#agh. it is almost half to 3 am so i should go to sleep soon bcs i need to wake in the morning and not the afternoon!

[astrxealis]

i love elidibus so much it is unreal

[redgillan]

Under Pastel Skies - 3

Sugar daddy!Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: Modern!AU Bucky doesn’t need anyone, especially not a sugar baby. He isn’t that desperate… but she smiles so sweetly and she’s endearingly awkward, and he’s so lonely. She’s an artist, a painter, the type of person who always puts others before herself. Throwing caution to the wind Bucky offers her a place to live, a place where she can finally paint whatever her heart desires. He doesn’t need much in return; a friend, a muse.

Word Count: 2,587

Warnings: none

A/N: I wanted to give Reader a family and this is the easiest way to do it. Btw Peggy’s husband isn’t Steve, I have other plans for him ;) Enjoy!

Wannabe sugar daddies don’t interact, idc if you have money, eat it and leave me be.

The rest of the week went by, and you kept hoping Bucky would come back. You hadn’t seen him since he’d left 300 dollars under his napkin after visiting you at work. You had tucked the bills into your bra, knowing they would be safe there, and walked home at the end of your shift.

Now it was Thursday afternoon and you were craving a day off.

Natasha’s apartment was spacious and the oversized glass window bathed the living room in natural sunlight. The apartment was a gift from Sam. Obviously.

You dropped your purse on the sofa –your bed- and laid out the bills on the coffee table. It was made of marble and brass, another gift from Sam.

You didn’t know what to do with the money, so you took it wherever you went, to keep it safe. You wanted to return it to Bucky. It was too much and you weren’t used to random acts of kindness.

You sunk into the cushion and blew out a sigh as you stared at the money. The persistent vibration of your phone against your thigh pulled you out of your thoughts. Half expecting it to be Natasha, you answered without looking at the caller ID.

The operator told you that Scott Lang was calling from Saint Quentin State Prison, and asked if you would accept the charges. You agreed. You always agreed.

“Splotchy, I need your help.”

Closing your eyes, you let your head fall back against the cushion. “I told you to stop calling me that, Scott.”

It was a silly nickname.

As a child, your mother dubbed you splotchy because of the colourful doodles you painted on the living room walls, and your siblings, who were roughly a few years older than you, had loved using that nickname. Especially since they knew you disliked it.

Their support and endless enthusiasm played a big part in your artistic journey, nurturing that spark into a flame. What started out as a childlike fascination with colours and shapes became your whole life. No one was surprised when you decided to pursue a degree in fine arts.

After the death of her husband, Peggy Carter adopted five children; a little boy from San Francisco, a little girl from Wakanda, twins from Sokovia and a little girl whose birth parents were still in high school. You were the last one, the only one she adopted as a baby.

“Is it offensive to call an artist splotchy?”

“It’s irrelevant. I haven’t painted in months,” you replied. “And we’re not kids anymore, you can use my name.”

“I’ve been calling you Splotchy for so long, I forgot your actual name.”

“You’re so funny,” you deadpanned. “What do you need, Scott?”

Scott’s tone changed suddenly, his voice grew agitated. “I need you to call Maggie. She isn’t picking up when I call her.”

“Scott,” you sighed.

“I haven’t talked to Cassie since her birthday,” he cut you off, pleading. “Please, I just want to talk to my little girl.”

Maggie was Scott’s ex-wife. Six months after his incarceration, she had filed for divorce. Natasha thought it was a real dick move but you didn’t blame Maggie. She was alone, her husband was in jail –for basically being a dumbass although the official charge was embezzlement and destruction of property- and she had a kid to raise.

Maggie wasn’t a saint but she was a good mother, and Cassie was a smart and healthy kid. Now you knew what to do with Bucky’s money.

“I’ll call her,” you said. “Listen, I’m going to put 50 bucks on your book. Buy yourself a bar of soap, I can smell you from here.” Scott interrupted you with a monotone ‘har har’. You chuckled. “I’ll buy Cassie a Christmas gift on your behalf, all right? I think she wanted a bike.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you,” he chanted over the phone, his voice muffled as if he was holding the receiver too close to his mouth. “Are you sure you can afford it? I know it isn’t easy for you. Between living in New York and paying for mom’s nursing home, you don’t have to-”

“It’s fine,” you said, cutting off the conversation. “I’m not alone, Okoye helps.”

“And Wanda?”

“She sends postcards from time to time.”

The line went quiet for a moment. “I want to get out of here so bad,” Scott groaned. “Everything’s gone to shit since I went to jail.”

“Everything’s gone to shit since Pietro died, Scott.” You both remained silent, remembering your late brother. Just thinking about him made your eyes start to prickle with tears, so you cleared your throat and ended the call. “I’ll talk to Maggie. You’ll be out soon, just... stay out of trouble. Love you.”

You left your phone on the table and kicked off your shoes before you lay down on the sofa for a well-deserved nap. In your dreams your brothers weren’t either dead or in prison, your mother hadn’t been diagnosed with Alzheimer, and you weren’t a burden to your friend.

If you were lucky enough, you wouldn’t even dream at all.

The next day, Bucky arrived at the hotel at six thirty and you playfully glared at him from across the lounge. He wasn’t stupid, he knew why you were glaring at him. At least he had the decency to look a little sheepish.

“Just so you know, you bought yourself about 30 breakfasts,” you told him, referring to the far-too-generous tip he had left the other day.

“A man’s gotta eat,” he replied with a boyish cockiness that made him look stupidly attractive. You were too flustered to find a good comeback.

You brought him his cup of coffee and let him enjoy his breakfast while you attended to your other clients. It was an unusually busy day, the room was packed with families who were getting ready to explore Manhattan. You didn’t have time to chat with Bucky and he didn’t stay long. You saw him flinch a couple of times; the muscles in his shoulders pulled tight and his eyes darting left and right.

He left another ridiculously generous tip, along with a handwritten note. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day x.

Bucky came back the following week, and even though it was a quiet morning, you made sure to find him a table in a secluded spot. He didn’t notice when you slipped the 300 dollars into the pocket of his coat. You could be pretty sneaky, too.

“Mmmh,” he said, wiping his mouth with a napkin, “I looked at your Instagram.”

“Oh,” you glanced at your shoes, embarrassed. “Wait, you’re on Instagram? I have a hard time imagining you scrolling through your feed.”

He laughed a little. “I’ll admit I’m not as tech savvy as you youngsters, but I’m not a fossil. I use it to look at the pictures my sister post of my niblings.”

“Cute,” you grinned.

“Anyway,” he said, pushing a hand through his hair. “I love your work. It’s very unique; a cross between Impressionism and Post-impressionism. It’s realistic, and yet there’s something different...” his face scrunched up as he tried to look for the right word. “There’s something in your paintings, something that isn’t here in real life but perhaps should be. It’s hard to explain. It’s a feeling, a color, a pattern; it’s indiscernible but it’s there.” He looked up at you, his cheeks red with embarrassment. “I’m not making much sense, am I?”

You blinked, suddenly stunned that someone had such strong opinions about your work. There was nothing but sincerity in his ocean-blue eyes, and for a moment, you were at a loss for words.

“I, um-” you cleared your throat, “Thank you, I didn’t know that. I look up to Monet, obviously. His work is phenomenal, and I also have a soft spot for Van Gogh.” You ran a hand across your face. “Sorry, I’m a little emotional. The people who compliment my art are usually my siblings, and Nat.”

“And now me,” he said with a warm smile. “And soon a lot more people.”

Flustered, you bit your bottom lip. “That would be nice.”

Bucky nodded. He gathered his silverware and set them on his plate, trying to buy time. You watched him hesitate before he turned to you. “I noticed that your last post was from almost a year ago.”

“Yeah,” you said with a casual shrug. “I don’t really paint anymore. I’m too tired when I get home and supplies are expensive.”

“Of course,” he pursed his lips in thought. “Are you free this afternoon? I was wondering if we could meet for coffee.”

You tried not to show your surprise but his words made the sleeping butterflies in your stomach crack an eye open, their interest piqued.

Was he asking you out? He’d come to your workplace every week since your brief ‘date’. He always gave you more-than-generous tips, and he listened to you with a combination of close attention and warmth that made you weak at the knees.

He’d made it clear he wasn’t looking for anyone but maybe he had changed his mind. Agh, down girl! He just wanted a friend.

You looked into his beautiful eyes, seeing a myriad of expressions cross his face before he smiled at you.

“I ain’t gonna hurt you, angel.”

It was an honest lie, just hearing him call you angel felt like a punch to the stomach. The butterflies were dancing around, reborn, and chanting the word ‘date’.

“If you don’t like coffee, we can have tea, or ice cream,” he said, “anything as long as you can sit down with me.”

You snorted. “Okay.”

“Okay,” he repeated, smiling. “This is my number. Pick a place and I’ll meet you there.”

After breakfast, you closed the restaurant and started cleaning the Lounge. You brought everything back to the kitchen, stacked the dishes in the dishwasher and turned it on. Then you put away the unopened miniature jams, butter and whatnot, and gathered the remaining patisseries and fresh fruits in a basket that you would later bring to the reception.

You worked mechanically. It wasn’t exactly the most exciting job you’d ever had.

You couldn’t stop thinking about Bucky. It was easy to let your mind wander into the cosy and dangerous territory of this being a real date.

You decided to go to the Australian coffee shop near Natasha’s apartment. It was popular but not as crowded as Starbucks, which suited you fine.

After your shift, you removed your uniform and changed into the spare set of clothes you kept in your locker for emergencies. Emergencies being an impromptu date or a night out with Nat. You dug around in your purse for your lipstick; the nice one, the Carter Red as your mother called it.

You dabbed the lipstick on your lips, staining them. You only wore it on special occasions, and you weren’t sure Bucky deserved your full red pout.

You walked to the café with a little pep in your step and a confident smile on your face. The freezing temperature didn’t matter, you were too giddy to care. It was a date, it had to be, why else would he ask you to meet for coffee?  

You smiled when you saw him through the coffee shop window. He was chatting with the waiter as the latter set two mugs on the table.

“Hi again!” You shrugged out of your jacket and took a seat.

“I hope you like hot chocolate. Carl, here, says it’s their best seller,” Bucky said, smiling kindly at the waiter.

“Enjoy, and if you need anything else don’t hesitate to call me.”

You carefully wrapped your cold hands around your mug while you watched Carl walk away. A moment of silence rose between you. Bucky watched you with an unreadable expression, making you fidget in your seat.

“I’m glad you came,” he finally said.

“Me too. I’m a little surprised you asked.”

He looked down at his mug and smiled; it didn’t reach his eyes. “I have something to ask you.” He paused. “The night we met, you said you agreed to see me because being in a... financial relationship felt like the only solution to your problems.”

 Your smile faltered but he didn’t seem to notice. Oh. The butterflies in your stomach fell so suddenly that it felt like carrying a ball of lead. They went back into hibernation.  

“If I had been a decent person and, I don’t know, bought you a drink, talked to you,” he paused, meeting your eyes. “Would you have been interested in this type of relationship? With me, I mean.”

You swallowed hard. “You want to be my sugar daddy.”

It wasn’t a question but a statement. You were slowly realizing that you had been wrong about his intentions. This wasn’t a date, it was a business afternoon tea.

He winced. “Do we really have to call it that? I was thinking mentorship. I can provide financial help, and in exchange you could be my friend.”

“I can be your friend for free,” you said, your throat tightening.

He shrugged, a small smile on his lips. “This way we’ll both get something out of it.”

You looked down at your hands, still wrapped around the mug, and pursed your lips in thought. You felt a sharp tingling sensation in your nose, a sign that you were about to cry. You closed your eyes and clenched your jaw, fighting against the flood that was coming.

You pushed all the emotion down and forced a smile to your face. “Do you mind if I use the restroom? I just took the subway, I’d like to wash my hands.”

Bucky watched you, momentarily stunned by your request. “Of course, take your time,” he quickly recovered.

“Thanks,” you croaked, pushing your chair back.

You picked up your bag and walked to the restroom, your legs feeling like cotton wool. You didn’t need to use the restroom, you had walked to the café, but you needed a moment alone to collect yourself.

A woman came out of the restroom, holding the door open for you. You picked up the pace and thanked her before closing the door behind you. You looked pretty sickly under the artificial light of the restroom. Your eyes were glassy with tears and your red lips were taunting you.

“Got your hopes up, uh?” You watched your lips move. A little humourless chuckle escaped you and you shook your head at your own idiocy.

You aggressively wiped the lipstick off your mouth with the back of your hand and sighed deeply as you looked at your reflection in the mirror. Now you felt like an idiot.

It wasn’t Bucky’s fault. He had been nothing but nice and kind, and perhaps you had mistaken his kindness for flirting. A naïve mistake. You had always been a little clueless when it came to men.

You ran your index fingers under your eyes to get rid of the makeup that had gathered there. It wasn’t the end of the world, you barely knew him anyway. It didn’t hurt any less, though.

Maybe it was time for you to do something out of character, to experience life no matter how crazy it seemed. You were dreading this conversation with Bucky, but you couldn’t hide in the restroom forever. With another sigh, you pushed yourself away from the sink and walked out of the restroom.

Part 4

[desteez]

The Sugar to My Everything ~ ATEEZ Yeosang

summary: when your boyfriend Yeosang is stressed and worried about his studies, you know exactly how to make his day better. but a visit to the new bakery in town leads to confessions and realizations...

words: 2.1K.

note: a fluffy fic for a fluffy boy! if u didn’t know already, Yeosang has a huge sweet tooth😊 and i got a huge writer’s block in the middle of writing this fic. it was supposed to be done two weeks ago but things didn’t work out as planned lool! as always, lemme know what you thought about it, as well as any feedback! enjoy!! 💕💕💕

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You sit at a table for two, drinking milk tea through a straw, eyes on the twin closed doors to your right. 

You had finished class for the day and were waiting for Yeosang to come out of his last class of the day. It's almost 5, he should be finishing his class any time now. Right as the thought crossed your mind, the doors open and a flood of students rush out chattering amongst themselves.

"Ok, but he literally taught the entire concept in 10 minutes and literally did one practice question on the board? And then makes 3 of the 10 questions on that concept? He's out to fail us!!"

Your ears perk up at the words you overhear from the students streaming past your table.

"That test was brutal, how did you do?" you hear.

"Of course I found it hard, I started studying 10 minutes before class!"

You sigh to yourself. Sometimes you had no idea why Yeosang was so passionate about his program of study. As one of the most difficult programs in the entire country and one of the highest failure rates of any program, it was renowned for it's difficult courses. The majority of its students sported permanent eye bags, could always be found with caffeine in their systems, and got less than 4 hours of good sleep a night. And Yeosang, one of the absolutely brightest people you know, was no exception - it was going to be a few long, taxing, and strenuous years till graduation for him.

In the corner of your eye you see a familiar black jacket make its way towards you. Without looking at his face you could already tell what his expression was like, eyebrows knitted together, lips unconsciously turned downward in a pout.

As Yeosang plops down in the chair in front of you with his own sigh, he snags your bubble tea. "I'm desperately in need of sweets right now," he responds when you shoot him a victimized look.

"Was it really that bad?" you ask, already knowing the answer.

"UhmHmmm, " was his only response as he closed his eyes in contentment, downing gulps of it down.

"I swear sugar runs in your veins."

"No wonder I'm so sweet then!" Yeosang gives you as devilish of a smile as a boy like him can pull off and returns your bubble tea while chewing on a tapioca pearl.

You roll your eyes as you spin the tapioca pearls sitting at the bottom of the cup around with the straw. You'd known Yeosang for almost 5 years now. At first you'd just known him as the quiet, shy boy in your grade with a pretty face that all the girls secretly crushed on. Then you got to know him better and he'd opened up to you. You learned he was not just a pretty face but incredibly intelligent, kind, and surprisingly sassy at times. And of course, yes, you learned about his sweet tooth. And as you got to know him better even better and became his girlfriend, your relationship went from knowing that he had a sweet tooth to taking part in his insatiable quest for sweets. In fact, it had become a tradition to go on a date at a bakery, sweets shop, or cafe exactly once a week. He'd named it "Yeosang's Long Journey" and had described it as crossing off as many X's (aka shops) that he could on his map and pinpointing the treasure (aka the yummy things). Last week's date had been at a frequently visited local bakery, where Yeosang ate a triple chocolate cake and you had gotten a strawberry tart.

Yeosang sighs, leaning forward with head in his hands. "That test really was bad. I had absolutely no idea what I was writing for half of the questions, " another sigh. "I really should've prepared more than I did. If I had spent more time studying I'd have done better. Y/N, If I don't do good on the next one, how am I going to pass this course?"

You watch as he rubs his eyes and gives another long sigh. You knew he was stressed and tired. Finals were coming up real soon and the pressure and stress kept building. The days of all nighters, staring at highlighted notes, cramming, and memorizing had already started and was taking a physical and mental toll on all the students, perhaps more so for Yeosang than others. Yeosang held himself to high expectations and when they weren't met he'd start to get anxious and stressed. He'd pull away from you more and more and isolate himself to his room to study every waking minute. Although you knew that he needed to study, you also knew that a break from all the school work was just as important.

"Yeosang you did the best that you could with the time given. I know you can pass the course Yeosang, and the term's almost over! And you've told me that others in your class are also finding it difficult and haven't been doing great either. That means it's not your fault, you've given it your all, the course is just meant to be super hard or you have a sucky professor!"

Yeosang looks you in the eye and finally smiles a bit.  

"Ok...So I know we already did Yeosang's Long Journey for this week but I'll make an exception. Just for this week though! Let's go get some sweets in your system." you say.

He looks at you with wide eyes. "Are you being serious? Can we really go today?"

"There's a new cafe that just opened a few days ago." you tell him picking up your phone and googling its name, "How does it look?" you show him your phone with the bakery's website pulled up.

"Absolutely delicious?!" he replies scrolling through the images with his index finger. He looks back up at you with a brilliant smile. "Let's go already!"

-----

You watch as Yeosang's eyes scan the rows of deserts, his back hunched over to see through the glass display cases. His fingers leave fingerprints on the spotless glass as he points to different pastries, nose almost touching the glass, trying to pick one.

"How does that one look?" he asks tilting his head towards you with the brightest smile on his face. He looks like a golden retriever with his round sparkling eyes directed towards you, eager to get a treat, a hundred times happier now that his mind was off his studies.

He's pointing at what appears to be a chocolate brownie topped with whipped cream and edible sparkles. Protruding out of the whipped cream were bunny ears made out of candy with black icing drawing out the eyes, nose, and mouth.

You bend down and lean in next to him. "It's too cute to eat!" you tell him, pouting.

He looks back at the bunny brownie and scans it again. "You're right."

Today you had let him choose your desert too and he'd chosen a fluffy cheesecake decorated with fruits and jam for you. For the last five minutes he had been trying to choose his own dessert, eyeing everything with a hint of chocolate in it and asking for your opinions.

He moves down the glass display, critiquing the deserts he just looked at a minute ago.

