#dude i Just finished the semester. in the 3 days since it ended I’ve had a drag show and a trip 2 hours+ away

[binders-and-beanies]

Guilt tripping me for being busy and tired and disabled will not make me less busy and tired and disabled nor will it make me want to carve out time for u any sooner lol

[starspatter]

Heroes and Thieves, Ch. 20

Title: Heroes and Thieves Fandom/Universe: BTAS, pre/post-RotJ flashback

Summary: A story about second chances, healing, and having hope.

Rating: PG-13, for references to character death, child psychological torture and trauma.

Genre: Romance/Family/Friendship/Hurt/Comfort

Word Count: 4,019 Previous Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19

Also on ff.net and AO3.

Well my head is dead and my mind is fed up of all this stupid time That has dropped off the clock and I've avoided the knock From the monster that's been running my life He's ugly as hell and well, his heart is broken His eyes tell a tale with words unspoken He dreams of a day when he can honestly say he's alright

-This Love, “Free”

————————–

Then.

“What do you mean you guys haven’t kissed yet?”

The end of December was drawing near, and they had just finished with first semester finals.  The four of them trekked through fresh snow back to the dorms, Steph and Cass taking the lead while Conner and Tim tailed behind, the latter lingering a distance so as not to let the girls overhear their conversation.  Tim watched as the blonde in front of him stretched her arms to the air, blissfully exclaiming: “Ahh freedom at last~” before anxiously asking her friend what she got on one of the more difficult Physics questions.

“It just… hasn’t really come up…  We’ve been studying so much since then, there’s never been a good time…”

Conner shook his head.

“Dude, that’s no excuse.  You gotta keep her satisfied if you plan to hold onto her past holiday break. Sometimes you just gotta go for these things, man.”  He paused, clapping a hand on his companion’s shoulder as he suggestively leaned in closer.  “Listen, Christmas is coming; that means mistletoe season.  It’s a prime opportunity.  If you want, I can totally set something up for you two…”

“I don’t need your assistance.”

Although Tim scoffed at his roomie’s waggling eyebrows, the worry of not measuring up to expectations had been weighing substantially on him over the past few weeks.  Dick kept trying to push him to be more assertive as well, and had even insisted on lending him a collection of certain kinds of “magazines” as “reference material”…

“Hey, what are you boys whispering about back there?”

Stephanie had swiveled around and approached the pair, suspicious of Conner’s smirk and Tim’s evidently embarrassed expression.

“You wouldn’t be bullying my boyfriend, now would you?”

She wrapped herself protectively – possessively – around Tim, who bloomed an intense shade of pink at suddenly finding himself being fought over.

“Me?  A bully?  Wherever would you get that idea?”

Conner whistled innocently, while Cassandra observed the three in silence.  Tim shot her a pleading look to get him out of this predicament, thinking “free me” as hard as he could, but she simply smiled slightly.  Damnit, was she actually amused by his humiliation?

“Tim, don’t listen to what that mean ol’ brute says.”  Steph squished her mortified prize tightly, magnifying his discomfiture further as she stuck her tongue out at her opponent, who huffed in indignation.

“Please, if I were actually a bully, I’d do something like this.”

Without warning, he stooped to scoop up a clump of crystal flakes, flinging the freezing projectile at Stephanie, who screeched and released in order to defend herself.

“Why you-”

She laughed like a shriek as she shivered and shook the ice shavings out of her mane, crouching to collect ammo herself.  Packing heat – or rather coldness in this case – as she launched a quick counterattack. They began pelting each other gleefully with polar pellets, while Tim spectated uncertainly, wavering whether to break the battle up…  Until a wayward missile errantly missed its mark, instead splatting straight onto his face.

“…Ah.”

The combatants immobilized, glancing in nervous remorse at the unintended casualty, who stood there in complete shock for a moment.  Stephanie instantly flashed back to the water gun incident, and gulped apprehensively, afraid they might’ve made another mistake.  (At least she wasn’t entirely the one to blame this time.)

As before, Tim wordlessly wiped the wetness dripping down his cheek – before calmly bending down and gathering a lump to lob right back at his assailant.  Conner yelped as the unanticipated retaliation caught him by surprise, while Steph burst into an excited beam.

“Boo-yah!  Tim’s on my team!”

She eagerly declared as she aided her partner in an aggressive revenge, ruthlessly ganging up on their target as he raised his hands in a desperate attempt to shield himself.

“Hey, no fair!  Cass, help me!”

Fair?  They were up against a superhuman and a psychic, Tim privately thought to himself.  Although to be fair, Cassandra denied the other’s turn to beg for mercy, merely casting a lolling glimpse that quite plainly said: “You brought this on yourself, mister.  Now deal with the consequences.”  …As she simply sidestepped any stray shrapnel without choosing sides.

As they clobbered each other with clods of frost, people stopped and gawked at the infamous group of so-called “freaks” playing enthusiastically like little kids in the courtyard, but none of said shunned subjects even cared, too engrossed in their game to pay patronizing passersby any heed.  Tim could sense his self-consciousness slipping away as he pitched and dodged, slipping back into old practiced habits of evading punches and bullets.  The exhilaration he felt now was perhaps even more fulfilling though, without real risk of legitimate danger to his life or others’.  …When he witnessed Steph was right in the path of a sizeable snowball’s trajectory though, he dove on instinct, tackling directly to the ground.

He blinked as they abruptly found their features so very near to each other, flushed and respiring heavily from combined adrenaline and chill.  Rapidly beating hearts and heat of their bodies connecting through thick sugarcoated layers.  He could distinguish individual flecks of powder from the fluffy pile they had landed on dusting her long lashes as they fluttered up at her “hero”, feathery and fair. Complexion as rosy as her lips, waiting with bated breath.  Tim swallowed, before hastily rolling off.

“S- sorry.”

Stephanie sighed at the release of pressure, flopping back in familiar disappointment.  She soon started giggling though, and before long Tim joined her as they took a timeout to just lie there laughing for a minute. …And maybe after a while he’s laughing a little too loud and too long, but by God it felt good to let his happiness out uninhibited like this, after so many years of holding himself back.  He couldn’t remember the last time he had this much fun.

As soon as the chuckles subsided and they sat up though, Stephanie was startled by a sudden smack to her temple.  At first they both assumed it was a signal of resuming the bout, but for some reason the assault seemed a lot harsher and more painful than before.

“Ow!”

She cringed on contact. Tim’s pupils widened when he saw scarlet seeping down her forehead, staining the rich white beneath them. …Where a rock jutted out from the bank.

“Steph, you’re – you’re bleeding…”

She touched a finger to her brow in disbelief, stunned to discover drops of crimson come off on her tip. Tim spun around towards Conner, who immediately denied any involvement, shaking his head in equal horror.

“Tim, I swear to God, bud, it wasn’t me.”

Tim swerved and glared angrily at their surroundings, as every member in the audience awkwardly averted their gaze.  He grabbed the stone and stood up, grip so severe it stabbed into his own flesh.

“Who the fuck threw that?!”

He shouted at a volume high enough for the entire yard to hear, likely disturbing some of the classes where students were still testing as well.  He didn’t give a shit about that though, seething to the core.  Doubt darted in every whispering, snickering direction, until his vision landed on their other comrade, who remained oddly mute even in this situation.  His perception narrowed.  She didn’t look guilty per se (and he refused to believe she would ever dare renege on her pledge to never do anything to harm Steph), but something about her shifty, shrinking appearance told him she was definitely hiding something.

“…You know who did it, don’t you?  You can tell.”

Cassandra bit her lip, declining to answer.  Tim stalked towards her, seizing her shoulders roughly as he demanded a response.

“Tell me who it was – right now.”

“I…”

She winced at the strength of his clutch, cowering under his looming fury. Conner’s own lion rage awakened as he lunged forth to fasten around Tim’s wrist like a vice, violently pulling him away with a far greater force.

“Oi, get away from her!”  He barked as he twisted Tim around, locking both limbs in a firm hold.  “You need to cool it.”

Tim’s view darkened with a grim pall, as he lowered to avoid meeting the larger male’s lecturing look.

“Let go of me, Conner.”

He growled, glowering defiantly.

“And what’ll you do if I release you?  Supposing you do find out the culprit?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”  Tim’s irises flared dangerously.  “I’ll beat ‘em to a bloody pulp.”

“And then what?  Get your ass suspended again?  Kicked out? Lose your scholarship?”  Conner hissed in a cruel, but concerned tone. “Stop and think for a damn second, will you?”

Tim scowled, but eventually his fist uncoiled.  Conner loosened a little, relaxing as Tim’s appendage obediently descended.  Stephanie spoke up softly.

“It’s all right, guys.  I’m okay, really…”

There was liquid leaking through her cupped palm though, and Tim bristled again, but Conner clamped him down, resolutely shaking his head.

“Let it go, Tim.  Let’s just get her to the infirmary.”

Conner offered his hand to help her up, while Tim looked on uselessly. He eluded Steph’s perspective as he stuffed his own empty paws into his pockets.

“You guys go on ahead,” he muttered.  “I’m gonna… go cool off.”

“Tim?  Wait, where are you going?”

Stephanie strove to stop him, struggling against Conner’s support, but Tim had already taken off, escaping towards the dormitories.  When he reached his room, he slumped against the entry, sinking to the floor with his own cranium cradled in his hands.  Reflecting back on his confrontation with Cassandra, for even though she hadn’t acknowledged anything aloud, he could still hear the reluctant reply resounding inside his brain:

…They had been aiming for you.

“Goddamnit!”

He revolved and pounded his knuckles into the wall, not caring if he caused any damage to either it or himself.  Another voice murmured mildly beside his ear, smooth and satiated by the display of outright hostility.  Insanity.  Delightedly feeding on such delicious despair and self-loathing.

Now you see what happens when you get close to others?  Let this be a lesson to you, JJ.  Don’t you get it?  You’re a blight, diseased.  A dirty, perverted curse that contaminates, taints every single thing you touch – nothing but a burden, who brings suffering to everyone around you.  A monster just like me.

“Get.  Out.  Of. My.  Head.”

Tim screamed as he slammed his skull against the partition to try and get it to shut up, and when that didn’t work, he hurled himself onto the bed, trying to cover his crown with the pillow. Of course it didn’t succeed in suppressing the scalding speech either though, slowly consuming, corroding his corrupted soul from the inside out.

You’re toxic.  Don’t forget that.  Your existence is poison – pure and simple.  I’m the only one who can withstand it.  You don’t need them.  Nor do you belong with them.  Come back to me, my darling.  Daddy will make it all better, I promise…

“Leave.  Me.  ALONE!”

Tim yelled at the top of his lungs as he chucked the cushion at his hallucination, who only hovered out of the way and cackled.  The boy buried his visage into the sheets, smothering his polluted presence, shoulders shuddering as he began to laugh like crazy again – until he cried.

…

Some time later, he heard a knock on the door as it creaked open cautiously. He didn’t elevate to look, but he knew Conner was standing there, taking in the pathetic sight of his flatmate flat on the mattress.

“Yo.”

He entered, closing the access behind him as he crossed over and sat down gently next to Tim.  After an uncomfortable gap, he cleared his throat.

“Cass reported the one who did it to the dean.  They won’t be coming back after break.  …She told me what happened.  It’s not your fault, man.”

“The hell it isn’t.”

Tim spat as he flipped over, sleeve still shrouding his inflamed eyes. At length he removed a fraction of fabric though to peek at the other boy’s back, inquiring fretfully:

“…How is she?”

“They’re treating her at the nurse’s office.  It’s not as bad as it looks.  She’ll be fine,” Conner reassured.  “She kept asking after you though.  She’s worried about you, bro.  …We all are.”

Tim said nothing, scrutinizing the ceiling.

“She wants to see you.”

“I don’t… deserve to see her.”  Tim choked, eyes welling up again.  “How can I face her like this?”

Conner’s countenance soured as he started to lose patience, resorting to somewhat stricter tactics in an effort to snap him out of it.

“Stop being a selfish prick. This isn’t about you.  It’s about what she needs.  And right now she needs you.  So stop feeling fucking sorry for yourself, get the fuck up, and go see your goddamn girlfriend before I fucking kick your ass.”

He snatched Tim’s collar as he said this, in order to prove he would make good on the threat if necessary, hoisting the sagging sad sack up and half-heaving him towards the exit.

“I’ll help you get started on packing, so go.  And don’t come back until you’ve apologized for leaving her alone.”

With that, he swung the doorway shut, bolting it determinedly behind Tim, who stood there dumbfounded in the hall as curious onlookers halted their own parting proceedings to goggle at him, gossiping in a susurrant hush.  Shuffling sheepishly, he complied to abide by the directive for now, advancing in the direction of the health center (recalling its location from when he himself had to be carried there following his “fainting spell”).

When he arrived at the entrance, he waffled for a long while, inhaling deeply before finally rotating the handle.  The clinical smell that greeted him made his stomach sick at first, but he shoved revulsion down and quietly asked the receptionist on staff as to the whereabouts of the patient he was seeking.  She smiled and pointed him towards a curtain in the rear.  Upon lifting it back, he encountered Stephanie propped up on a cot, dome swathed in bandages in a manner that rather resembled his own injured image shortly after they first “met”.  She relieved visibly upon recognizing the visitor.

“Tim!  Thank God you’re here.  I was beginning to get bored out of my friggin’ mind.  Can you believe they’re making me stay in a bed while they run some tests?  It’s just a tiny cut, c’mon.  Plus it’s the last day of school before winter vacation.  We should be out celebrating right now.”

She bounced restlessly on the bedding, as Tim absorbed the ruby dye soaking through her dressing.  He clenched his fist in crushing shame and repentance.

“I think… maybe we should stop seeing each other.”

She stiffened sharply, fixing him with a flabbergasted gape.

“…What?  Just now, that was… a joke, right?  You’re not serious?”

He regarded her with a grave grimace.  Confusion and dejection distressed her chest at such curt rejection.

“Tim Drake, are you actually breaking up with me?”

“Yes.  Let’s break up.”

There was zero emotion in his tenor, as her own lips quivered, tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

“But…  But why?”

Tim exhaled as he spouted was probably the most cliché line in the history of bad breakups, but he didn’t really care about circumventing social pitfalls right now.

“It’s not you, it’s me.  I mean it. Nothing… good can come of being with me. I’ll only end up dragging you down.”

“Tim, don’t say that…”

“You got hurt because of me.  Besides, I… can’t do anything to make you happy.  Believe me, you’d be a whole lot better off without me in your life.”

“Tim…”

She tried to extend towards his hand, but he backed away.

“I’m sorry.”

He turned and fled before she could react, leaving her bewildered and brokenhearted beyond belief.  His own breast ached as it felt like something within him had shattered – shred into pieces once again.  Whatever light had been reignited was now eclipsed, extinguished by his own hand.  He should have known better, never tried to chase it in the first place.  Having been burned once before, only an utter fool would run right back into the flames.

…This is for the best.

For both of them.

…

It didn’t take long for Tim to realize he couldn’t well return to the residence hall without invoking his roommate’s wrath, so he was stuck outside for the time being.  Wandering back to the quad, he massaged his mitts together and blew out a puff of condensation, briefly wishing he still had some actual smokes on him right now.

Parking himself beneath the shadow of a barren tree, he idly surveyed the scene of classmates bidding goodbye before heading home for the holidays.  Some were being picked up by their parents, and his intestines constricted a tad more as the swarm of “normies” joyfully received their relatives whom they hadn’t seen in so long with hugs and ecstatic chatter.  He felt filthy – a black and ugly beetle, insignificant insect – petty and out of place compared to these bright, carefree families.  So Hallmark picture-perfect against a pristine postcard background, shining silver and gold.

Acquiring a fallen branch, he started to scratch absently at the slush, doodling a nostalgic depiction in the dirt.  Gradually, the symbol of a bat took shape – and beside it, a crude carving of two beings in capes – one big, one small.  He stared sullenly at the sketch for a minute, before striking the stick simultaneously through both stick figures’ axes in an “X”.

“Tim?”

He jumped, and hurriedly scraped over the rest of the illustration with his heel as he whirled around to face his… well, he supposed “ex” would indeed be the proper term to describe her now.

“Steph?  What are you doing here?”

“I managed to convince them to let me go.  Wanted to catch you before you left at least.”

She fumbled with a parcel in her hands.

“I know it’s kinda early, but… I wanted to give you your Christmas present. Didn’t want it to just go to waste, after I worked so hard on it and all.”

She fished inside the bag, and retrieved a folded red scarf.  It looked a little lumpy and misshapen, clearly clumsily homemade rather than a commercial product.

“Mom’s been teaching me how to knit.  It’s my first time making one, so it’s not very good, but I hope you’ll still wear it, and… think of me sometimes.  I guess now you could consider it something to remember me by?”

Tim remained reticent as she unraveled the muffler and draped it around his nape, tucking it tenderly so it was snug.  She reviewed her handiwork, nodding in admiring approval.

“As I thought.  You look good in red.”

Tim tugged the textile, fingering each fiber that was filled with such fondness – feeling his own thawing heartstrings being tugged at – torn.

“Why… would you go to all this trouble – for someone like me?”

She smiled.

“Isn’t it obvious?  It’s because I love you.”

…

“Eh?”

It took a bit for the statement to sink in, and the cloth’s color seemed to creep up his mug as the significance of the confession belatedly registered. She took his trembling skin in hers, keeping it cozy as his now cherished neck was.

“Plus I wanted to pay you back for letting me borrow your jacket,” she half-kidded, concealing her own blush behind blithe humor.

He shook his head.

“This is… too good for me.  You’re too good for me.  You shouldn’t have wasted your time…”

“Tim, how many times do I have to tell you?”  She squeezed his palm, praying he’d actually listen to – believe her for once.  Believe in himself. “You’re so much better than you think you are.  You’re kind, sweet, and caring – you’re not like any other guy I’ve dated before.  I like you for you, no matter what you or anyone else says.  If other people can’t see that, then to hell with all of them.”

He held her resolve for a long interval, before shyly expressing regret over his actions.

“Steph, I-”

She put a pointer to his lips before he could progress.

“Sh.  You’re forgiven.  Now let us never speak of splitting up over something minor like this again.”

Softening, she added:

“As for what I said before, you don’t need to answer me back right away. We don’t have to rush into anything if you’re not ready for it yet.  I’m happy so long as you’re happy.  As long as we’re together, that’s good enough for me.”

She boosted onto her boots’ toes to provide him an affectionate side-peck, sniggering as his cherry virtue exposed further at the gesture.  Yup, red really was his hue, it seemed.  …It suited him (more than he’d ever care – dare – to admit).

She started to separate, but he grasped back, bowing profoundly towards her as if to an angel.

“What… did I ever do to deserve you?”

He beseeched sincerely for a sign – that it was really okay for him to accept this much adoration from someone.

“Who knows,” she teased with a smug shrug, basking indulgently in flattering worship as she winked.  “Maybe it’s karma from a past life or something.”

Patting his hair like a puppy, she dotingly brushed off some sunken pearl beads from the strands – like a laurel of tinsel to match her own heavenly halo; planting another precious token on top in pardoned blessing – a starry seraph ornament – before bidding him rise.  As they strolled back to the quarters together, limbs still linked together in open broadcast of their bond, Steph piped up with another proposal.

“By the way, I wanted to ask you something else: I was wondering…  Do you want to come spend Christmas at my place? I already invited Cass to stay overnight on Christmas Eve, and Conner said he’d come too if you would.  Can you imagine it, both of them said they don’t have any plans this year, and that their folks were out of town.  I mean, what’s up with that?”  She shook her head.  “Christmas is supposed to be a time for people to spend together.  No one should have to be alone during the holidays.”

For the fleetest of seconds, an impression intruded on Tim’s conscience; of a solitary man holed up all by himself in a huge, vacant manor atop an isolated hill, hunched by the fireplace with a glass of brandy in hand, longing wistfully at his mother’s and father’s memorial portrait overlooking the mantle.  He urged it aside though, and smiled appreciatively at the offer.

“I’d love to.”  A nagging notion occurred however, as he agonized over accommodations on her behalf. “…Can your house really fit that many people though?”

She put on a persevering aura, pumping her fist.

“We’ll make it work somehow.  Worst comes to worst, we’ll just have to share some beds.”

He arrested in alarm at what she just said, as the implications dawned on both of them.  Steph swiftly endeavored to clarify, flailing and failing miserably.

“Uh, I mean, Cass and I can share a bed, of course!  I wasn’t insinuating anything else by it…”

The tables had reversed now as Tim snorted at her chagrin, and she grinned as well, goading his arm.  Clinging around it, she nuzzled up intimately against his shoulder, both marveling at the broad sky as it started to shed sparkling glitter again.  Safely cocooned by both her company and the gift she had granted him, there was no space left for someone else to come between; waking, walking nightmare to worm its way into his warmed spirit.

…And, for the first time in a long time, what he feels isn’t fear anymore – at allowing a new stranger into his narrowly confined world once again.  Chip through frigid barriers and sculpture’s solid shell in order to stir up the dormant globe – revive its stalled clock, frozen in stasis for so long.  Finally melting an age of presumed permafrost; nudging, encouraging cold feet to steadily begin moving forward again.

…

It’s hope.

————————–

Well keep it in mind I'm not as stable or able To use all my guts and turn over the tables Or open the door and stare the monster between the eyes But the times have turned and burned a hole in this heart Confronted the face of what tore my life apart And I'll start by living every moment like it was my last

[lokilickedme]

Just realized I have no concept of time anymore.  Like, at all.  Ever since we arrived we’ve been in a weirdly surreal maze of househunting, ranch tending, phone calls with realtors/bankers/loan agents/insurance agents/construction overseers, and just holing up watching the snow through the window in general, and I have no clue what day it is or even what part of the month we’re in.  I didn’t know today was Monday and I certainly didn’t know yesterday was Sunday.  The boys aren’t registered for their semester yet because we’re technically homeless and the program requires proof of residency in the state of enrollment, which we don’t have yet even though we’ve been here a couple of weeks (has it been longer than that?  Shorter?  Who knows) so in between tending to the animals and taking care of the main ranchhouse and keeping the kids alive and trying to set up house in a place of our own that isn’t finished being built yet, I’m in a perpetual state of Saturday.  Everything feels like a Saturday.  Nothing is real and it’s all happening on a Saturday.  Even husband’s job, which went from a 5-day week back home to a 3-day week here with 12-hour onsites and a stray floating 4-hour fill-in wherever he feels like putting it is just...messing my head up.  I have no internal clock anymore except for the one that screams IS IT SATURDAY?? constantly.

But -

The house is close to completed, though it seems like the crew has slowed down ever since the sale closed.  Note to self: go to construction site and show disapproval.  Also I talked the builder into throwing in some staging furniture because I sold everything we had and he just happened to have some in storage that he’d intended to put in the house anyway for prettying-up purposes on the sale listing.  Bonus.

I don’t know if I mentioned it in here or just told it to somebody in person (is it Saturday?  It feels like Saturday) but the first house we contracted to buy ended up being yanked out from under us at the last minute due to...issues.  A crumbling foundation, an illegal non-permit-acquired addition onto the structure, and nearly half a million in liens against the property due to the deceased previous owner’s bad habits (I’m guessing gambling but who the hell knows, dude died of covid before they could break his kneecaps) - you know, the usual shit that happens when you’re about to drop your life savings and your kids’ college money on a place to live.

That ended up leading us to something better, though.  Smaller town on the outskirts of our original destination, beautiful idyllic location, close to the ranch we’re currently tending, close to the boys’ grandmother, in an incredible tourist spot so all you travel-y folks have plenty of places to stay when you come to visit :)  This second house is new construction, which wasn’t anything we remotely required in our search, but happy accidents and all and it’s always nice being the first person to pee in a bathroom you’re going to be spending the next few years using.

And my god, the eclectic mix of hippies and cowboys here is astounding.  Every time I go in the grocery store I cross paths with at least a half dozen stoners so blissed out I worry about them finding their way back home.  It’s a legal state with dispensaries everywhere and I’ve never seen a group of residents jump so collectively onto a bandwagon like this.  It’s amusing until you get stuck in line behind a guy who’s been smoking all afternoon who’s trying to get the clerk to agree with him that the produce section definitely needs to stock car parts because somebody moved the NAPA store while he was getting a pack of Ho Ho’s and his jeep is sitting at the co-op with a flat tire.

