#the bit about it being discouraging but you chip away and you realize it's about slowly building a life

[roamingbadger]

‘Normal People’s Frank Blake on an actor’s life’ by Liadan Hynes

Full article below the cut (warning, it is long!):

‘I used to worry on set, ‘I’ve just done another mean thing’,” Frank Blake says with a rueful smile. We’re discussing what’s probably his most high-profile role to date, playing Alan in director Lenny Abrahamson’s TV adaptation of Sally Rooney’s Normal People, a show that went a long way towards getting many of us through lockdown one.

“There’s a bit where I throw water on Marianne. I just felt awful that day,” he says with a laugh. “You know, because I’ll throw water on her, and Lenny’s not going to go, ‘Good man’. They called cut, I stand in the bold corner for a while, Daisy [Edgar-Jones] gets dried off for the next take, where the same thing happens again.”

Alan is central character Marianne’s older brother, a man lost in his own stew of anger and resentment; a threatening character in both the book and screen versions of Normal People. In the past, Blake has commented on how it is necessary to find a way into a dark character, to find some sympathy. Otherwise, you’re just playing a tone, he says.

“You just have to find what makes a person human,” he says now. “Lenny was a great help there in doing the groundwork. Alan’s feeling a bit hard done by in life. He’s obviously got a bit of jealousy going on there — a bit of trauma from the loss of their dad, which is a tough thing to deal with.

“I think it’s symptomatic of a certain rural repression, that character. And a male rural repression, maybe, when we see, unfortunately, that so many young men don’t ask for help, and they go a certain way. I think it’s a nice contrast to Connell in that show, where actually he does go looking for help in what’s such an amazing scene — his therapy scene. So I think, yeah, that’s an interesting juxtaposition in the show.

“If someone just asked him, you might get something out of him, but no one does and everyone’s afraid to. That’s the energy he gives off. So, he’s probably unlikely to get help.”

It’s hard, he agrees, to portray that kind of darkness without descending into pantomime. “Particularly when that show was very much about Connell and Marianne, so you have to be comfortable in the fact that you’re there to serve the story. You have to be there to serve this part of the story, so I don’t have to be liked or whatever.”

Throwing water aside, they had the best craic on set, he says. “I used to always be jealous of the other cast members. I’d get pictures of them shooting a pool party, or all the cool, hot Trinity stuff. It was actually great craic with Aislín [McGuckin], who played our mum, and Daisy. We’d such a laugh in between scenes.”

Blake had come from performing in Louise O’Neill’s Asking For It at the Abbey Theatre before the Normal People auditions began, along with some other actors, including Paul Mescal who later appeared in the show.

“I think it was one of the last weeks of Asking For It that we were all auditioning for it, so it was quite funny actually. Not only were there actors from Asking For It, but there were plenty of other actors in the [Abbey] building, and you could just see people walking around with copies of Normal People,” he grins. “‘Ehhh, why are you reading that?’”

When he found out, months later, that he had landed the part, he was performing in another landmark Dublin theatre, The Gate. His agent let him know on the opening night of Tennessee Williams’ play The Glass Menagerie that he had been successful.

Blake, now 28, didn’t grow up knowing he wanted to be an actor, but at the same time, he had always been interested in theatre and movies. He hails from Tuamgraney, Co Clare, and is the youngest of three. “I think there was a latent actor in me there, but it was never something I did as a child or anything.”

His family ran an equestrian centre. He and his siblings would muck out the stables before school and get stuck in afterwards. “It gave you a good work ethic, anyway. It gave me a good maturity, in that way. And I saw so much of the country through travelling around to horse shows and stuff. It was a really interesting environment to grow up in.

“I wanted to do that as well, for a long time,” he continues of the world of horses. “It’s kind of a world I liked. I don’t know, I just kind of lost interest in it as I got older. People are always, ‘Oh that’s so amazing’. But I think when you grow up in that kind of environment, it’s almost like a bit of a chore.”

In his younger years, he didn’t know anyone who had made a career out of acting. “There were no stage schools around me. Now, there’s loads of things there, thankfully, for other people. And I think drama is about to become a subject in secondary school as well. If only!”

Dramatic outlets may have been limited, but from the age of four Blake had attended the annual amateur drama festival circuit each year — the plays were staged in the school hall. “My neighbour used to bring me. Every single night, there’d be different drama group doing a classical play. I’d seen every John B Keane play, Conor McPherson — I’d seen all of that stuff by the time I was 12.”

Eventually, aged 17, Blake performed in the community musical. “I was in the ensemble of Jesus Christ Superstar,” he laughs, adopting grand tones. “It wasn’t a school thing, it was the whole community. They used to let some schoolkids be part of the ensemble, so myself and a few of the lads just said, ‘Sure f**k it, we’ll throw ourselves in here.’ We were pretending that, ‘ah, this is just a bit of a laugh’, but I was secretly absolutely loving it. Nailing Jesus to the cross — that was my big role!” He grins at the memory.

Previously, he had planned to study psychology in university, but this experience pushed him to look into acting as a career. “It’s a bit of leap to be making,” he chuckles. “That sorted of turned my head a bit.”

He did an arts degree in NUI Galway, studying drama along with German and philosophy. It rapidly became clear though where his true interests lay. “I did eight plays in Dramsoc that year, and I think it quickly became apparent that that’s what I was into. I was still kind of in denial a bit — ‘Oh, that’s for the people over there’.”

Who are the people over there, I wonder? He’s not sure, he says, then jokes: “People in Dublin.” He adds: “The biggest obstacle is probably yourself, really, for a long time.”

Towards the end of that first year, Blake applied for a place in The Lir Academy, Ireland’s National Academy of Dramatic Art at Trinity College, without telling anyone. “In secret. Because I still didn’t know what I was at. You did three auditions over three months. I was skipping lectures, saying I was going to the doctor — stuff like that. And then I got in there.”

That felt amazing, he recalls, although he quickly realised he would have to tell his mother, and braced himself. “I remember getting ready to ring my mum, and be like, ‘I’m dropping out of college,’” he adopts, at this point, a sort of urgent, I won’t be dissuaded, tone. “‘I’m going to be a dropout.’ And expecting this big blowout, and being like, ‘Well I’m going anyway’.”

When he did ring, his mother was nothing but supportive and very proud. “I didn’t get to do any of the big arguments I’d practised,” he laughs.

Drama school was a somewhat different pace from an arts degree. But he relished it. “A lot is asked of you. But it pushed you so much outside of yourself that I loved it.” He particularly enjoyed the intensity of the schedule. “Looking back, you spend so much time waiting around as an actor, even if you’re busy, you’re still doing nothing. And to think that you got to go in there and you got to do something from morning until night, every day, that you loved. It’s just the best.”

Ending drama school can be a time of pressure — not everyone gets an agent. Blake did, however. “And then… you think you’re going to be a rock star,” he says with another laugh. “For most people, 99pc of people, you realise, ah, things are a bit different when you finish. You realise how hard it is. You’re just auditioning and getting no’s. Not even getting the no’s — not hearing back at all. It was just that for ages.”

He worked as a doorman in a hotel in Ballsbridge. He never considered giving up on acting, but he did begin to doubt himself. “And [I’d start to] think, ‘This isn’t what I thought it would be’. I did worry and think maybe it wasn’t for me for a while.”

Eventually, things began to pick up. “I started to realise then it’s about building a career, and it’s building blocks. Like, some people come out and they’re movie stars after a week. But I kind of realised you just chip away, doing small bits in theatre, and doing small bits on telly, or whatever is coming along. You eventually build up relationships. And after a couple of years, I could see that starting to pay off.”

Resilience is key for actors, he agrees. And the knowledge that this is a long-haul game. “Everyone finds it hard. You talk to people who you think are doing amazing, and the goalposts always move. And it’s always hard. You have to find the comfort in that.”

That said, it can be difficult. “It’s something I still find really, really challenging. Because you’ll always go through bouts of not working. Or things just being a bit different to how they were before, or how they will be. You just have to find the ease in that.”

He dislikes the nature of having to wait for someone else to give you a yes that comes with acting. “But it’s the reality of it. I’ve tried writing and stuff, as a way of taking back a bit of control, myself. I found great joy in that.”

He wrote a short film a few years ago based on Donal Ryan’s short story The Passion. “It was one of the most satisfying things I’ve ever done, because there was so much control in that. Being part of every aspect of a production, not just being told what to do. It was great, I loved it.”

It also demystified parts of the process, he reflects. “You think that’s for the people over there, and then you just do it, and you go, ‘Oh, right, I just had to do it’. So, I’ve gotten more into that now. I’ve written a few screenplays that are in development.”

Since Normal People, he has appeared in PBS costume drama Sanditon. He moved to London last year, having wanted to for years. “I love it. But I’m doing that classic thing of moving over to London and hanging out with a load of Irish people.”

He also appreciates that many of his friends are not in acting. It is good to have people who are not in his professional world. “When things aren’t going well, the last thing you should be doing is talking about all of the acting ever, when you could go out and kick a ball against the wall.”

For now, though, things are going well. Already this year, Blake has worked on film and in theatre. He is currently between jobs. “I’m doing that waiting thing,” he says, smiling. “I did a few bits this year. I’m just waiting for the next thing. There are a few things floating around.”

[monstersinthecosmos]

i want a human AU about Marius as just a really boring guy with an office job, divorced sad sack nearing mid-life crisis realizing he hasn't made a career of his many passions, super strung tight and touch starved and lonely and a friend (probably a weirdo friend like Avi) finally gives him the number for a dom service he should try. And Marius's interest is piqued; he remembers being into stuff like this before the divorce shriveled up his libido, and tbh it's not entirely even ABOUT libido as much as like, maybe he just wants someone to hit him so that he feels something, and then he'll be able to get some sleep.

so anyway a few weeks later after he's worked up the courage and filled out the little survey online and signed all the waivers and submitted his medical documents etc he has his first session with Amadeo; he shells out for a nice hotel room, not sure if it's appropriate to bring this person home, maybe secretly wanting to show off, but Amadeo is so cold and deadpan and doesn't even comment on it, isn't impressed at all. He shows up in jeans and a ratty hoodie and just pushes forward to go change in the bathroom, and comes out in tight black shiny gear, flogger in hand, and after an hour Marius's ears are ringing and he's red all over and he had no idea so much degrading, mean shit could come out of this angelic looking face.

Amadeo doesn't talk much afterwards but sticks around for a little while, back in his jeans and hoodie, and he makes Marius tea and asks if he wants a massage. There are a few minutes that Marius feels the threat of sub drop hovering at the edges, feeling old and stupid, thinking his life has been a waste, but Amadeo is graceful enough to distract him. Doesn't talk much, just enough, asks if he wants to put a movie on, and Marius watches the soft curiosity in his face as he keeps glancing at the screen.

Marius tips him well, thanks him, spends the night in the hotel since he paid for it.

It becomes a regular spot in their calendars. They get a little more elaborate. Amadeo is honest when he's not confident about something, and keeps it professional, but he allows Marius to teach him. Marius shows him all the knots he likes, and teaches him some other methods for impact play. More and more, in the aftercare when they're done, Amadeo's personality comes out. He talks more. Marius even gets him to laugh.

And Amadeo is professional, but he's young. Marius notices when his resolve starts to chip away. Maybe Marius leans into it, even though he knows he shouldn't. Maybe it turns into breaking some rules on their original contract, like when they finally make out. And the time Marius finally reaches to touch the bulge in Amadeo's pants, because Amadeo never gets off in their sessions. Even Amadeo's agency discourages unsafe sex or fluid exchange, and neither of them talk about it when Marius finally sucks him off, and Amadeo comes all over his face.

So what happens when it gets unethical, when they're in too deep? Amadeo tells him one night that he doesn't think he should see Marius as a client anymore, that their boundaries have become too murky, and he suggests someone else that Marius could see instead, but it just turns into them meeting outside the agency. Meeting in the daylight, for coffee, and Amadeo blushes when Marius puts a hand on his leg beneath the table.

"I still want to pay you, you know," Marius says, near his ear. "Not as a client. I just want to pay you."

And just a bit longer before they finally start meeting at Marius's house. Off the books now, no agency involved, but Marius keeps paying him. And texts him through the week, buys him clothes, Venmo's him with a note to treat himself to lunch. Whenever Marius gets paid he thinks about how much he'll pass onward to Amadeo. Sometimes, watching the numbers drain from his bank account feels the same as an orgasm draining his body.

Maybe a year in before they finally fuck. And at first it's still Amadeo in charge. Smacking him on the face and telling him what to do, telling him how fast to go, making demands. Riding him for the first half, staring down at Marius like he's worthless. Stoic for as long as he can before he falls apart whimpering, and then he's just a brat. He doesn't protest when Marius takes control, flips them over, rails him into the mattress. Tears in Amadeo's eyes as he comes on his soft belly, and he presses his hands to his face to hide.

Then, the next time after that, Amadeo actually spends the night.

His name is Armand, he admits one day. Quietly, after dinner, as Marius signs the check. His real name, he means. And he's blushing again, and looking away, and tells Marius he can still call him Amadeo if he wants to. But his name is Armand. If he likes that instead.

And Amadeo was the dom, but Armand is something else.

Marius should have known, when he saw the eagerness, teaching him how to work rope and teaching him the best places to land a flogger and he should've known as Amadeo's façade cracked, every time they've fucked, the way he became so small and needy. He should've seen the way his big wet eyes could follow Marius around the room sometimes.

Subbing was fun for Marius and he needs it sometimes, for sure. But he's in too deep now. He needs both, he needs anything. He needs Armand most of all. And domming Armand is just as good.

[hithisartexists]

Had to write a thingy for ELA. Figured I may as well share it.

     Rob moved to the corner of the elevator as a stranger walked into the enclosed space alongside him. He realized he had walked past the buttons, and **figured he would just wait until the other man stepped off before going back to select his floor. Hopefully they’d land on the same stop and he wouldn’t have to waste time.** Unlucky for him; the stranger was rather observational. 

      “Oh, hey, which floor are you on?” he asked with his head bent over his shoulder and his arm poised up to the board of numbered buttons.

     Rob glanced up, fumbling with his words until something coherent spilled out of his mouth, “Ah- I’m. Uhm. Going all the way down.” He smiled awkwardly and rested his hand on the back of his neck. The other man smiled back patiently and gave a thumbs up.

      “Same place, then. Lucky us,” he said; adding, “You a new hire? I don’t recall seeing you before.”

     Why is he still talking to me? Rob nodded quickly, his already odd seeming smile turning thin. He flinched back as the man held out his hand in a sudden movement. “Lovely to meet you then! My name’s Joseph. How about you?” **Rob was taken aback by the eagerness of Joseph. He shook his head clear and hesitantly offered his hand;** which was quickly taken by a firm handshake.

     “Rob.” Once freed, he shook his hand around lightly and rested it back by his side. It was difficult to tell whether Joseph was oblivious or simply didn’t care; regardless, the elevator ride couldn’t be longer. At least the view made up for being stationed at the top of this tower with him. He stepped back a bit, but Joseph sought to continue talking like a cat playing with a mouse; Rob only wished he could scurry away. 

     “Not too talkative, are you? I’m sure you’ve got something interesting going on in that head of yours.” Joseph said; still in that continuously tantalizing and jovial tone. Rob only shook his head in response. Normally, by now, the lack of engagement would discourage further conversation, though Joseph seemed none the wiser to what Rob was saying in his silence. He was happy to keep yapping like a pup, but even then; he couldn’t be reasonably tuned out because he had the slightest right of mind to keep giving Rob opportunities to speak and asking him questions. This wouldn’t be so horrible were he not tired and ready to be done with the day.

      Finally, like the light at the end of the tunnel, the elevator doors slid open with a ding. Joseph chipped out, “Looks like this is our stop. See you tomorrow, Rob!” He was already halfway out the door frame. He barely waved behind him without looking back as he speedwalked out the front doors of the building. Joseph was caught up making jokes with the front desk worker before he got that far away.

[multifandomwritings]

How the slashers would react to their S/O being sweet and affectionate

(Giving them lots of compliments, being soft with them, etc.)

Includes Thomas, Brahms, Michael, Jason, Bubba, Chop Top, Nubbins, Beetlejuice, Candyman, Bo, Vincent, Lester, Graverobber, Luigi, Pavi & Billy Lenz. I know technically not all of them are slashers but I wanted to put all the horror characters together :) 

This came out of nowhere and took so long to write lol :^) I hope you like it! If I’m missing anyone let me know! (This is both bad and lengthy, so I am sorry :’) Also obviously they’re soft here so) I’ve read through this to check for mistakes but if I missed anything I’m sorry, feel free to point it out! 

Thomas:

- Thomas would thoroughly melt. He's starved for affection and kindness, and probably wouldn't even know how to handle it at first, only staring at you with reddened cheeks and ears 

- He's a sucker for compliments, especially — he's been spoken to/about poorly most of his life, so it's foreign to him. Your seemingly endless drawls of honey-coated words soften him up beyond repair, building his confidence up more than you would even be aware of (imagine his widened eyes and fumbling hands as you spoke 🥺)

- It would take some time, but you'd make him like things about himself. You compliment his eyes? He would slowly begin to too, since you did. You played with his hair, rambling on about how pretty it was? Fluttering eyelids, profuse blushing, can’t handle it. He likes it too from then on, and hopes you play with it more. 

- Of course, Thomas would adore that you were physically affectionate. He'd be more than willing anytime you wanted hugs or kisses, his tummy always filling with butterflies at your touches. Besides kisses, he'd especially adore casual intimacy - touching his arms in passing, or playing with his hands and fingers absent-mindedly as you sat with him. It would make him feel so loved and happy. (Also: snuggling up to him/nuzzling into his neck. He would melt, amazed that you were so trusting and comfortable with him)

- Your sweetness would be so endearing to him, almost feeling undeserving of it. He'd question why you were so tender with him, often needing reassurance. He'd be quite protective of you anyways, but your sweet personality would only further this.

Brahms:

- This would be perfect for Brahms. He's very affectionate himself, so he'd be happy to receive any affection that came his way

- Seriously. If you began being casually affectionate with him, spoiling him with kisses, hugs, and little touches in passing, he'd do the same, probably taking advantage of it a little (only because he's quite touch starved)

- Compliments, however, would be received a little different. Not badly, only with more reservation. He's unused to them, and would often flush up at your sweet words, stammering clumsily to thank you as he tried not to blush too hard

- Your sweet, caring and affectionate personality would melt his heart, so thankful that you came along. Your sweet words and affectionate nature would be so mending to a severely neglected part of him

- Often times, you'd have a hard time getting him to let you go when you hugged or cuddled up to him. He'd cling to you tightly, nuzzling up to you and savoring every moment of it

Michael:

- You would have to be patient with Michael when it came to any kind of affection. He wouldn't mind, but he'd be a little wary of it, especially at first

- Gentle, caring and purposeful touches would soften him up a bit. Things like you caring for any wounds he happened to get while ~out and about~, and looking after him in ways he wasn't used to

- Compliments and doting would be met with surprise, though you wouldn't be able to tell. If you look closely enough, you'll see his eyes are widened behind his mask when you speak lovingly of him

- Your sweet personality would intrigue him, especially seeing as he was the object of your affections. His own affection would be shown by being protective and gentle with you, willingly accepting your affection, albeit with some amount of awkwardness

- He would have a hard time not letting his guard down and completely melting into your touches and at your affection. Slowly but surely, he’d loosen up. One day you’d absent-mindedly lift your hand to his arm or cheek once he was warmed up to you, and he’d surprise you by leaning into it just slightly, scanning your reaction nervously. Don’t push your luck and overreact though, he’ll get awkward and temporarily disappear. An encouraging smile will do!

Jason:

- Jason would *adore* this. So much. You would always make him feel so warm and loved, any insecurities he had would slowly melt away

- He would feel grateful that he wore a mask sometimes, embarrassed at how flushed you could make him without even having to try

- Has some reservations about physical affection at first, but your patience and sweetness would rapidly chip away at them. In fact, he'd regret keeping you at arms length at first, as he'd worry you weren't being as affectionate as you wanted to be because of it (you actually were, he just wants more)

- You can always tell he's beaming beneath the mask when you compliment him, savoring your words and making sure he won't forget them. Although he might not always agree with the sweet things you said about him, they made him feel special and loved

- His biggest weakness would be his neck. You would occasionally kiss the side of his neck near his jaw in lieu of his face when he wore his mask, and each time you could watch as his ears turned crimson, eyes widened slightly, always prompting a giggle from you

Bubba:

- Bubba is quite affectionate too, so you'd be a cute match

- He might have reservations about being too affectionate in the beginning, as he wouldn't want to scare you away. However, when you proved yourself to be just the same as him, the dam would break and he'd rarely not be spoiling you with affection

- Your compliments and sweet words would always leave him a blushing mess, genuinely confounded at how you could make him feel so warm and fluttery inside

- Bubba is definitely the cuddliest so prepare yourself for endless snuggles, happy to return your affection like that. If you were to walk up and give him a random hug, he'd melt, dragging you off somewhere to sit with you for hours, you snuggled up in his arms

- He cannot cope with the casual little kisses you give him, especially if you pepper them across his face. He would never get used to them despite loving them, turning the sweetest shade of pink each time and rambling on in a sort of awkward panic

Chop Top:

- Chop Top would lovingly tease you about how affectionate you were with him, finding it completely adorable. He would end up shutting up about it as he wouldn’t want to discourage you, though

- Compliments and sweet words would be met with a big, silly smile or chuckle, followed by him asking you if you really meant it. He’d find you so sweet, and would return your affectionate words in his own weird, Chop Top-esque way

- Nothing has an effect on him quite like random, unexpected touches. He’ll be going on in his typical loud, extra way when you’d stand next to him and slip your hand into his, your other hand clinging to his arm as you pressed up to him slightly. His voice would falter as he glanced at you with a nervous chuckle, rambling nervously and trying to remain ~composed~ 

- Your sweetness would be somewhat puzzling to him, particularly because it was directed toward him. He wouldn’t be used to people being so gentle and polite with him, so he wouldn’t even know what to do with it at first

- Ends up being more affectionate than you. He loves having you in his arms and smothering you with chaotic, needy kisses. He’d have loads of weird, super-specific nicknames he’d call you, and would love if you had some for him, too.

Nubbins:

- So soft for you! Seriously. He'd treat you like you were made of glass, uncharacteristically protective of you

- Anytime you touched him he'd break into the sweetest smile, melting into your hands. *Loves* when you play with his hair, nuzzling up against your hand

- Anytime you complimented him, called him loving nicknames, or anything like that he'd flush up and wouldn't be able to stop smiling

- He's so used to being mistreated that your sweet and gentle personality would make his heart race. He'd cling to you any chance he got, finding comfort in you

- He’d be just affectionate back, but in a sort of clumsy, awkward way. It would be new to him, and he’d want to be all gentle and sweet with you, but instead he’d be a bit rough and unpracticed. He’d play with your hair a bit roughly, hug you a little too tightly, and would kiss you with too much fervor for it to be as sweet as the intention behind it

Beetlejuice:

- Beetlejuice wouldn't really know how to take this/deal with it. He can be quite vulgar and straightforward, so it would be an adjustment. Not an unwelcome one, just different

- He'd find himself getting embarrassed by his own lewd comments and gestures, finding you far too sweet for that, and wanting to treat you as such

- When you complimented him, his first instinct would be to be cocky and teasing about it. As he realized how genuine you were, he'd get surprisingly embarrassed, genuinely appreciating your words and not forgetting them

- Finds himself adoring your soft, sweet touches, leaning into them and hoping they'd last longer than they did. Of course, you were always happy to cater to him, stopping whatever you were doing to shower him with soft attention that you knew he needed more than he was aware

- His personality would completely soften around you, looking at you as though you were the most precious thing in the world. The second someone else was around though? Back to his usual shenanigans. 

Candyman:

- Daniel would pretty much be the same as you, always spoiling you with the sweetest, loveliest words that would leave your heart fluttering and cheeks flushed 

- He'd find your sweet personality endearing, being particularly gentle and soft with you. Any kind of affection you wanted, you would get

- Adores your touches, and returns them without hesitation. He's a romantic, so he'd love your kisses in particular, smiling anytime you would randomly kiss him, and often wrapping you up to steal more than a simple peck

- He would be so sweet and romantic constantly, cherishing every little bit of affection you gave him. He’d always be amazed at how gentle you were and how you made him feel

- He would (not so) secretly love being doted over by you. Would melt at how adoringly you looked at him, and would be happy to just sit with you as you snuggled up to him, making him feel all soft and special 

Bo:

- This is so foreign to Bo. Literally, he'd look at you like you were absolutely nuts, having no idea how to react to half the things you said

- Your soft, doting words flustered him far more than he would have liked to admit, even to himself. Every compliment would wrap itself around his thoughts and tug at his heartstrings 

- Did you really mean the things you said about him? You were so soft and genuine, he was always amazed at how you could feel so sweetly toward him. He'd feel so privileged, in a way, to be the object of your affections

- Your physical affection would *always* be welcome. He would definitely return it, though not without some amount of flirting and teasing. Calls you every cute moniker in the book, sweetheart being his favorite for you. (He’d never admit it but if you call him things like that too, he’d melt) 

- Of course, he'd adore whatever affection you gave him, but it would be the sweet, unfamiliar things that would really get him. If you held his hand in yours as you walked, kissed his cheeks, played with his hair or even did something as silly as booping his nose, he'd scoff, half rolling his eyes and pretending to find it silly. The pink spreading across his cheeks and nose would not be lost on you, though, nor the soft smile that would slowly emerge 

Vincent:

- Vincent would be a little bit nervous about affection at first. He'd definitely want it, but it would just be new to him. He'd have to warm up to you first

- Verbal affection would be best in the beginning, sweet words easing him up to you (and making it much harder to keep you at arms length). If he allowed you to see him without his mask, he'd rarely not be blushing (to be honest, you would be able to sense that he was anyways, even when he did wear it)

- Little things like touching his shoulders or arms in passing would make him so soft. When he's comfortable with it, you'd begin holding his hands and hugging him, which would almost always result in him nuzzling up to you and rapidly getting clingy 

- His favorite thing would be cuddling up with you for hours, feeling safe and warm tangled up with you. He’d also love when you played with his hair, and kissed the scarred side of his face, quickly getting overwhelmed with emotion

- He would be as caring and sweet toward you as you would be with him. Your loving personality would be deeply appreciated by him, and he’d make sure that you knew it

Lester:

- Lester would be the softest ever for you, your sweet personality being what drew him to you. He'd be used to people being mean and rude, so when you weren't, he'd already be putty in your hands

- Every word that came out of your mouth would prompt a big, expectant smile, no matter what it was about. However, anytime you indulged him with compliments and kindness, he'd hardly be able to maintain eye contact, too embarrassed and flattered to even properly hear you

- Being with you would perpetually keep him in a good mood. No amount of meanness from anyone would matter anymore — if you liked him, that's all that would matter!

