#wait i think it's principal. pretend i used the right one earlier

[krawdad]

It's so damn hard to puppeteer a character's right hand and have it actually blend convincingly into the rest of the character performance

[aziawow]

secret kisses (lash x f!reader) 13k+ words

summary: you and lash hate each other, but an unexpected kiss sparks a certain arrangement. a very hot, very secret arrangement.

warnings: lots of descriptive kissing, mild swearing, mild violence, very brief toilet humor, brief underage drinking, brief intoxication, vomit mention (nondescriptive), blood mention (nondescriptive)

notes: stronghold!reader, no use of y/n, she/her pronouns, reader has telekinetic powers but that doesn't matter until the end

Boomer hauls you and Lash into the principal’s office, yammering away like he had in the cafeteria and in the hallway. You’re barely paying attention, your focus on the earlier events and containing your fury rather than the loud coach. 

He uses the grip he has on both of your arms to toss you in the two seats in front of the desk. You’re silent, not sparing a glance Lash’s way and not wanting to meet Boomer’s eyes. 

He sighs heavily and runs a hand down his face. “Principal Powers is still dealing with your mess, so until she’s done, you two are gonna stay in here.” He begins to walk back to the door. “Try not to kill each other, and don’t leave this room. Just to make sure,” he holds up a key. 

“What if there’s a fire,” Lash drawls. 

You roll your eyes and Boomer ignores him. The door shuts and the only sound you can hear is the jingle of metal as Boomer locks you in. 

You last all of one minute before you explode. 

“I cannot believe you,” you fume at Lash. “Wait, actually, I can. Pretty on par for you. What I can’t believe is how you think this is anything other than your fault.”

Lash clenches his jaw. “My fault? If it wasn't for you this entire thing wouldn’t have happened.” 

You jump to your feet and face him. “Me? You started it! You always start it!”

He gets up and towers over you, face hard as he glares down at you. “That doesn’t mean you have to finish it. You can’t leave well enough alone, can you?” You scrunch your nose at him. 

“No, I can’t. Not when you pick on defenseless kids right in front of me! You expect me to do nothing while you humiliate them?” You step closer to him, secretly pleased when he sharply inhales at your proximity. Good. He should be afraid of you. “You are nothing. But. A. Bully,” you enunciate by jabbing his chest with a finger. “I am sick of your behavior.” He scowls. 

“I’m sick of you! Ruining my fun all the time. Making that face you make all the time.” Lash gestures to your face, clearly peeved about something.

You reel back, confused. “My face? There’s nothing wrong with my face. What about your face, huh? Always twisted up in that mischievous look you have when you’re doing something mean. And it’s not just one part of your expression, oh no, it’s your whole face,” you say, waving your hand around him, nearly taking an eye out. He grabs your wrist and pulls it down. “With that stupid troublemaking grin and the way your eyebrows pinch together when you’re plotting. Your eyes are the worst. They have this look in them that’s so cocky, like you know you can get away with whatever you want. But you can’t! I hate it.” 

He tilts his head, completely in disbelief. “You have a face too. I call it your Getting Lash In Trouble Look. Always so innocent, but I know the truth. You pretend to be this good samaritan, a champion for the people when really you just like the attention you get from being a busybody—”

“Busybody!”

“—and messing with me! You literally can’t let anything go ever! It’s so annoying. Every single time you look so sweet and blameless and when they praise you for being a hero, you smile like you’re shy, which is a total fucking lie, I’ve never met anyone as conceited as you, with the way you pat yourself on the back like snitching on me is a badge of honor!” 

Your jaw drops. “I do not!”

“Yes you do,” he argues. “And you bat your eyelashes and it makes me so mad because that’s what does it! That’s what gets me in trouble! I don’t know how you do it, but whenever you flutter your dumb long lashes like that it convinces them to throw me in detention. It’s a weapon you use against me and you know it. It’s deceitful.” 

You’re taken aback. You are not hearing what you are hearing, surely. “The second you decide to harass someone is what gets you thrown in detention, asshole. I have nothing to do with it.” 

Lash scoffs. “‘Nothing to do with it’,” he parrots. “You have everything to do with it!”

You get in his face, which proves to be immensely difficult as he’s so much taller than you, but you’d rather fall off the edge of the school than back down now. 

“Everything?” 

“Everything,” he confirms. 

You are, genuinely, at a loss for words. You’re so frustrated and infuriated with him that all you can do is glare at him. This conversation is giving you a serious headache, but you have enough of a mind to be furious that he, technically, got the last word.  

You’re breathing hard, staring into his eyes, and you, all of a sudden, notice he’s doing the same thing. You also notice how close he is. It’s normal for you two to butt heads, but not literally. You’ve had arguments that shook the whole school, but you’ve never been this close to him. 

You know what everyone says about you. That all the fights are a result of unresolved sexual tension. No one ever dared to say it to your face, and most likely they’ve never mentioned it to Lash, but the gossip mill runs fast at Sky High and a ridiculous amount of people are terrible at whispering.

It enrages you when they imply there’s something more going on between you, but you can't deny the fact that you and Lash have some sort of attraction to each other. Always seeking each other out to push and shove, endless arguing and, admittedly, some preening. You convinced yourself it's not a sexual or romantic attraction. You hate each other, it’s just that neither of you can get away from the other. 

But.

You can’t deny you have a certain energy with Lash. You always have. He knows it too. There was this electricity between you two, and that's half the reason you hate him so much. Every time you think you might be genuinely attracted to him—because you’re not blind and, despite your feelings, it’s an undeniable fact that Lash is a seriously attractive guy—you get angry at yourself, at Lash, at everything for being so confusing and unfair. Your hormones are unbelievably stupid around him.

Which is how it happens. 

You and Lash are similarly breathless after your fight, and realizing you can feel the little puffs of air from his mouth on your face overwhelms your thoughts instantly. 

Again, you notice how close the two of you are. 

In his eyes, you still find simmering anger, but his edges have softened now. The way he’s staring at you, focused and drawn—it’s as if, to him, you’re the only person in the world. Like you're some kind of puzzle he wants to take apart and inspect bit by bit, wanting to know the pieces and touching along the ridges until he can commit them to memory. 

He’s not relaxed exactly, he’s calmer, but there’s another kind of tension you can feel coming from him. He breaths again, and when you feel his breath on your lips, you can’t stop your eyes from dropping down to his. 

They’re an incredible shade of pink, and for a moment they disappear as he quickly licks them, a constant tick of his you noticed a long time ago. 

You blink back up at him, somehow closer than ever. You see the question in his eyes: are we really gonna do this? You also see something dark and longing.

That is…unfamiliar to you. You know all of his looks and expressions by heart, particularly because they are so often aimed at you, but never something like this. Like wanting. It makes you stop, heart stuttering. 

You begin to move your arm, why you did and where it was going is unbeknownst to you, when you realize Lash has been holding your wrist the entire time. Probably since he had moved your hand away from his face just minutes ago. 

Both of you look down at the two hands in between you. He squeezed you slightly before releasing you slowly, but you don’t move away. Instead, you continue to hold your arm out, letting his fingers run along your wrist and your palm, slow and aching. It tingles, and you gasp lightly at the feeling. 

Lash, taking that as a sign, clasps his hand around yours and tugs you towards him. 

You go readily, and when you meet his gaze, you lean in and your lips finally meet. 

The kiss was tentative at first, but after a few seconds, you sink into it completely. You let go of his hand at the same time he drops yours. How else was he going to wrap his arms around you and hold you? Yours comes up and fists in his hair, running it through his soft strands over and over as you kiss. You had an arm curled under his, a hand gripping at his shoulder, something to keep you steady and touching all of him that you possibly could. 

One of his hands rubbed up and down your back, stroking and feeling purposefully, and when it grazed over a sensitive spot, you moaned into his mouth. Your feelings for him were a complicated mess but this was easy and so, so good. 

Your resolve slipped as you careened into him further. You were still so angry at him and you kissed him exactly how you fight with him: swift and calculated, but with an edge of vengeance and fire as you undo him as he does to you. Lash, similarly, wasn’t gentle with you. He did what he always does and takes, chasing satisfaction but not doing so without a show of power. Just to remind you who he is. You, unlike his victims, were not helpless. You matched him stride for stride, insistent and sure, unrelenting as you refused to let this spark burn out. 

He kissed you deeper, his tongue slipping in and you didn’t think about it: you let him, because his mouth on yours? It felt absolutely and completely— 

The door rattled. 

—horrible! So, so horrible! 

You push Lash away, both of you staring at each other wide eyed and cheeks flushed, disbelief and confusion evident on Lash’s face. Damn you for thinking this caught-off-guard looked good on him!

You had seconds to compose yourself, but after a kiss like that? You were lucky to look half as composed as you felt when Principal Powers burst in. 

“Instigating a food fight? That's a new low, even for you two. Now, here’s what’s gonna happen...”

You listened to her as best you could, but your mind kept straying back to that kiss without your permission. 

It was so.. intense. It kind of makes sense, you think. With what you know about yourself and Lash and yourself in relation to Lash, everything you two do was heated and passionate exactly like that. You’ve always known that you and Lash are cosmic forces mere moments from colliding, but kissing him? Surely the universe was laughing at you. It’s Lash. 

The two of you were sent home, serving a half day of suspension and the rest of the week in after school detention. Together. 

You were surprised that she didn’t make you clean up the cafeteria, but the janitor with a cleaning power begged her not to for a reason you can’t recall, and that was perfectly fine with you. The cafeteria was a mess, cleaning it all up would take forever. 

There was hell to pay when you got home. Your parents, the Commander and Jetstream, were extremely disappointed to say the least. Honestly, you were barely paying attention to the lecture your mom was giving you. It’s always a sermon with her, and who would rather listen to that than lose their mind over having the World’s Most Earth Shattering Kiss? 

It stayed in your mind the rest of the night, the next morning, and all throughout the school day. You and Lash had a few classes together but sat nowhere near each other, so it was easy to avoid him. Then detention came along. 

You met him at the room, eyes darting away from each other just as quick as they were found, and you walk in. 

Mr. Medulla was assigned as your detention teacher, but he had an experiment in the observation stage so he couldn’t stay in the room the entire time. In fact, he didn’t stay at all. He promised to make periodic check in’s, told you to pass the time with homework, did an evil laugh, and walked away. 

You had your homework out, but made zero progress on it. The silence was so suffocating that, in a roundabout way, made you want to laugh hysterically. You didn’t want to say anything or even talk about it, but at the same time you had to know. Why did it happen? How did it happen? When it happened, did he feel the same things? Feel the same way? These questions nagged at you, but when Lash spoke up without warning, you panicked. 

“So…you kissed me.” 

“Nope.” Deny, deny, deny. 

“...”

“...”

“Um, yes. I was there?” God, his confusion should not have been as endearing as it is. You know Lash, so you know he’s not stupid or purposefully obtuse, so maybe you had messed him up just like he did to you. 

You sigh. “Look, that didn’t happen. That wasn’t a thing. I don’t know what happened or why, but that’s fine, because nothing happened.” 

You spare a glance his way. He was slouched on the chair, an arm draped over the back, no books in sight. He was so casual. He shrugged, looking totally unbothered. “Alright then. Nothing happened. Fine.” 

A few minutes went by. Medulla checked in. You scribbled down an answer on the sheet in front of you. It was probably right. 

But, like, the way he said it. Like it meant nothing. It didn’t have to mean anything so why was his attitude so blasé. He was hardly ever indifferent so what made this so special that he let it go? It didn’t have to mean anything but it didn’t have to be nothing. He wasn't better than you just because he apparently felt nothing. Well, you don't do things by half, and Lash is not an exception. You full body turn to him.

“We’re just not gonna talk about it then?” You could not care less if that was the exact opposite of what you just said. It’s fine; Lash knows how contrary you can be. 

Sure enough, when you get a good look at him, he’s smirking at you, eyes bright and expectant. Like he knew you couldn’t not talk about it and was just biding his time until you broke first. 

God, he was aggravating. 

“Hey, I always knew it’d be a matter of time before you jumped me.”

“What!” you squeak. “If memory serves me right, you were the one who couldn't keep your hands off of me. Do you always do that when you kiss someone? Hold them so tight they can’t escape. You’re like a straight jacket. God knows I should be in one, what was I thinking?”

“You were thinking ‘Oh, Lash is so hot I need him now’ and if someone wants to kiss me why would I deny them that pleasure?” he mocked your voice with a high pitch, and you got so annoyed that you took off your shoe and threw it at him as hard as you could. 

The bastard didn’t even look mad when it hit his chest. He caught it and cackled. “You are so not getting this back, Stronghold.” 

You jump to your feet. “Why! You only have one and it won't fit you. Give it!” Your very reasonable demand was not met. 

Instead Lash rose from the chair and walked toward you. He dangled your shoe above his head, knowing full well that, even without using his powers, it was well out of your reach. He looked up at your shoe as you threw your dignity out of the window and jumped for it with no success. You very well could jump on him for it, but you know the jokes he’d make after. 

“Your feet are so tiny,” he teased. 

Oh! Feet! you think, and stomp on his. 

As expected, Lash backed up and hunched over in pain, whining at you. You take this opportunity to reach around him for your shoe, but it remains elusive as he continues to hold it out. You did however manage to grasp his arm and pull it forward. 

Lash’s body followed and the unexpected weight against you tripped you up. Soon you two were crashing into the desk you were using with half of the contents on your table falling to the floor. 

You and Lash were in an awkward potion. Not quite standing but not completely on the floor either. Lash, being on top, moved first. You still had a grip on him, and he had no choice but to pull you up along with himself. 

The result? 

You were close. Very close. Again. 

You wanted to move back, you really did. Your body had other plans though, and when you looked into his eyes, you knew immediately it was a mistake. You wanted to kiss him again, no, you needed to, and the gleam in Lash’s eye told you everything you needed to know.

You get on your tippy toes, throw your arms around his neck, and tip your head up. He meets you halfway, for once, and you two are kissing and kissing. 

It picks up where it left off, all fury and passion the two of you felt bleeding into the kiss. This time, you open your mouth immediately and pry his open with your tongue. Judging by the sweet mewling sound he made into your mouth, Lash was not expecting you to be so bold. 

He should know better. 

Your tongue slides against his, tasting and feeling and wanting. He fights you when you flick the roof of his mouth and caress his teeth and cheeks, realizing he’s lost all control. This makes you pull back and smirk, momentarily breaking the kiss. You couldn’t resist, a helpless Lash is one you don’t see often, and this time? It was all your doing. 

You make eye contact for a second, visibly proud of yourself and confident that you can make him react like that, and Lash’s expression shifts to one of determination before diving back in. 

You know what he wants, and you got what you did, so you let him guide this kiss. He mapped the insides of your mouth, quickly becoming its best cartographer as he tongued every tooth, every ridge possible in the most delectable way. 

He sucked on your tongue when you offered it, and it nearly brought you to your knees. He held on tight to you, holding you up. It would have been embarrassing if it was anyone else. 

You stopped kissing, both needing to catch your breaths. You didn’t stray far, breathing into each other's mouths, lips brushing and still high on adrenaline. Neither of you moved apart while you waited for your breathing to return to normal. You traced your finger over the patch of skin he had exposed on his neck, and he rubbed circles on your hip with his thumb. 

You were just wondering if Lash would think you were desperate if you tried to go back in for another round when the door slid open.

There really was no way to salvage the situation, but Lash took a few steps away from you. Luckily, Medulla’s head was turned as he talked to someone in the hall. He didn’t see you and Lash in an embrace of any kind, but there was still the matter of the room.

“What happened here? Miss Stronghold, why are your things all over the ground?” You had no idea what to say. You kept your mouth shut and rushed to pick everything up. Lash on the other hand— 

“Lash, why in the name of Science are you holding her shoe?” 

Fuck. You forgot about that. It’s like Lash has this ability to invade all your senses, being so successful that you forgot you were only wearing one shoe while making out with him. 

Lash looked at the shoe in his hand. “Um.”

The teacher blinked. “Well give it back!” 

Lash handed you your shoe, and you pulled it on as Medulla gave you a quick lecture. After both promising to not cause any further incidents, Medulla ran back to his lab to check on his experiment and left you and Lash alone again. 

Then, you started laughing. Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. After a moment, Lash joined in too, the events finally catching up to him. 

“Why did you still have my shoe? You didn’t let it go? Not once?” you can't even form coherent words after that, still giggling. 

Lash’s body convulses as he’s overcome with laughter. “I have no idea what happened. I literally didn’t even think about it.” 

“Am I a bad kisser? I’ve never gotten anything other than stellar reviews so tell me now because if you were so unimpressed by me that you didn’t drop my shoe from your hand, then I need to know now.”

Lash, unexpectedly, became affronted. “I didn’t say or think that. Not at all.” You saw a blush rising to his cheeks. “You’re good. Like, really good. I like kissing you.”

Whatever you thought he was gonna say, it wasn’t this. You blink. “Oh. I like kissing you too.” 

You were silent for a moment, but you knew where this was heading. Neither of you wanted to be the one to admit it, but if you did it together, it would lessen the sting of seeing each other so exposed like this.

“So, if I like kissing you, and you like kissing me…” he trails off. 

“Then we should kiss,” you declare. He nods enthusiastically. “We should just kiss.”

“Yes, just kiss. Whenever we want. No promises, just kissing.” Very reasonable. 

“Yup.” you say. Then, “We can’t tell anyone.”

His eyes bulged. “No, god no. I have a reputation and you have yours. We wouldn't be doing ourselves any favors.”

“Right, right. Can you even imagine?” You shudder. No one can know that you and Lash have kissed. More than once. Even worse, they cannot know that you’re going to keep kissing him. 

The rest of detention rolls by, the atmosphere half awkward at what you agreed to and half giddy at what’s to come. 

The next day as you’re walking to gym, lagging behind for no good reason, you feel an arm wrap around your waist and pull you away. You don't freak out, knowing immediately who it is. When you see the sign on the door you were just pulled into you say, “The boy’s locker room, really?” 

Lash hushes you. “What’s the point of keeping this a secret if you’re just gonna shout it out for everyone to hear?” He continued to pull you around, weaving through rows of lockers.

You huff. “First of all, I said nothing of the sort, and second, I didn’t shout. It’s echo-y in here! That’s not my fault.” 

Finally, Lash stops in a decently secluded area and corners you against a locker, bodies pressing together. “No, you are by far the loudest person I’ve ever met. Seriously. Do you have a volume control or are you permanently stuck on the loudest possible setting?”

“Shut up,” you instruct, and kiss him. 

He came to you willingly and you made quick work of keeping him quiet. 

You nip at his lips then suck on his mouth, ignoring his prodding tongue and not opening up fully. You continue to tease him for a few moments, giving him just enough of what he wants, but holding back until he decides to finally take it. You love being in control and it’s so easy with him, but the idea of Lash coming undone because he can’t stand the thought of you having something just out of his reach and finally doing whatever it takes to get it is a power trip in of itself. 

Just knowing that right now Lash is obediently following your lead on this makes it all the more sweeter to punish him later when he unleashes himself on you. 

When you‘re ready, and only when you’re ready, you loosen yourself up enough for Lash to take over. 

He whines.

Lash dives into you, your mouth open and waiting. He kisses and sucks and licks everywhere he can, you don’t think he’ll stop for anything. You feel like he’s drinking you up the way he completely devours you. 

You’re having fun learning what makes him tick. You know them already, but not in this context. Having to relearn him is something you do easily, and it’s funny that not only is he predictable, but he doesn’t even notice he’s showing you these things about himself. 

Like your hair. You’ve noticed he brushes his hair to the side often, and not just to get it out of his face. He likes the soft, silky texture, which means Lash, currently, is caressing every strand of yours he can get his fingers on. On the flip side, with the amount of times he runs his hands through his hair, you know he melts when someone does it to him. 

Lash constantly licks his lips and purses them. You don't know why, you don’t care. It’s good for you, because that means he isn’t opposed to wet lips, and you know that if you lick his and kiss him firmly, he will fall apart. 

He also likes power. This is the most obvious. Who doesn't like power? The thing about Lash is, he likes to be drunk on it. He seeks it out even when he doesn’t need to and milks out that high for as long as he possibly can. Power, however, he likes to gain with a fight. Fighting is what you do best, and if there’s one thing about Lash, it’s that he will fight no matter what. He has no problem with it, and the struggle for ultimate dominance is what keeps him going. It pushes him, and the result is always victory. 

He wants victory over you, but you know him, so his victory depends on how you exploit him. 

Right now, Lash thinks he’s winning. You’re okay with letting him think that for a while longer if it means he keeps kissing you like this. What he lacks in surprise, he makes up for with enthusiasm and skill. 

Surprise was never too important anyway. 

You kiss and kiss, stopping a few times to suck in much needed air before going back for more. Eventually though, you pull back. 

“We’re missing class,” you remind him. 

He gives you a hard kiss that bangs your head against the metal locker, which you enjoy immensely, but you refuse to deepen it. 

“I will gladly take a tardy for this, but not an absence,” you insist. 

Seeing that you’re not budging on this, Lash groans and pulls away from you completely. Your front is suddenly very cold, but you pay that no mind as you make your way to the door. 

When you move to open it, Lash spins you around and presses your bodies together once again. Seeing his big round eyes plead at you plucked at your heart strings. “Fine. One more.”

Lash ducks down and presses your mouths together. You move your lips against his for a few seconds, secretly thankful he wanted another. 

You pull apart when you hear chatter in the hall. 

“We can't leave at the same time. I'll go first, then you,” you tell him. He hums, not really looking like he heard a word you said, eyes far away and lost to satiation. 

You slip out and simultaneously add two more things to your mental list about Lash:

Can and will beg and Gets kiss drunk.

Both very, very interesting bits of information. 

Over the next week, you and Lash realize you can’t make out in the detention room. The window made it too risky and teachers were in and out constantly. The locker room was out of the question after the first time, it would seem was too suspicious for you and Lash to constantly miss the beginning of P.E. on the same days and at the same time, and there were just too many stragglers in the locker room and the hallway. So Lash has the brilliant idea to kiss in the boy’s bathroom. 

You try it once and only once. 

You pull your mouth away from Lash with a smack. 

“This is the worst,” you deadpan. “You’re the worst. 

His jaw drops open, looking slightly offended. “Uh, I don't see you finding anywhere for us to do this. There aren’t that many options.”

You roll your eyes. “And one of them has to be a bathroom? Getting E. coli is so not worth it.”

“Fine,” he says, grip on your waist tightening. “Where do you think we should go?” 

“The back of the school, the roof, janitor’s closet, one of the many empty classrooms, behind the buses, under the bleachers,” you list off. “Literally anywhere that doesn’t involve a toilet.” 

You can see the irritation flashing in his eyes, but you can tell he’s mildly impressed. He bites his lip and grins, “You sound very eager to kiss me, you know.”

“Oh yes, very eager,” you say sarcastically. “Remind me, Lash, who was the one begging who to ditch study hall for this? Was it you or me? I can’t seem to remember.”

He’s still grinning, and you can't help but to match it with your own. Lash dips down and murmurs against your lips, “Me, but who came anyway?” and he kisses you again. 

His mouth is hot and fierce against yours, and you give as good as you get, sucking and licking him until he’s pliant enough to let out those soft noises you like so much. You scratch at his scalp and weave your fingers through his hair, occasionally pulling when you want him to do that thing he does with both of your tongues. 

Although, no matter how hot this is, him and the kissing and the sneaking around, you’re still in a public bathroom. 

The door creaks open and you pull off of him. You’re locked in a stall, but no one in this school has four legs so it was just too risky for you to stand there, whoever came in might see. 

You do the only thing you can think of: you wrap a leg around Lash’s hips and pull yourself up. Lash, always seeming to understand what you want, holds your body firmly to his and reaches down to grab at your other thigh. He lifts you with no issue, securing you in the air. Now all you have to do is wait. 

The thing is, you’re not the best at holding it together during tense situations, you laugh at everything no matter what. This is no exception. It’s just, the way Lash looks so serious, like being caught is a death sentence, humors you greatly. When you hear the guy relieve himself, you have to cover your mouth to muffle your giggles. 

It mostly works, but seeing Lash’s face of utter bewilderment at you makes it hard to stop. He mouths at you to shut up, but you can’t. Laughter makes your whole body shake and he has no choice but to wait it out. It’s getting pretty hard to breathe at this point and you’re a little dizzy, so you decide to rest your head on Lash’s shoulder, your mouth pressed against the hot skin of his neck. At least you can breathe now. 

The guy leaves, and you crack up again loudly, unmoving from your position. 

“You are,” Lash begins, sounding drained, “the weirdest person ever. Literally all you had to do was be quiet, what if he caught us?” 

“‘All you had to do was be quiet,’” you mock. You lift your head up and snort. “I can't believe I'm saying this to you, but you have to calm down.” Who would have thought Lash was the serious one between you two? 

Lash begins to bitch at you, but you don’t care enough to pay attention. You’re not with him to listen to him talk, and besides, what he’s saying is a whole lot of nothing. You don’t let him rant at you too long, deciding to bite his neck because it’s there and you want to do something with your mouth. 

It works. 

He grunts in pain and he shuts up for all of two glorious seconds before asking what the hell was wrong with you. 

“Lots,” you reply. “Now kiss me.” 

He shakes his head at you, eyes both disbelieving and in wonder. He’s still holding you up, and you have no intention of getting off of him, so he backs you against the stall and kisses you like a man starved. 

You try out other places at school, finding what works best and what doesn’t. You thought the roof was a safe place to go during lunch, but you had no idea how many teachers and students came up for a smoke. They took forever and there was no time for you and Lash to do anything, so that was out. Empty classrooms and under the bleachers were also a no-go, there was just too much traffic and exposure in those areas, and getting caught would be inevitable. You did manage a few sessions behind the buses, but you realize Ron spent most of his time there for some reason you can’t figure out. You like the guy, but he really needs a hobby, especially when it interferes with yours. You tried the janitors closet, but Lash nearly passed out from the fumes. 

The only place that works is behind the school. Students never went there, and the only people who did were maintenance workers and delivery guys. These were issues that had schedules, so you and Lash worked around them. 

You’re back there one day, sitting on a slab of uplifted concrete with Lash in between your legs. You’ve been kissing for a few minutes, and you didn’t have much time if you wanted to eat lunch that day. Lash, however, didn’t seem as into it like usual. 

He was pouty and slow, hands braced next to your thighs on the concrete, not really giving you anything to work with. 

You pull back and cross your arms, shooting him an expectant look. “Okay, what’s up?”

He shrugged. “Nothing, I’m fine,” he responds, moving back down to you. You stop him with a hand to his chest. 

You give him an ultimatum: “No telling, no kissing.” 

He has the audacity to look affronted with you, pouting even worse than before just because he was denied a treat. You raise your eyebrows at him and wait. 

It doesn’t take long for him to break, either because he knew this was the fastest track back to kissing or because he wanted to tell you, you weren’t sure. 

“You hair,” he says quietly, he bends his head down and rubs his neck, face flushing. “I like when it’s down, I like touching it.”  

Oh. You werent expecting that. You knew he liked your hair, but enough to get genuinely upset when he couldn’t have it? It made your heart stop. 

You let out a tiny, amused scoff. He stands there, sheepish. 

You’ve never seen him like this. 

“Okay,” you say. He looks up, his expression filled with blooming hope. Your hair is in two braids today, so you offer him one. He takes it hesitantly, unsure of what to do. You giggle and take your other braid, removing the tie and undoing the plait. Lash copies you, gentle when he removes the purple hair tie, slipping it on his wrist just as you had done, and he’s even more gentle as he uncoils your hair. 

He undoes it slowly, fingers brushing lightly on each strand. You watch him, heart threatening to beat out of your chest. The way his attention is fully focused on your locks with unfiltered amazement, just wholly enraptured, like he’s never seen it before causes an ache to sprout in your chest. 

When he finishes, you fluff out your hair, flashing him a smile when it settles. 

He blinks at you, mouth parting open. “Oh. It’s wavy.” 

Your smile widens and you bite your lip. His eyes track that movement with renewed vigor. “Yeah, that happens sometimes.” You reach for him, and he’s already tipping his head to catch your lips with his, kissing you with that familiar spark. It’s a bit different this time around, the way he moves against you and how he explores like he’s rediscovering you. You swear it's softer. 

Later, when you’re back in the cafeteria, you hear Speed's voice a table away, asking Lash where he's been and why he has that. ‘That’ being your hair tie. You don’t look over at them, instead you smile down at your food, pretending to listen to your friend talk. 

You and Lash continue to meet up, but after a few weeks you explain that you can’t continue to kiss him at school because your grades are suffering because of it. 

“So, you don’t want to kiss me because you got an A- in the Heroes of History test? You should be grateful, I got a C on that!” Lash looks extremely put upon, and you elbow him.

“I didn’t say we had to stop, just that we can’t do it at school anymore. Or, at least, as often as we have been. I can’t let my grades suffer.” 

He nods. “Alright, fine, you don’t want me to get in the way of your 4.0. I, however, am at a steady 3 and am perfectly fine with it.”

“Oh, sweetie, you don't have to tell me you’re okay with mediocrity, I’ve always known,” you say, voice sugary. 

“I hope you have fun with burnout in senior year,” Lash drawls, voice agonizingly calm. “I’m sure your Type A personality will be great at helping you with that, babe.”

You preen at him, not taking the bait. “I’ll be sure to mention it by name in my valedictorian speech.”

Tension rolls off you two in waves, both feeling the burn inside as you crash into one another, heavy and unstoppable. 

Five minutes and very swollen lips later, you’re heading inside. 

Lash bumps your shoulder. “If we can’t meet up here anymore, where are we gonna go?” 

You say, suddenly becoming shy, “Well, I was thinking, you could come over.” He furrows his eyebrows together and you tear your eyes away from him. “To my house. You can come over to mine. If you want.” 

Oh god this was so awkward. You were well aware of this line you were crossing, an unspoken boundary to keep this separate from your private lives. You haven’t set an end date for these meetups, but you would understand if you freaked out Lash enough for him to call off the whole thing right then. You were dreading it, to be honest. You had no idea what you were gonna do when this was over. 

But he doesn’t call it off, he agrees. 

You smile to yourself, not willing to show how thrilled you were. 

You did miss kissing at school, only meeting up there twice a week, but it’s so much easier to kiss him when you have actual privacy. You were a nervous mess the first time he came over. You cleaned obsessively and checked, double and triple, that your parents weren't home and wouldn't be until Lash was long gone. 

You led him into your room, fidgeting as he observed its contents. 

“Cute,” he remarks, fingering at an NSYNC poster. 

You swipe at his hand. “Don’t touch Joey,” you whine. 

He cackles. “Figured you be a JT girl,” he teases.  

You shove him and he, frustratingly, doesn't go anywhere. Instead, he snatches up your hand and tugs you forward. You crash together, limbs finding their way around each other, mouth inches apart. 

“Don’t you have a brother?” he mutters, eyes drawn to your lips

You shake your head. “Will’s at Layla’s. I dunno when he’s coming home, but he knows to knock before coming in here. He learned that the hard way.” Lash laughs, a short thing. You feel his air puffing on your skin, tingling all the way. Your gasp is soundless, and he chases the movement of your lips, but still not breaching the gap. 

“Oh? And what kind of scandalous thing were you doing for him to have learned that lesson, hm?”

You press your foreheads together and push his head back hard. Not enough to seriously hurt, but a clear punishment. You've never done that with him before, another boundary broken, but he doesn’t seem to mind. “I know what you’re thinking. No, it was nothing like that.”

You feel him vibrate as he hums, it shudders through you like an earthquake. “Will you tell me?” he asks. 

“Nope,” you deny. “You gonna kiss me anytime soon?” 

Lash brings a hand up to grip at your chin and tilts it where he wants, eyes dark and wanting. “You gonna let me?” He barely finishes his sentence when you surge forward, lips finally coming together, slick and demanding. 

A few days later, everything changes. 

You were invited to a party at Gwen's, and you knew Lash would be there since he’s part of her inner circle. You’re good friends with her, seeing as you’re both in the same year and popular, but they had this interesting four person (not including Penny’s clones) clique that remained exclusive. 

Gwen’s parties are always absolute ragers, and you had no trouble letting loose, drinking and dancing with your friends. There was also a karaoke machine, and you were part of the small group that had commandeered the mics. You got lost in the music, singing and swaying along, not caring how you looked or sounded, just basking in the fun. 

Unbeknownst to you, Lash stood in a corner, watching you the entire time. 

