#cuz how. is it possible. my phone got grounded on the INSIDE.

[aria0fgold]

If I remember right, I think you wanted to draw with your phone.

Oh yeah! At this point, drawing is the only thing this phone is worth for. I can't even properly play the only game I play on it with its new lcd, I'm losing my mind christmas edition.

[njpuckbunny]

Heyy! Could you please do some friends to lovers (smut) with Kirk? Like, mutual pinning but they’re both idiots so the band helps them get together (sorry for any mistakes, english is not my first language)

Cuz That’s What Friends Do, Right?

Kirk Hammett x AFAB!Reader (y/n)

a/n: I LITERALLY LOVE U SO MUCH FOR THIS PLEASE THIS IS MY FAV REQUEST EVER. I HOPE U ENJOY IT <33

warnings: mutual pining, p in v, unprotected sex, greasy kirk era , sir kink, dominant!kirk, sub!reader, afab reader, smut, and metallica being a matchmaker

holy shit.

“I have some big news guys,” you began, ready for your band's input on this news, “we’re gonna be opening for Metallica for their new tour.”

A mix of anxious and happy remarks filled the room from the rest of your band.

Your lead guitarist replied to your information with a slightly rude comment, “is this just because you fuck around with Kirk, or did we actually earn it?”

You were seriously taken aback by her comment but replied quickly, “Me and Kirk are nothing but friends, and I'm sure he mentioned us, but we earned this spot. Pack your bags to meet at the bus station.”

Honestly, you were pretty worried about this. Being an all girl-band with yourself as the bassist and lead singer? It wouldn’t be easy to earn the public’s respect. You had been friends with Kirk ever since you stepped foot into highschool. Kirk was off to the side and calm, while you were anxious and trying to leave as soon as possible. You claim it as fate, but Kirk always said you were gonna trip in front of him anytime “cuz of his beauty.” Long story short, you were carrying your books to a new class and were looking down at your schedule when you bumped into Kirk. He helped you pick up your books and you exchanged family phone numbers. You couldn’t count the times when you told your older sister to get off of the phone trying to call her favorite rockstars phony numbers. You and Kirk called hours and hours on end and you honestly just felt like he was your better half.

So when he joined Exodus, you were more than happy to cheer him on to pursue his dreams. You both promised that whoever got more famous first, the other had to open for their band.

Right after Kirk was chosen for Metallica, you started your own band R.O.P.E. You could’ve sworn it stood for something, but you were too high to remember.

But now that you were touring with Metallica? You didn’t know if you could hide it for any longer…. yea about that. Ever since sophomore year started, you had developed a massive crush on Kirk. It wasn’t like it was obvious… was it?

Definitely not. And it didn’t matter cuz he didn’t like you back. End. Of. Story.

But tonight might change how you saw him, maybe you just see him as a friend now. Right?

WRONG

The moment you stepped onto the bus and saw his smile. Ugh, You melted. And it doesn’t mean just inside, you blushed, flushed, you could’ve sworn you developed a fever right there and melted into a puddle of nothing on the ground.

You heard whistling, and your name, and your name again,

“Hey! y/n,” it was kirk, motioning you over to the back of the bus. His leg was over an empty seat, saving it for you, just like he did on the bus home.

Yes. You guys took the same bus. Dumbass Kirk would get off at your house some days (literally everyday) and listen to cds and cassettes with you all evening because he didn’t want to go home.

Sometimes he would fall asleep with you on your bed and you’d wake up with your limbs entangled and Kirk sleeping as heavy as he could.

cuz that’s what friends do? Right?

After what felt like an hour of admiring his features, you moved your way back to the back of the bus and talked with Kirk.

You couldn’t help but notice the way your legs bounced oh so close together. You wanted your legs wrapped around his waist as he—-

“y/n?” “hello??” Kirk exclaimed as he clapped in front of your face.

“Sorry,” you sputtered, “I'm really nervous about tonight.”

He sincerely put his palm over your knee and comfortingly spoke, “you’ve got nothin’ to worry about sweetheart, you’re gonna kill it.”

You muttered a thanks and Kirk gave you a grin, god he was going to be the death of you. To combat your love for Kirk and nerves for the show, you decided to take a nap.

When you awoke, it was basically time for you and your band to get ready for the opening act. You dressed in your signature style and made sure that your instrument matched your clothes. As you turned to check if everything was in place you saw the scar that lined your bicep. When you were at highschool prom, waiting for your ride home, some jerk on the side of the road “accidentally” sliced you with a pocket knife. Just as you were about to fight back, Kirk rode up in his mom’s car and punched the guy right in the face. That was your first scar, and Kirks’ first punch. (that he gave).

In the time you were reminiscing, the time you had to check yourself was up and your band was ready to play the opening act.

As you stepped out onto the stage, you were quickly blinded by the lights and tried to blink away the blots to see the crowd. The microphone feedback whined as you approached it. You spoke loudly into it as you addressed the crowd to play your first song.

time skip to after the opening act!

You hopped off the stage and gave Kirk a pat on the back as he hugged you and told you what an amazing job you did. You thanked him and wished him is own luck before he stopped you.

“y/n I—“ but he was interrupted by the que that he should get on stage, so he just yelled as he was pushed onto the stage, “see me after the show!”

what the fuck?

And Metallica's show? Fucking Outrageous.

The way that Kirk’s fingers slid up and down on the frets as he played the solos and the way his pants rode up his form as he rutted against the guitar.

Your whole mind was flooded with unholy thoughts as the show went on.

You traveled back to the living room behind the stage as you waited for everyone to get off stage. As they piled into the room you individually congratulated all of them for the amazing performance. Until your eyes landed on Kirk….. oh fuckkkk.

You could’ve sworn that your whole body shut down right then and there. Like, how the fuck did he look so hot after playing the most tiring set??? It was seriously bothering you.

James spoke through the thick fog of tension first, “okay, Lars, Cliff, and I are gonna go wash up, see y’all later.”

You heard a click come from outside the door that was previously closed by James, accompanied with outside chuckles.

“What the fuck,” you started, “did they lock us in here?”

Kirk pulled on the door handle and pounded on the door. He nodded and scoffed to himself.

You spoke at the same time,

“Kirk—“

“Y/N—-“

You quickly apologized and let Kirk speak first.

It all came out in one fast blur from his mouth, “Y/n, before the show I wanted to tell you everything you meant to me and I didn’t think you felt like same until James locked—-“

You shut him up by pushing him up against the nearest wall and pressing your lips to his.

“Shut up—“ your remarks got cut off by Kirk picking you up and setting you down on the couch that was pressed against the furthest wall of the room.

He spoke through the silence, “tell me what you want.”

“Please touch me“

“Please what?”

“Sir.”

He nodded in agreement as his fingers trailed down your waist while he got on his knees. He pulled down your pants and threw them across the room while he took off his shirt. He grabbed your legs and placed them on his shoulders as he looked up at you from your cunt. Agonizingly slow, he placed a finger on your clit, and inserted his tongue into you.

You whined, “kirk— please”

“shhh sweetheart i’ll take care of you.”

sweetheart.

His finger began making circles as his tongue lapped your juices. Your fingers entangled his curls as he worked you up to your climax.

“Kirk I’m gonna—-“

“No,” He pulled off of you and flipped you onto your stomach while taking off his pants and your shirt.

You pleaded again, but he spoke over, “you’ll cum when I tell you to.”

Breaking the dominance he asked you for your comfort, “Do you want this?”

You replied faster than he finished talking, “yes. sir.”

“Good.”

He inserted his cock deep into your cunt, already slick from him eating you out. His thrusts were hard and snapping onto your ass. He grabbed a fistful of your hair as your back arched upon his cock. The new angle was letting him bottom out, only making you feel higher to your climax.

You began to beg, “please sir. I wanna come , so bad. Please.”

“Okay, ready sweetheart,” Kirk answered.

You mumbled an mhm and you both let yourselves go as he fucked out his climax and his thrusts became sloppy. You both panted on the large couch you laid on, smiling at each other.

Kirk broke the silence first, “I love you, that’s what I was going to say before the show.”

He looked at you with puppy eyes and you responded, “I love you too,” as you kissed him on the lips again.

A few moments when by of you two gathering the moments happiness before you heard a knock and James speak, “It’s about time you two fucked.”

[frostbite-yinny]

hey. top 3 funniest things that happened at the shelter? 👀

Well hello there fellow equally-as-sick-of-serving-customers person, thanks for the ask and I hope your definition of funny is someone being miserable cuz I love telling these stories when I'm near blackout drunk :D I'm gonna try to keep this short (I failed.)

Number 3; The time when a herding yamper herded a whole herd of herd Pokemon inside the fucking shelter!

> It's a beautiful night, where I have not lost to the temptations of the internet and am actually sleeping for once.

I woke up to a phone call, a newbie trainee that only says 'I fucked up. I fucked big time.' so what do I do? Of course I haul my ass there as fast as possible.

There, I see a VERY proud old yamper, asking for treats. And the inside of the shelter, filled with VERY confused mareep, wooloo, Taurus, and many more heard animals.

Yeah. I didn't got any sleep that night.

Number 2; The time I got decked out by a kangaskhan joey!

> A little info since it seems like it's not common knowledge: kangaskhan don't hatch out of the egg with a baby in their pouch. They hatch as the blue baby. The Pokemon Kangaskhan is one of the few Pokemon that change while growing up without evolving. They are herd animals and they take care of every joey instead of just their own. If a baby kangaskhan has a smaller baby in their pouch, it's probably belongs to someone else and it's babysitting till the mother comes back.

Now back to the story. It's my vacation day so I'm just chilling at home. My liepard sleeping and purring on my lap as I'm watching some cartoons (don't judge me) and eating a fruit salad drizzled in honey. Then, I get a call from some volunteers asking me to come because a baby kangaskhan just hatched and it doesn't look right.

Well, now my fruit salad is left to my Pokemon as I go to the shelter. Hoping it's just a shiny instead of disfigurement. I made my way there and there is absolutely nothing wrong with the baby, they just didn't know that's how kangaskhan looked freshly hatched. Well, I can't get angry at a bunch of teenagers for not knowing shit.

Something you need to know about baby kangaskhan is they don't handle being alone/not being in a pouch very well, especially when they are REALLY young. It triggers their fight-or-flight instinct. But, well, it just hatched moments ago so I'm not worried as I pull out the mock pouch from the closet.

Well, I SHOULD have been worried because the moment I crouched down next to it, the joey decked me in the face.

I don't remember much of the moment since I was dazed and laying on the ground. I just remember someone screaming, my froslass freaking out, and even more yelling from the baby kangaskhan cuz it was panicking with all the chaos around.

So, yeah, the rest of the 4 days she spent in the shelter before we could send her to an another shelter that had an adult without a baby, she didn't leave my side. I had to bring her home and I couldn't even remove my apron with the mock pouch attached to it cuz she would get really sad and give me big wet baby eyes until I picked her up again.

So lucky she had an easy time parting with me when we introduced her to an adult lol

Number 1; the time I ACTUALLY got to punch a customer!

>This is my favorite ^w^

As always, the story starts with me being called in by an inexperienced employee while I'm on my lunch break and he nervously says they have a customer problem. Well, that's what managers are for so I abandon my lunch to my Sceptile and get back to the shelter.

I go in and the first thing I notice is the smell of alcohol in the air. That's never a good sign. I hear some commotion near the nursery (we have 2, one for eggs/newly hatched Pokemon and one for baby Pokemon) with the eggs/newly hatched Pokemon in. That nursery that is looked over by Undertaker the Chandelure (who I mentioned before)

I walk there with my Sceptile, and lo and behold, a grown-ass man is throwing a tantrum. I mean the kind that where they hit the walls and screech on top of their lungs kinda shit. A teenage girl which just started volunteering 2 days ago is sobbing near the door.

The other volunteer fills me up on the situation as I checked up on the teenager. Apparently, he was angry that we didn't let him adopt Undertaker the Chandelure who is an employee that stays full-time. I calm the girl down and send her away then turn to the man.

I try to calm him down and tell him that if he doesn't calm down we are going to have to escort him out of here which is just a kinder way of saying we are gonna kick him out.

He doesn't calm down, at all. Hell, me saying he needs to calm down just makes him angrier so like a responsible and sensible adult, he punches the nursery window and that starts a ruckus inside, and send the poor Undertaker darting left and right, trying to calm the newborns down.

So, right now I'm dealing with an immature 50-year-old drunk man that has the personality of an entitled toddler. Then, the cherry on top; he tries to grab me.

So, with both the cameras and witnesses on my side, I punch him down <3 Sure, fight or flight kicked in but I didn't even get a ticket for attacking someone so that's good <3

After that my Sceptile pins him to the ground, the cops are called, etc. Etc. But the best part is I got to punch down a customer so focus on that I put years of frustrating customer service into that right hook <3 <3 <3 was that a bad example to the other? Yes. Could I have handled it better? Yes but I didn't ^w^

Thanks for the ask again! This was so fun to tell :D

[kjmsupremacist]

baby, you’re my angel (chan/felix)

Mildly popular TikTok songwriter Felix meets Chan, famous on TikTok for his music and music reviews. They bond over their common ground, friendship blossoming easy and sweet. There’s two problems. One: Felix thinks he likes Chan more than just as friends. Two: Chan is almost fifteen years his senior.

Chapter 9   |   prev   next   mlist

Characters: Felix, Chan, the rest of skz

Genre: college au, romance, fluff, smut, angst

Pairing: Chan/Felix

Warnings: swearing, age gap, angst, alcohol mentions

Rating: Mature

Length: 2.4k

just a friendly reminder that i dont condone age gap in real life, this is just fiction, im just having fun, etc :)

It’s like Felix’s world has turned monochrome. There’s safety in it, certainly; after about a week of excitement, the rumors died down and the online world went back to normal. Chan still posted some of their songs; Felix promotes them as he always would. Rachel approved this with the stipulation that they don’t talk beyond sharing files, and Chan has stuck to it dutifully. 

There’s a part of Felix that’s furious about it, that it’s so easy for Chan to give him up. A particularly nasty part of him is spiteful—of course it’s easy for Chan to go back to how it was before; he’s used to heartbreak, he’s used to being alone. And maybe Felix didn’t have such a profound impact on him as he said he did. But Felix knows that’s not fair. Still, it hurts to see random clips of his other videos where he seems completely normal. When people ask about Felix, Chan doesn’t even bat an eye.

“I made him go study,” Chan says cheerfully. “He’s got finals coming up and all. Told him that just ‘cuz he’s got a job lined up doesn’t mean he can slack off now, you know? That goes for all of you out there finishing up the school year! Stop watching my videos and go study!”

It hurts like nothing else, makes Felix feel pathetic for missing him, for thinking about him all the fucking time. He wants to think it’s the same for Chan, but every day it seems like that’s less and less possible. 

For the most part, though, he does try to keep his promise to Rachel. He tries not to wallow too much, tries to stay in the world. He studies, he hangs out with his friends, he goes to parties, even when all he feels like doing is curling up in a sad little ball on his bed. Every time he laughs, it feels a little hollow. But at least he’s laughing, right? He could be worse. It could be worse.

But honestly, Felix does spend a lot of time thinking about how unfair it is. His parents have a similar age gap. Sure, they met after college, when his mom was thirty-three and his dad was twenty-three, but ten years isn’t so different from fourteen. Is it? So why do his parents get to be happy, while he has to suffer? If he and Chan had only met a year or two later, people probably wouldn’t care at all.

He gets it, you know. That’s part of what attracted him to Chan in the first place, that he was older, that it’s taboo. And honestly, if he was an outsider, he would be scandalized, too. He’d be worried for himself, and vaguely disgusted with Chan. But no one knows what it’s like inside, no one but him and Chan. It’s not that Chan was waiting around to prey on someone young and vulnerable. It’s just that most people his age hadn’t gone through something like he had, so they were in a different place than he was. And sure, with time Felix thinks Chan could find someone his own age with a similar background and similar goals, but—why should he wait, when Felix is right here?

He only texts Chan once. He doesn’t know if it’s better or worse that he’s completely sober when it happens, just up late studying, and stressed and lonely, and before he can think it over, he sends I miss you, plain and simple.

Chan responds within minutes. You shouldn’t be contacting me, Felix. We both promised your sister. And you know it’s for the best.

The worst part is, even this message makes him happy—just to see Chan’s name light up his phone, to read the words in his voice. 

I know, Felix replies. I’m just tired, and I miss you. That’s all.

I’m sorry. I can’t say it enough, Chan sends back, and Felix knows the conversation is over. He puts his phone down and lays his head on his desk, wrapping his arms around himself. Why is it so hard? If we can’t be together, why can’t I just be okay, and move on?

He sits there at least a half an hour, unmoving, and then resigns himself to the knowledge that he won’t be getting any more studying done tonight. Reluctantly, he drags himself to his feet, grabbing his towel so he can go wash up and get ready for bed.

He’s just putting his toiletries away when Hyunjin comes into the bathroom. 

“Hey,” he says quietly as he wrestles with his shower caddy. 

“Hey,” Hyunjin replies. “You okay?”

Felix is too tired to pretend. He’s tired and he feels empty and alone, and everything hurts, and he just wants comfort. He turns, dropping his hands to his sides. “No,” he whispers.

Hyujin wraps his arms around Felix, tugging him close, resting his chin on top of his head. Felix hugs him back, squeezing tight. “I’m sorry,” Hyunjin whispers back. “I’m so sorry, Felix.”

Felix can’t help it; he bursts into tears, hiding his face in Hyunjin’s collarbone. “I’m sorry,” he mumbles.

“No, it’s okay,” Hyunjin says. “Wanna come sleep in my room tonight? We can watch a kid’s movie or something, and I have sour gummies that need eating.” He jostles Felix a little. “Whaddya say?”

Felix sniffles wetly, trying to get his breathing under control. “Yeah,” he says in a very small voice. “That’d be really nice, actually.”

“Okay. My door’s unlocked,” Hyunjin says, patting him on the back and then releasing him. “I’m gonna pee and then I’ll come back, ‘kay?”

“‘Kay,” Felix agrees, furiously wiping his eyes and scurrying out of the bathroom before someone else can see him crying.

Hyunjin’s room is clean and dark. His TV is pulsing through screensavers, and he has the strip of LEDs over his bed set to a soft, pleasant lilac. In the corner, a painting dries; Felix realizes it’s of all of them—him and Jisung and Seungmin and Jeongin, and Hyunjin, too, a smaller figure in the back. It’s of them on the beach during their little trip. They’re all laughing, and their hair is messy, their faces bright with sunlight. A new kind of melancholy weaves its way into the empty maze in Felix’s heart.

He hops up onto his bed, snuggling under the blankets, huddling against the wall. He pats around for the remote and starts scrolling Disney+ while he waits. Only a few minutes pass before Hyunjin returns, closing the door with a soft click. He smiles when he sees Felix, nearly buried in blankets.

“Comfy?” he asks. “Want chips, too? I have barbecue flavor ones.”

“Yes please,” Felix says quietly. “Let’s watch Tangled.”

Hyunjin giggles. “Sure, but you have to give your absolute best performance of Mother Knows Best.”

“Deal.” Felix finds himself smiling, too.

Later that night, curled up in the warm dark of Hyunjin’s bed, Hyunjin breathing deep and steady beside him, Felix has to admit that he feels better. He and Hyunjin have been like this since they were young, always close, always cuddly. It’s the familiarity of it, he supposes, the knowing that despite all the things that will change, there are some things that will stay the same. He falls asleep with his limbs tangled in Hyunjin’s, with Hyunjin’s fingers tangled in his hair.

When Jisung finds them in the morning, he laughs. “You’re like puppies,” he says, climbing into bed with them amid sleepy protests. “So cute.”

“Don’t let Seungmin hear you,” Hyunjin mumbles, and Felix giggles, even as one of Jisung’s misplaced elbows nearly collapses his lung.

They’re a couple weeks out from graduation now, and things are, despite everything, wrapping up pretty nicely. Though Felix really is at his wits’ end on all fronts, he has always been good at school, so his grades are somehow fine. On the last day of classes, he throws his work aside and heads to a big party up on the roof of one of the dorms. The air is warm and mild—summer is just around the corner, and everyone can feel it. 

Felix is dancing in a crowd when he feels a hand on his arm. He turns, surprised, and finds himself looking at Wooyoung. He’s wearing a tank top and pretty jewelry and a handsome smile. “Hey,” he says. “Haven’t seen you around recently.”

“Been studying,” Felix replies, offering an apologetic smile in return.

“What for?” Wooyoung laughs. “We’re about to graduate. And you’re smart, no way you’re failing out now.”

Felix shrugs. “What if I do, you know?”

“That’s fair,” Wooyoung concedes. “Just, you know, glad to see you now.”

“Yeah?” Felix’s heart rate picks up.

“Yeah.” Wooyoung steps closer. “I’ve been trying to get your attention all year, you know.”

“Ah,” Felix says. “What… about San-hyung?”

Wooyoung giggles, waving him off. “We’ve been on a break, since he graduated and all, right?” He nudges Felix. “Not asking you for anything serious; we’re about to graduate, too. Just wanted to see if you were interested.”

Felix really considers it for a split second. It would be nice, maybe, and Wooyoung is really hot. If it weren’t for Chan, Felix might have even gone for it in the fall. But then he stops himself. He knows in the end, it’ll only make him feel worse. Besides, it’s not fair to Wooyoung. Even if it is some casual, one-night thing, he won’t let himself make Wooyoung a stand-in for who he’s really missing.

