#got to bed in your freshly stocked dorm

[ihopeinevergetsoberr]

the counterpart

• chapter 1 — a welcome threatening stir

rating: explicit. please don’t skip straight to the (future) smut parts though, i’m currently teaching myself how to play chess just for this fic /hj

word count: 4,5k

pairing: viktor x fem!reader (no use of ‘y/n’)

cw: alcohol, occasional cussing, reader is a smoker (she plays chess and lives in the 90s, how do you expect her to have healthy lungs in these conditions?). a LOT of tension, viktor is a certified brat tamer. i think that’s it — please come yell at me if i missed anything. basically just a silly little chess rivals (sort of) au.

i am finally writing this multichapter and i hope it will be a fun read for you and an excellent torture for me. i have a vision but i don’t know how to make shit perfectly executed. we’ll see how this goes. an ao3 link will be added later. any feedback is highly appreciated.

part 2

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You weren’t obsessed with him. 

With the way his tongue would click against his teeth so astutely irritating — a gesture you grew to define as some brief foreplay before said appendage touched his palate precisely one tortuous time, whispering a victorious ‘check’. With a crease dissecting his forehead — a rare occasion you managed to grasp only twice: the first time being your failed attempt to capture his queen, and the second — a recent one, at that — being a foolish way you’ve lost a freshly converted into a rook pawn: concurrently the most humiliating way to jeopardize an intellectual sparring. 

You weren’t obsessed with his bizarre contemplative humming, nor with his Czech last name — needless to mention the disheveled mayhem of dark hair: Viktor was just a mere enigma you fancied to occasionally demerge — sneakily, patiently, with a positive passion to it. Habitually in a private ambiance of either his or your dorm room, though actually more commonly his — something about it simply screamed peace, as contradictory as that sounds. Sweetly quiet, relatively neat, with a never properly made bed being the only truly concerning mess in it.

That apartment was the embodiment of a grandmaster’s mind, and it certainly had all the chances of belonging to one at some point: if only he kept up with the meticulous tactics you were (secretly) so jealous about. 

“Envy is a waste of time,” he unkindly reminded you one particularly languid evening, “you should pursue ways to expand your knowledge — not to contract them with such trivialities.” 

That reproach got into your ambitious head. Call it a reality check or a simple first impression — since that encounter was also the first one you two had ever shared.

Though could someone really blame you? You didn’t need humbling. Well, not any more of that crude one, at the very least — a local college chess club had more than enough of it to offer. You could consume their disdain for weeks and it still wouldn’t make them run out of it — they had plenty in stock specifically for women. That much was obvious the second you appeared before those arrogant, prejudiced fools. You stepped in there innocently hoping to enroll, but stormed off with a genuine intention to commit homicide — a manslaughter, to be precise, and god weren’t you going to be merciful. 

‘You can’t enroll without a rating,’ hissed that bespectacled, caricaturely tall boy — all heavily starched collar, stupid chequered tie and a handful of dirty blonde hair plastered across his forehead. 

Bullshit, you thought, gathering every last ounce of your forced politeness, who needs a rating to enroll into a college fucking chess club? 

‘We don’t accept amateurs,’ assented his not any less grimy interlocutor, his expression a tad bit more bearable. ‘Please, leave,’ he demanded, lancing your face with his hostile eyes. 

Well, it’s a good thing you accept ill-mannered bastards, you almost muttered, fists clenching hard into a white-knuckled disaster. 

And perhaps you were even willing to negotiate, to have their best players all lined up in front of you — each waiting for a turn to be relentlessly put in his place by you; and you would certainly show them — quick, efficient and contemplative. You would force them into submission — professionally so, in a way that would make them all wonder whether the next Judit Poglar herself has decided to bless them with her presence. 

Because, sure; you were certainly many things — an excellent mind, a trickster, a fanatic, but that list never included an amateur. The mere fact someone even dared to insult you in such a way — and without even sparing you one game of chess — was, frankly, deeply humiliating. 

So you decided to let your pride win. Walked out of that damned club with an ostentatious huff, heels clacking loud enough to muffle their demeaningly misogynistic brouhaha — a tacit protest, an addendum to your passive-aggressive ‘good luck, gentlemen’. 

They didn’t want you — fine, whatever, you didn’t want them either. You’ll find yourself a counterpart soon — not any less intelligent, and, most importantly, a respectful one. They’ll come crawling back to you once you gain a rating, mourning their loss and pathetically begging for sweet mercy. You could already imagine the holes rubbed through the nice fabric of their dress pants from all the kneeling you’ll make them do. 

Besides, Jayce had already promised to introduce you to someone decent. ‘He’s sweet,’ he assured you, a friendly arm wrapped around your tense shoulder. ‘Incredibly smart,’ he proceeded with his wholehearted praise, proud grin so wide the corners of his mouth were definitely hurting. ‘Somewhat awkward,’ he mused, raising one eyebrow in consideration, ‘though I’m not entirely sure it’s awkwardness, per se, Viktor is simply… pensive.’

Viktor. Your eyes squeezed shut, offering the restless imagination a brief opportunity to brainstorm. A competent, pensive and sweet chess lover: what would his temper turn out to be like? Does he have a rating yet? What if he’s already playing professionally? Perhaps he even has a title? 

Jayce’s next comment didn’t offer you much help though. 

‘He’s handsome too,’ he whispered, a shit-eating smirk wiped instantly off his pleased physiognomy. Elbows become offensive weapons between the ribs of unfortunate matchmakers, you see. 

Either way: the deal was sealed. You were going to meet Viktor the next chance you get, and Jayce’s upcoming birthday has provided you with precisely that convenience. 

It still happened rather spontaneously — you can’t mentally prepare yourself for an encounter you don’t quite know what to expect of. Sure, Jayce’s complaisant flattery was still at your service — a source not exactly reliable, yet somewhat welcomed nonetheless: though only because you lacked any other information about this Viktor persona.

But you decided not to upset a dear friend on his birthday. Acting like Jayce was bearable to be around was a part of your gift, after all. 

Unfortunately, the fact he was born on an awfully steamy July day wasn’t helping you accomplish that; you squinted, drowning a glass of that disgustingly warm bourbon, a couple of melted ice cubes in it slightly diluting the once-rich taste of liquor. The man of the hour had quickly dissolved into a mess of infuriatingly noisy people after only reserving you a quick hello, shiny eyes already evidently tipsy — either from all the attention or the contentious quality of the booze this bar had to offer. 

You didn’t dare to complain. The tab was on a birthday boy, and you knew better than to look a gift horse in the mouth. Knew better, yet still stared right at Jayce’s laughing physiognomy, grin so blindingly toothy it had you regretting ever sojourning this feast of life. Not that you had anything against attending birthday celebrations; but a cramped bar, a cheap drink and not a single minute spent with a man you came here for weren’t exactly your ideal perception of said… festivity. Not to mention that Viktor was terribly late — though your darling mutual acquaintance was in no state to properly introduce you to him anyway. You slipped out of your bar stool, rubbing an erratic little pattern into the weary skin of each heavy eyelid — but the sleepiness didn’t magically dissolve under the persistent pressure of your fingers. If there existed a thing you hated more than cocky men and bad booze — then it certainly had to be feeling hot, and this awful place has kindly reminded you of precisely that long forgotten loathing; air so sticky it was melting your brain into a tired, dysfunctional mush. 

Somehow you managed to find an exit before the headache became borderline unbearable, letting the evening greet you with a chilly slap on precisely that slick place where a damp blouse kept clinging onto your sweaty back. Summer sure was relentless this year — the outdoors didn’t offer you much of that crispy gentle breeze, but it was still not nearly as suffocatingly hot as inside that grimy shelter for drunks. 

Shaky hands slid inside the pocket of your pants, fumbling frantically with the contents of it: glistening candy wrappers, ringing keys and a handful of coins. Took you long enough to finally feel the shape of an old lighter, the spark wheel of it so terribly rusty the callus on your thumb started stinging as soon as you laid it on that rough little bump. 

With a sigh, you fetched a folded pack of Camel out of the same stuffed sack, the state of said poor thing utterly matching its owner’s — all ruffled, messy, with the bottom of it barely still intact. Well, fine, perhaps that last trait was not precisely pertinent to you, but your rear was hurting quite palpably after an hour spent sitting on that awfully uncomfortable stool — which meant that relating to your poor box of cancer sticks was inevitable. 

The spark wheel gave in after a few insistent pushes, and within seconds you were taking your first greedy drag, back pressed tightly against the cool wall; providing you a much needed support for taming a headache with a smoke break that would undoubtedly cause a new one in an instant. The filth filled your lungs with sweet relief, and you let the sedation run slowly through your veins, squeezing the filter in an affectionate little embrace of trembling index and middle fingers. 

And then your private moment was ruined. But not abruptly in the slightest, with just one simple call of your name – the most careful of all interventions, surprisingly quizzical and polite, heavily accented at the edge of the very last syllable. Still had you choking ungracefully on your tiny nicotine snack, filling the silence with awfully inelegant coughing. 

“Apologies, I didn’t mean to startle you,” spoke your pensive intruder, causing you to sharply turn around, back clinging off the wall in one unsubtle movement. 

That’s how all meaningful formal meetings happen. Unfailingly when you least expect them, or, even worse — when you stop expecting them at all, with every thought banished from your utterly relaxed mind. They sneak up on you under shitty bars, giving you a slight vertigo and then offering a polite smile to make amends, gripping the handles of their canes with pent up awkwardness. And god were they peculiar intrusions — matching your silly, much too improper manner to wear corporate clothes for a night out, with just a few buttons of their tight vest undone; limbs lanky, but not inept, eyes brimming with pretty copper right onto your astonished frame. Made you randomly embarrassed about your chipped nail polish and messy hair with just a mere presence of their flawlessness: you knew you were facing a tease before you even managed to acknowledge his appearance, brow raising curiously in a cautious attempt of a greeting.

“Well, you did startle me,” was the first thing to leave your mouth after the coughing assault had ended, lips stretching lazily into an involuntary grin. “How do you know my name?” 

His eyes — oh those big shiny tormentors — widened in surprise, and one sinewy hand crawled somewhat haphazardly up his chest, fingers catching the knot of a red tie to pull on it firmly. To either adjust it or to make the clearing of a tender throat easier — you couldn’t quite place it, yet still watched him in silent astonishment, tasting the bitterish taste of tobacco on the tip of your tongue. 

“Well,” he parroted your tone with sharp accuracy and proceeded with distinguished sass, “I believe a certain someone has introduced us to each other… in absentia, so to speak.” 

Oh. So that was your new charming counterpart? Bravo, Jayce — there was actually something truthful about your flattering for the first time. 

“For I am Viktor, in case you’re still confused,” he obligingly reminded, abandoning the brief fidgeting with his tie to offer you a handshake.  

You gulped, almost extending a dominant arm to accept it, but some weird foreboding had once convinced you that to twine your still smelling of cigarettes fingers with a stranger would be somehow perceived as crude — and so you clumsily caught his palm with your other, less nimble limb. Let the heat of his touch engrave into your hand, eyes swirling the tiny mole above that defined cupid’s bow, making you feel stupid for stealing that innocent of a peek. Had you forgetting about the still stuffed into your mouth cigarette as it fell open in oblivious awe, almost dropping a decent bridge of ashes onto his pretty shoes.

Regaining the lost composure, you managed to introduce yourself in a manner similar to his — not that it was necessary since he seemed to remember what to call you exactly, but the gesture still felt right — you’d vowed to treat people with politeness and liked to think that it was going quite well for you. 

“So,” he uttered somewhat approbatory, withdrawing his hand from your tender clasp, “normally I don’t… tutor. But Jayce was rather insistent I try — and he’d also assured me that you’re quite passionate about the subject.” 

You huffed, letting out an undefinable sound of confusion. Not without a mixture of evident irritation to it, if you were to be frank — but that was entirely justified. A tutor? Is that how Jayce really took it? 

“I’m not looking for a tutor,” you sassed matter-of-factly, angrily inhaling from your cigarette. “I’m looking for a counterpart. What makes you think that you’re competent enough to teach me anything at all?” you inquired with candid hostility, watching him go limp in silent panic. 

You’d vowed to treat people with politeness and didn’t care if it wasn’t going well for you anymore. Quite a drastic change of plans, to be frank.

“Oh, I am not claiming that,” Viktor rushed to object, and the way a few strands of hair started shaking treacherously as he wagged his head had almost caused you to crack a pretentious smirk. But he quickly soothed the unkempt curl and proceeded with his explanation, “I was simply told you might need some help. Why the unnecessary attitude?” 

“Because you were told wrong,” you practically spat the smoke into his face, lips smacking together with an audible pop. It made his textured nose wrinkle with a fed up sigh, entertaining you with an ungainly attempt of waving that livid cloud away. 

“And that’s my fault… how, exactly?” he mumbled with an utterly puzzled glare, and you scoffed in silent rejoicement, leaning slightly closer to divert yourself with more of his emotiveness. 

“You should have paid more attention to what Jayce told you,” you jumped over his rhetorical question paying it no mind whatsoever. Though, as you were reminiscing on the events of this exact conversation — your own audacity made you wonder how Viktor managed to refrain from slapping you across the face that very instant. The shitty booze must have turned out not so shitty after all — it sure gave you the nerve, and you were holding onto it a tad bit too tightly. 

But your new companion didn’t take that well. His thick eyebrow protruded into a furious arc, lids twitching slightly at the outburst you were so pathetically proud about. Both hands returned to the handle of his cane, as if getting ready to transform it into a weapon — and he leaned his whole body weight on it with a displeased gasp, accented voice obtaining a lower, more threatening edge to it. 

He’s sweet, you scoffed, ready to press your forehead against his like an uncivilized animal. It’s not like you were acting much better than that anyway. 

Well, at least Jayce didn’t lie about the handsome part. 

“I’ll have you know that I was, indeed, paying attention,” he hissed through gritted teeth, “and if you wish to quibble over the words that do not even belong to me — then fine: be my absolute guest, but do not except me to align with your enthusiasm and partake in useless insults.” 

He cleared his throat again, evidently reluctant to indulge in whatever spectacle you were so clearly asking for. That man didn’t deserve your resentment, but now you certainly deserved his, and so you backed off, fingers twitching haphazardly as they curdled around your cigarette for one last awkward drag, lashes fluttering with palpable nervousness. 

“I was told you needed a tutor — and I sincerely apologize if your request was miscomprehended,” Viktor sighed, and you blinked at him in baffled reverence. Wishing oh so desperately to burn your  always looking for trouble tongue with that still somewhat smoldering tobacco stick. 

“No, I…” you gasped in response, but Viktor held a soothing hand up, stopping you from puking out more of that guilty incoherent nonsense. 

“Please, allow me to finish,” he demanded, and you obeyed — a mere culpable inch away from accidentally swallowing the filter still filling your mouth with a sharp savour of smoke. 

And your submission was appreciated right away. 

“So, as I was saying,” Viktor returned to his lecture with a distinguished cough, “I’m sorry if your request was miscomprehended. But it certainly wasn’t miscomprehended by me, which makes your reaction somewhat… unfair, don’t you think?” 

“Yes,” you yielded, nodding in weak agreement. “Yes, totally unfair.” 

“To say the least,” he was quick to add, emphasizing the last word especially heavy.  

“To say the least,” you parroted in response — just like a tamed misbehaving brat. And that’s precisely what you were — humbled, put in your place and sorry. You were sorry, and it made you quiver as you timidly chewed on the inside of an already half-eaten cheek, frantically counting the numerous scratches on your shoes. Doing anything to escape the gentle orbs undressing you off your very flesh in an attempt to find something even you doubted was still there: some prudence. 

“So, with that being said,” Viktor summarized, and you heard a resonant click of his cane against the concrete, “I suggest you take out your anger on someone who’s responsible for the incorrect wording.” 

You dared to abandon your defeated position, head tilting slightly upwards to witness his departure — just as languid as this completely disastrous evening; no offense to Jayce and his special day, of course. 

“Now if you’ll excuse me,” he smiled, politely nodding at the establishment before you two, “I still ought to wish that someone a happy birthday.” 

So that’s how you lose both a battle and a war. He’d just taught you a valuable lesson — and here you were, so appalled to the idea of being tutored. Oh how the tables have turned. 

You reached out a hand for him, preliminarily putting out that damned cigarette to the sole of your messy shoe in a chaotic rush. Grazed his shoulder with a fleeting touch — so cowardly unsure if you were even allowed to pamper such luxury in these conditions. But he showed you some mercy — allowed it to linger there, slightly dipped into the curvature of his clavicle, awaiting your next move with a didactic frown. 

A look of a man who’d put you in a checkmate before even pulling out a chess board. 

“Viktor, I’m sorry,” you muttered with the most sincere remorseful look your face could even master, “I’m terribly sorry, actually. I shouldn’t have—“ but he interrupted you, eyes drifting playfully to the hand still invading his precious privacy. 

“Oh, shit,” you cussed under your breath, hastily pulling it back as if it was leprotic, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to—“

“Please, continue,” he insisted softly. Gave you a few seconds to finish crumbling into stupid tipsy pieces and stepped back, all of his attention centered precisely on your earnest apology. 

Oh, nevermind, someone please scratch the ‘showed you some mercy’ part.  

“I was rude,” you confessed (as if it wasn’t obvious enough already). “Unacceptably so. I’m not exactly… good with social cues — but it’s no excuse, I should never have said that. Especially within the first five minutes of meeting you,” the words were flowing out of your mouth so naturally — surprisingly smooth for someone who’d normally take three to five business days to come up with a proper atonement (or even consider the necessity of one whatsoever). 

“Do you think I could somehow… make it up to you?” you hit him with your most pitiable arrow, the one you were saving up for special occasions when you really did mean to somehow atone for all the damage, eyes two pretty things seeking his forgiveness with a sporadic, perplexed blink. But they saw none — he’d frowned, hummed in consideration, and then tormented you with silence for just a few more everlasting seconds, making you sink your lips softly into the edge of your nail and scrape some polish off of it. Squinting instantly at the awful, chemical taste — and Viktor finally gave up. 

You’d realized it was your first time hearing him laugh much later. It was, indeed, a thing to remember — all raspy, strangely domestic, not malicious or willing to destroy you any further. And yes — technically, he was laughing at you, but if that’s what you’d get every time this man filled the air with that soft laughter — then you may as well become a circus employee just to figure out how to make him emit more of it.

“All is forgiven,” he assured you, shaking his head, “the second you made that face, actually. But no more of that, please. If that’s how you plead — then I’m afraid I might someday forgive you something utterly unacceptable.” 

He’s sweet, you sighed, an unsure smile returning plastered across your face once again. 

Perhaps you should start listening to Jayce more often. 

“But back to your request,” Viktor was quick not to let you turn into a puddle on that still scorched by the sun ground, “a counterpart — is that what you need? Why not join a chess club, then?” 

His question didn’t mean any harm, and he obviously just asked it out of sheer curiosity — yet it still made you feel a tad bit demeaned. Not by him, of course, just by the fact those arrogant fucks still dared to coexist without you. 

Perhaps they would be willing to reconsider if they saw your behavior tonight? 

You sighed, shrugging off his query. “I tried to. They didn’t let me because I don’t have a rating.”

“Really? Well that’s just strange — since when does one need a rating for it?” his confusion was genuine, eyes widened drastically as if he’d just heard the biggest absurdity of his entire life. 

“That’s what I said,” you whined in a tone of a natural gossip-girl, almost ready to chain-smoke the entire rest of your pack now that you were reminded of your misery. 

“I see,” Viktor hummed, stroking a thumb over the line of his sharp chin in deep scrutiny, “hm, I’m certain I’ve never heard them demand a rating for enrollment before. A club is not a tournament, after all.” 

“Wait, are you a member of our chess club?” the realization quickly absorbed you, but Viktor didn’t quite catch on to your astonishment. 

“Yes,” he dryly confirmed, “yes, I am. Not that I spend much time there though — those gentlemen are simply… how do I put it politely? Mediocre. Incompetent. I don’t like careless opponents — what’s the point in playing them if you can picture how exactly you can win within seconds?” 

Within seconds. You froze in apparent disbelief, trying to figure out whether he’s bluffing or actually being serious, awaiting tensely on something — anything —  that might indicate a joke. But not a single muscle on his pale face twitched into a smile — he’d responded with a look as awfully inquisitive as yours, unsure of what exactly you expect him to do. 

So he does mean it. In that case, he’s either very full of himself — or these boys are, in fact, that hopeless in chess. And something kept telling you that it most likely was the ladder.

“I’m jealous then, I suppose,” you offered him a safe answer, toying thoughtlessly with your poor, rusty lighter. 

“Please don’t be,” he protested with a careful plea. “Envy is a waste of time. You should pursue ways to expand your knowledge — not to contract them with such trivialities.” 

Bold of him to assume you might envy his skills. Well, yes — you were definitely beaming with envy, but he didn’t need to know that just yet. 

You snorted, almost letting that toxic conceit take over whatever pieces of common sense Viktor had just punched back into you — and his words dwelled, slinking through your skull, filling you not with thirst for vengeance, but with inspiration. It gave you some time to form a decent comeback, so you used it wisely: by delivering precisely that kind of answer, eyes rolling playfully at his discreet lecture. 

“I don’t envy your tactics,” you informed him, gracefully holding your head up, “I envy the fact you have someone to show them to.” 

And that boy smiled again, forcing your light vertigo to return — but not out of tipsiness or so-called ‘arrogance poisoning’. 

“So do you,” he whispered, and watched you derail with the most victorious countenance known to a man. Reminding you nonchalantly that he doesn’t need a single chess piece to have you in a stalemate. 

That muggy bar might’ve offered you an experience of being trapped in a figurative, impossibly narrow coffin, but Viktor’s presence was the thing that truly made you feel like an actual cadaver — all empty thoughts, and stiffness, and skipped heartbeats. 

But Jayce forgot to mention that your new competitor was also deeply laconic. 

