#but without dots.... also shes older for some reason? she came out like this

[dailyedgeworth]

today, a little pearl!!!!!

[itsmewillful]

The Older Sibling-PART ONE

Main Masterlist

Character Masterlist

(Anakin Skywalker x GN!reader)

Word Count: 4377 words

Outline: Reader is desperate to find a job and lands one babysitting one of the richest kids in town. Excited to start, reader eventually meets the older brother of the kid they're babysitting, and finds out he's the biggest jerk (and most handsome) man in town

Warning(s): MATURE CONTENT: Swearing, kissing without consent, Anakin being a jerk for no reason, enemies to lovers trope ig

Story below the cut

+++

You were doing anything to get a job. All your debts from college were building up quicker than you liked and you were overwhelmed with the idea of being sent to jail for having too much money due. 

So you found yourself getting a job as a nanny. Yes, a nanny. You were to look after a young girl around the age of 7 all day and prepare all meals for her. The job was simple enough. Now being a graduate from University, you no longer have to worry about studying for things and getting good grades.

What made this job hard was you weren’t working for some random family that you found online that needed a job. You were working for the incredibly wealthy family that seemed to ‘rule’ the small town you lived in. The Skywalkers.

They owned just about every successful business. And, they were also related to the Mayor of the town. Which is quite a big deal.

So, when you pulled up to the Skywalker residence almost five minutes late, you were worried that you were going to get fired immediately. But, you still held your breath and prayed to the Maker that your day would go just fine and you wouldn't have to worry about job hunting for at least a few years now. 

When the door was opened, you were confused to see someone you didn’t even recognise. He was at least 6 feet, and he looked like he was about to just slam the door back into your face when he made eye contact with you. 

“Um. . .” You trailed off. 

“Who are you and what do you want?” The man asked you. 

“I-” You began but were interrupted when an older lady walked up behind and practically shoved him out of the way.

“Hello dear! You must be Y/N! I am so glad you came, I hope Mr. Windu didn’t frighten you off. He’s just our home's security guard since we have had a few break-ins over the years. He might look scary but I promise you he’s a big teddy bear (Mr. Windu huffed at that, to which the Lady smiled to) Well, nevermind that! Come in, come in! Ahsoka can’t wait to meet her new caretaker. And did I mention how grateful I am for your help? I can go on and on all day about it.” 

She waved you into the house and you followed in, the door being slammed behind you.

You smiled when you made eye-contact with the woman and immediately recognised her. Shmi Skywalker.

“Mother, who is this?” You heard a small voice call out from behind you. You turned around and noticed a small, young girl standing straight. She wore a pretty red dress that flowed off her waist elegantly and her hair was tied up into two french braids that went past her shoulders. She had bright blue eyes and she had small freckles dotting her face. You had to admit: She was one adorable little girl.

“Hello there,” You smiled. “You must be Ahsoka. I am your new caretaker, Y/N.”

The young girl grinned and ran up to you and gave you a tight hug. 

“Hi! I am so so happy you are finally here! My older brother left for work and I was gonna die of boredom.” 

You giggled at the young girl’s dramatic speech and grasped her hand firmly. 

“Why don’t you show me where you usually play?” You asked her with a twinkle of mischief in your voice. 

“I’m so glad to see you both are getting along just fine.” Shmi interrupts you with a happy tone of voice. You turned your head to meet her gaze and gave her a small smile.

“Thank you for giving me this opportunity, Mrs. Skywalker.” 

“Not a problem dear. Now I have some work to do. I won’t be back till at least 12 tonight. So feel free to take the spare room near Ahsoka’s room. Since I often am out late, you can expect to find yourself there quite often if you don’t mind.” 

“Not at all, Ma’am. I brought enough things for one night.” You politely replied.

“Splendid! Well, Ahsoka darling, I’ll see you tomorrow bright and early, hopefully.” 

Shmi opened her arms for a hug and Ahsoka broke from your grasp and ran to her mother. 

“Good-bye Mother! I love you.” Ahsoka whispered. Shmi gave her a small peck on her cheek before she rushed out the door. When the door closed behind her, you faced Ahsoka and gave her a small and cheeky smile.

“So, what do you want to do?” You asked her. 

“I want to dress up! And also, can we bake some cookies?” Ahsoka asked with puppy dog eyes. You giggled at her interesting combo of activities. 

“Sure, but you have to choose which one you want to do first.”

Ahsoka stood completely still for a moment before she grins.

“How about we dress up AND bake at the same time? We could pretend we are in the 1800’s and we sell baked goods for a living!” Ahsoka beamed over her idea and your heart just about melted. The way a child’s imagination works always fascinated you. You for one never had much of a childhood since you came from a poorer family and worked to help as long as you could remember. But you never let that stop you from supporting children who are fortunate to do what they want and when they wanted.

“Sure.” You grabbed Ahsoka’s hand before deciding to pick her up. “Now, how about you show me where your room is so we can get changed?”

+++

About two hours later, you both were dressed in robes that Ahsoka found in her dress up closet and had completed a nice batch of chocolate-chip cookies. By the time lunch came around, Ahsoka had almost four cookies and was high from the sugar and was (literally) bouncing off of walls.

You then decided it was best for the both of you to go outside to the backyard and play out there for a while to get rid of some of her built up energy. Ahsoka was of course running around the whole time. It wasn’t until about an hour later that she was completely drained of sugar and with heavy feet walked back to where you had seated on the porch overlooking the large yard. 

“Hello Ahsoka, are you okay?” You asked when you noticed her attitude had changed from her usual cheery self. She nodded and sat beside you before she leant her head onto your shoulder.

“I am okay.I just miss my older brother, Y/N.” She whimpered as tears began to fill her eyes. You hugged her from the side and rested your chin on her small head.

“It’s alright, I’m pretty sure he misses you too.” 

“I don’t think so. He is an adult now and he’s never ever home to play with me.” Ahsoka said with a pout. “I believe that big brother has replaced me with his job and loves his job more than me.” 

“What’s your older brother's name?” You asked her with a gentle tone. Ahsoka’s facial expression changed from one of anger to one of joy within a few seconds. And from that observation, you realised that she seemed to love talking about her older brother.

“His name is Kinny. Or at least that’s what I call him. I don’t ever call him by his real name because he thinks it’s stupid. Also, some of his friends call him Vader. But I personally believe that name is dumber” Ahsoka shrugged. You hummed at the new information before you pulled out your phone to get an idea about the time. 

“Well, it’s around supper time now. Are you hungry for anything in particular?” You asked the young girl. Ahsoka nodded slowly before a familiar mischievous grin graced her features. 

“Can we have cookies for dinner?” 

You let out a small laugh at the response before you shook your head. 

“You have had way too many cookies for today, young one. I think we should save some for your older brother when he gets home.” 

Ahsoka seemed pleased with the arrangement and agreed. 

+++

After about an hour or so you had Ahsoka go to bed. After she fell asleep, you decided to go downstairs to read a book that you brought with you to entertain yourself until you decided that it was your bedtime. You sighed quietly and continued to flip through the book, but your ears perked up when you heard the front door open. You sat up straight when you remembered that Mrs. Skywalker said she wouldn’t be home as early as 12, and it currently was around 9pm. You peered over the top of your book and noticed someone was standing in front of you.

“Um. . .hi?” you cringed at the question. The stranger, (being a young man of at least older than 20 years of age) gave you a questioning look. From the looks of it, he was at least 6 foot 2 and had an even scarier appearance than the guy you met this morning at the door. He had ocean blue eyes and a scar ran down the left side of his cheek. 

You gulped quietly when you noticed he began to walk over to you slowly.

“Who are you? And what are you doing in my house?” he asked you. That was when you realised who this man was. It was the other Skywalker; Ahsoka’s older brother. Kinny? Was that his name?

“I’m Y/N. Who are you?” You asked with the most confidence you could muster. The man raised a brow at the question.

“You don’t know who I am?” He asked you with amusement in his eyes. You nodded way too quickly for your own liking. But he was making you nervous and you didn’t exactly want to respond with words at the moment. You feared you would accidentally say something wrong and get kicked out of the house before your brain could even process it.

“Seriously?” 

You made eye-contact with the stranger again and raised your brow this time. 

“Seriously what?”

“You really have no idea who I am?”

“No? Am I supposed to?” You sheepishly answered and nearly squealed when the stranger took another step closer to you. 

“I am Anakin Skywalker. How the heck do you not know that? I like-run multiple businesses that are scattered across this town. Including The Order? You know, the biggest arcade and restaurant in town?” 

You stood there dumb-found when you realised who he really was. Anakin Skywalker. The Anakin Skywalker. You had heard about him from your group of girl friends who all simp over him like love-sick animals. But you never paid much attention to those sorts of things. You didn’t even have any social media accounts since you used a crappy flip-phone. Even though the Skywalker’s were basically the rulers of the small town of Coruscant, you never cared much to find out who they really were and what they looked like.

“I wouldn’t know. I have never been to an arcade.” You told him with a shy smile when you saw his face go from one of curiosity to bewilderment.

“What?! What rock have you been hiding under?” he rudely replied to the new information.

You rolled your eyes at his response before you continued to read the book you sat down before the conversation began. It was quite obvious that this small action added fuel to the fire; and it took a second for you to realise that your book was snatched out of your hands and thrown onto the floor.

“Hey, why did you do that?” you calmly asked him. You weren’t someone who often looked for trouble, it went against all the things your beloved parents ever taught you.

“Why do you think?! I was talking to you and you decided to ignore me!” He shouted. In his fit of rage he brought his hand up to his hair and pulled on it. You watched the scene he was making unravel with a straight face. It was incredibly difficult seeing a grown man act like a five year old child.

“Umm for the record Mr. Skywalker, you were basically scrutinising how I live my life. I don’t care what you think, and I don’t do what every other person in this town does. So leave me be and get on with your evening. Good-night.” At those words, you stood up from where you were seated and walked to the book Anakin had earlier grabbed and thrown to the floor. But as you began to walk away, your arm was grabbed and you were pulled into the very strong chest of Anakin Skywalker.

“I wasn’t done talking to you.” Anakin said calmer than before. You tried to pull away from his grip but it was no use. He was incredibly strong. You sighed in frustration.

“I just wanted to say, I’m sorry you're such a Hobbit and don’t search for adventure.” Anakin grinned at his stupid joke. You however dryly laughed before you kicked him in the shins and began to walk to the room you were given.

“Why you fucking-I’LL TELL MY MOTHER!” He yelled before he practically bounded up the stairs to what you assume was his room and heard a door slam shut. 

“What a prick.” you said to yourself calmly before closing the doors to your own room. 

+++

You woke up early the next morning and got dressed into comfortable clothing for the day. You wore a nice pair of jeans and a large sweater since it was a bit chilly outside. 

You decided to start up breakfast for Ahsoka since it was part of your job to do so. There was a small decision between pancakes and porridge. Eventually, you decided to make some pancakes and began to look around the kitchen for the ingredients.

After about ten minutes or so, you jumped at the sound of a coffee machine turning on. You looked up from what you were doing and noticed a very-much grumpy Anakin Skywalker. His arms were folded and his hair was matted to his face. You sheepishly smiled at him before turning around and continuing on with what you were doing before. 

“What are you doing?” you heard a groggy voice. You turned back around and noticed Anakin was standing directly behind you. 

“What are you doing?” You asked as you attempted to shove him back a ways. He smirked at your failure before he stepped up closer to you. He could feel him breathing down your neck and you shivered. You turned around and your face was mere millimetres away from his. You gulped and attempted to move away from him but found you were stuck between the counter and him.

“What do you mean? I’m just standing here.” He grinned when he realised he’s struck a tick that bothers you. 

“You're way too close to me. Can you move back a few steps? Actually, a few feet?” You once more attempted to push him back but he just stood his ground and didn’t even move a centimetre. You groaned aloud in annoyance and just turned around and attempted to ignore his presence.

Meanwhile, Anakin was having the thrill of his life. He wanted to watch what you were doing and wanted to be as close as possible. Y/N (and whatever your last name was) was interesting to him. He never met someone so young who lived in a way you did. You couldn’t have been much younger than he was, and he was about to turn 24 in a few months. He decided to test dangerous waters and stept even closer to you. His body pressed against your own; he let out a nervous breath when he noticed you continued to do what you were doing and completely ignored his existence.

Meanwhile, you were having a literal heart attack. Like what the actual fuck is this man doing? Isn’t this illegal?

Your head swarmed with many questions and before you realised it, the pancake batter was done. The only problem being Anakin standing literally behind you. 

“You may as well fuse with my body, Skywalker,” you told him when you realised he still wouldn’t let you move.

“I wouldn't mind that.” He said to himself.

“What?” You asked, confused on what he was mumbling about.

“You know,” he began, a smirk growing across his handsome face. “Instead of sitting on babies, maybe you should sit on my lap?” Anakin flirted.

 You just about froze at what you heard. Who does he think he is? Sitting on babies?

“Bloody hell? What are you on about?” you paled.

“You're my sister's babysitter are you not?” He asked.

“I-yes?” you were still confused. That was until you thought about the fact that he said ‘babysitter’. You sighed heavily when you realised you are practically gonna look after two children instead of just one that was already pretty mature for such a young age.

“Skywalker, I am trying to make breakfast. I would appreciate it if you would get out of my bloody way.” 

“Woah, chill out. I wasn’t trying to make you angry.” 

You just about tackled him to the ground when you heard that. You made eye contact with him and tried to look threatening. But to no avail, you found yourself immediately looking away. His face was angelic. His bright blue eyes, curly dirty-blonde hair; and the grin he sent you made him look even more handsome. 

You decided to just once again ignore him and began to cook the pancakes on the stove. You were glad when you didn’t feel him standing behind you anymore. But when you turned around to serve plates, you ran right into him once more.

You were about to yell at him when you felt him grab a hold of your waist and you felt lips connect with yours. It took you a few seconds to realise you were kissing him; and completely by accident. You didn’t kiss back as you were frozen in complete and utter shock. You looked up and noticed Anakin was looking at you with a look you couldn’t quite decipher. 

But one thing for sure you did know, was how pissed you were about the situation.

“Huh, that’s never happened to me before. And it took, what, only a few hours for you to try and make out with me?” Anakin said with a cocky tone of voice. Your head nearly blew up in rage when he said that. Make out with him? Mate, you must be mental. You took steady breaths to try and calm yourself down.

“You-” you paused when you got a hold of yourself. “You just stole my first kiss, you bastard.” 

Much to your surprise you watched Anakin smile at you.

“That makes it even better then, can I kiss you again? And what do you even mean by ‘steal’? You kissed me, not the other way around.” 

You could feel tears begin to settle in your eyes but you held them back.

“I didn’t even want to kiss you the first time, you sorry excuse of a human.” You said with a shaky voice. As your mother had always said, it’s usually the men that were incredibly handsome that caused a lot of anger and heartbreak. And she was right. You always thought it was a joke to protect you from doing dumb things, but now, you realised she wasn’t that wrong. Your first kiss was stolen, by a stuck up, rude prick.

Anakin looked taken aback at your statement.

“What do you mean you didn’t want to kiss me? Everyone wants to kiss me.” That was all it took for you to confirm that Anakin Skywalker was a hot-headed, self-centred, arrogant man.

You huffed at him and finished serving plates. After you made the last plate you saw a familiar face walk up to you in the large kitchen.

“Good-morning Ahsoka, did you sleep well?” you asked her with a cheery voice. Anakin raised his brow when he noticed your change in attitude.

Ahsoka nodded and walked up to stand next to you. She reached up to grab a plate for herself and you helped her. She giggled in thanks and ran towards the dinning room to eat her food.

“Little prick didn’t even say ‘hi’ to me.” you heard a very grumpy Anakin complain.

“Maybe if you were a ‘good big brother that spent time with her often,’ she’d say ‘hi’ to you.” You smirked before grabbing your own plate and walked to the dining room to find Ahsoka. 

+++

Breakfast was over quickly and you began to clean up the mess from it. Anakin had left shortly after he snatched a couple of pancakes to do who knows what. You were quite glad he was no longer there to mope around and cause trouble. 

“Y/N! Can we go to the aquarium today? I want to see mermaids and fishes!” Ahsoka practically screamed when you finished putting the last plate into the dishwasher. 

“The aquarium? Which one? There are many here.” 

“Kamino Aquarium, obviously.” 

You gulped. Of course the young Skywalker has been to the most extravagant aquarium Coruscant had to offer. 

“How about we go somewhere else? Like the park or the public pool? It’s a far drive to Kamino and back.” 

Ahsoka hummed in thought. She made a face that uncannily looked like the one Anakin made when he was teasing you-wait, why are you thinking about Anakin?

You shook your head at your thoughts and looked back at Ahsoka who seemed to know what she wanted to do.

“Can we go to the Park? It’s close to where Kinny works and he might stop by and say hello.” 

Your smile dropped and you felt like frowning. Of course that insolent pup is going to be there. You brought your hand up to your face and pinched the bridge of your nose.

“Sure, ‘Soka, we can go to the park.” You sighed through your nose and began to head up to your temporary room to grab your things. Ahsoka jumped up and down in excitement and ran to her room to get herself ready.

+++

“Y/n! Looky! Kinny is here!” Ahsoka shouted at the top of her lungs. You watched her jump off the swings she was on and bound towards the entrance of the small playground. You didn’t even turn around to acknowledge the presence of the other adult. Instead, you crossed your arms and legs and sat with gritted teeth on the small bench that overlooked the park.

“And hello to you too, Y/n/n.” you heard a familiar voice. You rolled your eyes and turned to face the culprit of all your troubles of the past 24 hours. 

“Y/n/n? Really? Already on nicknames?” you huffed in annoyance. 

“Yup. And you can call me anything you want as well.” 

“How about dumbarse?” You said through clenched teeth.

Anakin chuckled and shook his head.

“Careful, Y/n/n, we have a pair of young ears listening.” 

“Kinny, what is dumb arms?” Ahsoka asked innocently. Anakin snorted and you choked on the air you were breathing.

“Umm. . .he isn’t able to control his arms.” you said, hoping she would accept the answer. Anakin raised a brow at that, and was about to argue before Ahsoka bursted into a fit of giggles.

“Kinny, is that why you have people at your workshop help you? You can’t lift weights? I thought you were a strong person.” 

“Wha-? I am! Y/n doesn’t know what she’s talking about.” 

“Nuh uh, she went to adult school and you only went to teen school. She is, therefore, smarter than you.” Ahsoka stuck her tongue out at Anakin, before getting bored with the conversation and scurried off towards the play set where other kids her age were playing.

“Really? That was the best you could think of?” 

“Well, I’m so sorry, but you weren’t gonna talk so I did.”

“Now my sister thinks I am incapable of doing things.” 

“From what I’ve seen of you? You’re not totally incapable.” you said, suddenly interested in picking the skin around your nails. 

“Really? Like what?” You smirked at his reply. He was a compliment seeker. How convenient, time to hurt his pathetically large ego.

“You’re exceptionally good at making a terrible first impression. Your flirting skills are mediocre, and you throw more tantrums than a four year old.” 

You looked back up to see his reaction, and was confused to see him grinning ear-to-ear. 

“You don’t like the way I flirt? Tell me, what do you like then?” 

Your jaw dropped to the ground. What the heck is this man on? You basically just degraded him and he wasn’t even going to acknowledge it? You felt something touch your knee and noticed it was his hand. You didn’t even see him sit down next to you, that and the fact he’s basically trying to sit on you.

“S-Skywalker, can you please move? You're in my personal space.” You tried to push him back.

“Why?”

“What do you mean ‘why’? I already gave you a reason.” 

“No, not that.”

“Then what, Skywalker?” You groaned in annoyance. You felt his hand begin to move up to your thigh and your breath got caught in your throat. This was definitely illegal.

“Why do you hate me so much? Why don’t you like me?” He whispered.

“I don’t hate you. I just really despise you and how you act. You were rather rude to me last night, and you kissed me without my consent.” 

“I didn’t kiss you, you kissed me.” 

“Look, it doesn’t matter ‘who kissed who’, it still happened and you tried to make a joke out of it.” 

“I was just teasing you-”

“No, Anakin. You shouldn’t do that to people. It ninety-nine percent of the time rubs them the wrong way.” With that, you stood up from the bench and walked to where Ahsoka was playing.

“C’mon, let’s go home.”

PART TWO OUT SOON

[notelcol]

Blood must have blood.

In which Anya Kom Trikru sends her lover to die.

Warnings : death, explosion

Anya, the leader of Trikru, was a powerful woman. She was also a passionate one. That was one of the many reasons you loved her. You had a special relationship with the warrior since you were children, she would rarely be seen without you near. When Anya decided to begin the attack on Skaikru, she chose you to lead the first wave. Normally she wouldn’t put you at risk in such a way but, with most of their enemies incapacitated by the disease they sent, she was certain this was a sure win.

Adrenaline shook your veins, like the wild vibration of leaves in a storm. Your feet bounced as you stood in a tree, watching over the forest. The coast was clear. You nodded to Tris, Anya’s young mentee. It was time to charge. A roar erupted from your chest and reverberated through the trees, letting everyone else know it was time. Jus dren jus daun.

Your feet hit the floor gracefully with Tris landing next to you. You steadied the girl as she stumbled, her height made the drop a little more intense. She pushed your hands away to save face in front of the older warriors, but gave you a small and grateful smile. The two of you led the charge, the jeers and roars from your brothers in arms got louder and louder as you reached the bridge. Once you crossed this, you would start encountering Skaikru. Your heart thundered in anticipation as you picked up your pace. You had gotten about a third of the way across the bridge when you spotted something. At first it looked like a grey dot, but as you approached you could tell it was a barrel of some sort. You stopped in your tracks when you looked past it and saw a Skaikru warrior, pointing their weapon at the out of place barrel. You realised this must be some kind of trap.

“TRIS!!” You screamed at the girl but she could not hear you over the chanting. Jus drein jus daun.

The others had begun to overtake you not hearing your frantic orders to stop. You pushed them all out of the way, trying to reach Tris. You couldn’t let her be the one to trigger whatever trap Skaikru had laid. Finally you managed to catch the girls wrist but, it was too late. You shielded young Tris with your body as the barrel exploded. The air turned red as flames ravaged your skin and blew the pair of you to the ground beneath the bridge. You heaved in a breath and time stopped. The bricks that were once a bridge, had been flung to the sky. It was as if they were floating up there, never to come down. If only that were true. Suddenly, the suspension was over and gravity brought the bridge back to the ground. Your breath released, in a shaky erratic manner. In an instant your vision faded black with rubble choking your lungs and the echoes still ringing. Jus drein jus daun.

Anya screamed like a banshee as she threw her arms down onto a table, breaking it in two. She had been told how your body was found. Burned and buried under tonnes of rubble, holding a barely alive Tris beneath you. Half of her died with you. All she had to hold on to was the hope, that your final wish came true, that Tris would live. When that too failed, her heart finally broke. The chanting that comfortingly carried you to your grave, would forever live in the place of Anya’s heart.

Jus drein jus daun.

[trufflemacandcheese]

The curse

"She could have died today for me, and I didn't even know her name."

 -------------------------

First part of a sequel

Watch out, dear reader. It's getting long, dark and epic - but I will do everything to bring also some light into this story.

The turtles are aged up! Minors, stay away!

There will be many intense emotions, conflicts and concrete descriptions of battle scenes, fluff and smut (and movie spoilers) But maybe also a happy ending if we stick together until the end.

 Are you with me?

 -------------------------

 rottmnt belongs to nickelodeon

and OC belongs to me

 Edit: the woman in this story is described concretely. if you have trouble with that, this story is probably not for you.

 Start 21/11/22 end 19/01/23...

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#1

"It's just an ordinary alarm in the natural history museum and I strongly recommend that we leave this matter to the cops!!"

Donnie flew close to Leo with his drone pack, annoyed, he gestured in the direction of his brother who jumped enthusiastically over the roofs of New York.

"I was SO CLOSE to beating you! You were just looking for a reason to get away from the game!" Donnie spouted

"No way! Firstly, you will never beat me at gaming. And ehm... secondly... Imagine, there's another portal thing being stolen and an alien race trying to take over the world?!" Leo was a little too outraged by his brother's accusation, and Mikey spoke up while jumping to catch up with his two older brothers.

"I also think he was close to winning..."

"Ha!" exclaimed Donnie triumphantly. Leo snorted and started to reply when Raph interrupted the three and pointed east

"Hey, what was that? Did you see that?!"

They stopped and stared spellbound in the direction indicated by the eldest turtle. A second or two passed, and then they saw it too. A black shadow flitted across the rooftops, just like themselves - but it was moving away from them. They had to be quick now! The mood among the four changed abruptly - something emanated from this shadow that could not be described. Mikey gave a little shudder as they started sprinting again, and Leo clenched his fists.

Donnie checked his left forearm gauntlet to detect the shadow, so they could follow him more easily. He hastily typed while flying to activate his algorithm. It worked perfectly, he noted with satisfaction.

"Got him! He's moving towards Harlem! By my calculations, he will take the Willis Avenue Bridge - we have an 87% chance of intercepting him before then if we cut across River Park!"

"So let's GO!" shouted Raph and accelerated, and his three brothers did the same.

Only a few minutes later, they were crouched in pairs on two different roofs. Donnie followed the dot on his display with utter excitement. It came closer. This had to be the thief! And it wasn't one of the villains they knew. An unknown variable that could not yet be assessed. Beside him, Raph swallowed nervously. On the roof opposite of the street, Mikey and Leo could hardly be made out. Next to them, a thirty-story behemoth of skyscrapers towered into the sky. A shell consisting of a skeleton made of steel and concrete. The wind whistled through and, lending an ominous roar to the scene with its howl.

Donnie focused on his display and almost whispered into his communicator, which connected him to Mikey and Leo.

"8 seconds. Get ready."

"Mikey and I will start!" they heard Leo say when they could already make out the shadow in the near distance. It jumped nimbly over the roofs. Fast and silent. Seemingly tireless. And then he was with them and jumped over the street between them.

A human...? Thought Donnie when he saw it flash orange. Mikey whipped his mystic nunchaku through the air to grab the thief. At the same time, the figure could now be recognized better. A human, no question - wrapped in black, only the eyes were free. The clothing was more reminiscent of a ninja than that of the Turtles, which was not without a certain irony. But there was no hint to the Footclan. Donnie frowned.

Well, they'll soon know who's behind the burglary and how the thief was able to be so quick. Mikey's nunchaku flew perfectly into the thief's trajectory, and Leo aimed for a portal to keep him from slamming into the wall of the house when he will be immobilized by the chain and pulled out of the air.

But then it happened: The thief quickly grabbed the end of the nunchaku and - threw - it - further! In one fluid motion he spun around and let the orange glowing strand of chain continue to fly across the street line now at double speed - right at Donnie and Raph's position!

"What the...?!" Raph couldn't finish his sentence. He gasped as the nunchaku wrapped around HIM and lifted him off his feet in utter surprise.

It had all happened in a millisecond. Donnie sidestepped, and for a moment he could only stare wide-eyed at Raph, who was catapulted across the rooftops toward Mikey and Leo.

"DAMN IT!" Leo's voice yelled through the night, and Donnie turned back towards the street. The thief had already landed on the nearest roof and was threatening to escape. Donnie also started to sprint when he saw Leo's sword whirling through the air - in a split second it was level with the thief and Leo teleported instantly.

"Who do you think you a...!" Leo's words stuck in his throat as well. His hand gripped his shaft, it's sword he used to teleport over - but it wasn't alone! The thief grabbed it too and stood with his back to Leo's plastron not a sheet of paper fitting between the two as they each held the sword with their right hands.

He's... small? - Leo thought as he quickly raised his left arm to confront the thief with his second sword. Who also raised his left arm synchronously and directed Leo's attack into the void. 

Leo stared in disbelief at the hand that seemed to be guiding his left arm, and reflexively he leaned his body to the side and twisted his right arm back for balance. Something is wrong here! Those hands...

At that moment, the thief dived and took Leo off his feet with a move worthy of a breakdance. Leo landed hard on his shell and looked up, angry and confused. Who was this idiot who makes him and his brothers look like absolute beginners and...

HE HAS MY SWORD!? Leos right hand reached into nothing. Now he was really pissed. How can this guy be so fast!?

Behind them, Mikey and Raph could be heard developing. Raph seemed no less angry than Leo. There was no sign of Donnie. Leo stared at the figure standing over him. Everything went so fast. How could the situation go so wrong?! The turtle and the thief made eye contact and at that moment something inside of Leo twitched, and he realized the green eyes of the thief.

Then the unexpected happened: After a second of silence, the thief threw the sword to Leo, and he caught it in surprise. An astonished expression crossed the turtle's face.

"Don't follow me any further. I'm not your enemy." the voice was calm and soft

A GIRL!? Now everything fell into place in Leo's face and his jaw dropped. Mikey and Raph finally found their way to the roof, and Leo turned to look at them as they landed. When he turned back, she was gone.

-

#2

[danbisroom]

Ep. 1 - Autumn People

Hello everyone,

I hope to find you all well.

Firstly I’m going to introduce myself and this blog.

I am Danbi, and I’ve been having this project in mind for a while now. As some of you might imagine this blog is inspired by Chan’s Room, a weekly Sunday live hosted by Stray Kids’ leader Bang Christopher Chan. Unfortunately, last May, Chris had to stop his weekly lives after years of activity.

I deeply miss Chan’s Room and the safe space it was for many of us, so finally I made up my mind to do somehing similar myself, even if in written form. I hope it can become a safe space where we can interact and support each other, not only between Stays (Stray Kids’ fans), but including every person who will pass by.

Each and every week I’m going to post a sort of letter inspired by a topic found along the way - it would be amazing if during the next few weeks it came out from the community itself!

To conclude this introduction, I will explain why I’m starting now. The first episode of Chan’s Room was on the first Sunday of 2019, five years ago. Today’s the first Sunday of 2024.

Now, let’s get to today’s topic: Autumn people. Autumn people? “Cozy people”, if you will. Healing people. People who make you calm and warm, like a cup of chocolate gently sipped sat under a fuzzy blanket on an Autumn afternoon, during the blue hour.

Since I live in the Northern hemisphere that picture especially reminds me of October, even if this year October’s been pretty hot to be honest. We really need to work hard on fighting climate change. Anyway, I’m digressing.

