#my theory class has a tutor but his hours that he stays with students is during my human sexuality class/choir class so i can’t stay w him 😭

[bornafter1993]

week 7 starting to get into the thick of it

[pepper-up-potion]

Humor me (George Weasley x fem!reader)

Summary: Reader can't stand George Weasley but over time she realizes he might be a good addition to her life.

Warnings: crying, angst, let me know if I missed any.

Word count: 5.5k (this is my longest fic so far!)

A/n: I still don't know how to feel about this. A part of me likes it and a part of me feels it could be better. This is my first enemies to lovers and it was very very fun.

———

“Thanks (y/n)! I can always count on you, you’re a lifesaver.” Shouts Neville as he runs down the hall and towards his next class. (Y/n) had helped him put healing salve and a bandage on his cut hand.

“Anytime!” She smiles as she watches him stumble away. She pulls out her book and sits back down on the windowsill.

“Humour me.” Says a foreign voice.

She looks up frowning. “I’m sorry?” She asks politely.

“When was the last time you did something for yourself?” Asks the red-haired boy.

“What are you talking about? I’m doing that right now.” She points to her book: Charms for first years

“That’s weird because I could’ve sworn you were in my charms class and not in first year.” He argues, shoving his hand in his pockets and clicking his tongue.

“Well I’m helping out a first-year next period but I enjoy doing that so I am doing something for myself.” She explains, slightly irritated.

“You can’t be serious?” He waits but she offers no response. She only lifts her nose at him. “That is not taking time for yourself. That’s preparing to help someone else.”

Her nostrils flare as she abruptly snaps her books shut. She shoves it into her bag before swinging it over her shoulder. She steps towards George. She suddenly realizes how tall he is. She gulps before placing a hand on her hip and pointing a finger at him.

“Listen here, helping other people is a very noble thing and if I wish to spend my free time doing that, I should not have to explain myself.”

“Ah, so you admit that you spend your free time helping other people rather than doing something for yourself?”

George smirks at her and she wants to slap it off his stupid pretty face.

“Wha-? No.” She huffs. “I don’t know why I’m arguing this with someone I hardly know but what I mean to say is that yes, it’s demanding and tedious but it’s also rewarding and the most gratifying thing I could ever do, so I believe I am doing something for myself. You just don’t get it because you spend all your time playing stupid pranks on everyone.” She snaps before pulling the strap of her bag further onto her shoulder and walking away. Normally she would feel bad for saying something like that to someone but for some reason she felt George could take it.

“So when will I see you again?” George shouts down the hall.

“I have to go!” She shouts back.

“I’ll see you in class then. Or maybe in the halls again.” He continues.

“Goodbye!” She turns the corner and speeds as far away from George as possible, steam practically fuming from her ears.

———

“Hey (y/n) could I just copy your homework before class? I didn’t have time to do it what with quidditch practice and all.” Asks Angelina.

(Y/n) nods and pulls out her answers, stands and walks to her seat, passing them to her. As (y/n) walks back she sees George slide into the spot next to hers. She grunts before stomping to her seat.

“ ‘Morning.” He sings, kicking his feet on the desk. She rolls her eyes and pushes his feet off, offering no other greeting. Now this is saying something, (y/n) always greets everybody. He laughs a little before turning to his bag and pulling out his textbook.

“Ark, couldn’t you go sit somewhere else?” She asks with a look of disgust.

George shrugs his shoulders. “Yeah, I could, but I’d like to think we’d make a good team and I’d like to test that theory.” He waves a pointed index as if to emphasize his point.

She shudders at the thought of having to work with him. It’s very likely they will, it often happens in potions class. (Y/n) is at the top of the class and she doubts Snape would have any objection to George working with her since she could easily bring up his grade. She sighs as Snape walks in and starts the lecture portion of the class.

“You will have the remaining hour to make your hiccoughing solution. Work with the person next to you.” With a wave of his arms everyone starts opening their textbook and discussing the potion.

To her surprise, George is really good at potions. Logically it makes sense because him and Fred are always creating new things but she never really thought it transferable to school. She watches, a little stunned as George quickly and skillfully goes through the steps of the potion. For the first time since she can last remember, she sits back instead of running the group. George occasionally asks her to cut something or extract oil from a root. She doesn’t argue, it’s sort of nice being told what to do rather than making all the decisions. She doesn’t tell him and refuses to think more of it because that’s not her proper role. She’s the leader, she’s the helper. Maybe this once she’ll let it slide, give herself a break.

Once the bell rings they gather their books and George finally speaks of other things than the potion.

“Relaxing isn’t it?” She tilts her head in confusion. “Not having to take care of others for once.” He continues.

Oh no he didn’t. He just ruined it. He took her small guilty moment of peace and crushed it. “You hardly let me do anything! What was I supposed to do? Fight you?”

George shrugs. “You could’ve.” He winks at her and she lets out an angry moan.

“Ark!” She turns on her heels and walks out of the class without another word.

“Same time next week?” She hears him shout but she’s already in the hallway and simply ignores him.

———

“You know you could give that to a house-elf and they could take care of that for you.” Says George as he leans into the door frame and watches (y/n) clean the chalkboard in the defence against the dark arts classroom.

“Well I don’t need to be taken care of, I’m perfectly capable of doing things on my own thank you very much” she spits back at him.

George and her are acquaintances at best. It’s been a month since they’ve first spoken to each other. Since then he seems to always be around her. Sitting next to her in class, offering to help her with her books in the hall. She’s never asked for him to be there or to share his opinion. Yet he’s there and very verbal about his thoughts.

He steps into the class and sits in the front row. He bounces his leg under the desk and leans back into the chair. He looks nervous but she can tell he’s trying to cover it up.

“What are you doing here?” She asks, curiosity getting the best of her.

“Waiting for Umbridge.” He points up the stairs at the closed door of her office. “I got detention.” He adds.

“What did you do?” She stops cleaning the board and sets the cleaning potion on the desk next to George.

“Gave a ton tongue toffee to Filch. His tongue was four feet long when Umbridge found him.” He chuckles to himself, remembering Umbridge’s reaction.

For the first time ever, (y/n) laughs in front of George. She tries to hold it in but it slips past her. George first looks surprised but soon he’s laughing with her.

“Glad to see someone is standing up to them.” She shakes her head. “Umbridge really is a horrible person. I can't believe all the mean things she’s doing to the students.” Her face is sad. George can see how much she cares for the other students.

“Well, would you look at that? We actually agree on something.” He crosses his arms and smirks at her. “Does this mean we're friends?” He asks.

She barks out a loud laugh. “Don’t get ahead of yourself Weasley.” She grabs her bag and walks out without another word. She can feel George’s gaze following her until she steps into the hall and out of sight. She wonders why her cheeks feel so hot suddenly.

———

(Y/n) is tutoring Seamus Finnigan in the library. They’re whispering over a book when George spots them. He smiles and beelines for their table.

“Mind if I sit here.” He asks, holding onto the chair in front of them. They both look up at him. Seamus smiles and reaches out his hand for a fist bump. (Y/n) rolls her eyes and sticks her tongue out.

“Yeah mate, it’s no problem.” Says Seamus.

“No, you may not. It is very much a problem.” She hisses. Seamus looks at her, shocked by the bitterness in her voice.

“Blimey (y/n), I’ve never heard you so angry before.” He stuns.

She laughs nervously. He’s right, she normally doesn’t talk to people like that. The only exception to the rule is George. She grits her teeth and pastes a smile before looking at George.

“Of course you can sit here George. Any friend of Seamus is a friend of mine.” She somehow manages to sound sweet and somewhat sincere. George raises his eyebrows in surprise. He quickly recollects himself and takes a seat before she changes her mind.

“So, going back to charms. Can you tell me the definition of the substantive charm?” She asks Seamus.

“How long have you been doing this?” George interrupts.

Seamus grabs (y/n)’s arm and reads her watch. He whistles dramatically. “Crickey, it’s been an hour and fifteen minutes. I think we should call it a day.” He grabs his book and bag and gets up. “Thanks again (y/n). See you next week.” And with that, he was off.

(Y/n)’s jaw clenches as she looks from the now empty chair to George.

“Why?” She groans. “Why would you do that?”

“This is great. He got his help and you get a break. What do you say we go down to the dungeon and pull a prank on Malfoy?” He beams at her, pleased with his idea.

She gets the sudden urge to scream. Who does he think he is? Coming into her life and ruining everything. It is quite likely that Seamus won't do as well on the quiz as if he had stayed for the extra fifteen minutes she had planned and now she has to go deal with Hermione who wanted to rant about Ron. Something which she had very much been putting off. She takes a long, deep breath before looking at George again. The urge to scream has faded with the breath but the look on his face makes her see red.

“Could you please, please, find someone else to annoy. I don’t have time for this and you’re really starting to test my patients.” She pleads.

George’s face drops, evidently displeased by her response. He stands from his chair and puts his bag strap over his shoulder.

“Alright, I’ll leave.” He surrenders. There is a pause like he’s debating between leaving or adding another word. To (y/n)’s dissatisfaction, he continues to speak. “Anytime you need someone who doesn’t need help tutoring or homework to copy or healing salve, you know where to find me.”

She laughs loudly making everyone turn to look at her. “Pff yeah okay.” She dismisses, and with that George is turning away and walking out of the library.

She hates the sad feeling that settles in her chest. It’s like it’s telling her she wants him to stay. She rolls her eyes and swears to herself, gathering her things and heading to Hermione’s aid.

No matter how hard she tries not to, she spends the rest of the day thinking about George. His stupid face keeps popping into her head. What does he know? She likes when people ask for help. She is happy being the person people can turn to. She can’t understand what George thinks is wrong with that. Maybe he’s just a horrible person. It’s much easier to tell herself than to think there could be something wrong with her.

———

A week later (y/n) is knocking on Susan Bones’ door and stepping in before hearing a welcome.

“Merlin! I can’t stand him!” She shouts once in her best friend’s dorm room. Susan looks up from her book with her brows knitted.

“Who?” She asks while shutting her book and sitting up.

“George!” She states looking at Susan like she should have known. She shows no sign of further understanding (y/n)’s dilemma.

“Why?” She asks hesitantly. (Y/n) stomps to Susan’s bed and plops onto it.

“First he’s everywhere meddling into my life like it’s his business and now, radio silence.” She adds nothing more, leaving Susan even more confused.

“And that’s a problem because…”

(Y/n) sits up and flails her arms in the air. “Well, why did he make me question myself like that and then just vanish?” She exclaims exasperated.

Susan gapes, further confused. “But, didn’t you ask him to leave you alone?”

“Ark! That’s not the point!” She gets up and stomps out of the room. Susan blinks and looks around the room stunned even though there is no one to share the confusion with.

A moment later (y/n) is back into the room. “What on earth did he mean by if ever you want someone who doesn’t need help, you know where to find me?” She puts her hands on her hips and waits for her friend’s answer. Susan’s eyes light up and she smiles slightly. Now it’s (y/n)’s turn to look confused.

“He said that?” Asks Susan with a hopeful tone.

“Wha- I- Well yes he did but-.” She stops. Susan has left her stunned, she’s too confused to debate.

Susan’s smile grows wider. “Have you heard about Dombledors army?” She asks.

(Y/n) scrunches her nose. “No. What does that have to do with this?”

“Well I think you should come to our next meeting.” Her smile is mischievous, (y/n) hates it.

———-

The next day Susan takes (y/n) to the seventh floor. She stops in the middle of the hall and passes back and forth in front of a stone wall. Soon a door appears in front of them and (y/n) smiles, amazed by the castle's secrets.

Susan is the first to walk in waving at a few people near the door. Once (y/n) follows through the room goes silent. Harry finally walks up to them, hand stretched out.

“Welcome to the army.” He says confidently. She looks to Susan who gives her an encouraging nod. She finally accepts Harry’s hand with a small yet nervous smile.

As she looks around the room she feels a pair of eyes on her. She turns to find George looking at her with a neutral face. She lets out a little screech and turns back to Susan.

“You didn’t tell me he was going to be here!” (Y/n) whispers with a panicked tone.

“Well if I did you wouldn’t have come.” She states simply before walking off to talk with one of the other girls.

“Alright everyone. I think we’ll get started.” Announces Harry. Everyone goes quiet and they quickly form a half-circle around him. She sees a tall man settle next to her in her peripheral. She can just make out a flash of red hair. Her heart starts beating at an unruly pace.

“Today’s focus is on stunning. Nigel and I are going to do a demonstration so watch closely.” Everyone moves to the sides of the room whispering excitedly.

(Y/n) claps her hand over her mouth as she watches Harry fly backwards after being stunned by Nigel. She lets out a relieved sigh when Harry sits back up.

“I’d like to see you do that.” Whispers George into her ear. She jumps a little as his hot breath on her neck sends a shiver down her spine.

She turns to look at him. She has no snarky answer. She just gapes at him in surprise.

“I’d like to see you stand up for yourself for once.” He adds. She huffs in shock.

“I-“ She starts but Harry cuts her off. “Who wants to go next?” He asks.

“(Y/n) and I will go.” Announces George. She freezes as everyone eyes them curiously.

“Maybe someone else would like to go before us.” She tries.

“Nonsense, go on (y/n).” Says Harry enthusiastically. “No one here will judge you.” He adds thinking that’s her concern.

It’s not that she didn’t want to defend herself, it’s just she felt sort of bad stunning someone. She wasn’t sure she had it in her to do it. She walks to one end of the room and George to the other. He stretches out his arm, wand at the ready. She looks at Susan with a pleading look. Susan gives her an impatient nod and (y/n) reluctantly lifts her wand.

Neither of them moves, the room is completely silent. Soon there are whispers in the crowd. George is looking at (y/n) with a challenging eye. She gulps, trying to convince herself to stun him. She thinks that maybe if she does nothing he’ll grow impatient and stun her. That way she wouldn’t have to do it and he wouldn’t get the satisfaction of getting what he really wants.

“Right, any second now. Go ahead.” Says Harry slowly.

Nothing happens. George slumps out of his stans and raises his arms in the air. “Oh c’mon (y/n) stun me!” He exclaims.

She looks at the crowd as they all stare back at her. She suddenly feels weak in the knees. She begins to sweat nervously and looks at Susan. She looks a little concerned, maybe thinking this wasn’t as good an idea as she first thought. She still gives her a weak encouraging smile and a little thumbs up. (Y/n) looks back at George who has his arms stretched out taunting her.

“Oh for once in your life be mean!” He shouts. The words echo in the room.

“I can be plenty mean!” She disputes. “Last week, I ate Susan’s cookie.” She adds, puffing her chest.

George tries to hold back his smile. She hears a couple giggles in the crowd.

“That is not mean.” His tone is adoring and she hates it.

“It was her favourite brand.” She adds trying to make it sound more horrific. She’s the only one in the room with a serious face. Everyone else is smiling enjoying the tense exchange between the two.

He clicks his tongue and shakes his head. “If it’s anything, it’s cute.” He says with a wink. There it is. There’s the final straw. She can feel her blood boil. Everyone holds their breath as they watch her face contort into an angry pout. George smiles wide thinking the pout is possibly the cutest thing he’s ever seen.

She lets out an angry grunt. “It is not cute! You wanna see cute? Watch this.” She flicks her wand and shouts: “Stupify!” The spell sends George across the room. Everyone exclaims as he hits the ground with a thud.

“Excellent! Really good (y/n)!” Exclaims Harry.

Across the room George is whooping. He runs over to her with arms wide open. His smile is contagious, she can’t stop hers from pulling at her cheeks. Laughs spill from her lips as he wraps her tightly into his arms. Fred helps George throw her over their shoulders. Everyone gathers around them and cheers. (Y/n) feels her cheeks go hot suddenly, very aware of George’s hand on her thigh keeping her in place. She looks at everyone’s happy smiles and she can't help but join in. She hates to admit it but George might have been right. Standing up for yourself can feel good.

———

It’s a Wednesday evening. Most people were already back in their common rooms. (Y/n) was walking back from the library, having finished another tutoring session with Zacharias Smith. The halls are practically deserted when she suddenly hears quiet sobs further away. She speeds her pace and turns the corner finally spotting a little boy crying quietly while holding his hand. Two older boys are kneeling next to him. Her breath hitches when she spots him. George hasn’t talked to her since their duel. She would sometimes catch his eye across the classroom or in the dining hall but this is the first time she’s run into him. George is rubbing circles on the boy's upper back as he whispers sweet comforting phrases to the crying boy. As she steps closer she recognizes the boy to be Michael. She has helped him countless times after he has gotten detention from Umbridge.

Looking at George now she questions how she once called him a horrible person. She sighs accepting she might have been too quick to judge. She steps between the Weasleys and kneels down at Micheal’s feet so they're at eye level. She looks through her big bag before pulling out some gauze and a small glass jar of healing salve. Micheal gives her his hand, remembering the drill. She quietly applies the salve and wraps his hand. She listens to George explain to Micheal how soon the pain will subside. She notices he never stops rubbing circles on the boy's back. There’s something reassuring about the movement and she’s not even the one receiving it.

Micheal takes a deep breath, recollecting himself. He looks between George and (y/n) before smiling mischievously.

“Thanks mom, dad.” He tips his head to each before getting up and walking to his dorm. George’s hand stays frozen in the air even if there’s no longer a back to rub. (Y/n) stops screwing the lid to her salve as she looks at the now empty seat. They both jump when Fred starts howling with laughter. His laughs echo down the hall as he doubles over himself, holding his aching stomach. He wipes at his eyes and sighs loudly.

“Good one kid.” He shouts though Michael is much too far to hear it. “Ah! That’s golden.” He adds before he walks off in the same direction as Micheal did before.

George and (y/n) remain frozen. (Y/n)’s face is pale and George's cheeks are tomato red. (Y/n) is the first to move, she finishes screwing on the lid and shoving it into her bag. She’s in a hurry to get out of this very awkward situation. She shoots a look at George who moved from the floor and onto the bench. He’s leaning back onto the wall with his arms crossed. He smirks when she meets his eyes.

“We would have some cute kids.” His tone is teasing but there’s still something soft and affectionate in the statement.

“Oh honestly George, get a grip.” She rolls her eyes and walks away quickly. It takes all her willpower to hold in her smile until her back is turned to George. He’s not wrong she thinks to herself.

——-

She knocks lightly on the dorm room door. She can hear George’s loud laugh on the other side. She hopes he won’t be mad at her for interrupting the fun. Lee opens the door and the smile on his face is quickly replaced by a look of surprise.

“(Y/n)?” He stuns. The laughter in the room stops abruptly. She hears shuffling and soon George is peaking his head over Lee’s shoulder.

Lee quickly moves out of the way and George looks at her with a concerned look.

“(Y/n)? What are you doing here? Is everything okay?” He asks looking around to make sure there is no one else listening.

“I’m sorry to bother you, I know you were having fun there.” She feels pretty stupid now that she’s actually standing in front of him. George shakes his head vigorously to tell her it’s no problem.

“I just-“ she runs a hand through her hair. “I sort of need someone who doesn’t need help with tutoring or homework or healing salve.” The offer is months old. They haven’t even talked in weeks. She never thought she’d actually take him up on it but she didn’t know who else to turn to.

His shoulders drop and a natural smile spreads across his face. “Well then I’m your guy.” He closes the door behind him and guides her down the stairs and into the common room. It’s late, most students are in bed. George asks the few left if they could give them some privacy and they all retreat to their rooms.

“What’s up?” He asks, shoving his hands into his pockets.

She sighs and walks over to the big red couch. She sits down and buries her head into her hands. “I- I’m so tired George.” Her voice is laced with despair. “There’s just so much to do and I’m trying, I really am but I just don't know if I have it in me.”

George sits next to her, so close that their knees touch. “What are all the things you need to do?” He asks softly.

“I have to run the potions club and make that banner for the Ancient Runes Club. I have to tutor Hannah and Seamus and Zacharias and so many other people. I have to make sure Lavender is okay and that Luna found her socks. I have to listen to Hermione and Ginny talk about their boy problems and then give them advice. I have to write back to my parents and help them with their problems. I have to help McGonagall with the rat problem because no one else wants to. Madame Pomfrey said I could intern with her but that means I have to spend ten hours a week in the hospital wing. I told professor Sprout I’d help her extract pus from Bubotuber. I promised Colin I would look out for Dennis and I haven't even seen him in weeks.” It all spills out. For the first time ever she is totally transparent about her problems. “And then I have to worry about my own studies and try and keep my grades up and there’s the stress of Dumbledore’s army, what if we get caught?” She’s panting by the end suddenly feeling much lighter.

“Well maybe you could say no to a couple people. I’m sure the Ancient Runes Club can wait for a sign, Mcgonagall can take care of the rats on her own. You can say no you know.” He places a hand on her thigh and looks deep into her eyes.

“But- I can’t George! I can't say no. Those people are counting on me. What if the clubs fall apart or Seamus’ grades drop or Luna never finds her socks.” Her face is panicked.

“Let me help you.” He says it so softly. She feels a dry lump in her throat. Her jaw suddenly hurts and she feels tears well up in her eyes.

“I don’t want your help George!” She jumps off the couch and onto her feet. George’s hand slips off her thigh and onto the couch. It looks limp and sad without her leg to hold it. “I don’t need you, I was doing perfectly fine before you came around and I’ll be fine without you moving forward.” There’s a pause. “ I didn’t come here for you to save the day.” There it is. She doesn’t want to appear weak. She thinks asking for help makes her weak.

George stands up, towering over her. “Fine. If that’s how you feel then I’ll leave. I will go for good and you won’t have to worry about me meddling in your life anymore. I just want you to know that I’m offering to help because I can see how hard this is for you and I think you deserve more than what you’ve granted yourself.” George steps forward closing the gap. “I think you deserve to be taken care of for a change.” They’re inches away from each other. His face suddenly turns soft as he looks into her tear-filled eyes.

There’s a silent pause. She looks into George’s eyes and she sees the honesty, the care, the love. George is there for her when no one else is. He’s right, she is having a hard time and he’s the one offering the help. No one else. All the other people she has sworn would help her, be there for her, aren’t there. But how could they have known? She never tells them how hard it is, always caring for others. She never asks for their help. It’s not that those people don’t care. She just never opens up to them. She never permits them to be anything else than people she could help. All she ever did was give and give. She never believed she should do anything else. George is the first person who wants her to take, not give. It finally clicks. Everything that George has been trying to make her see is crystal clear now.

A tear spills from down her cheek and she feels her knees go weak. She cups her hand over her mouth trying to hold in a sob. She takes a step back shaking her head in denial. George’s face remains soft but there’s concern in his eyes.

“Hey.” He tilts his head, maintaining eye contact as she tries to look away. “It’s okay.” He pulls her towards his chest and she welcomes it. She falls into his arms as more tears fall down her cheeks. “Let it out.” He says.

With that permission (y/n) cries. She cries like never before. Loud sobs slip from her lips as her body shakes in George’s arms. She cries about all the sad secrets people have confided in her. She cries for all the days she sacrificed for others. She cries for all the “I love that you never say no”. She cries for all the grades she sacrificed to keep others high. She lets out years of pent-up tears, of hurt.

He rubs small circles on her upper back and remains quiet. She was right, there relay is something reassuring about those little circles. She cries for an hour and George never moves, never speaks, never stops her.

Finally, she sniffles her last tear and steps out of George’s arms. He reluctantly lets her go but takes her hand in his. She pulls it away to wipe at her eyes.

“Thank you.” Her voice is so delicate she would be embarrassed if it weren’t George in front of her. She laughs suddenly and George looks shocked. She soon starts crying of laughter and George gapes unsure of what to do.

“Are you okay?” He asks confused.

“I just, I hate you.” She laughs again. George looks stunned. He takes a step away from her and opens his mouth to say something but she cuts him off.

“Or so I thought. You have bugged me every day for months yet there’s no one I want here more than you.” George takes a tentative step forward. The words seem to give him confidence. “As crazy as it sounds I’ve had some of the best times talking with you because I actually said what I wanted to say. You can handle me better than anyone else. You challenge me in a way that I absolutely hate but I know why you’re doing it. You’re helping me learn to take care of myself and that’s hard because it’s something I’ve never done before.” She stops for a moment. The look in her eyes changes. First, there’s shock as she realizes. Then there’s a soft and happy glow. “I think I’m falling in love with you George.” She gasps. It’s almost a whisper. She barely wants to admit it.

“Come here.” Is all he says. She doesn’t move. Her brows knit themselves as she searches his face for an explanation. She takes a deep breath. The step towards him feels like a trust fall. He gently pulls her closer by the waist. He presses his forehead to hers. (Y/n) pushes her nose to his, bringing their lips closer to one another. He repeats the movement.

They tease each other a couple more times before George whispers “Can I kiss you?” She nods slowly and whispers a yes. He tips his head so their lips connect. His soft lips send sparks down her spine. George wraps an arm up to her back and pulls her closer quickly deepening the kiss. She wraps her arms around his next and soon her hands tangle into his fiery red hair. It feels like rain after a dry summer, like the cold side of her pillow, like the warm fire after coming in from the cold, it feels like heaven. Nothing has ever felt more right than their lips pressed together and for once, she’s giving in to what she wants.

When George pulls away she finds herself chasing his lips. She pouts a little missing the kiss. George runs a hand over her hair and looks at her adoringly.

“I’m falling for you too (y/n)”

[mutigold]

∞ teacher’s pet — i.n.

summary: in which the top student fails a test and gets extra help from his favorite professor.

pairing: student!jeongin x teacher!reader

genre: college!au

warning: sub!jeongin, dom!reader, pet play, noona kink, exhibitionism, handjob, ear licking, humiliation, quirofilia, seduction, he still has his braces.

word count: 1.9k

authors note: i really don’t know where this idea came from, but all i know is subby jeongin = 🤤. thank you for supporting me! watching people like my little writings really make my day.. hope y’all enjoy this <3. stream “Going Dumb”!

“would anyone like to explain what it means to be dependent on an organism?”

jeongin’s eyes concentrated on you, as he listened to your voice encompassing the leveled platform. today’s lecture was based on the living organisms in the world and you seemed to be determined for everyone to learn the curriculum.

however, jeongin could not focus on anything except your figure. you were wearing a white skin-tight turtleneck and black formal pants that emphasize your ass. all topped off with a large suit jacket and black louis vuitton heels.

it overall made his heart jump for joy just enjoying the view.

he thought about how those heels would look wrapped around his waist as he pounds into you; screaming his name. or maybe how your tiny hand would slip around his throat as he begs for your come.

“mr. yang?”

jeongin quickly snaps out of his trance to hear you calling his name. and not in the way he wanted.

you looked up at him with sad eyes, upset at him for not paying attention to your favorite lesson. “what’s going through that head yours? is it more important than organisms?”

he quickly fixed his posture, shaking his head rapidly, and responded with, “n—no, i’m sorry noona. i just was thinking too hard about something. i’ll promise to listen from now on.”

you hummed with caution, continuing the biological lecture. the student sighs gratefully for you letting him go off easily and tries to at least take some notes.

“yo, i.n. you okay?” a familiar voice whispered.

jeongin turns to see his two close friends, seungmin and felix, staring down at him in question. “yeah, you seem a little off today.”

confirming he says, “uh. y—yeah; i’m okay.”

“mhmm. okay with staring professor y/n down huh?” felix smirks.

the heat on i.n. 's cheeks becomes noticeable when hearing about his staring. he then tries to ignore the statement by writing his name and the current date in his notebook.

“leave him alone felix. he’s just probably having some problems with the lesson; you should perhaps ask noona for help.” seungmin tries to intervene.

“yeah; i mean, maybe noona can also help you with other problems. if you know what i mean.” felix grins bumping jeongin’s arm.

“f—felix!”

“boys?! care to tell us what is so interesting other than my lesson?” your voice suddenly booms throughout the room. jeongin jumps at your tone and begins to apologize again once making you soften.

“that’s alright, but please pay attention. oh, and jeongin, stay after class for a few minutes to speak with me.”

he didn’t know what to think at that moment; with felix oohing in one of his ears and seungmin trying to shush him in his other or the fact that you wanted to talk to privately.

alone, with no one around, made his mind officially shut down.

“you wanted to speak with me noona?”

you shifted around to see jeongin’s stiff form; then took note of how nervous he looked and gave him a light smile. “hey, kiddo. i just wanted to see how you were doing lately.” you wished to see some type of relief release through him.

but unfortunately, that didn’t happen.

he still looked kind of anxious to speak with you, letting you know how intimidating you seemed. “hey it’s all good, you're not in trouble or anything, i promise. i’ve noticed how you’ve been acting recently in my class and how your scores dropped a little,” you reassured.

“ai! i’m so sorry noona!”

you giggle at the student’s consistent apologies. in your mind, you thought how cute he was; like a puppy aching to gain approval from its owner.

maybe you could make him as your puppy and work hard for that admiration.

immediately, you shake your head from the naughty images. ever since the semester started a few months ago, your thoughts almost ran around yang jeongin.

how his pretty smile, concealed by clear braces, shined at your speaking, how his crescent-shaped eyes followed your every move; making you feel sexy, how large and veiny his arms grew over time within the season, etc.

“that’s alright, jeongin. i just want you to feel comfortable in my lectures. how about this, you and i have a session later this evening to cover the material for the next exam. what do you think pup’?” you offering, accidentally calling him by the pet name you gave him.

after catching the tiny nickname, jeongin clumsy drops his possessions while feeling something swell in his pants. he begins to overthink the word. pup’? why did that sound so nice coming out of your mouth? and how was he gonna hide the fact that his dick got hard in the middle of their conversation?

“i–i’m sorry!”

“oh! no worries hun! here; let noona help you out.”

you instantly proceeded over, bent down, and gathered i.n.’s school objects. starting with some of his blue pens, his macbook, and then his green two-subject notebook. “n–noona! i got the notebook, it’s okay.” jeongin stuttered.

it was almost like he was trying hard to hide something in the notebook, and suddenly it all made sense as it opened to the front page.

yang y/n. it was his surname combined with your first name.

it seemed as if time swiftly froze with silence when discovering the secret. however, it didn’t bother you essentially much as jeongin thought it would have had. “aw, pup’, this is cute. yang y/n has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”

the air that was in jeongin’s lungs properly stopped working when distinguishing how seductive your tone became. “i–i..”

“relax a lil’ pup’. listen, will you promise to meet me later this eveningfor some tutoring. i think you could really use it. plus if you’re good–”

you shifted closer to the student’s ear lobe and whispered, “–noona could give you a reward.”

jeongin swore he felt some pre-cum drip down from his pants. “y–yes, noona.” he swallowed trying to moist his dry throat, then jumped moaning in pleasure when your small hand gripped around his erection.

“good. see you then, pup’.”

a few hours later, jeongin ends up at the university’s public library, not knowing what to expect. though, he did make sure to be ready for any possible situation. what did you mean by rewarding him? did you feel the same way he did?

you must have since you did touch his swollen cock during your conversation. or maybe it was just his imagination?

jeongin sighs restlessly thinking of the concept while waiting for your arrival. that soon ends as he hears your alluring voice greet out, “hiya pup’! ready for our lesson?”

he peers up from the library’s table to see you wearing informal clothing. a tight crew neck that reveals your smooth arms extending down to red-painted nails and large breasts bouncing with every step you take.

“ah! i hope you weren’t waiting too long, i got held up in traffic.”

“t–that’s okay noona! i just got here.”

you smile at his nervousness, now acknowledging where it came from, and sat down in the hard chair right next to him. “good, we can get started. i hope you’re ready,” you whispered, feeling an urge to dominate.

jeongin gulps recognizing a certain excitement coming from his pants within hearing your tone and replies with, “r–ready?”

“so, what does adaptation consist of?”

jeongin couldn’t comprehend what you were saying being he focused on the way your glossed-up lips looked. the way he could imagine it wrapped around cock or it traveling up and down the side of his neck molding kisses; it worked him to the point where he was solid hard.

“pup’, what is going through that mind of yours?”

“s–sorry. it’s just, i guess this lesson isn’t grasping in my head yet.” he tries to explain not wanting to upset you.

however, instead of upsetting you, your colored eyes just darken. “oh! i have any idea; remember when i said i would reward you if do good–”

jeongin nods excitedly, making you giggle.

“–well, i know you understand the concept of this chapter. so to push you a little more, i’ll ask you a question and if you get it right, that little cock of yours will get to come.”

the student freezes up at your approach, thinking it was a dream too good to be true. “w-wait what?”

“what is the definition of homeostasis?”

“i, uh, i think it's an organism's constant adjustment to maintain stable conditions in itself?”

you reached under the table discreetly and unbuttoned the pants on jeongin grasping his swollen cock. “o-oh my god, noona!”

