#girl help I’m stuck on my back like a bug again

[strange-aeons]

YOU'RE IN HOSPITAL?

HAHA AS OF TODAY I AM ON THE LOOSE

[xcyphoz0a]

4 steps to (not so) discreetly show interest + the one moment you do.

Recipient: @yuellii , secret santa event! Enjoy :)

Gender neutral reader, fluff TW/CW: injury(minor) Word count: 2739 Proofread: n/a | she think’s she’s discreet, her act is to perfection. is it? oh, no, no– you know. it’s painfully obvious but you can’t help but watch in amusement, watching as she trip on her own heels, but you’re there to help. | A/N: set in modern times, highschool au, ITS CHRISTMAS, SNOW!! :D

Furina, as confident and enthusiastic she may be on stage, still has sides that she feels difficult to show– perhaps some of her more softer and ‘weaker’ sides that she kept behind the facade of flamboyancy.

Recently having found newfound interest in you, the school librarian, she couldn’t help but subconsciously make her way to the school library, taking a seat near your station, peeking from the top of her book as she watches you work on your laptop.

Perhaps it was in the spur of the moment, or it was her muscles that moved on their own, when she had walked up towards the small desk, slamming her hands down on the table.

Eyes moving rapidly from your startled form towards the book ridden wall, she finds her words stuck in her throat, unable to form a coherent sentence.

You adjust your posture as you form a small smile, not knowing what to say.

“May I help you?”

Furina finds her face flaring up into fire as she rethinks her sudden movements, finding herself at a loss of words. She stares at you for a good while until you wave a timid hand in front of the famous school actress.

“Ah, I thought I saw a bug near you– haha…”

The heterochromia girl wanted to sink into a hole and never be seen again– what kind of excuse was that? – to her, it seemed like a loss of face as one of the best students with great acting in the drama club. 

“I… see. Thanks for your concern.” Your voice is laced with some bit of confusion, watching the flustered girl run outside of the library.

Interesting…

1) Befriending you

Furina, at first, finds this idea of hers quite easy.

“You know, I think befriending them is the easiest way to win their heart!” Her voice is filled with anticipation, until she gets shut down by another club member.

“But that can make them only see you as a friend, perhaps?” Yun Jin suggests, “It may not be a 100% possibility, but there’s a chance.”

“True, true, like, you might become one of those second leads that finds their romantic interest get taken away by someone else!” Hu Tao chimes, hands animatedly flailing around.

Furina slumps down on the chair as she sighs. Perhaps she just had to keep it to herself.

“But you can try to woo them, find out their interests maybe?” Nilou pitches an idea.

The white haired girl straightens back in her chair again, grabbing a hold of the red haired’s hands, heterochromic eyes sparkling as she hurriedly mutters out a thank you, running towards the library.

The three look at the door that Furina dashed out of, sharing a knowing look as they hear her footsteps fade.

The sliding door of the library opens as the girl slumps down a bit, taking some breaths as she makes her way to her usual spot to ‘read’, sneaking glances at your form typing away on your laptop. Tapping sounds of the keyboard is heard throughout the ambient silence as Furina closes her book, walking towards your desk as you look up at the approaching figure.

“May I help you?” You close your laptop as you tilt your head.

“Ah, no– I just, well, wanted to know you better– I think my actions yesterday shocked you a little, yeah?”

You smile as you nod slightly, finding some amusement in the obvious stuttering the famed actress’ words. You think you know what’s going on.

Furina conjures up a small smile, “So, as an… apology! I’d like to treat you to something you like, if you have the time…” voice fading as she waits for your response.

“I’m free today after club activities, is that okay with you?”

The girl in front of you perks up as she nods, the single lock of hair seemingly also bouncing up and down, thanking you for your time as she makes her way out of the library– in a calmer manner.

As the door closes, you can hear a faint, ‘Yay!’, with excited footsteps fading into the distance.

Cute.

2) Sitting closer

After Furina’s apology, the two of you became closer, finding the two of you going out regularly towards the small cafe outside of the school after club activities from school. Some days when one of you didn’t have the time, it felt slightly odd and empty, finding nothing interesting to do.

You haven’t noticed yet, but Furina thinks it’d be better for you to not to know, as she takes the seat opposite of you in the library as she opens the book to the bookmark she placed, blushing when she finds the exact book next to your arm, with a small paper folded saying ‘Furina’s’

The white haired girl thinks her club members– friends– are delusional when they tease her about how you may like her back.

She wishes it was true, but the chance of you liking her back in that way was way too low. Always slamming her forehead onto the round table in the drama room.

Today, she came from the drama room once again, though with a slight red marking on her forehead from the excessive slamming of her head onto the table, smiling weakly as you turn your head towards the library’s entrance, greeting her like you always did.

You refocus on your laptop again, until you jerk your head back towards Furina, eyebrows furrowing at the circular red swelling of her forehead. Standing up from your seat, you walk towards the white haired girl, brushing her hair from her face.

“You’re hurt…” 

Furina’s unable to think nor respond as she slightly malfunctions between the small distance from you to her, once again, finding herself at a loss for words.

You take the girl’s hand as you lead her towards the infirmary, setting Furina down on one of the beds as you search for a cooling pack in the fridge.

“You should be more careful next time, what if you get a concussion?” Your voice is laced with concern as you carefully pack the cold pack with tissue, setting it on the girl’s forehead.

“I accidentally slammed my head on the table too hard today– nothing serious!”

You sigh as you let Furina hold the ice pack on her head, making sure to check for any signs of other damage, until you find a small but bleeding cut on the top of her knee.

“What happened here?”

“I don’t know how that happened, really! I’m serious… I didn’t feel anything there–”

You rush to get some disinfectant and a bandaid, setting a chair towards the bed as you sanitise the cut, applying some pressure. Setting the bandaid on the small injury, you look at the girl as she stares back at you, dumbfounded and flustered.

You squint your eyes in confusion until you recall your actions, finding yourself flustered and bashful as well.

3) Trying to impress

The day after that small interaction was pretty normal.

“...I’m telling you, Furina, they definitely like you back!” an energetic voice is heard outside of the drama room as the said girl slaps her hands on Hu Tao’s mouth.

“Be quiet! I don’t want anyone to hear about this– I want to keep my dignity today!”

Yun Jin laughs as she agrees with Hu Tao, “I’m sure (y/n) likes you back, you said they were also flustered in the end as well, no?”

“But still– they could be just caring…”

This time, Nilou shakes her head. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of (y/n) doing that to any of their friends– I can try ask Tighnari– he’s one of their closest friends, if my memory serves me right.”

Slightly– quite obviously– desperate, Furina nods, clasping her hands around Nilou’s own.

“That’d be wonderful! Thank you so much, Nilou~”

A few days later, Nilou brings in newfound information from Tighnari about you.

“Apparently, they aren’t outwardly caring, but do care for their friends… oh! And he did say they seemed to find interest in someone in the school, but didn’t tell him who…”

Furina, with the first bit of information, perked up in glee, though soon dropped on the floor in some despair when she heard the latter.

“They definitely don’t like me back… archons, what will I do?”

As the imaginary rain and thunder cloud splashed tears of despair onto the white haired girl, Yun Jin speaks.

“That mysterious person could be you–”

“That, is being delusional!” Furina chides.

“Maybe you can try impressing them in some way?” Hu Tao mumbles, chin on hand, “They’re the librarian, right? Try reading something they like or something, I don’t know~”

With the brunette’s suggestion, the girl in distress seem to have a weight lifted off her shoulders as she smiles.

“Great idea, Hu Tao!”

And off went Furina, skipping towards the entrance of the library once again.

Yun Jin sighs in amusement, closing the room’s door, chuckling at how this situation felt like many cliches in romance dramas.

When the familiar footsteps of Furina’s shoes clacked on the wooden and marble tiles of the floor, you look towards the library entrance, expecting the white haired girl to arrive soon enough.

“Welcome back.”

Furina’s eyes seemingly brighten when she hears your voice, as she nearly skids towards the opposite seat, sitting down in front of you as she leans towards your laptop.

“So, (Y/n), I think I’ve ran out of books to read, any suggestions for books you like?”

The girl prides herself for not stuttering this time– she thinks that now, she perfected her acts to hide her feelings.

“Oh? Well– I don’t really have much suggestions, but I can lend you a book that I finished reading last week, if you’d like?”

The floating lock of white hair bobs up and down vigorously as Furina hears your suggestion. You smile a little, reaching down for your back and picking up the hardcover book.

“Tell me about it after you read it, yeah?”

“Alright~”

4) Jealousy?

Furina thinks she really isn’t the jealous type– especially when she isn’t in a relationship at all.

She also thinks that she shouldn’t really be jealous when she thinks–thinks– you smile more when you’re talking with Neuvillette.

But she can’t help but find a grimace settling on her face whenever she sees the tall white haired man in the library, taking her seat as you both talk about some matters surrounding costs in the library– it wasn’t something really meaningful, but perhaps it was the jealousy setting in, as she feels like the person you were interested in could be one of her friends– moreso babysitter– but still, she disliked the odd feeling in her chest.

“What if they like Neuvillette? I definitely saw them smiling–”

The rest of her words are muffled in her sweater sleeve as she buries her face, unable to knock the odd feeling in her chest.

“That’s your feelings acting up there, messes up with your logical view on a situation, Furina.” Yun Jin sighs, patting the despair stricken girl on the back.

“But still, think about it– it’s possible!”

Hu Tao seems to be fed up with Furina’s continuous despair, drawling out,“Yeah, yeah, what were they talking about anyway?”

The latter’s mouth thins out to a straight line. “Costs…”

Several sighs are heard from her club members, as the white haired girl peeks up from her arm.

“Yeah, no chance of (Y/n) liking Neuvillette, he’s in the student council, of course he’s going to talk about costs with the student librarian!”

Hu Tao sighs, hands and shoulders creating a shrugging motion as she slumps down to her chair.

Furina sighs as she slinks down on the chair, heterochromia eyes staring up at the ceiling.

However, the four club members’ attention is directed towards the door, several knocks heard from outside. Furina weakly speaks,

“Come in…”

Your hand slides open the wooden door to the drama club, waving a small ‘hi’ towards the startled three. Your shoes make little sounds on the floor as you tap the white haired girl’s shoulder, watching the girl immediately correct both her posture and expression.

“Are you still coming to the cafe? You weren’t near the library for a while, so I wanted to ask–”

“Oh, it’s already time? I guess I was a little caught off, haha– shall we go now?”

You nod, already near the entrance door as you wave back towards the three other members, taking the much happier girl in tow with you as the two of you walk towards the cafe outside of the school.

“I’m like, 1000% sure that they both like each other, it’s so suffocating–”

“Definitely.”

“I think so too…”

5) Your own interest.

In your opinion, you didn’t really find anyone in the school pretty interesting– though your friends, particularly Tighnari and Cyno, did comment that it was most likely due to how much time you spent stuck in the library.

It all changed when a random girl– which you later knew as one of the most popular and famous actress in the drama club in the school– slammed her hands in front of you.

After the small interaction, you found slight interest towards her, finding amusement whenever she tripped on her own heels, both metaphorically and literally, stuttering in the moments when the both of you were alone, and how she became more fidgety during those moments.

You didn’t know that you’d find someone as interesting and funny like Furina in your school years, but you think that this pretty much changed when you saw the girl hurt.

It must’ve been your subconcsiousness acting, because you barely remembered what happened, but you know you remember how Furina stared at you, face red hot, as you found yourself close and taking care of the injury. You remember how after that day, you’d find yourself blushing and warm thinking of the girl.

It was until Tighnari told you that Nilou– one of the other drama club members– asked him for some of your information, telling you his own thought– which you can directly quote,

“Maybe Furina asked her? They’re all pretty close, so it does make some sense.”

Especially when you told Tighnari about how you did find some interest in Furina, Tighnari did convey some information, though taking away some information just for some amusement.

It also didn’t really help when one of your other friends, as well as senior, Lisa, told you that your interest was most likely romantic attraction after you told some of your feelings about Furina towards the senior librarian.

With you, nearly a hundred percent sure about your feelings being reciprocated, waited for Furina to be at the library or its vicinity, but weren’t able to find her after your conversation with Neuvillette.

Perhaps, you think, she went home because of the cold? It is winter…

You take some hesitant but haste steps towards the drama room, knocking on the door as you hear the familiar yet uncharacteristic deflated voice of the white haired girl speak out a weak ‘come in’. You sigh in slight relief, knowing that she didn’t go home yet.

When the two of you make your way towards the cafe that the both of you mostly went after extracurricular activities, you decide to say your feelings– it was now or never.

“Wait, I have something to, uh, say.”

The girl next to you turns towards you, attention focused on your tensed form, eyebrows raising up in both confusion and anticipation.

“Uh… I– I like you, a lot, really…”

Furina’s face heats up, blinking incredulously at you as you look away, unable to look at the heterochromia eyed girl, finding interest in the falling snowflakes from the dark but nice clouds in the sky, though your head immediately turns back as you feel her hands taking your own.

“That’s– that… I– I like you too!”

You smile. Your confession definitely wasn’t one of the smoothest, nor was it the best– but you knew that now, your feelings were reciprocated.

“So, we’re official now?”

“Of course we are– besides, you should be feeling grateful that I– Furina– even liked you back~”

You bonk her head slightly as the two of you make your way towards the cafe, snow crunching on the pavement as you watch the warm orange fairy lights decorate the cafe.

“Merry Christmas.”

[xximperioxx]

Blushin’

Dewdrop/Sodo x Fem!Reader

Warnings: NSFW (18+ ONLY), blood (only a little), vaginal fingering, handjob, Sodo being a whore on stage

Notes: this took so long and I’m so sorry. Work has been crazy and it’s currently midterm week for me at school. Also I wasn’t sure what to call him (Sodo or Dewdrop) bc obviously the fandom has different views on it. So I just called him Dewdrop but if it really bugs people I can change it. Also this is my first time writing something spicy/smutty so pls be gentle on me I beg. Enjoy!

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

You were standing on the sideline of the stage, watching Papa and the ghouls put on the ritual for the fans. You were a sister of sin and somehow found yourself helping with production on tour. You were a bit surprised when Sister Imperator had asked you to join Papa and the ghouls on tour since you had often helped with events around the abbey, nonetheless you immediately accepted. The chance to get to know the ghouls excited you. You had only seen them during mass or when Papa played rituals at the abbey.

You had liked the fire ghoul since you had met him after quite physically bumping into him and you falling on your ass. He was angry. Stomping and mumbling something about Aether when you happened to have been too busy walking with your nose stuck in notes for the ritual of the night. You had suddenly felt a force and before you could let out a squeak, you had found yourself on the floor. You looked up with a glare before you got on your knees and grabbed the papers that had fallen out of your hands, “Watch it, Stompy.”

Your eyes had widened, almost not believing the words that had left your mouth. The ghoul had scoffed as he looked down at you, “Maybe you should watch it,” A smirk quickly appeared on his face, “You look good on your knees, Sister.” his smirk only grew when he saw you turn red.

~~~~~

That turned into the ghoul making you blush by teasing you at every moment he could and he loved it. He loved how flustered you got. You wouldn’t dare tell anyone but you enjoyed the moments between the two of you. Unfortunately for you, the ghoulettes figured it out within the first week of the tour while Swiss was upset because they knew something he didn’t and bugged them until the secret was told. The girls tried to get you to talk to him and have an actual conversation but you claimed to be too busy. Swiss makes it blatantly obvious by just staring back and forth at you and Dew or forcing conversation between the two of you.

~~~~~

Then before the show today, you had been been stressing to the technicians about the lighting and timing before the group was to go on stage. Papa spoke up, “Sister Y/N, please understand I mean with the utmost respect,” you had turned to him confused and slightly concerned, “but, you need to get laid.”

The ghouls snickered as you stood there shocked, “Copia!”

He put his hands up in defense and mumbled something about it showing. Swiss went to open his mouth and he swears it’s like you have a sixth sense of when he’s going to say something stupid. You had pointed your finger at him without looking, “Now isn’t the time, Swiss.”

That caught the ears of the fire ghoul. As he stood there stoically, his eyes behind the mask glaring at the tall ghoul and you. His mind runs through thoughts of you and Swiss, involuntary letting out a low growl.

Dew tried to hide the small jolt he made when Papa put his hand on his shoulder, almost sensing something was going to happen.

Checking the time, you shoo the group out on stage wishing them luck. Before leaving, Dew’s hand brushes against yours causing you to look down at them. You look back up to see him staring at you already, silence engulfing the two of you for a few moments. “No good luck kiss?”

You let out a small laugh, your cheeks turning pink yet again. Suddenly, you feel his warm hand against your cheek as he tilts your head up. You feel your face get hotter, not just from the fire ghoul but embarrassment. It had been some time since someone was this close and intimate with you.

Dew held back a groan as he felt his pants tighten at the sight of you staring up at him with your doe eyes.

You swallow your nerves before speaking up quietly, “You should really join the others out there.”

Swiss rounds the corner, “hey (Y/N), have you seen my-..” his eyes widened at the sight, “oh satan, I’m sorry.”

