#people weren’t supposed to be allowed to camp out I thought but when I get there a half hour before distribution was supposed to start

[sokkas-therapist]

Hi hi hi! I have a quick poll question for all the Atla fans that were at Comic Con Revolution today!

If you got in, reblog and put in the tags what time you got in line. If you didn’t, reblog with how long you were in line for, and or what you heard/were told regarding wristband distribution. I’m genuinely curious, lol

Me and a couple hundred other people were in line for over 2 hours and didn’t get in 😭

[pigcowboys]

secret santa !

pairing: percy jackson x female!reader

summary: camp half-blood decides to do secret santa this year.

warning(s): pre-established relationship and kissing but, none, mostly!

a/n: merry (late) christmas to everyone who celebrates it!! this was supposed to be out on christmas day but.. uh yeah. this is slightly self-indulgent.

“you’re doing it right?” you asked, adjusting your position on your bunk bed as you tried your best to scrub out the nasty maroon stain you’d spilled onto the fabric.

it was almost christmas day and with that important birthday coming up, it meant only one thing for you, gift shopping. not that you hated it — honestly. it was just the idea of somehow disappointing your friends.

the stakes were higher this year considering the fact chiron had brought up the idea of doing a secret santa with the rest of the camp. everyone voted in agreement the idea — well, except for clovis but, to be fair he wasn’t conscious when the announcement was made.

soon after it was set in stone that the camp would be hosting its very first secret santa and then following that, everyone was assigned a partner.

piper got annabeth, annabeth got leo, leo got piper and somehow travis stoll had gotten clarisse. that last part was going to be interesting. you even got someone as well, too. not that it made you anxious at all, you loved gifting people presents — great at it, dare you say.

well, it was a bit easier to gift people presents when you didn’t have to worry about whether or not your gift would somehow make the person hate you and question why they even started dating you in the first place.

so, it was safe to say you weren’t especially overjoyed when you got percy as your secret santa. your mind went blank as you shifted to the side, allowing percy to slide past you to reach for his paper with his santa.

you eyed him curiously as he stared at the words on the paper indifferently before a smile flashed onto his face. he turned the paper so your eyes had access to it clearly, completely missing the moment when your heart dropped.

"we got each other," percy said, tucking the paper into his pocket. "that's lucky, right?" you merely laughed nervously in response.

"yeah, totally." not lucky, not lucky at all.

“everyone is,” annabeth started “why? are you changing your mind?” annabeth asked, causing you to frown slightly.

“well, no..i think.” you trailed off, eyebrows furrowing as you flung your sponge to the side. gods, you seriously hoped this would wash out after a while.

“i wouldn’t wanna spoil the fun.”

“plus, you’re curious about what your secret santa might’ve gotten you.” annabeth chimed in.

“that too.” you replied. "any idea what percy might have in mind?"

annabeth merely hummed in response leaving you even more conflicted than before. what if he gets you an amazing gift and all you get him is some crap that he'll say he loves, a fake smile on his face before dumping it somewhere in his cabin 'till the next secret santa.

you didn't want to be that girlfriend. you actively rebuke any allegations that may have even brought that idea up.

“i am so screwed.” you sobbed out, pressing your fingers against your face as you sighed dramatically.

“you have time, use it.” annabeth reminded you. she was right, it was only 2 days till christmas day and even then, secret santa wasn’t going to happen till later into the evening.

“just don’t use too much, shopping places are never open for late minute gifts.”

“right, okay..” you murmured out. "i have time."

those 2 days came and went sooner than you expected it to and by christmas day morning, you were frantically wrapping up percy’s gift, thoughts racing as you tried to not think about whether or not the gift would be cool enough for him.

he’s be happy with anything you got him, you knew that. didn’t make ease your mind any less, though. you stumbled out of your cabin as you rushed towards the decorated tree that was out near the forest, courtesy of the demeter kids.

to be honest, even if you liked christmas or disliked it, everyone could appreciate the effort put into decorating the tree. especially with all the presents stacked under - it added to the scene. you bent down, carefully placing it underneath the tree, not too close so that it would obviously stick out, but not too far that people would forget it was there.

this was a big camp, after all.

you'd made your way over the mess hall, scanning over it for any signs of percy before taking a plate and shoving food onto it. you spared a part for your godly parent and then made your way toward the table to sit with everyone else.

even with percy missing, the mess hall was still lively - believe it or not. everyone seemed to be talking lively about their gifts and what they were expecting, something that didn't ease your anxieties about your own gift.

it didn't help at all when your eyes finally settled on percy's own across the room, a small smile pulling on his face as he tended to his plate. your mind had been so zeroed in on worrying you hadn't even clued in on the fact he was walking over to you, taking a seat beside you.

"thanks for saving me a seat." you fought back a smile at the sound of his tired voice. he must've been knocked out sometime after sword practice. you hummed in response, fiddling with your food as your mind raced.

your eyes drifted towards percy as you watched him silently from the corner of your eyes. between the bed hair and the disheveled state of his clothes, it was safe to say that he had just woken up. despite the anxieties that swirled in your mind and the ansty fidgeting of your legs, you couldn't deny that percy was gorgeous.

though, it just brought your mind back to your dilemma. secret santa would happen right after dinner and then would be campfire time. how could you sit and sing songs at the campfire knowing percy had hated your gift?

"you're being stranger than usual, y'know."

"hm?" you turned to look at percy who gave you a quizzical look. "i'm acting completely normal."

"you've barely touched your food."

you stared down at your plate, it looked like a ghost had gently floated over it - devoid of human ingestion.

"i'm not hungry." you lied, slapping yourself mentally when your stomach growled deeply.

"mhm.." percy nodded along, trying to suppress the smile on his face. "what's wrong?" he asked, pushing his plate aside as he turned his whole body to face you, something that didn't go unnoticed by you as you locked eyes with him.

"just..thinking."

"about?"

you narrowed your eyes at him, ignoring the tingling in your chest as you watched him carefully. you really hoped he hadn't caught onto the fact you were just checking him out at this point, turning your face away in embarrassment as you rested your head on your elbows,

"stuff."

"what kind of stuff?"

"important stuff."

"like what?"

"percy, will you leave me alone!" a laugh, followed by his hand brushing against your back soothingly. you titled your head up to look at him as your head rested on your elbows.

"sorry, sorry." he smiled. "just hang in there, okay?" was all he whispered in your ear before moving back to press a sloppy kiss to your head that made your face scrunch in disgust.

"gross...you're so disgusting, percy.." you murmur, wiping the wet blotch of spit that was left on your forehead from the kiss.

"i love you too."

"what'd you think you got?" piper asked, shifting in her seat slightly as she waited for annabeth to respond.

"you're asking me like you don't know what i got." annabeth replied with a small smile.

"can't hurt to imagine."

you zoned out the rest of the conversation as you suppressed the urge to scream out of frustration. the camp chatted lively around you, cueing you in on the fact that you'd been cuddled up beside percy without once offering a word to him.

not that he minded, he was aware you wanted to be with your thoughts and he respected it. just..didn't feel very..couple appropriate. it felt like you'd been talking to yourself way more than the guy who was supposed to be your boyfriend.

"quiet down," chiron's voice rang through all the chatter, reducing the crowd to silence. he'd somehow managed to shimmy matching ugly christmas sweaters onto him and mr. d respectively. the image alone made you want to pull out your phone and snap a picture.

though, you decided against it, taking notice of the death glares mr.d had sent your way.

chiron announced that secret santa would be happening in a bit, receiving a series of cheers from some campers in the crowd. you shifted slightly in percy's hold, prompting him to look at you - a curious look on his face.

"you okay?"

"yeah, it's just kind of cold, i guess."

percy hummed in response before pulling you into him so you were resting against his chest. he rested his chin on your head with a small smile.

“is this better?” he whispered, to which you merely hummed in response, snuggling yourself against him as you tried to get comfortable. now, you weren’t a fan of those overly lovely couples that couldn’t keep their hands off each other in public but, you had to admit that being in percy’s arms felt more than good with the day you’ve had.

chiron continued on with his announcements, listing out the series of activities tomorrow and also stating as well that the stables would be closed on account of an “accident” that had happened in there. that part was received with a small shiver.

“that’s all i’d like to say, furthermore, I’d like to wish everyone a merry christmas.” then, chiron and mr.d stepped to the side as the festivities continued on.

it was time.

“wonder what everyone got.” you murmured, watching quietly as the rest of the campers hurried towards the tree decked out with over the top presents. percy stood up, offering you his hand as he locked them.

“me too.” percy agreed, sighing slightly. “gods, all i hope is that someone doesn’t make the mistake of gifting travis firecrackers ever again.”

“or a megaphone.”

“oh, yeah, i totally remember that year.”

“I’m sure everyone else does too..”

percy cracked a grin, one that cause your stomach to flutter slightly as you smiled back at him. he squeezed your hand before making short strides towards the rest of the campers.

you should’ve been anxious — you were anxious. though, your concerns seemed to slip away the longer you stayed with percy. the way he looked at you, it made you realize just one thing that you were sure a crummy present wasn’t going to change.

he loved you.

camp activities were fun and all but, extremely loud.

you’d figured it’d only been amplified by the fact that everyone was opening their christmas gifts and comparing what they’d gotten from each of their respective partners.

you could respect that, secret santa was no joke.

yet, you’d still managed to slip away with percy while none of the adults were watching in favorite of opening your gifts in the company of one another rather than the rest of the camp. and judging by the sputters of stars in the night sky illuminating percy and your faces, it was a good call.

“you think they’ll be mad at us for ditching everyone else?” you asked, clutching your present to your chest as you adjusted your winter coat.

“we’ll be back before they know it,” percy replied, turning to face you with a smile. he was always smiling. “and anyways, everyone else would be too busy with their presents to care.”

you sighed, taking a seat next to percy as you rested his gift in-front of you. percy turned to look at you with an anxious look on his face as he cleared his throat, holing his hand out as he waited for you to take the gift from him.

you looked back at him, nerves set ablaze as well as you exchanged your gifts, resting the wrapped present in your lap as you ogled the festive paper.

“so, truth be told — i’m pretty nervous.” percy blurred out of the blue.

“gods, i’m so glad you said that cause, i so was too.” you sighed softly, your heartbeat stilling for the first time this night as you shifted your body so you were turned towards percy. “i really wanted my gift to special and.. i feel like if it isn’t you’d like hate me or something.”

“i could never hate you.”

you paused for a moment. it’d only be a few years since you’d started to date percy, you should’ve been more used to his personality. yet, it never seemed to catch you off guard when he said these kind of sentimental things.

“even if i got you like..a smelly sock for christmas?”

percy laughed before shaking his head. you bite the inside of your mouth, frowning slightly as your face grew hot.

“sorry, i’ve been so quiet tonight.” you averted percy’s gaze, picking at the clear taping of your present. “it’s just — I don’t know, i guess i was lost in my own head.”

percy watched you quietly, leaning forward to cup your cheek as he planted a soft kiss to your lips, pulling back to stare you head on in your eyes.

“don’t apologize for something like that, it’s fine — really.” percy replied, his voice soft and careful. it made your body feel warm.

“if you want, you could open my gift first,” he added, moving his hand to rest atop yours. “that way you won’t be so nervous.”

you smiled, a genuine one. “that or your gift will be so amazing that it makes mine look horrible.” percy grinned back at you.

“let’s see.”

you nodded, turning to stare down the gift in your lap before you started to unravel it. it wasn’t a particularly big present, not that you minded at all. anything from percy was something to treasure. you moved the packaging to the side carefully as you stared at the small box that hit behind it.

it wasn’t cardboard, more like.. leather? or silk. and it was blue — percy’s trademark. you looked to him with a curious look on your face before turning back to gaze at the small box. you let your finger glide over the material once more before you opened it.

“percy..?” you mumbled out, voice barely a whisper.

inside the box contained a small ring that looked to be just about the size of your ring finger. your heart dropped at the sight of it — in a good way. it was pretty, careful patterns etched into that showed that it was finely crafted. and at the center of it, a small gem that was the same shade of your favorite color.

the cherry on top.

your eyes started to water involuntarily as your lips trembled. you were at a loss for words, how could you say anything? you stared at percy in shock as you tried to grasp the right words to say, eventually coming up with the idea to not say any words at all, leaning forward as you pulled him into a tight hug.

percy hugged back immediately, burying his head into your shoulder as he wrapped his arms around you gently.

you pulled back to look at him, tears pooling down your face as he wiped them away with his thumb, pressing a kiss to your tear stained cheeks.

“you’re..you’re totally insane for being nervous.” you managed out, laughing slightly as you choked back a sob. “how did you get the money to pay for this?”

“i saved up!” he replied brightly, a proud smile flashing on his face. your shoulders trembled as a warm laugh broke through your lips, causing percy to flush slightly in your hold.

“thank you so much percy.” you whispered, moving your hand to rest on his cheek as you spoke. “you really didn’t have to get me something like this.”

“it’s all fine.” he replied calmly. “it’s you were talking about, y’know.” your face burned with embarrassment as you smiled uncontrollably, pulling percy in for a deeper kiss.

you pulled away from him, watching quietly as percy took the small blue box you’d placed on the floor beside you and opening it. he held the promise ring in his hand, gently taking your own as he slid the ring on carefully. you watched him quietly before press another kiss to his face.

then another, and another.

and before you knew it, you were peppering kisses all over his face, taking the small giggles he emitted from his lips as a sign to do even more than before. percy managed your name out though his giggles, fingers digging into your winter coat as he tried to pry you off of him.

“the — gift!” he giggled, shutting his eyes tightly as you pressed another kiss to the bridge of his nose. “what about — your gift?”

“another time.” was all you whispered as you slid the gift away, focusing in on making sure you’d filled every single spot off percy’s with the feeling of your lips.

safe to say percy hadn’t gotten to see what you’d gotten him till a little later into the night.

[g1rld1ary]

you never disappointed me ; luke castellan x aphrodite!reader

part one part two part three part four

➻ synopsis: charles beckendorf wants to go out with silena beauregard more than anything. one problem: she's not allowed to date until her shrewish older sister does, so he and percy come up with a plan. (10 things I about you AU)

➻ word count: 2783

➻ warnings: swearing ooc/kind of loser!luke, ooc silena, she/her pronouns used for reader

➻ this'll be a few chapter so this is p1!!!

════ ⋆★⋆ ════

Charles Beckendorf arrived at Camp Half-Blood when he was fifteen years old. It was a wonder he’d lasted out in the mortal world so long with his significant stature, height enough to attract monsters, but Percy — his tour guide — guessed it was probably his more reserved nature which had kept him under the radar.

“Thank God it’s you showing me around,” Was one of the first things he’d said, “When you start things like this it’s usually all the kiss-asses that greet me.” With six schools under his belt, Percy knew what he meant all too well.

“Nah man, we’re chill. And if we get this done quick then you can meet my friends, we know how to have the real fun here.”

And so they embarked on their tour, Percy dutifully pointing out all the most important places around camp. First was the Dining Pavilion, where they met Grover as he chewed on some of the tin-can remains of lunch. Then came Thalia’s Tree, under which Annabeth was drawing out a map that Charles didn’t understand in the slightest but Percy explained was a strategy for capture the flag. After that they walked past the sword fighting arena, where they caught a glimpse of Luke in the middle of a fierce duel. They both passed quickly, and Charles got the distinct impression that you weren’t supposed to interrupt Luke when he was fighting.

As the two got to the lake, Percy explaining it was where most people hung out when they had the time, Charles faltered in his steps. Percy looked back to where he was frozen and followed his sightline to Silena Beauregard and rolled his eyes.

“Who is that?” He breathed.

“Don’t even bother, bro,” Percy replied. “She’s off limits. It’s a well known fact that the Beauregard sisters aren’t allowed to date — they’re only here over the summers and their dad is crazy strict about it for some reason.”

“But she’s so—”

“Self-centred? Shallow? Silena is all looks no substance, dude. You can do better.” Percy ushered him away but Charles was still daydreaming about the beautiful Aphrodite girl.

The tour was just finishing up by the Climbing Wall when they first saw you. You held the camp record for it, and so had been delegated the responsibility of teaching the younger kids. Today though you’d had to rescue a cocky bastard from getting obliterated by lava, singeing the fabric of your camp shirt all over your left shoulder, and you were not in a good mood.

Just wanting to get back to your cabin for a change of clothes and some ambrosia, you were certainly not in the state of mind to stop and chat with a new camper. So when Percy and Charles came along blocking the whole fucking path, you didn’t hesitate to yell “Move!” Pushing past them in a huff. You wouldn’t usually be so rude, but you were pretty sure your shirt was fusing into your skin which was so not what you needed. Plus, they were in the way. Beckendorf’s bicep was warm from where you’d shoulder-checked him with your injury.

“That’s your dream girl’s older sister,” Percy snorted, used to your disagreeable personality.

“That’s Silena’s sister?” Charles asked incredulously, “But she’s…”

“A shrew? Yeah. I’d watch out for her, and kiss your dreams of going out with Silena goodbye. Now c’mon, I’ll show you to your cabin.” Charles followed mindlessly, still thinking about the two Beauregard sisters.

When people thought of you, the consensus was pretty much this: Silena Beauregard’s older sister, and the most heinous bitch at Camp Half-Blood, a title you were extremely proud of. Whilst you really didn’t think you were that bad — in fact, you considered your actions quite reasonable — younger campers cowered away when you marched through camp and the older ones rolled their eyes when you spoke. Just the way you liked it. It wasn’t exactly unusual, camp had all sorts of kids living there, not everyone was going to get along, but it was pretty unexpected for you as a daughter of Aphrodite.

You didn’t get along with most of your siblings, despite all your efforts as one of the elder campers. You thought it was ridiculous that they wouldn’t participate in camp activities, regardless of the reason. What good was having all that beauty if it was wiped off the face of the earth by a monster? There were a hundred rumours flying about to explain you and your attitude, the most popular being that you were the secret lovechild of Aphrodite and Ares, which explained your affinity for fighting and permanent bitch face. You knew better. For one you shared too many of your dad’s traits not to be his child. Plus, Aphrodite had a long history of being associated with war in Ancient Greece which everyone at camp just conveniently forgot in favour of writing her children off as useless and vain. You hated it, and you refused to be who they wanted.

Even your favourite sibling was the polar opposite to you. Silena was a few years younger than you, and by all accounts was the model of a perfect Aphrodite child. Gorgeous, of course, and usually kind and patient. In your opinion, she was kind of annoying and self-absorbed, but you chose to believe she meant well so you could keep tolerating her. You didn’t know how the only two blood-related siblings in your cabin could be so different from one another, but it had been that way since you were fourteen and she was twelve.

You had made it back to your cabin, and your shoulder was all bandaged up after your shower. You were just flipping through The Bell Jar, your latest novel, when Silena came stomping into the cabin, waving a letter frantically through the air. You could assume what it was about.

“This is so unfair!” Silena whined, “Daddy doesn’t even know Ethan!” Ethan was the new boy Silena had been obsessed with recently, writing incessantly to your father in an attempt to get him to take back the no dating rule.

“What, can’t go swap spit with the vermin of the earth?” You exaggerated a pout. She sneered at you in the mirror.

“Worse. Now he’s saying I can’t date until you do, so now I’m going to die a stupid old virgin because of you!” You rolled your eyes and sighed.

“Have you ever considered there’s more to life than finding a boyfriend? Or, big shock I know, maybe I’m just not interested in the sweaty, uninspired pigs that are supplied here?”

“You suck!” She huffed, turning on a kitten heel and barging out of the cabin.

“You suck!” You mocked, turning back to your book. You knew Silena was really pissed at you for being so stubborn, but you hated the thought of changing your opinions over a man of all things.

Silena, in her frustration, was wandering around Camp Half-Blood to let off some steam. Charles, fresh from a kayaking lesson, spotted her across the beach and scrambled to catch up to her. Remembering what Percy told him about her not participating in many of the camp’s activities, he came up with the idea to offer his help to finish a project in the forges to get Chiron off her back. Silena seemed surprised but happy enough to agree, and Charles was ecstatic.

“She’s agreed to go to the forges with me!” He told Percy excitedly, and Percy raised an eyebrow.

“Do you even know how to weld?”

“Well, no, but I will!” As much as Percy liked the new kid, he was definitely a handful.

Charles’ first session with Silena didn’t go exactly as he’d hoped. She showed up already looking bored, and not keen to start off with a simple sword as he’d proposed. Soon he gave up with any welding, choosing instead to try and get her know better.

“If you’re not really into this we could try something else? I saw someone welding some metal flowers, you know, for like a date?” That caught her attention.

“Are you asking me on a date?” At his shy nod Silena couldn’t contain her slight laugh. “That is so cute! What’s your name again?” Charles told her quietly.

“Well, my Dad’s just changed our family rule — I can date when my sister does.”

“That’s great! So all you’ve gotta do is find someone who’ll date her!”

“One problem, Cameron-”

“Charles.”

“My sister is, like, totally antisocial?”

“Yeah, but people jump out of planes and stuff all the time! It could be, like, extreme dating!”

They both looked across the forge where you were working, fixing up your favourite sword after an Ares kid had done quite a number on it. You had on both your signature outfit and expression — long, practical jorts with your camp shirt tied in a knot and a dangerous bitch face.

“The oversized look is out, Beauregard, didn’t you read last month’s Vogue?” Ethan was hovering around you, trying his hardest to get a rise out of you in front of his friends.

“Run along, dickwad.” You refused to blow up at him, knowing it would only be used to make you look hysterical and unbalanced later. Plus, Ethan would get bored sooner or later and find someone else to taunt.

As Charles recounted this story to Percy later that night at the bonfire, all Percy could do was groan.

“Charles — Charlie — I really wanna like you, man, but this is probably the most stupid thing you could have done. I know they’re hot, but it’s not even worth getting involved with one Beauregard sister, and you’ve just gotten yourself tangled with both — and not in the way that most guys dream about.” Charles flushed at the innuendo.

“I think you’re wrong about Silena, I think she’s worth it. I just have to figure out how I can set her sister up with another guy.”

“Yeah, good luck with that,” Percy laughed, hitting Charles’ knee twice before turning away to talk to Annabeth. Charles spent the rest of the night trying to hatch a plan.

Early the next morning he got Percy on board, albeit very reluctantly. Percy brought Charles over to every single guy he could think of in your age range, begging them to take you out. The responses varied from a nervous shake of the head to Travis Stoll laughing in both boys’ faces.

“Why would I go looking for a kick in the balls?” He asked, still wheezing from his initial outburst.