The cafe barista behind the counter turns to you and asks, "Your boyfriend?"

You smile and nod at her.

She cups her hand around her mouth and half whispers, "He's adorable!"

You laugh out loud and walk towards her and the cash machine where the cheesecake Yeosang had picked out for you sat. "Yes, adorable he is!"

A minute later Yeosang pops back by your side and tells the barista, "We'll take the cheesecake and that bunny brownie over there. Oh! And a black coffee and a green tea latte please."

When the barista hands over the plate with the bunny brownie, Yeosang lifts it up to eye level and close enough to almost go cross-eyes. "Agh It's too cute Y/N!"

"I told you so! And you still ended up choosing it!" you scold him while walking to an empty table, sitting down with your cheesecake in hand.

Yeosang sets the plate down and sits down too and plucks out one of the bunny's ears from the whipped cream topping.

"No! Why'd you do that?!?? Put it back!!" You yell and lunge, grabbing his hand before he can devour the bunny ear and guide it to stick it back into the whipped cream. "I gotta take pics!" you say whipping out your phone.

Yeosang chuckles and innocently apologizes with a ,"Ah I forgot," and obediently waits as you take your pictures.

Yeosang's bunny brownie is gone in six bites (you'd stolen a bite of it too), right on time for your drinks to arrive, while your cheesecake sat abandoned. You weren't the biggest fan of chocolate, at the very least your love for chocolate couldn't compare to Yesoang's love for chocolate, but really, what could? But, you had to acknowledge that this cafe made absolutely mouth watering chocolate brownies that happened to be cute too. Rich in flavor, not too sweet, and with the chocolate taste topped with sweet and fluffy whipped cream, it was heaven to your taste buds and you knew Yeosang felt the same.

Yeosang chuckles and picks up a napkin. "Come here. You've got brownie crumbs on your face". He gently takes your chin in his hand and even more gently brushes the crumbs away.

"Hmm I could say the same for you. You've got whipped cream and sparkles everywhere." You reach up with another napkin and wipe the whipped cream from the corners of his mouth. The sparkles... well there was no easy way to get rid of those, and well, they looked good on him.

When you're done Yeosang immediately picks up his fork and starts eating away at your cheesecake making sure to help himself to the fruits and jam.

"Mmmmm!" he looks at you with wide eyes, spoon still in his mouth when he eats the first bite.

You giggle at his expression. "Which one was better, your bunny or the cheesecake?"

He thinks about it carefully, smiling around another spoonful of cheesecake. "The bunny brownie! It gets extra points for looking cute!"

His smile suddenly disappears and he suddenly looks down, wanting to say something, and gently places his fork down.

He looks a little nervous, a little embarrassed, but completely sincere with what he wanted to say as he clasped his hands in font of him together in front of him.

He takes a deep and long breath in and puffs it out.

"Thank you" he says.

And hearing those words, you knew without further explanation what he meant, what he was trying to say. In that one Thank You, you heard him say Thank You for always being there to comfort me, Thank You for always knowing how to cheer me up, Thank You for choosing to stay by my side, Thank You for helping me through difficult times in my life, Thank You for being such a kind and amazing person, Thank you for being the love of my life.

You may have heard Thank You from his mouth but his eyes, his eyes said I Love You and that one Thank You was a thousand times stronger than any of the I Love You's he'd given before.

And it hit you then, hit you stronger than it ever had before. This boy, No, this man sitting in front of you with his pure heart and beautiful soul laid bare for you. You loved him. You loved him so much that it hurt. It hurt to not be around him. And you realized Kang Yeosang. Yeosang was the one person you wanted to spend your entire life with. You wanted to be around him every second of the day, every second of the night. You would never let him go.

So you reach out and take his hand in your own, holding it as if holding something too good for words to describe. And you look at this wonderful human in front of you, sweeter than any chocolate, your one in a billion, and say back to him, "Thank you".

He smiles and interlaces your fingers together, giving you a nod. Because he knows, he too knows without any more words said what you mean: Thank You for being with me, Thank You for pulling me into your life, Thank You for being the highlight of my day, Thank You for being the first thing I think of every morning and last ever night, Thank You for having the most beautiful smile in existence, Thank You for loving me as I am... Thank You for being

... you.

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… and then they lived happily ever after …

// by @esdblu | @desteez

{Masterlist All}

[leejeongz]

Stray kids reaction to their s/o helping with their music

😣I’m sorry it took so long! Anyways I hope you like it😣

Bang Chan:

Chan was definitely the type to keep his work and relationship separate. He didn’t want to bother you with that kind of stuff, you had a professional joke of your own. But one night, when no other members were around, he called you into the studio. “I just need a second opinion, please baby?” He pleaded, he needed you to listen to his new masterpiece since no one else could. As soon as you arrived he hit play. It was amazing, of course it was, you expected nothing less. “Chris, it’s perfect!” You admitted. Although you hadn’t really done much, Chan was still very thankful. “I know it’s late, but wanna grab some food?” He asked. You nodded. He packed away his music stuff before heading out to his car and taking you to the expensive restaurant down the road. “It’s on me” he pushed your hand with your purse in “order what you want, I’ll pay.” He hopes this was enough to show his gratitude, but it was more than enough.

Woojin:

“How am I supposed to do that with my leg, Minho, I’m not a contortionist?” Woojin sassed before plopping himself into the empty space on the sofa next to you in the practice room. Minho, now clearly aggravated, walked out, slamming the door as he went. “Woojin, you can do this if you try. You gave up without even giving it a go, who are you?” Your eyes narrowed as you stood up. You were now stood over him. “If I, the most unfit citizen can do this, then so can you.” You sat and performed the move Minho had previously shown to Woojin. “Your turn, honestly it’s not that hard” you encouraged him. To Woojin’s surprise he did it first time, almost as good as Minho at that. Once you were both back on your feet, he grabbed your waist and kissed the side of your head. “You’ve been spending too much time with Minho, haven’t you?”

Lee Know:

“I just” he paused, his grip on your hand loosened as he began to tell the truth. “I don’t want to mess up again.” He’d been assigned a really hard rapping part in the new comeback and he was beginning to doubt himself. “Baby, I’m sure you’re gonna be amazing. I’m here to listen and give constructive criticism anytime, you know that” you tightened the hand holding. “Can I show you now?” He asked apprehensively. You nodded an he began to rap. It needed some work but it actually sounded really good you thought. “Maybe you could sharpen that start and drag out the end word, that sounds sexy, you know?” You told him. He did as you said and was impressed with the barely noticeable results. “Damn y/n look at you, my little musical genius” he raised your hand up to his mouth and pecked it.

Changbin:

Changbin’s head hung over the back of his chair, clearly stressed over the new song he was working on. “What’s up?” You asked, rolling your chair from your desk next to his. “It’s this” he pointed at the screen. To be honest, you had no idea what was going on but you acted like you did. “Play it” you requested, sitting back on your chair. It sounded good, but there was something missing. “What if you added a muffled scream here and a moan here?” You instructed and Changbin followed. He looked hesitant, was your newness to this really that plain? He played it once again. He suddenly shot forward on the chair in excitement. “Y/n that sounds amazing!” He exclaimed in shock. He turned and hugged you, crushing you slightly. “Thank you! Chan will love this oh my gosh” he clapped excessively.

Hyunjin:

“Teach me how to sing” was the first thing that Hyunjin had uttered all night. He’d been scarily quiet but you decided not to interrupt him, you’d learnt that usually didn’t help. “What?” You questioned. “Please y/n, I know you have a great voice and I need you to help me for the new song.” You agreed to assist him. You didn’t really have to work on much, his voice was almost perfect. You gave him tips his own vocal coach didn’t share with him, he was so grateful, especially when everyone enjoyed and complimented him on his voice in the song. “Thank you darling” he hugged you when he returned home one evening. “They love you, they love what you’ve done to me, and as much as you say it’s all me, there’s bits of you in me too and that’s what makes it perfect, I think.” He rested his hands on your waist while looking at you. “Stop rambling and kiss me, Hyunjin” you laughed as he gladly obliged.

Han:

Jisung was drowning in work. Chan just kept throwing tasks at him but it was own fault. “Yes Chris I did that” he lied once again, before receiving yet another task that he would no doubt procrastinate doing. Enough was enough, Jisung clearly needed help with this and you were the only person available. “Pass me those head phones” you ordered. He did so before watching what ever you were doing. You plugged them into Chan’s pc. “Sad Jisung, the vibe is sad. You should write about how all this work is making you feel but make it so students can relate.” This was the biggest task he’d been given. Write lyrics for the new song. He’d spent weeks trying to figure out what to write, which would have helped if he actually listened to the instrumental. “Thank you thank you thank you.” He repeated, finally putting pen to paper. You ruffled his hair before picking up his next task. He could definitely get used to the two of you working together.

Felix:

“Poor, poor, poor” Felix read off his performance sheet. “Y/n I’m not improving any, the only excellent I have is in dancing” he sobbed. You already had him wrapped in your arms, you wished there was something more you could do. “I practice everyday, nothing is getting better though what am I doing wrong?” he cried out helplessly. You just want to cry with him but you know that wouldn’t help. “Felix, how about we set you targets?” you spontaneously ask. “Like what?” He sniffled. “You know like, get excellent by Christmas in the rapping category? That’s easily achievable” Felix agreed to set these targets and to your surprise he kept to them. It meant everything to you to see him happy with himself and you were the only person who he could thank. “I love you y/n, thank you for this great idea! Look at all these excellents! Yet I think they all belong to you, my excellent baby”

Seungmin:

Terror flashed in his eyes as he watched the new choreography through the mirror. You sat and watched him panic, rooted to the spot. He didn’t need to learn it yet but you could see he wasn’t confident in it. Upon noticing this, you pulled out your phone and began to record the dance. After the professionals and the members had left, you showed Seungmin the footage. “There, I sent it to you, now you can get a head start, don’t worry sweetheart, you’ll get there” you rubbed his arm, he still looked terrified. “Th-thank you” he replied. “Thank you for recording it, I don’t know what I’d do without it, without you.” He confessed shyly. “Can you come and watch me practice this week, I think I want your opinion as someone who’s not going to judge me straight away?” He begged. You whispered “of course” to which he smiled. He was so thankful and could never repay you for this.

I.N:

“Agh this is a nightmare” Jeongin shouted before letting out an unexplainable noise. You rushed to the kitchen to find a sweaty looking Jeongin. “It’s 2am what are you playing at?” You questioned, still half asleep. “This move, y/n, I can’t get I right” he tried one more time but failed even more than before. “It’s meant for two people right?” You recalled him and Seungmin practicing this a few days ago. He nodded “pretend I’m Seungmin then” you stood in the correct position, trying your best to remember the moves. 3 reps of the choreo and he’d got it spot on. “What would I do without my darling?” He asked, visibly proud of himself and you. He hugged you and stroked your hair. “Don’t tell Seungmin this, but I prefer dancing with you.” He jokingly said “And I prefer dancing with you too, now let’s go to sleep” you dragged Jeongin who was in no mood to go to bed just yet, too excited that he finally got the moves right.

Gifs aren’t mine

[soundofseventeen]

Nightmare (Boo Seungkwan)

Happy Saturday guys! Life is busy again! It keeps snowing! Agh! -Erin

I am so sorry I had to

“NO!” You shouted, bolting up in your bed and breathing heavily. You looked around your room, trying to process where you were. You felt relief as you realized it was just a nightmare. Just a simple nightmare. It was all fake. Once your breathing calmed down, you laid back down, looking to the empty spot beside you. You were confused again as you reached for your phone, frowning at the time. You did see you also had a message from Seungkwan.

‘Sorry babe, we’re gonna be late again tonight. Not sure when I’ll be home. I’ll text you when I’m on my way. Love you <3’

You sighed to yourself, sent him a quick message back, and then put your phone on your desk again. You rolled over, hugging your pillow, shutting your eyes. They opened right back up as you saw your nightmare replaying in your head.

“It’s not real. It’s not real. It’s not real.” You muttered to yourself, trying to place other images in your head. None of that seemed to work, so you picked your phone back up, starting to go through photos and videos you had saved throughout your phone, even sending Seungkwan a couple to make him smile during rehearsal (and one to Vernon too).

*

“Alright, everyone take 10, and then we’re gonna try this again.” Soonyoung said, looking at the group in the mirror. Half the group nodded, walking to their stuff to get drinks, while the other half collapsed on the ground where they stood.

“Vernon, can you toss me my phone?” Seungkwan said, appreciating the feeling of laying down after that rehearsal. He jumped as his phone hit his stomach, bouncing off and hitting the floor. “You didn’t have to actually toss it.” Seungkwan said, picking up his phone and examining it as Vernon sat down next to him.

“Word choice, my friend. Word choice.” Vernon grinned, then looked at Seungkwan, who was looking at his phone in concern. “What, did it crack? I didn’t toss it that hard…”

“No, I just have a couple messages from Y/N. I have like, 4 videos here. Why are they still up?” Seungkwan asked, sitting up. Vernon just shrugged.

“Maybe they’re waiting up for you. Hey, I have one too!” Vernon smiled, showing Seungkwan the cat video you had sent him. 

“They don’t do that unless I know when I’m coming home… I hope they’re okay…”

“Do you wanna try calling them? We still have a little time.” Vernon suggested, gesturing to Soonyoung, who was watching footage on his phone.

“Nah, they’re hopefully asleep now anyway. We should be done soon anyway.” Seungkwan said, standing up to put his stuff away.

“Alright guys, let’s do this.” Soonyoung said, getting into his starting position again, the rest of the boys following suit. Vernon couldn’t help but notice that Seungkwan tried to remain focused, but he had a hint of distraction through the rehearsals. After a couple more attempts, frustration building in the room, Vernon looked at their performance leader. 

“Can we try this again tomorrow?” Vernon said, panting in his spot.

“But we’re so close!”

“But we’re all dying. We’ll get it much quicker tomorrow after we’ve all had some sleep.” Vernon countered, a couple of the boys nodding. Soonyoung looked at the boys, then let out a sigh.

“Alright look, one more time. Then after that if you want to stay, you can stay. If you want to leave, you can leave.” He said, and the boys all nodded, getting ready for their one last run through.

After they finished, all but about 4 or 5 members packed up their things, heading home. Vernon nudged Seungkwan’s shoulder, nodding his head.

“Go see Y/N. Make sure they’re okay. Get your damn piece of mind back.” He said, causing Seungkwan to smirk at him.

“Thanks.” He whispered, pulling out his phone and exiting the building.

*

After about an hour, your eyes started to feel droopy again. You sighed to yourself, feeling like the nightmare was finally out of your head. You set your phone back down, curling back into your bed. You let your eyes shut, thoughts of happy memories and cute things in your head. You smiled to yourself as you slowly drifted off to sleep.

That didn’t last long. Your dreams started out normal and happy, then it slowly started to take a turn. Before you knew what was happening, the nightmares started again. This time worse.

You bolted up again, letting out another scream. You put your face in your hands, breathing heavily.

“Y/N?!” You jumped, looking around your room. You jumped again when the door opened, letting out another scream. Your hand covered your mouth and tried to breathe normally as Seungkwan jumped, making his way over to you.

“Y/N, are you okay? I opened the door and the first thing I heard was you screaming, what’s wrong?” He asked, looking you over in concern. You quickly waved a hand, shaking your head.

“No… No, I’m fine. Just… Just another nightmare.” You said, already feeling calmer with Seungkwan sitting in front of you.

“Are you sure? You’re really pale… What happened in it?” He asked, and you shook your head.

“Nothing… Nothing. How was rehearsal?” You asked, and Seungkwan shrugged.

“It was okay. Do you want-”

“Let’s just go to sleep, okay?” You said, and he sighed but nodded.

“Okay. Go to sleep and I’ll go get changed. I’ll be right back.” He said, kissing your head. You smiled at him, laying back down. Seungkwan left the room, and you attempted to go back to sleep.

Almost instantly, you jerked back awake, breathing heavily again. You let out a sigh, and then felt Seungkwan hug you.

“Shhh…” He said, sounding very tired. You looked down as one of his hands found yours, linking them together. “It was just a bad dream, okay? Just a dream. None of it was real.”

“Okay…” You muttered, your breathing becoming controlled. “Okay… Okay…”

“I got you. Nothing bad is going to happen.” He whispered and you smiled, letting out a deep breath.

“Okay.” You said, finally falling back asleep, for good this time.

[poorvioletdraws]

Tom vs. The Underworld

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10

7. All My Best Friends Are MetalHeads

Ever since we met, I started having these strange dreams about him… 

My golden eyes steadily blinked open to the quaint sanctum that was my room. It was an unusual start to my day since I woke up before my alarm, although I wasn’t ready to get up quite yet. I decided to find a more comfortable position in my bed by rolling from my right side and onto my back. I pushed my red bangs that were covering my eyes aside and continued to contemplate the possible meaning behind my dreams.

At first it just seemed like your typical, no-sense-making sleeptime entertainment session that occured every once in a while. But it was starting to form a pattern of happening the night before and the night after I saw him.

The first night after meeting Tom at his Lake House, my mind depicted him sledding down what must have been an endless garbage mountain in a huge metal boot while a gigantic mangy crow chased after him. I’ve had weird dreams before, mainly involving my friends and family, but why would I even imagine something like that to a person I had just met? 

The night before we ran into each other a second time while my family and I were vacationing in Yomi Town, I dreamt of Tom again. This time he stood in a wooden structure full of hay and had an argument with a broom that had long blonde hair and hearts on its cheeks. Yet another vision I didn’t give too much thought to.

The night after he left Yomi Town still continued the pattern, even though it was a short dream. Tom rode in a giant panda-cat-bus, like the one from My Neighbor Torture-o, and was collecting tacos and tennis balls across the land with three large possums dressed up like people. It was a cute dream, I’d love to ride in a bus full of tacos...

But then, the night before I saw Tom again at Madame Morguerite’s, it wasn’t just a dream that I had about him. It was a nightmare. It was a foreboding premonition that felt too real. It was so terrifying that I fought to wake myself up from it loud enough that my fellow students in the dorm were startled awake and wondering what was wrong. I didn’t even realize tears were streaming down my face as I told them it was nothing. They already thought I was different anyway so I’m sure that incident just gave them more reason to ostracise me further.

Luckily for me, I don’t really remember what happened in that nightmare anymore. It was forgotten the moment I woke up. All I remember is that feeling of perpetual sorrow in an infinite darkness...

Suddenly, my Golem--which was now morphed into my alarm clock and sitting on my bedside table--began to clap its hands together in order to alert me of the time. I sluggishly pawed for its head and used my geokinesis to turn it off.   

I slowly rose from my bed and wiped the sleep from my eyes. It was morning but you couldn’t tell because there weren’t any windows in my room. It was always intimately dim as the only light source came from the flickering candles dotting almost every inch of my walls. Bouquets of red spider lilies stood in black vases at my desk and bedside tables while streams of them sewn together by their stems into flower chains decorated the outline of my ceiling before joining together towards the middle and then cascading down my wrought iron chandelier. I’d like to imagine that the combination of candles and blossoms made my room appear to be whimsically romantic, but my siblings often joked about how ritualistic it looked instead.  

