#even tho hes just being a dork. she got him back though she filled his house with wolves

[rileyclaw]

sorry im really into this owlcraft thing and i WILL be making more comics about it

[misora-msby]

embarrassing moments with inarizaki

inarizaki always looks so cool but you know they’re actually dorks and i am here to provide you the content to show theyre clowns. enjoy the headcanons :)

Kita Shinsuke

firstly. kita shinsuke being embarrased? making a mistake? unheard of.

he’s a perfect man and we all know it.

anyways

you two were having a nice dinner out together. 

it was a pretty fancy place so you decided to dress in a different style today

but you were beginning to wonder if kita liked it or not because he seemed to keep looking past your shoulder instead of at you

he was an observant guy so you were wondering if something had happened behind you

but you couldn’t hear anything weird so you assumed not

you decided to just stay quiet about it at first but now it was beginning to become annoying! 

why wasn’t he looking you in the eye to speak?

midway through your dinner, kita finally spoke up tho

“y/n, your shirt is slipping... yer bra’s showing.”

oh.

right. you were wearing your off-shoulder top.

“o-oh. shin, it’s that kind of shirt, you know?” you had to explain your outfit to ur bf with a pink face.

“oh... that so... well it’s cold these days so if yer feelin’ cold lemme know. i’ll give ya my jacket.”

GOD HES SO PERFECT KITA SHINSUKE I HOPE U MARRY HIM???????

Ojiro Aran

another man with next to no flaws.

but nature says everyone has to make some mistake.

so it was a regular school day, our aran has just come to class from morning practice and there’s still some time left until class starts.

all the girls in class are gathered around a table

he’s not sure why, it’s probably watching an idol video

but ur man wants to be a little romantic!!

plus he just showered so he smells Great uwu

he goes over and hugs you from behind, placing his chin on ur head.

“hey, bb whatcha ya doin”

all the girls gasp.

he doesn’t get whats wrong, it’s not like it’s a secret y’all are dating

pda to this level aint bad either

especially compared to his teammate miya atsumu

“ojiro aran.”

why is your voice behind him

he looks down and nearly faints when he sees he hugged the wrong girl.

to be fair she looked a lot like you from behind, just maybe 1cm shorter.

“i’m so sorry!” he keeps apologising to literally everyone and all the class is giggling bc they never seen their school’s ace so red before.

“didn’t think i’d come back from the toilet and see my bf cheatin”

“IT WAS A MISTAKE! I’M SERIOUS! Y/N U KNOW I LOVE YA!” 

hes so funny i swear

the volleyball team hears of it and it gets even better 

Miya Atsumu

it’s not a secret that miya atsumu, setter of the inarizaki volleyball team and invited to national youth training camp, had a gf

he was very much in love with u 

the whole class knew it because he’d show it off whenever he could too

so here comes valentines day

last year he received like... 50 different gifts from girls and guys aiming to win his love.

you didnt even give him one lmAOOOOO 

but this year, he had been not so subtly trying to hint that “i better not receive any chocolates this year when i’ve got a gf!”

he reaches school and plops into his seat.

there’s an anonymous box of chocolates with “please accept my love, miya-kun! <3″ on it

“the hell’s this?!”

“oh? chocolates?” - osamu who just popped his head into the class to shove into his twin’s face how much chocolate he got.

especially since the blond was off limits, the grey-haired twin had a bigger following now.

“do they not know i have a girlfriend...”

“well, ya might as well eat it. ya dont know who to return it to.”

“that’s like receivin’ their love!”

“no it ain’t. it’s just food.”

atsumu couldn’t argue with that and popped a piece in.

it was very delicious. the chocolate practically melted on his tongue and was the perfect sweetness and was filled with a delicious ganache too.

it was perfect

but he couldn’t accept this!

“it ain’t even good. too sweet and the filling’s sticky.”

“ah. really? is that what you think, tsumu?” you ask from the door where you had been watching the exchange take place.

“y/n! look at this! some weirdo gave me some choco and like... samu said to test it but i’ll toss it out, promise.”

“tsumu, i made that... i wrote it anonymously because i thought you’d know it was me and i wanted to tease you a little.”

“huh.”

osamu: “yeah actually i went over to her place to teach her how to make it.”

atsumu: “you said you went to suna’s place?!”

osamu: “i went there later but i first went to help her.”

you: “anyways if it’s not good i don’t mind if you toss it out...”

tsumu: “NO NO BABE I PROMISE IT’S GOOD”

you: “you just said-”

“BABE I SWEAR IT’S GOOD I JUST DIDN’T WANT TO ACCEPT A STRANGER’S STUFF”

“you’re always so honest though... are you sure?” you were having your fun teasing him now.

“BB PLSSSSSS”

he still cringes at the memory 4 years into ur marriage

Miya Osamu

osamu would DEFINITELY make home made dinner dates a regular thing.

this alone shows he’s the better twin - miya atsumu stan

he loves cooking and eating with you so sometimes when he’s got a day off you guys’ll set aside the afternoon to make a real nice dinner

imagine candlelit dinner with miya dorito body osamu in a suit

of course some fun stuff happens after too ;)))

and today’s your third anniversary!!

so osamu adds lots of ‘natural aphrodisiacs’ to the meal

i’m talkin

garlic bread and soup for an appetiser, a nice juicy steak with garlic and red wine sauce for the main, and chocolate coated strawberries for dessert

mm yummy

you two cleaned your plates completely (it was very delicious) and as you were washing the dishes, osamu comes up behind and wraps his arms around your waist

“yes, ‘samu?” 

“i’ve already prepared us a nice bath with yer favourite scents.” he’s got his head resting on ur chin

“really? thank you~ i’ll be there in a bit”

but he doesn’t let go of you while you’re still scrubbing at the baking sheets.

“osamu, you can let go for now.”

“don’t feel like it.”

“i gotta wash the dishes since you did most of the cooking.”

“mmm, i’ll do it if ya gimme a kiss.”

you roll ur eyes bc what a cutie 

u turn ur head to give him a kiss but suddenly he 

he burps

that garlicy wine smell is just kinda there

“ew! ‘samu!!”

his face is real red but he’s also trying not to laugh because he’s still a dude and this is absolutely hilarious to him

“want another?” he starts teasing

“i’m not getting in the bath with you.”

“wait wait wait i’m sorry, i’ll go brush my teeth and give you a proper kiss”

Suna Rintarou

you two were taking the train home today

it was quite late due to practice going a little longer than usual, so he insisted he walked you back home today.

sunarin can be a good boyf sometimes ok

it was getting a little crowded on the train tho, since people were heading home or going out for dinner

luckily you had already grabbed seats so you were quite comfortable sitting side by side. 

you and suna have the type of relationship were you dont have to talk all the time

silence is v comfy.

he’s just scrolling through twitter on his phone while you’re looking around the car, lost in ur thoughts

suddenly you notice an old lady standing a little bit away from you and you stand up

“baa-san, please take my seat.” you whisper in the crowded carriage

“oh how kind of you. thank you, dearie.” she smiles and takes your seat while you stand in front of her and suna instead.

suna doesn’t realise this exchange has happened tho

(he’s on his phone as usual)

probably starting some fights on twitter

he decides to try to be a little romantic and pretends to stretch his arm around (who he thought was) you.

“rin.” 

why is your voice right in front of him?

“young man, i appreciate it but i’m married.”

suna jumps as he sees someone he did not recognise next to him.

he looks up and notices you had moved.

you’re giggling

the granny’s giggling

atsumu and osamu sitting opposite on the carriage look like they’re going to cry because they’re trying not to laugh

“i was just stretching. really.” he mumbles and crosses his arms, face red as a tomato

he’s so embarrassed.

Ginjima Hitoshi

sometimes the inarizaki vbc would go for an after practice snack at the nearby family mart

they were really hungry after an intense preparation for nationals which was in two weeks so kita insisted they all get something to fill them up on the way home

but lucky lucky ginjima hhehe

you (his classmate who he had a crush on) were working at the cash register today.

“welcome!” you greet everyone as they enter

he cant help but stiffen up a bit 

why are u so cute and cheery today

the 2nd years already know what to do.

“heyy, i think last week i bought ya that ramen right? ya owe me my konbini snacks today!” - atsumu

“yeah. you lost a bet to me last week so u gotta pay up. a pack of jelly fruit sticks please.” - suna

“forgot my money today, mind payin’ for my snacks too?” - osamu

“like hell i’m paying for all of you. especially you, osamu. you eat too much all the time.” 

aran’s noticed what’s going on,

“hey, if it’s just for today you can do it right? if ‘samu don’t pay ya back tomorrow i’ll nag him ‘til he does.” 

“fine...” his basket is full when he goes to the counter.

he’s trying his best not to have a red face while watching u scan the items, ur hair swaying slightly as u look back and forth between the objects and the screen.

“alright. 4,890 yen please!” GOD he hated how expensive it was, that’s almost all his weekly allowance but bc it’s u and ur voice saying it it’s kinda ok

“mm, ok.” he still has his eyes on you while he takes out his wallet and puts it on the counter.

yes

his wallet, not the money

“...” “...”

“excuse me, sir. this is...”

he almost slaps his face wtf he’s so embarrassed.

“s-sorry. just a little absent minded after practice.” he starts pulling out his cash.

“it’s fine! i know how hard you guys practice!” you smile while performing the rest of the transaction and pass him his big bag of goods. “good luck for nationals, ginjima-kun!”

he almost runs out of the store and is about to fight the rest of the 2nd years for watching and (suna) recording

[justwonder113]

Midnight adventures

Matsukawa Issei x f.reader

WARNING: Angst to fluff, Slowburn, friends to lovers, mutual pining, kinda long and decent amount of cursing cuz I have no shame. Both reader and Matsun are kind of dumb.

word count 6.5k

You loved him, you really did, even though he sometimes drove you out of your mind and made you want to bash his head against the wall. And he knew that. He knew what kind of effect he had on you and he was amused by it.  He knew just to push the right buttons, he knew how to rile you up.

You were like an open book to him, so of course he knew you had a crush on him from the start, and you knew that he was aware of your feelings. At first, you were reluctant and refused to admit having the slightest feelings for him, but after some time you accepted the fact and realized that at some point you made your feelings seem obvious. Well, he was your first actual crush, and you were inexperienced.

Your friends would also tease you a lot and at some point, they locked you two together so you could finally confess. It was after their match against shiratorizawa in the third year. That was the day you had your first kiss with him, honestly, you didn't know what happened that night, one moment you were arguing with him because he wanted to leave the team, you were basically yelling how amazing player and teammate he was and the next second you were kissing each other. You expected that after he would confess to you, but he never did. He acted with you like the kiss never happened and that really broke you.

Maybe that is why after all these years you decided to move away, both literally and emotionally. You spent all your high school years waiting for him, waiting for him to make a move, but before you knew it you graduated. You finished school not even holding hands with another boy because you thought he felt the same, you thought that maybe you could be together? But now you realized that it was all load of bullshit. Why did you have to go so far for a person who didn't care about you that much? Why did you have to hold back when he never said no to all the attention he got from girls? You knew that they meant nothing to him and that he only saw them as one-time flings but it still really hurt you. Did you even mean something to him?

You felt mad at yourself, you wasted all these years swooning over someone who didn't return your feelings. But the thing that angered you the most was that you still weren't over him. Your heart would still flutter like crazy whenever you saw him and as much as you hated it he looked better and better every time.  You also hated the fact that you couldn't blame him for all this pain, you couldn't tell that you were heartbroken because he didn't love you, that wasn't much of a reason. You were the silly one here. Why were you even surprised? He knew you for years as friends. He probably only saw you as a friend and considered the kiss as a mistake.

To be honest, he never did anything wrong, he always treated you warmly, and with respect, he liked to piss you off but he never really crossed the line, you couldn't blame him for not loving you. You guys kissed like one time, he probably regretted it and didn't want to hurt your feelings that's why he never brought it up after that. He gave you space. He didn't tell you in your face that he didn't return your feelings, he never broke your heart, you were just the silly one, clinging tightly to that miserable string of hope. You were the weak one for falling for him. It would have been better if he screwed up, if he told you that he could never look at you romantically, maybe it would make you feel a little better, your heart would break but you would get over it? But no destiny said that he had to be perfect.

When you moved away to University you promised yourself that you would start everything from the fresh page, you would work on yourself and no longer be that helpless girl who couldn't even get over her crush. You spent months working on your self-confidence and other issues, you spent countless time getting yourself into shape. Let's say you worked on yourself pretty hard. And it paid off, you had finished university and were about to start your dream job, you had gotten an offer many would dream of, you did everything you wanted, you even got in a few relationships, you should have been satisfied right? Then why didn't feel so? Why was there a feeling of emptiness inside your soul and why was no one able to fill it? It made you furious, after all these years, how could you not move on? Why did you Think about Matsukawa when you kissed other men? Why did you keep comparing everyone to him? What did he even do to deserve a permanent place in your heart? Your heart still kept beating like crazy and it's been what? years? you were in your twenties already, you needed to move on!

You were back in the city to celebrate your friends' victory over his rivals. Oikawa being the flashy person he is decided to throw the biggest party possible and now here you were. You knew you would meet him here, he was his friend as much as you after all, but you didn't expect it to hurt this much. As you said time really had done its job on him, he looked more mature now, he was slightly taller and definitely more muscular, he decided to grow his hair too, you always knew that he would look amazing with slightly longer hair, he had also gotten a few tattoos that were seen through his rolled-up black shirt. Man, did it suit him, the shirt was a bit tight fit and it really complimented his muscular form. The tattoos looked amazing on him and were these rings he was wearing? And piercings! And he had his nails painted black, Really life? He looked like your dream man, thank you very much for nothing!

You knew you would run into him today and you tried to look your best, you knew it was silly but you felt like showing off, but after seeing him you felt kind of self-conscious. You wondered if your dress was a good choice, you chose it as it hugged your curves perfectly and really complimented them but now you were wondering if it was too much. Was your hair alright? You hoped it didn't get frizzy. Oh god, why was everyone staring at you? Your lipstick didn't smudge, right? Even though you were having a war inside your head it simply washed away in an instant as you saw the face of your best friend who was grinning like crazy. You quickly headed to her and engulfed them in a tight hug. God, you missed themso much! You felt lucky just by having them in your life, and they really helped you get through with your issues,they were with you every step of the way and you couldn't be more thankful. If it wasn't for them and your friends you doubted you would be standing here right now. Even though you still felt self-conscious sometimes like now overall you were a pretty confident person who radiated power. Even when you felt weak you managed to look powerful. Maybe this was your resting bitch face? You didn't know. You felt thankful that he didn't notice you he was too busy talking with some woman, typical.

"I missed you so much! Can't believe I'm seeing you after all this time. I really missed you all. And meeting on an occasion like this we just have to celebrate our reunion, I knew Oikawa would beat their asses someday," you grinned proudly. "Okay, I'm getting carried away, I really missed you tho. We have to catch on, let's ditch your them later and have some fun!" You ranted as you occasionally squeezed your best friend who kept chuckling.

"Now now Y/N-chan, you just came back don't go stealing my friends from me!" Oikawa came out of nowhere and snatched your best friend away from you, you pouted but chuckled in the end.

"Can't make promises Flattykawa. And in my defense, I knew them longer." You teased and made a face at him, Oikawa fake gasped and clutched his heart a smile never leaving his face. You missed this idiot and his dramatic shenanigans so bad.

"Again with a nickname! Y/F/N-chan she's being mean!" Your friend only chuckled at Oikawa's childlike behavior and patted his hand.

"She has a point tho." Your friend teased along.

"Betrayed by you too! What else should I expect today?" He whined, you only chuckled and opened your arms.

"I really missed you, you dork! I'm really proud of you," you said sweetly, Oikawa immediately hugged you, you smiled at the familiar warmth, Oikawa has been like an annoying brother to you, you weren't used to not hearing his constant whining and antics even after all these years living apart from them.

"I really missed you too! Nothing's the same without you!" You smiled at Oikawa's warm comment. You were glad they missed you the same way you missed them. You really tried to visit as frequently as you could but it was hard when all of you were covered in work. Out of all third years, Hanamaki and Matsukawa stayed in Japan, you and others left the country for Universities. You felt really emotional, it had been such a long time without them...

"Look at her, hugging Oikawa and Y/f/n-chan first, don't mind me I'm just gonna stand here until you decide to acknowledge me. I thought we had something special Y/n, you're breaking my heart here." You heard a deep voice behind you, you smiled and turned back smirking.

"I would say she has her priorities set right? I mean it's me you are talking about,"Oikawa boasted, Your friend giggled.

"Missed you too Hiro," you grinned as you playfully hit his shoulder then hugged him. It was good to be home.

"Where's my grizzly bear?"  You asked as you searched the crowd for the angry spiky head.

"He's at the bar probably, Oikawa managed to talk his ears out already, he left a minute ago saying "I'm not drunk enough for this shit!" I'm sure he will be happy to see you." Makki smiled and wrapped his hand around your shoulder you smiled and leaned in on his touch. You had missed this so much!

You spent most of the evening chatting with people and having a nice time. Oikawa for sure knew how to throw a party, you even danced with some charming men. You felt uneasy tho, you and Matsukawa made eye contact a few times but none of you even moved to say something, you just smiled at each other awkwardly. Over the night you noticed how many girls approached him, well it wasn't surprising, he was a good looking young man, but you couldn't help but feel a tinge of annoyance on the inside. In the end, you tried your best to be your charming self. You talked to many different men and even danced with more of them, moving your hips passionately along the music. But you felt bored in the end. None of them were interesting, they didn't have a fire you wanted. How long were you going to be like this? Wasn't there someone who could I don't know sweep you off your feet?

Suddenly you felt overwhelmed, the alcohol was starting to kick in and you swayed your hips with a bit more passion, your best friend was next to you, Oikawa had left you two alone to have your time.

"You haven't talked to him right?" As always, Your friend guessed what was bothering you in a second.

"No, and I'm not planning on doing so. If he didn't think I were at least a little bit important than the girls he was talking to then I'm not going to interfere. I have self-respect. He didn't even bother to say hi." You rolled your eyes and chugged another shot, the alcohol mildly burned your throat but you were used to the feeling. You just felt like dancing and maybe even washing your worries away. You wanted to have fun, and you had a reason too, your friend won a gold medal and defeated his rivals! You decided to go and do another shot, getting near the bar, you noticed a familiar spiky head, you smiled and got closer finally sitting next to the buff man.

"Is this seat taken handsome?" You asked seductively, Iwaizumi's shoulders tensed for a second but he relaxed as soon as he saw your grinning face.

"Y/N!" He greeted you with a smile and got up, you were quick to wrap your hand around him.

"Good to see you, daddy." You grinned teasingly, Iwaizumi flushed immediately. You had a habit of teasing him, you often called him daddy because of his aggressive yes, but caring demeanor, and you really enjoyed it when he got flustered. Truth be told you were probably the only person who got away with teasing him without getting punched or kicked.

"God, when will you stop with the dumb nickname? People are going to get a very wrong idea, it's embarrassing," he grumbled and pointed to the bartender by his eyes, who was looking at you from time to time sneakily, he heard you and was shocked, you smirked and gave him a wink, making the boy blush harder. You smiled, as you eyed the boy he was definitely cute.

"I will stop when you won't have an adorable reaction like this," you teased, Iwaizumi only scoffed, but he didn't look mad.

"It's awfully early for you to start drinking, did Oikawa really talk your ears out?" You chuckled, Iwaizumi scoffed again but he looked amused.

"Unfortunately for me yes, I swear to God he never stops talking." You chuckled, it was such an Oikawa thing to do.

"Yeah, I'm glad Oikawa won, I'm sorry for your team but he did work really hard for it and really deserved it." You smiled fondly after noticing Oikawa dancing with your best friend over some cheezy song which probably he had chosen.

"Yeah, I'm glad too. You should have seen him tho, the all smug Oikawa crying nonstop like a baby after he realized he had won, well of course after they left the court, he was like Iwa-chan I did it!" Iwaizumi mimicked Oikawa's crying voice, you giggled. It sounded like Oikawa, "Don't laugh, who do you think had to stop him from crying? "Iwaizumi shuddered as you had a hard time holding your laughter. You had such a good time, you didn't even notice a pair of dark brown eyes observing your giggling form.

"Now all I can see is Oikawa clinging to you like a koala and crying his eyes out."  Iwaizumi only looked at you with an unamused face, making you raise your hands in defeat, the deadly aura didn't go unnoticed by you. Iwaizumi rarely lost his cool around you, but it didn't mean you were immune to his rage. "I'm only kidding, Iwa baby, please don't get mad at me." You lightly pouted as you made puppy dog eyes at him, he only sighed and took another sip from his drink, you smiled and ordered a drink, you visibly relaxed, you didn't feel on edge anymore.

You talked for a while, but unfortunately for you, Iwaizumi had to leave, apparently drunk Oikawa was somewhere causing some trouble. You found it suspicious that was too much even for Oikawa but you didn't question it. Iwaiizumi only grumbled in annoyance and left, being used to all this stuff. You, on the other hand, Made small talk with the cute bartender, he was really good looking and surprisingly very charming and smooth. You were quite drunk already and you were feeling needy, so now here you were making out with him in some empty hallway. He was a good kisser, but you still didn't feel any spark. You wanted to feel the same tingling sensation as the one you felt when you had your first kiss with Issei. The situation was not at all romantic as you said, Oikawa and others locked you in the lockers, to make up after you had a little fight. You bickered at each other for a while, well it was you who was really arguing, you were really mad at him because he was bringing himself down and planned on leaving the team, and you were trying to get to his scull how amazing he actually was and soon your lips were against each other and it felt like the most magical feeling in the whole world. You had never felt anything like that when you kissed others and today was no exception, unfortunately for you. You tried to take the lead in the kiss maybe to make it feel more enjoyable for you but before you could even try, a hand made the man separate from you. You opened your eyes to see Issei, who didn't have a very pleased expression.

"I have business with Y/N, so I don't know, get lost?" Issei said without any emotion. You looked at him dumbfounded. He didn't even bother saying hi earlier, what business would he have with you? The boy, Souma was it? Looked at you two before speaking.

"Dude what the hell we were busy!" He groaned as he glared at Issei, who didn't seem really fazed.

"Do I really look like I care?" Matsukawa asked plainly, You took the chance to straighten up.

"Listen here you little..." Souma stopped before he would go on, as he felt chills run down his spine under Matsukawa's cold glare. You sighed and straightened up.

"I guess it's pretty important, I will contact you later ok?" You asked sweetly, but you both knew you weren't going to contact him. You didn't even have his number and you hadn't given him yours. Souma grumbled and left leaving you with Issei.

As soon as he left you were quick to smack Issei's arm. "Dude, what the fuck?" He only looked at you, grabbed your arm, and led you through the hallway. "What's with the cockblocking? He didn't seem too bad."

"I didn't like him." He said like it was the most obvious thing. It made you feel mad.

"Oh sorry, next time I will choose someone you might like, for future references what type of boys are you into?" You snarled lightly. You wanted to break free from his grasp but it was too strong. Soon your back made contact with the cold wall, and you were caged between Issei's strong arms. You tried to protest but before you could even say a word his lips were on you. You didn't know how to act, your whole body went stiff but after a second you felt your body relaxing.

"God, you're beautiful." He said as he kissed you again, his big hands snaking around your waist. You were speechless, you didn't really realize what was going on. But your body felt like it was on fire. His lips kept brushing against yours just perfectly, your skin was burning hot under his touch. Your heart was beating like crazy, you only managed to whimper against him and he took this as a chance to deepen the kiss. You tried to keep up but it was physically impossible. His kiss was deep and passionate, kind of possessive too. You could feel all his lust through it. You moaned lightly, unable to control yourself. You put your hands on his chest, you could even feel his strong yet fast heartbeat, you pushed lightly, Issei took the hint and leaned back. He stared at you, admiring your beautiful form, you looked so pretty all flustered and breathless, he had wanted to do this for such a long time, for the whole night you had basically been teasing him and his patience was running thin.

"What came over you. I..." You didn't know what to say, you were so confused.

"Do you remember our random sneak outs in highschool?" How could you forget, you just lived for the tiny adventures you, Makki and he used to have at three am. Sometimes when Hiro didn't feel like coming, you would go with him instead. Eating ice cream or random junk food at three am on your special spot, you lived for it. Sometimes you didn't even talk for a whole night but still felt so comfortable. Your chest tightened again at the memory. But why bring it up now? This didn't explain all the raging questions you had.

You nodded your head quietly, looking at him through glossy eyes. "I do. Why?" Your voice was so weak it made you cringe. You didn't know, what was this about? Why bring it up now.

"Would you go on an adventure with me? I know it's Oikawa's special day, but Y/N I... We both know that we need to talk." You looked up at him with wide eyes, you had never seen him like this, he looked so serious and desperate too? Despite feeling all furious and all you nodded and let him lead you through the crowd and to his car.

"I will text him, he might get worried. But what should I say? Where are we even going? We're in Tokyo, don't tell me we're going to Miyagi!" You asked as you sat down in his car, you were confused, all this stuff was confusing you.

"No, I don't plan to take you to Miyagi, I was thinking of ordering a shit ton of junk food via drive-in and then taking you to the place I found earlier. Don't worry I'm sure you will like it." Issei assured you as he got in his car, started the engine, and started driving.

"Are you really trying to get on my good side via food? I'm really mad it's not going to be that easy." You furrowed your eyebrows, Issei huffed a laugh.

"Maybe I am? We both know that you will sell your soul to satan for a bag of doritos! If I keep your mouth busy while I tell you something at least I won't have to worry about you biting my head off," Issei pointed out like it was the most obvious argument while smirking proudly, you scoffed.

"I will hit you so hard after you stop the car, I'm not doing it now because I value my life. And besides, it's not about whether or not I will like the place. It can be next to a strip bar or some abandoned place, what's important is that you will say and you know that." You said as a matter of fact and turned away from him, looking through the window.

"I know." He sighed after a second, the atmosphere was heavy, opposite of what you were used to. You started liking Mattsun because things were easy with him and that it was full adventures, but now... You had to calculate everything you said, how you moved, how you looked at him, and stuff. When did it become so painful to be in the same space as him? And the stuff he wanted to tell you terrified you. What if he admitted that he never saw you seriously? That he only felt desire for you at some doing and nothing else. You didn't even know what made him act up today, did he have at least the slightest feelings for you or did he just found desirable in that tight dress? Maybe he just didn't like the face another man tried to take you away. Either way, anxiety was eating you from the inside. Your heart kept beating rapidly and your fingers actually hurt from playing too hard with them.

You were so lost in your thoughts you didn't even notice how he ordered and got the food. You only came back to reality only when he opened your door gently took your hand in his big one. "We're here." He helped you get out of it. The cold air immediately hit you, making you shiver slightly. "Here take this." He said as he put his jacket on your shoulders, it was so big you were basically swimming in it but on the contrary, it was really warm and soft and it smelled like him! Just perfect, you immediately snuggled in. Mattsun then took the food package from the backseat. He quickly locked the car and led you through again. You were now in front of a big clearly abandoned building, you hesitated for a second and tightened your grip around his hand, Issei looked at you, carefully examining your face."Are you feeling scared? I promise it's a safe place, I have been here. You still like exploring weird buildings like this right?" He teased lightly, squeezing back your hand. You only pouted.

"I do like exploring buildings like this, but when I said abandoned building I was joking you know that right? I like these kinds of places but not in dresses like this and especially not in high heels. I like being prepared to run from my life if there's a huge creep or some sort of monster, I don't know! And I haven't done something like that for such a long time, and we're not in Miyagi too, everything's new here!" You said as a matter of fact while playing with your hair, Issei only chuckled. You felt nervous. Before you could even comprehend what was happening Issei had already picked you over his shoulder. You felt like a sack of potatoes.

"Oh my god, Matsun what are you doing? Put me down!" You tried squirming away at the same time you clutched his shirt too afraid to fall. He started laughing, you felt vibrations through his back, you couldn't help but smile, you liked when he laughed.

"No way, I like carrying you and I have the best view too so no way princess."You could tell he was grinning while looking at your ass and it made you mumble in annoyance. You gasped when he spanked your bottom lightly, you smacked his back in response. "Do you like the view?"

