#and i want food the dining halls open now BYE

[todayisafridaynight]

love watchin a y7 playthrough from nine months ago and streamer was like 'i wish they showed arakawa killing the hikawa family i didnt really like how it was talked about but not shown :/' like Oh Baby :))))) You Got A BIIIIG Storm Ahead Of You :))))))))))

[anonymous-rendezvous]

The Sun’s Embrace

💖🖤❤️ Doppio/Hex/Ver x GN!Reader

✦ — Written by Mod S 👿. Beta Read and Edited by Mod I ✨.

✧ — Contains: Established Poly Relationship [Doppio/Hex/Ver], getting together, light angst, panic attack, comfort, & fluff

✦ — Word count: 4.5k | Ao3

The boys have started to notice that you’ve been avoiding them, and they have no idea why. Deciding it's time to take matters into their own hands, Doppio suggests a plan of attack. After all, there’s no way this could end badly. Right? Based on the sentence prompt - “Can I hug you?”

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

Standing at your dorm door, one hand tightly clutches at the strap of your bag while the other hovers over the doorknob. “Okay, I can do this.” The statement mumbled, a sort of pep talk as your weight shifted from one foot to the other. “Just do the normal greetings, don’t make eye contact, and make it to the front door.” You didn’t need to glance at the time to know that there was already a high chance the rest of the council members were awake and hanging around in the common room. Hence your panic. ‘I knew I should’ve set another alarm.’ You think, cursing yourself with a groan.

Taking another deep breath to steel your nerves, you throw the door open and rush down the hallway, head faced forward with one goal in mind; interact as little as possible. Upon entering the common room, the scent of coffee and breakfast hits you like a truck. That seems to be all your stomach needs to remind you that eating food is important, growling loudly as if to alert the entire dorm of your presence; causing you to grumble. The room's occupants turn, finding you standing awkwardly in the hall entrance. ‘Well, there goes leaving unnoticed.’

Your attention is drawn to Meloco as she giggles. As she leans against the island of the kitchen, she waves you over. “Well, someone’s hungry! Come on, we have plenty of food here. Well, unless you want donuts.” She looks at the council president from the corner of her eyes. “Ver's pretty much eaten most of those.” She laughs as Ver turns to glare at her, returning it with a small smirk. You hesitate for a moment, however, seeing as only Kotoka and Meloco are currently making themselves some food, you enter the kitchen.

“Ah, I think I’ll just take a wrap. Not feeling like a full-course breakfast today.”

Kotoka pipes up as she hears you and happily walks over to you. “Oh, I’m eating one too! Here I grabbed one for later, but you can have this one. I’ll just take a different one.” After giving her a brief thanks, you make your way to the fridge and grab a water, subtly taking a peek at the other three members. Ver is sitting on the couch enjoying a cup of coffee as he talks to Hex, who is enjoying some tea. ‘ Good, ’ you think to yourself, ‘ they’re in the same spot. ’ After staring for probably a bit too long at the pair, you close the fridge and look around for Doppio. Your eyes scan the room until you find him at the dining table, devouring his breakfast; not at all waiting for the girls that are going to sit with him.

You can’t help the fond chuckle that slips from your lips as you slide the bottled water into your bag. Once that's put away, you start opening your wrap while edging your way back out of the kitchen. “Okay, well, I gotta get going now. I’ll see you all later!” You make a rush for the door, causing everyone to startle; heads tilting simultaneously in confusion. In such a hurry you don’t see Ver quickly stand from the couch and try to make his way to you.

“Woah wait,” he hurriedly speaks up, hand reaching out in an attempt to try to slow you. “I wanted to discuss something with you today. We still have a fair amount of time before classes, so why don’t you sta–” He’s unable to even finish his sentence before you cut him off, the door already half-open in front of you.

“Ah, sorry, Kaichou, really gotta go. Okay, bye!” Your words are a rush as the door is quickly shut behind you. Ver stands there bewildered as he’s left staring at the door for a few seconds, processing what the hell just happened. He only regains his composure when Kotoka's voice suddenly breaks the silence, turning to look in her direction.

“Wonder what they're in such a hurry for.” The half-blonde pouts in thought before gasping, “I wonder if they have a date!” She turns towards the other, a beaming smile on her face. “Why else would they be in such a hurry?”

Ver feels a ghost of a frown cross his lips at the suggestion. However, Hex interjects before he’s able to turn down her suggestion, raising a hand in a calming motion. “Come now, Koto, let’s not jump to conclusions. They could be going to ask a professor about a class or maybe it’s something to do with family. There are many other reasons for them to be in such a hurry.”

“Ah well, I guess you’re right. It’d be exciting if it was true, though!” She laughs as she makes her way to the table with Meloco, the girls claiming the open seats across from Doppio.

“I think you just want a reason to fawn over them, Koto,” Meloco takes a sip from her coffee, then gives her a sly smile. “You’d just fangirl over watching them be all lovey-dovey like watching a Shoujo.”

Kotoka pouts, ready to object, but is interrupted by Doppio joining the conversation. “Ohhh right! That would explain all the manga I see in your room with the people kissing on the cover.”

“Doppio!” Kotoka screeches at him from across the table, trying to reach over to hit him as he just cackles from his seat, leaning back to make sure she can’t reach him.

Ver and Hex watch on, shaking their heads affectionately. Though Hex notices the hint of melancholy on Ver’s face, standing from the couch to talk to him. Reaching a hand out, he gently cups the small of the shorter man's back, the council president's eyes shifting to meet his. Leaning forward, Hex keeps his voice low as he whispers in the other's ear, “What’s wrong? Worried about them?”

Ver sighs and crosses his arms, turning his body slightly towards the other while lowering his voice as well. “How can I not be? I’m sure you’ve noticed it too... They’ve been avoiding us for weeks, Hex. And it’s only been the two of us and Doppio. They seem fine with the girls…”

Hex adjusts his glasses, silent for a moment before he responds. “I’ve noticed it too… I can’t think of anything we’ve done wrong. And even if there was, I’d like to believe they'd tell us… The past few weeks have been the same as always, so what’s changed?” Silence hangs between them as Ver thinks it over, recalling the past few weeks in his mind; not able to pinpoint a single clue that could help them. They’re so lost in thought they almost don’t notice Doppio joining them, Kotoka and Meloco having already left for class.

He looks between them both before questioning, “What’s wrong? You both look like you're thinking hard about something. Is it what we talked about last week?” Their pair of eyes look up at Doppio as he speaks, and Hex is quick to answer him.

“Ah, no no, I think that’s been settled between all of us Dopi.” He gives the taller man a smile before continuing; expression becoming sullen. “We’re worried about what happened earlier, you know, with…”

Doppio’s eyes blink open in recognition, putting his hands on his hips. “Ohhh yeah, what was that about? Do either of you know what’s with them avoiding me recently? They’ve stopped showing up to our weekly game nights!” He pouts, and he drops his head, sulking to himself.

“Okay, good, so you’ve noticed it as well. They’ve been doing it to all three of us then. We need a plan to handle this quickly before things spiral. This isn’t just bad for the council… but for our friendship with them as well.” Ver sighs once again, bringing a hand up to his mouth in thought.

“Actually, I think I have an idea…” Doppio pulls them both into a huddle, explaining his idea to them. Exchanging looks of confusion as the trio talks it out, but eventually, they agree to set the plans in motion. They agree to message if anything came up. They parted ways, heading to their own classes. Though not before Hex presses a kiss to each boys’ temples.

Feeling a little lighter than before, Ver waves them off with a smile. ‘ Let’s just hope that they're willing to cooperate even a little, or else it could all go out the window. ’ He thinks, sighing as the smile slips from his face. Now all they need to do is wait.

Really, that’s all they can do.

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

Time passes as your day goes on. It’d be just like any other if you weren’t constantly watching out for the trio anytime they pass you in the hall. Every time you saw them, you’d panic and immediately take cover, trying to calm your racing heart. Ducking behind arches on campus. Sliding into the nearest bathroom until they walked away. Whatever it took to avoid running into them. You hated it. Hated having to avoid them ever since this stupid crush had started brewing in your heart; making you avoid your friends. You’d been content for a long time just being their friend, so why did your stupid feeling decide to spring this on you? Especially for three people!

Letting out a big sigh, your shoulders sag as you wearily tug open the council building's doors, making it back after your last class. Planning to get some work done before passing out, you slide your jacket off and hang it on the coat rack before taking off your shoes, remembering to shut the door behind you. After setting your shoes aside, you take a sweep around the common room – almost sighing in relief when you don’t spot anyone else. Moving further in, you can’t help but notice just how quiet the building is. There’s a chance everyone is still wondering about campus, or maybe a mission suddenly sprung up. The thought helps to ease your tension, heading toward your room. However, just as you’re about to reach out for the doorknob, three tall figures suddenly slide in front of it, startling you as they block you from the safety of your room.

“Ah! What the hell, guys? You can’t just come out of nowhere–” Suddenly, Hex and Doppio are on either side of you, hooking their arms beneath yours and lifting you up. “Wait, what are you doing? Gu–guys? Guys?! Where are we going?” None of them grant you an answer, continuing to carry your struggling body, feet kicking in protest as Ver leads the way toward his room. As though they’ve practiced this before, Kaichou swiftly opens his door and holds it open as the other two pull you into his mini-apartment with ease. The door shuts with a thump, and you're only released when the lock clicks into place.

Both Hex and Doppio take a step back as you scramble to stand straight, turning on your heel to scold them. “What the fuck, guys? Is this some sort of prank? What is Doppio paying you two?” You squint between Hex and Ver. It’s unnerving, however, when they return your gaze with serious expressions. Your arms subconsciously wrap around yourself in comfort, voice cracking as you ask, “Ummm, what's going on he–” 

“Don’t act like you don’t know.” Ver steps closer to you, which causes you to step back. He notices, making no further effort to close the distance; subconsciously softening his expression. Looking at Hex and Doppio behind him, they give him subtle nods, and he continues. Locking eyes with you, he asks, “You’ve been avoiding us, haven’t you?” You break eye contact first, seemingly finding the wall behind him to be much more interesting. Ver lets out a heavy sigh as he rubs his temple. “Listen, if we’ve done something wrong, you need to tell us. Because we have no idea, and being avoided like this isn’t gonna solve the problem…”

Hands clenched at your sides, biting down harder on your lip with each of his words, still unable to look at him. You can’t bring yourself to look at any of them. In truth, you’d known it was only a matter of time until they confronted you. It was unavoidable. Though you wish you could have had more time to prepare.

The silence stretches on. Hex lets out a long breath, crossing his arms over his chest, ready to break this standstill – however, you beat him to the punch. “You–” Your throat feels tight, having to force the words out as you try to remember to breathe, “None of you have done anything wrong…” 

“Then why have you been avoiding us, darling?” Hex inquires, taking a step forward to stand beside Ver. If you had taken even a small glance at him, you might have seen the worry etched deep into his expression.

The pet name causes your heart to ache, hands moving to clutch at your shirt tightly; almost too tightly. “Be–because…” Frustration builds in your throat as you try to find the proper way to put this. Except, everything you think of just results in you outing yourself. Exposing your crush. Swallowing hard, you close your eyes tightly. It's hard to think over the sound of blood rushing in your ears - your heart pounding. The feelings you thought you could keep quiet bubble up until there’s no choice left but to let them spill out. “Because I’ve been dealing with these stupid feelings for you all, and I hate it! If I just– I thought if I just avoided you all, they’d go away, eventually. They’d have to, right? And–and then everything could go back to normal…” People say telling the truth can make you feel lighter, and yet it feels as though it’s dragged you down further. There’s a knot in your stomach, and the tightness in your throat grows worse; making it hard to breathe. Hell, just knowing you're in Ver’s room makes you feel sick. Standing in the middle of his space, encircled by his things – by him – makes these feelings worse.

Dreading what you think is to come next; the rejection, the scolding, the disgust. Even in your best-case scenario of one of them liking you, the one that does gets mad that your feelings are split. Not trusting you in the process. The anxiety makes you feel small, the knot in your stomach twisting– making you feel like you're going to puke, breathing heavy and shallow.

You’re so lost in your own head you can’t hear them calling your name in a panic. Reality rushing back to you as you register a warmth on your back. Your eyes open – when had you closed them? – except everything seems blurred. Raising a hand to rub blurriness away, it’s only then do you realize it’s because of tears. It takes a moment longer for you to realize you're crouched on the floor and a hand is running soothing circles over your back. Rubbing away what’s left of the tears, you take a deep, albeit shaky breath before looking towards the source of the comforting touch. Doppio is kneeling on the floor beside you, the Duke of Discipline likely having reached you first, but with a glance, you find Hex and Ver close by.

“Wha–” You have to cut your words off with a cough, trying to clear the uncomfortable feeling in your throat. “What happened?” The question had more so been directed at yourself because, really; ‘Tell me I didn’t just have a panic attack over losing them in front of them.’

“Well,” Doppio starts, “you were telling us about your feelings before going quiet. Your breathing had already seemed off, but then you started hyperventilating and practically caved in on yourself. Really scared us there. We thought you were gonna pass out.” The entire time he explains, Doppio keeps rubbing your back, the feel of his touch comforting. A bit too comforting for your complicated emotions right now, honestly. “Hex wanted to use his powers on you, but Ver said it might just make you panic again afterward. But I didn’t want to just leave you alone, so I thought some nice back rubs could help! Is it helping?” His head tilts in such an endearing way that you can’t stop your affection for him from growing stronger.

“Can… I hug you ?” The words slip past your lips without you thinking before quickly covering your mouth. What you hadn’t expected, however, is how suddenly you’re engulfed by Doppio’s arms; zero hesitation as he pulls you against his chest. Your hands shift from your mouth to his jacket, ready to push him away and explain yourself, except– you can’t bring yourself to. No, you don’t want to. Not when it feels so nice. Not when he smells so sweet and like home. Your heart pounds somehow faster when he rests his cheek on the top of your head, holding you tightly. Being so caught up in the hug, you almost miss the other two talking, something about water and finding a blanket; you don’t really catch all of it. Lost in your own world within the comfort of Doppio's arms.

By the time the pair have reappeared, your breathing has steadied, and you feel much calmer than you had before. Except… you still have emotions to deal with, and with every interaction you’ve had the past few minutes, it’s only made them worse. You practically feel the heat radiating off your face, palms sweaty as Doppio slowly lets you go, a rare sweet smile on his face as he looks at you. Embarrassed, you swivel your head away, looking up at Ver as you hear him approach and offer you a hand.

“Come on, let’s move outta my entryway. I think the living room would be more comfortable than sitting on the floor.” Taking his hand, he helps you up with ease, offering you a glass of water once you're steady. You quietly thank him before taking a big sip, the three leading you to the couch. It’s not a long walk to his living room and when you take your spot on the couch, you feel something being draped over you. Looking down, you realize it’s a blanket. One hand reaches up to brush against the soft fabric, while the other clutches at the cup of water in your lap. The couch dips beside you, and naturally, you turn your head to find Hex taking claim to one spot next to you. He’s sitting in such proximity to you, his thigh practically touches yours, his body angled in your direction.

Jerking your head back down, you stare at the water in the cup, trying not to acknowledge the closeness. This gives you a chance to see Doppio settle himself on the coffee table in front of you, not offering many places for you to look other than at your lap. Lucky for you, Ver speaks up, sitting on the other side of you; thankfully, at a more respectable distance.

“There we go. This is much better, right?” He watches the way you nod stiffly. The council president’s gaze softens as he watches you and speaks even softer as he places a hand on your back; replicating what Doppio was doing earlier. “Listen, we aren’t mad or upset at you for the way you're feeling. It’s okay to feel things and sometimes emotions change over time. That doesn’t make them bad, it just means that – in this case – you’ve found yourself more comfortable with us, right?” Ver chuckles, endeared as he watches the way you turn to look at him; shocked eyes locking with calm, muted magenta.

Shaking your head, your gaze shifts back down before returning to him, expression pensive. “Ar–are you sure? I mean it’s…” You pause, swallowing hard. “It’s not just feelings for one of you, it’s all three of you. Won’t that complicate things?”

Doppio laughs, quickly drawing your attention to him. “No, not at all! This works out perfectly for us. It's a win!”

“... Huh?” You tilt your head, looking at him with utter confusion.

“Well,” Hex finally speaks up from the other side of you, drawing your attention to him now, “he could have said it better, but we’ve actually been discussing our feelings for you and each other for a few months now, darling.” He chuckles, placing a hand lightly on your knee. “We all came to an agreement that if you liked us too, we’d share or even officially get together. We’ve been careful to keep it private for the past few weeks. Didn't need people butting in and asking questions when we didn’t even know if you liked us or not. I mean, we wanted you to be a part of us from the very start…” 

Blinking a couple of times, you can’t help but stare off into space, completely baffled by this new information. Once you give it a moment, you gather enough of your senses back to speak. “Wait, wait …” Your head twists around, looking towards each of them before settling back on the therapist beside you. “So all this time that I’ve been avoiding you, the three of you have discussed this? And… and you like me back?” 

“I’d even go so far and say ‘I love you’, but Ver told me to save that.” Hex laughs as he watches you get immensely flustered, sputtering out your words. Ver, reaching around you, lightly hits him on the arm and gives the taller man a soft glare. 

“Well, so much for ‘ saving ’ that…” He sighs before leaning a bit closer to get your attention, moving his hand to your shoulder. “But yes, we all like you. Though, even if we didn’t, there was no need to be so scared about talking to us about it. I might be the council president, but I am also your friend. I’m sure the other two feel the same as well.” He looks to Hex and Doppio for confirmation, and both nod in agreement.

Seeing that, you can’t help but huff, shoulders relaxing a bit. “I guess… I guess I over-complicated it by avoiding it, didn’t I?” The trio nods in unison, causing you to let out a bigger huff. “Well shit, what else is new…” Taking a deep breath, you set your water down on the coffee table, careful not to set it too close to Doppio. You look at Hex’s hand on your thigh and Ver’s hand on your shoulder before gazing at Doppio, who’s sitting in front of you. Taking in the fact you have three new boyfriends now, you pat the hands that are on you, looking around at the trio. “This is definitely a surprise, but I… I’m glad that it worked out so well. I feel really bad for avoiding you all for so long, though, so I’ll have to find some way to make it up to you.”

“Hehehe~” The three of you hear Doppio let out a mischievous giggle, which instinctively makes you nervous. “I can think of a few ways, but I think I got the perfect idea for this specific scenario!” He scoots to the edge of the coffee table, leaning forward so he’s just inches from your face.

“U–uh,” You slightly panicked, looking to the other two for help. Bad idea. The pair – who had quickly picked up on the duke’s idea – decide to play along, leaning their faces closer to you as well. You don’t know whether the heat you feel is the blood rushing to your face or their breath fanning across your skin, quickly looking between them as you plead. “Gu–guys, come on. No need to get so hasty! I can, umm, do chores for you? Or maybe, uh, laundry! I know nobody likes doing laundry!”

“Aww look, our baby’s getting all embarrassed.” You glare as Hex teases you further, his words dripping with honey, as his thumb draws circles along the side of your knee. “What? Don’t want kisses from your new boyfriends?”

You pout in response. “No, no, I do. I mean, um, fuck– I just–” Your mind spins as your heartbeat pound in your ears, hands gripping at the fabric on your thighs. They don’t give you time to think, taking your words as consent as they move closer; lips colliding with your skin. Doppio reaches his hands forward, placing one on your knee opposite Hex’s hand, and the other grips the therapist’s arm as he places a chaste kiss on your lips. Ver and Hex – seeing as your lips are occupied – kiss your cheeks. Ver’s are feather-light and slow, whereas Hex’s are a bit more forceful and quick. You feel nearly overwhelmed by all the sudden affection. The only thing you're able to muster is kissing Doppio back, puckering your lips every time he briefly pulls back. You can feel how he smiles against your lips, giggling as he fulfills your silent requests.

A few minutes pass of them just showering you with kisses, and when they deem they’ve had sufficient payment, they pull back; smiling as they’ve left you in a different kind of daze now. You wonder if this is how the Pokemon Spinda feels, tottering about. The men can’t help but laugh, completely endeared as Hex snakes his arm around your waist to keep you steady, as you recollect yourself. 

Placing a hand on your chest, you take slow deep breaths before asking, “I’m gonna have to get used to that, aren’t I?” 

“Mhm! Let’s see you avoided us for…” Doppio starts counting on his fingers before shooting you another mischievous smile. “A week and a half? So we have a fair bit to make up for.” You let out a nervous yet amused sigh as Doppio makes this arrangement in front of you, knowing that you can’t argue your way out of the hole you’ve dug yourself.

‘Oh boy, I’m really in for it now, aren’t I?’

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

Bonus added by Mod I ✨ as a funny hehe haha:

The four of you have ended up in a cuddle pile, barely fitting all together on Ver’s couch. Said man suddenly stiffens against you. You shoot him a curious glance as he pulls back enough to glare at the counselor beside you. “Hex?”

“Yes, dear?” He smoothly replies.

“Is that your hand on my butt?” You have to smack a hand over your mouth to stifle a laugh.

“It’s an accident.”

“...........It’s still on my butt, Hex.” The glare on the council president’s face is dark. However, Hex just smiles sweetly back.

“It’s still an accident.”

