#we really didn’t have enough cafeteria space for all of us

[alphacrone]

love seeing high school kids organize real protests for actual world issues bc when i was in high school the only time my peers and i managed to actually pull a protest together was when we organized a sit-in to protest the new rule that we weren’t allowed to sit in the hallways during lunch

[lorifragolina]

More than Roommates...?

Another entry for @harringrovesummerbingo!

It's a silly rom com and I tried to keep it short :) I hope you enjoy it!

Title: More than Roommates...?

Square & Prompt: C1 "Laughter"

Rating: Mature

Word Count: 2501

Major Tags: Friendly schemes, Enemies to Lovers

Summary:

Steve and Billy are roommates, but they didn't start with the right foot... even if they became attracted to each other pretty soon. But both of them think that the other didn't swing the same way... Two smart friends and a good scheme are needed for making them move... or not?

Read it on AO3

“Robin, he’s not gay, it’s as plain as day”.

“I never see him with a girl”.

“It’s because he’s not… I mean, he doesn’t… he just goes casual”.

“Well you can just ask and remove any doubt”.

“Are you nuts? He’s my roommate, I can’t go and ask something like this”.

Robin snorted and shrugged. It was the third or fourth time they had a similar discussion, in a corner of the cafeteria in front of their morning coffees. Usually, Steve had some wet dream about his roommate and went to venting with her. 

“Well I’ll ask him then,” she said stubbornly, frankly fed up with the hesitation of her best friend.

“Don’t you dare! Do you have an idea of how much it has cost me to find that room? I can’t ruin things with him”.

“I know, Steve, do you forget we moved here together?”

“Yes but you are a brainiac and you have your room granted in the residence”.

Robin snorted again soundly. It hadn't been so easy as Steve was painting it,  for her, but she could understand his doubts. 

Moreover, Steve and his roommate had a rough start and now, almost at the end of their freshman year, things were smoother and it was better trying not to ruin them.

“So, did you have some action lately?”

Heather adjusted the camera and went nearer to the screen, smiling slyly.

Billy sighed. “Nothing at all… dead calm”, he moaned, shaking his head.

“Don’t tell me you're still after him,” she raised her eyes. “Why don’t you make a move yet?”

“Sweet Jesus, he’s not gay!” shrieked Billy, regretting immediately for raising his voice, even if he was in his room alone. “He’s not gay, I already told you”.

“You can’t say. Do you know how many people swing in both ways?”

“He’s not”.

“Did he ever bring a girl into his room?”

“Well Robin is always here, but…”

“But they’re having sex? No, they don’t, so?”

“Well, maybe they…”

“Why don’t you ask him out? What could happen? At least you’ll stop bothering me with that nonsense”.

Billy knew that Heather loved him madly and he didn’t take her words badly, but she didn’t live there and she had no real idea of the situation.

It was him who had to live with Steve, and he didn’t want to ruin the delicate situation they created lately.

They had bitter arguments at the start of the year;  Billy liked to blast his metal out loud and having large Skype call in the common space until late, while Steve loved cheesy pop music and he wanted to sleep in the middle of the night; Billy liked to exercise and go to the gym and take care of his appearance, occupying the bathroom for hours. Steve was equally vain, but ha was not a morning person, so he passed half of his mornings knocking frantically at the bathroom door, and when he was able to going in, he didn’t mind to use Billy’s hair and body product, driving him mad when he smelled the scent of his special hair mousse on Steve’s hair. 

One time Steve had run out of the bathroom yelling like mad because he found Billy’s body hair in his razor, starting an argument that lasted almost two weeks. As if that were not enough, they had argued also in class, bickering about some unimportant detail in the textbook and their feud had been the goss of the week. 

They kept being on each other's way in college orientation events and in the basketball matches, but after a really tense few months, they reasoned out as adults, then they apologized and the cohabitation had started to go better. 

The problem was, for Billy, that all the confront and bickering had made him fixating in Steve’s body language, his moves and gestures and to walk in the room when he was agitated, how he passed his hands in his hair or put his hand on his hips, and specially in how the little mole at the side of his mouth moved when he was arguing, distracting Billy and driving Steve really mad; he didn’t know that in those moment when Billy forgot how to blink, he was thinking of kissing that little mole and all the other moles in his face and licking his neck and biting him and…

“Billy? Are you here?” Steve knocked at the door before entering.

Billy was still on his Skype call.

“I have to go, Heater, I’ll call you tomorrow,” he said in a rush, closing the laptop.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t want to bother you”.