“shh, pup’. you gotta be quiet for me; now onto the next question. who created the biogenesis theory?”

jeongin’s breath became too much for him to handle feeling the pre-cum drip from his blood-filled tip. “n–noona, please.”

“come on puppy, tell me the answer or i stop.”

his mind starts to rush trying to find the answer before you let him go. it took him a couple of seconds, but once he got it, he hurried to speak. “henry charlton bastain!”

“good puppy.” your tiny hand moves faster, satisfied with the statement. you felt his cock throbbing with every stroke you took. like jeongin, you dreamt of this same exact moment. you wanted to control the poor student every time he walked through your room, when he made eye contact with you, or even when his plump bottom lip was bitten from his teeth.

and finally, it was happening.

“oh, who’s a good puppy for noona?”

“m-me! i am noona.”

“that’s right pup’. next question, what are the five steps to the scientific method?”

i.n.’s vein from his cock popped out sensing the rubbing moving faster than before. “i only know four noona!”

“too bad, i wanted five or i slow down.” you coldly demand.

jeongin began to try to think hard on the five steps letting the sensation run through his body. “o-okay. it’s defining the problem, making a hypothesis, testing it, analyzing the results… then..”

your hand slows at his hesitation. “give me the last one puppy.”

“oh! noona, don’t stop! i–i. is it d–drawing the conclusions?”

“good puppy!”

his cock grows bigger when your finger grips at the base. then, you painted nails lightly scratch at his tight balls. “oh! noonaaa. that feels sooo goood. pleaseee.”

“continue to answer like a good pup’ then i’ll keep going.”

soon after the next few questions, jeongin sits near his breaking point. “nooonnnaaa! please!”

“grab your textbook and hold it up.”

i.n. clutches the hard-covered biology book to cover both you and him from public eyes. suddenly, you lower yourself to his lips, deeply kissing him with tongue, and wander towards his earlobe. “one more question, pup’. what does stimulus mean?”

“uh! noona! please let me come! make your puppy come!” he moans a little too loud.

“shh. answer the question, then i’ll let you come.”

“s-stimulus? it m-means anything an organism responds to.”

you then move your head to spit down to moist his penis. “good puppy! getting your small cock rubbed in front of everyone like a little slut.” you cup the back of his neck feeling the shivers release through him.

“you can come pup’, come for noona.”

jeongin then lets go, coming hard in your hand. “o-oh! thank you, thank you noona!”

after guiding him to his high, you let go of him and licked the white, sticky substance from your hand.

“good puppy. i’m sure you’ll be ready for that next exam.”

[smutbymia]

Would you write try to write a Johnny x reader x Mark where she's Johnny's girlfriend and he has nipple sucking kink? Something like she's asleep and starts to wake up when she felt someone suckling on her nipple and she's thought it was Johnny, so she let he keep suckling and rans her fingers into his hair for some time but when she opened her eyes, she saw Mark sucking on her nipples while Johnny is watching them?

For mark, there were a lot of positives and negatives when it came to being Johnny’s roommate. The best part about being Johnny’s roommate was the fact that his parents had gifted him the apartment and so rent was mere pennies in comparison to other places in the area. The worst part was that because the apartment was technically still Johnny’s, the dude had almost no boundaries.

Mark was used to it for the most part. He had walked in on many steamy make out sessions his roommate was in the middle of. He’d seen it all — almost. Kissing, groping, even some undressing. He’d usually just tip toe to his room and try to act like he never witnessed a thing but this time was a bit different. You and Johnny had been dating for a few months now and things seemed to be different with you.

You had all gone to school together and so Johnny seemed to be a bit more cautious about fooling around in Marks presence. And since you were a year older than Mark, he had always had a certain level of respect for you as his senior who had tutored him here and there throughout the years. Overall he approved. You were smart, kind, and so pretty that he would even get flustered around you sometimes. Johnny would often tease him about it after you left the apartment.

He was a bit shocked when you and Johnny had started dating but seeing you together made him realize that it was a combination that simply made sense. You and Johnny had always been friends and when romance started to blossom the both of you bravely fell into a relationship that was going well so far.

Mark was halfway out of the door one afternoon when he got a text from Jaemin telling him that class was cancelled and inviting him to come hang out at his dorm. Of course Mark would have loved to accept but truthfuly he was way behind with his schoolwork and so he declined politely and instead marched right back into his room, hoping to make good use of the rest of his afternoon and night by being productive.

A few hours later he heard you and Johnny arrive in the apartment. He had been meaning to come out and say hello since he first heard the familiar sound of keys shaking in the lock of their front door, but he was so caught up in his work after finally making a breakthrough with his studying. He shoved his headphones over his head and continued scribbling math formulas across the pages of his notebook, falling into a trance-like state.

When Mark finally snapped out of it about an hour had passed. He slipped his headphones off his head and was met with silence. He shrugged to himself figuring you had both left and headed out of his room. He could hear the faint sound of a movie playing on the living room television as he approached the kitchen. When he arrived, he was shocked at the scene playing out in front of him. A bowl of popcorn rested on the counter next to you. You were seated on top of the counter with Johnny standing between your legs.

Johnny had been his typical handsy self all evening but when you both went to get popcorn from the kitchen he had playfully lifted you up onto the counter and had pushed your shirt up to your chest to capture your nipples between his fingers before pulling one into his mouth and suckling. He swirled his tongue around the sensitive buds as he alternated between each one before settling on one after awhile and humming against your skin. Your head fell backwards against the cupboards and your eyes fell shut momentarily, enjoying the way his mouth felt all over your body.

Mark couldn’t believe his eyes. Sure, he knew Johnny had a thing for boobs and had seen him grope numerous different sets of them over the years on their living room couch but he had never seen his friend so consumed by a particular task the way he seemed to be consumed by the act of suckling your nipples. And your tits. Wow they were beautiful. The way you softly groaned whenever Johnny would stick his tongue out and —-

Shit! Shit, shit, shit. Your eyes fluttered open and met Marks. He seemed to be so caught up in the moment that it took him a moment to realize he looked just a tad creepy standing there and watching until he saw the expression on your face go from totally blissed out to totally panicked. Johnny was oblivious and reached up to massage at your free breast as he continued sucking, increasing the intensity of his mouth and pulling a loud moan from your lips. You swatted at his shoulder, and he released your nipple with a pop from his mouth as you frantically pulled down your shirt.

“N-noona, I — uh,” Mark stuttered. He backed out of the kitchen looking embarrassed and turning slightly red. Johnny turned to Mark at the sound of his voice.

“Oh,” he said nonchalantly when he realized why you had made him stop.

“S-sorry, I wasn’t — I mean I didn’t mean to.. I’m g-gonna go back to.. my..,” Mark said as he clumsily grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and all but ran back down the hall to his room before shutting the door behind him and resting his back against it.

“Fuck,” he sighed to himself. He was beating himself up for being so ridiculous. He shut his eyes, feeling exasperated. But of course the first thing that popped into his mind was the image of you with your legs spread and chest rising and falling as johnny massaged your breasts.

Mark groaned again before opening his eyes and shaking his head. He walked further into his room and froze when he caught his reflection in his floor length mirror. Luckily it wasn’t obvious, but he was certainly very aware of the bulge rising in his jeans.

“Aw, dang...” he complained as he reached down to palm himself through them. He rushed back to his door, opening it just a crack and listening intently. He could hear you and Johnny casually mumbling about the movie. He closed the door softly and flicked his lights off before crawling into his bed, feeling very ashamed of what he was about to do next.

You were seated in the living room trying to focus on the film but felt uneasy. You snuggled up to Johnny’s side before you tilting your head up to look at him. Johnny was watching the movie like it was the best thing he had ever seen. You watched as his eyes crinkled at the sides when something on screen made him laugh.

You nudged him. “Are you sure we shouldn’t check on him, I mean I feel really bad!” you said. Johnny was slightly caught off guard by the sudden statement.

“No it’s fine, trust me,” he said before diverting his attention back to the screen. A few minutes passed before you spoke again.

“But he looked so flustered. He was turning red almost. I think he must have been really uncomfortable!” you said with a look of concern on your face.

“Yeah I’m sure he was uncomfortable alright. He’s probably beating his dick as we speak,” Johnny joked as he put some popcorn into his mouth.

“Stop, Mark is a sweet kid—“ you began.

“Kid? You guys are barely even a year apart,” Johnny laughed before turning his head to you and pulling you in for a kiss.

“Still,” you began as you snuggled back into Johnny’s side, “I can’t stop thinking about it.” Something in Johnny’s brain clicked.

“Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance,” he exclaimed. You furrowed your brow in response. Johnny did this sometimes. He was a psychology major after all.

“Huh?” you mumbled.

“It’s a theory that explores the inner conflict people experience when their thoughts, beliefs, and actions aren’t in alignment with each other ,” Johnny muttered as he slid his hand under your shirt and along your skin. He squeezed softly at your chest before dragging his fingers back and forth across your nipples.

You moaned softly. “I’m not following,” you confessed, still unsure what the theory had to do with you wanting to apologize to Mark.

Johnny giggled as he tugged at your nipples and watched your back arch away from both him and the couch.

“You view Mark as some sort of kid in comparison to you,” he began. “Maybe it’s because he’s inexperienced, or quiet, or a bit awkward around you cause he thinks you’re pretty,” he continued as he played with your body like a toy. You moaned softly under his touch. The movie was long forgotten to you but Johnny still had his eyes fixed on the screen.

“You guys are closer in age than we are but you both act like you aren’t. And so, you’re experiencing inner conflict,” he finished.

“W-why would that make me feel conflicted?” you said through breathy moans.

“Before I can answer that question, you have to answer mine first,” he said, sprinkling kisses along your neck. You let out a soft groan in response, urging him to ask whatever it was that he wanted to. You weren’t ready for the next words that left his mouth.

“Did my baby enjoy it? Making another baby flustered?” he said in a low whisper.

You gasped as you felt electricity shoot through your body. Johnny laughed. He didn’t need an answer. He knew very well that something inside of you must have been unlocked.

If he wasn’t so confident and comfortable in your relationship he may have been a little jealous but hey, he was a psychology student after all. Human behaviour was very interesting to observe and he had a theory of his own he wanted to test.

Mark was fresh out of the shower and laying in bed when there was a knock at his door. You had already left the apartment but he still felt a bit weird about facing Johnny so Mark had stayed in his room.

“I ordered pizza!” Johnny yelled from behind the door. He didn’t wait for mark to respond before he walked off to go dig in.

Mark hesitated as he got up from his bed. He was starving, though. Which is what led him to that kitchen in the first place. The images flashed across Marks mind again. It would have been enough to turn him on all over again but he already came twice since he walked in on the both of you a few hours ago.

The first time was when he rushed back to his room. He sat up on his bed and shoved the corner of his pillow in his mouth to muffle his own moans as he jerked at his length over and over again with the image of your tits and blissed out expression in his mind. He sat there quietly, spilling all over himself and his bed sheets as his hips bucked uncontrollably in his dark room.

The second time was in the shower where he routinely jerked off. He finally felt empty enough after and much more clear headed.

He was feeling guilty as hell but that didn’t stop him from marching towards the smell of pizza. He figured It would be okay since you weren’t around. And it was at first.

“Y/n was totally freaked,” Johnny exclaimed, chuckling to himself. The two boys were watching some sort of basketball game on TV. Mark almost choked after hearing Johnny’s words.

“Shit, I wanted to apologize but I just—“ he started.

“She liked it,” Johnny interrupted. He glanced over at Mark, mischief in his eyes as he munched on a slice. Mark froze.

“Wait what?” he asked, baffled. Johnny broke out into laughter.

“H-hyung, stop teasing me. I already feel guilty,” Mark said. Johnny was still laughing when he dropped the remainder of his slice of pizza back into the box.

He dusted off his hands and rested one on Marks shoulder.

“Hyungs not teasing you,” he said, softly mocking Mark and speaking in the third person.

“She totally freaked because she liked it. Looks like the crush you have on my girlfriend isn’t one sided after all,” he said. Marks eyes went wide.

“D-dude? I’m really sorry I swear I didn’t mean to. I don’t want to come between you guys or anything I just-“ Mark started rambling apologetically.

“No offence but I don’t think you could steal her from me, even if you tried” Johnny joked before continuing, “but if you’re really sorry you’ll help me with something”.

“Something that I think you’ll have a lot of fun doing. Just be ready. I hope you aren’t a heavy sleeper,” he finished. Mark felt nervous. He had no idea what Johnny was getting at.

A few days had passed and Mark had succesfully avoided you. Whenever you were back at the apartment with Johnny, he was either in class or out with friends. Honestly, you were a bit nervous after everything that happened. Johnny had uncovered something that you had no idea was even a thought in your head. You felt a bit guilty but he seemed to take it really well. Almost too well.

Everything was normal between you two. You were staying the night like you often did when you felt the familiar feeling of Johnny playing with the hem of your shirt. You always wore loose clothing around him for this very reason. You were very used to him taking a nipple of yours into his mouth in the middle of the night whenever you were cuddled up next to him in bed.

Your eyes fluttered as you fumbled around with the shirt before feeling Johnny’s mouth meet your chest. He dropped a few kitten licks across your nipples, making your core heat up.

You groaned, roping your hands into his hair and pulling him against your breast, making him latch his entire mouth to your sensitive bud. You moaned softly.

“More... I need more,” you whined. You gripped tighter at his hair when you heard a high pitched mewl escape from the lips of whoever the fuck was attached to your chest because you knew straight away that wasn’t a sound that could ever leave Johnny’s mouth.

Your eyes flew open, first settling on Johnny’s figure at the end of your bed. He had his hand buried in his sweatpants and was stroking at his length with his bottom lip trapped between his teeth. You gasped as you looked down to see Mark. His soft lips rubbed against your skin. His eyes sparkling eyes fluttered open and met yours as he moaned softly again.

“Noona, Johnny made me—“ he tried to say with his mouth still attached to your nipple. The humming of his voice made your head spin as it sent shockwaves through your body. You shook slightly before letting Marks name slip from your lips. The sound alone made him harden in his pants. Johnny got closer, until his mouth was latched against your other nipple and your head fell back against the pillows on his bed as both boys snuggled against you.

You felt tugging at your shorts. Johnny was trying to get them off. You lifted your hips in response as you felt him drag the material down to your thighs before giving up. Your panties followed and soon you could feel his fingers circle around you clit achingly slow, winding you up. You circled your hips to meet every movement of his hand as you felt wetness pool between your legs.

After a few minutes of painful teasing, you felt johnny release your nipple from his mouth and then Mark. The boys whispered between each other as Johnny continued to keep you distracted by making his fingers run through your folds, gathering your juices.

You watched as he lifted his fingers towards Marks lips. The boy hesitated briefly before letting his mouth fall open and wrapping his lips around Johnny’s fingers and sucking them clean.

You groaned as you watched the boys together, bonding over their desire to please you.

“Touch her,” Johnny mumbled as he slipped his fingers back out of marks mouth to continue circling at your clit. You felt marks fingers prod softly at your hole before he let them glide into your entrance, rubbing your insides in all the right places. It didn’t take long before both boys had overstimulated you. With Johnny’s fingers picking up speed on your clit, and marks fingers hitting your g-spot while the both of them assaulted your nipples, your orgasm came crashing through your body. Their names spilled from your mouth.

As you came down from your high, Johnny’s lips met yours in a passionate kiss. Mark was still suckling softly at your nipple, eyes closed, in a state of relaxation.

“Look at him,” Johnny whispered against your lips. “I think he’s falling asleep and he hasn’t even cum yet,” you said. You nudged mark awake as his eyes fluttered open.

“Mark, are you okay?” you asked sweetly. The boy looked up at you as if you were everything to him — with stars in his eyes. He nodded. Johnny pulled at his chin, guiding him until mark hovered in front of your face. He froze, somehow feeling nervous.

You bridged the gap quickly, pulling him towards you and capturing his mouth in a soft kiss. As expected, Mark was polite and respectful towards both you and Johnny. He relied on you to make the first move and control the pace. You begged for access to his mouth, letting your tongue softly brush against his as you felt him melt into your touch.

Johnny was asleep, mouth still on your nipple when you pulled away from Mark.

“Does he always fall asleep like that?” Mark asked in wonder as he looked down at his hyung resting so peacefully against your naked chest.

You nodded. Mark yawned and moved to get out of bed but you pulled him into you as well.

“Don’t leave,” you cooed. You watched him turn softer as he shrunk into your side, closing his eyes and going back to swirling his tongue around your nipple. You roped your fingers through his hair the way you knew he liked. He was definitely about to have the best sleep of his life.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

(Un)Fortunate Misunderstanding

Warnings: noncon sexual acts (spanking, blow job)

This is dark!Andy Barber and explicit. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Summary: Your intentions are misunderstood as you struggle to comprehend those of another.

This is for @candy-and-writing​‘s 1000 Follower Challenge, I got “Get the fuck out.” + Andy Barber

Note: Okey dokey, more Andy. I’m sorry, I can’t stop but I promise I’ll be mixing it up soon. I have 4 days of camping starting Monday to do nothing but think!

Hope you enjoy it. Thank you. Love you guys!

Please leave some feedback, like and reblog <3

Laurie answered the door. You weren’t even sure she heard you knock as she seemed in a rush to get out the door. She smiled and stopped before she could crash into you.

“So sorry about that.” She said sweetly. “I was just running out to get Jacob.”

“He’s not home yet?” You asked.

“Shoot, I thought I messaged you. He’s staying late tonight for tryouts. I told him I’d pick him up.”

“Oh, well how long will that be?” You fiddled with the strap of your bag. 

You’d taken the bus all the way there and it wasn’t worth it to go all the way back to campus. While your tutoring gig gave you a little extra cash, it didn’t exactly leave you flush. You smiled awkwardly at Laurie.

“I’m sorry, I’ll just--”

“No, no, it’s my fault. I should have called.” She touched your arm gently. “Come in. You can hang out here. We won’t be more than an hour. He got out early from his last period so he could try out.”

“Okay, I’m sorry, Laurie.”

“Don’t worry about it,” She held the door open and beckoned you in. “You know where everything is. Water in the fridge and some snacks if you like.”

“It’s okay, I’ll do some studying while I wait.” You said.

“Alright,” She stood in the door as she watched you slip out of your shoes. “I’ll try not to be too long. Again, I’m so sorry.”

“That’s alright, Mrs. Barber. Really.” You assured her.

She nodded and carried on out the door. You listened for her car and went to sit at the dining table where you usually did your lessons with Jacob. You sat and pulled out your textbook and turned to the little post-it you’d placed to mark your page.

It didn’t take long to finish the assigned chapter you already started on the bus. You took out your phone and checked your school email and then the few pointless social media notifications that clustered along the upper margin. You set your phone face down and stood. All morning in classes sitting at a desk, then the bus ride over; you were stiff and restless.

You wandered into the living room and paced around. You stopped at the wall of pictures along the far wall; family vacations, birthday parties, Christmases. The Barbers were the idyllic suburban clan. You looked down at the long console table, fresh white tulips stood over the rippled brim of the vase. Beside it, a small mother of pearl tray with an assortment of rings and a single necklace with a large opal stone.

You lifted the chain and admired the clouded streaks of colour. It was pretty. You turned and went to the slatted mirrors hung along the next wall. You held up the chain as if you were wearing it and admired it against the collar of your wool sweater. 

“You know, I got that for Laurie for her birthday and she hasn’t worn it once.” Andy’s voice made you wince. 

You looked over at him and lowered the necklace. You went back to the table and dropped it back with the rings. You turned back to him and wilted under his steady gaze. It was the first time you’d seen him look so stern. He was usually smiling and telling dad jokes.

“It’s very pretty.” You said as you made to head back to the kitchen. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Came through the back. Laurie left the gate open again.” He moved into you path. “It is a nice necklace. I wouldn’t blame you for wanting it.”

“Well, I was just looking,” You said as you stopped. “I shouldn’t have touched though.”

“No? You sure you didn’t wanna put it on? Maybe tuck in under your shirt?” He ventured. “No one would know the difference. Well, not until it was too late.”

“Mr. Barber, I wouldn’t--”

“I was a college student once. It’s tight. Hard to scrape by.” His lips curved slightly. A dark grin. “Never stole though.”

“Really, I would never do that.” You tried to side step him and he moved with you.

“She wouldn’t notice, I’d just expect you to ask before taking.”

“You know, Mr. Barber, I don’t appreciate the accusation. I was just looking.” You insisted. 

“Sure.” His jaw twitched as his grin fell. “You know, I don’t like to be the bad guy but I don’t stand for liars.”

“I am not lying.” You huffed and brushed past him. “You can tell Laurie I left. Or maybe share your theory and tell her you fired me. I won’t be accused of being a thief.”

You went to the table and shoved your textbook into your bag and snatched your phone up. Andy was right there when you turned back. He grabbed your phone and pulled on your bag until it slipped down to your elbow.

“Fire you? Three strikes. I’ll allow you this one but… there has to be punishment.”

You pulled on your bag but he was stronger than you. Very strong.

“Give me my phone, I’m going.” You hissed.

“Come on, we both know you need this job.” He taunted. “You walk out and there’s no coming back, you know that.”

“I wasn’t stealing.” You reached for your phone and he raised it over his head. “Mr. Barber, give me my phone.”

He flung it away and tore your bag from your grasp. His hand went to your arm and he spun you around. You hit the table as he shoved you forward.

“All you have to do is admit it.” He snarled.

“Let me go,” You tried to shake him off as he clung to you. “I didn’t do anything. Mr. Barber, stop! What are you doing?”

“Put your hands on the table.” He ordered.

“I don’t understand. Mr. Barber, this isn’t you-- I didn’t--”

“I see the way you come in here, looking around, like you’re casing the place.” He tutted. “Now you put those hands on the table or I’ll call the police.”

“I didn’t do anything--”

“I won’t say it again. If you won’t confess then you’ll just have to learn the hard way.” He pushed on your shoulder and you slapped your hands onto the table to keep from bending entirely. “So, hands flat.”

He withdrew his hand and you heard a buckle. You turned to look at him as he undid his belt.

“Keep your hands on the table.” He barked. 

You pressed your hands flat and turned to stare at the far wall. You listened to the glide of leather from his belt loops and you bit down. You shivered as he moved behind you. He grabbed the back of your jeans and tore them down roughly just below your ass. You reached to pull them back up and he slapped your hand with his belt.

“Move those hands again and I’ll break a finger.” He growled. “Now,” He folded the belt and rested it against your ass, “Count.”

He raised the belt and brought it down. You cried out and your nails dug into the table cloth.

“That’s one,” He said. “Say it.”

“One,” You said through clenched teeth. He lashed you again and you nearly shouted “two.”

“You gotta keep it down,” He warned. “We don’t want everyone knowing you’re a thief.”

“Mr. Barb--”

He whipped you a third time and you gulped before you forced out ‘three’. Then four, five, six. All the way to ten until your legs were ready to collapse. Your ass was so raw you were certain it was bleeding.

He stopped. At last. He hooked his fingers in the loops of your jeans and pulled them back up. You turned to him with a pained hiss as he slid his belt back into place. He buckled it as he tilted his head at your confused distress.

“So, you still innocent?” He asked.

“I didn’t--” You rasped.

“I’m a lawyer. I know a liar when I see one.” He said.

A car door sounded and then another. Voices rose, familiar and footsteps neared the front door. Andy bent to grab your bag and dropped it on one of the chairs around the table. You found your phone face down and your heart sank at the cracked screen. You couldn’t afford a new one.

“I’ll give you a ride home,” He offered as the front door opened. “We can talk then.”

He went through to the living room and you edged forward to watch him through the doorway. He kissed Laurie and patted Jacob on the shoulder. He was back to the Andy Barber you knew. The smiling, laughing father and husband. The family man with a heart of gold.

You whimpered as you sat at the table and lit up your phone. It worked but the screen was a mess. It would have to do for now. You weren’t sure how long you’d have this job.

💎

Your lesson that night seemed to go on forever. Jacob was disinterested in Arthur Miller’s commentary on McCarthyism and Andy made sure to pop in a few times to ‘check on you’. Laurie had excused herself to her office, as she usually did, but her husband seemed almost paranoid about your presence.

You packed up after and said goodbye to Jacob. He was just happy to be done and quickly pulled out his phone as he left you. You followed him out to the living room and were relieved to find it empty. You slid into your shoes and dipped through the door. You’d catch the bus and send an email to Laurie in the morning. You would find a new job.

“Hey,” The door opened again as Andy called after you, keys jingling as he descended the porch steps. “I said I’d drive you home.”

“I have a bus pass.” You kept on.

“It’s dark.” He caught up to you and latched onto your bag, pulling you back. “And we’re not done talking.”

“I told you I didn’t do it,” You ripped your bag away from him. “And then you assaulted me.”

“I punished you. I will again if you keep lying.” He sneered.

“How many times do I have to say it? You walked in on my playing with a necklace. That’s hardly stealing.” You argued.

“A few more minutes, I’m sure…” He grabbed your elbow and turned you round the back of the car. “Get in.” You dug your heels in and he jerked you forward. “Keep fighting. It’s fun.”

He opened the car door and you were barely able to duck your head as he shoved you inside. He slammed the door and nearly caught your fingers. He got in on the other side and shoved the keys in the ignition. The engine whirred to life and he pulled out abruptly.

“So…” He said.

“So…” You echoed. “I already--”

“Deny, deny, deny. You’re digging the hole deeper and deeper.” He growled. “Confess, apologise, and we’re done. You keep your job and maybe I’ll have some peace of mind that you have a degree of honesty.”

You were quiet. You weren’t quite sure why he was so adamant. Why he was so convinced that you were going to steal that necklace. You’d given him no reason to distrust you. He’d always been friendly, kind, and hospitable. It just didn’t make sense.

“I’m waiting.” He said.

“You can let me out here.” You leaned into the door.

“All you have to do is tell the truth.” He coaxed. “Look, I get it. You’re young, you want nice things.”

You shook your head and sniffed. You stared out the window angrily. “Yeah, so? I wouldn’t just take them.”

“I see the way you look at Laurie. You admire her; envy her. You want what she has.” He continued. “The clothes, the jewelry, the house…” He paused and planted his elbow on the console. “Me.”

“Wh-what?” You sputtered. “Are you serious? Mr. Barber, that’s ridiculous.”

“Is it? I’m older but I’m not haggard,” He said. “Neither of us can deny, I’m a pretty decent catch.”

“Please stop so I can get out.” You pleaded.

“It’s cute. A little crush.” His hand slid off the console and crept along your leg. “I got a bit of one myself.”

“Mr. Barber.” His hand stretched over your thigh and he squeezed. “Andy!”

He stopped and you jolted forward against the seatbelt. You peeked out the window. It was your building. You grabbed your bag and undid your belt as you pushed his hand away. You opened the door then froze.

“How do you know where I live?” You looked back at him. “I didn’t tell you.”

“It saved in the GPS when Laurie drove you,” He said smoothly.

“She drove her car.” You climbed out entirely. “I quit.”

You slammed the door and raced away from the car. Your ass was still sore and you winced as your panties rubbed against the tender skin. You swept inside the lobby of the building and let yourself in the heavy metal door. You climbed the stairs to your floor as tears pricked at your eyes. 

You closed yourself into your room and dropped your bag. You held your head in your hands and tried not to scream. How could a perfectly normal day go so wrong?

You took out your phone and felt the screen. Ugh, you should have put a protector on it. Always pressing your luck. You set it on your small desk and sat on your narrow single bed. You’d wake up tomorrow and start again. The only thing that would be different was the Barbers. They’d be easy enough to forget about. You had classes and you were sure there was some other job you could find in between.

Well, the welts on your ass might remind you of the day’s shit show.

Three loud knocks shook your door. You flinched and stood. You crossed the room and opened the door, just a crack. It was Andy and he looked as agitated as before.

“How did you get up here?” You leaned on the door as his hand rested on the other side.

“Let me in.” He demanded. “We aren’t done.”

“No,” You pushed the door closed but it didn’t click. He flung it open and you stumbled back. “Get the fuck out.”

“When I’m done here.” He said calmly as he shut the door. He turned the lock decisively. “Promise.”

“I’ll scream.” You threatened. “I’ll call campus security.”

“You won’t.” He stormed forward and grabbed you. “What you’re going to do is get down on your knees and make up for your sticky fingers with that pretty little mouth.”

“Mr. Barber,” Your voice rose. “Get--”

He clapped his hand over your mouth before you could shout. He walked you backwards until you were against the wall. He pinned you there and leaned down to whisper in your ear.

“You see what happens, little girl. I’ll tell Laurie about what you did then I’ll tell her you tricked me into coming up here and then turned on me when I refused you. The cops will eat it up, too. I got a few friends on the force. Friends of the family, even.”

You blinked at him and your eyes swam with tears. The sheer anger in his face was terrifying. The unyielding strength in hands was more so.

“So, are you going to be good?” He snarled. “Show me I can trust you?”

You stared at him then nodded. He slowly dropped his hand and smirked as he backed away. Again, his hands went to his belt. You closed your eyes and braced yourself. This couldn’t be real. It couldn’t.

He unzipped his pants. You heard it. You couldn’t look at him as you dropped to your knees. The thin carpet did little to pad your descent. 

He stood over you and stepped closer. Your vision cleared and you were staring at his cock. His hand wrapped around it as he stroked himself. He reached out to pet your cheek.

“No time to waste,” He hummed. “I gotta be home before Laurie gets worried.”

“Please, don’t say her name.” You begged.

“I won’t say much once you get started.”

You lowered your lashes. You reticently licked your licks and got closer. You grasped him as his hand fell away. You exhaled with a shudder and closed your eyes completely.

You licked his tip and he groaned. The sound made you shiver. His other hand slipped behind your head as he urged you on. You opened wider as he met your throat and you gagged. He eased off but pushed back in until he slid down your throat. You felt even more like retching.

“Oh, ho,” He uttered. “Wow, I never thought-- you’re such a sweet little thing, I didn’t expect--”

He puffed as he rocked into your mouth. The sloppy noises filled your ears and floated through the room. You gripped the top of his pants, the leather of his belt against your palm as he sped up.

You let out breathless groans around him and he clutched your head tighter with a hand on either side. You struggled to get air as he guided you up and down his length.

“Oh god, here it comes.” He growled. “Here it--”

He pulled out of your mouth and held your head with one hand as he stroked himself. Your eyes fluttered as he came across your face, streaks of semen from forehead to chin. 

He pressed his thumb along your lips and pushed a string of his salty cum into your mouth. He sighed as he gazed down at you.

“You see what happens when you touch what isn’t yours?” He purred. “I’ll see you on Wednesday. Jacob’s unit test is the next day.” He pulled his hand away as his cum cooled on your skin. “Don’t be late.”

[cyhyr]

Whumpmas In July: Support

Fandom: Naruto

Rating: M

Pairing: Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka; Hatake Kakashi & Maito Gai

WC: ~5640

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Notes: Therapy, Flashbacks, Triggers, Making Out, Communication

A/N: This story will make. Next to no sense. If you don't read "Stop" first. I mean, you can certainly try. But really. If anyone needs a summary of the previous fic--I know it's a rough one--send a message and I'll get back to you with it :)

A sequel to "Stop"

For @whumpmasinjuly prompt list

Read on The Archive

~

“Is there anything else you wanted to discuss today? We still have five minutes.”

Iruka crosses his arms and ducks his head, thinking of how to word his question. Request? “I… How does one go about helping their partner in this kind of situation?”

Rikona leans her elbow on her desk, her chin on her hand. “You’re worried about Hatake-san.”

“He’s the one who found me,” Iruka says. “I’d be worried for anyone who found me in that state. It… it wasn’t pleasant. But because he’s also my partner…” He trails off, not yet knowing how to finish his sentence. Rikona will wait, he knows; he scrubs his face with his palms. “He doesn’t leave me alone anymore.”

“It’s only been three weeks, Iruka-sensei. Surely, he’s being understandably protective, considering what he saw.”

“No, I mean. He won’t take missions. He’s outside in the waiting room right now. He’s on alert in the village. The civilians are starting to notice. My students,” he groans, “they’re asking if Kakashi will just come inside the classroom instead of hanging around in the trees like a creep.”

Rikona hums thoughtfully. “That does seem excessive. Is he seeing anyone? For therapy, of course.”

Iruka shakes his head. “I know it’s noted in his file that he’s attended his required annual psych evals, but he says he’s had Yamanaka in his head before and doesn’t want anyone else in there.”

She sighs. “Their mind jutsu is an offensive technique and shouldn’t be used on fellow Konoha shinobi. Urgh.”

“Urgh indeed,” Iruka agrees.