Dewdrop immediately dropped his hand when he heard the multi ghoul’s voice. He lets out another low growl, annoyed about the interruption. You pointed at the tambourine on the couch and watched as Swiss ran and grabbed before he squeaked out a ‘thanks’ as he rushed out of the room. Before you had a chance to say something or even look at Dew, you saw him following Swiss out onto the stage.

~~~~~

They were playing Year Zero and you couldn’t help but stare at Dew. Hell, you couldn’t take your eyes off of him. You watched him saunter over to Rain but not before stealing a glance at you. Knowing he had your attention, he places his hand on Rain’s chest before sliding his hand up to the water ghoul’s throat. Maintaining eye contact with you, Sodo grips the ghoul's throat. Without realizing, you suddenly feel yourself clench your thighs together. You begin to feel breathless like you had just run a marathon but instead you had just watched possibly the hottest thing you’ve seen.

Throughout the rest of the song, Dew continues to make eye contact with you while making innuendos with his guitar. The ghoul was extremely thankful for his guitar hiding the bulge in his pants because he would never hear the end of it from Aether. He could smell your arousal. This was dangerous. The ghoul decided to stay away from your side of the stage before he got too carried away. When it was time to play Mummy Dust, Dewdrop was preparing for when the confetti shot out. He can’t help but glance your way again before he runs his hand against his mouth and slowly drags it down his chest to the best of the song before he begins the motion of jerking off in front of the crowd.

With a racing heart, you didn't notice you were biting your lip so hard until you tasted the metallic. Bringing a finger to your lip, you touch it gently and wince at the pain. You pull back to see blood on your finger.

The smell of metallic reaches the nose of the fire ghoul and he stops for a second. He physically moans at the sight of you with a bloody lip. You could feel his eyes on you again but decide not to look up before you turn around to go clean up your lip. Also to get a hold of yourself but you didn’t want to admit it. The ghoul begs Satan that these last two songs would go by quickly as his cock was beginning to ache in his pants.

When you had reached the bathroom, you looked at yourself in the mirror and groaned. You looked like a horny virgin. Rosy cheeks and a glow, pupils dilated, and now a bloody lip. Your skin felt so hot. Ignoring the ache in your core, you bend down to the sink and splash water onto your face to calm and cool you down.

Suddenly you feel a hand cover your mouth, your eyes widen as a muffled scream attempts to leave your mouth. The person pushes themselves into you causing you to squirm. Your eyes move up and you see the mask of the fire ghoul staring back at you. What you expected to be a sigh of relief came out as a moan. It slipped from your mouth as you felt his bulge against you. You hear the ghoul let out a chuckle and you turn even more red from embarrassment.

You rip his hand off your mouth and turn around to face him. You immediately slap his chest, “you scared the shit out of me,” You began to whisper yell, “wait-how did you even get in here I locked the door-…”

He pulls you in by your waist and kisses you hungrily. You wince at the pressure on your lip but ignore it and kiss him back harder. After a few seconds, you both slightly pull away breathless. “I picked the lock, duh,” Dew mumbles against your lips. You can’t help but let out a small laugh.

Smiling, you look up at him and notice his lips, “You got a little blood…” you trail off before you wipe it away with your thumb. He hasn’t stopped staring at your lips and quite frankly, you found it a bit concerning, “Dew?”

In a spur, he pulls your bottom lip with his teeth and begins to suck the blood out of your lip bite. He groans at the metallic taste and can’t help but begin to rut against you. You hear the sound of his zipper and it snaps you out of your euphoric daze.

You pull away, whining against his lips, “please touch me. Please.”

“I thought you’d never ask.” He hurriedly unzips your pants and brushes his fingers past your panties and against your core. You let out a gasp and the ghoul immediately puts his mouth back on yours. Inserting a finger in you, you grab his hand that was leaving against the sink. You guide it to your throat. He gives you an unsure look before you nod.

“Aren’t you naughty, Sister.” You attempt to nod again but Dew squeezes your throat. You whimper. “Did you like that? That little show I did with Rain? It was just for you.”

You slide your hand down to his trousers and pull his leaking cock out. He grits teeth at you causing his fangs to show. “Of course you liked it, I smelt your arousal the whole time.” He adds another finger in you and removes his hand from your throat and replaces it with his mouth. “It was so hard not to bring you out onto that stage and fuck you in front of everyone. To mark, to have you scream my name.”

You feel yourself tighten at the words that leave his mouth which causes him to groan against your neck. You feel his thumb brush against your clit and you begin to feel your orgasm approaching. You beg him for more.

Pleas and the ghoul’s name were the only thing leaving your mouth like it was a prayer before your death. Dew bites down onto your neck. “Come on, pretty girl,” you grip his biceps as ecstasy fades over you, a drawn out moan leaving your mouth.

You lean into him, exhaustion hitting you. After a minute you catch your breath, you catch sight of his aching member. It was begging to be touched. You look up at him with doe eyes.

Slowly you run your hand down his chest just as he did on stage. You run your thumb over his tip, “Oh, Satan,” he groans into your neck. With his hands on either side of you, you lean up and kiss the exposed skin of his neck. He watches you lick your hand as he did as you wrap you hand around his cock. You slowly begin to pump and the ghoul becomes a moaning mess. Feeling him rut into your hand causes you to speed up. “I’m close-“ he tries to warn but you abruptly stop and fall to your knees. Not even trying to conceal it at this point, he lets out a loud, breathy moan at the sight of you on your knees. This was something he has been dreaming about for weeks. You stare up at him as you place gentle kisses on his cock before you take him into your mouth. You try not to gag as you can’t fit him entirely. The feeling of your warm mouth was too much for him. You barely get the chance to suck him off before he releases into your mouth as swears and grunts leave his mouth. You moan just at the sight of him and you swear you could cum again.

Sunshine’s gentle voice comes through the door, “I’m really sorry to interrupt but I really need to use the bathroom.”

“Fuck off!”

“Dew! Don’t talk to Sunshine like that.” He looks down at you and mumbles a ‘sorry’ to you before yelling an apology to the ghoulette.

Still enjoying your embrace, he places a gentle kiss on your forehead. The action brings a smile to your face and again a light blush brightens your face. The ghoul pulls away slowly as a smirk forms on his face, “I knew you’d look good on your knees.”

[reminiscingtonight]

Almost In Love

Leah Williamson x Reader

Word Count: 1.6k

A/N: I was in a mood 🤟 Happy December everyone!

Lover Of Mine (Part Two)

[WOSO Masterlist]

Leah’s in LA.

When you wake up this morning, you go about your business like normal. You go for your morning jog. You facetime your parents. You join a yoga session on the beach with Christen. 

When you get the text from Tobin, you forget how to breathe. 

The last time you saw Leah was years ago. 

You could have fallen in love with her. 

Scratch that. You did fall in love with her. 

Leah just didn’t want to make it a thing. 

---

It was never supposed to be serious. Leah made that clear.

The first night you fell into bed together she knocked those words into your head between each mind-blowing orgasm traded between you.

You couldn’t help but fall in love with her anyways.

It’s easy to fall in love with Leah. She’s funny, sweet, caring. Every touch lingers on your skin, every word warms your soul to the core. You find yourselves spending more and more time together off the field.

What starts as hot and heavy secret nights together grows into early morning coffee dates, late evening strolls. Things become softer and softer between the two of you. You catch Leah staring at you more than enough times.

You practice the words in your head. “I really like you,” “Would you like to go out on a date?” “I know we said we wouldn’t, but I’m falling for you and I think you are too.”

The night before you confess your feelings, everything falls apart.

You’re at a bar with the rest of the girls. You can’t help but keep checking your watch. Leah’s late. She’s never late.

It all makes sense when Leah walks in hand-in-hand with Jordan. 

“Woah, when did this happen?”

Leah blushes when Caitlin hoots at the two of them. “We just thought we’d give it a go again.”

Jordan tells them about how they’ve been slowly rebuilding their relationship. Long nights talking things out. Mornings watching the sunrise together. “Our feelings never faded. So we wanted to try again.”

Bile rises to your throat with every word.

You spend the night avoiding Leah. She spends the night glued to Jordan’s side. You pretend it doesn’t hurt when she doesn’t seek you out.

It’s only when you’re ready to call it a night that Leah tries to approach you. 

You extract yourself from her hands with ease. “I’m happy for you.” The words taste bitter in your mouth. “Hope you and Jords make it.”

Something flashes in her eyes. 

Pity? Regret? Guilt? 

You don’t keep eye contact long enough to figure it out. 

You’re out the door before Leah can stop you again.

---

[We’re thinking about getting drinks after the game. You wanna join?]

You leave Tobin on read. 

You know Christen knows something is up when you don’t entertain her quiet musings on your drive to the BANC. 

You’re stuck in your head during warm-ups. You miss one too many shots. Freya pulls you aside, asks if everything is okay. The way you lie through your teeth must be enough because she lets you go with a gentle warning to pick it up once the game starts.

You can’t help but think of blonde hair in red and white when your teams line up. You can’t help but think of accented words and a warm touch when Ali pats your back before you’re led out.

When the refs start marching, you do your best to clear your mind. 

---

When the team finds out you’re leaving, they throw you a going away party. 

You take shots with Beth. You sing karaoke with Katie. You pretend you don’t see the way Leah keeps watching you.

It’s easy to pretend you don’t care. It’s easy when you spot the way Jordan has a hand on Leah’s waist at all times. It’s easy when you can see the way Leah lights up every time Jordan whispers something into her ear. It’s easy in the same way your nerves are lit aflame and you have to fight the urge to scream.

Leah tracks you down after the night has died down. 

“I thought you were extending your contract.”

You purposefully avoid her eyes. “I have to head home for our friendlies soon anyways. The Spirit has been bugging my agent about bringing me home for the 2021 season so it just makes sense to stay after the national team games are done.”

“And there’s nothing that can convince you to stay?”

“Leah,” you sigh out. “We both knew my loan was going to come to an end eventually.”

A part of you wants her to fight for you to stay. To convince you that what happened between the two of you wasn’t only in your head.

You make a move to leave. Leah moves to block you again.

“(Y/N).” 

When you turn towards the defender she looks nervous. You can’t help but feel a flutter of hope in your chest.

Tell me you want me and I’ll stay. Tell me you’ve made a mistake and I’m yours.

“We should keep in touch.”

You want to say no. You want to tell Leah to go fuck herself. 

You bite your tongue. “Of course.”

.

You return to the states.

The two of you very much do not keep in touch.

---

Leah comes to the game. Because of course she does. 

You’re not sure why you thought she wouldn’t. 

You spot her, Keira, Lucy, and some of the other English girls with ease. They’re not doing much to keep a low profile. You would’ve thought they would’ve gone up to the suite with Tobin. Instead you see all the English players sitting near the field. 

The whistle sounds and you push all non-soccer thoughts out of your head.

You think you’re doing pretty good. All of your passes connect, all of your shots are on target. You think you’re doing pretty good until you get nailed by the soccer ball right in the face. 

You drop like a sack of rocks.

Christen’s instantly by your side, concern etched on her face. 

“I’m fine,” you groan out, raising two shaky hands to your forehead.

The glare she gives you is enough for you to fall silent and follow all of the trainers’ instructions without a fuss when they run you through the concussion test.

You stick your tongue out at her when you pass with flying colors. It earns you a couple chuckles from your teammates.

When Christen forces the own goal minutes later, you’re sure to throw yourself onto the dogpile without care. 

Christen ushers you up to the suite the second you’re both showered and done changing after the game. A feeling of dread starts to sink in. It’s easy to forget about Leah when you’re on the field. It’s harder knowing who exactly is waiting for you upstairs.

You nearly sigh in relief when Tobin is the first to greet you.

“How’s the head?”

You shrug. “Fine. A little sore but feels alright.” 

Tobin looks like she wants to say something else. She doesn’t get the chance to.

“You played great.”

You give Leah a curt nod. You’re well aware of the way Tobin’s eying the two of you with interest.

Tobin joined Arsenal not long after you had left. She was never there to witness the way you tore yourself apart for Leah. A part of you is glad she didn’t have to see it. You’re not sure how your best friend’s partner would react if she was placed in a position like that. 

That’s a lie. You know she would’ve torn the younger player apart for hurting you the way she did.

You play nice to save Leah the trouble of having to explain anything to Tobin. That doesn’t mean you don’t do your best to always have at least one buffer between the two of you though.

Keira greets you as if you’re two old friends. You feel awkward, knowing her closeness with the lioness who broke your heart.

You’re even more confused when she tries to talk you up to Leah in the rare occurrence you find yourself stuck between the pair when you’ve gone out for drinks. Leah blushes at something Keira says. You do your best not to read into it.

You count the minutes until you can politely excuse yourself. When the clock strikes 11, you make your excuses, claiming to be exhausted from the game. There’s a chorus of whines but you just wave them away.

Christen presses a kiss against your forehead, telling you to text her when you get home. You’re headed for the door right after you promise.

You’re not expecting it when Leah follows close behind you.

“Do you think we could’ve been something?”

You freeze, back still turned towards the English defender.

“If I hadn’t chosen Jordan and if you hadn’t left. Do you think we could’ve fallen in love?”

The air hangs heavy between the two of you. 

The question’s one you’ve asked yourself every day since you left. If you had tried harder, would Leah have picked you? If you had stuck around, would everything have changed for the better?

Slowly, you turn around. You raise your eyes to meet Leah’s. 

You’re not sure what you see there. Maybe a little bit of regret. A little bit of hope.

You’re not sure what you want to see there.

“I guess we’ll never know.”

This time when you leave, Leah lets you go without a fight.

[spicywhenspeaking]

If I'm There: Chapter Twenty-One

when you realize the significance of the monkey (∩˃о˂∩)♡

read from part one here!

summary: Noah and Natalie met in high school and developed a relationship through their love of music and art. Falling in love, innocent and young, they think nothing can keep them apart. However, sometimes in the pursuit of your dreams the things we love the most get left behind.

this is a complete work of fiction, some characters while based on real people are totally made up. :)

word count: 3.6k , edited by me ....soooo if you see something spelt wrong no you didn't.

taglist : @lma1986 @cookiesupplier @notingridslurkaccount @blackveilomens @thisbicc @laurpartyprogram @concretenoah @thebadchic @jessitpwk @madomens @samanthasgone @myownthoughts12

I picked up Erin from Ashely’s house at around 10 am the following morning. I don’t think anything will ever compare to her seeing me and running with excitement into my arms for a big hug. I just hope she still feels that way later today when I tell her about Noah.

“I missed you Mom!” she calls out and I pick her up and swing us around in a circle. “Oh my sweet girl, I missed you so much!” I tell her and kiss all over her cheeks and the top of her head. We finish gathering her things and thank Ashely and her mom again before we eventually get into the car and head off to begin our girls’ day. “So nails first or food? How are you feeling?” I ask as I turn on the radio and begin backing out of the driveway. 

“FOOD! Please! We only had cereal for breakfast and you know I need more than that.” I laugh because I know exactly that. My girl can eat! “Okay, so first food and then nails!” I say, then reach over to turn up the radio when I hear “Dancing Queen” by ABBA come on. We sing our hearts out on the drive to our favorite breakfast spot near our house. We sit in our regular corner booth by the back window. I order a coffee and a full stack of pancakes with eggs and bacon. Erin orders an orange juice and the same amount of food and I know she’ll finish it all. She recaps me on the last two days and all the fun she had with her friend, “but I missed you and Hales a lot. I’m happy to be back home now.” she says stuffing a huge piece of pancake into her mouth. “I’m happy you’re home too little bug, but why don't you take smaller bites? I don’t need you choking thirty minutes after getting you back.” She smiles with her mouth full of food, “okay” her muffled voice comes out and I can’t help but laugh. 

With breakfast finished the two of us head to the nail salon and I decide we should really pamper ourselves and we get the deluxe mani/pedi package. The salon I like plays old MTV music videos on big TVs all around the room. The sound of Paramore while my feet soak in the soothing heat and the massage chair digs into my back puts me into a state of complete relaxation and I find my mind wandering. Stuck on a moment from the night before, Noah and I sitting together on the couch and our almost kiss. If things were different, if we lived in an alternate universe and it wasn’t ten years later I would have closed the distance and would have let myself be sucked into his gravity. He has everything he wants now, his music, his band, it’s what he left to find ten years ago.

I look over at Eric who’s set the chair to the back-patting setting that has her voice bouncing “Ah, ah, ah, m-o-o-m, d-o-o-o I s-o-u-n-d w-e-i-r-d.” the smile that breaks across my face is full of love as I take in the beautiful girl in front of me. “You sound perfect baby,” I say and ruffle her hair softly. The rest of our appointment goes by in a relaxing daze. We laugh while Erin tells me about her last two days. We finish up and I mentally prepare myself for the conversation we are about to have. I am going to tell her about Noah. I just hope she doesn’t hate me afterward. 

We get back to the house and she rushes into her room to unload her dirty clothes and reunite with the stuffed animals she had to leave behind. “Fluffy! I never want to be separated again!” I hear her exclaim from outside of her room. Before talking to her I head into my room and open my closet door, I’m looking for a certain shoe box. “Where the hell is it?” I ask myself, “Ah ha!” It’s nestled deep into the corner hiding under the Carhart hoodie I borrowed from Haylie who stole it from who knows. I take a deep breath and lift the lid of the box. On top are several photos of me and Noah, some of the two of us, and Nicholas as well. Wadded up in a tight ball is the Bring Me The Horizon shift Noah gave me all those years ago. There’s also a CD, some random ticket stubs, drawings, and more pictures at the bottom. I decide to just take the whole box and head towards Erin’s room.

Knocking on the door I hear a soft, “Come in!” I walk into her room and see that she’s decided today is the day she’s going to reorganize her bookshelf. 

“Hey sweety, can I talk to you about something?” I ask and try to hide the nervousness in my voice. “Umm yeah, is everything okay? You sound weird.” So I didn’t do a great job at hiding it. “Yes, everything is okay. There’s just something that I need to talk to you about. Something important.”

Two lines appear between her eyebrows and her face contorts in confusion. “Is this an I can keep working and listening important or do I need to sit next to you on the bed?” she asks and I pat a spot next to me on the bed to wordlessly answer her question. “Oof, okay,” she whispers out and climbs next to me on her bed.

“You remember how I told you that I got pregnant when I was still in high school but my boyfriend and I had already broken up?” she continues looking at me with confusion all over her face but nods slightly, “Yeah, I remember. You said you two never saw each other again.” I take her hand and smile, trying to fight the tears in my eyes.

I open the box and hand her a picture of Noah and I. “His name is Noah. This is your father.” She takes the photo and looks back and forth between me and and younger version in the photo. “You look so different,” she says and I huff a laugh. “Yeah, that’s what growing up will do to you.” 

“Where is he?” she asks quietly looking up at me. “Well, he’s actually in town for a few days if you would like to meet him.”

“Where has he been?” she asks and that takes me off guard. I struggle with what to say, not wanting to keep anything from her but also not wanting to upset her. “He’s been in Los Angeles. That’s where he works.”

“What does he do?”

“He’s in a band, playing music, and sings all around the world.”

“Hm,” she says and I’m not sure what she’s thinking. 

“So he didn’t want me?” and there it is. The knife in my heart makes it hard to keep the food down from earlier but I push through, remaining strong.

“Oh no sweety, that’s not true at all. He didn’t know for so long. It’s very complicated adult stuff. Things that took me a long time to understand myself” I try to explain to her. 

“Will you tell me when I’m older the complicated stuff?”

“Of course baby, I’ll tell you anything you’d like to know about him.”

“Is he nice?” Erin asks in a quiet shy voice, “Do you think he would like me?”

I wrap her up in my arms and squeeze her tightly, “he is very nice and he will like you very much I promise.” I run my hand down her head, soothing her soft brown hair.”Does that mean you’d like to meet him?”

The air is still in the room as Erin takes time to think. Her small face scrunched in concentration. “I think I would like to meet him, yes. But are things going to change? My friend Brody’s parents don’t live together and he goes to his dad’s house every other weekend. Do I have to do that now?” I pull her closer until my head is resting on top of hers. “Nothing will change without you making that decision. Right now, we take things one step at a time.” she nods her head and wraps her arms as tight as she can around me.

“Would you be interested in meeting him tomorrow? He will be leaving again soon with his band so we won’t see him again for a few weeks. I can tell him we can wait if you’d be more comfortable.” I’m also definitely scheduling an earlier therapy appointment for her this week. Her head remains buried in my side while she takes everything in. I am giving her all the time she needs to process, so if she wants to wait until he’s more available I don’t blame her. 

“I think I would like to meet him. But what if you just invited him over here? So I can show him my stuff and maybe he will like me even more?” 

I move back so I can take her small face into my hands. “I can do that but I need to to listen to me now, there is no one on this planet that could possibly not like you Erin Howlston and I know for a fact that he will love you so much because you are you and you are perfect,” I emphasize my point my giving her cheeks a little squeeze. “But you have to think that because you’re my mom.” she quips through pursed lips. “And he’s your father, so by your logic, he must also think that,” I argue back and I see her eyes turned down slightly in the corner.

“But he made you sad right? That’s why you broke up when you were in high school. I don’t want him to make you sad again.” My heart swells. While I drop an atomic bomb of information about her life she’s worried about my feelings. I must be doing something right with this whole parenting thing.

“Sweetie, that was a long time ago. My heart is all better now and I’m not sad anymore. I am so so so unbelievably happy with our life. With you and Aunt Haliey, Uncle Kyle and Aunt Mags, and little Natasha. I think Noah is a very good person and he wants to be in your life because he cares about you. Even without having met you.” She gives me a small smile and hugs me again.” okay, I want to meet him. You said tomorrow right?” she looks up at me with her deep brown eyes that have always been just like his. “Tomorrow it is. I will give him a call later today, but what do you want to do now? Play? We could watch a movie? Or draw together?”

Quickly detangling from my arms she races to pick up her paper and stretching pencils, “Drawing please! I need help with the cat I’m drawing.” 

We spend the next few hours drawing together on her bedroom floor laughing and listening to music. For Christmas last year she asked for a Google Mini so she could ask it to play music whenever she wanted. Now we are listening to “The Very Best Of Otis Redding”. When she was a baby I listened to it all the time. I used to sing “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” while rocking her to sleep. Sometimes I walk by her room and she is listening to it while reading or playing with her toys and it reminds me of holding her when she was so little and how she would hold my finger so tightly.

I feel the tug of guilt in my gut about Noah having missed those moments but force it down, there’s nothing that can be done about the past but we can create new memories with the three of us together. Even if Noah and I aren’t together we can be the two parents that Erin needs. Maybe we can even be friends.

Later, once Erin wanted time alone to play with her toys I went into my room to call Noah. I haven’t been able to talk to Haylie about any of this yet, she woke up late with a hangover and had to run out of the house for the day to meet with her editor to talk about her next book release.

I close my door most of the way, only keeping a small sliver open in case Erin calls out for me. I sit on the edge of my bed and hit the green call button on my new Noah contact page, It rings a few times before I hear the sound of him picking up on the other end.

Hey! Natty, how are you doing? How’s it going?

Hi Noah, things are good. How are you? 

There’s rustling in the background of his call, “oohh is that Natalie??” I hear who I think is Folio.

Yes, shush…not you Nat! You don’t have to shush. Sorry, Folio is being an idiot.

I’m good, just working on some new remixes for our deluxe album.

I just finished talking with Erin and she suggested I invite you over tomorrow to meet. Is that okay?

Tomorrow sounds great! What time is good for you two?

How does 12:30 work? I can order us sandwiches from the sub shop in town, Erin’s favorite.

Perfect, 12:30 is perfect. Thank you so much, Natty. I won’t let you down again. I promise.

I try not to blush like a preteen at the way his voice goes almost breathless as he makes his promise to me. 

Um. so I’ll see you tomorrow then, bye!

I try to rush off the phone as fast as possible before I let myself word-vomit anything stupid.

Bye Natty, I’ll see you tomorrow, looking forward to seeing you and meeting Erin. 

A few minutes I hear Haylie unlock the door and head into the house and she calls out like she did the night before. “Honeys!! I’m home!” she calls from the front room. “Hey Hales!” Erin and I both call out.

Before I have the chance to call down to her to come up so I can relay everything that’s happened since we separated after the concert, she is racing up the stairs taking two at a time. She swings my door open, stepping into my room with a huge face-splitting smile on her face. “Sooo?? How did it go?” she asks moving closer into my room and creating the same small gap in the door before sitting down next to me on the bed. “Well, before I drunkenly barged in. sorry about that. That Folio knows how to throw them back, he’s pretty hot don’t you think?”

She has this twinkle in her eye when she says it and I laugh and roll my eyes at her. “It went well, he was a little upset at first which I wasn’t surprised by. He cried I cried, it was very emotional. He wants to meet her and then stay in Austin during their break in between tour dates.” As I recant my mind whirls and everything hits me more than I expected. “He said that he wanted this life with me, wanted the family and the happiness and the love that he should have fought harder for me, should have never let me go.” I try to keep my voice steady but I can feel my throat getting thick with emotion. Haylie wraps her arm around me and remains quiet while I continue telling her all about what happened. “And then when I was showing him pictures in her baby book there was this moment..” I slowly trail off and she pops forward and her eyes widen in surprise.

“What kind of moment?” she asks in a voice that goes all jelly-like and I manage to look slightly shameful before I tell her. That I so easily folded in his presence is borderline embarrassing, just shows how powerful his hold is still over my heart. But right now I can’t think with my heart, now is the time to think with my brain. While also considering Erin’s heart. 

“We might have almost kissed,” I tell her while I bury my face in my hands. “OH MY GOD! NATALIE !” she shrieks and I quickly throw my hands over her mouth. “Shush! Haliey oh my god, Erin will hear you!” and just like that I hear her little voice calling from down the hall, “everything okay in there?” she asks. “Yes!” “Everthing is fine!” we answer in unison and I think she retreats back into her room.

“You almost kissed him! How? What did he say? Did he lean in? How did he act after the almost kiss,” she shoots out the questions in a rapid-fire succession and I rub the sides of my temples before answering her. “Um. I guess he was kind of leaning in, he was doing that thing you know. When a guy looks between your eyes and your lips. I felt so weak. Oh my god, I almost kissed him, and then the book fell and I remembered what we were doing and why he was there and I felt so stupid.”

“You are NOT stupid! There were a lot of emotions flowing, you hadn’t had a moment alone with him in years and it’s not like when you broke up you two weren’t completely and totally in love with each other. It’s not like those feelings just go away.” she says while rubbing up and down along my back. 

“I just can’t do that with him, It’s not a good idea for the two of us to do anything that could jepordize Erin’s happiness.” I nod to myself, wiping one of my hands down my face and then raking them through my hair. Haliey and I flop backwards onto the pillows while I finish catching her up on everything that happened, including my conversation with Erin and then my phone call with Noah right before she got home. 

“You want me to clear out tomorrow so y’all have some privacy?” she asks and I balk at the thought. “No way! I would never ask you to leave your own house. Plus, you’re such an important person in Erin’s life, I’m sure she would also want you here.” 

The three of us spend the rest of our evening lounging in the living room watching TV in our pajamas. We make homemade pizzas and cookies for dinner together in the kitchen while singing along to Disney’s greatest hits. We end the night all cuddled together on the couch watching Erin’s favorite movie “The Secret Life of Arrietty” and when she falls asleep I carry her up the stairs into her room and deposit her into her bed. I gently kiss her forehead and turn on her glowing nightlight before closing the door and heading back to help Haylie finish cleaning the kitchen. 

The next day is quickly upon us and I nervously watch the clock ticking away as we get closer and closer to 12:30. I picked up the subs a few minutes ago so hopefully Noah isn’t late. No one likes a soggy sub.

Just seconds before the second-hand crosses over the 12 on the clock there is a knock on the door that causes me to jump straight out of my seat. Haylie laughs at me as she rubs my shoulders walking past and into her room. She told Erin that if she needed her at any time to just barge in and get her. I walk towards the door and Erin suddenly looks very nervous and gets up to hide behind my back. “Are you okay baby?” I ask her quietly before answering the door. She nods her head against my back and whispers, “Yes, I’m fine.” she gripping the back of my jeans but I think if she didn’t want to do this anymore she would say something, she’s just nervous. Hell, I’m nervous. 

I open the door and Noah is standing there with a bouquet of wildflowers in one hand and a stuffed monkey in the other. “Hi,” he says in a soft and nervous voice. I return his greeting with a warm smile. “Come on in” I open the door wider so he can come in and Erin scoots along with me not quite ready to reveal herself. “How are you doing?” he asks and hands the flowers over to me, “these are for you.” He gestures to the monkey, “And this is for Erin.” she peaks her head out from behind me and looks up towards Noah and the monkey. “That’s for me?” she asks quietly. Noah crouches down to be at her eye level and hands out the toy to her. “Yes, this is for you. Do you like monkeys?” He asks and I see a small smile appear on her face. “I do like monkeys. I saw some at the zoo a few days ago with my friend Ashely.” She holds out her hand to accept the offering. “Hi Erin.” he says with a warm smile, “I’m Noah, it’s very nice to meet you?” She slowly eases out from behind me and is now standing beside me and at eye level with Noah, still crouched. “It’s nice to meet you too. Even though you made my mom sad.” 

Oh, Jesus, this is going to be an interesting afternoon.

Next chapter

[beefros-sin-bin]

Goodbye 2023!

Thank you to everyone who sent in submissions - I have so much reading to catch up on now! 🥩💜🥩

If you have more fics to recommend for the SinBin, keep sending them my way.

I was originally going to break everything by category into the various P-boys, but the majority are one specific character. So we have two categories:

Joel Miller Fics

Other P-boy Fics.

I've included the comments (if there was one) for each fic submitted, but kept the submitter anonymous.

Beefro & the SinBin 🚮🥩💜

Joel Miller Fics (in no specific order)

Left in Lincoln - @toxicanonymity

Left in Lincoln. It's no secret my love for this series, and for my favorite Joelkémon, but this story is one I love not only for the slow burn sexiness but the horror elements in general. The balance of fear and horror with the soft, beautiful descriptions of the characters and setting make it one I return to over and over. The musical references and influence on the story is just the icing on the cake 🖤 Or ice cream on the pie, in this case 🍑🌸 Ty for the beautiful stories Toxy, and community to obsess over our mutual obsessions 🥰🖤

Scarecrow & Fear Thy Neighbor by @xdaddysprincessxx

So my first rec is @xdaddysprincessxx and her Farmer Joel series 🚜 All of her work is amazing but this one is so fun and soooo hot! (Heed the warnings though if you choose to read) I'm biased because I got to hear about her writing process and contribute some of my own thots 🤭 But it's not only sexy af (just like her!) but scary too!!! Be sure to read the sequel too 😉 She's not only a talented writer but a wonderful human in general 🖤

Help I’m Stuck! By @nosesitter

Reader gets “stuck” in the dryer. Luckily her father in law Joel just so happens to find her and helps 😉 her. When I read this I finally got the whole “oh no I’m stuck!” sex scenario lmao I always found it kinda funny bc in porn they’d be stuck in ridiculous spots but this fic? Fucking hot as hell. I get it now 🤷🏻‍♀️

I can be your pretty girl by @walkintotheriveranddisappear

Okay so I’m almost positive she is tired of me recc’ing & talking about this series lol it’s the hottest fucking fic ever. I genuinely am obsessed. It has everything. She deserves a Nobel peace prize for this idc idc.

A Secret Worth Keeping by @multiversed-daydreamer

Vamp Joel. I repeat Vamp. Joel. 🥵 and his vampirism is a secret and readers blood is his krptonite and she has to keep what they do hush hush. It’s so goddamn delicious 🤤

Fall into Temptation by @joelsgreys

Whew okay where do I start? Reader is the pastors daughter. Joel is Joel. 😏 they end up falling for each other and having a beautiful love affair. That has to be a secret bc her father would forbid it! Duh! It’s spicy, they have to sneak around to meet up with each other (again I am paraphrasing ish I don’t wanna spoil lol) and the religious tones in it? My baby is feeding me. This heals my religious trauma. Feeds my daddy issues and desire to fuck this old man.

Deliver Me From Nowhere by @atinylittlepain

It is beautifully written, touching a delicate topic with such care, it is truly an amazing work.

Just This Once by @talaok

Okay hear me out: this one brings the angst. The emotion. I felt so bad for reader, bby girl just wanted love. It tore me up inside. I had tears.

Self Indulgent Tendencies by @strang3lov3

So this was actually the first fic of Bugs I ever read. And. I. LOVED. IT. I’m trying not to spoil anything but long story short; Joel catches reader and fucks her to teach her a lesson. (I am extremely paraphrasing this lol) it still lives in my damn brain 🥵

Meet Me in the Back by @atticrissfinch

Sleazy gas station Joel. That’s it. That’s all. He is so sleazy and ugh I need his dick. And so does reader after she gets it. And she keeps coming. Back for more that is 😉

All You Wanna Do by @atticrissfinch

Now I am an angst queen. And boy this one is not for the weak. It is dark, please please please heed the warnings on this one. But personally I love this one. She has truly ripped my heart out, made my chest physically hurt. She invokes emotion so well.

No One But Me by @koshkamartell

This is a small blog's series that deserves to be promoted!

The Wrong Way by @romana-after-dark

Raider!Joel Miller and Raider!Tommy Miller x fem!Reader

Other P-boy Fics (in no specific order)

Dirty Uncle Ezra by @bonezone44

😏 yea I said it. Dirty Uncle Ezra. Hottest fucking concept I’ve ever heard. He’s so dirty and sleazy and ngh I’m already moaning. Also this beautiful human is an amazing artist so plz check out their art work 💜 (a note from Beefro: the fact that the age tag on this is 56+ made me laugh out loud)

Pascals Pursuit of Love! by @elvinaa (all the P-Boys!)

The innovation! It has all the P boys Bachelorette style. It’s so much like the show, it’s got twists and turns, there’s funny moments, cute moments. I look forward to each week aka each chapter lol I love it so much.

Apple by @romana-after-dark

Bisexual!Dark!Santiago Garcia, Bisexual!Dark!Frankie Morales, and Bisexual!Dark!William Miller x fem!Reader

[rengokuswif3]

Inosuke Hashibira x Shinazugawa! Reader

The two of you met when he was recovering at the Butterfly Mansion. You were there with your brother, Genya, visiting the Butterfly Girls and helping out around the place

You weren’t a Tsugoku, but you were damn near close in skill. You trained under your other brother, Sanemi, sometimes and also under Gyomei, Genya’s mentor. So you were a fine swordsman with lots of strength and vigor, and just as much of a resting bitch face as your brothers

You always looked like you wanted to bite someone’s head off, so lots of Slayers naturally avoided you. You didn’t mind that though, you didn’t have time to chit chat and dawdle, you had things to do and places to be

So when some kid in a boar head rammed into you on your way out of the mansion, you were pissed off and annoyed. He was shouting about something that you couldn’t understand, something about Gonpachiro and Monichi? Whoever those two were, you didn’t care

“Get out of my way, freak! The hell do you think you’re doing running around a hospital?! You could’ve hurt someone already injured you damn moron!”

“HEH?! WHO YOU CALLING A MORON, SPIKY HAIR?!”

“What is going on?”

You both turned when you heard a grouchy voice. A tall, broad shouldered figure blocked your path, their spiky mohawk making them look even taller

“This idiot in a pig head ran straight into me, that’s what!” You snapped at your brother. Despite being the same age, he was taller than you by about a whole head, so you had to strain your neck to look him in the eye

“Hey you! Why are you running in a damn hospital, you stupid boar?” He towered over the shorter boy

“NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, OTHER SPIKY HAIR!”

The boar kid ran off, despite being yelled at not to run. You looked to your brother, who had a glare on his face as he looked down on you, opening his mouth no doubt to scold you. But you walked away from him, not giving him the chance to. You were late for training anyways, Genya’s complaints about you were going to have to wait for later

It wasn’t long after that you were sent on a mission with the board headed kid, along with some boy in a checkered haori carrying a box on his back, and a kid with yellow hair who whines about everything

“AH! WE MEET AGAIN, SPIKY HAIR!”

“It’s Y/N, you dimwit! Y/N Shinazugawa!”

The name caught the attention of the checkered haori boy. “You’re a Shinazugawa?”

“Yeah, what’s it to you, punk?!”

“Nothing! I just recognized your name was all.” He shrugged nervously.

You rolled your eyes at them all, grumbling that it was time to get going. You wanted to get this mission over with, already sick of their presences

The mission took place in a creepy forest, filled with dead trees and creepy bugs that the yellow haired kid whined about throughout the entire mission. You stalked ahead of them all, hearing them whispering or bickering occasionally

When you all finally located the demon, you decided to split up according to the checkered haori kids orders, and you were stuck with the annoying boar headed guy, or, Inosuke as you learned during the trip

“I say we charge it!”

“No, idiot! Stealth is the better option!”

“Whatever, Shitzuwana, I’M GOING IN!”

“DAMN YOU, INOSUKE!”

Thanks to him, the demon heard you both coming a mile away, easily stopping Inosuke’s attack and knocking you aside. You saw the demon go for Inosuke’s throat, so you quickly got up and ran at the demon, going to slice it’s head. But it was too quick for you, and you almost sliced right into Inosuke’s neck if you didn’t have such good reflexes

“HEY! YOU ALMOST KILLED ME!”

“IF YOU LISTENED TO ME, I WOULDN’T HAVE!”

“THATS A STUPID EXCUSE, WAZUSHIA!”

“ITS SHINAZUGAWA!” You yelled as you fought the demon, until Inosuke shoved you away to fight it himself. You groaned, knowing you’d never win this fight if you fought the boar kid as well as the demon. “Look, let’s fight each other later, alright? We gotta work together!”

Inosuke remembered the fight at Mount Natagumo, where he had learned how to fight alongside somebody instead of by himself and against them. So he nodded and listened to your plan, deciding to challenge you to a fight later to settle who was the better slayer

Eventually, you killed the demon together, but not without busting your leg. You limped as you walked with him to find Tanjiro and Zenitsu, causing him to pick you up without any warning

“HEY! IM FINE! PUT ME DOWN!”

“YOURE SLOWING US DOWN, SHITZUWANA! NOW SHUT UP!”

On the way back to headquarters, Inosuke carried you nearly the whole way, either on his back or in his arms. He bragged that you weighed nothing to him, and how strong he was for carrying you the whole way, but it somehow was less annoying. He also talked about beating you once you recovered, cause fighting someone injured was no fight!

When you got back to headquarters, you unfortunately saw your older brother, Sanemi, sparring with the Serpent Pillar

“What happened to your leg?”

“WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE?!-“

[giggly-squiggily]

Prove Me Wrong (Jujutsu Kaisen)

Heyo! Guess who's back with more of the OG chaos trio? This girl! I freaking love them your honor- and after rewatching JJK 0 recently (as of writing this anyway) I wanted more fluff with them- and so I made it :3 I hope y'all like it! :D

CW: Swearing

Cloud 9 (Taglist Peeps):

@thatbigbisexual29 @duckymcdoorknob @gladdygirl18 @baby-tickles2022 @cupcake-spice13 @rachi-roo

Summary: Gojo refuses to believe Shoko isn't ticklish- so he convinces Geto to help prove her wrong. Things get silly.

Shoko Ieriri was without a doubt, a hundred percent ticklish. Gojo knew this like the back of his hand.

He…didn’t have any actual proof of this information, but the vibes were there- she had to be!

“You can’t just decide someone’s ticklishness based on a feeling.” Geto rolled his eyes when Gojo declared his theory, finishing off the last of his soda. “Besides- we’ve tried tickling her before, remember? She didn’t even react.”

“Well yeah- she wasn’t ticklish on her sides! That doesn’t mean she isn’t ticklish somewhere else!” Gojo was slumped in his spot beside him, arms over the back of the bench, his abandoned can of cola a delightful trap for bugs. “I bet she’s one of those people who you need to turn on their ticklishness- has that one spot that when prodded, it sets off the rest of them!”

“Or she could just be immune.” Geto reached across him, stealing the remaining cola before the local wasp could. “Some people are. Maybe it’s a reverse curse thing.”

“Yeah but anyone can learn that- hell; I bet I could!”

“Probably. Then you’d never be ticklish again.” Geto jabbed his side, making him spasm and scrunch. “Or it’d make it worse. It’s always so tingly when she does it- the whole healing thing. You can barely handle it.”

“She touches too softly, that’s all.” He fussed, cheeks dusting as he sank in his seat once more. Geto smiled around the can. He went to drink.

Without any warning, Gojo jabbed him in the hip.

“GE-AH!” The other boy wheezed, soda spitting everywhere as he coughed and choked.

“That’s what you get. Now- are you gonna help me or not?” Gojo raised a brow, eyes dancing when Geto glared at him.

“Fine. But first- I’m gonna kick your ass!”

