#not only is he getting a good grade in the silly question but his best friend is the human embodiment of bugs bunny (flower) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kbandtrash · 4 months

Text

Less Than Three (Hongjoong x Reader)

~Rachel~

@sorryimananti-romantic hahaha remember how I said I was the slowest writer ever? Apparently that's not true because it only took me a month and a half to write this. I need help

Content: fluff, a whole lot of delusional one-sided pining (the cute kind though) (from him), silly middle school antics from both teachers and students, betting, friends to lovers

Summary: Kim Hongjoong teaches middle school math and finds himself absolutely smitten with you, the math department's newest hire. You're the last person to find out.

Note: This is set in an American-style middle school because that's where my teaching experiences have been and I figured my best work would come out of the system I'm most familiar with

Word Count: 11.5k

Why did Hongjoong choose middle school?

He asks himself this question every day as well

If he wanted to be a math teacher, high school was clearly a better option

But no he had started out in a middle school, promising to take a high school position as soon as one opened up

And now he was actively avoiding high school principals that wanted to recruit him

Is it because he found out the math is easier to explain and the kids really aren’t that bad?

Yeah sure

But this year he had another reason to stay

See his math department had a position open up this summer and as he got to take part in interviews to select a new hire

He fell in love

Now that was not the whole reason he advocated to hire you

In fact your credentials as a math teacher

The places you had taught before

Your praxis exam scores

Your recommendation letters

The professional development programs you were a part of

Test scores from your previous classes

The way you understood math

And especially the way you believed that every student had the potential to pass your class

All of these made you the obvious choice and everyone else agreed

But he was struck several times with Cupid’s arrows throughout the interview and that absolutely did not hurt his opinion of you as a potential colleague

On this particular morning his excuse to talk to you before classes started for the day was a test for your 7th graders

Which they would be taking next Friday

Your feedback always ended up being valuable anyway so there was no need for this to be an “excuse” but it got to be one anyway

You were typing something up when he knocked on the open door to your classroom to announce his presence

You finished typing your sentence before you looked up, and when you saw Hongjoong leaning against the door frame with some papers in his hand, you greeted him with a smile and a wave

He wondered if it would look unprofessional if he grew out his hair to cover his ears

You looked gorgeous today (every day) and he knew there was no stopping his ears from turning bright red

“I have the unit tests for 7th,” he said, stealing a chair from a desk to sit backwards on while he talked to you

“Oh good!” you replied. “I’ll take a look at those and get them back to you by lunch”

Buy lunch he thought

That sounded like an excellent idea

He should buy you lunch

He didn’t say that though

“Works for me. How was your weekend?”

And he stalled and stalled and stalled until the first bell rang and he had to get out to hall duty

At lunch he walked in again while you were putting in assignment scores and munching on some pretzel sticks

“I made a key for that new assignment we decided to add for 8th grade. Can you check answers if you get the time?”

His heart did a little flip as you covered your mouth with your hand while you finished chewing

How could you be so graceful and polite?

And your hands were so pretty wow

“Yes just as soon as I finish putting these in. And—” you turned your chair around and grabbed something from behind you— “here are the 7th tests from this morning. I added a couple notes on the integer operations review questions, but other than that, I think they’re great”

He unfortunately did need to go and eat his own lunch and fulfill other teacherly lunchtime duties so he couldn’t stall as much as this morning

But he read your notes on the way back to his classroom

And boy he could have lived in your handwriting

The pen that you used was the perfect instrument to capture every letter, every dot, every loop in a way that encapsulated your personality

And as soon as he caught himself thinking that he knew he needed to ask the home ec teacher to smack him over the head with a frying pan because wowie

He would need professional help in order to date you like a normal person at this point

Anyway he was practically skipping back after lunch because he came up with another question to ask you

There were students there so instead of using your first name he caught your attention by calling you Miss (L/N)

Which for some reason gives him more butterflies than calling you normally

This time luckily instead of giving you a new task it was a task he could do for you

“How many copies of the activity page should I put you down for?”

“Ooh good question”

You put your finger over your lips as you counted on your other hand and he had to actively look away and think about other things

There were students present after all

“Which classes are you doing it with?” you ended up asking

He used the opportunity to set a hand down on your desk and lean forward in a cool pose

“I’m making the eighth graders do it but it’s extra credit for the seventh”

“That sounds like a good plan to me. So sixty for the eighth graders and then how many do you think I would need if it’s optional?”

Oh boy he loved it when you asked for advice

It gave him the chance to look cool and smart and he always got to play it off as the humble senior teacher

“I do half just to be safe. Plus then you have extra if you want to do it again later in the year or even next year”

And then your face did that thing it did when you liked a suggestion he gave

Your face lit up with your eyebrows raised and your mouth in a little “ooh”

There were students around there were students around

“Okay then sixty for the eighth graders and forty-five for seventh. A hundred and five?”

He scribbled the number down on the copy request form

“Excellent. I’ll run this down then”

He gave you a smile and a wave as he went to attend to his own class

Which you returned

And he was sure his heart would never physically recover from the stress it was under this year

You didn’t need to know that you were the only other teacher he was sharing this particular activity page with

He would give it to the other teachers if they asked him for it but he wasn’t going to go out of his way for this one because it was kind of silly and short

But he would do anything to make your first year at a new school just a little bit easier

Back in his classroom he tried to get class started when one of his eighth graders had the audacity to raise his hand and say the following:

“You just walked back from Miss (L/N)’s class huh?”

Mr. Kim squinted suspiciously at the student

“Yeah…why”

“You’re way nicer when you go to her class before our class starts”

Before he had any time to figure out what that meant, the class exploded in giggles and shouts of agreement

“Yeah you smile a lot more this year than you did last year” a girl who had had his class the previous year as well agreed

And then from the back corner

One of the notorious trouble makers stood up

Pointed his finger up at poor Mr. Kim, who was now considering taking a high school position again

And shouted “Mr. Kim has a crush on Miss (L/N)!!!”

There was no longer any hope for this class

Exponent rules? Down the drain

Hongjoong was now a laughingstock

Irredeemable in front of a bunch of 13-14 year olds

So he stood with his hands clasped behind his back, lips pursed, and his eyes dangerously blank

It wasn’t long before kids started shushing each other

Even once they were quiet, he held their attention for a second longer

“If you have two to the fourth times two to the third, what’s the product?” he asked clearly, writing the problem on the whiteboard in new black marker

Not addressing the issue would not stem the tide of curious teenagers for long but it would have to be a band-aid solution until he figured out how to do this properly

Because he couldn’t allow rumors to spread that he liked you because firstly unprofessional and secondly what if you heard them and thought he was weird

But he couldn’t lie and allow rumors to spread that he definitely didn’t have a crush on you because firstly. unprofessional kids don’t need to know about that stuff

Like they think they’re all mature and old enough to date when they can’t even drive yet like can you imagine as a teenager asking your mom to drive you to your date with your girlfriend. Embarrassing

BUT SECONDLY

What if you heard the rumors and maybe you did like him back and it crushed your heart to hear that he didn’t like you

While the kids were working on their assignment and he was working on his computer he decided the best way to explain this to them

If they ever brought it up again

Was that they’re always in a better mood when they get to talk to their friends, right?

You’re a good friend and it’s fun working with you

The other math teachers are fun too but you’re close to his age so it makes sense that you would be closer

Yep

Good explanation Mr. Kim

Literally just one day later the kids bring it up again and they do not buy his explanation

They don’t even pretend to because their brains are not developed enough to have that kind of social tact

And the rumor doesn’t exactly spread like wildfire around the school but everyone knows about it you know what I mean

Except you actually

You’re usually very aware of everything going on in your classroom but somehow this particular subject escaped your attention

You learned early on that for some reason kids don’t have shame anymore in spilling their guts to the classroom about what they’re gossiping about

So the usual “if you can’t wait to tell your friend later then tell the whole class now” classroom management tactic is now useless

So you didn’t do that instead you just asked them which problem they’re helping their friend with and if they’re not helping their friend with math then they should get back on task

You didn’t think that any middle school level gossip could actually be that interesting anyway so yeah you had no idea that kids were shipping the teachers

And you didn’t want to know

So you stayed blissfully ignorant

While Hongjoong was lowkey agonizing over it

Now you and Hongjoong tend to eat lunch in your own classrooms rather than the staff lounge

Because why use up any more social energy than necessary right

But there is a vending machine in the staff room and Hongjoong was craving something sweet one day

And when he walked in the other teachers in there suddenly went awkwardly silent

And he knew

They were talking about him

Yeah he should take a high school position next year

Two of the younger teachers, Jung Wooyoung from the history department and Choi San from the phys ed department, broke the silence giggling to each other

“Sorry Hongjoong” San apologized “the kids are just hilarious these days. They’re so excited about you and (Y/N) it’s adorable”

Hongjoong gave them a look

“Adorable?”

“Well firstly you” Wooyoung pointed out “I never thought I’d see you fall head over heels but I totally get it. She’s super cool”

“And secondly the kids” San continued “any time you guys are talking in the hall I have all of the girls talking about it during warm ups. The boys all think of you as their role model when it comes to liking a girl”

“That reminds me!” Wooyoung interrupted “I actually did have a boy confess to a girl in my class the other day and you wanna know what he told her??”

Hongjoong’s eyebrows furrowed in a glare, absolutely sure that his reputation was never going to recover

“He said ‘I like you more than Mr. Kim likes Miss (L/N)’”

The teachers tried to tone down their laughter out of respect

Hongjoong wanted to leave immediately but this stupid vending machine was having issues

“And then you know what she said back?”

Wooyoung was having trouble holding himself together

His eyes were shining a little with tears of laughter

“She said ‘That’s impossible. No one can like anyone more than Mr. Kim likes Miss (L/N)’”

The other teachers could not hold it back anymore

The vending machine finally gave Hongjoong his candy bar

(Plus the extra one he bought for you)

So he made his way swiftly back towards the door

“Oh no no wait” Wooyoung called after him

“Tests to grade” Hongjoong lied simply

“No come on you have to hear this”

Hongjoong stopped at the door, fighting the urge to classroom manage his coworkers

He looked back both unimpressed and expectant at the same time

“Okay everyone raise your hands if you betted on before Christmas break” Wooyoung called out

Some of the teachers looked at him like he had just asked out a widow at her husband’s funeral

But they raised their hands sheepishly anyway

“Great yes and after Christmas break?”

The other half raised their hands, most of them looking like they wished that had eaten lunch in their own classrooms

“These are bets on when you’re going to ask her out” Wooyoung explained cheerfully

“Wasn’t someone also trying to get bets going on whether you would confess first or she would notice first?” San asked

“That was also me” Wooyoung said with a grin

The lounge door opened again and in walked the principal and one of the vice principals

Hongjoong thought this was finally the end to this stupid conversation

But no

“Oh Hongjoong!” the principal greeted him with a pat on the arm “I’ve got $50 on you dating before Christmas. Don’t let me down”

Waiting until the end of the school year to take a new position would simply not be soon enough

Hongjoong needed to find a new job or retire within the month

But then on the way back to his classroom he remembered he had an extra candy bar for you

So he made a detour

But what greeted him was a closed door with the window on the door covered

He hadn’t ever seen your door shut like this before so he wasn’t sure what it meant exactly

Maybe you went out to lunch today?

Then he could just nab one of your sticky notes and leave the candy bar on your desk with a positive message

He would rather give it to you himself, but the idea of you finding the candy bar on your desk later made his chest feel all warm and cozy so it was fine

Your door was unlocked, so he pulled it open just enough so he could see inside

And you were in there actually

Slumped in your desk chair with your head in your hands

Oh no

Hongjoong had been there before

Every teacher had been there before

The work of a teacher isn’t as easy as most people would like to believe

Especially for middle school, and even more so for math, it takes someone with unending patience and courage to help kids learn every day

And some days that patience and courage runs a little thinner than other days

Even experienced teachers wonder from time to time if it’s worth the soul that they give to their classes

The classes that seem sometimes not to notice one way or the other if you’re teaching or not

You hadn’t noticed that you weren’t quite alone anymore, so that left Hongjoong with a choice to make

Did he let you have this moment to yourself?

Or did he try to help you through it?

He closed the door as softly as he could

And then he gave a little knock to give you some privacy and some time to gather yourself

Then he opened the door and stepped halfway through

“The vending machine spat out two candy bars instead of one” he lied with a grin, holding up the extra candy bar and wiggling it between his fingers

You had sat up and were resting your chin on your hand curiously

But there was definitely a downtrodden aura about you that he couldn’t miss

“That’s pretty lucky,” you replied

He took that as permission to enter and on his way to your desk he snagged his usual chair to sit backwards on

“How’s today going so far?” he asked as if he knew nothing, setting the candy bar down on top of your closed computer

“Oh, you know,” you sighed

He chuckled, opening his candy bar, not making eye contact with you to relieve some pressure for you to keep up an act

“That good, huh?”

You laughed in return

“Just got my butt kicked by a bunch of seventh graders, so yeah, it’s kind of whatever right now”

Ah the teacher equivalent of “I want to quit my job and hide in my bed for the rest of my life”

“Oh, yep, I’ve been there more than once” he said with a nod “and sometimes there’s really nothing you could have done better, you know? Kids are just like that sometimes. It makes me glad I’m not an elementary school teacher”

“Oh my word yes” you agreed, finally picking up the candy bar “at least I can kick these gremlins out after 45 minutes and I don’t have to see them again until the next day. I can’t imagine being with the same class all day”

Did Hongjoong end up squandering his entire eating time just to talk with you and make sure you felt better?

Yes

He would have to sneak bites of his sandwich in between activities during his afternoon classes

But like it wasn’t the first time he’d had to do that and heaven knew it wouldn’t be the last

At least he had a good reason today instead of something stupid like he was lost in the test grading sauce and forgot to eat

He proceeded to get his butt kicked by his afternoon classes because he couldn’t wipe his lovefool smile off his face

But it was okay because once again it wasn’t the first time and heaven knew it wouldn’t be the last

Not long after came the hallowed and hated teacher inservice day

Professional development day

Both a huge waste of time and a relaxing little work day

The administrators usually planned a series of workshops for the morning that all looked. well. kind of stupid but it was all planned with good intention

Then it was lunch time

And then after that you had until the end of contract hours to do whatever pretty much

The math department liked to go to lunch together and then have a really productive planning meeting until people got bored and then it was individual prep time pretty much

Mostly it was just kinda nice to be at school without kids there

This year was no exception to all of this

But Mr. Principal had $50 on the line and decided to play matchmaker about it

For each of the workshops the teachers were split into groups

And you and Hongjoong had been placed together every single time

Somehow you genuinely thought it was just good luck

Hongjoong was hyperaware of every other teacher looking and pointing and giggling and you were so peacefully oblivious to it

The first workshop was about medical emergency training, specifically training teachers in case of allergy or diabetic emergencies

As soon as the nurse finished with the epipen instructions you leaned over to Hongjoong and whispered “like this?”

And stabbed him with the fake epipen right in the thigh

Hongjoong swore he was going to die right then and there because why was that so attractive???

