#mainly just cries. can speak but it’s usually stuff along the lines of ‘help me’/ why didn’t you save’/ I’m scared’ soWOMP WOMP

[the-bitter-ocean]

(ACT 5 SPOILERS) Ageswap MDP Moments (RUH ROH)

[purpleyellow]

Hayun’s relationship with  Seventeen

Seventeen 14th member

Hayun’s masterlist

a/n: Feel free to let me know your thoughts as well as send me some requests💙. Ask box is also open to random chats.

S.Coups

They have a very trustworthy friendship seeing as he’s the leader and Hayun has the urge to help him with everything. He’s one who can bring out her serious side and often relies on her to organize the boys and take care of things when he can’t. He was the first one to break down her walls and let her open up to him. As a full circle, when he started struggling mentally, she was there in a heartbeat. They rely a lot on each other and the youngers sometimes say they act like an old couple.

Jeonghan

She’s relatively close to him, but not as much as some other members. They would compete to see who has the best hair and she would steal his conditioner because “it smells better than mine”. He never actually fell for the whole “I’m fine” act she put up in the beginning but he didn’t confront her about it, just waiting for her to open up on her own time.  In the few times she wants to be somewhere quiet and calm, she goes to him just to relax, they don’t have the need to talk with each other all the time but are there if the other needs it.

Joshua

Foreign babies, if they’re talking with each other it’s mainly in English. She was very interested when she found out there was another American trainee and just wanted to become friends. She loves his voice with her whole soul and there’s a lot of video evidence of her saying she’s jealous of his first line in Fear. Joshua has said multiple times he considers her his sister and worries if she’s taking care of herself. Strangely enough, if she’s in one of those hyperactive moods, just let her near Josh for a few minutes and they’ll be chilling. 

Jun

They clicked instantly when it came to becoming friends, and more often than not, she asks for him to coach her in dancing. Hayun likes to cling onto his arm whenever she’s tired and just take a nap there, and Jun is totally okay with it because 99% of the time he’s already asleep. Tough they can also be a total mess, if you take a quick look at their moments it might seem like she has a crush on him, but that’s because she likes to try making him uncomfortable with her flirting, what never works because they’re way too comfortable with each other.

Hoshi

Their relationship consists mostly of major respect for each other. They might have many things in common but they don’t have the need to be close all the time, and during their trainee period, he had a very strong opinion about her but pushed it aside after he found out about her parents. That made her furious because she didn’t need his pity, and after confronting him about it they came to terms with each other. As said before, they don’t drift towards each other but that never affected the group’s dynamic, though, to fans, they joke around together and appear much closer than in reality. 

Wonwoo

A couple of best buddies. He said once that he was too shy to talk to her at first but because she kept asking questions about his family he opened up rather quickly, which explains their dynamic very well. Just like Josh calms her down, the girl can make Wonwoo go from calm to ‘triggered’ in a few seconds just by making a joke. During Going Seventeen’s Debate Night, she usually resorts to shamelessly flirting to get him on her side. Hayun is also known for barging into his room at random hours just to talk to him about random stuff she saw online.

Woozi

First of all, he’s pretty sure she’s younger than him and her birth certificate is wrong. Second of all, studio buddies. He taught her how to produce, not because she’s interested in it but because she wants to help him, he doesn’t know that’s the reason though. Despite him being younger, she respects him a lot and actually called him “Oppa” by mistake once. He, on the other hand, acts like she annoys him, but they both know he appreciates her presence a lot. Because he said he doesn’t like skinship she would tone it down around him, but that lasted about a month and now cuddle sessions when he’s overworked are very common.

DK

Their personalities can be very comparable, so he’s another member she goes along very well. She thinks he’s the funniest and his jokes get her instantly hyped. Tried to pull the Noona card on him once but it didn’t work because he didn’t take her seriously and after two minutes they were on the ground laughing. She aspires to make him comfortable enough so he can emotionally rely on her and sometimes (all the time) she can get into fangirl mode when he’s singing. One time, during a live he proclaimed her Booseoksoon’s number one fan and she thanked him saying that Seungkwan was her favorite. 

Mingyu

Why walk when Kim Mingyu himself can carry you on his back? She likes to think of him as her personal bodyguard, but due to his personality, she usually gets frustrated at the fact he won’t fight someone for her (in reality he would, but it’s best if she doesn’t know that). Hayun loves to give him hugs and poke his ribs as a way of making him ticklish, it doesn’t always work but at least she gets a hug. He thinks she’s funny but has definitely gotten embarrassed by some stuff she’d say. He’s also a very big fan of the vibe she brings to the hip hop unit and sometimes copies her eye rolls or facial expressions on stage. 

The8

She got close to Jun so she got close to him by default, although they don’t have as many interactions. Despite not being as close, she’s a very big fan of everything he does and makes sure to cheer for him no matter what. He said multiple times that while they’re not very close physically he thinks they are somehow connected and feels comfortable to be open with her. Hayun has a soft spot for him, despite not showing it too often and thinks he’s the coolest person on Earth. Much to Jun’s dismay, he’s the only person who can give her Mandarin lessons and get her to actually understand it. She also gives him random pieces of clothes so he can personalize them for her. 

Seungwan

Whines “Noona” 24/7. She says he’s an annoying thing, but he’s her annoying thing. They playfully fight all the time but Hayun might throw hands at anyone who says anything bad about him and if he cries, she cries. They would only bond by being mood makers until after debut when all the members went home and they had to stay on the dorms by themselves, after that, he became her oldest son. She calls him Boo sometimes and he hates it, but that’s the price he has to pay since she always pays when they go out together. They also randomly walk up to the other and ask for a hug sometimes and no one ever questions it.

Vernon

Another member she speaks with in English, the difference is he usually answers her in Korean. She’s also on the calmer side when she’s with him, but she does think he’s uncharacteristic funny and constantly laughs at the way he acts. When he was younger she would try to baby him but after some time he became one of her closest friends, and they’re also known for being random together, she still feels the need to protect him every once in a while though. Vernon said she reminds him of his family once, so he took her to meet his parents, and now she constantly texts his mom letting her know how he’s doing.

Dino

Whines “Noona” part 2. Hayun is his mom and no one can tell her otherwise. You know how they say every parent has a favorite child? Well, that’s Chan for Hayun. She always cries on his birthday and she’s often hugging him and telling him he’s making history, the other members mock him for it but Dino actually loves the attention. She’s usually the one he turns to whenever he feels frustrated and more often than not you can find her giving him a back massage because he was sore from practicing. Even though they all think so, he’s the most vocal member about how important she is for the group. 

[tekweela]

Leo in Shawn

Hi, so I first wanna say that this doesn’t necessarily apply to all Leo’s. You can be a Leo and not be like this at all. At the end of the day it’s just fun to look into :) This is unnecessarily long so I understand if you’re not gonna read it LMAO, but if you are; enjoy 💖💕💖❣️💓

Shawn is indeed a Leo and sometimes it shows.

One thing that Leo’s can’t stand is being accused of bad intentions. Something interesting I noticed about that in relation to Shawn is how he responds to people claiming his relationship is PR. Once he saw people saying it’s PR he suddenly started talking about her more (I’m sure people saying it’s weird he dodged questions about her was a trigger for him to start talking about her as well). And remember when he was filmed at the airport by paparazzi? Out of all the questions they threw at him he answered the question asking if his relationship is PR. “Definitely not a PR relationship” he said to shut people down. He knows PR isn’t considered a positive thing in stan culture. Shawn isn’t someone who particularly likes lying or pretending. With PR being considered as bad he doesn’t like being accused of doing it (even if it is PR he doesn’t want to be reminded of him doing it). So his natural response of course would be to say the opposite or do the most like posting personal stuff with Camila to make it look genuine.

Leo’s also tend to get hurt by not being acknowledged by their good intentions. We all know Shawn is a sensitive person, heck, he’s a songwriter I didn’t expect anything else. The hate definitely does affect him and he is definitely hurt/annoyed by people/the world acknowledging him through his relationship or faking a relationship and not through his art. He’s very sensitive to criticism and gossip.

Leo’s tend to appear confident but can also be very humble and self conscious. They usually blame themselves when something goes wrong. When him and Camila break up he’s gonna feel embarrassed and he will have regrets for making the relationship so public instead of private. He will blame himself for that. He will blame himself for involving Camila so much in his career and maybe even regret some of that too. I mean, a lot of firsts in his career were with her. First VMA, 21st birthday, first #1 on Billboard, first stadium show.... Important milestones in his career involve her and he’ll never be able to escape or change it.

Shawn’s moon is in Aquarius, which, among other things, means he most likely felt “different” growing up. Yes, he is sociable, has a lot of friends and is popular, but he still feels lonely at heart sometimes.

They don’t like to admit stuff, especially their bad personality traits like jealousy, possessiveness, fear or their wrong. Especially when it comes to wanting to stand “above” what they call “pettiness”. Sometimes they end up looking petty themselves. Like Shawn when he acts like he doesn’t care for hate but then posts a throat licking video to proof he doesn’t care. He doesn’t wanna admit or show that the people do affect him, so what does he do? Try to come over as if he laughs at the hate, even though I know damn well he cries himself to sleep at night. Eventually when this goes too far Leo’s can get emotionally blocked, distant and detached. A lot of fans have been getting this vibe from him lately.

One major personality trait in Leo is pride. Shawn maybe doesn’t always show it very obviously but he’s a person who carries pride. PR or not, he definitely does feel some kind of pride in walking down the street with his “successful” singer-songwriting girlfriend while getting photographed knowing it’ll be all over the internet soon. He sometimes loves to show it off and rub it in people’s faces. I’m also 100% sure he felt like a real bad bitch when he walked the MET Gala red carpet with Hailey. He felt immense pride walking the carpet with a hot model. Pride can also come back in not wanting to admit he was wrong.

His Venus is in Cancer, that’s mainly about his emotions among other things. He’s afraid people are gonna leaving him and he fears rejection. Especially in relationships. Hailey leaving him for Justin did leave a mark. Leo’s tend to hold onto people and situations for a very long time. I’m 100% positive it took him a while to get over Hailey and her situation. In an interview he revealed he definitely would’ve dated her but now he’s too late. Shawn suddenly getting into a relationship with Camila comes over, to me, as “do it now before it’s too late or you get left”. Just pretend it’s real and he did have a thing for Camila for a while. After Hailey left him, he could’ve thought with Camila “it’s now or never” and jumped into it.

He’s easy going in love and is in love with the idea of love. He’d go over the top for a loved one and can easily accept behaviors in partners that other’s wouldn’t accept and he can even be drawn to people who others might consider as trouble. I think we all know a lot of people think Camila has annoying personality traits, but Shawn either just doesn’t notice or just accepts it.

His dreams about romance may be so powerful that he’ll eventually be disappointed with the reality of a relationship. He loves the “Camila and I have been friends for years and now we’re dating” narrative because to him it’s the perfect cute love story. A few months more into the relationship there is definitely a possibility that he (or she) is gonna be disappointed in what dating your friend is really like.

In love he tends to see what he wants to see rather than what it actually is and a possibility of clinging to romantic delusion is very high. He can cling to the idea that someone loves them when in reality that person isn’t returning the affection at all. If he’s not loved back, so what? He’ll love for the two of them. Or they may cling to a relationship that has lost all hope, which I sometimes think he did with Hailey after she left him. Another possibility is showing their love to someone who is unattainable or who is unable to commit (Camila maybe, because I’m sure she isn’t ready to commit again this shortly after Matthew) and sometimes even to someone treats them badly. He could do that all while clinging to an idealized image of his partner. So yeah, you can definitely say love makes blind. The result can even end in being attracted to co-dependent or even abusive relationships. That kind of worries me since he once said in a Q&A that he’s drawn to pain and something wrong in relationships. I don’t remember what he exactly said but it was something along those lines.

He can confuse sexual tension and lust with being in love. Say that he has had a crush on Camila for years. He could look at her, think of her, talk to her and write about her but one thing he could never do was touch her. He values touching. So what’s the first thing he goes wild with now they’re “finally” together? Have sex. Does that mean it’s true love? No. Is there a possibility he does see it as true love because he‘s lustful? Definitely.

His birth chart says he can shy away from confrontation. He needs to feel secure before he speaks. Which is exactly what happened when fans asked him questions about social issues in Q&A’s. When asked if he’s a feminist he didn’t answer because he’s afraid of saying the wrong things. He feels the need to first do research on topics to know what to say and not offend people so he doesn’t get backlash.

He trusts other easily and he can be a little careless on spending money. He loves helping people in difficulty. Some people around him definitely make use of his income.

So that was it, I hope y’all enjoyed it a little lmao I really have too much free time 😭

[noona-clock]

I’ll Be Fine - Part 2

Genre: College!AU/Fluff

Pairing: Jae x You

By Admin B

Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, The Great Cookie Bake-Off

“What made you change your mind?” Jae asked as you stepped inside his dorm room, his voice still a bit sleepy (though he’d woken up considerably upon hearing your statement).