He takes a breath, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, dude, but I just… can’t, you know? I’m sorry, it’s not—I mean, I just can’t. Not with you, not with anyone.”

Wooyoung only smiles. “Nah, it’s cool, I get it,” he says easily, and Felix nearly goes limp with relief. He didn’t think Wooyoung would try to force him at all, he just didn’t want to hurt his feelings. But Wooyoung doesn’t seem hurt. “No worries. I’d much rather you be honest with me.”

Felix nods. “Hyunjin would say yes, I think, if you asked,” he suggests, and Wooyoung smiles wider.

“Thanks for the tip,” he giggles. “I might.”

“Can I ask,” Felix begins, “why you and San decided to go on a break? You don’t have to answer, I just—I don’t know, I thought you guys were in love.”

“We were,” Wooyoung says with a shrug. “Still are, unless I’m mistaken. But, you know, I didn’t want to tie San down, and he didn’t want to pull me away from my senior year. So we agreed, a break and limited contact, so that I could enjoy the rest of college wholeheartedly, and he could get a real start on his life.”

“Do you think you’ll get back together?” Felix asks. “After?”

“I think so.” Wooyoung’s expression softens. “I think… he’s it for me, you know? But since we’re sort of in different stages of our lives, we thought it would be best to grow independently first.” He looks at Felix. “And I don’t regret it, I think it was good for us.” Felix’s heart sort of sinks. Of course they would, of course it’s natural to want different things when you’re not in the same place. Maybe he’s just delusional.

But then Wooyoung continues, “But also… I think sometimes when you’ve found something good, you just know. I think this break was good because I knew at the end, I’d still probably go back to him. It’s not that I have to spend the rest of my life with him to be happy or something. It’s just that I’d really rather it be him than anyone else.” He shrugs again, just one shoulder this time, light humor working its way back into his tone. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t have fun in the meantime. I’m gonna go find Hyunjin, if that’s okay.”

Felix smiles. “Yeah,” he says. “That’s okay.”

He retreats into one of the rooms to get another drink, then perches on the sill of one of the open windows, soles of his shoes brushing the rooftop. He envies Wooyoung and San. They know they’ll have each other to go back to. Felix wishes he were so lucky. But the thing is, he doubts he and Chan will be anywhere as close as they were ever again. He lets out a little resigned sigh.

Around him, laughter swells, drowning out even the loud thumping of music. Felix watches his classmates and finds himself overwhelmed by emotion. Holy shit, he thinks. It’s over. Sure, they have finals still to fight through, and a couple weeks until graduation, but it’s over. The last dregs of his childhood, if there were still any left, are gone. And it’s really exciting, to be moving on to bigger things, to get to grow up and live, and he knows it’s going to be really good, but he’s also so, so, so fucking sad. 

☼ ☼ ☼

Soon, sooner than Felix could have even imagined, finals are over and the only stressor they have left is packing up their entire lives in time for move out. They’ve all started solidifying plans—Felix and Jisung start at the same label in early July, while Hyunjin and Seungmin will spend the summer continuing their job search. They try on their caps and gowns together one night when they’re all tired of packing; Jeongin comes to scrutinize.

“This is you in a year, Jeonginnie,” Hyunjin teases as he surveys his reflection.

“I can’t believe you’re leaving me,” Jeongin says. “All of you! Leaving me all alone.”

“You have friends your age,” Jisung points out lightly. “What about Sungchan, and Ryujin and Chaeryeong? You won’t be alone.”

“Yeah,” Jeongin says, “but it’s not the same. It’ll never be the same again.”

The room goes quiet for a moment.

“Yeah,” Felix says softly. “That’s true.”

“I’m scared,” Seungmin confesses, fussing with his tassel. “The real world is scary. What if we don’t survive out there?”

Jisung laughs. “Oh, come on,” he says. “I think we’re gonna be just fine.”

“Easy for you to say,” Hyunjin says, scrunching his nose. “You have a job.”

“And you will too,” Felix retorts, poking him. “And besides, I mean… it has to end sometime, right?”

“Yeah,” Seungmin agrees. “Just wish it wasn’t so soon.”

“You could’ve flunked all your finals,” Jeongin suggests. “And then you could stay another semester.”

The four of them groan. “Don’t even joke about that!” Jisung admonishes. 

The evening before graduation, Felix is putting a few final things into boxes when his phone pings across the room. Curious, he seals a box and picks his way over to his bed where his phone is sitting on the charger.

It’s a text from Rachel. Felix’s heart hammers in his chest, stomach swooping low with anxiety. He reads it again and again, frozen in fear and anticipation, fingers hovering over the glowing screen.

Hey, I know you’re busy packing, but call me before you go to bed? I have something I need to tell you.

[jimlingss]

I saw that u were taking requests (yey) I'd want like a soulmate au (there are numerous kinds but I want u to have freedom to write what kind u want!) but it's just pure angst 😳😳 it could be any member n possibly an open or no happy ending :] I'm just a sucker for angst n think u would write this so well!

Anonymous said: Yoongi x reader, soul mate au, angsty but happy ending pls cuz I'm sensitive 🥺 maybe both soul mates get a weird tattoo, or hear each others thoughts or something else

Both these requests are asking for soulmate AUs, so I’m compiling them together. But one wants it to be angst city and the other wants a happy ending LOL. Guess we’ll see what happens.

↳ The Soulmate Gift

3.6k || 70% Angst, 30% Fluff || Min Yoongi || Soulmate!AU

Warning: depiction of child abuse

It happens when you’re ten.

They told you it was different for everyone, that it usually started during puberty and it was perfectly normal. But you’re pretty sure it’s not supposed to be like this.

Bang! Bang! Bang! 

You flinch at the noises, the bathroom door quivering against the frame from the pounding on the other side. Your mom shouts, “Get out!”

“Just give me one second!” You look back into the mirror, staring at yourself with seaweed green hair and streaks of bright purple. You look like a clown and you want to cry. 

You don’t run into your mom on your way out, so you go to school with a tattered baseball cap, stuffing all of your hair in it. During the trudge to school with a grumbling stomach, you hold the cap tight against your skull, not letting a single strand loose. You’re nervous on the playground, your other hand coming to grip at your backpack strap. But luckily, no one asks. 

At least not until you’re inside and getting settled into your desk.

“Good morning, class!” Mrs. An struts into the room, beelining towards the front. “Open your books! Tommy, shush!” You try your best to hide beneath your open textbook that’s propped up, but the moment she looks in your direction, she’s already saying, “Y/N, no hats inside.”

You straighten. “Um, my mom—”

“Rules are rules. Take it off,” she commands without leaving room to argue or explain. “This is the last time I’ll repeat myself unless you want detention.”

So you do.

You slip the cap off your head with tears stinging your eyes.

Mrs. An turns to the whiteboard, beginning to write the title for today’s lesson, but a loud gasp from the classmate sitting behind you captures her attention again. She swivels on her feet and her eyes land straight on your head. Everyone’s eyes do. On your stark, fiery red hair.

Your cheeks burn in embarrassment. 

The next thing you know, you’re being dragged by your teacher into the principal's office. From the hall, you can still hear the entire classroom giggling, whispering about you and making a complete ruckus much to Mrs. An’s dismay.

“This is unbelievable!” she howls, hands lifted to the sky. “How could a fifth grader have hair like this?! It’s entirely inappropriate! It’s a complete distraction to the classroom!”

The principal, Mr. Park, hums. His hands are clasped on top of his desk and he calmly asks, “Did your parents dye your hair yesterday, Y/N?”

You slump and mutter, “No.”

He frowns. “Then who did?”

“No one…”

Mrs. An spits, “Then you did it yourself?!”

“No!” Your voice pitches in an attempt to defend yourself and your teeth sink into the bottom of your lip, trying to hold back your tears. You don’t want to get into trouble. “I woke up like this!”

But Mrs. An doesn’t believe you. Her eyes narrow and she scoffs. “How dare you lie to me and the principle?! If you didn’t do it, then who did? It’s against the rules to have anything other than your natural hair colour!” 

Mr. Park sighs lightly. “We’ll just have to contact your mom and speak to her, Y/N.”

Immediately, your eyes widen and you bolt to a stand. “No, please!” you cry out. “Don’t! I’m sorry! I’ll dye it back! I won’t do it ever again!” 

But the man shakes his head. “It’s too late for that.”

Your fist crumples and you deflate. 

Your mom comes in half an hour later, dressed in stained jeans, old boots, and the only clean flannel she has. She’s not happy. You can tell by the look on her face. Even if she smiles and nods her head at the principal, you can see the tick in her eye and the muscle in her cheek twitching.

The moment she looks at you, her eyes become rounded at your crimson hair.

“I had no idea this happened. I’m so sorry for her behaviour. She must’ve gotten her hands onto my dye kits somehow.” She sighs and turns to you. “It won’t happen again. Right, Y/N?”

You nod. “I’m sorry.”

Mr. Park smiles softly. “Not at all. It’s not that big of a deal. Some...teachers around here just adhere more strongly to the rules, so we want to make sure it’s consistent for everyone. It’s a bit of a distraction to her peers, but as long as Y/N comes in tomorrow with more...appropriate hair, it won’t be a problem.”

Afterwards, you’re sent home early. 

Your mom is silent on the walk home. You trail after her, dreading what will happen when you get back. 

The neighbours’ dog barks against the chain link fence, growling and baring their teeth. You flinch, getting closer to the gutter to avoid them. You’re safe when you get to your yard a few steps away and onto the worn, wooden porch that nearly breaks with your mom’s stomps. She kicks a few cigarette buds to the side and opens the squeaky screen door. You swallow hard and follow after her.

The living room is messy with clothes and old pizza boxes on the floor, and the TV is still on in the corner. 

“Mom….mom….I didn’t do it.” 

You drop your backpack, watching her stride towards the kitchen. She opens a drawer as you plead to her, and your voice becomes louder as the silver reflection of sharp scissors catches your eye. “No! Please! I swear I’m not lying!”

It’s useless.

She’s larger, taller, bigger and stronger than you are. 

She comes over and grabs your long hair, yanking it from your head. You cry as she starts to cut. Jagged lines, quick snips, sawing off the strands. A sob breaks through your chest and trying to get away only makes her grip on your hair tighten and she pulls it to get you back.

Mom grits her teeth. “How dare you go behind my back and cause my trouble, you bitch. You stole my dye, didn’t you?! You thief!”

You scream and cry. “I didn’t! I didn’t!” 

She never once notices how your hair returns to its natural colour as it sheds to your feet. That the moment it’s snipped from your head, the blazing red has faded away and lost the colour.

When it’s over, the scissors are tossed on the floor.

You’re left slumped on the ground, in a pool of your own hair. There are bald spots on your scalp while the other side is longer, uneven. What’s left of your head bleeds bright yellow, the colour of sunshine.

The next day, the shade mellows out, almost into a dirty blonde. You hope it’s good enough.

Your mom’s asleep on the sofa, snoring away with the TV still playing in the background. So you make it past her and trudge to school.

Kids are playing on the playground when you get there and you grip your backpack straps as you look on. But you don’t join them. Your feet turn and you duck out of sight, slipping into the school through the side doors. You’re lucky the janitor hasn’t locked them.

You’re not supposed to be inside the building yet, but you hope no one notices. Unluckily, someone turns the corner down the hall. But you breathe a sigh of relief when it’s just Mrs. Jung.

She’s always been nice. 

“Good morning.”

She’s busy tapping on her phone, yet in a chirpy voice, she still exclaims, “Good morning! How are you—”

Mrs. Jung finally looks up and she suddenly stops. 

You don’t know why her face looks like that. Like she’s seen a ghost. Is your hair really that bad? You tried to fix it and you thought it turned out okay.

Mrs. Jung gets closer and then lowers to a kneel in front of you, matching your height. Her shaking hand lifts and she touches the side of your head. You feel her fingertips against your scalp that still stings. You hiss and when you look at her, you see tears in her eyes. You wonder why.

“Who did this?” Her voice is quiet, gentle. 

“Um….I was playing with scissors.” 

Mrs. Jung looks at you again and says, “You’re allowed to tell me, Y/N.” 

You stay quiet, not sure what to tell her, not sure you want to get into any more trouble. If you do and get sent to the principal's office again, who knows what your mom would do then.

But as you’re thinking about it, Mrs. Jung adds on, “No one will get into trouble, I promise.”

She looks into your eyes. 

Your head droops, downcast vision looking at the floor. A quiet mumble escapes— “My mom.”

You’re not sure what happens after that. You’re sure your mom would be enraged if she knew you were talking about her and if you got her into trouble, that would be the worst. But for some reason, you don’t feel scared. Not when Mrs. Jung takes your hand and brings you to her science classroom. 

You sit behind her desk that’s hidden away from the rest of the class by bookshelves and she gives you an apple juice box. You slurp it up — you haven’t eaten since yesterday’s lunch.

When you peek out, you see Mrs. Jung talking to another teacher in the hall. Soon after, the principle comes to visit you. He has the same expression as Mrs. Jung did and asks you if your mom’s done something like this before. 

That day, your grandma picks you up from school. It’s a pleasant surprise. You’ve always liked your grandma but your mom never let her visit much. She hugs you tight.

The colour of your hair is a warm shade of gray.

...

Mrs. Jung takes you on a one-on-one special field trip on Sunday. She picks you up from Grandma’s house after you’ve had your favourite for breakfast: sunny-side up eggs. She drives you to the clinic and the female doctor hits your knee, making it bounce. The doctor also measures how tall you are, shines a light in your eye and asks if green is your favourite colour.

You see in the wall mirror that your head’s turned into a teal shade. You tell her no.

Half an hour later, you’re put in a machine that flashes lots of colours. They reassure you but you’re not scared. The vivid hues and mosaic of shades that blur past your eyes are pretty.

When it’s done, the doctor holds a clipboard while sitting next to the computer. Your legs swing from the edge of the examination table as you’re situated comfortable on the plush seat. 

“It’s as I initially suspected, the hair is her soulmate gift. It changes colour based on her soulmate’s emotions.”

Mrs. Jung frowns. “I’ve never heard of something like that before.”

“Yes, well, it’s much more rare. Only point zero six experience a hair quirk.” The doctor looks from Mrs. Jung to you then back at her again. “Typically, as you know, soulmate gifts come in the form of names tattooed into skin or even countdowns of when the person would meet their soulmate, but soulmate gifts can take all kinds of different shapes and forms. Luckily, this shouldn’t affect her too much aside from, obviously, her hair changing color. Kids usually receive their gift around puberty, but looks like she’s an early bloomer.”

The doctor briefly smiles at you and then rolls on her chair towards her desk. “She’s also malnourished, but I believe with the proper nutrition, she’ll be able to recover. We should book another appointment in a few months to keep an eye on that and the hair.”

When the trip to the clinic is over, Mrs. Jung brings you to the mall.

You look around with wide eyes at all the clothes in the windows, but she eventually stops in front of a particular store and kneels in front of you. Her eyes lock into yours and she takes your hand.

“Y/N, you understand what the doctor told you, right?”

“Yeah. My hair’s my soulmate gift.” You had guessed it was that anyway. 

Mrs. Jung nods with a smile. “Yes, you’ve always been a smart girl.”

She strokes your head affectionately and says, “I know you might not feel it now, but it really is a gift. Your soulmate is the one meant for you, your other half. They’re the one who can make you even happier. It’s both a blessing and a privilege to have. But it’s also okay if you hate it. You don’t have to like your soulmate gift,” she reassures. “If one day, you’re more comfortable with your hair, then that would be good. But it’s also okay if you’re not. It’s up to you.”

You nod after a moment.

Mrs. Jung smiles. “We’re gonna go into that wig shop, okay? You can pick two that you like and I’ll help you get it.”

Picking out wigs is more fun than you expect. The people there are happy to help and you end up going home with one black, long hair wig and another brown bobbed one that makes you look like Rapunzel after she cut her hair.

...

You only see your mom three times after that.

Once, she comes to your grandma’s house. Your grandma doesn’t let her see you, but you watch them yell at each other on the porch from the upstairs window. The next time is a year later in court. Your mom cries out for you and you tell her you’re sorry. Her hug is so tight, you can barely breathe. 

The last is a visit on your own accord years later. 

The small house you spent your childhood in is falling apart, windows broken, trash in the yard. You find her sitting on the armchair with a hazy expression, TV playing in the corner. She’s in the same exact position as if you never left. You put a blanket over her, but she stirs awake and sees you. She asks to borrow a hundred dollars.

Your mom winds up throwing a dirty plate your way when you give her twenty. It’s all you have on you.

You don’t realize the significance of what Mrs. Jung’s done for you until years later after you’ve long graduated elementary. So you visit her during High School with a thank you card and a bouquet of flowers. She’s gotten old by then, but she still remembers. She cries and hugs you tight. It feels comforting. And her hand brushes against the strands of your baby blue locks.

Grandma helps you grow out your hair again and is one of the people who help you become comfortable in it. By university, you’ve discarded your wigs in favour of your real hair that’s gotten luscious and shiny. Your friends think it's the coolest thing they’ve ever seen and some people approach you to tell you they love it and ask where you got it done. 

You tell them it’s your soulmate gift.

Throughout the years, you pick at the ends of your hair and keep track of its changes in your diary. It becomes a habit to play with your hair, to memorize the shade it morphs to. You find that during the winter seasons, your hair becomes white often. One day, it turns white twenty six times. 

On Valentine’s Day one year, your hair stays solid pink the whole day. And on another, it’s black for an entire week in April. 

You start to hypothesize on the data you collect, noting the frequency of the hair colour changes, of each shade. You suspect hues of yellow signify happiness, reds are anger, blues are sadness, white is when your soulmate is cold. You’re not so sure about the others—

“Y/N.”

Seokjin is leaning on your cubicle as you shut your journal, having recorded your hair turning into a shade of lilac.

“Boss man wants to see you.”

Your eyes widen and you stumble up, pushing your small office chair back. “What for?”

The man shrugs. “Beats me. I wouldn’t worry about it though. It’s not like he’s going to fire you………..right?”

Seokjin grins, but his joke only spurs more nerves on you.

You get to the door, smooth out your pencil skirt and with a deep breath, you knock.

“Come in.”

“You wanted to see me, Mr. Min?” 

You step inside his office, finding him looking into a small table mirror at his desk. He’s peering at his left eye and bats his lash several times. But then he sets the mirror down and looks at you.

“Yes, please take a seat.”

You clear your throat and sit in the chair across from him. The mirror is propped up in your direction, and you notice how your hair turns into a shade of monotone gray. It starts at the roots, bleeding downwards until all the strands have altered completely.

You pipe up, “If this is about the Jeon files, sir, I already redid them.”

“No, that’s not it.” He rubs his left eye that’s watering and then blinks. “Actually, I wanted to have a conversation about this for a while. Joy was supposed to talk to you about this, but she’s busy at the moment.”

Joy from HR. 

You’re immediately on alert. “Yes, sir.”

 Mr. Min says, “It’s about your hair.”

Oh.

He rubs his eye and then clasps his hands together on top of his desk. “Recently, we received a customer complaint that your hair was unprofessional.”

“It’s my soulmate gift.”

“Yes. I know. You mentioned it during your interview. But it still could be considered a distraction in the workplace.”

The word ‘distraction’ has a muscle by your brow jumping. It makes you practically bristle as déjà vu washes over you. But you aren’t ten anymore. You don’t have to be afraid.

You straighten. “With all due respect, I don’t think it’s a requirement for me to have to change my hair. This is out of my control….sir.”

Suddenly, your hair turns a faint hue of red.

Mr. Min’s brow raises as if he didn’t expect you to be so difficult. “It’s part of the rules to have business appropriate attire in the office.”

“Attire yes, but there is nothing referring to hair,” you quietly assert.

His jaw shifts and he leans back into his seat. “Well, we’ll have to confirm if that’s true with HR—”

“I already did,” you interrupt him with a meek smile and as an afterthought, you add, “sir.”

Your hair turns a stronger shade of red. From pastel to a raspberry. Your pupils flicker to the mirror on his desk and your brows furrow as you notice it.

Mr. Min breaks you out of your trance and you redirect your attention to him again. “Is it impossible to make it less of a distraction?” he asks while rubbing his eye that’s tearing up again.

“If it becomes a requirement for me to wear wigs to work every day and not an expectation for others, sir, then the company should pay for it, put it on for me each morning and help me maintain it.” Your hair turns a stronger shade of red — crimson — as Mr. Min rubs his eye more incessantly. You add, “With all due respect, I don’t consider my hair a distraction at all. It is out of my control and it isn’t my fault if others are distracted. It has to do with their attention span.”

He stands. “That’s enough.”

At the same time, from his watered eye, you see something fall out. 

You point. “Umm, sir…”

“Shit,” he mutters underneath his breath and looks to the carpet. You stand there for a delayed second before deciding to help him. You round his desk and descend to the ground where he is. All he says is, “It’s a contact lens.”

It’s a surprise to you considering you didn’t know he wore them.

But you quickly spot the transparent half-sphere. “Oh, it’s over there. By your foot.”

Mr. Min frowns. “Where?”

He looks up to see where you’re pointing. Your faces are inches away and instantly your eyes widen. A quiet gasp leaves your lungs. Not because of your close proximity but because Mr. Min’s iris is a fading red. And as confusion takes you, it morphs into a shade of gray.

Blooming outwards from his pupil, colour swirling into place.

“Your eye…” you murmur.

He mumbles, “It’s a soulmate gift.”

Yoongi grabs the brown colour contact lens, cursing at how it’s gotten dirty. But before he can get up, your hands latch onto his wrist, fingers digging into his skin and you tell him, “Wait.”