- He spoils you just as much with affection and compliments as you do him, thinking you were the sweetest person on earth, and wanting you to know it

- Loves all kinds of physical affection you give him, but he really just likes to have you close. Hand holding, arms wrapped around each other, and so on would make feel safe and warm

Graverobber:

- Graverobber would be pleasantly surprised with how soft you were with him, finding himself almost amused by it. Not in a bad way, but as with almost everyone else he just wouldn’t expect it

- Any random affection, verbal or physical, would be met with a cocked eyebrow and a small smirk — only because he loves watching the blush creep over your cheeks in embarrassment 

- He’d love it though, and would be quick to reassure you despite his initial teasing. He’d find you so endearing and would appreciate you a lot, though he’d be more apt to express it with actions rather than words

- Alternatively to teasing when you were being particularly sweet, he’d pull you up next to him and wrap his arm around you. If you were alone, he’d be a bit touchier, peppering your face with kisses and grinning in satisfaction as he made you laugh and blush

- He would find you so cute, often unable to keep a smile off his face when you were around

Luigi:

- You would certainly be a stark contrast to Luigi. This pairing would be a mystery to his family and pretty much everyone else, though he wouldn’t understand why 

- Your sweet, affectionate personality would cut through his angry, brazen one a little, at least when he was around you. Despite his temper, he'd have a hard time actually getting angry when you were around, even toward other people (this results in everyone else hoping you would stay attached at the hip, so to speak. Please)

- He'd adore your affection, needing soft and sweet attention more than he knew. He'd love to be wrapped up in your arms, or have you wrapped up in his — it really wouldn’t matter, he’d be happy either way. (Also likes PDA, as he's a show-off)

- Your praises and compliments would always light up his face with an endearing smile. He'd go out of his way to impress you and live up to your words. He could also be quite smug, too, agreeing with your compliments half-seriously and half in an attempt to make you laugh 

- You would (unintentionally) have him wrapped around your finger, without him even realizing it.

Pavi:

- Pavi would be fascinated by this, so used to less innocent forms of affection. He definitely wouldn't be used to sincere, loving words directed toward him, especially paired with innocent touches without ulterior motive

- He's used to people flocking around him to simulate whatever he wanted, often times because of who he was, rather than out of genuine interest. If you gave him attention freely, because you wanted to, it would unlock a completely different side of him

- He would be enamored with you, quickly losing interest in everyone else as he fixated on you. Your praises, kindness and attention would always leave him a smiling mess

- Needless to say, Pavi is very physically affectionate, so he'd adore that you were, too. You wouldn't have many opportunities to initiate it, though, as he'd be quite clingy and touchy without prompting

- Pavi returns affection and compliments, of course. He praises you and talks sweetly (at least, you think it’s sweet?) in his typical eccentric way, bragging about you and how much you loved ~the Pavi~ to his siblings (and probably anyone who listens) 

Billy Lenz:

- Billy can say the lewdest things, yet somehow still manages to get flustered when you give him any type of affection

- That doesn't mean he doesn't like it though. Quite contrarily, he'd (discreetly, or so he thought) give you every opportunity to give him affection, not wanting to seem obvious or have to ask

- He could literally curl up in your lap like a cat and just fall asleep, clinging to you and melting into your touches

- Your compliments would often be received with a clumsy attempt at self-assuredness, too embarrassed by your sweet words to keep up the ruse. That wouldn't stop him from attempting it, though

- He adores your sweet personality, and would be far softer than you might think with you. Keeps lewd, awkward comments to a minimum and replaces them instead with sweeter, gentler words (well, to the extent that he is capable of, anyways)

[taestefully-in-luv]

Always You | JJK (Five)

Summary: you and Jungkook have been best friends since freshmen year of college, there’s a lot of unsaid feelings and tension but neither make a move. what happens when his friend Taehyung (also your crush) needs a fake girlfriend?

Pairing: Jungkook x Female reader, slight Taehyung x Reader

Genre: friends to lovers, idiots to lovers, slight slow burn, roommate au, college au, SMUT (starting ch2), fluff, angst (in later chapters) slight crack, lots of drama

Word Count: 12.1k

Warnings: Swearing, alcohol consumption, sexual tension (?) sad oc, mentions of sex, kind of over the clothes action, drama, heated dance session lol, slight memory of sex, hair pulling, back scratching, mention of boner, second chances (?)

Notes: Okay, first of all THAT 1st TEASER PIC!!! DID WE SEE THAT? *chefs kiss*. Anyway thanks for comments you guys leave I really love reading them!!! Remember to send an ask if you want to be added to the taglist or just want to chat about the story:) have a great week everyone!

Taglist: @mooniyooni @thisartemisnevermisses @giadalin @kookiebunny097 @cosmosjk @moonchild1 @just-jeon @anpanman-sonyeondan @starlight-night0 @yessii-i @apollukee @mikasaredscarf1 @kaye-rosales @bunnyjeonjk @dyriddle @seagulljk @hass-mich-los @peachy-skz0325 @wonusbitch

© taestefully-in-luv

Previous --- Next

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May

Gloomy: The dictionary may describe it as hopeless and despairing but really it should just be a picture of your sad, sad face.

1 month…yes, one whole month has passed since you last spoke to Jungkook. No text, no calls, no random show ups, nothing. Gloom. Gloom. Gloom. Graduation came and gone so quickly…you walked the stage with your friends minus two but honestly you can hardly remember the event. You tried your hardest to be as excited as everyone else but the feeling of gloom stayed with you.

By the end of the month you finally started accepting he isn’t coming back and right around that time you actually heard from him—Jungkook that is. He sent you a pathetic text that he’s moving out and will be by to retrieve his things. More gloom.

The next couple weeks after that are a blur, you recall the sound of movers throughout your apartment. You didn’t have the courage to speak to him…you didn’t have the courage to even leave your room if you didn’t have to. You were so wrapped up in everything you didn’t even consider that fact that you will have to find a new roommate to cover the other half of the rent.

Every day just dragged on, every day a repeat of the last. Wake up, drown in black coffee, scroll mindlessly through your phone and work your full time job. You called in sick too many days already so you have to go or you’re at risk at getting fired. The same day, every day. The same gloomy fucking day.

Jimin tried to call or text every day to make sure you were like, alive. He apologized over and over for not telling you as soon as he found out about the Taehyung situation but he felt that if Taehyung was going to tell you then it is best it comes from him and not Jimin. You can understand that. He also frequently would show up at your apartment to surprise you but you rarely let him in. You did feel bad though, he’s just trying to be there for you.

Jimin 6:04pm

Please let me in?

Jimin 6:05pm

Well…I have some take out for you babe, ill leave it on the doorstep.

Jimin 6:05pm

Call me sometime ok? Love you

Guilt would consume your body but you just couldn’t deal with human contact right now.

June

Around month 2 you finally felt okay to see people again—your close people that is—aka Jimin was finally allowed in, he made you take a hot bath while he cleaned up for you and made you a proper meal. The amount of instant ramen containers lying around the place was by far one of the grossest things he’s seen. The shit that was growing…he shudders just thinking about it.

He would come over every day after work in the evenings. He left day time babysitting to Trina.

“Girl…all this over a boy?” she would constantly say.

You also tried applying for job after job, but the postgraduation life is harder than you thought…at least for you. Jimin landed a job as a kids choreographer, Trina starts up at one of the local elementary schools as a kindergartner teacher and you? You’re still working at the bakery down the street. You applied for many entry level positions in the marketing field but failed miserably in interviews…which only further discouraged you and worsened your mood.

It was also around this time you decided to finally delete Jungkook off all social media and block his number. You refuse to hear from him at this point…not that he was reaching out or anything. You wonder what he’s up to postgraduation? No, you don’t want to know or care. You considered hanging up a picture of his face on your wall so you could throw darts at it but you decided that was maybe on the crazy side. Taehyung sends you weekly texts, asking about how your day/week is going. He updates you on his life as well, apparently he got the curator assistant position at the museum that he wanted. You still feel hurt over everything but you are happy for him. It’s funny, you feel so betrayed over that but Jungkook is the cause of your gloom.

Every day just drags on, you feel heavy everywhere you go. Even when you’re just at home in bed.

By the end of the month your friends somehow convinced you to go on a date—a horrible date at that.

He was awkward as hell, a bad kisser and would lightly…tap your ass in attempt to be sexy. It was a disaster, you don’t even remember what the two of you even talked about at dinner. You just remember his tongue being horribly shoved down your throat and his weird ass tapping habit.

July

Then month 3 finally came around. A month where the weeks went by breathing became just a bit easier. Yes, any and everything still reminded you of Jungkook but it didn’t hurt as terribly as the previous months. By the end of the month you even agreed to your first real social outing. You are hesitant, but you agreed…

“I don’t know guys…a birthday party? We like, don’t even know the girl?” you frown, nibbling on the flesh of your bottom lip.

You are sitting in the middle of your bedroom floor, clothes piling all around you as you try to decide on what to wear.

“You need to get out babe…plus it’s a friend of a friend, so it’s cool.” Jimin says holding up a rose colored crop top, motioning for you to nod yes or no to his suggestion. You cock your head to the side, deciding what pants to go with it.

“I have to say I agree with Jimin, y/n.” your new roommate Holly chips in, “Since I’ve moved in I don’t think I’ve seen you go out even once.”

“Also a party is the best place to find some easy dick.” Of course that’s what Trina has to offer.

“Yes to the crop top Jimin.” You point your head towards the shirt, “Okay don’t have to call me out like that Holly.” You glare at your roomie, “And Trina, we both know I ain’t ready for no type of dick.”

“So we’re looking for some pussy tonight?” Trina smirks, “Nice.”

You rolls your eyes, a chuckle escaping your lips, “Shut up.” you throw a pair of shorts at her face.

“But seriously y/n…Maybe Trina is on to something…” Jimin sits down next to you, crossing his legs in front of him, “Maybe this is a good chance to like—”

“If you say move on I will literally kill you.” You cut in, “There’s nothing to move on from!” you throw your hands up dramatically. “Taehyung used me, Jungkook wants nothing to do with me. And—”

“Then why aren’t you ready for any type of dick?” Holly puts in her 2 fucking cents.

“Because I don’t want to be associated with any boys! Jimin is the exception.”

“Somehow I don’t feel flattered by that…” Jimin puts a hand on your shoulder.

“When’s the last time you got off?” Trina abruptly asks. You turn your head in shock at her shamelessness.

“Trina!”

“Answer her, I’m curious too.” Jimin squints at you trying not to laugh.

“It’s…” your eyes slide to the side, “It’s been a while.”

Trina shakes her in disapproval, “Damn girl, really? My fingers constantly playing DJ, you know what I’m sayin?” Trina goes in for a fist bump but you just push her hand away.

“You’re gross.” You laugh out loud, and it sounds like music to everyone’s ears.

“I’m just real babey.” She flicks her hair back with a proud smile on her face.

Having these 3 around has no doubt helped you deal with the loss you feel. You feel like you are still mourning the dead. How’s Jungkook even doing? You’re too afraid to ask Jimin. Too afraid that he’s doing amazing without you. He must of realized how much better off he is without you around and that makes you feel small.

“Fine…” you mutter under your breath…Jimin snaps his head to look at you, his sly smile growing as he watches you fiddle with a short mini skirt.

“Fine what?” Trina asks with a smirk.

“Let’s find me some dick tonight.”

“Hell fucking yeah.” Jimin claps his hands together, “Tonight is about you!”

“y/n makes her debut tonight! She’s hot, she’s single and she is ready to mingle!”

You can’t help but giggle, your hands bunching up the material of the mini skirt as you look down at it, making your decision.

“Let me get ready and we can get this night started!” you rush to your feet, all the sudden feeling excited for tonight. You are going to actually do your hair and your makeup—you even shaved. You are definitely breathing easier tonight and you have to take advantage of that!

“Let’s do shots as we wait girlies,” Holly shows a bottle of rum she had hiding behind her back, shaking it in excitement.

“Naughty girl.” Jimin winks, standing to his feet, heading towards the kitchen to grab some shot glasses.

You get ready quickly, but taking your time where it counts. You give yourself a once over in the mirror and you have to say you are impressed. Your black jean mini skirt sits right below your ass, while your tits pop in this rose crop top. You wear short heels, and simple jewelry with just the right amount of makeup that makes your features stand out, and you have to say you would kiss yourself if you could—you look fucking good.

“woooooo” Jimin and Trina whistle out at the same time as they walk back in your bedroom.

“I’d fuck.” Jimin says plainly.

“Same as fuck.” Trina says bluntly as she swallows down a shot.

“Yeah you look pretty y/n!” Holly smiles, not really on the same level of honestly as your other two friends.

You burst into giggles, throwing your head back in approval. “Thanks guys…..Lets fucking do this.” You walk towards Trina and grab her shot glass, and you take the bottle from Holly, pouring yourself a shot.

“Ready to fucking mingle.” You gulp down the rum, the burn only encouraging you, the warmth stinging your entire chest and you couldn’t feel more content.

This house was one of the bigger ones, it was full of people and more people and like, more people. You managed to swallow down 3 or 4 shots back at your apartment and the alcohol is definitely working its magic on you, the world just a little nicer.

The amount of people doesn’t even bother you like it usually would, instead you find yourself barging through the front door and making your way to the dance floor with your 3 friends trialing behind you.

The heat of the living room is already intoxicating you, the amount of bodies rolling and grinding makes you feel loose and free. Before you know it Jimin is pushing a drink into your hands and you hug him gratefully as you begin chugging it back.

“Woah slow down, we have all night—actually fuck it, I like your spirit tonight!” he chuckles lightly, his hands going to your waist, rocking you to the beat of the blaring music. Trina and Holly disappear into the kitchen to grab more drinks while you and Jimin dance to whatever b…t…ah, forget it, you forgot the band’s name.

“Are you having fun?” Jimin slurs out, his eyes barely visible as he laughs at nothing.

“So much fun!” you yell out over the music then you lean down into his ear and whisper, “Thanks so much Jiminie…I know I was a little difficult…”

“A little?” he teases.

Jimin’s eyes travel behind you before they are widening. You notice, of course. You are about to turn your head to take a look at whatever he is seeing when his snaps back to you in panic, his troubled smile growing.

“Let’s go find Trina and Holly, yeah?” he tries to usher you toward the kitchen and you oblige. Too drunk and feeling too good that his odd behavior goes ignored by you.

“Kay!” you smile, hooking your arm with his. “Letsa go!” you say like you’re fucking Mario.

The two of you walk to the kitchen, finding Trina and Holly playing a game of beer pong with two random guys.

“Hello my bitches!” Trina hollers over the thumping bass, as she scores a cup of pong, her other hand on Hollys lower back.

“Wait, gotta use the bathroom, be right back!” you slur into Jimin’s ear, he just nods distractedly as he watches the game, laughter erupting his body for probably no drunken reason.

You walk back into the living room and start heading towards the other side where the bathroom is. The journey to the bathroom is fun, you accidently bump into a lot of people but they don’t seem to mind as they will just drunkenly smile at you and you would smile back in your own drunken daze. You skim the room with a dopey smile on your face, just admiring the crowd. You are shocked with yourself…you missed people and you cannot believe it. You continue to observe when your eyes land on tattooed hands. The hands are grabbing a handful of ass on the dance floor. You know these hands. Your eyes travel from his hands to his strong arms to his face…it is hiding in the nook of some girls neck and you feel like someone knocked the wind out of you. Jungkook.

He is kissing on some girl, no doubt leaving bruises behind from his attack on her neck. His hands cupping this girls ass so tightly, he guides her hips into his. You watch as she throws her head back in pleasure and you see him smirk. All his signature moves. You are left speechless. What could you even say? Why does this hurt? Why does this make you feel fucking sick? Why does it feel like you aren’t supposed to be witnessing this? Well, you know why but god, why?!

“y/n!!” It’s Jimin, jogging up behind you, “Fuck, I was trying to avoid you seeing this…” he admit softly, “I swear I didn’t think he was going to be here tonight…he didn’t seem that interested when I asked him about it…”

“It’s fine Jimin…” you mumble.

“Does it feel weird? Seeing him with this girl…?” Jimin is obviously trying to get you to admit something right now but you are not in the right head space to even give it a second thought.

“Why should it? Plus I’m used to this…she’s just some random girl for one night.” You twirl the ends of your hair between your fingers.

“Oh babe…” Jimin glances down at the ground, “This girl…she…he’s brought her to every party for the last month…” Jimin sounds as sorry as you feel.

The same girl? That’s impossible, you scoff. There’s no way Jungkook is actually seeing someone. But that doesn’t stop your stomach from twisting and turning and making you feel fucking sick.

“What do you mean?” you finally slur out, leaning your frame on Jimin.

“He brings her and they leave together too…” Jimin holds on to you, “I haven’t really asked him about her though.”

“Whatever. Fuck him, right? I won’t let this ruin my night.” You smile coyly, draping your arms around your friend. “Bathroom please.” You pout theatrically, pointing your head towards the bathroom.

“Okay let’s get you peeing in peace.” Jimin laughs, guiding you towards the door.

Once at the door, you knock a couple times to find that it is empty, “I’ll wait for you out here.” Jimin assures you.

Once inside the small room, you bunch up your skirt and pull down your panties, squatting on the toilet. You sigh in relief as you pee, but the relief you feel in your body stops when you recall the way Jungkook held and kissed this random but not so random girl.

Why should it bother you? It’s about time Jungkook got serious! But why did he have to dump you to achieve that? And why did It have to be with someone el…

You reach for the toilet paper, ripping it after a few sheets and wipe yourself as you drunkenly sing a tune. So what? You can easily replace Jungkook too!

You stand up, pulling your panties up and your skirt down and take a long good look in the mirror. Your hair is still intact, your makeup is only a little smeared—quick fix, and your tits are still poppin’. This night is just beginning, you decide. A whole new wave of confidence begins washing over you.

“Ready!” You pounce on Jimin’s back, he stumbles forward while laughing wholeheartedly.

“Should we look for Trina and Holly again? They’re probably still playing beer pong!”

“Sure.” You smile, walking hand in hand with Jimin as you make your way back to the kitchen.

Hours pass and you are now outside on the back porch piss drunk with your 3 friends and a couple new friends. Nick and his pal that you can’t remember the name of—but you remember Nick. He’s really tall and has nice muscles covering his body, his light hair is messy and looks like you would have fun pulling it.

“And that’s why I think aliens are already here bro, like they are probably here at this fucking party bro.” No name friend finishes his point. Nick holds in his chuckle as his drunk friend rambles.

“Totally bro.” Then his eyes land on you. Fuck, were you staring? Oh well, it’s best to get to the point. You two have been making eyes at each other all night and it’s time to make the next move.

“Hey Nick, wanna grab a drink with me in the kitchen?” you inquire with a sly smile.

Jimin’s eyes widen before he’s smirking “Don’t be silly, wrap that willy.”

Trina and Holly laugh at Jimin’s words while you turn fucking red with embarrassment.

“Sorry about him…” You excuse Jimin, but you continue to smile slyly.

Nick grins with all his teeth as he takes your hand and leads you back inside the house. His hand is much larger than yours and you are already imagining what his beefy fingers will do to your vagina. God, what’s his dick like???

You enter the kitchen and you and him walk towards the cooler full of beers, he lets you stand to the side as he goes to grab them.

“Nick!!!!” you hear a familiar voice and you wince. Jungkook stands next to the cooler, his hand wrapped around the girls hand, but he briefly lets go of it to dap up your fuck for the night.

“What’s up bro!” Nick returns the handshake, a wide smile on his face.

They know each other?

“I thought you said you weren’t coming tonight?” Jungkook’s hand goes back to holding on to the girl.

“I wasn’t going to but,” he nods towards you, “Glad I did.” He winks. Jungkook’s eyes follow Nicks nod and when he sees you stand there awkwardly he goes completely pale. Your eyes meet uncomfortably, Jungkook let’s go of the girls hand without a second thought.

“y/n?” he questions with a pained expression.

“You know her?” Nick asks, totally out of the loop.

You shift from one foot to the other, not really sure what to do or say. So you settle for his name. “Jungkook.” It feels foreign on your tongue. Like if you said it 3 times in a mirror a sinister ghost would come to murder you.

Jungkook opens his mouth then closes it then opens it then closes it again.

“Baaaaabe,” the girl next to him whines, “let’s get out of here already.” She says, not even acknowledging your existence.

Jungkook shamelessly eyes you up and down, his shock is very evident as he looks at you.

You can’t help but smile a little, knowing you look damn good.

“Let’s go too, Nick.” You saunter to his side, grabbing a hold of his bicep.

That’s when Jungkook knocks out of daze, his brows crease as he looks between the two of you.

“Wait—you and Nick?” he asks, completely amused.

“Is that a problem?”

“Nope.” Jungkook looks fucking smug as he smiles, his hand going to grab the girls hand again. “See you later?” he asks you. You of all people! “Uh? Probably not?”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.” Jungkook winks, turning around to leave as he leads his girl out.

Nick just continues to smile, completely oblivious, “So cool that we all know each other!” he grips on to your waist.

“Wait, how do you know Jungkook?”

“We—”

“Wait, it honestly doesn’t matter. Let’s just get out of here.”

“My place?” Nick breathes into your ear, he pushes your hips into his crotch so you can feel his half hard cock.

“Why are you already getting hard?” you tease, leaning up to kiss his neck.

“Honestly, I can’t stop staring at your tits. And I am imagining all the things I want to do to them.” He confesses hotly.

The uber ride to his place is short, only 10 minutes and it goes by quickly as you two have one another’s tongues down each others throats. His hands traveling all around your body, he even manages to slip his fingers past your panties to feel how wet you are.

“Fuck I can’t wait to get you inside…” his rapid breaths fan across your face as you nibble on his neck.

“Gonna fuck me?” you whisper quietly, not trying to get heard by the Uber driver, but you could also hardly care if he hears you or not, he gets 5 stars.

“Want you to ride me.” He palms his cock through his pants as he imagines you bouncing on his cock for him.

“If you deserve it like a good boy.” You replace his hand with your own, rubbing him ferociously over his jeans. You haven’t felt dick in months and the feeling is driving you absolutely wild, you haven’t felt this needy in a long time.

The Uber comes to a stop, parking in front of an apartment building. He lets the two of you know you reached your destination. You and Nick giggle as you thank him and stumble out of the car as you follow him to his apartment. He would stop every few seconds to plant kisses on your lips and grab your ass with a tight squeeze. He groans and rolls his eyes back as he explores your body.

“Wait til we’re inside,” you breathe out, your voice silky as hell.

Finally, after a short, kiss filled elevator ride later you arrive at his front door. His lips never leaving yours as he pulls out his keys, fumbling with them until he finds the right one.

He pulls away for a second to unlock the door and desperately pushes it open to let the two of you inside. Your lips are already back on his as you two trip into the entry way of the apartment, you walk him backwards, until his back is against a wall.

The apartment is dark besides the living room TV, you take a second to pull back and admire Nick’s fucked out expression, the blue glow of the TV making everything feel surreal.

You dive back in to kiss him, he prods his tongue into your mouth, swirling it around with yours making you moan into his mouth.

“Hi guys!”

Your eyes shoot open, mouth still attached to Nicks. You push your head back, disconnecting from Nick and yank your head to the left where you see a wild Jungkook sitting on the living room sofa, his mouth full of the cereal he is eating. He is wearing the most shit eating grin you have ever seen on him.

“Jungkook?! What the fuck?” You spit out, totally fucking shocked. Like, obviously.

“Hey man…” Nick breathes out heavily, trying to speak properly, “I thought you would be at Vanessa’s tonight?”

“Nah,” Jungkook smiles, “Dropped her off and came home.”

HOME?

“H-Home?” You look between the two guys, what the fuck does he mean by that. This is Nicks place, right?

“Oh you didn’t know?” Jungkook nods his head toward Nick, “Nick here is my beloved roommate.”

“What the fuck…” you mutter under your breath, trying to understand the mother fucking situation. Were you about to fuck Jungkook’s roommate? Are you still going to is the real question?

“Wait, how do you two even know each other?” Nick starts to look antsy, “Don’t tell me she’s one of the girls you’ve fucked…come on bro, leave some for the rest of us.” He chuckles somewhat bitterly.

“No!” you’re quick to say. You begin smoothing out your skirt, then your hair. “We just…”

“y/n is my bestie!” Jungkook grins, putting the cereal down and standing up. He walks forward until he is making a triangle with you and Nick.

“Was.” You spit out harshly, crossing your arms across your chest. Nick just stands there confused as hell, looking between the two of you.

“Anyway, I should get going.” You turn your body to Nick, a look of apology on your face.

“What? We can just go to my room?” he slurs, tugging on his pants uncomfortably, his boner still apparent.

“Sorry, no longer in the mood.”

You pull out your phone to order an Uber when Jungkook takes your phone from you.

“I’m not drunk, I can drive you.” He offers. You push your head back in disbelief, how does Jungkook have the AUDACITY to offer that to you?

“Why the fuck would I want that?”

“So we can…” His eyes slide over to the ever growing confused Nick, “Talk.”

You haven’t spoken to Jungkook in 3 months and today is finally the day you are able to breathe a little easier and he just has to barge back in.

“Like I said,” You snatch your phone back from him, “Why the fuck would I want that?”

Nick shifts around uncomfortably, his eyes darting from you to Jungkook.

“Well, I am gonna head to my room…uh, bye y/n…it was nice meeting you…I guess…”

You and Jungkook both turn your heads toward Nick at the same time, eyes shooting daggers at him.

“Yeah, bye.” Jungkook dismisses his roommate, his jaw clenching.

“Nice to meet you too…”

Nick walks backward until his back meets his bedroom room, he looks at the two of you one last time before turning around to disappear into his room.

“I said, let me drive you home.”

“And I said, why the fuck would I want that?”

“y/n don’t choose now to be difficult.” Jungkook takes a step closer to you, his hands running through his dark, messy hair. His eyes shut in frustration, “I just want to talk to you.”

“And I don’t want to talk to you.” You take a step back, “Plus, how would your girlfriend feel if you took me home?”

Jungkook’s eyes narrow, his mouth setting in a firm line.

“She’s not my girlfriend.”

“Could of fooled me and like, everyone else.” You scoff.

Jungkook bites down on his bottom lip, not knowing what to say. While she’s not his girlfriend she’s also not not his girlfriend. It’s complicated.

“Can I please, just please, can I take you home?”

“No, Jungkook. The fucking audacity,” you scoff again, “You haven’t spoken to me in 3 months,” your voice fucking cracks and you feel like dying. “Don’t start now.”

“y/n…” he runs another frustrated hand down his tired face, “I didn’t mean for it to go this long…” “I don’t fucking care, Jungkook.”

You feel your chest begin to burn, and your eyes begin to gloss over but you won’t cry. You won’t give him the satisfaction.

“I want nothing to do with you.”

You stare at the phone in your hands as you begin ordering your Uber when he yanks it from your hands once again, he hides the phone in his back pocket and you snarl.

“What the hell Jeon?”

“I said I am driving you home so we can talk so that’s what we are gonna fucking do, okay?” he grabs your hand and begins walking you towards the front door. There’s something about Jungkook...you decide to listen. You watch silently as he puts on his shoes and grabs his wallet and keys.

“Okay…” you finally answer, your voice timid.

He said you guys are going to talk but the car ride has been mostly silent save the low radio playing in the background. Maybe it’s better this way, you think. You aren’t sober, that’s for sure but you also don’t think you are drunk enough to handle this properly. You decide maybe that’s also for the best.

“You sir, are a fucking asshole.” You speak up, your fingers playing with the zipper of your purse. The car smells like it always does, his fresh laundry car freshener and you get sucked into a million memories linked with this scent.

“I know.” Jungkook eyes you from the driver seat, you shiver from the running AC and so he turns it down, “There’s a blanket in the back if you want to grab it.”

“No thanks, don’t know where that’s been.”

“It’s clean, I promise.”

Your eyes go wide as you recall his last promise to you…”Just a few days. I promise.”

“Yeah, I don’t actually believe in your promises anymore.” You continue to pick at the zipper of your purse, your eyes never leaving the zig and zag of the material.

“I needed space y/n, fucking sue me.” He groans out, his fingers gripping the steering wheel tightly.

“Oh I wish I could.” You snap back.

You feel your chest burn and tighten again, your eyes slightly watering. You have to force them shut to keep from any tears growing.

“I called and texted you every day.” You whisper, his grip getting tighter on the steering wheel.