“Don’t worry, I have already finished the call”.

“Ok… something important?”

“Oh no… family thing, you know, nothing important…”

Steve nodded, taking a glass of water and drinking near the sink with his hand on his hips, pensive. Billy had to gulp his agitation and smiled tensely.

“I was thinking to have a shower, do you want to use the bathroom?” He asked kindly, one of the things he learned to do to maintain their good relationship.

“Oh, no thanks, go ahead,” Steve smiled tensely too, washing a couple of dishes still in the sink since the morning. 

He was almost sure that he heard a feminine voice, he knew that Billy had a sister but it didn’t seem to him the same voice; Billy always closed his calls when he came in the room, because he didn’t want to argue anymore about bothering calls, but Steve suspected he called always the same girl, probably his distant girlfriend and for this he never bring any woman at home. Steve didn’t dare ask to maintain the balance between them and the peace they gained so difficulty.

He suffered for not knowing, anyway… he didn’t define himself as gay, he liked girls, but he also liked men very much, and Billy in particular was his type almost exactly, although they started hating each other; but he liked ripped, neat men, well trimmed, with an angelic nuisance and a nasty attitude; and Billy, with his Californian Barbie complexion, was almost near to perfection, making him struggle to stay formal near to him. Even if Billy still hadn’t picked up any girl at college, he had a crowd of female admirers and he seemed to enjoy it, so Steve knew he couldn’t have a possibility. Moreover, if he would come out with Billy, he could feel uncomfortable; he didn’t seem homophobe, but not everyone wanted to sleep with a non straight roommate. 

“Oh, shit,” groaned Steve, raising his eyes to the cafeteria door. 

“Oh, shit,” echoed Robin, for completely different reasons. 

Billy had just entered with a stunning brunette hanging at his arm, a beaming smile and gushing with happiness.

The girl was short but curvy, with pink hearted glasses and red lips, and a pair of mini shorts that showed her nicely shaped legs; the perfect Barbie complement for Billy, sighed Steve seeing his hopes shattered in the floor. 

Robin couldn’t also take her eyes off of the girl, definitely her type, even if she seemed she couldn't take her eyes off of Billy.

“Hey,” Billy waved at Steve, who he felt he wanted to die. He smiled and waved back. 

“Hello, I didn’t know you were here either… Heather just arrived by train to visit me”.

“Hello,” said the girl, lowering the glasses and raising her hand directly to Robin. “I’m Heather”.

“I’m Robin,” she answered, breathless. They looked at each other for a long, long moment, until Billy dared to speak again.

“And he’s Steve, my roommate”.

Heather smiled again, giving him her hand too. “Oh. I heard a lot about you”.

Steve blushed and Billy nudged her. “Stop it,” he hissed, then went to the bar to order the coffee.

“So, you’re studying here too?” Heather asked directly to Robin, who blushed, leaving Steve wide mouthed and speechless. They talked a little bit, ignoring Steve completely until Billy returned with the drinks. Robin got up to go to class reluctantly.

“Well I’m staying all weekend, I hope you can join us for dinner tonight,” Heather chirped with a soundly voice, and Robin nodded and went away, giggling. 

“So you’re the famous Steve,” she immediately turned to him, resting her face on her hand. “I thought you were taller”.

“Heather!” Hissed Billy.

Steve cleared his throat. “Will you… will you stay in our room?” His voice was oddly high pitched.

“Oh no, I booked a B&B here near the campus. I don’t want to bother you two big guys,” she giggled and they both blushed furiously. 

“But I hope you don’t mind if she stays a little in the room…” said Billy carefully. 

“Oh no, not at all”.

Heather smiled and they finished their drink, then she and Billy went away to visit the campus, leaving Steve sitting there, heartbroken.

“I don’t want to go to dinner with the lovebirds!” Said Steve later, outside Robin dorm. Robin pouted and looked at him with flames in her eyes. 

“Are you stupid?” She hissed. “I’ll go even if you don’t come”.

“If you like to be the third wheel…”

“God, you’re really stupid!” Robin crossed her arms and refused to talk again with him. 

When she reached them at the restaurant, Steve looked at her, really puzzled. He never saw her so dressed up before. She barely used makeup and combed her hair with a bobby pin to avoid hair in the eyes, but that night she was wearing a fancy jacket and pants and she curled her hair and painted her eyes and lips; she was really pretty, and when he looked the glance Heather gave to her, he finally understood why she called him stupid lately. 