“Hey no fair!” Doppio whines, sliding his hand down beside Hex’s. “If Hex gets a handful of Kaichou, I want one, too.”

“Get out.”

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

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[onim5]

Yandere Portgas D. Ace, 5

Chapter 5: Ever

Female reader

Warnings: I don't wanna spoil, but read at your own risk.

------------------------------------------------------------

You had learned two things. One, Ace is a perfect guy (if you behave). Two, what happens if you don't? Ace threw your three bags into his room. "Make yourself at home," Ace said, closing the door. "Isn't Y/n coming?" Marco asked with a grin. "No, she wants time to settle in," Ace answered with a smile, though something seemed off with it. "Okay, sure. I guess all of this is new to her." Marco responded as they both walked to the dining hall. 

You sighed as you started cleaning his room. After all, you won't ever get out. So it was better to make it comfortable. You organized his closet (not that he had many clothes) and then put your own in it. Then you moved everything to a corner of the room. Opening Ace's room, you sneaked carefully around the corridors. Nope, you've given up on finding a cleaning closet. After four minutes of preparing, you went up to a guy. Patting him carefully on his back to get his attention, you mumbled. "You must be Ace's girl, I work under his division. My name is Marshall D. Teach. Nice to meet ya." He grinned, holding out a hand. You took it carefully and shook it. "Y/n L/n. Do you know where I can find cleaning supplies?" Teach frowned and thought for a while. "I have some guesses. Follow me." You and Teach made your way around the ship, and after checking four places, you found some stuff. 

"Zehahahah, there they are. Here you go, little one." He said with a smile. "Thank you. Can you also show the way back to Ace's room?" You asked. He laughed, and then you two were on your way. "Do you not recognize his door?" Teach asked as you opened the door. "No, I've only seen it once before." You giggled, and then your eyes landed on Ace sitting on his bed. "Hi, dear, what do you think of my cleaning?" You asked nervously. Teach glanced and saw Ace in a dull expression. He felt his heart shiver at the sight. He had never seen Ace like that.

"It's better than how I have had it when I left you here. I see you met Teach." The mentioned nervously laughs. "Yeah, I helped her find cleaning stuff. But um, now that's done. I'll be on my way." Teach put up his hand as a sign of bye and left you and Ace alone. You began cleaning the counter, and while doing so, you felt Ace's eyes on your back. "Maybe you shouldn't leave this room," Ace said in a dark tone. You tugged at your sleeves, knowing under were burn marks.

Flash Back.

You were waiting on the boat for Ace. You two had stopped at a small island to get more food supplies. As you sat there waiting, a man came up. "Hey, what's a lady like you doing here?" He asked with a grin. "You look kinda lonely. Do you want me to give you a trip to heaven tonight?" He asked, licking his lips. Before you answered, a hand grabbed him, and he turned into a pile of ash within seconds. Ace grabbed your wrist and stared into your eyes. "Were you gonna say yes?" The voice he asked in was like nothing you heard before.

You were so focused on being scared that your mind went blank. And since you didn't answer, Ace took it as a yes. A hand covered your mouth and you felt how Ace heated your wrist. Your screams got muffled and Ace's hand didn't flinch as tears covered it. Slowly your skin got red and burned away. The fear made you breathe less and blind, so it was a shock when the ice-cold water touched your body. Ace dragged you up again and glared into your eyes. "You better get through your thick skull, that you are my girlfriend, and that you will never ever leave me," Ace said in a low tone as he once again dipped you into the water. 

[hummingbird-of-light]

In Our Favor

Part 99

McCoy

“Where’s your other half?” Jim asked.

McCoy shrugged. “Not sure,” he answered as he stabbed another bite of salad. “His class before lunch is something engineering. He probably got caught up on something.”

Lunch continued around them. McCoy kept a stealthy eye on Aporal, who had joined them again, but the Andorian hadn’t done or said anything so far that could be a show of interest in Jaylah. McCoy felt slightly disappointed at that.

When Sulu and Chekov stood up together McCoy was surprised to discover lunch was nearly over and Scotty still hadn’t appeared. Worry went through him and quietly he tapped his ring.

“Wow,” Chekov said and McCoy looked up. “He’s not going to have much time to eat.” McCoy followed Chekov’s gaze and saw Scotty hurrying through the food line.

“I know! I know!” Scotty waved a hand at Jim opening his mouth to comment as Scotty quickly sat down.

“Guess we’ll see you at dinner then,” Jim said to Scotty as most of the friends got up.

“Where have you been Montgomery Scotty?” Jaylah asked.

Scotty shook his head at her. He had stuffed a large bite of sandwich into his mouth. McCoy wanted to know where his husband had been too. Something was worried on Scotty’s face and that made McCoy’s anxiety rise.

“Don’t be late because of me love,” Scotty said after swallowing. McCoy and Cora were the only ones still sitting. “I’ll tell ye later.” He took another bite and finished off the sandwich half he had been holding.

McCoy bit his lip as he looked at Scotty. Something had happened and he wanted to know what. But he knew Scotty was right; he needed to get to class.

“Ok,” he said slowly. He stood and squeezed Scotty’s shoulder with the hand not carrying his empty tray.

“You sure you don’t want company?” Cora asked Scotty.

“I’m fine,” Scotty said, through another bite. “I’ll be done in a minute and on my way to class too.”

“Heading to class?” a voice asked next to McCoy. He startled slightly and looked over to see Eugene.

“Yeah,” he answered. “Just gotta take care of this.”

“Hey Scotty,” Eugene greeted him. Scotty nodded back, his mouth full again.

“Bye guys,” Cora said as she came back to pick up her bag.

“Seeya,” McCoy said. Cora headed the opposite way out of the dining hall.

“So, uhh, who was that?” Eugene asked as he and McCoy walked to class.

“Who was…? Huh?” McCoy asked. His mind was still stuck on Scotty and why he’d been late. Keenser and Jaylah and Aporal had all been on time, what had delayed Scotty? Had another teacher gotten him in trouble?

“The girl sitting with you guys.”

McCoy gave his head a shake to clear his thoughts and looked over at Eugene. A hint of color was climbing his face.

“There’s a bunch of girls that sit with us, which one?”

“The last one,” Eugene said. “The one who was taking care of her tray when I came over.”

“Cora? What about her?”

“Oh. Umm, nothing,” Eugene said. “Nevermind.”

Eugene had definitely colored. McCoy grinned.

“First it was Chris and now it’s Cora?” he teased.

“What? No!” Eugene protested. “Ok,” he said after a moment. “I’ve noticed her around.”

“She is cute,” McCoy said, watching his words make Eugene blush again.

“How are you friends with all these beautiful girls?” Eugene demanded playfully.

McCoy shrugged. “I’m a prince?” He laughed as Eugene rolled his eyes. “Want me to introduce you?”

“Yeah,” Eugene said. “If you wouldn’t mind.”

“Come join us at dinner. I’ll save you a seat,” McCoy smiled.

Part 100

Scotty

"Lt. Hamilton! Sir! I need to talk to ye! It's important!"

Scotty was glad to find one of the security people investigating in Aporal's case. The man turned around when he heard the familiar voice. He was instantly alerted by the sound of worry in it.

"What's wrong, cadet?"

Scotty looked around. There weren't any other students around but he still didn't want to have this talk in a corridor.

"Can we go somewhere private? I don't want anyone to hear what I have to tell ye."

Hamilton gave him a nod and they quickly walked into a close by room.

"Your name was... Scott-McCoy, right?"

Scotty gave him a nod, his body still trembling from what he had heard.

"A-aye, sir."

"Is this about Mr. Tallister's case?" Hamilton asked, his face showing just how serious the situation was treated.

"Aye. But... it's turning into something bigger!"

Scotty pulled out his comm and with shaking hands opened the record.

"I... I accidentally overheard a talk Francis Kinnear and his friends had and-"

Scotty stopped when he saw a strange look in Hamilton's eyes. The man sighed.

"Francis Kinnear has an alibi for the night when it happened. His uncle told us that he was helping the boy study for a test."

"That's nonsense! The admiral is lying!"

Scotty knew that he shouldn't talk like that about a superior officer *in front of* a superior officer, but he wouldn't let Francis get through with everything.

"Watch your mouth, cadet!"

"But he is!"

Without another word, Scotty played the record he had made.

Hamilton looked at the device in the Scotsman's hand and with every word he heard, his eyes widened.

"Ye see?"

He thought about what Hamilton had said once more.

"Maybe... maybe Admiral Kinnear didn't lie, okay? Maybe Francis was with him. But he's definitely guilty. He is the mastermind. And now he's planning on burning down the labs!"

Hamilton pinched the bridge of his nose. This was all quite a lot to take in.

"Thank you for showing me this. We will look further into it."

Scotty nodded. He really hoped that they would get Francis and the rest of those bastards!

They were sitting in their last class, discussing Aporal's ideas for improvements, when suddenly the door opened and four people came in.

Three of them were security, Scotty recognized Hamilton and Jameson, and one of them was a very angry looking Admiral Kinnear.

"Francis! A word! Right now!"

The called out boy startled in surprise when he heard the upset sounding voice of his uncle and he turned his head to look at the people standing in the door.

His face paled slightly as he got to his feet.

"Of course, sir."

Everyone watched with wide eyes as the small group escorted Francis out of the room and Scotty couldn't keep a smile off his face.

"What is going on, Montgomery Scotty?" Jaylah hissed at her Scottish friend, obviously seeing that he knew more about it.

"Don't worry. Everyone will find out soon enough," Scotty said mysteriously, exchanging a glance with Aporal who looked just as surprised as the other students. Scotty gave him a small nod and a smile spread across the Andorian's face. He knew what this was about... and he couldn't be more grateful.

[forgetmenots0250]

The Black Motorcycle

Words: 2502 Platonic male reader x Casper Crew + Finney (Part 2 - total parts: 2)

In the morning he got ready and he made himself eggs & bacon but while cooking the home phone rang and he went to pick it up, “Hello how can I help you?” the voice on the other line clears their throat, “Hi! We at Food Venue would like to have you work with us for the salary of 30$ an hour, will you consider?” Matthew was excited. 

“Yes I have considered it since yesterday evening and I would like to come in today if possible for my server training, is that fine with you?” the voice on the other line was surprised at how professional he was, “May I know your age young man?” Matthew quickly answered, “2-.. 16 ma’am” Matthew had almost given the age of [Name] his past life of sorts instead of his age here. 

“My apologies I misspoke, for confirmation I am 16 ma’am” the female voice on the line spoke again, “I see well why don’t you come at 3:55 pm today? Does that work for you young man?” Matthew cheered himself on by how good he sounded, “Yes that will be just fine, thank you for your time” he hung up the phone and went to finish his food. 

Once it hit 7:23 am his little brother came down, “Matt?… What are you cooking?” his amber eyes that were identical to Matthew's, “I’m making eggs and bacon, what some?” the boy’s eyes lit up as he nodded. He put the eggs and bacon he had already made on a plate as he went to make more for himself and extra, “Here you go Jay now go sit at the dining table and eat” the boy who is Jacob smiled as he walked over to the dining table to eat. 

Once Matthew was done with his own food he walked over to the table and took a seat, “Jay I’m not going to be home very often since I have a job now” Jacob flinched up to look at Matthew, “Are you leaving?” Matthew was a bit surprised at his question and he knew that his little brother probably had abandonment issues. It's not a surprise that he would develop something like that in a home life like this, “No Jay I just won’t be home most of the time, is that okay?” 

Jacob nodded with a hum of confirmation, “It’s okay” it sounded like he was holding back tears, “Hey hey, Jay I’m not leaving anytime soon. And besides, I’m not leaving anywhere if it's not with you” Matthew tried to reassure his brother and held his hand to make a point that he wasn’t going anywhere, “Okay Matt” Jacob slightly lit up as he continued to eat the food his big brother made for him. Matthew couldn’t help but feel his heart warm up, he didn’t have siblings as [Name] but was good with kids and even wanted to be a father in the future but he sure didn’t get his wish.

So Jacob really made his day, “Well it's almost time for me to go so I’ll see you in a bit, bye Jay” he grabbed his backpack as he walked towards the door he saw his stepmother in the hall, “I’m sorry! I was supposed to make breakfast-” Matthew waved his hand in reassurance, “Oh I already did it I’m just going early to get there early that’s all, bye Ma” Matthew closed the door behind him as his stepmother only watched. She smiled and looked over to Jacob, “Why don’t you wake up Caleb?” Jacob took a bite of his food before complying and walking up the stairs to wake up his stepbrother. 

Matthew walked past a chain-linked fence and recognized it, it was where Finney and Gwen lived, he would check it out later but as he walked down the street he spotted grab n go. When he looked inside he noticed Vance inside and decided to get a snack, once the door opened the bell rang and attention was drawn to Matthew immediately, and then went back to their own business, “Matthew Allan!” a very smug Vance approached Matthew. 

“Guess who beat their score!” Matthew made a thinking face before answering, “You?” Vance grinned. “HELL YEAH! Now pay up” Matthew smiled softly, “You want some soda?” Vance nodded, “Cool, I’m gonna get something for myself too” Matthew grabbed a bottle of Dr.Pepper and a Sprite can, “Sprite sucks.” Vance said nonchalantly. 

“Don’t worry I’m not giving this to you” Matthew said in a joking manner, “I wouldn’t drink that shit even if you paid me” Vance and Matthew approached the cashier as they chatted, “Have you ever tried it?” Vance looked irritated, “Of course I have SHITHEAD!” Matthew put their drinks on the table, “Vance Hopper doesn’t like Sprite, good enough?” the cashier debated whether to butt in. 

Vance grinned in victory, “I guess” it was in a smug tone, “Good, by the way how much is this sir?” the cashier who was still debating snapped back to reality, “O-Oh of course uh- 3.50$ sir…” Matthew took 5$ out of his pocket and gave it to the cashier. He quickly put it in and gave back 1.50$ back, “Thank you” Matthew thanked them, and instead of taking his can first he took Vance’s first, “Hey!” Vance didn’t struggle against Matthew’s grip, “Here you go” Matthew gave a smile and Vance just swiped it from his hand. 

Matthew looked at the clock behind the cash register and read the clock, “Well I have to go-” Vance whipped his head to Matthew and only stared at Matthew as he pouted and looked away, “I have to go too. So Bye” Vance walked away drinking his Dr.Pepper, Matthew couldn’t help but smile, “I see then I guess we’ll go together” Matthew stepped out and started walking with Vance a bit behind. 

With not much small talk, only talking about his score and how annoying that one teacher in his science class is pretty much it. Soon they both split walking for a bit before Vance turned around, “Are you going to grab n go after school!?” Vance yelled as they were a distance and Matthew smiled, he was getting closer, that’s good. “No sorry I have work!” Matthew waved as a goodbye but Vance sort of just stomped away but Matthew didn’t take it to heart. 

Matthew felt a bit giddy that Vance had started to care even a little bit about him so that was good, he should bring some food from work to Vance as an apology of some kind, and he continued to walk until he got to his high school. Denver high school is what you would expect, boring classes and unexpectedly rude kids. If it was [Name] in high school he wouldn’t even attempt to try and fight and would rather solve this amicably, but [Name] now? He wanted to strangle some kids. 

But other than that he’s been breezing through most school work and homework being easy enough to finish in lunch or other classes, currently Matthew was in lunch finishing up some extra credit work for his math class. “Matthew, you've been working really hard since a few weeks ago… did something bad happen at home that made you work harder or..?” the same boy from his first day coming here was now right in front of him. 

Matthew gave a small smile, “I’m just fine Charlie, I’m just… trying a bit more ya know?” Charlie furrowed his brow, “You know you can tell me anything right?” Matthew kind of liked being cared about. It felt nice but he really didn’t want to redo these classes, “I know Charlie now-” the bell rang and Matthew quickly put his stuff away, “Well I’ll see you later Charlie” Matthew quickly walked to his class leaving Charlie to his devices. “What happened to you Mattie…” Charlie frowned and walked away, he would have to ask Matthew later. 

After he finished his classes he walked home and went straight to the restaurant to get on with his job, it went smoothly as Matthew shadowed other co-workers and that was what he would be doing for the next few days before doing it on his own. Matthew finally was off once he finished shadowing for a couple of hours and got to go home, he reached the house at 6:43 pm and immediately was tackled by Jacob as he walked in the door. 

“Matt! You were out so late where have you been!?” Jacob was obviously shaken up as he held onto Matthew for dear life, he wasn’t used to being alone in a house without Matthew, Matthew was always there. Matthew picked up Jacob and held him in his arms, “Hey Jay, sorry for leaving for so long. Now what are we having for dinner?” Jacob rubbed his eyes trying not to cry. “Miss Marianne is making steak and mashed potatoes…” Matthew hummed, “Okay how about you go make the table for me?” 

Matthew put down Jacob as he wiped away the little tears and nodded as he went to the dining room. Matthew went into the kitchen to see his stepmother making mashed potatoes, “Good evening ma, mind if I help you out?” she jumped and turned around, “Ah- Matthew you’re back home, sure! Could you help me mash the potatoes as I season the steak?” Matthew smiled and he grabbed the spoon out of Marianne’s hand, “Yeah I’ll finish this up mom” Matthew’s stepmother Marianne smiled and then got the seasoning to start the steak. 

Once they both finished up Marianne put the steak in the oven as the hot mashed potatoes sat on the stove being cooked slowly, Marianne put a timer for the steak and took a seat as Matthew continued to cook the potatoes. Marianne stared at Matthew curiously thinking about what he was doing before getting home but was a bit nervous to ask, she didn’t want to annoy the boy that had been so nice to him already. She didn’t want to strain the relationship that she had recently mended with her stepson but even so, she asked hoping she wouldn’t be yelled at or looked down on, “Uh… Matthew where did you go for the last 2 hours..? Sorry for bothering you while you’re cooking…” Marianne fidgeted with her hands as she waited for Matthew’s response. 

“Well I recently got a job that wanted me to start today so I went to do that and got back a couple of minutes ago, sorry for not telling you mom” Matthew said nonchalantly as he continued to cook the potatoes, “It’s fine, thank you for telling me Matthew” he smiled as he continued. Once he was done the timer soon went off as Jacob called everyone down for dinner, everyone sat down and they ate not saying a word making the dinner awkward. Even so, Matthew ate at ease even in his work clothes that he had yet to change out of, “So Matthew, you’ve been acting weird lately… everything okay?” his father was the one to ask. 

“Nothing has changed, I honestly don’t know what you're talking about.” Matthew really wanted to ignore this man, he really wanted to leave, this dinner was awkward even for [Name]. He quickly finished and put his dish in the sink, “I’m gonna go out for a bit I’ll see you in a few hours” Matthew decided he would take the motorcycle lesson for a few hours so he can get it even faster, he was so getting his motorcycle. That lesson may have been long but it sure was going to be worth it in the end, the feeling of rapid wind beating on his helmet trying to keep him back as he rode down the street. 

After getting 2 hours in it was now 9:41 pm, he was walking down the street to see something on the sidewalk, it almost looked like an animal curled up in some fabric until he got closer. It was a boy, seemingly unconsciously. Matthew- [Name] recognized him as Griffin Stagg, the first victim of the Grabber. He immediately ran up to the boy that had bruises all over his body only with a thin blanket around his body, “Kid! Kid! Are you okay!?” he gently shook Griffin’s head to wake him up. 

[Name] could not think of a reason why Griffin would be on the street, passed out, and bruised, the first thought that came to him was abuse or neglect. He looked around to see no one around and the nearest house had its lights off seemingly asleep, he picked up Griffin in his arms as he thought of calling the hospital or the police but the thought of this abuse coming from his parents would probably take Griffin back. He didn’t want Griffin to go back, besides he could patch up the bruises easily with some ice so he decided to take Griffin with him. 

He didn’t expect to find Griffin this early but he would help as much as he can, as Matthew walked down the dark halls of his house and took him to the kitchen holding Griffin he woke up, “h-Huh!? Let- Let go of me!” Griffin started to flail out of Matthew's arms, “K-kid- it’s okay, you’re okay! I’m trying to help…” Griffin calmed down slowly. 

“Where-where am I…?” Matthew sighed in relief that he finally relaxed even a little bit, “My name is Matthew and I found you on the sidewalk, you seemed injured so I brought you here to patch you up… I hope I didn’t overstep my boundaries…” Matthew took a short pause before continuing, “I could bring you back home if you want…” Matthew bit his tongue at the thought of bringing Griffin back to an abusive household but if that was what Griffin really wanted he would do it. 

He noticed Griffin shiver a bit, maybe at the thought of going back home but he didn’t say a thing. Matthew grabbed some ice from the freezer and wrapped it around in a thin towel as he approached Griffin, “Would you let me help you Griffin…” he held his hand out and the ice in the other as Griffin hesitantly gave his arm to Matthew, “O-okay but please be gentle…” Griffin had thin arms that looked like he didn’t eat much and he only had a little fat on his arms. But even so, he ignored it and gently pressed the ice onto the bruises, “Can you hold it here? I’m going to get more ice” Matthew held for Griffin so he could hold it in place as he went to grab more ice. He watched as Matthew took care of him, almost in a paternal way that made Griffin want to cling onto this feeling he hadn’t felt in so long, he doesn’t really want to go back home.

