#i think what ted said this week was way better in that it was kinda the wrong thing to say but also the right thing to say

[mariemariemaria]

okay but also and im sorry because i always seem to find some wee criticism in each episode this series but like when colin said that he was 99% sure isaac would support him, and that the reason he couldn’t come out was because of the 1%. like i get that. i’ve lived that. but also...they showed us isaac using the word gay as a pejorative earlier in the season...so i don’t think it is all on colin, and tbf i know isaac then attacks a fan and says its not okay because one of them could be gay...so maybe that makes up for it. idk im super tired rn this might not make sense

[promise-you-doie]

Get a Guitar | S. Eunseok

Summary: If you want something to play with... Pairing: Eunseok x Reader Sungchan x Reader words: 15k Genre: kind of a love triangle, fluff, angst. warnings: mild cursing, mentions of sex, mentions of death and Ted Bundy (Not proofread.) and thank you to @ningngyu for helping me write this

Saturdays were the one day of the week where you were guaranteed to be doing absolutely nothing.  

You’d usually spend your weekend sleeping or binging all of your favorite shows and locking your bedroom door to stop your best friend from attempting to drag you out to one of those really weird underground events that she liked.

Today was the same, without fail she’s pounding at your door, so much so that you can hear the aggressive knocking on the door even over your headphones that were turned up all the way. 

“Come on, just this one time please.” she begs through the door but you can’t hear anything she’s saying over the thumping of wood and the Beyoncé song you have playing in an attempt to blare her out. 

“Y/N i know you hear me.” 

Annoyed and frustrated you throw your legs across the bed and stomp to open the door, revealing your smiley bestfriend. whom you absolutely adored, but you’d be lying if you said there weren’t times when you wanted to sell her.

She was amazing but it was kinda like having a younger sister. No, it was exactly like having a younger sister. because although you guys are the same age, she didn’t have a license so she needed you to drive her everywhere and she stole your clothes.

“I'm not going out tonight.” you say before she could even speak. 

“oh please please please. there will be cute guys there.” Her bottom lip is poked out and her hands are held put in prayer form when she looks at you with puppy dog eyes. 

none of it phases you though, holding your ground which makes her plead more. 

“I'll buy you food and I'll even clean your car.” 

when she sees that you’re still not convinced she continues. “We can even leave whenever you want.” 

That's when you roll your eyes and sigh. “Fine, but my car better look brand new when you’re done.” you say and she begins jumping and gleaming. 

“thank you thank you thank you.”

your best friend was a liar, First she was broke so there was no way she could buy you food. Second, there was absolutely no one here that caught your eye. 

The unruly music blaring through the small crowded building made your ears feel like they were bleeding, and of course your best friend was nowhere to be found. As she left you the second the both of you entered the facility. 

you wanted to go home and lay in the comfort of your own bed, but you couldn’t leave her here with no way to get home. So there you stood, all alone arms crossed over your chest and a frown resting flat on your face. with your eyebrows unintentionally furrowed.

“Can’t be that bad.” a completely unfamiliar voice came from beside you, and it takes a lot of strength for you not to yell at them to go away. 

“This just isn’t my kind of scene.” you say not bothering to look at the stranger. hoping that if you show that you’re completely uninterested he’ll go away.

“I’m guessing this is your first time.” he asks

That's when you finally look at him, intending to give him a piece of your mind but taken back when your eyes find him. Maybe your friend wasn’t a complete liar, you think. because this man is so fine you catch yourself at a loss for words and thoughts. 

having to shake your head slightly before you find something to say. “Uh.. yeah. This is my first time?” 

“It gets better.” he reassures, breaking eye contact and looking at the band in front of you. which for some reason makes you a little sad. you enjoy having all of his attention on you. 

“Thanks.” you say, still looking up at him.

“yeah.”

“What’s your name by the way?” You ask, hoping that he’d turn his gaze back to you, and it works. He looks back down at you and answers your question. “Silver stone.” 

“huh?” your mouth is agape when you look at him, confused by his answer. 

“That’s just my stage name. You can call me Eunseok.” he smiles as he holds his hand out for you to shake, his smile was the perfect asset to his already perfectly sculpted face. His hands are soft and strong at the same time, while his voice is deep and gentle, playing like a beautiful melody to your ears. 

“I’m Y/n.” You answer, still looking at him in awe, loving the way his eyes watch you. You can feel the heat arise from your cheeks. 

“So your stage name is Silver stone?” You ask, still dragging on the conversation. Just so his eyes wouldn’t leave your figure. 

“Yeah it’s a long story.” He releases a small deep laugh that causes you to suck your bottom lip in between your teeth. Eyes trained to his small movements, him dragging his hand through his “hair to pull it out of his face and rolling up the sleeves of his long sleeve sweater to reveal his forearms. 

The way he looks down at you with hooded eyelids makes the overly crowded building feel like it’s just you and him. 

“I’m guessing you’re in a band? If you have a stage name I mean.” you state, while tilting your head slightly to the side and looking up at him. 

“I’m the lead guitar player.” He says casually, which causes your brain to turn to mush and you to take notice of his long slim fingers. “Oh he has to be a player.” you think to yourself, but If it was possible you were now even more attracted to him, wanting to know more. 

“Hey, we've got 5 minutes.” You can hear and feel the bubble around you and Eunseok pop when two strangers come over and disturb your conversation. His eyes shift from you to the two boys beside you. 

“Oh?… I meant take your time. We can be a few minutes late.” One of them says while looking at you. 

“Sorry I don't mean to hold you up.” you trail off when he looks back down at you. 

“Sorry I gotta go perform really fast. But stay here I’ll be right back. Okay?” 

You move your lips to say “alright.” But he doesn’t notice as disappears into the crowd. Leaving you feeling alone again. 

“Oh my god Y/N. Do you know who that was?” someone says as they tap your shoulder. you turn to see your best friend pointing out the man you were just having a conversation with while slapping at your arm aggressively. 

“Eunseok?” you question, shifting away from her so she couldn’t hit you anymore.

“Silver stone!” she corrects, and continues “Oh my goodness, girl he was totally flirting with you.” she squeals. 

“I don’t think he was.”

“If you guys start dating just make sure that you set me up on a date Sohee, the drummer. my god he’s so cute.” 

“Sohee?”

Your question goes unanswered when the lights fade. Worrying you for just a few seconds before you hear a guitar riff that makes you turn towards the stage. Just in time for a bright spot light to hit the tall boy who was just standing in front of you a small moment ago.  

Hearing the music he’s playing has you gravitating closer towards the stage leaving your best friend behind as you do. Your eyes trained to the handsome guitar player. You think he looks like a star, shining perfectly with his fingers strategically working the strings of the red electric guitar. 

The music he’s playing is like a magic spell straight to your heart, feeling your body react to him in a way you’ve never felt with anyone else. Watching him so intently that you forget to blink. 

You suck in a sharp gasp when he looks up, and easily locks eyes with you. Never missing a note as he bites on his bottom lip and the rest of the band come in. Once again making it feel like it was just you, him and his guitar. 

You break eye contact first out of embarrassment, your whole body heating up just from the intensity of the eye contact. You’ve met attractive guys before, but this was different. This was completely different. It was something about him that was just captivating. 

“Give it up for R&R everyone.” The host announces and everyone begins to clap. 

You see Eunseok run off stage and make his way back to you. At the same time your best friend walks up beside you. 

“How were we?” he asks, partly out of breath.

“You were… amazing. Wow, that was really amazing.” you praise. 

“Really?” 

“Don’t you think it was good?” you turn the question back around to him. 

“I do, I just wanted to know if you liked it?” he says. 

The members that you just saw on stage performing with him not too long ago are now standing beside him. Each holding a hand on one of his shoulders while he talks to you. 

“These are my bandmates. Sohee our drummer.” He introduces. 

The man whose name you’ve just learned sticks his hand out to meet yours, and you notice his bright smile and glistening eyes. You easily recognize his name, you just couldn’t remember where you heard it. But before you could even grasp his hand, your best friend slaps it out of the way to shake his hand instead. Batting her eyelashes and muttering her name and a small “Nice to meet you.” Sohee returns her smile as he turns to look at you and Eunseok all while keeping his hold on your best friends hand. 

He’s not as tall as Eunseok, but he’s just as pretty. He has thick dark brown hair that looks extremely soft and you can tell he’s a little younger than the rest of them. 

“And this is Seunghan, our lead singer.” Seunghan is taller than Sohee but not as tall as eunseok. He has a small sarcastic smirk that makes you feel like he knows something that you don’t. But you don’t question it aloud. 

“Nice to meet you.” You smile at him. 

“And lastly, this is Wonbin, our bassist.” Wonbin’s pretty, he looks like someone you’d find as a model for a luxury brand, his long hair just barely covering his face and his smirk towards eunseok makes you feel like you're missing something. 

“Wow you all were so good.” You boast at the four boys. 

“Thanks.” Seunghan smiles 

“But how good is our guitar player, I mean he’s so talented. And look how tall he is.” Wonbin begins to compliment him. 

“And he's a true gentleman. He knows how to treat a lady. He’d make a great boyfriend, I must say.” Sohee adds.

“That’s great because Y/n needs a boyfriend.” Your best friend holds your shoulder to show you off. You give her a side glare as Eunseoks friends continue to tease him.

“Okay guys that's enough.” Eunseok attempts to stop them but fails. 

“He’s free tomorrow by the way. Well only In the afternoons. He spends his Sunday mornings tending to children in need. Like a good humanitarian.”

“Alright, good night.” Eunseok begins to push his members away.

“I’m also free tomorrow.” You say urgently before he could walk away. you don’t know what possessed you, but you really didn’t wanna let the opportunity pass you by. When he turns back around to face you, you can't hide your smile. 

“Great, just uh give him your number and he’ll contact you about a time.” Sohee smiles at you and Eunseok. 

“He’s a true romantic, you won’t be disappointed.” Wonbin continues while Eunseok pulls out his phone for you to put your number in. His eyes trained on you as you do.

“Okay you two, enough of your shenanigans.” Seunghan drags the two boys away leaving you alone with Eunseok again.

“I’m sorry about them.” You pass him his phone back with your number now saved

“Don’t be. They seem fun.” You laugh softly. 

“They are, but it’s like having a bunch of annoying little brothers.”

You roll your eyes “Tell me about it.” As you say that, you feel your best friend's hard glare burning into the side of your face.

“So I’ll see you tomorrow then.” He questions after a small moment of silence between the two of you. 

“Yeah, you will.” You confirm.

“Perfect, see you then.”

“See you.” Just as he walks away to catch up with his members your best friend begins smacking your arm and squealing again. 

“Did you see him, isn't he cute?” she doesn’t fail to slap your arm until you’re holding her hands down. 

“Who? eunseok?”

“Girl no. Sohee. He’s so fine, god damn.” says your best friend.

“Oh yeah he’s cute, I guess."

“Stay away from my man.” Her smile drops and she’s glaring at you as if you really had intentions of taking (not) her man. 

“Huh?” you ask, genuinely confused.

“Okay let’s go home now. They’re all we came for.”

That night you had stayed up thinking about the guitar player you met earlier in the night, remnants of his smile lingered on your mind. Leaving you giggling into the palms of your hands to stop from screaming, squealing and waking your roommate up from her very deep sleep.

You had a date with a band member. It felt even better to say aloud. Especially because it’s been so long since you’ve allowed yourself to like someone other than that basketball player you've had a crush on for over three months. 

“Okay which outfit?”

“One” you held the mini skirt to you waist with a top that you felt matched perfectly 

“Or two” you rotated and held up a cute baby blue dress that you thought would be great for a picnic.

“Mm def number one. I love the way that skirt fits your ass. I'm feeling like he’s definitely an ass guy.” Your best friend speaks unsolicited which warrants you to smile and roll your eyes. 

“Great, I’ll go with the dress.”

“Ugh, what’s the point of asking.”

“So I know which one not to choose.” Slipping the dress on easily and looking at yourself in the mirror, before you turn back to your friend. 

“How do I look?” You ask, turning to her, hoping for her approval. 

She doesn’t answer at first. Only walking around to you and fixing parts of the dress that you couldn’t see and moving some strands of hair into position. Once she’s satisfied she finally gives the answer you’ve been waiting for.

“You look great Y/N.” she says softly while looking at you through the mirror. Moments like this are what reminds you of why she was your best friend in the first place. But these moments don’t last long because she always says something right after to make you question your life's decisions.

“Your ass looks really good in this dress too.” She says looking down. 

“Thanks...” you say sarcastically.

“See aren’t you glad I dragged you out last night.” she's smiling at you although she already knows what you're going to say.

“No, not really.” 

“Look at my baby, she’s growing up and going on dates.” She coos ignoring your answer 

“Okay~ I think it’s time for me to go.” You say walking away from her.

“Yes, it is, he’s outside.” She checks your phone looks up at you.

“Outside? Like outside.” You ask to clarify.

“That’s what he just texted you.”

“Oh my god.” You yell.

“Girl go!”

“I'm leaving, I'm leaving.” You yell while you struggle with your shoes, and your best friend runs for your bag, phone, perfume and lip gloss. After you feel you’ve got everything you run towards the door with your best friend behind you. 

“Bye, have a good time and remember the rules.” She waves to you as you leave the apartment.

“Of Course bye love you.”

“The Rules.” We’re just a list of commandments the two of you made up on some random night but with good reason of course. 

Rule number 1: don’t have sex on the first date 

Everyone knows this one. It’s like a rule of thumb, but of course your best friend didn’t know this and she slept with some chlamydia infected rando. She spent the entire night crying which led to this being rule number 1

Rule number 2: when going on a date always keep your location on. Men are weird and the last thing you need is to find your girlfriend's body being discovered on the shore of a lake on national news.

Rule number 3: keep your phone charged, this goes with rule number 2. Safety first babe

Rule number 4: don’t go to a man’s place on the first date. The two of you spend too much time watching crime documentaries 

Rule number 5: make sure to get Sohee's number.

She just added this one after setting up your date with “silver stone.”

“There you are.” You immediately recognize the voice calling for you. Turning to find the very man you met yesterday. He’s just as handsome as you remember the night prior, but seeing him in the sunlight accentuates his features such as the curves of his cheek bones. 

“Sorry I’m late.” You apologize while walking towards him and his jet black suzuki bike. 

“I didn’t mind waiting.” He says standing up from leaning on the bike, with the smile you were quickly learning to love.

“Have you ever ridden on a bike before?” he asks, watching you examine the motorcycle behind him. “No, I’ve always wanted to but I'm so scared.” you admit shyly while shifting your focus back up to him. 

“It’s not as scary as you think, don’t worry” You stand in place when he slips his jacket off and walks closer to you. He leans forward and wraps it around your waist to prevent you mooning any drivers behind you if your dress rises up. “There you go”

Eunseok was also a liar. It wasn’t too scary at first but the second he hit the highway you felt your heart drop to your stomach. You had to close your eyes and tighten your hold around his waist. Even though you knew that if an incident were to happen this wouldn’t save anything. You still just needed something to hold on to. 

The ride was only 15 minutes but you could’ve sworn it was longer, by the time he parked you felt nauseous and kinda light headed. 

Immediately you throw your helmet off to get some fresh air and calm your racing heart. Your back is turned to him, but you can feel that he’s watching you. 

“See that wasn’t too bad.” He smirks at you, while you're still trying catch your breath.

You just hold your index finger up to him because you're too afraid that if you speak, you’re going to throw up. 

“You- mm” you stop to take a breath. 

“I’m never trusting you again.” you add.

“You’ll get used to it.” he laughs and takes the helmet out of your hand. “Once we head back it’ll be better.” 

“Head back?” you hadn’t even thought about the fact that you were gonna have to do it again. “I’ll just take an uber back.” 

“Now why would I let you do that?” 

“You don’t have a choice.” Once your heart is calmed and you no longer feel the need to puke, you take notice of your surroundings. Quickly noticing that this isn’t the place that people usually host picnics.

“Where are we?” 

“My apartment.’ He says casually. 

“I thought we were going on a picnic.” You ask, now slightly scared. He didn’t seem too threatening, but neither did Ted Bundy when he picked up his victims. 

“We're getting there.” He begins walking and you follow after him, still a little nervous but justifying with the fact that he was tall and attractive. Trying to push back the idea of having to confront your best friend after she finds out you broke the second rule. 

You think to help yourself you’ll just turn your location off that way you could at least just lie and pretend that your phone died. Fortunately and unfortunately you didn’t have to lie because as soon as you turned your location off it actually died. 

So if he actually was a psychopath you were fucked. 

You allow him to guide you to his apartment unit, trying to shush any thoughts of the many torture methods he probally has planned behind his apartment door. Hoping that if you just comply he’d go easy on you. 

Once the both of you reach the door you mentally brace yourself for what’s next to come. Looking around and making sure to identify all of the exits in case it is needed. But to your surprise there's just a blanket layed out with snacks, drinks and a pretty decorated cake. 

“You put all this together?” you turn and look up at him. Being able to breathe easier, since you walked into his apartment. 

“It was kinda last minute, I’ll plan something better next time.” he admits.

If this is last minute you were definitely looking forward to what he’d do when he had the time. You sit down on the pillow seats that he laid out and he takes a seat right beside you, not too close but close enough for you to be able to smell the cologne that he was wearing.

 And he keeps that same distance throughout the entire evening. Never once laying a finger on you, even though you really wanted him to. Hoping that maybe he’d at least slide his hand over yours or something but he doesn’t, not even accidentally.

“So how long have you been in your band?” you ask leaning back on your palms to get more comfortable.

“Only a year.” He responds.

“a year? You guys are so good.” 

“You think so?”

“I do.” you tilt your head to rest just barely on your shoulder. Watching how his smile grows towards you. 

There's a silence between the both of you for just a second, but it isn’t awkward at all. You’re just admiring him and all of his beauty. Finding that he’s extremely easy to be around. His presence is comforting and not at all hostile, like the other guys you’ve talked to. 

You’d lost track of time just talking to him, getting to know more about him, just as you wanted. Being alone in his apartment ensured that you had his undivided attention and he had yours. He had nowhere else to look but you. And you loved the way he looked at you, with soft warm and inviting eyes. 

“Where’d you learn to play?” You ask when he sits back down with the guitar.

“My dad. He used to play all the time, I guess I just kinda picked it up.” He began to pluck the strings of the instrument.

“This was his favorite song,” he continues. 

His fingers dance elegantly along the strings of the guitar. Creating a nice sound to match for when he begins to hum along. “I can’t remember the words, but it went something like-” 

He continues to sing how he thinks he remembers the song going, playing along as he does. Naturally you close your eyes to just listen to him. Listening to how clear and deep his voice is, how it causes you to melt away. 

“Do you know any other songs?” you say when he finishes. 

He looks up at you, and pauses before he speaks. Taking a quick glance of your lips, he looks away faster than you can blink, but you still catch it. 

“Uh- yeah. Yeah I know a few.” he stutters a little trying to avoid making eye contact with you. 

“I’ll play another one.” He finally looks at you one last time, but you’re still giving him the lustful gaze you gave him a few moments ago when he looked at you the first time. He tries to look away but he likes the eye contact you guys are keeping. He likes it so much that he slightly throws his guitar from over his lap and reaches over to place both hands on each side of your face. Pulling you in for an intense and heated kiss. 

One hand still rested on your cheek and the other hand sliding behind your head right above your neck. He can feel you smiling into the kiss, happy for him to finally be touching you the way you wanted. 

You pull away first, lips swollen and heavy breathing but there's still little to no distance between the both of you. His eyes never leave yours when he’s still trying to catch his breath. You find that he looks even more attractive this way, he was charming before but he just looks so enchanting right now. 

He’s looking at you like he needs more and you’re more than happy to give it to him because you feel the exact same way. Now it’s your turn to grab his face and pull him into another eager kiss until he gently lays you on the floor and you wrap your arms around his neck to get him as close to you as possible. 

You’d say the date went well, you got a chance to know more about him just as you wanted to. Just not in the way you thought you would. 

“Do you need me to walk you up?” He asks when you hand him back his extra helmet. “Um no, I think I’ll be fine.” You say although you’re really just scared of how your friend will react when she sees him bringing you back so late. 

“Oh…” He says rubbing his hand across the back of his neck. 

“But I did have a lot of fun tonight.” you hurry and say to stop him from getting the wrong idea. “Good, I enjoyed myself too.” he smiles when you do. “I think it’s time for me to go in.” You say although, you stand there for a while longer. Just looking at him. “Goodnight.” He replies to you. 

“Goodnight.” you linger for just a few seconds longer. “I’ll text you later.” you say lastly before finally getting ready to walk away. “Oh by the way…” He says before you could go anywhere. 

“Is your friend single?” he finishes. 

“Huh?” you’re at a loss for words. You don’t even know how to react to that question after the both of you just spent hours talking and making out on his apartment floor.

 He sees the way your jaw goes slack and he rushes to defend himself, waving his palm in the air. 

“No no no, It’s not what you’re thinking. Sohee was just interested, and very adamant about making sure that I got her information.” 

“Oh?” you laugh feeling relieved. “Oh, yeah that makes sense. I knew that.” you lie. 

And he lets out a sigh of relief

“Here,” He says as he pulls up Sohee’s contact on his phone. “You can just send him her number.” He continues as he passes his phone to you.