~~~

“Hey.” Shoko waved at Gojo as she walked in, kicking her shoes off by the door. “What’s up, Satoru?”

“Hello, my dearest Shoko. Please- come in and have a seat.” He waved his hand in a flourish, the table a semi-organized mess of notebooks, pens, textbooks and snacks.

 The medic made a low sounding whistle, brows raised at the spread. “And here I thought you were full of shit about studying. Bummer- I was looking forward to goofing off.” Shrugging, she came over and took a seat, immediately grabbing a bag of sour cream chips. “Where’s Suguru?”

“He’s running late- likely talking up some pretty girl in town.” Gojo leaned into his hands, eyes dancing. “Can you believe it? He actually has admirers!”

“Jealous?” Shoko smiled around a chip, earning a tongue stuck out at her.

“Please- I’m simply too hot to handle.” While he talked, his eyes found Geto’s looming shadow by the hall, waiting for his cue. Time to get this show on the road.

“So, Shoko darling. What would you say are the biggest drawbacks of your curse technique?” Lead her in- nice and slow.

“What’s with all the darlings and dearests? Are you practicing for Suguru?” She tilted her head at him before growing thoughtful. “I guess the biggest drawback is fatigue. Reverse curse technique- it takes a lot out of you.”

“Ah, I see. What else? I’m curious!” Gojo leaned in, fully engaged. Geto moved closer in steady paces.

“Knew you were full of shit. Hm…well, it’s a high demand technique, so I’m always busy. And I suppose walking in on gruesome sights is another bummer. Oh- and my friends try to use it as a distraction technique to get the jump on me.”

Geto froze- face blank. Gojo’s glasses drooped.

Silence.

“Suguru, do it!” Gojo cried before anyone could move.

“Right! Take THIS!” Geto shot his hands into her armpits, wiggling his fingers.

The reaction was…

“Ah. So you’re still trying to tickle me, huh?” She blinked at him boredly, something amused in her smile at Geto’s blank stare. “Go ahead- I already told you I’m not ticklish.”

“T-There’s got to be somewhere! Here?” He tried her neck. Shoko merely rolled it to the side.

“Here?” Gojo scrambled around the table, squeezing her hip.

“It’s got to be bad here!” Geto pressed into her ribs.

“This is a good spot!” Gojo poked her belly.

“Oh ho ho. Please, guys stop. I’m soooooo ticklish.” Shoko snickered, unfazed by their antics. No matter where they touched, she was unmoved, finishing off the last of her chips. “I can’t handle it. Please, don’t.”

“My god.” Gojo sat back, wide eyed and mildly spooked. “She’s a god.”

“Unfazed and untouched.” Geto put his hands on his hips, shaking his head.

“Praise me.” She flexed, satisfied. “My turn- which one of you got the bright idea?”

“Satoru.” Geto wasted no time.

“T-Traitor!” Gojo cried, scrambling back just as Shoko went to grab him. “He helped though! Get him first!”

“Nah. I like tickling you more. You make funny noises.” She dived, grabbing his ankle as Gojo tried to wiggle free. Within seconds she was upon him, sitting by his hips as her fingers worked along his torso. “See what I mean?”

“Aheahhahahahhahahha! S-Shohohohohohokoohohohohohooho! Gehahahahhahaa, nohohohohohohohohohoohoo!” The pale haired teen was a mess of giggles almost immediately, flopping like a fish out of water as he batted at her hands. “Dohohohooohn’t tihiihhihickle mehehehehehehehe!”

“Heh- I tried to tell you, Satoru.” Geto snickered, eyes falling to Shoko as he watched her work. She was sitting on her knees, socked feet tucked under her butt as she carried on pinching Gojo’s waist.

…..Hm….

Without any warning, he dragged a finger down her sole.

“AH!” A sharp squeal shot out of her mouth, full body spasming at the feeling. Geto stared, brows raised. Gojo was equally stunned, staring at the reverse curse user with equal amazement.

“Oh my GOD! I freaking knew it! You’re ticklish!” Gojo cackled, pumping his fist in the air like a happy child. “Shoko’s ticklish! Shoko’s tickli-EEHEHEEHEHE!”

“Eh. So I am- but you’re more.” She grinned, prodding the terrible spot along his lower third rib. “See what I mean? Funny noises.”

“AEHHHAHAHHAHA! SKEHEHHHEHHEHE! SUHUHUHUGUHUHHUURU HEHEHEHEHELP!” Gojo cried out, flailing his hands for mercy. “GEHEHHEHEHT EHHEHEHEHEHEHER!”