“I should get ready, he’ll be here soon…” I said with a yawn while taking a seat at my vanity. The mirror was headed by a springbok skull and beside it on the wall hang my painting of the dimension with 1,000 sunsets. I began to smile to myself while looking at it.

My older sister, Rochelle, was able to go back and get my stuff I left at that etiquette school. There was no way I could go back after the fiasco Tom and I caused. I’ll be sure to work extra hard at her shop next week to thank her.

I need to find a way to thank Tom too… He has done so much for me every time we see each other. And he even wore the necklace we made when he came to see me. Come to think of it, the dream I had of him last night was different… It wasn’t anything weird or silly. Just him. Standing in front of me surrounded by light. He looked very handsome, not that he isn’t handsome already. He smiled at me and held out his hand and I...

I noticed I was blushing in the mirror and quickly shook my head of the thought.

Quit it, Raya. He is a prince. Don’t think like that. Especially having dreams depicting him in such a way, I need to stop that too. He just wants to be friends. I should be grateful he even wants to hang around with someone like me… And my friends… Hopefully they all like him too…

Getting back on task—I get distracted a lot—it was time to get ready for the day and I know it’s going to be great! I needed just the right music to get me started.

“Let’s see, what to listen to today.” I murmured, flipping through my CD album collection in front of me. “Oh! One of my favorites, perfect!”

I removed my Less Than Jack disc from the sleeve of the album and inserted it into the stereo. I then open the drawer of my vanity and began applying my makeup as the song started to play.

~You think it’s strange, that there’s a way…~

“Ugh, why am I starting to get nervous again.” I groaned aloud. I was flying through the air through the demon city, Chernabog, and it was my first actual time seeing it in depth. I had seen the volcanic region of the Mountain of Boom far off in the distance before coming into the city, but now my view was filled with buildings stacked too close together to the point of being right on top of each other. It was a huddled mess of clutter and heavily populated too. It kind of was making me claustrophobic from just the sight of the place. The demons that lived here however seemed to not be bothered at all.

I held up my compact phone to see where my directions wanted me to go next. 

“Okay… I passed that part… And there… Now should be around…” I mumbled to myself while searching for the street name.

 The area I was moving toward was heading somewhat out of the suburbs, which was alleviating some of my phobia. The terrain in this area was even more rocky and extended down into a huge quarry.

“Oh wow, that has to be her place.” I said in awe as I landed.

The home was built into the walls of the pit of rock with limestone bricks as the face. For a girl who says how ordinary her life is all the time, she sure lives in a house that was anything but. It was a rustic kind of chic and fitting for a family of Stone Demons. 

There were tall torches that outlined a path leading to grand granite stairs of the Belmonte home. I walked up them entranced by the beauty of the architecture, completely forgetting about my nervousness.

The front entry was a large double door made of black stone—obsidian, perhaps? It was a nice signature quality by Raya’s father that I was starting to notice more of. After meeting him and seeing his work, I realized my parents bedroom door at our castle home was constructed the same way.

I took a deep breath and began giving myself a pep talk, “Okay, here I go. First step toward getting to know each other better. Meeting her friends… And playing some games at an arcade. I’m amazing at games so this is totally my element. How can this day not be awesome with an objective like that? Today is going to be—“

I went to knock when all of a sudden the door swung open.

“Who’s out here muttering in my doorway!” Raya’s father, Albion, roared while sticking his head out the door.

“Gyaaagh!” I screamed while taking cover on the floor.

Albion glanced down to see me and softened his tone, “Oh, Your Highness? What gives us the honor of your presence?”

I stood up and dusted myself off. “Heh. H-hey, nice to see you again.” He is going to give me a heart attack one day, I just know it.

“I am sorry, Your Highness. I have sensitive ears and pick up sounds easily.” The paternal demon apologized.

“It’s totally okay. Um, I came to pick up Raya. Well, n-not pick her up like pick her up. More like collect her... to go out… Wait! Not like that. Not like a date, sir! We just planned it but it’s with her friends. But totally not a date, sir! Um, so there’ll be others around, not just her and I… Uhh. Yea. Heh.” I gave a nervous smile as my explanation came out jumbled.

Albion was left staring at me dumbfounded.

Suddenly, Raya came hopping passed her father and told him all at once, “Hey Dad, we’re going to hang out with the gang at Tartarus, I’ll see you later!”

She quickly grabbed my hand and led me down her front stairs in a hurry.

“Honey, was that the Prince I heard at the door?” Raya’s mother, Griselda, asked sweetly as she peeked her head from around the archway.

“Yes, dear.” Albion said still puzzled.

“Oh really?” Her tone suddenly changed to a more chastising one, “And you didn’t invite him in for pie or anything?!”

Albion realized the error in his failed hospitable nature and shouted his shame so loud it shook the quarry, “Agh!! I’m dishonorable!”

Once we were on the main path heading back into the suburbs, Raya stopped pulling us along. Though I didn’t mind holding hands, even if it were for the purpose of fleeing that awkward situation I talked myself into with her father.

“Sorry, Tom. My Dad starts asking questions and would’ve had you come in and we would never leave on time.” Raya apologized.

“Oh, no. It’s okay, I understand.” I said with a half smile. “You know, next time if you give me your cell number I can call or text you when I’m close and you can meet me outside.”

“Hmm, I would but I don’t have a cellphone.” Raya mentioned as we started to walk down the sidewalk again.

“What?! A teenager without a cellphone?” I gasped a little shocked.

“Not just me, none of my friends do.”

“And this is normal for you guys?” I questioned. “What about selfies and tagging each other in funny posts on FaceScript and staying up late texting each other and just general nonstop communication any moment of the day?”

“Sounds like a lot of work.” She replied unfazed.

I gripped at my chest and had a pained expression cover my face as I muttered to myself, “Such a simplistic girl has stolen my heart.”

“Hm? What was that?” Raya asked while tilting her head in my direction, not hearing what I had said.

“N-nothing, heh.” I replied as I darted my eyes away. Why’d I say that out loud. I need to be more careful. I need to wait for the right moment to tell her how I feel anyway. I need to focus on meeting her friends and getting along with them first.

“Are you alright? You’re pretty quiet now.” Raya mentioned. I didn’t realize I was consumed by my thoughts for quite some time as we walked through the city.

“Oh, sorry. Just in my head, that’s all.” I told her with a reassuring smile.

“Are you nervous about meeting my friends?”

We stopped at an intersection and waited for a group of demon vendors pulling food carts along before we could cross.

“Ah well, I guess kind of.” I itched the back of my head and glanced at my feet. “They are your friends after all, and since you hang out with them a lot, I want to get along with them too because I hope we all get to hang out a lot together… I guess I’m nervous over that… Like, what if they don’t like me, y’know?”

Raya gave me a comforting smile but didn’t reply.

“What? Did I say something silly? I said something silly didn’t I?” I asked concerned.

“Hehe, not at all.” She giggled but then looked me in the eyes and told me, “I never would’ve expected the Prince of the Underworld to be such a caring guy.”

“Yea… I think a lot of the demons and monsters think that way… Which is why it was always hard for me to make friends… ”

“Well my friends will like the same things I see in you. So don’t worry about it.” She smiled sweetly at me, causing me to smile back at her.

“They’ll like the same things…?” I repeated curiously.

Raya was watching the road as she spoke, “Aside from being the Prince of the Underworld, you’re very interesting. You seem to be into the same kind of music and style as us. You wear your emotions easily; when you’re upset you’re upset and when you’re happy it really shows too. I can tell you’ve been through a lot of changes in your life... But most of all…” She then gazed at me and revealed, “You have a big heart, I like that about you.” 

Did she really just tell me that? Was it an innocent compliment or was she starting to notice how I feel? Maybe I should just ask her now…

So I tried to tell her, “Raya… I—“

“Oh! Time to cross, let’s go!” She announced, holding on to my hand again and running us across the cleared street.

What am I doing? Why am I being so impatient? I kept telling myself to wait but when she does and says things like that I get too overzealous and want to pressure her into something I’m not sure she even wants… Maybe it was just my brain wanting her to understand how I felt. But I couldn’t be too far off. She must be starting to realize how she feels about me. Why else would she be blushing as she told me that?

“We’re here!”

Raya and Tom crossed the street and pushed through the crowd of demons in order to make their way to the arcade just ahead.

The building was crafted like a Greek temple made of a dark red stone material with the name ‘Tartarus’ in flaming block letters across the front of the tympanum. Five demon teenagers stood outside the entrance.

“Hey, everyone!” Raya greeted her group of friends with a wave from afar.

“Late, as always.” A pale yellow female demon remarked. She was wearing a plaid dress, fishnet stockings, and striped hand and leg warmers. 

“With good reason, you knew she was bringing someone important.” A lime green demon said as ze waved at the approaching pair. Ze had dark green dreadlocks with some dyed dark-blue strands and was dressed in typical cyber goth fashion—shiny PVC platform boots, tight black pants with matching vest containing a numerous amount of buckles, and the style came complete with a LED gas mask around zir neck.

“So this is him…” A light-blue male demon said more to himself. He had a blonde Mohawk and some facial piercings. He looked strong from his physique to his jawline. He wore a black leather motorcycle-style jacket with a red plaid long-sleeve shirt wrapped around his ripped-jeaned waist.

“Sorry if we’re late.” Raya bowed for forgiveness but came up again to present the newcomer. “I’d like you all to meet, Prince Tom.”

“Please, just Tom is fine.” Tom corrected still a bit nervous.

Raya then introduced her friends to Tom one by one.  

“This is Blair.” 

“Hi, Blair.” Tom gave a toothy grin.

The lime green demon greeted Tom excitedly and pulled up the black aviator goggles from zir eyes.  ‘He looks like he will be fun!’ Blair delighted zirself over the possible antics their posse could get into with a prince now apart of it.

“This is Kraven.” Raya waved over to an orange demon of considerable height and girth. He wore a maroon long-sleeve flannel shirt, black jeans, and black converse.

“Hey.” Tom brought out his hand for him to shake it.

“...” Kraven continued to stare at Tom sternly, though it was hard to tell if he was actually staring since his eyes were covered by his maroon knit cap.

“He doesn’t like to be touched, and he doesn’t talk much.” Raya pointed out.

“Ah, okay. I can respect that. Sorry, man.” Tom waited for another response as Kraven continued to stare. “Heh… Cool, moving on.”

“This is Tiras—”

Tom went to greet the sky blue demon boy but he already interjected.

“Tiras Zephyrson. The pleasure is all mine, Your Highness.” He spoke with a haughty confidence and shook Tom’s hand quite firmly. 

“Egh.” Tom winced quietly.

Wind began to blow around Tiras as he focused on the demon prince curiously. ‘This is the prince? I expected someone much more frightening and taller, and at least more handsome than me.’ He thought to himself arrogantly.

Tom rubbed his hand a little and continued with Raya to the last two demon teenagers.

“This is George.” Raya announced.

“Gargozoth.” The periwinkle demon boy corrected. He wore a dark-blue button up shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows and suspenders hanging down his legs. 

“Yeeaaa.” Raya drew out her agreement but then whispered to Tom, “He goes by that because he doesn’t think his real name is fitting for a demon.”

“Gotcha.” Tom whispered back but then stepped over to Gearge and said, “Hey, Geor--Erm, Gargozoth.” He brought out his hand with a slight smile.

George spoke with the gloomiest of spirits as he shook the other boy’s hand limply. “Your Highness’s appearance is like The Raven. Once perched and gandering down upon all of us from his chamber, but now our presence he’s commandeering. And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming, And the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor…”

“Uhh…” Tom paused confused. 

“TLDR version means ‘Nice to meet you’, as am I, Your Highness. My name is Indigo.” The pale yellow demon girl butted in with a curtsy. ‘He’s rather cute up close, I wonder if Raya is interested in him.’ She thought with a gleam in her eye.

“Nice to meet you both.” Tom responded. A pensive look began to grow on his face when he saw them. “I’m sorry, but you two look familiar. Have we met before?”

Indigo and George exchanged glances and were about to reply when Tiras took it upon himself to interrupt.

“The Blood Moon Ball. They were two of your attendees you selected at the outskirts of Prickly Plains, or do you not remember that?” Tiras spoke abrasively.

“Tiras…?” Raya murmured as she watched her friend concerned.

Tom quickly thought back to that time. ‘That’s right. I wanted to impress Star by making sure everything was normal for her, so I had Petey post fliers for approachable and attractive monsters and demons to audition for a chance to attend for free. Those two were there.’

~Back Then

“We’re next, we’re next!” Indigo cheered enthusiastically while gripping George’s arm and bouncing up and down.

“Please excuse my portrayal of  excitement, it does not stir from the pit of my soul and overflow to an intense head as easily as yours.” George muttered

The demon pair had been standing in a line that seemed to stretch forever and they finally made it to the front.

“Alright, alright! Once the Prince sees us he won’t be able to say no. He may even be so weakened by my beauty that he will ask me to dance under the light of the Blood Moon. And once Raya and Blair find out, I bet they will be so jealous, hehehe!” Indigo swooned followed by a shrill giggle as she fantasized about how glamorous the occasion will be.

“Ugh… This is going to be absolutely dreadful…” George groaned.

“Next!” Tom called, though he was preoccupied since he was discussing preparations for the Ball with Brian and two other advisors at a judging table.

Indigo ambitiously pulled George along as they approached.

The demon girl began to say, “H-hello, Your Majesty! We think we should be considered because--”

 “You’re in, collect your tickets to the left.” Tom informed them in an aloof tone as he snapped his fingers, barely glimpsing at the pair. One of the advising demons on his counsel pointed to a sizable winged demon in stocks on their left.

“Here you go.” The flying demon handed them the tickets.

Indigo accepted them without hesitation as she held them up victoriously to George. The boy demon just shrugged.

~Now

Tom was a little regretful for how he acted back then. Star consumed his world and, as a result, he neglected the Underworld and its inhabitants. But he knew now that you shouldn’t put up a false act just to win over the affections of another. He concurred ruefully, “You’re right, that’s where I saw them…”

“That’s the only place? You literally don’t remember them at the Ball at all?” Tiras chided now with his arms folded in frustration.

“Hey, you know we were just happy to go. No need to get defensive toward the Prince.” Indigo coaxed but it was no use.

“That’s not what you told me.” Tiras snapped and caused Indigo to jump at his sudden remark towards her.

Tiras kept up his heckling, “I heard it wasn’t anything like it was supposed to be. No bubbling cauldrons that melt flesh off. No garbage that destroys the universe. Was there even unicorn blood?!”

“There was that.” George mentioned aside to the others.

Tom’s eyebrows were furrowed as he stared down at the ground in silence.

“Sorry to be blunt,” Tiras crossed his arms over his chest and denounced, “But if you didn’t care about getting to know two of us then, why should we care about getting to know just you now? And making them go all the way outside of the city to be judged, that’s ridiculous. Prince or not, you should still treat others with some kind of value and not just to show off to your rich friends--”

“I agree with you.” Tom interrupted him.

“Huh?” Tiras gasped astounded.

Tom stared up at the other teenaged boy but didn’t look hurt at all from what he had been saying. He appeared relieved as he explained to him further, “My mind and heart weren’t in the right place back then. I hurt a lot of people and didn’t care how others felt. I was selfish, and full of myself. I wanted everything to be perfect for someone who found me unbelievably annoying at the time…”

Tom glanced at Raya and gave her a half smile as he continued. “It took some help from some special people to see where I was heading. I know now that being that way was wrong. I’m making amends for how I acted.” He then looked over to George and Indigo, “I’m sorry for not giving you my full attention when I should have back then. I hope we’re cool?”

“Yep.” Indigo piped up while George gave Tom a thumbs up.

Tom faced Tiras again and went on to tell him, “And I’m sorry I hurt your feelings too. Your friends are clearly special to you and you’re protective of them. I’d feel the same way you do  if someone treated them like crud. Thanks for being honest with me about how I was. You seem like someone whose dignity I can respect. I just want to start over and make friends the right way…” 

Tiras became flustered as if he were a little embarrassed by the compliment from Tom. He was about to come up with a counter but was quickly cut off.

“Tiras.” Raya stepped in front of Tom. “Remember, this is our Prince you choose to speak so carelessly towards. He’s my friend and I invited him here today. If you continue to try and belittle him then… I’ll lose all respect for you!” 

Tiras mouth was agape in shock. “Ahh, no, no… Raya, I was just kidding. No need to be so harsh.” 

“Apologize.”

“Hey, it’s all good—“ Tom began to say but Raya shot a glance at him that resembled her father’s so he quieted.

Raya diverted her attention back to Tiras and commanded, “Apologize to our Prince.”

Tiras looked back at each of his friends now eyeing him. He bowed down to Tom and mumbled, “I’m sorry, Your Highness.”

“Dude, it’s cool. We’re cool.”

Tiras regained his stance and turned away, walking into the arcade still with tinted red cheeks. Kraven followed.

“Don’t worry about him, Tom. He’s pretty arrogant.” Blair commented while patting the prince on the back. 

“That was kind of a rough start, huh?” Tom said as he looked to Raya for reassurance.

“You’re fine, no worries. Tiras is stubborn, he’ll come around.” Raya smiled at Tom and wrapped one of her arms in his.

Tom began to blush but then Indigo suddenly did the same with his other arm.

“Come on, let’s play some games and have fun!” The other female demon said excitedly but seemed to shoot a strange glance in Raya’s direction, though she didn’t really pay it no mind.

George rolled his eyes, seeing all too well where this was going.

The remaining group of teenagers proceeded to enter the arcade.

“...” Kraven stared at the screen as the score popped up with a victorious tune indicating that he got a rank of ‘S’!

“Whoa!” Tom gasped in awe. They all took turns playing Dance Dance Revoltion but were nowhere as skillful as the latest player.

“Hehe, yep. Don’t let his size fool you, this is Kraven’s favorite game.” Raya explained with a giggle.

The larger teenaged boy stepped off the dancing platform and seemed to slowly be heading towards the food court.

Raya noticed and quickly whispered to Tom, “He always works up an appetite after playing, this is your chance!”

“Oh really?” Tom was a bit apprehensive. “But he doesn’t like to talk I thought?”

“Food is THE universal language! Go, hurry.” Raya nudged the unsure demon boy.

“Alright, here goes!” He gave in with a newfound air of confidence and jogged through the crowd  to catch up to the retreating teen.

Raya called after him, “And his favorite thing to order are the Poisonberry Shakes!”

Tom waved back to show he heard her suggestion, all the while Tiras sat at one of the booths sulking while observing the exchange.

“What’s wrong? Jealous?” Indigo asked Tiras with a mischievous smile on her face.

The blue demon boy shot up from his hunched position and smirked back at her as he replied, “Jealous? Isn’t that your prerogative? A Zephyrson doesn't know such a homely emotion.”

“You mean you try not to show it.” Indigo corrected. She looked rather delighted as she leaned on the table with her chin in her hands.