“Meet me in the library next… Friday, if you’re available?” he wasn’t generous enough to award you with any more seconds to recover from this exchange, impatiently expecting a confirmation. You could only manage a non-verbal one, nodding weakly at his offer. 

“Say… somewhere around noon?” he mused, and you instantly nodded again, waiting obligingly for his next suggestion. What a pleasure it is to do business with you! 

“Perfect,” he snatched the words out of your mouth, already half-turned to the bar entrance, “please bring a board, and I shall bring the clocks… Yes, the library should suffice — it’s not like a game of chess requires much conversation either way. Now, please do excuse me — I really need to steal Jayce away for a minute.” 

You watched him vanish into that devilish, so utterly unfitting for a man of his kind place; eyes nailed into his back as the crowd of feasting people swallowed your new interlocutor. Letting an excited little breath slip past your open mouth, escorting him with an uncoordinated wave of a shaky hand — a rather silly, excessive gesture since he wasn’t able to see it, and yet it still felt right — like a perfect little farewell to strengthen this newfound friendship with. 

That’s how you met your counterpart — or, perhaps, that’s what you used to see in him once. 

What you were still oblivious about — is that this man will conquer you in much more capacities than just the game that brought you two together.

⸻

tags (please let me know if you’d like to be added to them) : @zaunitearchives @blissfulip

[jasvishaawrites]

she will (chad meeks-martin x black!reader)

pairing(s): chad meeks-martin x black!reader (fem!reader)

Summary: in which a police officer at a halloween party catches the eyes of a certain shirtless cowboy.

Warnings: language, use of the N-word, mentions of sex, swearing, underage drinking, sexual intentions(no smut), unedited work of mess.

A/n: this is this is truly inspired by she will by lil wayne ft. drake (I suggest listening to the song towards the end) and one of the greatest chad meeks-martin edits i have ever seen, I'll try to link it below. When I saw this edit and heard the song is said….. Yeah, I want him!!! Truly. Anyways, this is a pretty long fic. so grab a snack and hope y'all enjoy!

“damn bitch, who do you think you are?” smiling in the mirror, you turned off your flat iron and placed it on the bathroom counter. “you look too good,” you teased at your reflection. anika, a close classmate of yours, invited you to a halloween party that she and her friends would be attending. you loved anika, she is the sweetest, friendliest, and caring person you would ever meet. it was impossible to hate or have ill intentions towards her.

anika invited you to the party, claiming she wanted to get your “homebody ass” out the house and show her the party animal your homegirls claimed you were. she didn’t believe that you were a partier until she heard your friends ranting about your high school party days. hell, when you first met, anika was complimenting your outfit and you squeaked out a “thank you” like you were a silent church mouse. but once anika heard the testimonies from your friends, she knew she needed proof to back up the statements. you accepted her invitation to the party but didn’t want to be around people you don’t know, so you decided to extend the invite to your best friends.

speaking of your best friends, “shit!” you shouted, running out the bathroom towards your phone charging on your bed. the girls decided to meet up outside of your dorm and walk to the party together. as you looked at your phone you noticed a text from your friend neaveh stating that they were waiting outside for you. that was sent five minutes ago. 

“dammit” you whispered as you ran around your room, picking up the items you planned on bringing with you. realizing that you had your phone, id, dorm key, and your cop hat, you quickly ran back to the bathroom to do a second look over. once you noticed that your makeup and hair was still perfect to your liking, you decided that it was time to go. running towards the front door, you shouted ”see you later” to your roomie, who was cuddled up with her girlfriend while watching a horror movie in the living room.

you walked through the doors, quickly turning around and pushing the door completely close activating the locks to the all girl dorm building. after pulling the door twice, making sure that the doors were truly locked, you turned around walking towards the stairs. as you walked down, placing your cop hat on your head, you could hear the screams of your friends who saw you walk out of the building.

“damn y/n, is that you!”

“whoop! whoop! that’s the sound of the police!”

“okay! big y/n. never the little one!”

“y’all stop!” you pleaded through your laughter, smiling like you won the lottery. but alas your friends ignored your request and all but begged for you to give them a 360 spin. knowing your friends, they weren't going to stop until you gave them what they were asking for. giving in with a smirk, you decided to give them the spin they desired. their screams only got louder as you completed your turn. dinah, moriah, and neveah praised your costume, stating how good you looked as they scanned you from head to toe. 

your cop hat placed slanted on top of your freshly installed and curled ash blond bundles flowing down your back, face beat with a soft glam look, your curvaceous body adorned in the long sleeved police leotard, brown thighs captured in the black fishnet stocking and black thigh high boots. you didn't just look good, you felt good. you felt like a bad bitch.

“y’all talking about me, look at y’all! you guys look amazing!” you praised your friends. dinah, ironically, dressed up as dc’s black canary. moriah decided to be an angel. and last but not least nevaeh was dressed as lara croft. after all praises and compliments were given throughout the group, you all started heading towards to the frat house, which was hosting the costume party. the walk to the house didn't seem long, due to the fact that we were chatting it up, updating the group about what had happened from the last time we were all together.

walking into the house, you can literally feel the vibrations from the speaking thumping through your entire body. seeing that there was barely any space due to the whole school attending the party, you decided to wrap your arm with moriah so you would not get separated as you all moved to the kitchen to get a drink. as you were making your way towards the kitchen you made eye contact with anika, who was standing in the corner with her girlfriend mindy and a short brunette. anika waved you over, so you detached yourself from moriah and started to make your way over. 

“y/n, babes, where are you going?” asked moriah. 

“i see a few friends, i’m gonna say hi real quick” you stated as you made your way to the person who invited you to the party. 

“okay, meet us in the kitchen, holla if you need back up for any reason” moriah stated as she glared at you with no heat in her eyes. 

“okay” you laughed as you walked towards anika. once you were close enough, anika threw her arms around your shoulders, trapping you in a hug. “oh my god!” she shrieked in your ear “y/n you look amazing”. you laughed as you returned the embrace with reciprocated energy. “thanks babe, you look amazing as well” you chuckled. she pulled away from your hug and turned to the group of people standing behind her. 

“oh y/n this is tara” anika pointed to the waving short brunette girl dressed as a pirate. “and this is my girlfriend mindy” she said, hugging a tall light skinned girl with a short curly afro.

“hi! nice to meet y’all” you smiled giving both girls a wave. after talking for a bit, you decided to head to the kitchen where the girls were waiting for you. “well i'm gonna head to the kitchen to fix a drink, but i'll see you guys around” smiling shyly as you walk backwards before swiftly spinning around and heading towards your original destination before seeing your classmate. the three girls smiled as they watched you disappear in the sea of people.

“so that’s y/n? asked tara.

“yep” stated anika

“and you want to set her up with chad? my golden retriever of a brother chad?" mindy asked once again for clarity.

“yep” stated a smirking anika.

“alright y'all, now that y/n is back, let's get down to business.” dinah stated as you made your way back to your group, started setting up four cups for shots. “we're here to have fun and turn this joint out.” dinah filled all the cups up with liquor from a random bottle that was placed on the table and handed them out to each of the girls. the shots were knocked back without hesitation, creating a burning sensation in their throats. as a collective, the decision was made to take 3 more shots. 

you were feeling pretty nice right now. you have a couple of drinks in your system, the music wasn't terrible, and you had your girls by your side. how can it get any better than this? feeling the bass of the music rumble throughout your body, you realized that it was time to have the night of your life.

“c’mon y’all, i wanna dance” you begged your friends while grabbing hold of dinah’s hands in hope that they would follow your lead. the three girls laughed as you started walking with dinah in tow to the living room. dinah turned and made contact with moriah and neveah and smirked realizing that they all shared the same smile. it was at that moment they knew… it was about to go down.

as you walked back to the living room, you passed anika, mindy and tara, who were now being accompanied by two boys. one dressed as a knight and the other a shirtless cowboy.

as you were passing by with smiles, anika quickly introduced the two boys. ”y/n, this is ethan” she said pointing to the tall, lanky boy dressed as a knight with a nervous smile occupying his face. he’s a cutie you thought as you waved. “and this is chad, mindy's twin brother” she smirked as she pointed to the shirtless cowboy standing next to ethan.

“evening officer” chad said as he tips his cow hat in your direction as he scans your body up and down. normally the action would give you the icks, but this man was too fine to turn down the opportunity of doing the same. as you gave him a look over, you quickly realized you liked what you were seeing. a tall man with the body of a greek god, tattoos showcased on big, strong arms.

“howdy” you smirked as your eye scaled its way up to his beautiful face. he smiled as he came to the conclusion that you were feeling him as much as he was feeling you. your smirk only got bigger as you walked backwards towards the dance floor while maintaining eye contact.

chad’s gaze remained even though the connection was broken as you walked to the center of the room and started dancing with your friends. you intrigued him. your energy was crazy. he only encountered this feeling once in his entire life, and that was when he first met liv. anika, mindy, tara, and ethan watched the interaction with wide eyes, confused over the humongous amount of sexual tension that was created within less than 5 minutes. the group then turned their attention to chad, who was still watching shake your ass like you were megan thee stallion, as your friends hyped you up.

“your drooling chad,'' tara teased through squinted eyes with a smirk on her face. ”do you need a bucket?”

chad turned towards his friends, his stare transforming into a harmless glare as they exploded with laughter due to tara's suggestion.

“yeah, evening officer” chuckled mindy as she gave her best rendition of her twin’s horribly pick-up line.

“yeah, yeah whatever” chad uttered under his breath as he shakes his body rid of any nerves that would prevent him from walking over and starting another conversation. “i'm just off my game, it’s been a while.”

the girls and ethan watched as chad started to hype himself up to go over to you, in hopes of having another interaction that exuded the same energy as the first time.

“anytime now big guy.” laughed anika. chad turned and gave her the most unamused face he could create before walking over to you and your friends.

chad wasn’t even five steps away when he heard his sister shout for his attention. “chad!” mindy screamed over the loud music. he spun around to face the group once more. “go get her tiger” mindy smiled while giving him a thumbs up as the group giggled behind her. chad paused for a second before reciprocating the sarcastic smile with a thumbs up. the thumbs up then turned into a middle finger pointed in her direction. “fuck you, mindy” chad said as his smile dropped creating a resting bitch face before he walked towards the only girl in the party that captured his attention.

as you danced carefree with your friends you noticed dinah looking behind you with a smile. “incoming” she whispered in your ear, slowly walking away taking moriah and nevaeh with her. you stopped dancing in confusion about the sudden departure. 

it wasn’t until you felt the presence and warmth from somebody standing behind you, causing your confusion to quickly change into a resting bitch face. ready to tell off the person who was breathing down your neck, you turned only to see the sight of a muscled chest, similarly to a certain cowboy you had your eyes on. looking up, your eyes made contact with a pretty pair of brown puppy dog eyes.

“hi” you grinned at the boy. chad’s smile grew bigger, which should be humanly impossible but you didn't mind. god, this man has a beautiful smile. it brightened the dim room in a way that the sun could not compete with on a hot, summer day with no clouds.

“hey” chad said through his gleaming smile. “im chad” he reintroduces himself while extending his hand.

“yeah” you said as you grabbed his hand, giving a firm yet flirty shake. “i know, anika introduced us already” tilting your head in false confusion.

“yeah, i know that but i just wanted to reintroduce myself” he stated while shrugging his shoulders “i have a feeling that we’re going to be seeing each other a lot” he finished, looking down at you.

“oh really!” you spoke, in complete surprise from the statement he just shared. ”what makes you say that” you uttered, crossing your arms and poking a hip out just for effect.

hey! hey! i just have a feeling," chad announced through a smile, lifting his hands nonchalantly “don't shoot the messenger.” 

your smile couldn't possibly get any bigger during your conversation. there was a moment of silence, just you and chad looking into each other’s eyes, while smiling like you won the lottery. the moment was then broken by chad, who licked his lips, causing you to divert your attention from his beautiful brown eyes towards his full pink lips. 

”you wanna dance?” he asked while scratching the back of his neck, making his biceps flex just asking to be admired. you hummed in confusion, not hearing what he asked due to your attention leaving his lips to his arms you so desperately wanted around your waist (or neck but baby steps). “do you wanna dance?” he asked again, smiling at your murmured response.

“sure,” you grinned back, “if we're going to be seeing each other a lot, i have to know if you can keep up with me on the dance floor.”

chad threw his whole body back as his laughter echoed under the sound of a taylor swift song that was playing throughout the house. the dancing started with gently swaying, just trying to catch a feel of each other’s rhythm. it then turned to the both of you jumping up and down, holding each other’s hands to a popular pop song like you were best friends. (a/n: the song was boy’s a lair pt. 2, and chad ate rapping ice spice verse word for word, you can't tell me nothing different)

you stopped dancing, only to lean forward and wrap your arms around to try and catch your breath from laughing at chad's impeccable wrapping skills. this was a night that was going down in the books. you look good as hell in your costume, meet some new possible friends, and you're dancing with the most handsome man you have ever met. how can it get any better than this?

as you were catching your breath, a certain guitar riff then consumed your ears. only needing a second to recognize the song, your body language then turned stiff. chad, who still had his hands around your waist, became concerned about the sudden shift of energy. his concern became more evident as you unwrapped your limbs from around his neck and started to walk away. 

young money, yeah

did he do something? did he stink? did he make you uncomfortable by placing his hands on your body? his growing concern suddenly disappeared as you turned and walked back to him. 

four, ahem

it was then he noticed that you were mouthing the ad libs to the song that was blasting through the speakers. his lips took the shape of a grin as he saw you cross your arms giving him a mean stare down. chad crossed his arms, returning the mugged stare realizing that you wanted to see if he would match your energy. it was a good thing that chad knew this song word for word because, unknown to him, this was going to make or break the possibility of seeing each other again.

i tell her, now go ‘n’ pop that pussy for a real nigga

i already know that life is deep but i still dig her

niggas is jealous but really i could care less 

i’m in hell's kitchen with an apron and a hair net.

it was a sight to see. the whole party turned their attention to see who in the world was screaming out lyrics like there was no tomorrow. but did you and chad pay them any mind, hell nah. let them see what having fun really looks like. you both were pointing fingers in each other’s faces, getting hype that the energy being given is also being reciprocated from one another.

as the chorus came in, you wrapped your arms around chad's neck swaying back and forth as you sang the lyrics without a care in the world. as you were singing you felt chad's big hands resume its position around your waist before trailing down to the cheeks of your ass, giving it a firm squeeze. he was on that type of timing. you started to dip your body down to the floor, causing your arms to unravel from his neck, dragging them down his torso. 

as you went down, you tilted your head up to look at chad, wanting to see his reaction. looking into his eyes, you noticed that puppy gaze you received earlier was now gone and replaced with a dark, lusted glare. you bounced twice before seductively making your way up to your original height, then turning around, connecting your back to his front. feeling slick, you threw your hand over your shoulder cupping the back of his neck as you started grinding on him.

uh, she just started to pop it for a nigga 

and looked back and told me baby it’s real

you went to lean over, and began to shake your ass from left to right cause your jello to jiggle baby. while you were making it shake like a salt shaker, you turned your head over your shoulder to look at chad, whose eyes were still darkened with arousal, biting his bottom lip as he stood there and caught what you were throwing.

and i say i aint doubt you for a second 

i squeeze it and i can tell how it feel.

chad removed one of his hands from your waist and decided to glide it softly up and down your back before trailing back down to softly grasping you ass. you shivered feeling his fingertips trace down your spine. you placed your hands on your knees, rotating your waist in a circular motion, only to feel a certain bulge pushing back at you, causing you to slow your pace.

i wish we could take off and go anywhere but here baby you know the deal,

and she bad, so maybe she won't

uh but shit, then again maybe she will.

do it for the realest niggas in the fuckin game right know she will (2x)

while you and chad were wrapped in each other’s presence, forgetting that you were in public. baby the public did not forget about you. all eyes, phones, and flashlight were directed in your direction. neither of yall noticed the screams from frat boys, cheering chad on. the cheers from your best friends, seeing you put in work on the boy they knew was going to ask if he could walk you home. glares from certain boys and girls, wishing that they were in your spot. and last but not least the mix facial expressions coming from core two, anika and ethan.

as the song came to a close, you turned around placing your arms back around chad's neck. once your eyes met, both faces turned into giddy smiles that could put the joker out of commission.

“did i keep up with you?” chad smirked, pressing his forehead against yours. you laughed as you not only pressed your forehead against his, but your body as well making you both become one.

“yes,” you giggled through closed eyes. “yes you did. better than i expected” you teased back. chad smiled before closing his eyes as well, basking in the embrace, hoping that you would like to see him long after the party ends and farther down the line. he felt you move your forehead from his, tucking your head in the warmth of his shoulder. feeling your body deflate with a deep breath, he knew it was now or never seeing as you would probably go home and forget about him.

“hey” you felt chad uttered, his deep voice vibrations rumbling from his body into yours. you hummed as you lifted your head only to see a cute, shy smile gracing his face. the look on his face was too damn cute to not return the smile. “lemme walk you home” he whispered.

and she bad, so maybe she won't

you paused for a second, making chad's heart beat double time. he hoped that he wasn't overstepping. he wasn't looking for a one night stand or anything, he truly just wanted to walk you home and get to know you better. looking into his eyes, you shyly smiled, grabbing his hands, tugging him to the front entrance. you waved to your friend, who was whispering and giggling in your direction. 

uh but shit, then again maybe she will.

as you both started making your way to the exit, chad caught his shirt and letterman jacket that anika threw as they were passing by. walking into the dark night, you started shivering due to your outfit. not even a second laters, you felt the warmth and weight of chad's letterman jacket as it was being placed on your shoulders. looking beside, you noticed he put on a shirt and was admiring you in his jacket.

“you know what” chad shared as he took a few steps back. ”this is a good look for you. it's a good thing i'm going to be seeing you around more often” he finishes crossing his arms.

you rolled your eyes before grabbing his hand, walking in the direction of your dorm “boy c’mon.” tugging on his hands. once he was close enough, you threw his arm over your shoulder, as you both walked off into the night.

bonus scene

watching from the corner, mindy, anika, tara, and ethan all expressed mixed emotions.

anika and tara both shared shocked, yet amused smiles on their faces. mindy showcased pure disgust as she watched the pair basically have sex on on the dance floor. ethan, poor ethan, couldn't even watch, his cherry red face pointed in the opposite direction.

“this is disgusting,” mindy sneered, watching the scene on the dancefloor. “we should have gotten him some condoms on the way here.”

“.....she’s gonna eat him alive” tara said as she turned her body towards mindy. “just so you know.” mindy rolled her eyes, pointing a finger towards her mouth, making a gagging noise.

“no seriously,” anika announced, “i was concerned for her, but now i’m concerned for him.” anika finishes with a giggle.

mindy quickly snapped her head in anika's direction. “anika, darling i love you… but dont push it.” her eyes shifted back to you and chad danicing before walking to the kitchen muttering under her breath about how “she was gonna throw up.”

anika watched as mindy rushed off to the kitchen, turning back to the living room seeing you to heading towards the exit. she quickly grabbed chad's shirt and jacket before tossing it in his direction. "one point for anika kayako, the matchmaker." she muttered through a smirk as she watch the pair walk out the door.

a/n: hope y'all enjoyed the fic. It’s not my first time writing but it's been a while. I feel like I overdid the plot, but let me know how i did. If you liked my work feel free to send requests and please leave constructive criticism. I do have more chad fics that are in the woodworks. see y'all soon.

[birdmanofficial]

the circle of stupidity is complete

[bangtanreadingcorner]

tall, blonde and gorgeous • jeon jeongguk

plot — when jeongguk dyes his hair blonde, it might just be the push you both need to finally talk about the feelings you have for each other.

words — 5.7K

You woke up in the middle of the night, craving some apple juice. You knew there was in the kitchen fridge, because Taehyung always made sure to stock up whenever you come for a weekend visit.

Speaking of your brother, he was passed out next to you, the two of you sharing his King sized bed while you visited. Like you always did. It was mostly just you two, but sometimes Jimin would join you. You don't mind, you known both of them since forever and Jimin is your brother as much as Taehyung is.

Quietly, you got out of bed. You didn't want to wake your brother, he works so hard and needs his rest.

The dorm was silent, which was a little weird because there was usually always someone up. It was only when on tour that all seven of the boys would sometimes be asleep at once, but even that was rare.

Shrugging it off, you padded the rest of the way to the kitchen, only to come to a halt in the doorway, freezing.

Someone with a mop of blond hair stood with his back to you, digging through the fridge.

The digging through the fridge wasn't what surprised you, no, it was the hair because as far as you knew, no one in Bangtan had blonde hair right now.

You knew because your brother was always spamming your phone, whenever he had time, with pictures, videos, voice notes and messages. You and Taehyung have always been close and he always made the effort to keep you up-to-date with his life but also made a point to keep you out of the spotlight, which you appreciate more than you tell him. Come to think of it, more than half your gallery is made up of pictures of Bangtan. The other half is made up of your rare selfies, pictures with your friends, of your dog or your brother's dog.

The point is, if someone colored their hair, you would know within five minutes - with pictures and everything. And Taehyung hasn't spammed your phone since yesterday morning when he and Jimin accidentally got Hobi instead of Jeongguk with a water balloon.

So, the question is, who is the blonde currently rummaging through the fridge?

You looked him up and down, noticing the very nice, very broad and clearly strong shoulders covered with a black t-shirt that hid the rest of the guy's figure. Your gaze went down a nice ass and long legs that was wearing grey sweatpants and finally stopping at bare feet.

Something flashed in your mind.

Wait a minute.

You know that ass. You've looked at it enough over the last seven years to recognize it anywhere in a crowd.

"Jeongguk?" You called, a little satisfied when he jumped upright, turning to you with wide eyes. Your heart decided to double its pace.

"Ah, tiny, you're awake. I thought you were sleeping, trying to grow some more." He teased, his heartbeat slowly calming down from the freight you gave him. His eyes quickly scanned you over, and he had to suppress a smile when he saw the bright orange pajamas. It was ugly as hell - he made sure to tell you many times but you always just roll your eyes at him or if you were feeling particularly moody, you'd flip him a finger.