“What?”

There’s an unquenchable thirst to test the hypothesis that’s dawned upon you. 

So when your hair starts to turn into gray as well, you surge forward on sheer intuition. And you kiss your boss, Min Yoongi. Your lips press against his, enough to register how soft and velvet his mouth is, long enough to feel his vanilla chapstick transfer onto your lips. But it’s a chaste peck. Shy and hesitant. And you pull away just as quickly.

Yoongi falls back on his butt with eyes nearly falling out of their sockets.

Immediately, you look over to the mirror on his desk. Your hair is turning from gray to red with faint streaks of cotton candy pink. 

You gaze back at Yoongi to find his iris is peony pink.

“D-Did you just kiss me?!”

“Umm, sir, with all due respect, I believe you’re my soulmate.”

The words to dawn upon him. For the first time, your strands of hair morphs into a soft, pastel pink and his irises match the same shade.

[kaylaxwrites]

Into You

Pairing: Jessica Jones x Reader Words: 2.5k Summary: After the police practically dismiss your concerns of stalker, you turn to Alias Investigations for help. Request:  Jessica Jones x f reader where reader hires her as a pi (for whatever reason) and the case takes awhile so reader develops feelings but doesn't want to act on them because it's in appropriate since Jessica is working for her. Then as soon as the case is over Jessica pulls out two glasses and some whisky and is like "I'm a pi obviously I noticed you're into me now let's drink together and see where this goes cuz I like you too" (anon) A/N: Sorry this took so long! It might not follow the request exactly (I forgot to make the case like take a while) but I hope you like it! 

Warnings: reader has a stalker, gets cornered by stalker and is also punched

Tears stung your eyes as you stepped out of the police station. You were convinced, you knew, you had a stalker. Someone had been following you for several weeks now, left crude “love letters” taped to your apartment door, and generally left you with an unsafe and uncomfortable feeling. You went to the police today for help—any help—and left feeling crushed and defeated. The officers inside didn’t take you seriously, brushed you off, dismissed your concerns and you were angry.

Afraid.

You started walking down the street back towards your apartment, brushing away stray tears. Being in the open—even in front of a police station—made you feel uneasy. You didn’t know what to do next and you were about to spiral into a panic attack. One step at a time, you tried to tell yourself, taking deep breaths as you walked. You would go home, and figure out what to do there. Right now you just needed to get home and calm down.

You looked to the sky as a means to keep your tears at bay when a sign in a fifth-floor window caught your eye and slowed you to a halt.

Alias Investigations.

A private investigator? Could they help you with your problem? Maybe they could help you get the evidence you needed for the police to take you seriously. Did you have the money for it, though? Fuck it, you thought. It would be cheaper than moving across town and changing your name. With a steading breath, you opened the door to the building and made your way inside.

You soon arrived at the fifth floor and anxiety knotted your stomach. This building looked sketchy—the suspiciously blood-like stains in the elevator was more than enough to give you that uneasy feeling—but you were already here. So might as well. Right?

You knocked hesitantly on the door, surprised when you heard what sounded like muttered curses from the other side. Did you come at a bad time? You almost left but then the door creaked open and you were met with the annoyed face of a pale, black-haired woman.

“Can I help you?” she asked curtly, opening the door only enough to show her shoulders and face, trying to appear as unwelcoming as possible.

“Uh…” The woman and her weird greeting left you somewhat speechless so you weakly pointed at the window where Alias Investigations was printed in bold letters. “Alias Investigations?” you said as if she wouldn’t know the name of her own business. You could kick yourself for your awkward stuttering.

“Shit. Hold on.” She closed the door in your face and you took a step back, startled. Through the opaque glass on the door, you could see the silhouette of the private eye quickly picking up the main room of her apartment, throwing trash and other stray items out of sight. You stopped yourself from smiling when the door was thrown back open and she welcomed you inside.

You sat tentatively in one of the chairs across from her desk as she sat heavily in the opposite seat, folding her arms on the top of her desk. She gestured for you to start talking and you did. “I think I have a stalker,” you started. But then you shook your head, restarting. “I know I have a stalker. I don’t know who he is, but I’ve caught glimpses of him a couple of times and he keeps leaving me these…letters on my door about once a week.” You dug into your bag and pulled out several of the letters you tried to bring as evidence, laying them on the table.

Jessica, you realized from her name tag on the desk, picked them up and scanned through them. “Have you been to the police?” she asked.

“I went there this morning. They practically dismissed me outright. I was walking home when I saw your sign.” You nodded towards the window behind her that advertised to the street.

She shuffled through the letters some more. “And do all of these…?”

Talk graphically about what your stalker would do once you were “together”?

“Yeah. The officer…” You cleared your throat, feeling tears stinging your eyes once again. “The officer said that I-I had probably led some guy on and that’s why he was leaving me love letters. He hasn’t threatened to kill me, so they aren’t—they aren’t going to help me.” Your voice was strained by the end of your sentence and you knew Jessica picked up on it.

“And you don’t know who it is?”

You shook your head. “Like I said, I’ve caught glimpses of him, but…”

“What does he look like?”

“Tall. Six foot, maybe? White. Not skinny, but not like super muscular either. He always has a hood or sunglasses on, so I’ve never really gotten a good look at his face. He hasn’t talked to me in person, either. Just leaves the letters.”

Jessica thought for a moment, looking over the letters once more. “I’ll help you,” she said eventually.

You nearly shot out of your seat. “Really? Oh my god, thank you. I don’t know what else I’d do.” You reached into your bag for your wallet. “How much will I owe you? I only have two hundred to give now, but I can find more to pay you later.”

“I’ll take a hundred for now. I’ll figure out the rest later.”

You pulled five twenties out of your wallet, half of your paycheck you cashed out earlier that day. You also gave her your phone number, address, and your schedule for the week. Jessica said she’d be in touch with you and you soon left afterwards, feeling lighter than you had in weeks now that the weight was beginning to lift off your shoulders.

You didn’t hear much from Jessica the next few days. She said she was going to watch you in your daily routine for a little while to see who she could find that was suspicious or she saw a lot in your vicinity. You never once saw her watching you, so you had to take her for her word—that either meant she was really good or you just gave a hundred bucks to someone who was going to ghost you. Thankfully, by the end of the week, you didn’t have to worry about being ghosted by a P.I.

Jessica found your stalker.

James Williams, she said his name was, but it didn’t ring a bell. You didn’t know him and you weren’t sure how he knew you. “You could’ve helped him at work or smiled at him on the street,” Jessica assured you. “These assholes will take any random act of kindness as a love declaration.”

“You could say that again,” you muttered. But you thanked her for her help and ended the phone call, agreeing to meet in about two hours after you got home from work. You pulled yourself from your hiding spot in the stock room of your workplace and finished up your shift.

By the end of the hour, you were starting your walk to Jessica’s office. You were less than two blocks down the road when an arm wrapped around your shoulders and backed you against the wall of an alleyway. Your head smarted against the brick and you blinked rapidly as you took in the face in front of yours.

You didn’t recognize it, but it must be…

James.

“What—what do you want?” you stuttered, your brain suddenly short-circuiting.

“You called…you called a P.I.?” he asked. He almost sounded…heartbroken. “I—I had a plan. I had a plan for us and you ruined it!”

“I don’t want to be a part of your plan. I don’t even know you!”

“I had everything figured out. We were gonna—”

“Get off of me, fucking creep!”

You instantly regretted your words as a look of anger flashed through his eyes. Maybe calling the psychopath a creep wasn’t the best way to go. Before you could brace yourself, he swung his fist and you were met with a flash of pain in your nose, a trail of blood following not long after. The force of the blow had you spiraling towards the ground and your felt your ankle twist as you fought to remain upright. Gravity won in the end and your palms scraped across concrete as you fell. Before your thoughts could even register, James’ hands were at your shoulders, lifting you upright, and pressing you against brick once more.

“Do not…call me that,” he said between heavy breaths. You flinched when he reached a hand up to cup the side of your face, brushing away blood with his thumb. Your mind flashed through every self-defense post on social media, but you couldn’t think clearly to remember specific moves. You were halfway to hyperventilating when James was suddenly yanked aside and thrown down the alleyway.

“You okay?” a voice asked. You looked to your left. Jessica.

“I’ll be fine,” you managed.

Blood was pouring from your nose still and you tried to stem the flow with the sleeve of your shirt. Movement down the alley caught your eye and you glanced over. James was staggering to his feet and started towards you. Jessica huffed and rolled her eyes, meeting the man halfway. In the blink of an eye, she lifted him and threw him into a nearby dumpster, latching the lid closed so he couldn’t escape.

“That’ll hold him until the police get here,” she said, brushing her hands off.

“Police?” you asked.

“Yeah, that little stunt will get him time for assault. And you won’t have to worry about him anymore.” She took a few steps towards you. “Let me see,” she said, gesturing towards your face. As the bleeding was now mostly stopped, you lifted your head so she could see the damage. “It’s not broken,” she said after a moment, “but you’re gonna have one hell of a shiner in the morning.”

Great, you thought. But if it was the price to pay for getting rid of your stalker…

At that moment, a police cruiser pulled into the mouth of the alley.

You don’t remember much of the statement you gave to the police. The throbbing in your skull pretty much override it all. But thankfully, before long, the officers were taking James away in handcuffs and you were allowed to leave, the card of one of the officers pressed against your hand. Jessica stayed by your side through it all and you were thankful for her presence.

When you were allowed to leave and the officers had left, you tried to stand on your sprained ankle, but could barely make it a single step. The walk back to Jessica’s office was going to be one hell of a trip. Jessica took one pitying look at your pained step and bent as if she was going to pick you up. You quickly shuffled out of her reach. “What are you doing?” you asked.

“You can’t walk,” she answered simply.

“So what? You’re just going to try and carry me? Halfway across Hell’s Kitchen?”

“You got a better plan?”

You looked down at yourself. Your shirt was splattered with blood from your nose. Couldn’t exactly take an Uber looking like you did. “I guess not,” you sighed in defeat.

“So?”

“But you can’t carry me!” Jessica was tiny and you… “I’m too…”

“Heavy?” You gasped as your eyes widened in shock. Jessica was blunt, sure, but… “Shit, not like that. I didn’t—” She sighed. “Just… Look.” She knelt down in between two parked cars, placing a hand under each of the bumpers. With barely a grunt, she stood, lifting the ends of the cars on either side of her until the wheels were nearly waist high.

“Holy shit,” you breathed.

“Yeah.” She dropped the cars and they bounced to the ground. You were surprised the alarms didn’t go off or the wheels didn’t bust. “So are we good here?” You stuttered to find words. You wanted to just let her pick you up—she did just lift two cars, after all—but you were still worried. “So can we go or what?”

“I-I guess.” You moved awkwardly as Jessica lifted you into her arms. Your ankle throbbed as your weight was lifted off of it. You tried to situate yourself comfortably as Jessica carried you, but you didn’t know what to do with your arms. You settled on one across the back of her shoulders and the other curled into your chest, trying to minimize the points of contact with Jessica’s body.

But then you realized just how close Jessica’s face was to yours.

You took in her profile, watching how her hair bounced as she walked, how her pale skin practically changed colors under different streetlights. You realized then just how beautiful she was and maybe you were starting to have a thing for her. Great.

You blushed and turned away as her eyes turned to you. She huffed out a chuckle before returning her attention to the sidewalk.

Eventually, Jessica set you down on the couch in the living room of her office. She stepped over to the bookshelf in the corner of the room, a bookshelf that held more liquor than books, and poured two large drinks. She crossed back to you, offering you one of the glasses. You took it gratefully as Jessica fell on the couch next to you. You sipped your drink slowly, carefully—but by the time you were only a quarter done with yours, Jessica had already refilled her own, having brought the half-full bottle across the room with her.

The two of you sat there quietly, drinking, unwinding, for several minutes until you felt the need to break the silence. “Jessica, I—,” you began, but she cut in, finishing your sentence for you.

“You’re into me.”

Your face flushed and you turned your gaze quickly to the dark amber liquid in your glass. You weren’t even really sure what it was—whiskey? Bourbon? Was there a difference?—but you were tempted to reach over and chug the whole bottle if this was the conversation Jessica wanted to have. “I-I was just going to say thank you,” you stammered, “for everything.”

“You sure that’s all you wanted to say?” She turned her whole body to face you, tucking one of her legs underneath her. You refused to meet her gaze. “I’m a PI. A good one. And you’re an open book. You didn’t think I noticed?”

Your face burned hotter than ever and you wished the couch would swallow you whole—were you really that obvious about your feelings? Jessica reached behind her for the liquor bottle and refilled her drink once more as well as topped yours off. You took several burning gulps to try and distract yourself from the situation. You would give anything to be anywhere but here. You were into Jessica, but she wasn’t into you—the following conversation would be the most embarrassing of your life.

“I’m—I’m sorry. I should go.” You stood to try to gather your coat and your bag, wanting nothing more than to leave.

Jessica’s iron grip on your arm stopped you dead in your tracks. “For what it’s worth,” she said, almost scoffing, as if what she was about to say wasn’t worth anything at all, “I’m into you, too.”

divider by writeyourmindaway

[lovely-necromancy]

A Cure for Insomnia Ch 19

Your bags were jumping and sliding around in the back of Madeline's rusty pickup truck. She had been kind enough to offer you a ride up to the lodge when she stopped by the shop earlier.

Madeline had seen the sour look Nate kept sending you and how you were intentionally not looking over towards the soon to be graying young man. Not one to beat around the bush she asked what was up, mam bear mode peeking through.

Nate was just being a dick to you and saying you had to stay with the Cowells longer than what had originally been agreed to. Big Jo seemed fine about letting you go back home now, even with your resolve set to continue hanging out with Toby. But Nate was trying to put a tight leash on you since you “wouldn't listen to reason” - so he said.

Even with security at the cottage updated Nate still thought it best to keep you with them if you were planning to still interact with Toby. More than likely he was trying to make that harder for you to do since staying with them would definitely make it easier for him to keep track of you.

The thought alone set shivers down your spine. Like a constrictor slithering up your back to rest around your neck and do what it does best.

It had been really hard to breathe these last few days.

But all Madeline needed to hear was “Nate” and “being a dick” before she said she'd take you herself. Thereby ending the conversation and silent argument in the shop, as she spun on her heel stating when she'd pick you up later.

Nate hadn't been too happy about the exchange but he could suck your dick. He's been annoying you with all this Toby bullshit and doesn't get to tell you what he thinks right now.

The drive up is silent, but that comfortable kind of silence between two old friends who don't ever really have a need to talk to hang out. It's nice because it gives you tons of time to think about just what you're about to do.

Going over several scripts all at once in your head.

You want to talk to Toby. You still haven't read that file but it just doesn't sit right with you that it was ever even given to you in the first place. Toby being completely unaware of the total breech of privacy makes your stomach flip just like your bags in the back right now. It's not like you ever asked for the detailed life file but at the same time it feels wrong not to let Toby know tht something like that even exists for him. His past being dug back up all without his knowledge or consent. And now here you were about to lay it right down in front of him.

Was this the right move? You're the one bringing it to his attention, if it's something that will mess him up it'll be your fault that he's upset. Jo and Nate may have gotten the information but you still count yourself as being a complacent party to all of this.

Your stomach feels like it's on a drop tower as it sinks further into a pit of guilt.

You feel like the scum of the Earth right now. Hopefully he isn't too upset.

Seeing your downcast eyes, you were a lot more expressive than you ever really realized, Madeline pipes up, “You gon' be ok there sport?”

A small smile bit at your lips. There's a reason Madeline Cobb was known in Kepler as Mama. She took care of those she saw as her own and that was damn near half the town at this point. Hell you'd heard a rumor she raised most this town. The lodge had been her orphanage  before all the kids grew up and turned it into a resort once new arrivals stopped coming. That's probably the reason it's always been so warm and welcoming, it was a home first.

“Yea...just nervous.”

She lets out a small chuckle at you.

“Don' be, 'm sure that Toby boy will say 'yes'. And if he don' well you just come find me. I'll set him right.”

Ok now you were just confused.

“Huh?”

“Don' worry about it, he likes you jus' like you like 'im. It'll work out for you two.” she reaches over and ruffles your hair before jumping out of the pickup. You hadn't realized you were already at your destination.

And it was too late to correct Mama, she'd already made it inside the lodge, about why you were so nervous. The warmth in your face makes you even more grateful for your mask. Barclay was getting bit by the end of the night, the man really needed to get a boyfriend and stop trying to manifest one for you.

The door to the lodge opens again, you hardly paid it any mind. So lost in your own musing you didn't even notice the man walking towards you. Your goat plush had fallen beneath your seat and you were attempting to grab it but it was too far out of your reach.

“You good there?” Toby's amused voice calls, startling you.

Popping your head out of the opened car door. Heart racing faster at the sight of your friend standing there with a small smirk on his bandaged face. You weren't ready for this.

His eye looks better, well like a normal black eye and not a swollen lump that threatened to over take his socket. Now his eye looked like it could still function out of the slight opening. Fuck this was hard enough when you'd pictured only one eye looking at you but now you had to calculate for both!?

Is it weird that this is what worries you? Are you derailing from the actual situation? Distracting yourself so the conversation is easier on you. So you don't have to think about the possibility that Toby won't want to be friends after this. That he'll end up hating you for something you hadn't done.

God you really want to cry.

“Hey, space cadet.” Toby's made his way over to your side and puts a gentle hand on you knee, “You ok? Did something happen?”

He's really sweet, you're going to miss him.

No, stop. You need to get a grip and stop thinking like this. Toby will understand and you guys can continue being friends, a bit awkwardly but still friends. You'd get to hang out and maybe wander through the Monongahela together.

“I...I dropped my goat.”

He cocks his head to the side, brows slowly smoothing out and he gives a gentle squeeze to your legs as he reaches under you, hand searching for your lost plush.

The warmth that was once collecting in your cheeks shoots down past the void sitting in your stomach. Just another thing to add to your list you suppose. After a week of nearly no privacy or comfort you are thoroughly pent up. You don't necessarily want Toby, just need someone or something to help relieve the fire between your thighs. He just happens to be in proxcimity of that fire, poking the flame that hasn't been snuffed during your stay with the Cowells, making it dance and writhe reminding you of the need.

But you can't focus on that yet, you'd give yourself a hand when you finally got back home. Right now you needed to focus on Toby. And having that uncomfortable conversation.

“Here he is.” placing the goat in your lap he looks into your eyes, a slight glint in his.

He's in a really good mood tonight. You have to ignor the whispers in your head, telling you you're about to ruin this for him.

Luckily a tic to the right shoos those thoughts away for you.

“YN?” his hand is back on your knee, it's such a small gesture maybe even completely subconscious but it helps ground you.

You haven't read that file but you can't see Toby ever doing something awful enough to warrant Nate's barrage of paranoia and fear. Even if he did....he couldn't still be bad right? You're such a good judge of character and you called Brian on his masking there's no way you'd miss Toby lying to your face.

“I...” he's looking into your eyes searching as you take a steadying breath, “I just really need a slushie right now.” your eyes drop to the goat in your hands.

You fucking coward.

It's silent for a moment as you chastise yourself for not just coming out and telling Toby you wanted to talk. Toby's hand falls easily from your knee and to his side.

“A'right then, you good to drive?” you really missed your chance here, “'cuz Brian's got Connor tonight.”

Wait what?

You look at Toby who simply raises the right side of his mouth in a lopsided grin. A subtle raise of his right brow tells you he understood what you'd asked for. When was the last time anyone was ever able to read you so well?

“Yes!” you push the goat into Toby's chest and practically dive into the back seat for your bags. “I can drive. Franklin?”

“Don't work tomorrow, so sure.”

His good mood seems to pick back up a bit. He's chuckling as you rush to gather everything and head over to your car, barely shutting Mama's door as you do. Toby gives it a good bump with his hip to make sure it shut properly. He unlocks your car for you and slides into the passenger's seat while you arrange your shit in the trunk.

You catch sight of the skull still in your trunk and figure you'll just leave it as is for now. Since it seems that literally every time you close this trunk you forget it exists. Bye weirdly placed deer skull maybe one day you'll have a wall mount worthy of your beauty.

Before closing the trunk you do rab the file. Maybe having it up front with you will help you actually tell Toby about it.

When you open the driver's side Toby's hand is already outstretched and waiting for your phone, this isn't his first rodeo after all. You can't help but smile as you hand it right over to him. He notices, because of course he does, and beams back at you. Sending more warmth throughout your body. After collecting your emotions the guilt comes back around.

You need to stop being horny on main. And in front of Toby no less. It's weird, like you're riled up for him and not because you're attention starved and haven't known solitude for over a week.

By the time you're driving off the lot Toby had picked you 'Let's drive to nowhere' playlist. A perfect choice for tonight, seeing as these are all either songs to dissociate to or have mental break downs with. And with you obnoxious emotions either is up for grabs. Aside from the music the car was silent as you drove out of town.

You were so wrapped up in what to say to Toby, how to say it, when – that you ended up not saying anything at all. Toby on the other hand couldn't wait for you any longer and broke the silence himself.

A habit he seems to have, must not like silences.

“Normally you don't shut up,” the words were harsh but his tone wasn't for once.

He watches as the scenery changes from quaint country road to interstate. “Did something happen?”

An awkward anxious smile makes its way on to your face. You've never been good at schooling your features and smiling was unfortunately your default in the even of confrontation. It was probably just your brain's way of protecting you from emotional trauma.