“Okay,” You say when you pass the phone back to him, having sent your bestfriends number to Sohee. “Great, I’ll text you tomorrow then.” He says. 

“And I’ll answer.” 

The conversation lingers for just a while longer before you watch him ride off on his bike and you make your way up to your apartment unit. Giggly about your date with Eunseok. You expect your best friend to be asleep at this time of night, so you try your best to be quiet when you sneak in. Carefully turning the doorknob and opening the door to your dark apartment. 

However you couldn’t be anymore wrong as your face is nearly met with a shoe the second you open the door. You don’t even get a chance to say anything before another one comes flying at you. “What the hell are you doing?” You finally get a chance to yell in between her throwing yet another shoe. 

“Do you know what time it is?” She yells at you. “It’s one in the morning. Where the hell were you?” She continues. “Why is your location off?” “Why haven’t you been answering my calls?”

She asks a million questions without giving you time to answer any of them. “Do you know how worried I was?”

 “Aww you care about me?” You clench your heart. 

“No! Who’s gonna pay your half of the rent if you’re dead??” 

“Oh?” you throw your hands back down to your side. 

“Well, now that I know you’re alive. Tell me everything.” She squeals and plops down on the couch. FInally calming down so you could sit down besides her. 

“Okay~ so we went back to his apartment-” “You went to his apartment?” She raises her voice to you once again. 

“Yeah, but look I’m alive.” You stand and hold your hands up in defense before she could hit you again. 

“...Fine.” She rolls her eyes and puts her arms back down from getting ready to hit you. “But why was your location off, and why didn’t you answer any of my calls?” 

“My phone died.” you try to plead your case. 

“So did you follow any of the rules?” She throws her hands down.

“Well-” You begin to say but get cut off when her phone rings and she shifts her attention from you to her phone. “Oh it’s sohee… continue.” she begins nonchalantly. 

“Okay so we-” You get cut off again when she begins screaming, “Sohee texted me, oh my god my man texted me” she starts jumping all over you when she comes to reality. 

“wait… you had sex?” she stops thinking about sohee to continue 

“uh.. look sohee texted you!” you try to distract her 

“Y/n don’t play with me.”

“We only kissed.” 

“with tongue?” she asks 

“maybe…” you say looking off to the side.

“Oh my god, I knew I should've given you those condoms.”

“We didn't need the condoms.”

“you’re right, I'm definitely ready to be a godmother.” She shakes her head. “Godmother?” you question.

“So does this mean Sungchan is out of the picture?”

“No, me and eunseok were just a one time thing. That’s what he does with girls anyways, Right?” 

Sungchan, Jung Sungchan?  Tall and attractive basketball player you’ve been tutoring for three months and crushing on since forever? No. He’s never gonna be out of the picture. 

Although, it’s definitely safe to say he was never even in the picture. considering you’ve been waiting on him to make a move since he accidentally slipped up and directly described you as his ideal type. 

It was only 2 weeks ago but you really hated the anticipation of waking up everyday wondering if it was gonna be the day he finally asked you out.

And it still hadn’t changed even today when you walk into your biology class, searching for him immediately only to find that he was already looking at you. smiling and waving for you to come over.

“Goodmorning.” he speaks first

“goodmorning.”

“I got you coffee.” He says placing the cup of iced americano in front of you. 

“You didn’t have to.” You take your seat besides him.

“I wanted to thank you for helping me pass my midterms.”

“It's my job.”

“and you do it very well. Also, are you busy today? It'd be nice to have you cheer me on at practice.”

“I’ll be there.”

You guys were already basically dating, with you showing up to all his basketball practices and games. going over to his apartment or having him come to yours. knowing all of his friends and even texting each other goodnight/goodmorning.

The only thing missing was the official title of being his girlfriend.

“Good morning class.” The professor starts and waits for everyone to respond before carrying on with her lesson for the day. “You all will be put into groups of three to work on a project. And of course, I will be choosing teams.”

She reads off the list for a while before getting to you. 

“Okay group number 5, Y/N, Eunseok…” The last name goes completely unheard. You’re scrunching your eyebrows thinking that maybe there has to be a mistake because you don’t have a class with someone named Eunseok. 

“Sweet we get to work together.” Sungchan nudges you and you give him a half smile while looking around the room for the person you met last night. and sure enough you find the handsome guitar player sitting by the window of the room. his eyes already on you. 

If there was a word that could accurately describe the emotions you’re going through it’d be fucked. Was there a better word? Probably but the only word that came to mind was fuck. Well actually the first word that came to mind was “Huh” because you had never noticed that you shared this class with him before now.

But also because you thought you’d never see him again after last night. Assuming that he probably had a list of girls on his roster. But now that you knew that you were gonna be seeing him a lot more than you thought, you were fucked. 

“Eunseok… Hey.” You say trying to muster up a sincere smile. 

“Oh do you guys know each other?”  Sungchan asks, looking at the both of you.

“Yeah.” Eunseok answers before you can say anything 

“Only a little.” you add, trying to ignore the way Eunseok looks at you. “There’s a seat right here.” Sunghchan says, pointing to the chair beside him. You were no genius but allowing your somewhat one night stand to sit beside your potential boyfriend just didn’t seem like the brightest idea. 

So that’d justify why you suddenly and aggressively yell “no” when sungchan offers. “I mean, you can just sit right here.” You giggle when they both look at you shocked. 

Sports were never really your thing, but it became your thing when you started tutoring Sungchan. Loving the way he looks when he’s all sweaty, out of breath and his index finger always points directly to you right before he makes a shot.

Seeing him on the court always reminds you of why you stayed up late nights talking your best friend’s head off about him. He’s good at what he does and he also looks hella good doing it. Yes, him being tall, and a basketball player does play a big role in why you’re so attracted to him, but that wasn’t why you fell for him in the first place. It’d definitely have to be how special he made you feel, or how often he praised and complimented you. 

Or it could have been the way he always goes straight to you whenever he helps to win one of his games. You were still trying to figure out exactly why you liked him so much, but also trying to find out if he even liked you, or if you just thought he did.  

“Water?” you ask when he runs to you, and hunches over with his hands on his knees while trying to catch his breath. 

“Thanks.” He receives the water bottle from your hand and you observe how much smaller the bottle looks when he’s holding it. Your eyes stay trained to him when he brings the drink up his lips and he tilts his head back for the water to easily slide down his throat. You pay attention to the way his arm slightly flexed and how his damp hair stuck to certain parts of his forehead and around his face. 

“I’m gonna go get changed and then we can get ready to go.” He speaks through his heavy breaths, while pushing his hair back once again flexing his arm. 

“Okay.”  

He leans down again, this time his breaths are stable. He just wants to get on your level so you don't have to look up at him. Making eye contact with you when he does so. 

“You did a good job cheering for me.” He smiles at you, easily leaving you flustered when he speaks so only you could hear him. 

“Isn’t that why you asked me to come?” 

“That’s exactly why I asked, nobody else does it like you.” 

“Go get changed Sungchan.” You push him away weakly. 

There were many reasons why you liked sungchan, so it’s very hard to really pinpoint when you actually started falling for him and why. He was sweet, and funny, He was also very gentle with you. He was completely different from the stereotypes that other sports players had built for themselves.

“You have 3 months until the big game,” You begin to start a conversation while walking beside him to your car. 

“Yeah, I’m kinda nervous about it.”

“You’re nervous? You’re Jung Sungchan, best player on the whole team. You’re gonna do amazing.” 

“Are you gonna be there?” he stops in front of you.

“I wouldn’t miss it.” You say looking up at him.

“Then we’ll definitely win.” 

If only he was your boyfriend. If only he was your boyfriend you could kiss him goodbye instead of just imagining it. If only he was your boyfriend you could hold his hand instead of letting it just swing closely, just to get half the satisfaction of having your hand in his. 

If you had to give all of the reasons why you liked sungchan, you’d probably run out of time and breath. But if you were to give just the one reason you’d even consider looking at someone else it’d be because he strung you along as if you had all the time in the world. 

Because he’d say and do things that make you feel like there’s just no way he doesn’t like you the way you like him. But then he’d also say and do things that make you feel like you’re just reaching. 

“I’ll te-” His stopped mid sentence when two girls who you assumed were best friends walk up behind the both of you. Looking up at him, because of the way he towers over the three of you. 

“Sungchan.” one of the girls speaks. 

You watch him turn around to face the girls, and then switch your focus to watch them. They’re pretty, both of them. It doesn’t make you question yourself but it is something that you observe. 

“I think you’re really cute, can I have your number?” She asks, completely ignoring you standing behind him. even if she had acknowledged you it wouldn't change anything. it wasn’t like you could get mad and call her a home wrecker or anything.

But when he turns to you instead of answering first you feel a kaleidoscope of butterflies in your stomach. Nodding your head to ensure that you didn’t have an issue with him giving them his number. Were you actually okay with it? no. but you were curious to see what he was going to do.

He pleasantly surprises you when he shakes his head no, and wraps one of his arms around your shoulders. “I’m kinda busy right now.” 

“ah, I'm so sorry for bothering you guys.” the girl looks at you and then runs off with her friend

When they’re gone you look up to him expecting to talk about the interaction that just happened. but he doesn’t, only moving his arm from around you and continuing from where he left off before he was interrupted.

“I'll text you later.” he says, opening the door to your car.

“Okay” 

“drive safe.” Is the last thing he says before you split ways.

“I will.”

And the night with Eunseok? You plan on never talking or even thinking about it again. Was it fun? Yes, you definitely enjoyed yourself. And you wouldn’t be convincing anyone if you said that you hadn’t even thought about him once since last night. 

But if you were thinking about making things work with Sungchan, then you had to go about life pretending that Eunseok didn’t even exist. Which he was making very hard to do. 

You look away from your notes to look at the notification that pops up on your phone. Assuming that it’s probably Sungchan texting you just he assured you he would. However the name that flashes across your phone isn’t Sungchans. 

“Shit.” You whisper aloud and it causes your best friend to also look away from her notes. “What?”

“Eunseok just texted me.” You shyly admit.

“Why’s that a bad thing?” She sits up fully.

“I didn’t think he’d talk to me again.” 

“So you just wanted to fuck and never talk again.” She bluntly asks.

“We didn’t have sex… and yes. I thought that he did that with everyone.” 

“Okay what did he say?” She points to your phone, while still looking at you.

“He asked if I was busy.” 

“Well hurry up and text him back before he thinks you are busy.” She gestures to your phone.

“I can’t text him, what about Sungchan?” You ask.

“Sungchan? As in Jung Sungchan. Girl, are we still talking about this man?” You best friend rolls her eyes.

“Sungchan whom I’ve had a crush on since forever.”

“Exactly and where has that gotten you?” 

Leave it to her to be brutally honest with you, while also making you feel incredibly stupid

“We’re working on it.”  You say lowly and look to the side.

“Yeah right, tell him you’re free.” 

“Fine.” 

You aren’t doing anything wrong, right? It’s not like you and Sungchan are actually dating. Actually you are a free woman, so why not explore your options. Besides, you're just hanging out so really you aren’t doing anything wrong. 

His response comes immediately after you tell him you’re not doing anything. “He said he wants me to come watch them rehearse.” You bite your bottom lip while looking at your best friend. 

You’ve come to find that you actually love watching Eunseok play. You can tell just how much he loves what he does. All in the way his fingers elegantly dance along with the strings, creating a captivating melody that has you mesmerized. 

While subconsciously leaning forward, you stop focusing on his hands and start focusing on his face. How concentrated he looks trying to get the notes right on his instrument. 

He looks up when he begins to feel you watching him, smiling when his eyes meet yours. 

“You wanna try?” 

“No, no I can't, I'll break it.” You shake your head and wave your hands but he doesn’t listen to any of your arguments as he stands up and gently hooks the guitar strap around your shoulder. While resting the heavy instrument in your lap.

“Eunseok,” You look up at him, protesting once again. 

“Just hold it like this.” He says, moving your hand to where it needs to be. 

“Then just…” He demonstrates by grabbing your other hand and using your own fingers to strum the strings of his guitar. Showing you a few times before he allowed you to try again on your own. 

“See you’ve got it.” He speaks right by your ear, still holding the neck of the guitar up so you’d be more comfortable. 

“I did it!” you smile, not noticing how close he was until you turn your face to look at him. When his lips are so close to yours, you suddenly feel like you have stopped breathing. Your body goes into complete shock for a few seconds, and you don't know what to do.

“Uh, what a nice guitar, how much was this?” You begin to ramble, out of complete embarrassment, Striking a few chords on his guitar and jumping when they come out horrible. 

“I’ll just give this back.” 

Your heart's racing now and you feel the heat rush to your cheeks. Why did you let your roommate talk you into this? The “why” is unclear and all you know is that his small and deep laugh doesn’t help aid in the embarrassment you feel right now. 

“I can teach you more if you want.” 

“Uh, no it’s fine. That’s definitely more your thing.” You shake your head and pass him the guitar back. 

You glance up at the other boys, seeing that they had paused their practicing just to watch you and Eunseok. “Actually, maybe I should go. I don’t wanna interrupt you guys' practice time.” You look back up to him. 

“You aren’t interrupting anything.” 

He says to try to stop you and when it doesn’t work he looks over at wonbin. Who’s only gesturing at him to go after you. 

“Let me at least walk you to your car.” He speaks up as he runs behind you. 

“Okay.” is all that you say, slowing down so that he can catch up with you and walk in silence. You have a bunch of thoughts running through your head, feeling the need to get them all out before you forget everything. 

“About last night,” He stops walking completely when you begin to speak. 

“I just wanted to apologize. I don’t usually do that, well I’m not usually like that. I don’t know what happened. And I hope that it doesn’t make things awkward between us.” You explain 

“We can just forget it all happened if you want.” 

“Could we?” 

“Of course.” 

He smiles at you and you smile back, relieved to have gotten that off your chest. Knowing that class is gonna be so much easier now that you aren’t giving him the wrong Idea. 

“But we can still hang out right. Because I really like hanging out with you.” He continues when you start to walk again. 

Hearing him say that makes you realize, you actually like hanging out with him too. Watching him play and getting to know him better. 

“I like hanging out with you too.” You turn to look up at him when you finally reach your car. 

“So I’ll see you tomorrow?” 

“Yes, you will.” 

It goes quiet again, mainly because there’s nothing else left to say. But you’re not ready to leave yet. You suddenly start to feel the same way you felt when you first met him. It could have been because there was no one else around so he had nowhere else to look but at you. 

Having his eyes on you was like having your own personal spotlight, his dark obsidian eyes shining down on you like you were the prettiest thing to walk the earth. That might have been the reason you slowly gravitated closer to him. Slowly closing the space between both of you until your chest was pressed against his. 

He leans down but only a little, just enough for you to feel his breath brush against your face. And he’s still not as close as you want him to be. So you latch on to each of his shoulders and get up on your tippy toes so that your face could be leveled with his. 

Now his nose is barely touching yours, and your eyes are trained to his lips. Pausing before you think to kiss him, “Are you gonna apologize for this tomorrow?” He asks against your lips,

“Probably,” you say and it comes out almost in a whisper. 

Despite your answer he still wraps his arms around your waist as if it were even possible for you to get even closer to him. And he attaches his lips onto yours, while leaning down to your height so that  you could place your feet flatly on the ground again. 

Your arms wrap tightly around his neck pulling him towards you like he’s the last man you’re ever gonna kiss. 

“okay.” you whisper when you break the kiss 

“okay.” 

“Goodnight.”

“goodnight.” the two of you go back and forth.

“I should probably go now.”

“Alright, get home safe.” he says but neither of you let go of eachother. your arms still wrapped tightly around his neck and his hands still sitting firmly on your waist.

Maybe it was a good thing you let your best friend drag you out that night. Even though she never made good on her promises, but it wasn’t like you were expecting much from her. Being with Eunseok was so much different than anything you’ve ever experienced. He did all the things you wanted Sungchan to, and he was just as gentle with you as Sungchan was. He listened to you and made you feel desired.

Which is exactly why you agreed everytime he asked you out again. 

However, with going on dates with Eunseok and still somewhat kinda seeing Sungchan things had begun to overlap and it started to get hard balancing the both of them. So you went to get advice from the person that got you in this mess in the first place. 

“Alright how about this, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, are for sungchan. Since he was here first.” your best friend writes down on the notebook in between you.

“Okay.” you nod

“and then Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are for Eunseok.”

“And sunday?” You ask, looking up at her. 

“That’s your day off, this is a full time job.” She explains 

“oh.” 

And you knew you could trust her. (No you didn’t) That’s why she was your best friend, she always had the best advice. (No she didn’t) 

Going between the two boys was actually quite easy, and even kinda fun. Coming home to recap with your best friend after everyday and using code names so that her new boyfriend wouldn’t catch on. 

“Any progress with the frog?” You best friend asked when you sat your laptop down on the coffee table and took a seat criss cross on the floor in front of it. 

“He told me his grades are getting better. That’s a good thing.” you answer. 

“You know that’s not what I’m asking.” You didn’t have to look to know that she was rolling her eyes. 

“He’s been practicing a lot.” You answer again, still trying to avoid the question you knew she was asking. 

“Did you guys kiss?” She just asks 

“Wait, Kiss? Like a princess and the frog kinda kiss? Wait, you guys have a frog that can play basketball?” Sohee sits up confused. 

“It’s just girl stuff, don’t you worry your pretty little head about it.” Your best friend says while leaning in to give him small butterfly kisses on his lips. 

“Okay.” He obeys and goes back to laying his head on her lap. 

“No, we didn’t kiss. We haven’t done anything.” You answer her question and turn back around towards your laptop to finish the list of assignments you’ve been putting off since you were spending more time with sungchan and Eunseok. 

“And the rock?” is all she says, but it causes your lips to turn up into a smile. And you have to look to the side so that she doesn’t see the way your excitement grows when you think about him. 

“We…” You start

“You really like him huh?” She asks 

“The rock?” Sohee sits up again. 

“It’s nothing, baby.” She shushes him. 

She was right, you definitely did like him, a little too much you think.

So much so that even when you weren’t around him you were still thinking about him. So much so that small things reminded you of him. So much so that your heart did a little cartwheel whenever you got a message from him. 

It was just so easy to be with him, you didn’t even have time to think about if he liked you or not. 

Eunseok kept his hand loosely around yours while you jumped and squealed at all the sea animals in the aquarium. Pointing to the ones that you thought were especially enchanting, While you watched the swimming sea creatures he watched you. 

Paying attention to how he could see the reflections of the fishes through your eyes, seeing how your face lit up. 

“This is so beautiful.” You whisper. “Isn’t it?” He says

“Sometimes I wish I was a fish…” You speak while still staring ahead. “I could see this everyday.” you say referencing the pretty scenes of underwater life.

“if you were a fish, you’d be a jellyfish” he said looking at the fish swimming behind the glass.

You turn your head to watch him when he moves to stand behind you and wrap his arms around your torso. 

“Why a jellyfish?” 

“Cause they're my favorite sea animal, and they're really pretty.” He turns and  smiles down at you. 

“You think I’m pretty?” You ask but he doesn’t answer. Only leaning down to give you a chaste kiss on the lips. 

“You didn’t answer my question.” You turn your whole body around to face him.

“I don’t think pretty is a strong enough word to describe you.” He whispers against your lips right before he gives another kiss. This one being more passionate and intense than the first one. 

If this was something that he did with everyone, you bet they felt special. Because you definitely did. No matter how many times you tried to tell yourself not to get too attached to him, he always did something that made you imagine what it’d be like to go all the way with him. 

But then there’s sungchan…

And when you were with sungchan things were just different. 

You kicked a bit of sand up every time you took a step, walking beside Sungchan with your hands dangling beside you. The beach was completely empty, it’s just you and sungchan walking along the shore listening to the crashing of waves. 

The shades of blue and orange reflected off the vast sea beside you. The wind blowing past your skin causes you to shiver and wrap your sweater tighter around your body. 

You weren’t a big fan of beaches, or more the idea of them. The crowds of people sunbathing in the sand and having your food stolen by unruly seagulls. But this wasn’t that, this was romantic and intimate. 

It was perfect, being here with sungchan not a care in the world.

“Are you cold?” He asks slipping his jacket off

“No, I’m okay.” He ignores you completely and wraps his varsity jacket over your shoulders

“Thanks.” You tug the ends of the jacket closer together. 

“The sunset is so pretty.” You look out beside you, watching specifically where the sky and the sea meet. Even with the harsh crashing of waves and screaming of birds, it still wasn’t enough to cover the awkward silence that the both of you had managed to maintain.

“I usually come here when I’m stuck on something and I don’t know what to do.”

“What are you stuck on?” You turn to ask him. 

He stops walking and it kinda starts to scare you. 

“I don’t know how to say this.” that’s when you hold your breath, for the first time in a long time you think he’s about to ask the question you’ve been wanting him to ask. 

“It’s okay, take your time.” you grab his hand without breaking eye contact with him.

Not another word leaves his mouth, because instead of telling you what’s been bothering him. He just leans down and connects his lips with yours. 

It’s gentle and tender. Just how you always imagined your first kiss with him would be. It was amazing, it’s like waking up on Christmas and seeing that you got exactly what you asked for. But when you pull away from the kiss and look up your heart drops. 