“I woke up to a bunch of text messages in a family group chat,” you explained. You slid your bookbag off your shoulders, letting it fall to the floor with a gentle thud before you perched on his desk chair. “My cousin got engaged last night.”

Jae simply hummed in response before flopping back onto his bed while you took off your coat, scarf, and gloves.

“Exactly. So,” you began, unzipping your bag and sliding out one of your notebooks. “I think we should set some boundaries. Go over the guidelines and write things down so we’re both in agreement.”

“I didn’t know you were also a Pre-Law major...”

“Ha, ha. Very funny.”

Jae rolled off his bed then, shuffling over toward Wonpil’s desk and grabbing his desk chair so he could sit next to you. “So, what, like a contract?” he asked a bit doubtfully.

“Yes, like a contract.”

“...Why do we need a contract?”

You pursed your lips a bit as you thought. Then you looked over at him and lifted your shoulders into a shrug. “I don’t know. I’m just going off that one movie on Netflix where they fake date and sign a contract.”

...You would leave out the part where they ended up staying together because they fell in love for real.

“All right, then,” Jae chuckled, sliding his glasses off and wiping them with his shirt. “Go for it.”

“Okay, so you want Jamie to know we’re a couple, correct?”

He nodded one sharp, definitive nod.

“What do you think we need to do to make that happen?”

“Well...” Jae sighed, furrowing his brow and staring off into space. “I guess we could walk to class together.”

“Holding hands and stuff?” You began to write down this first condition, the pen scratching gently on your piece of paper.

“Yeah, definitely. I’m not the most affectionate person, but Jamie knows I like to hold hands.”

“Got it... holding... hands,” you muttered as you scribbled it down. “What about other public displays of affection?”

“I mean... I guess we could hug. Like when we say goodbye.”

“Kisses?” For some reason, your heart started fluttering, and you felt you had to explain yourself. “I mean, we’ll only actually kiss if it’s absolutely necessary, but cheek kisses and hand kisses and all that.”

“Whatever,” Jae shrugged. “I guess just do whatever feels natural.”

Your brow furrowed and you swiveled in your chair to face him better. “Jae. We’re fake dating. None of this will be natural.”

“Oh, you know what I mean!” he scoffed. “Fine, fine. Cheek and hand kisses are fine. Whatever.”

“Someone’s not a morning person,” you chuckled as you turned back to continue writing.

“No, I’m not. And maybe as my girlfriend you can bring me coffee?”

“I’m your fake girlfriend, so I will bring you fake coffee.”

“Ah, so you’ll bring me Starbucks.”

“What?!” you cried. “Starbucks is not fake coffee! Don’t you dare belittle my Pumpkin Spice Latte!”

A smile tugged at Jae’s lips, and he brought his hands up near his mouth, miming holding a cup. “Oh my god, I love Starbucks,” he said in his best valley girl impression.

You really didn’t want to play along because he was making fun of your hot beverage store of choice. But... you’d just seen that vine in a compilation last night! You knew exactly what line to say next, and you just couldn’t help yourself.

“It’s amazzziing,” you added.

“I love caffeine,” Jae continued.

And then you both started talking in gibberish until you couldn’t hold back your laughter any longer.

“Okay, okay,” you giggled after calming down somewhat. “Back to the contract. Jamie likes that one dining hall, right?”

“Yes. She’s there just about every day.”

“So, we can eat lunch there together to make sure she sees us,” you suggested.

“I’m down with that. I mean, we have to eat, anyway, so might as well eat together.”

You jotted that down, too, then furrowed your brow as you thought of what else the contract could entail.

“Okay, well, we went over my part,” Jae said, interrupting your thoughts. “So let’s go over yours.”

“Right,” you sighed. Just thinking about seeing your family made you sigh at the moment.

“How long will I stay?”

“Oh, you don’t have to stay more than a day,” you assured him, your brow furrowing even deeper. The thought of Jae being around your family for more than a few hours was giving you anxiety.

“What? No,” he chuckled. “It’s fine. I can stay over a night or whatever. You’ll be pretending to be my girlfriend for two weeks before I meet your family. It wouldn’t be fair if I stayed just for one day.”

You were hesitant to agree so quickly, but you’d already changed your mind about one of Jae’s ideas today... Plus, you knew Jae was a pretty logical guy. Heck, even this whole “fake dating” thing was more logical than you realized, if not a little crazy and out of the ordinary.

“Are you sure?” you asked.

“Yes, I’m sure. I can definitely stay over.”

A soft sigh escaped your lips as you tapped your pen on the paper, but you still gave in. “All right. One night. Two days with my family will definitely be equal to two weeks at school, I promise you that.”

Jae simply chuckled though it was interrupted by a yawn.

“Speaking of... how long should we do this? I don’t think we should just stop after Christmas, that won’t be believable at all.”

“No, definitely not. How about... a month?”

“A month sounds good. Jamie will surely give up on getting back together by then, and I won’t see my family until summer, so that gives them plenty of time to forget about me having a boyfriend. Although -- if Jamie’s still bothering you, we’ll figure something out. I have no plans on meeting an actual boyfriend anytime soon, so it’s not a big deal if we have to extend it or anything.”

“Perfect,” Jae grinned. “Shall we sign?”

“Yes, let’s. I have class in about half an hour, so I need to get going.” You quickly signed your name at the bottom of the paper before handing the pen to him.

Once Jae had scribbled his signature (you assumed - his writing was nothing less than chicken scratch), you stood from the chair and began folding up the contract to make a copy later.

“Do you... want me to walk you to class?”

...Oh. The contract was starting right now, then. I mean. It made sense. No time like the present... Right?

“I mean... if you want to? I can... wait outside while you get... dressed.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure,” he murmured, nodding as you stepped toward the door.

Unsurprisingly, you only waited a minute or two after you’d closed the door behind you before it opened right back up. Jae had, apparently, thrown on whatever clothes he saw first and (judging by the strong, minty smell) had swished around some mouthwash.

But his hair was still a mess.

“Here,” you said softly, reaching up and using your fingers to comb through the soft, pink locks. “Can’t have my fake boyfriend going around looking like a real hobo.”

“Hobos were usually very honest, hard-working guys who just so happened to be down on their luck,” Jae refuted.

“Well, down on their luck usually meant they didn’t have enough money or resources to dress nicely or shower, so...”

“This is true.”

“Now, look at that,” you grinned as you let your hands drop back down to your sides. “You’re already a pro. Telling me I’m right and everything.”

Jae simply tsked at you and rolled his eyes, though you could tell he was trying to fight back a smile.

“Come on, let’s just go already,” he grumbled, snatching your hand. But then he interlocked your fingers very gently, so you couldn’t help but giggle a little at his grumpiness.

The bright sun practically smacked you in the face the second you stepped outside, but it was nothing compared to the frigid air. Even though you’d grown up not too far away and should be used to cold weather - especially in the winter - you still hated it.

A shiver ran through you, and you used your free hand to grab the glove in your pocket. You couldn’t very well put it on with just one hand, though, and when Jae saw you struggling, he reached over to help.

“Thanks,” you murmured before pulling your scarf up over your mouth.

“You don’t like cold weather, I’m guessing.”

“No.”

“Yeah, I vaguely remember you being miserable last winter,” he chuckled.

“I’ll try not to be so cranky when I’m in girlfriend-mode,” you assured him. 

Mentioning the word ‘girlfriend,’ though, made you think about what an actual girlfriend would do if she was walking with her actual boyfriend in the cold weather. She would probably clasp onto his arm and try to cuddle up to him as much as she could.

...Right?

So, that’s what you did. You continued holding his hand, latching onto his arm with your other hand and pressing into his side to try and steal some of his body heat.

It was really weird and awkward, but...

“I have a question,” you said suddenly, hoping to ease some of the tension.

“Shoot.”

“Are we pretending to be a couple around campus just in case Jamie walks by and sees us? Or what?”

“Well, yeah, I guess,” he murmured. You were pretty close to him now, so a murmur was enough to reach your ears. “Also, one of her friends could see us. And they can back it up if she ever talks about it. Like, ‘oh yeah I saw them together once.’ It just makes it more believable, y’know?”

You hummed in response, nodding just a little. But you’d just rested your chin on Jae’s shoulder, so it was more of a slight head tilt than a nod.

Honestly, this was super weird. The holding hands thing wasn’t as bad, but everything else... it would probably take you a little while to get used to it. But if it saved you from a boatload of annoying questions at home... It was definitely worth it.

When the two of you reached the mathematics building where your next class was, you let out a sigh. Mainly because you didn’t like math but also because you’d gotten pretty cozy walking next to Jae. You would miss his warmth.

“When’s your first class?” you asked, coming slowly to a stop and turning to face him, your hands still intertwined.

“At one,” he told you.

“So... meet in the dining hall at noon for lunch?”

“Sounds good to me.”

Just then, you saw a familiar face out of the corner of your eyes, so you pulled your lips into a smile, making sure to make it an extra sappy one. You could even feel little hearts forming in your eyes as you gazed at him.

Jae narrowed his own eyes a little, his lips forming into a curious smirk. “What are you smiling at?”

“You,” you muttered, making sure not to let your lips fall. “Because you’re my boyfriend, and I think I see Jamie’s roommate over there.”

“Oh!” Jae quickly reached out and pulled you into a hug, wrapping his arms around your shoulders and mid-back and squeezing you tightly.

To be very truthful, it took you by surprise.

You’d hugged Jae before, yes, but only as a friend. Those lazy, one-armed,  100% non-romantic hugs.

This was completely different.

In the back of your head, you wondered if this was how he used to hug Jamie. You already thought she was dumb for cheating on Jae, but now you knew she’d gotten hugs like this?

...Wow.

It almost made you scared to kiss him.

Part 3

Master list //  RULES // Read About the Admins

[jojo-lity]

Iris

thank you for commissioning, i really hope you enjoy it!

pairing: okuyasu nijimura/reader word count: 3709 rating: sfw

ao3 link

“Morioh Grand Hotel, how may we help you?”

The room service worker patiently waited as their guest deliberated over the breakfast options. Conscious of available money and time, she took a simple option, prepared to just get a big lunch if it proved inadequate. Despite her nerves, she managed to get it all down, quickly checking everything one last time before setting out.

Somewhere in that town, where she was walking, Rohan Kishibe lived.

He was a new face in the manga world, but he had carved out his reputation at a phenomenal speed. Naturally, when he had offered the chance for one select participant to learn from him, she had put everything she had into proving herself. Even now, her ability recognised, meeting him was almost as fearful as it was exciting. 

Carefully navigating the public transport network, she made her way to the address she had been given. Assuming that it would be the directions to his home, she was initially dismayed to see a cafe, until she saw him at one of the outdoor tables.

He was working furiously, only occasionally pausing to glance at the vase of flowers in front of him. Not daring to interrupt, she circled behind him to look at the canvas, stunned by the decisive shading and colouring. Far from Rohan’s usual stylised work, it was almost indistinguishable from a photograph.

She waited for him to be certainly finished before clearing her throat. Conscious that he didn’t like to waste time, she launched right into speaking. “Hello!” He didn’t appear to respond to her name, but at the mention of the competition, he blinked and pulled a small photograph from his pocket. Looking closer revealed what she suspected: it was the picture she had submitted with her entry.

“Oh, of course, the contest winner. Sit down, then.” He made a quick gesture towards the table’s other seat, which also had a canvas set up in front of it.

So maybe he wasn’t chatty, but his skills were undeniable. She looked forward to being able to improve her own.

“What’s the first thing you look to for inspiration?” Once she was seated, he questioned her in a clear, rehearsed voice, a single eye peeking out from behind the canvas to stare.

Did she even have a clear answer to that question? She took a moment to think, conscious of his unblinking gaze. “Uh… you?” Everyone liked to be flattered, didn’t they?

“Wrong.” The exposed half of his face retreated from view. “When creating something… your first point of contact should be reality. Always. If you want people to read your manga, they need to understand it. It needs to be familiar to them in some way. So always, build from a foundation of absolute reality.” He spun his canvas around to face her, displaying the painted vase she had already seen. “This is what you’ll start with.”

So she was drawing still lifes? That wasn’t what she signed up for, but she couldn’t argue with Rohan’s results, and it was only the first day. She had weeks to learn about manga.

While she worked, Rohan did the same, though she had no idea what he was doing. It wasn’t her greatest area of expertise, but her finished product was judged as “not terrible”, and she was immediately assigned a new subject. And so it seemed to continue for the rest of the day.

The atmosphere barely shifted from morning to afternoon, until the cafe was suddenly crowded by students on their way home from school. To her, it was inevitable that someone would eventually notice the celebrity in their midst- the only surprise was that it took so long.

“Hey, is that Rohan over there?”