This place is going to grow on me, but it’s definitely not the same place I lived in years ago.  When I lived here before I worked in an apple packing shed at an orchard, and that’s still there, but the other place I worked at that made coil resistors for spacecraft (I worked indirectly for NASA, which was cool) has packed up and moved operations to Mexico.  Husband worked at the newspaper in the print room when we first got married, and now that’s all gone online.  He works in the bioceramics division at a huge corp now, lathing segments for cybernetic prosthetics (that’s fancyspeak for robotic arms and legs).  The company also makes beer :)

But I digress, I guess.  It’s a beautiful place but the pay is shite just about everywhere, mainly because most of the people here are either wealthy travelers hitting the hot spots between Moab and Aspen or they’re wealthy Californians moving in with a few mil in their pockets from the sale of their houses in LA.  The locals are the only ones that need work, and the work doesn’t feel the need to pay a good wage even though a quarter mil will only buy a person a sub-standard fixer-upper on a 2-inch bit of land.  There are a grand total of 14 houses for sale in the valley with price tags under $300,000 and they’re snatched up before you can even click on the listing.  We got lucky, I was holding my phone in my hand when an under-construction house in our price range popped up - it had gone on the market literally one hour previous, the app had just that moment cycled it into the listings, and husband and I jumped in the car and drove out to look at it without even grabbing our coats.  We were sitting in front of the partially completed house when we called Husband’s realtor friend and told her to submit an offer on it and to make it fast.

The next day we were under contract :)

That was on a Saturday.

We’d spent two weeks trudging from listing to listing, trying to find something.  At the last two houses we’d looked at I had sat down on the steps and cried.  Ever since the first house had fallen through nothing had worked out for us, everything was too expensive, too wrecked, too expensive, too small, too expensive - and now, finally, the perfect place.

We’re real damn close to being home, finally.  We have approximately a month to go before our closing date.  Until then I’m content to drift in my eternal Saturday, waiting for the calendar to finally click over onto an actual weekday.  It’ll stop being Saturday and I’ll get my days sorted.  Something of a schedule will fall into place, maybe even a routine of sorts, though I’ve never been big on structuring my days.  Til then I’m sitting up here in this gigantic ranch house trying to figure out if that noise downstairs at 2 am means the place is haunted or is just JD the ranch guy messing around with the feed storage in the basement, playing Fallout 3 with Big, chasing Little up and down the stairs to tire his hyper ass out, tromping around in the snow doing various ranch-type chores in my new weather-appropriate boots, battling the blissbots (stoned mountain hippies) in the grocery store for the very meagerly-stocked frozen waffles and peanut butter, trolling the thrift shops for used furniture that I can’t buy yet, and drinking copious amounts of good local coffee in between the neverending phonecalls required to get us settled.

Until then, it’s always Saturday.

[hologramband]

One Day p1

Alive!Luke x Fem!Reader Modern AU Word Count: 2.6k A/n: hehehe here’s the first part! I have it mostly planned out, there should be 3-4 parts! Lmk what you think! Summary: A shy girl is used to floating under the radar, keeping to herself most of the time, all was well until an opportunity fell into her lap, but what will these new people bring with them?

You were really good at staying right under everyone's radar at Los Feliz. You knew everyone, everyone knew you, but you didn’t have anything more than just a surface relationship with your classmates. You didn’t mind that, it was harder to get hurt this way. You got accepted to the Performing Arts High School with your ability to dance, but have always found your real talent lies within your visual art. Whether you were using paints, pencils, or a pen, you loved the way that your hand flew over the paper and created an image that represented your many different emotions.

In a way it made sense how you loved both dance and drawing, both sharing the flowing of movements to express things that words cannot. It was easier for you to express your emotions and thoughts in these mediums since social connection was hard for you. You had tried it once, really connecting with a person, but it ended up coming back and hurting you, causing you to shut down, so you weren't in a rush to try again any time soon. You floated down the hallways with ease, only having to stop at your locker to grab the remaining textbooks you need for the next few classes. While you were stopped you heard your name called from across the hallway, looking up to see Julie raising her hand in a small wave. “Hey, (y/n)! I like your top!” She came to a stop by your locker smiling. “Thanks! It was my moms, she just found this box of old clothes from when she was in school, this one just really stuck out to me.” You smiled down at yourself and looked back up at the girl to see three boys approaching. You felt heat subtly rise to your cheeks and you tried to focus your eyes on Julie. “Hey Jules, you ready to go to class?” Luke spoke as soon as they reached her side, sending you a nod of acknowledgement when he noticed you standing in front of them. Alex and Reggie both raised their hands with small waves in greeting to you. You smiled in return and turned back to close your locker, swinging your backpack on in the process. “Well, I gotta get to class too, see ya around.” You smiled back at the group and heard Julie call after you. “See you in Art!” You turned slightly and waved in return. Julie and you were pretty decent friends, you talked to her more than anyone else at the school, she had a good balance of how to get to know you without pushing you. You had met the boys a few times in passing, much like the previous occurrence, them not really speaking much more than a ‘hello’ here and there. There was something about Luke though, he never failed to send a storm of butterflies loose in your stomach. He probably didn’t even remember your name, but you could remember all the details of his face, not in a weird way, just in an artistic way, ya know? He had such a coolness about him, like he could totally embarrass himself but brush it off like it was nothing, like he meant to do it even. You thought you were getting better with your anxiety around people, but as soon as that boy was in front of you, it seemed as if your brain forgot how to function. You shook the boy from your thoughts as you continued through your day, classes went by like they typically do, all your general classes like math and english were in the first half of the day, the second half being taken by your dance class and then art. It was simple to say that you much preferred the second half of classes. In dance you went about as normal, running through a few routines and while wrapping up your teacher mentioned something about a new project that would be announced tomorrow. After changing you made your way to your final class where Julie had already arrived and claimed a table for the two of you. “Hi!” she smiled up at you. “Hi! How were your classes today?” You replied, starting a conversation that you hoped would carry throughout the class. You really did like talking with Julie, she was so sweet and really made you feel like she wanted to get to know you. The first day of class she noticed you were sitting alone and she took this as an opportunity to introduce herself, commenting on the particular band tee you had on, being able to strike up a conversation instantly. You admired her for this, the confidence she had when walking in a room was just astounding to you. The two of you went about the class in a way that you similarly would, talking about this and that while sketching away in your respective books, her only pausing to write ideas in her song notebook when an idea would hit. The class you were in didn’t have many actual assignments, just that you needed around 3 small pieces turned in periodically and one larger one for your final at the end of the semester, it made it an easy free flowing environment where there wasn’t too much pressure to stress on any one thing. Before you knew it the ding of the bell was going off overhead and you and Julie started packing up your things, she quickened her pace when she saw the boys waiting at the door for her. “You guys have practice today?” You giggled at her rushed movements. “Yeah,” she laughed as she zipped her bag closed, “Luke and I just finished up a new song too so I’m really excited to get back to the garage to figure out the music behind it.” She smiled up at you and you returned the affection. “Well don’t let me hold you up! Hope it all goes well! See you tomorrow!” You waved to the girl as she ran to the door, only pausing to throw a wave back at you. You laughed and shook your head at the girls' antics and went about your day as usual, starting your walk back home, you didn’t live too far and enjoyed the fresh air and time to recollect after the school day. After getting home you grabbed a quick snack and retreated to your room to finish a sketch that you had been working on in class today. Digging through your bag your heart rate increased when you pulled the red covered book to see the top covered in multiple stickers, this wasn’t your book, it was Julies song book, meaning she was currently in possession of your sketchbook. She must have grabbed yours on mistake when she was packing up quickly. You lightly sighed as you pulled out your phone to text her about the accidental switch-up. She replied instantly just realizing the mistake herself, then invited you over to switch them back and possibly hear some of the songs they were working on, looking for an outsider's opinion. You hesitated in saying yes, did you really need your book back that bad? Sighing, you sent back an okay and asked for an address, as nervous as you were to hang around the guys, more specifically Luke, you remembered how excited Julie was to go over the new song, the one that was probably sitting in the book you were holding in your hands. You threw on a light jacket and grabbed your backpack, for reasons unexplainable to you it just always just felt safer to walk around with a backpack on, and you were on your way to Julies. You could feel your nerves rising with each step you took towards her house, by the time you stood at the end of her driveway you felt like your heart was in your throat. “Calm down, (y/n), it’s just a little hangout to get your book back and hear a few songs, no biggie, nothing to fret about at all.” you whispered to yourself, taking one last deep breath before continuing your walk up her driveway. You had just come into view from the garage when you heard Julie calling out your name. “(Y/n)! How was your walk?” Julie ran out to meet you, now walking beside you into the garage. “It was good! You actually live closer to me than I thought, it was only like a 15 minute walk,” you smiled at her and you continued the small talk until you looked up and met eyes with the brunette guitarist. “(Y/n), these are the guys, Alex, Reggie and Luke,” she introduced them to you and you raised your hand in a wave. “Yeah, i’ve seen you guys perform before, you’re all really good!” you smiled and met each of their gazes. “Thanks! And that was all our old stuff, just wait until you hear what we have coming, um..” Luke stuttered realizing he didn’t know your name. You went to say it but Alex beat you to it. “(Y/n) you idiot,” he hit the back of Luke's head, while rolling his eyes. A blush rose to Luke’s face and he laughed it off. “I-I knew that, I-I just-” “You’re at the school for dance right?” Alex spoke again, interrupting and trying to take the attention off of the stuttering Luke. You smiled and nodded. “Yeah! I’m on a dance scholarship, so that's my main focus but my second is visual art, which reminds me,” You take your backpack off and pull out Julies song book, “here’s this!” She smiles and takes it from you. “Ugh thanks so much, I don’t know what I would have done if I lost this, Reggie can you grab her sketchbook? It’s on the piano!” Julie opened her book and smiled looking at the page. “Oh wow,” you heard Reggie mutter causing everyone to turn to him, “(y/n) this stuff is like, really good.” You blushed and looked down at your feet, you’ve never been good at accepting compliments. “Dude, boundaries!” Julie muttered reaching for the book, but Luke got to it first, taking his own turn looking through the pages. Your heart jumped when he started smiling at the pages he was flipping through, you didn’t have anything in there that you kept hidden, it was just that no one had ever gone through your work before. “You have so many different styles, this one is like a cartoon, but then the next one is like hyper realistic.” Luke looks up to make eye contact and you felt a blush rise to your cheeks. Alex took the second of him being distracted to pull the book away from him and hand it back to you. “I’m sorry for them, they still haven’t figured out what it means to respect someone's privacy.” He narrowed his eyes at his two bandmates. “You know,” you opened the book in your hands to search for a particular page, “I actually have something of each of you individually. I sketched them out the night after I saw one of your guys’ gigs.” You scrunch your face in concentration, you feel everyone rush to stand behind you when you finally find it. You look around at them to take in their reactions, their eyes were all glued to the papers you were displaying in front of you, Reggies mouth falling open. “Oh! Is this why you asked for the pictures my dad took of that night?” Julie looked up at you. “Yeah, I wanted to be able to add the details of everyone's chosen instruments and get some added information on where the highlights were from the lights,” you looked at each of their faces again and made a rash decision to gently tear the pages from your book, handing them to each respective person. Each person held them gently in their hands, then looked up to you in amazement. You just shrugged your shoulders in response, not knowing what else to say. “Well,” you looked out the window and saw the setting sun, “I better start my walk back to my house, it’s getting dark and I wanna get back before that happens. Enjoy the pictures guys!” You smile and turn to walk away, all the band still shocked to silence. “She’s never torn a page from her book before,” you hear Julie tell the boys as you walk further down the driveway, smiling to yourself. It was true, you never pull pages from your sketchbook, not this one at least, it was the better quality of all the other ones you had. You typically just used the less expensive books for class, you go through all the pages so quickly you didn’t want to waste the one’s in your higher quality notebook for the rough sketches, but the pages that you drew the band on were in the higher quality notebook, you had taken the time to really get them right, and they turned out fantastic. Your mother had always told you to spread joy where you can, and after seeing all their faces you knew that it was only right to let them have the pages that they were looking at. You arrived home and couldn’t wipe the smile off your face, there might be something there with them, an opportunity to make new friends, to open up. This idea makes you both nervous and excited, you let these thoughts and ideas later lull you to sleep. --- The next day at school you were walking to your locker when Julie caught your eye, she was waiting in her phone by your locker door. You would usually see her in passing in the mornings, but this is new. “Hey Julie, what’s up?” You greet the curly haired girl at your locker. “Hey (y/n)! Not much really, just watched to catch you this morning and run an idea past you…” She smiles and looks around her before returning her gaze back to you. “Okay? Is everything alright? You seem nervous,” you giggled at her antics and went back to putting the combination into your locker. “Yeah, yeah, I just know you take a while to open up and get close with new people, and I don’t wanna rush you into anything you aren’t ready for, but the boys and I were wondering if-” She gets cut off by a yell from down the hallway. “JULIE! HAVE YOU ASKED HER YET?” You turn to see all three boys running towards you, Julie facepalming at Reggies yell. “Geez Reg, she literally just got here. There's no need to yell,” Julie rolls her eyes at them and looks back to you. “Anyways, we were wondering if you wanted to make more designs and stuff for the band, like for posters and maybe album art one day.” She smiles at you after finishing. “You-you want me to… really?” Your eyes widen in shock. “Yeah! We all really like what you did with those portraits, and you’re pretty chill letting us keep them and all, we want you to be a part of our band, even if it isn’t you on stage with us, you’ll keep things looking cool.” Luke says as he leans against the lockers beside you. “Plus, then you’ll be able to hang out with us more!” Reggie pipes in. They all look at each other then back at you. “So,” Alex smiles at you, “What do ya think?” A million thoughts fly through your mind at once, they really want you to hang out with them more? They liked what you did? You looked at them all, looking back at you, and smiled. “I’d love to.”

tag list ✨

@gia-kerks​ @fangirlangioma​

[mayraki]

when school started

read their story here

masterlist

>>> the troublemakers start another semester of school and they have to deal with their fame. but never mess with someone who gets into trouble for fun.

“Is that JJ and Max... holding hands?” “Maybank and Belinsky?” “Who would’ve thought those two would end up together?” “WHAT?!” “I never wanted to be Maybank so bad.” “That Belinsky is a lucky one.” and other things JJ and Max got used to people saying when they walked passed since they started being a thing two weeks ago.

It wasn’t a surprise, two people who had their reputation together as a couple wasn’t a thing that would pass unnoticed, specially around the Pogues and Kooks. But they didn’t care, all they wanted was to enjoy the end of those long thoughts and confused questions, but unfortunately for them, they are Max Belinsky and JJ Maybank, trouble was always around the corner, even if they didn’t want to. They are the troublemakers! They had to live up to their name, but they didn’t thought that they were going to go to the principal’s office on their first day back in high school.

“Ms. Belinsky, please come the principal’s office immediately.” Max lifted her head from her notebook and furrowed her eyebrows confused.

“Uuuh, she’s in trouble.” JJ teased next to her with a smirk on his face. She got up from her sit and then quickly slapped JJ on the back of his head.

“Belinsky.” The teacher said. She lifted her hands into the air surrendering, and on the moment before she could walk some steps towards the door, the megaphone spoke again.

“And Mr. Maybank, come to the principal’s office.” Max, with a little smile and a lifted eyebrow turned to JJ, who was now confused.

“Get up, you little bitch.” Max said loud enough so only JJ could hear her, but John B, who was in front of JJ let out a tiny laugh.

“You two, go, now.” The teacher said, and just like that, JJ and Max were out of the classroom not before all of their classmates followed them with their eyes.

“Did we do something?” JJ asked while him and Max were waiting to get inside the office.

“I have no idea why we’re here.”

“Maybe we did something but we can’t remember.”

Max shook her head. “Nah, I always remember what I do. Unless I’m being questioned by the police.”

“Yeah, we’re professionals at that.” He nodded and then let out a tiny laugh. “We sound like criminals.”

Max was about to say something but Princial Gomez walked out of his office with his grey suit on and his white hair. He looked at JJ and then Max, who were standing there with innocent smile on their faces.

“What’s up, Ricky? Had a good summer?” Max asked walking closer to Gomez. Since the serious expression he had didn’t change, Max lifted his fist towards him. “Give me some.” But he just kept the eye contact with her. Max felt the tension and without bringing his fist down, she slowly nodded. “I guess that’s a no.”

“I got you.” JJ said and gave her the fist bump.

“Thanks, man. Appreciate that.” Max nodded.

“No problem.”

“Inside.” Principal Gomez said with a firm tone before walking inside his office. JJ and Max looked at each other confused and then walked through the door. “Close the door, Maybank.”

After doing what Principal Gomez told him, JJ sat down next to Max, who sat down on one of the chairs Gomez had in front of his desk.

Max and JJ waited for him to talk, but he just took his sweet time to cross his arms around his chest and stare at both of them for a couple of seconds.

“Ok, you’re killing me here, man, with all of this suspense.” JJ said impatiently.

“Do you know how many times you two visited my office last year?” Gomez said for the first time since they all walked into the office.

“I’ll say five.” JJ said.

Max nodded. “Yeah, I would probably say like, 6? That sounds better.” JJ nodded while looking at each other but when Princial Gomez spoke more loudly they both went back to him.

“35!” He said frustrated and angry. “Each!”

“Really? A tie?” JJ asked.

“Get over it, dude, you’ll never win.” Max said with a laugh but once Gomez clased a book with strength making a loud noise, she quickly went silent turning to him.

“I’m extremely tired of you two ending up in my office! And I’ve heard you didn’t rest on the summer, either.” Gomez said and that’s when JJ and Max looked at each other. JJ winked at her before turning back to their principal and his frustrated and angry expression. “And this time, the first day of school! What were you two thinking?!”

“You know,” Max said. “I respect you, principal, you’re a cool dude. But I have to say, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Same here.” JJ said lifting his left hand into the air.

“You’re not going to get away with this, I’m sure of it. Detention, a month.”

“What?!” JJ and Max said at the same time. “Sr, we’re saying the truth, we swear. We didn’t do what you think we did.”

“Really?” Gomez said sarcastically. “You two didn’t set off a smell bomb in the cafeteria?”

“Sr, with all due respect.” Max said. “I wouldn’t do that. I’m a little bit more creative than that.” Immediately, Gomez turned to JJ who quickly shook his head.

“I’m more creative than her, so I wouldn’t do that either.”

“You wish.” Max said almost in a whisper.

“And why would I believe you two? You always try to get away with the thing you do lying all the time!”

“Look at it this way,” JJ said getting closer with his face to Gomez’ desk. “Think of all the things we did last year, separately. You know us, principal, do you really think we would pull that off?”

Max looked at JJ with a smile, proud of his words, and then turned to Gomez. “JJ’s right, principal, liked it to admit it or not. We were cuestioned by the police two times this summer, do you think that we would put a smell bomb? We would totally go harder than that.” Max said and immediately added once Gomez gave her a warning look. “But we won’t, of course.”

Gomez looked at Max and then at JJ before letting out a big sigh. He looked down to his desk and then said, firmly: “Belinsky, Maybank, you can go back to class.”

JJ and Max gave each other proud smiles before getting up from their sits and walking out of the office.

“That was good.” Max said giving JJ a high five once they both started to walk back to their classroom.

“But tell me!” Sam said to Max with her lunch on her hands while she and the rest of the Pogues, John B, Pope and JJ were walking to the little outdoors the school had. “Did you do it?”

“No!” Max said. “I would’ve told you!”

“Then who did it?” Pope asked when they all sat down on the grass.

“We have no idea.” JJ said.

“Aren’t they gonna do something?” Max asked looking around. “I mean, if someday stole the credit for something that I did, I would be pissed.” JJ nodded agreeing with Max.

“Are you still getting detention?” John B asked before giving a bite to his sandwich.

Max shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t think so.”

“Who would’ve thought that for getting more into trouble, would get us out of trouble?” JJ said before letting out a laugh.

Max nodded with a smile. “Stupid things have good outcomes sometimes.”

“Amen, baby!” JJ yelled before they all bursted out in laughter and continued eating their lunch.

“Finally, free!” John B yelled once they all walked out of the big door of their school.

Max and JJ locked eyes with each other when he let his arm go around her shoulders.

“Do you want to do something?” He asked looking at her lips.

“Mmmmh, maybe.” Max said with a smirk, but all of that was cut of by the principal walking out of the school with a student by his side to walk towards a black car and what seemed to be two parents waiting.

“What happened?” Pope asked looking at the boy and the principal.

“He’s a freshman.” A random girl said next to Pope. “He was the one who put the smell bomb on the cafeteria, someone saw a package of bombs in his gym locker and told the principal.”

“He kept the evidence?” JJ said and Max turned to him knowing what he was thinking.

“Amateur.” They both shook their heads.

Gomez walked pass JJ and Max and gave them a little nod, they both did the same with smiles on their faces.

“We were right, he’s never going to forget that.” JJ said once he saw the principal entering the school. Max nodded with a smile.

“First day of school and we already went to the principal’s office.” Max said. “I guess we never sleep.”

“You and me?” JJ asked with a smirk. “Never.”

Max let out a smile and then closed the space between their faces to leave JJ and kiss on his lips.

“Get a room you two!” John B yelled.

Max turned around to flip him off, but a better idea came to her mind.

“Hey, JJ!” She yelled loudly enough so that John B, who was a couple of steps away could hear her. “Do you want to go to John B’s room?”

Knowing what Max was doing, JJ looked at her with a smile and then to his best friend, who was shaking his head.

“Don’t you two dare!”

“You told us to get a room!” JJ yelled letting his arm around Max’s shoulders.

“And we choose yours!” Without waiting for a response, with a huge smile on her face, Max grabbed JJ’s hand and started to ran away, leaving the Pogues and the school behind.

>>> are you ready to see how the troublemakers shake everyone’s world?

IMPORTANT! please, read.

ok, first of all, hi :) second, I hope you enjoyed the first little adventure of max and jj. this is simple and short because I want to know how many people are actually interested in reading these type of short stories. I think I’m going to make a new taglist since a lot of people that I’ve been tagging either didn’t finish the story or just don’t want to read this. I have so many fun adventures these two are going to get into and I’m really excited for y’all to read it. so, please, tell me (by commenting, rebloging, on my asks) if you want to be a part of the taglist! thank you for reading, i love you <3

taglist: @iamaunicorn4704 @onceinagenerationrage @lasnaro @k-k0129 @x-lulu @oopsiedoopsie23 @baby-pogue @roamingmarauder @ponyboys-sunsets @agirlwholovescoffee @thorsangel @royalmerchant @deviouscharitos @badbitsh13 @cilorawr @mdlyncline @ilovejjmaybank @corebore123 @starksweasley @allycat449-blog @netflix-imagines @alwaysasadaesthetic @queenofthepouges @jjsmaybcnk @sexytholland @sadcupofcoffee @strawberrydonkey @allielozoya @jjandreidsgirl @sarcasticsagittarius1998 @nevvvv @drewswannabegirl @itsyagirljay @mrsromangodfrey @kay667 @casper17 @jarahisendgame @niya-savage @scooby6 @dustyjjumpwings @sweetlysilent @alternativehp @stilinskingongo @renatafairchild @stfukie @chasefreakinstokes @beloved-vinyl-addict (+)

[redrobinfection]

(16) Graveyard

SociallyAwkwardFox’s Spooktober (2018) - Day 16 “Graveyard”

Tim & Damian | Implied JayTim | Implied DickDami | College AU | No Capes | Crack | actual discussion of literature | Dick Grayson was adopted by the Drakes instead of the Waynes | Want to write/create with me? Find the prompt list here!

~*~

"How about four out of seven?" Tim asked with a shrug, winding up the toilet paper roll again.

Damian, his fellow barista, threw his roll at Tim's head, missing wildly. He glared. "You cheated, Drake!"

Tim rolled his eyes as he retrieved Damian's roll and began winding it up too. "How could I cheat at coffee cup bowling, ‘Wayne’?"

"You wind your roll too tightly. It doesn't unravel as much when you pitch it and thus has more mass by the time it hits the cups."

