hallway.

You look back down on to your schedule and finding the next room that you're going to attend which is on the 2nd Floor and you noticed you're the only one left standing in the hallway and you turned around bumped infront of Eddie

"Woah, easy there." Eddie holds both of your arms as he steadying you.

"Oh! I'm sorry."

You smile at him and move away from him a little bit and you asked him "Can you point out which direction is this room?"

Eddie looks at your schedule "My, my, we both have the same class, I'm also going there as well."

"Really?! that's great!" You blinked out of annoyance of how you sounded, you look down at embarrassment.

He giggled and he lets his arm out for you to hold "You're very cute, you know that? Don't be embarrassed about it, You're doing fine just like Dustin said earlier, Don't apologize."

You hold his arm that he puts out for you and you look up at him with a smile at your face and he smiles back at you and he's happy that he made you smile, he doesn't see your disappointed expression anymore

"Ah, There she is! Now, Let's go get to class" Eddie added

You both arrived perfectly in time at English class and coincidentally there's two available seats available at the back and you both sat down together...

You both ignore the glares of your classmates giving you and he is also glad that you didn't care anything about them at all.

Finally, the teacher arrived and discusses as Eddie thinks is super boring but he looks at you very attentive at the middle of the class, you didn't even noticed that he's looking at you from time to time because you're so focused on the topic that the teacher is discussing, you're taking down notes.

He tears a piece of paper and scribble something down and gives it to you quickly before the teacher saw it while she's writing on the blackboard.

You looked down and look at Eddie with a smile on his face, you smiled so confused at him and you pick the piece of paper and hiding it from the teacher while you read it what it says.

"I would like to take you out on a date ;)" you giggled quietly and you scribble down as Eddie looking at you he leans in a little bit while he's trying to take a peek of what you're writing, you noticed this you turn away from him and you poke out your tongue at him.

He laughed and raises his both of his hands up while whispering "alright, alright."

You turn back and give the paper back to him, he unfolded it and read "That was fast, but I feel like we should get to know each other first, Eddie. But I'd love to go out with you soon. ♡"

Eddie's eyes softens while he's reading it, your handwriting is much as beautiful as you, and he looked back at you and you wink at him.

"Okay." he whispers to you and smiles back at you.

Eddie respects your decision, which is surprising to you because it's rare to have nice guys like him and you know for sure he will bring the best dates ever, If it happens.

You're glad you have the same classes with Eddie which makes it even better for you to come at school without being awkward. You feel comfortable spending time with him, it's only been one whole day that you met him and get to know him but it feels like you're been together for years, you get along with each other so easily and naturally. Eddie thinks the same thing.

You both walk towards your locker, you remove your hand from Eddie's arm and you put your bag down to put stuff away from your locker.

"Finally, school is over." you inhale and exhale infront of your locker while putting your notebooks and left the ones that has homework.

Eddie leans on the side of your locker "Aww please, don't make this day over yet, I wanna spend some more time with you." He pouts and his eyes doe back at you.

"Gosh, Eddie, I'm with you since after lunch?! and now!" You giggled while you push him back away.

Eddie laughed and said "But I meant it though, Finally, I have the reason to go to school everyday." he smirked at you

You roll your eyes as you close your door locker and grab your backpack.

"So, what are you doing later?" Eddie asks while he moves closer to you.

"Um, probably going home and do homework." You shrug as you look back down.

"Oh, do you want to-" Eddie gets cut off by Gareth running towards at you both

He rolls his eyes and sigh because of the interruption

"Eddie, There you are! We've been looking for you everywhere! Come on, we have to go, man! the campaign?! Have you completely forgotten about it?! We've been planning this since last week!" Gareth saids with the high tone of his voice as he catches up with his breath from running

"Fuck, yeah, you right! My bad, I'm going with you." but he halted his tracks and goes back to you "Amanda, you can come with us." Eddie softens his eyes at you

"Yeah, take her with you!" Gareth shouted

but before you can answer, Eddie grabs your hand and the three of you ran across the hallway and turn left and absolutely didn't care if you guys bumping each other of the students as you ran faster.

"HEY, WATCH IT!" "ARE YOU BLIND FREAKS?" "WATCH WE'RE YOU GOING LOSERS!" but you all of you didn't care at all to everyone calling you guys out until you reached the destination.

It's a abandoned room filled with broken chairs and tables and you look around they designed it very well done with Mountain Dew cans everywhere but Eddie and the boys asks for permission to use this while he told you and their teacher lets them use it which is surprising to you.

You saw Dustin and Mike arguing with each other and you notice someone new to you and he looks at you and walk straight towards you "You must be Amanda, Hi, I'm Lucas, Lucas Sinclair! " gleefully greets you as he lets out his hand to shake your hands with you.

"it's nice to meet you, Lucas." You smile at him while he shakes your hand.

"She's a nerd just like us! You're going to love her." Eddie exclaimed besides you

"I think I already like her." Lucas nods at Eddie and looks back at you

"I didn't saw you at the cafeteria earlier? at lunch?" You asked Lucas

"Oh, yeah, right, I was in a basketball game practice." Lucas answers as he clears his throat glares at Eddie and look back down.

"It's okay though, even I don't like people around that area but I don't want them to be closed forever, if they want to socialize with anyone." Eddie puts his hand on Lucas shoulder to reassures him that it was fine.

Lucas sighs of relief "Thank you, Eddie." as he smile back at him.

You admire how understanding everyone is even though you find them scary at first but you find it interesting and you got used to it.

Dustin claps back his hand as he got everyone's attention at him

"Are we going to start or not?" Dustin glares at everybody in the room.

Everyone goes to their respective seats and Eddie pulls you with him as he puts a chair near him and he gestures you to sit down.

"You don't have to do anything, you can just relax and watch us." Eddie tells you as he worries that you might get bored while they play the game.

you noticed Eddie's expression and you put your hand on the back of his hand and you say "I am curious about this game and I wanted to learn as well, don't worry, I'm interested." you smile at him while your rub your thumb on his hand.

Eddie ever since you talked to each other loves your enthusiasm and he smile at you while he reaches out to your hair and tugs behind your ear.

You blushed but you didn't care and you stare each other AAAAGAIN.

Jeff releases out a yawn and stretches his back and looks back at the two of you.

Gareth makes a kissing sound and teases you both.

"They're both cute though." Lucas smirks at the both of you

"Yeah, they've been staring at each other since like forever!" Mike shoves his hand around his face.

"This is going to take a century before we even get started!" Dustin shouted but he takes it back after you look at him "Oh, no offense, Amanda, I'm sorry."

You and Eddie let go at each other with embarrassment across your faces

"Fine, Let's start." Eddie raises brows at all of them

"And our Master is back." Gareth teases Eddie

"Funny, shut up, Gareth!" as he shouted back at him

It's been an hour since the game started, you loved how dedicated Eddie is while he's storytelling to everyone.

You laughed at all of them when everyone lets out a groan and everybody raving about who's the one is going to make the first move.

they all argue and shouted at each other and they all get up and says a timeout before they decided.

"You know what, screw it" Dustin having no other choice

"Give me the D20." turns around at Eddie and throws at him as he catches it.

"Are you serious, Dustin? that could kill us all?!" Jeff panicking

"Never tell me the odds." Dustin says

He rolls out the D20

Eddie watches it and bangs his head "That's a miss!"

"What?! No!" Dustin hits the things out of the air and everyone else started yelling at each other

"You guys, wait." You said at them

Everyone looks at you "There's one more chance, right? I volunteer to throw the second one."

Mike and Dustin shrugs at each other and Gareth dart his eyes from you and back to Eddie meanwhile Jeff on the other hand losing his shit at the game.

"Then, what are we waiting for? Bring her in Eddie!" Lucas exclaims as he walks towards you and grabs you and puts you to the center of the game and caught Dustin off guard as Lucas quickly picks up the D20 from his hand.

All of them looked at you and you look at Eddie with your eyes asking if it's okay with him you playing his game.

"Sure, why not." as he shifts from his seat and lean on the table as he watches you.

"Oh my god it's happening." Dustin as he paces back and forth beside you

"Please" Gareth expresses his hopes while you started closing your eyes while your roll the D20

"Come on!!!!" Mike yelling

You focused on the roll and concentrate with it and all of the sudden the noise from the panicking of the guys seems all blurry to you as you let you go of the D20

Jeff put his hands over his head

Lucas put his hand over his mouth and closes his eyes

Eddie watches closely and it ends with 20

"Crit hit!" You jumped out of excitement and everyone cheered

"WHAT?! WHAT?!" Eddie jumped as well and laughs as he claps back

You look at him with a proud smile at your face and everyone at your back still celebrating

He leans down and as he welcomes you to his game

Everyone goes out from the room still cheering you on as they still rambling about how amazing you are at the game, it's unbelievable to them that you did that and it was your first time playing but you did it so naturally....