Had you noticed him, you would see the fond, amused smile that never left his expression. You won’t know this, but he was thinking of what a terrible singer you are. Enthusiastic for sure, but completely tone deaf. He thinks about how devastated he would be if you ever got any good. You’re having fun, though, and that’s all he cares about. 

Had you noticed him, you would have seen that smile drop, moments later, when he comes to a realization. Probably the most important one of his life. It’s dangerous and unsteady and tilts his whole world sideways, yet so unbelievably worth it. But you don’t notice. 

You’re drunk and your vision has blurred when you get pulled into a game of Spin the Bottle. It’s not your favorite game, but you whoop along with everyone else when people kiss. You think you’re lucky that the bottle never lands on you, until, of course, that’s exactly when it does. You’re a little reluctant, but rules are rules, and you get a peck from some senior who’s name you wouldn't be able to recall even if you were sober. 

You don’t take your turn, flipping off everyone who boo’s you as you hobble to the nearest bathroom. 

The truth is, you’re not too keen on kissing anyone who isn’t Lash. That senior was so unimpressive you forget about it as soon as it happens. It’s fine, though. Nothing you want to remember anyway. 

You finally find a half bath, kicking at the door, and hurl into the bowl. You’re grateful when you feel someone collecting your hair, holding it out of the way. They rub your back, and you know immediately whose hand it belongs to, having felt them on you many times before. 

Lash has only encouragement for you, and when your stomach is empty, you hold out your arm so he can haul you up to the sink. You find a bottle of mouthwash on the counter and grab it, rinsing and spitting habitually. You can see Lash watch you in the mirror, staring at you with an expression you were too drunk to fathom out.

Finally, when your mouth feels clean, you dissolve into giggles. 

“Oh no,” Lash groans. “You’re not one of those drunks, are you?” 

You’re still giggling when you nod, your whole body following the flow of your head, tipping forward. You catch yourself, and you can only snort in laughter as an exasperated Lash puts his hands on his hips, shaking his head all the while. 

You stop laughing, zeroing in on his pose. His arms aren't necessarily open, yet there were two perfect gaps in between his arms and body wide enough for you to slink yours through. You fall into him, doing exactly that. The urge you felt to stick to him like a second skin overrode everything else in your mind, and besides, he looked like he could use a hug. 

He’s frozen for a moment—not that you notice—before wrapping his arms around you too. You stay there for a long while, clinging and breathing each other in, the party outside nonexistent in the bubble you created. 

“Are you upset,” you ask Lash eventually. “You seem upset.” 

You feel him breathe in deeply then sigh heavily. “Yeah. A little bit.”

“Oh,” your heart sinks and you pull away. You’re still koala-ing him, but you tilt your head up to pout at him. “At me?”

“No,” he admits. He brushes a loose strand of hair out of your face. “At Ricky Wilkins.”

You squint at him. “Who the hell is that? That’s such a dumb name. Why are you letting some guy with a dumb name upset you? How dare he take away your smile! I like your smile. Lash,” you bat your eyes up at him, “can you smile for me?”

And he does. It’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen. “There it is!” You’re so enchanted by his mouth, so you bring up a hand to trace his lips. They’ve long since been burned into your memory, yet, in your state of drunkenness, you forgot how pretty they are.

“Why did Rocko make you upset?” you ask, still playing with his lips. 

“Ricky,” he corrects, but you’ve already forgotten it. “He kissed you.”

Your eyes dart up to his. “Nuh uh.” 

“Yuh huh,” he mocks lightly. “He kissed you during Spin the Bottle. That’s why I got upset. I didn't like seeing that.” 

You can tell he’s being honest with you, even if being open didn’t come naturally to him. You feel a warm flutter rise in your chest. 

“Lash, I can’t even remember his name.”

“Clearly,” he says sarcastically. Then he sighs and says quietly, “I didn’t like seeing you kiss someone else.”

“Oh,” 

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Lash smiles, it’s not the same as before. This one is hurting. “We never agreed to anything like that, you can kiss whoever you want. I’ll deal with it.”

“No,” you shake your head at him, “No, don’t do that. I don’t want to kiss anyone else but you. I haven’t since you. You’re too addicting for that.” 

Lash grins and eyes shiny at your lack of a filter. “You’re extremely addicting too, and it drives me nuts that you don’t know how much. I haven't kissed anyone else either.”

Relief pours through you all at once. “Then we agree. We don’t kiss anyone but each other.” 

The way Lash is looking at you now, like you’re something precious, makes you melt. 

“If it makes you feel any better,” you sigh in contentment, tucking yourself back into him. “I’ve never thrown up after kissing you.” The way Lash burst out laughing at your words made the bathroom the home of your symphony.  

Days later, you and Lash are, surprise surprise, making out on your bed. Him half on top of you, one arm propping himself up and the other roaming along your side, like he was a pianist and your ribs were the keys. You’re holding his face in both your hands as you kiss languidly. 

Lately, they’ve become softer, more purposeful. Your touches have also become more daring than they had been before. Fingers pressing deeper into skin, hands wandering further than normal, lingering where they shouldn’t. Kisses now all over faces and jaws and necks, biting and sucking and feeling so, so good. 

Lash’s hand skirts past your waist this time, trailing down your hip and over the side of your thigh. He traces a random pattern on your flesh before he grips it with a hot hand, and you gasp as he hikes your leg up and onto his hip and back. It was a bold move, and you knew he wouldn't dare go further. No matter how much you fight and defy each other, he would never make you do something you didn’t want to, and you were never compliant enough to let him. He’s still holding your thigh, you think you might kill him if he lets go. 

You’re kissing deeply, obsessed and intoxicated, bodies twisted together, lost to the world and only concerned with finding each other. 

Which is why, unfortunately, you get caught by Will. 

“OH MY GOD!” your brother screeches.

You and Lash startle apart, looking at the intruder. Will was in the doorway, flushing red and hands covering his eyes. Lash rolls off you and onto the other side of the bed, allowing you to get up and yell at your brother.

“William! Knock! You know this!” 

“I’m sorry!”

You roll your eyes. “What do you want,” you exhale. 

The dork still has his eyes covered. “Mom called, they won't be home until tomorrow. I was gonna ask if you can make Layla and I pizza.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever. I’ll be down soon.”

“Sweet, Layla’s gonna be so happy! She’s a vegetarian, remember? So no meat,” he reminds you. 

“I know, bud. Now get out of here.”

Will turns and speeds off, but not before running into your doorway first. “Oh my god, Will, open your eyes.” 

You turn around and see Lash getting up. After all, it’s usually about this time when he heads home. To be honest, you didn’t want him to go. You never did. 

“Hey, um, if you’re hungry you can just…stay.” The words fought you coming out, unsure how Lash would feel and what he would think. You’ve been crossing all kinds of lines with each other lately, was this really so different? 

Lash’s eyes widen, and for a heartstopping second, you think he’ll say no. 

“I could eat.” 

That’s how the two of you end up in the kitchen, Lash obediently following your instructions as you throw together a pie. 

Lash holds up an unmarked mason jar. “So, where does this come from?” he asks, and you explain that your dad homemakes it, it’s a Stronghold secret recipe. 

“Of all the hobbies the Commander has, I never would have guessed that he dabbles in homemade pizza sauce.”

“Hey,” you defend. “You’re holding a seven time winner of the annual Maxville Realtor’s Pizza Fest. Show some respect.” 

“Seven?”

“Consecutively,” you add.

Lash shakes his head at you with a grin. You’re quiet as you work together, comfortable with the peace that comes with the silence. When you finish your creation, a simple mozzarella spinach pizza, you pop it in the oven.

“Y’know,” Lash says, leaning against the counter. “I’ve realized that my mouth is super tender now. It’s totally your fault, by the way.”

“Wha— my fault? Do you know how much chapstick I’ve gone through these last few months alone because of you?” 

“Believe me,” Lash assures, “I know. You taste like a different flavor every week.” 

You slide up to him, head tilted. “Oh? What was today’s flavor?” 

“Not sure,” he says, nonchalant. It's not a very subtle segue but you’re not gonna complain. “I think I might need a reminder. Care to give me one?”

“Shut up,” you murmur, and kiss him until your lips bruise. 

The timer goes off sometime later and you detach yourself from Lash. You got out the pizza, and he offers to tell the other two that it’s done.

“Wait!” You stop him. “Wait wait wait, I need to check on something.” You get behind the wall that looks into the living room, and observe. You don't have the best spying skills, but their backs are turned, so it’s fairly easy to see what's going on and to hear their conversation. You feel Lash shuffle behind you, resting an arm around your waist as he peers around the corner. 

“What are you doing?’ he whispers in your ear. 

“Hush. I can’t hear what they’re saying.”

Unfortunately for you, Will is rambling on about something incredibly boring, Layla giving him her undivided attention as always, so you huff in annoyance and leave them alone. 

“Is it just me or is that green chick totally in love with your brother?” Lash asks, unprepared for the can of worms he just opened. 

You whirl around to face him. “Yes!” You whisper-scream, him reeling back at your reaction. “Will is an idiot! Layla isn’t subtle at all, oh my god. I can’t believe how oblivious Will is.”

“Maybe it’s a Stronghold trait,” he mutters under his breath, luckily for him, you’re too focused on the tween romance in the next room to catch that. 

“She’s been pining after him for so long, it’s reaching a point where something has to be done.”

“Probably best to let them work it out,” he advises. 

You nod. “Probably. Doesn’t mean I’m not keeping an eye out for any developments, though. They belong together, mark my words.”

“They’re marked.” 

You shove his shoulder. “Oh stop. Hey, we should probably tell them dinner is ready.”

The rest of the evening is relaxing, you and Lash messing around, teasing each other’s eating habits, and stealing bites of pizza. The four of you watch a movie but Will kicks you and Lash out for being too loud, so you grab his hand and haul him away, finishing dinner on the floor of your room, doing nothing but talking and talking and talking. It’s the best night you’ve had in a long time. 

Later, Lash lingers in the doorway as you’re saying goodnight. He hesitates in the threshold, opening then closing his mouth, not daring to speak his mind. He’s absolutely adorable like this, face flushed red and glowing under the fluorescent porchlight. 

“Yes?” you ask.

He ducks his head down, eyes avoiding yours before ultimately spitting it out. “Can I—uh. Can I have a goodbye kiss?” God, the way his voice was so shy and scared, like you’d ever say no to that, like you’d ever want Lash to be insecure around you. Like he thinks he can’t have you. 

“Yes,” you reply, and kiss him. 

He whimpers against your mouth, his emotions being nearly too much to contain. He cups one of your cheeks, guiding your head where you both like it. It’s slow and soft. You find the tenderness he was talking about earlier, finding the new sensitivity all-encompassing and everything. 

As you stand there watching him leave, you press your fingers to your lips to chase the impression of his mouth, memorizing and wanting. 

It’s almost sickening how sweet the two of you were with each other from that point on. You still spit fire and he tugs on your pigtails, this syrupy flavor just another addition to the zest of your relationship. These soft and vulnerable moments you keep allowing each other to see and to show off becomes like second nature the more you do it. You find it easy when it’s him.

You’re on your bed, panting after Lash left you breathless. From your perch on his hips, you watch as his chest heaves, similarly gasping. You run your hands up and down his torso, needing to feel the heat of his skin through the fabric as you both decompress from that intense session. When you reach the top of his sternum, he snatches your hand up and presses his burning lips to your wrist. Then, he laces your hands together and tugs you down. You fold, and peck his lips once, twice, three times before murmuring against his lips,

“Have you seen Pinocchio?”

Lash’s body stiffens under you. “I really, really don’t like where you’re going with this.”

“Please,” you whine, squeezing the hand that never let yours go. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to know. I’m talking years. Literal years, Lash. I’m sorry if you get asked this all the time, but I need to know: can you stretch your nose like Pinocchio?” 

“No one,” Lash says flatly, “has ever asked me that. I knew this is where you were going with that question, I just knew it, you absolute weirdo.” 

You cross your arms and level him with an unimpressed glare. You end up in a staring contest, neither willing to back down. You’ve played this game before and won, never mind that you and Lash always seem to tie. This time, you would not be the one to crack. You know him, you know what makes him fold like a deck of cards, and as the dealer you’re not above a little manipulation to satisfy your curiosity.

Slowly, you let your expression shift to one of hope, eyes shiny and brows furrowed, not quite begging but rather expectant that he would sacrifice something small like his dignity to show you a party trick. Then, you bat your eyelashes at him, not quick enough for him to think you’re doing it knowingly and on purpose like he rightfully accused you of before, but innocent, fluttering blinks timed perfectly enough apart to seem genuine. 

Lash sighs heavily, looking like he regretted every decision he ever made, and you try to not look half as pleased with yourself as you felt.  

Slowly, Lash’s nose stretches out a few inches. He doesn’t hold it for long, but just long enough for you to get a good look before quickly retracting it, his face back to normal, frown and all. 

You cover your mouth with your hands briefly, eyes bugging. “Oh my god. That is the most amazing thing I have ever seen.” 

Lash huffs, his bottom lip sticking out, and he twists his head away from you. 

“Hey, no,” you say, easy and comforting. You reach out and grab his jaw, turning it back towards you. “I wasn’t making fun of you, promise. I think that’s really cool. Thank you for showing me.” To prove you meant no harm to his ego, you smack a kiss on the button of his nose. 

His eyes blow wide, and for a second your heart starts to sink, believing what you did was a mistake. Lash proves you wrong, again, when his mouth stretches into a goofy grin. You light up again, and don’t think before falling forward to leave a lingering peck on his lips. 

He pulls back, just barely, and asks with complete adoration flooding his voice, “How are you real?”

This is when you know your heart belongs to him. 

For a while, neither of you take the next step. Cross the next boundary. You know what you want, and you’re almost positive he wants it too, but the thing is, you never stopped being each other. You’ve always been the same people since the beginning. There are only two ways it could end, and you weren’t ready to cross the finish line only to find out he isn’t the prize. That’s not winning to you. 

Speaking of winning, it’s something you plan on doing as the monthly Save the Citizen game was announced for P.E.

They didn’t participate every game, but Lash and Speed have been an undefeated team since freshman year, everyone dreaded going up against the powerful duo. Few came close to winning, but they were ultimately unstoppable. This time though, Coach Boomer threw in a twist. 

“I’ve been feeling a little bored, so I’m changing it up this time. Lash, Speed; as the undefeated victors, you will not be on the same team today.” The sea of students began to whisper, wondering what Boomer was doing. “You two will be on opposite teams and, because I’ve been spending too much time with Medulla, I’m feeling a little evil, so you will choose each other’s partner. Lash, you first.”

Lash deliberates for a second before choosing freshman hero student Brittney Wilson, AKA Freeze Girl. Interesting choice, you think, and wonder how Lash plans on winning when she has a stronger power than him. He’s pretty clever in a pinch and that’s how he and Speed keep winning, but sometimes brute force is all it takes. He does have two more years worth of experience than she does, and Speed isn’t known for being much of a tactician, so Lash isn't totally without an advantage. You continue to think of possible strategies Lash could use to combat this when you hear Speed say your name loud and clear. 

Suddenly, whispers rise all around the gym room, heads turning to look at you and gossiping immediately. You hear many students speculate about the easy win Speed and Freeze Girl are sure to have, because there’s no way you and Lash can work together long enough to win, your rivalry is sure to get in the way. Even Boomer and the other teachers looked surprised at Speed's choice, albeit also unable to hide their curiosity. Speed, the asshole, is smirking to himself. Good thing losing is not an option for you. 

A coin flip determines that you and Lash are the villains. You make your way to the changing room to get into your gear, passing Lash on the way, and you can’t resist an opportunity like this. 

“We’re winning, so I would really appreciate it if you don’t fuck this up,” you say to him, not that anyone but Lash can tell you’re teasing him.

He’s got an eyebrow quirked and a very bad poker face on as he peers down at you. “If you break my winning streak I’ll make sure you’ll regret it, Stronghold.” The you of a few months ago would take this as a threat, but you now see it as the promise it is. Whatever the results of the game are, you know you and Lash are gonna end it in your own way later. 

In typical high school fashion, the students around you “ooh” as you and Lash exchange barbs. You’re not paying them much attention though, now focused on nothing but winning. 

Soon, you’re inside the arena and you begin to strategize with Lash at your side. 

“You should take Speed, you know his moves better than I do. I can hold him off if he tries anything, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to face Freeze Girl alone,” you say, observing your opponents across the room. If you recall correctly, this is Brittney’s first game participating. 

“Yeah,” Lash says. “That’s what I was thinking. I don’t think beating Speed will be too hard, he’s too fast and too impulsive: he won’t stop and I can get him then. And he pretty much only has one move.”

You cut in, “You’re right, but you’ve never been his opponent before. You’ve never seen him from the other side. Don’t underestimate him, that’s a good way to lose.”

“Okay,” he agrees. “I’ll keep an eye on him. So Freeze Girl. She’s powerful and quick, but if she exerts herself too fast then she’s basically powerless. You have more stamina than her, so if you keep hitting her and don’t let up, she won’t have a chance to fight back. She’s also too mild—even if she does freeze us it won’t be enough to hurt.”

You nod along. “Exactly. She won’t dare try something that could seriously injure us, she’ll hold herself back. Try to stay as far away from her as you can, you won’t be able to stretch if she freezes you, but I’ll still be able to use my power. Also, I think she’s afraid of her powers, I’ve seen her use them in training. She’s prone to hesitating under pressure. I doubt she’ll think straight while worrying about us and the citizen. She doesn’t have the best control, either.”

“That could be dangerous,” Lash points out. “If she’s that untrained you need to be careful.”

You smile at him. “I know. I’m just hoping she hesitates enough for us to win. She’s not thinking about this as a battle between heroes and villains.”

“She’s thinking of it as a game in gym class,” Lash finishes.  

You stare at each other then with half hidden smiles and mischievous twinkles in your eyes, silently appraising the other and thinking about how good you are at this teamwork thing. It goes unspoken: you’re a team and you’re unstoppable. There’s no other way, not when you’re together. 

The game still hasn't started yet, and you take this opportunity to put your hair up. Fighting is much easier when there aren’t flyaways blocking your view. Only, the hair tie you had this morning is missing and there’s only one place it can be. 

“Hey,” you say, grabbing his attention (as if you ever lost it). “I need to put my hair up.” You hold your hand out, and Lash rolls up a sleeve, revealing your signature purple hair tie sitting snug on his wrist. He slips it off and hands it to you. 

As you’re gathering your hair in a ponytail, you can’t help but think of that morning when he took it from you, your memories filled with hot kisses and sharp nips, Lash’s fingers threading through your hair and making a mess so bad you needed to brush it again. He’s taken possession of so many of your hair ties because of his insatiable fixation. You don’t mind one bit. Over the last few months, you became accustomed to putting your hair up for the sole purpose of letting Lash take it down, still in awe of the way your hair cascades down and around you. 

“Good?” you ask him, showing off your hair. You hate when it isn’t smooth and he knows this. 

He pinches his lips together and hums in agreement. Despite that, Lash reaches up to flatten some stray baby hairs, shaping your face.

Neither of you notice the whispered exchanges all throughout the gym, starting when the two of you emerged from the changing rooms without biting each other’s heads off. Rumors began to circulate quickly with you and Lash accidentally fueling the fire as you interacted. 

Boomer takes his place. You see Speed whisper to Freeze Girl, she looks scared and unsure as Speed flattens his hands and gestures to the floor then to you and Lash, but then she nods, seemingly reluctant but agreeing with whatever he suggested. An uneasy feeling coils in your gut. 

Boomer is about to start the countdown, so you lean over to Lash and whisper, “The second the timer starts, jump. We need to stay off the ground.” Lash gives you a confused look, but it only lasts for a second as the timer blares, beginning the countdown. 

He trusts you, and when he sees that Speed doesn’t take off immediately, he knows why. 

The two of you jump, Lash stretching his arms up to hang from the rafters, and you use your powers to hover above the ground, looking like you’re standing in midair. 

Your instincts were right, because a few feet under you lay a sheet of ice, right where you and Lash were just standing. They were gonna freeze you to the floor. 

It was silent for a few seconds. Then, the crowd went wild. 

Lash drops down next to you, knowing you’d keep him off the floor. 

“You,” he says seriously, “are so hot.” 

“So not the time,” you respond, not being able to wipe the grin off your face, and he beams at you. Then, together, you charge into battle. 

The thing is, no one knows exactly how powerful you are. Most people know that you’re telekinetic, but not what you’re truly capable of. Your parents think you’re the most powerful person in the world. You think you’re just a teenager. They made sure you were trained properly, and through that, you found out just how strong you are. 

You deter Speed every time he comes at you, apparently not caring that he was supposed to save the citizen. At one point, as you’re blocking a rapid attack from Freeze Girl, you feel an arm wrap around you and drag you to the side. You realize it was Lash moving you out of Speed’s way as he attempted to catch you off guard. He didn’t account for Lash watching your back. You lock eyes with him, giving him a nod of thanks.

Eventually, after you threw him back and knocked him on his ass a few dozen times, he stopped going for you and focused on Lash. 

Brittney, bless her heart, tries her best. It’s almost enough, but if her opponent was anyone other than you, she most likely would have won instantly. She attempted to freeze you, make you fall, grab the citizen with her ice, but it didn’t work. Her ice just wasn't strong enough to combat your powers, so you broke through everytime. In the beginning, it was harder to do, but as she exerted herself more and more in a short span of time, she exhausted herself and her ice became weaker. 

Once, she attempted to freeze Lash while his back was turned, but you shattered the ice before it could go anywhere near him. She was a good fighter though, full of potential and capable of greatness if she applied herself. 

Lash and Speed were engaged in a game of cat and mouse. At the one minute mark when it became clear to Speed that Freeze Girl was no closer to the citizen than when the game started, he became desperate. Every move becoming wild and sloppy as the timer counted down. He attempted to jump to the citizen, something that would have been easier for him as the mannequin lowered, but Lash would slingshot or smack him away, even tripping him a few times. He did get close at the 15 second mark when he managed to knock Lash down, but you simultaneously defended yourself against Freeze Girl’s desperate attack of ice shards and used your powers to move the dummy just out of his reach.  

You and Lash won. 

Exhilaration flowed through you, hearing your classmates cheer, seeing Lash’s face light up at you, and that was an adrenaline rush in of itself. You were gonna run to Lash, not knowing exactly what you would do when you got to him, but all you were thinking about was celebrating your win. 

Unfortunately, Speed had other plans. You forgot he was a sore loser. 

The game was over, you weren't watching him, so when he ran past you at full speed, he shoulder checked you. Before you knew what was happening, the coupled momentum sent you flying, and you cracked your head against a wall of ice. 

You don’t fall, but you stumble, head dizzy and incredibly nauseous. The impact distorted all your senses, everything too loud yet muffled at the same time. Your skull felt like it was vibrating in your head, and the side of your head where the impact hit throbbed agonizingly, the ache clearly not dulling anytime soon. You feel something wet on your hair, so you reach up and immediately hiss in pain as you touch the tender spot. You pull your hand back, vision blurry and darkness creeping in, but what you can see is bright red staining your fingertips. 

You think you hear someone call your name, but you pass out before you can process anything. 

You didn’t expect to wake up in the nurse's office hours later, your entire body pulsing in pain. Nurse Spex began a series of inspections on you, testing your memory, motor functions, and everything she couldn’t while you were unconscious. She let you know that your parents were on the way, give or take a possible European villain detour. 

Turns out you have a mild concussion, and she advises you to take it slow for the next few weeks. You’d have routine check ups to monitor for brain damage, but she’s positive there won’t be any. Then, she asks if you’re up for a visitor. 

Your heart races as you nod your head yes, then you groan and clutch your head as you realize how stupid that was. She gives you a tylenol and lets someone in. 

To say you were disappointed it wasn’t Lash was an understatement. Brittney bounced in, one part freshman perkiness and the other incredibly and unnecessarily apologetic. Nurse Spex leaves you two alone, saying that she’s going to update the staff on your condition and how they can best help. 

After she finishes apologizing for creating the ice that hurt you and you assure her multiple times that it wasn’t her fault, you ask Brittney what happened after you blacked out.

She blushes and needlessly fixes her glasses. Then she practically gushes her next words. “Well, Lash caught you. You fell right into his arms like a princess! It was like seeing a fairytale play out right in front of my eyes! He was so worried about you. People tried to help when they realized what happened, but he wouldn't let anyone near you, only the teachers. I didn’t know he could be so sweet.” She sighs dreamily. 

“I do,” you say quietly, smiling to yourself. 

She blinks. “Oh. We were all wondering, I mean, his reaction was so unexpected but it all makes sense now. The hair and the jump and the way you saved each other. Like, it was all there.”

Her words are absolute gibberish to you. You ask her to explain. 

“It’s just, everyone saw how well you work together, even though it seems like you hate him. No one thinks that anymore about either of you. You were strategizing, and he had your hair tie, and the way he fixed your hair, I mean, you know what they say about hindsight. Oh! Not to mention the fight with Speed.” 

You sit up. “What fight with Speed?”

Brittney’s eyes widened. “Um. Lash probably would have been here instead of me, but he’s in detention because he got into a fight with Speed. About you. And he said—well, he said…” she trails off and bites her lip, looking down. 

“What did he say,” you urged. 

“I really shouldn’t be the one to say it, you should hear it from Lash. He kind of yelled about his feelings for you at Speed, but there were so many people there, I’m pretty sure you’re the only one who doesn’t know.”  

You were tired. So, so tired. “Yell what.”

Brittney waves her hands frantically. “No, seriously, ask Lash. I heard the teachers talking earlier, apparently he was begging to see you and they said they’re gonna let him soon. Ask him then.” 

You calm down, regretting losing your cool on her. She stays and talks for a few minutes and you promise to help her with her powers, but leaves when you begin to feel droopy. You’re asleep again soon after. 

This time, waking up was less painful. Your head still hurts like a bitch, but you felt more steady. You wake up slowly, feeling incredibly groggy, when you feel a squeeze on your hand. You open your eyes and see Lash next to your bed. Head resting in the mattress and sitting on the chair Brittney was in last. 

You squeeze back, his head shooting up near comically. His face shifts in a multitude of expressions going from shock to relief to worry to fear to joy and to a million others before settling on something soft, something just for you. He looks you up and down, assessing your well-being and making sure you’re okay. 

“Hi,” you say.

“Hi.” 

“How long have you been here?” you ask. His clothes are rumpled and his eyes have dark circles under them. 

“A few hours. It’s late, so they’re keeping you here until your parents come back in the morning.” 

You hum. “Will?”

“With the green chick,” he assures. 

You giggle softly. “I know you know her name.”

He shakes his head at you, eyes crinkling as he smiles. “Whatever.”

You two stay like that, staring and drinking each other in. 

Against all odds, you’ve become absolutely intertwined and fully enamored with him. He’s Lash, and he’s yours. You know what you do to him, how you drive him insane and obsessive and he’s completely fine with it because he’s nothing if not addicted to you. You are his too. 

“I love you,” you tell him. 

He gasps, all sharp and hopeful. He looks at you, really looks. He’s looking for a lie, a deception, a meaningless babble because of your concussion. The search is quick; he knows as soon as he starts looking that he’ll find nothing. 

“I love you too,” he admits softly.  

You wish he could kiss you, but you know he won’t risk anything right now. That’s okay though, you think. You’ve kissed him in almost every way that matters. You can wait a little longer for the last few if it means being with him. Here, as victors, having crossed the finish line together. 

[v-hope]

Sweet Night

Pairing: Artist!Taehyung x Heiress!Reader, Heir!OC x Reader

Genre: Fluff (yes, only fluff today, enjoy), Ex Roommates AU, Enemies to Lovers AU, Arranged Marriage (Heir!OC x Reader)

Word Count: 4.8k

Summary: Neither you nor Taehyung were expecting you to show up to his art exhibition, let alone when everyone was already gone, for the two of you were well aware that you didn’t have much of a choice when it came to attending your possible future husband’s charity event instead. Then again, neither of you were counting on your brother and sister in law to take your side and drive you all the way over to him so you could surprise him before the day was over.

A/N: Helloo! This is part 24 of my Social Media AU “Belong”, but you can read it as a stand-alone one shot if you want! I would like to make a shout out to my 🇫🇮 anon for giving me the Jimin idea (you know which one, I changed it a bit to make it fit the story better, but still). I hope you guys enjoy!

Looking away from the backseat’s window, your eyes focused on your trembling hands instead — the city lights as you passed them by being the only source of light as your brother drove through the streets of Seoul, which for some reason seemed to be extremely long that particular night.

The light music Miyoung had taken upon playing on the radio from the passenger seat, in an attempt to create a somewhat calm atmosphere for you and the nervousness she was sure you were feeling, had yet to make you actually calm down. If anything, you could feel your shaky hands become sweatier by the second as you felt a tingle of anticipation in your chest.

Although you wanted with everything in you to attend Taehyung’s art exhibition, you had got out of bed that morning being mentally prepared to spend the entire day at the Lee’s charity event.

You had been ready to spend most of the day with your parents pretending that everything in your relationship was alright, perfect even. You had been smiling for the cameras all day, greeting people you were sure were just pretending to have the perfect life as well, and being forced to make small talk with the ones who used to be your friends yet had turned their back on you as soon as they had found out you were choosing a more modest life over the luxurious one — the same so called friends of yours that had to keep quiet about your little secret if they didn’t want your parents to destroy their family’s business. After all, your family was with no doubt the most powerful one in Korea. And honestly? You couldn’t help but see it now as a curse, after having spent a lifetime believing it was a gift.

Not only that, but you had also spent most of the day next to Sungjin, lovingly posing for the cameras and holding hands, making you wish every single second it was Taehyung instead. You were sure that way it would’ve been more bearable. What you hated the most was the fact that you knew said pictures were being posted right away, meaning Taehyung would see them, and you hated the utter thought of having the man you had feelings for see you acting like a happy couple with someone else — even more after you had to cancel on him to attend an event with the one guy he had asked you not to bring with you to his art exhibition to begin with.

And yet, after having to endure all of that, here you were — a little over an hour after Taehyung’s exhibit was done, being driven over there by your brother and sister in law, while Jimin held him back at the gallery, and you not even knowing what you were supposed to say at all once you saw him. You couldn’t help but wonder if maybe this whole impromptu apparition of yours was a good idea at all. It had been a long day for him, you knew that for sure, and although he had told you earlier that day that he would’ve loved to have you there, maybe by this point he just wanted to go home and get some rest.

You didn’t have much more time to think about that, though, for just as you remained deep in your thoughts, Seokjin pulled up right in front of the address you had given him before. Looking up from your fidgeting hands, you were met by two pairs of eyes already focused on you.

“Do you want us to go with you?” Seokjin asked, hand on his keys, ready to pull them out at your command.

“Um…” you hesitated, leaning closer to the window as your eyes travelled around the rather isolated street in search of any paparazzis, finding yourself to be quite relieved when you saw none of them around. “Maybe just until I find Tae”.

They nodded, exchanging one last look before they made their way out of the car right as you did. Feeling the cold breeze of the night as soon as you closed the door behind you, you couldn’t help but hug yourself, sticking close to Jin and Miyoung as if you were a kid heading to school with her parents after being called by the principal.

Right as you were about to reach the entrance, however, Yoongi made his way out of the building, looking the other way before his eyes fell on all three of you.

“Hey,” he greeted, politely bowing his head, which you didn’t wait to reciprocate. “I came to see if you were anywhere near, Jimin is going crazy trying to come up with more excuses for Taehyung not to leave”.

You chuckled at his comment, imagining just how troubled your friend must have been. After all, and to be fair, you had taken a good while to get there. “Well, I’m here now”.

“That I can see” he sarcastically replied, eyes travelling from you to Seokjin, and then focusing on Miyoung. “Are you all coming in?” his eyes went back to you.

“Is it just the three of you inside?” your brother spoke up before you could nod. As far as he had understood, it should have been only Jimin and Taehyung inside.

“Oh, no” Yoongi denied. “Namjoon-ie is with us, too”.

“Namjoon?” Miyoung wondered, puzzled eyes going up to your brother. Given her reaction, you couldn’t help but wonder if maybe she knew what the rest of you didn’t when it came to those two.

Seokjin bit the inside of his cheek, giving her a knowing look before his eyes went back to Yoongi. “Actually, I, um… I just remembered Miyoung-ie and I have things to do, so…”

Although your sister in law looked troubled for a split second there, she wasted no time in nodding her head. Looking at Yoongi, she struggled to get the words out of her mouth. “W-We do! So, um…” her eyes focused on you. “We should probably leave. Is it okay?”

“Sure…”

“You’ll be okay?” she pushed it, earning a small laugh from you over his motherly ways.