You liked being with Eunseok, but you’ve always liked Sungchan. You were very sure of it. So why did you imagine Eunseok when Sungchan kissed you? 

The thought confuses you so much that you go back for another kiss from him, hoping that his one would reset your brain and get you back on track. But it doesn’t because when you open your eyes, You still see Sungchan. 

“How did it go, with the frog?” your best friend asks the second you walk back into your shared apartment. 

“It was good.” 

“It doesn’t sound too good.” She says, “Did anything happen?” 

“Yeah, umm we kissed.” You say nonchalantly 

“Oh my god he finally made a move?” She begins to celebrate for you 

“Wait, so are you like… into frogs?” Sohee walks to counter where you and your best friend are. 

“No, I thought I was but now I think I like the rock, because when the frog kissed me all I could think about was the rock and now I’m confused.” 

“You were thinking about the rock?” You best friend asks 

“So you like to kiss rocks?” Sohee adds  

“No boy hush.” She holds her index finger out to him. 

“GIrl what are you on?” she turns back to you 

“This is your fault, I knew I shouldn’t have continued to see him.” 

“Wait so you told her to kiss the frog?” Sohee asks, still very confused. 

“I told you to go out with him, have fun, be young. Not, fall in love with him.” 

“Are we talking about the rock or the frog?” Sohee interjects again. 

“I’m not in love with him, I don’t even like him.” You roll your eyes

“Okay I don’t know what’s going on but I know that’s a lie. Because the way you talk about the rock makes me want to find a rock. Sohee turns to you 

“So you’d cheat on me with a rock.” Your best friend turns to him. 

“No, of course not. There’s no rock in the world that looks at me the way you do.” 

“And there never will be.” She adds, “But my baby is right, you definitely like the rock.” 

“No, I like the frog.” You correct. 

“Not anymore.” they both say in sync.

Confused as you were, you didn’t stop seeing him. You needed to find if  you actually like him, or if you just liked the way he made you feel. 

You sat right in front of the stage where Eunseok and his band performed. He was right, over time you’d gotten used to being at these kinds of events. Just not for the reason you imagined, you liked being here because he was here. You got to see him in his element. 

And you found this is where he was his best. 

Even though you’d gotten used to being here, it didn’t make the music any better. It just got easier to tune out. The only music being bearable was the music that Eunseok made. The music that got you here in the first place. The music that made you question your true feelings. 

You’re lost in thought, staring at him. Watching him flick at the strings of the guitar and while you were watching you failed to notice that the song he was performing wasn’t a song you heard before. It’s beautiful and different from any of the other songs they’ve done. 

It’s slower in tempo and amorous. Just the song he was playing made you realize that you might actually like him, You might like him alot. It wasn’t just the way he made you feel, it was him himself. 

And you become very sure of it when leaves the stage and makes his way to you kissing you in front of everyone. You become sure of it when he kisses you and you don’t imagine anyone else but him. 

“R&R everyone.” You faintly hear in the speakers behind you. 

But then there was sungchan. 

“You’re gonna be at the game right?” He asks, leaning against the door in front of you. 

“I told you a million times, I won’t miss it.” 

“I just wanna make sure you remember, I’ll be sad if you don’t make it.” 

“I’ll definitely be there, sungchan.” 

“Promise?”  he asks, holding out his pinky to you. 

“Really?” You laugh 

“Yes, I need you to promise me.” 

You’re still giggling but you wrap your pinky finger around his and give him the reassurance that he wants to hear. 

“I promise that I’ll be there. I’ll be cheering louder than anyone else.” You promise with your finger still looped around his. 

“Good.” He gets ready to give you a small peck, but out of panic you turn your head so he kisses your cheek instead and start fake coughing so he doesn’t think anything of it. 

“Sorry, I think I’m coming down with something.” You say in between coughs. “But I’ll see you tomorrow, Sorry, bye.” You don’t give him any time to say anything before you close the door right in his face. 

The second you close the door and turn around, you’re faced with your best friend. “That’s messed up.” 

“What?” 

“You know what.” She smirks, putting an emphasis on the “know”. 

“I didn’t know what else to do.”

“I'm not judging girl. do your thing.” she points and walks back towards her room. 

it definitely felt like she was judging, but you couldn’t blame her. you were judging too. 

You were there, just as you promised.  Sitting on the bleachers, screaming his name whenever you felt appropriate. 

The scores are too close to even predict who you think is gonna win, but you think it doesn’t even matter. because no matter what, you just wanted to be here to support sungchan. 

Although you can’t help but feel your heart drop when you see the  look on his face, when he looks up at the scores and then looks around the gym to find you . Wishing that you could just just the numbers yourself. or that there was at least something you could do, but there wasn’t anything left to do but sit there and cheer for him like you promised you’d do.

When halftime comes around you make your way down to him, with a bottle of water in hand.

“you’re here.” He smiles even though he’s still out of breath.

“I told you I would be.” 

“I didn’t see you at first, I was starting to get worried.”

“I can tell.”

“Really, was I bad?” he asks, sitting up straight when he’s gotten his breaths tamed.

“You’re doing good Sungchan, can’t wait to celebrate when you win.”

“I’m glad you’re here.” he says lastly and you respond with “I made you a promise.” before he leans down to place a small kiss on your cheek. 

“Okay, now go win this game.” you pat his back. 

“you better be watching when I do.” He points to you when he runs back over to his team.

“Who's winning?” Your best friend asks in your ear.

“Omg you’re here.” you get up and squeal when you see her. 

“don’t be too happy, I'm only here to save your ass for what’s about to happen.” 

“What's about to happen?” You ask.

“If I tell you, then it won’t happen.” she shrugs 

This is one of those many times that you’d like to throw her in a box and ship her to australia. because now you’re trying to think of every possible scenario of what could go wrong. 

And you wished she’d just tell you, so you could prevent whatever catastrophe is about to take place. 

as you’re still thinking Sohee walks in and takes a seat besides your best friend. His arm instantly wrapped around her when he asks “who’s winning.”

“So far it’s a tie.” you explain distantly.

“oh yeah, eunseoks waiting for you in the hallway.”

“Eunseok?” you ask jumping up. 

“yeah. he’s in the hallway.” he says again.

You run out of the gym and into the hallway where you expect to find Eunseok. Looking around hastily when you see him already smiling at you. 

“What are you doing here?” you question when he pulls you into a hug, planting a small kiss on your lips.

“It seemed really important to you.” He looks down at you, with you still wrapped in his arms 

“Sungchan’s playing, and he’s been working really hard. so I just couldn’t miss this.” You explain.

“You guys must be very close.” he asks but it comes out more as a statement than a question.

“Yeah, you could say that.” You agree.

“Okay, well you finish watching the game… while i go get us some snacks.” he says in between kisses.

“I'll come with you. I need to make sure you get the right ones.”  You speak against his lips.

“I'll get the right ones.” 

“But i need to make sure.” You go back and forth with him.

“sounds like you’re just trying to make excuses.”

“I'm not making excuses, I'm just very picky about my snacks.” you smile up at him before going in for

Time went by so fast you didn’t even realize you were out for so long. Neither of you even made it to get snacks because you stood in the hallway kissing him. not realizing that the game was over until you heard claps and screams coming from inside the gym. 

“Fuck.” You curse under your breath when you realize that you had missed the entire game.

“what?”

“i gotta go.” he starts to ask why but you don’t explain anything as you run back into the gym to see Sungchan and his team cheering. Making it obvious to you, who had won. 

This must’ve been what your best friend was trying to warn you about. this had to be it, because all the guilt you’re feeling right now makes you wanna cry. 

Especially when Sungchan runs over to you with the biggest smile on his face. A smile that you tried to match but failed. Luckily he was too proud of himself to notice how you were feeling. 

“you won.” you say to mask the guilt that’s eating you inside out.“I knew you would.” 

“I did it for you.”

It was sickening to say the least, Sungchan made the winning shot in your name and you weren’t even there to see it. What's even worse is when he grabs your hand to wrap up in a hug and places a tender kiss on your forehead. 

“you gotta come out at some point.” you’ve locked yourself in your room and decided not to talk to anybody at all, because of how bad you felt about what you did to sungchan. And to be honest you weren’t really ready to face either one of them in class. 

“Go away.” You yell from your bed. 

“Girl. don’t get mad at me cause you decided to have your tongue down your man's throat while your other man was winning a basketball game for you.” She snaps back 

“You’re not making me feel any better.” You 

“You shouldn’t even feel bad, you think either of them are locking themselves in their room and crying because they kissed another girl.” she questions through the door.. 

That’s when you get up and walk to your door to say what you have to say to her face. 

“I don’t know how much it meant to him that I was there, and I missed it. I couldn’t even do the one thing he asked me for.” 

“Okay? He probably hasn’t even noticed that you missed the last three days of classes. And besides he’s just been stringing you along. It’s not like he was really ever gonna make any commitment to you.” 

She was wrong, but she’s always wrong. That’s something about her, she has a fantastic talent of being just wrong all the time. This time she was wrong about sungchan not noticing that you missed class. 

Because he stood right in front of your apartment door with your favorite ice cream. Getting ready to knock when he sees Eunseok get off the elevator with a paper bag in hand. They both look at eachother confused but Eunseok is the first to speak, 

“What are you doing here?” 

“I’m here to see my girlfriend.” Sungchan says adjusting the tin of ice cream in his hand.

“Are you aware that your girlfriend has a boyfriend?” Eunseok asks referring to your best friend, 

“Huh?” 

While you’re still explaining to your best friend why you’re so hurt about what you did to Sungchan. There's a knock at the door that causes you to jump slightly. You hold your breath while your best friend walks over to answer the door. 

“Y/n your boyfriends are here.” She yells which warrants them to look at each other and then back at her. 

“Huh?” They say in unison. 

“Fuck.” you curse under your breath.

You walk out to the living room, to see that indeed both Sungchan and eunseok were standing side by side staring back at you with confused expressions written on their faces. 

If you could pull out a sword and swallow it right there, you would. Right in front of them, maybe then that would solve every life problem you’ve ever had, including this one.  

“What.. umm. What are you doing here?” You’re not even sure which of them you’re directing it to. 

“I thought you were sick so I bought ice cream.” “I brought your favorite ice cream.” they both say at the same time. 

“You brought ice cream cause you thought she was sick?” Your best friend asks but she gets ignored when Sungchan looks down to the jar of ice cream that Eunseok’s holding. “That’s not her favorite.”

“She loves this one.” Eunseok looks at him.

“She likes cookies and cream.” Sungchan speaks holding up the ice cream that he's holding in his own hands.

“She hates cookies and cream,” Your best friend answers before you even get a chance to say anything.

“I thought you liked cookies and cream.” Sungchan finally looks at you. 

“I do like it.” You lie.

“Now girl, why are you lying?” You best friend speaks up for you.

“Shut the fuck up.” You turn to say to her with gritted teeth, 

“Oh my bad, she loves cookies and cream because she can’t ever just choose one flavor.” 

“Do you ever stop talking?” you ask passive aggressively. 

To that she just throws her hands up in the air and mutters a very insincere “sorry.” while walking to her room.

“So do you like cookies and cream? Cause I can go get a different one if you don’t like this one.” 

“I love cookies and cream.” You lie through a tight smile as you look at Eunseok who could very easily tell you were lying. And you knew it, especially with the way he cocks one of his eyebrows up. 

“Thank you guys for-” You start but get cut off by Eunseok. “Who’s Sungchan’s girlfriend?” He asks, leaving you confused. 

“Sungchan’s girlfriend?” You repeat, looking at Sungchan, your heart completely beating outside of your chest. 

“You’re my girlfriend.” He responds to you.

“Huh? Your girlfriend?” you ask now even more confused. 

“I thought we made things official that day at the beach.” 

“You didn’t say anything, you just kissed me” By the time you think to stop yourself, it’s too late. You’re too scared to look at Eunseoks reaction but you do anyways. “Do you like him?” he asks calmly and it makes you nervous. 

“I..” You're not even sure how to answer the question with them both standing in front of you.

“I understand.” He places the jar of ice cream in your hands and walks out of the door. “No, I-” Instinctively you go to chase after him. But sungchan’s voice alone stops you right in your tracks. “What are you doing?” 

What are you doing? Things were never supposed to get this serious with Eunseok. So why do you feel so disappointed seeing that Sungchan is still here instead of him. And would things be better if it were the other way around. 

“Sorry- I think you should go.” You finally look up at him. 

“What?” 

“You should just go.” You say once again, trying to blink back the tears that are threatening to fall. Watching him silently leave, taking the ice cream with him. 

It’s been six days since you’ve talked to either Sungchan or Eunseok. You’d say it was better this was, but that’d be a lie. It was better when your heart didn’t drop every time you ran into Eunseok in the hallway, or at least when he would just respond to your text, 

It was better  when you didn’t feel a wave of disappointment whenever you opened your notifications only to see that it was just Sungchan begging you to talk to him. It was better when you didn’t go through your day feeling like there was something missing. 

The rain tapping against your window eases your mind as you reread through all of Sungchans messages. Your bottom lip tucked in between your teeth and your books laid out across the floor, from when you attempted to catch up on your homework but failed when google decided to notify you about your old photos with Sungchan. 

Sungchan: Hi

Sungchan: Can we please talk?

Sungchan: Fine, I'll just talk. 

Sungchan: I know I haven’t been really straightforward with you about how I felt. So I hope that I can fix that now, I like you. I like you alot and I miss you and I just want you to talk to me please. I don’t know what I did wrong but if you just tell me I'll fix it, I promise I will. 

The more you read the last message the heavier your heart gets. Once again you feel like you're about to cry, but you can’t because you’ve already cried all you can cry. You know you need to put your phone down and do something else to take your mind off of this but no matter how many times you tell yourself that you just can’t put it down. 

It doesn’t help that it’s completely silent, there’s nothing here at all to distract you from your own thoughts. and when you think about opening your social media accounts nothing seems entertaining enough to keep you from clicking off of them and back on to sungchans messages.

However, the knock at the door is more than enough to make you forget everything. you get up to answer it assuming it’s just one of your neighbors or something, but when you open it to see sungchan right across from you, you almost close the door in his face. or at least you imagine it. 

“Why are you here?” you mutter. 

“I really need to talk to you.” He walks right in and closes the door. 

“We-” 

“Just listen, I like you, I like being around you, I like talking to you. I like the way you support me, the way you make me feel. I know I’ll never find someone even close to you and I know It shouldn’t have taken me this long to tell you, but I was afraid of how you’d react. And even if you don’t like me the way I like you, I hope that we can at least just stay friends.” 

You can’t think of anything to say even though you know he’s waiting for you to say something. Your brain is full of over a million thoughts, that you fear that if you do say something it’s gonna come out mumbled and confusing. 

You did like him, you really did. But after a while it felt like you were just convincing yourself that you did. And this should’ve been enough to make it clear who your heart really belonged to but you’re still clinging on to the little bit of feelings that you have left for Sungchan. So you tell him “I like you too, but I think we should just stay friends for now. That’s worked out really good for us so far.” 

To which he laughs and pulls you into a hug. “It definitely has.” This makes you feel somewhat better. It hushes half the thoughts that you had before. Plus the hug is warm and comforting and exactly what you didn’t know that you needed. 

“Are you crying?” He asks looking down at you

“No.” You lie muffled into his chest. 

Now that things with Sungchan were going much better you were still trying to work out things with Eunseok.  And “work things out” just meant that you ranted to your best friend every day after class about how much you miss your rock. 

“The frog and I are okay, but the rock won’t talk to me, he’s ignoring all my messages and he won’t even look at me in class.” 

“Maybe because he’s a rock.” Sohee blatantly speaks but you ignore him and keep talking as if he isn’t even there. 

“I just miss him so much, I miss playing in his hair and listening to him play his guitar while I’m trying to study.” 

“Okay so correct me if I’m wrong but I’m starting to think that your rock is a code name.” Sohee interrupts again.

“Oh baby you’re thinking too much, you just need to relax. Here let me…” Your best friend places her hand on his shoulder to pull him back and stop him from saying anything else but it still doesn't work because he just lays his hand over hers and continues to make his point. 

“No wait, I have never seen a rock that plays the guitar and the rock sounds alot like…. Oh my god.” He yells the last part upon coming across his realization. 

“Is the Rock Eunseok?” He asks, jumping up off the couch. You’re too stunned to speak or even think. Your body is too stiff to move, you don’t even know how to get yourself out of this situation. “I’m right aren’t I?” 

“Yes, Eunseok is the rock.” You say shamefully 

“And the frog must be that Sungchan guy.” He adds

“You know Sungchan?’ You look back at him confused. 

“Yeah, the basketball player that you cheated on Eunseok with.” 

“Now wait, I didn’t cheat.” You hold your hands out as you're ready to defend yourself.

“You might as well have, Eunseoks liked you for so long that I thought the both of you were already married.” 

“But we’ve only known each other for like 3 months.” You speak, confused.

“No, he’s liked you for like ever. He used to bother us all the time about you during rehearsals.  He talked about you so much that Seunghan threatened to ask you out just so he would make a move.” 

“What?” Now you're at a complete loss of words.

“Bro yeah, we were all shocked that he finally talked to you when we saw you at the show. You should’ve been there, well you were but you know what I mean.”

Wonbin noticed you first, because you were the only person in the crowd who had a frown so prominent that he was worried your face was gonna be stuck like that. That’s when he taps Sohee’s arm so that he could see it too but Sohee was too worried about your best friend to really care about how mad you looked. So when he couldn’t get his attention he just turned to Suenghan and called it to his attention instead.

“Wait, I think that’s Y/n.” Suenghan says 

“Are you sure? She’s usually happier.” But when wonbin turns around Suenghans already gone to find Eunseok. 

“Y/n’s here.” Seunghan says pointing to you while looking at Eunseok. To which Eunseok just shrugged off without even looking in your direction because they’ve been playing with him like that all night. So he just assumed it was another one of their mean jokes. However when Seunghan just laughs and leaves he looks up just to check out of pure curiosity and it was actually you. 

He’d already told his band members that the next time he saw you he was just gonna talk to you. And he had intentions on going through with his promise even though you looked extremely unentertained.  

Sohee finished explaining the story about the night you and Eunseok met.

“And then he started talking about you even more once you guys finally did start seeing each other.” 

“This entire time?” You ask again. “And more.” Sohee adds which makes your best friend chuckle. “Girl, go get your man.” 

“He won’t even talk to me.” 

“He’s not the one that needs to do the talking.” For the first time in a really long time, your best friend was actually right. So you did as she told you to and reached for your phone. 

“I said go get your man not go text him.” 

“What if he closes the door in my face?” You ask in a whine. 

“Then it would have been very deserved.” She replies. 

“But-” You begin to make an excuse but get cut off immediately.

“Go!” They both shout at the same time. 

You’re now in the parking lot of his apartment, still hesitant on whether or not you’re ready to face him yet. You know that if you leave the car you’ll be forced to deal with reality so you decide to just stay there for a few more minutes and at least plan out what you wanna say. However all that’s going through your mind is static and everything that Sohee told you. 

You’re so confused you begin to talk to yourself. “This whole time?” you say aloud.

No matter how many times you try to talk yourself into leaving your car you just can’t. You even make it as far as to open your car door.

“So how’d it go?” your best friend asks the second you walk back into the door. 

“It didn’t.” 

“What do you mean it didn’t?” She pipes up.

“I got too scared to even knock on his door.” You speak.

She gets up from the couch and walks to the front door and closes it behind her leaving both you and Sohee completely confused. Then you hear a knock at the door so you answer it because you know exactly who it is. “That’s all you had to do.” She says when you open the door. 

That’s when you close the door in her face, and lock it right after. Although you knew she was right. If you wanted to work things out with Eunseok you definitely couldn’t allow your ego to get in the way. 

Sitting in your bed, reading over the unsent message over and over again until you finally have the guts to push send. However the more you read it the more you decide against even bothering him. 

You let out a long, deep sigh, click your phone off and lay it on the bed beside you while thinking about something to help distract you. However everything you thought of led back to Eunseok. Even when you throw your head back on your pillow and close your eyes all you can think about is him. 

“What do I do?” you speak aloud to yourself. 

“Oh you need a break. Bad.��� Your best friend trespasses into your room. 

“What do you have in mind?” you say simply turning your head over in her direction

“I’m thinking we're going to see this new band.” She sits beside you on the bed, while proposing her new idea. 

“I don’t think I’m ready to see Eunseok in person yet.” 

“He’s not even gonna be there, I’ll have Sohee make sure of it.” 

“This better not be one of your little tricks.”

“What? One of my little tricks?” she teases looking off to the side 

“I’m not going.” You state firmly.

“No, he’s not gonna be there. I swear.” 

“I don’t believe you.” 

“Suit yourself.” When she doesn’t beg like you expected her to, you start to get concerned. “You don’t want me to take you?” 

She shakes her head. “No Sohee’s on his way.” She continues. “I just wanted to help you take your head off of things.” 

“This is the first time you’ve ever actually done something good for me.” You speak gratefully.

“Mm mm girl this is for me, you sitting around here sad really messes up the mood. And the smell, girl, take a shower.” She covers her nose.