They found themselves once again at the bonfire, both disheartened. Percy at having wasted a day all for this new guy he barely knew, and Charles that he was no closer to getting a date with Silena. Finally, somewhat eager to get this distraction over with, Percy came up with an idea.

“What about you just pay someone to go out with her?” He asked, and Charles considered the idea for a minute, it wasn’t half bad.

“I have literally no money,” He settled on finally, and Percy rolled his eyes.

“So you get someone else to do it for you,” He suggested, and Annabeth joined the conversation with suspicious interest.

“Like a backer?” She asked, at Percy’s nod she bit her lip, “I don’t know if that’s a good idea, guys, it seems like it could really backfire on you. I mean, what if she finds out? I heard she once tied a camper to the lava wall just for looking at her wrong.”

“She won’t find out! I mean she only has to date so Silena can, it doesn’t have to be a long term thing. She goes on enough dates for it to qualify, then they break up while it’s still casual and I can go out with Silena!” Charles explained excitedly, but Annabeth still looked skeptical.

“Plus, if we have a backer, none of the blame will go to my man Charlie here,” Percy added helpfully, which swayed Annabeth a little.

“Okay, well be careful,” She said, leaving for the dining hall to be distanced from the plot.

Percy thought the answer to who the backer would be was pretty obvious. Whilst most of the boys at Camp Half-Blood wanted to sleep with Silena, Ethan White was both rich and desperate enough to agree to it. Plus when Percy Jackson was telling you you’d look great with a girl, you generally listened.

All that was left was to find someone to set you up with. The boys used the bonfire to scope out their options, but it wasn’t looking good. For one, you didn’t even show up to bonfires if you could help it, and it was anyone’s guess what you did instead. Rumours said blood sacrifices but Percy was almost completely sure that was a lie. Truthfully you were sitting up on the roof of the Aphrodite cabin, enjoying the peace and quiet of the camp when no one else was around.

They were about to give up, Percy trying to find the right words to let Beckendorf down easy, when they saw Luke. Luke, with his brooding eyes and his cigarette, sitting on his own at the bonfire with headphones connected to a mortal mp3 player. Luke, who had never quite been the same since he returned from his quest — rumours swirling about the horrors he’d faced that he refused to speak on.

“I think we’ve found our man.”

It was easy to convince Ethan to get on board, he was so overconfident in himself and his looks he would never suspect that Percy or Beckendorf had any ulterior motives. It was equally enjoyable to watch Ethan try and approach Luke to get the plan in motion. Percy and Beckendorf were sitting with Percy’s friends on the beach the very first time Ethan spoke to Luke. He was all macho confidence, still trying to play the tough guy. Luke looked up at him from his place sitting on a rock, barely moving his head to give him any attention. The moment of eye contact meant Ethan knew Luke had seen him speaking, and the abrupt walking away communicated his absolute lack of interest. It took a gargantuan effort from Percy not to burst out laughing then and there.

The second conversation went a bit smoother. Ethan had a metaphorical tail between his legs, temporarily giving up his ego to be the smaller person in the conversation. That got Luke’s attention, having known Ethan and his antics for years at that point. And then Ethan explained his plan. Luke couldn’t contain his laughter — a sound Camp Half-Blood was rarely graced with anymore.

“Yeah sure, Sparky,” He laughed, almost wheezing in an uncharacteristic show of emotion.

“Look,” Ethan stressed, “I can’t take out Silena until her sister starts dating — their Dad is super strict and has this rule—”

“Touching story, not my problem.” Luke moved to put his earbud back in when Ethan stopped him.

“Could it be your problem if I provided generous compensation?” Luke had forgotten Ethan’s mother was filthy rich. He looked him dead in the eye.

“You’re going to pay me to take out some chick? How much?” He asked, entirely disbelieving.

“Twenty bucks” They both looked down at you on the volleyball courts, spiking a ball into a girl’s stomach with so much force she keeled over on the ground. You had the decency to look mildly apologetic while the opposing team glared at you.

“Fine. Thirty.”

“Let’s see,” Luke smiled something devious. “If I’m taking her out it means leaving camp. That’s a lot of risk I’m pursuing for you, plus the costs of taking to her somewhere — the movies maybe. And you know inflation lately, let’s say seventy-five bucks.”

“This isn’t a negotiation, burnout.”

“Fifty bucks and we’ve got a deal, Fabio,” Luke countered, knowing he had the upper hand. He had nothing to lose. Reluctantly, Ethan forked out a fifty. All that was left was for Luke to get you to go out with him, how hard could that be?

[cxrdycxps]

Cat and Mouse • Joel Miller

Main Masterlist • Joel Miller Masterlist

☢️ sexual assault (past) • reader’s motto is gaslight gatekeep girlboss • cocky Joel (needs a warning) • slut Joel • smut • miscommunication ☢️

This was supposed to be one part. It got away from me. I have no regrets. Part two will be up tomorrowish

Joel had a nod. It was a respectful greeting he used for a very specific set of people. He used it exclusively to acknowledge women he had fucked. Tommy had lost count of the amount of women he offered the nod to.

How he was getting away with making his way through half the population of Jackson, Tommy would never know. His brother had given the nod to nearly every single woman of an acceptable age range in town.

“Are you gonna start again once you collect them all?” Tommy asked one evening. He was trying to share a drink with his brother but Joel was like a damn bobble head with all the nodding he was doing.

“Huh?” Joel asked and Tommy only sighed, shaking his head. He took a sip of the watered down whiskey and remembered a time it was him nodding his head at all the women in down town Austin. He had no idea how Joel was able to keep up now.

Tommy was happy to have Maria now, someone to come home to at the end of the day. Someone to share everything with. He could never go back to giving away parts of himself to different women every Friday night. It was made all the better by the fact that it was Maria who chose to love him for all his faults. He didn’t get complacent with her love, he worked for it every single day.

While Tommy was driven to distraction thinking of his wife Joel had found a new target. Tommy watched him lock eyes on you and shook his head, pulling his brother back down into his seat. “Not her.”

“Not her? Why not her?” Joel asked in confusion, his eyebrows furrowed. He looked back to you again and Tommy could see the allure. The tight jeans stole all the attention in the room, your laugh was like a sirens call. But Tommy couldn’t allow it.

“Not up for debate. You can fuck every single woman in town but her. She’s not an option. You’re not allowed.” Tommy didn’t explain his reasoning, only shook his head. Joel grinned at his brother and shook his hand off. “I’ll treat her real nice, promise.”

Tommy let him go. He thought it was personal, that you were a friend of Tommy’s or something. Tommy had never even gotten close and he wouldn’t dare to. You were the choice of most single men in Jackson and some not so single men. But Tommy had watched you chew every last one of them up and spit them all out.

You played with them like a bored barn cat and a field mouse. You let the run rings around you and just when they thought they’d won you deal the killing blow with one lazy swipe of a paw.

Tommy wanted to hate you. Maria had to deal with more than one bruised ego and tell them that no, embarrassing them and breaking up with them was not enough reason to kick you out of the commune.

The men knew better. You’d been doing it for the two years you’d been in Jackson, seeming to take sick pleasure in luring the men in and bringing them down a peg or two. Tommy could only thank the god above you never went near the married men or he knew there would be hell to pay from the possessive wives of Jackson.

You seemed to have some morals, atleast.

Well, that wasn’t exactly fair either. Tommy knew some of what happened to you before Jackson. How the men had treated you in your last camp. They had done much worse than a little embarrassment and ego checking.

Tommy watched you turn into the tap on your shoulder from Joel as he played the polite southern gentleman, just trying to squeeze by to get some drinks. You weren’t fooled, Tommy could tell, even if Joel couldn’t.

And so the game began.

///

“Pardon me, ma’am.” You looked over your shoulder to find Tommy Miller’s brother with an almost bashful look on his face, his hand retreating from where he had tapped your shoulder. “You mind if I squeeze in?”

You blinked at him before smiling demurely, moving a step back so he could reach the bar and gesture to Seth for a drink. You shared a look with Lou, your friend that you had been drinking with, over his shoulder and she shook her head with a laugh and turned away. “Thank you, ma’am.”

“Well with good southern manners like that and a Texan twang you can’t be anyone other than Tommy’s-” You paused to look him up and down slowly. “Big brother?”

“You’re gonna tell me Tommy’s got manners?” Joel asked with a laugh, accepting his drink from Seth and leaning an elbow on the bar.

“Nah but I’m sure one of you had to have them.” You told him, smiling when he laughed. You were jostled from behind by someone heading for the bar and you pressed against Joel before backing away slowly. “Sorry ‘bout that.”

“Don’t you worry, sweetheart.” He was laying the accent on thick and you smiled at him, looking up from under your eyelashes. You rested one hand on his arm for balance when you were jostled again. “I don’t think we got a proper introduction. I’m Joel, Joel Miller.”

You gave him your name and stepped back to extend your hand to him. He shook it slowly before lifting it and pressing a soft kiss to the back of your hand. You laughed in delight. “Oh you really are a gentleman. I thought those were extinct.”

“Endangered maybe, I don’t know about extinct.” He still held your hand, his thumb smoothing over your skin. You blinked slowly at him when a particularly rough jostle shoved you into his chest. His arm wrapped around your waist to steady you and you apologized when you caught yourself with both hands on his chest. “You wanna watch where you’re going, buddy?”

You turned in Joel’s embrace, his arm still tight around you, to find Nolan. You fought a wince knowing that this game could be over before it started if he decided to run his mouth. “It’s fine Joel.”

“It ain’t fine, he can apologize.” Joel insisted and you couldn’t quite tamp down the wince this time when Nolan looked up at you. “Right now.”

“She ain’t worth the breath of an apology.” Nolan scoffed and you bit back a laugh. You had really hurt his feelings and you hadn’t even been trying, not really. “Dirty whore.”

“Now I know you ain’t-” Joel’s chest swelled as he started to defend you and you let your laugh loose.

“Nolan, sweetie. I’m sorry that you and I didn’t work out but it ain’t my fault and I ain’t no whore.” You reminded him, your voice gentle. “I think you just had too much to drink.”

Nolan stared at you for a second, his jaw tense before he looked over your shoulder. “Yeah, that’s it. Sorry about that.”

A low whistle reminded you that you were still in Joel’s grip. He let you go when you twisted back to look at him and found his impressed smile. “Solved that a lot tamer than I woulda.” Joel told you honestly.

“Awh Nolan doesn’t mean any harm.” You told Joel and looked over your shoulder to find the man with his back to you. “Being truthful? Me and Nolan used to date. It’s hard when it doesn’t work out. Jackson is so small.”

“Yeah, I hear ya. Always bumpin’ into each other after the fact. Can’t be easy.” Joel allowed and you nodded, a small smile on your lips.

“You sound familiar with the feeling but I was under the impression that you don’t date.” You stole his glass to sip at his drink and he raised his eyebrows both at your comment and your cheek. “We women talk, Mr Miller.”

“Well, like you said. It gets messy. And I don’t like mess.” He admitted, waving at Seth for another drink. You smiled and tipped your head back, finishing his drink.

“I quite like messy.” You told him, catching Lou’s eye where she was lingering off to the side. “Pity you don’t. Cause I don’t do one night stands. Nice talking to you, Joel.”

“Wait, what?” Joel asked when you grabbed your purse from the bar stool. He looked from the empty glass you placed on the bar to your back as you walked away, arm linked with Lou.

Seth rested Joel’s drink on the counter and he took it, ignoring the chuckling bar man. He found his seat beside Tommy again and watched his brother try to hide his smile. “Count yourself lucky. That’s easier than the other men get off.”

“That’s the problem, Tommy.” Joel finished his drink in one swallow. “There wasn’t any getting off. But I’ll change that. She’s sweet, real sweet.”

“She’s gonna chew you up and spit you out, big brother.” Tommy assured him with a laugh. “But someone’s gotta bring you down a peg.”

///

You heard him before you saw him. The thin walls of the greenhouses held no secrets. A fact that a lot of people forgot when they wanted to go gossiping.

Joel Miller wasn’t gossiping though. He was looking for you, asking Betty where you might be found. He had gone as far to check up on your rotation to find you today. That seemed like someone who would play your game.

You didn’t look up when Betty sent him in your direction, picking the strawberries carefully. You were splitting them between baskets, trying to be fair with the size and number distributions. He paused on the threshold but you only hummed under your breath, turning away to grab several more baskets to fill. He cleared his throat and you made yourself jump a little, spinning around to face him.

“My God, Joel.” You huffed, a hand on your chest. He was grinning at you, proud to have caught you unaware. “I was in a world of my own. Make a little noise next time.”

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind, sweetheart.” He leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest. “You’re not an easy woman to track down.”

“Is that so?” You asked him, turning to face him. You leaned back against the work bench, your hands behind your back. “What’s got you tracking me?”

“Can’t a man be neighborly?” He asked, an eyebrow raised and you laughed. He straightened up from the door way and you were in awe of his size, how his broad shoulders filled the space. “Making sure you’re doing alright after putting Nolan in his place the other night?”

“I ain’t worried about Nolan and we ain’t neighbors, Mr Miller.” You reminded him and he looked slightly abashed to have been called out so thoroughly. You wanted to cup his red cheeks and coo at his embarrassment. A big man like Joel, he’d hate that he liked you doing it too.

“If a man was looking to get a little messy, how’d he go about it?” Joel asked and you smiled brightly as his forwardness. “Asking for a friend, of course.”

“Oh well, you can tell your friend that I got a three date rule.” You told Joel, turning back to pick your strawberries. “I like to be wined and dined, not rushed out the back door the following morning.”

“And if he’s got a kid that can’t know. Can that wining and dining be discreet?” Joel asked and you shrugged, turning with a basket of strawberries in your hand.

“If your friend wants to come and cook me dinner in my home, away from prying eyes, I wouldn’t complain.” You told him, holding the strawberries out to him. “For your friend.”

“I’ll be sure to pass all’a that on to him.” Joel tipped his head at you, that infuriating nod he gave all the other women in town.

“Don’t nod at me like that. I ain’t a sure thing and I ain’t your conquest.” You huffed, annoyed you had already given him the strawberries. “You can tell your friend he better try harder than you do.”

“Yes ma’am.” Joel sounded properly chastised but you didn’t give him the satisfaction of looking up at him when he left with a muttered thanks for the strawberries.

You released a breath and smiled to yourself as you finished with the strawberries. He was such an adorable man for the sheer size of him. So quick to apologize when he was in the wrong too. It was endearing.

///

“Fancy seeing you here.” Joel looked up from the basket of blueberries he was examining closely. “Those blueberries hurt your feelings or somethin’?”

“Ellie doesn’t like them too soft.” He explained and you stepped closer to him, looking over the baskets of berries. You selected one and passed it to him. “Thank you.”

“I know how she feels. It’s kind of gross when they turn to mush.” You admitted, lifting a bundle of wild garlic and checking each leaf. “Friday evening. I finish work at seven, by the way.”

“Seven?” Joel asked, his interest moving from the open collar of your blouse to your face. He didn’t look embarrassed to be caught looking.

“If your friend is still looking to get messy.” You prompted and he blinked, nodding his head slowly. You reached for a red bell pepper and turned it over in your hand. “I mean, if he’s up for it.”

“Up for it?” Joel asked, reaching over you to pick a bell pepper of his own. He didn’t bother examining it, tossing it into his basket. You sighed and pulled it back out, tilting it over to show him where it had gone soft.

“Some men aren’t up to the challenge of having to actually get to know someone. Especially when there’s no promise, or even chance, of sex at the end of the night.” You explained while picking a separate pepper and handing it to him. He copied your inspection this time before placing it in his basket.

“I can hold a conversation. Just because I only usually spend one night, doesn’t mean it ain’t a damn good night. You won’t be the first woman I’ve wined and dined.” Joel huffed and you raised your eyebrows.

“You really know how to make a girl feel special.” You huffed, turning on your heel. You checked in with the stall owner and let them check off the food you were taking, ignoring Joel’s attempt to get your attention. The market was too crowded for him to navigate it as quickly as you had.

Joel was left staring after you feeling wrong footed again. He wasn’t sure how he managed to always mess it up with you. Saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, doing the wrong thing when things were going so good.

He sighed and returned to the stalls, looking over the produce in search of something inspirational enough for dinner with you on Friday. If he was even welcome at this point.

Joel didn’t avoid dating for the mess if it ended badly. He didn’t date cause he hadn’t dated anyone since he was sixteen. Fucking was easy. Dating was complicated.

He stared at the uninspired fruit and vegetables and shook his head, turning on his heel and leaving that decision for later in the week.

///

“Come now,” Tommy sighed, leaning back on your porch with a glass of lemonade in hand. He was regretting agreeing to be on landscaping duty this summer. He was getting too damn old for that old push lawnmower. “He’s not a bad guy. You could just cancel on him.”

“I ain’t cancelling on him.” You shook your head and Tommy sighed. “It ain’t really any of your business either. Joel and I are both consenting adults.”

“He doesn’t know what you’re like.” Tommy sighed and you blinked at him. He didn’t know you well enough for the way he was talking to you.

“What I’m like?” You asked, standing up from the porch swing. Tommy looked up from his spot on the porch steps. “Tell me, Tommy Miller, what am I like?”

“You treat it like a game.” Tommy sighed. You wondered if he was brave or just stupid. “You chew men up and spit ‘em out. You don’t care about hurtin’ them.”

Tommy was leaned with his head back, eyes closed to block out the sun. Like an idiot, he fell for the same complacent safety that everyone in Jackson did. You hadn’t quite gotten that lazy yet and so you could see Joel approach.

“God, Tommy.” You sighed, arms wrapped around yourself. You had yourself twisted away from the direction Joel was approaching from. “I didn’t realize you bought into all the rumors. I’m sorry, I’ll call it off with Joel if you want. I just wanted to get to know him.”

“You got no idea the things the men in this town say. I know it all.” Tommy sighed. “Just leave Joel out of it.”

“I’m sorry.” You repeated, mouth downturned. “He was nice to me, ain’t too many men been nice to me in my life. He was safe. He stood up to Nolan when he called me a whore the other day. No one ever stood up for me before.”

Tommy looked up when your voice turned thick, suspicious eyes cracked at you. Joel cleared his throat and Tommy knew instantly. You had to give it to Tommy, you liked him. He was loyal to his wife and he took no bullshit from anyone. But he wasn’t going to get in your way.

“Joel!” You put as much surprise into your voice as you could without over playing your part. “We gotta put a bell on you or somethin’.”

“Joel-” Tommy tried but his brother only shook his head, not listening.

“Listen Joel, I hate to do this but I don’t think I can have dinner on Friday.” You padded down the porch steps. You hadn’t put on actual clothes yet, enjoying a rare day off to lounge around in shorts and a camisole. You knew it was working in your favor when Joel smiled gently at you.

“You ain’t cancelling on me cause my brother is an idiot. I’m a big boy, I make my own decisions. I’ll be here Friday and you’ll eat dinner with me.” Joel insisted and you looked back at Tommy who had his jaw clenched.

“I don’t wanna cause any trouble.” You insisted, blinking up at Joel. He only shook his head, raising his hand to tuck some of your hair back. “Honestly Joel, Tommy is right. I got a bit of a reputation with the men in town. I don’t know why I can’t get it right.”

“Let me worry about Tommy.” Joel promised, a dark glance in the direction of his brother. “It’s just dinner, Sweetheart. I ain’t proposing.”

“If you’re sure? I’ll understand if you-”

“Aht. None of that. I’ll be here, with bells on if that’s what you want. Now if you don’t mind I’m gonna have some words with that brother of mine.” Joel leaned forward and kissed your cheek softly. You smiled up at him and had to shake yourself from the distraction of how gentle his lips felt against you.

“I’m working.” Tommy was sat up on the porch now, eyes narrowed at you both. You fought the urge to smirk at him, you didn’t actually want to come between the Miller men. “Got lawns to mow.”

“I’ll keep you company. Make sure you ain’t running your mouth.” You turned back to Joel with a small smile.

“You want some lemonade?” You asked him softly and he smiled down at you, nodding.

“Honey, if it’s you offerin’ I’d probably accept puddle water.” You laughed lightly, heading back for the porch where one very grouchy Tommy Miller was sitting. He narrowed his eyes at you while you passed him and only looked away when Joel cleared his throat.

You paused once you were out of sight and listened to the pair of brothers grumbling at each other.

“You mind your goddamn business. I’m a grown man, I think I’d know if I was being manipulated.” Joel snapped at Tommy who only sighed.

“You got no idea.”

///

“I gotta admit, I’m impressed.” You were sitting on the counter by your oven, watching Joel cook. Your bare heels were kicking off the cupboard doors under the counter, giving a rhythmic background noise to join the sound of bubbling from the pots. “Kind of expected you to be a microwave man.”

“I can be.” He admitted with a laugh and you smiled, staring down at the stir fry he had chosen to cook for you. He claimed it covered all the bases; light enough for the summer heat, filling if you were a vegetarian, and easy enough that getting distracted by talking to you wouldn’t ruin the meal. “Most nights I’ll have a baked potato done in the microwave.”

You wrinkled your nose at him but he only shrugged at you. “Don’t knock it ‘til you try it.”

“I’m gonna knock it. I don’t need to try it.” You laughed and hopped off the counter, heading for your drink cabinet. “Whiskey?”

“Mm, no. Check my bag there, brought you a little somethin’.” You smiled at him before ducking into the hallway where he had left his bag. Opening the zip and exposing the contents had you calling Joel’s name in delight.

You carried the bottles back into the kitchen and held them up. Joel laughed at your giddy smile when you placed one bottle down and moved to open the other one. “Where’d you find actual wine?”

“We had a patrol a couple of weeks ago into a new town. Found a couple of them.” He told you, watching as you swapped the whiskey glasses for wine ones.

“Would you like a glass now?” You offered and he nodded with a smile when you carried one over to him. “You really took me seriously.”

“Wined and dined, Sweetheart. I’m a man of my word.” You took your place alongside him again and watched him check that the noodles were cooked. He’d had to trade a day of labour in the stables for the noodles. He really had pulled out all the stops.

“Color me impressed.” You sipped at your wine and nudged his hip with your knee. “I should’ve never doubted your skills.”

“Ah, I owe you an apology for that. I ain’t treating you how I treat other women. I know this isn’t just one night.” Joel promised and you smiled softly. “I keep putting my foot in my mouth around you. Can’t think straight when it comes to you, I guess.”

“Charmer.” You rolled your eyes and hopped off the counter again. You stole both wine glasses and placed them on the table, bringing Joel the plates so he could serve up dinner.