Who was addressing him so casually? She got her answer when their table was crowded by three students, in varying sizes and uniforms but apparently all high-schoolers. They were clearly curious, but to her surprise, that curiosity appeared to centre on her.

“Rohan, no way!” Forgoing a greeting, one of the taller students cried out in shock and anguish. “Don’t tell me that you have a girlfriend!” His purple-uniformed friend patted his shoulder.

“Come on, Okuyasu, there’s gotta be some other explanation. Right?” He grinned at her, a considerably more enthusiastic look than he had given Rohan. Were they not his fans?

Rohan seemed to have nothing to say, too busy showing his notebook to the smaller student (Koichi, she thought she heard him be called), so she went ahead and answered his question. “Nothing like that! I’m just here to learn from him.” 

Okuyasu visibly brightened up, leaning closer to inspect one of her many paintings. “Hey, this isn’t manga.”

“I’m… learning about reality?” Now that someone else mentioned it, maybe it really was strange that manga had barely been mentioned, let alone practiced. Neither of them looked surprised, though, with the boy in purple even muttering about how that sounded like Rohan, all right.

“Hey, this is really good! Come look, Josuke!” Okuyasu held up her rendering of the vase, displaying it with the fascination that she only felt for the greatest works. Her painting was good, but it hardly compared to that- did he really like it that much? His excitement showed no signs of fading as he explored the rest of the day’s works, including the half-finished one resting on her easel. He didn’t so much as glance at any of Rohan’s. “Man, you should be teaching him…” He leaned down to deliver that thought in a loud whisper, conscious of Rohan being distracted but not far away.

It wasn’t the first time she had been complimented, but such obvious admiration produced a curious lightheadedness that made it difficult to respond. An oddly pitched laugh escaped her before any words could. “I don’t know…”

“So you’re just painting stuff you can see?” Josuke’s line of sight travelled from the tree sketched on her canvas, to the real tree that stood some distance away. “I guess that’s cool, but eventually you’d run out of stuff…”

“Then we’d go somewhere else.” She hoped they wouldn’t be spending the whole time painting, though.

“Yeah, I guess… hang on!” His smile was blinding. “You could paint us! That’d be something you haven’t done before, right?”

Even if she had no idea what Rohan would say about it, she was having a hard time thinking of any reason to refuse. He was clearly occupied, and humans were examples of reality, weren’t they? They had interesting appearances and outfits, and… maybe she wouldn’t mind an excuse to look at Okuyasu for a while. Unaware she was smiling until it pulled at her cheek muscles, she nodded, sliding a fresh canvas onto the easel and preparing her sketching tools.

—

Okuyasu had never been painted before. He quickly discovered there was a lot he didn’t know about the experience- mainly, how much staring it involved. She was apparently painting both of them, but her eyes seemed to be on him constantly, following the outlines of his body at a glacial speed. Only the persistent scratching of pencil on paper kept him grounded in reality, and prevented him from getting too embarrassed.

His muscles were starting to cramp when she lowered her hand, letting them both know that they could take a break. Right away, he took the opportunity to stretch, arms flexing under his fairly tight sleeves. If he was still being watched, with a growing sense of admiration, he wasn’t aware of it.

“Hey!” As soon as he was done, he was leaning over the canvas, trying to get an upside-down glimpse of her progress. “Are you almost done?”

She shook her head. “This is only the first stage.” From what he could see, she was right- two human figures adorned the canvas, instantly recognisable from silhouette alone, but rough and lacking in most details. Curious about what their new acquaintance thought of him, his eyes lingered on his own likeness. There was a strong body, created with large, blocky shapes, but the faint lines of his eyes and mouth held a softer quality. Unconsciously seeking a comparison, his fingers drifted to his own lips for a moment.

“You like it?” At her question, he reluctantly tore his eyes away, resuming his previous position.

“Yeah, of course! I’m no art critic, but it’s awesome!” It almost didn’t seem fair that someone so pretty could have so much talent. If she wasn’t so kind, he would never forgive her… but didn’t being kind make it even worse? “So what’s the next stage?” 

She took a small paintbrush from a nearby pot of water, briefly pointing it at each of them. “I have to sketch out the scenery. Then, I’ll start shading in all the darkest bits before adding the rest of the colours.” Okuyasu nodded along with her, doing his best to appear thoughtful.

Whether it was her explanation, his earlier yelling, or just sheer coincidence that was responsible, no further words could be spoken before Rohan looked up and noticed what had been happening right across from him. “You’re still here? Go find something else to do, I’m not done teaching.”

“But-“ He gave them no chance to protest, shooing them away with persistence. Their smaller friend went with them, leaving just Rohan and his student at the table once again. Without even looking at it, he took her canvas and placed it with the others.

“That’s enough of that for now. We’ll go over the basics of manga.”

—

She worked hard all week, picking up new techniques and taking on new perspectives. Though none of it came naturally yet, she was already convinced that she had grown as an artist. She would have been happy to work on Sunday, but Rohan had refused, claiming he needed time to himself. Maybe that wasn’t so bad- she had barely been able to explore Morioh.

The neighbourhoods she wandered through were quiet and lightly populated, the exact opposite of the landscape she was used to navigating. It was surprising how much of a difference it made to be hearing birds chirping instead of trucks and sirens in the background. What was the best way to convey that noise through a drawing? Her notepad and pencils rest at the top of her bag, ready to be taken out at any time, but she kept searching for the perfect place alongside the near-empty roads.

As she circled back towards the city centre, the tranquility slowly faded, bird calls drowned out by laughter. But where was the laughter coming from? That was easy to identify- the teenagers on the other side of the street weren’t exactly being subtle about their joy. It only took one look for her to recognise them. After spending the time and effort to sketch them, they weren’t easily forgotten.

“Okuyasu! Josuke! Hi!” She waved, pleased when they not only waved back, but hurried across the road to greet her.

“Hey! What’s up?” Breathless and grinning, Okuyasu was the first to respond. “Rohan isn’t with you?”

“It’s my day off.” She gestured to the scenery before them. “I was just looking around.”

“Great!” Josuke seemed to exchange a glance with Okuyasu before continuing. “We were heading to Kameyu for some stuff, wanna come? Maybe we can hang out after.”

She didn’t really need anything, but it would be nice to have some company for a while. At the department store, Okuyasu accumulated several shopping bags, while Josuke’s purchases amounted to a few snacks. Chivalrously, he picked up a few of his friend’s bags, and she followed suit.

Their walk back to the neighbourhood was more of a stroll, with plenty of stops to show off some of Morioh’s landmarks to its visitor. She didn’t realise that she had been near-constantly laughing until their sudden arrival at Josuke’s house.

“Well, this was fun, but I gotta go. Mom needed me to fix something, could be a while.” Maybe it was her imagination, but it almost seemed like he and Okuyasu shared another quick look. Before she could be certain, he was hurrying away, and Okuyasu’s attention turned to her.

“I guess you’ll probably be going too?” He said it as if it was inevitable, but not something he was looking forward to. It made something in her chest flutter. Did he really want to keep spending time with her?

“I wasn’t planning on it. Even if you’re going, there’s some interesting stuff here.” Scanning the houses she could see, she picked one out to point at. “Like that one, I’d love to draw that one.” It was huge, but it looked abandoned- most of the windows were boarded up, which wasn’t stopping vines and bushes from growing out of most of them.

To her surprise, Okuyasu perked up, uttering a noise of disbelief. “No way, that’s my house! You should totally draw it!” Lifting his shopping bags onto his shoulders, he broke into a run directly towards the house, vaulting himself over the gate. Still carrying half his bags, she had little choice but to follow at a slower pace.

By the time she reached the house, he had opened the gate, and was holding the house’s door open even while she stood several feet away. His smile was so sweet that it was impossible not to smile back as she passed in front of him.

“Well, here it is!” Once he could close the door, he slipped back in front of her to guide her through the narrow halls. “Kind of a maze, but stick to places with lights on and you’ll be fine.”

Despite the house’s size, there wasn’t much in it. The furniture was minimal, and the few photos he saw scattered around were all of Okuyasu, Josuke, Koichi, or all three. “You don’t… live here alone, do you?” He was still in high school, but he was clearly handling all the shopping himself… it was a possibility, wasn’t it?

“Nah, my dad lives here too.” He gathered all the bags together, thanking her when she handed over what she had carried. “But he’s asleep. Doesn’t really like to be woken up.”

“Oh.” No one would interrupt their time together. She felt a little bad for being relieved. 

“Don’t worry about it.” There was still a smile on Okuyasu’s face. “You can draw whatever you want, I’ll just be in the kitchen. Got a new recipe to try!” So he was cute, kind, and a cook? Meeting him seemed luckier by the second.

Bringing out her pencils and notepad, she took a seat at the dinner table. “So, what are you making?”

She was no stranger to losing track of time, but it was still a shock to look out the window for the first time since their conversation started and realise how much the sky had darkened. Hours must have passed, but a quick once-over of her notepad revealed that it had barely been touched.

“Done!” She was startled once again by Okuyasu lifting a giant pot over his head, steam billowing out above them. “Just gotta put it on plates, then we can eat.”

“We? You mean… me as well?”

“Well… yeah?” He nodded a few times, slowed down by confusion. “I thought you’d be staying for dinner, kinda why I made so much. If you’ve gotta go, I can put some in a box, hang on-”

She interrupted midway through his reach for a kitchen drawer. “No, no, I want to stay!” Dinner or no dinner, she couldn’t say she was ready to leave. Everything she had learned about him only made her want to know more. “Want any help with the plates?”

“Nah, Tonio says I’m really good at it. Watch.” Armed with only a large fork and pair of tongs, he did fill each plate with spaghetti in record time, curling it up into a perfect spiral shape without spilling a drop of sauce. She couldn’t imagine how many times he must have practiced- it was a form of art in itself, despite his claims to have no talent in the field. He claimed to be talentless at most things, then went ahead and proved himself wrong again and again.

“Well, here you go! Hope you like it!” It took a moment for her to stop admiring his smile and start admiring the meal. After seeing it up close, and smelling it, her hopes were confirmed- the small chunks of meat present throughout the dish were chicken. Her favourite. He couldn’t have known… but she wasn’t sure if she believed in such coincidences.

She waited until he sat across from her to start. It seemed a shame to ruin the presentation of the plate, until she tasted it. Then she couldn’t get enough, only stopping to take advantage of the parmesan that he offered. He didn’t even feel the need to ask if she liked it. They were both too busy to talk much, but she had to stifle a laugh every time he slurped up a strand, and when he smiled afterwards.

The sound of him clearing his throat drew her attention away from the last few forkfuls she had been chasing around her plate. As the sun set, the kitchen’s dim light had done less and less to illuminate the corners of the room, creating the effect of a much closer space. “Hey…” His usually-enthusiastic voice was hushed, and had a soft quality that made her heart swell. “Thanks for being here. It was really great to hang out.”

Tossing her utensils aside, she practically leapt to grab his hands. “I should thank you for inviting me! I had a wonderful time!” Her smile was peaceful, but her eyes were shining. It was so nice to be close to him. He was sweet and understanding and warm, right down to the absolute core of him, in a way that she wasn’t sure she had seen before or would ever see again. They were right next to each other, and he didn’t seem to mind that, maybe she could…

Only an accidental glance out the window stopped her from kissing him, instead letting out a cry of dismay. How had she let it get so late? There was the bus she was supposed to catch, already at the stop. There was no way she would get out of the house and across the road in time.

“Hey… are you okay?” There didn’t seem to be much use, but Okuyasu sounded so sympathetic that she couldn’t help but explain her dilemma. Just having him there was already mildly comforting.

As he stood up, he took a gentle hold of her arm, tugging at it until she stood up too. “Come on. We’ll go get it.”

“Get it? But it’s already going to leave, we won’t…”

“We’ll catch up! Come on!” It was hard to refuse when he seemed so certain. After taking a second to gather her belongings, she let him take a firm grip of her hand, doing her best to keep up as he ran right out of the house. “All right!” He yelled as soon as they were across the street, waving his free hand in front of him in a wide sweeping motion…

And there they were, right in front of the bus’ closing door.

In a mild daze, she let Okuyasu guide her onto the bus without protest, and found a seat to sit in before she started thinking. They must have run fast enough to catch up to the bus, but why didn’t she remember half of it? She wasn’t usually someone who failed to pay attention to her surroundings, or forgot things right away.

All that she was certain of was that he had helped her in some way, and that was enough to keep her from worrying.

—

She was happy to say that she had learned from her mistake. After weeks of fun and learning, her final meeting with the friends she had made in Morioh took place right at the bus stop. None of them were happy to see her go, but they had exchanged addresses and phone numbers, and even discussed a potential visit next summer. Saying goodbye turned out to be a little easier, when they knew it wasn’t the end.

She had purposely saved a particular goodbye for last. Even if it had only been a few weeks, she had spent most of her free time with Okuyasu, learning and experiencing everything she could with him by her side. Standing there, she was certain of what she had known from the beginning: there was something special about him, or maybe just about the two of them together.