“She’s in good hands” Yoongi reassured her, receiving a genuine smile from her that only caused his lips to part into one of his own as well.

“Okay” she sweetly replied, giving him a small nod as a sign of gratitude.

Seokjin playfully nudged her, grabbing her hand so the whole marriage thing could at least be a little bit more believable. “Shall we go then?”

“Mhm…” she replied.

“Call me when you’re done here” your brother demanded.

“Oh, I’m sure Taehyung will drive her home” Yoongi’s words got chills running up your spine.

“Okay,” Jin’s eyes travelled from Yoongi to you. “Call me when you’re home then”.

“I will” you obediently complied.

With that said, your brother and sister in law turned around, leaving you alone with Yoongi, who didn’t wait to motion towards the door for you to go inside.

“After you” he politely said.

You smiled, taking in a shaky breath before you took a step in. Suddenly all the nervousness you had felt on your way here came right back to hit you in the face, not knowing at all what to do once you were in front of the guy you had ditched the Lee’s event for — not even knowing how he would react at all, yet hoping he would be happy to have you there.

You didn’t get too much time to mentally prepare, for as soon as you entered the place being followed by Yoongi, you caught a glimpse of the backs of the other three men inside as they faced one of the many paintings that brought some life to the neutral white covering every single wall of the gallery. And it was a matter of you taking a few steps towards them for three pairs of eyes to be set on you. However, yours were only focused on one particular pair of them — those chocolate ones that displayed a mixture of surprise and pure happiness in them.

“You’re here?” Taehyung asked the obvious once you reached their side, causing his friends to chuckle in amusement.

“Seems like it…” you nervously managed to get out.

Silence took over as big smiles were plastered all over your faces — on yours and Taehyung’s, as the two of you were happy as hell to see each other, and on his friends, for they were having a blast watching the two of you awkwardly stand in front of one another with those dumb smiles of yours, not knowing what to do next.

“Come on,” Jimin chimed in, placing his hand behind your back and lightly pushing you towards Tae. “Your girl fooled her parents into coming here, the least she deserves is a hug”.

With a giggle escaping Tae’s mouth, he didn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around you when your body was about to collide with his. Feeling your heart going wild at the warmness of his touch, you wrapped your arms around his waist as well, resting your face on his chest and taking in his scent right as he lowered his head just enough to bury it in your neck.

“Thank you for coming” he mumbled.

A light chuckle abandoned your mouth, deciding to say nothing and instead just nod your head and wrap your arms tighter around his figure.

“Okay, I think this is our cue to go” Namjoon’s voice broke the comfortable silence you had fallen into.

“Yup” Yoongi agreed, patting Jimin’s back to catch his attention, as he was shamelessly taking pictures of the two of you to remember the moment his friends somewhat got together. “Let’s give the love birds some privacy”.

Nodding his head, Jimin shoved his phone back into his pocket — neither of them bothering to say goodbye not to kill the moment the two of you were sharing, and just quietly leaving the gallery instead.

Once you heard the front doors being closed, Taehyung pulled away, cupping your face in his warm hands and smiling at the sight of you. “I never thought seeing you would make me this happy”.

“Yah, Kim Taehyung” you called him out. “I’m sure you can be sweeter than that”.

He chuckled, rolling his eyes at how spoiled you had become when it came to him and his show of affection. “I’m happy you’re here, princess”.

You smiled, resting your hands over his and drawing small circles with your thumbs on his skin. “I’m happy I’m here”.

His smile turned sweeter somehow, lightly pressing his forehead on yours before a chuckle escaped his mouth and he amusedly shook his head.

“What is it?” you wondered.

“Nothing,” he laughed, pulling away and letting go of your face. “It just makes sense now why the guys were trying so hard to keep me here. Specially Jimin”.

“Was he losing it?” you laughed.

“Totally” he nodded. “He made me go over the whole exhibition again and explain each one of my paintings at least twice to him” his eyes travelled to one particular spot on the wall right next to the painting they had been admiring when you walked in. “When he ran out of pieces to ask me about he pointed at this small crack on the wall and asked me how I had come up with such a deep concept”.

This time, you couldn’t help but tilt your head back as a throaty laugh escaped your mouth — one that had Taehyung giggling, absolutely loving the sound of your laugh.

“He’s an idiot” you stated. “But he kept you here for me, so…”

“That he did” he smiled, biting his bottom lip as his eyes unconsciously travelled down your body — that pink dress of yours sure did look even better in person. “Aren’t you cold?”

Your eyes instinctively went down to your uncovered legs and then to your uncovered arms, remembering how you had hugged yourself outside minutes ago because of the cold air of the night. “It’s alright in here”.

He nodded his head. “My coat is by the entrance, in case you get too cold”.

You smiled sweetly, yet it didn’t wait to turn into what seemed more like a teasing smirk. “So you told me earlier today that you wished you had got to see me in this dress and now you want to cover it up?”

Taehyung rolled his eyes in amusement. “Don’t get me wrong, princess. I already told you I think you look beautiful and am most definitely enjoying the view right now” his bold words brought heat to your face. “I’m just looking after you”.

“How sweet of you” your sarcastic tone didn’t really match your flustered expression. “I’m okay for now. Will let you enjoy the view for a little longer”.

“How considerate of you” he was quick to follow your sarcastic antics, silently enjoying that particular choice of yours.

“I know, no need to say it” you playfully squinted your eyes at him, later taking a look at the whole gallery. “You think you could show me around?”

He nodded, a bright smile already taking over his face. “It will be my pleasure” his dramatism got a playful roll of eyes from you. “Where would you like to start?”

“This one is alright” you pointed out, moving closer to the painting you already had in front. “So,” you began, eyes tauntingly going to the crack next to his painting. “Tell me about how you came up with such a deep concept”.

“Shut up” he amusedly rolled his eyes.

“No, but seriously now” you smiled, this time staring at the piece of art in front of you. “Tell me about this one”.

Taehyung’s art, you had found out quite a while ago, tended to be on the abstract side. Therefore, it was even harder for you —or anyone for that matter— to interpret.

This one piece, just like the tag placed above it on the wall let you know, was called ‘Winter Bear’. You could clearly see the winter, the palette of colours he had used just screamed cold days and melancholy. Nevertheless, the bear mentioned in the title was nowhere to be found in the painting — instead, you managed to tell apart what you thought was a little boy, somewhat hidden in between all the colourful strokes surrounding his figure.

“That’s me” he pointed out when he could no longer deal with the confusion in your face, managing to draw your attention back to him.

“What?” your bottom lip stuck out in a pout. “What is the word ‘bear’ doing in the title then?”

He chuckled. “It’s art, you dork. You can name it anything you want”.

“I think it must mean something, though…”

Taehyung bit his bottom lip. Of course you would know better.

“That’s what my grandparents used to call me” he confessed.

You nodded quietly, understandingly — not really knowing what to say yet not wanting to stay silent. “You must miss them so much…”

“Sometimes,” he nodded. “I mean, not a day goes by in which I don’t miss them, it’s just that… it’s been years so… you kinda grow used to it” his shoulders moved up and down, in a shrug that tried not to make it seem like a big deal. “The whole exhibit was related to winter, so it naturally reminded me of them and how they used to call me, and… I guess I got too personal with this exhibition”.

You gave him a sweet smile of reassurance, reaching for his hand and holding it in yours. “It’s your art. It’s supposed to be personal”.

The boxy smile that he gave you right then was all it took for your heart to skip a beat, later taking in a shaky breath when he intertwined his long fingers with yours and his thumb drew small circles on the back of your hand.

Your eyes went back to the painting in front, trying your best not to let him know what his touch did to you. “I love it” you stated, much to his pleasure. “Love the way it seems to make no sense when you only read the title, yet it makes complete sense after you explain it”.

He smiled wholeheartedly. “I think it just makes no sense” his words had you furrowing your eyebrows in confusion. “Not everyone is lucky enough to know the true meaning behind it”.

You giggled. “Lucky me then”.

“Lucky you” he agreed.

Tugging at his hand, you moved on to the next painting, and then the next one, and so on. Not a second had gone by in which you had let go of each other’s hand as you commented on the different paintings and the meanings behind each of them — the two of you finding yourselves having the time of your lives as you gave him your take on them and he confirmed whether or not it was what he had tried to portray.

That was what each of you liked about art so much, the fact that there was no wrong answer and you could discuss it so freely. Sure, he had something in mind the moment he painted each one of his pieces, but it was always fun to see what the rest of the people would feel when they looked at them.

And, for some reason, it was particularly enjoyable to him when it came to discussing art with you. So he had found out back when he invited you to one of his friend’s exhibits. It was different than talking about it with his friends, and he didn’t know if it was the fact that, unlike them, you actually knew about art, or just the fact that it was you.

Maybe both.

Tightening your hold on his hand when there were only four more artworks left, you moved on to the next one, having your jaw drop at the sight of it.

“Hey, this is the one I fixed” you blurted out in both surprise and excitement, unconsciously moving closer to it and dragging Taehyung with you so you could appreciate it better.

Although you were excited to see it there, you couldn’t help but feel your face heat up at the memories it brought back — the fact that you had collided with it and spilled coffee on it, still being both upsetting and embarrassing as hell.

You remembered quite well the way you had ran out in search of an art shop to find the necessary supplies to fix it before Taehyung could get home. Maybe you should have been faster. Not like that would’ve been of too much help, though, for whether you wanted to admit it to yourself or not, you knew very well he would’ve noticed something was off with his newest creation right away.

Looking at the different shades of blue and touches of yellow right then brought you back to that night you pulled an all-nighter, meticulously trying to recreate his painting — the hardest part being that you had only got to see it for a split second before the coffee that used to be on your —by then— broken mug had ruined it. You could only be thankful that it had been just a particular part of the painting and not all of it.

Staring into the picture, you had to stop yourself from reaching your hand out to it and trace your fingers over the pair of eyes you could tell apart in yet another one of his abstract works. You had not truly paid attention to them that one night you spent in Taehyung’s living room fixing his painting, for you had been way too invested in the details you had ruined. And you couldn’t help but feel relieved over the fact that the hot liquid had not touched the eyes he had so perfectly portrayed, for although they looked quite familiar somehow, you weren’t sure you would have been able to do any justice to them.

“I didn’t think you were actually displaying it” you mumbled after a few seconds, eyes still fixed on the painting.

“Why wouldn’t I?” he cocked one of his eyebrows. “Not to be that guy, but it’s quite good”.

“Yes,” you agreed in a heartbeat. “But you can tell one part of it is quite different to the rest of it”.

“You did a good job fixing it, princess” he recognized. “No one could really tell the difference”.

“I can tell” you mumbled.

Taehyung laughed under his breath. “Will you just look up to its title?”

Doing as told out of curiosity, your eyes darted up in a heartbeat — feeling them well up with tears when you read what the label above the artwork said.

“Sweet Night”, ft. Ariel.

Looking up to hold back the tears you felt so dumb for even having in the first place, you shook your head as the corners of your lips curved slightly up. “You did not just credit me after being the one to ruin it to begin with”.

“Hey, I wasn’t taking full credit over something I didn’t completely paint” he stated. “Plus, it’s smart, don’t you think? No one will ever know this Ariel person is no other than the infamous Kim Y/N”.

“You really didn’t have to…”

“I wanted to” he stated.

You bit your bottom lip, no longer being able to hold back your smile and letting it part your lips like it had been threatening to. Taehyung couldn’t help but laugh under his breath over how adorable he thought you were, not even dreaming of stopping himself when he let go of your hand and placed his arm over your shoulders instead, pulling you closer to him as the two of you stared into the artwork in front.

“Why ‘Sweet Night’?” you wondered, leaning your head on his body.

He shrugged. “It’s silly”.

“Come onnn,” you pouted, pulling slightly away so you could look at him. “Out of all the paintings here, you can’t leave out the explanation to this particular one”.

Taehyung sighed, knowing well enough that, one, you were right, and, two, you were not letting this go until he told you.

“It was inspired by that one night I came home to you and Sungjin” he said rather bitterly, remembering pretty well how he had not been fazed at all by the fact that you and said guy had obviously been making out right before, yet feeling his blood boil at the mere thought of it now. “We stayed up late eating lots and lots of sweet popcorn because I had way too many of them and you became addicted to them and how well they went with wine” a small laugh escaped his mouth at the memory. “So I just went with that. Plus, you were being really sweet that night and it was the first time I got to see that side of you, so…”

“That is really sweet” you mumbled, feeling the heat reach your cheeks.

“Don’t” he pleaded.

You laughed. “It truly is sweet, Vante” the way your eyes had softened at the sight of him, had his heart skipping a beat. “What do the eyes mean, though?”

“You just want to torture me by now” he called you out.

“I’m just asking!” you defended yourself with a giggle.

Taehyung rolled his eyes, feeling the heat reach his face as he intently focused on the painting, evading your eyes as he spoke.

“I’ve never been a fan of people having their full attention on me, I don’t like being the center of attention… I mean, I told you today how I was not looking forward to the moment I would have to give a speech in front of all my guests” you nodded, remembering how you had tried to cheer him up when it came to that. “So I don’t really talk about my art… or about art in general, to anyone. I just show it to them and let them interpret it, that’s what art is about, after all. But that one night you asked me a lot about my art and I actually felt like talking about it with you, and I remember the way your eyes were fixed on me almost as if you were scared you would miss some kind of important detail,” he laughed lightly. “And for the first time I liked the attention. I guess that inspired me enough to paint this”.

“So those are my eyes?” you asked.

He shrugged. “It’s up for interpretation”.

You shook your head in amusement, staring down as you felt your face burning. “You’re the worst”.

Taehyung chuckled, pulling you closer to him with the arm that was still around your shoulders, and using his free hand to place two fingers under your chin and make you look up at him. “Am I now?”

You felt your breathing become heavier the second his nose faintly bumped on yours — his lips only centimeters away from your anticipating ones. Too intimidated by him right then, knowing well enough he had you wrapped around his finger, you managed to shake your head no to answer his question, without taking your eyes away from his for even a second. Or well, that until his chocolate ones travelled down to your mouth.

Staring down into his tempting lips as they slowly came closer to yours, you looked up to his eyes for a split second, just enough to catch a glimpse of the way his remained fixed on your mouth. And then, you saw nothing — eyes instinctively closing when his lips softly trapped your bottom one.

Just one touch of his lips made you wonder how you had managed to go on all these weeks without getting a taste of them again.

“I thought you didn’t do this whole ‘friends with benefits’ thing?” you whispered against his lips, opening your eyes to find his dark ones already fixed on you.

A small, breathy laugh escaped his mouth, leaning in so it would faintly brush against yours. “I’m not kissing you as a friend”.

Your lips parted into a smile, not letting another second go by before you pressed your lips to his, making him smile and cup your face in his hands just like he had done weeks ago with the intention of deepening the kiss.

With your arms wrapping around his neck, you pulled him closer to your body, letting go of the kiss for a second to catch your breath and having him take advantage of your slightly open mouth to trap your bottom lip in his eager ones again, this time tracing his tongue over it and slipping it inside your still open mouth — meeting your awaiting one in the middle just the way he wanted.

Letting go of your face, one of his hands travelled down to your lower back so he could feel you even closer, fingers tracing their way down your bare arms as he did so, and feeling goosebumps form on your skin.

“You’re cold?” he asked, taking one second to catch his breath before his wet lips were back on yours.

You shook your head no, a small, shy laugh escaping your mouth. “I didn’t get chills because I’m cold”.

Taehyung bit his lip, feeling the corners of his mouth curving up and pressing one last kiss to your lips before finally pulling away from you as his eyes were intently fixed on yours.

“I will keep my coat to myself then” he teased you.

“Nope,” you were quick to deny. “I am taking you up on the coat offer when we leave”.

“Okay” he laughed lightly, the hand that was still on your face travelling down your arm to intertwine his fingers with yours. “Shall we go?”

You shook your head no quite effusively. “We’re not done with the exhibit yet!”

“I’m hungry, let’s go eat something” Taehyung whined. “We can come back some other day”.

“Yah,” you called him out. “I came all the way here just to see your artworks”.

Your words earned a somewhat bitter pout from him. “Thought you had come all the way over here to see me”.

You couldn’t help but let out a chuckle at that, tugging on his hand to pull him closer, and then making him replace said pout with a smile when you pressed two chaste kisses to his mouth. “It was implicit” your teasing words had him rolling his eyes. “We only have three more to go and then I’m all yours”.

He smirked, pulling you with him to the next piece. “I like the sound of that”.

“I meant it as in, then we can go get some food” you mumbled, feeling your face burning for what felt like the millionth time that night.

“I know” he pecked your lips. “Doesn’t change that I enjoy the sound of that”.

[specialagentlokitty]

Mr Evershed x Student!reader - Let me help

Purely platonic!Mr Evershed or Mr Bell x student reader who takes them in when they realise their home life is shit and helps them cope? - Anon 💜

A/N: this will contain mentions of an abusive parent, please read with caution!

Standing in front of the school gates, you had you hands stuffed in your pockets as you stared at the teacher in front of you.

“Move.” You grumbled.

“I’m afraid I can’t Miss (L/N), you know it’s against the rules to leave school without permission before 3pm.” Me Evershed said with a smile.

You rolled your eyes at him and walked to another part of the fence, all the while he followed along the fence.

“Can we at least talk about it?” He asked.

“Fuck off!” You yelled.

No matter which way you tried to get out he blocked your path. Finally you gave up, and settling for sitting on the floor behind the school.

Mr Eversehd sat next to you, resting his arms on his knees.

“Oh my god go away!” You weakly pleaded.

“Not until you tell me what’s going on Miss (L/N). You’re usually a well behaved student, so seeing your recent behaviour is a huge red flag.”

You frowned, pulling your phone out your pocket, you picked up.

“What?... fuck off! No I won’t get lost!... do it then I dare you!”

You hung up, Mr Evershed watched as you stood up and paced before grabbing your phone, throwing it into the wall.

In a fit of rage and fear, you lashed out, and punched the wall. Instantly pain surged through your hand but you didn’t care, you let it limply drop by your side, blood trickling between your knuckles.

“Now, we’ll have none of that.” Mr Evershed said gently.

He walked over to you, placing his hand on your shoulder his eyes shot open in shock when you slapped his hand away, gazing at him in pure fear.

“I’m sorry...” you whispered.

You quickly ran, leaving the teacher unsure what to do.

You hid for the whole day, hiding in the bathrooms. As the final school bell came, you took this as your chance to try and sneak out, making your way through the crowds of people you kept your head down.

“Miss (L/N), can we have a work please?”

You stopped, not only was the very teacher who contfronted you earlier there, but there was also a police officer, the principal and a another woman you didn’t recognise.

“We just want a chat (Y/N), that’s all.” Miss Carter smiled.

You frowned heavily, backing away a few steps, pretty much all students had left now, so thankfully no one had to see this.

While looking around you tried to find anybskrt of escape route that you could.

“(Y/N)!” You jumped, staring at the gates in pure fear.

The same man who plagued your nightmares was storming his way towards you. Frozen to your spot in fear, you stared at him as he stood right in front of you.

“Sir! You can’t be here!” Miss Carter yelled.

“Fuck of!” He yelled.

He turned to you, a sneer on his face.

“You dare speak to me that way you little fucking brat!?”

He raised his hand and you squeezed your eyes shut waiting for the impact. But it never came, you heard the smack, but never felt the pain.

There was a lot of shouting, and you finally opened your eyes and you fell to your knees, tears streaming down your face.

Mr Evershed turned around, blood dripping from his nose. He knelt down and smiled warmly at you.

“It’s okay now, you’re okay.” He said gently.

You cried ever harder and he looked to the others for some indication on what to do, but they weren’t paying attention.

After what felt like hours you were pulled into a meeting where they were trying to decide how to go about this.

“Is there anywhere you can stay for now?” Miss Carter asked.

You shook your head, rubbing the dried blood from your skin.

“There’s a foster house out of town we place her in for now.” The officer replied.

“No, I’ll take her if that’s alright.”

Everyone including you snapped your head towards Mr Evershed.

“It’s a bit inappropriate isn’t it?” Miss Carted asked him.

“I don’t mean for it to be, it’s simply a lot has happened, (Y/N) is in the middle of doing her GCSE’s and removing her from her whole support network won’t help.”

“That makes sense I suppose. Are you sure you want to take her on? We aren’t sure how long it’ll be for.” Miss Carter sighed.

“I’m sure. It’s not right just to abandon a student in the middle of something like this.”

“Well, I don’t think it should be a problem. She is old enough to decide for herself, is that okay with you?” The officer asked you.

“I... guess yeah...”

It was settled, the officer went to your house to grab your things and you were taken with Mr Evershed.

You sat on the floor of the room he gave you when there was a soft knock on the door and it was gently pushed open. He held up a bag and a medical kit.

“Got some fish and chips, want some?”

You didn’t speak and he sighed, coming in he sat against the wall opposite you.

“Are we going to clean up that hand?”

Again you didn’t reply, it was like you were in a total mental breakdown, you were completely shut off.

“(Y/N), I know you’re scared. I can’t pretend to understand what’s going on in your head because I don’t, but I’m only here to support you, to help you.”

You briefly met his gaze and reached out, taking the medical kit, you wordless began to grab everything you needed with one hand, but it was a struggle.

Mr Evershed could do nothing else but watch, he wouldn’t intervene unless you asked him too.

He watched as you expertly tended to your hand, as if you’d done it a thousand times and it made him hurt.

“How often have you done this?” He asked quietly.

“Far too many...” you mumbled.

“I won’t force you to tell me anything, I also won’t force you to go into school for the next few days. But remember I’m here for you, when you wanna talk, I’m all ears.”

You watched him stand and leave the room, you found it weird how quiet the house was, there was no loud noises or anything.

It wasn’t a feeling you were used to. You didn’t dare leave the room, but finally you worked up the courage too, quietly making you way around.

Of course the teacher knew you were padding about, but he said nothing, simply left you too it because he was hoping eventually you would open up to him and let someone help

[loveelle]

Leap of Faith~ Part 3

Luke Patterson x Reggie’s sister!Reader

A/N: Sorry its a little late! Let me know what you think please and if you want to be added to the tags!

WC: 5K

SERIES MASTER

MASTER

---

The room fell silent as the performance came to a finish, the boys disappearing from the stage and leaving Julie up there alone to handle the aftermath. The boys appeared right behind you as you jumped, giving them all looks of disbelief. “I can’t believe you guys just did that! That was not only amazing but completely irresponsible!”

Smiles spread on their faces as you went back and forth between being angry and proud.

“Where’d the rest of the band go?” you heard over your shoulder as you turned to look, seeing Julie look wide-eyed at the AV kid who lit her performance.

“Wait, were those holograms?”

“Yes!” Julie almost yelled the answer that graciously fell into her lap, looking at one of the background dancers for the performer you watched earlier. “They were holograms! I plugged it into the ceiling projector before the show.” She gestured to the ceiling projector above the crowd’s head. “I’d explain it but it involves algorithms and science stuff.” The crowd started to applaud for her and you felt Luke and Reggie lean their elbows on your shoulders from beside you as you stared open-mouthed at Julie.

“This is wild.” Luke said full of adrenalin. “They can see us when we’re performing, but not when the music ended.”

Reggie’s elbow fell off your shoulder. “We should double-check.” He said before starting up the stairs next to you and stopping at the top. You furrowed your brows as you watched your brother, only seconds before he started shaking and flaunting his butt in front of the crowd. You crossed your arms as he retreated next to you again, looking slightly embarrassed. “Yeah, I don’t- I don’t think they can see us.”

“I wish I couldn’t see you.” Alex muttered as Luke and you looked at Reggie like he was crazy, because honestly, he was. What if the crowd could see him, not that that’s possible but hey! You didn’t think becoming ghosts was possible either and here you were.

The principal started ushering the kids out of the gym as you and the band shared looks, mindlessly following them out. “I still can’t believe you did that.” You mumbled under your breath with a huff but your brother heard.

“Oh, come on. Yes. you can.”

You looked up, meeting his eyes before rolling yours. “Alright fine, I knew you guys didn’t have it in you to not perform on stage. Especially a song that this one wrote for Sunset Curve.” You gave Luke a nudge with your shoulder, chuckling lightly when he lost a step and went right through a student next to him.

The herd of students started to thin out as you wound up in the empty cafeteria. Reggie and Alex started talking about what it felt like to really perform again as Luke’s arm went around your shoulder and slowly drug you away from them. You quirked your brow. “Don’t think I’m going to blow off finishing our talk from this morning.”

Your face fell as you glanced down to your feet, not at all in a mood for discussing what happened last night. “How about we move past it and just pretend like we’ve resolved it?” you put on a fake smile and grabbed Luke’s hand to remove his arm, seeing the disappointed look on his look. “I’m going to go find Julie.” You said before you rounded the corner, leaving Luke staring at nothing.

You didn’t know your way around the school, but you remembered vaguely enough from when you just left the gym to get you back there.

“Flynn!” Julie was yelling as you caught sight of her running out of the gym, chasing after the girl who showed up at the house yesterday morning. Flynn didn’t stop for her and Julie tried taking off after her again but was interrupted by people trying to talk to her.

You watched her carefully, seeing her smile light up as a blond-haired boy approached her. “That was incredible!” he told her and you smiled to yourself at Julie’s happiness.

But your smile promptly fell at the presence of the pink-wig-wearing artist. “It was way better than when you cried and ran out.” Julie started shifting out of anger and so did you. If you weren’t a ghost, you’d give the girl a piece of your mind.

“Maybe we should get to science.” The boy tried to get her to leave and you mentally thanked him, knowing that vocally he still wouldn’t have heard you.

“Yeah, maybe then you could study the chemical properties of manners or something.” Julie snapped at her and you were impressed as you stifled a laugh, moving to lean against the lockers and unknowingly getting Julie’s attention very briefly before she was focused again.

“Was that supposed to be a comeback?” The girl chuckled and you rolled your eyes, letting out a moan of annoyance. “Wow.”

“Wow yourself.”

“Another winner.” She mocked Julie and you tightened your jaw. You didn’t like this girl and how she treated Julie. You and Julie might not have been close yet, but she was your friend. The girl turned and strutted away as Julie looked at you and sighed while shaking her head.

You pushed yourself off the wall. “And who might that Diva be?” you said, watching the two kids stop not far down the hall. Julie opened her mouth to speak before looking around, seeing the influx of students in the hallway. You looked at her when she was silent to see her pulling out her phone. “Um, phone call?” you asked and took a step back, wanting to give her privacy a little.

She shook her head and held it to her ear. “Just so people don’t think I’m talking to myself.” She mumbled and you nodded while making an ‘o’ shape with your mouth. “That was Carrie. We used to be friends, but a few years ago…” Julie’s sentence died down and you offered her a frown that she shrugged off. “Now she hates me.”

“Sounds fun.” You joked to try and lighten the mood and for the most part, it worked. Then you slowly smirked at her. “And the boy?”

Julie looked at your knowing smile. “Nick.”

“Nick.” You repeated, clicking his name on your tongue. “Do we like Nick?”

Julie nodded slowly and you couldn’t help but laugh at her as she led her around the corner, unknowingly right to where the band was standing.

“Julie!” They shouted as you and Julie jumped back, Julie’s hand with her phone coming down.

“Stop doing that!” She scolded them and shoved her phone back into her pocket as she looked between them, her happy attitude regarding Nick dropping. “I’m serious.”

“Woah, this one’s on you!” Reggie mumbled and put his hands in the air. “We were already here.”

Julie looked to you, whose eyes were so fixated on the floor because you knew it was probably more on you for leading her here. You peaked up, giving her a nervous smile and you swore you saw her battle back a smile.

“Are we not going to talk about what just happened?” Luke interrupted as you took a deep breath, looking at his excited face staring at Julie.

“Yeah, my whole school just saw you perform. I’m kind of freaking out about it.”

“Okay good, because it’s kind of freaking me out too.” Alex let out a great sigh, realizing that this wasn’t making anyone else nervous. “You can see us and then other people can see us when we play music. And my clothes are made of air, yet for some reason, I’m still getting a wedgie!” Luke was rubbing Alex’s back as he starting freaking out more. He looked up, seeing the different faces of his friends. “So many questions.”

“But the important thing is that we rocked that place!” Luke butted in as you reached over, gently hitting Alex’s arm with a smile as he tried to smile back at you despite the anxiety that was surely taking over him. “They were loving you.”

“Are you kidding?” Julie asked rhetorically with a grin. “They loved us! That was a great song Luke, thanks.” Luke’s smile was wide to her and you had to keep yourself from showing how much it hurt to see. This was a happy moment. The boys could play music again.

“Did you guys see the cheerleaders looking at me?” Your brother blurted out and made you chuckle involuntarily. “I think they were looking at me.” Reggie turned to you fast, putting his hands on your shoulders and looking right into your eyes. “Please tell me they were looking at me.”

“Bro, they were!” Luke interrupted, slapping him in the stomach and you nodded and grabbed his face.

“He’s right Reg. They were so looking at you.”

“I knew it!” He cheered and pulled you into a hug, making you chuckle and hug him back.

“I’m so confused! The afterlife should come with instructions or a quick-start guide or something!”

Your eyes lit up at Alex’s words. “That’s what I thought!” He pointed at you, always knowing you were on the same brainwave.

“Well, the good news is everyone thought you guys were holograms, and I got back into the program.” Julie’s face however the exact opposite of how she should’ve felt at this moment.

“Why do you look so bummed?” You asked.

“Yeah, you’re making this face.” Luke put his arms around Reggie and Alex and pulled him into his sides. The three of them mimicked Julie’s face and you had to admit, they weren’t that far off.

Julie’s lips fell to a straight line. “That is not my face.” She said and pause momentarily to gesture to them.

“It’s kind of your face.” You admitted the same time as the boys did, the four of you agree.

“Things just got weird between me and Flynn.” Your joking demeanor dropped when you remembered Julie running out of the gym after her best friend. “She asked about you guys and I couldn’t say.”

“Sweet. Girls are already talking about us.” Reggie whispered to the guys but you heard and slapped his arm, hoping he’d let up. “Ow.” He mumbled and rubbed the spot you hit him.

“It’s serious, guys.” You told the three of them, shooting looks as Julie nodded.

“I can’t tell Flynn just like I can’t tell my dad. She’ll think I’ve gone off the deep end!” At Julie’s words, the sound of the custodian that neither of you had seen before pushed his cart towards you guys, making the boys part.

“Well, he definitely thinks you’ve gone off the deep end.” Reggie quipped as the five of you watched the custodian stop and give Julie a worried look before he left.

“I’ve got to get back to class.” Julie said before walking away.

“Later Julie! Oh! Tell those cheerleaders I’m single!” Reggie called out and you snorted a laugh, hiding your face in your hands.

“Oh, and that he’s dead.” Alex added and you couldn’t help but laugh more, clinging onto whatever was closest to you, which happened to be Luke. He watched you amusedly as Reggie called back for Julie to leave that part out.

“You okay?” Luke asked you as you started to get your breath back and you nodded with a soft smile before laughing again and the four of you teleported out of the school and right onto the couch in the studio.

Alex was on his feet the moment you all landed, starting his pace in front of the table. You looked to Luke and Reggie before focusing on Alex. “Alex buddy, are you okay?” You asked him despite knowing exactly what was happening.

“I think he’s practicing his model strut.”

“He’s so nervous, he’s almost making me nervous.” Luke mumbled before leaning his weight on you just briefly before Alex stopped and addressed you all.

“Okay, you guys know I don’t handle change well. All right? Death?” He took a deep breath. “That was a change. Ok? Then we became ghosts, another change. And now? People can see us play when we play with Julie. Big freaking change!”

“Yeah, but, bro, it was a good change. With Julie, we can play on stage and be the band we never got to be. You gotta be down for that.” Luke tried to calm him down and just by looking you can tell it partly did, but Alex’s anxiety was still there.

“I mean, who wouldn’t be? I just- I want to figure out why.”

You sucked in a breath and slowly sunk back into the couch as Luke stood up to try and convince Alex and Reggie to join a band with Julie. You had other things on your mind, more involving your presence in the afterlife.

Alex heading to the door caught your attention again as you picked your head up, poofing out just after he did.

“Alex!” you called after him when you were outside the studio, seeing him about to go through Julie’s gates.

He sighed when you called him, throwing his head over his should. “I just gotta clear my head.” He repeated himself from inside as you scurried to his side, not letting him leave.