“So demanding…” Geto grinned before shuffling over, hands raised and fingers clawed. “Here I come~”

~~~

It was safe to say Geto tried.

The moment his fingers touched Shoko’s foot, she all but flailed, arm swinging backwards and knocking him sideways. Before she could check on him though, Gojo all but leaped across- tackling a groaning Geto and going right for the hips. 

"SAHHAHAHAHTAHAHHAHRU YOU SHIIHIHIIHIT!"

"Hehe, gotcha Sugu-EHEHEHEH SHOKO!"

"Hehehehehe~"

More antics ensued. A foot connected with Gojo’s stomach- likely Shoko’s, one of Geto’s curses came out (“Let’s kiss!” “GET THE HELL OFF ME!”) and the little table of snacks and books that weren’t even real textbooks went tumbling over with a kick.

When the dust finally settled, the three of them were spread out across the carpet of Gojo’s apartment, giggly and exhausted.

“Heh…hehehe..new ruhuhle. No suhuhuhuhmoning curses.” Gojo declared, earning a tired round of “Hurrahs” from his friends.

“Ihihin my defense- I was gohoing for the hahands.” Geto huffed, rubbing his jaw with a snicker. “That’s ohohne hell of a right hook, Shoko.”

“Heh. Bet.” She sat up, patting herself down until she found her cigarettes. “I’m gonna take a smoke break.” She reached out, pressing her fingers into his cheek until the bruise was no longer there. “Sorry about that.”

Once the door shut, Gojo grinned, raising a tired hand. “Told you she was ticklish!”

“She’s also violent when tickled.” Geto rolled his eyes, slapping it anyway. “Was it worth it?”

They sat there, reflecting for a moment. Her laugh was so….gremlin-like. Snickery and snorty, shrill at points. Completely different than you’d expect from her…

“Worth it.” They nodded.

Thanks for reading!

[wrathful--artist]

The Caged Bird and Chased Mouse

Chapter 2: The Mouse Rests

HOLY HECK,,, lots of people seem to like this idea, i wasn’t expecting people to like it or want to be part of a taglist no less! Im still not a writer by trade,, im an artist so maybe,,, just maybe,,, ill draw some scenes if you ask politely (they;ll be sketches but hey if it helps you visualize then I’d be happy to help!) also If you want i can answer things if something’s unclear in the story *this is just me asking for asks tbh,, i need friends haha* anyways i’ma make this one longer to compensate for the shorter one last time.

No Warnings!

You were in a void of darkness, sitting down on the non-existent floor. You look around hoping you’d see something at least vaguely familiar to latch yourself to, but it was truly empty. You started to stand up to gain some bearings on where you were.

It felt like a dream, you thought, it had the same sort of fuzzy quality you’d feel when dreaming with nothing truly concrete. Or perhaps, it’s a worse, torturous nightmare than the one you just escaped, your traitorous brain supplied. You shook your head to make sure the thought didn’t linger for too long and started to wander in the void.

After a while of walking around aimlessly you started to think of your life before this whole fiasco, your comfortable bed with plenty of blankets, pillows and plushies. Your walls decorated with assorted posters and trinkets. Your windows that gave a clear view of your yard and the bird feeder you put to watch them come and go. Your plants outside that needed water regularly, making you one of the few Genshin players that touched grass nearly everyday.

You didn’t even realize you had closed your eyes. You opened them, expecting to see the void once again but…

It was your room. Your magnificent room. You could’ve cried at such a familiar and mundane sight.

You were about to fall into your bed but you noticed it was alright occupied by someone. It was the child that was trapped in the orb thing, she was here sitting in your bed looking at you expectantly. You sat next to her in the bed (damn, it also felt the same,) and stared back.

“…” The white-haired girl kept opening and closing her mouth as if she couldn’t think of what to say to you, “You seem so… Familiar to me. Do you know why?”

You were taken aback, but worried, was she also going to accuse you of being an imposter? You spoke after a bit “uhm, no, I’m sorry.”

“Oh. I was hoping you knew, it’s frustrating to not know something when its… uhm” She puts a finger to her chin in thought

“On the tip of your tongue?” You try and supply helpfully

“Yes! Hehe, I guess that was also ‘on the tip of my tounge’!” She giggles at what she thought of, you also laugh but mostly because of her enthusiasm. You both settle back into silence but a question was still bugging you in the back of your head;

“Why were you trapped in that… Orb thing,” You gesture a circle shape with your hands ”back in what I assume is the real world.”

“Ah, well I’m the Archon of Sumeru and-“ Your eyes widen at that but you decide to stay quiet, “I’m not fit to rule Sumeru, so I let the Sages run everything and because of that I’m not really meant to be outside of the Sanctuary so I’m stuck here.” Her head sags down when she finished speaking, making her look incredibly downtrodden

You tilt your head slightly to the side at mention of ‘Sages’, but decide to just ask simple questions since, well this has been the first character that has shown you friendliness towards you and you’d like to make a friend before they turn against you. “What’s your name? I’m sorry, i know I should’ve asked earlier but, I forget i guess. I’ll tell mine in return, its only fair.”

She lifts her head back up and gives a smile “That’s okay, I also should have asked. I’m Lesser Lord Kusanali but you can called me Nahida.” You tell her your name, your real one and not the one you used in the game, which seemed to be the name given to ‘The Creator’ from what you’ve gathered in your terrifying travels across Teyvat.

You yawn and lean back into bed, “I know this is a dream and yet I still feel tired, I wonder why that is.” Nahida looks at you while you lay down, as if she wants to do something.

“Do you want to.. cuddle Nahida?” You offer, unsure

Her eyes widen and she gives a shy slow nod to you. You open your arms as you lay on your side for her to come over. She hesitantly gets closer, almost nervous about it. Once she’s close enough you wrap your arms around her and pull her closer, she’s like a plushie shes so smol squish her, you thought as you started to drift into what felt like an even deeper sleep. Nahida’ s small arms wrapped around you waist and snuggled her head into your chest as you fell unconscious.

_________________________________________________________________________________

The Traveler felt… Lost. The force that seemed to guide them throughout Teyvat seemed to disappear, they no longer felt the warmth that the being dubbed ‘The Creator’ gifted them when they led their body to new areas and helped with everything. Paimon has been asking them what’s wrong and why they haven’t been traveling (or talking for that matter) as much as of late, because Paimon didn’t seem to understand anything about The Creator at all unlike the Traveler’s other companions. “Maybe Paimon isn’t worthy enough to receive The Creator’s warmth like me” thought the Traveler as they absentmindedly pushed around the ash from the campfire they’d set up an hour earlier.

They decided to bring out their Adventure Handbook and flipped to the Map, it seemed like they was one marker left from the last time they had been controlled by The Creator. “Hey Paimon, Tomorrow we’ll be back on the road.” Traveler said to his flying friend who was currently devouring an entire Honey Roast.

“*Nom Nom* Where to? Paimon’s bones have been aching for some good adventure!” Paimon ignored that Traveler had finally spoke a full sentence to her after weeks, more focused on the idea of going somewhere new.

“Sumeru.”

_________________________________________________________________________________

So? How you like it? It’s probably not that long if im being honest ehe. So yeah Traveler is coming into the mix, which btw you guys can decide if you want the Traveler to be Lumine or Aether! (Because I can’t deal with using They for both you the reader and the traveler because i will get confused when writing) Also the whole room thing is based on what my room is like, other than the bird feeders but I’m getting those sometime this year i promise. I also had to read the lore for Nahida and it seems there was never like,,, a solid reason for why she was trapped in the orb thing other than “Sages wanted to and she did it out of her own freewill” and didnt have a larger purpose.

If your name is crossed out it means I couldn’t tag you I’m sorry :(

Taglist: @no-name-omo @moosieman123456 @tinandabin @esthelily @d0rmiens-fact0rem @lunalily19 @meerpea @justasleepyboi @lunarianillusion @cumbermovels @allblognamesaretakenlikereally @dulleyeddreamer @ello-its-me-ya-boi @jayastronomicnova

[abbysleftbicepp]

Abby being your comfort person (your family has been ruining your day and your ex is bugging you).

Ughh this hits a little close to home rn I can’t lie. Tysm for the prompt!!! This was kinda rushed but I wanted to finish it because I loved the Idea so much. (Not proofread!!)

“You need to get out there and get a real job! You can’t just keep living off of a dream that you know will never work out.” Your mom nagged at you all day, she tried supporting your small business but she was fed up with you because it wasn’t going anywhere.

“Your mothers right. You know what I could ask my boss if we’re hiring at the moment, he could get you kickstarted at a job in the company.” Your dad added to the conversation. You held your head in your hands at the dinner table, you did not have the energy for this tonight.

“I’m not working at your stupid office job, I’m not gonna get stuck in a 9 to 5 and not have a life like everyone else my age. This business is going somewhere, it just needs time.” You retorted. You were tired of their nagging, but you knew they would give you a harder time if you up and left.

“Making jewellery out of trashy beads is not a way of living! You will give up, and when you do don’t even think about crawling to us because we warned you.” Your mother yelled, startling you. You tried hiding the fact it startled you, so you asked her calmly;

“May I leave now?”

“Yes, you may.” She snapped, leaving the table herself.

When you pulled into the porch of your small home that you and Abby rented together, you were immediately bombarded by messages from your ex.

Ellie: hey

Ellie: r u busy tnite

Ellie: I know ur seeing my msgs, answer me pls

Ellie: cmon babe I just wanna talk.

You switched off your phone, you couldn’t be arsed with her usual shit. It had been 3 weeks since you found her fucking another girl at a party. 3 weeks since you ended everything with her, and 3 weeks since she started spamming your phone with apologies and horny texts.

Once you walked through the door, you kicked your shoes off and your breathing came uneasy.

“Hey where have you been? It’s pretty late I was getting worried.” Your amazing roommate, Abby, asked. She noticed how your breathing had hitched and tears brimmed your eyelids, threatening to fall out at any given moment.

“Hey it’s okay. Cmere.” She said, before gently grabbing your hand and walking you to the living room. You both sat down on the sofa, and she looked into your eyes with concern.

“Wanna tell me what’s happened?” She asked softly. Her voice alone was enough to send you over the edge. The tears fell down your cheeks as the dam broke, she knew that she didn’t need an explanation, all she needed to do right now was to make sure you were comforted.

She wrapped her large muscular arms around your back, pulling you into her chest. She rubbed small circles into your ribs, trying to soothe you.

“Try to focus on my heartbeat okay? Let my heartbeat be the only thing on your mind.” She whispered into your ear. A few moments passed, and your tears had stopped. The dam had dried. She still drew circles into your back, in an attempt to keep you calm.

Eventually you pulled away, slightly. She was still holding onto your shoulders as she looked into your eyes.

“Wanna tell me what happened?” She asked softly, trying not to pry.

You sniffled as you wiped your eyes, noticing the tear stains on her sweatshirt.

“Sorry about your shirt..” you sniffled again.

Abby let out a quiet laugh. “Don’t you worry about my shirt, I don’t mind as long as you’re okay.” Abby spoke, her voice bringing you the peace that you oh-so needed.

“I don’t really wanna talk about today..I just wanna sleep it off if that’s okay.” You spoke, not looking at her.

“Yeah that’s fine. I won’t push you to say anything.” She smiled.

“Can you stay with me tonight, please..?” You asked, your heart beating slightly faster.

“If it will help you sleep, of course I can.” Abby smiled softly at you.

When you both got into bed, she wrapped her meaty arm around your waist, pulling you closer.

“Don’t you worry, I won’t let anything or anyone hurt you while I’m around.” She whispered into your neck as you fell into a blissful sleep.

[hyperfixationrn]

Liked by username and 12,283 others

gioupdates gio out again with injury. this is heartbreaking.

username wtf

username can he catch a break

username we need him too

username does this mean i can’t thirst over him on my tv screen

View all 1,473 comments

yn ln

my flight lands at 11:15 pm.

jude bellingham

??

yn ln

can u pick me up.

jude bellingham

you’re too good for him

jude bellingham

course i can tho

yn ln

shut up bellingham. see ya.

jude bellingham

be safe. lmk when you land and if anyone gives you a problem.

ynn🤟

hey baby. you played your heart out. injury isn’t fair. i’m hurting really badly for you. i’m flying out and i’ll see you tonight.

ynn🤟

and don’t say no g!!! because my sister already dropped me off at the airport and my dad paid for the ticket. i have a three day weekend from school and i’m stuck on rest anyway because of my own injury. i probably need you as much as you need me.

giovanni❤️

i love you. please be safe so i can see you soon.

little bug sister🐛

arrived safely!!! judey picked me up.

big bug sister🦋

JUDE! i miss him. how’s giovanni?

little bug sister🐛

JUDE! g is really down. just trying to keep his mind off of it. it’s just not fair and i’m having a hard time “cheering him up” because i’m so sad for him.

big bug sister🦋

i can only imagine. just enjoy the time with him and try and forget the reason why. you guys need this.

Liked by judebellingham and 23,873 others

yninstagram halloooo gioooo (rhyming) 🫂

username if you want to tag team comforting him i’m right here yn

teammate rest up urself!

yninstagram only running i will be doing is through your mind

username gio :(

gioreyna thanks for the hug

yninstagram 15% 20% 25% … custom tip amount?

judebellingham hey hey what about your airport chauffeur

yninstagram jude. my knight in shining armor. thank you kindly for coming to help me in my moment of need. 🤝

username i love y’all 😭

yourmom Send the sweet boy our love! 😊

yninstagram i guess i can hug him again 🙄

gioreyna feeling so much of it from your daughter already :)

View all 4,971 comments

Liked by yoursister and 358,927 others

gioreyna american girl 🇺🇸

judebellingham such a sap brother

gioreyna u took the photo dude

username break up

username i am her

yninstagram 🤟 eagle. boston tea party. bill of rights.

gioreyna ❤️‍🔥

jjscally_3 bro get back on fifa

gioreyna gimme like 2 minutes

yninstagram let me on the mic

View all 139,272 comments

[lix-ables]

‘’ three’s never a crowd⸻

bang chan x f.reader !  smut, minors dni, includes thigh riding, female receiving, teasing, dirty talk, praising, teeny appearance by another member (???), ivy did the honor of proof reading this, thenks bestie; wc — 959.

taglist. @chvnnie @hwajin @starlostseungmin @meowtella @joonszn @lixhues @evqans @niinjo

back to masterlist.

© lix-ables. translating and/or reposting is not allowed.

"shh, baby. we don't want anyone to know what we're up to," chan's words are hushed, simple words against the bare skin of your shoulder. sounds of snare and bass — playing in the background, an attempt to quiet down your whines — echo off the wall in the studio, your whimpers covered by the track being produced by your boyfriend.

“i know the beats can cover it up. but i so badly wanna put those pretty sounds in the track,” he mumbles, fingers working their way to slip under your shirt, grabbing your bare breast, a low chuckle leaving his soft lips. “aren’t we being too brave today? am i going to find you bare under your skirt too, darling?”

your thighs press together, tighter, at his words, wishing he’d either just stop teasing you, or just help you out. it’s been almost thirty minutes since you got to the studio, more like thirty minutes since he’s started teasing you. teasing you for looking ‘precious’ and ‘fuckable’ as he had called it. 

“are you trying to dicked down today, love?” his first sentence to you when you shut the door to the studio, making a mistake of locking it behind you. “and we’re locking the door too, okay,” chan chuckles, extending his hand to you.

“looks like i’m going to be stuck with you for a while, might as well be of some inspiration,” you remembered telling him, before he pulled you onto his lap, his fingers not stopping for even a minute. 

"baby, i’m convinced you’re here only because you’re needy.” your head is thrown back against his shoulder, the only thing keeping you sane were those beautiful fingers of his. those same fingers that tease you every single night, only because it amuses him, because it shows him that he’s doing a good job on pleasing you. those same fingers, that slip so easily into your folds, and out, only to bring it to his lips, yet again, the action teasing you. 

a hand reaches up your arm, tracing small patterns while the other works to shift your skirt up your thigh. “bet you’re so soaked for me,” chan kisses your hair, his face then nuzzling your neck, tilting your head to the side as he continues pressing kisses to your neck.

anything he did made you weak, even his words. especially when he called you his good girl, especially when he’d praise you, telling you how good you’re being for him, that familiar voice praising you for how much of a mess you made on him, especially when you felt shy and red for even making a mess. 

“wanna be soaked for you..” you manage to let out, arching back into his chest. “wanna be pretty for you, please...”

“fuck, you’re already so soaked and pretty for me, bug. so so gorgeous when you cum,” chan whispers, his fingers lifting up your skirt even more, exposing your skin to the chilly breeze in the room. “make a mess on my fingers, and i’ll let you have my cock, yeah?”

you nod in response, eager to please him in anyway he wanted, your body already shifting forward in such a way that your wet core was directly situated on his sweatpants, and both of you knew. there was going to be a stain, a reminder of this night. and you felt so sinful for this, for interrupting your boyfriend while he worked just for your needs, but chan didn’t mind. he needed this too, to get his mind off work just for that one hour, if that’s how long it was going to take for you to cum.

your hips move against his leg, your dripping pussy inching closer to his knee, moaning as you did so. your fingers reached back and gripped onto his waist for support. you wanted to face him while you rode him, you wanted him to see the face you had on when he let you get off on his thigh, you wanted him to see that this is how he made you feel every time you touched yourself.

“you know baby, you’d look so pretty in that lingerie i got for you right about now,” chan smiles, tugging onto your hair, bouncing his leg once in a while to get that small whine from you. ��when we get home, i’m fucking you in that.”

your reply was cut short when you head the doorknob of the studio jiggle, and a voice called out for chan. you froze, ready to cover yourself up and move far away from your boyfriend as possible. “no, finish what you started,” his firm voice making you mewl out.

jisung’s head popped in, his lips forming a small ‘o’, before apologizing to your boyfriend, his eyes on your body moving against chan’s leg. “i c-can come back another time,” he whispers, only for chan to beckon for him to get in and close the door, telling him to lock it behind him, his voice getting husky when he lets out a “fuck” as he sits opposite you and chan.

“three’s never a crowd, is it? i’m sure you don’t mind jisung watching you be good for me, right pet?” chan directs this to you, his hand finding your neck, softly yanking you back, earning a gasp from you, your eyes still trained on the boy in front of you, who squirmed in his seat. 

“i know you want to make her cum, ji. go ahead. make her feel good, touch her in the right places, and maybe i’ll reward both of you, yeah?” chan smiles, his fingers moving your skirt to the side, spreading your legs wide to show jisung what he’d be getting into, quite literally.

[lizzie-is-here]

like the dawn

part viii- mission report

“if the devil was to ever see you, he’d kiss your eyes and repent” - farouq jwaydeh

summary: three bug-themed superheroes, another two named after animals, and a flying robot. what’s next, character development?

wordcount: 5.5k

warnings: violence, cussing, google translate, my inability to write serious scenes without making jokes, injury, past death (howard and maria), hydra torture stuff, trauma, insecurities, yk the usual, idk arguing???

taglist: @whelvedfeelingsstuff @sebsgirl71479 @rebloggingmyrecs @babyblublossom @local-mr-frog @thenyxsky @capsiclesdoll @moonlightreader649 @saranghaey

a/n: okay listen i think i have a thing for reader getting hurt during this specific battle 🤭 sue me i’m basic but i had to give u your y/n moment 😌✨ ALSO THANK YALL SM FOR 300 FOLLOWERS! i’ll post an event soon but i’m still working out some things love u all hope u enjoy!

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When Steve said he had a getaway car, you expected a bit more than a VW Beetle. Sure, you’re on the run, but there had to be a more conspicuous car to take.

But here you were, crammed into the backseat alongside Bucky while Sam took the passenger seat and Steve drove. How the blond learned to drive, you don’t know. The last time you saw him try to drive was the ‘40s, and he’d almost run you over.

He parks and climbs out to speak to a blonde agent, and you watch carefully as they meet in the middle. The woman opens the trunk of her car to reveal the shield, wings, and your bow. You sigh in relief.

Next to you, Bucky eyes the man in the seat in front of him.

“Can you move your seat up?”

…

“No.”

You were already uncomfortable. Your poor wings were cramped and tired, and it didn’t help when Bucky scooted closer to you to stretch his legs.

“You’re squishing my feathers,” you whisper. He apologizes and scoots slightly away, gently moving your wing before relaxing again.

The blonde agent is leaning in towards Steve. You narrow your eyes. Thankfully, your friend leans away and awkwardly grabs the shield and other confiscated equipment.

“You two are looking pretty tense there,” Sam quips, smirking in the rear view mirror. You don’t respond and Bucky kicks his seat lightly.

He had a point. Why did you care if they kissed?

Steve climbs back into the car before you have an answer, and the whole ride to the airport, you’re stuck in your head.

You know you used to like him- both of them. You remember the countless letters you wrote and how regretful you were over not telling them.

But it’s been 70 years. And after what you’ve gone through, you genuinely weren’t sure if you could love anymore. Or be loved.

It was a miracle that Steve still cared enough about you two to go through all this trouble. To ask even more of him, and Bucky, seemed selfish. That was the last thing you wanted to be to your boys.

Yours. Yours, yours, yours. It had never been any other way. Sure, Bucky went on dates and so did you, Steve often being dragged along, but you always circled back to each other. Always.

Steve finds a spot in the parking garage and you all get out, watching as the door to the white van next to you pops open.

First comes the archer. Agent Clint Barton. You try your best to push down the memories you have of analyzing every Avenger, assessing their threat levels. But by the time he and Steve shake hands your mind has already found three weaknesses on him.

The enhanced girl, Wanda Maximoff, is next. She was on the news recently; about an accident on a mission to Lagos that led to civilian deaths. She’s young. She reminds you of you.

“How about our new recruit?” Steve asks. Agent Barton slides the back door open, revealing a middle-aged man laying on the van floor. He jolts awake, clearly confused.

“What time zone is this?” he asks, eyes widening when he spots the famous Captain. “Captain America!” He excitedly takes his hand, vigorously shaking it.

“Mr. Lang,” Steve responds.

The man never stops shaking his hand. “It’s an honor. I’m shaking your hand too long.” Steve nods, and he lets go but keeps talking at a lightning pace. “Wow! Captain America. I know you, too. You’re great!” He points to Wanda, who smiles gratefully.

Taking another glance at Steve, he ends up awkwardly grabbing his pecs, and you look away as confusion radiates off your friend. He turns back to shoot a look that screams ‘this guy just grabbed my chest’, before resuming the rather one-sided conversation.

“Look, I wanna say, I know you know a lot of super people, so, thinks for thanking of me.” He waves to Sam. “Hey, man!”

They talk briefly, something about an audition? Tilting your head in confusion, you decide to cut him off before he makes this worse for himself.

“We should get moving,” you announce. Soon after, German floods the PA.

“They’re evacuating the airport,” Bucky translates.

A brief description of your opponents, an even shorter mention of Howard’s son, and Steve turns to the group.

“Suit up.”

You look around. It’s a parking garage. There are seven of you. You frown.

“Where?”

———————————————————————

After a very uncomfortable ten minutes of changing in front of each other, tying Wanda’s corset for her, and accidentally zipping a feather into your suit, you split off. Sam and Bucky head to a terminal. Wanda and Clint stay in the garage, and the new guy, Scott, shrinks down and hops on Steve’s shield, who goes to negotiate with the other Avengers.

And you perch atop the garage, staying well hidden while also having a perfect view of the area.

The Iron Man and the grey suit from earlier confront Steve first. Then the man in the cat suit. Then the Black Widow. Lastly, a small boy (man?) in a red and blue suit. He flips through the air with ease, firing what looks like… Spiderwebs? And rips the shield from Steve’s hands. Alright, enhanced agility, strength, and webs. Weird.

What you can hear of his voice is that of a teenager. A literal child. Even weirder.

In your earpiece, Sam speaks. “We found it. Their Quinjet’s in hangar five, north runway.”

You nock a glowing arrow just as Steve raises his arms, sending it cutting through the webs restraining him. While Clint grumbles about you stealing his shot, the arrow lands near Howard’s son.

Scott grows in size, returning it to Steve as you stand up on the roof. Your wings stretch out, casting a shadow along the pavement. You hear the teenager gasp and yell something about his US History textbooks.

He fires a web at you that you dodge, waiting until he gets close enough before flapping your wings and sending a gust of air towards him as he jumps. You sling a disc of light under him that breaks his fall.

He runs off to the terminal next, and you follow, avoiding stray shots from the two advanced suits. The kid gets tossed away before you even make it in, but you soar through the shattered window anyways.

Inside, webbed to the floor, you find Bucky and Sam. Landing next to them, you kneel with a smirk.

“Having fun?” you quip, carefully burning away the thin yet stubborn filaments. They both grumble before you all head back out, meeting up with your team as you sprint for the jet.

You’re stopped dead in your tracks as a glowing beam, similar to your powers, burns a line into the concrete and separates the two sides. A reddish-purple man floats midair. He has a cape, not that that makes you any less confused.

“Captain Rogers, I know you believe what you’re doing is right. But for the collective good, you must surrender now,” he says.

Sam asks what you’re all thinking. “What do we do, Cap?”

“We fight.”

As the two lines collide, you know you can’t go easy on them. A few of them have learned to target your wings, so you resort to stronger blasts to ward them off. You send a particularly brutal one at the flying man, who you think is a robot once you get a closer look.

Curiously, he doesn’t pause or hesitate, but when your attack collides and knocks him backward, he acts shocked.

You stare at one another for a moment, analyzing instead of attacking. But you quickly have to block an attack from Howard’s son, who’s emotionless metal helmet watches your every move. You bend a beam of light into his eyes, taking the opportunity to speed away with no intention of fighting something that shoots missiles.

The man in the cat suit seems to be targeting you and Bucky, needle-like claws slashing air as you duck and dodge. He goes for your neck, and just when you can’t move back fast enough, red energy surrounds him. He’s thrown away, and Wanda jogs up to you.

“Us girls got to keep an eye on each other,” she grins. You smile, nodding, and deflect a repulsor blast with ease. When you get a second to breathe, you spot Bucky on the ground.

Rushing over, you help him to his feet as explosions shake the ground.

“You good?” you ask, quickly scanning him for injuries. His left shoulder is more inflammed than usual, and he has some bruising, but other that, nothing major. He nods, checking you as well.

As more explosions surround you, you grab Bucky and run behind a plane. A large chunk of debris flies towards you, but a quick blast crumbles it into pebbles.

“We gotta go,” he shouts to Steve. “That guy’s probably in Siberia by now.”

“We gotta draw out the flyers,” he responds.

You step forward. “I’ll do it, you guys run.” Both of them instantly protest.

“You’re not going out there. Tony could knock you right out of the air with one repulsor blast,” Steve states firmly. “I’ll take Vision, you two get to the jet.”

Over comms, Sam cuts in. “No, you get to the jet. All of you. The rest of us aren’t getting out of here.”

“As much as I hate to admit it, if we’re gonna win this one, some of us might have to lose it,” Clint agrees.

“This isn’t the real fight, Steve.”

Steve sighs. “Alright, Sam. What’s the play?”

“We need a diversion. Something big.”

Scott’s voice pipes up next as you duck to avoid the gaze of the flying robot. “I got something kinda big. But I can’t hold it very long. On my signal, run like hell. And if I tear myself in half… don’t come back for me.”

Bucky furrows his brows in confusion. “He’s gonna tear himself in half?” You shrug.

“You sure about this, Scott?”

He sounds out of breath. “I do it all the time. I mean once. In a lab.” Great. “Then I passed out.” Even better.

Peeking past the plane, you watch as he suddenly appears, towering over the buildings, and grabs the gray Iron Man suit. You can hear him laugh from where you are, clearly excited.

“I guess that’s the signal,” Steve says.

You gesture to the hangar. “Then let’s go!”

Staying on ground with Steve and Bucky, you only use your wings to boost yourself along. If you take to the air, it’ll be too easy to be seen.

Another golden beam shoots from behind you, taking out a nearby tower as your heart sinks. Out of nowhere, however, a red cast surrounds it, holding the building together. You throw a thankful smile to the young girl, who nods back to you as you speed up.

But something goes wrong. A loud ringing, and the magic disappears. You throw up a shield as best you can, but you still barely make it under the collapsing tower.

Waiting on the other side is the Black Widow. You remember her sometimes. Or, a younger version. You suspect HYDRA lent the Angel and the Soldier to the Red Room to help with training.

“Natalia,” you greet, guilt weighing down your tone. She smirks.

“Солнце [Sun],” she responds. A nickname. Her words hold no blame. Turning her attention to the blond, she shakes her head. “You’re not gonna stop.”

“You know I can’t.”

She raises her hand, charging the tasers on her wrists. “I’m gonna regret this.”

Her shot flies over your shoulder, attacking the man in the cat suit instead. She nods to you. “Go.”

You fly into the plane first, ushering your boys in as you hurry to close the door. Steve takes the pilot’s seat while you stay in the back. Bucky hovers in between, pacing anxiously.

The advanced jet goes airborne in a matter of seconds, shooting from the hangar as you hold on. Through a screen showing a back-facing camera on the exterior of the plane, you spot the grey suit trailing you.

Sam follows, attempting to take him out, but when a gold beam aims for Sam and he dodges, it strikes the suit instead. With the power source damaged, it plummets.

It reminds you of watching Bucky fall. You open the hangar, diving out as the two protest.

You spiral down, watching from the corner of your eye as the Iron Man and Sam do the same. None of you are fast enough. The suit hits the ground with a loud thud, and you land nearby as Howard’s son cradles his body. His helmet flips away revealing his harsh glare as you step forward.

“Please,” you say, holding out a hand. “I can help him.” You notice the quinjet hovering midair as Bucky watches carefully.

After glancing down to his unconscious friend, the Stark nods.

“Can you open the suit?” you ask. He doesn’t say anything, just talks to something called FRIDAY, which evidently controls the suit. It pops open for you to assess the damage.

Shattered spinal column. L4 through S1. You can feel the pain.

“Well? What is it?” he demands. You reiterate your findings. “Extreme laceration on the spinal cord. Possible paralysis.” You’ve healed worse.

“Well, I’ll get medical on their way,” Stark says. You jump.

“No! No, please, I can help him.”

“How?”

Taking a few breaths, you focus on the bone first. You fuse them, feeling each fragment return to its proper place. After that, you heal the nerves. They stitch together with a simple thought. The bruising is even easier, fading as your breathing calms. Your powers move through the body with your hand, swirling and dividing to heal the injuries. The man wakes up.

“Tony!” he shouts, slowly reorienting himself. He seems shocked to see you kneeling beside him, but quickly understands what happened by the remaining glow from your hands.

You turn to Howard’s son. He meets your gaze, features relaxing.

He nods. “Thank you.” You stand. Slowly backing away, he doesn’t follow.

You fly away in an instant, landing on the quinjet as Bucky helps you stabilize. Closing the hangar, Steve smiles at you.

“Old habits die hard,” he quips. “Always getting everyone out of trouble.”

You can’t help but grin.

———————————————————————

A few hours later, still soaring on the quinjet towards Siberia, Bucky speaks up.

“What’s gonna happen to your friends?”

Steve lets out another heavy sigh. “Whatever it is, I’ll deal with it.”

“I don’t know if I’m worth all this, Steve,” he murmurs. A part of you wants to berate him. But you were thinking the exact same thing.

“What you did all those years, it wasn’t you,” the blond insists. “You didn’t have a choice.”

Silence.

“What’s on your mind, (Y/N)? You’re being awfully quiet,” he says. You shake your head.

“Why didn’t you ever give up on us?”

Your words break something in Steve. They give him a glimpse into your mind, how your thoughts seem to be in a constant spiral.

“You’re…” He hesitates. ‘Friends’ seems insulting. A mere fraction of what he feels for you two. But now isn’t the right time. “My best friends,” he finishes.

“We almost killed you, Steve,” you press further. Your wings puff slightly, prickling as your head pulls picture after picture.

The Captain denies it. “No, you didn’t. I would’ve been fine. Besides, you both snapped out of it before that even happened.”

You furrow your brow, volume rising slightly. “You don’t get it. When I healed you, I could feel your pulse dropping.” Your voice shakes.

“You were dying, Stevie.”

His breath hitches. Since that day, he hadn’t known how bad it was. All he knew was that, when he woke up, he didn’t have a scratch on him.

But if it had been bad enough to kill…

When he doesn’t respond, you’re sure you’ve done it. You’ve fucked up to the point where he won’t forgive you.

“I’m sorry,” you say. “I shouldn’t have snapped, I-“

Bucky rests a hand between your wings, rubbing small circles. It forces the tension to leave your body and you slump slightly, still trying to apologize.