“Four…five…six…seven…eight…” you counted out, holding the epipen in place for the full ten seconds

And like a good patient he sat like a statue because his circuits were absolutely fried

You glanced up at his face and your expression immediately dropped

You checked the epipen all over to make sure it was just a trainer

(It was)

“Hongjoong are you okay?? Your face is all red did I do something wrong?” you worried

He unfroze and tried to undo the damage of his Little Moment but the nurse was already over at the table taking a closer look at him after dismissing the rest of the teachers to practice

She looked at you and then at Hongjoong and then at you again and back at Hongjoong and a funny look of understanding came over her face

“Are you Mr. Kim the math teacher” she asked

He nodded awkwardly

“And are you Miss (L/N) the math teacher” she asked

“Yes?” you answered

She patted Hongjoong on the shoulder

“He’ll be fine in a minute or so” she reassured you, glancing up and away somewhere else

You both followed her gaze over to the principal, who gave her a bright smile and a thumbs up

Which looked innocuous enough to the untrained eye

But to Hongjoong this was just another in a long list of embarrassments

The principal had told the guest workshop speakers about him

And he had been spotted that easily

After that was administration-provided snack time

Hongjoong offered to grab sodas if you would grab chips and stuff

And at the soda table he was greeted by Wooyoung and San, who called him affectionately Mr. Traffic Light

Hongjoong resisted the urge to react publicly

Even though there were no children around he refused to allow himself to be caught cursing them out

But he brainstormed violently about the ways he could get back at them without getting caught

Truly his middle school teacher powers of ignoring were activated because those two were practically dancing around him trading one-liner after one-liner and Hongjoong paid them no mind

Until he realized they were following him back to the table where he was sitting with you

He did not need them teasing him around you so he tried to shoo them off

But Wooyoung gleefully turned his attention up to the projector screen where the groupings for the next workshop were displayed

Truly your presence was the only saving grace this day had to offer

They were in this group with you two

The computer teacher/school tech support guy was leading this workshop and he was showcasing how one might use ai in their classroom

And all four of you were totally zoned out because firstly ai in a math classroom?? For what

Chat bots are notoriously bad at math

Ai in San’s gymnasium? Once again no practical application

And Wooyoung honestly just wasn’t that interested because none of you were listening so he didn’t feel like he had to either

So he decided flirting with you was more fun

Just to make Hongjoong mad

But for all of his whispered pick up lines and compliments you had approximately the same response as to this ai workshop:

Playing gamepigeon with Hongjoong under the table

(Which Hongjoong had initiated by the way)

(And you had perpetuated after destroying him at the mini golf game)

Aka you ignored Wooyoung pretty well

So Hongjoong got to glare over at him with the peace of mind that your attention was fully his right then

San tapped your shoulder and asked for your number

Which you gave him a little too easily for Hongjoong’s continued peace of mind

But then San just made a group chat for the four of you to play uno together for the remainder of the workshop

So Hongjoong decided that actually this setup wasn’t so bad

The last workshop was unfortunately much more important so the four of you couldn’t continue slacking off

The principal was running this one and it was genuinely for the betterment of the school environment

Plus San and Wooyoung were sent off to other groups

So it was the two of you and a few other senior teachers that were going to have a discussion about one of the behavior initiatives that the school was trying out

You were the only two math teachers in the group, so when the principal passed out data that had been collected about this behavior initiative, the other teachers sort of automatically passed the papers to you

(And the science teachers in the group but that’s irrelevant)

There was only one copy of each dataset, so that meant you got to share

And that meant that you got to scoot your chairs close together to look at the paper at the same time

And even better the text was kind of small so you had to bring the papers close to your faces to read them

So the two of you were shoulder to shoulder

Practically cheek to cheek, your heads almost touching

To read this data and explain it to the less number-savvy teachers

Today was actually pretty fantastic so far, Hongjoong thought

He also wondered if you could physically feel the heat coming off of his face but that was not something he was going to let bother him right then

He was going to live in the moment

And perhaps thank the principal later

After a surprisingly productive and insightful discussion

It was finally ~lunch time~

The math department gathered up in the department head’s classroom to decide which of the nearby restaurants to choose to go to

And no one could agree

Not a single person was feeling like eating the same thing

Except Hongjoong he was agreeing with whatever you said

Not just because he wanted you to have your way but because whatever you said sounded good to him too

Maybe it sounded good because you said it but nonetheless

And then the department head said the following fateful words:

“How about you two just go ahead and we’ll try to decide on something for the rest of us

Hongjoong was suspicious right then and there that this was a setup

The department head probably had money on Before Christmas

But Hongjoong was absolutely not going to let this opportunity slip through his fingers

“I’m cool with that” you answered before Hongjoong could gather his thoughts enough to say anything

Then you turned to him

“I need to go grab my purse from my classroom. Do you need anything from yours?”

“Oh, yeah, just my wallet” he answered totally on autopilot

You stopped by your classroom first and then his since his was closer to the front of the school

He was so excited to finally realize that dream of his from a few weeks back

He was gonna buy you lunch

And not only that it was just the two of you going out to lunch

It didn’t matter that this wasn’t a date

Or that technically you were just gonna buy food and eat it back at school

It was special to him to go somewhere with just you

That wasn’t school

Seriously he was so happy he couldn’t stop smiling when he told the cashier that your orders were together and he was going to pay

You kinda elbowed him and told him he didn’t have to do that

But he just shrugged and turned his smile on you

“But I wanted to” he replied

You accepted that

“It’s on me next time” you promised

And oh man he could have died right there he felt so complete

Except if he died then there would be no next time

But you were saying next time and it made him think that wow yeah this would happen again

You meant if it ever happened again but he was determined that it was a certain for the future

Because even if it didn’t happen by chance then he would make it happen himself

When you got back to the school the rest of the math department was gone so you started eating without them

And that was a magical moment of peace too

Just the two of you

No one around to tease Hongjoong

He could almost pretend you were just normal friends and he wasn’t head over heels for you

Then the rest of the department came back and they all had food from the same restaurant

So Hongjoong had been right to be suspicious earlier

It was most definitely a setup to get the two of you by yourselves

And he liked it so he wasn’t going to complain about it

Even though it was embarrassing

Well as fun as professional development day ended up being

Parent teacher conferences were not

Hongjoong was looking forward to more Mr. Principal shenanigans

Like maybe when all the teachers were in the gym yours and his table could be next to each other

And he could talk to you when neither of you had any parents

And when the night was wrapping up

And he could walk you out to your car because it was dark

And maybe treat you to dinner because the school-provided food wasn’t usually that great

But no

None of that could happen

Because someone had decided to have teachers stay in their classrooms for conferences this year

The parents would have the wonderful opportunity to get lost in their child’s school trying to find all of their classes

What a joke

They were probably going to get so many complaints they would switch it back to normal next semester

But the one time Hongjoong was looking forward to parent teacher conferences

Of course

Was the one time they had to switch it up

The one silver lining in this was the teachers complaining about it together

Hongjoong’s favorite email he had ever received was now from Wooyoung

Who was replying to the email notifying teachers of the different setup this year but just to Hongjoong

In all lowercase:

“hey loverboy u see this crap

math teacher romancephobic fr smh”

And then with his full professional email signature at the bottom

This precious email was moved to Hongjoong’s funny emails folder, which was usually reserved for unhinged student emails

He did not reply to it

San and the other phys ed teachers were joking about how nice it would be to have the gym to themselves for once but they were in agreement that this probably wouldn’t last

Of course the math department had tests scheduled across all the grades right before conferences

Which of course left everyone grading like crazy

And of course the kids trashed the classrooms the day before

And of course the head janitor ended up getting sick

So it was up to the teachers to make sure their classrooms didn’t look like trash

Even though they had 150+ tests to grade and a pile of late work to grade

And they had 24 hours (7 of which were going to be spent teaching, and hopefully 7-8 would be spent sleeping) to make this all work before parents started showing up at 4 o’clock tomorrow afternoon

What a time this was going to be

So Hongjoong picked up his pile of tests and went to your classroom

Predictably you were grading tests

He stole a student desk and moved it close to your desk

“Which tests are you working on?” he asked

“Eighth” you replied, not looking up from the test you were currently grading

“How does this sound” he began “I’ll take your seventh and you take my eighth so we don’t have to switch answer keys?”

Still barely looking up, you handed him three binder-clipped stacks of paper

“As long as you don’t mind working to music” you replied, your eyebrows raising as a little smile played on your lips

He took your tests and handed you his eighth grade tests

(This worked out nicely as you both had three classes of seventh and two classes of eighth. He was tricking you into letting him take the heavier load ohoho so sneaky)

(He was just lucky you were grading eighth instead of seventh first)

“Don’t mind?” he snickered, uncapping his favorite felt-tip grading pen “I’d prefer it”

And that’s how speed grading turned into karaoke

Grading went almost certainly slower than it would have if you had worked alone but it was way more fun this way

Of course he ended up with sixty some more tests to grade than you

So when you finished you left for a bit and came back with snacks

As well as his pile of late work

He tried to protest but no no

“You’re not nearly as sneaky as you think you are Mr. Kim” you teased him “You thought you could fool a math teacher into thinking we had an equal workload here?”

“That wasn’t the point” he whined, trying to put the cap back on his pen and inking his finger instead

“Then what was the point?”

I love you that’s the point

But what was the point actually

What was a point he could believably tell you without giving himself away

“Just…because” he said convincingly, shrugging his shoulders and settling back into his tests “You look stressed these days. Wanted to do something nice I guess”

You brandished his late work stack again

“So I’m going to do something nice too”

Yeah he probably wouldn’t ever feel this way about anyone ever again

For him at this point it was you or nothing

But the problem was he was willing to let it be nothing for far too long

He would never make a single move unless he knew you were okay with it

Because if he and his stupid heart ruined whatever you had going now then it would really be nothing

He wouldn’t give up the something he still had

He was like a curve approaching an asymptote

He could get infinitely close, but he would never actually touch you

After settling your gradebooks for tomorrow you started by picking up your classroom together

This did go faster with music by the way

And then you picked up his classroom together

And then he realized Hongjoong realized he could have his wish

The one about walking you out to your car and taking you out to dinner

Walking you out was easy but taking you out was another story

He would have to suggest it himself

A little known fact about teachers is that they became teachers because they don’t know how/don’t want to talk with other adults

Kids don’t judge you if something comes out of your mouth a little different than you meant it

Other adults are mean and judge you over silly things

This unfortunately meant that he didn’t know how to ask you to go to dinner with him without making it sound like a date

He was kinda just hoping a lil Kdrama moment would happen and one of your stomachs would rumble really loud so he could laugh it off and say you should go eat together

But you got closer and closer to your car and no tummy rumbling

You got to your car and no tummy rumbling

You opened your door and said goodbye and still no tummy rumbling

“Wait!!!”

He could have slapped his own mouth

You were a little startled but it stopped you from getting in your car

“Hmm?”

“Just uh…it’s kinda late and snacks are great but they’re not that filling…so do you wanna um…” he trailed off and did not finish his thought

“Wanna what?” you asked

Big boy pants Hongjoong come on

“Go grab dinner? Or something?” he finally spat out

He must not have seen your face light up in the dark

“No pressure” he added when you didn’t answer within 0.05 seconds

“No that sounds great! I was thinking of grabbing something on the way home anyway and it would be way more fun to do it with someone else” you accepted

He let you pick the place again and you drove separately because after you would be going in different directions

But it ended up being a nice little fast casual restaurant

And it didn’t feel like a date really but it kinda felt like a date but no it didn’t

It just ended up being a comfortable little outing between friends

Hongjoong knew he couldn’t stop smiling

And he wondered if you already knew how he felt about you

He was sure he didn’t smile like this at anyone else

And you were many things but dense couldn’t possibly be one of them

He knew he was the opposite of subtle

But if you were willing to spend time with him like this then that meant he didn’t make you uncomfortable

Honestly he was so used to the way you made him feel at this point that loving you from afar felt like second nature

Being friends with you was enough if he could keep loving you like this

The waiter came by and asked if it was one check or two

And Hongjoong was fully prepared to pay once again

But you beat him to it

You were already prepared with your card and everything

“I owe you for last time, remember?” you told him with a cheeky grin

He shook his head

“You don’t owe me anything”

“Well then next time it’s on you”

Hongjoong started to smile again

“Next time?”

“Well, yeah” you said with a shrug, now a little bashful “This was fun. We should keep doing it”

“It is fun” he agreed with a laugh “It’s nice to hang out with people outside of school for once”

You laughed at that

“Oh boy tell me about it. Nobody told me that teaching would ruin my social life”

And things just kind of continued like that for a while

Before you had come to the school, Hongjoong had lowkey felt like he was kind of going nowhere with his life

Any time he spent at school outside of his contract hours felt like an infringement on his personal time

Or not even at school, just away from home

He had been hoping that taking a high school position would give him back a little bit of the passion for teaching that he was losing

He hadn’t even been teaching that long it’s just that the profession really is like that

Indescribably rewarding and incredibly draining all at the same time

(Especially these days. Sometimes you really wonder if it’s worth it)

But having something to look forward to every day besides a favorite class ended up being what he needed to love his job wholeheartedly again

It wasn’t just you he had fallen in love with

He had also found new friends in an unlikely place

The math department was like family and he enjoyed their company dearly

But that weirdo phys ed teacher and obnoxious history teacher had turned into excellent friends frighteningly fast

Sometimes they joined you and Hongjoong on your dinner outings

And honestly it was such a blast

An amendment to my previous statement about teachers being teachers because they don’t like talking to other adults:

Other teachers often do not count as other adults

Sometimes they do when you have to have grown up conversations

But gossiping about students does not count as grown up conversation

There were some eighth graders that all four of you had

Hongjoong not currently but he’d had them for previous classes and they were now in your class

Was it a little embarrassing as 20 somethings to have your main source of gossip be preteens?

Yeah but oh man there is nothing like finding out which of your students are lying to their other teachers about the work they need to do

Or what they’re like in other classes

(You and Hongjoong, and sometimes Wooyoung, tended to have very different opinions about some students than San did so it was double fascinating)

Who they’re friends with outside of your class

Or crushes they have on each other

Basically if you spend every day around preteens you gossip like them too

It was now November and starting to get uncomfortably cold outside

So San had offered his home as a little gathering space for you all to order food and hang out

It was almost like a little Friendsgiving

“Any of you have (male student name, obnoxious connotation)?” Wooyoung asked, taking a sip of his soda

You immediately scoffed

“I’m about to write an email home about that kid”

Hongjoong was surprised

Annoying kids existed in every class but you usually had something nice to say about them at first at least before you got into the bad behavior

He hadn’t had this particular student but he was intrigued as to why he annoyed you so much

Wooyoung and San also both looked surprised

“He’s great in gym—like cooperative, doesn’t do stupid stuff too often—” San said “but that doesn’t usually mean anything about how they are in math class”

“No he’s great in history too” Wooyoung added “finishes all his work on time, helps his friends with theirs if he finishes”

Your eye might have twitched a little bit

You let out an unamused laugh and crossed your arms over your chest

Hongjoong was fascinated and quite enamored with this new side of you

“If he has time to help his friends then he should be working on the seven late assignments I’ve been reminding him about. He hasn’t turned in anything for two weeks”

Wooyoung gasped and covered his mouth

“You’re joking”

“I’ve talked to him about it twice and I warned him if I had to remind him a third time then I would email his parents” you said, shaking your head “Like I asked him if he’s understanding the material, if he’s got something going on at home, if he needs some help, and he’s giving me nothing to go off of”

Wooyoung smiled devilishly

“He’s been lying to me, then. I ask him every day if he has other classes to do stuff for and he says no. I will absolutely be getting on him about that”

San shook his head

“Teenagers” he sighed

Everyone nodded and repeated what he’d said

“Teenagers.”

After a moment of silence, Hongjoong spoke up

“How about (female student name, pleasant connotation)?”

The mood lifted immediately and everyone gave their own version of the word “aww”

“She is the highlight of my whole day” you said

“Seriously she’s so polite and she tries so hard even when she’s having a hard time” Wooyoung agreed

“Super athletic too” San added

“Ooh and (male student name, pleasant connotation)?” you said to another chorus of agreement “He’s kind of a punk sometimes but he’s another one that always does his best”

Hongjoong smiled

Complaining was fun, but he loved the light in your eyes when you talked about the parts of the job that you loved

Anyway as I said it was November and the Before Christmas faction of teachers was starting to get nervous because there was no sign of anything happening

They saw you walk out together more than usual but they didn’t know that you were meeting up outside of school and stuff

The kids were also more riled up about it than usual

To the point where Hongjoong wondered if the other teachers were inciting chaos on purpose

It was getting bad enough that one of his classes almost failed a test across the board—on a unit about rounding and converting fractions to decimals of all things

As in the easiest math ever

So Mr. Kim had to resort to drastic measures

At the beginning of all his classes, he drew a box on the edge of the whiteboard

“This is the nonsense box” he explained with a teacherly smile

That is to say frustrated but still filled with love for his students

“Every time one of you is talking about anything that is not related to class, a tally mark goes in the box. Each tally mark represents an extra fifteen seconds you get to sit in your seat after the bell rings”

A chorus of protest arose

“I don’t want to hear it” Mr. Kim shook his head “How many of you are planning on retaking last Friday’s test?”