Mike and Dustin gives you an unexpected hug from them before they go home and hug them back as they told you "See you tomorrow, Amanda!" You waved at them and you say "You too!"

Lucas hugs you as well and he pats down your back "You're so cool, I'm hoping to see you again soon." You smiled back at him "Not as cool as you, Sinclair." He laughs and waves bye to you.

While waving to Lucas, Gareth and Jeff appears beside you and you look at the both of them "I have never seen anyone defeated Eddie like that! You already beat him at lunch and now at his game!" Jeff exclaims as he shakes your hand "Not gonna lie, that's a really good game." as he pats your shoulder and you say "I try my best." you raised both of shoulders and smile at them, they both chuckled as they wave bye to you.

Before you left the building you heard someone running behind you and you turn back and it's Eddie trying to keep up with you.

"Amanda! Wait up!" as he raises his hand to stop you.

You chuckled and you say "What's up, Eddie?"

"it's late, I would like to give you a ride home." as he catches up his breath.

"Oh no, Eddie, I'll be fine, please, I can go home by myself." You walk away from him and you continue walking

Eddie follows you and he lets out a frustrated sigh "I insist, I will be worried as hell if you go by yourself, I can't stand it!"

You halt your tracks and look back at him with his doe eyes.

Eddie moves closer to you as he holds your hand "Please?"

You stare at him and look at your hand while he's holding it and who's going to say no to Eddie with those eyes? as you think to yourself.

You sigh and smiled back at him "Alright, fine, Eddie, you can take me home."

Eddie grinned as he still holds your hand while you both going to the parking lot.

"Oh wow" as you look at Eddie's RV Van.

"What is it?" He asks

"Nothing, it's just I like RV's and I didn't expected it." You said while looking at Eddie and back at the van.

He laughs while he opens the door for you and he quickly rans to the driver seat.

He gestures you to put on your seatbelt "Safety first always."

You smiled at him while you put on your seatbelt as he starts up the engine.

The drive home is silent but comfortable, you open the windows down and you love the cold breeze from outside as you peek out your head a little bit.

Eddie watches you as your hair flowing out everywhere and the night sky is beautiful the moonlight shines through the both of you.

"So, uh, direct me which way we're going?" He asks you

"Yeah, right, of course just drive straight until you reached the end of the road and turn right." You pointed out the directions as he follows you

"Wait, you live here?"

"Yes, what is wrong, Eddie?

"I literally live just a few blocks from here on the other side at the back."

"No, you kidding?!"

"No, I am not! I am telling you the truth!"

"See that gate at the end of the road?"

"Yeah"

"Just walk straight on the right side of the road and you'll see my trailer in there."

You look back at him with your lips apart

"it's truly a small world, huh?"

"Yeah, it is."

"Oh wait, we're almost there just one more house." You lean at him and he smell the hint of your perfume and he smirks down at you.

"Here we are, Well I guess this is goodbye." He turns off the engine and he looks back at you with a frown on his face.

"Don't be like that, Eddie, I am not going to die, you always sound like something's bad is going to happen to me." You laughed while looking at him.

He didn't laugh but he just shows a sad smile on you and you look at him with confusion on your eyes and you tell him.

"I'm sorry, but this is getting a lot weird, why are you so being so nice to me?" You asked him

"I just feel, something good around you and I don't know why, I'm sorry, if I was being weird all the time, if I made you uncomfortable." Eddie looks down as he rubs his eyes

"No, please, my bad, don't thought of me anything like that, it's just- you stutter " I wasn't uncomfortable at all ever since I got to know you at school, I'm not used to anything that ever happened today I guess."

He looks back at you, with his eyes full of understanding and he nods while he lets out a smile on the side of his lips

"I admit that my parents are wealthy, I love them, they're nice parents and all." you sigh and look back down and started fidgeting with your rings. Eddie watches you carefully with a concern look on his eyes and he notices your actions which he knows that you're nervous and scared of what he will be thought of you after this but all he thinks to himself that everything is going to be okay.

"I just can't take the pressure from the "rich kids world" as you gestures both of your fingers with the quotation marks while you rolled your eyes, Eddie chuckled as he continues listening to you

"That's why I left it ever since and my parents don't mind it at all, they're very sweet about it and they always prioritize my feelings first if I'm doing okay." He nods

"I'm also sorry, If I keep apologizing to you and with the boys as well, it's been years since I've felt this joyful energy to anyone, if I say something about I love and I get excited while talking about it and they always turn me down like wrecking my vibe off."

"I just wanted to know if you have good intentions with me. It's hard for me to trust anyone today because people always takes advantage of my kindness but it's my personality, you know, you huffed "that's just who I am and I'm proud that I can survive even though sometimes it hurts. You look back at him and you realize how long he's been staring at you since you're talking.

You blush under his gaze on you and he clears his throat "I don't want to hurt you or anything, I swear to my soul, I just wanted to get to know you and maybe even build a relation- uh I mean friendship!" Eddie almost slips off a word there that it made you bursted out a laugh.

Eddie felt amazing when everytime he successfully made you laugh and he doesn't care if he smiles even wider than before while watching you struggling to stop your laughter.

"But don't get me wrong, I'm going to be honest with you, I felt the same way as well."

"You do?"

"Yeah, I felt the same wave of energy when I'm with you as well, I feel like I can tell you everything without worrying about it." You look away from him and stare at the road.

Eddie's eyes widen of what you just said to him.

"it just feels-

"Right"

Eddie cuts you off as you look back at him and you smiled

You look at your watch and it says 8pm and you look back at him and you say "I should better get going. My parents might be worried about me." as you reached for the door handle.

"Wait, no, no- let me!" Eddie quickly gets off the driver seat and he opens the door for you.

You laugh how silly he runs around the van.

You go down while helped you get out of the van carefully he walks with you until you both reached the doorstep and turn around at him.

"Is that too much to process for a whole day of my first day to school?" You asked while you awkwardly chuckled and look back down.

Eddie shakes his head and reaches out to your chin and he tilts it back up and says "No, I would love to listen to you all day and I will be there for you whenever you want or needed someone to talk to." He looks both of your eyes and leans down to kiss your cheek.

You gasp at his action but you smile at him and he rubs your cheek as you let yourself rest it.

"I'm so proud of you even though I don't know the half of it yet, I'm not asking you to tell me everything but if you're just ready, I'll be there for you always, you don't deserve anything that happened to you and don't ever doubt and blame yourself of it, it's not your fault, I don't know why am I felt this way to you I know it's coming all so fast but fuck it breaks my heart seeing you like this, don't ever shut yourself to anyone."

Your eyes burning out from holding back the tears as you nod at him "Thank you so much, Eddie."

He rubs your cheek one last time "Don't mention it, Sweetheart, See you tomorrow."

He walks back but you grab his hand to stop him, he looks back at you with your eyes glistening with tears and you hugged him.

Eddie almost falls how aggressively you embrace him and now this time, this is the time when Eddie left in shock, he almost cried as well cuz nothing ever happened to him like this before he chuckles under his breath as he hugs you back resting his head above you and he kisses it, you embrace him even more and you rest your head on his chest, Eddie can feel you smiling underneath him and he does the same thing as well.

"Now, now how am I supposed to go home if you can't let me go?" He jokes to you while he releases his arms away from you.

And you laughed while you look back up at him as he wipes your tears away with his fingers "Okay, goodnight, Eddie, you can pick me up tomorrow in the morning on the way for school."

"Sure thing, goodnight darling." Eddie says as you both walked away from each other.

but before you close the door you watch him get to his van and he starts the engine.

He looks at you from the window and he waved you goodbye and you waved him back.

You watch him as he droves away.

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: Smiler Alton’s Day Off

And now, for another edition of “Me Vs. My Brain:”

Me: [asks my friend Nebby for some ideas about what she would like for her birthday fic this year]

Nebby: [gives me a few different options, including one where Marty McFly and Alice kidnap Victor and Victoria from their school in a Ferris Bueller’s Day Off-kinda way]

My Brain: [looking at that particular idea and its source inspiration] Yeah, no, that’s actually a Valicer AU.

Me:

My Brain: Hey, give me points for it being based on something you’re familiar with!