You had set either side of the small dining room table but Joel only shook his head, moving his place setting so he was sitting at your right hand side, closer than you had put him. “How are we supposed to get to know each other from that far away?”

“It’s like a foot and a half?” You asked, eyebrows raised. He only shook his head again, settling himself in and taking a sip of his wine. You couldn’t help but laugh at him.

You hadn’t actually thought about the conversation during dinner and you had the sudden thought that it could be awkward. Joel didn’t share those sentiments, talking away about anything that entered his mind.

He was funny, which was surprising. Being hot and having a personality was a rare deal when it came to the men of Jackson. Everything about Joel surprised you. He kept your glass topped up and even washed the dishes when you both finished with the meal.

You found yourself checked up at the end of your sofa, facing Joel who was telling you about running into a giraffe living wild in Salt Lake City. You couldn’t believe him, expressing your jealousy.

“It was kind of surreal like everything I’ve seen in the last twenty five years and a giraffe is what seems the most unrealistic?” Joel laughed. You shifted against the couch cushion with a laugh and the wine in your glass spilled out and splashed your top making you gasp at the cool of it.

“Shit, sorry.” You leaned forward, pulling the fabric away from your chest and Joel held a hand out, taking your glass from you. “Gimme a second.”

You hurried up to your room, swapping your blouse for another. At the last second you paused in your doorway and swapped your blouse for a thin camisole. Another pause had you unhooking your bra and tossing it in the direction of your hamper. You admired yourself for a moment in the mirror before heading back to Joel.

He held your wine glass out to you with a gentle smile. You took the middle sofa cushion this time, moving you closer to Joel who let his eyes dip down just barely. “I’ve always been clumsy.”

“Is that right?” He asked and you nodded, finishing your glass of wine in one final swallow. “Maybe I should head out.”

“You could.” You nodded, placing your glass on your coffee table. “In fact you probably should. But I don’t want you to.”

“What do you want?” Joel asked you softly when you straightened up, inches between your faces. He was holding himself back, you could see it. Any of those other women he would’ve already pinned to the sofa and fucked them until they screamed.

“I don’t do this. I don’t do one nights.” You whispered quietly. His jaw clenched and you swallowed nervously. “It makes me feel cheap and dirty to be used like that and wake up alone in the morning.”

“What do you want? Do you want me to leave now? Because I’ll go, Sweetheart.” He promised you softly. “If you want me to stay and be here when you wake up tomorrow then I will. And I’ll come back for dinner too.”

“Awful presumptuous, Mr Miller.” You laughed, fingers twisting together in an attempt to gather your courage. “Stay?”

“Set the pace.” He whispered and his breath fanned against your lips. Your hand moved up to wrap around the back of his neck and pull him closer, your lips pressing to his.

You pressed against him, shifting so that you were straddling his lap, your tongue pressing into his mouth. He pulled you to grind against him, his big hands on your hips. You couldn’t help but moaning his name against his mouth. “Feel’s so good.”

“Tell me what you want.” He groaned when you shifted in his lap, rubbing right up against him.

“Take me to bed, Joel.”

///

You groaned against you pillow and squinted against the morning sun. You hadn’t bothered to pull your curtains last night, what with Joel fucking you into the mattress and all.

The man in question was wrapped around you from behind, still asleep it seemed. Well, most of him was asleep. He was making small aborted moves with his hips, rubbing up against the small of your back.

You shifted against him, turning in his grip to tap at his cheek gently. He shook his head and burrowed into your neck before freezing. You ran your fingers through his hair and scratched at his scalp. “Morning.”

He grunted something that sounded like a good morning and you slid your hand down between you both, circling him in your hand. He pulled his head back and blinked at you. “I think I might a little too sore for round two. But if this is okay?”

“More’n okay. You don’t need to though.” Joel promised and you smiled, pressing a kiss to his cheek, pumping your hand. The little movements he had been making had been enough to have his tip wet. You paused to lick the palm of your hand and resumed your movements. Joel groaned, head tipped back and tendons in his neck straining. “So fucking good.”

You wrapped one leg up on his hip and every time he bucked into your hand he pressed between your legs. You had no desire to let him push inside of you again but you couldn’t help the small moans Everytime he pushed through your wet slit, the head of his cock was kissing your clit.

He took control of the speed, deliberately moving so that you felt each slide of his cock, his own hand closing over yours and tightening your grip. “So wet for me, Sweetheart. Gotta treat that pussy good after all the abuse I gave it last night.”

You whined against his neck, your breath coming faster. He was hitting against you perfectly and you couldn’t remember ever feeling this good with another person before. Your free hand pressed against Joel’s chest, nails digging into his chest. “Fucking, right there, please. Please.”

“Cum for me. Come on. Cum for me.” Joel demanded and you wanted to scoff at him, the same words coming from the mouth of every man you slept with. But Joel wasn’t every man. Joel was better. You shuddered against him as your orgasm hit, your hand falling away from his cock. He took over, pumping himself through his own orgasm which splashed against your stomach.

“Fuck.” You pulled away from Joel, the heat and sweat making you grimace. You collapsed onto your back and he did the same, chest raising and falling quickly. “Good morning is right.”

“A very good morning.” He agreed with a grunt. You couldn’t help the giggles, pushing yourself out of the bed. “Where’re you going?”

“To shower while you’re making that breakfast you promised me.” You reminded him and his brow furrowed.

“I didn’t promise breakfast. In fact it’s time you make a meal.” Joel teased with a grin and you shook your head, pulling on your robe.

“You promised last night. I asked if you’d really stay the night and you said you’d make breakfast.” You reminded him and he scrunched up his face in an effort to remember and you smiled at him, leaning against your dresser.

He looked immaculate in the morning, so big and broad. His chest was covered in hair that tapered down to a trail on his stomach. He looked up and you laughed.

“You were right about to fuck me? Less than an inch away and I asked you if you would definitely be there when I woke.” You reminded him and he nodded.

“Ah yes, I would’ve promised anything to get into your pussy at that point.” He laughed and you froze in place, your smile slipping from your lips. You pulled your robe tighter around yourself and swallowed.

“Is that right?” You asked, your voice cold. “Anything to get your way, huh?”

He paused, arching his neck up to look at you again. At your expression he pushed up on his elbows and you narrowed your eyes at him. “Not like that. I didn’t mean that how it sounded.”

“I’d like you to leave. Now.” You knew what was happening. He had agreed to play the game but now he was changing the rules.

He scrambled up on the bed and got tangled in the blankets. A knock on your front door had him freezing in place. You paused too, wondering who in their right mind was at your door at this hour on a Saturday. You stared at Joel for a second before tying your robe and hurrying down the stairs.

The door swung open to find Ellie who appraised you, eyebrows raised. “Tommy said Joel would be here. I need him.”

“You can have him.” You promised her, turning to find Joel on the stairs, buttoning his shirt. “You’re needed.”

“Yeah, I heard. ” Joel said, his voice angry. Ellie looked between you both and shrugged.

“You didn’t come home. There’s a leak in the bathroom. Tommy said I’d find you here.” She explained and Joel looked at you and away again. Tommy had done enough home improvement for you to know one thing.

“Oh my god.” You looked between Ellie and Joel and felt physically sick. “You organized a bail out if you stayed the night.”

“It’s not with it looks like.” Joel promised and you scoffed, tossing his bag at him from the hallway floor.

“Get the fuck out of here. And don’t bother coming back.”

[clarisse0o]

Camp Wiegman-Part 65

Lucy Bronze x Ona Batlle

Alternative Universe : Military School

Words : 5k

Masterlist

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Tuesday, March 2nd; 4:50 p.m. - in Class  

I tap my foot while staring at my watch. The end is near. Like most days, we finish with Management, with Mr. Johnson. There's not a single day we don't see him anyway. Today, our two hours were interesting. For once, I more or less understood what we were working on. We even ended with exercises that I finished before most of my classmates. He announced that we would correct them in the next class, and they would count as homework if we hadn't finished. That's good news. I've already completed my other assignments, so besides having my exercises checked in this class, I won't have anything to do. There are still a few minutes left, so I wait, tapping my foot impatiently. It’s dragging on. Only five minutes have passed, and ten remain before the bell rings.

"Have you already finished?" Alessia murmurs.

"Mm-hmm."

"You're starting to outdo me," she jokes.

I giggle softly, shrugging. I'm lucky to understand things easily. Lucy definitely had something to do with it because, before, Management and I were not on good terms.

"Could you stop tapping your foot?"

"Sorry."

I stop immediately. In truth, I’m eager because I plan to meet Lucy after this last class. I’ve noticed that toward the end of the year, people are much calmer, so it’s the perfect time to spend time with her. She doesn't have to look after as many students anymore. Of course, she has spent a lot of time focusing on me, but I know she’s been responsible for several first-year students. When I asked her about it again on Sunday, she said she’d released many after two months since they weren’t rebels—like me. As for the others, she explained that Wiegman reassigned the toughest cases to Ingrid when I arrived so Lucy could prioritize me. She was right to do that, and I’m grateful. I admit that I must have been quite a handful when I arrived. I often regret being so cold and difficult. Mr. Johnson interrupts my thoughts by standing up from his chair, catching the attention of several students, including Alessia, who was still working on the exercises. It’s surprising because, according to my watch, there are still five minutes left. I doubt he’s going to let us go early.

"Alright, we’ll stop for today. You can pack your things, and as I mentioned earlier, the rest is due tomorrow. I’ll check that everything’s been done."

"Are you letting us out early?" a student asks.

"No, I have something to discuss with you."

Several groans echo throughout the room at this news.

"Yes, yes, I know. It’s so boring being stuck here with me," he mocks. "If I finish what I have to say quickly, we can renegotiate," he adds.

Strangely, everyone quickly starts packing up. He waits until they’re done to get everyone’s attention.

"Alright. I wanted to let you know that your class has been granted a field trip. We’ll be visiting a nearby industrial company to show you how it operates."

He begins distributing papers to everyone.

"Obviously, I expect this exercise to benefit you, so attached, you’ll find a company profile of the place we’ll visit. Some details are missing, so it’ll be up to you to find them."

"How are we supposed to do that without access to computers?" one student asks.

"I know you're allowed to have computers in your rooms," he replies. "And if you don't have one, there are computers available in the library."

The student grimaces slightly. I imagine he’s one of those who don’t have one. I haven’t had many chances to go to the library since I spend a lot of time in Lucy’s office, but I know it’s not a popular place. Few people like going there. They’d much rather spend time in their rooms or the common room.

"Do we have to fill out the second sheet too?" another student asks.

"No, that one is for the field trip. I expect you to take notes and complete this small questionnaire. I’ll collect the sheets to ensure you’ve done the work, and then we’ll go over them in the next class after the trip."

"Will it just be you supervising?"

A small laugh escapes him. His news has managed to excite everyone. Outings must not be granted often here. Usually, we’re confined within the school’s walls.

"In addition to me, your Management teacher and two instructors will accompany you. You’ll be divided into four groups to keep you focused and well-supervised."

"Can we choose who to go with?"

"Definitely not. The groups are already assigned, and no changes will be possible. I expect you to respect my choices. The supervisors will have a list of students in their group, so you won’t be able to cheat. All you’ll achieve by trying is wasting everyone's time and earning yourself a punishment."

He says this as he walks past me. He looks at me intensely. I feel like he has an issue with me ever since he started seeing me in Lucy’s office. If only he knew what I was thinking… I smile to provoke him. We both know I’ll be with Lucy, and he doesn’t seem to like the idea. I had noticed his displeasure when Lucy made the request. He ignores me and walks down my row to return to his desk. The bell rings just then.

"Alright, I’ll let you go. Don’t lose the papers, please. I’ll inform you of the trip date in the next class. Have a great rest of your day."

Having already packed our bags, most of us head straight for the door. Alessia and I follow calmly. Leah and Alba, on the other hand, have already rushed out with the first group.

"Did you know about this?" Alessia asks. "You were one of the few who didn’t react."

"I did, yeah. He suggested it to L—uh, Bronze when I was in her office," I catch myself.

"Oh. So, she’s the one accompanying us?"

"Yeah, along with Engen."

I have to think before I speak. It’s so complicated to use their titles when I know their first names and spend time with them outside of class.

"I see… Well-informed, huh?" she teases softly. "Do you know which group you’re in?"

"I only know I’ll be with Bronze," I shrug. "She used her position to make that happen," I admit with a small smile. "But I can’t tell you yet if we’ll be together."

"Well, I guess I’ll just have to wait."

"I’ll try to find out if we’re in the same group once she has her list. I can’t guarantee anything. She can be pretty unpredictable sometimes. And for all I know, she might not get it until the day of the trip."

"Thanks, that’s nice of you. Are you going to meet her now?"

"Yep. I’ve done my homework, but I’d like to review, and it’s the only place where I know I’ll have some peace and quiet outside of my room. Except in my room, I tend to get a bit too distracted…"

"Yeah, I totally get that," she laughs. "You don’t have to explain yourself, you know."

"No, but… You get it. I don’t want you thinking I’m ditching you for her or anything like that. I’m just really focused on exams. I can’t afford to fail this year."

"I understand. She’s doing a great job. I’ve noticed that you’ve been following classes better lately. It’s different from the beginning of the semester," she teases.

I laugh, nodding. It’s true; things were different back then. Since I didn’t understand anything, I would zone out easily. I’ve made a lot of progress since I returned. Lucy advised me to ask my teachers for summaries of previous years’ classes. Of course, they gave them to me, and I plan to start studying them today. I hope Lucy will have time for me. I never know what she has planned for the day.

"Alright, see you later."

"Yes, have a good afternoon."

We part ways at the bottom of the stairs in the hall. I knock on the slightly closed office door and enter. I’m surprised to find another student in my usual spot in front of Lucy. She doesn’t seem to have noticed me yet, as she’s filling out a form with him. So, I turn to Ingrid and wave hello.

"Hey Ona," she greets me with a smile. "How are you? »

"—Good, and you?"

"—Great."

Since classes resumed, we haven't had many opportunities to see each other. It's a shame because I really like her.

"—What are you doing here?" my girlfriend asks me.

"—Hey... Uh... Well, I finished classes. I have some reviewing to do, but I can come back later if you're busy."

The guy sitting across from her looks at me strangely. To him, I must look like an alien. I must be the only one who willingly comes to my supervisor's office. His face doesn't ring a bell, but judging by his appearance, I'd say he's younger than me. He must be a first-year student under Lucy's supervision. To get my attention, my girlfriend clears her throat.

"—I'll be a little while. He just got here. Can you go over this with her, Engen? Or do you have something else to do?" she asks her friend.

"—No, it's fine," she replies, gesturing for me to sit with her. "But I can't guarantee I'll be as good as your supervisor," she teases me.

"—I'll make do with what I have, what can I say."

She laughs at my joke before ordering me to take out my things. I quickly realize that she intends to be as serious as Lucy, which suits me perfectly. I need that authority to make sure I stay focused.

"—Is that Ona Batlle?" murmurs the student facing Lucy.

I turn around amused to watch them. I immediately meet Lucy's threatening gaze. I quickly understand that I should stay out of it.

"—We have something to do, don't you think?" suggests Lucy.

"—I've never seen her before," he continues.

"—Do you want me to let you go? I can always change my mind, you know."

"—Come on, let's get to work," Ingrid pulls me toward her.

"—Um..."

"—What do you want to work on?"

"—Management and accounting."

"—Wonderful," she murmurs. "All my favorites... She owes me for this."

I chuckle softly. First, I put away the sheets my teacher just handed out. Since we'd already packed everything, no one had bothered to put them in their bags, myself included. Then I take out my famous summary notes.

"—These are the courses from previous years. I need to work on them," I explain to her.

"—Let me see."

It wasn't Ingrid who asked me, but Lucy. I look up to see her behind me. I hand her my notes without thinking.

"—You finally took my advice. It was about time. Here, have her do some exercises; I have a site you'll love," she tells Ingrid as she passes behind her desk.

She types something on the keyboard, and I take the opportunity to glance at the student. He was just looking at me. He immediately turns back to his work. He's working on a worksheet, from what I can see. I wonder what it could be.

"—Ona," my girlfriend calls me.

"—Yes?" I say, turning back to her.

I then notice some sheets in front of me and the printer running. I feel like I'm going to have a blast... Especially given the number of worksheets that are coming out.

"—What's this site?"

"—I found it when I had some free time. There are lots of practice exercises; I thought it would be cool for you."

"—Awesome, and there are even answer keys for us," Ingrid rejoices.

I roll my eyes with a small smile. Unlike Lucy, this must not be her area of expertise if she's reacting like that. She seems to dislike it. I wonder what she studied, actually. Will she stay here her whole life? That's also a question I won't hesitate to ask Lucy, or even Ingrid directly.

"—Alright, get to work. I'll take over once Kyle leaves."

She pats my shoulder before returning to her desk.

"—So, back to us. Are you almost done?"

I stop listening to them and focus on the sheets to see what they are. They're exercises from chapters I didn't study in the first two years. The number of them makes me lose motivation. It's not really something I enjoy either, but well, I have no choice but to work now. Ingrid mocks my expression as she brings me the rest of the stack. I feel like crying seeing the whole pile.

"—Do I have to do all of this?" I complain desperately.

"—Of course not. We just printed everything at once. Do the ones you feel like, but it would be best to work on as many as possible in the coming months."

I relax a bit. She's right; I still have a few months to do everything. I nod and take the small stack before starting the first worksheet. The exercise seems short and simple, so I might as well start with easy things. I'll vary gradually until tonight with other, more difficult exercises. I start calmly, not rushing. I have barely finished one exercise that I've given to Ingrid when Kyle gets up from his chair.

"—Don't make me regret my choice, alright?"

"—Yes, I'll try."

"—No, you'll make sure you don't end up here again."

He doesn't respond, but I know he does when she says:

"—Go on, off you go."

I hear papers being gathered and a chair creaking. I'm forced to turn around to look at them again.

"—Thank you, Bronze..."

Our eyes meet for a moment as he heads toward the exit. He stops in front of the door to give me a gentle smile. I return it out of politeness.

"—You're famous here. I'm glad to have seen you at least once. I'm almost a fan of yours."

His comment earns him a smack on the head from Lucy. I laugh discreetly. That wasn't very smart of him.

"—I haven't signed the form yet, so you'd better leave before I change my mind."

That was all it took for the poor kid to flee the office. Lucy sighs while scribbling on the paper in front of her.

"—Well, you've started quite a movement too," comments Ingrid as I return to my exercises.

"—I didn't ask for anything," I reply, shrugging. "As long as it's in a good way, I don't care."

"—It's not especially in a good way," grumbles Lucy from her corner. "This one gave me quite a bit of work to set him straight, if you know what I mean."

"—Well, you just released him, didn't you?"

"—Lucy usually releases her students around December, or even January for the more headstrong ones," Ingrid tells me in a whisper.

"—Oh..."

I don't know what else to say. It's not like I encouraged these young people to act rebellious. I was too busy with myself to be concerned with others' behavior. I wasn't surprised that the young man who just left was one of the last rebels. He had an angelic face that I would describe as popular. That's certainly what he was before coming here. I jump when the office door slams. Lucy comes toward us and, with a hand gesture, asks me to push back my chair. I barely have time to do so before she sits on my lap. With her hand, she grabs my neck, and her lips capture mine firmly. I respond without flinching. I don't know why she's doing this, but I'm not going to complain. She's offering me more and more private contact, whereas she insisted at the beginning that we keep our distance. She finally sighs and settles against me so that her head rests against my shoulder.

"—Seems like someone had a long day."

"—Mm-hmm," she sighs. "I just released my last student."

"—No. You still have me."

She laughs softly, placing a kiss on my exposed neck. I've given up on my exercises since it's impossible to do anything in this position. I'm forced to hold Lucy to prevent her from slipping off my lap.

"—Naturally. You'll remain an exception until the end," she says.

"—That's for sure," I giggle. "Have you already told Wiegman that you won't be here next year?"

"—No," she murmurs. "I'm going to wait a bit before requesting a meeting."

"—No kidding. She's going to fall into depression when you go," Ingrid mocks. "You were her favorite. »

Lucy shrugs indifferently in response.

"You have to know what you want in life. Right?" she asks, sliding her hand under my sweater.

"Yeah," I murmur. "And what about you? Are you planning to stay here much longer?" I ask Ingrid.

"I don't know. Definitely next year, then we'll see."

"What did you study, if it's not too personal?"

"Social work," she replies. "I plan to seriously look for a job next year."

"I already told you, if you do your degree in sports, we could hire you with Jenni," Lucy says to her.

"I know, I know," she rolls her eyes. "I'll wait to see if your thing works before I commit," she teases.

"There’s no reason it won’t work," I defend.

She smiles mischievously but says nothing more. Lucy finally grabs the exercise I was working on.

"How's it going? Are you managing?"

"Not really," I mumble. "I'm feeling overwhelmed seeing all I have to review. I’m never going to make it."

"Don’t say that. I've never seen a student as hardworking as you," she says with a touch of amusement.

"It's only because you motivate me. Otherwise, trust me, I would've given up already."

"But you won’t give up. Otherwise, I’ll go on strike with kisses and cuddles," she threatens me. "That’d be silly, right before our one-month anniversary," she adds quietly.

I smile, knowing full well that our one-month anniversary is tomorrow. I've been thinking about it and planning our weekend since Monday with Mapi. She’s also celebrating her one-month anniversary with Ingrid. We have the upper hand, being in Barcelona.

"Seriously? Using that as leverage? That’s blackmail!"

"Is it working?" she asks with a mischievous grin.

"Of course. You're such a brat."

"Careful what you say. I can still use my rank to make you run laps outside."

She pinches my belly, which she had been caressing, making me squeal. I pout to show her I don't like it, even though I understand her reasons.

"No need to pull that face," she laughs, getting up.

She stretches in front of me. The position probably wasn’t very comfortable. Still, I would've liked her to stay a little longer. The warmth she created by cuddling against me is already fading. Unfortunately, she can't stay in that position forever, considering where we are.

"Grab your stuff and come with me."

"Now that I was so comfortably settled," I complain.

"You can stay here, but you’ll be all alone," Ingrid teases as she gets up too.

"Are you leaving?"

"Yep, I'm going for a walk to keep the peace," she says with a wink. "Don’t use it as an excuse to fool around."

I laugh, shaking my head. She hands my first paper back to Lucy, then leaves. Meanwhile, I switch positions. Lucy is already checking my work.

"I think we have some work to do," Lucy teases.

