#and now i’m gonna see my cousin again in like a month and a half

[roaringroa]

i feel like i’m going insane like this is going too well

[boo8008]

Three Months - Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto x Fem!Reader

Prologue | Chapter 01: Quadriller | Chapter 02: Mince

Notes: Its been one year since The Bear's soft open, and with everything running smoothly, Carmen's lost in his thoughts, until the final table of the night is seated.

Warnings: angst | fluff | ghosting mention | mentions of suicide | language | mental health | pining | unrequited love????? | substances (alc & weed) | overdose | yelling | grief | descriptions of panic attacks| eventual smut

Notes: This is my first time really writing so let me know what you think, I'm probably gonna do more just for me. If there's something I should add/remove from the tags please let me know. I hope you enjoy :)

A year after their soft open, The Bear is like a well oiled machine, working perfectly as Richie calls out the orders and their corresponding tables. Carmen’s on auto pilot as he works, doing his best to not think about where he was this time last year: breaking down in the walk-in and subsequently breaking up with Claire. If you can even call it a break up, he still isn't sure if they were actually dating. 

He’s pulled from his thoughts as Fak enters again announcing the final table of the night was just seated. Almost from memory Richie calls out your name and party of one, doing more than trowing Carm from his thoughts; practically gut-punching him through the thick metal wall of the walk-in with memories of New York, not the asshole of an executive chef he worked for but of the calm and blissful three months he had from December to February with you. 

Before his life got uprooted. 

Before The Beef. 

Before Mikey…

He’s brought back as Richie yells at him before he looks up at him, looking at his face.

“Cousin, you good?”

“I’m fine.”

“You don't look fine, chef.”

“I’m fine.” Carmen insists again.

Richie rolls his eyes as he returns to calling out orders for a moment.

“You look like your gonna throw up,” Sydney mutters.

“I’m fucking fine, Jesus fuck,” Carmen snaps. Stoping his task as he looks up to Sydney then Richie, whose still scribbling something down.

“Take five chef.” Richie says, still not looking up.

“Richie, I said-”

“It wasn't a request Carm.” Richie finally looks up at him, ever sense that test night a year ago, and when Richie started wearing suits, hes been more final in his input. Telling and suggesting and researching rather than just complaining. Fuck he even learned to do more prep properly to help out on the busier nights. Why Richie even stayed after that night he isn’t sure, the shit he said was fucked. He wouldn't have blamed him, Syd, or anyone else for walking out on him if they did. 

“Syd take over for Carm, Tina for Syd, and Alex for Tina; Carm needs a sec.” If the uniformed call of “Yes Chef” from the kitchen doesn't do it, the sudden movement of the kitchen to function without him more than solidifies it. Carmen’s taking five wether he wants to or not.

Not wanting a repeat of a year ago, Carm takes to the office instead, seeing Sugar seated at the desk looking at paperwork, all shes been relegated to now that shes just had little Mikey. A name Carmen was surprisingly happy to approve of when Pete brought it up to the two of them, asking if it was okay. Nat had nearly bawled her eyes out thanks to the combination of pregnancy hormones and the normal grasp she had on her emotions compared to Carmen.

“You look like your gonna throw up,” she says, glancing up from the papers before her. A half hearted fuck off is all she gets in responce as Carmen flops back on the soft leather couch in the office. She tosses him the pepto before she turns to sign something.

“You wanna talk about why Richie kicked you off?” she asks, her back still turned.

“It’s nothing,” he says before taking a swig of the pink liquid as he sits up and faces her.  

“It’s not nothing if you look like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like that,” she says turning and gesturing vaguely at him. “Like you just found out Santa isn’t real or some-fucking-thing.” Carmen shakes his head avoiding her gaze and looking out the door with a huff. Crossing his arms trying to end the conversation. It wasn't that he never wanted to talk about it, he did. He just didn't have the time. 

The last time he had told any one about you, he had talked to Mikey about how awkwardly ended things with you. Mikey told him not to be a jagoff after hearing his rant. That was almost a week before he died. It became easier to not think about you because it always led to thoughts of Mikey. How Carm should have known or should have talked to him more about how he was, how the beef was doing, how ma and Natilie were, if there was anything Michael wanted to get off his chest or was stressed about or something other than Carmen's girl problems.

Then Carm had to worry about selling his apartment in New York, quitting his job, getting an apartment here and moving, running The Beef, which was its own massive undertaking, turning it into The Bear and worrying about Claire, dishes, codes, tests, money that was likely tied to the mob via Uncle Jimmy, chefs, the building, new hires, the test night and the the dreaded walk-in he had to thank for letting him rant until he talked out of his ass and fucked up his personal life even more.

“Fine whatever avoid it if you want but thats not going to make it any better,” Nat huffed out, rolling her eyes as she turned. Carmen knew she was right, but that didn't make it any easier. But if the Al-Anon meetings had taught him anything it was that talking about it did actually help. 

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, leg bouncing with the nerves of from trying to find the words he wanted to say.

“When I was in New York,” he started, already feeling a nervous sweat breakout on his face, back, and hands. “There was this girl…”

[mxacegrey]

The One Who Was Forgotten

Series Masterlist

Over the next three months, Y/N and Alexei grew accustomed to the new timeline. Y/N remembered how Nora and Henry couldn’t handle two children so Y/N spent her years in foster care, never getting adopted. Barry and Y/N had a one-night stand like they did previously but Barry and her were no longer friends. The two had drifted apart when Y/N had gone into foster care. In this new timeline, Y/N had met Abe outside a patisserie, accidentally bumping into him. Over the next few months, Abe and Y/N had gone on several dates, Abe unfazed that Y/N was pregnant. Abe had taken her to fancy restaurants and had spent nights at her house, simply cuddling and watching movies. When Alexei was around 3 months old, Y/N discovered that she was pregnant once again, this time with a girl. 

“I’m pregnant.”

“... I’m gonna be a dad. I’m a dad! Again!” Abe chuckled in shock, grabbing Y/N by her waist and spinning her around. “I love you!”

“...I love you too!” Y/N exclaimed, smiling widely. This was the first time they had said the words to each other, and they would continue for a long time.

Abe had proposed in an elaborate manner. The patisserie that they had first met outside was being closed down so Abe decided to buy it off the previous owners. He had red rose petals scattered all over and a trail leading up to him kneeling on one knee. As he spoke, live violins began playing.

“Y/N Y/L/N, when we met, you unknowingly became everything to me. It sounds cliché but I fell in love with you the moment I saw you. Not the love that people talk about. But an unexplained attraction, a feeling of home, an urge that I need to talk to this girl and make her mine. All I know is what we’ve shared since the moment we met is special and meant to be preserved. Forever. So, my darling, will you marry me and become a Parker?”

“Yes. A thousand times yes.”

Not long after the proposal, Riley Ava Y/L/N-Parker was born. With Riley’s arrival, came a glorious wedding in Y/F/C and gold. Their wedding was held before friends and family, though the audience wasn’t very big. Their cake was a three-tier cake, representing them and their children. Abe’s baby cousins had been ring bearers and flower girls, Alexei in Abe’s arms as Y/N walked down the aisle with Riley in hers.

“You are my person, my inspiration, my love and my everything. I cannot wait to spend a lifetime loving you. I vow to express my love for you as often as I breathe each breath. You are the person I want to spend forever with.” Abe said, looking at Y/N, adoration and devotion evident in his eyes.

“As I have spent my whole life looking for my other half, I knew it was you from the moment we met. From today onward, you and I will be one in heart, body and mind. I vow to cherish you, devote my life to you and always be true.” Y/N smiled, eyes glistening with happy tears.

Unknown to all that were present, Barry had found out his speed was fading and decided to revert the timeline back to the real one not too long after their wedding.

"There we go. Things are back to how they should be. Well, for me, anyway. For you... well, I guess you'll just have to wait and find out.” Eobard stated after Barry had exited Flashpoint.

"What? What does that mean?” Barry asked, perplexed.

"See you sometime soon, Flash.” Eobard stated, not answering Barry’s question.

Unknown to Barry, his present had now changed. Joe and Iris were now estranged after the revelation that Iris’s mother was still alive. Dante, Cisco’s brother. had died in a drunk driving incident. Diggle had a son instead of a daughter and Julian Albert started working at the CCPD as a CSI. And Y/N? Well, Y/N disappeared into her home with a three-month older Alexei.

Because of all these changes, a new enemy immerged from the shadows. Savitar. A time remnant devoted to staying alive by killing Iris. On 25th December 2016, when Barry runs to the future to obtain Savitar’s true identity, he meets his future self. 

“Why are you here?” Future Barry asked.

“I need your help.” Barry stated.

“You're from before she went, aren't you? Before she dies?” Future Barry asked, referring to Y/N and Iris respectively. “You can't save her.”

“Yes, I can. And I'm going to.” Barry said, determined. 

“No, you can't. Go home.” Future Barry stated, walking away.

While Barry had visited the future, a certain HR went to a park nearby. A woman played with her son and the sound of ringing laughter.

“Hi.”

“Hello, H.R.”

“You know?”

“I keep up to date. It’s a pleasure. I’m Y/N.”

Over the next year, HR and Y/N became closer, HR learning of Alexei, Abe and Riley. Y/N occasionally aided HR with Team Flash, the two had designed the transmogrification device, Y/N’s aid unknown to the team. When HR was killed by Savitar instead of Iris, Y/N felt his mind fade and tears streamed down his face in shock.

“HR!” She screamed, crying alongside Alexei.

2017 was a hard year. Barry and Iris had their wedding with two future guests making an appearance.

“It just so happens to be your wedding.” One of the waitresses said to Barry.

“You love weddings.” Barry replied.

“I really do.” 

“That's cool.” Barry stated.

“Actually. And, I don't know, I just feel like this is gonna be one for the ages. I'm really happy I got to see it.” The waitress rambled. 

“Have we met?” Barry asked.

“No. No, I'm a complete and total stranger.” The waitress stuttered before walking away. Another guest walked up to Barry. He was wearing a grey three-piece suit. 

“You know. I think there’s someone missing from the wedding.” The man stated. Barry thought about it and looked around, shaking his head.

“I don’t think so.”

“...Of course not.” The Y/H/C man smiled fakely. “Of course, you didn’t.”

After the wedding and Devoe, two unexpected guests arrived in the West household. The same unexpected guests from Barry and Iris’ wedding.

“Weren't you the server at their wedding?” Wally asked.

“Wait, yeah, you were. And you. You were one of the guests.” Barry explained, glancing at the man before turning back to the waitress. “And where did you get this jacket?” 

“Uh. From her.” The waitress pointed at Iris.

“Um. No, mine... mine is one of a kind.” Iris explained.

“So was this, uh, when you let me borrow it.” The waitress clarified.

“Who are you?” Barry asked.

“I'm your daughter, Nora. From the future. And I think I made a big, big, mistake.”

“I’m Alexei Y/L/N. I’m here to save my mother. From you.”

Next

[itsdeathofabachelor]

any hazamada headcanons?

I really really need to crane my sights onto more characters outside of part three because part four is so good specifically because there are so many reaccuring characters. Like, I remember seeing Hazamada and thinking, ‘Oh, he’s a little funky, I like him.’ And then not expecting to ever see him again and then I remembered this was part four we’re talking about here— there’s so many little side quests and I love it. So, yes!! I do have some Hazamada headcannons!! Let me know how you like them, I’d love to hear!

He gets ideas from other people. What I mean by that is you know when you see someone buy something and you passed the thing already and didn’t even think about buying it, but now you’ve seen someone else buy it and it’s like, ‘Awe shucks, I should’ve bought that’ ?

Hazamada. Hazamada does that. Except he has no shame about it. Like Josuke and Okuyasu are talking about going to a bakery to get that limited addition cake for this upcoming festival and it wiggles into Hazamada’s mind who’s sitting a bench over. He saw the ads already; could not have given less of a shit. But now he’s already half way to this stupid bakery to buy this stupid cake.

He gained consciousness like two months ago and still hasn’t gotten used to it. He looked out the window in math class and was like, ‘I’m gonna die one day.’ And has been off kilter ever since. Koichi found him trying to transfer his working mind into his stand like some sort of freak immortality glitch by pressing his forehead really hard against it and holding his breath. His lips were turning blue. Koichi had to call Jotaro. Jotaro told him if he ever became immortal from that he would lock him in a metal box and throw him in the ocean. Hazamada believed him.

Hazamada fucking hates cheese. Can’t stand it. When he was a kid his mom wouldn’t tell him there was cheese in something but he knew. It was like a sixth sense. He also knew if she used the same knife to make him a peanut butter and jam sandwich. On that note, he was also the kid who wouldn’t eat a sandwich if you didn’t cut it right.

His favourite idol had a buzz cut so he got one as a tribute to them but found out he had a weird shaped head so he worn a hat until it grew out. Now his hair is super layered because he didn’t leave the tuft of hair at the top of his head so it would grow back even. His hair is so dark and fine nobody can tell.

He tried to make his stand look like his childhood dog but it couldn’t make the right shape so it just turned into a really fucked up realistic furry and it scared him so bad that he still has to sleep with his blankets pulled over his face.

Hazamada doesn’t actually have insomnia but he likes the look of ‘crusty no sleep’ so he obsessively researched special effects in movies (movies are his long time, recurring hyperfixation btw) and found out how to make himself look as sleep deprived as possible. When people ask him why he looks so tired he gets super proud and hides it so badly. He makes a killing on Halloween though. I headcannon he has some American cousins and him and his family visited around that time when he was a kid so he’s uber invested in Halloween and takes it way too seriously back in Japan.

[inevitablemoment]

Take This Diploma And Shove It

Word Count: 739

Warnings: References to bullying, references to ableism, references to uses of the “R” slur, family estrangement

Fandom: Ghostbusters

Pairings: Marie Spengler x Julian Matthews, Egon Spengler x Cathleen Paige

Important notes for the timeline: Callie has left and moved in with relatives on Cathleen’s side of the family in Chicago.

Marie moved up a couple of grades, and is graduating high school at sixteen, just like I headcanoned Egon did. At this time, she’s dating her childhood friend Julian Matthews.

Janine and Louis’ daughter, Lily, was born in 1993, shortly after the move to Summerville. She is played by Mariah Rose Faith of Team StarKid fame.

Since Trevor’s birthday is in February and he is stated to be 15 in Afterlife, he would be three months old at this point.

————————

“And now, to speak on behalf of our graduating class, our valedictorian speaker, Marie Spengler.”

Egon and Cathleen applauded as Marie walked up to the podium, though it was sadly lost among the boos from the rest of the graduates and their families. Julian, Janine, and Lily cheered her name to try to cover up the uses of the “R” word coming from the bullies, and Louis futzed with the camera to try to get it to work.

Still, Marie tried to put on an excited (if very forced) smile, and held out her stack of index cards. She looked out into the audience, looking for familiar faces.

She saw Dad, Mom, Julian, Aunt Janine, Uncle Louis, Lily...

But Callie wasn’t there.

Mom had tried to tell her not to expect Callie to come. After all, considering all the issues that Callie and Dad were having, Callie now had a baby to take care of.

A baby that Marie hadn’t met.

No, Marie thought. I’m not going to think about that today. Today’s about my accomplishments.

“Today is the day that I close the book on my school career here at Summerville High--” she began.

“CAN WE THROW THAT BOOK AT YOUR HEAD, YOU FREAK?!” a voice in the audience called out, interrupting her.

The smile on Marie’s face disappeared for a second, but she remembered what Lily had told her. If she just ignored them...

But Lily had told her to ignore them everyday since it had been proven that the teachers would be no help. It hadn’t exactly been helpful advice.

She looked back into the audience, hoping that maybe she had overlooked Callie.

She hadn’t.

Then, she looked back down at the speech that she had prepared. Her father had helped her write it since she came back to school for the holidays.

But these people wouldn’t exactly care about that, would they?

“You know what?”

She ripped the index cards in half. Louis had finally gotten the camera to start recording.

“None of you are listening to a damn thing I’m saying anyway.”

Marie threw the torn-up cards down on the floor of the stage.

“It’s not like I was friends with any of you people,” she said. “No, you were too busy shoving me into the boys’ locker room, or into my own locker, or writing that I was the R word on the wall of the girls’ bathroom.”

Lily’s brown eyes widened behind her thick glasses, and Julian cringed as he was reminded of every incident between Marie and her tormentors.

“But, I admit, I was never a social butterfly,” Marie acquiesced. “I was never... what was it? ‘Normal’? But, how could I be normal? My parents are the fucking Dirt Farmer and the Wicked Witch of Summerville!”

While Egon and Cathleen felt mortified that Marie had chosen that exact moment to finally tell off everyone in this town, they couldn’t deny that they felt proud of her.

“I’ve tried to water myself down to make myself likeable for you because, surprisingly, I wanted friends!” she exclaimed. “And I was lucky enough to have two-- my boyfriend Julian, and my cousin Lily. But now that I’m going to college-- to Stanford, I might add, which is farther than any of your kids are gonna go-- I’m free to just be myself! And if I never see any of you close-minded, slack-jawed yokels again, it’ll be too soon!”

There was a collective gasp from the more dramatic people in the audience.

“And by this fall, I’ll be in California. I’ll be top of my class there, I’ll find more friends who appreciate me, and none of you will be holding me back.”

Marie continued on, not seeming to take a breath.

“I’ve already given up a lot because of you-- my childhood, my sister! And my father, whom all of you have ostracized, has given up more than I have! And one day, you’re gonna wish that you had him on your side, I swear to God!”

The entire gymnasium was silent. Marie finally smiled again, feeling as if she had lifted a weight off of her chest.

“Congratulations to the class of 2006!”

She returned to her seat among the graduates, purposely disassociating herself from the glares she was getting. It’s not like they were worse than the ones she had gotten for just existing.

Louis pressed the record button, ending the video.

[p-p-paradox]

First Meeting

This is some exposition concerning Warriors and Wind’s relationship in my GameAge au

It has been nearly two years now.

Two years since the hurricane had forced him, his sister, and his grandma to move from their tropical, beach-side abode to the hustle and bustle of Hateno town, within the Hyrule province. Two years since his grandma had gotten ill.

Two years since his entire life had been uprooted and shifted inland.

There was no home to get back to, not really.

He’d seen it, not in person too busy trying to book the quickest flight off the island, but online through a shaky lens where water turned to blades and tore through humanity's fragile structures and the roaring of the winds over the screaming of people long gone.

It didn’t feel real, not then, not now. It felt as though it had been a bad dream that he had yet to have woken up from.

It didn’t feel real living in this dilapidated apartment and working two jobs instead of going to university like he’d dreamed of. Sometimes it felt as though he was simply a ghost in his own life, just going through the motions.

It wasn’t bad. In hindsight they were doing alright. They’ve got food on the table, a place to live in, and Aryll can still finish high school. His grandma, all things considered, could be worse.

Even if the ache in his chest persists and grows when he looks back on what once was. The hole that makes itself known when he goes through the water damaged albums they’ve managed to scavenge, only grows deeper because he’ll never see these people again.

And even those who’ve survived have changed. Some of them grew angry, at others, at the world, at themselves. Some simply drink until they’re thrown out of their homes, where they try something harder to numb their thoughts. Others try to rebuild their old lives, only to be worked to the bone, and grow weary and sick.

Everyone who was once a part of a close knit community seemed like strangers now.

They all, however, share the same look of grey in their eyes.

He supposes that he’s changed too.

He’s quieter now, although he’s better than when the storm had first hit, where he wouldn’t speak for months. His tongue is still heavy and thick and his words have a tendency to stick to the roof of his mouth, but he’s better.

At least he hopes he is.

He knows he doesn’t have that same drive as before. That drive to work harder and to do his best in hopes for a brighter, easier future.

Nowadays, it seems that he only works to do the bare minimum, feeling too exhausted to do much else. He feels like he’s aged two decades since the hurricane.

But, it’s better now than it was before. That’s what he keeps telling himself.

That ache still sits where his heart is. He doesn’t think it’ll go away anytime soon, but that’s fine- it’s livable.

He’ll survive.

He finds that he misses the gentle waves that lap up the side of his boat- “the Wind Waker” -when he used to go for the short trips to the mainland.

The sun-warmed sand that would curl around and cup his toes.

The salty sea breeze that sinks into everything it touches.

Things that he never noticed, never bothered to remember are things that he reminisces about now.

Funny how that works.

He can see that in the boy in front of him.

That grey in his eyes and that ache in his chest that is so similar, yet so different from himself.

This boy, who’s life had been uprooted and shifted, who reminds him of his little sister, now stands in the entryway, peeking from behind the legs of the social service lady.

They boy’s blue eyes pierce into his own with an intensity that could rival his own back when he was himself.

“Hey, my name’s Wind.”

It wasn’t really. That name was a nickname given by someone he’ll never see again, but it felt more true than his birth name.

“What’s yours?” He continued with a half forced smile. That little boy’s dreary mood could suck the life out of everything.

“Warriors.”

“Whoa, that’s a cool name! I’m your cousin, you’re gonna be living with me from now on, alright?”

The boy looks down to his shoes. His tiny fingers play with the frayed end of the scarf around his neck.

He doesn’t say anything else, but that’s fine. He’ll speak in due time.

He’ll get better.

Wind will do his best to make sure the boy doesn’t have to do it alone.

[brilapse]

bruh I’m dumb, I got loaded at my cousins ready last night and spent more than I should have lol but before, I paid our credit cards off that were pretty much maxed cause some work needed to be done in the new house and then had to take a good chunk of money as well to pay for some work on the car cause ffs my future mother in law needed to borrow it cause her cars power steering went and while it was in shop, she borrowed our car and we just used the work truck for a few days, anyways, our car is fairly low and you’ve always gotta be careful going over speed bumps, like you need to slow down to fucking 5kph lol and there’s sooooo many parking lots when exiting have to be careful af cause it ALWAYS hits the undercarriage of the car, ANWAYS. There’s bad construction in one area of town right now and her work is on the other side, she has to fo through it. Anyways, she must of been fucking flooring it through the construction or some shit cause she smacked the bottom of er BAD. Like when we put it up on the lift you could fucking SEE it was smacked hard af. Well, not long after that she said to us, oh the car is making this like vibrating noise or something and the whole car shakes and we were like wtf, and then she told us about the smack she did and we got the car back and it didn’t seem that bad at first, but then after a day it got worse and worse, we were driving on the highway and it was FUCKED, it was growling and vibrating and shit, we had to go into neutral and then coast until we had to speed up again and Jesus. It did it in reverse too and it was obv the transmission. Anyways we have power train warranty still and we were hoping they wouldn’t notice it was cause of damage but lol obv they did so that didn’t cover it and we had to pay out of pocket and it was not cheap. My future MIL said she’d pay us back cause it was her fault (she’s some hard on cars man. I didn’t even wanna loan it to her but fuck, it’s his mom man.) but that won’t be for a while cause she was a single mom forever and was working for cash while getting welfare so she could afford to raise him cause his dad is a piece of shit, well, was at least. He helps now when he can but she is now a dental assistant and has been for a few years but she makes one income and pays for rent for a funking 3 bedroom upstairs portion of a house cause she “can’t live in a basement apartment” and has no money left after bills basically, so it’s gonna be like 2 years of paying us back like $50-$100 a paycheck lol. Which, whatever but it’s just a bad time for that to happen cause we just got the house and then I’m off work for a couple months right now and don’t get 100% of my salary while off and then just had expenses for the house and shit and whatever.

ANYWAYS when I paid my credit card off yesterday morning I forgot my insurance payment is coming out tomorrow and paid my credit card off with literally 90% of the money we had forgetting that it takes like 3-5 days to process and the credit to be applied to the account and had just enough and then a bit extra for my insurance to come out and then I got loaded and fucking forgot and spent like half that money and now my insurance is gonna bounce and then also I just don’t have enough till payday to live lol

Me + alcohol + money = usually not great

Me + alcohol + money + pissed off at my fiancé and ditched halfway through the night = disastrous

IM JUST SOOOOO TIRED AND SOOOO STRESSED AND SO TIRED OF BEING STRESSED

I’m also hungover to fuck today

I applied for a payday loan lol so I hope I hear back but it’s Sunday lol

Have to back like $100 extra than I get though which Jesus they’re fucking crooks

Okay rant over needed to rant lol and I refuse to talk to my fiancé today lol

[lemonthepotato]

Playing Umineko and guessing the culprit [spoilers] oh my god

Tw for r*pe mention. It’s Umineko. What did you expect? You all have no idea how long it took me to make this post. 5 months or so, probably less actually… I act very childish in this post. Imagine a 13 year old who just eat raw sugar. I’m not 13 I’m older but you get the point.

This is a long post that took forever to make. Some things here aged terribly (especially things I say about Beato.) (I’m sorry.)

I was also off the mark entirely.

Chapter 1:

[around the 5h mark in] At first, I thought it was Natsuhi, then Maria, but now I’m 98% sure it’s George. It’s like. He keeps acting suspicious. He said for example, something about ‘Gods design’, and then two seconds later said that most people don’t really believe in god. He said way earlier in the chapter that he never lies, which I found suspicious. Again, I’m probably wrong. I’m gonna keep playing. Suspicion is back on Natsuhi, because she 100% has been pushing the idea Beatrice exists. It doesn’t seem like Jessica or Battler did it, they’re on the bottom of my suspects list. Everyone else is fair game. Maybe someone killed half of the group & someone else died while killing the others, in usual WTC style.

Chapter 2

Imagine being so wealthy all you can argue on is inherent & sauce. Imagine if these four went to McDonald’s. A nightmare. Anyway, I still believe that Maria is a red herring for the first chapter. The second case hasn’t began yet, but my current suspicions are that since this novel seems to be tricking you into believing it’s a murder mystery: every kill will be Beatrice. Lame.

First six predictions: Jessica, Eva, Kyrie, Krauss, Rudolf & Natsuhi. Random guesses.

My theory was correct that Kanon & Jessica would be chosen as the sacrifices. I thought the idea that Shannon would be too… false.

I suspected Rosa a lot in this chapter however it seemed too obvious. I’m on CH3 now and my theory is that Genji was involved. He was suspicious too. I also believe Eva was either the culprit of the first case or this one. “But Eva died in these chapters” remember how in the first chapter the faces were all distorted? I feel that will be important. However, I’m still suspicious of Natsuhi. She will definitely be the culprit of one of the first three cases. I suspect the third one may have George or one of the cousins as the killer.

Chapter Three:

My theory for who will die first will be determined when I get to the “oh my god someone died” part.

First to die: Maria, Rosa, George, Kanon, Doctor Nanjo and Genji

I suspect that MAYBE George & Shannon will switch places for the second night,

I knew that Kumasawa was suspicious. First of all, always saying ‘I can’t do anything’ when someone dies. Two, I thought her name was similar to the mansion Beatrice stayed in. I didn’t think she was evil. I just thought she was suspicious. But I didn’t suspect she was Beatrice’s former mentor, Beatrice. I actually did call there being more than one Beatrice, I was under the impression that Beatrice was an apparition of Kinzo’s dead ex-lover who only exists through the power of belief, but that there was

A) Another Beatrice, a human one.

B) A set of twins.

C) I can’t remember my other ideas.

So yeah. Kumasawa is very cool but always suspicious.

Kyrie & Rudolf are gonna be the 2nd chosen, I believe. I’ve had a sneaky suspicion from the start. But damn, can Kyrie just live a little longer one of these chapters? :/

WAIT. I had a small suspicion it was Rosa and Maria. But I decided against it because I thought it was romantic lovers that would be separated. Holy shit!! Again, maybe it’s too much of a red herring. It likely isn’t Kyrie & Rudolf, probably have to wait and see.

WAIT. Is Eva sick because of Evatrice? That’s what I call her. Is she dying and being replaced? In which case, is she going to kill Hideyoshi?

Current theory: Beato & Beatrice are two different people. Literally. Beato is the human form, committing the murders. If Eva can be several places, then ‘Beatrice’ can be in one place ‘committing’ the murder while Beato is in the other. Now, Beatrice states that there are only ‘18 humans on this Rokkenjima’. I want to highlight something I’ve heard. I do not know how canon this is, but I’ve heard that if someone acknowledged you as a witch you are one, therefore making Maria a witch. In that case, Maria wouldn’t be them. Beato is the 18th person, existing in two places. We know that Maria has a split personality, which means her ‘witch form’ is inside of her. Beatrice is always the same, because her and her human counterpart are separated. Maybe this is wrong, we’ll see. (I was wrong)

Chapter 4:

Holy shit. There was so much this chapter. I honestly don’t know where to begin, as I’ve already finished it and am up to Erika. Wait… I just realised her name is eRIKA. Nah, anyway. That’s CH5 shit. This is CH4. So, my current theory, is that Kanon is the culprit for all the murders. I’m not sure how I can explain this. I don’t remember all the details so I’m not sure if each of the murders would contradict this. I just. Holy shit.

CH5:

Alright, this Erika chick has shown herself. I have a theory about her. There are only 17 people on the island, yeah mf I’m speaking in red now. Of those people, two are dead at the beginning. Kinzo Ushiromiya & I’ll throw out two random guesses. Kumasawa or Rosa.

The 17th person is Erika. This is my current theory. Many people are not who they say they are on the game board. Edit; Differner opinion.

Natsuhi is the culprit of all murder cases. I am 100% sure. (No ur not I was wrong) Why? The opening. Here is my theory. Battler is the child of Natsuhi. No reason why. Solid theory. I know it seems simple, but at this point it’s too late into the game to be hiding things. Natsuhi is the culprit of the 5th game and possibly a few others. What I know, is that, Kinzo is dead. Ushiromiya Natsuhi killed him for the inheritance. OK UM. THE BATTNATSUHI THING WAS A JOKE?? IS THE GAME ACTUALLY TRYING TO DO THISv? I WAS KIDDING.

“Father gave up” no. no. don’t natsuhi don’t. don’t say it. please oh my god if my theory is correct then Kinzo is a evil POS. Ok, I was wrong. I have to add a massive trigger warning. I thought that Kinzo may have r!ped Natsuhi. (This aged badly) I’m glad I was wrong. I think the child may be Battler. It isn’t Lady Lambdadelta. Either she went crazy & the phone call didn’t happen, or it’s Battler. Managed to mostly avoid spoilers…

But I think I got spoilt that Sayo was Beatrice…? Like, in human form? I don’t know. Oh well, at least I’ve managed to avoid most spoilers. I need to stop looking at spoilers. I know Lambda dies & that Kyrie is a bad mom or smth (someone said worse than Rosa which I doubt but ok) (aged like wine)

CH6

Lol, I knew Batter was the “groom”. Damn, Erika, what a funny little witchhuman. Okay, so I have two current theories. The person in the flashback is Ange. I also looked at Tohya and thought “Featherine?” which I dismissed but hearing her call Ange ‘child of man’ and Ange describing her. I think I know. I only know Featherine because of Eua.

Featherine is a witch. I know this because of a little spoiler, well two about Featherine. Firstly, she kills Lambdadelta, though I doubt it’ll hold any meaning as death doesn’t mean much for a witch it seems. It’s not that they can’t die. It’s just that death is a very flimsy thing. Secondly, if someone is acknowledged as a witch they become one. This is why Satoko became Majotoko (aka a vessel for Lambdadelta’s game.) therefore, Ange acknowledging Featherine as a witch further proves my point.

I still strongly stand by my theory that Maria is not a human. (Not anymore cuz I’ve finished the game hehe… don’t worry, sometimes when I write in brackets it’s me from after I finish) While her human counterpart exists on the game board, I do not count her as human. This is further evidenced by another spoiler I got: Sayo/Shannon may be Beatrice. Awkward because I used to ship then, then I found out Shannon’s age and now uh… yeah no. Anyway, assuming this theory to be true, then Beatrice’s ‘human’ form exists. However, this theory is flimsy. There are many Beatrice’s. A supposed human Beatrice, a game board Beatrice and metatrice, and that’s ignoring my theories about there being two Beatrice’s. Oh, also, Evatrice is technically Beatrice and fucking Virgil— *sigh*

Beatrice has a [im retracting this because it aged crudely] (edit: I regret saying this now—) (edit after ch8: I REALLY REGRET SAYING THIS POOR BEATO) I mean. Nothing. Legit wtf is going on here. Is this fucking Jesstrice? LMAO. I wonder what the other characters would be like as witches. Well, I have an idea for Jessica. She would probably be the witch of Determination. George would be the witch of, um, I don’t know. I give up on this metaphor.

Ok, I have a lot of theorycrafting going on. But the most important one is this (obvious joke): BI/PAN Battler & Jessica. I refuse to elaborate. Anyway, I have a theory about Sayo/Shannon. So, it’s kinda obvious that a lot of people in the fandom suspected her to be the culprit. I managed to avoid outright spoilers about it, but I think it’s obvious the game is going in that direction. However, the exact details are unknown. I believe that in the end there will be room for interpretation. Battler will ‘win’. But the reader can choose whether to believe in magic. Me personally? Magic always makes a story more fun.

HEY INFERIORS. Guess who guessed the twin thing?? Back in chapter 2? ME!! Because Beato is not affected by the spider web, she is the human form of Beatrice locked up in Kuwadorian. Checkmate, liberals. I FUCKING WIN!!!

Kyrie Ushipoopitla, with of Willpower. Witch. Yeah I can spell. Okay, so she k*lled Asumu? I’d say this is Yandere level shit. I mean it is. People think yandere means someone who obsessed over their partner, acts ‘dere’ and is otherwise sweet but will always k*ll those who stand in the way. It’s more like a spectrum. You can google the different types. Still though, calling Kyrie a ‘yandere’ would be a bit strange. It just doesn’t sit right with me.

So, here is my take on Maria saying Rosa was the culprit. I’m wondering if Rosa really was the culprit for this case. I mean, so far, I haven’t seen any evidence to the contrary. ROSA K*LLED MARIA’S CERAMICS!! Not actual people! UFIEJDHDHD??? Why am I like this.

I KNEW IT. When Erika started crying I was like “this is chapter 6. Chapter 3 Beatrice betrayed Battler. This has to be a parallel.” I KNEW Erika was bluffing & that Bern was in on it. Finally. I got something right. I still felt bad for her even though I knew she was faking. My sweet evil baby. <3

Aw… Dlanor was in on it? I mean. She doesn’t exactly feel compassion (like me) (that isn’t a joke.) but like. Come on. Also… uh… I don’t wanna be like this but has anyone noticed something from the start? Dlanor uh. I’m not sure if the art is just that bad or if she’s meant to have a pp. like I really don’t like that trope in anime because “oh my god a girl having a d*ck must mean she’s secretly not!” is a transmisia 101 example. Though I suppose Umineko likes to satirise it. So if it goes unaddressed in the game I won’t mind it. It would actually be funny if Ryukishi’s thought process was just ‘man, I’m sick of that bullshit trope’ and baited weird bigoted weebs into thinking it would be relevant. I hope so anyway… jee.

No one was SEEN in the bathroom. What if someone other than Battler was there? Almost all my arguments could work if I go with my theory of 16 people. But I wonder…

I think I got my first… culprit spoiler. Natsuhi and Eva… (wrong) which is uh. Wow. You know what, fuck YouTube for moving the comments up. And honestly, I’d say I have a right to think the OP of that comment was an asshole. I refuse to elaborate on what the video was and why I watched it when it could “contain spoilers”. All you need to know is that I was unfairly spoiled. There was so such correlation, but explaining it would take a while. Seriously. What an asshole. I guess I’ll come clean. I haven’t been reading the VN on my own. I’ve been watching a playthrough. The first two chapters I read were with the new sprites & no commentary and then I shifted to a commentated playthrough to ease my boredom. Now you can see why the comment was assholish. Don’t comment spoilers on peoples fucking playthroughs. Arsehole. (Stop making a big deal past me)

Whaaaaaaaaaat? Erika is the murderer? Who could’ve guessed… impossible… totally not obvious. I love her so much even if she is bad at lying. WHY DID I LAUGH AT ERIKA MOCKING MARIA. She’s a child. But she just fucking k worded her and was like ‘oops she was alive’.