“I think, the best you can do for now, would be to have Hatake-san confide in someone.”

“I—”

“He’s not going to tell you, Iruka-sensei,” she continues, waving a hand flippantly. “He sees you as someone to protect. He’s not going to put his worries on you. Does he have a good friend you can ask to look into him?”

Iruka smiles, and nods.

~

Kakashi has a new routine since Iruka’s release from the hospital. He wakes up just before dawn and sneaks out of Iruka’s apartment, where he’s been sleeping at the kotatsu. He visits the memorial stone for twenty-four minutes, the exact amount of time he can give himself and still make it back to Iruka’s before breakfast.

He makes Iruka eat (he doesn’t eat; can’t eat, not this early) and take the medicine he’s been prescribed (a two-week course of antibiotics, and pain medicine as needed). While Iruka eats, he makes bento for both of them. Then he walks Iruka to the Academy, where he hangs out in the tree outside of Iruka’s classroom all day until lunchtime. They eat lunch together, Iruka telling him about the morning classes as though he doesn’t know Kakashi is watching his every breath. When afternoon practicals take Iruka’s class outside, Kakashi shifts silently to another tree to keep his mark.

Iruka used to switch up and use different training fields for different days. Lately, he keeps his class in training field three. It’s the one furthest from the village border. They never discussed this, but Kakashi suspects Rikona-sensei suggested it. She’s been good for Iruka.

Iruka’s afternoons are different day-to-day, but Kakashi stays next to him throughout it all. He sits in the corner, pretending to read, during Mission Desk shifts. He stays in the back of the classroom quietly if Iruka’s on detention duty. He offers assistance if Iruka is tutoring—for theory, he’s gently let down, but Iruka lets him help if he’s tutoring practicals. On Thursdays he walks Iruka to the hospital, to the third floor, and anxiously stays in the waiting room for the hour-long therapy session.

After everything, they’ll pick up something for dinner and head home. To Iruka’s home. Kakashi asks every night if he can stay, and Iruka always says yes, as long as he cooks dinner. A small price to pay for his peace of mind. If it comes with Iruka’s pleased smile at every new dish Kakashi serves him, with a deep moan of content when the soup is the perfect blend of spicy and savory; well, that’s just a bonus.

Iruka always demands to clean up himself. “You cooked, I’ll clean.”

Kakashi doesn’t know what to think about it. He knows now that Iruka stress-cleans; is this just him destressing after… after? Or is he really just dividing the labor?

He only lets Iruka out of sight now that they’re home—in Iruka’s home—and behind the wards. He relaxes, settles down into the kotatsu, and lets Iruka come to him. He always does, every night. Even if it’s just to sit side-by-side, with Kakashi’s arms around Iruka while they each read their own books—Iruka always comes to him at the end of the night.

Sometimes they’ll kiss. It doesn’t get heated, but feeling Iruka close as he is comfortable being is perfect.

He makes sure to send Iruka to bed before he falls asleep. Iruka always asks if he wants the spare room, the one Naruto had once claimed, but Kakashi’s more comfortable at the kotatsu, where he can cover more entrances to the apartment. Not that he tells Iruka that. He trusts Iruka’s wards. But… just in case.

~

Iruka plans on asking Gai-sensei to take Kakashi out for an evening the next time he sees him at the Mission Desk. It can’t take too long for that coincidence to occur; Team Gai has been taking missions almost non-stop in preparation for the next chūnin exams in a few months.

Kakashi turns the page of his book from his seat in the corner of the room. If nothing else, his constant presence has been a boon in that the more unruly jōnin don’t dare act up while Kakashi is standing guard. And gods, everyone in the village knows that’s exactly what he’s doing and it… it grates on Iruka, that Kakashi feels he needs a guard while he’s safe behind the village walls.

But he can’t ask him to stop. He knows it’s not for him. Kakashi isn’t doing this for Iruka, no matter what he tells himself, or anyone else.

They head home at the end of the night. It’s comfortable, having Kakashi there at his side. He won’t let Iruka wrap an arm around his waist or even hold his hand while they walk, but they’re close enough that they brush elbows and fingertips. Iruka feels the static in the air as they walk, the chakra discharge Kakashi is barely holding back.

Gods help the poor bastard who bumps into them before he gets past this.

On the stairs up to his apartment, Iruka turns and looks down at Kakashi, whose gaze is turned out at the village. “Love?”

Kakashi hums, and cocks his head up at him. He looks so much like a puppy when he does that.

Iruka cups his face with one palm, turning his face the rest of the way towards himself. With his other hand, he cards his fingers lightly through Kakashi’s hair, revelling in the closed-eye sigh he receives. “Rikona-sensei suggested yesterday that I might be ready to try something… more, if you’re up for that,” he murmurs against Kakashi’s hitai-ate.

He watches Kakashi’s throat shift under the mask, his lips part and the fabric dampen with the force of his exhale.

“What are we still doing outside, then?” he finally says.

Iruka grins, and reaches down for his hands. Kakashi gives them to him freely, and they stumble-trip-carry-each-other the rest of the way into his apartment.

It used to be, when Kakashi had come home with him, he’d crowd him against the door and kiss his neck while begging him to get the wards back up. This time, Kakashi pulls Iruka against his chest, putting his own back to the door, and feeds his own chakra into the wards to set them for the night. While he does that, Iruka carefully slides his mask down his face to pool at his collar and sets to kissing him so thoroughly Kakashi has to restart the wards twice to get them right.

Once he’s done, he keeps his hands pressed to the wood of the door; Iruka can feel the strain of want in his shoulders.

“What happened to ‘best ass in Konoha’?” he mutters against Kakashi’s lips.

Kakashi moans; asks, “It’s okay? Can I? Please please please let me touch you, Love, I—”

“If your hands aren’t on my ass by the time I finish this—oh, fuck.”

Kakashi squeezes in pulses, kisses him back, and starts walking him out of the genkan. Sandals, vests, hitai-ate, wrappings—all are gone as quickly as possible, with silent taps against each piece to ask Is this okay? Can I take this off of you? All the while, they keep kissing, tongues meeting gently and lips gasping at heated brushes of bare skin.

Kakashi pulls Iruka down on top of him as they fall onto the kotatsu. He takes advantage of the new position and dives for that sweet spot behind Kakashi’s ear, smiling and pressing his teeth against soft skin.

He’s hard. They’re both hard. It’s wonderful.

Kakashi tips his head back and moans, wraps his arms around Iruka’s waist, spreads his legs and breathes, “More, Iruka, please Love, more.”

“More, what?” Iruka smiles.

“Whatever. Whatever you want to give me, I’ll take. Just. Gods, feels so-so nice.”

Iruka dips his head, kisses Kakashi’s neck, and rocks his hips slowly against Kakashi’s. “Fuck, love,” he gasps. “You-You’re so beautiful like this.”

He frots a little harder, a little faster, and it’s amazing.

But something—something’s off.

The hairs on the back of his neck rise. Iruka looks up.

Kakashi’s head is still tipped aside. His breath is stuttering. The sharingan is open. One of his arms falls off of Iruka’s back and flops, palm up, to the side.

Oh gods, no.

“Love? Kakashi?” Iruka places a hand on Kakashi's cheek and feels his blood freeze. “Kakashi, my love, come back to me. We’re in Konoha, we’re at home, the wards are up, we’re safe.”

Lightning chakra sparks in his hand. Iruka swallows back the instinctive fear, and throws himself back into waking Kakashi up.

“Please, love, you can’t—you have to come back. Please, we’re not—we’re safe. I’m safe. You already killed him. It’s over,” he ducks his head and presses a kiss to Kakashi’s clothed chest. “My Kakashi, please, please come back to me.”

The lightning doesn’t stop. The sharingan doesn’t close. For so many long, terrible minutes, Iruka waits, willing Kakashi to come back to himself. For the flashback to stop. He wonders how much Kakashi is registering. He rests his head on Kakashi’s chest and listens to his stuttering breath and rabbit-fast pulse.

He does his best not to cry.

Kakashi’s shirt gets wet anyway.

The sparks in his palm eventually stop. Iruka looks up and sees both of Kakashi’s eyes are closed. He leans back down and listens closely, but his pulse and breathing are still off. He must have just chakra-exhausted himself. “Kakashi,” he murmurs. “My love, please wake up. Gods, is this how you feel, when I…”

“...Iru-ka?”

“Oh, thank the gods,” Iruka sighs. He leans up and cups Kakashi’s cheeks. “What do you need, love? What can I—?”

“Water. Please.”

Iruka vaults over the back of the kotatsu to get to the kitchen faster. But as soon as he stands up, he remembers how he feels coming out of an episode—cold, not quite all there—and Kakashi just had a warm weight leave him suddenly. Iruka turns and grabs a throw blanket out of a basket and drapes it over Kakashi; who, indeed, had started to shiver. He looks up at Iruka gratefully, and huddles into the throw, and then also pulls the quilt of the kotatsu closer.

Satisfied, Iruka goes for the water.

~

They were. They were on the kotatsu. They’d been making out. It was nice. Great. Amazing.

Kakashi fully expected to never get that close to Iruka again and yet, the man had put his teeth on his neck and they had both been hard and-and—

And then he was back in that cave, and his legs ached from running for so long, and the echo of Sato’s words rang between his ears. “You can’t imagine how beautiful your eyes are, full of fear. But you don’t have to be afraid right now, pet. Your eyes are just as beautiful in the throes of ecstasy.” He wasn’t fast enough. Sato had Iruka tied up, his legs over Sato’s shoulders, was going to-to—

Sharingan. Raikiri. Death.

He’s not fast enough. He couldn’t save him. Couldn’t… save—

Sato had Iruka tied up to a pole by his neck.

“You came. You came. You—”

“My Kakashi, please please come back to me.”

...

Kakashi breathes. It hurts. He’s cold, and breathing hurts, and he hasn’t felt like this since Rin—

“Water, love?”

He looks up, and Iruka is coming around the side of the kotatsu with a glass and a plate. He smiles tiredly. He’s in good hands, he supposes; if anyone knows how to treat someone who just went through… that, it’s Iruka.

“I also brought some crackers and cucumber slices,” Iruka says. “May I sit?”

Kakashi nods. “Please.” He tries to sit up so Iruka can have the place where his head currently is, but Iruka waves him away. He places the water in Kakashi’s hand and the plate in easy reach, and then goes to the other side of the kotatsu and sits at Kakashi’s feet.

Their toes touch. Kakashi sips at the water and grabs a cucumber.

“Can you tell me what happened?” Iruka asked.

“I… We were. Y’know. And then I was back in the cave.”

Iruka nods. “Do you know what pushed you there? Something I did, or a position, or—”

“‘Beautiful’,” Kakashi mutters, and then shivers and groans as his stomach tries to turn.

Iruka looks thoughtful for a moment, and then nods. “We won’t say it again. I’m sorry.”

“You can’t have known.”

“Kakashi—”

“I feel so…” Kakashi holds up his hands and looks at them, turns them over. It’s odd. “I can’t describe it.”

“Fuzzy? Raw?”

Kakashi stares over at Iruka and then slowly nods. “Tingly.”

“You manifested lightning chakra in your right palm for almost ten minutes, love. And I’m pretty sure you have a minor case of chakra exhaustion from having the sharingan activated the whole time, too.”

Kakashi groans. “I’m sorry for ruining our night.”

Iruka chuckles. “Try again, love.”

He tilts his head to the side and tries to think. What could Iruka mean…? Oh. Ha.

“Um… I’m not sure—?”

“I’ll always be here if you need me,” Iruka prompts. “Just like you’re always there for me.”

He smiles tiredly. “Thank you, Iruka. For staying.”

“You’re welcome. Do you want to eat more than that, or do you think you just need to sleep it off?”

“I’d like to… to hold you,” Kakashi says, “if that’s alright?”

Iruka scoots over to him and lets Kakashi arrange him against his chest. They rest for much of the evening, until Iruka has to eat more than crackers and cucumbers. After dinner he hovers in the hall, hesitant.

“Do you… um. Kakashi, would it be—ah, fuck.”

“I’ll be okay on the kotatsu again tonight,” he says.

Iruka sighs, and shuffles his feet. “But you don’t have to. We’ve shared a bed before. And I know I always feel better getting to hold you through the night after one of my episodes, so I just thought…”

Kakashi’s heart swells. He grins, stands on slightly shaky legs, and crosses the living room to the hall where Iruka waits.

“Would it make you feel better if I slept with you?”

Iruka shrugs. “I mean, yes, but I don’t want to push you. Flashbacks, Dissociation, it’s no joke, love and—”

“This isn’t the first time I’m going through this,” Kakashi says. Seeing Iruka’s curious glint, he continues, “I’ll tell you about it some other time, but suffice to say I’m. Familiar. With flashbacks. Going through them with someone else; this is the new part for me.”

Iruka reaches out and takes his hand. Tugs him, gently. “Just… come to bed? Please?”

Kakashi glances back at the kotatsu. The living room is better for watching more possible entrances. But Iruka’s in his bedroom. This is a practical choice. “Let me grab my hitai-ate, and I’ll be along.”

Iruka’s smile rivals the sun. Gods, it’s nice to see that smile again.

~

“Kakashi had a flashback,” Iruka groans. “He’s. He’s got a trigger word.”

“How is he?”

“Raw. Flighty.” He snorts. “More overprotective than he was before, if it was possible.”

Rikona-sensei hums and fiddles with her pen. “Do you feel comfortable talking about what happened? Were you there for it?”

Iruka shrugs. “I was there for it. I… I caused it. I said his trigger word. We didn’t know.”

“That is how we tend to find out about these things.”

“But I don’t. Not yet. It’s not my story to tell.”

“So then tell your story. Tell me your experience, finally being on the other side of this.”

Iruka crosses his arms and leans back in his chair. “I…” He chews on his lip. “It was terrifying. I’ve never been scared of Kakashi, okay? Not-not when I was a genin and heard about the genius in ANBU, not when I served under him when I was still doing field work regularly, not when I stood up to him at the chūnin exam nominations. But the other night, he—”

He stops. Shuts his eyes tight, ducks his head. Rikona-sensei nudges the tissue box a little closer. He ignores it.

“I was so scared he was going to hurt himself.”

“Not you?”

“I… yeah, I was a little scared of that. He had molded lightning chakra during his episode. He’d opened the sharingan. He… If he had more control of his body, he could have easily killed me, I think.”

“Iruka, I need you to think very carefully about this,” Rikona-sensei starts, “because you’re my client, and your well-being and safety are paramount to a good mental health recovery. But also because Hatake-san is a former ANBU operative and doesn’t have his own mental health support regiment. So I’m asking you. Do you feel safe around him?”

Iruka shifts in his seat. “If I say no, you’re going to have him admitted, aren’t you?”

“No,” she says. “But I am required to bring such information to the Hokage. She’ll do with that information as she sees fit.”

Iruka thinks—Kakashi had been limp. He’d said it was a flashback, but it really was closer to a dissociation episode from how Iruka looked at it. Yes, all the preparatory signs were there for a raikiri, but if Kakashi couldn’t even lift his hand, had he really been a threat?

But really.

He’d been more worried that the chakra exhaustion wasn’t going to stop the flashback, or the half-formed raikiri. He’d been worried that Kakashi would be forced to bed rest for days over a flashback, instead of a real threat. He’d been worried that Kakashi would lose control of the lightning chakra and shock himself.

“Kakashi is not a danger to me,” Iruka says firmly, “nor to the village.”

Rikona nods. “Your word, Iruka-sensei. If that feeling changes, at any time, there are always ANBU on patrol. Alert them.”

~

Getting Gai to agree to take Kakashi out for a night is simple—the man nearly starts crying at the chance to spend an evening catching up with his Eternal Rival.

Getting Kakashi to leave him alone for the night to go out with Gai; now that proves relatively difficult. All the way home from the Mission Desk, they bicker about it gently. Iruka doesn’t want to provoke Kakashi. He just wants Kakashi to spend time with someone else.

They’re climbing the stairs up to the apartment. “It’s just one night,” Iruka smiles, looking back over his shoulder.

Kakashi can’t seem to muster up the will to smile back. He’s worriedly glancing out at the village. “But what about—”

“I can feed myself for one night, love,” he says.

“You know that’s not what… what I…”

Iruka turns, takes his hands and kisses them. Softly, “Love, trust my wards. I’m in the village. I’m safe.”

“I know. I just.”

“Go. Have a night. You can walk me to school in the morning, same as always. I won’t leave without you.”

Kakashi sighs, and asks, “Can I kiss you before I go?”

Iruka smirks. “You’d better.”

~

Kakashi keeps his hands in his pockets while he and Gai walk through the market. Gai is talking about Youth and Evenings and The Warmth of Springtime. Kakashi is looking at the paper lanterns and contemplating ducking into a food stall. He knows Gai will follow him.

Maybe he could use this time away to get Iruka a gift.

But what would he like?

“Kakashi, are you listening?”

“Springtime, Passion, Youth, Maa, Maa,” Kakashi waves him off, “What do you think Iruka would like as a gift?”

“Thinking of your precious person even when you are apart! The love you share is so—”

“Focus, Gai.”

“Why not a simple bouquet? Flowers are always bea—”

“Don’t!” Kakashi snaps. Gai’s mouth shuts fast, and the crowd around them stills for just a moment. He sweats, shakes, and then jumps to the roofs and runs. He can hear Gai keeping pace behind him; that’s fine. He can deal with Gai. He can’t deal with civilians, with all those eyes—

He lands behind the Academy, leans heavily on his knees, and keeps going into the trees. It’s getting dark, but he’s leaving a trail and Gai knows his chakra. He falls into a clearing and slips—oh, this is what Iruka describes as slipping, feeling the world fall away out from underneath him, but he’s not fully gone yet.

“Kakashi!”

He holds himself together, his breath stuttering, the grass wet under his knees; but it's not grass, it’s stone, and it’s not his knees it’s his feet and he’s running and his legs ache and-and,

A hand slaps his cheek.

“Stay with me, Kakashi! Where are you?”

“Cave. Forty-two miles northeast—”

“No, Kakashi. Where are you?”

He looks around. It’s dark. The cave is-was-is dark. He needs-needed the sharingan to see it was so dark. Is. Was?

“I don’t… I don’t know.”

“You are safe within the walls of Konohagakure. We are in training field three, behind the Academy.”

The Academy? Iruka.

“Where’s Iruka???”

“He is at home, where you left him. Also safe, behind nigh impenetrable wards and seals only the best fūinjutsu master could hope to break.”

Kakashi looks up. Gai is kneeling in the grass—wet, soft, recently mowed grass—and looking at him with deep concern. His hands hover over Kakashi’s shoulders.

“Kakashi, what happened back there?”

“I… I don’t. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“But you must. You can not serve the village in this state.”

“What—What do you want me to say?”

“The truth!” Gai put his massive hands on Kakashi’s shoulders and it’s a relief to have that pressure assuring him that he exists in the here-and-now and not back-then. “I am more than your Rival, am I not?”

“Gai…”

“Am I?”

Kakashi nods, slowly. It hurts to move too fast.

“Then talk to me.” He shifts them both so that they’re laying on their backs in the grass, looking up at the stars. Gai stays right by his side; like he always had been, like he always will. Kakashi breathes more steadily now. Then Gai asks, “How are you?”

“Better than Iruka,” Kakashi mutters.

“See, I am not sure that is true.” Gai hums. “Iruka-sensei, as terrible as this sounds, has experience with this sort of encounter. He has a therapist, a professional trained in methods with which to help him. He has a loving partner who cares for him deeply,” he nudges Kakashi’s shoulder with his own; Kakashi smirks. “He finds fulfillment in his work, which he resumed as soon as he was physically able. And he still speaks with his friends, at least during work hours.”

“I…”

“Love is a wondrous thing, and it fills my heart to see you care so much. But I want to know how you are.”

Someday, he’ll figure out what makes Gai, Gai. Someday, he’ll figure out why Gai makes Kakashi vomit words like nearly no one else. Someday, he’ll figure out why he and Gai were never romantically compatible.

Tonight, he talks.

He tells Gai about not being fast enough. About hearing Sato calling Iruka… that. About seeing Iruka in that horrible position, with Sato over him. About having Iruka repeat, over and over, “You came,” like he’d given up.

About how he failed Iruka.

He’s had to come to terms with not being fast enough to save someone before. He visits them at the Stone. But Iruka.

“Gai, I still look at him every day and I-I see him there, with the-the ropes around his neck and Sato ready to… to…”

“You feel guilty.”

“How can he even trust me anymore?!”

“Iruka-sensei never lost faith in Konoha, and so never lost faith in you.”

“And he managed to get out of all of that without a new trigger—he has so many, Gai, it’s horrible, I swear if I ever get the chance to kill that fucker I’m going to do it—”

“Mizuki?”

Kakashi growls. “Let’s not get into that tonight.”

“Understood.”

“But he. He was so worried he wasn’t going to be able to hear the words pet or pretty again without,” Kakashi makes a vague gesture. Gai nods for him to continue. “But he did. He’s so strong and he made it through. He tested it with his therapist a week after he came home, and again that night when I brought him back to his apartment.”

“That is great news, Kakashi.”

“And then there’s me. Who didn’t go through any of what he did, who doesn’t have any of that trauma, and here I am—the one with the trigger word from this experience.”

Gai leans up on his elbow and looks down at Kakashi thoughtfully. “Can you tell me what it is? So I know not to say it in your presence.”

Kakashi swallows. Deep breath. Grits his teeth… tries… “No. I… no. Um. Oh, shit.”

He rolls to his knees and crawls away, shoves his mask down to his throat, and throws up.

~

Gai walks him home, long after midnight. He tries going back to the jōnin barracks, but Gai insists that he not be alone tonight. He can either go home with Gai, or go back to Iruka’s.

Simple choice, really.

He knocks on Iruka’s door. If Iruka’s still awake, he’ll stay here. If not, he’ll crash at Gai’s for an hour or so until he can sneak back to his own place.

The wards’ hums slow to a stop, the door unlocks, and then opens. Iruka is dressed for bed, his hair down and braided, and he smiles when he sees Kakashi. “You didn’t need to knock,” he says.

“I really did,” Kakashi says. “It’s been a rough night.”

Iruka’s smile fades, and he looks over Kakashi’s shoulder to Gai. Gai must make some comforting gesture, because Iruka sags, and reaches out for Kakashi’s hands. “Well, come on. It’s late. Thank you, Gai-sensei, for taking him out for the evening, and for bringing him home.”

“You do not need to thank me for spending time with my dear Rival,” Gai says. He places a hand on Kakashi’s shoulder and rubs his back with his thumb. “It was pleasant, getting to catch up. We must do it again sometime. Perhaps a weekly sparring session would do us both good?”

Kakashi nods, still in a daze. He hasn’t quite… returned to himself, he supposes.

Iruka pulls him inside. “Good night, Gai-sensei.”

“Good night, Iruka-sensei, Kakashi.”

Kakashi lifts a hand in a half-wave.

Iruka gets him inside and sits him down on the step of the genkan. He helps him out of his sandals, wrappings, and flak vest. “Love?”

“I’m alright,” he says automatically.

“You don’t seem alright.”

“I talked with Gai.”

“Obviously. You were out together all night, I should hope you talked.”

“No. I… I told him. About. About Sato. I’m sorry.”

But Iruka smiles, the look soft and calming. He takes Kakashi’s hands, kisses his fingers, and slips his gloves off. Then, he pulls Kakashi to stand back up and leads him through the apartment.

“I was hoping that you would confide in a friend,” Iruka says. “I know… Kakashi, this guilt you’re feeling, it’s killing you.”

“It’s—”

Iruka sits him on the bed and slides off his hitai-ate. Kakashi’s arms go instinctively around Iruka’s waist as he steps in between Kakashi’s knees.

“It’s not healthy. A bit of guilt, for what you saw, for not being there sooner? I can understand that. But love, I’m okay. I got through it with minimal injuries and next to no backfall on my mental health.”

“I know.”

“I’m worried about you.” Iruka pets his hair and Kakashi leans his temple against Iruka’s chest.

“You were hurt,” Kakashi mutters. “I just—”

“You came at probably the worst possible time of that entire situation,” Iruka says. “You saw something horrible, and you heard someone demean me in a way you likely have never experienced before. My love,” Iruka cups his jaw and tips his chin up so they’re looking eye-to-eye, “anyone could have come out of that kind of situation with a bit of trauma. Yours is just manifesting in a physical way, and we have to work with that.”

“But—”

“My Kakashi,” Iruka says sternly. “You were hurt. Just because your scars from this event aren’t physical doesn’t mean they aren’t real.”

Iruka lets him go, and he presses his face back into Iruka’s chest the second he’s able. He groans. “Why do you call me that when you know it makes me all… I don’t know… gooey, inside?”

“Hmm?” Iruka continues petting his hair. “Call you what? My Kakashi?”

He nuzzles Iruka and groans deeper, feeling the fuzzy, tingly feeling from earlier in the night fade away. “Definitely not,” he lies.

“No?” Iruka pulls away enough to tap at his hitai-ate and mask, which is enough of a signal for bedtime as it is for remove these please. “What do I call you that makes you gooey then? Love?”

The hitai-ate makes a clink as it hits the floor.

“Dearest?”

Kakashi shrugs off his shirt and mask. It hits the hamper near the closet.

“Darling?”

He strips Iruka of his yukata, letting it fall to the floor.

“Love of my life?”

“If you don’t lay down with me, I’m going back to the kotatsu,” Kakashi growls. He wraps his arms tight around Iruka’s waist, and falls back and to the side to land on the pillows.

Iruka laughs as they fall. He gently strokes a finger down Kakashi’s bare face and asks, “Can I kiss you?”

“Of course.” Kakashi lets Iruka come to him, kissing him gently and carefully. It’s odd, being the one handled like glass. Odd, but sweet. Nice.

“I know you had an emotional evening,” Iruka says against his lips. “But I’m really excited about this and I want to tell you about it. I can wait until morning if you need to, though.”

“I would love nothing more than for you to tell me about this exciting thing, Love,” Kakashi drawls. He yawns right after, which kills the intent behind his words, but Iruka just laughs and goes forward with telling him anyway.

“So. I’ve been talking with Rikona-sensei about my triggers. And, yes, many of them are auditory, but I’ve also got quite a few visual triggers.”

“Which is why if we do anything seriously sexual we go to my place,” Kakashi adds, following along.

“Right! So, Rikona-sensei gave me a collection of apartments that are for rent right now and—”

“You’re going to move?” Kakashi perked up, suddenly awake.

Iruka nods. “I want to move. Mizuki—he spent so much time in this place, in this room, and I… I’ve tried making new memories to fit over the old ones and it’s not working. So I sent out applications tonight and hopefully by the weekend I’ll have letters back saying which apartments I can go see.” He’s grinning ear to ear, blinding Kakashi with the force of it. “One of the places is actually a small house, with a yard. If I can get it, that’s the one I want. I’m hoping Naruto likes it. And I—I want you to come see the apartments with me.”

Kakashi blinks. “What?”

“I’m not-not asking you to look at apartments with me, like, ‘let’s get a place together and move in’ kind of looking!” Iruka hastens to clarify. He rubs at the bridge of his nose with one finger, a nervous habit—one the cuter ones he has. “I just... before I sign any paperwork. I… I love you, and I value your opinion. So. I want you there. If you… want. To be.”

If it were possible, Kakashi would pull Iruka closer. As it is, they’re already chest to chest, so Kakashi settles for nuzzling Iruka’s hair and pressing kisses on his forehead, and down to his eyelids and nose and cheek.

“I will be wherever you want me to be.”

Iruka kisses him again and leans against his shoulder. “Right now, this is where I want you.”

“How convenient. That’s where I want to be too.”

They both laugh, and Iruka nudges him in the side. “No Icha Icha lines.”

[harrysweasleys]

best teacher // d.m

Request: if you take requests- i’ve always wanted to read a fic about a ravenclaw reader tutoring draco and she’s muggleborn and v intelligent and stubborn and proved that she belongs in the wizarding world and doesn’t let draco walk all over her but lowkey she’s insecure and wants people to like her. draco falls hard for her and it’s angsty but a super happy soft ending 🥺 would you be able to do something like that?? all my love 💕💕💕

Warnings: none

Word Count: 5.8k

A/N: so i know that cho is a year older than them, but just for the sake of the story, she’s in the same year. bear with me! xxx (gif isn’t mine)

—

The soft glow of sunlight peered through the large library windows, illuminating the thin layer of dust that sat on the window ledge and many of the books surrounding it. The warm autumn light was comforting, considering it was too chilly to stay outside for elongated periods of time.

Y/N was huddled at the back of the library, mindlessly flicking through the pages of The Standard Book of Spells: Chapter Four, making sure she was prepared for the upcoming test that Flitwick had spontaneously thrust upon them.

Not only that, but she was also waiting for the student she was about to tutor for History of Magic. The ghostly Professor Binns had told her that one of her fellow classmates, a Slytherin by the name of Draco Malfoy, needed assistance. And of course, with the highest grade and academics in the class, Y/N was put to the job.

It’s not like she necessarily hated Malfoy, but he did take any chance he could get to remind her that she was, in fact, a muggleborn witch. He had never gone so far as to call her a ‘mudblood’ — which he had called Hermione Granger in their second year — but he didn’t exactly make her life a walk in the park every time he was around her, either.

So, as she sat patiently in the back of the library (away from Madam Pince so they wouldn’t get shouted at) she prepared herself for what should be a rough few hours. When the familiar head of platinum blond hair made its way through the long aisles of books at sat across from her, she braced herself.

“Good afternoon, Draco,” she smiled politely, hoping that if she were kind to him then he would be an easy pupil to work with.

He scoffed, taking out a blank piece of parchment and a quill, “I prefer it when people call me Malfoy. Especially people I hardly know.”

Y/N frowned, but nodded her head, “Right, sorry,” she pulled out her large textbook, flipping to the page that Professor Binns had marked specifically for this tutoring session, “Well, I guess we’ll get right into it.”

She scanned over the page, “So, I hear you struggled on the quiz about the Wizarding Community in America, correct?” She looked up from the book, no judgement on her face, but Draco continued to glare at her.

“I don’t exactly care that I didn’t do well,” he spoke lowly, as if not wanting other students to overhear that he was struggling in school, “Besides, I don’t plan to have a career that involves History of Magic in the future.”

Y/N nodded, her face dropping, “I get that, neither do I, but you still need to pass this class if you want to continue on to your next level of education.”

Her fingers started playing with the corner of the page, her nerves slowly starting to overcome her calmness. She knew Draco Malfoy would be a hard student to work with, but she didn’t exactly know how to deal with him. He was making her nervously fidgety by just sitting here staring at her, his face void of all interest.

“Fine, let’s get this over with,” he placed his elbow on the table and rested his head in his hand, his features laced with obvious boredom. Y/N cleared her throat, turning back down to the page.

“Okay, well, should we do a quick quiz to see what you know or do you just want to go over everything?” she asked, avoiding his gaze and scanning over the page, the words already familiar to her.

“I don’t care.”

“Malfoy, I want to help,” she pleaded, finally facing him again, “you need to cooperate with me.”

He scowled at her, “I have to cooperate with you? I’m pureblooded. You’re muggleborn. If anything, I need to disassociate with you as much as possible.”

Y/N bit her cheek, trying to fight back the sting that settled into her chest. She blinked at him, a blank expression on her face.

“Thanks for reminding me I’m muggleborn, almost forgot,” the tone in her voice had changed from kind to hostile, her knuckles turning white from her tight grip on the book in front of her, “Now, what’s the equivalent to the Ministry of Magic in America?”

Draco roller his eyes, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed, “If I knew, would I be here?”

“It’s the Magical Congress of the United States of America,” Y/N turned the book to face him and tapped the page, “Also known as MACUSA. Founded in 1693.”

Draco didn’t even look like he was listening as he gazed out the window. Y/N’s patience was starting to wear thin, and it had barely even been five minutes.

“Are you even listening? Take notes or something.”

Draco’s eyes snapped back to her, “I’m not taking orders from you.”

Slamming the book shut, she grit her teeth together, “If you’re not going to work with me, Malfoy, I don’t want to waste my time.” She hastily stood up, snatching her backpack off the ground, and started placing her books into it, ignoring how Draco was still seated.

“How is Professor Binns going to feel knowing the one student he can count on has let him down?” Draco leaned back in his chair with a smug smirk on his face, eyebrow raised. Y/N stopped packing, turning her head up to face him.

Damn it. The git was right.

“Fine,” she sat back down begrudgingly and pulled the book out of her bag once more, turning back to the page that they left off on, “Are you going to at least listen?”

He shrugged, twirling his quill between his fingers, “I’ll try.”