"Shut up!" You whined, which made him chuckle harder. "Put me down, my dress is short!" You started wiggling again, but he had a death grip on you. You could feel the blood rushing to your face and at this point, you were not sure if it was from embarrassment, just having your head low and blood rushing to your head or just anger.

After a minute of him walking and you admiring his ass, he finally put you down. You looked around, the building was empty, there was no furniture and some of the walls were covered in graffiti. Other than that you enjoyed the place, it had a certain vibe to it. You wandered for a second, exploring the room. When you turned around you didn't see him, you walked around and eventually came out on the huge veranda. The sight made you gasp, Issei had laid the blankets on the floor and taken out the food, it looked so cozy! There were some pillows too. It was just like a little picnic, the dim streetlights also shone nicely with some fairy lights there and there and the sight in front of you of the night city was magnificent. Everything looked so simple yet so perfect.

"Okay, stop or I might have to actually marry you." You pointed at everything dramatically, you couldn't contain your smile. Everything looked like the pics you have seen on social media or in the movies. Issei smiled at you softly, you looked so cute all excited like that. His jacket really suited you too, you looked so perfect.

"I knew you would like this. I'm glad you actually agreed to come." He smiled and patted space next to him, you sighed and sat carefully, holding down your dress, it was short at it was you didn't want it to slide up too much.

"You knew I wouldn't refuse such tempting request, didn't you? I always liked our little adventures," you smiled fondly, recalling sweet high school memories.

You spent few minutes in silence watching the city, eating there and there, but it wasn't uncomfortable like before, your anxiety had calmed down a little too. You just sat there and enjoyed the moment. You didn't even notice when he took your hand but you didn't bother to take it back. You wished you could stay like this forever but you also knew it was wrong. You had to ask the question, even if hearing it could destroy you. You both knew that.

"Matsu, why did you kiss me earlier? I'm trying to understand what's going on between us but now I'm especially confused. Why did you do it? I thought you didn't like me," You were talking quietly, but in reality, it was really hard for you to contain your sea of emotions. Issei tightened his grip on your delicate fingers, neither of you bothered to look at each other in the eyes. He took a deep breath and started talking quietly.

"I don't know myself. I thought I had let go of you, I thought I was over you, but when I saw you again all feelings came crashing down on me again. You looked so breathtaking, I fell in love with you all over again. So pretty and all dolled up and this dress. God this dress, hugs you so perfectly on all the places I want to touch, I actually feel jealous of it. I want to rip it off and have you all to myself and never let go. I don't want to let go now that I tasted your lips again." He spoke lowly, his voice was raspy and it sent chills down your spine. " You are the most beautiful person here you know that right? You are probably the most beautiful person in the whole city, I think even in whole Japan or better the world!" Matsun kept going on and on setting your heart ablaze. You were mad, but at the same time, you were so at ease and felt so at comfort. It was like your mind and heart were battling each other and you had no idea which would win.

"I'm still really mad at you." You grumbled against his chest, Issei hummed and wrapped his hands tighter around your waist.

"I know and you have every right to." Issei hummed and pecked your hair, he then grabbed your chin lightly and made you look at him. "I'm really sorry Y/N, all I have been doing is to cause you pain. It was never my intention. I love you, god, I love you so much! I know you will be better without me. You can find so many who are way better than I am and would treat you like you really deserve. And I thought I came around with the fact that I wouldn't be the one to have you in the end. I always knew that. That's why I never made any kind of move on you. When you entered the party you looked like a different person. You were the most beautiful person I have ever met, you looked so confident and comfortable in your own skin and most of all you looked so happy! I didn't want to come to you and ruin it. I felt so proud too, you achieved so many things! God, you don't know how proud I am to even know you!" Matsun kept going on and on, you haven't even heard him talk this much in a row, he was always a man of few words. He looked so desperate too, and the way his voice broke, killed you too. You had known him for years but you still never had seen him like this. Honestly, You had no idea what to do. You wanted to yell at him and comfort him at the same time. You tightened your grip around his hand, your knuckles were starting to whiten but you didn't care. You wanted for him to know you were listening, that you were there.

"Matsun, I..." You tried to start but he interrupted you.

"Please let me finish." The tone of his broken voice immediately made you shut up. "I know it was my own choice to let you go, and I really thought I was fine with that but when I saw you... When I saw you something like snapped in me. I tried to take my mind away, I kept talking to this women to keep my mind off of you, but how can I pay any attention to these peasants when a literal goddess has taken over my heart? And when I saw you kissing that asshole I almost went feral! I would have murdered him if I had a chance. He was touching the one I basically find sacred so disrespectfully, I almost lost my mind. Then I got you to myself I couldn't help but kiss you. Your lips always look so welcoming I couldn't help myself. And I want to do it again and again. I don't ever want to let go. I miss you like crazy! I don't know if I can be apart from you again. I... God, I sound so pathetic, I don't even understand what's happening with me. I covered this place with blankets and stuff you love because I hoped you would come to another adventure with me. Funny thing is that I wasn't even planning on asking, I don't know how we ended up here. I thought I would end up coming here all alone, wallowing myself in self-pity again. I know I don't deserve it, and I know that everything's my fault and my fault only and I would understand if you don't want to have anything to do with me, but could you give me another chance? I don't think I can last any more minute without you. I miss you so much it actually hurts."

Matsukawa looked at you with pleading eyes, and before you could even comprehend what was happening, you were getting in his lap and were kissing him like there was no tomorrow. He was startled for a second, he clearly didn't expect you to have a reaction like this but he wasn't against it at all. In fact, in a second, he was the one taking the lead and deepening the kiss. His hands digging in your hair while you slid yours through his hair. He would have continued doing so before you leaned back and broke the kiss. He looked at you half dazed. You were quick to bring him back to his senses when you harshly smacked his head.

"That hurts!" He complained, which made you more fueled up and now you punched his shoulder.

"That's the point of hitting! I want it to hurt you asshole!" You yelled. "You know you're a huge fucking idiot right? What's with this bullshit about not being worthy to be next to me? If I didn't think your ass was worthy I wouldn't have fallen in love with you! My taste in men may not be that great but I'm not stupid! I appreciate that you're thinking about my happiness or whatever, even though it's totally uncalled for, and thank me for not beating your ass further! But I get to decide what's good for me and what's not. To your surprise genius, that comes to dating too! I get to decide whom I want to date and fall in love with and in this case, it happens to be you, fuck it always has been you! I had some partners but I didn't love any of them, cause your caterpillar brow ass has managed and captured my heart, I always come to compare them to you, and guess what they're not you! God, you can be so stupid for someone who is supposed to be smart! I'm really disappointed Matsun and mad too! I want to beat your ass even further! God, how did you even manage to come up with this bullshit? I swear to god!" You kept grumbling while messing with Issei who looked like he was still in shock, his cheeks were dusted pink and you couldn't help but squeal on the inside from how cute you found it. You made Issei blush! That was an achievement for sure and such an adorable one too! But you couldn't back down now, you felt actually mad that he had such dumb thoughts like this, but on the other hand, you found it very endearing and cute. He was trying to protect you! And by the looks of it, he was hurting just as much as you. But the fact remained the same, he loved you. Your dream came true, he shared the same feelings! You felt so happy, you wanted to kiss his face till your lips fell off.

"You know you don't have to straight ass roast me right?" Issei tried to look offended but he was having a hard time hiding his grin, you smiled and pinched his cheek making him roll his eyes.

"Oh baby, I'm not even started. What did you think I was going to forget everything? And don't be mislead Makki can't even come close to me when it comes to teasing. You're in for a ride sweetheart, teasing is only just begging, maybe if you find a few ways to shut me up, and you know what I mean, I could keep quiet for a while, you could atone for your stupid ass mistakes with many kisses for starters. I don't know Matsu get creative. The point is you're stuck with me and you can't even run from me now you got it? No more bullshit like I don't deserve you and stuff like that," You said as slowly and as seductively as you could having your face close to his and occasionally brushing your lips against his. Still being in his lap gave you the perfect leverage and you just loved the way he was tightly holding your hips, to keep your bodies close. You felt complete after such a long time...

The hurt and all the emotions didn't wash away immediately obviously, you knew that your wounds would take time to heal, but now at least you knew Issei would be next to you through the journey and that was enough. You knew that now, that you had talked things through, maybe yelled from your side but still, you knew that you could overcome many things together. You just needed to voice your thoughts out.

"Wasn't even planning on it baby," he growled while he closed the distance between your lips again making you squeal a little. Yup, you just loved your little midnight adventures.

God, I can't believe I actually wrote over 6500+words. No wonder my eyes hurt like a bitch lol. Anyway, I really hope you will like it. If you have any kind of feedback please notify me. I'll gladly take some healthy criticism. I really want to improve my writing and I promise I will do my best. This is a firts work I have ever published on tumblr and I really hope you will like it^^

[ironmandeficiency]

that’s not a shirt

pairing: marcus pike / reader

word count: 1584

summary: marcus comes home from work & finds the strangest thing in the laundry.

a/n: for @autumnleaves1991-blog and her wednesday writing challenge! writing domestic marcus pike is my therapy. unbeta’d and posted from mobile (honestly my laptop is becoming less convenient to post from even tho posting fic on tumblr is literally the reason i bought it last year)

three long, miserable weeks. that’s how long marcus has been out of town for a case that had him jetting all across the country, far away from you and your comfortable bed. he’s almost never at the apartment he pays rent for every month. most of his clothes and his favorite pillow are at your place, and the small quilt his grandmother sewed decades ago is draped over the back of your couch. in everything but name, he lived with you.

when he entered your apartment with his key, he took note of the fact you weren’t there and got set to cleaning up a bit. work leaves you exhausted more often than not and he doesn’t want to leave everything undone for you to worry about when you get home.

upon first glance, he could see the laundry was half done. a heaping load of clean clothes was in the hamper in front of the dryer and there were wet clothes in the open washer. when he looked further, there was also a load in the dryer, which told him that you stayed up late to get things done then fell asleep on the couch waiting for the dryer to finish. with a fond smile, he started the dryer for a few minutes to get wrinkles out of what’s in there. when those are done, he can get what’s in the hamper unwrinkled and hung and folded.

dinner was next on the to-do list. something nourishing to welcome you home after a long day but simple enough to do while catching up the clothes: spaghetti. there’s something about his mom’s recipe for the sauce that makes his spaghetti absolutely heavenly — your words, not his — and he can’t wait to see your reaction to having marcus home two days earlier than planned along with his best dish.

in the time it takes him to get the sauce cooking and the water boiling on the stove, the dryer announces that it’s finished with the first load. he hums as he folds the bath towels and dish rags without a care in the world, making the trip to stow them in the bathroom cabinet with a spring to his step.

checks the sauce for flavor and consistency before putting the second load of wrinkled clothes in the dryer, finding it needs just a smidge more rosemary before it can be left to simmer. picks another sprig from the plant you keep on the windowsill and cuts the leaves very fine before sprinkling them in with a flick of his wrist.

satisfied with his efforts, he turns back to the laundry. he dutifully empties the lint filter (you’re adamant on emptying it after every load and the trait passed onto him) before he begins to grab things to toss into the dryer. about a third of the way through the basket, his hand grabbed onto something weirdly solid and plump.

“mroww!”

last marcus checked, shirts don’t make noises like that. he tore his gaze from the inside of the dryer to the hamper to find a grey and white kitten lounging in the hamper. the little thing was nudging his hand with their head, clearly wanting the attention of the man slowly depleting its bed. he was perplexed. you didn’t have a cat when he was last here, but there was one seeming to be perfectly content in making itself at home in your apartment.

“where did you come from?” he knew the cat wasn’t going to give him a coherent answer but he felt the need to voice his confusion anyway. the first thing to do now: check to see if it’s male or female. it’s a female, looks to be about three months old and is perfectly content with being handled by marcus.

marcus can’t recall the last time he had a pet. with him being too busy with work, he never thought it would be fair to a pet to have an owner constantly gone. he didn’t have enough stability in the past with where he lived and didn’t want to only be a half ass pet parent. the past several months, however, have been nothing but stable. not counting the seldom out of town cases, he goes to work in the morning and comes home to you in the evening, and he rinses and repeats as needed. maybe this kitten is the perfect prelude to taking the next big step in his relationship with you.

for now though, marcus doesn’t let himself get carried away with his daydreams about living with you full time. he’s got laundry to finish and dinner to cook, and now he has a sous chef to accompany him. he holds the kitten to his chest, scratching her chin with a hooked finger and melting at the way she looks up as if telling him to keep going. “alright sweet girl, let’s finish up dinner.” a soft “mrrow!” is her reply and it makes marcus huff a quiet laugh.

dinner is completed with marcus using one less hand than normal, his sous chef being fabulous company. the few times he had to use both hands, his feline friend perched on his shoulder (which he thought was the best thing ever) and waited to be held again. however this cat got here, marcus didn’t know; the one thing he did know is that it wasn’t leaving anytime soon.

the front door was unlocked when you came home and you knew with absolute certainty that you locked it before you left. your walmart bags filled with cat supplies were immediately dropped to the hallway floor as you began to inspect your front door and the area around it. marcus taught you how to spot the basic signs of forced entry (like the protective sweetheart he is) and when none of them were there, you cautiously entered your apartment, mace in hand.

the adrenaline washed away when you spotted your loving boyfriend in the kitchen, gently bobbing his head along to whatever music he had playing. one hand was stirring a pot on the stove while the other was plenty preoccupied with the kitten. shit, you forgot to warn him about the kitten before he got home!

this was the last thing you thought would be here to greet you, but it was a very welcome sight; the feline was finicky and marcus wasn’t due home for another few days, a double whammy. “i see you’ve met the kitten.” you’re honestly just thankful he didn’t get upset about the little thing. neither of you have talked about pets or whatever your living situation is becoming, so the way he seems so taken with the kitten is a sign pointing in a great direction.

when he hears your voice, marcus visibly lights up. “hi honey!” the hand with the spoon immediately drops the wooden utensil into the pot and waves at you happily. “this is my sous chef, say hello, pasta!” he grabs one of her little paws and waves it at you before resuming his stirring, a beaming smile on his face.

did he really just name the cat pasta? and how in the world is she so calm with him right now?

you found the kitten, now known as pasta, huddled in a cardboard box beside a gas station dumpster headed home from work. she was mewling her little head off back there and you were lucky enough to hear her. taking her and her box, your list of things to do was thrown out the window as you rushed her to the vet. they cleaned her up real good and schedule her vaccinations, and sent you home with a list of supplies to buy and advice on how to take care of the little thing.

she was pissed at you after the vet trip. didn’t let you pet or hold her unless she was in the mood for it and if you tried to pick her up otherwise, she would scatter and give you a glare from a safe distance away. but here was marcus holding her like a baby, and the little brat was eating it up! to be fair, you were the same way with marcus when he was being affectionate so you didn’t completely blame her.

“why pasta?” you knew that cats were more likely than dogs to have strange names. you just didn’t think your boyfriend would be the type to give a cat a name like pasta. at that rate, you might as well name a dog goose and call it a day.

he smiles at the furball, giving her a few affectionate pets while he talks. “i was cooking spaghetti when i found her in the laundry hamper, and then i noticed a little spot right on her hip that looks like penne. i couldn’t choose between the two so i went for the middle ground. is that okay with you? or did she have another-”

“marcus, i love it.” and you really do; that sentimental dork just made you love the name pasta with nothing but two sentences. “and honestly, i’ve just been rotating between baby girl, squeak toy, and dumbass since i found her the day before yesterday.”

he scratches pasta under her chin as he laughs at the thought of you calling his sous chef a dumbass. “pasta is not a dumbass! you tell ‘em sweetheart, tell them how smart you are!”

“mroww!”

“see? she’ll be the next einstein.”

marcus pike taglist: @likeshootingstarsinthenightsky @obirain @themarcusmoreno @catsnkooks @torradoza @stardustsunrisekisses @darthadeline @max--phillips @jedi-mando @darklingveracruz @andysficrecs @pedropasscals @qhbr2013 @seasonschange-butpeopledont @greeneyedblondie44 @princess76179 @kaermorons @lv7867 @whovianwar @purelypascal

[paranetics]

hiya could you do a kiadam for 17. and 22.? if your not too busy. thanks !!

17.  “Looks like we’ll be trapped for a while…” 22.  “I’ve seen the way you look at me when you think I don’t notice.”

He’s completely minding his own business, being friendly with his physics textbook, all pressed up against the end of the bookshelf in the library, successfully having a love affair with headache-inducing math equations, when Mira ambushes him.

“Hiya,” she says, suddenly right in his face.

“Aisghls!” he gurgles, in a completely manly way, thank you. She sits back on her heels and laughs at him, loud and mocking. He scowls at her.

Her braces are blue now, matching the streaks in her hair. She looks nice, he decides, all neon green and blue. The loudness of her wardrobe suits her -- she’d be strange to him if she ever tried to tone it down.

“Oh, man, you should’ve seen your face.”

“Fuck you,” Kai snaps, smoothing out the pages of his book. “I am busy learning how to destroy the AP Phys exam. Stop being a distraction.”

She pouts at him. “Come on, you're seriously not still mad at me about the ceramic pig.”

“I’m always going to be mad at you about the ceramic pig,” he says primly. Then he sighs, unable to resist. “What’s up?”

Her smile turns bright, and his heart does that familiar little stutter. Kai has always, always loved her. Sure, she’s Adam’s best friend and has inclinations more Reeve-based, but there’s always going to be something about her that just catches him in the right spot. He’s over it now, and he has erm, other areas of interest, but she’ll always be special.

“Nessa’s having a party--”

“Ugh,” Kai interrupts.

“--with alcohol--”

“Double ugh.”

“And cute boys will be there,” Mira wheedles, whipping out her best puppy-eyes.

“I don’t care,” Kai says, shuffling away from her and looking back at his textbook. The particles will... he reads.

“Adam will be there,” she tries. Obvious trump card. Goddammit.

He cuts his eyes toward her, calculating. She’s grinning, triumphant, confident that she’s got him. He groans internally, because it’s either that he goes to this party and enjoys at least twelve percent of it, or Mira and Adam will wake him up from a dead sleep sometime in the AM, drunk and needy.

Part of his resistance is a lie, he always likes parties. He doesn’t like Vanessa, but she’s Reeve’s friend, and by proxy, Mira’s friend. He can pretend to like her for one night, especially if he gets to hang out with people. What can he say, extroversion. It’s a disease.

It’s just, recently, there’s been this trend. It’s like he’s been cursed.

Kai pretends to think about it.

“Fine,” he grits out.

“Yay!” Mira says, standing up and doing a little celebratory wiggle. She pulls her phone out of her pocket and unlocks it. “I’ll add you to the group text. Also, I want Reeve to drive me so you’re taking Adam alone okay bye.”

“Huh,” Kai says as she speed-walks away from him. “What? Hey!”

But she’s gone, vaguely eucalyptus-scented-shampoo left in her wake. Alone? With Adam? Fuck.

His phone buzzes.

-

Group: party 🎉🥂🥳🎊 time

mirakat added humantorchkai to the group

abeaverdam: Oh he’s coming?

lochnessa: Damn I didn’t know he left his house anymore

mirakat: ya i cornered his ass in th library

mirakat: hes a total slut 4 skool

mirakat: kais my bitch tho lol so ya hes comin

mirakat: dam hes drivin u

abeaverdam: Is that ok kai?

humantorchkai: yeah

humantorchkai: when?

lochnessa: Friday.

-

Kai’s late to first period on Wednesday, which Reeve notices, and bugs him about for ten minutes straight. He rolls in twenty minutes after the bell, wearing the clothes he left on his bedroom floor, all rumpled up and disorganized, and without a note. He drops into his seat and makes it approximately two minutes before Reeve leans over, into his space, and starts the interrogation.

“Oh my God,” Kai says to the ceiling. “For the last time, my alarm didn’t go off.”

“My Spidey-senses tell me you’re a liar,” Reeve says, and seriously, what does Mira see in this complete dork? He’s so nosy.

Kai drags his gaze from the ceiling to stare at him. “I think your janky-ass ‘spider-sense’ needs a psych eval.”

Reeve crosses his arms and sniffs at him. “Rude. I thought we were friends.”

“We are--” Kai scrubs his hands through his hair violently, frustrated. He catches the smirk on Reeve’s face. “Hey! That doesn’t work on me anymore. I’ve evolved.”

The smirk doesn’t leave Reeve’s face.

The truth is, Kai’s late because he had a nightmare. Or a wet dream. Depends on your definition of either thing. It’s been reoccurring pretty consistently, and Kai always wakes up from it breathing hard, adrenaline in his veins, and a hard-on. Today just happened to be shittier, and he couldn’t get back to sleep right away, so he overslept when his alarm went off.

It’s pretty much the worst, been happening for almost a month, and Kai is slowly losing his mind. But. whatever, the important part is this: he’s with Adam, and Adam kisses him. They could be in space, or in a submarine, or whatever Kai’s subconscious feels like cooking up. They could be anything, pirates, elven rebel warriors, it doesn't matter. In every dream, Kai’s with Adam, and at some point Adam leans over, the smell of Hennessy whiskey on his breath, and kisses Kai.

It’s why Kai’s been so rigid lately, avoiding his friends and refusing to go to parties, because of what happened Last Time he’d gone.

Mad Libs! Fill in the blanks, Sherlock.

He’s so totally, totally, totally screwed. And no one is allowed to know, not even Reeve, who knows Adam’s a flirty drunk and that Kai’s pathetic, and hasn’t even told anyone any of Kai’s other secrets, because this? This is world-ending levels of FUCK.

So, when the bell rings, Kai basically sprints out the door to avoid Reeve.

-

Group: party 🎉🥂🥳🎊 time

speedyskeet: should i bring da weed

reever: ohhh shiiiit hell yeah

lochnessa: No LSD though

speedyskeet: :O

speedyskeet: um ok MOM

reever: wtf ness

reever: psychedelic rights!!!

speedyskeet: let me get us fkd up!!

mirakat: wait didnt we hav 2 call an ambulance 4 coop last time u brought more than weed to a party

mirakat: or was tht a different school

speedyskeet: .........

speedyskeet: ok so im assuming edibles and my bong right

-

Kai takes his lunch to Mr Tucker’s room.

Mr Tucker is the APUS history teacher for the senior class, and he is the only non-STEM teacher that Kai likes. Mira is also his favorite student, so he lets them eat lunch in his room. It’s better than fighting for a spot in the crowded cafeteria, and Kai likes hiding from the rest of the student body.

Adam, Reeve, and Mira are sitting at one of the table groups when Kai walks in with his plate of chicken nuggets, Vanessa and Skeet nowhere to be seen. They’re probably getting high in the parking lot.

Mr Tucker is scrolling through youtube, his computer desktop displayed on the projector screen.

“Why’d you look up Nyan cat?” Kai asks, tilting his head as he watches Mr Tucker scroll.

“It’s stuck in his head,” Mira pipes up, helpfully. 

Mr Tucker grunts confirmation and apparently selects the version he likes. Reeve groans when it starts playing, slumping forward over his tuna salad. Mr Tucker picks up his normal vegetable-based salad, his bushy mustache wiggling in that way that means he’s smiling.

Kai sits next to Reeve, across from Adam. Mistake, Kai realizes too late. Big mistake. Because now they have to make eye contact, and Kai’s belly catches fire at the memory of drunkAdamhe’sKISSINGMESOMEONEHELP when he looks down at his plate of chicken nuggets. It’ll be obvious on his face in a few moments, he’s never been able to fight off a blush well, and then there’s going to be Questions. Capital-Q Questions.

But Reeve’s talking about, like, whatever drama majors talk about, and when Kai chances a peek up, Adam’s not looking at him. So.

Kai can’t help it, okay? He’s creepy. Sue him. No wait, that’s not-- ugh.

Kai studies the contours of Adam’s face while he’s not looking. His high cheekbones and his sharp chin. His heavy eyebrows that are shaped perfectly (”Ugh, you’re so fucking gross,” Reeve had said when Kai had voiced this thought aloud. “His eyebrows? I think you need to ask him out. Get it out of your system.”) and his eyes are that warm shade of brown, almost gold, soft and kind.

His hair is longer now, and errant curls flop over his forehead and around his ears. Kai watches the long line of Adam’s throat when he tilts his head back from the force of laughing at something Reeve said. Kai’s transfixed by the inviting stretch of dark skin, entertaining a thought of leaning over and just biting down so it’s not his fault he doesn’t see it coming when Reeve violently jabs him in the rib.

Kai jumps. “Ah! What the fuck?”

“Language,” Mr Tucker says in the toneless inflection of someone who doesn’t really care but responds on reflex. He’s now scrolling through Seasame Street videos.

Reeve shrugs, unrepentant. “You were gone there, dude.”

“Yeah,” Adam agrees, eyebrows raised in polite curiosity. “Planet Zenon gone.”

Kai ducks his head. “I’m, uh, stressed about AP physics?” he tries.

“Uh-huh,” Reeve says, “and are you asking us to confirm that for you?”

“Leave him alone,” Mira interrupts mildly. “Only, like, a hundred people a year get above a three on that exam.”

“Wow, how is that class still funded?” Adam asks.

“Elitism?” Mira guesses. “Maybe it’s like, a torture thing. Like, a test within a test.”

“What,” Reeve says, “like, if you pass you can become a super-secret spy?”

“Or I can, like, do another Chernobyl. Or I’m allowed secret access to government secrets. Ooh, maybe they’ll tell me the moon is a projection into the sky.” Kai says, warming to this idea.

“Then how would they explain waves?” Reeve asks.

“Uh, giant wave pool,” Kai answers.

“Hot take: the world is in a giant wave pool,” Mira grins at him.

Adam blinks almost in slow-motion, the sweep of his eyelashes against his cheeks, a smile growing on his face, and Kai is once again caught like a fly in honey. Just like that, all the saliva is gone from Kai’s mouth, and he’s completely lost the thread of whatever’s happening around him.

Okay, so, recap: totally, totally, totally screwed.

-

adam: U sure you’re ok driving me?

kai: dam i swear its fine

kai: i’d say something if it was a problem

kai: my parents have been trying to kick me out basically every weekend, this’ll make them so fucking happy

adam: Lol

adam: [A stock photo of two white parents sitting on a beach towel in a tropical location, smiling adoringly at each other. In the blurry background, a toddler with similar skin color and hair is being attacked by a seagull.]

-

“There is a PROBLEM!” Kai announces, flopping heavily onto his bed, tossing an arm dramatically over his forehead. Mira doesn’t even look up at him.

“Hm?” she says from the floor, knees drawn up to her chest, eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration. She’s looking more at her iPad than at him.

“Oh my God,” Kai groans. “You don’t even care. I’m nothing to you. You enjoy my suffering.”

“Die white man,” Mira says tonelessly. “I’m trying to beat my old high score in Tetris. What’s your damage.”

“I have nothing to wear on Friday,” Kai moans, pained.

“What? Why do you even care? Your regular clothes are fine.”

“Oh my God, Mira! It’s a party,” Kai breathes the word like its holy, a precious thing nestled in the crook of his tongue, not to be defiled by people who wear school clothes to special events. “And I want to get hit on.”

“I’ll hit on you,” Mira promises. The iPad makes a wah-wah-wah sound. She sighs, setting it aside and looking up at him, expression thoroughly unamused, clearly blaming him for her high-score loss.

“I did not do that,” Kai says. The blood’s started rushing to his head, so he sits up and blinks away the black spots as they dance in front of his vision. “I just wanna be hot,” he whines. 

“Okay, so, wear that stupid blue button-up with the tigers on it, and the black skinny jeans. It brings out your eyes,” she elaborates. “And tucked-in button-ups are hot on dudes. Oh, and--”

“If you’re gonna Queer Eye me, I swear to God,” Kai complains.

“Will you just... I was gonna say you should wear a tiny bit of eyeliner. It’s like, accentuating your features or some shit.”

“Why should I trust you?” Kai asks playfully. “I’ve never seen you go anywhere near a make-up in my life.”

Mira shrugs. “I saw it on Instagram. Anyways, Reeve said I have ‘good bone structure’, what does that even mean?”