Steve puts the quinjet on autopilot and turns back to you.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, you don’t have to apologize,” he promises. “I didn’t know how bad it was.”

“But it wasn’t your fault. The moment you two were out of HYDRA’s control, you helped me- saved me.”

“And I’m going to return the favor.”

As the last words leave his mouth, the jet lands. Bucky takes a gun from Natalia’s set as you sling your bow over your shoulder.

“You remember that time we had to ride back from Rockaway Beach in the back of that freezer truck?” Steve asks.

You chuckle. “Was that the time we used our train money to buy hot dogs?” He shakes his head.

“Bucky blew three bucks trying to win a bear for you,” he says. The brunet rolls his eyes.

“You said you liked it,” he defends himself.

Incredulous, you shove him. “We nearly froze to death!” The memory becomes clearer. You remember the bear. Sure, it was nice, but what was more amusing was watching Bucky attempt to throw the ball while you and Steve laughed your asses off.

Stepping out of the jet, you approach the door. It’s already open. The other Winter Soldiers could be anywhere.

“He can’t have been here longer than a few hours,” Steve mumbles.

Bucky frowns. “Long enough to wake them up.”

Before any of you step inside the dark hallway, you cast a soft whirl of light down it. It illuminates the walls, revealing it to be empty.

Slowly, you make your way through the halls. It’s odd, you remember them as if they were in a dream, haunting yet familiar.

An elevator ride takes you to the lower level, and the moment Steve lifts the cage door, you’re all on high alert. You don’t even take out your bow, opting instead to sling light into the darker corners.

Bucky leads the way, gun trained on any hiding spots. Halfway up the stairs, you hear a sound behind you.

You all whip around, watching as the door creaks open to reveal Howard’s son.

“You seem a little defensive,” he jokes.

Steve doesn’t laugh. “It’s been a long day.”

“At ease, Soldiers, I’m not currently after you,” he points to you and Bucky.

“Then why are you here?”

“Could be your story’s not so crazy. Maybe. Ross has no idea I’m here. I’d like to keep it that way.” So he’s siding with you. “Otherwise, I gotta arrest myself.”

“Well, that sounds like a lot of paperwork.” Steve lowers his shield. “It’s good to see you, Tony.”

“You too, Cap.” He turns to you and scoffs. “Hey, Manchurian Candidate, Lucifer, you’re killing me. There’s a truce here. You can drop…”

You lower your hands first, but Bucky keeps his gun raised until Steve nods in agreement.

From there, Tony leads you. His suit is best suited for it, anyway, with scanners and technology you couldn’t believe existed.

Finally coming to the largest room, you and Bucky hesitate. A lot happened here. You got your wings here. Your memories were torn, one by one, from your mind… here.

You step inside.

“I got heat signatures,” Tony says.

“How many?”

“Uh, one.”

All seven cages light up as you get closer. All five soldiers are inside.

The doctor speaks over the PA system. “If it’s any comfort, they died in their sleep.”

You step closer to one containment unit, wiping the fog away. The man inside is bleeding from the head. A bullet wound.

“Did you really think I wanted more of you?”

Bucky grips his gun tighter. “What the hell?” You stay close to him, turning your gaze away from the soldiers.

“I’m grateful to them, though. They brought you here.”

A small window lights up, revealing the man. Tony fires a blast and Steve throws his shield, but the glass doesn’t budge.

“Please, Captain. The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 rockets.”

Tony circles the stand in the middle of the room. The chair lies at the center.

“I’m betting I could beat that!”

“Oh, I’m sure you could, Mr. Stark. Given time. But then you’d never know why you came.”

Steve steps closer to him. “You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here?”

He doesn’t answer, instead leans closer to the glass to peer at the blond. “I’ve thought about nothing else for over a year. I studied you. I followed you. But now that you’re standing here…”

“I just realized… there’s a bit of green in the blue of your eyes. How nice to find a flaw.”

“You’re Sokovian,” Steve says. “Is that what this is about?”

“Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell. No. I’m here because I made a promise.”

“You lost someone?”

“I lost everyone. And so will you.”

With that, he clicks a button and a screen lights up. December 16, 1991.

You freeze.

“An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one which crumbles from within? That’s dead. Forever.”

Tony steps closer, deciphering what he can of the Russian words. “I know that road.” December. “What is this?”

———————————————————————

December 16, 1991.

The Angel of Death and the Winter Soldier were huddled behind a tree. Their target was on route, with a valuable serum in his car. Their handlers had told them that, if acquired, that serum could bring HYDRA further into power.

So there they were. You were tucked behind Winter, wings shivering as you waited.

The moment headlights approached and he affirmed that it was the target’s car, you struck. A beam of light popped one tire and sent the car veering into a tree.

A man stumbled out, begging for someone to help his wife. You ignored him, instead heading to open the trunk.

As you checked the items, Winter attacked the man and set his body back in the driver’s seat. Circling around the car, his metal hand barely grazed your primary feathers as he went to deal with the woman.

You grabbed the case and stepped to the side, watching a surveillance camera. Winter joined you shortly, shooting the lense.

And the next morning, the headlines read all about the mysterious deaths of Howard and Maria Stark.

———————————————————————

After the video ends, Tony jumps to attack you and Bucky. Steve grabs his arm, but neither of you run.

He has every right to be angry. He has every right to want you dead. You know he can kill you.

But you can’t leave Steve.

“Did you know?” Tony asks.

Steve hesitates. “I didn’t know it was them.”

“Don’t bullshit me, Rogers,” the billionaire hisses. “Did. You. Know?”

“Yes.”

And he throws a punch at the blond. Bucky aims his gun, but is blown back. Even though you raise a hand, veins beginning to glow, you don’t attack.

Tony doesn’t either. “Get out of my sight,” he demands. Whether he’s sparing you since you saved his friend, or since you didn’t directly kill his parents you aren’t sure. But you don’t move.

Flying past you, Tony grabs Bucky by the neck and throws him against the floor. He stomps on his metal arm, pinning him before aiming his repulsor point-blank at his face.

In a flash, he’s thrown off, and you’re running towards Bucky while firing more blasts. Steve joins in, blocking his friend’s attacks with the shield.

Tony fires a sort of handcuff at Steve’s ankles, immobilizing him before turning back on Bucky. A missile fires, blowing a support beam to bits.

The freezer units come crashing down, and a part of you can’t help but be relieved. Still, you run to grab Bucky before he’s crushed under the metal.

“Get out of here!” Steve yells. You want to protest, but the brunet grabs your hand, racing away as you duck under Tony’s attacks. Slamming a button, the roof begins to open.

“Grab on!” Hoisting yourself and Bucky into the air, you push yourself towards the exit. Not fast enough, though, as you spot a red and gold suit following.

He kicks Bucky from your grip, and Steve barely manages to deflect a blast aimed at the ex-Winter Soldier’s head. The latter runs up to you, hoisting himself up as you strain to lift him.

“Ну давай же! Просто немного дальше [Come on! Just a little further],” you shout. You can feel the wind rushing in, a literal breath of fresh air.

Just one rung away from freedom, the top begins to slam shut. You drag Bucky away as it falls, cradling his head as you tumble down.

He swings a metal pipe at Tony, but is put in a choke hold just as quickly. You charge up a blast, but the man in the suit speaks.

“Do you even remember them?”

You nod. Bucky wheezes out, “We remember all of them.”

They lurch back, with Steve grabbing on and you following as they plummet into a separate area. You land harshly, wincing at the pressure as you help Bucky up. He’s watching the other two as they fight, unsure about whether to help or stay out of it.

He grabs the shield, leaping to drive it into the suit. You follow, bending light into Tony’s eyes to distract him.

The three of you tag-team it, exchanging the shield and moving in tandem.

For a while, it looks like you could win. But then you and Steve get thrown away into a stone pillar, coughing and gasping for air.

The fight moves between Bucky and Tony as the former furiously tries to remove the glowing circle powering the suit. It doesn’t work, and all he gets is a repulsor blast to the chest.

Stunned, he falls to the ground and is blasted away again. Steve gets up in an adrenaline-fueled rush and puts his all into incapacitating his friend as you crawl towards Bucky.

“Hey, hey, Winter.” You divert to the old name on some buried instinct, shielding him from the fighting. He’s bleeding but you can’t find the source. “You’re okay, it’s okay,” you whisper, voice shaking. Steve won’t be able to hold Tony off for long. Not with his tech.

Right on cue, you hear the shield fly and hit a wall, and Steve gets knocked past you. Running a hand over Bucky’s chest, you heal the searing burns and bruises. But every time you heal one, you find two more.

Steve’s on his knees behind you, looking up at Tony. “They’re my friends.”

“So was I.” Tony throws him again, turning his back on you. “Stay down. Final warning.”

Bucky begins to roll over, even as you protest.

And Steve, stubborn as he’s always been for as long as your memory reaches, rises. “I could do this all day.”

Bucky grabs Tony’s ankle as he prepares a shot, but the latter sends a brutal kick to his face. You yell, blasting his back before Steve lifts him over his head, slamming him onto the cold concrete.

He jumped atop him, throwing punch after punch. He eventually manages to break off the helmet, and this whole whole you’re still focused on healing Bucky’s very, very bloody face.

Behind you, Steve grabs the shield, driving it into the arc reactor. But just as he does so, one last blast of energy leaves the repulsor.

You see Bucky go pale moments before the searing pain in your back sets in.

For a few seconds, it’s too much to do anything but gasp silently. But then you scream.

Your wings had never been truly “hurt”. Sure, HYDRA was rough with them, but they were always considered too valuable to be hit or cut, even as punishment.

The pain stretched from wing to wing, rushing down through your shoulders and back. You aren’t sure when you start crying, but Bucky gently wraps you up in his arms as something inside him snaps at the sound.

Maybe it’s the adrenaline, maybe it’s some of the Winter Soldier’s protectiveness, but he whips out a gun and points at both his best friend and the man trying to kill him.

At this point, they’d both separated, watching in fear at how the muscles in your back shook uncontrollably. They held up their hands, trying to calm the man.

“Don’t get any closer,” he warns, casting a worried glance down to you. Your body’s trying to heal itself, but the stress combined with the energy you’ve expended healing him is making it difficult.

Steve kneels. “Bucky, we’re not gonna hurt her.” He turns to Tony, who hesitates before agreeing.

The soldier turns his full attention back to you. Your eyes are glazed over, brain shutting off to compensate for the pain. He curses, lightly shaking you.

“Мне нужно, чтобы ты сосредоточился на своем исцелении, хорошо [I need you to focus on healing yourself, okay]?” he asks, only receiving a weak nod.

You do as he asks, and Steve and Tony watch as the redness and burns on your back slowly disappear. Ten minutes later, your wings have fully healed, but you’re still in agonizing pain.

Bucky looks up, still soothing you, and shakes his head. “This isn’t worth it. If you want someone to blame, blame me.”

“Buck-“ Steve cuts himself off as you groan. He’s right. This isn’t worth it.

Tony eyes the man, analyzing his tone. If what Steve had said was true, then neither of you had control over who you killed. It’s just a matter of whether or not he believes the Captain or not.

Well, as big as this lie was, he can’t recall the last time Steve lied to him. (At least, about something of this importance. Steve was a notorious cheater at Avengers’ Game Night.)

And he can’t help but feel that he owes you for helping Rhodey. Shit.

“Fine. Fine, let’s wrap up this WWE match. We’ll get you all back to the compound… and figure things out from there.” He sighs, partially in frustration and partially because he just nearly got his ass handed to him on a vibranium shield/platter.

At the two friends’ suspicious looks, Tony rolls his eyes. “I’m serious. If anything, it’s just because I owe her,” he says.

Wiping the blood from his mouth, Steve helps Bucky guide you to your feet, carefully avoiding your wings. Tony follows behind, just in case any of you try to pull something.

Your mind filters in and out as you limp through the HYDRA base. The moment you pass one room, though, you halt.

“The files,” you murmur. “Evidence- Tony-“ The billionaire peeks up. “You don’t believe us? The video proof is in there.”

You muster up a ball of light, gathering your strength and heading into the room. The same one you and Bucky had raided a year back. Neither of you had dared to go through the tapes showing exactly what HYDRA had done to you, but if that was what it took for Tony to believe you, then so be it.

Tony scans the room, FRIDAY pulling information and pointing out one box in particular. He grabs it and a few others, hefting them in his arms.

Through the hallways that stayed standing, you leave the base, spotting the man in the cat suit handcuffing the fake doctor. His helmet is off, and he offers an apologetic smile to you and Bucky.

“I would like to offer my apologies. It seems this man-“ He glares at the doctor. “-had it in his best interest to tear us apart. My name is Prince T’Challa.”

You weakly shake his hand. The quinjet bay opens up, and you, Steve, and Bucky head on as Tony and T’Challa stay back to discuss where to go from here.

You collapse in front of a bench, gently stretching your wings out onto the cold, metal, floor. The pain is dull now, yet the ache isn’t fading anytime soon.

“Are you okay?” Steve asks, hand hovering over your back between the wings. He doesn’t want to bring you more pain, but isn’t sure how else to comfort you.

You nod, sighing. When you turn and see his hand, you chew the inside of your cheek.

“You can… You can touch them.” You stretch your wing out and he tentatively sets his hand on the peak. He runs his hand down the back, passing over the feathers with a sort of reverence.

“I’ll have to teach you how to help wash them,” Bucky mumbles to Steve. “She can’t reach all of the feathers.”

Footsteps sound behind you, breaking the comfortable silence.

Tony steps out from his suit, straightening the cuffs on his suit jacket and holding his harm tenderly. He raises a brow at the super-soldier pile on the floor of his quinjet.

“Well, Three Musketeers, let’s head home.”

[crestfallencrest]

Bravus Vesperia Magica (Ch. 4)

(Basically a Magical Person AU origin story!) Read here on Ao3 [x] (Notes at the end) Read Chapter 1 here! [x] Read Previous Chapter here! [x] Word Count: 20,964 Hiya! I'm back from vacation! And I got a BIG chapter (this was not on purpose i am so sorry). Introducing a bunch of names in this chapter so some notes on a few of them! Niren, Hisca and Chastel - obviously from the First Strike movie. I don't think it's REQUIRED for you to watch the movie but hey, it might help a bit <3 And is good movie! Liam, on the other hand, is an entirely made up character. Also I borrowed some of the Symphonia cast and one from the Abyss cast. (Also this chapter jumps between Yuri and Karol POV)

Chapter 4: A Coward's Test

“What’s the matter with you?” 

Yuri’s hard gaze tears itself away from the window of his classroom, breaking from his thoughts as he turns his head towards the source of the voice. Amber eyes stared back at him, as one of his classmates stood over him, arms crossed over her chest and eyes narrowed suspiciously through her red bangs that rested just above her eyes. 

Yuri takes a moment to examine her closely. “Ah, Chastel.” “Guess again.” The girl’s hands drop to her hips as her nose twists in irritation. 

Yuri keeps his lazy expression though a small grin begins to stretch across his face. “Nah, I don’t think I will.” He drawled. “Maybe if you and your sister wore your hair in different ways, I wouldn’t get so confused.”

“It’s not my fault that you’re too blind to notice the differences!” 

“Sure, sure, whatever you say, Twin Number 2.”

The twins, Hisca and Chastel: Yuri had somehow had the displeasure of being stuck in their class since middle school. For a while, the two of them tended to hang out with him and Flynn, with Chastel, the younger twin, constantly fretting over the blonde while Hisca, the older twin, constantly nagged Yuri’s ear off. Yuri had to admit though: It was pretty impressive meeting someone who nagged more than Flynn.

“You’re so infuriating.” Hisca growled out but began to pull out a chair next to his desk anyway, despite her irritation. “What’s going on with you? You’ve been angry all morning. Did you get into a fight again?” 

Yuri rolls his eyes, once again propping his face onto his right hand and moving to stare at the window. “No.”

“Well, the bandages beg to differ.” He feels Hisca reach out to tap at his bandaged cheeks and he flinches back with a tiny hiss. She quietly withdraws her hand. “Sorry, but this wouldn’t happen if you weren’t fighting all of the time!” 

Yuri clicks his tongue but doesn’t respond. 

“Don’t click your tongue at me!” 

“Well, I don’t know why you’re asking me such stupid questions.” Yuri drops his hand onto his desk again in frustration. “You seem pretty good at guessing what happened so why are you bugging me about it?”

“Because I’m trying to get the full story, you jerk!” Hisca slammed her hand on the desk. “Liam and his goons are talking about how you came out of nowhere and beat them up for no reason yesterday and people are talking about you now. I thought it was nothing but a lie but seeing the bandages…”

Psch, of course they were. It didn’t help that Yuri was already building one hell of a reputation with his fighting. But of course those guys were trying to make themselves seem like the good guys. He was certain that Flynn had a hard enough time dealing with that. In truth, the fight was no one’s business. Flynn couldn’t necessarily correct the rumors because then he would just look like he was taking someone’s side. 

…The fact that Yuri was just given three days of detention during lunch instead of straight up being suspended was already stabbing holes into Flynn’s credibility as the student council president. Correcting the rumors would simply be a death sentence. 

“So, what do you think?” Yuri raises an eyebrow at the twin. “Think I jumped them?”

Hisca considers it for a moment, finger to her chin. “...No, I don’t think so. Not unless they were doing something they shouldn’t be doing.” 

Yuri just lets out a hum to show that he was listening. 

“So… they managed to get a few hits on you then?” 

“No. I got jumped by a crazy maniac with a knife on my way home yesterday.” 

Hisca lets out an amused snort only to stop when she notices the hard and serious look on his face. 

“Oh my god, you’re serious?” 

“Wish I wasn’t.” Yuri’s irritation slowly fades as he slumps down into his chair. “Before you start freaking out, I’m fine.”

Hisca stays quiet for a moment, eyes scanning his cheeks and then moving down to his hand. If she was unsatisfied with what she saw, she didn’t say anything. Instead, she props her elbows onto Yuri’s desk as she leans closer. “I knew that Liam’s story was fishy when he started taking credit for your injuries. The guy has never thrown a punch properly in his life. So what happened? And don’t lie this time.” 

Yuri considers it for a moment. Despite Hisca’s nagging, she never seemed to come off as an untrustworthy person. If anything, she was just way too annoying, loud and loved to hover and criticize him at every given moment. Which made him realize pretty quickly that he was likely not going to be able to leave this classroom until he gave her what she wanted. 

“Ugggh, fine.” Yuri throws his head back in annoyance. “Here’s the short version: The jackasses were feeling up on Estelle, the new girl, and they were kicking around a dog too–”

“Oh, the one you were taking care of?” 

Yuri stopped and stared at her like she had just grown two heads, earning the tiniest of shrugs in response.

“Chastel told me…” 

“And how the hell did she know?!” Yuri exclaims, completely baffled. Was this Flynn’s fault? Oh, he would bet money on it.

“I don’t know.” Hisca shrugs again, waving her hand at Yuri, signaling him to continue. “Keep talking.”

“You both suck.” Yuri’s eyes narrow as he continues the story. “So they were kicking around Repede and feeling up on Estelle so I decided to take care of it. So, sure. You could technically say I jumped them. But they started it.”

Hisca nods, understandingly. “So, that’s why you’ve been so huffy all day?”  

A small growl leaves Yuri’s lips before he can even stop it. “No. I’m pissed off that I was called to the principal’s office and was told that instead of being suspended for starting a fight, I would only get three days of detention. Which means that Flynn likely had a hand in this somewhere.” 

Hisca immediately slaps her hand against her forehead in disbelief. “You’re mad because Flynn got you out of trouble?!” She exclaims and… yeah, when she says it like that, it sounds stupid.

But it wasn’t. Not really. He was a known troublemaker and he was also known as Flynn’s childhood friend. Everyone in the school seemed to know this and if you didn’t, then it wouldn’t be long until you did. Flynn, to his credit, did everything he could to treat Yuri as equally as the other students. Hell, if anything, Flynn was a lot tougher on Yuri than others. But despite it all, rumors still flooded the halls of the school. People, mostly those with malicious intent towards Yuri or Flynn or both, would whisper constantly about how the only reason Yuri hadn’t been expelled yet was because of Flynn.

And on some days, Yuri felt as if they were right. Today was one of those days. 

“I want you to repeat that sentence to yourself, but slower. Sound it out if you have to.” Yuri’s words come out sarcastically as he folds his arms behind his head, leans back into his seat and kicks his feet up onto the desk. “He shouldn’t be getting me out of trouble.” 

“But those guys started it! You were just protecting another student!” 

“Yeah, and even if the principal understands that, you really think the other students will?” Yuri closes his eyes with a tired sigh. “Especially with the stories that Liam has been spreading?” 

Hisca half-heartedly swats at Yuri’s feet to shoo them off of the desk. “So go and set the story straight.” 

“Find me someone who will listen and maybe.” A chuckle leaves Yuri’s lips as he peeks an eye open at her. “Until then, I want Flynn to stay out of my business.” 

“Ugh, you’re just so impossible. You and Flynn.” 

The silence settles between them and Yuri chalks the conversation up to a close. He pulls his feet back to the ground and moves to stand, grabbing his bag along the way. “Okay, speaking of detention, I should probably head that way. See ya around.” 

As he moves past the girl, he does feel her reach out and tug back on his sleeve, grabbing his attention. When he looks back to her, eyebrow raised questioningly, she’s looking down into her lap cheeks a slight tint of red from embarrassment. 

“Hey, for what it’s worth, I’ll listen. Chastel will as well. And I know a few handful of others who will as well. So don’t act like it’s you against the whole school, okay?” 

The sentiment was nice and he really did appreciate it. Truly, he did. But he and she both knew that he was not the type to run to others with his problems. Not when they had other things to worry about. Regardless, he gives her a tiny nod as he gently pulls out of her grasp and heads towards the door. 

“...Yeah. Okay.” 

---

He had been making his way towards the room for detention, ignoring the way that eyes would stare him down as he passed while choosing not to pay any attention to how people pointed out his bandaged cheeks. They whispered, they pointed, they judged and Yuri chose to turn a blind eye to all of it. He was, admittedly, surprised that the guys from yesterday were popular enough to cause so much gossip. He barely even recognized them, after all. Well, it showed what he knew regarding the social ladder of the school. Regardless, he would, again, choose to just forget about it. At least, he would attempt to until he heard her voice call out from around the corner.

“I demand that you correct these silly rumors at ONCE!” 

Oh no. She wouldn’t.

Yuri’s uncaring attitude about the situation suddenly took a turn as he hurried to the corner and poked his head out, and sure enough, his fears became a reality. There he spotted Estelle, having Liam and two of his goons from yesterday ‘cornered’ (They were simply just leaning against the wall while Estelle stood before them with her hands on her hips) as she glared at them with the ferocity of a small and angry puppy. 

‘No offense, Repede.’ Yuri commented to himself, thinking back to the small pup that he had left back at his apartment on the way to school with Flynn today. 

As Yuri peered around the corner at them, he tried not to take too much pride in how much the three boys were all bandaged up and he was sure he saw the gap in Liam’s teeth from where he had lost the tooth. 

As Estelle stood tall against Liam, the boy snickers to himself as he sported that same sleazy look from yesterday. “You really want to come back for more, princess?” His voice is light and teasing, and just so slimy and disgusting. “I figured you would have had more brains than to show yourself to us again.”

Yuri takes a quick glance around and, of course, there didn’t seem to be anybody else nearby. Why would he ever be that lucky?

“You know, your boyfriend isn’t here to bail you out this time.” 

“Yeah, for real.” The two lackeys (because what more could they possibly be?) glance at each other with large grins. “You know, you shouldn’t hang around someone so violent, miss. We’re so much nicer.” 

Oh, Yuri was about to show them violence. He glances at Estelle and while he can’t see her face, he notices that her hand is shaking in anger. He notices a twitch of her hand and he briefly wonders if she were about to slap one of them. That… would not end well for her at all. Was he going to have to step in again?

“Yeah, you should definitely play nice with us. Lowell will likely be kicked out of school before the end of the year and after that, things will be very different around here, I promise–”

As Yuri steps out from around the corner, a hand suddenly grabs hard onto his shoulder and yanks him back with such ferocity that he finds himself getting thrown onto his ass on the floor. Looking up from his spot on the floor, all he sees is a glimpse of brown hair and a girl’s uniform as whoever it was turns the corner with quick and angry stomps. 

All Yuri can hear is the loud clap that he can only assume was someone’s fist connecting with someone’s face, followed by the sound of someone falling to the floor with a loud and pained groan. He jumps to his feet in an instant and peers back around the corner as he takes in the scene. 

The new arrival was a young girl who was a few inches shorter than Estelle with short and messy brown hair. She stood confidently above Liam, who was now on the floor holding his cheek while his two lackeys flocked to him to help him to his feet. Estelle quickly took a step back, hands flying over her mouth as she looked between the girl and the three guys. Judging by their angry expressions, Yuri was becoming more certain that a fight was about to break out. 

“Will you three just shut the hell up?!” She growls out and when she takes another step forward, Yuri nearly laughs with lackey #2 flinches back. “I have heard NOTHING but the dumb shit that you’ve been talking about all freaking day and I’m SICK of it!” 

“And who the hell are you supposed to be?”

“Wait, aren’t you that Mordio girl? You’re just an underclassmen! You can’t treat an upperclassman like that!!”

Mordio took another step forward and this time, Lackey #1 stepped back. “I said SHUT UP! You’re literally so annoying! I can’t even go to the library without hearing about how you three got your butts kicked! For someone who tries to act all tough, you would think that you would get embarrassed about sharing a story about how you got your sorry tails handed to you. Who brags about losing a fight?!”

Okay, this Mordio girl had a very good point. 

Liam pushes himself off of his little buddy followers and makes a step towards Mordio, shooting her a dangerous glare and for a split moment, Yuri is back on guard, ready to step in. “I’m already getting really sick of your mouth, Little Girl. This conversation had nothing to do with you so stop butt–” 

“I’m getting sick of you! ”Mordio put an end to his little macho speech by delivering a kick to somewhere that made Yuri flinch back in a bit of sympathy pain. When Liam once again drops to his knees, both hands shooting to cover his crotch in pain, Mordio quickly snatches Estelle by the arm and begins to hurry away with the taller girl in tow. Estelle has a moment of panic as she looks back to the assaulted leader and his friends. “Uh– Wait–” 

Mordio either doesn’t hear Estelle or chooses to ignore her protests as she hurries past the hallway that Yuri was currently standing in. Yuri was unsure the two noticed him at all as they quickly made their way down the stairs to the floor below. The two boys that remained quickly left Liam on the floor and moved to pursue and that's when Yuri decided to step in. As he stepped around the corner, he shot his hands out and grabbed the two guys by their shoulders and spun them around away from the staircase. 

“Hey there.” He greets with a grin as he slides his arms over both of their shoulders. “Fancy meeting you guys here. Were you on your way to detention too?” 

He takes a little bit too much pleasure in watching how both boys freeze and pale upon getting caught by Yuri. And when Yuri tells them to help their friend up and get him to the nurses office, they thankfully have the brain to do so without complaint. 

At some point, Yuri makes sure to send a quick text over to Estelle when he can. Whoever Mordio was, he was pretty sure she didn’t intend on harming Estelle, since she went out of her way to get her out of the situation. But it still didn’t hurt to check in. 

---

Karol really hated when his friends started going off about ghost stories at the lunch table. 

It wasn’t like he was scared or anything! And even if he was scared, who could really blame him?! He’s heard so many stories of teenagers that were a good five years older than him running out of the Quoi Woods, screaming in terror. He’s heard adults talk about how they avoid the forest in the park like the plague. He’s heard stories of eerie red lights, evil monsters lurking in the shadows, people disappearing, curses… he’s heard them all! How could anyone blame him for being wary?

And yet, here they were, speaking about the Quoi Woods for the third day in a row. He wasn’t entirely sure why Anise, a girl only one year older than Karol with black hair pulled up into pigtails, was so hyper focused on the forest lately. She babbled on and on about the rumors of the forest with an evil grin on her face as she scanned the table for reactions. Nan sat beside Karol, digging at her food with her fork as she listens carefully to Anise’s words and Karol is momentarily baffled because Did Nan actually like stories like this? !

“...and then I heard that a teenager over at Zaphias High saw a giant monster-like creature in the forest!” Anise clutches to her little stuffed toy (which was creepy enough without all of the ghost tales) with a wide grin. 

A low hum of boredom is from across the table and Karol and Nan both glance over to a boy with white and messy hair pick at his lunch in disgust. One glance at the lunch box told Karol everything he needed to know. Genis, one of his classmates (and a genius at that), was known for being a wonderful cook, to the point where he ended up making his own lunches. Unfortunately, it did not stop his older sister, a professor who taught over at the same high school Anise mentioned, from trying to make his lunches for him. Karol didn’t want to know how she had managed to sneak the food into his lunchbox like she did. 

“My sister heard about that story and said it was only a bear or something.” Genis eventually gives up and moves to close his lunch box.

“Yeah, but I also heard that the police are starting to look into it!” 

Karol frowns, pursing his lips. “Maybe… they’re just tired of all the rumors so they’re going to confirm that there’s nothing there.”

“Yeah, or maybe there’s a rabid wolf or something and they’re going to go put it down.” Genis rolls his eyes. “I highly doubt it’s a monster, Anise.” 

Anise shoots both boys a glare as she slams her doll onto the table. “If it were just a rabid wolf, people wouldn’t be making it such a big deal.” She pouts before looking at Nan with a smile. “Nan believes me, don’t you, Nan?”

Nan takes a moment, trying to consider it as she glances at Karol. “Maybe there is a monster.” She finally decides, putting a finger to her chin. “All the more reason to stay out of the forest, right?” 

“I wasn’t planning on going into the forest in the first place. You’d have to be an idiot to go into the forest, especially at night.” Genis shrugs lightly, earning a frown from Karol.

“Didn’t your best friend go into the forest at night?”

Genis stares dead at him. “I rest my case. But he didn’t see anything.” 

Karol nods lightly. “I… don’t think there’s a monster in the woods or anything. I think people are just seeing things or seeing bears or something.”

There’s a long silence that stretches over the table and Karol figures that that must be the end of the conversation, so he picks up his fork and decides to go back to eating his lunch. There was a moment of relief as the conversation seemed to die down but that relief lasted only a moment before he noticed that Anise was staring at him with narrowed eyes and an evil grin. 

“Why don’t you go prove it then?” 

The clatter of a fork dropping on the table is barely heard over the bustle of the crowded lunchroom though it wasn’t Karol’s fork that fell from his hands. Looking over, he sees Nan very quickly snatch the utensil back into her hands as she narrows her eyes at Anise, quietly. Karol, however, turns pale as he looks back to Anise.

“How would I prove that?!”

“You’ve gone camping before, right?” Anise pulls her doll back into her hands and grins proudly. 

“N-No, I haven’t!” Karol clutches his fork in hand fist as he looks helplessly between Genis and Nan. “What would camping in the woods prove?!”

Anise hums playfully as she holds up one finger as she counts her reason, adding a finger to every reason she lists. “It’ll prove that there’s no monster in the woods, like you claim, it’ll prove that you actually can go out and do something interesting for once and it’ll prove that you’re not just a scaredy cat!”

Okay, the last two were just mean…

“I’m not a scaredy cat!” Karol argues, leaning back in his seat as Anise leaned in closer. “I just think there are better ways to spend my time!” 

“What, like hanging out with your babysitter? ” 

“That’s… he’s not–”

“Don’t you dare try and say he’s not your babysitter!”

“He’s not!” Karol’s eyes narrow, tone coming out more sharper than he meant to but he leans forward regardless. “He’s my friend! He’s not just some babysitter!”

Anise cackles at that. “He’s literally getting paid to hang out with you. Why else would a guy in high school hang out with some weird kid in middle school?” 

“Genis’ best friend is sixteen!” Karol argues, unsure of what the difference is.

“Yeah but Genis isn’t as clingy as you are. You can’t do anything by yourself. I bet your babysitter thinks that as well.”

Genis frowns, looking between Karol and Anise before letting his eyes settle on Nan, who seems to be clutching her fork tightly as she stares over at Karol, waiting for his response. Karol’s mouth opens to reply but his voice dies in his throat as his shoulders suddenly slump.