"Why do you say that?"

"Your exercises are far from correct," she laughs.

I groan in frustration, not even bothering to continue the previous exercise. I already know she’ll want to rework that part before moving on to the rest, and she’s right.

Tuesday, March 2nd; 8:30 PM – Ona and Alexia’s room.

"We haven’t seen much of you since the break ended."

Alexia throws this comment as we return to our room after dinner. To be honest, I would’ve preferred she bring it up another time. I’m exhausted. I could fall asleep right here. The pace is hard to get back into, and the revision sessions don’t help much with resting, as that’s all I’ve been doing.

"I know, sorry," I sigh, collapsing onto the bed.

"I overheard Alessia talking to her sister when she came back from class without you this afternoon. They think you’d rather spend time with your supervisor than with us, if you know what I mean."

Her tone is somewhat amused. I deduce she doesn’t think the same, thankfully. If even she starts judging me, I’m in trouble.

"I regret that they saw us at that convenience store. Now that they know, they think I prefer staying with Lucy. I told them it’s for study sessions. I even have proof if they need it."

My binder is full of exercises I do during evening sessions. If it were up to me, they’d all be in the trash.

"Well, apparently they think differently," she shrugs. "Don’t worry about it, let them talk. I just wanted to let you know."

"I doubt they’ll dare say anything to my face."

"I don’t think so either," she admits. "But who knows. At least now you’re prepared if it happens."

She closes the doors of her wardrobe, where she had been searching for her pajamas. Then, she turns and offers me a small, sympathetic smile. I wonder if she’s ever dealt with similar comments. Honestly, I’ve never asked her if anyone knows about her relationship with Jenni. Since I’ve been here, she mostly hangs out with me.

"I just think it might be a good idea to slow things down between you two here. You know how fast rumors spread."

"We’re not doing anything wrong," I sigh. "These study sessions were in place long before we got together. If they can’t understand that I want to pass my exam, that’s not my problem."

She nods, deciding to drop the subject. Instead, she heads to the shower. Meanwhile, I check in with Mapi about the weekend. Everything should be set now. We had already discussed it last week, just before she left. I still send her a message to make sure she’s booked everything. We have different plans, which is better. One-month anniversaries are meant to be enjoyed as a couple, after all. Now, I just need to make sure Lucy hasn’t planned anything. I’ll ask her tomorrow. Knowing her, she’s probably already planned something, but what? As for tomorrow, I’m pretty stuck. I don’t even have anything to give her, and I can’t really prepare something. My movements are being watched. The only thing I have to offer is a drawing that’s been lying at the bottom of my closet since Monday night. I feel almost foolish, considering this woman deserves all the love in the world. I just hope she’ll like the gesture... Anyway, it’s too late to plan anything else. When the shower stops running, I search for my things.

"It’s your turn," Ale says as she steps out of the bathroom, towel in one hand drying her hair, the hairdryer in the other.

"Thanks."

I grab a random pair of pajamas and some fresh underwear, then head to the bathroom. An idea sparks as I place my clothes on the counter next to the sink. I turn around and call out to Ale before she turns on the hairdryer.

"You’ve been in a long-term relationship—any ideas on what I could give Lucy for our one-month anniversary tomorrow?"

"Is that already tomorrow?" she asks in surprise.

"Mm-hmm... I did make her a drawing, but I feel silly only giving her that."

"Well, in your situation, it’s a bit tricky. Jenni always managed to plan things because she had more freedom than I did, but I have to admit I never gave her anything while we were here. I always made up for it when we saw each other outside."

I sigh and nod, a bit disappointed. I should’ve thought about it this weekend, though even then it would’ve been hard since we were at Lucy’s place.

"One month already," Ale whispers. "Time flies!"

"Yeah, no kidding," I giggle.

"When exactly was it? The night Korbin jumped on you?"

I wince but nod. I hate remembering that event. It feels so far away now and yet not that distant at all.

"Sorry," she grimaces, sensing it bothers me. "I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories."

"It’s okay, don’t worry. I’ll hop in the shower. Maybe the water will help me come up with ideas for tomorrow."

"Good luck," she teases softly.

I return to the bathroom as Ale starts drying her hair. I was hoping this moment would help me brainstorm ideas, but it didn’t. I sigh, giving up on planning anything. I’ll make it up to her this weekend.

[cabinofimagines]

A Much Needed Declaration

Who doesn't love our goat boy! I suppose I should say spoilers for those who haven't read the books on this one- as it is based sometime after Battle of the Labyrinth :) Pairing: Grover Underwood x gn!reader Request: Hi guys! I hope you guys are doing good. Can I request a Grover x reader where reader is trying to tell him they like him, but they keep getting interrupted by people needing him for things and viceversa? And then finally getting to tell him? Just some cute fluff with a happy ending lol. M!reader or gn!reader are fine! Thanks :) Word count: 1.1k Warnings: None! -Asnyox

The first time you met Grover, the only thought you had through his stammered introduction was ‘he’s pretty cute’. It took a lot longer for you to find out that at some point ‘he’s cute’ grew into a crush on the kind satyr. But, you accepted that it was what it was, and maybe it would be something more at some point- but for now it was enough.

However, that was before he became a Lord of the Wild, which meant that he needed to do a lot more work around and outside of camp. At least you were allowed to go with him on his travels sometimes, but you spend less and less time with him. You didn’t blame him, but you missed him and felt him slipping away from you. Thus you decided you needed to tell him how you felt before it was too late.  

You had yet to anticipate how hard it would be to get a moment alone with him. The first time you stumbled upon your friend, you didn’t get past “how are you-” before he quickly told you he had to get going or he would be late. Late for what only the gods know, but he slipped away. 

The second attempt was slightly more successful- Grover was sitting at the campfire, and you sat down next to him. 

“Busy week, huh?” you asked and Grover’s head shot up.

“Ah, (Y/n), I hadn’t seen you come-” Grover bleated, “I’m sorry, it has been busy.” 

“Finally catching a break?” You asked, as you bumped into him lightly. Grover smiled and started leaning against you. 

“Sort of, I’ve missed you.” he said as he laid his head on your shoulder. His horns had started growing out more, and you could feel them poke in your neck, but you decided not to say anything, lest you scare the poor soul. 

“I’ve missed you too,” you let out a breath, “Hey, I need to tell you some-” 

“Hey, G-man, do you have a moment?” Percy spoke up from beside Grover, and you glared slightly at him as Grover sat up. 

“Of course! Whatcha need?” Grover sat, and Percy gestured away.

“Just wanted to check something, am I interrupting?” Percy asked. Grover looked at you, in turn. He clearly wanted to see if you needed him, but you shook your head. 

“No, not really. Go ahead, I will see you soon?” you asked Grover and he nodded excitedly as he stood up and followed Percy. 

Well, third time's the charm you thought as you saw your beloved goat boy stand not too far away. So, you almost sprinted towards him, smiling. 

“Hey Grover! Do you have a moment-” Grover looked at you, but you could already see Chiron approaching him from behind. 

“Of course I do, always for you.” he was adorable, but you shook your head, as you eyed Chiron getting closer. 

“I don’t think you do- you know what, never mind.” you pouted, “Wish I wouldn’t have to make a reservation for your time just to talk to you, but it is what it is.” Grover looked confused, but you continued, “Just come to me when you have five minutes? Me approaching you is clearly not working out.” Grover was worried about what you meant, but before he could even ask what was going on you turned around and walked away. And before he could even reach out, Chiron’s voice asked for his attention. 

Third time was not the charm it seemed. 

Grover hadn’t seen you since then. Apparently you truly wouldn’t come to him whenever he had a moment- which normally you really had a knack for finding him just as he had nothing to do. He really hoped you weren’t angry at him- and he felt like he was irrationally anxious about the possibility of you never wanting to talk to him again. That couldn’t be it right? 

So, a few days later when he hadn’t planned anything for at least an hour- a feat as far has his schedule went these days- he quickly ran to you, took your hand and dragged you away from your cabin, into the woods. 

“What-” you stammered, but Grover was quick to turn around and face you. 

“I have not much time but I asked the dryads to make sure no one finds us for a bit. It’s just us, no interruptions, nothing,” Grover wished he had a can to chew on and get his anxious energy out, “So, what do you need?” he asked, his voice turning soft and quiet at the last words in the sentence. Before answering you grabbed one of Grovers hands, an appreciative smile on your face.

“Grover, I need you,” you took a deep breath, “I need you too, I know you’re busy being lord of the wild and that it’s hard staying still but please, I need you to know I love you.” 

Grover bleated, as he hid his face behind the hand you weren’t holding. “Do you mean-” Grover slowly lowered his hand, and he saw you nod. “I love you, romantically, goat boy.” Your heart stammered, “and if you’re not ready- or not interested, it’s fine. I’m just glad to have told you.” 

“I’m too- uh I mean,” Grover shook his head, “I love you too,” You smiled, and you moved closer pressing a kiss on Grover’s cheek. “You’re all I need then,” you sighed, “now go, I know you promised the dryads something. See you at dinner?” 

Grover had a dazed expression, with a big grin on his face as he nodded. “See you, love you,” he turned around, hoping that he could quickly finish the requests he still had to do today, so he could spend time with you. 

And if Grover dazed off a bit more during that day, nobody asked questions. Grover realized that he needed you too, and that he perhaps needed a bit of a break. A picnic sounded nice, or going to that one secluded spot that he found while he was doing favors for a herd of sheep last week. Yeah, he was elated thinking of you smiling, surrounded by nature, and him being the reason for it. Would you enjoy berries or bread more at the picnic?

[milks-thoughts]

Futuer Leo with apprentice reader?

like reader was made his apprentice alongside Casey Jr and people keep comparing the two, how Casey was more mature, how he was stronger physically and emotionally

thankss

I warned y’all, i warned ya it was coming

(shout out to @yanteetle who makes me chuckle every time they react with my angst posts)

summary: Reader just wants to make him proud

TW: death, in detail character death, meaning the POV is dying, murder, reader runs away, reader has a breakdown, the dove is dead. why? cause I killed it, reader just wants to make him proud :(

It Was Not Your Fault But Mine

When Leonardo became the leader of the resistance he expected many things, war? mhm, death? absolutely. it came with the territory. being placed in charge of two preteens, to train them to be able to live in this brutal world? no, he was never expecting you to become his apprentice. He trained you both, but…he couldn’t help but see himself in you. the self he hated. his past, a cocky teenager that thought his older brother would carry everything for him.

You couldn’t help but resent Casey. Why did he get special treatment? You two were on the same patrol where you watched half the patrol get wiped out…and yet, you listened to your mentor, Leonardo, comfort Casey… why didn’t he also comfort you? His gruff voice broke through your thoughts “ You're okay, You're alright. I'll never, ever leave your side- “ you gripped your elbows as your buried your head in your knees “ -I will stay and I will fight. “ his humming filled the space he and Casey were sharing, you weren’t even supposed to be here “ With you, you're okay, you're alright. I'll stay here through the darkest night. All the way, I will fight….with you “ when you heard Leonardo start to leave the space, you quickly left the surrounding area. collapsing onto the floor and sighing, nothing but harsh memories being your company.

When you and Casey were allowed out on serious patrols, you were exploring a apartment building. You entered one door and recoiled at the dead person in the room, you backed up and knocked over a pot which caught the attention of a kraang dog nearby…which alterted its friends… which had them chasing after you and Casey. You both narrowly avoided them by closing yourselves in a apartment, you sheepishly grinned at Casey and he looked down at you with a unimpressed face. You two had waited two hours before Leonardo and a patrol could rescue you two, when he found out what happened…he sighed and walked off. You and Casey followed him back, being able to tell he was going to yell at you two when you got back. You dreaded it, you always ended up crying when Leonardo shouted at you, or, whenever anyone shouted at you.

You sniffled in your room, you didn’t miss how Leonardo’s frame was exhausted looking. He walked past your area and into Casey’s room. You suddenly shot up. “ I’ll make him proud of me. I’ll- I’ll do something impactful. I’ll bring back so much material that he can’t help but notice me! “ pushing out your room, grabbing a bottle of water and a nutrition bar, you left the resistance camp behind. Your eyes hard as you held your weapon tightly. You were going to force him to see you.

It was a horrible mistake. You were doing so good! Being stealthy! but a building crashed over top you, leaving a metal beam through your leg. You collar bones were broken as your weak arms tried to push off the large slab of concrete. realizing you couldn’t…tears started rolling down your face. you didn’t want to die alone…you didn’t want to die here. In the darkness your only companion was your emergency button, it’s blue color that it glowed was illuminating your face. You felt like a old dog, a dog that stopped being useful to your farmer. You whimpered and cried, whispering a small lullaby to yourself “ You're okay, You're alright. I'll never, ever leave your side- “ you gripped the concrete slab as you buried your head in the sand like floor behind you “ -I will stay and I will fight…. “ your humming filled the space, you weren’t even supposed to be here… “ With you, you're okay, you're alright. I'll stay here through the darkest night.- “ your sob echoed through the rubble “ -All the way, I will fight….with you… “ your body started hyperventilating to the best of its ability, the concrete slab feeling so..so heavy. You didn’t want to die alone with your thigh pinned down by a metal bar, by concrete holding down your chest…you wanted your mentor…you wanted…you…

Leonardo’s patrol finally got through the rubble, his hands scrapped and bleeding as he found you, a wail escaping him as he rushed forwards. Pushing the concrete slab you so clearly tried to push off, your scrapped and bleeding hands being a painful reminder how you both struggled with the rubble. He leaned his head down and sobbed when your chest never thudded with a heart beat. He pushed the hair out of your face so carefully and took in your tear streaked cheeks, still damp. Some may say that your death was your own fault. That you should’ve never left because you were jealous. But it was not your fault but his instead. He neglected you and he’ll defend your death and your name, and everything you stood for with his life, because he failed you, like he failed his brothers, like he failed New York…like he failed the world. He’s Icarus and he flew way too close to the sun.

[moltengoldveins]

yeah no, I think the realization that I’m older than Anakin Skywalker in the second prequel is doing something to my brain. yall. Y’all, he was a child. He was nineteen. He wasn’t even in his twenties. Say what you will about the Jedi culture (I have… so many thoughts. Most are positive, with a few glaring negatives) it obviously did not work for him, and it was not supporting or caring for him the way he needed, and nobody got him out. There was no way out. No “hold out until you graduate, then get an apartment away from your family and find peace” no “leave that group of friends and find people who love you” he had Obi Wan, Palpatine, and Padme. Obi Wan made it quite clear that Jedi weren’t Allowed to love the way Anakin had been taught love was supposed to work, and he clearly didn’t explain how Jedi love worked. Not well enough for Anakin to internalize it around the screaming background noise of suspicion and slavery. Palpatine was a Sith. And Anakin married Padme. We’re literally never shown evidence that he made other close friends in the Jedi, or anywhere else. Obi Wan, traumatized oddball with a maverick master and a years-long gap in his padawan training that he was, had Quinlan, had Windu, had Yoda, had Bant, had Dex. He had People. Anakin did not. I’m kinda… kinda loosing my mind over that, cause I know how bad that can get. I’ve had people now for a few years. I didn’t, for nearly two decades. I am rather uniquely situated to be sympathetic. That doesn’t excuse how badly Anakin screwed up but damn if it doesn’t explain it. I am older than he was. I’m really still a kid. I’m in college. I’m learning how to balance a sleep schedule. I’m taking meds for the first time. I’m new to making friends. he’s married. He’s battlefield-knighted, thrust into a spotlight, and told-but-not-told that it’s His Responsibility to end this war. He’s holding dying men. He’s raising a thirteen year old girl who’s never been trained for a conflict bigger than a diplomatic dispute. He’s cradling his beaten and violated mother in his arms. She doesn’t have enough breath to finish telling him she loves him before she’s gone. I’m pretty sure I woulda snapped, too. I’m pretty sure I woulda snapped sooner. I dunno if my nigh-unhealthy adherence to my oddly specific moral code (no violence against children, ever, period) would have stopped me in the Temple, or at the Tusken camp, but I woulda done horrible things in his situation. I think we all would have, and it makes me uncomfortable when people say that Anakin is some kind of monster. I think we like pretending that there’s some inherent difference between Bad People and Good People that starts at birth. There isn’t. We’re all fallen. We’re all entirely capable and Actually Rather Prone to evil in all its forms, yes including that one. you are capable of that level of evil. The whole point of these stories is to show you how easy it is to ‘fall,’ how convenient it is to reach for the darkness, how quickly you could find yourself lost. You are capable, in certain circumstances, of committing atrocities. You are. We all are. We are lucky enough to be born with decent parents, with a supportive community, and a lack of significant influences to the ‘dark side.’ But there is no difference between you and i and a murderer in our levels of ‘inherent soul goodness’ or whatever, just a difference in our stubborn adherence to what is good and right. Our choices are our own, yea, but they are always human choices. There has never been a choice made by someone that could not have, in another circumstance, been made by anyone else.

[jimblejamblewritings]

luck be a (leading) lady | part 12.

[Posted 2022.09.30]

Summary: Y/N has always been a background character. That’s just life for some folks isn’t it? But what if she’s determined to not just be another member in the ensemble? What if someone helps her step into the spotlight in her own special way?

Warnings for the Series: a teeny bit of angst but mainly fluff

Pairing: ricky bowen x black!reader

Word Count: 4.6k

A/N: one more part after this 

Previous Part | (Series Masterlist)

The obnoxious sound of an air horn coming from Yurt Locker’s cabin woke up all the girls in Honeycomb. Kourtney hopped out of bed to go see the problem while the rest of you tried to get to your senses. She came seconds later announcing Corbin Bleu had lost his mind. That got you guys to come to your senses alright. What was he doing here this early in the morning? You thought they weren’t even filming today. 

“We’re doing something called a Color War. Did you pack any blue or yellow?” 

Reluctantly, you looked at your clothes. Corbin and Channing woke you up for a color war? All because it would make good television. Camp Shallow Lake stopped doing them years ago. Color War had been replaced with Cabin War— the winning cabin got snacks, pick of movie night, two nights of phone usage, and free time at the pool for just them and a plus two. Honeycomb had won twice. Well, a color war wouldn’t be so bad. 

As everyone did the little activities to earn small points for their teams, Ricky decided to see if there were Caprisuns in the coolers by the barn area. The coolers at the pool only had Sprite. He saw Jett sitting on the grass and messing with a soccer ball. 

“Hey, dude, last night was kinda intense.”

“Do you really think I’m not that bad? Even after all the stuff Maddie yelled about yesterday?”

“I am in no place to judge, man, I’ve done more than a few things I’m ashamed of.” 

“I wasn’t even trying to out her. I thought those texts came from a guy, I was just trying to make a point that I should be allowed to date if she was.”

“Does Maddox know that?” 

“Not sure she’d even hear me. We used to sing together all the time and now we barely talk. If Y/N’s not there, we don’t even stay in the same room for very long.” 

“So, I once knew this girl who was pretty mad at me, I deserved it. But I found that what helps is throwing myself into something that she’s into. Like, I joined the show and worked really hard.”

“Is everything about theater to theater kids? I swear every other word to come out Y/N’s mouth is ballet.” 

Ricky chuckled. “Look, Maddox loves camp. It’s Color War so try to win for her.” 

“Ricky! Are you speaking to the enemy?” You came skipping up. 

Jett rolled his eyes. “I’m the enemy?” 

“You’re in yellow, Jett. Until Team Blue wins, I can’t speak to you today.”

Your cousin just smiled as he muttered a whatever and left to go find Maddox or someone else from Team Yellow. Without a thought, you grabbed Ricky’s hand and led him to one of the first events. It was basketball. With EJ on the team you guys were sure to win. Only you didn’t see EJ when you made it to the small court. Gina didn’t know either. He had kind of been avoiding her since she talked to him about the break. You assured her that she did the right thing for herself and everything would work out in the end whether that meant she was with EJ or not. 

“Well, how are we supposed to win without him?”

Ricky picked up one of the blue basketballs. “It can’t be that hard. Just aim and…”

You and Gina snorted when the ball bounced off the backboard. Gina stood there with a hand on her hip. 

“Didn’t you literally play Troy?”

“Okay, one I was in a harness literally dangling from the ceiling. That’s different.” 

“Mmm hmm, okay, Ricky.” 

“Well… Why don’t we ask Corbin? I bet he’s got some moves.” 

You both turned to see him pointing at Channing and Corbin. While Gina seemed excited, you rolled your eyes and went to the other side of the court. Ricky tossed the ball to Gina before going to sit with you. You both were content to let other people on Team Blue play instead of you. Besides, you didn’t need people to see how uncoordinated you were with anything that wasn’t dance. So you rested your head on Ricky’s shoulder and decided to cheer Gina on. You looked up a bit to speak to Ricky. 

“We’re supposed to practice the Kristoff and Snow dance tomorrow.” 

“What did you have in mind?”

“How quickly can you learn basic ballet? Like really basic ballet.” 

“That sounds… like you have more faith in me than my abilities, Prima.”

“So I take that as a yes, you’re a quick learner.”

Ricky’s mouth hung open for a bit. “I totally didn’t say that, Y/N.”   

You ignored his comment and went back to watching the game. Ricky fiddled with the bottom of his shirt. There wasn’t a good time to tell you about Channing catching his confession on camera. Even if he found a good time, he wasn’t sure he had worked up the courage to tell you. The game ended with Team Blue winning. Ricky let you take his hand as you followed everyone else to move to the next game. 

He did that all day, held your hand as you guys moved from place to place. Even when EJ surprised you guys with Ms. Jenn, you two held hands. He was sure that you had only let go when you were trying to cheer Kourtney on about climbing a rock wall— even though her fear of heights stopped her in the end. And when you went to stand next to Ricky again, his fingers were laced through yours once more. Kourtney and Gina raised eyebrows at that. You didn’t notice but Ricky blushed under their scrutiny. 

“Hey, tomorrow, Dewey gave me permission to use my phone because of auditions,” you told Ricky as you walked to the bonfire area for the last event. “Will you help me film it so I can send it in?” 

He agreed right away to help. You both were up bright and early to film. Stopping by the food hall to get some breakfast to go, you talked about the ballet as you walked down the pier to the large deck that overlooked the lake. Ricky talked through the different roles with you and you decided to take a chance and dance the audition piece for Lucy. You also decided to go see one of his skate competitions. 

“You’re always coming to my stuff,” you said as you started to stretch. “When does anyone ever see about your interests outside of theater? I want to come watch you.” 