[chubbology]

A Little Incentive

prompt: someone skinny grows chubby on their partner's good cooking and insistence they eat well

From the tempting smell of bacon and syrup that wafted into the room, I knew she’d outdone herself this morning.

“I made breakfast,” she stage-whispered to me. I grinned and turned over in bed, feigning sleepiness even though what I really wanted was to sit right up and take that plate from her hands.

Then my stomach growled and she laughed.

“The others are jealous,” she said. “But I told them they already had a habit of eating breakfast. You’re the one I need to hammer it into, by any means necessary.”

I took a deep breath and sat up in bed, pushing hair out of my face. “Consider me incentivized.” I took the heaping plate of breakfast food that she pushed at me, then the fork, and started into the chocolate chip pancakes, which were half soaked in syrup. Also on the plate lay bacon, eggs, hash browns, a muffin, and…

“French toast sticks, too?”

“As a reward for finishing all your exams! I know you like them.”

I thanked her. She poked my side and smiled fondly at me. “At the beginning of this semester, you would have said this was too much. I hope you know that it makes me the happiest girl in the world that you’re eating properly now.”

In response, I took a bite of extra crispy bacon and groaned in pleasure. As she got ready for the day, I considered her comment. Eating properly. She and I had different definitions of that, or used to at least.

My first two years of college were hard. Working part time, taking hard classes, dealing with an awful roommate. I barely took care of myself. I thought eating properly was eating at all. But then I met her and we hit it off, became friends and then more than friends, then moved in together with a couple more roommates just barely off campus. All the while, she made a point of showing me each day what eating properly meant to her: big meals cooked in the kitchenette or piled onto plates in the dining halls, snacks throughout the day, and never forgetting dessert. It kept her chubby, but she didn’t mind. I certainly didn’t.

“Bye!” I called out as she left for her last day of exams. She seemed confident about how hers had gone so far. Me? Not so much. I was never a good test taker.

I finished my plate down to the crumbs. I went and leisurely washed the dishes. I had pretty much nothing to do today. From the silence coming from the other bedrooms, I knew I had the apartment to myself, too. I could go outside, but it was too hot. And like hell I was going to go to the library again until I absolutely had to. There were always video games, but I stayed up late last night staring at screens, trying to forget my poor performance on my own last exam of the semester. I felt burnt out on everything.

I blinked in confusion when I realized I’d opened the fridge. I closed it. I literally just ate, so I don’t know why I’d…

The next three hours, I spent back in bed. Looking on my phone, resting my eyes, worrying about exam results, and tugging on my pajama pants. They were tight because I was so full. Eventually I decided to do something productive, starting with a shower. Maybe I could drive to a café or something, hang out there.

After showering and dressing (since I wasn’t exactly full anymore, I figured the tightness of my shorts was from bloating) I wandered into the kitchen for something to snack on. The fridge was always well stocked, and I eyed the rest of the batch of muffins in tupperware. I heard her voice in my mind: It makes me happy when you treat yourself.

What the hell. I took out the container, opened it, and took a bite out of the cinnamon raisin muffin. I closed my eyes. Big and sugary and so good. Better than the first one, maybe, because it had cooled off and I could better taste the flavor. I ate another one. And then I treated myself with a third before closing the lid again. There were still eight left.

I tried putting the container back in the fridge, but something stopped me. Go ahead, I heard her say. You don’t eat enough.

Slowly, I opened the container again and ate two more of the muffins. They were just so good. Then I put the container away, firmly slamming the fridge door and biting my lip. Truth was, she stopped telling me I don’t eat enough months ago.

I went back into the bathroom and took a good look at myself, which I’d avoided doing before. Truth was, my shorts were tight because, thanks to my partner’s cooking and our lingering stays at the dining halls and my new penchant for snacking, I had filled out more than a little. I’d put on my own chub. My shirt clung to my sides, which were soft and rounded (Is that why she poked me?), and upon closer inspection, I couldn’t deny my face looked tubbier, too.

I stood in quiet shock for a while, gently pressing my palm to the outward slump of my belly, its natural shape when I didn’t suck it in. (When did I start unconsciously sucking it in?) After a minute of dazedly contemplating my weight, I rummaged around for a dusty scale and stepped on it with bated breath.

My jaw fell open. My whole face, my neck, my ears flushed red, even though there was no one to see me there, finding out I was thirty seven pounds heavier than expected.

Forty pounds? Almost forty pounds? It was impossible. I didn’t look that much bigger.

But she had always said I was too skinny. So maybe twenty of those just filled me in? And then the rest was…extra? Forty pounds.

The surprise waned after a few more minutes of checking myself out in the mirror. I found I wasn’t as upset as society had led me to think I would be.

I did go to a café later that day. My newfound self-awareness didn’t kick back in until after I got a grande frappe and a scone. At my table, I thumbed the belly that now warmed a small part of my lap before eating and sipping my treats anyway.

My shorts felt so tight after a while, I just unbuttoned them and hoped no one would notice.

I spent a few hours there, reading and browsing my laptop and giving my soft belly secretive, intrigued touches before I started thinking about the six remaining muffins at the apartment. When I got back, I found I was in good company.

“I really did good on these,” she said, swallowing. “Want one?”

I took one, trying to hide my sheepishness. Did she guess it was me who ate the five that were missing? Or did she think it was our other roommates? Did she think…

“You want to get a late lunch?” “I think I need new clothes.”

We stared at each other. She chuckled, “Sorry, what?”

I flushed, tugging conspicuously on my shorts, not quite able to find the words. “Need to go shopping.” I’ve gained almost forty pounds. Forty pounds! My throat constricted.

“Oh.”

I looked up at her. “You’re a good cook,” I said, grinning. Still a little embarrassed.

But now she was a bit pink in the face, too. “Yeah, we should go shopping. Um. You aren’t mad. Are you? I just really like to cook and bake, and you really were too skinny and—”

“No, no! I’m not mad. I—”

Am I going to get fat? I wanted to ask her suddenly, and I felt very warm. I’m always eating these days. What if I outgrow the new clothes I buy? What then?

“I hope you know I think you look good,” she blurted. My thoughts ceased. “Really good.”

Suddenly, I was aware I’ve been sucking my belly in again. Would it be weird if I stopped? Just let it...swell out? I took in a deep breath, then let it all out, not sucking in this time. Her wide eyes fixated on my chubby lower belly.

“Thanks,” I said, trying not to be awkward. “To be honest, I only noticed recently that I look…different.”

Her eyes met mine and she looked very adoring. I’m sure my expression was identical. “Just a little. I was surprised how much your appetite grew.”

“Yeah. You still want to get lunch?” I asked. “Kinda feel like the dining hall.”

Kinda feel like going all out.

I won’t get fat.

Only a little, maybe. Not the end of the world.

“Okay,” she squeaked, as if hearing my thoughts. “Good idea. After all my stupid exams, it’s time to treat myself.”

I wholeheartedly agreed. So we went.

I loved how she looked shyly excited the whole time, as I overdid the second and third helpings. It seemed to make her overdo it some, too. Which spurred me to make it a competition, and there we sat together, overeating like a couple of chubby fiends.

“Still think you’re too skinny,” she taunted me, as we left, already discussing plans for dinner.

*

Thank you to the reader who commissioned this work!

I'd love to write more. Check me out <3 etsy.com/shop/Chubbology

[unwrittenlibrary]

Honey, Honey

Summary: it's mother's day & harry wants to do something to celebrate you from him and leo.

Words: 1.4k

Notes: i haven't touched my little lion series in so long, and i saw a sweet card at target yesterday and inspiration struck. & i wanted to post something since it's been a few weeks.

Timeline: mother's day in may, about six months after the engagement to harry. leo is almost two. (for the rest of the little lion series see my masterlist.)

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • 。* 。° 。* 。 • ˚《

Harry wasn’t entirely sure how to bring up Mother’s Day with you. Leo was still young, just a little under two years old. And while he was sleeping through the night, and babbling away, he was too young to even comprehend the holiday. Harry knew you weren’t really expecting anything.

But the two of you had been together for over a year now, you lived with them, and even if Leo wasn’t yours biologically, you had made it clear he was your son.

But... Last year, the three of you had skipped over Mother’s Day. Your relationship was still treading through milestones. Meeting families, moving in… So it had been pretty much forgotten about. This year though, Harry wanted to do something for the day, he just wasn’t sure what.

He knew you enjoyed the brunch served at the place downtown, but Leo couldn’t really handle super large crowds and long days yet, both a staple for Mother’s Day brunches.

He had ordered flowers to be delivered, but that didn’t really feel like enough. He could try breakfast in bed, but you were a light sleeper and most likely not be able to sleep through the surprise.

“Gem.” He groans as he flickers through the cards in front of him. “Not only do I have no gift, there are no cards for like, adoptive moms.”

Gemma laughs softly. “H, you know she’ll love it no matter what. I’m sure it’ll mean the world to her that you want to do this.”

Harry shakes his head as he slams another card back into its slot. “I know that. I just want her to know that I appreciate her wanting to be with Leo and I.”

Gemma sighs. “She does, Harry. And she’ll love whatever you choose for her because it’s from the heart.”

Harry picks up another card and sighs. Too many of the cards were dedicated to wives, which you weren’t yet, work was so busy for the both of you planning hadn’t even really come up yet. He assumed a card from Leo would be a little easier, as long as the card didn’t mention genetics, it would work.

But Harry just couldn’t find the perfect one. Gemma sighs again when Harry doesn’t respond. “H, it’s a card. You’re overthinking it because you’re nervous. Just pick one with Leo’s favorite cartoon and she’ll love it. I have to go. I love you, bye.”

Before Harry can respond Gemma ends the call and all that’s on the other end is a dial tone. Harry looks at the cards in front him, exasperated.

“Excuse me?” He spins around and finds a woman who looks to be around your age. She’s looking up at him nervously and fiddling with the car in her hands.

Harry smiles politely. “Yeah?” He asks quietly as he steps out of the way of a teenager shuffling through cards and panicking.

She smiles up at him. “I overheard you talking and…” She glances down at the card in her hands before holding it out to him. “My mom, she isn’t my mom biologically, and cards are tough.”

Harry hesitantly takes the card and looks down at it. It’s a small card, with Winnie the Pooh, Kanga and Roo on the front. Harry’s eyes scan over the words printed on the front. “This is… This is great. Thank you. I-“

The woman smiles and shakes her head. “Mother’s Day was weird when I was young because I knew my mom wasn’t biologically my mom, but she was always there. You know?” Harry nods. “Finding good cards sucked, especially because so many talk about getting their genes or even the favorite kid jokes are awkward.”

Harry drops the card into his basket. “Thank you so much. It’s… We just got engaged and it’s her first official Mother’s Day with us. I want her to know how appreciative I am.”

“She will.” The woman takes a step back. “Anybody who is this worried about a card definitely shows how much they care without it anyways.” She smiles and offers a small wave before turning on her heel and leaving Harry alone in the aisle.

He looks down at the card again and with a newfound confidence in his ability to find something good for you, he ventures further into the store.

-

Leo’s sitting on Harry’s hip as he messed with the flowers on the dining room table. Your card is propped against the vase while the gift bag Harry had filled was next to it.

“I really hope mama likes this, little lion.” Harry murmurs as he takes a step back, finally happy with how the bouquet looks.

“Mama?” Leo questions as he rests his head against Harry’s shoulder. He lets out a yawn and Harry laughs. He had forced the poor toddler out of bed much earlier than he was used to.

Harry nods gently. “Yeah, mama. We’re gonna celebrate her today.”

“Dada.” Leo murmurs as he points haphazardly to the set up. There’s a knock on the door and Harry rushes to open it.

“Styles?” The man questions tiredly. Harry offers a sympathetic smile as he nods. He was sure this wasn't the man’s first or last breakfast delivery of the day. “Just need you to sign since you paid with a card.”

Harry adjusts Leo on his hip as he messily signs the receipt the man is holding up on the wall for him. The man looks at Harry before sighing. “Have a nice day.”

The bag handle digs into Harry’s fingers as he carries it back to the table while holding onto a sleepy Leo. “Gonna put you in your chair while I set up, then we can wake mama up.”

“Mama?” Leo repeats the word as Harry gently sets him down and straps him in. “Mama. Mama!” He calls louder, out for you.

“No! Stop!” Harry glances down the hallway panicked as he listens for any sign that you’ve woken up. When no movement comes from the hall, Harry lets his shoulders relax and begins to pull plates out of his kitchen.

It doesn’t take long to set up the already cooked food, less than half an hour before he’s picking Leo up again to go wake you up.

His nerves have been high all day, maybe all week. They’d been high since he’d begun planning this whole thing out. But right now was an all time high.

He was proud of what he’d planned, but worried you would be overwhelmed. Did you even want to celebrate? Had he gone overboard?

“Too late.” He mutters as he quietly opens your bedroom door. You’re sitting up and scrolling through your phone.

When you look up, a wide smile stretches across your face at the sight of your boys. “Good morning, loves.” You say quietly. You lock your phone and sit up straighter as Harry sits Leo in your lap.

“Mama.” Leo murmurs. He slaps his hands against your cheeks and squishes. The act makes both of you laugh.

“Hello, little lion.” You say once he’s taken his hands off. “What’s got you and daddy awake?” You look over at Harry with a knowing stare.

“We’ve got a surprise for you.” Harry says quietly. “If you wanna get up.” You nod and stand with Leo clinging to you.

You’re all still in pajamas, and Harry’s sure his hair is sticking in all different directions. The three of you make your way down the hall, Harry leading.

You freeze when you enter the dining room. Your eyes move quickly to take everything in. Harry watches nervously as he tries to gauge your reaction.

“Happy Mother’s Day.” He finally says when you take another step into the room. Leo lets out an excited, “Mama!”

You press a kiss to the baby’s head and finally move fully into the room and towards the table. “Oh, Harry.” You murmur as you look down at the spread.

“Do you… Is this okay?” He asks hesitantly. He realizes he maybe should have just bit the bullet and talked about today with you. This feeling of not knowing was killing him.

You spin around to look at him with teary eyes and a bright smile. “This is… This is more than okay. I can’t believe you did all this for me!”

He lets out a relieved laugh and leans down to press a kiss to your lips. “Anything for the best mom in the world.”

You place Leo into his chair and strap him in as Harry pulls out a chair for you. Once the three of you are settled, Harry hands the card over to you.

“Happy Mother’s Day, love.” He says quietly as you tear into the card’s envelope. “We’re so grateful for you.”

-

“How do you learn to be a mom?” asked Pooh.

“You just follow your heart,” Answered Kanga.

-

Notes: hello all. please enjoy this fluff piece for the upcoming american mother's day. hope you're all safe & doing well.

[homoose]

Enter With Abandon: Part I

Summary: Reader accidentally orders three meal kit boxes. Spencer takes one off her hands.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x fem!reader

Category: fluff

Warnings/Includes: none

Word count: 1.4k

a/n: I just love a good meet cute, you guys. This is part one of four. ☺️

———

She had come to terms with the fact that she was a terrible cook. She’d grown up just above the poverty line, with parents who worked long hours on odd schedules. That meant that she and her brother had gotten by on a lot of PB&J, hot dogs, and TV dinners. They certainly didn’t learn how to prepare and cook meals. So when she became an adult, with a real job and an actual salary and without a college dining hall at her disposal, she began ordering a lot of takeout.

It didn’t take long for her bank account to remind her that delivery four days a week was above her pay grade. As a compromise, she’d ordered a HelloFresh box. It was still kind of expensive, but it was a far cry from what she’d been spending on Postmates. She tried a Blue Apron box, and those were a little too advanced for her skill set, but she kept the account open just to look. HomeChef quickly became her favorite service— the meals were ridiculously easy and tasted pretty good once they were doctored up with various spices.

She had just started to level up into mediocre cooking territory when she came home to not one, not two, but three meal kit boxes in the mailroom. She frantically pulled up the apps to see that she had somehow missed the day to skip the box for the HelloFresh and BlueApron boxes that week. She now had nine meals to cook in the next seven days (five when accounting for produce freshness).

She hauled the boxes upstairs to her apartment and pulled up the app to check what meals she had even ordered. The BlueApron recipes were thankfully not too difficult, and she opened the box and unpacked the ingredients into the fridge. She did the same with the HelloFresh box, actually excited to try out a mahi mahi recipe that she probably wouldn’t have been adventurous enough to pick on her own. The recipes in the HomeChef box were fine other than a cavatappi recipe she wasn’t too thrilled about, but she ultimately decided that there was no way she’d be able to cook everything from all three boxes without something going bad.

Which is how she ended up in front of apartment 23, huffing out a breath. Apartments 20 and 21 had been… less than friendly. She’d never actually seen anyone enter or exit this apartment, so she wasn’t even sure anyone lived there. Still, she knocked three times and waited, box in hand.

There was some shuffling, footsteps, and the click of the deadbolt. She opened her mouth to start her spiel, but the sound died in her throat at the man in front of her.

Her neighbor stood in his doorway, all fluffy curls and glasses and stubble, and she forgot why she was even standing there. He was wearing a navy cardigan that looked incredibly soft, a white collared shirt underneath, the top two buttons undone, and heather grey slacks on his long legs. On his feet were mismatched socks— one bright green and the other rainbow striped.

“Can I help you?” he asked, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose and drawing her out of her ogling.

“Oh— I, um.” She held up the box. “I’m your neighbor, um, unit 22. I—I do these um, meal kit boxes and I— well, I’m signed up for three different plans, and you have to remember to go into each individual app and skip the week if you don’t want a box delivered, and I thought I did that, but apparently I didn’t, and so now I have three meal kits and that’s way more than I need because I’m only one person so—”

She paused to suck in a breath. The very corners of his lips twitched into the start of a smile and she about spontaneously combusted. He waited for her to continue, one very cute eyebrow raised at her rambling. She gave herself a mental thrashing and a get it together before continuing.

“So. I’m trying to give away this box, because I don’t want the food to go to waste. However, as it turns out, people are not keen on taking food from a stranger, even when it’s in a sealed package from a reputable meal kit service.” She shrugged. “That said, um, do you want this box? Of food. For you.”

He huffed out a laugh. “I— I don’t know if I’m the best candidate for the box.” He bared his teeth sheepishly. “I’m not a very good cook.”

“Oh! Well, this is the easiest kit, actually. Like, they even pre-cook the pasta so all you have to do is add it in, which I think is kind of ridiculous because who can’t boil noodles? But you know, it’s good if you like, work long hours or whatever.”

He considered her for a moment. “Okay, I’ll take it.”

She was so shocked that he hadn’t closed the door in her bumbling face that her mouth dropped open. “You will?”

“Yeah, you convinced me. Do you wanna…?” He held his hands out and she nodded.

“Yeah, of course, sorry.” She handed him the box. “Thank you so much for taking it off my hands,” she said, dusting imaginary particles off of them. “My conscience feels a lot lighter knowing I won’t be contributing to our nation's issue with food waste. Like, did you know that the average person throws away 219 pounds of food per year, and that most of that food gets sent to landfills where it decays and produces nitrogen pollution, which causes algae blooms and dead zones?”

He pressed his lips together. “I actually did know that.”

“Oh. Well. Good.” She crossed her arms. “It—It’s good that you know that, because, you know, maybe you’ll be more mindful of your own food waste.” Her eyes went wide and she held out an apologetic hand. “Not that I’m saying that you’re not mindful or anything. I just—it’s—it can be good to know things.” It can be good to know things?!

“It certainly can be good to know things.” His lips were turned up in the sweetest smile, golden eyes crinkling at the corners, and she didn’t even care if he thought she was a complete idiot, because she just wanted him to smile at her like that for the rest of eternity.

“Absolutely. Knowing things is… awesome.” She wished the floor beneath her would open up and drop her straight into hell. “Okay. Well, bye.” She turned and took two steps, then did a 180 just as he was closing the door. “Oh, just— you might wanna add more spices than they write in the recipes. I think they write them with the intention of being kind of bland to appeal to a wider audience, but you know, they can end up being kind of… well, bland.”

He smiled again and she couldn’t stop staring. “Thanks for the heads up.”

“You’re welcome. Okay. Well, really bye this time.” She turned and walked as calmly as she could back to her apartment. When she heard the click of his deadbolt she dropped her head into her hand in complete and utter mortification at the sheer lack of chill she’d just exhibited. “What in the actual fuck is wrong with you?”

…

It quickly became obvious why she hadn’t known if anyone lived there— because he was hardly ever home. She listened a little more purposefully to the footsteps on the stairs and the noises through the wall. She wondered if maybe he worked odd hours or had a significant other whose apartment he stayed at.

She was busy enough with work and cooking the other six meals that she had almost forgotten about the humiliating encounter with the man from apartment 23. By the following Friday, she was so tired from the week that she didn’t even glance at his mailbox like she’d been doing all week, S. Reid scrawled across the label. She dragged herself up the stairs and across the landing, fishing her keys out of her bag.

She stopped in front of her door to see a small glass container sitting on her doormat. She looked up and down the hallway before bending to pick it up. There was a paper note taped to the top, written in the same chicken scratch from the mailbox. She saved the note, opting to pop open the lid on the pyrex to find four perfectly baked scones with some sort of citrus glaze. She balanced the dish in one hand and shuffled the note open with the other.

I’m not a great cook, but I’m a pretty good baker. Thanks for the box.