END: my theory was correct? my face is that one meme of the dude saying ‘HUH?!’ idk what it’s called. there’s only 16 humans aside from Erika? But that doesn’t… I don’t… that contradicts…

CH7

KUMASAWA NO WHY. Girlie probably browses the consa— nevermind. A hashtag I won’t name. I swear to god if this is what I think it is.

Ok… uh. No. I am confused. Is Shannon Lion? I think not. (Aged well) So, Kinzo did r*pe his… ugh. I knew about that spoiler but I thought it was Natsuhi. But no. It was Beatrice. Can we take a minute to appreciate Genji for a moment? He doesn’t enable Kinzo, but he also doesn’t abandon him. He lies to protect Lion (wait, I just realised it’s LION. Like. The animal.) and then has… Shannon?… impersonate Leon?

You know, reading the tea party of ch7 makes me wonder if all the times people died in groups was just because they all fought each other over the fucking gold. Like in CH1, the garage shit. Actually I’m almost certain this is a parallel to the garage scene. By almost certain I mean. 0.5% sure. Wait. Did Eva and Krauss k*ll everyone else because of the gold? Is that why everyone dies at the end? Let me keep reading…

Me: Kyrie is gonna open her eyes and say thank you, isn’t she?

Kyrie: does that (the obvious thing)

Me: I practically had everything figured out from the start. I am a genius at mystery novels.

I remember seeing a comment saying how Kyrie was a worse mother than Rosa. I was like “yeah right, how?”… I understand now. See I’ve held antinatalist views for a long time and this is not helping me… XD

“It’s just making the Kyrie piece say this!” Oh no… oh my sweet lil Lion, my sweet little Angay, oh no… remember the rules? A piece can only do what it is capable of… girly, you gotta learn a few life lessons and you gotta learn them fast sweetheart.

CH8:

Hey guys, remember how I said that I was on EP8, well uhh. I ended up watching the first part of a playthrough I was watching, then I thought “oh, this must be the second.” because it was on auto play. And then it starts up. The cousins are playing at the beach, Gohda talks about his meal and Kumasawa makes mackerel jokes. I’m other here thinking ‘man, Ryukishi, the pacing is getting bad again. It’s episode 8 and you’re retreading old ground?’ and then it hit me. I was watching part 5 of episode 1…

Imagine Bern playing monopoly. Actually, I can imagine it vividly. I think she would be the kind of person to lose, then in the next game buy one of each property so no one can win. She’s just spiteful. She’s literally me. <3 anyway, my theory for this chapter is as follows, because I’ve gotten a little bit better at murder mysteries. No. I haven’t. I’m randomly guessing. Jessica! Wait, is she dead? Um…

Okay, acid rain. That’s my theory. They all died by acid rain. Anyway guys I’m totally not the culprit… I’m speaking purple truth! How can I lie?

How can… Battler be the culprit? I guess it’s because it’s Berns Game. Also here’s my friend tryna guess Battler and Beatrice’s relationship.

“The one on the left is a lesbian and also his mothers, and the guy is trans and he wants to be a she, and so they got together so [Battler’s] trans and the mothers lesbian. Was I right?”

“No.”

“Then what’s the lore?”

Woah… okay, that was a journey. I’ve finished chapter eight. If you’ve read this lengthy, long to make post, <good.> also… I didn’t realise Sayo’s motive until I went on Wikipedia after finishing the chapters to find out what the fuck is going on with the Manga (why are there supposedly several) (why can I not figure out which order to read it in). I was over here thinking ‘awww Sayo and Jessica so cute together’ and then it hit me like a brick wall, THEY’RE RELATED. THEY’RE RELATED. OH HELL NAH. By the way, I already said this but Beatrice and Shannon was a crackship for me in CH2 because I was so god damn sick of George.

What lesson have I picked up from Umineko? Fuck George. George poopy! George smelly!

Edit: October 2023. It’s been over a year, but I want to clarify, I changed my mind on Genji AGES ago. That man WAS an enabler.

[eddiemunsonthefreak]

How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?

(side note: The character of Emily is 19 years old.. and is also Robin’s cousin.)

• this is my first short story involving “stranger things” characters (and an original character) so.. i hope it’s okay.

Plot: Two days after Eddie’s death in the Upside Down, Emily (Eddie’s girlfriend of a year) discovers that both Robin and Steve agreed to volunteer to help the people of Hawkins after the Earthquake.. and is justifiably upset.

~

Sitting in Eddie’s room and in one of his old t-shirts, I hear the telephone ringing in the other room. I answered it and heard Dustin’s voice on the other line.

Emily: “Hi, Dustin. I’m okay. I mean, as okay as I can be- knowing that Eddie’s gone. Are you with Steve and Robin? Wait.. what?”

I hopped in my car and drove as fast as I could to the school. I parked my car to see both Steve and Robin opening the trunk of his car. I ran up to them just as Steve was about to close the trunk.

Steve: “Emily. I thought you’d be at Eddie’s again.”

Emily: “I was. Then I got a call from Dustin.. who’s here at the school with Eddie’s uncle. He told me what you were doing.”

Steve: “Listen, Emily..”

Emily: “No, you listen, Harrington. After all we’ve tried to do to prove Eddie’s innocence, you’re gonna go in that school and willingly be of service to those people? Those people believed that Eddie was a murderer! How could you do this?”

Steve: “This wasn’t an easy decision for us to make. Emily, I know you loved Eddie.. but this isn’t you. You objecting to us helping those innocent people in there- isn’t what he would want.”

Emily: “You really believe that? You clearly don’t know him, Steve. Why do you believe Eddie would give a shit about these people? Why would I want to be hospitable towards the people that wanted him dead? I can’t believe you, Steve. And you, Robin, my cousin.. who’s also willing to help those people. It’s almost as if you never cared about Eddie at all.”

Robin: “Look, your anger is justified. Emily, you and Eddie have both made a sacrifice..”

Emily: “I watched the boy I loved die saving a town full of people that ruined his life. In the end, it meant NOTHING.. because it was not a noble thing to do. We were supposed to grow old together. Now, I’m forced to live a life without him.. and raise our daughter alone.”

Steve: “What?”

Emily: “That’s right, Steve. I’m 3 and a half months pregnant.. which makes the pain of losing Eddie even worse.”

Robin: “It’s a girl?”

Emily: “Yeah. I just hate that Eddie will never know her. Also, I was gonna name her Chrissy; after my friend who- like Eddie- didn’t deserve to die.”

Steve and Robin each hugged me so tight. Despite how I upset I was, I didn’t want them to let go. I was so heartbroken and I know that I will be for a while, but I must do my best to take it day by day. After all, the one thing I promised him was that I would never change.

We all wiped our tears and Steve closed the trunk. Against my better judgement, I grabbed a box- and together.. the three of us walked through the doors of Hawkins High.

[morguebabii]

Reposting this from my main page

Alright I’m boutta make a long ass post you can read it if you want or not I don’t really care.

But basically this post is just to sum up the struggles I’ve had for the past few years.

So first we start off in may 2019. I graduated. My parents were still together at this point.

About 2 months after that, skip to the 4th of July. We’re in Ohio. My mom, dad, sisters, we went to go meet my grandpa and aunt and cousins.

About that time we head back to florida my parents are arguing. We get back to florida. They’re arguing for a few months.

October rolls around. My dad filed divorce papers and regrets it so he assaults my mom.

My mom defends herself and gets a domestic charge doing so. (Fuck you florida, for arresting the victim and not the aggressor.)

Anyways, so they split up finally. My mom is doing better and is much happier without him.

My sisters are staying at my moms and my dads. They both have half and half custody since they’re fighting for the kids. (My mom deserves them, let me say that right off the bat).

I stay with my dad when they split up cause I knew the kids were gonna go with my mom.

My dad decides to kick me out, the only kid who did stay out of the kindness of their heart.

But so he kicks me out. I go to stay with my aunt in Ohio. DEA raids her place so I leave cause I’m not trying to be watched by police.

I go to stay with my grandpa for a little bit. Had the best time of my life on the road trucking with him. I was the happiest I could’ve possibly been.

Until my friend died. That’s when I went back to florida and everything really took a turn for the worst.

I went to go stay at a friends house. (I forgot why I originally quit staying there, honestly) I think cause there wasn’t really any room to start with. Idk.

But so anyways I leave there and then I go to my moms for a bit ( I make 🌶🍜 ) and so I did a photo set while I was over there. No, the kids weren’t there, they were actually at my dads.

So as you, the reader know, I’m going on about my business doing my normal work as usual.

MY DAD DECIDES it would be cool and funny to pretend to be some random guy so he can buy the photo set!! Guess what he did with it! Used it against my mom in court to get custody of my sisters! And because my dad has family with retirement funds and white privilege, it was gonna go his way regardless! Especially seeing as my mom couldn’t even get a lawyer cause she’s not even from this country (yes she’s here legally)

But anyways that’s not the point. So now my dad has my sisters and I’m here house hopping cause I want my mom to be able to have my sisters back. That’s all she wants. So I’m not going to go and ruin that for her. My sisters aren’t even allowed to talk about me during visitation. But so I’m house hopping. I get used and abused by like 90% of the roommates I had. Some used the rent money I gave them for alcohol. We got served eviction notice. So we hit the road for a little while we’re all homeless, fine and dandy. Then I go to stay at another persons place. Which they just straight up treated everyone in that apartment like a tyrant. So I stood up for myself and left and my roommate didn’t like that. Get offered a place to stay at this dudes place. He just wanted to fuck but I didn’t realize that. But he’d ask me for extra money and extra greens and was so damn entitled.

And so I left there because I got tired of being treated once again like I was supposed to obey a tyrant. So I left. And now I am here in indiana.

I posted that ^ months ago on Facebook and since I’m joining tumblr again, I feel like this is a great first post for a page like this.

fast forward to now. it's been a few months since I left Indiana, it didn't take me but 2 months to dip after i realized what was going on. i refused to be taken advantage of again so i left and decided it was time to put myself first. the people i was staying with in indiana ended up getting evicted from the place they were at and funny enough went back to the same exact city my boyfriend and i left from to go to indiana. << (for context, the guy we stayed with was originally friends with my boyfriend and i'm adding that because i don't remember if i put that in this already long post that i originally created months ago.) but i just think it's a bit funny how he told us to come move in with him and his wife up there when they ended up going back to our hometown anyways.. and no i do not talk to them still. i'm at my grandpa's and have been for a few months. i don't mind it here, but i would also like to get my own place although i shouldn't be on my own. i do need someone with me at all times, and i really do mean that. now is a good opportunity for me to get my shit together though and hopefully not need an adult to accompany me later on in life when i have nobody to depend on. because it all happens to us eventually. and i'm afraid of that. i can't fathom living without my mom, my grandma, or my grandpa. they've done so much for me and i love them. i really just wanna be back with my mom. if i can edit this i might come back to it later who knows.

[scarlettriot]

Along for the Ride PT 1

Pairing: KirishimaxF!Reader

Summary: A drunken mistake had you marking the little Plus One box to your snobby cousin's wedding. Kirishima told you not to worry, if you couldn't find a date, he'd go with you. When the wedding gets moved up, there's absolutely no time to find a date and you're now about to be traveling to America with Kirishima on a private jet no less, dreading having him meet your rude and impossibly arrogant family.

Contains: Kirishima and Reader both come from very well-off families. Plus-Sized Reader. Fluff. Hurt/Comfort.

Warnings: Kinda smutty for a minute. Minors DNI. Drunken Sex. TW: Manipulative Family Relationships. TW: Body Image Issues

A/N: This story has been rolling around in my head for a while now. I might rewrite this and repost. Or I might just post the whole thing soon. I dunno yet. It does get smuttier.

Word Count: 4,974

"What's up with Y/N?"

Eijiro stepped out of the locker room with a towel slung over his shoulder and made his way into the kitchenette where Mina was chugging a bottle of water before getting back to her patrol. His eyes were trained on their mutual friend out on the patio, pacing.

You had your phone pressed to your ear, the high neck of your hero costume unzipped to your collarbone and he noticed your gloves discarded on a chair.

"No clue." Mina shrugged. "She got back from patrol and she noticed a bunch of missed calls from her mom. She's been out there, flailing on the phone for the last fifteen minutes now."

The three of you had met in your second year at UA when you transferred into their class and were quickly accepted by their little squad of friends. You were a bit quiet at first but quickly found comfort in the group. Eijiro had grown especially close to you when you both interned with Fat Gum.

Late nights traveling on the train back to school, a few close calls while helping patrol, and days spent playing cards while you both healed up in the hospital left plenty of time for Eijiro to get to know you better than most. It was how he knew you had a pretty bad relationship with your family, why you hated returning home for the holidays almost as much as you hated any and all forms of tomatoes.

He considered going out there just to see if there was anything he could do but before he had the chance, you were sliding the glass door open. "Oh, good, you're back." He offered you a bottle of water for your throat that he assumed was sore after that argument. "I- um- can I borrow you for a second? Alone?"

Mina snorted a laugh. "If you guys wanna bang it out on the counter you can just say so. I gotta go to work anyways."

Eijiro threw the towel at her as she left the room leaving you two alone. "What's goin' on?"

You hoisted yourself up on the countertop while he leaned against the fridge. "You remember my cousin's wedding that's happening this winter?"

He nodded. He vividly remembered the both of you getting waste a few weeks ago when you were filling out the RSVP and accidentally marking 'plus one'. Then you ran around trying to find White Out but he'd told you if you didn't find a date or have a significant other by the time of the wedding, he'd just go with you.

You argued that your family was bat shit crazy, had more money than they could spend in their lifetime and because of that, they were among some of the rudest people you knew, and you didn't want Eijiro or anyone else around that.

The thing was, Eijiro already knew that and was still okay with going. He came from money too. A lot of it. His family was just more welcoming than yours, the wealth never really going to their heads. But, he reminded you that he'd ran into enough people like those in your family that he knew how to handle them. You finally agreed to let him accompany you, leaving the plus one box checked but the name line blank.

"Well, my cousin just found out that surprise, she's pregnant! And, obviously, she can't have a wedding while seven months along so they've decided to move the wedding up to this weekend."

He nearly choked on his own spit. "This weekend? As in four days from now?"

"Yup! Saturday at 4 in the evening. Oh! No one's supposed to know she's pregnant either. So, I'm just supposed to compliment her on how flattering her dress looks, how thin she is," Your hands strangled the water bottle between them, "And I have to find something flattering to my figure because my mother has seen me in my hero outfit and she's so glad I wear a mask because if anyone knew her daughter ran around looking like I do, well, it'd ruin her!"

You massaged your temples circling back to the actual point, "Anyways, I just wanted to bitch for a sec and let you know you're off the hook since four days is just a little short notice and I told her my plus one wouldn't be able to get the time off that fast."

He pushed off the fridge. "Well, wait, hang on! I'm not letting you go in alone to deal with them! Hell no! You need backup!" You looked almost taken aback by his abruptness, "Yeah. I can work this out. Is the wedding at the same place it was supposed to be or has it moved?"

"No, it's still that fancy lodge in California. I was planning on leaving Friday morning and then coming back either Sunday night or Monday morning since my mother insists I go to their brunch the following day. But, Eijiro, I already have this weekend off..."

"Denki owes me a favor or twelve. He's supposed to be off this weekend too, I'll just see if he can cover me."

"And if he can't?"

"Then..." He pressed the back of his hand to his forehead, "Y/N, am I feeling warm to you? I think I might be starting a fever!"

You folded your arms, shaking your head, "Thought you said lying isn't manly."

"Technically, correct. But, what would be real unmanly is for me to let you deal with your family's bullshit all alone." You watched him closely, "To be honest, I'm sure we could just explain you had a family thing come up and asked me to come along for moral support. I don't really think anyone would think twice about it. Hell, you took a few days off to console me when my turtle died suddenly!"

"Eiji, you refused to eat."

"And you brought me my favorite dumplings! Same thing!"

You might have shaken your head at him but your arms opened wide. The telltale sign you wanted affection. He walked forward, consuming you in a tight hug. Your arms latched around his neck, face buried in the hollow of his throat. "You're the best."

"I just do what I can."

>>><<<

You should have canceled. Instead of Eijiro faking sick to get out of work, you should have faked it with your mother so you didn't have to go in the first place. You crumpled to the floor of your bedroom in pure frustration amidst the twenty or so outfits and dozen pairs of shoes you'd thrown out of your closet trying to find something that your mother would deem appropriate.

It wasn't your fault you had a fuller figure. You worked out, ate right, not to mention your job kept you very active, and yet your, hips, ass, and breasts were by no means subtle.

Your mother had also insisted on the dress being floor-length and modern, "Do try not wearing all black. It's a wedding, not a funeral. And, get your hair looking natural, please." And, just like that, 70% of your wardrobe was out the window!

"It's open!" You called from the floor when the doorbell rang.

"You really should lock this." Mina tutted, walking through the door with a bag full of takeout.

"I do. At night."

"Honey, it's 9 PM."

"Night like bedtime."

Mina just rolled her eyes and walked into your tiny kitchen. "I see the dress hunt is going well."

"I actually figured it out!" You got off the floor, careful not to step on a heel as you made your way to the pink haired woman, "I'm just gonna go in my birthday suit. I figured, my mother made my body technically therefore she can't disapprove of it. Because, you know, she's never done anything wrong in her life!"

Your best friend snorted out a laugh and passed you the take-out container stuffed full of stir fry. "you're a wonderful person, you know that?" You loved the fact Mina didn't even have to ask what you wanted.

"If you'd just move closer to work then you could pick it up yourself and I wouldn't have to bring it to you."

"Too expensive." You declared after a mouthful. "You pay almost twice as much as I do per month and I just don't see the point. I have damn near the same amount of space you do for half the cost!"

You adored your small one-bedroom apartment. It was perfect. Right above a bakery that you visited each morning after your run and a little balcony that provided you with the most stunning view of the sunset.

"You and Kiri, I swear." Mina just shook her head and curled up with her food on the loveseat. "I thought he'd end up with the biggest house out of us all the moment we started making that real Pro money. You've seen his parent's house. It's massive! You could get lost in that place!"

Eijiro's place was barely bigger than your own. He lived in the same condo he had since you'd graduated UA, claiming it was perfect for him in each and every way. But, you knew that he donated a sizable amount of his paycheck every month to charities, the same as you. With savings to spare, neither of you saw the point in hoarding it and therefore the small condo was all he could afford with what he actually kept.

"Just don't understand how a guy that big can live in such a tiny little space. At least with you, it's you know, physically feasible."

Eijiro's bedroom was barely large enough to fit the king-sized bed the man needed to sleep comfortably and even then, his feet were dangerously close to dangling off the bed. And, as if the man's ears were burning, your cell phone went off under a pile of discarded shoes.

Shark-E: Figured out your dress situation? If not, I'm just gonna pack like ten different ties and hope for the best.

You: Yeah! I totally did! I'm just gonna wear this birthday suit I got and call it a night.

You chuckled at your own joke all over again. Watching the grey ellipses appear and then vanish, appear and vanish again. After a third time, you took pity on the man.

You: Joking, Ei. I still don't have it figured out but Mina's over so, hopefully, she can help.

Shark-E: Gonna give me a damn heart attack! Seriously, I wouldn't put it past you just to see the look on your mom's face. Tell Mina hi and good luck to you. I vote the dress from the Hero Gala two years ago.

You: Hi from Mina. Can't. Too much boobs.

Shark-E: You take that back right now! There is NEVER such a thing as too much boobs!

You chuckled to yourself, putting your phone down, and then finished off the last of your delicious dinner, thinking about the dress Eijiro mentioned.

You wondered if maybe there was a way you could make the thing work but it was so very low cut. So much tape had been used to make sure no slips happened but damn was it worth it! The beaded bodice with the sparkling long sleeves, gods, how you loved that dress.

"I'm inclined to agree with our shark boy. You're busty, who gives a damn. You looked hot as hell in that dress."

"My mother, that's who. As much as I'd like to not give a flying fuck what she thinks, for some dumb reason, I do. On top of her telling me that the amount of cleavage I would show would be vastly inappropriate for a wedding, she'd also say the way it hugs my hips makes them look too fat."

Mina rolled her eyes. "She's such a piece of work." Pushing herself up, she held her arms out to you, wiggling little pink fingers for you to take. "Come on then. Let's get you sorted."

"What about that one you wore to the charity art thingy with Kyoka last winter? The one with the silver top."

"Silver is too close to white." You called out from within your closet.

"What! Not true!"

"You know that. I know that. Every person with two brain cells knows that, which is why most of my family does not know that."

"Fine..." She whined and started sifting through the opposite end of your closet. "Oh, what about this?" Mina waved about the blue and green plaid skirt that made up your uniform from your middle school days when you lived in America. "Please try this on. I'm begging!"

You were pretty sure it wouldn't even go over your thighs anymore.

"It's got a better chance of fitting you!"

Mina threw it at you anyway. Slipping off the sweats you wore, somehow, someway, you were able to tug it on AND get it zipped, barely. It no longer covered your ass but you still enjoyed the way it swished around when you wiggled your hips.

"You could be fulfilling so many people's fantasies right now." Mina mused.

You pulled the skirt off and sweats back on, throwing the former back at her. "Yeah, you can take it and go fulfill Hanta's fantasies if you like. Not like I've got anyone to impress." You pulled down a dress you bought on sale a year ago but Mina was quick to dismiss it.

Too puffy, she said and then held up one that was from Momo. "I needed to get it shortened and I don't have time for that now."

"Wait..." She hummed and dropped the Momo dress. "I know what it should be!"

Mina hurried through the closet, grumbling about not finding it. "Just tell me which dress and I can tell you where it's at."

"It's that one you got for grad night and then you got sick and couldn't go!"

"Mina, Mina I can't wear that! That's actual vintage, not like, made-to-look-vintage!"

"But it's so elegant and has that off-the-shoulder sleeve thing. The wedding is at a damn sky lodge! It'll look so pretty in the snow! Ah! Found it!"

She yanked up the long, elegant gown from the garment bag you'd never removed it from. There wasn't a single wrinkle in the burgundy fabric. It looked just as beautiful as the day you found it in that second-hand store, on a mannequin with gaudy stage jewels that you just had to buy so the look was complete.

You ran the back of your hand over the velvety fabric, soft to the touch. "It'll be too tight now. If I was the same size I was at graduation-"

"Bullshit!" Mina cut you off with a dismissive hand, "You've got hips now. We aren't 18 anymore! It's not like it's some clubbing dress. And I bet no one would say a damn thing about your figure if they knew how easily you could crush them with those thighs!"

A smirk tugged at the corner of your lips. Without quirks, you gave every single one of your classmates a run for their money in hand to hand. Most were fairly easy to beat. You could usually take down Eijiro in about five or six minutes and Katsuki in half the time. Funny enough, it was Ochaco that gave you the hardest time.

"I'll consider it. But help me find something else just in case."

>>><<<

It was another two hours before you finally agreed on an a-line, empire waist green and gold number that had been the bridesmaid's dresses for Tetsutetsu's wedding. Mina thought they were a crime the first time they had to wear them, she had no idea what you were thinking.

That's why the moment you were preoccupied with trying to find yet another dress for the Sunday brunch, Mina pulled out her phone.

You: DO NOT, under any circumstances, allow Y/N to wear the green dress. She's bringing two because she can't decide. Red is the winner!

Jaws: Aw, come on. If she likes it, let her wear whatever she's comfortable in. She'll be under enough stress already.

You: Kirishima, it's the dress from Tetsu's wedding. The one that looks sparkly baby food.

It took him a second to respond.

Jaws: Alright. Understood. I thought you guys looked good but damn, she hated that dress.

You: We all did.

Mina looked at the message chain again and couldn't help but asked, "Are we just gonna ignore the fact that you and Eiji are flying all the way to America, last minute, to attend a wedding together, even though you're not together?"

"We've flown to the states before."

"For work!" She sat up eagerly. "This is different, Y/N! This is a date and not just a, like, casual date but a wedding date!"

You poked your head out of the closet. "No, it isn't. This is a friend helping another friend who stupidly mismarked an RSVP." You corrected very plainly but Mina wasn't one to give up so easily.

She whined, dragging out your name, "You guys have been doing this thing for ages. Why do you have to be so stubborn about it all!"

"What's that supposed to mean!"

Mina started ticking off points on her fingers. "He was the first person you opened up to at UA. You saved his life when he was busy saving Katsuki's life second year. You spent all that time interning together, became sidekicks together. Went to America together for three whole months, ALONE, and you honestly expect me to think there's nothing between the two of you!"

The truth of it all was simple really; 17 year old you had a massive crush on Eijiro Kirishima. He was sweet, always listening to you, providing comfort when you needed it, and always encouraging you to push your limits. He was bright and honest, a little slow in the head from time to time but that made him all the more endearing.

He was also head over heels in love with Katsuki Bakugo.

It was why you never made a move. Never spoke a word of the feelings you harbored. You didn't dare to cross that line with him because you couldn't ever hold a candle to the explosive man.

In the three years Eijiro and Katsuki spent together, your brain finally started registering Eijiro as just a friend, nothing more, and certainly nothing less. You thought your heart had followed suit but it was becoming more and more apparent that wasn't the case. Because the night he showed up at your door, tears in his ruby eyes, every lock you put on your heart broke open.

The same way you couldn't hold a candle to Katsuki, Eijiro couldn't hold one to Izuku. You knew exactly what he was feeling even if you never intended to tell him. Too overcome with fear. If Katsuki came back... that'd be it. Eijiro would go back and you wouldn't even blame him!

Still, the redhead consumed a decent chunk of your heart though, you couldn't deny that after the three months you spent together in America, gathering intel on a smuggling ring, living in the same apartment. The groggy, 'good mornings' when his voice was still scratchy with sleep, hair falling in his eyes. The late nights bandaging wounds and killing cheap bottles of wine while watching terrible American reality shows.

It was those bottles of wine that did you in on your second to last night in America. Supplying you with courage and draining your sense of reason, allowing you to crawl onto his lap, into his arms. You could still remember the pressure of his lips on yours, those sharp teeth gently dragging along your lower lip.

Scared hands tracing the curve of your ass before taking handfuls to squeeze. The laugh that came from you was unlike anything you heard before, something so genuine that you couldn't reproduce.

How it felt when he lifted you up and took you to his bed, laying you down taking his time removing your clothes, and watching with awe as you pulled away his own. The way he looked over top of you, his hair a curtain of red around you just before you closed your eyes, gasping while he filled you.

You also remembered the guilt that crept into your head during the wee hours of the morning, the doubt that was louder than the snores coming from behind you.

It made you slip from under his massive arm, gather up your clothes from his floor, you tucked the blanket around him, and pressed a kiss to his temple before padding out of the room.

You told yourself you'd talk to him about it if he brought it up, but he never did. Not the next morning, or night, not on the plane ride back home, nor anytime since. It was a memory you'd hold close to your heart, one you wouldn't let slip away or share.

"There's nothing there, Mina. We're just good friends is all." You lied with a smile on your face, something that had become surprisingly easy to do.

If only you knew that Mina saw right through it. That Mina already knew the truth of it all.

>>><<<

It was nearly one in the morning when your phone rang. The goofy picture of Eijiro with face half painted at a festival a few years back never failed to make you grin.

"It's a little late." You answered by way of greeting.

"Don't pretend like you were anywhere close to sleeping, you little night owl."

Chuckling at the nickname that had followed you since high school, "What's up, Eiji?"

"I was going over flights. You said in the office that you wanted to leave on Friday?"

"Yeah. I have patrol tomorrow and I didn't find any flights after 6 PM so, Friday is the earliest."

He was quiet on the other line for a moment. "Yeah, you don't have patrol tomorrow, or work at all for that matter."

You sat up a bit straighter in bed. "Um, yes I do."

"No, you don't. I called Mina, asked her if you'd mind taking that shift for you and, since she knows what's happening, she agreed the extra day for travel would do you some good. So, she's covering you tomorrow then you're off work until next Wednesday. As for me, thanks to all that overtime I put in when Denki, Kyoka, and Hitoshi got married, the three of them are splitting up my days so I have until Wednesday too."

Eijiro sounded impossibly proud on the other line, you could almost see the smirk on his face. "You've got this all planned out, don't you?"

"And a bag nearly packed. Just need you to tell me what ties to bring."

"Gold, burgundy, and black."

"Thought your mom said no black for you?"

"She said no black for the wedding. She said nothing about black at the brunch!"

You couldn't wait to put on the tea-length dress that had been a favorite for years. Satin with a lacy top and, best of all, pockets.

He let out a rumbling laugh that fell off into comfortable silence as you laid back in your bed, lights still on, the room still a mess. You tapped the speaker icon and laid the phone on the pillow right beside your head, listing to the various sounds of Eijiro moving around.

A door creaking open, a hanger clattering against another, and a zipper. "And just like that, I'm all set."

"Don't forget your passport or hero license."

"I have one in my wallet and the other in my backpack."

You swiped up on your iPad, off Netflix, and going to google, lazily searching through flights. "So, did you find any good flights since you've clearly been looking?"

Another chuckle, "Eijiro, why are you laughing?" More stifled giggles had you sitting up in bed again. "Just tell me a site you were on. They're just flights, what's so funny?"

"There isn't a site."

"You said you were checking flights."

"And I was... on my family's jet."

"Eiji! No! No, no, no! That is supposed to be for their business or hero things! My stupid cousin's wedding is neither of those things!"

"Relax, Y/N. My family has multiple and they don't have any business trips planned right now anyways. I already cleared it with my mom. Seriously, I just mention your name and she's likely to let me have it for a whole year at least. Plus Todoroki's is back up in working order so the agency is covered too."

Damn, why'd he have to be so good at planning from time to time! You'd completely forgotten about the second jet his family had. Always opting for the larger one since the few missions they needed it for required them to bring fifty or so heroes along.

"Besides, if we fly private, we can land at an airstrip closer to the venue and won't need to drive four hours on top of a ten-hour flight."

"Alright, okay, thank you but, let me take care of the rental car, please. It's the least you can let me do."

"Deal. I just have one more question for ya."

"What's that?"

"Wanna leave tonight?"

You nearly dropped your damn iPad in shock. "Eijiro! What the fuck has gotten into you! It's the middle of the night!"

"I'm excited!" He boomed, "I haven't had a vacation in months!"

"I hate to break this to you, buddy, but this isn't going to be a vacation. You really shouldn't get your hopes up. This isn't going to be a good time with laughs and fun memories... my family, they just, they aren't those kinds of people."

"But we are." He stated matter-of-factly. "If they want to have sticks up their asses then let them! We'll have a good time on our own, laugh and make fun memories! So, what do you say, Y/N? I can be at your place in fifteen. I just gotta put shoes on and grab my keys..."

"Wait, hang on. Are you forgetting that we need someone to, oh, I dunno, FLY THE PLANE! Actually, we need two someone's, can't forget about a co-pilot!"

He hummed happily and you rubbed your temples. "You, you have a pilot and a co, don't you, Eiji?"

"Mhm! There is a company we use. Two can be at the hanger in an hour and every hour after that. I just have to make the call and get the flight plan approved which will be done before I even get to your house."

There was literally no reason to say no. You had mostly everything packed, nothing you needed to get from the store, all you had to do was put on pants and pack up your hygiene bag and you were ready too. Maybe getting there quicker and getting the whole thing over with would be better than staying home dwelling on everything.

"Better put your shoes on."

The glee in his voice, that was enough to make this whole thing worth it, "I'll see you soon."

>>><<<

Eijiro reached into the backseat and plopped a bag down on your lap the very moment you were buckled in. "Had to make a pit stop." He explained.

"It's after two in the morning, where'd you have to..."

"Just open the bag and don't complain."

You found it filled to the brim with all your favorite snacks.

"I'm sure the plane will have a bunch of snacks we can raid but I know for a fact they don't have these." He held up a pack of cookies and creme flavored pocky that had been his favorite for as long as you'd known him, quickly followed by your favorite flavor too. You also found a massive bag of gummy worms and jolly ranchers.

"So, what you're telling me is our teeth are going to rot by the time we land? Not that I'm complaining."

You ripped open the bag of ranchers knowing that was what he'd go for first and sure enough his hand dove inside just as he pulled away from the curb. You could hear his dangerously sharp teeth biting through the rock candy like it was nothing while you still rolled one around your mouth.

Eijiro asked you about the resort you'd be going to, wondering if you'd been there before or what other stuff you guys could do when you weren't dealing with your family. "I figured we could fly back Monday night or Tuesday morning, you know, just play it by ear in case there was anything else we wanted to do."

More than anything, you wished you could just leech a little bit of that excitement from him. The glimpses of his smile you caught as you drove under the street lights made your heart ache.

"What?" He asked with that wide smile of his. You'd been caught staring, red-handed.

"I, uh, I just don't know what to tell you."

You could see the subtle change of his grin, watch as it softened and his hand came to rest on your thigh. "Hey, it's gonna be fine! And if we run into them while out doing stuff, you can just avoid them or hide behind me!" At least hiding behind Eijiro is an easy thing to do, damn mountain of a man.

His thumb slowly brushed back and forth. "'S gonna be okay. I'll beat 'em up if they're assholes!"

You snickered at his Katsuki impression and let the drone of the radio fill the air around you both. Enjoying the silence the rest of the way to the hanger with Eijiro's hand atop your leg.

[thesolferino]

Favor

⤷ dream x f!reader.

⤷ genre: angst, fluff

⤷ word count: 8.4k

⤷ requested: yes, by this lovely anon!

— summary: dream asks you to pretend to be his girlfriend for a day. things only seem to go downhill from there.

It started as a favor.

On a quiet night in your apartment when you stared at your phone for way longer than your eyes could physically take and rolled around on the bed, talking to one of your best internet friends, Dream, he asked you for a favor. His voice was muffled through the mic on his phone, the one connected to his computer way cleaner, but neither of you could bother getting off FaceTime and call on Discord instead - yet you still heard him loud and clear, because you burst out laughing right after.

“What the hell did you just say?” you laughed, turning on your stomach and opening the call, now entirely focused on the timer that counted every second you spent talking to him instead of your Twitter timeline.

“It’s embarrassing, don’t make me repeat it!” And for that sole reason, you wanted him to repeat it, loud and clear.

“Is this why you were so insistent on me coming down to Florida? So I could pretend to be your girlfriend at your cousin’s wedding so your family doesn’t think you’re a loser?” you laughed, finding the situation entirely absurd as he sputtered, words mashing together, trying to defend himself.

“No! No, I wanted you to come here because we’re friends and I-I wanna meet you, this is just a… benefit, of sorts.” he replied, and you couldn’t help but laugh even harder at his poor attempt of trying to save face.

“Alright, I’ll bite.” you chuckle. “What’s in it for me?”

“Whatever you want.” he responded, much too quick. Your eyebrows raised.

“Whatever I want?” you parroted.

“Yes.” he confirmed. “I’ll buy you something, if you want; I’ll even pay you-”

“Pay me?! I’m not a whore, Dream!” 

“That is not AT ALL what I was saying!” he cut in, yelling as you burst into a new fit of laughter. “It’s just… I sort of already told them I have a girlfriend and I was just hoping you’d say yes ‘cause it’s gonna be very awkward if I show up without the girlfriend in question.” 

You put your head in your hands and he sort of dryly laughed at himself when he heard your palm hit your forehead. “What is wrong with you, man?” 

“Listen, it’s not gonna be so bad! Just stay by my side for a bit, look pretty, we’ll get some drinks, and then dip. That’s it, I promise.” he reasoned.

“And here I thought we were gonna make out in front of everyone. What’s a fake relationship if we don’t make a show out of it?” you sarcastically snickered, and could practically see his eyeroll from miles away.

“If that’s what you want, then we’ll do it, by all means.” he replied and you laughed, shaking your head in mild disbelief.

“Alright, well, if you already told them, I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” you huffed, pretending to be way more bummed out about it than you really were. “I’ll do it.” 

“Thank you so much, oh my God.” he replied and you chuckled at the sheer relief in his voice.

A few seconds of silence pass. “What’s the catch?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“How do you want me to publicly embarrass myself in exchange for this favor?”

“Personally, I think that forcing you to tweet that tweet about pissing yourself in bed again and also tweeting that everyone should subscribe to me isn’t “publicly embarrassing” at all.” 

“Maybe I should’ve picked a different fake girlfriend.”