She sighed, nodding her head and taking his answer as an agreement of cooperation. She scanned over the page again, remembering what was said in class about certain topics so she could formulate a teaching strategy.

“What was the Theory of Uno Mass?” she asked, resting her head on her hand and gazing at the boy across from her, who seemed to be both deep in thought and bored out of his mind, his quill still spinning between his pale fingers.

He clearly fought the urge to roll his eyes, “You’re supposed to be teaching me, Y/L/N, not judging. Or quizzing.”

Y/N lifted her head and sat back in her chair, an amused expression on her face, “We learned this in second year, Malfoy.” When she still didn’t get an answer from him, she flipped the book in his direction once more, “The Theory of Uno Mass states the belief that all magic originated from one single wizard. Or witch. It’s translated from ancient Aramaic — it means The First Magi.”

Draco nodded, scribbling the words down messily on the piece of parchment. Y/N fought the urge to tell him he had spelled ‘Uno Mass’ wrong.

“You know,” she began, pointing the the shelves around them, “You should really read A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot. We even have it in the library.”

Draco shook his head, “You expect me to check out a book? Are you mental? I have more important things to do than reading, thanks.”

Y/N slouched back, rolling her eyes, “Just thought it would help.”

“I’m just trying to get through our lessons,” he mumbled, “This is torture enough.”

Y/N ignored the stinging sensation his words left behind. She wasn’t expecting him to be so warm and open to her in the first place, but if he kept treating her like this, her patience would start to wear thin incredibly quickly.

“I have better things to do too than sit here and tutor someone who voluntarily doesn’t pay attention in class,” she snapped back, missing the way Draco’s eyes widened at her change of tone. She had been speaking so quietly and kindly up until this point. 

“Like what? You’re a Ravenclaw. All you do is sit and read all day, isn’t it? Aren’t books your only friends?” he squinted his eyes at her, knowing he was pushing his luck.

She bit her cheek. He was starting to get on her nerves and she didn’t know how much longer she was going to put up with it.

“Coming from the Slytherin. Aren’t you supposed to be in your common room worshipping the Dark Lord?” she pressed angrily, immediately regretting it as she watched Draco’s lips press into a thin line, his face becoming paler than before. If looks could kill, she’d be dead on the floor.

She tried apologizing, but her attempt was cut off by the loud squeak of his chair as he stood up forcefully, his face locked in a glare.

“You know nothing about me. Don’t you dare act like you know anything, and don’t you dare speak to me like that ever again,” he growled at her, crumpling his sheet of parchment and dropping it in the trash, storming out of the library while shoving a group of third year Hufflepuffs out of the way. Y/N sat back in her chair, letting out a defeated sigh, and stood up as well. If Draco had left, there was no point in her sitting around twiddling her thumbs.

Her blood was still boiling, but she did regret what she said to him. She knew that he didn’t come from the best family. Hell, everyone knew that. But she was sick of him acting like he was better than her. Really, it was about time someone knocked him off his high horse.

She packed her bag silently and sulked off to the Ravenclaw common room, taking the quickest way possible so she could just sit and relax, brushing off the strange events that had just prevailed. She wasn’t sure if she would end up tutoring him again — Draco had a certain power in this school, so despite how much Binns insisted she continued tutoring, if the Malfoy son didn’t want it, he’d get his way.

She entered the common room and took her regular seat by the window, slouching into the arm chair next to one of her closest friends, Cho Chang.

“Wow,” Cho held back a laugh, “You look like you’ve had quite the afternoon. Weren’t you supposed to be tutoring Malfoy until six? It’s not even three o’clock.”

Y/N nodded, “He has too much of an ego to sit still. So he took off.”

Cho closed the notebook she was writing in, “He left? Did you tell Professor Binns? Are you going to get into trouble?”

“I don’t think so,” Y/N shrugged, twirling a strand of her hair, “It was kind of my fault but also kind of not. He initiated it. I just... snapped back. Guess he’s not used to that.”

Cho nodded, sitting straighter and staring at her friend with an intense gaze, “You spoke back? Good on you. Don’t let him walk all over you. I’ve seen how he speaks to Harry.”

Cho was right. Y/N had also seen the way Draco Malfoy tormented Harry Potter and his friends. It was kind of horrible to watch. She felt bad every time. There was no way she was going to let him to the same to her, but somehow he always found a way to hit the perfect nerve to irritate and fluster the person he wanted to. It was incredible infuriating.

“Well, that’s if he choses to continue his lessons with me,” Y/N said calmly, already nervous about how Binns was going to react upon finding out what happened during their first lesson. Without a doubt, Draco would have told him something along the lines of ‘Y/N insulted me, my family, and my house’ and then Binns, who didn’t care much for confrontation, would just tell Y/N that he was disappointed in her and call the whole thing off. And that was the last thing she wanted to hear.

“Well, if he doesn’t, he’ll fail and it’ll be his fault,” Cho shrugged again, tossing her long black hair over her shoulder as she stood up, “I’m off to Quidditch practice but I’ll see you later!”

Y/N waved bye to her friend and watched her leave the room. She peered our the window, which looked down upon the Quidditch pitch, and regretted her decision not to return to the team this year.

She stood up off her chair and made her way towards her dorm room, where she flopped down on her bed and decided to write a letter home.

— —

Entering the Great Hall after a Quidditch match was always a bit of a hassle. Students rushed to congratulate teammates and talk about the moves they pulled during the matches. This afternoon, Ravenclaw had played Slytherin, who ended up beating them by a decent amount. Malfoy, much to Y/N’s dismay, caught the Snitch before Cho, leaving the Ravenclaw dinner table sulking while the Slytherin one was rowdy and chaotic.

Y/N was sat next to Cho, who was slouched over her empty plate with her bangs hanging in her face, ashamed of having missed the Snitch by inches.

“Stop pouting,” Y/N placed her hand on her friends’ shoulder, “The more you sulk the more they boast. You played well, we only lost by a hundred and sixty.”

Cho’s head shot up, “Only? That’s a big score difference. Could have won if I wasn’t distracted.”

Y/N pulled her friend closer, shaking her gently with a smile on her face, “Cho, seriously. Don’t beat yourself up over this, please. You’re a brilliant Seeker and one game won’t change that.”

Cho smiled lightly, nodding her head and silently thanking Y/N for her support. Y/N grinned and brought the plate of pork chops closer to them, starting to fill up her plate with food, Cho doing the same now that her mood had improved slightly.

“Y/L/N,” Y/N’a head snapped up at the sound of her name, and she came face to face with Draco, who was wearing a proud grin on his face as he gazed at a pissed off Cho before turning his attention back to the person he was here to speak to.

“Yes?” she asked, hoping he wasn’t about to retaliate the comment she made the other day.

“I spoke to Professor Binns about cancelling our lessons,” he spoke slowly, the smirk faltering from his face, “He said we couldn’t do that. So we’re meeting tomorrow at noon in the library.”

Y/N blinked rapidly, “We’re still holding lessons?” She was shocked, she didn’t think Draco, nor Binns, would let the lessons continue after the train wreck that happened in their first and only lesson.

“Apparently,” Draco replied, turning away and stalking off, not saying another word to her. She watched him walk away, confusion laced in her brain. Why did either of them allow the lessons to continue?

She brushed it off, already nervous for tomorrow. Was it going to be like last week? Should she be nicer? Would he be nicer? She almost laughed at the thought of someone forcing Draco to be nice so he could pass a class.

She dug into her food, mentally preparing for the following afternoon.

— —

“So Heka is what the Ancient Egyptians called the concept of magic,” Y/N explained, her quill resting in her hand, “They believed Heka was this magical force that created the universe and the gods.”

Draco nodded, continuing to scribble down the words quickly. Y/N was to lost in her explanation she had barely noticed how quickly she was speaking. But Draco, too busy trying to remember her words, didn’t bother telling her to slow down.

“Heka was also a strategy — a way of practicing magic. In order to perform it, though, one had to be considered ‘pure.’ It was very popular back then,” she rambled on, tapping her quill against her cheek as she studied the drawings in the book, still deeply fascinated by the beginning of magic.

“Slow down,” Draco finally said, wiggling his fingers as his hand was starting to cramp from the constant writing he was doing. Y/N apologized, taking a short break from talking while he noted down the rest of what she said.

They had been sitting here for about an hour. It wasn’t awkward, but it wasn’t exactly friendly. They greeted each other briefly, no one mentioning their last session, before Y/N dove into the topics they had studied so far this year to avoid any off-topic discussions.

“You speak really fast, you know,” Draco mumbled, placing his quill down and gazing at his red fingers, “I don’t think I’ve ever written this much.”

“Not even in class?” Y/N asked, hiding a smile. Although he probably didn’t mean it as one, she took it as a compliment.

“I’ve never written a note in class,” he shrugged, looking up to her, his face still slightly laced with boredom but more awake than it had been last time. Y/N grinned, hiding it by looking out the window. She prided herself on being a good speaker. She had tutored a young Hufflepuff in potions last year and even Snape was impressed by the kid’s improvement. That was possibly one of the proudest moments of her life.

“You played well yesterday,” she said suddenly, not sure why she decided to take the topic away from academics. Her eyes widened after she heard herself, turning back to Draco, who happened to now be wearing a grin, his quill and parchment forgotten.

“Even though we beat you?” he raised an eyebrow, taking his elbows off the table and crossing his arms. Y/N rolled her eyes, knowing she shouldn’t have said anything. His ego was clearly boosted. And they weren’t exactly friends, either.

“I didn’t say I was glad you did,” she spoke quickly, hating the fact that she could feel her cheeks warming up under his gaze, “I’m just saying you played well. That’s all.”

He chuckled. Y/N stopped what she was doing and stared at him. She was almost certain she had never heard him laugh before.

“What’s your friend Chang going to say when you tell her you thought I played well?” he grinned, somewhat too pleased with the turn in conversation.

“She isn’t as obsessed with her reputation as you are,” Y/N quipped back, wanting to change the topic, “Now, back to work.” She flipped to the next page of the book, hiding her gaze from the boy across from her. Draco, sensing that their break came to an end, picked up his quill once again and sighed.

“We also have the Clovis. Which were named by the Magihistorians, and the Clovis are the first people to have arrived in America,” Y/N tapped a page in the book, speaking slower this time so Draco could write without struggling, “The original term for them was Kaia-Vana. The name changed to Clovis in 1935 after a Wizarding conference in Vienna. They changed the name so both Muggles and Wizards could agree on one term.”

She was glad that the chapter on the Clovis was a long one, as it prevented another awkward conversation between her and Draco to occur again. He was scribbling away, so Y/N gave him a moment to catch up. As she did, she looked him over. His tongue was swiping across his lower lip in concentration, a strand of blond hair falling into his face, and his blue eyes darted between his quill and his parchment, taking note of every last word Y/N was saying in his messy yet readable handwriting.

He was, Y/N reluctantly admit, rather attractive. And she hated that.

“Y/L/N?” Draco asked, waving his hand in front of her face, causing her to blink and return to reality.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, fumbling with the page of the book in between her fingers, “Was distracted — thinking about the, uh Clovis — you know.”

She cursed herself for getting distracted by Draco Malfoy’s stupid looks.

“Right,” he nodded, not fully believing her, “Well, its about the end of this session. So, I’ve got to get going. Got other plans.”

Y/N hadn’t even noticed it was almost two thirty. Time had slipped right by her.

She nodded her head, closing her book after marking the page, “Sorry, didn’t even notice the time.”

Draco shrugged, “I’m keeping track. Want to get out of here as fast as I can.”

“Right,” she smiled softly, putting her book away and glancing out the window. The rain was heavily pouring down and the rumbling of thunder was growing louder by the second.

“When should we have the next lesson?” Draco asked, turning back to face her before making his way out of the library. She snapped her eyes back to him, shrugging.

“We can do same time next week?”

Draco nodded before leaving, the strand of hair still dangling in his face. Y/N watched him go, this time not out of shock, but because she had rather enjoyed today and wondered why he had still wanted to rush out of here. They hadn’t argued, and he had even been tolerable. Which was saying something, considering she expected him to be ruder than ever after what she said to him last time.

Her eyes looked out the window once more, the heavy drops rolling down the stained glass, dark skies looming overhead and the crack of lightning causing a few students throughout the library to jump.

Y/N chuckled, her mind swirling with how she was feeling. Something about her was regretting only offering a session next week. Why not sooner? She brushed off her eagerness as the fact that she was glad to be helping Professor Binns, but a part of her knew that despite this only being her second time tutoring Draco, she was looking forward to the next lesson.

— —

“This is stupid,” Cho groaned during their walk to Transfigurations a few days later, “I can’t believe Quidditch practice is cancelled because of rain. So what? We’ve played in worse weather before.”

“Sorry, Cho,” Y/N grinned, amused at how riled up her friend was getting, “Guess the rain is just really bad.”

Cho glanced over, “You seem way too cheerful. Thanks for reeling in my sadness, Y/N.”

“Oh, come on,” Y/N poked her side lightly, “Cancelled practice means that you and I can hang out! And you can tell me everything that’s going on between you and Potter. And don’t deny anything!”

Cho’s cheeks went pink, “Shush! Don’t announce it to the whole school!”

Y/N tilted her head back in laughter, strolling into the Transfigurations class and taking her usual seat. They shared this class with the Slytherins, and although Y/N never cared much before, she found her eyes absentmindedly wandering over to wear Draco was seated next to a girl she recognized as Pansy Parkinson. Y/N had hated her since first year. Pansy had it out for Y/N — probably because she was muggleborn — but Y/N didn’t understand why her. However, Y/N also knew Pansy had a thing for Draco. Half the school knew, she wasn’t exactly inconspicuous.

“Are you — oh my god,” Cho whispered loudly, slapping Y/N lightly across the shoulder and startling her out of her daze, “You’re staring at him! Don’t tell me—”

“It’s nothing,” Y/N shushed her, eyes wide, “I’m glaring at Pansy. She’s such a little pig. Do you see her stupid face?”

“No, you’re staring at Malfoy,” Cho smirked, pointing a finger at her friend, “Remember though, you used to call him a git.”

“Yeah, that was when he called me a stupid muggleborn in second year, he was just a kid,” Y/N found herself defending her feelings for some unknown reason, “Look, we got along last lesson and it was easy. I just want to keep it up.”

Cho was about to retaliate, but Professor McGonagall made her entrance and began the class, silencing any whispering and talking that might have been going on. Cho gave her friend a look that said ‘this isn’t over’ before beginning to take down what McGonagall was saying.

Y/N groaned, dreading the conversation already.

— —

Saturday was the day that Y/N had been annoyingly anticipating. Her lesson with Draco was at noon, and so she made her way down with Cho for an early breakfast, the two ladies laughing as they entered the hall. Cho was giddy as ever now that the clear sky and cool breeze meant perfect practice conditions, but also because Ravenclaw shared the Quidditch pitch with Gryffindor today, which meant Harry would be there.

Y/N, however, abruptly stopped laughing as she collided into a body. Steadying herself and mumbling apologies, she came face to face with a glaring Pansy Parkinson, who looked ready to rip her apart.

“Sorry, Parkinson,” Y/N said rapidly, brushing off her robes even though they weren’t dirty, “I didn’t see you.”

“Are you blind?” Pansy screeched, unfortunately catching the attention of quite a few students, “Watch where you’re going, mudblood!”

Without another word, Pansy stormed past her and out of the Great Hall, leaving Y/N standing there both traumatized and humiliated. The students who were watching turned their heads quickly, whispering to their friends and trying to act casual. Y/N was rooted to the spot. She had never been called a mudblood before. Ever. It was the worst feeling she could have possibly experienced.

“I’ll — I’ve got to go,” Y/N turned to Cho, who was glaring daggers at Pansy’s retreating figure, and took off down the hall. Her heart felt heavy and the scratchy feeling in her throat was irritating. She didn’t want to cry. But as she thought of her parents and how they were living their normal lives while she was here, being called out because of something she couldn’t control, she felt her heart sunk further and further down.

She took off down the halls and finally reached an opening, where she marched down towards a large rock next to the still water of the Black Lake. She climbed onto it and sat silently for a long time, thinking up ways she could get back at Pansy Parkinson for the way she had treated her. Y/N couldn’t remember the last time somebody’s words had affected her so much. It wasn’t a good feeling.

She kept her eyes glued to the lake, watching the giant squid swim around in all her glory. The scenery really was peaceful at this time of the morning, and luckily for Y/N, the only person out at this time was Hagrid — who was too busy caring for his chaotic Blast-Ended Skrewts to notice her.

After what felt like an hour, maybe even longer, Y/N decided she’d trek back into the castle and make her way to the library. She did still have a lesson, after all. But she found she was no longer excited about it.

Making her way back into the castle and avoiding her fellow Ravenclaws — who had no doubt heard about what happened between her and Pansy — she headed straight for the library. Upon entering, she walked straight towards the table at the back where she usually sat with Draco, but nearly stopped in her tracks when she noticed he was already sitting there.

“You’re late,” he gazed up at her, eyes following her every move as she sat down across from him, “And you don’t have your backpack.”

Y/N was so bothered by what happened this morning that she didn’t even bother to bring her book. She wanted to slap herself over the forehead for how stupid she was being.

“It’s okay, I brought my own book, actually,” Draco grinned sheepishly, leaning down into his own bag and pulling out his own personal copy of A History of Magic by Bathila Bagshot.

“You have your own,” Y/N grinned slightly, proud of the fact that she had influenced him, “Which is good, I didn’t bring mine.”

Draco frowned, placing the book down on the desk between them, “Why is that? You’re usually so organized.”

Y/N felt defensive, “Sorry, Malfoy. Guess I’m just being stupid.” She wasn’t sure why she snapped at him, but her emotions from this morning were still boiling right beneath the surface, ready to explode.

“What? Why would you say that?” Draco asked, his eyebrows furrowed as he leaned closer to her over the table, “Wait, is this about what Parkinson said this morning?”

Y/N flushed, looking up at him, “You heard about that? Did she go around bragging about calling me a mudblood? Wouldn’t be surprised.”

Draco shook his head, “I, er, was actually in the room when it happened. I saw it all.”

If she wasn’t already humiliated, hearing him say that made her feel even worse. She blinked, trying to hold back tears, and gazed out the window to the familiar view. Of course he saw it all.

“I’m sorry she said that,” he said softly. So softly, in fact, that she barely even heard him.

She peered back around at him, “Why are you sorry?”

“You didn’t deserve that,” he gazed down at the table where he was twiddling with his thumbs, “She was out of line. But she’s seen me do it so many times that I guess she just... caught on.”

“You shouldn’t do it either, you know,” Y/N’a voice was soft, thinking back to when she saw Draco shouting at Hermione in second year, calling her the same foul name Pansy had just called her, “Just because you’re pureblooded doesn’t instantly make you better than everyone else, you know—”

Draco nodded, cutting her off, “I know.” He looked apologetic, and she took it as a sign that he was indeed sorry.

They sat in silence for a little while, neither of them knowing what to say next, before Y/N leaned over and opened Draco’s copy of the book, continuing on from where they left off last week. She didn’t want to sit here and sulk, but Draco seemed distracted this lesson, paying more attention to her than to writing everything down like he had the last two times.

Y/N wasn’t complaining, but her curiously was piqued. Was he just zoned out, or was he paying attention to her on purpose?

She wasn’t sure, but she also wasn’t complaining.

— —

Their next few lessons went quiet smoothly. They had been getting along more and more, to the point where they had even shared a few conversations outside of class. They chatted about things other than History of Magic, and he even came to greet her at her table during dinner one day, not even caring that his Slytherin friends looked disgusted by him breaking a house barrier.

However, as he started improving, Y/N knew their lessons were coming to an end. He was a surprisingly quick learner, making Y/N wonder why he had struggled so much in the first place.

As they entered their History of Magic class for their mid-term quiz — which they had studied for together all weekend — he strolled in with confidence, thanking her for being such a great teacher.

The quiz was easy for Y/N, so she kept gazing over to Draco, who had a smile on his face. He seemed to know the answers, and she prided herself on being the reason for that.

As they left the class, Professor Binns called them both up to the front. Draco gave her a thumbs up, muttering a quiet ‘thanks’ for helping him pass, and they listened to what their professor had to say.

“Well, Miss Y/L/N, you did a great job,” Professor Binns’ voice sounded dreamy, “Mister Malfoy gained a perfect score on the test, thanks to you.”

“I did?” Draco’s face broke out into a grin, and so did Y/N’s, “Thank you, Professor.”

Y/N patted Draco on the back, “I told you you had it in you!” He grinned back at her, and that’s when she noticed how close to each other they were standing. Her breath caught in her throat and she pulled away, luckily Professor Binns was too distracted by the air around him to notice.

“I think we can end tutoring lessons,” Professor Binns spoke loudly, floating up above them, “So thank you both for your hard work.” Without saying bye, he floated up through the ceiling and disappeared, leaving Y/N and Draco standing there in awkward silence.

“I guess I knew lessons would have to come to an end soon, but this is sooner than I thought,” Draco turned to face her, his face soft, “You really did help me. And I’m very thankful.”

“You’re welcome, Malfoy,” she smiled sadly, ignoring the strange feeling in her chest now that the private lessons between them were over, “You were a surprisingly good student.”

“Only ‘cause I had a great teacher,” he retaliated without missing a beat, causing both of them to flush slightly, “And you — you can call me Draco, you know.”

She beamed up at him, “And you can call me Y/N. Not that you will, I know you’re more of a last name kind of—,”

He cut her off by pressing his lips on hers. Y/N stayed frozen, eyes wide, she processed what just happened.

Draco pulled away after realizing her shock, “I’m sorry — I don’t know why I did that.”

Y/N shook her head, blinking rapidly, her heart going crazy inside her rib cage. She looked up at him, the blue in his eyes seemed warmer than they ever had before, and so she knew he really did feel something for her and it wasn’t just a ‘heat of the moment’ kiss. So, she did what any girl would do.

She grabbed his tie and pulled his lips down to hers once more. Butterflies erupted in her chest as his hands wrapped around her wrist, pulling her closer and keeping their lips moulded together. He was a really good kisser.

She reached her hands around his neck, tugging lightly at his hair. She felt him shiver lightly, pulling her closer and continuing to press his lips against hers as if his entire world depended on it.

After a good moment, the two of them pulled away to catch their breath. Their lips were swollen, but they both wore grins.

“Well,” Draco smirked, “I should have done this before kissing you, but would you like to accompany me to Hogsmeade next weekend? Now that we don’t have to study together, that is.”

Y/N grinned, her breathing still heavy and her heart still soaring out of her chest.

“I’d love to.”

[guiltysecretpasttime]

Blended

I was (thankfully) given some time off during this holiday season; which I promptly used to spend time with the family and recharge at home. Also spent time watching various movies during this time and a little LoK story idea came from it.

In my usual writing preference – it’s still a Lin/Tenzin endgame story but – in sort of a modern setting AU, blended family/semi-highschool themed with ages differed a bit (Lin and Tenzin was aged down by around 5 years). Expect it to be tropey and may be a bit of a cliché. This is written on a whim so if it doesn’t make sense…ah well. Haha! May edit this piece later on…

I’m considering this to be a short story, just a little self-indulgent-written-for-fun type of thing. But if other people enjoy it too then that’s such an added bonus so I’m sharing it with you as well. 😊 Let me know what you think since this is somewhat different from my usual style, I guess.

Also – I have misgivings regarding creating OCs so I’m likely to lean on canon characters and take a lot of creative license in developing them for the story.

 ---

Title (tentative):  Blended

Legend of Korra, Lin/Tenzin, Modern AU, no bending

(Not sure if one-shot or will be multi-part yet)

 ---

Tenzin, Republic City Primary School

“Thank you for making time to meet today,” The silver-haired lady clasped her hands together on her desk. “I know you must have a packed schedule, but I think it would be good to have the check-in session for your daughter today.”

“Yes, of course – anything for my daughter.” The bald and bearded man threw a look at the door’s window, where he could see his daughter swinging her legs while seated at the corridor.

“Ikki is a bright child and she’s been doing her best to catch up with the class requirements. She excels the most at individual tasks.” The teacher continued to talk a little bit more about the projects that the students have been working on.

Teacher Yue handed the father a folder marked “Ikki”. Tenzin carefully picked it up and looked into the contents, smiling as he saw Ikki’s artworks and class outputs.

“However, I see that she seems to have challenges in adjusting in a large class set-up.” Yue shared. “It’s nothing to worry about though. We’ve had several transferees in the past as well and this is usual; I expect that might take a little bit longer since it’s a transition from homeschooling to a big school.”

Tenzin frowned and he hurt for his daughter. His two children had both been homeschooled until recently.

They also had to experience a lot of upheaval in the past year or so – from the divorce, to being uprooted from their childhood home, moving to a new city, and then going to a new school.

He did notice that while his son was as precocious as ever (maybe owing to his young age?), his daughter had become more subdued since their move.

“What can we do for her?”

“Well, we have a big sister-little sister type of mentorship program.” The teacher pushed forward a brochure and several index cards. “It’s mostly an afterschool interaction activity, we have here several students who have been volunteering. Maybe you’d like to ask Ikki to join?” She pointed at the index cards. “Feel free to select which mentor you think would help her best. We usually ask the parent or the student to select their preferred mentor profile from the roster. We would not want Ikki to feel uncomfortable; you’d know her best than any teacher.”

He nodded. After a few moments perusing the index cards and the brochure and pulled out one from the pile. “Let’s go with this girl.”

Tenzin pointed out to a profile labelled Jinora.

 ---

Jinora, Home

The ten-year old girl has just finished putting hair in a bun when she heard a knock on her bedroom door.

“Jinora!” It was her oldest brother. “Mom says I can use the car today – want to leave with us instead of riding the bus?”

“Sure!” She called back, quickly grabbing her backpack. “I’ll be down in a bit.”

“Alright!”

Smack!

“Hey! Why did you do that for?”

“Good morning bro!”

Jinora rolled her eyes good-naturedly. That was probably her other brother slapping the arm of the other one.

Even at eighteen and sixteen years old respectively, they tend to act like children occasionally to the consternation of their mother.

She hurried down, knowing that if she did not do so, there would be no pancakes left for her.

Jinora heard her mother’s gruff voice in the dining room. “Bolin! Leave some eggs for your sister!”

“But, Mom,” Bolin spoke through a mouthful of scrambled eggs. “I’m a growing boy. I need this stuff.”

“And Jinora is a growing girl,” Their mother drolly responded, taking a sip of her coffee after putting down the last batch of pancakes on the platter. “There should be enough from everyone.”

“It’s fine, Mom,” Jinora immediately sat down and her brother forked two pancakes to her plate. “Thanks, Mako.” She slathered butter all over the cakes then squeezed a load of maple syrup.

She ignored Bolin gagging at her left at the amount of sweetness. She also ignored her mother who was hiding a smile and shaking her head at seeing the display.

In their family, it was only Jinora had a penchant for sweets. Her mother said she likely took after her father in that regard.

Her father…her absentee father…

Jinora shook off her maudlin thoughts when she saw Pabu, Bolin’s pet guinea pig, land on her mother’s shoulder, probably hopping from her brother’s backpack which was hung behind his chair.

Pabu began chewing their mother’s greying hair without warning.

Wheek-wheek-wheek.

“BOLIN!”

“I’m so sorry, Mom! Pabu get down from there – leave mom’s hair alone!”

All in all, it was another morning in their household.

It was noisy and sometimes chaotic, but Jinora would not exchange it for the world.

 ---

Ikki, library

Truth be told, Ikki liked going to school. She even liked her teacher and classmates.

She liked to be busy and the activities were very interesting. Getting homeschooled and only seeing their tutor, nanny and Meelo had become very tedious anyway.

Staying at their old home also reminded her acutely that their mother was not there anymore. She did not understand what happened, but she tried to.

It has been more than a year since their parents sat her and her brother down to explain that they were separating but it did not mean they did not love her and Meelo any less.

At first, she thought it might have been her fault (or maybe Meelo’s fault for that matter, he did fart a lot and that annoyed her terribly). Her dad and mom were quick to quash those theories, however. They spoke of drifting apart, change in priorities and other grown-up things that she supposed she will understand when she gets older.

But for now, she supposed as she opened her notebook on one of the long tables in the library, they would need to get used to their new living arrangement.

It was difficult last year as they were shuttled to and from two households. It also did not help that their mother was starting out with her new venture had been spending less time at her home. On the other hand, Ikki noticed their father spending more time with them, cutting down his work hours. It all came to a head when Pema had said she will be moving to another country to establish her new business. And so, they ended up -.

“Hey, are you Ikki?”

Ikki looked up to see an older girl with dark brown hair in a bun.

She nodded her head yes.

The girl gave her a bright smile and extended her hand.

“I’m Jinora and welcome to Republic City!”

 ---

Lin, Future Industries Head Office

Lin tiredly wiped her glasses clean before putting them on again, rereading her email response for one last time before hitting send.

It had been a long yet productive day. Her team had managed to fulfill all the visual design requirements that were due that day. She reviewed the different files sent to the printers, making sure that the final and correct collaterals were attached.

Her last task was to ensure that the last set of proposals were on-brand and aligned with Future Industries’ visual identity. Once she had provided her comments and revisions needed on the file, she sat back as she waited for the files to be uploaded to their server.

She reached for her cellphone, wanting to check on her kids while waiting. She looked at their family group chat and read messages from the last time she sent one.

 Ohana (Lin repressed the urge to cringe. That was the final time that she would ask Bolin to create their group chat)

Lin: Kids – as mentioned earlier, I’ll be home a bit late. No need to drop by to fetch me; have dinner already and don’t wait up.

Jinora: Mom, I’ll be staying behind after class – I got a mentee! ☺ Mako Bolin can you wait up?

Mako: Jinora Bo has training today; I think we can wait for you.

Bolin: Jinora 👍🏼

Jinora: Mako Bolin thanks! 🙌

Jinora: Mako what will you be doing while waiting? You sure you’ll be okay?

Mako: Don’t worry about me. I’ll manage.

Lin scrolled through some more messages. Knowing her eldest, Mako would like skulk off to the library.

Jinora: I met my mentee this afternoon. She’s such a lovely girl.

Lin smiled at this. Her daughter had always been the polite one.

Jinora: Her name’s Ikki and she’s two years younger than me. She said she and her father had first checked out Patola Mountain Primary.

Lin frowned. Patola Primary was far; she went there as a child.

Mako: Kid didn’t like it there?

Jinora: They didn’t have the chance to know. They had to move besause of her father’s job.

Bolin: heeey sorry guys- just about to be done with training. Just gonna shower …unless I just shower at home?

Jinora: Ew, no Bo. Shower first please

Mako: Agree. You’ll stink up the car, bro.

Ding!

Lin drew her attention from her phone as her laptop screen indicated that the files have been uploaded. She hit the send button and packed up for the day.

She was looking forward to spending some quiet time with her kids tonight.

 ---

Bumi, White Lotus Headquarters

Bumi leaned back in his fully ergonomic chair, thinking about how times had changed.

Being in an office was something he balked at when he was younger. But now, after serving a long career in defense and military, he submitted his retirement and come to the aid of his younger brother.

Ah, his only brother – back in the day, he would be hard-pressed to keep contact with his brother.

His brother who took on the role of spearheading their family’s company back when their father died.

His brother who had the task of continuing to revive the company and making sure it keeps up with the times.

His brother, who, despite being the youngest, was tagged by the board of directors as the heir apparent owing to his excellent academic records.

His brother who Bumi had felt envious of at some point. He later on realized that his brother actually missed out on a lot of freedom in his life.

His brother who managed to keep their company part of the Top 100 and make malls relevant again.

His brother who probably made some life decisions for the benefit of their company rather than his own.

His brother who had been through hell and back the past year when he and his much younger wife called it quits. His brother whose ex-wife is now galivanting somewhere in the Fire Nation, expanding a business built on horticulture and floristry.

His brother who, despite making some decisions that Bumi might not agree with, is still family.

And if there was anything that their parents taught them – family is permanent.

The ex-military man took a deep breath, looking at their last family photo. For what it’s worth, he liked to think that their fragmented family had found its way back into each other in their adulthood.

Bumi had to admit that Tenzin did have remarkable business acumen that benefited their company, a conglomerate built on the mall industry. With the fourth industrial revolution at hand and the shift towards virtual and digital, the White Lotus Corporation had been challenged during the last years of their father’s life. Tenzin had worked hard to change the ways of working and the culture in the company.

To do it, he had to make sure that there is a buy-in from the board. Ironically, to bring the company to the current century, he had to abide with one of the most archaic practices – an arranged marriage, a marriage that would serve as a press release to the business world in general, that their company was stable and there to stay.