Me: ONE POINT. ONE POINT FOR AN AU BASED OFF A MOVIE I SAW ONCE AGES AGO.

So, yeah, now I have a Valicer Ferris Bueller’s Day Off AU kicking around in my head refusing to pay rent. -.- There’s not that much to it yet, but I do have a few basics:

-->As you might guess from the title, Smiler is Ferris in this AU -- Victor, of course, is Cameron, and Alice is Sloane (though she isn’t actually dating Smiler in this verse, they’re just friends). Rita is Jeannie Bueller, with Thirteen being Charlie Sheen’s druggie character (named Garth in the original script, I believe). Wickerman is of course Dean of Students Ed Rooney, and Nemesis would be the Bueller’s dog. I’m a little stuck as to where I could fit in Oblivion and Galactica though...I guess the best options would be either be the parents (Tom and Katie Bueller) or the two valets who take the Ferrari out for a joy ride? Though now that I’ve written that, I’m leaning toward the parents, as I’ve seen Galactica as the “Mom Friend” of the group for a while now...

-->The rough plot of the movie (Smiler faking sick, then getting their best friends Victor and Alice out of school to come with them on an adventure through the nearby city) is about the same, but part of the reason for the day out in this world is Smiler trying to get Victor and Alice officially together, having cottoned on that they have feelings for each other but are stuck in a “mutual pining” loop due to their various self-esteem problems. Smiler themselves has a crush on Victor, but just wants their beloved to be happy and figures that’s best accomplished by pushing them toward Alice. Victor and Alice DO end up confessing to each other (see below)...but after Smiler rescues Victor during the pool scene, Victor also kisses Smiler, because he too has a thing for them, and Alice laughingly tells the shocked Smiler that she noticed their crush and made it clear to Victor she didn’t mind sharing. Cue formation of V polycule and Smiler declaring this the “best day out ever.” :)

-->Really, a lot of this AU is based on the fact that I could totally see Smiler hopping on a parade float and singing “Danke Schoen” and “Twist and Shout” to the crowd. XD Though, having recently watched that scene on YouTube, I think in this AU’s version, Smiler would end up dragging Victor and Alice onto the float to dance with them, and this might be the prompt to get them to actually kiss, to Smiler’s delight. XD

-->Oh, and as for the restaurant scene -- Smiler HAS an elaborate plan to pretend to be whatever the AU’s equivalent of “The Sausage King of Chicago” is, and is ready to put it into action when they encounter the maitre’d...only for Victor to intervene and straight-up bribe the guy into giving them a table. XD Smiler is like “...I keep forgetting you can just do that.”

-->And for Rita’s subplot -- after encountering Wickerman in the Alton house, beating him up, and frightening him away, she does not call the police, as she’s very anti-authority -- instead, a neighbor calls the cops after seeing Wickerman running away from the house. The officer who comes by has the bad luck to encounter Rita right after she’s rejected the singing sexy nurse-o-gram, and Rita assumes they’re just another stripper and gets taken in for mouthing off to an officer (this does not make her feel any better about the police). This does lead to her meeting Thirteen, though, so not all bad! Result -- when she saves Smiler from Wickerman at the end, she lets Wickerman know that the only reason she’s not telling their parents about him being in their house is the date she’s got with the hot goth chick, but he’d better be real fuckin’ nice to her and her sibling from now on. (She also gets Smiler to agree to hack her grades, though rejects their offer of straight As, feeling it would be too suspicious -- “Just raise my two weakest subjects to Cs, that’ll be fine.”)

Further developments possibly to come -- we’ll see if my brain insists on keeping this one!

[iprincezzinuyoukai]

U.A. Students Days Headcanons

Part 2/5 | Part 1

A lot of headcanons...

Shouta has difficulties during the physical admission exam, so he's put in the General Studies. Hizashi had no complications and was one of the first five.

Shouta isn't very social. He came here to be a hero not to have friends, goddammit! Hizashi's first friend is Tensei. Tensei was a little nervous and thought that Hizashi was only his friend because of his family, Hizashi didn't know that he was related to the famous Iida family until he saw his quirk for the first time. Weeks later Sekijirou joins when Hizashi recognizes him at the vet buying food for his St Bernard.

Maybe Shouta isn't good with physical attacks, but he discovers that he's good at parkour when he follows his black kitty all over the city, although that doesn't stop him from asking his sister to teach him some defensive movements, just in case.

When the sports festival starts, Shouta's determined to win the first place; Hizashi just wants to have fun, Tensei wants to make his family feel proud, and Sekijirou just wants to make sure that his friends don't damage what little brain they have left.

In the final matches, Shouta has to fight against Hizashi. He was on the verge of losing since he was confident that Hizashi didn't know how to fight properly, since all he had done with his previous opponents was screaming until their ears bled. That's because Hizashi recognized Shouta as a cool and hard opponent. Anyway, Hizashi ended up losing and Shouta went on to the next round against Tensei, in which he won the sports festival. Hizashi tried to talk to him when the festival ended but he didn't see him anywhere.

Shouta was transferred in the middle of the first semester, and he almost killed Hizashi as the latter didn't stop bothering him to be his friend. Even so Hizashi didn't give up (this boy had a death wish, they whispered) and he challenged Shouta in the Arcade in the claw machine. If he managed to draw a prize, Shouta would accept to be his friend. Shouta accepted knowing that those games were impossible (because he'd already tried and lost). For a conflict of emotions, Hizashi managed to get a stuffed cat (after almost running out of yen).

The surprise of the whole classroom was the next day and to see that Shouta had a lively conversation with Hizashi.

Hizashi teaches him sign language and also some words in other languages. He doesn't know if it's good or bad, but Shouta only remembers the swearwords, and often says it, like very often, especially towards teachers and some classmates. Shouta decides to teach him parkour, which can serve him someday since to trust on the quirks isn't good, according to him.

Having obtained their hero names, whoever dared to make fun of his hero name or Hizashi's, Shouta would break their nose.

The first time they wore their hero costumes, Eraser and Mic ended up entangled with the scarf and hundreds of nicknames.

Shouta was so used to people getting mad when he erased their quirk that when he did the same with Hizashi (when he started to get too loud) Hizashi started telling him how fantastic Shouta's quirk was.

Hizashi's eyes always seemed interesting to Shouta, especially because they look like rings. Hizashi gets excited every time Shouta's eyes change to red when he uses his quirk and sometimes he has an eye drops in case Shouta will forget his.

Hizashi and Shouta have the same route from home to school and walk together in the evenings, and often they meet in the mornings.

Shouta loves having naps, and Hizashi enjoys joining him. However, it's so peaceful to be sleeping on the roof of the U.A. that often they forget to set an alarm.

Nemuri ends up becoming part of the group after the 1st year fight against the 2nd year in their exam. Besides, her quirk is useful to Shouta when he has insomnia and is the first to suspect that Shouta has a crush on Hizashi when she flirts with the blonde to irk him, but to be frank, she just know how to charm people.

Hizashi has several playlists for different occasions, and even creates a playlist with names of his friends with songs that remind him of each of them.

As optimistic as Hizashi is, and although he rarely seems upset or frustrated – Shouta knows when Hizashi fakes his smiles. The same for Hizashi, who notices when Shouta is more grumpy than usual.

Both realize their crush on the other during their vacation, despite sending messages every day, their minds rambling to think about each other.

Tensei almost went bald for all the mutual pining he witnessed. He even gave several hints to both, he even made several excuses not to go to the Arcade for a whole week – That and that Tenya had just born and he didn't want to leave helpless his beautiful mother. Sekijirou and Nemuri made bets about who would confess first. Tensei scolded them, though inside he was divided into who would confess first and why.

Once Sekijirou bought a motorcycle... Hizashi and Shouta ended up destroying it.

On the other's birthday, Shouta has no idea what album to give to Hizashi (since he loves all kinds of music), so instead he gives him a polaroid camera. While Hizashi gives him a sleeping bag, so Shouta will have a more comfortable place to rest. Hizashi has many photos of Shouta sleeping because only then his face doesn't have that expression of 'I'm going to kill you'.

Shouta invited only Hizashi to his sister's wedding. And for the honeymoon Shouta went to live with Hizashi's family. “No.” “But you're going to be alone for a whole week!” “I don't care.” “My mom have a veterinary – and she's gotten kittens!” “... Okay, I'm going.” The moment that Hizashi sees Shouta smile (and I'm not talking about those smiles he does today) his heart skipped a beat.

Hizashi had several dates, but none lasted more than a week. Shouta was also confessed several times, all of them being rejected instantly, though he did agree to go out with a general studies classmate.