“Sucks to suck, pissbaby.”

The weeks leading up to your meetup felt like years, with every treacherous minute of you two talking over muffled mics and shitty webcams feeling longer than it should, your empty apartment feeling emptier and emptier by the day. Was it even possible to miss a person you hadn’t even met yet? 

It turns out that it very much was, because as soon as the painfully long weeks were up and you were finally metres away from him, you jumped in his arms like a woman finally seeing her soldier husband after the war, standing on your tiptoes while he bent down the best he could to hug you back. His chest rumbled with a warm laugh when you turned your head ever so slightly towards his ear.

“Hello, boyfriend.” And just like that, the warm turned into a groan of faux annoyance while you burst into laughter and he pulled away, scanning your face with an equally annoyed look.

“I should’ve never asked you for that. You’re never letting it go, are you?” Yeah, you were kind of annoying with the amount of corny boyfriend jokes you threw his way - you had to give him that. But then again, he crafted his own fate and now he must accept the consequences.

“Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t realise your majesty wasn’t appreciating the work I’m doing! I just won’t show up at that wedding, how about that?” you bit back, voice dripping with sarcasm.

“You’re such an idiot.” he laughed. “Give me those bags.”

A blissful week had passed, and he hadn’t pissed you off in real life nearly as much as you thought he would. It took a bit of getting used to to his family calling him Clay instead of his beloved internet username, and you did get a couple of suggestive looks from his mother the first few times she visited - you had a couple of “eye conversations” in which she never exactly asked if you were his girlfriend, and you never exactly denied it, but you knew both of you felt the weight of the unspoken words yet you had to keep everything secret and ambiguous. Or at least you thought you did, before he revealed to you that he told his mom the two of you were dating already. Seems like the glances were knowing and not questioning. Maybe you weren’t as good at eye conversation as previously thought.

Living with him was fine, mostly because he had godly air conditioning and a house that was probably way too big for him, and also a very cute cat that followed you everywhere and made living with a man for a full two weeks way more bearable. Finding out that he can’t cook was one of the most bizarre revelations about him that you’d had in the years of your friendship, and you demanded he watched as you made chicken wraps. You complained about how he was 21 and couldn’t cook for himself, he complained about how it’s 2021 and he can just order from Chipotle or something, dude.

A week of goofing around and trying to hide the fact the two of you temporarily lived together from the internet had passed quicker than it should’ve, and for the first time in seven days, Netflix was turned off and the two of you were dressing up for the wedding, ready to set off with his parents and younger sister. He spent ages trying to convince you to match with him, which was quite literally impossible because he wore a black suit and you brought a red dress, which resulted in the two of you roaming around a local mall at 10 am, half asleep, looking for a reasonably formal black dress, because of course Dream always got his way.

An hour of arguing and your fashion tastes clashing later, you picked an off shoulder black dress with a high slit, along with a pair of pumps, both of which you forced him to pay for, and went back home, ready to glam both of you up as much as humanly possible because you were not ready to let him show up in some horrendous pair of shoes and claim to be your boyfriend. 

“Is this okay?” you questioned, turning from the mirror to face him and let him be the judge of your shimmery black and white eyelids, spending way too much time on a makeup look for a wedding of someone whose name you didn’t even know. He blinked at you as his judging gaze washed over you like a wave, scanning you up and down while you nervously cocked your head, leg tapping in faux impatient annoyance to cover up the fact that you felt like prey under his eyes. 

“It’s… yeah, it is. You look good.” Dream confirmed, nodding his head at you in a movement that was way too quick and snappy and you turn back to the mirror with a huff, watching him stare right back at you. 

“Too much, right? I should try something else.” You say, grabbing your makeup remover wipes, but he cuts in before you can even wipe a single smudge.

“No, no, it looks good, I promise. Really good. Don’t touch it.” Something way too sincere in his voice makes the air tense, more tense than usual, but you drop it, deciding to just take the compliment with a tight lipped smile.

“Okay. You ready?” you ask, and he nods, nervously straightening out his suit before looking back at you with an anxious grin.

“Yeah, I think so. Do I look fine?” 

He did. He looked more than fine. You’d never seen him actually dress up for something and put proper care into his looks - he was practically forced into doing it by you this time as well - so seeing him in an actual black suit, all formal and expensive looking, messy dirty blond hair properly combed for the first time in ages, made you gulp and look away. You sort of never understood the argument that women and men can’t be friends because you were never attracted to one of your male friends, ever. Dream was born to be an exception to every rule, it seemed. 

Realising that you abruptly looked away, you attempted to awkwardly clear your throat and smile at him.

“Yeah, you do. Let’s go.”

During the ride there, his mother seemed to finally explode and the words that have clearly wanted to pour out of her mouth for ages finally came out. You supposed it was better for the poor woman, and did your best to suppress a laugh when Dream dramatically sighed and leaned against the window when she nosily spoke up. 

“So… since when have you and Clay been together? He’s told us absolutely nothing!” She spoke up from the passenger seat, shifting to look at you, excited smile plastered on her face and you politely smiled back, mentally noting that you’d have to bully the shit out of him for acting like his mom is embarrassing him in front of his 8th grade crush.

“Ah, we’ve been friends for a long while, but we only started dating a month or so ago, because it’s hard doing long distance and all that.” you said, hoping it would sound believable enough because the two of you rehearsed this a few days ago, writing out a whole backstory from how you started dating to what exact words he used when he asked you out. There were a couple of arguments here and there, such as the fact you refused to say you confessed you’ve been in love with him for years and he refused to say he admitted he’s been your “bottom bitch” for 3 years but in the end, you somehow managed to agree on a cohesive timeline of events.

“Oh, does that mean you’re going to move here?” she questioned, and that one didn’t surprise you either, Dream having prepared a full list of answers to questions that people might ask in your notes app. He was a perfectionist to the point it got on your nerves, but that had its own perks.

“No, but I’ll definitely visit more often, and if it goes well, I might as well move here.” you smiled back at her and she nodded, going back to staring through the windshield. You and Dream exchange a relieved glance that you hope his younger sister doesn’t notice.

“Let me tell you, I was waiting for you two to get together! He always talked about you, I was getting tired of him, you know that?” she giggled and you widened your eyes at Dream who, snapping out of somewhat of a daze, immediately jumped to protest, light blush adorning his pale cheeks. 

“No, I didn’t! I did not, mom, don’t lie to her.” he argued while all she did was laugh.

“Oh come on, it’s not embarrassing now that you’re together!” she kept going, and his younger sister joined in, to make it even worse.

“Yeah, you do talk about her a lot, not gonna lie.” she spoke up and his cold glare directed her way told you everything you needed to know, hanging on by a thread not to burst out laughing. He refused to even look your way, turning back to the window as his cheeks started heating up. You couldn’t help but let out at least a bit of a giggle, placing your hand on his arm in fake comfort.

“It’s okay, you can admit it now.” your tone borderlined on mocking and he knew you’d make fun of him for days to come so he stayed silent while the rest of the car burst into laughter.

The wedding was truly beautifully set up, set in a hotel wedding venue, walls painted in pure innocent white with hints of gold here and there, and you nudged Dream as the two of you observed in awe, asking what sort of money the groom had to be able to afford this sort of expensive venue. Nudging him proved to be way easier now, because you linked arms - you originally made fun of him for suggesting to walk like that instead of holding hands like normal people, telling him you’d look like you were at your high school prom, but he persisted, and you didn’t end up looking as goofy as you thought. 

“He’s a doctor or something, pretty sure.” he replied, quick feet trudging down the long hallways, your own struggling to keep up with him, especially in your heels. He seemed to be in a rush to sit and get it over with as soon as possible so he could avoid any nosy family members, but bad luck followed him everywhere, it seems, because as soon as you two entered the place where the bride and groom would unite, at least three different pairs of eyes locked on you, and you immediately saw a fairly elderly woman get up with open arms, staring at Dream with a grin on her face. You saw him immediately tense up, and almost laughed right then and there.

“There’s my boy! Oh, you’ve grown so much, come here!” The woman looked to be in her fifties and Dream let go of your arm to nervously laugh and fall into her hug, the two rocking from side to side as she kept going on about how it seemed that he grew taller and taller every time she saw him. 

When the two pulled away, her eyes fixed on you, judgingly scanning from head to toe and you suddenly realised why Dream tensed up the way he did - old white women sure had a way to make you anxious. Thankfully, he stepped in. 

“Aunt Bessie, this is Y/N, my girlfriend. Y/N, this is aunt Bessie, my mom’s older sister.” he generously offered the explanation you were so obviously lacking and you grinned, as if that information helped you in any way, and stuck out your hand in an offer of a handshake. However, she seemed to have different plans, because as soon as she heard the words “my girlfriend” her face lit up as if she won the lottery and her lips stretched into a smile, opening her arms for you the same way she did for him. 

“Oh my God, you finally got a girlfriend? Come here!” she said, shaking her head at your outstretched hand and gesturing you to return the hug which you quite hesitantly did, politely laughing as she hugged you tighter than you’d deem appropriate. Dream came from a family of huggers - that much was apparent from him, you guess, but you weren’t exactly prepared for this.

Aunt Bessie seemed to be way louder and screechier than expected, because the word “girlfriend” boomed through the room and off the snowy walls, and at least five other family members of his turned around to check who the lucky fellow that finally got a girlfriend was. Another one of his aunts seemed to notice the commotion and suddenly, another older woman with shoulder length, dyed blonde hair, along with her two younger kids, was hurling at you as well. 

“I always complained to him that it was about time he got a girlfriend! He’s a fine young man, no wonder you picked him, honey.” Aunt Bessie shot you a knowing look and you closed your mouth in a tight lipped smile in a feverish attempt to keep down the laugh that threatened to escape you. 

“Oh yeah, he definitely is.” you giggled, looking up at Dream again who looked like he wanted the earth below his feet to open and swallow him whole. Before you could nudge him in the ribs and tease him for hours to come, the other aunt suddenly spoke up.

“Clay! Oh my gosh, is that you?” she exclaimed, shocked grin on her face, and you briefly wondered if Dream ever even visited his family. He nervously smiled, obviously not really sure who this woman even is, but he hugged her back anyway, clearly walking the line between ‘happy to see his family’ and ‘insanely uncomfortable’.

“I haven’t seen you in so long, your dad hasn’t visited since we moved to Toronto! Look at how tall you are, you’re taller than my husband now! You used to be so tiny, whatever happened to you?” Upon hearing the word Toronto he seemed to realise who he was talking to as his eyes softened, and you wondered if he really was so expressive or you could just read him that well.

“I grew up, I guess.” He awkwardly laughed and she laughed harder than she should’ve before turning to you.

“Oh, and who is this?” She said, gaze periodically switching between him and you, a knowing smile on her face which told you she definitely knew who you were.

“Ah, this is my girlfriend, Y/N. Y/N, this is… my dad’s cousin, Mabel.” He introduced, large hand landing on your back, and you felt like you were experiencing déjà vu at the way her face lit up at the mention of a girlfriend. 

“Wow, it’s so nice to meet you, Y/N!” She said, energetically shaking your hand, before turning back to Dream. “You never told us you got a girlfriend! You’re finally planning on settling down, huh?” 

Your head snapped in his direction at the speed of light when she mentioned settling down, and you could see him tense up as well as he nervously laughed.

“Yeah, we haven’t visited in a while, so nobody from the family really knew. And, uh… we haven’t really thought of that yet, we’re taking it slow and everything.” He said and you were almost in awe at how good he was at bullshitting. The woman did nothing but laugh.

“Ah, don’t lie to me, I see the way you two look at each other! It’s your wedding we’ll be attending next!” She winked, and just as Dream got ready to fake laugh once again, her family called her over and she excused herself, walking off.

The two of you hurried to your seats as well, sitting down next to his younger sister. 

“Your family is insane, man, holy shit.” You laughed in disbelief, staring at him as he shook his head, clearly as distressed as you were.

“Literally nobody in this family gives a single fuck if I’m single or not except the old aunties. And I seem to have a shit ton of those.” He muttered under his breath. “The way you look at each other - I literally didn’t even look at you properly that whole time!” 

You cackled at that one, hitting his arm. “She’s right, Clay. You’re one fine young man, eh?” You nudged him as he groaned in embarrassment, only turning your way to glare at you. 

You didn’t get to tease him for much longer, though, because the organ started playing and the bridesmaids and groomsmen lined up, the groom standing at his designated place. The bride walked in, arms locked with her father, thin white veil covering her face as she walked down the aisle, looking angelic in her puffy wedding gown. Silky brown hair fell down her shoulders, curled towards the ends, and you could see the hint of blood red lipstick beneath the veil. She looked beautiful - the groom seemed to think so as well, because you could see him tapping the corner of his eye lightly, wiping any stray tears.

She finally made it to the end and stepped to face her soon-to-be husband as her father moved away, sitting back in his chair. The wedding officiant stepped up, and held a speech much longer than it should be, which just led you to zone out. 

One day you’d be beneath that veil, wouldn’t you? One day, you’ll face your fiancé the same way she is, and you’ll let your hearts link with a string that nobody but the two of you could snap. Who would that be, though? Who could you even trust with your heart in their hands? And you’re not aware of how and why and when, but your eyes shot up at Dream, whose eyes also glinted in that way where you knew he wasn’t paying attention, and maybe he was thinking about the same thing as you. Maybe one day, you’ll be attending his wedding, forcing one of your friends to play a fake boyfriend as he wipes his tears, waiting for his bride to get to him. 

It was disheartening, the thought of being a bystander while he locks lips with somebody else. You supposed you just liked being the center of attention, so you let yourself pretend you were his bride in your daydreams. Separating daydreams from rational thoughts was mandatory, because you weren’t sure how you’d explain to yourself that you can’t stand seeing Dream marry someone else. 

Dream, the infamous hopeless romantic, still seemed out of it, maybe even a little emotional, despite not being that close with either of the two. He was probably thinking about his own wedding as well, thinking about his future, the face he’d see when he pulled back the veil.

Just then, his eyes darted to yours, and you realised you were caught staring, snapping your head back to the couple that started reading their vows by now. You started going red from the neck up, cheeks on fire as you could feel his gaze burning into you. He turned back after a few seconds, though, probably assuming you stared at him because you were bored, and neither of you spoke, even though you kind of wish you did. What even is there to say, though? 

By the time you snapped back, the “I do”s were already being said, and her veil was getting lifted, showing her beauty to everyone present, and as they kissed the whole room bursted into cheers and applause in support of the newlyweds. The two exit, teary eyed, their parents follow close behind, and that’s when Dream’s family rushes both of you to your feet, following the two into the reception hall where the actual party would take place. 

From then on, the wedding is the same as any other. The two have their first dance, they give a welcoming speech, and Dream lets you stuff your face with cake and repeatedly refills your wine glass as repayment for dragging you into this whole thing. At some point, he stretches his hand out to you and asks for a dance like a rom-com main character, and you’re not sure exactly why he did that because he’s mostly terrible at dancing, but you had fun letting him twirl you until you got dizzy anyway.

You also realised just how much he did actually need a fake girlfriend, because it seemed like every twenty minutes some sort of relative of his would walk up to the two of you and congratulate him on “finally getting a girlfriend”. You ended up bullying him for that as well, wondering just how long he’s been single for if they’re all this surprised that he’s got a girlfriend, to which he just downed the glass of water he’d been sipping for half an hour and asked you about the weather.

His family took a few pictures with the new couple - you even got to speak to the bride at some point, congratulating her and wishing the two of them well, but in the span of a few hours, the wedding was over and the newlyweds made a great exit, signifying the end of the party. The two of you were driven home by his parents, and you waved them goodbye as you stumbled to the front door, your heels insanely uncomfortable and the red wine in your stomach weighing down on you; you just wanted to get out of this dress and into a pair of pajamas and pass out on his couch in the living room. 

That’s sort of exactly what you did - you half-assed taking your makeup off, wiping down your face a couple of times, deciding that was enough before changing into some worn pajamas and plopping down on the couch next to Dream who already claimed his place and sunk into the cushion while a random movie played on the TV. The two of you basked in the comfortable silence that surrounded you, the exhausted, tired type. You both appreciated the quiet and fell asleep sitting next to each other, wedding already forgotten.

That night, he went from Dream to Clay.

The departure was bittersweet. You left two days after that, your hug at the airport tight, warm, filled with a sugary sweet feeling you couldn’t quite place and sour acid that ate away at you because you didn’t want to leave in the slightest. His arms were warm, inviting, whispering for you to stay but you left anyway, waving him goodbye, setting off to home. 

It seemed like all your problems came and went with him, because a week later, at 3 in the morning while you were up editing a video, you got an all caps message on your Discord from Sapnap.

“YOU’RE DATING DREAM?”

You blinked at your computer screen, white letters blinding you in the dark, brain trying to keep up with why he even thought that. Within 10 seconds, another message, this time from Dream.

“so i told george and sapnap that we’re dating”

“don’t kill me pls” 

Yeah, you weren’t going to kill him, per se, but he definitely made your life a lot harder than it should be. You opened Discord, Premiere Pro and the unedited video abandoned, typing back to Clay quickly.

“WHY”

He responded immediately, as one panicked man does.

“they’ve been making fun of me for being single for ages now :(“

“we already did this fake dating thing before and it went perfectly fine”

“just play along for a month or so”

“pls”

You audibly sighed. And as if he could hear you, he started typing again.

“i’ll promote you on my channel more”

“just pls do it”

“you love me, right” 

Another sigh fell from your lips before you could stop it. Of course you did, because if you didn’t, there’s no way you would be playing into this. You typed back.

“fine”

He messaged back immediately.

“THANK YOU”

“LOVE YOU <333”

With a shake of your head, you mumbled “idiot” with the ghost of a smile flashing on your face, switching back to your video, opting to ignore Sapnap for a little bit. He could wait. 

Fake dating seemed pretty damn easy during the first week - you thought you were killing it by sending corny tweets and staged selfies so he could screenshot them and send them to the groupchat, giggling on call about how oblivious they are and how you’re fooling them so good, both of you opting to ignore the parts where they claimed they knew the two of you were gonna get together eventually. It was fun, lighthearted, and an excuse to flirt with someone you had nothing official with.

As much as all your problems came and went with Clay, though, they came and went with his friends as well, especially that hopeless man Clay called his best friend. 

Because yeah, of course Sapnap was the one to accidentally spill to the public that the two of you were “dating”.

George was streaming at what was apparently a normal time in the UK, not so much for Florida, and Clay was sleeping while you were watching his stream while making some food for yourself. It was going fine, a bit of a chill stream, and you leaned against the fridge as your oven preheated, tired eyes following his Minecraft skin. 

“Sophie, thank you for the dono! ‘Hey George, I love your videos, just wanted to ask if you were speedrunning with Dream today?’” he read out, and you could faintly hear Sapnap join the stream through your headphones. 

“No I’m not, Dream’s… I don’t know what Dream’s doing right now, actually. He’s not responding to me, though. Probably talking to his girlfriend still.” he continued, exaggerating the last part mockingly, still playing into the whiny role of being upset that Clay was ditching the two of them for you. That majorly woke you up, though, as you stood straight on your feet immediately, because oh no, nobody was supposed to know.

You exited out of the Twitch app quickly, letting the stream play in the background as you tried to fish for Sapnap’s profile on Discord and text him as quick as possible, trying to warn him to not let anybody know, but before you could do it, you heard his laughter clear in the stream.

“Yeah, Y/N, his sweetie poo.” Sapnap said, causing George to laugh even louder, before moving onto the next topic, and your heartbeat picked up an insane amount, nails loud and probably damaging your phone screen as you typed as quickly as humanly possible to yell at him because this was not planned, at all.

You heard him go quiet after you shot him a couple of messages over Discord (“SAPNAP” “ARE YOU FUCKING STUPID” “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU” “NOBODY KNOWS YET” “IM GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU”), type something to George who then fell quiet as well for a few seconds, pure horror on his face, and then went back to streaming as if nothing happened while Sapnap profusely apologised to you on his and George’s behalf.

No apology could fix what had already been done, though, and you were left alone with the warzone that was Twitter who had already speculated the two of you were dating long before while Clay peacefully slept somewhere in his house at 4 am in Florida. You bombarded him with messages and waited until he woke up ‘cause what were you even supposed to do?! 

You chose to spend your time finishing the pizza you were originally supposed to make and almost burnt your whole apartment down because you forgot the oven was on for a whole hour while yelling at Clay’s idiotic best friends. You yelled at Sapnap, who kept apologising to you, you yelled at George, who yelled back that it’s not that big of a deal because people were bound to find out anyways, and you yelled at Clay, because he was the guilty one somehow for not being awake during your breakdown. 

He did eventually wake up though, to the shitshow that were his notifications with at least thirty messages from each of you, messages from his other YouTube friends who were fairly surprised, and his entire fanbase going ham on Twitter. He was surprisingly calm about it - calmer than you were, anyways, and sheepishly said over the phone that the fake dating thing may have to go on for a little longer since you couldn’t just date for a month and then break up, and you were sort of okay with that.

And of course, the business side of him awoke at that moment, and he giddily told you about the amount of views the two of you could pull if you did the same shit you do with George and Sapnap anyway, but on livestream. 

You rolled your eyes.

And then agreed anyway. 

And so, the charade began.

His Twitter statement was up shortly, telling the people that you’d been dating for a couple of weeks and weren’t planning to tell anybody yet until a certain someone spilled their guts live, and the fact Dream was dating someone, let alone another popular streamer, took the internet by storm. You expected hate, and you got quite a bit of that, but the people that had shipped the two of you before were certainly more than delighted and a lot of Clay’s fans were supportive. 

Now, both of you had excuses to do chill streams together and just hang out and you took the opportunity and ran with it. 

You’d sit and play Geoguessr or just try and speedrun Minecraft a bunch of times for hours on end, doing stupid bits and things you’d be doing offline anyways, with a little more flirting than usual, because that’s what made it interesting.

“Oh this is France, for sure.” you claimed one night, two or three weeks after the secret was officially out, chewing on the fries you bought for this specific occasion, streaming on his alt to a few thousand people. 

“You think so? It could be Belgium, too.” he responded, humming in thought as he looked around.

“I know so.” you responded.

“How?” 

“I just do. Gamer intuition, babe.” you said, and he wheezed at your response, repeating the words gamer intuition under his breath.

“No, seriously. It is France, I know it is, I’ve seen so many pictures of that place I know it like the back of my hand now. That’s Lyon, or something.” you continued, plopping another french fry into your mouth.

“You have? Why do you know so much about France, that’s so random.” he responded, opening the map and pointing to France, although he keeps looking around, unsure of his decision.

“I dunno, I like it there. I wish I could move there.” you replied.

“Why, though?” 

“It’s pretty and heavily romanticised! Just like me!” you joked and he laughed, before letting you continue. “I dunno, it’s the city of love. Be a little romantic.” 

“The… the city of love is whatever city the two of us are in.” he said, and it took a few seconds for you to process the joke before letting out a fake disappointed sigh.

“I can’t believe I’m dating someone as corny as you.” 

At that, he bursts into wheezes, and you follow along, enjoying the sound of his laughter coursing through your headphones more than you used to a few weeks back. It feels nice, feels right, acting like this. You like calling him your boyfriend more than you think you should. 

A few weeks go by, and it feels all too natural. It feels too natural, talking to him first thing in the morning when you’ve barely even had your coffee, calling him pet names, throwing sweet words at each other publicly like they mean nothing. It feels all too natural, and nice, and all too right, and you don’t even notice when the two of you cross the line between public and private, and you’re stuck making stupid jokes about making out when you first see each other when there’s nobody to witness them except the walls of your rooms, but you don’t like thinking about that, because you know it’ll bring nothing but confusion. The current this that the two of you have is perfect to you, perfectly lighthearted and funny and fun, and you intend on keeping it that way, refusing to think about it in any way past jokes.

That is, until you can’t anymore.

It’s late, again, and you’re staring at his contact name on your phone screen, lazily lying on the bed. It reminds you of a night from roughly 3 months ago, when your whole friendship seemed to change in the few seconds it took you to process what he’d asked of you, and it feels weird, but nice.

“My mom really likes you, you know?” Clay breaks the quiet that you’ve learned to appreciate in his presence, and you exhale through your nose, the noise just short of a chuckle.

“Yeah?” You laugh, and he does as well.

“Yeah.” He reaffirms. “She thinks you’re a great girlfriend. Apparently I seem brighter ever since we got together.”

You laugh again. “I am a great girlfriend, to be fair. She’s totally right.” 

“Well, I wouldn’t know that. If you’re as good of a girlfriend as you pretend to be, though, then you’re amazing.” He says, and words fly out of your mouth before you can stop them. 

“Yeah? You wanna find out?” The flirty nature is nothing strange to the two of you, but this time it feels kinda different, it feels like you’re stepping into dangerous territory that there’s no coming back from. You feel like you’ve ruined everything, for some reason.

He laughs, like normal, though. He laughs like nothing happened at all, and you’re so, so grateful for that.

“Sure, let’s do it. You’re about to unpack the full Clay boyfriend experience.” He snickers and you laugh as well. 

“That means I just unlock the dick as well as the personality.” you respond, quick as always, and the wheeze that escapes him is so loud that it makes you laugh too.

“...Unlock the dick…” he repeats through another wheeze and you nod, laughing.

“Yeah! I mean I’m literally experiencing the boyfriend experience without actually having a boyfriend, it’s fuckin’ great.” you say and he hums.

“You could have one, though.” 

The implications are crazy, his words are crazy, he’s crazy and everything that he could mean and couldn’t mean by that is driving you crazy too, brain faltering and heart seeming way too big for your chest to contain it. It’s silent.

“I could, I guess.” 

You choose to say, and he switches the topic naturally, like he never said anything.

Things are never the same again.

It’s not in a bad way. Sure, it is kind of a bad way for the feelings you’re trying to push down inside you, a bad way for hot nights when the unbearable heat forces you to stay up even when you don’t want to and you have no choice but to think about why you feel the way you feel as you melt into the burning sheets below you, a bad way for when he jokes about finding somebody else and you feel your stomach churning. A bad way for realising that this fake dating thing is really getting to you, but not a bad way in general.

Maybe it’s in a good way. Maybe the underlying implications whenever he makes jokes about making the relationship real are good, maybe the way he calls you in the middle of the night when he’s anxious and freaking out and defends himself by saying: “You’re my girlfriend, you’re always there for me, I just figured I could call you.” and you end up wondering if it’s possible to say jokes in such a vulnerable state or if he’s serious is good, maybe the way it’s been a few months and he won’t tell his own best friends that it was a joke the whole time is good, maybe the way you confronted him about it and he said he likes having you as his girlfriend is good. 

Maybe the way the two of you are always walking the line between joking and being serious, between being friends and something more, between lies and pranks and emotional investment and fear of committing, and the way you’re always trying to push the other off, is good. 

The fans love it. The fanart is incredible (serves especially well for those hot nights when you can’t fall asleep and you scroll, watching yourself fall in love with Clay in every universe, tales told by people who observe your story and find it worthy enough to retell in their own words, to take the love you pretend to have and turn it into something real), people love to gush over the compliments he sprinkles in at random times during conversation and the general flirty dynamic is loved by many, pulling in more views and attraction for you. 

And you suppose that’s good too, but at some point, the good warps into bad, bad warps into terrible, and you wonder if this is all even worth the sleepless nights, wondering if he feels the same way.

Those thoughts haunt you more and more often every day. When you wake up, and text him first thing in the morning, your brain acknowledges that the camera is off - nobody’s around, people aren’t listening, so why are you still playing the role of a girlfriend and starting up a conversation with him when you haven’t even brushed your teeth properly? When you’re editing in the middle of the day and he calls to keep you company, making more stupid boyfriend jokes, your stomach flips in a weird way that makes you hate him, hate the way he can joke about these things so freely, like it doesn’t hurt him. Like it doesn’t affect him like it affects you. 

But, as much as you wish you could hate him, you couldn’t bring yourself to, and that was the worst part. Because, in reality, whenever he laughed you’d smile without realising you did, whenever anything exciting happened to you he was the first one you went to, whenever you wanted to laugh or cry or sit in silence for hours or complain you always went to him, the one person who you know would listen. In reality, whenever he made a joke about giving up on the fake dating and making it real, you wished so bad that he was serious this time, that this was what it took and he’d crack and all of your suffering would end.

It eventually happens.

It’s a pretty chilly morning, birds chirp outside and the sun that slowly rises is covering the kitchen floor in a golden hue as you pour milk into your cereal with one hand and hold your phone in the other, letting Clay ramble about whatever it was this time, when he brought it up.

“So, when do you wanna come down to Florida again?” he asks casually, and you almost drop the gallon of milk in your hand. 

“What?” 

“I said, when are you coming down to Florida again? Last time you came was pretty fun.” he says, and an empty silence follows. There’s an unsaid “I miss you” that you don’t hear, and he’s too afraid of saying it. 

“Florida wasn’t exactly on my schedule this month, man.” you say, placing your phone on the counter for a second. Clay sure knew how to surprise a person.

“Well put it down, then.” he jokes, and you hum.

“What, you got another wedding coming up?” you giggle and he groans - you never really stopped making fun of him for that wedding.

“No, I don’t. Can’t a man just miss seeing his beloved girlfriend?” It’s unbelievable how quickly dread can wash over you as soon as he makes one of those jokes. You were convinced the mix of anxiety and butterflies that appears in your stomach was gonna kill you sometime soon.

“He can, he’s just being weirdly insistent.” you argue nonetheless. “But sure, I’ll consider it.”

You do more than consider it - in a few weeks, you’re back at the airport, and falling into his arms has never given you such an adrenaline rush in your whole life. Something about having him wrapped around you, close to you, the warmth of his body radiating into yours sent you spiraling, head clouded with nothing but love and the fact that you wish you could stay there forever. You wished you could press pause and cherish the moment, let yourself bask in that feeling of pure love, pure adoration that you helplessly drowned in. But you couldn’t, and you left his arms feeling oddly empty. 

Hiding the fact that you were unapologetically head over heels for him proved to be a hundred times more difficult when you were right there, next to him, talking to him, when you could just kiss him any second, feel his lips on yours and nobody would stop you - the opportunity was right there, looming over you, the devil on your shoulder taunting you, telling you to do it. 

You got to wake up in the same house as him, watch his hair stick out in different directions and his raspy morning voice as he complained about the smell of your coffee, watch his eyes glint whenever he talked about something he liked and observe as he carried around Patches like a little baby. You got to experience every bit of domestic without the consequences of committing, and you wondered just how far this would go. For how much longer would the two of you blatantly ignore the fact that you were a couple that slapped the title “fake” on it because you were cowards who refused to admit what this truly was. 

Not for long, apparently, because you grew tired, and decided to put an end to everything on one random Thursday night - and if he hated you forever for it, then so be it. 

You were sitting on his couch, watching a random movie together, drowning in one of his Dream hoodies while you chewed the popcorn he made. It was dark outside, just past midnight, and you could see the branches of a tree swaying calmly through one of the nearby windows - the silence while he scrolled through his phone lazily was comforting too, everything was lazy and serene and it would’ve been perfect if it wasn’t for the constant anxiety that gripped you by the throat whenever you were in his close proximity, the nervousness that killed you, the upset feeling of wanting to cuddle up with him but knowing you can’t because you guys are just friends, and nothing more.

The couple on the screen kiss while a violin plays in the background - how fitting. Maybe that’s what pushes you to the edge, or maybe you were just that sick and tired.

You were exhausted, beyond exhausted. Your eyes were tired, the anxiety was morphing into annoyance and anger and you were ready to give up on it all. If this ended the friendship, at least you two had a good run. Your heart couldn’t take it anymore.

“You know, you still owe me a favor in return for pretending to be your girlfriend.” you say, and you sound gone, zoned out, more than you wish you were. You hear his phone turn off with a click.

“Yeah? What do you want?” Clay asks, and you blankly stare at the TV for a few seconds before turning to face him, eyes burning. 

“Kiss me.” 

It’s silent. The characters on screen are arguing. You hear the wind through one of his open windows.

“What?” he asks, voice cracking, and his expression falls. You’ve fucked it. Oh well.

“I want you to kiss me. Kiss me like you mean it. Kiss me like someone’s watching and you wanna make it believable.” you say, eyes boring into his, your words having nowhere near as much of an effect on yourself as they do on him. Your eyes sting like they’re being lit on fire, and your throat is sort of closing up, but it’s fine. “Let me have this before I go, because once I leave, I don’t wanna do this anymore, Clay. I can’t pretend like I don’t want you to introduce me as your girlfriend and fully mean it. I can’t lie to your face anymore.” 

Silence. Deafening silence, once again.

“I love you.” he blurts out, and you don’t even register it at first. “I don’t want this shit to be fake either. God, I really don’t. It hasn’t been fake for a while now, at least not on my part. I’m sorry, it’s just- it was easier to keep this bit going than it was to actually admit that I’m… into you.”

And once again, the room falls into silence, much like it always does whenever the two of you share moments like these.

And then, you burst into laughter.

“So… so you mean to tell me, that both of us have liked each other this whooooole fucking time, and just refused to admit it and ‘pretended to date’ instead?” you burst into giggles, and he looks sort of hesitant to laugh, but he does anyway.

“I mean… yeah? I was waiting for you to call me out for doing all that when nobody was watching! Why did you never call me out?! Don’t blame me, I made it so damn obvious that I wanted you!” he protests, and you almost can’t believe what you’re hearing.

“Excuse me? You should’ve just fucking told me instead of making a million and one jokes about how I’m your girlfriend! We’re not in middle school, Clay!” you argue.

“Yeah, but I thought you’d catch on and talk to me about it at some point! You never called me out for anything!”

“So what, I’m supposed to just read your mind now? You’re fucking unbelievable.” you huff, crossing your arms over your chest and turning away in annoyance. As soon as a warm hand lands on your shoulder, though, the annoyance melts like wax under fire, leaving nothing behind.

“I still haven’t returned that favor, you know?” he whispers in your ear, breath fanning your neck, closer than he should be. The hairs on your neck stand up as you turn back to Clay, who wore a mischievous grin and a glint in his eyes that suggested no good. 

You suppose bad can be good, sometimes. 

As his lips press onto yours, that theory is proven true, because he sends a flicker of fire burning down your spine, spreading into your limbs, making your fingertips electric as you pulled him in closer, hand snaking up to grip at his hair - the everlasting grin against your own proves, once again, to be no good as his hands slip under your hoodie and grip your sides, but you think you enjoy this sort of bad. 

They sneak up further, and you hear him chuckle into the kiss as your insides melt at his touch. The two of you silently agree that maybe he should ask for favors more often.

[unoriginalmess]

Untitled Feralnette Fic Ch. 1

Hiya there anyone who happens upon this first chapter of this fic. I would like to start out by saying that this is my first fanfic ever. I've been wanting to write a fic for the miraculous fandom for a while but I haven't had any inspiration until I stumbled upon this glorious AU created by @bigfatbreak. I highly suggest checking out all of their posts about this au because they are hilarious and genius and about 100 other amazing adjectives that could be used to describe them and their posts. Anyways enough with my rant and let's get on with the fic. ⚠️Slight angst⚠️ ⚠️Swearing⚠️

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When Marinette got home after her and Luka's breakup, all she could do was cry. She wanted to be with him, but her Ladybug duties came first. If lying is a deal breaker for him, then maybe it was best that they ended it now while their relationship was still in its early stages. Still, she couldn't help but feel the loss of her first relationship. She ended up crying for a whole entire day. She just hoped that Hawkmoth(or Shadowmoth or whatever the fuck he wanted to be referred to as this week) wasn't feeling particularly akuma-y today, because she didn't know if she could bottle up all these feelings, even though the world is relying on her ability to do so.

Ugggghhh!! It has been exhausting having to be "happy and perfect Marinette" and "happy and perfect Ladybug" All. The. Time. She's also pretty sure that Hawkmoth had discovered the similarities in her personality as Marinette to Ladybug, and that's why she's been targeted by multiple akumas lately. She has had to have her emotions under control even more than usual. If only there was a way to get Hawkmoth to stop targeting her. Maybe she should just not give a fuck anymore. Haha as if! It couldn't be that easy! Could it?