About half of the hands in the room came up sheepishly

“Exactly. It’s because we’re constantly off topic that no one is able to listen and learn in here. We can do better, okay?”

And then immediately from the back of the room

“Ooh, Miss (L/N) just passed in the hall!!!”

And chorus of “Ooooooh”

Whether it was true or not, Hongjoong was happy to draw his first tally mark without a word

Just that same teacherly smile

Another round of protest came and he drew another one

After the third tally mark, they shut up

“Good. Let’s talk about coefficients. Has anyone heard that word before?”

Once again I will say it was November

And the month after November is December

And December is the month of Christmas

Not just Christmas break

But Christmas itself

And that meant that Hongjoong now

After coming back from a brief Thanksgiving break

Had only a few weeks to find you a Christmas present

Now he wasn’t thoughtless like this wasn’t the first time it had crossed his mind

It had just stressed him out wondering if he would have the guts to confess his feelings for you or if he would be outed somehow first

Plus in case y’all didn’t know teaching (especially teaching around the holidays) is stressful

He just imagined Christmas as this far off date that was too good to ever come

And so he hadn’t even had time to think about what to get you

Something for your classroom?

Something for your home?

A cute accessory?

A fun math shirt?

Not a gift card though that was far too impersonal

Nothing seemed good enough for you

If he were to deliver his feelings with a gift like any of these, it felt insufficient

Most lunches the last bit of November and the first week of December

(If not spent pestering you)

He spent fretting over his Amazon cart with his head in his hands

And then the most unfortunate miracle occurred

The heaters toward the math hall decided working at full capacity was a waste of tax dollars

And the weather was shaping up to be quite uncomfortable

Everyone started to bring blankets and stuff but it was never quite enough

Your classroom was especially cold, since it was the farthest down the hall

So Hongjoong was gifted an opportunity

He went and found one of those soft and cozy electric blankets

In a color he assumed to be your favorite considering how much you wore it and how many of the little trinkets around your classroom were that color

And he packaged it like he had meant to give it to you for Christmas anyway

Then he brought it for you the next day

You were sitting at your desk in your full winter outdoor gear with a blanket that did look cozy but thankfully was not electric

And your teeth were practically chattering as you waved hello

He still hadn’t taken off his coat or his gloves either actually

He set the present on your desk

“I was saving this for Christmas but I think you might need it more now” he told you with a grin

Your curiosity was suddenly piqued

You opened the gift cautiously, glancing up at him every few seconds

But as soon as you felt the material of the blanket, you perked up

And upon discovering that it was electric you could have cried

“I haven’t been able to feel my fingers since last week” you told him gratefully “Seriously I was trying to figure out how many space heaters I would need to buy to survive the winter”

“The department head has one in her classroom” he said “If you grab your old blanket and your laptop then you can let your new blanket heat up here while we hang out over there”

What a beautiful suggestion

The department head raised her eyebrow at the two of you coming in with blankets

But she smiled too when she saw you settling down in front of her heater

“Don’t tell anyone” she said “but sometimes I take a nap over there during lunch”

“Oh I see exactly why” you agreed, sitting cross-legged and setting your computer in your lap “I can literally feel my bones thawing out”

Hongjoong settled down a respectable distance from you

But he thought someone else was pranking him when he felt a blanket drape over his shoulders

He looked around, startled, and then he realized it was the other side of your blanket

You had thrown your blanket over him to share, even though he had one of his own

And now you were pulling his arm to get him to scoot closer to you

Was this a dream??

He would not be happy if his alarm rang

But no it was real and he happily obliged

You were sitting shoulder to shoulder again

Just like at the professional development workshop

Except this time it was so warm and cozy and there was definitely a much less professional vibe

The department head raised her eyebrow at you once again

But Hongjoong was way too enamored with your shy smile to notice

After just a few minutes in this cozy little haven

Your time was unfortunately cut short

Not by students arriving to school

But by Wooyoung poking his head into the classroom

“Oh I’ve been looking everywhere for you guys”

He stepped into the classroom and greeted its owner accordingly

She nodded as if to allow him permission to enter

“They have hot chocolate down in the teachers lounge” Wooyoung informed them “I figured you icicles back here in the freezer rooms would want some but it looks like you were hiding a—” he looked down at the two of you skeptically “campfire back here”

Wooyoung clearly thought he meant something by that but no one else knew what he was trying to say

So his last comment went ignored

“Do you want hot chocolate?” Hongjoong asked you “I can go get some for us”

“No it’s okay I’ll go with you”

Oh Wooyoung saw exactly what was going on here

Hongjoong did not

Hongjoong was a little confused—was his help becoming an awkward burden to you?

While Wooyoung saw the truth

You just wanted the excuse to walk with him

Now Wooyoung had two choices

He could step back and let you two walk down together, maybe say something to speed this math teacher romance along

Or he could third wheel

And who was Wooyoung if he didn’t pass up the chance to annoy?

Plus he had taken an oath once he started collecting bets that he wouldn’t try to swing the competition one way or another

And since telling you about the hot chocolate while you were together felt like pushing the competition faster, it felt right to pull it back a bit by getting in between you for a few minutes

So he offered hands to both of you to help you off the floor

“Let’s all go together then” he said “You should also find out if your campsite director wants any”

“Campsite director?” Hongjoong asked, shutting his computer

You also closed your computer and set it aside, looking around to figure out who Wooyoung was talking about

“Your gracious host this morning” he clarified, giving the department head a charming little wave

You both took Wooyoung’s hands at the same time and almost pulled him down with you in the process of standing up

As you straightened your pants, you asked the department head if she wanted you to bring her back any hot chocolate, to which she responded yes please

Wooyoung insisted on walking in the middle

And Hongjoong wondered if all of the patience he had acquired as a middle school teacher was going to be spent on not wringing this guy’s neck this morning

Fortunately Mr. Jung acted enough like one of Mr. Kim’s students that he was able to pretend he was one and just let it go

Unfortunately by the time they got back to the department head’s classroom kids were starting to show up so that was the end of artificial campfire cuddle time

But there was a silent agreement as you picked up your blankets and computers that you would be doing this again sometime

The first few weeks of December didn’t necessarily fly by but they did go by quickly in hindsight if that makes sense

And before everyone knew it

Christmas break was upon you

And there was no further progression of the math department couple

The Before Christmas teachers had gotten antsier and antsier right up until the day before break started

But thankfully no one had been worried enough to interfere

Hongjoong decided to stay in his classroom that day

(As if he didn’t stay in his classroom every day)

Because people had been giving him disappointed looks all over the school and he was tired of it

Even the principal had made a trip to Hongjoong’s classroom the Friday afternoon before everyone left

Just to tell him how disappointed he was that he hadn’t had the guts to make a move even when he knew the principal’s precious money was on the line

And ask him if you were secretly dating already and just didn’t want to make a big deal about it

But ultimately to wish him luck and a nice break

A few minutes after he left, you popped into his classroom

You had your bag and your coat and it looked like you were ready to head home

“Are you so ready to get out of here?” you asked

He stopped immediately in the middle of his task and slammed his laptop shut

Contract hours had ended a whole minute ago and he had wasted a whole minute still doing work? On break?

“Say no more” he said, standing up and putting his coat on “We should have left five minutes ago”

“Wholeheartedly agree” you replied “I would have but the principal visited me and I felt like I had to look like I was doing something”

Hongjoong froze

The principal had visited you too?

Why?

For what purpose?

Betting purposes?

This technically didn’t still count as Before Christmas Break right?

“That’s weird haha he came and visited me too, like ten minutes ago” he said with the normalest most unbothered tone he could manage

(He tried)

(His voice was not quite an octave higher than usual)

(Which is considerable improvement since it’s usually an octave and a half)

“Maybe he’s just making rounds” you said with a shrug “It’s nice to see how much he cares about this school. Definitely one of the better principals I’ve worked with”

Hongjoong relaxed perhaps too visibly

“Yeah if you need a guy to have your back he’s got it no question”

“Anyway if you don’t have any plans for the day after Christmas you should spend it with me”

If Hongjoong had been drinking something he would have choked

Even if he’d had plans in the first place he would have canceled them for you

“My day is wide open” he said “As is almost all of my break”

You smiled and his stomach did a flip

He wondered if it was ever going to stop doing that

He hoped not

“Mine too. If you’re bored, you can probably text me and I won’t be doing anything”

Was it cringe that he was now looking for technically his second Christmas present for you?

Yeah maybe but that was his lifestyle now

To quote N.Flying’s Lovefool “if they call me a lovefool it’s okay as long as it’s for your sake”

Even if you didn’t see him that way that was A-Okay

Anyway he found some cute little math-themed trinkets like pi earrings and a right triangle pin that said “I’m always right”

Because actually who are math teachers if they don’t like puns

And the morning after Christmas Day he wrapped them up all nice for you

And he got ready to meet you at a little restaurant you now frequented together

But this was actually like the first time he was meeting you on a whole day off so he had to figure out how to dress not like a teacher but still kinda nice

He had no idea

All of his pants were teacher pants

His shirts? All teacher shirts

He was way too good at dressing for his job

So he wore jeans instead of his usual khakis and hoped that was different enough?

He also layered one of his graph paper teacher shirts with a plain t-shirt underneath and didn’t button it up

He looked himself up and down in his mirror, trying different poses to make sure he looked like a Normal Guy

In the end he decided his hair was the only issue

He only knew how to style it in a teacherly fashion

And leaving it unstyled wasn’t an option

So he looked up some tutorials on some easy styles but he just could not see himself as anything other than a math teacher

So he gave up and just prayed that he looked okay

You looked perfect of course

The difference was subtle in theory but the way you dressed, the way you did your hair and makeup, it made for a world of difference

Oh you looked so gorgeous he was never going to get over it

Your eyes practically sparkled when you met him out front and man he thought before that he couldn’t be more in love with you but he was wrong

You did seem a little more awkward today than usual and he couldn’t figure out why

Like you almost seemed nervous

What for? It was just him

You got your food and he suddenly remembered the gifts in his pocket

“Oh!” he exclaimed, pulling them out “I know I gave you the blanket a few weeks ago but I found these and I knew you had to have them. Merry double Christmas?”

You covered your mouth to hide your laughter and your bite of food

“That’s so funny because I found something for you too”

And you pulled a little package out of your bag

Down bad wasn’t even a good descriptor anymore and neither was head over heels like there had to be a stronger silly description of being in love and if there wasn’t it would have to be invented for him

You had found him a shirt that said “Math is hard. So is life. Get over it.”

(Tbh an actual shirt that I own)

And he promised you he would be wearing it the day you all got back from break

As for his silly little gifts you adored them

You put the pi earrings in immediately and started brainstorming what do do with the other things out loud

He could not have been happier with himself

And then you caught him staring at you

You paused in your excited little ramblings

He sat up a little straighter, wondering what to say next

But you smiled and looked down at your plate

“You’re pretty cute, you know that?” you told him, unable to meet his eyes for more than a second

In front of you, his first instinct was to deny the possibility and he followed it without thinking

“Eh, no I’m not—not in comparison to you, anyway”

Hmm if he wanted to keep his feelings secret then that was not the thing to say

But you deserved to know it

Not just cute but beautiful

Heartstoppingly so

You took the compliment well anyway

“Have you ever thought…” you began, trailing off

You watched him as he waited for you to continue, his eyes wide and curious

“Never mind” you dismissed with a casual wave of your hand

“No hey what were you going to say?” he asked

“Nothing I just had a weird thought for a second”

“No no come on! You know I wouldn’t judge you for anything”

You hesitated again and he could see that same nervousness he’d noticed before

“Have you ever thought…I don’t know” you put your elbows up on the table “of us as more than friends? Like dating maybe?”

Once again he was going to be very upset if his alarm clock went off now

But even if this was a dream, there was no harm in saying it out loud

“Every day since the day I met you” he answered honestly

You blinked like you didn’t believe him

“You’d better not be joking because I mean this like I’m risking our whole professional relationship here—”

And then he realized

You literally had no idea about him

Genuinely no clue that the whole school knew exactly how you had him wrapped around your finger

Except you

“—on the slightest chance that you might feel the same way—”

“Hey” he stopped you softly “I would never joke about how I feel about you”

Embarrassment began to set in for both of you

“Seriously,” he said, holding back a laugh, “you can ask any of my students, any of the teachers. I think you were the last one to find out that I have a massive crush on you”

“Oh no you’re kidding!” you exclaimed, your hands coming up to hide your face

“I really wish I were—Wooyoung has two rounds of bets going with the teachers about when and how we would end up dating. It’s just about me though—I don’t think anyone else knew about you”

You buried your face further in your hands

“That is so embarrassing” you whined “Seriously I might kill Wooyoung when we get back from break”

“I’ll help you” he promised

You ended up deciding to tell the other teachers on account of the bets they had placed on you

But you asked them not to tell the kids

Hongjoong was comfortable dealing with them at this point and he didn’t see the point in subjecting you to the attention he got about it

Speaking of the bets

No one won any of them technically

The two categories were before/after Christmas break and you notice/he confesses

And since you confessed during Christmas break well

As tempting as it would have been to say that you two deserved the money

(Especially on those teacher salaries)

You just made Wooyoung give it back to everyone who had put money down

And honestly? Very little about your at school dynamic changed

The kids still teased Hongjoong every day about his obvious soft spot for you

But he didn’t care because he knew better than they did anyway

You did actually start to notice now that kids were gossiping about you and Hongjoong

And it was really funny actually

Especially when he stopped by your classroom and the kids went dead silent watching you

Or when you left his classroom and you heard the kids explode with their weirdo little preteen comments from just outside in the hallway

Wooyoung insisted on telling you about every time you were mentioned in his classroom

This included the story about the girl rejecting a boy because quote no one can like anyone as much as Mr. Kim likes Miss (L/N) enquote

And you about died from laughter and embarrassment

Because how had you missed every single sign thrown your way??

It was so obvious now that you were dating him and you knew why he spent as much time as physically and contractually possible in your classroom

Because like I said very little about your at school dynamic changed

He still treated you almost exactly the same way

Except now if you were having a bad day he could hug you and kiss you on the head and tell you that everything would be okay and you were a good teacher

And if he got cold he could come to your classroom and have you sit on his lap while you shared your blanket

You were very very careful with any displays of affection by the way like it was only behind a locked door that you would even dare

Because firstly unprofessional

A literal breach of the code of ethics more likely than not

And secondly what if the kids saw you???

The other teachers were whatever like you didn’t really want them to walk in on you either but at least they were other adults

But the kids???

There were already too many rumors flying around the school about you and they did not need a even whispering of confirmation

The end of that came of course when you got engaged like a year or so later idk and you showed up to school with a ring on your finger and the kids went wild

“Mr. Kim she has a ring!!!”

“Mr. Kim what are you going to do?? She’s gonna get married!!”

“Mr. Kim you must be heartbroken”

You had prepared for this together

You had known it was coming so you knew you had to be ready for the chaos it was going to cause

So you had decided that he would also start wearing a ring to match even before the wedding

So to all his very concerned students he got to hold up his hand and say in the coolest most chic manner possible

“And who do you think gave her the ring huh?”

It was like setting off a nuclear bomb of middle school gossip but it was so worth it

Anyway breaking the chronological flow going back in time because this needed to be the last scene

The cutest change with your at school dynamic now that you were dating was now you could exchange secret messages on sticky notes with the papers you traded

He started it by handing you a test key to check with a sticky note on the top that you assumed was a label for what the test was

But on closer inspection it was a pickup line

“The limit of my love for you is like the limit of 1/x as it approaches 0; it doesn’t exist”

So you wrote back on the same sticky note “well mine is like 1/x^2 and it approaches infinity so there” and handed it back to him once you checked his key

Not to be outdone he wrote you a new note

“Girl are you a 30° angle inscribed in a circle because you’re acute-y pi”

Oh that one was bad

You had to give him something worse

“If we’re both math teachers, how come we have so much chemistry?”