“Ugh… Whatever.” Tiras scoffed. He was now watching Raya and Blair race each other on a virtual dragoncycle game. “I mean, just because he’s a prince, Raya wants to spend all this time with him. He doesn’t seem that much like one of us. What does she see in him anyway?”

“He’s handsome, duh.” Indigo swooned.

“What?! S-Stop playing around.” Tiras became flustered again. 

“You don’t see it because you are so conceited.” The teenaged girl began to cackle. “But if Raya doesn’t act fast I might have to scoop him up for myself, teehee.”

“Then you have bad eyes if you think he’s more attractive than me!” Tiras argued back.

“Both of you belong together.” George said calmly as he sipped from a coffee mug in the booth behind them.

Both Tiras and Indigo gasped simultaneously after being startled by his presence. “Could you not do that!” 

Kraven was standing at the counter by the time Tom got there. The employee just asked if he was ready to order.

“Hey, man! What’s up?” Tom greeted and hung over the counter.

Kraven glanced down at him but then back to the attendant.

“Yea, I’m kind of hungry too. What’s good exactly?” The smaller teen was trying to skim over the menu board. 

“Well, he is a regular here, he usually always gets the same thing… 20 tacos.” The employee mentioned.

“Okay, I love tacos! I’ll take the same thing. With hot sauce on the side, please.” 

“Alright, one moment sir, let me calculate your order. Is it together or separate?” The employee asked.

Kraven reached for his wallet out of his back pocket but Tom halted him.

“Hey, no problem. This is on me.” Tom offered. “Oh, and can we add two Poisonberry Shakes?”

“Sure, one moment sir.” The employee began typing in the order on her register.

Kraven seemed to stare down at Tom with some curiosity now.

The demon prince paid the total and they both stepped to the side to wait for their food. It was awkward at first since Kraven didn’t really speak but Tom was determined to get to know him.

“So… Tacos, huh?” Tom said trying to break the ice.

“...” Kraven didn’t stir.

“My best friend’s favorite food is tacos, well actually it’s nachos. He makes some killer nachos back on Earth… well I guess it isn’t Earth anymore...” Tom rambled.

The two boys stood in silence again.

“This place is pretty cool. Well, you would know, you guys come here all-all the t-time.” Tom stammered as he rubbed the back of his head.

Kraven leaned up against a nearby claw machine and folded his arms. 

Tom began to think to himself. ‘This isn’t going too well. I knew he didn’t want to be bothered. And why’s our order taking a long time? How hard is it to make 40 tacos? In Yomi Town the food came out quick. This guy probably would never leave… Oh, that’s right!’  

“Hey, were you the one Raya and I bought the chocolate scorpions for?” Tom asked him.

Having caught his attention, Kraven turned his head to focus on the Prince.

“It was you, right?” Tom seemed to be happy to find out he was the one to receive that particular gift. “Dude, you have to go there one day. They had all sorts of delicious food, you’d love it! Raya said a lot of the stuff was imports from up above, food you can’t get anywhere else or that has been banned for sale in other regions! We tried some of these flaming corn kabobs, Minotaur Cheese, and sugared arachnids, and this Hydra sashimi, Pegasuswings breaded in pixie dust (so good!), dry-cured pig-goat bacon, Ember Berry nectar on fresh-caught Scylla eggs—“

As Tom listed the delicacies from Yomi Town, Kraven seemed to be entranced by the wide array of food selections to the point of almost drooling. He didn’t even hear the attendant call out their order number.

“Oh, food’s done!” Tom realized from the fifth announcement. He went to grab both trays but Kraven intercepted them. The larger boy seemed to be offering to carry the trays to the table. “Oh, okay. Thanks, man.”

Kraven gave Tom a smirk with a nod and they went back to join their friends.

“Do you mind if we sit with you, Geo—Gargozoth?” Tom asked.

George fanned his hand to the empty space in the curved booth in a “by all means” kind of way.

The two boys sat down with the other and began to eat.

Tom was putting hot sauce before he took each bite. George watched him rather intrigued. “Curiouser and curiouser our demon Prince becomes.”

“Hm?” Tom looked up from his tray.

“You share a habit with another, is all I mean.” George began to turn the page of his book he’d been reading.

Tom glanced at his coffee mug on the table and was excited to ask. “Oh! You’re the friend we bought the gourmet coffee for in Yomi Town too? That griffin stuff.”

George replied, “Kopi Griff, yes. The beans are digested by griffins and the remains create the coffee.” He then took a sip from his mug as Tom and Kraven stopped eating and stared at him rather disgusted. George gave them a grin. “Heh. No need to fret, this is just regular processed coffee from the food court.”

The boys started to eat again as Blair and Raya came over to the table.

“Tacos! Can I have some, please, please!” Blair pleaded with drool creeping from the edge of zir lip.

Kraven hunched over his tray to protect it.

“Sure, all of you can if you want.” Tom offered.

Tom scooted over to Kraven as Raya and Blair sat down with them. 

“Thank you!” Blair beamed happily as ze reached over for a taco, causing Raya to press up against Tom and left both teens blushing.

“S-so, what did you want to do next? Uh-not just y-you, I mean. What do all if you want to do next?” Tom stammered while he darted his eyes from Raya and focused on the tacos in front of him.

Raya was still blushing as she picked up one and proceeded to put hot sauce on after each bite. “W-Well there’s Sat-Man or Ms. Sat-Man, either one is fun. There’s some shooter games like Gloom, House of the Mewmans, and Spacaga. Or if you want to get real competitive, there’s pitchfork bowling or even flamethrower tag—“

“Oh! Like what we did in Yomi Town?” He remembered as he applied hot sauce before his bite.

“Mhmm!” She muffled a confirmation, not wanting to impolitely open her mouth full of food.

George was watching amused with a slight grin across his face.

“So you guys did a lot there, huh?” Blair asked. Indigo and Tiras in the adjacent booth seemed to be eavesdropping.

“Yea, there was so much to do! There was this awesome temple where they did rituals, and ziplining through the caves, and every hour this flaming geyser Old Fearful erupts. We raced hot air balloons powered by these itty bitty dragons--” As Tom gushed over the trip, Raya began to smile to herself remembering all the fun they had. “--and, like I was telling Kraven earlier, the food we ate at this hotel before going to the hot spring was--”

“Whaaaat?!” Blair interrupted bemused. “Raya and you went to the hot spring together? Like bathed in it? How lewd!” Blair grew a naughty smirk from such knowledge. Kraven hung his mouth open in shock while George almost choked on his sip of coffee.

“N-no, it wasn’t like that!” Raya and Tom both said together flushed with embarrassment.

Indigo quickly popped up from the booth behind them with an alarmed expression after hearing how the situation turned. She moved over to the one her friends were occupying in a blink of an eye with Tiras in pursuit.

“Oh stop your teasing, hehe.” Indigo gave a nervous laugh as she interjected. “Raya is a good girl, she wouldn’t do that. She’s never even had a boyfriend before.”

“Guys!” Raya groaned pulling her hoodie over her head and not wanting to be apart of this awkward subject.

“I swear nothing like that happened!” Tom spat out in their defense.

“Haha! I was just joking.” Blair stuck zir tongue out and winked in a playful way.

Tiras had an irritated expression cross his face as he finally sat down in the booth while Indigo and George scooted over to make what little room they had left for him.   

“Soooo anyway,” Indigo tried turning the attention back to something more appropriate, and less about a possible relationship between her girlfriend and the demon prince. “You were telling us about Yomi Town.”

Tom gathered his composure again and continued, “Oh, well there was also the shopping district. It had this amazing music store, that’s where we bought some of the souvenirs for all of you.”

“Whaaa?” Indigo gasped surprised. “Raya, why didn’t you tell us the Prince helped you pick out the gifts you got us?” she said with a whine, bumping elbows with George. He shifted over to try and reclaim some of his personal space.

“I didn’t?” Raya looked actually puzzled from the thought. She put one of her hands behind her head and tipped it in an apologetic gesture while giving one of her clueless smiles, “I guess it slipped my mind. Heh.”

Indigo lightly slapped her own forehead and mumbled, “Oh Raya…”

Blair realized something and asked the prince, “Ah! So you helped Raya pick all that out? Even mine too?”

“You mean the widely-sought-after-by-fans album of THE Love Sentence with songs that hadn’t been released from when they first started out?” Tom turned toward Blair enthused, “Nah, that was all her before we ran into each other. But, let me just say, I’m SUPER jealous that you got the last copy that was there because if I would’ve seen it first I SO would’ve bought it!”

“Really, really?!” Blair giggled with joy as ze grasped Raya’s shoulders.

“Chyeah! I’m their number one fan!” Tom declared proudly.

“Whaaat?! I love them!” Blair squished Raya closer towards the demon boy by accident during zir fit of excitement--Tiras and Indigo were overcome with distress once again.

Tom was actually unfazed by their closeness this time as he responded to his fellow fan, “Love them so much it gives you an…”

“Awesome Feeling!” Both fans sang in harmony.

“And you were like oooh-aahh-ooohh.” Blair started the chorus as ze leaned in toward Raya’s left shoulder.

“And I was like ooohh-weee-ooohhh.” Tom added, also leaning on Raya’s right shoulder.

“Hey! Why don’t we do flamethrower tag!” Indigo suggested while slamming her hands on the booth’s table and trying to steer the situation again.

Blair snapped out of zir singing session and agreed, “Yes, lets, lets!”

 “Ugh, now?” Tiras protested while folding his arms. “Why not let all that food settle in your stomachs—“

“Come on, it should cheer you up. It’s your favorite game after all.” Raya said sweetly to her stubborn friend.

A blushing Tiras mumbled while he averted his gaze, “O-okay…”

Tom was beginning to notice this change in emotion and the effect Raya seemed to have over the other teen. For some reason he was starting to feel discouraged.

“That’s the spirit, let’s go then!” Blair urged and pointed off as if directing everyone toward a grand adventure ready to unfold.

The part of the arcade that had recreational activities other than video games was at its center and shaped like the inside of a great colosseum. It was mystifying how all this could fit inside such a building, the cramped appearance seen from outside of the arcade was very misleading.

But I’m one to talk, I built my carriage myself and it is as if stepping into another dimension because of all the space inside.

The application of the flamethrower device was the same and so were the rules. The playing arena was much different than the Yomi Town since it went with a very Roman theme, fitting for this arcade. I knew it would be fun based on the activity and the game chosen; however, the only thing I was apprehensive about was our team dynamics. Raya, Blair, and Indigo were the opposing team against us guys.

I couldn’t lie; it was still a bit awkward with the group I was in. Kraven was still hard to communicate with since he didn’t like to talk and George spoke in confusing sentences at times. Then there’s Tiras. He doesn’t seem to like me at all. And I feel that bias has to do with Raya. If I didn’t know any better, he obviously has a crush on her.

We were traveling through the hypogeum of the arena with Tiras in front, Kraven on the tail end, and George and I together in the middle.

Tiras, who was our acting captain, halted at the edge of a long stone ruin and peered around to see if he could spot the enemy. If it wasn’t for the light of the torches, we would barely be able to see in front of us.

“Let’s hold here.” He ordered. We all huddled close behind him.

I take it being in a leader role was something always expected of him by his group of friends. He seems confident and is without a doubt strong. So having someone like me here, future ruler of all demons, must make him uncomfortable. And his reluctance to get along with me also stems from my friendship with Raya. Her and I spend time together where it’s been just the two of us. So he is probably jealous of that too the more he hears about it... How long has he known her? And how long has he liked her? I wonder if he ever told her…

I wonder if I told Raya how I felt, would she really want to be with someone like me that she hasn’t really known for very long…?

Since Tiras’s back was now all I could see from our formation, I noticed some band buttons on the lower flank of his jacket during my deep thinking. 

LTJ? Hmm, I like that band too… At least we have some things in common other than our love interest with the same girl.

Tiras glanced behind him and caught me staring down his back. He became flustered and questioned me, “W-Whatcha gawking at?!” He tried tilting his head to see down his backside.

I also became flustered and began to chuckle nervously. “Heh. N-nothing. Just uh, admiring uh, your butt-uh—”

“What?!” Tiras’s blue skin color turned completely red.

“Buttons!” I quickly corrected myself. 

The other teen darted his head forward again still blushing while Kraven and George could be heard snickering behind us.

Wow, I can’t believe I just said that. Now he can add ‘being weird’ to the list of why he’s uncomfortable around me.

“So…” I started to say in hopes of breaking the awkwardness, “What’s the plan?”

Tiras cleared his throat and tried calming himself enough to respond to me. “W-we’re going to head down that passage way on the right.”

I popped my head around the corner to see what he was talking about. It looked completely dark down that path while another passageway was leading back up to the main floor.

I thought over whether I should mention that or just keep my mouth shut. Maybe he doesn’t realize the disadvantage we might be in or maybe he has something up his sleeve…

I’ll just give it a shot anyway. So I suggested, “Wouldn’t it be better to head back upstairs where we could see?”

“What? Is our prince scared of the dark?” Tiras spat out.

Dude, do you even know what real darkness even is? Or what it feels like…

Unexpectedly, George spoke up on my behalf. “I agree with Tom. Do we continue to run blindly through the madhouse to a destined fail? You know they always find a way to beat us at this game.”

“Well that’s not happening today. That’s why we are going to give them the element of surprise by doing something they won’t expect.” Tiras assured us of his view for victory.

“Surprise!” Blair shrieked while zir head popped up from a shadowed spot in the floor between Tiras and I. 

“Gyaaagh!” I screamed from the sudden shock of seeing only Blair’s head as we all started to run. Ze started to laugh maniacally as ze held up zir nozzle and unleashed the flames from within zir tanks.

“And so it came to fruition as I have prophesied..” George groaned.

“Hey, we agreed on no powers!” Tiras protested while ducking behind another pillar.

“Hm? Must’ve missed that part.” Blair disputed and stuck out zir tongue. All of a sudden ze stepped out of the shadow on the floor and pulled Raya and Indigo out of it.

“Well if that’s how we are going to play then… Let’s play!” Tiras had a gleam of excitement in his eye as he brought his hand by his own nozzle. I felt a gust of wind shoot passed me and twirl around him just like when he shook my hand during our first encounter. Within an instance, as the gust blew, it merged with the fire from the flamethrower and hurled at the other team in mighty blast.

“Determined to win, are we?” Indigo smirked while commanding Raya to act quickly. “Hurry Raya, let’s show ‘em!”

“Alright.” Raya piped up as she placed her hands to the ground. All of a sudden a stone wall came up in front of their group and shielded them from the inferno. It ignited on impact and trembled the chamber.

“Are you sure this is a game? You guys are acting like you are trying to kill each other?!” I objected.

“This is how we play, Prince.” Tiras remarked. He quickly squinted his eyes as if searching for something but then became alarmed. “Oh no! We lost sight of Blair--”

“Surprise!” Blair shrieked again now popping out from the darkness in the wall. Ze unloaded zir flamethrower on us yet again.

Kraven immediately shoved us out of the way and sacrificed himself by taking the brunt of zir attack, which luckily hit only the sensor on the flamethrower apparatus he was wearing. By singeing the sensor, you would be considered ‘out’.

“Haha! One down, one down!” Blair cheered. Ze quickly retreated into the shadow before ze was tagged by Tiras’s burst of flames.

“Ugh! This sucks!” Tiras growled with clenched fists around the gun of his flamethrower. 

Kraven shrugged and headed toward the lobby of the arena to wait for the game to finish.

“Perhaps would be a keen moment to take flight back to the world above.” George insisted.

“If you mean run upstairs then I second that!” I added. 

Blair rejoined Raya and Indigo as they stood their ground.

“Whatever, lets go before Blair tags us all.” Tiras faltered.

As we proceed to the path that led upstairs, a wall of stone suddenly built up from the ground and blocked the way. by Raya’s doing, of course.

“Uh-uh, not so fast.” Indigo teased. “Looks like you’re going to lose again, Tiras.”

With their flamethrowers ready to fire, the enemy was closing in. George gave a sigh in defeat and Tiras had his head held down as well. I felt kind of bad for him. They mentioned that this was his favorite game but he seems to always lose from what George said. And today hasn’t been a good day for him at all. He didn’t seem to have any fun or participate during any of the games until now--one in which we are losing. Even if he didn’t like me, I didn’t want him to feel so crushed any longer.  

If this is how they want to play, then I might as well get serious too. Fire is my specialty after all.

And with that, my three eyes began to glow and I brought my hands up. All of a sudden, a wave of fire exploded from the ground, too fast for Raya to create a barrier of stone to stop it or for Blair to escape into a shadow from it. The flames broke through the ceiling and sent them flying into the air above ground, hitting all of their sensors in the process.

I levitated the guys and myself above ground as the alarm was sounding off in the arena that indicated that our team had won the game. Everyone was mystified at such a feat, including Tiras.

“That was freakin’ killer, Tom! What a way to win!” Blair congratulated me.

“Definitely did not see that coming, but you are a prince and we shouldn’t have underestimated how amazing you are.” Indigo concurred as she plopped down on the couch.

We were now in one of the swanky karaoke rooms in Tartarus. There were all sorts of colorful lights on the ceiling that would move in sync with the song and huge speakers were in each corner of the room to give a solid surround sound. There was a long leather sectional couch with a table in front of it with some pizza we ordered. The video monitor on the wall was idle and waiting for its first singer to approach, but we all had been too busy discussing the session of flamethrower tag we just got back from to even begin. 

George sipped from his coffee mug beside Indigo and told her, “I must admit, I was beginning to lose the faculty of enjoying that activity, alas seeing your destruction unfold for the first time has given me a change of heart.”

“Hey, stop rubbing it in.” Indigo nagged at him.

I was a little embarrassed from all the praise. It wasn’t my intention to show off, I just didn’t want Tiras to lose. I hope he understands.

I glanced at the other side of the couch where he was sitting to see his reaction. Raya was sitting next to him and flipping through an album of songs. Watching her made my heart race and almost forget why I looked over there. But instead of seeing a scowling Tiras, he was chatting with Kraven (more like a one-sided conversation) and didn’t have that miserable expression anymore. He looked somewhat happy!

I smiled to myself knowing I at least accomplished a few of my goals I set out to do today. But I still felt as if there was one more push I could do to really win them all over.

“Who wants to go first?” Indigo asked as she cradled the microphone in her palm.

“Me, me!” Blair waved zir hands as if to be picked.

“No way, you always choose a Love Sentence song so you get to go last this time.” Indigo refused to give the microphone to zir.

“Aww but I want to sing ‘Just Friends’ with Tom!” Blair whined.

Raya slammed the album shut to gather everyone’s attention. “Actually…” She stood up and stepped over to me as she suggested, “Tom should go first since he won the game for his team. And he is our special guest for today.”

I blushed as she spoke. “Well, if you really want me to… But what should I pick?”

Raya handed me the album and said with a smile so sweet I could surely get cavities from, “Anything you choose will be fine.”

“Yay! Can’t wait to hear it!” Blair cheered as ze hopped over to the couch and sat on the other side of George. 