Tim raised his eyebrows. "What are you now, a physics major? That just sounds like strategy, dude. You are free to roll your roll as tightly as you'd like. That isn't against the rules."

Damian fumed. "The rules you made up! This is why I said we should use the rice crispy ba--customer."

Tim whirled on the spot, seeing that, indeed, a paying customer had entered their little, semi-enclosed coffee shop. Outside, a few students sat or sprawled over the sectional couches that filled the large basement of the university student union in which the shop was located.

Tim turned and vaulted over the counter. He heard a quiet "-tch-" from Damian as he walked to the hinged raise-able section of the counter and let himself in.

Tim straightened his apron and stepped up the register with a smile. The customer stood about five feet from the register, head tilted back, studying the menu board over Tim's head with bleary eyes. The guy was like a zombie, he was that exhausted. Tim cut his eyes over to the clock on the wall. 3:45 am. Hell of a time for coffee.

Tim glanced over his shoulder at Damian, who was reawakening the cranky espresso machine with deft fingers. Seven hours and forty-five minutes with Damian "the Demon " Wayne down, only four hours and fifteen minutes to go. Tim turned back to their customer and sighed. This was going to be a loooooooong morning.

At second glance, there was something familiar about the guy, but Tim couldn't put his finger on where he knew him. The guy had pretty teal eyes, but they were reddened and dull, like he hadn't closed them except to blink in way too long. He was also pretty well cut, Tim noticed, with clearly muscled arms and pecs so defined that Tim could clearly see them through the man's sweater. Maybe that's how Tim knew him? Maybe he'd seen him in the UREC weight room?

The guy's most eye-catching feature by far was the white forelock that curled down over his forehead. He was the third person Tim had met to have a whitened forelock like that; the other two were fraternal twins who had had small patches of albinism right at their widows peaks which affected both the skin and hair. Tim idly wondered if this guy's white lock was natural too. In any case, it looked frickin' cool, a lot cooler than his own; the best thing he could say about his own hair was that he could pull off the 90's curtain cut plus semi-mullet well enough that he could go an entire semester on a single haircut.

Tim was drawn out of his thoughts when dude finally stepped up to the counter and began to speak.

"Uh, hi, could I get a large, double-shot caramel latte?"

"Absolutely. How many pumps of caramel do you want?" Tim asked cheerily.

The guy looked up from digging through his overly stuffed messenger bag. "Uhh…the normal four should be fine."

"Okay, that will be $6.47. Can I get a name for the order?"

The guy didn't look up this time. "Uh, Jason. Gimme a sec', I know my wallet is at the bottom of this thing somewhere."

"No problem, take your time. It's not like we have a line, anyway," Tim joked.

This guy looked so dead right now--inside and out--that if he didn't find his wallet, then Tim would probably just buy the coffee for the guy himself. He understood better than anyone the sudden need for caffeine at odd hours of the day. He's not sure how he would have finished half his computer science projects this term without a much-needed double-espresso every couple of hours, to be honest.

The guy--'Jason' apparently--finally fished out a small money clip then handed over a student ID card. "Put it on my Dining Dollars, please."

"Yeah, no probl- wait a minute!" Tim cut off, staring. Suddenly, it had hit Tim where he knew this guy. "Aren't you that kid who always sits at the front of Professor Hyatt's nine-fifteen, Tuesday-Thursday, Modern European Literature and answers all the questions?"

The dude raised an eyebrow. "Uh, yeah. Why…? Wait…" He squinted and leaned in. "Aren't you the kid who once tried to sit all the way back in the AV booth, since, and I quote, 'the back wasn't far enough back'?"

Tim grinned as he swiped the ID card through the register. "Haha, yeah."

Damian moved as if to step up to the counter, the guy's drink in hand, but stopped dead about a foot away. He stared.

"Wait. Aren't you the guy who always comes in, gets tea, and sits in the window over there and reads romance novels?" Damian asked, eying him appraisingly.

The dude huffed. "Yes. My name is Jason--by the way--and they're not romance novels, it's classic lit. Now can I get my coffee?"

Damian handed the coffee over the counter, but raised an eyebrow skeptically. "You mean to tell me Rebecca is not a romance novel?"

"Wait, what!? Do you mean Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca?" Tim asked as he handed Jason's ID card back over the counter.

Damian nodded wordlessly. Tim snorted, then said, "That's not a romance! That's a totally a murder mystery! You must be confusing it with Jane Eyre. I get those mixed up too."

Jason nodded in agreement, tucking his ID away before taking his first sip of coffee. He moaned, his eyes fluttering for a moment as he savored in the sweet bliss of piping hot caffeine at 3:49 in the morning, then he looked at Damian and said, "Well, actually, I'll give you that one, uh…" --he paused to squint at Damian's name tag-- "...'Damian'; Rebecca is a modern romance novel by classification, but it's also a crime thriller just like--whazzatsay?--'Tim' said."

He turned to Tim. "I'm not surprised you'd confuse it with Jane Eyre, considering that a lot of scholars believe du Maurier adapted it from Jane Eyre."

"Wait, really?" Tim said with a laugh. "I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking that! Rebecca is like the less boring version of Jane Eyre."

Jason froze halfway into sitting down in one of the arm chairs that lined the wall closest to the door and looked up at Tim as if he had just suggested burning down the library or something similarly unthinkable. "Whaaaaaat?! I can't believe you just implied that any of the Brontë sisters' works is boring!"

Tim laughed again. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I was only twelve when I read Jane Eyre, so maybe I'd enjoy it more if I read it again now--with a mature perspective--but I remember Rebecca being a blast for thirteen-year-old me so…" He smiled, then shrugged.

Jason stared. "Twelve? Thirteen? Jeez. What else were you trying to read that young?"

"I mean, I read Moby Dick the year before that, in sixth grade," Tim admitted, shrugging until his shoulders hit his ears.

Jason gave him a flat stare. "Moby Dick? Moby fucking Dick? You've gotta be kidding me. And lemme guess, you also thought Herman Melville's masterpiece was a load of crock?"

Tim laughed, but shook his head and waved his hands placatingly. "No, no, no. I only understood, like, every fifth word--so.many.whaling.terms!--and it took me four months to get halfway in only to realize there was no way I was going to finish it by the end of the school year--I ended up skipping to the end and guessing for a lot of the AR test questions--but I definitely got the sense that it was a seminal work and that I was just too young to appreciate it. I've always meant to go back and try it again, but I still haven't gotten around to it."

"Why the hell were you trying to read Moby Dick at the age of twelve?" Jason asked incredulously, leaning back in the chair and taking a long sip of his coffee.

"Eleven, but, ah, well, my mom was convinced I had to be The BestTM in everything, so she pushed me to max out my Accelerated Reader level by the end of sixth grade and demanded that I always get the most AR points of anyone in my class, so I read a lot of the 20 point-and-up books." Tim tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I think Moby Dick was 47 points...Rebecca was 25...Jane Eyre was 33..."

Jason stared, shaking his head slowly. "So…what? You're fine with Moby Dick, a romance of the American Renaissance, but a gothic romance of the British Victorian era like Jane Eyre isn't good enough for you? Next you'll try to tell me you think Wuthering Heights is a snooze fest!"

"Well, I mean, I never could get into it, so…"

Jason slammed both hands down on the arms of his chair, incensed. "Okay, Mister, get your butt over here and sit down, we need to have a talk about Victorian Gothic and why, hands down, it is some of the best literature ever written."

Tim laughed again, then bit his lip, considering the offer. He glanced around the nearly empty coffee shop. Then he leaned over the counter and looked out into the lounge--there were exactly four people there and only one of them wasn't completely asleep in their books. Yeah, he could probably afford to humor the man.

He turned to Damian. "Hey, Dames, I'm going to make myself a coffee and take my break. You good to hold down the fort?"

"I told you not to call me that," Damian snapped, but there was no real heat to it; he liked to pretend that he hated the guts of all his coworkers, but Tim knew that he was Damian's favorite. "However, yes, I think I can manage. Go take your damned break, but when you come back I fully expect a rematch in bowling…and don't you dare cheat this time!"

Tim rolled his eyes and groaned, then turned toward trying to coax Ol' 'Spressolino--their affectionate name for the cantankerous espresso machine--into spitting out a double-shot for him. "It's not cheating, but fine, we'll do it your way," Tim replied. "But I'm telling you, you have to buy those rice crispy balls. I definitely don't want to have to explain to Barbara why some of the food on sale looks like it went through the spin cycle in a dorm washer."

Damian grinned smugly. "My pleasure. It will be a small price to pay in order to ensure your swift defeat."

Tim shook his head, grabbed his espresso in one hand and two biscotti off the front counter in the other, ducked under the counter drawbridge, then slid into the armchair across from Jason. He offered one of the biscotti to the other man and Jason accepted the free food with an appreciative smile. He already looked ten times less zombie-like, thanks to the caffiene, and he was honestly pretty damn attractive.

"Okay," Tim said, peeling the wrapper off his own biscotti and dunking it into his bitter cup of joy, "Educate me."

Between sips of coffee and bites of biscotti, Jason began explaining his thoughts on the romantic period of literature, but barely a minute into his lecture, a plastic-wrapped, ball-shaped rice crispy treat about the size of a cantelope whizzed by their feet and crashed into the ten extra-large paper coffee cups arranged in a bowling triangle at one end of the coffee shop, scattering them in a definitive strike.

Jason jumped in his seat and looked around wildly. "What the fuck?"

Tim sighed. "Daaaaaaamiaaaaaaan…"

"Shut up, Drake! I'm practicing. I need to hone my skills and adjust my form so I can thoroughly crush you in our next round," Damian called back. He marched from the counter to the end of the shop to retrieved his plastic-wrapped projectile.

Jason blinked in confusion. "I repeat: what the ever-loving fuck?"

Tim sighed again, then explained, saying, "It gets pretty boring in here during the graveyard shift, so we invented a game, coffee cup bowling. Normally, we'd sleep or study, but Damian finished his exams two days ago and I don't really study for exams, per se-"

"And sleep is for the weak," Damian finished, nodding as he walked past them carrying his sweet, gooey ammunition.

Tim nodded sagely, in agreement. "Sleep is for the weak."

Jason glanced over Tim's shoulder at the coffee cup bowling 'pins' and then over his shoulder at Damian as he lined up another throw. "You guys are insane," he declared.

Tim made a dismissive gesture. "I mean this is my third graveyard shift in a row and Damian here is almost 20 hours into a 24-hour stint. After that much sleep deprivation, you'd lose your sanity too."

Jason tilted his head in acknowledgement. "Fair enough."

"If you want, you're welcome to join us after we finish our coffee and literature talk," Tim offered amiably.

Jason watched as Damian threw another strike, sending one cup so far it landed in the pot of the ficus in the corner, and raised his eyebrows. "You know what…why not." He turned back to Tim with a grin. "I could use a bit of fun before I go back to work on my Native American Lit paper."

"Are you a lit major?" Tim asked curiously.

"I am."

Tim nodded. "That makes sense."

"And you?"

"I'm a CS major--computer science."

"That makes sense," Jason echoed, grinning.

Tim grinned back at him and waved a hand. "Okay, so as you were saying…?"

"Yes, as I was saying…"

Jason continued his little lecture while they continued sipping their coffee and nibbling on the biscotti. When they had finished--the coffee, not the discussion, because Tim was pretty sure Jason would go on for hours about literature once you got him started--they joined Damian in a game of "ten-cup."

It was in the middle of this heated battle of cups and marshmallow-bonded puffed-rice cereal balls that their next customer found them fifteen minutes later. The man, dressed in flower printed leggings and a black hoodie with "Gotham University Aerial Arts" printed across the chest in blue, took one look at them and grinned.

"Oh, hey! Coffee-cup bowling! I love that game! Do you think I could interrupt you guys for just a sec to get some hot chocolate?"

All three of them--the two baristas plus their customer--turned and stared.

"Hot… wait, what?" Jason said, laughing a little. "Man, it's like 4:30 in the morning. Why are you getting a hot chocolate at 4:30 in the morning?"

The man laughed, too, shrugging before he explained, saying, "I don't like tea or coffee all that much, but I just finished a 20 page paper on ethics in police enforcement and I need a pick me up. I need to get my warm fuzzies going again."

Tim rolled his eyes and sighed, moving back toward the counter to get the man his drink. "You're going to end up being the cuddliest cop on the street, Dick."

"You know it, Timmy!" the man--'Dick' apparently--exclaimed, pulling Tim into a bear hug when he made the mistake of passing too close to Dick on his way to the counter. The hug escalated into a full on octopus hug as he lifted his legs to wrap around Tim's hips. Tim, for his part, ignored the grapple, opening the leaf in the counter and hobbling over to the drink bar with the human cephalopod still attached.

Damian and Jason stared. Damian cleared his throat and eyed Dick with poorly disguised interest. "Wait, do you know this man, Drake?"

Tim blinked dully as he turned around, a cup in one hand and a packet of instant hot chocolate in the other. "Yes. He's my brother." Dick made a squeeing noise and nuzzled his head into Tim's neck. Tim sighed. "My adopted brother," he amended testily.

Dick laughed, dropped his feet back onto the floor and stood up. He nearly wrung Tim's neck as he tried to hug him around the shoulders. "Awww, don't be like that, Tim. We haven't seen each other in two whole weeks and I needed my Tim-hugs! Gotta meet my cuddle-quota."

Tim shook his head and handed the hot chocolate back over his shoulder. "You're insufferably, insatiably clingy when you're this tired, Dick. Go home and sleep."

Dick finally released him to take the drink. He took a sip of the hot chocolate, sighing in appreciation. "Thanks, Tim, and yeah, but, only if you do the same. You're just as bad as me when you haven't slept, if not worse."

"Can't. Working," Tim answered curtly, vaulting the counter to escape before Dick's grabby hands could reach for him again. His brother wasn't wrong; Tim was always up for a good cuddle after a long stint without proper sleep, but he didn't like public displays of affection.

Dick took one look at the nearly empty coffee shop, the three of them, their game, and then laughed out loud. "Ahhh, the days of getting paid to drink coffee and make up games at 4:30 in the morning. I kind of miss it."

"Would you care to join us," Damian asked abruptly. Dick brightened.

"Absolutely!"

And so that was how the four of them ended up bowling for empty coffee cups with rice crispy treats the size of spaghetti squash while blasting ABBA’s greatest hits--Dick's terrible, wonderful idea--until the sun rose and their shift ended, at eight AM.

By the time the four of them walked out the door, Dick was trying to convince Damian to join him in the aerials gym before breakfast, and Damian, clearly eager to do anything with the handsome college senior, accepted readily. Jason and Tim, on the other hand, were back to discussing literature over coffee--now focused on the merits and downfalls of contemporary science fiction and fantasy as an art form--and making their way to the East Campus Dining Hall, so they could continue their discussion over breakfast.

Tim snorted softly as he listened to Jason list all the ways Dune defined an era of sci-fi/fantasy, then smiled at the way Jason took his hand--without seeming to realize it--to pull him forward after the crosswalk light changed out of Tim's line of sight. Oh, yeah, this one was totally gay/bi/pan and he was definitely asking him out the minute he saw the opportunity, Tim decided.

He smiled. Who would of thought he'd come out of last night's graveyard shift not only having seen his demon coworker and his older brother hit it off--of all things!--but having met someone for himself too! He laughed, thinking, you never know what crazy things you might see, or the people you might meet, at the campus coffee shop at 4 o' clock in the morning!

[retrievablememories]

like you | jungwoo

title: like you pairing: jungwoo x black!reader genre: fluff, college!au request: “Hi. I’m requesting a fluffy imagine where Y/N is a senior in college and Jungwoo is a freshman in college. Y/N gets upset because people keep picking on him because he is asian and she defends him. This causes Jungwoo to get extremely clingy/flirty and develop a crush on Y/N. Y/N is not used to recieving affection so she feels skeptical” word count: 3.8k warnings: cursing, instances of racism a/n: this one was pretty fun to write, i love writing college-inspired stuff for some reason lol. tumblr fucked the image quality but whatever. the title comes from the song off story op 1. stan kim jonghyun girlies!

“Who’s that guy in your Medieval History class?” Your roommate, Mira, randomly asks you one day. She’s hanging off the edge of your bed, her textbook on the ground in front of her as she fists her hands in her hair and tries to comprehend the words swimming on the page in front of her.

You turn away from your desk to look at her. “That’s a random ass question. Have the words finally fried your brain? I don’t even know what guy you’re talking about.”

She looks up at you, crossing her arms in front of her and resting her chin on them. “Fuck this homework man, I’ve had enough. I wanna know who’s the guy in your History class, the black-haired one? The Asian dude?”

You think for a moment. You do remember who she’s talking about; he sits closer to the front of the class, though you’re not sure how she knows him. She’s not even in the same class. He has cute features, though you haven’t paid him much mind—you know from the first day’s icebreaker that he’s a freshman exchange student, but any other details have escaped your mind.

“I don’t remember his name at the moment...what about him?”

“He seems kind of awkward, like...I’ve only really seen him with one other boy. It’s kinda sad...he could use a friend or two.”

“You’re assuming he’s awkward? Maybe he’s just shy, or doesn’t want 800 different friends,” you say, turning to another page in your notebook. There are only a couple of reasons why she’d ask you about a guy, and you can guess what her plans are. “If you want to be his friend, you can. Ain’t nobody stopping you.”

“Well, shit, can’t you like...introduce me? I don’t wanna be a weirdo going up to a total stranger!”

You laugh incredulously. “Girl, he’s a total stranger to me too. If you really want to be friends, just say so...or say you’re with that Freshman Committee who pairs upperclassmen mentors with the new students. I’m sure that’ll work well.” In actuality, you’re not entirely serious or sure about that, but it’s better than listening to your friend complain.

Mira sighs, going back to her textbook. “Ugh, you never wanna help me get guys. Fine...I could try it, but if I end up looking like a fool I’m blaming you.”

You only have Medieval History on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so you have to wait another day before returning to class again. After keeping your ears open for the roll call, you figure out that the guy’s name is Jungwoo.

He appears to be really into the subject and participates often, asking and answering questions whenever the professor engages with the students. You’re only taking Medieval History to fill out the last credit for your Social Studies electives, so you never expected to be all into the subject; but the teacher does a decent enough job of making the class not totally boring. 

Jungwoo has a pretty proficient grasp of English, which makes you wonder if he did a lot of studying before he got here. He mispronounces a word when asking the teacher about a certain concept in the reading material, though, and a couple of girls who sit behind him laugh. You furrow your eyebrows at that, wondering what their problem is.

Later, when you’re leaving class, they pass by you and you hear a bit of their conversation.

“Shit, if you’re gonna move over here you should at least know English first,” one says, screwing up her nose.

“Seriously, it’s so embarrassing. I thought Asians were supposed to be geniuses or something?” Both girls laugh at that, and you roll your eyes at the ignorance. They’re gone only seconds later, although your mind keeps drifting back to their comments for the rest of the day.

Over the next week, you notice that those same two girls seem to spend more of their class time giggling over Jungwoo’s mannerisms and speech than actually participating in the class. It quickly begins wearing your nerves thin; you’ve never gotten along well with people who are assholes just for the sake of being mean.

If Jungwoo notices—which you figure he must, because their cackling is too obvious not to pick up on—he doesn’t acknowledge it. This only makes you more irritated, knowing that he probably isn’t interested in picking a fight with these girls; but that doesn’t mean he should continue being disrespected.

You reach a point where you can no longer stay silent during a lecture on Medieval cuisine, where the girls keep whispering silly jokes about Asian food. You clear your throat loud enough to make a few heads turn, including the girls doing the laughing. “Excuse you, I can’t hear the teacher over the noise,” you say pointedly, crossing your arms. They both give you salty looks at that comment, and you have to stifle the urge to throw something at the backs of their heads when they turn around.

This is going to be a long semester.

Things come to head one day when you’re all waiting outside the classroom for the professor’s last class to leave. Jungwoo is standing beside the classroom’s door, while you’re seated on a nearby bench, trying to stay awake after studying until 2 a.m. last night.

The two girls walk into the hallway, including a boy you don’t recognize; you figure he’s probably a friend or boyfriend. You kiss your teeth at their entrance and try to return to your thoughts, but you’re quickly taken out of them again when you see the trio stop in front of Jungwoo.

The first girl, who seems to be the ringleader, speaks. “Hey, what’s your name again—Ching? Jing?”

“We need some homework help! And since you seem to be the teacher’s pet…” Both girls look at each other and laugh at that. Jungwoo furrows his eyebrows, an unimpressed expression on his face.

“I don’t think that’s—” Jungwoo starts, but the other guy cuts him off, putting his hand to his ear in an exaggerated gesture.

“What was that? We need you to enunicate, no one knows what the fuck you’re saying.” This time, all three of them break into laughter. 

The tiredness drains from your body faster than any caffeine could achieve as you watch the scene unfold. Some of your other classmates look on, shifting uncomfortably, but no one moves to say or do anything. Before you can really think about it, you’re already up on your feet and walking towards the group.

“Maybe if your miserable asses spent more time studying the lectures instead of shitting on a fellow student, you wouldn’t have to beg for help.”

All three of them, plus Jungwoo, turn their heads in your direction with varying expressions on their faces. The main girl speaks up, putting her hands on her hips. “Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?”

“You, bitch! Who else? Y’all love picking on someone you know is too nice to say anything back. That’s weak as hell and says more about you than it ever could about him.”

Your voices start getting louder as the girl gets up in your face, and before anything can pop off, the professor comes storming through the classroom door.

“What the hell is going on here?” he shouts over the arguing.

The girl backs down after the professor makes his appearance and turns to look at her two partners in crime. “Girl—got the damn teacher out here, come on, we ain’t got time for this shit.” They both walk away in a huff, their male friend trailing behind them, and some other students give them sideways glances as they pass. The guy throws you a dirty look before he leaves, and you don’t hesitate to flip him off.

“That’s an unexcused absence on your record!” The professor calls after them, shaking his head. Meanwhile, Jungwoo has been watching the whole scene with shocked eyes, and he keeps looking at you as you shrug and head into the classroom.

The next time you have your Medieval History class, the two girls don’t show up. Maybe they’re too embarrassed to come back to class, but whatever it is, it’s above you now.

After the professor finishes his main lecture, he flips through his copy of the class textbook for the day’s assignment. “Everyone, turn to page 273 in your books. I want you all to read and analyze this text on Romanesque architecture, then answer the 3 discussion questions on page 275. You can get into groups of no more than 3 if you wish, but everyone needs to turn in their own individual answer sheet.”

Sighing, you open your notebook and rifle through your backpack for a writing utensil. When you look up, you jump a little from shock; Jungwoo is standing near your desk with his things in his arms.

“Hi...could we work together?” He gives you a gentle smile.

“Oh, sure, that’s fine with me!” Jungwoo takes the empty seat beside you and you push your desks to be closer together.

“I never got to say,” he starts, “but thank you for doing that last week...you didn’t have to.”

“Well, I would hope any decent person would...I didn’t want to just sit there and watch you be insulted. It’s so unnecessary...” You quickly flip through your textbook, completely overshooting the assignment page and having to go back. You feel a little flustered at this kind of attention, because you weren’t really doing it to be noticed or heroic.

Jungwoo smiles at your modesty, though he doesn’t try to push the matter.

At the end of class, after you’ve both turned in your assignments, you and Jungwoo leave together.

“Thanks for partnering with me today,” you tell him, and he nods in acknowledgement. “I guess I’ll see you next class?”

“Actually, do you want to eat lunch with me? I mean, at the cafeteria today?” he asks. His eyes seem to literally sparkle in anticipation of your answer, and you find it hard to turn that face down. Plus, he seems nice enough; this could be a good way to introduce him to Mira.

“Sure,” you say, grinning.

You and Jungwoo head to the dining hall for lunch, talking about anything that comes to mind along the way. You find out that him and his roommate, Jaehyun, have been best friends for awhile before deciding to go overseas for college; his roommate has been to the U.S. before, but this is his first time. He talks a lot more than you expected him to, but you figure some people just need time to warm up before they get comfortable.

It doesn’t take you long to find Mira after you get to the cafe, and you plan to let her take the reins with the conversation, but Jungwoo continually does his best to keep you roped into the dialogue. You realize you don’t mind that, though—it’s nice to have someone who actively engages you rather than lets you fade into the background.

