#this took me 14 hours goodnight girl | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

imonthinice · 3 years

Text

The Criminal Psychology Majors, Jason Todd x Fem!Reader Part 18/?

Word Count: 2.5k

Author's Note: Y/N - your name, A/N - any name (your best friend's name)

Warnings: Mentions of court, mentions of Jason's injuries, swearing, No beta bitch we die like Jason Todd

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6) (Part 7) (Part 8) (Part 9) (Part 10) (Part 11) (Part 12) (Part 13) (Part 14) (Part 15) (Part 16) (Part 17) (Part 18) (Part 19) (Part 20)

Jason walked out in a few minutes, just in his boxers. She looked at him before letting out a slight laugh at the absurdity of it.

"Don't laugh, you're the one who tore my clothes."

She sighed, "And you're going to have to go home in torn boxers, Bruce is going to kill you."

"God, don't remind me," he said before sitting beside her.

She laughed, "You could just not go home?"

"I wish. But I have a life. You have a life."

"It's unfortunate, isn't it. Can't spend all day with you but you're all I want to do."

"Funny."

"Thank you, I really tried," she thought, "You remember how I seem to have a fascination with vigilantes?"

"Yes, why?"

"I remembered why. So, when I was in high school, graduating year, I had law class. I was bored, so I did law, don't question it," she laughed. "Anyway, in my law class, they split us into groups. Specifically, Pro-Justice-League-Association and Anti-Justice-League-Association."

"Pro and Anti?"

"Yeah, apparently it was relevant? I guess the JLA doesn't use conventional methods to get evidence? Don't care though. Anyway, I was on the side of Pro, obviously."

"Obviously."

"Wait I'm not done! By the end of the class, I had debated every member of the Anti team and converted them. It actually introduced me to the Robin-Forums, which is just smack dab full of conspiracies."

"Robin-Forums?"

"Oh my god? You don't know those? You're all over them. Some people are convinced you're Kid Flash, some are convinced you're Robin, it's crazy."

"That is crazy but seems funny. What about my family?"

"Someone in my class posted "Why Clark Kent is Batman: An Essay" which has like, 20k likes? It's very popular."

"Well, I swear he isn't Batman. He's just very fond of the night."

"That's what I said, but that man is convinced otherwise."

"You would know if any of us were vigilantes. We're not good at hiding secrets."

"I'm sure you have your secrets, I just find it funny people think you have time to be Kid Flash."

"People spend all their time worrying about me, when will it end?"

"Ha! That's fair. Tabloids running your name probably doesn't help the conspiracies."

"I remember one of my ex-friends from high school mentioned me being Kid Flash, I was so confused, I guess it makes sense now. I'm going to have to show everyone that. They'll get a kick out of it."

"I bet they would. I'm waiting for the day I'm on it as someone who's a hero. Hoping they say I'm Wonder Woman or something. I think it would be funny."

"You get Miss Martin because everyone thinks you're too beautiful to be human."

"Aw. That's so corny that I hate it! Well done."

"Thank you. I learned it from Dick."

"Of course you did."

"Where else would I learn it from?"

"If you're genuinely asking, the internet, probably."

"That's fair. That's completely fair. I think Dick learns a lot of his lines from the internet, honestly."

"Oh yeah, there's no way he comes up with everything on his own. No way."

"So, what other dumb stories do you have?"

"Well, I think my sister is either a vigilante or really, really, weird."

"You think your sister is a vigilante?"

"Okay so, she's a businesswoman. No big deal, right? Wrong. She's always out, more often than she has to be, she's always spending nights away from home."

"That doesn't mean anything."

"Okay well Adrianna, Aria, whatever you want to call her, she's being suspicious."

"I'm sure you're looking too far into it."

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

The Night Jason Was Stabbed.

Aria clutched the scythe in her life hand. She had failed. She had worn her best dresses that she could hide beneath her capes, she had drugged him, she had stabbed him 6 bloody times, and he had still survived!

She was angry. She walked up to the Red Hood on his time off while he was catching a drink, looking stressed. She didn't care if he accepted her offer to go to her room, she just cared about that moment. The one where she could slip in the crushed-up pills and no one would stop her.

And she had done it. She waited until after he chugged the whole drink to strike. He was stumbling around, like an idiot. She hit his head with the back of her blade, knocking him to the ground where she proceeded to stab him 6 times in his right side.

She kissed his forehead before leaving, which required her to removed her mask a bit, saying "Goodnight, sweet Prince," before running into the darkness.

But the blue one, Nightwing. He got to the Red Hood before he could die. And she was pissed. All that hard work, just for him to not even die.

The scythe was still bloodied from the Red Hood. Her lips were still warm from his forehead. But now, he had possibly seen her face! Her plans were foiled every way when of her goblins came up to her.

"Ma'am, your weapon."

She passed it over without second thought. She wanted it rid of the blood of a living man, she wanted it soaked in the blood of a dead man.

Her plague doctor mask fell a bit as she began to tear up. She had failed. She had never failed at knocking "Heroes" down a peg.

Call it crazy, but she knew the fights between her and the Red Hood were far from over. She even felt as they'd grow closer.

As she looked at the walls covered in the photos of the vigilantes of the world, she knew this was only the first battle. The war was hers. They didn't know what was going to hit them.

But there was an issue. Her sister, Y/N had become close with one of the Waynes. She needed the Waynes to get to the "Heroes" which meant possibly hurting her sister.

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

"I hope I'm looking too far into it."

She wasn't.

One night when they were both 17, it was just Aria and Y/N in the house when Y/N was awoken by a loud crash from the downstairs window.

She went to investigate, bat in hand, to find her sister, stumbling over the coffee table. Bleeding out and clutching her side from the blood. Stabbed.

Y/N took no hesitation to take care of Aria. Stitching her up like they had as kids when Y/N would sitch up Aria after shut cut herself on skates, or if Y/N ran straight into a car.

Those images still dance in Y/N's mind to this day. Something was up with the way that her sister had a mask, a long bird-Esque plague doctor mask. A cloak. Knives. Guns. A scythe.

The best outcome would be her sister was attacked while LARPing in the park. The worst? She was a villain. Midway? A hero of the night, a vigilante. Anything was better than a villain.

If only she knew the pain Aria had caused her until this point. The fact that Aria was the one who drugged and tried to kill Jason. The pieces of the story were unravelling in front of everyone's eyes, they just needed to connect them properly.

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

Aria had a plan. Kidnap her sister and her lover's family. Get ransom. Get them hurting. Locate the "Heroes". The only issue was that Y/N would recognise the cloak, the mask. She knew the get-up.

Aria was not about to redesign her entire outfit for the sake of not alerting her sister. She figured it would be unlikely that Y/N would focus on the cloak when she's being used for ransom money.

Or at least she hoped. She wasn't certain her plan would even work. Breaking into the Wayne Manor, after one of the kids had been stabbed, in a mugging was going to be difficult.

They had employed security, something that was never common at the Wayne Manor before this moment. She was upset. If only her sister had met the Waynes before the stabbing.

Then she thought.

Red Hood is a Wayne?

It made sense, sure. They got stabbed at the same time. But was it reasonable? She didn't know. Why would an 18-20-year-old be a vigilante? He couldn't even legally drink?

She thought it didn't make sense. That the Red Hood was never, could never be the Wayne kid. But if he was, what could that mean?

She was certain he wasn't. But the thoughts swirled in her mind as if beckoning her to come to the conclusion.

She was crazy, she knew that. She was obviously crazy, she became the villain, the opposite of her twin in every way. She was insane. Arkham would like her. But there was something about the Red Hood being a Wayne that kept coming back to her. Haunting her like the night she was stabbed by Green Arrow back in Metropolis.

She was on their radar. They knew her. They would come to get the Waynes.

She knew the Justice League Association knew of her. But the people didn't. This stunt would make the people know of her.

The name Hour will ring through the streets of Gotham. The streets of Metropolis. Smallville. Anywhere she could get her hands on. She would begin her reign of terror.

No one could stop her now.

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

Jason had left after Bruce had called him. She assumed he needed to work or one of his siblings did a dumbass move. It was upsetting that they couldn't spend every moment together, but she knew that it was par for the course with Jason.

She was bored. She didn't have a job, her parents paid her bills if she focused on school. But she wasn't something to do, a reason to be having down days. She knew school gave her this, but it wasn't like it was every damn day.

A job would be every damn day. Hopefully. A reason to do so much in her life.

She figured she could work at Wayne Enterprises. But she didn't want to be that girl. The one who's fucking the CEO and is subsequently untouchable. You can't befriend her and talk sit, she'll tattle.

She wanted to be a normal working person. A colleague, not a boss.

Wayne Enterprises was a last resort for her. If she couldn't get hired anywhere else, she'd go apply thee. You don't fuck company property, she thought.

But she also thought fucking Wanye Enterprises "Property" was fun. and no one was really going to stop her, not even Bruce. Even though Bruce tried to lecture her and Jason, there was only so much he'd do. Barbara and Dick both worked at Wayne Enterprises and hadn't been reprimanded for that.

And obviously, they were having sex. They had been together for a while, Jason said.

Which, obviously they were having sex if they were together for that long.

She scrolled a little while for jobs, marking down a few she'd look further into. Not really anything exciting, she was still young, 1st year in college, a freshman. Not many prestigious places would hire someone her age. Especially while they're still in school.

There were only unpaid intern jobs in her field. And she wasn't about to fuck with not getting paid, even if it was her line of schooling. She didn't think it was worth it to put all of your efforts into a job that you weren't getting paid for.

A lot of kids thought her way, including her sister. Both of them grew up thinking that getting paid for work was necessary, her parents had always told them that. Even if her parents had strict religious views, they would still back her up if someone wasn't paying her, even if they fell out.

She thought if Bruce felt the same, that kids should be paid for what they do. He figured he did since he employed all of his kids once they were old enough to work at Wayne Enterprises.

She noticed Lexcorp, who had recently put up a building in Gotham, was hiring. She thought it would be funny if she went to work for her boyfriend's dad's competitor. She was tempted.

Worst comes to worst, she'd be a Lexcorp employee.

She, of course, would have to dress up for these interviews, and she had the clothes to do so, but she didn't, per se, want to wear them.

She also didn't want to go outside when trials were still raging. So, she figured she'd call Christopher's parents about getting him a lawyer and then scroll the pages for shopping. His parents finally had the time to deal with their son, because Christopher didn't want to interrupt his parents with him being an idiot.

She dialled.

"Hello?" his mom asked.

"Hey, Laura. It's Y/N."

"Y/N! Sweetheart, we've been wondering about you ever since, you know."

"Yeah, yeah. We can talk about it later I swear. So, I already told you about what Christopher did, right?"

"You did."

"He needs a lawyer, the man is pressing charges."

"Well, that's stupid. He has no right."

"Apparently he does."

"We'll get Christopher a lawyer. But how are you, darling?"

"I'm okay. Could be a hell of a lot better. I have faith in the court system."

"We're all worried about you, kiddo. You've wrapped yourself up in a lot of a mess recently."

"I know. It's weird. But I swear I'm strong enough to pull through, you've known me for what, 13 years? Give or take? I know how to handle myself."

"That doesn't mean we can't worry."

"I know, new city, new people. I swear behind the scandals I'm in that I actually have friends."

"I assume we'll meet this Jason eventually?"

"Eventually. We need to find the time between court dates, work. Adulting."

"You don't have a job?"

"Jason does. And I'm thinking about getting one to pass the time."

"Working to pass the time is a new thing, fascinating, you kids are."

"Nothing can make sense of all these things I've done, I know."

"Those sound like song lyrics."

"Sometimes songs are the best way to get all your thoughts compiled into one place, you know. I starred as Katherine Howard, Laura. I know how to convey emotion through art."