During the holidays and when his sister couldn't be at home, Hizashi invited Shouta to his house. Hizashi's mothers treat him like another son and were used to finding him sleeping everywhere.

During their second year they both confessed at the same time. Tensei fainted because he'll finally be able to sleep peacefully and won't have to keep thinking about more matchmaker strategies. Nemuri doesn't accept having lost so she proposes another bet with Sekijirou about their future wedding.

Because their friends are too meddling, Hizashi and Shouta can't act at all romantically, although secret messages are sent during classes and Hizashi likes to flirt with him using sign language.

During the hero licensing test, Shouta meets Emi (Ms. Joke), who studied at Ketsubutsu – He has no idea why, but Emi names him her best friend – And to Shino, Yawara, Ryuuko, and Tomoko (Wild Wild Pussycats), who were Class B of the same year.

A few months later his sister announces that she's pregnant. Tensei gives Shouta advice on how he should deal with a newborn baby - even lending him a book, as well as looking for the opportunity to show off what a good brother he is and how beautiful Baby Tenya is.

Hitoshi is Shouta's nephew. (Yes! Insert freedie mercury pose)

Hizashi takes several photos of Shouta carrying Hitoshi. Shouta decides not to comment on anything more than his nephew seems to have inherited more from the mother's side.

Before Nemuri graduated, Hizashi and she organized an outdoor camping trip with all their friends. Nemuri's intention was to have a party where there were no police or neighbors complaining, but they all ended up around a campfire making fun of everyone in general and planning what they would do as soon as they stopped being students.

“You cannot sit with the cool kids.” “Don't listen to her, take a seat next to me.” “Do you realize that we are nine persons in a six-person table?” “I got this.” Cue to Sekijirou putting Hizashi on Shouta's lap.

The first time they tried to kiss... They couldn't because it felt very clumsy and awkward, especially when they noticed their friends watching them.

“That's why love hotel exists!” “Dang it! leave them alone!” “My children have grown so much~” Then someone starts to hum the wedding march and the next thing is to Hizashi hyperventilating and Shouta wanting to die right there and at the same time thinking about how to kill their friends and hide the evidence.

[peterthepark]

𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐛𝐨𝐲

pairing: eddie munson x fem!reader

tags: 18+ very graphic smut, rough van sex, dirty talk, analplay, sub!eddie but also very much switch!eddie, lust at first sight, major mutual pining, a sprinkle of perv!eddie but hes sexy so its okay, (1) guest appearance by dustin, post vol. 2 fix-it fic, 7k filth

summary: she’s the girl next door. eddie is the metalhead freak who’s just barely clearing his name after a whole town fiasco. opposites attract but certainly not like this, and certainly not in the back of eddie’s van.

a/n: pov vol 2 ended on a positive note and eleven miraculously fixed everything so a freshly-graduated eddie can now live his life to the fullest!!!!!!!! aka what should’ve happened… minors dni. not for u.

It’s rare for Eddie Munson to be roaming the white-picket fence suburbs of Hawkins. It feels like a fantasyland — golden retrievers and tabby cats, designated trash days and bright, green grass full of yellow daffodils, oak trees with makeshift swings and wooden playgrounds built by loving fathers. It’s too perfect, too uncanny, and Eddie knows deep down that he doesn’t belong in such a world as nice as this one. 

But the suburbs of Hawkins are also welcoming.

When he gives Dustin a ride from school to home, when the noon is at its peak, golden rays and soft sprinklers making rainbows rise from the soil, he thinks — for a moment or two — that he belongs. He could if he wanted to. When Henderson invites him over for dinner, or when Harrington needs help fixing his car, when Mike needs relationship advice (as if Eddie could know anything about that) and when Robin wants to know more about Iron Maiden to impress the metalhead ladies, he thinks that maybe, just maybe, it isn’t so bad on this side of town.

That is until he saw you. And he realized then why everyone called this part of Hawkins a slice of paradise.

Pretty college student. Cut-off shorts from the Gap paired with baggy baseball tees, and a cute nose always stuffed in a romance novel or — some days — a textbook. Glossy lips, adorable socks and checkered picnic blankets where you’d lay out on the too-pristine yard, kicking your legs back and forth as if acting like eye candy was your specialty. 

The perfect poster girl of Hawkins with just enough rough edges to be labelled the girl next door. 

Only, Eddie doesn’t live next door to you. Dustin does. 

“The least you could tell me is her name, Henderson. I don’t want gas money, I want her name. Spelled out for me, syllable by syllable. Government name.” Eddie rambles, shifting impatiently in the driver’s seat as Dustin leans over the passenger window from the outside. “We’re sitting ducks here, man. What if she sees us spying on her damn fence like some creeps?”

The curly-haired sophomore sighs, fingers strung together as he frowns at his older friend, “You are a grown ass man, Eddie. All you have to do is ask her, just say hi, make an impression or something! You can’t just be looking at her from afar everytime you come over, blasting this Metallica shit…”

“You are on very thin ice, boy.” Eddie wags a finger at him, wide eyes bouncing between Dustin and the front of your house. “I don’t know her like you know her. I don’t wanna be weird, especially after just putting all this town satanic cult bull behind my ass. She might think — dammit, I don’t know… I just wouldn’t wanna scare the girl, okay?” He sucks in a deep breath, shrugging the thought off with a hopeful smile, “Not this time.”

“Disgusting.” 

He snaps his head towards Dustin, reaching over and rustling the cap on his head with a playful smirk. “You’re disgusting, you fuckin’ booger.”

And as if on cue, like every other day he’s been through this neighborhood, Eddie watches your figure emerge from the porch, picnic blanket and weathered paperback in hand. His jaw goes slack at the image of your denim overall-clad frame, nothing but a bikini-like bra underneath the number while a fresh cigarette dangles from your lips. So much skin — the exposed flesh of your neck, the salty beads of sweat rolling down your collarbone, the cherubic glow of your complexion and the alluring blush of your lips as you sit out on the yard. 

Fuck.

A loud boom pulls the metalhead from his trance. Dustin’s palm comes down against the flimsy van door. “Earth to Eddie? Get a grip, you’re drooling.” 

And all he can really say is: “She’s so damn pretty.”

Maybe he’s overreacting. Maybe he’s just really that in-deep with a girl who he has never, ever spoken to. Maybe he’s a pervert rather than a misunderstood freak and this is all just completely wrong of him. But, god, it feels so right to stare. Eddie can’t help it, especially once you catch sight of Dustin and send him an adorable little wave — then your eyes flicker over to Eddie’s dumbfounded expression inside the van, where you wave at him too. 

And the twenty one year-old swears he dies. Right at that moment. His heart skips several beats all at once, possibly even flatlining as a small smile falls upon your graceful features, bursting right out of his chest even as you look away and immediately redirect your attention to the walkman in your pocket like you hadn’t just casually murdered him alive. 

Fuck me, he thinks.

The next time Eddie sees you, he gets a little more than a wave. He’s reveling in this newfound attention as he bounces down the steps of Dustin’s porch and catches sight of you on the other side of the fence, already staring his way before he sends you a nerdy two-finger salute with a close-lipped smile. And just before he reaches the sidewalk, your sweet voice stops him in his determined tracks. 

“Metallica at three p.m. in this neighborhood is a death wish, you know.” 

Eddie turns slowly on his heels, shoes facing you before his whole body follows hesitantly. He’s trying to wipe off that stupid expression on his face, lips parted into a skinny ‘O’ that makes him look like a fish out of water as you finally make eye contact. He heats up immediately from the inside, belly churning and throat tightening when you give him a once over. And it seems like you don’t exactly care for subtlety either — blown pupils raking over his tattooed arms, taking in the torn rips of his shirt-turned-tank-top and the tanlines just above his elbows. 

He hopes you think that the scars on his body are just as badass (if not, more) than his tats. 

Say something. “Didn’t know music was on a schedule.” Eddie manages to follow along with a shrug, lips tugging to the side nervously.

In response, you smile. You fucking smile as if he hadn’t just said the most stupid response ever. It’s gentle, airy, almost effortless as crescent-like lines shape your warm cheeks and you cup a hand over your eyes, adorably squinting through the bright sunlight. “Oh, believe me, I had Iron Maiden on blast one time and ever since then, the whole block has been thinking I’m some sort of cult apologist.”

His heart grows like a balloon filling with helium, voice even going so far to climb several octaves of excitement as his eyebrows shoot up his forehead. “You… you listen to that kind of stuff?”