Jungwoo quickly makes the desk beside yours his new spot in class. He sticks close to your side during lectures and even when you walk to the cafeteria or back to your dorm, always thinking of something new to tell you about. With any other person you’d quickly get tired of this borderline clingy behavior, but something about him keeps you interested, even when you’re talking about stuff that would be boring to others—like Medieval History.

The two girls eventually make their return, glowering silently at you and Jungwoo but not saying a word. Their object of laughter and mockery is no longer available for harassment; who knows who they’ll try to terrorize next, though you hope the answer is no one.

“You don’t mind that Jungwoo always wants to hang out with me, do you? Since I know you kinda liked him and all.” You ask Mira at lunch one day, when Jungwoo leaves the table to get the straw he forgot. You feel a bit sheepish. You didn’t mean to “steal” her prospective man away from her, but you and Jungwoo have taken a liking to each other, and you enjoy being in his presence.

“Jungwoo? No! I actually have my eye on another guy in my Nursing class now, he’s really funny and he owns a collection of vintage records…” You snort, unsurprised that her attention has drifted already. Mira launches into a whole spiel about this new dude, even detailing how the color of his irises is just shy of being “true hazel green.” She pauses in her speech to bat her eyelashes at you. “Besides, it seems like you two have something going on already. I wouldn’t dare get in between that.”

You almost drop your food in your lap. “Uh, what?”

“Don’t be shy. You two are practically tied at the hip, and Jungwoo already talks to you like you’re his girlfriend. It’s only a matter of time at this point.”

“I seriously doubt that,” you say, suddenly feeling very put on the spot. You don’t think Jungwoo sees you like that at all, and you’re a little irritated that your roommate would suggest it, jokingly or not.

She sighs and shakes her head. When she spots Jungwoo walking back to the table, she tries to act casual and wrap the subject up. “Suit yourself, but I’m always right about this kinda stuff. Watch.”

Every year, your college throws a Welcome Back party on the last Friday of the first month in the semester. You initially didn’t have plans to go, much preferring your friends’ kickbacks where you don’t have to avoid sweaty and horny stranger dudes all night. However, Jungwoo turns to you one day after class ends and brings it up.

“Y/N, there’s gonna be a party on campus at the end of the week...are you going?”

“Hmm, probably not...Welcome Back parties are always lowkey messy and filled with freshmen who don’t know how to act…” You momentarily forget that Jungwoo is a freshman, and you have to walk your comment back a bit. “Not saying you’ll be like that, though!”

He waves it off. “It’s fine. It’s just, me and Jaehyun are going and thought it’d be fun if you came too.”

“Well…”

Jungwoo rests his head on your shoulder and hugs your arm. “Please? I want the prettiest girl in school to be my date.”

You pat his hand and laugh off his comment, unsure how to accept his compliment. “Since you asked so nicely…I’ll go. But I’m bringing Mira with me. It’s been awhile since I’ve gone to a campus party.”

“Yes!! That’s fine, Jaehyun will probably like her,” Jungwoo says, smirking. You still don’t get how they haven’t formally met yet with how your friend circles overlap, but you know it’s coming soon. Obviously, Jungwoo knows something you don’t, judging by the look on his face, but you don’t inquire about it.

You and Mira spend the night of the party getting ready with Megan Thee Stallion and City Girls blasting through your dorm room. She was a little resistant to the idea at first, insisting that campus parties were too corny for her taste, but you eventually convinced her to go. 

As the hour approaches, there’s a knock on your door. You’re still putting the finishing touches on your makeup, so you tell Mira to answer it. When she does, Jungwoo and Jaehyun are standing there.

“You guys are here already? Who let you in?” she says jokingly, though you wonder the same thing; you can’t get into a dorm you don’t live in without a key card.

“Some guy downstairs. Maybe your dorm needs better security.” Jaehyun laughs. “I tried to tell Jungwoo it’s still early, but he was ready to leave.”

“Walking in on two girls getting ready, how presumptuous of you,” Mira giggles, pretending to shove Jungwoo’s shoulder. You roll your eyes hard and try not to laugh in the mirror. “But you’re here now, so might as well come in.”

Jungwoo makes a beeline straight to you, placing his hands on your shoulders like he wants to give you a massage. “Hi pretty girl.” He smiles at your reflection, and you almost drop your lip gloss on the floor.

“Oh, h-hey, Jungwoo! The party tonight better be fun...if not, you owe me,” you say, trying to play off your nervousness.

Jungwoo acts reluctant about it, placing his hand in his chin and thinking deeply. “I owe you? Well, okay...anything you want.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“You can have my heart first, if you want.”

This time you really do drop your lip gloss, and Mira and Jaehyun watch with amused fascination as you mourn your lost makeup. But right now, you just want to avoid thinking about what Jungwoo has just said, and how it makes you feel.

The gymnasium where the party is being held is just as packed as you expected it to be, even at your group’s early arrival. It’s only going to get more crowded from here, but you don’t think about that as Jungwoo all but drags you to go dance.

You genuinely enjoy yourself for the first time in a while, and you’re surprised at just how much fun you can still have even with drunken dudes bumping into you every few minutes.

You’re too caught up in dancing with Jungwoo to notice, but Mira and Jaehyun are nowhere to be found. You only realize this after you two take a break during a slower song and you can’t spot her anywhere on the gym floor. You send her a text message, but you don’t expect to receive an answer anytime soon.

“Shit, they didn’t waste any time,” you laugh, and for some reason you can’t stop laughing at the situation. Jungwoo joins you until you’re both outright cackling, and some of the other party-goers give you odd glances.

You and Jungwoo spend most of the night dancing and partying with some of your other classmates. You both leave the gym one hour before the party ends, wanting to avoid getting caught in the huge rush of people who’ll be looking for fast food places to hit up. Instead of heading back to your dorms, you two decide to walk around the campus for a while, enjoying the still night air and the sounds of crickets all around you. You’re glad for the open air, because you were burning up in the gym with so many bodies around you.

Neither of you speak for a while, simply taking in the scenery and retracing your footsteps on paths you walk everyday to get to class. Jungwoo finally breaks the silence when you pass through a long path flanked on both sides by rows of flowery trees; this part of campus is so picturesque that it almost seems out of place.

“Tonight is really pretty,” he says, glancing at the starry sky.

“I know, right,” you agree. “It’s so nice outside. I’m glad you convinced me to go to the party.”

“I’m glad too. I really like being next to you...” Jungwoo’s eyes linger on your face for longer than you expect them to, and you look away nervously, unsure what that could mean. “But, there’s something I have to tell you.”

“Oh? What’s that?” The sudden change in tone makes you a bit anxious, and you half expect him to tell you he has to return home after this semester ends. That thought makes you more disappointed than you anticipated. Your stomach curls into a knot.

“Y/N, I like you.” Jungwoo’s face is earnest, but your brain has a hard time catching up to the meaning of his words. You feel like you’ve been kicked in the chest—or maybe that’s your heart trying to knock its way out of your ribcage. You stop walking and simply look at him, unsure how to approach his confession. He stops too, turning to face you with gentle eyes.

“I-is...this a joke?” You finally blurt out. Jungwoo’s face draws into a confused expression. He shakes his head, his hair waving as he does.

“It’s not a joke at all. You are funny, nice, cool, brave, pretty…”

“A...are you sure this isn’t just because I defended you? Like, maybe you just feel really grateful about it—a-and we’ve only known each other a month—”

“Y/N, I know how I feel,” Jungwoo argues, grabbing your hands. He pauses for a moment as if he’s trying to come up with the accurate words to express himself. “I just...I don’t need a reason or excuse. I just like you.”

This is all far more than what you’re used to. You pull your hands away from Jungwoo’s for a moment, embarrassed and overwhelmed. You tentatively reach for his hand again after seeing the hurt look on his face, but you hesitate.

“I’m...sorry, it’s just…” You don’t really want to admit something so personal to him, but you don’t know how else to avoid completely hurting his feelings tonight. “I’m, uh, not really used to this kind of stuff…” Jungwoo raises his eyebrows at that.

“Used to...what? Someone liking you?”

“Well damn, when you put it like that…” You try to laugh it off, but you feel corny and sheltered at best. What must Jungwoo think of you, as a senior who’s never had a genuine love interest? You’ve had more than one college boy’s lust directed at you one time or another, but true affection is another thing entirely. That has been a much rarer find.

“Then...you can get used to it now. It’s never too late to experience love.”

“You really believe that?” you say softly, allowing yourself to feel a little relieved that he’s not laughing you out of town. But of course he wouldn’t. He’s not that kind of person, anyway.

“Don’t you?” You let him take your hand this time as he steps closer. “You deserve someone who will treat you nicely, tell you funny stories, carry your books for you..”

“Someone...like you,” you finish for him, thinking back to all the times he’s done those exact same things for you. You’re unsure how to approach the intense newness of this situation, and you’re a little afraid of him holding your sweaty palm, but you decide none of that matters when Jungwoo’s lips meet yours, his hand carefully holding your face.

Right now, the only thing that matters is this moment under the stars.

[utopianvoices]

fortuite | k.hongjoong

∞ genre: roommates au; fluff

∞ word count: 5.36k

∞ description: Something had been bugging you for quite some time now—and no, it wasn’t the bug infestation in your room.

∞ a/n: happy birthday to the sweetest, prettiest and bestest friend, @curanonemu​! i’m sorry for being a lazy ass and not posting this earlier but i hope you like it, darling :’) i love u so much hehe! x

∞ warnings: explicit language

i.

There were very few things that could ruin your day; you believed that patience and endurance was the key to living a happy life. So other than the occasional bad grade or last minute assignments, you were sure nothing else would upset you. 

That’s what you thought; until you walked into your shared apartment, just to see half the things missing. More specifically, your roommate’s things. 

With confusion taking over your mind, you walk around your apartment slowly, trying to find for any explanation of what was going on when you reach your fridge, noticing a bright pink post-it that definitely was not there when you grabbed your breakfast that morning.

Peeling it off the cold surface, your eyes scan over the piece of paper in your hand, covered in a messy scribble that definitely belonged to your roommate. You’re not sure why, but your heartbeat picks up its pace as you take in a deep breath before reading. 

You’re not sure what was happening, but you sure were smart enough to figure out that it was nothing good.

Dear Y/n, 

I’m sorry for leaving without a word, but my parents have called me back to stay with them during the semester break. I would have waited for you to get back, but my flight was in the morning and you weren’t in so I had to leave. Sorry, love! Hope you aren’t too surprised >< I’ve left my share for this month’s rent in the envelope on the counter, so don’t worry about that! Hope you aren’t too upset with me <3

Love, Haeun

Staring blankly at the piece of paper in your hands, your mind tries to process what you just read, when it all comes crashing down on you in three mere seconds.

You had just been abandoned by your roommate for the next few months or so, without any prior notice. 

Firstly, you hated living alone. Everyone knew this. Even the cat a few blocks down knew this. Secondly, and most importantly, you were definitely not going to be able to afford your weekly rent alone.

Thoughts of being homeless flashes through your mind as you stare at the paper in your hands, when you notice something written at the back of your post-it. Just as you turn over the post-it in your hand to read what was written, your doorbell rings, causing you to whip your head up towards the door.

Maybe it’s your roommate, coming back to say that this was all the end-of-semester prank and that you’re not going to be stranded all alone.

Opening the door with high expectations, you feel your world crashing down around you when you’re met with an unfamiliar face. 

“Sorry, I’m not interested in buying your products,” you recite monotonously, shutting the door before the boy could finish his sentence. You aren’t usually this rude; most of the time you throw them a sweet smile and say that you’re broke and can’t afford their products. But this wasn’t any other day. 

Taking a few steps away from the door, you finally read the little extra note at the back of the post-it, horror filling you up as the words register in your brain. 

P.S. I know you can’t live alone and the rent is too expensive, so I’ve found a replacement roommate for you for the time being! His name’s Kim Hongjoong and he studies in the music department. He’ll be coming around 3 to move in!

Great. So now, on top of your roommate moving out, you’re going to have to deal with a whole new dude that you’ve never even seen, who’s supposedly coming at 3pm, who’s not here even though it’s 3:05pm- Wait a moment.

You slowly look up towards the door that you had just shut a few moments ago, deeming the guy on the other side of it to be a poor salesman, and take slow steps towards it. 

Grabbing the handle with shaking hands, you slowly open the door to reveal the same guy you had shut the door on. Except now, he was scrolling through his phone seated on one of the many boxes you had failed to notice earlier.

At the sound of the door opening, he looks up from his phone, immediately scrambling up and rushing towards the door.

“H-hey don’t close the door on me, I’m not here to sell anything! My friend, Haeun, told me that I would be moving in here since my roommate was leaving during the break and I couldn’t afford the whole rent!” he went on rambling, not even stopping for a breath in fear that you would shut the door on him again and he’d be left stranded.

You feel the embarrassment rise up to your cheeks as you fight the urge to run into your room and never come out, but you will yourself to say something to the poor boy you had just shut out a few minutes ago. 

“Are you Kim Hongjoong?” your voice comes out hoarse and barely above a whisper, and you feel the embarrassment reaching the top of your head. Clearing your throat, you repeat the question again, somewhat glad that you didn’t sound like a dying frog anymore. 

He nods his head at your question and throws you a sheepish smile, scratching the back of his head as he looks around the corridor in embarrassment, allowing you some time to take in the boy in front of you—who happened to be very cute, to your horror.

Your brain was never going to let you live this down—the fact that you had just slammed the door in this extremely cute boy’s face. Another thing to add to your ever-growing list of “Embarrassing moments that make you want to kill yourself”.

“Do you need help with the boxes?” you ask, wanting to do anything that would distract you from the very cute face in front of you.

“Huh? Oh, yeah sure! Thanks!” he says, seemingly snapping out of his own reverie as he shifts around to get to the first box. 

Both of you work in silence, walking in and out of the apartment till all his boxes were in his room, as the awkward tensions remains. You stand around the kitchen counter fiddling with your thumbs while he sits on the sofa looking around the apartment for the tenth time. Anything to keep you occupied. 

Letting out a sigh, you finally decide to be the first one to break the silence. 

“I’m sorry for slamming the door on you earlier,” you start, feeling the need to apologise. “Haeun left without telling me and I started freaking out about what I was going to do without a roommate because I’m broke.”

As if he was waiting for you to initiate a conversation, Hongjoong looks up almost immediately, shaking his head before starting to speak.

“No, no it’s fine! I can understand how stressful it must have been,” is what he says, laughing slightly at the end of his sentence, thinking of the shit he’d been through when his roommate left. “I was a mess when my roommate left too. I started calling around to check if anyone was willing to be my roommate when I heard from Haeun that she needed someone to move in with you. Of course, I accepted right away.”

You giggle at his words, unconsciously nodding along as the conversation starts flowing between the two of you. It was like someone had flipped a switch, and now you weren’t two awkward strangers. Instead, you were two potential friends (and roommates), having a conversation. 

“Well, I hope that we can make the most out of being roommates!” you say, clapping your hands together, content with the fact that you wouldn’t have to live for the next few months alone. “Need a hand unpacking your things?”

And you’re sure the sun would pale in comparison to the smile you just received from the boy sitting across you, perfect teeth in full display as he shoots you the most breathtaking smile you’ve ever seen. 

“I would love that, roommate.”

ii.

“Joong, we’re going to be late!” you shout out into the apartment, hopping around on one foot trying to keep your balance as you put on your shoes. “Get your ass out right this instant!”

“I’m coming!” you hear faintly from Hongjoong’s room, and soon after you see your roommate rushing out in one of his many reformed shirts, looking handsome as ever. “What time’s the movie starting?” 

“Six.”

“It’s only four right now.”

He looks at you incredulously, unable to understand why you had to be two hours early for a movie that was playing just a few blocks down. 

You, on the other hand, had very different views. 

“Look here, it takes us 20 minutes to get there. And then we’d have to queue to get tickets and snacks, which might take us long considering the fact that it’s semester break and all the dumbasses that go to our college will want to go to that one specific theatre. And then of course, we have to take some mandatory time playing at the arcade before the movie starts because that’s what you’re supposed to do.”

“I’m going to make you rap over one of my tracks one day.” He stares at you in awe, wondering how you can ramble on without even stopping for a breath. “I can’t believe I’ve heard you do that almost everyday for exactly three months.”

“Shut up and let’s get moving.” You threaten him, trying to hold in your own laughter as you point your fingers at him in a makeshift gun, triggering a chuckle from him as he plays along and puts up his hands in surrender .

“Okay Ma’am.”

He’s known you for three months and he should be used to your antics—but it still never ceases to surprise him. In a very good way, of course.

When you slammed the door on him three months ago, there were many things running through your mind. The murder of your roommate, how you were going to manage without a roommate, the murder of your roommate, how you hated being alone, and the murder of your roommate. 

But never would you, in a million years, have thought that you’d find one of your closest friends through that little mishap. Thinking back on it, even though your introductions weren’t through the best, most ideal way, it was natural—almost as natural as the flow of time. Never stopping for anyone, but at the same time filling you up with memories you would forever be grateful for. 

It was the perfect weather outside, you note, as you walk along the stone pavement.

The sun was shining brightly, but not too brightly that it made you want to turn back home and down a few ice cubes to neutralise the heat. The cool breeze that accompanied the sun made it the kind of weather people would kill for when on a date.

And you were the lucky few who got to experience that weather. With the guy you had a humongous crush on. 

It was all too cliché, actually. Falling for your roommate who was handsome, kind, caring, thoughtful and smart? Absolutely unoriginal. 

But it’s completely different when you’re in that position. You really can’t help the few beats your heart skips when he made you breakfast because you stayed up late finishing assignments the night before. Or that one time when you fell asleep on the couch watching How To Train Your Dragon and you woke up with a comfortable pillow under your head that saved you a lot of pain and a fluffy blanket that protected you from the cold—both of which were not there before.

It also definitely didn’t help your poor heart when Haeun announced that she had decided to move in with her boyfriend, after years of being together (and of course, after confirming that you and Hongjoong didn’t hate each other).

So here you are, stuck with an annoyingly handsome and sweet roommate, who didn’t do much to help the not so little crush you were harbouring. In fact, you’re sure that it grows bigger significantly every single day.

“What do you think about love?” Hongjoong asks, finally breaking the comfortable silence and putting a stop to your inner ramblings. 

It might’ve been weird to anybody else—if he were to suddenly ask that question—but you were used to these random questions, because that’s how he found inspiration for his songs. 

“Hm, I don’t really know,” you start, pondering over his question as you both take slow, matching steps beside one another, a sweet scent gracing your noses as you walk past a flower shop. “I guess it’s something that everyone needs. Whatever kind of love it may be. It shapes us as humans and helps us live a better and more content life, I guess. Love can save lives, and maybe that’s why I think it’s the strongest emotion anyone can feel.”

“You’re really wise, you know?” he states, giving you a soft smile as he stares at you, eyes twinkling under the brightest star. “I still can’t believe how lucky I am to score a friend and roommate like you.”

Your cheeks welcome the heat rushing into your cheeks as you hit your friend lightly on the arm, mouth agape as your mind blanks out and you’re unsure of what to say to his sudden confession. 

Through the months of knowing him, you’ve never heard Hongjoong say anything as direct as this. He had his moments of sweetness, always helping you out when you were having problems and listening to you rant no matter how late. But never once did he express his thoughts as explicitly as this. And you had no idea how to react. 

So you settle for your usual comeback, crossing your arms and avoiding his eyes, consequently missing the way he looked at you, eyes filled with love.

“Shut up, fucker.”

iii.

“I can’t believe you made me watch that stupid movie,” you say, kicking off your shoes as you hear your favourite laugh ring in your ears. “You know I don’t like horror movies and yet to choose one. I couldn’t even get rid of the mental images during dinner!”

“I’m sorry but I just love to see your reactions every time we watch one.” He guffaws at your annoyance, clutching the table for support as tears escape his eyes. 

“Good night.”

You huff, walking into your room and slamming the door with a frown on your face, but not genuinely feeling the annoyance you were portraying. You knew you could never be mad at him. 

You hear a faint ‘good night’ from outside your door followed by a door shutting, indicating that it was the end of the day for the both of you. 

With a smile on your face, the day replays in your head and you settle in bed, laying wide awake as memories of you and Hongjoong plays in your mind one after another, like a self-directed movie. 

Everything’s fine, till you feel something crawling up your leg, triggering an immediate reaction from you as you jump out of bed flicking whatever it was, off your leg.

If you thought the horror movie you watched earlier was bad, this was a hundred times worse. 

Because right there, on your bed, you see three small cockroaches crawling around freely, claiming your bed as free real estate as they make themselves comfortable. 

Your first instinct is to walk a few metres down and bang on Hongjoong’s door to get him to help you, but you remember that he has an early class the next day and decide that you will deal with this issue on your own. 

You may be a coward, but you still were a good friend, and good friends don’t spoil their friend’s precious sleep. 

Grabbing the insecticide that you kept under the sink in your bathroom, you walk back to your bed to gas those little demons when you feel your heart drop.

The pests were nowhere to be found. 

Going through the ten stages of grief, you open your closet to grab the extra blanket you kept in there for emergencies, ready to spend your night on the couch when you feel your soul leaving your body for the third time that night. 

You’re not what people would call a hopeless coward. You definitely could kill the occasional cockroach without too much of a fuss. But there was no way you could handle the whole colony of cockroaches in front of you, because trying to gas them would just results in them crawling all over the place. 

So with not much choice, you rush towards Hongjoong’s room, knocking incessantly because there’s no way you were dealing with those satans alone.

iv.

“One week? ONE WEEK?!” you shriek, clutching the ends of your hair as Hongjoong gets off the phone with the pest control centre. “I have to be out of my room for a week because some idiots couldn’t find anywhere else to lay their eggs?”

Stifling a laugh at your words, your roommate pats your shoulder trying to comfort you. “I can help you get your things out of your room if you want. And you can take my bed, and I’ll take the couch?”

You feel a bit better at his suggestion, thankful that you were not in this alone, but nevertheless tell him that you can handle yourself. 

“I can take the couch it’s fine. I’m not picky with where I sleep anyway.”

“We both know that’s a lie,” he deadpans, shooting you a knowing look. “You can’t fall asleep on the couch unless you’re dead tired because you’re so used to the bed.”

“Shut up.”

“Wow it’s almost like I’ve heard that a million times!”

“Shut up.”

“Million and one!”

You throw him a glare as he doesn’t bother controlling his laughter—something he seemed to be doing very often around you. 

“Here, I’ll make you some tea while you set up the couch properly so that you don’t sprain something while sleeping.” With that, he moves to the kitchen and takes out the necessary ingredients to make you your favourite cup of tea.

You felt guilty, of course you did. You felt guilty for every nice thing people did for you. 

But you couldn’t stop the way your heart swelled whenever he did these things for you. He had an early class tomorrow, and yet here he was, making your dumb ass a cup of tea at two in the morning.

If you knew better, you would’ve thought that he likes you. But you didn’t know better. 

Because Kim Hongjoong was head over heels in love with you.

v.

Tossing and turning, all you feel is the dull ache all over your body because of the couch’s hard and uncomfortable surface, and you know you’re in for a long night. The fact that you had an early class the next day didn’t help your desperation to fall asleep too. 

Maybe taking the couch wasn’t the brightest idea you’ve had. 

Snatching your phone from the table, you scroll through your music playlist, finding for songs to play to help set the mood for your sleep, when you remember something. Immediately, you exit the music app and press a few buttons, opening up a page with a single file. 

 Aurora_Sample_KimHongjoong.mp3

It was the first ever track Hongjoong had shared with you, coinciding perfectly with the day you realised your feelings for him. 

“Please please pleaseeeeee!” You whine, following your roommate around, hot on his heels as he continuously shakes his head, indicating a strong ‘no’. “Just one song!”

“No way!” 

“Fine! I’ll just sulk here until you show me a song,” you say, plopping down on the couch with crossed arms and a pout. 

“Sure. I don’t care.” 

His indifference lasted for a total of two minutes before he let out a defeated sigh, kneeling down in front of you, placing his hands on your knees.

“It’s not that I don’t want to show it to you. I’m just not confident enough…” he trails off, looking down at his hands. “What if you don’t like it?”