Raya returned to her spot beside Tiras and waited for my selection. Tiras and Kraven continued their side conversation quietly as Indigo and George began to eat some of the pizza with Blair.

I went over to the karaoke machine with the album and started flipping through it. I felt all this pressure on me now. What if I pick something corny or silly? What if I pick a song they hate? Maybe I should just pick anything and give it a shot…

Suddenly, my eyes caught the name of a very familiar band. I thought it over but had this strange feeling deep down that it had to be a song by them. It was as if it were fate. Of all the songs to be listed by them, the one I went to choose was my favorite. I knew all the words without the assistance and it was fun, wild, and different. Just like Raya’s friends.

I punched the song number into the machine and sat the album on the shelf next to it. I retrieved the microphone from Indigo and stood at the front of the display screen, confident of my selection.

I took a deep breath and was ready to belt it out.

As the instruments from the speakers began the intro of the song, the demon teenagers sitting on the couch all froze in bewilderment. From the horn section to the drum build up, they heard a song they all knew too well.

Tom began to sing without reservation. 

“You think it's strange, that there's a way

of how you looked and how you act and how you think,

pretend they're not the same as you...

You think it's strange, that there's a way

of how you looked and how you act and how you think,

pretend they're not the same as you!”

His voice was in perfect tune and didn’t trip up at any of the lyrics that came fast. It was as if he was meant for this kind of lifestyle.

‘OMD, I love his voice!’ Indigo thought with hearts in her eyes.

George was in mid-sip of his coffee and had his eyes totally fixated on the demon prince.

‘He’s incredible!’ Blair was clapping in celebration of the prince.

Kraven’s mouth was hanging open in awe.

“Whoa…” Tiras whispered to himself as he listened intently.

“Do you know about her strength in convictions?--

Raya’s eyes had that dreamlike expression cross her face. She was holding one of her hands to her mouth and couldn’t believe what she was witnessing. ‘Is this really happening? This was the song I played this morning and…’ She thought. 

--Or how she puts all her faith in religion?”

As the lights gleamed a brilliant white light against the singing teen, he glanced in her direction and held out his hand to her while singing.

“Did we take the time to really discover--

Raya’s eyes began to sparkle as she remembered, ‘This was my dream…’ She instinctively reached for his hand but stopped herself. Amid everyone getting caught up in the thrill of the song, Raya had an indescribable feeling overcome her. She held her hands to her cheeks to hide the fact that she was blushing.

--How little we know about each other!”

The lights were spazzing out with the drop of the chorus. The group of friends couldn’t contain their urge anymore. They all erupted from the couch and joined in singing along and dancing about.

Tiras, Tom, and Blair went back and forth on the mic between lines:

“Keep us from saying anything--” ~Blair

“Can't separate from everything--” ~Tiras

“And all this really means is you're one in a crowd--”~Tom 

“And you're paranoid of every sound!” ~Tiras and Blair

“Another friend you won't miss anyhow!” ~Together

Everyone was rocking out with the music and enjoying every bit of it as they all took turns singing the rest of the song with Tom. Except Raya. She didn’t realize she was still seated but quickly stood up as soon as she did so to not arouse suspicion. Indigo looped her arm in hers and tried to get the other girl to skank along with her. Raya did, though only slightly since she was still bewitched by what was overrunning her mind at that moment.

As the song came to an end, everyone clapped and hollered for the prince.

“That was amazing! You’re amazing!” Blair jumped up and down while holding onto his shoulders.

“Bravo, bravo.” George clapped along with Kraven.

Indigo had pulled Raya with her into the huddle. “I can’t believe you can sing like that, and a song we all love too! How’d you know?”

“Thanks everyone, that was so fun!” An exhilarated Tom beamed. He was grinning from ear to ear because he finally felt accepted.

Tiras approached Tom and they both held each other's gaze for a moment. But then the demon boy did something Tom never would’ve expected. He smiled at him, and genuinely at that!

“You’re exactly who we’ve been looking for!” Tiras said with a toothy grin as he wrapped one of his arms around Tom’s shoulders.

Tom was taken aback by the sudden personality change and stuttered, “W-what? L-looking for?”

Indigo folded her arms across her chest and watched Tiras with a peculiar expression, “Oh, buddies now hmm?”

“Of course!” Tiras began to repeatedly pat Tom across the back lightly as he spoke, “This is our prince! He is just like one of us, can’t you see it?”

“Hmm...With a voice like that, he’d really help us achieve the style we’re going for.” Indigo commented.

“And he is fun to hang out with. I vote yes!” Blair added.

George and Kraven both nodded their affirmation.

Raya was standing outside of the group as if not wanting to be seen. She was clutching her hands together to her chest still deep in thought and not paying attention to the conversation. She didn’t hear Indigo call her name until she placed her hand on her shoulder.

“Hey, Underworld to Raya. Anybody home?” Indigo asked while nudging her.

Raya snapped out of it and faced the other girl. “Oh, I’m sorry. I was just… I’m sorry, what were we all talking about?”

“You felt it too, right? The way he sings is perfect. It’s what we’ve been searching for. Let’s ask him.” Indigo told her. 

Tom finally interjected, “Um, excuse me but ask me what exactly?”

Tiras stepped away from their friendly embrace and joined his friends. They all faced Tom and had a look of both admiration and determination on their faces.

Tiras smirked confidently and asked of him, “We want you to be the lead singer in our band. Will you join the Seven Undeadly Sins?” 

[dannyphandump]

Dancing Around the Truth pt. 4

(Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | to be continued) (Read on AO3 | FFN)

Summary: The last thing Valerie wanted was to get caught up in Paulina’s plot to ask Phantom to the winter formal.  Unfortunately Paulina’s made sure she doesn’t have a choice.  Meanwhile, Danny just wants to finish his Algebra quiz.  For @phantombreadproject for the Christmas Truce 2018.

Other Notes: Finally back around to updating this!  I’m hoping to only have one chapter left after this one.

Today 4:27 AM

I’m sorry

That text hadn’t left Valerie’s mind since she’d read it upon waking up this morning.  Just two words from Danny, no context.  Of course, it wasn’t that hard to guess; he had to be apologizing for lying about dating her.  But 4:27 AM?  He should’ve been asleep, not worrying about something as dumb as that.  It didn’t matter if Paulina thought that Phantom wanted to date her, so long as she didn’t connect him to Danny.

She hiked her backpack up higher on her shoulder as she stepped off the bus and headed towards the courtyard.  It was always tempting to take her board instead of the smelly, packed deathtrap, but she only risked that when she was running seriously late.  After this whole fiasco with Paulina, she might not even be able to do it then.

If she’d flown here though, she might’ve had more time to talk to Danny before first period.  If he was even here yet… which he wasn’t, she realized after a quick scan of the area.  Sam leaned against a tree and chatted with Tucker, but there was no sign of their other friend.  Alarm bells went off.  What if Danny hadn’t been apologizing for what he’d said? What if he’d gotten caught in a ghost fight and he’d gotten hurt, or –

Or I’m completely overreacting, she thought, mentally rolling her eyes at herself.  She might not be used to Danny Fenton throwing himself into danger, but she knew Phantom was tough.  He wasn’t going to get himself hurt that easily.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when an incorporeal hand tapped her on the shoulder.  She spun, ready to summon her suit and blast whatever ghost had snuck up on her – when the wispy outline of Phantom faded into view.

“Sorry,” he said quickly.  “Can you cover me?”

It took a few seconds for her shocked system to recover enough to answer.

“I –  uh, sure.”

He grinned, an eerie look when his teeth somehow seemed more solid than the rest of him.  Then he touched down and stood behind her.  White rings split from his middle, leaving behind a perfectly human-looking Danny Fenton.  She gasped faintly.  She’d seen half-ghosts transform before, but never so close.  She could physically feel Phantom’s cold aura disappear as he changed back into the form of her friend.

She frowned as a thought occurred to her.

“Do you do that often?  Change in public like that?”

“Well, yeah, I guess.” He shrugged, far too nonchalant for someone whose secret identity could’ve just been blown.  “Only when no one’s looking, though.”

She scanned the courtyard.  It was true; everyone was busy chatting with their friends, but still.  She’d never risk her secret like that.

“You should still be careful,” she admonished.  “Especially around me. I don’t think Paulina’s going to just let me go now that she thinks you like me.”

“Oh.”  His cheeks reddened as he rubbed his neck.  “I really didn’t think that one through.”

She couldn’t argue with that.  She couldn’t blame him either, though; Paulina probably wouldn’t have left him alone for anything less.  The other girl had hardly let him go even after that.

“It’s fine.  I can handle her.”  She shrugged, trying to keep her voice casual as she asked, “So, that’s all it was?  Not thinking?”

“No!”  He said quickly, holding out his hands.  “I mean – yes, but – agh.  I’m really sorry, Val.  I didn’t mean to ask you like that.”

Her heart sped up.  Embarrassment still stained his face pink, but she cracked a smile.

“So how did you mean to ask me?”

His eyes widened.  “I didn’t – wait, did you want me to?”

Did she?  On one hand, her situation was too complicated for a dating life.  On the other hand, she had really liked Danny.  If it hadn’t been for the ghost hunting, she would’ve gone out with him forever ago.  She’d thought that was too dangerous to drag him into.  How ironic, she almost snorted.

“Nevermind,” he answered, kicking at the snow with the toe of his sneaker.  “It’s fine.  I shouldn’t have – you just barely found out who I am.  It wasn’t right to ask now.”

In spite of his words, she could see the light drain from his blue eyes as his shoulders drooped.  He really wore his heart on his sleeve – unlike with the A-listers, she’d never have to worry about where she stood with him.

“...I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she finally said with a small smile.  He looked up, lips pursed and eyebrows drawn together.

“What do you mean–?”

She lightly smacked his arm.  “Lighten up.  You’re not supposed to be the serious one.”

She could see the memory hit him, bringing a grin back to his face.

“So–”

“Shh, you didn’t even let me answer.”  She raised a finger and tried to hide the tight nervousness in her chest.  “One date, Fenton.”

His grin filled his whole face.  “Really?”

Like she could’ve said no to that face.  She hadn’t realized just how much she’d missed it.

“Yeah, really.  Just not to the dance, I wouldn’t want Paulina to–”

“You wouldn’t want me to what?”

Valerie saw Danny jump before she fully processed the voice. Of course.  Paulina just had to show up right behind her.  She turned slowly, not about to show weakness.

“Uh…” Danny’s face went redder than it had already been.  

“None of your business,” Valerie curtly told the other girl, before Danny could make up a lie that would get them both in even deeper trouble.

“Uh, when you’re talking about me it is my business.”  Paulina put her hands on her hips.  The bell rang for them to go to class, but she didn’t show any sign of budging.  In the distance, Sam and Tucker sent the three of them a worried glance, but Danny subtly nodded at them to go inside.  Valerie wondered what lengths those two would go to get Paulina off Danny’s back, if necessary.

Must be nice, she thought.  Having friends you can count on.

Well, now Danny was counting on her.  Unfortunately, her mind was just as blank as his.  

“I was just, uh, wondering if anyone had asked you to the dance,” Danny ended up saying before she could come up with anything.  To his credit, it was a believable enough story.  There were a million other boys at school who must be asking the same question.

Paulina’s face instantly hardened.  “That’s none of your business, loser.”

“Hey,” Valerie said.  “You don’t have to talk to him like that.”

“And I don’t have to talk to you at all, Gray.  Unless you want me to let slip something you’ll regret.”  Her voice barely tremored, betraying that she wasn’t as put together as she appeared.  Danny’s comment had hit her harder than Valerie had realized.  Either she was still bitter about being rejected in general, or she really had liked Phantom that much.  It was even weirder to consider now that she knew who Phantom was.

“Calm down, Paulina,” she said.  She couldn’t blame her for still being upset.  She could blame her for taking it out on her, but that wouldn't help right now.  “Let’s just get to class.”

She stood stiffly for a moment like she might argue, but finally spun on her heel and stalked off towards the school.

“That was… weird,” Danny said softly, in case Paulina could still hear them.  “I’ve never seen her so…”

“Upset?”  Valerie volunteered when he fished for the word.

“I was going to say mean, but… I really hurt her, didn’t I.”  He sighed. “You’d think I’d feel better after how many times she turned me down, but it still sucks.”

“You can’t make everyone happy.  I’m sure she’ll get over it soon.”  She hoisted her backpack higher up on her shoulders.  “Come on, neither of us can afford to be late to Tetslaff’s class again.”

He smiled a little.  “Race ya?”

She snorted.  “What are we, five?”

“You’re wasting time, Val!”  He said as he ran off towards the school, his purple backpack barely slowing him down.  She just laughed and raced behind.

XXX

It didn’t make sense.  None of it did.  But she hadn’t misheard — Valerie had agreed to go on a date with Fenton.  And she’d tried to cover it up, both of them had.  Maybe she shouldn’t have confronted them about it, but she was just so —

“Ugh!”  She squeezed her makeup brush so hard it almost snapped.  She’d resorted to hiding out in a storage closet and doing her makeup by her hand mirror and the flashlight of her phone; the bathroom was too risky right now.  She didn’t want to run into Valerie or even Star, not like… not like this.  But with enough work, she could cover up the redness around her eyes.  The redness that was rapidly returning as she fought to hold the water back.

She hadn’t meant to cry.  She didn’t cry; she’d trained herself better than that.  Even if Phantom was the only boy she’d ever liked, what did it matter?  Her papa would eventually have her marry some more prestigious man anyway, whether she wanted to or not.  Even if it meant sleeping with a man she would never, could never be attracted to.  Because — and only now would she finally admit it to herself — she wasn’t attracted to anyone.

But that wouldn’t have mattered to Phantom.  He was a ghost; he couldn’t, wouldn’t want her for her body, right?  So they could have been together forever and he never would have done what her last boyfriend had tried to do, what she was so afraid would happen again —

Stupid, useless gasping sounds leaked from her lips.  Tears smeared her half-done makeup down her face.  Useless.  She shouldn’t be skipping first period anyway, but at this rate she’d have to skip second too before she could pull herself back together.  And all over a stupid — a stupid boy!  She was the one who was supposed to have this effect on people, not the other way around.

But it wasn’t just the rejection that had gotten to her.  Valerie was going to turn down Phantom — and to go out with Fenton, of all people.  That meant she had another chance, right?  Phantom would be crushed, and then…

...That wasn’t what Paulina wanted.

She wiped her eyes on the back of her sleeve, for once forgetting about the mascara and foundation that would end up smeared there.  She’d never expected to feel like this… to feel sorry.  She’d done to Phantom what so many boys had tried to do to her: push and push until she finally relented.  She’d tried first to persuade and then to force herself into Phantom’s good graces.  But it didn’t work.

“I’m just a loser too now, huh?”  She whispered to herself, smiling a little as she sniffed.  

It was then that the door slammed open, flooding the storage closet with blue light.  The significance of that didn’t register; she was too preoccupied with the girl standing in the doorway.  Shock morphed into panic.

“Get out!”  Paulina practically snarled at Valerie.

“How was I supposed to know this closet was taken?”  She snapped back, shoving the door shut.  “I just need a place to change and I’ll be out of your hair.”

Valerie jumped into the air, her hoverboard sprouting from the soles of her shoes.  Despite her anger at the girl, she couldn’t help gasping in amazement as the suit slid over her.  If only Paulina had a suit like that, she could hide her puffy eyes with no problem.

“Wait a sec — did the ghost already come through here?”  Valerie asked. Paulina hadn’t even realized there was a ghost attack, though that explained the blue light outside.  The dark storage closet lacked the warning lights on the inside, apparently.

“Just get out, Gray,” Paulina repeated, hating the way her voice snagged.

“You’re… not planning to corner Phantom in here, are you?”  She asked dubiously.  Paulina let out a barking laugh, one she would’ve hated if she’d had the energy to care.

“What, you think he’s going to come looking for me?  After that?  And you think I want to see me like this?”  Paulina gestured to herself vaguely.  “You’re supposed to be the bright one, Val.”

Besides, even if she’d wanted to, how would she get him to come into a storage closet of all places?  The accusation didn’t even make sense.

“Then, why are you…?  Are you alright?”

Paulina sniffed; of all the people to see her like this, why did it have to be her?

“Doesn’t matter.  Go fight your stupid ghost, Gray.”

“I…” There was a long pause, and then Valerie’s board powered down, her suit retracting as she landed gracefully on the tile floor.  “I think I’ll let Phantom take care of it.”

This day just kept getting better and better.

“Oh, great.  Now you’d rather take out your anger on me than on the ghosts, huh? Is that it?”  Paulina scowled.  The phone flashlight barely illuminated Valerie’s face, but she didn’t seem to be scowling back… for once.

“No, I was just… worried about you, actually.”  Valerie took a seat on the ground next to Paulina.  “You took yesterday harder than I thought.”

“I’m over it,” she lied.  Valerie raised her eyebrows, but Paulina didn’t have to back down.  What could Valerie do, make her talk about it? ...Then again, Valerie was the only one she could talk to about this.  She was the only one who knew about her rejection.  If Valerie wanted to listen… would it hurt?  Paulina still knew her secret; Valerie couldn’t use anything Paulina told her against her.

“Paulina, I haven’t seen anyone cry this much since Dash lost the championship game last year,” Valerie said in that half-joking, half-deadpan tone Paulina hadn’t heard in so long.  It had been the perfect way to make fun of the boys without them catching on, and it had also been Valerie’s go-to method to cheer Paulina up.  In spite of everything, she hadn’t forgotten.  It was enough to make Paulina laugh just a little.

“He totally didn’t think we would notice, too.”  Paulina smiled.  “He tried to pass it off as ‘manly face sweat,’ remember?”

“Like I could forget that.”  Valerie chuckled; it echoed in the small space.  “This must sound rich coming from me, but… you don’t have to be like Dash.  It’s okay to cry.”

“You’re right.  You wouldn’t cry if you were me,” she said lowly, the moment of reminiscence broken.  “You’d be out there punching that boy in the face if he hurt you.  I guess you’ll probably end up punching him anyway, since you turned him down to go out with Fenton.”

Valerie’s dark eyes widened.  “You — you heard that?”

“Please, Val, I’m not stupid.  You two weren’t exactly being subtle.”

Valerie frowned at that, looking away.  “Well, I wasn’t exactly expecting eavesdroppers either.  You’re making it really hard for me to like you, you know that?”

“Then why are you trying?”  Paulina asked, not sure if she meant it sarcastically or sincerely.  Valerie held grudges; that was common knowledge.  By the time Paulina had realized the damage she’d done to the other girl, it had been too late to save their tenuous friendship.  Or at least, that’s what she’d assumed.

Valerie folded her legs under her, deliberately picking specks of dust off of her skirt.

“I guess because… I’ve ruined enough friendships by jumping to conclusions about people,” she admitted.  “I always thought you were just into Phantom because he was strong and pretty.”

“Handsome,” Paulina corrected; Valerie rolled her eyes, though her cheeks seemed a bit brighter in the dim light.