You play with the lacy strap of your top. You’re beaming widely at him from the other side of the fence. “Do you judge books by their covers, mister?”

“No, ma’am.” Eddie swipes the glistening pad of his thumb across his bottom lip, stifling the grin that threatens to spread across his mouth. Sheepish, he shakes his head. “I think I underestimated you then. I’m… I’m sorry I…”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m kidding. Seriously though, I have a bunch of mixtapes back in my room. Ozzy, Dio, some Sabbath. No one really gets it, but you… you seem like you do.”

And Eddie wonders: could you get any more damn perfect? The suburban denim dream, the girl next door, the quintessential concoction of every teenage boy’s fantasy and every teenage girl’s desire… listens to metal music? And not just AC/DC or KISS (because everyone loves those guys), but the same music he’s grown up with and loved? 

He can’t help but picture you in your bed, records spread out across your comforter as you switch between Dream Evil and Peace of Mind. Your limbs stretched out on the mattress, shirt riding up with nothing but black panties underneath as you rock out to his favorites. 

Yeah. He’ll think about that one a lot.

“I definitely get it. I do, I really do. I love metal.” Eddie rambles, hoping to keep your attention by stalling this conversation as much as possible. You nod at him with those big, innocent eyes and roll your fleshy lip between your teeth, keen to every stupid word that falls from his tongue. “But hey, it can be our little secret, then.” He leisurely gravitates towards the van while you match his strides, taking note of his quavering pitch and the use of Eddie’s own hands waving through the air wildly as he attempts to withhold his nervousness. “And again, just for peace of mind, I didn’t mean to judge. I figured…”

“Madonna?”

“Yeah, yeah.” He chuckles. Feels the anxiety in his stomach build even more. “Nothin’ wrong with Madonna, though. Sexy tunes. Can’t deny that.”

Sexy tunes. Come on, Munson.

But that draws a giggle right out of you, “Sexy tunes, indeed.” Then, you’re both leaning against the side of his van. No fence or Dustin coming between the two of you, just your sweaty bodies and Hawkins’ summer heat seeping through your thin clothes. You hold your palm out, fingers welcomingly outstretched. “I’m Y/N, by the way.” 

Eddie’s gaze bounces from your smaller hand to the doting expression on your face before gingerly enveloping it in his own. “Eddie. Edward. E-Eddie. You can…” You give him a gentle squeeze, a sure smile dusting over your lips. “You can just call me Eddie, or whatever. Whatever you want, Y/N.”

“Well,” You laugh again, and Eddie blushes profusely at the lighthearted noise. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Whatever.” You share another one of those looks, and he swears that this time — this time, your eyes do all the talking that needs to be done. “I think we’ll get along really well… Eddie.”

His name has never sounded so perfect out loud.

Eddie sees you again. 

And again. Every time he drops Dustin off. Again. Leant against the side of his van. Talking and talking, until there’s nothing to talk about — but it’s rare. He always has something to talk about, even when his voice fails him and he stutters or stumbles over syllables because you’re so fucking pretty and he’s… he’s just Eddie. But you see him differently than the others, so he supposes that maybe being “just Eddie” isn’t such an awful thing after all. 

Again, you talk. The sidewalk. Along the road. On your lawn. Sometimes, Eddie will even join you on your blanket, skim through your books and take note of what you read, then he’ll recommend “true” literature like Lord of the Rings or something else with elves and witches. 

Summer has never felt so long. 

Again.

Until again becomes every afternoon. Even on the days Dustin doesn’t need a ride home anymore. Even on the days he has to practice with his band at four, but he can always just come see you at three and drive back because it’s no big deal. Even on the days your parents say you need to stop talking to that Munson boy because he’s no good, but who fucking cares? 

Again, anyways.

You’re not scared of him. He’s not scary. He never was.

And so afternoons turn into nights. And nights consist of sneaking out to Eddie’s van that he’s parked a few houses down the street, because God forbid he talks to the innocent girl next door. Innocent is one fat hoax. You’re smoking pot with him in the back of his fucking van for Ozzy’s sake, giggly and unrelenting as you sit next to each other and drench yourselves in the scent of weed and Eddie’s drugstore cologne while Metallica plays faintly in the background.

He’s all man, but soft with his eyes. Soft in the way he looks at you. Crude in the way he secretly desires you. Now that he knows you, really knows you, you aren’t just beautiful. 

You’re completely devastating. 

You take a long drag of his joint, wincing as the paper sizzles and burns orange. “Fuck, I wish I tried getting high sooner. You’re a horrible influence, you know that?”

Eddie hums with a toothy grin, fiddling with the pair of flimsy headphones in his lap. “And yet you still meet me back here every night.”

“Why do I even do that?” 

“Um, ‘cause I got, like, really fucking good ‘A’ quality weed and impeccable taste in music.” He shrugs nonchalantly, eyes following the mold of your lips around the bud. “Easy there, tigress. Don’t hog it.”

“You said…”

“I said, you could have one hit. And now, I’m confiscating it.”

You groan in protest as Eddie leans over to your side of the van and snatches the blunt from you, tossing it into a mushroom shaped ashtray as he gazes at you curiously. “Since when did you become so mean to me?”

“Weed is meant to be treasured, Y/N. And plus, I’m always mean.”

He has to admit — there has been tension between the two of you ever since your afternoon catch-ups turned into late night talking. Maybe he’s imagining it, but surely you feel it too. The bubbling in his stomach when your elbows brush in such a confined space. The heat rushing to his cheeks when you laugh and place a hand on his thigh, or the dizzy rush flooding your forehead when he picks a flyaway strand of hair off of your shoulder. The increase in your heartbeats as you stare at each other for a minute too long, even sneaking in a second glance because you just have to. 

“You know what you should treasure?” You quirk a brow at him. A smirk tugs upon your lips as you dig through your pocket and pull out a cassette tape, shaking it in front of Eddie’s face. “This week’s mix I made you.”

“My mix is better.” He flicks his walkman open, switching out the tape inside for the one you hand him. “Here’s yours, ma’am.”

And he supposes that no one really expected that his friendship with the girl next door would be founded on trading music with each other. Ever since you and Eddie found out your tastes were in alignment, you made it a goal to introduce new songs to him — Madonna included. Sexy tunes. 

You think he could get used to the oddity of The Cure. He thinks he can convince you that Guns N’ Roses will eventually be a rock sensation. You’re skeptical. Maybe.

So you marinate in each other’s stagnant presence, leaning on opposite walls of his metal tin can of a van, holding your own walkmans with ears caressed by Koss headphones and lids shut as your heads bob to the acoustics. Eddie can’t help but crack an eye open, sneaking a peek at your chewed lip and your look of concentration. 

“I like this one.” You pipe up, feeling his stare on you. He glances away before you can actually catch him, training his gaze on the mess of blankets behind the driver’s seat. “You know, your choices this week are very interesting, Munson.”

Suggestive. His choices are suggestive, is what you’re thinking. From the first to the last track, the list of songs messily etched onto the cassette with the most boyish handwriting you’d ever seen, you can only hope that the metalhead holds some sort of attraction for you in the same manner you do for him. 

Eddie chuckles, and winces apologetically at you. “I still hate The Cure, by the way.”

You nod unconvinced, and pull one of the cups of your headphones away from your ear. There’s a smile of amusement, an interested dimple in your cheek. “And yet you included The Perfect Girl on here?” 

“Only because it made me think of you.”

For once, he realizes that he has flustered you. Your jaw goes slack, your pupils widen, brows softening before your nose crinkles at him. “Shut up, Eddie.”

His palms raise in a peaceful surrender, ringed fingers wiggling adorably. “You asked, Y/N.” A beat. Then you’re playfully throwing a jacket at his face and squealing before he instinctively lunges forward at you, gentle hands pulling you back by the elbows. Despite the struggle, eventually he’s pinned to the floor of the van and you’re on top of him straddling his soft belly. “Get off, you monster!” He near-giggles, sputtering as his hair gets into his mouth and he feels your body racking with laughter. 

“You’re so rude to me. Like the rudest. When has The Cure ever hurt you?” You pant out, chest rising and falling steadily as you both catch your breath. Eddie’s headphones haphazardly hug his head, walkman in the palm that rests above him. “Do you treat your girlfriend this way, hm?”

“No girlfriend.” 

“Oh?” 

“Mmm, I thought it was obvious.” He replies quietly, the sound comes out more like a soft moan rather than an agreement. His plushy lips are wet with saliva, tongue poking between the pink flesh as his eyes flicker from your parting mouth to your curious, swirling irises. “S’why I’m here with you.”