Spencer, Unit 23

P.S. You were right about the spices.

———

Permanent tags: @andiebeaword @averyhotchner @saspencereid @pinkdiamond1016 @shadyladyperfection

[fandom-sheep]

MCC 30 APR 22

Pink Parrots Part 1/1

I’m finally not working during MCC!

I’m watching Wilbur not because I think they’ll win but because this sounds like it’ll be funny

Oh princess peach team let’s goooooo

My stream will be cutting out because I walking across my campus and trying to eat in the dining hall but it’s fine.

Oh yeah I forgot we were trained to do that. You can tell I’m constantly conditioned to different things.

We are a very good little pavloved chat.

Oh good my headphones are fully charged. Usually they die about now.

THE DOGS!!!!! There are more dogs too.

I love dogs they are my favorite things.

I just remembered no ace race lore.

Oh the cut off names. We love them.

George are you going to join everyone? Oh wait there he is.

Someone I know saw me walking by. Please don’t talk to me I just want to enjoy the petting of the dogs.

I’m worried what rat role play they are talking about but I don’t know if I want to know.

Oh survival games.

Oh George didn’t do team skin. Even “never changes his skin” soot changed his skin.

Oh no. People. Gasp people.

Ok full attention on just food and MCC

Whelp. That was. Alright.

We pulling out the ghost equipment? Nobody can say Wilbur doesn’t entertain.

Wilbur… where are you getting a child’s brain??

I don’t know how entertained the other teams chats are, but we’re making deals with demons.

Flower gathering? Well we’re going to pet puppies.

The fact that these guys have so many viewers.

Oh hi Tommy.

Beat the pet record!

Poor George. Didn’t get to pet dogs.

Weird dunk. Nice.

Sky battle hooray!

Walls? With holes? Brilliant.

Cool, MCC,

GO WILBUR!!!

I forget how insufferable my streamer is.

You got this Ranboo!

Rhombus?

Nobody was making it weird sneeg? You sure?

“Oh I’m bye guys” -Wilbur

No Wilbur the dogs!

It doesn’t matter your ranking. Only dog.

I swear I’m laughing in a public place and no good way to explain myself.

Alright decision time!

How did Wilbur know they’d be dunked?

Oh We’ve been abandoned by our streamer. And Ranboo is doing an evil laugh.

Grid runners nice.

He made it!! Thank heavens.

Wilbur always has a good plan.

Chat is so funky.

Ranboo sneaking into green geckos.

Spirit time!!

And I’m about to go down a slide but I’m listening to the funky person with the spirit box.

Sneeg? Sneeg? Oh no. Oh it’s fine.

Run run run

I have to close and open the screen and I saw Ghostbur in chat? What? What did y’all do?

Why is chat shouting rigged? Oh the target is messed up! Crew!!!

Hip hop across the parts

I’m the main character on my campus because I carry a tiny bottle of bubbles with me everywhere.

I can’t wait to be back on wifi so I can hear and consistently see what’s happening.

Pet the dogs. I don’t know how they did but pet the dogs.

Ok it’s up in my tv.

No battle box it is then.

Poor little bunny rabbit.

Wilbur flying around waiting to die and taking as many people out with him.

These maps are getting teeny.

What a silly goose Wilbur is. Using his updraft.

Oh he just fell straight through.

This poor streamer. All his friends singing him a sad song. And he’s shedding.

Go team!

This truly is the funniest pov

Come on Wilbur. Oh no!!

Wilbur please don’t start monologuing to a new game. Oh and he is. This is what no ace race causes.

My comfort streamers might be about to stab someone.

Audience vote. Off to twitter for 2 seconds.

Dogs!

Oh least votes will be played next. Well I voted Parkour tag on accident.

Wilbur is your bladder ok?

We are missing out on pets.

Hold up I saw Wilbur updates on Twitter. Is his skin his music video outfit? Sir.

We love dog pets. And he’s using the switch method.

I really want to see the new dogs, but I’m dedicated to watching Wilbur who only pets Scott’s dogs.

He’s lonely.

What are the gremlins arguing about??

Sky battle time!

Chill? I don’t think we’re physically capable of that.

Get em!

Sneeg the mole.

Burrow, build, do something! Or nah.

I’m sorry how is this team in 1st right now? Everyone else sucks too much? Oh we’re dropping.

Only George gets to sniff Coke.

Wilbur charges ahead and then doesn’t want it be left alone. I related to that 2 seconds more than I should have.

Wilbur every time you try to role play breaking bad things go wrong. QUIT IT.

Well that wasn’t horrible.

They’re building a house? House bridge?

TNT is raining from the sky.

Everyone calling each other’s behavior out from Sneeg’s wedding.

We’re not winning. But we’re having fun.

MCC golf.

Dogs? Dogs!!

I’m tired from work.

HOORAY BUILD MART!!!

Oh it hasn’t been picked. Please buildmart.

Oh maybe battle box. We got yeeted.

Battle box. Neato.

I hear a sneeg wife.

Yeet the Trident at the opponent.

So much wool

RIP George

This feels like capture the flag. But like hillbilly capture the flag where it’s on a hill so one side has a distinct advantage.

This is a fun battle box. It has extra strategy.

The strategy is just get Sapnap.

“Kill Sapnap. Kill him” Sapnap kills all of them.

Good try guys.

Bark bark bark

We won by placing the wool! Nice!

“Ah Grian.” -not sure who but it was funny

Imma say it. NOT LAST

Dogs!

Other dog! Sneeg dog!

Dogs!

Buildmart!!

Sands last.

Wilbur do you have a bladder infection? You keep escaping. Does he need cranberry juice? Lol

Oh no build battle

SANDS OF TIME

And our streamer is still emptying his bladder.

Sand Daddy. I forgot about that.

Yeah keep quiet Wilbur. Also go Wilbur being a good leader.

Feels like a tiktok video with quiet voices in the background and gameplay.

I got distracted but we have 80er seconds?

Fillin’ the sand

90 sec 5 extra sand.

7 sand actually

George made me anxious there not going to lie.

Pet the doggies

Demons on the side.

“Snort the rabbit.” -Wilbur

Rabbit in the room.

Oh it tied.

Rats parkour tag.

I like build mart. But I guess I want my team to come not last.

Be sneaky my favorite parrots. And go Wilbur get em.

Come on guys you can do it!

Woohoo! Woohoo again!

Oh he got tagged quick there

Y’all are doing well

Chains. The enemy of the ranboo

Oh that was a good tag. Sad my streamer got tagged but it was Sapnap.

🎶just stay alive that’ll be enough🎶

Sometimes you just gotta pet the dogs as the Minecraft sun sets.

Good luck dodgebolt crew!

“Blue or other shade of blue” -Sneeg

Phil and Wilbur standing together

Tubbo! :D

Everyone hears mysterious ticking sounds and assumes Wilbur armed a bomb or something.

Glitched arrow? Mods?

Go Cyan! Good game.

Pets! Pets! Pets!

Wilbur with a pet counter in the hall of fame

Petting is all that matters.

After Wilbur is Shelby is second with like just 900? Wilbur has several thousand.

All 3 top petters by their statues

Gah I have homework I don’t need to want to run stats on who is first to leave MCC. But it sounds fun.

Grian punching Wilbur off.

On yeah sneeg and ranboo have an announcement for white noise.

Spirit box!

What are we talking about? I got distracted.

Bye George.

Did the elector get broken this MCC. I mean I guess so, my streamer was distracted by dogs.

Wilbur doesn’t want to stop steaming yet? Since when?

Oh they’re off to do their announcement.

Sub goal to make streamer cry.

Tired streamer.

Geoguessbur.

We end stream when he wins. I guess I’ll stay here this is part of mcc in my head.

Meh I’m done. Have a good rest of the steam y’all! Good MCC

[keanureevesisbae]

Becky's debut novel (Sugar Sugar fic)

A/N: So, @thelastsock gave me such a great idea: a snippet of Becky's book. So I have a snippet here, including a front cover, back cover and a little dedication page (because I am extra like that 😂😂, what else do you expect from me). Hope you like it xoxo

Chapter 1

YOU ARE NOT WELCOME.

Those are the exact words that greet me when I walk up our porch to our front door. Let’s just say that my mom has a special way of welcoming her quests. I step over the slightly offensive doormat to get inside. Not a lot of people would expect this kind of welcome from the mayor, but then again: no one expected her to win the elections in our town Starfall Fields in the first way.

Not to be mean, but even I never believed in my mom and not for a second did I think she had any chance of winning. Mom has been quite the controversy the second she moved into town. How on earth would she be able to be the mayor?

Weirdly enough, she hasn’t made a complete fool out of herself in these two months she has been mayor. Actually, she’s been doing quite well. It’s just that her housekeeping skills have been lower than low.

I open the refrigerator and scrunch up my nose when I notice there is barely anything edible in here. Great.

I grab my phone and send my mom a text.

Josie: You need to do groceries

Mom: Do it yourself, you lazy bitch

Mom: Still love you though 😘

I chuckle as I read her text. She’s quite something, my mom, and if we don’t call each other bitch at least once a day, there’s something up and we should worry.

People might find it odd that we call one another bitch, but it’s just our way of showing our affection towards the other.

Somehow I find some left over yogurt that isn’t expired already. I peel a banana (to only throw half of it away, because it’s brown and squishy, therefore absolutely repulsive) and cut it into slices. I drizzle some maple syrup on top of it and want to add some raisins, but when I open the jar, I find out there is only one raisin left in it.

‘Mom,’ I whine, though she can’t hear me. ‘Really?’ This is just absolutely fantastic. After a long day at school, a girl can barely enjoy a nice little afternoon snack. I grab my bowl and walk over to the dining table. My butt barely touched the soft seating of the chair, when my best friend Andy FaceTimes me. I place the phone against the fruit bowl before I press answer. ‘What do you want?’ I ask him. ‘You literally saw me half an hour ago.’

He smiles, two dimples appearing in his full cheeks. ‘You know I can’t get enough of you, sugar.’

Andy and I have been best friends since I can remember, but that is mostly because we’ve been in the same class the moment we both stepped foot into kindergarten and we’re neighbors. We’re literally the two houses in a radius of around half a mile (yes, we took the time to measure it) and he isn’t the worst guy to hang around with.

Okay, he is the only one that doesn’t make me that angry, I have to fight the urge to claw his eyes out. I’m not gonna beat around the bush: I love hanging out with him.

While we see each other the moment we step out of our houses to go to school, share every class of the day with one another and we walk from school back to our houses, it’s hard to function without the other one. Therefore, we usually FaceTime the second we can after separating.

We’re quite the symbiotic pair.

‘Spit it out, Andy. What do you want?’ I ask.

‘I was wondering what your plans are,’ Andy says. ‘Mainly for tonight.’

I can’t help but chuckle. ‘There was a plan of me hanging on the couch, watching a movie with my best friend while we eat junk food, but your voice is telling me that you have something else in mind for the two of us.’

He nods. ‘I was thinking about you and I doing some FindUrPricing tonight.’

‘FindUrPricing is not a word, you idiot.’

‘I don’t care, miss Doyle,’ he retorts with a sassy undertone. He shakes his head, gestures I have to wait (like I’m going anywhere) and comes back into frame, this time with a tablet in his hands. ‘I have like five of these things, so what do you say? Want to bury them tonight, while we try to find something cool for it in return?’

Andy has this obsession with solving puzzles in newspapers like the old soul he is and since he is quite good and really fast, he has won multiple prizes, including multiple tablets.

‘Only if I find a diamond ring,’ I answer with my mouth full of yogurt.

‘Yeah, that’s attractive. You’ll find yourself a boyfriend in no time with those manners.’

I show him the finger. ‘I don’t need etiquette lessons from you,’ I say.

Andy sticks out his tongue. ‘Are you coming with me tonight?’ he asks me. ‘You know I need you.’

I chuckle. Andy is a disaster when it comes to being in the dark, but since FindUrPrice is just more fun at night, I have become his personal guard. ‘Okay, okay, but only if I can sleep at your place tonight. I have no idea what time my mom will be back from work.’

Andy’s parents are going to the opera’s tonight and afterwards, they’re staying in a hotel near the big city. Normally, they aren’t the type of people to go to the opera’s, but when their son wins tickets, including a stay in one of the most luxurious hotels in the area, who are they to say no?

Since I have no idea what time my mom manages to pull herself from city hall (to say she is a workaholic is an understatement), I’d rather sleep at Andy’s, then telling her we’ve been wandering on the street late at night.

Especially on a school night.

Sure, my mom knows about FindUrPrice, but she forbade me to ever do it late at night, because “you never know what can happen”. I personally think it’s not that big of a deal, since Starfall Fields is boring as hell and absolutely harmless, but my mother wouldn’t be my mother if she didn’t envision my death.

FindUrPrice is an app for the younger folks in our city and the few around. The organization hid a few gifts and presents and whenever you follow the leads and find something, you have to place something nice in return. It’s cute and me and Andy do it from time to time.

‘You’re coming over now?’ Andy asks.

‘To help you do your laundry?’ I ask, nodding towards the screen, mainly towards the enormous pile of clothes on his bed. ‘Didn’t think so. See you in a few hours, Andy.’

‘Please,’ he begs, right at the same time as I hear his mom in the background yelling for him. ‘Yes, wait a minute!’ he yells. ‘Can I live with you? I feel like your mother never pushes you to do chores around the house.’

‘That’s because I do them voluntarily. If mom doesn’t do laundry, no one does it. If mom doesn’t clean the toilet, no one does it. Believe me, with a mom who all of the sudden turns a bit blind when it comes house chores, there is more to do here than there is at your place. Don’t you dare whine about it, Andrew Carter.’

We hang up and I grab a magazine from the table, reading through some of the articles. How to painlessly bikini wax yourself, how to get rid of strawberry legs, how to get yourself a man in a week.

Geez, mom, why do you read this?

No wait, better question: mom, why haven’t you gotten yourself a man in a week? This issue is three months old.

My phone rings again and without looking I answer, since I know exactly who is calling me. ‘Andy, I’m not helping you with your laundry,’ I say. ‘Shirts, sweaters and other items for your upper body go on a hanger and the rest with clothespins on a drying rack. How many times do I have to tell you that?’

‘Thank you for this wise, yet unnecessary lesson in laundry,’ mom says and I can hear her smile in her voice. ‘But laundry is your chore, so I pretend I didn’t hear it.’

‘What do you want?’ I ask my mom.

‘Wanted to know your plans for tonight.’

‘I was planning on hanging out with Andy,’ I say. Go outside, do some FindUrPricing. ‘Watch a movie. Probably sleep at his place. He is home alone, you know how he gets.’

Mom snorts. ‘Oh, do I know. How old was he when he rang our doorbell, nearly crying because he was afraid of the dark?’

‘The last time was a few months ago,’ I chuckle. ‘Why do you want to know my plans for tonight?’

‘You know,’ mom starts and I do know. ‘There is still a lot to do here at city hall.’

‘Right,’ I say, ‘and you wanted to know whether or not I mind. Mom, I’m your daughter, I truly don’t care.’

‘I’ll make it up to you,’ she says, mostly because she is trying to feel less guilty.

And I wouldn’t be her daughter if I wasn’t going to totally exploit her sweet offer. ‘So, you’re making breakfast for me and Andy tomorrow?’

She sighs. ‘Goodness gracious, really? I’m going to pull an all nighter.’

‘You wanted to be mayor and you’re also a mother. Deal with it.’

Mom scoffs. ‘And here I was thinking I was gonna get some sympathy from my daughter.’

‘Ew never,’ I say.

‘Well, I might just make breakfast for you, only if you eat it here. I might be your chef, but I’m not a waiter and I’m certainly not gonna walk it to the Carters.’

I scoff. ‘Okay, I think I can live with that.’

‘Alright, enjoy your night, Josie and don’t make it too late okay? Ten o’clock lights out, okay?’

No. ‘Of course. Bye mom.’

I look at the picture on the dining table. Despite not being blood related, my mom and I are really close. According to Andy’s mom, it never seemed like my mom would settle down. She moved to this boring place a few years prior to finding me on her doorstep. She was thirty and didn’t have a husband (nor had any intention of settling down with anyone—she turned down a lot of men who asked her out in Starfall Fields). Even back then, she was already a workaholic and worked over time as the mayor’s assistant.

One day, when she was getting herself ready for work, she heard soft cries from her front porch and when she checked it out, there was yours truly.

I was around a year old and in the cradle, there was a note saying that whoever found me, to take good care of me. My DNA wasn’t available in any database, just like there were no matches at all.

I have no idea who I am, who my biological family is and where I’m from.

Mom adopted me, because I only felt safe with her and since that moment, we were a duo.

A year and a half ago she became the mayor and since then she is everywhere in Starfall Fields, except home. I barely see her, but she does a lot for this town and I don’t think I have the right to whine about it, especially because it means many many sleepovers with Andy and many nights wandering around the woods to play FindUrPrice.

Sure, I miss her from time to time, because she’s still my mom. From someone who was home a lot, would wait for me on the porch no matter the weather when I came back from school and had chocolate pie ready for me and Andy, she changed to a real career woman who is everywhere in town.

But that’s okay, she’s happy and when she is, I am too. I should be, especially after everything she has done for me.

[clouditae]

First Love | Prologue

Yoongi x reader | 18+ | college au | tattoo artist au | angst | fluff | swearing

Word: 2.4k

You first saw him in the multi-purpose room. Later learn his name, and on your third year, as he becomes your neighbor, you discover his lifestyle. Knowing your crush on him was nothing but that, you wanted to find the courage to look for love. Asking your friend for help, you’re pointed in the direction of the expert. Your neighbor, Min Yoongi

Chapter Index

You drag your suitcase up the first flight of stairs, always hating the fact that you're not first to pick rooms when it comes to the date. Your roommate has an earlier time when it comes to picking a room, and she never picks the first floor. You only have one more flight until you reach the second floor, but you are tired from having to carry all your luggage up the stairs from the rental car you are going to have to return tomorrow. If only your parents weren’t so far away. 

“Do you need some help?” a voice asks from behind you, startling you. 

You almost drop your suitcase if it weren’t for the figure behind you stopping it from falling back down the stairs. “I’m so sorry,” you say, taking the suitcase back from the stranger. 

He laughs. “I’m sorry I scared you. I didn’t know you had not heard me walk up the steps. I should be louder.” 

“No, it���s okay,” you begin, finally looking at him and all words are forgotten, “I’m…” He has an oval shape like head, his red beanie, that hid his dark blond hair, stood out compared to his sun kissed skin. When he smiles at you, his chestnut colored eyes almost disappear. He’s wearing a gray sweatshirt and dark gray sweats that are cut to his knees. “I’m the one who is walking slow,” you finally manage, forcing yourself to stop staring. 

“It’s move in day. Everyone is slow when it comes to moving. No one wants to unpack,” he answers, following you up the rest of the stairs until the two of you reach the second floor. You turn to face him, unsure of what else to say. You aren’t a very social person. “What floor do you live on?” he suddenly asks. 

“This one.” 

He smiles again, this one bigger than the last. “I do, too. Maybe we’ll see each other around,” he tells you, sounding so friendly it makes you question if he is being honest or humoring you. You nod, not sure as to what the best reply is. “Well, it was nice meeting you…”

Understanding the way he trailed off, you answer, “Y/N.” 

“Ah. Y/N. Nice to meet you, I’m Hoseok.” He extends his hand out towards you. 

You slowly took his hand sputtering, “Nice to meet you as well.” 

He points at the door next to the other flight of stairs that led to the third floor. The direction you’re going. “I’m headed that way.”

You honestly don’t want to say it, but you reply, “Me too.” 

“Really? Are we hallmates?” he questions, his voice showing signs of excitement. 

“I suppose we are,” you acknowledge. 

“That’s exciting.” You watch as Hoseok opens the door that leads you to the center hall, gesturing for you to enter first. You thank him and enter the hallway. He walks alongside you as the two of you walk a short distance until he stops at the first set of doors. He points to the second door closest to the exit towards the stairs. “This is me,” he begins, patting his pockets, “I hope to see you around, Y/N.” He frowns as he shoves his hands in his pockets.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I just realized I never grabbed my key off my desk when I left earlier,” he chuckles, knocking on his door. Immediately the door swings open, and you thought you felt your heart stop. He looks as if he had just woken up. His jet black hair disheveled, eyes barely open, and his lips in a little pout. The corner of his black, short sleeved shirt lifted as he rubbed his eye. “You’re awake,” Hoseok says in delight. 

“Well you were knocking so damn loud,” he grumbles in a gravelly voice. 

“It wasn’t that loud,” Hoseok protests.

Before Yoongi can argue, a familiar voice calls out, “There you are, Y/N. I thought you died or something.” Coming out of your own little world, your attention is now on your best friend, and roommate, Ari. “I finished unpacking a while ago, so I made your bed for you.” 

You open your mouth to reply, but Hoseok interrupts, “You’re our neighbor?” You can only nod, eyes meeting Yoongi briefly before looking at Hoseok. “That’s even better! Our chances of seeing each other are a lot higher.” 

“I should go,” you mumble, heading down as you quickly walk towards Ari. 

“Bye, Y/N,” Hoseok calls. 