Billy and Steve witnessed their shameless flirtation with wide eyes, unable to say anything and looking furtively at each other, utterly embarrassed. Steve was glad she definitely wasn’t his distant girlfriend, and Billy was glad that Robin was the platonic girlfriend of Steve, but they didn’t know how to break the ice to each other and bring the topic on the table. They kept talking about trivial things, some sport results and TV shows while their friends were talking intensely and ignoring them.

Steve and Billy didn’t notice that they exchanged each other's numbers, but when they left the restaurant, Heather announced that she wanted to go resting after the trip, but she would be free the rest of the weekend to do something fun with them.

Billy walked her to her hotel and Steve and Robin went away in the opposite direction.

“What the fuck was that?” Snapped Steve once they were a little far.

“What?”

“All that thing, you were… flirting with her? You had just met her!”

Robin shrugged, looking at her mobile that had just buzzed. 

“Well she’s not his girlfriend. And he clearly hasn’t problems with queer people”.

Steve sighed. Well, there was a difference between having a lesbian friend and sleeping in the same room with someone who wanted to be in your pants.

“You couldn’t stay quiet, not for a little minute, could you?” Hissed Billy walking with her.

“You didn’t tell me she was gorgeous and lesbian, Billy. Is your gaydar broken?”

“I don’t… hey I don’t need to justify with you! I… I just didn’t realize”.

“Well it’s the perfect excuse to make a move with him, don’t you think? And you didn’t tell me he had that juicy ass, you little scoundrel”.

“Oh, please, stop! It’s a coincidence his friend is a lesbian. It doesn’t mean anything”

“Oh, it doesn't mean anything, Mr queer like a three dollar bill?”

“Stop this nonsense, I can do nothing with him. He’s straight and we are roommates, that’s all”.

Heather groaned and entered the hotel. She wrote to Robin immediately, chatting with her all night. 

“Is there some club to go dancing near there?” Asked Heather the next night, peeping a glimpse at Robin. 

“Well the Pink Flag is over there and they have good cocktails,” answered Robin immediately, waving at the end of the street. “You don’t have problems going to a queer bar, right, Steve?”

Steve blushed and nodded, of course he didn’t have problems, they went there very often, but he looked at Billy’s face, who blushed, lowered his face and nodded too. The girls joined the queue hand in hand and abandoned them behind. 

Billy tried to smile, worried, and saw the same expression on Steve's face. “Well at least they’re having a good time,” he sighed, while the girls were already chatting with the bouncer, who knew Robin, and obviously Steve. He accurately avoided confessing to Billy that he was a regular there, but he couldn't hide it for longer.

“Hey Steve, it’s been ages, I missed you! Oh, he is the guy Robin just told me about?”

“Hello… hello Alan…” answered nervously Steve, looking at his feet and running inside before the bouncer could say more embarrassing things. 

Robin and Heather were still inside, giggling at the dirty look he launched at them.

“How you dared!” He hissed to Robin. 

“Well you needed a nudge,” she giggled, disappearing on the dance floor with Heather.

Billy was looking at him, confused. “I’m not sure what had just happened outside… Do you come here often?”

Steve blushed. “Well, me and Robin, we… well, you know…”

“And what he said? You… talked about… me… with Robin?”

Steve gulped, looking away, feeling the tense in Billy’s words. 

“She thinks… well, she thinks I have… she thinks I have a little crush on you, that’s all. But don’t worry, I am not…”

“Oh shit,” Billy hit his forehead. “Don’t you see?” Steve looked at him, puzzled. “Don’t you see? They set a trap! It’s so clear!”

“A trap? But why? You don’t… don’t you…?”

Billy snickered, a little embarrassed too. “Well, well it’s possible that I… I mentioned to Heather that… I may like my roommate just a little bit”.

“Those filthy little bitches!” Snapped Steve, and Billy laughed, heartily, defusing the tension between them. Steve joined his laughter, looking in his eyes and staring at his swollen, juicy lips.

“I… I never heard you laughing…” he said, touching Billy’s arm with bashfulness. “I like it,” he smiled then, and Billy melted, looking at him with glossy, puppy eyes. 

He cupped Steve’s face and pecked him, kissing his smile, then Steve pecked him back, and they finally kissed, finally biting each other's lips, with a stupid happy look on their faces. 

“So what will we do now?” Whispered Billy, taking Steve’s hand. Steve looked at him with a mischievous smile. 

“Well, my roommate is cool, you can come in my room later,” he grinned, and Billy laughed again. “But meanwhile, those little schemers don’t deserve satisfaction”.