“Sorta.”

To his credit Toby waits for three full songs before prying for more information.

“Another attack?” he's on edge.

To be fair you are too.

“No, like hell Jo and Nate wo-would let me leave if that were it.” your head jerks twice to the right. You miss Toby's wince.

Nate barely let you leave the shop today, you had to get outside assistance aka Mama.

“Ok, so what happened then?” as you bit your lip trying to find your words Toby is running through his own list of possibilities. “Dis Ma- Tim do something to you?”

Huh?

Why would Tim have anything to do with this? Are they still fighting? But Brian has Connor tonight...that doesn't seem likely but you've really only hung out with Toby thus far. You don't know enough about their group dynamic.

You also didn't miss the beginning syllable Toby said. Was he trying to say 'Matt', 'Mark', 'Manny'? There were so many names that Tim's alter could have but at the least you've more or less been told there is an alter to begin with.

But why would Toby be concerned about Tim's alter? Was he the one that punched Toby? Were they actually the two fighting and not Tim and Toby? This is confusing just being on the outside, you have no idea how the trio copes with this situation.

“Oh no, Tim and Not Tim have been nice to me.” if you're coming clean about the file might as well come clean about knowing Tim has an alter. This way Toby could pass along the message to Tim and Not Tim.

“Back up, not liter-mrrow – literally. 'Not Tim'? You've met Mas-Ma-Masky?!”

Masky? That's a strange name, but who were you to judge the name someone gave themself. Maybe he's a He/Him enby.

“Not like formally or anything, but I'm pretty sure he was the one that helped me and Ronnie out the other week.” you switch lanes to drive off of the interstate, hoping to find a secluded road to have this conversation on.

God knows it's going to take all of your concentration.

Toby was seething in his seat and you know the tension is only going to get worse going forward.

You can hear him muttering to himself, 'of course' or 'he didn't remember', over and over. Finding a good place to park the car you take it and turn to Toby, who's still lost in his own head.

“Tobias.” you call trying to jostle him and it works a little too well in a sense. As he blurts out, “Don't! Masky's dangerous stay away from him!”

He immediately freeze like he hadn't meant to say that. And while it wasn't a tic it was probably an impulse brought on by his anxious frame of mind. He's popping his knuckles again too.

You don't know why you said it, looking at Toby's wide blown pupils – riddled with fear and nerves, you should've kept you mouth shut.

“Dangerous like you?”

Or at least phrased that a bit more eloquently.

Toby's eyes grow dark and his good eye cuts low nearly matching it's swollen twin. A shiver runs down your spine even though you know the malice is not for you.

“What.” he hisses out.

It's not a question, it's an order. He wants to know what you know and maybe even who told you. Maybe he thinks Masky told you something, since that was the topic of the previous conversation.

Dark eyes watch you like a hawk as you pull the file from the map holder in your door. His chest is nearly heaving with every breath at this point, can he hyperventilate? That's a dumb question he most certainly can. And he's either on his way to that or a panic attack. You hope you don't send him into a panic attack, Connor's not here to help. Connor know pressure though, Toby's had him preform it on you during your spells. Would it work the same if you laid on top of Toby? You're getting too distracted right now.

Not trusting yourself to not just back down now, you hold the folder out to Toby to take.

He's just staring at it like it'll attack him at any moment, and honestly it might...just not physically. He glances up at you. There's a funny flash of deja vu likening back to the first time you met. Cold indifferent and confused eyes looking at you as though you were some strange alien they'd never seen before. This time however there's a spark of something else in them. Something dark that festers beneath the surface. Was that hatred, betrayal, or was that the wall he was building back up. The wall that would sever this friendship.

Stop projecting. He hasn't even taken the file, he can't possibly know what's going on right now.

“What's that?” see.

“Nate got super protective after the attack, I guess the other day you just like rubbed him the wrong way. So, he had someone look into you. That file is everything they found...pretty sure it's your whole life, I swear I haven't read anything. Not even a peek. But Jo and Nate tried to tell me the-”

He snatched the file from you before you'd even said you hadn't looked. He opened it and a second later it was closed and he took a shaky breath before looking at you.

It was your turn to look like a deer in headlights tonight, you knew that breath was one of barely concealed rage. This was it, this was where everything ended, all because Nate had “a bad feeling” about Toby.

But you trusted Toby, he wouldn't hurt you. He was your friend.

“So” he lets out a harsh sigh, “you didn't...you haven't read anything?”

You hastily shake your head, “What did they tell you.” he looks off to the side and his mouth is all screwed up, and not in it's normal mangled sense.

“That I shouldn't see you anymore, you did something bad, awful, terrifying; Nate's list goes on but I sort of...fo the fingers in the ear 'lalala' thing” you say sheepishly, “anytime he tries to tell me something. Jo stops when I ask him to. He's not too worried about you...I think.”

Or he's working behind the scene to keep you and Toby separated for the long run but that's speculation and not the point of this conversation so you don't mention it.

Toby's flipping through the file skimming it, no doubt looking for his checkered past, he finds what he's looking for and nods once continuing on like he was reading a grocery list. Which he may as well have been, a grocery list of all his transgressions. With the way his fingers gripped the edges of the folder you could tell he was putting on a front about the contents.

They did bother him.

“Why didn't you look, why didn't you listen YN?” was he seriously angry at you for that?

“It was an invasion of your privacy. Whatever's in there I wanted you to have the ability to tell me on your own terms – if you ever even wanted to. Not because you were forced into it because I found out from some third party that doesn't even know you.”

“Then why the fuck did you -wrong- practically jump into a car with me and then hand me a file on my shitty life!?!” He slammed the file down into his lap with a lot of force, more than he should have used for sure. “They think I'm a menace and they're right you shouldn't have...you need to...” he trails off looking like he's trying to disintegrate the file in front of him with latent laser eye abilities.

His arms are shaking.

No – he's trembling. The way he's biting his lip tips you off. He's trying to hold himself together, trying to stop himself from breaking. This can't be the same person Nate's so worried about.

“You're biting your lip, that's not good for you.”

“Fuck off.” it's half hearted at best, no real weight behind the words. And he does let his abused lip go.

“It's a breech of trust if I didn't tell you this...I wanted to give you the file because you should know it's been read by two people, to my knowledge.” you place a hand on his forearm, “Toby, I don't know what you've done in the past but...you know you aren't that person now, right?”

He's out of the car in an instant, slamming the door behind him. You follow, as dumb as you understand it is, getting out of your car in the middle of no where with a very unstable person.

“Get back in the car. I mrrow I can't...I need a minute.” his shaking is so much worse now that he's standing, It's even put a tremble in his voice.

“You're stupid if you think I'm leaving you alone in the middle of no where.” you stand your ground, he may need space but this is not the place to have it. You're only a few miles from town, you can get him back to the lodge where he doesn't have to see or be near you.

Hell you won't say a word on the way back.

“Like you're not stupid for ignoring the warnings that I'm dangerous! I've killed people! Did you know that?! Did you even think that's what was so bad!?” he's giving you the same glare he had on when he talked about the fight with Tim.

“I could literally kill you right now, you've driven us out to who knows where but still remained in walking distance back to town. You live on the outskirts of it and it'd be so easy for me to make you disappear and everyone would believe your stalkers got to you.” his chest heaves at a vicious rate.

Despite the venom and truth of his words, you can't find it in you to be scared of him. If anything his rant proves Toby must not have been mentally well during his crimes, he's acting like a cornered alley cat not a serial killer. There's a vice grip on you heart at the thought.

“Ok...are you?”

It's like a switch has been flipped in him and he calms instantly.

“What?” he knows what you're asking.

“Are you going to kill me?” you asked like you'd been asking what time it was.

He stares at you looking you up and down, “No...I wouldn't.” his neck jerks triggering your own tic.

“Then I'm safe.” you slowly approach him, much like you would a feral alley cat. “I trust you Tobias.” you reach out to tough his arm again.

It hadn't worked in the car but Toby does seem to calm down faster when he's being touched. Like the sensation brings him back to reality and locks him there.

“Y-you shouldn'n'n't.”

He doesn't pull away this time as you place your hands gently on his forearms. His eyes raise to meet yours.

“...I've killed.”

He sounds so helpless.

The only thing you find shocking about this is that he actually did it. You know people are capable of all sorts of vile things. But the way Toby's voice breaks, the tremors that run through his body. You can't see any similarity with the horror show you once imagined, a Toby covered head to toe in blood and a vicious grin.

The fact that Toby killed doesn't really phase you much more than the ever present 'how' that rings out. He must have had a reason. Jo wasn't too worried so maybe it was circumstantial. Not to mention Toby's among the general public. Could it have just been an accident? A misunderstanding?

“I don't – no I'm not going to say 'I don't care', because this is something that really effects you but I...I guess what I'm trying to get at is..it doesn't bother me. I know it should but, Tobias I just can't picture you as a murderer.” that blood stained Toby flashes before you singing 'liar', “I got to know you before finding out any of this. So, I know there must've been a reason behind it. And that's...and you don't have to tell me anything.”

Nothing more is said, after all you've said everything you could think of to deescalate the situation. And Toby is frozen as he stares at you. You'd have thought he was dissociating had it not been for the way his eyes still held that tiny reflection of light. He was still present, just unsure how to proceed.

Honestly you were stumped too, you had no idea how to begin this conversation let alone end it.

“My – there was...” you rub his arm in a small circular motion. You don't need to hear anything more, it already feels like too much information that he'd lost the agency for.

But your gentle shushing did nothing because he continued, “Clairse says I had a psychotic break and...just went after the biggest stressor at the time.” he pauses with a deep breath and closes his eyes in the process. “She says it wasn't really my fault, I was under...a lot of – I wasn't there, where I should've been mentally. My dad was abusive...anyone in my situation would've broken at some point.”

His words are hollow and robotic. A mantra he's learned to say although he doesn't believe it.

You'd normally give someone the choice but this time you just slip you arms over his shoulders and pull him into a hug. There's no resistance from him either, if anything he leans into the embrace and grips onto your back. His trembling doesn't stop but it's softened by the pressure.

“You don't have to tell me anything Tobes. I don't want you to...not if it's this painful.”

“I want – want to tell you about Lyra.” his voice cracks in tandem with his neck as he says her name.

And he does tell you, against all your protests to take his time. He tells you everything laid out his whole life right in front of you. From being home schooled early on – isolated within his own home for years, to his older sister and her untimely accident that he's still clearly wracked with guilt about, and then the spiral that ended in patricide and a fire that ate his entire neighborhood.

By the end of his recounting he'd stopped trembling and letting out the occasional sniffle – and now the two of you were leaning on the hood of your car. Looking at the stars that just started coming out for the night, you occasionally whispered affirmations to Toby as he tells more stories from his childhood. The good ones this time.

His spirits aren't as high as they were when you'd started your evening but they're much better than they were two hours ago.

You chuckle as he finishes telling you about the time he and Lyra managed to sneak out of the house for a concert only to realize they had no way of getting back into the house when they returned. Their mom just opened the door letting them inside with a small crease in her brow but the smile that played at her lips told them everything they'd needed to know. They weren't in trouble, she'd sent them off to bed and in the morning asked how the show was. From the way Toby talked about his mom you can tell he really loves her. The feeling must've been mutual, if she sent them off to bed instead of dishing out a punishment all because Toby had smiled for the first time in weeks that night.

“Ah, favorite child Toby strikes again.” you joke.

This time Toby didn't say anything, you had been throwing small jokes in to help keep the mood light, but he just looked at you with his head tilted. A grim expression barely crossed his features before being replaced with a lopsided smile and warm but sad eyes.

“Y'kn – Kyra used to say that all the time.”

“Must be true then.”

He looks at his hands with the softest expression you've ever seen. It's an expression normally given to Connor, just sadder this time.

You nudge him getting his attention back to the present.

“You still want that slushie?”

He takes a moment to look around you and finally rests his gaze on the stars. “Not Franlin, not tonight.” he says focusing back on to you.

“Think we're two exits from Riverton if that helps. They have Wawas.”

“Wawas?” he chuckles.

You nod, “Yea they have smoothies and milkshakes.”

“Ooh la la.”

You both snort and head back into the car. It's surreal to be buckling back in, joking around with Toby when just hours prior you thought you'd be ending your friendship the moment you opened your mouth.

You can't help but ask, “Are we cool?”

“Yea...we're good. 's not like you fucking asked for the information.” he leans his head against the window and crosses his arms into himself.

“I'm still sorry about it though.”

“Know you are. But it's over now.” the finality of that statement takes the weight off of your shoulders. For the first time in days you can breathe again.

“Thanks for telling me everything...you didn't have to. But I appreciate you sharing it with me.”

His nails dig into his arms, or they would have if they weren't chopped down to the bit.

“I mrrow I-I didn't tell you everything...”

Nope this was over and done with, no more sad and scared Toby. You couldn't handle anymore, guilt had found a friend in discomfrot and the two had set out to eat you alive with every tremor that tore through Toby's body.

“What are you like a child murderer or something?” Giving a laugh to soften the joke.

….

You missed the way Toby tenses and sucks in a breath. His heart is beating wildly in his chest, so hard he's certain you hear it. Is that where you draw the line? Child murder. Of course you had to have some boundaries he couldn't just expect you to be cool with everything he's done. You were sure to figure it out sooner or later no thanks to your boss. But Toby couldn't loose you now. Not when you've been an anchor he hasn't had in such a long time. He feels almost human again when he's with you.

He's been quiet too long, at least he thinks he has. He needs to say something, joke around back and dismiss the notion. You can't know not now – maybe not ever.

“I'm trans!” he hadn't meant to blurt that out.

He stared at you with wide eyes. Why had he said that, that hadn't even crossed his mind. Just as he was about to laugh it off you reached over and lightly punched him in the arm. That small gesture sent a tickle down Toby's spine. It was such an innocent touch, but he was touched starved and knew it.

“I am too goof. Thanks for telling me but why the wait?”

Fuck now he had to think of something. Talking to you always made him so brain dead.

“Mrrow...mrr-you saw me as a man first...I wanted to keep it that way.” maybe he didn't have to make something up, just tell you the half truth.

Brian had questioned him when they got ready for the picnic why he hadn't worn his trans tie dye shirt and he's said he misplaced it. A bold lie to tell someone like Brian, especially since it'd been a gift from his mom. She had sent it in a care package last June. He'd never loose something his mom gave him, at least not so quickly. If he'd been being honest with himself at the time, he was worried about your reaction. Of course he knew you were trans too so not like you'd be one to be a transphobe, but he didn't want you to stop seeing him as a man and only see him as trans.

“Toby, you are a man. Nothing short of you telling me otherwise will change that for me.”

Toby isn't sure when you grabbed his hand but he's aware of your hold when you start to rub along his knuckles. He watches your thumb circle jis joints and pressing a bit into the divots as he takes another deep breath.

He gives his best smile, a lopsided uncomfortable looking thing, “I don't think I like when you call me Toby.”

[twistedlymad]

Hi! I was wondering if you do requests cuz I came upon this blog and was like hm this blog is pretty interesting. Your writing and stories so far are amazing I’m in love with them. I was wondering if you could write a story where the fem reader turns into a child and what the twst boys would do. Everyone causing different shenanigans. Anyways I hope you will be able to write this. Goodbye!!! *Anon* Out :)

Ohmaigawd Anon, you’ve made my entire week! Thank you for liking my stories! I’ve never felt this happy :’)

Anyway, yes! I do take requests! And thank you for requesting this story. I’m sorry it took me awhile to finish this but I hope this story is up to your standards! Thank you again and have a lovely day!! 

What if you became a baby? (Ft. Grim, All the Dorm Leaders, Ace, Deuce, Epel and Jack)

“Ugh… I’m so tired….” You groaned in the cafeteria. You held up a hand to support your head. Grim was beside you, laying down face first onto the table.

“Well… Nothing special happened today…” He said making you glare at him.

“Today? How about this whole month? The Magical Shift tournament was just last week! First of all, we had to go on this ‘student-hunt’ to protect the top players of Magical Shift. Then we had to find out whoever was causing all of this chaos by injuring said top players. And once we did, Leona-senpai got overblotted and we had to stop him. Also, you hit me!” You exclaimed at Grim.

“Come on, it wasn’t that bad...” Grim turned to face you, only to meet with your glare.

“You hit me. In. The. Head.” With each word, you leaned in closer to the furball. “You made me unconscious for a day.” You looked at him with eyes that stared into his soul. Grim took a gulp.

“A-Ah… That did happen, didn’t it? Hehehehe.” Grim laughed nervously. You just sighed and patted his head. “I couldn’t blame you… I understand you want to show off, but please, be more careful.” You said and he nodded.

“And don’t go complaining how life is boring for you, because for me, I think I’ve had enough for this month.” You went back to your normal position and sighed. “You know? I would give anything for me to do my own stuff without a care in the world.”

“What? Like a baby?” Grim asked.

“You know what? I wouldn’t mind being a baby again, even if it’s just for a day.” You shrugged and you stood up as the bell rung. “But we all know that won’t happen. It’s not possible! Now come on Grim, let’s go back to our dorm.” You said as you picked up the creature in your arms and started to walk away from the cafeteria.

“Ughhh, why did Professor Trein had to give us assignments on a Friday?” Ace grumbled as he, Deuce, Jack and Epel were practicing their magic in the field.

“Well, we have the next two days off, so it’s better for us to work on our magic than laze around doing nothing.” Deuce replied.

“Yeah, let’s just get this spell over and done with.” Epel said. “Wait, what spell was it again?”

“A youth spell. The spell is said to reverse time on an object, making them younger.” Jack commented. “We’re going to use this apple as a test subject.”

“Wait, how much time does the spell reverse?” Epel asked.

“If I’m not mistaken, probably a few days.” Deuce answered.

“What if we all casted at the same time? Would that make the apple turn back into a seed?” Ace suggested.

“I don’t know but we could try!”

“No! What if something goes wrong?” Jack was hesitant to this idea. Who knows what could happen if they misfire? Or even worse, casted the wrong spell?

“It won’t! Trust me!” Ace said proudly.

“…. Alright, just this once.” Jack gave in.

“Ready? On the count of three we cast the spell together.” Ace said as the four of them readied their pens.

“1, 2, 3!” Four blasts from 4 directions were headed towards the apple in the middle. The blasts collided with each other and hit the apple, but, the spell was too strong, it bounced off from the apple in another direction.

“AHH! IT’S OUT OF CONTROL!”

“I-Is that (Y/N)?”

“It is! (Y/N)! LOOK OUT!”

You were walking with Grim back to your humble Ramshackle Dorm, when you heard shouts for you to duck and look out were heard. You turned to see a spell was heading straight towards you, in order to save Grim who was still in your arms, you threw the creature onto the floor, making him bump his head on the way. The spell hits you shortly after.

“Fgnaaaa! Why did you do that for?” Grim sat up and rubbed his head. When he turned to look at you, you were gone.

“(Y/N)? (Y/N)?!” Grim looked around frantically, searching for you. But then he heard a small giggle.

“Ah! Goo Ga!!” A (E/C) colored, (H/C) colored toddler was trying to grab onto his tail. The toddler was wearing a baby version of the school uniform.

“Fgnaaa! Who is this kid?” Grim said as he brought you closer to his face.

“Grim!! Are you okay?!” Deuce asked as he arrived, Jack, Epel and Ace followed shortly after. Grim was focused on the other first-years, leaving you with no attention and you decided to crawl away.

“I am, but I don’t know where (Y/N) went.” Grim said to the first-years. “Anyway, what was that blast? Did you guys miss fired a spell?”

“Umm, I guess you could say so.” Epel looked at the ground sheepishly.

“I told you guys that it wasn’t a good idea.” Jack growled to the others.

“Oh? You eventually agreed to the idea! Now it’s our fault?” Ace retorted back. Before they could start arguing again, Grim stopped them.

“Wait, what spell did you guys miss fire?”

“It was a youth spell, we wanted to see what would happen if we stacked our spells together.” Deuce explained to Grim. “It hit the apple, but it also went off in this direction, specifically (Y/N)’s direction.”

“Oh no, this is bad.” Grim paled.

“What why?”

“If you guys miss fired a strong de-aging spell and I saw a toddler with (E/C) eyes and (H/C) colored hair. That means-“ Grim stated but was cut off by Epel.

“The spell hit (Y/N)! She must’ve turned into a baby!”

“We have to fix this! But Grim, where is the baby?” Jack asked Grim frantically.

“What do you mean? She’s right her- WHERE IS SHE?” Grim exclaimed as he looked at his tail only to find out that you were gone. Everyone panicked slightly but Jack snapped everyone out of it.

“She must’ve wondered off! Ace, Deuce, go find Professor Trein and ask him how to undo the spell. Epel, me and Grim will go look for baby (Y/N).”

“We’ll meet up at Professor Trein’s class later!” Ace shouted as he and Deuce ran off to find the Magic History teacher.

“Let’s better start searching for her, who knows where she could be now.” Jack said as Epel and Grim nodded. And so, the search for you had begun.

You were wondering around the hallway, crawling along the huge lockers, just exploring this whole school. As you wondered, you heard chatter coming from one of the rooms and since you were a baby, your interest is easily piqued. So, you decided to go into the room, unnoticed.

The Dorm Leaders were having a meeting. The meeting was held in a room which just so happened to be the exact same room you entered. Which is why you heard noises of people talking.

“Now, everyone, welcome to today’s Dorm Leader meeting. We will be discussing about last week’s Magical Shift tournament.” Azul started.