You wave and enter your dorm, the door closing behind Ari as you set your luggage on your bed. Your heart is racing, cheeks most likely a blush color. “What’s up with you?” Ari asks, climbing into her bed as she watches you place a hand over your heart. 

“It’s him,” you reply in a whisper. 

“Who?”

You look at her, her strawberry blond hair coming loose from her bun. “Him.” 

You can see the cranks working in her eyes before they light up in realization. “Oh, you mean your crush for two years?”

“He has a name you know,” you remind her. 

Watching her as she places her finger to her rosy cheek. “Ah, yes. Fuckboy Yoongi,” she avows. 

“He is not a fuckboy,” you object.

“Have you heard the rumors about him? If he’s our neighbor, then those rumors are about to be confirmed soon enough,” Ari implies. 

“They’re just rumors.”

Ari sighs, “I just don’t want your feelings to get hurt if they are true.” 

“They won’t,” you promise her. 

With that, you continue to unpack, listening to your roommate complain about a professor she hasn’t met yet. She rants long after you have finished packing and the two of you are making your way downstairs to the dining hall to grab dinner. When the two of you enter the dining hall, you wait in line as the woman behind the counter takes the student’s ID and swipe it along the card reader. The line goes from four, and four goes to one. When the woman gives the card back to the person in front of you, you hand her your ID. 

“He is making us write three essays, and they’re only worth 13% of our grade,” Ari whines, handing her ID after you received yours back. “Our midterm and final are worth more, and you know I suck at taking tests. I’m not going to pass this class. I can already feel it.” 

The two of you enter the separate room where the food is displayed. A salad bar in the center, drinks to the right, and sweets to the left. Different types of foods are shown everywhere else. 

“What class is this?” you ask her, grabbing a plate from the stack by the salad bar. 

“Psycho,” she cries, taking a plate you hand her. “I actually have to show up to every class, participate, and probably kiss his ass a little so he knows I’m desperate.” 

You giggle. “I’m sure you’ll be fine, Ari. You passed syntax last semester.” 

“And I did everything I had just told you. Maybe a little more. Hell, I even laughed at his jokes I didn’t understand,” Ari tells you before she wanders off to the direction where the pasta is. You follow in suit, eyes on the fettuccine alfredo. “Guess I’ll just have to read the textbook more than once.” 

“Have faith in yourself,” you tell her, handing your plate to the server who places a spoonful of pasta on it before giving it back. 

“I guess,” she sighs, taking her plate and drags her feet towards the salad bar, clearly disappointed with her decision to take the class. 

You don’t bother comforting her and instead you grab a bottle of water. Entering the dining room once again, you scan the area for an empty table. In the back of the room, you can see an empty table in the corner. Ari walks up next to you, letting out a sigh. “School sucks.”

You laugh, gesturing towards the table you found. “Let’s eat.” Leading her past the occupied tables, you set your food down, taking a seat. “You’ve passed all your classes before. You can pass this class, too. Have more faith in yourself, Ari,” you point out. 

Ari hums in response as the two of you eat in a comfortable silence. Your eyes wander around the room, watching as everyone sits at their tables and happily chats with one another. You’ve been living in the dorms for three years and you aren’t all that social like everyone else was. You watch as they greet one another as they pass by. It’s like they all know each other, and all you know is Ari. She’s been your friend and roommate for three years, and you wouldn’t trade her for the world. 

“If it isn’t my favorite neighbor,” a voice calls. You look up to see Hoseok smiling down at you as he holds a plate of food in his hand. “Mind if I join you guys?”

You glance at Ari who only shrugs. “Sure,” you say. 

He smiles, taking a seat next to you. “My roommate wouldn’t come eat with me, and I didn’t want to be by myself. I’m lucky I saw you guys,” he says, taking a bite of his pizza. He looks at Ari. “Ah. Right.” He sticks his hand out towards her. “I’m Hoseok.” 

Ari smiles, shaking his hand. “Ari.” 

“Well, Ari. Y/N. There’s a party happening on the third floor if you guys want to come. It’s several rooms that are having it, but it’s one big one,” he says, taking a bigger bite of his pizza. “Plus it’ll be nice to have someone I know there. Even if I only met you two today.”

“A party? I am so in,” Ari says, an excited smile on her face. “You going, Y/N?”

You shake your head. “I need to fix my camera,” you tell her, giving her a small, apologetic smile. 

“Camera? Is that a hobby?” Hoseok asks, finishing his first pizza. 

You shake your head again. “Major.” 

“Oh, really? You must be a pro at it.” 

“I’m really not,” you reply sheepishly, your face flushing. 

“She’s lying. She’s really good at it,” Ari tells Hoseok, dismissing your comment. You kick her under the table, but she ignores you completely. “I’ll show you some time.”

 “No one will be showing anything,” you state in a threatening tone but it doesn’t come out all that threatening. They clearly don’t take you seriously, but say nothing more about it. 

By the time you’re done eating, you and Ari are in your room, Ari is currently deciding which dress she likes more. You watch her as she switches between dresses, each hovering over her body as she tilts her head to the side in question. “Which looks better on me?” she asks you, her eyes meeting yours through the closet mirror. 

“Why are you dressing up? Isn’t it just a party upstairs?” you question. 

“It is just a party upstairs, but it’s a party where I plan to find a boyfriend. A better one than my ex,” she says. “Now which one do you think looks better?”

You let out a sigh, shaking your head. “The black one. It makes your hair stand out compared to the red one.”  

She smiles at you. “I knew I could trust your opinion.”

You rolled your eyes. “I’m not a fashion designer, and it’s common sense.” 

“Either way, you’re the expert.” Ari walks to the bathroom door in the corner of the room next to the sink. She gives a quick knock before entering the bathroom. You’ve known her for three years now, and you still find it funny how the two of you change in the shared bathroom rather than in front of each other. You guess it was a habit by now. 

A minute or so later, Ari comes out of the bathroom wearing the black dress you picked out. It’s a form-fitting dress, the straps as big as your index finger. The dress fits her curves perfectly, showing all that she has to give. Sometimes you wish you had her confidence in wearing such a dress, but then again you’re perfectly fine in your seaweed green sweats and big, black shirt that can pass as a dress. 

“And you’re sure that if you bend over, nothing will show?” you ask in concern, staring down at how short the dress was. 

“I’ve bent over quite a few times, so no, nothing will be revealed.” She glances at you as she slips on her heels. “Would you like to confirm?”

You shake your head. “I trust you.” Ari does a quick lookover in the mirror before grabbing her room key and phone. “Have fun, and be safe,” you tell her as she opens the door. 

“Don’t work too hard on your camera,” she says before leaving you alone in the room. 

You can hear the clicks of her heels against the floor until you can no longer hear her. Stretching your arms out, you stare at the camera that lies on your desk. You honestly don’t want to work on it. At least, not tonight when you’re already in bed and all you have to do is switch off the light and close your eyes. You think for a second or two before finally deciding to just go to sleep. Today has been a long day of unpacking, and going to sleep before having to wake up to go to some mandatory meeting sounds a lot better with each passing second.

Switching the light off next to your bed, you get under your covers and lie there in silence, counting sheep. So much has happened today, and the one that repeats in your head the most is that Yoongi is your neighbor. 

Yoongi. The guy you’ve had a crush on for three years now is your neighbor. That means a possible opportunity to talk to him. Especially now that Hoseok seems to want to be friends, maybe you’ll see Yoongi a lot more now. 

Your thoughts are interrupted by a light tapping sound on the wall next to you. It’s a rhythmic tapping sound. Then slowly, ever so slowly, the light tapping turns louder and harder, and with that loud pounding sound, a girl's voice can be heard. 

You lie in bed frozen. 

“I just don’t want your feelings to get hurt if they are true.”

[dadsbongos]

spiriting

Insert Coin - Chapter 2 / Series Masterlist

Waking up to the cursed sound of Monokuma’s voice, (Y/n) let her body remain in the warm confines of her duvet. Her eyes were heavy and burned whether she had them open or not. Turning, she let her back rest against the mattress, endless stare settled on the ceiling.

Every time she went to close her eyes, Byakuya’s bloody corpse was staring her in the face. His voice festered between her ears as it called her name. Quite possibly the last thing he’d said to anybody was him calling her name for help.

Stabbed over ten times between his abdomen and throat.

It must’ve been excruciating. To be working to bring everyone together only to be brutally murdered in your endeavors.

She can only hope death was quick to lay its merciful hands upon Byakuya’s soul.

And to be boiled alive, even.

A hand came up and over her heart, scrunching up the fabric of her sleepshirt, a new wave of misery banging at her brain as she thought of Teruteru. The Ultimate Cook. No, their Ultimate Chef. The least she could do was honor his wishes in her mind.

To be slathered in slimy batter and caked with breading was a mere inconvenience in comparison to being boiled - being cooked. The heat. The bubbling and popping of your skin as you quickly simmer.

It made her queasy just to think about.

All that pain, all that suffering - brought about by the hands of Nagito Komaeda. The sweet-faced, gentle-smiled boy of luck. The same boy she was planning on meeting in the dining hall.

Sighing through her nose, (Y/n) slowly rose from her bed before swinging her legs over the edge of her bed frame and pushing up to a complete stand. Her body felt like gelatin, mind in a foggy haze as she moved towards her closet, pulling off her makeshift pajamas and trading them in for cleaner versions of the clothes she already had on.

Exiting her cottage, (Y/n) was sure to lock her door before stowing the key away and heading towards the dining hall before anybody sent out a search party for her. The sand crunched under her shoes as she made her way to the dining hall, hopefully, the others had somehow forgotten about the entire night prior. If she could be the only one with the horrid memory of their friends’ deaths, she’d be happy.

Ultimate Peacekeeper and yet she couldn’t even keep two people alive.

Clenching her teeth, (Y/n) shook her head - if she thought like that then she’d be too busy throwing herself a pity party to focus on any of her peers. She reached out to open the dining hall door and stepped inside, and for a split second, her heart picked up at the thought of finding another body.

A corpse laid across the floor and Monokuma’s wretched voice bringing about another body discovery announcement.

Once again, she forcefully shook off her thoughts and pushed forward. Everyone was there. No, two people were missing.

Fuyuhiko, which was no surprise, seemed an avid supporter of being the “lone wolf” of their group. Nagito, on the other hand, was almost never by himself - despite his previous exclamations of being unworthy of a friend, he surely liked the company of the people on the island.

(Y/n) sidled herself up beside Hajime, giving the boy’s side profile a gentle, unnoticed smile - he looked exhausted, “How’re you feeling?”

“Hm,” Hajime flinched at the sudden noise, turning to lock eyes with the mediator, “I feel…” he looked down at his plate sadly, “fine.”

“Alright,” she pat his back, “if you need anything, I’m always available. It’s what I’m here for, Hajime.”

“Right,” the brunette nodded, he let his shoulders droop, defenses falling ever so slightly, “thanks, (Y/n).”

“Of course,” she nodded, looking around the dining hall once again and quirking a brow, “is it just me or… are there people missing?”

Before Hajime could answer her question, Monokuma appeared suddenly inside the cafeteria - frightening a few of the students. Hajime’s brows furrowed, “You can't just pop up out of nowhere like that!"

"Puhuhuhu, but I can!" what a high-pitched drawl, (Y/n) suddenly thought - she’d always been taught that villains have sickeningly deep voices and here Monokuma was, proving her entire life wrong, "I'm here to deliver the next motive!"

"A motive?" Hajime tilted his head in the midst of his confusion.

"It's not that I don't think you all love participating in my super fun killing game or anything..." Monokuma fidgeted, faking a new shy persona, "But, of course, I thought it would be even more fun to give you guys a motive!"

"Well, we've taken care of everything,” Kazuichi immediately rebuffed, “No one is going to kill anymore, no matter what your motive is!"

(Y/n) swung her head to look at the Ultimate Mechanic, “‘Taken care of’, what are you talking about?”

"Whatever you say!" the black-and-white bear waved off, clearly in disbelief of the boy’s words anyway, "If you're interested, there's an arcade machine in Jabberwock Park with a game on it that might have some cool info for you! And that’s as much as you’re getting from me, bye for now!"

"Ooh, fun!" Ibuki blurted out as Monokuma disappeared.

"Fun?” Hajime shook his head, irritation clear on his face, “No! Guys, we absolutely cannot play that game. This is Monokuma's attempt to trap us. Who knows? The game could be filled with lies to get us to kill each other!"

“Hajime’s right,” (Y/n) nodded, “If anyone plays that game, a murder is likely. I know it’ll be hard but we have to do our best to keep alive.”

Hajime could be a good leader. Strong, independent, commanding - a good man. He could be great. Then again, so was Byakuya.

Mahiru looked around and asked the question (Y/n) had before Monokuma arrived, "Wait, where's Nagito?"

Hiyoko giggled, covering her mouth with her hands as she did so, "He's probably too ashamed to show his ugly face around here.”

"No," (Y/n) interrupted, “I don’t think he’d be so self-conscious.”

"Don't worry about it,” Kazuichi waved off, locking his hands behind his head, “He isn't going to bother us anymore."

"What did you do?" (Y/n) pushed herself away from Hajime and toward the mechanic.

"Kazuichi, you probably shouldn't say stuff like that..." Nekomaru’s voice was strange - hasty, as if he was trying to hide something.

"Nekomaru, Kazuichi," (Y/n)’s brows furrowed as she looked between the boys, “Tell me, right now, what did you two do?”

"Well, we..." Kazuichi glanced at Nekomaru, "Took care of him this morning."

"You guys killed someone?" Mahiru exclaimed, face running pale.

"No! What the hell? Of course, not, we didn't do that!" Nekomaru shook his head as if he couldn’t fathom how his suspicious behavior could lead to that conclusion, "We found him on the way here and... tied him up. So he couldn't do anything drastic again! He's on the floor of the room we had the party in, he's- he'll be fine."

"So you guys - without telling anyone - kidnapped Nagito this morning and just left him tied up?" Hajime turned his head between the two, obviously done with the idiots, "Do you understand why that possibly wasn't the most fantastic idea?"

"What were we supposed to do, just let him run around acting like that?" Kazuichi asked, exasperated, "It's fine! He'll live, we just have to bring him food or something once in a while..."

"Now that we're in this mess, it will be difficult to pull us out," (Y/n) crossed her arms, thinking over the situation, “I’ll keep watch over him. I was going to do so anyway, but two people,” she glared directly at the boys of the hour, “decided to act without consulting the group,” as Mahiru prepared a plate, (Y/n) continued, “Just leave Nagito to me, I’ll be a babysitter for him - if anybody has an issue with him, please don’t act on your own until necessary. It could do more harm than good.”

Handing over the plate, Mahiru gave the peacekeeper a nervous smile, "Be careful, okay? Just run outta there if anything weird happens."

“Right,” (Y/n) nodded, taking the plate, “Kazuichi, Nekomaru,” the two hesitantly looked over to her - it felt horribly similar to facing a disappointed parent - she pursed her lips before giving a sympathetic grin, “I get where you two were coming from and I appreciate it, but don’t do something like this again. It’s dangerous.”

The two murmured out their agreements as (Y/n) left.

Crossing from the dining hall to the old building, (Y/n) flexed her fingers as she walked, gut knotting up inside her. Byakuya died there. Her friend, and to some extent, a role model. All because of the man she was going to be spending the rest of their stay at Jabberwock with. She had to. She needed to keep tabs over him if they wanted to avoid something like the party again.

Her hand stopped at the door handle, fingers resting against the cool metal.

She could just let him starve, it’s not like anybody would care. Nobody would check the old building anyway.

Shaking her head, (Y/n) pushed the door open - she’s supposed to be the Ultimate Peacekeeper and she was already dropping the ball with two deaths and a kidnapping. Letting Nagito starve was just a cruel and unusual punishment. An impulsive thought she'd never act on.

And so, putting one foot in front of the other, she continued down the hall Teruteru did. To find Nagito.

[hanatiny]

Love, just maybe

requested by anon: Hi! Can you please write a Yeosang fic where he's in a wheelchair and a caretaker is hired to look after him and he falls in love with her? Thank you!!

a/n: in case anyone spots any medical inaccuracies and/or language I shouldn’t be using, please let me know so I can fix that!! thank u, enjoy <3

pairing: Yeosang x caretaker!f!reader

genre: fluff, very slight angst

word count: 2453

warnings: non-idol AU, mentions of disability and wheelchairs, mentions of driving, mentions of car crashes, brief mentions of food, Wooyoung unintentionally becomes the wingman of the year with someone else’s help lol

-----

You were not the slightest bit sure of how to feel about the situation, tapping your fingers against your steering wheel anxiously while you impatiently waited for traffic to clear up.

A man by the name of Jung Wooyoung had contacted you earlier this week, explaining that his friend Yeosang was in need of a caretaker but stubbornly refused to look into hiring one himself.

You had taken the “offer” without much thinking (it was more of a desperate request although Wooyoung would never admit this), especially since Yeosang was supposedly around your age and it’d make bonding with him easier, but now that you sat here in your car you weren’t all that confident anymore.

It seemed you weren’t allowed to dwell on this any longer, however, since you finally saw traffic clear up and were able to continue your way to your destination, namely Yeosang’s house.

You glanced at your duffle bag on the passenger seat, mentally checking if you’ve got everything - since you were a live-in caretaker, it meant you’d be staying for a while - more precisely, until your client decided they no longer required or wanted your assistance. It didn’t take you much longer to pull into the driveway of Yeosang’s house, which turned out to be a small townhouse in the outskirts of the city.

You climbed out of your car after taking a deep breath to calm your nerves

To your surprise, you found an abundance of flowers blooming in the frontyard. You also spotted a set of swings a little further back, curious to find out the reasoning for the presence of both of these things since you knew Yeosang had been a wheelchair user for quite some time and most likely didn’t take care of his garden or constructed those swings himself.

You weren’t any less startled when you rang the doorbell, only for a little girl who you assumed to be around 11 years old to open the door and greet you with a bright smile, “Hi there, ma’am! Are you here to visit uncle Sang?”

You quirked a brow at the words ‘uncle Sang,’ crouching down to be eye level with the girl before nodding at her, “Something like that, yeah. Could you go and get him for me?”

“Mhm! Just give me a minute~” She giggled as she ran off back into the house, returning shortly after with Yeosang following behind her. He was pretty good-looking, you had to admit. His messy blonde hair framed his face perfectly, and you wondered if it was as fluffy as it looked-

“Miss?” It was the girl’s voice that broke you out of your thoughts, her head tilted to the side inquisitively as she looked at you, “Are you okay?”

“Hm~? Yeah I’m fine, don’t worry.” You gave her a smile to reassure her, one she promptly reciprocated before turning to Yeosang when he gently placed his hand on her shoulder.

“It’s getting late, Minji.” He spoke softly, “You should get home, I bet your little brother and your parents wanna hear all about what we did today~”

She whined as he playfully ruffled her hair, nodding at him in understanding, “Fine~ See you tomorrow, uncle Sang! Bye bye, nice lady~!”

You found it adorable how she addressed you before she gave both you and Yeosang each a small hug before skipping off, presumably back to her own house.

Yeosang watched her with a smile until neither of you could see her anymore, the male clearing his throat awkwardly while his eyes inspected the bag in your hand.

He motioned you to follow him after another beat as he carefully pushed his wheelchair backwards and further into the house, stepping inside and closing the door behind yourself afterwards.

“I know why you’re here, since Wooyoung can’t keep his mouth shut,” Yeosang finally spoke, and it was as if the weight of your nervousness physically dropped from your shoulders, “and I imagine that you know why I’m not all too pleased about it.”

There was no disdain whatsoever towards you in his tone, only exasperation about the fact that his best friend had gone against his wishes.

He took a deep breath to calm himself before continuing, “As I’m sure you’re aware, I dislike having other people do things for me. I grew up being independent from others so this... circumstance isn’t exactly a fortunate one. If you can prove within, let’s say... a week that you genuinely care for more than the money that’s in it for you for doing this, I’ll let you stay even longer.”

It was a fair agreement - if Yeosang was to have a caretaker despite being highly apprehensive about the idea, the least he could make clear is that he didn’t want anyone who’d do a half-assed job and only pretend to care about him.

“We’ve got a deal.” You stated firmly in response, placing your bag on the floor next to you and extending a hand for the blonde to shake. He appeared to hesitate for a split second before shaking your hand with a nod, and you could’ve sworn you his lips twitch into the faintest bit of a smile.

“Lovely. Since I know you’ll need the knowledge, I figured I should tell you where all the rooms are.” He gestured for you to follow, watching him manage to turn himself around before picking up your bag again and letting him lead the way for you.

It was a pretty spacious living space for a single person, though given the circumstances, you weren’t particularly surprised about it.

“Let’s see... My bedroom is down the hall, and so is my bathroom. Minji’s room, the guest room you’ll be staying in and the guest bathroom are upstairs. And the kitchen, living room and dining room are, as you can surely tell, all connected.”

“Got it.”

Yeosang cleared his throat, and you subconsciously straightened your posture a little. “Now,” he said, “you should know that I tend to go to sleep really early, so I suppose this is what I will go ahead and do now. You can explore a little more if you want, but you should get rest as well since you officially start working tomorrow.”

“Are you sure you won’t need my help tonight...?” You inquired tentatively, not wanting to overstep any kind of boundary, and Yeosang seemed hesitant to answer before nodding firmly. “Thank you... but I’ll manage.” He finally said, “Good night, Y/n.”