The way he was freely sobbing seemed to indicate he agreed, even if he was equally likely to express any emotion through sobbing. It was just barely possible to tell that his halting words were expressions of sorrow at her leaving, and implorations that she come back soon. Where words failed to comfort him, hugs seemed to help just a bit.

“You will come back, right? You’re not just saying that?” He was intelligible, which was an improvement.

“Of course! Here, take this.”

His face lit up with understanding when he recognised what he had been handed. A small canvas, still displaying the half-finished sketch of himself and Josuke. He hadn’t even expected her to keep it, much less give it to him. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure! This way, I have to come back to finish it, don’t I?” Her smile was bright, but if he had been able to look closely, he might have spotted a few tears struggling to escape. “So don’t worry. I’ll call every day, I’ll write, and I’ll come back as soon as I can. You won’t be able to get rid of me.”

He fell silent for a moment, then he was crying even harder, wrapping around her in a crushingly strong hug. “I’ll never forget about you either! I’ll call every day too! I promise!”

Only the arrival of the bus made them stop hugging, but they were waving at each other until they were out of sight, still together only in their hearts.

[shigironki]

~BIO FOR MY BULLY OC, VICTORIA CLAIRE KENNEDY~ i feel like i left too much out for my baby girl, and also changed so much of her. :B ALSO I FINALLY GOT OFF MY LAZY ASS AND MADE HER A FULL BIO, GO ME!!

Biographical Information  Name – Victoria Claire Kennedy Age - 17, sophomore year   Birthday – September 7th Astrological Sign -  virgo    Gender - female Ethnicities   Distant Descendants: none that she truly knows currently. 

Dominant Descendants: American  Physical Description  Hair Color – hazel/black hair, very wavy and curly, never has it straight Eye Color - Hazel Weight – 165 lb Height – 5′5 ft Figure/Build – Is an hour glass figure, thighs are big, is 37 C cup, curvy waist, and has slight chub onto her stomach, face is chubby as well. Distinguishing Features/Scars/ or Birthmarks – There are scars (very light; you can’t see them unless you look very close) on her right wrist that are medium sized, very light. has a scar onto her knee from when she was little. Has stretch marks on her hips that are very deep, and also on her breast, arms, and knees. She does have freckles, on her face, shoulders, and crotch-area. Tattoos: none Piercings: has two little piercings on her ears, and a nipple piercing 

Frequently Worn Jewelry: She tends to wear rings on her middle finger, does wear chokers (mainly black, but sometimes pink as well).

Typical Clothing Wear: Victoria tends to wear her school uniforms more often, but out of school she tends to wear cutesy clothes; pink shorts, “kawaii” dresses/skirts, formal shirts. She does also tend to wear one of Johnny or Gary’s shirts (ones they gave to her) With a pair of leggings. Never wears jeans unless they’re shorts.

Personal Information  

Current Living Arrangements -  Currently lives in a two story home in towards the forested areas of Bullworth. 

Traveled Territories – She currently has only traveled from Florida (last home) to Bullworth.

Hobbies -  Writing, knitting, playing games, drawing, and sleeping a lot.

Fears – Abandonment, overcrowded places, the dark, father, and abandoned places.

Religion/Beliefs – Currently has no idea.

Why?: She was raised in a non-religion family household, her parents nor grandparents never really got her into religion 

Health Behaviors  

Physical Ailments/ Disabilities/ Issues – Currently has PTSD, MDD, anxiety and Bipolar Disorder. She has has loss of feeling in her pinky on the right side of her wrist.

Addiction(s) [Sex, Drugs, Smoking, Alcohol, Other]: She currently smokes pot, and has trouble saving money and spending it on important stuff

Why?: Smoking pot helps her calm down, and it was sorta forced onto her at a young age (13 years old) and she never really tried quitting, along with money, she never fully had anything so spending it on stuff she immediately loves is “always the right thing”

Any regular medication taken? – Antidepressants, and nighttime medications.

Chronological Information  

Profession – A waitress for a local diner

Likes – Pastel clothes, cute stuff animals, animal crossing, Word Of Warcraft, G&G, and reading, along with smelling candles and perfume

Dislikes – Anyone who’s a dick, bullying, toxic people, and acne

Goals/Ambitions – Currently wants to be a nurse for a children’s hospital 

Most Instructive/Painful/Memorable Experience – Mainly her childhood; as she was bullied to the extreme, she turned off her emotions and stopped caring for others. Along with her father being put into jail, she grew with her grandparents and with her two sisters. This caused her to go into a mental meltdown, soon cursing and getting extreme mood swings, and with getting into violent situations, she grew hating everyone and everything, and never letting anymore get close to her.

Weapons/Equipment – Mainly uses her fist and feet for combat, also carries a rainbow pocket knife for protection. (She also has a Hello Kitty bat in her dorm room in case).

Personal Attributes  

Personality - Victoria’s personality can be summed up with two words; asshole, and caring person. As she grew with showing nor feeling any emotions, it takes her awhile to understand which emotion she’s currently feeling, which ends with being a bitch towards others in defense, and even being sarcastic towards those she feels are gonna toy with her or use her. She’s very hard to get used to, or even close to, but once you do, she’s a very gentle and sweet girl. She truly cares about those that have shown her love and kindness, and sometimes gets too trusting and stops caring for herself, just to love those who have shown her politeness and love. She gets carried away too much, and sometimes overreacts to stuff very quickly, but once you get close, she will truly love you for who you are and accepts you instantly.

Strengths - Quirky and very funny, knows a lot about science and math, knows how to fight, very good at talking out of sticky situations, persuasive to the maximum, and knows how to copy someone else handwriting very quickly. 

Weaknesses - Very angered easily, low self-esteem, her PTSD makes her scared of being hurt and yelled at, cannot be in the same room as a male adult, trust too easily, cries nearly about everything.

Good Habits – Tries to be there for everyone, helps when needed, charismatic, drops everything for others.

Bad Habits – Doesn’t watch her language as often, eats waay too much, gets upset and irritated instantly, makes everything into a joke about herself, (Doesn’t do this anymore) uses pain as a way to help her emotions onto herself.

Fetishes/Strange Behaviors – No fetishes, but does bite her ear bud cords, shakes her legs hard, bites her nails and sweater sleeves.

Stereotype – With wearing cute clothes and looking very sweet, she certainly does not fit the stereotype. She’s a potty mouth, bluntly tells the truth, and makes sure people know not to ever mess with her. 

Ratings on Personal Qualities  

Physical Strength: 7/10  As good as she is with fighting, she currently does feel pain a lot more than normal, as in one good punch to her and she’s down to the ground.

Attractive: 7/10  her outfits put people off instantly, but people seem to admire how she looks in a lot of pastel colors.

Honesty : 4/10 As much as she wants to tell the truth most times, she sadly can’t bring herself to tell the full truth about someone. She cares more about the person than the harsh truth.

Rule Abiding : 3/10   Lmao, rules? They don’t exist much to Victoria. She does break a lot of school rules, but makes sure to never break her home rules or grandparents.

Sociability : 8/10   She truly is the social butterfly type. Cliques don’t matter to her at all, she likes you? She’ll want to be your friend instantly.

Bullworth Academy Information  

Victoria has attended Bullworth for two years, for freshmen and now sophomore. As she dropped out of middle school to get her life more stress free, she had to repeat 8th grade in order to go into high school. And with all the troubles she had caused in Florida, Bullworth was the only academy to accept her.

Knowledgeability  

Language(s) – English, and French.

Schooling Level – Sophomore(??)

Expertise – languages

Reading Level – above average

Relationships Statuses    

Trusted Companions

Closest Friend(s) – Beatrice Trudeau

Even with Victoria not so big into math or any subject, her and Beatrice have been extremely close since Freshmen year. They both have a close friendship, and are there for each other 24/7, no matter the situation. She doesn’t like some of her best friends choices, but she makes sure she’s okay and safe and sound. ((When her and Jimmy “had a falling out” Victoria was there for her all night, helping her and making sure she was okay)).

Friend(s) – cornelius johnson, algernon papadopoulos, peanut romano, lola lombardi, petey kowalski, jimmy hopkins

* cornelius johnson: They both enjoy musicals, and science most of the time. She tends to go to him for the latest update of a musical that’s going on, and they both can giggle and cry over anything like Romeo and Juliet. They’re good friends for sure, and never really hang outside of school.

* algernon papadopoulos: As much as the two never see eye to eye, they usually have a good time during G&G, him joking about her “Edgy” characters she plays, and make jokes about the campaign. She never bothers to get to know him, as she never has the energy to handle his excitement, or usually understand what he’s talking about.

* Peanut Romano: He’s her first ever real friend when she had gotten to Bullworth, and nothing makes her happy than to hear about what Lucky or Ricky did that was stupid. She sees Peanut as a brother type of person she can trust, she tends to go to him when she feels like Johnny’s out of line, or what to do when he’s not okay. They both really enjoy each other’s company.

* Lola Lombardi: They both didn’t see eye to eye after her and Johnny broke up, and Victoria began to date him. Of course, with some small talk and hanging out, they both became good friends instantly, with Lola showing what type of clothes could get Johnny going, or helping her with make up tips. Lola is a type of friend to listen to Victoria talk about anything and just nod and agree.

* jimmy hopkins: As much as he isn’t okay with her dating both Gary and Johnny, he’s still there for her a lot of times. They have a weird friendship, at times they wouldn't’ speak to each other for weeks on end, then the next time they’re talking non stop and making a fuss in the classroom. *Pete kowalski: Victoria was really the one to never call him a dork or a loser, she actually enjoys hanging out with him, playing video games and talking about drama of the school. She does love his comebacks to Gary a lot of times, and always is there for him no matter what.

Hated Rivals

Worst Enemies – The Jocks, she truly hates them all due to constant bullying they do with the nerds.

Intolerable Students – 

* Mandy Wiles: With her constant putting down on Beatrice, she truly cannot stand Mandy for the dear life of her. The constant joking and poking fun at her best friend, it made her hate her instantly as soon as she had gotten there.

Tolerated Students – She doesn’t tolerate much people, either she likes you, dislikes you, or just doesn't talk much to you. 

Tolerated Townsfolk - No one currently

Hot Encounters  

Hinted Attractions - Gary Smith, Johnny Vincent (before they all had began to date)

Crush(es) - none

Lover(s) - Gary Smith, Johnny Vincent.  

She wasn’t fond of Gary at first, but given that they started to tolerate each other, she began to learn more and more about him, understanding where he’s coming from as she had parents who didn’t care for her, or wouldn’t try to. They became friends with benefits at first, as she was hypersexual and he wanted a stress relief, but as soon as they made it a normal thing, he began to develop a crush for her, hating it ever so much as she got into a relationship with Johnny. As she brought up that she could date both of them, with their consent of course, Johnny wasn’t okay with it at all first, as that was his girl and only his, but as she began to stress more and more about this, he caved in and gave it a try. It was all very stressful and full of fighting until Johnny began to try and get close and get used to his presence. They’re all fully comfortable now, still some annoyance from both boys here and there, but it’s easily resolved.

Ex(s) - Unless you count people who dated her for a day, then no 

Extra Information

Eating Habits

Omnivore/Carnivore/Herbivore – omnivore

Favorite Food(s): Bagel Bites

Favorite Drink(s): Soda, red bulls, smoothies, and orange juice

Disliked Food(s): peas, Brussels sprouts, and tomatoes

Disliked Drink(s): tea  

Added Information

Scent – Lavender, and/or honey

Favorite Color: black, pastel colors

Favorite Season: summer

Favorite Animal: frogs, chickens, bunnies, and cats

Favorite Music Genre: kpop, 2000′s pop, 80′s, 90′s, and death metal

[bolbianddolanhouse]

BNHA self insert AU

Nani the heck is this? Read here!

Chapter 17: Prepare To Get Your Shit Rocked

I wake up not feeling like lechuga, but more like day old salad. It’s the weekend and my whole day was free to cause chaos. I could spend it trying to see if I need anything to pack for the internship, but I wanted to do something fun to keep my mind off things. After breakfast, I just floated around trying to occupy myself before figuring out what to do/where to go. 

“What are you doing?” asked Iida as I was idly floating in the commons room.

“I’m just floatin’, trying to figure out what to do.”

“Well, um, want to hear about the weird dream I had?”

“Sure!” I got excited and dropped myself on the couch, Iida sat next to me.

“Imagine this! I dreamt that I was living with my spouse in our new house, beautiful home with a backyard. But what made it weird was that instead of children, we had dogs! And they talked and everything, even called me dad. Could you imagine having 4 dogs?!”

“That sounds like what I want! The multiple dogs part, not sure about everything else.”

“Why do you want more than one dog? We took care of Mr Muffins for an hour and a half and we couldn’t handle it!”