Now, ordinarily, you'd snap at him for calling you tiny because you aren't (it doesn't matter that Jimin is 12 centimeters taller than you, it doesn't make you tiny, short maybe, but not tiny) but right now, you could only focus on one thing.

"Y-your hair." You stuttered, which was new because you never stutter in Jeongguk's presence. Your heart may race, your legs may turn into jelly, your hands may tremble and your stomach may fill with butterflies but you never stutter. And you never let him know what you're feeling.

He ran a hand through his freshly dyed blonde hair, only a little self-conscious with the intense stare you were giving him. He couldn't tell if it was positive or negative. "Yeah, I just wanted a change, something different."

"Well, it's definitely different. Mission accomplished." You informed him, walking into the kitchen fully, your voice miraculously even as you were internally panicking. This was like that time he dyed his hair pink all over again. Oh god. You hoped you could form coherent sentences this time around instead of just giving him the silent treatment for two weeks.

Like you said, you don't stutter around Jeongguk. Ever.

Jeongguk tilted his head at you curiously. "Bad different?"

"No!" You exclaimed, not wanting him to think that. You shook your head vigorously. "Not all. It looks good actually. Really good." So good, in fact, that your fingers itched to touch, to run your hands through it, play with the dyed locks of hair.

Jeongguk looked at you in pleasant surprise, lips stretching into that familiar bunny smile that made you swoon. He bit his bottom lip before saying. "I think that's the first time you ever paid me a compliment."

You frowned, "That can't be true."

"It is." Jeongguk's tone was matter-of-fact. "In seven years, you've never once given me a compliment. I would have remembered."

You pursed your lips, a sudden surge of guilt rushing through your chest at the look on his face - hurt.

"Well, you get lots of compliments from other people, right?" You said, trying to deflect because you never once thought that by staying quiet around Jeongguk, just to hide your feelings, that you'd hurt him.

"But never from you." Jeongguk said, words low and heavy with something you didn't understand. He stared at you, eyes open and strangely vulnerable. You didn't understand what he was trying to tell you.

You frowned at him again, "What does it matter?"

Something in Jeongguk's eyes shuttered at that, like he let you see something but now he pulled his walls back up. You still didn't understand it and he wasn't volunteering an answer.

Finally, he shrugged, "It doesn't, I guess." and he turned back to the refrigerator.

You had a feeling he was lying but you weren't going to call him out because that wasn't your place and it wasn't the kind of thing you and Jeongguk did. Whenever things seemed to go in a direction where feelings were involved - and not about other people but about each other, like what you think of Jeongguk and what he thinks of you - one of you stops the conversation before it can go deeper.

You tease each other good-naturedly, comfortable with each other because you are the same age, and you've listened to him rant when he was frustrated and even held his hand at times when he cried because the pressure of it all got a little to much.

It struck you, suddenly, how Jeongguk always comes to you first. Whether he's stupidly happy about something, or whether he's sad and wants a shoulder to cry on. You two could talk about anything under the sun or moon but whenever it comes to your feelings for each other, you shut down. You've never even admitted that you are, at the very least, friends and that you do care about each other.

You wondered if maybe it was time to change that.

You looked at Jeongguk's back and wanted to ask if thinks of you as a friend, if nothing else but what came out was, "Can you hand me a juice box please?"

He did so, without a word, and you decided to go back to bed. You stopped in the doorway again, turning back to him. "Jeongguk?"

"Yeah?" His tone, his eyes, was strangely hopeful and it made your heart twist. You looked at him, and somehow fell a little bit more in love with him.

"You know that I care about you, right? I mean, I know we've never talked about it, but I do." Your hands was shaking and you gripped the juice box. Luckily you didn't press the straw in yet or your hands would be full of apple juice right now.

The smile Jeongguk gave you was brilliant and it made your heart feel lighter than ever. He nodded his head, "I know."

"Good."

"I-" He started, breath catching a bit but forced himself to go on because if you could be brave, then so could he. "I care about you, too."

You grinned at him before turning away and going back to Taehyung's room, a definite skip in your step.

* * *

"So, what do you think?" Taehyung asked eagerly the next morning after breakfast, when everyone cooed and screeched over Jeongguk's hair.

You were back in your brother's room, scrolling through your Twitter feed. You looked at him, not sure what he was talking about. When it comes to Taehyung it can anything from the lines for a song he's working on to his next prank on one of the members.

"Of what?" You asked.

"About Jeonggukie." He said, waving with a hand at his head, so that the meaning was clear.

"Ah, you mean his transformation from tall, dark and handsome to tall, blonde and gorgeous?"

"Yes! What do you think?" Your brother looked at you expectantly.

"I think my previous question is an answer to that question." You smirked at him, snickering when he just scoffed before pouting at you.

"I hate it when you go all smartass on me." He said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I love you, too." You sing-songed with a lighthearted giggled.

* * *

Later that afternoon, you decided to watch a movie and was joined by Jeongguk, Taehyung, Hoseok and Jimin.

"Jeongguk-ah." You called from where you were sitting on the two seater couch next to Hoseok. Jimin and Taehyung was laying cuddled on the three seater and Jeongguk was sitting on the floor, against the front of the coffee table. You weren't sure where the rest are right now.

He turned to you, eyes narrowed suspiciously, "What do you want?"

You gaped at him, "What makes you think I want something?"

"Because you only call me 'Jeongguk-ah' when you want something." He was matter-of-fact.

The other three was watching the two of you instead of the movie.

"Like what? I rarely ask you anything." You frowned at him.

"Like getting your phone from Taehyung-hyung's room, making you tea, bringing you a blanket, getting your food." Jeongguk said and you huffed. Okay, so maybe you do that but this time what you want would benefit him too.

"Okay, first of all, you didn't have to do any of what I asked, you know. And second, you'll like this too." You assured him, then added after a moment. "I think."

Jeongguk looked at you warily as Jimin and Taehyung exchanged smirks. "What do you want?"

"I want to play with your hair." You shrugged nonchalantly, not showing a hint of how nervous you are, no showing how it took you the whole morning to pluck enough courage together to ask.

Jeongguk's mouth fell open in surprise, "Seriously?"

"Yeah, I mean I've always liked your hair but this blonde hair is really doing for you." You smiled at him, a little more confident when you saw more confusion than anything else on his face. Satisfaction rolled through you when you noticed his red ears.

"Whatever, fine." He muttered in agreement, looking away from you as he stood up right and came to sit down infront of you.

"Thank you." You grinned, clapping your hands in glee as you crossed your legs on the couch, knees touching Jeongguk's shoulders.

"Just don't tangle it." Jeongguk said, eyes fixed on the TV screen.

"I won't." You promised before reaching out and running your hands through his hair. It was just as soft as you hoped, instead of being dry and rough from the dye - it made you feel giddy.

Jeongguk tensed under the touch for a second but relaxed when you continued your gentle ministrations, nails scraping softly against his scalp. You tuned out the rest of the room, having watched the movie before - you've watched all the Marvel movies with Jeongguk at least three times - and continued playing with the blonde tresses.

Still, something caught your attention and you said, "Jimin-oppa, put away that phone."

"I don't know what you're talking about." He said innocently, hiding his phone behind his back.

"Sure you don't."

It was silent for fifteen seconds before he whined, "But no one will believe me if I don't have proof."

"They'll believe Hobi-oppa." You retorted, nodding to the ray of sunshine sitting besides you.

Jimin huffed indignantly but dutifully put his phone away.

You continued playing with Jeongguk's hair, twirled and braided and separated and bunched it together like a pineapple stem atop his hair. The movie finished and Taehyung picked another one and you still played with Jeongguk's hair.

Twenty minutes into the new movie, Jeongguk's head fell back, onto your legs, eyes closed. You gaped at the blonde.

"Jeongguk." You whispered, not wanting to wake him if he is sleeping but not sure if he's playing either.

"Did he fall asleep?" Your brother asked, laughter in his voice, making his eyes sparkle.

"I think so." You nodded, in a state of bewilderment and disbelief.

"You must have magic hands." Hoseok said before pressing a hand over his mouth to muffle the sounds of his laughter.

Your glared at them. "Not one more word out of the three of you, or I'll change the sugar in your coffee for salt for the indefinite future."

"I didn't say anything." Jimin protested and you just gave him a pointed look.

They thankfully kept quiet after that, but you could see them glancing at you and Jeongguk every now and again. You ignored their gazes as you continued playing with his hair.

Your heart was thumping happily in your chest, glad that Jeongguk enjoy you playing with his hair so much that it lulled him to sleep. It made you feel so content that you didn't want to move again.

You even turned a blind eye when you saw Jimin turning his phone in your direction ten minutes later.

At the end of the movie, you decided to wake Jeongguk up. As much as you like him sleeping on your legs, they were starting to fall asleep and he would get a stiff neck if he keeps sleeping like that.

So, you shooed everyone out of the room before gently shaking his shoulder. "Jeongguk-ah, wake up."

He groaned and you repeated your actions, watching as his eyes fluttered open. You looked into his sleepy eyes, wanting to coo as you watched him blink his way out of sleep. He quickly recognised you, even upside down, and immediately sat upright, looking at you with wide eyes.

"Y/N?" His voice was husky with sleep and it made your cheeks heat up. "What happened?"

"You feel asleep." You explained. You watched as he nodded slowly, processing this and felt the urge to tease him a little, so you added, "On my lap."

Jeongguk's cheeks flushed pink and you couldn't help the fond smile on your lips. He ducked his head shyly and spoke a soft, "Sorry."

"It's okay." You waved him off. You wanted to even the field between you because it felt unbalanced somehow, like you had something over Jeongguk. You didn't like it, you wanted to be right besides him. Not above or below him. (Although many people would say he's way above you, you know that he doesn't care about that and neither do you.) Finally you admitted, "I liked it, it was nice that you felt relaxed enough because of me to fall asleep."

"I liked it, too."

You smiled, a little shy but also feeling bold by his admission. "I'll do it again sometime then."

"Okay." He grinned.

* * *

After that weekend, it took three weeks before you had another free weekend to go and visit your brother. With your bag slung over your shoulder and a bouquet of red tulips in your hand, you opened the door and called a loud hello to anyone inside. You made you way to the kitchen first, wanting to put the flowers in some water.

You found Jeongguk - who was still blonde, and your heart instantly picked up its pace - and Namjoon in the kitchen, the leader busy by the microwave and Jeongguk waiting as far as humanly possible from it. You quickly realised what was happening and supressed a smile. Namjoon must be heating food up for Jeongguk, who is afraid of microwaves.

You exchanged greetings and you quickly started looking through the cupboards for a vase.

"Those are pretty flowers." Namjoon remarked, leaning against the counter.

"I know right."

"Where did you get them?" Jeongguk asked, eyes on the admittedly pretty flowers.

"Oh, some guy gave them to me before asking me out." You answered absentmindedly as you continued your search for a vase.

Behind you, Jeongguk tensed, his hands curling into fists.

"Really?" Namjoon asked, more to see Jeongguk's reaction than anything else.

"Yeah, I almost said yes, too, just for the fact that he gave me flowers." You nodded over your shoulder. "Do you guys have a vase? I swear Jin-oppa had one in the old dorm."

"Under the sink." Namjoon answered, arms crossed over his chest as he looked back and forth between an oblivious-you and a jealous-Jeongguk, a smile on the corners of his lips.

"Thanks." You grinned before walking over to the sink and crouching down. You opened the cupboard and had to dig past the sponges, cloths, windowlene, bleach and dishwashing liquid before spotting the crystal vase. "I love flowers, you know? Not many people know because it's not something I advertise but Taehyung-oppa always gives me flowers for my birthday, every year since I was thirteen." You babbled as you gently pulled out the vase, not wanting to knock it against one of the pipes and crack or shatter it by accident. It was a little dusty, so you rinsed it before filling it halfway with water.

"Do you have a favorite flower?" Namjoon asked, partly to fill the silence because Jeongguk was glaring at the ceiling, tongue in cheek, and partly because he genuinely wants to know.

"Nope," You shook your head, removing the protective plastic around the flowers and putting them in the water. "I like all kinds of flowers. Roses, lillies, forget-me-nots, proteas, tulips, sunflowers - you name it, I love it. And in all colours too. There's just too many to pick a favorite. Although I really like pink lotus flowers. I'd love to grow them when I have my own garden someday. I'll have to install a shallow pond, of course, because they grow in mud but yeah, that's something I'd really like to try." You rambled on. Namjoon watched you fondly and glanced at the maknae, seeing that Jeongguk was still tense.

"Did you say yes?" Jeongguk burst out asking the moment you stopped talking.

"Huh?" You frowned at him, a little lost because you were completely caught up in thoughts of flowers.

"The date." He said, voice taking a sharp edge. "Did you say yes?"

"Oh." Realisation dawned on you and you shook your head. "No, I didn't."

"Then why did you take his flowers? You'll give him the wrong idea." Jeongguk grumbled.

Namjoon thought that right now was the best time to become a missing person and quickly exited the kitchen. He is not playing referee, should this turn into an arguement. No, thank you, he's done it enough between these two.

You rolled your eyes at Jeongguk, "I made myself perfectly clear, Jeongguk. I told him that while I adore the flowers, I don't like him."

"Still, you shouldn't have taken them." Jeongguk insisted, stepping closer to you.

Your temper flared, "Excuse me? Why not?"

"What if someone had seen? What if they start thinking that you two are dating?" Jeongguk's tone was something crossed between horror and panic.

"And so what if they think that?" You frowned at Jeongguk because what does it matter what other people think when you know the truth?

"So you do want people to think you're dating." Jeongguk said, voice cutting and accusing.

"What?" You stepped closer to Jeongguk, getting angrier by the second.

"Do you actually like this guy?" Jeongguk asked, sounding distressed with the thought but you were to angry to pay any attention to that.

You scoffed, "Don't be ridiculous."

"I'm ridiculous?" He pointed to himself, shocked.

"Yes! They're just fucking flowers!" Your voice was raised as you snapped at him, louder and harsher than it's been in a long time towards Jeongguk, of all people.

You didn't have time to feel guilty because his next words matched yours in volume, "That some other guy bought for you!"

"And your point is what exactly?!" Your voice didn't lower.

"My point is that I can buy you flowers!" Jeongguk shouted back.

The words take a second to sink in, and when it does, it catches you completely off guard and you deflate like a popped balloon, you anger evaporating like mist under the sun. You squint up at the blonde, who you finally noticed was a lot closer than when you started this arguement. "What?"

His voice was soft this time around, all the fight having left him, too. "If you want flowers, just ask me. I'll buy you any flowers you want. Just-" He cut himself off with a sigh, closing his eyes. "Don't take someone else's flowers again. Please."

You looked at him, opening your mouth to snap at him but saw the sincere, the utterly vulnerable look in his eyes, and the breath was knocked from your lungs. You looked away, taking a few steps back as your heart twisted and you inhaled deeply to fill your lungs again. You noticed that Namjoon had left the kitchen. You didn't blame him.

A lengthy silence later, you finally looked at Jeongguk again, your hands trembling. "Is it really that important to you?"

"Yes." Jeongguk answered softly but firmly, no question in his voice, even as he looked down at the tiled floor.

"Okay." You nodded.

His eyes snapped to yours, and he echoed, "Okay?"

"Yeah, okay." You gave him a slow smile, then, just to break the heavy tension around you two, you said, "Just know that there is no backing out now and flowers are expensive. You aren't allowed to complain that I'm denting your bank account later."

"Deal." Jeongguk laughed, warmth spreading through his chest as the last of his jealousy faded.

* * *

"You know that one day you are going to have to talk about the feelings between you and Jeongguk, right?" Taehyung asked his sister later that night when they were laying in bed. He heard the story from Jimin, who heard it from Seokjin and Yoongi, who heard it from Hoseok, who heard it from Namjoon.

"What feelings?" You asked innocently.

Taehyung sighed in frustration but wasn't very surprised. The one thing that Taehyung has never been able to get out of his sister is the truth about her feelings for Jeongguk. But even without her saying anything, he knew. The eyes don't lie. "Denying it won't make it go away, Y/N."

You sighed, too, "Yeah, I know."

Taehyung didn't say anything for a few moments. This was the closest his sister ever gotten to admitting her feelings out loud, in seven years. "I'm here for you. Always."

"Thanks." You smiled, as if you didn't know that already.

* * *

Before you went home that Sunday, your brother told you that they were going on vacation as a group and you're invited because according to Taehyung, right after Jimin, you are the one person he can't live without. You rolled your eyes at the dramatics but agree to go with them none the less.

So, you put in a week's leave for two weeks from now and asked your brother where you would be going for this vacation. The answer was a secluded beach house where no one would be able to reach you.

And no phones was allowed.

You laughed a bit at that rule when you arrived at the house and saw that there is WiFi. Your brother was quick to remind everyone of the rule, telling them that the WiFi was only allowed to be used for YouTube and Netflix. Games was added to the list after an objection from Jeongguk and Seokjin.

"This is gonna go great." You laughed as walked up the stairs to pick a room. You get first choice after winning the rock, paper, scissors game in the car.

"Pick us a nice room, sis!" Taehyung shouted up after you.

There was only four rooms because the whole point of this vacation is to spend time together, which means that everyone was doubling up. They decided to pair up by age and it turned out - Seokjin and Yoongi, Hoseok and Namjoon, Jimin and Jeonguk, and naturally, you and Taehyung were paired up. (You tried not to think about the fact that if you kept to the age pairing that you and Jeongguk would've been sharing a room.) That lead to a lot of pouting from Jimin because he wanted to pair up with his soulmate.

"If your so eager to share a bed with him, why don't you marry him?" You remember teasing Jimin.

"Maybe I will." He shot back without thinking and you weren't sure who was redder once his words set in - Jimin or Taehyung.

You picked a room with a small balcony and a nice view of the ocean. The day passed peacefully, everyone full of energy but after dinner on the beach, everyone quickly retired to bed, the sea air getting to them.

You decided to watch the ocean a little while longer and Jeongguk joined you. Neither of you spoke as you sat on the sand, watching as the waves crashed on the shore, water retreating back into the vast expanse of ocean. It was captivating, in a kind of terrifying way but if there is one thing in your life you've never been scared of, it's water.

"Life is a lot like the ocean." You eventually said, breaking the silence between you.

"How so?"

"You can read about it in so many books, but you still won't know everything about it."

"That's deep." Jeongguk said, voice soft.

You shrugged, feeling a little self-conscious. "Yeah, well, I've never been a shallow person."

"I know." You saw him nodding out of the corner of your eyes. "You're a beautiful person. Inside and out." He said it so matter-of-factly, so sincerely, that your stomach flipped and your cheeks flushed.

"Thanks." You smiled over at him.

It was silent again, but just like the first silence, you didn't mind it. You like the comfortable quiet between you two. Finally, you sighed and pushed to your feet, "Come on, let's go inside."

"Okay." Jeongguk got to his feet and you walked the path home.

You walked on the side of the pool where you all swam earlier that day, and didn't notice the small puddle of water that hasn't dried yet and you slipped. You reached for Jeongguk but his hands missed yours by millimeters, so you just took a breath and resigned yourself to falling into the water. You didn't mind it all that much, nothing some towels couldn't fix.

When you surfaced, you saw a laughing Jeongguk on the side. An idea formed in your mind but you made sure to keep your expression neutral as you reached a hand out to him. "Give a girl a hand, please."

Jeongguk - nice, kind, unsuspecting Jeongguk - reached a helping hand out to you immediately, only realising your true intentions when you gave a forceful yank and pulled him into the pool.

When he surfaced, glaring at you - but there was no heat behind it, so it didn't count - you couldn't help but laugh heartily. "I forget how similar you and Taehyung-hyung really are sometimes."

"Sucks for you." You smirked. The smirk turned into spluttering when Jeongguk splashed water into your face. You looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Oh, you're on."

You splashed at each other like proper five year olds, giggling and everything. Finally you called a ceasefire before you woke up everyone inside.

You looked at Jeongguk, blonde hair dripping wet, droplets of water rolling down his tan skin, that little mole under his bottom lip that you've wanted to kiss so many times you've lost count and suddenly, all of your resolve broke down like a house of cards and your common sense shortcircuited. You surged forward and kissed him firmly, clutching at his shoulders to pull him close.

His lips were a little cold from the water but was still petal soft and you wondered what it would be like to kiss him everyday.

Your common sense returned a second later and you pulled away, almost loosing your footing and slipping. Your whole body was on fire and you couldn't look Jeongguk in the eyes. "Fuck. Shit, Jeongguk, I'm so, so sorry."

You turned away from him, every intention of getting out of this pool and hiding away until you die.

Only you didn't get anywhere before a strong hand circled your wrist in the one second and in the next second you found yourself pushed up against the wall of the swimming pool, barricaded in by a hand on each side of you. You looked up at Jeongguk and your mouth went dry at the sight of those dark eyes that made you shiver. His voice was low when he spoke, "I didn't get to kiss back."

Your eyes widened and that was all you had time to do before he leaned down to capture your lips. Your head told you to pull away. That this is a very bad idea. Your heart told you to kiss him back and make the most of it. You've been listening to your head for seven years, so you decided to listen to your heart for once and kissed Jeongguk back with years of pent up longing and yearning.

The kiss turn turned really hot, really fast.

Jeongguk hoisted you up and you quickly got with the program and wrapped your legs around his waist. Everywhere his hands touched, it left a blazing trail behind, causing you to shiver and erupt into goosebumps. Distantly you wondered how it was possible to feel so heated in cold water.

You kissed and kissed until your lungs burned, your toes curling as you squeezed as close to Jeongguk as possible. Finally, you couldn't take it anymore and you pulled away, both of you heaving lungfuls of air.

"So now what?" You asked him, when you regained some common sense and breathing didn't leave you breathless anymore.

"Well, right now I'd like to kiss you some more, but later on, I'd really like to take you out." Jeongguk told you bluntly and if you were standing, your legs would have given out.