Bumi had been surprised to get a call from Tenzin back then. He had called to let him know of his impending engagement, seeking support. Bumi had cheered, given his congratulations – but named the wrong bride. He had launched into a long tirade, berating his brother for his choices. Tenzin had shouted back his defense.

He still did not understand why Tenzin acted the way he did. However, he could never regret his niece and nephew which came from this questionable business-like union.

Bloop-bloop-bloop.

Speaking of which…

“Hey Uncle Bumi!”

“Hello there, cloudchild!” Bumi greeted his niece with a nickname his sister Kya came up with, given that the kids were actually born somewhere near the mountains. “How’s the new school?”

“It’s great!” Ikki beamed at him and gushed into a long narrative of what she had been up to in the past days.

Bumi enjoyed video conferencing with his niece and nephew. Granted, Meelo had a short attention span but Ikki had always had the flair for storytelling.

It pleased him to see her spark back. He had heard from his brother and their trusted bodyguard/chauffeur Shung that Ikki had been withdrawn during the first weeks in Republic City. It saddened him to learn that the otherwise bubbly child had been affected in that way.

“…And then, I invited her over! Daddy said it was okay – and she’s sooooo nice. Didjaknow she also knows how to play the piano! We practiced a bit. She’s good even if her family didn’t have a piano, they only had this electronic keyboard but it’s so short. But she did well. She said she had a stepdad and it was totally okay. They’re a happy family. D’you think I’ll have a stepmom too? I think it would be okay if Daddy thinks so and maybe we’ll be a happy family here too and you know I joined this contest in school and I-.”

“Whoa, slow down, kiddo.” Bumi let out his booming laughter. “I didn’t quite catch it – what’s the name of your new friend?” He was heartened that Ikki seemed to have adjusted better now.

“Jinora!” His seven-year-old niece practically chirped the name. “She’s actually here!” Ikki turned to someone from beyond the view of the webcam. “Jin, it’s my Uncle Bumi – I want you to meet him!”

“Um, it’s fine, Ikki.” A calm voice of an older child can be heard. “I can wait here.”

“Nooonseeense.” Bumi could see Ikki pull something, rather someone to the camera. “Uncle Bumi, this is my friend Jinora. Jinora, my Uncle Bumi.” She said by way of introducing them.

Jinora gives a small wave and a soft hello.

Bumi gives them a short bow. “Nice to meet you, Jinora. It’s great to meet the friend of my favorite niece (Ikki ­please don’t tell Korra).”

Ikki gives a delighted clap and proceeds into another lengthy tale on what she and Jinora were working on that day at home.

Bumi smiles back at them, observing the children’s banter as they demonstrate the monologue that Ikki was preparing for. It was amusing.

Heh, they could be cousins.

He recalled when he was young, he, his siblings and even the sisters-who-must-not-be-named would stay over in one house after school to work on school projects. It had been one of the highlights of his childhood. He was glad that his niece would be somewhat experience it; he had been worried a few years back when Tenzin and Pema (primarily Pema) were very protective of their kids. It was to the point that they were both homeschooled and basically kept out of the public eye and the public itself.

It can’t be good for socialization. But what can he say? He didn’t have kids so he probably wouldn’t know what he was talking about, right?

He’s just fun ole Uncle Bumi.

Nonetheless, as he turned his attention back to the two girls, Bumi promised himself that he will always be there for his brother’s kids. It’s the least he could do as their godfather.

 ---

Mako, Republic City High

“I worry about Mom.” Mako picked at his dumplings during lunch time, a stark contrast to his brother who was eating a lot (“Coach said I needed to bulk up!”).

“Why? Has my dad been overworking her?” Asami slipped beside him at their usual lunch table. She brought out her packed lunch of pasta and a bottle of coconut water. “Just let me know and I can try to look into it.” She was, after all, interning at Future Industries in her spare time.

“Now that’s just powerplay.” The exchange student from Ba Sing Se High chortled, taking a sip of his sparkling water. “And that’s a no-no and Auntie will definitely get mad if she hears about that.”

“You would know about powerplay,” Bolin swallowed a mouthful of chicken, pointing his fork at the other boy. “Wasn’t that why you got the last slot in the elective you wanted to take this year?”

“Who? Me?” The other boy dramatically placed a hand on his chest, eyes widening. “You think, I Wu would stoop so low as to manipulate the results of the audition for the voice elective? Don’t you think I have enough talent to get into that class?”

Bolin just snorted into his food and Asami choked on her drink. Wu cracked a smile at their reactions.

“Again, Wu – don’t let Mom hear you call her Auntie.” Mako reiterated for the nth time in their friendship. “She hates it.”

“That’s why I do it.” Wu winked at them.

“Wait, Mako, what were you saying about Mom?” Bolin managed to ask in between bites of food. “Is something wrong? I mean, she’s a little bit run-down but she said it’s just because of the time of the year.” The last quarter of the year, after all, is usually the busiest.

“No, it’s just – well,” Mako sought words to explain it. “I’ll be leaving for college, you’ll be away for training, and okay, Jinora would be there but she’s in middle school now…” He trailed off. With Jinora’s aptitude and interests, Mako would not be surprised if she took on a lot of electives and extra-curricular activities. “Mom works too hard, you know?” He ended lamely.

“She has always looked out for us, but yeah,” A shadow passed over his brother’s face. “Ever since Pa passed away a few years back, she poured much of her energy to ensuring our welfare. She’s barely spent time for herself.”

Mako met Bolin’s now worried eyes.

The brothers knew that their mom had sacrificed a lot for them and Jinora.

When they first met Lin and one-year-old Jinora, she had already been under a lot of duress – taking care of a baby, leaving behind Jinora’s deadbeat dad, settling down in a new neighborhood and restarting a career. It had been two years later when she married their father San, who had been a sergeant at the city’s police station at the time.

And, Mako thought wearily, history has not been kind to Lin Beifong at all. While they did have four years (four wonderful years that Mako will treasure for the rest of his life), their fairytale-like family life came to an abrupt end.

San was involved in an armed bank robbery four years later and had not survived the gunshot wounds – leaving Lin behind with two boys at the brink of puberty and a young daughter.

Bolin and Jinora had been very confused at the time. Mako, already fifteen, had been expecting that he and Bolin would be forced into the system or sent off to their relatives in Ba Sing Se. He felt that Lin would not be in any way obligated to take him and his brother in; they were not blood relatives anyway. They were just stepchildren.

To his stunned astonishment, Lin did neither.  He recalled crying in Lin’s arms that night after his father’s funeral.

She had asked him, with a confused expression, why he was packing. Lin wept alongside him as she explained that Mako and Bolin are her sons and there was no way that she was sending them away.

Since then, Mako made sure to look after his mom the way she looked after them. The brothers’ protectiveness was soon well-known in their neighborhood.

Probably also why no one had expressed any type of interest towards Lin even years after…

Mako reflected that it might have been a good move on their part but now it might have been a little bit selfish.

He and Bolin would now need to rethink their strategy…

After all, their mom Lin deserves all the happiness in the world.

 ---

Tenzin, Republic City Primary School – Parking Lot

“Are you sure you’re not just using this as an excuse to have a sleepover?” Tenzin looked over at his daughter, a teasing grin out of place on his face.

“Of course not, Daddy.” Ikki replied indignantly, kicking pebbles as they waited at the parking lot.

“Why can’t you do the project at our house?” He was actually leaning towards allowing Ikki on her first ever sleepover/overnight but he wanted to hear from his daughter.

“We’ll need a big big printer, Daddy.” Ikki raised her arms to show him just how big. “We’ll need to print out my project and Jinora’s mommy has a big printer and lamin-lami-lamintor (“Laminating machine, dear?” Tenzin clarified.) because she frilancets (“Freelances?”).”

“Mmhhmm.” Tenzin looked across the school building, shifting Ikki’s overnight bag on his shoulder.

Ikki timidly approached him the other night, asking if she could spend Friday night and Saturday at her friend Jinora’s house. They had an output required of them of the big sister-little sister program. Tenzin was actually unclear as to what is the specific output that the girls had decided on but it did require a large-scale printer and a laminating machine.

Jinora attempted to explain to him what they were going to do during the last week that they were in his house but he felt out of his depth so he had nodded and let them work on what they needed to.

The father had met Jinora several times already in the past months so he knew the child was in earnest that their intent for the overnight activity would be mainly to finish a project. He also realized (well, Bumi made him realize) that Ikki was old enough for a sleepover (and Pema’s overprotectiveness would be to the detriment of their kids’ development). Additionally, he thought grimly, it would also keep Meelo from wreaking havoc on the work area of the girls.

Nonetheless, he took up Jinora’s mom’s offer to meet up for snacks before she takes the kids home. This would give him a chance to meet the mom, discuss some ground rules and as well thank the mom privately for letting Jinora help Ikki come out of her shell during her first months in Republic City Primary. Jinora did say that her pa and mom used to do the same before she spends the night over at her other friends – the parents meet up, share a small meal, get to know each other. Tenzin thought this was a good parenting tactic; it would definitely assuage his fears as well.

But now, said mom was late.

Jinora had hurried to them, dragging with her a large cartolina and illustration board. She explained that her mom’s work meeting overran and if it would be okay if she rode with them? Her mom will be meeting them at the local diner instead, so they don’t get caught up in traffic.

Tenzin could feel his impatience growing.

So far, this woman was not making a good impression on him.

How on earth she produced a lovely daughter like Jinora was beyond him.

 ---

Lin, Narook’s

Damn Sato, Lin ground her teeth as she finally parked her car into the last parking space in front of Narook’s. Of all the days for a meeting to go over time, it has to be today when she had explicitly asked to leave early to fetch her daughter.

Jinora had provided her enough context to know that making a good impression with Ikki’s dad was important to her daughter.

Lin heard that the dad was some big shot divorced corporate guy, who, she thought, was a bit paranoid about his kids’ safety.

Lin acted as an arts club moderator so she was regularly present at the Republic City High, which gave her chances to meet Ikki whenever she drops by the primary school to fetch Jinora.

The girl was a sweet child – energetic and delightful once she felt comfortable enough with you. It had come to her attention, in the short conversations with the kid, that she was not allowed to go out and play with other kids in their old neighborhood so she was very much excited to have a new friend outside of her class and her family.

When Jinora mentioned their culminating project and their dilemma on the timeline and materials, Lin suggested that they take the project home to work on.

The crestfallen expression of Ikki as she stated that her dad would not allow her pushed Lin to share that she’s willing to talk to the dad to help convince him to give his permission.

The infectious smile that burst on Ikki’s face was enough to convince Lin that she made the right decision.

Now, however, as she entered the diner, spotting her daughter at the corner booth, she froze and started to doubt all her life decisions that led to this moment.

Wondering and questioning the universe what had she done in her past life for her to deserve this.

Across Jinora, beside the talkative Ikki, sat Tenzin – her former boyfriend and Jinora’s father.

 ---

Note: Soooo hmmmmmm. What do you think?

[oneofyatosfollowers]

Yatori Week 2021- Day 4

@yatoriweek2021

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32090953/chapters/79500055

Fanfiction: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13905660/1/Yatori-Week-2021

Yukine was in the living room studying for midterms when his dad busted the door down and flounced into the room.

This was a common occurrence, as this man was not his biological dad, but rather a once concerned neighbor that adopted him and was therefore hardly a decade older than the teen. There could be many reasons why his dad, a man named Yato, was excited:

He saw something to do with Capybaras

He got an extra sketchy side job for pocket change

The weather was nice

He bought junk with said pocket change

Anything to do with his beloved girlfriend, Hiyori

Based on the way the young man skipped into the living room, high on cloud nine, Yukine could only assume it was the last option. With sigh, Yukine closed his textbook and readied himself to lose the rest of his study time. Yato tended to talk about his girlfriend for hours on end, like he’s never seen nor heard of them before her, and Yukine would not be able to focus. Now, Yukine liked his dad’s girlfriend. Loved her in fact. His dad was her art tutor- and class nude model- in college since she struggled with the subject as a medical major. Eventually she had become Yukine’s tutor in everything else except math, which was reserved for his dad. It was unclear if Yato hired her, or she did it out of the kindness of her heart, or the two just wanted to see more of each other, but Hiyori wormed her way into both their hearts.

“Yukine!”

“What?” Yukine drawled. His dad was a whirlwind of smiles and flailing arms as he tumbled towards Yukine. Used to this too, the blonde simply waited for Yato to sit directly in front of him without knocking him over. Yukine blinked as his dad struggled to find the words to communicate in a language they both understood. It tended to take some time, as falling in love with Hiyori Iki was a grand affair that wrestled your heart and tied your tongue. She tended to have that effect on people, as most kind-angels did. However, when all he did was wheeze and let out a strange coo mixed with a whine, Yukine couldn’t help but scoff and roll his eyes.

“I did it!” Yato beamed.

“Did what?”

“I finished that old lady’s kitchen and finally got enough money!” He burst. In a fit of laughter that strangers might have thought was madness, the young man rolled onto his back and kicked his feet. It took a moment for Yukine to realize his theory was somehow wrong before he crawled over top of his dad.

“What-ugh,” Yukine slapped away the hands that covered the man’s face, “what are you saving for? You never save money. I’m surprised we haven’t missed any bills yet.” Hands away his face, his dad’s bright blue eyes stared into Yukine’s hazel, full of unbridled joy . That was hardly a good sign; Yato was known for extravagant plans that he got far too excited over. Especially when they failed more often than not. Honestly, Hiyori was a saint for staying with such a spaz.

“That’s the thing!” The man gasped. He didn’t wait for his son’s answer, leaping to his feet to dash into the kitchen. Meanwhile, Yukine was rolling his eyes, of course it was about her. Yato ran back to his spot on the floor next to his son.

“Our two year anniversary is coming up in a few weeks and you know it’s around that time! The age, the lifestyle, the current situation,” he swooned, “her parents and Kofuku and Daikoku!”

“What. Are you talking about?” Yukine groaned as he kneaded his forehead. Just because his dad was capable of speech, didn’t mean he used it properly.

“I want to propose,” he said, “I want to propose to Hiyori.” The three magazines that he clenched in his hands were squeezed so tightly they crinkled. This time it was big blue eyes that watched Yukine struggle to find words. Yukine sucked in air, swallowed, stared, opened his mouth with nothing to come out, blinked a few times, then swallowed again. The logical part of this brain just shrugged, this was the obvious next step. They loved each other, were old enough, and that was usually the point of dating, what it led to. It wouldn’t change their day to day. The emotional side was shocked, blindsided, and completely convinced this would change everything.

Just the word ‘proposal’ was heavy in Yukine’s mind because ‘proposal’ led to ‘wedding’ which means ‘marriage’ which equals ‘family.’ Not that they weren’t already a family, they moved in to Hiyori’s place a little less than a year ago but that was a financial decision if anything. The more childish part of Yukine, the one that had originally protested the relationship and acted out during the first month of their dating, feared that this would take away even more of Yato’s attention. Because the fact was that marriage led to more children. But Yukine knew better than that by now. On the other hand, families, something Yukine had once before Yato, left a sour taste in his mouth. What’s more, this would without a doubt make Hiyori his ‘mother’ and this would mean Yukine wouldn’t just have a ‘parent’ but ‘parents,’ functioning ones that both loved him.

That last thought resonated in Yukine’s chest. Yato and Hiyori loved him very much, unconditionally, and he loved them. They were already a family and Yukine- Yukine wouldn’t mind calling Hiyori ‘mom’ if she ever wanted to adopt him. But most importantly, Yukine finally let his eyes drop from Yato’s and fall to the magazines. They were all for different jewelry stores, the outlines of their pages lined with little color tabs. Yukine could imagine they were covered in little notes and doodles from long before this moment. Most importantly, Yato deserved this. He was a single, smart, and kind young man that worked his way from the very bottom. Even Yukine was old enough to understand that for someone in that position- an impoverished college student- that Yato had taken on a lot, adopting him. It couldn’t have been easy to find someone. Someone as genuine as Hiyori who loved him just as much. Yato deserved this and he deserved to have Yukine support him. Which Yukine found that he truly, truly did.

“That’s great,” Yukine finally said. His voice cracked from the emotion and worry flashed across Yato’s face. But with one sniff and a genuine smile, Yukine showed that he was happy for them. The two dissolved into excited giggles and laughter, eyes blurry with emotion.

“I want you to help me pick it out. I want you with me when I buy it and help me plan the whole thing! I want you to be there with me, I need my kiddo for support,” Yato confessed. Blinking away the moist sheen, Yukine nodded once with a wobbly smile. His dad laughed with every ounce of giddiness and happiness that Yukine felt.

“Originally I was going to make one-”

“No,” Yukine said offhandedly as he wiped his eyes. Yato waved his hands and put down the magazines.

“I know! I know. This is super important and Hiyori deserves the actual ring. The best of the best! I can’t keep getting away with handmade gifts,” Yato said as he opened to a tab in each of the magazines. Yukine eyed the objects he circled and crossed out, writing everywhere.

“You make great hand-made gifts,” Yukine muttered as he fiddled with the cuff of his hand-made christmas sweater. His dad looked up to him, down at his hands, then back up with a smile.

“Well, I was thinking of making her golden knucklebusters, with diamonds of course, as an early wedding present.” Yato huffed.

“She’d like that a lot,” Yukine laughed, “just don’t let her parents see.”

“Oh god no! They already hardly like me.”

“They like you.”

“Yeah, cause I fix their house for free. Redo their kitchen,” Yato mumbled, “I hope they approve of this. I already asked them but the dad seemed more on board with it than her mom.”

“Hey,” Yukine nudged his dad, “that’s a good sign. At least you asked first.”

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right! This is good! She just needs to say yes.”

“She’ll say yes,” Yukine huffed with another roll of his eyes. Despite himself, even Yukine felt the small spark of fear at the possibility of Hiyori saying otherwise. They flipped through the magazines for a couple minutes longer, Yukine balking at the prices and mental math of costs per month.

“Ah!” Yato suddenly shot up and grabbed both of Yukine’s hands, knocking the book out of his hands.

“H-hey!” Yukine sputtered, wincing at his dad’s sweaty hands.

“But you can’t tell anyone!” Yato insisted, “this is a surprise. It has to stay a secret. Okay? Don’t tell anyone. Okay?”

“Okay!” Yukine finally yanked his hands away.

“You promise?” Yato urged, leaning even closer. His son shoved his face away and picked up his magazine.

“Yes! Yes! I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

They really were made for each other, Yukine thought a couple days later, like soulmates. Once again he was at home, heading to his room after Yato dropped him off. They had a family dinner later and Yukine wanted to chill at home with Hiyori while Yato went to prepare for the proposal. The house was quiet when he walked in so Yukine slipped the quarts of ice cream in the freezer and made his way to his room. Hiyori must be in bed. She hadn’t been feeling well recently, getting nauseous everyday for the past week. All those thoughts went out the window when, on the way to his room, the bathroom door cracked open and Hiyori’s head popped out.

“Yukine!” She hissed, “Yukine!” If it weren’t for her eyes being so wide and pleading, Yukine might have felt a bit more embarrassed by the sight. He stopped short in the hall.

“What’s wrong?” He said immediately. First she looked nervously off to the side, then to him, then up, then behind her, then back at him, letting out a whine disguised as a hum.

“What?” Yukine asked, a bit more nervously now. Still finding it difficult to answer, Hiyori’s arm slipped out and waved him over. Fearing she might have a broken bone, Yukine took one look at the house phone then walked over to the bathroom door, heart in his throat.

“Are you ok-ay!” Yukine squawked as the front of his shirt was grabbed and he was yanked into the bathroom, the door slamming behind him. He quickly glanced behind him, at the barrier, then back at his friend. She looked nervous, which made Yukine nervous. He would even say she looked anxious, scared, but the air buzzed with an excited tension. In front of her, Hiyori played with her fingers as she struggled to meet his gaze.

“Hiyori, are you okay?” Yukine finally got out. She looked okay, well not ‘okay’ okay but physically safe. The sweat that beaded her brow and the way her knees almost knocked together said otherwise.

“Um,” Hiyori looked up then down, “yeah, yeah, I’m okay. I- I think so?” Terrified at the thought of anything bad happening, Yukine quickly approached her with his hands up.

“What happened? What’s wrong? Do you need me to call Yato? We should call-”

“No!” Hiyori blurted out, causing Yukine to flinch. At this point he was almost shaking, Hiyori was rarely against calling Yato, especially during emergencies. More than just being the man of the house, Yato knew everything! He was calm and cool under pressure and could take on any problem without delay, dropping everything to help. Yukine certainly didn’t want to deal with whatever this was without at least telling his dad. Seeing the panic bubble, Hiyori reached forward and gently held Yukine’s hands like she often did during these times.

“No, no, no, it’s okay! It’s nothing bad! Nothing’s wrong!” Hiyori comforted, “I just got worrie- excited! I’m nervous about something and I wanted to tell you in private. It’s okay, nobody’s in danger,” her words quickly calmed Yukine back down.

“O-oh, okay,” Yukine nodded, “so, so what’s up?” He stuck his hands in his pocket to hide their shaking while Hiyori went back to fiddling with her fingers.

“I have a, uh, surprise! For Yato. And I, uh, wanted to hear your thoughts first.” She stammered out. This was rather confusing, but Yukine was relieved to hear that was all it was. Maybe she had a big anniversary present planned that she wanted his opinion with.

“Oh okay, what is it?”

“Well it’s not an ‘it’ exactly. It’s more of a, uh, uh, thing? Not a thing! It’s not a thing! I’m a thing? I’m something? I-I-I have something to give to Yato. And you? The family. My family too, you know, once I tell them. I’m just not exactly sure,” Hiyori babbled just like her not-yet-fiance, looking all around. Yukine resisted the urge to roll his eyes- he stopped doing that to her ages ago- and he refused to rush her.

“It’s okay,” Yukine offered a smile, “I’m sure whatever the thing is, Yato will love it. You know how sappy he is, he’ll love it cause it comes from you and you mean it.”

“Haha, yeah,” she didn’t sound too convinced and Yukine worried about why.

“I mean it, he will.” Yukine tried again. This time, Hiyori seemed to get rather bleary eyed and she hugged herself.

“Maybe not this time, Yukine, I’m just not sure. I mean we talked about it but it’s too soon and- who knows- maybe he won’t?” She continued looking around the room, biting her lip. Yukine was still an awkward sort of a teen and not very good with crying young women so all he could think to do was squeeze her hands.

“Don’t say that, Hiyori, there’s nothing on this earth that he-”

“I’m pregnant.” Her confession rang throughout the empty bathroom, echoing against the tiles and Yukine’s ribs. The boy’s mouth clicked shut as all those images he’d imagined, with Yato fawning over another child that was actually his, flooded in. When Hiyori sniffed again, the pictures shattered, leaving a frightened young woman holding her stomach.

“Yukine, I’m pregnant,” she repeated. Swallowing Yukine let his hands lightly rub her arms up and down.

“That’s,” he breathed, “amazing.” The honest wonderment he felt bleed through his voice and Hiyori looked up at him, eyes shining with pure hope.

“Really?”

“Yes,” Yukine promised. They deserved to be happy and experience having a baby and raising them with all the love and care they gave Yukine. After all, they already saved his life. What more can he ask of them? Once again he found himself blinking away the moisture in his eyes, Hiyori trying to do the same.

“But, what about Yato? Do you think he’ll,” Hiyori bit her lip and Yukine struggled to find the words and push away any jealousy he felt. Of course he wanted to be Yato’s one and only, for the man to never have kids of his own cause he had Yukine. But that was as selfish as it was stupid. Yato had a lot of love and Yukine knew he was no different than a son to him. Yato would never abandon him for something he deemed better and Yukine would be there to support him. Both of them.

“He will absolutely love them,” Yukine assured her, letting out a dry sob, “he’ll make the best dad.”

“Well, hehe, I think he already does?” Hiyori wiped under her eyes and Yukine found himself laughing.

“That’s right!” Yukine said, joyfully, “he’s the best.”

“Yeah, he is. The best I could ask for,” she murmured happily. The room was considerably warmer, lighter as Hiyori set her palms gently over her abdomen with a soft smile.

“Now I just have to tell him,” Hiyori said, “and my parents.”

“I’m sure they’ll be happy too,” Yukine sighed as he leaned against the door, “you haven’t told them yet?”

“No, they’re old fashioned and I would rather tell Yato first. So you can’t tell anyone!” Hiyori suddenly stepped forward with pleading eyes.

“Huh?”

“It’s a surprise! I want to tell him on our anniversary but I really need you to be there as support, so you can’t say anything, okay?  Promise me you’ll keep it a secret!” She begged. Yukine gave his answer before he could think, not realizing until later what it would entail.

“I-I will! I’ll be there! And I promise I won’t say anything!”

The anniversary dinner reservation was booked at the restaurant Yato took Hiyori to on their very first date. It stood on the corner of an annual festival that followed the date and where Yato often took them every year since. In the car ride, various levels of anxious excitement is so palpable one of them could cut it with a knife. The excitement mostly came from the two adults in the front seat. Yukine, who sat behind Hiyori, was the majority of the anxiousness. Both hands were stuffed firmly in his jacket, balled up in his right hand was a little box protecting a diamond ring, his left was gently pinching the image of an ultrasound. He kept trying to rip his hands out of his pockets, worried about the cold sweat ruining such valuable commodities.

“So Yukine, are you excited about the festival?” Yato peaked at him through the rear-view mirror, smiling gleefully. It was unclear if his dad noticed Yukine’s flinch, but he quickly shoved his hands tight in his pockets and tried a smile.

“Y-yeah!” His voice cracked and Yato let out an awkward laugh. In the passenger seat, Hiyori turned around to look at him with an equally wobbly smile and a nod.

“We’re glad you can come with us to dinner this time,” she said, “right Yato?”

“Sure are! Soon you’ll be too old for us to force you to come on our dates!” Yato laughed. Even with the implication, the air in the car was considerably lighter. Yukine found himself laughing too, secretly knowing that there would never come a day he would need to be forced. While anniversary dinners were different, dinners with your parents hopefully lasted forever.

“Yato!” Hiyori chided through her giggles, giving him a good whack on the arm. The family continued to snicker as Yato pulled into a parking spot. He ran around the car to open the door for his beloved, taking her hand and helping her out. Yukine’s amusement sank like a rock when both the adults gave him a pointed look and a nod, he was reminded of what was to come. Giving his name, Yato could barely contain his excitement as the waitress brought them to a raised booth in the back.

“Yato,” Hiyori said with a light gasp. It was unclear if she noticed that this booth was the only one with fake roses strung up along the back but Hiyori wore a look of awe as she sat down on the other side of the candle.

“Two years,” he sang in reply.

“Yukine, you can take off your coat,” Hiyori suggested.

“N-nah that’s okay!” Yukine said. Both of them must have understood the implication because neither of them pressed it. They took a glance at the menu and eventually, the waiter came to take their orders, offering the most expensive bottle of champagne that Yato had already paid for.

“Oh, uh, no thank you, I’ll just have water, please,” Hiyori asked as she shut the menu and handed it to him. Yukine watched the waiter flash Yato a lost look who just nodded as he handed his own menu.

“I’ll have a colosi,” Yato said. The meal picked up quickly after that, the three of them ordering good dishes. Shortly after they started to dig in, the violinist Yato had called from college- a man with glasses named Kazuma- came over and began to play.

“Mmm!” Hiyori slurped down her pasta, “this is our song!”

“Hmm?” Yato cocked his head.

“Our song! You know, the one they played at the after party for the art exhibit? Our first dance,” Hiyori said. She ducked her head, looking suitably embarrassed until Yato hummed.

“I remember! Of course I do,” Yato smiled, “best night of my life.” Love in the air, they finished their meal, sharing a dessert Yato treated Yukine too. Once the dinner was complete, Yato distracted Hiyori long enough for Yukine to run and give Kazuma a tip and the next phase. Then Yukine jogged after them, the three of them walking out into the festival. Hiyori, rather obviously, tugged Yato off to the right. The woman on track to being a doctor was clever enough to know her romantic boyfriend would be taking them to the spot of their first kiss. Of course he did that every year, but Hiyori hoped being in such a nostalgic place would help the news to be received more positively.

Still, the two of them put a lot of effort into making sure Yukine felt included. Part of him thought this was just done out of gratitude for his help, but they’ve taken him here more than enough times for Yukine to understand they just wanted him to have fun too. Of course, this was still part of Yato’s extremely detailed plan. A handful of the game stands held certain prizes that Yato planted for the proposal. So far, Yato carried a hand-made scarf that mimicked something Hiyori used to wear while they were dating, a small wooden house that was used in sketch class, a box of sparklers, and binoculars. Currently, Hiyori was selecting another prize Yato and Yukine won for her by playing darts. Based on Yato’s instructions, the man offered Hiyori the prize box of fake jewelry, one of which was real and hand made. Knowing her, she would notice the pink-flowered charm and select it.

“I’ll have to go back for that bottle,” Yato sighed as he watched his love look over the options.

“I can go back and put it in the car,” offered Yukine.

“No, no, no, I need you here with me,” his dad looked at him, “I can’t do this without you.” He sounded confident but his eyes were so scared that Yukine couldn’t help but nod. Yukine had made a promise to himself some time ago that he would protect this eccentric, kind-hearted man that saved his life, from others who would try to take advantage of him or go out of their way to hurt him. Just like Yukine once did.

“I have tissues in case she says no and I put the ice cream in the freezer for you.”

“Haha! That’s my boy,” Yato let his fingers noogie Yukine’s hair and they laughed. The moment of truth was upon them. As Hiyori came back to them, showing off her new bracelet with the claim that it was something Yato would make for her. They walked to the edge of the street, the overview circling out over the park with a fence and benches. Yato handed the house and sparklers to Yukine, wrapping the light scarf around Hiyori’s neck. The fireworks would start in exactly seven minutes and Yukine still had both objects in his pockets.

“Yato,” Hiyori suddenly said, “I need to talk to you.” She looked at Yukine who stared back at her with wide eyes.

“What is it? We can talk here, you know,” Yato tried to get Hiyori to come towards the railing, but she remained firmly where she was.

“I just decided that I want,” she looked around, “some cotton candy!” Hiyori frantically pointed towards one of the mini carts.

“Wha-? Right now?” Yato’s shock and fear cracked his voice but he quickly tried to cover it with a laugh.

“How about after the fireworks? They’re going to start soon and you know how much I like-”

“Please Yato?” Hiyori put her hands together and cocked her head. From the middle of them, Yukine sucked air through his teeth and looked at Yato. Those were the big guns, Yato rarely said no to begging.

“Uh, um, okay, Hiyori. One-one sec!” Yato started towards the treats, “come on, Yukine!”

“No, no! That’s okay! Yukine can stay with me!” Hiyori insisted. She smiled when Yato just sputtered then ran off to retrieve the sweets.

“Okay, give it to me,” she frantically hushed.

“You’re going to do it now?” Yukine gave a quieted exclamation.

“I have to! I can’t let this continue without him knowing!” Hands shaking, Yukine handed the ultrasound to Hiyori who stuffed it under the top layer of her shirt against her spine. Once glance at the clock told Yukine there was four minutes until the fireworks would light up the sky and Kazuma would light the sparklers next to the matching mini wooden house just below them.

“Okay! Okay, here!” Yato ran back to them, “here you go, Hiyori!” He handed her a pink mass of sugar, shoving it in her face.

“Wha-! Yato!” Hiyori sputtered. As she struggled to get the sugary treat out of her face, Yato dove his hand in Yukine’s pocket and plucked out the ring.

“Heheh, sorry,” Yato said as he stuffed it into his pocket, “I tripped?” he offered as she moved the candy out of her face. As Yato smiled awkwardly at Hiyori’s narrowed eyes, the first firework of the night boomed in the sky. Slack-Jawed, the three of them looked up at the sky, then back at each other.

“Ah! It started!” Yukine gasped.

“Let’s go get a closer look Hiyori-”

“Yato, I have something for you!”

“I have something for you too, but, uh, it’s over here. So let’s go over here!” Yato was quicker, and louder, than Hiyori and managed to grab her wrist and pull her towards the railing. Deciding that his job was done- and that he didn’t want to really get caught in whatever was about to happen- Yukine chose to stay a couple feet back.

“Yato, I- '' Hiyori's words were caught with a gasp as she looked over the railing. On the stone patio that surrounded the park were a bunch of pigeons eating the seeds Yato had Kazuma put down just as they left the restaurant. Feeding pigeons was something Yato did a lot in college and one of the places Hiyori would find him sketching before they started dating.