"I know. That's still one of the performances Metropolis holds on to, you know."

"I wish they didn't. But it is what it is."

"It's a good performance, kiddo."

She laughed, "Anyway. You get onto that lawyer. Christopher needs it right now."

"I will. Be safe. We love you."

"I love you lot."

Click. She thought about Christopher, and the bullshit he went through to save her.

She brushed the thoughts off and pulled out her journal. Scribbling down her sister's bird mask. She couldn't get that off of her mind. She could have sworn her sister made the thing out of actual bone.

It was like she threw a steampunk aesthetic into a plague doctor. She was certain there was more to it that she didn't know.

youtube

Literally Aria LMFAO

#Youtube #jason todd fluff #jason todd x you #jason todd x y/n #jason todd x fem!reader #jason todd x reader #jason todd #red hood fluff #red hood x you #red hood x y/n #red hood x fem!reader #red hood x reader #red hood #male oc #female oc

29 notes · View notes

blairsanne · 2 years

Text

In the Cards (14)

Big Wolf on Campus fanfic. Merton x OC. [Tommy also gets some pairings.]

Chapter Summary: The couples are getting hot and heavy, but a misprint in the paper leads to awkward situations for Tommy and Merton. A paintball tournament at the school reveals Margaret's feelings, and Margaret learns that Merton is dating Kalida.

CW: For the purposes of the fic I've decided they're 18, but - discussion of teenagers going "all the way" (offscreen). Homophobia directed at main characters.

Chapter 14: Paint

Merton let out a pleased whimper as Kalida's fingertips trailed down his neck. He had requested that they recreate part of their Lilin-energy-fueled encounter, and now found himself pressed between her and his bookshelf.

Her mouth found his again and they shared a deep kiss, her hand moving up to the back of his neck. He slid his hand up her t-shirt, then found purchase resting over her bra. He was surprised at the coarse texture - he hadn't expected lace. She broke the kiss and pressed her face into the nape of his neck. He could feel her chest rising and falling with her laboured breath.

She whispered hoarsely into his ear. "I'm getting kind of worked up." He let out a wistful sigh and put his free hand on her hip. In a blur of movement, he spun them around so that he was pressing her against the wall instead. "Me too." He kissed her hungrily, encouraged by the way she gripped at his shirt to keep him near. Years of teenage frustration meeting fruition made it hard to temper his enthusiasm. She sighed against his lips, cheeks hot. This was a side of Merton that she hadn't experienced before.

A sudden banging sound interrupted them.

Becky's voice called through the locked door to upstairs. "Freaker! Mom wants you to empty the dishwasher!" Merton pulled away and stuck his chin out, rolling his eyes. Kalida noted the edge of frustration in his expression.

He turned toward the door, one hand propping him against the shelf as he pulled the other out from under her shirt. "I'll be up in a second!" They heard the muffled sounds of Becky tromping back up the stairs. He turned his attention back to her. "Sorry about that."

She could feel the burning in her cheeks get worse. "I-it's okay." "I'll just be a few minutes." She adjusted her shirt. "Sure." He pulled away and closed his eyes, then took a few deep breaths to calm down. He flashed her an easy smile. "Can I get you anything?" She shrugged. "Maybe a cold drink?"

---

When Merton got upstairs, he quickly set to work. Becky came into the kitchen and pulled a soda out of the fridge. "Mom told you to do that hours ago." Merton rolled his eyes as he stacked plates in the cupboard. "I got distracted." Becky snorted. "You get caught up in another dork fight online?"

She suddenly raised an eyebrow. "Is that... lip gloss on your cheek?" "What?" Merton wiped his face with his hands, turning away. "No." "Ew, are you being weird again?" "Yeah, sure, whatever." He started sorting out the cutlery.

"Wait…" Becky walked around him to inspect his face. "Do you actually have a girl down there?" He held a finger up to her. "Just stay out of my personal life." "Oh em gee." Becky gawked. "What loser girl is in your creepy dungeon letting you-" she mimed vomiting, "kiss her?" "Lair." He let out a low growl, closing the now-empty dishwasher. "Goodnight, Becky."

She followed him to the top of the stairs. "You totally have a girl down there. Does mom know?" Merton put his hands on Becky's shoulders. "Becky, I am a senior. I am allowed to have people over. Now, I realize you're young and impressionable, but your big brother is growing up, and sometimes adults have urges-" "Gross, Freaker." Becky pushed Merton's face with both hands and squirmed away. "Why do you have to make everything so weird?!" She stormed off.

Merton took a deep, calming breath, then made his way down to the lair.

---

He was mildly disappointed to see Kalida reading when he returned. She was sitting cross-legged on his bed, absorbed in a tome about the witch trials that he'd ordered online. He noted the way she chewed on her bottom lip, frowning slightly at the text.

She glanced up at him. "All done?" "Yeah, I-" he winced suddenly, smacking his forehead. "I forgot your drink, sorry." She laughed. "It's fine." "It's just Becky…" he gestured, face belying his annoyance. "Really, it's fine."

He pointed his thumbs at his mini-fridge. "I've got Yoohoo down here." Kalida put a hand on her chest and closed her eyes. "Merton's finest. I'd be honoured." He wiggled his eyebrows at her, then set to work grabbing them each a bottle. He sat down next to her, crossing his legs before he passed her one.

"So, I can't help but notice you're on my bed." She glanced to the side. "I always read on your bed." She twisted the cap off her drink and took a sip. "You're just not usually on it with me." He took the book from her lap and placed it on the nightstand. "I can think of some other things we could do on it," he hedged. She glanced up at him, voice a whisper. "Your whole family is home." He nodded his head to the side in agreement. "That is true." He took a long drink of his cola. "Not exactly romantic." She picked at the label. "Maybe we could go camping sometime…" He smiled crookedly and leaned his head on her shoulder. "Yeah, I think that could be arranged."

---

Tommy leaned against the counter at The Hungry Bucket, drumming the fingers of his free hand as his other held a drink. He watched as Joelle packed up a box of chicken pieces for him. She'd pulled down her yellow uniform shirt to reveal more cleavage than the design intended, and he found his eyes wandering.

She held the box up for him with a smirk. "Four piece with fries." He flashed her a lopsided smile. "Thanks. You're off in ten, right?" "Can't you wait that long, lover?" she teased, leaning toward him. He fought the urge to look down her shirt and instead shook the box. "I'll be at a table."

He camped himself at a nearby spot and took a look around. It was late evening, and most of the clientele were high schoolers needing a place to loiter, picking at baskets of fries or nursing nearly-empty soda cups.

Amy - Trevor the movie store vampire's girlfriend - came over to clean up the table next to his. They made eye contact briefly, and she hurried to finish wiping the ketchup-smeared surface. She checked to make sure nobody was watching her, then moved closer to his table.

"It's Tommy, right?" she asked quietly, wiping a circle on the table. Tommy could sense her nerves, and it put him on edge. He nodded. "Uh, yeah. How's things?" She glanced around again then leaned a bit closer. "Has anything weird been happening? In town, I mean?" Tommy furrowed his brow, but kept his voice low. "There's almost always something, you have to be a little more specific."

She made a small humming noise. "It's just…" She moved over to his table and pretended to wipe a mess up. "Trev's been noticing someone following him. But he hasn't seen them." Tommy raised brow, and took a sip of his cola. "How did he notice them, then?" "He, um…" Amy avoided eye contact. "He can sense people… or something. He doesn't like to talk about it. He's embarrassed, I guess…" she trailed off, then cleared her throat. "I just thought maybe you'd know something. He won't say it, but he's worried… so I'm worried."

Tommy nodded slowly. "I'll ask Merton, maybe we can check it out." She met his gaze with a sudden, grateful smile. "Thank you." Then she picked up her things and hurried back toward the kitchen.

Tommy bit into a chicken thigh and considered what he knew about vampires. How do they sense people? It occurred to him that maybe he should pay more attention to Merton's ramblings about their monster encounters.

A few minutes later, Joelle slid into the seat across from his. She had partially covered her bright yellow uniform with a black leather jacket, and was tapping her purse absent-mindedly. "Shall we?" Tommy smiled. "Sure. Factory?" Joelle rolled her eyes. "Isn't there anyplace else?" Tommy laughed. "Uhh, it depends on what you're after. It's a pretty small town." He ran a hand through his hair. "There's a cool lookout, up the mountain a bit. Or we could... go to the park, or rent a movie…"

"Why don't we go back to my place? I got Halo." Tommy nodded, rubbing his hands on his pant legs. "Uhh, sure. Sounds good."

---

When Tommy stepped out into the carpeted hallway of the fourth floor, his nose immediately flooded with the smell of curry. "Guess someone's cooking," Joelle mumbled, keys jangling in her hand as she let Tommy to her suite. "Don't worry, my apartment won't smell like little India." Tommy grinned. "What? You're not gonna feed me butter chicken?" "I'm not much of a cook." She twisted her key in the lock. "Besides, chicken has lost its appeal, somehow." Tommy shook his head as he followed her into the dark suite. "I can't relate to that." She laughed, flicking on the light. "No, you're insatiable."

It was a modest space, a bachelor's suite with deep indigo walls and painted-black flooring. Her bed was in the far corner, behind a living-room set up. The decor was sparse; a dreamcatcher above the bed, a lone throw pillow on the couch. At the foot of her bed was a locked chest with a handful of books piled on top. Only an alarm clock adorned her dresser, a tiny pile of laundry on the floor next to it.

Tommy took a deep breath, Joelle's familiar scent filling his lungs like never before. "Don't you get lonely without a roommate?" She laughed. "I'm not really the lonely type." She wandered into her open kitchen. "You want a drink?" She shook a bottle of Jack Daniels at him. He frowned. "How'd you get that?" "I have connections." She waited a beat. "I'll take that as a no." She put the bottle back, rolling her eyes. "Help yourself to whatever, I'm gonna change."

To his surprise, she walked past him and started pulling off her uniform on her way to the dresser. He caught a glimpse of a tattoo on her back. He looked away as she pulled down her shorts, and busied himself inspecting the contents of her fridge. Energy drinks, protein shakes, a box of leftover pizza. Milk, coke, half a bag of bread and a jar of peanut butter. I guess if you eat by yourself, this is enough. He pulled the milk jug out and glanced in her direction again, equally relieved and disappointed to see that she'd already changed clothing.

"Was that a tattoo on your back?" he hedged. "Oh? So you were looking?" He laughed nervously. She held up a controller. "I hope you're ready to get your ass handed to you, by the way."

---

Kalida settled at her desk at the end of the night to type up her essay notes. Tommy still wasn't home, but he'd said something about hanging out with that Joelle girl, so she had a feeling he wasn't worried about missing sleep.

As she tapped away, her MSN binged in the taskbar. "I'm so popular," she teased herself as she clicked it open. It was Isaac.