This whole concept of the Autumn person made its way into my mind quite naturally, but slowly, until recently I finally connected some dots and came up with a name that could represent this feeling. It was a relief. I don’t know if that happens to you too, but I often have some “pictures” in my brain that I tend to associate together without exactly knowing how and why. So yeah, putting these images together and giving them a name was both a surprise and a serendipity. It happened a few days ago, on a night when I couldn’t sleep. Maybe it was because of that, my mind needed to give birth to this name, Autumn people. After I wrote that down I finally managed to fall asleep.

I guess I’ve instinctively chosen Autumn because it’s my favourite season, despite the shorter days: the weather cools off, you can wear hoodies and walk on fallen crunchy leaves while admiring the beautiful warm colours of the ones which are still on the trees. The air is crispy and if there is some sun it gently caresses your cheeks while making everything glow with its slanted and golden rays. I find that very refreshing.

Another reason why I’ve chosen Autumn is that some people I deeply care about were born during this season, specifically just then, in October.

The amazing woman who I consider my bigger sister marks the last days of the month - her birthday is also the day where my mom found out she was pregnant with me. It’s really a match made in heaven. She’s my pillar, someone who always gives me good advice and reminds me to be strong and responsible when I can’t manage to keep up with adult life. A literal angel who appeared in my life when I needed her the most, after spending my childhood praying for the older sibling I never had.

In the middle of October there was another miracle: the incredible woman I consider my younger sister fought for her life since her first second on Earth and won. She did not only live but grew up to be a beautiful strong butterfly, who the immense generosity of the universe made enter my existence, sprinkling glitters of joy on my days, with her marvelous delicate wings. She’s my healing person, who always manages to put a smile on my face and make me feel at ease. She was a ray of sunshine in a moment of my life where I was at my lowest, again, after spending my childhood praying also for the little sister I never had.

Lastly, but as a grand opening for the month of October, we can’t forget the birthday of the man who inspired this blog, our wonderful Chris. Even if I don’t know him personally I’m deeply grateful to him for working so hard, making extraordinary music, caring so much about us and putting Stray Kids together. He’s such a kind and warmhearted person, being always there for others even when he’s the one needing others the most. An incredible artist who never fails to give his art the love it deserves. A friend who never let us down on Sundays, even when he was super busy and tired he showed up for Chan’s Room, giving comfort to everybody.

I hope I can give you even just a hundredth of the peace he conveyed during his lives.

I will conclude here for this first episode - I hope you enjoyed it! Let me know in the comments!

Have a beautiful week, big hug!

Danbi

[mae-dwrites]

Rue - Chapter 5

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“No Madame, I understand,” Marinette said, exhaustion slipping through her usually cheery persona.

“You and M. Agreste were supposed to meet us last week and you had us reschedule for this Monday. It’s Wednesday and I don’t have the time to dance to your every whim! I don’t care about the praises Audrey sings, that does not give you the leisure to leave good patrons like me hanging,” The older woman on the other end of the phone huffed at Marinette.

Yes, the woman had a point. And yes, Marinette had made them reschedule and didn’t think the woman would be willing to again. The first time was because she hadn’t been able to find Adrien for over a week, there had been sightings of him that the good people of France exploded over—all of these under #RepérageAgreste or AgresteSpotting. Despite chilling over the years of course Adrien’s fans hadn’t stopped their chasing-like behavior.

The second time was today, Emma got sick and neither of the girls liked to be without one of them the first day they were sick. It was just a tradition from her dad’s side, one of the few things that had stuck between Gina and Rolland when raising Tom. Adrien was MIA, Marinette didn’t want to just dump the girls on anyone, and she couldn’t stand to break her baby’s heart if she were to say she couldn’t stay with her.

Marinette took a deep breath before responding, “How about we reschedule for next Wednesday? 11:30 am on the dot? No excuses, no more rescheduling, no nothing. If I’m not there M. Agreste will be, I’ll ensure it.”

The silence on the other end made Marinette uneasy. Of course, she might have muted to discuss with her colleagues, but she could be doing this as some sort of intimidation effect. It wasn’t necessarily uncommon but Marinette never expected the fashion industry to be as hostile as it had in the past years.

Then again with Audrey “the harsh critic” Bourgious and Gabriel “the cold, distant, and bland” Agreste had slowly derailed into these grim personalities—Gabriel also had the raw grief that came with the loss of his wife that certainly didn't help. Marinette held in a sigh at the thought of that rabbit of thought.

“-ello? Are you even there!”

Marinette squeaked with a little jump, “Oui, oui. My apologies, you were saying?”

“I was saying, that we agree to those terms, and we will by no means give you another chance after this Mlle. Dupain-Cheng,” Marinette stiffened at the use of Mademoiselle. Whether it was about her marital status or her youth it didn’t matter, it got the point across. While the use wasn’t necessarily wrong it was a simple statement, she was young, inexperienced, and could be unreliable. Marinette fought to keep the venom out of her voice, “Thank you, you’re corroboration is appreciated.”

“Do not disappoint me again Mlle. Dupain-Cheng, you may have big names to back you but you have yet to show me anything worth your mountain of praises.” The snobby woman hissed from the other side of the line before ending the call.

Marinette almost chucked her phone across the room when Hugo ran in. Marinette let the anger fade away from her with a simple breath out as Hugo made her way to Marinette. The young woman smiled down at Hugo, the girl grabbed her mom’s hand and gave a slight tug.

Hugo never really found a reason to speak when actions seemed so much simpler. Hugo was a wonderful speaker, even with her young, short vocabulary she got her point across, but the girl found it easier to use actions and gestures to convey her intent. Her little pigtails had a subtle bounce as she lead her mother out of her office into the living room.

Hugo frowned at the book on the table before she opened it up, the dumb book didn’t stay open. She turned until she found the page she was looking at before. Her maman had taken to sitting on the couch as she waited patiently. The book had an illustration of a city in the distance, a sign reading “EDGE KEEP OFF!”, a dog falling through a hole in the ground, a fire hydrant, and a girl looking over the edge. A soft smile came upon the woman as she looked at the page.

Marinette and Adrien had been trying to decide whether to teach English or Mandrian full-time as the girl’s second language, it wouldn’t be the easiest but they never really could decide. Adrien had been leaning more toward Mandrian while Marinette leaned into English; English being a dominant language but Mandrian-as Adrien argued-being that of cultural significance to the girls, but even Marinette didn’t know it as well as Adrien. She hadn’t been raised actively learning and using Mandarin in her household. Marinette thought it would be just more reasonable, with English being taught in the schools in France already, they spoke it fairly often around the girls, and it does come in handy.

Hugo had taken to actively trying to read in English, she struggled but she was consistently trying to learn the language. Emma on the other hand didn’t try to learn either, not that Marinette had noticed, but she seemed to pick it up both fairly well. It helped that their brains were still developing, so as long as they were consistent it shouldn’t be too hard. But then again English was one of the hardest languages to learn due to all its strange rules and such. But there were plenty of languages that were especially hard to learn due to these exact same reasons.

Hugo jumped onto the couch and nestled the book on her lap. Marinette put an arm around her daughter for a side hug and rested her cheek on the girl’s head. Hugo started to recite the poem on the page, struggling in a few spots but after Hugo huffed at it Marinette quietly said to her. When she finished she turned to look up at her mother, “Do you think Emma will like this one?”

“I think she’ll love it,” Marinette kissed the top of her girl’s head. Hugo beamed her dark eyes having the subtle shine the twins always seemed to have. It was very surprising that both the girl's eyes were dark blue and green, but then again Adrien’s dad's and Marinette’s parent’s eyes had been darker than Adrien's and Marinette’s in comparison.

Hugo jumped off the couch and ran to her shared bedroom and pulled a chair next to Emma’s bed. She swung her little feet smiling at her sister before giving a little shove on her twin’s leg. Emma finally looked away from her game to her sister.

“Yeah?”

Hugo held up the book to her sister before opening it back up where she had fingers keep hold of the page.

“The Edge Of The World by Shel Siverstain,” Hugo said in French before repeating it in English. She read the poem as best she could. And the very end Hugo says the last line a little loud before shouting the last word as it was written.

“The world is flat?” Emma exclaimed with a fit of giggles.

Marinette pushed herself from the doorframe, as she had been leaning against it while Hugo read the poem, and made her way to the girls. She shook her head with a smile, “No it’s not. The world is round, it’s just a poem. A form of storytelling or giving a message.”

“This one is a story?” Hugo asked her green eyes boring into their mother.

“Yes, it is, not a true one,” Marinette explained before grabbing the book and setting it to where both girls could see the cover of the book. “You did great Hugo but you said the author’s name a bit wrong.”

Hugo frowned and her shoulders slumped a little in her seat.

“That’s okay,” Marinette said quickly. “Let’s sound it out. Okay?”

Hugo nodded and Emma moved so she could see the name better. Marinette pointed at each part and they repeated after her. They did it a few more times before she had them say it by themselves. Marinette gave them small claps and praised them until she heard her phone ring from the office. Hugo and Emma flipped through the book of poetry as Marinette left the bedroom and grabbed her phone from her desk.

“Hello Marinette,” a honey voice greeted before Marinette could say anything. Marinette immediately tensed and out of habit held herself higher, as if the voice on the other end was right in her vicinity. Closer to her than just her phone, the threat was within reach.

“Lila.” The name came off her tongue like acid. Without seeing the green-eyed Italian Marinette’s gaze became murderous. She could practically see her narrow eyes and devilish smile, one that had always looked down upon her. Watched her as if she were the master on a larger stage than just their class, which had become the case over time.

“No hellos for dear ole me?” Lila asked in a fake whine. Marinette could picture Lila slightly tilting her head to the side and sticking her bottom lip out in a pout. Her short hair giving a gentle swoop, an action Lila had stuck to for every move. One Marinette doubted she would abandon with a simple haircut.

“What game are you playing?”

Lila had a quiet huff on the other end, the only sign of her annoyance no doubt.

“You never did enjoy my way. I always made it fun,” Lila’s voice had a matter-a-fact undertone. Having dealt with Lila for so long Marinette could easily imagine the woman looking at her nails with disinterest, as if searching for a flaw or inspecting something in front of her.

“But if you insist,” Lila making her sound bored.

“Just say what you have to say,” Marinette held back a hiss in her voice. She had taken to signing back into her computer, and opening her email. Her leg shook as she typed up the short message.

“I want you to get Ladybug out,” the sentence came out thickly, and full of so much emotion. Hungry, hateful, and just barely audible, desperation.

“And why would I do that?” Marinette countered as she refreshed her email over and over. Come on, please. I know he notifies you.

“Because if you don’t I couldn’t imagine what would happen if someone got your girls or Adrien,” false concern came slithering. Marinette stopped pressing refresh, her heart twisted, the beats suddenly loud in her ears. A rushing, like a waterfall just a few meters in her sted. “After all, time and time again, Ladybug had always been the key to ensuring peace in Paris.

“And you wouldn’t want anything to happen to your happy family,” Lila continued. “Do you?”

Marinette pressed the refresh again to see she had gotten a reply.

Tracking now.

- Markov

Marinette held in her relief, she couldn’t let Lila become suspicious. Become aware of her doing anything, especially if she of all people knew.

“I know even with Adrien’s betrayal you wouldn’t want anything to happen to him.” Lila’s voice continuing on, which was good. She’s dumb enough to do the oldest cliché in the book. Keep talking bitch.

“You’re too good of heart for that,” Annoyance slowly made its way into her voice. Through her persona of sweet innocence. “Adrien’s said you have a very close relationship with the bug. I need her out, and according to him you’re my ticket to her.”

Marinette’s body relaxed barely a fraction, her body still tense as she waited for another response. She doesn’t know she’s Ladybug, but Adrien might. Her stomach felt as though she was falling down a cavern with no stop. He didn’t need to know what had been her reasoning for keeping it to herself all these years, but how did he find out?

“What do you need from her?” Keeping her talking was the main thing going on in her head. Marinette lit up when a small window opened on her screen.

Hello Marinette. We can’t pinpoint a direct location but our best is she is in the UK, Northern Wales to specify. We will try to get an exact location but we can’t promise we can.

This isn’t mediocre, she has help.

- Markov

“Funny,” a bored tone woven into the simple word. “I am not as dumb as you think I am. That’s a surprise for Ladybug, not you. So get me Ladybug or your happy little family won’t be one when I’m done.”

Lila ended the call, her words left her feeling cold. The feeling almost the exact same as when she had threatened her in the bathroom. Then she hadn’t thought that much of Lila’s threat, she had shown that she wasn’t someone to brush aside. She had almost succeeded, but now it wasn’t as simple. This was beyond simple, this wasn’t the chessboard of two overconfident and underestimated girls. These two were far more dangerous with far more on the line.

This had become a battlefield.

Marinette’s computer dinged and she looked up to a new message on the foreign window.

We have lost the connection. Our deepest apologies.

- Markov

“No,” the woman whispered. Marinette’s elbows rested on the desk and she let her hand fall into her hands. She looked back at the previous message.

This isn’t mediocre, she has help.

There were billions of people on Earth, hundreds if not a few thousands of magic users, and those from other planets scattered around the globe. Lila’s arsenal was near infinite in measure. They could have been old from a time before Paris, or someone new. Someone who was either drawn in by pretty words or just as hungry for power as Lila.

“I couldn’t imagine what would happen if someone got your girls or Adrien.”

Lila knew people, people Marinette might not even be able to plan right for. But she could plan enough, she thought as she reopened her phone.

“Marinette, I’m sorry,” Max said immediately upon answering.

“It’s fine Max, you tried your best.” Marinette took a deep breath before continuing, “We need to meet as soon as possible. The main court for sure.”

“But Marinette with her demands there is a likely hood of her figuring it out by 46.8%. Even with the magic, sometimes people have a little more than just common sense.” Max explained with worry.

“Good for us common sense isn’t so common.” Marinette opened the closet of the office pushing aside the work clothes. Having them away in here ensured they didn’t get ruined. “Those odds are mainly in our favor still. I’ll send Markov the list of who needs to be there so you know who to coordinate with.”

“You doubt I already know?” Marinette could almost hear the genius raise his eyebrow at her. She rolled her eyes with a small smile as she pulled the carpet corner aggressively.

“Of course not,” Marinette put her foot on the carpet to keep it from flapping back down. “I just have a different idea for this. No Alixs of any shape or form have popped in yet so I’m sure we’re going in the right direction. For our timestream at least.”

Seeing Alix put her into a fight or flight, despite being their friend anyone who knew got anxious when Alix came out of nowhere. Sometimes even when she laughed at something they said or raised an eyebrow at something. She had inside knowledge so everything appeared to be a joke at some point or another.

“Should Alix be there?” Max asked.

“She’ll probably already be there,” Marinette said with a groan as she pulled the wooden panel up. “Just plan for her to be there. Call Chloé first to let her know to be prepared to arrange for a meeting. And remember, the sooner the better.”

“Of course,” Max said before ending the call.

Marinette placed the board behind her and reached down pulling the egg-like shaped sphere out of the hidden space. The feeling of pulling it out of the ward was cold and sent a shiver down the woman’s spine. An inaudible ‘pop’ happen when she finally pulled it all the way out. Marinette had taken time to learn some magic that was more experienced magic users that worked to keep the balance, some being from other guardians and monks at the temple in Tibet.

Tikki for the first time in a long time zipped out, not caring if the girls ran in.

“Are you sure about whatever you’re about to do?” Tikki asked. She floated over Marinette’s shoulder, she followed her old friend as she made her way to the home office door. Marinette shut the door, it was her sign of she really couldn’t have anyone bother her at the moment. Unless it was an emergency.

“Yes.” Marinette set the sphere on her desk. “I can’t take risks with Lila. I can’t allow her to ruin more lives, I should have been trying to take care of after her victim song during the trial.”

Marinette sighed, “I need to do something.”

And she opened the box.

[runawayface]

Fic - Harvey and May

Title: Regulars Word Count: 2,307 Summary: Harvey and May have met each other before, long before they met each other in Pelican Town. Notes: This is an idea I've had for quite awhile and I'm finally doing something about it! 😅Was motivated by the GFS prompt 'Zuzu City' to finally get it out of my head and written down. And for the ending, it takes place in Year 1 of the Runaway timeline, just after Harvey and May get married and go to the city for his birthday. It's been quite some time since I've written, so it was nice to dust off the ol' writing brain and get this idea finally written down. Enjoy!

AJ’s Deli couldn’t operate without the loyalty of its regular customers.  The owner, Andre, appreciated each and every one of his regulars and made it a priority to memorize their orders and take good care of them.  Perhaps that was why he had so many regulars.  Cheesy as it sounded, he liked to think that he served more than just sandwiches in his deli, but also smiles.  His regulars kept coming back for more and over time, he got to know more about them beyond what their sandwich preferences were.

Gina, for example, was in the midst of an ugly divorce.  Andre usually snuck in a few extra banana peppers onto her sandwiches on days when she seemed particularly upset.  It wasn’t much, but it was the least he could do.  May was a young, vibrant woman who was thrilled to be starting a new job in Joja Co.’s customer service department.  Andre didn’t have the heart to tell her that he’d served many a Joja employee before and they rarely seemed happy with their employment at the largest corporation in the world.  Yet she still had that ‘new job’ glow and Andre hoped for her sake that she remained happy there.  Winston, an older retiree, came by nearly every day at exactly 11:00 on the dot when the shop opened for the day.  He was always prepared with a book of crossword puzzles, a yellow Ticonderoga #2 pencil behind his ear, and a warm smile that always made Andre feel like he was family.  Being greeted every day by Winston’s smiling face was a daily ritual that reminded Andre of why his little shop was so important in the community.

Then there was Harvey.  Of all the regulars at AJ’s Deli, Harvey was the biggest mystery.  Though he also came in almost every day, Andre still didn’t know much about him other than he was a doctor at Zuzu City General Hospital.  Even then, he only knew that from the scrubs and ID badge that the man wore.  Harvey was quiet and seemed to prefer to keep to himself.  Yet Harvey also seemed incredibly alone.  It was just a hunch and only based on the vibe Andre picked up from him, but there was a sadness about him that made Andre feel for Harvey.  Andre hoped to know more about Harvey as he knew many of his regulars, but was respectful enough of Harvey’s boundaries to not pester him.  That would be the quickest way to lose a regular customer.  Instead, Andre always greeted Harvey with a welcoming smile and his usual reuben with no cheese and extra pickles.

Usually Andre’s regulars all showed up at various times in the afternoon, other than Winston who was quite punctual.  However, on a cold snowy morning in the middle of winter, all four of Andre’s most regular customers showed up all at once.  He wasn’t expecting to look outside his shop window and see all four of them standing in a line they had formed at his door, shivering in the frigid cold as they huddled underneath the small awning that offered them the smallest bit of reprieve from the snow.  By now it was 10:50, a bit too early to open but Andre reasoned that it wouldn’t be the end of the world to open 10 minutes early.  It was the least he could do to take care of his regulars.  He’d barely opened the doors when Winston came rushing inside, bundled up in a thick scarf, a hand-knitted wool hat, and a snow-covered parka.

“Bless you for opening early, AJ, one more minute out there and I’d be a snowman,” Winston laughed.

“Come on inside and get warm,” Andre offered, holding the door open as Gina, Harvey, and May all entered the deli.

Winston headed straight for the coat rack by the door, stopping to remove his various layers to settle in for the afternoon.  He often stayed for at least an hour and Andre suspected that on a snowy day like today, he might be there all day.

“You three go ahead and order first,” Winston offered, unraveling the long scarf that had been wrapped nearly four times around his neck.

Though Winston had been first in the line, Andre wasn’t surprised that he elected to order last.  He was rarely in a hurry, while the other three often were due to jobs and responsibilities.  Gina, the next in line, thanked Winston for his offer and immediately rushed to the counter to order.  She seemed especially frazzled today.  Andre added a second heaping handful of banana peppers on her sandwich as a result.  As he finished constructing Gina’s sandwich, he couldn’t help but overhear a brief exchange between Harvey and May.

“Sir, I think you were next,” May piped up, gesturing to the spot in line behind Gina.

“That’s alright, you can go ahead of me,” Harvey offered kindly.

“I couldn’t possibly do that, fair is fair,” May countered, shaking her head.

“Really, it’s fine, I don’t mind,” Harvey went on, stepping back to allow space for May to move ahead of him in line.

“Need more time to look at the menu?” May asked casually.

“Oh, no, I know exactly what I’m gonna get,” Harvey answered with a light chuckle.  “I come here almost everyday.”

“So do I!” May gasped in excitement, smiling as though she’d found something in common far more profound than just a shared sandwich shop.  “Funny I haven’t run into you before… at least I don’t think I have.  I’m terrible with faces but I feel like I’d remember the mustache.”

Harvey didn’t respond, but Andre looked up just in time to see him awkwardly rub the back of his neck as his cheeks flushed.  The one and only time Andre had ever complimented Harvey on such a distinguished mustache, he’d received a similar reaction.  Harvey seemed a bit shy when it came to receiving compliments, not the best mix for someone like May who was usually very generous with compliments.  Every time May stepped through his doors, Andre looked forward to a dose of validation as May complimented either his hair, his newest t-shirt, or his sandwich craftsmanship.  Andre chuckled to himself as he wrapped up Gina’s sandwich and handed it off to her, it was amusing to know the personalities of his regulars and watch them collide.

“Good morning, May,” Andre greeted her as she approached the counter.  “Want me to get started on that turkey club, no tomato?”

“You got it,” May confirmed with a thumb’s up.  “Nice sweater, by the way, that looks great on you!”

“Thanks!  You’re here a bit early today, early lunch break?” Andre asked casually as he took May’s payment.

“I’m actually supposed to be off today,” May sighed, her bright and cheerful demeanor dropping as she looked disappointed.  “But my supervisor called and asked if I could cover a shift and since I have the least seniority, I pretty much have to.  I don’t want to make a bad impression with my bosses.  Just grabbing a quick lunch before I start my shift.”

“Hey, it’s none of my business, but you don’t owe any employer time that is rightfully yours,” Andre pointed out seriously.  “There’s no shift on earth worth intruding on an employee’s day off and I hope you know that you don’t owe them your time, even if you’re the newest one there.  Don’t let them walk all over you because once they know they can, they will.”

“Thanks, Andre,” May replied, though she didn’t exactly look comforted.

As Andre popped May’s sandwich into the toaster oven to warm it up, he turned back to the counter to at least take Harvey’s order.  He couldn’t help but notice that Harvey looked exhausted.

“The usual?” Andre asked, already ringing up the reuben, no cheese, extra pickles into the register.

“The usual,” Harvey repeated, nodding.  The moment he finished answering, he let out a huge yawn that seemed to even take Harvey himself by surprise.

“Long night?” Andre asked in concern.

“All-nighter at the hospital,” Harvey answered sleepily.  “I've actually just finished my shift, figured I’d grab a sandwich before I head home and pass out on the couch.”

“Sounds like you’ve earned it,” Andre remarked with a sympathetic smile.

“Not exactly the way I’d choose to spend my birthday, but-” Harvey began, but Andre immediately cut in.

“It’s your birthday today?!” Andre interrupted.  Harvey nodded.  “Well heck, Happy Birthday, Doc!  Hey, pick out a bag of chips and a soda, I’ll upgrade you to a combo at no extra charge.”

“Oh, I couldn’t possibly-” Harvey began, but was interrupted once again.  This time, by May.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I heard you were up all night working at a hospital and that today is your birthday?” May asked, approaching Harvey curiously.

Andre had to hold back a laugh, it was amusing that May ‘didn’t mean to eavesdrop’ and yet had clearly heard everything.  She liked to listen just as much as she liked to talk, which Andre could argue was admirable about her… though maybe not as much when it was listening in on stranger’s conversations.

“Yes, that’s correct,” Harvey replied timidly.  Almost instantly, a flush returned to Harvey’s cheeks.

“Well then Happy Birthday,” May remarked, sliding a handful of bills across the counter to Andre.

“Please, no, I really appreciate it, but you don’t have to,” Harvey insisted, waving his hands to turn down the gesture.

Both May and Andre locked eyes, exchanged a quick smile, and nodded to each other.

“Look, if you don’t tell me what chips and soda you want, I’ll pick for you,” Andre pointed out with a shrug.  He reached forward and grabbed the money May had left on the counter, processing the payment on the register before Harvey could say another word.

“I, uh… this really isn’t necessary… I mean, I’m a total stranger, you don’t have to-” Harvey stammered, turning to May as Andre excused himself to finish up May’s sandwich.

“I know I don’t have to,” May replied plainly.  “Just like you didn’t have to become a doctor and save lives.  In the grand scheme of things, buying someone a sandwich on their birthday isn’t anywhere close to the work that you do.”

For a moment Harvey opened and closed his mouth a few times as though about to rebut, but ultimately sighed in defeat.

“Thank you very much, Miss,” Harvey finally replied.  By now the blush of his cheeks had spread to his neck and ears.

“You’re welcome,” May replied, grabbing her sandwich from Andre as he approached the counter to hand it to her.  “Happy Birthday.”

“Alright, the lady’s sandwich is done, your time is up,” Andre announced to the back of Harvey’s head.  He had turned his attention to May, watching as she left the shop and headed back out onto the snowy street.

“Wh-what?” Harvey gasped, snapping out of it as he realized he was being spoken to.

“Your chips, your drink, what do ya want?” Andre asked with a chuckle.

“Oh, uh… I suppose just plain potato chips and a Joja Cola,” Harvey answered.  “I’ll need the caffeine later today.”

“Don’t tell me you’re working on your birthday,” Andre gasped.

“Medical emergencies don’t take a day off,” Harvey answered with a dark chuckle.

“You work too hard, Harvey,” Andre pointed out.  “I know it’s the nature of the job, but I hope you take a little time for yourself.  Look at Winston here, managing to find some time to enjoy the simple pleasures in life.  Don’t let this city consume you.”

“I won’t,” Harvey answered, smiling kindly.

By the following year, Andre was pleased to see that Doctor Harvey had taken his advice.  Andre recalled the autumn afternoon when Harvey ordered his last sandwich from the deli, announcing that he’d be operating his own medical clinic out in the valley.  Years later, May entered the shop with a similar announcement, saying a tearful goodbye to Andre as she notified him that she was leaving the toxicity of the city for a more simple life in the valley.

Andre never did forget his regulars, even long after they left the city.  He found himself thinking about them from time to time, grateful for the support that they had given him over the years.  It was why Andre recognized two of his regulars from the moment they stepped foot into his shop from the cold, snowy outdoors.

“I can’t believe it,” Andre gasped, his jaw dropped as he saw two very familiar customers enter hand in hand.  “Harvey.  May.”

“Andre!” May shouted, releasing Harvey’s hand as she rushed across the shop to throw her arms around Andre in a warm, friendly hug.  “I can’t believe you remember us!”

“Of course I do, how could I forget two of my favorite regulars!” Andre remarked happily.  “Wasn’t sure if I’d see either of you again and for sure I never expected to see the two of you together.  There’s a story here and I absolutely have to hear it.  Gina, would you mind taking over the counter for a bit?  I have some old friends to catch up with.”

“Sure thing, AJ,” Gina replied, nodding.  She’d been a loyal, hard-working employee ever since Andre had hired her after her divorce was finalized.  She was much happier now with that ugliness behind her and a fresh start on her own.

Andre gestured for Harvey and May to join him at a small table next to where Winston was doing his daily crossword puzzle.  For the first time in 7 years, all of Andre’s favorite regulars were in the building together once more.  And as chance would have it, it was even Harvey’s birthday.

[mischiefandspirits]

Bernard Figures It Out

Was reading through all the comments on @frostbittenbucky's post and all I could think of was that it was Bernard talking to Tim. Then I got to thinking...

"I've connected the two dots."

"You didn't connect shit."

"I've connected them."

Bernard figures out Tim's a superhero... sort of.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tim fidgetted nervously as he waited on the front porch of his boyfriend’s house. Bernard had sounded so serious when he’d called during Tim’s lunch to ask him to come over after work so they could talk about something.

Which Tim had done, after spending an entire board meeting just going over the past week trying to figure out what he’d done.

The only thing he could think of was that he’d ducked out halfway through their lunch date on Wednesday to give Duke some backup, but Bernard had seemed understanding when Tim explained there was an emergency at GRC Labs. It couldn’t have been a tipping point, either, since Tim had managed to only flake on three other dates over the past few months they’d been dating. Kate had been happy to cover for him as often as she could “out of queer solidarity” when she found out Tim was dating a boy for the first time and Tim had managed to trick Bruce into covering a few actual Wayne Enterprises emergencies for him when they came up.

There had to be a reason Bernard was breaking up with him, though. Had he missed something? He definitely wasn’t forgetting an important day. He was good with days and Tam was even better, so she would have reminded him on the off chance that he had forgotten.

What was he missing?

Bernard was smiling when he opened the door, but there was a nervous energy to it that had Tim’s stomach sinking. “Hey, Tim.”

“Hey.” Tim gave his own nervous smile then slipped inside.

They went into the living room and sat down on the couch.

Tim frowned when Bernard grabbed a manila folder off the coffee table. Crud, had he screwed up enough that Bernard had had to make a list? He knew he was new to dating a guy, but he hadn’t thought he’d done that bad. He’d really been trying, especially with how his and Stephanie’s relationship had fallen apart at the end. “What -”

“Just let me speak, Tim,” Bernard said, waiting for Tim’s nod. “Okay, so you know Clark Kent, right?”

Tim blinked as Bernard opened the folder to show a picture of Clark. It looked like one of the employee pictures from the Planet’s website, with his dorky “I’m just a humble country boy” smile and the golden globe from their roof photoshopped in as the background. “Uh, yeah? I think so. He works for the Daily Planet, right? I think he’s worked at a few of Bruce’s events. Not a lot of outside reporters are willing to come to Gotham.”

“Exactly!” Bernard said, snapping his fingers and pointing at Tim.

“What?”

He pulled out the picture to show the next page was an article titled, “DAILY PLANET REPORTER… BATMAN!?”

A wave of relief washed over Tim and he placed his face in his hands. “Were you up all night on the hero conspiracy boards again?”

“No. I mean, I found this on a board and was up all night thinking about it, but I found it reasonably early.”

“One in the morning isn’t reasonable, Bernard.”

“Says the guy who’s always wide awake when I call to infodump.”

“Touché.” Tim leaned against Bernard and gave him a smile. “So tell me, why is some reporter from Metropolis from all places Batman.”

“First of all, living in Metropolis is the perfect cover. Everyone assumes Batman would live in Gotham, no one would consider he could be from anywhere else. Metropolis is outside the GMA, but close enough that the commute is still possible.”