“So I’m the second choice is what you’re…”

“Please, you are farthest from the second choice, sweetheart.” Eddie laughs, ribs rumbling against his torso. Only then does he become hyper aware of the way your breasts push up against his shirt, the warmth of your skin intermixing with his, your nipples hardening against the thin white fabric of your camisole. Sweetheart, you repeat. Sweetheart. Sweetheart. Sweetheart. “Do you have one?”

“A girlfriend?” You ask, tone playful and curious.

Careless Whisper echoes through his headphones; your mixtape is still looping through his walkman as you trail your fingers down his wrists and brace yourself on his chest. 

Fucking hell. It’s ironic. It’s pathetic. George Michael needs to shut up. Why is this damned song on here? He’s struggling to think, struggling to focus on the words coming from your mouth, struggling to keep it in his pants because you keep shifting farther and farther away from his stomach, and more and more towards his crotch. Focus. Tune out that stupid saxophone.

“Sure.” He shrugs breathlessly, tingling with anticipation. 

“Nope.”

“Boyfriend?”

“Not yet, no. Why is this a conversation, Eddie?” You bite your lip cheekily, knees planted firmly on either side of his lean body when you gaze down at him then survey the still-lit joint resting on his ashtray. Silence, then: “Can I have a hit? Please?”

Eddie glances at your lips, fixating on how your tongue darts out to lick at the sticky gloss. The moonlight casts a glow over your frame, highlighting the path of your curves through your tank top. And without really taking his eyes off of your beautiful face, his fingers reach for the blunt, a blush spreading across his chiseled cheeks when your hand brushes against his to grab it. 

Please.

A sizzle rustles through the heavy air as you take a slow drag.

And Eddie can’t help himself. Not this time.

“You’re so pretty, you know that?”

You’re slowly tossing the perfectly-good blunt aside, leaning down and lazily grabbing Eddie gingerly by his chin. 

He thinks you’re gonna kiss him.

And before he can lift his head to meet you, instead, you’re blowing a puff of smoke between his parted lips with an exhale. “Fuck… ing… heck…” He instantly groans, eyelids drooping as your ass pushes against him teasingly like you hadn’t just shotgunned into his goddamn mouth. Party trick. You flutter your lashes bashfully, dimples poking at your cheeks as Eddie gapes at you just inches away from your face. “Y/N, where the fuck did you… learn that?”

You sigh. “Eddie Munson, you just keep on underestimating me.” 

“I really do, I really fucking do…” He huffs, knuckles turning white around his walkman as you sensually tug his headphones off. “I just — just thought you were…”

“Innocent? Oblivious? I may be your girl next door fantasy… or whatever the fuck you Hawkins boys think about me…” You smirk, taking Eddie’s much-larger hands into yours and placing them firmly on your hips. “… but I am not fucking blind… you’ve been acting so off this entire night, must need something to take the edge off, don’t you?”

Fucking Ozzy. He can’t take it. His lips tug into a wince. “That easy, huh?”

Red-handed, you coo. “The easiest.”

“So technically you’re calling me easy, then?” Eddie jokes, heart pounding against his chest as he tenderly digs his fingertips into your love handles.

This is what he’s wanted. This is it. 

And it’s not a fucking dream at all. It’s absolutely heaven. 

Just like heaven.

“Eh, I think it’s endearing. The way you…” He curses under his breath as you lean over and trail your mouth up his jawline, biting his earlobe. “… savor me… savor looking at me. The way you think I don’t notice your stare, when your eyes wander a couple inches down whenever I talk? Oh, you think you’re so slick. I’m not naïve. Why do you think we hang out in your van at night?”

He shudders when your teeth find the cool surface of the guitar pick around his neck. “You’re evil, sweetheart.”

“And you’re horny, but maybe I shouldn’t talk about that.”

“No, definitely…” Eddie laughs nervously, swallowing as he looks down at you. “Definitely not. I’m… fuck, I’m fine. I’m good.”

“Or, maybe I should.” Back and forth banter. It’s natural with you. Too natural, almost like it has always meant to be like this between the eager pair of you. You don’t kiss him, not yet. He can wait. “Acting like a gentleman, like my friend, when in reality you can’t help but think of banging me everytime we see each other?”

“M’sorry, okay? We are friends — fuck, Y/N. Can’t focus… can’t exactly t-talk when you’re on my lap like that.”

Heat pools to his lower stomach, breaths quickening as his hands mindlessly drift down to your upper thighs, squeezing your skin through your little shorts when you grind against him. “Like this? How does it feel? Touching me, feeling me on you like this?”

Eddie’s eyes are dark, almost black in the dim shadows of his van. He looks up at you with the most dilated, entranced look, and you swear it almost makes you break. “Feels… feels so nice. Warm. I just… fuck, I don’t… don’t wanna make you do anything you don’t wanna do… Y/N, goddamnit…”

“I think it’s both clear what we want, no?” You press a kiss to his cheek, running your thumb along the skin beneath his lower lashes. His self-control is slowly diminishing, inch by inch, he feels himself melting in your presence. “I stare, too, just so you know. I stare a lot.”

“Yeah?” Eddie lifts a shaky hand, nervously cupping your jaw and nudging his nose against yours. His voice ghosts your skin, raspy and more of a whimper than a command. “Tell me about it.”

Your mouth hovers over his, lips barely brushing against each other. Touching, touching, touching, only to pull away at the very last second. He can almost just taste the marijuana from your tongue, almost taste the honey dripping from your voice as you peck the corner of his lips. Almost. “I look at your arms, and your really cool tattoos, then I picture… where else you have them on your body…” You gasp into his ear as his hips rut into you, his fingers drawing shapes against the side of your face. “Picture your lips on my chest… kissing me, leaving marks… bruises, hickies, whatever you want, Munson. Your mouth between my — my thighs… tugging on your hair because you’d be so good to me, wouldn’t you?”

“M’want you so bad. You don’t know the half of it.” He whispers, stroking a knuckle across the shadow of your cupid’s bow. “Please… let me… fuck, let me kiss you. Please, Y/N. Want it so bad. Been wanting you ever since summer started. Makin’ me crazy, got me feeling like I’m insane with the way I just… just obsess over us.”

He’s earned it. 

“Like I said, whatever you want.” You grin devilishly.

Eddie’s lips finally collide with yours, erotically wet and far from smooth. It’s incongruous, sweaty skin rubbing against each other and clothes rustling as Eddie sits up, your arms swaddling his lanky frame while you crane your neck to kiss him deeply. His hair is in your mouth, his nose smushed against the side of your face, strained groans slipping from his throat as he traverses down your neck, selfishly licking the divot of your collarbone before his palms are venturing under your camisole. 

“You’re so fucking hot.” He whines, lashes fluttering against your thin bra as he pulls your top over your head. He’s mouthing at the cups, biting at the stringy lace of your push-up before he’s tugging the material down to reveal your nipples. “I just… fuck, I’m just in awe of you. You’re the perfect girl, and I get to have you.” He wraps his lips around the hardened bud, moaning as he alternates between the two and litters your flesh in dark hickies. You fist his hair, caving into his frame. “You’re so sexy. Just… fucking… took the words out of me, leavin’ me speechless… I’ll make you feel so f-fucking good if you let me.”

Your head rolls back as he kisses up the underside of your chin, meeting your lips in a more tender kiss. Your nails trail underneath his Iron Maiden ringer tee, lightly tracing over the raised scars on his abdomen, his belly, skimming over his sparse happy trail and the subtlety of his v-line. “You’re all talk, Eddie… wanna make me feel good?” He nods meekly, the veins in his neck flexing as you stroke his brow bone. “Think you should start by undressing me…”

“Christ, please.”

And without a beat, Eddie’s reaching around you to unclasp your bra, tossing it aside so that it lands over the back of the driver’s seat. He kisses his way down your belly, the little pudge when you sit, only for him to lay you down on your back, clumping up a bunch of jackets to make a pillow for your head. His fingers unbutton your shorts, tugging them down the length of your legs with your panties until they get caught on your Chucks. 

He takes those off too. Quite frankly, chucks the Chucks across the van with a squeaky mutter of ‘goddamn shoes…’  before he’s pocketing a lineup of chunky rings into his jeans.

Eddie’s mouth makes up for the dorky mishap, his lips make haste against your tender calves, biting the squish of your thighs and nudging his nose against the glossy patches of arousal on the inside of your skin. He inhales the scent of your cunt, and you jerk with a moan of surprise as he kisses you there, open and fluttering for him while he lays on his stomach.