DM Boy Blue: Goddess Kali ·.· ɥʇnos uʍop ɐp!ןɐʞ ·.·: How's it going? DM Boy Blue: Eh, it's going. Y'know how it is. Slacking online after planning out an epic campaign for these noobs. ·.· ɥʇnos uʍop ɐp!ןɐʞ ·.·: LOL! I was just working on my English essay. Teach wants me to write 1000 words about this boring novel. DM Boy Blue: Haha. Tell her how boring it was. ·.· ɥʇnos uʍop ɐp!ןɐʞ ·.·: She hasn't taken well to my feedback in that regard. DM Boy Blue: Pretend you're her, and write the essay she'd write. ·.· ɥʇnos uʍop ɐp!ןɐʞ ·.·: That's a good idea. Homework LARP. DM Boy Blue: Exactly. DM Boy Blue: So what's new and exciting in the good old US of A? ·.· ɥʇnos uʍop ɐp!ןɐʞ ·.·: I think Tommy has a girlfriend. Or like a casual one at least. DM Boy Blue: You and Martin working out? ·.· ɥʇnos uʍop ɐp!ןɐʞ ·.·: Merton. And yeah. DM Boy Blue: That's good. I'd have to slap him if he was being an idiot. ·.· ɥʇnos uʍop ɐp!ןɐʞ ·.·: Now now, no need for violence. DM Boy Blue: You guys going to prom? I hear it's like a big deal. ·.· ɥʇnos uʍop ɐp!ןɐʞ ·.·: He hasn't asked me yet, but my parents are coming to town to help me buy a dress. I think I'm more excited to see them than to buy the dress, though, haha. DM Boy Blue: Tight. I'm sure you'll look great regardless. ·.· ɥʇnos uʍop ɐp!ןɐʞ ·.·: I'll send you pics lol ·.· ɥʇnos uʍop ɐp!ןɐʞ ·.·: Let me know how the campaign goes. I expect a synopsis and highlights reel. DM Boy Blue: Will do, Goddess. DM Boy Blue: Glad things are going good. DM Boy Blue: Just wanted to check in while we were both online. I gotta hit the hay. DM Boy Blue: Miss you. ·.· ɥʇnos uʍop ɐp!ןɐʞ ·.·: Miss you too. ·.· ɥʇnos uʍop ɐp!ןɐʞ ·.·: Night.

---

Tommy bit his lip as Joelle pulled away. He was shirtless beneath her on the bed, trying to keep a level head.

She tossed her shirt to the floor, but as she reached to take off her bra, he put his hands over hers. "Hey, maybe we should… you know, take it easy…" She frowned slightly and rested her hands on his chest, still straddling his lap. "Oh. I guess I misinterpreted your-" she pressed down with her pelvis. "Interest."

He let out a strained laugh. "No, I'm interested," he conceded. "Just don't wanna take things too fast." She leaned over him and rubbed her nose against his. "Is it your first time, lover? I promise I'll be gentle." "That's not…" Tommy looked to the side. "If you want to wait, that's cool. But don't do it on my account." He ran a hand through her hair, trying to self-assess and be in the moment at the same time. "What's the rush?"

Her eyes were soft, but abnormally serious. "You're never promised tomorrow. If there's something you want, you should take it while you can."

He felt a pang of guilt, remembering his ex, Stacey, who had moved away. He was always bailing on her, stringing her along while failing to manage his wolf side. She could never count on him, and even after he'd told her how he felt, she'd left town. She'd gotten tired of waiting on him.

In that moment, he felt a sudden, new fear that he was going to lose Joelle. Another chance at real connection gone because he'd shied away from it to protect his secret. Am I just going to keep pushing girls away until none are willing to bother with me? He felt a burning need in his chest and kissed her forcefully, then rolled them over so he was pinning her to the bed. Joelle let out a playful growl. "Well hello, tiger."

---

Tommy flashed Merton a crooked grin as he sat down with his lunch tray. "Hey." "Hey. Sorry I'm late, I got caught up being shoved into my locker." Merton wheezed a laugh and straightened his shirt. Tommy frowned. "Lame. T'n'T again?" "I feel like I should have risen high enough in social status by now that they'd move on… Find a freshman or something." Tommy shook his head, laughing under his breath. "At least you can handle it." Merton shrugged, starting to eat.

Tommy waited a moment. "So, uh.. What'd you guys get up to last night?" Merton looked down and tried not to choke as he recalled how hot and heavy he and Tommy's cousin had been getting. "Oh, um… You know. The… usual." He cleared his throat. "How 'bout you?" "W-well, Joelle asked me to go over to her place… and uh… y'know…" Merton looked up at Tommy with a raised brow. "And… what happened?" "We um… you know." Tommy tilted his head pointedly. Merton's eyes bugged out. "Seriously?" He leaned in and spoke in a whisper. "Like all the way…?" Tommy nodded. "And no-" he pointed his fingers like perked ears. Tommy shrugged, nodding. "I was fine."

Merton stared at him with amazement for a moment, then blinked and shook himself back to reality. "You know, I have to be honest, Tom, for a while there I didn't think something like that would be possible." He took a bite of his lasagna. "I'll have to add it to my research." Tommy sighed and rolled his eyes. "Great." Merton gestured at Tommy emphatically. "One day, your experience and techniques could help lycanthropes the world over." Tommy tilted his head. "Sorry if I'm not exactly enthused about my sex life becoming an experiment." "At least you have a sex life. Every time it seems like we might-" "Merton!" Tommy hissed. "I don't wanna know that."

Merton pouted. "But you're my only male friend. I have no one else to talk to about this." "You don't have me to talk to about this." "But what's the point of having a popular guy friend if he won't give me pointers on how to get with the fairer sex?" Merton whined. "Help me. Help me." "Dude, she's my cousin. Would you want to know about your sister's…" It pained him to say it. "...sex life?" Merton sighed. "No." He pushed his food around with his fork, frowning. "I see your point."

"Besides, can't you just ask your internet buddies about that kind of thing?" Merton snorted. "Yeah, Tom. I'm sure they have a lot of experience that way." Tommy waved his hand dismissively. "Well find websites or something." "Tommy. Even assuming I hadn't turned off the adult content blockers my parents put in place - which I have - try to imagine the kind of search results I'd get if I put in something like that. Not exactly practical advice columns."

"Well, then I guess you'll just have to work it out with your girlfriend on your own." He looked up at Merton and relaxed his tense shoulders. "She likes you. I'm sure you can handle it." Merton smiled bashfully, feeling somewhat reassured despite Tommy's unease. "Yeah, I guess."

---

After school, Merton sat in the old teacher's lounge that had been converted into the school newspaper's office. Because of his position as Gothic Fantasy Guild President, he'd been asked to do an interview as part of the Grad Class segment. The editor, Kerry - a fellow senior with box braids pulled into a bun - tapped her clipboard with her pen.

"Okay, so that covers your academic and club activities, what about social?" Merton made a small sound, immediately realizing that he probably shouldn't mention fighting monsters. "Um, what do you want to know?" She leaned forward with a conspiratorial smirk. "What do you get up to on the weekends?" "Usual stuff. Hanging out with friends at the Factory, or my place. Sometimes we drive up the mountain."

"Do you mostly hang out with Guild members, or-?" "Oh, no, not really. I mean, we have our meetings, but…" "So who would you say is your best friend?" "Oh, uh, I guess Tommy." Merton smiled, thinking of his friend. "Tommy Dawkins. And, uh, Kali, I guess." "Tommy Dawkins, as in the captain of the football team? And his cousin Kalida Dawkins?" "Yeah." Merton fidgeted. The way her pen scratched against the paper put him on edge.

"Have you been friends since you were younger..?" "No, actually. Pretty much since the beginning of this school year." "How did you meet?" "W-well, Tommy and I had met before… We've had lockers next to each other since kindergarten," Merton laughed nervously. "But he struck up a conversation one day because he needed help with something, and we ended up hanging out a lot, I guess."

She uncrossed and recrossed her legs, scribbling on her notepad. "I think our readers might be surprised to hear that the quintessential goth and the quintessential jock are B-F-F's." She looked up at him with a piercing gaze. "What kind of stuff do you have in common?" Merton rubbed the back of his neck. "I think the strength of our relationship is actually that we can share our different interests with each other. He knows about stuff I don't, and vice versa. But… I really would rather the article focus more on my other interests-" "Of course, of course." She gestured dismissively. She jotted a few more notes, then looked up at Merton and glanced at the clock. "Well, I think I have what I need for the article. Should look great in your college applications."

Merton let out a small laugh in relief. "Oh, good. I have a few left to send out." "Why don't I see you out?" Merton made a face. "To.. the.. door right over there…?" He stood up and motioned to the door to the hallway. She placed the clipboard face-down on the desk. "I try to practice professional courtesy." She stood and led him to the doorway. "Thanks for coming by." She held her hand out to shake his. Merton nodded. "Yeah, thanks for doing a story on me, I guess."

"Of course. Sorry it's taken so long to get to yours. I'm part of the prom committee this year, and it's been eating up a lot of time." Merton rubbed his chin. "Oh, I guess that's coming up." Kerry leaned against the door frame. "Yeah, pretty soon. Have you already asked that special someone…?" "W-well, not yet-" She raised a brow. "But there's someone you have in mind?" "Well, uh- there's someone I've kind of been seeing, but-" "Dawkins, right?" "W-well, off the record, yes, but I don't know if it's presumptuous to think-" She held her hand up. "Say no more. Thanks for the interview." She shut the door in his face.

Merton blinked in confusion, then shook his head.

"Excuse me." Merton turned to see a frowning student standing, arms crossed, beside the door. He tapped his foot impatiently. "You're in the way. As usual." Merton smirked. "Ah, Fielding. Good to see you too. Sorry I couldn't let you have our final Quizbowl trophy, but you know how it is." Fielding raised a brow. "As if I would still care about that." Merton gestured at the door with his thumb and struck a pose. "Here to tell the editor how great I am for my upcoming Grad feature?" "Highly improbable." Fielding snapped. He held up an envelope. "I'm here to drop off my team's registration for the Pleasantville High Paintball War. Obviously."

"Paintball," Merton laughed incredulously. "Didn't think you had it in you. I thought nerds liked to stay away from the day star." "And I thought goths were too busy painting their nails to bother with the school paper." Merton glanced down at his black varnish. "Doesn't take that long, actually." "War is about strategy, not brute strength. In any event, the winning team gets $500. Now if you'll excuse me, today is the deadline to put in applications-" Fielding moved to push open the door. "Five hundred dollars!?"

---

"Paintball?" Tommy snorted. "I didn't think that sort of thing interested you." He shut his locker, brow raised. Merton held up a poster for the Paintball War. "There's a cash prize." Tommy squinted at Merton untrustingly. "Why are you really entering?" Merton rolled his eyes. "Is it that unbelievable that I'd want to run around in a giant maze getting shot at for fun?" He waited a beat and deadpanned. "Fielding kind of taunted me into signing up."

Tommy laughed. "So you just put me down as a team member without asking first?" "W-well I would have asked, but the deadline was yesterday and I had to name my teammate, so I thought… who do I know that's most likely to say yes? My best friend, mayhaps?" He batted his lashes. Tommy rolled his eyes, then put his hand on Merton's shoulder and leaned in close. "Okay, I'll do it. But you owe me." Merton put his hand on his heart. "I am your slave."

"Morning Tommy." A girl walked by, greeting Tommy shyly. He recognized her as one of the cheerleaders. He forced a quick smile. "Hey." She looked between the two and trying to hide a smile, and kept walking. Merton raised a brow. "Was that weird?" Tommy shrugged. "Cheerleaders say hi to me all the time." "No, I mean… nevermind." Merton shook his head and forced a grin. "Thanks for being on board." "Ah," Tommy waved dismissively. "I'm sure it'll be fun."

---

On his way to first period, Tommy noticed more eyes on him than usual. He smiled and nodded at a few girls. Guess I've still got it. Turning down the hall he was flagged down by Brett Johnson

"Hey, Tom," Brett nodded and waved him over, closing the combination lock on his locker. Tommy slowed to a stop in the hallway, adjusting his backpack. "Hey Brett. What's up, man?"

Brett put his hand on Tommy's shoulder, expression overly earnest. "I really admire your courage. It couldn't have been easy, all this time. This town is a bit slow to come around to these things, but having a leader like you live your truth openly-" Tommy put his hands up and let out a small laugh, shaking his head. "I don't follow." "I know I discouraged you earlier this year, but it means a lot-" "What are you talking about?" Brett hesitated, then pulled a copy of the school paper from his bag and handed it to Tommy. "Do your parents know?"