“But it’s Metropolis.”

“And who would think Gotham’s Dark Knight lives in the sunshine capital? Plus, I hear he disappears a lot on the job. There’s gotta be a reason for it!”

Tim made a note to let Clark know he needs to cut back on the disappearing act some since people are catching on.

“And have you seen the guy? He is swol AF, babe.”

“Please don’t call me babe while you’re talking about how hot another guy is.” Especially Tim’s honorary uncle.

“You know I prefer twinks.”

“BERNARD!”

“I’m just saying,” he continued, ignoring Tim’s shout. “The guy is definitely hiding something! Besides, Kent is an investigative reporter. He’s gotta know a lot about cases and the underground and detective work.”

Not as much as he likes people to think, but more than he likes people to know Superman does, Tim mused. “But what about the other vigilantes?”

“Well, Kent has a cousin…” Bernard flipped through a folder and pulled out a picture of Kara. It looked like a screenshot of her interviewing Lena for CatCo. “She’s obviously the latest Batgirl. Look at her hair. And the first Batgirl and the current Batwoman were obviously Lois Lane, the red hair is just a wig. Did you see how she kicked butt at that last event she went to? She’s not as subtle as Kent. That means their son is the latest Robin. He’s exactly the right size.”

Oh, Damian better not hear about this, Tim cackled internally. His youngest brother hated being reminded that Jon was the same height as him despite their two years age difference. Damian definitely took after Talia when it came to body type, no matter what he said.

“And Kent also has a brother.” This time he pulled out a picture of Kon. The clone must have been caught by a reporter out shopping with Ma since he was carrying some paper bags and glaring at whoever was behind the camera. “At least, he’s supposedly Kent’s brother, but he was a teenager when he first showed up with the Kents. A lot of people think he’s actually Kent’s son, that Kent got a girl pregnant when they were teenagers and something happened to the mom so Kent had to take him in. Now the Kents are trying to hide it by saying the two are brothers.”

That was… scarily accurate actually. Especially given Luthor and Clark were close friends at the time that Kon would have theoretically been born.

“And that beef would explain why the younger Kent brother went all crime lord on Gotham for a while before reconnecting with the family.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, Kent Jr.’s got the perfect build for Red Hood.”

Tim bit back a comment on how Kon was shorter than Jason by a good foot. Timothy Drake-Wayne should not know that. Add Jason to the list of people who can’t hear this theory.

“And then there’s this girl,” Bernard picked up a picture of Lois, Jon, and Natasha Irons walking down the street together. “No one’s sure exactly who she is, but she’s been spotted with the Kents a few times. I think the cover story is that she’s Jon’s babysitter.”

“And the actual story?”

“She’s Black Bat, obviously. That’s why she wears a mask that fully covers her face. She doesn’t want to stand out as the only African American Bat.”

“Isn’t Signal also Black?”

“Yeah, but he works in the daytime so he’s already a standout.”

“And who is Signal in this? And what about Nightwing and Red Robin?”

“Well, Nightwing’s just a Blüd who came to Gotham. He doesn’t count.”

Ouch. Sorry, Dick.

“And Red Robin is obviously an older Robin, the one who was Robin when we were kids. Kent wanted to keep him on, and I don’t blame him. As for Signal, he’s got the same backstory as all the other Robins Kent picked up, he just went the Signal route because he didn’t fit the usual Robin mold.”

“Because the female Robin fit the mold,” Tim snorted. Robin Mold, as if he and his brothers were even the same ethnicity. Or even had the same hair color. Jason dyes his hair, Dick’s is brown-black, Tim’s is pure black, and Damian’s is more a dark brown and it’s only getting lighter as he gets older.

“She didn’t, that’s the point. Kent tried to give breaking the Robin mold a chance by letting his cousin have a go at it, but he realized it just didn’t work so she went back to being Spoiler and he got a new Robin.”

Not touching that with a ten-foot pole. “Right, and where does he get the usual Robins? Please tell me you’re not back on the secret government orphanages theory.”

“No, no, no. Kent travels sometimes for his job, right? And a lot of the time he’s going to places that have been hit by disasters or major crimes. So he’ll take in some of the displaced children to train as his robins.”

Tim pressed his face back into his hands.

“You see it, right?”

Honestly, Tim was just wondering how his boyfriend could be so close, and yet so far off. “How would Kent even afford taking care of a bunch of secret -- possibly illegally acquired -- children without anyone noticing?”

“Simple. Bruce Wayne is funding him.”

“Bernard, I love you, but what the heck?” Tim blushed and looked up as he realized what he’d said, but Bernard didn’t seem to notice as he steamrolled ahead.

“It’d also explain how he can afford all the gear and how he’d be able to travel to Gotham or anywhere else Batman goes without anyone noticing. He probably has a secret Batplane or something.”

“Why would Bruce do that?”

“Because Wayne cares about Gotham, everyone knows that, and this way he can make sure someone’s taking care of the city without anyone putting two and two together.”

“And two plus two is?”

Bernard gave him a hard look. “I’m not stupid, Tim. Bruce Wayne is obviously Superman. His face is right there.”

Oh, the others are going to love this! Too bad I can’t tell Damian or Jason. Jason especially would have loved this. “Right. Bruce is Superman.”

“He is. Superman is known for being nice and Bruce Wayne’s basically all that’s keeping the city running at this point. That’s nice as hell.”

Oh my god.

“And Wayne does charity for the victims of cataclysms, doesn't he? I bet he first saves people from them as Superman and then builds them new homes for free.”

Oh my god! Why am I not recording this!?

“And the Wayne’s were rich enough to hide the fact they adopted an alien baby.”

Tim raised an eyebrow. “If you’re about to tell me this is why Bruce’s parents got killed, you might want to stop while you’re ahead.”

“It’d make sense. There’re all sorts of unanswered questions about their deaths,” Bernard muttered under his breath, flipping through the folder. He pulled out another picture of Kara. This time she was in full Supergirl attire with a bus held overhead. “So if Wayne is Superman, then that’d mean your ex-girlfriend could be Supergirl. They look a lot alike and it’d explain how she got involved with you all.”

“Bernard, she has a human dad. You know, Cluemaster. The supervillain.”

“Yeah, her dad. But we don’t know anything about her mom!”

“Let me guess…”

Bernard pulled out a picture of Karen. She and Helena were suited up and talking to a group of cops, two goons held over each of Karen’s shoulders. “Her mom could be Power Girl! Some makeup and a wig and she could look just like Crystal Brown! And Damian Wayne is obviously the new Superboy! That’s why his background is such a mystery, right? He had to stay a secret until he could control his alien superpowers. That’s why he’s always so mean. It’s a cover since everyone knows Superboy is super sweet!”

Sure, when he’s not helping Damian pull pranks or using his adorable powers to put the blame on Kon and I. “No, Bernard. Damian and Steph are just very human hellspawn. And Bruce and Crystal are human too. I can’t believe you called me over here just to tell me you think Superman is both Batman’s sugar daddy and my adoptive dad.”

“Well, that’s not exactly why I called you over,” Bernard admitted, the nervous energy coming back. He grabbed Tim’s hands. “Tim -”

Tim’s stomach sank. “You are breaking up with me!”

“What? No! I don’t want to break up!”

“Why are you acting all nervous and serious then!?” Tim asked, pulling his hands away to throw them up in the air.

Bernard shook the folder. “Because I’m trying to tell you I figured out you’re Superboy!”

Tim’s brain blue-screened and his hands slowly dropped. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I know you’re Superboy. The older one, obviously. By the way, you and Damian really need to figure out separate names.”

Forget Jason and Damian, Kon can never find out about this. He’d never let me live it down. “Bernard, you called me a twink five minutes ago. Su-” Shoot, I can not risk getting Kon’s attention! “The older one might not be as big as Superman, but he’s not a twink.”

“Well, yeah, that’s the shapeshifting at work.”

“The what?”

“Obviously you Kryptonians can shapeshift. Why else would you look so much like humans?”

… Why do Kryptonians look so much like humans? Was there some - Wait, no! Break into the Fortress of Solitude for research later! Reassure your boyfriend that you’re not an alien now! “Bernard -”

“And that explains why your step-mom was so hot.”

“Gross.”

“She and your dad were actors hired by Luthor so you could have a normal life! But now Bruce has custody so he adopted you.”

“No.”

“That’s why you and your dad were so weird with each other when I met him.”

“We were weird because he’d just gotten out of a coma not long before to find that his wife was dead so he decided to actually be a dad for once in his life, but overcompensated and became a helicopter parent to a kid who was mostly on his own for his entire life!” Tim blurted out. “I am not an alien, Bernard!”

“Well, not technically since you were cloned from Superman on Earth.”

“Oh my god! You were just talking about Steph being Supergirl! Why would I date my dad’s cousin?”

Bernard blinked. “Supergirl and Superman are cousins?”

Right, Timothy Drake-Wayne wasn’t supposed to know that. “I thought they’d said something like that before, yeah. Are people seriously saying I’m Superboy on the internet?”

“NO! No, I swear I would have led with that if I thought your identity was compromised. A few people have mentioned Wayne and Damian, but not you or Steph or Jason.”

“Wh-Jason!? You think Jason was an alien too!”

“No, not exactly, but a few times when I’ve visited I swear I’ve seen a guy in the manor who looks like Jason. It’s just been out of the corner of my eye and he’s gone whenever I look so I’ve always thought it was just Dick or Bruce or some picture of Jason that my mind was playing tricks with, but it makes sense now that I know Wayne is Superman. He must have been able to heal Jason with alien tech, but couldn’t say anything because that would give away that he’s Superman.”

Damn it Jason! And damn it Bernard! I’m dating the smartest moron in the world! “Bruce did not bring Jason back with alien technology and none of us are aliens!”

“It’s okay, Tim. I won’t tell anyone.”

Tim grabbed Bernard by the jacket and pulled him into a kiss. When he started to feel lightheaded, he pulled back, “Could someone whose skin is as solid as stone kiss like that?”

Bernard blinked dazedly at him for a moment. “How do you know what Superboy’s skin feels like?”

Tim screamed internally. “He’s saved me from a kidnapping before.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I can get you the police report if you want.”

“Huh… And the others?”

“Not Supers. I can stab Damian the next time we’re at the manor if that’ll prove none of us are aliens.” He’d rather stab Jason, but that would probably only confirm to Bernard that Bruce used alien technology to bring him back.

“You probably shouldn’t stab your brother if he isn’t an alien.”

Tim rolled his eyes. “I won’t stab him anywhere deadly.”

“That’s not the point,” Bernard said slowly.

“He’ll be fine.”

“If you say so.”

“So do you believe I’m not an alien now?” Tim huffed, letting go of Bernard’s jacket.

The blond’s eyes dipped down to Tim’s lips. “If I say no, will you kiss me like that again?”

“You’re ridiculous,” Tim said, but he kissed him anyway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Okay, but I still say Clark Kent is definitely Batman.”

“Sure, Bernard.”

[awakeshedreams]

sugar and spice ( 2 )

pairing : resident bad boy!jjk x model student!reader

setting : highschool!au x stepbrother!au

summary :

a messy highschool!au x stepbrother!au where model student reader who has quite a few dirty little secrets sees her world take an unexpected turn when her mother comes home one day with an engagement announcement, to the father of none other than the school’s resident bad boy…. Jeon Jungkook.

genre : smut, for laughs, kinda pornish, slow burn with collosaly overwhelming sexual tension

rating: soft m ( for now ) due to adult content

warnings : unconventional relationship of sexual nature, tropes and clichès, teenagers partaking in porn-esque activities, made up things with made up people happening in a made up world, don’t like don’t read XD

wordcount : 3k

a/n: honestly overwhelming response for the first part. thank you so much 💜💜💜😳

here's the second.

somehow, this took up a new genre for itself while editing and became sort of a bit enemies to friends to partners in sin.

that is to say, I have a template for this but this could go any ( dirty ) way.

let me know if you like this and are curious to know how things play out.

also, spot the cameo. it's so dumb but still. I couldn't think of anything else.

enjoy.

1 2

Paranoia was an old friend of yours.

Very real, very scary and not very nice to you, your peace of mind or your tested soul.

In your head, you already played out a million different ways the image you’d spent years building could come falling apart.

All because of him. Jeon Jungkook.

Though much to your surprise and fortune- he didn’t tell anyone.

You spent the entire weekend fretting over nothing.

It was almost like none of it ever happened.

Like your parents weren't about to tie the knot soon. Like you weren’t about to become step siblings.

Like he didn't walk in on his said step sister to be masturbating in front of a camera.

In the aftermath of that inexplicably humiliating incident, you had to make up some dumb excuse to satiate your viewers for ending the stream so abruptly.

It was your cat they heard speaking, you told them.

Cats don’t speak of course, certainly not in a deep baritone. But they were effectively distracted by the string of full nudes you posted soon after that.

Those few accusatory comments saying that you did have a boyfriend after all were buried by those coming from very horny people who were over the moon about the little apology gift.

That was out of the way, but you had a more pressing matter at hand.

That night, Jungkook had walked out after saying what he had to say without another word, leaving you feeling stunned and oddly cold.

It was like all the heat in your body just ceased to exist the moment he closed the door behind him and left you there all on your own. You didn’t even get to finish but that was beside the point.

The point was, you thought that meant like with many other things, and as people should since this was a free world, he didn’t give a shit what you did with your free time or your body.

But as the days progressed, you couldn’t help but wonder if you were gravely mistaken.

Because contrary to that, he seemed to be up to something.

These days, he came around very often. Completely unprovoked and on his own accord.

It didn’t help that your mom loved having him around and feeding him.

Sometimes he was there for lunch after school. Other times he was there to fucking read the books in the study.

It was all ridiculous and quite honestly it was starting to get on your fraying nerves.

He didn’t even live there! You grumbled in pure frustration internally every time your mom asked you to add an extra plate for him on the dining table. This was your place!

Intentional or not he seemed to just love spending his time at your house for some reason.

But that just wouldn’t do.

The thing was you didn't know how to tell him you’d like to have the peace of mind he’d robbed you of by being all up in your living space every other day back.

He couldn’t just keep coming around.

Things were awkward enough without you having to see him often so already in between fleeting glimpses at school and lingering glances over the occasional dinner.

He might have been able to play it cool because it didn’t matter to him but this was a big deal for you.

He knew your secret and what else were you to do but be on edge and fidgety around him even though it seemed like he wouldn’t say a word of it?

But in the end, you couldn’t voice out your concerns. Not to him and certainly not to your mom.

So you were stuck here.

In between a massive rock and a very hard place.

Forced to endure even though you really felt like you’d been pushed past your limit.

Because he was there all the time.

For the most random reasons doing the most random things at the most random places at the most random time.

One time he had been casually listening to music while smoking by the pool and stroking the strings of his damned, matte black guitar.

You had been so stressed from all the work at school with the elections for new committee members amongst the juniors coming up so you thought to go for a swim to relax your self.

You honestly thought no one was around.

It was a Wednesday at noon so your mother was at lunch with some friends from high school. Plus, in the back of your mind, you’d reasoned that Jungkook usually only ever came over when she was around.

So you put on your best little bikini, grabbed a floatie and a soft drink and you went out.

Only to pause when you saw him sitting on one of the white lounging chairs, just looking at you with his earphones on, fingers having stilled mid strumming with a soft veil of smoke over his face.

You didn’t need to think twice to turn back.

There had been something about how his heavy lidded gaze took you in through the smoke as he did that thing where he cocked his head to the side that made you step back and quickly go back in.

You felt yourself get impossibly hotter when you realized you were probably giving him an eyeful of your poorly covered ass in motion.

You knew he was looking. You could feel his stare. Heavy. Intent. Dark. Swirling.

Like when he'd walked in on you.

You were hot and bothered the entire day.

In the end you couldn’t get anything productive done with a straight mind. And it was all his fault.

.

It took you about two weeks to crack.

That particular evening you were decided on telling your mom about this dilemma you were in.  

Coincidentally, your mom had gone and invited him and his dad over for dinner.

Great. Just great.

You had no choice but to deeply consider the possibility of having to spill the beans another time.

Because choosing now to tell your mom meant you would probably need to tell his dad as well since they were attached at the hip every time he came over.

But no, you wouldn’t expose him in front of his father too. You weren’t cruel. Also you didn’t need the school's menace resenting you for making his strict, uptight dad turn on him.

If he didn’t have a reason to expose you before, he certainly would have one if things spiraled out that way.

So you bit your bitter tongue.

This time around, dinner was a more relaxed affair.

The weather was nice so your mom decided on a barbeque at your back yard.

This meant you wore a flowy sun dress like your mom did and he wore a loose navy shirt with the sleeves rolled up and some black casual beach shorts.

His tattoos were on full display.

You stared.

You were only distracted by them and how the patterns dance on his skin when his muscles flex as he flips whatever he is cooking on the fire because she’s never seen them in full before, you strongly reasoned.

Even with his sleeves rolled up when he was uniform, you'd only seen what he had on his forearm briefly other than the ones on the back of his hand.

That night didn’t count. It was too dim to see well. Also, that night technically didn’t exist.

Your eyes were particularly drawn to the little something peeking out the collar of his shirt.

You were too busy trying to figure out whether the curling ink around his collar bone was the flick of flames or the end of a dragon’s tail to notice that he’d lifted the hem of his shirt to wipe at the dots of sweet at his brows.

When you do, you suddenly found yourself being given an eyeful of impossibly ripped, ridged pure muscle.

You almost dropped your glass like you did your jaw.

What the holy fuck?

At that exact moment, he lifted his gaze and caught you staring.

He was probably expecting you to look away. Any decent human would expect that if they caught someone staring at them so openly. Gawking, to be completely honest.

But you didn’t. You quickly recover, pulling yourself together, and you met his gaze squarely.

You clutched the drink in your hand tight. Your pride wouldn’t let you look away.

In your own way, it was your little pay back, weak as it was.

He held your gaze with an unreadable look on his face for a moment with that signature slight tilt to his head and an added lift to his brow, before he looked away. Wordlessly, he let his shirt fall to push his hair back with his hand and went back to grilling.

You let herself breath then and tried not to think about how his biceps flexed at the motion, how his hair slicked back made him look even more dangerous and how the little smirk you caught on his lips was making you feel things she shouldn’t be.

.

Your mom suggested you all hang out at the pool once you were done eating.

You hadn’t been there since that day with him and quite frankly, you would rather not be.

Not with him.

You knew your mom had a swimsuit underneath her dress. She made you wear one as well.

She probably told them to come prepared for a swim too.

Just thinking about it made you short circuit.

You tore your gaze away from where he was standing with his father at the poolside, staring blankly at the surface as the older man talked to him about something.

You'd just come back from clearing the table with your mom.

When you guys got close enough, the men look your way. Jungkook’s eyes immediately landed on you. Meanwhile you just stare at your mom, trying to ignore his inexplicably fixed attention on you.

‘It’s shame we can’t swim.’

Your mother said, reaching for her boyfriend’s hand. She gave Jungkook a soft, apologetic smile.

‘Maybe once the weather is not so chilly.’ She sighed regretfully. ‘If I had known you were sensitive to the cold I would have suggested something else.’

‘It’s fine.’ Your eyes flicker to him. The smile he puts on is small and polite. ‘I’m not a very good swimmer anyway I’m afraid.’

‘Nonsense.’ She dismissed in good nature. ‘I heard you were quite the athlete in middle school. It’s all your father ever talks about sometimes. Right, honey?'

His father just grumbled.

You couldn’t hide your surprise at this revelation. You didn’t know this before.

Jungkook was quiet for a moment. Then he smiles a little with a shrug.

‘That was in the past.’

Your eyes just glided to him when he said that.

The tug at his lip looked wry and sad.

You’d never seen him like this before.

Solemn. Sombre. Not serious or intimidating or indifferent.

It felt like you were viewing him in a new light.

.

You settled on drinks by the pool. It was what your mom does to lighten things up.

It seemed like the gloom from earlier wasn’t all part just a part of your imagination.

Her mother suddenly chirped in between the light conversation.

'Why don't you guys get together and have a little group study?'

You suppressed the urge to groan and roll your eyes to the back of your head. You knew what she was trying to do and you wanted no part in it.

You had the words no way sitting at the tip of you tongue.

You had the words no way sitting at the tip of you tongue.

He beat you to it.

'That sounds nice,' he dared to say, even politely addressing your mom with Mrs. alongside her surname in the end uttered just the way she liked. 'I'd like that.’

You gawked at him in disbelief. Complete and utterly speechless.

Was he insane ??

'Doesn't it? Great!' Your mom is over the moon. 'Dear, take him to the study. You guys can do your teenager things and get along over books there.'

.

Your mom was loving and caring and she only ever wanted the best for you. You knew this.

Maybe she wanted them to get to know each other. Or maybe she just wanted to have some alone time with her man.

Either way, she practically shoved you two into the house with so much enthusiasm you wondered if she really loved you because suddenly you found yourself stuck inside your house with the last person you wanted to be with and you did not feel safe or rested.

The walk up the spirally stairs to the study had got to be one of the most intense, dragging moments of your whole life.

He remained a few steps behind you all through out the journey, following your lead in his own leisured pace.

A few steps too damn far behind in your opinion.

From that angle, you had a strong inkling that he could see your underwear from beneath your dress.

You knew this because you were familiar with what it felt like when he was staring.

What you couldn’t quite explain is why you didn't do a thing about it.

.

If awkward silence could manifest into a solid form for being so intense, there would have been a third occupant in the room the moment you two walked into the study.

It would’ve been so massive, all the high shelves and wooden tables lined up would have been demolished.

Jungkook remained the quiet person he was, looking around and skimming through the books on the shelves.

You were standing a safe distance away from him, absently doing the same. The books were interesting and all but you were admittedly more taken by the ink on his skin.

Up close you could clearly see the artistic patterns and symbols etched onto him.

While staring at the tats on his knuckles you couldn't help but also notice that the titles he picked up were rather complex.

Certainly not the kind of thing even high intellects reached for. Evidently, those tomes had been collecting dust in there for ages.

You were decidedly curious. Itching to ask. Hell, dying to know.

You dived before you could overthink it and find reasons not to satiate your rabid curiosity.

'You like Reader?' he paused and looked at you from the corner of his eyes. At his questioning look she gesture to the book he was holding. 'That's the third book of theirs you picked up.'

'Yeah.' he said casually, nodding a little while flipping through it. 'Their books are nice.'

A crippling lapse of silence ensues.

You tore your gaze away from his profile to stare at the titles in front of you with a burn at your cheeks, fiddling with the polished spines.

How fucking awkward. All of this.

He probably felt the same.

What were you even doing?

You thought about telling him to ignore your mom’s attempt at trying to make the two of you get along. He obviously wasn’t looking for company or a friend. Quite frankly, neither were you. Certainly not from him. You were just trying to be not rude. Something you aren’t really surprised he probably failed to understand in all honesty.

But then he spoke, dragging you out of your reverie.

'What about you?'

Your head shot up and you found that he was standing a lot closer than before, having moved to reach for yet another complicated book to idly browse through at the top shelf.

This close, you could can smell him. Soft mint and clean soap and moonlight, not smoke. He disregarded the pages in his hands to give you a side way glance.

‘What do you like?’

There was a perpetual spark swimming in the dark depth of his eyes. It was striking. Pretty even.

When he lightly raised a brow at you, your thoughts jumbled all over before it fell back into place and you realized you were staring very openly.

But this time was different from the last time. When he had been miles away, flashing you his ripped abs.

In your reverie, you hadn’t notices that he had leaned a little to meet your eyes, and that he was real close. Like real close, looking at you intently with his head cocked to the side questioningly, like he was wondering what was going on inside your head. You could feel his breath fanning your face.

Shit.

'Uh,’ you scrambled for an answer, quickly tearing your gaze away from him to appraise the bookshelf. Your face felt like it was on fire. Considering how he hadn’t moved, he could probably see just how blazed in the face you were. Out of pure instinct, you grabbed a random book and shoved it into him to make some space in between your bodies.

Maybe with a little too much force. There was a dull thump and it made you wince.

'This.’

You hated how squeaky and breathless you sounded. Like you’d just ran a marathon. Might as well have, with how hard and fast your heart was pounding.

Jungkook took it from you, and you allowed yourself to look at him as he looked the cover over, completely fine, like you hadn’t just smacked him in the chest with a book.

The corner of his lips lifted a little as he flipped it over, cocking his head the other way before he chanced you a glance, making you blink rapidly and stand on edge.

'You sure?' he asked, sounding pretty amused. You were confused for a moment until he held  it up for you to see, flashing you a full on toothy grin like you’d never seen on him before. 'You like books about horse gentilia?'

The jump in your chest was something you quickly dismissed as being one of sinking dread rather than anything else.

All the color that had been congesting your face washed away.

If there was a time you truly wished the ground would swallow your entire existence whole, it would be right then and there.

 

word is telling me I made up the word genitilia but I’m pretty sure it’s real because it just rolls off the tongue ( smooth ) like butter like a criminal under the cover.

the hole is one of the recurring characters so please be nice to it.

alot of things happening here if you squint and look closely.

any-whomst've, hope you all liked it. let me know if you did and I don't know come say hi? 😳 have a nice day 💜

[lantsovsupremacist]

I was wondering if you could do a Nikolai fic w a Tidemaker reader who works for him on the Volkvony ?

whenever i read nikolai stuff, i imagine his girl to be a tide maker. so, of course it’s my honor to make this happen 🙏🙏 also i got carried away and there will most certainly be a part 2 🤪🤪

mijn dochter: my daughter (i went with dutch because that’s what kerch is supposedly influenced by)!

nikolai lantsov: mirror ball

it all began out of desperation, as most things in your life often did.

born into a family of ten living on the farmlands of kerch, there were always too many mouths to feed. despite the nature of your family’s occupation, whatever could be harvested or slain for food often ended up sent to the markets to try and keep up with the land payments. it was this necessity to help your family (an expectation of yourself as the middle child as much as your younger siblings) that kept you from attending school the day testing occurred. considered the bottom of the lowest class, nobody deemed you important enough to reschedule a test or even find you a spot for the next year’s round.

you believed the position of the testers. it was not because you felt particularly unimportant, just that there was no history of grisha in your family or few you had ever come into contact with. in fact, watching the older kids get tested was your only example of grisha power. a lack of suitable education did not help your case. so, you disregarded the event or lack thereof quickly after it passed.

however, when you pulled the tide in to help the withering crops survive one summer—out of sheer desperation—you could no longer ignore the possibility. the land only needed to close in to the sound by a few feet in order for the water to saturate the fields properly. it could have been a trick of a weary mind. you might not have even realized what had happened if not for your father’s startled gasp.

he muttered a single word, grisha. anything else was unintelligible under his breath—likely a slew of curses. he had even less of an education than you and your siblings. for months, you pleaded for your parents to pretend as if nothing had changed. your oldest brother knew the word for it: tidemaker. one of his best friend’s at school, their older sister had been one. but, she had been taken away. you could not imagine leaving your fields and the sun that hung above them.

you did not want to be a danger to your family, what with the way in which discovered grisha were treated in kerch’s cities. you could only hide for so long. in addition to this worry, you believed by using this resource, you could find better pay to send home. it was not the second army you desired to join but perhaps, some freelance work.

the volkvony was much larger than the scattered fishing boats dotting the coast. even those you saw rarely, the docks being miles outside your town. the pirateer’s vessel and those occupying it radiated power. the reminder of your own ability did little to ease your anxiety.

you mother’s final parting words rang in your head, and you held onto the echo for as long as you could.

“you are a fierce force to be reckoned with, mijn dochter.”

right now with your knees knocking and shoulders shaking, you hardly felt it. your mother often remarked you showed courage in different ways. you might have paled at standing up to the bully that had broken your sister’s arm as a child and allowed your eldest brother to physically retaliate, but your calm nature quieted her cries as you held her gently, waiting for help. you knew that even when he did not verbally express it, your father still appreciated how you took it upon yourself to care for the little ones, handle the crises at home. you made life work for everybody.

your littlest brother, espen, would think you were strong despite the obvious nerves riddling your form. before you left, he hugged you goodbye with all of the strength his two-year-old body could muster, imbuing you with it. his childlike magic satiated any apprehension that came your way on the voyage to the boat’s docking in ketterdam—a city’s whose reputation limited your visits to three occasions in eighteen years. and when it faded, because it always did, you held tight to baby noa’s fairly like giggles, each one of her accompanied smiles locked carefully away in your heart.

even with living a life largely locked on land, the water brought a unique sense of calm to your restless spirit. to any onlooker, your closed eyes and deep breaths by the banks could be attributed to the anticipation of adventure. however, anyone who truly knew your heart would understand the greater impact of the tides. they might even notice the slight curl of your lip or scrunch of your nose, the actions of concentration supporting the delicate ripples of waves on the edge of the sound.

a voice from behind you nearly caused you to jump right off of the dock. one might think that growing up in a household of ten, you would be painfully aware of your surroundings. that could not be father from the case. you did not intend to walk through life stuck in your own head, but it was a habit.

“we’re boarding now,” the same person spoke again, “you’re our new tidemaker, right?”

“that’s right,” you annunciated softly with a nod of your head.

now having stepped forward, you identified the figure to be a girl a few years your elder. with short cropped hair and a glint in her eyes, she intimidated you. however, her tone was kind and seemed welcoming.

“i’m tamar and that,” she extended a hand to point, “is my brother toyla. heartrenders.”

you nodded again, rolling your lips into your mouth. following behind her, you strung your bag over your shoulder and avoided the more worn planks on the dock. the wood was speckled with age.

“how long have you been in the harbor?” you questioned, genuine curiosity in your words.

“only a few days,” she replied without turning her head, opting to keep her gaze ahead as she weaved through the crowd, “ketterdam intrigues sturmhond, but he never keeps us here for too long.”

recognizing the captain’s name who had graciously offered you a position onboard the volkvolny only two days prior, you continued after tamar. you remembered his crooked jaw and nose that had obviously been broken before. however, the ease of his smile and light in his eyes gave you the push to accept. he had approached you in the spot which you had stood only this morning and caught you in a similar position. he had been uniquely attentive.

the way he revealed that he had caught onto your ability with the ripples in the shallow water still caught you by surprise and perhaps, amusement. he had asked you to help him skip a rock. you smiled at the memory now, a small but authentic one only for yourself.