“Wait...Tenya, have you ever had a pet?”

“No, my parents didn’t allow me or my brother to have pets. Especially in the house!”

“Chaotic idea, but what if we go as a class to adopt a pet?”

“Is it against house rules?”

“It isn’t because we can play it off as Koda needing it to practice his quirk.”

“Hmmm, playing with loopholes...I’m in!”

“What are you two plotting?” said a very suspicious Aizawa “another one of your master plans Miss Palma?”

“Sort of? I was saying that we should go as a class to go adopt a pet.”

“We can go to the rescue shelter as a class BUT we’re going as community service, no guarantee that we’re going to adopt a pet.”

“I’ll take that compromise!” I said standing up “anything to escape my boredom.”

And like that we got everyone to join in on our little ‘community service’ trip to the rescue shelter. The people at the shelter just let us play with their animals, as they don’t get as many visitors and they too wanted to escape their boredom. 

“Don’t push! Everyone gets a hug!” I scolded the dogs as I was hugging one of the smaller pups.

“Look how sweet these cats are!” said Midoriya in the middle of the cat play pen “we should convince sensei to get a cat.”

Everyone was in agreement and we start searching for a cat to adopt.

“Ok lets wrap it up here” said Aizawa waking up from his nap “before you get attached.”

“Aw but sensei, can’t we adopt one of these lil babies?” begged Koda.

“We’re not getting a class pet and thats-”

“But sensei! Are you saying you’re gonna say no that this sweet little kitty?” I said picking up a one year old black with white and orange splotches cat “Look at him! He doesn’t have home and wants to cuddle up when you nap nap!”

He looks at the cat with his serious face and the cat stared back. The cat let his little tongue peek out and that won him over. “Fine, we’ll get him” he sighed in defeat as he picked up the cat from my arms “just hurry up and choose his bowls and stuff as I sign the papers.”

I couldn’t believe that worked and we all scurried to get his bowls, bed, toys, food and collar. When we got to the dorms, we gave the cat a tour of the place and settled him in.

“What should we name him?” asked Mina as she pet the cat “I was thinking maybe, Baby.”

“tch, it should be something cool! Like Lord Explosion Murd-”

“We are NOT calling this sweet little boy your hero name reject, Bakugo!” I scolded “anyways I was thinking Captain Pancakes.”

“WAIT!” spoke up Sero “lets call him Cat-ptain!”

“You know what Sero, that has to be one of the dumbest things you have ever said in my line of hearing...BUT I’m into it so I’m all for Catptain.” I said to roast as a cover to me liking the name. Not everyone was into it but we couldn’t come up with a better name, so Catptain it was. The first night was great but the cat seemed to like Aizawa a whole lot and mainly followed him and napped with him. The next 2 weeks goes by smoothly and with a lot of work getting done before starting to prep for the internship. That all soon changed when I was running late on a Wednesday, 1 and a half weeks before internship.

-Wednesday, teleporting in the intel wing-

“Oh jeez I have 2 minutes!” I said dead sprinting to my homeroom “why did I think it was ok to do a peel off mask?!” I dash in 30 seconds before the tardy technicality but something was off about everybody, they were all huddling over the side counter.

“Palma-san, he’s dead!” said Yuka with tears in her eyes.

I didn’t need anymore context and I dropped my coffee tumbler “ZIPPY NO!” I start bawling “our sweet little boy! who’s responsible for this?!”

“We reviewed the security footage” Hansai wiped his eyes “it was nobody’s fault but his own, he broke out of his glass containment and chewed on a cord and electrocuted himself to death.”

I was a little less angry but I walked over to see Jin holding his lifeless body in his towel like a mother that lost a child. I walk over to him and put my hand on his shoulder, we didn’t speak but we just leaned on each other in mourning of Zippy. That lizard was like a son to Jin, he was the one that taught Zippy how to shoot a gun and be an agent like us. Diya was understanding and let us have all of homeroom and weapons to make funeral plans for our class pet. We called the support and costume department to make us a lizard sized coffin. Mei on the other side of the phone call cried when we requested the coffin, they were working on a lizard sized vehicle so Zippy could do vehicle training with us during 2nd year. We planned and requested the school auditorium to hold the open casket funeral and burial in the school garden (a neglected part of the school since the conversion from a regular high school to a hero academy). Surprisingly, Nezu approved and we got to work on who to invite and arrangements. The time passed and we got the flyers ready for distribution in time for me to go to the hero class. I made my way to my class sad and puffy faced, it was hard to hide my feelings. I made it 5 minutes early to class and I walked up to the front of the class to announce the funeral.

“May I get everyone’s attention please?” I said trying to hold it together, everyone stopped to listen “Its with a heavy heart that I announce that one of the intelligence program’s own, Special Agent 69, has passed away early this morning.”

“Oh no! what happened?!” asked Uraraka concerned. 

“They got electrocuted to death by their own error, no foul play nor villainous activity.” I explained with tears falling down my face “And our class 1-A would like to invite you to the funeral this Saturday at the school auditorium, 12pm-3pm, refreshments will be provided.”

“We will be there!” exclaimed Iida “it’s such a tragedy that a fellow student got their life cut short so young.”

“Were you close to them?” asked Tokoyami.

“Yes but my buddy Jin was the closest to him” I choked back tears “he treated him like family since they both don’t have a family of their own so to see that he passed this morning was heart breaking” I broke at the last few words and started bawling again. It was hard to focus in class that day but I didn’t want to skip as there wasn’t that many weeks left in the semester. I didn’t wait for anybody to comfort me after class as I was helping my class make the memorial service, flower arrangements and refreshments. Everyone was pulling their weight in making everything happen on time. We got the whole intelligence program to come attend along with some hero classes, general ed and the staff. The night before, I was getting my black dress ready for the next day when I got a knock on the door.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Tokoyami and Iida”

I start sweating as I fear that Iida found out about mine and Tokoyami’s little ‘sessions’. “Come in”

“Hey~are you feeling okay?” coo’d Tokoyami “tomorrow’s the day and Iida-kun and I were talking and wondering if you needed any...comforting.”

I sweat even harder “Comfort me...how?”

“Like have us cook you dinner or go do something you like to do” Iida said chopping slowly at me “you’ve been crying and working so much to arrange this funeral that you haven’t really taken care of yourself.”

“I haven’t seen you smile or eaten properly in days, I’m worried that you’re going to get sick” Tokoyami held my hand “please Ita, let us ease your sadness.”

“That’s very nice of you two but I’ll be alright” I said stretching my back “Everything is in place and I’ll be back to my usual self after this weekend.”

“I have acquired dark chocolates and DDR” said Tokoyami as he pulled out a box of chocolates and Dance Dance Revolution for the game console I have “If you come out and play me, we’ll order pizza.”

A bitch weak for a boy that knows what I like “Oh Toko! it’s like you got me by my weak spots~” I walk toward the boys “you win this time, but I’ll beat both of ya asses at DDR! Hope you got Pizza Hut on speed dial.” 

As we walked out of my room, Iida looks at Tokoyami with suspicion “How did you know that was going to work?”

Tokoyami gets cocky “heh I spend alot of quality time with her” he sets the dance mats up in the commons room “I know a lot more than her inner thoughts, she has very...soft needs and wishes.”

Iida didn’t pick up on his tone “Is that so?” he checked if she was in earshot “then do you know anything about her past? Anything about a boy?”

“Hmmm, nothing about a boy” he stopped to face Iida “all she’s mentioned is that it was pretty dangerous were she attended school and she was a promising number 1 arts student of the district.”

“Yo! Food thief struck again” I said walking in with my cut mango with chamoy, chile and limon “they must like spicy food if they ate my mango in plum sauce and red chili.”

“I was wondering what that was” said Iida “but I didn’t want to be insensitive if it was something that’s in your culture. I know you like oddly spiced sweet things.”

Others came out of their rooms to play and hang out, overall a really nice time that I didn’t need but appreciated it. As I was taking a breather to pet Catptain, Tokoyami was rubbing my shoulders like he usually does when we have our sessions. I didn’t think much of it or who would see but Iida took notice and got envious. He didn’t make a fuss about it until it was curfew for them and we cleaned up to go to our rooms.

“Good night everyone! See y’all tomorrow at the auditorium.”

“Ita, allow me to carry you to bed” said Iida as he picked me up.

“My legs are fine Tenya!”

“You danced a whole lot, let me ease your pain” he carried my to my room, a whole 15 feet away “now lets set you down on your bed, close the door and-”

“What are you doing?” I asked concerned as he closed my door “you’re acting a bit strange.”

“I saw Tokoyami giving you a shoulder rub and thought that you wanted more” he said not doing a good job at hiding that he was jealous “let me just-”

I gently push his hands away “Tenya, did you get jealous?”

“I just want to tend to you like you tended to me”

“I’m fine, really” I said to make him understand “I didn’t want the shoulder rub but I couldn’t move since the cat was on my lap.”

“Oh...I see now” he blushed hard that he misinterpreted the gesture “sorry that I pushed myself onto you again.”

“What you need is a shoulder rub” I levitated him onto my desk chair and pulled it toward me to give him the rub “everyone tells me I give good rub downs and after this, you’ll be sleeping like a baby.”

The mere touch of her hands on his shoulders got him flushed and heart racing. She couldn’t tell but Iida was getting a sort of high off her touch. The way she moved her fingers to soothe his shoulder blades and back of the neck made him give soft moans of approval. She got to the scalp and gave a scalp massage too, it made his head tilt back to see her look back at him. His face read ‘pure bliss’ to her and he got his first taste of intimacy.

“I really enjoyed that” he said still looking at her with his head tilted back “didn’t know I needed something like that.”

“Glad you feel that way” I said putting my hands on his face to cradle it “anytime you want a nice rub down, I got you.”

He left to his room with all the nice and warm tingly feelings from the taste of first love intimacy. Maybe I shouldn’t worry about pursuing her heart he thought as he laid in bed she seems to like my company when we’re behind closed doors or prying eyes. And I feel like a man worth her time when that does happen, perhaps her heart is already in my direction.

-The next day, in the auditorium-

“Ok flowers are all set up!” I yelled from the stage to the audio table “are all the refreshments laid out?”

“Refreshments ready to serve!” yelled Hansai back “do we have the casket ready?”

“Casket arrival in T-minus 5 minutes!” yelled Yuka in response “do we have Zippy ready?”

“Our sweet Prince is ready to be honored” Jin powered through tears to yell back “do we have the music and video ready for viewing?”

“We are ready for viewing!” Mimi bellowed from the tech box “stand by for an audio test.”

“Good job kids!” said Diya walking onto the stage “I’m impressed with all the effort put into honoring your own. Wish everyone was like this.”

“Thanks sensei!” we chanted in unison.

“Its still 20 minutes until people are expected to roll in” I said checking my phone for the time “I’ll go and check on the greeting crew.” I teleported to the front doors to check on our other 2 classmates and Muffin 2.0 and tell them we’re ready to start bringing in people. I start heading back to see how our set up looks, it was like quaint memorial service with cookies. People start coming in right at 12 and they seat themselves.

“Palma-san looks so classy in her dress and veil” Momo whispered to Mina “too bad its an open casket funeral and not a social mixer.”

“I wonder who’s the student that died” said Amajiki to Mirio “Palma-san looked so sad when she gave us the invitation, they sounded close.”

“Is it just me or are funerals supposed to have refreshments?” asked Mirio to the other 2 “seems a little out of place but these mini cupcakes and cucumber water were too tempting not to take.”

“Iida-kun are you crying already?” asked Sato.

“It’s just that it’s so sad that someone so young and in the middle of their training just gone like that! Didn’t even get to finish the year with us.” said a teary eyed Iida.

Once all the staff member got seated and we weren’t expecting anyone else, we closed the doors and got things started.

“Good afternoon fellow students and staff, good to see everyone coming together to celebrate the life of Special Agent 69, or better know in the intel program as Zippy.” I said at the podium to get things started “He was an amazing team player and always boosted morale when things got difficult on the field. Now a moment of silence as we bring in the casket and present the body.” I step away and everyone watched as Muffin 2.0 walked in carrying the small casket followed by Jin. He got the casket and placed it on the presentation table and opened the casket to reveal Zippy the Lizard in his custom jumpsuit. Everyone saw and gasped that it was a lizard and not a student like they assumed. “And now its time for some words from Jin Matsui.”

“Thank you Itati, Zippy was like a son to me. I myself was also alone in this world to fend for myself so when he ran in our classroom on the first day of classes and he ran into my arms, I saw myself in him and decided to give this lizard a home. I shared my meals with him, trained him to do agent things, shared secrets that I only tell my best friends but most importantly, he made me feel like I wasn’t unloveable or incapable of making my own family. He became my family and gave me the strength to keep going.” 