The corners of Ricky’s lips curled upwards at that. He started your phone camera, staying deathly still so he could get a good shot for you. It was so different seeing you like this. Ricky had only ever seen your ballet when you were all done up in makeup and tutus. You looked just as graceful and pretty in a basic leotard and tights, long sleeve shrug, wrap skirt, and leg warmers. Shyly, you asked to take a few more videos just so you could check which one was perfect. Ricky assured you that he didn’t mind. You finally sat down to check the videos and eat your breakfast that had cooled. 

“Are you sure you want me to pick?” Ricky asked when you showed him the videos. 

“Just, which do you think looks good? It’ll help me narrow down the videos.” 

He picked two of them. Ricky never noticed before but your nose scrunched up when you concentrated. Eventually, you picked the one you thought was best and sent it in. Ricky jumped in surprise when you suddenly threw your phone in his lap. You couldn’t check your email yourself. Even though Dewey only approved phone use for your audition, you just had to know what the Berklee scouts said— if they even said anything. Ricky couldn’t help but chuckle as you squeezed your eyes shut to brace for the news. He took his time scrolling through your inbox. 

“Stop teasing, I can’t take it anymore.” 

“Okay, okay… I’m sorry Y/N, it looks like you’ll have double work to do in college and you might have to see my face on campus.” 

You popped one eye open. “What?” 

“Dear, Y/N,” Ricky started to read. “After thorough review of your past performances, as well as your current school grades, we at Berklee would like to extend an invitation to join our student body after your graduation next year. The invitation extends to our dance and acting programs. You will be given a scholarship in accordance to your family’s financial status that should prevent you from having to take out any student loans. The amount will be reviewed before each year to account for changes in income. We look forward to hearing a response on your decision in the upcoming weeks. Signed, The Board. Furthermore, after assessing the grades of your colleague and taking into account the performances we saw, we gladly request for you to send the information of Ricky Bowen in your reply if possible.” 

You took the phone back from your friend. “That’s one hundred percent a scouting if I’ve ever heard one. Do you want me to send them your email? Are you thinking about taking it?” 

Ricky took his time to think through his decision as your thumbs blazed through your keyboard to type your response. He decided to give it a shot. Besides, he could always choose to pull his acceptance if he found a college he thought was better. You wouldn’t say it but you hoped that Ricky would choose to go. You would never force any of your friends to stay with you just because you had major anxiety flare ups in new places. But you would love it if somehow they just managed to be with you. So secretly, you were hoping Ricky would accept the offer and come to Berklee. 

“Okay, let me return the phone to Dewey and then you and I have a dance to practice before prom tonight!”

“So why do we have a prom here? And why is it 70s themed?” 

You shrugged your shoulders. “Susan Fine loved dancing or something. And Dewey just really likes disco music. It’s going to be extra fun this year.” 

“Why? Is there another celebrity guest besides Corbin Bleu?” 

“No but Dewey said Corbin and Channing are coming back today to show everyone the trailers for the docuseries. They’re gonna show it before the last dance at prom, it’s airing internationally at the same time. Everyone gets to see us be reality tv famous with the dumb roles Carlos, Val, and EJ assigned us.” 

You stood up to leave. “I’m pretty sure Channing caught my panic attack on camera and I wish I was acting. At least Gina throwing a drink at Kourtney will be entertaining. And Maddox trying to act. I still can’t believe they made her the crier. She has dry eye syndrome, it’s a real condition.”

Ricky just froze as you walked away to turn your phone back in to Dewey. They were airing trailers tonight? There was no way they’d put his confession in the preview, right? Everyone knew that the juicy bits were saved for the actual show. Ricky wasn’t sure how much he could convince himself of that but it was all he had to go on. Paranoid, he looked around for Channing or just a camera. He only got back into focus when you came back. You grabbed both of Ricky’s hands and helped pull him up. 

“So I was thinking a simple pas de deux starting with a pas de chat. And then I interact with EJ at the end because it’d be cute if the reindeer actually was annoyed by snow. Then I’ll run off and we go back to the rest of your song. Sound good?”

“If you explain what a pas de chat is. I know pas de deux is basically just fancy for duet.”

“It’s French, not fancy. And you know that term?”

“I do remember some stuff you say.”

You tried not to laugh too much as you taught Ricky the dance. Some moves you had to change in the moment because it was obvious that they wouldn’t look good in time for the show. Still, the dance was going to look amazing. Especially since most of the advanced and flashy moves didn’t rely on Ricky. You didn’t even put many lifts in there. It had taken your usual partner at Saltwater a solid six months of training and dancing together to lift you consecutively without faltering. You genuinely didn’t know Ricky’s strength and didn’t want to risk finding out. 

He held onto your waist as you showed him how you would turn. You felt Ricky’s fingers tighten slightly. You stopped turning to look at Ricky who pointed at something in the distance. Back on the shore, you could see Channing and the camera. Of course he couldn’t take a day of rest when there was footage to be found. Immediately, Ricky’s hands left your waist. 

“We aren’t going to act for your little show, today! We have real work on the musical, go find someone else to cause drama or deal with boring footage!” You yelled at Channing. 

He didn’t seem to move so you went back to focusing on Ricky and teaching him the dance. Channing would leave eventually when he realized you were serious about not acting for the camera. It was imperative that Ricky learned the dance. The fake docuseries could wait. Besides, Maddox had told you last night about how she and Jett were starting to make up. They even agreed to play it up for Channing to film. Certainly, that would make for better footage. 

When you and Ricky were finished, you saw that Channing was nowhere to be found. That didn’t bother you one bit. You started to take off your pointe shoes that were already ruined from practicing on the deck. That was why you brought this pair though. You always had a relatively cheaper set for outdoor dance. It hurt less the cheaper they were when you saw them ruined by grass or concrete. You set your shoes aside and grabbed some stuff out of your bag to massage your feet. 

“You do this all the time after musical rehearsal, does it help the pain a lot?” Ricky asked as he messed with the ribbons on your pointe shoes. 

You laughed. “It’s not for pain. Some dancers might be okay with ugly feet but I refuse, Richard. That’s why I stuff my pointe shoes. The calluses, I guess I’ll allow but that doesn’t mean the rest of my foot has to look disgusting.” 

You finished massaging your feet and rubbing the lotion in before applying two layers of socks. Ricky helped you up after you tied the shoelaces on your sneakers. He still had your pointe shoes in his hands after you picked up your dance bag. You laced your fingers through his. 

“Time to get ready for prom. Oh and don’t feel forced to do any prom traditions even if EJ seems really enthused about it.” 

“Prom traditions?” Rick asked as you guys stopped outside Honeycomb’s cabin.

“The boys and ice water. The point? Don’t know but it happens every year. I’m sure EJ will tell you all about it if he gets the chance. Well, thank you for escorting back, Mr. Bowen. I will see you at the dance.” 

He gave you a little two finger salute before walking to Yurt Locker. The dance wasn’t until tonight but he already knew that you would be with the rest of the girls until it was time. His little guess turned out to be correct because you were all hyping Gina up for the dance. She wasn’t exactly excited about going solo. EJ didn’t take the break very well. Gina still wanted to see if they had a chance together but it was obvious the separation was needed to figure out life. She was finally on board and was immediately moved to the front of the line at Kourtney’s beauty salon.

Camp prom was always kind of silly but you loved hanging out with the girls beforehand. Getting ready was almost always better than the actual dance. You all chatted while doing each other’s hair and makeup. Everyone gave style advice on the seventies’ outfits. You and Maddox were once again in matching outfits. There was only one year that you didn’t match. This time you were wearing tight denim rompers with long sleeves— like the legs on a mechanic’s uniform got cut off— and ankle-length gogo boots. 

The Barn was decorated to fit the Flower Power theme. Your cabin was fashionably late, the music was already playing nice and loud. Linking hands with the girls, you all gave each other one last nod before walking in like you owned the place.

Ricky and Carlos were at the punch bowl. The 70s theme was different but fun. Fun except for EJ trying to make everyone run lines. He only put the binder down when Carlos reminded him that maybe that was why Gina wanted a break. EJ nodded. He could relax, not let the pressure of his dad get to him that much. At least for one dance. Ricky took a sip of his punch. 

“I feel like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever.” 

Carlos looked at him with a grimace. “I feel like John Travola in Hairspray.”

The gasp and dropped jaw from Carlos garnered the other boys’ attention. They looked over towards the saloon doors to see the girls walking through them. Nearly choking on his drink, Ricky watched you walk in. You were the one to spot them all at the punch table. Breaking apart from the group, you told them you would catch up in a minute. 

“Hello boys… Okay, my makeup skills aren’t that bad.” 

“You look amazing!” Carlos made you twirl once for the full outfit effect. 

“Thank you, are you guys da—”

“Y/N, there’s a photo wall!” Ashlyn came back over to grab your arm. “We’re stealing her. Bye!”

You laughed as you took pictures with the girls. The photo wall had some of the strangest props, including fake mustaches that you thought everyone agreed to leave back in 2013. While you always went to the camp prom, you actually enjoyed it this year. With more than just Maddox around, you felt comfortable enough to just be there and be yourself amongst your little circle. The only time you weren’t taking pictures or dancing with the girls was when everyone went to the bathroom but you and Ashlyn— and then Carlos proceeded to steal Ashlyn to give her a little coming out gift. The music slowed down a bit. Everyone was looking around to grab partners. Ricky was about to approach you when Kourtney grabbed your arm. 

“Can we talk?” 

You motioned to the edge of the stage for you two to sit down. 

“How do you deal with… with anx… an—”

“Anxiety?” you asked gently. 

Kourtney nodded. “We don’t have much longer until the show and I feel like I keep forgetting my lines and I’ve never been away from my mom before with being able to call her. I feel like I’m flailing.” 

“I completely understand. Firstly, I got a therapist— well, my parents did but same difference. Second, the feeling never goes away, Kourt. Not completely. It’s just something we learn to handle. You’ve seen me fall apart more than once.”

“How do you get through it each time?” 

“You know, I don’t know how well I do. My friends help me through it, I do what I’ve learned with my therapist. And I focus on what I really love. You enjoy singing, right, Kourt?”

“Almost more than fashion.” 

“Then don’t let the stage become another place of anxiety. I use it as a comfort. You aren’t Kourtney when you’re up there. You’re Elsa and no one knows you as anything other than Elsa.”

“That was actually really helpful. Do you think you can show me those breathing exercises some time?”

“Totally. But I will warn you that my success rate without help is about sixty percent.”

“Sixty is better than nothing.” 

The two of you laughed as you stood up again. The dj was about to announce the start to a soul train line when Corbin and Channing busted through the doors. While you were less enthused than others, you were still curious about what the trailer for the docuseries looked like. Channing was obviously pleased with everyone’s acting and it was clear he had the skills to edit out mistakes. You just wondered how believable the entire thing would look. 

A thought ran through your brain as you sat on the floor. If the acting was bad would the Berklee majors take away your acceptance to the acting program? You had to laugh at yourself for how ridiculous you were being. Gina and Ashlyn squeezed your hands in anticipation. You were sure that no one listened to Corbin’s speech before the trailer started. You still couldn’t believe that you guys were seeing it just as it aired all over the world. 

It started normal enough. Basic B roll of everyone at camp. Very quickly, the reality show aspect showed itself. You couldn’t say that you were surprised that it started with Kourtney’s judgy line bit. Even though Gina did throw a drink at Kourtney, you were all a bit shocked to see the angle was that they were jealous of each other as leads. Would the audience really buy that when they were playing Anna and Elsa? It would have been an easier sell if it was Ashlyn or you against one of them. Maybe it was just the trailer’s angle and the doc would show a different story. 

A lot of glances were shown between Maddox and Ashlyn, mainly from Maddox’s end. That wasn’t surprising. Most of the footage didn’t seem that bad when edited together. The cast pulled it off better than anyone thought. Even things that seemed way too far fetched at the time ended up looking decent when put together. You and Maddox nearly screamed when Jett’s part came up. 

“I’m in love with the girl playing Elsa and it’s eating me inside.” 

It didn’t matter that it was acting. You knew that was the whole scenario that Carlos envisioned but neither one of you was going to let him live this down. He didn’t even show a lot of emotion when he said it. Your eyes went wide when you saw you and Gina walking together through the camp. When was that filmed? You weren’t acting then. 

“Maybe,” you started to suggest very carefully. “You need a break.” 

“What?”

“I’m saying go explore other options. You know what you want, G.”

Your mouth dropped open. That wasn’t what you said at all. That was the complete opposite of the advice you gave Gina. EJ’s nostrils flared as he looked over at you. 

“Other options? You’re the reason we broke up?!”

You clutched at the belt on your romper, trying to control your breathing. You didn’t do well with being yelled at. Gina patted your knee in reassurance. The trailer wasn’t over yet although you didn’t focus too much on the others. You only paid close attention again when you were shown once more. Your head was on Ricky’s shoulder during the first read-through then it showed you holding his hand and him watching you dance. Your eyebrows scrunched up. What narrative was this? You thought Carlos scrapped your romantic subplot when he realized that his straightdar was so off course for trying to pair you and Jett together. Another scene popped up with Carlos and Ricky sitting at a log bench. Ricky’s entire body tensed up as he saw the scene. Figures they would put it in the trailer. He braced himself to hear his confession played for everyone. You watched the Ricky on screen scratch the back of his head. 

“I think I more than like her. Is that crazy? I couldn’t even say it to Nini but with Y/N… I think I love her, Carlos.”

You and the girls blinked. You felt your head shaking back and forth before you truly registered it. Ricky was sitting two rows behind you just waiting for your reaction. He didn’t expect the tears when you met his eyes. Ricky immediately got up after you when you ran out the barn. You felt like you couldn’t get out of there fast enough. You just wanted to go back to your cabin and cry into a pillow the entire night. 

“Y/N, wait. Wait!” Ricky caught up to you, grabbing your hand. “Y/N, please.”

“Why would you do that? Why would you and Carlos even think that was okay? Why…”

Ricky moved to place his hands on both of your shoulders. “Woah, breathe. Take a deep breath with me. Come on.” 

You felt yourself get pulled into a bear hug after hitting at your chest a few times. Ricky kept telling you to breathe. He tried to slow his own breathing down to help you better. You felt like you had enough control to speak. 

“You should have asked before you did something like that. I don’t even like the idea of blasting my panic attacks on air but I agreed. This was too far. You didn’t have to act like you had a crush on me to add drama. I hate that.”

Ricky pulled away slightly. “What?” 

“I get it, I’m the pitiful character but I’d at least like to know why the audience feels for me so I don’t look like an idiot. And I know we’re friends but I did have feelings for you at one point. It was more than a stupid crush like I said and I feel like you and Carlos just made fun of that.” 

“No! No, I wasn’t making fun of you. It wasn’t an act. I never meant for Channing to pick up on that. I thought Carlos and I were alone.”

“If it’s not an act then…”

“I can’t stop seeing you the way I do. I haven’t been able to see you as a friend since that day we had to come up with a new transformation for the beast mask. I think it was before that, really, but I didn’t realize it until we got back from New York.”

“Since New York? But why didn’t you just tell me?”

“You said you had a crush on me and got over it. Was I supposed to tell you after that? It felt like I’d be forcing you to like me again. I never meant for you to find out, it was always meant to stay between me and Carlos.”

“You didn’t just say you liked me… That video, you think you…”

“Yeah,” Ricky said with a weak chuckle. He just looked at you for a moment. “I love you… Can I kiss you?” 

“Yes,” you said barely above a whisper. 

Ricky’s hands moved from your shoulders to cup your face. His lips gently pressed against yours. Your hands that were pressed between the two of you went to clutch the fabric of his suit. His thumb brushed your cheek as he tried to deepen the kiss. You both pulled apart slowly, laughing, before going in for another kiss.

(end)...

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PERMANENT TAGLIST:

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[anti-katsuki-lounge]

I feel like I’m probably in the minority, but when I see the characters like Lady Nagant, S&S and even the green fox like lady, I honestly just feel…meh towards them.

Don’t get me wrong, they look like interesting characters, especially Nagant, that SO many people seem to adore.

Like, I WANT to be very invested in Nagant, and I actually find the idea of a very complex rivalry between her and Snipe interesting. I wish S&S and Izuku met just once and they could trade notes or Izuku finding a SANE person that is as a big an All Might fan as him and they could just talk for hours and not only talk about what makes him great, but how they could improve and be the next examples of his legacy without staying in his shadow. And not to say the scenes we got between Izuku and the foxy giant woman weren’t some of the most wholesome scenes I’ve seen in the story. But Izuku having either Shoji or even Koda with him protecting her would allow more moments with Izuku being with underrated characters as well as open a door to the heteromorphic quirk aspect of this world.

But it’s just…I can’t seem to find it in me to get invested deeply into them.

Maybe it’s personal preference. Maybe it’s because the arc they’re debuting in. (I’ve voiced my feelings on this arc.) But I think a huge contribution to this is because it’s MORE characters that I suddenly have to focus on, while already keeping track of the people we have been introduced to, with many of them underdeveloped.I think if Hori showed these characters early on, I may feel differently. Heck, by the time I was introduced to Hawks and Miriko, who I had a big feeling they were characters I was suppose to care about, my head was already checking out. Even reading about their backstories and other parts of their life later, I was like, “I don’t care. I honestly don’t care. Where’s (name of character I give a damn about)?

By now, it kind of feels like Pokémon. Sure, you can name the first 150 easy. Then the second gen came in. Took some getting used to, but hey, it’s manageable! Then the third gen arrived. Then the fourth. And so on and so on. Eventually you can’t keep track of all of them. Especially when while there’s so many characters, the story clearly only wants you to focus to specific ones. (coughBakugoucoughL.O.V.coughEndeavorandHawkscough)

Honestly I don't even think you're in the minority here. Many people have issues with these characters only being introduced as a plot point and I'm in the same camp. I wish we got more foreshadowing of Nagant and Stars and Stripes. Stars and Stripes would be easy, just have Izuku watch an interview about her or something and maybe have an action figure or two show up or something. Nagant would require slightly more thought but it wouldn't be too difficult.

[ya-so-im-here]

As Thick As Thieves

Writer: Me, I have it published under my wattpad account TheNinjaOfCake22

Fandom:Avatar the Last Airbender

Ship: Toph x Aang (Taang)

Word Count: 3026

https://www.wattpad.com/1117953730-avatar-one-shots-taang-as-thick-as-thieves

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He wasn't doing this right. Granted Aang didn't really know what he was doing but he certainly wasn't doing it right. He had never had a date before, heck he'd never liked a girl before. Toph was amazing, she was strong, confident, and a girl who knew what she wanted it was all those things and so much more that led to Aang falling for her. However, Aang didn't know what Toph wanted.

  It all started when he asked her out, she caught onto his intentions instantly given she could sense his heartbeat quicken the closer he was to asking her on a date.

  "Yes. I'll go on a date with you Twinkle Toes" she said this with a smirk as well a full blush on her cheeks. Aang's smile could have lit up a room when he realized that Toph felt the same way about him, to which he decided he was going to take her on an amazing and memorable date... but that's when the issues arrived; as he soon realized he didn't know what people did on dates, let alone a good one.

  He tried asking Katara for help and as much as she did try to give good suggestions, every single one just didn't seem to match Toph. So he tried asking Sokka, while his suggestions seemed more along the lines of things Toph would like, they weren't very date material.

  It was all much harder then he expected it to be as soon a couple days passed by since Toph agreed to go on a date with him, he was starting to get anxious. Was he taking to long to actually set up the date? would Toph loose interest? maybe she would change her mind and say never-mind. Those were all things he definitely didn't want but he still didn't know what to do.

  "Hey! Twinkle Toes" called the blind earthbender grabbing Aang's attention while he mildly panicked on a rock away from the rest of the camp. He looked up at her, meeting her face  within a close proximity. "I thought we were going on a date. What happened to that?" she asked mildly perturbed but Aang could sense how she was also a bit nervous as well.

   "I am! I mean yea we're still gonna go on a date" he blerted out nervous she would think he wasn't sincere.

  "Well it's been almost five days and we haven't done or talked about doing anything. Did you forget?" her voice was mildly softer at the end.

   "I haven't forgotten I promise. I've been thinking of it everyday actually, but I-" he paused feeling embarrassed at his inability to plan a date and didn't really want to admit it, but he didn't see anything around it. "I don't know how to plan a date. I don't know what to do and I tried asking people for suggestions or ideas but none of them seemed good enough for you and so I've just been trying to plan an amazing date for you, but I can't think of anything amazing" blathered Aang quickly and consistently that if he wasn't an airbender he may have ran out of breath.  

    "Aang." stated Toph firmly gathering the avatar's attention "You asked everyone but me." Aang looked at her perplexed, he was allowed to do that? "What? you thought of asking everyone for ideas but the person you're actually taking on the date?" teased Toph with a small smile creeping upon his lips.

   "I just thought- thought you weren't supposed to do that..." he mumbled out softly

  "Say's who? Besides it doesn't matter what people say what we're supposed to do, as long as we have fun then that's all that really matters right?" her face had a soft tint of pink on her cheeks as she spoke which made Aang's heart calm as he smiled back whether she knew or not.

   "Yeah. You're right. As long as I'm with you then I think almost anything would be fun."

  "Okay then, what were some of your ideas?" asked Toph with genuine curiosity. Aang opened his mouth to start listing his ideas when he stopped with his mouth still gaping open. "What? I thought you had ideas"?

   "I do. But um.... they all kinda cost, and we don't have any money. I haven't really thought of anything that doesn't need money" explained Aang with an even further rush of embarrassment.

   "Really? Money is your concern?" Toph began to laugh as she tightly grabbed Aang's hand and began to drag him behind her.

   "Wait where are we going?!' he asked concerned as well as greatly intrigued.

   "We're gonna make some money."

                ---------------------------------------------------------------   

   The duo were dressed up as commoners, blending in with their surroundings as they scoured the local town for fishy business, and mild gambling ongoings. To which they found in a back ally behind an old Tea Shop. A woman who was  hosting a game of Sic Bo, with a moderately sized circle of people gathered around. The mischievous smile upon Toph's face said it all.

   This was the game the two would win at.

  "COME GATHER AROUND! TRY YOUR LUCK AT A GAME OF SIC BO!!! WINNER TAKES HOME TWENTY SILVER PIECES!!!" Announced the woman with much enthusiasm as she waved her arms about gathering people's attentions.

  "Ma'am, I only have two silver pieces, can I still play?" Toph asked sweetly mimicking the impression of a young naive little girl, her specialty. Aang watched her eye Toph curiously.