The more she thinks about it the more it starts to make sense. If she just let herself go completely crazy as Marinette, she would be killing like 10 birds with one stone. She would get hawkmoth off of her trail, she wouldn't have to deal with having to hide her emotions all of the time, she wouldn't have to deal with the added stress of maintaining her perfect persona, she wouldn't have to deal with the stress of Lila's lies taking her friends away if she didn't have friends in the first place, and so much more stress would be taken off of her plate! It was perfect! It might hurt a little at first, but it's for the best in the end. She spent that night planning out her outfit for tomorrow, doing her homework, and going to sleep knowing that, in the morning, François Dupont isn't gonna know what hit them.

....

Adrien Agreste had been having a rough week. He had been abandoned on patrol by ladybug, been broken up with by his girlfriend, and was feeling completely and utterly alone. He knows that his lady has been feeling overwhelmed by her guardian duties lately, and that he 100% deserved that verbal lasting that kagami had given him but he couldn't help but feel this way. He was also feeling guilty about lying to kagami and leading her on for so long. After she broke up with him he took some time to assess his feelings for her and realized that he had more of an admiration for her than an infatuation. He definitely didn't feel the same way about her that she felt about him. She told him that she LOVED HIM, and he was so distracted (blinded) by ladybug that he didn't even process her confession. So, he was looking forward to Sunday morning. He cleared his schedule and on that beautiful Sunday morning, he did what he is only allowed to do on very rare occasions: sleep in. Or at least... thats what he had planned on doing.

When Nathalie had knocked on his door that morning Adrien was not in a good mood. He vaguely heard her say something about father wanting him downstairs in some amount of time for something involving a business partners child and some other robotic sounding words that his half asleep brain couldn't process completely.

"I have a cleared schedule this morning, Nathalie. What could father possibly want me for that is more important than my precious sleep?" He asked snappily.

"Your father wants you downstairs to welcome the new guest that will be living in the house for the rest of the school year. You have 15 minutes to make yourself look presentable and I suggest leaving the attitude upstairs," she half informed/half reprimanded him. As she walked away, Adrien reluctantly rose from his nice warm bed and went to go get ready with only one thought racing through his mind: Who could possibly be staying with them?

....

Felix Culpa was not looking forward to living at the Agreste mansion for the rest of the school year, but for their parents' sake they would do what they had to. It wasn't all for their parents either, they were also concerned about the strange "dissapearance" of Emilie (who was his aunt in all ways except blood relation) and about the treatment of Adrien since said "disappearance".

You see, Felix Culpa is the heir to the Culpa Fabric Empire. The Culpas have been the sole fabric supplier of the Agreste brand since the very beginning. Felix's mom Diana was best friends with Emilie since their college days. Diana and Emilie made the deal with the two brands because as best friends who are both involved in the same industry, it just made sense to have a business relationship with each other. Diana never really cared for Gabriel as a person, but she could tell that he loved Emilie more than anyone else in the world so she could tolerate him for the sake of her best friend.

When Emilie went missing, Diana was absolutely devastated and tried anything she could to find her. She invested in missing person ads as large as billboards, organized search teams, tried to aid the police in their search for her in any way she could, but there was no leads, no legitimate calls to the number on the billboards, and the search team came up empty handed. While she was doing all of this to try to find her, she couldn't help but be furious over the fact that Gabriel was doing nothing to help in the search. All he did was hole himself up in his oversized mansion and call it a day.

The last straw for Diana was when Gabriel tried to use the "grieving my wife" excuse to try to abuse their business arrangement. That day, she told him that the Culpa brand would no longer be associated with the Agreste brand and that after the new collection is released, he would need to find a new fabric supplier. She knew that the Agreste brand would take a huge hit from having sub-par fabric, but she never thought that Gabriel would try to make up for that fact by using Adrien as a walking mannequin and locking him up in the desolate prison that he calls a home. As soon as she realized that he was doing this she scrambled to find a solution.

That is how Felix ended up here, standing in front of the mansion they would be living in for the next 9 months in exchange for Gabriel getting back into the Culpa brand's good graces. Don't get them wrong, they were excited about being able to be in Paris, home of the most innovative fashion pieces in the world, and about being able to see their honorary cousin Adrien (who wasn't half bad to be around despite him having no backbone whatsoever when it came to anything involving his father) but dealing with Mr. Agreste was definitely one of the low points of this arrangement.

They decided to just get it over with and knocked on the door. It was opened by the man that their cousin affectionately referred to as Gorilla. They nodded a thank you to the man, remembering that he was a man of few words, and proceeded to the bottom of the staircase. Mr. Agreste stood at the top with a very tired looking Adrien a few steps down. Felix wasn't even slightly surprised that this is where he chooses to welcome his guests, looking down on people must give him some sort of power trip or something. It's almost as if he heard the phrase "It's over, Anakin, I have the high ground," and made that his own personal motto. Whatever, let him have the feeling of false power if he wanted it, Felix knows that they have all the power in this situation and they're sure that Gabriel knows it as well.

"Hello Felix," Mr. Agreste greeted them with the same amount of warmth in his voice as liquid nitrogen, "while you are staying in this house you will abide by my rules. Adrien will inform you of them and show you to your room. You will attend school with him in the morning and I'm sure that you already know that you must represent not only the Culpa brand, but also the Agreste as well. I will be in my office working, do not disturb me. Contact Nathalie with any questions that cannot be answered by Adrien." He finished his spiel and left to what Felix assumed was his office space.

"Hello Felix!" Adrien greeted him with as much enthusiasm as he could muster in his sleepy state. "Come with me and I'll show you to your room."

Adrien led Felix to their room and listed all of the rules of the household that they were expected to follow. And... wow. Felix could not believe that their cousin had to live like this. The only social interaction this kid gets is at school and fencing? Pre-approved outings only with people determined socially acceptable by Gabriel? And if he gets even one "B" he isn't even going to be allowed to go to school at all? Felix knew that the living situation was bad for Adrien but know the only question running through their head was: What did they get themselves into??

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And... thats it for chapter 1! Mostly background info at this point, but next chapter will be the class' reaction to feralnette and felinette meeting for the first time. I just want to say thanks again to @bigfatbreak for giving me the inspiration to write a fic for the first time ever. Feel free to leave constructive criticism, I'm always looking to improve, especially at writing since this is my first time posting anything I've written online, so I want to get better so that I can make better content for you guys, gals, and non-binary pals. If anyone wants to be tagged just let me know and I'll make a tag list for ya. :)

[collecting-stories]

Saving Grace - JJ Maybank

A/N: A You Are Ok drabble set ten years in the future 

You Are Ok Masterlist | Outer Banks Masterlist

✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰

The Maybank house had sat empty on the cut for almost five years until JJ’s dad was released from prison. You and JJ had been down in Florida at the time, moved out of his cousin’s trailer and living in an apartment in the everglades. Talking about going home but unsure what the OBX had to offer at that point. It was barely two weeks after that when you both flew home, Luke Maybank had overdosed and the house was empty once again.  

It stayed empty while the two of you gutted the entire place and refurbished it. While JJ and you stayed at the Chateau or Kiara’s place, while you found a job and found out you were pregnant, while JJ got a job for himself in the area and went back down to the everglades to empty out the apartment.  

JJ laid the tile in the bathroom himself and fixed the plumbing. You painted the inside and outside of the house, planted a garden, bought a chicken coop. You and JJ moved in to the house and just like that you were back in the OBX.  

-

You sat outside on the porch, drinking a cup of coffee despite the hour nearing eight o’clock at night. The baby monitor was sitting beside you, a soft gurgling coming from the receiver. You were waiting for the familiar sight of JJ’s truck pulling down the long driveway in the dusk. The headlights were already on, flashing on you for a moment as he parked and then cut off, the engine dying.  

“Hey, what’re you doing out here?” He asked, climbing out of the front seat of the car and bringing a bag of chinese food with him.  

“Waiting for you to bring me egg rolls?” You joke, before turning serious, “I saw my dad this morning, at the grocery store.”

“Did he see you?”  

“Yeah...it was, really weird?” You suggested, reaching for the bag. JJ shook his head and held the bag away from you, a silent ‘I’ve got it’ as he leaned in and gave you a kiss. You wrinkled your nose at the familiar smell of fish as you pulled away, “how was work?”

“Alright...” he shrugged, “what did your dad say?”  

“That he wants me to come to church on Sunday.” You replied, following him inside.  

“You wanna go?” It was a question but the way he asked you knew that he already knew the answer.

“I mean...I’m not gonna like, start going to church with them every week and ya know, go back to how I was but...it might be nice. I do miss my family and, I want to have boundaries but maybe they don’t have to be like, huge ten-year silence boundaries where we never speak. I do want Willow to know her cousins; I think. What do you wanna do?” You asked, passing plates across the counter to him.  

A tinny half cry sounded from the monitor on the table and you both turned to look over at it, waiting for a crescendo of cries that you’d grown used to in the last four months. When silence settled back in, you both seemed to exhale in relief. You wanted to eat and finish this conversation before JJ ultimately showered and fell asleep until Willow’s usual one a.m. wake up.  

“Whatever you want.” He replied, never submitting to making the decision for you when you wanted him to. “Not exactly like your family’s a big of me.”

“Can’t imagine why,” you bumped his hip with your own, kissing his cheek. “Not like you totally corrupted their youngest daughter or anything.”

“Oh no, do not blame that on me.”

“I didn’t run away to marry myself.”

“If you go...” JJ posed, turning to follow you to the table, “do you want to go alone?”

-

You stood frozen in place, holding a box of cereal in your hand as you stared across the small expanse of Heyward’s shop, your dad there by the fresh produce, comparing two different apples with each other. The Outer Banks was a small island but you ran in very different circles and, in the three years that you’d been home, had avoided seeing your parents. Or anyone in your family.  

You’d driven passed the baptist church, a sign boasting a new assistant pastor, one of your brothers, when you’d first moved back but hadn’t actually seen anyone. The possibility of seeing them again had been a long debate between you and JJ when you’d finally decided to leave Florida for North Carolina. It had been hard in the very beginning, missing birthdays and anniversaries and new babies, but over time the ache had dulled and you had shifted your attention away from what you were missing and focused on working through the things you could heal in yourself.  

Now you were frozen. If you left your basket of groceries now you could make a beeline for the door and be out before he saw you. But then the bell above the door rattled as a customer came in and the baby swaddled against your chest started to fuss. Before you could attempt to placate her, your dad was looking over. For a moment you were certain he didn’t recognize you. Ten years was a long time. But then his mouth quirked into a frown and he set down the apples he was holding.  

“Ace?” He questioned, the old nickname feeling foreign to you. It’d probably been ten years since anyone called you that.  

“Hey, dad.” You nodded your head at him across the small store. You felt like tacking on a ‘surprise’ for good measure. ‘Surprise, I’m in the OBX, surprise, I got a kid...’

“When did you uh, when did you come home?” He moved across the store to be near you though he refrained from reaching out for a hug. You wondered if a decade had been just as hard on him as it had on you. Cathartic and healthy and freeing but hard. He seemed more mellow, you thought that before he might’ve pulled out a bible and started admonishing you.  

“JJ and I moved back three years ago,” you admitted, slipping his name into the conversation as if to prove a point. “He got a job on a fishing rig.”  

“Will you...would you come to church? We could have lunch afterward. Or you could just be there?” He offered. Ten years hadn’t changed his beliefs at all but it had made him miss you. Not knowing where you were or what you were doing felt like an ache in his chest that never went away. The anger had subsided to sadness and guilt.  

-

Seeing your dad had been startling enough and you had almost wished, while you were standing there in Heyward’s, that JJ could’ve been with you. Though, you weren’t entirely sure that would’ve helped anything in the long run.

“I think my mom would probably be nicer to me if I brought Wills but maybe, I mean, my dad already saw her. He didn’t ask about her but maybe...” you groaned, burying your face in your hands for a moment as you tried to gather your thoughts. “Why didn’t we stay in Florida?”

“Cause we both spent seven years talking about how much we wanted to come back to the OBX...and my dad-”

“Jay.”

“Look. My dad was an asshole okay, he was a fucking nightmare but you know better than anyone that not getting to see him at the end...that was the worst call I’ve ever gotten in my life. Knowing Ricky was the only one up here and that he was alone. You should do whatever you want to do and I’ll be there, right next to you, just like I’ve been for ten years, but I don’t want you to have any regrets.” JJ replied, honestly.  

You nodded, looking down at the plate of food and pushing your fried rice around. You knew that JJ was still hurting, that gutting a house didn’t take away all the memories that were trapped inside. “God I hate when you’re right.” You sighed.  

“Don’t let your dad hear you talk like that.” He teased just as the monitor went off again, this time for real. You leaned against the back of the chair and groaned as JJ stood up. “I got it.”

“No, it’s okay, I’ll get her.” You stood too. “You need a shower, and sleep.”  

“I haven’t seen her all day,” JJ pointed out, following you down the short hallway to the bedroom that used to be his. It was painted in yellows and oranges now, with a crib and a rocking chair and baby books. A sunset mural painted on the wall from Kiara’s girlfriend and a chandelier of stars from Sarah.  

“What are you gonna do, take her in the shower with you?” You joked, lifting the fussing baby up out of her crib, “hey bubba, what’s the matter?”

“You have to feed her right? So feed her in the bathroom.”

“Oh sure, Jay, that’s super comfortable for me. I would love to feed her while I sit on the toilet.” You grumbled, already knowing that you would probably, definitely end up caving to him and doing exactly that.  

“I’ll put dinner away and do the dishes.” He promised, “and I’ll punch you’ll dad if he says anything to piss you off.”

[gifted-burnout-archive]

Like It’s Now Or Never

Requested?: Yes. You lot wanted JaTP smut, so here it is.

Word Count: 10.5K+ (oops)

Author’s Note: Three things. 1. This was meant to be up last night, sorry. 2. This was posted and then deleted because Tumblr didn’t show any of the text. 3. I’ve based the concert off of this Sunset Curve: Greatest Hits playlist by @pattersonluke​ who I absolutely adore. Linking it here, please check it out!

Warning: smut, duh. 

Quick Context: this is an AU where the band don’t die, so alive!Luke x Reader

--

Y/N Y/L/N was used to being overlooked by people.

It wasn’t something that particularly bothered her, a teen of rather nervous disposition, and often meant she was able to operate without interruption. At school, she kept good grades while never being touted as a scholar; at work, she picked up extra shifts and was her manager’s favourite without ever being called out as ‘Employee of the Month’. She was a quiet soul, something she had been told she got from her grandfather.

It made it all the more impossible for people to believe she was really managing her cousin’s rock band.

“Woah, woah…” A bouncer about twice the girl’s height knocked on the window of her car as she parked in the alleyway by the Orpheum, prompting Y/N to struggle with the old Volvo’s window crank until she could poke her head out and let the man finish what he had to say. “Sorry sweetie, you can’t park here. We’ve got a band playing tonight, need this space for official vehicles only.”

“Oh, that’s me. I’m an official vehicle. Manager to Sunset Curve.” Y/N responded with a smile, lifting her hand and stretching it out the window to greet the bouncer.

“You?” He asked, sincere in his surprise, and Y/N responded by rummaging around and locating the backstage pass she had been gifted earlier in the day. When the bouncer’s boss had told them the band had equipment arriving that night, the last person he thought would bring it was a teenage girl no more than seventeen.

“Indeed. Would you mind helping me bring the stuff inside?” She asked, waiting for the bouncer to step back before exiting the vehicle, jumping out onto the street and looking up at the towering man. “Everything’s labelled, if you just leave it in the hall it would be really helpful.” She explained, walking round to the car’s trunk and opening it up to show an array of neatly packed boxes and instruments. The bouncer followed, chuffing in pleasant surprise at how tidy everything looked: he was pretty sure that the t-shirts had been folded with tissue paper to avoid creasing. Not something he saw with every rock band. “Sorry, I’m Y/N. What’s your name?”

“Mac… Any order I need to follow or…” The bouncer asked, and Y/N shook her head, running round to the front passenger seat to lift out her handbag and a stack of pizza boxes.

“If you just get it in the hallway, Mac. I can sort everything out from there.” She smiled over, headed for the door. “I had a feeling I’d need someone’s help getting all this in with the boys on stage, so I’ve got you a pizza from Alfredo’s on 9th to say thank you.” She added, and Mac looked up with a smile. He had certainly never met a band manager who had bought him pizza before. Not just pizza, either: Alfredo’s on 9th pizza.

“I’ll be sure not to break anything then.” He responded, and Y/N tossed him over her car keys before pulling open the Orpheum’s side door with her foot and making her way down the hall.

A few steps into the building, Y/N was welcomed by feedback, the band starting their sound check, shortly followed by a wave of music that hit her like a high-speed train and caused her to pause. She took a moment acquainting herself with the volume change, a smile appearing on her face as she heard the familiar sound of her best friend’s voice before she made her way further into the building. She had been there the day before, dropping off the drum kit and amps, and she memorised the building’s floor plan, and quickly locating the staircase she needed to head down and taking it with a sure set pace.

It took Y/N no more than a minute to emerge from the tangle of backstage passageways onto the venue’s main floor, pizzas still perfectly balanced in one hand while she rummaged through her bag for something. She quickly made her way over to the bar in the room’s centre, setting the pizzas down on the countertop as she pulled an inhaler from her purse, and looked up as someone cleared their throat over the music.

Y/N’s eyes met those of the bartender, a girl maybe a year older than her, with her hand caught underneath the stack of pizzas Y/N had absentmindedly placed down.

“I’m so sorry!” She squeaked, lifting the boxes off the girl’s hand only to be met with a smile and light laugh.

“It’s alright, just teasing.” She called over the music, then gestured to the band. “They’re good, right?” She said with smile, and Y/N turned to look at the stage, finally taking the chance to stop and enjoy the music.

No matter how many times she saw her friends in action, their music always seemed to take her breath away. On that stage, the boys she had grown up with had never been more themselves. They radiated this confidence and energy that made you want to sing along, the sort of pull that Y/N had only witnessed with bands like Queen, ACDC: it was an undeniable star power. Up there, under the blazing lights and playing together, those boys had the ability to melt away all her troubles, make them vanish under the bang of drums and the shredding of guitar.

She watched until their sound check ended, clapping wildly and whooping along with the bartender as the guys caught their breath, taking it as her cue to head up there and join them, scooping up the inhaler as she made her way onto the stage.

“Thank you, we’re Sunset Curve. Tell your friends.” Reggie, Y/N’s very own blood, said into the mic, sending a wink towards the bartender and earning a punch in the arm from Y/N as she passed by him. “Hey!” He pouted, though it didn’t last long.

“Too bad we wasted that on sound check. That’s the tightest we’ve ever played!” Bobby commented as he set down his guitar and grabbed a towel, fist bumping Luke as he turned back around.

“Just wait until tonight, man, when this place gets packed with record execs.” Luke was practically vibrating with excitement, and Y/N smiled on as the boys congregated.

“Alex, you were smoking.” Reggie complimented their drummer as he came down from his stand, drumsticks in hand.

“Oh, no.” Alex responded with a shrug. “I was just warming up. You guys were the ones on fire.” He gestured to the other three.

“Could you just own your awesomeness for once?” Reggie asked with a waving of his hands that nearly hit Y/N in the face, but she was quick enough to dodge it.

“… All right, I was killing it!” Alex admitted, Luke’s hands coming up to pat his bandmate on the shoulders, shaking the lanky blonde a little from his own excitement.

“Nicely done, guys.” Y/N spoke up, the four pairs of eyes landing on her, each with a bright smile on their faces. Her best friends, all together, all happy: it made her heart swell. “First off, Alex.” She turned, tossing over the inhaler. “You left it in my car this morning. Don’t let it happen again.” He caught it quickly, mouthing a quick ‘thank you’ before shoving it in his pocket. “Second, I got Alfredo’s.” She gestured to the pizza boxes on the counter beside the pretty bartender and, in a chorus of whoops, the four guys rushed passed her and jumped off the stage, Reggie first to the boxes and shoving a slice of pizza into his mouth before Y/N had even got herself back on the main floor.

“You guys are really good.” The bartender complimented, continuing her previous activity of buffing the bar before the soundcheck had happened. For the first time in a while, she was excited to be working.

“Thank you.” Luke said with a dopey grin, sorting through the stack and pulling out the one labelled with his name, promptly digging into a delicious slice of pepperoni.

“I see a lot of bands. Been in a couple myself. I was really feeling it.” She continued, Y/N walking up and joining the boys, lifting out one of the pizza boxes and setting it to the side for Mac the bouncer, before sliding down Bobby’s and Alex’s. Reggie was already on his second slice.

“That’s what we do this for. I’m Luke, by the way.”

“Hi, I’m Reggie.” A muffled add on.

“Alex.”

“Bobby.” He winked at the bartender, and Y/N stifled a laugh at the dark-haired boy’s attempt at flirting.

“Nice meeting you guys.” Luke noticed the eyes Bobby was making at her a moment after Y/N, sticking a finger in his mouth before shoving it in the taller boy’s ear. “I’m Rose.” The bartender introduced, and Reggie quickly grabbed his cousin’s purse off the counter, opening it up and grinning when he saw a top and CD inside, pulling them out.

“I was gonna…” Y/N sighed as she watched Reggie turn back to Rose with the objects in hand, one of them being the shirt Y/N had planned to change into for that night.

“So, uh. Here’s our demo, and a t-shirt. Size beautiful.” He handed them over with raise of the eyebrows, Alex and Y/N groaning at the same time.

“Thanks! I’ll be sure not to wipe the tables down with this one.” Rose grinned, and Alex swallowed the slice of pizza he chewed on.

“Oh, good call. Whenever they get wet, they just kinda… fall apart in your hands.” He admitted with a nervous laugh, and Bobby leaned forward on the bar.

“Vegan-friendly though. I could… I could never hurt an animal.” He said with a dashing smile to Rose, and Y/N quickly realised why the boy had called her up not a half hour before to change his food order to ‘something, anything vegetarian’. “Hey Y/N, won’t you be needing a hand with the guitars? The boxes… stuff?” He asked, the girl looking up and rolling her eyes at Bobby before nodding quickly, picking up the pizza for Mac while Luke, Alex, and Reggie grabbed their own food.

“He had a hamburger for lunch.” Luke called as he followed his friends towards the hallway that led backstage, earning a glare from Bobby before he turned back to the pretty bartender. Y/N had a feeling they wouldn’t see him again until call time.

“I’ll be back in two, gotta get this to the bouncer. Dressing room’s down the stairs to the right.” Y/N instructed the guys, who headed off towards the comfy couches and air con while she made her way back to the side door, the contents of her car neatly stacked along the wall. “Mac, you are an angel.” She said softly to herself.

“Well, I try.” She received a reply from the bouncer, stood outside the door, and smiled wider, placing down his pizza on a shelf by the exit, and picking up her car keys from the surface. “Need anything else?” He called through.

“No thanks, I got it from here! Enjoy the food!” She said back, quickly lifting the first stack of boxes and balancing them along the corridor.

By the time she had finished moving everything to where she needed it; the t-shirts and demo CDs to front of house, the smoke machine and spare strings and picks to stage side; the guitars along to the dressing rooms, the boys had already finished their pizzas, and were now raiding the complimentary snack basket from the venue.

She kicked open the dressing room door to find her cousin and friends three quarters of the way through a fruit bowl of trail mix.

“You guys seriously never stop eating, do you?” She asked, setting down the instruments and collapsing into an armchair, letting out a sigh of relief. Her evening was only beginning, of course, but she was ahead of schedule, and felt she deserved to sink into the chair’s comforting embrace. “What do you think Bobby’s chances are of getting the pretty bartender’s number?” she asked, her eyes closing as her muscles relaxed.

“30, 40%?” Alex offered, receiving a laugh from Reggie.

“More like zero.” He said through a mouth of nuts and Reece’s Pieces.

“What, like you could get it, cuz?” Y/N asked, her eyebrow raising despite her eyes still being closed.

“Tell me why we let Y/N hang around again?” Reggie responded, his tone playful and lacking the malice one might normally accompany with the rhetoric, and Y/N’s eyes opened as a smile spread over her lips, the happiness radiating from them all.

“Maybe because she’s the person who got us this gig?” Luke offered, walking over and ruffling Y/N’s hair with a laugh as she swatted at him. “Plus, Alex and I are living in her garage…” He shrugged, and sent a grin Y/N’s way as she fixed her hair back to its original styling.

“Yeah, and!” Alex chimed in, leaning back against one of the vanity’s with his hands in his pockets. “None of you ever remember my inhaler. And I’ve never seen someone restring and tune a guitar as fast as Y/N… And like, also the whole best manager in the world thing.” He added, and Y/N found herself sitting up a little.

“To be honest Reggie, I think what the guys are saying is: I’m amazing, and you’re really lucky you play bass.” She teased her older cousin with a cheeky grin, earning laughs from Luke and Alex while Reggie looked on, a little confused.

“Wait, what do you mean I’m lucky I play bass?” He asked, not quite catching on to what she implied, and only making his three friends laugh more.

“Ok, ok.” Y/N said after a moment, pulling herself off the chair and walking over to the stack of instruments, lifting a tote bag from amongst the cases. “So, I was obviously out today doing errands.” She began, walking back over and sitting down on the edge of the chair Luke lounged in, the boy smiling up at her as she did. “But I made a little pitstop.” Her hands reached into the bag, her tongue sticking out as she felt around the canvas, quickly pulling out a square box. “Reggie.” She said with a grin, handing over the present to the boy, whose eyes had lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. He lifted the box’s lid off slowly.

“No way!” He yelled, lifting the device out the box with care, Luke and Alex leaning over to see what it was.

“I know you’ve been using one you bought at the flea market when we were 13 for years, and I thought… Well, you only get a first time playing the Orpheum once. Thought you should try it out on a new bass pedal… That also works with the banjo.” She smiled, looking back in the bag and pulling out the second gift as Reggie marvelled at the item in his hands. “Alex.” She called, throwing the next gift to the blond boy, who already had a feeling what might be inside the long, thin box.

“How much did you spend on this stuff, Y/N?” Luke asked as Alex lifted out a set of drumsticks, twirling one through his fingers and grinning from ear to ear as he noticed the engraving on them.

“Sunset Curve…” He said softly, showing the engraving on the butt of the sticks to Reggie. “Thanks Y/N.”

“Bobby can get his later, serves him right for flirting and not joining in on band bonding time so…” Y/N sat one of the gifts on the table before pulling the final present from her bag, an envelope with ‘Sunset Curve’ in cursive on the front.

“Y/N… How much did you spend on this?” Luke asked with a frown. He wasn’t the best at math, but he knew working part time at a diner did not cover the cost of a top-grade bass pedal and personalised drumsticks, plus whatever she had bought Bobby.

“Yours just took effort, Patterson.” She said with a smile, and Luke raised an eyebrow. “I worked some extra shifts, ok? Now open your goddamn present or I’ll take it back!” She exclaimed, reaching out to snatch the gift back, put Luke held just out of her reach.

“I’ll open it! I’ll open it, alright?!” Luke yelled as Y/N reached over him, stretching for the envelope. “But if you take any more extra shifts, I will personally come into that crappy diner and carry you out.” He warned, and Y/N sat back down, her hands tucked between her knees as Luke’s fingers tore open the paper. He tipped the envelope rip-side down, a letter falling onto his lap. Luke lifted it up to inspect closer.

“What is it?” Alex asked, Reggie still engrossed in his own present to notice the expression of shock on Luke’s face as he turned to a beaming Y/N.

“Is this real?” He asked, looking up at her. Y/N nodded quickly, and within an instant Luke had stood up and lifted her off the ground, spinning her as he hugged her by the waist, Y/N letting out a squeal as her best friend spun her around.

“Ok, why is it that Y/N gets hugs without even asking?!” Alex asked, receiving a middle finger from their lead guitarist, and prompting Reggie to walk over with his arms open. “Don’t touch me.”

“Well, this is why no-one hugs you.” Reggie muttered, and Luke finally set Y/N down, passing the letter over to Reggie, Alex quickly at the bassist’s shoulder.

“Dear Miss Y/L/N. The demo album you recently sent to our label crossed my desk this afternoon.” Alex read aloud, Luke holding onto Y/N still. “Sunset Curve is exactly the new sound I’ve been looking for… Looking forward to seeing them live…” Alex skimmed through his narration, picking out the most important phrases. “Looking forward to meeting you, Chris Baxter.” He stopped, looking up at Y/N and Luke.

“For a second I thought that said Chris Baxter, like Fall Down Records Chris Baxter.” Reggie laughed, looking around to see Y/N, Luke and Alex staring at him. “Wait… Wait, wait, wait.”

“Y/N got Chris Baxter coming to our show.” Luke almost yelled from excitement, the realisation quickly dawning on his bandmates and causing them to race forward, engulfing Y/N in a hug, the poor girl trapped in the middle.

“Need… To tell… Bobby.” She muttered out, struggling to breathe, and the boys let her go. She grabbed their rhythm guitarist’s present from the table, pressing the letter to Luke’s chest as she left. “What would you guys do without me?” She asked with a grin, and Luke smiled right back, his eyes trailing after her as she rounded the corner out into the hallway.

“Watch out, Luke.” Reggie said after Y/N was gone, snapping his fingers in front of Luke’s face. “You were practically drooling all over my cousin there.”

“He was drooling, Reggie. Puppy dog eyes and everything.” Alex remarked with a cheeky grin, and Luke frowned at the pair.

“She’s my best friend.”

“So you’ve been saying for the past 6 years.” Reggie rolled his eyes, starting back on the trail mix.

“Because it’s true.” Luke stated, his eyebrows gathering close, and Alex let out a laugh.

“Keep telling yourself that… At this rate, Bobby is winning the bet.” The blond sighed.

“What bet?” Luke asked again, sitting back down, turning the letter over to re-read the words.

“Well, Alex said you two would be dating by 16. I said 18. Bobby said never. Whoever is closest wins.” Reggie said with a full mouth, and Luke sighed.

“She doesn’t like me like that. You both know that.” He said softly, running his fingers over the name printed on the letter: Chris Baxter.

She really was the best friend a guy could ask for.

--

Y/N’s night was nothing short of busy.

After presenting Bobby with his new Capo for his guitar, she found herself rushing around once more: to get herself ready in the backstage bathroom, slipping on one of the tops she had packed so carefully in tissue paper since Reggie decided to give her own shirt away, fixing her hair and makeup, slipping into a pair of shorts instead of the yoga pants she had been running about in earlier; to set up the merchandise stand at one of the booths with their albums and t-shirts ready to sell; to discuss timings with the front of house staff; to chat with the light crew and stage hands about special effects and a last minute draw up for one of the song’s, which involved a spotlight on Luke.

By the time people were filing in, Y/N had drunk three cups of coffee and downed four cans of Coca-Cola, knowing the worst thing she could do was burn out.

However, it all seemed to be worth it. The crowd was killer, with more people than Y/N could have ever imagined making their way into the Orpheum. It seemed to be bursting at the seams, and by the time the house lights were going down, Y/N had sold half of their t-shirt stock and two-thirds of the CDs, not to mention the chant that had started to get the boys on stage.

“Sunset Curve! Sunset Curve!” The crowd cheered, a few of the faces ones that Y/N recognised from school, some complete strangers, but all of them here to see the boys play. As another group of kids came up asking for t-shirts, the resonating sound of Reggie’s bass filled the air.

All attention turned to the stage as Y/N’s cousin walked on stage, beginning to pluck out an improved bass line, applause starting up as he placed his right foot down and the sound became more and more distorted: he was making quick use of his gift.

Bobby was next, joining in on a melody line for nothing in particular, walking on stage and sending a wink to the girls in the front that left one stumbling into her friends. His fingers were nimble on the strings, making the work put into the skill seem effortless, and the crowd began to clap along in time with the beat.

The claps brought in Alex, who sat himself down at the drum kit and started a steady bass, snare, hi-hat line, gulping down the lump in his throat as he looked out at the crowd, adrenaline taking over.

“Good evening Los Angeles!” He called into the mic, the crowd exploding into cheers and applause, the three members on stage sharing a smile. “Are you ready to rock?!” He asked, receiving a unanimous shout of ‘Yes!’ from the few hundred people that had crammed themselves into the venue.

For a moment, everything went dead silent, Alex, Reggie and Bobby halting their playing and leaving the crowd confused, only to then continue with the thunderous applause as Luke ran on stage, taking his position at front and centre as Alex tapped his new drumsticks together.

“One, two! One, two, three…”

The whole show flowed perfectly. The band started with ‘Now or Never’, moving quickly onto ‘Rest in Peace’ and ’The Anthem’, the second of which got the crowd jumping along as the boys sang together. The feeling in the crowd was electric, and as their third song of the night ended, Y/N was sold out of CDs and on the last of her t-shirts.

“Welcome, everyone, to the Orpheum!” Luke called into his mic, Y/N looking up at the stage as he began to speak. “It is such an honour to be playing here tonight, it really is, and before we continue, we just want to thank you all for listening and sharing in our music.” He called out, earning whistles and clapping from the crowd. “We’re slowing it down for this next one, we hope you enjoy… Unsaid Emily.” Luke announced, taking off his electric and switching it for the acoustic sat behind him. Y/N watched him as he fiddled with the capo, a plectrum between his teeth and his whole body shimmering with a thin layer of sweat, captivated by her friend so much it took a yell for her to tune back into reality.

“Sorry…” She apologised to the girls waiting, giving them the t-shirt prices and taking their cash with a smile.

“Do you know the band?” One asked, pulling her t-shirt over the clothes she was already wearing.

“Yeah, I do. In fact-” Y/N started, but was quickly cut off.

“Will you give Luke my number?” The second asked, handing over a scrap of paper to Y/N, who looked at the phone number with astonishment.

“And Bobby mine.” The first demanded, placing her scrap of paper atop the other in Y/N’s hand before they shoved their way to the front row. Y/N slipped the piece into her shorts pocket, serving the next customer as Luke began to sing, sitting himself down on the edge of the stage and serenading the same girls Y/N just met.

Another two songs later, one of them being Alex’s original ‘Coming Clean’, and Y/N had closed up the merchandise stand, allowing the audience to take over that booth while she made her way back stage. She swung her way round the stair bannister, breaking into a light jog to reach the wings, quickly attending to the guitars that needed re-stringed, and setting up the smoke machine for the final number, a song Luke had written only a week or so before called ‘Bright’.

“So here's your holiday.” Y/N looked up from the smoke machine as Reggie came to the last chorus of the song he wrote, their penultimate tune of the night, Luke harmonising with him. “Hope you enjoy it this time. You gave it all away, it was mine. So when you're dead and gone, will you remember this night? Twenty years now lost… It's not right.” The pair sang with Alex and Bobby on backing vocals, the crowd with their lighters in the air, swaying along as Bobby played the outro, Reggie running off-stage with the applause, busted bass in hand.

“Got a fresh bass, little cuz?” Reggie asked, taking a moment to catch his breath. Y/N tossed him a towel to wipe down his hands and face of sweat, tuning the last string on the second bass. The pair did an exchange, towel and bass guitar. “Fog machine ready?” Reggie asked, and Y/N gave a firm nod.

“Now get out there and seal the deal. I saw Baxter earlier.” Y/N explained, giving him a thumbs up as he ran back on stage, and she knelt down to start the fog machine as Bobby plucked out the opening chords of their closer, Luke coming close to his mic to sing.

“Sometimes I think I'm falling down, I wanna cry, I'm calling out for one more try to feel alive.” Luke sang, Reggie coming in with a mellow bass line. “And when I feel lost and alone I know that I can make it home. Fight through the dark and find the spark. Life is a risk, but I will take it, close my eyes and jump.” Alex started on a bass drum beat, building up to the chorus, and Luke glanced over into the wings, spotting Y/N. She smiled and waved, quickly giving him a thumbs up as he continued. “Together, I think that we can make it, c'mon let's run. And rise through the night, you and I we will fight to shine together, bright forever. And rise through the night, you and I we will fight to shine together, bright forever.” Luke and Reggie sang over the screams and cheers of the crowd, Y/N watching on from the wings with a grin, Luke glancing over at her for a second time as Bobby took the next verse.