"What?"

And just like that, gone was confident Jeongguk and back was shy Jeongguk. He ducked his head, adverting his eyes from yours. "If you want."

"Yeah, I want too." You told him, watching as his eyes glittered with happiness. You could relate.

Jeongguk was onto something with the kissing some more right now, though, so you pushed that away and you dived back in. Right now you were more interested in mapping the inside of Jeongguk's mouth and finding out what his skin tastes like than anything else in this world.

* * *

The next morning your brother squinted at you suspiciously from across the breakfast table. You were seated in between Jeongguk and Hoseok, across from Taehyung and Jimin. Namjoon sat next to Hoseok. Yoongi and Jin was busy making breakfast in the kitchen. The six of you were waiting patiently.

Finally you couldn't take the staring anymore. "Is there something on my face, Taehyung-oppa?"

"Something happened." Taehyung said, pointing the pair of chopsticks he was fiddling with at you.

You rose a brow, not surprised at all that your brother picked up on it. That doesn't mean you are going to make it easy for him. You put on an innocent face, "Really?"

"Yeah, Taehyung-ah is right, you're like-" Jimin agreed, waving his hands around as he searched for the right word. "...glowing."

"I am not glowing." You said indignantly. Out of the corner of your eyes, you caught a smirk lifting on Jeongguk's lips. You turned and narrowed your eyes at him, "You, stop looking so smug."

"What does Jeonggukie have to do with-" Taehyung cut himself off and you could see how he put the dots together. The look on his face was hilarious as he turned to Jeongguk with a fierce gaze, "Jeon Jeongguk, what have you done to my baby sister?"

Jeongguk, despite being bigger and stronger, still looked a bit terrified of Taehyung as he squeaked, "Nothing, hyung."

"Nothing, hyung. Hah! Do you take me for an idiot? Something happened. I know it did. What is it?"

You giggled and leaned over to Jeongguk and whispered in his ear, "Don't tell him anything. Watching him squirm and drawing his own conclusions, slowly going insane with curiousity will be much funnier than telling him the truth."

Jeongguk brightened at your suggestion and immediately nodded in agreement.

"What are you two whispering about?" Taehyung demanded, voice higher than normal, despite having the deepest voice of the lot. "Hobi-hyung, tell me what they're saying."

"Sorry, Taehyung-ah, I can't hear." Hoseok said with laughter in his tone.

Yoongi and Jin came in with the food before Taehyung could interrogate you further. Taehyung looked before you and Jeongguk, "This isn't over."

You laughed, looking forward to teasing your brother a bit, when suddenly a hand slipped into yours. You looked at Jeongguk, who was steadfastly avoiding your eyes. You noticed his red ears and smiled softly, twisting your hand so you could lace your fingers through his. As the two of you held hands under the table while eating breakfast, you felt giddy and more excited about the future than you have in a long time.

There was still a lot you and Jeongguk had to talk about, but that was for later. You had enough time to figure it all out. Together.

the end.

[putseraphinaonthaphone]

Adjustment | Group Chat AU

CW// angst, abusive family, CPTSD, trauma survivor reader (it's a weird mix of self indulgence and these four using sex to show their affection and care instead of therapy talks, yk?)

tw// rough sex, orgasm denial, d/s dynamics, anal sex, spanking, recreational drug use, high sex, CGL, sexual age play, group sex, m/m, degradation kink, praise kink, daddy kink, dacryphilia, double penetration, creampie, breeding kink

It shouldn't have surprised any of them, but the first time you threw a fit you were met with shock before the anger.

You were in a shitty mood after a call from home you couldn't dodge, and it threw off the rest of your day. You locked yourself in your dorm and smoked yourself into oblivion- ignoring your phone and the many texts from your boyfriends, and masturbating until it hurt too much to continue. Your clit was sore and throbbing and walking was uncomfortable when you got up to take a shower.

By the time you finished cleaning up there was a violent pounding at your door. You opened the door and Shoto's concerned faced morphed into anger when he was hit with the smell of weed and your blank face.

"Why the fuck weren't you answering the chat? Or my calls?"

"I turned my phone off early this morning. Didn't want to turn it back on." Was all you could manage, turning to finish getting dressed, a flash of annoyance going through you when Sho grabbed your wrist.

"Do you know how fucking worried I was?"

"I don't fucking care Shoto! I didn't want my fucking phone on. I didn't want you people fucking calling me." You were too angry to realize you fucked up, only scoffing in the face of Shoto's complete shock at your rudeness.

You both knew sometimes the haunting effects of your trauma could make you lash out at each other, Dabi too, but you had also all agreed never to take it out on each other.

So even though Sho could see something had obviously triggered you, he couldn't allow this behavior to go unchecked.

"We're not people, you fucking little brat. And if you want to make your punishment for today's little stunt worse then by all means keep running your mouth." You winced as you shifted your weight from one foot too another once the sharpness of Sho's tone finally cut through your bravado.

"What the fuck did you do." It was all but growled at you while he took out his phone, to call the others for you punishment you realized with a gulp. If all four of them were needed to punish you... you must have really fucked up.

"N-nothing.." It was a strange, insidious form of self harm you'd developed in highschool. Usually only realizing what you'd done when it was too late. But masturbating until your clit hurt too much to walk was self harm just like any other form.

"That's fine, we'll get it out of you one way or another." He clenched his jaw but only spoke a few terse words to someone, Dabi you guessed. "Found her. Come pick us up at her dorm. Call the others."

"Get dressed." You almost flinched at the way he barked at you, Shoto was usually soft spoken to the extreme even when he was high. But now he was properly angry at you and you just felt like shit.

You tried to hide the winces and awkward movements to accommodate the new discomfort, and eventually Sho orders you to get on the bed and spread your legs.

When he sees just how engorged your clit is, how you flinch from the barest touches to it, he glares at you with such anger you're truly worried for what your punishment was going to hold.

"I'll carry you to the car. But you're in no way off the hook."

You end up being piggybacked to Dabi's car, and told to lay down and shut up in the backseat while the two men talked in the front seat. Unfortunately for you, Shoto's anger and the chill of Dabi's leather seats sobered you up quickly. Not to mention the bits and pieces of their conversation you overheard.

"Bakugou's fucking pissed. Even Shinsou raised his voice."

"So did I... stubborn as usual."

"The fuck are we gonna do with her?"

"Considering she rubbed her clit literally raw to the point I'm literally concerned, I thought it'd be a perfect time to remind her orgasms are a reward to be earned or taken away depending on her behavior."

"God damnit, that's my job stupid fucking slut." Dabi cursed at you worriedly over his shoulder, and you couldn't stop the way you whimpered in response because your thighs clenched together automatically and now you were paying the price.

Or so you thought.

But even through all the torture they put you through that evening for not coming to them when you had been triggered, and for shutting them out- resulting in them not being there to stop you from hurting yourself, you weren't truly sorry until you were stretched around Bakugou's shaft while Shinsou, Shoto, and Dabi took turns fucking loads into your ass.

They decided that each of them would give you a load for every missed call they sent to your phone.

Bakugou's job was to spank your ass hard enough to make you clench around whichever two dicks were in you at the moment, making you apologize for every missed call and reminding you "We wouldn't fucking call if we didn't care."

You were trembling in his lap, your face buried in his neck as Shoto fucked you relentlessly- happy to take out all his worry and anger on your ass and adding his final load to the mess in your ass.

When Shinsou pressed into you for one last round in your sloppy hole, Dabi and Sho went to either side of Bakugou, sitting beside him so they could see your face as you were fucked as befitted a punishment- hard, with little pleasure that didn't come with more pain.

"Do you know why you need to answer daddy's calls baby?" Shinsou groaned in your ear as he gripped your hips tightly, and when you took too long to gather your scattered thoughts Bakugou was happy to pop your ass. "You were asked a question, brat."

"B-because I belong to you." You answered, more a sob than anything, like Dabi drilled into taught you. At the end of the day that's what he saw the crux of the problem was, you didn't truly think they wanted you to belong to them. And maybe his moody ass was right.

"Yes, and because you belong to me, to all of us, we need to always be able to reach you. Keep you in line, keep you safe even from yourself if we need to. Cause that's what you need, isn't it kitten." This time it wasn't a question and as you finally broke down and cried. Sho's cold hand and Dabi's hot hand each claimed on of your thighs on either side of Bakugou's waist, and Bakugou wrapped his hand around your throat loosely to make sure you kept your eyes on his even through your tears.

Shinsou felt his orgasm approaching as you started to whimper out apologies to all of them, told them you needed them to keep you safe and that you'd be good from now on, because nothing aroused him more than fucking you with the others back into his sweet baby.

When you woke up next, you were sandwiched between Shinsou and Bakugou while Dabi and Sho made out at the foot of the bed.

"You finally awake sleepy head?" Shinsou's soft voice was heard above you, and as you took stock of the fact that you were freshly washed and dressed, you felt grateful for these guys all over again.

"Hurts, daddy.." You admitted quietly, and Bakugou reached to the table closest to the bed and grabbed a cold wash cloth, both him and your daddy holding you open to press the cool cloth to your aching clit. Sho and Dabi paused to watch worriedly, Dabi's piercing blue eyes glaring at you as he growled, "Don't you ever pull that shit again. We can't touch your clit for days now."

"Days?" You pouted but Bakugou just pressed a little too hard and you were whining from the pain. His crimson eyes met yours angrily as well.

"Days. This is a punishment afterall. You're going to remember who you belong to. Who you obey. If we have to drive you insane by fucking you without giving release, then maybe you'll learn your lesson this time."

[totallytododeku]

Crunchimation - Todoroki x reader

> Todoroki and his s/o go to the mall and the reader gets hit on by the cashier

Genre: fluff

Word Count: 1400

☁⭐❤⭐☁⭐❤⭐☁⭐❤⭐☁⭐❤⭐☁⭐❤⭐☁⭐❤⭐☁⭐❤⭐☁⭐❤⭐☁⭐❤⭐☁⭐❤⭐

This week had dragged on for what felt like a month. Both Present Mic and All Might had given a your class tests today, and Aizawa had made you train extra hard. Finally, Friday had arrived, so right after school you and your boyfriend had walked to the local mall.

Since you had moved to the area to attend UA, you had never been to this particular mall. Shouto was showing you around while also shopping a bit for himself, but you didn't mind a few stops to get him socks or a new watchband. You two were even able to grab some soba at a noodle shop, which you ate as you walked. It was gone in less than five minutes.

You were enjoying yourself just being with him, when something caught your eye.

"Shouto! Look!" You grabbed the fabric of his sleeve in both your hands, bouncing up and down excitedly on your tippy-toes. "There's a Crunchimation at this mall! I have to go!"

He blinked, expressionless. "What's Crunchimation?"

You gasped quietly and immediately tugged him by his sleeve towards the wall, away from the congestion of mall-goers. "Crunchimation is my faaaavorite store! It's where I got most of my favorite anime merch! They carry a super cheap, SUPER high-quality line of collectable anime figurines!"

"...So it's like a otaku gift shop?"

"Not just figurines! They have some stuff for cosplay, too like wigs and accessories! Maybe they even have the new issue o-" you gasped again, eyes nearly popping out of your head. "Are those F/A plushies?!? No way!" You whipped around to look Todoroki in the eye, on the brink of tears. "I need to buy that stuffed F/C."

Todoroki raised an eyebrow, wordlessly reminding you of the shelves of anime merchandise you already had in your dorm.

Solemnly, you put a hand on your boyfriend's shoulder, closing your eyes. "I'm sorry, but I have to go buy that F/C. I must rescue it. " You raised your other hand in a heroic fist. "As a F/A fan, it is my sworn duty to support the franchise economically. Today, I will bring F/A Studios-" you glanced at the price on the toys in the display case "...nine dollars and ninety-nine cents closer to funding the next installment in the F/A series!"

Todoroki furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Wait a second, I know that anime, you watch it all the time. They're not making another seaso-"

"Of course they are! They've got to! " You cut him off mid-sentence. "You know what would be awesome? If they made it into an GAME. Oh, man, they're totally gonna make it into a gam-"

"They're not going to make it into a ga-" "Shouto! I know you're jealous of F/C, but I can't just leave them here! They need to come home with us! To be a part of our family!" You cracked a smile, your deadpan delivery begginning to fall apart. "We have to raise F/C, Shouto! No one is going to love and respect F/C as much as me!"

By now, he was chuckling along with you. "Hey, how does 'Todoroki F/C' sound?" you teased, giggling.

He rolled his eyes and gently pushed you in the direction of the store. "Go rescue F/C from Crunchimation, Y/N. I, uh, still have a bit more shopping to do, but I'll meet you back here in ten minutes." Todoroki smiled fondly at you as you flashed him a grin.

"Thanks, Shouto, I won't be long!"

You turned on your heel and skipped through the welcoming doorway to otaku heaven.

You were hit with the comforting scent of freshly printed manga, like that of Barnes and Noble. Shelves packed with new issues of tens of dozens of different manga: some series you've re-read three times, some series you were excited to try but never got around to, and some series you'd never even heard of.

"May I help you?" A deep voice cut through your musings.

"No, thank you, I'm just browsing this part of the store. I'm here for the stuffed F/C up front."

"Oh, you like F/C, too? He/She's my favorite character..." You glanced up at the tall, odd-looking boy in the Crunchimation uniform.

"You know, today we have a special offer..."

"F/C is a boy/girl."

He hummed in response, obviously not listening to you. His eyes had dropped from your face, shamelessly checking your body out. You cleared your throat, uncomfortable. His beady eyes snapped back up to yours.

"Oh, really?" you asked, not all that interested. You perused the rows of folded graphic tee's, settling on one with Totoro at the bus stop.

"Yeah," the boy drawled, "if you buy one of these shirts, you get a pair of socks for free."

You backed away from the t-shirt section, smiling awkwardly. "Oh, no, I only have enough money on me for the F/C doll, but thank you." You darted away without waiting for his answer. What a creep, you thought wrinkling your nose in disgust. He obviously hasn't seen F/A, either. You grabbed the first F/C you saw, eager to leave.

"Here." You placed the doll next to the cash register.

"Just this?"

"Yes, just that." You gritted you teeth in frustration.

"You know...You could always just take a shirt now, and...pay me back later. " Once again, he wasn't looking at your face. "Here, take these. I think they'd look great on you." He slid a flat, rectangular package across the counter.

Cautiously, you lifted the plastic-enclosed garment. It was a pair of lacy, thigh-high stockings, probably meant for some skimpy cosplay. A scantily-clad anime girl smirked up at you from the package.

"Look, I hav-"

"Excuse me, sir, but just what do you think you're doing talking to my s/o like that? In fact, you should never talk to anyone like that, you scumbag. You're disgusting and you should be ashamed." Todoroki slammed a ten dollar bill onto the counter. "I'll definitely be sending a scathing e-mail to your employer," he said coldly. With that, he grabbed your hand and the doll and strode out.

As soon as you reached a quieter area under the escalator, Todoroki turned to you. "Y/N, are you okay? What happened?" He grasped your shoulders gently and held you at arm's-length to search your face, then punctuated his question by pulling you into his arms.

"That guy was the only one in there and he was hitting on me really weirdly and I was really uncomfortable." You scrunched up your nose, leaning into his chest.

"Oh my god, Y/N, I'm so sorry! If I had just stayed with you, none of this ever would've happened!" Todoroki's angry voice contrasted his gentle embrace. "I should've been there to protect you," he growled.

"No, it wasn't anyone's fault. Neither of us should have to worry about that kind of thing!" You pulled back slightly to look up at your boyfriend. "I think you handled it very well, though."

He smiled softly. "I wish I'd just stayed with you, but I'm glad you're okay. We can go back to the dorms whenever you want, or we can keep shopping." He paused, reaching into one of his shopping bags. "I know it doesn't make up for leaving you for so long, but I thought you might like this. I actually had it made and just picked it up."

In his hand was a silver, heart-shaped locket. You gingerly picked it up and opened it. Inside was your favorite photo of you and Todoroki. The hinged side was inscribed with, "Love, Shouto".

You flung yourself into his arms, eyes stinging with tears. "Oh my god, Shouto, what the heck? It's beautiful, thank you so much, I love it! I love you!" Your voice cracked with emotion, making you both laugh.

"If you're going to cry, then we should definitely head back to the dorms." He gently took your hand, both of you heading towards the exit.

"Will you watch F/A in my bed with me?"

He paused, feigning irritation. "...Only if we can take a nap after."

You smiled to yourself, looking forward to the short walk back to the dorms and a quiet night in with your favorite anime - - and favorite person.

"Deal."

[bearsinpotatosacks]

You Had Me at Aloe- a Benkaru fic

Takes place in 2256

Thousands of floral scents filled the air as he wandered through the aisles of luscious plants and flowers. The mist floated onto his shoulders as he lifted the leaf of a fig plant, considering it as a purchase.

He already had one pot in his hand, an Aloe Vera, a classic plant that he, strangely, didn't own. The garden centre wasn't too busy, it was a Tuesday afternoon and Hikaru had a few hours free to focus on himself. This, of course, meant shopping for plants and practicing botany and fencing.

His roommate, Pavel Chekov, had questioned his purchasing of plants and was convinced that his Rigellian Passion Trap, a large alien version of a venus fly trap, was inching closer and closer to his bed every night, despite Sulu telling him that this was physically impossible for the plant to move. But then again, Sulu didn't understand the kid's obsession with programming, so he couldn’t complain.

And he was a kid too, a genius but a literal minor. They were in their third year and only the year prior he'd realised, after months of questioning, that he was a trans man. Sulu was proud of him, came out to him as gay and asexual, and arranged to go clothes shopping and get his hair cut.

Hikaru moved into the next aisle, full of flowering cacti. He saw a rare one, small and blue with white spikes that shone against its surface, a cactus that only grew on the peaks of northern mountains on Vulcans. With an outstretched hand, he reached for it, stepping quickly along the side and completely ignoring the person heading toward him.

They bumped into each other, Sulu almost dropping the Aloe Vera in his arms as he pricked his finger on the bristles of the cactus.

"Oh lord, sorry, sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going, sor-" He said, gradually rising from his position of almost falling flat on his face and looked up at the stranger as he felt all the air rush from his lungs

He was gorgeous. Washed out blue shirt, pale cream shorts made out of a comfortable fabric. His skin was tanned from the sun of the summer that was just melting into autumn and his hair swept back, little bits springing up here and there, it was freshly wet, presumably from swimming.

"Hey, it's alright, I was just going for the same cactus," the stranger looked down at the spikes on Hikaru's finger.

"Yeah, they're always out of stock,"

The stranger nodded, still looking at Hikaru's fingers.

"Want me to get that for you?" He asked.

Sulu gulped as he nodded and shifted the weight of the pot into his other arm. He gave him his hand, watching his brow furrow slightly as he plucked the spikes out of his hand.

"I'm Hikaru, by the way,"

The stranger darted his head up and his eyes widened, "I'm Ben," he scratched his head. "Sorry, I started plucking those out of your hand before I even told you my name."

"It's fine," Hikaru picked up the cactus, handing one to Ben and taking one for himself.

They stood around for a second, not looking at each other but neither one wanting to leave.

Ben made the first leap.

"I'm headed for the checkouts, want me to walk you there?"

"Oh, yeah, thanks, that's really kind,"

Sulu gulped as Ben led the way. He watched his back, his broad shoulders moving as he walked.