“are all of the hands grisha?” you asked another question, careful to lower your voice.

home to various brothels, pleasure houses, and gambling dens, as well as gangs, ketterdam could trap grisha in servitude if they were not vigilant. this and the general boisterous nature of the city were largely your reasons for avoiding it. you preferred the tranquility and predictability of the countryside, where all that stood out among the plains were the occasional rolling hill and far away slopes of mountain.

your older brother coen studied in the most acceptable part of the city on a scholarship, the only one of your siblings (including yourself) that showed enough intellectual promise to merit pursuing an education over farm work. the only other member of your family to dare encounter the barrel was lotte. given she was now estranged and likely involved in gang work, her possible presence did little to soothe you.

“oh, no,” tamar answered, “in fact, most aren’t. we try and keep it quiet.”

humming in response, you used the handrail to board the ship. you took a deep breath to quell any remaining anxiety. once your feet touched the hull, there would be no room for fear or at least, any expression of it. you were used to keeping to yourself, your head down and hands working.

the salt air filled your lungs easily, and you were greedy for more. it left a pleasant enough taste in your mouth. you realized you were content here and wondered if you might even find happiness on the ship.

after showing you to the quarters you would share with two other girls, you straightened your cot and placed your bag underneath it. you made quick work of braiding your hair back, pacing the room as you did so. there was work to be done, and you would be sure to see to it.

grounding yourself to steady the spinning of the room, you faced your things one more time and headed out to the deck above. for once, you were surrounded by people like you. while this did not quite give you confidence, there was a semblance of reassurance flickering in your heart.

you no longer needed to be perfect for everyone else. though your family was still largely your responsibility as they would receive a portion of your wages, you no longer had to pace your interactions with each member. if you wanted to, you could be as loud and lively as the rest of the crew surely was. scrunching your nose at the thought, you stepped by an empty crate and up the stairs. you liked being quiet. it gave you the headspace to observe others.

a long life of making the lives of your younger siblings and parents easier gave you little time to think for yourself or about yourself. maybe this adventure was all a farce to finally please yourself, to learn to believe in yourself, but you had forced it to be about the others. always placing the focus away. that was an easier story to believe rather than accepting that maybe, you were doing something for yourself and maybe, that was okay.

perhaps it should have made you nervous, but you were a shy version of excited at the idea of testing out each variant of yourself to see which one you believed in most. you had shown everyone else what they wanted or needed to see for many years. you needed to live for yourself now.

you had a right to the sea and you were determined to take advantage of it.

[ktheist]

2prettybestfrens | jjk

muses. jeon jeongguk x reader x park jimin ft. kim taehyung

genre. strangers to lovers!au. university!au. 

words. 18.2k

drabbles. pjm

feedback.

warnings. mentions of physical insecurities, alcohol use, juul use, mention of adoption, mentions of dysfunctional families, handcuffs - lots of handcuffs, jeongguk crossdressing, too many one-sided pinings lmao 

synopsis. you’re in love with kim taehyung who’s in love with jennie kim who’s in love with professor kim namjoon. so park jimin doesn’t exactly fit in all of this, yet he’s always been there in your weakest moments which may or may not be caused by your heartbreak boy - or so jeongguk likes to call him.

oh and jeongguk? you don’t even know jeongguk until that party-gone-awry night where you end up handcuffed together to ponder on what you did.

x

when you uploaded a snapchat of your darkened room and a single teary-eyed emoji because kim taehyung uploaded one where a beautiful girl was covering her mouth while she giggled, jimin snapped back a ‘why r u awake 😬’ to which you snapped the same darkened room with a slightly different angle and a ‘just cause’. his last snap to you contained a ‘cool wanna call?’ before you dialed him up and ended up talking until 5 in the morning before bidding each other-

“well, good night then,” you’d muttered.

“g’morning,” he’d wished you back in a soft mumble and a hint of sleepiness taking over.

that happened on a friday night. on monday and for the rest of the week, you merely greeted each other in the hallway and went on your days without the inclusion of the other.

when you sat by yourself on the bench on the sidewalk of campus, under the shade of a great old tree a few feet away from your department after being left high and dry when kim taehyung’s friends asked him if he’s joining them to get mcdonald’s which he’d in turn asked if you wanted to tag along and you said you were good only because you never did well in groupies - park jimin sat down next to you, head thrown back as he squinted at the gaps of the leaves where the tiniest of sun rays managed to pass through and dot his face. blonde tresses swaying ever so softly when the wind blew past you.

“so how was finance?” he looked like he was asking the waving branches.

“eh, it was fine, professor kim’s a good teacher,” you shrugged, the sight of jennie suavely smiling and said professor shooting glances at her made you mentally vomit.

“man,” he blew a gust of air from his mouth as he ran a hand through his semi-long tresses, “were we in the same class? because all i remember was dozing off five minutes into class.”

“that’s why you should sit at the front,” you’d suggested.

it was then, did he push himself off the ground and stood up, black and white jacket pushed back as he slipped his hands into the pocket of his jeans. eyes narrowing while his tongue protruded against the inside of his cheek before he went, “you hungry?”

“starving,” you rolled your eyes before collecting your mac and holding it to your chest, bag slung over your shoulders.

the both of you didn’t go to mcdonald’s but the food tasted just as good that day at the cafe in your faculty.

when kim taehyung asked jennie if she was free friday night and the girl turned to you with an endearingly oblivious, “do we have any plans on friday?” and taehyung awkwardly but not so hesitantly corrected, “um, i mean, just you jennie,” the air, without a doubt turned tangibly tense and awkward.

“oh,” jennie’s brows knitted together as she stared at him, as though trying to spot the caption on his forehead as to why he invited only her when everyone knew you and jennie never go anywhere without the other if you didn’t have any prior engagements, “well, ___ and me are going to hang out together so yeah, i’m not free.”

you weren’t sure if she was dumb or playing dumb but you’d found out later that night, that she’d been irritated with kim taehyung’s non-considerate advancements which she’d recently noticed seemed to exclude you ‘i hate people who make plans in front of someone and not invite them’ was her exact word before she followed up with a ‘blockedt’.

but backtrack to when the tension seemed to rise higher than the sky, you were saved by jimin when he came mini-jogging towards you with that adorable boyish smile and crescent eyes, “hey, i was looking for you - you wanna walk to accounting together?”

you’d waved jennie and taehyung goodbye and gladly walked with jimin to class.

and so it goes, with kim taehyung’s eyes lighting like fireworks in the midnight sky when he sees jennie and the girl itching to make a beeline to the opposite side of where he comes from and you shooting her ‘be nice’ looks whilst park jimin pops up now and then in the most convenient time until ‘us’ no longer comprise of you and jennie but also taehyung and jimin.

so much so, some of your casual friends come to you asking for either of the boys when they seem to have something to inform them which you’re not sure why isn’t informable through text. but either way, you’ve become two best friends with additional friends.

maybe said additional friends happen to fall in the top list of cuties in the girls and gays’ books but besides kim taehyung, if you looked, like really really looked at park jimin, you concurred, perhaps he does have the right to be in said list with his unblemished, smooth skin, perfect pink lips and pretty sparkly eyes.

“what?” his lips do the thing where they curl, revealing a pair of perfectly lined white pearls.

“nothing,” you say as you find yourself third-wheeling in taehyung’s bmw with jimin at the back and the first commenting something about his older sister liking to shop at zara as well when jennie asked you if you were free tomorrow to go to the mall near campus.

“i mean i can go with you girls, i have a two-hour gap between classes,” the boy offers.

“oh,” the first laugh trickles out of your mouth without a stop switch, “you’re so cute.”

you can hear jennie snickering in the passenger seat as you turn away from the angle where taehyung could see you in the rear-view mirror, only to come face to face with jimin who seems to get your humor.

“it’s not a big deal,” taehyung shrugs, a tinge of pride in his voice.

“my man,” jimin pats said man on his shoulder, “you don’t know jack shit about women.”

“what?” the older boy asks, perplexed and quite honestly irritated for some reason - but then again, he never seems to like jimin’s quick-to-catch-on nature when it comes to any girls-related topics.

“two hours is not enough to shop, taehyung,” jennie finally decodes the long standing cipher, “we can barely explore one shop.”

by the end of her words, you’re is full out snickering like an unattractive hyena, “i thought you have a sister?”

“i do,” there’s a tinge of confusion in his tone, “she usually goes shopping with her boyfriend.”

“well, how long did it take them to go shopping?” she quizzes, sharing an amused look with jimin.

“uh,” it’s then, do you hear the sound of the screws in taehyung’s brain twisting, “she usually stays over whenever they do.”

“well, whatever you think they did after they went shopping - it’s probably not it,” jimin snickers, shoulderline jolting as he crosses his arms over his chest.

“so cute,” jennie echoes your earlier words, neck craning to look at the two other passengers in the back seat as she gives you a one-eyebrow-lifted look as if to say ‘this is the guy you’re crushing on?’

at that, you shrug, unapologetically mouthing ‘he’s cute’ - in a much different and adoring sense than the first time which jennie must’ve gotten when she shakes her head, a hopeless smile on her lips as she turns to the road again.

you were on your way to the movies then.

x

“oh my god,” jennie squeals, eyes skimming your specifically-handpicked-by-jennie-kim attire, “you look so cute!”

“only because i agreed to be your live mannequin,” you say rolling your eyes but the curl of a smile on your lips is unstoppable.

“no - because i know what kind of style suits you,” she narrows her eyes in a ‘you know i’m right’ kind of manner, “no offense, your usual style is cute too but it’s more like an... ‘i have a crush, don’t talk to me’ kind of look, you know?”

“am i wrong though?” your eyebrows rise, mimicking her ‘you know i’m right’ look.

she raises a hand, her free one scrolling through her phone as she announces, “i don’t recommend crushing on airheaded guys but you do you sis,” then she looks up, staring at you straight in the eye with the most deadpanned expression, “but if he breaks your heart, i’ll break his leg,” it’s a full, solid moment later, just as you were about to burst out laughing, does she say, “literally.”

and it’s times like these that you fear for another person’s life that isn’t yours - well, taehyung’s life isn’t just anyone’s but - as she turns back to her phone ever so casually.

but before you can fret any further, your phone vibrates, the words ‘chim’ flashing across your screen with a ‘get yo asses down’ and contrasting ‘ur chauffer awaits’ popping a second later.

“get your ass up. they’re here,” you end up saying, pushing your phone into the back pocket of your leather pants that jennie manages to convince you to put on for some unknown reason - that reason going along the lines of ‘kim taehyung’ and ‘jealousy’, but you’re not one to dwell on why one do things they do as you accept jennie’s grabby-motioned hands in request for assistance to be pulled up.

it turns out the shopping plan gets pushed to saturday where taehyung is basically spouting out how he’s a good judge for fashion and that he hasn’t gone to the mall since the semester started which to be fair, was only a month ago. 

you’re not sure how jimin ended up tagging along - the two aren’t even the bestest buddies - but someway, somehow, he always manages to get taehyung to pick him up and drop him off whenever the taller man makes plans to go out with you and jennie.

“wow,” jimin is the first to notice, mouth taking on an ‘o’ shape he basically ogles in plain daylight.

“what do you think?” jennie comes up behind you, chin resting on your shoulder as she wraps her arms around your waist then she turns to taehyung who was the last to get out of the car, “doesn’t ___ look pretty, taehyung?”

at the sound of his name rolling off the tongue of the girl he’s been pining for since he laid eyes on her, his gaze lights up - but only to meet jennie’s. one look at you and he turns back to her with the most beautiful smile, “yeah, she looks great - did you help choose the top?”

“actually,” the girl begins with a cheery tone - they’re walking a few steps behind you whilst you and jimin walk together. it’s been like that for as long as you remember, “i picked out the whole fit. it wasn’t easy though because...”

kim jennie walking side-by-side with kim taehyung whilst you with jimin whenever the two boys join you, be it whether to get to a class you all share, to go to the library to study or to get some lunch - has become a familiar view to your mutual friends. so much so, you’ve heard of a rumor going around that you’re a couple of best friends.

like literal couples. you with jimin and jennie with taehyung. thanks to that, no one would have suspected jennie’s relationship with professor kim nor would anyone see through the veil of friendly smiles and amicable conversations to be you pining over your best friend’s alleged boyfriend.

you’ve gotten used to hearing jennie and taehyung’s conversation fade into the background yet never really able to disregard the way taehyung laughs at something your best friend says or the sight of the two walking a few feet ahead with taehyung’s head almost always turned to jennie’s and the girl, oblivious, occasionally cranes her neck to look at him at the beginning of her sentence before directing her gaze to the front where she’s walking.

jennie dislikes taehyung less now, if only because he steers the conversation towards the areas of interest - which he seems to know a lot of. kudos to you for answering his ass-crack o’clock texts of ‘heyyy what kind of movie does jennie like?’s and ‘heyy you girls got any plans tomorrow?’s.

“you look great in those leather pants, by the way,” jimin’s voice makes you turn to the other boy, a boyish smile on his lips, “so let me guess,” his head tilts to the side as the dip between his thumb and index finger hooks itself underneath his chin, eyebrows knitted together in heavy contemplation, “are you going for a good girl gone bad kind of look,” a playful smile tugs on the corners of his lips, “or are you in a secret biker gang and have a biker meeting at 7?”

you lean closer to the man, hand covering your mouth as you whisper, “you didn’t hear this from me but we’re convoying to disney land. i heard it’s more magical during christmas.” 

or so you thought your whispering skills were close to perfect but a cat with brown hair pops up from next to you, eyes glinting with excitement, “did someone say christmas?!”

so you end up early-christmas shopping just because of that one word that triggers the warm-hearted-who-ness in her. and that’s how you, taehyung and jimin gets dragged from one store to another. but where your attention gets robbed with material things like-

“oh look, a snow globe with a puppy and a snowman in it!” you shake the see through globe, watching as pseudo snowflakes rain over the unmoving pupper and olaf lookalike before you sigh, “technically the snowman isn’t alive and the doggo is alone by itself in a world where nobody else can enter - and on christmas at that . oh my god, i think i’m gonna cry.”

- but jennie’s interest lies within the holiday-themed clothes. sweaters. costumers. lingerie. you name it and jennie kim tries it on.

“___ - pssst, hey,” there she goes, hiss-whispering your name as if you’re not right in front of the curtain she’s poking her head through, eyes darting around for the two boys who, last you saw, were doing the best to look interested in reindeers and candy printed sweaters.

“what, girl, what?” you whisper back, trying to peek through the gap of the curtain over her head as if you’ve never entered a changing room together.

and as if reading your mind, her bare arm that’s supposed to be wrapped with the floral cotton material of her sleeve - shoots out, hand wrapping around your wrist.

a “wha- ah-!” probably echoed off the walls and turned some heads but you’re no longer in the position to check as you find your back pressed against the wall of the cubicle and red and white lace-wearing jennie posing for you.

“so?” she beams.

“those are so cute, oh my god,” you end up his-whispering whilst trying to keep your voice low, “where did you get them? i only ever saw you checking out - and you have got to admit this - ugly sweaters!”

“girl, the lingerie section is just next to the sweaters,” her eyes seem to disappear behind her crescents as she crinkles her nose, “no but for real, you think i was gonna buy them? i just needed the boys to go away. and. they. finally. did,” she rolls her eyes, “it took awhile but kim taehyung is so persistent.”

“that’s why he’s so... cute,” you hum, eyes shutting close as the picture of the aforementioned man flashes behind your eyes. he’s looking at you with those dark eyes and he’s smiling at you with that magnetic-

“gross! get your ass out of the gutter,” a squeal hits the air as your eyes flutter open to the sight of your best friend’s contorted faces as if-

“um, girl,” you tilt your head just the slightest bit, hand on your hip while your other hand raises in a ‘hold up’ manner, “out of the two of us, you’re the one that’s gotta stop being silly and start wrapping professor kim’s willy.”

a stick of tongue out is all you’ve got as a response before she turns to her phone that’s vibrating at an alarming rate.

that’s when you feign almost-vomit, “did you - ulgh - sent him a - ulgh - nude?”

in any ordinary circumstance, she would have made faces to mimic a much ridiculous series of vomiting in response to your fake almost-vomits but when her smile tugs downwards in a disheartened pout, you practically drop all the ugly sweaters you picked out just for the sake of getting into the christmas spirit and rush over to the girl - which is only one and a half feet away.

“hey, hey, what’s wrong?” you coo as she starts blinking back tears.

“i knew it,” she huffs out a puff of air, hand fanning at her waterline, “i fucking knew it.”

in between the ‘you’re okay’s and ‘everything’s going to be okay’s on your part and jennie’s increasingly growing sobs, you manage to make out the words she blurts out. something along the lines of ‘not spending as much time as we used to’ and ‘because i’m ugly as fuck’. so you hold her tighter, fingers brushing out the potentially forming knots in her hair each time it gets into her tear stained face and gets aggressively pushed out of said face with the back of the hand. 

it’s been going on since the start of the third year - the ‘i can’t make it tonight’s and ‘sorry, i’m going to have to rain check’s. 

you’ve been a silent spectator of how your best friend’s face lights up whenever she talks about her secret affair with the youngest professor in the business faculty, how he lives up to her private swooning with the smallest ‘miss kim, how was your day’s when he met her in the hallway, ever so casually greeting one of his supposed students like any professor would and treats her to fine-dinings and became the reason why forehead kisses are her favorite kind of kiss now.

he never really tried to hide his fondness for her even at the faculty and though you knew your best friend could get anyone she wanted, you were dubious of whether that anyone actually deserved such a loving, beautiful person. nonetheless, kim namjoon seems to be the exact person who does.

“hey, look at me,” you implore, sitting cross-legged on the floor whilst your knees touch and your fingers twine together in a fingers hug, or so jennie coined the term in your first year, “you’re so beautiful.”

“you don’t mean that,” she mumbles out.

“girl, if i were to be born again and were allowed to choose how i’m going to look - i want your eyes, they like, pull people in - not gonna lie, i started talking to you because you were intimidating but also really alluring. does that make sense?” you hold up a hand when she begins to giggle lightly, head shaking in show of her disagreement.

“but when i did get to know you, you’re the sweetest, squishiest,” a protest falls from her lips as she clasps a palm over the spot on her arm that you just pinched, “person alive. and oh!” you pinch her cheeks next, chuckling at how she crinkles her nose and like the feline she’s always been associated with, “and i want your cute chubs cheeks! and your adorable nose, and your lips,” you pause for the longest moment before retracting, “okay maybe i’d want my lips but your lips are juicy too!”

she makes a sound at the back of her throat, eyes of dried tears rolling, “please, i barely have any lips.”

“i mean, they’re still kissable,” you shoot her a suggestive look, “and i know out of the two of us, one would kiss you if she’s a little bit more fruity.”

“okay, maybe you think i’m kinda pretty,” she gives in.

but that’s not enough for you,“bih, you’re a literal goddess,”

“i’m not but anyway beauty is subjective so maybe namjoon’s perspective’s changed.”

“nope - nu-uh, we can cry and just... let ourselves feel the emotion that’s been bottling up and burst at one single message but what we’re not gonna do is mope around, being sad all day because of our presumptions that someone else thinks we’re not good enough or pretty enough. because you are and i would die for you.”

she hiccups, “i don’t know if i would die for you but i’d sacrifice my first born for you.”

“ew,” you feel your nose crinkling, “no, you’re not gonna trap me with a kid - that’s a trap right there and i’m not falling for it.”

jennie ends up laughing too loudly that one of the store attendants end up kicking you out. jimin and taehyung followed suit a second later, acting like they didn’t know you two but walking towards you anyway. you’re not sure if they noticed jennie’s swollen eyes but neither mentioned anything about it. instead, taehyung suggests- “since we’re already out, you guys wanna go to chanyeol’s party?”

x

so you end up going to the party. the apartment’s too cramped for your liking but jennie’s found some mutual friends of yours that she’s dancing and laughing with. and maybe that’s why you haven’t bolted right out of the door the moment you stepped in.

jimin found some of his own friends. they’re probably not from the faculty since you don’t remember seeing them around and taehyung-

you’re not quite sure why taehyung is following you around like a lost puppy and trying to make small talks with you. internally, your heart’s doing flips but your head’s been giving out one of those obnoxiously loud sirens with lights as red as the cup you’re holding.

“...and you know, it’s pretty cool how they managed to attract foreign investors within six months of starting up their business,” taehyung is saying, the awkward shrug and eyes glued to the ground telling you that he’s not so into whatever he’s saying either.

“yeah, like, they definitely got lucky or something,” you nod in agreement.

funny how the blare of the music is barely allowing you to have a proper conversation but all you hear is deafening silence as you stand five feet apart - the kind of distance that screams acquaintances but less than friends and most definitely not lovers.

but then he stands on his two feet instead of leaning his weight on just one - and he looks at you right in the eye for the first time that night. and your stupid heart goes fluttering like the petals in a field.

“hey, i don’t wanna be a nosy or anything but,” he pauses for the briefest second, eyes slanting to somewhere on the dance floor where you think you last saw jennie and then he refocuses back to you. but you already know where his mind and soul remains, “what happened today? like, jennie’s acting off, like something’s bothering her and she’s kinda drinking more than she should and it kinda feels like she doesn’t want me around.”

it takes a moment to ponder on how much you should say before your words become affirmation and affirmation will probably lead to more assumptions and - “well, you should ask her.”

“uh, i- she doesn’t- i don’t know how - i don’t wanna annoy her, you know what i mean? and since you’re best friends, i thought maybe you’d-” he’s scratching the back of his head when you cut him off.

“there’s your answer,” you raise the half-empty cup that’s been lying undrunken in your hands, “if you’re not gonna square up and tell her how you feel, then you, my friend,” your stomach drops at the word but you manage to land a solid pat on his arm, “are going to live the rest of your live like this - wondering what the hell is going on because you’re really not sure where you stand. and i get it, confessing to someone is terrifying and depending on jennie’s answer, you might or might not be able to talk to her ever again but it’s better to get it out there. feelings are like farts, you know?” the way his brows come together in a confused what-the-hell moment, is adorable, “hold it in and you’ll feel like something’s not right and it is never going to be until you get all of it out of your system.” and with a nod and a tight-lipped smile, you leave him with a “good luck,” before wandering over to the dance floor, not sure where you’re going because jennie, lisa chaeyoung and jisoo’s not where you thought they were and the only less crowded but still suffocating part of the apartment is the kitchen where you don’t want to risk going back and seeing taehyung there, unmoving in the spot where you left him.

amid all of it, you almost get your shoulder dislocated before a hand shoots out and pulls you back on your two feet whilst you raise your cup higher in hopes to save its contents from spilling.

the man that caught you looks between you and your raised cup for two solid seconds before a grin tugs on his face and he clicks his own cup to yours, “cheers.”

“aha, yeah,” you laugh as you feel his grip on your arm loosening and you pull it back to your side like a robot, taking a sip of your nicely saved drink.

“thanks for not letting me fall,” you say a moment later, after thanking whatever deity is out there that allows you to get your first drink into the right pipe without feeling the need to cough out loud.

“no problem,” even in the poor lighting, you can easily catch the sight of pearly whites lined up perfectly amid an alluring smile, that is, before a pair of brows knit together in what seem like an unresolvable conundrum, “hey, you don’t happen to...” he pauses for the longest moment, eyes slanting to scan the crowd and making you do the same until he commands your attention back with his next words, lips curling back into the breathtakingly attractive smile as words tumble past them, “...see two pretty best friends in here, do you?”

and that’s when your interest, wherever it is, plunges straight down to the ground and into the ether, “oh,” your vision shakes as you nod repeatedly before forcing out a dry “ha ha” which isn’t meant to disguise your displeasure at all - if anything, a wave of satisfaction crashes over you when his smile falters, “yeah, that - that’s really funny,” you say plainly, smile still plastered on your face.

“o-kay,” he drags out the word for half a second, teeth clenched together in growing panic as all traces of humor fade away, “...joke too old?”

“well, let’s see,” you feel your index finger tapping your chin as you throw your gaze up to the ceiling, “i get it, tell the ugly best friend she’s ugly but in a joking way,” you shrug, “you don’t need to rub it in my face cause i know and yes it’s getting old.”

it takes a whole solid moment of blaring music and non-caring half-way-drunken college students continuing to grind against one another and this insanely attractive stranger staring at you with jaws on the ground, for you to wave a dismissive hand.

“you know what? don’t worry, jennie’s not here, thankfully or she would’ve blo-” air fills your throat and cuts you off when he frowns, “who?”, to which you raise your eyebrows, “je-” you almost choked, “jennie?”

he shakes his head the second time, bottom lip jutting out in an additional- “nope” gesture as he continues with “never heard of her,” after your “jennie... kim?”

so you go one, “kinda cute height, long hair, brunette-” he shrugs, “nope- doesn’t ring a bell,” in the middle of your, “-fierce cat-like eyes but adorable as heck personality?”

in the end he wins with a final word of, “no - nope,” after a whole solid moment of your silenced disbelieve and him drawing his pondering session to a close.

“oh,” escapes your lips before you can even register, “so - it was- like-”

“yeap,” he nods, “it was-”

“a joke?”

“a joke.”

you both announce at the same time. the tones may differ but the essence is there, leaving one to stare at the ground in shame for having snapped at a complete stranger and the other staring with unapologetic eyes.

“i’m sorry,” you finally manage to utter, shoulderline falling with your walls of pride, “i thought it was one of those micro aggressive jokes people throw around just because they can’t straight out tell someone they’re ugly-”

but the words seem to enter through one ear and go out the other when his brows begin to knit together for the nth time of the night - and in a matter of less than thirty minutes at that - when he declares before you get to properly end your sentence, “you’re pretty as hell. why did you think i’d randomly try to crack a joke to a stranger and risk pissing pants off on the off chance she took it badly... which you did. i’m sorry for pushing the wrong button.”

“oh,” but just like him, your brain short-circuits and you seem to only truly hear the first part of what he’s saying as just like any girl - you curse yourself as you - shy away from his gaze, hand going up to tuck your hair behind your ear before you slowly peek up through your lashes, “thanks,” you blink once, shrugging, “and it’s fine i get that joke a lot - i don’t usually care, i don’t know what got into me tonight.” 

but before he manages to say anything, the loudspeaker starts reverberating with the sound of someone clearing their throat and a “how’s everyone doing?” and a dismissive “alright, alright you might be wondering ‘who the eff is this guy’ right? yea, yea, i know, but-” he stops, eyes scanning the crowd for a suspenseful effect, “-but you’re gonna wanna hear this,” to which a groan erupts from the crowd, so he quickly gets to the point “don’t panic,” most of the time, that’s exactly when you should panic, “so, the police are coming.”

x

his name is jeon jeongguk and he goes to your university’s rival university. his hair is actually a shade of rich deep brown that forms wavy ends and contrasts glaringly against his sharp jawline under the fluorescent lighting which also highlights his pearly whites that remind you of bunnies when his lips curl over them when he smiles.

to think that he’s doing that now while the police officer, a man in his 40′s and on the shorter side of the spectrum is ten steps from marching up to you with a disapproving gaze on his face.

his hair falls over his face in half ringlets, an excited glint in his eyes, “he’s mad cause we’re clean.”

a guy somewhere a few people away from you is sobbing increasingly loudly with every step the officer takes before he comes to a stop in front of you, eyes skimming each faces one by one until he stops on you.

“you,” he announces before sighing deeply, “you look like a kid who wouldn’t cause trouble, why are you here?”

“uh,” the chain around your wrist feels cold but jeongguk’s pinky that’s touching yours as your thighs brush together - is warm, “i...” you pause, in search for words before settling with a disappointing confession “i don’t know,”

the officer echoes your statement with a critical emphasize on the ‘don’t’.

and because of that, you blink once, “in fact, does anyone know what they’re doing at all? if you think about it we’re just astronomical particles in this vast universe which is called the milky way,” you pause, if only squint at his sparse mustache, “why is it even called milky way? like, there’s absolutely no scientific evidence that milk exists in outer space or do you reckon the guys that named it just feels like drinking some milk while they were-”

by the end of it, a few snickers have escaped from the people you and jeongguk were caught with, the aforementioned man, having turned his head the other way as his shoulders jolt silently and it’s only then does the officer’s increasing confused expression contorts into that of a maddened bore, “keep hanging out with him and you’re gonna find yourself behind bars.”

“that hurts my feelings, detective yoo,” jeongguk confesses, forehead creasing as his uncuffed hand holds the spot on his chest where his heart should be.

the man finally shakes his head, motioning to a younger officer who looks just about your age to start unlocking everyone’s cuffs - there were a few other people you’ve never seen before dragged out of the vicinity and to the station. he speaks a moment later, “you kids are lucky because none of you are associated with the ones down the hallway - we were initially going for them. busted their asses and found over a hundred kilograms of cocaine.”

once your cuffs are off and you get your phone back, you’re fast-scrolling through the messages on the notification window before swiping up and searching for jennie’s contact. it turns out she, taehyung and jimin guessed you were one of the few who didn’t make it and waited for you near the building where the party was busted.

“oh my god,” jennie is the first to dash into your arms as if she hadn’t seen you since forever, “i’m so sorry i left you!”

“well to be fair, i left you,” you mumble, your arms banded around her waist while hers around your neck.

and just when you thought the melodrama would end when she pulls away, you find yourself staring at sparkly-eyed jennie and the most heartbreaking downturned lips, “i will never,” she pauses, “ever let you out of my sight.”

you’re exactly against that idea - after all, you’ve made plans to buy a beach house and move in together in your olden days once you’ve poiso- burried your husbands who died of a totally natural cause.

it’s only after breaking apart from a second hug, do you realize the man standing not-so-awkwardly five feet away.

“don’t mind me,” jeongguk holds up his hands, “i don’t watch much drama but i might after all this.”

“jeongguk,” you can’t help the smile that creeps up your face at his joke, “this is jennie,” then you turn to the girl who still has her arm around your waist, and you her, “jennie, jeongguk.”

“have i seen you before?” her cat-like eyes narrows just the slightest bit, as though if she tried hard enough, she’d see the pieces of moving memories that’ll somehow point out where she claims to have met him - but you don’t doubt it if they have, jennie gets invited to a lot of parties and hookups.

you should’ve known when jeongguk’s eyes sweep over you with a playful glint in them as he begins, “that’s funny because ____ here-” that from this point forward, that you shouldn’t have put your foot forward and prance at him like a predator with a secret, hand clasped against a surprisingly hard chest before your brain can register what you’re doing.

and when it does, you’re left to awkwardly pat his chest in what you hope to be friendly gesture whilst you force out a laugh, “that- that was really funny jeongguk,” you turn to jennie who, having known you all your life easily catches onto your out-of-character laugh but says nothing, so you point at the guy you’re basically and is still groping - to which you’ve finally tear your hand off his body, “he’s a funny guy.”