“Wow, thanks.” You sit back against your headboard to begin contemplating again why you were even friends with her. 

“I’m kidding y/n, you know I love you. And I really hate seeing you like this, It breaks my heart.”

“I’m sorry I’m trying to shake this feeling.” 

“Just come out with us tonight, please. If you’re not feeling it you can leave no questions asked.” She moves closer to you and cuffs your hands into hers. The look she gives you makes it hard to say no. Not that you’d say no anyways, you really could use a distraction. 

“Fine.” 

“You’ll come?” 

“Yes, I’ll come. But I'm driving myself. I don’t need to see you and sohee making out the whole ride.” 

Just as promised you showed up to the event and yet again your best friend was nowhere to be found. You didn’t even bother to look for her, you just stood with your arms crossed staring at the crowd in front of you and thinking about how long it had been since you were in a place like this. 

The music still needed some getting used to but you weren’t as uptight about it as you once were. You also notice that there is something different, you can't quite pin your finger on it but you definitely notice it. Maybe it’s just the vibe that’s off, you usually came to these things for Eusneok so now that he wasn’t here it felt kinda weird. 

Or it could have been that they painted the walls a different color. But it’s most likely the fact that the boy that you’re looking for can’t be found. Even though you told yourself and your best friend that you don’t wanna see him yet, you can’t help but look around occasionally to see if you find a familiar face. 

But you never do, no matter how many times you look or in what direction. He’s not there. 

“Looking for someone?” a voice says behind you and your heart drops immediately, You turn around with wide eyes but quickly release your breath when you see that it’s not the person you thought it was. 

“Just my best friend.” You answer him although you're not really in the mood to speak to speak to anyone at the moment.

“Did I scare you? I didn’t mean to.” The unnamed man continues

“Oh no you’re fine.” 

You are still talking to the man but someone behind him catches your eye and distracts you from the conversation. You watch them for a little and the longer you watch the more you’re sure that it’s definitely the guitar player that you’ve been looking for all night. 

Not another second goes by before you’re cutting the man off to push past the crowd and make your way to Eunseok. He doesn’t say anything when he sees you so you decide to speak first.

“Can we talk?” 

“There’s nothing to talk about.” He says bluntly.

“I have a lot to say.” You state but you don’t get the chance to get anything else out because he walks away from you and you’re forced to run after him just so you can at least explain yourself. 

“Eunseok.” You shout, and that’s when he finally stops

“I like you Y/n, and I can’t talk to you when I know about you and him. I don’t wanna be just friends.”

“And I like you too, when I’m with him I’m thinking about you. I’m always thinking about you. I just can never stop thinking about you.”

“Were you thinking about me when you kissed him?” He asks 

“I was.” You answer honestly 

“and you still did it.” 

“It was wrong to try and go between the both of you, I know. but I honestly thought you did this with everyone. how was i supposed to know how you felt?” you say in a raspy voice trying to stop yourself from crying. 

“how did you feel?” He questions 

“I felt confused. I never expected to like you as much as I do, and I never thought you’d like me back in the same way.”

you stop and watch him before you say something else

“Please forgive me, eunseok I’m sorry I really am. I don’t know how many times I can say that.”

you continue to watch him even as he walks closer to you and wraps his arms around you for you to rest your head on his chest. “I missed you.” cutting you off from apologizing anymore.

“I missed you too.” 

“And also do you really like cookies and cream Ice cream?” he asks suddenly 

“No, I hate it.” you laugh still burying your head into his chest. 

[piratefishmama]

Forgiven Not Forgotten | Part 7

Never let it be said that the Harringtons knew how to go small. They didn’t. The quaint little two bed they’d been living in was always going to be temporary if Steve came home. Even if it was now… technically theirs. It was a nice house, perfect for many a small family, which technically they were.

But they were also… filthy stinking rich.

The Harringtons didn’t really know how to go and stay small. Which is why by the following weekend, Eddie’s release from hospital looming upon them and the two bed house feeling more and more cramped by the day, they already had a cash offer in place on a five bedroom estate in Bloomington.

Five bedrooms, four bathrooms, a finished basement games room, just under eight acres of land, a pool, and an extra little pool house outfitted as a detached bungalow on the property.

The little house they’d lived in… given it was theirs, well. They had no real plans for it yet. Selling it on was a potential, it was too far from the estate to even contemplate handing the keys to one of the families linked to theirs through their children’s shared trauma, although that’d be a nice gesture on their part, the idea of separating their kids after such an ordeal?

Nope. They’d clung to each other. Kept each other alive. They needed each other.

One of the reasons they even chose the bigger property was because “It’s big enough for you all to be there.” That’s what Lynda had told Steve when he’d asked about it. “It’s not going to happen for another couple of weeks, so the house is still going to be a little cramped with everyone in it, but…”

“We have no intentions of separating you from your family, Steven.” John finished for her, nodding over Steve’s shoulder to the multiple sets of eyes watching them. “Like your mother said, what we have now is too cramped, this new place will have plenty of room for everyone.”

“And… what about when their parents turn up?” Because it was a when, not an if. “Just gonna go back to an empty house?” They were operating on when. Nevermind that they’d never seen their parents get out of Hawkins. Nevermind that the only parent they knew for certain was alive and well outside of Joyce and Hopper, was Karen Wheeler, Ted having put himself between his kids and a Demogorgon during the early days and hadn’t come out as the victor. It didn’t matter that they’d seen horrors beyond anything a child should have to witness.

The kids needed to operate on when.

“Then we’ll help them find homes in the area, but until then, the house will be… a home base of sorts. A comfortable starting point for all of you so you’re not too far away from each other, it’ll never be an empty house, Steven. I know it might look like we’re just spending money for the sake of it but… it’s not like that anymore.” They weren’t doing that anymore. They’d found a better way than being away from home all the time. John worked from a home office and delegated important tasks and jobs to others to free up his time, and Lynda decided she wanted to be at home.

They were just glad Steve was allowing them to just decide to be there for him all of a sudden. He didn’t have to.

“…Forgive me if I still doubt that.” No amount of tearful apologies could erase all that history “But thanks, for… for thinking of us. It’s true, we kinda stuck together like glue after Mr Wheeler…” he trailed off. After they’d gotten Karen and Holly out of that house while Ted held back that shaking door, huge, clawed fingers tearing through wood. He still remembered Holly’s screams, still remembered Karen crying, begging them to go back as Nancy and Mike dragged her out, Holly running straight to Steve. “We were never far apart from each other.” It’d be weird without them, unsettling when the dust finally settled. When parents returned to claim their kids.

“And you wont be.” John placed a hand on his son’s shoulder, firm, squeezing it in comforting reassurance. “You won’t be.”

~~

“Aaaand this is your room.” Had it not been for the fact that Eddie had been in a coma for the last god only knows, where he could, with rules, conjure ridiculous shit, he’d have probably assumed he was still out.

He had a room. In what was essentially. A mansion. But he’d never seen it before, so he wasn’t still in his funky little void because he wouldn’t have been able to conjure it.

Only what he’d seen, only places he’d been.

He had his own room. Bigger than his old one at the trailer because of course it was. Currently empty of personal belongings, void of personality, but Steve was holding boxes. Boxes with stuff in them, rolled up tubes of paper, stuff wrapped in newspapers, and he was setting those boxes down one by one inside the room. “…What’s in those?”

“Shit we saved from the trailer, it’s not much but… it’s something.” Eddie silently turned to just. Stare at him. Brows furrowed, confusion so evident Steve had to ask “what?”

“…How long has it been since I died, Steve?” He had to ask again, just to be sure of something, even if it was a weird question to ask.

“Bout two years, why?”

“… And in that time, Hawkins basically ate shit, right?”

“Yup, where’s this going?”

“How’d you save my stuff for that long? Why did you save my stuff for that long? Shit couldn’t have been easy to keep safe, right? So… why?” Steve fell silent, his jaw shifting, lips pursing, visibly going through all the possible reasons he could have saved that stuff, all the reasons why he would have saved that stuff, all the potential excuses, the boy would be terrible at poker.

He settled on shrugging his shoulders.

“Because I did. Because I could. Like I said, it’s not much.” It was so much. Not quantity wise, no… Steve was right there wasn’t much in those boxes, probably why Steve could carry multiple at a time but it meant so much. Steve obviously wasn’t going to go into the why’s or the how’s with him though. He was going to brush them away, without answers. “We saved some mugs, there’s some posters in here, uhh, I got a bunch of your tapes and your deck, I wish I could say I saved your guitars but… I’m sorry man, it was just too risky carting around something that could make noise. I think… they might still be there but—”

“It’s fine, Steve… this—this is way more than I could have asked for.” He could always get a new guitar, eventually. It’d mean saving up somehow, or using some of the hush money that the government had promised him for signing, he was planning on using that to find Wayne though.

It’d been over a week, the hospital had slowly been cleared of survivors, the Sinclair’s were the only parents who’d made it thus far, having been staying with Sue’s sister a few towns over doing the exact same thing as the Harringtons. Waiting. Hoping. Praying for news on their kids, any news. Anything.

They’d taken the Harrington’s offer to stay in the converted pool house with Karen until they could get housing arranged, the kids staying in the main house with everyone else.

“Yeah well… we’ll sort you out a new one eventually. Can’t leave the bard without his instrument, right?” Eddie’s wide eyes were on him again, a beaming smile spreading across his lips, dimpling his cheeks, stretching the scar tissue on his jaw, and Steve had to look away, he had to, because otherwise he just might fall again, and he couldn’t… he couldn’t make that mistake twice.

“Be still my beating heart, was that a D&D reference, Harrington?” He could feel the warmth seeping into his cheeks at the attention, as Eddie leaned in a little closer, got into his space, it’d been so long since someone had paid him any attention. Even if it meant nothing to Eddie, even if he was just being silly, be still his own beating heart.

“Maybe. Now get to unpacking your shit.” He put the last of the boxes down on the bed, purposefully turning away from Eddie to hide his reddening face, to hide what he knew Eddie had never wanted to see. “We’ll be heading out into town in an hour to find us all some new clothes, maybe some new stuff for the rooms too. Hop to it.”

“You’re not gonna help lil ol me unpack? I just got out of hospital!” Eddie called after him as Steve made to leave the room.

“With a clean bill of health! You can manage a few boxes!” And he was gone. Running away. Like a coward.

[bbymunsonx]

The Last Time (Ted's Version)

Chapter Nine

chapter warnings: language, angst, slight emetophobia, talk of sexual content

word count: 4.6k

Lacy Watson: Jamie, I heard what happened. Please call me okay?

Lacy Watson: It isn't what you think. Please call me back.

Lacy Watson: Jamie!!!

***

It's been a week since Jamie got traded back to Man City and the team's been torn up about it. Especially because we have a special game this weekend. Rebecca claims that she didn't have a choice and that his contract with Richmond had expired, but Ted doesn't believe her. I've stayed out of their argument because I didn't know any better. Either way, Jamie's gone and the team is going to have to get used to that. 

We're getting ready to travel to Liverpool to play against Everton. The boys have been incredibly on edge because Richmond hasn't been able to beat Everton in the past sixty years. 

"You really want me to come?" I asked. Ted was practically begging me to come with them. 

"Of course, I do. This is our first away game and I really want you there, Lace," Ted smiled. 

"Alright, I'll come," I beamed. I was excited about going away with the team and being able to stay in a fancy hotel. 

Rebecca Welton: I heard you're coming this weekend! Keeley's coming too! Do you wanna come on the jet with us?

I've never ridden on a private jet before, that sounds amazing. I either ride on a private jet with Rebecca and Keeley or I take a four hour bus ride sitting next to Ted. Hmmmm.

Lacy Watson: As much as I love you, I think I'd rather sit on a bus next to Ted for the next four hours. Sorry!!

Rebecca Welton: Don't you dare apologize. Enjoy the bus xoxo ;)

We all piled into the bus. I went into the back and saw Coach Beard sitting in the seat next to Ted. I widen my eyes at him that mentally said, "Get the fuck out of the seat, please." 

Like he was almost reading my mind, Beard frantically said, "I forgot to call Jane and tell her goodbye, I'll be one second." and ran from his seat. 

"I'll just keep his seat warm until he gets back," I plopped down in the empty seat, right next to Ted. 

"I'm really glad you're joining us, Lacy Loo. I feel like you're like a good luck charm, kinda like my own little four leaf clover." He looked over at me, causing me to blush. As the blush started to spread over my cheeks, it made me realize that we were never able to talk about me trying to kiss him. He's probably forgotten all about it at this point. 

"I'm glad you wanted me here. I thought after what happened the night of the gala that you didn't-" I was cut off by Roy screaming at the front of the bus. 

"OY! Pay attention! I don't wanna hear ANYTHING about some stupid, fucking curse. We're gonna go and kick Everton's ass tomorrow, yeah?" Roy screamed, causing the boys to erupt in screaming and chants. 

"What were you saying?" Ted brought his attention back to me. 

"Oh, nothing. I'm just glad I'm here." I smiled. 

The bus ride was filled with small talk and Ted reading over his divorce papers over and over again. Kind of put a damper on the mood. 

As we arrived at the hotel, Rebecca and Keeley texted me to meet them up in their suite after I had gotten my room key. Thankfully, I was able to switch room cards with Beard so I'd get the room next to Ted. 

I had taken the elevator up to the top floor and found my way to Rebecca's room. After knocking a few times, Keeley flung the door open and hugged me. 

"Hi, babe!" She squealed. She always acts like she hasn't seen me in years, which I love. 

"Hi, Keels!" I squealed back. As I loosened my grip, I looked behind Keeley and saw Rebecca standing in the middle of the room, talking to another woman. 

"Lacy, this is Flo, my oldest friend." Rebecca introduced us both. 

"Flo? Really?" The woman seemed almost offended. "Friends call me Sassy." 

"It's really nice to meet you, Sassy." I shot her a big smile. I was so excited to be able to have a girls night. After all this drama with Ted and Jamie, this was exactly what I needed. 

"Sassy was kind enough to remind me that this weekend is my wedding anniversary with Rupert." Rebecca stated. "That's why I want to spend this weekend surrounded by all my favorite girls." 

That almost made me start sobbing. I remember just a few short weeks ago, Rebecca always seemed so cold so it was really nice to know she genuinely liked me. 

"Alright, are you guys ready for dinner? I need a drink!" Sassy exclaimed as she dragged Rebecca out of the room. 

"It's gonna be a long night," I nudged Keeley as we followed the two women out of the room. 

***

We were nearing the end of our dinner as we were laughing and joking around about our sex lives. It took me a few drinks to be able to talk and laugh about how I slept with Jamie. It wasn't even until I had gotten it out that I realized Keeley was with Jamie. All she did was laugh.

"You shagged Jamie?" She gasped and laughed. 

"I could've sworn you knew!" I covered my mouth. 

"Absolutely not. I mean, he's not a bad lay." Keeley admitted, to which I nodded. 

"On that note, I am going to visit the loo," Sassy got up from the table. As she walked away, Rebecca turned to the two of us. 

"How do you like Sassy?" She asked. 

"I think I might be in love with her," Keeley drunkly joked. 

"I think she's so great," I beamed. The more girl friends, the better. 

After about ten minutes of drinking and talking some more, Sassy came back to the table. 

"You get lost, Sass?" Rebecca joked.

"I found the most handsome man outside. I wanted to shag him right then and there on the floor," Sassy blushed.

"Girl, look at you! You could shag anyone you wanted. Go get him!" I shooed her off, jokingly. 

"If he wasn't in the middle of something, he would be in my hotel room right now." She laughed.

After Rebecca paid the check, the three of us went back into the suite for a little bit to keep gossiping and talking. About an hour passed before I realized it was getting late and we had the game tomorrow morning. 

"Some of us have to do work in the morning, so I'm gonna hit the hay, ladies." I waved goodnight. 

"Nighty night," Keeley waved back, with Rebecca and Sassy waving behind her. 

As I took the elevator, or I guess I should say lift, down to my floor, I kept thinking about Ted. I felt guilty having a good night while he was struggling to sign his divorce papers. I reached my door but before I could open it, I stalled. Ted's door was right next to mine, it wouldn't hurt to pop in there just to see how he's doing. 

I turned around and knocked on Ted's door. A few seconds passed and no answer. I waited a few extra seconds and knocked a couple more times before the door flung open. "What?" He asked harshly. I've never seen this version of Ted before. He was freshly showered with his hair flopped over his forehead, not freshly styled like usual. Though he was freshly showered, he reeked of strong alcohol. 

"I'm-I'm sorry. I just wanted to see how you're doing." My eyebrows pulled closer together as my jaw clenched. The look on his face was one I've only seen with one other man...

"It's way past curfew. Go to bed." Ted spit. I just stood there, frozen, not knowing how to respond. A part of me knew he was hurting and all I wanted to do was push past him and hold him. Another part of me wanted to run into my room and sob in my pillow. "Lacy. Go." He slammed the door in my face. 

It took me second to gather the strength to turn and walk towards my room. As I walked into my room and let the door shut behind me, a sob immediately escape my mouth. My hands fell in my face as I cried and cried into the night. 

***

The sun started shining into my room, signaling the start of a new day. I had two hours to get ready before the game started. I took my time getting ready. Twenty minutes past as I found myself still sitting in the shower, scrubbing my body, making sure to scrub off all the feelings I felt last night. 

Ted isn't Julian. 

Ted. isn't. Julian. 

I put on a nice outfit and did my makeup nicely, just in case paparazzi were around of course. I exited my room, lookin left and right and only seeing an empty hallway. The stadium where we were playing was about a ten minute walk from the hotel, and I really needed the fresh air. I picked up a coffee from a local coffee shop and made my way over to the stadium.

As I found my way to the locker room, I could hear Ted's voice talking to the players which cause a knot in my stomach. I slowly and quietly sneaked my way into the locker room, but Ted immediately caught a glimpse of me, causing his eyes to widen. 

"Lacy," he rushed over to me. "Can I talk to you real quick? Privately." He looked around to the players, wanting to separate himself from them. I nodded.

Ted took my arm and led me to a private room where we could talk. 

"Ted, I-" I started before he held up his hands, trying to get me to stop talking. 

"Lacy, please. I am so sorry about how I spoke to you last night. Excuse my language, but I am so fucking sorry. I was just, I was having a bad night. A really bad night. And I took it out on you when you were just trying to be a good friend. Is there anyway you can forgive me?" His eyebrows furrowed as his eyes softened. If I didn't know any better, I would think he was trying his best not to cry. 

"There's nothing to forgive, Ted. You're human and you have human emotions. It's okay." I smiled at Ted while reaching up to give him a hug. He opened his arms and welcomed me into them, tightly. The both of us closed our eyes, letting the hug last, until we heard someone clear their throat. 

Ted looked over and gasped immediately escaping from the hug, "Sassy Smurf?" 

"Marlboro Man, so we meet again," she smiled at him. Rebecca, who was standing next to Sassy, looked at me with wide eyes once she made the connection. 

The man Sassy wanted to fuck in the restaurant was Ted?

"Small world," Ted smiled at Sassy. "What are you doing here?"

"She's my oldest friend," Rebecca awkwardly smiled. 

"What about that." Ted said with a smile still on his face. 

"Alrighty, don't we have a game to play or something? Let's go," I left the room and made my way back into the locker room. Nate was telling the team all his notes that he had for them, some of them were insanely mean, but it made the team eager to play. 

***

Thanks to Nate's pre-game pep talk, the team won, breaking their sixty year loss streak. After we all individually went back to our rooms for a midday nap, we got dressed in our fanciest outfits and went out for some karaoke. Rebecca had brought Sassy with her, who hasn't kept her eyes off of Ted all night. I went from thinking she was the coolest girl in the world to wanting to punch her in the face. There were so many men on the team and she could have any of them. But of course, she wanted the one I wanted. 

We all laughed and recorded as Coach Beard ran onto the stage to sing his rendition of "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga. Ted was recording to send the footage to Henry when he tuned the camera over to me to capture me wiping tears off of my face from laughing too hard. 

Everyone egged me on to go on the stage, so I chose to sing Style by Taylor Swift, obviously. It a song that resembled Ted the most. During the entirety of the song, I had to watch Sassy as she swooned over Ted, but Ted's gaze, nor his camera, didn't leave me the entire song. 

Rebecca went on after me, singing Let it Go from Frozen. She was magnificent. She could easily be on Broadway if she wanted to. Out of the corner of my eye, I could notice Ted's leg bouncing up and down vigorously as he was anxiously playing with his fingers. I looked over at him with my brows furrowed, trying to ask if he was okay without outright asking him. He jumped up and ran out of the karaoke room without a word. 

I gave it a second, not wanting to get the same reaction I did last night, but obviously something was wrong. Fuck it. I jumped up and ran after him. I followed him through the club, filled with sweaty people dancing without a care in the world. As I reached the door, I looked to my left and didn't see him there, I looked to my right to see him crouched on the ground. 

"Ted, honey, what's wrong?" I knelt down in front of him. 

"I- I don't know," He stuttered. He was shaking, his eyes wandering all over the place. He was having a panic attack. 

I cupped his face with both of my hands, and rubbed his cheeks with my thumbs. "Ted, you're having a panic attack. You need to breathe."

"I can't. I can't breathe." He panicked. 