“Fine, handsome.  Anyway, I guess I didn’t realize you… actually cared.  Do you actually care?”

That was the last question Paulina expected to get called out on.  If it was about any other boy, it would’ve been easy to answer.

“...I did,” she admitted quietly, rolling her makeup brush between her fingers.  “I just… didn’t show it in the right way.  I acted like the entitled brat everyone thinks I am.”

Valerie nodded.  Paulina hadn’t wanted the girl to agree with her, but what could she expect?  

“Maybe that’s what it’s like to be in love.” She sighed.  “I guess I could handle not feeling that again.”

“It’s not like Phantom was your only shot at love, Paulina,” Valerie pointed out.  “You’re only seventeen.”

Paulina shook her head.  “Easy for you to say, Gray.  I’m… not like most other girls.  And not just because I’m unfairly beautiful.”

Valerie rolled her eyes.  “Then what is it?”

She debated whether or not it was worth sharing.  It would be a big risk, a potential disaster if her secret got out.  If all the boys found out she was off the menu, she could kiss the A-List goodbye.

But Valerie had already lived through that. Partly due to her unsettling vendetta against ghosts – but, in large part because of Paulina pushing her aside.  Maybe… if Valerie was willing, now was as good a time as any to start rebuilding their bridge.

“I don’t… I don’t really like boys,” Paulina mumbled.

Valerie blinked.  “Really?  So you’re like–”

“I’m not a lesbian,” Paulina grumbled, though she should’ve expected that.  “I don’t like anyone.  I meant it when I said the ghost boy was the only one I’d had a crush on.”

Valerie was silent for a while.  Too long.  Paulina was used to keeping others waiting, not the other way around.

“You can’t tell anyone, Gray,” she warned when the silence dragged on.  “Or your secret is as good as out.”

“Wha– why would I do that?  It’s none of my business if you like anyone or not.  I was just thinking about how it explained a lot.”

“Really?”  Paulina’s brow furrowed.  “Is it that obvious?”

“No, just – you never really seemed to understand why boys followed you around all the time.  You only talked about boys when someone else brought it up first, or if you wanted something out of them.  And Star and I were usually pretty sure you were lying about who you had crushes on when we were younger.”

“You – wait, you knew?”  Paulina gaped.  All this time, she’d been trying to cover it up, and –

“I didn’t know.  I probably wouldn’t have even guessed, honestly.”  Valerie stretched her legs back out.  “I don’t go sticking my nose into other people’s business.”

“Uh-huh.  Like you didn’t just come in here to bother me?”

“I was just trying to help,” Valerie held up her palms.  “But if you want, I can go now.  I’m still curious how you ended up getting a crush on Phantom considering all that, but that’s up to you if you want to talk or not.  I just want you to know that we don’t have to fight anymore.  I’m tired of holding grudges, especially over something like this.”

Valerie… didn’t care.  Not in a bad way, she just – she wasn’t like the gossipping A-Listers anymore.  It didn’t matter to her who Paulina liked or didn’t like.  It was such a foreign concept to Paulina, finding out a secret and not even considering using it.

“I guess we both have better things to do, huh?”  Paulina smiled sincerely. “I can’t explain entirely how I ended up crushing on Phantom… I think it’s because I knew he wouldn’t use me for my body, you know?  Since he’s dead and all.  I don’t think ghosts can do that, you know, physically.”  She shrugged.  “I didn’t expect to fall for him so hard.  I… wasn’t really thinking straight.  Especially when I was with you two last night, Val, I’m – sorry.”

“Huh.  So you do have a heart somewhere in there.”  Valerie punched her shoulder lightly.  She wasn’t one to be super sappy; that was enough for Paulina to know she was forgiven.  “We all make mistakes, Paulina.  Trust me on that one.”

“Is that your way of saying you’re sorry too?”

“I guess you could say that.”  She chuckled.  “I think we’ll both be sorry if we don’t haul our butts back to class soon, though.”

“Yeah–”

But before either of them could stand from the closet floor, a translucent figure came flying through the wall.

“Phantom?”  Paulina gasped.  Regardless of what she’d said, she couldn’t help her heart speeding up.  He was here, he was back, was he here to see her–?

“Paulina?”  He gaped back, his green eyes lighting up the room.  “Valerie?  What are you two– nevermind, sorry, I’m just gonna find a different closet.”

He was gone as quickly as he’d come, leaving Paulina blinking in confusion.

“Closet?  Why would Phantom be looking for a closet?”  She asked Valerie, who shrugged and dodged her eyes.

“Beats me.  Maybe he needed a mop to clean up some of the damage from the ghost fight, who knows.”

“Huh…”

Paulina followed Valerie’s lead in sneaking back out of the storage closet, forgetting that she hadn’t finished reapplying her make-up.  Whatever, she now had a bigger issue to deal with.

The last thing Valerie had told her had been a blatant lie.

[moonraccoon-exe]

OMG! Papa Ravus and a little daughter -3-

This has almost a week in my inbox, and I’ve been thinking on it the whole time because I love Ravus so much geez.

Sorry for taking so long, and thanks for dropping this by. It’s had me having very pretty and fluffy and warmy mental images in my head all the time, askdjsdjfs.

Let’s see what happens!

Adding a Keep Reading line at some point (Beware, mobile users).Also an apology in advance for most-for-sure-to-happen typos.

Everyone beware,

Dad Ravus

Basically Tsundere dad (we’ll get there as she grows up).

When he knew it would be a girl, he lost his shit.

He had stayed cool and completely unimpressed about pregnancy, at least on the outside.

He’s the master of controlling his emotions, so he did fine on controlling himself during pregnancy.

But as soon as he heard it’s a baby girl?

Holy Shiva, you should have seen him.

His eyes opened morethan usual, he moved the mouth and said nothing, and he turned around only to start walking in circles, stopping once to look at the informer and ask “WHAT” then continue walking without waiting for an answer.

Ravus ended locking himself in a room looking so angered.

But if you knocked on the door a mess of sobbing would answer “LEAVE ME ALONE”.

Ravus is crying because he’s so happy how does he control all these feelings agh

Ravus won’t be able to talk about any of this without having to excuse himself and go breathe because he’ll end up crying again and he won’t allow anyone to see that.

Ravus constantly reminded himself he was a strong soldier made of ice that had to keep the head cool, and so he did.

Until she was born and he saw her.

Strong soldier made of ice my ass, Ravus is crying again.

The day of birth was a goddamn mess, really, Ravus ended up exhausted from so many emotions.

He’s so frustrated because he doesn’t understand why he’s crying but he also can’t stop and it’s very irritating and he only knows that his heart is so full it’s melting inside him and he thinks he’s going to die out of the sensations inside.

At first he refused to hold her.

“WHY WOULD ANYONE TOUCH HER, SHE’S TINY, SHE’S ALMOST MICROSCOPIC, WHY WOULD ANYONE TOUCH HER, IS THIS SIZE NORMAL, IS SHE OKAY, IS SHE GOING TO- *ugly sobbing* please tell me she’s not...please tell me...she’s...she’s healthy, right, I won’t...I can’t...she’s so small please tell me it’s normal, I...I... ;_____;”

They had to teach and encourage Ravus to hold her for like half an hour before he dared to go for it.

Anyone that sees him won’t recognize Ravus in the man sat at the chair with that baby in her huge blanket in his arms.

He’s crying so much, he’s never shown this much emotions since he was like 16.

He’s acting paranoid.

Ravus, unmovable, cold-minded, centered Ravus is paranoid.

“Is, is...she’s not opening the eyes, is that normal? Oh...okay...”

“She’s crying so much, please tell me it’s normal?”

“She stopped crying, omfg, is that okay, is it fine, what do I- oh...okay...”

“Am I holding her right? I don’t want to hurt...I don’t...it’s...okay...”

“Is it okay the lights are on, isn’t that going to- what do you mean I should relax, it’s a NEWBORN I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE SHE’S FINE. I AM NOT SCREAMING, SIR, DON’T- DON’T GET THIS CLOSE, WHAT IF WE HARM HER WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU’RE THE- right, you’re the doctor, I’m sorry...”

Luna is present.

Luna is going to remind her brother of his paranoia on the hospital room for the rest of his life.

That only happened the day of birth, don’t worry.

After that, Ravus was able to stay cool most of the time as she grew up.

...on the outside, of course.

Ravus is basically Paranoid-But-Shy dad.

Meaning, he’s in constant over-concern and worry but he doesn’t yelp or freak out on the outside.

When she opened the eyes, Ravus was very happy at first, but then he noticed it;

She has his eyes. The heterochromatic eyes.

You’d think Ravus would be happy about it because this is her daughter and she resembles him, but Ravus feels awful with the realization, leaves the baby to aunt Luna, and excuses himself.

“I want her to be happy. But she turned to have my eyes. When she grows up, other kids will mess with her for being different. Will call her a freak. Luna, it’s my fault. I made her ugly. Gave her my curse, and all she’s done is but to exist. Luna, I shouldn’t have...maybe I should...I don’t know...”

Really, under the poker-face and careless actions, Ravus is much, much, much more sensitive on the inside than anyone knows or could imagine. He almost rubs on drama.

Ravus isn’t content with the fact that his daughter has the heterochromatic eyes too, but not like he can do anything about it, so he just grows with it and her.

Ravus is scared of changing diapers.

He has a very major trouble with himself...

It’s the magitek arm.

He can touch other people no troubles with it, has held hands and caressed faces no troubles, but this is a baby and he thinks she’s too tiny and she looks so fragile to him, he’s not scared, he’s terrified of touching her with it.

He usually asked Luna or a nanny of the palace to do it in his place.

He prefered it when people thought he was a whiny king that was too rude or lazy to do it himself. It was easier to carry with that lie than admit aloud he’s scared of hurting her.

He refused to do it for two years with Luna’ constnatly encouraging him, and now that she’s bigger than before, he does dare to change her every now and then.

Ravus was a nerves wreck when he first did it and for a few months.

He’d check everywhere that he touched with the magitek arm for any bruise or harm (even when he vaguely even touched her).

He ends up enjoying of diaper changing.

Ravus isn’t the most playful of dads.

Ravus’ fatherly love is much softer and much quieter than average.

He doesn’t play much, but he’s the most gentle of fathers in exchange.

You know, as in, there’s not many games, but there’s definitely a lot of care and cuddling and love.

He’s too shy and scared all the time and it’s not so natural in him to initiate a game or join it.

He does like rubbing his daughter’s nose and feet to make her laugh.

He sucks at playing, but he likes tickling her.

Only with two fingers, though. And only with his natural arm.

Too scared of hurting her.

You should see him tickling her, it’s adorable.

Ravus starts poking and tickling very carefully, and baby girl starts giggling and swinging the legs.

It makes him smile and do little sounds of shy speaking with her, and as she laughs louder, so his smile grows.

Ravus loves to hear and see her laugh.

There’s nothing he loves more than that, maybe only watch her sleep.

Ravus is still inexpert, and very concerned on wanting to do a good job and make her happy, which turns his care into maybe overprotective and very sincere, really.

There’s nothing Ravus loves more than carrying her.

Eventually lost his fear of carrying her and now there’s no way he’s ever putting her down in his life.

When he holds her, he’s fully sure that she’s entirely safe, because she’s with him and in his arms, and he’s not letting anything happen to her.

Hence, when he’s not carrying her, he’s not /fully/ sure of her safety.

“Your Majesty, she’s in her crib, in her room, in the palace. Nothing could happen to her.”

Yes, he knows, but that’s nly 99.99% of security, he’s only 100% safe with her in his arms.

Ravus has turned into a different person, and anyone can notice.

He doesn’t play with the baby and doesn’t show himself particularly happier than he was before she was born, it’s like he’s the same person.

But he’s definitely not frowning all the time now, and he’s definitely much softer with everyone.

Ravus is carying her against his chest or shoulder, very softly rocking her.

Sometimes he’s humming for her.

He looks so melancholic and even sad when he does, but really it’s just an inexpert single dad with the heart aching so much because he wishes with all his soul that she’s healthy and happy to the point it hurts.

Ravus spends a lot of time just watching her.

It’s new and very strange to him. He made this creature. This human is his blood. It’s such a weird concept.

Ravus has philosophied so much about the universe and life just watching her and overthinking on how much of a strange concept it is. A daughter.

That he reflects so much on those ideas only make him grow more and more and more amazed by her, not less, as time goes.

He likes to give her a finger that she holds with a hand while he’s staring at her.

Ravus just lies there at her side to stare for hours. She’s such a strange concept, and so beautiful.

King Noctis is visiting.

“Wow, your child sure looks exactly like you.”

“I already apologized to her and the gods for that, Caelum, no need to remind me.”

It had been a compliment, Noctis is confused on why Ravus looks so embarrassed about it. 

The people of the Nox Fleuret palace are confused because apparently everyone thinks the king and the princess are beautiful, and really he’s so insecure of himself? 

The Nif empire is to blame, they took his happiness and confidence in those dark years, please be careful with his heart :’(

I think that Ravus’ heart shielded behind a shell of stone after so much abuse from the empire, and that when baby girl was born, that shell broke and shattered, so now he’s fully exposed and vulnerable with the heart as fragile and I’m having the feels, ahaha, I’m sorry let’s go back to the flluff ;____;

Ravus is teaching his daughter to walk.

Inexpert, overprotective papa Ravus doesn’t want to let go of her hands.

“What if she falls?”

“That’s fine, brother. That’s what the foam mat is for, so she won’t hurt herself if she falls.”

“But what if she falls”

“Ravus, are you listening?”

“I don’t want her to fall down.”

“Ravus, she’ll never learn if you don’t try and let her go on her own.”

“I could carry her all of my life.”

“Ravus, that’s not the point.”

Ravus is carefully holding her hands and giving tiny steps to teach her.

He’s going down on his ankles and help her up if she does stumble and fall.

Ravus is constantly asking her if she’s okay.

The kid grows to turn her head in the direction of anyone that asks “Are you okay?” because she thinks that’s her name from how constantly Ravus is saying that to her.

Ravus likes to spend hours in the gardens with his daughter.

Ravus likes to stand in the garden at night, with the little kid in arms, stargazing and telling her tales of old, about the King of Light, the ten years of darkness, and about the cosmos.

Philosopher dad Ravus for the win.

This makes her grow terribly curious about everything.

The gardens of the Nox Fleuret palace turn in their special place.

Dad Ravus and Little Girl like to go there to both do nothing and just have fun, or to question the universe and be smartasses together.

When she grows a bit more, she likes to play and run around on her own because papa doesn’t do that stuff, and she doesn’t mind.

She’s constantly bringing flowers to him, and he accepts them all.

Ravus doesn’t have the heart to nag his daughter.

She’s so small and he still feels guilty for her looks and he’s inexpert and he thinks that it must be horrible enough to have a father with strange eyes and a metal arm to also deal with him nagging her.

He thinks he’ll scare her, and that’s not the point of nagging.

So is she does something that’s not right, he’s going to ask her  to stop or correct it firmly but not freaking ut.

If she doesn’t obey, Ravus will go have a conversation with her in private.

Nobody knows what it is that Ravus tells her, but the girl always comes back with the head down and apologizes to whoever she may have bothered, and will fix what she did.

“Did you chide her, Ravus?”

“No.”

Everyone guesses he has a mature conversation with her explaining why what she did was wrong, but she’s just 2 y.o., what the hell is going on.

Dad Ravus is constantly having emotional struggles about her.

“She’s Tenebrae’s heir now, you know. All the weight of it on her. I wish she was just a happy girl, not a princess. I don’t want her carrying with so many duties. She’s a human. I’m a terrible person. I gave her this life, made her princess, it’s because I’m king that she has to handle with the kingdom after I die all on her own and that’s unfair, she should be free of doing as she wishes.”

Somebody please hug Ravus, he overthinks far too much and blames himself for stuff that doesn’t even make sense.

You know, Ravus, it’s not like it’s your fault to be royalty, it’s fine.

Ravus is constantly dressing up as team for and with baby girl.

Sometimes they’re Moogudad and Moogubaby.

Sometimes they’re Chocodad and Chocobaby.

Sometimes they’re Behedad and Behebaby.

Baby girl is mostly quiet and reserved like Papa, but she’s a bit more playful.

Sometimes Ravus doesn’t have the heart to deny her some game, so he’s awkwardly joining her.

Ravus plays but has no idea how that works and it’s hilarious to watch them do.

Let’s say they’re playing that he’s chasing her.

Baby girl is waddling and running and being super enthusiastic.

Ravus is following instructions.

“So I...follow her...”

He’s literally walking after her.

Like, you know, other dads are laughing and yelping and growling playfully and pretending to chase their kid and all that mess

Not Ravus. He’s doing literally only as instructions say he should be doing, so he’s literally just walking after her.

Baby girl loses her shit when he catches up with her.

“AAAHAHAHAHA! o(≧▽≦)o“

Ravus just stands in front of her like (・・)

Still,she bursts out in laughter and yelps out before running away again.

Ravus just stands there like (・・ ) ?

“what is the point”

Still, he’s gonna walk after her again.

“Uhm...found you?”

“AAAH! AHAHAHAHA! ヽ(>∀

“now what (・・)“

*she’s running away again*

“I have no idea what I’m doing”

Still, he’s going to walk after her again, because she seems to be having fun

You may not believe it, but Ravus is having fun, too ♡

Baby girl is so used to her non-playful dad she doesn’t even need him to make faces or pretend to be a monster or be funny. She adores him as he is.

Ravus likes very much to pick her in arms since she was little and waltz with her.

Most of times he doesn’t even need music or any special moment. He’s just picking her in arms randomly and starts a slow waltz. 

She grows up enjoying of it like it’s a game, too.

Now that she walks and speaks a bit more, she likes to request it herself, sometimes.

Ravus has opened a bit more by this point, and he and baby girl like to pretend it’s an important ball dance with important people in some important party.

They imagine their attires and guests and Ravus pretends to be someone else.

When dancing, he likes to praise the princess, remind her how pretty she is and how good she is at dancing.

Most of times he’s carrying her in arms, so she’s not even dancing.

Baby girl has a BLAST of a day when they play Waltzing.

Sometimes Ravus does let her dance, and it’s super cute because he’s very tall so he has to bend almost half the body to keep their hands together without her having to stand on her tiptoes.

Ravus is teaching his daughter to dance.

They can spend hours on it, hours and hours.

They never get bored or tired of it.

Dancing and waltzing is possibly their favorite activity together.

Even though the little princess has maids to comb her hair, Ravus sometimes (many times) asks them to let him do it.

Ravus had troubles at first with it because he didn’t want to pull too hard from her hair, which ended up on him barely even touching it.

Eventually, he learns to do it properly.

He may not be the best hairstyle artist, and he sticks to simple things, but he does it just fine.

Little girl grows adoring having dad braid her hair, and many mornings she goes request he does it.

Little girl will sometimes undo her hair on purpose so Ravus can comb it again.

Ravus always does no complaints.

Back when she was a tiny kid (but not a baby), Ravus liked to have her sat on his lap or asleep in his arms during council reunions.