Hikaru was definitely windswept.

~~~

"Pascha!" Hikaru ran into their dorm and slid down the wall, placing the two plants next to him. "I think I found my soulmate,"

Pavel turned around from his screen, he stood up from the chair and made his way over to him, "No you haven't."

"But you didn't see him, Pascha,"

"I don't believe in soulmates,"

He raised his hands into the air, "Okay, but he's-he's him, he's the one,"

Pavel raised an eyebrow and inched his arm toward him. He didn't know much about love, had never experienced a crush and was already starting to question that.

"I was buying these plants and reached for this cactus-" he lifted the Vulcan Cactus. "But I bumped into him and got a load of spikes in my hand and we both apologised and he pulled them out and his name is Ben,"

Hikaru's eyes sparkled at the thought of the man. His relaxed look, hair wet and a sloppy smile on his face. He looked warm. His tanned skin radiated sunlight, although he wasn't sure if his memory was skewing it.

"Did you get his COMM number?"

Hikaru shook his head.

"His surname? His job?"

He shook his head again.

"Do you have anything for me to go on?"

"Go on?" Hikaru said.

Pavel stood up and went back to his screen, "How else am I meant to find him for you?"

Hikaru got up onto wobbly legs, his palms were sweaty and his head drifted as he made his way to Pascha's desk. Thoughts of Ben, the cactus and the chance of meeting him again made it hard to focus on the things Pavel was saying. He might as well have been speaking Russian, even though he was picking up a few words from their time as roommates.

"We don't know if he's in Starfleet or if he even lives in San Francisco," Pavel turned to him. "Did he have an accent?"

"Erm, no,"

"Okay, so he's from the US or Canada," he typed something on his mechanical keyboard, it was a sound he was used to. "Now, are there any events on around here lately?"

He typed some more and shook his head, eventually turning to Hikaru, who was just as bewildered.

"I've never seen you like this," Pavel said.

"I've never felt like this," Hikaru replied.

Pavel placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled. They had their differences, age being one of them, but they'd both been there when they needed each other most. Hikaru felt a strong sense of protection over the fifteen-year-old, even though he was only nineteen himself. Pavel was like his brother.

"I'll find him for you, don't worry,"

"Thanks," He smiled at him and patted the hand on his shoulder.

Hikaru stepped away to find a place for his plants, and think of names for them. Pavel went back to clicking and taking occasional sips of the electric blue drink to his right.

The heavenly thought of Ben, how his first instinct was to help him, his laugh and the way his eyes crinkled. He sighed as he pottered around the apartment. Hikaru hoped he'd see him again.

Does it kinda annoy everyone else that these pair are either barely mentioned or are a background ship at most? Also why are there so many child geniuses in Star Trek, at least the reboots. Because their birthdays were mostly kept the same from TOS to AOS but AOS takes place about 10 years earlier and all the characters are in the same positions. Sulu was born in 2237, so would've been 21 in Star Trek 2009, but he still has the same level of expertise as TOS Sulu. Why are all these characters either way older than everyone else in the Academy or child geniuses?! Also, you can kind of tell that Ben wasn't planned or even a character in the first two films because he and Sulu would probably have to have met, got married and got a kid in the space of maximum 3 or 4 years, all while Sulu was off having the adventures of the films and off-screen too! Can you tell that this has been bothering me for a while?

Anyway, everyone has different timelines for love, maybe after Nero there was a boom of marriages and babies born because the earth was so close to destruction that everyone though why not? and jumped commitments.

Hope you enjoyed this! I hope to write more about them!

[joochansimp]

Wanted | Chapter 1

> synopsis: a ‘vampire knight’ inspired fic in which the human reader goes to a prestigious university, home to both humans and vampires. she catches the attention of a group of vampires and chaos ensues. > genre: fantasy, angst, fluff, uni, very crack & au. also very indulgent lol > pairing: readerxjuyeon, readerxrowoon, readerxseonghwa, readerxjaehyun (it is complicated... KJSDHFKSJ) (also more pairings/characters might be added later) > warnings: descriptions of blood, mild wounds, memory loss, manipulative behaviour sometimes. > words: 3.5k

You took a deep breath as you entered the building that would be your home for the next seven years of your life. Your stomach was filled with excited jitters, though a part of you was anxious. You didn’t really know what you were in for—everything you knew about Sagong Academy, and many other private academies of the sort, was that it was prestigious and that a lot of freshly graduated highschoolers from all over the world wanted to get in. You also knew that it was dangerous. How could it not be when the school was home to vampires?

You hadn’t met a lot of vampires in your life. Statistically, most vampires got turned between the age of 18 and 30, so you had never gone to school with one. There wasn’t a way of telling whether someone was a vampire or not, since they were able to walk around in the sunlight and physically looked the same as humans if they chose to, so unless they openly showed their nature, they were disguised.

When you stepped into the school building, however, you realised it was going to be very easy to keep the humans and vampires apart.

‘’You must be one of the first years,’’ a cheerful boy beamed at you as he walked over, holding out a folder. You nodded and took it, already taken aback by his demanding presence. He was wearing an all-white uniform: neat dress pants that were cuffed at the bottom, a white dress shirt, a white blazer and white shoes. The only things that weren’t white were his tie and some lined details on his uniform, which were a soft, warm orange. The girl next to him was wearing a uniform that was mostly the dark grey color of the boy’s tie, with a grey skirt, shirt, blazer and shoes, including the lined details that mimicked the boy’s uniform. Her stockings were the only fully white items, each having two orange lines at the top. 

‘’I’m Changmin, second year student representative of the human house. This is Gahyeon, she’s the second year representative of the vampire house. If you have any questions, we’re the ones you can talk to. What is your name?’’ he asked, looking down at a clipboard as he waited for your answer.

‘’Y/N,’’ you told him, quickly getting used to his fast paced and quirky presence.

‘’Ah, right here,’’ he said with a smile as he crossed your name off of the list.

‘’You’ve been paired up with Lee Jeno, table fifteen in the auditorium,’’ he said, pointing his pen to the left.

‘’Thank you,’’ you smiled at him, then made your way to the auditorium. You already knew the school was wealthy, but seeing the grand building in all its glory, both on the outside and inside, made it all the more real. Golden details on the walls and furniture, marble floors, and the three story high ceiling in the auditorium all showed off how exclusive the school was.

Rows and rows of tables were situated in the large room, and you walked around as you looked at the golden rimmed disks with numbers on the tables. At table number fifteen a dark haired boy sat, who was looking around, looking like he was carrying around about the same amount of nerves as you were. You walked over and cleared your throat, and as you caught his attention he got up from his seat.

‘’Hi, I’m Y/N. I’m supposed to sit at this table with you,’’ you introduce yourself, bowing at the boy. He quickly got up and bowed back, a friendly smile on his face.

‘’Nice to meet you, I’m Jeno,’’ he replied, sitting back down, and you sit next to him.

‘’This place sure is big, isn’t it?’’ he said as you both looked around the room.

‘’Definitely,’’ you agreed, your gaze falling on the back of the room, where a low stage was situated. Some people, whom you assumed were teachers, were standing on it, talking to each other as they waited for all the first years to arrive. You weren’t much of a talker and it seemed like Jeno wasn’t either, which suited you just fine. You preferred to get adjusted to a place and new people before completely opening yourself up, so you took this time to take a good look at the people around you. They were all either wealthy, or scholarship students like yourself, you assumed.

At exactly 9:00 the doors to the auditorium closed, and the staff gathered on the stage. You recognised Changmin and Gahyeon among them. A man stepped up to the microphone, which stood in the center of the stage, and the sound of people talking died down.

‘’Welcome to Sagong Academy. On behalf of the staff, we hope that you will find your stay here educational, enlightening and comfortable. If you have any questions after today’s introductory gathering, please do not hesitate to ask our student representatives,’’ the man said, motioning to a group of six students, including Changmin and Gahyeon. ‘’During your first lessons tomorrow, you will be introduced to them on a more personal level.’’

The speech was long, though anything but boring. Classes were divided between day and night. Vampires didn’t really need to stay inside during the day, but their nightly lifestyle was what worked and what was most convenient. The day and night classes would be mixed during breakfast and dinner—as vampires did in fact eat ‘’regular’’ food next to drinking blood—and during leisure time. During lunch however, night class students would be catching sleep, whereas when you went to bed at night, that’s when the night students would have their classes and their respective lunch. More small details about how things went around the academy were told, until the principal started to call out students’ names, and the dorms they would be staying in.

‘’If you would please follow the student representatives to the dorms. Classes start tomorrow morning at 8:00. Once again, welcome to Sagong Academy.’’

Everyone started clapping, then the murmur of excited students took over. You got up at the same time as Jeno did and you made your way to the groups that were forming.

‘’I’ll see you around,’’ Jeno said to you, to which you smiled in reply and nodded.

‘’Yes, seeya.’’

You walked to the girl who was holding a card that said ‘’1C’’ on it, which was the dorm number that the principal had mentioned when he called your name. You joined the group of girls and waited until the student representative started to walk out of the auditorium. Your group followed, the exited murmurs still hovering in the air, as you walked through the building to the west wing. The girls around you were talking way too excitedly to pay any attention to you, which, once again, suited you just fine. 

You arrived at the dorm with the 9 other girls in your group, and gathered around the student representative.

‘’My name is Yoohyeon and I’m a fourth year student of the vampire house,’’ the student representative introduced herself.

‘’You’ll share this dorm room among the ten of you, the main common room out there is used by all human students, though you are allowed to spend your free time anywhere else in the building, except for the vampire dorm rooms. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.’’

She continued talking about practical things, like the school uniforms—which were apparently waiting for you on your bed, and information about classes. Your attention really got caught when she started talking about the feeding procedure.

‘’We have to what now?’’ one of the girls piped up.

‘’Donate your blood,’’ Jayeon repeated without blinking. ‘’Humans donate their blood to the vampire students, no less than once a month, no more than two times a week. Only closely monitored and safe amounts at a time, of course. You can decide how many times you want to do it. If you have medical issues, arrangements can be made, of course. You can speak to the school nurse about that.’’

You had heard about donating blood, though a part of you always thought it was just a rumor. Having it confirmed like this made you even more nervous than you already were. The other girls once again broke into excited whispers, and after Yoohyeon took her leave, you picked a bed and unpacked your luggage. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to not feel too homesick. The next few years sure were going to be interesting.

~

‘’Ah, fresh blood.’’

Juyeon joined Rowoon by the window, both young males now looking down at the groups of first year humans spreading around the courtyard. It was rare to see vampires out and about during the day, simply because most didn’t like to surround themselves with potential triggers. And also because many felt like they were above humans.

‘’Anyone caught your attention yet?’’

‘’Not really. We’ll see, though, once donations start. Think you’ll become a regular this year?’’ Rowoon asked him in return.

‘’Nah, I’m sticking to synthetic for now,’’ Juyeon shook his head. ‘’You know I’m not good at selfcontrol.’’

Rowoon just chuckled softly in return. He remembered all too well how Juyeon had nearly sucked a poor girl dry during one of his first donation sessions. After that the school nurse urged him to switch to synthetic blood for the time being, so he could get used to blood before he learned to control his thirst. Most vampires learned within a few months of transitioning how to resist taking more blood than they needed, but some required a little (or a lot) more time and effort than that.

‘’Well I’m not sticking to synthetic—I can’t wait to try out the newcomers,’’ San smirked as he joined the two older students by the window.

‘’You know it’s going to be at least a few weeks before you get to feed from the vein, right?’’ Rowoon arched an eyebrow at the newborn vampire.

‘’Sure, but it’ll fly by,’’ he said optimistically.

They turned as the door to their common room opened and one of the student representatives entered the room.

‘’Ah, Jaehyun. How was the introduction?’’ Rowoon asked, now walking away from the window.

‘’Interesting. I spotted a few potential recruits, but we’ll have to see,’’ he said with a light shrug.

‘’How about donors? Any with good scents?’’ San pressed, clearly still in the first phase of vampirism, when the hunger was at its peak.

‘’A couple exceptional ones,’’ Jaehyun confirmed with a nod. ‘’I’m sure there will be an argument or two about who gets to request who during donations.’’

Though not usual, it was possible for vampires to request specific humans for blood donations. Since different vampires had different tastes and every human student had to donate blood, there was always plenty of blood for all vampires, but some of the night class students had developed preferences. As some students chose to become vampires after their first year, like San had, some vampires had to make do with the remaining humans and newcomers.

‘’Will your fourth year finally be there year where you drink human blood, too?’’ San asked Jaehyun.

‘’No human blood for me,’’ Jaehyun replied with a shake of his head.

‘’Why not, you were the only one who didn’t struggle when that human girl got a bloody nose in the courtyard last school year,’’ San inquired.

‘’That’s exactly why; I don’t need to satisfy my craving. Synthetic blood works for me and I prefer not to tempt myself when I don’t have to.’’

‘’So mature of you,’’ Seonghwa noted, who had been leaning against one of the many windows in the room, listening to the conversation. Jaehyun chuckled softly at his remark, knowing that the blonde vampire was just teasing him, which was confirmed by the smile on Seonghwa’s lips.

‘’You should try it some time, you might like it.’’

‘’I highly doubt that,’’ Seonghwa said, turning up his nose at the idea of giving up real human blood to the synthetic crap that Jaehyun and Juyeon drank.

‘’Anyway, if you want to get rest before classes tonight, this is the moment,’’ Rowoon announced as he walked to the room of his dorm. Though vampires didn’t really need to sleep, or eat regular food for that matter, both of these things helped with suppressing their ultimate craving for human blood, so most vampires spent a few hours a day resting in bed at least.

‘’I should. See you guys tonight,’’ Juyeon said, following Rowoon to the spiral staircase that led up to the different dorm rooms..

‘’Boring,’’ San sighed, flopping down on the black leather couch in the middle of the sitting area.

‘’Don’t be a baby. Things will soon get interesting around here,’’ Seonghwa said with a wink, before averting his gaze to the courtyard. Very interesting.

~

‘’Welcome to your first class at Sagong Academy. I am your homeroom teacher, as well as your Ethics teacher, Mrs. Byeon. Please do not hesitate to ask any questions, should you have any.’’

‘’When will we start having to give blood donations?’’ someone asked immediately. You could see that Mrs. Byeon was ticked off by the sudden question, even though she just said questions were welcome, from the slight clench of her jaw.

‘’Actually, your first ones will be made today. You’ll be escorted to the donation wing by one of the student representatives assigned to this class shortly.’’

Even though the subject had been touched upon several times now, nobody had explained how the blood donations actually worked. Did you simply have to sit in a chair while a nurse stuck a needle in your arm so a vampire could suck the blood out of you with a straw?

You shook your head, trying to practically shake the image out of your head, as it made your skin crawl.

When Changmin entered the class with his signature smile on his face, Mrs. Byeon dismissed the class. You grabbed your bag and got up, following the second year student with the rest of your classmates. It was nice walking around the building, as it helped you get to know the place better, though you were sure that you would get lost at some point. You noticed that not only did the human students’ uniforms differ from the vampire uniforms, yours being white and theirs grey, but the lined details came in different colors too. 

“They represent what year you’re in. Mine are orange, for second years. Yours are red, which means first years. Third years are yellow, fourth years green, and so forth, all up until the seventh year,” Changmin explained, looking back over his shoulder after you had asked him about it.

‘’Here we are,’’ Changmin said, entering a large room. In the middle of the room stood a large desk, behind which three school nurses were working. Throughout the room were white leather couches with soft looking pillows, some of which were occupied by other human students. Along the left wall of the room were five doors, all of which were closed, and all with a bright red light bulb above them.

‘’Those are the rooms in which the donations take place. If the light bulb is on, it means that the room is being used. The nurses will tell you when it’s time for you to enter a room. You can choose to keep the light on or off inside the room, depending on what makes you the most comfortable. A vampire will bite your neck—don’t worry, their teeth are so sharp you’ll hardly feel anything—and with the use of a blood pressure monitor the school nurse will be able to keep track of your health. Though don’t worry, vampires know exactly when to stop and most choose to do so before it gets unpleasant.’’

You wondered why he would include that last bit of information, as it instantly made you nervous, but you realised that he probably had to mention it as a disclaimer.

‘’The most important thing is to relax. You’ll get used to it, and after a while it’s nothing to be nervous about at all.’’

As you waited, you watched some of the students coming out of the donation rooms. They looked fine, as far as you could tell. They all had a small band aid stuck to their neck, and the nurses handed each of them either a piece of fruit or a cookie, to get their blood sugar level up again.

Seeing the students act so ordinary after giving blood, you felt a little bit calmer. There was nothing to worry about, surely if this was a normal thing here at school, accidents were unusual. Right?

You were about to tap Changmin on the shoulder to ask whether a student had ever died during a donation session, when one of the nurses called your name.

‘’Door number two, please,’’ she smiled, motioning to the second door on the left. You gulped and got up, smoothing out your white skirt, and made your way to the door. You opened it and slowly stepped inside. The room was smaller than you expected, though not any less beautiful that the other areas you had been to so far. There was another door on the wall across from you, the doorframe and knob the same shining gold as everywhere else in the building. In the middle of the square room was a comfortable looking stool with a rich red cushion on it. A small table on the side held a small bottle of water, a few band aids, a wristband of some sort and what seemed to be an instruction card on it. You stepped up to the table and picked up the card.

Please drink at least a small amount of water before donating.

Please place the wristband around your wrist firmly, though not so firm that it cuts off your circulation. The light on the wristband should be green.

When you are ready, please press the red button next to the door frame.

Please take a seat on the stool (facing the door you entered through) and await instructions.

You put the card down and took the bottle of water. You weren’t sure what a few sips of water would do for the blood donating experience, but it helped a little bit to calm your nerves. You took a few gulps, then put the bottle down again and took the wristband. You put it around your wrist, then tightened it so that it sat comfortably against your skin. After a few seconds a small green light on the wristband lit up. So far so good.

You looked at the red button next to the door you entered through, and hesitantly pressed it. You then stepped to the stool and climbed up on it, sitting with your back towards the other door. You took a deep breath and waited for the instructions.

‘’Please choose: lights, on or off,’’ a slightly robotic voice asked you. You hesitated. You weren’t afraid of the dark—you were actually pretty comfortable in it. Though did you really want an unknown vampire feeding from you for the first time in the dark?

‘’Please choose: lights, on or off,’’ the voice asked you again.

What was worse, being fed on by someone while being able to see their face, or not?

‘’Off,’’ you decided, still unsure of your decision. Right now, you’d rather not be confronted with the face of the person who would have your life in their hands for the next few minutes, and having to face them afterwards around school. Especially since you didn’t know whether you would freak out or not. What if it hurt and you screamed? What if they didn’t stop when you started to get dizzy?

The light turned off and you nearly held your breath awaiting what would happen next. A small amount of light entered the room as the door behind you opened and someone entered. The door closed again and you were engulfed in darkness. You expected someone to greet you, or at least say something to indicate that they were there, but it remained quiet. Your body tensed and your heartbeat quickened. They surely wouldn’t just bite you out of the blue, would they? Not only would that be rude, but it would undoubtedly ruin the whole experience for you, scaring you for each and every following time you had to donate—

Your train of thoughts got cut off when you felt someone brush your hair to the side, gently pushing it over your left shoulder, exposing the right side of your neck. You shivered lightly at the sudden touch, even though it was ever so soft. You could feel the person behind you inch closer and… you could have sworn that they sniffed at you.

The tip of their nose brushed lightly against your exposed skin, making you shiver once again. Your heart was beating rapidly and they had hardly even touched you yet.

‘’Hmm…’’ the person hummed softly, the first thing they had said to you at all, if you could even call it ‘saying’ anything.

‘’Nice to meet you, princess.’’

[louff4tw]

2020 Secret Santa for @somniabundant

I participated in the FYEAHBNHA secret Santa

It was a slightly chilly day, outside was covered in only a small dusting of freshly fallen snow. Every student was at their desks and were excited to play in the snow later as it was the first snowfall of the year.

Mr. Aizawa and All Might were at tthe front of the room. Mr. Aizawa has a worried look on his face but All Might was kinda hard to tell.

All Might started talking first with a serious note “ well students “ the class started getting nervous “ it’s the time of year “ they got more nervous “ FOR SECRET SANTA “ he shifted to muscles for a moment and then back with a cough.

“Eh?” The class exclaimed.

Katsuki scoffed. He figured it would be something dumb like that. Knowing how dramatic his teachers were.

Mr. Aizawa went on to explain how everyone is gonna pick a name then during the week put the santees gift into their stocking.

All Might had custom stockings made for all student placed around the common room in the doorm while they were gone.

It seems his time in America made him really love the holiday. Aizawa on the other hand looked like he just wanted to go to bed and stop.

He went around having students pull names out of the hat.

Katsuki couldn’t care less he just shoved it into his pocket not even looking.

After class shitty hair kept bugging him so he checked. Hitoshi Shinso. He felt his face go a little red and stomped away from shitty hair.

Out of everyone it had to be him.

He didn’t know why but something kept drawing him to Shinso. His no fucks given attitude or the way he can take pikachu down verbally.

It won’t be easy picking a gift for him.

He decided not to go with the rest of the class to the mall that Friday and decided to just go alone.

He walked around for awhile going thru the different stores till he found something that reminded him of Shinso.

It was a grumpy cat plush, he picked it out with some candy. Put it in a bag and went back to the dorms.

He snuck down in the middle of the night to go put it in Shinso’s stocking.

He was shocked when he got down there and Mr. Aizawa was going thru the stockings with a Santa hat in. He hid before he saw him and waited till he left before going in.

He put the present where it goes and saw something sticking out of his own. It was a piece of paper that read “ go to bed Bakugo or Santa won’t come”

Jeez. He swears Aizawa was a mind reader. He snuck back to his room to get some sleep.

The next morning when he got up the dorm was filled with sound and light and smelled like food. There was food platters everywhere apparently courtesy of All Might.