You shouldn’t have been as stunned by his use of your name as you were, yet there you stood, watching him make his way down the hallway before disappearing into his bedroom. You turned on your heel, deciding that exploring could wait in favor of making yourself at home in ‘your’ room.

You skipped up the stairs, your bag swung over your shoulder, and were quick to find the bedroom you’d be staying in. Minji’s room was decorated overly cutely, while yours looked... lived in. You made a mental note to make sure to ask Yeosang about this.

And sure enough, prove yourself like he challenged you to do was exactly what you did.

Finding out the time Yeosang would usually wake up, you made it your goal to always get up before him to cook a healthy breakfast for him and prepare clothes for him to wear. He was initially reluctant to let you help with the latter, although it didn’t take him long to admit that he both needed and appreciated your assistance with things he wasn’t able to do by himself. Yeosang blushed profusely whenever he asked you to help him in bathroom, be it to empty his bladder or to wash himself, but he did catch himself warming up to you faster than he’d like anyone to know.

He admired the care you put into helping him even with arguably straining tasks like changing positions into a chair, for example, even though he was capable of doing so with minimal help. He took to either reading or playing the violin whenever you left the house to run errands like grocery shopping, and he couldn’t help but let his mind drift to you.

He had once been so distracted by his own thoughts that you had caught him playing a gentle piece on his instrument of choice, and he mentally scolded himself for the rest of that day for allowing it to come to such an embarrassment.

You, however, were absolutely endeared. Both by the fact that he was able to play an instrument as beautiful as the violin, and by the observation you’ve made that he seemed to have quite a big soft spot for Minji.

Speaking of the young girl, you grew closer to her as well - she even began calling you “aunt Y/n” after a few visits, and you could’ve sworn that her cuteness had melted you right where you stood.

It didn’t go unnoticed by Yeosang either, and it had him constantly repeating the two words in his head. He refused to admit it aloud, but he knew that what had his mind racing was the thought of a possible relationship with you that’d go beyond simply caring for him.

Similarly, you found yourself thinking about what it might actually be like to care for a child together with the blonde but snapped out of it before you allowed yourself to take your thoughts to a level that exceeded the professional one you should’ve been keeping it at.

It was Yeosang who finally broke the splintering ice between the two of you after approximately three and a half weeks of you living with him while you two were sitting on the terrace that overlooked his garden, enjoying a comfortable evening together, and you couldn’t help but tense a little from his words, “You know,” he began, “I feel like you deserve some answers to the questions I know you have but are too hesitant to ask.”

You felt your cheeks warm, he couldn’t have been any more correct with his observation.

“Let’s see - your room looked so... used, if you will, because it’s the room Wooyoung previously stayed in before he was forced to move away for work and consequently hired you to take care of me. As for Minji, her parents are away a lot so that’s why she comes over almost every day. Wooyoung and her parents constructed those swings for her when she started visiting me more frequently, and Minji’s friends are the ones taking care of the garden together with her. Y’know, since I can’t for obvious reasons.”

You nodded thoughtfully in response, somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of information you were being given but still grateful for Yeosang’s willingness to be this open with you.

“It’s been almost a year since the accident that caused me to be as I am now, in a wheelchair and codependent due to paraplegia. I will be honest, I neither know nor care to find out why that other guy rammed my car with his... I just know that we wouldn’t be sitting here having this conversation if he didn’t and I don’t think I’ll ever forgive him for putting me in this situation, in this dilemma of being unable to move or even just feel my lower half.”

“That’s understandable... I can only imagine how much it ruined your life, not to mention the emotional trauma that must’ve come with the accident.” You replied softly, trying to be careful with your words as Yeosang nodded in agreement, “Yeah, I haven’t sat in a car again ever since it happened. And I don’t really like talking about it, admittedly...”

You tilted your head at him in question while he trailed off, “I don’t mean to offend, but if that’s the case... Why are you telling me?”

“I can’t blame you for being confused about it, and I’ll be happy to explain my reasoning behind this. Truth is, I like you. In a more than ‘you care for me so I act nice around you’ way, in a... ‘I want to get closer to you’ kind of way.”

You couldn’t help but quirk an eyebrow at Yeosang’s roundabout way of confessing to you, “Are you saying... you have a crush on me?”

“I- well, yeah. That’s what I’m trying to say.” Yeosang nodded shyly at your tentative question, a hum sounding in your throat in response before he continued, nervously fidgeting with his hands a little. “Listen, I just... I think I could fall in love with you. I want to ask you to permanently move in with me, because I most definitely will never get sick of you. Of course you don’t have to accept, if you don’t want to or just don’t feel the same way...”

He trailed off, not even realizing how distracted he was by the way the light of the setting sun illuminated your face until he heard you giggle softly. Yeosang blushed when he noticed that you had, rather boldly, moved your chair closer to him and were now stroking his hair absentmindedly. He found it pathetic how easily the simple gesture flustered him, not dwelling on it any longer while you spoke, “It’s funny that you bring this up, honestly... Because I happen to feel the exact same way. And maybe, just maybe, I could also see myself falling in love with you in the future. With all of you.”

“All of me?” Yeosang echoed tentatively, “Are you sure..?”

You nodded a little more enthusiastically than intended, although that was presently the least of your concerns, “I’m sure. What kind of person would I be if I rejected you purely because of something that’s out of your control?”

Yeosang felt a grin tug at his lips at the double meaning of your statement, although he found himself fumbling a little over his words. “Touché. So... what now? Is this the part where I ask you to be my girlfriend?”

“It is, and it’s also the part where I answer that question with a ‘yes’~”

Yeosang beamed at you, truly delighted that you were willing to give him a chance to be yours. Little did you know though that, as the two of you continued to talk until late in the night about everything under the sun, there was a certain young girl watching you both from where she sat at her window in the neighboring house with a small dreamy sigh before suddenly jumping up and making a run for it down the stairs.

“Mom, can you give me the phone for a sec? I wanna tell uncle Woo that my matchmaking plan worked~!”

----- Taglist:

@atinykitty @cometoceantrenches @ddeonghwva @galaxteez​ @latte-fairytaekwoon @little-precious-baby @multidreams-and-desires @nightqueennyx @serialee @twancingyunhoe @vocalyunho

Network tag: @8makes1teamnet​

[vanillann]

the 1994 battle of the performers (luke patterson x f.reader)

i. love. this. series. (also i hope you like this chapter idk how i feel about it)

word count: 2.3k

the 1994 battle of the performers masterlist

Chapter 2: Spaghetti Night

“Crap!”

My heel hit the leg of the coffee table, my body going numb at the idea of ruining my knee. As I watched myself almost hit the hard ground of the studio, I felt two hands grab my shoulder.

I was bought slowly to the ground by two of the dancers, Florence and Regan, as they made sure I was okay. A few other girls we had recruited of the dance number rushed to my side, each asking was okay. Devon, the male dancer for the team asked a few other girls to step back as he checked my knee.

“Does it hurt?”

“I’m fine, I didn’t even hit the ground,” it wasn’t a lie, that fall didn’t affect my knee badly and after a few minute break, I’d be back to choreographing the team.

“Milo’s was looking-“

A few girls looked over their shoulders when we heard the band walk in through the open doors of the studio.

“What happened?”

Luke almost dropped his glass as he hurried to one side, Reggie to my other quickly.

“I’ll get the first aid kit,” Bobby’s voice echoed over the room but before I could stop him Alex was rushing him out the room.

“My heel hit the coffee table, I’m fine,” I did my best to calm each member of the band, Reggie easily calmed down once I had a quick smile. Alex didn’t say anything as he hovered over me, keeping an eye on Devon as he touched my knee.

“We can get rid of the coffee table”, Luke spoke, watching Devon’s finger ghost over my knee before he spoke up.

“Maybe you shouldn’t do that since you aren’t a doctor.”

“I read about different techniques to massage hurt muscles when I found out about (Y/N) injury,” he spoke back, smiling to me before I pushed his hand away.

“Thank you, Devon, but I’m fine.”

“I got the first aid kit,” Bobby yelled back, holding above his head and pushing through the group.

“I’m fine,” I was exhausted at repeating the words at this point, I just felt and I’d be fine.

“Your heels are bleeding.”

I looked up at Alex, following his line of sight to my heel that hit the coffee table. It wasn’t a lot of blood, I didn’t even notice it, but it was enough to have everyone in the room panic.

“I’ll do it,” Luke ripped the bandaid from Bobby’s hand but I grabbed it from his own.

“I’m not a child, I can take care of myself,” I opened it up and handed the trash to Reggie who held his hand out for it.

“I think practice is over for today,” Alex turned to the members, each one agreeing that I needed a break.

“No! We’ve only been going for like an hour!”

“More like three,” Luke squeezed my shoulder and pointed to the clock on the wall, surely it wasn’t almost five?

“We will meet Monday afternoon,” Regan held her hand out to me, which I happily took. Luke was at my side, his hands ghosting around me but never touching me.

“But-“

“Shhh!” Alex held his finger over my mouth, quickly pulling it away once he realized.

“Sorry I forgot we aren’t that close-“

“It’s fine, we are close enough for you to be honest with me,” I smiled, sincere with him. Alex was nervous about my presence, I could tell how he avoided certain jokes and such. I just wanted him to understand that at this point, they were the closest friends I got.

“Hey, call me later and we can go over different ideas,” Devon pulled me from my thought, smiling as he wrapped one arm around me and brought me to his side.

“Uhm, yeah sure,” I spoke gently, giving his side a squeeze and nodding once he let go.

“Bye guys,” I waved everyone off, each saying it back and leaving down the long driveway of Bobby’s house.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

I looked over my shoulder and Reggie and smiled.

“I’m fine, you all need to stop making a scene,” I went to move to the couch but my leg cramped up, my face morphing into one of discomfort.

“Making a scene, huh?”

I said nothing about Luke’s comment and grabbed his arm instead, each boy in a panic and not knowing if they could touch me or not.

“It’s fine, I don’t bite.”

As soon as I spoke, I felt hands on my let’s and arm, each trying to help the situation but making it incredibly awkward.

“How about I sit on the couch?”

Each agreed, weird shuffling to the couch that was against the wall. Once I made it and I turned around and flopped backward, letting go of Luke’s arm in the process.

I closed my eyes, letting my palm dig at it for a minute before I noticed the burned feeling on my face. As I opened my eyes, each boy watched me with worry.

“I am fine, I’m going to malfunction if I have to say it again!”

I knew it was out of worry, if I wasn’t running off adrenaline I would have been more worried. After the revelation two weeks ago I had been pushing myself, thinking I was the same dancer I was before.

But I wasn't. I felt more and I had to think about moves more often, I wasn’t the same dancer and I thought the more I kept the dancer the more would come back to me.

But that didn’t look to be the case.

“I need to get home,” I muttered, smiling slightly when the cramp went away.

“Are you gonna be okay?”

I nodded, sitting up straighter with no help and pushing off the couch as if nothing happened.

“I’m not in a nursing home for a reason,” I winked at Alex, gaining soft chuckles from the other members.

It was nice, feeling like we were all friends. I couldn’t tell if we were or not. I only ever came over for practice and we didn’t speak about much besides the battle or sometimes about Milo’s, but otherwise, that was the end. But sometimes we’d be sitting around waiting for the other dancers, and it felt light and airy, easy. We could laugh and make little jokes with each other, it just would’ve been nice to be able to call them friends.

They were good guys, I knew that.

“Boys!”

I looked around the boys to see a taller woman, smiling widely at the band. She was gorgeous with tan skin and messy hair. She had wild curls and older band tees that had some holes around the collar.

“Dinner,” the woman, who I was pretty sure was Bobby's mother, held her arm out as if to tell the boys they could exit.

Each jumped with joy, smiling as they all made their way from the studio to the driveway.

“You must be (Y/N), the boys told me about you,” she smiled as I slowly made my way out, not as excited as the boys who were already at the door waiting.

“Nice to meet you,” I smiled, proud to have finally met the woman who’s been letting me dance in her studio.

“Even nicer to meet you,” she took a right, walking to the door of the gorgeous house. I took a left, prepared to hit the sidewalk and make it back to my empty house.

“Where are you going?”

I turned around, watching as Bobby and his mother waved me over, holding the door open for me while Alex, Reggie, and Luke waited inside.

“Oh I can’t Ms-“

“Call me Heather,” she called back, jogging slightly as she left Bobby to hold the door. She jogged till she stood in front of me, guiding my shoulders back to the house.

“Dinner is on us,” she smiled, watching me as I grabbed the railing to the small steps and walked up. Bobby smiled as he gave a joking bow, a smile gracing my lips and Reggie was jumping at the scene.

“It’s a tradition that to be part of the band you have to eat at the Wilson household,” Reggie smiled larger as I actually walked in the house.

“I’m not part of the band,” I corrected, pointed a finger over my shoulder as I admired the high ceilings and the beautiful wooden architect.

“Eh, close enough,” Luke pulled the back of my shirt, silently telling me to follow him. It wouldn’t be hard to find the kitchen by the way the smell cascaded each hall, making the house feel homer than ever.

As I stepped foot into the dining area, I saw Alex finding a plate in a cabinet and setting it at the table.

“Mr. Wilson out of town,” Heather muttered, filling in the small blanket she assumed I had.

“You know what that means!”

Each boy seemed to jump over this news, which was odd. Who wanted their parents out of town?

“Spaghetti night!”

The boys seemed even more excited, taking their seats with giant smiles on their faces. I said nothing, still taking in the family photos of the happy family and the gorgeous china.

“I think we’ve overwhelmed her,” Alex whispered, not quite enough but still light.

“I just didn’t expect this,” I didn’t know how to explain it but it was weird eating a meal at a table with people, I hadn’t done it in so long.

“Well expect it now,” Luke but back, patting the seat between Alex and him, Reggie and Bobby on the other side with a spot for Bobby’s mom.

“Ready!”

I had barely made it to my seat when Luke was pulling me down, smiling widely as Bobby’s mother walked out with a giant bowl of noodles in one hand and sauce in the other.

“Bobby dear, grab the breadsticks,” she called as she placed the bowls in the center of the table. Bobby wasted no time as he hurried to the kitchen for the breadsticks.

“You’ll love this,” Luke smiled, reaching for the silverware in the noodle bowl. I was shocked when he grabbed my plate, placing food on it, instead of his own.

“Heather taught me how to be a gentleman,” Luke spoke as he gave my plate back, sending a wink my way in the process.

I hide my smile with my hand, turning to look the other way to come face to face with Alex.

“You need to try it first, band rule,” he pointed around the table as all eyes waited for me to dive into the food. I decided not to wait, as Luke looked like he was going to cry if he didn’t eat soon, rolling some around on my fork before I brought it to my lips.

The noodles were perfectly done and the sauce absorbed itself perfectly. I could taste a hit of basil and maybe some pepper as the food melted on my tongue. I smiled as I chewed, giving a big thumbs up once I finally swallowed.

“Yes!”

Each boy didn’t waste time, reaching for breadsticks and carrots, laughing about lord knew what as they did so.

“So (Y/N),” Luke turned to me halfway through the night, spaghetti sauce smeared across his chin.

“-How does it feel to officially join Sunset Curve,” he smiled goofily, doing his best not to show he was speaking with food in his mouth.

“I’m not a part of Sunset Curve, remember?”

“Well you’re the official choreographer of Sunset Curve,” he spoke back, picking up a breadstick and smashing it in his mouth.

I only laughed, not worried about it too much. I was on the band until the battle then we’d move on. It’d be nice to be friends with the guys but that didn’t mean we’d still talk.

It would be fun while it lasted.

“I have a mason jar in my mailbox, Milo says you need an official one,” Heather spoke, smiling widely as I did my best to keep my drink down.

“That’s not necessary,” I tried to argue but Alex placed a hand on my shoulder.

“You can’t get out of this one,” he gave me a straight face but as soon as I started laughing he followed behind me.

“I’m sorry,” I laughed along, trying to look back at Alex but every time we did we started laughing again.

“Is there an inside joke I’m not getting?”

Reggie’s words caused Alex and me to laugh harder, trying my best to calm my nerves for the first time that day.

“They are going to rise against us now,” Bobby spoke up, standing from the table dramatically and moving to get something from the kitchen. Alex bumped his shoulder with mine, making my nerves from earlier disappear completely.

The dinner went on with laughs and jokes, which made me feel truly like a member of the band.

“I should really head home,” I spoke as Bobby took my plate to be washed off, placing the napkin that Luke put on my lap as a joke back on the table.

“Let me walk you,” Luke stood up beside me, handing his plate to Reggie who followed Bobby into the kitchen.

“I’m fine.”

“What if you fall?”

I rolled my eyes, waving to Heather who was in the kitchen, thanking her for the nice home-cooked meal.

“I’m not dancing, I can walk perfectly fine,” I said my goodbye’s, Alex giving a quick side hug with his before I walked to the door with Luke trailing after me.

“But-“

“I’m fine,” I spoke for the millionth time that day, smiling over my shoulder and I left the warm house to the cold outdoors.

“Fine, if you fall scream,” Luke crossed his arms, watching me walk down the stairs to the long driveway.

“Will do!”

I have a thumbs up over my shoulder, not daring to look back as I made my way down the driveway to the sideway.

“I mean really yell,” his voice echoed back, making a laugh boil over to the night sky above me.

“I’ll scream bloody murder just for you Patterson!”



the 1994 battle of the performers taglist:

@gia-kerks @notwonder-woman @poisoned-girl @phantompogues @dovesgrangers





[hidden-otaku-stuff]

You’re a What?

tw: cursing

Word count: 3.8k

Pairing: Atsumu Miya x gymnastics fem!reader

Genre: angst, fluff

AN: Happy birthday Atsumu! 

“Oi, ‘Tsumu, you got a visitor!” Ginjima hollered, smirking at the entrance.

“Damn it Gin!” You whined, crossing your arms. “I was tryna’ scare him!” 

“Can’t scare me, doll,” Atsumu grinned, running towards you. “Hey baby.”

“Hey ‘Tsum.” You step on your tip-toe, pressing your lips to his cheek. “Brought you a bento.” 

“You’re the best!” Atsumu cheered, taking the cloth-wrapped package.

“Got anythin’ for me, (Nickname)?” 

You chuckle, nodding. “Oi!” Atsumu protested as you handed Osamu a wrapped box as well. “I don’t feel special anymore.” The older twin pouts, crossing his arms. 

“I made yours special, ‘Tsum. There’s extra tuna in it,” you roll your eyes, amusement glinting in your eyes. “Auntie asked me to bring ‘Samu a bento though.” You step forward, greeting the rest of the team with a wide smile. “And I brought some honey lemon slices for y’all too.” 

“You’re the best (Nickname).” Suna grinned, greedily taking the jar from you. 

“Oi, you better share that,” Ginjima protested, heading over to Suna to try and swipe the jar. 

“Don’t forget your manners.” Kita said, fixing his team-mates with a hard stare as he plucked the jar away from Suna and Gin. He turned back to you, bowing slightly. “Thank you (Name)-chan.” 

The rest of the team chimed in their thanks. Heat crept up your neck as you waved them dismissively. “It’s fine! It’s the least I can do. Thanks for takin’ care of ‘Tsum.” Atsumu snaked an arm around your waist, nuzzling into your neck.

“You’re too nice to these scrubs,” he grumbles. 

You pat his cheek affectionately. “I’ll see you later! Have a good practice.” You bow, wriggling out of Atsumu’s grip before heading out of the gym with one final wave.

“What’d you do to catch someone like (Name)?” Osamu complained, glaring at his brother. 

“Did you bribe her?” Suna added mischievously. 

“No!” Atsumu whined, crossing his arms. “She likes me for me.”

Ginjima snorted, “sure thing. Whatever you say, Atsumu.” 

Kita cleared his throat. “Let’s get back to practice now, shall we?” 

****

The table filled with laughter and exasperated sighs as the twins started arguing once more. “Can we just get along for once,” Ginjima grumbles, picking at his bento. 

“If you ignore them, we can,” Suna retorts, disinterestedly observing the two as they rally insults and comments.

“Tsumu, ‘Samu, eat your lunches.” 

“But-” Atsumu attempted to protest only to be immediately shut down by your stern look. “Fine, but this isn’t over, ‘Samu.”

Osamu rolled his eyes, turning back to his food and eating. “How’s classes been for you guys?” You ask, looking at the rest of the table only to be interrupted by your phone. Your eyes narrowed as you looked at the notification, the corner of your mouth twitching. “On second thought, I have to go.” 

“What, already? You haven’t even finished your lunch, babe,” Atsumu’s brows furrowed as you stood up, gathering your stuff.

You send him an apologetic look, “I’ll eat later. Bye guys!” With one final wave, you disappear out of the dining hall. Suna raises an eyebrow as he watches you leave, biting his tongue from a scathing comment. He was sure it wasn’t anything serious, but it was definitely unusual to say the least. Since you had started dating Atsumu, you had never left lunch early. Nor had you ever left your food uneaten.

*****

“Hey, is everythin’ okay with you and (Name)?”

Atsumu looked up to Aran’s concerned face. “Yeah? Why wouldn’t it be?”

“We haven’t seen her around lately,” Suna stated bluntly. “Thought she broke up with you or something.” It had been three days since you’d left them suddenly at lunch, and your presence at lunch was sorely missed as you hadn’t returned since.