“I am pleased to announce that ticket sales and as well as sales in general had an increase of 12 percent compared to last year.” The other dorm leaders nod in agreement.

“Yes, this year’s Magift Tournament was quite the eye opener. Never would I have seen so many events happen leading up to the tournament.” Said Malleus.

“But it was quite the tournament nevertheless, thank god all the problems were fixed before the actual event.” Said Vil.

“And it’s all thanks to Riddle, Cater, Jack, Ace and Deuce, right?” Kalim asked cheerfully.

“Not quite. (Y/N) and Grim did a lot more and they also accompanied us in solving the mystery.” Riddle replied calmly. “Without them, we wouldn’t even have a tournament at all.”

“Ah! We should totally invite (Y/N) to our dorm leader meetings next time! Well, since she is technically a dorm leader.” Kalim suggested.

“If it’s okay with the principal, then do as you please.” Vil said, looking at Crowley.

“I wouldn’t mind either way.” Leona shrugged.

“Same here.” Idia spoke through his phone.

“Ah, well, I’ll ask (L/N)-san her thoughts on this invitation when I see her, now then, onto our next topic.” Crowley continued the meeting with a new topic.

You were actually close behind Crowley, for you saw his cape. You thought that it was a very comfortable blanket and so you crawled beneath it, letting the cape engulf you. Feeling the softness of the cape, you let out a cute squeal of delight. As soon as you did though, everyone in the meeting room froze.

“U-Um, you all heard that right?” Idia asked his fellow dorm leaders and everyone nodded.

“Where did that sound come from?” Asked Kalim.

“I think it came from Crowley.” Leona replied, looking at the headmaster.

“Leona-san is right, it seems like it came from Headmaster’s direction.” Malleus said as he also turned to look at Crowley. Everyone then looked at him with suspicious looks, as if he had stolen something.

“N-Now! Let’s be rational, there aren’t any babies on school campus!” Crowley said, for he was panicking inside because he had heard the sound quite loud and clearly too. And it was at this time you decided to let out another sound.

“Goo Ga!!”

“Alright Crowley, out with it! Did you or did you not bring a kid?” Leona asked the headmaster.

“No! I DON’T EVEN KNOW ANY TODDLERS!” Crowley defended himself. As he did so, Kalim took this chance to inspect Crowley, to find the object that could’ve made that sound. A phone perhaps? A ringtone? Anything! But when he got to his back, you decided to move around, therefore making it seem like Crowley’s cape was moving by itself. Kalim paled as he saw this, he thought it was a ghost.

“h-heADMASTER’S CAPE IS MOVING ON IT’S OWN!” Kalim yelled out in surprise. All the dorm leaders and Crowley turned to look at Kalim.

“So, headmaster, you’ve brought ghosts into today’s meeting?” Malleus asked Crowley with a raised brow.

“N-No! I didn’t!”

“Then explain your cape!” Kalim retorted back.

“Thank god I didn’t leave my room to witness this.” Idia mumbled to himself.

“There is no way I have brought ghosts to our meeting!” Crowley exclaimed. “It must be the wind, see for yourselves!” And he snatched his cape away from you, leaving you exposed to all the dorm leaders. You didn’t know what was happening, one second you were underneath a comfy blanket and the next, 7 pairs of eyes were on you. (I ain’t counting Idia’s eyes :’) ) You were confused.

“A…. A BABY? WHOSE JOKE IS THIS?” Crowley shouted, in the meantime, his shouting had scared you and you started to cry.

“Great going teach, you’ve made it cry.” Leona said, rubbing his temples.

“What?! How is this my fault?” Crowley looked back at Leona.

“Well, if you hadn’t shouted, we wouldn’t be in this mess!”

“Don’t put all the blame on headmaster!”

“So, who is to blame?!”

And so, began the fight between each of the dorm leaders and Crowley. Not far away, Jack, Epel and Grim heard the commotion and decided to see what was happening.

You eventually stopped crying as you felt tired. You took a small yawn and decided to nap on the table. The dorm leaders were still fighting though. It was until Vil saw you fell asleep and shushed the other dorm leaders and Crowley.

“Look, it’s gone to sleep.” Vil whispered and everyone stopped to see you asleep on the table. Jack, Epel and Grim poked their heads in to see the exact same thing.

“Ah! There she is!” Grim exclaimed and the dorm leaders looked at him.

“She?” Azul asked.

“Yes, a she.” Epel said as he slowly went up to you and picked you up.

“But there is only one female student in this school.” Vil stated. As all the dorm leaders widen their eyes.

“You mean?” They asked.

“Yes, this is (Y/N).” Jack replied.

“……….. A-Ah.” It has come to their realization that the toddler was you, and they all had a slight blush on their faces.

So, Jack, Epel and Grim went to Professor Trein’s classroom and got a lecture from the teacher.

What was it about? Oh, the usual. Never combine spells. Ever.

The professor casted a spell on you, saying that it’ll work but it’s going to take a few hours. So Ace and Deuce decided to bring you back to your dorm and have Grim take care of you. It was fairly easy since you were asleep all the way.

After a few hours, it was night time and you were back to normal, but you woke up with a headache.

“Ugh… What happened? I feel like I went on an adventure today.” You asked.

“Yanno, remember when you said you wouldn’t mind being a baby for a day?” Grim asked you.

“Yes, I remember that.” You said, rubbing your head.

“That’s exactly what happened, now, can we go eat? I’m starving.” Grim answered your question and jumped into your arms for you to carry him.

“Eh? Um, sure I guess, let’s go.” You said and took him to eat at the cafeteria.

When you arrived, you sat with your friends asking about what had happened. They hesitantly explained the story to you and you slowly took it all in. When you did, you smacked Ace, Deuce, Jack and Epel on their heads for their carelessness, and with that, you forgave them for making you into a toddler.

However, after that day, the dorm leaders were paying a lot more attention to you. Asking if you need anything or just walked you to class in general. You were absolutely dumbfounded at this new attitude of the dorm leaders, but, you would be lying to yourself if you say you didn’t enjoy it one bit.

[little-butterfly-writes]

Wednesday

Yoosung Kim X Reader [y/n]

Author’s Note - Sorry this took so long! I also apologize if the ending seems rushed or if Yoosung is OOC. Thank you to the lovely @latte-delf for requesting this, it was an honor to write for you. Hope you enjoy!

Warnings - There’s a brief mention of a panic attack and slight bullying! I’ve tagged where it starts and ends if you’re uncomfortable with that. Lots of time skipping cuz I can’t fucking write. This is unedited, please tell me if there is any mistakes.

I hate him.

I hate him so much!

He stole the position of class president from you three years ago.

Yoosung Kim. He stole my position by two votes. Two. Votes. I was always class president before that! Yet he took it from me. My classmates even had the audacity to say he was a better president when it was time to vote for a new one! Sure, Yoosung was intelligent and popular, but he only won because the girls found him handsome.

And of course, he just (HAS) to go to the same university as you do. Sky University was supposed to be a place free of Yoosung Kim. At least he hasn’t seemed too interested in studies this year. He has failed almost every pop quiz your professor has handed out. Whenever you see his down face, you can’t help but giggle a bit.

I dislike how he’s majoring in the same thing as me still. It feels like he’s saying he can do better. Though his grades haven’t been showing that. He must realize that I’m superior than he ever will be.

~~~~~~~~~~

On Wednesday during your last lecture, you diligently take notes and listen to your professor. You make sure to absorb every bit of information that you can. During the last twenty minutes, your professor makes an announcement. 

“Students, I will be assigning a project due at the end of the month. You will have to find out the evolution of the animal as well as their behaviors. Please include any infectious diseases that they can carry. I will be giving you partners to make the workload easy.” You shrug your shoulders, can’t be too bad.

You wait until your name is called, which takes awhile since your name is lower on the list. You pray to whatever god is out there to not get Yoosung as your partner. 

Apparently, the gods refused to listen to your plea. Your professor calls your name out, “[y/n] [l/n] and Yoosung Kim...you two will have the koala.” A loud groan escapes your mouth at the name.

“ Class is dismissed. Have a good day.” You quickly pack up and speed walk out the lecture hall. Yoosung rushes up to you and taps your shoulder.

“Hey! Wanna exchange numbers so we can find time to work on the project?” The blonde smiles at you. You roll your eyes. “No. I’m going to do it on my own. You can play your stupid little game.” He frowns at your snappy words.

“Are you sure? I’d feel bad if you took all the work by yourself. We also have some tests coming up, so it’ll be a lot to take care of.” The genuine worry in his voice ticks you off. You write down your number on a loose piece of paper and shove it into his chest. Yoosung struggles to keep it off the ground as you walk away.  The walk to your dorm is full of your mumbled curses.

~~~~~~~~~

A chill on Saturday morning wakes you up. You grumble as you check your phone, seeing a text notification from Yoosung. He delivered it at 3:45 am. He’ll be an especially lousy partner today. The previous day, Yoosung invited you to his dorm so that you could work on the project together, to which you begrudgingly agreed. 

You arrive at his dorm within a five minute walk. Your notes and laptop are nestled in your backpack. After a quick rap on the door, Yoosung answers. His hair is mussed and his eyes look droopy. You scoff and push your way inside. Surprisingly, his place is a lot neater than you expected.

“So, should we make a slide and divide the work.” He asks. “I’ll do it on my own, go find something else you can do.” You jab. Yoosung lets out a frustrated sigh and speaks up. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but it’d be a lot easier if we shared the load. Plus, this is my grade as much as it is yours.” You grumble an ‘okay’ and split up topics to focus on. Both of you take turns borrowing your notes and his textbook. 

Around two hours after starting, you and Yoosung decide that you worked enough for the day. He offers to get takeout, to which you agree to. You’re a broke college student, how could you refuse? You sit on the floor with your back against the couch, too brain fried to think. Yoosung plomps on the small couch he has and lets out a groan.

“Want to watch Bulu or something on my laptop?” He offers. You nod your head. Yoosung opens his laptop and signs in to his streaming service. You decide to watch ‘The Workspace’ as you wait for your food. 

Your food arrives. Both of you continue to watch your show. Cheap pizza has never tasted this good. Maybe you’re just so hungry and tired to the point where you don’t even care. “Sorry if it isn’t too good. It was the only place I could find on FoodHub.” He apologizes softly. “It’s okay, I’m too hungry to care anymore.” You earn a chuckle from him. There’s an odd silence after that.

“Uhm…. hey, [y/n]?” He speaks shyly. “What?” You say in a cranky voice, irritated about being disturbed from your slice. Yoosung struggles for a minute before speaking for a minute. “Did I do something to offend you? You seem like you have something against me...”  You stiffen. (TW) Your heart drops to the pit of your stomach. You honestly never expected this to happen.

A can of worms open up. Your breathing slowly becomes ragged. Averting your gaze doesn’t help, you know his amethyst ones are on you. A wave of panic crosses you. You stammer something incoherent to him. “A-are you okay? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to..” He hurriedly apologizes. You grasp tightly at his wrist, wanting to ground yourself to something. Yoosung’s pulse is a bit fast, yet it helps you regain focus. He awkwardly places a hand on yours. “He….hey, It’s okay.” For once, his voice is actually reassuring. 

“Back in highschool..” You murmur. “You won student president even though I had been the president the years prior.” He looked shocked, eyes wide and lips a bit parted. “I remember. You worked really hard on that campaign.” Yoosung gives you a lopsided smile. “Since I didn’t win, people who I reported causing issues started to bully and harass me. Even some people who I used a slightly harsh tone with mocked me.” Your eyes started to sting. “Oh [y/n]...”

“The worst part of all, my parents were upset that I didn’t get the role again. They scolded me for not doing good enough.” (TW End) Yoosung can only pat your back. You don’t know what to think about it. He seems to think that as well, seeing as his hand jumps off you like he was scalded. “I uh… think I should go now. I’ll Lendmo you money for the food…..See ya.” You pack as quickly as possible and run out as fast as you can until you’re out of breath. A block away from Yoosung’s dorms, you stop to take a break. Warmth sets fire to your face when thinking back to being with him. Maybe it’s because you’re embarrassed? Maybe you’re just winded from running. 

There is NO. WAY. your face feels hot because of Yoosung’s comforting presence. There can’t be, it's impossible. You slap your cheeks in an attempt to compose yourself. It doesn’t work.

~~~~~~~~~

Its been a week since you’ve talked to Yoosung. He tries to talk to you, but you always scurry away when he gets too close. He’s even tried texting and throwing notes at you in class which the two of you got in trouble for. It’s only on a Wednesday that he finally catches you in the hall before you run off. The grip of his hand on your wrist is firm, but not to the point of pain.

Yoosung sighs and looks at you. You turn your head away slightly to avoid his burning gaze. “Please don’t be mad…” You hear him suck in a breath. “Mad? Why would you think I’m mad?” Your bottom lip trembles. “For avoiding you..” Yoosung releases your wrist and pats your head. “I’m not mad, I’m worried.” His hand slides down to your shoulder. “I know this won’t really help, but I’m sorry for what happened to you. You’ve been holding this feeling of hate because of some stupid people.” You giggle at his insult to your past peers.

But why do your cheeks feel blazing again? Why are there little butterflies in your stomach? There’s a slight squeeze on your shoulder before he retracts his hand. You wish it was still there so badly, that spot feels cold now. “How about going to my place? We can relax for a bit then work on the project.” He offers. You nod, maybe a little too eagerly as you hear him laugh. Why does he look so cute when he smiles?

You take the bus to his place, the campus being a bit far from his dorms. You immediately collapse on his couch and place an arm over your eyes. The groan that comes from your lips is loud and dramatic. Yoosung laughs loudly, oddly comforting you. He sits by your legs, looking rigid. “So uhm...do you still hate me?” You look him dead in the eye. “Only if you’ll teach me how to play that stupid game of yours.” You smirk. “LOLOL isn’t stupid!” He whines. You start laughing. The scowl on his features make Yoosung look like a puppy who hasn’t gotten a treat. You laugh harder.

Yoosung rolls his eyes. “Fine. I guess I’ll teach you.” You wipe away the tears from your laughing fit and sit up happily. He retrieves his laptop and starts up LOLOL. You notice that the both of you are inching towards each other. “I’ll make your own account just in case you want to play again.” “You mean so I won’t mess up your save file?” Yoosung flounders as you let out a hearty chuckle. You put your email and username in. “ShootingStar_[y/n}? I like it!” He guides you as you create an avatar looking similar to you. You decide to be a mage. During your tutorial levels, you have a hard time navigating with the mouse. He places his right hand on top of your hand on the mouse. Your heart beats erratically while his hand is on yours. There’s a slight blush creeping up on his face as well.

By the time you finish, it’s nearly evening. You take out your laptop while Yoosung logs out and goes into the presentation. You guys spend six hours working, editing each other's slides and practicing presenting. It’s around 12am when you two are content with your work. Yoosung orders some sandwiches from a 24 hour restaurant. 

You decide to stay over since its late. Yoosung lets you sleep on his bed while he takes the couch. His bed is like sleeping on a cloud, so soft and warm. You let yourself drift off peacefully.

~~~~~~~~~

On a Wednesday, you and Yoosung have to present your project in front of the class. His face looks pale, his hands are shaky. “Hey, you okay?” You pat his back. He gulps and nods. “Just a little nervous. It's been awhile since I’ve given your last presentation.” It's your turn to pat his head. His face immediately goes a bright shade of pink.”Wh-what was that for?!” “You did that to me last time I was sad. Besides, I think you’re just mad because you know I’m going to beat you in LOLOL tonight.”  He quickly pouts. “I shouldn’t have shown you PVP mode!”