“You’re not alone in wanting to know more.” You rushed out and based on the look on Alex’s face, you spoke too quickly. “You’re not alone in wanting to know more.” You spoke slower and took a quick breath. “I don’t play music; I don’t play with the band, and yet I’m here. I ate a bad hotdog just like you did and I died. The difference between you and me is you have music and you can share that music with people I can’t. I don’t know why I’m here. I have nothing. I want to figure out why too.”

Alex and you stayed quiet for a couple of seconds before he pulled you in for a hug. “You have us.” He mumbled to you and you laughed sadly.

“I know I do. I have you, and my brother, and Luke. That’s enough for me.” You pulled away, nodding to the gate to tell Alex to go and he shared a last smile before walking through it, moments before your smile fell. “That’s enough for me.” You whispered to yourself, wanting so much to believe your words.

But you couldn’t.

---

You climbed up to the loft the moment you came back inside from your talk with Alex, but you didn’t do anything besides stare at the ceiling and think. Was it wrong you felt jealous? People could see the boys, watch and hear them play. You were invisible. Again. Just like you’ve been all your life.

“Whatcha thinking about?” Your head snapped to the side at Reggie’s voice and you forced a smile as he moved to lay on the ground next to you, using a bag you found as a pillow.

“Just thinking.” You told him, unsure what he wanted to know. He looked at you, staring at the side of your face for too long if he was going to stay quiet. “Keep looking at me and you go over the railing.” You pointed to the railing bars at the edge of the loft as Reggie laughed, pushing you slightly before you joined him.

“You don’t have the strength for that.”

You quirked a brow at him. “Oh yeah? Care to find out?”

“No. I don’t wanna be wrong.” he was quick to respond and you let out another loud laugh. “Seriously though, you’ve got to talk to me about what’s wrong with you.”

“Why?” you whined, covering your head with your arm as Reggie rolled your eyes.

“Because I’m your brother and if you’re not going to talk to me about it, then who are you going to talk to?”

Despite the arm hiding your face, Reggie could see you frown suddenly and he grew curious, knowing you were hiding something from him. He didn’t say anything, if you weren’t going to tell him then maybe you had a reason.

“I just wanna be alone right now.” You told him quietly and Reggie hesitated before nodding. He pushed himself up and left you be. You let your eyes close as you listened to Reggie talk to who you could only assume was Luke, telling him you just wanted to be alone. You heard silence on Luke’s side of the conversation and you bit your lip, taking a deep breath and poofing out of the studio once again.

---

You were met with the silence of the beach as you landed on the sand, feeling it shift beneath your shoes. You yanked them off, putting your feet down in the hot sand before falling on it. There were so many people around but you didn’t care. The beach was your spot to get away. Besides, they couldn’t see you. You stripped yourself of your jacket too, throwing it away from you and running your hands through your hair a few times. Some sand that had stuck to your hand was now stuck in your hair, but you made no move to remove it.

“Dang it.” You mumbled, feeling the stress from this whole situation get to you.

“I thought you wanted to be alone in the studio, not the beach.” You didn’t need to turn around to know who found you.

“Luke now’s really not the time.” You called back to him in hopes your voice didn’t crack. He didn’t listen obviously, not like he ever does, and took the spot next to you.

Luke looked over, seeing the way your eyes glossed more than normal and he knew you were trying not to cry. “What’s wrong?” He reached for your hand but you pulled it back.

“What’s wrong is you and Reggie won’t let me have my alone time!” you stared straight ahead at the ocean, not caring how mean you were being to Luke because, at this moment, he was doing the one thing you asked him not to.

“Y/N, you spent all day here yesterday.” He tried reasoning and you shook your head.

“What do you want me to say Luke?” you turned to face him, looking him dead in the eyes and not caring there was a tear that was threatening to fall. Your head hurt, the pain building up behind your eyes as you tried your best to keep it together. “Seriously, tell me what you want me to say.”

“I want you to tell me what’s wrong with you!”

“I died, Luke! I died and I had nothing! I did nothing!” The tear fell as your voice cracked but you didn’t stop. “You and the guys had your band and music and you were going to play the Orpheum and fine, you didn’t, but you were going to! You know what I did? I rode Reggie’s coattails. I kept telling myself that once high school was over and we were in the real world, I do something but everyone was right. I was nothing more than a loser.”

“You’re not a loser, Y/N.” Luke’s voice was soft as he reached over to grab your hand, relieved that this time you let him. Knowing he had no clue what to say next, you squeezed his hand and brought your own to wipe the tears from your face.

“Thanks, Luke.” You whispered, forcing a smile on your face more for his sake but you could tell he saw right through you. “I guess we should get back.”

“If you want.” He shrugged, still greatly concerned with whether you were fine. “We could stay here for longer.”

You hesitated but nodded with a real, though rather small, smile this time. “I’d like that.” Luke and you moved to face the water together. But Luke kept glancing at you out of the corner of his eye. You were about to tell him you were fine before he slowly shifted over, making your- dead- heart race. His arm found a spot over your shoulders and he pulled you into his side. He was stiff as he did so, unsure of his actions until you melted into his side, wrapping your arms around his waist and Luke’s lips tugged into a smile.

---

Luke brought you back to the studio a few hours later after you were feeling a little less lost. Since then, Luke and Reggie had been taking a poem they found in Julie’s dream box and turning it into a song. You were adamant that this wasn’t a good idea at all, but Luke and Reggie wouldn’t listen to you.

Which is why you were seated at the piano, not playing, as the boys work. Luke had his guitar pick in his mouth and you couldn’t help but look at it as he sang.

“I know all your secrets, you know all my deep dish, guess that means that some things they never-“

His song was cut off by Reggie and you forced yourself to look away from Luke to pay attention. “Wait, so when she says ‘deep dish’ is she talking about pizza, or…” His voice went high but before he could finish Alex appeared on top of the piano. You weren’t prepared for his sudden appearance and accidentally hit the piano, playing several discordant notes as the boys looked at you.

“Sorry.” You laughed awkwardly and Luke chuckled at you.

“Where you been?” Reggie asked Alex and you moved away from the piano to stand in front, seeing the giddy smile on Alex’s face and you narrowed your eyes with a smile.

“Kind of everywhere. I met a new ghost friend.”

“For real?”

“Yeah, he answered a ton of questions.”

“Yeah? Like whether Julie was gonna join the band or not?” Luke asked as he ripped his notebook out from under Alex.

You rolled your eyes at Luke before stepping closer to Alex. “You mean, there are other ghosts out there? Besides us?”

Alex nodded at you, seeing the way you gasped in relief. You weren’t alone. “And I think I know why we’re here.” Your face lit up again as you moved to sit in the chair closest to you. “All ghosts have, like, unfinished business. So, we need to do our unfinished business so that we can cross over.”

“Why would we do that?” Luke couldn’t believe it. “I’m just saying, this is like our second chance. All we need to do is get Julie to play with us.”

“Yeah. Not only can that girl sing, she can write too. Luke I made a killer melody to one of her lyrics.” Reggie pointed to Luke and Luke showed Alex the poem.

Alex’s face fell. “Oh, without your drummer. Cool.” You felt for Alex, knowing how he must be feeling.

“Drumming is so 90s. Ok?” Luke told him. “We’re just gonna stomp our feet now.” To emphasize his point, Luke started stomping his feet on the ground.

“Okay. Well, you know what else is so 90s? Being rude. All right? Get woke. These are sensitive times.” Alex took Luke’s book and shoved it back into his chest, surprising Luke. “I learned that from my ghost friend.” Alex whispered to Reggie and you.

“Woke. That’s-That’s a cool word.” Reggie shared a looked with you of pure confusion.

“What does it mean?”

“No clue.” Alex answered you and you couldn’t hold back a laugh.

---

“Hey Alex?” you whispered later that day as you pulled him aside, checking around to make sure Luke and Reggie weren’t near, but since you could still hear them across the room working on the song, you figured the coast was clear.

“What’s up?”

He could see you were nervous, watching you play with your hands and avoid his eye contact. “Um, I was kind of, I was w-wondering,” you stopped yourself, taking a deep breath to stop your stuttering, “I wanted to know more about the unfinished business.” You rambled out and Alex just stared at you. “Do I need to repeat-“

“No, I heard.” Alex interrupted you, tugging on his fanny pack. “I just- You want to know your unfinished business?”

You glanced to your brother and Luke. “I just want to know why I’m still here.”

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, I’ll ask Willie about it. I’ll see what I can do.”

A smirk slowly spread to your face. “Willie, you say?”

“Don’t you dare.” Alex warned you, yet you saw the blush creeping up his neck and his cheeks.

“I won’t say a thing.”

“Good.” Alex smiled at you and you both started heading towards the others before Alex leaned close to you. “Maybe sometime you can talk to someone about your crush on Luke to someone who isn’t your brother.” You stopped walking, looking up at him with wide eyes. You only told Reggie about your possible feelings for Luke. Alex just chuckled at you. “Yeah, you’re not as sly as you think you are.”

---

Julie was nervous since she invited Flynn to listen to the song the band had been working on all day. Her friendship was in the balance of getting Flynn to see the boys and her perform. “It’s going to be okay.” You called over to her from across the room, see her body snap around to face you.

“I know. She’s my best friend, but-“

“But it doesn’t make it any less scary?” you filled in and Julie nodded, moving to the couch next to you. “It’s okay to be nervous Julie, but I don’t even know Flynn and I already know she’s going to forgive you.”

Julie didn’t know what to say. She wanted to reach over and give you a hug, but she knew she would just go right through you, so she held back. “Thank you, Y/N.”

You shared a smile with her moments before Flynn knocked on the studio door. As Julie went to let her in, you sat back and watched the guys get ready. “Thanks for coming.” Julie spoke to Flynn. “We just wanted to rehearse the song so it’s perfect, but it’s not, so whatever.”

“No, if I’m going to hear a song from your imaginary ghost band, I want it to be perfect. So get back in there.” She looked past Julie, unfortunately not where anyone was, and pointed. “All of you. You too.” Her finger this time, however, landed on you and you sucked in a breath, turning away from the girls.

“They’re not out here.” Julie chuckled as she moved to let Flynn inside.

“Oh, I know.” Flynn patted her shoulder when she walked by.

“All right guys, you ready?” She asked but Reggie spoke.

“Actually could she stand somewhere else? I need room to rock out and I don’t wanna walk through her.” You chuckled at your brother as Julie told Flynn, getting her to move.

Flynn nodded and played along, moving directly to where you were. “Woah, Woah, Woah!” Julie called out as Flynn stopped.

“What? Someone else needs room to rock out too?” She chuckled and Julie gave a small laugh.

“No, but you were about to sit on Y/N.”

Flynn blinked a few times before turning to you, despite not being able to see you. “Who’s Y/N?”

“Um, Reggie’s sister.”

Flynn had burst out laughing. “Boy, when you create a world, you really live in it.” She laughed and you did too, thankful you didn’t have to move.

“Just sit.” Julie rolled her eyes and pulled out a chair for her. “If you’ll notice, there’s no equipment that will produce a hologram. Feel free to look around.” Julie moved to the keyboard, next to Luke. “The guys took a poem I wrote about you and put it to music.”

“Awe. I wish I didn’t have to talk to your dad after this.” Flynn said, still not believing her.

You all chuckled at her. “It’s called Flying Solo. Hope you like it.” Julie started playing, immediately impressing you with her talent in just a few notes.

“If I leave you on a bad note, leave you on a sad note, guess that means I’m lunch that day” She began and you shifted, wanting to see Flynn’s reaction. The boys suddenly appeared as they started performing and Flynn let out a scream of shock and disbelief. “My life, my life would be real low, zero, flying solo,”

You clapped and cheered, receiving and a glance from your brother and a wink and smile from Luke. That caught the attention of Flynn who turned to the couch, thinking she could see you, but was met with nothing. Your face fell slightly, but you didn’t let it show as you focused on the song. Julie came over to Flynn and kneeled in front of her as Luke moved to the microphone closest to you as he sang and you couldn’t help but watch him.

The song finished, but the boys kept playing quietly to talk to Flynn. Flynn went up to your brother and stuck her hand through him. “Weird, right?”

“They’re ghosts!” She cried out.

“Oh, we prefer, uh, musician spirits.” Alex told her and you snorted.

“No you don’t, you liar.” You laughed at Alex and he laughed back, making Flynn look to where you were.

“Why can’t I see her?” She asked her best friend who saw the sad look on her face.

“She’s not playing anything.” Flynn didn’t press Julie, and by association, you, before Luke spoke.

“Julie, so does this mean you’re joining our band?”

Flynn put her finger up, stopping Julie before she could answer. “Actually, I think you’re joining her band.”

You all grinned at her answer, fully expecting that from Flynn. Julie leaned her elbow on Flynn’s shoulder. “I’m gonna go with what she said.”

Alex started playing the drums louder as they all started playing again with Julie and Flynn singing together. Luke sat down next to you, still playing his guitar. His eyes locked on yours for longer than a moment as the song finished, yet you couldn’t look away from him. And neither could he.

.

.

.

.

@hoechx​ // @katrin-okay​ // @ifilwtmfc​ // @winchestergirl907​ // @rachelle3musicals​​ // @im-sorey​ // @magicalxdaydream​ // @sovereignparker​ // @yagorlemmalyn​ // @wanniiieeee​ // @xplrreylo​ // @starjane312​ // @kexritz // @tuttigunner​ // @sunsetcurvej​ //

[kimoralov3]

Let Me Buy You a Coffee

Requested by: Anonymous

Word Count: 1861

Pairing: Erik Lehnsherr x mutant!fem!reader

Warnings: swearing

(Y/N)'s POV

"One medium black coffee and an extra large iced coffee." The barista called from the counter. I walked up and grabbed the coffee, thanking the barista then making my way back to the table where me and Alex were sitting.

"You keep drinking all that coffee and you're gonna have a heart attack." He said as I handed him his coffee. I chuckled as I sat down, throwing my balled up straw paper at him.

"Well, I haven't died yet and you only live once, so why not enjoy the life you have." I said as I took a sip of my coffee. "So, how's working at the school going for you?"

"About as well as working with elementary to high school aged kids could go. I know I'm probably not supposed to say this, but some of those kids would make the devil himself blush with their 'pranks'." 

"Damn, that bad?"

"(Y/N), if you think we were bad as kids, wait till you meet these ones. They're fucking ruthless."

"Maybe I should take back my application for student counselor." 

"No, those kids need someone like you to set them straight. Maybe then they'd stop putting hair dye in the coffee creamer." He groaned out as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Damn, these kids are ruthless."

----

Erik's POV

"Are you sure this is the coffee shop Alex always runs away to?" I asked Charles as we walked inside the small shop.

"Yes, he mentioned that he has started meeting an old friend of his a few weeks ago. What kind of coffee do you want?"

"Just get me a latte, I'll find us a table to sit at." Charles nodded and walked to the counter while I got us a table by the window. This place could use a thorough clean. Or two. Charles came back and sat down, setting up the chess set he brought along. "Do you really need to drag that around everywhere?"

"There's nothing wrong with having a game of chess at the ready. So, how do you like being a history teacher?" Charles asked as he made the first move. 

"It's going as well as it can go, I guess. I still can't believe that you decided to create a school for mutant children, but waste their time making them learn human history."

"No matter what they are now, they should still know their ancestors' history. Especially if it's still holding an effect on how they're treated now."

"I guess you're right. How's your search for a student counselor going?" I asked as Charles took one of my pieces. 

"So far only 2 people have applied. The first one I interviewed just didn't seem right, and the other one's interview is tomorrow evening." 

"Well, I wish you the best of luck."

"One latte and one green tea!" The barista called from the counter. While Charles went to get our drinks, I took the chance to get a good look at the place. Besides the obvious need for a clean, this place looked pretty nice. 

"Here you go." Charles handed me my coffee while he sat down. I muttered a thank you, looking across the room. Who is that with Alex? Charles followed my line of eyesight, chuckling when he saw what I was staring at. "That's Alex's friend I presume."

"Who knew that there could be anyone who could deal with Alex." I said as I took a sip of my coffee.

"You should go say hello to her." Charles suggested as he sipped his tea.

"What? No, that's insane. Why would I do that?"

"Because you think she's cute."

"What makes you say that?" I asked as I leaned back in the chair, crossing my arms over my chest.

"I may be a telepath, Erik, but even a blind man could tell that your eyes sparkled when you saw her."

"You're delusional."

"Whatever you say."

----

(Y/N)'s POV

I walked down the hallways, searching for the principal's office. Why is this school so damn big? I'd been wandering around for about 15 minutes now, and if I didn't find his office soon I would be late for my interview. I should've asked Alex for directions yesterday.

"Do you need some help?" A voice called from behind me. I turned around to see a man - a very cute one at that - standing outside a classroom. 

"Yes please. I'm looking for the principal's office, could you point me in that direction?" I asked as I walked up to him. He towers over me. It would be intimidating if we were under different circumstances. 

"Leave it to Charles to forget to give people simple instructions. His office is down this way, 3rd door on the left. Would you like me to walk you there?" 

"Yes, thank you so much. What's your name by the way?" I asked as we started walking towards our destination.

"Erik. What's yours?"

"(Y/N). So, are you a teacher here?"

"Yes, I teach history. What made you decide to apply for student counselor?"

"Well my friend Alex is also a teacher here, and he told me that there was a new position opening up. I've always loved working with children, so this job seems like a perfect fit." I explained. 

"Well, you'll do great here. These kids may be a handful, but I have no doubt that you'll be able to handle them." He said as we came to a stop outside Charles' office. 

"Thank you. And thank you for helping me find his office. I hope to see you again soon."

"As do I. And I wish you the best of luck on your interview."

----

It's been a few weeks since I officially started working at the school, but I haven't seen Erik anywhere around lately. Maybe he's avoiding me. 

"Knock knock knock. Are you busy?" Alex asked as he knocked on my office door. I looked up from my paperwork, nodding my head. 

"Yeah, I have a lot of paperwork to fill out. Some kids got hurt earlier today, and I have to fill out reports for that. Then some other students have just been coming to me for advice for what to do after they graduate, so I'm looking up mutant friendly places that will be hiring around that time." 

"Sheesh. Seems like you'll be busy for the next few days. You want me to pick up some coffee from our favorite place?" He asked as he leaned against the door frame. 

"Yes please, I haven't had coffee in 3 days and I'm 5 minutes away from exploding." I said as I gave him the money for my coffee.

"Sounds like you'll need an extra large today. This will be the only time I encourage your addiction though, so don't get used to it." 

"Whatever you say, Summers."

----

Erik's POV

"The paper is due next Thursday, so that will give you plenty of time to research and revise whatever you need to. Class dismissed." I said as I wrote the instructions and due date for the paper on the chalkboard. 

"Wait Professor Lehnsherr, could I ask you a question?" Jean asked as she walked up to my desk. I nodded, sitting down at my desk. "Have you talked to the new student counselor?"

"Only once. Why?" I asked as I adjusted my glasses. 

"Oh, no reason. That's all I was wondering." She said before she hurried off. That's strange. I sighed, packing up my stuff before exiting the classroom. 

"Sounds like you'll need an extra large today. This will be the only time I encourage your addiction though, so don't get used to it." 

"Whatever you say, Summers."

Alex walked out of (Y/N)'s office, giving me a nod before continuing about his day. I haven't talked to (Y/N) since the day of her interview, I should probably go say hi. I walked into her office, knocking on the door frame. (Y/N) looked up, smiling and putting her work away when she saw me. 

"Hey Erik. What brings you here?" She asked as she sat up straight.

"I was just stopping by to talk to you. Sorry I didn't get a chance to stop by sooner."

"Well you're here now. Go ahead, sit down." She said as she gestured to one of the chairs in front of her desk. I smiled slightly, taking a seat in the seat positioned directly in front of her. 

"So, how have you been adjusting to working at the school?" I rested my chin in the palm of my hand, giving (Y/N) my full attention. She cleared her throat before speaking. 

"I've been getting along great. The rest of the faculty don't seem to mind me too much, and most of the students love me."

"Do you have any favorites?"

"Now now professor, you know we're not supposed to have favorites." (Y/N) joked as she leaned back in her chair. I chuckled, shaking my head.

"You can call me Erik. And there's no harm in having students you can bear more than others. You're telling me you don't have even one of those students?"

"Well I may have one or two." She finally confessed.

"Do tell."

"Jean Grey and Peter Maximoff. They both have very different personalities, but they're the most sincere kids at this school."

"How do you know?"

"Empathic abilities plus being able to tell when someone is lying. Comes in pretty handy sometimes."

"That's fascinating. I've never seen something quite like that."

"Why thank you."

"Well, I shouldn't keep you long. You seem to have a lot of work to fill out and I have a lot of papers to grade. I'll make sure to visit you soon, though." I said as I stood up, fixing my coat. (Y/N) nodded, walking me to the door.

"See you around, Erik."

----

(Y/N)'s POV

I pulled the door open, walking into the coffee shop and stopping for a second to take in the pleasant smell. The smell of coffee will always feel like home. 

"(Y/N)?" A voice called from the side of the shop. I turned around to see Erik seated at a table, briefcase spewing with papers. I smiled, walking over to him.

"I wasn't expecting to see you here. You having fun grading those papers?" I asked as I sat down in front of him. 

"As much fun as you can when your students don't know when to use a comma or a semicolon. Would you like a coffee?"

"Yeah, but I'll pay for it." I reached into my purse but my hand stopped midway. "Are you using your powers on me?"

"Maybe. Let me pay for your coffee. You're gonna have to sit here and listen to me complain about my students horrible grammar, the least I could do is provide you with some fuel."

"Are you asking me on a date?" I asked as I tilted my head to the side.

"Only if you want it to be. What do you say?"

I pretended to think about it for a moment before sighing. "Fine, but I'm buying the next round of coffee. Deal?"

"Deal."

[cheri-translates]

[CN] Gavin’s Late Autumn Date (Eng Translation)

🍒 Warning: This post contains detailed spoilers for a date which has not been released in English servers! 🍒

This post is dedicated to @stehkotori​, an incredible woman who created and maintains a home for us on Discord to share our love for MLQC. She’s also very encouraging and sweet 😭💕

Kiss Dates Collection: Kiro // Lucien // Victor

Hearing yet another bout of loud laughter from downstairs, I take up my phone and enter Gavin’s number, planning to tell him to meet me directly in the music room.

Just as the dial tone sounds, I hear a familiar ringtone behind me.

I turn around to see Gavin leaning against the door frame, his lips lifted in a gentle smile.

[Note] He only has one official CG in this date so I made another myself]

MC: You actually found me! I was about to tell you to come to the music room directly.

Gavin: Mr Keller said you disappeared right after signing the attendance, so I guessed that you’d be here.

MC: I’m not the type to participate in such lively events. Mr Keller will understand.

It is Loveland High’s hundred-year anniversary today. As “Outstanding Alumni”, Gavin and I have been invited to participate in the ceremony.

However, it’s a little too noisy with the announcements and music blaring downstairs.

Furthermore, as a mere producer for a small program, I have nothing in common to talk about with the distinguished figures present today. It’s best to stay in the music room, where I can enjoy the peace and quiet.  

MC: According to the schedule, all the outstanding alumni have to go on stage to shake hands with the Principal. While I’m far from being “outstanding”, you’re not.

MC: Ever since Principal Fang heard that the current commander of the Special Task Force graduated from Loveland High, he’s been wanting to meet you.

Gavin: I’ve never liked participating in lively events. You know that.

He walks over, lowering his eyes to meet mine.

Gavin: Are you playing the piano?

I scoot to the side, patting the empty space on the piano bench.

Gavin smiles and sits down next to me.

MC: Do you feel as though we’ve been coming to school quite often?

Gavin: Mm, but I like the feeling of coming back here with you. It brings back many memories.

MC: Things from high school?

Gavin’s gaze falls onto the black and white piano keys, his amber eyes filled with the tranquil daylight of late autumn.

He doesn’t respond to my question, as though recalling something. He seems to have entered a trance, the corners of his lips raised slightly.

I rarely see such an expression on his face.

MC: Gavin?

I tug on his sleeve gently, eyes full of queries.

Gavin: Some things from high school, and some things from the Special Task Force.

There is a smile in his eyes as he speaks, as if all his recollections are happy memories.

Gavin: I haven’t thought about how to tell you about them yet.

Curious, I stare at him for a few seconds. I lean over to pull on his left hand.

MC: In that case, you have the duration of one song to organize your words.

Gavin places his fingers on the keys obediently.

Gavin: All right, I’ll do my best to keep up with you.

As soon as the prelude starts, Gavin instantly casts me a glance – this is the tune most familiar to us.

The chords he plays with his left hand easily match the melody I play with my right. We don’t make a single mistake.

Accompanying the sounds of the piano, many images resurface in my mind.

The scene when I met him again, the ginkgo bracelet on my wrist which accompanies me day and night, every sunrise we waited for together, every starlight we have seen…

If I were to take count, every memorable moment was spent together with him.

MC: Actually, I came here once when you weren’t around. There wasn’t a reason why I did it. I just had a sudden whim to take a look.

Gavin: Did you gain anything?

MC: It was dismissal time, and the field was very crowded. I think there was a class having a basketball competition. You could hear their heated shouts from outside the school gate.

MC: Oh, I even saw two people laying on the flower bed stand doing corrections for a test paper. Maybe the teacher wanted to check them. My language teacher back then used to love checking our test papers during night revision sessions.

MC: When going up the teaching building, I was thinking… did we often meet at the stairway back then? Did we pass by each other, just that we didn’t know one another?

Gavin: We didn’t.

His tone is plain and ordinary, as though we are talking about trivial matters like what to have for a meal.

Gavin: We met often, but never passed by each other. I remember every moment I saw you in school. Time, location, weather, your expression, your clothes – I remember them all.

His fingers linger between the black and white piano keys, sunlight flashing in his eyes.

Gavin: Even now, I still remember.

With the sudden pause of my hand, the tune abruptly stops.

MC: …we seem to have really missed out on a lot.

Gavin responds to my sudden lament with an expression reflecting a lack of understanding. He doesn’t probe, waiting for me to continue.

MC: I’ve thought about a few things since a very long time ago. For example… cheering you on at the basketball court after school. And then proudly telling the entire class that the name of the tallest and most accurate shooter is ‘Gavin’!

MC: Back then, there was a small stall outside the school gate selling red bean puffs. $3 for one, $5 for two. It was crispy on the outside and sweet on the inside, with a generous amount of filling. You’ve definitely not eaten it before…

MC: Now, the Cityscape Management doesn’t allow the setting up of stalls outside the school gate, so I don’t have the chance to bring you there to eat.

MC: We used to have late night self-study sessions and were only dismissed after 9pm. The girls in the same class would find company to walk with. If you were there, you’d have been able to send me home.

Upon hearing this, Gavin hesitates slightly.

Gavin: Um, I didn’t have a car back then.

MC: I’m referring to a bicycle!

Gavin: …you can continue.

MC: Piano lessons were way too dull. Once I sit here, it would be for several hours, playing the same song over and over again. Sometimes, I’d think of going out to have fun - to go shopping, sing karaoke, eat all kinds of good food, or do my homework while having a drink in a small shop.

MC: Also, the 800-metres physical test was literally my nightmare! If you were there to practice running with me, I wouldn’t have passed only after my third test.

The moments I spent in Loveland High replay in my mind, but the things that are brimming in my memory, apart from the purity of youth, blazing passion and ignorance, seems to be missing something.

MC: If I could be with you back then… my deepest memories in high school wouldn’t have just been of exams.

If not for the misunderstanding, if not for us going around in circles – the tedious high school homework and boring practices would have had a completely different experience.

Whenever I think about these possibilities, I feel sorry for us.

I pretend to be angry, loosening myself from his grip. I stand up, wear a serious expression, and lodge a “complaint” against him.

MC: It’s all your fault! …you didn’t give me a chance to know you earlier.

Astonishment flashes in his eyes, and his voice is hesitant.

Gavin: …I didn’t think that you would have such thoughts.

MC: Well, now you do – we missed out on a whole six years! Even if we want to make up for it every day, it wouldn’t be enough even if you spend a full twenty-four hours with me.

Of course, I’m just joking around with Gavin. However, his expression clearly shows that he has taken my words seriously.

He stands up slowly. When his eyes meet mine, they contain a sorrowful smile that I haven’t seen for a very long time.

I’m about to coquettishly say that he has to repay his debt, but he traps me in between his arms.

Before I can react, a familiar scent takes my breath away.

Without a shred of hesitation, he kisses me.

The kiss carries an overtone of recklessness and ravaging – as he fiercely rubs the territory between my lips and teeth, his hands grip my waist tightly.

Searing breaths descend on my lips. I open my eyes slightly and see unsuppressed aggression brimming in his amber-coloured gaze.

I suddenly recall how I had trembled when meeting his eyes for the first time.

MC: Senior…

I try to open my mouth amidst his continuous demands, but am only able to release an incoherent mess of words.

Gavin eventually stops for a few seconds. His breathing is ragged, but he doesn’t pull back.

Gavin: I was just thinking about that.

He lets out an incredibly soft laugh, gently tucking messy strands of hair on my cheek behind my ear with his left hand. His lips follow after his warm fingertips, descending on my cheek again and again.

Gavin: Whatever I owe you, I’ll return them one by one… is that okay?

He leans over to my ear and speaks in a low voice. Mixed with desire, the sound is enveloped with cloudy breaths, and every wisp leads to an itch in my heart.

MC: Gavin.

There are so many things in my heart that I want to say. In the end, I can only think of calling his name gently.

The corners of Gavin’s lips are hooked into a smile. He suddenly lifts me up with a hand.

MC: …!

In my panic, I grab onto his shoulders. He simply tilts his head and smiles, placing me directly onto the piano.

The piano lets out a noise in response to the sudden weight. Just as I’m about to exclaim, my lips are sealed once again—

Student A: What was that sound just now?

Student B: Probably someone in the music room.

Student A: Want to take a look?

Although the footsteps and voices outside grow increasingly louder, Gavin maintains an air of disregard, continuing to encircle me in his arms.

He not only ignores the voices, but also takes a step forward. He puts his knee on the piano bench, pushing me completely onto the piano.

A few piano keys resound at the contact, embellishing our ragged breathing.

Student B: What’s there to see in the music room? It’s definitely someone from our club anyway. Let’s hurry over to the ceremony – I heard that the commander of the Special Task Force would be here today!

Student A: Are you serious? I saw him on television once – he’s super alpha!

Student B: Mr Zheng said so the last time, so it shouldn’t be wrong. Hurry up, we wouldn’t get good seats if we’re late!

Hasty footsteps pass by, not even stopping for a moment outside the music room.

I look towards Gavin, lightly tugging at the corner of his shirt. At the same time, I gently bite his lip, wordlessly expressing the feelings in my heart at this very moment.

As though punishing me for my mischief, his eyes narrow slightly. With a hand on my cheek, he presses my entire body onto the piano.

MC: …

I close my eyes, holding onto his solid arms. I lift my head to welcome his lips, savouring his unique breath.

The person in front of me has shed off the roughness of youth, leaving behind only the purity of youth. He often makes me forget that he once used to be unrestrained like the wind.

He has a body that is stronger than everyone else’s, a tough soul, a will that is as firm as steel, and a heart full of tenderness – it is soft beyond compare.

I cling to his waist tightly using my calves, wanting to brand every part of him into my heart.

I want to bear his everything.

Gavin: …

Another light laugh enters my eyes. I open my eyes halfway, feeling the wind slowly sweep past my burning skin.

Even before I sober up from the deep kiss that almost stripped me of consciousness, the scene in front of my eyes causes me to let out a cry of surprise.

Countless ginkgo leaves are floating in the air, dancing outside the window.

The color gold covers every window. Every leaf seems to be drawn by something, spreading their wings as they spin past the floor.

Students standing along the corridor of the teaching building also exclaim, and are unable to hold back their surprised “wow”s!

Gavin smiles faintly. It’s only after a long while before the repeated warmth lingering on my lips gradually leaves the scorching ambience.

Gavin: Do you like it?

I straighten up, leaping off the piano neatly. I kneel on the piano bench with one leg, pressing myself against him.

MC: I like it. I like it very much.

I raise my head, using my fingers to rub his chin, his lips, the tip of his nose, and the corner of his brow.

MC: I like it so much that… I don’t know how I can prove to you just how much I like it.

Gavin reaches out to hold the hand which has drifted to the space between his eyebrows. He has a generous smile.

Gavin: …we did miss out on a lot. Back then, I wasn’t certain if I could have you for life.

I look straight into his bright eyes, and laugh quietly.

MC: And are you very certain now?

Gavin: Mm.

Gavin responds without much thought. His slightly raised eyebrows reveal a sense of pride.