Shitty hair called him over to the stockings where the self proclaimed Bakusquad was.

He grabbed some breakfast rolls before opening his stocking. He pulled out a gift with brown paper and was surprised to find more inside the stocking. There was some toiletries and candy shoved into the bottom of the stocking plus a few nick naks.

Now he knows what Mr. Aizawa was doing the night before. Between him and All Might he doubts anyone’s feeling homesick.

He looked around the room and saw everyone even Half and half enjoying themselves. Deku was chatting with All Might. Round Face was overjoyed at the gift from Ponytail. Looks like she got past the price limit by wrapping the gift in bills? Jeez people like to go crazy around this time of year.

Pikachu looks insanely happy over the giant pikachu plush Tails got him.

Shitty hair got some Red Riot original merch from Deku.

Before he could continue looking shitty hair nudged him “ what did you get?”

He forgot about the brown wrapped present for a second.

He opened it and found a bottle of his favourite hot sauce. He ran out and was trying to find it but the stores were all sold out. Also inside was a keychain of a Pomeranian. Wth he thought.

“ Awe it kinda looks like you!”

“Shut up shitty hair!!”

Face red he picked up the card inside

“ To Katsuki Bakugo

From Secret Santa - Shinso “

He looked towards Shinso as fast as he can. Almost giving himself whiplash.

He was talking to Pikachu and had the grumpy cat in his hands kneeding the plush. He looked very happy.

He looks to Katsuki and smiled wide “ how crazy we got each other, I uh hope you like the hot sauce. I saw you were running low and and the keychain reminded me of you”

Katsuki felt his face get red. “ yah thanks. I could find it and it does NOT look like me!!” He yelled the last part. The squad started laughing at him triggering the rest of the room to follow suit. He huffed and sat down. He caught Shinso’s eyes and they smiled at each other. His face went red again.

Across the room after giving his successor his gift All Might was standing next to Aizawa who just brought Eri over. She was running towards Bakugo to thank him for the doll he sent her.

All Might looked over at Aizawa “ this was a good idea of yours”

“ eh, I just didn’t want them all sad and mopey. Sucks being away from family and the years been so bad. I thought this would give them a break” Aizawa took a sip. “ Nice tree you put up” and snorted.

All Might looked towards the tree and chuckled “ I think that was the students touch”

On the very top of the tree what WAS a silver sparkling star was replaced with a All Might tree topper and other Hero ornaments were added to the tree.

Happy Secret Santa!!

[cozywritings]

Stitches ch 10: Call It What You Want

Thursday afternoon, the day Shawn would be returning to campus, you were in his room working on getting it set up for him. You were stocking up the snack drawer and refilling the mini fridge when your phone went off, the photo of you and Shawn on the carriage ride illuminating the screen. “Hey bubs!” you answered, glad to hear his voice.

“Hey there gorgeous, what are you up to?” he asked as you put the phone on speaker so you could start folding the laundry you had done for him.

“Nothing really, just some laundry and watching Netflix.” you smiled, picking up the Crossfit hoodie he loved and slipping it over your head after tossing your shirt onto the desk chair.

You heard some honking on Shawn’s end of the phone, “Well I just wanted to let you know that I just left the airport, I should be there in about two hours with this traffic.” he let out a chuckle, knowing it’s only thirty miles from LAX to campus, put Los Angeles traffic was awful. “James came home two days ago, he is doing a lot better.”

“Oh that’s amazing babe, I knew he’d be okay. I told you, there’s something about you that heals people just by being around them. I can’t wait for you to get here. I’ve missed you baby.” you smiled, even though he can’t see you.

You heard him laugh as the clicking of his blinker could be heard. “I’ve missed you too, just wanna cuddle up with you, maybe take you to dinner or something. How are you doing, though? I know you had an episode and called Rudy, because he asked me what he should do.” 

You bit your lip, honestly you still weren’t doing too well, Josh had been trying to talk to you every time he saw you on campus, and when Kyle or Cheryl weren’t around, he would walk right up to you and say something crude. “I’ll be better when you’re here. We can talk about it when you’re not focused on driving, but yeah we got some food and just sat on the beach and talked until I’d calmed down. Also, we are invited to game night at his place this weekend if you’re up for it.”

Shawn let out a hum of approval, “Okay babe, that sounds good. That way I can thank him for taking care of you while I was gone. I’ll be there soon okay? I love you so much, gorgeous. I’ll see you soon.” You smiled and said your goodbye before hanging up and crawling into his bed. It smelled more like you than Shawn now, but that’s because you slept in there almost every night. Sure it sounded clingy, but it kept you calm after a day of Josh harassing you and classes being pretty tough. Turning up the movie you’d put on, you wrapped yourself up in the heated blanket, the warmth easing your cramps, and within no time you were asleep.

-----

You were asleep when Shawn walked in, still curled into the blankets, so he dropped his bags on the floor, kicked off his shoes, and slid in behind you. He could tell by the fully stocked snacks and the still warm blanket that you were on your period, so he didn’t try to wake you. He was exhausted himself from the trip and the past two weeks, so he decided to place a kiss to the back of your neck and wrap an arm tightly around you, but the second you felt the bed dip, you were awake. 

“Missed you.” you mumbled, adjusting the blanket and pushing against him to feel his warmth. He chuckled, throwing his legs over you and kissing along your shoulder, causing you to laugh. “Shawn, stop that tickles.” But he didn’t let up, just held you tighter and continued.

“Gotta tell me you love me.” he demanded, “And agree to a date with your boyfriend.” you smiled, grabbing his wrists.

You let out a squeal when he kissed along your neck, “I love you so much Shawny, yes I’ll go on a date with you!” You laughed and he stopped, letting you catch your breath. “But first, can we just lay here?” You asked, already rolling over and nuzzling into his neck.

He nodded, arms coming up to rub your aching back. “Of course, my love. Been wanting to do this for days, I missed you so much. But it was nice to see my friends and family, mom says she wants to meet you soon and James seems to think you’re some sort of angel for getting me to fall in love with you.” You pulled back to look at him. “I had a really bad relationship in high school and when it ended I swore I wasn’t going to dating until I had graduated college. But then I met you and all that went out the window.” He leaned down and kissed you softly, god did you miss his lips.

When he pulled away you whined. “Two weeks without you and that’s all the kisses I get?” you asked and he laughed before leaning back in for a few more kisses. “That’s much better.” you sighed, hugging him to you. 

“So, would you like me to take you to dinner and a movie, or we could make a run to Target and get new pj’s and a bunch of snacks and come back and watch movies here?” Shawn asked, pressing a kiss to your forehead. 

You thought about it for a minute, lips pressed to his chest. “As much as I love a reason to get pretty and go out, I’d much rather have option two, please.” you smiled. He already knew you’d say that, but he asked anyways. 

“Then let’s get going shall we? Target awaits.” He sat up, pulling you with him before realizing you were only wearing his hoodie. A soft smile appeared on his face at how cute you looked, hair messed up from your nap, the olive colored hoodie brushing against the middle of your thighs, toenails freshly painted his favorite color. “Aww baby, fuck you’re adorable.” he mumbled before tossing you your jeans from the floor.

---

The harsh lights of Target hurt your eyes as you browsed the candy options, Shawn walked up and put some drinks and a box of popcorn in the basket You grabbed a few candy options and tossed them in as well. “We just need to make a stop down the hygiene aisle. I’m uh… running low.” you whispered, looking at your feet.

“Already got it covered.” you heard Shawn say and saw him pick up a box of organic pads from the basket. “I grabbed them while you were looking at the fuzzy socks. I like to keep some in my medical drawer in case you need them.” He smiled at you, and in your hormonal state and due to the past few weeks, you began crying in the candy aisle. “Oh baby, no.” he cooed, coming around to cup your face. “Here,” he said handing you the keys to the jeep and some cash. “Go get us a pizza from the front and go sit in the car, the portable heating pad is in the glove compartment. I’ll grab our pj’s and be out there in a few minutes, okay?” 

You sniffled, taking the items and kissing the palm of his hand. “The pink silk ones.” You told him, reminding him of the set you saw walking in, but didn’t grab because you couldn’t choose between those and the black ones. He nodded, kissing your head and watching you make your way to the front of the store.

Now settled in the car, your pizza in the back seat, and the heating pad against your lower back, you closed your eyes. You felt bad that when Shawn came back from a stressful visit home, you were on your period, but he told you it was perfectly fine, he was just happy his friend was healthy and he could come back to you with good news.

There was a sound outside that startled you, and your eyes shot open to see Shawn trying to open the door and you laughed. You’d forgotten that you’d locked the doors and you had the keys in the ignition. “Sorry babe, forgot.” you laughed, after you’d unlocked the door and he got in.

“At least you were being safe.” He noted, setting the bags in the back seat. You grabbed his hand after he pulled out of the parking space and held it tightly. Your silent way of telling him you were grateful for him, but you didn’t want to bring up something. In this case, why you were so stressed out. He nodded, knowing and hummed softly to the radio as he drove.

-----

“Wanna take a bath?” the text read, and your brows furrowed. The bathrooms in your dorms didn’t have a bathtub, they were just a small shower, how on earth were you to take a bath? You opened your phone to answer when Shawn called you. “How exactly are we supposed to take this bath?” You asked.

There was a chuckle on Shawn’s end and you smiled at the sound. “Well, my mom has a bunch of points for hotel rooms from travelling for work and she was going to use them to come down and see me, but since I went up there she won’t be needing them. She just called and asked if we wanted to use them, spend spring break on a mini vacation and a way to destress before we started our finals studying.”

You were honestly about to cry at the gesture, a hotel in L.A during spring break wasn’t cheap either. You came to tour campus during spring break since it was the only time you and your mom were free, and that was pricey, god knows what this will cost. “Tell your mom that I love her.” you laughed.

“So that’s a yes?” he asked, his voice slightly higher in excitement.

“It’s a yes.” You grinned, since Shawn got back, you barely got to see each other. Your classes this semester were demanding, and you didn’t share an elective since you were both now in your focused courses. Plus, since he was gone the first two weeks, Shawn was working to catch up on what he missed, so this couldn’t have come at a better time.

“Good, because I already told her to book it.” He said, relieved. “I’ve got one lecture today and then I’ll come by to pack and pick you up. That sound good babe?” God how you loved Friday classes, so you had time to shower and shave before you left.

“That sounds perfect, I’ll see you soon.” You smiled before hanging up and texting Emily to come help you pick out outfits for this week.

When Shawn knocked on your door, you were all packed and shaved and ready to go. You swung open the door to see him in a pair of black jeans, a floral button down, and sunshades on top of his curls. “Holy shit.” you mumbled, taking in your boyfriend’s appearance and fixing the sundress you’d put on. 

“That color looks wonderful on you, my love.” he smiled, looking at the light blue floral dress you were wearing. “You ready babe? Mom said this was also like a, Christmas slash birthday gift so it’s pretty nice. And I told her everything, ya know, about with Josh and stuff and she wants you to know what it’s like to have good experiences with someone. I promise I didn’t share that with everyone, just her. She knows a lot about this kind of stuff and I wanted to know how to treat you better than him.” He was blushing when he looked at you a little embarrassed. You weren’t mad, you figured he’d tell someone because he is always looking for new ways to show affection. You learned very quickly that Shawn’s love language was gifts while yours was touch and quality time. 

“I’m not mad babe, c’mon let’s go have a getaway.” You nodded, grabbing your suitcase and locking your door. You were ready to have some time with Shawn before midterms fully took over your lives.

-----

The hotel was 5 star, and you knew she’d used all her points and paid a big chunj of cash for this, you let out a gasp as you walked into the bedroom. “Shawn, this is a lot.” you awed, setting your purse on the bed. 

“Mhm” he smiled, hugging you from behind. “It’s the perfect escape from classes. Don’t you think?” he asked, fingers digging into your hips as you nodded. “So, I know we saved up to do something for spring break, but you never decided what to do. And since my mom decided to do this for us. What do you say we take the money we saved.” he started and you looked back at him, walking towards the bed to sit down. “And use it to go to that place you talked about last week?”

You bit your lip, trying to remember what you did yesterday, let alone what you talked about a week ago. Then you remembered, while having a movie night last week you picked Sleeping Beauty, mentioning to Shawn that you wanted to go to Disneyland since it was her castle at the park. “Shawn, you’re not talking about The Happiest Place on Earth, are you?” You questioned and felt him nod.

“Are you telling me my princess doesn’t wanna blow all of our hard earned money at the magical castle?” he smiled, and laughed when you gently smacked his arm, knowing damn well you wanted to go. 

Hell, you even had a whole sketch book of dress designs inspired by the princesses. “I’m saying.” you laughed, turing in his hold to face him and cup his cheeks. “What day do we want to go? Because I’m never gonna turn down Disneyland.”

-----

“Babe, ask the balloon guy if he can take our picture!” you suggested, handing him your phone. He smiled, walking over to the man and asking him if he’d take your photo with the castle in the background. You clapped he he took your phone from Shawn’s hands and held out the balloons for you to hold. “I love you so much.” you whispered as you smiled for the camera, Shawn stole a kiss and the man gave a thumbs up to let you know he’d gotten that on camera as well.

Taking your phone back, you squealed at the photos. Both of you with ears on, the castle in the background and the balloons, you couldn’t have been happier. The whole day had been wonderful, you got to meet the princesses, ride all the rides, saw some shows and enjoyed lunch at the Beauty and the Beast restaurant. 

When it was time for the fireworks, the two of you made your way to the middle of Main St. hauling all of your merchandise and staring at the sky above the castle. “This was the best day, Shawn. Thank you.” you smiled, getting up on your tippy toes for a kiss. When your lips met his, literal fireworks started going off. You pulled back and laughed, leaning against his chest to watch the show.

A few tears slipped out and Shawn noticed, his arms pulling you tighter against him as he leaned down. “Hey baby, you okay? Is it the amount of people? Your back hurting again, I have your pain meds in your backpack.” You smiled, pressing a kiss to his bicep and shaking your head.

“Happy tears baby, this means more to me than you know. I’ll tell you about it in the way to the hotel.” He nodded, kissing you quickly so you could turn your attention back to the sky.

---

Now in the car, Shawn reached over and grabbed your hand. “So, did my princess enjoy her day at the castle?” He asked and you nodded, bringing your joined hands to your lips to kiss his knuckles.

“I absolutely loved it. And I am sorry for crying so much today, it’s just.” you sighed, watching his face in the streetlights that passed by. “When things got bad, I always told myself I needed to stay here to go to Disneyland. I know it’s stupid, but when you think the world only has sadness in store for you, you want to see happiness. So of course I wanted to make it to the Happiest Place on Earth. You didn’t know that, and today you brought me to a place that meant the world to me.”

You sniffed, noticing you’d pulled into your hotel parking lot. “Baby, you mean the world to me. If there is anything else I can do to show you that you deserve the world and that you deserve to be here, I want you to tell me.” He smiled at you and you nodded. “Now let’s go to bed. The sun drained me today. What do you say to a nice shower before bed?”

“I think that’s an amazing idea.” You smiled, grabbing your stuff and running up to your room.

-----

The drive back to campus seemed so short when you didn’t want to go back. You had just dozed off when Shawn pulled up outside the dorm, “Hey, we’re back honey. Let’s get you up to bed, I’ll come unload everything okay?” He whispered, rubbing your shoulder softly.

“N-no I can bring up the stuff.” You yawned, rubbing your neck that ached from the way you were in the car. He chuckled, handing you your backpack and his duffle bag. 

“Okay sweetheart. You take the luggage and I’ll bring up the stuff we got and your suitcase. Deal?” You nodded, stealing a kiss before making your way up to your rooms.

Tossing Shawn’s bag on his bed, you made your way to your own room, fully intending on showering and then taking a nap before starting on finals. While you loved how comfy and soft your bed was, Shawn’s had a heating blanket, and Shawn.

Taking a bold move, you opened your door, dropped your stuff on your desk, and went back into Shawn’s room. You knew Shawn was gonna stop at Em’s room to drop off the stuff you got her from the cady shop on Main St., so you had time to carry out your plan. You stripped in the middle of the room before walking into the bathroom to start the shower, taking out your bun before stepping into the water stream.

You had barely truly bathed the whole week, seeing as you fell asleep the second your head hit the pillow every night. The two of you did something every day, causing you to be exhausted when you made it back to the room, and if you weren’t sleeping, you two were doing other things.

The hot water was amazing, and you could feel the week washing off of you. You also felt the temperature change when the door to the bathroom opened and then when the curtain to the shower was slid open. “I was hoping you’d join me.” You smiled, tilting your head back to rinse out your shampoo. He pressed himself against you, lips ghosting over your shoulder. 

“I’ve got postmates on the way, burgers and milkshakes. That gives us half an hour.” His teeth grazed your skin, earning a soft moan. “Then hurry up and get cleaned baby. Been wanting you since we left the hotel.”

---

Curled under Shawn’s heated blanket, naked, you waited for him to return with the food. Once again Shawn had shown you how great he was at pleasing you, and make you feel loved at the same time. You only sat up from your ball of warmth when Shawn came back into the room, carrying a large bag of food and a tray of soda and milkshakes.

“I’d tell you to sleep and we can eat later, but my mini fridge doesn’t keep milkshakes.” He laughed, taking in your tired body and heavy eyelids. 

You shook your head and wrapped the blanket around your chest to keep warm. Your sunburn drawing all the heat out of your body. “No I’m good, just exhausted. But I’m also starving!” You reached for a burger, tearing off the paper and taking a huge bite. Shawn followed suit, handing you your milkshake as he swallowed his mouthful of food.

The two of you ate and talked about the events of spring break, agreeing that the best part was getting cliche matching henna tattoos at the pier. “Do you think that we will still get to live together for our last year?” You asked, yawing into your hand. Shawn looked at you shocked, but with a smirk. “I mean. You know. They are about to renew leases and I know that it’s rare for seniors to live on campus because freshmen are top priority.”

Shawn just smiled and laid you down, tucking you in and grabbing a pair of boxers for you to slip into. Once you were both dressed, he got into bed with you, pulling you into him and running his fingertips along your side. “I’m sure we’ll still live close. Get some sleep baby, tomorrow we start studying.” But when we looked down, you were already sleeping peacefully, face squished against his chest.

---

Finals were in a week. Luckily, with the way things were scheduled, you only had one exam a day. So you kept your study schedule from mid terms, staking out in your room and living off of postmates and when Shawn would stop by and bring you something. Occasionally he’d stay and help you study or force you to take a break to relax or let him rub out the knots in your back.

It was Thursday night when Shawn came into your room, a frantic look on his usually relaxed face. “Baby! I don’t know if I can do this! Finals are so fucking important, and if I want to get this shadowing gig at the hospital I can’t get less than a 3.5 GPA. I don’t think I can handle this.” By the time he was done, you could see him tearing up, pulling on his soft curls.

You shot up from your chair, pulling him into a hug that he bent down for, burying his face in your neck. “Shhh baby, come here, let’s sit down.” You could feel him shaking, his hands gripping your waist in a vice like force. “Shawn follow my breathing okay? You’re having a panic attack. You’re okay bub, close your eyes and breathe with me.”

You kept your voice calm, knowing it wouldn’t help if you panicked too. Slowly, you rubbed his back, one hand curled into his hair. “Listen to me, you’ve got a 4.0 already. You’re so smart, you’re graduating med school earlier than almost everyone in the field. You’re overworking yourself baby.” As you spoke, you moved the two of you to your bed, laying down and letting Shawn lay on top of you.

“You’ve been taking such good care of me during studies that you haven’t been taking care of yourself, and I didn’t take care of you. And for that I’m so sorry. Classes are all optional this week due to finals next week, you’re staying here okay?” Your fingernails gently scratched his head and you felt him nod.

He pulled back to look at you, his face blotchy but he had a small smile. “I guess I can skip tomorrow.” You nodded, kissing his head and massaging his temples, you knew he was prone to headaches when he stressed out.  

With your lips pressed against his skin, you spoke softly. “You’re gonna stay right here and relax. We can study together and make sure we’re not over-stressing.” You suggested, pressing gentle kisses to his cheeks.

Instead of answering, Shawn placed a hot kiss to your neck, fingers inching up your top. You looked down at him, unsure. “S’not what you think. I just wanna feel you. Wanna feel close to you. Please?” The look in his eyes was so sad, you would let him have absolutely anything he wanted. So you quickly tugged off your top as Shawn did the same. He was eager to feel your skin, he was always a man of touch. It was no surprise that when he was stressed he just wanted to feel you against him.

“Do you need anything babe?” You asked him after a few minutes of silence. You’d never seen him so worked up, you weren’t exactly sure what to do, and you didn’t know if the things that helped you out would help him relax as well.

He shook his head, hugging you to his body. “Just need you. Skin on skin contact really calms me down.” Shawn had always been the strong one in your relationship. The protector. So it was odd to see him look so small and scared. 

“Can I go put my notes up and turn off the lamp?” You asked, your voice soft. You felt bad asking to get up when he was so comfortable, but you really didn’t want to fall asleep with your lamp on.

He sat up quickly, eyes darting over to your desk. “Oh shit. You were studying too. I’m so sorry honey, I just couldn’t handle it anymore and I just needed you and-“ you cut him off, putting your hand over his mouth. 

“It’s okay Shawn. Just need to put my stuff away so I can put all my focus on you.” He hesitantly rolled off of you, watching as you put your notebooks and study guides away, shutting off your lamp and closing your laptop  before stripping down to your panties and turning off the light. The room now only lit up by the string of soft white Christmas lights that wrapped around your headboard and around your desk. 

“Those are cute.” He smiled, pointing at them before letting his jeans fall to the floor with a soft thud. “Have I told you lately that I love you?” Shawn asked when you were settled between your sheets. 

You let out a giggle and nodded, staring down at him. “You tell me every day bub.” Your lips moving against his jaw as you spoke. 

“Well I do. I love you.” Your cheeks still turned pink when he said it. 

You closed your eyes and buried your face in his neck. “I love you too Shawn.”

---

It was almost 3am when you jolted awake, Shawn sleeping peacefully next to you, his curls a mess on the soft grey pillow. You took a deep breath, slowing your heart when you saw he was in fact, still there and that it was all a dream. When you let out a choked sob, he grabbed your hand and rubbed his thumb along your knuckles. “It’s just a bad dream honey. Lay back down, I’ve got you Angel.” His voice was thick with sleep and it calmed you instantly as you curled back into him, letting yourself be consumed by him.“Wanna tell me about it?” he asked when you where settled back into him.

You nodded, sniffling “He had tried to convinced you that I didn’t love you and that I was using you. That I really wanted him back. When you didn’t believe him, he got rid of you. It was so real…” another wave of emotions hit you as you remembered what Josh had done to him in the dream. 

Shawn noticed your breathing pick back up and began rubbing your back, his nails scratching gently. “Shhh baby it’s not real. I’m right here and I know you love me. I love you. I love you so much.” he repeated. Humming softly until you’d fallen back asleep, he thought about how he was going to ask you something soon.