He knew Anise was wrong. He knew that Yuri didn’t think that way. Despite his foul mouth and passive attitude, Yuri was a good person. That was clear as day to anyone who spent more than two days around him. He wasn’t just watching over Karol for the paycheck, he knew this. He stepped in because he saw a young kid staying home alone due to overworking parents and wanted to do something about it.

That’s where his doubts came in. 

He knew Yuri wasn’t in it for the money. But was it really because they were friends? Or did Yuri just see a kid left all alone and decide to take on the responsibility of taking care of him, despite his personal feelings on the matter? He remembered how tired Yuri had been lately too. He tried so hard to hide it last night but Karol noticed how Yuri was a shade paler than normal and how his legs shook when he wandered into the house. 

He shouldn’t have even been there. But because Karol had sent out that text complaining about Flynn’s cooking, he threw everything out the window, went and grabbed some pizza with his own hard earned money and made it way over to his house. Karol wished he had never sent that text. Yuri had been so exhausted, it was plain as day. So exhausted that he had apparently passed out on the couch not long after he, himself, had been put to bed. 

He had stirred awake upon hearing a quiet curse as something thumped against the wall. Karol had jumped out of bed and hurried towards the door, cracking it open just wide enough to see Flynn stumble back from the corner of the hallway, favoring his left foot as he did so. In his arms, held so closely, was the sleeping form of his caretaker, dead asleep even as Flynn stubbed his toe against the corner of the room.  Flynn bit his lip tightly as he fought through the pain of an injured toe when he looked up and spotted the brown eyes staring at him from the doorway. The pain is barely there still but he still offered Karol a tiny smile as he began to maneuver his way through the hall, towards the guest room where Yuri tended to stay. Karol, without much thought, moved to follow. He peeked into the room just in time to see Flynn gently place the sleeping man onto the bed, moving to pull the blankets over him. Yuri, normally a pretty light sleeper, didn’t move an inch. As Flynn drew the curtains closed and moved to step out of the room, switching off the light as he did so, he looked back at Karol and held a finger to his lips.  As they both backed out of the room, Flynn shut the door gently behind him and then placed a hand on Karol's back, quietly leading him away from the door. “Now what are you doing up?” He whispered, curiously. “I heard you kick my wall…” Karol admitted, eyes darting over to the entryway of the hall, particularly at the corner that nearly took Flynn out. “I wanted to make sure no one was hurt. You’re not hurt, are you?”  “I’ve definitely had worse bruises, no worries. You should get back to sleep though. It’s getting late…”  Karol nodded quietly but then found his gaze drifting towards Yuri’s door. Worry began to settle in his stomach again. “Is… Yuri okay?” After hearing a tiny questioning sound from Flynn, he clarifies. “You know… despite everything with the guy with the knife. He seemed distracted tonight, didn’t he?” He takes notice of how Flynn’s face slowly falls from his caring gaze to something more withdrawn and sad as his eyes trail over to Yuri’s door as well. “Yuri is just… tired.” He stated, quietly. “He’ll be alright though.” “Tired from what?”  “Well…” Flynn turned back to Karol, lips pursed in thought. “He’s just got a lot on his plate, I suppose. Though he’d sooner die than admit it.” Yeah, that sounded like Yuri, alright.  “Is there anything I can do to help?” The question hung in the air as he stared hopefully up at Flynn.  Flynn is, of course, a bit surprised by Karol’s willingness to help but he just as quickly gives Karol a tiny smile that Karol knows all too well. Don’t worry yourself over this. “I think your flowers helped Yuri more than you think.” Flynn explains carefully, moving to guide Karol back to his room. “Lilies are special to Yuri, so it was a thoughtful gesture that I’m sure he won’t forget.” Karol can’t help but feel slight defeat as he’s led back to his room. “It seemed like they just made him more tired than happy.”  “It’s… complicated. But I promise you, he does love them.” Flynn watches as Karol climbs back into bed and offers him a comforting smile. “So don’t worry yourself over Yuri. I’m hoping that I can convince him to share part of the load he’s carrying with me so he won’t work himself to death.” Karol wasn’t too sure of that. From what Yuri said when talking about Flynn, Flynn was just as much of a workaholic as Yuri was. So the idea of Yuri willingly letting Flynn help him out when he had just as much work to worry about was close to zero. But instead of speaking his concerns to Flynn and insisting that he could also help, he just quietly nods instead, letting the topic drop.  “If you need anything, come let me know, alright? I’ll be in the living room.”  Karol nodded again, face blank as he moved to lay down. He hears Flynn leave the door open, just a crack, leaving Karol alone to deal with complicated feelings of guilt and uselessness. 

Karol swallows hard as he clenches his fists tightly. “I can take care of myself! I don’t need Yuri!” He argues, feeling a flash of anger rush through him. “And… And I’ll prove it!”

From the way Anise’s grin grew, Karol knew she had technically won the argument but he couldn’t care less about what she thought. He had to prove that he could take care of himself just fine. That Yuri didn’t need to stress himself to death just to take care of him. He would prove it. 

Genis gives Karol a quick look of disbelief while Nan stares at Karol with her mouth open and eyes wide with shock. “Karol–”

“You’re gonna prove it?” Anise is clearly over the moon with this information. “Gonna prove that you’re not a coward? You know, people aren’t into cowards, Karol.” 

Karol sees the way her eyes dart over to Nan and the anger intensifies, along with a warmth that spreads over his cheeks. “I’m not a coward! I can take care of myself so– So…. So I’ll camp out in the Quoi Woods this weekend! By myself! And then you’ll see that I can handle myself, that I’m not some scaredy cat afraid of ghost stories and that there are no monsters in the woods, either!” 

As Genis mutters a quiet “I dunno if this is a good idea…”, everyone’s words die in their mouths as Nan suddenly stands up, slamming her hands onto the table. Her face is red with anger as she clenches her hands into fists as she looks between Anise and Karol. Karol had a sinking suspicion that he was about to get yelled at for something.

But as Nan stood there, mouth opening like she was about to start yelling, her eyes trail over to Karol’s and she stares dead into his face for a few seconds. Karol can’t help but shrink back slightly because he knew that look all too well. He had done something wrong. Eventually, though, she moves away from her seat. 

“You’re so stupid, Karol.” She says simply before storming out of the cafeteria.

“Wha– Nan!” Karol moves to climb to his feet while Anise lets out a giggle. 

“Maybe Nan thinks that you’re not brave enough for it.” Anise thinks aloud before moving to close her lunch box and her doll, moving to stand up. “When you go camping, be sure to take a picture~! Or else no one will believe you~!” 

And with that, she stepped away from the table, skipping happily out the door, leaving Genis and Karol behind. They both look to each other in silence before Genis moves to get up as well. “Hey, remember earlier when I said that you had to be stupid to spend the night in the woods?” 

“...Yeah?”

“My opinion has not changed.” He states simply as he moves to leave as well, leaving Karol behind to contemplate his sudden life choices. 

---

[Yuri: hey u alright? just witnessed a onesided beat down between liam and some angry gremlin child and then i saw u gettin kidnapped u good?] 

Estelle had not texted him back since his message earlier that day. Which was all well and good since they confiscated his phone for the duration of detention. But even after it was given back to him, he still hadn’t received a response. Still, he wasn’t one to worry too much about it. Estelle was nice and sweet but she came off as a bit of a space case so maybe she had just forgotten to respond. No big deal. 

He started getting a little curious though when Estelle had come back to class, all smiles as she wandered back over to her desk without a word. The normally attentive girl was lost in thought all throughout the class and Yuri could not stop his curious nature from taking over as he pulled out his phone to try and send a quick text to Estelle, wanting to follow up on what she seemed so giddy about. 

He just as quickly shoves his phone into his pocket when a chalkboard eraser is thrown in his direction from the front of the room by their history professor. This earns a few chuckles from the classroom, though the professor's behavior was nothing new for her. Thankfully, it's new enough to Estelle that it’s just enough to snap her back to attention as she looks back at Yuri with wide eyes. 

“Were you aiming at my hands or were you aiming for my head?” Yuri leans down to pick the eraser up as the professor wanders over, pushing her white bangs from her face as she takes it from his hand. 

“For your hands.” She answers, a tiny smirk on her face before replacing it with a stern expression. “No phones in my class. I’ll take it away next time.”

“Your aim is getting better.” Yuri simply comments before holding up his hands in defeat. “No phone, got it.” 

Thankfully, Professor Sage was one of the few teachers he could somewhat tolerate but she was also one of the strictest. Yuri was not too interested in giving her a hard time so he never tried to fight her authority or snark at her… too much. Seeming to accept his response for now, she takes her eraser and returns to the front of the room and resumes her lessons. 

Yuri took one glance towards Estelle and Flynn, both sitting within the vicinity of each other and was not at all surprised to still see them staring over at him. Estelle, seemingly surprised that the professor’s way of regaining attention is via the use of throwable objects, quickly turns back in her seat and straightens up. Flynn’s gaze lingers a bit longer, eyebrows narrowed and mouth closed tight. 

If Yuri still wasn’t so mad at Flynn, he would have laughed at his face, eyes widening in annoyance and mouth puffing out with a huff, when Yuri responded by sticking his tongue out at the boy.

---

Estelle’s reply never came, though that would be because she was up and out of her seat seconds after class ended as she made her way over to Yuri’s desk in record time. She nearly ran into another student on her way, causing Yuri to have to hide his amused grin behind his hand as she quickly apologized and continued her pace to Yuri’s desk.

“Yuri! Hello!” She greets, pressing her hands together in front of her as she offers a quick little bow. “How are you feeling?” 

Turning in his chair to face her, Yuri leans back into his chair with a casual grin. “Feeling a lot better, thanks!” 

Truthfully, his hand still burned a lot. Holding a pencil was also a pretty tough task at the moment. He had some use in his right hand but with his left hand being more dominant, his word speed had slowed down considerably and his handwriting had gotten a bit sloppy. Most of the teachers didn’t seem to care too much, and if they did, they didn’t mention it. The only one to make any type of comment was Ragou, who made a muttered comment about his handwriting being illegible. Yuri didn’t care enough to make it into a big deal. If it wasn’t his handwriting, he was sure that Ragou would have found something wrong regardless.

“I’m glad it’s doing better! I’m sure it’s sore but so long as you keep it clean and change your bandaging regularly, it should heal up in no time.” Estelle smiles brightly and Yuri can’t help but notice how contagious her energy was. “So… um… Yuri, if you’re not busy at the moment, do you think you could stop by my locker real quick? I have something I’d like to give you.”

The way Estelle glances back towards the door of the classroom tells Yuri that it’s not just a simple gift that she intends on giving. (When he follows her gaze, he does notice that Flynn and both of the twins are staring hard at them and they were not being subtle about it. When Yuri meets Flynn’s eyes, Yuri huffs and looks away.) “I have to leave pretty soon to go pick up Karol and then stop by my apartment to repatch back up before heading to work but I should have a few minutes to spare.”

“Oh, right! Of course!” Estelle nods quickly and reaches over to grab his right hand, pulling him out of his chair. “Come this way then, please!” 

“Yeah, yeah, take it easy. I’m not gonna run away.” 

As Estelle pulls him out of the room, they both nearly slam into someone attempting to enter the classroom. A young girl with short and light brown hair that was adorned with a small braid in the front and whose purple eyes were stern and unamused in a way that filled Yuri with annoyance and dread, staggers back as she drops her books onto the floor from Estelle’s impact. Estelle squeaks and quickly scrambles down onto her knees and begins to scoop up the books. 

“Oh my gosh, I am so sorry–” 

The girl quickly drops down as well, hands reaching out to gather her now-scattered papers. “No, it’s quite alright…” She mutters as she quickly stacks them all together. 

A familiar presence approaches Yuri from the side and he’s once again left wondering when he had started sensing Flynn by presence alone. “Sodia, are you alright?” He asks, gently moving around Yuri and Estelle to help the girl, the school’s very own vice president, back up to her feet. 

“Flynn.” She greets him with a tiny smile and accepts the hand up. “Yes, I’m alright, I–” She pauses when her eyes meet Yuri’s and the smile is gone instantly. 

“ You. ” Her tone is, as always, so full of disdain as her lips curl up in disgust. “Why don’t you watch where you’re going, Lowell?” 

Here we go…

Shoving his hands into his pockets, Yuri shoots a very annoyed glance towards Flynn as if silently asking the man to call his easily aggroed dog off. Instead, all he sees is the tiniest and pleading glance that asks Yuri to ‘please play nice’ as if he were the one who started swinging right out the gate. Yuri honestly couldn’t give a rat’s ass about Sodia and what she did with her time but the fact that she would constantly belittle Yuri at every turn and look down on him as if he were the scum of the Earth was annoying at best. Even when he tried to act civil, it was to no avail, so he stopped trying. 

Estelle was already in the process of babbling out another apology, trying to point out that she was the reason Sodia had fallen but of course, her eyes were still trained on Yuri suspiciously. 

“I like to think that I have a pretty good eye on my surroundings.” Yuri just shrugs as he moves to slip by the angry woman as he scratches at his left side. When he receives a look of doubt from Flynn, blue eyes lingering on his hand and cheeks, Yuri can’t help but roll his eyes. “On most days, that is.” 

He doesn’t wait for a reply before he’s snatching up Estelle’s hand and tugs her back again. “C’mon Estelle, let’s go before someone’s guard dog starts barking at me.” 

There’s a moment where Flynn’s eyes dart down to Yuri’s hand grabbing Estelle’s but his attention is snatched back to the matter at hand when Sodia bristles up. “Dog?!” She exclaims, stepping forward as if she were going to take matters into her own hands.

“Yuri, you can’t say that to her–” Flynn also tries to argue but Yuri has already turned away and is leading the pink haired girl away from the problem.

“Sorry, super busy!” He calls back, casually reaching a hand to scratch at the left side of his waist, feeling a weird itch appear on his skin. “Later!” 

“I-I am very sorry!” Estelle calls back as well, letting herself get dragged away. 

Thankfully the two do not make a move to follow. Good. He was not in the mood to deal with Sodia today and his frustrations with Flynn were still as strong as they were this morning.

As he and Estelle walk through the halls, Yuri does eventually release her hand as he shoves his hands into his pockets. He slows his pace enough to walk beside her as she stares up at him with a hint of concern on her face. 

“I’m sorry for getting you into trouble again.” 

Yuri shrugs and smirks. “Nah, don’t worry about it. Sodia is like the president of the “Yuri Hate Club” so she would have found some reason to get mad at me. You just gave her an excuse, is all.”

“She… hates you? How come?” 

“Same reason why a bunch of randos hate me. I’m a troublemaker and an embarrassment to the school or something. Blah, blah.” As he explains, Estelle’s face drops and her eyes widen as if someone had just spit at her. “Specifically for Sodia though, she thinks all of those things AND she thinks I’m just a horrid influence on Flynn.” 

Estelle’s mouth falls open. “But why would she think that?! I’ve only known you for a short couple of days but I can see, clear as day, that you are genuinely a nice person with the best intentions and–”

Yuri’s scoff cuts her off. “Best intentions doesn’t always excuse the actions. But I do what needs to be done. But she does have a point. I am a pretty bad influence on Flynn.”

“Why would you say that?!”

“Because it’s true?” Yuri notices that the girl was beginning to get upset, judging by the frown turning into a disappointed ‘mom’ glare, so he reaches over and rests a hand on her shoulder as he begins to explain himself. “Estelle, I got into a fight yesterday. I should have gotten suspended for it. We all should have. But we didn’t. Flynn likely had a hand in it and that’s why my ‘sentence’ was decreased to just detention. Flynn shouldn’t be doing stuff like that. I chose to fight so I had to accept the consequences for it. So long as the other guys got punished too, I didn’t really care. But because my sentence was decreased, theirs was too and they didn’t learn. You saw that earlier today, didn’t you?”

“You saw…?” For a moment, Estelle’s face turns a slight tinge of pink. 

“Yep. Saw the whole thing. I was ready to jump in again but then that girl jumped in instead and went berserk on their asses.” Yuri snickers a bit. “She literally pushed me to the ground so she could step in. It was scary. But, Estelle, you shouldn’t go picking fights like that. Those guys are merciless.”

“It’s just… they were spreading such awful rumors about you and it was because of me and–” Estelle’s lip quivers and Yuri has a moment of sheer panic because he really did not want to make Estelle cry but then she’s shoving herself into his space, that same look of sheer determination appearing on her features. “No, Yuri! It wasn’t Flynn’s fault!”

“Huh?” Yuri pauses midstep, eyes widening slightly as Estelle steps around him and glares up at him, fists clenched in front of her chest. “What do you mean? I know the teachers weren’t lenient for the sake of leniency. Someone had to have had a hand in–” 

Oh. Oh.  

The culprit was standing in front of him. 

Oh, fuck , he probably had to apologize to Flynn, didn’t he?

Fuck.

“Estelle.” He lets out a deep breath and quickly has to run a hand down his face to steady himself. “You… You’re the reason? How did you even–” A sigh escapes him as he turns to stare Estelle in the eyes. “You realize that by getting my punishment reduced, you got everyone’s punishment reduced. You realize that those guys aren’t gonna stop harassing you and others now. You realize that, right?” 

To her credit, Estelle does look slightly ashamed of herself but only a little. Her resolve, however, seemed to be much MUCH stronger than her shame, however. “Yes, I realized that. Which is why I stepped up today and tried to talk with them. I decided to handle my problem on my own and get them to stop without having to bother you with it.”

“And how did that work out for you?”

“...Bad. It worked out bad.” Estelle’s shoulders suddenly slump as she turns and continues to slowly lead the way to her locker. 

“Yeah, it worked out very bad. It was almost a repeat of the whole scenario and then we all would have gotten punished. You included, for starting the whole altercation.” Yuri explains as he quickly moves to walk alongside her. “I’m not going to tell you what to do but my suggestion? Leave it alone. I’m a big boy. I can handle it.”

“Mm… Maybe it’s for the best. After all, I keep involving people who shouldn’t be involved.” 

“Exactly.” Yuri smirks a bit. “I think those guys learned their lesson though, because of your friend. Who was she anyway? I thought I heard the name Mordio…” 

The frown on Estelle’s face changes and Yuri immediately catches the way that her hands join together as she fiddles her thumbs. Her frown changes into the tiniest of smiles as her eyes dart over to Yuri and then back down to her feet. “Oh… Yes! Well… that’s not– I mean, it is her name– It’s… her last name.” She giggles quietly to herself. “Her name is Rita Mordio.” 

“Rita Mordio, huh?” Yuri smirks a bit, letting the name run through his brain for a moment. It rang a bell, that’s for sure. “Wait, isn’t she like… a year under us? People say she’s like a super-genius, right?” 

“Do they?” Estelle blinks, confused. Of course, Estelle was still a new student after all. She’s probably not intune with all of the rumors yet. But she does give off a tiny little smile after a moment. “She seemed very smart so I definitely believe it.” 

“So that was your first time meeting?” 

“Yes, it was. She was so nice, stepping in to save someone without really knowing who they were… She reminded me of you, in a way.” Estelle’s smile is telling as she folds her hands behind her back. “It’s nice to know there are such kind people in the world like you two.”

Estelle was conveniently forgetting the way that Rita had slugged Liam and then promptly connected her foot with the man’s dick while he was down. He would let her have her fantasy. “I’ll have to thank her next time I see her.” Maybe. There was a good chance that she wanted to punch his lights out too. 

“Oh, I’ll be happy to introduce you later!” Estelle chirps, her low mood now suddenly bright and sunny as she smiles happily towards Yuri. “We plan on meeting up again in the library tomorrow. We’re both book lovers, so I asked if I could join her again and she said yes!” As they approach the lockers, Estelle practically hops over, excitement clear on her face. “Maybe we can start a little book club with the three of us! Maybe Flynn too!”

Yuri was not a big book person and he figured that just by looking at him, this would be obvious. Plus, he didn’t really have the time to be joining a bookclub, which was good because he wasn’t sure if he could say no to the hopeful look in Estelle’s eyes otherwise. “I might have to pass. I already have enough on my plate to begin with. You know… part time jobs, saving the world… that kinda thing.” He snickers quietly. 

“Oh. Right.” And then the two of them are laughing to themselves as Estelle moves to open her locker. “Sorry, I got excited. But speaking of ‘saving the world’....” 

She reaches in and brings out a pretty decent sized gift bag and quickly hands it over to Yuri. The bag is plain, just a simple purple coloring with white tissue paper meant for gift bags shoved inside. Yuri tilts his head, taking the bag carefully into his hand. 

“What’s this for?” 

“It’s a welcome gift!” Estellise smiles widely, folding her hands in front of her skirt as Yuri peeks into the bag. “Welcome to Brave Vesperia! I think this will come in handy for when we have to go out and actually get to work.” 

Upon peeking into the bag, Yuri can see a black piece of clothing inside and he takes a moment to look up and down the hall. Crowds of people were huddled through the hallways and thankfully, everyone seemed more involved in their own conversations so their words would go mostly unheard. Knowing this was a gift regarding Brave Vesperia, however, he decided to hold off on opening it for now. “I’ll check it out when I drop by my apartment today before grabbing Karol. I’m guessing it’s an add-on to my costume?” 

Estelle nods eagerly. “I figured it would be best if we tried to hide our identities!” She explains, cheeks turning a bit red as she continues. “I… read in a book that superheroes have to hide their faces or else, things can get complicated. So… So I got something for you that you can put on after you transform. I got a mask for myself, as well!” 

A mask, huh? Yuri couldn’t stop the grin from appearing on his face. “So you went out and read comic books and stuff after finding out we could transform? Think it’ll work?” 

“I… believe so! Yes! I…” Estelle trails off. “Do you think I should have gotten something for Repede? His form changes so drastically, I thought that maybe he wouldn’t need it but… Oh, no, what if he feels left out?!” 

A poorly suppressed chuckle leaves Yuri’s lips. “I don’t think Repede will appreciate a doggy outfit. You’re fine.” He reaches out and pets the girl on the head, trying to comfort her. “I appreciate it, Estelle. I’ll try it on later. I’ll even send pics and you can tell me if it suits me.” 

The way Estelle’s eyes light up is almost breathtaking as she beams at him, clearly pleased with this development. “Oh, please do! I’ll even send you pictures of my mask!” She claps her hands together, gleefully.

“I’m looking forward to it.” Yuri grins. 

As he holds onto the gift bag in his hand, the two talk happily with one another as they move to leave the school together. Yuri is heavily aware of the looks they receive as they leave, side by side, and he can’t help but worry about ruining Estelle’s reputation as well (Not that she had much of one just yet, with her being new) but the way Estelle would smile through it all was… comforting at least. 

As the two go their separate ways after leaving the building, Yuri checks his phone, making sure that there wasn’t a text from Karol yet, letting him know that he was ready to be picked up. Instead, he saw a text from Flynn from just a little bit ago. With guilt settling in his chest, he quietly checks the text with a sigh. 

[Flynn: Yuri, have I done something to upset you?]

He couldn’t help but feel like a brat in that moment but… he really HAD thought that Flynn was behind him only getting a slap on the wrist. He supposed that he could have just confronted the man and asked but with everything going on, he was not really feeling the energy to have yet another confrontation with Flynn. Not only that, but he was having a lot of conflicting feelings about… well… everything from last night and he wasn’t quite recovered from showing even the slightest bit of vulnerability last night. 

But still… he at least owed the man an apology. 

[Yuri: no u haven’t done anything wrong. was just going thru something today. Sorry]

He sends the text quickly as he takes his bag and hurries back to his apartment. On his way there, he received a text from Karol, stating that he was ready to be picked up so he only had limited time to change into his work uniform and check out the new present from Estelle. 

As he slipped into his apartment, he gives a quick greeting to Repede who barks in reply before he’s already unfastening the buttons of the rather large school shirt and quickly slipping out of it. He remembered trying to skip out of school that day due to him lacking another uniform top, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to afford a new one at the moment, when Flynn practically shoved his extra shirt at him this morning, opting to just wear his same shirt from yesterday. The two of them used to be the same size, so Yuri didn’t see much of a problem with it but then when he actually put on the shirt, he suddenly remembered just how much muscle mass Flynn had gotten recently. 

Yuri was once again thinking of Flynn’s newly acquired muscle mass and found himself facing those conflicting feelings again. Considering how his face heated up, he decided not to entertain those thoughts for very long. 

Instead, he tossed the shirt and pants aside before pulling on his work uniform, a long sleeved burgundy button up with black slacks and a black apron tied around his waist. He redid the clip in his hair and made sure raven strands were pulled from his face before pulling his black shoes back on. 

As he finishes getting ready, he does take a quick moment to pour the contents of Estelle’s gift bag onto his bed. Pushing the white tissue paper aside, he’s greeted with black hooded poncho with white accents bordering the edge of the cloth and a small black face mask to match and Yuri couldn’t help but to laugh. Estelle definitely had a color theme in mind when she thought of him, huh? 

This would definitely help, he thinks to himself, as he runs a finger over the soft cloth of the poncho. He would have to be careful with the hood, of course, but he figured that the mask would at least hide his face if the hood were to fall. Of course, if he operated during the night, that’s an entirely different story. 

He does take a quick moment to try the poncho on, mask and all, and thankfully it seems to be a perfect fit. Estelle was kind of good at this, huh? He smiles to himself and takes a quick selfie before sending it her way, right as another text from Flynn appeared. 

[Flynn: You stuck your tongue out at me earlier. Most people would assume they’ve made you mad when you stick your tongue out at them.]

Fair point. After he’s taken the poncho and the mask off and safely stores it in his dresser for now, he takes another selfie for Flynn, making sure to stick his tongue out in this one as well. But this time, he made sure to have at least some kind of smile in the picture. A silent gesture of we’re good. I promise.

Flynn’s reply is instant. 

[Flynn: I see that you’re just being you. Is that your work uniform?]

[Yuri: yep the boss said i have to be somewhat presentable so he shoved me into a suit]

There’s a long pause between Yuri’s reply and Flynn’s next reply. Which is quickly followed by a couple more less collected and obviously flustered texts that nearly had Yuri on the floor, laughing.

[Flynn: You look good.]

[Flynn: Not to say you don’t always look good. You’re very good at wearing clothes.]

[Flynn: That sounded wrong. I meant that you have a good fashion sense.]

Yuri had to take a few minutes to calm down from his laughing fit and even Repede had to walk over to make sure he was good as he struggled to catch his breath. “Flynn, holy shit.” He breathes out, giggles escaping his lips. He didn’t think his uniform would have caused Flynn to spiral into a flustered mess. He knew that he should have left it alone and let Flynn die of embarrassment in peace but he’s never been one to pass up an opportunity like this.

[Yuri: are u saying I don’t look good when im not wearing clothes?]

[Flynn: You’re the worst.]

[Yuri: i guess this means no shirtless pics for flynn :( ]

[Flynn: Some people would just say “Thank you for the compliment” and move on.]

[Yuri: yeah but im not Some People now am i?]

[Flynn: This is true. You’re definitely one of a kind.]

As Yuri reaches down to give Repede a quick pat, who pushes his snout gently against Yuri’s palm, he feels a small smile stretch across his face at Flynn’s words. He wasn’t sure if Flynn meant it as an insult or a compliment but knowing Flynn, it was likely both. Still, it made him feel a bit warm inside of his chest. As he gathers his things, ready to head out with Repede on his heels, he shoots off a quick reply to Flynn before turning his phone on silent. 

[Yuri: youre one of a kind too. talk to u later.]

---

The Sagittarius was more of an unofficial tavern than an actual restaurant, according to Yuri’s fellow coworkers. It had the vibe of one, anyway. The place was rather old, sporting a more rustic style. The wooden walls were rough to the touch and the floors creak when someone walked across them and Yuri couldn’t help but think that the place could use a bit of a makeover. But despite the old and organic look that it had, it was still a rather cozy place. The tables were kept clean and organized and the windows were usually crystal clear and the bar that sat in the front of the store was sturdy and had plenty of room for people who would usually forgo the food in favor of getting a drink instead. 

Selling drinks was normally Raven and Judith’s area of expertise since Yuri wasn’t quite old enough to sell alcohol yet. Legally, that is. So instead, he would focus more on either cooking food for the restaurant portion of the establishment, or waiting and bussing tables. It really just depended on where Raven needed him on that day. It just so happened that today, he was needed as a waiter.

Despite only being at this job for just a couple of weeks, Yuri got the hang of it pretty easily. Of course, it helped that the place was pretty lenient on how one should act. When he was hired on by Raven, the man made it very clear that a lot of the people who came by were regulars and that it paid more to treat them like an old friend rather than a stranger that he should be overly kind to. That was a huge relief for Yuri, who hated the idea of having to be overly accommodating to a bunch of strangers. He was a waiter and a cook, after all. Not a servant. 

Three hours into his first shift, Raven commented that Yuri was built for a job like this. As much as Yuri hated to admit it, he silently agreed. He wasn’t a people’s person. It wasn’t like he was anti-social or anything. He could be plenty social if he were around the right people. But he was often told that he had a sharp tongue and a rough attitude and that had a tendency of throwing people off. 

However, it only served to make him more popular at the Sagittarius. Between the friendly but sharp banter between him and his manager (How Raven managed to score that position, Yuri would never know), the way he and Judith (Another waitress who had been hired about a year ago) hit it off immediately, and the way he jumped to help the rest of the staff when he could (though he would jokingly complain, of course), Yuri became pretty well liked by the staff, as hard as it was to believe. 

Not only that, but he already had regulars that would come in on his shifts just to chat. Some were friendly, like the young couple with their five year old. Some who would come in to mooch off of the free wi-fi for work or school (Yuri always made sure to give anyone studying a free slice of cheesecake as a desert, courtesy of Raven after a lot of convincing). And then some who, Judith pointed out, may or may not have gained quite an attraction to the new cook/waiter. Mostly girls who would come by after school, who would talk to each other in excited hushed whispers every time Yuri walked away. He never noticed until Judith pointed them out. 

Of course, there were some that were more obvious about their crushes. Like, for example, the little blonde haired girl, who was maybe around Karol’s age, that was currently clinging to his arm and staring up at him dreamily as he guided her to her seat.

“Here you go, Patty. Window seat, just like you prefer.” He gestures lightly before using his free arm to carefully peel the girl off of him.

Patty smiles widely as she hops into the chair, grabbing the menu eagerly. “Thank you, Yuri, my beloved!” She sighs happily, blinking her blue eyes up at him. 

“Yeah, yeah.” Yuri rolls his eyes as he pulls out his notepad. “Water to drink?” 

“Yes please! And the Seafood Bowl!” 

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll see what I can do.” Yuri quickly scribbles it down. “Your family lives by the beach, right? I don’t see how you can work with fish all day long and not get sick of seafood.”

Patty grins widely as her hand slaps her chest, puffing it out proudly. “Ye can’t keep an ocean gal away from what she loves most!”

“So it would seem.” Yuri snorts quietly as he shoves the notepad into the pocket of his apron. “It’ll be a few minutes for the seafood bowl. The water will be out in a sec.” 

“I’ll be waiting!” 

Patty was one of the regulars of the establishment. When she first appeared, he wondered what a child her age was doing wandering into the restaurant all by herself. But apparently, she had been coming to the place since she was small. Er… well… small er. According to Raven, her father would frequent the bar every night after a fishing trip and he would always bring along Patty with him. While he celebrated the catch of the day over a drink, Patty would always be sitting at a nearby table, celebrating with a nice dessert. When Yuri asked what happened to her old man, he simply replied that he wasn’t able to come by anymore and that Patty was just continuing to do what she had always known. 