Tommy took the paper and unfolded it, revealing a photo of Merton kissing Tommy's cheek at the QuizBowl. "Star-crossed lovers in the halls of Pleasantville High?! Who knew the football captain had a thing for crypt keepers?" He gave Brett an incredulous look. "They think I'm dating Merton?" "Are you… not?" Tommy let out a whine as he ran for the bathroom, his hands starting to turn to clawed paws.

---

Merton winced at the front page of the paper gripped tightly in his hands. "Holy mother of misprints!"

---

Tommy dried his face with paper towel and took a long look in the bathroom mirror. Rounded ears, clear brown eyes. No extra facial hair.

Just stay calm.

He had read through the article in the bathroom stall while wolfed out. Despite the headline, it was mostly about Merton - his hobbies and extracurriculars - with a paragraph at the end mentioning how he and Tommy had become friends and that Merton had confirmed that they were more than just friends.

While his first impulse was to blame Merton, he just couldn't believe there was a reason he'd lie about something like that, especially since he'd just started dating Kalida. If anything, Merton was more likely to overstate his prowess with the ladies. Besides, Brett was right, there weren't exactly a lot of guys "out" in Pleasantville.

Tommy rubbed his hands over his face. He'd have to ask Merton what had happened.

---

Between first and second period, Kalida stood beside her locker, skin humming with anger. Her fingers dug into her shoulder strap as she mulled over what she should do next.

Sprayed across Tommy and Merton's lockers in black paint was the word FAGS.

Merton came up from behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, Kal, I don't know if you've seen the paper yet, but-" She snapped back to reality and gave a small nod. "Y-yeah, I did." Merton nodded, pushing his hands into his pockets. "It's not true, obviously." She let out a hollow laugh. "Duh." She nodded at the graffiti. "Looks like some people bought it, though." Merton rolled his eyes at it. "Troglodytes."

"Doesn't it make you mad?" "I've had worse messages left for me." Kalida frowned. "Like what?" Merton shrugged, glancing to the side. "Doesn't matter. I'm more worried about Tommy right now."

Kalida sighed, shifting her weight to her other leg. "Right." Tommy was probably getting harassed about the article too. "Do you think he'd freak out?" Merton shrugged. "I don't know. If he's upset enough he might go home, to avoid… you know." "Y-yeah." Kalida nodded, hoping Tommy wasn't in any kind of trouble. "The paper can't just… print lies like that, can they?"

Merton winced. "I think she might have just gotten confused? Thinking back on it, she asked if I was dating Dawkins, and I thought she meant you…" Kalida's mouth fell open a moment. "Oh, are we… public, then?" "I-w-uh, I just.." Merton gestured vaguely. "She asked, and I told her it was off the record, but… we are dating, right? So..." "Y-yeah, we are. I just... Didn't know if you wanted to tell people…" She rubbed her arm. "Still, though. Even if you were dating Tommy, outing someone in the paper by surprise is irresponsible. Especially here." She gestured at the slur on the lockers. "And especially if you said it was off the record."

Merton nodded, sighing. "Yeah, I'll talk to Kerry. She should be in the office at lunch period." "Are you going to get her to print a retraction?" "I guess." He licked his lips. "Look, I don't want to put you on the spot, and I get it if you don't want the whole school to know that you're my- that is, I hope I can call you my…" He winced. "Girlfriend?"

Kalida could feel the colour rising in her cheeks and tried to hide the smile tugging at her lips. "Uh, yeah, I… I wouldn't mind." She shifted her weight to her other foot. "I've never actually been someone's girlfriend before. Officially."

Merton looked her over, happy but confused once again that she seemed genuinely as interested in him as he was in her. "Officially, yeah. As soon as I update the press," he forced a laugh. Kalida smirked. "As long as you're not planning to ditch me for my cousin when I'm not looking." Merton stroked his chin, narrowing his eyes at her. "Depends. Do you have any cute female cousins?" She smacked his chest, stifling a laugh. "Merton!"

Tommy strode up beside them, looking on edge. "I call dibs on hitting him next." Merton and Kalida both looked relieved to see him, calling out in unison, "Tommy!" Tommy held up Brett's copy of the paper. "What the heck, man?" Merton grimaced. "I'm sorry. She didn't tell me she was printing that." "Yeah, well, I'd like to give her a piece of my mind right about now." Merton put his hands up. "No, wait. Let me handle this, please. I'm the one that didn't insist on approving a draft before it went to print…." Kalida scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"And it really helps to have a sympathetic ear for Gothic Fantasy Guild issues," Merton continued. Tommy pursed his lips, mulling it over. "Fine. But there'd better be a correction or whatever. I don't want to get the talk from coach about making the other guys feel weird in the locker room." Merton nodded. "I'll make sure of it. Goth's honour." Tommy looked over at the graffiti. "Alright. I'll let the office know about our lockers." Kalida put her hand on Tommy's arm. "I'll help you scrub it off at lunch if you want." Tommy forced a small smile. "Thanks, Kal."

---

Hugo held his chin up as he watched the paintball tournament volunteers in the smaller field on campus. Teenagers and adults were working together to set up temporary walls and obstacles for the contestants to navigate the next day.

He walked into the maze, inspecting the well used equipment, noting the splats of bright color that speckled its surfaces. A dark shadow slunk behind him on the ground.

"Crazy kids and their war games. Real war isn't pink and yellow." He took a deep breath, his nostrils flaring as he stared into space. "It changes a man. That's what mother said." The shadow rose from the ground and overcame him. He closed his eyes, then rolled his shoulders. When he opened them again, a dark smile crept across his face.

---

Merton cleared his throat loudly as Kerry unlocked the door to the office. She winced, then forced a cheery smile. "Oh, hello again Mr. Dingle." He held up the paper. "Not the right Dawkins."

She opened the door and stepped into her office, feigning a light-hearted surprise. "Really? Simple mistake." Merton shut the door as he followed her inside. "Yeah, the tone isn't exactly selling it. Besides, I said it was off the record anyway." He gestured empathically. "Where is your journalistic integrity?"

Kerry shrugged, turning toward him as she sat on the edge of her desk. "I just… misunderstood I guess. Sorry." Merton lowered his eyebrows, frowning. He didn't believe her, but also he didn't understand why she'd print something so false. "Well, Tommy's pretty upset and wanted to come in here and give you a piece of his mind, but I thought you'd prefer discussing it with me." Kerry's shoulders tensed as he mentioned Tommy being upset. "Well, I appreciate you coming to see me alone." She leaned toward him, angling her neck. "Was your girlfriend upset?" "She wasn't thrilled to have FAGS spray painted over my locker." "Oh, I hope it didn't start a fight between you." She put her thumb in her mouth and batted her lashes a few times.

Merton raised a brow at Kerry's behaviour. Was she… flirting? "It wasn't me she was upset with…?" Merton squinted at her, folding his arms. "Kerry, did you deliberately print a story about me being gay? To… to break up Kali and I?" She let out an awkward laugh. "Ha, what? No…" Merton blinked in shock. If he'd been single, someone like Kerry hitting on him would have been a pleasant surprise. Instead he felt irritated. "Look, I'm flattered, but-"

Kerry threw her hands up. "Oh my god, please don't." "It's just I've been seeing Kalida-" "No, I get it. I'm sorry. It was ridiculous, I know. I just have a thing for goth guys, and I'm the only one on the prom committee who doesn't have a date yet." She looked away. "It's pathetic."

Merton uncrossed his arms. "Well I don't… think you're pathetic. You're a talented writer, and you've done more for the school than most of the student council members have." He rubbed the back of his neck. "If you'd shown an interest last year, or even a few months ago…" Kerry shot him a look. "Oh, because you and the new girl in town are super serious now? The person you weren't sure you should ask to prom?" "W-well, we're not… not serious." "Do you think you'll last past graduation? Are you even going to the same college?"

Merton pulled a face. "It's really none of your business. And you need to do a reprint retracting your intentional misinformation before the mayor gets your paper shut down." Merton may have been overreaching bringing Bob Dawkins into it, but he didn't like the way she'd gotten snippy. Kerry pursed her lips and looked away, crossing her arms. "Fine." "Fine."

---

Tommy felt the tension as he entered the locker room. All eyes were on him, but he pretended not to notice as he got ready for practice. When he was finishing up, he finally addressed the team.

"There something you want to say?" Most of them shuffled around avoiding eye contact, but one of the linebackers crossed his arms. "I don't want you staring at my hiney during practice." This elicited a few snickers from the group.

Tommy nodded, looking around. "Ah, so it's about the paper. Let's get a couple things straight-" A few more loud snickers echoed in the large room.

"First, I'm not gay. Second, I'm definitely not dating Merton. Third," He looked around the room. "One of our teammates might be in the closet. But we're here to play football, so unless someone starts hitting on you, it's a non-starter." He waited a beat. "Got it?" The linebacker shrugged. "Why'd the paper print that, then?" "I dunno." Tommy threw his hands up. "Merton's dating my cousin Kali and I guess the writer chick misunderstood. What do ya want from me?"

One teammate gave Tommy a pat on the shoulder. "We just wanted to know if you were taking Merton to prom, Tom," he joked. Tommy rolled his eyes but smiled. He pulled the team in for a pre-practice huddle, and things seemed to go back to normal.

---

Kalida sipped at her cola, watching as Merton took their fast food dinner out of the bag. They'd popped by the Hungry Bucket before retiring to the Lair for a night of hanging out and - hopefully - homework. She put her soda on the coffee table and grabbed her fries, relaxing against him on the sofa. "I can't believe you're doing that paintball thing."

"What's so hard to believe? I fight monsters every week. What's a few jocks with guns?" Merton wheezed. Kalida laughed. "I didn't mean to imply that you couldn't handle it. I just thought you were more of a…" "A what?" He felt his shoulders tensing up. Did she think he was a wimp? "A person who avoided unnecessary violence?" She shrugged. "It's not violence… It's… sport." She laughed. "I like how you choked on the word sport."

"Can goths be jocks?" "I don't think you should worry about labels. I think you should be worried about what clothes you're going to destroy with paintball paint." Merton groaned. He hadn't thought of that. "I guess I'll go shopping." "Also like, I'm pretty sure it leaves bruises?" "As opposed to all the pummeling I get hunting monsters which never leave any marks."

Kalida ran a finger down his cheek. "You just have such nice pale skin. It's why you bruise so easy." He batted his lashes at her. "I can't help that I'm so beautiful." They ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes.

"So you haven't said much about the paper since earlier." "Hm?" Merton stopped chewing for a second, then quickly swallowed. "There's not much to say. She's going to issue a retraction." "Did she… apologize? Was it a misunderstanding? Was it for sales?" "The paper's actually free." "Not the point."

"Well she…" Merton sighed. He hadn't really wanted to get into it. He felt guilty somehow about the situation, even though he technically hadn't done anything wrong. "She didn't misunderstand. Exactly." Kalida eyed him suspiciously as she opened her nugget box. "So, what, you are dating Tommy?" "Uh, no, I-" Merton shook his head, then looked away. "She… kind of purposely misinterpreted what I said in hopes it would… cause problems. For us."

The way he was avoiding eye contact made Kalida nervous. "Why would she do that?" "She um… I guess she wanted to ask me to prom." He cleared his throat nervously. "Oh." Kalida ate a few fries as an awkward silence fell between them. "I assume you said no?" Merton looked over at her with wide eyes. "Oh! Yeah! I did."

They stared at each other a moment. Merton licked his lips. "I… I was hoping that I could take you. To prom. If you wanted." Kalida laughed. "Yeah." She leaned into him, pressing her head against his shoulder. "I kind of assumed you'd take your girlfriend to prom." Merton smiled happily to himself. "Well… yeah, ideally." He wrapped an arm around her. "I had planned to ask you in a more flashy way. Not over fast food in the basement." Kalida laughed. "It's not like you're asking me to marry you." Merton smirked. "Oh, so this wouldn't work if it was a marriage proposal? You wouldn't fawn over an onion ring engagement?"