And for a second, she could have sworn Luke winked at her.

Y/N found herself busied for the rest of the song, packing up guitars while she kept a watch on the fog machine in her peripheral, refusing to look back at the stage until she heard the song ending. At that point, she started taking things from the stage area to the hallway by the side entrance.

“We’re Sunset Curve! Tell your friends!” She heard the band shout in unison as they ended their show, the applause alone enough to make someone’s ears ring.

She kicked open the side door, fishing her car keys out her pocket before hearing a polite cough to her left.

“Need a hand?” A deep, male voice asked, and Y/N looked over to find the voice’s owner. “Maybe you could point me in the direction of Y/N Y/L/N afterwards?” The man suggested, taking two of the four instrument cases Y/N had in hand, allowing Y/N to unlock the car’s trunk and place in the guitars.

“Might I ask who you are?” She quizzed, walking back to the side door, and smiling as one of the employee’s brought along the fog machine for her. She quickly picked hit up and waddled out to the car with it, setting it in carefully.

“Chris Baxter.” Y/N slammed the trunk shut as he gave his name, turning to face him with a surprised smile.

“Wow… Y/N Y/L/N.” She held out a hand, the man taking it and shaking firmly. “It’s... It’s an honour to meet you, sir.” She started, but he waved it off with a smiling, their hands dropping.

“No, it’s an honour to meet you.” Chris countered. “You had some balls coming in last week with that demo…” Y/N went red at his words, scratching the back of her neck.

“Traditional methods weren’t working?” She laughed nervously, and Chris grinned.

“No, no they weren’t. But blasting the album on a boom box in my record label’s HQ was certainly a risqué move, Miss Y/L/N.” He almost reminded her that her stunt the week before was a one-off thing, and Y/N nodded in agreement: she would never be doing that again.

“You did what?” Luke asked from the doorway, the four boys staring at her and Chris Baxter in shock, and her eyes widened, the girl quickly changing the subject.

“Sunset Curve, Chris Baxter from Fall Down Records. Chris Baxter, meet Bobby, Reggie, Alex and Luke.” She introduced, Chris walking forward and shaking each boy’s hand, unphased by their dishevelled and sweaty appearances.

“That show was… Absolutely terrific. I’ve already listened to the album three times this past week, and I didn’t know how you could top the sounds on that, but you all clearly can.” Chris complimented as he went down the line.

“The boys are, above all else, a live band.” Y/N chipped in with a nervous smile, begging the boys to say something, anything.

“Mr Baxter, thank you so much for coming.” Alex came back to reality first. “Your work with Pink Floyd on the Dark Side album was incredible.” He said with a smile, and Chris smiled back.

“I’m quite proud of that one, so thank you. And please, call me Chris.” He dropped the formality quickly. “Look, I won’t keep you. After a gig like that, you should all be out celebrating. I just wanted to say well done, and ask if a meeting next Monday would work for all of you? My label would be interested in signing you on, and of course you’ll be meeting with other teams… I just wanted to get right in there, show you all what we can offer.” Chris was blunt, straight to the point, and it caught them all off-guard.

“Did you just say…” Reggie trailed off from the shock.

“A record deal? With Fall Down?” Luke clarified, still rather astonished by whatever Y/N had done to get the biggest record label head on the West Coast to come to their concert.

“Hopefully more than one record, but yes.” Chris grinned, and Reggie had to nudge Bobby from his shock induced freeze.

“Next Monday is free for all of us, Chris.” Y/N stepped in, realising the guys wouldn’t do much good. “Shall we say 2.30?” She suggested, and Chris nodded, his hands going back into his coat pockets as he started on his way out the alley.

“You know where my office is, Miss Y/L/N.” He called back, four pairs of eyes landing on the girl as she took a shaky breath.

“You just…” Reggie started, but couldn’t find the words.

“Chris Baxter…” Bobby muttered.

“Best manager ever.” Alex assured.

“We did it…” Luke said softly, looking around his friends with wild eyes. “We played the Orpheum!” He yelled to the sky. The boys and Y/N soon joined in the shout, hugs shared amongst the team before they bundled together in a group hug, bouncing from the excitement.

“We need to celebrate properly. Tattoos?” Bobby suggested, to the delight of Reggie and the worry of Alex.

“The club on 6th?” Alex offered instead, and Y/N smiled as the boys tried to come up with a plan for their night out, slipping passed them back inside to collect the last of their belongings. The drum kit and amps would be a job for the morning, but everything else had to go, and as quickly as possible.

Where the guys were messy, Y/N was efficient and clean: the dressing room went from a bomb site to sparkling clean in a matter of minutes, which she packed into one of the boxes as a chap came on the door.

“Uh, Y/N?” The girl turned to see Rose, the bartender, stood in the doorway. “Tell the guys I loved the show. These,” she passed over a small bundle of cards no bigger than a credit card. “are for you. Record label execs, as Luke called them.” She explained, and the pair shared a giggle.

“Thank you Rose, I was just about to find you.” Y/N explained, slipping the cards into her back pocket. Rose left with a smile and a wave, allowing Y/N to head back out to the car, only to find that Alex, Reggie and Bobby had all seemed to have disappeared.

“Thought you could use the company.” Luke grinned, lifting the boxes that weighed Y/N down with ease, quickly slipping them into the back seat of her car.

“Luke, you should be out on the town, celebrating.” Y/N insisted, a hand gesturing to Sunset Boulevard and beyond, but Luke caught the hand in his.

“I’d rather help you out. I know for a fact you won’t let yourself have fun until everything is done tonight, and I have enough energy to power a jet plane.” Luke offered his assistance as his leg bounced and his hand locked with Y/N’s before he spun her under his arm. “Please?”

“Get in, Luke.” She responded with a happy sigh as she opened the driver’s side door, Luke bouncing so much on his way round to his side of the car Y/N wondered if he might have eaten a kangaroo by mistake.

“Do you want to stop for burgers?” He asked as they both got in, Y/N looking over at him with a smile and shake of the head, starting the car and following the alley to its exit.

“I swear to God Luke, you don’t stop eating.” She commented, but six years of friendship had made it blatant fact rather than speculation. “Are you sure you want to help me unload all this crap? You should be out with the guys doing something stupid.” She said, starting the short drive back to her house. She only lived a ten-minute drive from the Orpheum, though it never seemed like it. Her house was in the suburbs, tucked away at the end of a cul-de-sac away from prying eyes, and the change from city lights and gum-decorated sidewalk to perfectly-cut front lawns and uniform cherry blossoms trees along the road front made the drive feel like they were entering a completely different world.

“The quicker we do this, the quicker we both get to go out.” Luke shrugged, unable to stop his leg bouncing. “Music, can we at least put on some music?” He asked, opening Y/N’s glove compartment and rummaging through her CD collection. He quickly lifted a disk out and slotted it into the player, fiddling with the control panel of the car as Y/N tried to focus on the road.

The song came on as Luke watched Y/N with a smile, just waiting for her to connect the dots and respond to his song choice. It only took a few chords for her to get it, slowing at a stop light to quite clearly roll her eyes at Luke, who then decided to start singing to her.

“Left a good job in the city, working for the man every night and day. And I never lost one minute of sleeping, worrying about the way things might have been.” Luke put on the twang of the Creedence Clearwater Revival singer, throwing an arm around the back of her seat and leaning over to sing to Y/N, who was doing her best not to smile. “Big wheels keep on turning, Proud Mary keep on burning.” Luke sang right in her ear, and Y/N couldn’t help the giggles from erupting in her as she made one of their journey’s last turns. “And we’re rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ on the river.”

“Cleaned a lotta plates in Memphis,” Y/N reluctantly joined in.

“Yes Y/N!” Luke yelled.

“Pumped a lotta pane down in New Orleans. But I never saw the good side of the city, until I hitched a ride on a river boat queen.” She sang along, pulling onto her road.

“Big wheels keep on turnin’, Proud Mary keep on burning.” They sang together, pulling into Y/N’s driveway but staying in the car. “Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ on the river.” The sang in harmony, before both brought up air guitars to play the iconic riff together.

“Ba da dum, ba da dum, ba da da da da duhda da dum!” They cried out, both in fits of laughter as Y/N shut the car off, the only light nearby being through the windows of the garage.

“Guess that nonna is fast asleep then.” She said with a smile at her home, the lights all shut off. She glanced at Luke, who was wiping tears from his eyes. “You stay quiet, alright? That woman deserves her rest.” Y/N scolded pre-emptively, and the boy held his hands up in surrender.

“I love your nonna! I won’t wake her, mainly because she lets me stay in your garage.” He pointed out, and Y/N smirked, the pair getting out the car in unison. Luke ran to open the garage doors while Y/N headed for the trunk, lifting out a few guitar cases. Despite the weight of them making her posture sag and her hands hurt, she strode towards the garage, liking the idea of finishing the mundane as quickly as possible: not so much for a night out in LA, rather for some more time with her friends.

“You know, I can’t-” Y/N started to speak as she walked past Luke, setting down the guitars and beginning to sort them into their allotted spaces in the room, only to look back and find the boy frozen. “Oh, right…” She mumbled, forgetting that this was meant to be a surprise for him and Alex later.

Amongst other things, and while the boys stayed over at Bobby’s the night before to get in a last night of practice before the Orpheum gig, Y/N had ventured into the garage to start loading her car, only to be met by cobwebs on their equipment and excessive layers of dust on every surface. She was in the garage a lot, sure, but most of the time she was popping in and out to hear new songs or tell the guys about a new gig she had booked them. And with Alex and Luke spending a lot of time in her house, quite happy to keep her nonna company over lunch with songs and idle chatter, Y/N hadn’t been properly in the garage for a while…

What Luke was gazing upon was an entirely new room from the one he left the day before: the single lightbulb that had lit the place the day before was gone, replaced by string lights that looped around the walls of the room; with surfaces dusted and polished, their clothes neatly folded into a chest of drawers Y/N had brought in, the musical instruments hung up on the walls alongside posters of the boys’ favourite artists. The windows had been cleaned, the floors hoovered and bearing a rug Y/N had found in her attic, Luke’s sofa bed sporting freshly made sheets, Alex’s blow up in the corner in a similar state, an extension of her house’s landline sitting atop one of the shelves…

And a mini fridge installed…

“When did you… How did you…” Luke stuttered in disbelief, Y/N walking back round him to continue unloading the car. “The lights and the guitars and…” Luke tried to start again, falling short of what exactly to say, just watching his best friend walk by and store things in their new locations. When he had asked to couch surf all those months ago, when she had replied without hesitation, Luke didn’t expect much. Then she offered the garage as a full-time hub for the band, and offered Alex a place to stay after coming out to his parents went even worse than expected.

And looking at what she had done, how she had turned the dusty garage into something more, into a home… He was amazed by the girl before him.

“Y/N.” He stopped her for making her last trip to the car, a hand on her arm. The girl looked up and smiled at him, and he smiled right back. “Thank you…”

“Anything for you, you know that.” She replied, meaning the words. It had been the same way since they were kids. “Get yourself a soda, check the voicemail. It’s the number I’ve been giving everyone who wanted to speak with Sunset Curve.” She explained, making her last trip out to the car for the smoke machine and a few loose items. Luke did as he was told, grabbing two cans out of the fridge and glancing over at the phone.

6 new voicemails…

“This… This is crazy.” Luke muttered, cracking open the can of orange soda and sitting on the coffee table as Y/N put the last of their things away, coming to stand in front of him. He handed up a can, which she took with a smile, joining him in taking a sip.

“Crazy is the right word, yes… But it’s exactly what you guys deserve.” Y/N said softly, ruffling his hair before starting a walk around the room.

“I know but… this is crazy. We have a meeting with Chris Baxter, Y/N! All because of you!” Luke jumped up onto the coffee table, standing tall and spinning around. “We have a shot at actually… Actually making this stupid idea work!” He said with a laugh of astonishment.

“Luke, you and the guys earned every bit of this. You are all amazing, and Chris Baxter would be an idiot not to sign you.” Y/N reminded him with a smile, and Luke held a hand out to her. She took it, getting up beside him on the table. “To Sunset Curve.” She proposed, raising her can of soda.

“To making crazy daydreams reality.” Luke offered back, the pair clinking their drinks together. “You know, we should keep this up. Do more crazy stuff tonight! I mean, we’ve been lucky so far.” He suggested, the sugar quickly mixing with his adrenaline and getting the boy hyped up once more.

“What do you have in mind, Patterson? I can drive us along to the club on 6th, the guys are probably still there. Or get us a taxi?” She suggested, coming down from the table and heading over to top drawer of the cabinet the mini fridge sat on, not noticing that Luke’s eyes had settled onto her. “Look! Red Vines!” She showed him with a grin, taking one out the packet and chewing on it thoughtfully. “You know, tattoos don’t sound so stupid now that I think about it.”

“No, Y/N… I mean doing something really stupid.” Luke said softly, and Y/N smiled up at him, oblivious to what Luke actually meant.

“What? You want to go cliff diving? Reggie would be up for it.” She grinned, and Luke felt the breath leave his body.

He wasn’t sure if it was the soda sugar rush, or the adrenaline from the show, or some subconscious death wish, but Luke couldn’t stop himself from jumping off the coffee table, couldn’t stop himself from walking towards Y/N. She was so beautiful, so kind, so sweet, so funny… His best friend…

And Luke took her face in his hands, pressing his lips to hers.

It was chaste, his touch disappearing just as Y/N was about to fall prey to her senses being completely invaded by Luke’s presence, her lips and cheeks tingling from where he had held her, her pupils blown from the shock, the attraction. She had never thought he would have liked her like that, but as he stepped back, surprised by his own recklessness, Y/N wondered why she hadn’t thought of him like that before.

In fact, as they stared at each other from across the room, both recovering from Luke’s actions, all she could think about was the past near seven years of friendship: every hug and hand hold, every joke cracked and song sung to cheer one another up. Her mind raced with memories of their road trip around California the summer before with the band, to their friend dates on the pier, to nights in the house or the garage, spending time with her nonna and Alex and Reggie. The nights they’d sleep over at each other’s houses, or the camping trip the guys and her went on at 15, the night she and Luke stayed up and named constellations in the middle of nowhere.

Suddenly, she was filled with an overwhelming sense of idiocy: because she had quite happily mistook her romantic feelings for her best friend as platonic… For years.

“Y/N, I’m so sorry.” Luke muttered, running a worried hand through his hair, trying to read his friend’s expression, to gauge some sort of reaction. “Fuck…” He said under his breath.

“Don’t be sorry…” Y/N responded softly after a moment, and Luke’s eyes met hers. “One of us had to make the first move, right?” She added nervously, wondering for a moment if it had just been a stupid, heat of the moment, action.

“You’re not mad?” He clarified, taking a step closer, and another. Y/N moved towards him too, lifting his hand in hers and interlocking their fingers, admiring the way his hand held hers, the callouses on his fingertips feeling smooth and firm as they brushed over her knuckles.

“Not one bit.” She promised, looking up at him their hands breaking apart, Luke’s hands dropping to her waist, travelling under her shirt to hold her bare skin like they had a mind of their own.

“Good… Because I’ve been wanting to do that for years.” Luke admitted with a shaky breath out. There was a pause, both double checking with the other they were sure of their actions before Luke’s and Y/N’s lips found one another again.

There was an element of it that felt forbidden, the unspoken rules the pair had laid out for their friendship must have had a subsection that clearly stated something like this could not happen, but neither cared. The kiss was hungry, sweet, borderline desperate as they stumbled backwards and Y/N’s back hit one of the support beams for the loft space, rooting them in place as Y/N’s hands moved from his chest to his neck, her fingers finding their way into the back of Luke’s hair. It was still damp to the touch with sweat, his skin smooth and near silky against her fingertips.

All Luke could smell, feel, taste, touch, was Y/N. Her perfume mixed with the smell of her shampoo had short-circuited his brain, her lips on his had him feeling lightheaded, the way her fingers in his hair pulled him closer had him lifting her legs up and holding her up against the beam by her thighs.

“This is so stupid…” Y/N muttered as she pulled away to catch her breath, eyes fluttering open to view Luke, his attention taking focus on the crook of her neck as he pressed a kiss to the soft skin. Her heart was thudding, ringing in her ears louder than anything she had heard Alex play, and as a whimper passed by her lips without permission in response to Luke’s attention, she was sure he could feel the erratic pace against her chest.

“Really fucking stupid…” Luke agreed with a smirk, looking up at her with nearly black eyes, only a thin ring of green around pupil left. “If you want me to stop, tell me now…” He said, his hands moving up the back of her thighs to the hem of the shorts she had decided on that night. “Or now…” He offered, pressing his lips to her collarbone, following them up until his mouth found her sweet spot and earned a moan from the girl in his arms. “Or now?”

“You’re an asshole Luke…” Y/N muttered, taking his face in her hands and pressing her lips to his, shutting him up with a swipe of her tongue that had Luke’s mouth opening and giving in to her lips, her mouth, quite happily.

When Y/N’s hands found the way to the hem of Luke’s shirt, the guitarist walked them over to the sofa bed on the other side of the room, breaking the kiss to make sure he didn’t run into the coffee table. He pulled a face as he dodged the room centre piece, and Y/N burst into a fit of giggles that Luke challenged by dropping her onto the bed.

The action wasn’t the only thing that left Y/N breathless though, biting her lip as Luke pulled off the sleeveless tee Y/N had been tugging on only moments earlier. She had forgotten for a moment that when Luke wasn’t play music, he was working out, and had to take a second to register his toned body that matched his arms.

“Liking what you see, Y/L/N?” Luke grinned as he teased her, and Y/N pursed her lips, glaring him down playfully before deciding to join in on the game.

“You’re not the only one who looks good naked, Patterson.” She countered, and though she wasn’t quite sure she believed the words, she was on a high and wasn’t planning on slowing do whatever had begun. She quickly pulled off her top, throwing the white tee with the band’s name printed across the front to the floor by the bed and holding herself up on her arms as she leaned back a little, a plain white bralette beneath. Luke’s mouth went dry at the sight of her topless, his jeans quickly became tight, and he actually found himself blushing.

“Seems you’re right there…” He breathed out, leaning over her, one hand giving him balance as the other lifted her chin and brought his lips to hers. An open-mouthed kiss, Luke’s tongue was gentle yet demanding, taking control of the kiss as Y/N found herself lying back on the fresh sheets, and Luke found himself on top of her.

She wanted him, and in that moment nothing else seemed to matter. It was like everything else disappeared as her body melted into his: the only sounds she heard were his groans and her whimpers; all she could feel was the cool cotton beneath her and Luke’s rough hand against her flushed face; all she could smell was sweat and his cologne, taste the orange soda that lingered on their lips.

“You’re killing me here, Y/N…” Luke muttered through ragged breath as he pulled away, sitting back on his knees, kneeling. Her thumbs had found themselves running along the waistband on his jeans. “Have… Have you done anything like this before?” He asked.

It was clear exactly where this was headed.

“Not all the way… No.” Y/N said softly, her breathing a step short of hyperventilation, but Luke was very much the same. They both had experience, they had both dated in the past. Hell, Luke and Alex were even a thing for a while.

“Ok, so we’re in the same boat then.” Luke nodded with a gulp, and Y/N raised an eyebrow, moving to mirror his sitting position, inching closer.

“What about the red head? Last summer? Hayley?” Y/N quizzed, and Luke let out a nervous chuckle.

“Yeah… You were going out with that Nathan guy… Might have lied a little bit about what happened with her…” Luke admitted, and Y/N threw her head back laughing. In retrospect, it had made her rather jealous.

“Good to know...” She nodded as she spoke, coming down from the laughter, the pair falling silent for a moment. “You know… We do this, and everything changes.”

“I know…” Luke said softly, sharply intaking as Y/N’s hands came back to his jeans’ waistband.

Her hands made quick work of the belt, Y/N looking up at Luke as she unbuttoned and dragged down the zipper on his jeans, the material sitting slack on his hips. He stood up at the foot of the bed, Y/N not hesitating to push the material down past his knees, the clothing quickly pooling at his feet atop his sneakers.

“Shit, I forgot about shoes.” Luke whispered, trying to slip off his sneakers with his feet, only to stumble back and have Y/N quickly catch him by the waist before he fell over. “Shit! Sorry! Sorry…” He laughed out, managing to get off his shoes and jeans as Y/N quickly got her own mismatched converse off. “I feel like you’re wearing more clothes than me.” Luke said softly, looking her over as he strained against his boxers.

“Maybe you could help change that?” Y/N wasn’t quite sure where the sexual confidence was coming from, but she lay back on the bed, her head landing on the pillows as she looked down the bed at Luke.

“Uh huh… Yep. Definitely.” He nodded, his jaw slack as he got back on the bed, his hands coming to the button of her jean shorts and taking off the denim at record speed, revealing a pair of high cut panties that matched the white bralette covering her chest. “Fuck me…” Luke muttered.

“That’s the plan, handsome.” Y/N grinned back, and Luke took his eyes off her body to look into her eyes, to look at her smile and the way she held herself and how she looked at him the way he always wanted her to look at him.

“This has to be heaven.” He smirked, leaning over and pressing a kiss to her cheek before reaching out to the side table to the couch’s right, opening one of the drawers and lifting out condom from an inconspicuous looking box.

“Not quite, but we’re getting there.” Y/N smiled sweetly, taking a moment to undo her bra and let it fall onto her lap, discarding it and her underwear as Luke rid himself of his boxers and slipped into the condom. “Are you nervous? I’m kinda nervous.” She admitted, and Luke leaned forward to kiss her again, gentle and soft. Whatever anxiety she had vanished as his lips touched hers, and with a nod for Luke to continue, her best friend moved onto the bed, his length lined up with her entrance.

As he pushed past Y/N’s folds, slowly but surely completely filling her, Luke let out a string of groans and curse words, all intertwined. He wasn’t alone in it, Y/N muttering her fair share of choice language as she became accustomed to his size, the slight pinch of pain she felt disappearing and being replaced with pleasure as her inner walls clenched around Luke’s member.

“Jesus…” Luke muttered, his breathing heavy, doing his very best not to ruin the moment by cumming from just the sight of Y/N below him, naked, moaning because of him. “Does that feel alright?” He asked, and Y/N nodded.

“You can move now.” She whispered, bringing his lips to her as Luke pulled out and started a slow and steady pace, filling her with each thrust. Y/N moaned his name into his ear, her hands threading into his hair once more as the pace picked up, only prompting them both to get a little louder.

The benefits of soundproofing the studio.

“Fuck Luke…” Y/N muttered, breathing heavier by the minute, her stomach forming into knots, tight and tighter in her abdomen as Luke’s thrusts became deeper.

The whole thing was slow and sweat: the heat outside only made the garage warmer, Luke’s forehead soon sporting a layer of sweat that had his hair sticking to it. Y/N’s fingers wrapped around and dug into his bicep as he rocked into her, the rolls of their hips synchronising and make for more pleasure shared.

It felt like a dream, for both of them. Luke never thought he would ever have Y/N as more than a friend, regardless of how he felt, never thought the goofiness and over-confident demeanour that had attracted her to him platonically would have ever translated to… This. Y/N had seen the girls and guys Luke dated, and while she wasn’t one to compare herself to others often, she realised she never made a move because she had never been Luke’s type before.

“Y/N…” Luke whispered, his own high fast approaching. He leaned down, pressing his lips to Y/N’s collarbone, nipping at the skin until it bruised, smirking at every moan he managed to elicit in response.

“Shit, Luke… I-” Before she could finish speaking, Y/N threw her head back into the pillows and let out a whimpering moan, her grip on Luke’s bicep tightening as the tension that had built in her stomach finally released in the form of euphoria, waves of pleasure tightening her core and leaving Luke to its whim as he moaned out her name, struggling to hold himself up as he spilled into the condom. They stayed like that for a moment, both breathing heavy and looking into one another’s eyes.

They had just had sex… Both admitted feelings of attraction…

The flash of headlights and the sound of a car rolling up had both of them freezing for a second before Luke quickly pulled out, Y/N scrambling to locate her clothes as Luke tied off the condom and binned it before finding his jeans. He tossed her over her t-shirt while she threw back his underwear, the sound of the boys’ voices quickly approaching the garage.

Y/N glanced down at the state of herself, opting to press a kiss to Luke’s cheek before disappearing into the bathroom to finish getting ready, leaving the guitarist to deal with his band.

“I swear to God, I can’t believe we’re doing this.” Alex said with a sigh as he opened up the garage doors to reveal Luke sat on the bed, fixing his shoes. “Wow…” He muttered, and for a moment Luke thought it was in judgement, that he and Y/N had been made immediately. But Reggie, Bobby and Alex walked into the room and started investigating the new layout, and Luke remembered than not an hour, he had been doing the same thing.

“She’s something else, isn’t she?” Reggie said with a proud smile, and Luke fixed his shoe on before getting up. “Luke, where’s Y/N?”

“Right here.” Y/N answered, walking out the bathroom with her makeup and hair fixed, and fully dressed. Luke smiled over at her, and she smiled back before turning her attention back to the guys. “What, the club on 6th realise your IDs were fake?” She asked, and Reggie started nodding before Bobby slapped his arm.

“I’ve convinced Alex of the tattoo idea. But we can’t go without the two of you. We’ve got a taxi waiting outside.” Bobby explained, Alex shrugging in defeat.

“I suppose they’d look cool.” He said with a smile.

“Awesome! I’ll meet you in the car, just got to grab my bag… And fake ID.” Y/N said with a smile, Bobby and Reggie running out to the car as she quickly grabbed her stuff. Alex turned to go, stopping at the door and turning to look back at his friends, to look at the messed up bed, noticing the red on Luke’s arm.

“You alright, man?” Luke asked, the guitarist putting a hand on Alex’s shoulder as Y/N glanced over, the blond getting a distinct whiff of a sweet smell from Luke…

Y/N’s perfume.

“Oh my God, you guys slept together.” He muttered, the two freezing.

“Alex…” Luke started: it hadn’t been more than two years since they had dated, and a part of him worried more than one friendship was ending that night because of what he and Y/N had just done.

“You’re crazy to think-” Y/N chipped in, but was cut off by Alex letting out a yell.

“YES!” He shouted, clapping his hands together in excitement. “Finally!!” He grinned, and Luke and Y/N took a joint sigh of relief.

“Wait-” Luke started, but Alex was already gone to share the news with Bobby and Reggie.

“Bobby, you owe Reggie $50.” The pair could hear Alex calling, met by gasps and grumbles from beyond the door. Luke and Y/N laughed as Alex left, but as it died out, they were surrounded by silence.

Neither was sure what to say, neither wanting to stay in the silence.

“Luke-” Y/N said softly, looking up as he walked across the room and pressed his lips to hers. His hands pulled her close by the waist, her hands holding onto his shirt, pulled up to her tiptoes.

“I think we should talk a bit more about what we want to be… We don’t have to do it right away, but I don’t think that this was a mistake… Or stupid.” Luke whispered as he pulled away, Y/N responding by taking one of his hands and interlocking their fingers with a smile.

“I think that sounds like a great idea.” She responded, letting her best friend, her something more, lead her out to the awaiting taxi, to their friends, with a smile on his face and joy in his voice.

Y/N Y/L/N was used to being overlooked by people, but in that moment, under the glare of headlights and with Luke’s hand in hers, with his kiss on her lips and her image in his eyes…

She had never felt more seen.

--

Tags: @reggiesleatherjacket​ @leahstypewriter​ @walkingonshunshine​ @dylanstilinskiposts​ @crybabyddl​ @kaylinfayezink​ @oswin05​ @middaydramatic @freshflowerbasketballgoth @megnmendes​ @lolychu​ @a-whole-a-lot-of-fandoms​ @millenniumx @delicatelukepatterson​ @lovesanimals​ @-episkey-​ @korydickson​ @katemaire07 @theatricalfangirl​ @avs-hart​ @futuremrsb-r-main​ @mjflower​ @siennanoelle01​ @reggieandthereggies​ @kristencoontz​ @independentgirl​ @eries45 @amortiff​ @lilstanxd​ @crappy-unicorn​ @ghostlyb1tch​ @marinettepotterandplagg​ @im-a-writer-right​ @caitsymichelle13​ 

[peaches-writes]

heart attack!

description: han jisung can charm any heart if he wants to but he just wants one, whether he admits it to your face or not. 

member: jisung / han

genre: fluff, fantasy, rivals to lovers au, childhood friends to lovers au, witch / wizard au (sugar sugar rune-inspired), royal au, college au, roommates / housemates au, slice of life format, a side of hwang siblings, sunshine twins, cousin chan, and minchan (!!)

word count: 25.1k i’m so sorry

warnings: explicit language, alcohol, some mentions of injuries, a brief episode of someone getting abducted, mentions of a creep being,,,well a creep at public transportation, self-indulgent tooth-rotting cheesiness, idk if i should put a warning for unconscious emotional manipulation but im gonna write that in here anw

note: idk if i want to write little drabbles w this same pairing again since it ended up being so long but i kinda lost the plot halfway lmao lmk if u guys want additional lil drabbles for this hehe + again happy 1k yay!

You don’t always get along with Han Jisung, crown prince of the Eastern Kingdom, for reasons you simply can't limit to the number of fingers and toes that you have. He loves annoying you for the sake of getting a reaction, bratty as far as a wizard prince goes, and prideful among many traits that you were forced to grow up alongside with.

These days, however, you hate the way that he is the only other candidate alongside yourself for the High Crown of the magical world. As if fate didn't just want the two of you to butt heads in school and at royal social functions all the time, suddenly you're pushed to compete with him for something much greater.

For the record, though, it's tradition that all firstborn heirs of the 4 major kingdoms are considered eligible for the highest throne that unites all of your domains. You were going to compete with him either way, just with other people initially involved. However, with prince Hyunjin of the Southern kingdom mysteriously disappearing over a month ago and princess Lia of the Western kingdom subsequently refusing the candidacy, suddenly there was only you and the Eastern prince for the high jury to challenge in their Crown Candidacy exam. Fate and circumstance clearly love you with the way Jisung is always in your line of sight when all you want for yourself is to not be on the receiving end of his teasings and competititve streak all the time.

Though you yourself didn't desire the High Crown at first, the elders continuously pressuring you eventually pushed you into accepting the task. Plus, knowing that it's Jisung—the brat who pulled on your hair during those silly etiquette lessons the high jury made you and the other royals take as kids and embarrassed you when you once confessed your past crush to him in middle school—who would be automatically crowned without a test if Hyunjin isn't found in time and you also refuse made you go forward with it. After all, as much as you personally don't want to answer to Jisung as the next High King, you also think that entrusting the entire magical realm to him is simply not right. You would know, you had to grow up with him.

So, here you are on the night that the Crown Candidacy exam begins, receiving the final blessing from your mother and the high jury with Jisung who has been sneakily trying to poke on your side and get a reaction out of you since the ceremony began. If 15 elders and your mentors aren't surrounding the two of you with their scrutinizing eyes right this very moment, you would've easily snapped on the first poke and blasted the blue-haired boy.

"Stop that," You instead gritted your teeth next to him with the 17th poke to your waist, lowering your voice that only he can hear. "Ji, I swear to the gods—"

Among the circle of witches and wizards chanting ritual protection spells over the two of you, your mentor Younghyun glares at you and Jisung as if in a non-verbal scolding that the two of you should stop "playing around" as he would usually word it. You simply roll your eyes at this in response, earning you more quizzical looks from the other elders.

You also hate the way that Han Jisung keeps stringing you into his antics as his favourite person to mess with. If anything, you're most often in trouble with the elders because of him.

"This part of the ceremony is so unnecessary. I'm bored" He murmurs tiredly under his breath, bringing his hands back inside his black cape and pushing his shoulders back as he stands up straighter once more. "It's not like humans can hurt us. We're the magical ones, hello? Besides, the jury’s already cut the one-year exam by half. What could even happen in that time?”

"Stray monsters can still hunt you there if you don’t stand still." You correct immediately, earning you a look from your own mother this time as she finishes leading the last of the spells. At this point in your unwanted association with him, you don't even care much anymore that you get in trouble because you entertain his antics. You just want him to shut up. "Whatever. It's done."

The prince then giddily springs up in place once all of the spells are casted, suddenly looking more awake than the past 5 minutes of ceremony. "Finally! Okay, thanks for that! We'll be going now!"

"Wait." Your mother calmly interrupts him, perfectly hiding her slight annoyance over you and Jisung as she whips out her blue wand from the pockets of her ceremonial robes. "For the high jury to properly tally the ecure that you'll collect in the human world after this task, we'll be providing you with vessels to keep them."

As she mentions the vessels, a sapphire locket and an emerald ring materialize in front of you and Jisung respectively before settling at the palms of your hands. You're then quick to notice the way that the diamond-cut sapphire encrusted at the center of your locket emits warmth as you place it around your neck, indicating its magical properties.

"These vessels have been modified further to record everything that you collect and any spell or potion that you might use them on while undertaking in this task." Your mother then continues. Simultaneously, Younghyun gestures for you and Jisung to mount your brooms and prepare to fly off into the yellow crescent moon where the portal to the human world lies on its other side. "Though the ecure that you lose is not counted in the final tally, knowing how you used or lost them also contributes to the jury's examination of your magical skills and knowledge."

Jisung chuckles, bumping the bristle end of his broom with yours playfully. "And to see what kind of trouble we'll get ourselves into, right?"

In response, you simply roll your eyes. Your mother, on the other hand, purposely tunes out Jisung's usual antics and continues, "Remember, this exam will determine the next monarch that unites all of the 4 major domains. Collect as much ecure as you can from the humans in the 6 months that you're given with them and you will be rewarded greatly. Until then, have a safe journey to the human world, candidates."

With that, you and Jisung push yourselves off from the castle balcony, heading straight to the crescent moon.

"Last to the other side is a lousy flyer!" Jisung yells playfully into the quiet night, speeding ahead before you could even process his words. “And has to pay for a meal sometime!”

"Ya! Han Jisung!" You increase your speed yourself anyway despite knowing that his words don’t have any ill meaning, catching up to him with ease just as the two of you pass into the portal. “I paid for the meals last time!” 

-

Han Jisung isn't always fond of you, the heir to the Northern Kingdom, for reasons he simply can't limit to the number of fingers and toes that he has. He thinks you're too uptight (especially in the presence of the high jury and the other elders of the bigger royal circle), easily irritable, and surprisingly a bit of a pushover to your kingdom's advisors ever since your cousin, Chan, renounced his royal title and settled in the human world.

These days, however, he hates the way that you've suddenly taken up an interest in competing for the high crown of the magical world alongside him even when you've made it clear countless times before that you only wanted to rule your own kingdom. You only started showing interest after Lia formally refused her candidacy and the elders pushed you more into changing your mind, clearly hinting that you don't want Jisung to automatically be crowned High King.

Do they really think that terribly of me? Jisung has resorted to thinking a lot about these days, even now as the two of you arrive at Chan’s place where you would be staying for the duration of the test. I make a good high king as much as I do the king of my own people! Hmp!

It shouldn't bother him this much, it's just you anyway. But at the same time, it bothers him for this very same reason: because it's you, the know-it-all who always busted his antics to the teachers back in school and embarrassed him to his friends when you confessed your past crush to him back in middle school. Jisung hates the way you challenge and compel him to be petty and competitive all the time, especially in the little things. Like right now, as the two of you argue on who gets the bigger bedroom in Chan's house right after you arrived.

"You know, I was just holding back a while ago because we were in front of the elders but I swear, I won't hesitate to blast you now that we're away." You warn as you try your best to stare him down while he blocks the bedroom door you both want. You have your hands raised to the side, sparks of a spell encircling our fingers and the space between your hands. "Move, Jisung!"

Still, Jisung stubbornly refuses. You two have bickered enough to last you all of your lifetimes and for him to know that you won't really do it. "I was here first! You go to the other room!"

The blue ball of energy in your hands begins to shape itself into a more tangible shape as your brows furrow even deeper in frustration. "But I called dibs on this room to Chan firs—!"

Before you could finish your words, however, Chan peeks his head out from the opposite end of the hallway with a pile of blankets in his hands. "You two still going at it? It's almost 2 AM." He teases in feigned disapproval, approaching the two of you to throw a blanket each of your way. "Come on, give it up, Sung. Y/N gets the big room."