The frown on your face dissipates as you look at the boy in front of you, looking completely beat because of his worries, and you instinctively take his face in your hands, heart hammering against your ribcage the moment you make contact. 

“I won’t like it,” you start, seeing the hurt seep into his face, but you continue anyway. “I’ll love it—because whatever you put so much time and effort into will definitely turn out amazing. Plus you’re Kim Hongjoong. Producer of the century.”

He blinks at your kind expression, before slowly breaking into a small smile of his own. You stare at each other for what seems like eternity, before he puts out his hand, palm up. 

“Give me your phone.”

You look at him confused, but hand over your phone anyway, watching him almost run into the room.

A few minutes later, he returns with your phone and some headphones. Your eyes follow his figure as he returns to his original position of kneeling in front of you, as he places the headphones over your ears and taps play on your phone.

A subtle, soft tune surrounds you, goosebumps erupting all over your body as his voice embraces your ears. Before you know it, you’re closing your eyes and swaying slightly on your body’s own accord as the music takes over your mind. You’ve never felt this at peace before. 

And it was all because of his song. 

The last note plays, and you slowly take off the headphones, meeting Hongjoong’s expectant eyes. “How was it?”

You let out a slight chuckle, shaking your head slightly as you stare at your roommate. Something warm takes over your heart as you look upon him, making you shudder slightly at the sudden change in temperature. You feel the heat creeping up your body, but not finding it in you to break the eye contact. It was like a magnet—the way his eyes drew you in. 

“It was amazing.” You say gently, and the way his face lights up makes you realise two things. 

Kim Hongjoong was a fantastic producer. 

And you were in love with him.

The couch suddenly feels less burdensome as your favourite tune fills the empty living room, immediately relaxing your body as the song acts as a relaxant. Your eyes droop as you feel sleep welcome you, and you’re about to give in to it when something catches your subconscious mind’s attention. 

With your eyes closed, you hear the faint sound of footsteps growing louder every second, till you feel it stop right in front of you. The couch dips with the weight of someone’s elbows, but you still keep your eyes closed.

And you’re glad you did, because there was no way you could have handled what came next. 

“I really hope you’re sleeping.” Hongjoong’s voice is the last thing that fills your ears before you feel your hammering heart come to a complete stop. 

Something, a pair of lips to be exact, lands on your forehead, pressing against it in a soft kiss, and you feel your whole body on fire, which doesn’t extinguish even after he moves away from you. 

Waiting until you hear the sound of his door closing, you open your eyes wide and stare at the white ceiling above as you try to slow down your breathing. Yelping in pain, you confirm that you were not dreaming after pinching yourself. 

What just happened?

Safe to say, you didn’t sleep a wink that night.

vi.

The next morning, you sit at the kitchen counter, stirring your tea lifelessly as you stare ahead, the previous night’s events playing over and over in your head like a broken cassette. 

“I hate to say this, but I told you so.” You jump at the very familiar voice, heart going wild as your mind controls start to fail. How were you going to face him without exposing the fact that he was all you were thinking about?

No, get your shit together. There’s no way he can find out. 

With some new conviction, you manage to look up at Hongjoong, already feeling the conviction melt away because of how stunning he looked, even at ungodly hours.

“You look like someone bashed you in the eyes, Y/n. Why didn’t you come sleep in my room?” he enquired further, taking a seat on the bar stool opposite you, munching on his bowl of cereal. He freezes halfway, as if coming to a realisation. “W-wait are you uncomfortable? Oh my god, if you’re uncomfortable with me asking this you don’t have to sleep with me- I mean, sleep in my room! Wow, I can’t believe I didn’t pick up on the signs I’m so dumb what am I-”

“Kim Hongjoong, shut up.”

“...... Million and two.”

You burst out laughing at his reply, immediately lightening the atmosphere that was weighed down by Hongjoong’s dumb worries. 

“I’m not uncomfortable, you idiot. I just don’t want to intrude! Plus, there’s no way I can let you sleep on that rock of a couch when you already get so little sleep from producing,” you explain, patting the top of his hand for extra reassurance. 

“Then sleep with me,” Hongjoong finalises, immediately stuttering when he catches your wide eyes. “I-I mean like not with me, I mean we can share my bed, yeah, that’s what I mean.”

You giggle quietly as you take in his rosy cheeks and quivering eyes, as he fumbles over his words to make sure that he doesn’t sound like an idiot, although it was too late for that. Though, he was the cutest idiot you ever had the pleashure of meeting.

“Okay, dumbhead.” You amuse, ignoring the sirens wailing in your head. 

Sharing a bed with your crush? Fate, what are you playing at?

vii.

You’re very much surprised. 

Sharing a room with Hongjoong went way better than expected. But perhaps that was because you always fell asleep before him. He always stays up working on music till the sun rises, and there’s no way you have the strength to stay up. 

On your sixth night, however, things are a little bit different. 

You enter the room, calling out your roommate’s name when you cut yourself off as fast as you can as you take in the sight in front of you. 

Hongjoong was curled up on his side of the bed, his breathing even, indicating that he was fast asleep. Not wanting to wake him up, considering the fact that he must’ve been exhausted to fall asleep this early, you tiptoe around the room, grabbing whatever was necessary before slowly lowering yourself on your side of the bed. 

You plug your phone in before settling in, grabbing your side of the covers and pulling it over you. It was still pretty early, and you weren’t feeling tired enough to fall asleep, so you turn around in your spot to face Hongjoong, grabbing the opportunity to admire your friend without seeming like a creep. 

Your eyes travel from his hair, that looked like a bird’s nest with the number of times he had run his hands through it—a sign that he had been producing something before sleeping—to his lips that had landed on your forehead a few nights ago. 

Did he like you? Or was it seriously just a dream? Whatever the answer was, you knew there was no turning back with how strong your feelings were for him. He was imperfect, but in the most perfect way. He made up for his flaws with his beautiful heart, and you’re sure you must have saved a country in your previous life to be able to meet such a human. 

Looking at him, you’re filled with an overwhelming urge to do something. And you’re not sure what that something is, until your body moves on its own, getting closer to Hongjoong’s face, till your lips are barely a centimetre away from his cheek. 

But right before they make contact, Hongjoong turns his head, and your lips collide with his, causing your whole world to turn upside down.

You almost fall off the bed with how fast you move away from him, aghast at what just happened. There’s no way you’re going to be able to face him ever again. You’d rather sleep in that cockroach infested room than share a bed with your crush, whom you had just kissed on accident. 

Not even stopping to grab your phone, you’re almost off the bed when a hand wraps around your wrist and pulls you back onto the bed, your back flat against the bed as you look up and meet a certain pair of brown eyes. 

Uh oh. 

You’re sure your face is completely red as Hongjoong stares down at you, your hands pinned down by your head as he hovers above you, the intensity in his eyes making you look away at anything but him. 

“Y/n, look at me.” You hear him say, but you turn your head away even more, if even possible. “Please.” 

Maybe it’s the desperation in his voice, but your eyes slowly travel back to face him, not knowing what was going through his mind due to the blank look on his face.

This is it. This is how you lost your roommate. All because you couldn’t control your dumb crush. 

“I’ll move out tomorrow,” you offer, tears already welling up in your eyes at the thought of being away from Hongjoong. “I’m so sorry, I really didn’t mean to do it.” 

You’re about to pull your hands out of his loosened grip when his grip tightens again, and your vision is obstructed as he slowly leans in.

Your lips touch softly, before he presses against you a bit harder and you automatically respond, kissing him back. His lips mould against yours like it was meant to be there, perfect for each other, and you’re sure your soul was flying somewhere in the ninth cloud. 

You curse yourself for the disappointment you feel when he pulls away, unsure of what just happened. He rubs his nose against yours softly, before your eyes find each other, drinking in the image of the other. 

“Well, I definitely meant to do that,” he states matter-of-factly, before pecking your lips once more. “And I’ll mean it every single time I do it.”

You stare at him, shocked at the way things were unfolding. Never would you have expected this.

“You like me?”

“No, dumbhead, I love you.” He says it with such sincerity that you can’t help but look away, a smile finally gracing your features as his words ring in your head.

“Shut up.”

“Seriously, you’re going to hit two million at this rate.”

You both take one look at each other before bursting out in laughter, mostly in relief that the elephant in the room had been tackled. 

Hongjoong lets go of your hand before laying next to you, pulling you closer to him and wrapping his arms around your waist, as your head rests on his chest, enjoying the sound of his quickened heartbeat. 

“I love you, Y/n.”

“And I love you too.”

You get an idea; leaning upwards, you place a kiss on his forehead, lips lingering for longer than a second. 

“In return for the kiss you gave me the other night.”

And for the umpteenth time that night, you can’t help but laugh at the horrified expression on Hongjoong’s face, because he had just been caught.

“You were awake?!” 

“Of course! Who even falls asleep on that stupid couch?”

“Why didn’t you say anything?!”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

He shoots you a look, and you decide to stop teasing him, muttering a “Okay I’ll stop”, and snuggling closer to him as you thank your lucky stars mentally.

You really had the best roommate, crush, and now boyfriend.

[superthiccthighssavelives]

Angsty Prompts

Alright @primaba11erina, here is part 1/2 of your prompts.

It’s long af, so I had to split it into 2 pieces, it’s really sad honestly, and my heart hurts from writing it, but hopefully this is what you wanted from them. ❤

Please listen to:

*Ocean Eyes - Billie Ellish*

*Everything to Help You Sleep - Julien Baker*

*The Beach - The Neighbourhood*

(and whatever heartwrenching music you have to get into the mood)

The 2 prompts from the angsty list are in bold

48- “You’re hurting me”

49- “Please just let me go”

@alyss--in--wonderland, @linseykalynn, @jolovesfandoms and whoever else wants to read it.

I’m 3 months into my first semester at college, and I’m completely miserable. I missed my family, I missed my friends, and I especially missed my boyfriend. I knew it was going to be hard, without everyone, but not this hard. I walked around with a black cloud over my head, I couldn’t sleep, I lived off black coffee and my best friend was a tube of concealer. 

My boyfriend, Taron, and I had been together since middle school, ya know the innocent puppy love, developing into a more serious relationship. We were always together, we never fought, well rarely, it was so easy with him. He was my best friend. We barely talk. Between classes, studying, sleep?, and everything else, it’s usually twice a week. A quick goodnight here and there, and maybe facetime on the weekend. This sucks. I haven’t even seen him since I left.

He stayed back in London, going to a drama school. His talent was too good to pass this opportunity up. We agreed before I left to make sure nothing would change, we both cried like babies, and couldn’t let one another go. After a few hours, I had to tear myself away or I’d end up staying. 

Now, 3 months later, I feel like we’re strangers. It may be naive to think that we could keep this relationship from destructing, especially being so young, but, we really do have an amazing thing going. Or did. I tried to concentrate on school, but as time passed, and more time passes, my thoughts get farther and farther away from that, and are planted in worry and ...that uncomfortable, writhing, anxiety ridden feeling in my stomach.

It’s Friday, and I’m about to finish my last class. I wish I could go home for the weekend, maybe take a day or two off after, to see my mom, my sister, and Taron. I don’t even think we’ve talked in a week, the anxiety was building back up again. We basically were playing phone tag, he’d call when he was free, but I was in class, I’d call him but he’d be in rehearsal. I hate this. I hate this so goddamn much. 

I drag myself back to the dorms, skipping the coffee, I just want to sleep. I feel like a snail, I’m practically crawling back. Halfway down the hall, I see someone standing by my door. My eyesight is terrible, I can’t see anything more than 6 feet in front of me. I try to focus my gaze, figuring it was another dude my roommate was banging. As I get closer, my heart speeds up, I see him, my boyfriend, and I very nearly knock him over as I plow into him with a hug. 

“Oh my god, what are you doing here?”

He smiled, god, I love his smile, I missed it.

“Surprise!”

I felt tears welling up in my eyes, I couldn’t believe it. He was really here. 

All I could do was stare at him, study his face, the color of his eyes, his pink lips, the way the front of his hair has a little curl to it. I barreled myself into him again, squeezing as hard as I could. I don’t care if we just stay like this for however long he’s here, I don’t want to let him go. 

He pulled back, placing his hands on either side of my face. 

“Are you alright sweetheart?” 

I sniffled, realizing I had actual tears dripping down my face. 

“I just, I really missed you.” “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“I was going crazy not being able to talk to you, I’ve been miserable.” “My mam got sick of me, I was kind of being a dick, so she bought me a bus ticket to come for the weekend.”

I grabbed his hand, pulling him into my room. My legs were starting to get weak, the walk to the dorms is a bit aways from campus, and I hadn’t slept proper in weeks. A yawn slipped out, maybe I should have grabbed that coffee after all. 

“Bored of me already?” A cheeky smile spread across his face

“Sorry, I’ve had a rough couple of weeks, I’m just a little tired.”

I moved closer, sitting on his lap, wrapping my arms around his neck, pressing my forehead to his.

“I’m so so so so so happy you’re here, I can’t even tell you how much.” I could feel my eyes watering again, I really was draining myself so much that I’d become an emotional mess. 

He wiped my stray tears away with his thumb, and gave me a gentle kiss. I wanted to stay like this forever. He felt like home, comfort, my heaven. My lips returned to his, just wanting to feel him, his body, his energy, his whole being, just close.

This feeling was so overwhelming, I stopped and just pulled him closer again, my head on his shoulder. His arms were wrapped as tight as they could be around me, rubbing my back.

He soothed me, whispering in my ear, kissing my cheek, my temple. 

Eventually I let the craziness pass, and asked what he wanted to do while he was here.

He shrugged “Really, just wanted to see you.”

I couldn’t help but smile. He brought out what I hadn’t felt in months, happiness. 

We ordered a pizza and watched movies on my laptop, while I struggled to stay awake. His body was warm, and familiar, and my eyes were drooping, and I ...was...so...tired. 

I snuggled up as close as I could get to him, his arm wrapped around me, his hand twirling around in my hair. I felt more and more relaxed as each second passed, I couldn’t fight it any longer. 

I jumped up abruptly, not knowing what day or time it was, thinking I was late for class. It took me a second as I looked at the clock that read 11:13, to figure out if it was AM or PM. 

My brain started to wake up, glancing beside me to see Taron looking at me concerned. “Are you alright love?”

“Yeah, is it morning or night?” 

“Morning, you’ve been out for 12 hours, are you sure you’re alright?”

I plopped back down, pulling him to me for a kiss, even though I’m sure my breath was terrible, I just wanted to make sure he was still there and I wasn’t dreaming. 

“Of course, I’ve not been sleeping well, and I think my body just decided to take over. I’m sorry I slept so long, is there anything you wanna see, or do today?”

“Whatever you'd like.”

I thought for a moment, unsure of where to take him. There is that bookstore/cafe I go to a lot when I need to get away from my roommate and her endless stream of men. It was late autumn, so a walk through the park to see all the beautiful colored trees and landscapes would be nice too. 

After a shower, and doing the minimum on my hair and makeup, I hurried back to my room. I didn’t want to waste any time doing anything but being with him. 

We had an amazing weekend, I took him to all my favorite places, we tried a new restaurant I’d been afraid of eating at, and crashed back at my room. We definitely made up for lost time, I forgot how incredible he felt and what he could do to me and my body. It was almost enough to make me quit school and go back home with him. 

Sunday afternoon was upon us, and I dreaded sending him off. I just hope this feeling would linger after he’s left, enough to keep me going for another month until winter break.                    

He gave me the sweetest kiss and whispered that he loved me, and then he was gone, like he was never there at all.

I had the urge to chase after the bus, and beg him to stay with me, just for a little while, but my brain was too rational and instead, I sat on a nearby bench and text him all the things I couldn’t say before he left. Have a safe trip, text me when you get there, thank your mom for me, I already miss you, I can’t wait until winter break…

The next month plodded along, it felt like a damn eternity. I worked extra hard on my assignments, I needed the distraction. I packed as much as would fit in my suitcase and took a taxi to the bus station. It took a few hours to get home, which of course, felt like days, I just wanted to relax for a few weeks. My stomach was in knots with every mile closer. 

The last time I spoke to Taron was 2 weeks ago, I hadn’t gotten a moment to call him, and he must have been on the same schedule, because I’ve heard nothing from him, not even a text. 

We had one phone call the week he returned back to London, but he was distracted, at rehearsal, every time I tried to say something, he’d yell back to someone in the background, laugh, apologize, say a few words, and repeat. I’d gotten frustrated and told him to just go back to whatever he was doing, I wanted to hang up on him, but I knew I’d regret it after 5 minutes.

He seemed so distant, and after the weekend we had, I thought that would bring us closer after all that time apart. But...guess not.

I did text him a couple of days ago to remind him I’d be in on Saturday afternoon, and couldn’t wait to see him. But, no reply. I was a little upset, but really, I just wanted to get home and wrap myself around him. I’m sure there was a good explanation. 

I finally arrived, running the moment I caught a glimpse of my mom. Again, my emotions were flooding out of me and couldn’t help but cry and squeeze the living daylights out of her. 

The house looked different, but the same, that weird being away thing that affects your thinking. I text Taron, telling him I’d made it back, and was looking forward to seeing him, again. Mom made the best meal I’ve eaten in months, I caught up with my sister, going over the latest high school drama. 

I kept checking my phone, every other second, waiting, but still nothing. I was starting to worry, and run through a thousand ridiculous scenarios, which caused my awful feeling to build. 

I snuck away for a moment, and tried to call him, but it went straight to voicemail. It was becoming too late to go anywhere to see if he was home or ...who knows where. 

I felt awful, my stomach wouldn’t stop twisting, making me nauseated. I didn’t know what was happening, or why he hasn’t even contacted me in weeks. As tired as I was, I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep, emotions, for a lack of a better word, suck.

I threw on a jacket and flittered out to sit on the front porch with a cup of coffee. I tried to pick out the constellations I could spot, text some of my friends to plan a meet up, and tried Taron again. Same straight to voicemail. I was halfway between detrimental anger and wanting to cry my eyes out. It was just about midnight, and I had no idea what to do. Everyone in the house was asleep, I felt completely alone. 

I raided the bathroom cabinet to find something to knock me out, I definitely was going to need help falling asleep. I found some allergy meds that were supposed to make you sleepy, I crossed my fingers downing 2 pills. It kinda worked, I passed out for a couple of hours, but woke up with a racing heart around 3am. My phone blinded me, lighting up with a text.

Taron - ‘See you soon xx’

I stared at the screen, waiting for more, something else, an apology, an explanation, that he missed me, anything but some generic ass, nondescript text. 

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

I threw my phone, thankfully it landed on my area rug and not the wood floor. I was so pissed. After 3 weeks, that’s all he has to say? 

My mouth was dry and I had a terrible taste on my tongue, I darted downstairs for a drink, trying my hardest not to grab caffeine. I poured a glass of milk, and grabbed some cookies, I guess I was hungry too. 

Halfway up the stairs, I almost dropped my glass when my phone started chirping, loudly. Taron.

I should ignore it, like he’s been ignoring me. I watched it for a moment, and sighed answering.

“Yes?”

“Baaaaaaabyyyyyyyy, where are you?” He was clearly drunk.

“Taron, I’m home, remember?”

“Come see me, I’m…” The sound was muffled and I heard shuffling, then laughter.

“Oops, I dropped you.”

I rolled my eyes, my anger turning red hot. He was out, getting wasted, and hasn’t even attempted to contact me. 

“Taron, It’s 3am, I’m going to bed.”

More laughter and voices in the background. 

“Taron?” “Hello?’ 

“Sorry, where are you love?”

His speech was slurred, and quick. 

“Home, in bed.”

“Bed, ooh, what are you wearing?”

“Goodnight Taron.”

I waited for him to say something, but I just heard some people in the background laughing more and mumbling things I couldn’t make out.

“Ok, bye then.” I hung up, frustrated and upset. 

A minute later, my phone was lit up with another call. I ignored it. 

And another.

He left a voicemail, I couldn’t make out half of what he was saying. 

He tried to call again. I shut off my phone and took some deep breaths to calm down. 

I woke up to the smell of bacon and pancakes. My nose carried me downstairs, only to find Taron in the kitchen with my mom, shoving a cinnamon roll into his mouth.

“Mornin sunshine!”

I glared at him, pouring myself some orange juice. He came up behind me, crossing his arms around my waist, whispering in my ear, “Missed you.” then kissing my cheek. 

Mom excused herself sensing something off.

“What are you doing here?”

His eyes bulged. “What do you mean? I wanted to see you.”

“You wanted to see me so bad that you didn’t text or call me for 3 weeks? And then wouldn’t reply to anything either? Then you call at me fucking 3am drunk?”

He sighed, rubbing his forehead. 

“Shit, I’m sorry, we had a good first show, so we celebrated.”

“Oh, good to know, maybe if I knew, I could have been there to see, but, it’s cool.”

He reached for my hand, but I withdrew, pulling my robe tighter.

“I’m sorry, I am, it’s been just really crazy lately, you know?”

“I guess.”

“Babe, come on, don’t be mad at me, please?”

He made an exaggerated sad pout, causing me to yet again roll my eyes. 

“Stop, I wanna be mad at you.”

Honestly, looking at him, and those ridiculous puppy dog eyes he was giving me, was breaking me down. 

He kissed my cheek “Come on.” *kiss* “Let’s eat.” *kiss* “I’ve missed you.” *kiss* “You look so cute with your hair a mess.” *kiss* “I’m so happy you’re home”

“Alriiiiight, stop.” He was so damn charming, he could get away with murder. I couldn’t help the grin spreading across my face. 

He kissed my lips, and grabbed my hand to lead me to the table.

We spent the next couple weeks glued to one another, the only time we were apart was a few hours on the weekends when he had a show to do, he slept over almost every night. 

I found some time to hang out with some of my girlfriends, do some shopping, catch up on our lives. I still had 3 more weeks at home, and I couldn’t have been happier, and avoiding every thought that entered my mind about going back.

Taron’s break was much shorter than mine, so time with him after that was few and far between. He did invite me to one rehearsal, that was fun. The rest of the time I just lounged as much as I could, read a few books, and mapped out my new classes. 

It was my last weekend home, thinking about going back to school was making my stomach turn. I didn’t want to leave. 

Taron took me out for a semi-fancy dinner the night before I had to head back. We, of course, again, promised each other things would be ok, and to never let more than a week go by without speaking. We had every good intention to.

We ended up at a pub for a few drinks with all our friends, I wasn’t going to see anyone again for 6 months. I didn’t want to be hungover on the long bus ride back, so I kept it to a minimum. Can’t say the same for Taron though. I had to basically carry him to the taxi and then to his doorstep. I was a little disappointed that this was our last night together, and I couldn’t even talk to him properly. I got him to his bed, covered him up and sat down beside him. His eyes were closed, but not yet passed out. I pushed his hair back from his forehead, running my fingers along his cheekbones, lips, jawline. I wanted to memorize every piece of him.

His eyes sprung open, a silly grin on his face, and pulled me down to him. “I love you.” He gave me a rough kiss on my cheek and was out for the rest of the night. I gave him a gentle kiss on his lips, took one last look and made my way out.

Another sleepless night was ahead of me, I felt different, I didn’t know exactly what ‘it’ was, but I knew it felt like a change. 

The drive to the bus station was quiet, save for the dripping rain down the windows. I hugged mom goodbye, and she promised to come visit me soon. 

Back at the dorm, it felt empty, and cold. I unpacked, and just laid in my bed staring at the ceiling. I hadn’t even looked at my phone since before I left. Of course, there were messages from him.

Taron - “Are you still here?”  12:42pm

“Please tell me I didn’t miss you leaving?” 12:55pm

“I’m so sorry, I swear, I didn’t mean for the night to go like that.” 1:14pm

“Text me, call me when you get there, please.” 1:47pm

“I miss you, it feels so empty when you’re gone.” 3:02pm

“Are you home yet?” 4:55pm

“Please call me.” 5:33pm

The last text was just my name and a sad emoji. 6:01pm

There were a few missed calls from him, and only one voicemail, no words, just a few seconds of a sigh, and a *click*

I was tired, I still had one more day before school started again, and I was going to use it for sleep. 8:35pm

I woke up too early the next morning, and needed the coffee I had been avoiding at home. I threw on whatever was visible on my floor, threw on a beanie and headed out the door. 