He’s never seen such a pretty pussy. It emboldens him, leaves him brazen and aching for more even though it’s the first time he’s ever seen you this naked. Even though he’s barely even had you, he still needs more.

“Need you so bad it hurts.” Eddie growls, looking up at you with a smirk as you gnaw on your bottom lip. “You’re just… fuck, how did you get this wet? God, you’re unreal, baby… let me? Please? Let me… let me eat it… I’ll do anything…”

Let me. Let me. Let me. It’s his mantra. You’d be lying if you deny that it stirs something animalistic within you.

You nod violently, biting down on your forefinger as he props you up against the wall of the van and parts your knees even further before he’s shoving his face into you. Your hands dart straight into his curls again, pulling and tugging until you’re holding him by a wiry ponytail, watching the eager way he suckles at the bundle of nerves just at the apex of your sex. 

Eddie feels like a fucking virgin. Desperate. Impatient. Aggressive. He’s too excited — it displays itself when he slips two digits into your needy slit, taking in how you instantly buck against him. You need him. Need him in the same manner he needs this. His ego fires up as he drives his fingers further, running his tongue over and back and down your clit until your grip on his hair becomes suffocating.

“Having fun down there, h-hm?” You croak. Even with his head buried between your thighs, you’re mischievous, challenging, witty. He’d fuck the brains out of you if he could, but honestly, he isn’t even sure if he could survive one second with his cock in your little fist. “Fuckkk. You’re makin’ me feel so good, Eds…” Your head hits the metal wall, a soft bang that goes unnoticed with all the squelching and creaming as Eddie scissors his fingers. 

“You’re so perfect. You’re so perfect, I love the way you look right now, s’fucking hot… could cum just by watching you.”

“Yeah? Just wait — just fucking wait till I suck you off.”

Eddie can’t wrap his thoughts around it. His tongue, his hands, where he’s buried inside you. He’s wanted this, ever since the start of summer, and he’s here with the girl he thought was untouchable — the perfect girl with a perfect, filthy secret that is him. 

You’re grinding your mound against his mouth, quivering jaw unhinged in the darkness of his large van. His eyes flicker up to your tits, slick with his spit and your own as a dribble of saliva falls from your lips, tainting your skin. 

For once, you aren’t put-together. He’s ripping your façade apart at the seams and leaving nothing to sew back.

“You’re a fucking mess, Y/N… oh, I do this to you?” He’s touching you till you’re vibrating and mewling. He’s lapping every drop of you up, tasting you permanently on his lips as he prods at your clit. “Fuck, honey…” Eddie bites you, hard enough to nurse a bruise on the inside of your thigh. “Please cum for me, yeah? Jus’ look how wet I’ve gotten you, sweetheart… you’re practically — oh, my god… you’re practically gaping… you wanna cum that bad?”

You really can’t help it. Not when he’s cooing at you with that whiny voice, teasing and suggestive as your cunt spasms over his pink knuckles. Your hips rise from the carpet flooring, and Eddie leaves another bite-mark on your stomach as slick trickles out of you. You don’t moan. You don’t scream, nor cry. Just a broken whimper and a restrained, quiet utterance of Eddie’s name beneath your breath. 

Somehow, it makes his cock pulse even harder.

He gently kisses your cunt, running a soothing tongue over the bruises he’s left and the dip in where your hip meets your thigh. “Fuck, that was hot.” He smells the aftermath of your orgasm, really smelling you this time, and it ends up driving him nuts. “Oh, Y/N… your pussy…” You follow his gaze, letting out a lewd sound as Eddie admires the puffiness of your folds, swollen and open from his work. You jolt as soon as he tries to spread you. “I’m sorry, baby. I’m so sorry, d-didn’t mean to get so damn rough with you. You tasted so fucking nice, s’all.”

“No, I…” You brush his hair away from his face, pushing his bangs aside as he sits up and wedges himself between your knees. “I love rough. I can take it. I can take this.” Your other hand palms him through his jeans, before you’re dipping yourself beneath his waistband, hairs prickling at your skin as you grasp him. “Do you want me to be rough with you, Eds? Because I just… I really, really want your cock, and I… I dunno if I can hold myself back…”

“Oh, you little slut.” He gasps brazenly as you pull his shirt off, eyes wide at your sudden conviction for him, “Take it. Take me, Y/N. I’m all yours, whatever you fucking want.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, baby.”

You smirk, helping him kick off his jeans and boxers. Your cunt pathetically gapes for him once he’s bare, contracting around nothingness as Eddie takes your place against the wall. He leans back, and you just stare — drinking him in the same way he drinks you in. Your puffy nipples, still damp from his spit, your darkened neck a testament to his artistry, your mouth parting in awe as you fit his erect cock into your hand. Barely.

He’s big — lengthwise, and it curves heavily in your grasp as you lean down to pop him between your lips. Eddie nearly knees you, palms flying to cover his face as he desperately cries your name. “Y/N… oh, f-fucking… oh, Jesus…” You rake your nails up and down his thighs, licking a stripe up his manhood as you play with his sopping tip.

You chuckle in amusement around him, “Such a leaky cock. You like that, Eds? Mmm, you messy boy. All this pre-cum and I’ve… aw, I’ve barely touched you. Tell me what feels good, ‘kay?”

“S’all of it… all of it is — it’s good… fuck, words are so… words…” He melts even more as you sheathe him into your mouth, stuttering as he feels you hold back a gag. Your whole body convulses, back arching upwards as Eddie watches you take and take and take. “Oh, Y-Y/N… you just keep — keep getting better and better. Holy shit.” His belly aches with desire, tightening with each bob of your head and every seductive blink of your eyes. “You’re gorgeous. Thought about you.. whenever you’d — mmm, whenever you’d lay out on that darn lawn, what if I took you right there? What if I just… fucked you on that grass…”

“You and your dirty mouth, Munson.” You glare up at him in feigned annoyance, jerking his shaft with fast, purposeful movements. “I think it’s funny… how you pretend like you’re such a nice guy when really, you’re only a perv for me.”

“So what? Are you gonna punish me?” He challenges beadily, tongue poking out between gritted teeth like he could win this fight. “Or are you gonna fuck me, pretty girl?”

And just like that, the air changes. He feels the shift, the veil that falls over your eyes, nothing but sex and his scent running in your mind.

“No, Eds.” You move to straddle his thigh; your bare cunt dragging against his scarred skin. “I’m gonna make you beg.” 

You take him into your fist again, stroking him between the generous suction of your lips and the sweep of your tongue. He tastes good to your surprise, and then you’re creating a pool of spit that trickles from his abdomen to his balls. 

Messy girl. “Christ, Y/N.”

You release him with an erotic pop! — there’s stringy saliva connecting you to the crown of his cock, your throat is raw, his dick impatient, twitchy and excited. “You wanna fuck me so bad, you can’t even think straight. Look at my hand right now, look how tiny it looks when I hold you…” You grind yourself against his knee, groaning with him as you quicken your pace. Your brows furrow, a wicked grin ghosting itself over your features. “Baby, are you going to cum already?”

“Y/N, don’t s-stop. I’m beggin’ you, please…”

“Oh, you’re begging? This is what you call begging?”

“Please, s’too hard.”

“Too hard? What’s too hard? Me not letting you cum, or…” You give him one good jerk, twisting your fist so that your thumb brushes over his white-coated tip. “… your cock? Because you’re awfully, awfully rock hard right now. I bet it hurts doesn’t it, my love?” My love. His eyes gloss over. Your mouth hugs the shell of his ear. “You wanna cum?”

“Y-Yes…” He near-whimpers. Desperate. “Wanna cum so badly.”

“No.”

You release him for what feels like the hundredth time tonight. His climax dwindles back to square one, and his leg thrashes out in dismay. There’s sweat beading down your forehead, drops forming on Eddie’s brow bone as he scowls at you. 

You kiss him, almost like an apology, but Eddie can tell you’re not sorry. Far from it. You enjoy this, enjoy getting him off just to start over and make him beg. Is it so sick that he likes it? The more you stretch this interaction out, the more he gets to touch you. Like now, as you swing your knees on either side of him, his palm gingerly clasping the nape of your neck as he presses your face to his.  

“Let me fuck you? Let me be inside?” He pleads, nudging his nose against yours in anguished yearning. He drags his hand over your cheek, enveloping your jaw with outstretched fingers. “Just wanna bury myself inside you and stay there. Don’t even wanna cum anymore, I promise. I promise I’ll fuck you so good, m’not pathetic like the other guys… wanna feel you jus’ dripping on me, Y/N.”