“and who exactly is this funny guy?” taehyung comes up on your left - you think you catch sight of his sleek bmw parked on the other side of the street where he must’ve strutted up from in his beige jacket with his hands buried in its pockets.

“just...” you trail off before your brain completely fries and you blurt out, “some guy.”

and that’s when jeongguk decides to call you out, “some guy? i helped you through a life lesson.”

you attribute the alcohol in your system that’s slowing down the neurons and disables you from thinking before you act when you roll your eyes, “in case you didn’t realize, you were in there laughing your ass off when i had to have my own back while that officer looked like he was a word away from dragging me to the police station for talking back to a law enforcement.”

“you talked back to an officer?” jennie chirps, her jaw falling to the ground as her cat eyes widen in excitement and astonishment.

“she did,” jeongguk nods at the girl, a displaced proud smile on his lips before he looks back to you, “brought out the boomer in him too.”

“you pissed off an officer?” this time, it’s jimin who pops up from behind taehyung, before casually nodding to jeongguk with a “hey man.”

“i mean, it was probably ___’s sheer guts and rebellious streak alone that helped free us,” jeongguk goes on, eyes glinting with amusement in the briefest moment they slant to meet yours but they’re gone too soon as he redirects your attention to jimin and jennie’s overpouring questions.

and because jennie wanted to hear more about how jeongguk embellished what went down, taehyung ends up agreeing to give the stranger a ride as you get squished between two men with jennie constantly pulling on the strap of the seatbelt to look over to the backseat, her mouth constantly dropping with every word jeongguk utters like he’s some well-known storyteller.

by the time the car rolls to a stop in front of his apartment building, jennie’s shooting you approving, borderline provocative looks your way - you don’t doubt that if she had any power in her hand to put both you and jeongguk in the same room, lock the door and swallow the key, she would in a heartbeat.

“hey,” jeongguk leans over the doorframe, “can i talk to you for a sec?” it’s the way he tilts his head to the side on a 35 degree angle, paired with that dangerous smile he’s been shooting you in the briefest span of moments jennie’s head is turned to the road and jimin’s gave is thrown outside of the window and taehyung isn’t stealing glances from the rear-view mirror - that makes you want to shake your head in rejection to his request and prance out of the car like a predator in heat at the same time.

but instead, you calmly slide over to the side now vacant side and slip out of the car, closing the door behind you so no ears can eavesdrop.

the scent of his cologne wafts stronger into your senses now that you have no police officers to be cautious of nor any embellished stories to correct.

that, or maybe it’s the way he’s got you trapped against the car door and his body, right arm placed perfectly on the roof of the car, next to your head.

“bout time you give me your @, no?” the corner of his lips tilts higher into a cocky smirk.

“um, yea,” you begin, “i think it’s better if we leave into the night like strangers with stories, you know? and if we’re meant to find each other, we will,” you swear on your grandmother’s grave that you will never go to any parties anymore, “makes a good plot for a drama,” eyes going wide and mouth taking on an ‘o’ shape, you continue, “didn’t you say you were gonna start watching those?”

 his shoulderline shakes as he chuckles, head dropped it tilts up, eyes capturing yours, “i’m not falling for that,” his announcement is plain and simple and yet you’re forced to put twice the effort in your smile as to not let it falter, “after getting my chest groped and caressed, i deserve at least-”

“it was a friendly pat, mind you,” you correct, smile still glued to your face before rolling your eyes, “but snapchat is as far as i’m willing to go.”

“works for me,” the screen of his phone flashes with a dark mode keypad splayed over it - you’re not sure how he unlocked it without taking those glinted eyes off you but he did. so you swipe the phone off his hand and send yourself a request through his account.

“i’m gonna open your snap and leave you on read!” you announce, and he laughs, “alright, bet!”

and with that, he waves at you using the same phone he told you to put your number in, taking a few steps backward, allowing you room to breathe properly again before he whirls on his heels and walks through the glass double doors.

you don’t wait any longer than you have to, shivering from the cold night air when you slip into the car.

“did you give him your number?!” jennie practically screams.

“no but i gave my snapchat only because he looked like he wouldn’t sleep a wink at night if i didn’t,” you shrug.

and that’s how kim jennie gets it into her head that you’re going to get your first-boyfriend-cherry popped. or so she likes to believe.

but that’s the least of your concern for the greater one comes in a devil with black jeans and matching plain t-shirt and timberlands and a lit up screen at exactly three something in the am, right after you’re done with a hot shower and in a middle of towel drying your hair and putting on your night routine skincare.

you open the text revealing a night view of a cityscape from a window which room is surrounded by darkness and a transparent horizontal strip with a ‘❄️ ’ in the middle from a goldenjks.

so you snap a picture of your skincare products next to a mirror with you and a towel on your head, face blocked by your hand that’s holding your phone, choosing  to send ‘🍜’.

and so it goes, the snap war that erupts between you and user goldenjks throughout the night which, after you’d gotten into bed with the lights off, basically includes snaps of your darkened room and his more superior window view.

before long, you started texting on snapchat about how the police officer seems to know him and how-

goldenjks

u were p chill for someone who got arrested for the 1st time

you’re giggling in the darkness at 5:23 am.

you

cs ik i didn’t do anything wrong

duh

and he mentions something about a sobbing kid that was made to wait with you and nobody really did anything to comfort him.

goldenjks

that coulda been u if i wasn’t there probably

you roll your eyes but you can feel your muscles becoming sore from the way your lips are stretching from ear to ear.

then it starts with how taehyung didn’t saying anything throughout the ride up until the car rolled to a stop in front of jeongguk’s place.

goldenjks

r u guys using him for his car???

cs same 

i would 2

you

wtf

we’re not 😭😭

and without much thought, you end up spilling a not-so-secret but not-so-well-known truth.

you

welp

he’s using me to get close to jennie so

ig i should use him for his car

oof

goldenjks 

ooof

so let me guess

u can’t say no to him  cs u have the biggest crush on him

“what the hell?” you mumble to yourself, smile pulled down into a frown, but before you can type out a reply, two more pop up on his side.

goldenjks

and jimin head over heels for u

you

🧢 🧢 🧢

u funny 😂😂😂

goldenjks

fr fr tho 😔😔😔

i would b too

all of a sudden, a boy with the softest blonde hair and crescent eye smiles floods your throughts. you and jimin might have been casual friends for the longest time and only until recently started hanging out together - and he may or may not hold confidential information about the littlest details of the lack of smile on your face and the blank snaps in your stories whenever you’re down.

but to say he’s reacting such way because he’s into you would be a total scam.

so you shake your head, laughing out loud, “nah can’t be.”

you

alright imma 😴😴😴

to which jeongguk tests back a gnight and after one whole solid minute, a text u tmr?

you leave him on read.

x

“like, who does he think he is?” you huff, burying the plastic spoon into the ice cream before scooping up a chunk of neapolitan flavored goodness and directing it into your mouth, “he literally met us just last night and he’s spouting shit like he knows us for years?”

“i don’t know,” jennie humps, tongue darting out to lick the remnants of strawberry ice cream on her upper lips before she goes on with a smile that screams ‘just get together already’, “it’s kinda hot to me when guys know shits, you know what i mean?”

you’ve managed to avoid jimin and taehyung at all costs and sneak to the ice cream parlor that’s five minutes away from campus where you spilled your guts out about how you got unreasonably irritated by the long running joke, about how jeongguk’s hand wrapped around your wrist and he pulled you out of the way of the chaotic college students who were rushing to get out of the small, cramped apartment and how you stopped him from relaying your disbelief of his lack of knowledge about her.

“like, i flipped out at him because of some stupid joke,” you shrugged, hands fiddling with each other while a coat of smoke wafted over the newly scooped and paid-for ice cream.

your name rolled off her lips before she stared at you with her hands on hear heart, “i- i didn’t know you would go so far as fight a guy for me for calling me ugly,” then she laughed, “but you don’t have to. girl, we been knew i’m ugly as fuck.”

your jaw hit the ground at the word she used to describe herself before you blinked and came back to your senses and aggressive defenses, “oh my god, i’m the ugly one and you’re the literal goddess - like, i shouldn’t even be looking at you. i should be looking at your sole. you should be stepping on me - step on me! now!”

a yelp resonated into the air as you groped around for jenni’s left leg in an attempt to lift her foot to make her step on you to which you both ended up laughing hysterically after realizing that she was wearing a skirt and the way you were sitting may or may have not resulted in an array of possible outcomes.

“oh my god, do you think she saw my panties?” she meant the woman in her late 40′s who were shooting disapproving eyes at the both of you as she scrolled through her phone, seeming to be waiting for someone before placing an order.

“you just flashed a poor old woman who came to have some ice cream,” you were hunched over, hand covering your face as you stole glances her way which didn’t hold long because you ended up giggling with the girl when you caught each other’s eyes.

“you think she likes what she sees?” jennie’s brows rose suggestively and you knew what she was going to say next before the words even leave her mouth, “you think maybe i should tell her about my onlyfans?”

it was a few bursts of giggles later, that you’d finally managed to talk properly. or probably because jennie’s question brought out an unwelcomed emotion that you pushed to the back of your conscience last night and for the most part, managed to forget, “so,” her brows were wiggling like earthworms on her forehead, “did he text you?”

that was what spurred the whole confession and up to the moment where you spilled the contents of the unfairly attractive stranger’s text.

“i don’t know, he kinda went overboard,” you shrug and jennie’s hand reaches over yours, patting it once with what you assume is an understanding manner.

“sweetie, i get it,” she announces, “you feel exposed because he said the absolute truth and only the truth and now you’re projecting your embarrassment on him through disdain.”

silence follows her statement.

and staring.

on your part, that is.

“girl,” you blink once, eyebrows arched, “whatever you’re having - i want some.”

that warrants a bout of giggles from said girl before she scoops her last bite of ice cream and hook arms with you as you walk towards the trashcan to dump your empty paper bowls, “no but for real, i like jeongguk-”

“then you date him,” you announce, nodding in approval.

“i like how he brings this... this... fire out of you, you know?” she quizzes to which you shake your head in a ‘no, i don’t know’ kind of manner as she goes on, “and i already have namjoon so,” she sing songs as she starts to skip in the middle of the mall and since your arms are linked together, you end up taking larger steps to accommodate to hers before deciding that you can’t root your feet down to slow her down into a normal pace. so you join her, skipping to the exit where you wait for your uber.

“you guys made up?” the question comes out in a calm, poised manner once you’ve both slipped into the backseat of the uber - you’d like to believe you’re doing a pretty good job on trying to conceal your spiking disbelief and the need to whoop someone’s ass. that someone being a girl who just pledged an oath to choose herself first instead of some man who-

“i texted him and told him how i felt with him cancelling on our plans and when i didn’t get any reply, i turned off my phone and got into bed because i’m not gonna mope over someone who won’t appreciate me,” at that, you give her an approving nod, “but then he came knocking on my door at like 5 in the morning in yesterday’s suit because apparently he has a deadline to meet and he’s been bending over backward trying to finish it on time and he brought his laptop with him too and managed to submit on time after explaining everything. he said he tried calling multiple times but obviously it went to voice mail so... yeah we made up.”

“that’s...” you trail off, only to stare at your friend’s beaming face like she’s just had one of the best facials on earth, “wow, i... i don’t know what to say now that we know he’s not trash.”

“i know,” you feel her pat the back of your hand sympathetically, “and that’s what a man is,” and when she looks at you with eyes that have one goal in her mind, you know not to start listening because the facts are going to bruise your pride and hit the nail on the head more times than you’d-

“liking a boy has more downs than ups but i’m not too worried because you’re a self-loving bitch and i love that for you but kim taehyung is not it,” she says all that with a straight face.

“yeah,” you mumble, thumbs fiddling together as you turn your attention to them as if it’s the most magnifying thing in the world to find out that identical parts of your body could move on their own with just a thought.

“okay, but i swear, he’s so oblivious all the time-” the girl stops short of her lament, you can see her head tilting to peer at you at a slightly different angle as if to see traces of an impostor on you, “wait, what?”

“we got into a fight last night- i don’t know if it’s even a fight but you know how i go off in a tangent when i get like annoyed, right?” you steal a glance at her for half a second before going back to your thumbs, “so i kind of did that to him before the dude announced the cops were coming and we haven’t really talked to each other since then.”

before any of you could say anything else, the sound of a cough echoes in the air, warranting your attention to turn to the driver, a woman in her mid-thirties. you return her smile through the rear-view mirror, “if you don’t mind me saying this - i know you girls are smart as fuck, but you sound just as dumb as that guy - whoever he is because it’s completely normal to get mad at someone you’re crushing on and still have a crush on them but sounds to me like you’re thinking one fight is the end of the world for you.”

“sis, please, don’t encourage her,” jennie talk-whispers as she leans forward just the slightest bit and covers the side of her mouth with her hand.

“well, we’re not really friends,” you begin and jennie groans - you two went over this and agreed to disagree with each other’s wildly contrasting views about crushing on crushes that could crush you but the lady hasn’t heard it so you’re not going to stop lamenting over it, “and whatever i do, it’s like i’m teetering on a tight rope because one wrong move and he probably won’t talk to me ever again and i’m not like miserably crushing on him - like, whatever we are right now - it lets me see him every day and he has the cutest smile and the prettiest fingers- i just - it’s better than not talking to each other forever, you feel?”

“um, don’t i?” she rolls her eyes, as if coming from a place filled with oblivious boys and hopeless crushes.

her name is solar and she does uber as a part time while working 9 to 5 at a firm that she claims to pay better but still not enough for her to save up for her wedding on the side and she and her fiance knew each other since high school but she’s seen him date two girls and get his heartbroken by both before he actually noticed her, the friend that’s always been there for him through his heartbreaks.

coming from someone who isn’t jennie and her alarming obsession with breaking parts of bodies of people who hurt her loved ones, solar’s view is somewhat a mixture of you and your best friend’s which still bases on one simple fact: whatever you say to and about taehyung comes bouncing back at you like a ping pong ball because-

“you have a crush on him and he has a crush on jennie,” she surmises before looking over at the aforementioned girl, “and people with crushes act like idiots- by the way how do you feel- like how do you handle the guy’s advancements and still aren’t awkward with each other because i have never seen...”

when the car rolls to a stop in the parking lot of your faculty, she finally turns to the two of you, her bleached blonde hair framing her face in waves as the silence - on you and jennie’s part as you both share glances at the indicative joke opening - hangs in the air with a sort of tension you can feel.

might even bite back like you did with jeongguk but you’re more in control now.

 “...two pretty best friends who are still best friends when there’s a guy that comes between them.”

“oh thank god,” jennie sighs, laughing and you’re nodding in agreement, “thanks for not-” and your best friend echoes, “yeah,” before you can even finish your sentence, “-saying that cliche joke or like for giving your own twist to it,” waving a dismissive hand, you address her initial worries, “and taehyung doesn’t-”

“he doesn’t-” jennie chimes in.

“-come between us.”

you both say at the same time. 

“oh my god, that’s great, you know my best friend tried sleeping with my fiance behind my back once,” solar crinkles her nose, “wasn’t a good experience but anywho, i’m so glad to see two girls having each other’s back like you guys. makes me want to...”

it’s a few moments later that you finally hand her the money and murmur out appreciations for being such a great uber driver along with some ‘give me five stars! thanks!’ and ‘we will! have a nice one!’

you both part ways in the hallway when you’re supposed to go for marketing and she has to go for personnel management. jimin’s already reserved a seat for you, waving at you to catch your attention which he succeeds splendidly. by the start of the second year, you’ve opted to sit together in classes you have in common, though not as close as the front as you’d like, it’s better than sitting at the back where you can hear the buzz of flies - you mean people, talking.

“are you doing anything this friday night?” jimin asks amidst people zooming out of the class as if they don’t want to be there for longer than a minute after being dismissed.

that, or they have another class to get to on the other side of the campus.

“uh, just me or me and jennie ‘you’?” you dumbly question.

that warrants a chuckle from the boy, “you and jennie... unless you wanna come alone?”

a hum vibrates in your chest as you narrow your eyes at him, as though if you looked close enough, you can see through his skull and right into his thoughts. 

but you can’t so that’s why you’re spouting out another question, “where exactly are you inviting us again?”

“so, like, you know i dance right?” he drops his gaze for the briefest moment before coming back up to lock it with yours, “it’s very lowkey - just something i do for fun, but we kind of have a dance off with other teams every month and this month’s round is this friday night so i was wondering if you wanna come?” then he quickly adds, “with jennie, of course.”

to be frank your weekends are as boring and dull as it gets - the party-busted incident was a rare exception - but you and jennie are quite content with it. you start having more to do and places to venture out to when taehyung and subsequently jimin join your group of two and made it a group of four but for the most part, if you’re not going anywhere, your weekend is usually spent with watching movies and burying yourself in work for the rest of it.

“bet,” your reply might have come a tad bit delayed judging from how his brows rise to the ceiling and his eyes go round as he chirps, “really?” 

“yeah, just text me or jennie the location the day before,” you request as you both walk down the hallway.

“great- yeah, i’ll... i’ll text you the place,” jimin beams even as he bumps into someone behind him, turning around to lower his head and mumble out an oh sorry before turning back to you, “i got another class but i’ll text you- on thursday - not today, of course.”

and you wave back, shouting out an ‘okay bye!’

then he’s gone like the wind.

x

the days pass by like a breeze.

kim taehyung caught you in the middle of waiting for jennie’s class to end whilst also finishing up some work in the library. he knew your favorite spot and he knew where you’d usually be - but you had an inkling that you weren’t exactly the reason why he memorized these little things. he waved at you in greeting and you waved back. you would’ve pretended he didn’t exist after that and go back to your laptop if he didn’t hold up his phone screen with blank white space and blue and grey bubbles on the side.

so of course you picked up your phone, noticing that there were already three wiggling dots when you tapped on his name.

kth: hey

you met his gaze once, as if to affirm that he meant to send it. when he shota half, almost pleading smile, you typed out a reply.

you: hey what’s good

kth: nothing

kth: just waiting for a friend

seeing as there was not really a conversation going on where jennie wasn’t involved and how the boy’s blatant dismissal in addressing the big, giant elephant in the room, taehyung must’ve had seen the way your lips pursed into an irritated pout before his phone vibrated.

you: cool

and then you were back to your laptop, typing sentences out and backspacing because of its incoherent nature, or lack of quality or whatever reason that stopped you from doing your job before kim taehyung’s arrival.

then he started whispering “hey, uh, ____,” from across the table. upper body leaned to the front as if it’d help enunciate his words.

you took your sweet time taking out your airpods from each individual ear and placing them down next to your mac before finally arching a brow at the boy, “what?”

“hey,” he repeated, this time with a frozen mid-wave, “hi, how you doing?”

“great thanks,” there was a minimal effort on your part to disguise your ‘what even?’ expression on your face as you picked up your right airpod first - only to be stopped by the boy’s-

“i’m sorry.”

it’s clean and short but his face made up for conveying his genuinity.

“why are you saying sorry?” it didn’t mean you were going to let him off the hook easy.

“well, because...” he trailed off for the briefest moment but the unconcealable bop of his adam’s apple isn’t really helping him appear any more convincing, “i was being pushy...” he looked to you for an indication of him being on the right track to which you were not sure if he did get any but he still went on with his wits and his will - it took you everything not to gush over how cute he looks with his panic-blinking and pretty lips moving as if to say something but no words coming out, “...and i was generally being an annoying little shit.”

“and?” you pressed on, blinking once as if to paint a look of unbotheredness.

“...and...” he echoes, eyes darting from your phone to somewhere behind you and then something next to it but only silence fills the space between you and him.

“alright, i’m gonna be real with you,” leaning back, you cross your arms over your chest, “i know you talk to me when you need something and i don’t really care - well i do, but i just bottle it up until it one day burst out, you know what i’m saying? so yea, if you’re wondering if that night was me blowing up on you, it kinda was and it wasn’t because you were making small talks with me just to  poke into my best friend’s business - well, it kinda is but like not in that way, you follow? what i mean is.. don’t let me catch you sneaking behind jennie’s back asking personal shits about her that you don’t think she’s going to disclose even if you straight up ask her - that’s sus, taehyung.”

by the end of it, he was staring at you like you had two horns and a tail swaying around behind you. but you concur, that may or may have not been your inner self coming to light - just a hypocrite criticizing someone for doing the things she would have done, if she wasn’t already doing it, if she was in his shoes.

and to be quite frank, taehyung’s shoe size is probably a few inches bigger than yours but if they had laces, you would’ve been able to put them on and tied them up to accommodate your ego.

so taehyung didn’t - couldn’t say anything in response to your second time going off into a tangent and because of what he did, at that. he stopped texting you altogether and only talked to jennie whenever you weren’t around and left before you got to them if he saw you coming his way - jennie’s actually. 

either way, jennie wasn’t as elated as you thought she’d be once you told her that you called taehyung out on his bullshit.

“um, i’ve always wanted to tell him about me and namjoon so he’d give up - you were the one who didn’t let me,” she might or might not have said something along the lines of you making her “lead him on all because you wanted to an eye candy to look at every day.”

“what do you mean?” your forehead was creasing a thousand folds.

“not that i’m pointing fingers,” she went on, eyes glued to the pairs of indoor shoes in the corner of the room and anywhere but your eyes, “but i’m like, cool with or without him around but you sort of said ‘okay, then it’s cool if he comes with us right?’ and you were making puppy eyes and i couldn’t no to that-”

and so you were laughing dryly, “aha- wha- what so it’s my fault that he’s being a total wuss and won’t square up?”

“i didn’t say that,” jennie’s reply came a heartbeat later which meant yes, it was.

so now you’re not talking to your best friend and neither are you talking to the boy who’s crushing on her. which leaves you a lot of free time to finish up your work in time to hop into a bullet train and then an uber and get to the building where jimin’s dance off is held. 

you’re in the middle of texting the boy a ‘sorry, might b late. i didn’t know there’d be a line 😭’ when a figure comes up to you from the corner of your eye.

fitted in black jeans and matching tucked in t that shows off his slender waist and beanie, the only thing that isn’t black is probably his white-yellow timberlands, “so you weren’t kidding when you said you were gonna leave me on read.”

“you know, it’s so cute that you think you’re worth the reply at all,” you blink, eyes going wide and jaw hanging loose from shock, “this... this... confidence - where do you get it? seriously, tell me because i have never seen someone with such immaculate self-absorbance.”

jeongguk’s head moves as he nods in admittance, hands buried in his pocket before he looks up at you. that familiar glint in his eyes is telling you that whatever he has up his sleeve, you’re not going to be able to refuse.

“you know, eugene over there and i are homies,” he nods towards the burly tall man at the front who’s mainly the reason there’s a line in the first place - one that no one seems to dare cut, “i could get you in faster.”

“oh my god, look what that self-absorbance’s got you believing,” you put one, sympathetic hand on his shoulder as your free hand goes to cover the spot on your chest where your heart is, “i’m so happy for you,” you glance over to the not-declining-anytime-soon line behind you, “but sometimes, even confidence can’t get you into invites-only events.”

 to any other person, it must’ve looked like you and jeongguk are friends - friendly acquaintances hitting best buddies at the very least. but something in the way his grin curling sweetly on his lips and the curve of the half ringlet of his hair touching the corners of his onyx eyes, makes your toes curl inwardly and your stomach churn with a sort of emotion you can’t pinpoint.

and because of that, you know there won’t be any sort of friendship forming between you and jeongguk.

he leaves you with an amused smirk and a “see you inside,” and marches up to eugene, the two sharing an uncomplicated handshake before the man steps to the side and lets him in.

well. 

it takes you another ten minutes of standing in line and assuring jimin that he doesn’t need to rush out and risk having his team go without him when their turn comes. which according to jimin, ‘isn’t anytime soon - they let the bigger teams go first’.

but then jimin knowing jimin, that probably meant soon enough.

when you’re finally on the front of the line, crumpled up ticket in hand, eugene gives you a once over and nods at his not-as-burly-but-just-as-scary-looking friend.

“follow me,” and with that, she struts in through the door but instead of going down the hallway like the ones before you did before they disappear from eyesight in the corner, she takes a sharp turn to the right until she stops in front of an elevator.

her deep violet hair brushes against her cheekbones as she nods at the empty box with mirrors all around.

yeesh, guess everyone expresses themselves with their bodies here.

the numbers constantly change from ground level to 1 to 2 and finally stops at the 3rd floor where the blare of the music seems to come from. and that’s when you see the black haired boy who has his forearms leaned against the railing as he grins at something on the bottom floor where the shouts and cheers seem to erupt from. but before you can make a sharp 180 to go back down where jimin said you’d only need to follow the hallway and take the turn around the corner like the people before you did, jeongguk looks up as if sensing the heat of your gaze drilling holes inside his head. with one hand raised, he beckons you over.

“your majesty,” you drop into a bow once you reach him, “this humble servant thanks you for bringing her here but,” pointing your thumb over your shoulder at the hallway you just came from you continue, “i think i’m on the wrong floor because all i can see here is flocks of hair - an oh, shiny scalp from that guy - arms flailing around. takes away the magic of dance, you feel?”

“so you’re here for jimin.” it doesn’t sound like a question - so it must not be. a ponderous hum vibrate from his chest as you shoot him an arched brow whilst your insides burst like fireworks at the way his darkened eyes traces down your body and back up after he’s done with what seems to be a scout’s assessment.

“no leather pants and no best friend or heartbreak boy hovering around like a lost puppy - let me guess, he did something that made you mad, the best friend backed him up and now you’re mad at both of them?” he raises his own brow, lips curling into an assured smirk, “oh and jimin here’s probably taking a neutral stance because it ‘doesn’t concern’ him.”

you don’t know if you want to run away or grab the neck of his shirt and smack your lips on his.

so you settle with handguns pointed in his face, “alright, catch you never.”

but before you can even take a step to where you came from, jeongguk’s laying out his card on the table, “you sure bout that? it’s bulleproof boys’ turn - it’s jimin’s teams name, in case you’re wondering and judging by who they’re going against, it might be their first and last performance for the night.”

“i knew that,” respectfully, you had no idea that the teams have specific names besides the alphabetical letters given to them upon registration.

jimin’s only mentioned dance match once and that he’s in team c that’ll go against team d.

so you stick around, watching from all the way on the third floor where the lest people are gathered, cheering out names of teams that are alien to your ears which seem to be the team jimin is going against. but the fact that jimin could dance with such precision and grace is magnifying enough. he’s mostly posed on either sides of the formation, switching from the front left to the furthest back line on the right side as the beat drops.

jimin’s name pours out of your mouth in cheers but it’s swallowed by the other cheers before it can even reach him. in the end, jimin’s team loses. they still go up to their opponent and share handshakes and sidehugs before moving away from the dance floor.

he’s not smiling nor is he frowning as he stands in the crowd after the prelims but his lips curl and eyes disappear into crescents when he sees you.

“hey!” his arms open up into a hug, only to stop halfway in hesitation but by then you’re already wrapping yours around his neck with a “you were so cool!”

and just like that, the awkwardness in the air dissipates.

“i didn’t see you in the crowd.”

“so what? you thought i left?” a light smack lands on his arm, “by the way, you didn’t tell me it was this intense - i can feel the tension from all the way...” you pause for the briefest moment, “...in the audience.”

“everyone here just likes to dance so it gets competitive at some point but at the end of the day, it’s important to have fun,” he shrugs, a shy smile plastered to his face.

“either way you did great,” you bump his elbow with yours, and he shifts his weight to his left foot.

“we lost but it was a fair match the bts people were too good,” a mixture of regret and contentedness crosses his face as he nods to himself, as if admitting the difference in skills.

“let’s get a drink later, i’m buying,” you propose and jimin looks like a kid who just received his favorite candy.

well, that was the plan for the rest of the night up until the winner was announced. then a boy no older than you and jimin came up to the latter, arms slung over his shoulders, “dude, beyond the scene just asked if we wanna join them at the afterparty. can you believe it?”

“dude, you capping - don’t fucking joke with men man, i was about to shit my pants-” jimin attempts to shove the guy away half-heartedly which does nothing as his friend - teammate, cuts him off.

“i’m not fucking joking, man, behind the scenes literally asked if we wanna chill with them!”

the two boys are basically shoving each other back and forth before they start slapping each other on the face once to wake the other up. whoever this behind the scenes guys, they seem like a pretty big deal if two grown adults are fanboying this hard about them.

only after they’re sporting the faintest shade of pink on their right cheeks, do they finally realize that they weren’t squeal-whispering by themselves. he introduces himself as kai - “jimin’s best friend and mentor.”

“he likes to say that because i got into dance because of him,” jimin adds, debunking the mentor myth.

you’re about to wave the two goodbye and call it a night since it’s pretty clear that the behind the scenes guys only invited them and not their friends.

“come with us,” kai announces as the three of you walk down the back entrance where it’s less crowded and meant for the participants to use, “baekhyun can’t make it so we’ll still be five people.”

“i really should go- it’s getting late and my place is in seoul-”

and so begin your war of apologies and ‘no, you’s.

“oh shit, i forgot.” jimin’s usually almond-shaped eyes turn round and wide, “you used the subway-”

“yeah, but i can still catch the last train home-” you try to assure.