“That he’s an idiot and I can’t believe you’re into him?” Kai ventures. Mira glares at him, so Kai leans back on the bed, rolling his eyes up to the bedroom ceiling at the glow-in-the-dark stick-on stars that have been there since he was seven. “Okay, okay. He was probably trying to compliment you, but since he’s a robot sent by aliens to infiltrate the earth he did it in a really bizarre way.”

Mira perks up. “You think?”

“He said ‘good’.”

“What should I say back?”

“Erm, that you’ll have his babies?”

Mira throws one of her glittery highlighter pens at him. It bounces off the center of his forehead and onto his lap. He laughs, picking it up and tossing it back.

“I don’t know,” he admits. “Maybe say that you like his bones, too.”

Mira takes out her phone.

-

adam: [A picture of a pina colada sitting on a kitchen counter in a pool of sunlight.]

adam: Winky face

kai: you could just like, use the emoji keyboard instead of typing it out

adam: Don’t make me frowny face

-

Kai spends fifteen minutes messing with his hair in the mirror. He gels it sticking up, twists his mouth critically at his reflection, and wets his hands to wipe it out. Nothing’s working for him today. It’s just one of those things, his clothes seem to hang off him awkwardly, and nothing looks right.

He makes a sound of frustration, and his mom pokes her head into the bathroom.

“Oh,” she says. “I thought you were going to a party?”

“Mom,” he growls. “I’m getting ready!”

“Hm.” 

She pushes the door all the way open, surveys him from head to toe, and reaches over to run a hand through his hair, leaving parts sticking up in her wake. Kai looks in the mirror. Now, instead of awkward ‘trying-too-hard’, he looks artfully tousled. He unbuttons two top buttons of his tiger shirt, and messes with the collar to make it look like someone had grabbed it and reeled him in for a kiss. He grins at himself.

“That’s better, I think,” she says.

“Thanks Mom,” he says, shuffling past her and out to the hallway.

“Limit yourself to three drinks!” she calls as he stuffs his feet into old converse. “If you get too intoxicated to drive, spend the night! Just text! Don’t forget to wear condoms and--”

Kai shuts the door in her face.

His car is a silver Prius, owned five times prior to him. The interior always smells a little bit like shamrock shake and in the winter requires a prayer and three engine turnovers to start. Kai loves it.

He pulls up to Adam’s street and texts without looking that he’s close. He parks in the street, and jogs up to Adam’s front door. He raps his knuckles on Adam’s door, the red one with caterpillar decals, and a blue handprint on the doorknob.

Adam throws open the door. “Gimme a sec, gotta grab my jacket.”

He’s wearing a white shirt and Kai’s favorite jeans of his (do Not judge him, okay, liking your crush’s ass is basically a given and is no longer considered a sin under the New Testament, so really Kai’s not weird for liking this pair of Adam’s jeans because it accentuates his butt.), the ones with rips in the thigh and at both knees, because Adam lives reckless and dies reckless.

He jams his feet into vans and grabs the heavy olive jacket off the coatrack and follows Kai out to the Prius.

“You look nice,” Adam says, offhand. Kai feels how hot his face immediately gets and hopes it isn’t ugly, sometimes his blushes look like a rash.

“Thanks,” he says, rubbing his neck, right hand fumbling for his keys.

They slide into their seats, and Kai is hit with the violent-sense memory of Hennesy whiskey, and dark streetlamps, and Adam’s soft voice and brown puppy-dog eyes imploring Kai, look at me. Look at me, please. And. And.

His phone buzzes.

“Oh, Vanessa wants us to pick up some soda,” Kai says through the rock in his throat.

“Ooh, ooh. Cherry 7-Up, Jarritos Lime, uh like, a ton of Mountain Dew... and Coke! We’ll need Coke,” Adam rambles as Kai pulls away from the street and heads toward the local general store.

-

mira: WHERE

mira: R

mira: U 

mira: 2

mira: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kai frowns at his phone. They’re in the check-out line, waiting for their turn with about three tons of soda on the conveyer. Kai’s got a fifty dollar bill from his parents, because they’re stupidly open-minded, but he’s still gonna make Vanessa pay him back. Adam’s inspecting the tabloids, making comments about all of the covers and whatever he thinks about them.

kai: WE’RE

kai: FUCKING

(Not sent !) kai: GETTING

(Not sent !) kai: DRINKS

mira: FUHDUK WHATTTT!!!?????????

Kai groans.

-

The party’s already alive by the time Adam and Kai get there, music thrumming against the walls of the house, the glass panes of the windows shaking with the vibrations. Weighed down by plastic bags full of drinks, and a little bit anxious, Kai fumbles with the door handle three times until Adam reaches over him and opens it.

The crowd is huge. He didn’t even know that Vanessa and Skeet knew this many people. There’s a wall of heat that hits them when they step inside, the difference between the inside and outside must be a solid ten degrees. Most people are crammed in the living room, near the speakers, where a sort of impromptu dancefloor has evolved. There are plenty of people lining the hallways, sitting on the stairs, and spilling over into the other places of the house. 

Vanessa has changed the lightbulbs to fuschia, cobalt, and teal colors, so the house looks almost like a club from a TV show. There’s this haze over everything - and, yep, definitely Skeet’s weed - that makes it seem smoky and mysterious. Adam kicks the door shut behind them as they begin to navigate the crowd.

Skeet’s leaning against one of the walls, talking to a tiny girl with piercings and too much eyeliner. She tosses her head, her hair flying up like a halo for a moment, luminescent in the multicolored lights of the house, and leans closer to Skeet. She’s holding a red solo cup, Skeet’s holding weed, and Kai’s arms are starting to hurt from all the soda.

“So, your, like, real name is Skeet? What kind of name is that? I mean, like, who does that to their kid?” she’s asking, valley girl accent and everything, even twirling a strand of hair around her finger.

Skeet shrugs, unbothered. “My parents are hippies.” he spots them, then, and lifts his joint in a get over here gesture. Kai and Adam shove some people to stand in front of him. He grins. “Oh, dudes, nice. You got drinks. I wasn’t sure if you would, since Mira told us that you, uh, made a pit stop.” he waggles his eyebrows.

Kai groans, flushing.

“Uh, yeah,” Adam says, lifting up his bags. “for drinks? Hello?”

Skeet leers, grin stretching bigger. Kai scowls. He’s going to eat her one day, all Hannibal-Lecter style.

“Where is Mira, anyway?” he cuts in before Skeet says anything weird. “Where should we put the drinks?”

“Oh, just, you know,” Skeet makes a vague gesture with his hand that doesn’t really mean anything. “I think I saw her in the kitchen?”

“Thanks,” Kai mutters, shoving through the crowd and deeper into the house.

Mira and Vanessa are leaning against the sink, Reeve’s standing at the counter, completely covered in bottles of alcohol, thumb and forefinger at his chin like he’s surveying fine art. 

“Oh! You made it! I hate vodka without coke,” Mira says, striding forward and grabbing the bags from Adam.

Kai followers her back to the counter, and shoves the receipt into Vanessa’s limp hands without looking at her. Together, Kai and Mira start to set up the drink line, stacking up all the empty red cups at the edge of the counter as they try to make sure all the soda and alcohol are equally accessible. How Skeet even gets this stuff... he shudders to think. 

Kai waits until Adam and Reeve have wandered out of earshot to lean into Mira’s space. Vanessa had vacated the premise the moment it looked like any physical work would be happening, so he doesn’t worry about her particular brand of nosiness. He takes his phone out of his pocket and tilts the screen so she can see it.

“My texts didn’t send,” he tells her in a low voice. “We weren’t actually, you know.” he flushes violently.

Mira shoots him a grin. “No, I guessed that something had happened. It was just funny. You look nice.”

He smiles at her, genuinely, which means his gums are probably showing. She looks nice too, in her little black dress with a flared skirt and combat boots. The neon green streaks in her hair glow in the weird light of the house.

“I like your outfit,” he says. The din in the background is starting to grow. More people have probably showed up.

She nods at his jeans. “Cuffed jeans. The true mark of a bisexual.”

Kai nods very seriously. “I can’t leave my house without announcing every aspect of my sexuality to the entire world.”

Adam’s talking to a group of people at the other end of the kitchen, his smile is blindly white in the pink light, skin pitched a shade darker, a stark difference against the glow of his white shirt. Staring, unable to look away, Kai steals Mira’s cup and takes a swig. It’s straight vodka, so Kai coughs immediately when it hits his tongue.

Mira laughs at him.

-

Group: party  🎉🥂🥳🎊 time

speedyskeet: do any of u know anyone named travis montery

mirakat: no

lochnessa: No

abeaverdam: Nope!

humantorchkai: no

reever: nah

speedyskeet: fucking L lmao

speedyskeet: im kicking this fool out then

-

Kai’s wandering around, pleasantly buzzed from two Cherry 7-Ups with a tiny bit of vodka, looking for any familiar face. Mira and Reeve had abandoned him pretty much straight away, he’d left Adam alone in the kitchen, and he’s actively avoiding Vanessa. 

He stumbles around, moving his shoulders a bit in time with the music, his body gone languid and loose from the heat and the alcohol and the atmosphere.

His phone beeps at him again. He really hopes it's not Skeet checking with them before he bounces a guy again. It’s just Mira, he sees, when he’s fumbled his phone out of his back pocket. He has to squint to read in the pink light amid the thrumming bodies of people all around him.

Eventually, he escapes the crowd and heads down the stairs to the “game room” and finds another living room, with a soft white carpet and a couch in front of a big flatscreen. There’s a group of about a dozen kids, plus Kai’s friends, sitting on the carpet in a circle by the couch, with a beer bottle laying on a Monopoly game board. Kai blinks, the lights here aren’t fun colors, and everyone in the circle raises their arms and cheers when they see him.

He walks over to them. Mira grabs his arm and begins to drag him onto the carpet beside her. The group begins to chant.

“Spin the bottle! Spin the bottle!”

Oh, no fuck, Kai thinks, beginning to resist Mira’s grip on his arm. His drink is sloshing about, and Kai holds it away from his shirt and pants as he tries to reverse his crouch and pull his arm back. Skeet reaches up and confiscates the cup, downing the rest of it in one go.

“Spin the bottle! Spin the bottle! Spin the bottle!”

But he’s buzzed and his coordination is spotty, so when Adam reaches out with his hand and spins the beer bottle, Mira tugs once, hard, and Kai crashes onto the carpet, and the bottle spins,

and spins,

and spins.

And points the neck straight at Kai’s disheveled spot in the circle.

So, let’s revisit that cursed theory, shall we?

Kai looks at Adam, and Adam looks at him. He’s got that dopey half-smile on his face, and his pupils are blown wide, iris a thin gold ring around them. Kai knows when Adam’s drunk, or blackout, and he’s tipsy right now, just like Kai. And... oh no. But the kids in the circle are jeering, giggling delightedly.

“Uh,” Kai says.

Adam licks his lips, and Kai tracks the movement of his tongue helplessly. His eyes are moving on Kai’s face, like he’s cataloging everything, like he can’t keep them still. Kai’s mouth is very, very dry, and he misses having the cup in his hand.

“So, uh,” he says, and the tension buzzes even harder. “Is this, like, a kissing thing?”

Skeet grabs him by the arms and manhandles him up. Reeve and Vanessa grab Adam and start frogmarching them down the short hall toward some rooms and closed doors.

“No,” Skeet says, “This is more like a seven minutes in heaven thing.”

“Wait,” Kai says. Skeet reaches past him and opens a door. “Wait.” Skeet pushes him in, and Adam follows behind. “Wait.” The door clicks shut, then there's a clunk, then the sound of something heavy being pushed against the door.

Kai tries the knob, but it's locked. He jiggles it, but his muscles won’t cooperate and yank hard enough. Adam could probably break it open, but Kai has the vague thought of Vanessa’s parents and property damage, and underage drinking.

“Guys!” Adam yells. He pounds on the door with his fist. “Guys! This isn’t funny!”

But they don’t answer.

Evil. Mental note: make sure your friends aren’t evil next time.

“Looks like we’ll be trapped for a while,” Kai sighs, giving up on the door.

They’ll just have to wait out the seven-minute sentence. It’s simultaneously worse and so much better than the alternative. This way, Adam won’t have to kiss Kai if he doesn’t want to. But also: he won’t have to kiss Kai if he doesn’t want to. It’s a testament to how drunk all of them really are.

Kai turns, presses his back against the door, and slides down it, pulling his knees to his chest, wrapping his hands around his shins, and resting his cheek on his knee. He surveys the room. It’s small and dark, Kai doesn’t have the wherewithal to search for the light switch, but from what Kai can see it looks like a guest room no one ever uses and has accumulated with old junk. There’s a tiny window at the opposite wall that leads up to the lawn. Adam groans and drops onto the ground beside Kai.

The night is clear the moonlight is touching the window and peeking into the room. Adam’s shirt is glowing against his skin from the moonlight, his eyes a bright point in the semi-dark of the room. Kai locks eyes with Adam, and the tension from earlier crops back up tenfold.

This situation is... stupidly pointed. Kai’s pretty sure Reeve is the only person in the world who knows Kai thinks Adam is kinda hot, but he’d also have to be massively stupid to ignore the strain in their friend group lately.

Adam’s looking at him the way he does right before he reaches out to touch Kai’s hair, or brush his fingers against Kai’s freckles, or leans over to kiss Kai’s cheek. He’s looking at Kai like a hungry man, like he’s about to make the stupidest decision of his life and never look back. Kai can feel the pull of that look drawing him in, the temptation to run his hands against Adam’s chest, touching his shoulders or his mouth.

So Kai does the only thing he can think of.

“What did you think of that new Hey Arthur episode?”

Adam blinks at him. “Uh. You mean that kids show?”

Kai bites his lip and nods vigorously. 

Totally. Totally. Totally screwed.

-

reeb: [A video of Mira on the dancefloor among a huge throng of teens. The song in the background is completely drowned out by people attempting to sing along drunkenly. She’s grinding against Vanessa, who’s wearing Skeet’s sunglasses and drinking a mimosa with a cocktail umbrella in it.]

(Not sent !) kai: let us out of here!!! its been like 15 mins!!!! guys!!! dam’s phone is dead!!!!!

(Not sent !) kai: goddamn it COME GET US

(Not sent !) kai: NOTHING IS SENDING!!

reeb: lol wya we cant find dam either

(Not sent !) kai: YOU LEFT US IN THE BASEMENT

-

“Ugh,” Kai says, flopping back down onto the pillows beside Adam. At some point during their imprisonment slash debate on the ethics of twenty-three seasons of the same children’s cartoon, they’d moved from the floor to the twin bed. “I’m pretty sure they forgot about us.”

“Well, it’s been like thirty minutes. And they’re drunk.”

Kai’s starting to sober up. He has to pee, and his mouth tastes like cherry coughdrops. He stands up on the bed, bouncing a bit on the mattress. He reaches up and touches the seam of the window and the sill.

“What are you doing?” Adam asks, trepidation in his voice.

“Uh, escaping?” Kai says.

Kai presses his foot onto the upside down elliptical that’s propped precariously against an old wardrobe. He puts some of his weight on it, testing. Satisfied that it won’t give, Kai lifts himself up onto it, closer to the window, and pushes against the glass pane. The window opens out suddenly, making Kai wobble. The wardrobe groans.

“Careful!” Adam barks.

Kai glances back at Adam, his worried eyes watching Kai from the bed, sitting up on his knees in a half crouch. Kai sticks his head out the narrow window, then his shoulders, and manages to drag himself up and out.

He turns back around and offers his hand to Adam.

“Come on,” he says. “I’ll help you out.”

Adam climbs up onto the elliptical like Kai had, reaches his right hand to Kai’s left and uses his left to leverage himself closer to the window. The wardrobe and the elliptical make that sound again, like they’re scraping together.

“Hurry!” Kai says, afraid of the whole makeshift apparatus falling apart. Adam’s left palm slaps against Kai’s right and Kai pulls.

The elliptical falls over as Kai yanks Adam up, a great big crash resounding in the room they just escaped. Kai’s momentum and Adam’s weight makes Kai step back once, then twice, then his footing goes and he sprawls onto his back, Adam on top of him, in one big undignified heap.

Adam looks down at him. He looks more sober, too, like he hasn’t had much to drink. Kai should really be pushing Adam off of him. Or trying to sit up. But his hands are on Adam’s waist, and Adam’s looking at Kai’s face like he can’t quite look at anything else, and Kai cannot, for the life of him, break this moment.

Adam’s hands are on either side of Kai’s face, boxing him in. His breath puffs against Kai’s mouth over and over as he breathes shallowly. His eyes flick all over Kai’s face, and Kai’s thinking kiss me, please so hard he’s pretty sure NASA catches the brainwaves.

“I’ve seen the way you look at me when you think I don’t notice,” he says, voice soft and vulnerable, like Kai has the power to hurt him with whatever Kai says next.

Kai’s hands tighten on Adam’s waist. He’s thought about this a lot. Like, a stupid amount. Who doesn’t daydream about confessing to your crush? But Kai cannot dredge up any words to say. He’s dry, completely dry, and he can only think about how good Adam’s weight feels on him. He dips his eyes to Adam’s mouth and thinks This is where I kiss him, right? and Adam’s eyes slide shut as he leans in, towards Kai, and Kai loses his mind.

The backdoor opens, the sounds of the party spilling out into the night air, pink light washing over them. Adam scrambles off Kai so fast that he’s pretty sure he breaks the world record for speed, and stands up.

Kai props himself onto his elbows and squints at the silhouette in the doorway.

“Vanessa?”

“Oh my God, there you guys are!” she leans back into the house to yell, “Guys! I found Adam and Kai! They were fucking around in the backyard!”

“Hey!” Adam snaps indignantly. “You locked us in the basement! We had to escape!”

Vanessa rolls her eyes at them.

-

adam: hey uh

adam: sorry about what i said when i was drunk lol

adam: i didn’t mean it

-

Kai turns his phone off and stuffs it into his bag, frustrated. He hadn’t meant to not talk to Adam all weekend, he’d just needed to think things through, and then his dad had asked him to help paint the deck, and he’d had to finish up some code for robotics and time had kinda slipped away from him without really meaning to.

He hadn’t meant to ignore everyone else, either, but they weren’t in a Situation with Kai on Friday night, and he’s not in love with them, and they didn’t seem to mind so much. 

Kai had spent all weekend staring at the texts, in between being too busy to answer them, but he can’t figure out what to say back. He’d gotten them Saturday morning after the party, probably because he hadn’t stuck around long enough to be left alone with Adam again.

Kai had left because.

Well, because.

Because he feels played.

Is that it? He can’t tell. He just feels so hollow about it. Adam doesn’t mean to, Kai knows that, but it still feels like he’s being led on. Adam has kissed him once while black out and almost kissed him while tipsy and flirts pretty outrageously, and it’s all too much for Kai’s head, which is designed for building robots and lying to his English teachers.

So at lunch, instead of going to Mr Tucker’s room, he lets Freddie from Calc drag him to the auditorium to help build the drama department’s Spring play set.

He’s not avoiding anyone. He’s just... helping his friends.

Fuck.

-

reeb: ok i give

reeb: wtf is going on

kai: ?

reeb: don’t “?” me mfer

reeb: adam is sulking n shit and u’ve been sorta MIA

kai: i’ve been busy, sorry

kai: i am the captain of a team u know. its not personal. i’ll hang out with you guys soon

reeb: spidey sense says there is something u are not telling me

kai: i really do think your spidey sense is actually overactive bladder syndrome

reeb: [An image of the caveman spongebob meme.]

-

He’s in the library, sitting in his favorite spot nestled in the bookshelves, brow furrowed over The Great Gatsby, his English journal, the notes Hannah lent him, and the Sparknotes page for the novel, surrounded by every color highlighter and pen, just trying to get his homework done, when Adam ambushes him.

“You’re avoiding me,” he says, out of nowhere.

Kai jumps, sending his highlighters and books flying. Adam is standing above him, eyebrows furrowed and his arms crossed. He looks a little bit light a superhero, all righteous indignation at injustice, his muscles buldging slightly. You’re dead. Goodbye. his brain supplies.

“Holy shit,” he says, gathering his stuff back up slowly. “You scared me.”

Adam’s eyes soften. “Sorry,” he murmurs.

Kai shrugs. “Don’t worry about it.”

The silence hangs there as Kai avoids his gaze, reshuffling Hannah’s notes back into their correct order. He’s lost his page in the book, so he opens it to the middle and starts looking for the correct page number. There’s no sound in this corner of the library except for Kai’s over-loud breathing and the turning of pages.

Go away go away go away, Kai prays, wanting the world to end so he won’t ever have to face this moment. He thinks about the echo of Adam’s voice in his memory, Kai, look at me, the feeling of Adam’s weight in his lap, the ache Kai feels when he looks at Adam, and wishes that he could just stand up and run.

Adam clears his throat. “You’ve been avoiding me,” he says again, only this time it comes out more like a question.

Kai keeps his face as blank as possible, schools it into something politely curious unlike the shattered glass mosaic he feels like. “Am I?”

Adam rubs his hand across the back of his neck. “Look, I’m sorry,” he says haltingly, sliding his hands into his pockets. “I shouldn’t have... come on to you like that. It was inappropriate, and we were both drunk. And I didn’t mean it.”

Kai looks at him for a long moment. He can feel it, a rock on his chest, crushing him. He feels the ball in his throat, the hot prickle against the backs of his eyelids. “I know,” he says eventually. His voice comes out steady, even though he feels like he’s falling apart.

“So... we’re cool?”

Kai forces himself to nod. “Okay.”

“Really? Because I still feel like I fucked up somewhere here.” Adam takes his hands out of his pockets to open them, palms up, like he’s pleading. “Tell me what I did wrong so I can fix it.”

And it’s now or never. As much as Kai abhors the idea of talking about his feelings in the school library at 4 PM, as much as he wants to just lie through his teeth and stitch this all back up into one big internal bag of FUCK and pretend like nothing happened, he’d be leaving Adam hanging, and Kai’s not a dick.

He takes a deep breath. Then another one. He tries to channel his internal Reeve, but decides against it because Reeve’s kinda an asshole.

“I just... wish you did,” Kai says eventually. If he wasn’t himself, he’d slap him. Adam stares at Kai like he’d just spoken another language, like he’d just spat out part of a puzzle to piece together.

“Wish I did... what?” he asks slowly.

“Mean it,” Kai grits out, the words dragged from him. He feels ridiculous. This is stupid.

“Mean...?” Adam says, like he’s stupid. Kai scowls at him.

“Do you remember the St Eve’s party?”

Adam shrugs, looking helpless and confused.

“I drove you home that party. I drive you home every party. And every time we’re alone, you say that you like me, that you want me to go inside with you, that you think about me all the time,” Kai’s stomach is churning and Adam looks like he’s about to faint.

“I didn’t...”

Kai can’t hear him say it again. “And I know that you’re just drunk, and that’s just what you’re like when you’re drunk, but I just... I just wanted it to be true so bad. Part of me kept driving you home because I wanted you to be like that with me, part of me just wanted to pretend. But then you kissed me, and I just...” Kai makes a helpless gesture with his hands.

Adam licks his lips. He’s breathing a bit hard.

“...Fell apart,” Kai finishes.

Adam’s looking at him, wide-eyed, deer-in-the-headlights look, pure panic. Kai’s fucked it up, ruined their friendship, destroyed their friend-group, and will probably be unable to look anyone in the eye for a very long time. 

Adam didn’t want to hear this. Kai should’ve just lied, shut it all up and let himself wither up inside. He should’ve avoided Adam harder, or refrained from falling in love with him in the first place. He should’ve just dated Jesse when she’d asked and made himself get over Adam.

 “How long?”

Kai blinks. “Huh?”

“How long have you wanted...?” he shrugs.

Ah. The million dollar question.

“Officially? Middle of junior year. If I’m honest with myself? Probably since middle school.”

Adam’s mouth opens and closes nonsensically. Kai asks God to strike him down, just so this can end, just so Kai can go back to trying to figure out what the fuck is up with Gatsby and Jay, just so Adam will stop looking at him like that, like Kai’s killed his puppy.

Adam drops to his knees in front of Kai.

“Okay. Since freshman year. And I’m a liar. I did mean it. I kept thinking, you know, maybe you’d like me back, because I could see you looking, but I just couldn’t make myself say anything. And I meant it. I mean it. I do. I want to kiss you.”

Kai swallows. He’s feeling that dangerous thing again, like there are snakes in his chest, or his feelings are in a bucket that’s about to overflow.

“Okay,” he squeaks out.

Adam leans down and fits their mouths together. It’s chaste, and Kai’s lips are a little bit chapped, and he didn’t close his eyes, but when Adam pulls back Kai smiles so hard his mouth hurts. 

And he leans up to kiss Adam, insistent, insistent, tasting Adam without Hennessy whiskey (and he does taste fantastic), and something electric happens to Kai’s spine when their tongues touch. He feels like he’s going to burn up, burst into stars, create a fissure in the earth that goes down to the core, or all three at once.

Adam licks along the roof of Kai’s mouth and yeah - that’s the one thing he’d like to never, ever, ever forget.

He’s about to be totally, totally, totally screwed. 

-

Group: dandilyin hoes MFERsssss!! skeet DONT CHANGE CHAT NAME

mirakat: omfg

mirakat: k & a suckin face in library

mirakat: [A blurry creeper picture of Kai pressed against the bookshelves, Adam leaning over him. Their silhouettes are blacked out against the sunlight streaming in through the window, so they almost look like one body. It’s taken at an angle and half of a wooden shelf is in frame.]

speedyskeet: arent they in this GC too

lochnessa: Lmfaaooooooo

speedyskeet: they r gonna see this.....

reever: WTF ADAM’S INTO KAI???

reever: ?????

lochnessa: What planet do you live on

speedyskeet: fuckin jesus christ reeb

locknessa: Literally no one knew KAI was into Adam. EVERYONE KNEW ADAM WAS INTO KAI

reever: WHY AM I THE LAST ONE TO KNOW STUFF

mirakat: s2g i tld u this whn we were @ fortescue’s u nvr listen 2 me

-

“I hate them all,” Kai announces.

Adam looks up at him from where his head is pillowed on Kai’s thighs, Pride and Prejudice held aloft. 

“Don’t worry, I set all their ringtones to Maroon 5.”

send me a ship + a prompt and i’ll write you a drabble!

[leninouche]

Some Les Mis observations I made today as I watched the show at the Sondheim Theatre in London. Hope you enjoy!

- jean valjean is SOFT his voice is soft and silky and i love him

- THEY INCLUDED PETIT GERVAIS IM DLWNLDSLL

- At the „you know what that means“ „yes it means i‘m free“ „NO“ they made it as if Javert said no to keep a guard from hitting Jean and I‘ve never seen that before??

- The confrontation was LIT i mean it was ON they FOUGHT and it was amazing I loved it a lot

- Javert‘s overpronounciating everything and it‘s perfectly in character (but his french is terrible)

- His OUTFIT (tight black pants and boots, blue coat and ponytail, he hot)

- Very high Tension ™️ between Javert and Valjean, they „held hands“ for approximately a minute straight

- After Javert told Valjean about „this con man he once knew“ he went off-stage. Valjean kept tense for a long moment. Then face-palmed while he sung: „he thought that man was me without a second glance“ as if to say: ughgh javert is SO embarassing!

- The thenardiers are excellent and very much in character, amazing

- Okokok paris scene was good but THEN ENJOLRAS APPEARED AND I WAS NOT READY FOR THIS MAN NOT READY

- he had beautiful blond curls and was wearing a violet coat with a red waistcoat

- Marius is a Dork ™️ he‘s living the dumb dumb life

- My god, Enjolras talked to the poor people around and to his friends and he was genuinely concerned and attentive

- When the Thenardiers attacked Jean, Cosette fell to the side a bit and nearly got robbed by Montparnasse, but Marius sprung in between them. Monty continued to threateningly wield is small little pocket knife at a very distressed and scared Marius

- Montparnasse is excellent btw, long black hair and tailored clothes, he cute tho

- Ponine and Cosette are both awesome and I enjoy them so much. Cosette hit the high notes flawlessly and Ponine‘s end of On my Own was luminous

- Jean let his tissue drop when he ran away with cosette and Javert picked it up. Is that a UF tissue reference??? He even smelled it

- THE AMIS SCENE I AM

- grantaire gave his all, he even danced a little

- When Marius started singing about Cosette all the amis shouted at him to shut up in a joking manner

- Enjolras is the BEST omg he is genuinely excited and soft and laughs at Marius and enjoys his friends a lot, I love him so much. And his voice is SOFT and beautiful, he is beautiful and one of my favorite Enjolraii ever

- They had Vicky Hug‘s aquarelle paintings as background

- Gavroche is GREAT, he really lives his role and does little dances and gestures

- Stars was just utterly beautiful. Javert was super excited about the stars in the first part, it was very adorable, and the second part was just his voice filling the damn hall, straight into my heart god he was so good

- Omg omg a heart full of love was great. Ponine and Marius heard some of the conversation between jean and cosette, then when they were gone Marius climbed into the garden. That idiot threw a stone at Cosette‘s window what the heck, cosette came out, then suddenly ran away excitedly when she saw who it was- Marius didn‘t understand what was happening and that‘s when he sang: I‘m doing everything all wrong. It was great.