He hated the idea of not enjoying his parenthood only because he’s busy with king stuff, so he wants to be with her without unantending his job.

It was never problems, little girl has a lot of genes from dad, so she stays quiet.

Also, Ravus had a cosmos-related mobile toys on top of her crib.

No matter how long the day is, how heavy the work gets, Ravus will always go to see his daughter and kiss her forehead Goodnight.

Every single night since she was born.

Even when she’s already asleep, he’ll go bid her goodnight and kiss her forehead nonetheless.

Even when he’s worn out and needing of his bed, he’ll first go visit his daughter’s room.

She’s her most precious treasure and the woman of his heart, he has to go kiss her goodnight no matter the circumstances.

You know how there’s always one person that outstands from the rest, like you can love many people as strongly and equally but one is always the “one of your eyes”? And not that you love that person more than the rest, just differently.

That’s Ravus’ case with his daughter.

He loved and loves his mom with all the heart, he could die for his sister, but his daughter is the Lady of his Heart, reigns there and ain’t nobody taking the title from her.

Sometimes, when he goes say goodnight, it’s early enough and she’s still awake.

Sometimes Ravus will sit at a side of the bed and talk with her for longer than expected until she falls asleep.

Sometimes he’s asked to tell her stories for sleeping.

Sometimes it’s especially early, and Ravus gets to change her into her pajamas.

There’s many giggles and laughs between them.

Sometimes, Ravus is asked to read something instead of tell some story.

Dad Ravus will always sit at the bed with little girl in his lap so she can look at the pictures and learn to read with him.

Can you guess the main subject of the storybooks they have already?

Yep. Cosmos again.

It’s happened a few times that the castle freaks out at night because the king is missing and he hasn’t appeared at his room and it’s super late and it’s unusual in him and WHAT DO WE DO

Turns out the king fell asleep in his daughter’s bed, a storybook in a hand, and the girl nestled on his chest.

By the time she’s 5 the castle stops freaking out when he goes missing because he’s always going to be in his daughter’s room, most surely asleep with her cuddled at his side.

This girl has softened and fixed Ravus’ heart like nothing else could have done, really.

When they go for a walk, even if it’s just through the castle, litle girlwill always reach for Ravus’ hand.

It’s his fault; taught her since baby to always hold his hand when going places, mostly if it’s outside the palace.

He was always having her hold his natural hand.

But, a bit more grown now, little girl sometimes reaches for his magitek arm.

Ravus had started denying it and switched sides so she could hold the other one.

But little girl sometimes reaches for his magitek arm nonetheless.

He once tried to verbally tell her not to do that instead of just quietly switching sides without an explanation.

Little girl ended up giving him confused eyes like (・・ ) ?

“But why papa”

“My girl...aren’t you scared of my arm?”

“(・・ ) ?  why should I be scared, papa?“

“Well, it’s...metallic. And it looks sharp and dangerous. Aren’t you scared it could hurt you?”

“(・・ ) ?  But papa, the arm is yours and you don’t hurt me.”

Ravus is at the edge of crying and only barely manages to contain himself.

“I know, and I would never do it, but what if it’s an accident?”

“No, papa. I’m not scared and I want to hold your hand.”

“But...but...it’s so ugly, baby girl...”

“What? No, papa. It’s purple! I like purple. Can I have  a purple dress?”

why is this child taking this issue so easily when Ravus has spent like 10 years panicking and crying over it.

“So you don’t hate my arm?”

“(・・ ) ? papa why would I hate your arm, that’s so silly, and it’s so pretty and cool. Can we have waffles tomorrow? papa why are you crying? No, papa no cry. Come here, papa, I’ll clean you. There there. Papa’s good. Papa has a nice arm. Papa’s good and nice. I’ll make waffles for papa. Papa likes waffles.”

Just so you know what’s going on here:

Little girl likes to pet papa on the head when papa’s sad.

Ravus thinks there’s nothing wrong on showing any emotion in front of his child so he has openly cried in front of her.

She always asks him to come down on his ankles or knees, so she can stand on tiptoes and start petting him on the head.

She’s sometimes saying nice things or “There there” as she does.

Little girl likes to be carried on papa Ravus’ shoulders.

She swears she can see all Eos from such a height.

Ravus adores to pick her on his shoulders because she’s always making sounds of how amazed she is and she looks like discovering the world for first time, so good luck getting Ravus to put her down.

There’s King Ravus of Tenebrae, conversating with the Royal Embassor, discussing important matters,

with a girl in a fairy-warrior-moogle outfit on his shoulders playing with his hair.

Speaking about playing with his hair, little girl has asked to learn to comb hair on her own.

Aun Luna offered herself to teach her. So that leaves us with only one experimental subject.

There is king Ravus of Tenebrae, sat in the gardens, with little girl and Lady Luna braiding his hair.

They’re also decorating it with flowers.

Ravus looks FABULOUS afterwards.

Ravus isn’t undoing their hair job because little girl is super proud of it.

There’s King Ravus of Tenebrae, attending an important meeting, with the hair combed in like 4 different braids made a majestic bun, with flowers everywhere on it and a sylleblossom tiara little girl made for him.

Ravus has never once felt embarrassed for the things he does for little girl.

Well, maybe except that one time King Noctis was visiting and little girl was painting papa Ravus’ face of many colors.

“You look like an idiot(¬‿¬ )“

“Oh? I had no idea she painted me to look like you. ヽ(ˇヘˇ)ノ”

“WHAT DID YOU- (╬ Ò﹏Ó)“

“凸(`n´＃)“

Hahaha, don’t worry, both kings are friends, really.

Ravus is teaching his daughter to fight.

At first Ravus had not wanted to because it was dangerous.

But then the argument of “teaching her to defend herself” made it through his brain and he so had to train her himself.

This girl is going to be the most dangerous thing in the world when she grows up holy shit you better not mess with her.

Nox Fleuret Father and Nox Fleuret Daughter, both handling their sabers with elegance and grace.

They look like art, really.

Makes you forget they can murder an entire army on their own.

The same thing that happened with Ravus’ arm happened about their eyes.

There was this once when Ravus walked on in little girl looking at herlsef in a mirror, pulling from an eyelid and looking intensely at her eye in it.

Ravus sat down nearby her and asked her to come close.

He held her and apologized.

“Why, papa?”

“Because...I know...listen, baby girl. I know it’s not...easy. To look different. I know you may feel out of place, that it’s not normal to have an eye of one color and another of a different once. That’s in me to blame; it’s because you are my daughter that you have my eyes. I didn’t mean to. But know, baby girl, it doesn’t make you any worse or better. And you’re very beautiful.”

(・・ ) ?

Ravus looks like he’s giving the news of a death or something, and baby girl doesn’t understand.

“I hope you can forgive me, my girl.”

“But why papa (・・ ) ?”

“Your eyes. I...gave you mine.”

“And that’s super awesome because you have this eye blue and I have this eeye blue and you have this eye purple and I have this eye purple and it’s funny because maybe the Astrals accidentally mixed them up, you know, like my socks in the drawer when I accidentally put the red with the white and the white with the red, and it’s just putting the red with the red but it looks so pretty to put the red with the white and maybe the astrals have a drawer of eyes and they accidentally put the blue with the purple and it’s funny because then this eye should be mine and this should be yours and-”

Ravus spends ten minutes listening to baby girl speak about drawers, astrals, coins, marbles and pebbles.

“...so what does that mean, baby girl?”

“I don’t know”(・・ ) ?

Some or other way she ends up explaining again in her innocent and confused way that she’s not upset with Ravus and praising his eyes.

“Your eyes so pretty, papa. Mine will be as big when I grow up? Can I put my hands on your eyes? They sparkle like that jewel in grandma’s box. And this is purple like my dress and this is blue like the sky, and this is pretty and this is pretty. (・・ ) ?  Papa why are you crying again. There there. You’re so pretty papa. You’re pretty l ike your eyes.”

why is this child so sweet

Little girl likes to clean Ravus’ arm with a cloth even when it’s not dirty.

Little girl LOVES his magitek arm.

“Papa when I grow up can I have my own magitek arm? ヽ(・∀・)ﾉ“

“...no.”

(°Д°) BUT WHY  ( ╯°Д°)╯”

 “I’ll make sure you never get none of these, little one.”

“BUT WHYYYYYYYY”

There was this once when little girl gifted papa a pair of pebbles.

Ravus so had a craftsman turn them into twin necklaces, so he gifted one to little girl and keeps the other himself.

It’s a half moon, each one, so when they come together it’s full moon.

These two are dorks and love each other so much, it’s ridiculously fluffy.

Little girl is photo-shy, so there’s few portraits of her.

She does, however, turn less shy if papa’s in the photo, too, even if with distance in between.

That’s the only way to get portraits of the princess; have Ravus stand in the picture, then crop that side out, ahahaha.

Even as she grows up, Ravus still likes to pick her in arms just because.

She likes so, too.

It’s very usual to see king Ravus walking around or standing at the gardens, with little girl in his arm.

Ravus likes to randomly give her kisses, even though they’re only a few across the day.

Ravus likes to rub his nose against her temple.

Always makes her giggle.

Papa Ravus may be inexpert and a bit awkward and overprotective, but

He’s super loving, and gives his best as a father.

Little girl knows it, and shee loves him too.

( ´ ▽ ` ).｡ｏ♡

Dad Ravus deserves lots of love. This all is super adorable and was fun to write. ♡  ｏ｡ ～('▽^人) 

[elfenphoenix]

Remember Me (KlanceWeek Day 3: Scars)

When Lance Mcclain had been five years old, he’d befriended a boy without a family. He was Lance’s best friend at the time.They’d been inseparable. But that was ages ago. That boy had disappeared, just like he’d said he would. Lance still thought of him, sometimes, when he was fighting alongside Team Voltron, or just drifting off to sleep alone in his room. Was he okay? Had he found a family? Lance only wished he could remember the boy’s name. Or his face. But he remembered none of it. Only that he should have a scar on the back of his head, just behind his left ear. Why was that all he remembered? For some reason, his childhood self had thought it was the only thing important enough to hold onto.

But what did it matter? He probably would never see him again.

...but what if he did?

~~

It was an extremely hot summer, and his family was visiting town for some shaved ice when Lance had met the boy.

Lance’s older sister had teased him, saying she’d get some for everyone except him. It was supposed to be a special treat-- his sister had earned a bit of money gathering metal off of the beach. Lance hadn’t really understood why it was such a big deal at the time. But he did understand that he didn’t deserve to be the only one without shaved ice!

His mother was fussing with his baby brother, scolding Lance for talking back to his sister, who had worked so hard.

While his family ordered the shaved ice from the stand, Lance looked around, noticing that the heat had kept the streets pretty bare-- everyone was either cooling down at the beach, or in the shade of their homes.

But there was a boy, curled into a ball at the foot of a bike shop, his face buried in his knees. He looked really awful. Lance felt bad for him. Maybe he needed a friend?

He was about to go talk to him when his sister handed him a bowl of blue raspberry shaved ice-- his favorite. Rather than thanking her, though, he took the shaved ice and ran over to the boy.

“Hey! Lance, where are you going?!” His sister yelled after him.

“I’ll be right back!” He shouted without stopping.

He reached the boy, who was sitting in a little sliver of shadow given off by the store’s hanging sign.

“Hey, are you okay?”

The boy looked up, blinking up at him. He was hurt… there was blood running down the side of his neck from a gash behind his left ear, making his ruffled black hair stick to the side of his face.

“Oh boy that looks bad! Did you get into a fight?!”

The boy looked up at him blankly, then shook his head. “I-I don’t understand.”

“O-oh! You don’t speak Spanish?” Lance asked, trying his best to think of the words in English. His mother had been very careful to teach them the language, saying that it would help them get good jobs when they were older. He still wasn’t very good at it, though.

The boy nodded. “I’m not from here.”

Lance plopped down into the dirt next to him, holding the bowl of shaved ice between them. “So where are you from?”

The boy scrunched up his face, trying to think, then winced, his hand going to the gash on the side of his head. “I don’t know. A lot of places, I guess.”

“Does that hurt?” Lance asked, reaching up to push the boy’s hair back, looking at the gash.

The boy smacked his hand away. “No. I’m fine.”

Lance scowled at him. “It looks bad! Stop trying to be cool!”

The boy hesitated, and then let him look at it. Carefully, Lance pulled the black hair away from the gash, and then set his bowl of shaved ice down, and pulled his shirt over his head and began to dab at the blood.

“Isn’t your mom going to yell at you for getting blood on your clothes?” The boy asked, quietly.

“Yeah, probably. She’ll hit me with la chancla.”

“With what?” the boy asked, looking confused. “La chancla?”

Lance hesitated, then shook his head. He couldn’t remember the word in English, so he changed the subject. “What’s your name?”

The boy was quiet for a moment, and then grumbled, “Keith.”

“Keith? I’m Lance!”

“Lance? That doesn’t sound very Spanish.”

Lance finished dabbing away the blood, then sat back against the wall. “My mom is half… half American. She said it sounded like a strong name.”

Keith snorted. “Okay then.”

Lance grinned, holding out the shaved ice. “Hey, you want some? If I don’t eat it fast, it’s gonna melt.”

Keith hesitated, then nodded, taking a big spoonful of the blue ice. He stuck it in his mouth, then grimaced from the pain.

Lance laughed. “It’s too hot to eat ice so fast, dummy.”

Keith glared at him, then handed the spoon back.

They continued eating the shaved ice together, taking turns with the spoon. While they ate, they talked. Lance talked about his big sister and his mom being pregnant again. That his little brother was getting big already, enough to be a lot of trouble for his older siblings. He talked about his favorite tía being a lifeguard, the pizza shack looking over the ocean she’d sometimes take them to.

Keith told him about not really having a family, now that his father was gone. That he was supposed to be in an orphanage here in Cuba, but one of the other kids had hit him. He’d fought back, and would have won if the head of the orphanage hadn’t broken up the fight and then told him he was a bad boy for starting fights, even if he wasn’t the one who’d started it.

“I’ll probably be sent away again,” Keith sighed, burying his face in his knees again.

“Why?” Lance asked.

“Because I was bad,” Keith answered, as if it was obvious.

Lance still didn’t quite get it. “You don’t seem bad to me. Hey, do you wanna be my friend?”

Keith blinked up at him, frowning. “But I just said that I’m gonna have to leave soon. How can we be friends if I have to go so far away?”

Lance thought about it, then got to his feet and said, “We’ll just see each other again sometime! We’ll know each other by our scars! Since I met you because of the cut behind your ear!”

Keith scowled. “But you don’t have any scars.”

Lance frowned, realizing that Keith was right. “Ummmm… oh wait! I do have one! Here, see?” He pulled up the bottom of his shorts on his right leg, turning around so that Keith could see it. “I have a big white scar just above the back of my knee from when I got cut on some coral when I was swimming. My shorts usually cover it, though.”

“So how am I supposed to see it, then?” Keith asked.

“I don’t know! We’ll just find out later! Now come on, you can have dinner with my family.”

“What, really?” Keith had asked, as Lance had grabbed him by the hand and pulled him to his feet, his face filled with surprise.

“Yeah! I don’t want you to go back to the meanies at the orphanage. So you can stay with me for a while. Since we’re friends.”

“Friends?”

“Yeah! Friends! Amigos! Now come on!”

~~~~~

Sure enough, his mother had hit him with la chancla when she’d seen the blood. But she’d also fawned over Keith, making sure she made an extra big dinner that night, repeatedly re-filling Keith’s plate. She’d properly cleaned Keith’s gash, all the while complaining about those awful people for allowing such a young boy to feel so alone.

Keith had slept with Lance and his younger brother in their room that night, falling asleep with a smile on his face. It made Lance feel happy.

They stayed like that for a few weeks. Keith’s gash quickly healed, into a small scar behind his ear. Lance showed Keith his favorite spots, playing with him whenever he had a spare moment. They found the bullies from the orphanage and taught them a lesson, despite getting in huge trouble with Lance’s mom. They played in the ocean, pulled starfish from the tide pools. It was a peaceful and happy time.

But one day, some men came to get Keith, saying that he didn’t belong there, even if Lance tried to tell them that he did. But they didn’t listen to him. They took Keith away, and all Lance could do was promise that they were still friends, even if Keith was far away. That they’d know each other by their scars.

He never saw him again.

~~~~~

“Not too bad, Lance,” Keith huffed as they headed back to the control room after fighting off a squad of space pirates.

Keith pulled off his helmet, his hair pulled along with it. Lance glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, about to say something cocky, but paused when he noticed something out of place.

“Wait, Keith, hold still!” he suddenly shouted, brushing Keith’s black hair away from his ears, twisting it around his fingers, absentmindedly noting that it was just as soft as it looked.

“Agh! Lance, what are you doing?” Keith complained, his face reddening, tensing under Lance’s touch.

“Just hang on! I need to look at something,” Lance muttered, looking closely at the thin white line running through the skin of Keith’s scalp, cutting through his hairline.

He stopped, noticing that Keith’s expression wasn’t the type of confused he’d been expecting. It was different-- an almost frightened-looking, bewildering emotion Lance couldn’t quite name. In English or in Spanish.

He let go, allowing Keith’s hair to fall back down over the scar. “I-uh… how long have you had… that scar? Behind your ear.”

Keith’s hand flew to his ear as he looked up at Lance. “Since I was a kid. Why? Does it… mean something to you?”

Lance deflated. He must be wrong. “...Nothing. It just… makes me think of a friend I had when I was little. He had a bad gash behind his ear, right where your scar is.”

Keith hesitated, frowning up at him. “No no no wait. That wasn’t.. That wasn’t you… that was in Cuba.”

“I’m from Cuba!”

“You are?” Keith asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes! Were you ever there? Do you remember me?” Lance asked, his excitement quickly growing again.

“I remember sharing shaved ice with a boy my age. And his mom took care of me. But he had a scar on his leg. You don’t. Or at least… at least I never saw it.”

“Yes I do! Just look!”

In his eagerness, Lance started pulling his armor off, completely unaware of his surroundings until Pidge zapped him with her bayard, reminding him that there were other people around him.

“Just come on!” Lance demanded, grabbing Keith’s hand and rushing off to his room. As soon as the doors closed behind them, he pulled off his armor, stripping all the way down to his underwear, then turning around, pointing at the back of his thigh, just above his knee, where his scar stood out in a jagged white streak against his dark skin. “Do you remember now?”

“Um, yes. Now can you put your clothes on?” Keith pleaded, his face bright red.

“Why aren’t you freaking out about this?!” Lance asked, grabbing Keith’s hands and looking into his eyes. “We knew each other! When we were kids!”

“I am freaking out!” Keith snapped. “I just… don’t know how to respond. It was a really long time ago!”

Lance let go, stepping back. “S-sorry. I just feel dumb for not noticing it until now. Your stupid mullet always covered it.”

“Yeah, and exactly how was I supposed to notice a scar in such a weird place?” Keith shot back.

Lance shrugged. “Fair enough. But why are you all red?”

“B-because!” Keith shouted, then stormed out of the room.