You don’t answer, just gasp into his parted mouth as you line each other up. The angry head of his cock catches on your swell, snagging your clit before his tip lodges itself inside you and he — quite literally — goes rigid. You curse, slowly sinking down his length until your pussy refuses to take more. 

“You’re s-so big.”

Eddie feels like he’s going to fucking burst. “Sweetheart,” He pants, panicked and frenzied as you squeeze around him. Your head lolls onto his shoulder, arms thrown around his body as he tangles his slender fingers into your scalp and pulls you impossibly closer to his chest. “Sweetheart, I can feel every p-part of you… you’re so — fuck, just like that, you wet messy thing.” He whines, the curve of your ass coming down against his lap as you keenly bounce on his cock. He meets you with gentle thrusts, your cunt already milking him thin. “Look at you, fuck, you’re loving this.”

“E-Eddie…” Your tits are squished against his pecs, his necklace sandwiching itself between your damp skin. “More. More. Give it…”

“You can’t take it, baby. I don’t wanna hurt you.”

“I can take it. I can. It’s not enough, I’m telling you.” You rut your hips stubbornly, guiding his palms to your waist before he’s carefully rolling you onto your side and hiking your calf over the tender slope of his shoulder. “S’not nearly enough, Eds.”

“Okay.” He breathes out, inhaling deeply as he slips himself deeper inside you. The stretch stings harshly, flashes of white prickling at the cones of your vision as he splits you raw and wide open. “Is this enough? You fuckin’… god, you perfect whore…” Your spine tingles as Eddie tugs you closer by the hip, ramming himself into you relentlessly. “… such perfect tits, a perfect leaky cunt…” He presses a kiss to your ankle, before flipping you onto your knees so that he can fuck you from behind. He wants to see you, see you flutter for him, feed his sick thoughts and relive the nights where he jerked himself off in this very van in empty parking lots to the idea of you. “… and this perfect ass… another hole waiting to be used, right, Y/N? You’d let me use it, wouldn’t you? If I’m nice enough, I bet you’d let me fuck it…”

Fucking hell.

You cum as soon as he dips the pad of his thumb against the responsive ring of muscle. You both grow feral at the sensation. Soaked. Pussy chafed raw from his cock. You can’t tell whose fluids are whose, if it’s Eddie’s spit or yours, if it’s your juices or his — the embarrassing manner in which your cunt just sucks him in, the tight walls of your ass fluttering around his gentle finger as he drives into you.

How is the van still upright? Eddie doesn’t know. 

He’s an Ozzy clusterfuck of strangled, broken sounds and you’re a broken record player of Eddie-Eddie-Eds-Please, I’m cumming!

He doesn’t stop. Even when you’re shaking and bent-half in now missionary, he sheathes himself inside you till his pelvic bone is crushed to your body. “You feel so good, I’m sorry… I can’t — can’t stop, baby…”

“Don’t. Don’t stop, it’s a-alright.” You heave out, interlocking fingers as his glistening cock disappears into your used cunt. “It’s a l-lot, but it’s okay.” Eddie’s body engulfs you, your heels digging into the dimples in his lower back as he pounds into you. “You’re such a good — good boy, fuck…”

“Yeah?” He bites your throat. “Say.” The under-swell of your boob. “It.” Your arm. “Again.”

“Good boy. Such a good boy, fucking me the way I deserve.”

“Fucking you like you’re a slut.”

“Fucking me like I’m not the girl next door…” You chuckle, breathy and airy before he knocks the wind right out of you. “The whole town is gonna call me a w-whore for once.”

“Suits you better.”

You swear your soul leaves your body. You’re dying. You are dead, nearly limp in his fumbling boyish hands as he cradles your head against his chest and wipes the sweat from your eyes like he loves you. His balls slap against your loosened rim, his thumb putting pressure on your clit until you’re frantically pushing him away. 

“I can’t cum again. I can’t.” You sob in pleasure, clawing at his tattoos as if they could save you from his insatiable hunger. “Eddie!”

“Need it, need your cum again, Y/N.” Eddie growls, thrusts stuttering and cock pulsating wildly before he’s spitting onto your sex as if you needed to be any more wet. “I-I think you’re so… so fucking cool, you’re just… you’re too good for me, but I fucking adore you.”

I adore you.

I adore you.

You can’t even talk anymore, vocal chords ripped right out of your throat as your stomach cramps, cramps, cramps and then drops to a low point. Crashing. Flatlining. Clenching hopelessly.

You nearly choke Eddie as a hand flies out to touch him, pulling him close as your walls trap him for a second time. Only now, he’s locked in tight, unable to move, unable to go anywhere and he fucking cums immediately because it’s just too inviting. You feel him seeping out of you, painting your holes with his sticky cum as he stills there like a good boy. He grunts against your lips, kissing you poorly as his orgasm eats him alive. 

He’s milked. Spent. 

Eddie collapses on top of you, one leg jutted straight and the other bent as he embraces you close with his whole weight resting on your frame. How can he already miss something he just had? Gaining your strength, you kiss down his shoulder, fingertips swirling over muscle and scar tissue and ink as the smell of him floors you.

It’s so Eddie. Woody, earthy, with a spicy fresh top note reminiscent of oak moss and a hint of gasoline, dry cedar and herbs. It makes you dizzy in the best way possible. He’s drenched in the girlish smell of sex, sweat and salty but you’re eager to taste him anyways.

My good boy, you think. 

“Are you okay?” Your voice comes out raspy and winded, almost sickly but Eddie knows it's a good-sick. 

“Yes, yeah. I just… need a sec.”

“Hm, don’t take too long, Munson.” Shit. Is this over already? Just like that? “Might get wet again.”

Oh. It’s a joke. 

And he laughs, wheezy and exhausted as he irritatedly tugs his own hair out of his mouth. “You’re gonna be the death of me, ma’am.” He leans back on his hinges to properly look at you, your cheeks rubbed red-raw from his teeth and your abused, achy cunt still stuffed full of his prick. “Are you okay?”

“I’m alive.”

“Barely.”

“Barely.” You repeat heartily, shaking your head at him with a look of bewilderment. “S’gonna hurt when you pull out, you know.”

“Are you telling me to stay here forever?”

“If you admit that you like The Cure, then yes…” You bite your lip, drumming your fingers against his wrist. “… I’ll let you stay there forever.”

Forever. You both push down the giddy, cheesy smiles that threaten to spread across your faces. 

“Never. Never ever.” Eddie chuckles. When he tenderly and patiently pulls out, a wet rush slowly floods out of you, his fingers frantically plug you shut — his thick, translucent cum dripping from his knuckles as he selfishly fucks his hot spill back into you like the perv he is. “But that can stay there forever.”

A freak, but not in the way Hawkins thinks.

You melt at the feeling, limbs spasming awkwardly as he spreads himself over your pussy distractedly. His eyes are so goddamn soft, kind, attentive — even when he’s pushing some of it into your poor asshole, he’s still the sweetest guy you’ve ever hooked up with. 

He kisses your clit before he lovingly hikes your panties up your legs. 

Fucker.

“Did I ruin you, sweetheart? Awfully quiet.”

You scoff, shimmying into your shorts and camisole as Eddie tucks himself back into his boxers. “Just wondering how you expect me to climb back into my window after all that.”

“Who said anything about climbing…” He laughs boisterously, leaning over and fixing the strap of your bra. “What do you say I walk you to the porch, ring that bell and introduce myself to mom and pop?”

You stare at him like he’s crazy.

“Absolutely not, Eddie Munson.”

He finds himself liking the suburbs a lot more.

Only this time, he doesn’t imagine himself surrounded by picket fences and golden retrievers, mailboxes with his last name painted in unreadable cursive or having to mow his front lawn at seven in the fucking morning. 

Eddie doesn’t need to when Hawkins’ slice of paradise is just next door. 

And he gets to taste it every fucking day and night. 

So, fuck it. He’ll climb your window so you don’t have to wobble back to your house with his cum dripping down your leg. He’s a gentleman, railing you in the abandoned parking lot of Starcourt because you can’t handle the embarrassment of getting caught by someone at home. He’ll cover your mouth in the shed in your backyard so the neighbors don’t complain about the howling coyotes that have gone loose in the neighborhood. 

God forbid they have coyotes, right? 

But really, they should be worrying about the devastatingly gorgeous girl next door and her favorite, good boy with a dwindling hatred for The Cure.

Even though, the album is growing on him.

He’ll never admit that, though.