Gavin: I hope you can give me an answer to this question as well.

He holds onto my waist, leaning over to hug me tightly in his arms. Even though he doesn’t continue with his questions, I immediately surrender.

MC: It’s all yours. The rest of my life is yours. The years we missed are also yours.

Everything I have, I’ll give to you.

I won’t leave anything to myself. I’ll give it all to you.

-

🌸 MOMENTS 🌸

Gavin’s Post: Today’s pork rib soup tastes great. 

MC: Is Commander Gavin satisfied with the supper which was prepared with love? 

Gavin: There’s no need to wait up for me next time. 

-

Gavin’s Post: Today’s pork rib soup tastes great.

MC: You’ll do the cooking over the weekend.

Gavin: Yes ma’am.

-

Gavin’s Post: Today’s pork rib soup tastes great.

MC: Can you taste my new recipe? 

Gavin: You added ginkgo, right? 

[lovee-infected]

twisted wonderland theories part 3 : Opening explanation and parallels

Well well , hope you guys enjoyed reading the previous two parts of twst theories so far

Anyways , this is the third part . I decided to go through the opening and original disney animations and also black Butler anime references one more time so this is the combination of all I've found this time , together with some stuff you might've missed

Twst's official opening was pretty mysterious and is most likely giving us hints of the upcoming adventures during the storyline . Well here's the link to opening with eng sub and also the summary of the main character references that were given to us:

1) Ace and Deuce's rivalship : We talked about this one a lot back in (part 2) so let's skip this one

2) Leona's sadness and pain : Leona's tearn falling to the ground and the Ruggie and Jack coming for him ; that's just how he always is : mentally sad and broken with a horribly frustrating past , but will avoid expressing himself and letting anyone see his pain anyway . Not really weird that these two are always around him , Leona does really need to be looked after ...

3) Azul's seek of power : He just looked...mad in this scene . Ursula's shadow on his fave and that creepy smile totally freaks anyone out. It really explains how great his desire of power is . His neglected self in the childhood and pretty poor talent got him to this point...

4) Jamil's cold and kinda confused self : Well this one isn't really clear yet since ch 4 isn't out . But perhaps depression has this guy... spending his whole life serving the the nasty Kalim he might've grown the same characteristics as Jafar , who was so long sick of being the second one in everything . But still his ideal of life is much different from Jafar's . We saw him hypnotizing Kalim in order to make him force students to do better at school . He's trying his best to leave up to his promises as the vice dorm leader but still , having the nasty Kalim as the dorm itself is making it a lot harder for him so he's got no choice but to hypnotize him...

5) Idia's severe anxiety and his protectiveness toward Ortho : This one was mentioned in s rather old re blog but here e go again : Well with how the rumors of the "cursed Shroud family" , Idia's anti-society self might be a bit explained . This guy's overblot is surely going to be EPIC ... we just know very few about him and yet that's more than enough for him to overblot at once . Also the mention of the process of bringing Ortho back to life was a bad hit...His family curse might've been the reason of whatever thst has happened to Ortho

6) Vil's anger of not being the fairest and breaking the mirror: This one's been pointed out a lot . His anger being the same as evil queen's and also the fear of him actually poisoning someone to become the fairest one more time....**

7) Malleus' isolated self and his hidden evil aura : This one's being shown too obviously . The lonely dark prince exposing his evil side under the full moonlight . All alone , beyond the forest of thorns (Lol how ironic) while the others are running to save him before it gets too late...***

(note : **,***: Vil and Malleus' description will be continued undercut)

Very well these were the general hints found on the opening , but don't miss the final seconds which included the biggest hidden facts you could've missed

Firstly , the splitted ink (This one was previously discussed on part 1 but still...) : We talked about how in the "Epic Mickey", Mickey accidentally splits the magic ink over the kingdom and which led to the creation of "shadow blot". This sight seems to be much similar to what we had here in the epic mickey

Well this parallel might be more than just an accidental one and finally and it might actually be that overblot is kinda Crowley's fault , too

Crowley crosses the mirror , turns into an actual crow and flies away...(DaMn YoU bIrDiE wHERe ArE yOu gOinG I'M noT doNe YeT-)

Well the reason he suddenly runs away isn't clear yet but being a fan of black butler for years , I was suddenly reminded of how Undertaker disappeared all of a sudden at this scene from the movie :" Book of Atlantic "

pretty similar , aren't they..?

In Book of Atlantic , Undertaker revealed his original identity as a reaper and the mastermind behind the "Bizzare dolls' " project after pretending to be a just a crazy cookie lover for so long . And at once , he comes up with his stunning sudden self-reveal , leaving everyone in the room speechless

Now now , what do we have with Crowley?

A principal who keeps hiding his face (remember that Undertaker hid his eyes , too?) , telling everyone "how kind he is" many times ... also:

1) In the opening , he was standing smiling in the mirror hall while the seven dorms were burning through seven mirrors

2) He didn't ever try to stop anyone from overbloting ; even Riddle whose overblot occurred right in front of him

3) In the beggining of the game, he asked the mirror to choose the right one and then! and MC was chosen ! MC took the hand of the one appearing through the mirror (seemingly Dire Crowley) and came here. With all said , so why did the mirror reject MC afterwards?

Also , how couldn't he help MC return to Their own world and didn't know about it if he himself brought MC here..?(Could it be that...MC doesn't remember how she/he was brought here?)

4) If he literally is THIS useless and can't ever stop or help anything, then why would he be the principal.....?

Sooooo enough with Crowley ; but what's with these two....?

The spindle wheel & the poison apple ; Sleeping beauty and Snow white

Well it seems that Diasomnia and Pomefiore are going to play a greatly important role in the storyline . We were kinda sure of Diasomnia's but Pomefiore's...? What's so special with it?

(A few hours earlier)

(Me : Hmmm ... the black mirror...where have I seen this before..? *googling - searching Snow White- going to the magic mirror scene* Me : Uh...)

Well... here it is : The Crowley's beloved flower of evil , back at his days with evil queen

feeling old yet ...?

Btw , just how important is being "the fairest one of all "to him ? How 'far' would he go to be the fairest...? With the bitten apple in the last few seconds of opening , it most likely seems that he IS gonna 'kill' to be the fairest again ...Who would he kill ? We don't know . But how about our pretty small guy Epel? Could it be him ? The stubborn freshman who refuses following Vil around and is usually mistaken with a girl......?

Also , why would the original mirror be so important to Crowley? If Vil's supposed to represent evil queen , why isn't 'he' the one owing the mirror...?

And now , the spindle wheel .Great maleficent's legacy , in the hands of Crowley...Well well this is 'too' much . Malleus' family treasure being kept hidden in NRC... pathetic

Also , the mirror which Vil broke in the opening . Well well seems like he isn't having the original magic mirror , afterall....

But wait , if there's the spindle wheel , who's gonna be the evil witch to pull the sweet princess to eternal sleep..? Right , there's only one who might be...

Well we talked about all we'd got so far , but what about Grim ? Isn't anyone going to mention his importance or why he was also mentioned in this chaotic final seconds of opening ???

So... this is what we had in the final seconds :

1)The apple

2) Crowley

3)The black ink

4)Grim

5)The spindle wheel

We talked about all of them except nu 4 . But before that , I've got the same question as before : Why is it "Sleeping beauty" & "Snow white"..?

We discussed the "overblot Grim " hints in (part 2), but here's another thing :

Very well , ever heard of "Grimm brothers"...?

In the case that you don't know who they are , here' the point : They are the authors of 'original' versions of sleeping beauty & snow white; two of the darkest , deepest and possibly creepiest stories of their own throughout the history

I believe that most of you are familiar with the original versions , but you may like to take a look at these two if you haven't yet heard of them check the two of these stories out : (note: I'm aware that there are darker , deeper versions of these too but I'm not gonna mention any of them because : 1)They aren't written by Grimm brothers & 2) They include overly sensual and inappropriate content which has no place in my posts . If you care to know about them , check them at your own risk)

Alright , if you ever wondered who was Grim named after , I guess we've got it now . Mentioning Grim , Snow white and Sleeping beauty together at once is too direct to be a coincidence ...but it's also terrifying ...

Thinking that Disney is actually referring to the original books written by Grimm brothers is a bit too dark... Original stories are really horrible and a great way to ruin one's childhood , but all these hints fit each other way too great and now , they may no longer be just a coincidence...

[shesclearlya3]

Class Fight (p.2)

pairing: teen!dandy mott x teen!reader

word count: 1,666

warnings: language, jealous dandy, slightly au!dandy, all characters are 18

part 1 part 3

1.

When he opened the door, you saw both boys sitting in chairs. They both had packs of ice on their faces and sheepish expressions.

"What were you thinking?" you hissed to them as Mr. Harmon gestured for you to take the empty seat next to Dandy.

"Well, now that y/n is here, I think you both owe her an explanation and an apology."

Jason and Dandy shared a look. Dandy now looked pissed, and you could only imagine what lead to this.

Oh, I have a pretty good fucking idea.

"Well?"

Principal Harmon looked at the boys expectantly. Jason and Dandy awkwardly moved in their seats, not looking at each other as their faces slowly turned black and blue as seconds ticked by.

You waited impatiently, your feet bobbing as you rolled your eyes. Principal Harmon was staring directly at the boys.

"Fine. I'll start." Jason said, throwing the melting ice pack on the desk. Dandy was glaring at his legs. "This guy is a fucking psychopath!-"

"Watch your language, Mr. Dean!" Mr. Harmon snapped, his fist beating against the desk. You jumped as a glass of water tipped over and soaked the floor.

"I apologize. He's crazy." Jason shrugged, "A nutter."

"That's extremely rude," you commented.

Jason laughed to himself, "y/n, you have no idea."

"Mr. Mott?" Principal Harmon inquired, staring at the oldest boy. "Would you care to counter?"

"No," Dandy said flatly.

"Dandy?" you asked, managing to catch his eyes before he looked away.

Dandy adjusted the ice pack. "I don't like him, he's a fu- moron."

"I could say the same!" Jason countered.

"Boys." Mr. Harmon sighed.

"You're a disgrace," Jason shook his head.

"You're an imbecile." Dandy laughed quietly.

"I want you to say that to my face, you looney bin." Jason snapped, curling his fist.

"Oh my gosh," you sighed, rubbing your face as the boys began to bicker and throw insults at each other nonstop.

"Boys!" Mr. Harmon snapped, "If you cannot set aside your differences for just a moment, you'll have detention every week for the rest of the year."

The boys shut up at that, mumbling half-assed apologies to one another.

"Now. You caused quite the spectacle in the quad today. Ms. Esmerelda is in the nurse's office with heart palpitations at the spectacle she witnessed today."

You frowned, wondering what the hell happened even more.

"It's not that big of a deal!" Jason sighed, "I punched the fucker in the face, we're even."

Principal Harmon sighed, "Language."

"Oh please, you curse up a storm all the time. It's just us in here!" Jason defended.

The principal had to hide his laugh. "Fine, I'll let it pass just this once."

Dandy was laughing, a slight crinkle in his eye as he winced from the bruise on his cheek.

"Dandy, this isn't funny," you groaned. "Why were you fighting and what does this have to do with me?" you insisted, standing up. Jason and Dandy both glanced at you, "The entire school probably knows about it by now and I don't take well to rumors!"

Dandy looked saddened as he looked at you, but Jason is the one who spoke first.

"Your friend thinks I'm trying to sleep with you."

Mr. Harmon cleared his throat, dabbing at his forehead as you gaped at the two boys. You could tell he was questioning his life choices.

You thought of the conversation earlier this week with Dandy. He currently looked proud of himself, dropping the ice pack. The bruise was nasty.

"He approached me and my friends as we were walking to the cafeteria. Matthew made a stupid comment about you, that I corrected him on, by the way," Jason defended, putting his hands up. "He told me to stay away from you and he threatened to kill me if I ever hurt you."

"Which is a threat we are taking very seriously." Mr. Harmon said, giving the infamous Harmon death stare to Dandy.

"I wasn't being serious... For the most part." Dandy shrugged.

You sank back into your seat, feeling yourself getting a headache. "Why are men like this?" you groaned.

"Is that it?" Mr. Harmon asked, looking between the boys.

"Yeah, we got into a fight and kicked the shit out of each other, then we got pulled apart. He hits like a girl." Jason laughed.

"I could easily say the same?" Dandy smirked.

"Fall into a fucking ditch." Jason mumbled.

"I'll be happy too, I don't want to be here anyway." Dandy replied.

You stared at Mr. Harmon, feeling like you were watching a television show that was about to be pulled from the air after the first episode. This had to all be a joke, right? There's probably a recorder under the table to be played over the speaker tomorrow.

"Mr. Harmon, I don't understand what is going on through their heads, but I can assure you that Jason and I are friends. The same with Dandy." you said. From the corner of your eye, you could see both boys with crestfallen expressions. "I don't condone violence and I certainly never wanted this to happen."

Mr. Harmon nodded, "I appreciate that, Ms. y/l/n. I do not blame you, men tend to be pigs." he said. The boys glared at him now. "To wrap this up, a month of detention for both of you, two nights a week. I don't want to go through this again, you hear?" he scolded.

The boys nodded slowly, and you stood up, wanting to go home and take a hot bath and listen to the radio. The boys stood up and sauntered out, Dandy giving you a genuinely sad look while Jason didn't bother to look you in the eye.  

You heard the bell ring, and you could already hear students asking if they listened to what had transpired outside. You weren't prepared to deal with this. You were always under the radar. Nobody ever had a bad thing or a rumor to say about you. Now the entire school knew Dandy Mott caused a fight with the Quarterback over you.

Mr. Harmon was shuffling papers on his desk, and you turned to look at him. "Sir? Would it be alright if I go home for the day? I'm feeling unwell."

Mr. Harmon is a strict principal, for the most part. However, he gladly dismissed you, writing a note himself, and you took it to the lady at the front desk after you gathered your things. You ducked out as fast as you could, not caring that it was cold and rainy. By the time you got home, you had settled into a hot bath. You hoped the scalding water would just take you out.

-

You were shaken awake first thing in the morning by your mother, who told you the party's host was sick and wouldn't be hosting the Tupperware party. Which meant you had no plans on Saturday night.

You didn't mind. If you went to the dance now, it would just turn into a gossip party about you. You could always have a night to yourself and see a new release. Maybe go to the diner and get dinner before.

The rain from yesterday had not let up, so you stayed in with your mother and did some cleaning as she played the radio. Your father was away on last-minute business and wouldn't be back until Tuesday night. You liked spending time with your mother. She was soft-spoken and never butted in when it wasn't necessary. She was just that person you always wanted around.

She could tell something was bothering you. Over lunch, you ate in your room, going over the required reading for English. You could faintly hear some weather bulletin on the radio downstairs. You were expecting a call from Zoe talking about the dance being canceled.

Just minutes after the phone rang. Your mother answered below before calling up to you and saying a friend was calling. You smiled, running out of your room and down the stairs, taking the phone from your mother.

"You okay, Zoe?" you teased.

"Zoe?" your smile fell as you heard Dandy's voice on the other end. "It's Dandy."

"Oh, I'm sorry!" you smacked your head. Your mother gave you a concerned glance. "I was expecting her to... Never mind. What's up?" you asked.

"I need to talk to you," he said quickly. "I'm coming over."

You paused, "I-Now isn't a good time, Dandy-."

"I'm leaving now." he said before the line went dead.

You hung up the phone, giving your mother a look as she pretended to be busy.

"Uhh, Dandy is coming over, I guess." you said, slowly taking a seat at the table.

"Oh?" your mother asked, her lips twitching as she somehow tried washing a dish with a dry rag. "I wasn't aware you two were speaking."

Your mother knew Dandy often gave you a ride to school. She assumed that the relationship had come to an end with the girls picking you up every day.

"It's complicated." you answered sadly.

"I see." she said, seeming to realize she wasn't washing correctly. She dropped the hand towel, giving you a pointed look. "Is he causing you trouble?"

You frowned, figuring the school would call to notify the parents their daughter was the cause of a brawl between two model students. You were surprised but realized she would have said something had they told you.

"Not quite. Things are just rocky right now." you said before you heard knocking on the front door. He was here already? He lived all the way across town. You stood up, ignoring the joyful look your mom was giving you as you ran to the foyer, seeing the silhouette of Dandy through the glass.

You wrenched open the door, seeing a drenched Dandy shivering under the porch roof. You pulled him inside, ushering him upstairs before her curious mind could reel the both of you back in the kitchen.

[luviedovey]

the you i fell in love with

connor murphy x female!reader

a/n: not me writing a fic about mike faist’s connor murphy 2 years after he left the show...... also Connor is probably ooc 

summary: you were Connor’s girlfriend who lived in the next town over, a little over a half hour away. his family didn’t know about you, no one did. he didn’t want his family or anyone he knew to scare you away. in the end, it didn’t really matter. he was gone. when the Connor Project came to be and Evan resigned from being co-president, you ran into him. you questioned him about his “friendship” with Connor and he told you everything.

set after the Murphy’s find out the truth and before the Evan/Zoe reunion at the orchard.

second person pov

warning: a few swear words, also very brief mention of depression and taking your own life, and Larry Murphy kind of being a dick

word count: 5,573

______

“Who are you exactly?” Evan questioned the girl who pulled him off to the side of the supermarket where no one else was around. To say he was a little nervous would be an understatement, he was freaking out on the inside.

“I’m so sorry! I probably scared you half to death dragging you along like that.. I just have some questions for you, if you don’t mind answering..?” You smiled at him sheepishly. Something about your awkward smile eased his mind a bit, but not enough. “No, sorry my mom actually is waiting for me by the-” “It’s about Connor!” You interrupted, looking at him through sad, heartbroken eyes. “..Please. Evan Hansen. I know you weren’t really friends with him. I know you weren’t even secret friends with him.. Because if you were, I would’ve known.”

Evan looked around before looking back at you, confused. “Who are you?” He asked for the second time. “I’m- I was Connor’s girlfriend. Y/N L/N. I met him 2 years ago at the apple orchard you guys rebuilt?  We both went there because we thought that no one else would be there and that it would be the perfect place to escape. His family and classmates never knew about me because he-” you laugh slightly,” he was afraid they would take me away from him. Or that his family would fight in front of me and he’d lose his cool or that his sister would say nasty things about him to ‘spare me from being in a relationship with him’ or even that the bullies at his school would turn me against him even though he knew damn well I could never.” You stopped rambling and passed him a Polaroid picture of the two of you, sitting against the chain link fence that surrounded the old abandoned apple orchard. You were looking up at Connor with heart eyes as he smiled back down at you. A real smile. This was the real Connor Murphy.

Evan looked up from the picture at you, shocked before quickly returning it to you. “Oh my god... You must think I’m such a h- horrible person for doing all this and pretending to be best friends with your- your dead boyfriend- I’m so sorry for your loss by the way- and making up all these stories about things we never really did and starting a whole online campaign about-” “Evan!” He stopped ranting, breathing heavily. “Breathe, okay? In through your nose, out through your mouth. Relax.”

It was silent for a moment before Evan mumbled a quiet, “Thank you.”

You smiled knowingly. “Now. Mind telling me everything?”

The two of you sat in your old beat up truck, as Evan told you everything. And by everything i mean everything. He started from the very beginning, “My dad left when I was 7 so now it’s just me and my mom. She works all the time at the hospital to support us and to pay for her education- she’s studying to be a paralegal- and so I’m usually home alone. I have anxiety so I take medication and go to therapy where I have to write a letter to myself hyping myself up for the day and trying to be positive and stuff-” “’Dear Evan Hansen’...”

He looked up from his hands at you, “Yeah.. Connor had one of my letters when he- um.. he took it from me earlier that day..” “It was your therapy letter? Why did he take it from you?” “Oh! You see he didn’t actually know it was a letter to myself for therapy he just thought I was being creepy and writing about his sister in a letter to print it out where he would find it and freak out and explode or something- That wasn’t why though, I didn’t even know he was in the room with me, I thought I was alone. He signed my cast before he read my letter, though. He said, ‘Now we both can pretend we have friends.’ Which is why I thought doing what I did would be okay but it wasn’t and it never will be and I really shouldn’t justify my actions because it was-” “Evan breathe.” “Right, sorry.” “Don’t apologize, it’s okay.” “Okay sor-” You gave him a pointed look.

“O-okay...” You giggled slightly, looking out of the window at the supermarket parking lot, “So.. he ran out with your letter, pissed because he thought you were fucking with him... And then he killed himself.” “Yeah.”

“So what happened after that?” “The Murphy’s showed up in the principal’s office three days later. I knew something was wrong because Connor and Zoe both weren’t in school and I know Connor skips but it’s not likely that they would both be out on the same days. Zoe doesn’t really skip school- she’s not that kind of person.” You nodded, gesturing to get to the point. “Right, they called me into the office because Connor had my letter and my name was on it so they thought the letter was for me. I tried to tell them it wasn’t- that I was the one who wrote it, but they were in denial. They kept reading parts of my letter back to me from memory, trying to make sense of it but I couldn’t tell them- I couldn’t get through to them....” He sighed.

“They invited me over to dinner and I went because I wanted to set the record straight but when I got there, they wanted to hear everything I knew about Connor. But I didn’t know anything, so whenever they brought something up I just nodded and agreed. Zoe was getting suspicious so I started to make things up. ‘Connor loved to talk about how much he hated skiing.’ ‘Connor took us to A La Mode and we ate our ice cream in the apple orchard where we climbed trees and raced across the open fields.’ ‘We would quote songs by our favorite bands.’ ‘We’d tell jokes no one else would understand.’ All lies. And they believed them. They wanted me to keep talking, they needed me to. They were broken and I just wanted to help them. I told them that we were friends on the internet where we’d email each other to talk about our day and stuff. And Connor would use a secret email account because he knew his dad was checking his regular email, and he didn’t want anyone to know we were friends.... Now that I think about it, this kind of sounds like your story.” You laughed, lightening the mood, and nodded.

“You know, you really aren’t that far off from who Connor was, despite the fact that you were making it up as you went. He wasn’t the monster that everyone thought he was. I mean sure in 2nd grade he pushed over a printer because he had a little tantrum about being skipped for line leader, but what kid doesn’t have a tantrum at least once in their life? It definitely didn’t help that all those kids grew up, making the story sound worse than it really was. He was always angry and stand-offish because everyone in his life would say shit about him that wasn’t true or be nice to him to get close enough to learn something new about him and then turn around and make fun of him for it. He was battling depression and needed help but his family didn’t want to believe there was anything actually wrong with him. I was the only one to believe him. To believe in him. But I’m just one person, and I guess that wasn’t enough..” You trailed off. Evan awkwardly put a hand on your shoulder, rubbing it with his thumb as a way to console you.

It was silent for a moment. “I think he would’ve liked you. It would’ve taken him a while to warm up to you, but I really do think the two of you could’ve been friends.” Evan smiled slightly, before frowning. “I pretended to be his friend for so long, but Alana- she’s the co-president of the Connor Project- started getting suspicious about our friendship, saying that the letters didn’t make sense because it sounded like Connor was getting better so I showed her Connor’s ‘suicide note’-” “Dear Evan Hansen, It turns out this wasn’t an amazing day after all. This isn’t going to be an amazing week or an amazing year. Because, why would it be?”

“...Yeah. She believed me too. I told her not to show anyone because it was a really private thing, but she just said that was exactly what people needed to see. She posted it and people on the internet started to attack the Murphy’s, saying things like ‘They’re a rich family who couldn’t bother to pay for their son to get help?’ and ‘I’m not saying to do anything illegal but their house is the pale yellow house at the end of the cul de sac with a red door.’” Your hand flew to your mouth in shock. “They even leaked Zoe’s phone number and their house phone! Everything was just spiraling out of control and I didn’t know what to do. I panicked and the only thing I could think of to do was just.. them the truth. So I did and I told them everything. I wrote the letter, Connor took it from me, we weren’t really friends, and it was all a lie. I haven’t spoken to the Murphy’s since.” He fiddled with his hands in his lap and sighed. “And.. I’m scared. Scared that one day I’ll go to school and everyone will hate me or that the Murphy’s will ruin my life.. Not that I don’t deserve it, after what I did? I deserve worse.”

“Evan.. No one deserves that, especially not you. What you did wasn’t exactly the right thing to do but you had the best intentions.” He nodded silently, “What did you want to ask me earlier anyways?”

You turned, facing down at the wheel in front of you. “I wanted to ask you if you knew where he was buried.”, a tear slipped from your eye as you sighed, smiling sadly, “I didn’t exactly get to say goodbye..” “I could go with you if you’d like. To show you the way?”

“Thank you, Evan.”

___

During the ride to the cemetery, You and Evan talked, trying to lighten the mood, and quickly became best friends. The two of you didn't have so much in common but you were both very comfortable and supportive of each other. You were like the siblings neither of you had.

The two of you stepped out of the truck, and begun walking to Connor’s grave. “Oh! Hold on..” You turn back, grabbing a beautiful bouquet of red roses and pink tulips, with a small white card that said, “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you enough when you needed it, Connor. I will never forget you, mon amour. I love you, always.” Connor didn’t have a specific favorite flower but he did appreciate their meanings. Roses represent love, and tulips represent a declaration of love. You hoped that even though he was gone he would still appreciate the thought you put into it.

The two of you walked up to his grave. It was at this moment when it hit you that he was really gone forever. You dropped to your knees, carefully placing down the flowers. Tears streaming as you silently sobbed, Evan’s hand on your left shoulder and the ghost of Connor’s hand on your right.

“I’m sorry, Connor. I love you more than you’ll ever know..”

The two of you sat there in silence for a while, before agreeing to leave in case the Murphy’s decided to visit. Neither of you really wanted to run into them and have to explain who you were and why you were there. “Do you want to come over to my house? You look emotionally exhausted.” You laughed and nodded, starting up the car.

___

“Why didn’t you come to town sooner?” You sighed, “I just.. I didn’t want to believe that he was really gone, you know? And coming here, seeing his grave, and his grieving family just confirmed what I prayed wasn’t true.” You sipped on the hot chocolate in your hands, staring out of the window at the pouring rain and cloudy night sky. “Have you met them yet?” Evan mumbled, typing on his laptop on the couch beside you. He pulled up the Connor Project and read about all the many different things Alana was doing. “No.. But I feel like I should? Like I know things about Connor that would give them closure but I can’t bring myself to go over and talk to them.”

“If only there was a way for you to show them what Connor was really like so you wouldn’t have to talk to them...” It was silent for a moment, “Actually... Connor and I used to write each other handwritten letters and take a lot of pictures together..” “Well what are the odds..” he giggled, “Maybe you could give those to them? The ones that aren’t super personal?” You sat together deeply in thought.

“But I can’t exactly bring myself to just give them away... Maybe I could copy them and white out all the personal stuff? Like the things between me and Connor only, and my face and name?” Evan nodded, agreeing that that would be the best option. You’d create a box filled with things Connor wrote and pictures of when he was truly happy, then leave it on the Murphy’s doorstep. It was a safe, no-contact interaction.

___

The next night, you went over to Evan’s house with the box labeled “The Real Connor Murphy. (i’m so sorry for your loss.. i thought maybe you would like to have these to know who he really was.)” Evan gave you directions to the Murphy household. Eventually, you parked in front of the pale yellow house, all three cars were in the driveway. “You better be quick if you don’t want anyone to see you.. Just.. keep the car running, drop off the box, ring the doorbell, and book it back here and drive off. Don’t turn back.” “Okay super spy.” You laughed nervously.

You walked up to the door, placing the box neatly on the ground with a single rose and tulip tapped on the top, rang the doorbell, and ran off. You jumped into the car and drove off just as Evan, who was previously hiding away from the car window, saw the red front door begin to open.

___

“Larry!” Cynthia Murphy exclaimed, picking up the box from the front porch to the dinner table, placing it beside the small card they had found on a mysterious bouquet of flowers they found the day before against Connor’s gravestone. “What is that?” He asked, looking at it with disinterest. “I found it on the porch, it says ‘The Real Connor Murphy. I’m so sorry for your loss.. I thought maybe you would like to have these to know who he really was.’ It’s in the same handwriting as the note we found on that bouquet of flowers. It even has the same two flowers! It has to be the same person. Someone who really loved him...” “What’s inside?” Zoe asked while reading and rereading the small card.

Cynthia opened the box to find handwritten letters from Connor and a mystery girl, photos of Connor laughing, smiling, pouting, hugging and kissing someone with a scratched out face. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes. This was the real Connor, a whole different version of him that the three were completely unaware of. Seeing him like this was just so unfamiliar to them, they couldn’t believe their eyes for a moment. Zoe picked up a letter, reading it aloud,

“Dear Y/N

Things haven’t been going so well lately, my parents are always fighting, my mom pretends like there’s nothing wrong, my dad doesn’t pay attention to anyone but himself anymore, and Zoe hates me.

Not that I blame her, I hate myself too. But I don’t hate myself when I’m around you. I’m so glad to have you around. You make life just a little easier every day.

It’s harder when you’re not around, I get angry easier when I get bullied at school or when Zoe says something awful about me. I just feel like I’m an airplane about to crash, but with you around I feel like I’m flying. Smooth sailing. Floating even. You are the most perfect girl I’ve ever met.

Thank you. I love you.

Sincerely, Con”

“He.. he had a girlfriend..?” She said, in shock. The three began to shuffle through the letters, photos, and little post-it notes, putting them in piles. “These are all copied..” “Maybe whoever left them didn’t want to give the originals away..?” “Maybe because she still cares about and loves him and didn’t want to give these away. They seem so.. personal.” Cynthia picked up a post-it note,

“Tu es belle Y/N, je t'adore.”

“What does that even mean?” Zoe pulled out her phone going straight to google translate, “It’s says ‘you are beautiful, i adore you.’.. I didn’t know Connor knew french.” “He never took a class for it. Maybe he learned it on his own?” Larry picked up a photo this time, Connor was standing in front of the apple orchard’s rotting old sign in the middle of the field, fake pouting and wearing a thin little flower crown you had made him. “I didn’t know Connor had any feelings other than anger.” Cynthia hit his arm. “Wait,” Zoe said, grabbing the attention of her bickering parents, “This letter has a picture and a post-it note attached to it.”

“Dear Con,

Thank you for the painting, it’s absolutely beautiful. You are so so talented. The way you put so much thought into every detail is truly admirable. You make everything you paint so exciting and captivating, even if the thing you’re painting isn’t very exciting at all. You see the beauty in the things that most people never give a second glance.

It kind of reminds me of the way I look at you.

To most people that don’t know you, you are a “freak” or “school shooter chic”. But, when I look at you, you are none of those things. You are beautiful, you are captivating, you are perfectly imperfect. You are worth it. Don’t give up on me darlin’.

I love you.

Sincerely, Y/N/N”

Attached to the letter was a photo of the painting mentioned. It was a painting of your beaten old navy blue truck parked beside a chain link fence that blocked it off from the open field. In the background, the sun was setting in a perfect blend of yellows, oranges, and reds. It was so detailed that if you weren’t already aware that it was a painting, you would’ve probably thought it was a photo taken from a fancy camera. “It really is beautiful..” Cynthia trailed off, wiping a stray tear that fell from her eye, “He was so talented. I didn’t even know he liked to paint! I mean I knew he took an art class but because he skipped school so much, I never even thought he went..”

“I guess we really didn’t know Connor at all..” Zoe begun to get angry, “What kind of family does that?! I mean we lived with him, I grew up with him, you two raised him, and we still didn’t even know who he was?! This.. this stranger even knew more about him than we did! Do you realize how sad this is? We have to learn about our dead family member from a complete stranger because when he was alive, we were too busy pretending like he was just acting out for attention instead of actually needing help! He needed help and we didn’t give it to him! It’s not like we couldn’t afford to take him to therapy! We just pretended like he was a monster and if we ignored him, he would stop..” She took a deep breath, “Maybe we were the monsters and his anger and tantrums were his cries for help...” “Zoe..” Cynthia reached for her arm but she pulled away, running up to her room while choking back tears. “..She’s right.”

The two were quiet for a long period of time, reading and rereading every letter and every note, memorizing every photo.

Cynthia held up a photo of Connor and a girl, whose face was completely scratched out, “Who are you..”

___

The next day was a particularly warm day so you and Evan drove over to A La Mode as a victory ice cream run of sorts. You really believed in treating yourself after small, seemingly insignificant, victories such as dropping off a box of precious letters to a grieving family. They needed closure, and you were willing to give it them. Evan, despite talking about A La Mode with the Murphy’s before, had never actually been. You two talked and ate your ice cream sitting in the back of your truck, looking out at the orchard across the street. The orchard was renamed the “Connor Murphy Memorial Orchard”, which made your heart a little heavy. Another reminder that he was really gone.