Jisung's initial smug expression contorts into disbelief in an instant while you celebrate with a wide grin and a teasing tongue stuck out at him. "What?!"

"Ha! Thanks, Channie!" You clasp your hands together in satisfaction, the red sparks in your hands disappearing into thin air as you do so, before pushing the paralyzed Jisung out of the way and locking yourself in the bedroom. Once Jisung's pulled himself together at the betrayal, you then briefly peek your head out of the door, sticking your tongue out for the last time before greeting the two boys with a quick, "Goodnight!"

Jisung glares and purses his lips in front of Chan who chuckles at this. "Hyung!" He whines, grabbing the older boy by his biceps and shaking him wildly like how a child would throw a tantrum. "I don't see you for three years and when I do, I get treated like this?!"

"Exactly." Chan nods with an amused smile, tugging Jisung to his side and leading him to his room across from yours. "Y/N was kind enough to visit me here while you didn't even send a letter. I think that's enough to give them the big room."

"Aah, but you already know why I couldn't! I was busy with all the prince stuff!"

"Y/N was too, though? And they’re doing twice the work than you."

"But Y/N's more organized than me!"

"So you agree? My cousin earned the bigger room?"

"No, it’s not th—aish! Bang Chan!" When the older boy in question tries pushing Jisung back to the smaller bedroom, the latter childishly protests by gripping onto the doorframe. "I'm making it up to you now! I'm literally staying here for 6 months!"

"Yeah and I'll definitely treat you to lots of other things for that later. Seriously, Ji, give it a rest. It's just your temporary room for the exam." Chan sighs with a tired laugh, prying the younger wizard's hands off of the doorframe and shoving him inside the room. "Unpack your things and get some sleep. We're having a welcoming party for you two on the weekend."

"You're supposed to side with me here."

"Don't pull that face, you're not kids anymore." Chan chuckles, ruffling the younger boy's hair. "And I'm not siding with anyone. It’s just a room! Night, Sungie."

Jisung opens his mouth to protest, only for Chan to close the door on him and walk back to his own room. With a sigh, the boy defeatedly trudges to his new bed and, after taking out his expandable pouch from his pockets, jumps to the mattress with a muffled groan to the plush pillows.

Jisung also hates how one of his best friends favors you better just because you're cousins first. He's had enough of Chan coddling you before from when you were kids, always taking your side when the two of you bicker and offering you his extra food when the three of you are together, and he would much prefer it if he doesn't see it now that the two of you are undergoing an important exam.

"At least the view's nice." He pouts to himself once he's seated up once more, facing the window that overlooks the city. After just spending ten minutes flying over Seoul and exploring Chan's vast mansion, Jisung gets it a little now. Chan definitely didn't choose this realm over their home for no reason.

If I'm not in line to be king, Jisung thinks to himself, this life also seems nice.

Hovering his hands over the enchanted green pouch, its neatly packed contents of clothes and other personal belongings then emerge from its seemingly tiny space before levitating to their respective places. "Aish, that Y/N!" Jisung yells loudly on purpose, leaning on his side closer to the door to hear your reaction.

Across the hall, while you make a fuss out of unpacking and changing the appearance of some furniture, you yell back, "Shut up, Ji!"

Jisung has many reasons for disliking you at times but, if anything, he lives for your reactions when he purposely annoys you. Even when he knows you’re always a spell away from actually snapping at him, you never actually do and it never fails to amuse him. Scoffing, he lets it slide for now and quietly unpacks.

-

If attending social functions as a royal has taught you anything over the years, it's to avoid being within reach of Jisung at a party before, during, and after he makes a huge mess of things. You've had your own fair share of spilled drinks to your dress robes, purposely getting embarrassed in front of the elders and other important public officials, and even a huge fight over not wanting to be his dance partner to remind you of this at all times.

Of the places that you and Jisung have to be standing next to each other, it's the parties that you hate having to see him at the most because they bring you nothing but trouble. Chan's welcoming party for the two of you, with witches and wizards living in the human world as well as Chan's own human friends in attendance, is no exception.

"What do you think he's going to do this time?" Yeji snickers next to you on the makeshift dance floor of the house's backyard. Ever since her brother disappeared, she's been staying in the human world combing through every inch of Seoul and trying to retrace what is little known of the steps he took. Naturally, you've stuck to each other like glue since she arrived. "It's been two hours since this party started and all he's doing is—"

"Flirt with every human on the dance floor. I know, that's why I'm not looking over my shoulder. I think that's all he's planning to do in this party, given that we've started with the test." You frown, taking a sip of your beer as the song changes to a more lively one. "This guy's never taken any exam back in school seriously but now he suddenly wants to win this one exam. Weird, right?"

"Hm, maybe he really wants to win this exam and become high king. You can never really tell what goes on in that head of his." Yeji shrugs, blinking twice in quick succession to make her eyes turn red, an indication that she's scanning the venue for the humans' ecures. "Anyway, he's definitely working hard. I see a lot of orange hearts for him as much as there are for you."

Only then do you also turn your head around the place, your own eyes turning blue as you collect the orange hearts of infatuation and green hearts of friendship that people you've met tonight have for you with a non-verbal spell. As you catch these little crystal hearts into your locket, you briefly catch a glimpse of Jisung at one of the foldable tables chatting with three human girls. It somehow irritates you.

"He never lost that cringey fuckboy persona, huh?" Yeji points out once you're done with your collecting, shaking her now empty bottle and frowning once she realizes that it's already empty. "I guess I didn't miss out on much even after being away for a few weeks."

"You talk like you were gone for a year, not 3 weeks." You laugh. When she then asks you if you want to get new beer bottles, you follow her back to the coolers behind Chan's DJ set. "I hate how we'll be seeing more of those again when we start attending uni to collect more hearts."

"Oh, right! You're attending mine, right? You'll be with me, Seungmin, and Ryujin?" When you nod once more, she links her arms with yours and adds, “Gosh, I can just see it now, girls from the different departments flocking the two of you on the first day but especially Sung. A lot of girls I know from uni really dig that e-boy thing he has going on."

You pretend to gag, making her throw her head back in a cackle of laughs. "Humans and their weird tastes in men." You scrunch up your nose, the two of you briefly pausing to politely wave at Chan as you pass by his booth.

Your cousin doesn't hesitate to wave back at you both before going back to his spinning. You and Yeji then head to the back of his area where the coolers of different beverages have been placed.

"Oh shush, didn't you too also have a crush on him way back then?" Yeji teases the moment the two of you are alone again, opening the cooler with a simple flick of her hand. You follow along despite the glare you send her way, your empty beer bottles getting replaced by new ones. "Sometimes, Ryujin and I like to think that you still have a little bit of that."

"No way." You shake your head in denial, picking up a bottle opener from one of the closed coolers and using it over yours and Yeji's. "Middle school was a long time ago. Jisung just irritates the hell out of me now."

"Who irritates who now?" A voice behind you perks up almost immediately, causing you to jump and spill a little of your beer on the grass. When you glance over your shoulder, Jisung's white bucket hat comes into your vision, eventually uncovering his mischievous smile. "Ah, so clumsy. Look, you spilled a little beer on the grass.” 

Next to you, Yeji giggles behind her hand while greeting Jisung. You glare at her in response.

"You're annoying." You point out with a pout, thrusting the bottle opener to his chest before linking arms with Yeji. "We're going."

Jisung only shrugs with a smirk, waving goodbye to Yeji as the two of you pass by him to go back to the dance floor. "It makes you look, doesn't it?"

"Uh-huh, keep telling yourself that." You roll your eyes before disappearing back into the crowd with Yeji.

Once Jisung is out of earshot, Yeji then nudges your side with your linked arms. "I'm telling you, there's still a little something. Deep, deep down there." She teases in a singsong. “That’s probably why the banter just won’t die out.”

"Nope, definitely not." You shake your head. "Have you been watching too much of those human dramas while you’re here? It’s playing with your judgement."

-

It comes even as a surprise to Jisung himself that he hasn't caused a major mishap in this welcoming party so far. Since the majority of the guests started arriving two hours ago, he hasn't done anything troubling besides losing to Ryujin at beer pong and finishing a whole red cup of Chan's jungle juice concoction as punishment almost an hour ago.

It doesn't bother his "instincts for mischief" that much—his mentor's words not his. It means that he's more focused on collecting ecures at the moment with the amount of humans he's mingled with at this party, especially the girls who have taken it upon themselves to flirt with him.

What does bother him slightly, however, is the way you occasionally glance over to him knowingly from across the lawn, as if you're expecting him to do something. You always seem to do that after years of getting roped into his troubles, much like a lot of your childhood friends who'd frequently end up in similar predicaments. Somehow, however, it's always intimidating when it's you looking at him. He personally hates that, the look in your eyes when you're trying to catch him in his mischievous acts.

"Who are you and what have you done to my twin brother?" Felix has been teasing the entire night every time he encounters Jisung. When Jisung pouts this time, while the two share a drink on a couch that was brought out for this party, Felix laughs over his drink and adds, "Oh, so you're really focused on this test, huh? No trouble until this party's over?"

"Why do you guys think I'm not?" Jisung frowns, elbowing his brother by his side. "Geez, Lix, you're supposed to root for me here. If I win, you get to be king too."

In response, Felix waves his solo cup dismissively. "No, no, I think you're doing great! You've caught how much already? Twenty hearts in this party? That's a great start, bro." He comments with a proud smile. "It's just a little new, seeing you all so serious and focused. It's not because you're up against Y/N, right?"

"Ha? Nope, definitely not. It's barely a competition when I'm clearly winning." Jisung shakes his head a little too defensively as he sinks into the soft velvet couch. "I just think it's natural that another kingdom should get the high crown this time and since it's only me and Y/N competing, unless we also find Hyunjin while we're here I should work hard and make it happen."

Just then, Seungmin sits down on his other side with a cup of punch and a small paper plate of sweets from the chocolate fountain. "If Hyunjin was here, he would've whipped your asses in this party by getting all of the human guys and girls with one smile." He points out matter-of-factly. "Plus, if Lia accepted the candidacy, all three of you would've lost even before you left home."

"You never really rooted for me, huh, Minnie?" Jisung feigns sad eyes as he rests his head on Seungmin's shoulder. "And here I thought we're best friends."

"Oh no, I'm totally rooting for you now." Seungmin replies with a dry chuckle, passing his paper plate over to Felix when he holds his hands out in a motion asking for food. "But if the gang was complete, I would've changed to team Hyunjin."

Jisung scoffs at this, swiping a marshmallow covered in chocolate from Seungmin's plate. "Fine, I won’t hold it against you. I miss Hyunjin too."

"Yeji and Chae are doing everything they can to look for him. He'll turn up somewhere, he just has to. Until then, you should just focus more on your exam. Hyunnie would want that." Felix quips in before turning his attention over to you and Yeji at the nearby karaoke mini bar. "Look, that's what Y/N and Yeji are doing right now."

When Jisung looks through the crowd that has gathered around you, his eyes turning a deep green, he sees a lot of orange hearts gravitate over to you, mostly from the uni boys and girls that Yeji, Seungmin, and Ryujin have invited to this party.

"You guys are seeing it too, right?" Felix asks, his own eyes a matching shade of green when he tilts his head over to Seungmin and Jisung. "At least twenty new hearts in a span of 10 minutes, right after they just gave Y/N a bunch of green hearts."

Seungmin nods, his head movements making Jisung's head shake a little on his shoulder. "Yeah. Y/N's really working extra on this." He notes in complete awe. "The competition's really close, don't you think so Lix?"

"Definitely. What do you think, Ji?"

"Nope, definitely not." Jisung crosses his arms and shakes his head in disagreement. "It's impressive but not enough to catch up to me."

But the smallest hint of a frown gracing his features is enough to give his feelings away to his friends. Only now does it fully sink in that it’s definitely a tight competition between the two of you.

one out of six months

At one point, you understood why people would foolishly fall for Jisung. On a really good day, when he's not causing you or anyone too much trouble, you could see his playful side as charming, maybe even too cute for you to admit it out loud. A long time ago, back when you were still so naïve, you had a small playground crush on him too, after all; a crush that ended so badly you're convinced it's where your bickering naturally escalated.

But now, as your days in the human world turn into a month spent fulfilling your Crown Candidacy exam at university with your friends, you just wish that not a lot of humans are so insanely attracted to Jisung. It's nothing personal, of course, you're not jealous at all in that way. Whenever you sit in the library to study, attend classes from late in the morning to early afternoons, or even just sit in the quad with your shared friend group discussing updates on Yeji's search for Hyunjin, however, your competitor is just always being followed by flocks of smitten girls with their orange and pink ecures of crushes on their sleeves, ready to be collected by Jisung's emerald ring.

And you're not going to get started on the rainbow-colored hearts that send him little gifts and love letters at least once a week before classes, sometimes even directly to Chan's house where the third kitchen fridge is now filled with bakery goods stashed along with Chan's fan gifts. Not wanting to admit it to him or any of your friends, you're admittedly quite jealous because he attracts the ecures from the humans so easily while you have to work extra harder in socializing with your human peers to garner even just pink hearts. You hate having to work extra, extra harder just to be on par with him all the time, especially when he seems to be effortless in his ways.

"Before Lix went back to the magical realm, he relayed that Changbin from back home suggested that we start expanding our search for Hyunjin to—" For the sixth time since your group met up at the quad after classes this particular afternoon, another group of girls pass by and greet Jisung, interrupting Yeji in her explanations. Pouting slightly, she then turns to Jisung and pokes him with her pen, snapping the smirk off of his face. "Sung, focus."

Jisung nods quickly, waving Yeji's pen away from his side. "Yeah, let me just collect their hearts real quick."

You roll your eyes in response, nudging Yeji to resume her updates. "Just go on, Yeji." You encourage her, Seungmin and Ryujin nodding along in agreement. For emphasis, you make sure to tap Jisung's hand on the grass with your own pen harshly, making him wince dramatically in pain. "You're extending the search to Incheon, right?"

"Oh, uh yeah. Like I said, Lix said that Changbin suggested Incheon since Hyunjin briefly mentioned it in one of his letters. We'll start looking into it ourselves before this semester is over." Yeji continues on, ignoring the next group of passing girls that Jisung gets distracted over again this time around. "Chaeryoung is going there in the following months, though, to scout the places first. Then, we'll try and follow up with a search of our own. I'll have to ask Chan and the jury back at home if you and Jisung are allowed to go, though, since you're taking your exam."

"Among those places, Hyunjin often went to this stretch of the beach because he was investigating a monster from home who escaped here and took an artifact from our kingdom." Seungmin added, pointing to a location on Yeji's map sprawled over your laptops at the very center of your circle. "It was one of his last assignments here before he suddenly disappeared. We'll probably stay here the longest."

You try your best to listen, adding your own inputs to how your search operations would go while also noticing a couple of people who recognize you and wave your way, but Jisung somehow keeps grabbing your attention by the way he entertains his admirers who greet him shyly as they pass by you group. The playful smirks he sends their way, the polite waves, and the way his hand keeps twitching in between the two of you as he collects the ecures with his own spell keep eating away at your attention span, pressuring you that he's taking the lead in your race.

You also try discreetly collecting your own share of hearts under your breath whenever someone you know passes by but you eventually find it hard finding people while trying to listen to your friends. "Ji, focus." You mumble under your breath after a while, breaking his focus as he collects two more orange hearts.

"Y/N, keep up with me here." He smirks, just as the orange hearts disappear into his ring. "Why are you so distracted by me, anyway? Jealous?"

"I’m not jealous!” 

"Guys focus." Ryujin snaps at the two of you this time, chuckling in amusement when you and Jisung both glare at her. "Hey, easy on the stink eyes. I'm just telling you two to listen over here."

"Do as I do, Ryujin, and just tune them out." Seungmin jabs nonchalantly as he and Yeji take down notes of their discussion, not even once looking up at you nor Jisung. "It works out splendidly once you've mastered it."

"Hearing them bicker over random things before was one thing. Hearing them bicker over ecures now is a whole new playing field." Ryujin smirks, particularly to you. "Ah, you guys sound even more like a married couple now that you're competing. Tsk, tsk..."

"No, we're not!" You and Jisung answer in chorus, looking incredulously at each other after. "Ya!"

"Seungmin's right. Just tune them out, Ryujin." Yeji points out without missing a beat, a small smile taking out the initial annoyance from her face. "Anyway, what's important is we settle our plans first. Let the married couple race for the crown."

"Ya! Hwang Yeji!" You scold, flinging your notebook towards her which she dodges swiftly. "I'm listening, I swear."

Yeji gives you a look of mock disbelief in response before chuckling and going back to her work. "Whatever you say."

-

Jisung won’t admit it to any of you nor his friends’ faces but he may be just a little jealous that you’re catching onto him at a great speed and looking surprisingly nonchalant about it on the outside. You work extremely hard, that’s a given and Jisung respects that as much as the two of you annoy each other. But he doesn’t even have to sneak over to your room at night and check your locket for your ecure count; the boys and girls from uni, the market where Chan forces the two of you to run errands on weekends, and even at Ryujin’s favorite skate park who always take two glances your way wherever you go are enough giveaway to the amount you’re collecting everyday. And it’s a whole lot of hearts. He won’t even be surprised if you’ve managed to collect 300 hearts by now.

And he’s not even going to get started on how fast you manage to take ecures from the same people twice in less than a week, managing to charm same-age neighbors and classmates from good friends to secret admirers in a span of a few days and getting you at least twice the amount for your tally. You have enough hearts on your locket to keep up with Jisung’s count and use your magic leisurely at home. You definitely keep your competitor up on his toes all the time with how you’re giving your all in this competition and it’s gnawing at him to do even better. 

What annoys him on top of this, however, are certain kinds of people that look your way, or even Yeji’s and Ryujin’s for that matter. When the three of you aren’t looking and a bunch of passing jocks would eye you weirdly on the quad or at the library, especially since you’re new to the school, his natural instinct is to glare them down until they’re looking away. He sees their purple ecures from where he would sit across from you as you study, a sign of a lusting kind of feeling, and it does nothing but to tick him off into intimidating them until the color fades out. 

Seungmin thinks that, in a way, this is cheating and that you’d probably think the same way if you find out since purple ecures are ranked quite high in the tally, just above pink hearts (”Y/N’s gotten mad at you before for going too far or breaking the rules. You, of all people, should know not to get on their bad side.”). When Jisung writes to Felix back home after, however, his twin naturally defends him and says that he’s just looking out for you. 

“You guys don’t always see eye to eye, even now that you’re competing against each other,” Felix recorded over the enchanted mail that arrived after your meeting at the quad, Jisung and Seungmin separating from your group to do some more studying at the library. “but you’re just looking out for Y/N and protecting them from any weirdos, like for Ryujin and Yeji. Just tone it down a bit and let them handle it sometimes.” 

“See? Lix thinks I’m doing something right.” Jisung sticks his tongue out at Seungmin who simply shakes his head in stubborn disagreement before returning back to his class notes. “I’m telling you, I’m not sabotaging Y/N on purpose.” 

“Still, whether they want to collect those purple ecures or not is not your choice to make.” Seungmin points out. Though he agrees with Jisung’s intentions, as he’s been doing the same and looking out for you and your friends in his own ways as well, he also trusts that you can take care of yourself. “Just let them handle it next time, unless they actually do need your help.”

“But—“

“Consider the guys that passed by at the quad the last time you’ll mess with Y/N’s ecures.” “You saw that?!”

Still, it gnaws on Jisung’s conscience when he takes the train home with you later that day, when another purple heart springs up for you as he checks your surroundings and finds it to be from a stranger. What a creep, Jisung cringes internally with disgust before strategically blocking the man out from your sight and standing closer to you, Y/N’s competition but I’m a decent being! Be the bigger person or whatever bullshit.

“Ya, what are you doing?” You push him away with your index finger to his stomach, leaving a bigger gap between the two of you as you stand on the moving train. “Ji, personal space.” 

“We’re literally cramped in this train like canned sardines, Y/N. I’m just trying to make space for the people coming in.” Jisung fibs in retort, unknowingly timing his words perfectly with the train making a stop and justifying his next action of taking a step closer to you. This time, he makes sure that he’s towering over you and blocking the creep behind him completely by moving his hand over to the train handle right next to where your hand is. “Don’t make it weird!”

Your expression is surprisingly unwavering now, clearly unamused by his boyish quips. “You’re the one making it weird! You keep hovering over me.” 

“Sure, sure, whatever you say.” He rolls his eyes, instinctively steadying you with one hand when the abrupt movements of the train pushes you slightly forwards. “Oops, careful there.” 

When Jisung takes one last glance at the creep and finds him still looking over your general direction, the boy finally snaps and sends a little spell over the man’s way, one that makes him itch all over and ties his shoelaces together. This is the last time, Jisung swears to himself with a chuckle under his breath, oh what the hell? Punishing creeps is kinda funny.

two out of six months

The first time Han Jisung spots a red heart that he can collect, it’s 2 months into your candidacy exam and he makes the surprising decision to prolong collecting it by several days. It’s not that Soonyoung from your Math class is aware of this. As far as she knows, Jisung is simply stringing her along much like he does with every other girl he’s flirting with and she doesn’t seem to mind this fact. 

But you mind, you and your other friends do a lot. “It’s a powerful heart and costs 5000 points on the point system.” Seungmin even noted himself once on another day that Jisung left your class without Soonyoung’s crystal red heart. You mostly agree on this, coupled with the fact that you can’t steal the heart for yourself to gain more points in the race since it’s not for you. “Just take it, it’s not going to get any higher than that.”

No matter how much you or any of your friends nag, however, Jisung simply lets the days pass doing nothing much about it besides entertain Soonyoung whenever the girl approaches. As his sole competitor in your candidacy exam, you visibly feel the most frustrated out of everyone else by each passing day, especially at the thought that you yourself haven’t managed any red hearts yet. 

“It is weird, very not like him but also a bit like him if that makes sense?” Ryujin notes by the 10th day, after you recounted Math class to her as you take a short break together. Today, Jisung agreed to go to lunch with Soonyoung, only to tell you and Seungmin that even then he’s not going to take her heart today. “I mean knowing what happened between you two in middle sch—” 

You immediately shake your head before she could even finish her thought, “No, I don’t think that has anything to do with now. Definitely not.” 

“It’s not like that! I meant to say that this is even worse than when you had a crush on Jisung. The girl’s ecure is as red as red could go!” Ryujin exclaims, forcing you to cover her mouth with your hand just as Soonyoung and Jisung comically pass by your table at the kiosk to eat lunch together. Slowly prying your hands off once the pair in question are out of earshot, Ryujin then leans over the table and continues, “But even then, he’s not taking it to gain momentum in your exam. Aren’t you a little bit curious why?” 

You hesitantly shrug, “I mean, a little...but honestly I think he’s just being stupid. If I were him, I won’t string the girl along, not for this long anyway. It’s a waste of time and effort when he can just pick up the heart and reject her carefully.” 

“Then, maybe he has his reasons. If you know about it, you might get an advantage!” Yeji speaks up this time, joining your table late with a huge pile of library books on top of her laptop bag in her hands. As much as this girl has been busy looking for her brother, she also keeps up with her human world cover surprisingly well even when she doesn’t have to with all the studying that she does on the side. “One way to find out, right? I heard Felix’s not that busy these days back home.”

You feign a frown at the two girls agreeing in unison, especially at Yeji as she takes out her phone from the magical realm. “You know, you’re really good at sticking your head into a lot of things even when you’re busy looking for your brother.” You note dryly, making Yeji laugh while dialling Felix’s phone on the other side. “That was sarcastic, Yeji.” 

“I’m a great multitasker.” She winks before placing her phone at the center of your table then scooting her chair closer to you and Ryujin, effectively hiding the odd-looking device that projects Felix’s face almost immediately. “Hey Lix!”

“Hi Lix!” You politely greet along with Ryujin anyway, waving to the small projection of the prince on Yeji’s phone. By the faint greenery that surrounds him, you immediately assume that he’s back at home and tending to his personal garden. 

“I’m not in trouble, am I?” The younger Eastern prince jokes, greeting the three of you individually after. “What’s up? Seungmo and Sungie not with you three today?” 

“Seungmin got held back in class today for a TA offering and your brother’s on a date! Can you believe it? A lunch date with a human girl!” Yeji explains a little too excitedly, you and Ryujin immediately shushing her up. Giggling, the princess continues anyway, “Which is why we called! We just thought it’s a little weird that Jisung’s not trying to catch this red heart when it’s a clear advantage to his tally and maybe you’d know why.” 

All the while Yeji explains your purpose for calling, you slowly observe how Felix’s own expression morphs into that of genuine surprise. “What? He hasn’t taken it?!” He exclaims in response after Yeji finishes speaking. “Are you sure? That’s not very like him.” 

“Well, why do you think he hasn’t taken it, then?” You suddenly find yourself asking this time, earning you incredulous looks from your peers. Brushing them off, you simply glance over at Felix as he tries thinking of a reason himself. 

“Maybe he still can’t reject admirers for shit.” Ryujin snickers under her breath, making you elbow the girl harshly on her side. 

But surprisingly, Felix nods absentmindedly to this. “Maybe…”

“Are you seriously agreeing with that, Lix?” You frown. “I think he’s just up to no good.” 

“Hey, Ji can act weird and not be up to trouble too, you know.” Felix pouts back. “But honestly, I don’t know why he’s not thinking of taking it either, especially knowing how he’s so proud of getting to receive it alone. Maybe he likes this person, who knows?” 

The thought feels so foreign to you, Jisung genuinely liking someone, especially knowing what he did when you were much younger. But when you glance over to your friends, you also notice the same confused looks on their faces. 

“Han Jisung...liking someone? Enough to respect their feelings?” Ryujin muses out loud before eventually shaking her head. “Nope, sounds weird. Dangerous! Alien! Y/N, have you been noticing any other weird things from your housemate lately? Maybe he’s been secretly abducted by aliens!” 

“Oh stop it, Ryujin! Whatever it is my brother’s planning, I trust that he at least has an idea what he’s doing.” Felix sighs, running a hand through his blonde locks. In the background of his end, the faint voice of Changbin beckoning him over momentarily catches his attention. “If he’s being stupid again, then just let him be. If he does like this person, though, I just hope that he treads carefully while he’s at it. You know how precious witch ecures are.” 

“Oh, I know…” You murmur under your breath as you scrunch up your nose, unconsciously glancing over to Jisung and Soonyoung’s table where the two are laughing over something you can’t hear from across the room. When Changbin’s voice grows louder on Felix’s end, you then smoothly steer the topic to a close, “Anyway, sorry for bothering you at this time. Bin’s calling for you.” 

Next to you, Ryujin and Yeji agree with nods and smiles as Felix waves his free hand dismissively at this. “No, it’s okay! Just look out for my brother, yeah? I gotta go, Queen Lia just arrived for tea with me and my mom!” 

“Oh, then we’ll see you!” “Have fun at tea!” “Say hi to Lia for us!” 

Felix waves one last goodbye before ending the call. As his image disappears from Yeji’s phone, the princess is quick to pocket her phone back and turn to you with a raised brow, “So, what do you think? Even Lix finds it weird.” 

Personally, you think it’s odd. The thought that Jisung could easily be developing feelings for someone while taking your exam, to someone human no less.  You’ll probably never admit it to him but he’s been working hard in collecting hearts up to this point and you know him enough to know that he won’t let himself get distracted with something like this. “What is he planning exactly?” 

-

You’re giving Jisung that look again, through the boy’s reflection on the bus mirror no less as the two of you head to Chan’s studio where he has promised the two of you dinner. The same look you kept giving him during your welcome party just last month, probably without you knowing, rests on your tired features as you listen to music on your phone and rest your cheek against your propped up hand on the window seat you almost threw him out of the bus for. What did I do now? The boy can’t help but whine pitifully to himself as he steals another glance at your direction while scrolling through his phone. 

Jisung helplessly rakes his brain for anything that he’s done today that could’ve possibly pissed you off while pretending to look down on his phone, missing the way you shift uncomfortably in your seat as if you were going to ask a question. 

“So—” “I meant to ask—”

Jisung’s immediately closes his mouth shut when the two of you speak at the same time, eyes widening when he looks up and sees you already looking over at him directly. Simultaneously, you’re quick to look away from him and cough awkwardly, quietly mumbling out that Jisung speaks first. “Go ahead.” 

“What did I do this time?” Jisung immediately goes for it, pouting and sinking into his seat for extra emphasis. This visibly surprises you by the way your eyes widen slightly and you visibly freeze in front of him. “You’ve been glaring at me from the window since it started getting dark outside and it’s starting to get annoying but I’m too tired from today to think of everything that I did today to pinpoint where I ticked you off again.” 

Your lips curl down to a frown and you bring your propped up arm back to your side, sinking down your own seat to his level. “I wasn’t glaring at you!” 

“Yes you were—” “—No, I wasn’t!” “Yes you—”

“Okay, then, if I was glaring at you like you said, it’s because I meant to ask you something.” You huff before shyly looking away, gazing out of the window again. “W-Why haven’t you...whyhaventyoutakenthatgirlsheart?”

Now, Jisung is even more confused than ever from not understanding a word you just said. Raising a curious brow, the prince nudges you by your shoulder with his own until you look back at him again, uttering a slow, “What?!” 

You inhale slowly, as if holding your embarrassment in, before repeating, “Why haven’t you taken Soonyoung’s heart?” 

“I—really? That’s what you wanted to ask?” That’s it? So I didn’t do shit? Whew...

You nod, crossing your arms and looking away. “Well, don’t act so smug now! I’m just curious, it’s powerful and worth a lot of points, after all.”

Caught off-guard, it takes Jisung a worryingly long time to answer your question. He looks down on his phone first, with his emerald ring right next to it, before glancing over to the distant LED screen at the very front of the bus, announcing the next stop. “Just because…” He trails off with a reluctant shrug, avoiding the feeling of your curious gaze. If it were any other situation, maybe involving a lower-ranking heart like a yellow, green, or even an orange one, he would be laughing at you and teasing that you’re obsessed with his count or trying to compare it with your own. “You, of all people should know…” 

But it’s a red heart, one that’s made him a bit too flustered for him to admit to anyone, even to his own brother. “I don’t know what I’ll do with it.” He answers vaguely because of this, hearing a little ‘oh’ from your side. “I already told Soonyoung over lunch that I don’t see her like that but it’s still red. Her feelings are too sincere for me and I feel like I can’t take advantage of that, not for a competition.” 

Jisung doesn’t hear any verbal response from your side after this, not even when the LED screen ahead announces that you’re nearing your stop. When he glances over to you through the window, however, he catches a glimpse of the smallest hint of a content smile on your features. 

Only when the two of you arrive at your stop, while you’re following him down the stairs down from the bus, do you nudge him on his side once more and say, “I guess that’s sweet of you. Plus, you’re actually using your head for once.” 

Your soft smile momentarily catches him off-guard, freezing him on the sidewalk, until a passerby brushes him by his shoulder and snaps him back to reality. “Y-Ya! What’s that supposed to mean?!” 

You wave your hand dismissively at him with a laugh, running off ahead to Chan’s studio. “Last one to the studio is a lousy runner and won’t get dessert!” 

“Hey! Y/N! What’s that supposed to mean? Did you just call me stupid?!” 

-

The next day, a ‘secret admirer’ leaves a red apple, a milk box, and an unsigned heart-shaped note on your usual table as you enter Math class. Though the note has your name and its message typed and printed, a simple nonverbal spell that you cast over the gifts reveal a familiar fingerprint. 

“So, who’s it from?” Jisung asks, swiftly swiping the apple from your table and taking a huge bite. “How many points are we looking at here?” 

You scoff at his action, taking the apple for yourself and biting on the opposite side. “It’s from Soonyoung.” You answer with a mischievous smile, causing your competitor to choke. When you glance over at the girl’s table, your eyes briefly turn blue to see a pinkish heart for you. “I guess you don’t want her red heart, huh? Mind if I make a pink one from her into a red for me?” 

Jisung coughs violently, thumping his fist against his chest as he recovers. “Y-Ya! Don’t you dare!” 

three out of six months 

One thing you’ve been most looking forward to in this Crown Candidacy exam, besides seeing your cousin and friends currently staying in the human world and helping with Hyunjin’s search, is getting to see your cousin’s boyfriend again. Though the rest of your family doesn’t really approve of Minho, mostly since he’s the reason why Chan renounced his duke title in the first place and why your cousin might be permanently tied to the human world in the future, you’ve taken a liking to the guy since you first met him on a short visit 2 years ago and have been looking forward to hanging out in person once more after a long while. 

Minho makes Chan the happiest you’ve ever seen him since you were kids, cooks really well, travels the world as a performing artist, and is totally cool with the idea that his boyfriend is a wizard from another realm. Plus, he catches onto magical items really quick, having adapted quickly to using your realm’s inter-world mailing system hence how you’ve been keeping in touch up until this point. You honestly don’t see any reason to hate him, even before meeting him in person. If anything, knowing that it’s Minho that’s keeping Chan from fulfilling his royal duties makes you support your cousin’s decision even more than before. 

However, you’re already halfway done with your exam and Minho is still nowhere to be seen. He initially promised you that he’ll cook you and Jisung a meal as soon as you arrived but last-minute plans in his touring schedule with a ballet company held him back abroad, postponing this plan indefinitely and making you focus more on school and helping look for Hyunjin. 

That is until you and Jisung came home from your usual Saturday grocery errands to inhale the smell of meat and mushroom soup coming from the kitchen. 

“Is Chan cooking?” Jisung raised a brow at this, closing the door behind you and walking further inside the house. “It smells nice, though. So it’s not him?” 

You roll your eyes, biting down a laugh at this surprisingly funny quip. “That’s definitely not Chan.” You affirm anyways, excitedly walking past him to the kitchen where you find the familiar back of a person stirring a big pot of soup next to Chan who’s chopping up side dishes. “Minho!” 

Jisung follows you to the kitchen and watches from the doorframe as this said Minho turns around, opening his arms out to hug you as you quickly drop your groceries on the dining table and run towards him. Next to you two, Chan stops his own work and laughs at the sight, prying you away after a moment and reminding you, “Hey, hey, Minho’s tired from his flight!”

“Tired? Then you make him cook dinner? I don’t think so!” You giggle, clutching onto Minho like a koala while the said boy pretends to shrug you off. “I was wondering when you’re coming home! You haven’t even written since I came here, you jerk!” 

“My schedule was jam-packed until the other day but I promised some magic freaks that I’ll cook them dinner so I came home as soon as I can.” Minho laughs, hugging you back and only then catching sight of a confused Jisung. “Oh, hi there! You must be Han Jisung?” 

“Y-Yeah?” Jisung nods slowly in confusion, raising one hand holding multiple eco-bags up in a wave. He hates it when he’s not in the loop of things but more importantly, he hates it when it’s you keeping him out of the loop in particular. Who’s this guy?! “Sorry, and you are?” 

“Lee Minho! I’m keeping Chan hostage here on Earth.” Minho formally introduces himself, earning him a nudge from both you and Chan. “What? Should I curtsy? I know your family and Hyunjin’s doesn’t really require it but I don’t know about the others so—” 

Oh. At this, Jisung visibly relaxes with a chuckle and finally approaches your little group, settling his own share of the groceries down on the dining table before sitting down himself. Chan then takes this as his cue to reluctantly drag you over next to Jisung while he and Minho finish cooking. “No, no, it’s cool! We’re not at home, anyway.” 

“Okay, then, cool. You guys are okay with waiting for a little bit, right? The lamb’s not fully cooked yet.” Minho explains. “I was going to make you two a meal when your exam started but I got caught up in work so—”

“Yeah it’s fine!” You agree eagerly, taking out your groceries and organizing them on the table. “We’ll just fix up the groceries.” 

Jisung side-eyes you with an incredulous look in his eyes, something Chan definitely notices as his lips quirk up into a knowing grin before whispering something to Minho. “Why are you so chirpy all of a sudden?” He asks you, helping you take out the groceries and arrange them into their respective shelves. 

“What do you mean? I’ve been chirpy since this morning.” You scoff. “Why do you even keep track? I told you not to stare at me, weirdo.”