“i’ll accompany you back-”

“no, no - you should go with them-”

“no, i made you come to watch-”

and it would have gone on until morning if you and jimin were left to argue on who should do what if kai didn’t clap his hands together and put an end to the long debate, “okay, okay, break it up.”

he looks between the blonde haired best friend and then to you, “jimin came with me so i’m gonna drive him back anyway and i could drop you off too after chilling with bts - it’s nothing you’re not used to, beers and games and shits, you know? plus it’ll be like, less than 20 people there - bts never invites other groups into their circle - who knows, maybe you’ll find your true way like jimin did,” he pats the aforementioned man on his shoulder whilst jimin rolls his eyes at the way best friends who’ve heard their best friend boast about an-untruth for the umpteenth time.

and because you basically made another friend and that means you’ll have at least 2 people to hang out with if the rest turns out not to be your kind of people - so you cave in, “okay, sure, why not?”

x

'why not’s are subjective - or so you’d like to think.

like when you’re not particularly into americano and prefer latte but wouldn’t say no to having the first if jennie mixed up your order and bought you your not-so-favored but also not-so-hated drink.

but jennie’s known you since she shoved you off the swings at five after you outran her only to get to the swings faster because only one was vacant and the other kid was already in the other one.

so she’d know your preferred drinks.

but in the event she suddenly has amnesia or anything and got you and americano, that’s when you’ll go, “why not?”

but that and finding out that jeongguk used to be part of bts until he hurt his during practice, having to have 2 major surgeries because of it, rendering him no longer able to dance so he’s only going to the dance offs to cheer for his friends which was how he met you at the entrance and now you’re handcuffed together (and yes, again) in the middle of the forest - are two disparate things altogether.

hoseok, the most outgoing and friendliest of the bunch, suggested for the ice breaking to be in a form of 2 beer bottles and a sort of rope or chain tying people from bts and the bulletproof people together to talk for five minutes. they only have 2 pairs of cuffs so the others that lack them have to make do with bandanas and you think a seokjin got harassed into taking off his shirt and using it as him and his designated partner’s pseudo handcuff.

yours and jeongguk’s are - you’re not sure if it’s a fortunate or unfortunate thing - real ones (you’re not sure if you want to know why and how seulgi easily pulls out a pair of fluffy pink handcuffs and a normal-looking one - out of the blue).

but you’re almost sure that you’re leaning on the side of the internal argument of this - this, right here - is why not.

“why didn’t you text me back?” jeongguk is in the middle of asking as you take a big chug of the alcoholic beverage.

"oh my god,” you let a pleased smile tug at your lips as you feel the buzz of the alcohol coursing through your system, “i was just gonna talk to you about that - jennie said i was being a ghosting b because you only said facts and i got like, offended without a reason but i agree that people can be wrong sometimes and that was her time... i just...” you shrug, “i just didn’t want to text you back so i didn’t,” you look at him with a new found familiarity, “anyways, how was your week?”

by the end of it, jeongguk’s nodding and poorly suppressing his smirk.

“well, let me start first,” you begin before he can even say anything, listing down the happenings in a chronological order which may or may have not confirmed his initial assumption on why you’re here alone “...i mean, was it my fault though? between you and me, i think jennie and i need to sit down and actually talk about accountabilities first, you know? but anyway, that’s how my week went! how about you, how was your week?”

to say that your turmoil of a week is anything close to a laugh-worthy joke, would be a lie but for some reason, trickles of laughter are escaping jeongguk’s lips and into the night air as he leans back, holding his stomach. he would’ve hit the ground if you’d poke him.

“wow,” you slowly nod, “that’s... that’s very... flattering that you think my somewhat a quarter life crisis is amusing,” a grin stretches across your face but your eyes drill holes into the boy’s skull, “maybe i should just quit uni altogether. that’d be... exciting, right? just... quit uni and live a life as a comedian because look at how much i’m cracking you up right now!”

and it goes on for another minute of jeongguk’s laughter filling the air as you threaten him to stop in the guise of encouragement besides the cracking of the branches as it gets swallowed up by the fire in the barrel not too far away from where everyone’s scattered.

“god,” when he’s finally reduced to chuckles and wiping invisible tears off the corner of his eyes, you’re about halfway done with your bottle.

“and he’s back,” you announce, “welcome back. can’t say i missed you though but glad that you’re back with us.”

but before jeongguk can get a word out about his own week which you’d asked, if only to be polite, hoseok is already summoning everyone to gather around the barrel as he raises a bottle in the air to - “new groupship and friends!”

or so you think he said.

you’re not too sure because you’re too busy demanding jeongguk to - “uncuff me right now, jeon - was that too pushy? let me try again,” you pause, clearing your throat, “can you please, please, please, uncuff me so i can go back to my friends and not have to stay here a minute longer?”

“don’t act like you don’t enjoy my company,” he offers you one of his self-assured smirks before addressing your concern, “i’m trying,” he says simply, free hand patting around the pocket on the side of his jeans before groping his own ass.

“um, maybe try harder?” you suggest, smiling sweetly but it downturns into a frown not even a minute later when he declares, “i can’t find it.”

“you... can’t find it?” you echo his words.

“it’s not on me,” he states.

“well, did seulgi give it to you at all or...” you trail off only to be met by a devious smirk which doesn’t exactly help his case.

“guess you’re stuck with me,” he shrugs ever so easily.

“oh, hell nah,” and that’s when you latch onto to smirking boy’s body - on your hands at least, and since his left hand and your right hand are cuffed together, it doesn’t allow much room for your physical inspection which is how using your only free hand to get to the side of his pocket that’s farthest from you - may appear suspicious to others.

you only notice that you’re fully facing jeongguk and having your back turned to everyone else when hoseok’s voice cuts through the air, “yo hold up, hold up, hold up - this is bonfire and chill, not netflix and chill.”

your jaws hurt from hanging a bit too low as you meet each and everyone’s eyes, their giggling and laughing already telling enough of what the majority thinks - everyone except jimin, that is.

but you’re a bit too preoccupied with trying to clear the supposed air of you and jeongguk getting it on in the middle of the forest with both your friends and his around, “aha,” you force out, “i know this,” free hand waving between the chain linking your wrists and the open air which isn’t helping your case because jeongguk’s poor attempt at subduing his smirk is well, poor, “might look sus to you but it isn’t - jeongguk lost the key and if someone could help us find it, it’d-”

“oh, don’t worry, i have a spare at home,” seulgi chirps up, hand waving her illuminated phone, “i’ll text my girlfriend to bring it here.”

well, that explains the fluffy cuffs.

“sick,” jeongguk nods over to the girl to which she holds up an ‘okay’ sign and a meaningful smile to him which shouldn’t be ominous but is.

so you fix him a stare when hoseok goes to say something along the line of ‘great’ and ‘lifesaver’ to seulgi.

which the boy only asks back with a “what?”

“i have something to say but i’m not gonna so i’m just gonna keep quiet but just know that i’m watching you,” but the warning doesn’t exactly bring out the intimidating aspect that you hoped for.

“watch all you want, i’m yours for tonight,” the velvety sound of his chuckles is awfully distracting because you don’t even notice the chain clinking until his fingers interlock yours before he brings them up in the air - as if to emphasize on the technicality of his titillating claim.

the night goes on with bottles of beers scattering over the ground, faint smoke dissipating into the air as the scent of something sweet and fruity wafts around whilst the juul gets passed around.

once in a while someone’s laugh echoes between the gaps of the trees and into the night, amidst the sound of woodland creatures. you’ve downed one and a half bottle of henny whilst jeongguk doesn’t seem to have gone past even half of his first bottle. but he’s chuckling and laughing at something someone said which, for the most part, is funny or warrant a jaw-dropping, pin-drop-silence kind of reaction just like now as seulgi confesses to-

“never have i ever slept with my mom’s boyfriend at 19.”

“and that’s on mommy issues,” you hold up a beer in a ‘cheers’ manner at her whilst she mimics your action before you both tilt your head up and take a chug out of your individual beers at the same time.

“what about you?” jeongguk asks and for a moment, you forget that there are people around because jeongguk’s eyes look like someone reached up the sky and handpicked two stars each for his irises and trap them in there like a class case.

but you’d like to believe it’s the alcohol doing its rightful work in your system because you’re back on the ground with an unrelenting itch on your ankle where it’s brushing against the blades of grass.

“yea, what’s your never-have-i-ever mommy issues edition?” kai speaks up.

“nah, it’s wack,” you wave a dismissive hand but end up agreeing to spill the beans when a bout of protest spreads across your ever so faithful audience.

“okay, okay, never have i ever fucked my biological mom’s husband who isn’t my dad,” you say which earns a bout of cheers and ‘that’s messed up’s before seokjin claps his hands together.

“never have i ever...” he pauses, grinning as an added suspense before he goes on, “fucked my brother’s boyfriend.”

the game doesn’t last for long when everyone collectively agree to take the atmosphere up a notch and play strip truth or dare. but before your turn came, seulgi announces her girlfriend’s arrival concurrently with her having to leave for the night because she’s her ride home. and because you and jeongguk are both of the same mind that you’re the ones that should be following after her to get yourselves uncuffed, you do just that. 

yeri is a sweetheart and matches seulgi’s playful yet reserved nature. they take the cuffs with them and seulgi waves you two goodbye with the same, meaningful smile directed to jeongguk - but if that’s not enough, the ‘good luck’ thumbs up is a screaming red button for you.

but before you can even call him out for his possible hand in convincing his dance friends to invite jimin’s and consequently you to the forest after the match - he beats you to it.

“you okay?” this time, his features are lacking the smirk.

“yea, why wouldn’t i be?” you say, hopping on the rail of the train track that’ll lead to the spot where the others are - so far, you’re doing a good job not falling to your demise.

“i don’t know,” the scraping sound of his soul kicking against the pebbly ground fills the air as he walks next to you, hands in his pocket, “you’ve been pretty quiet after that thing about your mom.”

“you think what i did was messed up?” you inquire, resisting the urge to steal a glance at him to see what kind of emotion he’s making - whether it’s contorted with disgust or whether his nose is crinkling at an attempt to appear unbothered or whether there really isn’t any judgments being passed and he’s just downcasting his eyes because he’s looking out for possible sharp objects protruding from the ground.

“everyone’s a little messed up,” his shoulderline shakes as he shrugs, “it’s the why behind it that counts.”

“nah,” your hair tickles your face as you shake your head in blatant refutation, “i didn’t have a reason.”

and just when you expect a disgusted scoff to erupt from jeongguk’s pink lips... it doesn’t.

“that works too.”

silence follows his words for the longest moment with you trying placing one foot in front of the other, pretending like teetering on that tightrope you’re stuck on with kim taehyung at the end of it, not even waiting for you but just happen to be there.

so you break the silence, “i finally found her last year - flew all the way to jeju  because my biological aunt saw my the post i put up on facebook in a last ditch attempt before i hire a private investigator like my dads suggested. she set us up to meet,” the picture of a woman who’s so similar yet dissimilar to you flashes at the back of your head, a biscoff cheesecake slice lying untouched on the table and someone screaming at the top of their lungs right in front of your ears, “my biological mom didn’t know anything about it, flipped out and told me to never bother her again so i looked up where her husband worked and slept with him and sent the video to her.”

jeongguk doesn’t say anything, only nodding in your periphery before a soothing kind of silence lapses between you.

“what’s your story?” you ask a moment later.

“hm?” he glances at you, the moonlight shining over that smirk that you’ve come to miss in the course of the five minutes it went missing, skin painted a creamy white.

“if you don’t wanna tell, that’s fine too but like, you basically tore down my walls and i’m naked as hell - figuratively -” you add as soon as his eyes light up, “right now.” 

but then he tries to bargain, “promise you’ll text me back and i’ll tell.”

and you try to teeter in the grey area between words and its meanings, “alright, promise... i won’t leave you on read.”

“nah, you gotta promise to text back,” his half curls sway as he shakes his head - your end of the bargain not sufficiently satisfying.

it’s a few moments after your surrendering, “you know what? keep your skeletons in your closet - i’m good,” that he finally says something.

“i used to do tracks, lucked out with a sports scholarship but by freshman year in college, realized i didn’t even like tracks and dropped out...”

jeongguk’s parents weren’t happy about it - didn’t exactly welcome him when he came back with a suitcase and a letter from his unversity claiming the outstanding balance of his first two semesters. but he wasn’t happy at home either. 

so he packed his bags one more time and took the first train to seoul where he worked part time at a restaurant and occasionally at the dance off’s, before he found the beyond the scene people and subsequently found dance. that was amidst of a developer of the game he was playing approaching him through the game’s chat server and offering him a job to test out their games with the condition that he gets a degree in computer science which they paid for on the company’s scholarship fund.

and so it was obvious that jeon jeongguk, wherever he chooses to go and stop at, blooms like a wildflower that strives in any condition thrown in his face whether it be a storm, a hurricane or a sunny weather that barely allows any rain to cover the soil he’s rooted in.

and because he’s true to himself, it isn’t as unbelievable, when almost everyone - from every layer of backgrounds, flock around him like honeybees in spring - allured, magnified and bewitched by jeon jeongguk that makes him... well, him.

to say you understand him a little bit better may be an overstatement but maybe you’re less suspicious of his keen intuition and uncanny prognosis of what happened in your relationships, both with your friend and your not-so-friendly crush.

jeongguk jests that his leg “doesn’t work like it used to but-” - he’s been to places. seen people.

“so why are you obsessed with me?” you question into the night in a light hearted joke, “i mean, i can possibly see why because well, i’m... me and i’m amazing but you know, it’s not healthy to be this obsessed with people.”

his chuckles sounds like wind chimes on a spring day, "besides the fact that i was too busy being a tracks nerd for most of my life so i have zero flirting skills and decided to make all the calls that seem to irritate the one person i want to get to know? it’s because you looked like you were head over heels with the guy you were putting in place but still managed to not make it personal.”

it takes a moment for you to digest what he just said, and even then, you’re nodding in complete disagreement as you blurt out, “pretty sure some parts were personal,” and you turn to him with a smile stretched over your face, “but glad that you don’t think i’m the impostor.”

so you stop twenty steps away from where you can see the fire in the barrel and hoshi, one of the guys from bulletproof boys, standing in boxers and shouting an oath before gulping down a bottle of henny at an alarming rate.

“everyone’s a little sus now and then,” he refutes, nose crinkling as a grin spread across his moon-kissed features as he offers you his hand and you take it, hopping off your tightrope journey and onto grounding earth.

x

when morning comes, you wake up to the familiar but not-very-welcomed sound of cars honking from outside your window and the light piercing through your eyelids, so much so, you surrender to the start of the day. arms stretched over your head and a guttural sound vibrating within your chest as a sign of protest before your vision finally gets used to the bright sunny rays.

and that’s when you freeze. arms stretched and all.

“after all this, you can’t say no to a date with me,” jeon jeongguk is lying right next to you, in your one-person bed which you could never imagine would fit more than your need-for-maximum-space self when you sleep but there he is, in yesterday’s clothes, hugging your light pink alpaca plushie on his stomach whilst his elbow which you don’t notice before is poking into your rib.

the events of last night untangle in a web of hazed memory coming to high definition as each passing second pass by.

you and jimin live on the opposite ends of the city which made you reluctant in having kai drive you back at all, so jeongguk offered to split the uber bills with you because apparently, “oh, hey, we live in the same area!”

which later turned out you didn’t and it would’ve made more sense for him to hitch a ride with kai and jimin. but you didn’t even need to ask why he did what he did.

because by the time you and jeongguk returned, it’d been a set-in-stones assumption that you were off making out somewhere under a tree and everyone cheered you and him for it upon your return.

well, except jimin.

so you pulled jeongguk to the side once the attention was directed to hoseok whose dare was to lick the grass he was stepping on.

“is that thing about jimin liking me true because he’s been like, avoiding my eyes the whole night and now he’s acting like i don’t exist and i’m pretty concerned because his friend is my ride home,” you whispered underneath your beath.

jeongguk threw one, confirming glance at the aforementioned man before nodding casually, “he’s jealous as fuck because he thinks we did the do - cross my heart and hope to die.”

so you ended up offering jeongguk to sleep in your bed because it was already late and it felt like a waste to spend another thirty bucks to go back to a place where nobody was waiting for him anyway.

you were so beat, you’d fallen asleep as soon as jeongguk pulled your protesting self off the futon-splayed floor and held you captive in your own bed.

“you know what? i might as well,” you say, legs thrown off the bed and stretching some more before looking down at the smiling, plushie-holding, grown ass person in your bed, “now we need to figure out how to sneak you out because this is a girls-only dorm and if they found out i have a guy over, i might get expelled.”

but before you can even start brainstorming the best possible route for jeongguk to sneak out without being detected, an obnoxious rapping reverberates against your door. the look of pure horror settling in as jeongguk’s smile melts into a wide-eyed, panicked face would have been adorable if you’re not in the middle of shoving him into your “quick, in the closest!” which he needs to hunch his shoulders to become as small as possible before you can close it whilst you yelp out a “just a minute!”

by the time you manage to school a smile on your face, jennie’s is already sprinkled with a dust of red as her brows come together, judging your choice of outfit and the events that went down last night.

“hey, girl,” you drag out the first word in idle panic, body leaning against the doorframe a little too defensively, “what’s...” you can’t even find the right words as you tap your fingers against the doorframe before finally saying, “what’s good?”

but one questioning look from her and you’re stepping out of the way, left to stand at attention like a cadet in the presence of the general whilst said general struts into your room and scans it once before turning to you.

“’what’s good?’” jennie echoes and you know from the way her head does the slightest of movements according to her enunciation, “imagine seeing your best friend on some mutual friend’s snapchat story which mind you, said mutual friend isn’t anywhere close to either of you and the time in the snap says a big whooping 4:03 am while you’re here feeling bad for hurting her feelings with your words words. but does she feel bad? well, it doesn’t flipping look like she even gave any thoughts about you, did it?”

and that’s when the closet decides that it’s had enough of storing a full grown human in its belly and slowly, but surely swings the door open with thunderous creak in the midst of the calm before the storm. and lo and behold, a jeon jeongguk, still hugging your alpaca tightly, keeping his eyes closed as if it’ll make him invisible before he gradually screws one eye open to the sight of a raging but confused  jennie kim and a mortified you turning to said girl.

so much for keeping skeletons in closets.

“i-i can explain.”

x

it turns out all it takes for jennie’s anger to subside is for her to find a boy in your room. namely the boy she’s been blatantly shipping you with even though you barely knew each other then.

“i have a wig in my room,” she suggests after you’ve exhausted all options - jeongguk can’t climb through the window and jump down from the second floor.

“well, he can but there’s no guarantee he’ll be able to leave without one of his limbs intact,” you’d added, shrugging.

he’s sitting crossed leg on your bed, alpaca in his lap and looking cute as hell as his eyes go round at the mention of a wig and five minutes prior, crossdressing.  the plan is for you and jennie will walk him out once he’s all dresed up like you’re just three - well, one is kind of buffed up but still pretty - best friends who had a girls’ night and crashed in your room.

he whistles lowly, head lulling to the side as he stares at the door before turning to you with a playful smile, “i’ve always wanted to wear a skirt.”

and so it goes, jennie kim’s squealing and making a short trip to her room and returning with a bag full of wig, stretchable sweaters and lycra skirts whilst she scours through your closet for clothes that you have but don’t even remember. the oversized sweater that’s a few more inches too big for you wraps around his body tightly and the skirt is a tad bit too short for him, going down to a few inches above the knee. but the head turner is the way the curly brown wig gracefully frames his face and softens his jawline, giving an illusion of how his half-ringlet would have looked if he grew them out.

you apply the soft pink lipgloss on his already rosy lips as a joke in a guise of a final touch, heart skipping as his lips curl whilst he gazes at you the whole time you’re putting on the glimmering liquid.

“okay, i feel bad,” you confess, shoulder line falling, “i thought you’d hate the lipgloss and i was going say it’s important to make the look work if you said no but you’re not saying no and you’re looking at me like you’d trust me with your life...” a sigh rolls off your lips at the end of it.

“you feel bad?” he echoes, glossed lips looking kissable as hell - it doesn’t even matter that he’s smirking like it was part of his plan all along to manipulate your conscience into confessing your ulterior motive.

so you nod.

“good,” he states simply.

“you saying good like you’re satisfied that you managed to pick on my guilty conscience is making me feel less guilty,” you narrow your eyes, not even bothering to hide the smile creeping on your lips.

“oh my god, my ship is sailing!” jennie’s whispered squeal cuts through the air before she reverts to her deadpanned self, “okay but seriously, if you’re done sprinkling sugar cubes all over the place, i think we should get jeongguk out before miss snitchery sonyeon next door sniffs the man in jeongguk and snitch on us.”

sonyeon has been known for reporting 2 boy-sneaking activities that went on last year which would have been justified if the girls that brought the boys into their room was doing questionable things and loudly at that but the first incident was with a late enrolled newbie that just moved in and didn’t know that boys weren’t allowed inside and though the other girl did sneak her boyfriend in, it was only because he was bleeding profusely and needed first aid treatment which she stored in her room.

you’re just about a few feet away from the double doors when a familiar but disembodied voice drums in your ears.

“you three, stop right there.”

you think your heart stops working for the briefest moment as time freezes and you’re craning your head to look at jennie whose fear-stricken face mimics yours and then jeongguk whom you don’t expect to wear such ceases in his forehead.

so you do the one thing that you think of-

“run.” you whisper.

all of a sudden, the wind is in your face and a few heads turn your way - but you doubt that it has more to do with how unfairly gorgeous jeongguk looks than the fact that the ra is on your tail, her pitched demands for ‘someone stop them!’ whilst. you’re not sure if someone did try to chase after you or if the adrenaline pumping in your system is what helps you sprint faster than a cheetah but when you finally slow down, almost skidding to a stop on the grass somewhere on campus grounds instead of the dormitory area - it’s because jennie is dramatically breathing through her mouth and found herself a bench to put on an act of dying whale.

“you guys... go on... leave me be...” she croaks out in between breaths, hand reaching out to the air.

“dude, tell me if you’re gonna stop so we can stop and get caught together,” you guff, plopping down, your state no better than jennie’s while jeongguk shakes his head at the two of you.

not even a beat of sweat or heaved breathing coming from him - not to mention that-

“how are you the fastest-” you suck in a much needed breath, “-when your leg doesn’t work as good anymore?”

“yea, didn’t say i can’t run,” he grins.

“jen, let’s go,” you say, tapping the dying whale on her shoulder as she starts wailing words of saddened goodbyes.

“forsake me! save yourselves!” she wheezes, staring into nothingness before waving a dismissive hand, “no for real, i don’t think they’re gonna chase us all the way here. you guys go, i have a date anyway, i’ll text kim,” it’s the name you coined for namjoon whenever you talk about him in public, “to pick me up here.”

a year ago, you would have called her a brave fool for having her boyfriend slash professor that’s teaching at the same university - pick her up in plain sight. but once you saw the unfamiliar ferrari roll to a stop in front of the dorms with tinted black windows, you understand why they can be as free and uncaring as they are.

“you sure? what if they saw you here?” you question, needles of doubt still deeply pierced into your racing heart.

but when she looks at you with arched brows and a familiar couldn’t-care-less attitude, you know nothing you say can change her mind which helps ease the knots in your stomach by a lot.

so you cave in, waving her goodbye - but not before the scarring ‘we still need to talk though’ reminder - and going back to the tall, brown haired person who’s holding his left hand midair and wiggling his fingers about in what you think is a parodic depiction of how girls wave at each other while mouthing a nasally, higher-pitched “thank you so much for helping us.” 

one minute into the walk, you stop in front of the cafe you’re used to having lunch at with your group of 4 - if there’s even any group left after this, “so this kim guy - he’s way older isn’t he?” 

“if you’re all knowing, you wouldn’t end that sentence with a question,” you assert, “so i’m not gonna say anything.”

“that’s a yes then,” he nods. 

“i think we lost them,” you say, a tad too late but pretend to look around anyway like you’re not 200% sure of that fact.

to any outsiders, you’ll probably look like two girls standing three feet apart from each other, looking out in a distance.

“nice,” jeongguk nods, joining in your scouting party before he squints his eyes at something in the most casual manner before suggesting, “so... you wanna go on a date?”

x

“you think we lost them?” you whisper under your breath, worry filling your chest as you throw your gaze over somewhere at the end of the alleyway where flashes of red and blue lights passed by.

but before the black cladded boy can say anything, his lips smack together as he and you both press yourselves flat to the wall as the sound of radio static bounces into the narrow space you’ve found yourselves in. six months after your first date, which involves a crossdressing jeongguk and a day at a park that had you returning to the dorm with a giant teddy bear and a strip of photo you took from the booth comprising the multiple personalities embodied in one person from sassy to stare-into-the camera-intimidating face to him looking down and shyly peeking through his pushed back curls - you’ve gone on multiple other dates.

none of which can be considered normal because you’ll always end up in a sticky situation like you are now.

on your second month, you found out that jeon jeongguk not only has a stable  income for literally playing games while trying to balance out his education but he also paints and draws.

on your third month, you go on your first mural-painting-in-the-middle-of-the-night-dressed-as-robbers date to which ended pretty well with the two of you getting hungry and having ramen at a 24 hour convenience store. so the mural painting becomes a monthly routine.

jimin finds out about it somewhere down the line and broke out into the most heartwarming smile while teasing you about how “the singles lost another one,” as he shook his head in dismay. but things went back to normal for the most parts. taehyung talks to you more now. he apologized for having only treated you like someone useful to him when he needed something and found that you have more in common than you think.

like how you’re decently informed about the greatest artists of all time - all because jeongguk was telling you about them whilst you chill at his place on days you don’t feel like going out but still want to spend time together. jeongguk, later found out that his supply of artistic information was what led to you and taehyung’s improving friendship and offers to become your spokesperson by having you invite taehyung to a cafe so he can pour his abundance of knowledge in the fine arts of painting - “since he’s so interested in van gogh, you know what i mean?”

he even finished it with a tilt of his head and an sassy ‘ugh.”

“i think we gotta run,” jeongguk’s declarations doesn’t have you arching your eyebrows and looking at him in an ‘are you for real?’ kind of manner.

it could be because you’re so used to running from law enforcement now.

or maybe because jeongguk showed you the world through his eyes. doesn’t mean it’s any less terrifying - the thought of being caught and shoved behind the bars whilst they included it in your records. but hey, at least, you’re no strangers to handcuffs.

“on one,” you say and he nods, hand squeezing yours as if saying i’ll never let them get you.

“three,” you begin, eyes fixed on the stars in jeongguk’s gaze, “two,” jeongguk breathes in deeply, “one.”

run.

x

note. i hope you guys enjoyed reading!! and if you want anything similar to this kind of style, i have one more college au. the second part of that one is my pinned post which also has a link to the first part. if you’re curious why i’m not gonna link or name it is because i’m convinced that tumblr literally makes anything that’s linked or mentioned it blocked for some reason idk.

but anyways, thank you for reading!!

[justkending]

The Number One Rule. Chapter 15.

Summary: Y/N has always been seen as “Steve’s rambunctious sister.” However, she grew up, graduated, and moved to London to study abroad for 4 years and get her bachelor's degree. The girl that returns looks nothing like the teenager that left, but don’t worry the attitude is still there and stronger than ever. What’s to come of the two grown adults that used to push each other's buttons, but now have a lot more in common than they’ve ever realized.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Y/N Rogers (Steve’s little sister)

Word Count: 3100+

A/N: Ladies and gentleman. This is in one of my top 3 chapters I’ve written in this series. The next one being my number 1;) I hope you enjoy and I would love any and all feedback you are willing to share!! xoxoxo

Chapter Fifteen:

Eventually when Bucky had snapped out of his thoughts, Y/N had long fallen asleep on him. He smiled down at her with a sad smile. One filled with remorse for everything she had gone through, but pride in how she handled it and didn’t let it destroy her. At least not to the extent that a lot of people get into.

She had years to do that, whereas Bucky was fresh on the subject. It would take him time to move on from that for her. He couldn’t help but feel hate for himself knowing exactly what party she was talking about. 

It was one of the few he and Steve didn’t attend. They had planned on it, but Dot wanted a quiet night in, and Steve just didn’t feel like it or something. It had been a while since that party, so he didn’t remember intricate details. 7 years to be exact. And the only reason he could guess which one it was, was because of how she acted after it. A whole month of depression and guilt she sat with and it showed. For the last 7 years Y/N had carried that with her. The only person she trusted to tell to this day was Beck. Now he was the other. 

He gathered her up in his arms, and she drowsily threw her own over his shoulders and hung on in a sleepy daze as he brought her up the stairs. He laid her in her bed, turned on her fan, and tucked her in. 

But as he stood to go back downstairs, her hand clasped around his. 

“Where y’ going?” she asked. The wine was playing a big part in the sleepiness and he could tell by her weak squeeze to his hand. 

“I’m just going to clean up downstairs. I’ll be back up in a second, sweetheart,” she nodded before giving him another squeeze to his hand and pulling the bed covers up to her cheeks. He smiled at her cute self and bent down kissing her forehead. He moved the strands of hair they fell over her eyes and studied her for a second. 

Eventually, he pulled away and went to do what he said. Popcorn kernels trashed and bowls cleaned. Leftover wine in the fridge and beer bottles recycled. He folded the blankets on the couch and set the pillows back in their original arrangement. Lastly, he went and checked to make sure all the doors were locked for the night. He had spent the night there enough to do a lock up without issues. 

Coming back upstairs, he changed into his own pajamas and snuck into the other side of the bed. Careful not to wake her, he gently and ever so softly, pulled her back to him. In her sleep, she turned to where they were face to face. Curling into his chest in comfort, trying to get as close as she could. 

He couldn’t hold in the chuckle that rumbled through his chest as she nuzzled under his chin. He ran his hand up and down her back and noticed her body relaxing with each stroke. He was glad he had that effect on her. It was the least he could offer after not being there for her in those hard times.

Now when he held her, he wasn’t just protecting her, but also trying to shield her from any more pain. He had been doing that his whole life for the family that the Roger’s had become to him. But now was different. This was a different kind of defense. This wasn’t just family protection. This was protection for someone you love. 

________________

The next morning, Y/N was the first to wake. She found herself practically embedded in Bucky’s arms. He had wrapped his giant self around her waist pulling her in close to his body. 

They had cuddled before, and even had a few sleepovers when Steve wasn’t in town, or if Becca wasn’t going to be home for the night and lent them her space. But it was only enough to count on one hand. That, plus, it never escalated to anything other than cuddling and maybe a makeout session here and there. 

Bucky had been gentle and patient in that area. Even if they hadn’t had that talk yet at that point, he didn’t push. Something she wasn’t used to in most of the guys she had dated. Pietro probably being the only other one that was understanding of it. 

Even if they had been dating a little over a month, she was glad they were taking it slow. Even if they had known each other their whole lifes. 

She somehow was able to turn in his arms and see a soft smile on his lips. He wasn’t awake, so he must have been dreaming of something nice. She took a second just breathing him in and trying to wrap her head around how all this came to be. 

Sure she had crushes on him growing up. I mean who doesn’t form a crush for your older brother's hot best friend. Though if she was being honest, she had always thought deep down that it was never a card that would be played in this game of life. 

Little did they know, it would just take time and growth. Then the fates would do with them what they will. Most card games were just a game of chance. You never know what’s going to come around the corner...