She shrugged, and her voice got quiet. "I dunno. That kind of stuff doesn't really matter to me anyway." "Prom? Marriage? Flashy proposals?" "Flashy anything in a relationship. It's… nice?" Kalida continued eating. "But it doesn't mean you like each other more, or you're gonna be together for a long time because of it." Merton hummed, nodding. "I see what you're saying." He looked over at her, wondering if they'd be together 'for a long time' or not.

She took a big gulp of her soda. "Oh! So what color dress should I get for prom, then? My parents are coming to town soon to take me dress shopping." Merton blinked. "I… hadn't really thought that far. I suppose I'm mostly a black and red man, myself." She smiled. "Yeah, I guess you are. Alright." She nodded. "Black and red. To match." He shrugged. "Wear whatever you like. I'll just be happy to be there with you." "No, we have to match!" She threw a fry at him.

Eventually Kalida finished her nuggets and tossed the empty box back into the takeout bag. "You think Tommy's gonna pass his bio final? He hasn't been studying as much with us since he met that Joelle chick." Merton shrugged. "I'm sure he'll figure it out. He'll probably continue to neglect his studies until finals week, and then get mad at us while we help him cram." She laughed. "Yeah, you're probably right. But what would he do without us, hm?" She grinned at Merton and they shared a laugh.

---

Tommy grabbed his duffel bag from the jeep and slung it over his shoulder on his way up the driveway. Practice had been awkward, and he wasn't sure that the coach was entirely convinced that he was straight. He wanted to be mad at Merton about all of it - he was usually the one who started these sorts of problems in his life - but knew it wasn't really the pale kid's fault.

"Just another hurdle." He pushed open the door to find his parents sitting in the living room looking tense. Dean was suspiciously absent.

Sally forced an anemic smile. "Welcome home, honey." Tommy felt a strange pit form in his stomach as he slowly put down his bag. "Uh, hey mom. What's going on?" He noted the way his mom's fingers were laced between his dad's. Bob cleared his throat. "Son, some news came to my office today." Tommy sat down on the couch, in the seat furthest from his parents. "Okay?"

Sally held up the school paper from earlier. Tommy felt the color drain from his face. My parents seriously think I'm dating Merton?

"Mom-" "Now, Tommy, you know we love and support you no matter what." "Mom, no, you've got it wrong-" "I thought it was a little strange that you made such an interesting friend this year," Bob remarked. "Dad-" "Bob, remember, supportive." Tommy threw his hands up in desperation. "I'm not gay!" "Oh, honey. You don't have to lie to us."

He could feel his hands starting to shift into claws. "I'm not lying." He took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Besides, Merton has a girlfriend. The interviewer misunderstood something he said. That's all." Bob narrowed his eyes. "So you're… into girls?" Tommy let out a sigh of frustration. "For the millionth time today, yes." Bob let out a sigh of relief, leaning back into the sofa.

Sally leaned toward her son. "You haven't brought anyone home since that Lori, and I know you were upset when Stacey left town-" "Mom!" "Well, Thomas, you know, it's natural for parents to be curious what their children are up to." "And prom is coming up." Sally enthused.

Tommy looked down, thinking of Joelle. Did he want to talk about her? "I'm… I'm kind of seeing someone right now. I don't know. It might not be serious." "Oh, okay. Um, what are they like?" "She works for the Hungry Bucket." He rubbed the back of his neck. "And…?"

Tommy thought about how to describe Joelle. I can't believe I have to talk about this. Kill me. "She's um, cool, I guess. We hang out and play video games and stuff."

"You should bring her by the house sometime," Sally suggested. "I'll think about it. Anyway, I'm bushed from practice and I kind of wanted to take a shower before dinner."

His parents nodded, looking somewhat guiltily relieved. He headed upstairs and prayed that was the last of the awkward conversations about his sex life.

---

Tommy sat at the bar in The Factory, tapping his foot erratically. He had been having a pretty crappy day - with all the accusations - and he could feel eyes on him as he waited for Joelle to arrive. She'd worked an early shift, so she was coming from home tonight.

She snuck up behind him and flopped onto the seat next to his. "Hey stranger." He felt his face light up at the sight of her, and she laughed at his goofy grin. "Hey." "You that happy to see me, cornbread?" "It's been quite a day." "Yeah, I bet. Coming out of the closet is never easy."

His face fell. "Not you too." She laughed. "Relax. I think you proved last night that you have other interests." "How did you even find out about that story? You don't go to our school." "Someone brought it in at work because they knew we were seeing each other. Apparently the retraction is already posted outside the paper office, they just wanted to razz me."

"Sorry. Being friends with Merton is… an adventure." Tommy sighed. Joelle smirked. "Well. Nevermind that." She hopped off the stool and stood behind him. She smoothed her small, warm hand over his shoulders and started kneading. "You should just relax, forget all your worries…" Tommy let out a small, pleased groan. She wrapped her arms around his back and leaned into him. "And dance with me." He let out a snicker, but did as he was told and followed her onto the dance floor.

---

Tommy rolled his shoulders and hopped in spot while he waited for Kalida to come outside. Merton had come with the hearse to pick them up for the paintball tourney. He was dressed in a pair of old, grease-stained jeans and a yellow and black raglan shirt. He put his hands in his pockets as Merton got out and joined him on the driveway.

"You ready for this?" Merton shrugged. "Ready as I'll ever be." He was dressed in black from head to toe, but it was all cheap throw-away clothing that he'd bought at a chain store in the town down the highway. He'd sewn a crest of Mertonia on the back of the shirt. "As long as we beat Fielding, I'm happy." Tommy laughed. "I want the money."

Merton looked up to the house, fixing his hair spikes absentmindedly. "Where's Kali?" "She'll be out in a sec. She was getting dressed up in our team colors." He motioned to his black and yellow shirt. Merton grinned. "Aww. She's such a trooper." Tommy laughed. "I'm sure she's just trying to get points with her boyfriend." Merton rubbed the back of his neck. "Uhh, yeah." "She told me you asked her to be your girlfriend." "Yeah, I did." "I'm happy for you, man." He patted Merton's head, putting on a high pitched voice. "You two are so cute." Merton batted his hands away, and furiously set to making sure his hair was okay.

"I asked her to prom, too." "So I heard, stud." "You gonna take Joelle?" "Maybe. I dunno. She's not going to high school anymore, she might think it's… kid stuff." "Ah yes, the juvenile activities of people our age."

"You guys ready to go?" Kalida skipped down the front steps in black jeans and a yellow tshirt. Her hair was up in high pigtails, tied with long black and yellow ribbons. Merton looked her over and tried not to feel too excited about it. Tommy shook his head. "We've been waiting for you!" "I'm perfectly on time. Merton just got here early." She stopped in front of Merton and did a little twirl. "What do you think? Am I doing Mertonia proud?"

Merton smiled. "You can be the official cheerleader." "Ah, the king's approval. Excellent." He motioned to the hearse. "Shall we?"

They piled in and headed for the school.

---

When they arrived, the three of them headed for the back of the campus. The paintball course had been set up on the football field, and there was a surprisingly large crowd forming.

"Merton!" Margaret waved frantically, set up on the lowest bleacher row with a standing banner of the Mertonia crest. She was dressed in a black and yellow striped dress with an underbust corset. Her red hair was braided with black and yellow ribbons and she had literal pompoms in the right colors.

"I think I lost that official cheerleader status," Kalida murmured. Tommy snickered under his breath.

They headed over and Margaret ran up and hugged Merton, almost knocking him over. "Good luck, Merton!" Merton carefully removed her from him. "Thanks Margaret." He examined the banner. "You did a great job with this. I might have to commission one for the lair. "I would totally make you one!" Margaret stared up at him with starry eyes until she noticed Tommy and Kalida. "Oh, hey Tommy." She sneered slightly at Kalida. "Tommy's cousin." Kali rolled her eyes. "Yeah, hey."

Tommy motioned to the registration table. "Merton, we should sign in and get our equipment." Merton nodded. "Oh, right. Okay, well, see you girls later." He waved to Margaret and Kalida. Kalida smiled at her boyfriend and her cousin as they walked off together. "Good luck! Don't get hurt!" Margaret cheered loudly, attracting the attention of everyone nearby. "GO MERTON! DEFEND MERTONIA'S HONOUR!"

Kalida saw the laugh Tommy tried to hide, noticing the way his back shook as Merton shrank beside him, pinching the bridge of his nose. Once they were alone, Margaret and Kalida looked at each other. Margaret sneered again and took her seat, pointedly ignoring her.

Kalida sighed. I guess someone's jealous… She looked around the crowd on the bleachers and spotted some of Tommy's teammates that had been at the house party. She waved and smiled and was pleased to have them motion for her to come sit with them. She skipped up the steps and tried not to look like she was bothered by Margaret's rude behaviour.

---

Timothy Eckert smacked his brother's chest. "Trav, look! It's the nancy boys." T&T snickered at each other, approaching Tommy and Merton, who were standing near the entrance to the arena.

Merton rolled his eyes. "The one time you two read a newspaper." Travis puffed his chest up. "What's that, Dingle?" Tommy put his hand up, exasperated. "Lay off." "Or what? You and your boyfriend will cry about it?" T&T mimed crying at each other.

"We're not gay," Merton sighed. He had had to explain himself so many times in the last 36 hours that he was actually bored of repeating it. "Not what the paper said," Tim laughed.

Tommy felt a growl rising in his throat. Travis put on a voice. "Don't they make such a cute couple?" "And what if we were?" Tommy raised his paintball gun and pointed it at Tim's face. "You wanna fight about it?" Travis put his hands up and took a step back. "Whoa, easy Dawkins. I didn't mean nothin'." "Then shut your big mouth. And while you're at it, you can leave Merton alone from now on."

Tim looked over at Merton. "Aw, Dingle doesn't mind us palling around. Do you, Dingle?" Merton pursed his lips and avoided eye contact, feeling tense. Typically confronting bullies didn't help the situation. "I mind." Tommy growled. Tim and Travis both swallowed and took another step back. "Got it, bro. We'll play nice with the Dingle." "Yeah. We'll be buds."

Tommy continued to stare the two bigger guys down until they walked away. Merton sighed. "Way to sell that whole, we're-just-friends angle." "Whatever, man." Tommy adjusted his gun. "I'm just sick of seeing you let people walk all over you."

Merton made a face. "Right. I bring it on myself. Hero complex with a side of victim blaming. Good look." "Hey, I was sticking up for you. You're welcome." "Thanks. I really appreciated the part where I didn't ask you to." Merton rolled his shoulders, then lowered his voice. "I know you can't relate, but past experience suggests they're just going to harass me even more now. They'll just do it when you're not around." Tommy's frown deepened. "We'll see." "Anyway, let's get ready."

They helped each other into the protective vests, helmets, and goggles that had been provided, and Tommy showed Merton how to use the paintball gun. They waited in the starting area for the buzzer that signified the beginning of the match.

---

Kalida sat with the football players and watched as the teams moved into the playfield. Clouds of dry ice fog moved out from certain spots, obscuring the view to various degrees, but it was interesting to have a mostly-aerial view of area.

The guy beside her nudged her arm and pointed out a team that was trying to sneak toward the center as another came up behind them. "Check it, the nerds are gonna rock those guys." He took a handful of popcorn and angled his bag toward her, raising a brow. "Thanks." She took a small handful for herself and scanned the field for Merton. "Who are you rooting for?" "Gotta root for Dawkins, right? That's our boy." Kalida smiled, feeling chuffed by the camaraderie. "Right."