“Um no, you weren’t. You were complaining about me breathing next to you on the bus a while ago. ‘You’re not helping me get any hearts’ or whatever it was you were rambling about a while back.” Jisung points out with a huff. “And I don’t stare, that’s you! If anything, you’re the weirdo, always up my business!”

“Well, why wouldn’t I complain? I was at the market with you all day! You don’t know how to pick good vegetables and you kept flirting with the store clerks to try and up their orange hearts to pink ones! Then, you wore that stupid perfume again when I told you already that it smells bad! Now we’re at home and you can stay the fuck away from me.” 

“Ya, you little sh—” 

Across the kitchen, Minho giggles in amusement at hearing you and Jisung bicker live for the first time. You’ve always complained about this Jisung fellow in your correspondence and he’s never had a clear grasp as to why you’re always at this boy’s neck but now that he’s meet Jisung in the flesh and is starting to hear what you two are exactly fighting about, Minho can’t help but laugh into the mushroom soup. “So this is the troublemaker who’s been bugging our Y/N.” He ends up musing out loud. “I see why you need me home now.”

“Believe me, you should’ve seen them grow up together with the other kids. Always fighting over the smallest of things, competing on who’s better, and all that.” Chan rolls his eyes in disinterest, glancing over to you and Jisung as the latter starts chasing you around the dining area with a bundle of scallions. “What you’re seeing right now is barely the tip of the iceberg, Min.”

“Reminds you a little bit of us back then, don’t you think?” 

“Ya, and which one am I supposed to be?” 

The couple glances over their shoulders to see that you’ve now successfully snatched the scallions from Jisung with your magic and have started to hit him over the head with it. This then makes Chan squint his eyes suspiciously at Minho who only chuckles. “Babe, you and Y/N are definitely related, don’t you think?” 

“Do you also want to get hit with scallions?” 

-

Though Jisung was initially wary of Minho at the start of the evening, having only heard of him vaguely from gossip among the other royal kids prior, your cousin’s boyfriend slowly and naturally transitioned over the prince’s good graces as soon as the lamb chops and mushroom soup were served along with stories of Minho’s own adventures and questions about the magical realm. Now that he’s put a name and a face to the person that people back home simply referred to as the reason why Chan left (and who he’s admittedly been blaming as well for the sudden shift in your attitude at the royal courts), Jisung now genuinely believes that the people back at home jumped to their conclusions quickly about Minho. 

Minho’s really nice, Chan is really fond of him and you clearly support the two. In return, Minho looks out for you and Chan, you in particular as the older guy proceeds to drill Jisung shamelessly with questions on whatever it is that you’ve mentioned about him in your letters. 

Jisung didn’t even know a lot of the things Minho kept rambling on about while you tried so hard to keep his mouth shut next to him by helplessly trying to cover his mouth.

“Y/N talks about you a whoooooooole lot. Like, a minor inconvenience during their royal duties then they’re quick to talk to me about it.” Minho grins playfully, dodging your attempts at shutting him up while he eats his share of the pastry dessert. “When we first met and this candidate exam thing was first brought up, they talked about the other royals briefly but they talked about you in super great detail! Oh, and Y/N was rambling a lot about how you reacted to when they confessed to you in middle school and everything, it was so funn—” 

“Minho shut up!” 

“It was really funny!” Minho pins your wrists to the table after a while, gesturing towards Chan, sitting next to Jisung across the table, who then uses his magic to switch your places. This then effectively shuts you up as your flustered expression overcomes your face upon accidentally locking eyes with Jisung right after. “But I want to know what actually happened when you rejected Y/N at your magic school? I want the full scope of what happened just so I get both sides!”

“Y-Ya!” You protest, only to be silenced by Jisung this time who laughs as he swallows a mouthful of food. “Ugh, you’re enjoying this aren’t you?”

“Why do you still talk about that, anyway? It was a long time ago.” Jisung chuckles, propping an elbow up on the table and resting his cheek on his palm as he glances over to you with a smirk. “God, you’re in love with me, aren’t you?” 

“No, I’m no—” “So, Minho hyung, what did Y/N tell you about that?” 

-

It was in the 7th grade, on Valentine’s Day of all days even, when you confessed your crush to Han Jisung. You actually didn’t plan any of it to happen because you just thought of it as stupid, especially at the thought that almost everything Jisung used to do back then annoyed you and made you think of him as childish. 

But Hyunjin somehow slipped you an enchanted cookie on that day as a prank after you confessed at Ryujin’s party the previous weekend that you thought that Jisung was cute sometimes (”I specifically said sometimes and it was one time. Clearly, it wasn’t me who had a problem, right?” “That still doesn’t change the fact that 12-year-old you had a crush on me, Y/N.”). He told you that it was from a batch Felix made for their baking class, bluffing about its distinct strong vanilla scent as a mistake on the younger Eastern prince’s end. 

As it then turned out, however, the cookie was laced with a potion that forcefully exposed the true color that your heart reflected towards Jisung in front of the entire cafeteria while the two of you bickered over some mishap that happened in one of your shared potion classes. Being young as he was as well and feeling embarrassed of all the passersby that looked at you both, Jisung’s fight or flight response made him visibly cringe at seeing the surprisingly pink, bordering red, heart and childishly berated you for it until the potion wore off and your ecure disappeared back into the sleeves of your robes. You ran away crying while Jisung didn’t go to school for the few days that followed in embarrassment.

“You were like 12 back then, it happens.” Minho shrugs after yours and Jisung’s messy storytelling. “And for the record, Y/N, if Chan did that to me as Jisung, I would’ve been annoyed at him too. Your rants are totally valid.” 

“I’m eating my croissants in peace.” Chan complains, slapping the younger man’s arm. “Don’t drag me into this.” 

Simultaneously, Jisung glances over to you and sees a small pout rest on your features. “Well, I don’t know, it’s not really an ‘it happens’ kind of situation if you come from our world.” You point out, glaring at Jisung when you feel him staring at you. “Especially back then. My heart was looking pink and a little reddish for Jisung at the time—ew—which gave him the power to take it if he wanted to.”

Now, this is apparently new information to Minho as he then asks, “You can do that? I thought witches only have one heart so it can’t be taken away?”

“Yeah, exactly.” You nod. “Since we don’t produce the crystal hearts as infinitely as you humans do, it could only be taken if it’s pink or a higher color. It’s the natural law in our world.”

“And if that happens, the witch could become weak, controlled by the other witch who takes their heart, or killed.” Chan quips in this time. “That’s why marriage is sort of a permanent commitment back at home and witches are more encouraged to use human ecure when performing higher-level magic.” 

“That’s a bit of a stretch in our case, though! It’s not like 12-year-old me would think of killing Y/N back then.” Jisung purses his lips into a thin line at you, unamused. “You really are a bit dramatic sometimes, you know? What would I even do with your heart?”

“You were 12, Jisung. Who knows what you were thinking back then...if you were thinking at all.” You retort immediately, turning to Minho again after. “That’s why my family’s a bit wary about you, Min, no offense. With you and Chan in a relationship, he can give up his heart to you but if you don’t reciprocate it by exchanging with one of your own, he might get weak or die.” 

This then makes Jisung turn to Minho as well, curious as to what his response would be. 

Unfazed, Minho smiles and turns lovingly to his boyfriend. “Then, aren’t you lucky I’m obsessed with you, huh?” 

“Really now?” Chan chuckles, slinging his arm over Minho’s shoulder and pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Then I guess I can stay here permanently, right?” 

You pretend to gag as you sip on your water, reminding the older guys that there are “children” in front of them. Jisung rolls his eyes and leans back in his chair at this scene, looking away at the tender display of affection across the table. The two of you don’t even have to check how the pair’s ecures reflect towards each other with your magic to know that they’re a matching bright red. 

When he looks over to you, he catches the briefest and fondest smile gracing your expression as you mumble about how “stupidly cute” Chan and Minho are being. Jisung knows he shouldn’t look, not in this moment when he sees you at a vulnerable state and you would slap him over the head if he teases you about it, but his eyes unconsciously turn green and peeks over at your ecure as it watches over your favourite cousin and his boyfriend. 

It’s a bright blue, a sign of deep respect and familial love for Chan and Minho. Jisung looks away immediately when you glance up at him curiously, forcing his eyes back to their natural color before he could accidentally see how your heart reflects to him. “What?” 

He gets it now. Why you’ve been so uptight in fulfilling your royal duties, snapping just a little more easily these days whenever he annoys you, and acting like a pushover to the elders who keep ordering you around back at home. You’ve been shouldering a lot of the responsibilities back home, both yours and the ones that Chan has left behind, all because you want your cousin to be happy in this world without worries. 

“Why were you looking at me?” You pout. “You didn’t check my—ya, Han Jisung!”

“I wasn’t looking at you like that! I was gonna ask you to pass me the cream puffs!”

You begrudgingly pass him the bowl of cream puffs, rolling your eyes before smiling at Minho and Chan again and changing the conversation to something else. “Anyway, Minho, you’re staying longer now, right?”  

- 

“I saw what you did at dinner, by the way. Y/N would beat you to a pulp if they knew you were looking into their heart, especially since we were just talking about it.” Chan speaks up after a moment of walking around Jisung’s room, tidying up the fallen music sheets on the ground and closing the curtains for the night. You’ve long stolen Minho from your cousin right after dinner hours ago to binge his tour videos and so he’s resorted to hanging out with Jisung, playing video games until the clock struck midnight.  

Jisung pouts as he tucks himself away in bed, turning to his side to face Chan as the older boy continues arranging his “messy” work table. “I looked at how it reflects for you and Minho, not at how it looks at me. Just that, swear.” He clarifies in between protesting over Chan’s actions (“It’s an organized mess!” “It’s a mess, Jisung.”) “It’s almost like your family’s sapphire when it looks at the two of you, bluer than how it looks when Y/N’s with the King and the High Queen. You’re more family to them than their own parents.”

This effectively freezes Chan in place for a moment, a small smile gracing the former duke’s features. “Of course I know that.” He replies, almost as an inaudible mumble from across the room. “That’s why it was so hard to leave at first.”

“Then why did you—?” 

“Because Y/N told me to.” Moving to the door and preparing to leave, Chan sees Jisung’s face and continues, “Believe me, I was even more conflicted than you’re being right now back then. We both know that my own siblings are too young to shoulder the job I’ll leave behind but Y/N told me that they’ll gladly handle it if it meant that I can be happy here. We argued about it a lot, I kept telling them that I can just juggle moving between the two realms, but you know how persuasive and stubborn Y/N can be.” 

The last comment makes Jisung chuckle. Of all people, he should know of it the best. “It’s just hard to argue with them.” He nods in agreement. “I heard they’re the one who got you this house and everything.” 

Chan nods, slowly putting one foot out of the door. “Y/N cares a lot, sometimes a little too much, that they end up sacrificing a lot and putting their own feelings last because of it. Since I went away, I’ve only ever been worried that they’ll just explode one day, actually, but I know you and the other kids keep them in check.” 

“I’d hardly call Y/N relaxed with me.” Jisung pouts, fiddling with his fingers nervously as he confesses this shyly. “I think they just find me annoying…” 

“Oh you definitely annoy each other but that’s just how you two are together. It’s all in good fun and that’s good, especially now that you’re going to take much more responsibilities once you go back home.” Chan notes with a shrug, briefly glancing over his shoulder as you and Minho arrive on the second floor. “Just be a little gentler with them. Night, Sung.” 

four out of six months

You know better than to expect nothing less from Lee Chaeryoung, one of the best investigators from your realm, as she helped Yeji lead Hyunjin’s search party. When you initially expected that she would finish scouting Incheon before the end of the semester, she came back with the most solid lead that anyone’s picked up since the start of the search party around Seoul with 2 months left on your time in the human world. 

Apparently, from the scouring she’s done beyond the initial parameters of the search, a few magic and non-magic folk living around the beach area have seen the Southern kingdom’s prince at a party on the night he disappeared, interacting with a strange group of people they only described by their unusually white hairs, matching snake tattoos, and icy blue eyes. What was even more interesting is that these people were still around the area when Chaeryoung visited but without any sign of Hyunjin. With this, she could only confirm that they’re also from the magical realm.

“They could only be Northwestern ogre witches, I’m sure of it.” Chan commented after hearing Chaeryoung’s report over dinner with everyone present. When Minho then asked about it, your cousin didn’t hesitate to explain, “A group of witches back home who were initially banished to the wastelands because they practiced darker arts and only collected black ecures. Lately, a lot of them have been turning up here and doing gods-know-what.” 

“But if they only want the artifact that Hyunjin recovered, why would they still keep him?” You ask, crossing your arms over the dining table as Chaeryoung showed you photos of the location she ascouted on her phone. “Hyunjin’s high-profile too, yes, but unless they want him to collect colored ecures for them, there’s no other reason to keep him captive when there are other magic folk there. Why him?” 

“Unless they have something bigger up their sleeves.” Seungmin notes with a frown, closing Chaeryoung’s phone as he grows more and more upset from across the table. When you and Jisung glance over to him curiously, he then meets your eyes and adds, “Maybe we shouldn’t let you two go with us on this.” 

“What?! Why?” Jisung is the first to instinctively speak up against this, sitting up taller in his seat. You echo the same question, albeit a little quieter when you see Chan nodding worriedly on your side. 

“I have a feeling that they might be after the two of you too from this.” Seungmin explains once Jisung calmed down a bit from his sudden outburst. “Like Y/N said, keeping Hyunjin to collect colored ecures against his will doesn’t seem like a good enough reason, at least not this long.”

“It’s timed perfectly, too, that they caught Hyunjin right before the candidacy exam.” Yeji quips in, belatedly nodding in agreement to Seungmin’s suggestion. “They might be luring you two specifically by using my brother.” 

“But that’s just a hunch for now! We don’t know th—” 

Chan’s entire disposition in a flash, slamming his hand down on the table a little too loudly and effectively shutting everyone up around the table including Minho. “That’s exactly why we can’t risk it.” He counters firmly and you know, just by the tone of your cousin’s voice, that he already has the final word. “Remember, you and Y/N are here first and foremost because you’re taking your exam. Keeping you on wraps with this search is formalities, at most. Anyway, there’s enough of us here who can look for Hyunjin. You two just stay put until we can sort this out and ensure that this problem stops interfering with the exam any further.”

When you peek over to your right to glance at Jisung’s reaction two seats away, you see him glancing back at you from the corner of his eyes before sighing in defeat. “And if they want our group separated?” 

“The house’s enchanted with protective spells. Minho and Ryujin will also stay and watch over you two while we extract Hyunjin over the weekend.” Chan notes, continuing before Jisung could complain further. “That’s final, Ji. We’ll take over from here.” 

“Don’t fret too much, Sung.” Seungmin adds comfortingly. “Anyway, if we find Hyunjin, we’ll all stay here for a few days before going back home.” 

In response, you hear Jisung slam his back on his seat hard before huffing childishly, glancing over to you as he opens his mouth. Knowing that he’ll throw a fit, you immediately shake your head, forbidding him from doing so. “Fine...” He murmurs under his breath with a sigh, knowing better than to start an argument with one of his best friends at this time. “Just—just bring Hyunjin back quickly.” 

Somehow, even when you understand where Chan’s coming from, you also feel somewhat bad for Jisung. You want to see Hyunjin too but your circumstances aren’t exactly favourable to let you be of much help. 

- 

As much as Jisung used to hate how Chan coddled you, he hates it even more now that the same behavior is directed towards him, especially in situations like this when he wants to actively help in Hyunjin’s search. The circumstances couldn’t have been more unfavorable to him now: the group finding a lead but at a time when he’s participating in an exam that has him more at risk of being targeted by creatures from the magical realm that have strayed to this world. 

On top of this, he hates how he can clearly see that you want to see Hyunjin just as much as he and everyone else does but you’re quicker to comply the moment Chan, and eventually even Yeji, put the two of you on house arrest for the weekend while the rest of the group goes to Incheon. It frustrates him to no end that you keep quietly complying to everyone else when you clearly want to do something else. And, as a result, you end up channeling your energy aggressively elsewhere much like today as you spend most of your Sunday cleaning and redecorating around the expansive house with Minho. 

“Can’t you two like, tone it down a bit?” Jisung complains for the third time this afternoon as he plays with the music software on Chan’s laptop, lifting his feet off of the coffee table in the living room when Minho passes by with a vacuum before pushing a levitating plant that hovers too close for comfort to his face. Somewhere, Ryujin has retreated outside to the garden in order to tend to more plants. “The house’s going to get thrashed after a while anyway.” 

“And why can’t you help clean?” You ask back in retort, fluffing up the pillows next to him as you occasionally glance over your shoulder to make sure that the levitating objects around the room aren’t falling over. “If you’re just going to complain while we’re cleaning here, you can just go up to your room since we’re done upstairs, anyway.” 

Jisung pouts, crawling over to the other side of the sofa anyway when you gesture for him to move. “The sunlight’s better here at this time.” He points to the glass windows. “Just finish up quickly already.” 

“If you want to get some sun, you can help Ryujin outside.” You poke back, moving over to the sofa across the coffee table. As you move, the hovering plant pots slowly move to where you want to relocate them to, one moving next to the sofa almost hitting Jisung in the face once more with its leaves. “Make yourself useful, Jisung.” 

The witch in question scoffs, closing Chan’s laptop and finally planting his feet back on the floor to a stand. Jisung also hates that tone you use when you order him around because it always makes him do whatever you ask without fail. “Fine, I’m going outside.” He grumbles, trudging to the direction of the back door leading outside and making sure to close the door with a loud thud. 

Out in the gardens, Ryujin is busy reviving dried up leaves and flowers while a few watering cans go around to water the trees and bushes. Upon seeing Jisung walking down the mini stairs with a pout and furrowed brows, the younger witch can’t help but laugh, “Y/N banished you outside?” 

“I’m supposed to help you but you don’t even look like you need help at all.” The prince continues to grumble, setting himself down on a foldable chair and crossing his bare arms over his chest. “If I do help, I might actually kill the plants. You already know how I’m terrible I am at healing magic.” 

Ryujin acknowledges with a hum, turning her attention back to Chan’s mini garden of camellias. “Just sunbathe, look around or whatever, I can handle this.” She assures with a smile. “I won’t tell Y/N too, don’t worry.” 

“I think I’ll take you up on that looking around thing later.” Jisung sighs, sinking into his seat and closing his eyes. “I’ll nap for now.” 

- 

“He just does whatever you say, huh?” Minho points out to you as soon as you finish cleaning the living room, tiredly taking up the empty space next to you on the couch with two pillows hugged close to his chest. When you open your mouth to protest, “I know I said it’s amusing when you two bicker over stupid things but it’s actually really nice and quiet when you two reach compromise like this. So peaceful.” 

“He just knows when to not mess with me. Don’t exaggerate it.” You scoff at this, pushing Minho away from you as you lift your legs up to the coffee table. “He knows that I feel the need to be busy when I’m on edge like this but he was in the way. The least he could do is either be useful around the house too or just stay out of my sight for a while.” 

“Don’t be too worried, I’m sure they’re all being careful and getting to Hyunjin soon.” Minho assures you with a small smile, waving his human world phone in front of you as it displays a flurry of messages from Chan. “If it makes you feel better, your cousin’s been asking me about you and Jisung as much as he’s been updating me of what’s happening.”

You frown at this, making Minho chuckle. “He’s been talking to you but not to me? I’m his cousin!” 

“He knows you’re redecorating his house in 50 different styles while you wait for him so he just asks about you through me. Don’t get it twisted, Y/N.” The older boy continues laughing, carefully shoving a pillow away from his face when you levitate it closer to him. “Anyway, they said that they’ve confirmed that the ogres are still staying at the beach resort so they’re planning to get to them tonight and confirm if they really took Hyunjin.”

Your expression visibly shifts more positively, eyes widening and mouth hanging agape. “Really?” 

“If things go smoothly, everyone, including Hyunjin, would be home really soon. Until then, Chan has asked me to make sure that you and Jisung don’t kill each other or go outside without permission.” 

You shove Minho once more at the last statement, mustering up a laugh this time. “Hey, we’re not that childish.” You point out with a pout before another thought crosses your mind. “Oh, right, I can tell Jisung, right? I mean, it’s just an update anyway.” 

“Yeah, go ahead.” Minho nods, poking you on your side to get you to stand up. “It’s also getting dark out, call Ryujin in too so we can reheat some leftovers for dinner.” 

You scoff at the thought of leftovers for dinner, standing up anyway and heading outside where the sun has indeed set on the horizon. As you walk down the steps leading down to the backyard, you easily spot Ryujin by the back gate as she flirts with one of your neighbors who holds an orange heart up her sleeve but it takes you a moment to see Jisung fast asleep under one of the outdoor umbrellas. 

“Ryujin!” You call for your friend, biting down your lip when the girl she’s been flirting with awkwardly looks away and your friend in question consequently glares at you for interrupting her. “Where’s Jisung?” 

“There.” Ryujin quickly points towards the outdoor umbrellas on the far corner of the backyard before turning her gaze back on your neighbor whose heart immediately turns a shy pink at this. 

You roll your eyes at this with a chuckle before heading over to Jisung, finding him snoring lightly and snuggling into a pillow despite the cold evening breeze. He doesn’t budge an inch when you call his name or poke his side, stirring only when you slap his cheek gently awake by instinctively swatting your hand away and mumbling a string of curses for you to go away. “What?!” 

“It’s starting to get cold out here. Come on, we’re eating dinner in a while.” You respond, taking the pillow from him and grabbing him by the arm to help him stand up. When he doesn’t budge, you resort to adjusting his hoodie at least so he doesn’t freeze himself to death. “Minho also said that Chan’s been texting him. Everyone’s okay so far and they’ll interrogate the ogres tonight, maybe even get Hyunjin if they really took him.” 

Jisung finally springs awake at this, jumping to a stand in surprise. “What? Really? Is there—well, is there anything else?” He asks quickly, stumbling over his words in shock while you drag him back inside. 

Ryujin follows along after a while, running to the kitchen to check what you’re having for dinner. You and Jisung walk a little slower as he rubs his eyes from his surprisingly long nap next to you, somehow not making a fuss this time about your linked arms. 

“Sadly, that’s only what I got from Minho a while back so I guess we’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning for anything new.” You answer his previous question as you head to the kitchen where Ryujin and Minho reheat leftovers and make some new side dishes. When you see Jisung’s ears perk up slightly at your words, you quickly add, “Don’t try staying up late just for an update. You should get some more sleep after dinner so you don’t look like a ghost when we see Hyunjin again.” 

He scoffs at this, sitting down on the dining table and dragging you along with him on the adjacent seat. “How can I sleep if I know that we’re so close to seeing Hyunjin again after months? I’ll stay up late if I want to!”

“And I’ll kill you two if you stay up all night then get all cranky tomorrow when you have to get to class.” Minho cuts you off before you could even speak, setting the dishes down on the table. “Okay, eat up!” 

“That was him, not me.” You shrug at Jisung’s semi-permanent pout with a chuckle, receiving a plate and utensils before thanking Minho for the food. “Eat up, Ji.” 

You don’t even have to glance back over to his direction to know that he has his usual determined look plastered over his face again. Because of the new update on Hyunjin’s situation, he’s suddenly more alert now that he might actually take you up on staying awake the entire night. 

-

“Jisung, are you awake?” 

Jisung doesn’t really expect you to hold true to your word and check up on him at 3 AM when Ryujin and Minho have both gone to sleep. You suddenly knock on his door while he’s in the middle of a song he’s been trying to write on his guitar lately, startling the poor boy who almost falls off of the window and causes a big fuss about it. 

“Are you okay in there?” You ask worriedly from outside after knocking for the 4th time, the doorknob clicking gently after. When only shuffles reach your ear on the other side, you immediately add, “Hey, I’m coming in!” 

Jisung doesn’t even have time to protest, catching a glimpse of you going in and closing the door as a tray of mugs trails behind you. Quickly hiding the guitar by the curtains, he clumsily scrambles up to a stand and retrieves the tray from the air, “H-Hi! You made...tea?” 

“Those two mugs are for me.” You pretend to swat his hand away jokingly, joining him on the small balcony on the other side of his window. Spotting his guitar hidden haphazardly on the side, you’re quick to pick it up and slide it over your lap while Jisung’s occupied with the tea, strumming a few chords. Only then, do you also notice his music sheets strewn across the balcony, all labelled with the word ‘sunshine.’ “I didn’t know you brought this along. It still plays good, I suppose, but do you still play badly?” 

Jisung scowls at you as he sets the tray down next to his notebook, sitting down criss cross once more before swiftly snatching the guitar from your hands. “I play better than you, at least.” Ignoring your protests, he then strums a few chords of his own and continues, “Why are you still awake, anyway? Don’t you have a 9 AM later?” 

When he turns to you, he sees you taking a sip of your tea first before answering, “I feel like ditching,” a statement he’s definitely never heard from you before by the way his eyes widen in surprise. “Don’t act so surprised! Uni’s just a cover and a way to get hearts while we’re here in the human world, anyway. Since everyone could be here later and there’s a possibility that we’ll see Hyunjin again with them, I wouldn’t want to miss a second of him back.” 

“Don’t tell me, am I rubbing off on you?” Jisung snickers playfully. Deep inside, however, he’s undoubtedly a little impressed. After all, it’s been a while since he’s seen you so carefree outside of royal duties. “This is bad. We’re still competing, you know!”

“Tch, don’t push it. My current count’s quite high so I’m not that worried.” You shake your head in disbelief, leaning back against the windowsill and gazing ahead to the brightly-lit city. “It’s just that it’s been 5 months since Hyunjin’s gone missing and Yeji started combing every inch of Seoul, only to find a lead out in Incheon. I want to see him as much as you do.” 

Jisung nods slowly in agreement, picking up the second mug of tea and taking a sip. It’s chocolate matcha, the flavour you always craved on elementary school field trips back in the magical realm whenever you missed home or so Felix once said. “It’s been that long, huh? And we’ve been here taking our exam for 4 months now.” He muses out loud between sips of tea, warming him up in an instant against the unusually cold night. “Time flies a little weirder when you’re on the other side of the moon, don’t you think?” 

“I think you’ve just been having too much fun flirting with humans.” You point out, gesturing over to his emerald ring. Over the months, you’ve noticed that the vessels grow warmer every time you reach a thousand points which is roughly every 100 hearts or so. In the rare moments these days that Jisung’s ring has accidentally brushed against your skin, usually at the bus or when passing dishes along, the stone feels intimidatingly hot and almost burning. “How much do you have already?” 

“Enough to win against you.” He teases playfully as he hums along to his song, making you scoff. “I mean, it’s been fun. Gaining a lot of ecure here has made my magic feel more powerful but, still, I can’t help but think sometimes that this whole exam would’ve been fun if the 4 of us were complete.” 

You take another sip of your tea, listening along to Jisung’s humming. “If Hyunjin didn’t disappear beforehand and scared off Lia and her parents from letting her compete...yeah, I guess it would’ve been much more fun if we’re all competing together and the exam duration was 1 year like normal.” Thinking about it more, you end up chuckling at imagining how this whole exam could’ve gone differently. “But, at the same time, it’s been fun competing with you so far.” 

“Going soft on me?” He raises a brow with a smirk. “I know we’ve been stuck to each other like glue for the past months but you should look out for that heart of yours, it might turn pink for me again.”

“I mean you’ve put up a fight so far. It’s a professional compliment, don’t exaggerate it.” You roll your eyes with a slight snicker, making him laugh. You purposely ignore his last comment, though, knowing that he wouldn’t really look into your feelings for him, anything but that. “Maybe you’re the one who’s going soft on me. Seungmin told me about the purple hearts.” 

“He what?!” Jisung exclaims, his smug expression instantly morphing into panic as he almost throws his guitar off of the balcony. “Wait, I can explain!” 

You shake your head and wave your hand dismissively. “No, you don’t have to! I understand.” You assure with a laugh, placing your hand on his nearest shoulder and making him sit back down when he wobbles over the messy and narrow space. “Though, yeah, I probably would’ve yelled at you if Seungmin told me any earlier but it’s all said and done now, anyway. I appreciate it, actually.” 

“A lot of guys were being creeps to you so I thought...I got protective, okay? Ryujin and Yeji were getting stares too so even Seungmin would do the same thing to protect them.” Jisung pouts. “I know we’re in a competition and we’re supposed to rake up a bunch of hearts but your dignity’s much more important than some stupid crown...” 

“I know, and I also know that you would’ve done it for Lia if she were here.” You nod understandingly, mustering up a small appreciative smile. Jisung can be sweet if he wants to, you conclude internally. “Ah, seriously, just imagine if there was 4 of us competing. This would’ve been much more fun and less stressful. You would’ve gotten your ass handed to you when you wanted to race to the moon.” 

“Tch, Hyunjin would’ve taken all of the red ecures for himself.” Jisung adds, sharing in your quiet laughs now that the conversation’s shifted once more. “Much like how he charms everyone back home. He might even win, like he always does in every challenge the elders give us. He’s just the favourite!” 

“I can’t wait for him to come home safely. He’s been gone for too long.” You sigh against your tea, tiredly adjusting to the uncomfortable space of the window. Seeing this from the corner of his eyes, Jisung doesn’t hesitate to pass you a pillow and nearby blankets this time which you’re more than grateful for. “I can’t wait for all of this to be over and go home, just visit again when I feel like it.” 

“Me too. I can’t wait to see him.” Jisung sighs, peering down onto the balcony as he adjusts his guitar on his lap. “And I can’t wait to go home, too.” 

And just then, the car that Chan used to drive everyone over to Incheon materializes at the front porch, spewing out Chan, your friends, and Hyunjin who’s supported by Seungmin and Yeji.

five out of six months 

Hyunjin sports distinctly black cuts and gashes across his arms and legs when you greet the group in front of the house, similar to the ones Chan and Changbin also sported one time when the two also had an encounter with dark magic. Limping on his right leg and supported by his arms, Yeji and Seungmin used their magic to lift him over to the nearest sofa once they’ve reached the other side of Chan’s protective spell from the front door while the rest of the group crash into the vast expanse of the living room. 

“I tried healing him as much as I can so it’s easier for you and Ryujin.” Seungmin huffs, tiredly sitting down on the ground by the coffee table. “He’s mostly fine, just exposed to a lot of dark magic.” 

“And you guys? Are you okay? Is anyone else hurt?” You ask worriedly, darting your eyes over to Chan, Yeji, and Chaeryoung who all individually affirm to you that they’re not nursing any big injuries. “What happened?” 

At that moment, Jisung arrives in the living room with a half-sleepy Minho and a frantically running Ryujin who immediately makes a beeline to Hyunjin and Yeji. Standing next to you, he echoes the exact same question to Seungmin. “What happened? Is Hyunjin going to be okay?” 

You kneel down in front of Hyunjin, right next to Ryujin, and examine the cuts and gashes. Meanwhile, Jisung sits next to Seungmin while Minho runs over to Chan. “Turns out, they’ve been keeping Hyunjin to try and get him to activate the artifact.” Seungmin answers Jisung’s question after a moment, taking out the stolen compass that Hyunjin was supposed to retrieve from this world. “Then they heard that you and Jisung were going to proceed with the exam. So they tried using him as bait as well but the protective spells the elders casted on you two made it hard for them to find you even when they planned to separate our group.” 

“We got there before they could manipulate my brother into it with dark magic.” Yeji continues tiredly in between casting her own spells, making her smaller wounds and a sprained ankle disappear. “They were quite hostile but we managed. It’s just that Hyunjin still hasn’t woken up since we took him.” 

“Then aren’t you glad we stayed at home, Ji?” You mumbled under your breath as you and Ryujin casted spells to identify the magic needed to heal the half-conscious Hyunjin’s injuries. “Hyunjin’s probably not waking up because of exposure. We’ll have to determine just how much dark magic those witches used.” 

Behind you, Jisung grumbles stubbornly at your comment. “So, is Hyunjin okay? What’s the diagnosis?”

Hovering your hand over Hyunjin’s chest, his heart suddenly reflects a horrifying black over your magic and making yours and Ryujin’s eyes widen. “Oh no…” 

“What?” Suddenly, Jisung’s next to you and peering over Hyunjin’s ecure. “What the hell? Why is his heart black?” 

Ryujin then places her hands over Hyunjin’s forehead, going through his fresher memories as her eyes turn a bright blue. “He’s...it’s an ancient spell, a really powerful one.” She eventually concludes, turning to Chan after. “Chan, do you think you can take a look at this?” 

Across the room, Chan stands up with Minho’s help, having just treated a healing cut on his leg, and sits on Ryujin’s other side to briefly access the same memories. “The three of us can do it,” He gestures to you and Ryujin with pursed lips. “But it’ll take hours and a whole lot of ecure. We’ll need to purify his heart with an equally powerful spell.” 

From the corner of your eye, you see Jisung immediately turn to you in worry, as if he already knows what you’re going to say. “Y/N, don’t—”

But you’re already reaching for your locket, forcing the stone to reveal its contents. “I can give up mine. It’ll save you both your energies and time.” You assure, tuning out Jisung’s protests.

“A-Are you sure?” Ryujin asks worriedly, echoing Jisung’s concerns. Next to her, Chan shakes his head at you in equal concern. “Y/N, these are your ecures for the candidacy exam, you can’t just—not right now when you’re almost do—”

“That’s not important right now. What’s important is that we save Hyunjin.” You nod without any hesitation. “Anyway, I have enough for both purifying Hyunjin’s heart and healing his wounds. It’s fine.” 

You then take out more hearts from your locket, the clumped crystals of oranges, greens, pinks, and reds hovering above Hyunjin as he continues lulling in and out of consciousness and his body tries rejecting the prior spells Yeji casted to help him heal. Before you could fully empty out the vessel, however, Jisung’s hand with his emerald ring flies over yours to stop you. “Wait!” He exclaims, startling you, Ryujin, and Chan. “I’ll give up some of mine too. Don’t empty yours out.”

“Ji—” 

“—Y/N.” He snaps frustratingly, raising his voice and confusing you further. “Please, let me help! I don’t want you to empty your count, I’m not letting you.” 

This seems to effectively catch you off-guard. Jisung then takes this as an opportunity to stop you, not letting your hand go while he summons his own collected hearts out from his ring and firmly making sure that you don’t argue with him further until Chan has reluctantly made sure that you have enough ecures to convert into magic. Even then, he doesn’t let you go by your hand and instead moves his over to your free hand while Chan instructs you and Ryujin on how to purify a black heart. 

“J-Jisung.” You call for him once your initial annoyance of him stopping you has died down, eyes widening when he glances back at you with worry. “I need my two hands.” 

“Oh, shit. Sorry.” He lets go of your hand immediately, keeping his hands down on his lap before leaving the three of you to check on Seungmin, Yeji, and Chaeryoung. “Sorry…”

You cough out awkwardly as he leaves, glaring at Ryujin when she musters up a teasing smile despite your current predicament. 

“He’s right, you know.” Chan comments after a while, instructing you the following spells while the dark color of Hyunjin’s ecure fades to a glowing white. 

“Don’t start.” When you send a glare over your own cousin’s way, however, he quickly drops the subject with a shrug. 

Purifying a darkened heart, as it turns out, lasts until the very break of dawn as the three of you exhaust the ecures you and Jisung have put out to heal Hyunjin. As time ticks by agonizingly slow for Hyunjin who could only lay back on the sofa and absorb all of your energies to heal himself, Minho eventually gets everyone to clear the living room and sleep in the much more comfortable guest rooms after making sure that no one is greatly injured before hurling himself to the kitchen and make breakfast. 

But you see Jisung stay from the corner of your eye, taking up space on your opposite side to steal glances at you or comfort Hyunjin. From the way his eyebrows furrow over his sleepy eyes and how he refuses to leave even when you awkwardly tell him off, you could tell that he too can’t make out your previous exchange. 

“—Y/N. Please, let me help! I don’t want you to empty your count, I’m not letting you.” You know that he acted the way he did because it was Hyunjin that you were trying to save, one of his best friends. But the way he sounded so angry, the way he snapped at you in the spur of the moment, a small part of your thoughts wants to make you think that he had other reasons for doing what he did. 