"Yes, you can. Breathe with me." I started to breathe with him, but he wasn't looking at me. "Look at me, Ted." I tighten the grip I had on his face, giving him no choice but to look at me. He nodded. 

"I'm going crazy." He sighed. 

"No. You're not going crazy, Ted." I smiled at him. "Now breathe with me." I inhaled through my nose and exhaled through my mouth, and Ted did the same. We did this ten times until I could feel his heart rate start to settle. 

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Ted profusely apologized. 

"Don't apologize. Don't you ever apologize." I kept rubbing his cheeks with my thumb, trying to comfort him. 

"I think I'm okay," Ted tried to get up. I quickly rose up so I can help him get up. "I think I'm gonna head back to the hotel for the night." 

"Okay, I'll go with you," I went to walk after him before he stopped me.

"It's okay. I think I wanna be alone for a little bit," He smiled at me. "I... I'm glad you're here. My little four leaf clover." He started walking away.

"Panda!" I screamed at him. He stopped and slowly turned to look at me. 

"Alright, I'm really glad you're here." 

I smiled at him as he started to walk away. I went back into the karaoke room where Roy had started to sing Bohemian Rhapsody. He must've had a lot to drink. Sober Roy would never do that. 

"Is he okay?" Coach Beard looked over at me. 

"Yeah, he'll be alright. He's just headed back to the hotel for the night." I replied. Sassy had looked over at me and smirked to herself. 

After a couple more songs, we decided to head out for the evening. We've had a long day and we were all getting tired. Rebecca decided to go to the bar to get a drink, Sassy went back to the hotel for the evening, and I went with Roy and Keeley to go back to the hotel. We took a scenic route around Liverpool before we all ended back at the hotel. 

"You sure you don't wanna come and hang out for a bit?" Keeley asked, causing Roy to groan in frustration. 

"I think Roy would actually kill me if I said yes, but thanks, babe." I smiled at Keeley before taking the elevator up to my room. 

As I was about to enter my room, I thought I would double check to see if Ted was doing okay. Even though he said he would be alright, I just wanted to make sure.

My fist lifted up to knock on the door but before my hand made contact, I heard something come from the other side of the door. A woman's voice, talking and laughing. Sassy. After the sounds of talking and laughing came the moaning. Sassy and Ted. My hand immediately reached up to my mouth to cover the sounds of my sobs as I ran away from the door and into my room. 

I curled up into bed with tears running down my face. Since Ted and I share a wall, and his bed lined up with mine, I could hear everything. I could hear the bed banging against the wall and the both of them moaning and laughing. God, his laugh. It was unmistakable. I laid in my bed with my hands covering my ears as I sobbed.

No, I can't do this to myself. It isn't right. 

I took out my phone and sent one quick text. 

Lacy Watson: What room are you in?

Coach Beard: 431

Lacy Watson: I'll be right there. 

I gathered my essentials in my bag and ran right to Beard's room. I knocked on the door a few times before he opened it up and his face softened. 

"I-I- I can't be in there," I cried out. I laid my head in my hands as I started falling apart. Beard opens his arms and immediately pulls me in the room and shuts the door. 

"What happened?" He questioned. 

"I went back to my room and I thought I would see if he was doing okay. But when I went to his door, he was with- he was with Sassy." I was able to say through sobs. "And I know it's silly to feel this way since we aren't together, but I- I really like him, Coach."

"I know. I know." He held my head as I cried. "Listen, I think you need to talk to him. The two of you need to talk." 

"Can we just tell him that we slept together so that we're even," I tried to joke. 

"I think he would actually kill me. I'm not joking." There was no hint of joking in voice. "Here, just stay in here for the night. I'll sleep on the pull out couch, you take the bed. You're not gonna go back to your room and have to deal with that." 

"Thank you," I smiled sadly. He got the pull out couch all ready for him while I got under the covers, still in my clothes from the day. 

"Coach?" I mustered out, still not being able to stop crying. 

"Yeah, Lace?" He called from the couch. 

"I think I love him." I whispered.

"I know."

*** 

"Rise and shine!" Coach Beard flung the blinds open. "We have two hours until we have to leave and you still have to go to your room to get your stuff."

My eyes fluttered open a bit as they adjusted to the sunlight. First, I was confused as to why I was in Coach Beard's room, but then the memory of last night hit me like a ton of bricks. My heart sank. I thought it had been a nightmare. 

"Thank you for letting me stay here last night. I just couldn't... yeah I couldn't." I couldn't even get out what I needed to say. 

"Of course." Beard smiled. I think this was one of the only times I've seen him act serious. It was a little scary. 

"I'll meet you back at Richmond. I'm gonna grab a ride on Rebecca's jet." I said before I walked out of the room back to my own. As I reached my door, I saw Sassy leaving Ted's room. 

"Oy! Lacy!" She called over to me. "You'd get lucky last night too? Look at you doing the walk of shame!" 

"Yeah, last night was so crazy." I said sarcastically. "Between the drinking and the fucking, I'm just so out of it today."

"I totally get it. Let me tell you, your coach is fucking amazing."

"Oh, Ted? Yeah he's alright." I kept my sarcastic tone to see if she would catch the hint, she doesn't. 

"He's such a gentleman. And I knew you were wondering, and yes, he does talk like that during sex and he's just so eager to please. He let me ride that little mustache like a jet ski." Sassy bragged. I'm not sure if it was because of what she just told me or if it was actually from all the alcohol I had last night, but I had thrown up all over myself. All down my outfit. It was not a good look. 

"Jesus, babe. You alright? Here, let's get you cleaned up." Sassy tried to usher me into my room. 

"No! Just leave me alone." I nudged her away from me and slammed my door shut. I immediately ran into the shower and just let the hot water wash away last nights dinner and Sassy's words. So eager to please. Her words kept repeating in my head. 

After my shower, I took out my phone to text Rebecca. 

Lacy Watson: Let me know when the jet leaves. I'd like to take it if there's still a seat for me. 

Rebecca Welton: There's always a seat for you. Are you alright? Sassy told me what happened. 

Lacy Watson: I'll tell you on the jet. 

On the jet, I told Rebecca and Keeley what happened and both of them were in awe. 

"I am so sorry, Lacy. I had no idea she was gonna do that." Rebecca apologized. 

"It's okay. I mean, it's actually not okay. It actually fucking kills me, but he's not mine. He can do whatever, and whoever, he wants." 

"Babe, you need to tell him how you feel. It's actually killing you. And I hate to see you like this." Keeley rubbed my arm. 

As she finished speaking, my phone buzzed. 

Coach Beard: Ted was asking everyone where you were. He's very worried. 

Lacy Watson: Did you know he is very eager to please? And that he even talks like that when he has sex! Thanks to Sassy, I know that now (and so do you!)

Coach Beard: I'm not sure how you want me to respond to that. 

I rolled my eyes as I put my phone away. "Rebecca, I hope it's okay that I take today off. I just want to be home."

"Yes, Lace, of course. I needed to borrow Ted for the afternoon anyway so that's no problem at all." 

After we landed, I took a cab back to my flat and immediately crawled under my sheets and went back to sleep, trying to pretend that the world doesn't exist. 

***

I must've slept the entire day away because I woke up to someone banging at my door. When I looked outside, it was pitch dark out. 

"I'm coming up!" I could hear Ted's voice call out at the bottom of the steps. Oh great. I got up from my bed and walked out into the living room, where Ted was coming up the steps. 

"Where the hell have you been?" He asked. 

"Sleeping," I groaned, still half asleep. 

"Um, alright. Why did you sleep all day? Are you alright? Are you sick?" He asked with worry in his voice. 

"Actually, I'm not alright, Ted." My voice started to break. 

"Here, how about you sit down." Ted motioned to the couch. I shuffled over to the couch and sat down, he immediately took a seat next to me. "What's on that noggin of yours?"

I couldn't get the words out to actually tell him how I felt. Every time I went to say it, the words wouldn't come out. "I..I..I'm just upset Jamie left." I panicked and that was the first thing that came out. 

"You're really that upset that he's gone?" Ted's eyes softened. 

"Yes. Yes I am." I said coldly. "Things were getting better between us. He was finally starting to open up to me and now he's gone." Ted's jaw began to clench. 

"Well, I'm sorry you feel that way." 

"Yeah, me too." I whispered. 

"Alrighty, then I guess I'm gonna get out of your hair, but please come to work tomorrow, okay?"

I didn't say anything as Ted walked down the step and left my flat. That's when I started to cry again. 

Ted's POV

After I left Lacy's room, I immediately went downstairs and banged on Coach Beard's door. He opened the door almost immediately. 

"Hey, Coach," Beard greeted. 

"I really messed up," I groaned as I let myself into his apartment. 

"What happened?" Beard asked, motioning for me to sit on the barstools in his kitchen.

"Well, you already know I slept with Sassy last night, but I didn't tell you all of it." I cringed. Beard didn't verbally respond, but nodded his head, telling me to continue, "The entire time I was with Sassy, I was picturing Lacy. I mean, the entire time. Sassy is such a lovely woman and I feel so awful but, Coach, I don't know if it's because of the divorce or what, but... I don't know. I think I might like Lacy."

"Ted, if you think it's just feelings because of your divorce, then you're stupid." Beard finally spoke. 

"What do you mean?" I questioned, oblivious to what he was insinuating. 

"I mean, you've been in love with this girl since the moment you saw her. Maybe even before that. Do you remember when we had the team party a year ago, and you saw her with Julian? You never treated Julian the same after that." 

"Yeah, but I didn't even know her back then. I just saw her with her boyfriend, no big deal."

"You already had those feelings for her since before you actually got to know her, and now that you know her... your feelings are running rampant."

"Well, it doesn't even matter if I like her or not, she likes Jamie." I lowered my head. 

"I think you need to talk to her. You don't know everything." Coach Beard raised his eyebrow at me. 

"How do you know?"

"I know all." Beard answered. He's right, he always knows everything about everyone. 

I smiled at Beard slightly. "Thanks for listening, Coach." I left his flat and headed back to my own. Now, I just had to get unstuck from my own head. 

Lacy's POV

I hadn't moved from the couch in a few hours as I got comfortable in the couch hole I was creating with my body. Suddenly, someone is banging on my door. 

I groaned and got up from the couch. "Ted, I need to be left alone." I moaned as I was walking down the steps. I flung the door open and my blood ran cold. My eyes widen so much they almost fell out of my head. 

"Hey, Ace. You miss me?" The man on the other side of the door smugly said. 

I was able to sputter out one word, "Julian?"

authors note: this chapter and the next chapter were probably the most fun to write !! just a lil fact about me but I'm actually a senior in college. im minoring in creative writing so anytime im writing this story it always feels like im doing homework (in the best way possible lol) see u besties in the next chapter. buckle up ;)

taglist: @nerdgirljen

[kathrinesadventures]

Alright! An update!

For those who are following my Patreon, I know I said I’d release it on the first of this month but uhhh… Yeah, thing kinda got a bit out of hand. More importantly, the scene where you burn Harag’s “house.” You can fully skip it but it’s 9K (Might go to 12-13K as I said, getting outta hand). You’ll also find a lot of things so I suggest you don’t, but then again, I’m giving you so many options because I want your options to matter. Whether it’s burning down someone’s house, or choosing just how loving you want to be towards your rift walkers.

Now, onto the updates!

First off, I just want to thank all my Patreons and Ko-fi (I know there aren't any yet but thank you all future supporters! <3). They’ve been a massive motivation and I may have had an emotional breakdown this week over “OHMIGOSH PEOPLE ARE STILL SUPPORTING ME ” So haha, yeah. Thanks, everyone. You guys are awesome <3 I might also hold a poll there to choose a short story so yeah!

The game is at 44K (Yep, you heard that right. That’s almost 9K words from last week >:3) I’m gonna try to push myself really hard this week because on the 10th or 11th I’m gonna have to go camp at my professor’s house so he doesn’t send us on an unpaid internship. (A lot of reasons for me doing that, but first and foremost would be that I already left my previous job hence why I’m able to write 9K a week, but also cause It’s unpaid and a 9-10/11 job instead of a 9-5 (cause of me learning and such) along with other subjects in Uni, and then tutoring kids as well, it just leaves me no time to spend on the book, even if I pull all-nighters like I used to.). Dunno how long it’ll take for that but I won’t be alone so yeah, I am going to push really hard to release a Patreon version on the 8th or 9th (Imma try to release it on Friday or Saturday but I want this to be as perfec and enjoyable). (I think I might be oversharing, do tell me if I am;-; )

I’m just gonna leave this here cause I’m having way too much fun with the game.

Three heartfelt moments with Thor and two with Laurel, you can now extort a femboy from Harag (I was thinking of having you send Laurel to extort a femboy from a 12-year-old and also beat him up and take his money cause that’s literally what Pokemon was lmao but then I thought “Hey! This is even better!” As such, you can punch Harag where it hurts the most… well, not between his legs, but you’ll get the time to do that later.

A lot of world-building was done… and by a lot, I mean I referenced to like, 4 or 5 things BUT HEY! PROGRESS IS PROGRESS >:c

Annnddd that’s all folks! Thanks for coming to my TED talk, have an amazing weekday! Remember to sleep well, eat well, and drink well! (Cause I don’t lmao) Love ya’ll

[mental-breakdown-machine]

Actually no. I'm gonna elaborate on this post since it's driving me insane

so uh if you haven't already listened to Four Pink Walls by Alessia Cara go do that! (asking nicely) anyway this might be a bit rambly sorry 😅

uh so modern au I think because it would just work better so set around now. I think Nancy and Robin are about 19/20-ish? ummm like I said childhood bestfriends maybe eachother's first crushes? (That'd be so fun to write a flashback scene about lol)

They say I love you whenever either of them hangs up the phone or leaves to drive home and have since forever both of them wanting more but thinking the other means it platonically.

They just get the other person so well. The kind of friends that just seem to talk in their own language (and maybe when they were little girls they tried to make one, only a couple words actually sticking in their vocabulary for longer than a week. And maybe Nancy references a few of these made up words in a song of their's, but never despite being asked time and time again to explain actually tells them what it means, because it was just hers and Robin's thing)

Nancy's parents don't get along. probably should've never been married in the first place. their dad was always at work and when he was at home he sure as hell wasn't playing any sort of music. Nancy and their dad didn't really interact that much. Nancy and her mom have... a complicated relationship but it's better than hers and Ted's.

Music wasn't played loud in their house, her experience so different from other kids she knows at school who seem to know all different types of music. And so Nancy Wheeler learn music from small things; her mother humming the best melodies from old songs, the radio playing in the car on the way to school. that is until she met Robin Buckley in second grade. Robin who was sunshine bright and was so smart she already knew 2 languages. Robin was probably the only reason Nancy started writing songs. Robin would bring over CDs filled with all different kinds of music and they'd work on their homework.

About a year later was when Nancy actually started writing songs. none of them good but it was out of boredom, scribbled into an old journal. Like most things when you were a child her writing songs didn't last long. they wrote a couple for a few weeks then forgot about it.

And maybe then she's 15 and wants to leave Hawkins so bad. she's just stare up at the ceiling, the bumpy popcorn kind, as her ceiling fan shakes and dust falls from the blades. She would just lay there and dream up the life she could have. And that's where the idea for her first song and years comes room. and so she writes and writes and writes. it's not perfect but it's good!

and then she's 17 and she's pretty much come to terms with the fact that she's in love with their best friend. Robin who maybe a month after she started writing again found one of the songs laying open on her desk and, well Nancy would do anything for her so of course she played the song for Robin. again this one wasn't perfect but the way Robin was smiling it might as well have been.

maybe it was her mom or maybe it was Robin but somehow someone convinced her to sign up to play at a little market during summer. things kinda spiraled. by the next summer she was playing at a (given still small but still...) music festival in Indianapolis.

that's where she met their record producer (I don't actually know how all of this works so bear with me please) it was like every little thing in the universe, all the moments leading up to this aligned for this meeting.

She was with Robin in her room when the label called her. She'd given the guy at the show her number, and because she thought it might help, her youtube account where she posted a lot of their songs. they say they want to have a meeting with her. Nancy was finally seeing their opportunity to get out of this place. Away from all of this, anyway from the zero opportunities and her inevitable fate of becoming a housewife in a loveless marriage like her mother or stuck at a desk job. Away from everything she hated. But also away from Robin... who smiling at her just as bright as she was the day Nancy met her. god she could kiss her. she shouldn't- couldn't, but she wanted to anyway. she'd been in love with Robin before she understood love. Nancy kept a full notebook of love songs under her mattress; odes of friendship and love and sunlight, pain and yearning too.

It took months, lot's of meetings, and pissed her dad off immensely but Nancy got signed. She and Robin celebrated by having a sleepover, something they hadn't done in ages. both of the laying side by side, slightly leaned into eachother staring at the ceilings, surrounded by the pink walls of her room Robin points her fingers trying to make constellations our of the bumps of her roof and Nancy almost confesses her love right there.

ummm so that turned out be be a lot more rambly than intended sorry (it's almost 1k words long) this probably didn't makes sense but it is the ramblings of a crazy person at 2am

[strangeswift]

ted is kinda hot lets be real. and officer challan is kinda too. better than thirsting for brnner.

CAN I JUST CLEAR MY NAME RIGHT QUICK?

I NEVER SAID BRENNER WAS ATTRACTIVE NOT THAT I EVEN NEED TO JUSTIFY IT TO YOU BECAUSE YOU THINK TED?? IS HOT WHICH IS DERANGED

Here's the Brenner lore. This is all /lh by the way idc I find it funny. But just so we have our facts straight.

I made a post that said "Confessing my sins: I fucking hate Brenner but Matthew Modine exudes such swag that it makes me like him just a teeny tiny bit."

Then @/crazycoven silly jokester left me an ask that said "pack it up brenner simp" which is fucking hilarious.

Then like a week later I sent him an ask something about Brenner idk and then I also reblogged with a photo of dead Brenner with hearts around him AS A JOKE BECAUSE HE ACCUSED ME OF BEING A BRENNER SIMP

Well things spiraled out of control and I was accused of being in love with and subsequently married to Brenner. (See Briftgate) And then I made a sideblog called brennersimp for the meme and then I accidentally reblogged a thread from there which was too funny to be embarrassing (I don't have the url anymore if anyone wants it lmao)

There was also a redacted comment made by me in a discord server but it was A JOKE and ya'll don't even know that lore so shut up

I NEVER SAID HE WAS ATTRACTIVE. I said Matthew Modine has swag which he fucking does. Thank u next.

Anyway, Callahan is so girlfriend it's insane and you're all haters. Ted is not hot AT ALL but go off I guess.

Now. Is this the part where I throw caution to the wind and say... if we are comparing. Brenner is 100% more objectively attractive than Ted LITERALLY WHAT WORLD ARE YOU LIVING IN BE REAL

[rolanthon]

Truffle Oil

Would you notice a serial killer if you saw one? I don’t think so. The vast majority of them are some of the most basic people. Take Ted Bundy, for example. He was just some guy. That was one of the ways he caught his victims. Nobody would suspect the average Joe to be capable of taking someone else’s life.

But what about people that exude malice? Those people who set all of your nerves on end? I’ve met very few people like that. But one is stuck in my mind. I’m used to weird and overall bad customers. The types that would yell at me, argue about the thing that they made, drunks, dumbasses. People who hadn’t taken a shower in days, people who had just smoked a joint and smelled like it, people who were on the verge of collapsing as they let their alcoholism win out. But this guy was different. His malice was the quiet type. I can handle loud malice. Those ones are easy. But quiet malice… quiet malice is the type that gets people killed. 

I met him while I was at work. I don’t know his name, just his occupation. He was a manager at the casino I used to work at. I didn’t actually work for the casino directly. I was in the food court. Some overpriced, kinda disgusting pizza place. You know the type. The kind of place that abuses the fact that they are the only place still open past 11:00 PM by jacking up the price so you are paying more than a dollar per inch for a pizza with week old toppings that is only kinda good when it just came out of the oven. 

It was the kind of place that tried to be classy, though it had as much success as a Waffle House. You were less likely to get food poisoning at a Waffle House. But it paid well. Well, no. It didn’t. But what place does?

Anyway, I used to work the oven. 540 plus degrees Fahrenheit for eight hours. This meant that I would take the pizzas out of the oven, cut them into eight slices of varying sizes, box them, and call them out. I was loud, loud enough to be heard on the other side of the food court at the busiest of times. This came from my size. 6’2” and 250 lbs. Though, I slouched a lot back then. Standing straight up made it too difficult to do what I was doing.

One of the managers of the casino came in that day. This wasn’t too uncommon for managers to do. As we were the only place still open past 11:00 PM, we had a lot more foot traffic from people that worked there than everywhere else. The managers almost all looked the same. They all had the same square build. Same suit and tie. Same general face. But this guy was different. Every cell in my body told me to run when I saw him. Can you imagine that? Me, 6’2”, 250 lbs, muscle-bound. A guy who has actual self-defense training being terrified of this guy. It was unnatural. I tried to ignore it at first. But it wouldn’t go away. As with most other customers, I just wanted him gone. Even more so with how he was acting. So I watched the pizzas coming out of the oven, trying to not interact with him more than I had to. There were other customers, and I was a generally silent guy when I wasn’t bellowing orders. So me not talking to someone who was waiting for an order was pretty common. 