Yuri got the impression that Raven was respecting Patty’s real life privacy by not discussing what happened with her father. He had some ideas of what was going on but he agreed. It wasn’t any of his business. Besides, Patty seemed like she was getting along just fine. He had only been here a short amount of time but he had never seen Patty without a smile on her face. 

As he got Patty’s water and delivered it over and then put in the order for the cook in the back, he went back to clearing out his tables and getting them ready for the next customer. On his way, his eyes do catch Karol sitting at the end of the bar, scribbling away at his homework for the night with Judith taking any free time she had to assist him with whatever it was he was working on. 

Some days he felt bad about dragging Karol to the restaurant with him. It definitely wasn’t ideal for a ‘normal babysitter’ but Karol usually seemed excited to come to work with him. The young boy seemed to warm up with Raven, Judith and the rest of the staff and even befriended some of the customers as well. At this point, the young boy seemed like an unofficial employee of the Sagittarius, though whenever Raven would try and get Karol to work, Yuri would immediately step in to let him know that if Karol does any work, it’s coming out of Raven’s tip jar. That’s usually enough to shut the old man up. 

“You survivin’ over there, Captain?” Yuri calls out as he passes by the bar, earning both Judith’s and Karol’s attention as he does so. 

Karol tapped his pencil on the counter, anxiously. “Uh… yeah… we’re almost done, I think.” He mutters, eyes glancing down to the floor. 

Judith smiles warmly at Karol before moving to stand up straight as she leans against the bar to look at Yuri. “I decided to take a quick little break to help Karol out, since I know you were busy.” She explains, voice calm as ever. “The poor guy seemed pretty stressed…”

Yuri didn’t need Judith’s superhuman empathy skills to be able to tell that. Ever since Karol had been picked up that day, Yuri could tell that there was something on his mind though he would insist that everything was fine. Had he really been freaking out over some homework? 

One glance at Judith made Yuri realize that there was probably something more to it than that. The way she stared at Yuri, an eyebrow slightly raised, told him that she definitely suspected something and that he probably should too. 

“Stressed, huh?” Yuri moves to rest a hand on his waist. “You got a big test coming up?”

“Oh– uh… yeah, I guess so.” 

“You guess so?” Yuri and Judith both raise an eyebrow at that before Yuri continues to press. “That doesn’t inspire me with confidence, boss.” 

This seems to be enough to snap Karol back into attention as he suddenly straightens in his seat before looking both Judith and Yuri in the eye. “I-I mean, a pop quiz could come at any time! So I just have to be prepared, right?”

Judith lets out a small hum. “Mm… yes, you’re right, I suppose.” She takes another glance towards Yuri, silently calling out Karol’s bluff. 

He was worried, admittedly, but he didn’t want to force Karol to talk if he didn’t want to. So, with a tiny nudge to Judy’s side with his elbow, he decided to step back for now, making a mental note to see about bringing it up later. “If you say so. Just let us know if you need anything, okay?”

Karol’s mouth opens and shuts a few times, causing Yuri to pause before he begins to leave to continue working. He gives Karol a moment. Two. Three. Finally, he just sighs and nods. “Okay, Yuri…” 

Damn. It seemed like Yuri almost had him. But he kept to his silent word. He would let Karol come to him rather than force him to speak. So instead, he went back to work, moving to finish cleaning his tables. Judith, thankfully, offered some assistance and helped take some of the dishes off of his hands, placing them gently into the sink in the back before returning to the front of the bar. Yuri wasn’t surprised when she kept glancing over towards Karol’s direction. 

Judith was more than observant. She had a talent of being able to size up a person with literally just one glance. She seemed to be an amazing judge of character and Yuri was almost jealous of her for it. She could usually tell whether or not a customer was going to be a problem, and nine times out of ten, she was usually right. Not only that, but she proved herself to be plenty capable of taking care of herself and others. Once, a guy had gotten drunk and got a bit too handsy with one of the waitresses. Before Yuri could step in and handle it, the guy was grabbed and literally thrown out the door by Judith with such ease that Yuri wondered if she had actual self-defense training. He would believe it, for sure.

She also had a tendency of digging for information. She would ask about Yuri’s school life or life in general and while he didn’t tell her much at all (after all, what could he say that wasn’t the generic answer you would hear from a school boy), she managed to put together context clues to get a pretty decent understanding of Yuri’s personal life. Meanwhile, he knew literally nothing of hers. (Plus, Karol had let Flynn’s name slip once and apparently Yuri had gotten a weird expression on his face when his name was said, according to Judith. So now he will never know peace from the woman.)

Neither would Karol, it seemed, because even after Yuri finished bussing his tables and delivered Patty’s food to her, she was still eyeing the poor boy up and down. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to notice but Yuri was stepping in regardless.

“Hey, leave him be.” He says under his breath as he moves to put some dollar bills into his tip jar for later. When she blinks and looks back at him with a tiny hum, he continues. “He’ll talk when he’s ready. Let’s not force it.” 

“Oh, I’m just worried, is all.”

“And curious.” Yuri gives her a suspicious look before smirking. “You’re way too into other people’s drama. Nosy.” 

Judith feigns an innocent look, making sure to blink her eyes in Yuri’s direction. “Oh, no, I’m not nosy. I just like to hear about people’s troubles so I can help.”

“That is the definition of nosy, in case you weren’t aware.” 

Judith doesn’t confirm nor deny it but instead, she looks back towards Karol, who was back to anxiously tapping his pencil on the counter. “Do you think it has to do with that little friend of his? What was her name? Nan?”

“Yeah, Nan.” Yuri shrugs, following her gaze. “And I dunno. Maybe. They argue a lot so maybe it was another fight.” 

Judith sighs sadly, folding her arms behind her back. “Love is just so complicated at his age…” 

“He’s literally twelve.” Yuri shakes his head. “He’s got all the time in the world to figure it out. Nan does too.” 

“I know, I know but it doesn’t stop it from hurting in the moment, you know?” 

“Yeah, I guess.”

There’s silence before a devious grin stretches across her face. “I guess you would know more than anyone, wouldn’t you, Yuri?”

“Aaaaand the conversation is done.” With a clap of his hands, Yuri begins to step away. “Good job everybody. Same time next week.” 

Before he could completely step away, however, a strong hand slaps down onto his shoulder and pulls him back over as Yuri is suddenly greeted with a bush of brown hair pulled into a loose ponytail and the faint smell of alcohol. 

“Aw, c’mon, yer gonna stop th’ conversation before I get the join in?!” Raven greets with a wide smile as he pats Yuri on the back before his arm is shoved away by the latter. “What’s this I’m hearin’ about love? Oh! Does our lil’ Yuri have a sweetheart now?”

Yuri wrinkles his nose. “Have you been drinking on the job again , old man?” 

“Naw, I was just tastin’ one of our new products.” Raven waves him off before hopping onto a stool so he could lean against the bar. “It’s fiiine. It was literally just a sip. You won’t even notice it missing!” 

“He says that every time.” Judith hums. “I guess I’ll see when I do inventory tonight.”

“And I won’t disappoint ya, Judith Darlin’!” With a snap of his fingers, Raven grins over to Judith before looking back over to Yuri. “So, who’s the one who stole our lil’ Yuri’s heart?”

Judith smiles, staring Yuri directly in the eye. “Oh, I can tell you all about him–” 

“Judy, I’ll literally fist fight you.” 

“--But we were talking about Karol.” She finishes, her smile not once wavering. “He’s feeling anxious about something and we’re thinking it has to do with a special friend of his.” 

Raven puts a hand to his chin, nodding in understanding. “Ah… Young love. I remember those days…” 

“I’m surprised. That was centuries ago.” Yuri deadpans, moving to grab a wet rag to wipe down the bar. 

“You don’t hafta be so mean to this old man, y’know? My heart’s sensitive.” 

“You make it so easy though.” 

Raven gives Yuri a tiny pout before moving to lean his head against his hand. “Maybe I should talk t’ him. See if he’ll open up to good ol’ Raven!” 

“Leave it alone, Old man.” Yuri shoots the man a quick warning glare. “He’ll talk when he wants to. Let’s stop crowding him, okay?” He directs the glare between Judith and Raven, a final warning before he moves to clean off another table. 

“I suppose Yuri has a point.” Judith says after a moment. “He’s more familiar with Yuri anyway. If he’s going to talk to anyone, it would be him.”

“Yeah, yeah, I guess so…” Raven nods in agreement before scratching at his head. “By the way, you two still good to watch th’ restaurant for me on Friday? That work business I mentioned last week finally got confirmed so, definitely gonna need the night off for it.” 

Yuri gives a quick little nod. “You scheduled me for it, so I’m available.” 

Judith also nods, smile never fading. “Someone has to keep the place running.” 

“I knew I was right in trustin’ ya with my heart and soul, Judith, dear!” Raven leans in with a grin, only for Judith to reach out with two fingers, pushing his forehead back.

“How about just trusting me with the restaurant, mmhm? I might just accidentally shatter that heart and soul of yours. I am terribly clumsy.” 

“H-ha… yeah…Sure, that works too…” 

---

Usually by the time Yuri got off of work, Karol was exhausted and ready to crash as soon as they got home but tonight, he was especially anxious as they quietly headed home, which was thankfully not far from Karol’s house so the walk wasn’t too bad. As they closed for the night and Yuri and Karol headed out, they paused by the small makeshift dog house that Karol and Raven had happily made out of cardboard when they saw that Yuri’s new pup had followed him to the restaurant. Repede, as grumpy as he looked, seemed pleased with his little temporary house at the time. 

But he seemed even more pleased to be heading back home with Yuri and Karol in tow. 

Yuri, on the other hand, was exhausted. In the last hour of his shift, he had gotten slammed with a multitude of tables. Not that he was complaining, of course. More tables meant more tips. But it still left him rather fatigued, especially with everything that’s happened within the last two days. But even though he was pretty exhausted as they walked through the street, his attention was on Karol in an instant when the boy finally spoke up for the first time in the past two hours.

“Hey… Yuri?” He speaks slowly, uncertainty clear in his tone as he shoves his hands into the pockets on his pants. “Are… you working on Friday?” 

Yuri rubs at his eyes, trying to force some more energy into his body before he nods. “Yep. Working all weekend actually. Is that okay? I can see if Flynn can watch you if you don’t wanna hang out at the restaurant all weekend.” 

“No, it’s okay! Really!” Karol’s eyes widen as he whips his head to look over to Yuri. “I like the restaurant. I don’t mind but…” He trails off again as he slows to a stop. 

Yuri stops as well and he takes a moment to glance around the empty and darkened street, a bit uneasily. He steps just a bit closer to Karol before leaning down to make direct eye contact with the boy, frowning in concern. “What’s wrong?” 

Karol stays silent, eyes downcast and face dropping to stare back at the ground. 

Yuri frowns. “...Karol, if something is bothering you, you can tell me.” He says quietly, voice calm and serious. “I don’t judge people for that. You can talk to me. And if you feel like you can’t, I can give you Flynn’s number and you can talk to him. Or you can talk to Judith, or Raven. I don’t know what’s bugging you but you don’t have to deal with it alone–”

Yuri’s words must have sparked something within Karol because the next thing Yuri knows is he’s suddenly looking back up at Yuri with a certain determination on his face. “No! Nothing’s wrong! It’s just… just… a sleepover!” 

Excuse me?

Yuri knows he said he wouldn’t judge but… well… that didn’t make any sense at all. “A… sleepover?” 

Karol nods his head quickly. “My friend, Genis, is having a sleepover on Friday and he invited me.” 

“...And you were freaking out because…?” 

Karol pauses, swallowing hard. He glances towards Repede when the small pup trots over to his  side and sits down. Taking the hint, he leans down to pet the small dog in an effort to comfort himself. Meanwhile, Yuri can’t help but stare at Karol closely. He was still so nervous and Yuri was having a pretty hard time trying to figure out why a simple sleepover had Karol freaking out as bad as he was. What exactly was he hiding? That couldn’t be all there was to it, right? 

…Unless…? 

“Is Nan going to be there?” 

Nan’s name alone was enough to cause Karol to tense up. Yuri, for a moment, felt as if he had hit the nail directly on the head but something still didn’t feel right. He rubs anxiously at the Bohdi Blastia on his left wrist as he waits for Karol to answer. After a moment of hesitation, the young boy quietly nods. 

“...Yes.” Karol’s voice was quiet, almost akin to a squeak as brown eyes quickly peeked up to Yuri’s as if trying to gauge his reaction. 

Something didn’t feel right. Something didn’t feel right.

“So, it’s going to be… You, Genis, Nan…” Yuri trails off, tilting his head a bit to gesture for Karol to fill in the blanks on who else would be there.

Karol takes a deep breath. “Me… Genis, Nan… Anise and her creepy doll.” Another uneasy pause. “Maybe another kid or two. He didn’t specify.” 

“Uh-huh…” Yuri lets the hum of agreement trail off, making it quite clear to the boy that he was feeling a bit suspicious about the whole thing. “Karol, no offense buddy, but the way you’re fidgeting is making me think that there’s something more going on here.” 

Yuri tries to keep eye contact with Karol but the young boy seems more interested in running his hands through Repede’s fur, who nudges him lightly with his nose, as if also trying to urge Karol into speaking the truth. He sees now that Judith was right to be worried as Karol’s behavior was suddenly worrying Yuri as well. But he couldn’t even begin to imagine what could possibly be worrying Karol so badly. Yuri didn’t do something wrong, did he? He didn’t think he did but…

Finally, though, Karol speaks up and it startles Yuri out of his thoughts and leads him to focus on the young pre-teen in front of him. “It’s just…” Karol starts out slowly, eyes scanning over Repede and then across the street and then to his shoes before finally looking towards Yuri. “... I’ve… never been invited to a sleepover before…? I’m not sure how to react… I guess.” 

Oh. Oh.  

The suspicion immediately vanished as a small tinge of sympathy settled in Yuri’s chest. Karol, unfortunately, never had many people in the friends’ department. A lot of his time was spent taking care of the house on his own before Yuri started to watch over him. He had heard Karol talk about some of his friends off-handedly but even then, the friends he mentioned didn’t seem very close with Karol, not that Yuri would say that to the boy out loud. 

He knew that Karol had a certain attachment to his friend, Nan, though he wasn’t too certain on how she felt about him. Whenever Yuri would bring her up, Karol would get extremely flustered and attempt to change the subject so he could only use his imagination to guess what kind of girl she was. Considering how Karol would mention the two of them fighting at times, he couldn’t help but believe she was a bit of a headstrong kid. 

While Yuri still had some concerns regarding this sleepover, he couldn’t help but feel a tinge of joy rise up within him as he suddenly reaches over and ruffles the young boy’s hair. Karol sputters in surprise, quickly batting Yuri’s hands away as he looks at him with questioning, wide eyes. 

“Well… if I can offer a suggestion, you can react happily.” Yuri grins at him before flicking the boy’s forehead. “You don’t need to be nervous. I’m sure it’ll be fun. I’m happy for you.” 

“Wh– You’re letting me go?” Karol’s eyes widen even more in disbelief, hands falling from his hair. “Seriously?” 

“I’ll need you to give me a good phone number to contact and the address and all that, but… yeah. I guess I am.” Yuri tries to shove away the feeling of anxiety he was still feeling. Karol had a chance to actually get closer to people his own age. He wasn’t going to ruin that simply because of his own anxieties. “Should I not?” 

“N…No! No, that’s–” Karol takes a deep breath and quickly nods. “Y-Yeah… So… Friday. I’ll go… Friday.” 

“Yeah…” Yuri reaches out to ruffle his hair again. “I’ll try and do my best to survive without ya, Captain Karol. Will I still need to pick you up?” 

“No… I can go home with Genis that day…”

“Gotcha…” Yuri gives him another smile before moving to stand back up. “We can talk about it more later, if you wanna. Right now though, I’m exhausted so let’s hurry back, kay?” 

“Y-Yeah… Sure thing.”

---

He was a liar. He was a dirty, filthy liar. He looked Yuri directly in the face and lied with his whole chest and badly too! Karol was shocked, frankly, that Yuri let him get away with such a horrible lie. The whole thing was a mess, to be honest, and Karol just kept digging himself deeper into a hole. 

The worst part is that he almost came clean. He wanted to come clean! He didn’t want to go and spend his Friday night camping out in the creepy forest bordering Quoi Park. He could literally spend his time doing literally anything else. But then, Yuri had to go and open his big stupid mouth and remind him why he was doing this to begin with!

“You can talk to me. And if you feel like you can’t, I can give you Flynn’s number and you can talk to him. Or you can talk to Judith, or Raven. I don’t know what’s bugging you but you don’t have to deal with it alone–”

He didn’t have to deal with it alone?! Yuri had the nerve to say that after trying to deal with everything on his own! Those words alone were enough to shoot a surge of determination through Karol’s body, determined to show Yuri that he could be trusted to help carry the burden, even if it’s just a little bit. Determined to show Yuri that, yes, he didn’t have to deal with it alone but Yuri didn’t have to either! He had to show Yuri that he wasn’t just some little kid that needed coddling. 

So he lied about the sleepover. He lied about going to Genis’ house and about Nan and Anise being there. He lied about it all and even took a cheap shot at Yuri, lying that he was nervous because it was the first time he had ever been invited to someone’s house. And Yuri had fallen for it. Or at the very least, he let it slide but regardless, he felt like a horrible person afterwards. 

He felt like an awful person when he asked Genis for his phone number and address the next day, asking him to pretend that he was staying over if Yuri had decided to call on Friday (to which the boy eventually relented and nervously agreed to, yet making sure to stress that it was still a horrible idea). 

He felt like an awful person when Anise came over to his desk that Thursday, and then again on Friday, making sure that he still intended on keeping his promise to go camping in the woods that night. When he once again agreed and even decidedly went over his plan for the night with her, she seemed overjoyed and even impressed by his resolve. He hated it. 

As for Nan, she had barely interacted with him in the past two days since their last conversation in the lunchroom. She definitely seemed mad about something and he wondered briefly if it was because of his decision to go camping, though the one time he tried to ask her why she was so angry with him, she simply slammed her book on the desk. 

“I shouldn’t have to tell you why I’m mad, Karol!” She snapped, narrowing her eyes dangerously at him. “You’re just so… so…”

He frowned, shrinking back a bit at her rage. “... so what?”

“.... you’re just so spineless!” She spat out, crossing her arms. 

He definitely didn’t get what she was mad about. He was going to go camp in the middle of the woods at night all by himself. Wasn’t that the opposite of spineless? Of course, when he tried to mention that, it only seemed to make Nan even angrier. 

“You’re clueless , Karol!” And with that, she ran off with a huff before Karol could try and ask her to explain what he was missing. 

Now he was anxious, depressed and confused. 

Part of him wondered if he could just go into the woods and just take a few selfies in the forest and call it good but that might make him feel even worse for chickening out. Anise would call him out on it immediately, Yuri would never feel like he could rely on him and Nan would have a genuine reason to call him spineless. 

And thus, he found himself pushing through his school day when Friday arrived, constantly in battle with his own brain until the final bell rang that day and it felt as if that bell was the sound that marked his execution.

Maybe he was being a bit overdramatic. He hoped he was anyway. 

But as the school day came to an end, he hurried home as he decided that he should just go for it. Go for it before he could change his mind again and chicken out. He felt strange without Yuri leading him home for once. It wasn’t like he didn’t know the way. After all, he would walk home alone when he was merely ten years old! But he had gotten used to Yuri coming by to pick him up and it was a bit nerve wracking not seeing him appear on the corner of the street to meet up with him, like usual. 

Part of him was expecting Yuri to show up anyway, even though Karol told him that he didn’t have to. And another part of him was disappointed, while the other part was relieved. After all, he didn’t exactly come up with a plan for if Yuri caught him walking home by himself instead of walking home with Genis, as was told. Thankfully, that was his only concern about getting caught on the way to his house. If Yuri were to try calling Genis, thankfully the boy had promised to cover for him, despite how much he didn’t want to. He made a note to himself that he definitely owed Genis for this. 

As Karol arrives at his house, he quickly replaces the books in his bag with a bundled sleeping bag, a flashlight and other necessities for his camping trip. He did make sure to take a pocket knife that his father had left behind as well, making sure to have some kind of defensive weapon on him if he needed it. (He desperately told himself he wasn’t actually going to need it.) 

As these items were shoved into his bag, he gave pause when he noticed the familiar looking stone that he had found earlier that week when he had been digging around in the garden. The amber-colored stone, when pulled from the bag, sparkled almost unnaturally when the light hit it just right. He had almost forgotten that he had found it. 

Holding the stone in his hand seemed to bring him a bit of comfort as he ran his thumb over the smoothness of the stone. He still couldn’t quite remember why the stone seemed so familiar but if it was good for anything, it was good at lowering his anxiety. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to take it with him as a good luck charm.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt inclined to take the stone with him. Maybe it was some type of intuition or something. 

Well hey, if anything, he could throw it at the bear if the bear were to show up. With that thought in his mind, he shoves the amber-colored stone back into his bag. Slipping a hoodie on and pulling it over his head, he makes sure he has all essentials needed for his trip and with one final deep breath, he places his hand on the doorknob leading outside of his house. 

After a moment’s hesitation, he throws the door open and heads out.

---

Yuri was almost glad that nothing of note seemed to happen up until the end of the school week. There were no fights, his teachers didn’t give him a hard time, the rumors regarding him seemed to slow to a stop and there was no sign of Zagi or any kind of world ending threat. It was almost as if life had gone back to normal, even if it was just for a short amount of time. 

His hand still gave him a little bit of issue but after having Estelle look at it briefly during their lunch period on Friday, she noted that the wound looked as if it were recovering quite nicely so that was a relief, at least. During their short meetups, Yuri did bring up the Quoi Woods and the possibility of something lurking within though Estelle seemed rather confused when she had heard of it. 

“A supposed monster in the Quoi Woods?” She asked with a whisper as she sipped at her cup of juice she had brought along for lunch. “I don’t believe I’ve heard about that.” 

Yuri took a bit of his sandwich as he leaned back in his chair. “I’m gonna guess that’s a good thing then? If you haven’t heard about it, then there probably isn’t anything to worry about, maybe?”

“No, I wouldn’t say that…” Estelle frowns, looking thoughtful. “I just haven’t really looked into the area yet. I can do some research though!”

“Sure, just don’t get caught up in chasing a false lead.” He snorted softly before propping his head on his hand, looking at her curiously. “So, what about Brave Vesperia? Any more leads on them, yet? Any other dreams?” 

Yuri notices how she pauses, putting her cup down thoughtfully. He can see her pondering to herself for a moment. “I’m unsure… My dreams were… Well, I saw someone… but…” 

Yuri doesn’t respond and instead waits for her to gather her thoughts together. He couldn’t imagine having prophetic dreams. Hell, he never really had dreams before aside from the one about his blastia. If he had any other dreams, he certainly didn’t remember them. So he figured that trying to gather one’s thoughts after a dream like that must be tough. So he remained patient. Unfortunately, Estelle simply shakes her head. 

“It was just too blurry. The voice– She sounded familiar! Very familiar!” She notes and Yuri sees a tiny smile appear on her face. “But I couldn’t quite place it and I couldn’t make out her words.” 

“Well… is she tall? Short? Was there a vibe? Color?” 

“...Hmm…” Estelle’s finger moves to her lips, eyes closing as she tries to force herself to remember. “...Short. Red. She wore red. But… you know, that doesn’t mean anything, sadly. She could be wearing anything right now.” 

“Yeah… I guess you have a point.” Yuri nods quietly, moving to sit back in his seat. 

He doesn’t get to relax for much longer, unfortunately, as Hisca and Chastel end up calling him away to help with moving some of the desks of the classroom (despite his protests). They didn’t have much time for any more conversation after that.

Something else he noticed over the next two days was that Flynn had shown up at school looking rather exhausted, with dark circles under his eyes. Still, the boy kept his shining personality as best as he could as he didn’t let the exhaustion slow him down. Still, Yuri wasn’t about to let this stand for long.

“What’s the matter with you?” Yuri had asked that Friday afternoon, after school. 

Since he didn’t need to pick Karol up, he had a little more time to spare before he had to go get ready for work. So, he decided to spend it by slipping into the student council room and thanked whatever God he had to, that Sodia and others weren’t there. Flynn sat alone in the room, looking through some papers regarding some of the plans for the school. When Yuri entered the room, he quickly looked up and gave a small smile as he removed his glasses from his face. 

“Oh, Good afternoon Yuri!” Flynn beams happily, moving to stand up to properly greet him. “You don’t have to hurry home today?” 

Yuri wanders over to stand by Flynn, waving him back down as a silent gesture to let him know he didn’t have to stand up and greet him. He grabbed a nearby chair and slid it over next to Flynn’s and plopped down next to him. “Karol’s got a sleepover today so I have some time to spare.” 

“And you decided to spend it here?” Flynn asks as his smile only grows wider.

“Well, yeah. Is that a problem?” Yuri raises a suspicious eyebrow, earning a tiny chuckle from Flynn.

“No, no, of course not. It’s just that I’m almost done here myself. The workload was light today so… maybe I can walk you home.” 

“You’ve really been hanging on the whole ‘walking me home’ thing.” Yuri reaches over and snatches a pen off of Flynn’s desk, though the blonde haired man quickly catches him by the wrist, fingers once again brushing against the bracelet on his hand. “I think you’ve been watching too many cliche romance movies.”

“I-I have not!” Flynn’s grip remains on Yuri’s wrist as he moves to let their hands rest on the desk between them. Yuri didn’t feel the need to pull away just yet. “I just… miss walking home with you. And I figured it would be a good chance to say hi to Hanks as well.” 

“Well, you were the one who decided to move into the dorms. It’s a bit out of the way to walk me home now.” Yuri reminded him. 

“Well… considering that Niren offered to pay for it and it would move me closer to the school, I didn’t see any reason not to.” Flynn frowns. “You can still move in too, Yuri… Niren told you that the offer was still on the table.” 

“Nah, he’s your legal guardian. Not mine.” 

Niren Fedrock. He was a man who worked very closely with Flynn’s father back when he was alive and on the force. He and Flynn were around nine years old when they met the man for the first time. He was invited over for dinner one day. After that, he could come by to visit and Yuri and Flynn warmed up to and admired the man quite quickly. 

His presence became more frequent after Flynn’s father was killed in the line of duty. He likely felt as if he had to take care of Finath’s wife and child for him. This was confirmed when Niren took official custody of Flynn after his mother passed. Since Yuri was technically under Hanks’ legal custody (and just decided to let the boy have free reign to his own apartment room), Niren couldn’t just take the boy in like he did Flynn. But he still offered some casual guidance here and there. 

Yuri liked Niren, he really did. But he wasn’t about to mooch off of a random man’s kindness like that. He was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. He would make a mental note to go visit the old guy one of these days though. 

“Well, it’s not just me that he’s looking out for, you know. And he knows that Hanks wouldn’t be able to afford it as easily–”

Yuri lets out an exaggerated sigh. “Flynn, can you really see me getting along with some random roommate that they assign me with?” 

“You get along with plenty of people!” Flynn quickly argues, squeezing his wrist. “You don’t know that it’ll be someone you won’t like.” 

“I only get along with like… ten percent of the school’s population.” Yuri reminds him. “It just wouldn’t work. And it’d be weird anyway. I’m comfortable staying in my own apartment.” 

“Then… maybe Niren can help you pay for the apartment–”

“Pass. I’m a big boy. I can handle it.” 

Flynn drops the conversation after that, realizing that he was fighting a losing battle at that point. Instead, he directs his gaze down to their joined hands and runs a thumb over the golden bracelet hanging off of Yuri’s wrist. 

“Where did you get this bracelet from, Yuri?” 

Yuri kind of wished they could go back to fighting over the dorm rooms now. “Oh, I found it at a shop on the way home.” He answers simply but when he moves to pull his hand away, he realizes that Flynn has a firm grip on his wrist. He couldn’t pull away without actually snatching his hand back and… well, that could be seen as suspicious.

“... Everything okay?” Yuri’s question was slow and uncertain as he eyed Flynn cautiously. 

The way that Flynn seemed to be studying the bracelet, eyes narrowed in thought, made Yuri’s heart race. It was just a bracelet, right? At least it should look like that to someone outside of the whole world saving business. So why was Flynn staring at it like he was suspicious of it? After a few minutes of silence, Yuri clears his throat and tries to tug his hand away again. 

“Flynn?” He tries to grab his attention again and it almost comes out as a worried whine. 

“Sorry–” Flynn snaps out of it and loosens his grip though he doesn’t let go completely. “I… was just trying to see if that was real gold or not.” 

Yuri felt like he was about to have a blood sugar crash. He lets out a quiet sigh of relief before chuckling to himself. “Oh, is that all? Well, what do you think? It was like five bucks. Was it a steal?” 

“Don’t know. Couldn’t tell.” Flynn laughs quietly, moving to rub at his eyes. “Maybe I’ll look at it again later when I can see more clearly.” 

“Yeah, speaking of, you look like you haven’t been getting any sleep lately.” Yuri happily takes the chance to guide the conversation away from his blastia. “Everything okay over at the dorms?” 

Flynn rubs at his eyes again and snorts. “Yes, everything is fine. I was just up for most of the night with Sodia.”

“Surprising no one–” Yuri freezes. Blinks. He looks back to Flynn, eyes wide and confused. “Wait, with Sodia?”

“Yes?” 

“...Doing what exactly?” 

There’s a brief moment of silence as Yuri and Flynn are both staring at each other before it finally clicks with Flynn what Yuri was implying and he simply just clicks his tongue. “Yuri, come on now… We weren’t doing anything. We were studying.” Another pause passes and suddenly Flynn is smiling a bit. “I didn’t know you were the jealous type.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on! I was not jealous.” Was he? Yuri wasn’t the type to get jealous… at least, so he thought. “I was just shocked that she possibly had the balls to make a move on you.”

“Well, she didn’t. And I don’t exactly want her to.” Flynn shakes his head with an amused grin on his face. 

“Aw, damn. Don’t let her hear you say that. She might die on the spot.” 

“I think you’re looking too into it. I don’t believe Sodia has a crush on me.” Yuri made a mental note to ask Niren about getting Flynn’s eyes checked again. “... And even if she did, it doesn’t matter. My eye is on someone else at the moment.” 

Way to be obvious about it. 

Yuri’s teasing grin falls as he tries to tug his hand away again but Flynn’s grip tightens again, not wanting to let him escape so easily. “I think you should give her a chance. Isn’t that what people say in situations like these? Everyone deserves a chance.”

“I think that saying is meant more for life in general, not relationships.” Flynn points out, his thumb brushing against Yuri’s palm. “And if that saying were about relationships, then that would mean I would get a chance too, right?” 

“Ah… Right, I guess so.” Yuri pouts. “I guess it’s a dumb saying.” 

“Yuri…” He receives another irritated sigh from his childhood friend and he feels himself being pulled closer. “I wish you would stop avoiding the topic of… of us–”

The sound of a door opening interrupts him, followed by a painfully familiar voice. “Excuse me, Flynn, about tonight–” 

Yuri isn’t sure if he was disappointed that Sodia just barged into the student council room or if he was glad that she interrupted the conversation that was about to happen that he wasn’t quite sure he was ready for yet. For a moment, she looks shocked and surprised to see Yuri there, hand flying to her mouth as if to stop the words from slipping from her mouth but it’s soon replaced by that usual glare that tells him just how unwelcome he was in this room of theirs. Taking the hint, Yuri’s hand yanks from Flynn’s grasp as he jumps to his feet and shoves his hands into his pockets. 

“Welp, I guess that’s my cue to leave.” Yuri snorts, trying to force his voice to stay steady and trying to ignore the ache slowly seeping through his chest. He also tries to ignore the glare from Sodia as she moves past him, making her way towards Flynn.

Flynn, looking rather frustrated at the interruption, nods in greeting to Sodia before looking back to Yuri, eyes softening. “You can wait outside, if you’d like… I’m almost done here and then I can walk you home.” 

“You’re still trying for that?” Yuri quickly waves him off. “I–”