In the distance, on the other side of the fence sat the Murphy’s who were packing up from their weekly picnic. As they got up to walk out of the orchard, Zoe looked across the street. “Wait a minute..” Her parents stopped walking. “What is it Zoe?” Larry asked. She pointed at the car parked across the street, “Isn’t that the car that Connor painted his girlfriend in that letter? And Evan?” They looked across the street to find the same navy blue truck and a familiar face.

Evan paled, “The Murphy’s are looking at us!” he whisper-shouted. You began to turn around, but Evan stopped you. “No don’t look!” Your head whipped back to him as your face paled, “They recognized my car..” “How could they? It was night time when you dropped off the box and the door barely begun to open as you drove away..”

You smiled sheepishly, “I may or may not have given them a picture of a painting Connor made me of my truck parked beside that exact fence...” Evan facepalmed and gave you a deadpanned look. “Well they’re starting to walk across the street now.”

You shot up, “Let’s go.” “I mean would it be so bad to meet his parents?” Evan asked as the two of you scrambled into the front seats. “I’m just.. I’m not ready to have that conversation just yet.” You reversed out of the parking spot and drove back onto the road.

“Wait!” The Murphy’s shouted to the car as it begun to drive off. “There was a girl driving. Maybe that was her?” Cynthia asked, hopefulness clear in her voice. “She was with Evan, do you think the box of letters were fake?” Larry, always the optimist. “They couldn’t be, they were handwritten in Connor’s handwriting. Even the french notes.”

Zoe thought for a moment, “Well if we’re going to find her, we should probably start with Evan’s place first.” “Who said we were going to look for her?” Larry asked, “I’m not wasting my time on a wild goose chase. She’s already shown us enough about Connor.”

Cynthia turned to her husband, “How could you say that? She could be the one thing to bring us closer to our son. Our son who took his own life because he felt that that was the only path left for him. And you don’t want to try to find her? Find closure? Honestly Larry, what is wrong with you lately!” “I’m sorry. We’ll find her.”

___

The Murphy’s found themselves at the Hansen household. They knew you were there. After all, your truck was parked in the driveway. Inside were you, Heidi, and Evan. You had just met Heidi, but she loved you. She was thrilled to find that Evan had made a friend like you. You hung out with Evan even after learning he lied about being friends with your recently deceased boyfriend, and helped him when he started to rant and breathe heavy about it. You were so kind-hearted, forgiving, and calm by nature, that he was finally comfortable around someone. You were quickly best friends.

A knock at the door startled the three of you. “Are you guys expecting anyone?”, Heidi stood up to get the door as you and Evan turned to each other. He placed a hand on your shoulder to comfort you. “I suppose now’s a good time as ever, even though I really only had 24 hours to prepare myself..” You muttered, the two of you walking towards the front door.

The Murphy’s stopped and stared at you. “Are you.. Were you Connor’s girlfriend?” Cynthia asked. You nodded slightly, rubbing your arm as a nervous habit. “I’m Cynthia, this is Larry and Zoe.. We’re Connor’s family.” “I know.”

Heidi invited them in, everyone heading to the living room. “It’s so nice to finally meet you.. We just wanted to thank you for all the letters and photos of Connor. It feels like we’re finally getting to know who he really was on the inside.” You looked up from your lap, “No offense ma’am, but shouldn’t you have gotten to know your own son when he was still around?”

Zoe laughed, awkward and uncomfortable. “I really don’t think that’s funny.. especially considering you didn’t bother to get to know him either.” You said getting defensive, sticking up for Connor. Even if he was gone, you would never stop fighting for him. You did truly love him after all. “And before you say ‘Connor wasn’t easy to talk to. He would always yell and storm off.’, just think about the fact that having a relationship with someone is a two way street. You can’t expect someone to make an effort if you don’t try to do the same.”

The three looked at her in shock. Heidi and Evan smiling sheepishly in the background. “I..”, Larry started, but trailed off, not being able to come up with a proper response. Cynthia and Zoe looked deep in thought, unable to do the same.

It was quiet for a long amount of time.

“You’re right. You’re right and I wish it wasn’t true, but it is. And the only thing we could do now is learn from our mistakes. We don’t exactly know how we’re going to do that but we’re willing to try. And we’re hoping that you could help us? Help us figure out what to do and help us learn about who Connor was?” Zoe finally spoke up, her parents nodding along in agreement.

You were trying to heal from everything that happened and them putting all their hope on you wasn’t really helping. But maybe grieving together would allow everyone to heal and remember him in a more positive way? At least you hoped.

There’s a lot of hope pinned on others here.

“I suppose helping you all would let us heal.. together?” You said, slightly questioning your own words, turning toward Evan. He shrugged, giving you a thumbs-up. “But I don’t feel comfortable talking about Connor unless Evan is around.” You paused, “It’d be nice to have a familiar face around and we’re practically best friends now.. so..” “Yes of course.” The three stood up, walking to the front door, “We’ll come back here at 11AM tomorrow and drive to the orchard for a picnic if that’s alright with the two of you?” You and Evan nodded simultaneously. “Are you allergic to anything dear?”

With the shake of your head and a quick goodbye from Evan and Heidi, the Murphy’s were off.

“Am I doing the right thing here? Connor didn’t even want his family to known I existed! And now we’re going on a picnic with them? Where I have to talk about him?” You sat down, head in your hands as a headache begun to grow. Heidi placed her hand on your shoulder gently, “It’s going to be tough right now, and it’s going to be emotionally draining, I’m sure. But, if you really think that they deserve to know who he really was, that how they perceive him is wrong, then I think you are doing the right thing. You’re helping them, you’re helping yourself, and you’re helping Connor. You did say that he wanted to change the way people saw him. And you’d be doing that for him, even if he’s not physically around to see it happen.”

“Thank you, Heidi.”

___

“It’s really nice of you to agree to meet us here, Y/N. And Evan, it’s nice to have you here too.” Cynthia smiled, putting down a blanket for the picnic. Everyone sat down in an awkward silence.

“So... is.. is there anything you wanted to know that wasn’t already in the letters?” You asked, picking at the blades of grass beside you. Evan slapped your hand away from the grass, silently scolding you in true forest ranger fashion for messing with nature. The Murphy’s turned to each other, silently debating what to say and who would say it. No surprise to you and Evan that the one to speak up was Cynthia. The past couple of hours really showed that she was the only one who seemed to care, at least a little bit, about Connor when he was around, though Zoe and Larry were trying their best now.

“Why didn’t Connor bring you around to meet the family? It really seemed like you brought so much light to his life. I mean, you brought out parts of him that we didn’t even know existed!” “We thought he was a monster...” Zoe muttered sadly.

Your heart ached for this family, they really knew nothing about him.. “Connor didn’t bring me around because he was afraid you’d all ‘scare me off’,” you laughed slightly, “And Connor may have been a monster to you, but the real Connor was never a monster, to me or to anyone in my small town. In the next town over, no one knew who Connor was or what he’d done in the past. It was like a fresh start. Which I knew he desperately needed. I mean, with all the people bullying him, hurting him physically or emotionally or both, and spreading fake rumors about him since he was in the second grade? He was angry and hurting and he didn’t know how to deal with it, so he would lash out. But wouldn’t you react the same way? Build up walls so people wouldn’t hurt you? Isolate yourself so people couldn’t get close enough to?”

It went silent again, the only sound was the wind blowing in the summer breeze and the trees rustling in the background.

“She’s right.”

Everyone looked up, faces showing some form of shock. Larry continued, “All that stuff was going on in school and we made it worse for him at home. He asked us for help and we always assumed he was doing for attention. No matter how hard we tried to be a perfect family, we never were and we probably never will be.”

Zoe wiped away a stray tear. “Even though you couldn’t save your kid, maybe there’s a way you could save someone else’s?” He turned to you with a questioning glance. “I mean you have to admit, you’re a pretty wealthy family, maybe you can spend some time donating to suicide prevention hotlines and foundations that were created specifically to help those who are suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts like Connor was? I know for a fact that Connor hated the way that he felt, and would never want anyone to go through what he’d been going through, no matter how much of an asshole they were.”

Cynthia reached over to you, placing a hand on your knee, smiling as tears fell freely from her face, from all of their faces. “That’s a brilliant idea, Y/N.”

___

The picnic went on as you told them stories of your’s and Connor’s adventures together. Jumping over the fence to lay around in the yellow fields of the old orchard, helping your mom arrange flowers in her flower shop (he would always make sure his bouquets were well thought out in their meaning), buying junk food and snacks when having movie marathons on a Saturday night, sketching and painting moments together so you two would never forget them.

With each little story, his family knew more about him and you felt as close to him as you had been before that heart-wrenching summer day. 

You fell behind from the group as you all walked out of the orchard. Turning back and taking one last look at the entrance, the fields, and the growing trees of the Connor Murphy Memorial Orchard, you notice a figure dressed in black standing with his back against the fence. He gave you a smile, a genuine yet sad smile, mouthing the words “thank you” and “i love you”, before disappearing in the wind.

[h1myname1sk0rg]

Cheaters Never Prosper

Part 1 - Summer Beginnings

Pairing: Brother’s Best Friend!Bucky x OC

Summary: Bucky brings his new college girlfriend to the lake house. Old feelings arise and he has to fight to win the game he and Ace have going, but as they say, cheaters never prosper.

Warnings: None

Word Count: 3.1k

>———————————<✪>———————————<

“That’s right folks, it’s gonna be a hot one out there today! Kickin’ off the summer 37 degrees and climbing, so stay cool and safe out there!”

Music from the radio buzzed through the kitchen and into the living room, crackling occasionally. The house was dim, all the curtains drawn shut to block out as much heat as possible in the large house and Acelynn Rogers was unimpressed. Trudging her way down the tall set of stairs she wandered into the kitchen where her mom was stood, digging through the fridge. “Don’t lie to me, lady. I know you’re just trying to cool off.”

Chuckling, her mom pulled the large watermelon from the back of the fridge. “Oh hush, you’re gonna be late for school.” She reached for the knife on the counter, pointing it at her daughter as she spoke.

Grumbling something about how the school was too warm and that they should just “cancel it anyway,” because, “who needs exams”, she stuffed the laces into her dusty sneakers and walked out of the house.

The air was stuffy and damp, Acelynn seemed to sweat within seconds of stepping onto the front porch. The metal railing was too hot to touch and her thighs rubbed together uncomfortably as she scrambled down the stairs. Red braids could be seen through the bushes and right on time, the face of her best friend appeared at the front gate to her (oversized) family home. “Wanda!” she cheered, drawing out her name in excitement.

“Acelynn!” Her friend cheered back in the same tone; something that had become a ritual for the past five years they had known each other. That was the only time they used each other’s full names, often too lazy and shortening it to one syllable instead.

The walk to school was short, but not sweet. It was muggy and far too uncomfortable for any amount of physical activity. “I can’t wait to go to the summer home.” Ace sighed, absolutely delighted to go visit the mansion they visited every summer just outside a small town a few states over. 

Wanda nodded in agreement, brushing her braids off her shoulders. “Me too, I can’t believe my parents are actually letting me go, and bonus, we can drive. We are going to be in for a wild summer.”

That they were, a wild summer was an understatement though, especially considering her parents wouldn’t be joining them until two weeks later and were even going to let her drive the convertible down to the house after this weekend’s graduation ceremony. Stepping foot onto the grounds of their high school just as the bell rang, they waved goodbye, “you’re coming over tonight, right?” She called to Wanda, who in turn gave a thumbs up as she spun on her heel and jogged through the front doors. Acelynn turned the other direction and sprinted for her math exam, sliding into her seat just at the last second.

>———————————<✪>———————————<

Watching the clock tick by second by second made her want to slam her head through the desk in front of her. She had done three exams today and finished her last one with thirty minutes to spare. It was all she could do to keep from asking to go to the bathroom and just never coming back. Just as she felt herself zone out again, the bell rang. Shooting up from her seat, she grabbed her belongings: a nearly empty bag and the pen she used to draw on her leg after finishing her exam. Sprinting from the classroom, she stopped in the hallway to plan her route and, expertly, she dodged excited seniors and the leftover freshman left and right before coming to a stop in front of the front doors. 

Breathing deep, she pushed them open to step outside, but not before Peter Parker came sprinting out of nowhere and tackled her to the ground. “We’re free!” He cheered, causing laughter to erupt from Ace.

Grinning, she tried shoving him off. “That we are!” Grabbing her hand, Peter helped her to her feet and she caught sight of Ned and MJ catching up behind them. Aside from Wanda, Peter was her best friend. They shared the same birthday and were born in the same hospital. Her parents were best friends with his aunt and uncle and they practically grew up as siblings. “The invitation is still open to join Wanda and I at the summer home next week, we leave Sunday morning after grad.” 

The three friends all looked to each other and sighed, “we all got jobs last week, we’re stuck here, sorry Ace.” Peter nodded at Ned’s statement and she sighed even though she understood because her and Wanda were told to get jobs for the summer in that little town. “We’ll still make it for our birthday weekend though.” At that, Ace’s eyes lit up and she grinned mischievously.

“Alright deal. Steve said he would buy us drinks for that weekend and my parents said that they would leave early.”

The friends said their goodbyes and headed home, Wanda and Ace turning the other direction to head to their neighborhood. “So this weekend, I’ll go pack at home after grad and then come by for dinner, deal?”

Ace nodded, “that works, I still need to find out when Steve and his friends are coming down.”

“Do you think Barnes will be there?” Wanda asked, even at the mention of the last name her cheeks flushed. They grew up really close for years, with him being Steve’s best friend. Their parents called him Acelynn’s long lost brother, sometimes she pretended to hate the guy, teasing him and him teasing her back. Wanda knew she was head over heels in love with him. That being said, Ace did hate him. Hated his perfect teeth and his perfect hair and the perfect way he dressed. Hoping it would go away when Bucky left for university, she paid him no attention last summer. It upset both Steve and Bucky that they didn’t hang out much, but she covered it by working at the bakery all summer and spending as little time as possible at the summer home.

Shrugging, she tightened the straps of her backpack and set off down the cement stairs of her high school. “Don’t know, don’t care to be honest.” A lie. A flat out, dirty lie. “Even if he was, why would it matter. He’s a pompous college boy anyway, I don’t need that.”

Their bags sat uncomfortably on their shoulders and the sun beat down on their necks, Wanda stayed silent and watched Ace fight with herself back and forth about her conflicting feelings about the oldest Barnes. They passed his family home at the end of the street and like always, Ace searched for his car. Her heart pounded in her chest, but the sleek black car stayed missing in action. Swallowing dryly, she glanced to Wanda who used this silence to speak up. “Let’s go swimming. Get our minds off graduation.” The proposition brought up her newly dampened spirits and she nodded, the two jogging their separate ways to grab their swimsuits. 

Acelynn entered the house, the temperature change was welcome, but insignificant in it’s efforts to cool her down. She changed and pulled her shorts from earlier on and wiping her sweaty palms on her thighs, smeared the black pen ink. 

>———————————<✪>———————————<

The bike ride to the river was warm, too warm. Rubber bike handles came off on their hands and they were glad to see the dirt road that held access to the lake. Whipping down the dusty path, they hollered and cheered. The ride made her feel free as the breeze cooled her hot and sweaty skin. Trees passed by, light reflecting off the girl’s faces and they smiled, coming to a screeching halt at the bottom. Just as the dust cleared, they both sprinted for the dock. Wanda grabbed Ace’s waist and they both wrestled each other into the freezing cold water, their backs hitting it with a satisfying smack.

Laughing, they pulled themselves from under the water and sighed in relief as the coolness settled onto their skin. The sky was blue, not a cloud in the sky as Ace lay on her back, floating on the water and letting her blonde hair soak. Water flooded her ears and she closed her eyes enjoying the peace and quiet.

Bucky laughed as Ace splashed him, Steve jogging up the hill to get the ball that Bucky ‘accidentally’ tossed up there. Hands running over the water, Ace smiled, once again enjoying the peace of being with her brother and his friend. The peace was ruined when Bucky tackled her under the water, she gasped at how cold the water was. Having been too chicken, she hadn’t quite gotten in yet. She got used to it quickly when she realized that Bucky was just kind of... staring at her. Grabbing his face, she pulled him in, kissing him with so much passion they both had to break for air much sooner than either of them liked. Bucky, grabbed her again, pulling her in and holding her tight to his chest as they shared that moment. She took a deep breath in, shocked beyond words. Looking up at him, she closed her eyes for a moment and-

Cold water hit her face and she gasped. Wanda’s laughing broke through the leftover memory fog and she glared at her before laughing herself. “Come on, we gotta go. Your mom is gonna kill you if you’re not home for dinner on time.”

>———————————<✪>———————————<

Graduation was warmer than the sun. The gym was hot and there were too many bodies for the outdated air conditioning to manage. The small graduating class of 50 sat in chairs on the floor and parents sat up in the bleachers. Ace was bummed out, her brother hadn’t shown up and he promised to be there. The valedictorians talked about nothing and in turn, her and MJ looked at each other from across the room, shooting each other with finger guns to ‘kill’ each other. Wanda was sat in front of her and the two girls just kept banging their heads together while their principal droned on and on about how “adulthood is beautiful and everyone will do wonderfully in college.” The speech had been the exact same as at Steve’s graduation a year prior and when it finally came time to walk the stage, everyone trudged, the heat making them feel sludgy.

Wanda walked as gracefully as ever, her brother Pietro following with a light jog and a jump in the air. Rolling her eyes at the athlete, Acelynn waited for her turn, dripping in a pool of sweat in her crumby fold up chair that felt like it would collapse at any second.

“Acelynn Rogers.” Her principal said with a smile, they had gotten to know each other quite well... on many occasions. Her family cheered, and she grinned. Her grin only grew when she saw her big brother standing beside her mom in the bleachers yelling the loudest out of them all. After the ceremony concluded and students were recognized and given awards (Ace included for her impeccable attendance which should have been a joke) she sprinted out to the parking lot in her sneakers. Her mom got her in a dress, but she had tossed the heels aside as soon as the ceremony ended. 

“Stevie!” She shouted and he turned, grinning as she ran at him. She jumped into his arms and he hugged her close. 

“Acely!” He cheered, spinning her around and absolutely crushing her ribs. He set her down and kissed the top of her head, “you’re graduated!”

“I’m graduated! Are you staying for dinner?” She so desperately wanted him to say yes, but he shook his head sadly.

“Sorry, kid, I gotta go to the lake house tonight. Buck is meeting me there,” Wanda whipped her head around from where she stood with her family, crushed under her brothers arm, “and I have to let him in.”

“Oh, yeah okay. That’s fair. We’ll celebrate tomorrow though?” At that Steve nodded, sending a wink her way and she smirked in response before her mom squished them together for a picture. 

>———————————<✪>———————————<

The Rogers’ (minus Steve) and the Maximoff’s had dinner together that night. It wasn’t often that everyone got together, but they did today. Her mom cut up vegetables in the kitchen, talking about nonsense work stuff with Wanda’s mom and their dads cooked burgers on the barbecue. It was short and sweet, the humidity becoming too much for everyone so they retired early. Wanda’s parents hugged their daughter goodbye like they would never see her again even though she would see them in a few weeks when she drove back up for their own trip.

The girls spent the evening packing for the summer, passing out on Acelynn’s bedroom floor that night. They woke up early, the sound from the neighbour’s lawn mower shocking them as though cold water had been dumped on their heads. “I guess that means it’s time to go.” Wanda crawled up from her spot on the fluffy rug and stretched. Plucking a record off the wall, Ace nodded, slipping it into its covering to set in one of her many bags.

They got dressed, both just choosing a cropped band tee out of Ace’s closet and a pair of jean shorts. They ran downstairs for some breakfast and said goodbye to her parents, calling a “peace out, homie” up to her father in his office, who in turn scolded her for such informal language.

Much like the day before, the air was sticky and too warm, the garage still stuffy from having gone unopened for several days. After struggling to cram their belongings into the trunk, they finally got it organized and closed. “All the cassettes are in the front somewhere, see if you can find them before we get outta town,” Ace was buzzing with excitement. She felt as though someone took a box of popsicles and just blended it all up to inject into her. They were graduated, it was summer and they only had to pop back to drop off Wanda in three weeks. She was stoked.

Taking off across town, they stopped at the gas station for some drinks and a couple snacks before heading out. As they left town, the nice houses started to become fewer and far between, more trees than civilization. There were a few camping spots, but none really. It wasn’t a large town that they lived in, but it wasn’t a small one either. People lived their lives; some would move, many simply stayed. Families in that town ran many generations back, all intertwining as friends or relatives somehow. Although it wasn’t obvious, Ace was desperate to leave. She wanted to experience the city, live a little, do something other than sit around this little town her whole life. Ace was eccentric as her father liked to say, more outgoing than many people in town, but they all just liked her like that.

Trees and mountains grew tall beside them over the hours, sometimes the terrain flattened out. Other times it didn’t. They stopped at a diner about halfway to the “mansion”, right around one in the afternoon. They took it as takeout and drove up to one of the many beach accesses that littered the highway. There were tons of little lakes littered throughout their drive and they took a moment to stand in the fresh water and watch people swim, talking about how good their sandwiches were and what it would be like to be one of the many ducks flying overhead. With a sigh and a stretch, they got back in the car and headed out again.

They barely made it to town, having forgotten to fill up with gas for a third time. They rolled into the gas station just on time, filled up and took the rest of the drive to the mansion. The mansion sat near the lake, about twenty minutes out of town and down a back road. Her parents built it when they first got married, always wanting to have a place to escape to in the summer with the kids, her and Steve felt like they grew up in two places.

As they neared the house though, Ace found herself growing nervous. “Wan, I haven’t seen him in a year and a half… it’s dumb because I kinda missed him.

Wanda had been fully expecting this revelation, just wasn’t expecting it when they were driving along the nicely paved road lined with beautiful red maple trees so close to the house. “Of course you did, you kissed him.” Wanda stretched in the passenger seat, her legs and butt sore from sitting all day, “At least be civil. You can hate him all you want if you so choose, but we both know you’re in love with him.”

Acelynn sighed, glancing to her friend briefly before signalling to turn into the driveway. Wanda’s jaw dropped in awe, “I forgot how nice…” she trailed off, watching as Ace’s face fell. The beautiful lake house had an upper and lower porch, the upper porch extending off the bedrooms upstairs and windows adorning the house in various places. It was a beautiful home, Wanda felt it was almost indescribable, there were no words for how magnificent (and massive) it was. There was a four car garage next to the house that matched the siding. One of the doors was open, housing an all too familiar shiny black car for Acelynn’s liking. “He’s here.” Wanda murmured in an almost creepy sing-song tone.

“And so are we.” She shook her head, pulling up around the planter in the middle of the driveway and stepped out, stretching her legs. “Steven!” She called, pulling the trunk open. On cue, he came bounding down the steps. He ran for his sister who screamed and ran away, a chorus of “no” falling from her lips as he grabbed her waist and hoisted her over his shoulder.

“Barnes! We have a delivery!” He called into the house, grabbing the suit cases with his sister pounding on his back.

“Put me down!” She shouted just as Wanda spun around, wide-eyed and looking rather distraught. Before she could ask anything that’s when she saw it too. 

Bucky hand in hand with a beautiful, skinny, tall blonde, Steve’s girlfriend traipsing behind them with a similar expression on her face that Wanda had, hers more apologetic. The red-head Steve was dating, Natasha, knew everything whereas Steve knew nothing aside from the little crush.

Feeling sick, she held onto Steve’s arm a minute as he set her down. Her heart crushed on the floor, she could see it being stepped on right under Bucky’s feet and tears welled in her eyes. Why would he care? She was stupid to think the kiss meant something to him.

>———————————<✪>———————————<

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed it, this was my first tumblr fic and I’m really happy with it so far! I will be posting other parts with time (unless of course no one wants me too).

[fandomrewrites]

Season 3a, Episode 1: Tattoo

Hello all! I am back! As of now I don’t think there will be a post schedule but I will try to post once a week - sorry ahead of time if that doesn’t happen. Please message me or reply if you want to be added to a taglist. I am also thinking about starting to post my The 100 series rewrite so tell me if that is something that you guys would be interested in reading. I hope you all enjoy and as always constructive criticism is appreciated. 

Season 3a, Episode 1: Tattoo

Pairings: Scott McCall x Twin Sister, Lydia Martin x Best Friend, Isaac Lahey x Reader

Warnings: Mild violence

Word Count: 3,342

Season 3a Masterlist

"Lyds, I don't want to dress up for a date I don't even want to go on." I say exasperated.

"It's not a date. It's a group thing. So hurry up and get your cute little butt dressed in the outfit I picked out. We still need to pick up Allison." Lydia replied leaving no room for argument.

I let out a huff then reach for the clothes to get dressed. 

"Stop your pouting. At least I stuck with black."

I playfully roll my eyes, "Yeah, at the very least."

"Would you prefer pink?" She asks with a raised eyebrow, making her way to her closet.

"God no." I shudder at the thought. Lydia lets out a light laugh and shakes her head. "Okay. I'm good." I hold my hands out and do a spin for Lydia.

"Hot as ever." She replies with a smirk.

I giggle, "Alright, gorgeous. Let's go." I link my arm with hers as we head out of her house to go pick up Allison.

A little while later Lydia, Allison, and I are sitting in Lydia's car driving down the road. "It's not a date. It's just a group thing." Lydia insists.

"Do they know it's a group thing? Because I told you I'm not ready to get back out there." Allison asks from the backseat.

"Seriously. Isaac and I kinda have a thing going. I really don't want to go on a date." I say.

Lydia first addresses Allison, "You were in France and you didn't do any dating? For four months? And you," She glances at me, "Having a thing going is totally not the same thing as dating."

I roll my eyes but let Allison answer, "Did you? I mean after-"

She gets cut off by Lydia, "Do not mention his name."

"Is he okay? I mean, did everything work out?" Allison questions.

"The doctors looked like idiots when he turned up alive, but yes everyone got over it." Lydia replies.

"Derek has been helping me and him with our Werewolf 101 the whole summer." I say looking back at the hunter.

"Like how not to randomly kill people during a full moon." Lydia adds in.

"So you've talked to him?" Allison asks Lydia.

"Not since he left for London."

"You mean since his dad moved him to London."

"Whatever. He left. And seriously? An American werewolf in London? Like that's not going to be a disaster." I let out a light chuckle and shook my head at the remark.

"Then you're totally over him?"

"Would I be going on a group date if I wasn't?" Lydia questions.

Allison and I share a look, both of us having satisfied smiles on our faces. Lydia glances at us then sighs, "Okay, it's a group date. Not an orgy. You'll both live."

She then brakes at a red light. "Isaac better not find out about this." I say, giving my best friend a stern look.

"So is he your boyfriend?" Allison asks with a smile.

"We aren't official or anything. But I care about him a lot."

"And again. This isn't an orgy. If you aren't official he can't get mad at you for going on dates." Lydia says.

Before I can reply Allison gasps from the backseat. She sinks down and has a look of pure shock on her face. I open my mouth to ask what's wrong but she speaks before I get the chance, "Oh my God, oh my God, I can't see him. Not yet."

Lydia and I share a brief look before looking to the side to see Stiles and Scott stopped next to us at the red light. Allison holds her head in her hands trying to hide, "Lydia, go - please. Go, please."

"But the light." Lydia says. Finally, to stop Allison's begging, Lydia steps on the gas, running the red light. With the jeep disappearing in the rearview mirror Lydia asks, "You all right?"

All Allison can do is shake her head. "Lydia, stop. I need to go back. I need to talk to him." Allison says.

Lydia slows the car to a stop. We all glance out the rear window to see that the jeep stopped too. Lydia starts to speak once more but I can't focus. I start to get a dull pain in my chest. 

I look down at my arm to see the hairs start to raise. I cut off whatever Allison was about to say with a very panicked, "Get out of the car."

I reach over to undo my seat belt and open the door, "What?" Lydia asks.

"Now. Get out of the car now." Lydia and Allison both hurriedly follow my directions,  "Move to the back."

"(Y/N/N), what's wro-" Before Allison even has time to finish the sentence a deer comes out of nowhere and slams right into Lydia's car, smashing through the windshield.

"How did you-" Lydia doesn't finish her sentence, too shocked to continue.

I shake my head, "I- I don't... It might have been my danger sense. I just- I never." I can't complete a sentence, still in shock about what happened.

Suddenly Scott and Stiles are now beside us seeing what happened, "Are you okay?" Scott asks.

"It came out of nowhere." Lydia says.

"Are you hurt?" Stiles questions, checking on Lydia then quickly turning to me.

"We're alright. (Y/N) got us out before it hit." Allison says.

I walk over to the front of the vehicle to get closer to the deer as Lydia starts speaking again, "I'm not alright! I'm completely freaked out. Why the hell did it do that?"

Scott starts to make his way over to me and the deer, "It was scared." Scott says.

I look up at him, "No. Terrified."

 *_*_*_*_*_*

 The next morning I quickly get ready changing into something black of course, though to appease Lydia I decided to go with a lighter colored plaid skirt. 

Once at school Lydia and I wait for Allison by her locker. Lydia surveys the faces in the hall, trying to pick out the new faces. "Freshmen. Tons and tons of fresh men."

I smile and shake my head as Allison says, "You mean fresh boys. They're fourteen."

"Some are more mature than others." Lydia tries to argue.

"You know it's okay to be single. Focus on yourself for a little while. Work on becoming a better person." Allison tries again.

"Allison, I love you. So if you need to do the thing where we talk about me and pretend like we're not actually talking about you, that's totally fine. But I don't want a boyfriend. I want a distraction." She pauses, noticing someone, "Like that."

Allison and I both follow her gaze to see a new student moving through the hall. Looking down at his hand I see a black motorcycle helmet held in a gloved hand. A second student joins the first, identical in looks and the fact that they are both carrying identical helmets.

"Brothers?" Allison questions.

"Twins." Lydia and I answer in unison.

As they walk closer to us I pick up a scent. I cock my head to the side as they both make eye contact with me before quickly averting their eyes. Werewolves.

 *_*_*_*_*_*

 Walking into first period with Allison and Lydia, I move to sit in front of Stiles. Lydia sits next to me leaving the only vacant seat right in front of Scott. Allison walks over and awkwardly asks, "Anyone sitting-"

She gets cut off by Scott's answer, "No, no one. It's all you. All yours. Totally... vacant."

Stiles and I both look at him in disbelief. I mean seriously how can he be so awkward with her. Suddenly all the phones in the class start to either vibrate or ding, letting us know that we have a message.

I, along with everyone else in the class, pick up our phones to check what it is. "The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds..." A young brunette woman, that I have never seen before walks in and starts reading the text.

"And the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the Earth flowed somber under an overcast sky seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness."

She looks at the class as everyone stares back, "This is the last line to the first book we're going to read. It's also the last text you'll receive in this class. Phones off, everyone."

Rather than shutting my phone off I put it on silent then slide it into my bag. Ms. Blake, the young brunette teacher, starts writing on the board. Not even a minute later the door opens revealing the principal. Ms. Blake and the principal speak for a few seconds then she looks towards the students, "Mr. and Miss McCall?"

All eyes fall on me and my brother as Ms. Blake motions for us to follow. We both look at each other trying to see if the other knows why we are getting called out of class. We sling our backpacks over our shoulders and follow the teacher through the door.

"I'm sure it's an emergency if your mother needs you to leave school. But I'm going to give you a warning in the nicest way possible. I'm well aware of your attendance record. I don't want to see you slip back into old habits."

"I won't. It's going to be different this year." Scott immediately answers.

"Don't need to worry about me." I pull my lips into a tight smile.

"Resolutions are only good if you stick with them." Ms. Blake says, looking between my brother and I.

Scott nods, "I will. I swear it won't be ephemeral."

We both turn to leave, I raise an eyebrow looking at my twin, "Ephemeral? Studying started early this year?"

"PSATs." He simply states.

 *_*_*_*_*_*

 Our mom, Scott, and I rush down the hospital corridor. Mom just told us about Isaac being brought into the hospital earlier that morning with some pretty severe injuries. "Why didn't you tell us before?" Scott asks.

"Honestly, I was hoping I wouldn't have to." Our mom answers.

"What do you mean?"

"Everything you've been doing. The extra reading, the summer school, saving up for the bike - even though it scares me to death. I don't want to break a good rhythm."