“Look at them all!” She gasped at the massive heart made purely out of hungry pigeons. In the center of the feathered shape was a small note, leaning on the matching mini home, with fancy calligraphy made clear by the sparklers that were stuck on either side.

“Is that a note?” Hiyori squinted, “I wonder what it says.” She looked at Yato when he cleared his throat.

“Why don’t you use your binoculars?” He offered them. Hiyori didn’t seem to think much of it, taking them and leaning over the railing.

“It says ‘Will You Marry Me?’ Aw I wonder who that’s- for?” Hiyori’s sentence fell off her lips, drifting through the wind as she lowered the binoculars and turned her head. Yukine watched her eyes drop to Yato on his knee, who was gently holding up the box and the ring. When she gasped, eyes growing wide, he nudged the box up higher and cocked his head with a forced smile.

“Will you?” he asked. It took a moment but Hiyori finally moved, closing her mouth and blinking rapidly.

“Yes,” she breathed.

“Really?” Yato sprang up with a gigawatt smile, Hiyori laughing at him.

“Yes! Yes!” She professed, bouncing up and down with Yato. Quickly putting the binoculars around her neck, Hiyori quickly grabbed Yato’s face and they joined in a passionate kiss. From his spot, Yukine found himself bouncing on the balls of his feet and clapping with the few people surrounding them. Through their love-sick laughter, and Hiyori’s many kisses, Yato took her hand and raised her to the ring. Before the rock could slip onto her finger, Hiyori jolted, finger freezing.

“What is it?” Questioned Yato, terrified at the way she took her hand back.

“Before you give me the ring, I want to give you my thing,” Hiyori said. Her weak words were slightly drowned out by the fireworks display and chatter of the audience but Yato just nodded with tight lips. Eyes downcast, Hiyori’s fingers slipped under her shirt. Then, she handed the ultrasound to Yato who blinked at once before he gently took it. Yukine watched him stare at it, almost incomprehensibly, for a little longer than necessary. Yato blinked again, turned it around and blinked once more. Adam’s apple bobbing, Yukine watched Yato’s lips say something that was too quiet to hear. Hiyori nodded, a jolting movement, trying to force a smile around her wet eyes. This was it, Yukine thought, they were a little family; a mother and her future husband. Yato was a husband, a father, a man of the house. Yukine’s clapping hands stopped and gripped his shorts.

Yato suddenly got his breath of life back, his head jolted up and he looked to Hiyori with an open jaw. He couldn’t force it close until he tackled her into a hug, holding her head and waist so close, like she was the only thing keeping him standing. Whatever Yato said convinced Hiyori it was time to slip the engagement ring on her finger as they squeezed each other tight. Their laughter sounded again, overshadowed by the fireworks and sounding considerably more breathless than before. Lit up by the dancing colors, Yukine watched them alternate between laughing, talking, kissing, and pointing at the objects in their hands. Just as Yukine’s happiness was starting to be completely overshadowed with loneliness and isolation, he watched both of them point at their gifts then turn and face the blonde.

“Yukine!” They cheerfully called his name, arms open to welcome him into their hug. Heart leaping for joy into his throat, Yukine ran forward without a thought. By the time their arms wrapped around him, holding him tightly against their bodies, Yukine’s wet laughter was bubbling out of his chest.

“Yukine! You double player you!” Yato exulted.

“You did such a good job!” Hiyori complimented with tears, “thank you so much!” The family gave another tight hug before pulling away.

“We really couldn’t have done it without you,” Yato sighed. He kept his arms around their shoulders, holding the ultrasound up against the sky, the three watched the final colors of the fireworks illuminate the tiny bundle of life that would be greeting them soon. As the final boom pounded against their beating hearts, Yato finally gave it back to his fiance.

“I’m glad it all worked out,” Yukine said, mostly to himself.

“Are you sure?” Yato asked him.

“Huh?”

“We just want to make sure that you’re okay with all this,” Hiyori started, “we know this is a lot and we just want to hear your thoughts about all this.” She gestured to everything but when Yukine gave them a blank look, Yato put his hands on Yukine’s head.

“Our family is getting a little bigger, are you happy?” He asked softly. Warmth spread throughout Yukine, building in his heart and fanning the heat behind his eyes.

“Yeah,” Yukine breathed, “I’m happy.” He blinked and let out a hum of a laugh as Yato and Hiyori smiled at each other.

“That’s great because we have something for you too,” Yato grinned.

“For me?” Yukine blinked. What could it be? What more could they possibly give him?

“Yes, a surprise for you too! Mostly from me to you,” Hiyori offered. When she looked at Yato, smile matching his, the three separated and Yato lifted his top shirt to reveal a folded packet. He handed it to Hiyori who handed it to Yukine with a shy smile.

“If you want,” she tacked on. Yukine kept his eyes on her as he unfolded the paperwork, already knowing what it was before he looked it at. It was so familiar, nearly identical to the one Yato gave him so long ago, the one that now sat in a protective folder in Yukine’s bedroom.

“You want to? Adopt me?” Yukine asked. He squeezed the papers tightly against his chest. Unable to say anything more, Hiyori pressed her trembling lips together and gave a short nod, a couple tears falling from her eyes. He was back in her arms just as she opened them, sniffing against her collar bone.

“Is that okay? Will you have me, Yukine?” She tearfully asked as she brushed his bangs out of his eyes.

“Yes,” Yukine cried, “I’d love that. So much.” He had a mom now. Not that woman that gave birth to him, a real mother figure that loved and cared for him and his dad properly. He had parents.

“See?” Yato sniffed, “I told you he would gladly welcome you into the family!” He tried wiping the tears from his cheeks but it hardly made a difference.

“The family?” Yukine repeated, feeling the word on his tongue.

“Of course! Can’t be a family without you, kiddo!” Yato insisted. He pulled them back into a hug, each of the gifts to each other- sealing their love and connection- squishing under the force of their laughter. They came together in a rather unconventional way, and they were nothing Yukine imagined for himself, yet they were everything he could ask for.

His parents.

His family.

[leejihoonownsmyheart]

Worth the Risk

(Seokmin isn’t in this, Woozi is just too dang cute in this gif)

Enemies to friendsish

2k+

-

Lee Jihoon loathed you, and he knew exactly why he did so.

It was an odd thing to say- He wasn’t generally a resentful person but nonetheless he had to admit it was true.

He hated that you were so loud. It was like whenever you were with the rest of his friends you had to be the loudest person in the room- and the most erratic. You countered that of Seungkwan for your spontaneity, both of you always battling to be the funniest in a room.

He hated that you were always apologizing. Even when it wasn’t your fault that something had happened you were apologizing. You apologized for opening a door for someone to early, or for being late to eat with people. You apologized when someone bumped into you- Jihoon had even seen you apologize to a broom before it was frankly just annoying.

He also hated that you always made yourself out to be a confident person. Even if you were wrong, and you knew you had to be wrong, you would loudly tell whoever you were arguing with that they ought to google what you two were arguing about because they were inncorrect. And almost every time you were the one who didn’t know what you were talking about.

But mostly he hated that you were nice to literally everyone around you. Except for him. You went out of your way to walk with Seokmin to his next class after theatre. You tutored Junhui in English during you two’s shared free period. You ate lunch with Seungcheol every single day so that he had someone to talk to.

Hell, Jihoon had even heard you changed work shifts just so that you could help Hansol with a project he was working on one day.

You were one of the nicest people in your school when it came to literally anyone, but when it came to Jihoon at first you would barely look him in the eye.

He wasn’t sure what it was about him.

Was it because he wasn’t attractive? Or because he had a cold expression?

You were known in general to hang out with people no matter how conventionally attractive they were, and you were the person who had managed to befriend the Russian exchange student last semester that people were starting to think actually worked for the Soviet’s they had such a cold look on their face at first. So those threw out Jihoon’s biggest working theories.

He had asked around, and it didn’t seem like Jihoon had done anything to you. Apparently you never talked about him.

Never not even once. How could you never talk about him? You two had like every class two people could even possibly have together together and yet here you were, acting like he didn’t even exist.

Maybe things would have ended differently for you two if Jihoon had just asked you why you hated him. You two were old enough to talk through your differences- it was a probably a misunderstanding anyways. But instead of doing that, Jihoon let the tension boil between you.

He didn’t keep it a secret when he was glaring at you, and complained loudly when you said hello to everyone in a room but him, and before Jihoon knew it. Without any real cause you two were at one another’s throats.

-

You squinted at Jihoon, your eyebrows furrowing as he stared at you. He was mad, he knew you could tell- worse even was that he was about ready to murder you.He knew that you had a decision to make- go out of your way to maybe make him hate you a little less or fuel the glame even more.

You hummed, your deceision made as you placed a hand on your hip, cocking it with a roll of your eyes.

“Yeah? Really?”

For a moment, your cocky expression dissipated. You seemed to be thinking of what to say next. Then your stoic expression returned, and you crossed your arms.

“Don’t challenge me, Lee Jihoon,” you snapped. “I could tear you down with a single word.”

Jihoon scoffed.

“God, you’re so full of yourself. You couldn’t break me down even if you tried.”

“No, you’re right. Not a single word,” you corrected. “Six. I could tear you down in six words.”

Jihoon didn’t respond to that. He just scoffed and looked away from you. You didn’t seem bothered by that. You just rolled your eyes and looked away from him, placing your hand on the shoulder of the nearest boy.

You leaned in close to him, your eyes holding Jihoon’s gaze as you murmured something into Lee Chan’s ear. Lee Chan seemed surprised by the words and looked between you and Jihoon with a strained expression. You didn’t say anything in addition, just gave Jihoon a side glare as you began to walk away.

Jihoon couldn’t help but take the bait.

“What did she say?” He asked Chan quickly. Chan didn’t respond, he just looked between you and him helplessly. Jihoon’s eyebrows furrowed and he stepped forward. “What did you say?”

You didn’t say a word to him. Instead you paused at the door, glancing back at him over your shoulder.

“See ya Chan,” you said in farewell. You gave Jihoon a last glare before leaving the room.

Whatever you said, Chan wouldn’t tell Jihoon and honestly, as much as he hated to admit it, your stupid, manipulative tactic worked. Jihoon was obsessed with what you had said to him. He couldn’t stop thinking about what six words you could possibly think would break him.

Which of course, only broke him more.

The possibilities of what you had said were infinite and whenever he asked stupid Chan about it- the boy just looked away from him uncomfortably.

“I hate to say it, but she’s right.”

Right about what?

Jihoon didn’t know and it was driving him crazy.

It wasn’t until he saw you in the cafeteria, eating lunch with Joshua (Seungcheol had lunch in an hour- yeah you ate two lunches everyday) that he was able to confront you about it. Apparently when you didn’t want to see him, you could very easily do so without going out of your way. 

But when he saw you, head rested on your hand, lazily forking around some rice in a to-go container while you spoke to Joshua, he knew exactly what he was going to say to you. He was going to really give you a piece of his mind. Not hold back for once just because everyone insisted that Jihoon simply wasn’t seeing clearly and didn’t understand the situation. He didn’t care if everyone else thought you were nice. He didn’t care if everyone else thought you just cared about him in a different way than he was used to. He wanted to ruin you the same way that you ruined him-

“I don’t know Shua, I feel like I took it too far this time,” you muttered. “I mean, he’s really mad at me.”

Joshua rolled his eyes.

“Like, that’s a surprise. He always gets over it.”

You didn’t respond, and Jihoon couldn’t see what face you were making but whatever it was made Joshua frown.

“What did you do?” He asked softly. You groaned.

“He was being irrational. He won’t sleep he just stays up all the time working himself to death! I just wanted him to get some rest, but I couldn’t just say that so…” You trailed off.

“So…?” Joshua pried.

“So, I Doctor Who’d him.”

Joshua let out a groan, clearly understanding what you were referencing. You sighed.

“I know! I know, I went all Doctor on him, and I treated him like Harriet. I grabbed the nearest boy to him and I just… I just-”

“Six words?” Joshua interrupted.

Jihoon watched as you leaned forward, placing your hand on Joshua’s shoulder, clearly mimicking the expression that you had been making at the time.

“Don’t you think he looks tired?”

“I can’t believe you,” Joshua scoffed. He laughed a little as you pulled away. “I mean really- playing mind tricks like that on him? It will”-

“Drive him crazy?” You provided. Jihoon could hear you rolling your eyes. “Yeah I know. I’m an idiot.”

“Why don’t you just tell him you like him?” Joshua asked. You sighed, turning your head to the side, officially dropping your fork in your container. As you did, Joshua’s eyes wandered away from you, falling on Jihoon. His eyes widened slightly at the sight of Jihoon and he opened his mouth.

“I can’t he hates me,” you mumbled. “I ask him how he’s doing; he accuses me of bragging. I offer him help on homework assignments; he says I think he’s stupid. I tell him to get some sleep in a normal way and I find out later he stayed up for like 36 straight hours just to spite me.”

You threw your hands in the air in frustration, clearly not caring that Joshua wasn’t really paying attention to you anymore.

“I mean, even if I did confess to him- he’d probably just accuse me of trying to like emotionally manipulate him or something, I don’t know what I did to him that makes him advocate against me so much, but the guy has never given me a chance, and he won’t start now.”

“Uh… Y/n,” he mumbled, but you didn’t stop then.

“This is what I get for falling in love with a Sagittarius- Scorpio cusp,” you stated firmly. “I mean really, Jihoon’s moon is in Aries and I’m surprised he’s stubborn? He’s probably one of the most stubborn, hard-headed people I will ever meet in my life.”

You sounded truly frustrated, and the way that you buried your face in your hands as you spoke pulled at Jihoon’s heart strings in a way that Jihoon didn’t quite understand.

He had never realized that you did all of the things you did to him because you cared about him, but suddenly it was all falling into place. The reason that you were so aggressive that he eat or sleep or not work. The way you worded all of your questions and spoke about him when you thought he couldn’t hear. You just cared about him.

“Is it bad that the more I think about it, the more that I think about how totally useless all my efforts are… The more I love him. He’s never gonna like me. He’s never even going to tolerate me. And Jesus I love him anyways,” you mumbled.

“He’s right behind you,” Joshua replied. Your body froze immediately, and Jihoon couldn’t see your face, but boy did he wish that you did.

“He’s…. What?” You mumbled.

“Behind you,” Joshua replied with a shrug. “I tried to stop you buddy.”

You laughed for a second, surely assuming that Joshua was joking- but when Joshua didn’t laugh you stopped and glanced over your shoulder.

“Oh god,” you mumbled softly, your face constricting somewhat like you were in pain. The expression disappeared after a brief second, in which your expression turned to that of a constrained smile. “Hey Jihoon, how’s it going?”

“I...” He mumbled, his nose scrunching slightly. “I came here to yell at you.”

You chuckled.

“Of course, you did,” you mumbled. For once, Jihoon realized just how wrecked you sound when you said that. Your voice when you spoke to Joshua was higher then Jihoon was used to hearing it. Very airy and light-hearted. But when you spoke to Jihoon it was lower, more hesitant and curter.

You were different with other people then you were with him. How dim did he have to be to not notice that until just now?

You turned around in your chair to face Jihoon, straddling the back of the chair with your legs, and resting your head on your arms that you folded over the back of it.

“Alright then Jihoon, go for it.” You stated. “Tear me apart, make fun of me, make me feel completely and totally stupid.”

Jihoon stared at you uncomfortably.

“Well, I don’t really want to anymore,” he admitted. He looked down at his hands, and back up at you. “You really.... Love me? Even after I was so mean to you? For so long?”

“Well, yeah,” you mumbled back, your cheeks turning a little red. Jihoon had never really thought about your attractive points before, but now he couldn’t help but notice. “I mean… God, I hate to cater to you like this.”

Jihoon’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Like..?”

“You are only asking me this stuff and pausing inbetween certain words because you want me to confess!

You want me to tell you that I like you because of your passion for music, and the adorable way that your face scrunches when one of the guys annoys you.

You want me to go on, and on about how cute it is when you get annoyed and start treating people- or when you get really excited and your eyes disappear, and your little dimples show up.

You want me to talk about how entranced I get by your lyrics, how your music makes me sit there and listen to every single little sound and it’s all perfect, and you’re perfect, and I am not going to tell you all of that. I just won’t.”

Jihoon’s eyebrow raised slightly in amusement. You groaned at that expression.

“See, see, this is exactly what I was talking about all that did, was boost your ego and-”

Jihoon reached forward suddenly, his fingers wrapping around your wrist. The action made you stop talking immediately, surprised by him touching you.

You didn’t think that he had ever touched you. Not in all the time that you two had known one another and if he had it, it certainly wasn’t in a comforting way at all. Your eyebrows furrowed at the touch, and you were afraid to raise your eyes back up to Jihoon.

He noticed that but didn’t force you to look at you- and you even noticed in a glance- that he was a bit afraid to look at you too.

“I mean... After all this time maybe, it is time for us to set aside our differences,” he suggested, his words leaving his mouth oh so carefully. “I guess I don’t really know a lot about you.”

“We could go out to eat sometime,” you suggested. Your face blazed red at the suggestion, and it made Jihoon’s fingers leave your hands in surprise. “I mean- just to get to know one another! It doesn’t have to be like-”

“A date?” Jihoon asked, a nervous chuckle bubbling to the surface. “We could do that.”

You looked up at Jihoon.

“We don’t have-”

“No, I want to,” Jihoon assured softly. “I think... It’s a bit fast but worth the risk.”

The phrase made you smile a little bit, your heart skipping a beat.

“Okay then. It’s a date.”

Sure, you knew that you two wouldn’t be making out by the end of the week or anything crazy like that but that was okay. What mattered was that instead of breaking your heart, Jihoon had taken a step back, thought over his options and decided to give you a chance.

And you weren’t going to let him regret that decision in the least.

[oureuphoria]

Worst of You - JJK 10

You meet him under horrible circumstances but everything feels perfect when you’re with him. Too bad you have a bitch of a best friend, anxiety and an inability to learn from your mistakes which cripples your chances to be with the man of your literal dreams. He, however, is a police officer with years worth of built-up turmoil and an inability to make attachments. Or “I’m not leaving until you tell me what’s wrong.” “Cool, I’ll let everyone know you’re moving in then.”

Genre: fluff, angst, comedy

Pairing: officer!jungkook X  collegestudent!reader

Word count: 3,477

Warnings: None I think. 

Note: P.S. thing’s start to go downhill from here. 

| 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 |

When you woke up, you expected to see Jungkook’s side of the bed completely empty but instead, he was right there sleeping peacefully, at 9am. “Jungkook! Wake up, you’re late to work!” You shook him lightly, your voice was still pretty quiet. He tiredly turned to face you before letting out a hoarse, “what?” You pointed at the clock, he took one look at it and went back to sleep. “Jungkook, what about your job? Are you sick?” He turned to face you once again, more awake now. “On Tuesday I got promoted to Corporal, I have Saturdays off now.” “Oh.” You were about to go back to sleep, but then you jumped up quickly and Jungkook winced at the storm that was yet to come. “Wait! Why didn’t you tell me, that’s so amazing! I knew you could do it!” Jungkook pulled the blanket over his head to block out your loud excitement and you got the hint. “Whoops, I’m sorry. I’ll let you sleep now.” You smiled to yourself as you quietly left the bed.

All the sleepiness was knocked out of you so you decided to take a shower, but you were genuinely uncomfortable with the idea of going to the communal bathrooms on a Saturday morning. They were generally filled with puke and hungover college students. You recalled Jungkook telling you a while back that you could use his guest bathroom whenever you wanted and thought you would have to use children’s shampoo because he always kept it there in case his niece and nephew had to stay for a while.

You were still in the bathroom when Jungkook woke up. You were in the middle of harshly judging your skin when you heard Jungkook’s voice just outside your door. “Mom, I told you I don’t want to. No, I don’t have a girlfriend, I’m just not interested.” That sentence alone got rid of all your rationality and soon you had your ear pressed up against the door to hear better. “You know what, fine, I’ll meet her tonight. Are you happy now?” You couldn’t hear what was said on the other line so you had no real way of telling what was really going on or who he was meeting which just made you extremely anxious.

“Hey, Y/N. I’m going out tonight to meet an old friend.” You heard him yell from his room before he came out in slacks and a dress shirt, looking very handsome. You were on the couch, reading a book you bought the other day with Jimin. “Help me with my tie, your small hands make better knots.” You rolled your eyes at the underlying insult but you helped him anyway. You couldn’t help but feel a little angry about having to hear him lie to his mother about you. “Ow! Y/N, too tight.” You didn’t mean to smile but you did and he looked at you suspiciously. “My bad.” He took one look at his reflection in the mirror he has in the living room and angrily took the tie off. “It’s too much.” Then he unbuttoned the first few buttons, his toned chest peaking out. “You seem to be trying awfully hard to impress this ‘old friend’” Jungkook leaned down to face you, pinching your cheeks tightly. “She’s just a friend.” He gave you a quick kiss before he grabbed his things and was out the door.

You went back to reading the book you had just started to read but it was growing harder to concentrate the later it got, and once he was finally back, it was 11pm. You were already asleep on the couch, the book on your lap as your neck hung to the side. Jungkook winced at the uncomfortable position and hoped you weren’t asleep that way for long. “Y/N, wake up. Come on, let’s get you to bed.” You sleepily got up, rubbing your eyes to help you see better. You unlocked your phone to check the time and saw it was 11:17. You couldn’t help but wonder what took him so long considering he left at 7 but before you could address it, the warm confines of the bed pulled you into a gentle sleep.

The next day things were extremely tense. If you didn’t initiate conversations it would often go quiet for a really long time. Jungkook was either on his laptop, on his phone or playing a video game. The cycle got a little tedious around 1pm. “Jungkook, I’m bored.” He didn’t look up from his phone, smiling as he messaged someone. “Hello? Earth to Jungkook?” He once again kept his eyes trained on his screen though this time he found the energy to formulate a reply. “I heard you the first time. I don’t know, go out or something.” You frowned, his days off were the only days you could genuinely spend time with him and yet it felt as if he didn’t want to. You weren’t going to beg for his attention, you knew it would just make him mad.

You decided to go shopping, you wanted new clothes and you were in desperate need of a new laptop charger, you were sick of getting electrocuted every time you tried to charge the damn thing. It was a warm day, significantly warmer than any other this crisp winter, you were nearing the end of February so it was natural for the weather to get warmer. “Isn’t it too cold to wear a skirt?” You heard him ask behind you as you put on your shoes. “I literally just complained to you about the weather and how it was going to be 97 degrees today. Maybe if you listened to me you’d know this.” You stuck your tongue out at him towards the end of your sentence, it was childish yet you couldn’t help but hope he would take you seriously with your complaints. “Do you want me to drop you off?” You shook your head, giving him a peck on the cheek on your way out. “Y/N take a jacket- and she’s already out the door,” Jungkook mumbled the last part to himself, shaking his head slightly at your forgetfulness, he knew it was going to get colder later and he knew he was in for an earful about how cold you were when you’d get home.

“And then the lady told me that they didn’t have any more in my size and I was so sad. Jungkook are you even listening?” On his phone, once again, even when the man wasn’t at work he always found a way to make you feel like a nuisance. You gave up, it was like talking to a brick wall accept maybe the brick wall would be a better listener than Jungkook. You were already in bed when Jungkook joined you, though you were facing the closet door and sleeping near the edge. “Jungkook I think I’m going to go back to sleeping at my dorm.” He wasn’t expecting you to be awake, the statement catching him off-guard. “Really, why?” Despite him sounding fairly uninterested, you were glad he even responded. “If I don’t sleep there then I’m basically paying rent for a horribly overpriced storage unit.” Jungkook chuckled at your joke, but he didn’t reply, you took it as a sign that he wanted you out too.

“Ew, what’re you doing here?” Ellen was exhaling a cloud of smoke when you walked in. “I live here, stupid. Stop smoking indoors!” You spoke through coughs, blowing the smoke away and opening the windows. You looked up to see the fire alarm was off, you glared at her respectively. She didn’t care about your concerns, in fact, to show you exactly how little she cared, she flipped you off as you went to your room. Ellen was a lot of things, but you didn’t think she was a genuinely bad person, she was probably just lonely and sometimes you felt bad for her, but then she would start pissing you off again and you’d go back to hating her.

Your room was still the same, untouched. You often came here to study but you began slacking off as spring break was nearing. Ellen was blasting loud music again but weirdly turned it down when you asked her to. Maybe she liked having you back, maybe your theory about her being lonely was true after all. Whatever it was, you were grateful for it.

The next day was a Tuesday, also known as the worst day of the week. Not only did you have two consecutive tutor lessons but your classes ran nonstop from 8am-3pm. After your last class ended you walked to the library, exhausted and hungry. Unfortunately, you couldn’t eat or rest because your first tutoring lesson started at 4 and you had a lot of content to organize. A couple of students showed up 20 minutes early but you refused to say a word to them and they joked about how you should become a lawyer since you refuse to give out free advice but you were not in the mood.

3 dreadful hours later you were finally done with both sessions and you laid your head on the desk sleepily. You were tired enough to convince yourself to forget food and go home. Sure, you hadn’t eaten anything all day but sleep seemed more appetizing than food ever could. Naturally, since the universe seemed to hate you before you could even get up Jimin sat right in front of you. “There you are! You will not believe who I just saw at the cafe.” You looked at him distastefully. “Who?” You played along for the sake of getting it over and done with. “Jungkook, with a very pretty girl.” You laughed, assuming it to be Mel. “That’s just his coworker.” He looked at you with worried eyes as he shook his head. “No, I saw his coworkers when we went to the club, she’s different. She’s Asian, tall, long black hair, you don’t know her?” You shook your head, feeling the exhaustion disappear. “How long ago did you see them there?” “20 minutes ago, I would’ve told you earlier but you weren’t picking up your phone.” You recalled putting it on night mode before starting the lessons. You took said phone out to message Jungkook, asking where he was. He finished at 6pm which should’ve been an hour ago.

You

Where are you, Jungkook?

Delivered

You waited for a reply but you can’t say you were patient, you were growing more anxious by the second and thankfully, almost 4 minutes later, Jungkook replied.

Jungkook

Work, I’m going to be late tonight.

Read 7:28

“What a fucking liar!” Jimin exclaimed from beside you once he read the message. He grabbed your hand and pulled you up. “Jimin, where are we going?” He speed-walked out of the building, making his way to the student carpark and very literally pushing you into his car. “Jimin, where are we going?” Once he put his seatbelt on, he turned to you smiling. “Station, we’re busting his ass.” You whined out loudly. “No, I don’t want to cause drama, he was probably with someone important for work.” Jimin didn’t reply, driving you there anyways. He went in with you and you saw Mel, he pushed you towards her and she smiled your way. “Hey Mel, I was just wondering if Jungkook was here?” You asked her politely, a little bashfully to be frank. “No, actually, he left a while ago.” You nodded, smiling though it really didn’t feel genuine, you thanked her and walked back to Jimin, telling him about what she said.

“Do you think he’s cheating on me?” You were on the verge of crying when you left the building, Jimin quickly engulfed you in a bone-crushing hug. “I’m sorry Y/N but after what you told me yesterday and what I saw, I think he is.” You started crying then, you had been cheated on before but you were 15 and you dated the boy for like 3 days. When you were finally in bed, you couldn’t sleep. You felt sick and exhausted but all you could do was dwell over Jungkook. After the phone call you overheard, the night out he had with her on Saturday and lying to you to see her it appeared that he probably was cheating.

When Jungkook left the bathroom, you had just walked out of the doors of the station lobby. By the time he got to Mel, you were gone. “Hey, did I miss anything?” He asked Mel while looking around the station. He was getting ready to leave after finally wrapping up the last of his reports. He had originally finished at 6 but the Chief called him back in because he needed some reports earlier than expected. He didn’t mind though, after finally clearing up with his old friend (the girl his mother tried to set him up with) that he wasn’t interested in a relationship, he felt a huge weight lift off his shoulders. Mel paused for a moment before smiling. “No, you didn’t miss a thing.

_____

You were having dinner with Jungkook, it was a Friday night and you had barely spoken to him all week. When he asked what was wrong you were quick to brush him off, saying you were sick. You weren’t lying, at least not entirely. For the most part, you were ignoring him because of the cheating suspicions which you were still yet to address. “Y/N, we need to talk.” Your heart stopped then and there, you genuinely believed he was breaking up with you at that very moment for someone else. “…Yes?” Your voice was small and you had barely squeaked the word out before you chugged an entire cup of water out of nervousness. “You already know I’m not a fan of this facade you put on when something’s wrong so, how about you drop it and tell me what’s wrong?” He spoke softly, in a tone that was more friendly than menacing, but you couldn’t ask him, it would hurt too much if you were right.

“Um…I think we need a break.” “We don’t need shit.” Jungkook spoke so quickly and surely after with such a casual tone, causing your mouth to let out a default, “oh, ok.” There was a silence that followed before you realized what you had said. “Wait, no, it’s not okay. I think we need a break.” You spoke more sternly this time, trying to get your point across. You believed that if you took a break, you’d be able to soften the blow on yourself when it would inevitably come. Time heals everything or so they say. “And why’s that?” Jungkook was still eating his steak, though with more vigor than he had before. “Well, I just think that we should take some time to figure out what we really want.” “The only reason we’d be taking a break is if you’re not sure you want me because I’m already sure I want you, Y/N,” Jungkook spoke monotonously, showing little signs of anger but you knew they were there. “Well, it doesn’t seem like it.” There it was, a simple mumble, a quick thought that accidentally slipped out of your mouth, the trigger to your first ever real fight. “Why do you feel that way?” Jungkook was staying scarily calm. In the past few months, you’ve only had a small number of petty fights that meant nothing but he’d always get super angry and it was generally really funny. Now, however, it seemed as if this fight was far more serious than the rest and it scared you with how calm he was.

“Well, you just never have time to do anything and it feels like you prioritise everything before me.” Jungkook dropped his knife and fork, took a long sip of wine before replying. “Going into this relationship, did I not warn you about how busy I was?” “That’s not what I-” “Just answer the question Y/N.” You nodded in reply, trying to calm yourself down in case you got mad and said something stupid. “Did I not warn you that I took my job very seriously and often put it before anything else?” You nodded, though his work was far from what you were trying to criticise. “Then tell me why the fuck you’re complaining about it now?” He was still calm, yet very stern and you felt as if you’d start crying before you let any proper reply out. You forced yourself to keep it together though, you could have a reasonable argument, you’re an ‘adult’ after all.

“I wasn’t talking about your job, I mean your days off. It seems you would much rather spend time with your phone or friends than with me and it doesn’t feel very nice.” He nodded, picking up his knife and fork again before stabbing his steak with controlled aggression. “I’ve spent nearly every one of my day’s off with you. Your comment only applies to a couple of weekends and I know you’re not this upset over that so spit it out. What’s really bothering you?” Your mind told you to keep your mouth shut but your heart desperately wanted closure and before you could realize it you had already blurted it out.

“I think you’re cheating on me.” For the first time since the argument had started, Jungkook had dropped all of his eating utensils and was looking at you. “What?” You felt judged under his stare so you diverted your eyes to your plate of food while you poked at the chicken. “It started when I overheard you talking to your mother, you told her you didn’t have a girlfriend and that you were going to meet someone for her, then the night that you do, you’re dressed all fancy and stressing over the way you look, what was I supposed to think?” Jungkook’s face hardened, his hand coming up to massage his now aching head. “You thought I was cheating because of that?” You didn’t like how it felt so trivial under his words, it seemed pretty damn important. “No, there’s more. Jimin came up to me on Tuesday saying you were out with some girl, at first I didn’t think much of it but when I messaged you, you said you were working even though Jimin swore he saw you at the cafe with a girl. Jimin and I went to the station to see if you were there and you weren’t, you lied to me.”

“No, you’re lying right now because I was at the station, I would’ve seen you.” “No! I was there, you can even ask Mel, I asked her where you were and she said you had left a while ago.” Jungkook’s face fell at the mention of Mel, she knew he was there the whole night, you had to be lying. “What time did you go to the station?” You looked at him, confused. You didn’t know why that was relevant but you answered nonetheless. “Right after you replied to me about you being at work.” Jungkook remembers he was in the bathroom at the time, but it didn’t make sense, Mel wouldn’t lie, she had no reason to, she was his best friend for as long as he could remember, there was no way she’d lie to him.

“Y/N, if all you’re going to do is lie then this conversation is over. You clearly don’t want to be with me but you’re insistent on being the good guy so you try to accuse me of cheating? Seriously? That’s it Y/N, I’m done. Are you happy now?” It was at that moment that you noticed a couple of tears had fallen down your face, you shook your head quickly, not trusting your voice but he already left before you could tell him how wrong he was, his steak half-eaten. You wanted to be with him more than anything in the world, but you were both stuck in distorted versions of the same reality, not one knowing the real truth.