He stepped back to wipe his tears and I took over the podium again “Touching words Jin, and now, a video in memory of Zippy.” The screen lowered as the lights dimmed a bit to show a slide-show like video of our selfies with Zippy, videos of him training with us, shooting his gun, parachuting off the school roof and receiving his license to kill along with some candids Jin took when he’d take him to his room on weekends and holidays. The entire video was to the song I Will Remember You By Sarah McLachlan , there wasn’t a single person that didn’t either cry or look in confusion on how a lizard was trainable enough to shoot a gun.

“I can’t believe this reptilian lead a much more successful year than me!” angrily muttered Bakugo.

“I can’t believe this lizard is getting more love and attention than I ever had” Todoroki whispered to Midoriya “I wish I were in a casket too.”

The video ended with a group picture with all of us at the display ceremony with Zippy in Jin’s arms. The lights dimmed back on and I stepped up to the podium again “We are opening the stage if you would like to pay your respects, if you don’t know what to say, we have an ‘F’ button so you can pay respects without words.” To our surprise, there was quite bit of people lining up to pay respects, everyone else was getting more refreshments to wait out until the burial. 

“Rest in paradise fellow animal comrade” said Nezu going up to the body.

“Hope you look after them up there, rest in paradise little lizard” Midnight said to pay her respects.

Even All Might payed respects “Young lizard! You brought morale and team work to your human companions, great qualities of a hero, rest in power.” 

Aizawa came up with Catptain and just pressed F, the cat also pressed F and it made me fuckin lose it in laughter. We got hundreds of F’s and we announced that we’ll be moving the procession to the school garden for burial. Our class marched with Jin in the front with the casket, we all sang Ain’t No Mountain High Enough on the way to school garden. Diya dug the hole and Mimi placed the tombstone, while they were doing that, Hansai announced the final song.

“And now a live performance from Agent 19, Itati Palma, and Muffin 2.0″

“Palma-san is going to sing again?” people in the audience were muttering as I walked next to the tombstone.

“This was one of his favorite songs” I said as I pointed to the sky “this one’s for you Zippy! My heart will go on!” Muffin 2.0 pulls out a recorder and starts playing My Heart Will Go On while I sang the vocals as they lowered the casket.

“Bye Bye Zip” whispered Jin as he tossed in Zippy’s laser gun “You’ll need this to flex on the other animals and God.” As they refill the hole and the song finishes, Jin takes his 4th swig of his flask and gets bold “ITS NOT FAIR! He didn’t even get to hit that reptilian pussy!”

“Jin stop! You’re hysterical!” I said as Mimi contained him from jumping into the grave. The funeral ends and all the invited guests depart but all of intel 1-A to have one final ritual. We circled around the grave and took out our flasks to pour one out for the homie Zippy. “TO ZIPPY! DICKS OUT!” we chant as we take a sip in honor of him. I walk to the auditorium to help clean up when I see Shinso waiting at the entrance.

“OH hello Shinso”

“Hey, I was hoping to run into you” he started “that was quite a service you guys put together, sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you for your kind words, that lizard will be missed and remembered always.”

“Yea urm, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Oh?”

“I was wondering if you could give me some one on one time.”

I got intrigued, he’s heard of my personal time with 1-B “Gladly! Are you trying to get into the hero A class too?”

“Yea and my quirk isn’t one of the most heavy hitting and I heard that you use your quirk to help unlock new techniques.”

“Its all true, I’m curious to see what you have” I said giving him a once over “how does tomorrow sound? Or if you want to have Sunday to yourself, I can do Monday or Wednesday after school.”

“Monday after school sounds good, thank you for accommodating me into your schedule.”

“No problem! Make sure you meet me in gym 3, dressed out and ready to start at 4pm sharp! I administer tardy punishment if you’re late.”

“Right! See you then.”

I clean up the auditorium and go to the low key kick back at the intel dorms. We just drank beer and cooked some food to just get our minds back to the upcoming internship. We exchanged were we ultimately chose to go for our internship, Mimi was going with a seaside branch and Jin was going to Hokkaido. Talking about it made me excited to go again. Fast forward to Monday after school, I change into my pink track pants and white fire-proof tank top with matching shoes. While I was changing, I was getting curious on what kind of quirk that boy has, was it fire? Something to do with inflation? I keep thinking possibilities as I walk into the gym floor, It was just 5 minutes until it was time.

“I’m here!” panted Shinso as he ran in “I didn’t know we had so many gyms!”

“Oh yea hehe we have like 6 gyms” I recalled but then refocused “you’re on time, lets get started!” I sat down in the middle and pointed to the space in front of me “come, sit and discuss what you want to work into with me.”

“Um ok well” he said as he sat down “I have a sort of manipulative quirk and it’s great as it is but I don’t know where to start to make it better.”

“Manipulative? is it like hypnotism?”

“Yes and No”

“Um, well lets have a spar to see how it affects me and how you work it into your fighting” I levitated up to my feet “take your stance and I’ll count us down.” We take our sides of the marked lines, he takes his stance and it’s a bit strange but it’s fixable “ready? 3,2,1 GO.” As I try to circle and mirror him, I see he doesn’t move but his eyes follow me, like he’s scared of me.

“I don’t like your pants, they’re too pink.”

I yelled back “nobody said you had to like them” for a second I felt my body tense but then I shook it off and kept moving.

“How did that not affect you?!”

“What?!” I said as I looked around to see if he deployed a sneak attack, nothing “what did you do?!”

“I’ve got my quirk activated and you’re answering my answers but you aren’t brainwashed shell of a person” he said like his world is collapsing “what are you?”

I cocked my head to the side in confusion “Your quirk is Brainwash?” I think about it a little and didn’t get it either “ask me another question.”

“Umm ok.... Do you want to grab dinner after this?”

“No thanks, its my turn to cook dinner” I answered and again, slight tension but no mind control “hmmm, why doesn’t it work on me? Or at least, not fully.”

“I don’t understand” Shinso fell to his knees “I’ve spent my whole life having people fear me because of my quirk and how villainous it is BUT HERE YOU ARE un-phased by my abilities like a gust of wind to a brick wall!” he started to cry in frustration “AM I JUST A DELUSIONAL WEAKLING TAKEN PITY BY YOU?!”

“No thats not it at all I-” I couldn’t finish my sentence, I was frozen in place. I saw everything Shinso commanded me to do, he had me crawl and do a cartwheel. I broke out of my controlled state when he held my hand.

“I can’t believe it worked that time!” he looked at my excitedly “what do you think was the thing that made you fully in my control?”

“Think it was fully on truths” I realized and came up with something “quickly, ask me a question.”

“Ok...um, What are you cooking for dinner?”

“Fruit salad and left over pizza” a quick on the fly answer “Ask me that same question now.”

“What are you cooking for dinner?”

“I’m not actually cooking anything for dinner, I just didn’t want to go out tonig-” boom, I figured it out! Shinso squeezed my hand to break me out of his control.

“You lied the last few times?” he asked me like I just killed his pet fish “why would you lie to me?”

I breathed out “Look, it’s not that I lied to hurt you. I lie to hide my feelings, my next move and my past, its like my defense mechanism. When you said you didn’t like my pants, I got a little offended because I think they’re a cute shade of pink and they make my butt look good. When you asked me to dinner, I said that because I didn’t want to go out this week as I have an internship to go to this weekend. And when you degraded yourself because I wasn’t responding to your quirk, I really wanted to reassure you that maybe I was the problem and that you aren’t a pity to me, I want to help you because you asked me and dammit I’m going to work you into the best fighter on the field!”

Shinso was taken back by the gesture “If it doesn’t fully work on some people, then what do we work on?”

“For now” I said getting in fighting position “lets test your close range, dodge my attacks.”

We train for an hour and I arrange another session on Wednesday, same time. I couldn’t shake what Shinso said when he was degrading himself. Poor dude really needs all the help and confidence to take the advancement exam.

-Thursday, in the dorms-

I come back late from my one-on-one time with Monoma and I was not having it.

“Palma-san its nearly dinner time, is everything alright?” asked Jiro, she was in the commons room along with some of the other girls and Aoyama.

“Yea, I’m good but Monoma is really getting on my nerves” I groaned as I put my duffle bag down “like, whats the point of asking me for help if they’re just going to degrade me and not follow my advice!?”

“I’m surprised you’ve lasted this long without refusing your services” said Momo “Why do you still insist on offering to help him anyways?”

“We have the same quirk and I know how hard it is to develop techniques for it” I took off my shoes and sighed “he doesn’t even have mastery in the quirks he has available to him, don’t even get me STARTED on his close range.” I start making my way to my room “I’ll be out soon for dinner.”

“Ok Palma-san, I’ll save you a seat” Uraraka promised and waited until I closed my door to talk to the others “alright so is it just me or is Monoma requesting her help too many time for it just needing help.”

“Kendo-san said that he’s talking about asking her out” Momo recalled “but if Monoma is this irritating to her, I don’t think she would say yes.”

After dinner, I started packing for my 2 week internship. I was asked to pack different changes of clothes for plain clothes and under-cover work, it was a lot to pack and I was wondering just how was high profile was this agency. Everything was ready right on time to go, I had to surrender my earpiece as it can’t reach to the others.

“Welp, have fun and be safe you two” I said to Mimi and Jin “text me when you get to your destination?”

“Yea, I’ll miss you guys” Mimi said as she brought us in for a hug “It’s going to be our first time being separated for a long period of time!”

“Oh shit you right” Jin realized “but this time we’ll be reunited and it’ll be all good.”

Because of how small our program is, not everyone is taking the train to their destinations. Mine is just 4 cities east of the school, so I got picked up by my scouter in a town car. Mimi’s is in Osaka, she had to take the train. Jin got picked up and taken to a private air hanger to get flown to Hokkaido. 

“Miss Palma, you are going to like Best Jeanist” said Jinko jeans man “he’s very excited to meet you.”

“He is?” I questioned “I thought agents aren’t supposed to interact with the head hero of the agency?”

“Well, you see, we have a developing agent squadron. It’s not very big but he interacts with them personally, he’s very picky on who he wants on his team.”

“Oh ok I see now” I turn to the window “I hope I don’t disappoint then.” Another hour in the car and we arrive in a corporate looking building, I didn’t know what I was expecting but I was getting excited.

“Alright here we are Miss Palma, we’re going to get you settled in your quarters then have a full tour as requested by you for quirk purposes.”

“Okay, thank you for considering them!” I said getting my luggage “In America, usually requests like that get ignored.”

“You’ll be happy to hear that we fulfilled all your requests” he leads me into the building “the boss himself made sure of it, he even got you your own quarters”

“Oh? I didn’t request that, I’m fine co-habiting with the others.”

“He did that because we don’t have any other females on the team, out of respect for you and how young you are” he turned to the living quarters “he made a room just for you” he opened a door with the sign that said ‘Agent 19, UA Intel’ “Here’s your quarters, furnished for comfort and a bouquet of lily, lavender and white sage. Get settled and come out to the blue door down the hall for the tour.”

“Alright thank you umm, Mr. Jinko Jeans?”

“Oh?! OH! that was close, I’m Jinko Punky, Best Jeanist’s right hand side-kick.”

“Jinko Punky huh? Alright thank you, I’ll be quick.”

I leave my door open in case of anything and to let others know that I’ve arrived. I hear people walk past my room as I put things away, I can’t see them but they see me. I hear them say things like ‘she’s so tiny?!’ ‘reminds me of my daughter’ ‘boss wouldn’t tell us about her abilities, wonder what she has?’ ‘Boss gave her flowers too! Is she royalty or something?’. I finish and I send a text to the others saying that I got settled. I walked out and see all the others, all men that tower in height to me, all wearing denim something.

“So you’re Agent 19?” said the man in a jean jumpsuit “so small and soft around the edges, like a puppy.”

“What is your name Agent?” asked sternly the man in a jean vest.

“Um, I’m not comfortable giving such information at the moment.”

“Let her be, she’s doesn’t have to tell us anything” defended a man in jorts.

The man in the jean vest walked in front of the only exit, blocking it “She’s not allowed to the leave until she gives us a name!” he turns to me “I don’t trust you one bit agent! I don’t know how you gained the interest of Jinko BUT you are not going to be treated special here!”

Playtime was over, I was going in with my true self “Please sir, I need to report to Jinko Punky for a tour and I do not wish to keep him waiting.”

“Then you better start talking little girl.”

I was going in for the kill, I sighed and levitated him to the side and opened the door “I did ask nicely” I walked to the hallway and turned back to the others “sorry about that y’all! I promise I’m sweeter than this.” I walk down the hall to the blue door, meanwhile the others were murmuring about what I did.

“She’s a telepathic! And so polite” commented the jorts man “I feel like I was in the presence of a unicorn! I can’t wait to see her full power!”

“Shut it! I don’t care what she is” growled jean vest man “don’t get fooled, it could be a ruse to take us down from the inside!”