My phone was dead, I must have forgotten to charge it. Oh well. 

The coffee was so hot, and exactly what I needed. I took the long way back, opting for a few detours through the city. It was lightly raining, and chilly, but somehow it felt like the best thing ever at that moment.

I gazed at the dead, bare trees, the grey, gloomy sky, and the droplets of water gently plopping to the ground, it was beautiful. Even though everything was dead, decaying, it would be reborn, and more glorious than before. No, this wasn’t some metaphor for my life, or maybe it was. I don’t know. 

When I returned back to the dorms, my roommate was back, unpacking. We exchanged some light words, and she headed out, leaving me to my own devices again. I binged watched some Netflix shows, and avoided charging my phone. It was still in my handbag, and I didn’t feel like getting up. I passed out early, awaking the next morning right on time to start my new semester.

Eventually, my phone was revived, strangely it took me a few days to even bother. A few messages cascaded in, from mom, my sister, one of my friends, and only one from Taron. 

Taron - “I’m sorry.” Monday 1:37am

I called mom, assuring her everything was fine, caught up with my sister, replied to my friend, and left the last message unanswered.

I didn’t know what to say right now, and I needed more time to think before I decided to say anything. 

A few weeks passed, surprisingly that black cloud lightened, and the sun came out. I was doing extremely well in all my classes, and I had met a few new people from my dorm hall, and my psychology class. I started to go out more, enjoy life, find myself. I took an art class even though I have no artistic talent, I hoped maybe it was hidden. 

I felt a heaviness over me at times, I hadn’t replied to Taron at all. I had to eventually, either resolve it, or just ...no, I didn’t want to think about it. I was in a sort of bubble, and I didn’t want to burst it, not yet.

I dialed his number, listening to the multiple rings before his voicemail hit. 

“Hey...we need to talk, umm, yeah, call me when you get this.” I hung up before I changed my mind.

Around 9pm I heard a knock at my door. His hair, and clothes were soaked. His face was covered in worry and somberness. 

I stood there, in awe for a moment. 

“Get in here.” 

I grabbed a towel,  handing it to him. 

“What are you doing here?” This felt familiar.

He just looked at me, mouth open, taking a moment, while attempting to dry himself off.

“What’s going on?” “What’s happening?” “I’m worried.”

I sighed, I honestly had no idea what to even say. 

“Take off your clothes.”

He raised an eyebrow, looking amused.

“They’re soaked, You’re not sitting on my bed all wet.”

I dug through my drawer, finding a t-shirt and oversized pajama pants for him to put on.

“Why haven’t you answered any of my calls, or messages?” “Is everything alright?”

I remained quiet, still not sure of what was going on myself. 

“I don’t know.” was all I could come up with.

“You don’t know what?”

“Anything.”

It was quiet for a minute.

“Things aren’t the same, don’t you feel it?”

He stared, searching my eyes, trying to understand.

“I don’t know, maybe a bit.” “But life never stays the same, things always change.”

“Yeah, they do, and …” I pinched my lips, trying to figure out how to put the next sentence together. “And I think we’ve changed, too much.”

It grew quiet again.

“I’m sorry.” was the only thing that slipped from his lips. His head down, arms rested on his knees, and his hands running through his hair.

“Don’t be, I mean, it happens, as much as we don’t want it to, it happens. It’s no one’s fault” 

“How can you be so, calm?”

“I’ve had a lot of time to think. Until right now, I didn’t know what was happening, it tore me apart, it’s been ripping me to shreds for months, ever since I first came here. I missed you so much, I spent so many nights lying awake, crying, wanting to just say forget it and go back home. I was so incredibly happy when you came to visit that day, I thought if I just waited it out, things could be good again, but things never work out like we plan.”

“I’m sorry, I swear, I didn’t mean for that night to end up like it happened, I promise, I will do anything, let’s just work this out, we can figure out how to make this work.”

I shook my head, I couldn’t. Not anymore. It was killing me, everytime he leaves, or when the phone doesn’t ring for 2 weeks, I let a little piece of him break away.

“Taron, I can’t, I just, can’t.” I was feeling that nauseous feeling creeping back in, and my heart bursting into millions of pieces. 

“Please, I know we can.” He grabbed my hands, pulling me towards him. “Look at me, please.”

I was afraid to, I knew I was either going to buckle and give in, or immediately start crying. 

He tilted my head up to him, his finger under my chin. He went on and on, trying to convince me we could make it work, that we can schedule times to talk, and we’ll visit every other weekend.

I couldn’t take it anymore, my eyes betrayed me, spilling salty tears down my cheeks.

“Taron, stop, you’re hurting me, please just let me go.”

I could barely get the words out, I was out of breath, I felt ill, I couldn’t stop bawling.

I turned away, trying to calm myself. He came around to face me, placing his hands on my face, gazing deep into my eyes. “I’m so sorry, I never meant to hurt you, I’m sorry.” Tears were forming in his eyes, making them glisten. He gave me one last lingering kiss on my forehead, grabbed his things and walked out the door. 

[selfcareparker]

LMAO YOU ACTUALLY PUT THE TW VIOLENCE HAHAGDSHS

so the better university is in germany.. you already live in germany.. but germans aren't good as good at english lol and lemme get this straight- UNIVERSITY IN GERMANY IS- wait shit Imaooo i read that wrong, I THOUGHT IT WAS 75¢ HDJSHS like 3 quarters😭 but that's still less expensive compared to the US, 75€ is about 90$ here... i just googled it and (apparently) college is typically around $27,000 in my state (22,588€ i think lol) but wowee gee whiz. i think waiting till you’re physically there is the best decision though, just really seeing how it is, how you like it and stuff. BUT WAIT Imao i'm rereading what you said as i'm responding, but the university sounds good!! hopefully your professor isn't the one writing the english on the website Imaoo. your english is fine hdhsjsh & why are you up at 3am😭

i'm literally jumping around udhsj but no that did absolutely make sense hahah i just really enjoy talking to you & wanted to tell you what's up lol but yay we're around the same age hdhagajs

+ yes i have !!! thank you LMAO I BET YOURE NOT THAT BAD JHDJS that whole paragraph actually made me laugh. dude i could neverrr write a script where people have to act it out? lmao it would not be pretty (though i need to work on that) well if you’re not good at acting, you’re hella good at writing (I FINISHED THE ENTIRETY OF UR PETER MASTERLIST AND I AM EMPTY & I AM SCREAMING- i’ll send in another ask on my favorites and all my replies bc WAH they had such an affect on me.......... it’s not ok. like affectttt)

HAHHAA “trash garbage” yea... she was helpful in helping me get my first lead on stage but yea that school as a whole was pretty 💩 but honestly thank youuu <3 my new favorite thing? “thump them in the eye with a sharp metal rod” i think i have one in the basement LMAO

that was a joke...... i think this will also need a tw..... but all my asks are messy lmaoo- not me missing the heritage thing in the tags: that’s so cool!! i’m guessing you’ve been the england since your mom is british? knowing two languages sounds so cool😔 and you speak really good english btw (is that rude-) OOHH so you’re german bc you were born in germany but none of your blood family is german & ur mom is british? bRO that’s so cool like literally 😎 i wanna travel so bad and the UK is first on the list (probably in two years.. i do really wanna study abroad or be a foreign exchange student or something) then Jamaica (bc that’s where my mom is from and i’ve never been) and then all the pretty countries lol

have a good day/night idk lol it took me really long to write this + idk why jdhsjshsj

- lovely anon 🥰

OKAY HI OMG (I was about to say giiirrrl but i never asked for your pronouns or anything so let me know if it’s okay if i say giiiiirl in the future lol)

I saw this at 3 am and got so excited lol but my sleeping schedule has been so awful lately that I forced myself to sleep instead of replying to this 😔

Okay so... if you put it like THAT then yes, the university in germany sounds a lot better lol. But yeah like you said I won’t fully decide until I’ve actually been to university (well, it’s online but ykwim) and that starts in april and honestly i can’t wait sksjshh but yeah i’m like 90% sure that i’ll be staying here already. And yes let’s pray that it’s not one of my professors who writes the shit on the website sishshg😭

also what you said about wanting to be a foreign exchange student or studying abroad... i felt that. but even if i end up studying in germany, with my degree, you have to either do an 8week programme (program? idk) where you go to an english speaking country,,, or you do a whole semester studying abroad so i’ll probably go to england one way or another lol and i can always do my masters in the uk (if i do a masters degree i haven’t even figured out what i’m doing this year let alone in three years loll)

Also I really have to stop saying lol so often lol

Also I have to stop saying also at the beginning of every sentence lol

Also (😔) i enjoy talking to you too 👉🏼👈🏼 you don’t know how happy i get whenever i see that you sent me an askd sjsjhshshs

And yupp i used to go to england like three times a year but because of cov*d i haven’t seen any of my english relatives since 2019🥺🥲 BUT the uk is so so so nice i love London but I also love the country side and esp the north of england 🥰🥰🥰 (that’s where most of my relatives are) and yes you deffffff need to visit one day!!!!!!!

Also (also is such a good word tho sksjsh) likeee i definitely don’t think it’s rude when people say my english is good dkdhsg so thank you 😌 but if you heard me speak english irl, i don’t have a german accent or anything and i’m 100% fluent but writing like this is different because it’s like... it’s not an essay so obviously not every sentence has to be 100% grammatically correct but i always worry that, because people know english isn’t my first language (only because i’ve told them), people think my english is bad and that i’m making mistakes when really it’s normal to just.. not use 100% grammatically correct word constructions all the time if that makes sense...? (I don’t think it does 👁👄👁 this was the worst paragraph i’ve written in my life i’m SORRY ksjshs, usually i’d delete this but i feel comfortable talking to you so even if it doesn’t make sense i’m not deleting my rantssjshsh)

And yup, speaking multiple languages is (in my opinion) one of the coolest things ever, i’m fluent in english and german, i had latin from year 7-12 so even though it’s not a language that people speak anymore, learning latin was one of the coolest experiences of my life (which sounds so lame dkshshs) because obviously in all the roman languages soo many words come from latin, so sometimes when i hear/read words in languages that i don’t even speak i can tell what it means thanks to latin. I can also kindaaaaaaaa speak/understand italian (where like 90% of words are the same as in latin or even some english and german words so i never had to study the vocabulary in school skshsh) and a liiiiiiittle tiny bit of french and serbian. I know quite a few people who speak 3+ languages because a lot of my friends are the same as me and have parents who aren’t german so they speak their dad’s language, their mum’s language AND german and it’s like the most fascinating thing in the world for me

I HAVE TO STOP TALKING NOW I’M SO SORRY WHATDKSKSJSNSMHDS

And ooohhhh my mum’s best friend is from Jamaica and my mum has allllll these beautiful pictures from when they went to jamaica together when they were younger (goals)🥺🥺🥺 so i really hope you can visit one day✨✨✨ (i wanna go to jamaica too one day sksjs but i think it’s even cooler if you’re like actually jamaican obviously and it’s linked to your heritage)

OKAY THIS IS LONGER THAN SOME OF MY FICS I AM SO SO SO SORRY SKSHSBAKSKSHSJAHAHABA but i enjoy talking to you so i shouldn’t really apologise but still like what was the point of all my rambling? Nothing basically dksjsh also I feel like i keep talking about myself but idk what to say and likeee i don’t even know, so how has your life been since covid? (That’s My attempt to ask about YOU lmao tell me whatever you want about yourself sksjsh)

Okay byeee 💖💖💖💖💖

Edit: i realised i haven’t said anything about you finishing/reading everything on my peter masterlist AHSJSKKSBSBSSBSB thank you thank you thank you, sooo i can’t promise anything but i will most likely post a new fic this weekend... but idk if it’s going to be good? I randomly started writing it last night and i definitely like the plot but i’m always so insecure about my actual writing and wording but yeah... ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[nxfelibatae]

pose || jimin x reader

When the opportunity presented itself there was no way you were going to let it go, only 10 days to make a boy fall in love, It must have been easy, but you let yourself be carried away by your feelings, and nobody should risk their heart to the ones who are addicted to play with it. Love disguises itself in many ways and it hurts when you find out it was all a lie.

pairing: fuckboy! jimin x reader!

word count: 2.3K

genre: Fluff, slight angst, light smut, how to loose a guy in 10 days AU

warnings: Alcohol use, sex references, slow burn, swearing. Everybody it's kinda lying. That's pretty much it.

A / N: inspired by the movie How to loose a guy in 10 days. First work here so please be nice guys :(. It's a two people work. Edited work.

PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3

PART 1

DAY 1

While you are walking towards Heiryung's office, your heart pounds faster with every step. This is where it ends, this is where you lose everything you care about. You wish everything would have been different, but he didn't even care, he stopped caring the moment you walked out the door. Maybe it would have worked in another life, in a different situation where your dream wasn't to be a writer or maybe if you weren't fucking liars.

DAY 12

'You always manage to surprise me girls, great job' says our boss as she places down the newest article Hyunjae and you wrote for this number's issue.

It's always like this, coming into this office to show your boss the latest results of the work you've done, she sees it, makes some simple compliments and then a new task is given. It was kinda easy, but it would be even easier if your coworkers didn't ask for favors, correcting Hyunjae's mistakes was more than enough work.

You watch how HyunJae smiles every time HeiRyung makes a complement, filling her ego way more than it already is, she wants more of it, she lives for it. Always wanting to be the center of attention.

'Great choice on the topic, I like to see that you work well together.' continued Heiryung. You hold back a laughter after that comment, Hyunjae can do anything except work as a team, always comes up with the dumbest ideas, that's how you end up doing all the work, when if you try to do something on her own, ends up stealing your ideas just to get the credit for it, never whiling to use the brain. She's used to it, used to people who do things for her.

'We do work good together, don't you think?' asks Hyunjae now looking at you with a grin in her face.

'Of course! I love when you come up with new ideas and actually take part in the writing. She's quite exceptional, don't you think Heiryung? ' your tone is sarcastic and Heiryung noticed it. HyunJae tenses after your words. Thought you where the one with the brains , you say to yourself. Heiryung's smile widened confirming your suspicions.

'It's a shame that once you graduate I won't be able to have you as part of the team' Heiryung finally spoke. She has that cocky tone in her voice, the one that says she is about to throw a bomb.

'How come?' Hyunjae is harsh in her tone. Always asking stuff like she wants to know. She thinks it makes her look interesting. You think it makes her look really desperate for attention.

'You guys have a contract for 6 months, enough time for you to do your internship and then be able to spread your wings and find “something” better' answers making a gesture of quotation marks with her fingers to emphasize the word. She knows there's nothing better, even you know there's nothing better. She smiles back like she could hear your thoughts. But it's true, you're lucky enough to be interns in one of the most respected and popular fashion magazines in Korea and the world.

'Unless…' she continues raising one of her eyebrows with a sarcastic voice.

'Unless what?…' Interrupts HyunJae.

'Unless you are down for a little friendly competition' finishes with that evil smile that hasn't been erased from her face since she thought of that idea.

'What kind of competition?' she knows she caught your attention, you're intrigued to know what's going inside her head.

'The kind where one of you ends with a job here at Pose.' your breath cuts a little. You don't know if you heard her correctly or if she's joking. 'It's easy, you just need to write an article' she says with a smirk 'An article interesting enough to be published obviously' she takes a sip of her coffee while looking at both of you with a funny expression.

'So we won't be working together?' You ask.

`Well honey, it wouldn't be a competition if you worked together, right? ' As you watched Heryung's mug slowly descend to its destination, you started to feel like you were dissociating from the real world.

This was it. This is the opportunity you have waited for since you started the internship at the magazine. This job had to be yours, you deserved it.

'I'm down' says HyunJae taking you out of your thoughts 'It would be easy, don't you think?' She asks turning her head to look at you with a fake smile. You smile at her the same way and then look away to roll your eyes, you really hated her fake personality.

Her intentions were clear as always, make you angry, it seems that she lived for it, she agreed knowing how you would feel. You know for a fact she doesn't really like working a the magazine. You've heard her complain too many times.

'It would be great to see what we can do by ourselves, right? Without being a team 'You respond to let her know that you won't be bothered by her comment so easily.

'Excellent' claps HeiRyung jumping out of her chair 'The article must be on my desk before our next meeting regarding the next number's issue'  

'The next meeting?' concern is heard in Hyunjae's question.

'That makes it 10 days from tomorrow' 'you say without believing it, that's not enough time.

'Yes, a good journalist should be able to work under pressure and with a short deadline. Besides, that's more than enough time for writing an article, plus the magazines gets printed in 11 days' she smirks, you look at Hyunjae who hasn't said anything else, is she okay with this? It didn't sound like that a moment ago, why she isn't complaining? 'Okay, so that's it, get out' Heiryung makes a gesture with her hands indicating us to leave the office as she turns her back on us.

On the way back to the cubicles, thousands of thoughts and ideas came to your mind, but none convinced you, the pressure starts to rise, your shoulders start to hurt as you feel an imaginary burden on them, this wasn't a good sign .

The rest of the day feels like you've been in automatic mode. It wasn't easy to focus on what you were supposed to do, your coworkers have had to call your name several times to get your attention, Hyunjae included. She does it one more time at the end of the shift to remind you it's time to go, thoughts absorbing your time without you even realizing it.

'What are you going to write about?' Hyunjae asks while entering the elevator.

'I still don't know, I've been thinking about it ever since we left Hieryung'a office, but I still haven't decided' you answer not really wanting to. HyunJae keeps talking, while you finally decide to check your cell phone after the whole day. Just a message from your roommate appears in the notifications.

'Why are you asking though? Are you trying to be polite this time instead if staling my notes? ' you ask after putting away the cellphone so your attention would be in Hyunjae. She tries to defend herself but you interrupt by telling her not to bother making lame excuses, she closes her mouth as fast as she opened it.

As soon as you hit the lobby, you hurry to get to the bus station as fast as you could. You still had a couple of minutes before the last bus headed and calling a cab was a luxury that you couldn't really afford at the moment with a short deadline to pay rent and the amount of money you get from the internship wasn't really enough to cover every necessity you had.

If you get the job that could change. Maybe you could move to a place near work so it could be easier for you to get there. Possibilities where infinite, just as the ideas that you get for the article, but none of them seems good enough. There's something missing in every idea and it doesn't fit your expectations.

Once you get into the bus, with a little bit of luck and the power of your legs, you feel your phone vibrate again in your purse and as you check it, you see one more message form Nayeon.

Oh no, it happened again. Another break up.

You've know Nayeon for three years now, meeting her for the first time when she was assigned to you as your dorm roommate back when you lived there. Everything about her seemed nice in the moment, that's what impulsed both of you to be friends, developing more a sisterhood than a friendship, taking you both to the idea of ​​liveing ​​together after your first semester and also because you were tired of the small space , the annoying dorm neighbors, the leaks, and the 'oh my gosh, is that a bug on your clothes?!?!'

Being friends with Nayeon was fun, and in this past three years you've been dealing with her and her breakups, happening over and over again. It's not that she wasn't a good girl, the thing is that she gets clingy and needy, making guys run away from her when she starts doing crazy things for them.

By now, you're sure you've heard every case scenario possible in Nayeon's love life when it gets to guys dumb excuses to ditch her. Dudes are garbage mostly, some of them are cool but they always sendup with 'I am not really looking for a serious relationship right now, you know?'. Your favorite so far? 'You seem like a good girl and… you know, I think I'm not what you're looking for… what you need right now too' fucking asshole…

There's only one constant in NaYeons breakups. You. And a couple liters of ice cream or beers sometimes. This time you bring home both from the pit stop you did at the convenience store before you got to the apartment, just in case it's really bad.

In the moment you cross the door and make your presence notice announcing you've arrived, she comes out of her room, with a puffy face and red eyes. When she notices your presence she runs to hug you, you stumble a little before falling into the couch.

As you place the breakup kit on the coffee table of the living room, she begins to tell you everything in detail. This time he wants to concentrate on his carrier and his studies and he can't do it while he's dating Nayeon, he can't give her all the attention she deserves because of that, and doesn't think is fair for her. This guy is really something. You can't believe it. It's a new excuse tho , you make a mental note to yourself

'But I really know why he broke up with me' she sniffed before continuing 'it's because I'm fat' and she broke in tears for the twelfth time.

'Oh my God. Nayeon, you are everything but fat, he didn't dumped you because of that or that lame excuse' You said exploding 'It was because you don't know where to stop, how many days did you date him ? '

'7 days…?' She answered while hiding behind a cushion. 'But I know he loved me, I mean he never said it, but I knew it' she continued while you looked at her intertwine hands 'the first time we had sex I was so happy and excited that I started crying'.

'Please tell me you didn't' says you, covering your face with both of your hands.  

'I also told him I loved him' You gazed at her quickly not believing what she just said.

'Are you kidding me right now?' You looked at the ceiling with frustration 'That's the kind of behaviors that makes guys run away from you Nayeon. I'm telling you this because I love you and I want you to see that boys don't hate you. You sabotage yourself and you don't even realize '

She kept on playing with her hands. This is how every breakup session would end, you trying to make her get into her senses, then a romantic movie until she falls asleep. Her situation always gots you thinking. Maybe if she had some kind of manual or a perfect recipe or even a list of “ what not to do when you date a guy ” maybe that way ...

'Oh meu deus!' You screamed scaring Nayeon 'I finally have the perfect idea for my article!' You jumped out of the couch.

'What article are you talking about?' Nayeon was really confused.

'You know how I'm doing my internship at Pose magazine? Well my boss just gave us the opportunity to be officially part of the team, there's only one place and whoever writes the best article in 10 days between HyunJae and I, it's going to get it! ' excitement is running thru you veins as you speak, Nayeon could see it your eyes, that was exactly the way you move and talk when you're passionate about something or excited.  

'That's great!' says Nayeon 'What's it going to be about? Do you have a title? '

' How to lose a guy in 10 days ' You answered looking nowhere' I would find a guy to date and I would make every mistakes women do when dating a guy. With that I can show the girls in situations similar to yours, what not to do! '

This was just perfect, the perfect topic for the article that could make you win. This could be the beginning of your career as a journalist.

'That is actually an excellent idea, this could help many girls, including me' said Nayeon with a big smile 'I hope you get that job' she comes close and embraces you in a little hug.

Now, you just needed a guy ...

And it was not going to be an easy task.

PART 2->

[whumphoarder]

D is for Diploma

Summary: Between all of his commitments, Peter’s grades start slipping, putting him in danger of losing his academic scholarship to Midtown. Stressed and guilt-ridden about the effect this will have on May’s finances, he ends up worrying himself sick and having a breakdown in Tony’s lab.

Word count: 3,759

Genre: emotional hurt/comfort, angst, hurt/comfort

A/N: Thanks so much to @xxx-cat-xxx and @sallyidss for beta reading and encouragement <3

Link to read on Ao3

“But how are you getting a C in gym class?” Ned balks at his friend. He’s peering over Peter’s shoulder as he scrolls through his quarterly grades on the school library computer. “Everyone gets an A. I’m getting an A. All you gotta do is show up and at least look like you’re trying and boom, automatic A.”

Peter rubs a hand at the back of his neck sheepishly. “So, remember after the Rhino dude attacked me, how I had all those bruises that didn’t heal right away?”

“Yeah...” Ned recalls, frowning. “But you said they didn’t hurt.”

“They didn’t! Not really, anyway,” Peter says quickly. “But like, I didn’t really want everyone to see that, so I kinda didn’t change into my uniform. And apparently if you don’t change, Wilson just marks you as absent.”

“Ah.” Ned gives him a sympathetic wince. “Yeah, that’s lame.”

“What I don’t understand,” MJ pipes up, glancing up from the book she’s had her nose in all afternoon, “is the D in Spanish. Rodríguez isn’t even a hard teacher.”

Peter’s face flushes with embarrassment. “So… I might have forgotten to submit a couple assignments.”

She quirks an eyebrow. “You forgot? He reminds us what’s due, like, three times every class period.”

“I mean, it was just the take-home quiz...” he mumbles. “And some of the homework sheets. Oh, and that cultural essay thing about the ancient Mayans.”

“Peter.” She blinks at him. “That was like, twenty percent of our grade.”

“Well, to be fair, I did have a concussion,” he defends. “It was a little hard to remember stuff that week.”

Ned rolls his eyes. “Oh yeah, that makes it so much better.”