---

Hugo came up behind a paintball participant who was hiding in a foggy area and tapped him on the shoulder.

The student was surprised, but relaxed when he recognized the creepy security guard. He took off his helmet. "What's going on?"

Hugo bonked the student over the head with a clenched fist, knocking him to the ground. He took the boy's gun and smirked as the dry ice concealed his movements.

---

Merton hid behind a wide column that had been set up as paint splattered against the wall beside him. Tommy motioned for him to follow, and the two ran to an empty area of the battlefield. Dry ice was placed around the field periodically to limit visibility.

"Okay, let's get away from this group. Let them shoot each other up while we find high ground." Merton nodded. "I saw some big step things in the far end when we were dodging T&T." "Great, let's go."

They snuck around the battlefield a while and found the stairs guarded by a lone person.

"Where's their partner?" Merton whispered. "Hiding behind that pillar there." He motioned with his gun. "You get the guy up top, I'll hang back and get the hiding one." "Okay, let's go."

---

Merton followed Tommy deeper into the paintball battlefield. He coughed as the thick fog engulfed them. "They went a little thick on the dry ice over here."

Tommy nodded, looking around. He leaned in close to Merton, speaking quietly. "I can't even see the bleachers from here. There might be people hiding in here. Let's keep it down." "Yeah, I'll try not to asphyxiate too loudly, Tom."

Still, Merton pressed on quietly and carefully with Tommy. They turned a corner and came across Tim and Travis lying unconscious on the ground below the fog.

Tommy looked around frantically, waving his gun. "What the hell, man?" "Maybe their brains finally stopped being able to process the basic functions of living." Merton laughed to himself, then crouched down and checked the necks for pulses. "They're alive. But we should probably alert the officials."

"That won't be necessary, lads." Merton and Tommy swung around to see Hugo standing before them, pointing a paintball gun menacingly in their direction. A helmet sat loosely on top of his head, and his eyes flashed an eerie blue. "Best surrender now."

Tommy blasted Hugo with several paintballs, the ink seeping into his security uniform. Merton snickered. "Guess you're out." Hugo smirked and returned the favour, covering the two in multicolored paint. Tommy gaped. "What the hell!?" "Not really keeping with the spirit of the game, Hugo!" "War is no game." Hugo's eyes flashed blue again and Tommy smacked Merton's chest, gesturing for him to notice. Merton raised his gun defensively, wondering just what had gotten into the unhinged school watchman.

"Can't have any survivors," he continued, stepping toward them.

---

Kalida frowned as she continued to look for a trace of Merton and Tommy. They'd disappeared into one of the clouds of fog and hadn't surfaced again yet.

She looked down the stands to see that Becky and Meghan had approached Margaret where she was sitting alone. She couldn't make out what was being said, but from Becky's body language and facial expressions, it didn't seem friendly. Even though Margaret wasn't exactly a friend of hers, she knew that Merton would be bothered to hear that Becky was harassing the other young girl.

She leaned toward Tommy's teammate and touched his arm. "I'm gonna go get a drink. Be right back." He flashed her a wide grin. "I'll save your seat."

She made her way down the bleachers and toward the group, pretending to notice Becky when she got to the bottom. She forced a bright smile and skipped over. "Oh, hey Becky!" Becky and her friend were startled by the sudden appearance of their upperclassman. Becky tucked some hair behind her ear. "Oh, hey Kalida." "It was great having you at our party. You should bring your friends next time." Meghan's eyes widened. "Seriously?" Kalida grinned. "Of course. Any friend of Dingle's is welcome at a Dawkins party."

Becky fidgeted a bit, looking around to see some of the football players glancing their way. "Oh, um, okay. Thanks." "Yeah, no prob." Kalida held a closed fist up toward Becky. Becky blinked in confusion. Kalida's smile faltered, hand still extended. "Pound it." "What?" Becky held her balled hand up in confusion. "Like this?"

Kalida sighed and touched her fist against the younger girl's. "Maybe it's a Canadian thing." Becky's cheeks flushed and she pulled her hand back, tucking more hair behind her ear. "W-well, um, see you later." "Yeah, later."

Kalida watched as Becky and her friend walked off, whispering excitedly to each other. She turned to Margaret, who was leveling a death glare at her. "Hey." "If you think that sucking up to Becky is going to make Merton like you, you're wrong." Margaret spat back. "Okay." Kalida nodded slowly and rolled her eyes. "I was actually thinking maybe she was bothering you, so I'd intervene." Kalida turned to leave.

"Why do you even care?"

She stopped and looked back at Margaret, then shrugged her shoulders. "I shouldn't, clearly, since you've literally been nothing but rude to me since the day we met. But Merton cares about you, and I know it would bother him to see Becky harassing you." Margaret sneered. "So you're just trying to win brownie points?" Kalida let out a groan. "Last I checked I didn't need to trick my boyfriend into liking me. Did it ever occur to you that Merton being upset would upset me?"

Margaret stared back at her with a confounded expression. Kalida sighed and rolled her eyes, turning to leave again as the younger girl mumbled in shock. "He's your boyfriend?"

She glanced back at Margaret, realizing Merton hadn't told her they were dating. Before she could question Margaret's feelings on the matter, a howling in the distance caught her attention.

---

Tommy dodged a blow from Hugo and rolled away. He had wolfed out, and was trying not to get knocked out while Merton struggled to come up with a way to get whatever had possessed Hugo to no longer do so.

"It could be any kind of non-corporeal entity!" Merton called through the fog. "Try to knock him out, maybe it will leave his body!" "A little help?" Tommy called in the direction of Merton's voice. He was met with a spray of paint balls, most of which hit Tommy's back. "Not helpful!"

---

Kalida wrung her hands, back in her seat and watching the paintball match below, desperately looking for Tommy or Merton in the mess of obstacles and fog. Most of the teams had already been hit and left the field, but there was skirmish in the northeast corner that had most of the crowd's attention. She was sure that she'd heard Tommy howl, but there was no way for her to enter the arena without being noticed.

The football player beside her put his arm around her shoulders. "Relax, Dawkins. I'm sure Tommy's fine in there." "Mm, yeah, probably." She squirmed out of his grip and he shrugged it off. "It's just we can't see what's going on over there." "Yeah but they haven't come out yet, either, so they're still in the game, right?" He winked at her. She forced a small smile. "Yeah, I guess so."

She sighed and focused back on the field. I just hope you're okay. Don't do anything stupid.

---

"I can't believe that worked!" Tommy fell to the ground and let out a huge sigh as his wolf features receded. "I am a genius!" Merton proclaimed, standing over Hugo's unconscious body. He put a hand out to help Tommy up off the ground. "Come on, let's get out of here before Hugo wonders how he got into the paintball tournament." "Good call."

As Merton and Tommy made their way out of the fog and toward the exit, Tommy suddenly smacked Merton's chest. Merton pursed his lips, but continued walking. "Hey, so you know Trevor from the movie store?" Merton raised a brow. "Yeah?" "I forgot to tell you, but his girlfriend told me that someone's been following him. Asked if there was anything weird happening."

Merton furrowed his brow. "Does he know who's following him?" "Apparently not." "Huh. Should we do another stake out?" Merton waggled his eyebrows at his pun.

Tommy rolled his eyes. "I mean, maybe? What kind of person stalks a-" he lowered his voice to a whisper, "vampire?" "Could be another vampire? A hunter?" Merton shrugged. "Maybe someone who watches a little too much Buffy and thinks Angel is dreamy?" Tommy smacked Merton's chest again. "Hey." "If it's a hunter, they might be hunting werewolves next." "Tommy, what are the chances of another hunter coming to town? The three of us have this in the bag."

---

Kalida met Tommy and Merton at the bottom of the bleachers.

"Oh, wow, you guys got annihilated." Merton scowled. "It was hardly sporting." "I could have sworn I heard howling…?" "We'll tell you about it later," Tommy nodded. "Well I guess you're not getting the prize money."

Merton perked up. "Did Fielding leave yet? I wanted to outlast him at least." Kalida shrugged. "Who's Fielding?"

Margaret ran up from behind them and glomped Merton, almost knocking him over again. "You should have taken me into the fray with you, Merton! I would have kept you safe!" Tommy rolled his eyes and Kalida shifted uncomfortably as she watched Merton pry Margaret off of himself. "Now, now, Margaret. No need to overreact." Tommy tapped Merton's should and pointed at the bleachers. "Isn't that Fielding over there?" Merton smirked as he made eye contact with his Quiz Bowl nemesis. "So it is. I guess his strategy wasn't up to snuff after all."

A loud buzzer rang out over the field and one of the teachers came out with a microphone. "Okay, folks, we have our winning team!"

The group turned to look as Tim and Travis Eckert were handed a large, cheap-looking trophy. The brothers looked both surprised and pleased before shouting into the microphone "T'n'T rule!" Merton rolled his eyes. "Wow, they won by being unconscious on the ground." Margaret raised a brow. "What?" Merton quickly backpedalled. "Oh- nevermind. It was just an expression. Good for them I guess." Tommy snickered a bit as Kalida shook her head.

She leaned into Tommy, careful not to get any paint on herself. "I expect a full account of what happened in there." "I'm sure Merton's dying to brag about it."

---

Tags: @self-conscious-author

Chapter 15 here.

Chapters: 1&2, 3&4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

#big wolf on campus #big wolf on campus fanfic #big wolf #bwoc #bwoc fanfic #merton x oc #merton j dingle #merton dingle #tommy dawkins #tommy dawkins x oc

5 notes · View notes

yo-im-a-bisexual · 3 years

Text

This is my first time writing and i'm definitely no writer. English isn't even my first language. It is kinda long but I swear it's going somewhere. I just really love them and this will only work untill we get a new kieutou clip so whatever. Hope you enjoy. And I'm sorry if it sucks. constructive criticism is always okay but I will probably not take it into account because I am already depressed. Enjoy!!

Basically what I wish happened today for kieu my.

'but we'll definitely see each other when you come back?' 14:31

Kieu my stared at fatou's text notification on her phone, not knowing what to answer.

She still didn't know how to feel about their interaction on Tuesday, it all happened so fast and the last thing she wanted was to fight with her girlfriend.

At the time, leaving seemed like the best solution and Kieu my had every right to feel conflicted about what fatou said.

"you're the only thing distracting me from everything else at the moment"

The words resonate in her head. It hurt. Kieu my couldn't hide that those words are the ones that kept her up that night. And obviously, also the crazy situation they were in right now.

"Kieu my?" The words broke her out of her trance and she looked up from her phone to see Zoe looking at her with a worried look on her face.

"Are you okay? You've been checking your phone every five minutes since we got here" Zoe added getting closer to her

"yeah, I'm fine. I'm just... Forget it." She answered her best friend. "We're gonna lose the guys if we don't keep up" she said looking straight ahead.

Zoe didn't push her and just agreed. Kieu my put her phone back in her pocket. They jogged a little to catch up with their friends and they just kept walking.

She looked at the small group and laughed dryly to herself, which earned her a weird look from Constantin. Somehow her tall dumb friend got himself all the way to fricking Brandenburg and couldn't remember how. When Ismail told her about a 'Consti-emergency' she figured they would have to go get him from a ditch somewhere, she just would have never guessed it was from the countryside, one (1) and a half hour away from Berlin.

On the way there Ismail had told them that Constantin had called them completely trashed asking for help.

Kieu my really hasn't been keeping up with what's been happening in her friends lives. She felt bad. But at the same time, how could she? She's had so much to deal with between her parents and the shop and school and... Fatou. There she goes again. Even when she tries to be mad at her she just can't keep the skater out of her head. She reaches for her phone in her pocket when she hears a commotion ahead.

When she looks up she sees Contantin throwing up in a bush. She looks away not wanting to throw up herself.