You handed him that one in between classes

And as he read it he had to disguise his sudden laughter as a cough because there were kids around and they didn’t need to be curious about what he was laughing at

His next sticky note had a crease down the middle horizontally

128√e980

You recognized it immediately but you folded it in half to reveal the secret message anyway

“I love you”

So you gave him back “I hope you like fractions because you’re my other half”

You stored all these away in a little file on your computer titled “Valentine’s Day Math Jokes”

Maybe for some future Valentine’s Day activity

But mostly just to keep them all somewhere safe where you could look at them any time you wanted

Without some kid being like “oooh Miss (L/N) whatcha lookin at”

Your favorite note from him was about as simple and dorky as they came

Much like Hongjoong himself actually

Simplify 2x+6i<2(x+9u)

First you distributed the 2 on the right

2x+6i<2x+18u

Then since there was a 2x on both sides, you could subtract them and cancel them

6i<18u

Then divide by 6

And the answer made you smile every time

i<3u

(so I know how I wrote this so fast actually. I just have a goal to write 250+ words every day and uh pretty much every day of the month of January ended up dedicated to this one. Someone said Math Teacher Hongjoong and I (graduated in December with a math teaching degree, student taught in a middle school for 4 months) went feral over it whoops)

Masterlist

#ateez #hongjoong #ateez x reader #hongjoong x reader #ateez fluff #ateez fanfic #ateez fic #atz #atz x reader #kim hongjoong

293 notes · View notes

fortisfilia · 2 months

Text

Promised Part 13 - Tom Riddle x reader

Info: This is a rewrite of a story I've posted on my old account years ago. If it sounds familiar, that might be why :)

Summary: In this story, Tom didn't grow up as an orphan, but with his grandfather and uncle. Reader's sister got very sick and the Gaunts offer their help. But not without asking for something in return.

Warnings: Arranged marriage

Word count: 3k

Masterpost | Masterlist | Part 12 | Part 14

Part 13 - Pranks and proper Paybacks

The quill in your hand scratched lightly over the parchment as you were taking notes for Astronomy in the library. It was quiet, as usual, except for the occasional questions and thereof resulting explanations between Ben and Camille. She helped him study for his upcoming Herbology exam, for which he clearly hadn’t revised enough yet. Silly boy.

Tom was there too and sat next to you, completing the quartet round the table. He tried his best not to hiss at them every time Ben asked something. You noticed from the corner of your eye, how he gulped down every thought that built up in his head when another word poured from Ben’s mouth. It was amusing seeing Tom battling with himself to keep his cool. He still didn’t like Ben very much and would much rather study with you alone. But the fact that he had voluntarily sat down with the three of you, tried to behave and didn’t yell at Ben whenever he opened his mouth, was a sign that he probably didn’t hate him as much as he pretended to.

“So, about the Fluxweed again,” Ben whispered, browsing through his book. “How many days does it have to grow?”

Camille was about to answer when Tom pressed his palm against his forehead and exhaled dramatically. “Sixteen, Ben. It’s sixteen. She’s told you that three times at least.”

Ben took a quick look at Tom, while still fumbling through the book. “I know, mate. I just can’t memorise it. Why do I even need to know that?”

Tom flung a piece of parchment toward him, pointing at the empty sheet. “Write it down, then. There are some things you must know. Get over it.”

“Alright, alright,” Ben grinned, apparently not caring about Tom’s tone at all. “I’ll write it down, see? Fluxweed takes thirteen days to grow. Happy now?”

“Sixteen,” Camille, Tom and you sighed in unison.

“Oh.” He crossed out the number and sloppily wrote the correct one above it. “Sixteen then.”

Camille and you chuckled to yourselves while Tom only shook his head slightly, his eyes back inside his own book. Ben certainly was careless, or to be more precise, a lot more careless than Camille, Tom and you when it came to grades. The way he talked about homework and even exams was astonishing. He hadn’t even studied for his O.W.L. in Care for Magical Creatures in his fifth year, and he still got an ‘Exceeds Expectations’. Or so he had told you. He'd always found a way to talk his way out of things, unsurprisingly. Teachers really seemed to like him. Or rather do anything to stop him from talking once in a while.

“Oh, wait,” Ben said again.

“Just read your book,” Tom grunted.

“No, hang on.”

Ben stood up and stretched his arm out quickly, reaching and grasping for something to your left. You all turned your heads and saw him catching something that had been flying right at you.

“I might be bad at Herbology. But you’re lucky I’m a bloody good Seeker,” he said and twisted the thin thing between his fingers.

“What is it?” Camille asked. “Let me see.”

Ben put the thing down on the desk, still pressing his index finger on top of it. “It’s a quill. I think it’s jinxed. It was flying on its own and headed right for your face,” he said and looked at you. “Still wants to, I can feel it moving.”

The grey quill twitched eagerly beneath Ben’s hand, trying to escape and pointed its sharp tip right at you, ready to pierce into your skin.

“Not again,” you mumbled.

“Again?”

Things, odd things, had been happening during the week. Someone had played some pranks and antics on you. You hadn’t found out who it was yet, but it certainly had become pesky. On Monday, someone had left you a note that said Professor Merrythought wanted a word with you. Once you had arrived at the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, however, you were met with a confused teacher and had a hard time explaining yourself. Tuesday, someone had poured Rash Powder over your dinner. You had almost taken a bite but thankfully had noticed the unfamiliar smell in time. Wednesday was more subtle. There had been puddles and slippery spots everywhere you stepped. Avoiding them had been a tedious task. And now, on Thursday, this. The quill didn’t look like it could badly injure you, but its vivid nature was a sign for a hex, rather than a jinx. No matter who it was, all those things did tear on your nerves. Not only because the pranks got to you, but because there was a possibility someone had been following you without you noticing. Every time you had gone to the Come and Go Room you had turned around and checked if someone was behind you, just in case. That was the exhausting part.

“Just some pranks,” you explained. “I don’t know who or why, but it’s getting fairly ridiculous.”

“Could someone”-Ben puffed-“stop this thing? It’s trying to escape.”

Tom pointed his wand directly at the quill and rolled his wrist. It lit up for a fraction of a second and crumbled to dust right after.

“Ouch,” Ben yelped and fanned his hand through the air hastily before putting his index inside his mouth. “Thanks, mate.”

Tom smirked, partly for the spell he had just cast and partly for burning Ben’s fingertip. “Anytime, mate.”

Camille dragged her finger through the ashes, took a good look at them and rubbed it off between her index and her thumb. “Who would do that?”

“I don’t know,” you answered.

“Avery and Lestrange again, perhaps?”

“Unlikely,” Tom said. “I checked on them some days ago. They’re still with Carpe most of the time, scrubbing the floors and polishing trophies. And besides, they wouldn’t dare.”

“Who else could it be then?” Camille asked as she blew the remaining ashes off the desk with a quick cleaning spell.

The four of you exchanged looks around the table. “To be honest,” Tom began. “I was suspecting you for a while, Ben.”

“Me?” Ben asked wide-eyed. “Why would I do that? I just stopped that quill.”

“‘I’m aware, I’ve seen that now.”

Camille hummed, deep in thought. “Wait,” she said. “What about Freda? Freda Morris.”

“The head girl?” Ben asked.

“Yes,” she said. “She was so jealous at Slughorn’s party, wasn’t she?”

Tom looked at you, biting on the inside of his lower lip, then nodded. “That doesn’t sound too far-fetched.”

“I wouldn’t have thought she’d be so creative,” you said while picking up your books. “Well, I’ll keep an eye on her then.”

Once you had gathered your things, you got up and waited for Tom to do the same.

“Where are you going?” Camille asked. “It’s not even seven yet.”

“I have to,” you stopped yourself. You had to tend to the potion in the Come and Go Room again. Needless to say, you couldn’t tell them that. “I have to go and look after Nagini. The snake. She’s shedding at the moment. Talk to you soon.”

“Let us know if something else happens,” Camille said and waved you goodbye.

Tom followed you silently. Of course, they didn’t ask him why he had to come and check on Nagini as well. The perks of being intimidating. Apart from this, Camille and Ben surely didn’t mind studying without him nagging all the time.

On your way out, right when you left the library and headed toward the grand staircase, Tom and you were halted by another student. Platinum blonde and blue-eyed, Abraxas Malfoy, who was one of Tom’s ever so devious sycophants, locked eyes with him.

“Tom,” he greeted and stopped right in his tracks.

“Abraxas,” Tom replied.

Oh, what did he want now? There wasn’t a lot of time until the potion had to be stirred, so hopefully Malfoy wouldn’t keep you from going any longer.

“So,” Abraxas began. “I’ve seen, you like to keep new company these days.”

Tom frowned and looked over his shoulder. Clearly, Abraxas didn’t mean you. “What are you implying?”

“I’m not implying anything,” he said and chortled a sour laugh. “I’m just observing. You’re dealing with mudbloods now?”

He was talking about Ben. Malfoy and Tom’s other ‘friends’ had probably seen you in the library together. Or in the Three Broomsticks, some weeks ago. Abraxas must have felt really brave to talk to the head boy in this way. His chest was swollen with pride and the glint in his gaze spoke more than he could have ever said. He was out to get something from this conversation.

Tom only exhaled sharply and stared back at Malfoy, unconcerned about his reproach. “And how come that’s any of your business, exactly?”

“Oh, it isn’t of course,” Abraxas answered. “I was just surprised. Shocked even.”

“I do apologize,” Tom sneered, clicking his tongue in fake sympathy. “That the gathering of other people, who don’t concern you in the slightest, has ruined your precious day.”

Abraxas stared back at him, obviously trying hard to keep calm. His smile still sat neatly on his face; it was his eyes that betrayed him. “No need to worry about me. I merely started thinking, daydreaming, that your Grandfather might not appreciate that.”

Tom took a step closer, his nostrils flared for a moment and a vein on his neck stood out. “Abraxas,” he whispered so spitefully, it almost sounded like he was talking in Parseltongue, words spilling out of him like pure venom. “I’d advise you to worry about your own life. Because if you don’t, wouldn’t it be tragic if your Mother found out what happened last year at your house? When the maid left and never came back? What was the reason again? If only I remembered. Oh, I do.”

Malfoy’s expression changed momentarily, his head sunk and his eyes darted across the floor, trying hard to think of what to answer.

“Do we understand each other?” Tom asked.

Abraxas nodded, lips thin and full of fury. He instinctively retracted and took a step back, keeping his head low and looked up at Tom through knitted brows.

“Good,” Tom said and left Malfoy standing there.

Continuing to walk to the grand staircase, he appeared like nothing but a casual chat between two friends had just happened.

“Well,” you said after Abraxas was out of earshot. “That was interesting.”

“They’re all so stupid, sometimes I wonder how they’ve lived this long,” Tom replied. “I have dirt on every single one of them. And they try to blackmail me. Ridiculous.”

“Idiots indeed,” you shook your head. “Do I want to know what happened to the maid?”

“You don’t. It’s a long, repulsive story.”

No doubt it was. Abraxas was known for his dreadful ways and how he had tormented younger students ever since. He wasn’t like Avery or Lestrange, a dumb follower, who had Hippogriff crap for brains. No, he was mindful, awfully aware of his surroundings and constantly seemed to brood about his next step. He reminded you of Marvolo, they both had the same aura, cold and demeaning, always looking for ways to take advantage of other people’s misery. It was no surprise that he had tried to intimidate Tom, maybe even pass him in their hierarchy by threatening to tell everyone about his association with a muggle-born. But he hadn’t thought it through. Tom Riddle wasn’t one to mess with and he had just made that crystal clear. Ben might have not been his friend, but still, he hadn’t let Abraxas speak ill of him.

“I wouldn’t have thought you liked Ben,” you said once you turned another corner.

Tom opened his mouth and looked at you in disbelief for a moment, as if you had just insulted him, before he started talking. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, it just seemed like it. You came to his defence so quickly. That’s why I assumed.”

“This wasn’t about Hilt. It was about me, Marvolo and that bootlicker Malfoy.”

“Whatever you say,” you grinned while Tom rolled his eyes.

Friday evolved to be the worst day of the week. Not only had you almost gotten detention for falling victim to a Knockback jinx during Defence Against the Dark Arts if Camille hadn’t come to your rescue. Professor Merrythought still hadn’t forgotten about your visit on Monday and thought you were trying to disturb her lesson again. But in addition, your curriculum almost hindered you from tending to your potion completely. It had become nearly impossible to handle everything at once. Your classes, homework, studying for the N.E.W.T.s, taking care of the antidote and on top of all that, those stupid pranks. It had been draining and your body ached for a bit of rest.

On your way to Tom’s dorm, when the sun had already set and you were finally done with everything for the day, you heard the clink of a door handle turning behind you. It almost had gone overheard, the only thing you wanted to do was sit down for a moment and unwind, even if only for an hour. You had already reached the door to Tom’s room and could have just entered to forget about the world for a while. But there was this unsettling feeling inside of you and Camille’s words from the library ran through your head again. You turned around. And thank Merlin you did.

Freda Morris stood in her door frame, smirking with her wand pointed right at you. She must have been taken by surprise, it didn’t seem like she had expected you to look at her. Her wand sank in an instant before she hid it behind her back.

“You,” you muttered, taking some steps her way. “It was you all week, wasn’t it?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, mocking you with a smile.

“Just admit it at least. Coward. You know exactly what I’m talking about and you were just trying to do it again, weren’t you?”

Freda shook her head and put a strand of hair behind her ear with her skinny fingers. “I’m head girl, dear. I would never do anything to harm another student if that is what you’re implying. I don’t know what could have given you the idea.”

“Oh shut up,” you spat. “Head girl, yes. An awful excuse for one at best.”

The door behind you opened and Tom appeared from inside. He looked out into the hallway frowning. “What’s all that noise about?”

“Your fiancée’s throwing a fit.”

“Camille was right,” you said, still not taking your eyes off Freda. “It was her. The note, the quill and everything else. I just caught her right in the act.”

Freda heaved one single, shrill laugh at your words and straightened her posture. “I just told you, I would never do such things.”

“What were you doing then? Pointing your wand at me, when I have my back turned on you.”

She pondered, taken aback, while she looked at Tom beside you until her grin appeared back on her face. “You’re imagining things. I was just leaving my room to go and talk to Professor Dippet. That’s when you started to yell at me for no reason.”

“Liar!”

She didn’t lower herself to even look at you anymore. Instead, she looked at Tom. “Is this really what you look for in a woman? Hysterical and hostile? I would have thought you had better taste.”

The need to go up to her and slap her across the face seemed almost unbearable. Your hands were balled into fists and it took all your might not to take out your wand and pay her back everything she had done to you, times ten. Tom on the other hand stayed calm and smiled weakly while looking back at her.

“Don’t worry about my taste, Freda,” he said. “I’d rather worry about your memory. Maybe you haven’t been informed, which would be very unfortunate seeing that you are head girl, but Professor Dippet isn’t in Hogwarts today. He’s been called in by the Wizengamot. How could you have been on your way to him then?”

Freda’s smile faltered, her eyes darting back and forth between Tom and you. “I must have not gotten his owl then.”

“Certainly,” Tom said. “I want a word. Now.”

“No,” you intervened and he stopped his movements to look at you. “I can do this myself.”

Tom stepped back with a small smirk on his face. Freda was in for a treat. You walked up to her until there was only a hand’s breadth of space between your faces.

“Listen now,” you said, your heart pumping strongly inside your chest. “I don’t know what you were thinking. If you were thinking. But I swear, if you ever play another of your pranks on me again, I-”

“You what?” she asked and shoved you by the shoulder. “Do you think I’m scared of you?”

The moment she had touched you, you felt something moving by your feet. Nagini had slithered out through Tom’s open door and hissed louder than you had ever heard before. Freda gasped and took several steps backwards, startled by the snake. Nagini placed herself between the two of you and reared up, looking as huge and aggressive as ever. Her hisses were meant for one person only and when you looked back at Tom, you recognised that he wasn’t talking to the snake. She had come to your defence on her own.

“Take that thing away,” Freda yelled. “Make it stop.”

“Or what?” you asked. “You might have not been scared of me yet, but I promise you, give me one more reason and you will be.”