But no. He wanted to talk to me. At this point, I noticed the woman he was with. She was about my age, which is to say, less than half his age. She was wearing ragged clothing. A torn flannel jacket. Some stained, dirty jeans. She looked like she had spent some time being homeless, and the manager had been kind enough as to buy her some food. I doubted it. Probably his next victim. But I didn’t say that. I barely said anything. The man was asking me some questions. 

“Do you have truffle oil?”

Who the fuck puts truffle oil on pizza? Better question, who the fuck asks for truffle oil in general? Now, we had some odd requests every now and then. Some people asked for ketchup. Others asked if we had milk. The answer was almost always no. But never truffle oil. I didn’t actually know if we had it, but I shook my head anyways. He had been the first person to ask for it, and even if we did have it, I didn’t want to go and find it for him. 

“Last time I was here, you had it.”

A lot of people say this. That doesn’t mean we did. Customers will say anything to get what they want. But this time I was wrong. We did have it. I just didn’t know that we did. I looked at it every day. It just had the same color and consistency as the olive oil we used, so I had assumed that it was just more of that. 

“You should try it. Truffle oil is so good. Have you ever had truffle oil on a pizza?” This last question was directed at the woman. She, as the vast majority of people would, shook her head. So he continued. He talked like that for at least five minutes. Even after his pizza came out and I put the truffle oil on it, he wouldn’t stop talking about it. My nerves never settled around him. 

Finally, after what seemed like an hour, the manager left with the young woman. I knew I should have said something, told her that she was in some kind of danger. But I didn’t. I don’t know why. I probably figured that she could take care of herself. That she would know what she was doing. That it wasn’t my place to say anything. 

Of course, I couldn’t be too surprised when her body was found the next morning. 

This story is a work of fiction based on real events. I did encounter something like this, but they were not a serial killer. The woman he was with was not found the next morning dead. Just had this stuck in my head for a bit, though it's been a while since it happened. So what better way to get it of my head than creating a short story based on it?

[damonalbarn]

Hey I was wondering if you knew the article that Justine spoke about suzi in?!

It was in The Guardian in 2000. Here you go:

Sweet revenge

In the mid 90s, Justine Frischmann and Damon Albarn were the First Couple of Britpop. Then he used a Blur album to rake over their break-up, while she languished in obscurity amid rumours of heroin addiction. Now she's back with a new album, and it's her turn to exorcise her demons.

Caroline Sullivan

Friday March 24, 2000

As Alison Moyet once said, it's hard to write a decent song when you're happy. Rock bands thrive on romantic turmoil in their private lives, without which they would be reduced to padding out lyrics with football scores and the weather.

Thus it was for Blur's Damon Albarn in mid-1998 when he sat down to write what would become the 13 album. His eight-year relationship with Justine Frischmann of the chart-topping Elastica, whom he once described as **"the only person who's ever been completely necessary to me" **had just ended, at her instigation. Pained and humiliated, he decided to exact revenge by exposing their most intimate details to public scrutiny.

The outcome? Embarrassment for Frischmann, a number one album for Blur and a bit of a result for Albarn.

Break-up albums are by definition both embittered and yearning - in the case of Marvin Gaye's vindictive Here, My Dear, they're just plain nasty - but 13 got more up-close and personal than could be considered gentlemanly. Albarn portrayed his former partner as neurotic, even slipping apparent drug references into the single Tender: "Tender is the ghost, the ghost I love the most/Hiding from the sun, waiting for the night to come". Frischmann was the ghost, supposedly, who was on the verge of being consumed by what one music paper euphemistically called "the darkness at the heart of Elastica".

Frischmann's response can be found on a song called The Way I Like It, which appears on Elastica's first album in five years, The Menace (out next month): "Well, I'm living all right and I'm doing okay/Had a lover who was made of sand, and the wind blew him away".

This is unlikely to be her last word on the subject. As she ambivalently begins her first round of interviews since 1996, she's finding that everyone has the same three questions. Why did Elastica nearly sabotage a promising career by taking so long to follow up their million-selling debut? Had Frischmann taken leave of her senses when she walked out on Mr Britpop? And what about the drug rumours?

"One journalist said to me, 'Dahling, I heard you were on heroin - Mahvelous!' " she says with some amusement. "Drugs are around, but I'm not that interested and never have been, although there have been elements of party animal in my band. The rumours are a lot to do with rock'n'roll mythology, where people want to believe you're having a more exciting time than you are."

The only drugs on her person today, as she perches on the edge of an armchair in her publicist's north London living room, are Marlboro Lights. Her other indulgences are two cups of herbal tea and a Cadbury's Flake cupcake, which she nibbles with well-bred pleasure. Her dark eyes are clear, and her long, tanned body is a testament to the virtues of a daily swim in a pool near her Notting Hill home. Only Elastica know whether they really succumbed to heroin and hedonism after their self-titled debut made them more famous than they'd ever expected to be, but if they did, Frischmann, 30, seems little the worse for it.

Given the current predominance of damnable boy bands, the Britpop mid-90s are beginning to seem like a halcyon period for English music. It was a time when the underground went overground, and a self-described "little punk band" like Elastica could sell 80,000 albums in a week.

More than a few loser guitar groups saw Britpop as a licence to print money, but Elastica, led with cool elan by the androgynous Frischmann, were one of its gems. The Blur connection was a marketing godsend (Frischmann and Albarn met on the London indie circuit, she as guitarist in an early line-up of Suede and girlfriend of frontman Brett Anderson, he as a cherubic baggy hopeful), yet the spiky-haired Elastica LP embodied that euphoric time like nothing else.

Frischmann, guitarist Donna Matthews, drummer Justin Welch and bassist Annie Holland were unprepared for the album soaring to number one in its first week. When they signed their record deal, Frischmann, whose great-grandfather was a conductor of the Tsar's orchestra at the Summer Palace in Byelorussia, was five years into an architecture degree at London University. A liberal north London Jewish upbringing - her engineer father built the Oxford Street landmark Centrepoint - had instilled expectations of success, but the reality of being photographed in the supermarket and having her rubbish stolen was a shock. Fiercely independent, she also resented her unsought role as half of Britpop's First Couple.

There was more. Two of Frischmann's musical heroes, The Stranglers and Wire, decided that two Elastica songs were suspiciously similar to two of their own tracks, and won royalties. Meanwhile, there were malicious rumours that Albarn had done much of the work on the record. He hadn't, but he did find Justine's success in America, where she was substantially out-selling Blur, hard to endure.

"It was very hard for him to deal with and he's very confrontational," she says, with the flattering openness of someone who prefers interviews to be more like conversations. She admits she often says too much, but in an era of image control and spin, her honesty makes her a one-off. Not that she's likely to land herself in it too badly - she possesses the intellectual ammunition to look after herself, which must have been instrumental in attracting two of rock's more articulate stars, Albarn and Anderson.

She's been accused of being a professional rock girlfriend, though it was probably they who were lucky to get her. She spent the cab ride over reading the Sylvia Plath letters in Monday's Guardian, and muses on the irony of the poet's subjugating herself to Ted Hughes when she was the more gifted. (Her new boyfriend, by the way, is an unknown photographer, "though that'll probably change, because men seem to get famous when I go out with them".)

"I reacted the way a lot of women do, by being passive," she continues. "He put a lot of pressure on me to give up Elastica. He said, 'You don't want to be in a band, you want to settle down and have kids.' " In so many words? "In so many words. He kept putting on pressure till I started to believe him." She adds bemusedly: "I've met his new girlfriend, and one of the first things she said was that he wanted her to give up travelling with her work to stay home with the baby [Missy, born last autumn]. I'm surprised he's got away with being thought of as a nice person for so long."

After 18 months, during which they did seven American and three Japanese tours, Elastica came off the road to record company demands for an immediate second album. Annie Holland's response was to quit the group, while Donna Matthews became renowned for hard partying on the nocturnal west London scene. They lethargically recorded some demos, but their heart wasn't in it. By 1997, when a second album should have been ready to go, Frischmann and Matthews were barely speaking, and there was nothing useable down on tape.

Holland's replacement, Sheila Chipperfield (of the circus Chipperfields), was deemed not good enough and left by mutual consent. By 1998, their continued lack of productivity was being likened to the Stone Roses' lengthy and ultimately self-destructive holiday between their first and second LPs.

"I didn't think Elastica were going to continue at that point, and we did kinda split up," she says, absently stroking her publicist's cat. Frischmann is a cat person; she's owned a tabby called Benjamin since she was 10. "Unconditional love," she coos. The pet's place in her life is so assured that prospective boyfriends are subjected to his feline scrutiny before she'll go out with them.

On top of everything else, in early 1998 her relationship with Albarn was in trouble. Frischmann retains enough of the indie ethic to detest the phenomenon of celebrity couples, and was dismayed when they became one. "I really hated the tabloid interest, and I went out of my way not to be photographed with him. Only about three pictures of us together exist, I think. In many ways, I think the media interest broke us up, because it made me feel the relationship was quite ugly, and I had to get away from it. There were other factors, too, obviously, because we were together for eight years, and I finally felt it was better the devil you didn't know, really."

Albarn's ego seems to have been severely undermined by having a girlfriend who was nearly as successful as he was, and something of a sex symbol to boot. Despite adopting a resolutely boyish T-shirt-and-jeans uniform, she's thoroughly feminine, a mix that got her voted fifth most fanciable woman in a lesbian magazine.

"I'm completely heterosexual, so I didn't know how to take that. It scares the shit out of me, the idea of being with a girl. I'm glad I've narrowed it down to half the people in the world."

She seems to view Albarn with indulgent exasperation these days, simultaneously praising his intelligence ("The Gallaghers just couldn't compete") and ticking off his flaws. "Damon adores being in the press, and sees all press as good press. He orchestrated that rivalry thing with Oasis. He really wanted kids, and I didn't feel our relationship was stable enough. He was a naughty boy, and he wasn't the right person to have kids with. I had this cathartic moment..."

At which point they split up. Albarn wrote 13 and then met Suzi Winstanley, an artist. "She was pregnant within three months," Justine observes wickedly.

Of the acclaimed 13, she's tactful, describing several songs as "really lovely". She studies her cigarette for a while before adding, "but I'm cynical about selling a record on the back of our relationship". But you're doing the same now. "It's true, but at the time I had no right of reply."

Elastica finally pulled themselves together last year, just as the music industry was about to write them off (their American label had already "very kindly let us go", as she puts it). Holland rejoined, Matthews went to Wales to sort out her life and the band banged out an EP and played the Reading Festival. Things came together quickly after that. They spent the last £10,000 of the recording budget on re-recording a dozen tracks, finishing the album, after years of procrastinating, in six weeks. They've called it The Menace "because that's what it was like to make".

It's dark and resolutely uncommercial - all wrong for 2000's pop-oriented climate. It's unlikely to match the success of the first one, which is fine with them. Call it (though Justine doesn't) their White Album. Its 70s punk aesthetic brings to mind angry girls such as the Slits and the Au Pairs, although the defining mood isn't anger so much as catharsis. None of the songs is specifically about Albarn, she claims. "The dark feeling is due to the sense of isolation, tasting success and getting frightened by it. I was questioning whether I wanted to be in a band any more, and there was no one I could ask for advice. Getting success and everything you ever dreamed about is hard to handle, and makes you question everything."

She's better prepared for success, if it comes again, this time. Already the privacy-preserving barriers are in place. The next interview of the day is with Time Out magazine, which wants a list of her favourite restaurants. "I'm not telling them where I eat," she says reflexively. "I'm gonna lie."

[percydarling]

Romance Relationships in HP and why I don't like them(except Romione)-

Aah yes, noone asked me this but I'm here to talk about it.

I pretty much skipped Book 6 because of the romance plot and that really pissed me off because I actually enjoyed Slughorn as a character and as a result of skipping I'm sure I missed several plotlines.

Ron and Lavender

Oh god oh god, where do I start?

WON - WON?

There was no building of the relationship, no nothing. Felt rushed and weird.

Lavender deserved better.

That's it.

Harry and Cho

Harry my boy you're being insensitive, also you and Cho really don't have that much in common so yes I don't see this working, also you both are traumatised and are not dealing with this healthily and yeah this relationship ain't it.

Hermione and Victor

Oh Hermione was def using him to make Ron jealous, plus she doesn't even seem interested in him? They have nothing in common and Hermione doesn't even enjoy Quidditch. Although it is cute that he goes to the library to catch a glimpse of here, the age gap is wrird because she's 14 and he's 17

Bill and Fleur

Well, Fleur is like a year younger than Percy, she's what 16? And Bill's what 22? Yeaaaaaaah very odd, plus Bill doesn't even seem to stand up for Fleur when Ginny and Molly insult her, also you could argue, well she was a snob, that doesn't mean Ginny and Molly in the right. Also she's a teenager. I can see why people would adore this paring but I don't.

George and Angelina

Fred asked her out to the Yule Ball and she said yes and maybe it was just friends or something more, we don't know and then Fred dies and George marries Angelina. I think it's because he wants to honour Fred. Sigh, JK could have developed this but she never did, so neither do I care, nor do I ship.

Dean and Ginny

I have no idea what happened here to be honest ? Neville and Ginny would have made more sense really. Yeah that's all I have to say for this ship.

Molly and Arthur

She shouts, he follows. Arthur's kinda useless to be honest, also i don't see the romance or maybe that's just because it's domestic. But other people too have problem with this pairing so I'm not the only one.

Remus and Tonks

Oh god where do I begin.

The age gap? The sudden love Tonks has for Remus? Remus not having feelings for Tonks and being forced in a marriage he didn't want? The suddenness of it all? If JK wanted a orphan she should have used another pairing, this whole relationship felt weird on so many levels.

Harry and Ginny

Yes, I didn't like it in the book. Now before you get your pitchforks and burn me at the stake listen.

I am not a fan of childhood crush becoming your bf trope. I'm not, just not into that. Ginny overcoming the Harry crush and realising that that was unhealthy and moving on would have been better. Also it did seem rushed. She was dating someone else a week ago and suddenly she's hooking up with Harry. And it's rushed from Harry's end too. He's not in the state for a relationship in any which way and it just seems weird.

BUT I do enjoy Hinny fics which are really well written and a 100x better than the Hinny in the book so there's that.

I'm sure I covered most of the relationships?Anyway these are the minor ones that i did enjoy:

Percy and Penelope- he stayed by her side when she got petrified, made bets with her, secret relationship. Sweet high school esque relationship.

Cedric and Cho- tragic

Neville and Hannah- we don't know a lot but I imagine it to be a cute sweet oneLuna and Rolf- weirdos together? Yes pls

Andromeda and Ted- the real Romeo and Juliet story, a pureblood and a muggleborn

Lucius and Narcissa- horrible ppl together😎

Yeah that's about it, I only remember this much so forgive me if I forgot some

[mvrkgeoli]

teddy

warnings ? : alcohol / consumption, fluffy kinda and some humor, clingy drunk jisung lol

author note: i had a dream i was cuddling jisung and this came up in my head idk HDMAJDJAOS small drabble i think it’s less than 1k words

you were invited over for jisung’s coming of age day with some of the dreamies at their dorm, but what you didn’t expect at the end of the night was for the now adult boy cuddling into you as he dozed off into his drunk slumber.

jaemin only pouted at how he had never been cuddled by the boy the same way, donghyuck and renjun laughing at how you couldn’t move from your spot in order to let the boy sleep comfortably. when you did try to pull away, jisung only held your body tighter, his mouth spilling small ‘no’s and drunken hushing for you to sit still.

with the help of jeno, you sneakily slide yourself away from the boy’s arms in the middle of the night, jeno exchanging your body with one of his pillows. jisung grunted as his eyebrows furrowed before squeezing onto jeno’s pillow. both jeno and your eyes widened at the movement, scared that the boy would wake up complaining, sighing in relief when you heard soft snores from him.

you thanked jeno when you stepped out of the boys room, threading your finger through your hair in attempt to neaten your appearance as you walked to the entrance door. bidding jaemin in his room, renjun in the kitchen, and jeno walking you ‘goodbye on’ your way out of the dorm.

the next day came around with a blink of an eye, waking up in your own bed with some messages from jaemin.

strawberry yogurt | today at 10:04am

sung said he had a dream about a giant teddy bear <3

i’m still mad he chose u instead of me to cuddle tho >:(

you smiled at your screen before retorting back at the boy with a tease, continuing your day as normal after properly waking up.

a week later, you were met with separate texts from jaemin and renjun.

strawberry yogurt | today at 2:41am

our jisungie is looking for his teddy bear or whatever 🙄🙄

moomin renato | today at 2:43am

jisung is drunk again

he wont stop whining til he gets his ‘teddy’ can u PLEASE come quick, i need my sleep

your eyebrows rose at the texts, getting yourself ready out of the door in minutes. you didn’t mind walking for a few moments to the dreamies’ dorm.

after ringing the doorbell twice, the door opened to reveal a tired looking renjun. you heard chenle’s reputable laugh at a distance, you stepped foot into the dorm with a small ‘thank you’ to the boy in front of you for letting you in. proceeding to walk a few steps to approach jisung and renjun’s room to meet a woozy faced jisung sitting on the floor attempting to kiss jeno’s foot along with jaemin with a wide smile and chenle giggling away on the floor beside them as they watched the scene unfold.

“you’re finally here, he’s been whining all night. we’ve been trying to put him to bed but uh…” jeno pulled his foot away from the boy to gesture the situation before walking towards you, a small “ahh hyung,,~” was heard as jeno got away to rest both his hands on your shoulders, patting gently. “anyway— thank you for this, i wanna head to bed already.”

“it’s no problem-?” you cocked your head to the side slightly. jisung’s head tilted up at your voice, eyes lighting up at the sight of you. “t… ted- ow- teddy!” he stood up, hitting his head at the roof of the bottom bunk of their bed in trial to hold onto the ladder for balance. jisung walking towards you with open arms, letting them hang around your neck as he drooped himself down into your embrace.

“hey, sung-ah. you good?” you let out a laugh “c’mon let’s get you to bed.” the boy only nodded lazily as you dragged him back to bed.

the night ended with chenle sleeping over at jaemin’s room and renjun climbing to the top bunk with a somewhat satisfied sigh. “finally, oh my god. thanks again, g’night y/n.”

you woke up to an empty bed, scrambling up at the realization that you slept over instead of acting as just a lullaby to put jisung to sleep. it was probably because everyone was too tired or fell right asleep after you came over, you thought to yourself as you shuffled to stand up and wake yourself up with small stretches.

your eyes met with the boy himself at the kitchen, sitting in between jeno and a groggy looking jaemin at the dining table typing away on jaemin’s laptop. jisung’s eyes widened as you came into the frame of his vision. “o— uh good morning..!” he put up a motionless wave as a greeting, you only bowed and mumbled a small ‘morning’ before jeno gestured for you to sit in front of them.

jisung turned the laptop to face you. “my apology (with video)” the screen read, he pressed on the right chevron key to put the next slide on. “you made a powerpoint slide show?” you stared at jisung’s face, his lips pursed as he blinked in silence.

“this powerpoint was made to apologize to y/n for my, park jisung, dumb actions.” there was a moment of awkward silence as he waited to make sure you read the slide before proceeding to the next slide, which revealed a small video attatched, the thumbnail showing jisung with the same clothes as he wore right now but with a tiny bit messier hair.

“good evenin— morning y/n, i deeply um,, apologize for putting you through the trouble of walking in the middle of the might to … to um, take care of me when i was intoxicated with alcohol,” he had a straight face in the video, was he really taking this seriously? “firstly i would like to say—“ you tapped on the spacebar lightly to pause the recording.

“sung-ah, it really is fine.” you smiled genuinely, he only stared at the surface of the table, fidgeting with the ledges of the laptop. “if it makes you feel better, i liked the cuddles too. i have no problems with being your ‘teddy’, don’t worry about it.” you shrug as you took a piece of made toast on the table.

“does that mean drunk me would still be able to sleep okay?” he spoke a full sentence for the first time that morning, you chuckled at the boy.

“even if you aren’t drunk, i’d be happy to.”

[potatoqueensays]

Okay okay so I may have wrote an Irondad drabble. It's kinda like a character study or something, idk I just came up with it and was like yeah let's do this. I hope you enjoy!!

_______________________________________________

My World Isn't Perfect Without You In It

3,004 words

It started as a simple feeling.

Tony was in his lab with Peter on one of their lab days, as they always were on Fridays. He would work with the kid after Happy picked him up and they would work on whatever their genius hearts desired.

Tony didn't really find himself looking at Peter with pride until Pepper pointed it out to him, she would comment on how he seemed like a Dad all of a sudden with the kid hanging around more.

He would always deny it with that Stark charm of his of course, deflecting was one of his main traits when it came to his feelings.

"Pep, motherhood may look nice on you, but fatherhood isn't kind for me you know." Flattery was said to get you places, but Pepper was known for never taking his BS.

"Tony, I can tell the way you look at him, you love him, whether you want to face it or not." She grinned at him, she was always right, even if he didn't like to admit it sometimes.