"You guys go and head back i'll take care of... This" she hears Ismail say and when she turns back around she sees them patting the blonde's back

"are you sure?" Finn asks them and when they only nod their head 'yes' he looks at Zoe.

"yeah... okay let's go then" Zoe finally says after a minute of staring at the ground. "Text us if you need anything and when he... Calms down." She adds with a tight lipped smile. Zoe grabs her boyfriend's hand and her Best friend's arm and they start walking away.

"well that was... Unexpected?" Kieu my says after a few minutes of silence.

"yeah/yeah" both Finn and Zoe answer at the same time. "I'll text my brother and tell him we're coming back" Finn adds.

They got lucky this time around. Last time, they had to drive an hour to go get Constantin and drive back to Berlin in the middle of the night. But luckily Finn's brother somehow lived in Brandenburg so they didn't have to drive all the way back. When they got there and found the passed out boy they decided they all needed a break.

After about a twenty (20) minute walk and a small bus ride they finally got to the small house. It was cozy. Kieu my really couldn't complain. She got to share a room with her best friend while the boys would have to try and fit on the couch in the living room. Although she's pretty sure she's gonna sleep alone because Finn somehow managed to find another bed in what seemed to be the attic and with some good arguments managed to convince Zoe to sleep with him in there. But she's also pretty sure she won't be able to sleep anyway.

Like every winter day, night falls pretty fast. It's past 8 p.m and they already ate. Constantin is passed out on the couch and the others are talking about all sorts of things in the kitchen. Kieu my takes it as her queue to go to her room.

"I'm gonna get some rest. I need my beauty sleep" she tells them. They all say goodnight and she's left walking to her room alone.

It's only ten (10) minutes later when someone knocks at her door. "Can I come in kieu?" It's Zoe.

"yes, please"

"so are you ready to tell me what happened with Fatou or not?" Zoe asks nonchalantly.

"how did you even-" she gets cut off

"Come on Kieu, you're my best friend... and I saw the dozen texts she left on your phone" Zoe drags out

Kieu my falls on her bed and zoe sits next to her playing with her best friend's hair.

"I feel like I messed up... Like somehow I did something wrong and now she's pulling away from me" she starts and even before Zoe can say anything she continues. "But I just wanted to help her and she..."

"she what?"

"she said I was a distraction. And that I should leave her alone and she just got angry at me and I didn't want to fight with her so I... Left. Oh my god, I shouldn't have left right? Now she's gonna think I was there only for school stuff. She probably needed me and I left... Am I a terrible person Zoe?" She let out in barely one breath.

"See now you're spiraling. Take a breath, okay? No you are not a bad person. You were just upset and Fatou probably was too but those kinda things happen in a relationship. Me and Finn argue all the time and most of the time it's because one of us misunderstood something the other did or said" Zoe reassured her

Kieu my took a few deep breaths and sat up in the bed. She started playing With her fingers like she always does when she's feeling things.

"I guess I'm just scared that right now she's into me because I'm a good enough distraction but the moment she doesn't need me anymore... She'll just move on to someone more experienced or more interesting." The words leave her mouth with shaky breaths. Kieu my's eyes start shining but she blinks a couple time to keep the tears away.

"oh Kieu, you are such an idiot sometimes" the blonde laughs while kieu my looks at her dumbfounded. "Fatou is not like that. Nora once told me that one time, when the girls had a sleepover Fatou couldn't stop talking about you for the entire afternoon, so much so that when she fell asleep she was still saying your name" she continues. Kieu my blushes at the statement, thankful that the light is dim enough for her friend not to notice. Before Kieu my can say anything her very talkative friend continues. "She's smitten, Kieu. Maybe she just as some stuff going on. I mean don't we all" she adds wich earns a small laugh from her friend

Before they can continue their conversation someone knocks at the door and comes in without waiting for an answer. It's Finn, with a big smile on his face.

"hey girls!" He says way too excitedly. "I was wondering if Zoe.." he says looking at his girlfriend. "..Would like to come join me in our fine chambers?"

Zoe looks at her friend who is smiling at her. "Duty calls. Sorry. But if you wanna keep talking-" Kieu my cuts her off.

"Go, don't worry I'm fine. Thanks for the talk"

Zoe smiles one last time before running out of the room hand in hand with Finn.

Kieu my lays back down and closes her eyes. She can't help but think about Fatou. How does she manage to always be on her mind, it's unrealistic. She thinks about their date at the museum. Their date. She smiles to herself and covers her face with her arm to hide it. She thinks about how she nerded out to her and she just answered with something as nerdy. About how at that moment she kissed. About how well their lips fit together. About how happy she was that day. Maybe Zoe was right maybe she was spiraling.

Her phone rang and snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked at it for the first time since they got back. She gasps

It's Fatou. Of course it's Fatou, she probably thinks she ghosted her again. The moment she picks it up it stops ringing. Kieu my hesitates but puts it back down. She gets a text and as fast as she put it down she picks it back up. It's a text from Fatou. She also notices she's got some texts from her mom and a missed call from Ismail.

'hey, I just saw on your Insta you're doing a 'social media cleanse', sorry for calling you it's probably against that whole thing' -21:37

Right, Kieu my thinks, the social media cleanse.. that was Zoe's idea honestly. Another text.

'you looked really good in those pictures tho, real 'twilight' vibes🧛 -21:38

Kieu my smiles at her phone and starts to write an answer when she remembers that they haven't actually resolved their issue. And yes Fatou apologized but Kieu my expects something better than a text. On another hand she did tell her girlfriend to call her when she calmed down.

'can I call you again' -21:40 'please?' -21:40

Her phone rang again but this time she picked it up and answered. She waits a few seconds.

"hey.." she hears her girlfriend's tired voice from the other end

"hi." She says back, trying to keep her composure even behind the phone.

"how are you? I saw your posts and got worried"

"I'm.. fine, it was all pretty last minute" she answers

"Oh okay, It's good to hear your voice"

There's a silence, it's not awkward, somehow it's sad.

"Fatou?"

"yes"

"are you..." She begins but can't find the strength to finish.

"i'm not" she hears more than sees the sad smile. "I got fired"

"what- Why? When?" Kieu my asks

"Saturday. I messed up a bunch of times. Was late even. I don't know..." Fatou sounds so defeated

"I'm sorry. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know.. it's not your fault"

"Fatou. I just want you to know that I didn't come to your place just for school stuff. I wanted- I want to help you and I just feel so helpless because you can see right through me and I can't seem to understand any of your problems. I'm sorry." Kieu my starts rambling but gets cut off by Fatou laughing dryly.

"Are you serious? I was the asshole and you feel bad. I'm the one that should be sorry and I am. I am sorry. I don't have an excuse I shouldn't have snapped at you like that" Fatou says and Kieu my thinks that they don't have the same definition of snapped.

"Look, I don't like this, you being mad at me and us not talking so if you just give me a chance to really explain myself I would really like it if you would come and meet me when you get back" the skater girl continues

"yeah, I would also like that" she says with a small smile

"oh okay.. great.. well would you be up for a date at a ping-pong table bar then?"

"definitely"

"great, okay then I guess I'll just leave you to your cleansing"

Kieu my laughs

"goodnight Kieu my"

A pause

"goodnight Fatou"

She hangs up.

Kieu my knows that their conversation isn't over but for now she'll take it. For now it's good.

"was that Fatou?" A voice startles her from the doorway. It's Ismail.

"Shit- you scared me." She paused "Yes it was Fatou"

"Great cause I couldn't handle your sad moping face anymore. What'd you guys talk about?" They ask

She ignores his question. "I do not have a moping face." She says with a hurt look across her face. They look at her.

"Was it that obvious?" She asks with a frown

"Yes! Babe come on even Consti could have noticed if he wasn't puking his soul in the bushes" Ismail says dramatically. "Now come on give me the details. I need to know everything that is happening between my bestie and the mother of my tortoise" they sit next to Kieu my.

"you're so dramatic" she laughs. "Relax, we had a... Quarrel on Tuesday and she apologized and asked if we could meet up to talk about it" she tell them

"a quarrel? Okay m'lady... About?"

"some stupid school stuff" she lied.

"well you're a terrible liar because I overheard that entire phone call so what's up inside that little head of yours"

"Ismail, boundaries, please"

"oh please I've seen you at your lowest miss vu. There's literally nothing you can hide from me now."

She hesitates but starts talking anyway. "You know how I told you about me officially 'meeting' her friends last week" they nodded. "Well when she got there she was visibly upset and I didn't know why and then she got a text and got even more upset and now she just told me she got fired." She takes a breath. "And I just feel bad because those are all things I'm supposed to know about my girlfriend you know? Except she doesn't talk to me about that stuff and I don't know how to get her to open up.." she finishes breathless.

"you poor disaster" Ismail smiles and shakes their head. "You ask her" she's about to cut him off but they put their finger in front of her. "You find the right way to ask her. Love language Kieu my... Love language." They stand up and put their hand up like a shakespearean poet and goes on. "Give her time to open up, this is Fatou Jallow we're talking about. And remember communication is key." They finish, winking and walking backwards to the door and closing it behind them.

Kieu my was about to laugh at her friend's theatrics when the door opens up again and Ismail walks back in.

"no, but I just wanted to ask if I could sleep here cause Constantin has taken the whole couch and he smells like a dead body so...?"

The both of them laugh and Ismail slides next to Kieu my in the bed. "I'm gonna take that as a yes" they say.

"sleep well, ice queen" they mumble already falling asleep

"shut up" she smiles.

That night she dreamt about her girlfriend. She remembers all those weeks ago when her friend sleeping next to her asked her how the dreamy skater girl made her feel. At the time she hadn't known how to put her feelings into words. At that time her girlfriend was just a silly crush. Except Kieu my vu never got silly crushes. But she had instantly known Fatou was different. She was different then and she's different now. And with that thought she drifted into a peaceful sleep. Her insecurities forgotten for the night. She should have never worried about any of this in the first place. Soon she's gonna see the girl she loves again and everything will be alr-

*record scratch*

She woke up with a gasp.

"I love her"

She panted

"congrats, you're the last one to know" she heard Ismail mumble in their pillow.

She smiled to herself, feeling dumb for realising this just now. Looking at her phone she saw 5 a.m. deciding she deserved a little bit more sleep she closed her eyes and with a content sigh drifted back to sleep.

"when I get back we'll definitely see each other" she thought

Okay so I'm too lazy to read this and check for any mistakes so if there are any point them out and i'll fix it. Hope you enjoyed and if you took the time to actually read all this thank you I appreciate. Should I make a part 2? Or Fatou's pov maybe?

Update: the response as been amazing. Like I'm actually shocked by how nice some people can be. Thank you so much.

Re-update: I had my exams this week and am really fucking exhausted and i'm just gonna wait and see what happens tonight. If it's a sad clip i'm probably gonna write the version I would've wanted to happen but i guess we'll see. Sorryyy

#druck #Fatou jallow #kieu my vu #fatou jallow x kieu my vu #I wrote this instead of studying for my bio exam #zoe machwitz #ismail inci #constantin ostendorf #constanpain is present but has no dialogue because I don't value him

91 notes · View notes

mando-ag · 3 years

Text

Remember Me ~* The Park

Summary: Din meets reader in the city part during winter, seeing reader for the first time as she plays with children. He quickly realizes this is his destiny.

Warning: fluff, modern!din, fem!reader, modern!au

w/c 1.2k

a/n y'all I'm not good at this tbh but I will try my best. I got this idea from my best friend as we were rp because we do that lol. this one isn't much action but I promise it will happen soon. it might be a multi part fic, not sure yet but hope y'all enjoy it <3

Din walked through the snow to his favorite reading spot. He enjoyed the winter, it reminded him that a new beginning would be starting soon. As he approached his favorite wooden bench, he noticed he wasn't alone. He saw you playing with children.