Your presentation goes well. As you leave your class, your professor hands you a rubric. “Nice work, guys.” He gives you a smile. Yoosung meets you out in the hallway. You both peer at the paper. There’s a huge ‘A’ on the top of your paper. Yoosung looks at you with wide eyes. “Oh my god… I can’t believe we did it!” You jump up and down in exuberance. Yoosung hugs you tight. You can’t deny that you have feelings for him anymore. You kiss his soft lips.

~~~~~~~~~

On a Wednesday, you chase him down the hall.

“Get back here!” You yell. “Make me!” This childish man. You continue your chase until you’re outside on campus. He suddenly stops dead in his tracks. The shock of him giving up so quickly nearly makes you trip. You would’ve become a pancake on the pavement.

“Yoosung Kim, I hate you so much!”

He chuckles warmly. “I love you too”

Yoosung presses a soft kiss to your forehead. “I’ll buy you another sweet bun for you. Forgive me?”

“Fine, I guess I forgive you….I love you too..”

You press a kiss to his cheek, relishing in the warmth of the sun shining above you.

[thewritewolf]

Cat Crossing Chapter 2

As bad as it was to accidentally reveal his identity to one of his friends, Adrien was sure he could smooth things over somehow. After all, who could possibly be smoother than him?

I posted this on Ao3 a few days ago, but completely forgot to post it here too! I wrote Cat Crossing last year for @sweetsweetsweetie‘s birthday and decided to give the much-demanded second chapter as this year’s present.

You can find the first chapter here for some Animal Crossing, Marichat goodness. Read on to see Marinette being a super flirt, and Adrien being completely unable to handle it.

Enjoy!

-----

Adrien had a fitful night’s sleep after he panic-disconnected from Animal Crossing. He wasn’t entirely sure if doing that would damage his save file or not, but he just couldn’t bring himself to worry about that right now.

No, there was a much more serious, pressing issue at the moment - Marinette Dupain-Cheng, a civilian, had discovered his identity through her clever deductive skills and through not fault of his own. At least, that was how he’d phrase it to Ladybug. Hopefully she believed him. Because otherwise…? Well, he was going to be in trouble.

“So, what’s the plan, big cat?” Plagg asked, sounding far too chipper about all this, with his wide grin and the amused gleam in his eyes. Adrien would have thought that his kwami would have been the more scared of the two of them, but there was no time to question that now.

Especially since his kwami had asked him that same question last night after Adrien had explained just how badly he’d messed up - and just who had discovered his true identity. All he could say then was that he’d sleep on it and something would come to him in the morning.

Well, the morning was here and as he stepped off the limo dropping him off at school, he had absolutely nothing to show for it. The only bright side is that he was here early enough that he could still hash things out with Plagg before classes started. With that intent in mind, Adrien rushed inside and made a beeline for the empty lockers.

“Okay…” Adrien ran his fingers through his hair, trying his best to keep cool and stay optimistic. “Well, at least it was her and not some random person, right?”

Plagg’s grin only grew. “Oh yeah, definitely. Probably the best person you could have accidentally revealed yourself to.”

“Right…” Adrien gave Plagg a suspicious glance. “We know Marinette. She’s shy, she’s a good friend, she’s honest. She wouldn’t intentionally reveal my identity, right?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Plagg pretended to inspect his paws. “She places a real high value on honesty, kid. And she’s best pals with the one and only Ladyblogger - a fact you know only all too well.”

“Yes, and-”

“Cuz you stare at pictures of Ladybug on there all the time.”

“Not all the time-”

Plagg shrugged. “Eh, close enough. But back to pigtails - what’s the plan?”

“Well, we know she’s shy, right? So what if I really ramp up the Chat Noir charm on her? And while she’s still trying to get her bearings I tell her how important it is to keep identities secret and everything.”

Adrien nodded slowly to himself, feeling the framework of a plan coming together. A few zingers and flirty lines started forming in his head. “That should buy us enough time until we see Ladybug again. I bet she’ll know what to do.”

It was at that moment Adrien closed the locker door and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw that Marinette was oh so casually leaning up against the locker beside him.

“I didn’t catch that last part,” she said, a knowing smirk on her face. “Who will know what to do? Or, even better, just who were you talking to?”

“I… um…” Adrien swallowed, confronted with Marinette leaning toward him, arms behind her back and a look of serene curiosity on her face, but with an insidious glee in her eyes. “Just my...”

Her voice was just barely above a whisper as she spoke into his ear. “...Kwami, maybe?”

All the gears in Adrien’s head ground to a halt and in the face of her… well, face, which was little more than a hand’s breadth away from his own. Coming up with coherent thoughts was just about impossible and all he could do was go, “Uhhhh…”

“I thought so.” Her smirk returned. “See you in class!”

With a wink that did things to his heart, Marinette walked away, her hands still held behind her back. Adrien was frozen in place, staring at the spot she had been in as the sound of her humming faded off into the distance.

For a moment, he wondered about how she knew about kwamis. But memories of Multimouse soon surfaced in his mind and he realized just how doomed he was. After all, if Ladybug had chosen her, she had to be good.

Adrien swallowed heavily, but his mouth was dry. This was going to be a long, long day. And he no longer had any grasp on the situation whatsoever.

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

Where was the girl that stuttered in front of him every single day? Because she certainly wasn’t behind him in class that day. It couldn’t be, not by the way he could constantly feel her eyes on his back, and how she kept passing him notes. Adrien hadn’t had a moment to pull himself together since their little talk in front of the lockers.

Even during class, she found a way to keep him on the back foot, he reflected as another slip of paper found its way in front of him. The one before it had simply been a flirty cat pun, which he wasn’t sure was supposed to be an actual flirt or just teasing him. Taking a steadying breath, he opened up this one to see what it had to say.

Inside was a quick drawing of what had to be him - green eyes, blonde hair, his white jacket with the black shirt - with a speech bubble that just said, “meow meow meow meow meow.”

He quickly hide the drawing under his notebook, just in time since Ms Bustier turned back around at just that moment to address the class. If she saw, would she confiscate them? Or, even worse, would she make them read them out loud in class? Besides being embarrassing to have to say ‘meow’ five times outloud, would they give his classmates the edge they needed to discover his secret identity? Who else but a catboy would be able to say meow so effectively?

Ms Bustier turned back toward the white board and his momentary reprieve ended. Another note - this one folded into an American football - landed at his elbow. Ignoring the questioning look Nino was sending his way, Adrien opened it.

This one was just a drawing of a cat… a cat that unmistakably had his hair.

Adrien quickly shoved it into his pocket but no sooner had he managed that than another one landed right in front of him. Keeping an eye on Ms Bustier all the while, he felt it open with his hands and glanced down once he thought he’d gotten it.

Another drawing of him. This time with the words ‘pretty kitty’ and an arrow pointing at him.

That one got him to turn around, just enough to look at her. She looked back down at him, shameless, and even had the audacity to wave her fingers at him.

“Adrien, eyes up front please!”

He snapped back to attention at Ms Bustier’s gentle but firm command. There was a slight murmuring in the classroom, but it passed just as quickly as it began. After a couple minutes,  another note landed in front of Adrien.

Unheard by anyone else, Adrien let out a long, frazzled sigh.

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

Adrien collapsed onto his bed, finally home from a long day. Gym class and an hour of fencing didn’t do nearly half as much as just having Marinette behind him, flirting with him surreptitiously for the entire time they had classes together. And it was unquestionably flirting - eventually even he had no choice but to admit that she was hitting on him.

But why? He had to wonder. Was it because of her feelings for Chat Noir? Had something happened to awaken this in her from their time on her island last night?

Shaking his head, he decided he’d have to ask her tomorrow…

...Only for his phone to go off.

Naturally, it was Marinette, a fact he noted with wide eyes and quickening pulse.

Marinette: Open your island?

Adrien stared at that message for long minutes before it finally dawned on him that she was talking about his Animal Crossing island. After everything that had happened today, he had almost completely forgotten how his identity had been compromised.

His internal debate on whether or not to actually do what she asked was short. In a matter of minutes, he had his switch in his hands and was opening up his airport. His only response was to send her the access code.

He ran in circles as he patiently waited for her to arrive. The plane loading screen came up and he frowned at her passport title. “Rascally Bug Fan”? He could have sworn that wasn’t what it had been a few days ago…

Then she landed and the cutscene played, showing her character walking out of the airport gates. But she wasn't in the clothes that she had been wearing when he visited her island yesterday. No, she was wearing a red, black spotted suit, a superhero mask, and with a rose in her hair.

Everything clicked and he let out an involuntary gasp that turned into an undignified, startled squawk as his fingers slackened and his switch fell onto his face. He quickly rolled to a sitting position and watched Marinette - or, should he say Ladybug? - walk up to where he was standing.

He used the anger react and she responded with a laugh. Remembering the day that she had put him through, he felt the corners of his mouth twitch up in a smile. He had his character use the love react, a pink heart floating above his head.

She smacked him with a net.

[agentsoftie]

mistletoe

summary: you like him, a lot. so penny does something. something that may or may not involve mistletoe

a/n: it’s vlogmas y’all! also just act like this was uploaded on the 1st instead of the second. also, this love isn’t proof read so bare with me

pairing and word count: spencer x (f) reader & 1.6k

The day was December 1st, and in the paradise that is Virginia, that meant Holiday season. The lights were already up. And the cold air was picking up so much that one couldn't possibly go outside without wearing a coat, fearing for hyperthermia. Carolers were out around the town, singing their hearts out and freezing their hands off. Pictures With Santa was being set up in the park, and elves were practicing their dances and jingles. You could smell the cookies and the peppermint from a mile away. Christmas songs and melodies were playing all across town. And in response, all the hungover college kids were groaning and sulking all across town as they got their morning coffee and went to class.

Each radio was playing some form of holiday music instead of its general hillbilly religious crap. And you honestly didn't mind. Although, it's not like you ever bothered to turn on the radio. But today, something was different. Something had just changed. Maybe it was the fact that it was now the time for laughter and joy instead of harm. Maybe that was the change.

The cold air suddenly leaves your ears as the feeling of warmth rushes in. And to your surprise, you're greeted by a very peppy Lenny. Although, you did bring him a donut this morning, so that might have an effect. “Y/N! Good Morning!” He said as he buzzed you in. “You too Len! Hope you like the snack.” Before you could finish the question, he was half way done with his donuts. You smiled to yourself as you entered the elevator.

“Wait!” You heard someone yell as you were about to hit the button. You waited, as one does, and soon saw the figure that was running towards you clear up. “Spencer,” you breathed out as he ran in. “Y/n, hi.” He said as he was catching his breath.

You hit the button and quickly looked down, trying to avoid his gaze as much as possible. You see, you loved him. Ever since the dawn of time. Or, at least since last December. See, today, technically marks your one year anniversary since you joined the team. See, the first time you first laid eyes on him, the first time you said hello, your heart skipped a beat. The way he moved, the way he talked, just him. Him- himself, was memorizing enough. Never though. Never did you have the courage to talk or say anything to him. The team always noticed, but they never said anything, saying as you got along with them all great.

As soon as the elevator opened you ran for the two glass doors… As subtly as possible. The office smelt like peppermint and hot chocolate, and there was only one possible reason for that. Penelope.

“Good morning my lovely little love birds!”

You both stopped in your steps and looked at each other dead in the eye. “You guys, I’m joking, come on.” You both chuckled awkwardly and he quickly sprinted to his desk as you but your coffee on your desk.

“Like what you’ve done with the place Nel. Quite nice if I say so.”

She set a stack of piles on the desk, and straightened your hair.“You better like it. I stayed till like 10 getting everything ready and paid Lenny 20 dollars to help me set up half of these things.”

“Sucks that it’s gonna be down by mid January.” You say as you take some files off.

“Ooooh, yeah no, that’s not gonna happen.”

“Hey Nel, these aren't files.” You say as you give her the file you were looking at and picked through the other ones. Just to find that they weren't files either.

“Oh! Look at that! I never even noticed,” she said as she straightened her pasture. Spencer looked over to see what the commotion was about, but you tried not to pay attention.

“Spencer, would you come here please!”

You looked at Penelope and cursed in every single language you knew, and that was including ALS. She was the only one at the BAU who knew about your crush on Spencer. Since she was the reason you ever even wanted, or considered joining the BAU.

He got up and walked to your desk as you tried to look busy.

“What’s up Pen?” He said as he put his hand on your desk.

“I need you and Y/N to do something for me.” You looked shocked, but luckily, Spencer didn't see anything. “Can you please go down and do a few errands for me. Or well, for us.”

“Will we get paid?” You asked, she nonned.

“Is Hotch okay with this?” He asked, she, again, nodded. “Alright then, just text us what you need.” He said as he grabbed your hand and walked towards the door. You quickly grabbed your phone and wallet and pulled yourself forward. Your cheeks were rosy red. Or, as red as they could be, so you kept your head high. Although that probably doesn't work in your favor when you will be stuck with him the entire day.

“Okay, first of all, fresh roses.”

“Oooh, I know a great little flower shop. It’s by the bakery near Santa’s Little Shop.”

“Where?”

“It’s by my house here I’ll-”

“Got it.” He said as he cut you off. You wanted to ask him how he knew where you lived, but then you figured that before you came, he went over you and your file like 50 times. Or with him, most likely one.”

You looked out the window as snow fell down to the ground. It was a light snow, nothing big, nothing new. It was the type of snow where you could build a snowman, but it might take an eternity. He drove slowly and carefully turning on the radio to find The Beatles playing.

“Here we go.” He said as Blackbird was dying down in the background.

“Perfect.”

You both got out of the car and looked around. Some things just never change. Even when you’re off of work.

“Hi! Welcome!”

“Hey Blair! Where are all or your red, white, and green flowers?”

“That’s… oddly specific.” She spoke as she got up from behind the counter.

“Work.”

“Uh-huh, sure. Whatever you say… Well okay, here we have our roses, a staple piece. Then, some white roses, another staple piece. And Finally, green roses!”

You smiled a little. It was small, but she saw it. “I think Y/N’s looking for something more festive? Like… these poinsettia’s!” Spencer said as he walked around the store/

“I’ll take the roses, all three colors, and the poinsettia’s please.”

She rang up the total and you were gonna give her your credit card, but he beat you too it.”Spence…” You trailed “Y/N don't.”

You grabbed the flowers and so did he. He opened the car and as soon as you got it, the conversation picked up once more. “You know, you never had to do that.”

“I wanted to.”

“Okay well so did I.”

“Well I did it first.”

“What are you, five?”

“Is that supposed to mean something Y/N?” He said as he looked over at you.

“Ehh ehh, eyes the road!” You said as you snapped at the road.

He simply laughed as he looked back. “Okay, Now the coffee shop. She said that we need fresh treats since some of the kids are coming over tonight.”

“What’s tonight?” You asked as you looked around at the white ground. This was the first time in a while, or maybe in forever that you were having a normal and fluent conversation with him. It’s always, “Hi Spencer *runs away” or “Hey, *dies inside*” BUt this, this was different. This was fun. This was something you could get used to.

“Remember the office party.”

“Fuck… Yeah I forgot.”

“Ehh don't worry, so did I. But I think I’m just gonna stay home and re-read something.”

“Weirdo,” you said as you ran your fingers through his hair and messed it up. Somehow, just somehow, your heart wasn't beating 20 times fast almost causing you to fall dead on the spot. But instead you were just having fun and laughing. With Spencer. Spencer Reid. Dr. Spencer Reid. Someone you’ve had a crush on for a year.

“Do you like the Holidays?”

“Yeah, of course. I mean, it was the only holiday that I looked forward to when I was a child. Still now too I guess. Which is highly concerning, but we’re not gonna talk about that.”

He chuckled. “You’re funny Y/N,”

“I know.” You said as you smirked.

You looked around at everything that was going on. Kids running around and people drinking hot chocolate. Other people watching the carolers sing, and others kissing under the mistletoe. One person though couldn't stop staring. They couldn't stop staring at you. They looked at your magnificent hair and melted. They looked into your eyes and watched them shine. And heard a baby laugh for the first time every time you talked or laughed.

“What about you Spence?”

“Huh?”

“You like the holidays?”

“Yeah,”

“Well, why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do you like the holidays?”

“Because of mistletoe,”

“Because of what?”

You were cut off by his hand cuffing your face. I took you a moment to realize what was happening, but once you did, you melted in. You put your hands in his hair and pulled a little. The kiss was aggressive for a public kiss but you soon eased it up due to the fact that this was happening in public. You broke apart due to the fact that breathing exists. And smiled into each other's lips.

“I said… because of mistletoe.”

“Screw you Spencer Reid.”

“You wish.”

“Really, cuz that didn't look like it.”

“You kissed back.”

“By default,”

tagging; @criminalmindsmoodrn​, @marshmallowtraver​, @ghostly-angelic​, @himarisolace​

moot tags: (sorry if this annoys you) @blakeprentiss​, @lizziechase​, @goldenxreid​

[likeahorribledream]

The One That Got Away

Chapter 2: James Buchanan Barnes

Summary: Bucky and Charlie spend some time alone, getting to know each other. All goes well until Bucky gets some news that he hoped never to get.

Word count: 3.6k

TW: Fluff, angst, mentions of: war, fights, blood, injuries, wounds.

Summary | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 |

The idea of dancing had long been forgotten, Charlie, Steve and Bucky spent the rest of the night sitting in their booth talking about everything that they could think of. They couldn’t stop smiling or laughing, their cheeks and stomachs hurt from the muscles being overused but none of them cared. They were having such a great time.

Still smiling from a joke Steve had just told, Charlie turned to Bucky while pointing at the blonde sitting next to her.

‘’Has he always picked fight with every guy he met, or is it new?’’

Bucky snorted, shaking his head with a smile on his face.

‘’If you only knew.’’ He said, looking at Steve. ‘’He’s been doing this for as long as I can remember. That’s how we became friends actually. The school year had just started, some kid made fun of him and Steve just raised his tiny fists and challenged him to a fight. Literally challenged him. Like he was in a Western or somethin’. We were 7 at the time, andthe other kid was HUGE compared to Steve. I couldn’t just do nothing so I stepped in and we’ve been best friends ever since.’’

‘’He wasn’t that big’’ Steve mumbled while frowning, which made Bucky laugh.

‘’Sure, pal. Whatever helps you sleep at night.’’ Steve rolled his eyes at his friend’s answer.

‘’Bucky always steps in before I can do anything. I would have kicked that kid’s ass, I just know it.’’

Charlie and Bucky exchanged a look before bursting into laughter. She patted Steve on the shoulder and smiled at him.

‘’Oh, Stevie. Even Iknow that’s not true, and I’ve only known you for a few months.’’ Which only made Steve frown more. He crossed his arms over his chest, almost pouting.

Charlie shook her head slightly, smiling fondly at her new friend’s child-like attitude. She kissed his cheek quickly and whispered a quick apology, telling him she was sure he would have won against that other kid to make him feel better.

The blonde blushed at the kiss and smiled.

Bucky looked at their exchange and felt a little bit of jealously creeping up when he saw her kiss his best friend’s cheek. He quickly pushed down the feeling, clearing his throat and going back to telling other stories about his and Steve’s friendship throughout the years.

It was around midnight when they decided to call it a night and left the pub.

The breeze that hit them as soon as they stepped outside felt nice.

The pub was so packed with people that it had gotten beyond hot.

Charlie was about to say goodnight and start walking back to her place when Bucky motioned his head in the general direction of where she was headed.

‘’Come on, we’ll walk you home.’’

Steve nodded to what Bucky said and the three of them started walking.

They stopped once they were at Charlie’s front door.

She hugged her friend goodnight and then turned to James. She smiled at him, kissed his cheek and wished him a happy birthday once again before making her way to the door.

She unlocked it, stepped inside and wave them goodbye before closing the door.

Steve smirked when he saw Bucky blush slightly at the kiss, but didn’t say anything.

Before the men went their separate ways to go home, Steve gave his friend the gift he had gotten him and waved him good night.

That night both Charlie and Bucky went to sleep with a small smile on their lips, thinking about one another and hoping they would get to see each other again, soon.

Charlie was back working behind her desk, answering calls, on Monday.

Her week of shadowing nurse Jones was over, sadly. She had loved it so much and was looking into taking nursing classes and Jones was more than happy to help her take the next step.

On Tuesday, Charlie had just gotten back from her lunch when the front door of the clinic opened. At the sound of the door, Charlie looked up and wasn’t surprised in the slightest when she saw Steve walking in.

What she wasn’t expecting was Bucky following right behind him.

‘’If it isn’t our favorite patient.’’ Jones said, looking at the blonde. ‘’What is it today?’’

Charlie got up and approached Steve, looking him over. She frowned slightly and raised an eyebrow.

‘’Are you ok? Because you don’t look hurt.’’ She kept looking him over, all she saw were the bruises that were already there last week.

There were no fresh bruises or wounds. Steve just shrugged.

‘’I got into a tiny fight, Bucky was right behind me so the other guy didn’t really get any good punches in before Buck chased him away. I’m totally fine, but Bucky wanted to make sure I was ok.’’He rolled his eyes at how dramatic his best friendwas being.

Steve hadn’t put up much of a fight when James had pushed for him to go to the clinic telling Steve they had to make sure he was ok. He knew that going to the clinic had nothing to do with his possible injuries and everything to do with the girl working the front desk.

Another girl took over the phones for Charlie while she went into nurse Jones’ office with the boys.

Steve went directly to take a seat on the small table in the middle of the office. His table as nurse Jones liked to call it, teasing him because of all the times he had came in over the last few months.

He rarely got seriously hurt but after the sprained ankle, Steve liked going to the clinic and getting checked out. It was a way for him to see his new friend and he really loved Jones. She reminded him of his mother and liked to be around her. Usually Jones would have told Steve to stop coming in unless he was really injured but everyone at the clinic was very fond of him and didn’t mind whenever he came in.

Charlie had been put on ‘’Steve Duty’’ as they called it, meaning that whenever he came in she would be the one to assess his injuries and if she saw something serious she had to go get a nurse or a doctor.

She pointed to the chair in the corner while closing the door behind Bucky.

‘’You can sit over there if you want.’’ She smiled at him before walking to Steve.

‘’I’m telling you, I’m fine.’’ Steve fussed while Charlie was examining him, turning his head slowly side to side, patting him down gently, limb by limb, to see if anything hurt and making sure that every bone was where it was supposed to be.

She hadn’t found a single thing wrong with him and sighed in relief. She took a few steps backwards and looked at Steve who was getting down from the table.

‘’Told ya I was fine’’ he said at the same time his feet touched the ground.

‘’You know, one of these days you’re gonna have to fight me.’’ She pointed a finger at him. ‘’Cuz if you don’t stop getting into trouble I’m the one who’s going to kick your ass.’’

She tried to keep a straight face and really tried to look menacing. It could have worked, but Charlie was such a sweet girl that it was impossible to take her threat seriously.

Both Steve and Bucky started laughing. Charlie looked at them and started laughing too, knowing very well how non-threatening she was.

Bucky stood up from the chair he had sat on and walked towards Steve and Charlie.

‘’It’s alright Doll, I’ll kick his ass for you.’’ losing his smile, throwing a death stare at his friend.

He looked a lot more menacing than she did.

‘’Thank you.’’ She laughed, sticking out her tongue at Steve.

‘’If I had known you two were going to team up against me, I wouldn’t have introduced the two of you.’’ Steve said, sticking out his tongue back at Charlie.

They laughed and then Charlie clapped her hands together, making both men jumped.

‘’Are you both free this weekend? I want to bring you somewhere!’’ She said, excited.

They hadn’t made any plans, and agreed to go with her and decided to meet Saturday in front of Charlie’s house and from there they would walk together.

The rest of the week went by painfully slow. Steve hadn’t come back, which was extremely surprising but comforting to know he hadn’t gotten hurt again.

On Saturday morning Charlie got up and ready, ate her breakfast and went outside to wait for the boys.

They finally came around the corner, Steve looking like his usual chipper self while Bucky looked a little... grumpy. He clearly wasn’t a morning person.

‘’Good morning!’’ She greeted them once they had reached her.

‘’ ‘morning.’’ Bucky mumbled.

Charlie couldn’t help herself and laughed.

‘’It’s 10 am, how are you so tired still?’’

Bucky only shrugged as an answer and they started walking. Letting him wake up slowly, Charlie and Steve talked among themselves looking at their friend once in a while to make sure he was still following/awake.

‘’So, where are we going?’’

‘’You’ll see Stevie. Patience.’’ She grinned.

They walked for all of 10 minutes when they finally stopped in front of a tiny store. It was hidden between two bigger stores, so hidden that if you didn’t know it was there you could easily miss it. There was no sign, no name just books in the tiny window.

‘’Welcome to my little piece of heaven.’’ Charlie said while opening the door all excited.

The moment you stepped into the bookstore, you were hit by a strong smell of new and old books. It was one of the things that Charlie loved about this store.

She waved at the woman behind the register and brought the boys to the back of the store, where the shelves were.

Bucky seemed to have perked up at the sight of all the books.

The trio started walking around, looking at different books and reading a few pages here and there. Even though it wasn’t a library, they whispered the whole time they were there.

They spent an hour walking around, picking up books and putting them on the counter near the register.

‘’Let’s remember that we have to carry those books back, on foot’’ Steve reminded them while laughing.

Charlie pouted a little before putting a couple books back on the shelves, making a mental note to come back in a few days to buy them.

Once their choices were made, they paid for all their new books. The owner giving them a generous discount, joking that Charlie was the only reason they were able to keep the lights on, making her blush in the process.

This was the first of many outings. After that morning at the bookstore, they started making plans and seeing each other a few days a week. The 3 of them got along very well and had the best time when they were together.

Two weeks had gone by and they had once again made plans together. They were going to meet Charlie during her lunch break and go eat at the diner across the street from the clinic.

It was almost time for Charlie’s break and right before Bucky was about to leave his house, Steve called to tell him something had come up and he wouldn’t be able to join them.

He thought it was odd because Steve never canceled last minute but still decided to go, he didn’t want Charlie to eat alone.

Of course, this was all a part of Steve’s matchmaking plan. When they decided on eating lunch together, he had no intention on showing up.

He never felt like the third wheel when they were together but he could see that his two best friends wanted to spend some time alone, and it was totally fine with him since it was his plan from the moment he introduced them.

It was finally time for lunch, Charlie was starving and she couldn’t wait to see her friends.

She got up from her chair and told the nurse in charge that she was leaving to go to lunch and that she’ll be back in an hour.

When she stepped out of the clinic, she noticed Bucky was alone. She thought it was strange because Steve was never late.

‘’Is Steve running late?’’Charlie asked while hugging Bucky to say hello.

‘’No. He called right before I left to say something came up and he couldn’t make it.’’

Charlie raised an eyebrow, surprised. Bucky shrugged giving her a look that said I know, it’s weird.

They crossed the street to the diner and once they were inside a waitress walked them to a table in the back corner. They sat and picked up the menus.

‘’I’m so hungry.’’ Charlie almost whined, looking over all the options and it made Bucky chuckle.

The waitress came back to take their order a few minutes later. She spent most of her time at their table openly flirting with Bucky, batting her eyelashes at him and laughing every time he said something, even if it wasn’t funny.

He smiled at her, politely, but never flirted back.

Charlie had to admit she was a little bit surprised. Before meeting him, she had heard all types of rumours about Bucky and how he was always with a different girl. Those rumours were clearly wrong, otherwise he would have jumped at the chance.

She was glad he didn’t flirt back, her mood had shifted when she saw how the waitress acted. She didn’t know why and convinced herself it was because it was rude of her to flirt so shamelessly when Charlie was sitting right there, for all she knew she could have been his girlfriend and she didn’t even seem to care. It definitely wasn’t jealousy. Definitely not.

The waitress finally walked away after writing down their order.

Charlie had gotten a bit worried when Bucky told her Steve couldn’t make it, she was scared it was going to be awkward and filled with uncomfortable silences but it was the opposite.

They had no trouble finding topics of conversation, the only time it was silent between them is when they were chewing their food.

It didn’t take long for them to finish eating, they had been so hungry that the minute their plates touched the table they started eating, barely stopping.

Once they were done, the waitress came over to clean up and tried getting Bucky’s attention once again and failed, again. He was too busy chatting with his friend to even notice her looks.

There was still 40 minutes left to Charlie’s lunch break so they decided to stay at the dinner.

‘’How come everybody calls you Bucky?’’

She had been wondering about his nickname since the first time she heard Steve call him that.

‘’Steve gave me that nickname when we were kids. It just stuck and now everybody calls me that. I find it almost weird when people call me by my first name.’’ He laughs. ‘’Now he only calls me Buck though. He said he didn’t like that everybody used his nickname so he had to find another one.’’

Charlie laughed, that wasn’t surprising of Steve.

‘’My full name is James Buchanan Barnes. That’s where he got the Bucky from.’’

Charlie nodded and smiled.

‘’He loves giving people nickname, doesn’t he?’’ She laughed. ‘’After we met he started calling me Char. I absolutely hate it so he’s the only one who’s allowed to use it.’’

Bucky chuckled and raised an eyebrow, curiously.

‘’What do people usually call you then?’’

She shrugged. ‘’Just Charlie.’’

‘’Well we need to fix that. You deserve to have a nickname that isn’t Char.’’ He teased and started to think.

Bucky racked his brain, trying to come up with something cute. He wasn’t really good at coming up with names. He thought of everything he knew about her.

He thought about the day they had met and finally found something. He remembered that the dress she had on the night of his birthday had flowers on it.

‘’Lily.’’ He simply said. ‘’I’m going to call you Lily now.’’

Charlie smiled, loving the nickname. It was cute.

‘’No one else can use it but me.’’ Bucky added.

Charlie laughed.

‘’Why?’’

‘’I’m the one who came up with it, other people can come up with something else. Lily is mine.’’ He smiled, proud of his idea.