Eventually, she pulled herself away ever so gently and quietly to escape downstairs and make breakfast. She was still in her sleep shorts, but at some point took off her sweatshirt in the night from almost overheating. That plus the surprisingly excessive amount of body heat Bucky gave off made it hard to sleep with it on. 

She found a new one laying over her chair in the corner and threw it on before grabbing a hair tie and brushing her bed head up into a bun. 

Tiptoeing to the door, she slowly closed it leaving it open just a crack. 

Just as she took a step on the stairs, she heard the front door unlock and open. Freezing in her spot she waited a second. The only person who had a key besides their mom and her was…

“Hey, sis,” Steve said coming around the corner seeing her at the top of the stairs. 

“S-Steve,” she said in almost a whisper. Panic. Fear. Dread hit her at full force.“What, um, what are you doing here?”

“It’s Saturday and mom’s out of town, and I knew you were home alone. I thought I’d come over and we can go get breakfast or something,” he said with a sweet innocent smile. 

Running down the stairs a little quicker, she met him at the bottom. 

“Um, why didn’t you call? I would have gotten ready. I just woke up,” her voice was filled with anxiety and Steve noticed. 

“I thought I’d surprise you,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “You ok? You seem off?”

“Um, no. I’m fine. I just got a text from work that one of the projects they had me on needs to be done sooner than I expected.” How she came up with that lie on the spot like that? She had no idea, but she ran with it. “Yeah, not the best thing to wake up too. Making me a little nervous.”

“Oh, well do you want to go get breakfast and we can talk about it? I’ve barely heard about anything with your new job. We need to catch up, Mini,” he said, poking her stomach and making her let out a loud laugh, having always been super ticklish. 

Just seconds after that, having heard voices and a loud almost shout, Bucky swug open the door and peered down the stairway where they were both at the bottom. 

Two seconds. 

Two seconds was all it took for Steve to put two and two together in his head. Bucky acting weird lately. Sneaking off randomly and never telling Steve anything, which wasn’t like him in their friendship. Hell, he had even noticed Bucky’s lingering looks, but always put in the back of his mind thinking nothing of it. 

But now. Oh, he was thinking about something now. 

Bucky was frozen at the top of the stairs, eyes locked with Steve. To make matters worse, he only had pajama pants on and no shirt.

Even from the distance of the stairwell, Bucky could see the storm brewing in the blue eyes of his best friend. 

“Steve,” Y/N started placing a hand on his arm. 

The blonde immediately ripped away from her as he turned to fully face Bucky. The alpha male, big brother, pissed off best friend was in a stance ready to fight. 

“Why the FUCK did you just come out of my sister’s room half fucking naked?” Steve growled.

“Steve, you don’t know the full story,” Y/N said softly, but she could sense the tension and for once in her life, she was slightly scared to enter the fight. 

“The fuck I don’t know the full story,” Steve said finally whipping his head back to Y/N. His blue eyes were carrying a category 5 hurricane in those ocean blues. But they didn’t stay on her long as he turned back to Bucky. 

“Listen,” Bucky said, coming down slowly. 

“I don’t know if I want to,” he responded through his teeth. “Take one more step down here, and you’re going to need some serious dental work and a nose job.”

Bucky froze about 4-5 steps away from the siblings. Finally, he looked at Y/N, worry in his eyes, but they were also apologetic. 

Y/N immediately moved around Steve and stood between the two. Closer to Steve to try and hold him back if she needed to. 

“Now wait a damn minute,” she spoke up looking straight at her older brother even if he was sending a death glare past her shoulder. “You need to calm down before we talk-”

“No. You need to go to your room. Bucky and I need to talk,” he said in an authoritative voice. 

“Excuse me?” she retorted back. Her gentleness in the situation was fading and being replaced with aggravation. “Go to my room? Am I a 13 year old girl?” she said stepping in his eyeline so he was looking at her. 

“This isn’t a fucking joke, Y/N!” He shouted. “Go to your room!”

“No,” she replied, folding her arms across her chest. 

The two had this kind staring contest all the time growing up. Anytime there was a fight, they almost never relented with their stubborn asses. Their mom or dad had to send them to their rooms themselves and kept them there. The time ranging from 20 minutes to 5 hours before they calmed down. 

They were two of the most headstrong ornery people to live in this world. And it didn’t help that they were now pitted against each other. This kind of fight looked as if it could be ranging more into weeks or months. 

Knowing and experiencing situations like this with them before, Bucky spoke up again. 

“Y/N, you should listen to him. We need to talk,” he said sedately. 

“I leave and he’s going to beat your ass,” Y/N said, still staring at her brother. 

“I think he’s going to beat my ass either way,” Bucky mumbled. “Really Y/N. Just give us a second.”

“I’m a part of this equation too,” she said. Her tone easing just enough to be noticed. 

“Yes, you are. But right now, Steve and I need to talk first,” he said trying his best to defuse the fire against the heated situation happening in the entryway of their house. 

There were a few more seconds of silence as they glared at the other. 

“Fine, but I’m coming back down in 10 minutes,” she bartered. 

No one responded as she started to go up the stairs backwards. The staredown did not cease until she was even with Bucky on the steps. 

“If he does anything stupid, I’m going to beat his ass,” she said looking at Bucky. 

“I’m sure you will,” he said with a small smile that was forced for reassurance. 

She placed a hand on his shoulder. A silent good luck as they studied the other in a quick second. 

Turning back to look at Steve, she saw he was still in a rigid stance. The tension in his shoulders doing nothing but grow with every passing second. She would’ve sent him one more warning glare if he was looking, but his eyes were trained on Bucky with a look that could kill. 

Eventually she went into her room and shut her door, leaving it open just a crack. They deserved their privacy no matter how bad she wanted to step in. Deep down she knew, as best friends, they needed to talk on their own. 

Bucky looked back down and saw a bull looking at him like he was a red cape.

“Outside. Now,” Steve commanded before stomping off to the back and letting the screen door slam harshly. 

Letting out a long sigh and running a hand down his face, he finally went down the stairs. He grabbed a shirt from the bag he had left down there and headed to the backyard. Steve already in the grass pacing. 

“Steve,” Bucky said softly as he walked down the porch steps barefoot. 

Instantly, a fist collided with his face. He stumbled trying his best to not fall from the impact. When he looked up, grasping his jaw, he sent a glare to Steve. 

“I’m not saying I don’t deserve that, but-”

“Oh, you deserve a lot more than that, but I need you to explain what the HELL I just walked into and you can’t do that with no teeth,” Steve glowered. 

Looking at him while straightening his posture he wiggled his jaw some feeling just a tad bit of blood on his lip. Damn him for teaching Steve how to make a proper swing like that. 

“You gonna punch me again before I talk, or can I fucking explain myself now?” No response, only a stare was given. “Ok, so I’ve been hiding something from you.” Steve raised an eyebrow. 

“You think?”

“Listen, I’m almost as taken aback as you. One day, she’s like a little sister running around with my actual sister, and the next she's a mature grown adult who knows what she wants, exudes confidence, and is intelligent beyond measure.” He paused before adding. “Not that we didn’t know that.”

“I know what my sister is. What I want to know is why you’re sleeping with her?” Steve said, taking a step closer. 

Bucky just straightened up more as if expecting another hit. But then he processed Steve’s sentence. 

“Sleeping with her?” he questioned almost in shock. Steve not breaking his gaze. “I’m not fucking sleeping with her, asshole! I’m dating her.”

The smallest amount of tension released from Steve’s body and his face wasn’t frowning as much.

“You’re dating?” 

“Yes. Dating.”

“So you guys haven’t-”

“No. I’m a little upset that you think that low of me,” Bucky scoffed. “You think I would really just start booty calling my best friend's sister? If I wanted a friend with benefits, I can easily find a girl at a bar,” he said, taking a deep breath and running a hand through his hair. “You’re sister isn’t a girl from a bar, Steve.”

Steve was silent processing it. He still wasn’t happy, but at least it wasn’t as bad as had thought. 

“Listen, Y/N’s been in my life just as long as she has been in yours. We’ve grown up together, created childhood memories together, picked on each other, and protected each other. She would be the last person on this earth I would want to degrade to a one night stand. She deserves so much more than that.”

“Exactly,” Steve said. 

Bucky paused taking note of Steve’s tone. “Exactly? Why do you say it like that?”  

“I mean she deserves a lot,” he said, confirming Buck’s thought. 

“I see. So I don’t make the cut?” Bucky said, now getting frustrated. The silence was enough of an answer to his question. “Wow. 26 years of being best friends and you think that little of me?”

“She’s my sister,” Steve answered. A slight tone of apology behind his words, but he kept the stoic face. 

“Yes, Steve she is! And 2+2= 4! We know this!” he said waving his arms and scoffing as he turned in his spot before turning back. Hands on his hips before one came up and ran a hand through his slight beard. 

“You know what? Screw this. I’m not going to sit here and be that guy that says, ‘Yeah, you’re right. She doesn’t deserve me. I’m not good enough for her.’ You know why, Steve? Because I know that. And it’s because I know that, that I’m going to strive with every muscle in my body and every might of my being to make sure I can be that for her one day. To make sure I can give her everything and more that she deserves. To make sure she never has to see a sad day again. To make sure she only experiences joy if I have any say. To make absolutely sure that no one ever hurts her. Why? Because I love her!”

Out of breath, Bucky chest heaving up and down showed how hard his lungs were working to get air back in them. 

Steve’s posture had almost gone back to normal. The anger no longer there. Whatever emotion he was feeling, Bucky couldn’t tell. 

“How long?” Steve asked. 

“What?” Bucky asked, confused. 

“How long have you loved her?” he repeated, looking down at the ground. 

Bucky paused. He couldn’t actually answer that. There was no specific time frame. Truth was he had loved her for a while. 

“Honestly, longer than I know... It’s just taken me this long to figure out that’s what this feeling was.”

Steve nodded his head as he put his hands in his pockets and continued to stare at the dirt by his feet. 

“Ok.”

Taken aback, Bucky's eyes widened. 

“Ok?” 

“Yeah. Ok,” Steve repeated before he started walking to the back fence that led to the driveway. 

“Wait. You’re just going to leave it at 'Ok,’ and walk away?” Bucky rushed over to stop him. 

Steve slowly turned from staring at the ground and then back at him. 

“You know, I thought that we were close enough that you could come to me with this kind of thing. That you wouldn’t feel like you had to hide it from me. Y/N and you both,” he said with pursed lips. “Guess I was wrong.” 

With that he turned back and walked to his car. Bucky watched as he started the engine, pulled out, and disappeared. 

What the hell kind of mess just happened?

(Tags for this series will be closing soon as it is getting pretty full, please send an ask if you want to be added:)

I’ll post on whatever chapter I decided to close it down here.

The Number One Rule (TNOR) Taglist:

@shadowolf993 @hello-i-am-daydreaming @jessyballet  @emmabarnes @kmuir1  @beautifulrare4leafclover @thefallenbibliophilequote @l0ve-0f-my-life  @shawnie--jo​ @dontputyourfckingdrinkonmytable @asoftie4bucky​ @katiaw2​ @sheeple​ @sznri​ @bxtchboy69​ @taliarosej00​ @bakugouswh0r3​ @stopjustlovethemcu​ @babemendesxz​ @jenniereiji​ @taliarosej00​ @loveyou5everr​ @natdrunk​ @im-a-light-child​

My Lovelies forever:

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@morganclaire4​ @chloe-skywalker​ @charmedbysarge​ @jbarness​ 

@bellamy-barnes

​

Marvel Tags:

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[moonyswriting]

Pride

Happy Pride Month everyone! Whether you queer or questioning, closeted or out, I am so proud of you, you are valid and perfect! Remember that you never have to come out if you don’t want to. You’re not lying to anyone if you don’t. You don’t owe them to come out. Only do it if you want to. Also remember that labels can stay forever or can change and both is perfectly normal. You're fantastic the way you are. <3

So, I managed to write a pride fic for the first day of pride month! yay me. I hope you like it :)

Thank you for the idea @moonofthenight

Characters by @lumosinlove

When Pascal came into their living room it had never looked more colourful, but it had also not looked this messy in a long time. There was tape on all four sides of the table, paper and little paper cut outs all over the floor and in the middle of everything, all his four children, looking like deer in the headlights.

“What happened?”, he asked slowly. There would be a reasonable explanation for all of this, he was sure. Celeste had probably helped and they would clean everything back up in no time, leaving no trace of a mess before the team came over for dinner tonight.

Adele shuffled over looking at the floor. “Um,” she stared before glazing back at her siblings, who nodded at her encouragingly. “So, we decided to make some things for the others. You know, since you’re having that Pride Party tonight? We thought we’d make little gifts for the team.”

Oh, Pascal’s heart was already a puddle. “You-”, he stared, but couldn’t continue. He had questioned a lot if he should have raised his children differently, more open to the rainbow or attractions and genders (or lack thereof) that was out there, but this made him feel like he and Celeste had at least done some things right.

Pascal only realised he hadn’t properly said anything yet when Katie rushed towards him, hugging his hip. “Please don’t be mad. I promise, we’ll clean it all up. Mama said she’d help us!”, the big eyes of his youngest daughter stared up at him, guilty, but hopeful.

“I’m not mad, mon chou.”, picking her up, he turned towards the other three, still standing in front of him. “Not at any of you. This is an incredible idea! The team will love them. Thank you so much, it’s really thoughtful.” Leaning down, he placed a kiss on each of his childrens’ foreheads, including Katie’s before setting her down to get back to the others. Celeste walked through the door the next moment, flowers of all colours in her hand.

“You found our little pride squad then?”she asked, walking past him and into the kitchen, probably to cut off the ends of the stems. “Don’t worry, I’ll help them clean up and we’ll be done before any of your teammates even leave their houses.”

His wife knew him too well. He hated when other people visited them and their house was messy. Of course there had been times where he couldn’t really keep it clean with four toddlers running around, but he still always tried and his family knew that and helped him. It wasn’t really that it bothered him that visitors could see that they were possibly not clean people, it was just the principle. He thought it should that they were prepared and anticipated someone’s visit. He never wanted them to think it was a bad time to visit because he would eventually excuse the mess. He always wanted everyone to feel welcome.

And that’s what tonight would be about. Making his team feel always welcomed and loved and accepted.

Celeste returned back to their dining room without the flowers, kissing Pacal’s cheek and then turning towards their children. “Did you show him what you made already?” they shook their heads but quickly climbed up onto chairs and sorted through the things they had made. “They’re all really cute, I already saw some of them.” Celeste whispered giddily into his ear, as excitement bloomed in his chest and they walked over to look at the crafts.

“Here!” Katie waved a piece of paper in the air and Pascal walked around the table to look at what she had made. SHe beamed up at him as she explained, “This is for Tremzy! And Harzy and Knutty! It’s a card and I drew Lo, Leo and Finn on the front, see!” The man took the card in his hands. There were three stick figures on it, the smallest with brown hair, the next one with bright red hair and the last, taller than the other with yellow hair. In the back there were blue, red and black dots. “Why did you use those colours, ma petite?” He did have an idea, but with the many coloured pens on the table it could have just been a coincidence.

He could see Katie look over to Adele and Marc, before her eyes met his again. “Del and Marc said that those are the colours when you have more than one love and Logan has Finn and Leo, so they said I should use those. They look good together right?” Pascal could see that he wasn’t the only one close to tears after glazing over at Celeste smiling brightly. “Yes, Katie, it looks beautiful. Lo, Leo and Finn will love it! Adele, Marc, thank you for helping your sister. I know that this will mean a lot to Logan.” then as if he couldn’t help but to add, “I’m also very proud of you for looking up pride flag colours. I’m really happy you're informing yourself about these topics. They’re important.”

They all smiled at him. Pascal went over to Louis next. “I made two! This one is a card for Olli and Del and Marc also helped me with colours, so it's black, grey, white and this really nice purple that Katie gave me. It didn’t really match the photo, but I liked it better than the really dark one. Do you think he’ll mind?” The fact that his youngest son actually looked concerned staring down at his work had a tear spilling over. He let out a wet chuckle. “Non, je pense qu’il va l'adorer, c’est parfait. For who is the green one?” Louis pulled it out from under his other one and now Pascal could see it was not just green. There were black, grey, white and purple stripes on it too. “It’s for Reg! See, it’s got these stripes and then I drew this heart above it, cause even though he doesn’t want a boyfriend like Siri, he still gets all the love he needs from me and Siri and you and Re and the rest of the team!” Celeste came over and placed a kiss on his cheek, “He loves you too, mon lapinou. They look amazing.”

He walked over to his older son, he didn’t know if he could be any prouder of them. “ I made one for Kasey, Nat and Alex.” Marc stated as he handed his father one of the cards he had made. There were three heads on it, one with long blond hair and hoop earrings, one with light brown hair to the shoulders and one with dark red hair, freckles filling up more of his face than the light pink his son had used for all their skin tones. Pascal was about to compliment it, when Marc gave him another one. “This one is for Nado and Kuny. I made it full of hearts in pan and bi colours, because you mentioned that once and I really hope it’s right.” before Pascal could even think his next thought a stack of cards was placed in his hands. “And then for some of then we didn’t know, but we didn’t want them to feel left out or asume, so I made some rainbow ones for Pots, Talker, Sergei, Timmers, Cookie, Bluey, Ringer, Volley, Wrangler, Sunny and Foxy.”

Pascal was a bit shaken, not only that his son even remembered everyone of his teammates, without missing a single one, but at him having crafted every single one of them a rainbow card. “They will all love them, I’m sure. They look incredible.”

He saw Adele look down at her cards and moving them slightly out of view. Frowning, he walked over to her, “Did you also make something, ma colombe?” She nodded, pulling out one of her cards and holding it up for him to see. It was beautiful. She had glued blue magazine cut outs on the top of the cards, which got lighter til they reached a white in the middle and to green ones at the bottom. Over it there was a heart which read “Some hockey players marry their PT, get over it” He didn’t know how she had thought of that, but it was true and funny and so Adele, Pascal had no choice but to love it.

“These are all perfect. Thank you so, so much for making them, they’ll all love them I’m sure. We can tell them to all sit down in the living room so you can give them their cards later, sounds good?” They all nodded, seemingly happy with the idea. “Now let’s clean up before they come here and don’t recognize the place, eh?” All of them nodded as they got up, Celeste telling them where to start and how to clean it.

Pascal moved to the kitchen with the tray of now empty glasses Celeste had no doubt gotten them earlier, when he heard something behind him. Once he had carefully placed down everything he turned around to see Adele standing in the kitchen, arms behind her back. He waited for her to speak for only a moment until she did. “So, you saw that we made cards for everyone, because they’re all great and we should let them know we love and support them, right?” Pascal nodded, letting her continue, “But there’s one more card I made,” Pascal had counted before, his children hadn’t forgotten a single one of his teammates, he had no clue what that last card could be for. “because it’s important that they know they’re loved right?” she continued, “that’s a really important part of all of this. So,” she slowly pulled out a card from behind her back, “this one is for exactly that. Just because someone’s not queer or questioning, doesn’t mean they’re not important this month. It’s not the main focus of it, of course, but having allies is a big part of being able to be proud of who they are for some people. I wanted to thank you for that. I could have gotten some homophobic dad like some of my classmates, but I’m really, really glad I got you.”

She handed him the card she had made, similar to the collage of magazines but in black and white stripes with a rainbow A covering it. He couldn’t help the wetness that gathered in his eyes again. And here he had thought the emotional stuff wouldn’t be until the team arrived. He walked forward and hugged his oldest daughter. “Thank you so, so much,” he whispered, since he didn’t trust himself with anything else to come out anywhere close to evenly, “Thank you, ma petite. I am so proud to have you as my daughter. You’re the best children I could have ever asked for.”

[strawberrylemonz]

Gates Opened Wide

Part 10

Part 11 [CURRENT]

Part 12

DT: @petrichormeraki @applepie1000 @jump-in-the-cadillac @ivorylin

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

“Clem, do not make me use your full name, big lass! Stand still! Damnit-”

“Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!”

“You learn how to speak more than usual, and you choose to copy my curse words, Jesus Christ. If you’re going to curse, then do it correctly. Now, hold still- hey! No hissing! You put those claws away! Clementine, stop shapeshifting!”

After spending an hour after “early breakfast,” Tommy had finally managed to dress the squealing girl for the day. It was on mornings like this that made him wish he would be on Theo duty, leaving Clem to be dressed by Fundy. But, alas, that day was not today. It took telling Clem that she would be wearing matching outfits with her cousin to convince the rascal to sit still long enough for Tommy to get her ready. She was nearly vibrating by the time Tommy added the finishing touches to her braided hair. Once he pulled his hands away from her small head, she hopped off the chair and run over to Fundy’s room, where Theo was getting ready. Sighing as he stood up, Tommy couldn’t help but laugh as he heard the bedroom door swing open with a slam, a squeaky voice squealing in sync with a happy yell, as well as a startled one. Shaking his head, Tommy finished fixing his hair, adjusting his collar in the process. Suddenly, the sound of the front door opening alerted him of their visitors. Sighing, he prepared for the quick force that would engulf him into a hug. 

“There’s my baby of a brother!”

Tommy slightly cursed as he was nearly toppled over, only being saved by the winged embrace of his proud brother. He hugged his brother back, truly happy to see him excited for the day. The hug, however, lasted longer than their usual long hugs, which was causing Tommy to bite back a groan. His efforts, unfortunately, meant nothing, therefore he groaned as he playfully flailed his arms behind his brother’s back, who only held him tighter. 

“Muuuuuuuum, Grian won’t stop squeezing me!!!”

A playful laugh rang through the air, serving as the only warning for the older brother. Before he could pull away, a nerf dart hit him square on the forehead. Welping in shock, Grian pulled away, patting his forehead, which was slightly more exposed than usual due to him fixing his hair in a proper manner. Tommy picked up the dart, laughing as he handed it back to a laughing Kristin, who’s curled hair bounced with every laugh. 

“Grian, you’re going to wrinkle your shirt! We all spent all morning making ourselves presentable, don’t ruin it.”

“I’m not going to ruin it, we still have the gala at the end of the week to look our best! I am, however, gonna have a red dot on my forehead now.”

“Oh, no you’re not. Stop crying over nonsense, you big baby.”

“How am I the baby, when Tommy is standing right there”

“Oi, shut the fuck up, fucker”

“Don’t make me shove a bar of soap in your mouth”

After everyone was finally dressed and ready to go, they pulled the two kids aside. After they had succeeded in obtaining the children’s attention for more than a minute, Tommy spoke up.

“Alright, you two, listen up. Today is the day that a lot of people are going to be here. Remember to stick with us, and don’t talk to shifty shitheads you don’t know, got it?”

“Sh-”

“Do not finish that word, Clementine”

“Humph”

“Anyways, remember the secret spots? Well, if you get separated from us, stick together and go the the secret passageways if you two get in danger, okay? You two know your way around, I know you do. Just stick together, take care of each other, and have fun, alright?”

“Mkay, Uncle T”

“Good. Now, Theo, your father made a device for both you and Clem. Fundy, if you will.”

The man nodded as he knelt down to the level of the children. Smiling, he opened up his paws, revealing two pretty bracelets. Decorating them were various colors of gems. As he put them on their wrists, he explained how to use them.

“Don’t tell anyone that isn’t from this server, or isn’t the lovely trio or Stampy about these, okay? These are connected to all our communicators. If, for whatever reason you can’t use your communicators to contact us, you can use these. Each of these are connected to a singular communicator, see? This gem represents me, this one represents Tommy, this one is Uncle Grian, and this one is Grandma Kristin! I also labeled the other ones, so you know who you’re contacting. There’s Tubbo, Lani, Stampy, Drista, Iskall, Xisuma, Stress, Impulse-”

“I think they get it, Fundy. We can’t spend the entire day naming everyone.”

“I wouldn’t take the entire day! Anyways, this is how you’ll reach to us without anyone knowing. If you push the big gems on the middle, everyone is alerted and Xisuma will teleport to you. Don’t take them off, okay?”

“Mkay”

“Yes, Papa”

“Good. Ready to go?”

The adults laughed as the children switched from serious to excited within seconds. Taking the hands of the excited children, the family went on their way.

--------

Tommy stood at the entrance of his park, his family by his side. The Hermits helped him in putting up a wall around the park, shielding every detail from the eyes of the public. Today was finally the day of his opening, and he was excited. Maybe a little nervous, but mostly excited. Sighing in relief, he smiled as three figures approached him. Opening his arms, he welcomed the warm hug that came with Tubbo’s greeting.

“Tubbo!”

“Tommy!”

“We’re here too, y’know.”

“Lani! Oh, hey, Drista-”

“Hey!”

The four of them laughed as Stampy joined them, a bouquet of flowers in his hands. Handing the bouquet to Tommy, he couldn’t help but remark about how excited he was.

“-And look at all of you! Oh! You all look lovely and dapper! Everyone from my server is here to show our support! We came super early to beat the crowds! Look at us! Getting the best seats to the opening! I’m going to go gather the rest of my server, do excuse me. We’ll be back to start the crowd!”

Clementine and Theo waved enthusiastically as the neighboring server admin waved, walking away as he let to find the rest of his friends. Smiling, Tommy handed the bouquet to the children, who held it with gentle care. Despite being rowdy and loud together, anything from Stampy could reduce the two the silent happiness. This was always a relief to the adults, who, even though were rowdy as well, could not catch a break with the bouncing toddlers.

“Big day, isn’t it?”

“Oh, you know it is.”

Everyone continued to converse as they attempted to pass the time. Halfway through their conversation, a cheerful voice, which belonged to Impulse, sounded through the communicators.

“Gates are opening, crowd control is being initiated.”

“On it, thank you.”

Gulping, Tommy accepted the words of encouragement that came from his family and friends as they made their way off the stage, joining the rest of Stampy’s server at the front of the crowd, which was now slowly growing as more people trickled in. Stepping behind the curtains that flowed slightly in the cool breeze, Tommy recalled the conversation he had earlier. 

------

“And then I call you each on stage to help me with the unveiling.”

“That’s a great idea, Tommy”

“Thanks, Tubzo”

“You want me to help? Are you sure?”

“Yes, Fundy, I want you to help. You are my nephew, which makes you family.”

“Even us?”

“Yes, Theo, even you and Clem. There is one concern, though...”

“What is it?”

“What if Dream’s server comes? I can’t just force you guys up there-”

“Uncle, it’ll be okay. We’ll be okay. X made it so that the guests can’t harm or maim us outside of the dueling areas. Even then, they can’t do much.”

“But, Fundy, what about Dream-”

“It’s like you said, Tommy, we’re family.”

------

Tommy’s communicator snapped him out of his thoughts. Peering down, he saw that Xisuma had sent a private message to him.

XisumaVoid: The stage mics will turn on in a minute. Once the timer hits 30 seconds, the machine will play Pigstep in the background. Good luck, you got this 

Tommy sent a quick message of acknowledgment and appreciation back to the admin, quickly adjusting his shirt and fixing his hair. Taking deep breaths, he hyped himself up as Pigstep began to play in the speakers, causing the hermits and lovely’s to cheer, initiating the rest of the guests to follow in suit. Inhaling a deep breath, Tommy released the air as he gave a nice, charming smile as the curtains opened, revealing him and the crowd to each other. Doing his best not to break his professionalism, he bit back a laugh as he heard Iskall’s voice overpowering everyone else’s”

“GO TOMMY!!! LOOK AT HIM GO, THAT’S OUR BOY!!!”

Waving to the crowd before him, he allowed his eyes to hover over the crowd, taking note of the faces before him. His friends and family, of course, were situated before everyone else in the crowd, the members of Stampy’s server behind them. The Hermits were scattered about, helping disperse the energy whilst being some form of security for opening day. Then, he spotted them. There, stood near the center of the crowd, stood the members of the Dream SMP, both old and new. He couldn't tell who was all there, solely because he did his best not to alert them that he knew they were there. Making eye contact with his nephew, he silently plead for guidance on what to do. Fundy, who understood the meaning behind the look, gave his uncle a nod of encouragement. Readjusting his smile, Tommy cleared his throat as the music slowly deafened, leaving only his voice to speak above everyone else. 

“Welcome! I’m about to do something really fucking annoying, but this server and the neighboring server finds it hilarious. That being said, CAN I GET A HUMINA IN THE CHAT???”

Laughter filled the large crowd as Hermits and Lovely’s alike began chanting the word, over and over again. They died down once Tommy let out a genuine laugh, making his friends smile. Clearing his throat, he spoke up again.

“Ahah, I apologize for that. It’s kinda of a tradition we have when I do productive shit around here. Anyways! Welcome everybody to the grand opening of my park, ‘Innit an Adventure?’! I genuinely want to welcome and thank you all for coming to celebrate such a special day for us Hermits and Lovely’s alike. When I first began this ambitious project, I did so to cope with my trauma. When words failed to express my emotions, I turned to building. That, in itself is saying something. I mean it, ask any of the Hermits here, they’ll tell you. I was a little shit with shittier building abilities. But they didn’t give up on me, and I eventually became able to create this wonderful world on my own. Know that if you are in a rough place, help is available almost anywhere. If, at any point today, any of you feel overwhelmed or panicky, we have designated panic rooms designed to help calm your nerves. The new pamphlets you all received upon entering the portal show not only the map, but a key that will point you to certain points, like the panic rooms. As much as I want this place to be a fun place for all, I want it to be a safe space, too.”

Peering over to the front, he was encouraged to continue when Clementine waved in a hyper manner to him. Letting out a chuckled, Tommy continued. 

“Although I managed to create this myself, I couldn’t have made it to this point without the support from my fellow Hermits.”

He initiated a round of applause as every member of Hermitcraft stood up and waved, some teasing Tommy. Rolling his eyes, he waved them off as he pretended to walk off. Laughing as he stood back on his spot, he gave a genuine smile. 

“No, seriously. They had to deal with the little shit that is me, and they did so wonderfully. They guided me through, what I thought, was impossible to guide me through. Truly, thank you. I would also like to thank the lovely trio of terror. When I fell into this world, quite literally, I was scared about where my friends could be, especially my best friend. Luckily, I soon found out what happened to him. Please welcome to the stage, these three headaches that I call my close friends, Tubbo Underscore, Lani Sky Underscore, and Drista Never Taken!”

Applause filled the air as the three lovely’s walked up stage, waving to the crowd. Wearing their matching outfits, Tubbo and Lani stood on either side of Tommy. Drista, who had worn a cleaner version of her mask, stood on Lani’s other side. As the applause died down, Tommy smiled at his friends as his cheerful voice sprung up.

“Hello!”