“Hyunjin? How are you feeling?” Chan asks after 2 hours of nonstop spellcasting, halting you and Ryujin in your steps after. “Can you sit up?” 

Your eyes turn blue at the same time you see Jisung’s turn green, surveying Hyunjin’s heart for any hints of leftover dark magic. Meanwhile, Hyunjin struggles to sit up with Jisung’s help, tiredly groaning under his breath. “Much b-better.” He manages to stumble out after a moment, mustering up a small smile despite the dizzying and overwhelming fel. “Thanks, you guys.” 

You sigh in relief, resting your back against the coffee table behind you before nodding. “Finally…” 

“Come on, Hyunnie, I’ll move you upstairs.” Chan volunteers, standing up from his position on the floor and briefly stretching his arms out. Turning to you, Ryujin, and Jisung, he then adds, “You guys get some rest too. Just skip for today and tomorrow. I’ll write to everyone back home.” 

You don’t even argue against your cousin this time, finding yourself nodding when he gives you the same look he always does whenever you intend on shouldering some work for him. Standing up from the floor, you, Ryujin, and Jisung then head upstairs in silence. 

The entire walk, you feel Jisung stealing glances over to you but you decide to not act on it, shaking your head when he suddenly opens his mouth to speak before the two of you could go on your separate ways. 

“Y/N, wait—” “Goodnight, Jisung.” 

-

Growing up, Jisung has always relied on two people in helping him through the crisis of accidentally going too far with you: Chan and Felix. Chan, obviously, because he’s your cousin and the only other friend he has who harbors an inkling of a braincell and Felix because he’s everyone’s favourite and he knows the kinds of snacks that get on your good graces. These moments when he’s actually pushed your buttons too far are rare (as much as the two of you like to express your annoyance over each other, you’ve actually come to understand that this is just your dynamic growing up), but Jisung personally keeps a list of steps to do in situations like this anyway. Now more than ever, it seems, because suddenly, it feels weird and awkward being around each other—and not the usual kind. 

But as fate would have it, Chan is busy working out how to safely get Hyunjin home and explaining to the elders what happened. If normally Jisung would be asking Chan first about you and what he could say when he confronts you, this time he’s asking all of them to his twin brother who’s more than willing to listen (after listening to Yeji, Ryujin, and Chaeryoung gossip everything to him prior, of course).

“Why did you do that anyway?” Felix points out on the other side of the call, snuggling into a pillow as night falls on both realms. It’s been 3 days since Hyunjin returned and both the house and the officials back at home have been busy arranging his return with Yeji, Seungmin, Ryujin, and Chaeryoung; only allowing for the twins to talk in the late hours of the night. “And you said it angrily too from what Ryujin told me. No offense, bro, I’d feel a little weird if you raised your voice at me, too, then offered up half of your collection on their behalf.” 

Jisung groans in frustration, running his hand through his hair as he shuffles uncomfortably around his bed sheets. “I don’t know, it’s just...I was thinking of a lot of things.” 

“Like what?” 

“This candidacy exam, what Chan told me beforehand, Hyunjin, Y/N…” The older twin purses his lips, taking his eyes away from Felix to gaze down at his hands. The emerald ring is much cooler now after losing ecure but somehow, it feels heavy on Jisung’s ring finger. “I thought that it’d be unfair if they lose all of their ecure at this point in the race, trying to save Hyunjin, then the elders might not be too pleased about it when we return. But most importantly, I thought about what Chan told me when Minho first arrived, about how Y/N’s always jumping at every opportunity to help other people without thinking too much of themself. I was right there with my own vessel of hearts for them to use and if I just let them empty out theirs, then I’d be letting them get the short end of the stick in the long run again.” 

Felix nods along understandingly at his brother’s words, all the while trying to hide a smile behind his hand. So Yeji was right! “So why did you call me, then? You seem to have your reasons sorted out, just tell Y/N what you told me.” He shrugs after Jisung’s extensive speech, giggling at the dramatic reaction that he receives from his brother after. “I know you guys aren’t those emotional kinds of people to each other but you said so yourself that Y/N’s been quieter these days and that it’s been eating at your conscience. I say you just go for it and tell them how you feel.” 

“I’m not you, Lix. Y/N’s going to laugh at me.” Jisung pouts helplessly. “I can’t just tell them that.” 

“You’re so dramatic! It just implies that you care about Y/N like a decent human being. Anyone in your situation who knows what you know about them would’ve been considerate enough to do the same thing.” Felix argues back, rubbing his temples at how the older boy’s acting. “Don’t get it twisted, brother...unless you want it to, of course.” 

“Ya, and what’s that supposed to mean?!” 

“Figure it out yourself.” Felix sticks his tongue out teasingly before laughing and waving a dismissive hand. “Anyway, Yeji told me that Y/N’s been craving blueberry pancakes lately. You can just make them right now and give it tomorrow so you don’t have to go out.” 

“If anything, I want to leave the house right now and never come back.” Jisung grumbles back in frustration before sighing in defeat. “For the first time, I can’t believe you’re no help at all, Lix. I’m hanging up.” 

“Tch, you just can’t handle the truth, Sung. Anyway, I have to go too, mom and dad are asking me to come to this thing. I’ll update you on it later! Love you! Bye!” Felix then waves to the call one last time before hanging up, leaving Jisung in the uncomfortable silence of his room. 

Jisung sighs against the heavy blankets, throwing his phone to the other side of the mattress before ultimately deciding on standing up and heading to your room across the hall. Fuck it, he thinks to himself, it’s not like I like them or anything like that! Nothing to worry about! Let’s not get it twisted. 

When he opens the door, however, the first person he unexpectedly sees outside the hallways is you just as you close the door behind your own room. “Y/N!” He ends up blurting out loud in the moment, catching your attention with wide eyes. Not knowing what else to say, the first thought that comes to mind is, “Are you going to Hyunjin’s room?” 

You furrow your brows in confusion, shaking your head slowly. “No, I’m going to the kitchen?” 

“O-Oh.” He runs his hand through his hair once more in nervousness, nodding along and hiding the heat rising up his neck in embarrassment. “Well, I’m going there too. Mind if I join you?” 

You simply nod in response, walking down the end of the hallway with him in relative silence. He hasn’t seen you much since Hyunjin’s arrived either since you spent most of your time checking your mutual friend for his condition and brewing tea. The dramatic gears in Jisung’s head would like to think that it’s just pure convenience. 

“So, what did you and Felix talk about?” “How’s Hyunjin?” 

Jisung glances over to you on his right just as you mirror his actions, the gesture somehow making him flustered this time around as he’s quick to look away. “S-Sorry. Um, we just—talked about how things are back home.” He shrugs in his best feigned nonchalance, mentally cringing at how visibly awkward he looks as the two of you go down the stairs anyway. Not that it’s a lie, anyway, he and Felix did talk about other topics besides you. “Everything’s pretty busy back home since the elders are talking about how Hyunjin coming back is going to affect the exam now.” 

“Oh.” You nod along almost absentmindedly. “That’s...yeah, I’ve heard about it too. It’s pretty hectic on my mom’s end right now.” 

“So...how’s Hyunjin?” Jisung chimes in almost a little too quickly, feeling even more awkward that he accidentally brought up your candidacy exam again. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

You purposely pretend to not notice anyway, answering his questions carefully as you approach a curve into the spiral staircase. “He’s regaining his strength at least. Still on bedrest but he should be okay by the weekend when Changbin fetches him and the others.” The two of you then pass through the living room to get to the kitchen, finding Minho and Chan cuddled up on one of the sofas as they watch a movie on the television. 

The kitchen, on the other hand, is deserted when you turn on the lights which Jisung internally thanks every guest in the house for before taking a deep breath. “About what I said back then, by the way…” He starts carefully, catching your attention before you could even detach yourself from him to open the nearby fridge. You freeze a few steps ahead of him, making the poor boy gulp nervously. “Um, I’m sorry that I raised my voice at you. I shouldn’t have done that, even when I was stressing out.” 

Much like when he actually did raise his voice, you momentarily freeze in your spot before eventually shaking your head reassuringly and moving over to the fridge. “It’s alright, you don’t need to apologize for that.” You add with a small smile, taking out the fruit bowl from the fridge. “Is that why you’ve been quiet these past days? It’s okay, really.” 

“I haven’t been—it’s you who’s—” Jisung stops himself halfway before he could even start another argument, biting down his lip before shaking his head. Walking over to the stove area, he then opens a few cabinets in search of the pancake mix while you shuffle around the area behind him. “A little, yeah. It’s just that it looked like it bothered you so it bothered me too.”

When Jisung then glances over his shoulder, he sees you approaching with the fruit bowl hugged close to your chest. “I thought about it a few times. After that, I just thought that you were bothered so I couldn’t talk to you after.” You explain slowly, voice growing louder as you set the bowl next to him. In the dim lights of the kitchen, he suddenly can’t tell if you’re lying or not. “But it’s all good now. Are you making pancakes?” 

Jisung nods sheepishly, finally finding the pancake mix in the deeper crevices of the cabinet and taking it out with a pan and spatula from the adjacent cabinet. “No, but you have to know that—that—”

“Hm? What?” You raise your brows curiously, taking the pan and spatula for him before proceeding to the stove and twisting the knobs to preheat. 

“You’re not letting me finish.” Jisung points out with a feigned disapproving situation while quickly preparing the pancake mix, one which you somehow find amusing enough to laugh at. “Come on, don’t laugh, my twin made me say a bunch of things then coerced me into telling you so I’d—”

“Yeah, I know.” 

“—So, I appreciate it if you’d lis—wait, you know?!” His feigned expression then turns into one of surprise once more as you nod and break into giggles. “W-What?!” 

“You were being really loud, Hyunjin was even complaining to me from the next room by phone that he can’t sleep because of you.” You chuckle in amusement, nudging him by the arm when you notice that he’s slowed down his mixing. “He said something about you complaining to Felix about something or whatever. I don’t know, I was on a call with Lia.” 

“Then why did you—? So, you just came out here for pancakes?!” 

“No! I wanted to hear what you were going to say! I didn’t hear any word besides the pancakes, I swear...well, not clearly at least.” 

By now, all of the awkwardness has immediately dissipated as Jisung stops mixing the pancake mix altogether to turn to you and cross his arms. “You’re unbelievable.” He pretends to roll his eyes and scoff at you, earning him a glare.  You then swipe the pancake mix from his hands, pouring them into the pan in big circles. “And you still have the audacity to make me do this pancake mix.” 

“Well, you’re already mixing it so might as well.” You shrug with a knowing smile before nudging him again by the handle of the spatula. “Now, go on, what were you going to say?” 

Jisung shoots you one last incredulous look but you effectively counter it by encouraging him, promising that you “won’t laugh.” “Ah, well...I just wanted to say that you shouldn’t go all out wasting all of your collected hearts at this point, not when we’re almost done with the exam.” He blurts out, gazing down and fiddling with the fruit bowl while you take spoonfuls of blueberries from it to mix with the pancakes. “I want to win but it won’t be fun if your tally suddenly drops, right?” 

When he looks up, you’re raising your brow at his last comment as you make more pancakes. “I mean, I know you want to do what’s best for everyone but you have to look out for yourself too. Geez.” With a sigh, he then corrects which makes you nod in agreement. “A-And I guess lean on us too. We’re your family and friends, don’t shoulder all of the work for us all the time.” 

“I doubt I can lean on you.” You tease, flipping through your second batch of pancakes to cook. When Jisung sends a glare your way, you simply stick your tongue out at him. “Kidding.”  

“I get all emotional and all you say is that you doubt you can lean on me. Unbelievable…” Jisung scoffs, stuffing his mouth with more blueberries in feigned annoyance. 

The blueberry-filled pancakes are all eventually set on a plate you find on your opposite side, stacked up as a tall tower leaning on one side. Carefully passing Jisung the plate, you then twist the stove’s knobs off and reply, “You also made me cook the pancakes you wanted to make for me so I think that makes us even.” 

“Y/N!” He whines between mouthfuls of blueberries as you move around him to transfer the pan and spatula to the sink. 

You sigh in defeat, chuckling when you meet gazes once more and see him sulking with his cheeks full. “Right, right, I’m sorry!” You then beckon him over to the dining table, taking the fruit bowl on his side. “A-And...you know, thank you for that. We’re all good now, right?” 

“If you are.” 

“Definitely. Want to eat with me? I still owe you that meal from our first day.” 

six out of six months

Your mother as well as the high jury of elders from back home eventually proposed that you and Jisung finish your Crown Candidacy exam while Hyunjin, should he eventually announce that he wants to participate as well in the incoming 6 months, do his under stricter supervision in the following year. This ensures fairness in your situations, that yours and Jisung’s efforts aren’t wasted in the past 5 months while also thinking of Hyunjin who wasn’t around in time for the traditional schedule of the exam. When Hyunjin was escorted home by Changbin and Felix, however, he briefly hinted towards a plan on refusing the candidacy and the exam. He left with the others before you or Jisung could even ask him about it. 

Regardless, you and your sole competitor easily fall back into the race as soon as Hyunjin, Yeji, Seungmin, and Chaeryoung have settled their business in the human world and went home, returning to university over a week later to regain the ecures that you lost. Not that it’s suddenly harder, anyway. Timely as it is, an announcement for a school festival at the end of the month has Jisung signing up to perform while you join the organizing committee to spend more time with your human friends. 

In the time that you’ve spent in the human world, you’ve made many genuine friends beyond collecting their ecure for your exam, especially in your classmates Yuna and Jeongin. Though they don’t know about your true nature, the two have unknowingly aided you a lot in your mission by accompanying you through the different activities around university. 

Yuna, in particular, was even the one who first mentioned the school festival to you, encouraging you to join the events committee with her and invite Jisung to perform. “It’s free backstage passes and we can see all of the artists up close!” She sighed dreamily on the day she showed you the gold and red poster that she picked up from the department bulletin board. “And come on, you’re really good at organizing stuff! We should do it together!”

And more hearts to collect, you thought to yourself when you accepted and attended the orientation.

And more hearts it was, indeed, as you spend the next 3 weeks meeting people from different colleges as you and Yuna are assigned to helping organize the music performance for the end of the festival. With your previous experience fulfilling your duties back at home, it’s unsurprisingly easier for you to juggle the work assigned to you—contacting students to perform, arranging the program flow, and turning the university football field into a makeshift mini concert stadium—with socializing and fulfilling your original mission of collecting hearts. 

Across from your room at home, on the other hand, Jisung has been busy spending the same time making his own music to perform at the music festival. You invited him to perform some time after starting your work with the festival committee—well, your friends insisted that you invite him and Chan after finding out that the famous DJ, CB97, is your cousin and that you and the “College of Psychology Cutie” commute home together (“Don’t tell me...are you guys secretly dating?!” Yuna had shamelessly asked during one of your meetings, to which you had to smack your hand over her mouth and improvise a cover story for you and Jisung that you live in the same neighbourhood). 

Jisung accepted at the thought that he could garner a huge crowd of hearts from this opportunity, cooping himself up in his room right after the following days that followed to complete his 15-minute set. Ever since, all you’ve heard coming from his room in the middle of the night would be guitar strums, drum loops, and the faintest hints of Jisung’s voice singing along to freestyle raps and lines. 

He mostly sang about love, of all things; something you, Minho, and Chan immediately noticed in the next 3 Friday nights that the three of you would be huddled in the living room to watch a movie, only to hear Jisung repeating lines as if he was talking to someone in Chan’s home studio. You wanted to ask about it out of pure curiosity, and just the general worry that he might not be looking after his heart while finishing your exam after all, but decided against it in favor of waiting for the final product at the music festival.

Fortunately, the month somehow went by in almost a flash as you and Jisung both got busy preparing and collecting more hearts on the side. Before you know it, it was the afternoon of the music festival and Felix is suddenly back in the human realm to accompany you and Minho to the school festival. 

“So, did he tell you what he prepared for tonight?” Felix asks you as the three of you walk around the festival grounds. Over the course of 3 weeks, you and a large team of student volunteers have managed to haul in food stalls, arcade booths, and rides from the quad all the way to the football field for this festival, amenities which you yourself haven’t tried yet because of your busy schedule but Felix and Minho have both been so overwhelmingly excited to check out even on the bus trip to your university. 

In response to the prince’s answer, you shake your head with a small pout. “I just hear him all over the house and I didn’t really want to pry if he didn't want to tell me anything.” You point out, the two of you suddenly changing the course of your mindless walk as Minho points to a crossbow shoot booth. “Why? Doesn’t he tell you what he’s been working on?” 

“No! He stops whatever he’s doing whenever we call, even when I ask him to play just a little bit of his work.” Felix is quick to mirror your pout, only for it to disappear when Minho jokes that the two of you help him cheat in the booth as he picks up a crossbow. “I thought since you guys are living together, you’d know better than me.” 

“Ah, you kids just wait until Jisung and Chan perform later.” Minho dismisses your concerns, holding the fake crossbow up properly while the staff manning the booth prepares the targets on the other side. “Now, help me win Chan a giant wolf.” 

You roll your eyes at Minho, shrugging at Felix. “I guess he’s right. Let’s just help Minho get a giant wolf first.” 

-

Chan and Jisung arrive at university 10 minutes before the music festival from Chan’s studio halfway across the city, initially unable to find you in the crowd of organizers as they set up backstage with Yuna and Jeongin’s help until you call Chan late that you’re “babysitting” Minho and Felix. 

“They’ve somehow teamed up and have been competing with the rigged booths since we arrived.” You explained over the voice call, the distant sounds of Minho and Felix yelling while tossing metal rings around almost muffling your own. “I’ll be on my way in a while as soon as Minho leaves the ring toss alone but Yuna and Jeongin are there. Just ask them if you guys need anyth—oh my gods, Felix, you won another plushie? That’s so cool! Wait, I’m on a call with Chan!—uh, yeah. I’ll be there in a second!” 

The commotion on your end makes the two boys laugh, even as you bid your goodbyes and end the call, but especially Jisung who’s been looking nervous since he arrived. Throwing his head back in a laugh as he tunes his guitar, he comments, “That’s a bit unexpected. I didn’t know my brother and your boyfriend would get along like that, and this quickly!” 

“Beating out rigged games sounds about right.” Chan chuckles along, seated on a plastic chair and running a quick check on his equipment. Turning to the younger boy, he then asks, “Are you still nervous?” 

“Me? Nah, I wasn’t even nervous to begin with!” At this, Jisung’s laughs naturally die down to an uncertain shake of his head. He dismisses with a scrunch up nose which Chan immediately raises a brow at. 

“Come on, Sung, I practically raised you with the other kids.” Chan proceeds to roll his eyes as Jisung’s brief confident facade crumbles down slowly. “What’s up?” 

The boy in question eventually sighs in defeat, shoulders slumping against the plastic chair he occupies. “Fine, maybe I’m a bit nervous! Just a little bit, though, I can still get on stage later! I mean, it’s not like performing here is gonna be different from back home like you said on the way here but…”

“But what?” Chan asks patiently, glancing up to see Jisung’s gaze fixed down on his yellow acoustic guitar. When the younger boy doesn’t respond immediately, he then continues, “I’ve heard bits and pieces of what you’ve been working on this month and all of the songs sound great. You’ll catch a lot of hearts tonight with them, I’m sure. What are you worried about?”

Jisung looks up from his guitar and opens his mouth to speak, only to get cut off when you come in the performer’s tent running and balancing different kinds of microphones in your hands. “Sorry I’m late!” You announce in between tired pants, catching both his and Chan’s attention as you pass the microphones around the artists with Jeongin who instinctively comes to your aid. “I was with my friends and they wouldn’t budge from the ring toss!” 

“I think I’m going to faint.” Jisung mumbles under his breath with furrowed brows, loud enough for only Chan to hear, until you approach them last with their microphones. 

“Mics?” You offer obliviously, holding up the last 2 hand mics in your possession. Passing one to Chan quickly, you then sit down next to Jisung and pass him his hand mic. “Hey, you’re up fourth, right?” 

Jisung glances over to Chan with a panicked look but the older boy simply shakes his head with a chuckle and focuses on his keyboard. Turning to you, Jisung then nods quickly with a hum before gazing down at his guitar and the laptop he’s set up on the table in front of you two. 

Immediately sensing his odd behavior, you then hover your hands in the space between the two of you in a quick spell, eventually verifying his nervous feelings. “Yeah, totally not nervous.” You chuckle in amusement, laughing even more when he turns to you and whines in complaint. 

“Ya! Don’t do that!” 

“Well, it’s not like you’re that good at hiding your nervousness!” You point out in defense, holding your hands up in front of you in between uncontrollable fits of giggles. When the glare he sends your way doesn’t relax one bit, you then fish out a small quokka plush from your backpack. “Anyway, Felix was kinda expecting that you’d be a little nervous so wanted me to give you this plushie he won at the milk bottle game with Minho for good luck. He would’ve given it himself but LUCY was already performing when we came here so he dragged Minho to the audience area before I could even bring him here.” 

You then place the plush toy on the table right next to his laptop, looking around once to make sure that no one is looking your way before mouthing a quick spell to shrink the quokka into something smaller that he can hang on his guitar strap. As you do so, Chan notices how Jisung’s ears are quick to turn red as he follows your every movement. “You can stick it to your guitar strap and bring it with you to the stage.” You point out once you’re done, only then noticing his stares. “What?” 

“Huh?” Jisung shakes his head absentmindedly, mentally slapping himself back to reality before scrambling to pick up the plush toy by the chain you added on top of its head and tying it to the small hole along the edge of his guitar strap. “O-Oh, yeah, thanks!”

You chuckle, just as Yuna suddenly calls for you to help in getting the next act’s microphone stands on stage. Standing up, you then pat Jisung’s shoulder reassuringly, saying one last, “Don’t be nervous!” before running off again to where most of your committee members are. 

Once you’re out of earshot, only then does Chan look up from his equipment once more but this time with a knowing grin and squinted eyes. “Yeah, Sung, don’t be nervous!” 

Jisung rolls his eyes in front of the older boy at this, securing the quokka plushie on his guitar strap one last time. “Shut up.” 

-

Your committee heads lay you off of work just as Jisung heads to the stage for his set, the small quokka plush you gave him dangling behind his fretboard with a toothy grin while he sets up his laptop and greets the energetic crowd. When you discreetly scan the people’s ecures while standing behind the curtains, you quickly spot a growing number of pinks and oranges. “Such a charmer.” Chan notes, eyes also blue when you look up at him. 

You nod in agreement, reverting back to your original color as more of your peers gather around the curtains to listen to Jisung’s introduction. “Um, hi, I’m Han Jisung from the Psych department.” You hear him greet with a shy chuckle over the microphone, earning him another wave of cheers. Behind you, even Yuna and Jeongin cheer despite Jisung having his back partially facing you. “This is my first time performing here at uni and the songs that I’ve prepared so please go easy on me.” 

You then turn to Chan again, taking a sideways step closer to him as a thought crosses your mind. “Hey, Chan,” You call for him in a lower voice, craning your head up when he leans towards you. “Have you heard of the songs he’s going to perform tonight? You were together before coming here, right?” 

“Only a little bit. We mostly talked while we were at the studio.” Chan shrugs in response. “I think he wanted it to be a surprise to everyone.” 

On stage, Jisung then checks his guitar one last time before announcing the name of the first song. “So, this first song is something that I’ve been thinking about since I moved here. It’s called ‘Close.’” He says, pressing play on his loops and singing the first lines of the song. “Can you tell me about you? You, seen from afar. I just don't want to watch. Yeah Just tell me about you.”

Jisung is a great performer, there’s no doubt about it. Though you’ve grown up hearing him sing and rap at your more casual events back at home, he always manages to surprise you every time he performs just with the way he enjoys himself on stage. You can see him smile widely from the side of the stage, his nervousness long gone as he interacts with the crowd and collects the pink crystal hearts that float above your heads. 

“He’s really good…” You murmur, more to yourself than to Chan, as you find yourself gently swaying to the song. “What was he even worried about? It’s a great song…” 

Chan glances knowingly at you, a small smile playing on his lips as you sing along to the next round of the chorus. “I don’t think he has nothing to worry about too, not right now at least.” 

“Hm?” “Nothing.” 

-

In truth, even with the positive response from the crowd and the amount of ecures he’s collected from this set alone, Jisung is still nervous for his last song. “Sunshine” was supposed to be just another warm-up song with barely a cohesive topic, a compilation of sketches about his experiences in the human world that he spent his free time on when he wasn’t collecting hearts these past 6 months. As more time passed by, however, and the time of your exam was suddenly coming to a close, they eventually took a different direction without him even realizing it until you were inviting him to perform at this music festival. 

The times that the two of you would bicker just to laugh at each other in the end, the competition that brought the bests and worsts in you, and your chocolate matcha tea and musings on the one time you sat down with him on his balcony. Eventually, you were all he was writing about. On top of the nervousness that comes with finishing the competition you’ve found yourselves in for half a year and finding out who will be declared the winner, Jisung was more nervous about the thought that you’re just behind the stage curtains with Chan, anticipating his next song. 

“For my last song, I picked this one for someone I know whom I’ve spent a lot of time with these past few months.” He confesses shyly in front of the crowds. Among the hundreds of people that came tonight, he easily spots his twin brother in front of the barriers with Minho, sporting the most exaggerated surprised face ever. “I was hoping that when all of this is said and over, we’d get well-deserved breaks...maybe music and tea at night again or something.” 

Jisung doesn’t have to turn around to gauge your initial reaction as he begins the song, Felix’s expression turning into that of giddiness as he looks over at the stage curtains is enough to set every gear in his head to pump out more nervousness. Instead, he pushes through until halfway to the song before he could steal his first glance over to you since beginning his set. 

With his eyes still an emerald green from scanning the crowd’s ecures, your eyes meet under the harsh stage lights as he sings the bridge. “This place is quiet without a sound ye ye ye. Quiet except for the sound of our breaths ye ye ye.” He doesn’t intend to look again, not in that split second before he’s turning his gaze back to the crowd of cellphone lights and LED signs, but he sees your heart’s reflection once more. 

Reminiscent of when you first confessed in middle school, a pinkish heart floats by the sleeves of your sweater, almost looking red if he just looked longer. You didn’t even turn away this time and simply just stood there, heat visibly rising up your neck. 

Reminiscent of when you first confessed in middle school, a pinkish heart floats by the sleeves of your sweater, almost looking red if he just looked longer. This time around, however, you don’t turn away to try and hide it. 

And this time around, Jisung doesn’t childishly call you out for it or ignores it. This time, it makes his own heart swell at the thought. 

-

The car ride home, with Chan on the wheel and three extra boxes of equipment most of the backseats in his SUV, is a comfortable and awkward mix of quiet between you and Jisung as the two of you are forced to sit next to each other in the cramped space. You sit by the window, using it as an excuse to peer outside and avoid any kind of small talk from the boys, while Jisung has hisi eyes glued to his phone while a sleeping Felix snuggles into his shoulder. The only human noise in the car, as it seems, is coming from Minho and Chan as the two recall the songs the latter and Jisung performed at the program. 

It’s even quieter at the thought that you, Jisung, and Felix will fly back to the magical realm tomorrow, something that Minho reminds you when he suddenly asks, “Right, what do you kids want me to cook for lunch later, by the way?” 

The question comes right as the car suddenly comes to an abrupt stop at Chan’s garage, masking the way you and Jisung simultaneously jump in surprise. You instinctively glance over to him after with wide eyes, before gazing over at Minho who has a poorly-hidden snicker on his expression from the front passenger seat. “Um,” You stutter out awkwardly, glaring at Minho when he smirks teasingly over your way. “Anything’s fine for me.” 

Jisung nods over to your direction in agreement. “Yeah, anything’s fine.” 

Minho nods with pursed lips, as if he was biting down a laugh. “Does crispy pork belly sound good?” He asks, earning him nods from you. “Okay. You guys have been quiet back here this entire time, you guys good?” 

“Yeah?” “Totally.” 

Clearly unconvinced, Minho shakes his head and scoffs before twisting his upper body to face front once more, unbuckling his seatbelt and opening the car door next to him. “Oh, kids…” 

You roll your eyes at the comment before stealing a glance over at Jisung again, only to find the boy already staring at you. “W-What?” You manage to ask this time despite your initial surprise. In front of you, Chan has already turned the engine off and left the driver’s seat to open the back of the car. “You okay, Ji?” 

He hums almost absentmindedly, phone now set down on his lap as he fiddles with his hands nervously. “Yeah, um—” He stutters out, biting his lips down once. Briefly glancing at his side, he then gestures towards his twin and adds, “Wait, sorry, um, let me wake Lix first.” 

“Okay.” You nod awkwardly, deciding to unbuckle your own seatbelt and open the car door next to you. Jisung then gently shakes Felix awake, leading his brother out through the same car door since the opposite one’s blocked by more of his and Chan’s equipment. 

“You go on ahead, Lix, I’ll just talk to Y/N.” You hear Jisung say as the three of you now stand outside in the cold, levitating boxes of instruments and computers flying over your head and heading inside the house. 

Felix nods at this immediately, sleepily bidding you and Jisung with loose hugs before trudging back inside the house with Chan and Minho. 

Once the doors leading back to the house fully close on the two of you, only then are you engulfed in the same awkward silence again and the two of you, for the third time in the past 6 months, speak up at the same time. 

“So um—” “—Yeah, a while ago—” 

This time, the two of you chuckle awkwardly over speaking at the same time again. You then gesture for him to go ahead and speak first as you adjust your sweater’s placement on your shoulder. 

Instinctively, Jisung fixes your sweater for you before speaking, causing him to stutter a little. “S-Sorry, um…” He licks his lip awkwardly, retracting his hand as fast as he can and moving a step back. “Yeah, I meant to say that I didn’t...I didn’t mean to look at your heart.” 

Suddenly, at such an important moment, you’re speechless and frozen in front of Jisung. Your hands find their way down the hem of your sweater, absentmindedly playing with the loose threads as you shift your weight on the balls of your feet and stutter out your response. “I-I um…” 

Simultaneously, Jisung takes in a huge intake of breath and continues, “I looked at you because I actually made the song for you—well, about you but not in a weird way! It can be for you too, that is if you want it!—”

“Jisung?” 

“Ah, anyway, I’m losing track! Just, I looked at you because I wanted to know what you thought of it the most in the moment, you know—”

“Jisung…”

“And I didn’t realize that my eyes were still green and I saw so I looked away as fast as I could, I swear—!” 

“Ji.” 

“I know you don’t want me looking into your heart and stuff because of before. I promise I won’t do it again—” 

Realizing that he’s not going to stop in his ramblings, you then impulsively take a step towards him and grab him by his arms. “Ji, it’s fine.” You shake him gently, effectively stopping the endless flow of thought. “I mean, you already saw it and everything.” 

“But I—” 

“Just don’t lash out or stop talking to me again while I sort it out.” You shrug reassuringly with a sigh, reluctantly sliding your hands off of him and taking a step back again as you see him listen intently to your words. “It’s just pink, anyway, it can still go away like before. Just don’t avoid me again this time.” 

Though he’s clearly been listening intently, you see his brows furrow and his expression suddenly becomes confused towards the end of your words. “What?” He echoes helplessly after you. “No, I...why would I stop talking to you? That was a long time ago. I won’t do that now, I...” 

“Then just don’t take my heart or something.” You point out, almost like a question as his reaction confuses you similarly. “Anyway, that’s not the point, like I said, I’ll sort it ou—”

“Don’t.” He cuts you off immediately this time with more conviction, shaking his head and suddenly taking your hand. “Don’t sort it out. Don’t make it go away or anything.”  

“What? Why?” 

You’re pulled closer again, Jisung mumbling an incantation to show his ecure under his breath. “Look at mine.” He points out, a pink crystal heart floating over to your upturned palm as he holds onto you by your wrist. “If anything, I should be the one telling you to not take mine on the spot or something.” 

“It’s pink.” You muse out loud in surprise, the warmth of his ecure feeling overwhelming as it floats above your hand. “And it’s for me…?” 

Jisung rolls his eyes at this in disbelief, nodding patiently anyway. “Who else would it be for?” He scoffs gently, making the heart disappear before it could burn your palm. “I don’t know since when it’s been like that, maybe it’s been like that for a long time even I don’t know I’ve only looked at it while Chan and I were at the studio. All I’m sure is that suddenly I was writing a song for you and sacrificing half of my ecure count so you don’t lose easily in the exam and looking out for you and—just, this time it’s me who’s afraid that you’ll run away or disappear for a while if you knew.”

“So don’t...sort it out.” He concludes after unknowingly speaking at such a fast rate, heaving belatedly from this. “I like you now, I like you a lot, and I’m not going to lash out like when we were kids. Take my heart if you want just don’t change your feelings for me, please.” 

There’s a brief pause that follows, the only noise ringing in your ears being the unusually loud beating of your own heart as the two of you freeze in place. Jisung tries waiting as patiently as he visibly can in this silence, puffing air in and out of his lips as he fails at trying to conceal his recurring nervous feelings, while you gaze at anywhere but him because of the heat rising up your neck. 

“Listen…” He speaks up after a while. “I’m sorry, I—”

Fuck it, you think to yourself before stepping forward, shakily cupping his cheeks, and pressing a kiss to his lips. “Don’t say sorry.” You muster up a shy smile in between brief kisses. “You already know that I like you too.” 

bonus epilogue

When you return to the magical realm to the news that Hyunjin won’t be taking his own candidacy exam next year in favor of his own kingdom’s crown, the elders are quick to take your locket and Jisung’s ring to proceed with the final results. Since the decision takes at least 3 days, coupled with the fact that a major complication arose in the 6 months that you were given, Jisung was asked to stay at your castle until the jury could come to a conclusion and crown either one of you. 

The others would also occasionally come and visit (especially Lia who’s mostly kept up with your trip through Yeji and Ryujin) but since confessing to Jisung, the boy has been doing the most trying to sneak you away from everyone and your regular royal duties just to spend more time with you. 

“So this is what you meant with Sunshine?” You ask in the afternoon before the elders would summon you back to the throne room, the two of you hidden away in your favourite greenhouse garden. Today, Jisung has somehow convinced you to ditch a visit to Chan’s family in favor of just sitting on your greenhouse’s cushioned sofas and listening to him hum his songs until your mentors would eventually come looking for you. “Chocolate matcha and your guitar?” 

“Yeah, just a relaxing rest date with your crush.” Jisung points out next to you, his head snuggled into the crook of your neck as much as the guitar in between the two of you could allow him. On your opposite side, his cuddle rival, the quokka plush toy you’ve somehow managed to turn into a life-size pillow today, sits on your lap and occasionally pokes on the end of his guitar. “Why? Do you want to refill your tea? I’ve been getting Felix to teach me this spell to refill tea, you know. I’m getting it but chocolate matcha’s kinda hard to replicate.” 

You shake your head in disbelief with a chuckle, a stark contrast to how you’re internally flustered over the small comment on your favourite tea flavor. “Who said you’re my crush? Bold of you to even assume, Ji…” You pretend to roll your eyes, sinking deeper into the soft cushions behind you. 

“Baby, you’ll be taking those words back when I get crowned tonight.” He pouts, elbowing you gently before shifting to place his guitar on the side. With his hands now free, the prince then resorts to linking his arms with your free one and intertwining your hands together on top of the plush quokka. “If I win, I’ll make sure to banish this quokka first so you’ll be forced to cuddle with only me.” 

“Tch, Felix won you this quokka. You’ll have to duel with him first if you want this gone.” You argue, sliding the quokka closer to him so its face is adjacent to Jisung. “Plus, it kinda looks like you. If I get crowned and you’ll be away doing your own duties back East, I have something of yours.” 

“I think you meant that if I win and you’ll be staying here doing your own duties, you’ll have something of mine.” Jisung huffs pettily. “Maybe we should keep the quokka, after all. You might get lonely if I get busy.” 

You shake your head immediately with a chuckle, leaning more of your weight on his side. “Oh, no, no, no.” You correct teasingly, making him giggle along against your shoulder. “Who said you’re going to win later?” 

“Wanna bet?” He raises a brow and smirks, lifting his head briefly to glance over to you.

You roll your eyes at this, leaning forward to meet his lips. “You’re so competitive, babe. Give it a rest, you know I’ll win anyway.”