“I gave you a few days Jungkook. But I never heard from you until 11 at night one night telling me you are fucking moving out.”

“I know, that was…fucked up, I admit. But I had to do what I had to do and I just wish you would let me explain that—”

“No.” you cut him off, “You don’t deserve to explain anything.”

“You mean so much to me y/n…”

“Don’t.”

Jungkook pulls over on the side of the road, turning off the ignition.

“What are you doing?” you sputter out.

He clicks his seatbelt off his body and turns to face you, “Getting comfortable.”

“Why?”

“Will you look at me?” Jungkook tilts his head towards you, “Will you please look at me?”

“No.” you stay facing forward, your hands folded in your lap.

“y/n…please.” His voice sounds strained and you almost feel bad. Almost, but not quite.

You don’t need this…you don’t need him. Ouch, you feel pain in your chest as you think that…oh, the lies you tell yourself.

“Say what you need to say Jungkook, so you can take me home.” Your face stays neutral.

Jungkook sighs out, feeling almost defeated, but not quite.

“I…I am so sorry.” He finally says.

“About what?”

“Everything y/n.” his voice cracks and somehow you feel satisfied.

“You’ll have to be more specific if you ever want my acceptance”

“I know…the first thing I am sorry for is not telling you about Taehyung. That was…that was wrong of me—”

“No shit, but go on.” Your voice stays steady as you speak.

“I was worried about other shit, I was selfish and it’s taking me a long time to forgive myself…but I’ve thought a lot about it these last few months and—and…”

“Oh? You’re worried about you forgiving yourself? Shouldn’t you be a little more concerned about I don’t know, me?”

Jungkook frowns at your words, because well, you’re right. And he’s getting to that part but you keep interrupting him. But he lets you.

“Yes. I am most worried about you, of course.” He breathes out. “You have no idea what these 3 months without you have felt like…”

“Really Jungkook? If anyone knows its fucking me. I went 3 months without you too. You left me!” you start to lose your composure as you speak, your hands gripping on to your poor purse. “When I was going through a really hard time you straight up left me.” You whisper.

“Please believe me…I had my reasons. It was truly for the best y/n.”

“For the best?” you scoff. “You’re such an asshole.”

Jungkook winces at your words, he knows you mean them and that hurts him even more.

“Can you just trust me?” Jungkook blurts out.

Huh? You shake your head, disappointed he would say something so …well, ridiculous.

“Just stop, Jungkook.” You hesitantly roll your eyes, still shaking your head.

Jungkook licks his lips over and over, trying to figure out his next words.

“I really really,” he begins to lose it, his eyes darting all around the car. “just need you to trust me.” He blinks repeatedly, his eyes not focusing on anything in particular.

You, of course, do not believe your ears. Trust him? How could you possibly trust him?

“I just really…I really had my reasons y/n. And I’m sorry, but I just need you to just trust me, that I had my reasons and that I do care about you.” His voice is shaky and you’re uncertain how to take this information.

“I’m confused…” you begin, you tuck a strand of hair behind your ear. “You want me to trust you? Even after you left me? Even after I ‘threw myself’ at you?!”

“You weren’t in the right head space y/n…you were vulnerable and…and you didn’t actually want me. You just were feeling used and rejected and needed something to make you feel wanted. To feel better. You wanted to use me for that and I couldn’t let you. But how much could I handle? You liked one of my friends, dated him…sort of, even slept with him and I had to be your shoulder to cry on when,” his breathing picks up heavily as he tries to speak, “it doesn’t matter.” He grits out.

You sit there…speechless. He wasn’t wrong, was he? You were feeling lost and rejected and used and you just wanted something or someone to feel better and who better than your best friend? But it’s also his fault you needed things to work out with Taehyung in the first place!

“Jungkook—”

“I’m not done.” He breathes out, his hot breath reaching your skin.

“I needed some space to think. But I realized I couldn’t properly think things through if I saw you every day, so yeah, I moved out. I’m sorry…” He runs a hand through his hair, a light chuckle makes it way past his lips “Then I met Vanessa.”

“I don’t want to talk about your little girlfriend.” You turn to face forward in your seat, your eyes glancing at the stop sign ahead.

“I told you, she’s not my girlfriend. But it is complicated.”

You continue to look straight ahead, your heart racing in your chest. The subject of “Vanessa” making you feel anxious.

“Complicated how?” you gulp.

“Don’t worry about it.” He laughs to himself, you turn your head to look at him.

“Are you serious, Jungkook?”

“We fuck y/n.”

“But it’s more than that right?”

“Yeah…” Jungkook bites down on his lip.

You look at him bewildered.

“Do you like her? Love her?”

You grip your purse in your lap, waiting for his answer. How would you feel if he answers yes? Are you brave enough to endure that answer? And if he says no? should you be happy? Should you feel relieved?

“No.” he closes his eyes, he folds his hands in front of him. “It’s complicated.”

You sign in relief—oh. Relief is the emotion you are feeling. Why? Why should it matter?

“Why are you telling me all of this?” you whisper.

“I want to be friends again, y/n.” he says softly, his eyes searching yours.

This is madness, how the hell could you save this friendship? Your face scrunches up and the first couple of tears slide down your cheeks, you shake your head as they continue to fall.

“You don’t know how this makes me feel…” you cry out. “I don’t even know how it makes me feel.”

You miss him, so fucking much and he’s right here offering himself to you. But you ‘re so hurt.

“y/n…I know I hurt you. But you gotta believe me when I say it is the hardest thing I have had to do…you understand that right? I had to do it…you understand right?” he begs.

“You were so quick to abandon me, Jungkook.” You drop your head into your hands, the tears uncontrollable now.

“I…” Jungkook begins to panic, his own eyes glossing over. “Fuck, I’m so sorry. Please y/n…I can make it up to you.”

“Things would never be the same, you get that right?” you bawl into your lap, your words coming out broken.

“Please baby, I just need you in my life again…” Jungkook admits, his own words choppy. He reaches his hand to touch you, to his surprise you don’t flinch. His hand cups the back of your head and he begins to massage it softly.

“I have missed you so much and nothing I mean nothing can replace you.” He hesitates to continue, “trust me…I have tried.”

You sob into your hands harder, the weight of his words crushing you.

“I’m sorry Jungkook but I…I don’t believe you.”

Jungkook’s eyes widen as he absorbs your words, his mouth falls open in shock. Don’t believe him?

“What—what do you mean? What are you saying?” his panic filled voice makes your stomach churn.

“I reject your offer. Now please take me home.” You lift your head and stare straight ahead. “I’m serious.”

Jungkook face twists into a bewildered expression, he doesn’t believe his ears. You…reject him?

“Wait—”

“I said take me home now.” This time you snap your face in his direction, the cold look in your eyes piercing his very soul.

“Okay.”

Hopeless: the dictionary describes it as without hope ; despairing. But in reality, it’s just a picture of Jungkook’s poor, poor face.

Jungkook parks in his designated spot in the lot of his apartment complex, he reverses in because why the hell not. So extra. His drive home was silent… not even the radio on a low volume keeping him company, just complete silence. He turns the car off but doesn’t make a move to get out, he just continues to sit here in his car and sigh out dramatically every 5 seconds.

He’s so confused and lost on what to do. He bangs his head against the steering wheel a few times just for the hell of it, he just…he didn’t think you would reject him. But honestly? Can he blame you? All he’s done lately is be selfish and mess up over and over again. But he wishes you could just trust him but he also wishes he could just tell you the truth. Maybe then you could understand his position and you wouldn’t be mad at him anymore. But he has to wait.

Jungkook’s head is still banging against the steering wheel when more thoughts of you bombard his mind. His breathing picks up and he starts to sniffle, he doesn’t want to cry but you just…you don’t want anything to do with him. He balls his hands into fists and hit the steering wheel over and over causing the horn to go off a few times but he doesn’t care he’s so upset, he just….

When Jungkook saw you tonight for the first time in 3 months he swears his heart actually stopped. He swears it raced so quickly that it just stopped. He let go of Vanessa’s hand so quickly because he wanted to rush to you and hug you close, he wanted to just feel you. Not having touched your skin for the last 3 months…he doesn’t want to imagine even another day.

A few tears slip past his closed lids, he chuckles darkly as he recalls you and Nick. He thought, wow, the universe is cruel and also hilarious. His fucking roommate? He shakes his head, laughing again but his lips remain downward. He feels so fucking helpless right now. But he deserves this, he deserves to feel this pain. He did this to himself and he’s fully aware of that.

Jungkook thinks of your face, he thinks of your smile, he thinks of your eyes and he cries harder, his tears landing on the steering wheel and sliding down landing on to his lap. Yes, he feels like all hope is lost but he knows he cannot give up. He will win you over again one day. He lifts his head and wipes his tear streaked cheeks with the back of his hand and breathes out steadily.

“y/n…” he whispers to himself. Your name leaves his mouth in frustration. He won’t give up. He can’t.

~~~~

“And they were roommates?!” Jimin shouts, a banana half sticking out of his mouth, Trina gasps and whispers “Oh my god they were roommates.”

“Yeah, it was a total shit show.” You bang your head against your breakfast table. Holly rubs your back as she sits next to you.

“Then what happened?” she pries further.

“Yeah what the hell happened y/n!” Jimin yells out.

“He asked to be friends again…and I totally rejected him. Maybe I was too harsh? He was so sad guys…it makes me think…I might agree to kind of being…friends?”

Jimin shuts his eyes as a frown decorates his face, he places a hand on his hip and he inhales a sharp breath, “Listen…you’re both my friends and of course I want you to be good again…but he hurt you …bad.”

“I know Jiminie, but his reasons…” you bite your lip, “Never mind.”

“Well, I don’t like it.” Trina butts in. “He fucking left you, remember?”

“Yes Trina, I fucking remember—”

“Then fucking act like it!”

“Trina relax,” Holly intervenes. “They have a long history, right? It’s hard to just forget about everything…”

Jimin stands from his chair, hands on both hips. “Fine, if we are doing this…then you better actually try. Don’t half ass shit, if you’re going to be friends then don’t be an asshole to him, don’t make snarky remarks…I know your ass.”

Jimin has a good point, you haven’t actually thought about how you will act.

“I’ll be a good girl.” You raise your right arm to salute him.

“Fucking smart ass.” He rolls his eyes.

“Are we serious right now?” Trina shakes her head, “You moped around for 3 fucking months y/n. You cried every time you even thought of Jungkook…which was a fucking lot.” She points out, “Listen, you stayed strong when you talked to him in the car. Don’t break just because you feel bad for the dude because he’s fucking pitiful. He doesn’t deserve your pity girl. He’s an asshole!”

“Trina, be nice.” Holly says sternly, reaching forward to grab on to Trina’s hand. Trina visibly relaxes and nods her head towards Holly and smiles softly.

You and Jimin share a look. Are they….?

“You…” You slam your eyes shut, Trina’s words ringing loudly in your ears. You know she’s right. “I’ll think about it some more. For now, I gotta get ready for work.”

~~~~

“Doesn’t Hazel look so pretty here?” Adam shoves his phone in your face as he gushes about his girlfriend.

“Yes dude, she’s so pretty.” You deadpan. “Now can you please put the brownies in the oven? We’re low.”

“Wait wait…here’s one of us together at the park.” He nudges his phone in your hands, you roll your eyes but you take it.

The two of them are sitting on a park bench, she’s leaning into his frame and they both have wide smiles on their faces. They seem so in love. And you know they are because fucking Adam reminds you every 20 seconds.

“Their love makes me sick.” Jade walks over, her hands patting down on her work apron, her tone is bland but she still tries to smile. “Like, we get it.”

“Who loves who more?” you begin with a toothy grin, “Adam to Hazel or Lenny to the sugar cookies?” you laugh while pointing at said Lenny stuffing his face with the reject cookies. Jade and Adam chuckle while they stare at him.

“Hey guys, really?” Lenny says with his mouth full. “You know I feel bad when we throw them away.” He pouts, crumbs decorating his lips.

“Lenny I catch you eating fresh ones all the time!” Adam points out.

“Sometimes they’re a little ugly…” Lenny reasons, “So I…”

“You don’t have to explain my guy, you just really love your cookies.” You hand Adam back his phone as you head towards the walk in freezer to take out the brownies yourself. You load up a tray and stick those suckers in the oven.

“You’re useless Adam.” Jade sticks a piece of gum in her mouth and chews obnoxiously “U-s-e-l-e-s-s. Useless.”

“You’re always so mean to me Jade what did I ever do to you?”

All 4 of you shoot your heads up when you hear the bell go off on the door of the bakery, its loud chime signaling the arrival of a customer.

“Oh.” Jade says while popping a bubble. “It’s your usual customer y/n.”

You tilt your head towards the front of the store to get a look at who she is talking about, and yup its him. Your most consistent customer who orders the same damn thing every single day. 2 oatmeal raisin cookies and that’s it.

“Can someone else just take care of him today?” you whine, “I’m not in the mood to argue.”

“You know he’s just going to ask for you…” Lenny says stuffing his face with another cookie.

“God damn it.” You huff out, you grab two gloves from the box on the counter and begin walking towards the front of the store.

You reach the front counter and take in your enemy—you mean, your customer.

“And what do I owe the pleasure Mister Oatmeal Raisin?” you raise a brow towards the man. He’s only a few inches taller than you, his hair is a sandy color today and you hate to admit it looks good on him.

“You know you could just call me by name.” the man sways side to side with a smirk on his face.

“I like Mister Oatmeal Raisin.”

He has been coming to this store for the last couple of months and you two…don’t necessarily get along swimmingly. He complains a lot and is a total smart ass. And you? Well, you’re not much better.

“Well, I’ll have my usual.” He smiles, “And you know the drill, please make sure there is a normal amount of raisins and not a million, I don’t want 8 raisins a bite. But one every now and then.”

You roll your eyes extremely dramatically, pressing the buttons on the screen for his order.

“Sir yes sir.” You salute towards him, “How could I not know the drill?”

“That’s the spirit.”

You spin on your heels and head towards the back to heat up his two cookies. You carefully select one cookie with barely any raisins and one cookie with a million, just like he didn’t want. You cackle to yourself as you place them in the baggy, feeling beyond satisfied.

“How haven’t you gotten fired?” Adam crosses his arms over his chest as he watches you, “And how hasn’t he complained about you? You do this every time I don’t get it.”

“He likes her.” Jade says plainly while scrolling through her phone.

“As fucking if!” you scoff, “He wants nothing but to annoy me!” But you can’t help but smile.

“He literally only asks for you every time you’re in.” Lenny reasons, “but you shouldn’t like him back…he likes the worst cookie on the menu. Sugar is where it’s at.”

You laugh at your coworker while walking back up towards the front of the store, reaching the counter.

“Your cookies!” you hand him the baggy with an evil smirk, “I hope you enjoy them.” You wink.

The man opens the baggy and inspects each cookie and with his own evil smirk he winks back at you, “Are we serious right now?” his sly smile doesn’t leave his face as he begins to complain, “You are such a brat.”

“$4 Mister Oatmeal Raisin.”

He hands you the cash, you put it away quickly and with a wide smile you gesture towards the door for him to leave.

“Min Yoongi.” He shakes the bag of cookies in front of him, “Not Mister Oatmeal Raisin.” He turns around and starts walking towards the door but before he exits he tilts his head to look at you one last time, “See you tomorrow…y/n.”

You feel a harsh blush creep up on your cheeks, or your whole face actually. Maybe your whole body. You feel taken aback he knows your name but then you remember you have a god damn name tag.

“Uh…yeah.”

“See you tomorrow…y/n.” all 3 of your coworkers mock in a deep voice.