   "How do you intend to play hun, it requires you to be able to see?" she asked bluntly.

  "That's why I have my boyfriend with me, he can see for me" Toph gave a wide smile as she purposely gestured to the opposite side that Aang was on. Aang's face lit up brighter and hotter then a fire at Toph's words resulting in his rambling of words.

  "Yes ma'am. We wanted to see what it was like to play and I can help her do all the seeing" The woman looked down on them with mild curiosity on why two twelve year olds would want to gamble, especially ones that looked so gullible. But who was she to turn away free money.

   "Alright you can play. But only one of you can call numbers, not both." she stated firmly.

  "Yes Ma'am. I'll call the numbers, he'll read them for me" informed Toph as she gently outreached her hand with the two silver pieces, waiting for the woman who upheld the role as the Groom-Porter (aka host) to take.

   "I wish you two the best of luck" she added as she took the silver pieces and placed it in the center of the small circular wooden board on the ground with all the other gamblings of the other players.

  "Okay everyone! I am Samara and I will be your Groom-Porter. All bets have been placed in the middle so now take your box and dice and lets begin!" she announced loudly as the crowd gathered around within the circle.

   Aang sat closely to Toph, eager and nervous at the same time. Toph gently scooted over a tiny bit until her shoulder was touching his, she then whispered softly "We got this Twinkle Toes." With a soft and genuine smile before she placed the dice in her box and held it shut.

  "Alright my castors (players) call your mains. What do you think will be your lucky number today my friends?" Aang turned to Toph as she over-dramatized her thinking for the sake of the audience as the other castors called out their mains.

   "SEVEN!" shouted Toph with a childlike giddyness in her voice.

  "Then let's begin!" everyone began to shake their boxes as the dice danced around inside as one by one each castor placed their box down

  Everyone sat waiting to lift their boxes, as Samara leaned over to Aang and Toph "Okay you start, what's your roll?" she asked as Toph lifted her box revealing the two dice before her. Aang leaned over her dice revealing a five.

  "Five" stated Aang though he was confused. Certainly Toph knew that they needed a seven to win that's why she claimed seven. Samara leaned over the two double checking their dice as was part of her role as Groom-Porter.

  "Alright, you didn't loose, so don't worry yet. However, now for the next round if you role a seven you will loose, too win you have to get a five." She explained to them as Toph pretended to search for the dice and then place them back in the box. Once again she shook the dice and placed the box face down. Aang sat their nervously, surely Toph knew what she was doing, they didn't have any pieces left so they couldn't reenter. With anxious eyes Aang watched as Toph lifted the box revealing a 2 & 3, they had made a five.

  "Nice luck kids" Samara added before turning to the next gambler for their turn. Aang turned to Toph with a large smile plastered on his face.

   "And you doubted me" teased Toph sticking her tongue out and scrunching her nose in a teasing fashion. Aang laughed lightly as the castors went after each other.

   "I won't do it again" he teased lightly

   "Good" said Toph lightly punching his arm playfully.

  "Okay, only three castors remain! pick your main and lets head into round two!" Called out Samara. All that was remaining was Toph n Aang, a large burly man, and a two sisters.

  "Eight!" called out Toph as she began to shake the dice within the box, flipping it over face down just as all the others were doing as well with their own chosen mains. Samara turned to them as she did before informing them that they could flip over the box, Aang leaned over as he did previously as Toph revealed the dice... it was a perfect eight.

  "Wow, you guys sure got Agni on your side tonight, congrats you won the round." said Samara in awe, as she watched the two kids smile brightly in true excitement before turning to the other two castors.

  "That was great! said Aang beaming over at the girl he liked, she was smiling as well, showing just how much fun she was having too.

  Toph turned her head towards Aang facing him the best she could with a smile "See, anything can be a date if you want" she whispered gently, trying her best not to appear to romantic but the light blush on her cheeks was always her dead giveaway.

   "You're right. And this might be the best date I could ever ask for" added Aang also in a hushed whisper.

  "Here we are folks! the last two castors remaining!" She looked over at Aang n Toph then over at the burly man, as the two sisters lost their round. "Claim your mains!" she announced proudly. All the previously outed Castors as well as the audience gamblers gathered their attention closer to the game.

  "Six" claimed Toph as her opponent claimed "nine". Just as before Toph was up first, she placed the dice in her box and shook it gently feeling the dice move around inside before placing them onto the ground, waiting to turn it over.

  "You're up" announced Samara as Toph lifted up the box and Aang leaned forward revealing the dice of the unlucky five from the first round.

  "OH, back to old five. Don't worry you still got one more chance to win, maybe Agni will aid you in your win as he did in the first round" announced Samara loudly for all of the crowed to hear, "Now turning to Yuuto, will he get the lucky nine?" Yuuto shook his dice and revealed a eight. "OH and we were so close! that means folks, who's gonna win with their chances? Now folks here comes the best part! who wants to make a bet for either of our wondrous contestants?" declared Samara. Gesturing broadly to both.

  "We have Yuuto with his chance of eight vs...." She paused for a moment turning to the two of em with the realize she never asked their names.

   "Toph and Kuzan" replied Toph straightforwardly

  "Yuuto with his chance of eight vs Toph and Kuzan with their chance of five!" the crowd murmured amongst themselves weighing the risks of either side, it seemed Yuuto was the most promising with his possessing higher chances to get an Eight compared to Toph's and Aang's much smaller percentage. It was becoming clear who the audience was going to place their bets on.

   Luckily Toph had a plan.

  "I've already won with a chance five... Who wants to bet I can do it a second time! and for the win!" It wasn't sound logic, but it was thrilling. The excitement from the idea that a young girl would win was one thing, but if she won with a five, which is the lowest chance of winning after already doing it once, well things got a whole lot more interesting.

  "Okay folks, all bets have been made and the winnings have doubled, instead of twenty silver pieces the winner gets forty! Now for this round both of you shake your dice and reveal at the same time when I announce it, understand?" announced the Groom-Porter overflowing with enthusiasm.

    "Hey, you're supposed to wish me good luck" whispered Toph as she gently leaned in a bit closer, Aang looked over at her as he was about to wish her luck when he stopped himself. He leaned towards her instead and kissed her cheek quickly but sweetly, "Good luck" he whispered back sweetly into her ear. Both of their faces flamed in bright red blushes. "Thanks" Toph whispered softly as she turned her ahead away trying to hide the obvious blush on her face then turned back to the game.

  Both castors shook up their dice and placed them to the earth, awaiting to lift their boxes eagerly. Subtly and oh so gently Toph flicked her pinky of her left hand.

  "AND REVEAL!" instantly both Toph and Yuuto lifted their boxes. It was settled, Yuuto got a six and Aang proudly announced a five. The crowed erupted with shock and awe when Samara announced the winners "WE HAVE OUR WINNERS! TOPH AND KUZAN WITH A MIRACULOUS CHANCE FIVE!!!"

  "We did it!" announced Aang grabbing Toph and pulling her into a giant hug which she reciprocated with just as much enthusiasm. The crowd went about exchanging their gamblings as Samara gathered the gambling winnings from the center, placed it within a leather pouch and handed it over the two winners.

  "Congratulations you two.   I don't know how you've managed to have so much luck but you definitely had Agni on your side today. Here's your winnings." The crowd was in awe, so was Yuuto who had hoped he'd take home the winnings. Even with it being a game of chance no one had expected the two kids to win the game.

  "ALRIGHT FOLKS! Who wants to test their luck? Let's begin another set of Sic Bo! CAN ANYONE SURPASS THE DOUBLE WINNINGS OF FIVES?" Announced Samara as a new ring of gamblers took their place, and Toph and Aang made their way out of the gambling ring.

  The two of em made their way through the town now with their winnings in hand, laughing together about their miraculous win of 'chance'.

  "So, tell me Twinkle Toes, now that we've got the money what's your date plane?" asked Toph, her face illuminated with bright smile. Aang returned the smile towards his date with pure excitement and joy.

  "I think we should use it for our next date" said Aang before he realized he had just assumed their would be another date and began to panic "I mean if you want to have another date? or if this didn't actually count as one then we can use it for our first official date, I guess this could have been seen as just a hangout or a means to get money so we can have a dat-" Aang was interrupted by Toph placing her hand to his mouth.

  "I would love to use the money for our next date" she said calmly, using the location of her hand on his mouth Toph leaned forward and gently kissed Aang, on the side of his mouth, only missing partially.

  Aang's heartbeat faster then he ever thought it could, he felt ecstatic as his face lit up bright. Toph felt his heartbeat and excitement through the earth as she herself felt her heartbeat quicken. Both their faces a rush of red.

   "So does that mean it was a good date?" Aang asked quietly, still really close to Toph.

  "Yes it was a really good date" she replied and Aang reached in for another kiss, this time aligning up their lips without missing each other. This was definitely going to be the beginning of a great relationship and many more exciting dates.

[passerine-writes]

Silent Sparks - Volt 53

Warnings: More mentions of nightmares and mini therapy session at the end Word count: 5180

Notes: Italics - Tsukare signing Bold italics - Family member/friend signing 'Italics with apostrophes' - Thoughts

Masterlist 

Volt 52 | Volt 54

After a few more nightmare induced sleepless nights and spending the extra hours packing, I stood outside of the newly built dorms with the rest of my class. I stood in the back with Kirishima, Denki, Hagakure and Bakugou. My eyelids were heavy, my body begging for sleep but I had to hold off for a while at least.

"Given everything that has happened, I'm glad we were able to bring Class A back together." Dad said at the front in a tired voice.

"So, we all got the go ahead to move on-campus." Sero said happily.

"It took a lot of convincing for my parents." Hagakure exhaled, slumping over.

"I was pretty concerned about mine." Jirou said delicately.

"It makes sense. You got some of the worst of the gas attack. You and Shinsou would've been way worse if it weren't for Yao-momo and Tsukare." Ojiro pointed out.

"We're glad to see the teachers got to come back, too. I was afraid you wouldn't be allowed. The people at the press conference seemed pretty upset with you guys." Tsu stated with a finger to her chin, Uraraka agreeing quickly.

"I was surprised, as well. But circumstances have changed." Dad agreed with the frog-like girl, scratching his head in thought for a moment. "Now then. I will explain how your dorm assignments will work shortly. First however. We haven't forgotten about the provisional hero licenses you were supposed to get during the training camp." Excitement started coursing through me at the thought of earning one.

"Oh, yeah! That's what we were there for." Sato mused.

"So much has happened, it totally slipped my mind." Mina agreed in her own way.

"This is important. Listen well." My blood chilled at the particular look in his eyes. "Kirishima. Yaoyorozu. Todoroki. Midoriya. Iida. Hitoshi. You six are the ones who broke the rules and went to rescue Bakugou and Onryo that night." My mind felt fuzzy at the thought of it. I should probably bring that up to Dad at some point. I clenched and unclenched my fists, jaw tightening as the only thing running through my head was what I endured. What the blond behind me had to bare witness to. I ignored the sudden tightness in my chest and paid attention to Dad. "Based on your reactions, I assume the rest of you were at least aware of their plan. I'm going to set aside a number of issues and just say this. If it weren't for All Might's retirement from the hero scene, I would expel everyone here except Bakugou, Onryo, Jirou and Hagakure. The six of you who went, of course. But also the remaining eleven who didn't stop them. You betrayed our trust. Even if it was to keep your friends from getting into trouble. In order to regain our confidence, you'll need to obey every rule to the letter and live as model students. That's all. Now. Look alive. Enjoy your new home." Dad ended his lecture and started walking to the dorm entrance.

I turned and plopped my forehead on Kirishima's bicep, feeling slightly dizzy for a moment. I went to move to stop Bakugou as he dragged Denki off but Kirishima stopped me, probably not wanting to chance a 'code yellow' as my family likes to call it. A sudden burst of electricity went off and I rushed to Denki's side as he went into 'yay mode'. Multiple people laughing but I held mine back and focused on making sure he didn't trip over his own two feet.

"Ear bleed!" I scolded myself for responding to the nickname and looked at Bakugou. He jutted his head to the side, beckoning me over to him. I shared a look with our red headed friend and he nodded, understanding the message of 'look after Denki' while I caught up with the other blond.

"What's up."

"Why'd you take the heat when we were-" I glared at him, effectively shutting him up.

"You wouldn't get it. And I really don't want to talk about it. I'd rather just forget that shit ever happened." He side eyed me.

"Try me." I stopped and looked at him confused. "You said I wouldn't get it. So try me. I just had to spend the last week and a half with dozer head cause of original eye bags."

"Why did you have to stay with my Uncle Higari?" Bakugou 'tched' and stuck his hands in his pockets.

"I'll tell ya if you explain why you took the heat back there." I took a shaky breath and shook my head as I thought of what to do.

"Not with everyone around, I don't need the whole class knowing my personal shit." He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "I know you haven't been sleeping either, so 1 a.m. swing down to the kitchen." He gave a curt nod and we walked inside.

"Each student dormitory holds one class. Girls are on the right and boys are on the left. The entire first floor is a common area. That's where you'll find your kitchen, baths and laundry rooms." Dad explained once we got in, most gawking at the sheer size. "Living quarters start on the next floor. Four boys and four girls on each level. Everyone gets their own room. You should be comfortable. You've got your own AC, toilets, fridge and closets." I looked at the small layout we were all handed and saw that I was on the second floor and Hitoshi was on the fifth floor. "These are your dorm assignments. The belongings you sent ahead have already been placed in your new rooms, so spend the day unpacking and getting settled. I'll tell you more about your next few lessons tomorrow. For now, get to work." Everyone agreed easily and we all set off to our rooms.

Mine was right beside Midoriya, so at least I had someone I was close with right next door. However I was a little nervous about not having Hitoshi just down the hall from me for more then the occasional sleep over.

I put my cork board up first, pinning multiple pictures of me and my family, friends, pets and paper memorabilia to the object. I hung a few posters of bands I liked. I set up my mini coffee bar on top of my mini fridge, the keurig, a few different flavors and a sugar container. I set up my drum pad, string lights, knick knacks, stuffed animals, blankets, keyboard, shoe rack and rolled out a small carpet. Then I finally put away my clothes, which was by far the most time consuming part.

Kirishima and I plopped down on one of the couches along with multiple of the others.

"Ah. I'm so beat." Kiri groaned beside me.

"You and me both. You done unpacking?" Sero asked.

"I think so."

"Feels good, right?" Izuku chimed in.

"I know we could've died. But it's kind of exciting to be living here." Everyone agreed but I sat in silence.

"A unified class. It's the perfect way to increase our cooperation and discipline. How smart!" Iida said excitedly with rapid hand gestures and chopping motions, the small bit making me laugh which earned me a few odd looks.

"Sorry. I promise I'm not laughing at you Iida. I'm just confused on how you and your brother are so similar but so different." Iida stared at me with wide eyes before Midoriya went into fan mode.

"Woah, you've met Ingenium? I never knew that! What's he like?"

"He's similar to Iida in the sense of their smarts and appearance, however Tensei is a little more laid back. I've met him a few times, he's friends with my parents and most of the teachers here. He's come over a few times but usually my parents will go to his house." Everyone hummed enthusiastically at the information.

"Hiya, boys. All done with your rooms?" Mina asked as her and the rest of the girls walked over.

"Yup, we're just unwinding now." Denki replied, waving to greet all of them.

"Well, the girls and I have been talking and.." Mina started.

"We have a great idea!" Hagakure squealed, cutting Mina off.

"Oh dear gods, Hanta I think we should run." Sero nodded quickly, but we stayed and heard them out.

"Let's go around and see who has the coolest room!" Mina cheered and I watched as my best friends face dropped, I already knew that Midoriya's room was decked out in All Might merch.

First was my room, I stood on the side as everyone looked inside and walked around. Mina and the rest of the girls blown away for some reason. Hitoshi just flopped onto my bed and stared at the ceiling, so I jumped and landed on top of him.

"You asshole." He wheezed out.

"You love me." He rolled his eyes and pushed me off.

"Tsukababes! It's so cute in here! Look at all these pictures!" She was smiling until she found a particular picture. "Tsukababes, who's th- oh my GOSH!! IS THAT A BABY TSUKABABES!? YOU'RE SO CUTE!" She squealed at a frequency only dogs should be able to hear. Everyone except Izuku and Hitoshi gathered around to look, all of our friends squealing over child me. I knew exactly what picture it was too, Pops took it when I wasn't paying attention. I was laughing at something on the television with a bowl of ice cream in hand.

"Okay, next room!" I said with as much excitement as I could muster.

"No, wait, you can't go in there! Please, it's not fit for—" Midoriya screeched so loud that my hearing aids whined with feedback. I stood back as all of the girls squealed at his excessive All Might collection.

"It's All Might everywhere!" Uraraka stated. "You're such a fanboy!"

"You haven't even seen the half of it Uraraka." She gasped in excitement at my announcement, poor Izuku bright red in embarrassment.

Tokoyami guarded his room, not wanting to let us in but Mina and Hagakure pushed him out of the way. It was dark with purple lights and alternative decoration.

"It looks like a peaceful place to meditate." I commented in hopes of making him feel better.

"Thank you Tsukare, please take no offense to this but I would appreciate if you all left." I gave him a mock salute and dragged my christmas colored dummies out of the room, knowing the rest would follow.

Aoyama's room hurt my eyes, it was like someone puked glitter and used it to paint the room.

Then we moved to the third floor, Ojiro's room. Ochaco made a comment about how bare it was, some of the other girls chiming in about how he hopefully just hasn't unpacked yet.

"Nothing wrong with being a minimalist! It can make life easier." Ojiro sent me a small smile and I gave him a pat on his arm.

Iida's room was filled with a concerning amount of books. Uraraka being correct when she said it looked like a library.

"Iida, you have too many glasses." I backed up Uraraka, the class rep sighing.

Denki's room was... interesting. It was filled with miscellaneous patterns and color schemes.

"This is the store in the mall that I'd avoid." Jirou commented.

Koda's room was perfect because he had a bunny. I sat down on the floor, ignoring the girls squeals and watched with a bright smile as the critter hopped into my lap and nuzzled into my stomach.

This bunny is so cute!

Thank you! He really seems to like you.

I've never held a bunny before, so I'm glad!

"Koda knows sign language too?!" Denki asked in shock.

Our classmate simply nodded quickly and shirked back a bit.

"Hey, why don't the girls join in for their rooms too? Fair competition and stuff?" I asked lightly as I noticed a lot of the other guys sulking.

"I'm into it!" Mina clapped happily. And that's how the first dorm room competition for our class started. "Okay, so, like what're the rules? Are we figuring out who has the best taste in the class? Or just the overall coolest?"

"We're doing this?" Jirou asked in shock.

"Uh, this doesn't have to be a competition." Ojiro pointed out, nervous as well. Jirou looked uncomfortable and Todoroki just looked done.

"Jirou, you alright?" I said as we trailed behind the group.

"I just.. don't want to be judged for some of my decoration." I raised an eyebrow and she stopped walking, the group moving ahead. "I have a pride flag, one of those tiny ones, on my desk and I'm not exactly out to the class."

"I think the class knows, with how you're dressed, most of the students here can tell. So it's not really hard to guess." She smiled bashfully and rubbed the back of her neck.

"I had a feeling you would catch on.. I just don't know how my crush would feel." I raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Well we can always find out. And worst case scenario, you have a bunch of other fruity bitches behind you. So, do you wanna say fuck it or do you want me to try and block it with my body?"

"Can you block it with your body?" She asked me hesitantly and I brightly nodded, slinging an arm around her shoulders.

"Let's head off to the next room, and I'll help you stay in the glass closet until you're ready." She snorted and covered her face with one hand, quietly agreeing.

"Where is Bakugou?" I heard Iida ask from the front.

"He probably thought it was lame." I called up, Kirishima quickly nodding.

"That's exactly what he said!" I chuckled and shrugged, not really surprised.

"You okay, Kiri? You look beat." He nodded and rubbed his eyes.

"Yeah, just could use some z's."

"Then we'll do your room next!" Hagakure cheered, her and Mina running to his dorm.

"You can sleep all you want after!" The pink haired girl cheered.

"Not that I care, but you might not get what I'm goin' for." Kiri said shyly before opening his door. Posters and decorations rested on his walls with a punching bag in the center. "A den of manliness!" He said while flexing his bicep.

"Looks good, Kiri." I commented.

"So bold! Makes me wanna work out!" Uraraka cheered.

"You two get it!" I laughed softly before tugging him into a fake chokehold and affectionately noogie-ing him.

Shoji's room was.. bare. I looked around and something in my brain told me it was also a trauma response for him. I held out my fist for a knuckle bump to cheer him up and I think it worked.

We went up to the fifth floor and my jaw dropped at Sero's room. it was perfect and homey.

"Hanta, if I ever need a place to crash at night, don't be surprised if you wake up and find me in your hammock." I said in adoration.

Todoroki's room had all of us shocked, he even redid the floor. All of it traditional japanese styling, tatami floor, the door to his balcony, the lamp, everything. My brother had to drag me out since I was standing there in shock for so long.

Sato's room was next, I could already smell something aromatic coming out of it. The set up was basic, but I quickly found out the smell was coming from the miniature oven in the corner. I ran over with the girls to Sato after he offered some of the chiffon cake.

"Sato, this is immaculate. Can you teach me how to make this some day?" He looked at me and the girls in shock as we praised his baking. Momo even asking if he would bake something to go with her tea one day.

"Last up for the boys rooms! Shinsou!" Mina said excitedly.

"Just make it quick. Onryo, no stealing any of my coffee flavors." I pouted but nodded, the first thing I did was flop on his black bed sheets.

Half of the class seemed to think it was cool and the other half thought it was scary. Most of his decor being on the darker or monochrome side, with the occasional accent of color. His keurig being one of those things.

"You both have coffee makers? Shouldn't you two focus more on sleeping?" Shoji asked facetiously.

"Caffeine doesn't have that effect on me." I answered.

"I can't sleep anyways, might as well have some semblance of energy." My brother stated, we earned blank stares from him and we both laughed. I looked over at the pictures my brother had on his wall and I couldn't help but smile at a picture of me, him and Midoriya at our middle school graduation.

"'Zuku! Come check this out!" My green haired friend came over and sat beside me, smiling at the picture I pointed at.

"I remember that! My mom was crying so much she couldn't take the picture so she asked Mr. Aizawa to." I snorted at that, remembering how much him and his mom are alike. "I still can't believe you were crying that day."

"Tsukababes? Crying? No way."