She didn’t dare answer, still looking down at Nagini in utmost panic and trying to foresee every move the snake was about to make. You savoured on the sight for a moment, fervently enjoying how Freda fumbled for the doorknob behind herself.

“Come Nagini,” you then said as you turned around. “Leave her alone. For now.”

Masterpost | Masterlist | Part 14

Tags: @ariachaos @daardyrnitta

58 notes · View notes

mastermindmiko · 7 months

Text

Potions Partner (Part 15)

Pairing: Draco Malfoy + fem!reader

word count: 3060

warnings: not eating well, not sleeping well, angst, heartbreak, crying

Hey! If you think this didn't completely suck, feel free to check out my masterlist

part 16

requests are open

an: I think that I'm reusing GIFs at this point

It seemed like life got a million times worse once she didn’t get to share it with Draco. Everything good became less exciting and everything disappointing made her miserable. She never thought she’d be this affected by a boy in her life, and the boy being Draco Malfoy of all people.

The worst part of it all was that other people saw her become more sad, and none of them knew why, they thought that she didn’t have a reason. Harry would roll his eyes when he saw her coming to class late because she overslept.

Her only solace was Ron and Hermione even though they both were at each other’s throats most of the time, they sometimes joined forces to help her out, she couldn’t be more grateful. It seemed that Hermione had to hold Ron back from punishing Draco several times during the day, but she couldn’t say that she was opposed to the idea of Ron punching Draco.

To make matters worse, it seemed that he was suddenly everywhere. He came to dinner and lunch more often and she saw him chatting with his friends more. The things that he didn’t do the first semester. It seemed as though he led a better life without her by his side. The only thing that kept that idea from consuming her entirely was the way his eyes seemed more tired. But it wasn’t enough.

She’d gotten so used to him, so very used to him. Her bed wasn’t as comfortable. She didn’t like hugging a pillow while falling asleep, she preferred Draco’s chest, and his arms.

Harry wasn’t making this easier. His seemingly obsession with Draco was growing more and more by every second. Harry talked about either his potions book or about Draco, nothing else. She’d have to hear his accusations of Draco being a death eater, and she didn’t have the energy to fight him about it anymore.

It felt so entirely silly that her entire life was brought down by his absence. Her grades were slipping, she wasn’t as good a Quidditch player as she was. It seemed so pathetic, she felt so pathetic. She never understood why so many of her friends were affected by boys, but now she couldn’t think about anything but him.

The biggest question that echoed in her head was why? Why did he break up with her? Why was he acting like this? And so many more questions that she never found the answer to.

She knows that she should hate him. She really should not even tolerate his existence. She should go back to hating him the way she did when she was younger, but she doesn’t. She feels so stupid that she doesn’t. He was all she ever thought about, and why he wasn’t with her. She falls asleep to the pain knowing that she would’ve joined her brother in hating him, if she loved him even a little less.

She sits in the Great Hall with her friends surrounding her, but all she could do was play with the food on her plate with her fork. Harry interrupts her brain of thought with him saying, “We’ve got practice after classes, okay?”

She hums and Ron mumbles an okay, looking at her with concern. Hermione does the same, biting her lip. Hermione’s gaze moves to the Slytherin table and she notices Malfoy looking at her friend with a frown on his face.

Hermione had decided to take matters into her own hands after nearly three weeks of seeing her best friend sulk around the castle. They had finished their history of magic lesson early, and Draco didn’t waste a second in leaving the classroom. Hermione rushed after him.

He went into a secluded hallway and he was walking at an incredibly fast pace. Hermione jogged to become closer to him and she shouted his name. He turned back for a second, saw her then turned the other way, and said, “Not in the mood to talk to you Granger.”

She rolled her eyes and rushed up to grab his shoulder. She stopped him and seethed, “I don’t care about your mood, Malfoy. All I care about is Y/N, and you’ve hurt her.”

He folded his arms over his chest, defensively, but she continued talking anyway. “She won’t tell me, but I know she loves you, and I know you love her back. Why you’ve decided to be an idiot and stop being with her is a mystery to me. But I sure hope that for your sake, that you’ll make it right.”

She pokes his shoulder with her finger then she marches into the opposite direction. The sound of her shoes clack against the marble floors and she turns to head to her next class. The class was Defense against the dark arts. She walks inside her class to see her friend sleeping on the desk. She frowns, hoping that Draco would make things right. She walks to sit next to her and the noise of Hermione sitting on the chair, startles her awake.

She sits up, looking at her friend. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and asked, “What took you so long? Class was about to begin, and I know you love to have all your notes and stuff ready before.”

“I had something to take care of.”

***

As much as she was surprised to come to the conclusion, she had to admit that Theodore was a good partner in potions. While she would hate going to potions lessons because they reminded her of what she and Draco had, Theodore was a good distraction, and friend.

He wouldn’t talk a lot, and he wouldn’t mention Draco if he did, which she appreciated. He let her help with the potions and he helped her if she didn’t understand something. He’d make sure she didn’t make any mistakes, and if she did make any, he would help her correct them.

She would call Theodore her friend, but she wasn’t sure if he would consider her the same with him being Draco’s best friend. She still worried about him despite everything, she had to restrain herself from asking Theodore how Draco was doing. She highly doubted he would answer her truthfully anyway. She wondered if Draco asked Theodore about her.

She had her books in her bag that was slung over her shoulder. She was late again, she had overslept. She stayed the entire night up, just staring at the ceiling and when she got up, she noticed that she had already missed breakfast. Her stomach was rumbling while she ran through the corridors.

She burst in the class effectively startling professor Slughorn. He jumped, placing a hand over his chest. He looked at her angrily, and she apologized quickly, “I’m so sorry professor. I didn't mean to be late really.”

He nodded his head and smiled. She smiled back, and he continued explaining. She made her way back to her desk and she passed Hermione, giving her a glare for not waking her up. Hermione pursed her lips then looked away with wide eyes.

She paused when she noticed that Theodore wasn’t sitting in his chair, but rather someone else was occupying his place. It took her a few seconds to process that piece of information. Draco noticed her presence and he looked up at her. She turned around, quickly to see if there were any other spots in the room.

There were no free spots, and so, begrudgingly, with her heart hammering against her chest. She moves the last few steps towards her chair. Silently, she places her bag beside her and stares, a bit too hard in front of her. She doesn’t look at him the entire lesson.

When the break came, she just watched Harry, Hermione and Ron talk to each other, but mostly just Harry and Ron. Hermione and Ron were still on edge with each other, but they seemed more civil. Draco cleared his throat from beside her, trying to get her attention, but she ignored him.

“I’ve brought you this…you missed breakfast.” Draco said, showing a muffin wrapped in tissues in his hand. He tried to hand it to her, under the desk. She remembers the thing that she hates the most about their relationship, back when they had one, the secrecy.

She didn’t reply and she didn’t move an inch. Her heart ached, why was he being nice all of a sudden? He sucked in a breath and he continued, “I know you never liked to eat large dinners, so you get really hungry in the morning, you should take it.”

She hates how the gesture warms her heart. She gulps, but doesn’t give him any reaction. He shuffles beside her, and he sucks in a deep breath. He places the muffin on the table, and he asks, “Would you like to go out with me?”

That brings a reaction out of her. She lets out an incredulous huff, and looks at him with so much anger and surprise. He clasps his mouth shut, and looks at her anxious. She stands up, abruptly, and she shoves her things inside her bag, haphazardly.

She nearly runs out of class, but not before mumbling a small apology to Professor Slughorn. He squeaks at her rushing past him and outside of class. She runs, hoping to reach the common room. She hears Draco call out her name, and she starts to walk faster.

He rushes and grabs her arm to stop her from walking. She shoves her out of his grasp and she shouts, “You do not get to act like everything is normal and fine, when you broke up with me! Out of the blue with no explanation, and in such a cold hearted way, changing your seat, ignoring me-”

“I’m sorry.” He says, amidst her rant. She purses her lips and scoffs. She turns to walk away. She only gets a few more steps in before he traps her between his chest and the wall of the hallway. She sucks in a deep breath at their close proximity that she hadn’t experienced in a very long time.

“I’m sorry. Take me back, please. Please.” he pleads and she avoids his gaze. She smells his familiar scent, the one that she fell asleep to, and she couldn’t help the way her eyes started to tear up. She blinked them back, but knowing that he already saw them. He says, “I miss you so much, and I’m so sorry.”

He lifts a hand to cup her cheek. It still cradles her face perfectly. His calloused fingers against her smooth skin as he rubs her thumb over the skin, makes her heart ache at the familiar action. She brings her hand to his wrist to bring his hand down. He places his other hand over her own to stop her, and he rushes, “It was a mistake, I’m sorry.”

“I thought I could live without you, but I can’t. I can’t do anything without you, I need you. I can’t even sleep without you. I’ll do whatever you want me to do, just take me back, please. I’ll make it up to you, I promise. Please, let me be yours again.” he says, and he starts crying. His tears drip down his face and his lips shake as he speaks.

“You hurt me-” She began with her own eyes, becoming glazed. He takes his hand off of hers and brings it to cup her face. He brings her close to him, and forces her to meet his eyes. He cuts her off, “I know, I know. I’m so sorry. Forgive me, please, please, please.”

He repeats his pleas again and again, until her own face is stained with tears. He rests his forehead against hers, and he wipes her tears with his thumbs. He whispers, shakily and pained one last time, “Please.”

She takes in a shaky breath, finally noticing how fast her heart was going. She looked at him, and his glassy eyes, and she hates herself for starting, “You’ll make it up to me-”

“I will, I will. Every moment of every day, until you trust me again. I want you.” He says, and his breathing becomes more regulated. She grinds her teeth against each other in thought, she wants him just as much as he wants her, maybe even more. She whispers, “Okay…”

Draco breaks, and he wraps his arms around her tightly, moving from her face to her waist. He grips the material of her uniform as he hugs her. He started sobbing, and she wrapped her arms around his neck to hug him too. He sobs, “I hate myself for hurting you.”

He presses small kisses on her shoulder, softly. In the way that calms her down, and she wraps her arms around him even more tightly. She missed him and this so much. She threads her fingers through his hair, and he sighs against her.

They hold each other for a few minutes. She remembers and revels in him. She couldn’t do this again, she can’t have him hurt her again. Her chest constricts at the thought. She pulls a bit from him to look him in the eye, but he keeps her close to him. She says, “If you hurt me again, I won’t ever forgive you again.”

He nods his head. She looks at him and notices how tired he is from the dark circles under his eyes. He looks even paler, if possible. She forgot how much she loved the little blue specks in his grey eyes. He must’ve been admiring her as well because he leans down, then he hesitates, “Can I kiss you?”

She nods her head, and he leans down. Her stomach flips in anticipation, her body itching to kiss him again. He ghosts his lips over hers. She closes the small gap between them, and she feels the soft skin of his lips press on her lips. She feels her heart race too fast, and she parts their lips.

She’s panting despite the short-lasting contact. He trails after her lips, and presses his lips on hers again. She tries to feel content in kissing him, but she feels her chest constrict, her brain ringing, telling her this is a bad idea. She parts her lips again, and she says, “I’m sorry…I’ll need a time to get used to…this again.”

He nods his head in understanding. She presses her lips against each other tightly, and she brings him to a hug once again. He’s content with just being around her again. They stay like this until she feels her legs start to ache. She moves away from him and she says, “I should go.”

“Okay…” his face falls, but he gives her that small smile that she loves so much. His hand reaches into his pocket and brings out the crimson stone. He holds it out to her and he says, “Here you go, you can bring your things too when you come by.”

“I think I’ll wait a bit before doing that.” She says, scared that he’ll kick her out again when she does it. It would be easy to move her things though, they’re still in the magic box that he gave her. She moves her left hand to take the stone from his hand. He pauses when he notices his ring still on her finger.

“You didn’t take it off.” He holds her hand and rubs the ring with his fingers. Admiring the colour against her skin, and knowing that by now his name that is engraved inside the ring has probably left a mark on her skin. She looks at her hand and she lies, “Oh, I didn’t even notice that I still did.”

She moves her hand to her other one and starts to slide it off her finger, she says, “You can have it back if you want.” Draco stops her before it is halfway to her finger. He slides it back, and he says, “no, no. Keep it on.”

He smirks, and it causes a weird feeling in her chest that feels something like bitter nostalgia. She would always act annoyed by his cocky and arrogant attitude, but god, does she love it. He says, “You know how I like green on you.”

The words remind her of the gift that she had gotten for him a few weeks ago during break that is stashed under piles of clothes, forgotten. It was foolish of her to plan that far ahead with all that has been going on in the world, and without knowing how stable her relationship was. She thought it was, but apparently it wasn’t.

The school bell rings, and she furrows her eyebrows at the fact that they’ve been like this for an hour. People were about to exit classrooms and see them together. Draco leaned down and asked, “Will you come by tonight?”

“Yeah, if everything goes as it should.” She says, and he nods his head. They hear the class doors open and he nods his head once more. She can tell that he wants to kiss her goodbye, but she doesn’t feel like she should. She couldn’t help but remember the way she felt while kissing him, and how uncomfortable she felt.

He leaves and she heads back to the class. She moves to the potions classroom, and just when she was about to enter, her friends exit with worried, and concerned looks on their faces. Ron asks as soon as he sees her, “What happened?”

“He was just being an idiot.” She said, giving him a pointed look, quickly looking at Harry. Ron’s mouth forms an O in understanding, and he nods his head. Harry folds his arms in front of him, and he says, “Why did he follow you?”

“Just to pester me more, you know how he is.” she huffs and folds her arms in front of her, trying to seem irritated. Harry seems satisfied with the answer for a while before he asks, “Where were you the rest of the lesson?”

“Common room.” She answers, and he hums. He starts walking to his next class. They all walk a bit slower than him, and Hermione whispers in her ear, “What happened?”

“I have a boyfriend again.”

Taglist:

@urbansaint @angelofasgard16 @love-me-satoru

76 notes · View notes

klanced · 7 months

Text

i just finally watched the batman (2022) and need a repository for my thoughts

anyway yes i know i am the voltron blog but you all must understand. and this is key to my lore. that i am an insane batman fan. i haven't kept up with comics in recent years but i am a total sleeper agent when it comes to batman and i've been waiting literal months to watch The Batman (2022) and i finally watched it last night and have been marinating in my thoughts since. and also my parents are tired of hearing my ranting and watching me walk around in circles.

ANYWAY.

cinematography

this is literally the best looking batman film in years, if not the best looking one ever. the color grading was like a balm to my eyes, especially after the slog fest that is some of the other superhero movies... even with the constant rain the city never looked washed out, reeves and his set designers made such awesome choices when it came to fluorescent and neon lighting... the DINER SCENE!!!!!!!!!!! also omfg the way they made battinson the Red and Black Batman like what an excellent color combination. i loved it. i need to buy some of the theatrical release posters post HASTE.

more than anything this movie was SHOT like a comic book and so many scenes looked like they were ripped straight from a comic book, like i could visualize the paneling and everything... so freaking baller.

my family wasn't super impressed but i think it's because they expected an action movie but No You Don't Get It. batman sees the world as a gritty detective noir movie but to everyone else in gotham they're living in a horror movie and that is BATMAN CINEMA!!!!

when the riddler was arrested i was like 'wait there's still 40 minutes?' and then i preceded to have my mind completely blown. i kept questioning what reeves was doing only for him to IMMEDIATELY correct me minutes later. literally, let this man cook he knows what he's doing. when bruce lit the flare i didn't immediately get it -- and then the little mayor's boy reached for batman without any hesitation. and then the crowd began to follow him, closing the distance. and then he began to lead them to higher crowd. And Then I Got It.