Lance hurried to pull his jeans on, running out after him. “Wait! Keith! Why are you all red?”

“Shut up! It’s not like I’ve been thinking of you for twelve years.”

“Wait, really?”

“I… um…” Keith paused, looking back at him. “I missed… you. Or, well, I thought I did.”

Lance grinned. “I missed you, too, buddy.”

[sorryidosedoff]

Coming back-chapter III (Tom Holland x Original character story)

“Are you hungry?”-Anna asked Tom. 

“Yes, but don’t worry about me. Let’s just go to the hospital.”-he said shrugging his hunger off. Anna smirked and called her mom. “What are you doing?”-he asked. She smiled. Liza answered the phone. “Hello?”-she said with a raspy voice. “I woke you up, didn’t I?” “Yes, but it doesn’t matter. Where are you?” “I picked up Tom and Nicola. She’ll come with Dominic shortly. Are you hungry?” “Yes, there’s that bakery that’s open 24/7. Get me something sweet” “Chocolate or fruity?” “Surprise me.”-Anna smiled. “Did Ethan wake up?”-they were all worried. “Not yet. The doctor says soon.” “Okay, we’ll be there shortly. I love you.”-Tom smiled at the words, even though they weren’t meant for him. He knew how much Anna cared for her mother, especially after her father’s death. “I love you too honey. Bye”- she hung up. “Hm, to what bakery are you taking me Anna?”-Tom asked even though knowing exactly where they were going.

It had been the bakery where Anna and Tom went at 2 in the morning when they were both hungry. Anna smiled at the question and drove 3 minutes more and they had arrived. The place was called “Gail’s Bakery”. At the moment at 05:15 AM the place had been almost empty, except for the workers cleaning and a couple having coffee the bakery had been empty. They walked to the counter and ordered. Tom ordered the honey roasted ham and cheddar sandwich, Anna ordered a cheddar, onion and sage scone and an almond pain un chocolat for her mother – it was her favorite. The two ate in the car on the parking lot; it’s what they’d usually do. Anna didn’t like strangers looking at her when she ate at the late night hours or early morning whereas Tom would do anything do keep Anna as happy as possible. “I’ve missed this more than anything.” “Yeah, the food is amazing.” “I wasn’t talking about the food.”-they looked at each other and Anna half smiled at Tom. He felt so guilty because he’d been away.-“But yes. The food is great.”-Tom said sadly. They sat in an awkward silence and ate as none of them knew exactly what words to say.

Yeah I missed this more than anything Tom. You have no idea. But I know you feel guilty so I’ll stuff my face with this scone and say nothing. –thought Anna. She remembered the countless nights she spent the last months crying herself to sleep. If Tom had been there she’d go to his house and play with Tessa if she was awake. She wouldn’t be alone. She hated that draining feeling of loneliness. But now with Tom back she had hope that she wouldn’t have that feeling again.

“Are you done?”-Anna asked after finishing her scone. “Yeah.”-Tom answered.-“Do you want me to drive?” “You’re tired, I don’t know if you should.”-Tom smirked. “I’m fine Anna. Now let’s switch.”-and so they did. Anna smiled; she liked it when she was in the passenger seat. The two sat in silence, comfortably. They silently hummed to Breezeblock by alt-J. The two arrived at the hospital 10 minutes later. They entered Ethan’s recovery room where Liza sat next to her sleeping son, playing with his golden brown hair. Anna and Ethan looked identical, except for their eyes; Ethan had the lightest blue colors like their mother and Anna had the darkest brown like their father.

Liza looked to the two-“Oh Tom you’ve grown quite a lot.”-She said while hugging the boy-“Oh and buffer Tom, bravo.”-Tom and Anna smiled. “I brought you an almond pain un chocolat.”-Anna said giving her the bag that contained the pastry. Liza took the bag in her hands. “How is he?”-asked Tom. “Honestly he’s in a better state than Olivia. Despite them both not wearing helmets, Olivia has been in a coma since she was admitted her. The doctor said he’d wake up soon. But they can’t know what’s going to happen to Olivia. All we can do is have hope.”-Tom nodded.-“Speaking of Olivia, I’ll go and see how they’re all doing.”-Liza left with the bag in her hand.

Anna sat on the chair on the right side and Tom brought the other chair next to her. “This is not your fault Anna. This happened from Ethan’s choices and only of his choices. Please don’t blame yourself, not again.”-Tom took hold of Anna’s hands. She nodded. -“Promise?”-Tom smiled. Anna nodded trying hard to smile. He didn’t trust her in her promise. He knew his best friend, he knew her mental state. He’d do anything to help her keep her promise. “I should have noticed. I noticed when Penelope first tried cocaine. Why didn’t I see it in my brother?” “I told you don’t blame yourself. You know that he’s grown away from you and your mother.” “Yes and that’s why I should have noticed. Every time I’d ask him about really anything he’d push me away. He’d get on my nerves so god damn much. I guess at some point I was just done with him. But you see he never gave up on me. Even when I was breaking glasses just to have something sharp to cut myself with, when I was 5 seconds from swallowing the whole bottle of pills”-Anna ran to the bathroom. This is the over-thinking that always drove her to a breakdown. “Anna!”-Tom shouted her name. He followed his friend. Anna shut the door but not before Tom got in the small women’s bathroom with her. “Tom, leave.”-he locked the door behind him. “Please Anna, you’re not alone. I’m here.”-they were close to each other, the tears rolled down Anna’s cheeks. “I can’t stand myself.”-Tom took her hand and took her to him and hugged her tight. Anna cried on his chest, he was buffer. He kissed her forehead; he knew how much that reassured her. “It’s not healthy for you to be here.” “I have to be here, for my mom.” “But my mom is coming soon, and then can we leave? We’ll play with Tessa on the trampoline. She always makes you feel better.”-he looked at her. She caught his gaze. “Agh, I guess we’ll go if my mom’s okay with it. I have to see Austin afterwards.” “And I’ll be with you.”-Anna smiled sadly. She kissed him on his cheek, he blushed. Her lips were so soft. He’d have his fantasies, even though they were inappropriate. Tom couldn’t help himself, he liked Anna since the moment he saw her dance on the stage of their dance school. They were both 10 years old. He’s had a crush on her since. He’s had a few girlfriends, yes but they were all jealous of Tom and Anna’s relationship; he never committed to anyone as much as he had committed to Anna. She was his favorite dance partner, his favorite exercise buddy; person to jog and do gymnastics with. They had been partners since the moment they met. Now their friendship is 10 years long. He always fantasized for something more, but never really did anything about it. Tom didn’t want to ruin the friendship he had.

[winkonium]

작은 국 : A Pocket Sized Jungkook Story

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 (coming soon)

작은 국 : A Pocket Sized Jungkook Story (3)

I woke up at 10:30 AM. I love Fridays. I love that I don't have classes on Fridays. That means I can do whatever I want. I can get to finish homework due next week but now, I can get to spend my time with Jungkook.

When I rose up from the bed, Jungkook was still passed out on my bed, his head resting on my phone that was maybe 5 times bigger than him. He's so adorable, really. "Watch your head, Jungkook." I said as I carefully took my phone from him. His eyes opened for a second but he passed out right after. Cute!

I cooked us breakfast: omelette and some sausages. After, I prepared the table, putting a plate for me, chopsticks, a spoon and the food I made. I even cleaned the mess from the cake we ate last night since we were both too tired to clean.I walked up to sleeping Jungkook and patted his head with my finger. "Wake up, we're going to do a lot of things today." His eyes opened and when he saw me, he immediately smiled then stood up.

———

"Do I really have to go with you?" He was sitting on my shoulder so I can hear everything he will say. His voice was even trembling.

I nodded. "Why not?"

"Hmm.." He hummed. "I'm just.. Scared." He was too shy to admit that he's scared but I'm still glad he said.

"You have to come with me, we'll buy some cloth for you."

"You mean clothes?" He tried not to sound sassy but he did sound sassy.

"Hmm, nope." I shook my head with a proud smile. "With your size I don't think I can find clothes that fit you."

"E—"

"Even if I look at the Barbie section." I cut him off. I walked while he was on my shoulders, observing the surroundings. He looked like a tourist. That is if you could see him. I feel like dogs could see him because they would bark at me when normally, they don't. But thankfully they don't run after us.

What I plan on doing today is buying cloths for Jungkook then I'd just get his measurements then sew clothes for him. I learned sewing when I was in elementary. I used to sew for the little kids at church so maybe I could sew for a pocket sized human who is smaller than a barbie.Going inside the mall, I started to look for the fabric shop and when I did, I immediately went off to find cloths that would catch Jungkook's eyes.

"That! I like that!"

"The one over there with plaid!"

"Oh, stripes, yes!"

"Pink would do."

"I like some blue, too."

It wasn't that hard since he was vocal of what he wanted. With each cloth that he liked, I took a meter of each. When I went out, I immediately saw an ice cream stand and it made my mouth water. I quickly went there and ordered a soft served vanilla ice cream with strawberries on top.

"Ahh.." I heard Jungkook moaned at the sight of the ice cream and I held back a laugh. When I eat, I was sneaking a size fit for Jungkook and he would eat it. Basically, we were sharing the food.

"I'm full." He said when I sneaked another for him.

"Are you sure?" I asked and he said yes. Okay, more for me.

"Joo Eun?"

I looked up and saw another friend of mine. "Jimin." I smiled and then I saw he was with another guy. Kim Seokjin.

"Are you alone?" He asked me. As usual, he was wearing a bright smile. You know, the smile that makes his eyes disappear.

I looked at my shoulders and saw that Jungkook's gone. I was about to panic but I felt something at the back of my neck. He was hiding. Thanks for the consideration.

"Yeah." I said, half confident because Jimin's a friend of mine but half shy because Seokjin is there.

"May we sit with you?" He asked.

"Sure, no problem." I said with a nervous smile.

"I'll go order." Seokjin said with a blank expression. Jimin sat in front of me.

Jimin and I haven't seen each other for months though we study in the same school. We were classmates on our first year but when he decided to switch majors, it was hard to see each other. He's friends with Taehyung and Seokjin but just like our situation, they seldom see each other and to bump into them is a huge coincidence.

"How have you been?" He asked me.

"I've been good, thanks for asking. How about you?"

He smiled so wide like a child seeing his favorite toy. "I'm okay. It's nice to see you again. It's been a long time." I agreed. "Are you well?"

"I am. You?"

"I am. I just find it hard to keep in touch with them." Referring to Seokjin and the others. "Today is a good day. I saw Jin-hyung and you."

What. What is my heart doing. Agh. It skipped. No. Stop it, Joo Eun. You're just flattered. I can't help but smile and reply, "It's good to see you again, too."

"I missed you, though." He said as he started to play with his fingers.

"I did, too." I replied then after, there was a tug at the back of my neck. Jungkook. What the hell is wrong with you.

Jimin blushed. God. I didn't know I can make someone blush.

Our conversation was interrupted by Seokjin who sat down with two banana split. He gave the other one to Jimin who said thanks.

"It was your birthday yesterday, right?" Jimin asked, eating a spoonful of ice cream.

I nodded. "I was with Taehyung last night and.. A couple of other friends.." I was careful whether I should say if I was with Seokjin. I'm not even sure if he acknowledges that he was with us last night since I'm just no one and he's like.. I don't know, a king?

"I'm sad I missed it." He pouted, being cute and all. Ugh, I want to squish his face. He looked at Seokjin and nudged his waist. "Hyung, why aren't you talking?"

Seokjin snapped back out of reality and stopped staring at the melting ice cream. "Just thinking about stuff." He still had a blank expression.

Jimin nodded. "Joo Eun.." He said, playing with his fingers again. "Do you.. Have a boyfriend?"I looked up at Jimin and then at Seokjin who looked at Jimin. He was wearing the same shocked expression as I have. I then looked back at Jimin. He seemed shy but he was smiling and blushing. He was still cute.

"I don't.." I answered subtly and then there was a tug at the back of my neck again. Jungkook.

"That's good." Jimin grinned. I felt myself blush but I think we're taking too much time. I need to go home for me to finish Jungkook's clothes. I reluctantly stood up and told them "I need to go.."

"Not too soon!" Jimin pouted again.

"I need to finish some stuff.." I said. I still want to talk but I have priorities.

"Okay, but, can I get your number?" Jimin asked me and I gladly gave it to him, we both exchanged numbers. I then went off, walking as fast as I can without looking weird.I felt Jungkook creep onto my shoulders again.

"Who was that?"

"Which one?" I asked him.

"Both of them. Which one is Jimin and which one is the other one?" He asked.

"The pink haired one is Jimin and the brown haired one is.. Seokjin." I answered him.

"Kim Seokjin?" How did he know his full name. "You almost named me after him?"

Right..

"Don't mind it." I told him. When we reached my dorm, I quickly gathered the sewing kit I have and opened my laptop for outfit inspirations with Jungkook on my side, standing in front of the laptop screen. He was pointing everything that he likes and I save the pictures. We had like at least twenty inspirations for the outfit and as soon as we were contented, we proceeded on measuring, cutting and measuring.

"What's it like in your world?" I asked him as I was sewing a piece of cloth, trying to turn it into a plaid shirt. He was sitting on a small mountain of cloth.

"It's fun." He answered. He was smiling.

"Tell me more." You know, if I'm going to live with him for the rest of my life, I might as well get to know him.

"I have six hyungs there but we're not blood related but we live together. Hmm, I also have a couple of friends there." He said.

"Do your hyungs have owners now or is it just you?"

"Joonie-hyung and I were sent away at the same time. I don't know about the others." He seemed a little gloomy when he spoke.

"Do you feel.. Lonely without them?"

"Hm." He nodded. "But I was told having an owner is good and that I'll be happy here as well." He beamed a smile at me and I smiled back.

"Can you still visit them?"

He nodded. "If I go into the mug."

"Well then, I'll make sure to keep the mug on my desk so you can go there anytime you want. But tell me before you go so I won't be worried, okay?" He nodded again. I was now done with the first article of clothing I made, a white cotton shirt. "Try this on." I handed it to him.

He took it from me and hid behind a pile of books. He quickly changed to it and showed it to me when he was done.

"It fits me very well!" He was so fascinated that his eyes lit up. I stopped myself from screaming because he's just so cute.

"I'll make you pants." I said and grabbed a denim cloth then proceeded to make his pants.

———

We finished at 7 PM. I made sure to maximize the use of cloth so we won't have to worry about anything. We both were hungry and I presented to buy some food outside. Jungkook agreed for me to go out while he cleans up the tiny messes we've made.

I made my way out of the dorm only to see a pink haired guy standing in front of the gate. "Jimin?" I ran to him, surprise that he's standing outside.

"Joo Eun." He smiled that beautiful smile. "I was hoping you'd answer the phone.."

What. I checked my phone and he had 5 missed calls. "Ah, Jimin. I'm so sorry. I was doing something."

"It's okay." He nodded and then handed me a paper bag. "I brought you dinner."

I blushed. Thanks to the orange street lights, my blush isn't visible. "Y-you didn't have to.."

"But I just did." He playfully rolled his eyes and I finally accepted it, taking it from his hand."D-do you want to eat this inside?" Why am I stammering? I only stammer for Seokjin!

He seemed delighted. "If that's okay with you." He seemed quite hesitant but we eventually went inside. It was already clean. How can Jungkook clean that fast with his size?

"Can you like.. Prepare this? I'll just go clean up my desk if that's okay." I told Jimin and he agreed. I made my way to my room, looking for Jungkook.

"Jungkook?" I whispered through the room. I searched my shelf and my bed but I can't see him. "Jungkook!" I whisper shouted.

"Over here." He whispered back. Following the voice, I found him near my lamp on the desk by my bed. I walked over him. "I'll stay here until he leaves."

"Are you sure?"

He sheepishly grinned. "Yeah. He might freak out if he sees me."

He's right. Pocket sized humans aren't still a thing nowadays.

"But what about you? You're hungry."

"It's okay, I can wait."

I smiled. "Okay. Thank you. Stay put, okay?" I said and then left to head over to Jimin. He was sitting down already, ready to eat. I sat in front of him and he handed me chopsticks.

"Let's eat?" I nodded but before I could grab myself some food, I grabbed another plate and put a little amount of food there.

"What's that for?" He asked me.

What is it for, Kang Joo Eun? "It's for my neighbor's cat." What the hell. "It's cute and it likes to eat..?"

He chuckled and seemed to believe me anyway so he started to dig in on the noodles and the chicken. I put the plate aside and finally ate. "I was going to get some food but I saw you outside."

"I was actually going to knock but I saw you walk outside." He grinned. Park Jimin.. Park Jimin is always smiling. I've never seen him frown except when Taehyung accidentally cracked his phone two terms ago but that was when we weren't that close. When he's with his friends, he can highly tolerate it.

"Thanks for the thought, Jimin." I smiled.

"I've always thought about you, Joo Eun." He said shyly and I had to stop eating because I was shocked at that sudden confession. "It was so frustrating how I never got to see you again after I switched to another program. I can only see you having a good time on Facebook and I badly wish I could be there."

Oh, gosh. What do I say? I wish I could say I thought about him too but I haven't. If I'm going to be completely honest, Seokjin was the only guy I've had feelings for ever since I stepped in this school. He's my biggest crush but why is Jimin making me sway?

"I'm not expecting you to say something, though. I just want you to know that I constantly think about you." He said. I sighed in relief internally that I'm not obliged to say something back.

"It's nice to see you again, Jimin." I said. It's the truth. I'm glad to see him again.

"Good to hear that." He said. We ate in silence and then when the clock struck 9, when we both were done eating and everything was clean, he was ready to go home.

"It's nice seeing you again." He said for like the hundredth time. "Let's catch up soon?"

"Sounds perfect." I said with a smile.

"I'll call you." He said before leaving, leaving a mark of his smile on my mind. God, Jimin.

Jungkook.

"Jungkook!" I yelled, grabbing the plate with food from the table then ran to my room. He was still there by the lamp but I caught he was folding his tiny clothes. I need to stop internally screaming.

"Joo Eun-noona!" He cheered and drooled at the sight of the food. I went to him and placed the plate on the bed. He sprinted to it then began eating.

"Sorry it took long." I said. I grabbed a pillow and leaned on the frame of the bed. It was taking him so long to reply because he was so busy with the food. He was holding a noodle with both of his hands and munching on them.

"It's okay. It seems that he likes you." He replied after he finished a noodle.

"What makes you say that?" I asked and I have to wait for another three minutes before he could reply.

"Can't you hear what he was saying?" He rolled his eyes. "Can I just eat and discuss this tomorrow? You've already made me wait so long." I laughed in response and didn't answer him and just let him be.

Park Jimin likes me? I mean, okay. He was vocal right there when he said he misses me and that he always thought about me. And he brought me food, too at this time of night. He even asked me if I have a boyfriend. But what if he's just curious about it? And that he misses me as a friend? We're pretty close way back then.

I sighed and just stared as Jungkook ate the rest of the food. He eats a lot, I notice but he doesn't grow? Will he ever grow? I hope not. I like him the way he is.