---

You bursted through Shawn’s door, falling flat on top of him as your way of saying “I’m done.” You’d just finished your last exam of the semester, and you could now relax. At least, as much as you could until transcripts were released. “All done sweetheart?” He asked rhetorically, laughing as you nodded. 

 “I almost don’t even know what to do now. Oh! And I ummm. I got a letter from Calvin Klein.” Your lips curling into a smirk as you reached into your backpack. 

“And!” His voice higher in anticipation of your news. 

“And, you’re looking at the newest intern of the New York office upon next years graduation!” you beamed as you pulled your acceptance letter from your bag and placed it in his hand. He hugged you so tight you couldn’t breathe as he pressed multiple kisses against your head.

His smile was wide as he pulled away to look at you with pure happiness in his eyes. “Holy fuck baby that’s amazing! I’m so fucking proud of you, you don’t even know how proud I am. Oh god we have to celebrate. We should throw a party or go on a vacation.” You straddled him as he spoke, watching the pride in his eyes and smiling wide. 

“You seem almost more excited about this than I am.” You laughed, wrapping your arms around his neck and resting them on his broad shoulders. 

He smiled up at you, leaning in for a kiss that you happily gave him, but when you started to pull away, he held you closer to him. “Mmm- move in with me.” He moaned into your mouth. “Got a place off campus. Want you to live with me baby. Will you?” Without even thinking you nodded, pulling away slightly, only long enough to breathe out a “yes.” Before connecting your lips again.

[truckstop-sushi-blog]

Bow-Ties and Pig Skins (Adam Driver x Reader Fic)

CONTENT WARNING: homophobia, bullying, sexual themes, dated slang, sexual scenes, vulgar language, dubcon

18+ CONTENT

You were daydreaming in physics today, again for the third time this week. It was 9:53 am and you were tired out of your mind, shivering despite the denim jacket your dad had gotten you the week before. It was like an ice box in that room.

As you rested your head on your fist, elbow connected to the textbook below, you thought of that devilishly attractive jock who had been giving you hell . You figured that since you were both adults in college, at least one or more of you would act with more maturity. 

No. 

Yesterday, he shoved you into your locker and shut the door. Today, he shoved you on your way to class making you spill your books everywhere. The thought pissed you off, but those eyes-- those damn hard brown eyes. They just made you stick to the floor and go mute. Everyone thought you were afraid and ridiculed you, but truth be told, that jock was the hottest goddamn hunk of muscle you had ever laid your bespectacled eyes upon. You thought you might want to continue the daydream, but--

“(Y/n)? Mister (y/n),” said the teacher up front, “Are you listening? I just called on you to answer a question. A question, might I add, that will be on your quiz at the end of the week.”

“O-Oh, sorry,” you said, startled out of your trance, “I-I um... I just... don’t feel terribly well. I’ll answer now. What was the question again, ma’am?”

The teacher sighed and asked the question again, following with a warning that another instance such as this one would result in points being taken away from the daily grade. Snickers rang out quietly in the room like the pitter patter of rain drops.You felt your cheeks redden but you decided to ignore your peers. You cleared your throat and answered the question, getting it right as you pretty much always do. You were a science major, so you were putting a lot of extra effort into studying for your science courses. Once the class was over, you filed out of the room behind a string of other people. As luck would have it, you didn’t have any more classes that day. They had been cancelled for the final football game of the season, and the professors happened to have sons on the team. You thought football was a rather frivolous sport and a waste of time, but your good friend William managed to convince you to go, at least to support the marching band. This was going to be a very big game for the band, as well. And, according to William, there was going to be an afterparty at the ΛΧΑ house when the game ended.

You were hesitant, but William convinced you to go to both the game and the afterparty, William having reported that Betty Adcock was going to be there and he needed a wingman. You didn’t put much stock in girls, mostly due to the fact you’ve never been attracted to them, but you decided to go anyway. The hope that the handsome jock would be there weighed heavily on your mind.

You went back to your dorm, hiding an embarrassment between your legs the whole way there, trying to avoid interacting with other people. Your roommate wasn’t anywhere to be found, and you assumed he must’ve been in class. You decided to take care of the problem you found yourself with, quickly though because you knew the assholes who lived here came in and out as they pleased, especially since the lock was broken on your door. After, you cleaned your mess, you got a new change of clothes on and you fell onto your bed asleep.

You were jolted awake by William tugging on your arm and shouting at you to wake up.

“(Y/n)! Wake up, (y/n)!” he repeats over and over again before seeing you’re awake, “Come on, the game starts in 2 hours, and I gotta be there in one!”

“The field is literally a ten minute walk from here, William.” you groaned, trying to stuff your face back into your pillow.

“Okay, and if you’re not early, you’re late.” he retorted.

You bit your lip, frustrated, and sigh. “Fine. But at least take me to get a burger or something.”

“You got it. I’ll just shove you into my car and we’ll pop on by the diner before we go to the field.”

“Sounds good. Will I need to pay you back?”

“Not at all, don’t worry about it.”

“Thanks.”

“Much obliged.”

You hopped up, slipping on your shoes and following your friend out of the dorm complex and into his cherry red Nomad. The musical stylings of Elvis poured into your ears like warm milk into a kitty dish from the radio. You hummed and tapped your fingers along to the beat. You were both at the diner in a flash. It wasn’t packed like it usually is on game day, which came as a surprise since it was such a hotspot in that rinky dink little college town you lived in. It was nice, though, since you were rather anxious about social situations. William parked and cut the engine off before getting out with you following suit. There were a few girls in the diner and a couple of greasers in the back smoking cigarettes. The smoke smelled a bit dubious, but you ignored it. It wasn’t the most frightening smell you’d ever had tickle your nose.

You and William sat down at the counter, William giving the lady who worked behind it a quick wink. She smiled politely, but I could tell as soon as she turned around she had rolled her eyes. You could tell by the way she sighed--you understood her pain to some extent. You elbowed William sharply.

“Ow! What the hell, man?!” he whispered under his breath through gritted teeth.

“You really shouldn’t be flirting with every girl you see. Just because they’re nice to you doesn’t mean they like you. She probably deals with creeps every day.” 

“What’s it to you? I’m just trying to get good-”

“Yeah and not every girl you meet is target practice, asshole.”

William looked at you with lips pressed into a thin line before looking at the menu on the wall.

“Just fuckin’ order something.” he grumbled. You could tell he knew you were right but was too full of himself to admit it.

You perused the menu before settling on a cheeseburger, fries, and a strawberry malt. William chose a chicken fried steak, potatoes, and a bottle of coke. You gave your order to the woman working and she took it, giving it to the cook in the window. You both sat there in silence, barely looking at each other. William got his coke first, you got your malt shortly thereafter.

You both didn’t say a word to each other, even after you got your food and ate it. You both paid, left, and got into the car.

After a bit of tense silence, William spoke, apologising for his behaviour and admitting you were right he was being creepy. After that, it was like nothing had happened. You both started talking about anything and everything under the sun, but then while you were in the middle of complaining about the asshole jock who has been giving you problems, William interrupted you.

“You know... the way you talk about him,” he said, “It sounds an awful lot about how I would talk about a girl who used to annoy the hell out of me that I happened to have a major crush on.”

“Joan?”

“Yeah, her.”

“What’re you playing at?” you asked, feeling your stomach tighten in fear.

“I’m just saying,” he said, dropping his voice down to a whisper, “Are you a...you know..?”

“No, I don’t know.” You said, giving a nervous chuckle.

“A...A...” he said, trying to grasp the words, “A...you know, a- a homosexual.”

He whispered the last word in your direction tentatively even though it was just you and him in the car. He parked in front of the football field and killed the engine. You stared at him.

“I...I’m not--”

“Listen, I’m okay with it, you don’t have to act like I’m going to turn you in to the police or anything,” he said.

“Well I kind of have to be that way around everyone. Last time I checked, this is 1955 and being a homosexual is illegal.”

“Yeah, well black folks using the same restrooms as white folks is illegal, too, and that isn’t right either. Law isn’t the pillar of morality.”

“Just don’t let anyone outside of this car hear that.” you laughed.

You two both shared a laugh for a good minute before falling silent. William looked at you with a friendly smile.

“I hope that we both live long enough to see the day people can live together in peace without givin’ a shit about who loves who or who has what skin colour.” he remarked before putting his hand on the door handle and getting out, “Now, come on, I’ve got a few minutes before I have to be in the stands.”

You followed him out, paying the ticket master the fee for the game and then parting ways with your friend. You sat at the front of the bleachers, overlooking the freshly mown and painted grass. The cheerleaders from both teams were already on the grass and practicing their routines, and you could hear the other school’s band rehearsing. The football team was also on the grass, presumably going over plays and runs or whatever those silly meatheads talked about. Something to do with pig skins, you knew that much. As the sky turned from blue to an array of farewell hues, more people filed into the bleachers, talking loudly and making you very nervous. You wanted to escape into the restrooms, but you knew that wouldn’t be the most splendid idea given the last time you did that, you got a new hairstyle courtesy of a player’s hand and the flushing toilet.

Even as the game began and progressed, you found yourself sucked in even though you didn’t understand a single thing about football. Your chest swelled with pride every time your college’s team made a point, especially when that asshole was the one who made the touchdown. While catching a sneaky look at his ass, you noticed the name on the back of his jersey: “DRIVER.”

Driver. A fitting name for such an athletic guy. Even if he was the most attractive jerk you had ever met in your entire life. He gave you hell in high school, and he certainly didn’t cease in college.

After one particular touchdown, however, it appeared that he had seen you. His countenance wasn’t like that which you had been acquainted with several times before. It was actually friendly and loose, unlike his usual hard scowl he usually wore. It seemed like he looked straight into your soul, and you held your breath and blushed. Your face reddened deeper as he winked and blew a sly kiss your way.

No fucking way that just fucking happened. He must have had a girlfriend that sat directly behind you. Right? Right???

You didn’t dare to look, both frozen in your seat and by the crippling social anxiety. You stayed in this haze like this until halftime, making your way out of the field and back into your friend’s car. You said you’d come to support William in the band, but that gesture from that Driver fellow was too much for your little gay heart to handle.

You crawled into the backseat, laying across the cool leather seats, watching your breath come out in plumes in the freezing air. You hoped the game would end soon, and right in the middle of that thought, you fell asleep. It felt like you were awake in a snap because William had apparently found you there, shaking you awake like he had earlier that day.

“You okay, man?” he asked once he realised you were awake.

“Yeah, it’s just... something happened and I needed to come out here to think. I guess I fell asleep before I could really finish thinking.” you said, sitting up and rubbing your face, “Did we win?”

“Oh, not by a fucking longshot. But hey, that means better alcohol at the party.” he answered.

“I guess. But alcohol has never really been my thing.” you said.

“True. More for the rest of us.”

You agreed as you sat back in your seat and waited to be carted away to the frat party. As soon as you both arrived there, there were people all over the lawn, some sucking each others faces off, others sucking other things off, and music pouring out of every possible orifice that the house possessed. It was loud, it was proud, and it had a big crowd. Everything you hated, but dammit, if Driver was here, it would be worth the anxiety.

You and William made your way inside, you especially braving the sounds and smells of it all.

You almost instantly became too overwhelmed for your own good, immediately running to the first bathroom you could get into. Luckily, there wasn’t anyone in there before you, so you just shut the light off and hid in the tub, closing the curtain and hiding. You prayed nobody would follow you, but someone did, flicking the light on and locking the door.

Oh, shit.

The person’s heavy footsteps and sultry breathing gave their identity away immediately. It was the asshole jock. The outrageously attractive Driver. He began whistling to himself before stopping by the toilet, acting like he was going to use it before turning to the tub and furiously pushing the curtain to the side. He saw you, eyes wide in terror, cheeks red in arousal and embarrassment. You barely got two words out before his glare choked you and that grin--that fucking grin--made it impossible for you to function.

“So,” he said, picking you up by the back of your collar, leading you out of the tub and pressing your back against the bathroom door. It came naturally to you, following him, almost as naturally as you were already twitching in your pants for him, “Do you know what happens to geeks who hide away in the parking lot after becoming too flustered to function?”

“How do you--”

“And do you know what happens when they have the balls to show up to your frat party uninvited, only to hide away in the bathroom?” his voice was deep, his words were dark and cutting. It drove you mad with lust and fear.

“W-W-What happens?” you piped up tentatively, your breathing laboured and heavy.

He pressed up against you, making you let out a whiney moan. God, how you wished he would just bend you over the sink and fuck you into oblivion.

“Oh, so you’re a squealer? I like that.” he said, leaning to whisper into your ear, “I like that a lot. It drives me fucking insane.”

“I-I can do more.” you said, your lips parted in anticipation. You licked them and gulped nervously.

He pulled away from your ear, looking at your moist lips with a deep hunger and closing the gap between you two, kissing you with such ferocity, it would make even the devil gasp in disbelief. You whined against his fevered lips, silently begging for release. You could feel his own length cry out against his own pants.

After what felt like eternity, he pulled away, still making fervent eye contact with you.

“We both want it,” he said, “But do you want me to take it?”

“Take wha--” you stopped yourself before realising what it was he wanted to take from you, and then answered with: “Yes. God in heaven above, yes.”

He undid his own pants, freeing his own impressive erection first. You stared at it in its pale, lurid glory. The tip was quite a furious pink, one that begged quietly for pleasure. After that, he undid your pants, dropping them to the floor while your own erection stood in wait for its own release. Yours appeared to be less a passionate pink than his. He’d apparently been craving this longer than you have.

“W-Wait,” you said as he bent you over the sink’s edge, “What’s your name?”

He groaned, having rested his feverish dick on your ass, “Adam.”

“I-I’m (y/n).”

“Nice name. Nicer ass.”

“Th-Thanks--oh god!” you cried out and then bit your lip as he shoved himself into you without so much as a warning.

He pumped into you, slowly at first but picking up the pace at which he thrusted into you. Your mind clouded with pleasure, lust, passion, and everything that followed being fucked into oblivion by the hottest guy in probably all of existence. You hoped it would never end, but the knot in your stomach made you realise just how close you were to climaxing.

“Oh, I-I’m gonna...I’m gonna...” you whined.

“Not before I do.” Adam said, his voice husky, reaching around to clamp a thumb and a finger around the base of your throbbing dick. The pain that followed the denial was so excruciating, so enthralling--it was impossibly good.

“P-Please,” you begged, “Please, l-let me--”

“N-Not until after I do.” he insisted.

He started drilling into you, his hips clapping rhythmically against your ass. The pain and pleasure mixing together like hot honey and sugar made your brain cells explode like fire works. You started weeping, begging for climax, dick twitching in an effort to find some sort of relief.

It wasn’t long before you felt him empty his load into you. It was so hot and made you feel so full--some of it leaked out of your ass and onto the floor. He loosened his grip and wrapped his whole hand around your pleading member.

“Now you can. But only at my say-so.” he said.

You whined and moaned as he touched you, gliding his surprisingly smooth hands up and down your shaft. He was going slowly, teasing you.

“Please, please let me cum, Adam.” you begged, “Please.”

“Sorry, can’t hear you.” he said, “You’re going to have to talk a little louder.”

You could hear the grin in his voice. If you weren’t so weak right now, you’d want to smack the daylights out of him. But all you could do was beg. He had you right where he wanted you.

“Come on, (y/n),” he teased, “You can do so much better than that. I’ve heard you in the showers in the dorms before. Such an adorable little voice you have when you’re screaming my name when you think no one else is around.”

You blushed madly at the thought that he had heard you masturbating to the thought of him. It also turned you on a hell of a lot more, especially since he thought it was cute.

“I’m not hearing anything, (y/n).” he said, “Come on. I know you’ve got it in you.”

You gulped and let out a shaky breath. “P-Please let me c-cum, Adam.”

“Better,” he said, gaining a little speed, “But not loud enough. Try again.”

“Please, Adam! Please!” you said, borderline shouting.

He picked up the pace. You could feel yourself teetering right on the edge of pleasure.

“Please, for the love of god, please let me cum!” you begged, to which Adam picked up the pace one final time before finally allowing you to have your very messy release.

Your mind was hazy, and your dick was content with your climax. As your heart thrummed wildly in your chest, hammering away, Adam got you both cleaned up, cleaned up the bathroom, and then led you to the door. Before he unlocked it to turn you loose to the party, he grabbed you softly, but sternly by the neck and looked you in the eyes before whispering to you,

“You’re mine, (y/n).” 

This statement made you quiver, even worse when he kissed you a final time.

“Now have a good time at the party. If anyone gives you trouble...I’ll give them a taste of hell.”

THANKS FOR READING! Hooboy that was *fans self* lord have mercy...

[not-just-any-fangirl]

I walked into a pillar at work today and gave myself a mild concussion. A colleague had to take care of me cause I was really dazed. Now that I feel better I'm sure this can become a good prompt for a fluffy Nalu oneshot! xD

Mid-Day Concussions

Word Count; 1849

I know you prob didn’t mean this, but all I can think of is in my deaf!Natsu au bcus I love it! Also, adorable scenario, I hope you’re alright, and I’m SO SORRY this is so late

Lucy couldn’t tell if she wanted to laugh or to cry.

On the one hand, Natsu was currently laying in her small dorm room, in her bed, half unconscious and Lucy had no clue how to help him. On the other hand, he was in this state because he had walked into a pole. An honest to god, cartoon-like scenario, pole. 

Lucy made calming noises when Natsu shifted, scowling to herself when she remembered how stupid that reflex was in her current situation seeing how he was deaf, and nothing Lucy could do could be helpful. He made a noise, low and distressed, and Lucy wanted to scream. She tapped his shoulder, urging him to look at her. After several tries he finally did, emerald gaze unfocused and a large and angry looking knot forming dead center on his forehead. 

“Are you okay?” Lucy signed, speaking out loud as well. Natsu blinked once, nodding as he curled onto his other side so he was closer to Lucy. She smiled as she ran a hand through his hair, Natsu pushing slightly into the touches. They had only been friends for a few months, dating for a week and a half, but Lucy knew how physical he was. Cuddles, casual hand-holding, and resting his chin on top of her head were all daily expectations at this point, and Lucy loved it.

“M’fine,” Natsu mumbled. And Lucy was back to freaking out because she couldn’t tell if he was slurring from his injury or just not concentrating as he spoke.  

Lucy ran her hand along the side of his face, brushing his bangs from his face and tracing an eyebrow piercing with one finger. Natsu cracked his eye open, and Lucy smiled at him. “Spell your name for me,” she signed. Natsu frowned at her, and Lucy made a low sound of irritation while keeping her expression the same. She repeated the phrase, slower. Natsu cocked his head, more confused. He tried to sit up, paling quickly and sweat beading on his temples. Lucy rushed as she pushed him back into her bed, worrying her lip at his whine. 

Lucy looked around the room, petting the top of Natsu’s head in what she hoped was comfort. Her curtain was drawn, stopping the afternoon sun from overstimulating Natsu’s maybe-concussed self, and all the books and notes that had been living on her bed for the past two weeks had migrated to her floor to make room for Natsu. If it weren’t for the pained look that twisted his features just enough for her to notice Lucy would have thought he looked adorable, curled in her twin bed and laying on top of her yellow polka dotted blanket, her stuffed dog that she had sewn a snowman nose onto when she was five being cuddled by Natsu as if it could chase away his pain. 

She was still in her work uniform, black t-shirt with her name tag on it and the university’s mascot on the back, hair pulled up in a messy ponytail because Lucy had woken up fifteen minutes before her shift. Natsu had greeted her with the sign for ‘pretty’, which made her blush more than any other guy that had called her gorgeous or beautiful or stunning. And then she had been distracted with her, y’know, job checking refunded books and buying back from the other two-dollars-above-broke students at Fairy Tail, and the next thing she knew Natsu had wandered off. Which usually didn’t bother her, except the store had finally stocked the textbook for the 500-student level 100 stats class. Lucy cringed as she thought of her coworkers dealing with the desperate throng of students. 

Then Natsu whimpered as he pressed into her hand, and Lucy couldn’t give a flying fuck about what was happening back at the campus bookstore. 

“Dummy,” Lucy mumbled to herself. She leaned forward, kissing his bump gently. Tomorrow, she’d laugh at him for walking into a god damn pillar, but right now all she wanted was to make sure he was okay. Lucy already wasn’t a fan of how Natsu acted like he was a burden, and she didn’t want to add a concussed and bedridden boyfriend to that mix of self-loathing that she had yet to unpack. 

She also really wanted to punch the guy that had shoved Natsu, but priorities. 

Natsu opened his eyes, and Lucy signed ‘name’ again, her fore and middle finger pressed tight against each other and swiping her right-hand fingers over her left-hand fingers twice. Natsu furrowed his brow at her hands, trying desperately to understand what in all hell she was saying. Lucy almost screamed because this wasn’t the first time this had happened before Natsu had finally gotten it, and she didn’t know whose fault it was. 

“Name?” Natsu asked out loud, looking at her questioningly. Lucy smiled, nodding quickly. Natsu barked out a laugh, throwing his head against the pillow behind him. Lucy scowled at him, unsure as to what was so funny but guessing that she was being laughed at. Natsu’s grin was weaker than usual, his normally golden brown skin a sickly grey under and red around his bump, but Lucy still got the impression of an amused cat in the twitch of his lips and glimmer under the haze in his eye. “Name.” Natsu signed, holding his hands like Lucy had, but instead of swiping he simply tapped them twice. 

Lucy groaned, covering her flushed face with her hands. She couldn’t believe it had been three months since she’d started taking ASL lessons after class on Fridays, and she had still messed up something as simple as ‘name’. She was limp as Natsu pulled her to bed, his pull weak, but still strong enough to tug her down and curl her against his chest. 

“Silly Lushi,”  Natsu hummed, kissing the top of her head. She pulled back, making sure Natsu could read her lips.

“I’m not the one who walked into a pole.”

Natsu pouted at her, nuzzling her cheek as he whined. “Mean Lushi. I’m concussed and yer mocking me.” Lucy snorted, gently running her hands from his neck to his chest and back up. As if she were the mean one here. A bottle of water sat freshly open on her bedside table, heating pads and cool packs both ready for use on the floor, a sick bucket in case his nausea turned into full-on gross puking like the concussion symptom list had said. And she was here cuddling him instead of at work! Mean, her ass.

“Mildly concussed, and maybe at that,” Lucy said, grinning at her bickering with Natsu. She was just thankful he was aware enough to read her lips, though she didn’t want to strain him and knew they should stop soon, just in case. “You’re usually so aware of the space around you, I don’t understand how you missed a foot and a half wide brick pole.”