2. gotham

yes i'm devoting an entire section just to the city.

gotham city is one of the hardest things to get right in any kind of batman media. like gotham is Not Normal and that should always be something hovering in the background. but many directors just don't bother because gotham architecture is so fundamentally different from normal sensibilities that building lore accurate sets would be both incredibly costly and almost impossible to do. but matt reeves tried and the movie was so unbelievably better for it.

bvs gotham was basically just new york city and don't even get me STARTED on how futuristic minimalistic modern the nolan movies were. ugh.

but when bruce and alfred were in their penthouse suite surrounded by fifty layers of gothic style trim my dad verbally said 'are they in a fucking church or something' and like YES DAD! that's the POINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! gotham is supposed to be borderline CAMPY GOTHIC like the city itself is not just a setting, it's a full blown supporting character. the city looking batshit is essential lore and PIVITOL to the world building that has produced a man dressed up as a bat to fight crime like you DON'T GET IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! batman is divorced from our reality but he is GROUNDED IN GOTHAM!!!!

actually side note i've been playing gotham knights on the PC and 1) the game is way better than critics gave it credit for and 2) GOTHAM LOOKS SO GOOD IN THIS GAME. THE LIGHTING IS CRAZYYYY. best adaptation of gotham city fr, i loved the arkham video game series but the panache. the style. it became so diluted after arkham asylum fr.

my one criticism is that reeves needed to make one more rooftop set it was so silly that all the characters kept returning to the same gcpd roof with the bat signal on it.

3. plot

FINALLY A MOVIE WHERE BRUCE IS A DETECTIVE. i've waited literal years for this. i do wish batman had been a little bit more active/proactive in the plot, i.e. not strictly following with riddler's games, but this is also early batman so i'm more forgiving of his rookie mistakes... however in the second movie i expect him to be on his BALL GAME!!!! give me plot-armor-borderline-prescient batman PLEASE MR. REEVES I BEG OF THEE.

LOVED this adaptation of the riddler. using the zodiac killer as an inspiration for the riddler was amazing, brilliant, showstopping, spectacular. and they kept a little bit of camp in paul dano's performance which i appreciate. i don't think we'll ever go back to batman forever levels of camp, but that's okay </3

there was a nod to the character of hush in the movie (at least that's how i'm choosing to interpret it) but i don't think they could ever use hush in the future because they already adapted so much of his gimmick for the riddler... but that's okay tbh i don't think hush is that interesting anyway.

at its core the batman was a buddy cop movie and i LOVED that. jeffrey wright KILLED it as lieutenant gordon and the dynamic between batman and gordon was amazing. excellent usage of our favorite future-commissioner, you could really see they already had an established rapport but their bond was becoming even stronger... their conversation in the interrogation room was so amazing, as well as their scene with the penguin.

my one criticism is that alfred became non-existent after a certain point. also lowkey the lego batman movie did a better job at the 'bruce realizes that his trauma has made him reluctant to form bonds or deepen them because of his fear of losing anyone else' subplot. lego batman movie on top!

4. characterizations

everyone and their mom has already talked about how this version of bruce wayne is more focused on developing his identity as the batman versus his identity as brucie wayne so i won't repeat those essays. but i will say that i have such high hopes for bruce's development in the sequel. like the way the movie ended with him emphasizing how he needs to become a 'symbol of hope for the city' reads to me as him preparing to finally re-enter gotham society as Billionaire Bruce Wayne and i am SO READY FOR IT.

but what i actually want to talk about is how amazing catwoman's development is. i love how much backstory they gave her in this movie. i will always love the nolanverse version of catwoman but you really learn almost nothing about selina in TDKR. but in the batman selina's is this fully fleshed out character. you can immediately guess what her life has been like. and her motivations in the story... the way she was prepared to run until she found annika... and then she immediately changed gears and focused on vengeance for annika and her mother... god, i love it.

cobblepot's character was also so, so good. you can intimately tell that he's a two-faced bastard who's spent years being a yes-man purely so he can climb the social ladder. i know colin farrell is going to rock the HELL out of that monocle in the sequel.

5. hopes for the future

i know it's too late but i reallyyy don't want joker to be in the sequel. i unfortunately think that's more or less guaranteed though since they've already casted barry keoghan. and his performance was really good. i'm just tired of seeing the joker in batman media. (inb4 keoghan absolutely kills it in the sequel and makes me eat my hat). i don't really consider batman to have one arch nemesis, only that the joker has consistently ruined batman's life more often than all the other villains.

literally the one hill i will die on is that reeves NEEDS to include robin at some point. PLEASE. you can't have batman without a robin, he gets so lonely. literally that's all i want. i want battinson to become a dad so, so bad. you have no idea.

and (and this is key) robin must be a kid. a pre-teen aged 14 or younger. "oh but that's so unrealistic, child superheroes totally break the immersion" well I DON'T CARE. FULL THROTTLE ON THE CHILD ENDANGERMENT. let children fight crime, for the culture.

[okay, okay. make it a robin origin story where dick grayson is introduced and is plot-relevant but he doesn't actively patrol and fight crime and only becomes robin at the very end.]

introduce robin in batman 2, and then have robin be a participating older teen/adult in batman 3.

my incredibly indulgent ideal batman 2:

at least two years have passed (bruce is more or less settled and has finally hit his stride). he has mastered air gliding and now attacks villains from the rafters instead of just constantly walking out of the shadows. i want to see arkham-level combat So Bad.

selina is mentioned, but doesn't really appear (and there are no other love interests.

actually wait i change my mind about joker. joker can be included in the movie IF the red herring "main plot" is that he's using a circus as a base of operations (because clowns and circuses).

i say red herring "main plot" because the movie starts with a joker crime spree, so you think the movie is going to be all about the joker, but then he leads batman to his circus base and it turns out that PSYCH! THIS IS ACTUALLY A DICK GRAYSON ORIGIN STORY. because joker's base of operations is haly's circus.

batman is snooping around looking for evidence and that's when he comes across dick grayson, age 10.

kid dick grayson. PLEASE. PLEASE.

batman decides to visit the circus as bruce wayne. You Know What happens.

plot plot plot

COURT OF OWLS SUBPLOT.

bruce has to balance hunting down the joker while also protecting this little kid he pretends he isn't totally attached to.

this is incredibly indulgent because i have no idea how you would balance joker screentime with that of the court of owls. idk. that's what's fanfiction is for i guess c:

i have decided that over winter break i am going to rewatch all the batman movies from 1980s onwards so i can revise my Batman Cinema power rankings. i will create some kind of metric or spreadsheet so i can grade and quantify each movie.

hell i should also replay all my favorite batman video games. because those are basically just movies anyway. and i miss kevin conroy :(

thanks for reading. god i love batman.

72 notes · View notes

romeulusroy · 1 year

Text

Being the Smartest Roy Would Include:

A/N: Loosely based off this Peaky Blinders headcanon I wrote ages ago. I love writing baby Roy!Sibling :)

Logan takes all the credit, of course

You were smart even as a baby

You playing consisted of matching colors and shapes, counting, naming all the right animals. You were speaking and walking and talking at such early rates, too. It was impossible not to notice or compare to your siblings

Your mother, the woman between Caroline and Marcia, brought you to doctors, unsure of what to do. Of course, they'd have to wait for you to get older to test your IQ, but there was a lot of good news. You were excelling at a rapid rate

You were given tutors young since you surpassed your peers with the smallest bit of effort. You were bored in your classes with your peers, so much so that you skipped a few grades a few times. By the time you were 8 you were already in a 5th grade class, 13 by the time you graduate High School . You were graduated from an Ivy League by the time you're 18 years old

Kendall was more than happy helping you with your homework, even if it was mostly pretend help with silly questions you got wrong on purpose

"Does that make sense?"

"Yup, thank you Ken."

His smile made it all worth it - even if you had to erase and fix his work after he left

Your language tutors taught you Mandarin, French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Russian. Languages are your favorite thing to learn. Your father is very proud when you can talk to investors, no matter how young you are, in their mother tongue

You like teaching your siblings as well

Shiv listens to you, go on and on about the different cases and grammar, and fun words you can teach her even if she's only half listening

"Do you wanna know how to say cat?"

"Sure."

"Gatta."

"Cool."

Despite your sister's tone, she really was proud of you. You worked hard, and you deserved all this recognition. Besides, you're something of a secret weapon for the family

Roman uses you as his own personal Siri. He asks you things you know, things he thinks you should know, any genius should know

"The meaning of life is complicated. . ."

"What good are you?"

Connor is in awe of you. He never really had the focus for school. It was never his thing, but you amaze him. He'd been reading to you since you were a baby. At first those playful baby books, but as you grew, the books got thicker and thicker until you wanted him to read War and Peace. He eventually had to give up, letting you read it on your own

"How many pages do you have left?"

"300. I'll be finished in an hour."

The older you grow, the more you realize your intelligence has saved you from your fathers wrath, especially when you compare your childhoods. You were never hit or slapped, Logan always treated you like an equal, or at least as close to an equal as he could manage. That created some issues in itself. . .

You were seven and already aware of the amount of money your father had, was making and losing, etc. Poor deals would keep you up at night, worried you'd lose everything and your father would blame you. Gently, you'd have to tell him not to take it, not wanting to make him mad. It was too much stress for a child

Connor tried his best to let you have a childhood. He took you and the rest camping, to the park, the playground. He took you out for ice cream on the weekend and played with real toys, not the educational kind, between classes and tutors. You could turn off your brain with him and just be a kid. It wasn't often that you got to

Being the youngest and the smartest creates some rifts between you and your brothers and sister

You know Kendall is named successor, but you have an awful feeling your father will take it back and give the title to you

You didn't want to run the company, you'd had too much say in it already. You were practically your fathers advisor from the time you were six. If anything, when he retired, you wanted to retire too

You wouldn't dare tell Logan this, of course

He'd call you lazy, stupid, question your intelligence and drive. That was your worst fear, was letting him down, like the rest of your siblings

You fear the only reason he even stands you is because of your mind, your brain, that if you had been born with an average intelligence he would want nothing to do with you

One night you ask your sister this, who tries her best to gently let you down

"Just be grateful you're as smart as you are, okay?"

Roman calls has you as "Baby Genius" in his phone

He has been working your entire life to make as many jokes as possible about your intelligence. You never get tired of them though, instead coming up with comebacks just as quickly

"Give it a break, Poindexter."

"At least I'm capable of chewing gum and walking at the same time, idiot."

He treats you like a person, which is all you've ever wanted. You never wanted special attention or treatment because you're so smart, you just want to be treated like normal

Your father, of course, wouldn't dare. He doesn't want to waste your time, your intelligence. You were born this way for a reason, and he will not put it to waste. He expects more from you

It's exhausting. Not just because your brain never stops, it's always working and worrying and overthinking, but also for the way you're expected to be and act and live from your parents

You're basically your mothers show dog - do some math problems, say something smart, get a treat, and then go back to your crate

Both your parents think your siblings are a bad influence on you

"Y/n, stop fooling around!"

"We were just laughing. . . "

"Well stop it."

Tom is constantly trying to one-up you, but you're just too smart. Not only with math and literature and languages, but art, music, politics, etc. When he talks stupid you can't help but correct him

Cousin Greg is constantly giving you math problems to do on the spot, which he then checks with a calculator to be sure

"What's the square root on 945,678?

"972.45976."

You never have problems with forgetting anything because you also have a photographic memory. This works both in your favor and not. You remember anniversaries, birthdays, things people have said in passing, but you're also forced to relive every time Kendall has gone off script and every time your father has lashed out

You'll never forget the last words your father ever said to you, about how much you wasted your potential, that you were a failure like the rest of them, that he was embarrassed for you and about you. He never should have praised you as much as you did

All you said was that you thought he should leave Waystar to Ken, Shiv, and Rome, that you would be done when he was. You figured you'd get it over with before he made any decisions, not wanting to be left in charge. Of course you had no idea that was the last conversation you'd ever have

On that paper they found, it had been your name instead of Kendall's, underlined at first, crossed out in the end. You have to reassure your siblings that you knew nothing about this, that you told him you didn't want the company. They still don't fully believe you . . .

Being as smart as you are comes with perks of course, but overall it causes a lot of pain. You're not as close to your siblings because they think you're your father's favorite. You try though, you try to keep up the relationships, to be close to them

306 notes · View notes

gatitties · 1 year

Note

May i request please Ryusei, Baji, Chifu and Kazu when a friend draws them/make a clay figure of them please ? As a platonic

Thank you !

─Ryusei, Baji, Chifuyu & Kazutora x reader (platonic)

─Summary: your friend discover that you are making a small figure/draw of them

─Warnings: none

Ryusei Satou

─ He caught you drawing him in the middle of class, it was a boring class and you had a good angle on him so you took advantage of it.

─ You wish he hadn't seen you because oh boy, he'll make fun of you telling you that you're in love with him as a joke.

─ You will raise his ego even more and probably every time he sees you with a pencil and a notebook he poses ironically for you.

─ Although he seriously won't mind if you draw him, he enjoys seeing how you see him even if it's silly doodles sometimes, he'll appreciate art just the same.

─ He tries to draw you back but let's say that art is not his strong point, you still appreciate the attempt.

─ He won't force you if it bother you that people see your drawings without your permission, but keep in mind that he will want to snoop in your notebook just to see his.

─ Oh and if someone makes fun of your drawings he'll be ready to throw hands no problem, only he can make fun of it and he's not even serious about it.

─ He'll definitely steal one of the doodles, cut it out, and put it in his phone case to take it with him.

Baji Keisuke

─ You had to make a figure of whatever you wanted for a class project, you decided to make your friend bust in a cartoon version.

─ So you both worked together because you needed some references, he didn't question why you decided to take him as a model since he wanted to do Peke J.

─ He's probably complaining that you've exaggerated his expression and that he's not so 'ugly', but it's the style, so you ask him to shut up and concentrate on his work, you're not accepting criticism of your work when he made a cat as if it were a ball with paws.

─ He will show off when the works are exhibited, proudly telling Chifuyu that this is him and that you have wonderful hands that would make you a famous artist in the future.

─ You will verbally slap him for being a hypocrite and for having complained at the beginning about how he looked and only bragging now that you got the best grade in the class.

─ He saved a photo of the sculpture and asked you to make a slightly smaller one to put in his room.

─ He will show it to his mother, proud of your abilities, although at first he said that he did it to take the credit, luckily it's easier to catch a liar than a lame one.

Chifuyu Matsuno

─ You casually commented that you were out of ideas to draw and that lately you were not able to capture the poses well one day.

─ He said that he could be your model to take references, although it was only a specific case, you began to trace his figure more times because this boy seemed to be posing without realizing it.

─ He won't mind spending entire afternoons posing for you, although he can't sit still for more than a minute because he gets tired quickly, give him a break, he never thought of being a model and it's exhausting to keep the same posture for so long.

─ Definitely he will ask you to finish the drawings that he likes the most and not to leave them as a simple practice sketch, he wants to hang them on the wall of his room.

─ He will also keep one of those little drawings in the phone case, he takes it as a lucky charm because the day you gave it to him he passed an exam.

─ As a thank you, he also wants to make a silly little drawing of you, although since he wants it to be a surprise, he draws you during classes without you noticing.

─ Chifuyu isn't exactly the best at art but you appreciate his scribbling attempt, you gave him an extra point because he drew your pet next to you.

Kazutora Hanemiya

─ This boy needed some affection since he entered the correctional and you thought of giving him a gift once he completed his sentence.

─ So you set to work on a small figure of him that he could use as a key ring.

─ He hugged you so tightly when he came out of the correctional that he almost left you breathless, he didn't expect any of his old friends to go see him that day and even less he expected a gift from you.

─ He will ask you to teach him the art of clay because he needs to start looking for other hobbies that do not include punching.

─ If he is good at it, you will have many relaxing outings doing this type of craft, if he doesn't master the practice, he will only ask you to make more figurines to decorate his room.

─ He definitely wants you to make earrings to match with you, he brags that his best friend did it to everyone possible, yes, sometimes he'll embarrass you because he spends exalting your work when it's not a big deal most of the time.

─ He supports you in everything, like if you sign up for a figure and creativity contest, he will be by your side on work nights helping you as much as he can.

151 notes · View notes

mooodyblue · 6 months

Note

hi lovely! it’s calla from @bellanotchewrites . i was wondering if you could write a lil sumn-sumn about a reader who has a crappy living situation (maybe their parents are verbally abusive or something along those lines?) what elvis would do to help them get through it, if he would stand up to their parents, if he would get them out, etc. thank you so much, and i’m sorry if this is too heavy (feel free to ignore if so)!!