He thought back to her words frequently, picking up on how his heart swelled with pride and warmth when Peter looked at him for approval, or whenever he would get a question right, or even when Tony himself was having a bit of trouble with an equation, and he was Tony Stark, he could do anything!

The kid wormed his way into Tony's cold heart, thawed down his icy walls with a flamethrower and melted his heart into a puddle of goo.

The billionaire could never understand how he became so fond of the kid so quickly, but he always knew the reasons he liked the kid. He was so selfless, kind, and brave. A true hero at heart and much better than Tony even thought he would be, he was everything Tony wasn't and more.

He wasn't even jealous at the kid when he would steal the light, his own best friend becoming fond of the kid and mentioning how he was practically his kid.

"Platypus, he's not a Stark, in any way shape or form."

"He may not be blood related to you Tones, but he's your son in everything else, he has your brains even, maybe even smarter than you!" Rhodey teased.

"I'm wounded, Honey-Bear." He placed a hand over his heart in mock hurt.

"Oh hush, you know it better than anyone else."

And if he did, he would never say it up front.

He was proud of the kid even in his worst moments. He would try to console the kid when he came to him for help when close to a panic attack (which broke the hero's heart, the poor kid didn't deserve any of the unfair treatment the world had, it was too cruel for such a pure hearted kid like Peter.) or when he had a nightmare when staying over at the tower.

Tony wasn't always the most physically affectionate, he would give pats on the shoulder or back, arms around shoulders to keep the person close, and side hugs, even if he didn't do full ones.

When it came to Peter however, he slowly broke out of his shell of that. He kept a hand gently over the back of the boy's neck, sometimes playing with the curls that rested there, occasionally giving a reassuring squeeze when Peter seemed a bit nervous or highstrung. It always got rid of a little of his own stress when the boy would lean into his touch, side hugs and pats on the shoulder were gladly accepted.

Even the occasional hand holding when the kid was kept in the med-bay after a stressful mission or patrol, he would keep his hand over the boy's pulse point to reassure himself that the kid was alive and well. He would keep one hand over the kid's wrist while he worked on his suit, improving how he could make sure the current problems never happened again, whether it be even a scratch or a stab wound, he wouldn't let Peter get hurt on his watch.

He would always keep an eye on the kid, letting Peter know that he could call whenever he felt he needed something, maybe even just to chat, the billionaire found himself even endeared to the chatter that came from the spider-kid, it was a nice comforting constant to fill the silence in his life, even if he worked in his suits with FRIDAY blasting AC/DC, he seemed to have a better preference for the chatty kid. He would invest himself in listening to what happened in his day, to what him and Ted did over the week, and even hearing about how Aunt May burned water when trying to boil pasta.

He was fond of the kid, the feeling that was so simple at the start but steadily increasing over time and getting fiercer and stronger with each visit to the med-bay or after every movie night that eventually had the boy cuddled up to him. It grew into a surge of protectiveness, a very parental feeling and yearning to make his the kid happy.

So yeah, he was fond.

He was in too deep, as he wanted the kid by his side for as long as he could have him in fact, he begun to realize that yeah, he liked the kid and was fond of his company, but even more so.

He loved the kid.

He loved Peter.

Tony had a crisis when he was having a revelation about his feelings towards the younger hero.

He felt parental, even if he kept denying the fact when everybody knew how he felt before himself. Even if he tried to hide his grin whenever the kid's smile lit up a room, even if he kept rolling his eyes affectionately and ruffled the kid's curls when they bantered.

So yeah, he loved him.

Loving was dangerous however, loving got you in difficult situations where you don't think and sometimes your actions get out of hand with how much you care.

He cared about Peter with his iron heart, he cared about the boy so loudly in fact it would almost creep those three words up into his throat when he loved too fiercely with kid.

That's how he found himself in a very dangerous situation.

Peter was hurt, badly.

And it was his fault because he loved him, he was someone he got too close to and now it was his fault.

He stayed too close even when he should have remained at arms length, but the kid had to get close.

The bullet was supposed to be for Tony, not Peter, but the kid saw it coming from a mile away and pushed the iron clad man away from the aim of fire and taking the punishment with all the confidence of a self sacrificing idiot.

Peter was laid up in the med-bay as Cho and her helpers ran around to try and nurse the kid, while Tony was trapped in his own mind with how much he let Peter get too close, how he didn't notice that the kid obviously loved him too, so much in fact that he took a bullet for him, when Tony specifically told him not to if something like that happened.

He couldn't find it in his heart to be angry at the kid, no matter how much he wanted to be, he wanted to scream and shout and punch the walls, blame the universe for giving him someone so precious and kind that he would ruin completely, to rip apart a kid's life. It was his fault that the kid was by his side now, wanting to be an avenger because he took him to Germany just to win a fight against his own team, his own family. Or what he thought was.

He was pushed out of his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder, Rhodey's comforting voice making it's way to the man in armor, ridding him of the terrible thoughts and guilt that went through him.

"He'll be okay Tones, he's tough, he can handle it, he always does." Rhodey reasoned, trying to take Tony down from his tower of guilt.

"But he shouldn't have to."

"He did what he did because he cares, I know you would do it in a heartbeat if he was the one about to be shot."

"Because that's how it should be, I'm the adult, and he's the kid. He's just a child, Rhodey, a child." The older hero sighed, his face visible as his helmet was open, anyone could easily see his terror and distress. He tried to tear his eyes away from the frittering med staff, but he could only think of Peter. His Peter. His self sacrificing kid that he loved too much, and now it had gotten him hurt, the panic gripping his chest like a vice and not letting go as he feared what worse could have happened to his kid.

"Listen, he'll be okay, I know it." There was no room for argument with his tone, even if Tony wanted to, he needed to be at Peter's bedside, he was always there no matter what, even if he was mad or trying not to think about his guilt, the boy's presence always seemed to calm him.

The hero sighed softly, nodding even though panic rested comfortably in his chest.

He had cleaned himself up after the fight, after seeing Peter taken away from his side as he bled out and was in pain, even under the mask for the spider-suit, Tony could tell by the way the white eyes of the mask were pinched. It haunted him how he thought of Peter's bambi eyes shining with unshed tears and pain under that mask, those bright doe eyes filled with innocence and brilliance.

He remained stationary by the kid's bedside as he was finally left alone in his room, his accelerated healing luckily used in this moment. Helen had said the bullet hadn't hit any major arteries or organs, so that was a plus, but it still was agonizing to think of the boy in any sort of pain, or to even think of Peter leaving his side. If that happened, he didn't know what he would do. If he didn't have Pepper he would certainly lose it.

He just loved the kid too much to let him suffer.

He had his Stark-Pad resting in his lap as he held onto Peter's wrist, the feeling of the pulse underneath his fingers much more reassuring than the beep of the heart monitor. He kept his eyes focusing back between the notes he had down for what he could improve on Peter's suit and on the kid himself, eyeing his chest to check his breathing and checking the face of the boy in case he was going to wake up anytime soon.

He looked at the features of the boy, taking in the curls swept over his forehead, they were always gelled back no matter how much Tony joked about it. He never had a problem with it, but it was always pleasing to know how the boy liked a hand combing through his curls, whether it be his aunt to Tony himself. His face always bright with a smile that reached to his chocolate doe eyes, shining with talent and excitement for everything and anything. From Star Wars to how the Iron Man suit worked, he was always so smart and inquisitive. The boy was a ray of sunshine in Tony's bleak life. Yes he had Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy, he loved them all to bits and they made his life so much better, but loving Peter was different. He was his son in everything but blood, and that didn't even matter. He was a bright light that warmed up even the coldest of hearts, thawing right through to make anyone wrapped around his little finger.

Tony loved him.

He realized he was looking too much at the boy and swiftly changed to reading the schematics of the spider-suit, although he didn't read far when he heard a small sigh coming from in front of him. He looked up to see those bright and beautiful doe eyes looking up at him with that same amount of adoration that made Tony's heart want to burst, he didn't deserve the kid in the slightest, but here he was with him.

"Good afternoon, bambi." He said softly, aware of how Peter was sensitive his surroundings after waking up in the med-bay, the lights always at a dimmer power than normal to accustom to the spider-boy.

"Hi Mstr' Strk'." The boy slurred, still tired from just waking up and having pain reducing drugs in his system. The man carefully let go of the boy's wrist to hit the button that alerted Helen that her patient was awake, he almost missed the small whine that came from the younger hero at the loss of contact, it cut right through his heart.

"I'm here kiddo, don't worry." He held onto the boy's wrist again, fingers resting over the pulse point with quick muscle memory at this point.

"M' srry.." The boy mumbled, relaxing slightly as he registered the touch again, wide bambi eyes drooping sightly in relief.

"What are you sorry for, kiddo?" The man wondered. Peter always apologized, whether it be for something as small as dropping a pencil or bumping into a dog. He had such good manners.

"Ar' you mad a' me?" The boy's speech improving only a little as his enhanced metabolism burned through the painkillers.

Ah, so that explains it, he was worried the billionaire was mad at him. He gently rubbed a circle into the boy's wrist with his hand, comforting the kid into relaxing and not stressing when he needed to heal and get rest.

The man softly sighed and put the Stark-Pad away on the side table, scooting a little closer to the cot as he could look the kid better in the eye.

"No bud, I'm not mad, anymore. But you worried me a lot, I have a heart condition you know." He moved his free hand to go over the boy's front curls that hung in front of his eyes, getting to see those baby browns even better as the kid leaned into the soft touch.

"I knda' had to, you'd do it too.." The kid had a point, as it was similar to Rhodey's, even Pepper would say something like that, and she was always right, so that had to mean that Rhodey and Peter were too.

"That's different Pete. You're a kid and I'm an adult, we seniors kinda have to take the bullet. Figuratively and literally." He chided gently.

The boy let out a small huff of frustrated air, which was absolutely adorable as his nose scrunched up and he eyed Tony with what was presumably a glare that equalled the look of a puppy.

"But we gotta prtect' each other, otherwise you'd get hurt much worse." He brought up matter of factly.

"Well, maybe that's a risk I gotta take for spider-babies like you." Tony provided ruefully.

"Nt' a baby."

Well you're my spider-baby. He almost wanted to say.

Luckily he was saved by Helen Cho coming in to do a small checkup on Peter, looking over his vitals and smiling softly at her patient.

"Hello Peter, how are you feeling? Any pain?" She eyed over her clipboard presumably to check over his vitals and wounds again, being very perceptive to how Peter responded.

"M' fine, jus' a little sore." At that, Helen nodded and worked on administering a little medicine into his system, making the boy sigh gratefully at that. Both Cho and Tony knew when Peter said he felt a little pain it meant more than he played it as.

"I'll be back in a couple more hours, get some rest okay?"

Peter nodded at that and watched as she left the room, now alone with his father figure mentor once again. He looked over at Tony with a dopey smile, looking very tired now, he was bound to fall asleep. He sightly tugged on the man's arm, they both know that was to invite the man to cuddle, which they never brought up out loud, but they both knew the other enjoyed it greatly. It helped assure Tony that Peter was safe and there, while Peter got comfort and protection.

The man sighted good-naturedly as he stood up to get beside Peter.

"Alright alright, scoot over, this isn't gonna be nice on my back later." He joked. Although he said that, he would gladly take a little pain if it meant having Peter safe in his arms.

The boy obeyed and scooted over quickly, allowing Tony to climb in and get comfy, then let out a small "oof" as the kid rested his head on his shoulder and clung like a koala.

The man chuckled, a hand coming up to cradle the boy's head and play with his curls, knowing that helped Peter sleep much faster.

"Okay cuddle-bug, you heard her. It's nap time."

"Nt' a bug." Peter mumbled, blissfully unaware how Tony's heart practically melted with how easy Peter fit in his arms. He was so small. They were like two pieces of a puzzle, father and son, mentor and mentee. They belonged together and they wouldn't have it any other way as they needed the other.

"Right, arachnid." Tony corrected himself, hiding his grin in the kid's hair as Peter let out a pleased hum, slowly drifting off to sleep.

"Night." Peter mumbled, slowly lulled to sleep by the soft rumbling of the older hero's chest as he responded in kind.

"Goodnight bambino." He mumbled, pressing a small kiss to the boy's hair as they soon both drifted off to sleep.

Yeah, Tony loved him, and he needed him in his life like Peter needed him.

Thank you to @polaroid15 for reading this before hand and your lovely comments!! 🥺♥️

[parvuls]

so many thoughts about the ted lasso finale but they're all a mess

SPOILERS BITCHES

many people said they found the finale anticlimactic and while i don't necessarily agree, i do see their point. i think the reason is that the s1 finale truly felt like a wrap up episode where all the arcs got an ending (even if the ending had an obvious afterthought that would come in s2, like jamie, like getting relegated, etc.), while the s2 finale was just one huge semicolon where all the arcs got to their peak and we'll only get to see their fallout in the concluding s3.

it's a logical way to format a three seasoned show - s1 serving as an exposition, s2 building up tensions, s3 tying everything with a nice bow - but i guess it is a bit of a frustrating watching experience. literally the only two arcs having a clear ending is the soccer (in the first they get relegated, in the second they get promoted, in the third they win the whole fucking thing - ted promised us that), and nate's arc.

ted spent the whole season struggling to face his mental health issues - which came to a head when he finally confronted his dad's suicide, but then the arc peaked when he decided to turn his circumstances for the better and talk about mental health in sports. the conclusion to ted's personal journey will only come next season, so in fact, after admitting to his problems we haven't seen much progress.

keeley spent the whole season working on her career and slowly allowing herself to express her goal of being the one in charge in the business sense. it came to a head when she got a dream offer, but it all happened in the last possible second so we don't know anything about how she feels, what it's gonna be like, how it's going to affect her life. that would comd in the next season.

roy and keeley spent the first half of the season establishing a serious adult relationship and then the second half tugging on several plot threads of Relationship Issues. this is perhaps the arc I'm least happy with - unlike the others, it didn't even peak. i assumed they'll have a big fight this finale, but instead we got a six week separation keeley claimed is good, while metaphorical ominous music sounded in the air thanks to roy's diamond dogs moment. obviously there's some commitment issues and lack of communication lingering there, but it's just a weird place to leave them off. s3 will simultaneously deal with having that fallout, fixing them and with getting their happy ever after? can't imagine the flow, tbh. sounds too heavy for a season that has so much to accomplish already.

nate's arc, while unbelievably complicated, is the only thing other than soccer that's very very clearly divided into three neat sections. season 1 dealt with him cementing a place within the team, season 2 dealt with his gradual downfall and had an obvious ending when he betrayed them and went to work for rupert (as we predicted), and season 3 will deal with his redemption. i hated nate for a lot of the season, but you have to admire how round his character is, how well he's written and acted. we'll see how they sell him back into our graces, but i've got hopes.

then there are all the things that are kinda floating around and i'm ??? about them, because when your main arcs get left off at their peak on purpose, it's hard to know what else is unresolved on purpose and what's just been neglected. what was the point of sambecca? unless s3 features endgame tedbecca and sam will somehow serve as a plot device for that, i don't understand why it happened, why it was left off like it was, and why no one has voiced concerns yet. what even was jamie's arc in the second half of s2? becoming a team player already started last season and his dad didn't get a resolution. when is the fallout from beard and jane supposed to happen? what was the point of the ted/flo build-up? were they going somewhere with pheobe's school struggles (and the breast drawings)?

i enjoyed this episode more than i expected but i still have more questions than answers for s3, and i'm not sure how i feel. mostly i'm confused and concerned, even though my babies got promoted, which really says a lot.

[yodamn]

I said it on discord but. What if the bad batch had someone join them who like. Actually knows something about kids? Like not that the batch dont know anything but im willing to bet that its more like awkward first time parents who are all trying their best but instead of a newborn and working their way up, they got thrown into the middle of the game with a 6-8 year old at level 10 because shes fuckin SMART. And Yes I think Omegas between 6 and 8. I work with kids that age dont try me.

ANYWAYS

So they bring on this person for some reason. Maybe like. For maps. Idk. Social situations maybe. They bring them on for a reason other than childcare. This person comes on and sees omega and immediately goes. Im a parent now I guess. Theyre working and turn to see Omega still up at 10pm and its like. Tf are you doing up???? You better get to bed this instant young lady. They help Omega get into routines. Like bedtime routines of showering,brushing teeth, and getting changed. Then she sits between their legs so they can hum and brush her hair. Like. Yesh shes a big girl. But kids need routine. People need to settle down before getting into bed. Kids don't know this. They need adults help to figure out routine.

And food! At somepoint they go "Is Omega getting all the nutrients she needs?" And hunters like "Well...we ran out of rations at the beginning so now we just stock up on whatever food we can get. Usually she eats Mantell Mix and Apple Juice" and its like. Excuse me? That child is gonna be so constipated and lack so much energy. But Hunter, to fault of his own lack of knowledge, is like "Nah she'll be fine"

A week later Omegas holed up in the only bathroom on the ship because shes constipated and in pain and Hunter basically has holes being burned into his head. They have to stop on a nearby planet for bathroom and meds for omega. Because. Children. And people in general. Need variety in their diet to be healthy. And noones born knowing they cant get the nutrients from apples SOLELY from Apple Juice.

But also like. If this person is female then Omega and her go out for a Girls Day. Letting omega do all the fun girly things she wants, if she wants them of course. They can't do much but its fun to imagine and play dress up in the changing rooms of stores. If she gets her ears pierced wrecker cries more than her.

Also also also ANOTHER scenario if I may. It being kinda cold on the ship because theyve stopped on a cold planet or something. This parental role persons sitting in a chair with a book and they see Omega walk passed. And shes crashing. I mean barely awake, struggling to keep her eyes open crashing. Maybe its been a long day. Maybe she didnt sleep well the night before who knows. Either way. She's crashing. So homie just opens up the blanket, Omega crawls in and snuggles in for a nap in the warmth. Sleepy baby. Just. That mental image.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk

[lunarliza]

Dirty Little Secret | Chapter Two: Palm Trees

fuckbuddy!JJ x Kook!Reader 

series masterlist | chapter one 

You and JJ are fuck buddies- strictly physical. But what happens when you find yourself falling more and more for everyone’s favorite golden boy even though all he can see you as is a spoiled rich girl? 

note: just wanna thank ya’ll for all the support! so glad you guys like this. there is smut and drug use under the cut btw 

Three Months Ago-

“Shit,” you heard someone curse. 

You met eyes with an unfamiliar curly blonde boy who mimicked a deer in headlights as he perched down under the tall wooden fence. 

It was a fine, breezy morning. You had set up a blanket on a small patch of sand, under a shady palm tree, just behind someone’s large fenced backyard on the edge of the Eight. You figured no one could catch you casually smoking your pot in the secluded area. 

That was, until a pair of skinny legs darted into your hideout. You quickly hid your joint behind your back while his sea blue eyes pierced yours, but not in an intimidating way, more like a raccoon getting caught with food. He wore a dirty white tee, sleeves chopped off, and torn board shorts. He had bracelets trailing up his arm with ‘JJ’ written across multiple beads. You could tell right away he was from The Cut. 

“What the fuck! Who are you-” 

“Shh no no no,” he held a finger up to your lips. “You did not see me here.” 

He attempted to scurry away, but you caught onto his ankle before he could. “Wait!” 

He plummeted over onto the sand and groaned in response. “What the fu-”

You craned your neck at the fallen twinkie. “Are you stealing?” 

Having just moved to the Outer Banks six months ago, you didn’t know much about the culture besides what made up Figure Eight. From what you were told, the island was basically split between two crowds. 

Ted detested The Cut and anyone associated with it. He called them low lives, thieves, rats. One time, Macy went on a play date with a friend from school there. Once Ted found out where she was, he stormed over, pulled her away from her friend, and threatened the family before flooring the car back home. Since then, he forbade your family to go anywhere near the area. Ted wasn’t a man of many words, but the anger in his eyes that day made it clear he was not kidding around. 

“What?” the boy scoffed, “I’m not stealing, just-” 

“Disrupting the neighborhood?” 

His face knotted in confusion. “Something like that... look what will it take for you to keep quiet about this?” 

You shrugged, kind of enjoying his desperation. You weren’t planning on ratting him out at all, but this was the most entertainment you had gotten all week, so you decided to play along. You tapped your chin, “Hmm, perhaps-” 

“Before you continue, princess,” he mocked, gesturing towards the arm you had behind your back, “you might wanna rethink snitching when you have all that dank on you. How would your parents feel if they found out their precious Kook daughter was smoking weed?” 

You rolled your eyes and flipped him off. “Carry on, asshole.” 

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

Later that night, you were dragged to a party at the famous Boneyard by your friend Jade- a petite social butterfly with a heart of gold and the most toxic dating history you had ever seen. 

She was one of the few friends you made since moving to the OBX. Jade knew of how much you hated life at the Eight, but still tried to include you in as many events as she could. Despite growing up with insanely rich doctors as parents, she herself didn’t quite fit the spoiled Kook mold either. She had her kinks, and you liked it. 

“Jade, I’m not sure about this. If Ted finds out-” 

“Girl, you are fine! Just say you’re with me and my parents will cover. Trust me, they think I’m at some study session right now,” she assured.

“But finals aren’t til next month.” 

“Exactly! See how much they care?” 