Atsumu’s jaw dropped, “No!” he spluttered. “She’s just been busy.”

“Hey babe?”

“What’s up?” Atsumu looked down at you while he walked by your side, escorting you home after a late practice. Osamu had gone home to the Miya household first.

“I’m not going to be able to visit practice for awhile.”

He frowns, pausing slightly as he surveys you. “Is everything okay?”

You flash him a smile, nodding. “Yeah! I just have some stuff to do after school for the next few weeks.”

Atsumu chews on his bottom lip, slowly nodding, “what kind of stuff?”

“Hey, didn’t you get invited to the All-Japan Intensive Youth Camp?”

His eyes lit up, nodding as he started swinging your intertwined hands once more. “Yeah I did! ‘Samu didn’t though.” You let out a small sigh of relief as he dives into the topic of volleyball and his twin. 

Atsumu’s brow furrowed. Were you just trying to distract him? 

“Busy?” Gin snorted. “Even when she’s busy, you still walk her home.” 

“What does she have to be busy with?” Osamu asked, leaning forward and stretching. “She isn’t in any clubs, is she?”

Atsumu frowned, “no.” 

Suna laid down onto the ground, playing on his phone. “She probably found someone better than Atsumu.” 

“Hey!” 

*****

Later that night, Atsumu found himself lying in bed wide awake. Beneath him, Osamu was snoring the night away. Atsumu rolled over, picking up his phone once more. 2 A.M. Still no ‘good night’ text from you. You had never missed a ‘good night’ text. Atsumu chewed on his bottom lip, Suna’s words coming back to haunt him.

“Are you sure she ain’t cheatin’ on you, Atsumu?” Suna asked, glancing up at Atsumu. “It’s pretty weird that she’s been ghostin’ you the past few days.”

“She hasn’t been ghostin’ me!” Atsumu protested. “She still sends me ‘good morning’, ‘good night’ texts.” 

“Bet you she’ll miss it tonight.” 

Gin frowned, looking between the group members. “Don’t be like that, Suna,” he chided. “(Nickname)’s a sweet girl. I don’t think she’d cheat on Atsumu.” 

“Yeah! I’m sure there’s an explanation about what’s going on.” 

Atsumu ended up laying in bed for another thirty minutes before exhaustion overwhelmed him. The next day, he woke up to no new text messages from you. He cursed under his breath. Could Suna be right? You guys weren’t having any issues. Or at least, none that he knew of. He tightened his resolve, searching for you as soon as he got to school. He popped into your classroom, only seeing your best friend.

“Hey, Aoi, have you seen (Name) ‘round?” 

The brunette looked up to Atsumu, shaking her head. “Sorry, Atsumu. She’s out again.”

“Do you know where she’s at?” 

Aoi shrugged, “(Nickname) just said she’d be out for the rest of the week. She didn’t tell me where she’d be.” 

Atsumu frowned, nodding. You hadn’t mentioned anything about a week of absences in the sparse texts he had received from you. “Thanks anyways,” he muttered, heading back to his classroom.

“Find her?” Suna asked, glancing up from his bento. Atsumu shook his head. “Wonder where’s she been.”

“Aoi said she’d be out for the rest of the week,” Atsumu groaned, slumping into his chair and staring at his own lunch.

Osamu raised an eyebrow. “The rest of the week? Doin’ what?”

“Fuck if I knew,” Atsumu grumbled. “She didn’t say anythin’ ‘bout it to me though.”

Suna frowned. As much as he was joking about you cheating, he didn’t actually want that to be true. He actually enjoyed your company. You were one of the few who didn’t force him to interact with you. 

Atsumu’s phone vibrated, causing him to brighten up.

(Name): Hey baby! Sorry for going MIA. I had to go to Tokyo for something. I won’t be back for the rest of the week. I love you so much, see you soon!

Atsumu frowned. Tokyo? What on Earth did you have to go to Tokyo for? The more he thought about it and asked around, the more questions surfaced. The fact that he didn’t even know what you were busy with made him feel like a really shitty boyfriend. He knows that he was constantly busy with volleyball, but you had always understood and he always let you know what was going on. But was that enough to cause distance between you two? Before you, he hadn’t considered dating because he was too committed to his sport. And yet, something had drawn him to you. With everything going on, he started wondering whether or not he truly knew you. After all, you would have told him, right? Had he not earned a right to know what was going on in your life? 

*****

“(Name)!” 

You turn, grinning. “Hey Tsum-Tsum!”

Atsumu stopped in front of you, panting slightly. He’d caught the sight of your hair and sprinted towards you. He couldn’t believe that you were here in front of him after a week of being in Tokyo. “Where have you been?”

You adjusted the duffel on your shoulder, “I told you, babe. I was in Tokyo.” 

“Why were you in Tokyo?”

You open your mouth to reply only for your phone to interrupt you. Your eyes widened as you looked at the notification. “I’m so sorry Tsum-Tsum, I’m actually supposed to be at the train station in a few minutes. I just came to pick up my homework.”

“Wait!” He protested, grabbing your arm.

“I promise, I’ll explain everything when I get back,” you reply, eyes softening at the desperation in his eyes. You press your lips to his cheek. “I’ll see you on Sunday.” 

His arms drop as you yank yourself free from his grip. Brown eyes watch as you sprint down the halls and outside the building. “Well?” Osamu asked, popping up beside him.

“Well what?”

Osamu rolled his eyes, grabbing his brother’s arm. “Let’s follow her and see where she’s goin’!”

“She said the train station?” Atsumu replied in a questioning tone as he sprinted after his brother. They both darted off campus, heads swiveling.

“There she is!” Osamu pants, pointing at your back. Both twins sprinted after you, ducking behind stores to hide whenever you glanced behind you. They watched as you pulled out your card, swiping into the station. Their eyebrows quirked up as they scrambled onto the same train as you. “Why’s she goin’ to Osaka?” Osamu muttered beside Atsumu as they sat a few rows behind you. You had your back to them, earphones in as you watched some type of videos on your phone. Osamu pulled on a cap, covering his gray hair. The twins pulled off their uniforms, taking turns to change into streetwear. 

“No idea,” Atsumu said, eyebrows furrowing. What could be so important that you were missing so much school for it? Why hadn’t you just talked to him? If you were riding a train, why couldn’t you just text him? He fought the urge to text you. His phone vibrated as Suna texted the group-chat.

Suna: Oi, Miya twins. Where the fuck are you guys? 

Atsumu: on a train

Suna: wtf why???

Osamu: we saw (Name) on-campus and she got on the train to Osaka. 

Gin: wait, you’re going to OSAKA right now??? What about practice?

Atsumu: uhhh cover for us!

Gin: Kita’s gonna kill ya

Suna: I can’t wait to watch that 😇

Osamu: oi suna stfu

Gin: you shoulda told us. We would’ve came with y’all

Atsumu: you guys just don’t wanna be in class right now

Suna: LOL auntie is going to KILL you if Kita doesn’t

Atsumu blanched, exchanging looks with Osamu. They really didn’t plan this out very well. They look up only to see you standing up, causing Osamu to shove Atsumu’s head down. Osamu carefully watches as you disappear into the restroom, reappearing and pulling on a white and red jacket. “Oi.”

“What?” Atsumu hissed.

“Is (Nickname) on a sports team or somethin’?”

Atsumu’s brow furrowed. “Not that I know of, why?” 

Osamu jerks his head towards you. “She’s got a national team jacket on.”

Atsumu’s head shot up, eyes narrowing at your form. “Huh.” They jump to their feet as you stand next to the entrance, waiting to disembark. The twins scramble off, watching as you make your way to transfer trains. They slipped in, taking their seats in the back once more as you sat near the doors. 

Suna: Oi Atsumu

Atsumu: what?

Suna: does (Name) do gymnastics?

Atsumu: what??

Suna sent a photo to the group-chat. 

Atsumu’s eyes widened as the photo loaded. Sure enough, there was a photo of you staring back at him wearing a sparkly red and gold leotard. You were holding a trophy, a gold medal around your neck as you waved. There was a black box underneath you with your name on it, as if taken from a screen-cap of the competition. “Holy crap,” he whispered. 

Gin: holy crap! You’re datin a gymnast???

Suna: not just any gymnast. Apparently she’s on the Olympic roster

Atsumu: WTF she never told me that!!

“What the fuck,” Atsumu muttered, forehead creased. “Why didn’t she tell me?”

Osamu shrugged, reading through some links. “Here’s a video,” he said, texting a youtube link into the groupchat. Atsumu tapped on the link, watching as his girlfriend did several flips, splits, and other aerobatic techniques for her floor routine. “She competes at nationals?” 

“Well if she’s an Olympian, that makes sense,” Osamu snorted, rolling his eyes. “Ah, looks like this is our stop, ‘Tsumu.” 

*****

“You’re an Olympian?!” Atsumu asked, running up to you just as you got off of the stage performing your routine.

“Tsum-Tsum! ‘Samu! What are you guys doin’ here?” Your eyes widened as you looked at your boyfriend and his twin. They didn’t even know you did competitions. How on Earth did they manage to sneak downstairs to the main stage anyways? 

“Findin’ out that my girlfriend does gymnastics. Not only that, that she’s good enough to be on the national team. And the Olympics? What the fuck?!” Atsumu hissed.

You flushed, scratching your neck. You were about to answer when the Olympic coach came by, grabbing your arm. “Hey (L.Name), you have to do some interviews. Talk to your fans later.”

“Oh! Okay.” You send the twins an apologetic look. “I’ll be right back, I promise I’ll explain everything,” you plead. 

Atsumu huffed, crossing his arms but nodding. After having been to major tournaments himself, he knew very well what needed to be done after competitions. He and Osamu stepped to the side, wandering the venue a bit. “Maybe I should’ve gotten flowers,” Atsumu said, scratching his neck. 

“Oi, don’t they normally sell flowers at the venues?” 

Atsumu’s eyes widened. “You’re right!” They wander around the hall a little longer, finding a booth of merchandise. Atsumu laughs rambunctiously, spying a t-shirt with your face on it. How had he never seen these before? He quickly queues up, purchasing one with the intention of messing with you the next time you guys hang out. Osamu rolls his eyes at his twin’s antics, but remains silent as he scans the hall for a food vendor. 

Just further down the hall, Atsumu spies the flower vendor. “I’m gonna go get (Nickname) some flowers,” he tells Osamu. “You can go ahead and find food.”

Osamu nods, disappearing into the crowd without another word.

Walking up to the booth, Atsumu blanches at the many options. Should he just get a classic bouquet of red roses? “Would you like to buy some flowers?” The sweet grandmother looked up at him, smiling. He chews his bottom lip, nodding slightly. She chuckles at his expression. “Confused on to what to get?” Another nod. “Who is it for?”

He clears his throat, cheeks dusted pink in embarrassment. Atsumu was confident in volleyball, that’s why he was so dedicated. He was confident in himself. But why was he so nervous and out of sorts whenever it came to you? “My girlfriend is competing today.”

“And you came out here to support her? You’re not from here, right?”

He shakes his head. “We’re from Hyogo.”

The vendor smiles, picking up a bundle of purple shobu, carefully wrapping them and handing him the bouquet with a kind smile. “Give her this.” 

Atsumu lets out a sigh of relief, expression lightening. “Thank you!”

He makes his way back to where he had run into you earlier, waiting patiently near the door for you to make your appearance once more. Atsumu didn’t have to wait long. Within ten minutes, a lithe body was flinging themselves onto him. “‘Tsum-Tsum!” You grin, wrapping your arms around him. “I can’t believe you’re here!”

Atsumu flushes, ear-tips turning cherry red as he hands her the bouquet of irises. “Here, I got you this.”

Your eyes widen, taking the bouquet delicately. “Atsumu, you really didn’t have to.”

He panics, noting the lilt to your voice as he grabs your shoulders. “Oh god, are you okay? Why are you cryin’?”

You shake your head, holding the flowers closer to you. “Do you know what these mean?”

Atsumu stops, looking down at the bouquet. “Would you be mad if I said no?”

Giggling, you shake your head harder. “You’re such a scrub, I swear. These mean ‘loyalty, good tidings, and good news’.”

He clears his throat, “yeah of course I knew that.”

“Whatever you say, Tsum-Tsum.” You tease, leaning up to give his cheek a kiss. “Thank you.”

Atsumu grabs your hand, trying to lead you out of the exhibition hall. “So what’s this competition for?” 

You glanced over at your boyfriend. “These are the qualifiers for the Toyota International.”

“The what?”

“It’s the international competition held in Toyota every year. Since I turned 16 last year, this is the first time I’m allowed to compete in it.”

“Holy crap, you’re an international star, babe!” 

You scoff, rolling your eyes. “You’re such a dork.” 

He throws his arm around you, pressing his lips to your forehead. “So how come you never told me?’

Shrugging, you zipped up your jacket. “You’re normally doing volleyball camps and stuff when I have competitions, so I felt bad inviting you when I knew you were busy training.” Atsumu swooped down, scooping up your duffel. “And well I mean, we weren’t really dating when I went to the Olympics, so I didn’t really feel like you needed to know at the time.”

“So who does know?”

“Just the faculty and Aya. I need their permission to leave campus and miss school,” you grin before a dark look shadowed your face. “I didn’t want the rest of school to know about it, otherwise there’d just be too much attention on me.”

“It wouldn’t have been that bad!” Atsumu protested.

You fix Atsumu with a hard stare. “Oh really? I already get enough attention from guys. What makes you think that they wouldn’t be even more obsessed with me if they knew?” You shivered. “They’d probably be as intense as your fan-girls.” Atsumu blanched, nodding slightly. He’d already fought off a decent number of guys. Him and the volleyball team. “Besides, everyone’s attention is on the volleyball team, so I can hide under the radar perfectly well!” Atsumu placed his hand on your waist, leading you towards the exit when some more reporters started heading your way. “Ah shit,” you muttered. “If we get photographed together, then everyone will know.”

“I’ll distract them.” Atsumu offered, pushing you to the side and walking directly towards the reporter. You grin at your boyfriend’s self-sacrifice - though you knew he’d secretly love the attention anyways - and ducked out the back entrance, switching your national jacket for an Inarizaki hoodie. As you straighten up, you slam into a hard chest.

“(Nickname)?” 

You glance up, eyes widening. “Hey ‘Samu! Was just wonderin’ where you were.” 

“Where’s ‘Tsumu?”

You point your thumb behind you. “Distractin’ the reporters for me.” 

Osamu hummed, eating another takoyaki before offering you a box. “Want some?”

“Yes please! I’m starving.” You took the box, joining Osamu as you guys waited outside the stadium. Your legs were swinging as you ate. 

“So, you’re an Olympian?”

You nodded, sipping your water. “And what of it?”

“‘Tsumu never knew?”

You scoff, rolling your eyes. “If I told Atsumu, the whole school would know the same day.” 

Osamu chuckled, shaking his head. “You ain’t wrong about that. The scrub loves to brag, especially ‘bout you.” Osamu pulls out a bag of chips from his bag, opening one under your quizzical gaze. “He really loves ya, y’know?” 

“Hmm?”

“He was stressin’ out this whole week. He thought he lost you or somethin’.”

Undoing your hair, you pull your hood over your head and slide some shades on as you spot some reporters skulking around. “I didn’t mean to. I was just so busy with everythin’, it was hard to keep in contact with anyone.” 

Osamu shrugs. “Just make sure you keep him updated from now on, yeah? Isn’t that what people do in relationships or whatever?” Osamu gazes out, waving to Atsumu who was just leaving the arena. “Your partner in a relationship is who you want to stand by you for life. It’s you against the world, right? Otherwise what is it all for?” He shrugs again. “Just food for thought.” You flash him a smile before you both stand, greeting Atsumu. “How was the reporters, ya scrub?”

Atsumu shrugged, “coulda been better. They were surprised to see me, kept asking me who I was here to support.” He eyed Osamu. “You didn’t get stopped?”

The younger twin just points at his hat. “I don’t go outta my way to get recognized like you do ‘Tsumu.” 

Atsumu grinned, throwing his arm around you. “I didn’t, but I had to protect my baby.”

Osamu pretends to retch, shoving his twin. “C’mon scrubs, we gotta get back to Hyogo.” 

The silver-haired twin leads the way as you and Atsumu slowly follow behind him, hands intertwining. “So, why were you in Tokyo?”

You shrug, “I had to do a week-long training camp with the Olympic coach. Had to prep for this competition, y’know?”

Atsumu hummed, squeezing your hand slightly. “How come you never practice back home?”

At this, you giggle, shaking your head. “I do, Tsum-Tsum.”

“What?” His eyebrows furrowed. He’d never noticed you going to practice or having obligations.

“There’s a gym a few streets away from campus. I meet my gymnastics coach there to practice. Or I’ll visit the dance studio on-campus and do my flexibility exercises there.” You shrug, giving him a good-natured smile. “What do you think I do during your practices anyways?”

“I dunno, miss me?”

You shove him. “You’re ridiculous.”

He chuckles. Just as you reach the train station, he turns to you fully. “Hey babe?”

Turning to face him, your head tilts. “What’s up?” 

“Promise me you’ll invite me to some of your competitions?” He hesitates, chewing on his bottom lip. “I feel like a real shitty boyfriend for not supportin’ you more.” 

Your expression softens. “I promise, Tsum-Tsum. No more secrets.”

“One more thing.” Atsumu comes to a full stop, unzipping his jacket with the cheesiest smile on his face. “What do you think of my shirt?”

*****

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[sandwichrin]

A Little into You (Junkyu x Reader) (Ch. 12)

Chapter 12 - Not likely.

Word count: 4.9k words

Genre: Fanfiction, PG13, Comedy, Romance.

A/N: Hi! Surprise! Chapter 12 is here! Thank you for all of you who have waited, and to my readers who never stop supporting me, i love you all so much! I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and have a great week ahead! ^^<3

“Awww nooo don’t leave yet Junkyu-aa. Y/n will be here any minute! I promise!”

You heard a familiar voice said as you made your way down the main hall of your floor.

You were almost reaching your front door when you noticed a few tall figures standing in front of your door.

You squinted your eyes to see who it was, and you were surprised to see the familiar faces that you’ve met last night.

You quickened your steps, wanting to reach there fast since you didn’t want your celebrity friends to be too exposed in the open, in case there are strange people lurking and wanting to get pictures of them.

“Nah, who cares if y/n comes back or not, I don’t need to see her anyways—”

Just as you reached right behind one of them, he had already turned around to see you, catching you by surprise when you notice it was none other than Junkyu.

“Y-y/n-“ Junkyu stuttered in all of a sudden, surprised to see you as well.

“Oh? Y/n! Hi!” Doyoung waved his hand at you, greeting you.

You nodded at him and looked at the four of them questioningly.

“Hi…Why…are you guys here?” You asked.

“Uh…” Junkyu couldn’t think of what to answer you, especially when you’re right in front of him.

“Hello y/n my favourite bestie in this world!” Jihoon said cheerfully, responding to your question.

Your eyes, that were on Junkyu earlier, shifted to Jihoon. You narrowed your eyes at him and eyed him suspiciously.

“What do you want, Jihoon?”

Jihoon placed a hand on his chest, acting like he was hurt by you, “Ouch, really? No ‘hi Jihoon my handsome and talented bestie’?”

Your lips turned upward slightly, almost smiling at Jihoon’s lame response to you.

“Ahh you’re smiling,” Jihoon said happily.

You cleared your throat and shook your head at him. “No, I’m not.”

You paused your conversation with them for a while to quickly glance around your surroundings.

You were worried again if there was anyone watching you all—yes, you’re that paranoid.

Without saying anything further, you hurried towards your front door and keyed in your combination lock quickly.

You stepped inside your house and gestured your friends to enter inside quickly as well.

Your friends, seeing you look all worried, hurriedly entered without any questions.

Shutting the door behind them as soon as they all entered, you took off your shoes.

“Okay, whew, you all can take your shoes off now,” you said as you pulled off your heels from your feet.

The rest followed suit, taking off their shoes as well.

You stepped into your living room and placed your tote bag onto the floor beside your two-seater sofa.

Turning around to the four of them that looked a family of penguins just standing in a row, staring at you, you couldn’t help but snicker watching them look at you like that.

“Why are you guys staring at me like that? It’s funny,” you said, half smiling.

“Aah, well, Jihoon here,” Hyunsuk said as he pointed at Jihoon who was beside him. “Jihoon wanted to talk to you,”

You pulled the hairband you left on your wrist and tied up your hair into a bun. You nodded at him. “Okay? And this is important? Seeing you chose to come here instead of I don’t know, texting or asking me through phone call?”

Hyunsuk picked on his bracelet, not sure how to answer you.

Junkyu nudged Jihoon’s elbow, signalling his best friend that this would be the best time to ask you what he came here for. Jihoon scowled at him back.

You moved towards your kitchen, feeling thirsty.

The rest of them continued watching you, still not saying anything.

You grabbed a bottle of sparkling peach juice from the refrigerator, taking big sip from it before turning your attention to them again.

“Are you all okay? You all are…strangely quiet…” you ask, now concerned about them.

“I…uh…” Jihoon started to say something.

“Oh no, did you get in trouble for real this time, Jihoon??” you interrupted him.