Charlie tried to hide the pink that crept to her cheek when he said that Lily was his, bringing the attention back to him.

‘’Then I have to find something for you.’’ She started to think, looking at him for ideas. ‘’James Buchanan Barnes.’’ She repeated a few times out loud, hoping it would trigger something.

‘’Just call me James. You’ll be the only one.’’ He offered, he just loved hearing his first name coming out of her mouth.

It sounded different from when other people said it and he was embarrassed of how much of an effect her saying his name had on him. Charlie smiled brightly at him.

‘’Sold?’’

‘’Sold.’’ He grinned.

Charlie extended her hand towards Bucky and stuck out her pinky finger. He looked at her, confused as what she was doing.

‘’We just made a deal, we have to pinky promise now.’’

He laughed softly, thinking she was adorable. He stuck out his pinky finger, amused, and wrapped it around hers, sealing the ‘’deal’’ witha promise.

Letting go of each other’s hand, Charlie was about to change topics when she noticed Bucky wasn’t paying attention to her anymore, instead he was focused on the conversation the people sitting at the table behind him were having.

She hadn’t noticed them before now, but as soon as she laid eyes on them she quickly understood why Bucky started listening. They were in full uniforms.

Soldiers.

The two of them were talking about how the war overseas was getting worse and not enough men were enlisting. In a few months, they would have to draft any man over 18 that was healthy enough to go fight.

Charlie looked at Bucky, he looked like he had seen a ghost and looked a lot paler than usual.

Steve had told her once how both their fathers had been in the army, fightingf or their country. Both had died.

Steve wanted to be like his dad, he tried to enlist every chance he got but because of his health issues he kept being denied. He had also told her how Bucky felt about about it all.

He wanted to honor his dad, make him proud but he was scared to die. Rightfully so.

Charlie saw the panic in his eyes and brought his attention back to her.

‘’Hey.’’She said softly, ‘’Let’s get out of here, yeah?’’

He simply nodded and they got up.

They paid and left, crossing the street back to the clinic.

Bucky hadn’t said a single word since he had heard the soldiers talking.

Charlie started to worry, not because he wasn’t talking but because it seemed like his thoughts were going a mile a minute.

‘’Bucky.’’

Nothing.

‘’James.’’

Finally, he looked at her. He tried to smile to reassure her, seeing how worried she looked but she saw right through it.

She reached out and took his hand gently.

‘’It’s going to be ok, James.’’

She gave his hand a squeeze and he squeezed back. Hearing her say his name brought a genuine smile to his face.

Charlie had to go back to work, even though she didn’t want to.

It didn’t feel right to leave him like this but she really had no choice if she wanted to keep her job.

Bucky stepped towards her, bringing her to his chest and hugging her tightly, as if he was scared of what would happen if he let go.

She wasn’t used to this.

They had hugged before but never like this. It was always a bit hesitant, the both of them being shy, it only lasted a few seconds but not this time.

She wrapped her arms around his torso and hugged him back, just as tightly.

She hated seeing him like this and the way he hugged her broke her heart.

She hold on to him, only letting go when he did, not a second before.

She promised she would call him as soon as she got home that night.

‘’Thank you.’’ He finally spoke.

Thanking her for making him feel better, not pressing him with a bunch of questions.

He knew Steve had probably told her about his dad but they didn’t need to talk about it for her to know what was wrong. She was just there when he needed her and it made him feel less alone.

He was thankful he didn’t need to talk for her to understand how he was feeling. He wasn’t sure he could find the words, anyway.

He smiled one more time at her, but it wasn’t his usual, brighter-than-the-sun smile. He looked sad.

She smiled back at him, trying to look as reassuring as she possibly could, not really sure if she was succeeding.

He started walking home and she waited until she couldn’t see him anymore before going inside.

The whole afternoon she thought of the emotions in Bucky’s eyes, her heart heavy in her chest.

As soon as her shift was over, she rushed home. Keeping her promise, she called Bucky the second she got home.

Feedback is always appreciated ❤️

[actuallybarb]

The Aftermath ~ Part 2

Summary: y/n gets knocked around by a water monster, has secret-sharing time with peter, and decides mj is more important than her pride. sleep deprivation and caffeine consumption are definitely involved. 

Pairing: peter parker x reader

Warnings: swearing, angst, fluff, mysterio being a dick, trauma, it’s marvel what did you expect

Word Count: 3978 give or take

A/N: endgame is canon, *vomits*, but we’ve all got a thing for broken peter parker, even if all i want is his never ending happiness

                                                         ///////////

“I can’t believe you punched Flash.” Brad, of course, decided to sit next to me on the gondola ride to the hotel. Figures.

“You better believe it, ‘cuz it actually happened.” I tried to pay as little attention to him as possible and just take pictures on my phone, but he kept talking.

“Why don’t you like me?”

I groaned. “Because, Brad, you ask stupid questions like that.”

We pulled up to the hotel and were all sufficiently underwhelmed.

“It’s flooded!”

“The hotel is sinking?”

I considered helping the hotel out, at least while we stayed at it, but there wasn’t much hope left for it. I took my room key and thanked my lucky stars I didn’t have a room on the ground level. In fact, I was sharing with MJ. I waited patiently behind her as she jiggled the door open.

“Is it safe to assume the building will crumble any second now?”

MJ burst out laughing. “I think that’s an understatement.”

“If I get TB, I’m suing.”

“The hotel?”

“Harrington.”

She smiled. “C’mon, let’s get outside before we drown.”

We walked along the water and let the sun happily reflect on our exhausted faces. Everyone was enjoying themselves, but I was starting to feel queasy. It was almost imperceptible, but I could feel the city moving with the water, and it was making me sick. I started lagging back and tried to find my “sea legs,” but Peter noticed and stuck back too. “You alright?”

I plastered on a weak smile. “That long flight is catching up with me. I’m just going to grab an espresso, I’ll meet up with you guys soon.” He looked at me one more time before nodding and meeting the rest of the group.

I didn’t completely lie — I was getting an espresso. But I wasn’t going to catch up with them, at least, not for a while. I needed to get away from the water, even just for a little bit.

I can’t fly, per se. I can control the air currents around me and change them how I want them too, like I did on the airplane with the turbulence. I can do that with most elements, (except wood, I hate wood) and that gives me a heightened awareness of them. I’m basically the Avatar and the characters from Percy Jackson. All I have to do is shave my head and tattoo blue arrows on my body. (And, yes, I did watch all seven seasons of the two series and read all ten Percy Jackson books to actually figure out what the hell it was that I could do. It helped. Clearly.)

I just lifted myself to the top of the coffee shop. I’m a sucker for espresso, I like to be close to it. The distance helped. I felt grounded enough to walk on the normal streets of Venice again, but when I touched down, I suddenly lurched to the right.

“What the hell,” I muttered. I got my answer soon enough. A huge river monster was crashing its giant water arms on anything it could see. And I was directly in its path. “Oh, shit.”

I shouldn’t have been as terrified as I was. I mean, come on, I can control water. Dissipate the water man, Y/N, I can almost hear you yelling at me. Shut up, I was scared. This thing was twice as tall as any of the buildings, and it had a direct path to anywhere in the city. Me, a seventeen year old girl, against that? Not a good idea.

So, like any logical human being, I ran. And I still got clobbered with water and ended up actually falling into the water. Let me just tell you, Italy needs to get a Brita, ‘cause their river is nasty.

But, once I was actually in the water, the river monster looked a lot less intimidating. Sure, the water was churning around and sucking everything into its path, but I was in my element — literally. I got close to it, like, really close. I pushed against the flow of the water and tried to stop the monster from forming, and it worked, for a little bit. It slowed down, and I got some newfound momentum, when all of the sudden, it all stopped, and tons of water crashed to the surface. That was my cue to leave, but then something caught my eye. A flash of metal was in the water. Luck would have it, though, that I could bend water and metal (shout out to Toph Beifong). I latched onto the metal and pulled it close to me, but I couldn’t make out what it was. Didn’t mean I would trash it though, this water was disgusting enough. I tucked it in my pocket and started swimming to the surface.

I got out of the water actually pretty close to the rest of the class, but I was the only one completely drenched.

“Oh, Y/N, good! We’re all here,” Mr. Harrington celebrated. “Let’s get back to the hotel, your families will want to know you’re all fine.”

“You’re soaked.”

I shivered, even though it wasn’t cold. The temperature difference between the water and the air was enough to make me shake. “Astute observation, Brad.”

“Here, you can have my jacket.”

“Thanks, but I don’t want it.” I kept walking and managed to bump into Peter. “You got wet too?”

“Just splashed. Did you get thrown in?”

“Yeah, the bastard caught me by surprise. I’m okay, just cold.”

“Here.” Peter slung his backpack around and took out a mostly dry sweatshirt. He gestured it my way, but I didn’t take it. “It’s just a jacket, Y/N. You’ll get a cold with your hair dripping all around you.”

I knew that wasn’t how colds worked, but I took it anyway and let it soak in the water from my hair. It helped, surprisingly, at least making me not shiver. We made it back to the hotel with no other complications, aside from Flash tripping over his own shoelace because he was too busy recording for his Instagram followers to pay attention to where he was going. I quickly went upstairs and changed out of my clothes, putting on a pair of sweats and a sweatshirt that used to belong to Jessica. The room had a tiny balcony, and I took advantage of it and laid out all of my clothes and Peter’s sweatshirt. The last thing MJ or I needed was a puddle of water to slip in.

I went back downstairs and sat close to the top of the stairs, not wanting to get anywhere near the water at the bottom. MJ was a few steps below me, and Peter was leaning against the stairs, talking to someone on the phone. He hung up, and I slipped past MJ and wrapped around to the phone. I was about to dial, when I remembered something. “Hey, Peter.”

“What’s up?”

I pulled him away from the stairs and whispered, “Is the plan still working?”

“The—oh, that plan. Uh, yeah, I think so. I got her this necklace of a black dahlia from a glass shop, and I want to give it to her at the top of the Eiffel Tower.”

I smiled. “That’s adorable. I’m going to use the phone, do you mind?”

“Oh, sorry, I’ll get out of your way.” We smiled at each other, then I grabbed the receiver and dialed.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Mom, it’s Y/N.”

“Oh my—John, it’s her. Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Harrington wanted all of us to call our parents, so this is me, doing my due diligence. We’re still set for Paris tomorrow, so I’ll call you then, okay? Love you.” I didn’t even really wait for them to respond before I hung up. Truth was, I didn’t want to talk to them. I didn’t really want to talk to anyone, but I had to make one more phone call.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Jess, it’s Y/N. You watch the news nonstop, so I figured I’d call, let you know I’m okay.”

“Thank god, I was so worried about you. What happened?”

“This water monster literally came out of nowhere and knocked me straight into the murky junk, it was disgusting.”

“Were you able to help at all?” Jess was one of two other people in the world who knew about what I could do. She was the one who bought me the tv shows and books, of course she knew.

“I slowed it down at some point, but then all of a sudden it just dissipated, it was weird. I did find this weird metal thing in the water, I picked it up. I’ll send you a picture of it when I get the chance.”

“Okay. Call me soon, got it?”

“Count on it. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

I wasn’t in the mood to talk anymore, so I walked up the stairs, ready to succumb to the moldy mattress in my room. Unfortunately, I had to collect my clothes.

Everything was nearly dry, and Peter’s sweatshirt was definitely dry, so I brought them inside. I almost didn’t want to give Peter his sweatshirt back, just because it was so soft, but knowing him, it was probably the only one he brought, so I walked the ten feet to his front door and knocked. I wasn’t told not to enter, so I turned the knob and walked in. “Hey, Pete, I—“ I stopped with my hand by my face, terrified. A small dart was less than an inch away from my palm. I turned to the man in the corner who was holding the gun. “Did you just try to shoot me?”

“You’re the one who came barging in.” The scary looking guy with the eyepatch leaned forward. “What’s your name?”

I laughed heartlessly. “Ha, yeah, like I’m going to tell the man who just pulled a gun on me.” I looked at Peter and threw his jacket at him. “I brought this back.” Then I turned to the man in the chair. I crunched the dart, letting it fold on top of itself before his eyes, then I let it fall to the floor. “You can keep that.” I looked at Peter one more time, then slammed the door on my way out.

MJ was laying on her bed when I walked back in, but she could tell something was up. She had impeccable observational skills. “You good?”

I was pacing, a bad habit I picked up after The Snap first happened. “I just need to look something up.”

“Well, the hotel might be sinking, but they’ve at least got good wifi.”

I finally sat and opened my laptop, then turned on my VPN and put the whole device on ‘incognito mode.’ I had some serious investigations to conduct, I didn’t need the government to see what I was doing. Okay, I only had one serious investigation, but that could possibly have lead to more, so I kept my guard up.

First search: scary-looking black man with an eyepatch. The guy’s face was the first image that popped up. Nick Fury. Ex-director of SHIELD before all of that went to shit. Now he’s running some ‘underground’ SHIELD, I guess. Now I know the guy’s name.

But why was he talking to Peter? And why did he shoot me?

I was up all night doing research. Not just on Nick Fury, but on the metal piece I had found in the water, the Avengers, and as much as I could find on Peter Parker himself. Sooner than I thought, the sun peeked between the curtains at the window and MJ’s alarm came blaring through the speakers on her phone.

“Morning,” I mumbled, rubbing my eyes and finally taking a break from my computer screen.

“Did you sleep at all?”

“Are you going to yell at me if I say no?” MJ just pursed her lips. I knew she wouldn’t.

It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve pulled an all nighter. At least this one was productive.

“What’s on your bed?” She picked up a small spring and looked it over before putting it back beside the rest of the pieces of the metal thing. “Did you take apart your toothbrush?”

I chuckled. “No, I found this thing in the river when I got knocked in. I didn’t know what it was, so I took it apart.”

“Have you figured it out?”

“Not yet.” I rubbed my eyes again and groaned. “We’re going to Paris today, right?”

“Yeah.” MJ stood and stretched and I caught the smallest smile on her face when she replied. I smiled too and packed up my project. Something for another late night.

We were escorted outside with our luggage in tow, but Mr. Harrington happily informed us we would be taking a bus to Prague instead of a train to Paris. You’ve got to be kidding.

Peter was walking to the bus in front of me, but I grabbed his arm and dragged him away. “What the hell, Peter?”

“You can control metal?” He was in awe. His admiration would’ve been flattering if I wasn’t so pissed.

“You had Nick Fury in your room last night. I almost got shot last night. What the hell is going on?”

“It was only a tranquilizer, you would’ve been fine—“

“That’s not the point, Parker!” I basically hissed at him. He looked a little surprised that I was so upset. I took a deep breath and tried to calm down enough to not start shouting. “We were attacked by a water monster, I almost got shot, I didn’t sleep, and now four people in the world know what I can do, so give me some damn answers, because I sure as hell deserve them.”

Peter looked around, like he was looking for an escape, but I was ready. I might not have slept in almost 48 hours, but I wasn’t going to let him get away so easily.

Then Harrington was calling us over to the bus. Perfect timing.

“Can we talk on the bus?”

I nodded and let him lead the way to the back. Surprisingly we were the only ones that occupied those seats and the ones surrounding, but that’s what happens when you get a bunch of nerds in the same vehicle—they all sit in the front. He sat low in his seat, and I did the same, and I let him start the conversation. Prying it out of him wouldn’t be too successful, I figured, not with something like this.

We got fifteen minutes out of the city before he started talking. “Fury wanted me to go with him to meet this guy who defeated the Elemental yesterday.”

“Why you? And what’s an Elemental?”

“The water monster, it’s called an Elemental. And he asked me because I’m—I’m,” his voice dropped to an even lower whisper, “I’m Spider-Man.”

I almost didn’t believe him.

I almost burst out laughing at the hilarity of it all. Peter Parker, Spider-Man? Ridiculous.

But, remember, I learned from Toph Beifong. I can tell when people are lying.

And Peter?

Peter wasn’t lying.

Well, shit.

How do I even respond to something like that?

“Okay.” Good one. “Who was the other guy you met with?”

“You—you’re not surprised?”

Oh, young Parker, I was dumbfounded. But I had learned two years earlier how to control my heart rate, so he would never know how freaked out I actually was.

“You saw me stop a dart mid-air, Peter, you being Spider-Man is hardly out of the ordinary.”

He looked relieved, but he still hadn’t answered my question.

“Who was the other guy?”

“Oh. His name is Quentin Beck. He’s—“ another low whisper, “he’s from an alternate universe. He fought the Elementals before, and he and them got sucked into our universe when Tha—Hulk brought everyone back.” He didn’t look me in the eye when he talked about the snaps. I wouldn’t either, but I felt the little blip his heart made at the mention of Thanos’s name, so I didn’t push. Even though Quentin Beck and his story sounded like bullshit.

“Do you have a picture of him?” Peter looked at me skeptically, but hooked up his mask to his phone. A somewhat blurry picture of Quentin Beck popped up, and he sent it to me, but he didn’t seem happy about it. “I just want to know who to look out for. If I start chucking rocks at people, I don’t want to hit the wrong one.” The lie seemed to relax him a little bit. It wasn’t a complete lie, I did want to know who to look out for, but I also wanted to find this guy in our universe. “What’s the plan now?”

“They think another one will pop up in Prague—“

“Peter, we’re driving toward Prague. Shouldn’t we be going away from it?”

“I have to help fight this thing—“

“Let the Beck guy do it!” My voice had risen above a whisper and Peter quickly shushed me. “He’s done it before, he can do it again.”

“They need my help, I can—“

“Peter.” He kept muttering, convincing himself he needed to help, but I wasn’t having it. “You don’t have to save the world, Peter.”

That got him to shut up.

“Yes, I do.”

“No, you don’t. You don’t owe the world a goddamn thing.”

“Help me.” That got me to shut up. “Help me fight the Elemental.”

“Why the hell would I do that?”

“Because you’re one of the only people who can! The next one that’s coming, they’re pretty sure it’s the fire elemental, and any time it absorbs metal it can get stronger. You can help us beat it by keeping the metal away from it!”

Oh. He didn’t know I could do more than that.

“Peter, I — ”

“Please.” Peter Parker had the best puppy-dog eyes I had ever seen in my life. But I wasn’t convinced.

“I’m here for a school trip, Pete, not to save the world.”

It’s like I sucker punched him. He deflated immediately and looked away, and I got up and moved a few rows ahead.

I wasn’t opposed to helping, but I didn’t want to get near Quentin Beck until I had a full story on him. And that would take a lot of research and caffeine.

“Hey, Eugene.” We had stopped for a bathroom break and he was still using his phone to update his Instagram followers on all of the happenings on our way to Prague.

“Are you here to break my jaw again, Y/L/N?”

I looked at his face and didn’t see any swelling, barely any discoloration. “Nope, you’re healing nicely, I’m impressed. Do you have a hotspot?”

“Why do you think I have a hotspot?”

“Because you’ve been on your phone the entire trip.”

“What will you do for me if I let you on it?”

I rolled my eyes and groaned. Of course he would ask for a favor. “Anything. Within reason.”

“Can I cash in on the favor later?”

Goddamnit. “Sure, whatever.”

He laughed maniacally. “Okay, Flash Hotspot is the user, and spidermanrocks is the password, no spaces, no caps.”

“Really, Eugene, you went with that password?” I almost had to laugh. He would have an aneurysm if he knew who was really Spider-Man.

“What?”

“It’s a bit obvious, don’t you think?”

He rolled his eyes. “Whatever. What were you doing with Parker?”

“Plotting the downfall of the European Union.” I let out a laugh. “We were talking about the water monster, and how there’s a light festival in Prague that’d be cool to go to.”

“Gonna go on a date with Penis Parker?”

“I was actually thinking about asking Brad.” That made Flash laugh, and I smiled myself. “But seriously, stop calling him that.”

“Whatever.”

Peter looked flustered as he got back on the bus, but I didn’t pry. But Brad looked awfully smug as he sat beside MJ. Focus, Y/N, you have to find Quentin Beck. I hunkered down in my seat and slipped my headphones over my ears, then logged onto Flash’s hotspot and got to work.

The number of illegal websites I went on was not something I’m willing to admit out loud, but I couldn’t find anything. Not a single facial-recognition scan showed any results for Quentin Beck, and I tried as many as I could get my hands on. But the more I looked at his face, the more I felt like I’d seen him before. And honestly, it was pissing me off.

I stared at the image on my phone, and I had a gut feeling it had to do with Tony Stark. This Beck guy was somehow connected to Stark. It’s like the answer was on the tip of my tongue. I rubbed my temples in frustration, wishing I could just reach into my memory and pull out the information when it hit me. “Memory, you’re so stupid, Y/N.”

Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing, affectionately called B.A.R.F. was presented by Tony Stark at a lecture he did at MIT almost seven years ago. But this guy had released a paper about it six months before—a guy named Quentin Beck. I remembered reading about it for a school project, and the picture of the guy was the same person Peter met.

“There’s no way.”

I looked up the article, and sure enough, I was right. Quentin Beck was the scientist behind the technology, and he was an employee for Stark Industries when the article was published.

Great, now I had to break into Stark Industries and access their archives while on a hotspot provided by Eugene Thompson. Lucky for me, we pulled into the parking lot for our much improved hotel, which meant free wifi. Unlucky for me, Mr. Harrington now felt he needed to start bossing us around, considering he was the teacher. Which meant I had to put my investigations to the side. For now.

“Okay, kids, grab your room keys, same roommates as before. Meet back in the lobby at five o’clock for the light festival!”

MJ and I dragged our cases up to the third floor. We each chose a bed, but she was moody, more than her usual angst. But I didn’t have time to play therapist. “Did we get a wifi password?”

“Uh, yeah.” She passed over the card after logging in herself and sat on her bed, glancing back at me every ten seconds.

I was typing away madly, but her stares were making me uncomfortable. “Why are you staring?”

She looked away quickly. “I’m not staring.”

“You were totally staring.” I kept clicking and typing. “What?”

“What are you looking for? I know you stayed up all last night on your computer.”

To tell or not to tell, that is the question. Not a very hard one, but it’s still the question. This secret isn’t mine to make public, though. “I’m trying to prove someone wrong.”

“Who?”

I hesitated. “Peter.”

“Why do you need to prove him wrong?”

“Because he’s gotten his idyllic little hopes up and I want to squash them like a bug.” I glanced at her and smirked. “I’m kidding. I just don’t think he’s right about something, and I’m proving it.”

She nodded, not entirely convinced. “You’re coming to the light festival, right?”

I looked at her. Really looked at her. She was pulling her long sleeves over her wrists and switching her weight from foot to foot—uncomfortable as hell. I gave her a genuine smile and closed my computer. “Wouldn’t miss it. Wanna help me figure out what to wear?”

Friends come before saving the world any day.

tags: @eridanuswave @vampirestrawberries​

[matteryder]

I posted 91 times in 2021

20 posts created (22%)

71 posts reblogged (78%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 3.5 posts.

I added 23 tags in 2021

#writing - 4 posts

#aesthetic - 3 posts

#cute animals - 2 posts

#nature - 2 posts

#funny - 2 posts

#writrblr - 2 posts

#my poem - 2 posts

#poemsbyme - 2 posts

#poems on tumblr - 2 posts

#storiesbyme - 2 posts

Longest Tag: 85 characters

#sunset sky beautiful pretty sky nature nature aesthetic colours. pretty colours

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

The Phone Call

📷

( This is my first time writing something so dark and suspenseful, so please be nice!)

I knew I was making a mistake when I picked up the phone. My hands started shaking when I saw my dead best-friend's name flashing on the screen. How was it even possible? I thought that her family had buried it along with her, and yet here i was getting a call from her at one thirty in the morning. At first my mind went to the group of school bullys and their insensitive pranks, but even they weren't heartless enough to do something like this. I put the phone to my ear," He-Hello?" I said in a quivering voice very unlike my own. I heard erratic breathing on the other side of the line," HELP! HELP! THIS ISN'T FUNNY ANYMORE!" As soon as i heard this my mouth ran dry and my hair stood on end. It was my late best-friend, Cara's voice, and she sounded exactly like she did on that night. It was followed by a high pitched scream and then the call disconnected.

I got out of bed and got dressed as soon as i could. I had a million questions in my mind, and i could think of only one place where i could possibly find some answers. I sneaked out of the house and drove to the famous Marianne Mansion at the edge of a cliff. it was old, torn down and supposedly haunted. I went inside and called out Cara's name but obviously to no avail. I went deeper into the mansion. All this while my heart was hammering in my chest and i could hear every step i took.

When i didn't find anyone or anything in the mansion, I let out a sigh of relief. I went outside and was about to get inside the car when I heard my name being called out. I turned around but didn't see anyone. it was almost as if the wind itself called me. i don't know what came over me in that moment but I went to the absolute edge of the cliff and what I saw was something that I will never forget.

There she was, in the same outfit as that night. looking more lively than ever. " Why, Sam? Why?" was all she said. " It wasn't my fault! It was supposed to be a silly prank. It was never supposed to go this far. It was just a challenge by the bullys, Cara. Please, Forgive me" My voice was muffled by my sobs and my vision became blurry. I knelt to the ground. " It was never them, Sam. It was you. All you." she said with a smile and everything went black. I woke up the next morning in the same place, surrounded by my parents and the cops.

Now, I am stuck in this mental asylum. ' Cara's death has taken a toll on her' they said. ' It is for your own good' they said. I tried explaining to them what actually happened that night , but no one believed me . No one except Cara.

-Matte Ryder

7 notes • Posted 2021-06-14 06:44:11 GMT

#4

Forever the girl that gets excited when the sky is in pretty colours. 😍😍

8 notes • Posted 2021-06-27 13:57:11 GMT

#3

I'm officially single again!!🥳🥳I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders n i'm happy!!!😁😁

9 notes • Posted 2021-09-21 19:05:25 GMT

#2

Dark academia, space n raven claw aesthetic

(Not mine, found it on Pinterest n now it’s my wallpaper)

17 notes • Posted 2021-10-18 04:43:09 GMT

#1

Starcrossed Lovers

Since one hundred births and finally we meet

what a shame it is through a screen

Nevertheless we met, this is something i'll never forget

Something that has made me extraordinary....to have met my soul the part that parted when the gods were jealous of my happiness

After eons of misery and pain we finally reunite it's gods' play indeed cuz it's a happy ending

Well stories that are happy have indeed not ended

But there's still hope cuz all's well that ends well

The gods will rise to part us again we shall find peace in these moments we've been blessed with.....the ones where we are like a body with eight limbs united for this bleak period of time

We strive everyday, for a happy ending

but what can mere mortals do when divine powers are at play.....

This is a piece my lovely friend @bleehhhhgirl and I co-wrote. Hope u enjoy:)))))

33 notes • Posted 2021-09-15 16:57:00 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[petite-rambles]

Truth or Dare

pairing: Bakugo x reader

genre: fluff

warnings: none, there’s a few little suggestive parts

A/N: this is the first thing I’ve seriously written, my friend wanted me to write something about Bakugo for her so I thought I would share :)

Sometimes the bakusquad needed to shake things up a little

The regular hang out sessions were getting a little boring

You guys wanted to add some ✨spice✨

Mina (of course) came up with the idea of truth or dare

Kaminari and Sero were quick to agree (just think of the insane things they can dare people to do)

No one could really come up with a better idea

Kirishima thought it would be fun too (and he was in charge of convincing Bakugo to join)

You thought this would make life is little more exciting between classes and training

Everyone really needed a break of some sort

Little did you know what was actually going to happen

Because Mina had come up with the idea, the site for truth or dare was her dorm room. Nobody was really complaining because it involved less cleaning and less planning for them. You had decided to show up a little early to help Mina set up but it turns out Kirishima had the same idea. You gently knocked on the door and Mina quickly answered.

“Yay people are starting to come! I’m literally so excited! (y/n), this is going to be so much fun!” She squealed as she pulled you into her room.

The two of them had done a good job of getting everything set up. There was a circle of pillows on the ground with snacks and drinks in the middle. There was a pile of blankets to the side just in case anyone got cold.

“Not bad.” you hummed softly as you looked around the room. You looked at the arrangement of pillows on the ground before deciding which one to sit on. You picked the one that was the furthest away from the door.

“The others should be coming soon. You know how they are, you tell them a time and they come whenever they please.” Mina huffed, eyeing the pillows on the floor as if calculating something.

“Bakugo should be here soon, he’s really punctual.” Kirishima said softly as there was a knock on the door, “I bet that’s him.”

Mina practically pranced over to the door and swung it open. There stood a grumpy looking Bakugo.

“Hey losers.” he mumbled, “This better not be lame.”

Bakugo shuffled into the room as Mina closed the door. You felt your heart flutter slightly at the sight of him. You had a crush on Bakugo but it was too hard to try and read how he felt. You two have been getting closer but it felt like there was some weird unspoken tension between the two of you. You couldn’t quite figure out what it was. It was always there, whether it was when you were hanging out with the bakusquad together or if it was just the two of you alone studying. You two liked to train and study together when you got the chance. Bakugo looked at the pillows on the floor, specifically glancing at the two next to you.

“Sit anywhere you’d like.” Mina hummed softly as she checked her phone, “Dummy 1 and dummy 2 should be here soon.”

Bakugo hesitated slightly before walking over and sitting on the pillow to the left of you. You looked over at him quietly and gave him a soft smile. He looked at you for a second before returning the gesture. You felt your cheeks heat up slightly. Mina watched the two of you silently as Kirishima plopped himself down next to Bakugo, causing the boy to look at him instead. There was a knock on the door and Mina quickly answered it.

“The party has arrived!” Kaminari exclaimed happily, bouncing into the room with Sero following close behind.

“Come on extras, it took you long enough.” Bakugo grunted as they began to fill in the remaining pillows. Kaminari mumbled something under his breath about an angry Pomeranian as he sat down.

Kaminari sat to your right, Sero to his right, and Mina to his right. You looked around nervously, as no one knew what the night was going to bring.

“Alright! Since I came up with the idea I’m going first.” Mina said happily as she looked around the room, “SERO! Truth or dare?”

“Uh truth I guess.”

“How lame. Have you ever thought about tying someone up with your tape, like in a kinky way?”

Sero’s cheeks quickly turned red as Kaminari laughed. Bakugo rolled his eyes as Kirishima joined in with the laughter.

“Oh so that’s how we’re starting.” Sero mumbled as he looked at the floor, “I don’t know. Maybe? I’ve never thought about it but I guess it would be convenient.”

You started to giggle along with everyone else. You felt bad having him answer something so personal like that but it was really funny.

“Anyway...” Sero mumbled as he looked at his elbows.

“Embrace it buddy, it’s like built in bondage.” Kaminari snickered