Scott stops to look mom in the eyes, "It's not going to stop. I'm going to be better this year. A better student. A better son. A better friend. A better everything. I promise."

"Plus if you really didn't want to tell Scott, you could have told me. I mean I should know about Isaac being hurt any way. We do kinda have a thing going in case you forgot." I speak up.

"Which is why I didn't want to tell you. I didn't want you to be worried."

"Well I am mom."

Mom sighs, "He's in 215. If he's not already in surgery." Scott and I both lean in to kiss mom on the cheek then make our way to Isaac's hospital room.

We quickly slip into the elevator, Scott hitting the button for the second floor. As we wait for the doors to close, a blind man walks through the door. "Could you hit the button for the second floor?"

Scott and I glance at each other, then at the already lit up '2' button. Scott reaches over to press it one more time, shrugging his shoulders at me. "Thank you." The man says.

Once the elevator doors open Scott begins to move out but is stopped by the man's cane. "You wouldn't mind helping me out for a second, would you?" He questions.

"We're kinda in a rush sir. I'm sure you can manage-" I get cut off by Scott elbowing me in the ribs. I throw him a glare as he starts speaking to the man.

"Sorry about her, she's a little worried about her boyfriend. I'll help." Scott takes the man's arm then they begin slowly walking out of the elevator and down the corridor. 

I pause for a minute still in the elevator with my jaw open in shock due to how slow they are moving. I throw my hands up and shake my head. Rather than follow after them I start to make my way to Isaac's room.

I sigh when I see that Isaac is no longer in his room. "Dammit." I turn down the hall looking for Isaac, or Scott. I finally spotted Scott and made my way up to him, "Ditched the blind guy."

"Really -" I cut Scott off, holding a hand to his face. My head snapping to where I know the elevators are. My chest aches as I quickly grab Scott's hand and start pulling him towards the elevators with me. 

We make it in enough time to see the elevator doors still wide open. Isaac is in a wheelchair, unconscious and behind him is a man with scrubs. Though Scott and I both realize rather quickly that the man is not a nurse but rather another werewolf.

Without stopping to think Scott and I run forward, both with our claws and fangs out, attacking the man.

The elevator doors close with a ding as the unknown werewolf, Scott, and I begin fighting. Despite it being two against one the other werewolf is a lot stronger than the two of us. 

The werewolf picks Scott and I up by our throats just as the elevator dings again, signaling that the doors are about to open. 

"Don't you realize what you're dealing with? I'm an Alpha." He says, eyes glowing red.

Before he can do anything else, the Alpha jerks forward in shock as claws jam into his back. Derek Hale stands behind him, making his presence known. "So am I."

The unknown Alpha drops Scott and I, a smile making its way to my face as Derek slams the Alpha's head into the wall. He then picks him up and throws him out of the elevator, quickly closing the doors.

Derek turns to Scott and I, "Aren't you two supposed to be in school?"

 *_*_*_*_*_*

 Derek, Scott, and I leave the hospital with a still unconscious Isaac. Just as we are making our way inside the burnt Hale house Scott's phone rings. Stiles calls wanting to tell him about something that happened at the school, but rather than listen, Scott gets him to meet us.

"You don't still live here, do you?" Scott asks as he hangs up. Derek places Isaac down on a charred table in the middle of the room.

As I stand next to Isaac lightly running my hand through his hair, Derek answers, "No, the county took it over. But there's something here I need."

My eyes don't leave Isaac but I make sure to listen to Derek and Scott talk, "It'll help heal a wound from an Alpha." Derek says to Scott.

"But it did heal." Scott says, confusion evident in his voice.

"Not on the inside."

"Are you going to tell us who that was back there? The Alpha?" Scott asks.

"And why is he here?" I pipe up, finally looking towards the other two in the room.

"A rival pack. It's my problem. I know you both want to help. And you did. I owe you one. Now go home. Go back to being a teenager."

"I'm not leaving until Isaac wakes up." I cross my arms.

Before Derek can reply Scott speaks, "Derek. If you want to pay back the favor now..." Derek breaks eye contact with me to look at Scott, "There is something you can do for me."

Derek and Scott sit in chairs across from each other, Stiles now here, stands by Scott's side. I still stand beside Isaac, constantly switching back and forth from looking at Isaac to the three guys clustered together.

"I see it. Two bands, right?" Derek asks. Scott nods, prompting Derek to ask another question, "What does it mean?"

"I don't know. It's just something I traced with my fingers.” He presses his fingers to a dust covered side table, he draws a circle then a larger circle around the first.

"Why's this so important to you?"

Scott lowers his eyes, "Do you know what the word tattoo means?"

Stiles answers this time, "To mark something."

"That's in Tahitian. In Samoan it means open wound. I knew I was going to get a tattoo when I turned eighteen. I always wanted one. But then I decided to do it now to make it a kind of reward."

"For what?" Derek asks as I knit my eyebrows together.

"For not calling or texting Allison all summer." More softly then before Scott continues, "Even when I really wanted to. Even when some days it was so hard not to. I'm trying to give her the space she wants. But four months later it still hurts. It still feels like- like an open wound."

Derek picks up an acetylene torch once Scott finishes his explanation. "The pain's going to be worse than anything you've ever felt."

Scott nods, "Do it."

Derek lights the torch and almost instantly Stiles says, "Yeah. I'm going to wait outside."

"No, you're going to help hold him down. (Y/N) you too." Derek says.

I nod and make my way over as Stiles, less confidently does the same. We each hold on tight to one of Scott's shoulders as Derek slowly lowers the blue flame to Scott's arm. Scott's eyes start glowing yellow, fangs start growing, and he opens his mouth to scream.

Scott quickly loses consciousness as Derek continues to work on his tattoo.

 *_*_*_*_*_*

 About a minute after Derek finishes the tattoo, Scott snaps awake. He looks up at all of us then lets his gaze drift towards his arm. The two bands are still there, confirming that it worked.

Scott slips his shirt back on and turns to leave the Hale house with Stiles. I still refuse to leave since Isaac still isn't awake. Derek makes his way over to me and Isaac as Stiles looks at Scott's tattoo. "Looks pretty damn permanent now."

"I kind of needed something permanent. Everything that's happened to us - it just feels like everything changes so fast. Everything's so... ephemeral."

A brief moment passes before Stiles asks, "Studying for the PSATs?"

Scott nods, "Yeah."

"Nice." 

Scott opens the front door but before he fully leaves the house he turns to Derek, "You painted the door. Why'd you paint it?"

"Go home, Scott."

"And why only one side?" Derek and I both start towards the two teenagers standing in the doorway. 

"Scott-" Derek tries to get him to leave once more but is cut off with Scott unsheathing his claws and scratching the paint off of the door.

Underneath the red paint is a black triskele pattern. "The birds at school and the deer last night. Just like the night I almost got trampled by deer. The night I got bit by an Alpha. How many are there?"

"A pack of them. An Alpha pack." Derek replies.

Confused Stiles asks the same question on my mind, "All of them? How's that even work?"

"I've heard there's a kind of leader. He's called Deucalion. We know they took Erica and Boyd. Isaac, Peter and I have been trying to find them for the last four months."

"What if you do find them? How do you deal with an Alpha pack?" Scott asks.

"With all the help I can get."

I open my mouth to tell Derek to let us help then but before I get the chance a voice behind us speaks, "Where is she?"

We all turn wide eyed looking towards Isaac, who is now wide awake and sitting up on the table, "Where's the girl?"

I quickly make my way over to Isaac as Derek asks, "What girl?"

[shhhlikeme]

“Losty Aone” / “Losty Mountain Man🏔” Series:

Outtake Collection #6

———————————

A/N: 1 word, 5 letters: D R A M A

Pls peep the vote at the end! I know there are not very many of you who read this so I want to make it enjoyable for y’all 🥰 it’s sooo important to me that I write what makes me happy

OUTTAKE 5 WAS POSTED HOURS BEFORE THIS ONE SO CHECK IT !

‼️THIS IS THE 10TH PART IN A SERIES READ THE OTHER PARTS BEFORE THIS ONE: ‼️

TABLE OF CONTENTS

———————————

Hours After You Noticed Aone For The First Time And Had Lunch Together! 🤫🥩

With a very discreet bounce in his step, Aone Takanobu walked into the Date Tech boys volleyball team changeroom after exchanging numbers with you after school.

“AONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Upon entrance, the entire team jumped him, tackling him to the ground while shouting praise and acclamations of joy loudly!

Aone was actually grinning, shoving the boys off of him to pretend that he was annoyed.

But anyone could tell that this mountain man was on cloud 9!!!!

Futakuchi reached out his hand to help Aone up and the mountain man took it. They shared a look that only Aone knew meant his best friend was happy for him. Proud of him.

Actually, Kenji’s look was one of happiness and pride, yes, but it was also full of nerves for his friend’s potential heartbreak. But Aone was too overjoyed inside to pick up on that.

“So Y/N finally knows your name!” Koganegawa yelled as he jumped on Aone’s back.

Shrugging the big boned setter off, Aone blushed. He has never been happier in his entire life and it was kind of embarrassing that the whole team knew why that was.

“I’m very happy.” Aone nodded at his team who smiled brilliantly back at him. “But please, do not get your hopes up. I’m trying with everything in me not to get mine up, in case Y/N decides she doesn’t like me. She and I are just going to start talking for now. And for that I am grateful.” Stomach in knots, Aone bowed to his team in thanks for all the encouragement and praise.

“But Aone-senpai, Y/N asked you to lunch! We all watched you guys, she looked ecstatic talking to you and she even glared at these other girls in the hallway because they were checking you out!”

Aone’s heart dropped. “She did?”

Kenji smiled, patting him on the back. “Saw it with my own eyes too, big guy.”

Aone felt like he was so happy he could sing, but he knew how odd that would look coming from such a big and serious guy like himself.

“Oh. Well... that’s quite nice.”

What a turn of events! This morning, Aone was going through another day with a heavy heart because the love of his life would never like him back. Then, it only took him defending you against the class snitch for everything to change......

✏️ Earlier That Day ✏️

Aone was sitting in class like any other day, doing his work, listening to the teacher intermittently and your daily conversation with your friends. The teacher excused himself to run a club errand for 20 minutes, trusting the class to stay quiet and complete their homework. Like most typical high school classes, the volume raised as soon as the teacher stepped out. Aone glanced over at your talkative self for the 15th time that period and noticed how much you were glowing because your team had returned last night placing second at Regionals. You looked radiant, absolutely stunning with your brighter smile and louder angelic laugh.

In Mountain Man’s daydream, he imagined telling you that you looked beautiful today followed by a congratulations for placing second. You would rush over to him and kiss him in thanks then start ripping his clothes off so that you could—

“Y/N! I am sick and tired of you and the rest of the popular kids not listening to the teachers instructions! What part of ‘stay quiet’ is hard to understand in that pea brain of yours!?!??!”

To Aone’s left, sitting in his row, he looked for the yelling voice. It was who everyone (except Aone) called ‘the class snitch’ and school mascot: Tsume Lian.

Also known as Y/N’s arch nemesis.

Seating looks like:

Y/N glared at him.

“Tsume, no one was talking to you.”

“I know that, dork!” He fumed. “BECAUSE WE ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE TALKING! I’m trying to do my homework as asked, and you and the popular crowd just ignore everything the teacher says and it’s disgusting! I’m tired of it! I want you expelled!”

Aone noticed Y/N’s startled expression at the prospect of being expelled, because he knew from overhearing your conversations that your parents were this close to sending you to Seijoh to get your grades up and live on campus there. According to your gossip last week, if you failed another class or got another complaint from a teacher then your parents would under no circumstances allow you to cheer again.

Aone clenched his fists tightly around his pencil because he couldn’t stand the idea of seeing Motomu or Kindaichi drooling over you at his enemy school.

One of Y/N’s friends who Aone knew as Kusa, spoke up in defence of Y/N. “Oh shut it, Tsume. Us chatting isn’t bothering anyone else.”

“I don’t care! You cheerleaders think you can do anything you want and that’s that!! YOU WILL face repercussions if I can help it!”

Kusa feigned fear. She turned her entire body toward him in her seat, meaning business. A bitch had time today.

The entire class gave this drama all of their undivided attention when they witnessed that move, ready for the show like:

“Oh yeah?! And why are you just snapping about this now, huh? Why not before?” Kusa snapped. You put a hand on your friends arm, silently trying to tell her he isn’t worth her energy.

“Because I realized just how selfish, inconsiderate, and deplorable you good-looking, popular women are! You don’t deserve to be bowed down to like I thought! You should be treated like everybody else!”

“What are you talking about?” Y/N interjected. “No one treats us like that. Even if they did, we don’t ask them to nor do we ask to be popular and we especially don’t ask for special treatment, Lian. Why are you so mad??? Get your life.”

COLLECT HIMMMMMM 👏🏾👏🏾

Aone smirked to himself. In all his years of crushing on you he has never seen you look so fierce and he too put his pencil down to enjoy what was a different and fiery side of his crush. It made him want to fuck the shit out of you, you looked so sexy. Aone found he liked every side of you.

“I did have a life. I was a mascot and—“

“—And you were spending too much time looking up our SKIRTS instead of hyping up a CROWD, making the first years uncomfortable and borderline stalking Y/N so badly she asked that we terminate you! You are lucky she kept that to herself for so long! 🤬 And THAT’S why you’re mad!”

The class collectively gasped. Some whipped their phones out to snapchat the gossip. Aone widened his eyes in silence, since he was in between, he was looking back and forth at the fight like a tennis match.

Hahahaha 🎾 

Live footage of the classes reaction when Kusa READ TSUME FOR FILTH:

Tsume went red with anger, but anyone could tell that he was guilty guilty guilty !!!!

“When the teacher returns, I’m telling him and the principal the truth that you Y/N are a bully and you constantly disrupt the class! Who do you think they’re going to believe?! Their best student? Or their worst?! Say hi to AobaJohsai summer school for me!”

You frowned, scared out of your mind because Lian was right. The teacher’s believed everything he had to say and ever since you exposed him for sending you creepy messages and inappropriate pictures from a fake account that you knew was his, the class snitch has had it out for you. Even if the cheerleaders had your back, your parents would just think they are trying to protect you and never believe it! Tsume Lian was smart and dead set on planning your demise. It was unfair. You wanted to cry. Kusa whispered something to you in encouragement but you could feel the back of your eyes warming due to impending tears.

Meanwhile, with Mountain Man - Today was a day of firsts in his ‘Crushing on Y/N’ book. It was the first time he’s ever seen you glowing because of the Regional results, it was the first time he’s ever seen you so sassy, and now............. Aone notes that today is also the first time he’s ever seen you on the verge of tears before.

Unlike your glowing and your sassiness, Aone decided that he hated the last first more than anything in the world.

It consumed his emotions, how badly he didn’t want to see you cry.

“You really are slimy, Tsume. Wait until Katana hears this.” Kusa spat, rubbing her hand up and down Y/N’s back to soothe you as you willed your tears not to fall.

Seeing you so sad, Aone’s heart clenched.

He knew what it was like to be hurting but he never ever wanted that for you—not ever.

“Hey Y/N-chan, why don’t you show me that video your mom got of our reaction to us placing second yesterday?? I’d love to see it.” Kusa has accurately distracted you because she texted Katana what was happening and Katana knew just what to do until she got there.

You smiled, thinking about the overwhelming happiness from yesterday when your team placed second. You whipped out your phone and showed Kusa, smiling and giggling in a matter of seconds as it played.

Aone was glad you seemed good.

He turned to look at Tsume, who seemed to be raging inside. Shooting daggers at the two cheerleaders because they weren’t crumbling under his threats. They were laughing, in fact. Ignoring him as if he didn’t matter. Aone could tell Tsume was a ticking time bomb with how mad he was. His anger toward you looked severely unhealthy.

You let out a rather amusing laugh with Kusa as you two pointed to your screen and Aone’s heart skipped a beat because he loved that laugh so much. God, he is so fucking whipped.

When you laughed like that though, it sent perverted-snitch Tsume over the edge, bubbling over in anger like a piping hot kettle.

Aone watched him with studious eyes as Tsume took a deep breath to say something else that Aone was sure would stop your harmonious laughter that he adored......

“Y/N—“ Tsume started, but without warning, THE AONE TAKANOBU, DATE TECH MIDDLE BLOCKER, OUR MOUNTAIN MAN, interrupted him! Stopping all speech in the class with his simple, deep-voiced command:

“Leave her be. She’s having fun.”

The class:

The class went silent because they’d never really heard Aone’s voice before. :S

Still riled up, the class snitch took one look beside him (he was too distracted before) as to locate the voice. Once his eyes set on the verrrry muscular and verrrry mountainous man sitting between him and Y/N, he decided it would be smart to not be riled up anymore. A drop of sweat leaving his hairline, Lian scanned Aone’s gigantic body with his eyes, seeing that the volleyball player just barely fit in his desk—he gulped.

Aone had a relaxed expression, meaning to say what he said nonchalantly, but one needs to remember that Aone’s relaxed expression looks like this:

Needless to say, the ex-mascot almost pissed himself.

Is that Y/N’s b-b-boyfriend now? Tsume wondered to himself in panic as several more drops of sweat ran down his face.

“O-o-ok-o-o-oka-okay-y....” Tsume stuttered out as he turned back to his school work.

Five minutes later when the teacher came in, Tsume had nothing to say. He only had a sweat damped stack of homework to give him before he fled, not waiting for the bell of dismissal.

Did I frightened him? Aone thought.

He didn’t mean to. Sincerely. He was as gentle as giants come (except in bed if you rile him up enough or when someone is bothering you).

The class went back to normal and Aone continued working too.

But one person didn’t—no, couldn’t go back to normal:

You.

You sat in your seat still slack jawed because someone you didn’t know came to your rescue and quite possibly single handedly stopped your expulsion. How have you not noticed him before?! He is gorgeous!

Tall, muscular, handsome. Shiny white hair, beautiful lips. And he came to your defence.

In your opinion , he was a FINEASS mountain man! 🏔🤤

Yes ma’am!!!!

Anyway, while everyone was talking, working and minding their own business—including Aone—you slid out of your desk and bounced over to his happily.

“Hi! Thanks so much for defending me a little while ago!”

Bitch, this was you: ☺️😊😄

lost ass

Aone raised his head to look at you, jumping back slightly because he never even heard you approach. He stared up at you with a heart that stopped beating, absolutely speechless.

WHAT IS HAPPENING? He thought. YOU WERE TALKING................TO HIM? You were NOTICING..............HIM?!

😱😳🤯

You reached over to touch the handsome giant’s arm in his sweater, smiling at him endearingly.

“I’m Y/N! It’s nice to meet you!”

yeah you lost af, bitch 😐

Aone wanted to say something, he did. But he was just too shocked that the girl he thinks about nonstop, the girl he wishes was his, the girl he just had a wet dream about last night, was talking to him and only him for the first time.

Unexpectedly!

Takanobu always thought you two would first speak because of Futakuchi or the teacher but not because of him.

Aone couldn’t fathom the fact that HE made this happen! HE was the reason you were over here!

Aone: 🤯🤯🤯

It was ALL. TOO. MUCH.

He couldn’t speak.

You removed your hand from his arm, silently chastising yourself because you shouldn’t touch people without permission.

Not that Aone minded. That boy would want you to touch him anywhere, on anyday, at anytime that pleased you.

“Sorry.” You looked down shyly, then met his serious expression again, wanting to be sure he knew how grateful you were for his help.

“Um.... you probably don’t know this but you getting that pervert to leave me alone is quite possibly the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. And you did it for a stranger like me, no less.”

A/N: RUB IT IN THAT YOU DONT KNOW THE MAN MORE, WHY DONT YOU ?! 🤬

You tucked your hair behind you ear while holding his gaze. Aone could only nod because his throat was dry. You looked so incredibly perfect up-close and he wanted to make sure he remembered this. He just couldn’t speak.

Feeling a little awkward now because you just tried starting a conversation with this FINEASS classmate of yours to only get a nod in return, you laughed timidly.

“Okay, well I guess I’ll...” you turned on your heels so you could make your way back to your desk with your L. “....see you later.” You finished, telling him over your shoulder.

Much like when he defended you against Tsume, Aone didn’t know what came over him then: maybe it was all the memories of him feeling heartbroken that you’d never notice him or return his feelings—maybe it was the promise he made that he would do something toward pursuing you if you would just notice him first—or maybe is was because his best friend Kenji would have his HEAD if Aone told him he let you walk away right now without trying....... after TWO YEARS.........that compelled him to respond to your “see you later” bravely, FINALLY UTTERING WORDS TO YOU FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS ENTIRE LIFE:

“When?”

^Asked Aone, just as you were walking away from him.

You stilled, feeling excitement in your body because he answered. You spun around and jumped back in front of his desk. You gave him a questioning look.

You responded, “When, what?”

Even though he was melting under your attention, Aone couldn’t give up now. He had to shoot his shot. This may be his only chance.

“When is later?” He elaborated.

Huh? You thought.

You blinked at the stunning classmate. What is he—OH, does he mean.....

“As in...when will I see you again?”

Aone nodded at you, holding his breath.

You massaged your chin, thinking 🤔.

You can admit you wanted to know more about this gorgeous man who came to your rescue. There was something about him that made you feel safe and warm. You couldn’t quite place it. You’ve never wanted to spend time with anyone outside of cheerleading more than this guy—so you owed it to yourself to explore that small feeling, right?

“Okay. Well, how about now? Lunch is after this period. Would you want to have it with me?!” You asked cheerily.

Though he didn’t show it, inside, fireworks went off in Aone’s mind, heart, and stomach...!

Actual footage:

Aone nodded quickly. Way too quickly for someone who did not want to come across as the most eager beaver in the world.

But he was...... and you noticed. It made you smile.

“Okay. So when the bell rings you can walk me to my locker and I’ll put away my stuff, then we’ll go to yours....then we can go head to lunch together. Sound good?”

Aone nodded quickly again!

You gave him the big smile that made him become a simp for you in the first place and you took your seat again.

Takanobu was so excited he literally almost stood up to spin the hand clock that hung up beside the door himself so that time could go by faster. He couldn’t even move to text Kenji because he knew his hands would shake.

He just sat there, his mind whirling mad until the bell finally rang. You said bye to Kusa and watched as this blonde hottie stood up from his seat, towering over you.

God, he was so freaking HOT! You wanted to jump him.

At the same time students filed out of the class, Aone turned to you as he collected his things then slung his bag over his shoulder.

“May I carry your books for you, Y/N?” Mountain man asked sheepishly in his stern voice.

Your heart fluttered by how cute and sweet he was to ask!

“Umm, sure! Thank you so much!” You smiled and handed your heavy books over.

You two walked beside eachother and Aone held the door open for you. You didn’t know why he was being so nice but you couldn’t lie that you felt very charmed.

“Y/N.”

You looked up at the handsome giant with curious eyes after he called your name.

“My name is Aone Takanobu by the way. You introduced yourself before, but I did not answer. I’m sorry. Either way, I knew who you were already. It’s very nice to meet you.”

Your smiled widened as you bounced on your feet while walking. “Very nice to meet you too, Aone Takanobu. I’ve actually heard of you before.”

Aone’s eyes lit up like 👀

“Wait r-really?”

Omg precious bby 🥺🥺🥺

“Yes. At a cheerleading sleepover. All good things, don’t worry. It’s just funny because I said that night how hopefully I’ll meet you and now here we are!”

Aone chuckled as he held open another door for you. When he did and you two walked down another hall, he caught sight of two very conspicuous volleyball players (one looked eerily like Justin Bieber, the other looked big boned) hugging eachother and slumping down to the ground at the sight of you and Aone. Aone rolled his eyes, thinking that they were lucky you never noticed your surroundings.

“Here we are.” Aone repeated, shooting a secret thumbs up at his friends who were on the verge of crying.

***

Nearing the end of an enjoyable lunch for both of you where you spoke a lot and Aone listened with heart eyes: he pulled your chair out for you, he was responding, he was chuckling, and overall hanging onto your every word, never wanting your time together to end. You became rather smitten.

***

“The bell is gonna ring soon, Aone. I just want to thank you again for buying my lunch and spending this time with me! I know it was super random!”

Aone got lost in your eyes as you said his name, because he’s never taken a moment to analyze how nice it could sound if it was caressed by your voice. Also, he’s never heard his name said by someone so beautiful (when it wasn’t being said in a question). He was BATHING in joy.

Although Aone didn’t answer and he’s maintained his stoic expression the entire lunch, deep down you felt that this man had a thing for you. He was very intense so it was quite obvious. But since you enjoyed the lunch so much and you were starting to have a thing for him, too, you wanted to confirm:

“Also, Aone-san, I’m happy to know that you can say more than 4 words 😲! I asked my friend earlier and she said you basically never speak.” You exclaimed, fishing.

Aone smirked, feeling the need to defend himself on that front. “It is true that that is the consensus of the majority of people who come in contact with me. However, that is because there exists few people, that I feel inclined to speak to.”

Hook, line, and sinker. Your eyes twinkled at his words. He looked like a jock but sounded so eloquent! You loved it:

“Oh wow well you spoke a lot to me today so I guess I must be a little special then, huh.......?” You twirled your hair around your index finger as you asked, causing Aone to almost drool.

listen, you...kind of..... wanted mountain man.

And you were only flirting minimally okay.....minimally, so don’t judge

You just wanted to know if your suspicions were right that he had a little crush on you or if he saw you as a friend

Aone looked down at you, thinking of a way to respond to you asking if you were special to him.

A/N: 😣🤞🏾AONE DONT CREEPY 😣🤞🏾DONT BE CREEPY 😣🤞🏾DON’T BE CREEPY 😣🤞🏾

“This is our first time speaking. So I am not entirely sure if you’re special yet...” He started.

You quirked your eyebrow attractively, anticipating how he would end that sentence.

“...But I hope that even after this lunch ends I can take you out again a few more times, Y/N-chan—somewhere nice and off-campus, perhaps—so that I can truly decipher whether you are or not.”

You quirked your eyebrow even higher, impressed by the smooth way he told you he wants to keep seeing you!

WELL SIS HES ONLY HAD 2 YEARS OF PRACTICE I MEAN—

“I’d love to.” You accepted, making Aone smile.

He was absolutely stunning when he smiled, it was almost unfair.

The bell rang.

“Mind walking me back to my locker, Aone?”

Aone stood on internally shaky legs that he willed to be normal. “Of course.” He took both yours and his tray and dumped it out before escorting you out of the cafeteria.

✏️ Back in the Locker Room ✏️

“We are happy for you, Aone.” Kenji patted his large friend on the back.

“I had your voice in the back of my mind, Kenji-san. I owe this happiness to you and your support. I know you’re worried that I’ll get my heart broken and be crushed but I’m thankful for you supporting me anyway. You will forever be my brother.”

———————————

Taglist: @crushzone @galagcica

Outtake #7: CLICK HERE

THE VOTE! ☑️

Upcoming outtakes (NSFW):

Losty Aone answering Kenji’s call while you’re having sex. He told you to please wait but...um....no. Hang up, buddy 😈

When you tease poor Losty Aone during class and make him want to f*ck you hard

You telling Aone that you’re horny before his game knowing you’d be cheering next to him the whole time being suggestive

Sending Aone a nude for the first time

First Kiss (In which Aone gets his first urge)

Discovering Aone’s ear kissing kink

Upcoming Fluff outtakes:

Aone on your first birthday as a couple

The official confession

Aone Embarrassingly telling Y/N about the things he did when he was crushing on you :/ (cupcake, donation, wet dreams, hoping to be your tutor, etc!)

When Aone fills in at one of your cheer practices!

Aone having to save you from your annoying admirers

Send me an ask/message/comment below with the number(s) of the outtake you really want me to write and the ones with votes will be done

Say “Losty Aone Story nsfw number ___” or “Losty Aone Story fluff number ___”

[onceinsomniac]

Helloooo~~~ Can I request a JiU x fem!reader fluff scenario. Y'know, the classic rivals to lovers cliché (if your okay with it) 👉👈

Author’s note: Sorry for taking so long to answer this. I wasn't sure of how to make it a rivals to lovers story since Jiu is just too nice to have rivals so it ended up being more like one-sided rivals. Sorry. Also, I know Jiu, Sua, Siyeon, Yoohyeon and Dami were Minx before debuting as dreamcatcher with Handong and Gahyeon but as this is made up, let’s just pretend that they debuted as dreamcatcher from the beginning since I wasn’t sure of how to fit Minx in. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it :)

After All This Time

You were 16 years old when you first laid eyes on her. You were nervously pacing back and forth waiting outside the principal’s office for her to call you in. Your math teacher hadn’t told you anything other than the principal wanted to see you but you didn’t need her to explain to know why she had asked for you. After all, you had been waiting anxiously for this day for the last two weeks. Ever since the voting had closed for student body president.

It had taken you a lot of persuasion and, admittedly, some bribing but you were sure you had won. It also helped that the only other person running against you was Nick, the quarterback who nobody really liked, despite his popularity, because of his cockiness. However, no matter how sure you were of your victory, that knowledge didn’t help ease your nerves. After all, it had been your dream to be student body president since you first started your freshman year of high school.

“Hey, are you okay?” a voice asked, breaking you out of your thoughts. You turned to look at a girl who seemed faintly familiar. You vaguely recognized her as the girl who sat a few seats behind you in your history class. You barely heard her voice, to busy admiring her. She was quite taller than you, although almost everyone was considering your short height. She had long, straight hair and you suddenly wondered how it would feel to run your hand through it. She was smiling brightly at you and her smile made your heart start thudding. Her smile, however, started growing smaller as concern replaced it once your silence continued.

“Is something wrong?” she asked. You suddenly came back to your senses and started blushing furiously once you realized you’d been caught staring at the stranger. You resisted the urge to facepalm at your idiocy. “Sorry. I was just thinking. I’m waiting on some news”, you explained. The girls’ smile returned at your answer. “Oh, me too actually”, she said.

You opened your mouth to ask her what exactly was she waiting on when you were interrupted by Ms. Seungwan, the school secretary. “You can go in now”, she told you. Or at least you assumed she was speaking to you but it was the girl who’s name you still didn’t know who answered. “Thank you”, she told her before looking back at you. “Good luck”, she told you, much to your confusion before opening the door to the principal’s office and stepping inside.

You hesitated for a moment more, perplexed at the turn of events, before following after her. “Aah Minji, Y/N, it’s good to see you”, Principal Bae exclaimed. “Thank you, principal Bae”, the girl who’s name you know knew to be Minji responded brightly. “I asked you both to come as the news I’m about to give you affect you both”, she continued. “It seems that against all odds, the votes have come to a head. You both had the exact same number of votes. Your classmate, Nick, wasn’t as lucky. As thus, we have decided that instead of going over the whole process again, you will both be co-student vice body presidents. You will share the responsibilities that comes with the job. Congratulations”

She finished her statement with a flourish of her arms, obviously expecting a grateful response. Grateful, however, was the last thing you were feeling. “How exciting. Thank you so much”, Minji exclaimed, excitedly clapping her hands. The cute display, however, only made you even angrier. You couldn’t believe you hadn’t even been aware of the other girl running for the same position. You managed to thank the principal before walking out the door. “I guess we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other now.” Minji said, once outside.

She smiled the same bright smile she had been wearing earlier but this time, your heart thudded for very different reasons. You saw past the smile to the manipulator that laid beneath it. “Yeah. I guess we will.” You mumbled before leaving the girl behind, feeling annoyed at knowing you would be seeing her again soon.

--------

Your math class had finished while you were in the office and it was now time for lunch so you walked into the cafeteria looking for your friends. You made your way to your usual table where they were sitting. They were discussing something that had happened with some senior but quickly shut up once they saw you sit. “So? Do I have to call you madam president now?” your friend Chun-hei asked. You rolled your eyes at her antics. “Madame co-president actually”, you said.

“It seems that the exact same number of people voted for two of us”, you explained once you saw the visible confusion in both their faces. “Wait, seriously? People actually voted for Nick?” Aera exclaimed. “No actually. Apparently, some other girl had been running and I hadn’t even known about it. God knows how she got so many votes without me even knowing she was running”, you explained, remembering the many long nights you’d spent working on your many signs in order to hang them all around school. Even Nick had hung dozens of posters even thought you were sure he had paid someone else to do them.

“Who is it?” Chun-hei asked. “Some girl named Minji”, you answered. Both your friends stared at you wide-eyed. “What?” you asked. “You aren’t by any chance talking about Kim Minji, are you?” Aera asked. You shrugged your shoulders, not knowing the girls last name. “Tall girl with long, beautiful hair and a constant smile?” Aera said. The description definitely described the Minji you had met. “I guess so”, you responded, not knowing where your friends where going with this.