- Also great romeo and juliet reference with the balcony

- My god, the robbery. Montparnasse was just squatting on the fence the whole time, like a bird. What the fuck. He got to wield that little knife of his again as well

- I don‘t know if it‘s real or if i‘m imagining things but during one day more Enjolras looked up and in my direction and smiled and i smiled back and i hope he was looking at me and that i didn‘t just imagine it

- i forgot what awkward props muskets are

- At the barricade Enjolras jumped down the different levels with such speed and grace i am honestly Amazed

- Grantaire kept to the side the whole time, cowering on the floor or sheltering Gavroche

- Just- Javert‘s face when Gavroche called him out was heavenly. And when he was done, Gavroche literally flipped Javert off. Legend.

- Javert‘s undercover outfit was very cute and his hair was open

- They had literal torches on stage

- Ok at the beginning of drink with me they played a flute- feuilly reference??

- After Grantaire‘s solo Enjolras came up to console him but Grantaire pushed him away and retreated to the background again, with his face to the wall. Gavroche approached him and then pulled him into a hug, they went to sleep side by side

- Towards the end of Rain will make the Flowers grow, Gavroche noticed Ponine dying and froze which in turn made Grantaire notice what‘s going on. He signalled to the other barricade people to shut up and pay some respect and they watched on silently as the song finished

- The guy who i think was feuilly had a girlfriend which i assume was musichetta? They were adorable

- When Gavroche had climbed over the barricade, Grantaire froze with his face to the audience and waited with bated breath for the sound of a shot. When it came, he nearly collapsed until he heard Gavroche singing again. He ran towards the barricade and shouted something like: GO ON KID, HURRY UP. When Gravroche appeared at the top of the barricade he was shot. He fell into Enjolras‘ arms who in turn handed him to Grantaire. As the fighting ensued, Grantaire slowly carried Gavroche over to the side of the stage, seemingly unaware of shots being fired

- Next encounter between Valjean and Javert was intense again, and then Valjean uttered the softest „go“ ever as he stared into Javert‘s eyes

- Usually i don‘t quite enjoy Bring me Home but this Valjean did an awesome job, his singing was so mellow and emotional

- At the barricade, Enjolras was the first to die and he fell over the barricade into the void, and Grantaire was the last to die. He got shot in the head.

- When the barricade got cleared away and Javert inspected the grounds a cart was wield up on which Enjolras was half lying half hanging off it. They put Gavroche‘s body on top of him and pulled them off-stage

- Javert‘s suicide was fucking weird. The song was great, but when he jumped off the bridge they added a bit of animation in the background and lifted him up slightly with the help of ropes so that you saw him fall from different angles but... it just didn‘t work, it was more funny than dramatic

- During turning the women placed candles on stage. One woman began to cry and a small girl (who earlier had played cosette) gave her her handkerchief. It was really sweet. During Empty Chairs the boys came onstage and each took one candle, together with Marius

- During the wedding-feast the actor that had played Enjolras was one of the waiters and he was hilarious, even though the role was so small

- After bowing, as they ran off-stage, Enjolras made a heart sign with his hands

- And bonus: as the applause thundered through the theatre, Jean Valjean and Cosette were the last on stage. Jean carried Cosette in his arms and just stood there for a while, grinning. Then the curtain fell.

[pixelatedrose]

Soulbound part Four

First | Previous | Part 4 | Next

Ao3 link

Masterpost

Word Count: 3,212

Pairings: Platonic LAMP, Prinxiety, Logicality, background Remile

Warnings: Implied self harm (Skip the part starting with “Virgil drug himself over...” until the break) Uncensored swearing, divorced parents, controlling parents/parents not respecting kids’ privacy (Skip the entire last part), absent siblings,  if there’s anything I missed please please tell me, and if there’s anything you would like me to tag, don’t hesitate to ask!

Summary:

Roman Prince and Logan Rose are soulmates. They’re platonic soulmates though. They both have the same Soul mark to prove it. But they both have one other soul mark, binding them to one other person. And when they find Patton Miles, it just so happens that they’re both his soulmate. Logan being his Soulbound Soulmate, and Roman being a platonic soulmate. But something feels missing. And it feels filled, shockingly so, when they meet a certain someone a year and a half after they found each other.

Chapter 4

  Virgil ran home as fast as his legs would carry him. His mind raced as quickly as shoes hit the ground, faster still.

  Why is he here? Why is he a teacher? Why did he come back? Why did he act like he cared? Why come back now? Why was he never here before? Why? Why why why?!

  Virgil tripped and the gods of luck put on blindfolds as he was flung to the sidewalk. He knelt on the ground and thought it had started raining. He looked around and when he saw clear skies he realized he'd been crying.

  Virgil looked at his shallowly bleeding scrapes on his palms and knees before picking himself up and walking home, storming inside the unusual yellow door, slamming it closed and stomping up to his mother, ignoring her girlfriend sitting nearby.

  "Virgey, you're home! How was school-" his mother started.

  "Did you know about this?!" He spat bitterly.

  "What?! What do you mean, Honey? What happened? Oh my god, your hands!! Virgey, are you okay?!"

  Virgil hid his hands further into his sleeves. "That doesn't matter right now!! I want to know why Thomas is my fucking theater teacher!!" Virgil seethed.

  His mother blanched. "Oh no…" she turned to her girlfriend. "Rachel, maybe you should go?"

  Virgil watched as his mother's girlfriend got up and gathered her things as she slowly left the house.

  "Now, Virgey, I didn't think that you-"

  "You didn't think at all, Mom!!" Virgil snapped. "Did you know?! Did you know and think not to tell me?! Did you think that it would be too hard for me?! Did you think I'd burst into tears like a little kid?! Didn't want to deal with me finding out so you just didn't tell me at all!!"

  "No!! That's- that's not!! No!! I didn't mean for-" Virgil's mother was floundering for words to comfort her son.

  "It doesn't even matter anymore, I don't care!!" Virgil yelled, he ran upstairs and into his room. He slammed the door shut and pulled out a crude hand-made door stop and wedged it under the door. Years ago the lock had broken. Years ago the lock had been removed.

  Virgil couldn't stand anymore. He fell to the ground and held his stomach. He felt sick.

  His mother had lied to him.

  His brother- who had everything, who had the world, the one that had never made a show to ever reach out and contact Virgil, the one who would never want to contact him because he had it all- was his theater teacher in his new highschool.

  He had no friends.

  He had no family.

  He had no one.

  Virgil drug himself over to the edge of his bed and pulled out a small box with an assortment of blades, lighters, and a small square of sandpaper. He fished out the edge of a pencil sharpener and-

  "Virgey please let me talk to you!!"

  Virgil didn't answer.

  "Please I need you to understand!!"

  Virgil didn't need to understand anything else.

  "Please, honey, open the door!!"

  Virgil removed his hoodie. He couldn't stand the heat his room gave off. That's a good excuse.

  "Please at least tell me you're safe this time!!" His mother pleaded with him.

  But nothing could be done.

  Nothing could stop the manic anxiety that took him over. Words played over and over in his head and he felt like he was going insane so he focused on the pain digging into his shoulder instead of his own numbingly intoxicating insanity.

  Nothing would make this okay for Virgil.

~~•~~

  Roman was walking home and mulling over what had happened that day.

  Rose was a good friend of Roman's, but she was a little oblivious at times. She'd pulled him away from the pretty emo boy when Roman had seen him in theater.

  Theater… Roman smiled. He would have never pegged the shorter boy as a theater kid. His head started spinning up daydreams of Roman and Virgil performing scenes together, painting props together, singing duets together for the musical…

  Roman shook his head to clear it. It seemed like Virgil wasn't interested though. He probably has his own soulmate, you idiot! Roman thought bitterly.

  He walked in through his family's door and tossed his currently half empty backpack on the ground before flopping down on the couch with a dramatic sigh.

  Remus always stayed after school to hang out with his weirdo friends, so he wouldn't be home for a while.

  Roman tried thinking of other things.

  So he thought back to lunch.

~~•~~

  "Did you hear that Remy and Emile are a couple?" Patton excitedly told his friends as he sat down at the table.

  "They've been together for almost three years, Patton dear." Logan corrected his boyfriend.

  Patton smiled. "Oh I know! But they're still so cute together!!"

  "Patton, they're Soulbound Soulmates, of course they're cute." Logan continued.

  "You're missing the point!! They're a-dor-a-ble, Logan!! ADORABLE!!"

  "I'm not seeing what it is I missed. Is this some sort of complex joke that I'm not 'Gucci' enough to get?"

  "That is not in any way how you use that word, honey child."

  "Ah well. I'm still learning."

  Patton looked suddenly over to Roman who was thoughtfully chewing on a sandwich. "Hey there, buddy! You're pretty quiet, you feeling alright there, Ro?"

  Roman snapped his attention away from daydreaming. "Huh?? Oh yeah! I'm gucci as always, padre!" He said strikingly.

  "Ah so that's how you use it…" Logan muttered as he seemed to study Roman from behind his glasses.

  "Are you sure? You looked a little lost in la-la land there!" Patton ignored his robotic boyfriend, save for an instinctual hair ruffle that made Logan's face light up.

  Roman looked out the window like the mellow-dramatic princeling he was. "Oh its nothing really…" he sighed. "See, I just met this really cute guy in-"

  "OH MY GOOD GRACIOUS SNAP CRACKLERS YOU MET A CUTE GUY!!!" Patton nearly flung himself across the table and grappled his friend in a hug.

  Roman nearly fell out of his chair on impact and had to pry the overly excited puppy-dog of a man off him. "Gah!! Yeah! But!" Roman started.

  Patton immediately pulled himself off Roman. "Wait there's a but?!"

  "Yes…tragically I believe he is not…" Roman threw the back of his hand to his forehead and dramatically tilted his head. "Attracted to me!!"

  Logan snorted and Patton gasped somberly.

  "Oh no that's just plain awful Roman!!" Patton lamented.

  Roman smiled all the same. "Awh, Pat! He's probably one of those soulmate obsessed…" Roman drifted off as he remembered Virgil's immediate and harsh reply to his question. "...People." He let himself finish the sentence anyway. For some odd reason he wanted to keep his suspicions to himself.

  "Awh, well next time then!! Right Ro!"

  Roman's mind drifted to the purple haired boy he'd met.

  "Ro?"

  There was something about talking to him that felt so very right in Roman's mind. It felt similar to how he felt around Patton and Logan. But yet different still…

  "Roman??"

  Why does he wish soulmarks didn't exist? Roman thought, recalling the striking blue of the purple haired boy's eyes.

  "Roman!"

  Roman drifted, thinking of everything and nothing about the boy he had met in his third period. Virgil Sanders… he thought his name felt good to think… "Virgil Sanders…" he breathed out. He thought it felt good to say…

  "ROMAN-!!"

~~•~~

  Roman shot up on the couch, and grabbed at his shoulder which felt as if he had sliced it open.

  He cursed and gripped it tightly, running to the bathroom to see what could possibly be wrong. Roman threw off his red varsity jacket and pulled up his short sleeves to examine his left shoulder.

  There was nothing there.

  It wasn't even red.

  The pain faded down to a dull ache and Roman sat back down on the couch bewildered.

  What the fuck just happened??

~~•~~

  Patton skipped alongside his boyfriend, their hands clasped tightly together.

  Logan smiled softly to himself, hearing the short, golden haired boy hum to himself.

  "Hey, Lo?" Patton questioned suddenly.

  "Yes, Patton?"

  "Do you think Roman's okay?"

  "Why do you say that? I do not think he would injure himself on his walk home, nor do I believe he would have fallen ill in that time either."

  "No no, silly!! I mean emotionally."

  "Ah. My bad. I am not very good with...emotions."

  "I know you struggle sometimes, but even you saw the way he was acting today, right? He was totally distracted and had his head ten billion trillion gazillion miles away!! I hope he's okay…"

  "I see. Yes, Roman did seem very distracted today. Though I suppose that may be because he was a little wonderstruck with the boy he mentioned."

  "What?! Really? I thought Roman said that kid didn't like him though?"

  "Well perhaps, but you know how easily he can become so infatuated with pretty boys the moment they open their mouth to even breath. And this boy held a conversation with Roman, so that concludes that Roman must be 'Head over heels' for this boy."

  "Psh, nah!! Maybe a little flirty, but Roman doesn't have it that bad!! But do you know who does?"

  "And who would that be, Patton?"

  "Me!"

  "Oh."

  "And you!!"

  "Oh come now!! I care very deeply about you and-"

  "Oh just kiss me already, you dork!"

  Logan sighed and laughed, his face lighting up at his boyfriend. "Only as you wish, my dearest."

~~•~~

  Thomas Sanders had a good life as a kid.

  He got decent grades, he made good friends, he was a little confused why he never liked girls like every other boy in his grade did. And even more confused when he thought his friend Michael looked just so cute when he was singing.

  Thomas Sanders had a good life as a kid.

  Up until his parents split up when he was 13 years old.

  His father won custody and took Thomas across states to go live in Georgia where he lived for the rest of his childhood years until he moved back to Florida with new friends.

  He started playing around with an app called Vine, and whether it was luck or skill, made it big. He made a Youtube channel and made videos online. He wrote songs and sung disney songs and reacted to other people. And he loved his fans. He loved them with all his heart.

  It was when he was 25 that he got a message from someone in his old childhood town telling him he had a brother.

  He had a brother?

  Thomas Sanders had a little brother!

  And he was ten years old and his name was Virgil Sanders!

  Thomas sat down and decided to write a letter to his little brother. He wanted to know him! He wanted to meet him! He wanted to be part of his life!

  Dear, Virgil Sanders.

  This is a letter I'm writing to you because I want you to know that you have a big older brother who loves you and just found out that you exist! My name is Thomas Sanders and I want to know more about you! I want to know you! Did you know that I always wanted a little brother? I guess it's not a wish anymore, huh? Write me back, little bro! Tell me about yourself! Tell me about life! Tell me about mom and how school is going!!

  Sincerely and dearly from, Thomas Sanders, your older brother.

  That was perfect! Thomas couldn't wait to hear back from his little brother!

  He couldn't wait to find out whether he liked sour foods or minty ones!

  He couldn't wait to talk about boys (or girls) with him!

  Thomas never heard back from Virgil.

  So he sent another letter, this time on what he discovered was Virgil's birthday.

  He never heard back.

  Thomas would send a letter to Virgil every year on his birthday, one for christmas, one for Halloween, one for the beginning of the school year and one for the end, and one every valentines day with a purple rose.

  And he never once heard back.

  Now Thomas was 30 years old and had decided to become a teacher.

  A total of 36 letters, soon to be 37, sent to Virgil.

  Even if Virgil didn't want to talk to Thomas, he still wanted to try.

  And then.

  He found out that Virgil Sanders was his own student.

  And he found out that his brother hated him.

  So here Thomas was.

  Standing awkwardly with his hand raised to knock on the yellow door of his old childhood home.

  And he let he fist fall to the wood.

  Knock, knock, knock.

  "I'm coming! I'm coming!" A hurried voice called from inside.

  The door opened.

  "What is it, what do you-"

  The voice cut off.

  Thomas waved awkwardly.

  "Hey, mom. How's it going?"

~~•~~

  Virgil heard the door open and someone come inside. He quietly creaked his door open.

  "-want to talk to him. Please?"

  Virgil's breath hitched. It was Thomas.

  "No...No...No I don't think that he'd be ready to see you right now, Tommy."

  Virgil sat and listened to the conversation.

~~•~~

  Thomas glanced over at the counters and the ashtray on the coffee table. Beer cans and cigarettes littered everything.

  "I see you haven't changed much." He meant it as a question, but it fell flat and turned into an observation.

  "And what's wrong with how I am?" His mother asked accusingly.

  Thomas looked at his mother and shook his head. "Nevermind…" he looked down at a discarded and trashy school backpack. "I take it he didn't take kindly to the letters? Didn't want to see me? You know I told you I was applying for Eastwood. You could have told me not to you know."

  "Well I mean I didn't want to reach out to you and have Virgey find out!" Thomas cringed at the childish nickname. It didn't sound like something Virgil would want to be called. "And I never gave him the letters." His mother finished.

  Thomas froze as thoughts raced through his head. "What." He breathed out.

  "You really think he'd be ready to confront his older brother? You really think he'd want to see you?"

  "That wasn't your decision to make though!"

  "Of course it was, I'm his mother!"

  "That doesn't give you a right to withhold information from him like that!"

  "Yes! It does! He can decide what information he wants when he turns 18! For now, I'm his mother, I decide what's best for him!"

  Thomas ran a hand through his hair, distressed. "You know I wasn't trying to be entirely serious when I said you hadn't changed, but you really have not changed one bit, have you?!"

  "There was nothing wrong with what I was doing before!"

  "Oh yeah? Then how come I didn't even know I had a little brother till he was 10?!"

  "Because he wasn't ready for that! And neither were you! I didn't want you to think I'd moved on from you!"

  "I was 25, mom!! Twenty!! Five!! I was old enough to make my own decisions and Virgil was old enough that he could decide if he wanted an older brother and back then it wasn't too late for me to be a part of his life!!"

  "He was 10 and he didn't know what was best for him!! And he still doesn't!! I'm his mother!"

  "You keep saying that but do you even know what that means?! It means that you're always there for them!! It means that you let them make mistakes!! It means that you give them privacy and a choice!!"

  "He can have Privacy when he's moved out! Till then what he has I know about! I'm his mother and I get to decide!"

  "That's not how that works!!"

  "It most certainly is!! He just doesn't know what's good for him! And you are definitely not good for him!!"

  "Is that why you kept the letters from him?! Cause that's what was best for him?!"

  "What?! No!! He just-"

  "You were afraid then?! Why didn't even give me a chance?!"

  "Because you are not good for him!! Right now or ever!! I know best I'm the adult here and I make the decisions and I decide that you will go and-"

  "MOM JUST SHUT UP!!" Virgil shouted. No one had noticed when he had walked downstairs. His eyes were red and his jacket was wrinkled. "What letters?" He asked calmly.

  No one answered.

  "Mom, what letters are you hiding from me?!" He voice cracked and choked.

  "Virgey, honey, it was for your own good-"

  "TO HELL WITH THAT!!" Virgil shouted, tears spilling over down his face.

  Thomas spoke now. "I wrote you letters." He said. When no one tried to stop him, he continued. "When I found out I had a brother, I immediately sat down and wrote a letter to you. I wanted to know more about you, I wanted to be part of your life." Thomas took a breath. "That was about five years ago. And i never heard back. I assumed you didn't want to know me. But I didn't stop writing letters. I found out when your birthday was and sent you a letter yearly, and I always sent one for christmas, Halloween, and Valentines day. I sent one at the beginning and one at the end of every school year too." He pulled a wrinkled envelope out of his pocket and held it in his hands. "This one was going to be for this year, but I got caught up in moving and beginning my teaching that I didn't get it in on time." Thomas took a step and held out the envelope to Virgil.

  He took it and read the handwriting that looked so real. It wasn't perfect cursive or some fancy calligraphy, it was normal and real handwriting. It read:

  To Virgil Sanders. From Thomas Sanders.

  Virgil wiped at his face, smearing his makeup. He looked up at his mom.

  "You hid this from me…?"

  "Oh, honey it was all for your own good! You know how-"

  "How what?!" Virgil spat venom. "You knew how much I wanted to know my brother!! You knew how I thought he had left with his dad and just didn't care enough about us to come and talk!!" More tears. "You knew and you didn't once tell me that I had a brother who was kind and cared about me!!!"

  Virgil was shaking. He ran upstairs and his mother would hear the door to her room slam shut as Virgil rummaged around until he found the box under her bed full of 36 letters that his brother had sent him.

  No one moved.

  No one breathed.

  No one spoke for a long time.

  "I think I'll see him tomorrow." He turned to the front door. "Goodbye, Deva." He said.

  And the odd yellow door clicked shut.

  And all that was left in the old eerie house was a wronged child looking for five lost years, a mother who had tried to drown the inevitable with broken locks and promises, and a silence that bit like the way a cat silently does with prey already caught.

Tag list:

@anxietea-and-insanitea

@ghostboi-bambi

@scrunchiescrunchie

@badluckkaren

@ambrechandra

[breadcaaat]

part six

Jeongguk x hybrid!reader

| part one | part two | part three | part four | part five | part six

Words: 5.2k

Warnings: for the sake of maintaining a similar wordcount, there’s a cliffhanger. most of the next chapter is done tho, so itll be out really soon. also, mentions of rape and allusions to revenge porn

Jeongguk fumbled with the keys to his apartment, buzzed and happy. Reconnecting with Hobi had been like a breath of fresh air, and he could still feel his cheeks stinging from how hard they’d laughed that night. I missed him, he noted softly, and shuffled into his apartment.

The door clicked shut and he toed off his shoes, giggling a bit to himself.

Y/N peeked out from her pile of blankets on the bed, eyes puffy. She was wearing one of his shirts. That’s cute, he thought, and giggled a bit more. “What are you laughin’ about?” she murmured, voice fuzzy with sleep. I missed her, too. She’s so cute, look at her ears… 

“Are you… drunk?”

“Tipsy,” he drawled, voice a little scratchy with how loud he and Hobi had been in their excitement. He tugged off his coat slowly and uncoordinatedly, one arm at a time. His left hand got stuck in the sleeve so he flapped it around until it fell to the ground with a thump. Another giggle. “That’s not a coat rack,” he whispered.

Y/N whistled, amused. “This Hobi guy must’ve done a number on you.”

“Nah, no… we just hung out a bit, not like that. Just tispy!”

“Tispy?”

“Tip...sy.”

She huffed a quiet laugh, patting the bedding next to her to beckon him over. “I have something I wanted to talk to you about, but it can wait until morning. Come sleep.”

“No no, I wanna hear - wait - I gotta, hold on…” he was halfway out of his shirt, one arm out and head stuck, mumbling to himself as he tried to reason his way out of his clothing. 

Y/N watched on in amusement. She made no move to help him, tail curling and uncurling leisurely.

Jeongguk’s head was through his sleeve now, face smushed up against the arm sharing it. “I - ” he gasped, and Y/N giggled, tail lashing a bit more. 

He stilled for a second and sighed. 

“Do you need - ?”

“No, I got it. No help. Don’t worry I’ll, just… mirror!” 

“Mirror?”

He didn’t answer, already tromping over to the bathroom with his arm sticking out like an unruly tree branch.

“Your left sock is slippin’ off,” she murmured.

He made a little beep in question, bending at the torso to try and get a look at it. He looked ridiculous. Like a lanky, misshapen safari animal, lost in the grasslands. Her giggling turned into a full laugh.

He whipped around to look at her, a teasing and confrontational comment ready to fire on the tip of his tongue, but the sudden turbulence messed up his balance and dropped him on his ass with a loud whump! Y/N continued to cackle, teary at the eyes and still useless.

“Where am I?!” he yelled, and it brought on another round of laughter that’d probably land a noise complaint on his doorstep in the morning. 

“Let me - ” she giggled, eyes crinkled and watery, “ - let me help, Jeongguk.”

“No, I have it under control.”

“You do not, oh my god.” She rolled off the bed and approached him, still giggling. He pouted at her, face squished and hair mussed. She crouched in front of him.

“Let me help,” she murmured, and he couldn’t help but nod mutedly. She looks so soft. 

Detangling him was a mess that took a solid five minutes, ten extra when he insisted on changing into his pajamas, but they finally settled.

“Your breath stinks,” she muttered. He didn’t hear her - Jeongguk was the type of drunk to focus on only one thing at a time - and he was kneeled to fluff his pillow. She watched bemusedly as he fussed with it for a solid minute in a half, adjusting the edges and smoothing the pillow case, testing the give with a little prodding, and finally giving it a good once-, twice-, and thrice-over before deeming it properly fluffed. “Good enough?” she asked. He grumbled something. She didn’t bother asking him to repeat himself.

He toppled over, finally, and sighed. Her nose wrinkled and she huffed at him. “What was’at?” he asked, finally.

“I said your breath stinks.”

“Oh. Hm.” He blinked slowly and then sat up suddenly, crawling out from under the sheets. “Hold on - I can - ” 

“God - where are you going now?”

“I’m... brush teeth.” He bumped into the doorframe on the way into the bathroom, snapped at it for being in the way, whacked it, and then yelped in pain and cradled his hand to his chest. “ - Ass.”

“Dork,” she muttered, and gave up on trying to put him to bed.

🐯

“Sungmin-ah? Is that you?”

Said girl looked up from her phone, straightening her posture as she recognized two old acquaintances from high school. “Oh, uh…” She wracked her memory for the girl’s name. The brave red dye job was familiar. “Taehee-unnie?”

Taehee smiled, so Sungmin must’ve got her name right. She had another girl with her, smaller in stature with darker, shorter hair. Feeling lucky, she guessed, “...Heeyoung-unnie?”

“Heeyeon,” she corrected, with a small smile to let her know she was close enough.

“Heeyeon-unnie,” she reaffirmed, and Heeyeon ducked her head.

Taehee immediately launched into her order after that, filling the otherwise empty shop with noise that made it suddenly seem too busy. It was a swift reminder to Sunghyun as to why she hadn’t missed the girl when they graduated.

She talked too much.

Taehee finished their order and Sunghyun half-listened as she continued to babble, moaning about something her boyfriend had done over the weekend. Heeyeon seemed content - or, at least, compliant - with taking a back seat to the conversation. Sunghyun felt a little sorry for her. She also kinda wanted them to leave.

“So,” Taehee purred conspiratorially, and Sunghyun hastily scribbled a note on the order to her dad saying hurry up with this one, please. She turned back around with a polite smile on her face. 

“ - Have there been any cute guys in Sunghyun-ah’s life lately?”

She remembered suddenly that her dad had stepped out to take a smoke earlier, and groaned on the inside. “Not really, unnie.”

“Ah, c’mon! It’s been - like - two years, girl! There’s gotta have been at least one or two, I know it.”

“Nope. Last time I dated seriously was in high school.”

“Oh, that twerp?” She let out a long sigh, like thinking of him exhausted her. It did bring a little smile to Sunghyun’s face. If there was one likeable quality about Taehee it was that she was always first to get up and scare away unwelcome men. When Sunghyun had broken up with her highschool boyfriend and he’d refused to leave her alone afterward, it’d been Taehee and her girl gang that’d scared him away.

“Yeah, that twerp,” she said.

“Alright, no boyfriends. Any hot guys, at least? Sweethearts with nice faces and good bodies - ?”

“ - Yah! You’re being invasive!” Heeyeon swatted lightly at Taehee, giggling a bit. It helped slice the slightly awkward air, and Sunghyun’s face cracked into a smile. In the back, she heard the door open and close as her dad returned.

“Well, yeah, there have been some cute guys. It’s impossible not to know one or two.”

Taehee cupped her face in her hands and wiggled back and forth slightly, trying to be cute. “Can you tell me about one while we wait for our food?” she cooed.

“Alright, uh - ” she glanced around the room, trying to remember a boy in her life. She honestly didn’t get out much. It’s not like she would tell Taehee that, though. “Our delivery boy is kind of cute?” Her dad snickered somewhere behind her and she blushed.

“Why’s it sound like a question? Is he ugly?” Taehee genuinely looked a bit dismayed.