"It was.. It was an emotional day for me." My brother sent me a knowing look and I felt my eyes prickle with tears but I held them back. "So who's room is next?"

We went down to Jirou's room and I gave her a silent nod, pushing to the front to hide the flag.

"Woah, what's got you all excited Tsukababes?"

"Jirou's my music buddy! I can't wait to see what instruments she's got!" I ran in and gasped, sitting on the desk just a little in front of the cup of pens with the lesbian pride flag in it. "Jirou, this is fuckin' sick!" I gently lifted one of the guitars propped next to me, examining it happily. " You got the Olympic White Fender Stratocaster? How- this was made over eighty years ago and was owned and played by Jimi Hendrix himself! " Jirou's face turned into a look of shock.

"Wait, you know about the Stratocaster?" I nodded rapidly.

"Yeah! How did you manage to get it? This is so rare!"

"My dad gave it to me as a present for getting into UA. His dad bought when they released." My fingers ghosted over the face of the guitar, gently setting it back on its stand.

"It's, I, wow." Everyone started talking but I could only focus on the decor. "You're room is like, the perfect mix of alt, rock and a sprinkle of heavy metal." Jirou held out a fist and I bumped it with my own. I waited for everyone to clear out first before walking out with Jirou.

"Thank you." She whispered to me and I softly nodded.

"Of course."

We walked into Hagakure's room and it was..

Well it was pink.

Along with Mina's.

So much pink.

Uraraka's room was bland but comfortable.

Then we went up to Tsu's room.

"Is Tsu sleeping?" I asked the girls curiously and Uraraka looked nervous.

"She wasn't feeling good so she's in her room." Uraraka stated and I got an idea.

"She can show us later when she's feeling better." Denki commented and the group moved on.

"Hey, you guys finish up without me and let me know how they look, I'm gonna grab some water and a snack for Tsu!" I said before jogging back to the elevator.

I filled a glass with cool water and grabbed a pack of pop-tarts and a juice pouch.

'Maybe getting something in her system will help her feel better.' I thought to myself before going back up to her dorm.

I tapped on the door with my foot, hands currently occupied with the items.

"Hey Tsu? It's Tsukare." The door slowly opened and I saw the green haired girl standing there, eyes widening as she opened the door to allow me in, gently shutting it behind me and hopping back over to her bed.

"Ribbit? This is quite the surprise Tsukare." I took in her room, a cute frog plushie catching my eye as I set the items down on her desk.

"If I can call you Tsu, you can call me Onryo. Uraraka said you weren't feeling good so I thought a little snack and something to drink might help you feeling a little better. I have some over the counter stuff if you think any of that would help." She gave me a small smile and sat down on her bed.

"Thank you, Onryo. You're too kind, ribbit. My heart is what isn't feeling good though." My head tilted to the side and I gestured to the bed, silently asking if I could sit beside her, to which she nodded.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" She sniffled and nodded. "What's going on?"

"When you and Bakugou were kidnapped, I told the others not to go because I knew the teachers had it handled. Especially because Mr. Aizawa and Present Mic are your dad's. I told them that if they did that, then by them breaking the rules, it would make them comparable to villains." I pulled her into a side hug and she rested her head on my shoulder. "I just, I feel worthless, because I didn't have any impact on them. What I said didn't matter. How am I meant to be a hero if I can't even convince my friends of doing something abiding by the rules?" I rubbed her arm as she let it out.

"It wasn't your fault. I'm only gonna speak for my brother and Izuku, but once they put their minds to something, the only way to stop them is to get our parents or just knock 'em out. You tried your best, and it stopped anyone else who might've wanted to go, so try and be proud of that much. Okay?" She sniffled again and nodded against my shoulder.

"Thank you. You're a really good friend Onryo." My chest tightened a bit and I gave her a big smile.

"Any time, Tsu."

We sat there for a few more minutes until she felt better. I asked if she needed anything else and she asked if I could walk her outside, so I did. We waited for a bit until Uraraka came out with my brother, Izuku, Todoroki, Iida, Kirishima and Yao-momo.

"So uh, where are we going?" Kirishima asked before gasping at the sight of Tsu and I. I gently rubbed her back and my brother shot me a confused but curious look.

"Right here. Tsu said she had something she wanted to tell everyone." Uraraka said and the shorter girl stepped forward.

"You guys know I'm pretty straightforward and always speak what's on my mind. But sometimes, I don't know. I'm at a loss. Remember what I said back at the hospital? When you were talking about the rescue." There was a pregnant pause.

"Yeah. Every word." My best friend stated, and I could tell the same pit in his stomach started weighing him down.

"My heart was hurting. And the things I said must've upset you." Tsu said again, choking on her words. Uraraka and I both rubbed her back.

"It's okay, Tsu." Uraraka soothed.

"Despite my warning, you still went and saved Bakugou and Onryo. I didn't know that until this morning. I thought I'd stopped you. But it turns out I was worthless. A complete failure. And suddenly I had no idea what to say. I didn't think I deserved to joke around and have fun with everyone like usual. But— It made me... so sad to be without you." Tsu started crying and my heart clenched in my chest, she didn't go into that much detail a short while ago. "That's why I wanted to talk to you. Even if I'm still not sure how I'm supposed to be feeling. I wanted you to know so we can hang out and talk and have a good time again." She croaked out the last few words while wiping her eyes.

"It's not just you who thinks that. Everyone... felt pretty bad and... wanted things back the way they used to be before. That's why we did the room contest. To bring us closer together and make us feel like a class again. It's all we could come up with, so please don't think we were trying to trick you or anything. Look, what I'm saying is, let's all work hard at our training and be good friends again, okay?" Uraraka cheered, Tsu still crying.

I stepped back as Kirishima ran over crying, the class rep and vice president coming over as well. The three apologizing and telling her it's okay. Todoroki, Midoriya and Hitoshi stood in the back saying their pieces and I slowly walked away to the row of teacher buildings a few minutes away and entered with my key card. Pops poked his head around the corner curiously before smiling brightly.

"Hey little listener! Visiting already?" I nodded and gave Pops a hug, wrapping my arms around him tightly. "Hey, what's this about? I'm not complaining but are you alright?" I nodded into his chest and he simply held me.

"Sunshine? Hey kiddo, wasn't expecting to see you visiting yet." I let go of Pops and hugged Dad just as tight. "Are you okay? It's only been a few hours." I nodded into his chest and he simply held me, one hand on the back of my head, the other on my upper back.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just.. I'm not ready for this change. It's weird not being home with you two and Toshi and the cats. I don't know how I'm gonna handle this." Dad nodded and Pops came up from behind, sandwiching me into a hug.

"We'll figure this out just like we always do. And you're always welcome to pop in or sleep here, but let's try and give this a fair chance before ruling it out. Okay?" Dad asked, I begrudgingly nodded and he hummed.

"And you or your brother text or call one of us if you keep having nightmares, alright?" Pops mumbled to me. I nodded again, feeling slightly guilty that I've been worrying them so much.

I ended up staying on the couch with Pops, Dad and the cats for a few hours. Pops went to bed early of course, however Dad and I still sat out there until he left to go on patrol at midnight.

I eventually walked back to the dorms, getting there shortly after the clock struck twelve. I got in to find it all empty, the still silence relaxing but overwhelming at the same time. I went to my dorm room, made a cup of coffee and went back down to the common area. I didn't realize how much time I had spent scrolling on my phone until I saw Bakugou coming over towards me.

"You're lucky I want some damn answers, ear bleed. Finally got some shut eye for once and I'm waking up for this shit." I pocketed my phone and leaned against the kitchen counter. "Still don't get why the fuck this had to wait and I couldn't just know this earlier."

I don't wanna announce to everyone what the hell happened in Kamino.

Who fucking cares if any of these extras know?

I don't need them knowing the details.

Whatever. So why'd you take all the fucking heat back there?

No matter how I word it, you're gonna take it the wrong way.

What, you think I wouldn't have been able to take it or something?

I knew that's how you were gonna take it. Look, that's not how I mean it. But back there, that wasn't my first broken bone, that wasn't my fist punch, or kick, or smack, or someone taking a knife to me. I grew up with that shit. I grew up getting muzzled. I grew up being a fucking punching bag. So yeah, I took the heat because I knew I could physically handle it. They wouldn't have done that shit to you anyways, they wanted to psychologically break us first to try and get us to join. I know their thought processes because that's what I was raised with.

I could've handled it. Shit like that is why I was with dozer head for the last week and a half.

Why were you with him exactly?

The fucks it to you? You plan on running around telling everyone?

You know I don't play like that. And didn't you just say 'who fucking cares if any of these extras know'?

I don't need all these extras knowing my personal shit.

Okay. So why were you staying with my Uncle Higari for the last week?

Original eye bags came around to talk to our parents about the dorm system. He saw my old hag hit me and told her to watch it because he's not against arresting her or taking me away from them and filing with CPS. Then she did it again. So eye bags made a phone call, told me to pack a bag and dropped me off at dozer heads house. It's not like it was the first time she's swung at me or my old man. I was more surprised that she didn't hide it in front of your old man.

So that's why you would always change in the stall, so people wouldn't see.

Yeah. Some days after a hard day training, it'd be alright but I didn't want to be popped in the system or talk to CPS or go to my grams house.

I get it. But my Uncle Higari is nice, really down to earth, he'll give you the space you want and not be overbearing. But if you get yourself in trouble, he'll have your back. So what's the situation looking like now?

Currently I'm in his custody until it's deemed safe by someone for me to go back. Can't believe I'm actually fucking tell you this. My parents are finally getting a damn divorce, so I'll probably be with my Dad full time now anyways. Why the fuck do you care so much?

Just because we butt heads and are at each others throats doesn't mean I hate you still. You've changed in the last few months, even I can see that. Might not be your biggest fan, but that doesn't mean I want to see you get hurt.

Well I'm going the fuck to sleep.

I gave him a thumbs up and he walked back to the elevator. I washed out my mug and went to my room as well, already knowing I was in for a long night.

[brok3n-gl4ss]

[ writing piece , ‘Death Of a Duo’ ]

Two weeks.

that’s how long it’s been sense that aweful day.

jelo and me have been dating for a year now.

we met at summer camp, 2009. we kept talking over the summer, and eventually we decided to go to camp another year. 

we were only 15. i was only fifteen, he was supposed to turn 15 this fall.

but instead, i found him dead in his bathroom, on a cold winter night.

it started when he started to get more cold. distant. i thought i was the problem, and i was worried for him. nothing had happened, and he got like this sometimes— i don’t know if it was the weather, or maybe just how the winds changed on cold days like such. 

i tried to ask him if he was okay, or what was wrong. i was worried. he’d been threw a lot, we all had been, that’s why we were here.

but he promised me he was okay.

he promised me.

and i take those seriously.

one night, i didn’t see him around the fire. he had started eating less, which happens, and though i tried to get him to eat i couldn’t force it. i assumed he was skipping dinner. 

i went to go find him, but was interupted by my cabin-mates.

i hate them for that.

it’s not their fault, but i could of saved him. or maybe he was already dead by this point in our story.

he had skipped dinner before, though, but he always came back to walk me home, though.

when he didnt, i started to panic. 

i went home and cleaned my room, just to see if he fell asleep.

nothing.

finally, i caved in. i started asking around— we weren’t allowed to have phones at night. nobody had saw him sense this morning, and the general comment was saying he seemed… happier today.

i remember that scaring me.

i went to his cabin, finally.

fuck, i should of just gone there first. i could of saved him.

i walked in. jonathan—his roommate— was out with with their boyfriend, wilbur.

so Jelo would of been alone.

i looked around.

i looked around more.

he wasn’t there.

i knocked on every closed door, opened every closet. he was clumsy. he might of fell asleep somewhere, or gotten hurt.

but what i found behind a door i wasn’t ready to open was so much worse.

finally, something new. a locked door.

it smelled a little, i remember. i’d give anything to go back and smell that, one last time. one last time to smell him.

i kicked the door.

i screamed.

“JELO? JELO. YOUR SCARING ME, NOW.”

i was already near tears, it was late, i could see other lights coming on around the campground.

finally i hear a click, something breaks. i push the door open, it’s heavy.

when i open it, the smell gets worse, but i don’t see anything yet.

then i do.

red.

so much red.

so much.

pooling.

it’s coming out from somewhere, there’s a source. i walk in, slowly, trying not to gag from what i now realize was the smell of a death i wasn’t ready for.

i turn to look behind the door— the only place in this cabin my eyes hadn’t yet searched, the only place that made sense.

the moment i realized this, i already regretted it, and the moment it clicked was the same moment i saw it.

Jelo Moon.

dead.

on his bathroom floor.

i see the knife just barely lodged into his chest, falling out, making a bigger hole then needed.

i see his lifeless face, his eyes rolled back in a way i never could of imagined.

my breath stops. i let go of the door, my knees hit the ground loudly, i start shaking.

i miss him already and i hadn’t even processed that he was dead.

this was two weeks ago.

sense then, i’ve been seeing ghosts.

a ghost.

his ghost.

every morning, i wake up, and i don’t have a face to say good morning too.

sadie’s started making me breakfast, but i won’t ever eat it.

i’m to tired to.

every night, i swear, i see his face. i cant close my eyes without seeing it, the way his eyes rolled back was so unfamiliar, so cold, so dead.

every time i blink, or try to think about anything but him, he haunts me like as if it was daring to think of anybody but him.

i miss him.

of course i do.

i’ve heard people say ‘everything’ reminds them of someone they lost— but really, everything reminds me of him.

the boats we met in, the bracelets we made, the bed we slept in, his friends, his clothes— his smell lingers around my cabin on nights i can’t sleep.

recently, it’s gotten worse, i can hear his voice. anytime i do anything, he’s commenting, he’s watching.

should i really eat that? would jelo like this meal?

i repeat steps until i get it just right, just how he would of wanted it.

everything has to be perfect.

i think i’m going mad.

sadie tells me she’s getting worried.

jonathan’s come back, he’s given me some of jelo’s stuff, he thinks it will help me grieve.

i am not grieving.

what if their to grieve over?

i’m sure, eventually, this. nightmare. will end, and i’ll wake back up to him purring on my chest, his tail wrapped around my leg, and his forever sweet smell be the only thing i can focus on.

i have his books. all his clothes. wilbur gave me his pillows, and i switched them out for mine. they no longer smell of him, but i think if i hold onto them long enough he’ll come back— he loved these pillows. 

i have his diary,

and i’ve read every page as many times as i can. i know exactly how he writes his C’s, and i know exactly how he dots his I’s, and i know exactly how he curves his Y’s or G’s. 

i know every detail.

i look at photos of him as often as possible, i don’t want to forget his face. i never want to see anything else. i want to be surrounded by him, i want him.

sadie tells me i should see the councilor. i tried to. i couldn’t focus— all i could think of was jelo. he used to see the councilor, he had a special chair because the others bothered him when he sat.

i cant eat. everything is something jelo would of eaten, and i miss him, or somehting he wouldn’t of— i would of made him lunch.

i still do, of course. he’s not gone. i put them on the counter.

…though they never move.

i’ve seen sadie pick them up, but i always stop her.

the house has started to smell, sadie can’t stand it, we can’t have people over.

jonathan has started bringing me hot drinks, and hanging out with me on lonely nights.

but i just sit in bed and listen to jelo’s old records, while looking at his photos.

his precious face, his lovely freckles, his nice spots.

i love all of it.

i cant wait to see him tomorrow.

i’m upset. i havnt seen jelo in days. i don’t know what i saw. he cant be dead, right? he promised me he was okay.

i keep seeing his face. or memories of us, flash by my eyes.

i cant sleep at night.

sadie has gotten restless, she tries to stay by my side— she says she’s worried i’ll hurt myself. that’s stupid. she’s stupid.

and that’s mean, and i feel bad.

i keep hearing these small voices. i swear i see jelo walk by, and i csnt stand hearing people talking about him. they don’t know him like i do. he’s beautiful, where is he, though?

sadie tells me she can’t live like this anymore. 

today, i had bracelet club. i smashed the beads. i felt so angry that them. i miss having to hide what i was working on because it was always for him.

most nights, i stay up, silent. sadie tries to talk to me, but she stays on her top bunk now. jonathan has stopped visiting.

sometimes, i see wilbur, and i mistake him for jelo. it makes me mad. i want to bash his skull in, why can’t he just be jelo? i miss jelo.

he promised me he was okay. he fucking promised. he lied to me, and now he’s only there when i close my eyes.

wilbur tells me my violence towords him worries him, and i’ve tried making deals with him, telling him he should leave me alone about it. or maybe find jelo— their both ghosts, surely they have a connection.

though i too am a ghost.

i wish i was more then that, and i’d be willing to bargain the lots to be more then that.

i want to be dead. i’d trade my life to be with him again.

i told him until death do us part.

and i meant it.

sadie’s trying to get me to eat still, and all i’ll have is small bites with water. i was given jelo’s phone. he’s deleted everything— there’s no notes. the last diary entry was dated the day he died, simply, goodbye.

the entries before that are a series of depressing admissions.

i would trade so much to be that book, i wish he had told me these things.

recently, i was allowed to go into town. they told me i could walk about, as i’ve been “feeling down”, and they thought a walk would be good for me.

 sadie didn’t want me to go alone, but i did.

i purchased a knife, like the one jelo stabbed himself with. wilbur found a knife under his pillow , which was stained with blood, and based on his diary im guessing he hurt himself with it.

i’ve asked wilbur for it, and promised many trades, but he refuses. i hate it.

i cant do this anymore. things have gotten bad.

those voices keep getting louder and louder.

jonathan tells me i’m going through grief, and that this is the depression stage. he tells me it should be done soon, and i’ll accept it all, but i don’t believe him. he tells me the rest of the phases lasted me weeks, and this is week two of being like this.

i purchased bullets.

for safety, i already had a gun, because it made jelo nervous to sleep in a room without protection. i wanted to keep him safe. i should of been there with him that night, why did it get so bad?

i never wanted this.

everyone seems to be much better, did they move on? what’s wrong with them.

i hate all of them. it’s just me and jelo again.

i havnt spoken in days. everytime i open my mouth i’m scared to say something i don’t mean to, all i can hear is that voice in my head, and it’s so loud.

i won’t get out of bed, but i won’t lay down. i just sit there. jelo’s photos are curled around me, the house stinks worse, i think all the food i made him is rotting.

sadie’s smell isn’t the best so she is still here. jonathan can’t walk into the house without gagging, and i’ve gotten used to the smell. i won’t let sadie throw the food away, or clean, and the councilers are threatening to kick us out.

the night is cold. i’m miserable, the photos curl around me, and it’s just me and sadie.

jelo isn’t here anymore on evenings like this. 

the window is open, and im finally thinking straight.

but there’s only one thought.

i move for the first time in days, and it’s to grab something.

i don’t look at sadie, but she looks at me. she watches me grab a small box. she watches me grab another. she watches me go back to my bed, which has grown disgusting, i think the walls are molding, and i fear my last photos of jelo’s face have become distorted, and i don’t remember his features anymore.

what color were his eyes? what was his favorite color? how did he say my name?

what was the last thing he said to me?

i sit back down. i open the boxes. i load the gun with the bullets i had just grabbed with it.

“sadie.”

my voice is hoarse, my throat hurts, it feels weird to speak. my accent is thick, the world is as heavy as my eyes.

she sounds like she’s smiling, no idea what i’m about to do.

“yea?”

she sounds excited. and so do i.

“sadie, do you know what death feels like?”

my voice becomes muffled in the last few words, as i gently rest the gun in my mouth.

i feel the air go cold, i see the bed shift as she tenses.

i cock the gun.

she doesn’t pause another second before asking me the last words i’ll hear,

“charlie, what was that?”

i pull the trigger quickly before she can stop me, and i watch everything go dark, i feel my hands drop as everything stops, and the last thing i ever hear is her loud gasp, and her getting up to get down to my bed.

the throat tears, a bullet goes through it, it hits the wall and breaks a small hole before i die off and it hits the ground. the light goes out.

sadie comes down to stop charlie, unsure if what she heard was really a gunshot. she watches the blood drip from his mouth, his mouth distorted, his throat torn apart, the gun falling slowly.

she can see what damage it has done, she can see the hole in the wall. a small group of concerned people run in, seeing nothing but sadie standing in front of what might be the most traumatizing thing those campers will ever see. 

Charlie Baxter is dead, and he is finally free of what he felt to be the worst feeling in the world.

[keefwho]

December 16 - 2022

8:53 AM

UGH I just need a big breakfast but I have a decision to make. The pizzas I had mom pick up after my Walmart groceries look strange *squints*. They’re the only things that weren’t in the cooler BUT they were cold when they got here. Not even floppy yet. So they’ve gotta be fine unless the store selling them fucked up. Its probably nothing so depending on how hungry I am when it’s done, I’ll eat it. If not, its just a couple dollar pizza. I’ll find something else filling to make. Its no big deal. 

10:40 AM

I don’t know why I feel so disconnected from people lately. I guess I feel like everyone is judging me all the time, its like I’m not allowed to fit in anywhere. But maybe I’m just judging myself. Either way I’m extremely lonely and while it doesn’t bother me at this moment, I’m afraid I could get very upset about it any day. I’m unsure what to do about it. I’m afraid to ask anyone for anything because I don’t want to bother them. 

3:31 PM

I know there’s a solution to how I feel right now, I just have to find it. I don’t want to sit around and feel sorry for myself. I don’t want to be sad and lonely even though I clearly have friends. 

4:18 PM

JK, emotionally I give up. People don’t like me, my art is subpar, I’ll never find love. Same old same old. No use in trying to do anything right now. I don’t care and no one else does. 

7:42 PM

Tonight is a sad and alone drinking night. Why am I so pathetic. 

I know no one knows how I feel but I always wish someone would reach out. I unrealistically believe no one cares because no one hits me up. But how else am I supposed to know I’m care about/ thought of? 

8:10 PM

I must just be shit. My art sucks and I know it. I have no redeeming social qualities. I’m a total fucking wreck. Nothing for me to do but lay around and waste oxygen. Or just keep making dogshit and hoping anyone cares. And then what. Is my life going to be grinding away making art/ models just so I can get a little interaction out of it instead of going out and talking like a normal person? People don’t like me, they like what meager shit I can make for them.