“Actually, Flynn, I needed to have an important word with you.” Sodia interjects, standing up straight with her usual serious expression. 

Flynn’s gaze leaves Yuri and he almost laughs at the pout that the man tried to hide as he stares up at Sodia. “Um… about what, Sodia?” 

The girl stays silent and Yuri tilts his head to try and get a look at her expression but gains nothing from it. Her face remains stern, eyes trained directly on Flynn’s and mouth shut tight. There is a moment where her eyes dart to Yuri and Flynn’s eyes show recognition as they follow her gaze, as if there were some silent communication between them. 

“... You know, you’re allowed to say that it’s a private matter.” Yuri tells them both, rolling his eyes. “Instead of just side-eyeing me like that. Just be like “I don’t want to discuss it in front of him.” ” 

Sodia glares. “Would you even listen?”

Yuri ponders for a moment and grins. “Absolutely not.” 

He almost laughs at the way Sodia bristles where she stands before she whips her head around towards Flynn, almost pleading. “Flynn–”

“Yes, yes…” Flynn sighs, trying to mask his disappointment as he looks back to Yuri. “I guess this might take some time… I can walk you home another day, perhaps?” 

“You are SUPER persistent.” Yuri complains with a groan as he heads for the door. “I’ll think about it.” 

As he moves to leave, Flynn quickly stands up and hurries after him, moving to grab the door from him. As he holds the door open for Yuri, the blonde gives him a tiny, bashful smile as he speaks with a whisper. “...And will you think about…?” 

He trails off, gesturing between the two of them with his hand and Yuri finds himself looking past Flynn and instead letting his gaze fall on Sodia. She’s staring at the two of them, eyes narrowed with disapproval and it just served as a reminder of how much of a bad idea it was for them to cross that line that they had been on for the past few years. Still, he couldn’t ignore how much his chest warmed at the idea, no matter how much of a mistake it would be. 

After a moment’s pause, Yuri just sighed. “...Look. I’d rather not talk about this here, okay?” He gestures behind him towards Sodia, a silent message between them of I don’t want to talk about this in front of her . Thankfully, Flynn seems to understand this but he has that dumb kicked puppy look of rejection and Yuri began to speak before he could stop himself.

“...How about this?” Yuri’s words came out as a defeated sigh. “What if… you came to pick me up after work tonight? I’ll be getting off at around 10 so… maybe we could talk then…?” 

Yuri watched as a range of emotions filled Flynn’s face. First was surprise as his blue eyes widened, and then hope as his smile washed over his face… but then the disappointment kicked in, followed with a bit of regret and Yuri instantly knew that it likely wasn’t happening. 

“Busy?” Yuri guesses, shoving his hand into his pocket.

“...Unfortunately.” Flynn frowns. “I’m not sure if I’ll be done in time…”

“What are you doing anyway?” Yuri frowns. “If it’s studying, you can just like… pause, right? You’ll have all weekend…” 

Before Flynn could even think to answer, Sodia cuts in. “Flynn.” She says, reminding him that she’s still there and Yuri couldn’t help but feel a bitter taste appear in his mouth. 

“Geez, wait your damn turn…” He grumbles before moving to head out the door. “Fine, whatever. Just text me and lemme know if you’re able to pick me up. I don���t care.” 

“I–I will!” Flynn stammers, nodding quickly. “...Let you know, that is. I’ll text you as soon as I know. I’m sorry, Yuri.”

“No skin off my nose.” And with that, Yuri didn’t bother to wait for a response before he turned and hurried down the hall. 

A part of him did consider going back to listen in on the conversation between Flynn and Sodia as Flynn turned and headed back into the student council room. But at the same time, he did not care in the slightest over what he and Sodia had to talk about. 

It was true that he thought Sodia would be a better match for the man than he ever could be, even if Flynn thought otherwise. 

That didn’t mean he wanted to stick around and see Sodia try her hardest to make the moves on the poor student council president. 

Plus, just being around her gave him the worst kind of stomachache. 

---

For a Friday night, Yuri’s shift at work was long and slow with time moving by with an almost painful drag. He did what he could to keep himself busy on the floor but a lot of their customers were more interested in buying a drink and talking with Judith rather than dining in with Yuri as their waiter. Not to say that Yuri hadn’t had any tables that night: He had a few, one of them being Patty, of course, but it was becoming clear that he would be lacking in tips tonight. 

Still, some money was better than no money. He only wished that he had more to do in the restaurant so he could distract his brain from wandering off. He had plenty of things going through his head. He had sent Karol a text earlier that night to let him know if he needed anything, though he did try not to seem so overbearing about it. But he did wonder if the boy was having fun. Considering he hadn’t heard back yet, he could only assume so. The thought put him at ease, at least a little bit, and Yuri had gotten this Genis’ number in case something happened. So one way or another, someone would contact him if something happened. 

However, this was not the only reason why he kept anxiously peeking at his phone at every chance he got. Part of him knew that he shouldn’t hold his breath about Flynn being able to pick him up. Sometimes Flynn got so caught up in his work (or whatever the hell he was doing) that he forgot to eat sometimes. So Yuri knew better than to expect Flynn to actually remember to pick him up. Plus, if he did show up, that meant that Yuri would have to follow up on his word and he would finally have to face what Flynn has been reaching for all this time.

And he still wasn’t sure about his answer. But, they were both about to be adults, right? He was capable of having an actual conversation about everything… right? And it would feel nice to try and be honest about something right now, all things considered. 

“You seem distracted.” Judith points out as she finishes pouring a patron another drink, managing to keep eye contact with Yuri instead of on the drink she was pouring. Of course, it was like second nature to her. “You keep checking your phone like a mother hen. Should I start thinking of confiscating it?” 

It was a tease, of course. He knew she had no intention of taking the phone away but Yuri grimaced nonetheless. “I’m not that distracted.” A lie, and a weak one at that. “Just thinking about how boring it is on my end.”

“Mm, I suppose the dining room is slow, for a Friday night…” Her eyes scan the dining room as she moves to grab another drink to mix up. “I do agree, though. It is pretty quiet here without Karol.” 

“I mean, yeah. He’s way more talkative than both of us.” Yuri snorts quietly. “I’m sure it’s quieter than usual because the Old Man isn’t here either.” 

“Mm, you do have a point. Seems like everyone’s got something going on nowadays.” 

“You sound jealous.” 

“Aren’t you?” Judith raises an eyebrow, only earning a shrug in return. “Maybe we should go out into the city one of these days.” 

“I don’t exactly have much free time anymore.” Yuri explains as he moves to lean against the counter. 

Judith finishes mixing up a drink and pours it into a cup before sliding it to another patron, who happily takes it, slapping some cash on the counter. She takes it, counting through it carefully before moving to put it into the cash register before she moves over to the edge of the bar to continue the conversation with Yuri. 

“I suppose being a senior in High School with a part time job is already hard enough.” She guesses with a smile. “But surely you’re not pushing yourself, right?” 

That sounded more like a threat than concern. God, if only Judith knew. “I’m fine. I’m already dealing with Flynn fretting over me. I don’t need you to start too.” 

“You know…” Judith starts, moving to clasp her hands together before resting her chin on them. Her voice holds a feigned innocence to it and it’s enough to tell Yuri that he’s in for it now. “You always talk about how hard Flynn works… Have you ever considered that it’s bad if the guy who supposedly works himself to death is worried about how hard you’re working yourself?” 

Yep, here it comes. Yuri narrows his eyes for a moment before moving to step away. “No, he just worries about anyone that isn’t himself.” 

“Oh, that also sounds like someone I know.” The woman giggles to herself before her expression falls into something a bit more soft. “Just keep it in mind, alright? Flynn isn’t the only one concerned.”

“You know, Judy, if you’re worried about me, just say so.” Yuri forces a smirk. “You don’t have to hide behind Flynn–” 

“Who said I was hiding? Unlike you, I’m very intune with my feelings. But it’s not just me either.” 

Before Yuri could ask for clarification on who she was talking about, the bell to the door of the restaurant suddenly chimed, indicating customers. Judith and Yuri both looked up towards the door and upon seeing an older woman with a child wander in, Yuri took it as his cue to drop the conversation for now and get back to work. 

“My saviors~” He teasingly grins to Judith (who simply snorts with a shake of her head) before hurrying over to the pair, sporting a rather friendly smile as he does so. “Hey, guys, welcome. Have a seat, I’ll get you some menu–”

He pauses when he gets closer to the two. The young kid, sporting a blue t-shirt and shorts with messy white hair, he didn’t recognize but the older woman standing with him, short white hair and wearing a button up coat with boots with a stern expression on her face, was one who was pretty familiar to him. He had heard that his history professor had a little brother, so seeing Professor Sage's little brother right next to her? He could see the resemblance. 

“Well hey there, Professor Sage.” Yuri drawls, with a lazy grin as he moves to grab two menus. “I haven’t seen you here before. Is this the famous little brother I hear people talking about?” 

Upon looking at the kid, he notices that he’s probably around Karol’s age and he couldn’t help but wonder if the two knew each other. The kid, however, did not seem very happy to be there as he stood between the two of them, rigid and stiff with fists clenched at his side. He was also staring hard at the ground, avoiding any and all eye contact with Yuri and the professor.

Professor Sage gives him a tiny nod of greeting, quickly giving his greeting a smile of acknowledgement. “Yuri, it’s nice to see you. I have to admit, I was surprised when I heard you were working here. But it seems like you’re settling well enough.” She does reach out and puts a firm hand on the kid’s shoulder, and he flinches heavily under her touch and Yuri can’t help but raise an eyebrow. 

“You heard I started working here? Who’d you hear that from?” He hadn’t exactly made it public knowledge yet. Not that he was planning a big reveal or anything. It just wasn’t anyone’s business. Not even Flynn knew where he worked until today. 

Yuri took a step back, intending to lead the two to a table while they talked but the professor and her pale as a ghost little brother remained rooted where they stood. “Oh, thank you, Yuri but we aren’t actually planning on eating in.” Yuri watches as she smiles down at her little brother and– oh, that’s the smile she uses when someone in class is in big trouble.

You have my condolences, little guy. 

“...Um. Okay?” Yuri slowly puts down the menus as he looks between the two of them. “Then… how can I help you? Do you guys need the bathroom…? It’s in the back.”

He notices how she squeezes the kid’s shoulder. “Genis? Why don’t you let Yuri know why we’re here?”

“Genis?” Yuri’s lips fall open a bit, and instantly, he’s looking past the professor and Genis towards the front door, looking for that familiar tuft of brown hair. Karol was, unfortunately, nowhere in sight. “Genis… You’re Karol’s friend, right? Where’s Karol?” 

Genis’ fists clench tighter as his elder sister nudges him forward, a movement that was gentle but also firm. Her smile is gone now as she glances up to Yuri and he’s suddenly filled with dread. 

“Karol… is… camping out in the Quoi Woods for the night. Our friend Anise dared him to and– And I told him that he was stupid for it but he didn’t listen and–” Genis finally forced himself to look up to Yuri, eyes wide in shame. 

Yuri couldn’t even process it. His mind seemingly shut off as he stared dumbly at the professor and Genis. 

Karol was camping. Camping in the Quoi Woods. Camping in the Quoi Woods where there was a supposed sighting of a monster. Or a bear. Or something. Karol was there. By himself. Karol snuck off without telling him. Karol could be in danger. Karol was–!

Yuri didn’t even realize he was moving until he was behind the bar, hand shooting for the computer so he could quickly clock out, throwing his apron off in the process. Judith must have picked up on how pale he looked because she quickly reached out and grabbed his shoulder. 

“Yuri, what’s wrong?” She frowns, concern clear on her face as he suddenly rips himself from her grasp. “Yuri?” 

“Karol snuck off so I’m going to go grab him before he–” Gets himself killed. “--gets lost or hurt.” The words hurt his throat as he moves past Judith. “Sorry, it’s an emergency, Can you–”

Judith holds her cellphone up immediately. “I’ll text someone to come and finish your shift.” She frowns, her casual attitude from before turned serious. “Text me when you find him. Please.” 

“Yeah.” Yuri breathes out, trying to keep calm as he hurries out the door. As he passes the professor and Genis, he hesitates and he has half a mind to scold Genis because what was he thinking, letting Karol run off like that?! But the Professor seemingly reads his mind and quickly pushes him towards the door.

“Go on. I am perfectly capable of scolding Genis. Please expect a written apology as well when you return back to class on Monday.” Something about her words indicated that the written apology was the least of the kid’s problems right now. 

He decided to leave it to her. 

As he ran out the door, he let out a whistle towards the makeshift dog house right outside of the restaurant, calling for his furry partner. Repede had barely stuck his head out before Yuri was running by, bending down and scooping the dog up as he took off in a sprint towards the park. As he sprints down the street, trying to remember what path to take to get to the park from there, he hears his ring tone ring out and his phone is out in an instant. 

Seeing Estelle’s name on the caller ID fills him with dread. When he answers, he’s already breathing hard from the running, earning a quiet whine of protest from his pup companion. “Estelle–!”

“Oh– Yuri! Good evening!” Estelle greets, sounding a bit surprised over the phone by Yuri’s heavy breaths. “I’m sorry for bothering you, is this a bad time? I was calling to let you know that I was able to find something about the Quoi Wood–”

“Estelle–” Yuri interrupts her, having to slow down just slightly as he skids around the corner of the street. He pauses to gain an idea of where he was before deciding to continue north. “ Please tell me that the rumors about a monster are just rumors!” 

Estelle hesitates, likely confused as to why Yuri was behaving in such a way. “Um… Well… It seems like there’s a possibility that there’s something strange there. I found reports of a strange phenomenon and I think there could be–”

Another stab of dread shoots through him as Yuri yells out before she can finish her sentence. “DAMMIT!” He spits out as he stumbles to a stop and doubles over for a moment. This earns a tiny squeak of surprise from Estelle as she quickly speaks up again.

“Yuri, what’s wrong?!”

He has to take a moment to control his breathing as he quickly begins his running pace again, pulling the phone back up to his ear. “Estelle, Karol snuck off and is camping in those woods right now . I don’t know why but I need to get there right now.”  

Estelle falls silent as Yuri spots a street sign, showing the park wasn’t too far from his location. He sighs in relief, thankfully that he was heading the right direction. The moon was shining bright in the sky, which thankfully illuminated his path but everything looked so different at night that it was easy for him to lose his way if he wasn’t careful. 

“Yuri–” Estelle speaks up again, voice coming through the speaker with that same determined firmness she usually showed when she made her mind up about something. “Do you have your cloak and mask?” 

“Wh-What? No, Estelle, I don’t have time–” 

“Will Hanks let me into your apartment if I ask?” 

“What?” Yuri glances around the area and spots another sign nearby. To the west. He makes the turn and keeps his pace. “I mean– Maybe. Is there time for that though?” 

“I’ll go and get your cloak and mask and I’ll meet you in the woods.” Estelle explains carefully and Yuri picks up a hint of nervousness in her tone. “I’ll come as fast as I can but in the meantime, you have to find Karol before something else does!” 

Yuri, despite the fear settling in his gut, can’t help but give a tiny smile at that. “...Right. Right, yeah, I will. Don’t worry. Thanks, Estelle.” 

“Please do not thank me. Just promise me one thing, Yuri. Be careful and don’t let anyone see your face, if you can help it.” Her voice is stern and serious and he wonders if there’s something more to her words than that. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to dig into it right now.

“I don’t plan on stopping to have a conversation with anyone so no problem.” Yuri breathes out. “Check the top dresser for the cloak and the mask. Thanks again, Estelle. I’ll see you soon.”

“Be careful, Yuri!”  

With a tap of a button on his phone, the call ends and Yuri shoves the phone back into his pocket before clenching his left fist. “Okay, Repede, think you can sniff Karol out when we get to the park?” 

Repede perks up at him, giving him a single wag of the tail before giving a bark of agreement. This earns a grin from Yuri as he glances down at the Bodhi Blastia on his left wrist. He notices a warm glow begin to emit from the core within, followed by a surge of power.

“Awesome. Let’s go find the Captain.” He grins and with a flex of his left arm, a familiar and warm flash of light shoots from the core and envelopes his body.  

===

Ages in the Chapter by the way: Raven: 35 Rita: 15 Judith: 20 Patty: 11 I decided to make Judith a bit older than Yuri in this AU. She just has that older big sis vibe to be honest. Also, in case you haven't noticed, I REALLY love the Big Brother Yuri / Little Brother Karol dynamic so much, they made me so emotional in game bro. I also wish I could promise that the next chapter will be shorter but I legitimately have no idea LOL

[buggyzwrld]

method of modern love (highschool AU! henry creel/gn! reader) - chap 1

chapter 1 - cloudbusting.

(chap namesake: cloudbusting by kate bush. i love her.)

fic summary: you have it all, popularity, good grades, and at the top of the social hierarchy of hawkins high. never once have you ever needed help, you got it all on your own, and you certainly never messed with those considered beneath you.

however, that all changes when one night, your mom suddenly never comes back home from work, and her disappearance flips your life as you know it, upside down. you reluctantly seek the help of the weird girl, jane hopper, her d&d playing friends, and the supposed wizard boy with powers, henry.

angst, fluff, enemies to lovers, reader is an ass, gud stuff.

a/n: hey guys! my name is bug and I’m not very new to tumblr, however, I’ve lurked so much and I wanted to write my own story! So this is one of my first ever st fanfictions, constructive criticism is welcomed, i have two chapters so far of this fic! I’ve had this AU in my head for awhile! :)

Some notes about this au for less confusing purposes:

Takes place in Season 4 time frame, 1986, in Hawkins.

Some canonical events, such as Hopper’s “death,” Will & El moving to California, Henry’s age, Vecna, Chrissy’s death, etc. did not happen for the sake of this universe.

The lab massacre happened, and this is how Henry & El escape blah blah, he struggles with this, blah, blah lol. 

Season 3’s finale did happen (minus Hopper death), and El lost her powers. Billy's death happened also. 

Henry is 18 for the sake of a highschool AU, and a senior, he & El live with Hopper, and assume the names Jane Hopper & Henry Hopper, taking on a big brother/little sister relationship.

This is basically what I imagined would happen if Henry wasn’t batshit crazy (well, actually he still kind of is but... lawful evil maybe??) , and assumed a normal life. I’m explaining too much lol, but I hope y'all enjoy! :)

Reader is gender neutral, assumes "they" pronouns so the story is accessible to everyone to read! You can replace the pronouns with whatever you like, and reader can be as fem, masc, or in between as you like.) 

this was written before vol. 2! so, if there are reveals that aren't stated here, remember this is just an au. thank you so much for reading :) !

~

The warm, humid spring air shrouded itself through the open windows, as the curtains danced lightly with the calm breeze in a tango. You stuck your head out the window, and took a big, heavy inhale of the air, and you could feel it. 

 This was your year.

        You’d been saying it since January 1st, 1986, as soon as the clock struck midnight, this was your year. Looking over in your bedroom vanity, you smiled confidently, feeling content with what you saw staring back. Yes, you had good grades, you were considered popular, attractive, you quite honestly had all a teenager could want in their high school life, right? However, these things didn’t come easily to you, you worked hard for them, you fought tooth, nail, and sacrificed much of yourself for your position you acquired right now. You were finally considered one of “them,” enough to be of their social caliber, enough of their stature, and you knew now you never had to worry again about reckless teasing. 

        You had it all, and you looked with slight remorse upon the ones who were once in your place. Sure, you could feel a small empathy for them, you were no stranger to the way they were treated, but you kept it to yourself. 

        Shaking your thoughts, you finished the rest of your morning routine, brushing your teeth, fixing your hair the way you liked, putting in as much hair spray to maintain the style. Yes, to assume the popularity role, you had to conform just a bit, as much as you hated to admit, but anything to keep up appearances and not fall back in the deep end of being at the bottom of the social totem pole. 

        Walking into the kitchen, you saw your sweet, tired mother looking over the bills of the house, she smiled small at you, her lips pursed, and you could see the eyebags forming under her eyes, from closing up the shop late last night. 

“Good morning, love,” She greeted, “you look awfully cute this morning.” 

        You looked your outfit up and down, blue jean shorts, with a brown button up shirt that had a funky pattern on it, tucked into the waistline, “I always look cute mom, what’s new?

        She chuckled, “Well, that’s certainly not a lie.” She went back to sorting through the bills, organizing, writing things down in her tiny green notebook she kept for important matters. You popped two pieces of bread in the toaster, and dug around in the refrigerator for some strawberry jelly, when you heard her emit a deep sigh. 

“What’s the bills looking like this month?” You turned around, face concerned, and eyebrows furrowing, as you knew the stress was formed on her face.

        “Not good, pumpkin, you might have to help me out more in the parlor this month, and maybe,” She looked off to the side, “get a part time job elsewhere, too.” 

        You stared deeply at her, and gulped, you didn’t mind helping in the pizza parlor, after all it was a family business, and every one of your friends thought it was cool that your mom owned the hottest pizza joint in Hawkins. To keep them happy, you even cooked and offered them free food, at your mom’s expense. But the feeling was different, you had it all right? That's what you always told yourself. Your friends, who had two parents with nice jobs, a nice house, a nice neighborhood… you contemplated your thoughts, but pushed them out of your head. You were as good as anyone else, whether or not you had to put on a façade, you did it just as well. 

        “Okay, but my ACT tests are coming up soon,” You played with the beltline of your shorts as you spoke, “and you know this is important for my future in college..” 

        “Yes, honey, I understand of course.” She smiled weakly, and you couldn’t help but feel a feeling of guilt form in your heart, your toast popping out of the oven. You didn’t even want it anymore, but you smothered it with jelly and grabbed your keys, and bid your mom goodbye as you left for school. 

        Starting up your fairly modest car, which was fancy by no means, you drove to school, popping in a “Tears for Fears” tape, “Head Over Heels,” to play first. You bopped your head slightly to the beat, shoving the first piece of toast in your mouth, quickly eating it, tapping your finger to the beat against the steering wheel as you maintained a steady pace on the road. 

        Finally, you reached the Hawkins High parking lot, the brown school now in view, with students walking in to begin classes. However, as you were only paying attention to the students walking in, with the music blaring, you failed to notice almost hitting a girl, and a few other kids with your car. 

        “Hey!” You heard a loud yell, and you braced for the inevitable, as you knew it was possibly too late to put on the brake without some type of collision. However, your car abruptly stopped without you hitting the brake, and you looked over to see that weird girl Angela always bullied, Jane, and her ragtag group of weird friend boys. She stared you down intently, however behind her you noticed another figure you had only seen around slightly, Henry. He pierced you with a look of resentment you’d never seen before, and you could’ve sworn you saw some blood dribble from his nose, however he quickly took his sleeve across his face. 

        “Hey! You could’ve killed her!” You heard one of the boys yell, Dustin Henderson, you just rolled your eyes, not interested in offering an apology or arguing with a freshman. 

“What an ass…” The other boy, Mike Wheeler, muttered as he watched you drive off, the others agreeing, making sure Jane was okay, and continued their walk on into the school building. 

        You pulled into a parking space, pulled your keys out, leaned back into the seat and emitted a deep, heavy sigh. You already had a run in with those weirdos, now what was next? Hopefully, nothing else surprising that you couldn’t act out your rehearsed emotions. 

        You heard a knock on your passenger side door, and you looked over to see none other than Chrissy Cunningham. She smiled brightly at you as she opened your passenger door and sat in the seat. “Ready for another day, (___)?” Her cheeks brightened as she smiled, eyes twinkling. 

“If you say so,” you retorted sarcastically, smirking slightly, “I just had a sticky run in with the Hellfire weirdos and their supposed wizard, but to be fair, I almost hit her with my car.” 

        “(___!)” She exclaimed suddenly, “you’ve got to pay more attention than that when driving..” She stated the obvious, but I just gave her an “I know, I know” look, and she giggled a little. Chrissy was extremely sweet, one of the only few of the popular group that you truly felt was genuine, and that you felt had actual emotions. You weren’t sure how she fell in with such the likes as Angela, and her crowd; cold, ruthless, mean, and calculating, sometimes it made you shudder with the type of antics they would pull. 

        “Well, let’s get going,” You huffed, “we don’t want to miss the wonderful Mr. Brown’s Biology II class!” She shot you a “really?” look, as you knew it was her least favorite class. Although you were the age of a junior, you were graduating early this year due to how fast you excelled in your studies in your previous years, taking all senior classes. You were the salutatorian of the class as you knew so far, and this frustrated you. You had no idea who was valedictorian, but you knew you wanted to surpass them, it was only fair.  

        As you walked into class, you scanned the area. The regular people here of course, Bobbie, Ariel, Jamie… you made it to your seat, the middle of the classroom, second seat from the window, third row, you remembered. However, as you sat down, you took notice of the blonde locks, slightly lean figure, and blue eyes that sat in the seat directly next to you. 

Henry. 

Henry Hopper to be exact.

        He made eye contact with you, as he must’ve felt you staring, shooting an uninteresting look as if you were a mere fly on the wall, and you sneered at him back. 

        How did you not notice? You’ve been in this class since January, it was now March, and you never noticed Henry sitting beside you? The incident this morning must’ve made you take notice, Henry was extremely quiet and never spoke a peep to anyone, besides his sister, and that whole crew. You still stared at the side of his profile in disgusting curiosity as he was now doodling something in his notebook, you taking note, peered over, it looked to be a spider. You shuddered. You hated those ugly creatures. He glared at you again. You glared back.

        Freak, you thought, turning your attention elsewhere.

        “Alright! Alright! Everyone!” Mr. Brown loudly exclaimed as he walked in the classroom, slamming the door shut, “today I’ve got something interesting for you all!”

        You noticed Henry quickly flipping his page to a clean sheet, dammit, why were you noticing everything he was doing today? It pissed you off. 

        Everyone sat up begrudgingly at this news, whatever Mr. Brown, who gave 60-questioned tests, deemed “exciting,” couldn’t have been an amusement park field trip. 

        “Don't look so miserable!” He smiled, pushing his big brown glasses on his face as he whirled around, and wrote on the chalkboard, “Science PROJECT!”

        He whirled back around and continued, “Today I decided, instead of another BORING lecture, to go ahead and begin our frog dissections!” Everyone looked at each other excitedly, hoping he would let them choose their partners. Chrissy and I made eye contact and she smiled, while I mouthed, “Pick me,” with a little wink. 

        “However, most unfortunate for you all,” He smirked devilishly, “I will pick your partners, wouldn’t be high school without the uncomfortable social aspects, now would it?”  

Loud groans emitted from the class, specifically from the back, from Eddie Munson, the 2 year super senior. 

        “So! I put all your name on these little popsicle sticks, and arranged to pull two out from this hat!” He chortled a laugh, “Now, let’s see who’s our first two victims on the list!”

He shook the black top hat, everyone antsy in anticipation, hoping, praying they would be with a friend, or their hot crush, or a decent partner at least. “First,” he pulled out two sticks, “Christina and Laurie!” A small “yes!” could be heard from the girls. 

“Second..” He pulled out two more, “Chrissy and. . .”

Your throat tightened with anticipation, hoping it would be you. 

        “Eddie!” Your heart sunk, you looked up at her, and she looked like a doe in headlights, looking to the back of the class, seeing Eddie roll his eyes a bit, mutter something, but nothing too judgmental, surprisingly. She then gave you a small smile, to which you could not return. 

        This went on for a few more names, your name not being called, and suddenly your stomach dropped with anticipation, why was it taking so long? Dammit, just call my name already, you thought. 

        Maybe, you begin to think, I’ll work on this solo, I wouldn’t mind that. You smiled at the thought, but the small hope came crashing down at Mr. Brown’s next names uttered. 

“(Name) and….” He flipped the popsicle around as if he couldn’t read his own handwriting, squinting as he slowly spoke, “...Henry.”  

        Your eyes shot up from their daze of being out of space, and you looked over to the boy sitting beside you in utter disgust, he looked at you indifferently first, but after seeing your expression, he returned the look back. 

        How lovely.

(edit: chapter 2 here)

[dontfeeltoohot]

Sicktember Day 2 - Homesick - Steddie (Sick Eddie) - Rockstar AU

This is the first time in his career that Eddie wants to go home during the middle of a tour. It’s not that he wants to stop, necessarily, but he misses Steve and Eggnog; their little black cat, so much it hurts. They’ve been married for seven months, making this the first tour since tying the knot. 

It’s not helping that he’s running a fever, hovering around 100 degrees. The musician’s been feeling kind of sluggish all day, but now, sitting in the airport with his sweatshirt hood up to obscure his face, Eddie thinks he might be close to throwing a toddler-like tantrum. He wants to go home. It’s December and snowing, causing delays to a lot of flights, including their own. 

Gareth, Jeff and Tim have been battling on Mario Kart with their handheld game systems, sitting against a wall near a large window. Chelsea, Zack and Jake are talking about logistics for being late to a venue and what they may need to do. 

Eddie’s sitting alone in an uncomfortable plastic seat, knees pulled up to his chest. His stomach feels disgusting and a headache is throbbing on the right side of his head. Everything feels too hot and too cold at once, his head feels swimmy and he feels far away, like he's being pulled from his body.

His phone starts buzzing in his jacket pocket, so he fumbles for it. Steve’s name pops up and he swipes the button to answer. 

“Hello?” 

The guitarist's voice sounds exhausted, even he himself can hear it. His words come out like molasses, slow and stuck together. 

“Hey Ed’s! Still stuck in the airport?” 

“Yeah, uh…flight’s delayed two hours.” 

“…are you okay? You sound rough.” 

“I uh, I don’t feel so great. Trying really hard not to just…be stupid about it. Kind of wish I was home,” his voice cracks on the last word and he winces. “Sorry.” 

“Shh, don’t be sorry. You must be feeling pretty bad,” sympathy and worry covers Steve’s words, making the older man’s chest aches. Fuck he wants his husband. He wants Steve, and Eggnog, and he wants to lay down with them and sleep off whatever bug he's caught.

“Yeah, I guess. Think I have a fever,” he shrugs, forgetting Steve can’t see him.

As he talks, a couple of people in their mid twenties walk up, grinning. Zack’s up instantly, ready to step in. Eddie looks up, frowning. 

“Hey guys, I’m uh, I’m on the phone, if you don’t mind.” He always feels like a jackass for telling people he can’t take photos or talk, but today he can’t be bothered, not when he feels like death warmed over. 

“Oh, sorry man. Honestly we didn’t see, we’ll leave you to it.” 

Deflating, grateful they’re cool enough to drop it, the long haired man talks with Steve until he starts feeling his eyes shut. 

“Steve, M’gonna try and take a nap,” he mumbles, coughing into his shoulder. “I love you and miss you so so much.” 

“Get some sleep baby. Hopefully you’ll board soon and then you can get to an actual hotel. Call me when you land. Love you too.” 

The second he hangs up, the fans are back. So much for being cool. Blinking, Eddie turns to look at them again before standing- might as well just take the damn photo and get it done with. He doesn’t feel like having a story of him being an asshole begin to circulate everywhere. He feels lightheaded once he’s upright, but he pushes the feeling away. 

“Sorry, we’re big fans, saw you last night! We just wanted to get a photo.” 

“Right, yeah. Do you want me to grab the other guys?” 

“Just you is fine, if that okay? They look kind of into whatever they’re playing.” 

Nodding, the guitarist calls Zack over to snap a photo, who looks more than a little annoyed. Eddie’s aware it’s not because he’s asking for the bodyguard to take it, it’s the fact the photo’s being taken at all. As they all get closer, Eddie grimaces. 

“Just a heads up, I’m kind of sick, so sorry if I spread my germs or whatever,” he says guiltily, putting an arm around one of the guys shoulders. 

They take a photo and Eddie signs one of the girls shirts that happens to be an old Corroded Coffin one. That’s pretty cool, he has to admit. When they leave, he sits back down, rubbing his face. Six more shows and he’s home.