-all my love, calla xx

ty for the request! hope this is okay 🫶🏼 i wrote this with a platonic relationship between the two in mind, but whatever floats your boat!

just good friends

pairing: elvis x gn!reader

wc: 1.5k

warnings: light cursing, verbally abusive parents

➸ masterlist

you were always weary of growing close to people. it was one thing hanging out during school and at school, but hanging out outside of school? a nightmare. their parents would have to meet yours, yours would come back to you immediately feeling the need to judge you, saying you weren't good enough to be friends with people like their kids.

but that's just how it was in your world. you weren't good enough for anything or anyone. even the best grades weren't good enough for your parents. you'd be lucky enough even to be let out of the house if it wasn't for something school-related. everyone was going out, driving around, and going to the movies every weekend while you had to sit at home and read or study.

then came along the new kid, elvis presley. you were caught off guard by him, how he was neatly dressed and had his hair all done up. he certainly didn't look like any of the other boys, not that you were judging of course.

he seemed to be the odd one out. he had made a few friends, but was soft-spoken and always tried keeping to himself. after some time, he finally approached you, noticing how you'd always sit alone for lunch. he stood in front of you, his lunch in his hands. “can i sit here?” he asked.

you looked up from your book, “okay.” you pushed your things closer to you and let him sit across from you.

the two of you didn't say much, he didn't seem to want to make an effort to speak to you. you were too focused on your book to really care anyway.

“i-i like comic books.” elvis blurted out suddenly, causing you to look up again. “like..u-um…c-captain marvel jr…you know. h-he's my favorite.” he added, his cheeks pink.

“oh.” you muttered. “i’ve…i’ve never read–”

“sorry.” he accidentally interrupted. “i-i mean….” he let out a frustrated sigh, looking down and shaking his head.

his awkwardness made you giggle, and immediately became friends in no time.

just like everyone else, you only hung out with him during school hours. you had lunch together and always partnered up during class, getting closer and closer each day. it wasn't until he asked about seeing a movie together, wanting to hang out outside of school hours. you explained that you had to ask your parents first, which he completely understood and left it at that.

your parents bombarded you with questions; asking who he was, where he was from, how you knew him, what was he like….it almost felt like a game of twenty questions except the questions continued to go on forever and ever. “how did you manage to make a friend like him? who knew you could actually make friends? are you good enough for him?” your dad spat, questions that made you rethink your entire friendship with elvis.

when elvis finally approached you and asked about hanging out again, you explained that your parents wouldn't allow it—it wasn't until he asked why not when you really…didn't know why. you felt silly replying with “i just can't.”, but that was the best you could do.

elvis didn't want to give up that fast. part of him felt like you were lying.

he tried asking you again to hang out, only for you to shut him down again. over and over again you begged and pleaded with your parents to give you permission, eventually agreeing to let elvis come over as long as the two of you stayed in the living room where they could see you. he didn’t judge you for having strict parents, he understood how some parents could get sometimes. his parents weren’t as strict, but his momma was always on his case about being careful just for crossing the street.

he quickly learned to realize your parents were beyond strict. they were kind to him once he had come over, but after hanging out for awhile—he felt odd about being around your parents.

anytime you had gone into another room, he could hear the whispers and judgemental remarks towards you for no reason. it was as if they were trying to make you feel undeserving of a friend like elvis. they had no issue bringing up your grades in front of him. you’d nervously handed them your report card, having all A+’s except for one subject.

he felt so awkward sitting there. it was like they were doing it on purpose.

“you’ve got time to make friends, but no time to focus on algebra? what is this?” your mom asked, pointing at the marks on the piece of paper.

“momma, i—” you started.

“we did not raise a child to be as dumb as you.” she spat, tossing the paper back at you. “i better see you both working on algebra. no child of mine gets embarrassing grades like that!”

elvis’s mouth hung low as she walked out of the room, looking at you and how flushed you were, clearly humiliated. “hey—”

“you should just go.” you interrupted.

“what?” his eyes widened, “i ain't leavin’. y-you gonna let her talk to you like that?”

you sighed, shaking your head. “it’s nothing.” you pulled a textbook out from your bag, curling up on the sofa and opening it to a page you'd been struggling on. “it’s fine, i just need to work harder.”

“the hell you do!” he nearly yelled out. “they don't even let you leave the house. you sit at school readin’ borin’ ol’ textbooks and dictionaries—you don't deserve to be talked down like that.”

“elvis, just drop it. okay? please?” you begged.

you made peace with your living situation. you made peace with being trapped inside your home constantly, harassed and judged for the littlest things by your family. it wasn't worth fighting back, it never was.

you saw the sad look in elvis’s eyes when you admitted defeat, just letting it go and staring at a textbook with you.

to your surprise, your parents let him come over again. this time, he had brought a few comic books over—hoping to introduce you to his favorites and to introduce you to something that isn't a boring textbook. you enjoyed hearing elvis ramble about his interests, how he stuttered his way through the plot of some of the comics and series he read.

oh, but you weren't allowed to have fun.

you were giggling along with him, a bit too close together as you read along with him—gasping and aw’ing at some of the different parts. your father walked in furious, trying to see what you were giggling about, his eyes red as he saw what you were reading.

he pushed the two of you away from each other and ripped the comic book from your lap. “reading this junk when your grades aren't the way they should be?” he said snarkily.

elvis looked up at him, almost in disbelief that he did that to him too and not just you. “sir, t-that's mine.”

“don't be bringing this garbage into my home.” he shot back, pointing the crumbled-up comic at him. he looked back at you, “is this why you've gone stupid? because you're hangin’ out with squrriels like him?”

instead of fighting back, you looked down ashamed. it was always better to keep your mouth shut.

“answer me!” he smacked your arm with the comic book. “you deaf now? huh? speak to your father when he's talking to you!” his voice raised higher, his eyes angry as he got closer to you.

elvis couldn't take it anymore, standing up. “that's enough, sir!” he got back in his face—blocking him from getting closer to you. “n-now maybe i ain't the smartest kid in school, but y/n sure is. a-and…w-well—goddammit, y/n is tryin’ their best!” he stomped his foot, grabbing your hand.

“elvis, don't—”

he shushed you, looking back at your father. “w-what kinda parent talks to their own child in that way?! m-maybe you're the stupid one!”

you stifled back a giggle, covering your mouth as you looked away.

your father was raging, looking at elvis in pure disgust. “how dare you speak to an adult in that way!” he growled.

“and how dare you speak to your child in that way?!” elvis spat back. “y/n is one of–if not the smartest kid i know. you–you lock ‘em up in this house all damn weekend, givin’ 'em no independence—who does that someone?! huh?!”

he opened his mouth to fire back, just shaking his head and pointing at the front door. “get the hell outta my house.”

“gladly. c'mon, y/n.” elvis muttered angrily, taking your hand to drag you out of the house.

“now, where do you think you're goin’ with my kid?!” he asked quickly, getting ready to grab at your arm.

“gettin' ‘em the hell out of here. that's what i’m doin’!” he quickly ushered you out the front door, nearly shoving you into his truck and driving off before your father could get a chance to catch up with you.

you turned around, looked out the back window with your eyes widened as your father looked as if he didn't know what to do. “elvis…i….jesus. what did you just do?!” you asked frantically, turning to look at him in the drivers seat as he drove down the street.

“what did i do?” he repeated back, scoffing and shaking his head before nudging your shoulder. “i ain't got no damn clue, honey.”

#divider by benkeibear #elvis x reader #me vs looking through my playlists for fic titles

47 notes · View notes

rikitachiquita · 8 months

Text

bananas for you 🍌 || s. jake

•synopsis: y/n didn't really enjoy science but her crush did. and a silly experiment on bananas might help her with said crush

•genre: oneshot, y/n x jake, highschool au, written (0,5k words) and screenshots

Science was not y/n’s favorite subject. But indeed it was jakes.

Obviously, like a normal teenage girl at school, since her crush liked one subject, she had to like it too. And she also liked having good grades, so studying wasn’t that. Either way, if she ever failed the subject she could ask Jake to tutor her. But that was her secret plan b.

Today was a very fun day, because it was lab-day. They would be doing some type of experiment related to the dna, the topic they were learning lately.

The teacher caught your attention “Ok class, today we are going to extract DNA from bananas” the whole class let out a little gasp, excited to be doing something different than usual.

“But before that, let’s have a brief introduction. Did you know that all bananas share the same dna? They are all clones! and there’s only one type of banana that is eaten in the entire world! That's why they are always endangered: if they get infected by a parasite, they risk extinction. that already happened in the 50s: your great grandparents probably ate a different kind of banana that doesn’t exist anymore because it was infected by the parasite of panama. And it’s possible that we won’t have bananas in 50 years” the teacher explained

“Ok now i’ll make small groups of 4 people to do the experiment”

He made the groups and you ended up with Danielle, your best friend, Heeseung and Jake. jake. your crush. This was going to be fun.

The first step was to take a banana and smash it very well until it was basically liquid.

“Smash the banana” said Heeseung to Jake

“But maybe the girls want to do it. y/n do you want to do it” Jake said

“I don’t but I know Danielle and she can’t wait to do it.” You responded with a smile and gave Danielle a funny look. your best friend seemed very happy that you mentioned that. She quickly took the spoon and started smashing the banana. Heeseung in the meantime, was taking videos to make a report later on.

“Do you know what she is saying?” asked Jake, close to your ear so you were the only one that heard the question. she was referencing to danielle, who was still smashing the banana, while also singing quietly the same part of a song

“Chulo.” you responded

“What?” asked the boy

“Chulo, that one reggaeton song that is really catchy”

“Oh my god I love that song actually” he said smiling fondly. his smile was so pretty that it almost made you mad

“Do you also like reggaeton?” you asked surprised, since he didn’t look like the type of guy to listen to that kind of music.

“Yeah I actually do, surprisingly. You do too, right?”

“Yeah, it fills me with energy, especially in the morning when i don’t feel like getting out of bed” you admitted

“Y/n, we should go to that one cafè place that only puts reggaeton together after school” Jake proposed with a small smile

“That is such a good idea, I can't wait” you responded, blushing.

The experiment was long forgotten

masterlist

• author's note: another fruit one shot cause they are so fun, i love them!!!! i did this experiment at school last week, so yeah i had to make this. i hope the science part is actually right 😭 anyways yeonjun being the teacher is so funny to me. check the other fruit one shots!!

#enhypen fic #enhypen x reader #enhypen scenarios #enhypen smau #enhypen social media au #sim jaeyun #sim jake #sim jake x reader #sim jake fluff #sim jake imagines #sim jake smau #sim jake drabbles #enhypen #enhypen fluff #｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆ ray writes

69 notes · View notes

webslingingslasher · 2 years

Text

Heartbreak Girl

TASM!Peter x reader

Genre: sad, fluffy fluff fluff.

Word Count: 2K

Summary: Reader breaks up with her boyfriend and Peter is her best friend. Peter is finally able to admit how he feels.

I wrote this for my friend who just went through this and is hurting a lot right now. She needed a little Peter TLC and I delivered. @bigbysstones I hope this helps a little on easing the pain in your heart. You're allowed to be sad, the pain won't last forever and take time to love yourself.

“Hey, hey, hey. What’s going on?”

Peter's words were soft, his hands coming up to grab your shoulders to get a good look at your face. Tears were running down your face, face flushed and breaths hard to control. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen you so upset, yeah you’ve cried in front of him. He’s your best friend, and it’s always been from a sad video when a dog dies and they give it the best last day, or when a soldier returns from war and surprises their kid.

He remembers you coming over one night similar to this, just upset and crying and trembling breaths. Your second grade teacher had died, which even you admitted to him was silly but you had loved her, she made school a second home and interesting. When you didn’t have time for breakfast or forgot lunch she always kept snacks at school. When your mom didn’t do your hair one morning she was there to fix it up for picture day. She was a mom away from mom.

And when she died the only thought was Peter could fix this, not your boyfriend.

Peter had calmed you down, he held you and shushed you while he ran a hand down your back. He had talked to you about it, he asked you to tell him your favorite stories about her to relive the better parts of your memories from her and not the most recent one of her death. It worked too, slowly the tears stopped and your breaths evened and you gave him the biggest hug imaginable because he always helped your racing mind to stop and take a break.

But tonight you had to go to Peter because there was no boyfriend to fix this.

“What’s wrong?”

You shook your head no, words weren’t even on the radar. The only thoughts circling your brain were breathing and having no boyfriend anymore. You couldn’t believe it, it had been a year. He was so good, he cared and he loved harder than you could’ve thought possible. Not anymore.

Peter couldn’t stand looking at you anymore. You were shaking and stuttering on sobs, he pulled you into a hug finally. His arms holding you securly, he wasn’t sure what hurt you but as long as you were here it wouldn’t hurt you again.

His hands were warm, his palms were burning into your back each time he passed your shoulder blades. His thick hands were melting you into him, at a point you couldn’t tell where you ended and he began, you were whole with each other.

And you weren’t sure if you were ever whole with him.

“I broke up with him.” Your words were uneven, they wavered and cracked. The admission made it all too real.

Peter’s hands came to a stop. He never really liked him, he wasn’t a bad guy at all. Peter could tell he did care for you, but not in the way Peter could. And he did love you, but not in the way Peter did. There were times he did things that you complained about that Peter would tell himself ‘I wouldn’t do that’.

He had seen you cry too many times, upset too many times, sad and uncomfortable and push over too many times. He loved you too much to see you go through that, especially because he knew better people were out there for you. Even if the other people he thought of were himself.

“With who? Him?” He knew it was a dumb question but he couldn’t believe you actually did it. You told him last week how shifty he got out of nowhere and started to distance himself but you weren’t on the breakup train so he’s not sure how you got to the station.

“No, my other boyfriend.” Peter rolled his lips in his mouth when he heard your tone. You snapped at him, like you were angry he was speaking to you right now. Instead of instigating he continued to hold you to him as you cried, you would calm down eventually and he would get the story but right now all you needed was for him to be there.

“I’m your other boyfriend. Did you dump me?” He spoke the words in your hairline, his mouth pressing a kiss to the spot. Your breathing settled and you pulled back from him, you looked at his shirt and felt embarrassed at the tear stains.

“I’ll loosen the wheels on your skateboard and you’ll fall and I’ll laugh.” You threatened. Peter’s smile broke across his face, “If I make you laugh it doesn’t matter how broken or hurt I am.” His words were supposed to make you feel better but you felt worse, your boyfriend- your ex boyfriend made it his job to make you laugh. When did he quit?

Then, the anger took over. You were so sad but now it feels dumb, he had changed out of nowhere. You can plan for a change in time or weather but you had never planned on him changing his mind. He went from the caring, sweet charming boy you were proud to call your own into someone you didn’t recognize or want to see anymore.

Even looking back now you weren't sure when he changed, it was almost like he was quiet quitting. It first started with Ted, Ted was his best friend and yours by association. So when Ted started talking about the football game they went to you hit your boyfriend with the side eye, because he said he had plans with his dad that day. In fact he canceled on you to help out his dad, and if he said he had plans with Ted for a football game you wouldn't have cared, but the fact he lied about it sent alarms off.

Was that the first time he did it or the first time you caught on?

Because when Ted said the words your boyfriend hit him with a sharp look that even had him tucking his head in his shell. Then when you brought it up it was a fight, and he never started fights. It went on and on and halfway through it had more to do with him yelling at you then it did with him trying to defend himself. You knew then it was coming to an end.

You balled your hands into fists and beat them on Peter’s chest. He told you once when you felt like punching someone to punch him, he could handle it. Peter stood still and watched you pound onto his chest, your breaths grew ragged and grunts were coming out of your mouth. You faltered and hit harder, punching Peter with more force than he could’ve imagined coming from you. You slowly stopped, your last punches rested on his chest and you broke into a sob.

You weren’t even upset at him anymore, you were upset with yourself. Why are you letting him get satisfaction? He didn’t even care. He didn’t even care. He didn’t even care. He didn’t even-

“He didn’t even care!”

You breathed quickly in and out your mouth. You pushed Peter away, you were telling him what you wished you said to him.

“He was so fucking mean! So god damn fucking mean and I dont know why!”