“Shut up guys!” you whine into your hands, “Can we please just get back to work!”

~~~~~

A few weeks later

The drive to Jimin’s is a quick 7 minutes but you did take a little detour. You decided to stop at the pizzeria that’s on the way and grab a hot pizza for the two of you.

“Hehe.” You look over to the steamy food sitting in the passenger seat.

Jimin has been such a great friend to you all this time and you feel like you’ve never really thanked him…so, tonight you two are going to have a fun night in—he just doesn’t know it yet.

Who doesn’t love being surprised with food?

You pull up to Jimin’s apartment complex and after driving in circles you finally find a parking spot. You grab your purse, your backpack, and the pizza and make your way up to his apartment.

You knock on his front door a few times but get no answer. Maybe he’s not home? No, you definitely hear music coming from the other side…so, you decide to call him.

“Hello?”

“Jimin~ let me in!” you sing into the phone.

“You’re—you’re here?”

“Let me in already!” and with that you hang up and wait patiently outside the door.

A few moments pass before the door is opening up, when Jimin really registers that it’s you he’s kind of closing the door until only his face is shown through the crack.

“Ummm…yes?”

You quirk a brow at the boy, “What do you mean ‘yes?’ let me in!” you begin walking forward when a panicked Jimin opens the door wider to let himself outside and shut the door behind him.

“y/n…why are you here? Did we have plans tonight?” he looks down at the pizza in your hands.

“Not exactly…” you admit, “But I figured we could have a night in.”

Jimin frowns. Fucking frowns!

“Or not?” you say awkwardly.

You hear some sort of banging on the other side of the door and then it clicks.

“Oh? You have someone over?” you smirk.

“Uhhh…no. Nothing like that.” Jimin’s eyes slide to the side as he tries to think of what to say next.

“Babe—”

“Jimin!”

The door is being swung wide open and your eyes travel from some horrendous toes socks to some tight jeans to a striped t shirt to yes, Jungkook’s surprised face.

“Oh.” You both say at the same time.

You and Jungkook stare at one another for a few moments, neither of your eyes leaving the other when Jimin clears his throat.

“Sorry y/n. Jungkook is already over…” he gives you an apologetic smile.

“Is it just you two?” you ask quietly.

“Huh? Uh, yeah.”

You glance down at the pizza and think to yourself. You and Jungkook may not be friends but you can be civil? Yeah, totally! You can definitely be civil! You already bought this fucking pizza so you and Jimin are going to eat it! And you guess, Jungkook too.

“Okay, let me in.” you start shoving your way past Jimin, you watch as his and Jungkook’s eyes go wide.

“Maybe you didn’t hear him, but I am already hanging out with him?” Jungkook sputters out. He awkwardly moves to the side anyway to let you through.

“I can be civil with you Jungkook. Plus, I don’t want this pizza to go to waste. So let’s eat.” You walk through, nudging the pizza box into Jungkook’s hands, he takes it while looking at Jimin with shocked eyes.

Jimin just shrugs and follows you inside.

“Yeah, let’s eat.” He says nonchalantly.

Jungkook is left at the door with the pizza in his hands as he is left completely dumbfounded. He is malfunctioning.

“Jungkook?” you call out over your shoulder, “Hurry up, I’m hungry!”

“Yeah, Jungkook hurry up!” Jimin smirks, he isn’t totally sure what’s going on but he kind of likes it.

“So what were you guys doing before I got here?” you shove an entire slice of pizza down your throat, the sauce getting left behind on your lips.

“I was teaching Jungkook some of my dance moves…we made a bet that he couldn’t learn the entire routine in 3 times…and—”

“Let me guess, he fucking learned it.” You laugh.

Jimin groans, his head thrown back as he begins nodding his head ‘yes.’

“So annoying! What can’t he do!” Jimin throws the pizza crust in the box and Jungkook immediately picks it up and eats it.

“Pshh, I could name a few things.” You point out bitterly. “But we won’t get into that.”

“Yeah, please don’t.” Jimin pleads.

“I’m curious…what is it you think I cant do?” Jungkook quirks a brow at you and your eyes darken in his direction.

“You really want me to?” you take a napkin and wipe your lips, “It’s nothing nice.” You admit.

“Oh then yes, please don’t.” Jungkook is quick to say.

“Yes, please don’t.” Jimin begs again.

The 3 of you are sitting on the living room floor, maybe only 30 minutes or so has passed by and it’s not too awkward. But it’s not necessarily comfortable either. Jimin looks between you and Jungkook constantly, waiting for someone to crack but neither of you really speak to each other. Both of you really only communicating with Jimin.

“So Jimin, are you going to show me another routine?”

“Why? So you can prove you’re the master of everything again? No thanks.”

“Jimin, maybe you can show me a few steps?”

Jimin smiles awkwardly while Jungkook is quick to burst out laughing. You snap your head towards Jungkook and raise your brows at him.

“Why is Jungkook laughing, Jimin?”

“Umm…” Jimin smiles softly, “You aren’t the most…”

Jungkook laughs harder as he watches Jimin trying to explain.

“Aren’t the most…?” You tilt your head towards the boy.

“C’mon y/n don’t make me say it…” Jimin drags out his words in a whine, he plays with his fingers, looking around the room awkwardly.

“Just say it Jimin.” Jungkook chuckles out.

“If you’re trying to say I’m a bad dancer, we all know that’s not true!” you defend once you catch on, you pout at the boys.

“Well…”

“You have both told me I am a good dancer!”

“Well, you know how to move. But steps…following a routine…that’s different. You aren’t very coordinated.” Jimin finally admits, a sheepish grin on his face.

“He means you can roll your hips but your feet are clumsy as fuck.” Jungkook says, still laughing at the situation.

“Shut up.” You glare at Jungkook.

“No, he’s right.” Jimin begins laughing as well, he looks at you and smiles. Well, if Jimin is saying it…maybe it might be true. It’s not like you didn’t kind of know. But still!

“Fine, whatever. Don’t teach me then.”

Suddenly, Jimin’s phone is going off and he rushes to the kitchen to answer it. You and Jungkook eat your pizza in silence, awkwardly catching one another’s gaze.

“So—”

“Don’t talk to me.” You cut in. Jimin isn’t here so it’s not like you have to be totally social with Jungkook.

“Oh.” Jungkook dramatically slumps his shoulders and pouts. You watch him as he throws a silent fit like the baby he is. “Okay.”

Jimin walks back into the living room looking annoyed, he stands between you two and throws a hand on his hip.

“I have to go down to the front office, there was a mix up in packages…I shouldn’t take too long…” he bites down on his plump bottom lip, “Please be civil while I’m gone. Jungkook…” he looks at the boy then at you, “y/n…” he warns.

“Sir yes sir!” you salute towards your friend with a straight face.

Jimin only narrows his eyes as he looks between you two.

“I’m serious…” he says.

Then he is putting on some shoes and heading out the front door, the soft click making you shudder. You’re alone with Jungkook.

A few minutes pass and you both awkwardly just sit there, sometimes catching the other looking. You finally huff out and accidentally giggle.

“What’s funny?” Jungkook’s curiosity getting the best of him.

“It’s just…I feel like we’re Jimin’s divorced parents and we’re trying to be civil for our child.”

Jungkook stares at you with scrunched brows, then looks away while a chuckle escapes his lips.

“Yeah. You’re right.”

You only nod your head in response. You two go back to the awkward silence.

You aren’t used to this…this awkward and odd silence that lingers between you two. It feels so fucking suffocating you almost wish you were on total talking terms so you didn’t have to endure this shit show.

“You know I could…no, forget it.” Jungkook bites his nails as he speaks, “I…”

“What?” you don’t mean to snap at him, but somehow even talking with an attitude feels better than not talking at all.

“I was going to say…I could teach you some steps…then you could surprise Jimin. He’s been working on a salsa piece…I can teach you some? Then maybe he will stop talking shit on your dancing.” Jungkook laughs awkwardly.

“Wait—he talks shit?!” somehow this doesn’t surprise you in the least.

“Only a little.” Jungkook shows you how little with his pointer finger and thumb. “But uh, want me to show you?”

“I don’t even want to talk to you, you think I want to dance with you?” you raise a brow in amusement. You forget this boy has all the audacity.

“Dancing doesn’t have to have any talking.” Jungkook states with a sly smile.

“So you’re just going to show me the steps?”

“Precisely.”

You don’t know why, but this sounds better than actually speaking and/or just sitting in miserable silence. And maybe, just maybe you have a desire to be close to him.

“You think I could learn in time before Jimin gets back?”

“With me as your teacher? Definitely.” He fucking smirks at you and you can’t help but feel that feeling in your stomach. Not necessarily a bad feeling but a fucking feeling.

Jungkook stands to his feet and extends his hand out to you for you to take.

“Here, stand up.”

Your eyes travel from his hands to his eyes and you blink lazily at him…wait, you’re really doing this? He stares down at you and he smiles softly and it creates a warmth in your chest that you’re trying so hard to ignore. You can’t.

Even so, you hesitantly begin to reach up to grab on to his hand, once your skin touches his you feel it. The burning. You should be used to it but right now, the fire is raging and the heat is almost too much. But you let him close his hand over yours as he helps you up.

You’re now standing in front of one another, in complete silence again. But this time it’s not awkward—no, it’s a different type of tension. Your hand lingers in his, neither of you brave enough to let go of the other. Jungkook looks down at you and you up at him, and you feel a million things. But the number one thing you feel is pain. You slowly pull your hand back and break eye contact with him, your head dropping low.

“Show me already.” You whisper.

“Shh, no talking.” Jungkook quietly demands. “Only speak with your body.” He puts some music on the speakers and smirks at you.

Jungkook steps closer to you and you stay grounded in your spot, you can feel the heat of his body begin to radiate and warm you. One of his hands find yours, he weaves his fingers through your own and puts one hand on your hip, he looks down at you to warn you this is how he will guide you.

“Just follow me.”

“You said no talking Mr.Jeon.” you say almost under your breath as you stare into his eyes. Jungkook rolls his head back with a smirk on his face, he looks at you and nods.

He puts his left foot forward and steps with his right foot in the same place at center, then puts his left foot back again. You try to copy his moves but even with such simple steps you step on his feet. He looks up at you disapprovingly. You only smile at him.

You two continue to try these steps until you finally manage to understand them even just a little bit. Jungkook brings your body closer to his as you two move your hips to the music while following the simple steps. His chest flush against your own, his heart beating so loudly you can feel it. Your heart isn’t any better. You start to finally get the hang of it, the music slowly taking you to another place. Jungkook moves his hips to the beat so flawlessly and honestly? You’re doing pretty fucking good if you do say so yourself.

Jungkook’s grip on your hip tightens as he grinds himself closer to you, you feel lightheaded as you two dance to the song. Your breathing getting just a little heavier and you feel lost and pathetic but you’re too immersed in the dance to care. Jungkook finds his head falling into the crook of your neck, his hot breaths fanning against your sensitive skin and you find your hand skimming up his back until you have a handful of his hair. You lightly tug on his locks and Jungkook quietly groans. You don’t know if you’re even doing the right steps anymore, your feet moving all around the place, but somehow it’s working. You’re still following his lead and you’re sure the dance looks somewhat okay. All you care about is how both of your hips move to the beat of the music and into each other. You two are so in sync its driving you nuts.

Jungkook lifts his head and watches as you close your eyes and he closes his own eyes, his head falling forward, your foreheads close to touching. You feel so dizzy, so light and airy, so fucking great like you’re floating. You can’t help but feel the heat creep up your entire body, you feel sweat start to build as you two move. You tighten your hands around Jungkook’s neck and pull him down impossibly close, until his forehead is touching yours. Your harsh breaths mingling with his. You get dragged into the memory of when he had you pinned to his dorms mattress, you recall how his lips left kisses all along your throat, his hot breath reminding you of the past. You think of how he rolled his hips into you effortlessly then as well, you think of how you scraped your nails down his back as he thrusted into you. God, you need to think of something else but Jungkook is filling your mind.

Jungkook’s breathing picks up again, as does yours. Your memories making this dance that much more sensual. You remember the way Jungkook nibbled on your ear as he let filthy words spill from his mouth when he fucked you. God, you should not be thinking this but his body feels so good. God, you should think of anything…literally anything else. You remember how he held you close much like how he is right now. You two continue dancing to the song that is soon coming to an end. You know exactly how it feels to have Jungkook inside you, moving and stilling. You know exactly what it feels like to come all around his cock. God, you need to stop. You need to slow your breathing. God, you…you…you...he continues to guide you along to the music when you feel something hard poke against you. Oh. Oh. OH. Hard. He’s hard.

Immediately, you pull back and take several clumsy steps backward. You blink at him with wide eyes when you realize that maybe he was recalling the same memories as you. Your wide eyes concerning Jungkook.

“Okay, that’s enough lessons for today.” Your harsh breaths don’t go unnoticed by Jungkook, his own breathing quite unsteady.

“Right.” Jungkook mumbles.

You two stand around for a few moments, just taking in the experience you just shared.

You still feel…how do you feel? You just shared a hot dance with your best friend? Wait—ex best friend? You don’t know. The memory of his body moving with yours, his skin touching your skin, his breaths on your neck, his hair balled up in your hands. God, it felt so good.

But so wrong.

“Umm…thanks.” You finally say.

Jungkook perks up at the gratitude, even if it’s somewhat forced. His frown turns into a small smile and you can’t help but smile back.

“I miss you y/n.” Jungkook instantly regrets it by the look on your face. Your expression turning hard. “Sorry I—”

“No, I miss you too.” You answer honestly. “But this doesn’t change anything.”

“But why not? Do you really not want me in your life for like, ever?”

Jungkook’s questions settle deep within you. The depth they hold…it’s too much. You wonder? Is this anti-Jungkook thing permanent? Or are you just trying to teach him a lesson?

Jungkook rubs his temples as he thinks, he sighs out instead of talking more.

“Not forever.” You finally say. Jungkook looks at you, a sliver of hope flashes across his face.

“But when?” he asks softly.

Yeah y/n. When? You know you both can’t go back to how things use to be but maybe starting over? God, you don’t know what to do! You know someone like Trina will be disappointed you became friends with Jungkook again so quickly, but you know someone like Jimin would be happy his two friends are back to being on okay terms. Why are you trying to please everybody? What do you want?

“Will you ever give up?” you say a little more lightly.

“No…” he says under his breath, his eyes focusing on the TV. “Not until you agree to be my friend again.”

You look at Jungkook with disbelief written all over your face, this boy has the fucking audacity once again. You’re amused though.

“Excuse me?” you say, cleaning your ear out with your point finger. “I didn’t catch that.”

Jungkook looks into your eyes, his eyes are large and doe like and it brings you back to every moment ever that he has given you this look.

“You’re stuck with me until you love me again.” He says more firmly.

“Who said,” you look at him with soft eyes, “That I ever stopped loving you?”

Jungkook smiles, he fucking smiles. His adorable bunny smile that makes your heart race.

“You still love me?”

“Only a little.” You jut your lip out, “I mostly hate you.”

Jungkook only frowns for a second before he is smiling again, “That’s fair.”

The two of you stand in comfortable silence for a few minutes, you sway back and forth wondering what you want to say to him—you miss him, of course but…

“Let’s take it slow.” You finally break the silence. You miss him more than anything and it might be worth it to have him in your life again, “You aren’t going to be a priority in my life anymore.” You crack you knuckles, the sound filling up the room.

“I know,” Jungkook feels his heart twist at your words but at least it’s something. “We can go however slow you want y/n.”

“You are on—”

“Thin fucking ice, buddy. I know.”

You exhale a shaky breath, thinking about how to go about this, “We can text every now and then, I’m not sure I want to hang out with you quite yet.”

“Okay.”

“Maybe a group hang out first…”

“I’d like that.”

Jungkook reaches over to grab your hand but you pull back, “That’s a no from me for the affection.”

Hurt flashes across Jungkook’s features but he softens up as he nods his head. “Noted.”

You wonder if you’re making the right decision. This wasn’t easy, you know? This actually felt quite hard. But somehow you feel like some weight has been lifted off your shoulders, like things maybe just maybe will be okay.

“I won’t push myself on you, I promise.” Jungkook sits back down on the floor, crossing his legs.

“Just be yourself, Jungkook.”

“If I wanted to be myself I would be hugging you right now but that’s apparently off limits.” He jokes.

“One hug.” You open your arms timidly. You feel one hug can’t be too bad?

Jungkook widens his eyes in pleasant surprise. He stands to his feet again and opens his own arms.

“C’mere.”

You watch in disbelief as he grins with his arms wide open, expecting you to go to him! And you do. You fucking do.

His arms wrap around you, he pushes you into his chest and you feel so fucking good. So warm, so cozy. His scent making you feel dizzy again, his warmth causing you to heat up. You lean back and look at his content face, he honestly looks so fucking content. Like, this hug is everything to him. And maybe it is, but you don’t know that.

“Uh, am I interrupting something?” you both snap your heads toward the front door to see Jimin standing there with a package in his hands.

“I can come back later?” he smirks at you two.

“No no no no!” you drop your arms from hugging Jungkook and take a few steps back, “We were just—”

“We made up, Jimin.” Jungkook says calmly with the softest smile you’ve ever seen on him.

“We’re taking it slow!” you rush to say.

“Oh?” Jimin winks, he walks forward until he’s in the living room joining you two. “Does this mean you will be joining us this Thursday at Jungkook and Nick’s place?”

“Huh?”

Jungkook shifts on his feet, “Yeah, uh, me and Nick are having a small get together on Thursday…you can bring whoever you want…but you’re definitely invited.”

“Before I answer that…Jimin how did you not know about Nick and him being Jungkook’s roommate?”

“Listen! Jungkook is always HERE! I never go over there! The few times I was there Nick was never home okay?!” Jimin whines obnoxiously.

“Okay, whatever. And Jungkook, I said—”

“You said group hang outs.” Jungkook pouts.

Oh. You did say that. But this soon? And is she going to be there?

You chew on your lips before answering, “Okay. But I’m bringing Trina and Holly.”

“Oh bro, Trina is not your biggest fan.” Jimin cuts in.

“Yeah, I know how she is I already anticipated that.” Jungkook shrugs, he looks at you with a small smile.

Okay, starting over? Taking it slow? Can you and Jungkook do this? You look between the boys and smile,

“Okay. See you boys on Thursday.”

[percico-sea-of-darkness]

January 28th's Fire Escape [Part 2/3]

Second part of this fanfic. I hope you enjoy it and I hope you don't feel too out of place for my references to Mexican culture. Actually my writing at 4 in the morning is not my best XD

Happy birthday, Nico.

══════ •『 NICO 』• ══════

I fell face down with a puppy on top of me as I traveled through the shadows an approximate 10,000 km away. From the Temple of Quetzalcóatl in the municipality of Teotihuacán, Mexico, to the ceiling of the Catholic church 'Chiesa di Santa Maria del Giglio' in Venice, Italy.

Call me suicidal nomad. I think that's my definition for now.

After the war, things got a little interesting. I left the camp the same day as the Romans, and I decided to try new things.

Jason, even though he wanted me to stay at camp, and for some reason Will Solace too, in a pretty intense way, they couldn't convince me to stay. A few simple words from someone I had never spoken to was not going to magically change a mindset that had been established in me for several years, no matter how stubborn Will Solace was.

I spent a few days in New York without having the pressure of being in a war, without the pressure of my father calling me to solve some job in the underworld, just watching the people or the boring traffic while eating a McDonald's Big Mac.

Among those simple hobbies I realized something very discouraging. I loved animals. Yes, a very unfortunate thing, because my aura of death makes animals and certain people stay away from me. So I was wondering for a while what I could do, what was my next goal. My shadow travels got a little better each day, but I didn't want to force myself and fade into the shadows, so I really wasn't in much of a hurry to leave.

Being in constant observation led me to think a lot about the past, about the past that I still didn't remember clearly. My mother, Venice, the 30's. And regardless of what I was thinking, at the end of the day the only thing on my mind was Percy. Always ended up with Percy.

I cringed a bit. I tried to force it into my head that Percy, like everyone I know: Reyna, Jason, Clarisse, even Travis Stoll, were making their own lives, the lives they’d wanted after the war.

I guess they’re misfortunes of me being the youngest and having no memories. Misfortunes of not being of this century. And misfortunes of being a son of Hades.

I tried to get it into my head that Percy was doing pretty well right now, finishing high school and preparing for college in New Rome… with Annabeth, with the wise and always correct Annabeth. Even the small and still almost imperceptible aura in Percy's apartment hinted that Poseidon's son would soon become a big brother.

I was happy for him. I was glad that Percy was finally finding some peace and normalcy in his life. Unfortunately, not being able to be part of that normalcy turned my stomach. I was always going to be a bad omen for Percy. I was the one who took him to the underworld with my idea of immortality, I was the one who kept him in the shadows at camp jupiter, I was the one who was weak enough not to hold his hand when he hung over Tartarus, there was even a time when I had so angry that I could have traded his soul for Bianca's without thinking.

I was a danger to Percy. I think that was clear. Favonius and Cupid had been right all along.

With that thought running through my mind for days, I decided to go into various public libraries to research more mythologies, to see if I could find anything useful. I know, what the hell was I going to find in a library to do something with my life? That's what I thought the first four times I entered the building. I remember there was a dusty section at the end of the hall, and I, unsurprisingly, was drawn to the old stuff and unnoticed. So I ventured out there one afternoon with a packet of chips and a soda I had smuggled in.

A sentence on the cover of a book caught my attention.

Life cannot exist without death.

I picked up the book and began to leaf through it delicately.

«Life cannot exist without death, that is why I am here. My name is Mictlantecuhtli and within Mexica mythology I am the lord of darkness. In my kingdom, called Mictlan, I welcome all humans who die naturally. I was created by the gods Huitzilopochtli and Quetzalcóatl, the most important gods in this mythology. They thought that to value life, they had to create the god of death. How can you love the light without knowing the shadow? That's why, just why I'm here. My name is pronounced in Nahuatl. It's made up of two words: Mictlan, 'mansion of the dead', and Tecutli, 'lord'. And it translates as 'the lord of the mansion of the dead'. I am the ruler over the death of human beings, but I am also the giver of life.»

My first thought was 'this is really epic, with your permission, father.'

I continued to do some research on this unknown deity, and upon reaching a certain page in the book, my mind immediately knew what to do.

Mictlantecuhtli's medallion.

«Contrivance that was used by the god of the dead to go unnoticed in the world of mortals, known to be an aura inhibitor. The true origin of the medallion is unknown, but it's said that it was created by the first practitioners of nahualism (witchcraft) who arrived in the realm of the dead. The medallion is missing and there are no records of its possible whereabouts.»

There was a drawing in the form of a dark silver Mexica medallion with a square skull in the center.

I really needed it.

Well, that's how I ended up involved in one of the weirdest and strangest fun adventures. Touring all that was the Mexica and Aztec people in Mexico, knowing the local legends and, well, brazenly intervening in some of them. Just like the famous 'Llorona'. I think Latin America would hate me if they knew that I just 'exorcized' their greatest legend. Well, without a doubt, the reunion with his children was quite emotional, so point for me. No more screaming at night.

With all that, going from being a ghost hunter to the towns I stopped in, I was still collecting information about Mictlantecuhtli's medallion. I summoned some ghosts, asked some local elders (which was kind of tricky, because even though Italian and Spanish come from Latin, they don't look much alike), initially I had to use some spirits to help me discreetly translate some things, one named Carlos Monsivais, a rather nice elderly man who loves cats, and the other named Juan Bautista Pascasio Escutia y Martínez, I know, a long name, so I tended to just call him Juan. He was a young soldier who for some reason had the Mexican flag rolled up on his pants.

I still don't understand why Juan tended to stare at me from time to time and say, "Hey, I do exist, don't you see my flag?" But hey, ghost stuff.

I continued touring the archaeological sites, investigating the medallion's whereabouts. In the end, when I found it after two months and thanks to the great Juan for having dropped his flag in the right place, I thought that I would have to fight against some ancient spirits, or animals like the nahuales.

No. Apparently the Mexicas tended to lean towards epicity and bloody warfare.

I honestly should have imagined it when reading about their sacrificial rites.

I had to fight against a small undead army of elite Aztec warriors, in a closed and sand and mud filled place, with no weapon other than my sword and shadows to help me, oh, and also Juan's poorly rolled flag.

Honestly, it was a miracle that I got out of there alive, since the Aztec warriors were characterized by being too, um, ultra-violent. Among them, the jaguar warriors and the eagle warriors. The greatest and most feared power of these warriors lay in their speed of attack and their bravery in battle. A jaguar warrior would face three warriors at the same time. From what I had read, they were greatly feared and on many occasions they were decisive, even defining conflicts without fighting, since their mere presence discouraged the enemy from engaging in combat.

I learned a lot fighting them, and for the first time in a long time I was overjoyed to be a son of Hades.

The medallion was in the foundations of the Templo Mayor, under the remains of the famous Calupoh of the time. Wolfdogs that were so important that the ancients buried them lined with fine jewelry, like the warriors of the Aztec elite who had just been resurrected.

After that, I realized that the medallion really worked. Animals didn't run away from me as fast as they used to, and people didn't look at me sideways as much anymore. So I called my quest accomplished, and having pretty much traveled without doing almost any shadow travel, other than the occasional one in fights, I was well enough to go on a long travel.

Before I left Mexico, I had to get into a pretty weird fight with an unnatural, amorphous creature that wanted to swallow a puppy. No animal abuse. Even Aztec warriors didn't have that kind of mental brutality.

Although unfortunately the mist of Hecate doesn't reach much in these directions, I don't know if has something to do with the politics of the gods or something like that. Some farmers filmed me, but I still came out a little bit ahead of this fight. I won a Mexican hat and a puppy. Yeah, the dog breeder gave me one of his puppies as a thank you for killing... that thing amorphous dog-killing.

His ash black fur and eyes as clear as honey made him look pretty cool. And seeing the older dogs that the breeder had, I assumed that the puppy was going to be a large breed.

Still nothing as big as Mrs. O'Leary, that's for sure.

Even so, I was glad to be able to have a 'normal' puppy friend, without having to resort to the fact that said animal was from hell itself to be able to get closer.

I gave myself the task of finding a very good name for him.

Note that I was excited.

And that's how I had ended up in Venice, Italy, with a puppy on top of me and a dizzy spell that seemed to bring back what I hadn't eaten.

"I should have had something for breakfast."

I felt a slight tremor above me, and I remembered that, for the first time, I had had an animal companion in a shadow travel. I turned carefully so as not to accidentally knock him over and rocked him to take the slight tremor out of his body.

I would need to get him used to it, but for now, I had to find a place to stay.

In the end, although the 'Hotel Rialto' next to the grand canal was very striking to my eyes, I ended up staying in one of the small apartments a little further from the center. It was pretty quiet and lonely in the evenings, which was nice enough. I was planning to stay for a few weeks, maybe even a couple of months... or maybe a few years (hence my choice for a room-apartment and not a hotel), who knows. Fortunately I didn't have to worry about money.

I think that is one of the few advantages of being the son of the god of riches.

Here in Venice I really felt at home, I felt that I had found my roots.

And after a few days of exploring, I ended up finding out that the house where I used to live together with Bianca and my mother, Maria, had sunk into the sea in a strange and very brutal electrical storm.

Yes. 'Strange electrical storm'. I think we all know whose idea the little genocide was.

So, I gave myself the task of asking older people, now yes, thanks to the fact that they spoke Italian, I didn't have to resort to the ghosts as translators. Apparently the small incident that took place that day, before the start of the second world war, caused some legends to be created about the fateful death of the di Angelo family. Some commented, at times, the ghosts of the two children could be seen playing on the water of the Grand Canal, only to later disappear into the darkness. And at the same time they said that whoever touched the water with them around, was going to end up charred, as if lightning had struck.

Okay. Bullshit, apparently. Bianca was reborn a few years ago and I'm here, alive and with a Mexican puppy.

Another of the famous legends was, since the bodies of the children were not found, only small remains of Maria di Angelo's body, sometimes her muffled cry could be heard, as if she were under the ocean, while the ghost was looking for the bodies of her children.

Well, I must admit that legend gave me quite a scare. Not because it was terrifying, but because I thought that at some point it could've been true and the ghost of my mother could've been looking for Bianca and me. My throat closed just thinking about it.

Fortunately, wandering around Venice I was able to verify that my mother was not here. And I was glad to know that Hades had told me the truth about her whereabouts.

I talked to some ghosts who had known my mother, and was pleased to learn that Maria di Angelo was actually just as I had imagined her. That although I didn't remember it, my and Bianca's childhood had been quite ordinary, with a nice and loving mother.

The following days, I took a little tour of Venice together with my puppy, who followed me everywhere with his tongue sticking out and a smile on his face. I thought it was funny that dogs could smile.

I really found in this dog the company that I had been missing lately. Little by little the puppy, without a good name yet, became my best friend. I would wake up in the morning and the first thing I would see was that beautiful ball of smoked black fur with its head hidden in my neck. During the breaks he would rest one of his little legs on my leg and fall asleep on me, during the little gondola rides he would love to touch the water of the canal with his little nose and then sneeze. Each time, I wanted to just hug him and never let him go.

Unfortunately the Percy Jackson effect hit me again. Being in Venice, surrounded by canals of water and a great blue ocean in front of my eyes, I began to long for Percy to be here with me. I pathetically longed for even the bright aura of him that I couldn't feel from afar. I missed his silly endearing annoying humor, I missed his fondness for the color blue, I missed the way he looked up when he was thoughtful, or when he looked down when he was nostalgic. I missed his black hair and green eyes.

Instinctively I started to think if something could've been different if I had acted differently with him. If I ever had an opportunity, or if from the beginning, even without knowing it, I never had it.

It was quite simple actually. The hero always gets the girl. Both ancient scriptures and current scriptures attest to that fact.

Percy had always struck me as an endearing and powerful boy. In the estimation that I ever held him, he had many ups and downs. Mistakes, anger, frustrations. He wasn't the hero I had thought he was in my childhood. Percy was, as the phrase went. A real hero. With all of his anger management issues, and his pathetically giant morale. With his mistakes and his setbacks. Even knowing all that, my heart didn't stop beating when I thought of him.

And now, surely Percy was seeing the place where he was going to live in New Rome, excited as I heard him that time in the camp, and I?, still clinging to my past in Venice, waiting for a miracle to happen. Waiting for Percy to show up knocking on my door saying 'Hi, my old friend'.

Apparently the little dog could felt my discouragement, because he came up and delicately licked my hand, then bit it a bit. I laughed as I felt tickle because of his teeth. I patted his head and rubbed behind his pointy ears. He lay down and quickly fell asleep.

Being the end of January, Venice was in cold weather of about 5 degrees centigrade, so I had to force a sweater over my t-shirt when opening the window facing the poor little fire escape, as Venice was not characterized by this type of buildings. If something caught fire, all you had to do was jump into the canal. So fire escapes weren't very useful around here.