I get my tour of the place, got aquatinted with the other agents. I told them about my encounter earlier and they said not to worry about him, it happens all the time when an agent comes through to relay information. I feel more welcomed as they invited me to eat at their little area during every meals. I go to bed and see that Mimi and Jin got situated already too, Diya sent a group text letting us know that everyone got situated and all updates about each other will be sent in a daily text from him. It got me in a better state of mind as I drifted to sleep...what could happen in the next 2 weeks?

-End Chapter 17-

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[shantal-pellington-blog]

Trapped

A JCDC award-winning short story

There was no time. No space. No earth underneath me.

My body was a quivery mass of bones and blood and water. My heart, rock-hard behind my breasts, pulsated with such ferocity I feared it would tear the flesh of my chest open. I stood there trying to command my body to run...to move, do anything but stand there staring into the beaming lights aiming towards me. My eyes burnt. I didn’t think I had blinked in the eternity-moment I had stood there like a deer in the middle of the road.

I felt the metal crash into me. My eyes bulged out like pink-pong balls suspended from the sockets of my eyes. My body had flung itself against the screen of the car. It broke. I could feel pieces of glass piercing my skin...my arms, my fingers, my face. The pain was so intense I couldn’t even find the energy to cry out like I wanted to. I wanted to holler like a dog in mourning. But instead, only lava-like tears poured from my eyes. The last I heard before I passed out were loud shouts and piercing sirens. The emptiness that awaited me was welcomed...

I could hear my family’s choked cries and hushed whispers. I could hear them telling me how much they loved me. I heard their plea bargains with God, heard them promise me the world in return for my eyes to open. I heard it all and I wanted to assure them of this. But I couldn’t.

Whenever they left I would feel different hands-sometimes chubby and soft, sometimes slender and strong-turning me over in the hospital bed. They wiped my skin to keep it clean. I could smell the soap; once I recognized lavender. I recognized it because it was my favourite scent. For the entire timeI was in St. Joseph’s, shut away from the rest of the world by a coma, my world became a sieve for words and voices and smells.

One day, there was an argument over my head.

“If yuh never bother her to go to the market this wouldn’t happen!’’

“Me?” Mom asked my sister incredulously.

“Yes, you!’’ Sasha cried. “She told you ‘Mamie, I will go tomorrow since it’s Sunday, not so much people on the road on Sundays.’ But no you had to force her to go to the market because it’s Saturday!”

“But she always go to the market for me on a Saturday,” Mom tried to defend herself weakly. She felt guilty, you could hear it in how her voice sounded strained and feeble. I wanted to assure her it wasn’t her fault. She could not have known I would have been hit by a car that day...

“Two big gal pikney I have in the house and none of you willing to go market for me. Sasha you always have school work to do and you Miss Lari …seems like you getting too big to go market for your mother anymore!”

I had got up from the coach and walked into the kitchen where she was making breakfast.

“Mamie, I will go tomorrow. I tell you I hate going Downtown on a Saturday; too many people, man!”

I opened the fridge and took out a jar of juice. I poured some in a cup I took from the drainer. I sipped some and turned back to my mother.

“Ma’ you can’t wait till then?”

“No chile, I want cook some nice pumpkin soup today. I need you to go to the market and get the stuff.”

“Alright, me will go.”

I rolled my eyes.

After eating breakfast I left out for Downtown...

In the bus I felt a vibration against my thigh. It was my cellphone. There was a text from Mark, a guy I had just started to date.

Mark-Hey, babe.

ME-Hey, baby.

Mark-What’re you up to today?

I told him. We texted the entire day, pausing only when I had gone into a wholesale or when I had bent to pick up fruits or veggies from the vendors lined along the streets. By the time I had gone half way through the list Mom had given me, the sun was a smoldering ball of heat.

“Watch weh you going, girl!’’ someone shouted from behind me.

I blushed in embarrassment. I put away my phone for a while, hoping Mark wouldn’t text until I had got into a bus. But he did text. Part of me knew I shouldn’t walk and text, mainly because I didn’t want to have my phone stolen. But I was too excited to get texts from him! I couldn’t resist responding.

Mark-Can I see you later?

I had three bags in my hands at that point. I stopped at a stoplight and placed one bag on the ground to get my phone out of my pocket. I read his message and beamed. I began to respond.

Me-sure

Before I could hit ‘send’ I looked up and saw that people were already crossing the street. The stoplight had already turned to green for a while now and I hadn’t realized. I bent to take up the bag. I figured I could make it across the street before the light turned back to red. I started to cross as briskly as possible but by the time I had reached half way the light had turned to red and a car had begun to drive off. Then something strange happened. My feet started to buckle and I couldn’t move. The car that had driven off was dangerously close to me. Whatever it was I could not tell, but it made me stop dead in my tracks and turn to face the car speeding towards me...

That’s how it happened. That’s how I had ended up in a coma for months and why my doctor had begun to tell my mother I would not make it. It was surreal to hear people speaking over me as though I was already dead. At times it felt so scary I had mental breakdowns that were unfortunately only known to me. It was as though I could not escape myself; could not outrun my thoughts, could not make them cease, nor quiet the scream that hummed in my throat:

“I’m here! I’m alive!”

Sometime later, Mark told me how he had felt when he had thought I just stopped texting him. Hurt, confusion, sadness; the emotions twirled around his head like a tornado. Message after message to me went unanswered. He could not think of why. He tried calling, but always it went straight to voicemail. He had gone into what was almost a depression. It was that bad...he was madly in love with me.

He was sick of it. He had had it with the unanswered questions. He decided to go to my workplace. We had discussed my work at length many times before, so he knew where I worked...

“Gosh, I’m sick of my job and those annoying people who call! They have no sense, Mark! None.”

He chuckled softly. He thought I was exaggerating.

“They can’t be that bad!” he rebutted.

“I’m telling you, a call centre is the absolute worst place to work! And remember you know they are not Jamaicans; they are mostly Americans and some of them have the thickest accents!”

I went on to mimic a horrible Texan accent. He threw his head back and laughed hard. We were sitting on the grass at Emancipation Park. My workplace was a few blocks away. But in my mind it was miles away. I was just happy to be with him; he was too, I could tell. When he looked at me he blushed and looked away quickly. Once when he did it, I held his strong jaws with one hand and turned his face to me. He was an Adonis.

“There should be a Mister Universe,” I said.

He twitched his face, trying to get out of my grip. He was laughing.

“What the hell are you talking about!” he admonished.

I laughed and said, “it’s true and if there were a Mister Universe, you would enter.”

“No I would not,” he said firmly.

“You on the other hand,” he said seriously, “should be Miss Jamaica...my Miss Jamaica.”

We smiled at each other lovingly, then he reached over for my face to plant a kiss.

When we came up for air, he asked, “Does this mean we are officially together?’’

I wanted to be cheeky so I replied, “May be!”

He squinted at me, pretending to be upset. I laughed and said, ”I’m kidding, of course we are!”

I jumped up in glee and ran across the grass. He took the bait and ran after me. Minutes later we were tumbling down on the grass, tumbling down, down, down in love...

“Hi, how may I help you?”

The receptionist greeted Mark as he entered the Call Centre.

“I’m looking for Lari Chambers; she works here.”

“Can you wait one second while I enquire about her?”

“Sure,” he said. He went to sit in one of the armchairs. A few minutes later she beckoned for him.

“Lari is not at work today. She hasn’t been for some time now. Are you a family member?”

He hesitated, all of a sudden a bit shy.

“She’s my girlfriend,” he admitted.

She gave him a puzzled look as if to say “And you don’t know where she is?” Also hesitantly, she told him,

“She’s not been to work because she’s in the hospital. A coma, her supervisor said.”

Sensing Mark’s shock and anguish, she added, “I’m sorry.”

“Do you know which hospital she is in?”

She redialed the person she had been on the phone with.

“He says she’s in St. Joseph’s Hospital.”

“Okay,” he said, “thank you.”

He walked outside and got on a bus. He was unsure what to do. Should he go to St. Joseph’s? But how would he find me? He supposed if he gave the receptionist my name there, like he did at my workplace, they would be able to locate me. He had to locate me, he just had to!

On the drive to the hospital, he allowed the feelings he had been reining in to break loose. Guilt, sadness, worry assailed his mind and made him sick. I was in a coma. How could this be, he thought? I had just left high school; my eighteenth birthday was two months ago. Wasn’t I too young to be in a coma? Weren’t comas for old people?

He got off the bus in Half Way Tree. That was where he had to take another bus-the bus that would take him to me. While he was climbing the steps to get into the bus, he noticed that his legs were shaking. He hadn’t realized that the news of my hospitalization had shaken him up that badly! He tried to keep his legs steady, commanding them to move-much like I hadn’t been able to do with my own legs on the day of my accident.

The ride was longer than it usually took to get from Half Way Tree to the hospital. But wasn’t that the way of time: to move slowly when you’d rather it move fast and move way too fast when you’re having fun?

Finally, the bus stopped at the hospital. He got off the bus, walked inside, found a receptionist and said what he had been rehearsing in the bus on his way there.

“Hello, my name is Mark. I’m looking for the room a patient is in.”

“What’s the name of the patient,” the receptionist asked almost before he had finished his statement.

She looked bored and tired. One could see it was already a long day for her. It was only half past twelve. It was that time of day one avoided the sun at all cost.

“Her name is Lari Chambers.”

She looked among the papers on the wooden desk before her. She set her oversized test glasses on her nose properly so she could see through them better.

“She’s in the Intensive Care Unit. Room 23.”

He could not believe he had gotten this information out of her so easily. He walked away quickly to Room 23...

There was chanting in the room. Above the chorus of people, the imperious voice of a Pastor could be heard. He was praying for me. My family had made a semi-circle around my bed, hands clasped with each other. The doctor had said “fifteen minutes”. They had fifteen more minutes with me.

“Lord, I want to thank you for giving us Lari for eighteen wonderful years. She has been a blessing to her family and friends. She has lived a good, righteous life serving you, O’ Lord.”

He went on and on in that haughty way of pastors. He was praying over my soul, praying that it would ascend into heaven like a dove, much like how we imagined Jesus ascended into heaven when he had risen. They had secretly hoped for a miracle like that- a resurrection, a resuscitation. But it was almost three months and nothing had changed. I still lay there stiff and unresponsive.

It was almost time for the doctor to return. The door opened and someone walked in.

“Who are you?” my mother asked.

There was clearing of throat. I heard him speak.

“I’m...I’m Mark...ahhh I’m here to see Lari.”

“Mark? We don’t know any Mark, who are you young man?”

My mother was getting angry at that the fact that Mark had interrupted such a delicate family moment.

“I’m Lari’s boyfriend,” he told her.

There was a slight gasp.

“Boyfriend?’’ my father asked.

“Me never know Lari have boyfriend!”

“Me neither!” Mother echoed.

“Mark Lawrence?” my sister addressed him.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Oh ye Mom, is Lari boyfriend. She tell me bout him.”

He was happy that he was finally verified.

“Is that Lari?” Marked asked, pointing at the bed.

“Yes.”

“Come in and close the door,” he was instructed.

He walked towards the bed and looked at me. He couldn’t restrain the soft sob that escaped his lips.

“I didn’t know,” he said.

“One minute we were texting each other and the next minute she just stopped texting and I didn’t hear anything from her!

“Wait, when were you texting her?” my sister asked.

“One Saturday morning.”

“Oh my god, so you were texting her the day of the accident!”

“I didn’t know...I didn’t realize she met in an accident!”

He was crying.

“So... so you saying that it could be because she was walking and texting she didn’t see the car that hit her!” my father exclaimed.

“Me tell her all the time she too addicted to that damn phone. Mike I don’t know why you got her it you know! And you Mark,” she began to accuse.

“This is all your fault! If you hadn’t been texting her she wouldn’t have become distracted!”

“Mom, you don’t know for sure,” Sasha defended.

“You don’t know if is because she was texting it distract her, leave him alone.”

Mark was crying openly. He did feel guilty. He did feel responsible for everything.

“I’m so sorry,” he kept on repeating.

The Pastor got up.

“Let us squash this. It is no one’s fault. He couldn’t have known. Let us take this opportunity to say our good-byes to Lari. This moment is about her.”

My father came to sit by my bed first. He held my hand in his. I felt his mustache against my skin as he raised my hand up for a kiss.

“Lari, Lari...I don’t know what to say...you’re my pumpkin, even though you are no longer a child you were always my little Lari Boo. I going miss you my pretty daughter. I love you.”

My sister was next. She hugged me. I wanted to find the strength to wrap my arms around her. But no matter how hard I tried to will my arms to respond, they didn’t.

“Hey big sis,” she started.

“I just wanted you to know that even though we have had our fights, I love you very much. You have always been there for me, helping me with my assignments and so on. You have been my role model.”

Sasha began to sob.

“I just want you to know I love you so much, and I don’t know how I am going to live without my big sister.”

She was sobbing loudly. My father came for her and wrapped her in his arms.