“No, no!” She waved her hands in front of her, a little flustered. “He’s really cute! I had a crush on him when he was first hired but I, I see him more like a little brother now.”

“Ah, is cute not your type? You like bad boys?” Taehee teased, and Heeyeon elbowed her. Behind her, her dad murmured “She better not,” hiding it with the sound of frying eggs. She cringed, wanting nothing more than to let the ground swallow her whole. He must’ve decided he didn’t want to eavesdrop anymore after that - soft music started to play from the radio.

“Uh, no. I just realized it was probably better not to date at work.”

“Hm, that’s fair. Well, what’s his name? I’m gonna look him up on Facebook anyway.”

“I don’t think he has social media, but his name’s Jeongguk.” 

They went stock still, faces incredulous. Sunghyun stared back, puzzled. “What? Something wrong?”

“Only if he’s Jeon Jeongguk.” There was a surprising amount of disdain in Heeyeon’s voice. Conversely, there was a twinkle in Taehee’s eyes, like some juicy scandal was being spilled. It put Sunghyun on the defensive.

“What’s wrong with Jeongguk? He’s never done anything we don’t like besides work too hard.”

“Yeah, I’m sure he does,” Heeyeon muttered, and Taehee hid a laugh behind her hand.

Sungyun looked bewildered. The girls exchanged a look, and then leant forward in sync. 

Taehee went first, like she couldn’t contain herself. “Okay, so, you’ve seriously not heard of his whole thing? Like, when did he start working here?”

“A few months ago, why? How do you even know him?”

“We went to college with him, and let me tell you he is not someone you want around,” Heeyeon hissed, but there was an urgent, soft turn to her eyes, like she was concerned for the Gim family. “We were friends and I thought the exact same thing about him - that he was the sweetest person in the world. But he’s manipulative to a fault. It’s all an act.”

Sunghyun shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I don’t believe - ”

“ - He slept with his professors to pass his classes.”

Sunghyun blinked owlishly.

“Coaches, too,” Taehee interjected.

Sunghyun blinked again.

Heeyeon continued. “He broke up with his girlfriend in freshman year to sleep around - I talked to her once and she said he was doing it even before - ”

“ - It sounded like he slept with men, mostly,” Taehee interrupted, and Heeyeon nodded.

“Yeah. It was mostly men in the videos.”

“The videos?” Sungyun asked. She still looked floored. This is total bullshit, she thought. Taehee had been a notorious gossip through high school and if Heeyeon was still involved with her then she probably was too.

Shaking her head and waving them away, she tried her best to express her disbelief as words escaped her. “Never mind, I just - your lunch is almost ready, and I’m sure you have places to be.”

“You don’t believe us! Aish,” Taehee exclaimed. “I have proof, girl! Hold on, let me find - ouch!” Heeyeon elbowed her again, sending her a sharp look. “What? I’ll just show her a clip.” Heeyeon continued to glare at her cautiously, but Taehee pulled out her phone. 

In the back, Yeongho slid the finished lunches through the window. Normally he would’ve disappeared back into the kitchen unless there was a regular he wanted to strike up conversation with, but the distressed expression on his daughter’s face made him pause. 

“Is everything alright sweetie?”

“Uh, yeah - !”

“ - Are you Mister Gim?” Taehee interrupted. She seemed to have found whatever it was she wanted on her phone.

“That I am,” he replied.

“Do you know about Jeongguk?”

His expression grew just as puzzled as his daughter’s. “Our delivery boy? Yeah, he’s a good kid.”

“I’m sorry Mr. Gim, but he’s not what he looks like,” Heeyeon said, with a little bow of her head.

“Yeah, come look at this.” Taehee looked like she was desperately trying to hold back a smile. The effort just made her look condescending. Heeyeon hissed at her, saying something along the lines of this is too much!

A little befuddled, Yeongho took off his apron and tossed it over his shoulder, puttering out of the kitchen. Sunghyun was nervous for whatever it was Taehee had on her phone. Whatever she was about to reveal about Jeongguk was most likely something she’d rather not know - but there was a little part of her that was morbidly curious. 

Yeongho emerged from the kitchen. “Alright,” he said. “What is this? If it’s something you wouldn’t show your dad, don’t show me.” He winked at Sunghyun then, trying to crack the tension. Humor was his coping mechanism for intensity. It didn’t work. His daughter still looked nervous. 

Heeyeon peeked at the screen and groaned at Taehee that they should just go, but the girl pushed forward and revealed her damning evidence to the dad and daughter behind the counter.

It was not what Sunghyun expected to see.

The site Taehee had pulled up was already one she recognized - it was the one her twerp highschool boyfriend had threatened to post her nudes to when she broke up with him. It was well-known for similar content. 

First thing Taehee showed them were the pictures. Pictures of Jeongguk in compromising positions with men and women in clubs, bars, bedrooms. He was never looking at the camera either; attention purely on his pleasure despite the pictures seemingly being from the point of view of his partners, at least for the most part. A few were taken by bystanders. She explained things further - names, places, times.

Some of them were in school settings; one seemingly through the cracked door of a classroom. In that one, he was bent over the desk of a professor, pants at his ankles, and the professor was bent over him. He wasn’t facing the camera. It made bile rise in her throat.

She didn’t know what to think.

Yeongho was unreadable. 

The girls paid, wished her too-sweet tinny goodbyes, and left. She waved them off until they disappeared around the corner. 

It was barely past lunchtime, and there was something unpleasant swirling in her gut. 

Sungmin couldn’t decide what it was the feeling was. She could, however, recognize it. It was the same feeling you get when suddenly alone in a place with someone, or walking home after the sun’s set. There wasn’t an overt threat, really, just an elusive but potent instinct to be on your guard. It made her shift uncomfortably and realize how sore her feet were.

13:02. 

Beside her, Yeongho sighed and leaned on the counter, playing with the edge of the apron slung over his shoulder. He looked conflicted. Lost in thought.

The shop remained empty save for the two of them.

“...Dad?” she said, after a moment of silence.

It broke him from his reverie, and he stood up with a tight inhale through his nose. Softly, he set the apron down on the window sill to the kitchen.

“I think I need to speak with your mother.”

🐯

Jeongguk arrives later, and he doesn’t even get to start his shift.

He realizes this when he walks in to see a delivery boy already there. Vest on, keys in his hand. He looks at him sympathetically as he passes him through the door, delivery in his arms. Jeongguk holds the door open for him.

The guy thanks him quietly and squeezes past. He looks sorry for him.

That’s not good, Jeongguk thinks.

He gulps and walks in. Past the counter. To the back. Into the breakroom. Mrs. Gim is there, waiting for him. They greet each other quietly.

For a moment, they stand there. Tense and awkward. She’d normally greet him warmly - fussing with his hair and checking whether or not he’d eaten lately - but now she just stood there, arms crossed. (Her finger twitched, though, when she saw a lock of hair that’d fallen into his eyes. He didn’t fix it. Shallowly, he hoped she would.)

He’s already shrinking into himself when she begins speaking. She begins with a sigh.

“We’re letting you go, Jeongguk.”

He nods. He’s not looking at her anymore. Instead, he examines the dirt on his shoes. The sole on the left on is starting to peel off. 

Mrs. Gim waits, expecting a Why? that she thought was inevitable.

It’s definitely something he wants to ask. The word pinches at the tip of his tongue, but he holds it back. Why? He’s asked that question before, to other people he thought he was doing well with. And - so far, he thought he’d been doing pretty well here. Rarely late, quick deliveries, nice to customers. Maybe they aren’t making enough and can’t pay him anymore, but even then… why the other guy over him? He’s nice and all, but Jeongguk knows he performs better.

He didn’t like this feeling. It was familiar, and squirmed in his gut like a handful of worms, or maybe an eel. 

A memory: Jeongguk, stepping into the bus stop by campus with his backpack and a cardboard box. It’s drizzling, and everything’s grey. Springtime. New beginnings.

Jeongguk didn’t want a new beginning. He wanted to go back, before everything went to shit and he lost everything.

He’s got no one now.

And he isn’t even sure why.

He’s not sure now, either.

Back then it’d been exile a cause de the internet, videos and pictures of things he believed private. Rumors stacked on rumors that scattered and fractured and grew in the kaleidoscope that was miscommunication, and he’d lost everything - his friends, his family, his support, his diploma. He never knew who wanted him gone. He only felt the result.

So now, it was that feeling again. That floundering sense of exile, read between the lines and felt with his gut. 

He wanted to ask why. He’d been asking Why? for a year now. But no one would tell him. They either looked away, guilty but sympathetic, or glared at him as if he should already know.

So this time, he didn’t ask. 

Mrs. Gim watched him through this, as he froze up and looked a bit sick, and then the light fluttered out of his eyes as he lived in a memory, and then as the light fluttered back in: hollow and grey like a moth. And then he nodded, not quite looking her in the eye, and left.

It surprised her. He hadn’t even said goodbye.

The walk home was a numb one.

🐯

Hood up, hands in his pockets. He wished he could listen to music but his earbuds had taken an accidental spin through the washer two weeks ago and he hadn’t replaced them. He walked past potholes and old cars, trash bins and stairways tucked in between buildings. Everything was so compact here. Like an anthill. The road could barely fit a car into it. It was so different from home in Busan - at least, the parts where he’d grown up. It’d still been the big city, but there was more room. You felt less anonymous walking down those streets, but here?

He felt like if he didn’t breath loud enough, he’d slip through the cracks and disappear.

It was a tempting thought.

His job at the Gim’s place had been his first real social interaction for months after dropping out of college. He’d had something to do other than rot in his apartment and pick up random jobs - he could talk with and joke around their family, and after awhile, the regulars greeted him too. He’d sucked up the attention like a sponge. It felt like something solid he could hold onto even as he hated his job, hated his apartment, hated his friends for leaving him in this shitty, anonymous, cracked city. It kept him from sinking. It reminded him of home.

So now… what?

He still had his night job at Gloss. Yoongi didn’t have any daytime jobs available, so he couldn’t convert to full time. So he’d need a new job. Even though he had money, now, from the auction robbery. He knew that, technically, he could simply… not work for awhile. But what would he even do in that free time? Nothing, probably. He’d just rot in his apartment. He needed a job; he needed something to do.

The thought made him tired. He kicked at an empty pop can, listening as it clattered away.

Left, down the alley. Down two blocks. Across the bridge. More blocks. Into his apartment.

He contemplates locking the door, forehead dropping onto it with a light thunk. He wonders if he has the energy. Is it weird to feel as strange as he does?

His posture straightens a little, and he forces himself to lock up before stumbling to the bed. 

At some point he falls asleep. In retrospect he’s pretty sure he stared at the wall for a long while. If you asked him for how long, he wouldn’t remember.

🐯

The apartment stinks.

Y/N’s nose wrinkles into her face as if trying to hide the moment she registers it, having clambered over the balcony and slid into the apartment. She decides to leave the door open. Hopefully it’d air out a bit.

As she toed her shoes off, she made some observations. The smell was Jeongguk’s, definitely. Like honey and laundry detergent, with just an edge of sweat - overall, very nice - but this version was soured. Like honey that’d grown a skin of mold over the top. The musk was like dejection, exhaustion, and loneliness if it were distilled into a perfume.

She made her way into the kitchen, rooting around for one of the old scented candles he had stashed away; gifts from his mom once upon a time. This one smelled like coconut. (She’d never smelled one in real life, but if they smelled like this candle then she’d love to try one.) The cool vinyl was refreshing to walk on after a day wearing shoes. She didn’t like shoes. While climbing or sneaking around, it was hard to keep the claws on her toes retracted - so they often poked into and got caught in the insides. She’d rather go barefoot. Sadly, the city had a lot of sharp edges to cut her feet on. Glass and gravel and such. So it was a must.

Shoes, shoes. Jeongguk said to put the shoes by the door. She always forgets.

Filling a pot with some water, she leaves it to boil and goes to grab the shoes she’d left by the balcony.

There are a pair of shoes on the bed.

And - oh, there’s a person attached to the shoes.

Her neck hair prickles and she jumps, just a bit, before realizing it was just Jeongguk. A little strange he was still here. Doesn’t he have work? He’s still as a statue, black clothes blending in with black bedding. She was so used to him around that his presence didn’t alarm her the way it would anyone else. (A part of her says that could be dangerous, but the other part just begins to purr.)

He stinks even more up close. Why?

She doesn’t hesitate crawling over him, not minding if he wakes up or not. “Jeongguk,” she whispers. He doesn’t answer, so she nips at his ear.

He wakes up with a sharp inhale, head popping up off the pillow. “Y/N?”

“Who else?” she muses and settles in on top of him, tucking her nose into his neck. She quickly decides against that though and shifts down a little so her face is between his shoulder blades instead. He stinks even worse up close. The ears atop her head fold back in light dismay. “You stink.”

He snorts, dryly. “Thanks.”

“I’m not being mean. Why do you stink?”

“Saying I stink is mean. You’re mean.”

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

She bites his shoulder and he swats at her halfheartedly. That’s wrong, too. Normally he’d wrestle with her. Why does he stink?

“You’re worrying me.”

“Why, ‘cause I stink?”

“Yes.”

He huffs. It’s barely a laugh. Her eyebrows knit together a bit. 

“Jeongguk,” she says, a little firmer this time.

“What?” He sounds a little irritable, and she growls at him a bit. He feels it more than hears it; a little rumble from her chest and up his spine. It’s not a threat. She’s just telling him to be nice.

He huffs, with a little less conviction this time, and sags back into the covers.

“Jeongguk, what’s wrong?” she whispers again. Her voice is a bit softer now.

“How can you tell?”

She shifted up, and nosed at the space behind his ear again despite the way it made her nose wrinkle. (He remembers her mentioning that his scent was strongest there. That’d been sometime after the second time she’d done this - he’d asked her why, not used to the contact, and she’d explained.)

“You stink,” she whispers.

Oh, he gets it now.

(“I can smell what you’re feeling,” she’d also told him. “Kinda.”)

He doesn’t reply for a while, and she gets even more worried. It’s moments like these that she dislikes: times where he can’t or doesn’t explain what’s hurting him, and she doesn’t know how to help properly. She admits she doesn’t have a lot of experience with comfort. Empathy? Absolutely. With cagedoggers and bastard abusers you needed to know how everyone was feeling when they had power over you; when to push, when to submit, when to be extra quiet. She was good at reading people from an arm’s length so she could best navigate around them and suffer the least damage. But - this? Offering comfort? She sucked at it. Even though she could tell something was wrong. Even though she wanted to help.

So she just pressed closer, despite the stink, wrapping around him and summoning the best purr she could manage. She wasn’t going to push it. But she wasn’t going to leave, either.

He was still, for a time. She adjusted to the smell. Still didn’t like it, still wanted to make it go away, but the overwhelming instinct to cover her nose wasn’t there anymore.

A little chuff tickled his neck.

It was the same noise she’d made when she’d saved him from the river. He’d done a little research on it later and learned it was a tiger thing. Reflected on how weird it was to hear it from a human. But he’d learned to take it for what it was - comfort. It wasn’t weird anymore. It was nice, actually. Familiar.

And for some reason, it made him cry.

She didn’t even realize until she heard him sniffle, and she panicked a little. Shit, she was terrible at comfort. Had she made him cry, somehow? “Jeongguk?” she asked again. It was quiet, but urgent.

She shifted to the side and tried to turn him over to look at his face, but he remained face-down in the pillow. He didn’t want to be looked at. There was a new flavor to the mold, now - this one smelled like shame, but she didn’t know what for.

She didn’t know what to do, so she defaulted to her go-to. Hold him. 

He cried for a while. It wasn’t a pretty cry; it twisted his face into a grimace and blotched the skin from the tips of his ears down to his shoulders red. Part of him knew it didn’t look good, so he kept his face muffled in the pillow. It made him feel shallow. He still cared about looking good? Now? But the shame overcame the shallowness, and he kept hiding. He had a full-body tremble shaking through him. And he cried, and he cried, and Y/N held him as tight as she could. Her heart ached for him.

She didn’t know what to do with that ache. “I’m sorry,” she whispered into the skin of his neck, though she wasn’t sure what for. She repeated it though, again and again, hoping that the warmth of her breath and the light flutter of her lips would help ground him.

To an extent, it did. He knew - from somewhere in the back of his mind, even as his body continued to tremble and grimace - that it’s so much better crying when someone’s holding you. Even though there’s some shame in it. Even though it’s the same sort of vulnerability as an open wound.

Losing his energy seems to be the theme of the day.

He stops crying when he goes numb and gets tired. He could cry more. He doesn’t feel better. But he’s out of tears, his lips are chapped, and his throat’s raw. There’s no more energy to keep crying. 

Y/N presses in closer, like there was any space even left between them. He measures the rise and fall of her chest; tries to match it. Alright, maybe he’s a little better. Not good, but better. Raw is better than apathetic and tearless. Just gotta breathe.

In and out, on beat. A little better, yeah.

She rolls them to the side, a little worried he’d suffocate on the pillow. Her fingers weave into his hair.

“Tell me what’s wrong.”

He relaxes with the gentle massage, even though his chest still feels terribly empty. A little debate takes place in his head.

One side argues to keep his mouth shut and go to sleep. He still has a shift at Gloss tonight. Being tired then is not an option. Not when he’s setting up needled tattoo guns and jars of ink around maybe-criminals. The other side, though - the less lazy one, maybe - knows that Y/N’s gonna worry her hair (and fur? no?) out. She’s seen him down before, yeah, but never breakdown like this.

Her ear twitches, and she mutters a “ - shit - ” before scrambling up over him and passing over to the kitchen. “Do you want some ramen? I had water boiling.”

The thought of eating makes his gut squirm, but he knows it’ll make him feel better. “Yeah,” he croaks. “Can I… water, too?”

“Mhm.”

As she rustles around in the kitchen, he rolls onto his back. His face feels stiff. His eyes are itchy, too. They shut, and it stings.

Y/N watches him from the kitchen. Different scenarios passed through her brain as she poked at the noodles with some chopsticks. Honestly, she was at a bit of a loss. They had money, they had each other; he had Gloss and the Gims and time to sleep. So, something else? There was still so much she didn’t know about him. This was a heavy reminder of that.

The world was really quiet, then. Just the bubble and gurgle of the noodles, the soft beats of their breaths, the gentle shuffle of fabric.

She dished up. Poured him a glass of water. Returned.

There was a soft series of clinks as she set the bowls down on the bedside table, pulling him to sit up so she could sit behind him. It didn’t seem like he wanted to make any eye contact now, which she understood. She wasn’t a big fan of it either in moments of vulnerability. 

It took them a moment to settle. She made him eat first, just a couple bites. Had him drink some water. He appreciated it. It didn’t taste as bad as he thought it would. He was actually kind of hungry. It was easy to tell Y/N was bursting at the seams with questions, but holding back until he was ready. She tugged on his hoodie strings in the meantime.

“It’s a long story,” he finally said.

“We’ve got hours.”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “You sure you wanna hear it, though? It’s baggage.”

He couldn’t see her, but he knew she glared then - as if saying Really? Like I haven’t unloaded baggage on you before?

“Alright, fine,” he muttered.

And then he took a deep breath, and began.

A / N: I have no goddamn excuse for not updating this long hGSGH.. but with quarantine yall can expect semi-regular updates from me now. this story sucks but im gonna finish anyway. i’m gonna try to set up an actual wip schedule and maybe even a masterlist if i can figure out how to decipher this bitch of a site

stay safe yall and uhhh dont lick doorknobs n shit  💞 thank u guys for waiting

Tag List: @feed-my-geek-soul​  @not-novoa​ @astronomyturtle​ @anoushe01​@infiressnct @seokchella​ @dinorahrodriguez​ @mischiefmakerliesmith5​ @studiojoonie​ 

Tag List Glitches: @starryannaaa

[wolfyduskk]

KHOC WEEK~Day 2

Bonds of the Heart/Ties That Bind

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

@khoc-week this one is gonna be a long one sorry bout that!

I’m going to try it kinda like most to least? but leave out some characters she does get close with for the sake of time >~> ANYHOW

#1 being Cleo Maiyu: Her Mama

“Tell them to sort it into this months invoices then mail out th-“

*...* “No I promised starlight i’d spend the day with her & you already took up all of our morning.”

*click* “Where to next Audri?”

“Book house mama!”

“It’s a store but you were close..”

•Cleo, even though it’s not her ideal career, worked at a desk job that payed well in order to support the little family they formed. Not saying that’s all she did for Audri, not at all! If she was needed by Audri, Cleo would drop everything to tend to her. She would accept every gift and proudly wear it or hang it up for everyone to see, giving her gifts & praise to try to make sure she knows she’s loved very much.

Audri’s health & safety is her top priority & willing to do anything to ensure it, wither it be a stern talk or a fist fight. That being said when Audri is sick even if it’s not major, won’t be allowed to lift even a finger in fear of making it worse & losing her.

While growing up Audri understood that work was important & usally left her to work when she worked from home but would stop in to drop off small gifts she made, coffee, or even a peaceful rest with the help of her colourful friends before their home fell & Audri vanished.

#2- Zeke Maiyu: Her Uncle ZeZe

“You sure you want to use this polish Dri? There’s prettier colours-“

“SHh NU! You love love green so its one of the prettiest colours too!!”

In the early years Audri was home schooled due to all the possible illnesses she could get in public schools & private school being to expensive. So since he worked completely from home, Zeke became her teacher during the weekdays & taught her things benifeical to her like reading, writing, cooking, health, as well as things that interested her like astrology & flowers.

They would have days where they would leave home to learn outside or just to play. Audri would alway wonder out of eyesight, (which was easy with technically one eye on you)(sorry not sorry) but never to hard to find again if you followed her giggles or her friends.

(Note:Zeke & Cleo are not mine, they belong to a close friend of mine)

Isa/Saïx

“I-Isa! Lea took off with Prof.Hoots again!”

“Don’t worry Audri, I’ll bring the Professer back & try to knock some sense into that dummy before your mother does..”

•The days she was allowed outside, she’d either go to the castle or look for her older friends who honestly play more of an older sibling role in Audri’s life, with Isa taking a more caring & mature sibling place, while Lea takes a teasing/bully but still fun & kind sibling role.

She bonded with Isa the quickest due to their love of the night, as well as to her, He was more comforting to be around since his personality is something she’s grown up with compared to her other ‘big brother’ Lea, who is much louder & competive. Not to say she dislikes his loud personality, just odd when it’s not her being the only extrovert anymore.

•Months after the fall Saïx would be the one to find her at the doors of Castle Oblivion with a large scar over her front & her once sparkling eyes dulled. Her body somehow survived & became a nobody.

She’d be seen at the start clinging to the back his coat as he was the first she saw & most familiar to her memory wise at the time. Although not an official member, she was given a new name, Aidrux & once more independent, missions.

Even though he became colder over time, he still took his brotherly role seriously with what little hearts he had over the years, just as she once more memories came back would care & help him as much as she was able. She’d stay by his side more once Axel started to stray away from them for Roxas & Xion.

•

Ienzo/Zexion

Ahh the extrovert adopts the introvert~ good quality content with that right there ANyway

“-And then we can make a super big flower like the book with the bean stalk and we’ll touch the stars!”

“...that’s not scientifically plausible Dri”

“Anything is possible when it’s you & me!!”

“..Still think we could make that gaint flower?”

“Thought it ‘wasn’t plausible’. Remember?”

“With you? ‘Anything is possible’ Dear”

“...Dork~.”

•With the tendency to explore unsupervised, it would’ve been only a matter of time before these two would meet. despite the tough shell Ienzo had, instead of breaking it with trying to make him talk, she waited for him to hatch on his own accord, by bringing small books or art supplies to work on silently with a few comments here & there. She knew forcing him to talk would only make it harder.

In time he did start talking although not by much, but enough to hold a conversation which made Audri practically shine when she heard him talk. The small talks the had honestly funny if you were able to hear them, from plans of the future to multi-coloured animals, they’ve talked about it all almost.

•Zexion was a big change to Aidrux once she remembered, but that didn’t mean she didn’t try over the years. Whether it be old books or the small remark there, she tried & forunatly so did he. With illusions of flower fields & cheeky statements, they became close again, well as close as you could get with no hearts anyway.

•Once whole again they weren’t really sure what to do with the sudden massive rush of emotions that filled them when they met up again, it scared both of them to the point they avoided one another for a while till that feeling became unbearable.

They can’t think of the right word to label their relationship but they know they care about eachother differently compared to the others, but not quite love..

But maybe in time it will.

Xemnas

•Oddly enough? He felt kinda safe to her even after she remembered he was the reason she was nobody. He didn’t mind her presence really, she was useful & benifited the Orginzation.

But, something remembered her, and not from when he was an apprentice no. Something before that, but what?

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

As for people she dislikes/hates/uncomfortable with?

•As a child she never felt completely comfortable with Braig, there were the rare times she felt okay but never completely. To this day she still isn’t sure why, but she’ll get an idea why soon.

•During KH2 hands down for a time, H A T E D Sora, as far as she knew, he was trying to stop them from getting their hearts back, stopping her from being with her family. (Id be mad to if banana shoes over here started basically destroying years of planning/ work) She knows the truth now, but being near him all alone still sparks some negative feelings.

•As childish as it is, any man with yellow eyes. She doesn’t remember completely how she got to RG but knows that a male with those eyes took her there & feeling scared.

that’s all I can think of atm but pretty proud of how much I did today! See y’all tomorrow

I have to admit tho out of Lea & Isa, I’ve always liked Lea more so its a little funny how little he’s mentioned lol.

[thoseofgreatambition]

bad timing

REQUEST: “ so you know when george loses his ear? with the head injury he gets amnesia but one of the things he remembers is how much he loves the reader (mutual pining but nothing has ever been said bc oblivious dorks r my fave) and he is convinced they must be together bc he is filled with adoration and spends all his time telling reader and his family how smitten he is and how lucky he is and the reader is all !!!!!! and tries to tell george he's mistaken that it's his injury and he's like NONSENSE you are the love of my life and like yeah... that's how a bump to the head finally knocks some sense into two idiots” by @newtandtheseus​

A/N: This was Rosie’s request after winning a place in my giveaway! she told me the idea and I’m super excited to write it!!!

WARNINGS: None lol. Some angst. 

WORD COUNT: 2K

DESCRIPTION: George gets his head bonked when his ear gets chopped off. It changes what was before a pretty tense situation between the two of you into you observing with quite a bit of shock, a very goofy and in love George Weasley.

George didn't know a damn thing that was going on. While this was in the most technical sense an over exaggeration, right now it felt pretty right. He looked at everyone hovered above him, recognizing faces but missing a few names or understanding where he was, and George let out a groan before simply saying what first came to his head when his twin --oh hell how could he not remember that name-- asked him how he felt. 

“Saintlike.” 

His mother seemed to grow paler, as did you-- before he followed up with “’Cause I’m holey-- geddit?” 

You rolled your eyes and pinched the bridge of your nose as Molly gave George some most needed pain relief potion. 

“Glad to know you’ll be alright Weasley.” 

Adoring eyes met your very confused ones when the red haired man on the couch sleepily mumbled, “Who’s Weasley?” 

George watched as simultaneously, around the whole room everyone shot each other a concerned look. His eyes went back to being locked onto yours, with an amount of dedication that you’d longed for before but now seemed unnerving in these circumstances. Fred gave you a quick glance before patting George’s hand. 

“Just go to sleep, alright mate?” 

With a hum, the eldest Weasley twin fell asleep.

                                           ___________________________________

Later, when George woke up it took him a long while to remember what had happened. Even then he could tell there were lots of holes in his memory. 

He’d been hurt. He’d lost an ear. He was here with his family. You were here. There were also other people at the house as well but George didn’t have a damn idea who those were, other than knowing the faces. 

When you came into his view though, something huge came crashing into his memory. 

He loved you. 

He couldn’t remember how you met but he knew for sure that he’d adored you for years. 

You had a frown stitched onto your face that you couldn’t remove. Almost a mirror image of Molly. “Is he going to be okay? I dunno how much he remembers.” 

You’d known George for years-- and had settled into an odd situation with him romance wise. You were in love with him, entirely, but it had never worked out between you two when you actually wanted it to. He starts to like you? You’d just started dating someone else. You want to ask him out? He was snogging someone around the corner. 

Truly, it was a frustrating situation. 