Hand in yours, she led you to a spot on the beach where a crowd of people pranced around a bonfire. You could tell it was a mix of Pogues, Kooks, and some tourists in town for Spring Break. 

“Care for a beer ladies?” a tall, tan boy asked as he held out two red cups to you and Jade. You happily accepted, and the guy dared you both to chug your drinks. You shook your head with an ear-stretched grin, attempting to gulp as much of your beer as you could take. 

The confidence juice soared into your throat. It tasted absolutely atrocious, but you were determined to finish it. 

For the first time since moving to the island, you felt alive. The two of you tossed the empty remains into a trashcan and Jade cupped your cheeks with her French-manicured hands. “Isn’t this awesome!” she exclaimed and began shaking her hips to the electronic music- her excitement as contagious as ever. You immediately joined her, the alcohol coursing through your body. 

After a few songs, the same boy who offered you the beers crept up behind Jade’s 5’2 frame. He ran his hands along her hips as she grinded back onto him. 

‘Is he cute?’ she mouthed. You threw your head back laughing, giving her an encouraging nod. She went back to being smitten with her newfound man while you continued to dance by yourself, the outer skirts of your dress gliding up as you moved. 

“Well, it’s funny how the tables turn don’t it?” you heard a haughty voice trail behind you. 

You turned to see a shirtless boy double fisting bottles of cheap beer. His back was towards the fire so you couldn’t make out his face completely. Though, something did click in your half-drunken mind at the sight of the beaded bracelets on his wrists.

“You’re the Pogue from this morning,” you stated, staring intently at his sharp features. He was kinda cute in the dark, murky beach air. 

“Fancy seeing you here on our turf,” he rudely replied taking a swig of beer, “not sure who invited you, but here, we have a strict no spoiled bitches policy.” 

The audacity was so potent, and you were taken aback. “Excuse me?”

“Fuck off JJ! Y/n’s my friend, and I invited her,” Jade interjected from a few feet away, “go mack on one of the tourons and leave her alone.” 

“Whatever, Kooks.” The blonde scoffed and jogged away from the crowd, back towards a group of kids sitting on a log. 

You couldn’t help but roll your eyes at his brash comments. Even with Ted’s aversion towards them, you didn’t quite understand the Pogue-Kook rivalry. You once asked Jade about it to which she just shrugged and said, “It’s just how it is.” 

She personally didn’t have anything against Pogues- as one was currently shoving his tongue down her throat in that moment. Though you didn’t interact much with their group, they seemed fine to you. Minus grumpy Goldey Locks on the log. 

Lost in your thoughts, you hardly noticed the tourist boy in front of you offer a shot of his Tito’s handle. The last time you had vodka, the awful taste nearly climbed back out your throat. But you were too fed up with your family and the Pogue boy’s irritating remarks to care. You closed your eyes, dipped back, and let the boy, dressed head-to-toe in Outer Banks merch, pour whatever he had in your mouth. It didn’t take long before everyone around you started looking fuzzy. A thumping noise in the back of your brain told you that you were way past your limit of about a sip and half. The music began sounding like loud thuds and you had no idea where Jade was. With all the strength you could muster up, you trudged up the beach back towards some palm trees to catch a breath, away from the clammy crowd. 

With one hand on the rugged trunk you bent over, knowing your stomach was rejecting all the alcohol you consumed that night. With one glance back towards the party, you felt the bitterness shoot its way back up your body and out hurled everything you drank onto the ground, a few coughs following. 

Out of nowhere, you felt a hand slide up your back as you lifted your head to see a hazy mess of blonde hair. “Here,” the snarky boy offered, holding up a water bottle, “you’ll feel better.” 

Begrudgingly, you took a few sips and handed it back to him. “Thanks.” 

You could see the party was starting to fizzle out, the water sobering you up. He downed the rest and tossed the empty bottle. 

“Fucking hell,” the guy, JJ, uttered, “You Kooks are way in over your heads.” 

“What’s your problem with me anyways?” you snapped, straightening up so you could meet his eyes. “I didn’t rat on you today! But now I’m thinking maybe I should have!” 

“See that’s the problem right there! You didn’t even catch me doing anything wrong. You just assumed I’m doing something bad because I don’t shit money out my ass.” 

“Well were you doing something bad?” 

“That is besides the point.” 

Your eyes were aching to roll out of your head. You hated the way he was talking to you and decided to play into this little hate-game of his since he seemed to get such a kick out of it. 

“Well, maybe if you kept your filthy head out of our side and up your own ass instead, we wouldn’t have an issue now would we?” 

He huffed and inched closer, causing you to back up against another tree, away from the vomit on the floor. “You entitled bitches think you know it all, probably from all that rip-off dank blowing up your head.” 

He was so close you could smell the faint alcohol on his breath. You were completely sober at that point, focusing on the eyes that probed into yours as JJ’s hands reached up to the sides of the tree, fencing you in. The music from the party was hardly a whisper compared to the tension between you two in that moment. The night was humid, but you weren’t sure if you were sweating from the heat or your jolting nerves. 

Then, a rush of boldness swept through you. 

“You talk a lot of shit for someone’s who’s dying to get into a Kook’s pants,” you tempted, glancing briefly at his lips. You then chose to taunt him even more- biting your own and sticking out your slightly exposed chest in the bodice of the dress you had on. 

He dauntingly moved closer, your faces only inches apart. “In your fucking dreams sweetheart,” he muttered before capturing your lips.

It was a hungry, needy kiss. You hardly knew anything about him, yet you didn’t protest when his hands reached up your stomach to roughly cup your boobs. They then glided down under the thinness of your dress to eagerly squeeze your butt. 

“Fuck,” he groaned, feeling the bareness of your ass underneath. His palm slapped your asscheek so hard, you were sure the entire beach could hear. 

Your hands crept down his bare chest, tracing over to his abs. Still on your ass, his hands kneaded at the swollen cheeks. You felt him pull away slightly after a bit. 

“Ever wonder what it’s like to fuck a Pogue?” 

“Just shut up and take me,” you answered hastily. His coarse hand trailed against your lower folds. He stroked over the material of your soaked thong before pushing the string to the side, his middle finger rubbing you gently. 

You reached in the band of his shorts to feel his hardened cock. You ran your hand up and down the shaft before exposing it out completely. He quickly lifted your leg to drape across his waist as he situated his length to your hole with his sweaty forehead resting on yours. 

Slowly, he pressed himself into you as a loud moan emerged from you both. The boy swiftly held his palm to your mouth while you felt him stretch you out slowly. Your eyes rolled back in bliss. 

“Fuck this pussy is tight,” he slopping mumbled in your ear as he continued, feeling your wetness grip him. 

He held a steady pace for a while before he suddenly halted and pulled out. Before you could protest, he grabbed the sides of your arms and whipped you around so you were facing the tree. When he snatched each side of your hips to pull you towards him, you quickly caught on, spreading your legs apart while arching your back so your ass was perked up and ready. He held his pulsing length in his hands, lining himself with you, before shoving it in full for you to take.

He bent over onto you and seized your chin with one hand to spin your head back for another kiss, tongue and all. “You look so pretty taking this dick,” he rasped as your careless whimpers echoed. 

JJ pounded deeper and deeper in you, yanking down the front of your dress so your breasts plopped free. He massaged them in his hands from behind. In response, your arched your back more, wanting to feel him- all of him inside you. As his thrusts slowed, he pulled out and pumped himself a few times before coming on your right asscheek. He slapped the left when he was done. 

You were breathing heavily, collecting yourself as you straightened up. “Not bad,” you panted as a cocky smirk rose on his face. 

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

note: WHEW CHILE! 

chapter 3

tags: @starkeybaby @obxlife @poguesforlife @everydayimfangirling @iamaunicorn4704 @tangledinsparkles 

[polyamoryinfandoms]

Monthly Fic Roundup!

Hey gang! I’m posting the fics that were recommended on our last surveymonkey poll; thanks for everyone who recommended fics. Please note I did not get to read every fic on here and depended on your responses and the AO3 tags to mark for any triggers or story notes, so please read with caution if you’re worried about any content warnings!

If you want to recommend more fics, I’ll be posting another roundup poll later in the day today! 

Under the cut are 32 fics from: 

Agents of Shield (1) 

Bill & Ted (1) 

Castlevania (1) 

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (1) 

DCU (2) 

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (4) 

Game of Thrones (1) 

Harry Potter (1) 

Leverage (1) 

Mission Impossible (1 -- series) 

Sanders Sides (1-- series)

Sense8 (1)

Sherlock (1-- series) 

Star Wars (1) 

Stranger Things (8) 

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1) 

The Untamed/CQL/MDZS (2)

Teen Wolf (2) 

White Collar (1) 

Agents of Shield: 

is it chill that you’re in my head? by lazyfish 

Pairing: Lance Hunter/Bobbi Morse/Alphonso Mackenzie

TW/TAGS: PTSD, Referenced Torture

Summary: It doesn't take long for Mack to realize he's in love with Bobbi and Hunter and has been for a while. Other realizations take slightly longer.

Bill and Ted (movie):

Our Home, Our Family, Our Love by CaptainWeasley

Pairing: Bill/Ted/Elizabeth/Joanna

TW/TAGS: slurs, implied/referenced child abuse, internalized homophobia, self harm

Summary: A series of firsts in Ted's life, as he slowly comes to terms with his sexuality and learns how to handle being in love with both his wife and his best friend. When Billie and Thea come out as trans, each in her own way, he does everything he can to help them be who they are.

Castlevania: 

Deliverance by cricketsong1985

Pairing: Trevor Belmont/Sypha Belnades/Alucard

TW/Tags: Blood kink, explicit sexual content,  gore, trauma, angst

Summary: Adrian is beginning to think that Wallachia will be a smoking pile of ash long before he, Trevor, and Sypha can stop Dracula’s war on humanity. They’ve been chasing the castle for months, but each time they get close, it vanishes. Traveling with such genuine and trustworthy allies has been unexpectedly pleasant; Adrian doesn’t mind that Trevor and Sypha are involved with each other, but he is taken entirely by surprise when they open their relationship to him one evening. Hopelessly in over his head, his heart keeps urging him forward, even when he’s forced to confront the darkest aspects of his nature. Adrian must learn to swallow his pride and let himself be vulnerable if he wants a chance at happiness. Unfortunately, there isn’t much time for looking within when the world is drenched in blood and magic, and the path to victory may destroy him completely.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: 

We will be judged by the courage of our hearts by MagicClem

Pairing: Harvey Kinkle/Sabrina Spellman/Nicholas Scratch

TW/TAGS: mention of an abusive parent 

Summary: It's been a month since the 13 almost destroyed Greendale. Now a full Witch, Sabrina tries to move on, with the help of one Nicholas Scratch.But one night, Harvey arrives at the Spellman's house and everything becomes complicated.

DCU: 

not for the faint of heart by pasdecoeur

Pairing: Hal Jordan/Bruce Wayne/Clark Kent

TW/TAGS: Explicit Sexual Content 

Summary: Clark opens a door that was meant to stay closed. Things spiral. or, What Not To Do When You’ve Fallen in Love with Batman: A Guide by Hal Jordan & Clark Kent.

All Good Things Come in Threes (Legends of Tomorrow) by IncendiaGlacies

Pairing: Gideon/Rip Hunter/Miranda Coburn

Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting

Summary: “Two is a couple, three is a crowd,” Gideon stated. In which Gideon navigates her polyamorous relationship with Rip and Miranda. Domestic slice of life goodness.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off:

Pairing for all of these are Pairing: Cameron/Ferris/Sloane and are written by @fbdo1986

it’s enough to be whiplash

TW: death mention (no character death), drowning

A/N: To put it plainly, I took a few tricks from John Hughes’s earlier scripts of the film, which were more surreal and up-front with discussing death and end of the world scenarios. It was inspired by a concept that I couldn’t seem to shake after I thought of it: what if the pool scene was just a bit more high stakes?

all the things I never told you 

Summary: It’s Sloane, Ferris, and Cameron’s first afternoon alone at the Bueller residence in months. The busy twenty-four year olds who’ve struggled to find time together as their lives unfold in front of them try to think of what to do for the day when Cameron decides to let them in on what he’s been keeping from them.

bye bye love 

TW: Death mention (none of the main characters)

Summary: A hopefully angsty number that details Sloane’s, Cameron’s, and Ferris’s journey through heartbreak and loss after their Sophomore year in college. The title is named after a song by The Cars by the same name!

firestarter

Prompt #5: Where it doesn’t hurt with the OT3

Game of Thrones: 

Constellatory by blueandbulae

Pairing: Theon Greyjoy/Sansa Stark/Margaery Tyrell/Robb Stark (polycule, NO incest) 

TW: Some canon typical violence

Summary: It’s strange and messy and maybe nobody else will ever understand them but it works. It’s theirs, and theirs alone, and nobody can take that from them.Or: Robb and Theon storm King's Landing, rescue the princesses, and save the kingdom. Then comes the hard part.

Harry Potter: 

Unconventional by silver_fish

Pairing: Harry Potter/Ron Weasley/Hermione Granger

Summary: A few years, now, have passed since Hedwig’s death, and Hermione thinks it’s time Harry got a new pet. What sort of pet, though, neither she nor Ron know. Not until Harry himself offers her the perfect solution, that is.

Leverage: 

for better or worse (we change together) by idkimoutofideas

Pairing: Alec Hardison/Parker/Eliot Spencer

TW/TAGS: Canon typical violence

Summary: The moment Parker saw the stranger standing by the elevator, a dozen alarm bells went off in her head. She froze, and Hardison nearly walked into her as he entered behind her. It took her a moment to realize that while half of the alarm bells were telling her to get the fuck out of there, the other half were telling her to look closer. Or, Eliot Spencer is a recent war veteran who just moved to Portland in an attempt to lead a calmer lifestyle. He ends up with some weird neighbors, but it's Portland, everyone's a little weird.

Mission Impossible: 

Polyamorous Spies (series of 2 fics) by MagicClem

Pairing: Benji Dunn/Ethan Hunt/Ilsa Faust

TW/TAGS: Blood & injuries (2nd fic) 

Sander’s Sides: 

Love and Other Fairytales by SoDoRoses (Fairychess)

Pairing: LAMP/CALM (Logan, Roman, Virgil, Patton)

TW: violence, major character death, no NSFW in the main fic but there is a side series with NSFW, animal death, description of rot, nonconsentual control of another person, 'like death' state of being

Sense8: 

Crazy Life by MagicClem

Pairing: Kala Dandekar/Wolfgang Bogdanow/Rajan Rasal

Summary: Rajan would admit that this past few years had been crazy and life seems determined to make it crazier and crazier.Or: This is "Amor Vincit Omnia" from Rajan's perspective.

Sherlock: 

Lorem Ipsum by Saathi1013 (series) 

Pairing:  Sherlock Holmes/John Watson/Sarah Sawyer

TW: Abduction

Star Wars:

so just pull the trigger by Darnaguen

Pairing: Han Solo/Qi'ra/Lando Calrissian

TW/TAGS: Alcohol use 

Summary: “Oh, don’t pout Haan.” Lando lounges back, licking his newly berry-tinted lips with a lazy grin. “You know all you have to do is ask.”(Qi’ra’s eyes are glinting and her smile is dagger-sharp. Han knows the look: it’s one she wears whenever she has a winning hand.The dice on the table are mediocre at best. He shakes his head and drinks deep.)

Stranger Things: 

All pairings are Steve Harrington/Jonathan Byers/Nancy Wheeler

The Hawkins Three by nonymos

TW: Some canon typical homophobia and slurs

Summary: It's two weeks after the Snow Ball, Nancy's officially with Jonathan, and Steve is trying to move forward. If only he wasn't on a path that keeps circling back to the both of them.

lovers in a dangerous time by diogxnes

TW/TAGS: Briefly: panic attacks/PTSD, parental neglect

Summary: “So,” says Robin, sitting back in her chair, “what’s the deal there, anyway? With the whole you-Nancy-Jonathan thing.”The question makes his mouth run dry. Why would she ask that? Can she tell, possibly, how much he’s been thinking about Nancy these past few days? How starstruck he was when Nancy showed up at his house? Does she know about the mysterious warmth in his stomach when he thinks about Jonathan? “What do you mean, the whole me-Nancy-Jonathan thing?” “Come on, Steve. She’s your ex and he famously beat you up two years ago and now they’re dating each other and all three of you somehow ended up a part of this weird little monster-fighting club together. There’s gotta be a story there.”“I don’t know, Robs,” says Steve, rolling his eyes, relieved beyond measure that that’s all she meant. “You pretty much just covered all of it. There’s not much more to tell.”

Have Happened by cortexikid

TW/TAGS: Homophobia

Summary: "I overheard you. You were talking in your sleep.”Steve's heart fluttered nervously.“It was a little funny at first,” Nancy admitted, her tone a mix of teasing and apologetic, “you were moaning my name and I thought it’d be kinda funny if Mike accidentally overheard you having a sex dream about his sister—”Steve couldn’t control the guffaw that escaped him. “But then you said Jonathan’s name. Right after mine. All in the same breath.”

it’s a risk, it’s a gamble by nondz (pinkjook)

TW/TAGS: NSFW

Summary: “I think we should pretend to date,” Robin says. "What?" Steve answers.

still turning out by scoutshonor

TW/TAGS: Homophobic language

Summary: Steve knows senior year's supposed to be tough, but seriously?Not only does his dad want him to take over his business, but he lands himself into a fight with his best friend leaving him friendless and booted out of his inner-circle, gets stuck watching a bunch of kids after school because of a missing credit, has to repeat eleventh grade history, and, oh yeah. He has the minor issue of having no idea what he actually wants to do with his life.But it's not all that bad: not the kids he has to watch, and certainly not Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers, two friends from his history class. Friends. Just friends. Yeah, he and you both know that's bullshit.Steve's got a lot of figuring out to do.(or: HSAU Stoncy with Steve as a senior, doing his best)

(Following Stoncy fics are by @pterawaters​) 

Now and For Always 

TW/TAGS: Explicit, Sex where one party is drunk and the other isn't

Summary: Between graduating from college, starting new careers, and planning a wedding, the summer of 1990 is a busy time for Nancy, Steve, and Jonathan. When a war starts in the middle east, Jonathan gets called away just three weeks before the wedding. He’s determined to make it back in time, no matter what it takes.

It's not like people live like this

TW/TAGS: Car Accidents, Period-Typical Homophobia, NSFW

Summary: Concerned that Steve's less-than-stellar grades might have been making them look bad, his parents hired him a tutor, Jonathan Byers, they were sure he wouldn't find as distracting as his last one. Sure, Jonathan had good grades in school, but he really wished he didn't have to take the extra work to help his mother put food on the table. After all, everyone knew Steve Harrington was a jerk. Right? It turned out, not so much. After an impromptu study-session-turned-party and a game of spin the bottle, Steve and Jonathan both found themselves dating Nancy Wheeler. And that wasn't even the strangest thing that happened to any of them that week.

Mr. Sandman (series) 

TW/TAGS: Canon-typical violence, Explicit scenes

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: 

Simmer On Low by canardroublard

Pairing: Illya/Napoleon/Gaby

TW/TAGS: semi-implied consensual voyeurism, whump

Summary: Scenes from five kitchens.

The Untamed/CQL/MDZS: 

inclusions by keiyashi 

Pairing: Sòng Lán | Sòng Zǐchēn/Xiǎo Xīngchén/Xuē Yáng | Xuē Chéngměi

TW/TAGS: NSFW

Summary: “I guess I feel left out. And I’m asking you to show me how not to?”“Show you?” Xue Yang laughs, easing the tension the only way he knows how. “Daozhang, if you aren’t careful, I might think you’re implying something quite forward.”Xingchen blinks at him. “Xue Yang, I feel like you’re trying to embarrass me, but that is what I was implying.”

melting the glacier by keiyashi 

Pairing: Lán Huàn | Lán Xīchén/Mèng Yáo | Jīn Guāngyáo/Niè Míngjué

Summary: Wanting to be with Nie Mingjue is something Lan Xichen accepted about himself long ago. He wants only happiness for his friend, no matter what form it takes. Even if that form is quite lovely and possesses an enchanting mouth.

Teen Wolf: 

Feels Better Biting Down by callunavulgari, hiza-chan (callunavulgari)

Pairing: Stiles Stilinski/Derek Hale/Lydia Martin

TW/TAGS: Blood

That I See You by FiccinDylan

Pairing: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski/Jordan Parris

TW/TAGS: NSFW, abo, m-preg (non graphic), werewolves, triads are normal

Summary: Deputy Jordan Parrish and Chef Derek Hale are in the prime of their lives and ready to take the next step in their relationship by courting an omega. Everything seems to be progressing smoothly until the new omega (aka Stiles Stilinski, the sheriff’s son) surfaces some unresolved tension from Jordan’s past. Jordan originally had the benefit of amnesia to block out his harried background, but now with his amnesia behind him, will he be able to resolve his past before he ruins his future?

White Collar: 

Always Starts the Same, with a Boy and a Girl by lightgetsin

Pairing: Neal Caffrey/Peter Burke/Elizabeth Burke

Tags: AU 

Summary: Summer, 1998. Neal Caffrey robs the gallery where Elizabeth O'Dell is working late, and comes away with a lot more than art. Agent Burke has no idea what's about to hit him.