As I stepped out of the satisfying warmth of my room, I was able to see in the distance the incredible lighting that Venice had at night, giving a touch of magical antiquity to the place and an impressive reflection in the water. The sounds of the gondolas crawling through the narrow canals instead of the incessant noise of cars in the cities was really beautiful. I could actually spend an eternity here and I don't think I'll ever get tired of it.

I took out Mictlantecuhtli's medallion and studied it carefully for a moment. I didn't really know what to think about the locket. It's true that a weight had been lifted from my shoulders now that others could no longer perceive my natural aura as a son of Hades, but another weight added to my burdens. what would happen if I took it off? Would the puppy run away from me? Would people avoid me again?

I had gone through a lot to have the medallion, so, I wasn't going to waste it now that I had it with me.

“Nice necklace,” a voice said. I jumped.

Percy Jackson was standing on the fire escape right next to me. He’d just appeared there.

“Sorry,” he said. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”

I blinked a few times not knowing if what I was seeing was actually happening or if I had slipped and hit the railing and was now unconscious.

He was still as tall as I remembered him. He was wearing a blue t-shirt under the big dark jacket and, no. I had definitely hit the railing. There was no reason for Percy to have a Mexican hat on his head. I couldn't say anything, I could only stare at those green eyes that looked at me with a certain cunning air.

“I’ve done some exploring,” he said. “Thought you’d like to know, the Chupacabras got its punishment.”

I blinked again, not really knowing how to respond. It seemed as if Percy wanted me to follow some kind of script.

Wait, how did he know about that?

“You saw him?” I was finally able to answer.

Percy seemed delighted with my question, since he smiled and gave another giggle that I couldn't understand. Percy nodded, but then he denied.

“Why...? I mean, how did you get here?”

“Mrs. O'Leary is very good at identifying your shadow travel traces. And…well, you taught me how to ride her.

I looked up and could see a big black head hiding behind the roof of the building. Why is she hiding?

I shook my head. Now wasn't the time to think about that. I wanted to know why, precisely, Percy would leave the tranquility of his family to come visit to me to the other side of the world.

"What are you doing here, Percy?"

I refrained from asking about for his college. Percy seemed to smile that sly air again, he got up from where he was sitting and walked over to my position. I shrank in my place. And when I thought he was close enough, Percy glanced inside my room. His eyebrows furrowed.

"Why isn't there... a black birthday cake?"

Percy turned to see me. He raised his eyebrows as if he was trying to convey some kind of message to me.

Oh. It was January 28. It was my birthday. Wait, this is exactly what happened on Percy's birthday! Now I understood his strange behavior.

With nerves entering every pore of my body, I took a deep breath and gave Percy a small smile.

“Come inside for some warmth,” I said. “It sounds like we've got a lot to talk about.”

════ •『 HAPPY BIRTHDAY 』• ════

This mini fic will continue on February 14.

[spookyhalloweennights]

Birds of a Feather (Syro: SFW)

Your first day on the job was nothing less than breathtaking. Having just graduated and finding a position in the rehabilitation field, you were over the moon when you had started. Although the manager couldn’t be more than displeased at the fact that a human was working in their facility, and a human female nonetheless so straight away they had assigned you to the most difficult patient in the facility. 

The patient? A male harpy whose plumage reminded you of a raptor. His talons had clacked against the floor, the noise only stopping once every few moments as he had paused and stared out the window wistfully. A sigh that sounded more like a whistle had come from him, however as you had begun to move closer his gaze snapped to yours. Piercing yellow eyes met yours in an intense stare before he let out a screech of hatred. 

“A human! They dare insult me like this?” He screamed and you had backed away hastily, tripping over the tray you had been rolling with you and falling. Landing hard on your back with the wind knocked out of you. The only saving grace you had was an elf who had heard the commotion and came rushing over to help you clean up the mess and make sure you were okay.  The petite elf had turned her attention to the harpy who was making such a fuss with his feathers all ruffled up. 

“Syro! It is rather impolite of you to behave so badly, she is just as good of a nurse as any one of us here. Otherwise she wouldn’t be here.” The elf, who you’d later come to know as Gweyir, scolded. The harpy had shrunk back as the lecture continued for another minute or so before she was finally done. 

With a grumble, the harpy had reluctantly allowed you into his room to do your job. You had taken notice of the scrapes and bruises that he had once you had gotten closer to him. Feathers were missing and the biggest thing that you had missed before was that his right wing was broken. He didn’t talk to you, at least not at first. He’d merely stand stock still while you tended to the wounds and left him food, which continued for nearly a year after you had started. 

It wasn’t that Syro wasn’t ready to go after he had fully healed, he had nowhere to go so he dragged it out for as long as possible. He attended multiple sessions with various therapists to talk about what had happened to him, you never knew the details of his case until Gweyir had told you as the pair of you were making your usual rounds. 

“He was exiled from his flock, a bad hunter and they didn’t want him dragging them down so… The only logical punishment they could think of was bodily harm and forcing him to leave. Without a flock, most harpies don’t make it on their own.” She explained, the manager had given you both a quick nod as you brushed past. In the past few months they had come to warm up to the idea of having a human female around, plus you were the most dedicated worker alongside Gweyir that they had. 

“That’s… Rough.” Was all you could think of to say as you processed the information. Gweyir nodded in agreement. 

However, the ruffling of feathers had caught your attention and you glanced to your left. Seeing Syro all puffed up and a low squawk of sorts came from him at the mention of what had happened. You awkwardly waved Gweyir goodbye as she wished you luck. Putting on your best smile, you walked inside as Syro merely eyed you and turned away with a huff. 

“Bad day?” You asked the harpy, he would occasionally humor you with short answers in response to your questions. 

“That elf has no idea what happened.” He grumbled in response. “It wasn’t exactly like that. It was… Way different than what they had thought it was.” 

You set to work, he was a lot more compliant in letting you do your job than he was when you had first met him. You kept the surprise that rose up in you at the idea of him telling you what had happened under check as you didn’t want to discourage him from talking. 

“My flock was… Ruthless. Took whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. There wasn’t anything they wouldn’t slaughter if it got in their way. And considering that our species isn’t… Too common, it wasn’t a surprise when my flock had climbed its way to the top of being the most feared.” He began to pace back and forth again, the talons clicking against the floor in an ominous manner. “I was not like them. I couldn’t take or kill just for the thrill of it. And when it came time for the ‘coming of age’ ceremony… I failed, and that resulted in me being harmed the way I was. And then those humans... It was worse before you had come here. I was exiled. I’m not allowed to go to any other flock or that puts them in danger. I’m… Stuck in a way.” His voice had grown softer as a forlorn look overcame his features. 

You had listened intently to him, the story tugging at your heart in a way that was unexpected. “Syro…” Your mouth had run dry and you found yourself unable to say anything to him. 

“You needn’t say anything to me. I realize now that not all humans are bad. You being amongst the few who are genuinely good.” He complimented, though he pointedly kept his gaze away from you as you stared up at him. 

You weren’t quite sure what to say in response to the compliment, mumbling out a quick thanks and hurrying out of the room once you had finished your duties. You walked back into the nurse’s station and sank into a chair, your face the color of a cherry. Gweyir had come in not too long after you and had mistaken the blush on your face for you crying and anger seemed to run through the elf. 

“Was he mean to you? Did he hurt you? I swear I’ll pluck him like a chicken if…” You interrupted her before she could continue on any further. 

“Nothing like that Gweyir. He complimented me.” The shock on her face mimicked your own. “I know, he told me that I was one of the few good humans, and… He opened up more about his past.” You finished, Gweyir slumping in the seat next to you. 

“Geez, I didn’t expect that.” She murmured before glancing at you. “He only has two weeks left here before they force him to leave. I overheard the manager talking to one of the higher ups.” 

“Oh.” Was all that came as the news came as a second surprise to you today. “I have to go, I have to at least warn him.” You said as you slid the half eaten bag of chips over to Gweyir before getting up and heading out the break room doors. 

Syro had taken the news exactly as you had expected him to, with a lot of anger and feather ruffling as he paced the room. Stretching his wings in annoyance before his gaze settled on you again, any amount of trust he had put into you earlier was gone with this new information. 

“Get out.” He hissed at you, and you merely blinked in response. The statement took a moment to fully process but by that time, he was in your face. 

“Get out!” He screeched, stretching out his wings and looking more intimidating than you had ever seen him. You scrambled out of the room and narrowly avoided the metal tray being thrown at your head by said harpy. 

It was after that incident that your manager had decided to transfer you to another patient. They had declared that you had finished your duties with Syro, but you knew that wasn’t the case. Nevertheless you didn’t have the energy to argue with your manager, and while your new patient was lovely and a breath of fresh air. You missed Syro. The mermaid you had been assigned to was oftentimes a bit too chatty for your taste. 

You had only briefly seen the harpy once or twice after the incident, each time you had turned before his gaze could find yours. The new nurse that was taking care of him seemed to be doing better than what you had been anyway. A bitter taste seemed to rise in the back of your throat when you had caught the pair enjoying a conversation together, a smile was present on his features. 

What did it matter anyway? You were no longer assigned to him. You should just go back to your job, at least that’s what you told yourself until you found yourself cornered by the large harpy. His hands placed on either side of your head as he stared down at you with a frown on his features. 

“You’ve been avoiding me.” He stated, and you couldn’t help the laugh that erupted from you. It confused Syro more than anything in the world, just enough that you could slip away. 

“I’ve been assigned to another patient Syro. It’s my job… Besides, they figured your new nurse would suit your needs better anyway.” You stated calmly as you made your way down the hallway, the clicking of his talons on the tiled floor gave way to him following you. 

“I preferred you as my nurse. And I had tried to tell that manager otherwise but they weren’t hearing it.” He huffed in annoyance. You paused, the familiar feeling of shock spreading through you before you merely shook your head. 

“You smile a lot more around that nurse, and you’ve become well enough to come out of your room now and join the others in the mess hall rather than taking your meals in your room. I’d say she’s doing her job right.” You hummed thoughtfully, heading to the small cubicle where the cabinets were. You placed the tray and other equipment back in their right places. 

“I miss you.” He said simply. “And I wanted to apologize for how I reacted, it was wrong of me to take it out on you like I did. I know I can’t go back but… I want you to know that much.” Syro shifted as though he was uncomfortable admitting he was wrong. “The other nurse helped me realize that.” 

“It’s alright Syro, I know stuff like that can be shocking. The important thing is that you realized it.” You responded, turning to face the massive creature in front of you. 

A relieved smile spread across his face at the apology acceptance. He sighed softly before glancing around to see if any others were near you. “Can I visit you? Once I’m out of here I mean…” 

“Of course you can!” You responded eagerly. “You can come by here or I’ll show you where my house is if you wait once you’re out of here.” 

He merely nodded in acknowledgement before the pair of you heard the other nurse calling his name, a grimace came across his features before he looked down at you one more time. It seemed as though he was debating something in his mind before he finally leaned down and nuzzled against you with a quiet chirp of appreciation. The action left you stunned, but before you could say anything else to him, he had turned and walked down the hallway. 

In the following week, you had made an effort to stop by Syro’s room more than usual, each time you were greeted with him nuzzling against you before he listened to you chat about your day. Only occasionally chiming in with a thought, other times you’d listen to him talk about what his life was like before he had come here. It was dark, more so than what anyone had actually expected of the creature. When the day came that he had to leave, he had asked to leave at the same time you had got off your shift. 

“Are you ready?” You asked Syro as you adjusted the strap on your bag that you took to work with you every day. The harpy hummed in thought before merely nodding in response to the question. 

“Let’s get this over with.” His voice was rough, to others it may have sounded like he was excited to be leaving but you knew underneath that he was terrified. 

The walk to your home was silent, save for the occasional comment that you made to keep his nerves down. It wasn’t until you had arrived at your front door steps that you could see the genuine fear in Syro’s eyes. He really did have nowhere to go, and in the moment you had made a rash decision. 

“Why don’t you stay here with me for a while? At least until you get on your feet.” You offered, and it seemed as though the idea shocked Syro. It took him a moment to respond to the proposal. 

“I won’t get in your way. I appreciate you doing this for me.” He said as he walked up the steps right as you opened the door, you stepped aside to let him in first. 

“I’ll have to get the guest room set up properly for you but otherwise you can help yourself to anything in here.” You said.

“Thank you.” Came the response as he looked around your house. “Your home is lovely.” 

Two years had passed since that day, and you really couldn’t imagine your life any other way. Your relationship with Syro had developed into something more as time had progressed and you showed him the basics to surviving on his own. Except he never left, and you never had a complaint about it. In fact you had begun to look forward to going home after a long day at the rehabilitation center, knowing that your harpy would no doubt have prepared something for you to eat or a relaxing bath. 

After a particularly stressful day with a new patient, you had dragged yourself up the front steps and into your home. The clicking of Syro’s talons on the floorboards brought a smile to your face, you kicked your shoes off and plopped down on the couch. Golden eyes came into sight as Syro had kneeled down in front of you with a faint smile. 

“Rough day?” He asked and you merely nodded in response to the question, sighing as he chuckled in response.

“The new patient is a lot worse than anything I’ve ever dealt with. I don’t know if I can handle this one, they’re just… unreceptive to everything we’ve tried so far.” You vented while Syro had listened to you intently. 

“Give them time, they’ll come around. I know that you can do it, you dealt with me.” He responded with a faint smile. He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to your forehead. “Get some rest, I’ll take care of dinner.” 

When you had come home a few weeks later with a grin on your face, Syro knew that you had gotten the patient to finally open up and he couldn’t be more proud of you than what he was in that moment.

[baby-grayson]

Okay but like how did gray and ness meet??

Grayson and Vanessa met during the first few days of Vanessa’s college experience, at the Student Activities Fair. She was walking around the campus green, while Dynamite by BTS filled the air and blared through speakers. The green was filled with people brushing by each other as they went from one booth to the next. College freshman excitedly chatted with club presidents and sports captains as people handed out flyers, pins, and t-shirts.

Vanessa strolled from booth to booth accompanied by her first-year roommate, Samantha. Samantha and Vanessa were acquaintances in high school that spent most of their first few months in college attached at the hip, until they were each comfortable enough with their own group of friends. Vanessa and Samantha sipped on smoothies from the Vegan club while moving through the fair. Vanessa pretended to be interested in a sorority for long enough to get cotton candy from them.

Samantha stopped by the dance team, leaving Vanessa to stand awkwardly next to her and listen to questions about rehearsals and auditions. At this point, Vanessa was still uncomfortable with her forced retirement from softball: something about being around athletic, buzzing young women triggered a cramped feeling in her. She peered around, biting her lip. The dance team’s booth was situated on the West end of the green, surrounded by the women’s basketball team, soccer team, the football team, and the co-ed diving team. She grabbed her forearm with her opposite hand and scrunched her mouth, desperately waiting for Samantha to finish while basketballs and game chants filled the air around her.

Vanessa’s wish was granted when a football came hurtling out of the sky and collided with Samantha’s nose. Samantha fell back onto the ground, while everyone in the nearby area looked across the green to see where the football came from. From a few feet away, Ethan and Grayson came jogging over with apologetic faces. The dance team captain helped Samantha on her feet while a stream of blood started pouring from her left nostril.

“I’m so sorry!” Ethan’s voice boomed over the group of girls.

The group quickly filled with voices asking if she was okay, if she was in pain, if she needed a doctor. Ethan tried to catch Samantha’s eye for long enough to apologize substantially. Grayson awkwardly stood a few feet behind his brother: partially not wanting to make the chaotic scene more hectic, and partially taken Vanessa who was standing next to Samantha and offering a tissue to help with the nosebleed. When one of the dance team members yelled that she was a nursing major and pushed her way to the front of the group, Vanessa took a step back to give Samantha some much needed air. She faltered, nearly tripped and landing on the booth. When she looked down, she found the football on the floor. She bent down to pick it up and launched it in Grayson’s direction.

“You’ve got a good arm,” he complimented with a lopsided smile.

“He’s got bad aim,” she responded flatly.

Grayson’s mouth folded into an amused smirk while Vanessa turned back to see Ethan offering to carry Samantha to health services. Vanessa rolled her eyes and was nearly shocked to see Samantha take the offer. Vanessa wondered when a broken nose meant that someone couldn’t walk but she answered her own question when she noticed Ethan’s good looks.

“I’ll walk her over,” Vanessa announced in an exhausted tone.

“No, I should go with you,” Ethan spoke to Samantha, nearly drooling over her pretty blue eyes. Samantha nodded and started walking beside Ethan, not looking back to see Vanessa and Grayson trailing them.

Vanessa, Ethan, and Grayson stood awkwardly in the corner of the nurse’s office while Samantha winced when the nurse pushed a cotton tube up her nose. The nurse pulled Samantha’s eyelids down and shined a pen light inside of them, checking for a concussion but not finding anything abnormal. The nurse released Samantha with a plastic bag full of cotton tubes and no note to get out of classes, despite Samantha’s consistent whining.

“I’m so sorry,” Ethan said, starting to sound like a broken record, “I wish I could do something to make you feel better.” He opened the door for Samantha to leave health services but closed it before Grayson could step outside. Grayson pushed the door open for Vanessa, she muttered a few words of thanks before picking up her pace to catch up with Ethan and Samantha.

She caught up with the pair at the same moment that Ethan offered, “Hey um if it would help you feel better, maybe I could take you out? To Pop’s tomorrow night?”

Samantha giggled and twirled her hair around a finger, trying to look cute but not managing it with a tampon in her nostril, “That sounds great.”

Vanessa tried to suppress a chortle, but Grayson caught the sound coming out of her mouth, paying much more attention to her than the scene of Ethan asking Samantha on a date. “What’s so funny?”

“He’s ridiculous,” Vanessa whispered, “As if a nurse’s office is the place to ask someone on a date.” She rolled her eyes and stepped forward, not noticing Grayson deflate slightly as she discouraged his own plans of asking her on a date.

For the following few months, Grayson was a peripheral friend to Vanessa. He was always around, a friendly face in the background during football parties, where Ethan wore Samantha on his arm like a shiny bracelet. Vanessa would fit a comfortable seat on an armchair and snack on a bowl of chips while SportsCenter played on the television. In the rate moment that she had a comment on the game, she would toss it in Grayson’s direction because during this time he and Ethan were the only team members she knew. She appreciated that he would laugh, even when her jokes weren’t funny. She thought he was bringing friendly, trying to include her in an already established group of friends. He laughed because he knew it would coax a smile on her lips, and the image made his heart glow warmly.

By the time the autumn leaves had turned from green to a faint yellow, nearly ready to start their descent before winter, Ethan and Samantha broke up. The reason behind their split is highly contested: she would tell you it was because his schedule was too demanding, he would tell you it was because she asked too much of him. Either way, Samantha spent the rest of that semester cursing Ethan’s name and whispering rude things about him when she spotted him on the opposite side of the dining hall.

From that point, Grayson and Vanessa only saw each other in passing glimpses while walking to class. He would smile, wave, and say “Hi” even when he was rushing to get to class. Some days, she would reciprocate. Others, she would make a passive smile and continue her way. Grayson felt uncomfortable with how much her response would dictate his mood for the next few hours.

After Ethan and Samantha broke up, the next time they spent an extended period together was the day of the Homecoming game in early October. Vanessa pulled on a sweatshirt with the school’s logo and squeezed into the stands with a small group of friends, with Samantha on the end chattering about Ethan’s attitude and nerve. Vanessa tried to tune out Samantha’s rant and pay attention to the game, standing to cheer and yell. She laughed, joking with her friends about men in tight pants and talking about if a tackle could be a sexual move (which Grayson later proved to be true during their relationship).

The group of freshmen hadn’t planned on going to any homecoming parties after the game. In fact, they hadn’t been invited to any. But when Grayson made the game winning play, pulling a Hail Mary and saving the entire team from defeat, the crowd erupted in cheers and chants. Vanessa and her friends were ushered to a party in an apartment building that was covered in streamers, balloons, and kegs. The air smelled like cheap beer and victory. The positivity was so infectious that even Samantha snapped out of her bitter demeaner. There was something electric in the air that night.

That electricity sparked from Grayson’s fingertips when Ethan and Tucker carried him in on their shoulders. He felt like a king, sitting on a throne and looking down at a celebration that felt like it was just for him. He launched down and was surrounded by screams and pats on the back as men with painted chests stood on dusty old couches to scream his name. Everything in the room stopped when his eyes found Vanessa: like some existential being picked his most confident moment to deliver unto him the beautiful girl who had taken life in his dreams. The electricity bursted from within him and he felt it on his lips when he reached forward to cup her face and leaned in to kiss her.

The room erupted in cheers and wolf whistles. Apart from Ethan, no one knew about Grayson’s crush on Vanessa. But they were still more than excited to see the man of the night make a daring play on a beautiful girl.

No one was more excited than Grayson, who felt like he was on top of the world when he realized that she did not shy away: in fact, she leaned into him to kiss back. And when she pulled back, she bit her lip to stop herself from grinning while she looked up at him. He grinned wider than anything. That night, she was his greatest victory.

[badwithten]

doesn’t have to be a love story

〉yangyang x fem!reader

〉highschool au

〉word count 3.7k

〉warnings swearing, alcohol, vaping, violence? (not really)

 〉yangyang and y/n have been close for a long time but it didn't really make sense.  those two didn’t mix, especially if there was no romance involved. this is why their friends found it so hard to believe that this wouldn’t end in a relationship, it won't right?  

“Yangyang it's pretty obvious you like her” It's not the first time he's heard those words, and he's certain it won't be the last. I suppose it was strange around here for guys and girls to be friends without a relationship. But that's all it was, only a friendship.

“It's not like that” He groaned and turned his attention to the block of wood he was supposed to be cutting for his hard material class, so far it was not coming along how he wanted. But he didn't feel discouraged, Xiaojuns one was way worse.

“Why don't you just say something?” Xiaojun was pretty reluctant with this whole Y/N and Yangyang thing, convincing himself that they were the end game. But in Yangyangs eyes it just wasn't like that. 

You two became friends in your first year of high school after being sat at the same table in math. You found joy in his jokes about the teacher and he thought it was funny he had to help you with your math every five minutes. Admittedly he wasn't the best at it either. 

Although the constant comments from his friends regarding the relationship between you two got annoying, he understood where they were coming from. He had never had this close of a bond with a girl before, especially not with a girl and it didn't lead anymore. But you were different. You were kind, funny, you understood him, you listened and even cooked for him when his parents went away for the weekend. Even though he loved his group of friends, they were ‘the boys’. It was difficult talking to them about things, it made it hard to talk about emotions or what he enjoyed in fear of not fitting in. He was probably being ridiculous but either way, it didn't matter, because he had you to express his feelings with anyway.

What Yangyang didn't know was that you were also dealing with similar comments from your friends. They were suspicious about the amount of time you two spent together. Even after you explained to them, several times, that he was just a friend nothing more. They insisted that you make a move. It made sense to them, you were always complaining about being single, how you wanted someone in your life. The way you would describe the person you wanted, someone funny, caring, passionate and stood up for what they believed in. All those things were Yangyang, 

But that's not how you saw it, if you and him had gone out, it just wouldn't have worked. The friendship you had was too special to risk that. You will always be grateful for the late nights spent with him, only heading home when your mum calls you telling you she's going to bed. 

Maybe it was because you saw a different side of him. Yangyang, the class clown, who ditches class, doesn’t hand in homework and writes rap lyrics on his tests. But the Yangyang you knew was sensitive, he took into consideration his surroundings and how he affected others and despite what many people think, he was intelligent. The conversations you two had under the stars never left your mind.

The sun was too hot for you to be stuck in such an uncomfortable uniform for any longer than you had to, yet Yangyang was nowhere to be seen. You agreed to meet him outside the gym after the last period since that's where his class would be, and he still managed to be late. This isn't surprising, he had PE. Five minutes after the bell goes, he and Ten finally pile out of the gym, the rest of their class nowhere to be seen. 

“Hey Y/N” Ten skips over with Yangyang trailing behind. He pulls you into a hug, you watch Yangyang roll his eyes from over Tens shoulder, causing you to laugh. “What's funny?”

Ten pulls away to look at you two but no one makes a move to say anything. “Well have fun on your date you two” Before you can get a word in to defend yourself he leaves, slapping Yangyang on the ass for good measure before dashing towards the front of the school.

“They’re still going on about that?” You and Yangyang finally make your way out the back of the school to start the long journey home. 

“Yeah don't worry about it, you know what they're like” You hum in agreement, not wanting to dwell on the awkward subject. Although you were both forced to hear these remarks every day, it was a different story when the other was with you. It just made things weird. Which caused even more confusion, you both strongly denied that you had any feelings, if so why did it make things awkward?

“Why did you get held in any way?” 

“Me and Ten kept getting balls stuck in the roof so we had to pack up” 

“On accident?” 

“Oh yeah definitely on ‘accident’. And you know what Mrs Hooper is like, doesn't like to have fun” You let out a laugh and rub your eyes, you forgot what he was like. You continue walking towards your usual hang out spot, the park down the road from his house. Stopping at the corner store first, getting drinks and chips to snack on.

“These pringles taste like ass” You look down in disbelief at the whole container of BBQ pringles that you had just bought after Yangyangs suggestion. “Why did you tell me to get these?”

“Well I think they're nice” He reaches over the table and snatches the container away from you.

“You baited me into buying you chips!”

“Not my fault you're slow” He gives you a cheeky smile and downs a few pringles followed by his redbull.

“Unbelievable”

“What's your speech on?” You almost jump out of your seat, not expecting Yangyang to come whisper such things in your ear. 

“I haven't decided yet, I've just been playing the snake game” You look around the room to see where the teacher is, yet you can't see him anywhere, the reason why Yangyang is standing beside you.

“I know I've been watching you” He sits down in the empty chair next to you. “You could always write about me you know?”

“Yangyang, I love you” He leans forward, resting his head on his hand and batters his eyelashes. “But no”

“Tsk your lost” As the teacher walks into the room he quickly stands to head back to his original seat across the class. 

“Yangyang, what are you doing out of your seat?” Mr Smith, a usually pretty chill teacher, still didn’t appreciate people mucking around when he's gone.

“Y/N needed help, sir” Your eyes go wide and you stare down Yangyang, he has the biggest smile across his face.

“Why didn't you say so? I'll be there soon Miss L/N '' You turn and mouth to Yangyang.

‘I hate you’

“Aren't you cold?” Yangyang asks, you can hear in his voice that he himself is shivering from the cold, despite the fact he has a jacket on. 

“A bit but what am I supposed to do about it?”

“I got an idea” You expect him to offer you his jacket, or maybe his sweatshirt. But instead, you just get pain.

“Ow! Yangyang, did you just punch my leg?” You reach down and rub the spot he just hit, it wasn't that painful but you liked to play it up. 

“It'll burn up now, you're welcome” Even though it's pitch black, you just know that he has the biggest shit-eating grin on his face.

“I think I should head home now, we have school tomorrow” You stand up and pat down your slightly damp leggings from the dewy grass. Yangyang also scrambles to his feet.

“Wait if this is because of the punch I’m sorry” 

“No, what the, it's just I have to walk home and it's already so dark” You pick up your bag and head towards the footpath out of the park. His house is on the way towards your house so you always end up dropping him home first,

“I don't wanna leave yet, my parents aren't home, it's scary living by yourself” You stop in your tracks, unable to believe what he just said.

“If your parents' aren't home, then why have we been sitting out in the cold for the past 3 hours?” You hear the rustle of his jacket, indicating he simply just shrugged. “Oh my god, Yangyang. Do you want me to stay with you tonight?”

“Yes please,” You don't mind the idea of spending all night with him, especially if it means you don't have to walk all the way home. As you turn into his street you realize you've ever actually been to his house before, despite the countless times he showed up at your door. You were caught slightly off guard at how nice the place was, you don't know what you were expecting but something about Yangyang didn't exactly scream fancy. 

“Wow your place is really nice Yangyang” You comment as you take off your shoes at the door, the warmth comforting from the chill you had gotten.

“Thanks” Yangyang heads straight to the kitchen and you follow, unsure what to do with yourself. “Do you want anything to eat? We should probably make tea”

“Well, what is there?” He walks around the counter and opens up the fridge.

“Not a lot” You move around to look over his shoulder and are disappointed at what you see.

“Why is there only grapes?” 

“I don't know, grapes are good.” He grabs out the grapes and starts popping them into his mouth, unfazed by the fact that there's there's no real food in his fridge, apart from various condiments.

“How long have you been home alone for?” 

“A couple of nights”

“And you've been eating grapes the whole time?” He nods and continues eating. “Should I make some proper food?”

“Yeah, I can't cook”

“Pasta?”

“Yeah but I don't like onion or garlic, or tomatoes really” You sigh and rub your face, this was going to be a long night.

You and Yangyang weren't the best at being organised, meaning you left his house at eight am, it took forty-five minutes to walk to school, and school started at eight-thirty. Luckily for you, you had art first, meaning there was no real pressure to get to school on time. Not so lucky for Yangyang who had studies of society. You get to school and part ways. You know you'll see him throughout the day but your conversations are never as good when other people are around. 