Fred seemed rather sure of himself though, as he patted you on the back and led you back to the couch where George was resting. “Don’t worry-- We’ll figure out what he knows.” Fred perched himself on the couch next to George, and you settled down on the floor, your head about the same level as George’s. “So-- we’re gonna figure out what you know, and get you caught up. Ready mate?” 

George had a bit of trouble tearing his gaze from you, but managed to look at his twin. “Alright, sounds good.” 

“Do you know your name?” 

“George.”

There was a sigh of relief on your end. This entire situation had caused an absurd amount of stress, more than you wanted to admit. “Do you know where you are?” 

There was a pause from George, “England.” at you and his twin’s peering eyes he admitted a bit more sheepishly, “Don’t know any more than that. I can’t remember a lot.” 

Fred shot George a cheerful grin. “Don’t worry Georgie-- you’ll start remembering things soon. You’re at the Burrow. It’s where we grew up. Do you remember my name?” 

Later on, Fred wouldn’t lie to George that it hurt that he didn’t remember his name, but for the moment Fred hid it well enough when George shook his head. 

“I’m sorry. I know it starts with an ‘F’ though--” 

“You’re close! It sounds like an ‘F’. It’s Philip. George and Philip is what everyone always calls us.” 

The scowl you shot at Fred was second only to his mothers. “Don’t mess with him like that Fred!” 

George glanced between you and Fred, “Is Fred his middle name?” 

Fred broke into a series of snickers, and felt just a bit better about everything now that there was a bit more humor in the situation. “Sorry George. My name’s Fred, not Philip. We like pranking, if you don’t remember that.” 

“I remember that. Just like I remember being the funnier one.” 

The brotherly banter you were so used to was back in full force, which provided a level of comfort to you that you could never articulate. Like that you stood up, about to say something about getting some water or seeing if Molly thought now would be a good time to move George since he seemed more aware. 

Only to be stopped by a tight grasp on your hand. Looking down you saw that look on George’s face again. That smile that grazed his lips. It made your heart do a series of flips. 

“We’re in love.” The certainty with which George said that left you gobsmacked, as well as the fact that he said it with Fred right next to you two. 

“We--” you looked at Fred for help, and found none as the man wore a delighted smile. 

Fred  always was a lover of chaotic things like this. 

What an asshole. 

“I love you and you love me and we’re dating, aren’t we?” 

You felt a heat spread across your face. “No-- no we aren’t together George. We’ve never dated before.” 

“We’ve gotta be though! I know it-- I love you to bits and I remember that. How would I feel that way if we weren’t in love?” 

You tried to stammer out a response when you heard the giddy voice of Molly Weasley from the doorway. “You two are in love?” 

Fred jammed his fist in his mouth as he tried not to laugh, and you decided to give him a solid whack upside the head later.  

                              ___________________________________

The last few days had been a little hard on you. In an odd way. It was at first filled with you hearing wonderful things about how much George loved you and how lucky he was that you two were dating. Now though, as George’s memory was starting to come back you could see when he realized something he thought before was wrong. 

Before, he’d looked at you with so much love and adoration, and now he just seemed sad and confused when he saw you. 

Molly had asked you to bring him some tea, in a gesture you were sure was part of her plan for you and George to get together. 

George propped himself up in bed when he heard the door opening. He couldn’t hide the mixed emotions he felt when he saw you-- namely, embarrassment. 

He had spent so much time talking about how lucky he was to have you, how much he adored you to his family, and while they seemed happy-- they had broken the news to him that no-- you two weren’t together. You’d never been together actually. 

Truly, he couldn’t remember either way-- but George didn’t know who else he could trust if he didn’t trust his family. 

“Your mum asked to bring you some tea.”

George tore his eyes away from you and focused on an old stain on his blanket. “Thank you, y/n”

You paused for a little while, not sure what to say that would help. “You already asked your family a lot of questions didn’t you?” When he looked at you with a nod you continued, “Do you have any questions for me?” You sat on the edge of his bed, and gave him a smile. 

George’s heart did a few flips, and he started with the question that was at the forefront of his mind. “Are we together?” 

“No. We’ve never dated.” It hurt to have to say that, especially seeing how crestfallen he looked. “We’ve-- well, how much do you remember about school?” 

“Not a lot.” George racked his mind for a moment. Pranks-- Leaving Hogwarts on a broom-- glimpses of you-- Quidditch-- his siblings. “I remember things, but a lot’s not there.” 

“You and me have bad timing. There’s been a few times where we’ve wanted to-- or I’ve heard...” You clamped your mouth shut as you tried to get your words in order. “There’s been a lot of times where I’ve wanted to ask you out and it’s just been a bad time. Fred told me that something like that had happened with you too-- but I can’t be sure about that...” 

His head hurt almost constantly now, and this conversation wasn’t helping. “So we’ve never dated?” 

“No.”

“But we’ve almost dated?” 

“Yeah.” 

George’s brow crinkled at how ridiculous this all sounded. “Does that mean you love me too?” he could see the hesitation in your eyes, and while George didn’t remember a whole lot he knew what that look meant. He shot upwards in bed, “You do! I was right! Why didn’t you tell me?” 

Now it was your turn to have a red face. “Georgie-- you just got a concussion! You didn’t remember your last name until yesterday! It’s-- it didn’t really feel all that ethical to lean into what you were putting out! Pretty sure it’s not!” 

��But I was right we love each other!” 

“Yes! But--” 

You weren’t able to get any words of protest out, as you felt George scoop you into his arms and give you a crushing hug. 

It wasn’t until now that you were aware how much emotions could be conveyed from physical touch. Truly, this was the most loved you’d ever felt. Your lip wobbled a tiny bit as you tried to keep yourself from tearing up. Scrambling a bit so you could be more square in his lap, you could feel the big grin on his lips pressed against your shoulder. “You’re still not well though Georgie--” 

“Don’t care.” his voice was muffled against your shoulder. “You said we had bad timing before. I don’t care about timing. We’re in love.” 

Like that you let yourself melt against him, pulling away just enough to press a searing kiss to his lips. You gently cradled his face, careful to avoid touching his bandages or hurting him. Despite yourself you did tear up a bit. “We’re in love.” 

taglist: @newtandtheseus @insearchofnewdreams @fainting-fancy @siriuslyimmoony @oh-the-snowinthemoonlight @hermione-who @geeksareunique @phantomhive-shadow @notstandingstill-imlyinginwait @stillwater20-blog @dramatic-and-young @blusnowflakee @l-am-tired @lovelaughlivesmilebright @carolinesbookworld @imaginethis-st @xinyourdreamsx @skiving-snackboxess @wildfire-whizbangs @dwarfwizard-from-panem @doct0rstrange @slytherin2800 @diary-of-an-onliner @answer-the-sirens

[vespiiqueen]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the ask box of the last 10 people who reblogged something from you (if you want !! 💛💖)

Wow I rambled a lot with this but i can't add cuts bc I'm on mobile rn DHSISHSJ sorry :"))))

.

.

1. Ik Ik "haha how cringe are you" of me to say, but honestly? Homestuck. Homestuck helped me in a time of need and when i so desperately wanted something to latch onto. Finally, I caved into my friends telling me to read it-- and it's been a blast!! The epilogues / hs^2 make me feel kinda sad though, because so much of what I loved about the original was yeeted through the nine circles of hell and into the trash. I love Y/ffany's (I call her Yippi tho) design, the art is really pretty at times, Harry is a major dork, I LIVE for seeing Vrissy bc honestly?? Her design is 10/10, very early 2000s emo style and I also live for that. Tavros is cute and a nerd and I think that's swell!

But in terms of story and how any of this happens, it makes me sad to see it happen. If Vriska could return as Vrissy, why not OTHER beta trolls? Where's my Eridan fish man, writers?? Give me the boy or perish by my fury.

2. Also super "haha how cringe are you" but,,, murder cats (Warriors), esp the early 2005-2015 amvs and stuff. I remember watching Flightfootwarrior's "I Will Not Bow" Scourge amv for HOurs and having no clue what was happening, but all these edgy kitties were KITTIES! It's introduced me to a lot of music I still listen to to this very day (Imagine Dragons, Young/the entirety of Hollywood Undead, Breaking Benjamin). And yknow what?? This new arc is absolute chaos, but in the good way.

I'm an "OG Fan". I prefer the first arc, The Prophecies Begin, to almost any of the other arcs. I just could never get into the other arcs-- not to say I haven't read them, I HAVE and the Fire Scene was probably one of my favorite moments beside grumpy Jaypaw, god complex Lionblaze, and fear the gods Hollypaw. I thought the build-up for it was SUPER satisfying. Gray Wing is my baby and I fully embellish in the Gray Wing is Silverpelt theory.

This new arc is definitely something new for the universe. While I didn't read aVoS (but I may do that if i can find the files for it), and so I don't know the major events of it other than what I've seen M.A.P.'s (Multi-Animator Projects, for clarification,,, bc unfortunately that term is also something disgusting). There's fucking cat possession and all the Clans questioning their belief system, yo. Shit be on fire.

Also the Imposter is 100% Ashfur, that's canon now, yeah??? Also im sorry but fuck Root x Bristle that's the dumbest shit I have ever seen. Give me Root x Shadow or face the wrath of my dragon plushies.

RiverClan is my Clan and my gov assigned warrior name is Fireshell 🌟🌟

3. As much as I hate the author,,,,, Harry Potter. It's been a major part of my life for as long as I can remember. I can never really remember why, but I've always just loved it- the movies, the books, the extra little merch that would pop up in my local Walmart. Of course my favorite character is Draco Malfoy. I could go on and on and ON about how I think his character arc was SHIT and JKR didn't have the balls to make him a confident gay man that was always implied through the text (at least, my lesbian ass thought it was implied but i may just be projecting, idk). I could ramble about Draco for HOURS and what I think his character SHOULD have been and how his parents are horrible (more specifically, Lucius bc Narcissa [?] Actually showed a few good moments), and a child should never have to pay for their parents sins.

Oh noo, Draco's a villain because he's a victim of major abuse and peer pressure? He's a villain because a literal child can be horrible and they'll always always always stay as a horrible little fiend?? Fuck that. He's a child.

Unlike manchild grease pan Snape, who was a racist piece of shit and shouldn't have became a fucking school teacher but it's okay because he was ~~~in love~~~. No, fuck you, he was a creep. James Potter n Co may have been a little posh bitch to you, Snape, but that's no fucking excuse to continue to bluntly be a little cunt all the way into adulthood. You're an adult who flatly changed your PATRONUS to imitate Lily's. You have no excuse. And Harry went and named his child after you LIKE JESUS CHRIST, DID RON'S SISTER NOT HAVE A SAY IN THE NAMES TOO?????

I also fully adore the idea that Muggles can run into Hogwarts and their patronus can 100% be a made up, fantasy creature. Imagine you learn the patronus spell and suddenly fucking ARCEUS comes from your wand. Imagine learning the spell and CHTULU (i did not spell that right but im so tired) comes from your wand-- an entire ass fucking Lovecraftian, Eldrith horror is just the embodiment of you. What if it was a fucking Homestuck character like Vriska? How fucking METAL would that be?? Hskajssowjjsjs get on it fandom.

4. Hee hee very evident by my url but Pokemon is another major thing of mine. While vespiquen isn't my favorite (that title goes to Hydreigon), it is definitely up there!

I've ALWAYS enjoyed the idea of Pokemon. You run around, training up these fight monsters and collecting them. I remember playing my sister's Ruby version on her flip-up Gameboy. I couldn't even read but I ran around catching god only knows how many of the same pokemon wherever she was. Apparently, I had fought for hours in the same area and leveled her Blaziken up to lvl 50 something and left her lvl 30s in the dust LMAO.

I got my first game when it was Pearl/Diamond. It was Pearl, and it still holds a very fond place in my heart. I could barely read, I could barely write-- I had named my Turtwig something along the lines of "MmorpHy" and my player boy "ZbsibJ". Yes I remember the names slightly. I really didn't get far-- I barely got to the first gym but I was just so happy to play it.

I eventually lost the game, as a 5 year old would do, but I can still vividly remember what was happening when the game arrived. I had just came back from the dentist and was quite tired from fighting the dentist bc I was super scared. Mom suddenly handed me a box and said it was mine-- my overseas (at that time) dad had bought me Pearl and my sister Diamond, because I lost my shit about it when he visited one time.

Well, tdlr, I played it for about five minutes while struggling to stay awake against the loopy gas they made me take. I fell asleep listening to Twinleaf Town's soundtrack. Every time I play a rom of Pearl and I get to where the player's house fades in and I hear that first tune of the song, I get a huge smile on my face and cry-- as.. Weird as it sounds.

A few years later, I had gotten Pokemon Black bc I liked Reshiram on the cover. Now, this one I could actually READ when playing, but I don't remember a lot of things about it. I probably lost this one too, as a 8/9 year old would do. I DO remember, I chose Snivy and my sister chose Tepig (hrmm there's a theme here of grass/fire goin on......) and vibing to the music. I was so amazed by the sprites moving, I just kept getting into encounters to see the sprites move (oh boy, no one tell younger 7-9 y/o me about Zelda......oh wait....)

Playing Pokemon NOW, as a 17 year old """gifted""" chick, I stil have very fond memories. I recently beat Pokemon Black again and GOD the OTS SLAPS. I fucking adore the soundtrack-- the track that plays when you battle a trainer, the low health dings being turned into a legit song that also slaps, the battle! gym leader themes-- and oh my gOd, the legendary theme is amazing? It really tells you just how glorious these pokemon are supposed to be. It's not intimidating like Groudon/Kyroge/Rayquaza's themes. It's not action packed like Palkia/Dialga's is, it's not filled with tension like Giratina/Arceus's is-- but it radiates the GLORY that the beasts portray. And I live for that. (Also, Kyurem's version is my favorite because it glitches in the beginning and that's rly cool)

P/D/P and BW/BW2's stories, imo, are some of the greatest ones. Yeahhh, US/USUM's is cool and I haven't played XY nor SwSh-- but the ones I can find memorable are PDP and BW/BW2. I love N. I love Barry. They're my sons. Ghetsis is fucking terrifying, Cyrus needs a hug. Giratina scared the piss out of me when I was younger, which was NOT helped by Giratina and The Sky Warrior.

I think my favorite movies are the gen 4 ones. The Rise of Darkrai having a tear-jerking theme for such a mysterious pokemon (i still tear up when i hear Ocarion), Giratina being spiteful is a mood and Shaymin was cute, Arceus being angry is also a mood. Yeah, Pokemon 4Ever made me cry my eyes out over Celebi, Mewtwo Returns made me again cry because Mewtwo accepting who he is, I remember how vastly different the BW movies are-

I just. I have a lot of memories with the series, even if Gamefreak and Nintendo kinda do the series dirty a lot (your top-grossing thing and you made That monstrosity for the Switch? How dare you.). It's comforting to be stressed and pull up my roms for the games and to play them. Mystery Dungeon is incredibly fun to play, Pokemon Ranger is really fun with the concept (Shadows of Almia continues to kick my ass to this very day and FUCK the Jungle Relic, I hate the Water Challenge fucking gyarados bullshit). I remember the pokemon I got for MD (I got Time, my sis got Darkness) was Mudkip, if that is any help.

I love my little fictional pixel monsters.

5. Yup, someone told tiny 7-9 y/o me about console games. The legend of Zelda. My first Zelda game was Twilight Princess on the Wii and BOY did I play the fucking SHIT out of that game.

Honestly, looking back and looking at playthroughs now-- I still love TP. Twilight Princess is still one of my top favorite Zelda games-- yes, even after playing OoT, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, Skyward Sword, the anniversary four swords edition for the DS where you could play by yourself (Nintendo pls bring that back, I don't have friends to play it with ;-;), Phantom Hourglass- ect.

Something about Twilight Princess grabbed me by the head and yeeted me into the world. I can remember playing it for hours with little to no breaks. I, a tiny 9 y/o, had gotten the hang of the controllers and managed to get past the tutorial quite easily. And then, I was launched into the game and I wasn't stopping for NOTHING. Mom and Dad would have to force me to save and get off to go and eat dinner. THAT sucked.

I had done everything on my own up until the first temple, the forest temple. Not where/when you saved the dumb kid, but when you were saving the spirit's light. Theeeeeeennn I got stuck on the fucking Forest Temple for deadass six months straight. I'd play for hours, running around in circles, unable to figure out where to go, and because I didn't grasp the temple's purpose of being that way- I'd get angry and get off. It wasn't until dad looked up a walkthrough and talked me through what I was supposed to do that I learned how to get through temples.

I had gotten to the last little fight with Ganondorf before the Wii broke and i could no longer play. Despite the Wii being broke and we got rid of it, I was ADAMANT on keeping the game, and I kept that game for YEARS. It was an original copy out of a sealed box, and I eventually lost it when I left it accidentally at my now ex-friend's house.

She had a Wii and I went "hey I have a Wii game!" And I brought my Zelda over. Worst fucking choice of my goddamn life. Mom called me to come home and said I couldn't sleep over like the original plan was, and that was it. My ex-friend stashed my Zelda and I never saw it again. And, even if I wanted to-- I couldn't get it back, which makes me upset. We had a BAD falling out. She likely doesn't even remember it's there, or sold it to the local game junkie kid who buys ALL games.

But I still love the game. Midna was amazing, and I loved how snarky she was and she has a very cute design! The game's OST is fucking phenomenal. Midna's Desperate Hour makes me cry bc goddamn it really sells how serious that situation is. I love Hyrule Field's theme in this game. I love the Twilight Realm's song. Zant was fucking hilariously scary. Ganondorf's design in this game scared the piss out of me when I was younger.

Midna and this game's Link and Zelda are def my favorites. Yeah yeah, Sheik is cool and all I Guess but dhsushwishs Midna holds the special place in my heart. She was totally my gay awakening BUT

For other game antagonists, I adore Ghirahim-- let's go you funky little queer-coded villain. Skull Kid was great, I love the entire dynamic of him. Prankster lost soul stumbles upon Majora's Mask and the mask makes him act out due to powers-- which, I actually took very heavy inspiration from for one of my OCs. The moon falling to Hyrule was a fucking terrifying looming threat.

But the game series holds a place, and I've yet to be able to play BoTW-- although, I'm fairly certain I'll like it. The playthroughs I've watched of it are all fairly decent! I just. Gotta save up enough money to buy it haha.

Dang guess I gotta go watch a Twilight Princess playthrough again.

Honorable Mentions:

Avatar: the Last Airbender, specifically Book 3

my OCs definitely make me happy, they're my children and I'd ramble A LOT longer if given the chance WHEEZE

My friends, but I didn't add them here bc it's more fictional stuff, I presume

Baking. I love to bake cupcakes.

Painting is fun. I'm an artist and goddammit im going to use painting as an excuse to make a mess.

Fire. I rly like fire, down to a pyromaniac level. However, i hate the fires that happened to my home town, the Great Smokey Fires of 2016-- THAT pissed me off. How dare you burn mountain landscapes to the ground. Perish.

History. I'm a history nerd.

I'm also a science nerd.

But fuck math, I cannot comprehend math to save my life.

For some reason, I rly like learning how the human body works??? like did you know, organs are actually sticky when touched by a bare hand?? Did you?? How fucking cool is that.

Bakugan. I love Bakugan, esp the DS game. I love my Darkus Leonidas. Give me back the online world, you peasants-- I want my Darkus Dragonoid. (Also fuck all my friends from when I was in kindergarten- my theory that Alice was Masquerade was somewhat correct.)

[xserpentlife]

On Your Terms

Requested: Anon - Can you do sweet pea x reader where the reader is a bit shy and a northsider and wants to keep their relationship pg13? @depressingwiimusic - yes, first I wanna say I love your stories and I love you. second, could you do a sweet pea x reader where the reader is this shy girl who's kinda geeky and likes reading and is really smart and super sweet but is also Reggie's little sister? also like, I don't mind cursing by any means but can the reader not curse in it? like to go with the innocent, sweet vibes she puts out

A/N: I combined two requests for this fic because I thought they went well together. Hope you enjoy! I also put a different spin on this one with the way it was written. I just felt the italics fit more in some parts. Thank you to @wayward-river for being my beta as always

Warnings: Small mention of bad past relationship, Tiny bit of violence Reggie/Sweet Pea

Summary: You and Sweet Pea started dating a few weeks ago but you have known each other for about a year. Ever since the Serpent's joined Riverdale high you became close to him. For a while it was just a friendship but then it turned into more. It’s starting to get weird though, he tries kissing and once it almost led to more but you had to stop him. You’ve been through things that he doesn’t know, you also need to tell him that your brother is Reggie, but you don’t want to scare him away.

Word Count: 4593

Y/N POV

You were meeting Sweet Pea behind the school to hang out for a bit before your next class. You watched him walk out the back door and saunter over with Fangs and Toni following. Everyone in the Serpents knew about the relationship, but not many people from the Northside did, especially not Reggie your brother.

“Hey Babe” He kissed your cheek and then went down for your lips but you turned away. If there weren’t people around that was okay with you, but with other people, it just made you so uncomfortable.

“Hey Pea”

“You okay baby?”

“Yeah, I uh, I gotta go”

“Wait! Will I see you at the Wyrm later?” You threw a yeah over your shoulder before running off and bumping into your brother.

“Sorry Y/N”

“Oh hey Reg”

“You coming to the game tonight?”

“No, I uh, I’m hanging out with Toni”

“The Serpent”

“Reg please don’t she’s more than that, she is a good friend to me”

“Whatever Y/N just be careful, Okay?”

“Okay Reg, I will” You heard the bell ring and you headed to your next class, you went home after getting changed to go to the Wyrm. You threw on a pair of jeans and a flannel before heading out.

You walked into the Wyrm seeing Toni behind the bar

“Hey babe”

“Hey T, where’s Pea, wait lemme guess… pool” you stood on your tiptoes looking over the serpents shoulder and seeing your boyfriend playing with Fangs.

“Is that even a question girl?”

“Not really haha”

“He should be done soon though, you want a drink”

“T you know”

“I know, I was talking about water or a coke”

“Yeah, I'll take a water, put it in a  glass for me though?”

“Always” You were innocent, never really doing anything your parents would disapprove of. You weren’t like many other teenagers, you didn’t drink, didn’t smoke, and definitely didn’t party. You really never went out of the house much until you met Sweet Pea. Honestly, you still didn't know how he fell for you. Compared to his life you felt like you were boring.

“Hey babe” Pea kissed you on the lips and you instantly felt a shudder run through your body. You knew that you should just tell him but you couldn’t, it would ruin everything you thought.

“Lemme guess Fangs paying your tab?”

“Always baby girl, always”

“Anyway how are you I missed you earlier”

“I’m good I missed you too, how was the job?”

“Oh it went good”

“That’s good”

“Hey, you wanna dance”

“T, Fangs lets all dance, I wanna have fun tonight” It was always nice for you to come out and forget who you were on the Northside, maybe that’s why you liked being on the Southside so often. You could be who you wanted, and be seen with who you wanted without getting judged.  You danced for a while with Fangs, Pea and Toni. It was fun hanging out with them. When you started dating Pea it became a weekly thing and you always looked forward to it. You guys finally stopped after about 4 songs and went back to the bar. 

“Hey, T fill me up?” Fangs went over to a new initiate and started grinding with him, while Toni stayed behind the bar working. You looked around seeing all the couples making out, dancing, grinding, and everything in between. Then you looked over to Sweet Pea standing behind you, literally just standing. You wanted to be like the other couples and you knew Pea’s history. He had girls all over him. You wanted to be that girl for him, and you wanted to be able to kiss him in the bar and school like other girls probably did, but it wasn’t you and you hated that.

“Uhm, I gotta go” You stood up gaining the attention of Toni and Pea, you began walking out of the Wyrm before you felt Peas hand around your wrist.

“Wait, babe stop, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing I just, uhm have homework”

“Y/N just talk to me”

“Nothing's going on I just, I need to go, your dating a nerd remember, I have a lot of homework you know honors classes and such” Which wasn’t a lie you did have a lot of homework.

“Hey for your information I like dating a nerd, your cute when you do your experiments and stuff”

“You’re an idiot”

“I feel offended” You watched his hand go over his chest as a shocked look came over his face.

“Okay big guy, I gotta go” You pressed a quick kiss to his lips before beginning to walk off.

“Wait can I walk you home?”

“My parents are their Sweets, you know how they are”

“Can I at least walk you almost there”

“Yeah” you began walking hand in hand with Pea. It was nice being alone and just enjoying each others company.

“What homework do you have”

“Well I have English, but then I need to work on my project for Reading Olympics”

“That’s awesome are you having fun with it”

“Honestly, yeah”

“Your gonna do great” you began laughing at the thought. Just the big bad Serpent being so proud of you for something you were making, and for it to be reading related made it even funnier.

“What are you laughing at?”

“You?”

“Why me?”

“Because it is hilarious to me that we are dating”

“Do you not…”

“God no Pea, I love being with you, it’s just funny to me like just our personalities and everything so different about us. Like you, the big bad Serpent who wears leather jackets and usually has a busted knuckle is dating the boring northside girl who loves writing and doing English projects.

“Baby I love being with you, I love watching you read, I love hearing you talk about the stories that you read, and I love the joy you get when you show me the things you have written. Just because we are different doesn't mean that we aren't right for each other. We may be different but that doesn't matter to me, because honestly when I’m with you I forget about everything but you”

“You're adorable you know that”

“Yeah, don’t go telling anyone I got a rep to keep up princess”

“Oh yeah, I'm sure you do big guy”

“Hey princess” he pulled you around and in for a hug.

“Yeah?”

“We arrived at your castle” You look up to see your house at the end of the street, you hadn’t even realized how far you walked. He always had a way to make you laugh, no matter what it was he always did.

“My castle?”

“I mean you are a princess”

“Like the princess and the Pea”

“Oh, and I'm the dork?”

“I love you Y/N, I’ll see you later” he threw his arm around you pulling you in for a hug. He pulled away landing a quick peck to your lips. You began walking towards your house. You looked back once or twice to see him standing there before you entered through your gate. Pea always waited till you got to the door never trusting the streets at night, he needed to know you were safe. You felt your phone buzz pulling it out of your pocket and seeing Pea’s name.

P: Did you get inside?

Y/N: You watched me walk through the gate…

P: That’s not inside baby girl, I can’t see past the gate. Did you get into the house?

Y/N: Yeah Pea I did

P: Alright baby I love you I’ll see you tomorrow

Y/N: Love you too Pea

Pea always begged to walk you to the door, but you would never let him. You couldn’t risk him seeing the Mantle sign that hung on the door once you entered. It wasn’t that you were afraid to tell him, you were afraid for Reggie to find out, afraid he would stop you from dating.

You went upstairs doing some of your homework before laying in bed and drifting off to sleep. You woke up the next morning walking downstairs and see Reggie sat at the counter.

“Hey Reg”

“Hey Y/N, how was Toni’s”

“Good, I came back early to get some homework done, How was the game?”

“Really good, we won”

“Oh really, that’s awesome you guys have been doing really good this season”

“Yeah we got a good team, you know the old guys and the new ones are working really well together”

“That’s good, how’s the Serpent beef?”

“Not really there we kinda just play and let it all ago, it’s not really like last year”

“Good, good”

“Yeah, Hey do you need a ride to school?”

“Sure, thanks” The ride to school was quiet, small talk here and there. You arrived at school and walked to the library knowing you wanted to get a start on the book you were reading, your favorite book at that. You sat down beginning the chapter you were on before you got distracted by your phone buzzing.

P: Where are you?

P: baby you good?

P: Y/N?

Y/N: Sorry Pea I was reading

P: oh cool, sorry I bothered you what are you reading?

Y/N: your not a bother and you know it, and Y/F/B

P: oh cool that’s your favorite right?

Y/N: yeah

P: hey where are you tho?

Y/N: library

P: can I come?

Y/N: of course

Your phone didn’t buzz anymore and a few seconds later you got startled by hands around your eyes, laying against your skin. You recognized the scent that enveloped you and the rough calloused skin that laid on the hands. You could tell it was Sweet Pea without even a glance up.

“Pea?”

“Maybe…” He kissed your lips while his hands still covered your eyes. Luckily no one was in the library during this time and you were completely alone with him.