Peter huffs out a laugh. Honestly, between all the hours he’s been logging lately as Spider-Man, his frequent internship nights with Tony in the lab, the increasingly demanding decathlon practice schedule as their team moves toward regionals, and the weekend shifts he’s started picking up at Delmar’s (because, let’s face it, the vigilante life isn’t the most lucrative career path—the occasional free churro notwithstanding), Peter thinks he’s been doing quite well juggling everything. Sure, his grades aren’t quite the neat row of A’s and the occasional B he’s grown accustomed to throughout his school career, but it’s not like he’s failing anything.

“I’ve just got different priorities now,” Peter says with a shrug. “I still show up and I’m passing all my classes, so what does the grade matter?”

MJ returns the shrug, looking vaguely impressed with him. “It doesn’t really. I’ve always been morally opposed to using arbitrary numerical values as a measure of academic success.” She shifts her gaze back to her novel before adding, offhandedly, “But you gotta admit, the tuition break is nice.”

And in those nine little words, she might as well have punched him in the gut.

“Oh shit,” Peter breathes out. Hurriedly, he starts gathering books together and getting to his feet.

“What?” Ned asks, looking puzzled.

“Um, I gotta go,” he blurts. And then before anyone can say another word, he’s out of the library doors.

X

The Parkers aren’t poor, exactly.

May works full-time at her job as a neonatal nurse, besides picking up extra shifts one or two nights a month to give them a bit of cushion. Between her wages and the social security checks that come every month from Ben’s pension, the two of them get by. Sure, Peter might not have name-brand clothes or the coolest tech or even a pair of gym shoes without a bit of duct tape on the soles, but there’s always been food on the table and a roof over his head, so Peter’s never stressed that much about their financial situation.

Maybe that’s how he managed to completely forget about his academic scholarship.

He’s qualified for it ever since he passed Midtown’s entrance exams in the top tenth percentile back in eighth grade. The money is substantial—slightly over two-thirds of the tuition cost is paid for him—and the scholarship automatically renews every semester provided he maintains a grade point average of 3.3 or higher, which has never been a problem for him.

That is, up until now. Factoring in his B in history, the C’s in gym and trig, and his D in Spanish, his GPA is currently sitting at 2.9.

Peter is going to lose his scholarship.

X

With less than two weeks left before finals, Peter starts cramming in all the studying he can manage. He stays up late, pouring over his trigonometry notes, trying to work his way through all the practice problems he’s been slacking on. He makes a point of showing up three minutes early to gym class every day, even if he has to use a bit of his enhanced speed to get all the way there from the chem labs on the other side of the building. On the train, he quizzes himself on the names of historical figures and the dates of battles long-since fought. Some of his teachers are willing to work with him, letting him turn in late assignments for partial credit or giving him additional projects to complete.

And then there’s Spanish.

“Isn’t there some kind of extra credit project I can do?” Peter begs. “Anything?”

It’s his study hall period and he’s at Señor Rodríguez’s desk for the second day in a row, desperately hoping for anything that could give his grade the boost it needs.

“I’m sorry, Peter,” his teacher says, sounding genuinely regretful. “But you’ve had countless opportunities this semester to get your grade up via homework and test retakes, all of which you neglected to take advantage of. Coming to me with less than ten days left in the semester requesting make up work for assignments worth significant percentages of your grade is simply too little, too late.”

“But… I had a concussion that week,” Peter argues. “Like, right when it was all due. And I would have done the work before, but…” He trails off, unable to finish his sentence without explaining his unorthodox extracurriculars. “I...I was busy,” he concludes weakly.

Rodríguez raises an eyebrow a little skeptically. “I didn’t receive any notes from the nurse’s office about this concussion.”

Peter glances down to his feet. “Well, that’s because she didn’t know, exactly…”

No one did—not even May. After getting all those bruises the week before, Peter didn’t want anyone to know he was hurt again so soon. Apparently Karen hadn’t deemed the blow to the head he took severe enough to override his wishes. He’d just dealt with the headaches and brain fog the best he could and sort of floated through that week on his own. In hindsight, maybe not his best plan.

“Well, I guess this is a good life lesson for you then, Peter,” Rodríguez says. His voice is firm, but not unkind. “Part of growing up is taking responsibility and learning to communicate with authority figures before you get into trouble.”

“Right, and I get that,” Peter babbles, “I just—”

His teacher holds up a finger, quieting him. “My job is to train my students for success in the real world, and sometimes that means reminding you that actions have consequences. ¿Lo entiendes?”

And Peter finds himself nodding. Because, despite the pool of dread growing in his gut, he does understand. He wants to be mad, wants to say it’s unfair and the universe gave him a raw deal and he doesn’t deserve this. But he can’t. Rodríguez is right.

And Peter’s still fucked.

X

By the time Friday rolls around, Peter’s barely functioning. Besides all the extra assignments and studying for finals, he’s had three days in a row of Decathlon practices, followed by some particularly eventful evening patrols that all went quite a bit later than his usual curfew of ten p.m.

He can’t get much of his lunch down today, which does nothing to appease his friends’ concerned looks. The food seems tasteless in his mouth and he’s so tired he nearly nods off into his cafeteria chicken nuggets.

When school finally lets out, he’s surprised and a little disheartened to see the sleek black car waiting for him in the bus circle. He’d totally forgotten it was an internship weekend.

Figures.

X

Peter groans as he disconnects the circuits he just switched out. He’s been trying to fix a bug in his suit’s heater upgrade for the last twenty minutes now, but nothing he attempts is working and his head is throbbing so much that his vision is hazy.

“Just try again, kid,” Tony encourages absently from across the workshop. He’s not looking up, fully engrossed as he is in his own project. “You got this.”

“Yeah...” Peter mutters under his breath. Blinking a few times, he rubs a hand at his eyes to try to clear his vision.

He connects a different wire. That one doesn’t yield any better results, so he unplugs it and tries again. Then again. Then again. He’s fairly sure he’s already tried the next combination, but he’s so tired he can’t remember so he does it again just to be sure. Nothing.

Peter is so frustrated now that his hands are actually shaking. He pauses and takes a deep breath before trying again.

This time, the wire sparks at him.

“I can’t do this!” Peter exclaims, shoving the suit away from him across the table. “I can’t do anything! Why am I so fucking stupid?!”

He’s breathing heavily now, tears clouding his vision even further. Within a few seconds he feels Tony’s hand rest heavily on his shoulder. It should be comforting, but it only makes Peter feel pathetic.

“C’mon, just take a deep breath and—”

“No!” Peter blurts, shaking away from Tony’s grip. “That’s not going to fix anything! I can’t fix this—don’t you see?!”

Stepping backwards, Tony holds his hands up in front of his chest, keeping his expression perfectly neutral. “Okay…” he says carefully. “I think you might need a break.”

Tears prick at Peter’s eyes and he instantly regrets snapping at his mentor. “No, no, I didn’t mean that! I’m s-sorry, ’m fine…” he says. It would probably sound a lot more convincing if his breath would stop hitching.

Tony lifts an eyebrow. “Yeah, no, I’m pulling rank here,” he declares. “It’s break time.”

“No!” Peter protests. His hands fumble back on the table for the wires.  “I gotta finish it! It’s so close, it’s just—” He cuts himself off as the images of the suit swim before his eyes, his head throbbing. “I, I need to finish…” he concludes lamely.

“Peter, just stop,” Tony says with an exasperated sigh. “You’re no good like this.”

Somehow, those words are the catalyst. Peter feels every emotion he’s been bottling up for the past week erupt inside of him. His breath hitches and his head pulses. “I, I know I’m not,” he manages to say, “but that’s why I gotta… gotta finish, then maybe—”

“Jesus, kid,” Tony breathes out. “That’s not what I meant at all. I was just saying—”

Peter cuts him off. “No, I… I know…” Tears are sliding down Peter’s cheeks now. He runs a hand through his hair, shoulders shaking. “’M sorry.”

Tony’s eyes are a mixture of concern and confusion. “Whoa, hey, what’s going on here?” Tugging the edge of his sleeve over his thumb, Tony uses it to wipe a few of the tears off his cheeks. “Talk to me.”

Honestly, Peter doesn’t even know where to begin. The frustration of his current project, the lack of sleep, his grades, the scholarship…

“I just… I-I have a headache.”

Peter doesn’t know why he says it—the pressure in his skull doesn’t even rank very high on his list of concerns at the moment, yet the simple physicality of it somehow makes it the easiest thing to admit. He rubs the back of his hand at his eyes, but his vision is still so blurry. “Can’t really see straight…”

Tony’s brows knit together. “Is it a migraine?”

“N-No,” Peter says between choked sobs. “Or... I don’t know, I don’t th-think so?” Despite never having had a migraine, he’s pretty sure that’s not what this is. The pain isn’t anything exceptional—it’s just that he can’t seem to stop crying and he’s so fucking tired.

“Either way, I think you’ll feel better once you’ve got a couple painkillers in you,” Tony reasons. “C’mon, let’s get you sorted out.”

Peter shakes his head in weak protest. “No, ’s’okay... “

“Nope,” Tony says, his voice a little more firm. “Trust me on this, you don’t want to work in a lab right now. It’s bright, and loud, and honestly, you’re a bit of a safety hazard at the moment.”

To Peter’s horror, a fresh wave of emotion comes over him and he finds himself properly crying now, his frame wracking with each sob.

“Okay, okay, alright…” Tony murmurs, and Peter feels a hand awkwardly patting him on the back.

It’s all so idiotic, Peter decides, standing in Tony’s lab, crying over things that are completely his own fault and a headache that isn’t even that bad.

“You’re okay, kid,” Tony whispers. “Just breathe.”

As Peter struggles to pull himself together, he feels the hand switch to rubbing circles on his back. It moves up to the back of his neck, but halts as soon as Tony’s fingers touch Peter’s bare skin.

Tony frowns. “Do you have a fever?”

“Wh-What?” Peter’s throat is thick.

“You’re really warm,” Tony explains. He flips his hand around to press the back of his fingers to Peter’s skin, first on his neck, then on his cheek. “Yeah. FRIDAY, can we get a read on that?”

“100.7, boss,” she supplies.

Tony hums a bit. “Yeah, that’s about what I thought…”

Peter doesn’t get it. “B-But I’m not sick,” he protests. “Just—”

“Exhausted,” Tony finishes for him. “When’s the last time you had a full night’s sleep?”

Sniffling, Peter gives a non-committal shrug.

“Yeah, that’s not good, kid,” Tony huffs. “Take it from a guy who has a bit of experience in this area—not sleeping enough will seriously mess you up.”

With a hand on Peter’s back, Tony starts gently ushering the kid out of the lab. Peter doesn’t even bother protesting anymore as he shuffles along, his lip quivering. He figures he’s caused enough trouble today.

Tony deposits him onto the couch in the living room and Peter immediately curls up against the arm rest, squeezing his eyelids shut in an effort not to think about what a fool he’s making of himself in front of his mentor. It doesn’t help much.

“You just chill out for a minute here, okay?” Tony says quietly, draping a blanket over Peter. “I’m gonna get you some meds.”

Peter nods and Tony gives his shoulder a final squeeze before stepping out.

The second he’s alone, the tears start streaming down again, hot and silent and totally uncontrollable. If he’s not working in the lab, then he really should be studying for these stupid finals, but he can’t bring himself to pull out his flash cards. He doesn’t think he can rest—not with so much hanging over his head—but he can’t work either. Tony was right; he’s just no good right now.

When Tony reenters with painkillers and a glass of water, he doesn’t say anything about how Peter is hurriedly sitting up and scrubbing his face with his hands in a pointless attempt to pull himself together. He just presses two pills into Peter’s palm.

Looking down at the painkillers in his shaking hand, Peter’s stomach twists and he’s suddenly not so sure they’ll be able to stay down. “I can’t. I feel sick,” he admits in a whisper.

With a quiet sigh, Tony perches himself on the edge of the sofa, right beside Peter’s tucked knees. “I think you’re just tired, kiddo. Sometimes that makes you feel a little sick.”

Peter doesn’t say anything so Tony passes him the glass of water. “Here. Humor me,” he says. “If I’m wrong, I’ll pay for the dry cleaning.”

It’s a stupid joke, but the corners of Peter’s lips twitch anyway. “Okay,” he croaks.

Peter slips the pills into his mouth and swallows them down with a sip of water. He’s queasy, but it’s not too bad. He goes to set the cup back down on the coffee table, but his mentor shakes his head.

“Drink the whole thing,” Tony instructs.

Peter obeys. It takes him a couple of minutes, but he manages to get the entire cup down and feels just the smallest bit better for it.

Tony takes the empty glass from his hand and sets it on the table. “Think you can sleep now?”

Peter just shrugs. He wants to—god, he wants to—but he doesn’t deserve it. Not when this is all his own damn fault. His voice is barely a whisper when he speaks again:

“I think I really messed up, Mr. Stark.”

X

Over the next ten minutes, it all comes tumbling out: the job at Delmar’s, the decathlon requirements, the late patrols, his slipping grades, his scholarship, everything.

“I just… I don’t want to change schools,” Peter concludes softly. “I like Midtown. It was the first place I really felt like… well, like I fit in.”

Tony’s been quiet for the whole time Peter was speaking, but now his brow furrows. “Why would you need to quit Midtown?”

Peter blinks at him; isn’t it obvious? “Because the full tuition is eight thousand dollars a semester. Without the scholarship…” he trails off. “I just can’t do that to May.”

A look of relief spreads across Tony’s face. “Is that all? That’s the whole issue?” He huffs out an amused breath. “Done. Consider it paid. Problem solved.”

Peter feels his cheeks flush. He shakes his head frantically. “No, no, I didn’t mean that you should pay! Please don’t do that!”

Now it’s Tony’s turn to blink at him. “Peter. I am a multi-billionaire. Do you have any idea what eight thousand dollars is to me?”

“But you shouldn’t have t—”

“Peanuts,” Tony cuts him off. “I’ve spent more on peanuts than that.”

“But—”

“And by that I mean actual, honest-to-god peanuts,” Tony continues over the kid’s protests. “There’s this company in Peru that slow-roasts them for twenty-one days in a secret spice blend. Happy’s obsessed with ‘em—says they’re god’s gift to mankind. So, for Christmas one year—”

“You can’t pay my tuition!” Peter blurts out.

Tony stops his story abruptly. His eyes narrow at Peter. “And why exactly is that?”

“Because…” Running a hand through his hair, Peter draws in a shuddery breath. “Because… If anyone should pay, it’s me. I-I’m the one who fucked up and lost the stupid scholarship. I should be the one responsible for fixing this.”

“But you can’t fix it,” Tony says bluntly.

Peter’s caught off-guard. “Wh-What? N-No, I just need to get my grades up, and, and…”

Tony’s voice is gentler now. “You can’t, Peter. You can’t get a 2.9 up to a 3.3 by next week, no matter how well you do on your exams. You’ve gotta know that.”

(Peter does know. He’s known for days. He’s always been good at math, after all.)

“So you can’t keep going on like this, trying to make up for what happened,” Tony concludes.

Tears prick at the corners of Peter’s eyes once more. He’s determined not to let them fall this time. “But I deserve it…” he whispers.

Tony shrugs. “If we always got what we deserved, I never would have made it through the 90s.” He huffs out a short laugh. “At least nobody has to bail you out of prison. Same can’t be said for all of us.”

In spite of Peter’s earlier resolve, the traitorous tears slip out anyway. He wonders how he has any left.

Tony sobers a bit. “You’re a good kid, Pete,” he says quietly. “But you’re trying to carry the whole world on your shoulders and that’s enough to break anyone. It’s okay to ask for help sometimes. Even if you fucked up.”

Peter swallows hard. “Okay.”

“So let’s try this again,” Tony says. He makes eye contact with Peter. “What do you need, kid?”

“Right now?” Peter exhales deeply. “I dunno. A nap?”

Tony smirks slightly. “I think we can manage that.”

X

Peter makes it through finals.

All his extra effort and studying does yield some results. His gym grade increases to a B after Coach Wilson grades his two-page extra credit report on the rules of badminton. The trig final is rough, but he pulls in another couple points there, and the art teacher accepts a few late sketches from the unit on perspectivism. With the help of the final exam, he even manages to eek out a C- in Spanish.

When it’s all said and done, Peter’s GPA sits at 3.1.

“That wasn’t easy to do. I’m proud of you, Peter,” May says sincerely. “You know that, right?”

Peter shrugs. “I guess so.”

They’re sitting together at the apartment’s small kitchen table, May’s open laptop in front of them with all of Peter’s end of semester grades displayed. Peter’s eyes drift down from the screen to the table where a check for eight thousand dollars signed by Tony Stark himself is staring back at him. He sighs.

May plants a quick kiss on the top of her nephew’s head. “Well, I know so. So for now, I’ll just know it for the both of us.”

Peter strokes his fingers over the crisp paper of the check. Besides covering tuition, Tony has now upgraded Peter’s unofficial SI internship to a paid position—something he says he should have done long ago, given how much time Peter spends working in the lab—and that will allow him to give Mr. Delmar his two-week notice.

He knows he should be grateful, but honestly, it’s going to take him some time to wrap his head around the concept of being taken care of like this.

Getting up from the table, May moves over to retrieve a small paper bag from the counter. “That reminds me—Mr. Stark told me to give you this.” She tosses the bag to Peter, who catches it easily.

Curiously, he opens it. He’s immediately hit with the aroma of exotic spices and roasted legumes. Peter can’t help but grin.

A note inside the bag reads: Enjoy your peanuts, kid.

A/N: If you enjoyed this story, you might also like: 

Viral Wisdom

Go Down Swinging

A Pressing Emergency

Fic Masterlist

[purplesurveys]

1070

[found at: --rainboweyes--]

When was the last time you did clay work/pottery? The one time I did pottery was I thinkkkkk during our trip to Vigan? Somewhere up north, anyway. That was around 3 or 4 years ago.

Do you like art, hate it or just not mind it? I love looking at art and can be in museums all day long; but I hate analyzing it and having to read into metaphors or symbolisms. I just appreciate the brush strokes, the colors used...basically the skills and hard work that went into the artwork.

If you had to choose would you prefer dull pain for 12 hours or sharp for 2? Sharp for two, plz. I have had dull headaches all week that have lasted into the night and I absolutely hate it.

Koala or Kangaroo? I like either.

Do you know the words to the national anthem of your country? Of course.

Is your country ruled by a president, prime minister, queen or other? President. Our current one’s an incompetent one, but yeah a president I guess.

Does blue occur in your national flag? Yes. We place the blue section on top when the country’s at peace, and we flip it to the bottom side if we’re otherwise at war - fortunately I’ve never seen the red be put on top throughout my lifetime so far.

Talking of flags. Do you like football/soccer? I’ve personally never seen the appeal of either, but that’s just me.

If yes, do you play and what position? If not, leave blank.

Would you rather be a Model, Famous Scientist, Singer or Chef? I’d like to be a scientist, just not a famous one. Like can I just be lowkey smart? Lmao

Would you rather be a pilot, crime scene investigator or estate agent? Pilot. That would have been so rad. I have a friend who flies nearly every week and his photos always look awesome. Maybe I’ll take lessons one day.

Does making others happy really make you feel happy? It’s my main way of keeping happy.

What color literally doesn't appear in your wardrobe at all? Purple. Never looked good on me. I wanna add orange since I dislike the color as well, but I remember the orange top I have that I never got around to throwing out. I’m pretty sure I also don’t own any brown.

Do you actually read the answers others give to your surveys [I do]? Yes. Sometimes I’ll be gone for several days and there’ll be so many new survey entries that I can’t always read everyone’s answers, but for the most part I do try to take a look at the ones I see.

Did you ever swear at a teacher in school? Why? I’ve sworn at them behind their backs, but that’s it.

Have you ever pricked your finger on Holly or another 'sharp' plant? I’ve definitely been a victim of thorns before.

Speaking of Holly, do you adore Christmas or does it bug you? It makes me lonely for the most part. But I was happy this year because my dad was home, and both sides of my family managed to make get-togethers work while still following protocol.

Have you ever wrote your own short story? I tried writing fanfiction when I first discovered them, but that was when I learned I was unbelievably terrible with fictional work. My career as a budding author did not last any longer than two weeks, lmao.

What about a novel? Or perhaps you started and couldn't finish? Nope. I believe I tried this as well, but I just didn’t have both the creativity and commitment for it.

Either of the above, if this was the case, place short synopsis here: Couples I shipped and that is cringey enough so that is all you need to know.

Do you prefer SciFi/Fantasy/Action/Horror or Rom/Com/RealLife? When it comes to fanfiction still? Or just in general? I like stories that are most likely to happen in real life, so I enjoy dramas the most. Romcoms are also cute and they’re what I turn to whenever I need to de-stress. I do like horror as well but my interest has waned a bit through the years; sci-fi is a hit or miss for me; I don’t hold any interest for either fantasy or action.

What do you have a lot of faith in [note: can be anything]? It’s hard to hold a lot of that these days.

Think of a material thing you want. Name it here (material, made or bought] Right now I want a projector. I keep YouTube videos playing on my phone throughout my shift to serve as background noise, but I wish I had a bigger screen :( I have a blank wall in my room so a projector would be perfect rn.

Would $100/$60 be enough for this item? I can definitely find a projector in that price range on Shopee, lol.

How about $1000/$600? That’s more than enough and can get me a high-end projector at this point.

Would you rather have a big house, a lot of kids or a high flying job? The last one is a priority for me now.

Have you ever been to a creepy/haunted/abandoned place? I’ve been to many places rumored to be haunted, like particular spots in my high school.

What did it look like and what were the circumstances? Idk the so-called haunted areas in my school were all everyday spots, like certain washrooms and the penthouse in the high school building. An outsider probably wouldn’t suspect they were haunted unless someone else told them.

It’s nearing 10:30 PM and it’s pitch-black in my room, so I’d rather not explain the stories behind the ~haunted spots LOL

What's your favorite dip? Depends on what food I’m dipping? There are so many kinds of dips, dude.

Chocolate Cookies or Fudge Brownies? Just chocolate cookies? As in double chocolate, not chocolate chip? I never liked that flavor. I’m going with fudge brownies.

I give you a little baby puppy. What do you name him? It will depend on their personality. Cooper was a smartass from the get-go so we named him after Sheldon Cooper.

Is crime a big problem in your area? Not in my city, fortunately. But my country generally doesn’t have a good rep when it comes to crime. I always hear of unjust killings every week, if not every day.

What's your town/city most well known for? Being on a mountain, a famous biking spot, a famous climbing spot, the view of the metro it gives at night.

Do you know a Jack? What's he like? I don’t think so. No one is coming to mind.

How about a Lisa? What's she like? Our neighbor from my childhood home is a Lisa. I have not seen her since I was like 10, so I have no clue how she’s doing these days.

Are most your friends older, younger or the same age as you? Same age, since most of my friends are the people I went to high school/college with.

Do you subconsciously hang out with those with the same star sign as you or as each other, perhaps due to certain personality traits? Think about it: Astrology makes me cringe.

Name 5 objects that you don't have but would like right now? A 2021 planner, scented candles, Ivy Park merch, a massage pillow, skincare products.

When you have children, would you like twins? Probably not.

Do you know any twins? If so, what are they called? Yeah I was classmates with a pair in an English elective I had in college. We ended up being friends that semester, but we don’t interact much anymore. I’m not giving away their names, but I’m sad that I was never able to tell them apart :/

If you were given the choice to choose your child’s gender, would you? Absolutely yeah, if it were possible. I’d preferably have all girls.

What instrument would you love to learn how to play? The piano.

Does the sound of knocking/tapping startle you? If it comes out as a loud thud, yeah. It’s more likely to irritate me, though.

What's the scariest story/urban legend/creepypasta etc you heard? Skipping this as it’s nearing 10:45 PM and I don’t need any images to come to mind right now lol

Do you miss someone currently? Always.

When was the last time you were in hospital? What for [if comfy saying]? Needed to get a urine and blood test to check my platelet count, because my parents and I thought I had dengue.

When was the last time you went to the dentist? December 2019 when I needed a pesky toothache dealt with ASAP, and when my dentist discovered a decayed tooth that needed to be removed.