You get to the art room and the teacher says good morning, no comment about being late although you know you'll hear all about it from Ten when you see him sitting by himself.

“Morning,” You say as you drop your bag down. “Where's Winwin?”

“Sick apparently” He shrugs and focuses on the work in front of him, carefully shading in the portrait of himself with charcoal. “And someone had to leave me all alone this morning”

“It was fifteen minutes” You roll your eyes and wander off to get your art from the folder up the front, it's not your best piece but it'll get you a pass. A portrait of Harry Styles.  “I can't believe they let you do yourself for this”

“Why would I not be allowed to?” You sit down next to him and start working right away. 

“The project was a charcoal portrait of someone you look up to or who inspires you” 

“Yeah, I look up to myself” You laugh at his confidence, something you wish you had. You can't blame him though, the photo he chose is very flattering. And Ten is talented, it's coming out like a masterpiece.

“You like shit by the way” Ten is known for not holding back his comments, but even then he always catches you off guard.

“Thanks” 

“You know what I mean”

“Yeah yeah. I stayed at Yangyangs last night and didn't have any of my stuff” Ten groans and turns in his seat to look at you deeply. 

“Y/N this is frustrating. Do you like him or not?” 

“We've been over this a hundred times Ten, no I don't like him” Ten Reaches forward and presses the back of his hand onto your cheek.

“Then why is your face heating up?” Your eyes go wide and you rest your head on your arms face down on the desk. You hear Ten laughs as he begins rubbing circles into your back. “You're allowed to have feelings for him you know?”

“But I just don't want to ruin our friendship, he's special to me”

“So you do like him?”

“Ugh, Ten I don't know!” Your voice is louder than expected and the class turns to look at you, embarrassment bubbles up more in your stomach as you stare down at your desk.

“Y/N, Chittaphon. Quiet down.

“Sorry Sir”

“Yangyang, why are you fifteen minutes late to class?”

“Sorry Miss, I had a guest round this morning and lost track of time”

“Ok just make sure you catch up, get Kun to explain the work to you” She sighs and flicks him away with his wrist, he hurriedly moves to the back of the class where Kun is sat, as well as a couple other kids.

“I thought you were home alone, who did you have round?” Yangyang is surprised Kun even heard what he said to the teacher, but apparently, it's one of his many talents. 

“Y/N stayed '' He immediately regrets saying anything but he knows he won't be able to lie for long either way.

“How was it?” 

“Fine” Kun looks over expecting more of a reply than that. “I don't know man, she made me pasta and we watched a movie. Nothing happened.”

“She made you food? She must be whipped.”

“What?”

“In creative catering, she wouldn't even let me try her icing to see what it was supposed to taste like. Mine ended up being sour.”

“Ok, so she cooked for me? That doesn't mean anything”

“Hmm sure,” Kun turns back to his history assignment.

“Wait tell me what it means”

“God, are you that thick?” When Yangyang just stares at him blankly he drops his head. “She likes you”

“She does?”

ten: did yangyang talk to you this morning

ten: about anything

ten: specifically y/n?

kun: Maybe? Why? Did she talk to you about anything

kun: He just told me she cooked for him

ten: y/n never cooks for anyone

ten: did he not pick up on that?

kun: Ikr 

kun: He seemed happy to hear that she likes him

ten: should i tell her that he likes her as well?

kun: Go for it

kun: Nothing will happen otherwise

The next day you managed to get to class on time, although you can't say the same for Yangyang. You walk into a semi-full class and head to the back to join Ten and Lucas, accounting was boring and you never understood anything but Lucas managed to make things bearable. Ten, well he mainly made things worse. 

“Y/N, exciting news” Was the first thing said to you by Ten which usually meant it wasn't good news. You groan as you sit down, already feeling defeated.

“What is it?” Lucas seems more excited than you to hear about this.

“Yangyang finally admitted his feelings for Y/N”

“What?” You sit up straight, unable to believe the words you're hearing. Ten has a grin and Lucas is laughing harder than you've ever seen him laugh before. “Are you serious?”

“What's wrong with that?”

“Ughh” You rub your eyes hard enough you're sure that they're red. “I just, I don't know”

“You like him don't you? Isn't this a good thing?” Ten has gotten a bit more serious, not expecting you to be so upset by this news. 

“Yes but, I don't know, can we talk about something else please?”

You're also surprised at this news, you never thought you liked Yangyang. In fact, you were so certain you didn't like him. But finding out that maybe you do? It changes everything. Him liking you back only makes things more real. You would think you'd be happy at this news but you don't know. That's the only way to describe things right now. Confused. Yes, you like him, he likes you back. That should be the end of the story. But maybe not. Things are different and you don't know why. It's impossible for you to sleep with all these thoughts rushing. It's even harder for you to go to school without your friends bombarding you with a million questions about Yangyang. You wouldn't mind if it was something else, but you're so unsure of your feelings you don't know how to answer. You're certain Yangyang would have been told you like him as well, Yangyang has more confidence than you and you wouldn't be surprised if he made a move. The thought of him doing so makes you anxious, you don't want him to confess, you don't want to say yes, you don't want it. 

Your phone lights up the darkroom. A text from Yangyang, a perfect distraction from your sleepless night. 

yangx2: hey

yangx2: wanna go for a walk after school tomorrow?

yangx2: i need to get some supplies for class

y/n: sorry i’m not feeling very well

y/n: idk if i’ll be at school tomorrow

yangx2: damn :/

yangx2: get better soon

yangx2: i have to go with lucas :(

y/n: haha you’ll be fine

You didn't show at school for the rest of the week, being too ‘sick’ to do so. Every time a text would come through from Yangyang asking how things were, the conversation would die as quickly as it started thanks to your dry replies. You didn't know how to feel, didn't know what to do. Ignoring him was the only way for you to process your emotions right now. You just needed time. You couldn't be off of school forever, but thankfully it was over soon. It gave you two weeks to sort your shit out. During those two weeks, Yangyang stopped reaching out. You felt bad for giving him false hope but you knew this was what was best. Well, at least you thought so. Maybe things would have worked out in a different life. But right now, it wasn't the right time.

When school started again you were nervous, it was a fresh start. You hoped time just sorted things out. You walked up to the front of the school where you usually meet with everyone. Ten arrived first, then Xiaojun, Winwin next, Kun and Yangyang arrived together and Lucas was probably off at the skatepark vaping with Hendery. Surprisingly things went well, too well.

Everything was back to normal, almost normal. It wasn't awkward with Yangyang, but things weren't right. And you could tell. You two were not as close, he didn't come to annoy you during English, or invite you to his hard materials class to bully Xiaojun. He wasn't Yangyang around you anymore. You were scared you ruined things but maybe he just needed time as well. You hoped that was all, you didn't want to lose someone like him.

The sleepout at Lucas’ you were all hanging out in a heated up way too quickly, with a mixture of sweaty drunk guys and various flavours of vape clouding the room. You couldn't bear to be in there any longer, deciding to slip out the back and sit on the deck outside. The air was harsh but it was a nice contrast to the hot smoke from the room within. Your cheeks were burning hot so the crisp air made it relaxing. You weren't out there for very long until another person escaped the room as well, Yangyang.

“Hey,” You say as he sits down next to you, it wasn't that you didn't want to see him, but it was the first time you two had been alone for a while, especially since he was a bit tipsy.

“You ok?”

“Yeah, it was just hot in there. Are you ok?”

“I'm great.” He looks at you as smiles brightly and you laugh, you miss seeing his face more often.

“Oh yeah,” You entertain his drunk ways and talk to him like a child. “What's got you in such a good mood?”

“I was talking to Nina on the phone”

“Nina?” 

“The girl I like remember, I'm gonna ask her out soon” Your heart sinks and you start to feel sick, although you're not sure if it's from the alcohol or this news. Jealousy spikes within you but you don't know why you have no right to be upset when you pushed him away. You feel stupid for believing that he ever liked you. Ten was just a troll wasn't he? He got you to ghost one of your closest friends who wasn't even interested in you. Thinking back to it, Yangyang always showed signs of liking Nina that he never did to you. Calling her pretty, defending her, buying her food. Yangyang never did that for you despite the fact you were so close. Your heart breaks, even more, knowing you never wanted it in the first place.

“Oh” You try to hide your pain through a smile, he would have been able to pick up if his senses were not blurred.

“Yeah she's great”

“I'm glad to hear that Yangyang, you deserve someone like her in your life”

“Hmm” It turns awkward, you don't know what else to say. Instead, you just stand and head inside. You need another drink to get through the night.

“You ok? I went to look for you at Lucas’ the other night but Ten said you left” Yangyang took you off guard as he pulled up a chair to sit by you in English. 

“Oh yeah, I just wasn't feeling well” It wasn't lying, you just didn't say why you didn't say why. If he asks you'll say that you ate something funny. But in reality, you felt awful because of him. You swallow hard and bring yourself to say the next words. “Hows Nina?”

“Oh, I finally did it” His smile is bigger than anything you've ever seen on him, his eyes brighter than ever before. And it suits him. Being happy suits him. You know you'll never be able to bring him that, but Nina can. Nina suits him.

“Congratulations, I'm proud of you Yangyang” It hurts you to say that but you need to. You have to because you can't be angry at him, you can't. You left him. You ghosted him. Even if he didn't like you, it was a shitty thing to do as a friend. You thought you were so lovable that he had to have a crush on you, but in reality, it was nothing more than a friendship. Not everything turns into love, does it?

[prioritysope]

Cheating

Reader: Female (Original Character) Character: Oikawa Tooru Rating: Explicit Chapter: 19/26

Akira, Sakura and Sumi had arrived at Gaby's apartment a few hours ago. They were all in the living room now, sitting on the floor. Chips, soda, candy, and alcohol were scattered on the living room floor. Everything felt incredible.

Gaby felt very comfortable. It was like a dream. Since her friendship with Scarlett had ended, the only thing she did with her was hang out with the team guys and Oikawa. She was afraid of approaching girls, for fear of being betrayed again. However, Tooru was right.

"It's not that I complain that we are always together, because I love spending time with you. You are my everything, darling. But it hurts me to see how you shy away from meeting new friends, not all of them are or will be like Scarlett. Keep that in mind, love."

Those words were repeated over and over in her head.

"Gaby-san, are you happy with Oikawa-san?" Sakura asked after a few seconds of silence. Gaby drank from his beer, then gave the girl a smile.

"I am completely happy, more than I thought and I like that. Although Oikawa is a completely narcissistic and kinda weird at school, he is more than that. He is a boy very unsure of his achievements, but he always tries to improve day by day. I have known him for a long time and I have seen how every time he wants his best version of himself. And I feel happy to be part of his life and also to be one of the reasons for his happiness." She said, while looking at the ceiling and noticed that she was smiling the whole time. It was impossible for her not to feel happy when she talked about the person she loved the most. If someone left her, Gaby would spend hours and hours talking about the thousand reasons why she loves Oikawa Tooru. "Plus Tooru is the kind of person who prefers your happiness over his. He practically makes you his priority. I admit he's cute, but I want him to focus more on himself, rather than me."

All the girls were bemused, their cheeks somewhat flushed. Out of nowhere, they started clapping. Confusing Gaby, but she let out a laugh. Their reaction seemed tender to her.

"That is so cute!" The three of them exclaimed at the same time. All three girls were somewhat tipsy. Gaby was grateful that they went to sleep, because otherwise it would be dangerous for them to go out in that state.

"I hope someone expresses himself that way about me." Sumi whispered, lowering her head slightly. She looked a bit discouraged.

Gaby settled into place. He took the last gulp of his beer, setting the can aside. He watched Sumi carefully, searching for the right words from her to comfort her. He didn't want to see any of them sad either. He has only met them a few hours ago and has already grown very fond of them and would do anything for them.

"You know? It is better when we are ourselves, and we do not look for a boy to notice us because that comes with time. At some point some boy will look at each one with eyes of love and value them for who you are." She murmured, giving Sumi a comforting smile. Sumi, still kneeling, approached Gaby as best she could to give her a big hug, which she instantly reciprocated.

Little by little the atmosphere became entertaining and happy again. They all decided to play one truth and two lies. The three girls had already done their part, now it was Gaby's turn. She seriously thought about what his next words would be.

She was feeling somewhat nervous about what she would say and the responses from her new friends.

"One, I did it once in a public place. Two, I had sex on the first date and three, I have never had oral sex." Gaby said. All the girls looked at her with wide eyes, totally surprised. "It's easy enough, I think."

The three of them made a mini circle to agree on whatever the answer would be. They looked totally focused. Gaby laughed at their expressions, making them more indecisive. Now Gaby leaned her back on the sofa, crossing her arms. A few minutes passed until the girls broke apart, sitting next to each other. Their hands were intertwined as Gaby waited for their answers.

"One and two must be a lie, and three is true." Sakura decided to speak, somewhat anxious for the true answer.

Gaby laughed. She was really surprised by the almost accurate answer. She settled better on the floor, letting out a sigh before deciding to respond. She was tender to think that she has never done oral sex, but she did have sex in a public place and have sex on the first date.

"One is correct, but the lie in this case is two, and I did have oral sex. How innocent were they going to be?" She said still laughing, but the laugh intensified when she saw their expressions. She even felt that her breath was missing from laughing so much.

And so the night passed. Between laughter and more laughter. They talked about any topic that occurred to them. Gaby realizing that they too watch anime and read manga, telling them that they should definitely repeat this night to do an anime marathon. They all ended up lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling, totally silent. Giving each one time to think, until Gaby broke the silence.

"Thank you very much for the little you have done in a single day. I haven't felt part of something with other girls in a long time. It was always with Scarlett, and now being with you feels good. I hope we become more united than now. , because when I get married, I want to have my friends there. I appreciate very much that they have approached me, because right now I would be with Oikawa somewhere or here watching anime." Gaby felt the need to be honest with them and with herself, she had to get it out of her heart. "Now let's go to sleep, that tomorrow is Karasuno's game and our school to see who goes to the nationals."

[littlesliceofmarvel]

I Don’t Know Where She Gets It From

Request: Tony X daughter reader with “I don’t know where she gets it from.” please? Xx 

Warnings: A little bit of swearing, not much

Pairings: Daughter Reader x Father Tony, Peter x Reader (lil bit of flirting)

A/N; This is set after Civil War! Also, my inbox is always open for requests so please, send away! x

Your dad was extremely hesitant about introducing you to the Avengers because he wanted to keep you away from that life. His Iron Man life and his father life didn’t meet, and he wanted to keep you that way. Of course, being Tony Stark’s daughter, you were extremely persistent and continued nagging until he finally gave in.

Once you had finally convinced him to let you accompany him to a movie night at Stark Tower, you couldn’t help the excitement bubbling inside of you. This was quite possibly the most powerful group of people in the galaxy, and you really wanted to make a good first impression. Your dad was always complaining about them, but you knew deep down they were like family to him, so you wanted this to be good. 

“When are we going?” You sauntered into the kitchen, giving your dad a smile as he rolled his eyes.

“Can you chill?” He poured his coffee into a portable mug and faced you, “Your dad is Iron Man, you’ve already met the most intriguing of the group.”

“It’s not as exciting as you think,” You mumbled, sitting down on a bar stool.

He turned to face you with a more serious look on his face, an eyebrow raised, “Ok, I’m going to set ground rules. One, no flirting with any of them, especially Steve or the one with the metal arm, ok? I don’t like them.”

You rolled your eyes, “You can’t tell me what to do.”

“Yes, I can,” he proceeded, “You also can’t talk badly about me, they all worship me, we can’t taint their image.” 

“Uh huh, alright,” You played along, “I’m sure they worship you.”

He squinted his eyes at you before putting on his sunglasses, “Don’t get smart with me, let’s go.”

“Can I drive?” You followed after him with a slight skip in your step.

“No.”

You groaned, “Aw, come on, dad, please?”

“Fine,” He gave in already, knowing that even though he tried to be a stricter dad, he really had trouble saying no to you. You jumped in delight and grabbed the keys to his Lamborghini, giving him an exaggerated smile as you unlocked the flashy vehicle and jumped in the driver’s seat, your dad getting into the passengers and with that, you were off.

-

The drive to Stark Tower only took half an hour and you were forced to listen to non-stop rules about how to behave around the Avengers. Of course, you didn’t really listen, you were going to act like you normally did. You weren’t expecting to flirt or marry or run off to Singapore and buy a tiger with any of them, as your dad clearly expressed you couldn’t do. He had always been protective of you and you loved him dearly for it, but there were times when he was over the top.

Once you parked the car, you rushed to the elevator and pressed the button to the ‘chillest floor in the tower’ as you guys called it. The ride up was long, but once you got there, you felt the nerves settling in. The doors opened to reveal the massive living room/dining room/kitchen space with the most incredible view of New York City. No matter how many times you had been here, it always blew you away.

Tony led you to the kitchen where he placed his sunglasses on the counter and poured himself a drink.

“So, who’s coming tonight?” You asked, fidgeting your fingers.

“Nat, Banner, Barton, Rogers, Barnes, Maximoff, Vision, Thor, Peter, that Sam guy, and I don’t think movie nights are really Rhodey’s thing, he’s antisocial,” He listed them off in order, and you were bummed Rhodey wasn’t coming, he was like an uncle to you. 

Before you could respond, the elevator dinged and out came Natasha, Bruce and Clint, who you could obviously identify.

“Hey, Stark... oh, there’s two Starks,” Bruce smiled at the two of you, before turning his attention to you only, “You must be Tony’s daughter, we’ve heard a lot about you, it’s great to finally meet you.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you guys too, it’s an honour,” You smiled at Bruce before turning your attention to Natasha. She had worked with your dad quite a few times before, and you were in awe of her. She was such a powerful woman and you really admired her courage. 

“Two Starks sounds like a bad thing,” Clint smirked at Tony who rolled his eyes, before he stuck out his hand to greet you.

“It is nice to meet you, Tony’s kept you a secret for quite some time,” Natasha smiled at you, which you returned.

“Yeah, well, he doesn’t realize that after adulthood, I can do whatever I want,” you grinned towards your dad who shook his head at you.

The elevator dinged once again and everyone’s attention turned to the noise, watching Steve emerge with a man next to him, who you assumed was Bucky due to the metal arm. The only time you saw him on the news was when it was believed he bombed the UN, so you were able to recognize him from that as well. 

“Great,” your dad grumbled and turned his attention to the fridge while the two men made their way over to you. Steve was able to immediately recognize you as Tony’s daughter and pulled you in for a hug, which caught you off guard.

“We finally have the chance to get to know Stark’s daughter,” He said with enthusiasm which made you smile before pulling away.

“Yeah, hi, I’m (y/n),” You smiled kindly at the two men, but only Steve returned the gesture as Bucky nodded his head, looking around awkwardly. You had heard about the falling out that these two had with your dad, and the tension was clear. The other three coughed and excused themselves while Steve turned to face your dad. 

“So... how have you been, Tony?” 

“Like you care?” Your dad said with venom in his voice and you noticed Bucky’s clear discomfort.

“Dad, can we not? I know you two aren’t besties but I didn’t come here to listen to a catfight,” You gave your dad a look to say ‘drop it’ and he sighed, shooting Steve a fake smile.

You didn’t even hear the elevator, but before you knew it, all of the Avengers had piled into the living room, chatting away.

“I should have given you rules about playing nice too,” you grinned, causing him to chuckle slightly as a younger man came running up to him and you immediately recognized him as Peter Parker, the one who admired your dad to no end. His words.

“Nice place, mister Stark, it’s really high class,” he started, “I really like the leather sofas-” he stopped mid sentence when he saw you, “Wow, um, hi, I’m Peter.” He put a hand to his chest as he introduced himself and you couldn’t help but chuckle.

“No, no, kid,” your dad chipped in, placing a hand on Peter’s shoulder, “This is my daughter, so no.”

You ignored his comment, “Hi, (y/n) Stark. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

-

An hour later after lots of introductions and laughs, you guys finally decided on a movie, and you found yourself seated between Peter and Wanda. Steve had decided to watch Pearl Harbour, because according to Peter, he loves to watch historical movies and tell everyone about his personal experience.

Halfway through the movies, right as the attack on Pearl Harbour was about to happen, Steve paused it and turned to everyone, “Now, Buck and I remember this clearly, when this happened, we were-”

Peter leaned over and whispered in your ear, “It’s like when grandpa tells war stories to his grandkids.” You let out a small giggle and put a hand in front of your face to not discourage Steve. 

“He once made us watch a five hour long documentary about the American military in World War 2, but it ended up being 10 hours because he paused it every couple of minutes to tell us his side of things,” Peter continued and you let out another giggle before looking at Steve, who didn’t seem phased, and Bucky who rolled his eyes at his best friend’s tales.

Once Steve finished reminiscing about his times in the war, he hit play on the movie and everyone turned their attention back to the TV. About five minutes after, you noticed Peter yawn out of the corner of your eye, and before you knew it, the slick bastard had his arm around your back, pulling the all-time-classic move on you. 

“No, absolutely not,” Your dad stood up and pointed a finger at Peter who was insanely quick to retract his arm. You let out an exaggerated sigh and faced your dad.

“Dad, chill,” you responded and tried to ease Peter’s discomfort by smiling kindly at him.

“No, this isn’t going to happen. Spider boy, you’re moving to another couch,” He pointed a finger at Peter again and motioned for him to move. You shot your hand in front of him to prevent him from doing so.

“Hey, you can’t just do that,” You defended. By now, everyone in the room had turned their attention to the three of you, except Steve, who was deeply invested in his war film. 

“I think I can, I’m not ok with it,” he responded and stood up, walking out of the living room to the kitchen, making you follow after him.

“Um, ok, mister boss man, how many times have you done something that I didn’t approve of, huh?” You crossed your arms and by now, even Steve turned his attention to you, “When you launched yourself into that giant wormhole in space during Loki’s invasion, I wasn’t ok with that. When you decided that you were totally for the Sokovian Accords, I was totally against that. Then you realized you were wrong, huh? That had to be embarrassing. Starks are known for defying orders, so, I’m going to do what I want to do.” When you finished talking, he also had his arms crossed - the two of you really resembled each other. 

He turned away from you to face the team, waving his arms, “I don’t know where she gets it from.”

You grinned proudly and he gave you a nod and you returned to the couch, sitting next to Peter who - very cautiously - put his arm back around you, making you smile as your dad sat down, giving Peter an ‘I’m watching you’ before Steve awkwardly continued the movie.

I think it was safe to say you were going to be seeing the Avengers a lot more now.

[dopescotlandwarrior]

Bluegrass-Chapter Seventeen

                     A special thanks to @statell​ for making my stories flow

Previous chapters at AO3

Chapter Seventeen

Claire was unnerved when she learned of the deliberate interference of the two jockeys. Jamie told her it was an isolated incident of an owner in New Jersey and described Runner’s protectiveness to bolster her courage. He had given in to Claire’s desire to enter the Kentucky Derby, so his demeanor changed, and he became her coach rather than her doubting boyfriend. There was one race in New York before the Derby, and it was an easy win for Runner. The famous Wood Memorial Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack where the winning horse gained one hundred points and the purse was one million dollars. The whole world would be watching the remaining Derby contenders battle it out.

There would be two weeks between each of the remaining races and Michael adjusted Runner’s supplements to give the additional energy for such a tight racing schedule. This was when the rubber meets the road, he told Claire. There were two or three stakes races each weekend somewhere in the country, where Derby contenders would gain points if they won or wash out if they lost. Everything was in flux right now he told her. It was the most exciting time of the year for horse racing.

When they arrived in New York they were cocky and confident. Runner drew crowds wherever they landed which fueled Claire’s confidence and need to dominate the race. Runner was favored to win and all she had to do is stay in the saddle.

Claire felt nervous waiting for the race to start. She reached for her juice box and granola bar, not sure if it was her blood sugar or her nerves making her feel anxious and shaky. Jamie grabbed her hand to walk her outside where she waved to the yelling spectators before being launched into the saddle. She was feeling a bit better when a track pony brought her to the gate and Runner loaded without an issue.

There were only eight horses in the Wood Memorial Stakes and Runner was coming out of post position two, statistically proven to launch the most winners. Claire was ready to leave everyone in her dust and take home the winner’s cut of the million-dollar prize money and 100 qualifying points.

When the gate opened, Runner jumped into his lane and quickly passed one horse at a time until he was neck and neck with the third-place horse. To Claire, he was conserving his strength until the dash to the finish line. When Runner did not accelerate after the second turn Claire knew something was wrong. He seemed to be giving all he had just to maintain his third position. As the finish line approached, the lead horse was seven lengths ahead and there was no time to catch him. They wouldn’t win, they couldn’t win, and she felt the shock of that truth run through her body.

Claire’s brain turned off the roar of the crowd, and it became silent. It turned off the thundering hooves and all other noise except her own breathing and Runner’s. When she crossed the finish line in third place all the noise came crashing back into her head as Runner slowed to a trot immediately.

It was very hard to comprehend losing the race because she had complete confidence Runner would win. A track pony took her reins and delivered her to the men waiting, all looking grim. Jason walked the big colt until he cooled off and Jamie pulled Claire into the shade. She cried on his shoulder as he reassured her it was just one race, and Runner would be ready for the Derby in two weeks.

Jason noticed Runner tossed his head when the bit moved even slightly from Jason holding the reigns. It was clear he was in pain and Jason got the horse back to Claire right away. Pulling the bridal off hurt so much he reared in protest and refused to open his mouth. Claire grabbed the bridal and put her hand on his neck. She told him to relax, no one would force him and in ten minutes she asked him to open his mouth when he was ready. He finally did and the pain was so obvious Claire winced.

She could feel the fever in his muzzle and chest and felt panic creeping up her spine. When she could finally look in his mouth the giant abscess dropped down from the roof of his mouth the size of a golf ball and full of pus. She realized the bit had rubbed against the pressure and pain throughout the race.

He was given an injection of pain killer and antibiotics by the track veterinarian who helped hold him for Claire to lance the abscess and flush it with Hydrogen Peroxide. It was a very painful procedure, but Claire was fast and thorough alleviating the pressure the instant she cut into the bulging balloon and Runner settled down for the remainder of the procedure.

They all thanked the track vet for his assistance and packed up to fly Runner home. The reporter from Sports Illustrated strolled through the stalls and caught the last few minutes of the surgery. He expected something like this and caught Jason in the aisle telling him to shake Runner’s hay and check the wood chips in his stall for razor blades, pins, or burs. He had seen the near collision of the race in New Jersey and thought it prudent to check for foul play.

Jamie and Claire drove Runner to the airport and explained the abscess and surgery to the handlers. Once Runner was dozing in his transport stall the captain came in and spoke to them running his hand down the colt’s neck. Claire kissed his nose softly and told him to sleep tight.

When they returned to Aqueduct to pick up the guys, both Michael and Jason poured huge sharp burs found in the hay and floor, into Jamie’s hand. There were six burs that drew blood when Jamie pushed his finger into the points. Jamie looked up at the numerous cameras throughout the building and went to find the barn manager.

Before boarding the plane, Jamie called Rupert to warn him they would be picking up a drunk Colt with a sore mouth. Rupert sounded crushed they lost the race but assured Jamie they would be extra gentle with the laddie.

Claire was quiet on the trip back to Kentucky. After checking the foals and Runner she just wanted to go to the house and sit in silence for a while. Jamie kissed her before she got out of his truck and promised to be quick with his chores.

Claire sat on the patio and admired the stars shining brightly above her. She replayed the race, minute by minute, and decided the only reason they did not win was the pain in Runner’s mouth. They all knew from that point forward; Runner would be guarded while away at a race and they would provide their own food and hay. She felt completely exhausted and leaned her head back on the lounge. She would not let this discourage her from the Derby. They had two weeks to heal his mouth and they would be unbeatable again.

Jamie sifted through his mail quickly, wanting to get back home and relax with Claire. He almost missed it, the envelope from the Kentucky racing commission. Thinking he had forgotten one of the many fees required for the Derby he opened the envelope and felt his heart fall into his stomach. He launched from his chair and ran to catch Michael.

“She has raced at Churchill Downs twice, why is this coming up now?” Michael’s face was red and his eyes bugged out. “This is bullshit!”

Jamie looked at the floor. His heart was beating hard enough to give him a heart attack, so he took deep breaths and tried to calm down.

“I don’t know who is behind her disqualification, but I know what to do about it Jamie. Tell Claire I’m on this and to keep the faith. I’ll see ya tomorrow.”

The snail’s pace at which Jamie walked from his truck to the house broke land speed records. It was that slow. He would pay any price to keep this information from Claire but there was no way out from this truth. It was still difficult to breathe and he stopped at the garage and bent over to steady himself, before he found Claire and broke her heart.

She was walking somewhere feeling peaceful and happy when a little girl handed her a bouquet of beautiful flowers. She smiled at the girl and thanked her pulling one rose out of the bunch and handing it to her. The sun was so warm, but her cheek was suddenly very cool. Jamie’s hand on her cheek brought her quickly out of her dream and she smiled at him for the nine seconds it took to register the sadness in his eyes. She sat up quickly.

“What is it, Jamie?”

She saw the rims of his eyes, deep red from tears that were coming, and felt alarms going off in her head. She wanted to run and get away from the pain she knew was coming.

“Is it Runner? The foals? Is anyone hurt?”

Jamie grabbed both of her hands and fought his emotion until he could calmly speak. It was no more than a whisper.

“Ye’ve been disqualified from the Derby lass. Your jockey license does not meet the requirements of the track because you’re an apprentice. The Kentucky Horse Racing authority states there is no appealing this ruling. Runner can enter the race with a qualified jockey, but we both know that won’t happen.”

“Jamie?”

He could hear her voice, still strong, still hopeful, and he hated the world at that moment because there were no options.

“I’m sorry, love. Michael said he was on it and left, but the letter is clear, there is no appeal.”

Claire launched out of the lounge, suddenly very awake, fighting the urge to scream about her own helplessness and the cruel forces that stole her dream of winning the Kentucky Derby.