Every time you saw him from then, it was always at that stupid cafe. You avoided going there as much as you could but it became hard when it was the only place Jimin and Alex wanted to go. Alex, yes. She came to you 3 days ago with. A heartfelt apology and a lot of buried confessions, you forgave her but you let her know you weren’t sure you could trust her the same way yet. Nonetheless, you and Jungkook were both still not talking to each other and every time you saw him, your heart broke a little more.

[dialovers-translations]

DIABOLIK LOVERS MORE, MORE BLOOD Vol. 6: Sakamaki Reiji [Track 4]

Original title: そして繰り返す、退屈な日々

Source: Diabolik Lovers More, More Blood Vol. 6 Sakamaki Reiji [CD not owned by me]

Audio: Here

Seiyuu: Katsuyuki Konishi

Translator’s note:  Poor MC-chan has been fully caught in the time loop now but Reiji’s true motives have still not been revealed. I feel like my earlier theory with the car accident does not quite make sense anymore, although she still attracts trouble by almost getting involved with a fight. Honestly, I kind of get Reiji’s frustration. Why stick your nose in troublesome business, haha? xD I would just leave it be and let the teachers deal with it lol.

This track was requested by @aroseinthe-storm​! If you would like to request a translation, please contact me through IMs or drop an ask!

Track 1 ll Track 2 ll Track 3 ll Track 4 ll Track 5 + Epilogue

Track 4: And so, These Boring Days Repeat Themselves

*Ding dong ー Ding dongー*

You leave the classroom.

“...Ah, there you are finally. I have been awaiting your arrival.”

You seem jumped.

“Is something the matter? Does it bother you that I am waiting for you in the hallway?

You explain.

“This has happened before, you say? Well, there is indeed nothing peculiar about me coming to see you after classes. More importantly, you are free right now, are you not?”

You nod.

“Then, let us kill some time before heading time. One hour, no, two hours should be suffice.”

You seem unconvinced.

“Any complaints?”

You ask him about his reasoning. 

“No need to look so puzzled. Doing the same thing day after day will make you grow tired of it. Boredom negatively impacts the brain. I see no harm in staying behind at school every once in a while. Or are you perhaps reluctant to spending time with me?”

You shake your head.

“Very well. In that case, let us go. ...Ah, please do avoid standing out too much. Keep in mind that people’s eyes are on us at all times. Well then, off we go.”

*TIMESKIP*

You are walking through the hallway.

“Classes may have ended, but there are still a lot of students left in the building it seems. My foolish brothers might be loitering around somewhere as well, but let us leave them be for today. As long as they do not come our way, that is plenty.”

He opens a door.

“Please, step inside. There is nobody around so make yourself at home.”

You frown.

“No need to hesitate. I have applied to use this classroom beforehand. No other students will be entering. 

You ask if it is allowed.

“Yes, I got permission from the staff room. I would have preferred a somewhat more relaxing place, but the library is often being occupied by the Mukami household so that was out of the question. And the special classroom is home to the Founders for some reason. Finally, in the second and third grade classrooms, it seems likely troublemakers would be present. It naturally boiled down to this empty classroom. I requested it under the facade of self-studying, so please try and keep things quiet.”

The two of you step inside.

“I am sure we will be able to spend some time here without being interrupted by any pests. We have plenty of time on our hands, so we might as well get some studying done for real. Right now, I can take my time personally tutoring you.”

You frown.

“You look as if something is on your mind.”

You note on his strange behavior.

“Is this situation really that strange? Even someone like me enjoys staying behind every once in a while. ...Granted, I most certainly have plenty of tasks waiting for me at home. Cleaning and preparing for the banquet...Ah, I have to polish the tableware beforehand as well.”

Reiji slowly steps closer. 

“While it is true that I am busy...For now, I have decided to spend time with you instead. I wish you would appreciate this situation, rather than be so suspicious of it.”

You apologize.

“As long as you understand. ...Well then, let us get to studying. I do not mind starting with the subject of your liking.” 

*Rumble rumble*

“...Hm? Seems like there is a heated discussion going on. I wonder if it’s coming from the classroom next door?”

You offer to go check it out.

“No need to get involved. Just leave those quarrels between students be. Somebody should call a teacher soon enough.  At this time of day, the staff room is filled with people who have plenty of time on their hands.”

You walk towards the door.

“Halt! Where are you going...!? Don’t tell me you insist on going to the staff room...?”

You nod.

“Good grief...Why do you always stick your nose in troublesome business? However, at this rate it will be a disturbance. I suppose it cannot be helped, I shall come with you.”

You thank him.

"No need to express your gratitude. Well then, let us go. ...Ah, just in case, please promise me just this. Do not stray from my side, follow my instructions and finally...Do not let your guard down around anyone. Even if this person...is someone you personally know...”

*Tick tock - Tick tock - Tick tock - Tick tock*

ーーー

*Cling cling*

“You’ve finally awakened?”

Reiji pours a cup of tea.

“Breakfast has already been served.”

*Rustle*

You panic.

“Oh? Your complexion seems very pale. Did you have a bad dream, perhaps?”

You ask him if it’s that bad.

“Yes. You look as if you just saw the most terrifying of nightmares.”

You explain.

“What nonsense are you spouting? You only just woke up, did you not? We are about to leave for school now.”

You insist.

“Calm down. Take a good look around. You should be able to tell that this is reality. We are at the Sakamaki manor. You just changed into your school uniform. Look at the clock as well. I am sure you can tell now, can you not? There is still plenty of time until our ride to school gets here. This is reality. Just forget about those bad dreams.”

You frown.

“Well then, let us enjoy breakfast amongst the two of us. Go ahead and take a seat.”

You continue asking him about the possible time distortion.

“...Is there still something on your mind? After school? You’ll come to my classroom? Why, if I may ask?”

You explain.

“You sure say strange things. Why are you afraid of being in your own classroom? If something is going on, I could come and pick you up instead?”

You shake your head.

“...Seeing as you reject my offer so strongly, is there perhaps a reason why I should not be there?”

You hesitate. 

“...I suppose it is fine. Either way, let us not meet at the third year’s classroom. An underclassman such as yourself would stand out too much. If you want a place to settle down, I could arrange an empty classroom for us. I shall fill you in on the specific location later. I will accompany you as well. No complaints, I assume?”

You nod.

“Yes. Let us meet again after school then.”

*TIMESKIP*

*Ding dong ー Ding dongー*

You leave the classroom.

“...Ah, there you are finally. I have been awaiting your arrival.”

Reiji opens the door again.

“Since your previous class took place here, I decided on this room. The other students have been chased oー Ah, no. They returned home, so please make yourself at home.”

You ask him if there were other options. 

“Yes. There were other empty rooms as well, but they were a little noisy, so I settled on this place instead. Is the art classroom not to your liking?”

You shake your head.

“I see. However, your timing is impeccable. I was actually thinking of spending some time inside the school building today as well. If you’d like, how about we have a little chat? Let’s see...For one hour, no, two hours should do, I suppose?”

Students start fighting in the other room.

*Rumble rumble*

“...Hm? ...Why here as well? Even though I evaded the empty classroom...”

You offer to go check it out.

“No need to get involved. Just leave those quarrels between students be. Somebody should call a teacher soon enough.  At this time of day, the staff room is filled with people who have plenty of time on their hands.”

You walk towards the door.

“Halt! Where are you going...!?

You explain.

“...The staff room after all, huh? You must not! Do not go!”

You seem skeptical.

“Just because. You do not need to know the reason. You should simply heed my warning and keep still.”

You refuse.

“Why do you not listen to what I say? ...Even by repeating the same scenario again, the result remains unchanged. Is that what this means? In that case, I simply...cannot think of other options I have yet to try out. Is there no other method...?”

You ask him what he is talking about.

“This is a story you cannot understand. Therefore there is no need to know. However, I simply cannot let you go. I wanted to avoid having to resort to this, but you leave me with no other choice.”

Reiji steps closer and grabs hold of your wrist.

“I shall...take your blood here. To the point where you can no longer move.”

You struggle.

*Rustle*

“Did you not hear me? I said I would feed off you right now. You keep quiet...and offer me your blood.”

You ask for his reasoning.

“...Just because, I have my own personal reasonings, you see.”

You protest. 

“Yes, I suppose you’re right. I am not acting like myself today. However, I cannot let you go regardless.”

*Rustle*

“I will make sure you stay put for a bit.”

Reiji bites you.

*Gulp gulp*

“Haah...”

*Gulp gulp*

“...Your reaction is rather strong for this kind of stimulus. The taste of your blood is like that of a sweet, ripened fruit as well.”

You writhe around in his grip. 

“...So you have chosen to fight back? It has been a while since I saw this defiant side of you. You want to know my true reasonings that badly? However, I should have already made myself clear. You do not need to know.”

You talk back. 

“The way you retaliate like that takes me back. When you had just arrived at the manor...You would make one blunder after the other, being whipped by me as a result. However, the pain of what should have been a punishment, you perceived as pleasure. I remember being thorougly appalled by your lack of shame. 

Even now, while I no longer feel the need to scold you over it, it seems like your reactions to these kind of stimuli have not changed. No, I would dare argue your senses have heightened compared to before?”

You avert your gaze.

“I can tell even without hearing it directly from you. Your body has long remembered the taste of my fangs. I suppose one could call it a type of addiction. The more you are exposed it to, the more your reason fades and you cannot help but crave for an even stronger thrill. Humans are so terribly weak to pleasure after all. No reason to fight it.”

He leans in.

“Therefore, allow yourself to simply drown in me...Until you lose your ability to think.”

Reiji continues sucking your blood.

*Gulp gulp*

“...Haah...I suppose right now, I should be thankful for the turmoil outside. Now there is no fear of someone hearing your cries. ...You’ve become light-headed, it seems? Very well, let it all loose. Close your eyes, and entrust your body to me.”

*Rustle rustle*

“How obedient. Has your body already gone limp? I should have just done this from the very beginning...”

You grab hold of him.

“What is the meaning behind this hand of yours? Are you not yet satisfied, perhaps? You sure are greedy. ...However, having you long for me does not feel bad.”

*Smooch*

“That kind of reaction just from the palm of your hand? Fufu...Give me a good look at your face.”

He runs his hand across your cheek.

“It has become flushed. A very disgraceful expression...Even though I am the one who educated you, you look very pathetic right now. Seems like you still have a long way of disciplining ahead of you. Of course, I shall not take ‘no’ as an answer. Understood?”

You nod.

“A fine attitude. I shall tend to you until you lose consciousness. Now accept me fully.”

Reiji bites you again.

*Gulp gulp*

“Mmh...”

*Gulp*

“...Mm...Haah...Per usual, your blood makes my head spin more than a strong wine ever could. I might just be the one who passes out instead...

...Yes, I know. I do not intend to let you go just yet. Give me more of your blood. In return, I shall bestow upon you the ultimate pleasure. A stimulus so strong, it will drive you crazy.”

*Rustle rustle*

“Once you lose consciousness, you definitely will not be able to go anywhere. This time, for sure...Haah...”

*Tick tock - Tick tock - Tick tock - Tick tock*

ーー TO BE CONTINUED ーー

[rorybergstrom]

𝑫𝑰𝑫 𝑺𝑶𝑴𝑬𝑩𝑶𝑫𝒀 𝑶𝑹𝑫𝑬𝑹 𝑨 𝑩𝑰𝑺𝑬𝑿𝑼𝑨𝑳 𝑹𝑶𝑳𝑳𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑲𝑨𝑻𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑺𝒀𝑵𝑻𝑯 𝑳𝑶𝑹𝑫  ???

            hello, it’s nora again…. hitting u with another child. a south london-born softboi who deserves tenderness. has a burner phone and doesn’t use social media. does techno dj sets. plays the synth loudly through the night if u live in gorham his room always sounds like a space ship just landed. deals weed around campus on his rollerskates. hates that he can’t get new light up wheels because ana coto made rollerskating cool again. as is tradition, here’s the pinterest board. this intro is recycled?? so if theres mistakes, sue me??? and be sure to like and subscribe for more unboxing content x

application.

『 FIONN WHITEHEAD ❙ DEMI-MALE』 ⟿ looks like RORY BERGSTRÖM is here for HIS JUNIOR year as a MUSIC TECHNOLOGY student. HE is 23 years old & known to be ECCENTRIC, FANATICAL, NITPICKY & DOGMATIC. They’re living in GORHAM, so if you’re there, watch out for them. ⬳ ooc name. age. tz. pronouns. 

aesthetics.

bed hair from a permanent state of slumber, calloused fingertips from strumming bass into the early hours and djing into the blacklit night, self-help books thumbed once and thrown beneath your bed, battered copies of choose your own adventure books, spliffs passed half-arsed across rooftops while light pollution obscures low-hanging stars, marxist literature in stacks against your bedroom walls, a burner phone twice-shattered and a stash of replacement sim cards.

tw ocd, anxiety, drugs

half-swedish, half-british. the swedish is on his mother’s side. he’s bilingual but thinks in english. only really speaks swedish around his mother. only child, and kinda put a lot of pressure on himself to be the perfect kid when he was young, but his parents are honestly, quite decent? and just want him to have a nice life, they don’t care if he isn’t successful or rich or anything, they’re honestly rather solid. (wow imagine having nice parents, a first for all my characters, im literally this meme)

grew up in peckham, a suburb of london. growing up, his mum was a model / actress / waitress who later retrained as a speech therapist and his dad worked in her majesty’s service at buckingham palace. his dad wasn’t allowed to tell his family what his job entailed but rory suspects it’s probably very boring and just involves a lot of…. logistics n security.

was bullied a lot at school. [cole sprouse voice] he didn’t fit in and he didn’t want to fit in. unironically wore a trenchcoat to school every day of his life. spent most of his lunchtimes in the library because it was his safe space. as a result he knows…. loads of useless information because 30% of his school years were spent reading anthologies on space and the vikings etc. would be good on a game show. obsessively recorded every episode of university challenge as a child.

middle-class and lowkey quite wealthy but rarely talks about money, one of those well-off people who still wears really old shitty shoes and only spends money if they absolutely have to

virgin who can’t drive

into star wars, not into the big bang theory. feminist. can’t watch horror movies

favourite film is where the wild things are. also loves the florida project. thinks kids are the sweetest thing and can’t wait to be a dad to some. right now is dad to one cat, whose name changes on a daily basis (identity is constantly shifting, duuuuude), but they were originally named ‘wheezer’

rory has been musical for as long as they can remember. first picked up guitar because he thought it would make this girl esther who he was in love with like him, but he just ended up falling in love with music instead.

formulated several different bands as a kid but ultimately had to give it up cos he was quite controlling and got fixated on making a certain sound so it wasn’t really fun for the others. got into electronic music because it was something he could do basically on his own and keep tweaking until he got it perfect

always drumming their fingers or strumming invisible guitar strings. tends to avoid parties bc he has quite has specific tastes when it comes to music and doesn’t like listening to r&b for eight hours while people throw up into plastic cups.

a techno connoisseur. has been making electronic music since he was about twelve.

after his parents divorce, when he was fourteen, rory & his mother moved to run-down suburban neighbourhood, pittsfield, massachussets.

big into photography. he mostly uses a canon 35mm camera, but occasionally uses disposable ones when he wants that more rustic feel.

moving to the states, their photography became more focused on suburban neighborhoods and are often quite dark and cinematic (think gregory crewsden). here are some shots of pittsfield i really like which rory has on his wall [1] [2] [3]

falls in love 12 times a day. never had a girlfriend or boyfriend. gets sweaty when someone cute looks at him. flirting?? what?? would prefer to idealise them from a distance

gender??? hm. doesn’t really know where he fits yet, sometimes he feels like a guy and sometimes they dont feel like anything at all. isn’t really bothered, cos they think it’s a social construct anyway. uses he/they pronouns interchangeably, but feels like ‘he’ is more fitting. won’t necessarily pull anyone up on it cos he knows having an identity that’s constantly…. in flux.. can be annoying for others … and doesn’t want to be a burden even tho it isn’t at all?? rory internalises guilt

everything is socially constructed. mirrors let you move through time. the whole thing’s a metaphor. he thinks he’s got free will but really he’s trapped in a maze. in a system. all he can do is consume. people think it’s a happy game. it’s not a happy game — it’s a fucking nightmare world, and the worst thing is, it’s real and we live in it

has ocd. tries to let it affect his life as little as possible, but obviously it’s incredibly hard to control a compulsive disorder. was teased for it at school when other kids started to notice. he was obsessed with the number five, would wash his hands five times, count stairs i groups of five, he could only use the corridors in one direction and always had to keep his hands busy. it manifests itself in hyper-fixations (trains when he was a child – specifically steam engines – then later he became obsessed with space and the patterns of constellations, and now he’s obsessed with synthesizers) and repetitive behaviours like counting stairs. doesn’t really affect his social life at all, he can jst get a bit locked-on n hyper-focused sometimes.

has insomnia. barely ever sleeps. finds it hard to switch off from work / writing / gaming / whatever’s preoccupying him in that moment. he’s always awake at 5am and quite often sleeps in through classes but still gets really good grades because he’s very good at his course. rarely attends classes. prefers to work independently. doesn’t really trust his tutors are intelligent enough to be teaching him, and is particularly suspicious of the lockwood tutors. a music snob tbh

secretly a small-scale drug dealer, only does weed n some party pills. rollerskates around campus dealing cos they dnt have a car

likes: techno, the webpage cats on synthesizers in space, allen ginsberg, vintage gramophones,  floating points, lcd soundsystem, marijuana, soft dogs that let you pet them, late-night strolls talking about the universe, independent films, cigarettes, herbal tea, gallows humour, long showers, brown eyes, tchaikovsky, dr. seuss, constellations, photography, late night jazz, vintage game boys and girls who could rip his still-beating heart out of his chest and use it as an ashtray. dislikes:  weddings, funerals, formality, button-up shirts that people actually button-up, bananas, hot coffee, social media, people who watch and play sports, rap music – especially of the misogynistic variety, indie wankers in wire-framed glasses that play ed sheeran songs at open mic nights.

plot ! with ! me ! i’d say all the usual “exes fwb hookups spiel” but rory… is very tender and tame… i feel like a deer in the headlights of love……. so give me

study buddies,

people who are also into techno and are music snobs about it,

people who love all kinds of music,

people who are in bands that maybe rory’s recorded and produced stuff for,

people he actually jams with (he plays bass and synth),

unrequited crushes!!

someone they met at a knitting club in freshman year and have remained friends with despite no longer going to it

people rory knows from open mic nights and gigs

library girlfriends / boyfriends that he stares at longingly while paging through leatherbound volumes

gamers !!! social recluses !!! hermits !!

people he deals weed to on his rollerskates (why r all my characters obsessed with rollerskates)

skaters. rory is really shit at skateboarding. like really shit. help the smol

hm now that rory has !Evolved! ig we can do hook up plots if u want but he’s not tht good at divorcing sex from emotion?? like he  hooked up w teddy once n felt hopelessly inlove so..... if u want soft plots b prepared for crippling sadness.......

stay groovy XD XD

[written-prose-things]

Laptops, Chaos and Irritating Professors

Parkner Week prompt 3: “I am very small and have no money”

Read here on: AO3

SUMMARY:  Harley meets Peter on his first day of college. Peter wants to be friends, but Harley is extremely busy focusing on his research paper, scholarships and extra-curricular work, to pay him any attention.

That is, until Professor Stark pairs them up for the research project.

Harley realises that Peter isn't as bad as he seems.

Harley walked to class with a warm cup of coffee in his hands. His mind was whirring with thousands of thoughts on his first day of college.

Harley wondered if all his classmates felt weird, waking up in an unknown bed. Or was he the only one feeling out of place?

Though Harley didn’t want to focus on it, Harley knew that he was quite different from his classmates. The bed he’d woken up in, at the frat house was much bigger than the bed he had shared with Abby as a kid.

Harley sighed. Joining the frat had been the last thing he had wanted, but it had been the easiest way to cut down on accommodation charges. He didn’t want to be associated with the constant partying lifestyle of frats, but such was his life.

Harley stared at the building in front of him and took a deep breath. He dropped his empty cup in a trash can and walked in. This building was in the easternmost area of the campus, where his Introductory Dynamical Theory class would be held.

Harley tried to regulate his breathing as he walked towards room 208, He had no reason to be scared, he had gone over the course outline a week ago.

Professor Anthony Stark was teaching this course. Hw was one of the most renowned mathematicians in the world.

Harley opened the door slowly, peeking his head in. The class was mostly empty, a few students sat scattered around the room, busy staring into their phones or laptops.

Harley took a seat in the relative front of the class and sat down, pulling out his laptop.

Slowly, students began to trickle into the class. Harley kept his head down and stared at his laptop screen, a grainy photo of Abby grinning, with her crooked teeth smiled back at him.

They had taken the photo when she had won a blue ribbon at the science fair. Abby had claimed that she was going to become a scientist like him.

Harley was pulled out of his thoughts when a boy sat down next to him. Harley looked at the seats around him, which were all empty. Why did this boy sit next to him?

Against his better judgement, Harley turned to look at the boy. He was wearing brown trousers, a formal white shirt and a fluffy sweater with broad blue and green stripes.

It was the first class of the day, but the collar of the boy’s shirt was crumpled and the cuffs of his shirt were unbuttoned and poking out of his sweater.

The boy maintained their awkward eye contact as he took an obnoxious bite out of the green apple he was carrying. Harley stared at the boy, with his mouth hanging open, hoping that his blush wasn’t visible.

The boy then wiped his lips on his sweater’s arm, and Harley was grossed out of his stupor.

The boy swallowed his bite and extended his hand, “Peter. Peter Parker.”

Harley nodded jerkily, ignoring the boy’s hand, and faced his laptop again. The boy, Peter, nudged Harley in the ribs and said, “Usually, people introduce themselves in return.”

Harley barely suppressed the urge to wipe his shirt, where Peter had touched it; He only had a few clothes and didn’t want them to get apple stains.

Harley replied, “No thanks.”

Peter laughed, “That’s a unique name. Who chose it?”

Harley rolled his eyes. Before Peter could pester him more, Professor Stark walked in.

It was a strange experience for Harley to see the man outside a photo on the cover of a book. Harley attributed the feeling mostly to the fact that the professor had walked into class wearing jeans and a faded AC/DC shirt, with questionable marks on his face and arms.

Harley hadn’t been to any other class yet, but he assumed that this wasn’t the normal attire for a teacher.

Due to the professors unexpected attire, it took a moment for the class to notice him. Then a hush fell over the class.

The professor studied them all as he leaned his back against his table, his arms crossed over his chest.

He spoke as he gave them a once-over, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be late for our first class, but I got busy in the lab.”

Harley discreetly checked his watch as the professor spoke, “Anyway, let’s begin. This is Introduction to Dynamical Theory, I’m your professor. You can call me Tony.”

Harley realised that their professor, Tony, was almost 15 minutes late.

“I assume all of you have made yourselves familiar with the course material...” Tony asked an open-ended question.

After receiving a vague affirmative from the class, Tony continued, “Very well.”

He turned around and walked to the board, on which he wrote in block letters, “Birkinhoff Research Team”.

He faced them again and clapped his hands once to gain the attention of the few students who’s focus had wandered.

“The mathematics department has started a new research team this academic year, we will be taking on grad students as assistants. Which means all you have a chance. To be eligible for the position, you will have to submit a research report on one topic from our course work of this semester.”

The entire class erupted into excited whispers.

Harley wanted this badly. Working with Anthony Stark on a research project, even if as an assistant. He was going to get this. His eyes travelled subconsciously to the last topic in their course work, The Bifurcation Theory.

--x--

Harley walks into the library with purpose at the end of the day’s classes, his mind working over the different ways in which he can study The Choas Theory. He picks out all the books he thinks are necessary and sits down on a table in a secluded area of the library.

He starts opening the required pages in each book as his laptop switches on. A person blocks the light in front of him. Harley looks up from his book.

Peter Parker.

Harley rolls his eyes, “What do you want?”

Peter shrugs, “Your name.”

Harley squints at him, when Peter moves a little, and the light hits Harley’s eyes, “Why?”

Peter rests his hands on Harley’s table and leans across, “Because I want to be friends.”

Harley huffs, “No thanks.”

Peter looks a little unnerved which makes Harley feel quite content.

But the satisfaction evaporates when Peter walks around the table and sits down in the seat next to him.

“What are you doing?” Harley asks shortly.

Peter shrugs, “Studying.”

Harley groans and turns back to his laptop, to start writing. In his frustration, he gets easily irritated with his slow laptop. He clicks on his folder multiple times, as expected, the laptop hangs and promptly shuts down.

Harley rubs his temples with both his hands. His laptop is old and needs patience. Harley tries to calm down.

Peter’s presence doesn’t help. He whispers from next to Harley, “Oof, that’ rough buddy. Where’d you even get this laptop?”

Harley ignores Peter, which turns out, is worse than responding to him. Peter takes his lack of response as an invitation to poke around with the laptop.

Peter mumbles, “I could use some of its parts for my mechanics class.”

Harley whisks the laptop away from Peter, “Stay away from it. I know you rich kids don’t understand, but this is the only thing I can afford. Leave me alone.”

Without waiting for Peter’s response, Harley hauls his bag onto his shoulder and walks out of the library, leaving him to clean up the table and put the books away.

--x--

Over the next month, Harley fixes his routine. He does his work in the house, according to the chart, every morning. The heads to his classes or the library, before meeting his study group at lunchtime and finally spends an hour every alternate day, tutoring his classmates.

He strikes up a tentative friendship with the boys at his frat house and even talks to a few of his classmates. Part of his routine also includes interacting with Peter Parker, despite his best efforts. As it turns out, they share a lot of the same classes.

Monday morning, when Harley walks into class, Peter is already seated in the front of the class. Harley hopes that the shorter boy doesn't try to strike up a conversation. But his pleas are ignored by the gods above.

Peter grins at him, "What's got you in such a lovely mood today?"

Harley rolls his eyes and sits down, a couple of seats behind the aggravating boy. But on this day, with none of his friends around, Peter is bored enough to pursue Harley.

"No, seriously. At first, I thought you weren't a morning person, but how do you manage to maintain this shitty mood throughout the day?"

Harley is saved from answering when Tony walks into class, on time for once.

As it turns out, Anthony Stark is quite a weird teacher. He is always sleep-deprived and his erratic, coffee-induced behaviour is always the talk of the physics department. He regularly asks them to meet him in the lawns for classes.

"Alright, children," Tony says patronisingly, "I had asked for an overview of your research this weekend. And I realised, that quite a few of you have similar topics. So, I'm going to group all of you who have similar areas of focus."

Harley rolls his eyes. Great, a group project is exactly what he needs.

Tony claps his hands to gain their attention and says, "So the groups are..."

He hears Peter say in the front, "Oh great."

Of course, he's excited. Rich kids like Peter, who get in through donations, are more interested in making friends than they are in studying.

Harley watches as his classmates get grouped. Their excitement is palpable. Against his better judgement, Harley wonders how cool it would be if, he were able to make friends through this project.

His hopes get dashed before he can even properly start day-dreaming.

Tony adds, "Harley Keener on Bifurcation Theory with..." Tony scans his list, "Peter Parker."

For his part, Peter looks a little less enthusiastic at having been partnered with him.

--x--

Harley opens the door when the doorbell rings at their decided time. Peter smiles at him, "I didn't think you'd be a frat boy!"

Harley winces at his volume. Peter's lesser enthusiasm is still quite a lot for Harley to stomach.

Harley steps aside and lets Peter in. Outside, the sky rumbles. The rain has been sparse throughout the day, but the humidity is awful.

They walk into the house, Peter stopping to say hi to almost every housemate of Harley's.

When they finally reach Harley's room, Peter plops down on his bed, making himself very comfortable.

Harley closes the door and Peter quips, "Hey, I didn't get the memo for bedroom activities."

Harley turns around to see Peter wiggling his eyebrows, he scoffs, "Shut up."

Peter sighs, "Look I know that you aren't very fond of me, but we have to get this project done."

Harley feels uncomfortable at such honesty from Peter.

He pulls out his laptop and sits down on the bed next to Peter. Peter comments abruptly, "I didn't mean to make fun of your laptop. Sorry about it."

Harley nods. Peter's genuine comments are making him feel weird.

--x--

Harley and Peter spend the next few hours from lunch to dinner on their project, eating ramen, typing on their laptops, pulling out different reference articles and such.

Harley realises that Peter isn't exactly like he had assumed. The boy is whip-smart, quick enough to pick up the half-baked ideas Harley thinks of.

Of course, Peter is still snarky, over-enthusiastic jokester. Harley has to keep drawing the conversation back to their research at hand from whichever pokemon Peter starts ranting about.

As they finally finish outlining their draft, Harley's stomach rumbles. Peter checks his watch, "It's just 10, we can finish touching this up."

Harley grumbles, "No."

Peter looks up from his screen, a smile on his face, "Have I found your weakness, Harls?"

Harley rolls his eyes at the nickname. Peter's smile widens, "I think I'm going to stay."

Harley glares at him, "I have to sleep, go away."

Peter laughs, "Make me."

This is the easiest choice Harley has ever had to make. In under 4 minutes, Harley has dragged the shorter boy to the door of their frat. Each step he takes to the door brings him closer to the solitude he wants.

As expected, Harley's hopes go down the gutter when he opens the door. It's raining. The part of the pathway in front of the house, visible in the light of the porch, is submerged in water.

Peter looks at him. Harley averts his eyes from the shorter boy's face. He didn't know Peter could pull off such a good kicked puppy expression.

Peter whispers, "Don't make me go..."

Harley chances a glance at Peter's face. Peter uses the opportunity to lay on even more guilt, "I'm really small and have no money."

Harley rolls his eyes but lets go of Peter's hoodie.

The change in the shorter boy's mood makes Harley's head spin.

In a moment, Peter is running back up the stairs, whooping.

Harley walks to the kitchen and picks up whatever's left in the fridge before following Peter.

When Harley enters his room, Peter is already lying star-fished on his bed.

Harley sets down his food on the bedside table and shoves Peter out of the bed. Peter lets out a terrible groan, but Harley assures himself that the carpeted floor would have broken his fall. Just in case, he throws Peter two pillows and a blanket.

Maybe Peter isn't as bad as he seems...

[cyborgsquirrel]

Sanctuary: Chapter 10

Pairing: Wolfstar

Summary: The epic tale of Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, from their first meeting until their happily ever after.

Link to Prologue

Link to All Chapters

Monday, 6th September 1971

For the first time he could remember, Remus woke up on the morning after the full moon on his back in bed, instead of on his stomach on the hard floor, and he didn't feel too bad either. He opened his eyes to confirm what he suspected. Yes, Madam Pomfrey had brought him back to the little room in the hospital wing while he was unconscious. He wasn't too concerned about it. She knew not to touch his skin.

Remus heard footsteps approaching, his hearing still over-sensitive so soon after the moon, and he hauled himself to a sitting position and looked towards the door.

'Ah, good. You're awake,' Madam Pomfrey said as she walked in. 'How do you feel?'

'Tired, but not too bad, a bit sore. Were there any injuries?' Remus asked, his voice croaky from the screaming.

'Nothing big. You tore your fingernails, and there were scratches around the trapdoor this morning. I think the wolf tried to get out.'

'Probably smelled you,' Remus said.

'Yes, that's what I thought. I won't come through the trapdoor in future. There were no other injuries, though. Is that normal?'

'Not at all. I'm usually all torn up.'

Madam Pomfrey frowned. 'I wonder why it was different. If we can figure it out, then we might be able to stop you from being hurt every month.'

Remus thought he knew the answer. The wolf liked the bigger space, but saying so would lead to questions about his accommodations at home, and he didn't want to make his parents look bad.

'I don't know,' he said instead.

'Not to worry. Are you hungry?'

'Starving, but my throat is on fire.'

'Yes, you said that happened. I've been researching, and I've found something to help with the malnutrition. And it should be easy to swallow, even with a sore throat.'

She hurried out of the room and returned a minute later with a full glass of frothy brown liquid and a straw.

'I spoke with Breen, and he told me you're fond of chocolate, is that right?'

Remus grinned and nodded.

'This is a nutrition potion. It has everything in it that your body needs, and it tastes like a chocolate milkshake. I made it nice and cold to soothe your throat.'

Remus licked his lips and leaned forward to take the glass. He glanced at Madam Pomfrey before clasping his lips around the end of the straw and sucking the thick liquid into his mouth. The rich, creamy flavour burst on his tongue, and he swallowed, allowing the icy drink to coat his raw throat with relief. Not only did it taste divine, but it eased the pain as it went down. Madam Pomfrey earned his undying gratitude at that moment.