Do you get along well with your family doctor/your doctor? We don’t have a family doctor. I only go to the doctor when I’m sick, and we go to different ones every time haha.

What personality trait does nearly everyone in your family seem to have? Everyone hides their emotions, to a point that it’s unhealthy. No one just wants to address the elephant in the room, which is precisely a part of the problem. I’m 100% certain we are all suffering and fighting our own battles quietly.

The survey’s ended. I hope you enjoyed it. :) This was a pleasant one to take :)

[19-queenbee-97]

I Knew You Were Trouble | Stray Kids AU

Chapter 2

Warning | None(?)

Word Count | 1.1k

a/n | I know this is hella late and unnecessary since at this point in time i just posted part 3 but i thought i’d add this a/n to tell y’all to let me know if you think i should add a certain warning or something since ya girl is new to this fanfic writing business. 

~~~~~~

After a solid two hours of restless sleep, I got up just as my alarm started to ring. Well, today is going to be just great. Finding clothes to wear I dreaded leaving my dorm. I wanted nothing more than to curl up under my blanket and go back to sleep for a week. Maybe I should see if Rosé is going to today’s lecture. She’s just next door and she usually goes to this lecture on Fridays. Nodding I sent her a text before going to the bathroom to have a shower. As I stood in the shower letting the hot water cascade down my back I thought back to last night. Was it Chan following me? What reason would he have? Sure I was staring at him and I’m ninety percent sure he caught me, but everyone else was staring at him too. Surely it wasn’t him but who else could it have been? If it were one of the other students wouldn’t they have done so before? Shaking myself out of my thought I finished up in the shower and continued my morning routine.

Dressed and as ready to face the day as possible I checked my phone to see a confirmation text from Rosé, she wanted to grab breakfast first though, so I tell her I’ll meet her in the common room. Grabbing my bag and putting the books I need for the day in it I grabbed my keys from a bowl on top of the shoe rack. I hesitated in front of the door before I pushed through the fear and left my dorm stopping only long enough to lock the door. Stepping into the elevator I leaned on the rail and closed my eyes. God I’m tired. Hearing the ding I looked up ready to get out only to see Chan getting on. Frozen in place I quickly looked at my feet. With my heart beating a million miles a minute I cursed my luck. He lives in the same dorm building? Of course he does. I’ve never seen him before but now he’s popping up everywhere I go. It’s like a badly written fan fiction or something. I hear a quiet cough. Looking up I see him raising an unnecessarily perfect eyebrow. “Are you just gonna stand in the elevator all day?” Observing my surrounding I notice that we’ve reached the ground floor and that Chan is holding the door open for me. Blushing like a school girl I mutter a quick thanks and go to take a seat in the common room.

As I’m waiting for Rosé I scroll through Instagram liking a picture every now and again. Feeling like I’m being watched seemed was getting to be so commonplace these days that I didn’t notice for a few minute. Looking up when I did notice I expected to see Chan since that seemed to be the pattern. Seeing Rosé I let out the breath I didn’t even know I was holding. “Dude I called your name like four times and it’s dead silent in here how are you that out of it?” Oh. “Sorry, it’s a long story, I’ll tell you on the way.” I told her about Chan showing up in class last night and my walk back to the dorm and how I was being followed and how Chan and I were in the elevator this morning. “He does have a dangerous feel about him but he was quite the gentleman this morning. I feel like maybe people are just too quick to judge before getting to know him. Like does he have any friends here? Does anyone actually know him?” Maybe I’m getting to invested in this, she’s looking at me like I just told her I killed a baby. “You’re defending the BANG CHAN of all people?” I’m honestly not surprised that she also knows who he is. “I mean, yes? Am I wrong though? Do you know him as a person?” She looked down guiltily. “Exactly my point.” We had breakfast at a Cafe on campus and grabbed some coffee to go and headed back up to campus for our lecture.

Rosé and I found seats at the front and continued talking as we waited for the lecturer. I felt a sense of déjà vu as the voices around us slowly filtered off. Hoping it was just the lecturer entering I turned to the door and cursed every god out there. Ignoring the whole situation I opened my bag and started setting up my books to take notes when class began. Voices started up all around us as I sat staring at my books praying that he didn’t recognize me and just went on his way. I had no such luck. He looked at me. I assume Rosé noticed as well from the gasp and her head turning in my direction but I continued ignoring it. Everyone froze again as he made his way towards the seats. I just sat silently looking at my book hoping and praying to every deity I could think of that he didn’t sit in the conveniently open seat next to me. Again, a badly written fan fiction. I let out a breath as he passed me by only to want to scream as he sat directly behind me. The only bright side of him sitting so close is that Rosé who was almost vibrating in her seat next to me kept blessfully silent the whole lecture.

When the lecturer ended the lesson I tried to leave before anyone else but Rosé was one step ahead of me and was right next to me the whole way. “Since when was Chan in that class?” Rosé didn’t seem to pick up on my intention to pretend none of this was happening. “All semester I assume.” She didn’t acknowledge my sarcasm. We both heard a snort from behind us so we turned around and saw Chan. Rosé looked like she’d just seen a ghost. I just glared and continued on my way not even waiting for Rosé. Hearing footsteps behind me I started ranting knowing it was Rosé, “I am so over this already. First he shows up in my history lecture, then I get followed back to my dorm. Then he shows up in my dorm building and now he shows up in our English lecture? What is this some teen romance novel?” Rosé just laughed, the traitor. “I’m sure it’s a coincidence, or maybe this is god’s way of telling you that you guys are meant to be.” Unfortunately Rosé is much faster than I am.

[noona-clock]

DaySense: Winter ❄️

A Day6 collab series with the lovely @cramelot 💋

Genre: College & Soulmate!AU

Pairing: Brian x You

By Admin B

Part 1, 2

Since the Halloween party had been a success, Brian had been thinking of other ways to get Day6 out there. Other ways they could showcase their music, try out the new songs they were writing, attract a new audience.

They couldn’t just keep doing coffee shop gigs and uploading band practice videos on YouTube.

I mean, they could and they would, but they shouldn’t keep doing only that.

An idea didn’t come to him until almost mid-January, though, after the crazy hustle and bustle of the holiday season.

Plus, both Jae and Sungjin had been a little less occupied with the band and a little more occupied with their new(ish) girlfriends.

Although... it was safe to say they were more than that.

It hadn’t been a coincidence that Jae had suddenly started seeing in color when he met the girl he was now madly in love with (and, in turn, black and white had been added to her own vision color spectrum, so to deny the fact they were soulmates would just be silly!).

And Sungjin’s absolute adoration for anything his own girlfriend/soulmate cooked or baked... I mean, honestly, it wasn’t a sure sign they were soulmates because the guy had always loved food. But he (and his girlfriend) both insisted the food the other one made was just better than normal, so Brian took his word for it.

He was happy for both of them, truly. Jae and Sungjin were two of his best friends, and he wanted nothing more than for them to be happy. (False: he wanted nothing more than to annoy the crap out of them, but in a loving way, but we don’t have to count that.)

...He would be lying just a little if he said it wasn’t just a tiny bit annoying that their main focus was no longer 100% on the band, though. Many times in the past several months, he’d asked for input on lyrics or melodies or ideas for performances, but they had been too distracted with their love lives to be of any actual help.

I mean, except for the fact Jae had contributed some really nice lyrics for a love song. Brian had almost 100% decided on calling the song ‘Hi Hello’ but he still wasn’t ready to make a decision; it was about meeting someone for the first time and suddenly not being strangers anymore.

Jae, obviously, had some quite recent experience with that. Brian, on the other hand, was writing from his imagination.

Maybe that’s why he felt the song wasn’t ready just yet...

But, anyway. Back to the idea he had in mid-January.

“What if we just set up our instruments outside and do a set?” he asked the guys during one of their rare dinners together at the house. 

These days, either Sungjin, Jae, or both usually ate with their lady loves. (Sungjin, most definitely, preferred to, but that was understandable.)

“...Sing outside?” Jae asked with one raised brow. “It’s January. It’s freezing.”

“Yeah, but it’s unexpected. And you know nobody else will be doing it,” Brian pointed out.

“Nobody’s going to want to stop and listen because they’ll be too cold. Or too busy, on their way to class,” Sungjin countered in-between bites.

Brian was about to retort with a semi-snarky remark about nobody else coming up with any other ideas, but Wonpil spoke before he had the chance.

“I’m down,” he stated, lifting his shoulders into a small shrug. “I think it’ll be fun.”

“Yeah,” Dowoon agreed. “Something we’ve never done before.”

“We can only play a few songs if you’re that worried about freezing to death,” Brian smirked.

“Yo, shut up, dude,” Jae tsked, trying to hide an embarrassed blush.

“When were you thinking?” Sungjin asked.

“Can we do it this weekend?” Wonpil pleaded, letting it be known with his slightly whiny tone that he had quickly adopted the idea and was now desperate to do it.

“No one’s on campus during the weekend.” Jae rolled his eyes before reaching out and thwapping the back of Wonpil’s head.

“Friday, then,” Brian suggested as Wonpil reached around to nurse his stinging cranium.

Sungjin opened his mouth to say something, and Brian just knew he was going to say he had plans with his girlfriend on Friday. He threw his friend a Look, though, and Sungjin’s mouth quickly formed into a forced smile.

“Friday afternoon works for me,” Sungjin said instead. “My last class ends at 3.”

Everyone else confirmed they were done with classes either before or around then, so they decided to meet at the house at 3:30 and set up on the North Quad around 4pm.

As Brian and Dowoon began cleaning up after dinner, Brian had to admit that he felt... he didn’t want to say ‘uplifted’ because that made it seem like he was discouraged or depressed about his current situation.

And he wasn’t at all!

But, still. He felt like things were back to the old days as far as the band went. Except not really because they really had come so far in turning things around since Battle of the Bands over six months ago. But you know what I mean!

“All right, Friday at 3:30, yeah?” Jae asked as he grabbed a coat from the hall closet.

“Friday at 3:30,” Brian confirmed. He carefully handed a freshly washed dish to Dowoon who dried it off with a towel and set it in the dish drain.

“Friday, 3:30,” Jae repeated, sliding his coat on and reaching for his keys on the key hook.

“Wait, where are you going?” Brian asked, his brow furrowed. “We should probably start rehearsing for that.”

“I’ve got studying, bro,” Jae told him.

Brian pursed his lips in slight annoyance. “Jae, the semester just started. There’s no way you already have an exam.”

Jae paused for a few moments... and then he rolled his eyes in a sort of guilty way. “Okay, fine, I’m going to study my girlfriend’s face. Sue me. We can rehearse tomorrow!”

Brian opened his mouth to issue a rebuttal, but Jae had hurried to the door and fled before he had the chance.

Sungjin, who was standing behind a chair at the kitchen table, began drumming his fingers on the seatback. His facial expression was that of someone who was trying to be cool and casual but also trying to be obvious. He might as well have been whistling a suspiciously jaunty tune.

With a soft sigh, Brian shifted his gaze from the plate he was scrubbing over to his slightly older friend.

“Go ahead, then,” he murmured. “We’re rehearsing tomorrow. Go have some dessert with your soulmate.”

A smile split Sungjin’s face, and he rushed to grab his own coat from the closet in the hallway.

“See you guys!” he called out as he dashed toward the door.

As Brian and Dowoon continued to do the dishes, Wonpil leaned against the kitchen counter, resting his elbow on the granite surface and setting his chin in his palm. A dramatically mournful sigh escaped his lips, and he waited until Brian looked over at him to voice his thoughts.

“When are we going to find our soulmates?” he asked pitifully.

Brian let a tiny smirk tug at his lips, and he shook his head. “The whole point is that we don’t know,” he reminded the sweet but sometimes naive keyboard player.

Wonpil pouted slightly and let out yet another sigh. “Yeah, I know. But still. Aren’t you lonely?”

Brian shrugged as he handed Dowoon a clean glass to dry. “Not really. I’m focused on our music. That keeps me company plenty.”

He just wished all of his bandmates were the same way...

By the time Friday afternoon rolled around, the guys had managed to get in a few rehearsals - at least, enough to be fully prepared to perform four songs out in the most crowded area of campus in near-freezing temperatures.

As agreed, they all met up at the house at 3:30 and began to gather up their instruments in both Jae’s and Sungjin’s cars. The two guitarists took their acoustics, Wonpil lugged his keyboard, Dowoon brought along the wooden box he used in lieu of actual drums, and Brian simply brought all the microphones.

Brian didn’t own an acoustic version of a bass guitar, so whenever they decided to perform a song scaled-down and raw, he simply used his voice as his instrument.

Sungjin led the way with Dowoon and Wonpil in his car, Jae following up with Brian in the passenger seat. 

“How’s that song going?” Jae asked as he turned onto the main road toward North campus.

“Which song?” Brian murmured absently. He was already getting into the performance zone, and his mind was on the four songs they would be singing.

“The one you’ve been working on for a while. About the moment you stop being strangers with someone?”

“Oh, yeah, that one. I...” Brian inhaled sharply, quizzically. “I don’t know. I just can’t seem to finish it. It doesn’t seem quite right yet.”

Jae scoffed and glanced over at Brian with an overly offended expression. “Dude, I helped with some of those lyrics. What do you mean it doesn’t seem quite right?!”

Brian smirked a little, letting out a soft ‘you’re something else, Jae’ chuckle. “It’s not your part I’m having trouble with. It’s mine.”

“That’s because you haven’t met anyone lately.” Jae briefly took one hand off the steering wheel and reached over to nudge Brian’s shoulder. “You need to get out more. Sungjin and I have met our soulmates...”

“Not because you were looking for them,” Brian pointed out. “Besides, you know I don’t need to write lyrics from experience. Let me just sit on that song for a while longer. Something will come to me.”

“All right,” Jae sighed. “Whatever you say.”

They drove the rest of the way in silence, arriving by the quad only five minutes later. Jae parked next to Sungjin, and all of them began unloading instruments and sound equipment.

The frigid air spurred them on to set things up more quickly than they usually did, and it wasn’t even 4 o’clock when Wonpil stepped up to his keyboard and began to play the opening notes of the first song they’d chosen to perform.

Jae had barely sung one line before people walking by noticeably slowed their steps. Of course, Jae and Sungjin’s girlfriends were already there forming a two-person audience, but it had grown to a substantial handful of people by the time they got to the first chorus.

As Brian began to sing his part of the bridge, he noticed someone coming to stand next to Jae’s girlfriend at the very front. Instinctively, his eyes locked with yours, and... 

Why were you staring at him like that?

And why was there something so familiar about you?

He had definitely never seen you before (trust me, he would have recognized your face), but he just had a very eerie feeling that he already knew you?

For some reason, he figured you would leave after the first song.

But you were still there as they sang the second... the third... the fourth and final song.

And you still had that look on your face. Come to think of it, you looked kind of how Brian felt. You were gazing at him with a clear question in your eyes: Do I know you?

As the crowd applauded and cheered after they finished the fourth song, Brian heard Sungjin explaining who they were and why they were out here singing in the freezing cold. He asked everyone to introduce themselves, and after Brian greeted everyone with a smile and a wave, he set his microphone down and stood.

There was no way he was going to let another minute go by without talking to you. He had to figure out why you seemed so familiar.

Your eyes widened slightly as he headed toward you, and Brian tried his best to look friendly rather than seriously curious. The last thing he wanted to do was scare you away.

“Hi...” Brian said a bit cautiously once he was close enough to you. “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help but notice...”

He tilted his head slightly as your eyes gazed up into his, your eyebrows raised and wrinkling your forehead. It was just so weird that he had absolutely no idea who you were, but still had the unquestionable urge to ask:

“Have we met before?”

Part 2

[thewritewolf]

Eating Habits Chapter 9: Warmth

The incoming chill of late fall might be making Paris cold, but the love of friends and family keeps Adrien and Marinette warm. 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 (Final)

Enjoy!

Read on Ao3. 

The letters in front of Marinette swam as she tried to focus on them, her laptop screen getting blurry intermittently as she blinked away the gnawing tiredness at the edges of her mind. Between her exhaustion and the lingering after effects of her cold from last week, she was having an awful time studying. Maybe she should have tried getting back onto a regular sleep schedule, but there was too much to do after being bed ridden for a few days.

Thankfully, there was the power of energy drinks to save her. The caffeine was probably the only reason she was even still awake right now. Not that being conscious was a huge help if she couldn’t process what she was reading. After a few more minutes of unsuccessfully staring at her screen, she sighed and leaned forward, rubbing her forehead.

Once she wasn’t hyper focused on her work, her attention drifted to a conversation from a couple boys at another table. They weren’t very loud since they were all in the campus library, but she could still hear them pretty clearly. Without meaning to, she listened in.

“...Crazy, right?”

“Man, you’re super lucky. That would’ve been just the thing to make calculus less dull.”

“What? Haven’t you had a class where that Agreste kid just waltz in with a boxed lunch?”

Marinette froze. They couldn’t be talking about…?

“He’s been in so many frickin’ classes but of course he doesn’t show up to any of mine.”

“Bummer, dude. It’s pretty hilarious, and kinda cute.”

“Well, he was a model. Or is he still one? That was pretty ambiguous-”

“No! I mean he brings the lunches for his girlfriend.”

“Aw, that’s sweet. Feel bad for his girlfriend though. Must be a little embarrassing, ya know?”

Meanwhile, Marinette buried her scarlet face in her laptop, being careful to keep it between her and the two boys while they kept talking. Maybe it would be worth eating proper meals just to keep Adrien from these over the top antics.

Despite her embarrassment, Marinette’s stomach growled treacherously at the thought of his boxed lunches. She wondered where he was right now...

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

“Geez, dude, can’t even go easy on me for a minute, huh?” Nino threw his control down in faux anger. “Have I even one a single match yet?”

“Hm…” Adrien tapped his chin as he pretended to give it some thought. “Well, you did beat up my character when I went to the bathroom. Does that count?” Adrien ducked out of the way of a playful punch aimed at his arm. “Ooo, too slow, turtle boy.”

“God, you’re such a smug dick,” Nino said with a grin. “Can’t believe I ever thought you were an innocent homeschooled boy.” He leaned back, settling his controller on his lap. “How’d you even get so rockin’ at this game?’ His eyes narrowed and he pointed a figure into Adrien’s face. “And you’d better not say ‘natural talent’ or I’ll send M that clip of you drunkenly crying to that one Inuyasha scene.”

“We’re all friends here, shelly, no need to pull out the big guns.” Smirking, Adrien held his hands up in surrender and shrugged. “Well, you know how Marinette is into the Mecha Strike series. Ever since we started dating, every time a new title would come out, I’d get it for her. Then we’d play it a ton. Early on, it was after dates, but after I moved in, we’d stay up late and fight into the early morning.”

“Sounds like you were having a ton of fun,” Nino said with a small smile. “You ever actually win any of those matches?”

“Hell no. Why do you think I like playing against you so much? I got years of pent-up frustration to take out.” They shared a laugh. Adrien stared wistfully into space. “But yeah. It was like a sleepover every night with the person I cared the most about.”

“Harsh, dude.”

“Hey, you’re a close second! And that’s saying something since she’s literally the love of my life and light of my heart.”

“...Yeah, I can see how you two and your over-the-top ideas of love mesh together.” Nino snapped his fingers. “Speaking of crazy acts of love! Weren’t you making tons of trips to M’s university? What happened with that?”

To his surprise, Adrien blushed and he rubbed the back of his neck. “About that… Turns out, doing it once is cute. Two or three times is adorable, but getting annoying. But apparently two meals a day for three weeks - minus her sick break - is crossing a line.”

“Bummer. So she chewed you out?”

“If by ‘she’ you mean ‘all of Marinette’s professors’ then yes.” Adrien sighed dramatically. “Now I’ve been banned from interrupting all her classes, at least for the semester.”

Nino laughed at a pouting Adrien. “Uncool of them, but I get it. Can’t have some stray cat runnin’ around, getting everyone all riled up.”

“Anyway… at least she got a few weeks worth of regular meals out of it. I just wish it could have gone on for a little longer.”

“It is what it is, big cat. You did what you could and that’s what’s important.” He pulled out his cellphone and started composing a text.

“Who are you talking to?” Adrien craned his neck over, shamelessly reading over Nino’s shoulder.

Nino leaned away from his prying eyes. “It ain’t for nosy cats, that’s for sure. If you gotta know, its for my babe. She’ll think you getting banned is hilarious, and I gotta be the one that tells her.”

“Oh sure, laugh at my pain.”

“That’s the plan, dude.”

Adrien shook his head, but there was a glimmer of mirth in his eyes. He stood up and walked to the kitchen, leaving Nino to send his message in peace.

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

A few days later, the apartment was quiet once again. Nobody had come over to visit, which was more the norm for his life. On some level, the stillness bothered him, like there was something missing. Or maybe it was just because it was harder to distract himself if there wasn’t any noise or energy in the house.

Either way, today Adrien didn’t mind as much since the solitude would make this a little easier. He didn’t want word of his plan to leak out before he was ready or else Marinette might catch wind of it and clam up. Which wouldn’t help anyone, least of all Marinette herself.

Adrien hung up the phone and took a seat at his kitchen table. Normally at this hour it would be covered in fresh ingredients for whatever he was planning on making that day. But where chopped vegetables usually sat was instead advertisements and a few bank statements. The latter was probably unnecessary - he knew without looking that’d he’d have enough for what he was planning. But it was reassuring to see, at least.

Knowing Marinette, it was good to have as many loose ends tied up as possible, and leave nothing to chance. He loved her to pieces, but she could work herself into an anxious lather if he let her.

“Are you sure this will work out?” Adrien worried at his lip as he sightlessly looked over the papers.

“Listen, kid,” Plagg said as he gnawed at a wedge of cheese. “You want to help her, right? And she isn’t budging despite everything you’ve done so far, yeah?”

“Yes…”

“Then trust me. I’ve known more than a few Ladybugs in my day and most of them are way too stubborn for their own good. And we both know Pigtails hasn’t bucked that tradition in the slightest.”

“I know, but… it’s a big step. Shouldn’t we talk it out as a couple?”

“Maybe. And I’ll grant that Pigtails is a great planner.” Plagg gulped down the last hunk of his cheese, letting out a satisfied sigh once it hit his stomach. He shook his head and looked back at Adrien. “But she’s also her own worst enemy. If it isn’t urgent, she’ll just plan and plan and plan forever without actually doing anything.”

Adrien smirked, remembering the times Marinette had shared - after some help from a bottle of wine - some of her more… creative plans to confess her love to him. At least, until he beat her to it. Maybe Plagg had a point.

“We can always plan together later,” Adrien said with a nod. “I just need to make sure she doesn’t reject it out of hand.”

“That’s the spirit, kid. Now, onto the important matters - where’s my second dinner?”

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

Tonight was their anniversary, a chilly December day, and Adrien wanted to make sure everything was perfect. He’d gotten permission to leave the bakery early. Probably way earlier than he’d needed to, but Tom and Sabine had insisted that he take the whole afternoon off. Especially Tom, Adrien remembered with a smile, who could barely hold back the tears as he waved Adrien off.

A quick stop at the market for fresh ingredients and Adrien was home.

As much as he had wanted to go out to a fancy restaurant or do something special with her, he knew that the best way to spoil her now - after the semester she’d been having - would be a nice relaxing night at his apartment, eating a home cooked meal and cuddling in front of the television.

And by all the kwami was she going to get the best meal and the most snuggly cuddles he could possibly make. She deserved nothing less.

He became a man possessed, putting all those cooking classes to good use as he crafted the greatest lasagna he could make. While that was cooking in the oven, he began gathering all the softest blankets and pillows he could find and stacking them on his couch. Half the fun of a pillow fort was making it with someone else, but he knew she’d rather be able to collapse into it as soon as she got there.

It was just as he placed the finishing touches on the fort that he heard a knock at the door before it swung open.

When his eyes met hers, a big grin spread across his face as his heart raced. She wasn’t even a step inside before he’d rushed across the room and swept her up in a hug, holding her off the ground with his arms just below her waist.

She laughed as she pressed her hands against his shoulders for support. “At least let me put my stuff down first, you ridiculous man!”

He simply grinned up at her, eyes sparkling with happiness as he slowly let her down just enough to put them face level. He kissed the corner of her mouth and whispered:

“Happy anniversary, bugaboo.”