Natsu’s pout deepened, cracking into a scowl when Lucy giggled at his expression. She kissed his lip ring, pulling back expectantly. 

“Was distracted,” Natsu grumbled, falling into silence as Lucy waited for him to continue. The muffled sounds of TV came through the thin walls of her dorm, and she couldn’t help but be thankful that sound wasn’t a factor that Lucy had to worry about keeping to a minimum for Natsu’s headaches. Cana may be a good friend, but considerate she tended to slip on, just for the simple fact of her forgetting to do so. 

“By what,” Lucy finally pressed. Lucy ran her thumb over his lip, pulling herself closer to him so all that separated them was Plue; her snowman slash dog stuffy. 

“You.” he said. His scowl softened,  expression turning serious and so unfathomably sincere that Lucy was winded. “I saw a bunny I thought you’d love, and wanted to give it to ya ‘cus ya looked so stressed. But then the guy shoved me ’cus I guess he thought I was ignoring him and I turned around to tell the jackass I was deaf and watch him be socially ruined by a crowd of people judging him for yelling at the deaf guy and there was a pillar and now my head hurts.”

Lucy kissed him, soft and sweet and careful so as to not hurt him but knowing no other thing to say what she felt. Adoration swelled in her chest for her dumb, goofy, pierced and pink haired puppy of a boyfriend. She didn’t know if she was in love with him yet, but damn if Lucy didn’t love this boy. Natsu returned the kiss, smiling with pleasant surprise as his lips pushed firmer against hers. He opened his mouth, tongue brushing against the seam of her lips hopefully, and Lucy pulled back. Natsu blinked at her before whining, trying to pull her back to him for a kiss. Lucy pressed her finger to his lips, biting her lip as she grinned and shook her head no. 

“Rest,” she signed. Natsu whined loudly, knowing his volume when Lucy rolled her eyes and increasing it. Lucy giggled in exasperation, gently tapping his temple to remind him of his injury. Now was not the time for lazy makeouts, and Lucy was unafraid to enforce that rule. 

“Fine,” Natsu conceded unhappily, returning to signing. “But check my jacket.” 

Lucy tilted her head in confusion but sat up and did as he requested anyway. She then gasped, pulling a yellow bunny stuffed animal the size of her hand out from his leather jacket, the name ‘Lucy’ stitched into it’s ear in white. 

She swatted at his arm, whirling on him from where she perched at the edge of her bed. “You stole the rabbit!?”

“Technically, you stole it ‘cus I forgot I had it in my pocket when ya led me out of the store. You should really put some tag detectors in there. Nothing even happened, at least I think it didn’t. The walk’s kinda fuzzy right now.” Natsu explained simply, as if hadn’t just stolen from her place of employment. Lucy huffed at his blase attitude toward grand-theft-bunny. She gave him a judgemental look as he led her back to his chest, wrapping his arms around her.

“Unbelievable,” she muttered to herself. Then Natsu nuzzled into the top of her head, breathing in deeply and relaxing as he took in her scent. Which Lucy would find weird, if his own mix of cologne and natural musk wasn’t lulling her into an afternoon nap as well. She couldn’t help it, burrowing deeper into his chest, each holding a stuffed animal with one arm. Lucy smiled. She could always pay for it later, granted that Natsu didn’t do something like die on her in his sleep. 

Lucy laughed to herself, legs tangling easily with Natsu’s. It would take more than ramming headfirst into a brick wall to take out her boyfriend. She didn’t think she knew anyone that was as strong as her Natsu. 

Definitely none that were as adorable or unknowingly sweet as him. 

[bittykimmy13]

A Familiar Face (GT)

A million years late, but! Finals are over and I can write agaaain! :D

This is prompt from the 100 (GT) Themes Challenge. Feel free to send a number/word from the list for me to write about, and a specific character to go along with it, if you like!

This is the 9th installment of An Extra Roommate! 

Here are the other prompts that I’ve filled for the challenge!

"You can trust Nat and Amelie, you know," Zoe said, pausing in her search for the TV remote between the couch cushions to glance over her shoulder. "It's not like they would do anything to you. Sure, Amelie looks strong enough to rip the bumper off a car and use it like a baseball bat, but that's nothing. I'd be more worried about Nat squealing nonstop over you." Cassandra shuffled her feet on the coffee table. She reached for her bag strap, but it wasn't there, and she felt naked without it. Lily assured her she wouldn't need it for movie night, but Zoe's suggestion that they should reveal Cassandra's presence to the other two humans who lived in the dorm apartment left her wishing she had her climbing rope. But Natasha and Amelie were away for the weekend, at least. "I just… I don't want too many humans knowing about me," Cassandra answered.

Zoe straightened up with a triumphant aha, remote in hand. She looked over at Cassandra on the low table and shrugged. "It's up to you, I guess." Lily's footsteps retreated from the kitchen and trailed onto the carpet, accompanied by the tantalizing aroma of freshly-popped popcorn. "Are you bothering Cass about that again? Give it a rest, Zo. The less people know about her, the safer she is. Cassandra pursed her lips as Lily set the overflowing popcorn bowl on the other side of the table. "Not that I think they would hurt me. I'm sure they're very nice, but you know… you never know," she said in a small voice. "Whatever you say," Zoe answered distractedly, tossing the remote aside once she set up the movie. "Well, I call the couch. All of it." Lily chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Shocker. Better help me move this, then." Cassandra's heart gave a little lurch as Lily and Zoe got moved into position on either side of the table, gripping both ends to lift it. Before Cassandra could offer any protest, the human girls shared a brief smirk and picked up the table--the borrower along with it. With a squeal of surprise, Cassandra fell back onto her rear and hands. It was unnerving, feeling the massive piece of furniture sway beneath her. Carrying the table was an easy feat for a pair of humans, but to her, the thing was unmovable as the dorm building itself. The table gave one final rattle as it was set back down, leaving enough room on the carpet in front of the ouch for Lily to lay down comfortably amongst the blankets and pillows she and Zoe had brought from their rooms. "Sorry about that." Lily peered apologetically down at Cassandra, who was straightening up to stand. "Are you okay?" "I've had worse falls," Cassandra said, offering a little smile. Lily laughed weakly. "Don't remind me. Minutes later, they were situated for the night. Zoe was sprawled out on her claimed couch, while Lily was curled up on the floor in a nest of blankets. In front of her, she created a cozy nook in a pillowcase for Cassandra to settle in. However, seeing as Zoe had selected a horror film, Cassandra soon found herself scooting back into Lily's shadow. They both gave a small start when her back bumped into Lily's wrist, but rather than pull away, Lily adjusted to rest her hand at Cassandra's side, thumb brushing against her arm comfortingly. "We can switch it to something else, if you want," Lily murmured, low enough that Zoe couldn't hear. Heat rushed to Cassandra's face. She had barely known Zoe for a couple of weeks since panicking about ruining her art project. Already Cassandra had proved herself to be a scaredy-cat time and time again. Zoe wasn't cruel or taunting by any means, but Cassandra could imagine her rolling her eyes at the request to change the movie. "I'm fine," Cassandra dismissed, patting the side of Lily's finger. She peered behind her to see a little smile curve at Lily's lips. "If you say so." An hour and a half later, Cassandra regretted saying so. Both humans had fallen asleep some time before the climax, leaving Cassandra alone to watch the screen, wide-eyed. Even after the credits finished rolling, she stayed where she was, huddled under Lily's relaxed hand and glancing at the human's face to check for any sign that she was waking up. "Lily?" Cassandra murmured, getting no response. With a steeling sigh, she pulled away from the safety of Lily's hand, missing the cozy warmth the moment she stood up. She waded carefully through the blankets to reach the controller; Lily had snatched it away from Zoe halfway through the movie to turn down the volume of the shrieks in the movie--"If an RA comes with a noise complaint, you're dealing it!" Perhaps it would be easy enough to search for another movie for Cassandra to lull off to. Before she could even begin heaving the remote into position to point at the TV, something moved out of the corner of her eye. Cassandra whipped around, heart in her throat. She reached for her bag strap, only to remember she did not have it. Images of monsters and murderers flooded her imagination as peered at the space beneath the couch. A figure was approaching, and it was her size. Her heart felt like it was disintegrating all together at the sight of the familiar silhouette. "Vince?" she croaked. He paused briefly in the shadow of the couch, glancing cautiously at Lily's vast sleeping form. Somewhere deep down, Cassandra's heart ached at his familiarity. His blond hair was tousled as if he'd just gotten out of bed--like it always was. His lean form seemed stronger than before, but his face as he came out of the shadows hadn't changed a bit. "Cassie," he said, relief flooding his features. He beckoned urgently, and without her permission, Cassandra's legs obeyed. He pulled her into a tight hug. She didn't return the embrace, staying stock still in his arms. "Should've known you'd be captured eventually," he chuckled ruefully. "Huh?" she whispered. "C-captured?" Vince pulled away to smile down at her, hands gripping her shoulders tightly, like he'd missed her. "Yeah, dummy. I knew you were doing well with borrowing and taking care of yourself. Then I saw all your stuff was gone. You haven't been home in weeks, have you?" He threw a harsh glance at Lily, seemingly clueless as to why Cassandra had abandoned her home--to stay as far away from him. To live in the safety of Lily's bookshelf instead. She couldn't bring herself to correct him. Not when he was so close, standing with her arms in his grip. All those weeks she had come to trust Lily, even Zoe. Free of Vince. Now there he was, like a ghost come to haunt her. "Leave me alone," she breathed, and she didn't truly realize she'd said it out loud until Vince's face pulled into a frown. "What did you say?" She reared back. "I said go away!" Her voice was barely a hiss, shaking with tears. "You abandoned me! You left me to die! Lily… Lily helped me! She's my friend. Zoe, too. They would never, ever do what you did to me!" For a second, Vince stared at her in shock. This his expression darkened, and his blue eyes--murderous and cold-- slid back to where Lily slept peacefully. "Friends?" he spat. "All this time I thought… I thought you had grown up and started looking out for yourself instead of leeching off me. You're out of your mind. You've let them trick you!" He faltered, a million thoughts seeming to cross his face at once. In the end, he fixed a glare on Cassandra and snarled, "You're a danger to our kind, you idiot." That was all the warning Cassandra received before he yanked her fully into him, locking an arm around both her arms and her torso. A scream built in her lungs, but he clapped his free hand over her mouth. She writhed and kicked, but he had no trouble dragging her further under the shadows of the couch. Cassandra bucked wildly, eyes filling with tears as she desperately willed Lily to wake up. She was right there, right within earshot. But she was fast asleep, utterly unaware of Cassandra's panic. Wake up, she wanted to scream. Lily, please! He'll never let me go! As Vince dragged her across the room, Cassandra put up even more of a fight, wrenching her head free long enough to bite down on his hand. He hissed in pain and flinched his arm away. "Lily--!" Before she could loose a scream, Vince slammed her head into the coffee table leg. Stars popped behind her eyes, darkness blurring the edges of her vision and spreading like a stain. She stayed conscious long enough to feel Vince scoop her into his arms to carry her like a child. She managed to breathe Lily's name before she blacked out completely.

[thefinalcinderella]

DIVE!! Book 2 Chapter 8-SO I ENVY YOU!

Figuring out what Shibuki’s mom was saying was really hard

Full list of translations here

Previously on DIVE!!: A productive summer.

“Your friends came.”

One afternoon, his mother called Kyouko’s house and told him that, so he ran for twenty minutes on the hill road and passed through the door of his house that was close to the sea. When he suddenly saw Tomoki and Youichi biting into watermelons on the garden’s porch, their sudden appearances weren’t the only things that Shibuki was shocked at seeing.

Until yesterday, the summer had only been woven with light and shadow. Why was it that as soon as their figures were added to it, the surrounding scenery suddenly started to come alive with vivid colours?

The sky was at its bluest.

The clouds were at their whitest.

The watermelon was at its sweetest.

All it took was for one or two unfamiliar foreign objects to arrive, and everything that was too familiar to him had been freshly revived, just like that.

Youichi said, “Yo” to Shibuki, who was standing stock still while reeling from those dizzying changes, as a black seed flew out of his mouth.

“We came back from Beijing the day before yesterday. We were completely exhausted from being drilled by Coach Sun. That’s why we’re taking a three-day vacation.”

Next to their backpacks that were stuffed with three days worth of luggage, the two were actually thin enough to clearly see that they had been training hard at the training camp. Youichi, who boasted perfect proportions, lost a bit of meat, and Tomoki’s cheekbones had also become very thin underneath.

“Sorry we came here on such short notice. But Youichi-kun said that it would be boring if we don’t suddenly come like this.” Tomoki said as though to make an excuse.

“Actually,” Youichi continued from the side. “I thought we’d stay somewhere cheap. But from what that auntie said earlier, there’s no accommodations around here. So, she said that we could stay here, but is that really okay?”

Before Shibuki could reply, his mother, Miyuki, said, “Please feel free to,” as she brought seconds of barley tea. “It must have been troublesome to come here all the way from Tokyo. If these rooms suit you, then please feel free to borrow them. Please don’t be afraid to take advantage of our hospitality.”

“Sorry for all the trouble,” Youichi said with a bold smile as he reached his hand out for a second helping of barley tea.

“For rooms, you can use the south guest room. The one next to Misaki’s and Minami’s (1) rooms would be too noisy, and the west guest room is humid…For the bath, you can go in whenever you like. I will call you when dinner is ready. That’s right, you should also call Kyouko, right?”

To Miyuki, who was talking briskly, Youichi grinned broadly with a “Sorry for the trouble” again, and Tomoki asked, “Who’s Kyouko?” with curious eyes, all before Shibuki even had a chance to get a word in. And thus, his three days with them began.

Shibuki did not protest this one-sided development, because he realized that somewhere deep inside, rather than wanting to protest, he was exhilarated.

He didn’t know what kind of feelings Tomoki and Youichi had when they came.

However, at any rate, their visit was certainly very sudden.

Because it was already three in the afternoon, they took an early bath instead of going anywhere, and leisurely gathered around the dining table in the Okitsus’ tatami room.

The Okitsus ate dinner early. Preparation was completed at 5 PM, everything was completely eaten at 6 PM, and all the lights in the house were extinguished at 8 PM. This was also one of the reasons that kept Shibuki away from his home, but today his mother was preparing fresh fish that she procured from his uncle, and the dinner with a large number of people continued into 7 PM, something that was very rare. When Miyuki suddenly thought of it during the preparation, she made Jappa soup.

From the time he was little, Shibuki almost never talked about himself, and Miyuki often complained that “I don’t know what he’s thinking about.” But for Shibuki, as his mother rarely expressed emotions, he didn’t know what she was thinking either. She was a woman who disavowed Shiraha’s way of living, and in order to go through with that opposition she continued to support his stubborn father, who devoted himself to fishing. Although she had a main image of a devoted and patient person who lacked humour, however, today Miyuki was in an extremely good mood, and sometimes laughed like a young girl.

His two little sisters showed contrasting responses to the two young men. Misaki, a second-year in middle school, welcomed them in her best clothes, and frequently moved to change everyone’s dishes, but Minami, who was in fifth grade, was being shy and didn’t speak a word, occasionally whispering something secretly into only Kyouko’s ear.

Minami wasn’t the only one who was tense. Youichi, who was suddenly greeted by three young girls who led him to the tatami room, was also slightly awkward, but on the contrary Tomoki quickly made himself at home, and even though he didn’t even drink alcohol, he talked on and on about his heartbreak for an hour.

The other women, including Miyuki, all had the same opinion.

“It’s only natural if you turn her down on dates and phone calls.”

“Even I would side with the brother.”

“Even though she tried to two-time you for the time being, and there was a way to choose the one who was better, she was still honest as she cleanly moved onto your brother.”

That last opinion was from Kyouko, and though Shibuki was used to it, Miyuki looked like she had mixed feelings.

Past seven in the evening, a pleasant breeze blew in through the window, and dim lights drifted warmly between the bushes that shook the white outline on the other side. Tomoki, who had been making a big fuss over seeing fireflies for the first time in his life, seemed dumbfounded by the shrill cries of the cicadas. The sound of the waves, the sound of the wind chimes and the noise from the trees, absolutely everything was swallowed up and painted over in one color by the loud sounds of the cicadas. On the way to the guest room where Miyuki had laid down a futon, Tomoki discovered a singing cicada clinging to a pillar in the hallway, and once he was aware that just one of them was the offender that split his eardrums, he was amazed, saying things like, “It’s just you…?” and so on.

Kyouko made the tactful move to return home by herself, and when the three boys remained in the guest room with the futons lined up, they thought of the same thing at the same time. It was almost like the night of a school trip. Naturally, they definitely weren’t going to bed anytime soon, so the three of them continued to talk in murmurs as they laid upon the futon.

Initially, the topic was exclusively focused on Kyouko.

“When and where did you meet?”

“How far did you guys go?”

“Are you going to marry each other in the future?”

Tomoki and Youichi barraged Shibuki with questions, but Shibuki wasn’t willing to separate Kyouko from their own little world and expose her to the public eye for just that reason, and as he was being embarrassed and ambiguously dodged the questions, the enthusiasm in the room died down, and when Tomoki looked like he was going to start again about his heartbreak story when he said “But Miu and my brother…” Youichi changed the topic quickly.

“At any rate, I’m beat. That’s China for you, it makes you feel awed.”

Deep down, Shibuki cared most about the topic of the Asia Joint Training Camp.

“The world is different, after all. That really hit me when I went to this training camp. I mean, I was pretty overwhelmed.”

Maybe they aren’t going to talk about the joint training camp…

Shibuki secretly held those worries, but Youichi began his story quite naturally.

“The Chinese athletes were especially different. After all, their sense of stability in competitions is the work of the strength and flexibility that they thoroughly trained for. What their practice consisted of was completely different in the first place. When we were in the training camp, while we vomited so many times while trying to finish that regimen and feeling like we were going to die, that regimen was just the bare minimum that they finished every day. Well, for flexibility, the people with the best qualities were chosen from the start.”

That was right. The system of diver training in China was thorough. First, coaches from elementary-level sports clubs scout for children with promise among artistic gymnasts and other athletes, and then welcome only those who show true potential at the tests. After that, they were screened by intense special training, and only those who survived it were allowed to belong to regional teams all over the country. Those athletes from the regional teams enter the dorms, doing dryland training from dawn, school in the morning and the pool in the afternoon…everyday was devoted to diving, but the dorm also had things like a cafeteria dedicated to athletes and a special infirmary, which were all perfectly equipped facilities. But still, only those who were selected for the national team, where only excellent elite athletes from the regional teams were gathered, could participate in international meets.

“Well, you become stronger whether you like it or not. You know, even though we’re all Asians, the Thai and Indonesian athletes were giddier compared to the others, but the Chinese and South Korean athletes, how should I put it, even their stern faces were different. They moved like machines according to the coach’s instructions, so it was a little bit creepy.”

“Even so Youichi-kun was still amazing, and Coach Sun favored him and said crazy things like, ‘Won’t you become a Chinese citizen?’” From next to the grumbling Youichi, Tomoki added in even more complaints. “On the last day of camp, everyone performed in a competition, and Youichi-kun got third place! He was third out of forty people. Although I was worthless in thirty-third place.”

“It’s enough to perform without worries only at your first international meet. I was in third place to begin with, and it’s a rank restricted to the young people of Asia. And there’s rumors that China is still hiding truly great athletes.”

“But, Youichi-kun, you couldn’t stop talking in English. During practice, Coach Sun got Chinese and English mixed up, and even when I was being yelled at, I didn’t know what he was saying, and I could only say “What? What?” (3) I was so embarrassed when I was given nicknames like ‘Mr. What’. If Youichi-kun hadn’t translated for me, I think I would have cried.”

“I had been studying English extra hard with my tutor. It was so that I could join the American training camps, but if I couldn’t understand my rivals’ words in international competitions, I’d look weak. Even this time, thanks to words, I got a lot closer to the unreachable Coach Sun…He was complaining about the unappetizing meals in the training camp, and it made him seem a lot more human.”

“Aah, I will also work harder. In English and in diving.”

“For diving, since you were always surrounded by the big-shots, you haven’t noticed how much you have grown. Trying soaring in a Japanese pool. You’ll almost certainly be surprised.”

“You really think so?”

“Really, I do. Even I was nearly overwhelmed by your strength. When I was too tired to even stand anymore, you kept saying things like going to see the pandas.”

While the two were dragging out the remaining heat of the training camp as they talked excitedly, Shibuki kept silent and strained his ears, his face stiffening slightly. It wasn’t jealousy. If he was jealous of them, it wasn’t for being able to participate in the training camp, but for their passion for diving, which they could give forth without any hesitations. That one moment. When he remembered that thrill in that one competition, to tell the truth, even now Shibuki wanted to climb onto the dragon’s back. What am I doing here? he wondered.

Before long they noticed Shibuki’s silence and became surprised. Tomoki, with his open face, immediately kept his mouth shut, but Youichi’s expression didn’t change as he stared at Shibuki.

“Matsuno, who went with us, didn’t make it until the end of camp. While he was there his shoulder was injured so he had to return. Of course, there was medical staff there, and even though every night he received ultrasound treatment, his amount of practice was not cut in any way. There were some athletes from the other countries who left because of injuries. To be honest, I think that it was good that you didn’t go.”

Shibuki tilted his head, making a gesture that couldn’t really be said to be nodding.

“Okitsu, did you dive into the sea yet?”

“No…a lot of stuff came up, so I had to put it off.”

“A lot of stuff, huh.”

“I was too busy having sex with a woman.”

“If that’s the case then you had a great summer.”

As the three faced each other silently, a strange vortex drawn by the smoke from the mosquito-repelling incense sticks grazed against their noses. They sniffed the smell together, but after a few seconds Tomoki couldn’t stand it.

“I mean, I’m too jealous of you.”

After he spoke that honest comment, like he was tearing off an iron mask, Shibuki bared his teeth and vented all at once.

“Honestly, I also acted like an idiot. Are you sleeping anytime soon?”

“Uh-huh.”

Entering the futon while laughing, he turned off the lights in the room.

“It’s really dark in here.”

Just like when he met the fireflies and the cicadas, Tomoki was also impressed by the darkness.

“Why is it so dark?”

“Because it’s night. Good night.”

“Good night.”

“Good night.”

When only the sound of the waves started to dominate the room, Shibuki wondered what Kyouko was doing right about now. Good night, he murmured again in his heart. It was always a strange feeling not having the person you always lied down next to there, and he felt sorry when he thought that Kyouko might be feeling lonely, and even more sorry when he was able to sleep better than usual that night.

Translation Notes

1. More sea-themed Okitsu names. Misaki (岬) means “cape” (as in on a coast) and Minami (美波) means “beautiful wave)

2. Jappa soup is miso soup that uses the leftovers after filleting cod. It’s an Aomori specialty.

3. Tomoki is saying “what” in English here.

Next time on DIVE!!: It’s finally summer vacation for Tomoki and Youichi.