“Oh now I know it’s you”

“Damn right” You watched as he sat next to you on the couch and pulled you closer.

“So baby girl tell me about this book again”

“I’ve told you so many times before”

“Oh, and I could relay every detail tenfold but I love hearing you talk about it” So you did, you told him every small detail and he would even mention tiny things that you missed. He always paid close attention when you talked. When you first began to hang out you always thought he ignored you but one day when he said something about a book that you even forgot telling him that is when you knew. You knew that he genuinely listened. He never got bored with the books, and he never got bored of you, he even read a book with you once so he could talk about it in depth like you had so many times. As you talked about the book and other random things he steals kisses here and there. At one point you got lost in a kiss only being interrupted by a cough from Fangs and Toni. Your heart plummeted when you turned and looked at them. They had seen you kiss Pea, they had seen you kissing him and it brought all the memories to the surface. The thoughts came onto you faster than they usually did, today wouldn’t be a good one.

“Y/N you okay?” You couldn't say a word the thoughts clouding your mind. 

“Hey talk to me”. He pecked your lips with his, a thing that would usually get you out of your head when you were alone, but with the people around it made it worse. You rushed out of the school running before you felt a hand grab yours.

“No, you‘re not running from me, I know how you get when you run, we're going to the quarry, now” His tone was pleading, you didn’t want to argue he was going to need to know eventually. He walked you to his truck, opening the door and ushering you in before walking around to his side. He took your hand as he drove the short distance. You got out of the truck walking over to the couch and sat down.

“Y/N please talk to me, am I, am I losing you”

“No definitely not”

“Then what’s going on, I want to give you the smallest peck something you like and you pulled away completely and ran. Does my breath smell or something?” even when he was serious and you were upset the laughter would always come.

“No babe your breath smells fine”

“Then what?”

“I just didn’t want to kiss”

“That’s not it, your lying baby I know when you lie. Plus you’ve been doing it so often and you’ve never had a problem kissing me before and then you ran out of the Wyrm last night why?”

“I just I feel bad”

“Why?”

“I can’t” your head began shaking the thoughts pouring in and a tear slipping down your eye

“Hey you can, I mean if you're comfortable I'm here to listen”

“Okay” He grabbed your hand a signal to keep going .”Before I dated you, two years… before I dated you I was dating a guy named Chad. He wasn’t a good guy”

“Did he hit you”

“No, never but what he did was almost worse”

“What do you mean?”

“Well at first it was great, he was sweet and we were happy. But then we started telling people and he got possessive almost. Every time someone was around he would kiss me, and when I asked him to stop he wouldn't. That possessiveness in public never went further than kissing but it hurt me. Constantly being used almost as an owned object. I felt dirty, disgusting. I started getting anxious in front of people. I knew if I was around people I wouldn’t be able to be with him without the constant PDA he always put onto me. Then one day it got too much he kept kissing me turning into a makeout after one of my guy friends said I looked pretty. It was too much I lost my breath until y friend pulled him off and I could finally breathe. I broke up with him and he started dating my old best friend. I just ever since then relationships, I just couldn't do them, not until I met you”

“Baby If I knew I never would have done that”

“I know, I know I should have told you but I couldn’t, I wasn't scared I just didn’t want to, I feel so broken. I want to be with you in public but, there's just so many things you don’t know that scare the shit out of me. I ran out of the Wyrm the other day because of all the people making out. Seeming them so happy with their partners I just couldn’t. I want to be able to kiss you in public, but I mean it scared the shit out of me. I just don’t want it to control me anymore. Before I would kiss you at school because we would always hide and no one was around, but then Fangs and Toni found out and they are usually around it just, it causes my anxiety to skyrocket sometimes”

“Baby I wish I knew I am so sorry that I didn't know. Well I have an idea, I mean only if you're comfortable”

“We work through this, you know I would never hurt you like that, ever”

“I know, but what do you mean work through it”

“You take control, you kiss me when you want where you want however long you want. I don’t want you to feel scared that I am going to trap you by a kiss or be possessive of you because that isn’t who I am and I don’t want to be that person to you. I want you to be able to have control of it, and maybe that control will help you to not be afraid of kissing in public anymore and if you are that’s okay. I’ll just hold your hand and that will be enough for me, honestly baby girl as long as I'm with you I don’t care if I can kiss you in public or not”

“Okay”

“Okay?”

“Yeah, I want to try, I want to be with you and be able to be with you in public”

For weeks you have been working with Sweet Pea, him letting you sneak kisses here and there, and even you letting him sneak a few. It grew comfortable being able to kiss him with others around. It never went further than a peck and it was only done once or twice in front of people you knew. There were a few hiccups where the thoughts came back but Pea always pushed them down by grabbing your hand and placing a kiss to your knuckles. For some reason, that small gesture always knocked you out of your thoughts. You workers so hard at being able to be with him you now walked through school hand in hand.

It had been about three weeks since the talk that you had with Sweet Pea. He was standing with you by your locker when you pulled him close to you kissing him as you leaned back against the locker with him standing in front of you. The kiss only broke not by choice when your brother pulled Sweet Pea onto the floor catching him off guard and landing a swift punch to his jaw. You had been so wrapped up in trying to work through your issues you completely forgot about hiding the relationship from Reggie. You Were scared to tell Reggie for the pure fact that he knew about Chad. He rarely let you get close to anyone due to it, not that you wanted to until now. You got broken out of your thoughts when Sweet Pea grunted in pain, he wasn't fighting back something odd especially for him and especially against a bulldog.

“Reggie stop!”

“Why would I stop this asshole kissed you and had you against a locker” Another kick landed to Sweet Pea's ribs. You looked to the side to see Fangs and Toni now watching.

“Reggie please” another punch landing to Sweet Pea’s eye. You couldn’t take it anymore and Reggie wasn’t listening. As another punch was about to come you ran in front of Reggie pushing him back as hard as you could to at least give you a little time to reason with him. You stood leaning over Sweet Pea. Reggie couldn’t hurt him without hurting you with the way you were standing.

“Y/N move!”

“No Reg you gotta stop”

“He hurt you, you could have gone into one of your anxiety spells “

“No, no, no he didn’t hurt me”

“But he had you against a locker”

“I was in control that whole time Reg, I pulled him to me and put myself against the locker, I kissed him”

“Why!”

“Because we're dating”

“He is using you, what does he want? Is he forcing you?”

“God no we've been dating for about a month now, he’s great”

“Look I have practice, but we are talking about this later, be home after school got it” With that Reggie walked about before you could get another word in. You looked to Sweet Pea clutching his stomach.

“Fangs, Toni help me get him into the truck before the next class starts” they both came over gripping under his arms as he grunted you grabbed both of your backpacks before following them out to his truck. He had passed out on the drive to your house.

“Pea, Pea please baby wake up”

“I’m okay Y/N”

“I'm gonna help you inside so I can clean you up okay”

“Where are we?” “My house, before you say anything I don’t care if they know” He stood out of the truck with you helping him and you made it inside slowly. You brought him upstairs and into your bedroom and onto your bed. You laid him down and ran downstairs grabbing an ice pack before grabbing the first aid kit out of your bathroom. You laid the ice pack onto his stomach while you cleaned the cuts on his face. You began washing then cuts out and apply some ointment to them so they would heal.

“Baby I need you to stand up, your ribs are gonna bruise by the looks of it and I need to wrap it up”

“How are you so good at this”

“Football, I’ve patched Reggie up more times than I can count on both hands” You helped him stand and wrapped the bandage around him tightly.

“Baby ow, that’s so tight”

“Yeah, I know it’s either that your you don’t heal and your ribs float around”

“Your dramatic”

“Yeah, but it'll make you listen”

“Touche, now I deserve a cuddle come lay down” You slipped out of your jeans putting on Sweet Pea’s shirt that had been discarded onto the floor. Luckily there was no blood on it and you loved wearing his clothes.

“Stealing my shirt baby girl”

“When do I not”

“True’ You laid down with him tracing circles onto the top of his chest, careful going around his wrapped up ribs. You needed to know.

“Hey Pea?”

“Yeah baby”

“Why didn’t you fight back, you've never backed out of a fight”

“I wasn’t gonna knock out your brother Y/N, plus I wouldn’t fight in front of you unless I had to, you know that” You jolted up out of his arm earning a wince from him.

“Oh my god I'm so sorry” 

“baby im okay just a little sore no worries”

"So wait you're telling me you knew”

“Of course I knew, I’ve known for a while” 

“How? When?”

“that first time I walked you to the end of your street you thought I walked away but I followed you to the gate, I saw the name on the door and I kind of put two and two together” “Why didn’t you tell me”

“I knew you would tell me when you were ready”

“Well, thank you I mean, for not rushing me”

“Never baby you know that now come back here you were keeping me warm” You laid down again fingers tracing shapes into his chest once more. You quickly heard soft snores come from his mouth and you drifted to sleep shortly after. You woke up feeling eyes on you. And you looked over to see Reggie sitting in the chair across the room. He caused you to jump waking Pea in the process. 

“What’s wrong!” Pea jumped up after you before slamming back down onto the bed in a yelp of pain.

“That… what… a bad idea”

“Oh my god baby I’m sorry are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah I'm good” you heard the pain in his breaths but you didn’t want Reggie to hurt him anymore so you stepped in front of the bed. 

“Reg please don’t hurt him, he didn’t do anything” Reggie just sat staring at the both of you while all this went down. “Reg what are you doing?”

“So your together?”

“yes”

“Has he ever once touched you where you didn’t want him to?”

“No”

“Has he ever once pushed you further than you wanted to go?”

“No” 

“Has he ever laid a hand on you?”

“No”

“Have you ever been scared of him”?

“God no”

“Do you like him?”

“I love him Reg”

“You love him?”

“I do Reg. I care about him so much and he makes me feel as safe as you do. He never once pushed me to do anything I didn’t want to do. I have control to choose when I want to go further and when I don’t. He helped me through the Chad issues making me feel like I got my power back, that’s why I was against the locker. I wasn’t scared I was comfortable” Pea interrupted

“Mantle if I ever felt she didn’t want something even as small as a kiss or me holding her hand, honestly anything I would stop instantly, I never want her to feel uncomfortable, ever”

“Do you love her”

“I do Mantle, I really do she makes me happy every time I'm ever upset or angry. I could be in such a bad mood but once I see her everything goes away instantly. I love being with her, I know I'm in love with her, and I couldn’t be happier”

“Alright” You watched him about to walk out of the room.

“That’s it? You're not mad?”

“I'm mad you didn’t tell me, I'm not mad you're dating him, I told you I learned who the Serpents were. I may not agree with everything they do and I may not want you to date one but you are and it is what it is, plus I don’t know any other guy who wouldn’t fight back let alone move while they were getting even if I am her brother, to be honest dude no guy I know is like that. Hell if one of the girls I’ve dated brother came after me I’d knock him the fuck out. But I am curious why did you? I mean I know you get in fights that’s not a secret I'm honestly surprised”

“I knew you were her brother but she didn’t tell me you were, she was afraid of losing what we had if she did. I mean she just told me about Chad a few weeks ago. Plus I know how fighting makes her feel. I wouldn’t fight in front of her unless I had to, and I wouldn’t fight you, you're her brother and she cares about you”

“You’re a good man Sweet Pea, take care of her or this time your ribs will actually break, got it?”

“I got it, Mantle, hey wait, thank you for being so cool with this. I promise to take care of her, really I mean it”

“I know you do” With that you watched your brother walk out of your room and you heard his bedroom door open and close at the end of the hallway. You turned to Sweet Pea who was still lying on the bed.

“That went better than I thought”

“Honestly I'm shocked too baby girl, but I’m happy we don’t have to hide anymore”

“Me too”

“Now come cuddle meeeeeeeeee”

“Wow you get real needy when your hurt”

“Don’t tell anyone”

“I know, I know. You gotta rep to uphold I get it” You watched his arms raise motioning for you to climb into the bed with him. You obliged slowly climbing into the bed with him.

“Can we stay like this forever”

“I mean I’m not complaining, but you know I kinda gotta pee”

“Please for the love of god tell me you are joking baby girl, I just wanna cuddle you!”

“Calm down ya big baby I'm kidding”

“Good” he placed a kiss to your forehead before slipping his hand to your back. You slowly felt his fingers rubbing up and down relaxing you instantly. You nodded off as his hand slowed down the slow beat of his chest causing a rhythm to sync between your breathing. You fit with him like a puzzle piece and it’s the only thing you could wish for.

[waitineedaname]

Lightning Round, Take Two

kudos to @notedchampagne for inspiring this!!

also on ao3

-

“This is a terrible idea.”

“It’ll be fine.”

“She’s going to hate me.”

“She’ll love you.”

“Love me? Love me?!” Karkat all but shrieked. “I don’t know if you’ve realized this, Dave, but I don’t exactly make the best impressions! In fact, one might even say I make the worst impressions! We’ll be lucky if she doesn’t end this visit early because she can’t stand being around me because I have the personality of a deep seated pimple!”

“Damn. The kind it hurts to pop?”

“Yes! The kind of pimple that never forms a head and settles on your upper lip so it hurts every time you move your mouth! That’s what my personality is like: persistent, painful, and pus-filled!”

“The three P’s.” Dave mused, and Karkat shot him a scowl. “C’mon man, don’t sell yourself short. You’re like a blackhead at the worst.”

“Don’t pander to me, Strider.” Karkat grumbled and crossed his arms, but he didn’t complain when Dave slung his arm over his shoulders. “I still think this would go much better without me.”

“Nah, dude, trust me, this is the best option. I mean, best case scenario, if I did this by myself, she’d be like ‘omg do u have a bf’ and I’d be like ‘yeah’ because that’s part of what I’m tryna do here, tell folks about us, but then she’d want pictures even though she’s definitely met you, and then I’d have to show her all those cute pictures I took of you when you weren’t looking, and I know you don’t want that.”

“You what?”

“You didn’t hear that.”

Karkat rolled his eyes and leaned a little closer into Dave’s side, eyes tracing the little carapacian homes they were walking by. Dusk was falling, much to his relief; they both had to make compromises when they realized their species operated at different times of day, but he still avoided leaving the hive when the sun was glaring and ready to burn him to a crisp. Dave probably could’ve flown them all the way to Roxy and Calliope’s house, but Karkat hated making him carry him that far (Dave always insisted he wasn’t that heavy, but the strain in his voice never escaped Karkat’s notice), so they were walking the last few blocks. Karkat had a sneaking suspicion Dave was fine with walking because he was trying to delay the inevitable. He was nervous, if the way his fingers were tapping on Karkat’s upper arm or the way he kept clenching and unclenching his jaw said anything. Karkat sighed and unfolded his arms to wrap one around Dave’s waist.

“You don’t have anything to worry about, you know.” He said, surprising Dave into looking down at him.

“What? Who said I’m worried? You’re the one who’s been bitching the whole evening.”

“Because I want to make a good impression on your weird paradox ancestor, shit for brains. I’m saying you don’t need to be worried about coming out to her.” He met Dave’s eyes through his shades, something he’d gotten good at over the sweeps. “Of all fucking people, she’ll be the most fine with it. That’s why you’re telling her first, right?”

“Yeah, I know, it’s just-” Dave sighed and looked away. He was better than he used to be, but holding eye contact was still hard for him, “It’s a big deal, you know? I mean, Rose probably figured it out from living in a confined space with us, and Dirk kinda got it out of context clues, but this is a first using the big B-word.”

“She’ll be fine. And if she isn’t, I’ll tear her apart and at least give her a reason to hate your boyfriend besides my shit-awful personality.”

“Aw, babe, I dunno whether to be flattered you’d attack my mom like a feral raccoon or bummed that you’re trashin’ yourself.”

“How about we compromise, and I’ll stop shit-talking myself if you stop stressing yourself out about this.”

“...Deal.”

“Good. Because I think that’s her house.”

“Oh shit.”

The two of them stopped just outside the elaborate building the carapacians had offered Roxy and Calliope back when they’d first arrived in the middle of Earth C society, both of them brimming with anxiety despite their reassurances. Karkat almost thought Dave was going to say this was too much for him and turn around and fly home, but he unwrapped himself from Karkat’s arm and instead held his hand to walk up to the front door and knock.

“Just a sec!” Roxy’s voice rang out from somewhere inside, and a few seconds later, the door opened to reveal her smiling face. “Davey!” She squealed and launched herself at him, hugging him tightly. Dave, to his credit, adapted quickly and let go of Karkat’s hand to hug her back.

“Sup, Rox.”

Roxy pulled away from Dave to turn towards Karkat, who instinctively took a half step back. She noticed and laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna hug you if you don’t wanna. Is a fistbump cool?”

“I don’t know if I would call anything a certain red asshole harangued me with in the early years of our friendship ‘cool’, but it is acceptable.” That made Roxy laugh, and he gave her a light fistbump.

“Karkat, bro, I can’t believe you’re just calling me uncool in front of my mom. What the fuck. What is this betrayal.” Dave shook his head, but he already seemed more relaxed.

“Dave, I dunno how to break this to you, but you’re related to me ‘n Dirk.” Roxy tried to adopt a sympathetic expression despite her grin. “You’ve got dork running through your veins.”

“Goddamn. You’re tellin’ me I’ve got a genetic predisposition for this shit?”

“Yup. It’s chronic. Doctors everywhere’re rushing to write studies on our family to try and isolate the ‘cool-but-really-not-cool’ gene.”

“Let’s hope it’s not replicable in a lab or anything. I’m pretty sure Earth C can only handle four of us.”

“Ohmigod, can you imagine them trying to test it out. Little lab rats wearing shades and writing wizard fic. Holy shit.” Roxy gasped at her own idea, an unbelievably pleased look on her face.

“Oh my dick. Fuck ectobiology, this is the science I want to invest in.”

“Absolutely not.” Karkat interjected. “There’s already enough of you jackasses, I think I’d have an aneurysm if any more blond lunatics were running around.”

“Lol,” Karkat couldn’t believe Roxy just said that out loud, “You’re probably right. Are we gonna keep fucking around about cool mice on the doorstep, or do you guys wanna come in?”

She stepped aside to lead them inside and showed them to the living room. “Callie’s out picking up dinner. I would’ve made something since I invited you guys over for dinner, but living in the water apocalypse did not leave me with many cooking skills.”

“Hey, no shade here.” Dave shrugged, plopping down on the couch with Karkat at his side. “I don’t think I’d be able to work an oven if I tried. We’re a strictly take-out household. Hivehold? I dunno, but we’ve barely touched the kitchen in the week we’ve been here.”

“Excuse you, I made those Hot Pockets yesterday.” Karkat countered sharply.

“Yeah, and they were like 30% cooked, dude. You put them in the microwave for thirty seconds and then panicked.”

“Fuck you, I don’t see you doing much better! In fact, I distinctly remember you eating those frozen pizza pockets like a ravenous barkbeast! It was like you’d been locked in a cave with nothing to eat for half a sweep and my delicious plate of folded sauce treats were the only thing saving you from a miserable, malnourished death!”

“I mean, a Hot Pocket’s a Hot Pocket. I’m not gonna turn one of those fuckers down, who do you think I am.”

“I think you’re a wiggler with no sense of taste.”

“You eat bugs.”

“And you put ranch on your pizza! Bricks and glass houses, Dave!”

“Dude, do trolls even have that expression? Aren’t y’all light sensitive? Why would you have glass houses?”

“Newsflash, dipshit, I’ve lived in close proximity for the majority of the past two sweeps with an overflowing fountain of pop culture references and idioms and an uppity seer that likes to make things as convoluted and difficult to understand as possible. I picked up a few human phrases! Uh, no offense, Roxy.” Karkat added at the mention of Rose.

“None taken! I’m pretty sure she gets that from Dirk anyway.” Roxy waved him off. “Take it back to the ranch on pizza thing tho, do you really do that? Is this some earth delicacy I missed out on?”

“Oh fuck yeah, it rules. You gotta try it some time.” Dave nodded, excited to get someone else to try his food crimes.

“Imma have to take a pass on that.” Roxy said, crinkling her nose.

“Finally, someone with taste!” Karkat exclaimed, and Dave gently hit his shoulder.

“I am slowly workin’ through traditional earth food tho! Or at least as traditional as you can get here. That’s where we’re getting dinner from! There’s this human/troll fusion place that Callie and I like. I dunno how authentic it is, but it tastes good at least!”

“I mean, nothing on Earth C is super authentic, it’s all like human diet slightly to the left, but it’s edible.”

“Better than the garbage we alchemized on the meteor, at least.” Karkat agreed.

“God, the fucking buffalo wings debacle.” Dave and Karkat shuddered in unison. Roxy looked amused.

“You guys spent a lot of time together on the meteor, right? And now you’re living together?” Roxy asked, and they both nodded. She had a look in her eyes that was far too reminiscent of the look Rose got when she was gearing up to psychoanalyze someone, and Karkat was hit with a stroke of panic. “Sooo, I should prob’ly do a lightning round with you too, right? Since you’re important to Dave?”

The pair shared a look and Dave shrugged, appearing nonchalant despite the way he was anxiously picking at a loose string on his jeans. “Uh, I guess?” Karkat said, bracing himself.

“I’ll start easy, I promise!” Roxy drummed her fingers on her lips as if thinking. “Hm… you’ve got ‘cat’ in your name, do you like cats?”

Karkat made a face, thrown off by the question. “I guess? I never had one, but Nepeta was pretty fucking into them, and they seemed… fine. I can respect a meowbeast that just lazes around if it’ll leave me the fuck alone, but Nepeta’s lusus could’ve probably torn me to shreds, so…” He shrugged.

“Was Nepeta a friend from the game?” Roxy backpedaled the moment she saw Karkat’s face fall. “Oh shit, tender subject, sorry.” She worried her lip, looking for another question, then perked up. “Oh! What’s your sign? I know it’s Cancer from earth astrology and stuff, but what’s that mean for trolls?”

Karkat looked down at his chest and grimaced. “Fuck if I know, I don’t actually have a sign. I spent most of my life thinking this stupid thing meant precisely fuck all. I guess it’s a symbol of my ancestor? But I never really learned much about him since the empress always tried to erase his rebellion, and I thought that ancestor shit was highblood bullshit anyway. I guess now I know it’s not, but ugh, I could’ve happily gone my whole wretched life without meeting that douchebag.”

“We met his ancestor in the dream bubbles.” Dave explained. “Or I guess descendent? Since y’all are technically the post-scratch group? I never really understood that part.”

“Doesn’t fucking matter, he was a pretentious asswipe with his head so far up his nook it’s a wonder he was even audible, but oh god, was he audible alright.”

“Lmao, I kinda wanna meet this guy.” Roxy grinned.

“No you don’t.” Dave and Karkat said in unison, which made her laugh.

“I’ll take your word for it.” The mischievous look was back in her eyes. “Next question! Have you ever had your quadrants filled?”

Karkat almost choked. “What the fuck kind of question is that? That’s none of your fucking business!” He blustered. “My quadrants are private, and it’s my decision if I want to bring them up! Are all humans this fucking nosy or is it just the Lalondes?!”

“It’s just the Lalondes.” Dave said flatly.

“I just thought it’d be fair since I asked Dave that in our lightning round!” Roxy put her hands up in apology, but didn’t look particularly apologetic. “I was curious!”

Karkat was about to continue his rant about people feeling entitled to knowledge about virtual strangers’ quadrants, but the way Dave sat up and cleared his throat gave him pause.

“Actually, Rox,” Dave started, fidgeting a bit, “I never answered that question back on the lilypad.”

“Yeah, but that’s okay!” Roxy brushed him off. “I’m not gonna push you to answer something you’re not comfy with.”

“That’s the thing. I wanna answer you now, if that’s cool.”

“Oh!” Roxy’s eyes widened. “Of course that’s cool! That’s cooler than cool.”

Dave lifted an eyebrow, a smile pulling at his lips despite himself. “What’s cooler than being cool?”

“Ice cold!” Roxy shouted at the top of her lungs, and the two of them chanted “alright” about a dozen times while Karkat watched them in bewilderment. Humans, he thought. He’d never understand them.

“Okay, but for real tho,” Roxy said once they’d both gotten a handle on their giggles, “You wanted to say something?”

“Yeah.” Dave almost immediately looked anxious again, running his hands over his jeans. “So. You asked if I’d ever kissed anyone or-” He cleared his throat and the rest came out in a mumbled cough, “-been in love.”

Karkat held his breath, eyes flicking between Dave and a very focused Roxy.

“The, um. The answer to both of those questions is… yes? And I know you’re wonderin’ who, that’s like the next logical question, like if you ask someone if they’re hungry and they say yes, your next question is probably gonna be ‘what do you wanna eat’, unless you’re a total dick and just wanted to, I dunno, be aware of someone else’s hunger for your own sick pleasures and leave ‘em waiting like you’re some kinda sick torturer tryin’ to extract information out of a prisoner, like ‘hey are you hungry?’ ‘Yeah, I am, actually. I’ve been hanging from my ankles for a week now and I’d kill for some motherfucking KFC right now.’ ‘Interesting. Go fuck yourself.’ That’s not a very good interrogator, actually, he didn’t even try to get any information out of the guy except for the knowledge that he’s really craving some chicken, which is virtually useless, unless the interrogator is working for KFC’s competitor, like Popeyes out here tryna get the deets on their rival brands. Hey, do you think they’ve got a Popeyes anywhere on Earth C? Maybe we should start one, make a shit ton of money. Really boost the economy.”

“Dave.” Karkat cut him off before he could get too far from the topic, giving him a pointed look. “Were you actually going to say something important or were you going to just talk out of your deflated ass forever?”

“Hey man, you know you love my ass.”

“The point, Dave-!”

“Right right right.” Dave shook his head and took a deep breath before looking at Roxy again, who looked like she was might be putting things together already. “It’s Karkat. The answer to ‘who’, I mean. We’ve, uh. We’ve been dating since the meteor.”

Roxy’s whole face lit up. “Aw, congrats you guys! That’s really sweet!”

“Yeah.” Dave looked over at Karkat and gave him a tiny smile before looking a little apprehensive again. “I’d, uh, appreciate if you didn’t tell anyone though? I mean, the rest of the meteor crew probably knows because we spent… a lot of time together.”

“Most of that was platonic, though. A good two-thirds of it, at least.” Karkat countered.

“True, but they don’t know that. Far as they know, one day we were just two bros hanging out and watching movies and shit, then the next day, Vriska walks in to catch one of those bros taking a snooze on his other bro’s lap and falling off the couch the moment she announces her presence.”

“I’ll give you three fucking guesses which dumbass that was.” Karkat directed that at Roxy, and she snorted.

“Rude.” Dave nudged him. “But yeah, they’ve probably figured it out, but we haven’t officially told anyone. I haven’t even told anyone I’m, you know. Bisexual.”

“Wait, so I’m the first person you’ve told?” Roxy looked a little stunned.

“I- Yeah? I just thought you’d probably be a safe person to go to, especially since we don’t have any weird baggage like I might have with John and Jade, you’re just my alt-mom, which I guess does make things a little weird-”

“It’s a little weird, but it does mean you get a certified mom hug!” She interrupted, standing up.

“A mom hug? Dunno if I know what those are like.” Dave said, smiling a little.

“They’re like this, you big goober.” Roxy pulled him into a tight hug, pulling him down a little so he could put his head on her shoulder. “I’m proud of you, Davey. That’s a big deal, comin’ out and shit. I’m glad you felt like you could tell me.”

“...Thanks mom.” Dave’s voice was a watery mumble against her shoulder, but he seemed to have collected himself by the time they pulled away. Roxy immediately turned her sights on Karkat.

“Your turn! You’re family now, you can’t escape hugs anymore.”

“Ugh, you humans are so fucking tactile.” Karkat grumbled but resigned himself to Roxy’s affectionate squeeze.

“Hey man, don’t act like you’re not cuddly as hell. I have to pry you off of me with a crowbar to go take a piss sometimes. You should see this dude when he gets sleepy, Rox, it’s so fucking cute. Did you know trolls purr? It’s some kinda flushed noise or something and it’s the fucking best.” Dave seemed to already be relaxing now that the thing he’d been dreading was over with.