It was my mother’s turn. She kissed my face and my hands.

“Baby, I sorry this is how you have to go. You are so young. You shouldn’t have to go like this. If there was anything I could do to save your life, you know I would. I would give anything for you to just open your eyes and look at us...look at your family that love you so much.”

She let go of my hand and wiped her face; there were streaks of tears along her cheeks. As she continued to touch my hand, there was something happening inside of me. I couldn’t name it, and I couldn’t explain it properly but it was as though by touching me she was transfusing life energy inside of me. I could feel my pulse pick up pace, could feel my heart pump a little louder.

“I love you so much, Lari.”

I concentrated as hard as I could. If I could respond to her, if I could get out the words “I love you, too” then everything would be okay.

She let go of my hand.

“May I say goodbye to her?” Mark asked.

“Yea go ahead, boy,” my father said.

His footsteps were loud in the quiet room as he walked towards me.

He sat down on my hospital bed. He reached out and took one of my hands. He played with it in his for a moment, almost as if he were trying to remember its feel, remember the very veins in its palm.

“Hey lari...I know we never got to know each other well enough like we wanted to but I just wanted you to know-“

He sniffled.

“I just wanted you to know that in the short time you were my girl, I really liked you.”

He shifted on the bed a little, turning his back to the rest of my family.

He continued, “I wanted you to know that I love you.”

He bent and I felt warm lips on mine.

The stirring inside me that feeling my mother had ignited, revved up . There was a low sigh from me suddenly.

“Did you hear that?” Mark asked in surprise.

“Hear what?” my family asked in unison.

“She made a sound!”

“No she didn’t.”

He sighed.

“I know I heard you in there, Lari. Please let me know you are in there. Squeeze my hand, make a sound, anything, please.

There was no sound from me and I didn’t squeeze his hand. The doctor came in a few seconds later.

“Are you ready?” he asked, as though that were even a question one should ask. Obviously, he was versed in Medicine, and not in the affairs of letting loved ones go.

“I’m going to ask you all to step outside now,” he said.

A moan escaped my lips.

“Did you hear that!” Sasha squealed.

Everyone gathered around me. But no more sounds escaped from my mouth. The doctor explained that sometimes sounds came out of a person in a coma. They often meant nothing, he told them.

Everyone gathered their stuff and started to leave the room. Mark was the last to leave the room. Before he left, he came to me one more time. He bent and whispered in my ear.

“I know you’re in there. I’m sorry.”

Hearing him have such confidence that I was still there, did something to me. It gave me the power to clutch the hand he used to hold me. It was a weak clutch. But a clutch, anyway.

“You see this Doc!” he exclaimed.

The doctor sounded genuinely surprised.

“Yes, I see it!”

He spoke into my ear. “Squeeze my hand some more.”

I squeezed and squeezed as hard as I could. I was aware that I was fighting for my life. I had to let him-them know that I was still there.

I felt Marks lips on mine again. Slowly my eyelids fluttered open. When they finally managed to open-when I finally awoke out of my coma- Mark’s eyes (full and glossy) were the first I looked into. It was as though these months didn’t happen. Like the time between our texting each other and our looking into each other’s eyes at that moment was a matter of mere seconds. I still couldn’t speak as yet, but my eyes were open and that was all the proof of life they needed. The moments that followed as my family re-entered the room was a blur of shock, happiness, relief and love. I had never before been in a room abuzz with so much love.

That experience taught me that love was indeed the most important thing in the world. That and that responding to a text while crossing the streets can wait. Even if it were from the cutest guy in the world...

“Wow, grandma had a miracle!”

“Yes she did.”

Alexandria closed the withered diary and looked at her daughter. They were sitting on the patio, overlooking the Blue Mountains. It was a glorious Sunday afternoon and her daughter Charice, had asked to hear stories about her grandmother. Remembering the diary Alexandria’s mother had when she was alive, she went for it and read one of the entries for her.

“So what did you get from that story?” Alexandria asked her thirteen year-old.

“That you must pay attention when you’re on the road!”

Alexandria laughed.

“That and the fact that boyfriends are a distraction! Don’t have any!”

They both burst out laughing. Alexandria closed the book and they walked inside, hand in hand.

[eucatastrophe-i-hope]

Soulmates and Scars

A Klance soulmate AU where anything that happens to your skin also happens to your soulmate’s skin.

WARNING! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK: Self-harm and suicide stuff. If you are triggered by these things, please don’t read it!

The first time he found a drawing on his skin, he was five years old. It is a lot of different splotches of paint, placed there by his soulmate. When Lance sees the different reds and blues and oranges and greens, he squeals, understanding that they were his soulmates doing. He knows all about soul mates. How you are meant to be. When you do something to your skin, it shows up on your soulmate’s skin. Whether it is a drawing, a bruise, or a cut, it appears on their skin. Lance jumped up, running to his parent, showing them the artwork on his skin. They hugged him and spun him around, excitement filling the air.

Keith is five when he saw the little stick figures. He wondered about his soul mate. Who are they? What are they like? Many different questions fill his mind, and he wondered how they would meet and when they would get married and what their life together would be like. He showed his parents the doodles, and they hugged him. “Your soul mate is your best friend and the person you need to protect most in the world. Whoever they are, you will love them.” His mother had said to him, smiling. Yes, my soul mate. I will love them so much.

Lance is ten when he started to feel what his soulmate is feeling. His mama and papa told him it would happen eventually, that they would feel what they other felt. “When there is a very large emotion, a wave of feeling, you will feel what the other feels.” His papa told him. And Lance thought that he would be happy. But the first thing he felt was utter sorrow. Overwhelming emotion in his stomach and his chest. Lance screams and cries. He can’t help it. He knew something terrible happened, and he knew that there is nothing he could have done about it. The feeling came so suddenly, that he didn’t realize what was going on until he fell on the floor, screaming. He doesn’t stop crying for three days. Because he wants his soulmates pain to end.

Keith is ten when his parents are killed by a drunk driver, with him in the back seat. He didn’t realize what was really going on until he saw the flashing lights, and the paramedics trying to help him out of the car. Until he saw the blood. And Keith started screaming.

His parents were dead. He had nowhere to go. He had to live with an American couple he didn’t know. He had to watch as his parents were lowered into the ground. He had to cry himself to sleep because his mother wasn’t there to tuck him in at night. He didn’t have his father to play with him on Saturday afternoon. He was alone. With only a pen, and a soul mate to watch him draw.

They are both twelve when Keith started cutting. Lance wakes up in the morning with a sting on his wrists. When he pulled his arms out from under the pillows, he sees the thin white lines on his wrist, and he screams. His mama ran into the room, her dark brown hair still wet from her morning shower, asking him what’s wrong, why he was screaming. Lance couldn’t speak at first, he could only stare at his wrists, wondering what was happening in his soul mates life that would bring him to hurt himself. He showed his mother his wrists, and she screamed too. She grabbed his hands, causing him to wince, and started asking him questions, yelling for his papa. He just stared at the wall, silent tears crawling down his face. His soulmate was hurting, and Lance couldn’t help him.

Keith threw the bloody razor into the sink and stared at the ragged skin. He sobbed watching the cold water wash the blood away. He needed help. He knew he needed help. He just couldn’t ask for it. He had two people outside of the door and down the hall, watching some movie he had never heard of. The people who called themselves his parents. He could have gone to them. But he didn’t want to. He just couldn’t. Keith felt horrible for bringing that blade to his skin, because of how it affected his soul mate. His soul mate didn’t deserve to be hurt. They didn’t deserve to feel what Keith felt. They deserved so much better. They always tried to cheer him up by drawing pictures and asking questions, but Keith rarely answered. He felt like he was being selfish, but he didn’t want to burden his soul mate. Instead, he ignored it. Pulling the sleeves of his jacket down over his hands and pretending to smile. Because that’s all he had to do. Pretend.

When they were sixteen, Keith almost died. He tried to take his own life by overdosing on his adopted father’s heart pills. He waited until his adopted parents went out for dinner and he takes as many as he can, almost the whole bottle, and takes the two notes he wrote in his hand as he heads to his bed to lie down. One for his two adopted parents, and one for his soulmate, although they would probably never see it. He doesn’t even make it to his room and he collapses onto the floor. Keith’s adopted parents ended up having to turn around because his mother forgot her purse. They unlock the door to find Keith lying there, breathing shallowly. And they screamed.

Lance has never felt like this before. He was told by his therapist that whenever he felt his soul mate was sad, he should always tell someone. He ran into his parent’s room, around six o’clock in the afternoon, and cried. “They are so sad! Something bad is happening.” He practically screamed. Lance had many scars now from his soulmate over the years. He tried asking them questions, and but he never got much of an answer. Lance wanted to help, be they never let him in.

Lance was twenty years old. His soulmate wasn’t getting better. That same thing has happened three times in the past four years. They needed help, but they weren’t getting it. Something was wrong. Lance needed to find them. He started drawing things on his face, to see if he could find his soulmate in the crowds of people he passes every day going to school and work. He writes messages to his soulmate on his hand. Things that will make him feel like they are loved. But he couldn’t help but wonder if his soulmate even wanted him anymore. So he wrote him a letter of sorts. Soulmate, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry you have to go through whatever you are going through right now, and I really want to help you. I want to be there for you like a soulmate should. Please answer me.

I have had to carry these scars with me like you have, and I want you to know that you are not alone. If you want to, I would like to meet up. Or at least exchange phone numbers. I know I have asked in the past, but I would really like to talk to you and help you. I may not know anything about you, or even what your name is, but please answer me. Please. I love you. Lance McClain (XXX) XXX-XXXX

Keith wanted to ignore. He wanted to wash the ink away from his skin and just wish that his soulmate would leave him alone. But maybe he can help me. But Keith didn’t pick up his phone. He didn’t call Lance McClain.

Lance kicked an old tin as he walked down the sidewalk, trying to make his way through the crowd to an old coffee shop he had been going to for a while now. He was shoved violently and cursed as he pushed open the doors of the coffee shop. Altea coffee. After ordering, he sat down at his usual table and pulled out his notebook from his bag. He went to start drawing on a new page in the book when he glanced at his hand. He rolled up the sleeve of his jacket and ran his fingers along the white lines decorating his wrists. There were four new ones, made last night. His soulmate, who, after twenty years, still doesn’t have a name, was tired. Anxious. He ran the tip of the pen down his thumb, drawing a thick line.

Keith sighed as he looked at what his soulmate, Lance, was drawing on his hand. He pushed the door to Altea coffee open as he studied his left hand. Just doodles mainly. A large black line was resting under his thumb. Keith sighed again and lowered his hand. He stepped up to the counter and waited in line to get his order. Keith looked around the room and examined the different people. Maybe different faces and colors and motions.

“Order 934, ” The woman with white hair behind the counter said in a very bright voice. He thanked her, took it, and turned around to see if he could find a seat.

One boy caught his eye.

The most handsome boy he has ever seen in his life.

He had dark brown skin and dark blue eyes. A notebook lay sprawled out with different ink drawings and things written. His wrists were littered with thin white scars. And he was drawing on his left hand.

A thick line on his thumb.

Lance felt a pair of eyes on him. He turned around and saw a man with dark gray eyes, almost a purple shade. His hair was longish and black, and he had a small litter of freckles decorating his nose. He was the most handsome person Lance has ever laid eyes on. In his hand, he held a white coffee cup with the light blue Altea symbol on the side. His thumb rubs the side of the cup. A thumb with a thick black line drawn in pen. Just like he did. Lance stood, too shocked to do much else. Is that him? Is that my mysterious soulmate? The coffee cup the boy was holding fell from his hand, exploding across the floor as tears fell from his eyes. Lance walked towards him and reached out cautiously. The boy didn’t move. Lance pushed the sleeve of the boys leather jacket up and revealed harsh red cuts. They matched Lance’s. But his were deeper. And redder. Lance felt a tug in his chest. He wanted to protect this boy from the blade he was wielding upon himself. He wanted to keep him safe forever.

Keith had found him. The person who had stayed by his side for twenty years. Even though Keith hasn’t  been the most helpful. And he was beautiful. Keith pulled his arm away, and quickly covered his face, wiping his eyes and trying to take a deep breath. The boy standing in front of him, Lance, smiled softly. “And what is your name, soulmate?” The cafe was silent. Keith couldn’t even speak. He just breaths in and out, while the people in the coffee house realize what is happening. A meeting. When two people meet their soulmate for the first time. “K-Kei-Keith. Keith Kogane.” “Well, Keith Kogane, we have a lot to talk about.” “W-we… Ye-eah. We do.” Keith couldn’t stop himself. He leaps forward and wrapped his arms around Lance’s neck. Lance didn’t hesitate to hug back. The brown haired boy then burst into tears too. “I’m so sorry,” Keith whispered. Keith tucked his face into Lance’s neck and took in his scent. Lemons and honey. That was a smell Keith wanted to keep forever.