She looks too young for them to be hers, maybe she's babysitting. He thought to himself.

He sat on the bench, watching the interaction between you and the children. He could tell you had a good relationship with the children as they laughed loudly from the tickles and jokes you made. One of the kids looked over, seeing him sit at the bench.

"Who is that?" she asked you, causing you to look over. You waved over at him, offering him a small smile.

"Just a nice man Loretta, c'mon. We are only here for a bit more because you kids have to see mommy and daddy soon." You told her and the other two children whom you were babysitting. If it were up to you, you'd much rather be inside playing movies for the kids but they had begged for two days straight if they could play in the snow at the park.

The kids groaned, wanting to play there all day. Mustering up the courage, you went over to the helmet covered man which caused him to look up from his book.

"Hello." you said to him. Staring into the black visor of his helmet. You told him your name and waited for him to do the same. He repeated your name, making a shiver crawl up your spine the way it rolled off his tongue.

"Mando." Din replied, watching your face as you tilted your head to the side, clearly you've never interacted or even knew what a Mandalorian was.

Interesting name you thought to yourself. Deciding to sit next to him, you noticed the book in his hands. Clearly one of his favorites as the edges were beginning to brown, the spine had been through a lot.

"That your favorite?" You asked, nodding towards the book.

Din nodded, looking at his book. It was one given by a friend years prior. He's read it several times as the plot is just immaculate to him. He absolutely adored the book with his entire being.

"I enjoy it very much. It's.. fascinating to me every time I read it." His voice was deep, like smooth honey. It suited him perfectly.

"It looks nice." you responded, looking towards the children. Checking your phone, you realized it was time to leave. Sighing softly you stood and called out to the three kids.

"Kids! C'mon we have to go now!" Hearing their soft groans as they walked towards you. Turning to Mando who already has his helmet trained on you, "Nice meeting you Mando." You smiled at him, taking the children's hands as he simply tipped the helmet towards you.

You left the home of the kids you were baby sitting after their parents came home but you couldn't stop thinking of Mando.

He's so quiet. Either shy or just not interested. You thought, humming as you walked on the sidewalk to your apartment. It wasn't much but it was enough for you.

Deciding to go to a community college was something your parents disapproved of. They wanted their only daughter to head off to a four year university to brag to their friends that their daughter is extremely intelligent and hardworking.

The thing is, you are intelligent and hard-working.You knew you didn’t need to go to some big shot four year university to prove that. Knowing your parents are just ignorant bothered you but deciding to take your life by the reins, you moved out into a small apartment and went to community college. Probably the best decision you’ve ever made.

I wonder if he lives alone. You thought to yourself as you removed a few pillows from your bed.

“He probably has a girlfriend… or boyfriend.” you said out loud, removing your clothing. You didn’t sleep naked but you enjoyed sleeping in just your panties and a tank top. It was easier to warm up that way for you under the massive amount of blankets you have on your bed. Does he sleep nake- um no! We will not be thinking like that of a man we just met, you weirdo. You sighed, cursing yourself for letting your mind wander like that of a man who you literally did just meet.

It was getting late and you had to be up bright and early tomorrow so you decided to call it a night and get a goodnight’s rest.

~ ~ ~

Din put his book in its spot on his bookshelf, going to Cara’s house to pick up the kid. He wanted a few hours away from his son so he asked his neighbor to babysit Grogu for a few hours. Bringing him home, he let him play with his toys in the living room of his home.

Din just couldn’t stop thinking of you. You greeting him and trying to make conversation with him warmed his heart. Being him made it difficult to make friends and maintain friendships. He didn’t mind it now as an adult but it made him happy that you decided to approach him.

He could tell you were nervous, noticing the way your voice wavered a bit when you said hello. He thought the blush on your cheeks was cute when he told you his general nickname. Thinking about the way you played with your fingers when you asked about his book made him smile.

Such a shy little thing. He thought to himself as he made tea. He took off his helmet, the blinds of his home closed long ago so he didn’t worry of someone seeing his face besides his son. Din sat on the couch with his cup of tea, watching Grogu play with his toys, cooing and squealing in delight.

Chuckling in amusement as he watched his boy, he sipped his tea, letting his mind wander back to you. The way you slightly furrowed your brows as you watched the children play, concerned for their safety. The soft sigh that fell from your baby pink lips. Even your stance, confident yet welcoming. He felt his attraction growing strong for you.

I need to get laid, I just met the girl. He thought as he finished his now cold tea. Maker what time is it? Checking his watch, he realizes he's been thinking about you for the past two hours. The kid was blinking sleepily already, about to just fall asleep on the floor. Picking up his sleepy son, he carried him to his little bed where he tucked him in and left a little night light on.

Going to set his cup in the sink, checking the locks and windows, double checking them. Din had a reason to ensure the safety of his home and that is because he has an interesting job. He was a hitman, the best if you will. Best known in the business for his stealth and ability to always hit the target. He never misses. When he adopted his son, it was purely out of love and care for the little guy. He never saw himself as a father but he’s thoroughly enjoying fatherhood with his little boy.

Calling it a night, Din fell asleep dreaming of the pretty girl he met at the park.

a/n omg guys this is the first one eeek! i'm nervous, I know its gonna flop but i'm excited. last time I did anything like this I was 14 so hopefully I improved just a teeny bit.

#fluff and smut #din djarin #din x reader #writing #student #bounty hunter #grogu djarin #fem reader #modern au

27 notes · View notes

rainy-day-gracie · 4 years

Text

America’s Sweetheart 5

hi there beautiful people !!

Read previous chapter here <-

The press finds out about Reader and Spencer’s relationship, and Reader opens up to Spencer. Cliffhanger at the end 👀

Angst + fluff !!

MASTERLIST

I had to turn my phone on silent.

Person after person was calling me, asking questions, giving their opinion. My face was splashed over every magazine, tabloid, and news article I could find.

Spencer had called me four times, never getting an answer.

YFN YLN has a new man!

YFN YLN has risen to fame in the last few years, but that’s not all she’s seemed to accomplish.

The american sweetheart has been spotted multiple times walking the streets of Washington DC with, not only a man, but a federal agent. After one of our sources found them at a coffee shop, the mystery man threatened to arrest our source and to leave YFN be.

We have identified the mystery man as none other than SSA Dr. Spencer Reid, a federal agent in the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit. Not only is Reid a handsome fellow, he’s a smart cookie as well. With three PhDs and a couple of BAs tucked under his belt, the good doctor has chosen to settle down with our very own YFN YLN.

How did these lovebirds meet? Did the deaths of YFN’s parents affect the relationship? When will they be planning the wedding?

All questions to be answered. Tune in to our next weeks....

The pictures of Spencer and I were fine. We’re smiling, laughing. Nothing to suggest any gossip, drama, or otherwise.

But that’s what’s going to happen. People all around the world will be watching, analyzing, waiting for what happens next.

The knock at my door made me roll my eyes, the clever tune telling me it was Spencer. He must’ve come straight to my house after his case.

“YFN, I know you’re in there! We need to talk about this-” I opened the door, revealing my disheveled appearance. Spencer stopped, concern filling his eyes. “Can I come in?”

“Sure,” I said, quietly, letting him in the door. His old converse thudded against my wood floors, and I followed behind him at a safe distance.

“Okay, what’s wrong? The press would eventually figure it out, that’s what you always said,” Spencer said impatiently, spinning around to face me.

“I know! I’ve just never been in a relationship that’s so... public.” I crossed my arms over my chest, pushing past Spencer into my kitchen. “I’m just preparing for the blowback of rumors, gossip, drama. That’ll come too, you know.”

“So? What does that matter?” Spencer asked, pulling gently on my arm. I faced him again, and I could see his next question in his eyes. “You also haven’t told me about your parents...”

“You haven’t told me about your parents!” I shot back, my defenses coming up.

Spencer didn’t miss a beat. “My mom has schizophrenia and my dad left when I was eleven. Those are my parents. Now you need to tell me about yours. I want to hear it from you over a tabloid or a reporter.”

I sniffled, pulling away from Spencer gently. I sat over on the couch, and he didn’t hesitant to follow. Spencer sat next to me quietly, like if he makes no noise I won’t notice he’s still there.

“At the Academy awards a few years ago, I was nominated for best actress. It was my first nomination for anything, and I was still super young and fitting into the business. The newbie, you might say.” Spencer nodded, understanding.

“I didn’t win, and I didn’t expect to win so I wasn’t super sad about it. But my dad took my ‘loss’ as a personal vendetta. He was cursing at me quietly for the rest of the night. At the parties after the Oscars, my dad got really drunk and wandered into a busy street. My mom followed him, trying to get him out of harms way when...” I swallowed, silent tears streaming down my face.

“An eighteen wheeler going forty miles an hour hit both of them at two o’clock in the morning outside of a bar. The paparazzi were the first people on the scene, quickly figuring out the victims were the parents of a young Hollywood actress that lost the win at the Oscars. I found out about what happened from a reporter, who showed me pictures of the accident.”

Spencer was speechless. “YFN, I... that’s horrible...”

I gave a bitter laugh, looking over at him next to me. “My award winning role, the one that made my name... was a woman named Meg. She’s left on her own in the world, desperate to make something of herself. People asked me, ‘YFN, how did you act out that kind of pain?’ and I could never tell them that... while filming, it didn’t even feel like an act half the time. It was just me.”

Spencer didn’t say anything. Instead, he wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me into his chest. I breathed in the scent of him, smells of soap and new books. “Thank you for telling me,” he mumbled into my hair.

“If I had won that Oscar, my parents would still-”

Spencer pulled away, looking me in the eyes. “Do not ever feel guilty. There was no way of knowing how that night would end up. It is not your fault.”

I nodded, exhaustion overtaking me and tears falling quietly down my face. We’d been together for six months, and Spencer had never seen me cry before.

He just sat with me, rubbing my shoulders while I picked myself together. After a moment, he glanced towards my kitchen. “Do you have any ice cream?”

I gave a small chuckle, looking over into his coffee brown eyes. “Is that even a question?" __

Three weeks since my breakthrough with Spencer. Three weeks of running from paps, stealing kisses inside secluded coffee shops, and competitions of who can make the funnier faces in far off cameras. As if by a miracle, not one case tore Spencer away from me for three weeks.

Until that three weeks ended.

“When do you think you’ll be back?” I said, trotting up the front steps to my house. The phone balanced precariously between my cheek and shoulder, my hands full of audition scripts.

Washington DC nightlife twinkled in the street, making me smile. The world had gotten brighter since I had met Spencer.

“I’m not sure, this case is complicated,” Spencer huffed, sounding exhausted. “Four days, maybe? I’m sorry, we had plans for the dinner-”

“Spencer,” I interrupted. “Do not apologize for doing your job. I think I can survive for a few days on my own. Maybe I’ll even rehearse without you distracting me!”

I could hear Spencer’s smile through the phone. “It’ll be torture for you though. You love my distractions.”

“Goodnight, Spencer,” I said in a sing song voice, opening the front door to my house.

He chuckled. “Goodnight, YFN.”

The house was quiet when I walked in, too quiet. An eerie feeling settled on my shoulders. “Hello?” I called, feeling stupid. Even if there was someone there to murder me, what makes me think they would answer?

A thought of the notes crossed my mind. Those creepy photos of me on the street, torn up articles about Spencer, and a dozen roses to add a romantic touch.

But I hadn’t gotten a single creepy note in months, since before I met Spencer’s team. The creeper had probably moved on to another lucky girl.

As I threw my keys and scripts on the counter, I never even saw the arms circling tightly around my shoulders. Just the rancid smell of cigarettes and alcohol.