10:15 PM

There are some things I know are wrong but I don’t know what to do about them. My sense of hope and wonder have been lost for a long time. I don’t want to do anything because I can never imagine the payoff. I feel like I’m stuck where I am and things can’t get better. I can’t see anything I’m doing succeeding beyond what it already has. I struggle to stay focused and present on anything. Maybe I think too much. Maybe I need to follow the “in my pain I find my values” theory more. There are lots of things I want to do in theory but often can’t justify doing. But it’s always for a reason that involves my own limitations, like my anxiety. I think I should do the things I want to do anyways, at least on the weekend. There really is nothing to lose. I could read fanfics on stream even if no one is listening. I could camp a world in VRchat until I make a friend. Stuff like that. Sometimes I just think too much and need to start doing things. Hopefully I feel this way tomorrow. I had my dramatic plummet and now I’m coming back up with new awareness to my issues. 

I know I’m struggling to be my own person. I’m so out of touch with my own values. I tend to mold to people around me, but when they aren’t around I am lost. 

10:56 PM

It doesn’t feel healthy to try to ignore all the thoughts that are making me sad. But I thought thats what defusion was all about. It’s not about suppressing anything, it’s about hearing it and choosing not to let it interfere with how I act. I don’t know. 

[alisblackgf]

no thoughts, head empty, just being best friends with emma who is on a mission to get you to be with your crush through any means necessary

(i’m leaving the crush up to you since im bi and super indecisive-)

since emma’s the theater coach i can imagine her somehow roping up the entire camp into putting on a play and forcing campers and counselors to audition under the claim that it’ll be easier to get the kids to join and be excited if their favorite counselor auditions. emma ends up casting you & your crush as the love interests in the play and shenanigans ensue-

omg you are a genius. i am also bi and indecisive, therefore i'll be doing ALL of the counselors!! how will this work? you'll see!

pairing(s): abigail blyg x reader; nick furcillo x reader; emma mountebank x reader; jacob custos x reader; ryan erzahler x reader; dylan lenivy x reader; kaitlyn ka x reader; max brinly x reader; laura kearney x reader (separate)

trigger warnings: none <3 you guessed it! PURE FLUFF ONLY!

summary: emma mountebank, your best friend, is so sick of seeing you admire your crush from the sidelines and not doing anything. so, she comes up with a plan and gets everyone to help out to make a play, casting you and your crush as the main characters, who just so happen to be in love with each other.

taglist: @hardcore0simp @evaavaughn @sweet-daisies @tywrites @walkingus @boggoswife @bennzzo @yawagucci @fallingwings26 @rainbows-dreams @dylanlenievy @aspendvd @bloodverz @sugxrbxbyqueen

(to apply, click here!)

if you applied to be tagged but don’t see yours there, it means your @ wasn’t working, and i apologize sincerely for that. BUT!! hopefully you still have the chance of seeing this lol

also emma adds a kiss scene at the end of the play for all of them so if you read that part over and over again and get tired of it I AM SORRy

i also lied about me stopping with the confessions. IT WILL NEVER END

it was officially free-time for the counselors, and you had to spend it with emma—obviously—and why wouldn’t you? she was your best friend; you loved her energy and how she could just be so positive and sunny. she confided in you one day that her confident, unafraid persona was just a front, and you two became almost impossibly close.

your first thought was to look in the theater, since she was assigned to it. you opened the doors and there she was, instructing people who were holding props and carrying them in their respective areas; even some of the kids were helping.

you walked up to emma, and tapped her on her shoulder. she looked over at you, and smiled.

“aah, (y/n)! you weren’t supposed to see this until it was finished! buuuuut since you’re already here, i suppose i could fill you in on what’s going on,” she exclaims.

“oh, yes, please do. that would be marvelous,” you responded while watching everyone set some of the stuff up.

“it’s a play! i figured since i’m the theater coach, it’s only fair to do so!” she twirled excitedly, which made your lips curl up into an amused smile as you glanced at her from the corner of your eye. “also, you’re the lead role!”

“i’m not necessarily opposed.” you slowly turned your head towards her beaming face. she was so pretty when she was excited.

“good! you better not be, i spent an entire month writing the script!”

you laughed and asked, “alright, alright, now what part am i playing?”

she explained your role and gave you the deadline to memorize your lines. she also explained that she and the other eight counselors all had parts in the play, and some of the kids did too. she didn’t allow you to know anyone’s part, though, because she wanted to keep it a surprise. what she did let you know was that she told the other counselors that it was for the kids, which made them oblige.

the night of the play...

“can you please tell me who my love interest is gonna be? i got my parts completely memorized, everything’s set up properly, i did everything you asked; i even wore this stupid costume!” you spoke, frustrated but laughing at the same time.

“hey, watch it. i made that costume, in case you forgot. plus, it looks good on you. you’re welcome.”

emma was also in a costume, and it suited her well. 

“oookay, places everyone! the show’s about to start!” she quickly ran off to get into her position.

everyone was seated in the chairs of the auditorium, ready to watch, and your scene was the very first one. the scene included you calling in your love interest to the stage. after all of the waiting, you were excited to see who it was going to be.

you walked onto the stage when given the cue, and called out for the “love of your life.” when they came, it was quite literally the love of your life.

which was...

...abigail!

it took a lot of convincing from emma to get abi to be your love interest for the play

she kept overthinking what you would say, she thought you’d judge her

but she couldn’t deny emma’s puppy dog eyes, and she most definitely didn’t want to miss out on an opportunity to be with you

she was very very shy at first, so you secretly exchanged some encouraging words which made her smile and boosted her confidence

when the scene was over, you told her how great she did and she could not stop beaming

she repeatedly tells you how hard and fast her heart is beating

you let her know she did great, and she had to resist the urge to kiss you (she would never initiate it because she’s too scared of being rejected)

so of course, emma being the little sneaky devil she is, added a kiss scene as the ending scene of the play

poor abi’s face was red when it was time

you both went through with it

the kiss was soft and sweet

and the audience clapped

when you two pulled away, abi was so so soooo shy

she took your hand and led you off-stage, where you two would confess to each other and become official

...nick!

now how emma got nick to be your love interest was a set-up.

she made a bet with him, saying that if you slept in today, he’d have to be in her play (she told you to sleep in the night before)

so now he’s here

she didn’t tell him you were gonna be his love interest, so when he sees you he almost explodes

he stutters on his words a little bit, and you nod to let him know he’s doing great

soon enough, he becomes bold and confident

he flirts with you his character flirts with yours with ease as he’s no longer afraid

you take this as your chance to be bold as well, which flusters him

of course emma makes you kiss at the end, so when it’s time he stares at you

it’s only when you nod and let him know it’s okay to kiss you that he actually does

the kiss was sweet and gentle, as if he was scared to hurt you

and everyone clapped

after the play was over, nick visited your cabin and then confessed to you, and you reciprocated the action

nick smiled to himself while going to bed that night

...jacob!

oh goodness

all emma had to do for him was tell him you’d be the love interest and he signed up immediately (its not like he had a choice)

when he came on stage, he was so dramatic but you gave him the most adoring look and when he saw your face he literally melted

after seeing how sweet you looked when he was being silly, he kept doing so, and the audience loved him!

he was so ready for the kiss scene that he almost rushed his parts so the scene could hurry up and arrive

he made sure to practice his parts a lot because he didn’t wanna embarrass you

emma shook her head watching him, but smiled when she saw the way he looked at you and how you looked at him

he arrives with full blown confidence, so you don’t need to boost his ego

when the kiss scene arrives, he whispers “finally”

jacob was prepared for this moment but hesitated because he didn’t want to make you uncomfortable so you just kissed him

the kiss was energetic and you both couldn’t stop smiling

when the audience was clapping is when he confessed

you confessed too

and you left the auditorium holding hands

...ryan!

now you were definitely not expecting this

ryan saw your stunned face and gave you a look that said “i know, i’m shocked too”

emma asked him to join and he said “only if (y/n)’s in it” as a joke

emma took it seriously.

and here he is now

you couldn’t help but laugh, and he almost thought you were laughing at him

that was until you winked at him and motioned him to come closer

he tried to be expressive, but failed

he wasn’t good at acting. like at all.

but that’s okay, because the audience loved him anyway

you smiled at him the entire time, and he couldn’t help but smile back

ryan’s a little anxious because he’s never done this before, so you should boost his ego (he deserves it)

when the kiss scene arrives, he kinda freezes

you had to kiss him because he was beginning to chicken out

the kiss was soft and impassioned

the audience clapped

he only confessed when you two were alone

you confessed as well

and listened to his podcast whilst sitting next to each other, your head resting on his shoulder

...dylan!

another drama queen

emma let dylan know of every role and smiled to himself when he heard he’d be your love interest

she told him not to spoil it

he’d always flirt with you jokingly, so he figured he’d just do it here as well

he got really into his role and surprisingly was a great actor

you almost laughed at how serious he looked

you flirted with him jokingly too, and even did some improv

and it was just teasing all around

emma shook her head in faux disappointment as she watched you two be super extra on stage

he’s an anxious mess but doesn’t show it, he fronts as if he’s confident (if you try and boost his ego he’ll just go like ‘i know i’m awesome’ but really appreciates it)

when the kiss scene arrives, he smirks at you

you roll your eyes playfully

the kiss was neat but obnoxious (because dylan’s a goof), and you couldn’t stop laughing after it was over

when the play was done, dylan went for it

“hey, you wanna redo that kiss?”

you both confess right after and listen to some music together

...kaitlyn!

she quite literally has to be pushed onstage by emma

she thinks you look stunning and that she looks ridiculous and swears like a sailor under her breath

she comes off as aggressive when she’s anxious, so please let her know she’s doing amazing

she hesitated to say her lines but ultimately warmed up and let loose a little

you subtly encouraged her to step out of her comfort zone with each line you delivered

she wasn’t a terrible actor, but she wasn’t all that great either

you did improv with her to get her to loosen up some more, as she’s still a little tense

emma watches you help kaitlyn ease into her role and almost squeals at how cute you two are

she can’t help but smile whenever you’re saying your lines and almost forgets to say hers because she’s too busy looking at you

she would be so confident in her abilities if she wasn’t with you, she’s so scared that she’ll embarrass herself in front of you so she falters (BOOST HER EGO NOW.)

when the kiss scene arrives, she’s ecstatic but nervous

when you kiss her, she melts

the kiss is soft and just a teensy bit rough

after the play is over, she asks if you like her

which leads to you both confessing

and accidentally falling asleep on each other while watching a movie

...max!

he’s awkward. very awkward.

honestly there was nothing emma could do for him so she made the kids force him to be in the play

he looks to you for comfort almost immediately

you try and let him know he’ll do amazing through your given lines

says “uh” and “um” a lot when delivering 

thank god emma gave him an awkward character to play because the audience didn’t even notice he was actually this bad

he’s a terrible actor. i’m sorry he just is

THIS IS NOT MAX SLANDER BTW

stutters a whole lot

his ego needs to be boosted like immediately. this man has 0 confidence whatsoever

he’s glad you’re there because he’s positive if it were anyone else, they would’ve made fun of him

when the kiss scene arrives, he’s very nervous

the kiss is awkward but sweet

the audience loves him. some random girl even called him cute after the play

when the play is over he confesses and apologizes for being so awkward

you accept his apology and confess to him too

it’s still awkward.

im sorry it just is

but he does offer you his hand to hold

...laura!

she is absolutely unamused

until she saw you, that is

she almost ran up to you and gave you a hug but remembered she had a show to put on

so she does just that

she’s not as dramatic as the certified drama queens, but the drama’s there

she literally killed her role the audience looooooved her

they clapped every time she arrived on stage which gave her the confidence she needed (if you still encourage her it’ll mean a lot more than some clapping from randos)

her line delivery isn’t perfect but it’s still impressive

winks at you to flirt subtly because she knows the audience can’t see something as small as that

emma is shocked as laura’s performance and is definitely going to ask her to audition in future plays

when the kiss scene arrives, she doesn’t hesitate but does wait until you’re ready so she doesn’t disrespect your boundaries

the kiss is soft but a little rough (slightly rougher than kaitlyn’s)

when the play is over, she drags you off-stage to tell you how well you did and how much she loves you

accidental confessions at their finest

you admit you like her too and off you two went to find all the snacks you could and rant to each other

...emma!

you were not expecting emma to be your love interest, but you were glad she was

when she came up on stage, she gave you the softest smile ever

her acting was beautiful, your jaw threatening to drop

she’s the ultimate drama queen, everyone cheered when she came onstage

people clapped whenever you had scenes together

if anything, she’s the one boosting your ego, letting you know how great you’re doing

she has you infatuated, smiling at her every move and word

her movements were so fluid, the acting was on point

she was like a goddess

tell her how great she’s doing, even if she knows it (it means so much to her omg)

when the kiss scene arrives, she kisses you so passionately and gently

everyone clapped because you two are so cute

when they play was over, she admitted to you that she thought you had a crush on nick and tried to set you two up but nick told her that you liked her and therefore she should be the love interest

this led to her confessing that she loved you and would’ve gotten really jealous if you did like nick but would’ve wanted you to be happy

you guys held hands, kissed, shared snacks, listened to music, talked, ranted, whatever you could think of

you two were so happy

[ssplague]

Alpha Bakugou & his late blooming Omega girlfriend 🌬🥀

PART TWO

Honorable mentions: @jazzylove @bakugoismisunderstood @koreylive

Okay since so many of you seemed to really enjoy this “Just thinking about”, I’m turning it into a short story. I’m thinking it will have four parts all together (including the original post). So I know I’d said that I’d give you a nice big dose of Scumbag Suki this update, buuuut that was before I knew this was going to take off like it did 🙈 The next one is entirely his POV so you’ll get your fill then!

Part 3

🌌✨🌠

“Suki, did you really have to be that harsh towards Izuku when we left the playground earlier? I know you dislike him now but….”

You trail off as you get settled on the plush, blanket lined floor of the small tent you and Bakugou had set up in your backyard. Supposedly there was going to be “A shit load of shooting stars tonight!” acording to one of your classmates. You were excited and insisted on staying up to watch, and as usual, Katsuki inserts himself into any and everything you do. Therefore; The two of you had rushed home after school, asked both your mothers and pleaded to spend the night together out in the yard. Deciding that you two were still at the age where anything other than star gazing was unlikely to happen, they allowed it.

Battery operated fairy lights were strung along the roof of the tent and a small lantern illuminated the center, giving the inside a pink and orange glow.

“Hah?! No way was I about to let stupid Deku come and ruin OUR sleep over! This is for me and you ________, no one else….just…us” a light breeze blew in through the open tent flap and treated Katsuki to be briefly overcome by your scent.

The two of you had your scent glands come in around the same time and still weren’t entirely used to it just yet. All both of you knew is that you favored each other’s scents over anyone else’s. It was kind of getting embarrassing how much you were beginning to enjoy your temperamental best friend’s spiced caramel aroma. So much so you had to make a conscious effort not to lean into him and sniff at his neck from time to time. He was subtle about it, but certainly didn’t mind bumping into or brushing up against you more often than ever to get a whiff of your intoxicating fragrance. Even getting hit with a face full just now had his brain feeling sluggish as beads of sweat began forming along his hairline.

A voice inside his head started incessantly growling “touch her, touch her TOUCH HER”. Under the guise of getting comfortable he shifted his leg to rest up against yours and his mind quieted instantly.

“I….I know that Kat…I wouldn’t have invited him anyway!” Your face began to redden as you brazenly blurted out; “I like when it’s just you and I, we always have the most fun”.

He instantly perked up at hearing that, but he couldn’t help but ask; “So you like me better than him? You think I’m BETTER than him?”. Leaning into you as he waited for you to answer his question, eyes narrowed.

“You know I do! Besides….” You couldn’t help yourself as you leaned towards him and inhaled deeply “You smell so much better than him too!”.

Oh hell now you’d done it ________, you unknowingly opened the metaphoric Pandora’s box.

He didn’t speak right away, just smirked back at you and enjoyed the devious expression on your face. After another minute spent invading one another’s personal space you were first to snap out of it quickly muttering; “M’sorry Suki I..I dunno what happened I shouldn’t have got in your face like that!”. You sat back up and moved your leg so it was no longer touching his. Unable to comprehend the sudden feeling of sadness at the loss of contact, or attribute it to the fact that you were no longer touching him. Katsuki frowned immediately and scooted back against you, “S’okay princess…s’not like it’s a big deal”. His use of the familiar nickname only succeeding to fluster you further.

The next few moments were spent in silence.

Surprisingly, It was you that eventually broke it asking; “Suki do you know…d’you know what mates are?”. You immediately began to play with the cheap desk telescope you’d brought out to avoid looking at him, your heart was beating a lot faster now. The startled look on his face would have informed you that your question caught him off gaurd; Surely you hadn’t just had the same thought he did?! Well either that or you could read minds….that wasn’t very likely, thank god.

“Ah well my mom told me it’s when two people decide that they want to always be together and get sad if they are ever apart…so they live together….and then other stuff happens that damn brats don’t need to know just yet” he finished lamely, confused as to why he felt so strange reciting his mother’s words exactly as she’d originally said them.

“I get sad when we have to go inside our houses at night and stop playing together” you said, the depressed tone of voice sounded like it was happening right then. “Me too…I wish we lived together cause then you’d always be with me” he confessed shooting you a nervous glance. Your eyes lit up and you beamed at him when the idea suddenly struck; “We have to become mates now Katsuki, we have to!”. You got up on your knees and began frantically shuffling things around the tiny tent. “If we’re mates then our parents can’t tell us we have to stop playing and separate at night! We’ll always be able to stay together!” Your sporadic movement and sudden outburst immediately infected your companion with the same frantic energy, albeit nervous, but excited all the same as he stared at you with wide eyes.

“You’re right _________! That’s a great idea”

“I know!”

“So uh..umm how uh…how do we do that?”

You stop smoothing the blankets out to stare at Katsuki, “You don’t know how?”.

“No” he admits glumly.

You can’t hold back the distressed whimper that escapes you and Katsuki is immediately at your side trying to console you “Hey princess it’s alright-“. “NO!” you exclaim “We need to do this to stay together forever!”.

Then you remembered something; “I see my mom and dad do this every morning”. You roll up the sleeve of your jacket and bring your wrist up, simulating the motion of rubbing it across the scent gland on your neck. Katsuki nods his head in understanding; “Oh yeah, mine do the same thing! Let’s do that!”. He lays back and stretches his neck out, “You do me first and then I’ll do you kay?”.

“Kay”

You nod and smile down at him, shuffling towards his head and bringing your wrist up to his neck. You hold your breath as your skin makes contact with his and start lightly rubbing over his scent gland a few times.

“S-Shit” he says softly, squirming slightly.

“What?! Did I hurt you??!” You ask.

Fear immediately replacing excitement and distracting you from reprimanding him for uttering a curse word as you usually would.

“N-No it didn’t hurt…please d-do it again”

You do, continuing thoughtlessly as you become enthralled by his peaceful expression and relaxed as he starts purring.

“Your turn”

You take his spot laying down on the fluffy blanket strewn floor, shivering with anticipation and the slight chill in the night air. His touch warms you from the inside out and you gasp at the sudden sensation. Relaxing once more, you look up at him through heavily lidded eyes and return the smile he’s giving you.

Neither one of you has any idea that this situation is going to come with serious consequences.

Eventually you remember the whole reason you two had decided to camp out in the first place; “The shooting stars!” You cry sitting up and narrowly avoiding head butting the blonde boy above you. “Hey!” He snarls. You stand and open the window flap in the tents ceiling, just as you do you see the first “star” shoot across the sky. “Woah! Quick make a wish make a wish kat!”.

He won’t admit it…but he does, and so do you.

As more stars shoot across the sky the two of you lay together; Happily curled up in the blankets, snuggling up together. Occasionally one of you brings your wrist up and begins to rub the others neck lazily, while continuing to watch the dazzling light show taking place above you. Both of you end up falling asleep long before it’s over. The sound of Katsuki’s continuous purring, lulling you into the most comfortable sleep possible.

Well that, and how his natural warmth just seemed to consume you….

Warmth…so warm at times it could get uncomfortable.

Like right now…too close…too hot

Your eyes snap open and you take in your surroundings; This is your dorm room, you’re at school right now, safe. Your clothes and sheets are soaked through with sweat. Not just sweat apparently; After waking up more you realize your lower body feels disgustingly sticky. Then a tingling sensation begins at the tip of your toes, rapidly spreading up your legs until it reaches the special place between them. Then it’s like a literal fucking furnace has exploded down there! Not to mention the heavyweight that has now come to rest in your lower stomach as it begins to cramp.

“Ow! ow! Ow!”

You try to feel around the bed for your phone, you could call one of your friends to come help you.Friends….that’s right they all left for the weekend! Wait not all of them left, Katsuki! He’s still here! That’s right, you were supposed to go over to his room, last night? Is it already morning? Fuck who knows.

You start to cry when you can’t feel your phone nearby on the bed, you don’t wanna look for it.

You don’t wanna be alone either though….Your scared. His room is just down the hall it’s not too far away, maybe if you just take it slow you’ll make it. You force yourself to get up, not even caring that all you have on is a tiny pair of sleep shorts and a sports bra.

You bend down to grab your slides out from beneath the bed and slip them on your feet before moving forward.

One foot in front of the other.

Your hunched over, one arm wrapped around your stomach and sweat freely dribbling down your face, coating your chest, sliding down the valley between your breasts.

Jesus, I must look like fucking shit right now.

As you make it into the hallway and start your journey all you can think about is how badly you want to see Katsuki. He always makes everything better somehow; That smile he wears just for you makes your heart sing normally. Right now you just let out a pained keen at the thought. Your inner omega has always been quiet enough to ignore in the past, but now she’s practically screeching like a fucking banshee inside of your head.

Just one word, over & over & over again:

Alpha

Alpha!

ALPHAAA!!!

With each screech your primal urges and instincts had began overwhelming you. Eventually reaching a point where the lines between the two began to blur. Making you feel more like a wounded beast that’s gone absolutely feral, while slowly dragging yourself down the hallway.

Once you get about halfway down you start to smell the familiar scent that you’ve become so fond of. Only it’s so much stronger and….muskier? It’s intoxicating, and so potent, you need more! Somehow your legs are moving quicker thanks to this new desperation manIfesting. Once you finally reach his door you have to stop yourself from breaking it down; Frantically pounding on it instead, and now you’ve started crying, salivating, and you’re just a goddamn walking train wreck… Somehow you don’t care, your appearance doesn’t matter, you just need HIM right now.

When the door opens you stumble inside.

The sound of his voice quieting your shrieking omega as soon as it reaches your ears;

“Finally decided to show up? Was waiting all fuckin’ night for you and…hey what’s wrong? Oh shit…fuck”.

Fuck is very right.