“No, no! I- uhh,”

“Aigoo, hyung! Just say it!” Junkyu spoke up this time, slightly impatient with how slow this conversation is going.

“Say what?” you asked.

“No…no it’s nothing, it’s stupid,” Jihoon grinned sheepishly at you.

He turned his heel and gestured the rest to leave with him. “Well, it was nice seeing you, y/n—”

“Yah! You didn’t drag us here to just say hi to y/n and then leave!” Junkyu held onto his friend’s sleeve before he could leave.

You shot them a weird look. “Look guys, I’m tired out from work…and I just got back from a staff dinner so imagine the amount of human interaction I had to make tonight…and you all are really just acting weird right now so—”

Kruuuuunggg.

You stopped talking.

“Okay but what was that?” You asked.

“Beats me, that wasn’t me,” Hyunsuk said.

Your eyes travelled to Junkyu and Jihoon, and the both of them shook their heads furiously.

“Huh.”

“I-it’s me….” Doyoung answered your question, his head down, eyes looking at his feet.

“Oh?” Hyunsuk exclaimed. “Are you hungry, Doyoungie?”

Doyoung’s eyes wouldn’t look at all of you, since he felt embarrassed that his stomach growled that loud and while you were talking too!

You smiled a little. You let out a soft sigh and headed towards your cupboard to take out 3 packs of instant rice.

“Come here y’all.”

“W-what, why?” Hyunsuk asked, confused as to why you’re suddenly so busy taking out cooking appliances in your kitchen.

“Duhh, I’m not gonna let you all starve. Now come here, help me out,” you chuckled.

“Okay~” Jihoon was fast enough to release Junkyu’s grip from his arm and was instantly beside you in the kitchen.

Junkyu, Hyunsuk and Doyoung too, made their way to you and Jihoon.

“Gosh, why didn’t you all tell me you all hadn’t eaten?? You kids really…” you nagged halfway.

                                                                *

 The four of them were seated at your four-seater dining table, while you stood nearby your kitchen cabinet not far beside them, your back leaning against the kitchen counter.

“Thank you for the meal!” Jihoon exclaimed loudly before he starts eating.

You watched as the four of them ate the fried rice that you made earlier. You wondered to yourself why they came over here today.

“You sure you don’t want some, y/n?” Hyunsuk asked, as he spooned some rice.

You smiled at him and shook your head, “Nah, it’s fine. I had dinner already,”

“You sure? This is actually pretty good. Your seasoning is on point too,” Doyoung asked this time.

Still smiling, you shook your head at him.

Hyunsuk gestured you to come near him with his hand.

You walked up towards him.

“Yes, Hyunsuk?”

Hyunsuk spooned some of the rice again and lifted the spoon towards you.

“Try some, you don’t know how much this fried rice tastes like home, y/n”

“Guys, it’s just fried rice. Chill. Don’t over-exaggerate this, please,” you chuckled.

Hyunsuk shook his head and he still insisted on you to taste the rice that you cooked.

You lowered your head to his spoon and opened your mouth as Hyunsuk fed you the fried rice with his spoon.

You chewed on your rice.

“Hmm. Tastes like the usual fried rice I make,” you said.

Then you noticed all of them staring at you and Hyunsuk.

“What? I’m just saying the truth—”

“N-no it’s not that. You just ate…food…from Hyunsuk-hyung’s spoon…” Doyoung said.

You looked at him weirdly. “ookay…?”

Jihoon and Junkyu too, were both staring at you and Hyunsuk. Their mouths slightly agape, seeing how casual the both of you are with each other.

“What’s wrong with sharing food?” You asked again, since you still don’t understand why they’re making a big deal out of this.

You turned your head to Hyunsuk, “What’s with them?”

“I-I don’t know,” Hyunsuk replied you. But then his cheeks were slightly flushed. Hyunsuk blushed to himself when he realised that he had just fed you with his spoon.

“Ookay…since you all are always weird, I won’t question any further,” you said as you raised both your hands and backed away from the table. You headed towards the kitchen sink to wash your hands.

The rest of them continued eating since they were hungry. That is, all of them except for one person.

Junkyu spooned the rice and lifted it to his mouth. His eyes stared at your back that was facing them.

Spooning the rice into his mouth, he chewed on it slowly. Why does he feel like something was off when he saw Hyunsuk casually feeding you?

                                                                 *

 “Yeahh thanks for the hearty meal, y/n,” Hyunsuk said, his eye smile forming as he grinned at you.

You nodded at him, smiling as well.

Jihoon extended his arm and pats your head. “Well, we’ll be going now. Don’t want to bother you on a working night too,”

“Please, you’re the one that showed up of nowhere here, Jihoon,” you snickered at him.

Jihoon grinned at you, “Sshhh you’re the one that gave me your passcodes anyways,”

“Yeahh but you could’ve entered right away earlier too, right? But you didn’t,”

“Hey, I won’t trespass your house like that okay,”

“Yeah, sure,” you rolled your eyes at him, noting to yourself the way he trespassed your house last time.

Doyoung bowed slightly at you and thanked you as well, “Thank you, y/n,”

“No problem,”

You turned to Junkyu and you saw him not looking in your direction.

Jihoon noticed your eyes staring at Junkyu so he spoke up, “Yah, Kim Junkyu, say thank you to y/n for cooking for us today,”

“H-hey no, it’s fine. It’s not necessary,” you said.

“Thanks,” Junkyu muttered before bowing slightly at you and heading towards your front door. He did all these without even looking at you.

You watched him put on his shoes.

Why is he acting so cold today…? You wondered to yourself.

“Well, we’ll be going now! Bye, y/n,” Hyunsuk said, his smile still on his face.

You smiled back at him and nodded. “Bye y’all,”

You escorted them towards your door and closed the door as soon as they all left.

Once the door shut behind the four of them, Doyoung turned to Jihoon.

“Hyung, I thought we came here to ask y/n if she was the…ghost…you saw today,”

“Ah! I forgot to ask her that!”

“Maybe if you all focused for once and not waste time chatting her up about your day, we wouldn’t have gotten distracted,” Junkyu mumbled.

Hyunsuk looked at him, confused. “Hey, are you okay, Junkyu? You seem…a little…well, you know,”

“Whatever, I just want to get home now,” he said as he starts making his steps towards the elevators.

Hyunsuk turned to Jihoon and looked at his friend questioningly. Jihoon shrugged back at him.

“Oh, and—” Junkyu stopped in his tracks, “if you do have any ridiculous missions like this again, which involves her, I don’t want to be a part of it, okay?” He said before continuing his walk towards the elevators.

“What’s wrong with Junkyu?” Doyoung whispered at his hyungs.

                                                                *

 (Next Monday)

You read the text from Soomin, telling you that she had arrived at YG’s building and that she was waiting for the rest of the team to arrive.

You were outside your apartment building, kneeling on the ground, as you watched the family of cats eat up the food you poured out into their bowls.

“I’m sorry for being busy lately. I’ll try to make sure you all get fed always, okay?” you said to the cats who were busy munching away, not even responding to what you were saying.

You checked your watch this time, noting that now would be the right time to leave for work, considering your work station this month to be a little closer to your home.

Standing up and patting your clean, cream-coloured blouse down, you fixed your bag on your shoulder and said goodbye to the cats before leaving.

                                                 ��              *

 (YG Entertainment Building)

You fumbled through your bag, searching for the access card that was given to you last week.

“Where is it? I know I put it in here last night,” you muttered to yourself, your hands still going through the things in your black tote bag.

Without realising, a man walked up beside you and was about to scan through the scanner beside you. He placed his access card near the scan bar, but then he stopped scanning halfway when he saw you looking all flustered with your bag.

He approached you slowly.

“Hey,”

You stopped going through your bag and raised your head to look at the voice that spoke to you.

There, in front of you, stood a cute, bright-eyed boy with his semi-curly light brown curly hair staring back at you.

“O-oh. I’m so sorry, was I blocking the scanner?” You responded quickly, backing away from where you were standing before.

“Oh, no no!” He raised his hand at you, telling you that you weren’t at fault for anything. “I just, saw you here. A-and I was wondering if you need any help,” he added.

“Ah. Ahh…Well, I was searching for my access card in my bag that’s all!” you said as you grinned at him.

“Ahh. Alright then,” he said.

You smiled at him and gave him a nod before continuing with your quest of searching for your access card in your bag.

The man was about to leave when something caught his eye again.

“Oh? Isn’t that it? The one around your neck?” He said as he points at the cardholder that hung on your lanyard.

You lifted your head again and your eyes travelled to where he was pointing at.

And right there, hung around your neck, was your brand-new access card to the building.

“Oh…”

Your hand reached towards it and you pulled it out of the holder of your lanyard. It surely is your access card.

You cleared your throat. “Uh, t-thank you,”

You hurriedly head towards the scanner in front of you to scan your card.

Beepbeep.

“Oh? That doesn’t sound right.” You said to yourself, remembering that when you scanned it last week, it only beeped once and the gate opened right away for you to enter.

You tried to scan it again. Beepbeep!

Your eyes widened in fear. You looked around to see if there was anyone who might grow suspicious of you since you had failed to scan your access card twice.

Feeling nervous, you told yourself to try one more time.

Your hand trembled slightly as you held your card and scanned your card again swiftly at the scan bar.

Beepbeepbeep!

You almost jumped out of your skin due to the loud beep from the scanner.

You heard a chuckle from behind you and you turned around to see the same man from earlier, his face amused with what was happening to you.

You felt your face burn up from embarrassment. You had no idea he was still behind you and watching you all this while!

“Great, my first day here and I’m already acting like a clown,” you muttered to yourself.

The man approached you again.

“You shouldn’t scan it too fast like that,” he said.

You blinked in confusion at him. “I’m sorry?”

“You should scan it slowly,” he said.

Your eyebrows raised a little. You eyed the card in your hand and slowly tapped it against the scan bar.

Beep! The gate opened for you.

You walked through it.

You felt relief wash over you since you were glad that you didn’t have to spend any more time at the damn scan machine.

You were halfway turning around to thank the man who helped you when you were caught by surprise as he was already beside you.

“Oh my god! Don’t do that!” Your voice raised a pitch, clearly surprised that he was already standing beside you by now. Your hand was placed against your chest, patting it to calm your surprised heart.

The man smiled at you and bowed slightly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,”

You shook your head, hand still patting your chest.

“Ah, but I wanted to ask you this,”

Your eyes focused on him this time. “What is it?”

“I’ve never seen you around here. Are you new?”

“Oh? Oh no! I-I’m actually with the PEWA Group from down the block. Erm, my team and I are assigned to work with your company’s staff for a month here,” you explained.

He nodded back at you. “Ahh, I see. Well,” he held out his hand towards you, offering a handshake. “I’m Chani, one of the interns here,”

You extended your hand to shake his and you smiled awkwardly at him, not sure how else to respond to him.

“Ah, nice to meet you, Chani…I’m y/n,” you said, after silently exchanging handshakes with him.

You felt your phone buzz in your bag and you checked the notifications.

“Oh, I have to go now, my team leader is looking for me,”

You bowed at him and hurried towards the escalators not far in front of you.

You stopped in your tracks to turn around again. “Oh, Chani?” You called out to him.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for the help with the scanner just now!”

“No problem. I’ll see you around, y/n!” he said as he waved at you.

You smiled at him and nodded before running off in your heels.

                                                                *

(Lunchtime, YGE Building)

“Kim Junkyu~” Jihoon cooed as his head peeked through the studio room his friend was in.

Junkyu was just switching the keyboard switch off when he saw his best friend’s head peeking on him.

Junkyu chuckled at his friend’s cute behaviour. “What is it, Jihoon?”

“Ah, I see you’re done with your practice,” he said as he pushed the door open wider this time.

Junkyu nodded back at him.

“It’s lunchtime. Wanna get some food? The rest said they’ll be at the cafeteria to get us some seats,”

Junkyu smiled at Jihoon. He had always felt grateful to have a friend like Jihoon in his life. Someone who always checks up on him, who made sure he has his meals and not skip them. Sure, they have small disputes at times but he knew they were all never serious about it.

Junkyu picked up his Fila jacket beside him and stood up from his chair. “Let’s go,”

 (Still lunchtime, YGE Cafeteria)

 “We’ll show you around the building after lunch,” Bomin, who was in charge of working with your team, said to everyone who was lining up to grab the lunch prepared by the YGE’s cafeteria.

Everyone in your team including you nodded at this.

Soomin, who was in front of you in-line, leaned behind towards you and whispered at you, “Did you know? The staff here get to eat free meals twice a day from this cafeteria,”

“Oh? Really?” you asked, amazed by the treatment the staff of this company get.

Soomin nodded in response to your question. “Oh, but lucky for us, we’re getting free meals as well for this whole month since we’re working here for the time being,” she beamed happily at you.

This made you smile at her. “That is…so cool,” was what you could only say to express how amazed and excited you were to work there.

Soomin focused back on focusing her food from the workers there and you too, eyed the menu to see what you want to have.

                                                             *

 “Come sit with me?” Soomin offered towards you once the both of you had gotten your plates of food.

Your eyes looked in the direction of the table she was gesturing to, and you felt your stomach do a flip. There were so many important people sitting at her table already, and not to mention, her best friend Bomin was there too.

You felt timid enough that you were someone new in the team and you knew if you do agree to sit with her at her table, it would be kind of rude of you not to speak to any of them anyways. You knew yourself well and you knew that you needed more time before you could get used to being casual around your other teammates.

You pursed your lips and smiled at her, a sorry smile that is.

“I…uh, I think I’ll pass. I actually prefer sitting in the balcony,” you said as you pointed at the door not far behind you that leads to the balcony.

Soomin eyed the door. Then she looked back at you. “Okay. But if you want company, I’ll be right here, okay?”

You smiled at her. You were grateful that she understood you well at this point.

The both of you parted ways and you head straight towards the door that led to the balcony you visited last week.

                                                               *

 “Wow, there’s many people here compared to usual. Do you think they’re celebrating something?” Jihoon said to his best friend the moment he stepped into the cafeteria.

Junkyu shrugged at his friend. He looked around to look for their other friends but they don’t seem to be anywhere in sight.

“Hey, where are the rest? I thought they were gonna save seats?” Junkyu asked Jihoon who was busy looking around as well.

“Yeah, I don’t see them around either,” Jihoon said. He took out his phone from his pocket and dialed on Jaehyuk’s number.

 Phonecall Conversation:

Jihoon: Hey, Jaehyuk, I thought we’re all meeting up at the cafeteria?

Jaehyuk: Ah, hyung! Yeah, we are.

Jihoon: Oh? But I don’t see any of you here? There’s only Junkyu and me here.

Jaehyuk: Ah that! We were there earlier but the staff from level 5 were somewhat bringing other people from another company over so the line was too long for us to wait to get our food, hyung. So we decided to just buy some ramen from the convenience store downstairs.

Jihoon: Ahh, so they were from another company? No wonder the cafeteria looks more crowded than usual.

Jaehyuk: Yeah.

Jihoon: Oh? So you’re all down there? Even the kids?

Jaehyuk: Nope, just the 5 of us here. But I texted the kids that we’re getting food from the convenience store so they can head straight here once they come back from school.

Jihoon: Hmmm…Oh! Why don’t we sit in the balcony? I’m pretty sure the other staff here prefer indoors so the balcony should be free for us.

Jaehyuk: Okay! Sounds good! I’ll let the rest know. Oh, and hyung! What can I get for you and Junkyu hyung?

Jihoon: Nah, it’s fine. We’ll get food from the cafeteria. The line isn’t that long anymore anyways.

Jaehyuk: Okay hyung~ See you both in a bit!

End of Phonecall.

                                                                  *

 (YGE Cafeteria/Balcony Section)

 “Hey, you! Scanner girl!” you heard a voice call out from behind you.

You turned your head and saw the guy from this morning. What was his name again? Changi? Chani?

You blinked a couple times, your hand still holding the sandwich that you were just about to bite on before you heard him call you.

Chani chuckled seeing your confused state. With his food tray in his hand, he approached you and placed the tray in front of you. His hand rested on the chair opposite you.

“Can I sit here?” he said with a grin on his face.

You eyed him up and down before reluctantly nodding.

Chani pulled the chair out and sat down, facing you. You ignored him again and focused on biting your sandwich.

Chani, seeing that you weren’t much of a talker, he decided to start a conversation with you.

“So, y/n, how old are you?”

You placed your sandwich down onto your plate. Your mouth still chewing on the huge bite of sandwich that you took just now, Chani waited eagerly as you stared at him.

After swallowing your food, you grabbed your water bottle and took a long sip from it.

Again, you notice Chani was still waiting for your answer.

You narrowed your eyes at him. “Is this what you do here? Interrogate people you’ve just met?”

“Yikes, you’re in a bitter mood I see. You were friendlier this morning,”

You sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m just a bit drained from all the talks we had in the meeting room today,” you apologised, feeling sorry that you had accidentally lashed out at this poor guy.

“Puh-lease, it’s only been half a day, y/n. Besides, you’re gonna get more tired out later once they start giving you the tour of the building. It’s big I tell ya,”

“I can tell,” you smirked. Obviously, the building was big, you remembered your first visit last week, too. You had a hard time searching for the restroom.

“Wait a minute-“ you said as you realised something.

Chani was spooning his soup into his mouth when you stopped him.

“How…did you know that my next schedule was the building tour??”

Chani put his spoon down and scoffed loudly. “Really? You’re asking me this??”

“Yeah, duh,”

Chani lets out another scoff. He placed his hand against his chest and showed a pained look. “Oh my god y/n! I was literally in the same meeting room as you the whole morning!”

You covered your mouth with your hand and gasped loudly, “NO WAY!”

“Yeah!! I really was!”

“But, you’re not from the logistics team that we’re tutoring!”

“Y/n….I’m an intern here. It doesn’t matter from what team I’m from, I need all the exposure and services offered by this company,” he stated matter-of-factly.

“Hmm…makes sense.” You took another swig at your water bottle.

“You didn’t think I was stalking you, were you?” he asked, a smirk now plastered on his face.

You rolled your eyes at him and leaned back into your chair. “Duh, how did you know I was having lunch here??”

“Okay that one I admit, I was keeping an eye on you,” he grinned.

You shook your head at him.

“Hey, what’s your deal and being alone anyways?”

“What’s wrong with liking solidarity?” you shot him back.

“Yeah, but you seemed close with that team leader of yours,”

You kept quiet for a bit. “Well,” you said. “We’re kind of close, but you know, she’s a people person and I…I’m not that good with crowds. It doesn’t make me feel that much comfortable too, being in a room full of people,”

Chani listened and watched as your eyes looked away from his as you explained yourself.

He nodded slightly. “Okay, I understand I guess,”

Your eyes looked back at his. “Okay,”

Chani gave you a smile, his bright eyes twinkling at you. “It’s okay, I got you, homie,”

You bursted out laughing, seeing him use the term homie towards you.

“Ew, look at you, making it seem like we’re close friends and all,” you said in annoyance, yet you were smiling.

“Hey, one thing about Chani you don’t know is that—Chani gets close with everybody,” he said proudly.

You shook your head again at him. You grabbed onto your sandwich again to continue eating it when suddenly you saw Chani standing up in front of you.

“Hyung! Hi!” Chani greeted whoever it was behind you happily.

“Ah, Chani! Heyyy I didn’t know you like having lunch outside too,” the voice said.

Chani grinned at this. “Nah, I’m just here to accompany my friend here. She likes it here,”

“Ah, she has good taste in places then,” you heard the voice complimenting you.

“I guess so,” Chani said, his eyes now looking at you while you continued chewing on your sandwich, not bothered by his conversation with his friend.

“Ah, hyung, this is y/n,” Chani added as he got up from his seat and pulled you to turn to face his friend.

“Whoa, Chani—” you said, your mouth still chewing on your food.

Your eyes met the brown orbs that widened when they saw yours.

“Oh?” You said, half muffled since you still had food in your mouth.

“Look, y/n! Aren’t you glad we’re friends? I told you I’m close with everybody here,” Chani said, grinning.

You swallowed your food (finally), and tilt your head slightly.

“I think I’m seeing things, Chani,”

“Oh? No you’re not! I’m friends with the Treasure members here! This is Jihoon!” he said happily.

You turned your head back to the two guys who were staring at you and Chani.

They looked like they’ve seen ghosts, you thought to yourself.

“J-junkyu aa…I t-told you didn’t I?” Jihoon stuttered, his eyes still staring at you.

Junkyu stayed silent. Not sure if he was seeing things as well at this point.

Chani looked around at the three of you. “Okay but why are you all staring at each other like that…?” he asked, confused as to what was happening now.

You broke your gaze from the two men in front of you and turned to Chani. “Oh, nothing, it’s just—”

Before you could continue your sentence, you heard a loud scream.

“AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH,” Jihoon screamed out loud as he headed towards the cafeteria door.

Junkyu immediately grabbed his best friend and covered his mouth with his own hand.

“Oh my god Jihoon, what got into you??” You asked him, your voice slightly raised, concerned about him.

“Yeah, luckily the door was closed! Imagine the whole floor hearing your screams, people might think that you’re possessed or something!” Junkyu added.

“Whoa. Hold on, you all know each other??” Chani asked, his face surprised to see you talking to Jihoon so casually.

 To be continued…