“He is Horse of the Year for Christ’s sake. How can they disqualify him?” She spoke softly like she couldn’t summon the strength for more volume.

Runner is not disqualified, only you sweetheart. When he doesn’t race, the world will be very unkind and make up their own reasons. I found dozens of comments online about the Wood Memorial. People are sayin it’s a fault in his breeding, findin all kinds of other reasons for his loss.

He reached for Claire and she hugged him with the dawning knowledge of what he was losing too. They held each other up until they could walk upstairs and said not another word about it. What could be said?

Runner’s mouth healed with no more sign of infection by the following week. He repeatedly tried to engage Claire, but she was in her own head and quiet with everyone else in the barn. She just didn’t have anything to say. Each morning brought her one day closer to the most famous race in the history of horse racing and she couldn’t go. She couldn’t get the knot out of her stomach or concentrate on anything else but the race she would miss. The town was energized with the upcoming festivities that were broadcast from radio shows and city news continuously. It was enough to drive her mad, so she just shut down.

Michael never came back after the night he read the commission’s letter. He said he would fix this and then vanished. It felt like the final insult to Jamie, but reminded himself that Michael was here to write the story of Midnight Runner, and if he didn’t enter the Derby there wasn’t much to write about.

Jamie and the other guys tried to pull Claire out of her funk until she begged them to let her be. She apologized for being moody and promised to bounce back if they would just leave her alone. She promised Jamie she would feel better when the race was over and then went back into her head.

The last foal dropped on Thursday night. Claire delivered the filly late at night with Jamie’s assistance. The Derby was two days away. When she tried to smile at him the corners of her mouth quivered a bit and he could plainly see she felt no smile on the inside.

Jamie set up his cot near the stalls and went to find Claire. He almost missed her standing behind Runner who was still as a statue and very awake.

“Sassenach?”

He pulled her to him and she sobbed like her very life was draining away. All he could do is hold her and pull her to his cot so he could wrap himself around her. When he heard the steady breathing of his sleeping love, he said the Gaelic prayer for courage, strength, and love. He said it for her so she could find her happiness when this nightmare was over. He slept little so she would feel his grip on her through the night. His wounded love.

The next morning, the big doors opened with a crash bringing both Jamie and Claire to their feet in seconds. Both blinking against the morning light wondering what catastrophe had befallen them now.

“Jamie! Jamie!! Go find him squirt and hurry. Jamie, goddammit, where are you?!”

“What the devil is this about?” Jamie growled at Michael, “what’s happened to ye?”

“I have been pounding on your front door for thirty minutes. Finally decided you were already here. Where the hell is Claire? Me and Jason will be twiddling our thumbs out there waiting for our rider. We have some work to do, so where is she?”

“What are ye doin Michael? There is no more racin and I’m sure ye remember that.”

Claire sat on the cot and listened with little interest in Michael’s ranting.

“Oh, sorry, what the fuck is wrong with me? Here.”

Jamie took the new license and studied the signature from the racing authority. It was a Journeyman’s license and looked legitimate but that was impossible.

“What trickery is this Michael?”

“No tricks, promise. The journeyman license has requirements for races, time in the saddle, experience on the track and with other horses, among other things. Poor Claire had no handlers to workout the Colt because he wouldn’t allow it. Consequently, she logged enough hours in the saddle, on the track, and in the race to qualify for Journeyman.”

Jamie stared at the license waiting for it to suddenly turn to dust and blow away. “How did ye do it?”

Michael smiled at Jamie, “the governor’s dad and my old man go way back. I grew up around their family and the governor himself was my babysitter on several occasions. It took a week and a half to see him, but I told him about Claire and Runner, the unique circumstances of their partnership, I avoided the whole talking to animals thing. I told him they deserve a space in the gate tomorrow. He agreed and we met with the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority and figured out how she could qualify for a Journeyman’s license. That is how I did it.”

The men saw Claire run by them like a streak. Ten minutes later she was pulling her helmet on and walking toward them with a beautiful blush in her cheeks.

“I love you Michael and I have the rest of my life to thank you, but right now we need to ride. The race starts in twenty-eight hours, let’s go.”

Claire was off toward Runner’s stall and came racing back to kiss Jamie hard and show him a brilliant smile.

“We run for the roses tomorrow, just like we planned, my precious love.” Then she was gone, leaving a smiling Rupert and Angus in her wake.

Jamie stood rooted to the ground, shaking his head and enjoying the moment. There would be time to panic trackside tomorrow, this was too good to ruin. He decided at that moment to host a celebration, tomorrow night, win or lose it would celebrate the perseverance and dedication of a phenomenal woman and horse. One way or another he would see it done.

Michael watched Runner with excitement. The rest made him a bit hot, but he used the energy for speed and Claire could hardly keep him breezing. It was a great workout and Michael told Claire she would be in the money tomorrow with him running like that.

“Actually Michael, I plan to win tomorrow but thank you for the good wishes.”

When Jamie finally got Claire into bed that night, she seemed tired enough to sleep filling him with relief. The enormity of the race tomorrow was mind-boggling to him. Of the billions of people in the world, only twenty-two are chosen each year to compete on a track of superstar Thoroughbreds. Because the Derby was open only to three-year-olds, those horses that didn’t make the cut lost the opportunity forever. Jamie held her close until her breathing became deep and even. He stopped thinking and dropped into the void.

Jamie’s sleep became fitful later in the night and he turned to hold his Sassenach only to find an empty bed. It took a while to find her and he approached quietly and listened to her grill Runner while she paced the aisle. He could see Porcelain’s big eyes watching Claire, and Runner, like a new recruit standing at attention. She looked like a funny little commander pacing in her robe and slippers and Jamie’s chuckle made her stop and look up.

“Suppose ye let Runner sleep a bit before the big race mo chridhe. I’m lonely for ye.”

The Kentucky Derby is a race like no other as people come from all over the world in their finery and decorative hats to witness the race and socialize. One hundred fifty thousand spectators fill every seat, inside and out, including celebrities from movie stars to Saudi princes. The infield is a giant party for the who’s who and a bank of photographers sit patiently along the side of the track. The event is bigger than the Super Bowl or the World Series, all steeped in history and tradition.

Claire was overwhelmed by the enormity of the event and found it hard to focus on the horses she would have to beat. When she was ready to mount for the parade and warm-up, Jamie stopped her and whispered in her ear.

“This is a once in a lifetime race for both of ye Sassenach, so feel every minute of it. Just gettin here means yer a winner so be proud of him and yerself lass and know how much I love ye.” He kissed her softly, “one more thing, the colt runs like a fat cow. Tell him I said so.”

Claire’s lead pony was waiting and pulled Runner’s reins to wrap around the horn of his saddle. When Runner started to act up, he would pull his head to the pony’s to settle him down. Claire was released to warm up and she looked at the staggering amount of people and felt the deafening noise they were making. She hoped Runner would relax a bit and stay in a safe range with all this noise, and color.

Runner was hot as they ponied to the gate. He was ready to explode from high-calorie food all week and too much rest. There was some acting out getting loaded into the gate as he reared up and told them to leave him alone. Claire waved the handlers back and asked them to let him load without the manhandling. He felt tense waiting for the bell and Claire willed the doors to slam open so she could direct all his extra energy. Each minute seemed like an hour.

Claire wrapped Runner's mane through her fingers and prepared to get off his back. She had spent several hours talking to him about winning by the space between him and the next horse, trying to make him understand it was not only beating the individual horses that mattered. Runner was looking for Sham and Angle Light, making Claire nervous about him acting up before they could get out of the gate.

“Jamie said you run like a fat cow. Just sayin”

The doors slammed open in the next minute and twenty-one horses made a mad dash for the track. When Runner jumped out, she could feel his extra energy and she watched for the best way through the mess of horses ahead.

Runner was doing little more than keeping pace with the pack until the first turn when he broke to the outside and picked up his speed. He stayed on the outside down the backstretch passing horses, one after the other. He overtook the pack and headed for the front seven horses. Claire could see Sham was in third place coming out of the second turn and they were still five horses behind him. Runner was increasing his speed and she tucked tight going into the home stretch. She watched horse after horse fade away in a blur as Runner accelerated toward the lead horse. He didn’t dawdle and run neck and neck like he usually did, it was all business today as she felt him accelerate one last time.

The noise from the crowd, the thundering hooves, and the loudspeaker barking the positions of the horses, all went away. Claire knew they were lengths ahead of the other horses and stretched her arms to allow the maximum lengthening of Runner’s stride. She watched the finish line come closer, scared shitless another horse would zoom past her and take the glory. She couldn’t help herself from yelling at Runner to hurry. The finish line was five feet ahead and she felt his front legs reach forward like in slow motion and saw the flash of the camera. She turned her head to the left and saw no other horse. She turned her head to the right and saw no other horse.

Claire was not processing anything during the next minute. She was trying to slow Runner down and looking around her at the other horses and jockeys sporadically spaced. So the race was over and I don’t know what to do now, she thought. As she came around the turn she saw Jamie and Michael jumping as high as they could and pointing at her. She started crying when she looked at Jamie. She could read his lips and see his incredible face. Jamie says I won, she thought and in the next second the deafening noise of the crowd came back and she heard the announcer say “the winner, Midnight Runner, by three lengths.

“Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Runner! You won, you won!! You won the Kentucky Derby!! Jesus H Roosevelt Christ, we just won the Kentucky Derby! She pulled on his mouth to slow him down and stood triumphantly in her stirrups, crop held high, rubbing her sleeve over her eyes to see the crowd through her gushing tears. When Runner had slowed to a trot, she found the governor who had abandoned his fancy observation box to get closer to the track.

Claire pulled Runner to a stop in front of the governor and unsnapped her helmet. Her hands were shaking so hard she could barely manage, but she pulled off her helmet in a salute as her tears flowed down her dirty cheeks. Her eyes locked with his for a brief moment and he nodded to her and smiled.

“Your team is busting at the seams Claire, let’s get you to the winner’s circle.”

Her favorite handler and his pony guided Runner to the incredulous faces of Jamie, Michael, and Jason. Claire tried to stop crying as they draped Runner in the garland of roses. Claire felt every moment like it was a sole event and smiled through her tears at the camera followed by a bank of cameras that flashed continuously. Runner was a stunning gentleman, watching the weird goings-on of the people all around him. He was telling them all that he was the fastest horse but only Claire heard him. She dropped her body down on his neck, “you are the greatest horse that ever lived.”

When Claire sat back in her saddle the reporters asked what she just said to the horse, making her laugh. When she slid into Jamie’s arms there were cameras flashing and questions shouted. As she hugged each man on her team the cameras caught it all. They were clamoring for her attention until she walked over to Runner and placed her cheek against his head so she could thank him. The reporters were suddenly quiet but the air around them flashed continuously and didn’t stop.

The reporters were pressing in making Claire feel like she couldn’t breathe. Jamie tried to steer her away, but she gave a look that said she was fine to stay. She just won the Kentucky Derby, after all, the first woman in history. She could stay for a while.

It was many interviews and hours later before they had Runner packed up and loaded into the trailer. Claire was so high she had trouble feeling her feet as she walked, and her smile looked as permanent as Jamie’s.

Jamie and Claire walked toward Runner’s wing and Jamie held her hand to make sure she didn’t get away. When they turned the corner a table had been set up next to the stalls and a crowd of people stood up and said surprise! One by one, her friends gave hugs and congratulations. Michael, Jason, the governor, racing commissioner, Molly, Lulu, Angus and Rupert. The people kept coming and Claire saw a blonde head at the end of the table sitting next to Molly. She kept watching that direction as she hugged more and more people. When the hugging stopped, Molly stood up and pulled the arm of the blonde until he stood up.

And there he was.

Dusty blushed crimson as he approached and hugged his dearest friend. Claire was completely overwhelmed by this and refused to let him go. It was a hug worth a whole year to both of them and Claire cried with happiness. Dusty shook hands with Jamie and the barn personnel he remembered, checking his watch every other minute. When they all sat down to eat a catered dinner arranged the night before by Jamie, Dusty was gone and Claire’s heart sank.

“Molly, where is Dustin?”

“He is coming right back, maybe thirty minutes. He has something important to do.”

Molly’s voice was relaxed and nonchalant, so Claire dropped it and fed her ravenous hunger stealing kisses from Jamie between bites. The governor and commissioner nibbled a bit and excused themselves from the party. Claire shook both their hands and with tears rolling down her cheeks, again, she thanked them from the bottom of her heart.

Returning to the table she had five minutes to relax before Dusty walked back in, holding the hand of a tiny girl with long blonde hair and big blue eyes. She was introduced as Dusty’s wife and Claire shot out of her chair to hug the stuffing out of her while Dusty laughed. It was quite a shock to everyone but Molly who had become Dusty’s dear friend over the hours and hours of phone calls. Molly knew Dusty’s story, from his heartbreaking love for Claire, through his lonely months at school when he wanted to quit, to his new found love. It was Molly who pulled him through and encouraged him to approach the girl named Summer.

Claire looked from Dusty to Summer with a brilliant smile. “You two look like shiny new pennies.”

“And they both have a 4.0!” Molly added.

After much food and drink the stories started and each of Claire’s good friends had something hilarious to tell, including Jamie who recounted Claire’s drunk phone call a very long time ago. Molly and Lulu were complicit with their giggling. Dustin told them all how he toppled Claire’s yoga position by honking his horn and had to speak to her cowboy boots when she did a headstand where she fell.

Claire watched Dustin talk, smile, and remember a day in their life together a long time ago. She was so proud of him and couldn’t wait to catch up on every single moment of his life during the past year. Deep down she knew, had always known, what kept him away and she was so happy he found such a perfect partner to share his life with.

The caterers were cleaning up and carrying everything to their van. On the last trip, they brought an enormous cake with sparklers all over it. Claire was crying again when she read “Kentucky Derby Winner” and below that, “1st woman in history.” She walked over to Runner and pressed her face into his neck, thanking him for making her a winner, just like he promised so many months before. She was seeing sugar cubes in her mind and laughed at his hopeful face before running to Jamie’s office to get handfuls for the most amazing horse that ever lived. Her best four-legged friend.

[descendantofthesparrow]

Harry Hook x Reader - turned.

Izabelfireheart  on wattpad

Can you do one when it takes place in D2 plz? (The reader is King Ben's sister, and Ben has to give up the wand and  the crown to save her, but while being kisnapped she falls in love with Harry. When Ben comes he realizes that she became more like Uma, and could care less for Auradon Prep. Can includes Lemon IF you write those, and sorry if this is tmi

You couldn’t care less for the people or places around you, it had been boring and straight since you were born, nothing wild, no rule-breaking, no frowns, no nothing.

The arrival of the core four had made Auradon prep interesting, but that faded as they became more like the sheep around you, abandoning their fellow vks for a soft pillow.

Ben, your brother, had also abandoned his ‘bring over vks once every two months’ plan, preferring to tend to his “perfect” girlfriend Mal.

Perfect HA! Mal was less than perfect, she obviously was super uncomfortable with the entire ‘lady of the court thing’ and wanted out, she hated the paparazzi, the clothes, the manners, the hair, which was now bleached blonde with lavender tips.

And you were the only one she told personally about her troubles and wants to return to the isle, you didn’t discourage her, only saying “do you really want to return to the isle, or do you want to be free of this royalty bullshit?”

She hadn't responded, and when she left for the isle only two days away from cotilion, you weren't surprised.

What did surprise you was when ben burst into your room, begging for you to come with him to the isle to help get mal back.

You had an odd feeling, so you agreed, grabbing your casual clothes, which evie blinked at, you shrugged her off, you had a natural isle style apparently.

It took about an hour to get to the isle, and you had basically wandered off as soon as you had arrived at the hideout, noticing that your “friends” were distracted, you walked off, soon being run into by a set of kids, trying to get into your messenger bag, but you easily pushed them away, wincing at you felt the boniness of the children.

One fell to the ground and the other stood in front of his fallen friend, glaring at you, daring to try anything else.

You sighed, reaching into your bag and pulling out one of your tiaras, and kneeling down, holding it out to the child. Both of their eyes widened, seeing your true smile and the definitely real blue diamonds on the golden tiara.

“go on” you whispered, holding the tiara closer to the child “take it, I don’t need it”

The dirt-covered child stood up from the ground, walking around his friend and slowly taking the tiara, gasping as he saw a poster with your face on it, recognizing you.

“you- your prin-“ you held a finger up to your lips, shushing the awestruck child.

“don’t tell anyone im here, now, go get yourself some food okay?”

The two children nodded, grinning slightly and rushed off, hiding the tiara in their larger jackets.

“that wa’ kind of yeh lass” a thick Scottish voice spoke up from your right, you calmly stood and looked at him, raising your brow at the…

Holy fuck REALLY PRETTY DUDE WTF!

You felt your face heat up, wow, wow,wowowowow!

“okay first off, its kinda my thing, second off, holy FUCK you're pretty!”

The boy with the scarlet red jacket snickered and ruffled his floofy black hair, his cheeks red. “uh, thanks? Anyway, me captain would like teh see ya princess”

You smirked, feeling the heat from your face cool down and you jutted your hip out and placed your hand on it.

“oh? And who would your captain be Mr?” you saw the glint of a silver hook “Hook?” the obvious son of captain hook sniggered, bowing slightly

“my name would be harry hook princess, and meh captain would be uma d-“ you interrupted him, now getting excited.

“daughter of Ursula, mal told me about her”

Harry's eyes went dark, crossing his arms and becoming tense “oh? And wha’ did she tell yeh?”

You rolled your eyes and waved your hand “a bunch of bullshit that I didn’t care for, I never take second-hand info about a person I've never met”

Harry relaxed, nodding “alright, now, my captain?” you nodded, walking up to the boy and standing in front of him, staring into his surprisingly bright ocean blue eyes, where those emerald green flakes in his eyes?

He offered his arm with a grin, and you took it with a giggle and a smile.

You didn’t hear your brother or evie call for you, and you didn’t hear one of Harry's crew members inform them for mal to meet uma at the chip shop for a negotiation.

Harry led you to the ship, smirking as you gave a wow at the vessel, for some reason, he just wanted to look at you for hours, and listen to you talk and ramble.

He shook those feelings and wants away, showing you around the main deck and smiling at you as you explored.

“never seen a pirate ship before princess?”

You turned and smiled, making Harry's heart skip a beat, what the hell is happening to him?!

“You can call me (y/n), I never liked that title anyway, and no, I've never seen a pirate ship, they are all sunken to the ocean floor”

As you looked around the ship, you stopped at harrys sword, the red fabric wrapped around the hilt making your raise your brow.

“you sword fight?” you asked, making Harry's brows go up,

“yeah, im a pirate, kinda a requirement?”

You hummed, shrugging off your jacker and letting it drop from the floor, seeing Harry's Adam's apple bob, his pupils dilated.

“wanna spar? I need something to fight”

Harry grinned, walking to a barrel and grasping a sword, and tossing it to you. you caught it with ease, flipping it as you did.

“lets play (y/n)”

The two of you clashed for a little bit, easily matching the other as you fought, he swiped for your torso, you dodged, and he sent his palm at your torso, sending you to the floor.

He knelt down over you, sword above your neck. “ready to surrender princess~?”

You smirked, lifting your legs and wrapping them around his neck and torso, flipping yours and Harry's positions, you on top, his face pressed against your thigh, face red and eyes wide.

“nah~”

A slow loud clapping sounded from behind you, you stood up, turning to see a girl with teal braided hair, a pirates hat on her head.

Uma.

“impressive princess~ Harrys hard to beat”

You smiled standing, retrieving your jacket in the prosses, making uma blink in surprise as you greeted her as if she hadn't just ordered a kidnapping on you “You must be uma, a pleasure to meet ya”

Uma looked at you up and down, she thought Harry had full-on kidnapped you, but it seemed you had come willingly.

“now, harry says that you wanted something with me? uma steeled herself, standing tall and strutting up to her, putting on her best killer gaze, but you didn’t flinch meeting her gaze evenly.

“yes, you…for the wand and crown”

You blinked a few times, surprised at her bluntness before you busted out laughing, making uma drop her face and harry look at you in confusion.

“oh-my-god-!!! You-you want the wand?! Ben would have been a much better hostage!”

You continued to laugh before gaining your breath, grinning sadly as you looked to the ground “im the second born, no one really gives a fuck about me, the crowned king is alive and well, the princess isn't needed”

Uma stared at you in surprise, she wasn’t expecting that mini-rant from an Auradon rat.

“I don’t give a crap about Auradon though, so its an even trade”

You laughed coldly “I hope for your sake, ben cares enough to bring the wand, seeing the isle today” you paused sneering slightly “made me pissed off, you are all CHILDREN, you did nothing wrong! You shouldn’t have to pay the price for your parent's wrongdoings, and ben has ignored that for six months”

Uma stared at you, before deciding something, she walked up to you holding her hand out, you blinked at it in surprise, looking at uma confused.

“It seems we have a common goal, you want freedom and justice for the wrongly accused vks, and I want the same, what do ya say princess (y/n)? are you on my side”

You smirked, grabbing onto umas outstretched hand holding it up in the air, tightly gripping it.

“I’ll rally with you” ---

Harry felt his heart beat faster as uma told him to keep (y/n) in his room for the night, as no one dared to go in there unless with order or permission, (y/n) would be protected there.

“so, uh, meh room?”

Harry gestured to his midsized room, slightly embarrassed at the clothes strewn about the room, he quickly started to pick them up, tossing them in a hamper.

Wait, why did he care? He had multiple other people in his room before, and he didn’t give a single fuck about what they thought about his room.

So why?

Sighing he turned to look at (y/n) again, locking his ocean blue eyes with her bright and curious (e/c) ones.

His breath hitched and his heart skipped another beat.

Oh shit.

Was he- no not that fast- but he definitely-

“Harry?” oh god her voice, just her voice was making his heart go crazy. What was wrong with him?! “yea~-“ oh god did his voice just crack?! He cleared his throat as (y/n) smiled and giggled lightly “yeah lass?”

“I really need to do something physical, wanna do it?”

Harry choked, stumbling into his dresser, wide-eyed at the supposed ‘princess’ his face started to heat up.

“i-you-wha-bu-“

You interrupted Harry's babbling, your own face heating up. “I wanna say something, in the short amount of time we've known each other, I've felt a connection I've never felt before, so if ‘this’” you gestured between you harry and the bed, making harry swallow harshly and nod. “happens, I want to make something clear if you maybe want to pursue something after that, I wouldn’t say no.”

Harry stared at you as you started to fidget. he stayed silent, figuring out what you had just said.

You wanted to have sex with him

You said you wouldn’t mind seeing where your…releationship would go after it

You felt a connection with him….just as he felt a connection to you.

Harry breathed deeply, closing his eyes for a few moments, before opening them, staring into your bright eyes.

He stalked forward, pressing his lips to yours, pressing against his door, you moaned, feeling around for the lock, clicking it you moved your hands to wrap around his neck and thread your fingers in his thick hair.

Harry unbuckled his belt, tossing it across the room, before shrugging off his jacket and pressing his hardening core to yours.

He broke away from you, spit keeping the two of you connected, breath heavy and hearts beating fast.

“let's take this to the bed shall we?”

You nodded, breathing heavily.

Harry picked you up by your thighs, walking over to his bed and setting you down, laying his body on top of yours, griding slightly.

Harry let out a grunt, pleasure shooting up his spine, as you let out high pitched sighs.

“w-wait!” harry stopped, pulling away, a good 8 inches between you.

“did yeh change yer mind?”

“n-no I just wanted-im a virgin”

Harry blinked, before smiling softly, leaning down to give your cheek a soft kiss.

“ill be gentle”

---the end(not writing the full smut, my dads home)---

There will be a part 2, taking place in d3

[slayfics]

Just this.

Murdoc shows up drunk unexpected at your place. 

An Uber pulled up and parked by the curb of an apartment building, a drunk green bass player sat in the back seat staring out the window at the apartment taking it in. The building was seven stories tall. The fire escape that ran down the side was rusted and seemed it could collapse at any moment. The building was made of old dingy bricks some chipped, others completely missing. He looked from window to window observing the ones that had their lights on, watching the shapes in them, thinking that any of those shapes could be her. The shapes were hard to keep up with though. They seemed to blur into each other and make new shapes of their own. It wasn’t till this moment that Murdoc thought maybe he was too intoxicated to do this. He had been trying the past six months to find the right amount of intoxicated to come to her, but not too much where he might make a fool of himself. He was sure he had the right concoction tonight though, but then again maybe not. 

“Is this not the right place?” The Uber driver asked since Murdoc had not moved.

“This is it mate….” He said without moving, instead he continued to stare out the car window at the apartment. 

“You gonna get out or just admire it?”

“Right!” Murdoc said coming out of his trance “Well thanks for the hospitality.” He said sarcastically, and threw some bills in the front seat as he opened the door. He stumbled out of the car, onto the curb, and over to the wall of the building. He placed his hand too forcefully on the wall to catch his balance surly scraping his palm. Whatever he’d deal with that later. To procrastinate from messaging her he fumbled for his cigarettes in his leather jacket finding the small box quicker than he thought he would. He stuck the cigarette in between his lips then went back to his pocket to search for the lighter. Again he found it faster than what he intended to. 

Fuck. He knew the next step was to get his phone out, but he felt butterflies in his stomach, or maybe they were moths. He grabbed his phone from his pocket ignoring the anxious feeling festering in his stomach. The screen of his phone lit up with his finger print and he instantly felt like he was swimming in the bright light. He managed to get to his messenger app, but it would be a miracle to type anything coherent. He tried his best to type but the letters kept bouncing back and forth on the screen and he had to focus hard to keep up with them. He pressed send before he was able to second guess himself or proof read the message. He turned around to put his back against the wall and lean his head back. He wondered what he was he doing, what was he thinking? She wouldn’t want to see him. Why had he been hyping himself up to come here all these months?

You were sleeping soundly when your phone buzzed with a loud text tone, the screen illuminated the dark room. Pissed that you forgot to turn your phone on do not disturb you rolled over to ignore it. Shutting your eyes trying to quickly fall back to sleep you realized that that was the text tone you had set for Murdoc. You picked up your phone in disbelief and thought your eyes were messing with you. The text message read: “Hegy sweethemart, wht ru doinhg rizght now?” You quickly realized Murdoc must be drunk texting you. You stared at you phone debating if you wanted to respond or not. Before you could decide your ringtone went off, and the old contact picture you set of Murdoc cutting an onion lit up on your phone. You hesitated but answered. 

“Hello?”

“Heyyyyy honey what are you *hiccup* what are you doing?” He asked slurring his words and hiccuping in between.

“Well its 2am on a Thursday so I’m sleeping.” You were a little annoyed that he chose to call you now of all times when he should know you have to be up early for work. 

“Thats dreadfully boring isn’t it?” Murdoc said with a smile on his face. He closed his eyes in an attempt to stop the world from spinning, but it didn’t work. He felt as though he was doing backflips but his head was resting solidly on the brick wall. 

“Well what are you up to that’s so interesting Murdoc?” You asked as you swung your legs off the bed and stood up to go grab a glass of water from the kitchen.

“Oh you know how it goes lovely. I just can’t sleep well at night, so I’m here and there.” He mumbled turning to his side so his shoulder was resting against the wall now. He was trying to regain control of his body but even this simple movement made his stomach turn. He dared to open his eyes and saw the street split in two, it blurred together then split back again.

Walking to the kitchen you could smell the faint hint of a cigarette coming from your opened window. This caught your attention and caused you to walk over to the window. You peered out side and down toward the street. There was a man leaning against the wall, holding a cigarette, and talking on a phone. He was wearing a leather jacket and what appeared to be cuban heel boots. 

“Where are you Murdoc?” You asked.

“Oh just outside a pub. I was thinking about you and wanted to check up on you.” He said bringing the cigarette back up to his lips. 

“A pub?”

“Yeah yeah, but it’s not too far from your place if well.. you know, if you wanted some company.” He said. You saw the man slip from the wall and stumble quickly to catch his balance again. You were sure now that this must be Murdoc. He was calling you from outside your apartment. It’s been awhile since you saw him. You wondered if you were just on a list of girls he called when he got drunk and he finally got around back to you. 

“You know I work tomorrow.” You said.

“Oh fuck that’s right tomorrow is your early day isn’t it?” You saw him put his face in his hand. “Hey look.. would you mind if I came over anyway I ju- *hiccup*” It was then you realized he must be in a bad headspace. If he really was outside just to fuck he’d be discouraged by your lack of enthusiasm, which he could surly get from some other girl. 

“WHY DON’T YOU COME UP THEN!” You yelled out the window. Murdoc jumped startled by your yell. He looked up to see you in the window and a grin quickly spread across his face. “You can walk up the stairs can’t you drunk old man?” You asked in the phone.

“For you, of course I can.” He smiled up at you from the ground floor.

“It’s apartment D22.” 

“Yeah I remember.” He said as he stumbled to the entrance of the building and hung up the phone. He got up the stairs and knocked on the door quicker than you thought he would be able to given the state he was in. You opened the door and the smell of cigarettes instantly hit your nose. He was swaying a bit with a foolish smile on his face.

“Hi.” He simply said as you moved aside to let him walk in. 

“Hello.” You said with a hint of confusion in your voice. You expected him to come in and explain his behavior, or at the very least apologize for waking you up. He didn’t offer any explanations though he just stood there with that smile on his face. A moment passed before you realized he wasn’t going to say anything so you had to carry on the conversation. “You look like you could use some water.” You said and walked to the kitchen. Usually he would protest anyone who tried to give him water but he followed you into the kitchen dragging his hand across the wall for support. You reached in the cupboard, grabbed a glass, and poured him some water from the fridge door. You turned to him to discover him standing a bit too close and eyeing you intently. 

“Oh yeah you definitely need this.” You said handing him the glass. You inched away from him and sat up on the kitchen table across from him. He leaned against the fridge and sipped at the water. His eyes instantly lit up and he looked at the water as if you had handed him the secretes to the universe. “So you were at a pub?” You asked in attempts to start some type of conversation with him.