 ~~~~~~~

 The night had been full of excitement, to say the least.

Kirishima was currently rocking a full face of makeup and a dress, Mina had a couple of Mineta’s balls stuck to her leg, Sero was currently sitting in his underwear, Kaminari had a phone charger in his mouth charging your phone, and Bakugo was in possession of a few of Midoriya’s all might figures (as many as the boy could’ve grabbed). You had been pretty lucky with the truth or dares you had got. You hadn’t had to share anything too terrible to the group, but they did make you go steal a sweatshirt from Ojiro.

You could tell Mina was planning something based on the look on her face but you couldn’t figure out what. Would she really try to expose your feelings for Bakugo? You had confided in her before, you needed someone to talk to about your feelings. It maybe would’ve been smarter to pick someone else, maybe Yaoyorozu. You couldn’t tell what was going on in her mind, a lot of the events of the night had released some pretty personal things. Not only did everyone know what kinks Kaminari was into and how much action Kirishima has had, everyone also knew what underwear you were wearing currently. Mina seemed to have finalized her plan before turning to you with a devious smile. Nothing good could be coming from this. She quickly turned her attention to Bakugo, which caught you by surprise.

“Bakugo.” Mina seemed to purr, causing a chill to crawl through your body, “Truth or dare?”

He hesitated as he looked at her, huffing before he answered, “Dare raccoon eyes, this better not be shitty.”

The smile on Mina’s face grew even wider, if that was possible, “I dare you to kiss your crush.”

The room went silent as all eyes turned on Bakugo. You could see the slight pink tinge appear on his cheeks as he looked at the floor. The dare was definitely not something that he was expecting. Everyone was waiting on the edge of their seats to see how this was going to play out. It looked like Bakugo was trying to figure out what to do before he turned his attention to you.

Your eyes widened slightly as he shifted his body towards you, scooting a little closer. You felt like your heart was beating so fast it was going to explode, you never thought that the tension between the two of you was romantic. It wasn’t that you didn’t want it to be, you actually really did want it, it was always just so hard to read Bakugo’s emotions.

His hands gently cupped your face, gently tilting your face up. You felt yourself stop breathing as your lips gently connected. You quickly closed your eyes and leaned into his touch. You were close enough to smell his slight caramel scent. The kiss was gentle and timid. You could tell that he was nervous and trying to figure out how you were feeling. Regardless, your lips moved together effortlessly as you eagerly returned the kiss.

The moment was ruined when Kaminari and Sero started wolf whistling, which caused Bakugo to pull away.

You opened your eyes to see Bakugo just inches away from you, still gently holding your face. You could feel how hot your cheeks were as you timidly smiled at him.

Bakugo glanced away from you and glared at the two boys, “You damn extras ruin everything.”

Bakugo looked back at you before sighing softly, “Come with me.”

He gently removed his hands from your face and stood up. You quietly did the same and followed him as he began to walk to the door.

“Oh my god, I wish I was that cool.” Kirishima mumbled as he watched the two of you go.

“Shut up shitty hair, you’ll have your chance.” Bakugo mumbled as he walked out of mina’s room.

You shut the door behind you as you followed him. The air was thick as the two of you walked to his dorm room. You’ve been there before but this time it felt so different. He opened the door and let you go inside first. You walked in a bit before turning to face him. Bakugo shut the door and quietly walked over to you, leaving a little bit of space. You could tell he was nervous, the faint color of pink still danced across his cheeks.

“Listen (y/n), that was not the way that I wanted to tell you I like you.” Bakugo said softly as he looked at you, “I could’ve planned something much better but I always got too scared. I didn’t want to ruin our friendship if you didn’t feel the same way, I didn’t want to lose you.”

“Bakugo.” you said softly as you took a step closer, gently taking his hands in your own, “how could I not like you? I felt like I’ve had the biggest crush on you since I met you”

Bakugo seemed a little surprised, as if he couldn’t believe what you were saying.

“Well I guess it was good we played that shitty little game of truth or dare.” he said with a smirk.

He took one of his hands away from yours and used it to tilt your chin up. You felt your breathing hitch as he looked down at you.

“Yeah? Why is that?” You questioned quietly, almost as a whisper.

Bakugo didn’t respond. Instead, he leaned down and gently pressed your lips together. This time you could feel the emotion behind it. You wrapped your arms around his neck and gently pulled him closer to you. You could feel him smile against your lips before pulling away slightly.

“Cuz I got my girl out of this, finally.” he said, smiling down at you. You felt your heart flutter as you returned the smile, “now it’s time to make up for wasted time.”

[atiny-doodles]

four

YUNHO POV

We just finished our training session, and I smiled at the secret pictures I captured of her stretching.

"Yunho," Y/N asked, now looking at her phone. She showed me my recent post on outstagram.

"You know it's illegal to take secret pictures of people right." she said in a low voice sitting next to me on the ground.

I looked away and pouted. "I'm sorry I won't do it again."

She chuckled and patted my shoulder. "It's okay!" She looked back at the picture and smiled. "I like this picture. You're a good photographer, you got me in such a good angle!" She chirped happily and proceeded to like my post.

I smiled at her positive reaction. "I'm glad you think so Y/N."

We looked at each other and held a good few seconds of eye contact. I didn't know why, but I felt so comfortable around her.

-

Y/N POV

I didn't really have anything to do after this training session, and looking at the time it was getting close to lunch so I was wondering where I could go for a quick bite.

"Hey Yunho, do you know what good places there are to eat around here?"

"There is this one place where me and the other members always go to eat. It's at a walking distance from here. Want me to show you?" he asked. I didn't want to trouble him.

"Oh, no worries. Just let me know where it is. I just want to grab a quick lunch," I said, starting to pack up my stuff.

"No, I actually need to eat too, you won't be troubling me. Let's eat together today! The company pays for my meals so it'll be my treat!" he said convincingly.

I paused for a second, thinking about his offer. "Okay deal. Just for today,"

-

At the restaurant, we ordered a crab lunch set. It was so good that I couldn't stop eating.

I eyed Yunho downing his rice quickly, barely eating any meat. I slapped his spoon with my chopsticks and placed a huge chunk of crab meat I just cracked out of the shell and put it on his plate.

"In order to gain muscle, you need to eat more protein, not carbs!" I said.

"Sorry, it just looked like you were enjoying the crab meat so much, I didn't want to take it away from you."

Wow, I was totally just pigging out over here! My face heated up and I set down the crab, proceeding to take a sip of the soup.

-

YUNHO POV

Why was she sulking? Did I say something wrong? Attempting to fix my mistake, I picked up the crab meat and started eating.

"No, don't worry! See Y/N, I have lots of meat here for myself, it's okay." I gave her a thumbs up and smiled.

She stopped sulking too, happy to see me eating some of the meal too. "So, Yunho, your manager told me you really badly wanted to gain muscle for your debut. Why?"

I paused, wondering what to say. I hadn't even known myself, how this sudden obsession over body building started for me. "Uhm, to be honest, I think it was because of you."

She looked up confused. "Well, because when I first saw you on my morning jog, I saw how fit you were. I was so surprised, since I didn't know it was possible for women to have abs too. But seeing all your muscle made me more determined to get some myself."

"Ohh," she said in sudden realization. "So you didn't have any bad intentions huh?" she said, laughing.

I laughed along confused. "What?"

"I honestly thought you kept looking at me with some other intentions in mind. Cuz whenever we'd pass by each other you'd just stare at me, like this!" she widened her eyes and opened her mouth, mimicking my shocked facial expression. We both laughed at the memory.

"Well I'd be lying if I said I wasn't checking you out," I said in the spur of the moment. Y/N started choking on her food. "Oh! I'm sorry," I said, handing her some water.

"I- I mean, I'm straight! And, you're hot, and, uhh, I was running! And you were there so..." I slowly started shrinking into my seat, my face turning redder by the second.

Y/N wiped her hand. "Well, that was a nice talk!" she said standing up. "Let's go pay the bill, since we're done."

"Right! Let's," I played along. Geez, me and my big mouth...

-

Y/N POV

Can this puppy giant get any cuter than this?

I changed the conversation and we got up and paid the bill and left outside.

"Not gonna lie, I do feel kinda guilty for letting your company pay for the meal," I said, looking down avoiding stepping on the cracks of the sidewalk as we slowly walked back to the company.

"Nah, don't worry about it. The meal was only $18 for both of us!"

"That's like two thirds of how much I get paid to work per hour."

"Huh, true. But it was $9 total for both of us, so it was only less than one third of how much you get paid to work." he bopped my nose, "so it's not that bad."

I covered my nose and tried to think of a comeback but failed. Sighing, I said, "At least let me pay you back. I feel bad for making you spend time with me when you're probably busy with other things."

We arrived in front of the company building and Yunho stopped and looked at me before walking inside. "Well, if you insist, there is one thing you could do." he didn't let me reply before grabbing my wrist, pulling me over to an empty side of the building.

Still keeping a protective hold of my hand, he looked me in the eye and took a deep breath before saying what he wanted to say. "I want to treat you to meals more often," he said seriously. "And I want to take you to places and do stuff with you outside of our regular training sessions. And I want to treat you to things with my own card, not the company card," he loosened his grip on my wrist and moved his hands over to my shoulders.

"I like you Y/N," he smiled. "And if you feel the same, will you go out with me?"

I felt my heart beating faster and faster. He was so close to me, just smiling, giving me eyes of sincerity and desperation. I could feel his curiosity to know my response radiating off of his big puppy eyes.

I smiled. "Of course Yunho, I like you too." I said nervously. His grin widened and he lifted me off the ground and spun me a little.

"Yay!" he yelled giggling. He put me down and held my hands leaning closer.

I closed my eyes and waited for him to kiss me. But I felt him hesitating, then quickly turning his head to give me a small peck on the cheek.

I opened my eyes and smiled at him. How cute.

I leaned over and gave him a small kiss on the cheek too. He reached his hand over to his cheek and giggled blushing.

Maybe this is what small innocent love is like, the kind everyone longs for. I thought to myself, smiling at him.

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