“He didn’t even care, Peter!”

You ran your hands through your hair, you felt how much of a mess it became and pulled at the roots.

“He didn’t fucking-” You stomped your foot, Peter winced but stayed silent. He was letting you express your bottled emotion.

“He pulled away from me! Like I wouldn’t notice. I gave him everything, Peter. He was my everything. I loved him, I loved him so much, Peter. Why didn’t he love me enough back?”

Your words dulled to a whisper, you looked down at the ground defeated and lost. Peter noticed you needed an answer, one he couldn’t give.

“I don’t know. I don’t know how he could do that. I really don’t know.”

You nodded at his words.

Peter squeezed his eyes shut.

“I wouldn’t have done that.” He looked towards you with lights in his eyes.

Your head raises to look at him.

“Wouldn’t have done what?” You were tiptoeing around the conversation.

Peter let out a nervous laugh, you put him on the spot. He didn’t like it.

“Anything he did.”

He shrugged and looked at you, he took a breath and continued.

“I would have answered you when you called. I would’ve drove down to Buxley’s to get you after Vanessa wrecked her car. I would’ve cried when Ryan Gosling died in The Notebook. I would’ve told you I was going to a football game. I would’ve let you come see my sister in her play with my family. I would’ve let you play whatever music you wanted in my car when I drove.”

“You don’t drive.”

You cut him off for the first time since his spiel. He frowned at you for interrupting, you held your hands up in a surrender and let him continue.

“I would’ve let you win at skeeball because I could tell you needed to win more than I did. I would’ve laughed at your jokes no matter what because I know you held it in all day to tell me. I would’ve done it right.” His words tapered at the end, he lost his steam. His confidence slowly disappearing, he didn’t even know why he said all that. It’s not like you were going to-

“Done what right?” You breathed out the words, you knew what he would’ve done right.

Peter smiled at you. It was just enough his lips curled up, his eyes looked almost sad. It wasn’t pity but it was full of emotion he wasn’t sure you could give back. It was vulnerability.

“Love you.”

He laughed a little, just enough to ease the tension of his words. His eyes swung towards the floor with his honest confession.

You laughed back.

“You already do, silly. You’re my best friend.”

Is that what he meant though?

He shook his head, he looked at you in the eyes. His next words were to you only.

“Not like a best friend. I could love you like you’ve never been before. I know because I already do.”

You stumbled a little. He said it, you knew that's what he meant but the confession made it much more real. You knew you loved him too, more than friends. It was always a will they, won't they with you two. But that’s how it’s always been, always on the cusp of dating or not. When you started dating… him, you missed Peter. You still hung out and talked but some things weren't the same. The hugs weren’t the same, you no longer sat on his lap on the bus. He stopped squeezing your hips from behind, he stopped loving you like you wanted him too.

“Peter.”

You weren’t sure how to say the next words.

“I get it. I really, really do. And I think I could love you in ways you haven’t been before either. But, I just ended things with someone and I don’t think I can do this with you right now. I don’t want to say no, I really don’t want to say no.”

You started to have tears forming in your eyes, you weren’t ready to love two loves in one day.

Peter shrugged his shoulders and approached you, his hands cupping your face.

“Then I’ll wait for you.”

He said it with no hesitation. You were his heart, and he loved you so fully that nothing would keep him from you. Time, seasons, boyfriends or tears.

“You’ll wait for me?”

You placed your hands on his. You sniffed and he brought his forehead to yours, his thumbs brushing your cheeks. He whispered his words, they were for you and him only. He would wait a hundred lifetimes to have one with you.

“Forever and ever.”

#tasm!spiderman x reader #tasm!peter imagine #tasm!peter x you #tasm!peter fluff #tasm!peter parker #peter parker blurb #peter parker fluff #peter parker x reader #peter parker drabble #my writing

449 notes · View notes

ambrosiagoldfish · 9 months

Note

Hello! Would I be able to request edric blight x m!reader. Maybe a small fix about edric asking reader to grom. Thank you in advance

A/n: I had a really fun Time writing this!! It’s a lot longer than a “small fic” but I hope that’s ok, if you would want to see another fic at some point with them actually going to Grom, I’d love to write that as well! Also please tell me if i misspelled anything. Thank you for requesting!! O_O

Word count: 2489

Edric Blight x Male reader

TW/ None! But there is Edric being a little self deprecating!

Grom Jitters

This couldn't be happening…

This CAN’T be happening! As much as he would like to complain about it, Edric only had himself to blame. “What for?” you may be asking. Well, Starting a few days ago Edric, may or may not have let it slip to Emira and Amity that he, may or may not have a big fat crush on you. He wasn't the best at hiding secrets, especially from his sisters, but he thought he could at the very least keep this one.

But of course, he couldn't, as soon as his sisters started talking about who they were going with to Grom, his mind immediately started to wander to you. He started thinking about the way your eyes light up when you talk about something you like, how you patiently listened to him talk, and the times you brought him snacks, even though he didn't ask for them.

He knew he had a silly crush before but he didn't realize how much he actually liked you. How much he wants you to be there with him, dance with him… just have fun with him.

“I want to go with Y/n” Edric sighs, it takes him a second before he even realizes he said it out loud. His back quickly went straight, he really hoped they didn't hear him but it was clearly written on their faces. The room was quiet for what felt like an eternity, but it couldn't have been more than a few seconds. But then it happened, the hurricane of questions began to be flung at him.

“Y/n?!” They both scream

“When are you gonna ask Him?” Amity asks,

“No offense but Y/n is way out of your league,” Emira says bluntly

“Rude, but… true. And I'm not going to ask Him! And even if I did, I doubt He'd want to go with me. He probably has a date already too.” Edric says as he slumps back into his chair, hands covering his face, excuse after excuse leaving his lips.

“Hey, don't talk like that Ed, from what I’ve been told by Luz and him, He doesn't have one yet.” Amity reassures him, He slowly moves his hands from his face, before looking away to the corner of the room.

“Well even if that's true, I think he would just laugh at me for even asking him that.” Edic grips his hair lightly just imagining the embarrassing thought.

“OK Ed, now you're just being ridiculous, you know he wouldn’t do that!” Emira says, nudging his shoulder a bit. They were right, Y/n wouldn't do that, He is far too nice to ever dream of doing that to someone.

“Come on Ed, you might as well try! The worst he can say is no.” Amity once again reassures. Edric Looks back at his sisters, they clearly won't take no for an answer.

“Ugh… Fine.” He stretches his words then leans back up in his chair, “So… How do I ask him?

The girls thought for a moment

“You could write them a poem?” Amity thinks out loud

“No, the last time I did that I got stood up”

“To be fair, you did accidentally send it to their mom” Emira snickered as Edric’s face flushed a bright red.

“How about you… bake him something? I baked Luz a Fairy pie when I had a crush on her.” Amity lists more ideas

“Hmm, I do get good grades in the Potions track, surely baking couldn't be too different,” Edric thought “Ok, Baking it is!”

“Ok then, so with that settled, we will help you bake and you will ask him the day before Grom!” Emria Said clapping her hands.

3 days later

“OK Ed, I had Luz ask Y/n what his favorite flavor of cookies is, and she also gave us a recipe she memorized from the human realm, so surely this should suffice.” Amity began laying stuff on the counter “I had to get the ingredients myself as Luz is busy occupying Y/n all day.”

“Wait, Where’s Emira?” Edric asked

“Oh, she's out grabbing some last-minute things for us, she'll be back soon.”

“Alright then, Time to make the best cookies Y/n would ever try!” And with that Amity and Edric began to work.

Amity set the oven to preheat as Edric sat out the supplies they needed, then Amity began to read the ingredients and Edric put them in,

“Then after the vanilla, butter, and sugar is mixed well add in flour, salt, and-” Amity stopped.

“And what?” Edric asked, confused but then Amity carried on.

“-and Baking soda, Now, I couldn't find “Baking Soda” but I did find this regular soda in the night market, but I doubt there will be much difference,” Amity said closing the written recipe and placing it on the counter

“How much did the recipe say to add in?” Edric asked

“The note didn't say how much, hmm will just add one can just to be safe.”

With that, they poured the soda into the cookie mix and stirred it until ready,

“That should do it,” Edric said, wiping the sweat from his forehead. “Time for it to go into the oven for…10 minutes and we can let them cool.”

As they are waiting for the cookies to bake, Emira comes through the door holding something behind her back.

“Hey, how's the cookies going? I got the stuff you wanted, Mittens” Emira says, handing Amity a bouquet of red flowers. Edric forgot the name of the flowers but he knows they are pretty common amongst couples on the boiling isles.

“What are those for?” Edric asks

“Ed, Surely you can't be that dense right?” Emira says a slight chuckle escaping her lips at her twins' oblivious nature.

“I had Emira fetch you some flowers for Y/n. According to Willow, these were Y/n’s favorites when she showed him her flower collection.” Amity said, wrapping a ribbon around the bouquet to complete it.

*Beep**Beep**Beep**Beep*

“Ah, looks like the cookies are done,” Amity said putting on an oven mitt and opening the door to see…”Um… Ed, we have a little bit of a problem”

“What? What's wrong?!” Ed walks in a hurry to the oven to see the issue.

Where what should have been “the best cookies Y/n would ever try” was a cookie tray filled with melting, liquid, cookie(?) mix. Amity quickly took them out of the oven and placed them on the stove.

“Uh no! What happened?! It should have turned out good.” Edric almost yelled before sinking to the floor of the kitchen.

“I'm sorry Ed. Maybe the cookies weren't meant to happen, we still have the flowers.” Emira said, sitting next to her twin and patting him on the shoulder.

“But I really wanted to give Y/n something before I asked him. He deserves more than just flowers.” Edric put his hand in his hand.

Everything was quiet for a moment until Amity let out a noise as if she had an idea. She slowly walked over to the tray filled with melting cookie mix and picked it up.

“What are you doing Mittens?” Emira asked

Without answering Amity walked over to the freezer and put the tray in.

“If I'm right, you may still have something to give Y/n,” Amity said

“What do you mean Mittens, you saw them, there is no fixing that” Edric felt like crying, of course, it has to be him who always fails to get dates because HE can't do anything right. First with that poem now this. Everything is a disaster.

“Just go get ready and Emira and I will handle it”

“But i don't have anything-”

“Ed, trust us ok?” Amity cut him off

Edric nodded his head and made his way to his room to get ready.

After he got ready, mainly just taking a shower and making his concealment stone make him look how he wanted,, he heard Emira call him down,

“Edric! It's almost time to ask Y/n come on down!” Emira yelled

He walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where Emira and Amity were.

“Guys, I don't know if I can do this anymore. I don't have a good gift, and-” Edric was cut off by Emira sticking something sweet in his mouth.

“You were saying” Emira asks i smile on her face

“I was saying-'' Edric tried to continue but the taste of whatever was in his mouth tasted delicious.``What was that?” He asked

“Our “Cookie” mix disaster” Amity said handing him another one

“What?! These can't be them, they don't even look like cookies and they definitely do aren’t melted like last time.” Edric wasn't believing it

‘Yeah, I definitely wouldn't call them “cookies” now, it's more of a taffy or fudge now.” Amity says, handing a piece to Emira.

“But how?-” He was cut off again.

“After I figured out that the mix clearly wasn't gonna bake, I decided to put them in the freezer to see if it would solidify” Amity explained

“And if you look at them, I'd say she did a pretty good job, right Ed?” She cracked a smile

Edric ran up to his sisters and hugged them tight while saying more “thank you” than anyone could count.

“OK Ed, enough hugging, you'll be late for you to meet up with Y/n, Luz says she's almost out of ideas to keep him occupied,” Amity said with a slight laugh. ”We can take my staff and I can drop you off”

They then quickly put the Disaster “cookie” mix candy in a pretty thermos container (Also bought by Emira) to keep it cold and put the bouquet of flowers in Edric's bag and made their way to Y/n.

When they got there they saw Luz and Y/n hanging out on a bench by the park. Just seeing Y/n made Edric’s body hot, and he realized what kind of situation he's actually in. He is about to confess to his crush, with flowers and food. It's pretty cheesy when he actually thinks about it.

But is he ready to do this? Some part of him thinks it may be a dream ‘This couldn't be happening, This CAN’T be happening’ he thought but he remembers everything everyone’s done for him just to have him do this. He wants to do this, he will do this. He can't keep hiding his feelings.

After a few moments, they land and they walk over to where Luz and Y/n are sitting.

“Amity And E-Edric what a completely unexpected pair that I totally didn't know was coming! It's good to see you haha! Luz tries (and fails) to fake surprise. She then runs up to Amity and gives her a hug. “Hey Hermosa!” Edric walks over and sits next to Y/n

“Hey Edric, what are you and Amity doing here so late?” Y/n asks looking into Edric's eyes

“I umm-” he clears his throat ”-I could ask you the same Y/n” He replied giving a smile, Y/n laughs.

“Well uh, I actually don’t know,” Y/n rubbed the back of his head “Luz told me she ‘had something cool she wanted me to see’ but right after she kept telling me ‘But wait! I know an even more interesting thing’ and it just kinda went for a while hehe” Y/n explained

‘What a way to keep someone distracted’ Edric thought

“But if you want to know all the interesting things we saw, ask Luz 'cause there were way too many for me to keep track of, she should be talking to Amity over-” When Y/n went to point he saw… well nothing. Except for 2 people flying away on a staff.

“Talk to you later Y/n! Eda wants me to be back at the owl house so Amity is taking me home, byyyye!!” Luz shouts while waving bye in their direction.

“Looks like they ditched us,” Y/n laughed “but it's fine, it's getting pretty late is it?” Y/n Looked up at the sky, looking at the dim red of the evening.

“I could walk you home if you want?” Edric asked hoping he’d say yes

“I’d love that,” Y/n smiled

Edric thought for a moment, if he didn't do it now he might not be able to on the way to y/n’s house.

“Before we go… You wanna talk a bit?” Edric asks, trying not to sound too desperate.

“Course’ Ed, you know I like talking to you” Y/n laughed

Slowly but surely Edric began to build his confidence to ask him until finally he tried to blurt something out but was cut off.

“So about Grom, that's tomorrow, isn't it? Y/n asked, Edric only nodded “I completely forgot about it” Y/n laughed

“Are… Are you going? Edric asked

“Hmm, I don't know, I don't have anyone to go with, no one asked me yet.” Y/n replied his eyes looking up at the dimming sky, “I might not even go, considering I don't have a date,”

“If you had a... date, would you? Edric asked another question while slowly shuffling around.

“Yeah, but it'd have to be someone I truly care for and love,” Y/n said smiley, he then looked away from the sky and turned to look at Edric, “What about you Ed-” Y/n stopped seeing the sight in front of him,

Edric Blight, on one knee, holding a box of candies and flowers in each hand, looking up at him,

“Y/n.. Will you please go to Grom with me? I've liked you a lot ever since I met you and I've been afraid of telling you how I feel, in fear that you’d hate me or something. But I'm asking you now.” Edric confesses

“Ed, I…” Y/n paused, shock written over his face. Edric began fearing the worst the longer Y/n took to answer.

“You don't have to if you don't want to… We can just forget this ever happened-” Edric was cut off when Y/n bent down and gave him a kiss on the cheek, a warm blush covering his face.

“I would love to Edric,” Y/n finally gave his answer,

“Really?!” Edric shot up, almost spilling the candy.

“Yes Ed, I want to go with you” Y/n laughed taking the candy and flowers from Edric before grabbing his hand to hold. “You want to walk me back Ed?

“Of course!” Edric replied swiftly

As they were walking, hand in hand, Y/n took a piece of candy out of the box and tried one

“Wow! These are amazing Edric! I've never had these before, How’d you make them?” Y/n said his eyes lighting up.

Edric laughed, “It's a long story..”

#the owl house edric #edric blight #edric blight x reader #toh Edric x reader #the owl house Edric blight x reader #the owl house edric x reader #Edric blight x male reader #toh Edric x Male reader #the owl house edric x male reader #the owl house edric blight x male reader #x male reader #x reader #character x male reader #the owl house #fluff #toh #toh fluff

71 notes · View notes