“I was, and you were sleeping. You work tomorrow?” He asked fixating on you now instead of the water in the glass.

“Yes I do. I have to be up at 5am.” You said. You expected him to say more, or hopefully explain why he came, but he just stared at you with that same smile. “You’re really drunk aren’t you Murdoc?” You laughed.

“I’m always drunk.” He said and gave you a wink. You laughed a little in hopes of diffusing the awkwardness you felt. You weren’t really sure how to navigate this situation, but you did have to get back to bed. Figuring Murdoc was past having a conversation in his state you decided maybe sleep would be best for both of you.

“Do you want to sleep with me?” You asked. Murdoc giggled like a little school boy.

“I have to work in a couple hours so too clarify I meant sleep NEXT to me you dirty old man.”

“Either way the answer is yes lovely.” He smiled. You hopped off of the kitchen table and began to walk in the direction of your room. “Hey.” He said grabbing your attention. You turned around to look at him. He had a different expression on his face now. His smile was replaced by a pained expression. His posture was different as well, his shoulders were slouched and no longer back with confidence. He walked over to you and stood a few inches in front of you swaying back and forth for a second before he abruptly wrapped his arms around you and pulled you into a hug. You knew for sure now that he was not ok, he must be going through something. You wrapped your arms around him and he rested his cheek on the top of your head. Being close to his chest you could hear his heart beating abnormally fast. As quickly as he hugged you he pulled away. “I think some sleep would be nice.” He said and smiled at you.

“Come on.” You said and lead him to your room.

Your bed was to the left of the door against the corner. It wasn’t very big, barley big enough for the both of you. He sat at the end of the bed and knelt down to take off his shoes, then his leather jacket and dropped them to floor. You laid back down under the covers where you were sleeping peacefully before on the right side of the bed. Murdoc laid down on top of the covers next to you. His head resting on the pillow he smiled at you with that same grin returning to his face. 

“You don’t want to come under the covers?” You asked.

“Hm should I?” He asked.

“Stop being weird.” You said as you pulled at the covers under him and he adjusted to come under them. He laid back down and continued to smile at you. 

“Hey are you ok Murdoc?” You asked, but he didn’t answer. He looked off in the distance then back at you as if he was thinking of what to say. You knew the answer though, he wasn’t ok. Wether he was going to tell you was another question though. You ran your hands through his hair in attempts to relax whatever thoughts must be racing through his head. You moved around the bangs that were stuck to his forehead from sweat which made you wonder what was he really doing before he came here. What he had been doing since the last time he saw you? More importantly was he taking care of himself? After you had given up on him ever acknowledging your question he finally answered.

“I am now.” He said. You pulled your hand back from his hair to rest it on the pillow beside you. “No love, don’t stop doing that.” He said. You laughed a little and began running your hand through his hair again. You can tell there was a lot he wasn’t saying, and most likely too much on his mind for him to even make sense of it. Or maybe he didn’t know the words to accurately describe what he was going through. 

“I’m glad you came.” You whispered, adjusting your voice volume so that maybe he would be lulled to sleep. 

“Of course you are.” He winked again and let out his signature laugh. You know him well enough to understand that humor has always been one of his defense mechanisms. A way he could dismiss whatever pain he was actually going through.

“I mean it Murdoc. I missed you, you know i’m always here for you. Even if it is just to wake me up in the middle of the night to sleep next to me.” You said and leaned over to kiss his nose then position back to your pillow. Murdoc didn’t say anything and the darkness in the room made it hard to tell his expression but you could vaguely see tears form in his eyes. “Do you want to talk about it?” You asked gently. A tear finally escaped and ran down his cheek.

“No.” He managed to say in a voice that didn’t sound like his at all. It was no longer full of cocky confidence but riddled with pain. “Can I just hold you?” he asked.

“Anytime you want.” You said. He wrapped his arm around you and pulled you in close to him. From this position you could hear that his heartbeat was beginning to slow down. “I don’t know what you need right now Murdoc but i’m here.”

“Just this.” He said.

[sizzlingpenguincollector]

Total Drama Island x over rewrite: Prologue: Chapter One

Author’s Notes: This is my rewritten version of Total Drama Season One. Join our favorite 22 campers as they, and 38 characters from our favorite shows from the 2000s and 2010s as they compete for $100,000. The prologue will focus on the auditions of the x over characters, starting with Lilo and Stitch. Enjoy and please leave your reviews. 

"Hey Lilo, Stitch!" Victoria called out, waving her small hand frantically to gain their attention. The sound of feet pattering on concrete grew closer to the two, causing the little girl and alien to spin around, grins plastered to their young faces.

"Toria!" The brunette rushed over to Lilo, pulling her forwards and into her arms. After all the chaos that was their recent lives, it was refreshing to finally have time to relax without the constant fear and stress of dangerous other-worldly beings, including Hamsterville and his Leroy army.

After the short hug, Victoria let go of her friend and rummaged a hand into her back pocket, pulling out a crumpled piece of paper. "Look, I got this while I was trying to find you two. Could we check it out?"

Lilo's eyes lit up with excitement as she read over the few words on the paper, "Total Drama Island? 'If you want to be famous and win $100,000, please send in an audition tape to Canada'. That sounds like so much fun!" Stitch jumped up and nodded in agreement, grabbing onto Lilo and Victoria's arms. The trio all smiled at each other, the excitement readily growing as the idea of being on TV bounced around in their heads.

"Ew! You two aren't going to audition for that show, are you?" Mertle gagged, holding the bridge of her nose and waving her hand in front of her. The girls standing behind her laughed, giggling and following their leader brainlessly.

"So what if we are?" Victoria snarkily returned, placing her chubby hand onto the side of her hip.

"Do you have a problem with that Myrtle?" The other younger girl looked at the brunette with disgust in her eyes; clearly, she didn't like being talked back to, and the thought had never crossed her mind that someone would have the courage to do it so bluntly.

"Whatever. I wouldn't bother if I were you, it's not like you'll get in anyway." After sticking her tongue out in mock anger she sauntered off, her posse following suit behind her.

Victoria shrugged her shoulders, turning her attention toward Lilo and Stitch, "Guess she's auditioned too…" As those words left her mouth the three burst out in playful laughter.

"Maybe we should show her how it's done!" Lilo chirped up, her grin stretching from ear to ear. It had now been set in their minds that they would be auditioning for the reality show, so the group of through set out on a search for their two alien friends.

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After what felt like forever, they reached Lilo's house and came across Jumba and Pleakley when they entered inside. "Girls, Stitch, how are you?" Pleakley's voice sounded out from within the kitchen while Jumba sat lazily on the couch in their living room. "I'm just making some human food! Would you like some?" In his hands he had a steaming ladle that held the contents from within the pot – it gave off a pungent odour, causing the girls to grimace, placing a hand in front of each of their noses.

"Pleakley! What is that!?" Lilo screeched curiously, using her free hand to angle the spoon toward where she could see. It looked lumpy, and like the kind of food you would feed a cat or a dog.

"Why it's dog food! It makes its own gravy." The tall alien hummed contently, taking a long and over exaggerated slurp from the boiling dog food. Stitch jumped forward and took the pot off the stove, pouring everything inside of it into his mouth and licking his lips.

"Yummy!" He put the pot back on the stove and looked up at his alien pal. "Sorry, smelled good."

Pleakley sighed, placing the ladle back inside the pot and turning off the stove. "Anyways, is there something I can help you three with?" At those words the three lit up with excitement as Victoria scrambled to pull out the flyer. She held it out in front of her waiting for Pleakley to take it in his hands – once he did he scanned his eye over the words, realizing it was someone used to advertise for something. Was it one of their human shows? "Total Drama Island? Oh, very interesting."

"They're looking for people to audition for it. If we get selected, we'll be staying at a five star resort, or a desert island. And if we win, we can get $100,000!" Lilo bubbled with excitement as she explained it to her one eyed alien friend.

"$100,000?!" Pleakley's eyes lit up in excitement over thinking of what he could do with that money. "I can start my own fashion company!" The thought of Pleakley starting his own fashion company was running into his mind: hiring fashion designers from all over the world to make clothes for every kind of human being. "Jumba, get the camera! We have to help these girls with their 'awe-dish-on'!" Pleakley rushed into the living room exuberantly and shoved the now ripped piece of paper in front of his four eyed friend. The scientist snorted, grabbing it out of the smaller alien's hands and into his own, holding it up so he could read it easily.

"Total Drama Island?" He questioned, looking at the two girls and his creation, "What's that mean, little girls?" Once more, they explained how they were going to record themselves in hopes of being picked for the show; it was something new and exciting to do, something that would be a change of pace from their usually hectic day-to-day life. None of that sounded exciting to the mad alien scientist, as he heard Pleakley talking about those type of shows whenever they were in the house together. But he then smiled widely at the mention of $100,000. "$100,000?! That could buy me the Nobel Prize!" Jumba then thought about using the money to use it for research for a invention that could help the world, earning him the Nobel Prize. "Of course I'll be able to help you! Let me grab a camera! I'm sure I saw one somewhere around here…" While Jumba rushed off to find his high tech video camera, Pleakley brought them through into Lilo and Stitch's rooftop bedroom. Now, the three of them all had to think of what they could do in this audition. They had to show off what they were like as people, but they also wanted to add a little twist onto it by doing something flashy and interesting during it.

"I was thinking of doing a hula dance, but with Elvis music!" Lilo suggested happily.

"Great idea!" Victoria smiled. "I can show off my potato chip collection." She began to dig in her backpack for her collection of potato chips in the shape of celebrities from the 1970s. "Which would you think is better on camera? Stevie Wonder or Carol King?"

"Go for Stevie Wonder!" Lilo happily suggested. "Stitch, what do you want to do for your audition?"

The blue alien began to think of skills he could show off on camera so that they'll accept him. He then grabbed two sticks and twirled them around. "Fire dancing! Like David!" Stitch happily said.

"I'll have to ask Nani about that though." Lilo reminded him. "She doesn't want the fire department called over here like last time."

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After deciding on what to do for their auditions and Jumba grabbed his video camera, Lilo, Stitch, Victoria, and Pleakley began to shoot the audition tapes in the living room. First off was Lilo, who was dressed in her hula costume. "Okay, steady..." Pleakley said, focusing the camera on Lilo's face. "And action!"

"Aloha everybody from Total Drama Island! My name is Lilo!" She started, waving and taking a curtsey before continuing. "I'm six years old and live on the island of Kauai, in Hawaii. I want to be on Total Drama Island because I want to have a fun time."

"Excellent! I can imagine the producers eating up that cuteness!" Pleakley said with a smile. "Keep going!"

"I like to make friends, even though most people on reality shows say that they're not on those type of shows to make friends." Lilo continued. "I live in this house with my big sister Nani, and my aunt Pleakley and Uncle Jumba. I get along with everyone easily here."

"LILO!" A familiar voice rang out, hurting Lilo's ears and making her roll her eyes.

"And cut!" Pleakley yelled as Nani, Lilo's older sister, came downstairs, wearing an angry look on her face.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to take my socks?" Nani asked with a frown.

"I didn't take them this time!" Lilo tried to defend herself.

"Oh, sorry Nani. I actually took them." Pleakley said sheepishly. "I wanted to make more sock puppets!" Pleakley then showcased some creative socks puppets he just made, weirding everyone else out.

"See? I told you!" Lilo spat back at her older sister.

"Okay I'm sorry. Go back to your fun." Nani said, backing away for a bit before turning her head curiously at her little sister. "What are you doing anyway?"

"We're making audition tapes for this new show called Total Drama Island!" Lilo smiled as she showed the flyer to her sister.

"Don't you have to be older to try out for this stuff?" Nani asked with an arched eye brow.

"There's no age limit." Victoria explained. "And besides, Myrtle already auditioned too."

"It'll be fun Nani! Stitch is auditioning with us too! And we could win $100,000!" Lilo smiled.

"$100,000?" Nani then began to smile to herself as she imagined with that kind of money, she would be out of debt forever and not have to worry about bills ever again.

"Nani? Are you okay?" Lilo asked, confused. The older Hawaiian girl then snapped out of her daze.

"Just don't be discouraged if they don't pick you." Nani said as she left the living room.

"Okay, let's run through this again!" Pleakley said as he started the camera up again. "And action!"

"Anyway, I like to do all sorts of fun stuff. Like hula dancing and listening to Elvis!" Lilo said as Stitch started up her record player. The song 'Jailhouse Rock' began to play and Lilo began to dance along to the music. After the song ended, Lilo smiled widely at the camera. "Total Drama Island will rock if you pick me!"

"And cut! Print! Genius!" Pleakley smiled as he turned off the camera. "I think we got a potential winner right here! Who's next?"

"I am." Victoria smiled as she got in front of the camera and began her audition tape. "Hello Total Drama. My name is Victoria, Toria for short!" Lilo gave her friend a thumbs up before she continued. "I think I should be chosen for Total Drama along with my friend Lilo because we're very nice and friendly! You won't have anyone was interesting as us." She then pulled out her potato chip collection. "I also like to collect potato chips in the shape of celebrities from the 70s. This one is shaped like Stevie Wonder. So, please consider me! I'll be standing by waiting for your call!"

"And cut!" Pleakley shouted.

"That's was so good!" Lilo smiled as she hugged her friend.

Stitch leaped forward and pulled the two into a hug using his four arms, "You guys are so good!" He shouted, "So good! So good!". Now it was his turn to be in the spotlight, but for his little act they would need to move outside.

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Once the sun was beginning to set Jumba turned on the camera and held it up to show Stitch, his usual four arms retracted to only show two. In his hands were two lengthy devil sticks with bulbs at the end – they were soaked in some sort of flammable liquid that David had provided them. Of course, he had asked why they wanted such a thing, to which they responded with their ideas and overall goal.

"Okay.", David spoke back, "Just make sure you tell Nani sometime soon." Lilo had agreed with him and promised that she would, so he gave them what they needed and went on with his day. After all, Stitch had really improved with his fire handling, and the way he did tricks with the devil sticks was rather impressive!

"Aloha cousins! I… Am Stitch." The little blue alien motioned at himself, and then held out the two sticks, "And I will be doing some tricks…" He paused for effect as he took out a lighter, setting the ends of one of his poles on fire, "With fire!" Throwing the match on the ground and using the already lit pole to light the other he started to spin them in his hands. It was mesmerising to watch, the sunset in the background mixed in with the fiery oranges that burned at the ends of the poles was beautiful. Following his very dangerous and breath-taking act, he finished with a few words, "You should pick me because I am strong but small! And if I come, Lilo and Toria come too!"

Jumba pushed the off button on the camera and held a thumbs up toward Stitch, "Was great! Very impressive little act."

By then, the sun had fully set and the sky was a gorgeous ebony colour, signalling that the younger ones should be heading to sleep. . Victoria said her goodbyes to her friends and wandered back to her home; she would need to get a good night's rest as the next few days of waiting would be hell. Nani had helped Lilo send the recordings through to the email address that was located on the flyer, and then sent her and Stitch to sleep as well.

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Unsurprisingly, the next few nights were full of restless waiting and little sleep while each of the three anxiously awaited the response on whether they had been accepted into the show or not. After a few days had passed the results had become talk of the town. Now everyone knew about this new show of 'Total Drama Island' which only worsened the trio's anxiety. Sure, they were eager to find out how they had done, but Mertle's constant boasting was putting everyone on edge.

Nonetheless, it was a Thursday, so after Lilo had fed Pudge his peanut butter sandwich she headed off to Hula practice. Little did she know, Nani had been emailed by the Total Drama Island producer, and the three were about to get a surprise from none other than Moses, her Hula teacher.

"But Nani, I want to be with you so I can see the results!" Lilo groaned, pulling on her outfit and sulkily getting into the car along with Stitch and her older sister.

"I know Lilo, but you need to go to Hula practice! This is important too, you know. No dice."

Lilo shrugged her shoulders in defeat and sighed, pushing her face into her hands. A few minutes later they arrived outside the small building – Myrtle was waiting out the front with a bunch of flowers in her hands, and the moment she saw Lilo and Stitch a sly grin came onto her face.

"Look who it is. Weridlo and her ugly dog. So Weirdlo, have you two came to congratulate me for becoming a TV star?" She spoke in an entitled way that really caused Lilo's blood to boil, but what could she do? Nani was with her, and there was no way she'd be allowed to go to the Island if she acted up at something so little.

"Good for you, Myrtle." Lilo replied, pushing on a pained and jealous smile. As her and Stitch passed their bully they spotted Victoria, and rushed up to her. "Did you hear? Myrtle got accepted into the show…" She received an unhappy nod from her brunette friend. It wasn't that they weren't happy for her because really, they were, but the thought of someone like her going and enjoying what they wanted to enjoy just… Stung.

"Thank you girls, settle down!" Moses called out; adjusting the wreath he wore around his head, he spoke "I have a quick announcement to make!" Everyone turned their heads to look at the large man. "I just want to say, well done to Myrtle for being accepted into Total Drama Island." Lilo, Stitch and Victoria frowned, looking between each other before hearing what he had to say next, "As well as Lilo, Stitch and Victoria! Congratulations, you four. You're headed to Canada!"

!" It felt like a burst of life had been thrown into the small group as they jumped up from their previous positions. "You mean we got in?!" Lilo yelled probably a bit too loudly, causing her Hula teacher to wince from the sound.

"Yes, Lilo. And you're leaving tomorrow. The producer has organised your transport, you'll need to do all your packing tonight!"

"What?!" Myrtle asked in complete shock. "How can they pick you three?!" Myrtle's posse then gathered around the small trio and congratulated them, much to Myrtle's displeasure.

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After hula class had ended, Lilo and Victoria were inside the Pekelai household, reading through their contracts and waivers. "Why do we even have to sign these papers anyway?" Victoria asked, feeling her hand getting painful from too much signing.

"It's part of the process. Everyone who works in TV has to sign something." Lilo explained. "Look at this. 'Total Drama is not responsible for any shark bites, bear attacks, and poison ivy spa treatment'?"

"Sounds really cool!" Victoria smiled. Just then, a thought creeped into her head. "What are we gonna do with the money if we win?"

"I'm thinking a vacation to..." Lilo began.

"Graceland!" Both girls replied in unison.

"I'm really glad we both got accepted, Victoria." Lilo smiled. Just then, they heard Stitch snore very loudly. "And Stitch too."

"That actually reminds me: you think that the whole world might freak over seeing an alien on TV?" Victoria asked. Lilo knew her friend had a point.

"Don't worry. I have a plan." Lilo smiled.

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Lilo and Stitch almost couldn't sleep last night, as they were too excited over being on TV for all the world to see. The following day, Lilo, Stitch, and Victoria were being driven by Nani to the local airport. Stitch was disguised as a boy, wearing boy clothes, a wig, and sunglasses. "Now please try to get along with the other people. And don't try to cause any trouble. Believe me. I'll know when I watch it." Nani said.

"Don't worry Nani. We'll be good." Lilo said, making her older sister smile. They finally reached the airport and found a private jet waiting for them. "No way! That's the coolest plane we have ever seen!"

They got out of the car and found Myrtle standing by the jet. "Don't even talk to me when we're onboard." Myrtle snarled, but luckily the trio then even flinched. Myrtle then got onboard the jet.

"Now remember..." Nani said.

"We know! Don't talk to strangers, don't chew with our mouths open, and don't spit on anybody." Lilo said.

"I just wanted to say that I love you both and am so proud of you." Nani smiled as she hugged Lilo and Stitch tightly. "And those things too."

"Let's go!" Victoria smiled as all three of them headed onto the jet, but not before Lilo shared one last smile and wave to her older sister. After that, the jet took off on it's way to Canada.

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z Movie 12: Fusion Reborn (4/6)

The problem: An accident at King Yemma’s has mutated one of his ogres into Janemba, a creature with incomprehensible power.   Janemba has sealed Yemma’s domain within a spiritual barrier, which has disrupted the boundary between the living and the dead.  On Earth, Gohan tried using the Dragon Balls to fix things, but not even Shenron has the power to undo Janemba’s mischief. 

Neither can Pikkon, since the barrier seems to resist even his most powerful attacks.

Goku has lured Janemba away so that Pikkon could rescue Yemma without distraction, but so far that hasn’t done any good.  Frustrated, Pikkon shouts at the obstacle.   

And a bit of it breaks away.

This is never explained, but I’m not sure an explanation is really needed here.  Scolding the barrier and calling it names seems to damage it.    Maybe that says something about the nature of Janemba and his power.  Big J is basically rebelling against the most fundamental rules of creation, like an impudent child.  The spiritual waste that made Janemba represents all the bad things done by a bunch of bad people who got sent to hell by Yemma.   My working theory is that Janemba represents their collective outrage at being held accountable for their bad behavior.   So maybe when Pikkon yells at the barrier, it reminds that evil ki that it really is bad and all this Janemba business doesn’t change that fact.

All that matters to Pikkon is that it works, so he tries screaming more verbal abuse at the barrier.

The trouble is that he’s only chipping away about a quarter-inch off the surface each time.   He’s gonna be at this for a while.

Down in hell, Goku is trying to fight Janemba, but he’s having some trouble figuring the guy out.   Earlier, he sent an army of mini-clones to dogpile Goku, and he managed to get rid of them fairly easily.  This time, Janemba waves his hand, and causes a bunch of these jellybean looking things to fall down on Goku’s head.

Then he charges into the pile like a bowling ball hitting a bunch of pins.

You’d think Janemba would have a hard time hitting Goku, since he’s such a small and quick target, but Janemba’s quicker than he looks.

He also has this ability, where he can make portals.  He sticks his fist through and it comes out on the other side, right next to wherever Goku is.

Also, he can kick really high.  I guess when your body is roughly spherical your center of gravity makes things like this pretty easy to do.   

I almost wonder if the portal thing was devised as a way to cope with Janemba’s design.  Someone looked at this absolute unit and asked how he’s supposed to reach Goku with those stubby arms.  

Worse, Janemba seems to know exactly what Goku is going to do before he does it.   I’m not sure why this is presented like some sort of mysterious ability.  If Janemba can sense ki like most of the characters in this franchise, then he can track Goku’s movements and offensives pretty well.   But it would make a lot of sense if Janemba had some sort of precognitive power on top of all his other weird abilities. 

But it’s a two way street.   After Janemba uses the portal trick enough times, Goku has it scouted, and managess to fire a ki blast at Janemba’s fist, and sending it back through the portal to hit the rest of him.

Then he goes for a Kamehameha while Janemba’s guard is down...

... and then Janemba does whatever this is.   Is that an illusion of Goku, or some sort of time warp of Goku’s actions from a second earlier?

All Goku knows is that it’s weird, wild stuff.  

Janemba doesn’t seem to know what he just did either, and he finds this very amusing.

So Goku decides that he’s going to have to settle this quickly.   He turns Super Saiyan 2, probably thinking that would be enough, but then Janemba fires big ki blasts out of the four holes in his belly, like some sort of anti-aircraft gun.

And here Goku wanted to wrap this up quickly.  Turns out he’s still on the defensive.  Even at Super Saiyan 2, it’s all he can do to stay ahead of the blasts.

And Janemba can fire at any angle, because he can just roll around to point his, uh... holes any which way.

From above, Pikkon can sense Goku’s struggle, and he probably wishes he could join in.

Or maybe he doesn’t, because Janemba’s a lot stronger than he and Goku realized.   So Goku’s decided to pull out all the stops.

Hell yeah!   See, this is the sort of stuff that Movies 9, 10, and 11 were sorely missing.  Those films all had to contend with the fact that Goku was dead and unable to participate in the story directly, and none of them really found a good solution to that problem.  Movies 9 and 10 just gave up and had Goku show up to help at the end, which is incredibly dumb, because if you’re going to do that anyway then why not have him be there from the start?    Movie 11 teased the idea that Goku would be off having another, much cooler adventure off-screen.

What makes Movie 12 so great is that they finally figured out the Gordian Knot of Goku staying dead.  If we can’t bring Goku to the fight, let’s just bring the fight to Goku.   They should have just done that from the beginning.   Just have Bojack attack Goku on the Grand Kai Planet.    Have Broly cause trouble in hell, just like Movie 11 suggested.  They went to a lot of trouble to have Broly miraculously survive his death scene in Movie 8, just so he could appear in Movie 10, and it wasn’t even worth it.   They could have just kept him dead and let Goku fight him for two movies in a row. 

But we all know Broly ‘93 would be no match for Goku ‘95.  That’s why you send in Janemba, because he’s the big gun we need.

Look at how bad ass this is.   Goku to everybody: Come get this work.

Grimly, Goku praises Janemba for being only the second person to push him this far.   So I guess that proves the Buu Saga happened in this movie, even though Goku’s still dead afterward. 

Then he just looks at Janemba, and in the fansub from when I first saw this movie, he says “It’s a fight from here on.”   That’s my favorite line, right there.

Then it’s go time.   No more tricks, no more games, Janemba’s in Goku Town now, and he’s about to get taken to the city dump.

Janemba can’t do shit against Super Saiyan 3 Goku.  He just starts clubberin’ him and Janemba has to take it.

Then he flies really high up and Janemba wonders what he’s going to do....

... and Goku just dives fist-first into Janemba, just driving his ki right into the dude.    Brutal!

It’s not really clear what all of this is doing to the guy, but all of these explosions can’t be good.

Goku flies clear of him, and it sure looks like he’s won.   Janemba convulses a few times, but he seems to be getting weaker...

But then his flesh begins to reassemble itself somehow...

Goku isn’t sure what that means, but he can sense that something is terribly wrong.

Uh-oh...

Uh-oh....!

Uh-ohhhhhh!  Yeah, that’s not good.

So Janemba’s alive, and he’s taken on a new form.  This never goes well for the other guy when this happens, so Goku’s probably in trouble now.

Back on Earth, we don’t really see what Gohan and Videl are up to, but we do follow Goten and Trunks, who have gone back to confront Hitler’s tanks.  

For some reason, Goten seems discouraged by these odds, even though they can punch tanks into other tanks very easily.  The boys haven’t even turned Super Saiyan yet...

Oh, well now they have.    What was Goten so worried about?

I mean, I guess the soldiers can’t really be beaten, since they can just come back to life indefinitely, but you’d think that if Trunks breaks a tank, it stays broken.   Where did Hitler get all these tanks anyway?  

Never mind that shit, because now Janemba’s gonna fight Super Saiyan 3 Goku.   Team Four Star did a countdown of the best fights in 2018, and this was the only fight from the classic movies to make the cut.  Funny how Goku vs. Wheelo didn’t make the list, even though they ranked Movie 2 ahead of this one on their 2015 movie countdown.  Don’t mind me, I’m still bitter.

I can’t do this fight justice with screencaps, and it’s tough to gif a lot of these shots, too.  Both guys are moving around so much and the action is so fluid and skillfully choreographed.   One of my favoirte bits is when Goku rolls away and plants his hand on the ground, then pushes off....

... to kick Janemba right in the mush.  Cool!

But this new red Jameba is tougher than the previous version, and he still has all the powers he used before, like the portals thing.   Goku tries to shoot a ki blast at him...

And he has to dodge his own attack as it’s directed back at him.

Goku seems to be able to hurt Janemba, though, so it’s not a total mismatch...

... Until Janemba starts disassembling his entire body to avoid Goku’s attacks. 

I’m not sure why this is more effective than simply moving at super-speed, but it seems to really have Goku stymied.

Also, he can shoot enormous ki blasts out of his mouth.  So maybe this is a mismatch after all.

Back at Yemma’s Pikkon’s made some respectable progress on the barrier, but he’s not even close to finished, and he’s got Yemma griping him out the whole time, and Goku’s having all the fun.   At least he can take out his frustrations on the barrier.

Here’s one of my favorite shots from the movie.  Goku looks trashed here, but he’s not beaten yet.   Remember, when he used Super Saiyan 3 before, in the Majin Buu Saga, he explained that it used up a lot of his stamina in the living world.  The implication being that it was much more effective in Otherworld, where he couldn’t tire out as easily.   So in theory, we’re seeing SSJ3 applied to its fullest potential, and Goku’s still losing.   Well, uh, he can still use Super Saiyan 4, right?    No, this is Movie 12, we don’t serve that GT crap here.

As Janemba stalks towards Goku he notices an ogre club on the ground and scoops it up.  I don’t know why it’s so small, but I assume it belonged to one of the ogres who run things in Hell, like Goz and Mez.

But Janemba can transform the club into an awesome sword.   I get the sense that Janemba can do way, way more with his powers than what we actually see, but he just hasn’t figured out what he’s capable of yet.    He just figured out the sword thing on impulse.  

Goku keeps trying to hang in there, but he’s outgunned now.  Every time Janemba slashes the sword, it shoots out a thin wave of ki along the arc of the swing, which cuts anything in its path.  So Goku has to dodge the blade as if it’s got an infinite length.

And his best shots aren’t hurting Janemba at all.

Goku tries taking cover behind those jellybean things, but Janemba can just cut through those as well.   

The attack is just relentless, and it’s all Goku can do to run away now. 

And this leads him in the direction of the blood pond, which is one of the key features in DBZ hell.  Somehow, all the blood is now floating in midair in a cone shape.    I have to assume that’s another side-effect of Janemba’s powers. 

But it’s still fluid, as Goku demonstrates when he falls in.

As he does, he reverts back to his base form, and he doesn’t seem to be able to move or escape.   I can’t find any information on the mythology surrounding the bloody pond, but I kind of got the sense that in DBZ, it might act as some sort of means to incapacitate unruly spirits.   When the Ginyu Force tries to escape Hell in the Frieza saga, they fall into the pond, and that’s pretty much the end of that.   When Cell leads a revolt in Episode 195, Pikkon tosses them all in the pond, then uses Hyper Tornado to pull them back out so he can fling them into the needle mountain.   So I got the impression that falling into the pond saps your strength.   Of course, Goku could just as easily be worn out from fighting Janemba, so this may be a coincidence.    But I sort of wonder if Janemba didn’t herd Goku into this spot just so he could take advantage of the pond.

With Goku apparently helpless, Janemba starts slicing off bits of the cone, which then splash away as normal liquid.  I really did this scene, because we can’t see where Goku is inside the pond, so it’s impossible to tell if Janemba has hit him on each stroke.

Finally, Janemba has whittled the cone of blood down to a Goku-sized piece, so the next swing of his sword will surely cut him in two.

I’m not sure whyu Janemba is dragging it out like this, but he is comprised of evil spirit waste, so it’s not like he’s above this sort of sadism.

But then, as Janemba’s ki slice approaches Goku, a ki blast comes from out of nowhere and disrupts the whole thing!

And Goku tumbles out of the blood somehow, which is a lucky break.

But who saved him just now?   Who could have saved him?

Who indeed?