“Well I guess that explains how she got so many votes”, Chun-hei said. You felt your confusion growing at the bold statement. “What are you talking about?” you asked her. “Don’t you know who she is?” Chun-hei asked. You shook your head, pushing down your bubbling annoyance, hating feeling out of the loop. “Should I know her?” you asked.

“Of course. Everyone knows her. She’s like the most popular girl in school. She’s supposedly super friendly and friends with everyone. That’s how she won. She has so many friends she simply asked them to vote.” Aera explained.

You felt yourself grow even angrier at the other girl, remembering how much work you had put into trying to win the election just so some popular girl could appear out of nowhere and get the same votes as you without even working for it. You were, what some would call, a nerd. You honestly didn’t care much for the social part of high school. You were happy with your two best friends and you were to busy anyways being top of your class to make any new friends.

What you did care about, however, was actually using your position as student vice president to make your school better. And you definitely didn’t appreciate some popular girl sweeping in and treating it as some kind of popularity contest. And now, you were stuck with her for the next two years.

--------

After school had ended, you approached Minji who was standing in front of her locker surrounded by friends. Aera was definitely not joking when she said Minji was popular, you thought to yourself. You did not want to deal with so many people so you decided to wait for them to leave. You leaned against the wall, waiting for the girl to be left alone. It was almost ten minutes later by the time Minji had finally said her goodbyes and started walking towards the entrance of the school. You quickly followed after her. “Hey Minji”, you called out. She immediately stopped in her tracks and turned to face you.

“Oh, hey Y/N. What’s up?” she asked. You couldn’t help but roll your eyes at her, dislike rolling through you, along with something else you couldn’t quite decipher. “Give me your phone”, you stated bluntly. Minji simply raised an eyebrow at you, confusion clear in her eyes. “If that’s your way of asking me out…” she started but you quickly interrupted her. “Of course not. But if we’re going to be working together, we need to be able to contact each other”, you explained. “Oh” she answered. “Here.” She handed you her phone.

You entered your number into her phone, looking down the whole time while you fought of the blush that had formed at her earlier implication. You were sure she was just joking around and didn’t appreciate being made fun of. A feeling you couldn’t quite understand formed in the pit of your stomach but you ignored it, taking it to be annoyance.

You handed her her phone back a few seconds later. “I’ll text you”, she said but you were already walking away and didn’t bother responding.

-----------

As promised, Minji texted you later that night. You both agreed to meet up regularly on Mondays after school in order to go over any issues and all the things you had planned for the school.

It didn’t surprise you at that first meeting that Minji had no real ideas of her own and she simply hovered over you as you explained yours. Your annoyance at her grew every week after each meeting as she continued spending the whole meetings staring at you. It was made quite clear that your earlier assumption about her just wanting the job to prove her popularity was right.

You would be trying to come up with ideas of how to convince the principal to listen to your ideas when Minji would just start talking with you about something that had nothing to do with what you were supposed to be doing in the first place. She would start asking you about yourself and what you liked doing. It annoyed you to no end that you were stuck with someone who clearly didn’t want to be there and so you soon took to simply ignoring her.

She would pout at you but would then continue talking with you even when you refused to answer her. It looked like nothing you did brought down her mood. The feeling you couldn’t quite recognize continued to grow and as someone who was used to being very in control of her life, you hated the way her presence made you lose control of something as simple as your emotions. That just ended up in your annoyance at her growing and when the school year finally ended, you were relieved at not having to see her during the summer break.

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

For some unexplainable reason, Minji continued calling you during the break, asking you to hang out. You continuously ignored her calls and soon they turned to messages. They would range from asking you to hang out to venting about something to simply wishing you a good day. You never answered any of them. You were confused about why Minji continued to bother you even when you weren’t being forced to see each other, sure that it was just her way of annoying you as payback for ignoring her.

You ignored how bothered you felt when the messages and calls stopped coming about half-way through the break. Once you were finally back at school, ready to start your senior year you realized Minji was nowhere to be found.

As much as you didn’t want to see her you reasoned that you had to since she was still your co-president. After looking for her the whole day, you finally made your way to the principal’s office to ask if she had any idea of Minji’s whereabouts. You were shocked when she told you that Minji had left the school. Apparently, she had moved to Seoul in order to become a trainee. You hadn’t even known Minji wanted to be an idol and your stomach churned uncomfortably when you realized she’d probably told during one of her long rants and you had simply ignored her.

You told yourself you were relieved at finally being able to do the job the way you wanted. Relieved at no longer having the annoying girl hovering over your shoulder, watching everything you did and trying to distract you from the job. You swore you were relieved.

You couldn’t understand, then, why you kept turning to ask Minji her opinion whenever you had an idea only to be disappointed when you remembered you were alone. It didn’t explain the loneliness that started growing inside you or the way you would look at her contact in your phone, your finger hovering over the dial option.

Your senior year passed quite quickly, the feeling that you were missing something never leaving you. Before you knew it, you had left Daejeon and had moved to Seoul, ready to start your first year at the University of Seoul.

You were majoring in Political Science and where quite enjoying it. You had quickly made new friends, something which had never been easy for you. It helped that you had met in one of your classes and you all had shared interests. You still kept in contact with Chun-hei and Aera, both who had stayed in Daejeon.

It was at the beginning of your second year when the feelings you had kept hidden for so long came rushing back in. You were studying for an upcoming exam in your dorm room when your phone pinged, signifying a new message. You opened your phone to see that Chun-hei had sent you a link, along with about a dozen heart emojis. You let out a small laugh at your friends’ usual dramatics before clicking on the link

The last thing you were expecting to see was the face you hadn’t seen in more than two years but was still present in your mind. Minji looked much the same, although her face showed a new maturity. She was dressed in dark robes along with six other girls and the title declared them to be Dreamcatcher, a new group who had just debuted. You felt the same annoyance you had felt so many times during your Junior year of high school although for some reason the feeling wasn’t unwelcomed. You actually found yourself to have missed it.

Minji’s usual smile was nowhere to be found on the poster, a serious expression on her face instead. Considering it was the same matching expression on all the girls, you assumed this had something to do with their concept. You spent that whole night watching their pre-debut videos on youtube and all the interviews they had done since their debut. You found yourself constantly listening to Chase Me during the next few weeks but you justified it to yourself by saying you were just listening to it because it was catchy. Not because you had missed her voice or anything like that.

Soon, you had become a dedicated Insomnia, watching all their vlives and staying up late for each and every one of their comebacks. You brought a ticket for their next concert and spent the whole concert looking at the person who had once been your school rival, wondering how come the empty feeling that had been a constant in your life since she’d left felt like it was disappearing.

It wasn’t long before you found yourself buying another ticket for their next comeback and soon, it became a custom, to go to their first concert after each comeback. You wanted to go to more of their concerts but you were to busy with school. Without even noticing it, you had started buying each ticket closer and closer to the stage.

After being a devoted Insomnia for so long and watching the way she interacted with her members, you started thinking back on your time together. Her kindness and constant smiles seemed so genuine and you felt bad thinking back on how coldly you had treated her during your time together, assuming her to be just another typical popular girl.

It was right after they had released their second EP, Escape the Era, that everything changed. As always, you had brought a ticket to their first concert in Seoul, not thinking much about finding yourself in the second row. It wasn’t until Dami’s part in You and I that you felt a pair of eyes staring into you. You turned towards where you felt the gaze coming from only to find yourself staring right into Minji’s eyes. You could see the recognition flowing through her eyes and quickly looked away, feeling embarrassed at being caught by her. You spent the rest of the concert avoiding her gaze which you could feel burning into you.

The moment the concert ended, you pushed your way outside the venue, in a hurry to escape from the uncomfortable situation. You weren’t sure why but you felt extremely embarrassed at her knowing you had brought a ticket for her concert. You quickly made your way back to your dorm, feeling ready to go to bed and sleep the embarrassment away. That was definitely the last time you attended their concert, you decided sadly.

You opened spotify on your phone and clicked shuffle on your dreamcatcher playlist, knowing their music always made you feel better. While the music sounded around the room, you changed into your pajamas and got your things ready for class the next day. You were just about to turn of the lights when a knock on your door made you stop.

You looked at the alarm clock on your nightstand, noting that it was almost 1am and wondering who would be knocking on your door at such a late hour. You hesitated briefly before the knocking started once more. “I can hear you in there”, a voice which you immediately recognized as Minji’s called. “I can also hear the music”, she said. You then remembered you had your dreamcatcher playlist playing and hurried to turn it off. You wondered how the other girl had known where to find you. Then again, Minji had always been quite resourceful.

You could feel the other girl waiting on the other side of the door and you briefly weighted the pros and cons of jumping out your window in order to avoid the awkwardness that was about to happen, assuming Minji was her for an explanation on why you were in her concert in the first place. Unfortunately for you, your room was located on the top floor and as much as you wanted to avoid the situation you also didn’t fancy dying.

“You’re going to have to leave eventually and I’m happy to wait”, Minji called, making you sight in defeat before making your way to the door and opening it, coming face to face with the taller girl for the first time in years. Minji was wearing pants and an oversized hoodie, having changed after the concert. Despite her lazy wardrobe, the sigh of her still made you catch your breath. She was smiling at you brightly as thought her showing up at your dorm at one in the morning was an everyday occurrence.

Without a word, she pushed past you and made her way into your room. You wordlessly closed the door before turning to face her. “Um. Hi.” You said, breaking the tense silence. By the bright smile on her face, however, you guessed that you were the only one feeling the tension. She ignored you, walking over to your desk and looking through your collection of all the tickets you had brought, proof of all the concerts you had gone too. You had completely forgotten about them.

“So this wasn’t the first time”, she stated. “How come you never said hi?” she asked. You stared at her weirdly, having thought she would have been creeped out and thinking you were some kind of obsessed stalker or something. Instead, she looked quite pleased at your collection. “I don’t know. I mean, I assumed you wouldn’t even remember me”, you answered. Your answer was only the half truth thought. You’d also hadn’t wanted to talk to her because you found your feelings for her so confusing. Half the time, you weren’t sure whether you wanted to annoy her or kiss her.

Minji let out a small laugh at your answer. “Not remember you? That would be quite hard considering not a day has gone by when you haven’t crossed my mind”, she admitted. For a second you felt envy at how easy Minji could say what she was feeling, so unlike you who always tried to hide your feelings. But then her words registered and you surprise course through you. You were still trying to think on what to answer when Minji suddenly took a few quick steps towards you, quickly closing the space between you too. You stood there motionless as she invaded your personal space, so close to you that you could feel her warm breath on your face.

“Why now? Why after all this time?” she asked, her voice no more than a whisper. The smile was long gone as a serious expression crossed her face. “What are you talking about?” you asked her, trying not to stumble over your words as your thoughts were a jumble at her close proximity. You found yourself resisting the urge to look at her lips. “Why bother coming to so many of our concerts. Why show up in my life again. Just when I was finally starting to move on. Why?”

Her voice got louder with each sentence. She stepped back, giving you space once again, as she ran her hands through her hair in frustration. She turned to look at you once again. “Why”, she repeated, her voice sounding unusually stern. This was the first time you had seen the usually happy girl so frustrated. Even when you had spent so long giving her the cold shoulder during your junior year of high school, her never-ending smiles and positivity had never wavered.

“I wasn’t trying to bother you. You weren’t supposed to see me”, you explained, trying to calm the slightly older girl down. Your words, however, only served to anger her even more. “Is that supposed to make it better?” she spat out.

You were extremely confused at what was happening. “Minji, I’m sorry if it seemed weird that I go to your concerts. I won’t do it anymore if it bothers you so much”, you told her, trying to regain control of the situation. Minji turned to glare at you, anger visible on her face. “What bothers me is why would you even come when you hate me”, she said.

You sputtered a few seconds, trying to find a reply to the sudden accusation. “I don’t hate you. I’ve never hated you.” You said. Minji let out a dark chuckle. “Yeah right. Then how do you explain you ignoring me and clearly being annoyed by me for a whole year?” she replied. You felt guilt coil in your stomach at the truth in her words. You could understand why the older girl had thought you hated her but you didn’t. You never did. You were just to stuck on your misconceptions of her to see who she really was.

“I’m sorry. The truth is I was just annoyed at you for the way you seemed to always get what you wanted without even working for it.” You admitted. Minji looked confused at your words so you continued explaining. “I worked my ass off for that position and you just came in and got it without any effort. And don’t say it was because you cared about our school and wanted to change things. Most of the times you just stood there and did nothing. I was angry that it was just some popularity contest to you.”

You took a few seconds to catch your breath after your rant. You hadn’t expected to let all that out but you were just so confused by Minji. You hated the way you never knew what to say to her. Understanding seemed to dawn on Minji and you were surprised by the familiar smile that once again made its way to her face. “Seriously Y/N? I knew you could be oblivious but this is ridiculous”, she said.

You felt offended at being called ridiculous and where just about to say so when Minji surprised you by one again stepping into your personal space. This time, however, you took a step backwards only for her to follow after you. You were confused by the look in her eyes which you’d never seen before. You continued backing away until you hit the wall. She stood inches away from you, an almost predatory smile making its way into her face. She leaned both hands against the wall, caging you in.

“You’re right. I didn’t run for student body president because I wanted to change things. I ran because I wanted to get to know you”, she confessed. She didn’t give you time to respond as a second later a pair of lips met your own in a hungry kiss. Your lips started moving along with hers immediately, almost as if you had done this before. The taste of apples lingered on her lips and the smell of vanilla immediately filled your senses. You immediately forgot all your previous worries, too consumed by trying to get closer. The weird feeling she’d always caused you finally made sense.

She pulled away first, a small smile on her face as she looked down at you. “Do you get it now?” she asked and you finally did. You felt stupid for not noticing her feelings years before. Then again, you hadn’t even noticed yours. What surprised you even more than the fact that she had had feelings for you was that those feelings seemed to have remained. “Even after all this time?” you asked her. Minji didn’t respond. Instead, she leaned down and kissed you again. And for some reason, you felt as thought you were finally complete.

[beatricebidelaire]

they have a fight when bertrand brings up about wanting to leave. harsh, angry words are exchanged, the kind of words that afterwards make them feel “perhaps i should not have said that” and then “but was i wrong?” the kind of words that cut, way too precise, because that’s the downside of knowing each other so well for so long.

when they aim, it’s right on spot.

metaphorically, anyway.

kit has quite a few things to say about how bertrand wants to leave and start his own family, asking if the family he currently has - their group of friends all bound together by their fate in some way, but especially her - is it not enough for him? hasn’t he always said family’s more than just blood, hasn’t she always been the one by his side, rather than the estranged blood family he’s never met after he was adopted?

“and now we’re not enough?” she asks, accusingly, dreading to think what it’d be like if he leaves, the ���now that i’m not enough?” unspoken, but implied. “thought family’s about more than blood, and now you’re saying you want —” she’s being unfair, a voice inside her tells her, this isn’t really comparable, wanting his own family with children, it’s a different thing, the voice says. plus, it’s probably less to do with that and more to do with vfd itself. kit firmly ignores that voice inside her head.

“that’s rich coming from you, snicket, you have your brothers,” he interrupts, bitingly. “and anyway, this is also about how vfd —”

she doesn’t want to hear it, plus she’s angry that he has the gall to bring up lemony, especially after what happened. she cuts across him, “my brothers? really? L is —”

“alive,” he snaps.

something clatters. she doesn’t check what fell out of her hand. “what - how - why do you know?”

he hesitates, previous anger replaced by guilt for a moment, and then deliberate unreadable expression. “jacques swore me to secrecy. i wasn’t supposed to find out either, but,” he pauses.

“you say they’re my brothers, but it looks like you don’t have any issues keeping secrets with them from me.”

he frowns. “this doesn’t mean —”

“you’re just happily conspiring with my brothers behind my back!” she shouts.

“okay, you know it’s not like that,” he snaps. “be sensible, snicket —”

“did you pick up that phrase from your chaperone??”

“shut up, i don’t see how that has to do with anything.”

“right, let’s get back to how you lied to me about L.”

“technically —”

“do not say lying by omission is not a lie, it’s in the name —”

“a terribly misleading name if there’s ever one —”

“shut up!”

he does.

“you know you should’ve told me. don’t tell me to take it up with jacques. i mean i will, but that’s a separate matter. i thought i could trust you.”

a tense silence.

“fine, this one’s on me, but as for —”

“wait,” she says, incredulous. angry. “you think you can just say that and then we’ll move on to the next topic and —” she exhales. “really?”

yes, they’re in the middle of a fight, and maybe perhaps (still debatable, not something that’s certain) she’s a bit unfair earlier but that’s just arguments. breach of trust and lies are a different level.

a longer silence, and he gives in first. “sorry i didn’t tell you,” he says.

as much as she wanted his admittance of fault a moment ago, as much as she wanted his apology a moment ago, she doesn’t actually want to acknowledge it now, because she doesn’t actually want to think about how to feel about this next, especially with so many unresolved arguments still in the air. she tells herself she doesn’t owe him an acknowledgment right this moment, it’s not as if he didn’t take his time not saying anything.

unable to think of anything else to say that’s suitable for the moment, she turns on her heels and walks away.

he doesn’t call after her, doesn’t shout her name for her to please come back, doesn’t come running. it’s terribly stupid, but she misses a certain name she doesn’t want to think about for a second, someone she’s not supposed to think about. at least he had often came running, albeit that was because he was one for dramatic gestures, especially in broad daylight, because he had a thing for performing. (well, has a thing for performing. kit just prefers to think of him mostly in past tense.) she loathed the dramatic gesture, mostly, but it’d been nice to have someone trying to please her in dramatic ways, while she gets annoyed by the drama of it all. (beatrice does the same thing too, all big dramatic gestures, except in beatrice’s case those gestures weren’t romantic. but the general principe remains the same, that kit is annoyed by the dramatic, grand declarations, the overly extra gestures where everyone could see that beatrice and o — that beatrice and him —love to make. but she’s also, occasionally, only very occasionally, enjoys this.)

(yes, it’s a flaw of her, she’s well aware. she has a type, she’s well aware, goddamn overly dramatic theater kids who would not hesitate to do extremely stupid thing in public. that chocolate fountain beatrice and o made was a disaster, a terrible thing to clean up, more trouble than it worth and kit has had words with them both afterwards, but nevertheless she has been slightly touched. just slightly.)

(it doesn’t matter. and it’s not the point. she shouldn’t even be thinking about this now.)

she drives to hotel denouement. ernest is standing at the entrance. she tells him, impulsively, “i have half the mind to kiss you right here.” not that she wants to, but he looks enough like dewey (well, practically exactly like dewey, actually) that it wouldn’t be hard to pretend.

his eyebrows shoot up. “who are you and what have you done with kit snicket?”

“i don’t actually want to,” she says, impatient.

“ah, that’s the kit snicket i know. did someone send you a mission to kill me by slipping a poison capsule into my mouth?”

“i will just stab you,” kit tells him sincerely, “far easier for both of us.”

“oh absolutely,” he agrees. “so what brought this up, really?”

“nothing that concerns you,” she says.

“did you fight with B?” he asks, suspicious.

“i said it doesn’t concern you.”

“hmm, that sounds awfully like a yes.” he says. “well, resolve it somehow, or you know dewey’s going to stress out about it. and then frank would be displeased.”

“frank’s always displeased.”

“nah, he isn’t. that’s just his face,” he shrugs. “can’t blame him, i’m the handsome one, after all.”

she rolls her eyes and walks into the hotel.

“i am serious, you know, you better make up soon,” he calls after her. “it inconveniences all of us when you fight.”

kit flips him off without looking back at him.

[btsslowburnfic]

Born to Be Yours-Chapter 2

Series Summary:  For Namjoon, the moment he set his sights on being the #1 rapper, he pushed the symbol to the side and hated it. Love should be chosen, not forced on you. He didn’t believe in fate and this mark on his wrist was a big “fuck you” to all that.

Chapter Summary: A second meeting and an awkward car ride

Find Chapter one here

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

About an hour later the men were all dressed and headed to the conference room to meet with the production team they would be working with for the next few days. Jin Walked over to Namjoon, “I hear you got some exciting news this morning.”

“It’s not exciting for me. Please don’t bring it up.” Namjoon said grumpily.

“You won’t hold out for long,” Jin grins, “Soon you’ll be like me.”

“Whatever,”

“Is your arm ok?” Jimin had been walking on Namjoon’s other side and noticed him holding his left wrist.

“It’s just a little sore. I probably hurt it when I shut the door too hard earlier.”

They arrived in the lobby looking for their Producer to introduce them to the Production Unit for this city.

“Excuse me, sir?” the hotel concierge called over.

They all looked over as the man walked towards them, “You sir, the one who came sprinting through earlier?”

Namjoon blushed and he could hear the other guys laughing at him, “Yes, that’s me.”

“A young woman dropped these off for you,” he handed him the pens he had dropped earlier in the day with a note attached. He was tempted to just toss it in the trash but instead, he held his breath as he opened it away from the prying eyes of his teammates.

TO MY SOULMATE (A haiku) You are an asshole.

You broke my wrist, you asshole

Here are your dumb pens.

---[Y/N]

Namjoon blushed furiously

“Is that from her? What does it say?” JHope appeared from nowhere over his shoulder.

“She says I’m an asshole,” Namjoon folded up the note and stuck it in his pocket and put the pens in his bag.

JHope cackles and claps his hands. “I love her. Seriously. If you don’t want her, I’ll take her.”

Namjoon glares at him, “No dating my soulmate. No dating anybody.”

“Guys, knock it off,” they hear Jin say as they see their Producer walking in with the on-site unit.

“Oh God. Jin, stand in front of me,” Namjoon tries badly to hide behind the other tall man.

Jin looks perplexed as Namjoon acts like a crazy person.

The Big Hit Producer walks over, “Gentlemen, this is our production team here. We have our principal director, choreographer, assistant director, and videographer,” he gestures to the team of four he is standing with.

“Gina Roman,” the Principal director introduces herself. “Clearly Rafael is our videographer,” the guy holding the camera gives a small wave. “Xavier is our main choreographer and [Y/N] is the Assistant Director.”  You and Xavier wave, a smirk crosses your face as you see the floppy hair and pouty lips of the asshole who knocked you down this morning. He is actually still trying to hide from you and is doing a terrible job. It is almost adorable. Almost. You were still very irritated and had told Xavier all about your fucked up morning. Huh. So your soulmate is in this band from another country. Interesting.

“Namjoon? Translate for us please.” Jimin politely requests. BTS usually had one with them, but they wouldn’t be arriving until after lunch. Namjoon pretended like he didn’t hear him. Jin shoved Namjoon out from behind him, “Translate you idiot”

Namjoon made eye contact with [Y/N], his cheeks flushing bright red. “Of course, sorry.” He translated the greeting for the team, “Let’s head to the conference room.”

“Why are you being so weird?” Suga asked on the walk to the conference room.

“It’s been a weird day, ok. It’s not every day you meet your soulmate.”

“And attack them. And run away from them.” Suga adds.

Namjoon sighs. Can he go back to this morning and wake up from this?

The two teams enter the conference room. Your cellphone rings, “Gina, it’s Robert, I’ll be in in just a minute.” you answer the phone and shut the  door behind you.

“We are so excited to have you here!” Gina begins speaking. “Would you like us to wait on the translator?”

“No thank you, I don’t mind,” Namjoon replies instantly calmer now that you have left. His wrist is still very achy and he finds himself holding it.

"There's been a bit of a problem with the practice space we were supposed to use but we are working on sorting that out now."

"Oh?” The Big Hit producer makes a concerned sound. “We can’t practice in the performance space?”

“Not until tomorrow unfortunately. It turns out the venue was already double booked. The others are bigger names, no offence. We are working on getting a new space worked out for you. We took the backup dancers there this morning to see if it would work for them.”

The guys were very concerned at not being able to practice where they would be performing.

“Why did they fly us out here if they didn’t even have the practice space ready?” Yoongi asks flatly

“We’ll just have to make the most of it I guess.” Jimin says.

At this moment, you enter the room. Namjoon instantly notices you are wearing a wrist splint on your left hand. You take your phone and place it on the table.

“Alright. The backup dancers were good to go. Robert says we can use his studio all day today and tomorrow night.”  you say, pleased that the back up plan has come through. “Also, the translator is here early. I asked him to wait just outside.”

“Excellent work, [y/n].” Gina compliments you. “And the space already blocked?”

“Yes, I walked it this morning. They just need Xavier and the guys to go over and check everything. After that we will get you guys all blocked and then we can rehearse. If you want, we can break for lunch and then head over there. Xavier and I should go and run it a few times before you guys get there,” you say.

“So to review the schedules: we are rehearsing at Robert’s tonight with just the group. I will run through it with back ups tomorrow while they do their press interviews. Then we will run it with them and backup dancers tomorrow night. We will have access to the awards venue Saturday at noon. Our practice time is 1-2 and then we can have them delivered to hair and make-up by 2:30 saturday.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Gina says, “Does this work for you all?”

Namjoon takes a minute to summarize what’s going on. “Yes,” Namjoon responds for the group. “I’d like to head on over there as well.”

“Great,  I’ll grab the translator.  [Y/N] and Xavier please take RM over there with you”

Namjoon’s face grows pale as he realizes what he has inadvertently signed himself up for. Fuck. He can’t say anything now or he’ll seem unprofessional.

You are borderline irritated and also feeling almost sorry for this poor jackass who clearly wants to get the hell away from you and also do his job well.

“Great, let’s go,” you pick your phone up off the table, Xavier follows you and Namjoon brings up the rear.

Ride to the studio

“I’m driving.” Xavier declares as you all walk out to the parking garage.”RM right?” He asks.

“Yes sir, nice to meet you.”

“I love your guys’ music and dance moves. They are seriously amazing. I was so excited when I found out I was learning your choreography and getting to work with you. Thank you for this opportunity.” He gushes to RM.

 You had done a basic amount of research on the group, but honestly you worked with so many music groups they started to run together for you. Some were well known, others less so. It was your job to coordinate on site back-up dancers, the choreographer, the venue, and make sure everything was where it was supposed to be when it was supposed to be. You quickly google “RM” on your cellphone for a quick overview and find “RM aka Kim Namjoon” and scan the info.

“[Y/N] I owe you big for picking me for this project.” Xavier smiles at you. “What’s wrong babe?”

You look up and sigh, there is no way you are telling him that this is the guy who literally ran into you this morning and caused you to sprain your wrist and who ran away from you. Xavier was super pissed on your behalf just an hour earlier. Now he was unknowingly smitten with the guy. You would wait and tell him after the show.  

“I’m just tired and my wrist hurts,” you respond, holding up the splint. Namjoon looks away, is he blushing? “You can take the front seat,” you offer to him as you throw your bag and body into the back of the Prius.

“Are you sure that’s all? You are never tired. ” Xavier responds as he buckles his seatbelt.

“Yeah, I was up at 4 to try and negotiate the space with Robert, blocked the room at 5. Taught Pilates at 6 and 7. Ran the videography and sound check at 8:30 with Rafael. Went for a jog. Got my wrist smashed. Went to the clinic to get a splint, and then met you guys..” You finally breathe after listing out what a fucking day you’ve had. “And It’s only noon. Stop and get coffee on the way please,” you tell Xavier.

“Damn girl. I still can’t believe you literally ran into your soulmate and he ran away from you.” Xavier remarked with a grin on his face. Holy shit, things were about to get really awkward. Part of you wanted to see your soulmate uncomfortable. Acting like he was too cool for all this stuff. You still weren’t sure what his deal was. “It is kind of hilarious though,” he starts laughing.

“Is my life a joke to you?” you respond dramatically. Namjoon awkwardly chokes on his own spit.

“Oh please. I’m sure you’ll find him again. Was he hot?”

“Meh, he was ok looking,” you lie. This guy was super hot. “I mean, from what I could tell. He had a hat on and of course, it was very blurry as he was sprinting away from me.”

Xavier cackles.”Only you babe. When I met Joe it was like a romantic movie. Seriously. Yours is more of a romantic comedy.”

“No. I think it’s more a dark comedy or action movie based on this morning. Maybe a documentary on a dumpster fire” you respond, searching RM’s face. He has giant sunglasses on and is looking out the window pretending to not be listening.

“Sorry. This is super unprofessional. I apologize,” he directs this at RM. “[Y/N] and I have been working together for five years, I honestly don’t even think about what’s coming out of my mouth when I’m with her and she’s had a bananas day. Haven’t you honey? She met her soulmate this morning and he literally ran into her and then ran away.”

“Yeah. It’s been a rough day;" you indulge Xavier,"I mean, what kind of person shoves their soulmate to the ground and then sprints away?” you ask the car. Silence hangs in the air. You are having your desired effect.  

Xavier says to you in spanish that he thinks you two are making RM uncomfortable and you should switch back to work. As much as you hate it, you agree. You two are technically at work. You switch back to English.

“How did you manage to snag the studio from Robert? Don’t they usually hold classes all day?” Xavier asks you.

“Two things: he and his wife take ballroom dance at our studio on Wednesday nights.”

“You don’t teach ballroom,” Xavier interrupts.

“No, but I do check on the clients to make sure their classes are going well. They are very happy with Clarissa.”

“Look at you, you little networker. Going for Gina’s job?” God Xavier was such a gossip.

“Nope. And don’t interrupt me you brat,” you jokingly fluff his hair from behind,  “Part 2 his daughter is a huge fan. I told him they could stop by during rehearsal as long as they left their phones at the front desk.” you smile triumphantly.

“I think you accidentally already took Gina’s job but didn’t tell her and didn’t take the pay raise,” Xavier turns into the coffee shop parking lot. You shrug your shoulders. “I like my job. I have way more flexibility to still teach classes. GIna’s job is 9-5 AND hopefully we will get a tour bid this summer,”

“True true.” he parks. You hand him the company card,

“Grab me a fruit cup and the usual, iced. What would you like?” you ask Namjoon.

“Just some water is fine,”

“You got it,” Xavier takes the card and runs inside.

Namjoon sits stiffly trying to ignore the fact that he has been left in the car with his soulmate. He takes off his sunglasses and pinches the bridge of his nose.

“I was being serious earlier. What kind of person does the shit you did this morning?” you lean forward from the backseat.

“You already know. I’m an asshole.” he turns and gives you a cold glare. Damn.

“Huh. Ok. Awesome.” you respond. You really weren’t expecting that.  You get back to your phone. “By the way you owe me like $900 asshole.”

“Pardon?” he responds.

“$200 for the clinic and $700 for the classes I’m having to sub out because you broke my fucking arm.”

Namjoon rolls his eyes. “You are dramatic. Nice poem by the way.”

“Thank you. It came so effortlessly as I was inspired by my muse,”

Namoon turns around irritated. “I just wanted to go out and buy pens!”

“I just wanted to go out for a jog. And by the way, I made sure you got those pens mister! Because I am NOT an asshole,”

Namjoon opened his mouth to respond but didn’t have anything to say to that because you were right. The car was silent for a few minutes. “Thanks for the pens.” he said quietly.

“Your wrist hurts.” you say, observing him cradling his left arm.

“It does. I shut a door too hard this morning,”

You click your tongue, “Is that why you think it hurts? Man you are deep in denial darling. Your wrist hurts because you hurt my wrist. That’s part of how this whole thing works.”

“What are you talking about?” He asks, irritated.

“....are you serious right now? I googled you real quick and you’re supposed to be the smart one.” you scoff.

“Who’s the asshole now?” he retorts.

“Fair enough. That was a little mean. But, now that we have met, we are going to experience each other’s pain. Whenever Xavier is sick, Joe gets sick. When Xavier is sad, Joe can tell. Even when they’re not  together. Were your parents soulmates?”

“Yes.” Namjoon thinks about this. He hadn’t asked his parents about any of this stuff because he didn’t care, but now that he thought about it, it made sense. “Shit.”

“Yeah. So I mean I’m glad your wrist hurts because Karma, but I just thought you should know. Please be careful with your body. I teach fitness classes as my main income and I need my job.”

Namjoon sits there for a minute taking all of this in. He had worked so hard for this to not happen. Dammit. He didn’t want anything like this.

Xavier came back to the car and distributed coffee and water. The rest of the ride to the studio was mostly silent other than Xavier randomly asking RM questions about the other band members. Apparently he was a huge fan. RM was super nice and friendly to Xavier, much to your annoyance. What had you done to deserve the asshole version? I mean, you had written him a mean haiku, but that was after he was rude to you. You sulk in the back seat while answering emails one handed. NEXT CHAPTER