He grinned up at her. 'It's wonderful. Thank you.'

Madam Pomfrey's face broke out into a beautiful smile. 'I'm so pleased. I want you to drink a full glass with breakfast every morning until I say otherwise. We need to build your strength up. I've given Breen the recipe.'

'I will, I promise.'

'Good. Now, finish that off and then get some more sleep.'

'Yes. Ma'am,' Remus said, giving her a salute.

'Cheeky boy,' she said, smiling.

-o-o-o-o-

Sirius' mouth felt dry as a desert as he approached the Transfiguration classroom, and his heart was trying to escape his chest. On his right, James chewed at his lip, and on his left, Peter was breathing heavily. His friends seemed just as nervous as him.

Professor McGonagall glanced up at their entrance, her concerned expression morphing into a glare at the sight of them. She said nothing, merely gesturing for them to find a seat before waving her wand and conjuring a silver cat. She whispered a few words to the animal before the cat bounded away and Professor McGonagall returned her attention to the class.

Sirius noted Remus' absence from the room, and his concern for the boy deepened. Where was he? He wanted to ask James what he thought, but had the unusual foresight to realise talking during the lesson with McGonagall already furious at them would do him no favours, so he kept his mouth shut and tried to concentrate.

'Good morning, class,' Professor McGonagall began. 'For the first half of this double period, we'll be working on the theory behind changing an object's material, but I'm sure you'll be delighted to learn that the second half of the lesson will be practical.'

A few students cheered, and McGonagall's lips twitched in an almost-smile. 'But before you begin learning the art of transfiguration, you must first learn how to fix your mistakes. Which is why you will be learning the spell to revert a transfigured object back to its original state. The spell works the same for a successful transfiguration and a partial transfiguration, so I'm sure you will all get a lot of use out of it over the next few years.'

The class worked on theory for an hour before Professor McGonagall asked everyone to take out their wands for the practical part of the lesson, resulting in a moment of shuffling and rummaging before she was able to continue.

'The incantation for this spell is Reparifarge, and the wand movement is thus.' She waved her wand in a complicated series of twists and flourishes, and the class attempted to copy her. 'Practice the incantation and wand movement for a few minutes while I hand out some objects for you to test yourselves on.'

She proceeded to walk around the room placing a partially transfigured item on each student's desk. Sirius received a misshapen glass bowl with a metallic sheen and half-formed handles sticking out of the bottom.

The students got started, filling the classroom with shouted variations of the word "Reparifarge" and frantic wand waving. Sirius tried unsuccessfully to have any effect on his monstrosity that called itself tableware, and James and Peter were faring no better. A quick glance around the classroom soothed his injured pride. Most of the other students also seemed to be struggling.

It took another half an hour before Sirius managed to alter his bowl-goblet mishmash, and by that point, several other students had also succeeded. Still, when he gazed down at the perfect red glass bowl on his desk, he felt a surge of pride.

'Well done, mate,' James said, slapping him on the back before turning back to his own efforts with renewed vigour.

By the end of the lesson, almost every student had reverted their object at least once, and most had done so multiple times. Those that hadn't yet mastered the spell, which included Peter, were told to take their item back with them and practise for homework. No one would be allowed to begin transfiguring until they could cast Reparifarge.

Professor McGonagall dismissed the class before turning to the corner where Sirius and his friends were seated. 'Misters Black, Potter and Pettigrew, stay behind, I need to have a word with you three.'

'Ooh,' the rest of the students chorused. 'Someone's in trouble!'

The three boys waited while the rest of the class filed out before approaching the teacher's desk. She glowered at them the entire time. A heavy blanket of shame descended on Sirius, crushing the pride from earlier, and he swallowed, hard.

'All three of you were missing from your first class this morning,' she snapped. 'When I checked your dorm, your beds had not been slept in. We searched the castle from top to bottom, and you were nowhere to be found. What do you have to say about this?' She towered over them, glaring down, her face red with fury.

Sirius glanced at his friends, but seeing neither of them making any attempt to speak, he slipped on his Pureblood-heir-to-a-Noble-House persona, perfected through many years of harsh tutoring, and stepped forward.

'Ma'am, we beg your forgiveness,' he said with a bow. 'We never intended to miss Herbology this morning, and we do have an explanation if you would grant us the opportunity to tell it. The story is a long one.'

'I'm listening,' she said, leaning back against her desk and crossing her arms. Her face was still grim, but a shade less red. Sirius took that as a good sign.

'Thank you. Your generosity is most appreciated...'

Professor McGonagall held up a hand, interrupting him. 'Yes. That's quite enough of the airs and graces. Just tell me what happened.'

Sirius inclined his head. 'Sorry, Ma'am. As I was saying, yesterday morning, James, Peter and I attempted to wake Remus for breakfast, but he wouldn't wake up, so we decided to bring him some food back from the Great Hall. He never seems to eat, you see. We've been quite worried about him, haven't we?' Sirius nudged James and Peter on either side of him with his elbows, and they both agreed.

'Is this relevant, Mister Black?' Professor McGonagall asked, pursing her lips at what she clearly thought was time-wasting.

'Yes, Ma'am,' Sirius said, nodding. 'Anyway, when we returned, Remus had already left, so we left the food on his bedside table for him and went out to explore the castle. We wanted to find the best routes to class, you see.'

'Yes, I'm sure that's the reason,' Professor McGonagall said, her tone wry.

Sirius chose to ignore that. 'We returned to the dorm about an hour before curfew, and the food we left for Remus was still there. We judged that to mean he hadn't been back to the room all day. He seems the type to clean up that kind of thing, don't you think?'

'That would seem an accurate assessment of his personality, yes.'

'Right.' Sirius nodded firmly. 'So, it still being there worried us. But it was still an hour until curfew, so we settled down to do our homework.'

Professor McGonagall raised a sceptical eyebrow. 'Homework?'

Sirius eyes widened at her disbelieving tone. 'Yes. We spent the evening doing our homework. I'm offended that you don't believe me,' Sirius said, clutching at his chest. He was really getting into his role, and he could see James trying not to laugh out of the corner of his eye, spurring him on.

'Alright,' Professor McGonagall said, holding up both hands in surrender, 'I believe you. Please continue.'

'Yes, Ma'am. Curfew came and went, and Remus still hadn't returned. We found his continued absence alarming, especially since we hadn't seen him all day. And so, we resolved to check the hospital wing.'

Professor McGonagall sighed. 'You did not think to alert a prefect?'

Sirius slapped the heel of his hand to his forehead. 'Alas! We did not. We would have avoided this whole mess, had we only thought of that solution.'

Sirius saw McGonagall's mouth twitch, giving him the courage to continue.

'We were almost at the hospital wing when we were startled by the caretaker's cat. I must admit, we panicked. We knew Mr Filch wouldn't listen to our explanation, as you so kindly have, and so we ran and hid inside a classroom. When we heard Mr Filch coming, we scrambled for somewhere to hide and discovered a hidden passage behind the blackboard. We crawled inside and down the tunnel, but it was a dead end. We were trapped.' Sirius flung his arms into the air to emphasise the dire nature of the situation they had found themselves in.

'And so you did the only sensible thing left to you and crawled out to face your punishment,' Professor McGonagall said, arching an eyebrow again.

'I am afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you again,' Sirius said, shaking his head sadly while gazing at the floor. He looked back up at Professor McGonagall and continued, 'We were scared, you see? We stayed in the passage to wait for Mr Filch to leave, and we fell asleep.'

'I see. And this morning?'

'By the time we awoke, it was nine o'clock, and we were filthy from the passageway. We decided it'd be best to not disrupt the class by turning up half an hour late in such a state, and we returned to our dorm to shower and change. But, Professor, the food we left for Remus was still there. I don't wish to get him into any trouble, but I'm awfully worried. He must have been out all night too, and he wasn't in class.' Sirius stared up at the professor with wide, pleading eyes, begging her silently to take his concern seriously.

'Mister Lupin is in the hospital wing. I understand he is fine and will be released this evening. I'm afraid I can't discuss the details with you. Medical records are confidential.'

'But he's okay?' Sirius asked, his tone hopeful. He smiled. 'That's such a relief, thank you for telling us.'

'You're welcome. Your concern for your dorm mate's welfare is commendable. However, the three of you made a series of bad, impulsive, decisions. Which caused a lot of problems for the staff. Our entire morning was disrupted searching for you, and that must be addressed. Fifty points from each of you,' she said, looking pained. 'And detention. You may go.'

'Thank you, Ma'am,' Sirius said with another bow, 'and we are very sorry.'

'I believe you,' she said.

They left the classroom and made it halfway down the corridor before James gave in to his desire to laugh.

'Mate!' he wheezed. 'You were brilliant! She was so scary, and you just went for it. You weren't even phased!'

'Scary? Ha! You haven't seen scary until you've faced down my mother. That was nothing,' Sirius said, laughing.

-o-o-o-o-

Remus was sitting up in bed eating his lunch and enjoying the view of the Black Lake through his window when a knock sounded on the door of his hospital room.

'Come in,' he called and almost choked on his sandwich when Professor McGonagall walked in instead of Madam Pomfrey. Though, when he thought about it, Madam Pomfrey didn't knock.

'Good afternoon, Mister Lupin. How are you feeling?'

'I'm okay, thank you, Professor.'

'I'm glad to hear it. Madam Pomfrey tells me you had a good night?'

'Yes, much better than usual,' he said, feeling his face warm. He wasn't used to discussing his lycanthropy with anyone but his mum. It was embarrassing.

'That is good to hear, I hope it continues.' She conjured a chair beside his bed and sat down. 'I'm sure you're wondering why I'm here. I'm afraid we have a bit of a problem.'

Remus' heart sank into his stomach. Had they decided he was too much hassle after all?

'Don't look so worried. You're not about to be kicked out,' she said as if reading his mind. 'The problem is your dorm mates. Your disappearance last night worried them, and they went looking for you. Due to a series of poor decisions, they stayed out all night and missed their first class this morning. I've told them you were in the hospital wing all night, so you'll need to think of a reason for that because they will ask.'

Remus nodded, his mind already throwing up and dismissing potential excuses for his hospital stay.

'And from now on, make sure you give them an excuse before you leave.'

'I will. I'm sorry for causing so much trouble. I didn't think they'd care. We're not exactly friends.'

'Maybe you should give them a chance. They seem to like you,' McGonagall said with a smile.

'Maybe,' Remus said, tapping his fingers on the mattress next to him. 'Professor, while you're here, can I ask a question?'

'You may always ask questions,' she said, inclining her head.

Remus smiled his thanks. 'In the first Transfiguration lesson, you said our magical cores work like an immune system. I wondered if that meant mine would have less power available because it's constantly fighting the lycanthropy?'

Professor McGonagall smiled. 'Actually, I think the opposite will be true. Your magical core has been regularly exercised fighting the lycanthropy for several years. I'd not be surprised to find you were much more powerful than your peers.'

Remus grinned. 'Really?'

'Yes,' Professor McGonagall said, nodding, 'but don't go testing that theory on seventh-year spells. We don't want any accidents.'

Remus shook his head. 'No, Professor.'

'Good boy. Right, I'll leave you to rest now.' She stood up and vanished her chair before leaving Remus alone in the hospital room.

Remus lay in bed thinking over what he'd been told. He was worried about having to make excuses to his dorm-mates every month. Wouldn't that just draw more attention to his absences? If he varied his excuses, though, it might help. Sometimes he could be sick, sometimes a family member. His mum would be best. She was a muggle, so he could say she had some muggle illness that involved flare-ups of some kind. Then there could be an occasional death in the family, or big event he had to attend. No one knew he didn't have contact with any family except his parents.

Another option tried to make itself heard. It had been there for a while now, hidden behind a locked door in his mind. But it was becoming more insistent, rattling the door on its hinges and begging to be released. He let it out to examine it properly. The option of becoming their friend.

They definitely wanted to be his friend. He was sure of that now. And he wanted it too, so that was the first obstacle out of the way. The second obstacle, his lycanthropy, was much harder to overcome. He had never needed to make such an important decision before, and he wasn't sure how to go about it. This was too important to leave to gut instinct or emotion. It needed a more intellectual approach. Notes or graphs, some way to organise his thoughts. He got out of bed and grabbed some parchment and a quill from his bag, and a textbook to rest against.

Comfortably propped up, he rested the textbook with parchment against his bent knees and drew a line down the centre to make two columns. He labelled them "pros and cons of befriending my dorm-mates" and settled down to think it through.

He spent over an hour on his list, thinking hard about every aspect of the situation. When he was finished, he had several points in both columns, and he looked them over and weighted each one on a scale of 1: unimportant - 5: very important.

Pros

Having friends would be nice - 2

They seem fun - 1

Sirius would be less suspicious of me - 5

If they did find out, they might be okay with it - 5

I stand out more if I'm always alone - 4

Cons

They would take more notice of when I'm gone - 5

Less chance of them finding out if we're not friends - 5

Would be a distraction from schoolwork - 3

He added up the totals and was happy to find that the pros won. His face broke out in a stupid smile, and his stomach churned with excitement. He'd never had a actual friend before, and he was about to have three.

-o-o-o-o-

'Good Afternoon and welcome to your first Charms class. My name is Professor Flitwick.'

The tiny professor stood atop a stack of books in order to be seen by those at the back of the classroom, and Sirius was struggling to hold back his laughter at the sight.

'Today, you will be learning one of the easiest charms to master, the wand lighting charm. The reason it's so easy is that there's no wand movement, just an incantation. Lumos.' Professor Flitwick held his wand aloft so everyone could see the bright yellow glow at the tip.

James bent close to Sirius' ear. 'Now that would have been useful last night,' he whispered.

'I'm sure it'll be just as useful in future excursions,' Sirius whispered back, grinning.

James returned his grin. 'Undoubtedly.'

The class practised the spell, and its counter, Nox, until everyone had them mastered, which didn't take very long, and then Professor Flitwick led them into a practice area behind his classroom, telling them to split into teams of three.

The practice area was clearly enchanted to fit inside the space. It was enormous.

'For this lesson, I've created several courses, each one an identical maze. Inside the mazes, the pathways are blocked by doors, which can only be opened by shining wand light onto the runes etched on them. Your task is to navigate the maze, collecting the three tokens contained within.' He held up a golden-coloured disk. 'You will only be able to open one door at a time, and to close each door, you must Nox your wand. The team that returns first will receive twenty house points to each member. Please choose a maze and prepare to begin.'

Once the teams had all moved to an entrance, Professor Flitwick counted them in and the race began.

Sirius' team were not the first to finish, which was a shame. The points would have gone a long way towards restoring what they'd lost over the past few days.

'Who cares about house points?' James said when Sirius mentioned that fact. 'They're just a way to make students pressure each other into following rules. Meaningless, really.'

Sirius thought about it and had to agree. That epiphany went a long way towards easing his guilt about losing Gryffindor so many points.

Defence Against the Dark Arts, the final lesson of the day, was spectacular. Shortly after the class began, Professor Hawthorne announced they would be studying acromantula, and Emhio shifted into one. The sudden appearance of a giant spider in the classroom caused half the class, including Peter, to leap from their seats squealing and dash to the back of the room. The remaining students dissolved into fits of laughter at their reaction.

Once Professor Hawthorne had managed to calm them down and restore order to the classroom, they examined the creature up close and discussed the best ways to attack to get through its defences and survive an encounter. Its most vulnerable point was the underside of its abdomen, and the best tactic was to wait for it to rear up to attack and then fire a slashing or burning spell at its belly.

Overall Sirius found the lesson interesting; Peter did not agree.

'That was horrifying. I'm going to have terrible nightmares tonight,' he said as they left the class, still shaking with nerves.

'Don't worry, mate, we'll keep the acromantula out of the dorm,' Sirius said with a laugh.

-o-o-o-o-

Remus had been released from the hospital wing an hour earlier and, feeling energised from Madam Pomfrey's incredible nutrition potion, had gone straight to an unused classroom to practise his transfiguration. He stood in the room, staring proudly at the fruits of his labour after succeeding in transfiguring all of his school books different colours by using his bag as the container. He repeated the process to revert them to their original state and packed away to return to the dorm.

Remus was looking forward to seeing his dorm mates after making the decision to befriend them, and he was in high spirits from his success when he reached the room they all shared. Sirius was lounging on his bed, and James and Peter were sitting together on Peter's bed. It looked like James was helping Peter with a spell.

'You're back!' Sirius yelled, jumping to his feet and rushing over so fast that Remus took a step backwards. He stopped dead inches away from him. 'Hey, it's okay. I'm not going to touch you,' Sirius said, holding up his hands. 'Are you okay? McGoogles said you were in the hospital wing.'

'Yeah, I'm fine,' Remus said. Then he frowned. 'Wait. McGoogles?'

James and Peter both laughed at his confusion. 'That's Sirius' new nickname for McGonagall. Apparently, he's going to marry her,' James said.

Sirius nodded with enthusiasm. It made him look a little insane.

'So what was wrong with you then? McGonagall wouldn't tell us,' Peter asked.

'Was it an overdose?' Sirius blurted.

Remus was shocked and reacted instinctively in defence. 'What? No! Why the hell would you think that?'

'Um. Well. When we found you in that classroom, you were flat out in that chair and there was an empty potion bottle...'

'So you jumped to the conclusion that I'm a potion addict?' Remus interrupted.

Realising just how observant Sirius was frightened him. He noticed tiny details that others would overlook and put them together to create a picture. On this occasion, he was way off the mark, but how long would it be before he connected the right clues and reached the right answer? His fear fed off his desire for friendship and turned to anger.

'Fuck you, Black.'

He stomped over to his bed and pulled the curtains around himself. All his positive feelings had evaporated. There was nothing left but rage, and he had no outlet for it. It wasn't fair that he had to be so careful. Fucking hell, it wasn't fair that he was a werewolf in the first place and had to suffer such horrendous pain every month, but the fact that on top of everything he couldn't even risk having a friend? It was more than unfair; it was downright cruel.

He took a deep breath to try to calm himself, but he kept hearing Sirius' voice in his head asking, "Was it an overdose?" and he wanted to scream. In the back of his mind, he knew he needed to calm down. He couldn't release his fury the way he had at home, couldn't let them see the Beast inside.

It was easy to slip into a meditative state in the end. The months of practising paid off, and his mindscape opened to him swiftly and pulled him in. He lost track of time as he explored the rooms and corridors, easing his rage back inside its prison and locking it away to protect himself before eventually falling into a peaceful slumber.

Chapter 11

[zephyr-94]

barista!jaemin

inspired by the one and only, puff live!

a/n: this is my first ever fic omg pls spare me with my low writing skills cause ive literally never done this fjskdjdhjdks okay i just love na jaemin periodt. (after writing: ITS VERY JUMPY AND LENGTHY I DIDNT PLAN TO MAKE IT LIKE THIS DJSKJSJSS)

so like your aunt owns a cafe which is in the middle of the city

and you live a lil outside just cause you know, school n shit

you visit her so often cause its a small cafe and it calms you down whenyou need a short break from everything

its weird thats its in the middle of the city but its still calming right?

well okay so like you know those small streets down the neighbourhoods?

the ones you dont really go unless you are rlly feeling adventurous n shit, your aunt’s cafe is in one of those streets

okay longass context down

and at school, you are in a photography club,,, or technically you just learn photography from your teacher after school but its not a whole club extravaganza

just cause your school kinda demands an extra curricular after the first year

but it feels really suffocating to be forced to do smth as a group/with people you arent as familiar with,,,,

so you “signed up” for the smallest club: [photography theory]

it was about time you start doing your hobby-ish thing at school and the tutor was cool with you being practically the only student in the club lmao so everything was going well but

youve never rlly done anything big yourself and your school friends havent pushed you to do smth either

so you were kind of looking to at least take part in one out-of-class project initiated by students maybe

and theres this big school newspaper club/writers’ club,,,, and you find out that they are like !! photographers & stories wanted !!

and you ?? at first but apparently its a project where like students get to submit their fav pic & write a mini article about “your place of comfort”

cause the topic of the month is mental health/dealing with stress and the newspaper club wants a students’ view on it, instead of just “meditation” as a topic

then you just have that cafe in your mind like,,, how you would love to shoot the street light shining into the cafe from afar and how calm that place makes you feel,,,

basically you just love your auntie’s cafe lmao

so then you go on about maybe joining it,,, but then you be indecisive cause youve never actually taken a photo professionally you just have a prolonging passion for it,,,

and your teacher is like “y/n idk why you are contemplating no ones gonna judge you just try smth new, go take the chance if you are feeling like it”

we love a supportive johnny, oh yes your english teacher is your photography “club” tutor,,, self proclaimed club

actually there have been many opportunities in the past with taking photos for projects like this one but you just stayed away cause it didnt “motivate” you to take photos for it

so johnny’s words kinda pushed your back n you felt like this was the right thing :))

so then you visit your auntie on the weekends asking maybe if you can take pics & ask her a couple questions about this place

and shes like ofc!! wanna see how you capture this place :))

so then you do this whole process and you submit the article & photos,,,,,

which ends up getting a whole page???

and you are like wh a t

newspaper club: oh you submitted many such pretty pictures & your comment felt very genuine

and you :)) but damn a whole page,,,, you is a lil anxious djskdjdh now the entire schools now going to know you

johnny the hype man teacher: see i told you it was going to turn out nice

and then kaboom, your article lowkey blows up lmao

your auntie is calling you up like “y/n!! so many customers came today!! and a lot of them are wearing the same uniform as you, they must be the students from your school!!”

and shes so happy so you are happy af

but then you remember like,,,, shes never had a part timer,,,,,

and she continues to manage the place by herself after it gets popular among the students,,,,

?? auntie,,, you never take a break ??

shes like maybe ill think about hiring someone?? and you are like, that would be good for you :)) i will be less worried about your health!!

whoop guess who got hired

and after youve had that^ conv, you had constant classes n group projects n shit so you literally had no time,,,

two weeks later, kinda highkey stressed

you decide to go make a quick visit to auntie before going to the library to study

and you peek,,, to see not your auntie,,,,

but a boy?? 

just standing behind the counter,,, no auntie to be seen but a beautiful boy???

before the opening hours,,,, he?? must be the part timer,,,

and once he notices you by the door,

he just smiles at you,,, so brightly,,,,

wow youve never seen such a pretty face,,,

you actually like forget to open the door you are just staring from outside the cafe,,,,

and he just waves,,, and you snap back to reality like oh shit did i just stare at someone for a solid minute

welp that was embarrassing djkdjdfj

he opens the door for you and goes “hey you must be y/n :))”

“the only person who comes before 9am, thats you isnt it?”

and you just ?¿ confusion??¿

“auntie told me about it :)) hi, nice to meet you, im jaemin!!”

you are still confused but you just shake hands next to the counter,,,

and as you take a seat

jaemin just makes a smol run to the other side and hes like

“you came just in time, i want you to try my latte!!”

jaemin serves a cup of latte with a leaf art

this boy just served a latte first thing after shaking hands i-

you take a sip from the cup

and you are like,,, so auntie hired an experienced boy,,,,

“its really good,,,” it has the same comforting taste you always love

and jaemin just has the biggest smile :)))) you know his smile where the ends just curl in, yes that one

him beaming like that just makes you giggly inside,,,,

you ask him “so uh um im guessing you are the part timer??”

“yes!! i didnt introduce myself properly did i! i started working here two weeks ago :))

ive been coming here for quite a while now so im happy i got the chance!!”

and you ?¿ “ive never seen you here??” you are the most frequent customer youve gotta have seen him before fjsksj

hes like “oh um i always came at 9pm on a friday, after everyone leaves and the whole neighbourhood gets quiet”

you just :o

and come to think of it, you’ve never visited here on a friday night,, cause you know, friday evening is your im not doing anything tonight kinda me time lmao

inside you are kinda happy that someone who knows this place got hired like its a special place to you so

tbh you were kinda anxious even though you trust your aunt,,,,,

and jaemin hurriedly goes “oh and also auntie is taking a break today, shes out to the market so im gonna take over until she returns in the afternoon”

djskdj auntie why didnt she tell you lmao

“im sorry if you needed anything specific from her,,, you should stay for a while until she comes back maybe?”

and you are like,,, “oh that would be great,,, but unfortunately i have to go to the library,,,,”

jaemin: ): he pout

“im so glad you came today tho!! i wanted to see you :) auntie has told so many thing about you”

“wait,, what has she told you,, omg”

apparently shes told jaemin

a) reason why this cafe recently became a popular hideout cafe for students because you wrote a school article bout it

b) that you do photography

c) and that this cafe is your break time so you never study here and auntie loves listening to you talk about school n what not

and then you are like !!

“wait so then you dont go to our school ,,,um are you also a student?”

and you panic a little cause i mean you just met him but you literally know nothing and you mightve assumed things fjsksj

and jaemin tells you “ah yes i go to a hospitality school downtown” “ohh”

and from there he just starts talking about his school and what he studies

he asks you about school but jaemin is extra excited about his hospitality course hes all !! :))!!

and you are so hooked on jaemin talking about his school you forget an hour passes by,,,,

[time to open the cafe]

then the customers start coming in

and you are like “oh sorry ive just bothered you during the preparation time,,,,, it was nice meeting you!! gotta go now :))”

and you rush out cause all you planned to do was give your auntie a little visit

also you dont want to bother jaemin cause its hes gonna handle the place alone for a couple hours

you wave a smol see you soon and

jaemin just does a little chuckle,, and hes like waving so widely fjsksj does he know other people can see him

and thats how your first day with jaemin went

later that day you return home thinking like,,, did you just get so excited to converse with someone who you juSt met,,,

na jaemin’s power

and jaemin on the other hand, is thinking about how beautiful you looked today

just that short while but it made him so happy

hes thinking about you all week uwu

so next week you visit again, expecting to see your auntie

and maybe also that gleaming boy

peeking through before the opening hours

the moment jaemin realises you hes like “y/n!!” what a shining boy

and aunties like “oh y/n right you met him last week when i was out right”

that morning you just talk to auntie about what shes been missing on after you went on a busy week

mind that jaemin is literally just listening to you & auntie talk

and he enjoys it cause you talk so comfortably in front of her :))

you decide to stay the whole day to give yourself a break

which meant you moved to your usual spot by the window

and auntie serving you (free) vanilla latte

you take out your camera and just start adjusting the lenses, trying to find the right frame

customers come and go so you dont get to talk to jaemin a lot that day

but its not like you came here for him,,,, right?¿??¿??

while you were thinking all that

jaemin was asking about you all day like

“so y/n’s favourite is vanilla?”

“does y/n prefer a latte over cappuccino?”

“i want to serve y/n something,,,, what would be the best??”

auntie: how many times did he mention y/n today omg

and as auntie answers

jaemin is thinking like

i wanna see y/n smile

and the entire day your auntie is like !!he :)))))

lmao same auntie same

so when the peak hours finish she goes

“i can take care of everything now, go talk to y/n”

and jaemin just smiles brighter than ever

so when he comes around, you startle

but it puts a smile on your face

because hes brought your favourite cake and just a smiling jaemin in front of you uwu

you both get to know more about each other like

how theres this two boys named chenle & jisung in the preparatory course whom he adores to death

or like

theres this jeno boy whose jokes suck jeno i love you

with a bonus of

you talking about how johnny’s english class is nothing but a comedian’s lesson

so that day went great

and now that you are comfortable

you visit the cafe to talk with jaemin more

even when you have a chill no stress week

it just makes you feel lighter by coming to the cafe now

and your auntie is hella happy that you two are getting along so well

it continues for weeks

just you and jaemin talking from time to time when the peak hours are over or before the cafe opens

you became best pals basically

he encouraged you to join more school projects cause hes sure your photography is worth the chance

you giving him daily support when he feels like he isnt doing the best for his course

sometimes when your aunt had to leave for a couple hours near closing time

you two just stayed there talking for a couple hours giving comfort to each other

late night lattes and cakes

also one time you got so excited from the bestest grades you got you might have hugged him without thinking oops

and one day, jaemin’s friend renjun is there when you come after school

and hes like “hi uh dont mind me im just here a bit because jaemin has to go somewhere after this and i dont want him to be late”

so you just,,, chill as jaemin kinda rushes

and when he goes to the storage room, you just see renjun getting along with the auntie lmao

auntie: “so i got offered this contract with the new type of beans? and idk if i should take it because that would mean i have to go out of the city,,,,”

renjun: “for how long?”

auntie: “two weeks maybe”

renjun: “oh thats fine, dont worry about it. jaemin can take over that. next two weeks right? his mandatory work experience ends this week”

so thats how renjun signed jaemin up to work alone for auntie without his consent

and aunties like “y/n!! it would be so much for just jaemin, you should help him :) your break starts next week right?”

so you also got signed up to this thing

fast forward to first day of break

aka the first time you “work” there

you are nervous and jaemin can feel it

“dont worry y/n, ill do all the talking and coffee, you just have to serve & clean!!”

so you try to calm down a bit

not to mention that you are also nervous cause its only jaemin and you in the room

but then he sees you fumbling with tying the apron and

jaemin says “here, give it, ill do it for you” while smiling a little

and from the back he wraps the apron around your waist,,,

and hes so close to you,,, your heart is fluttering

okay heart stop beating so fast pls thank you

and little do you know,,, jaemin is flushing a bit behind your back,,,

you are both the cutest mess

and you break the silence with a smol

“thanks :))”

trying to contain yourself from screaming

adapting to the serving side & keeping youself busy

you dont realise jaemin is literally admiring you the entire time as you get used to the job,,,,

here and then you forget how close you might be standing next to jaemin,,,

you kinda also realise how rEALLY attractive he looks serving everyone with a huge smile 24/7

and the way some customers are obviously attracted to him,,,,

but what you dont know is he is literally taking this chance to highkey flirt with you lmao

waves (sometimes winks) across the room

causally hovers over you when you cant find/reach smth

beaming the biggest smile every minute he gets to himself

and at first you panicked like ?!????

cause was this jaemin boy holding back for a whole month

is this his nature yes

but it makes you so happy to see him smiling all the time beside you

so jaemin yes its working

you gotta admit tho his flirty-ish behaviour grew on you this entire week djskjssj

a week of giggly smiles uwu

but the week after was unexpectedly the busiest of the busiest

you two forgot national holidays collided with the weekends and for some, it was a week off,,,,,,

so the week rushes by so quickly compared to the last one

it kind saved you tho cause your heart cant take more of that flirty behaviour

and finally,

the peak days are over,,,

and you realise its been a while since the cafe was just you,,,, and well jaemin but just no customers

the silence with faint sounds of cups cluttering,,,, you missed it

so then you go sit on the high chair

just admiring jaemin organise the shelves

he starts to prepare a new cup of coffee then realises you smiling at him “were you in awe at how effortless i look right now??”

you chuckle at his remark,,,

(needless to say that your are chuckling to hide how your heart is melting at his smirky smile)

so you twirl a bit shyly,, and avert the gaze to the familiar wood of the counter

asking him “do you remember the day we first saw each other, me sitting here and you serving the latte?”

“ofc, its the day i met an angel”

oh so confidently na jaemin really just said that

you quickly look up at him like !!!?!???!

and thats how he earned a first kiss (or rather a peck) from you

leaning over the counter and pecking you, a whole blushy mess

then comes a clink by the door

you juMp,,,,,,,

oof the customer may or may not have seen you two

you both rush around flushed like a tomato lmao

spending the rest of the day like nothing happened oops

and after the day ends, you two close the cafe

as you starting walking you are caught off guard when

jaemin just takes your hand,,,

“look y/n!! the stars are so pretty!!”

and starts swinging your arm like a tall child,,,

your heart is skippingnsjsjsjs

then at the corner, jaemin turns around and goes

“this is actually the place i first saw you”

and you ??¿?¿¿

“i saw you taking the photo of this night light shining into the cafe”

still hand in hand, jaemin steps a little closer

and takes his free hand to cup your face, kissing you,,,,

you smile into him as he kisses so softly, thinking

maybe the day i took that photo was a friday night

and melting into the kiss, you really think you are dreaming,,,,,

under the lights you once wished capturing a sparkling moment with the cafe in the back

its now you and jaemin in the frame,,,,

the boy who had you forgetting to breathe a month ago

whos now serving your favourite latte with a bonus of pecks on the cheek,,,,, (maybe on the lips if theres no one watching)

anyways

jaemin brings light to your life and you have never been this happy until you met him uwu

and it goes both ways, jaemin cant live without you now,,,, you are the best thing thats ever happened to him

(thank the heavens & your auntie)

oh and also johnny for pushing you to submit that article lmao plus huang renjun for that involuntary sign up