“That’s private!” Karkat hissed, embarrassed. Dave just grinned at him and sat a little closer when they took a seat again. “Do you want me airing out how you melt like a touch starved candybar left in the sunlight when I suggest you should be the little spoon? Or how you turn into a warbling puddle of Dave when I do this?” He reached over and out his hand on Dave’s knee, rubbing his thumb in soothing circles. Casual affection, Dave’s weakness.

“Aw,” Roxy cooed. Dave looked thoroughly embarrassed and made a strangled noise in his throat. Karkat gave him a smug look.

“Shut up.” He grumbled weakly and scooted a little closer so he could press against Karkat’s side and hold his hand.

“So you guys are matesprits?” Roxy asked, and Karkat’s anxiety immediately returned. Dave wasn’t the only one who had coming out to do. Dave squeezed his hand and let Karkat start since this was his thing to discuss.

“Mostly?” He offered weakly, then tried to sound more certain. “We’re kind of pale too.”

“Plus I piss you off in a pitch way sometimes.” Dave added helpfully.

“And the way you kept me from tearing Vriska apart on the meteor was sort of ashen.” Karkat admitted.

“I mean, there wasn’t really much of a chance of you tearing her apart to begin with. Spidertroll could’ve probably kicked any of our asses in her sleep, she’s fuckin’ crazy.”

“My point still stands!”

“So…” Roxy interrupted, guiding them back on topic, “You’re in all quadrants? I didn’t know trolls did that!”

Karkat winced. “They don’t. Usually. It’s extremely frowned upon.”

“Karkat’s had trouble keeping shit in one quadrant.” Dave explained for him. “He’s got a big ol’ heart full of love.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re the only person in Paradox Space to come to that conclusion about what my useless fucking pump biscuit is full of, but thanks for the thought.” Karkat rolled his eyes, defaulting to annoyance to avoid the insecurities that always gnawed at him when he thought about his relationship with quadrants. “‘Full of love’ is usually not the first thing people describe me as. More like ‘full of a burning anger’ or ‘a perpetual stream of irritable piss’ or, hell, ‘just undiluted dumbass juice!’ As far as most people are concerned, I’m Karkat ‘useless shitfit’ Vantas, and they’re not fucking wrong!”

“Okay, sure, you might be the grumpiest person in all - what, is this five universes now? I can’t keep track, but that doesn’t mean you’re not secretly a big softy.” Dave rubbed his thumb over Karkat’s knuckles. “I know that best out of probably anyone.”

“If it helps, I don’t think of you as those things!” Roxy added. Karkat gave her a disbelieving look.

“Full offense, we’ve never really ‘hung out.’”

“I mean, no, but I’ve seen you interacting with Dave and John and Kanaya and stuff, and you’ve always seemed to be a caring friend underneath all the yelling.” Roxy shrugged. “It’s nice knowing Dave’s in good hands since I’ve only been part of his family for a couple weeks. Means I don’t have to give you a shovel talk prob’ly!”

“The shovel talk? What the fuck? What does that even mean?” Karkat looked at Dave for an explanation, but he only winced.

“You know, when parents meet their kid’s partner and are like ‘you better not hurt my baby, or I’ll kill you.’ That kind of thing. I’m guessing trolls didn’t do that on Alternia?” Roxy tilted her head, seeming genuinely curious. Karkat’s face contorted as he wrapped his head around that concept.

“Okay, first of all, no we didn’t because we didn’t even have parents and our lusii wouldn’t give two shits about our quadrantmates. Second of all, you better not even think about giving me your ridiculous human ‘shovel talk’! I’ve known Dave far longer than you have, so it really should be me going ‘don’t fucking hurt him,’ but I know I don’t need to because Dave can fucking handle himself! He doesn’t need your bullshit defenses! If I ever hurt him, I trust him to be able to tell me to fuck off out of his life - not that he’d ever need to because I’d rather establish a culling system in the Troll Kingdom and offer myself up as their first sacrifice than hurt Dave!” He took a deep inhale to continue his tirade, but Dave cut him off with a pat to the cheek.

“Yo, dude, shoosh, it’s okay. It’s really not that big of a deal.” It was only after Dave cut off his train of thought that Karkat realized how worked up he was getting, and he shrank back down against Dave’s shoulder, embarrassed. “I’m pretty sure Roxy was kidding, anyway.”

“Yeah, for sure!” Roxy nodded quickly. “I didn’t mean to imply you were gonna hurt Dave or that he couldn’t take care of himself or anything. That’s hella not my place, and you guys seem very good for each other.”

“Oh. Well. Good.” He sent her a warning glare just to make sure he’d gotten the point across, then forced himself to let some tension out of his shoulders.

“It is really nice knowin’ my family’s in good hands though.” Roxy smiled. “Hell, it’s nice knowin’ I have a family! Oh my god, Dave, do you realize none of us Strilondes are straight? I mean, Rose ‘n Dirk are both gay as hell, and then you and I are bi!”

“Yeah- Wait, what?” Dave jolted a little in surprise. “Rox, you’re bi too? Since when?”

“Uh, since always?” Roxy laughed a bit. “I thought that’s why you came to me, because you knew!”

“No! Holy shit, I gotta process this for a second.”

“LMAO.” Roxy said, pronouncing every letter. “Yeah, dude! I mean, can you blame me? Like, dudes are hot as fuck, that’s like self explanatory. I mean, have you seen the Englberts? Eglishes? Whatever their family name is, John and Jake are both total babes, but then there are girls too! I mean, Janey, what a gal, right? And Callie too!”

“Right?” Dave enthused, clearly excited someone understood where he was coming from. “Girls are so fucking good, hot damn, but then? Dudes? Holy shit?”

“Yeah!” Roxy was just about throwing herself out of her chair with her excitement. “I can barely leave the house, it’s just smoochable babes everywhere I turn.”

“I’d say it’s a goddamn plight, but I got the most smoochable right here.” Dave emphasized his point with a kiss to one of Karkat’s horns, making him squawk. Dave laughed a little and turned back to Roxy. “Yo, but rewind back to Callie. Soooo, are y’all two, y’know…”

Roxy looked remarkably like Dave when embarrassed. “Uh…” The sound of the front door opening and Calliope’s greeting voice cut her off. “I’ll get back to you on that!” Dave waggled his eyebrows at her but didn’t push it.

Dinner was an enjoyable affair, despite Karkat’s near constant crippling fear of being miserable in every social engagement. The food was good and pretty close to tasting like home, and the conversation was fluid - mostly because Roxy and Dave chattered the entire time like hyperactive squirrels. Karkat tried to be annoyed with their ridiculous stream of consciousness discussions, but he couldn’t help but feel warm watching Dave talk so comfortably with his ecto-mom. And he certainly wasn’t the only person happy with the situation; every time he and Dave started bantering back and forth, he could see Roxy’s delight out of the corner of his eye, and the absolutely lovestruck look on her face whenever Calliope spoke didn’t escape him either.

Eventually, though, they had to head home - though Dave and Karkat had both shifted their sleep schedules to be active in the afternoon and most of the night, the majority of their human friends were still diurnal and needed to go to bed eventually - so after a few more hugs from Roxy, they were sent on their way.

Dave landed them down the street from their hive, and Karkat didn’t complain about having to walk that last distance. The Troll Kingdom was just now starting to wake up, stores and restaurants lighting up, trolls in suits rushing to their early jobs, and young trolls getting ushered off to school. It was so different from Alternia, but Karkat thought he could probably get used to the differences if it meant he didn’t have to worry about getting culled at a single glance at his blood color. Maybe it was too early to tell, but if he let himself feel just the slightest bit optimistic for his future, he had a feeling he could be really happy here. He could live a peaceful, successful life on Earth C, and if the cheerful way Dave was swinging their clasped hands meant anything, he wasn’t the only one feeling hopeful.

“So,” He prompted, leaning into Dave’s shoulder, “I guess that could have been more horrible.”

“Yep.” Dave said, popping the ‘p’. “We’ll have to scrap those emergency plans. Cancel our name changes and facial reconstructions and flights to the other side of Earth C, no need to run away immediately.”

“I don’t know, we might have to keep that shit pencilled in. We still need to tell John.” Karkat reminded him, and Dave groaned.

“Oh fuck. Yeah, never mind, you sure we can’t just fuck off into another universe? Universe D here we come. The D stands for Davekat ‘cause it’ll just be us, babe. It also stands for Dick because, come on, it’s us, of course it does. Also Dinosaurs just ‘cause. Do you think dinosaurs are a universal constant? Like, did dinosaurs exist for you guys? Or- oh shit, do you think they evolved differently? Are trolls just super evolved dinosaurs?”

“Dave,” Karkat gave him a look, “I think I would know if I was a dinosaur.”

“I dunno, dude, maybe we’re all dinosaurs-”

“Okay, I know when to cut that shit off.” Karkat rolled his eyes and let go of his hand to unlock their door. “Seriously, I think… that went okay. Less than horrid.”

“Less than horrid, huh? That’s a big compliment coming from you, are you feeling okay? Are you gettin’ some kinda fluffy feelings from hanging out with Roxy too long, ‘cause like, I get it.”

“Shut up. All I’m saying is this might not have been as much of an ordeal as we thought, this ‘coming out to everyone we know’ thing.”

“Maybe. You might be right.” Dave admitted, following him inside. “But that involved way too many emotions, and I think all my brain’s been used up for the rest of the day for anything that involves more thought than playing Xbox for seven hours straight. You down?”

“Fuck yes.”

[mirror-alchemist]

This is just basically a whole ass post about Ami’s backstory through God Eater. I actually had a more fleshed out writing about it, but charahub died and it pretty much went with it. My toyhou.se kinda has it but I kinda had to scramble and it’s like word vomit so yeh.

You can skip it if you want, it don’t matter. Also SPOILERS FOR LIKE THE ENTIRE GAME SERIES.

So before she even became a God Eater she was part of a traveling caravan as far back as she can remember. When they were stopped at a checkpoint she was tested and confirmed a match as a potential God Eater at 15, but she officially joined the ranks at 16 when she was confirmed a bias for the New-Type. 

Joining the Far East branch. Her wep set up then was a short sword/buckler/and whatever that first gun was (tbh I didn’t start using the gun mode until GE2). Anyway, she has a talent for catching on quick to fighting Aragami, if not a bit silent. So when Lindow went MIA it completely wrecked her mentally. She had all this potential and yet couldn’t save the one person she wanted to save. She would lay down her life for all of Far East, especially the First Unit, but ngl she was crushing hard on Lindow (they joke about it together now, since she knew she never had a chance and she sees him as a dork at worst and a cool dad at best).

Shio completely changed her life and she finally realized what it meant to have a family. Especially with Soma, since the two were always on missions together for Shio. Which has the side effect that people think they a couple. They’re close but def not a couple, the Ami/Soma dynamic is more so brother and sister (they vibe really well and respect each other’s need for just silent moments; there are a many of times that someone would find them taking a nap together on a couch).

When Cradle got formed, she declined to join to stay within the Far East. After her childhood is filled with going from place to place she didn’t want to do that again (LOL). 

She transferred to Friar under Doctor Rachel’s request and forced insisted by Fenrir. Rachel somehow discovered that Ami’s bias can adapt to changes (taking up Lindow’s God Arc during the Hannibal storyline tipped her off). She worked well with the Blood Unit. There she changed to short blade/that middle gun that was OP/shield loadout. She cares a lot for the Unit, specifically Julius because being a leader is hard and she saw much of herself in him. That’s why during Romeo’s death and beyond she worked hard to get him back (an aside: Matt Mercer voiced Julius wonderfully, like it was a perfect fit). Over the course of this, she started to have feelings for Gil. And I guess he reciprocated (IT’S MY HEADCANON HE LOWKEY CRUSHES ON PROTAG DANGIT). The two are idiots and didn’t really realize it until they became normal humans again at the end of Rage Burst story. Literally for Ami it was like “Oh! Oh shit, I guess I did fall in love with him huh?” At least enough that they put on a ring on each other after being in a relationship for a couple years. And things were alright.

Except for when the Ash started. 

She’s a originally a resident of Dusty Miller, helping Ein out. Then there were rumors of Pennyworth being the most absolute shit with AGEs so she volunteered herself to go undercover and see how truly shit things have become. And because of her body being able to adapt to new Bias she was able to slip in as a new AGE, she can’t wield others’ god arc like Livie could at first, just that her body doesn’t reject getting a new bias (having her records hidden that she’s a renowned GE helps a lot; she looks sorta kinda young but actually the same age group as Ein and is a past acquaintance of his). There she met Hugo (either a couple months into him being an AGE or maybe a year) but she immediately wants to protect him. She sees him as her son and will not hear any more of that (there’s a sickfic I want to write where she takes care of him while he’s sick when he was younger and he calls her mom in a haze and it’s that moment she realizes she wants to protect and help make his future brighter). So when the plot actually starts, they’ve known each other for years. At this point, her loadout is Biting Edge/Sniper gun/Shield.

So when eventually she meets the rest of the AGEs she seems them has her children (though none of them realize how old she is, so everyone except for Phym sees her as a big sis;). When Ein appears, they have to pretend they don’t know each other for the sake of the charade (tho Ein has Ami’s wedding ring on him for some reason HMM?), eventually it does come to light that Ami is a veteran God Eater (I wanna say when Phym leaves for Odin). This is probably gonna change as more info about the actual timeline between GE2RB to GE3 maybe gets revealed.

[vaguely-concerned]

empire of ivory here we go!

previous temeraire let’s read here

- um excuuuuse me I have waited two books for us to come back home to britain to see everyone again and now everything is awful and shitty and scary and my fave is leaving and nothing’s how it should be??? no??? this is unfair??????

- tharkay NO please don’t go everything provably goes to hell whenever you leave D:D:D:

(to be fair to him I guess it’s understandable to want some time alone to process the absolute outrageous bullshit he just pulled for a guy he’s known for like four months)

he used his page time well tho; instantly convincing roland of his worth and making her laugh... giving laurence his cup of tea b/c he looked like he needed it more... telling laurence that he’s leaving because he promised to do that much at least... truly the best boy, off to fetch more dragons apparently because it wasn’t quite crazy enough the first time

- god I love jane roland, I’m so glad my two faves got along instantly, between them they could... maybe protect laurence from himself? at least a little??? I can but dream

- I think this is the most emotionally invested I’ve been in a piece of media since that time I spent a few months completely incoherent over uncharted, and naughty dog very kindly held my heart in their hands and chose to be gentle with it in the end but I am not so sure that is how it’s going to be for this series and I am Not Prepared for the suffering

- I love whenever laurence thinks uncomfortably about one of the various and sundry atrocities committed by the government he’s still pledged all his loyalty to. yes william maybe the british empire... is in fact not good and has enough blood on their hands to dye the ocean red. I can’t wait until he connects the dots here (and presumably has a pretty intense crisis if faith about it because it seems like one of the loadbearing structures of his character... actually no wait I’m not ready to see this D:D:D:)

- the little details like the fact that he just calls bb!roland ‘emily’ and harcourt becomes ‘catherine’ so easily in his narration now are so so sweet  

- lord allendale is one of those dudes who have good politics but is a shitheel to his family and I want to smack him

laurence being the mortified poster boy of this party, though? priceless, imagine coming up with a protagonist this effortlessly involuntarily hilarious, it’s the mark of true genius

- I don’t usually quibble over things like this, but I think the edit for this fourth book specifically is a bit lacking? I’ve come across a lot of mistakes even my dumb ass can pick up on already, and I’m only a hundred pages or so in

- caught between crying and cackling at this part b/c like laurence I’m  d e v a s t a t e d  at the thought of temeraire getting sick but also temeraire is just like cheerfully getting laid the whole time

also how did none of the aviators think to give laurence The Talk about giving his dragon The Talk, you all know what he’s like

- oh thank god

- I have spent half of today crying about dragons coughing, how are you this fine evening good reader

- btw this series fills a hole in my soul left by jkr giving me all those tantalizing hints of different types of dragons in ‘fantastic beasts’ and never following up on it

- tharkay may not be here but laurence just mentioned him like once in his narration so let’s take the excuse to reminisce about the good old days (when tharkay was here)... remember that time when the one of his own jokes he laughed openly at was about lawyers and laurence frankly should have responded better b/c it was kind of funny and sadly temeraire doesn’t have the worldly experience to know it yet.... aaah precious, he truly is a sardonic blessing to my heart and deserves the world

okay back to our regularly scheduled content   

- riley why u gotta b such a bitch about this

(I love how laurence is constantly doubting himself over this tho, as if he’s done something wrong in this situation... like honey baby if there’s one thing worth breaking a friendship over it’s probably them being cool with slavery lol. it shows how much laurence has grown, considering that this disagreement has always existed between them but he used to be willing to just overlook it... I’m so proud of you laurence)

also lol @ berkely coming in to tell them everyone can hear them, I have a desperately soft spot for him and maximus. just the image of both of them turning to him ‘united in appalled indignation’ like ‘excuse you???’ and him giving exactly zero fucks... *chef kiss emoji*

- most important information revealed in this book: a) dragons are not widely considered to have committed original sin, thank you reverend erasmus and b) laurence has taken time out of his day at some point to worry about it b/c he’s a dork

(this is the sort of world building I am hopelessly weak to lol)

- gong su tricking temeraire into eating in the most melodramatic way possible... god bless you chef

- fkjhsadkjfhsdkjalhfaskjldhf laurence judging chenery for what he’s wearing while going out into the jungle in full uniform hat included himself... I caaaaan’t

- demane has only appeared on three pages so far but if anything happens to him I’ll kill everyone in this book and then myself

- ‘average dragon speaks one million languages’ factoid actualy statistical error. Temeraire Linguist Georg, who wants a pavilion thank you very much & learns over 10,000 languages each day, is an outlier adn should not have been counted <3<3<3

(I love that temeraire is like... a nerd dragon with a hopelessly jock captain)

- laurence effortlessly rating the relative hotness of the other male aviators to try to suss out who harcourt has slept with fjsaldfhsdkljafh do you ever hear yourself think william

like this is the thing about him it’s so easy to headcanon him as bi b/c he can be so mindbogglingly oblivious it’s entirely possible he literally wouldn’t even have noticed until someone smacked him over the head with it

- see I’m very happy they found the cure but I don’t fucking trust it b/c the pattern of these books tends to be to give you one moment of ‘oh phew everything is going to be okay’ about 2/3 into the story and THEN everything goes to hell and fifty pages later laurence is dissociating and napoleon has conquered prussia 

- THERE WE GO RIGHT ON SCHEDULE

temeraire is never going to let laurence go anywhere without him again and rightly so

- hasn’t mrs erasmus been through enough. can’t she just be allowed to chill 

- this is really cool world building but I’m too stressed out to appreciate it

really enjoy the description of architecture tho this sounds so awesome

- sfahdfklsahdfksjda laurence making sure his clothes are as washed and presentable as possible... I can’t with you you beautiful idiot

- TEMERAIRE OH MY GOD IS HE HERE IS LAURENCE HALLUCINATING PLS SAY HE’S ACTUALLY HERE

- ...well I mean if anyone has a freudian excuse for being kind of dickish I guess it would be these guys? it’s actually pretty chill of them to only flog one of them (laurence, because he just can’t play it any way but stupid lawful good at every turn) and not just killing them all I guess, they kept them fed and stuff

- oh thank god

- temeraire you are the most darling dragon boy and I love you

I was really really worried for a moment there that the reference to the Colosseum was a not-so-subtle hint they would have to gladiator fight to the death but thankfully they were basically just calling in a parliament

- DID THIS MOTHERFUCKER JUST STAB A CHILD IN THE STOMACH?? I HOPE HE ACCIDENTALLY SHOOTS HIMSELF IN THE DICK AND DIES pls say demane is going to be okay

- aw okay finally something good for mrs erasmus I will take it

- laurence you useless fool of a narrator is demane okay?? 

- god roland is just so cool naomi novik really gave us a jovial butch silver fox aviator lady huh... she did that for us and I for one am full of gratitude

- oh thank GOD (hm I sense a running theme here lol) the kid is going to be okay I can breathe again

- iskierka the pirate captain + temeraire’s reaction... perfect

- ;____________; I would lay down my life for temeraire and also that’s a gutpunch of a moodswing... the perfect hilarity of ‘that is an ugly hill’ immediately followed by That... jesus

- awww every time volly shows up again is a joy (temrer!!!)

- laurence... laurence you need to stop asking people to marry you because you never actually really fucking mean it!!!!! have you learned nothing about yourself since book 1, trust your goddamn instincts for once in your life you and roland have been doing perfectly okay thus far as like... affectionate fuckbuddies right? 

(her reaction was priceless tho god bless)

- aaaah there we go the british government is looking more like itself... welcome to the world of realpolitik laurence I’m really sorry :(

- “It is only dragons, you know” JANE ROLAND WTF DID YOU JUST SAY

- “This government is not of my party; my king is ill and mad; but still I am his subject. You have sworn no oath, but I have.” He paused. “I have given my word.”

:) this is... fine

(like. I know this is necessary character growth and he’s basically been a waste of a good man in service to a government like this the whole time and the writing’s been on the wall since book 1 but I don’t want this to be happening to hiiiiim)

- tfw... ur dragon boi is so good... that being anything less than good for him in turn is unthinkable...................... b o i

- ...jane doesn’t really know him very well if she didn’t see this coming from a mile off tho does she

I mean I guess she has other stuff to think about but this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone

- remember when he thought the entire corps was weird and now he’s finally at home there... and has to leave it behind :):):) super extra fine is what this is

- yeah okay laurence definitely has a crush on ol’ bonaparte noting that down lol he’s all but blushing after that kiss on the cheek 

also... if you just overlook the dictator thing for a moment is napoleon wrong about what he’s saying tho. (no and not even laurence is prepared to say so he’s just going to go back there and get murdered anyway b/c idk lawful good is dumb as fuck sometimes I guess)

It’s really cool how the author shows that napoleon has a better handle on laurence’s psychology after barely meeting him than a lot of people he’s known for years now, though, really adds to his menace and appeal as a character

- wow uh that’s one way to end a book... it’s actually tipped over from tragedy into a strange sort of hilarity for me now: he literally got sued out of his life’s earnings for being a decent human being, committed treason for the same reason and is about to be hanged for thinking genocide might have been a step too far -- in the span of thirty pages. I believe ‘that escalated quickly’ is not too much of an exaggeration here

- SIPHO IS GONNA WRITE BOOKS ONE DAY YOU GUYS!!!! I PROUDLY WELCOME OUR SECOND NERD TO THE CREW

 - I think this one might be my least favorite so far? not that I disliked it, it’s just the one that’s hit the worst by the fact that there’s not always that much time spent with the cultures central to the book; tswana seems really interesting but because of the way the plot played out and our limited perspective though laurence it just didn’t work for me? the cool shit comes in sipho’s book at the end, like how thoroughly they kicked the europeans out of the coast of africa, which is very cathartic (I will say that most of the second book being set on the ship and then only a sliver of it is actually in china annoyed me too haha) 

I have the distinct feeling this book is setting up for some Misery and breaking of the pattern a bit in the next one though, which will be interesting! ONWARDS TO MORE PAIN AND LAURENCE IS ALREADY PASSIVELY SUICIDAL FROM THE OUTSET SO LIKE... I’M SURE THIS WILL BE REAL FUN :)

maybe my boy will be back tho? silver linings silver linings clinging to some silver linings

[pkmnsdarkqueen]

Karen’s Parents

I found some good stuff on there that let me make good models for what Karen’s biological parents look like since I haven’t posted any.

Yua-Karen’s Biological mother (Deceased)

Karen-”A lovely woman if you don’t mind rampant unchecked mental issues, constant manipulation, and numerous addictions. I wish I could say nicer things.”

Mun-”She a snaaaaaake! But.....also like a hot snaaaaaaaake. Still a snake tho, iz a selfish jerk like some people be. Like ya know where Karen got her hair and sharpness tho. This girl knew how to burn cause burn she did, I mean other people, and straight into the ground, but aaaannny-whoooo.”

She rarely ever smiled, Adgar was the only one who ever got her to laugh. The two were wed after only 2 weeks of knowing each other. On her end it was a way to get away from her overly controlling family, and evade an arranged marriage which was still in practice though loosing favor in their days. She had a history of rebellion, and was already on the fence when it came to being kicked out. A majority of the consequences from her rebellion was her own fault though she played the victim card constantly to escape most of it. After the marriage was done in secret was kicked out of her home. Of course she had Adgar to fall back into who was also determined to help her recover from her many addictions. 

Cause of death-Lung Cancer

Adgar-Biological Father (Alive)

Karen-”He’s such a good person.....too good of a person sometimes.”

Mun-”Look at dis precious noodle!!! Such a happy dork, he like a puppy. Seriously just look at them big ol’ eyes! This is where Karen got all those cute faces, big doe eyes, and curly hair. Oh and her love of bad jokes, and country music......what do you mean those things aren’t genetic?”

He honestly truly loved Yua despite only knowing her for such a short span of time. In fact he’d only just moved to Johto from his home region, Unova. They had Karen a year after the marriage, and he was beyond excited. In fact while his wife was resting after birth he was walking around the hospital chatting with folks to cheer them up, and if asked gleefully show them pics of his new baby girl. That’s where he first met Makoto. After leaving the hospital he was back a few months later with walking issues. After getting diagnosed with Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia he had to use crutches to get about, and also had to quit his job. Yua upset that she’d have to not only work along with nurse an adjusting husband needed a way out of the relationship to continue her private life. However she still wanted to be a mother, and so staged a situation where she could frame him for abuse. She won the court case, and Karen. Devastated he was at a loss for what to do. During all of this he’d kept up chatting with Makoto who was about the only person he had to turn to. They ended up falling for each other with Adgar, just as before making the first move in some goofy way a year after his divorce. This time though they dated for half a year before marriage. While dating and getting to know each other they aided each other with overcoming their physical disabilities though soon after being married Adgar couldn’t stop thinking of his child and wanted to find her. He and Makoto searched high and low for the girl finding nothing until years later when Karen would be almost 10. Makoto swore she saw the child on TV at the pokeathalon dome, and the two dropped what they were doing to get over there. However she was gone, but they did run into Yua. The years of drug addiction and alcohol had not done her well and despite them being friendly she was short tempered at them both making remarks about Makoto’s scars. The only info they found was that Karen had run away months ago, and it seemed she had run away again. 

Makoto-Step-Mother (Alive)

Karen-”Best mom, she can pop a wheelie in a wheelchair.”

Mun-”Ok I’m calling it now, Karen’s dad’s type is Johto chicks, just sayin. Also look at dis gurl with her lil shy hair over the face and pearls. This is the mom at PTA meetings who brings the BEST food, and is great with all the kids at every age. Like she runs a tight house, but in a way that’s filled with warmth.”

Her own history was a hard one as well coming from a poor family, but with the determination to go somewhere in life. She was so smart with a grand future ready for here and dreams to end up as a mathematician doing some architecture on the side. Instead at 21 she found herself in a hospital bed after an accident with a drunk driver. All of her college funding went to hospital bills. (Though not shown here) Her left cheek, neck, and shoulder along with other areas of her body are marked with the result of burns, her ribs have an odd dip in them from the impact, smaller scars from shrapnel mark her face, and most of her body has the same. She really thought her life was over especially after the brain trauma caused her to develop narcolepsy. Adgar showing up to talk to her was the first days she felt a touch of hope again. She thought they’d never meet again after he left, but she was in for another surgery while he was in to get his legs checked on. That reconnection was the start of their friendship that turned into a romance. They helped each other readjust to life, and he made her laugh again. He even gave her enough courage to go to school online while she helped him adjust to working at home. After the run in with Yua the drive to find his child was reinforced since they were terrified to imagine what all she had to go through. They were left following whispers though as no one knew anything about the child. Their worry grew when they started hearing the rumors come from criminals, or those who though never saw her face due to a mask recognized her hair, and a few the name. Through the years Adgar grew more and more distraught hearing what was happening to what he was convinced had to be his child. By the time Karen would of been 17, Makoto began to convince him they should go. It couldn’t be good for him to lament so heavily over someone he wasn’t even sure was his child, and it was putting a strain on his mental health. Defeated by such lack of movement he agreed. They moved back to Unova to get away from it all. 

Years later a man was at the door who went by Koga, and after he explained that he knew someone that maybe her husband’s daughter she called him down to have a chat with this person.