“Hi!”

“Hello, everyone!”

“After discovering where they were and that they were okay, my mental state improved greatly. They have inspired so many prizes and attractions in this park, which only proves that they have done so much good for me, even when I didn’t deserve it. I also have some amazing family to thank. Let’s start with an amazing, strong woman, who has an even more amazing aim. Please welcome to the stage, my mother! Kristin Minecraft!”

As the trio took a step back, Kristin handed Clem over to Stampy, who happily accepted the giddy girl. Making her way to the stage, she embraced Tommy, giving him a kiss on the forehead as he lowered his head to her, already expecting it. Hugging him one last time, she joined the trio as Tommy spoke of her. 

“The way I found her was quite amusing. She really is a lifesaver, thank fucking god for her. Although I didn’t have her around while I was growing up, due to her disappearing before I was even around, she has done more than enough for me, more than I could ever ask for. She truly is an amazing mother and woman. Go Mumza! Go Motherinnit!”

Laughter erupted from the crowd as Kristin gently smacked him upside the head. Although it didn’t hurt, he still cringed as he peered down at her. 

“What was that for?”

“You’re being too sweet, only to revert to your rambling. Stay on track.”

“Yes, Mumza.”

As she nodded in approval, Kristin made her way back to the trio, who were openly laughing at their friend. Grumbling, Tommy faced the crowd once more. 

“Not only is he friend and a fellow Hermit, he is my brother. Quite literally. Give a big hand for my big brother! Grian- HEY, WHAT THE FUCK, MAN”

He heard his friends and family laugh as Grian opened his wings, rushing forward in the air towards his little brother. Picking him up, Grian hugged his brother before plopping him back on the stage in a less than graceful manner. Dusting himself off, Tommy couldn’t help but pretend to whine.

“What’s up with you assholes, and Mumza. Is it embarrass TommyInnit day???”

He could only muffle a handful of curses as Grian shrugged, a cheeky smile forming on his face. Shooting a smile of his own towards Grian, gave his brother a playful punch. 

“When I first arrived, Grian and I bounced off each other perfectly. We fit together, like brothers and shit. Turns out, much to my surprise, we were brothers. Crazy, right? I was like, holy shit, oh my-”

“Tommy”

“-right, sorry. Anyways, Grian was a brother that I had lost at a young age, too young to fully remember much about him. You could say the stars aligned in perfect order to allow me to reunite with him.”

Snickers could be heard from the Hermits and Lovely’s, catching the implications that came with Tommy’s words. Shaking his head, he cleared his throat, a mischievous glint in his eyes. He could practically hear Fundy’s groans from where he stood. Using the anticipated embarrassment of his nephew, Tommy let out a booming voice for the next sentence. 

“Everyone, give a hand for my fucking amazing, brilliant nephew, Fundy! Look at him go! Such speed! Amazing!”

Fundy hurried up the stares, a murderous look in his eyes. Once he was near his uncle, he smacked his arm. 

“You just had to be theatrical with my introduction, didn’t you?”

“Just for you, Fundy”

“Oh, don’t play that card with me, Uncle.”

Scratching in between his nephew’s ears, Tommy put an arm around him, keeping him beside him, instead of with the others. 

“Fundy is a brilliant and intelligent man full of love. He is very passionate about family and his projects, and has a brain that flows with all this smart and creative shit. Although I had completed the park, he came in and showed me ways to improve and add on to it. He has truly been an amazing help to me, and I couldn’t have done some of the things I did without him beside me. Speaking of having someone to stand beside him, I’d like to welcome Fundy’s pride and joy to the stage. Please give a kind and genuine welcome to my great nephew, Fundy’s son, Theo!”

Fundy knelt down with open arms as his son ran up the steps to the stage. Theo couldn’t help but giggle as Fundy lifted him into his arms. Smiling, Theo leaned over to give Tommy a hug, his small paws papping his great uncle’s face. 

“Hi, Uncle T”

“Hey, big man”

Theo giggled once more as Tommy ruffled his hair. Curling his tail around his father’s arm, Theo gave the crowd a toothy smile as Fundy stood behind Tommy, situating himself between Grian and Kristin. Once the crowd regained their attention towards their main host, they noticed how he seemed to glow. To them, it was most likely dismissed by the sunlight. To those who knew of Clara, however, knew that it was her warmth, holding his head up in pride. 

“And finally, last but certainly not least, the final member of my family. Please, put your hands together for my magnificent moth, my beautiful butterfly. Please welcome, my Clementine.”

The crowd was a mix of applauding and worried gasps as Clem, being the gremlin she was, chose to not use the stairs. Instead, wanting chaos, she had decided to climb the beams. As people began to panic, the people on stage, as well as the Hermits and Lovely’s laughed. Tommy rolled his eyes as he extended his arms. Smiling, he called up to the troublemaker.

“Marco!”

“Polo!”

Clementine laughed as she jumped straight into Tommy’s arms. Once he safely caught her, she began squealing as she frantically moved her hands from clapping and waving. Once he assured the crowd that she was being watched by the Hermits and would have been safely taken down if she was in danger, everyone was ready for the reveal. Giggling as she loosely wrapped her arms around Tommy’s neck, Clem pointed to the stand in the center. Making incoherent excited noises, she and Theo began to wiggle out of their guardian’s arms, racing towards it as soon as their little feet touched the ground. Pulling themselves up, they revealed a lever. And as everyone on stage put their hands on the lever, they all nodded to Tommy. Taking a breath, said man smiled as he and his close ones pulled the lever. The sound of Redstone filled the air as the wall surrounded the park began to disappear into the ground.

“Everyone! I, Thomas Theseus Minecraft, welcome you all to ‘Innit an Adventure?’!”

They were all greeted by the loud cheers of guests as the gates opened wide.

[letsbenditlikebennett]

Treacherous || Ari & Kaden

TIMING: Immediately after Vic called Ari from Silver Bullet PARTIES: @chasseurdeloup & @letsbenditlikebennett SUMMARY: Ari rushes to the hospital to find a very beat up Kaden and demands to know what happened

“Your friend Kaden is in trouble.  He needs you to meet him at the hospital in 20 minutes.  Emergency department.”

 The words rang in her ears as she stood stunned in the middle of the sidewalk. One minute Ari had Olivia Rodrigo blaring in her ears as she ran through downtown, the next an unfamiliar voice was calling her from Kaden’s number and hanging up just as quickly as she had answered. The breath caught her in her throat and for a minute, her feet felt as if they had melded with the cement, becoming heavier and heavier until she was almost positive they could pull her under. Kaden didn’t just go to hospitals, not when he could stitch himself up without having to give anyone some sort of explanation. If he was willingly going to a hospital and wasn’t even the one to call her, it had to be bad and that alone made her sick to her stomach. 

 There was a lot Ari could survive losing. She had already survived so much loss, but she couldn’t lose Kaden. He was family. Somewhere along the line he’d become the older brother who took care of her as she so desperately tried to take care of everyone else. When the pieces were too tiny and jagged for her to put back together, it was always Kaden right there by her side to help. On the nights when she missed Celeste so much it felt as if the walls were caving in on her, he was the one who could listen to a story and picture it so clearly because he knew and loved Celeste, too. He was her last tie to the person she’d loved most in the world and even without that, Kaden was too important to her. Every up and down she’d been through in White Crest, it had been Kaden who was there to see her through it. The thought of facing any of this without him had tears welling up in her eyes. 

 Shaky hands used the app to call for an Uber. Ari was too far from her car to run back for it and get to the hospital within 20 minutes. The drive over had been silent. The driver had tried to make small talk, but it fell on deaf ears. All she could picture was Kaden in an assortment of near death conditions, but none were quite as bad as what she saw when she rushed through the doors of his room. A kind nurse had pointed her in the right direction and whatever followed remained unheard as she ran to find Kaden. 

 When she caught a glimpse of him, bruised and swollen all over, Ari felt like she was going to be sick. She’d seen the ranger injured plenty of times before, but not like that. “Kaden,” she choked out weakly, “Oh my god, Kaden.” She wasn’t sure if he was awake or not, it was hard to tell with how swollen his eyes were. “Are you,” she trailed off, letting the buzz of fluorescents and beeps from medical machines be the only sound in the room. 

The hospital was never Kaden’s first choice. Whether that was learned habit or actual preference, he couldn’t say anymore. He was going to be hard pressed to say a whole lot at all right at the moment, anyway. The ambulance ride over was… well, he didn’t remember. He was out for most of it and he wasn’t entirely sure when he got set up in the room either. It was all a blur. The pain he remembered. Vic calling. He also remembered that he couldn’t ask Regan to come for way too many reasons, and he couldn’t call Ari. No way in fucking hell was he asking a werewolf to come to his rescue outside a hunter bar, even in the best of circumstances. And this wasn’t the best of circumstances. Kaden got the shit kicked out of him because of Ari. Not directly, sure, but that’s what it came down to. He’d made his choice. That choice hadn’t changed. So he’d have sooner died than fucking ask her to meet him outside the Silver Bullet. 

Kaden had wasted all his drowsiness on the ride over. Now all he could do was stare at the ceiling, counting dots on the tiles (well, the ones he could make out, at least), tapping his fingers against the bed as he waited. Putain. He shouldn’t have told anyone he was here. Sure, he was bruised to hell and swollen all over and the IV full of fluids was probably a good call along with some of the sutures the ER staff gave him, but he’d much rather be recovering in his own bed. 

 “Ari?” his head snapped to look as soon as he felt the familiar chill down his spine. She hadn’t even spoken and he knew who it was. Merde, that had been a mistake; there were not more hunter senses down his spine, just pain. Even though the blur, he could tell she was worried, scared. Damnit, maybe he shouldn’t have called her yet. He couldn’t say when he’d started to consider her the little sister he never asked for, it happened little by little over time, unraveling so many of his once tightly woven ideals. Even in this state, the on thin he didn’t regret was standing by her, choosing family that was earned and not assumed. 

 “Not dead,” he answered her, attempting to smile through the swelling. He tasted a tiny bit of iron in his mouth. Putain, must have resplit a small part of his lip. That didn’t stop him from reaching across himself to start undoing the IV. It was harder than he expected it to be, his hands fumbled trying to grab the line or the needle, the tape, anything he could grab a hold of. “Alright now you’re here, time to go.” His words were more warbled and slurred than he anticipated. It was fine, he’d be fine. The pain was even subsiding a little. Was that because of painkillers the doctors gave him? Maybe. But he was a hunter, or at least had the genetics of one; he’d heal. It was fine. 

The harsh fluorescent lighting of the hospital room didn’t do much to shadow any of Kaden’s injury. Every bruise, stitch, and swell was all too visible with how bright the room was and Ari had to make a concentrated effort to not look away. Even in her nightmares, Kaden had never looked this badly battered. His voice should have come as a comfort, but the scratchy edge to it made it sound too weak to be her Kaden. Any doubt was quickly erased by the way he almost immediately was trying to rip the IV off his own arm. “Kaden,” she grumbled, “Quit it.” 

 Of course the idiot of an adopted big brother that Ari loved so much was trying to get out of the hospital when he was nowhere near in good enough condition for going home. If he looked any better, she would have swatted at his hand. Considering she didn’t want to further injure him, she refrained from the instinctive action and instead plopped herself down in the chair beside his bed. “We’re not going anywhere. I didn’t even drive here and there’s no way any Uber driver that isn’t totally fucking sketch is letting us in their car,” she stated plainly, “So lay back down, big guy. You’re gonna rest up until you look less like shit and tell me what the fuck happened to you.” 

“Quit what?” Kaden asked as his fingers tried to grab hold of the line. Fucking swelling was making it way too fucking hard to reach over. He looked over to see if she was going to help him at all but instead she was settled in on the chair. Like she planned to stay there a while. “What are you doing?” he asked, brow furrowing as he watched her getting comfortable where she sat. “Don’t sit down, we’re going to go. Right? We’re– I’m not…”

 He sighed and grumbled to himself. He didn’t want to spend any second longer here than he had to. “We could get another uber. Or a taxi. Those still exist, right?” He tired to make a pleading look on his face but he was pretty sure nothing was moving a whole lot with all the swelling. And he was sure even if he could have managed, she wasn’t going to fall for it. “It’s not a big deal. I’ve been through worse. I’ll be fine.” He didn’t think he’d be able to keep the truth or the full story from her forever, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to fucking try to shield her from it as long as he could.

“Quit trying to take your IV out, dumbass,” Ari retorted somewhat jokingly. If he was well enough to try and be stubborn about being here, that was a good sign. It didn’t make her any less concerned about who or what had done this to him. A snort came out as he had the nerve to look at her incredulously for sitting down when he looked like that. Even his fingers were too swollen to get a good grip on the IV. “Kaden, we’re not going anywhere. If you have an IV, you need to be here. Now fucking relax and tell me what the hell happened.” 

 At the mention of Uber, Ari shook her head. “Uh huh,” she gestured at him, “We both know you don’t have your own Uber account and you’re not bringing down my passenger rating by looking like the walking dead. Which again, begs the question of what the fuck? Who or what did this to you? If it was a mime, I’m having a fucking mime buffet.” 

 The joking helped crush some of her own anxieties, even if Kaden wasn’t all that amused by it. The larger part of Ari wondered if who or whatever did this to him was still out there and if they’d come back to finish the job. It made her stomach turn and she let her backpack fall on the floor with a loud thud. “I said, quit it. We’re staying here. I don’t care if you’ve had worse, you look like hell right now and I want a doctor to tell me you’re gonna be alright. If you were fine, some stranger wouldn’t have been the one to call me. Now stop before I call Regan and get her to check you out.” 

“That’s not fucking true, they give this shit to everyone who walks in the door. Surprised you don’t have an IV. Give it five minutes, they’ll give you one,” Kaden quipped back. She didn’t seem amused. Putain. He was about to keep trying to get a grip on the IV line when he heard what said next. She wanted a doctor to tell her he’d be alright. It hit him like a kick to the gut. The last thing he wanted to do was worry her. As much as he wanted to get up and leave, he’d done enough damage. So Kaden sighed and reluctantly settled back into the bed. “Fine. We’re leaving as soon as possible, though.” He drummed his fingers against the bars on the side of the bed, ignoring the pain even that brought. “I, uh, I already told her. Since, uh, well…” Right, he didn’t really know why. So he didn’t how to explain it. 

 Somehow saying what happened might be easier. Maybe. He still wanted to avoid it. Ari was clearly worried out of her damn mind, he didn’t need her thinking that she caused this. This wasn’t her fault. Not even a little. But how else could he tell her? “I just ran into the wrong people, okay. Bad luck. It’s not– it won’t happen again.” At least he hoped not. 

“I’ve never been given an IV as a visitor at the hospital, just saying,” Ari grumbled, trying to contain her frustration with how goddamn stubborn Kaden was being. It was hard not to worry when even his hands looked too swollen to properly rip the IV out. Apparently something she had said worked and he stopped fidgeting with the stupid thing, much to her relief. Even if he wasn’t thrilled about being there, she’d feel a lot better knowing a doctor could make sure he healed alright without any lasting injury. Sure, he’d heal faster than most, but if anything was broken it needed to be set properly, or at least she gathered as much from Regan with her shoulder and the doctor she saw after. “We can leave as soon as a doctor tells me anything broken is set and there’s no organ injuries or whatever. There’s a word for it that I forget.” She was surprised that he already told Regan, which at least meant they were on speaking terms after the exorcism. “Well, there goes me tattling on you. But if she’s coming by and gives it the okay, I’ll take you home. Either way, I’ll go check on Abel soon.” 

 The answer Ari received was very roundabout, which only heightened any suspicions she had. If it wasn’t a big deal, he’d just tell her what happened without being vague about it. Her head tilted and she raised an expectant brow. “What people and where? Why are you avoiding the question, Kaden?” 

“Not yet,” Kaden muttered to himself. “Could happen.” It was easier to talk about IVs and hospitals and leaving them rather than the pain. Or what actually happened. He squirmed in the bed, but that was a mistake. He forgot how much he’d been roughed up, how bad it really was. Putain de merde, after everything, he nearly got killed by a fucking group of hunters. Out of fucking everything, people who had once been his–

 “It doesn’t matter,” he snapped at her. Kaden swallowed back, clamping down his jaw as he looked at Ari again. She was his family. Not the people who had kicked the shit out of him and left him to die. Not the hunters who acted like they stuck together until someone stepped a toe out of line. No, the werewolf. Who would have guessed. “The people who– It doesn’t matter. I’m not going to run into them again. And neither are you.” Kaden caught her eye and had a suspicion. “And you’re not going to go looking for them either, got it?”

Hiding her emotions had never been her strong suit. Usually, if Ari felt something, it was written all over her face. She was earnest in most things she did and this moment was no exception. There was no hiding the grimace or hurt on her face when Kaden snapped in response to her questions, as if she was asking something completely out of left field. “It does matter,” she snapped back, “Some random woman calls me while I’m out for a run and says to meet you in the emergency room and you look like this.” 

 Ari felt herself growing increasingly frustrated that he refused to give her any sort of real answer about what happened to him. How was she supposed to look out for either of them if he insisted on keeping her in the dark? Then it clicked when he told her not to go looking for them, as if she wanted to start some sort of fight on his behalf, as if violence was her go to answer. “Kaden,” she started, her voice softening, “I’m not trying to look for them and start another fight, but you had me terrified. You could at least tell me who did this to you. I’ll avoid them if you want, I don’t have a demon in my head anymore, making me a self-destructive mess.” There had to be something more there, a reason he was so against telling her. “What, was it another wolf or something?”

As bruised and broken as he was right now, Kaden couldn’t do a single thing to protect Ari. If anything were to happen, he’d be useless. The only way he could protect her was to try and keep her out of what he was dragged into tonight, to keep her from knowing the extent of things. That’s what he was telling himself, at least. And yet she wasn’t going to let him do that much. He wanted to say nothing, let this be and never talk about it again. The best he could do was keep the information minimal. “It was at the Silver Bullet. Hunter bar. Wasn’t a wolf.” 

While Kaden didn’t give much in the way of details, he didn’t have to. Ari was able to piece together what it all meant. Most of her life had been running from hunters who wanted her and Celeste dead simply because she was a werewolf and Celeste chose to protect her time and time again. Even Rio and Athena almost died because Rio refused to live up to what his parents expected of him. How could there be so many hunters with compassion and understanding and yet so many who would turn their backs on their own? Her heart broke for Kaden. He was growing into someone she was so fucking proud of and this is how he was treated because of it? She wanted to reach out, give him some sort of comfort, but she was sure her touch would hurt more than help given his current state. 

 It was a powerless feeling. No matter how good Ari was, no matter how much good she tried to do, there were people that would always see her as a threat because of what she was, people who would consider Kaden a traitor for caring for her. Her shoulders slumped and she swallowed back the lump forming in your throat. If choosing her was going to get him killed, she wasn’t sure she wanted him to choose her, but it was already too late. He chose her and with losing Regan, too, she was the only family he had left. Even if she wanted to run far away to protect him, she couldn’t do that to him, not after everything. Not again. Silence lingered between them for a few moments before she finally said, “Fuck them.” 

 Ari clenched and unclenched her fists in her lap and continued, “I promise I’m not going after them, but fuck them. You’re better than all of them and I’m so proud of how much you’ve grown in the few years I’ve known you. You let yourself start to see things and understand them in new ways despite what you were always taught even when it hurt like hell. If they can’t see the fucking great person you’ve grown into then they don’t deserve you.” 

For as long as he could remember, Kaden had counted on his family. At least, who he thought was his family. When his blood relatives died, the circle of hunters and contacts that his parents had built had kept him safe, fed, and housed. He didn’t think it would be so easy to lose. He couldn’t have guessed back then where he’d be now. That “family” would be the ones to put him in the hospital. All because of the person sitting across him. Someone who had become more family than most of the rest ever had been. It was strange, he couldn’t parse through the emotions, whatever they were. Sadness? Disappointment? That was definitely there. But there was something else, too. Comfort. Belonging. He wasn’t sure he believed most of what she was saying about him, it was too hard to, but he gave her as much of a smile as his face would allow while swollen. “Don’t worry about it, pipsqueak. Family comes first anyway.”

There was a big part of Ari that was angry that anyone could toss Kaden aside the way these other hunters had. That wanted to scream at them about the amazing person they were missing out on, that they hurt so badly, but it wasn’t worth it. They’d just try to kill her, too. As much as she believed anyone could change, she’d meant what she told Kaden. She wouldn’t go looking for trouble. He needed her as much as she needed him. She wouldn’t leave him without any family. She could see the small smile that tried to form on his swollen face and she returned it in kind, gently placing her hand on top of his. “And we’re family,” she said assuredly, “Nothing could ever change that.”

[impala1967dwinchester]

Dean Winchester: Brandy

*Credit to the gif owner*

Pairing: Dean W. x Fem!Reader

Pov: Deans

Warnings: Drinking, drunk texting, bad dancing, having to rescue Dean, Friends to loversish, Believing in destiny kinda.

Summary: Dean spends the whole night at the bar, tryin' every bottled drink. Ends up drunk texting Y/n and being completely honest with her

Word Count: 2.1k

A/N: (Based on the song Wine, Beers, Whiskey by Little Big Town)

Dean Winchester Master List

Main Master List

I sat at the bar of the old bar. It reminded me of Harvelle's. The old smell, the plaid-up men and women that I noticed came walking in through that door.

It was amazing. I was a drinker, always had been. The first drink I had with my dad, I was fifteen. A beer we shared, that should be an amazing moment for father and son, but it was ruined for the simple fact that we had no home, and my father and instructed me to take care of my younger brother.

I grew up, mostly without my father after that. He prioritizes hunting and saving people over me, and over his youngest son. Everything was always secrets. So many secrets, that it's started to become how Sam and I live.

There were certain things that I had learned from my father. How to protect, how to be anger almost all of the time, and how to handle my liquor.

So I sat at the bar, my hand around an iced cold glass of beer. I sipped and watched people. I wasn't in the mood to hook up with any. I mean yeah sure there was probably someone out there that was meant for me, but that's getting into destiny shit.

You know how bars, almost always have music playing. Well being in the good old state of Kansas, so pretty much any place you walk into is playing music more specifically country music.

It started to come through the speakers. I had already been here for what seemed like hours, I had enough beers, that I had switched to drinking something harder.

Something like a whiskey.

"My friend named Jack"

"He's got my back"

"He always seems to know right where I'm at"

Well, this is definitely a song I could get used to listening to. I don't think anybody else was listening. All having their own private conversations. The barmaid was a beautiful young lady, but even still with her crop top of a shirt and the cleavage that was burst out of her shirt.

I wasn't interested in her. Every time she'd come over. "You need anything else sweetheart." Bending halfway down to try and have me look down.

I waved her off. Maybe I should try something else. Waving her back over, I asked "Do you have something stronger?" she looked at me sideways, before saying "If it's something stronger than you want I've got you" and then she walked away.

When she returned with the rest of the bottle of Jose. A half left standing in the clear bottle. "Here's something stronger, forty percent." She said taking my empty beer bottle and empty cup that had been holding the recently downed Jack Daniels.

"My friend Jose"

"He likes to play"

"He's always up for anything I say"

I downed the rest of the bottle, not even needing the new glass she had bought for me to use. Slamming the bottle down on the countertop. She snapped her head around, our eye making contact before she grabbed something off the shelf.

"If that's the type of night you're having you should have said." She said handing me a half empty glass of crown apple. "Thanks, I can handle my liquor so no need to worry about me," I said as she left to take care of other people sitting at the bar.

I sat alone. Like I always have, it was the best way to number one people watch, but it also gave me a reason to think. Nobody trying to pull my belt out of my jean loops. No need to save someone this was my safe haven sometimes.

Alcohol was my safe haven. It's always been that way. It's always been able to understand me ten times more than Sammy. Well I mean there was always Y/n, she lived with us, but she was my friend, my best friends. There is something that she just doesn't need to know.

I took a swig, drinking down most of the bottle.

"Little bit of red, lotta bit of crown"

"Don't matter what it is"

"I'm gonna drink it down, down, down"

Was it just me or was this song getting better by the second. Maybe, It was just me. I looked around me, couples stood dancing to this song, some sat with clasped hands. And the older men sat at the bar, I was an older man sitting at bar watching like a creep.

"The wine, the beer, the whiskey"

"Are the only things that fix me"

"I'm not saying it's a problem"

"I can stop it if I wanna"

"But the wine, the beer, the whiskey"

"They always get me"

Wow, I'm started to get the idea that I can relate to this song. The lyrics are right you know. Liquor is the only thing that can fix me, calms me down and then I sleep it off. It's right the lyrics I can stop if I wanna. But do I really wanna stop?

"Here," The young lady said, handing me a made drink "Here's a gin and tonic." Walking away yet again to take care of other patrons. A gin and tonic, not a drink I was every ballses enough to try.

Taking the little green umbrella out, I took my first sip. "Shit that's actually really good," I said more to myself than anyone else. I looked up from my gin and tonic drink, looking at the glass wall.

It held so many drinks that I hadn't heard of before. Like a new drink called "Screwball", "Kingfisher". Odd brand names but they all looked like awesome drinks. But of course, there was the regular drinks, the brandy, sherry which is a wine, and Jim Beam

"My friend named Gin"

"She's got some friends"

"I'm talking Brandy, Sherry, and their brother Jim"

"Hey, so it sorta looks like we're going along with the song, so I'll grab you a shot of rum, Captain." She said pulling a tiny shot glass out and pulling the bottle off of the shelf.

She slides the small glass across the table, I caught some rum tipping out and falling over my thumb. 'I wonder what Y/n would do if she was here with me? I wonder if I would have her pushed up against the wall, kissing down her neck.'

Shaking my head; stop thinking of her that she... She doesn't think of you in the same way, you are an idiot. Taking my rum-filled shot quickly. I pulled out my phone.

'Don't do what you're about to do'

"I'll be fine," I said to myself. The room was starting to spin. Or maybe I was just spinning. 'Stop thinking about Y/n. She doesn't need to deal with your drunk ass' "Oh come on I'm not that drunk" I was still sitting at the bar, but people were starting to look at me.

>Y/n, you know I've just gotta say. YOu're beautiful.

Dots played at the bottom of my screen.

>Dean that's very nice.

Minutes pass, so I send another message.

>You know I think I'm falling.

Immediate answers came

>Falling?? What do you mean?

>Winchester? Where are you?

She asked, she only ever called me Winchester when she was pissed off, but I was too worried about telling her the truth.

>Y/n, I've spent the past forever fawning over you. I spent it, wanting, yearning for you. I guess after years of wanting you, years after having nobody in my bed. Wishing and hoping that it was you.

>Dean send me your current loca!

>We can talk more tomorrow

I was able to send her my location, she pulled up in a rather crappy car. Walking in distress, her black night shorts, a pair of slippers on, and my red and black plaid shirt on.

She came over, apologizing grabbing my arm, and wrapping it over her head. "Dean, let's go, now," she said dragging me out. "You smell so good Y/n," I said going to pet her hair. She rested me up against the side of the baby.

"Where are your keys, Dean?" She asked her voice starting to become more worrisome. "In my.." I stopped talking and just reached for her hand, shoving it into my jacket pocket. "Right here!" I said I let go of her wrist and she looked up at me.

She got me into the car, somehow. I rested my head against the back of the front seat. "I felt and heard the rumble of baby engine. "Dean, what were you doing?" I looked over at her. "I wanted a drink."

The rest of the drive was quiet, she helped me out of the car after shutting the loud engine off. The sound finally stops bouncing off the cinderblock walls. "Dean. Couch, bed, or table?" She asked.

"Couch, comfier," I said breathing in more of Y/n's scent. I've never been this close to her, for this long. she smelled like a garden of flowers and honey. she smelt of summer. She looked like summer half the time.

"Are you a god?" I blurted out. Her eyebrows creased, licking her lips. "No, Dean I'm not a god," Y/n said reaching around behind the couch and grabbing a blanket but not before untying my boots.

She tossed the blanket over my body and went to walk off. "Y/n?" I asked. "Yes, Dean." She said with a sigh. "Can you get me a water, so I can maybe explain myself?" I asked.

A pleading look on my face, the puppy dog eyes I had learned from Sam. "Fine Winchester, but you've five to explain yourself." She said stomping off into the kitchen, and back with a tall glass of ice water.

She stood next to me. "Can you sit? Please Y/n?" I begged. I sipped on the water, trying to regain any sort of control of myself. She sat crisscrossing her legs. Her exposed legs, my eyes drifted from her legs.

My eyes came back up to hers. "Start explaining Winchester, you've got four minutes." I shook my head, clasping my hands together. I cleared my throat.

"I've sat here for the past few years, wondering why everything seems weird. It's hard. y'know because that song was right in the bar. I don't want to be alone not anymore, I don't wanna watch the couple dances anymore, I wanna be one of the couples, that hold each other hands."

I said, looking at her. She broke our eye contact when she started to fidget with the bottom of my flannel. "You know that's my flannel?" I asked grabbing her hands.

"I want you, I want you in my bed. I want to drink with my girl. I want to love you because Y/n that's really the truth." I said, "I love you Y/n" We sat in silence for a few, "Y/n please say something?" Now I'm begging her, this entire night has been a fucking mess.

"What are you waiting for you dumb Winchester? Come kiss your girl." It only took a few moments for the words to click in my mind. I grabbed the back of her neck and she fell into my lap.

It wasn't like fireworks or lighting coming down. It just fit so well, it was more like finishing a puzzle, puzzle pieces just fitting together so well. A missing part of me found filled and always there for you.

"Dean? Y/n?" I heard Sam said and properly say "Nevermind." And leave. I felt Y/n's lips leave mine. Realizing that I needed air, my lungs burning but in a good way.

"That was something," I said, catching my breath. "That's was awesome!" Y/n said kissing chastely. "Did you hear Sam?" I asked her, she giggled she rolled her. "I bet he's in there going I just knew it," Y/n said. I laughed and hugged.

"My feet hurt, I think I may have blacked out and started dancing by myself," I said, flexing my socked toes. "You dancing!?" Y/n questioned, "Oh we've gotta go back to that bar and get that tape, for FBI reasons." Y/n said.

My mouth gaping open. She laughed more, and she started to have a few tears. "You know Y/n. I'll you back for that, now come on. You'll love the memory foam bed." I said, Whispering closing to Y/n's ear "It remembers you Y/n." My hand landing on her lower as we walked to my room.

Completed on: 05/12/2021

Posted on: 05/14/2021

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