Billy nodded. “Agree. Let’s make them suffer a little more. But first, kiss me again”.

Steve laughed, and threw his arms around him, bursting in happiness.

[sadboi-writer]

Dear Jack (Series)

Pairing: Jack Brewer x Reader

Summary: Y/N is a student at the Bobby Wasabi Dojo. Their life changes when Jack Brewer shows up in their life. 

Word Count: 2.9k

Warnings: Cussing, nothing else really, I kind of alternate between they and she pronouns.

Masterlist ~ Chapter Two

Chapter One: Wasabi Warriors

Y/N was sat with Milton, Jerry, and Eddie eating lunch. 

“Hey, Mil, can you help me with this?” Y/N asked sliding their algebra over to him, “I’m having issues with number five.”

Milton glanced over it, “Quadratic formula.”

Y/N nodded, “Thanks.”

They grabbed a fry off their tray and popped it into their mouth. Jerry looked over Milton’s shoulder.

“Aye yo, look at that new guy.” He said, pointing behind Milton

I looked where he indicated. A pretty boy was standing with his tray, looking around the cafeteria absently.

“You’re drooling.” Eddie commented as he ate

“I am not.” Y/N retaliated

The boys all tried to hide their laughs.

“Mhmm.” Milton hummed, he turned to the new guy

“Hey, new kid!” Eddie called to him

The boy smiled as he walked to the table.

“Hi, I’m Jack.” He introduced

“I’m Milton, that’s Jerry,”

Eddie cut him off, “I’m Eddie, and that’s Y/N.”

Y/N gave a slight wave, “Hey.”

Jack sat down with them, “So, how do you all know each other?”

“We all do karate together.” Milton replied

Before Jack could reply, Milton and Y/N were both hit with falafel’s. 

Y/N scrunched their nose in disgust, “Not again.”

Jerry was hit, “Not cool man.”

Y/N rolled her eyes and stood up. Jack eyed her for a moment.

“Frank!” Y/N snapped as she walked to the Black Dragons

“Hey!” Jack interuppted, he slung his arm around Y/N, “I like your outfits, are you guys cheerleaders?”

“No! Well, Bryan used to be.” Frank replied, Y/N hated his stupid voice, “So, you got a problem or something?”

Frank went all out demonstrating his karate.

Jack’s eyebrows rose, “ Look, I didn’t come over here to fight man.”

Jack was about to pull Y/N back to the table when Frank moved to punch him. He caught Frank’s fist and pushed Y/N behind him. She rolled her eyes at that.

“You probably shouldn’t have done that.” Jack smirked before flipping Frank

The rest of the dragons got up to fight. Bryan ran at Y/N followed closely by Tyler. She jumped and grabbed his shoulders before swinging around him and kicking Tyler across the room. Jack was doing pretty well himself. 

Bryan dropped Y/N and went to punch her, she swung her leg and took him to the ground. They gave Jerry a look and he tossed them his pudding. She smashed it onto Bryan’s face. Only two of the dragons were left in a position to be fighting, and Jack took care of them fairly quickly.

Once Frank had run out, Jack looked around and saw the damage he’d done. He looked at Y/N with a sheepish grin before booking it out of the cafeteria. 

After school Y/N was at the dojo with the boys. Eddie got absolutely wrecked by Marge.

Y/N laughed hard, “Wipeout, buddy.” 

“Eddie got dusted by Marge the lunch lady again!” Jerry chortled

Rudy was preceded by two guys in business suits. None of them looked very happy.

“Guys, what are you doing?” Rudy demanded, “They said if we don’t win two belts at our next tournament they’re shutting us down!”

“You wanna win some belts just make Y/N do everything.” Eddie groaned from the floor

“Or get that new kid Jack in here.” Jerry added

“Yeah, he took out four Black Dragons at lunch.” Y/N quipped

“You took down two of them.” Milton corrected

Y/N shrugged and grabbed another slice of pizza. Rudy shook his head.

“I don’t care about some cat fight at school.” He insisted, “This dojo is built on the foundation of hard work and discipline. Let’s get to work.”

The boys took their seats and Y/N sat with them. She was close to the decorative wall because she wanted to have everyone sitting on the mat, but there wasn’t enough space. 

After a couple of minutes Y/N heard yelling that sounded like it was coming from behind her. She stood and looked at the wall for a moment before the wall burst open, she let out a scream, then she was on the floor.

“That boy just came right out the wall!” Marge yelled

Y/N’s ears were ringing and she let out a groan.

“Okay, you guys have got to try that.” Came a new and vaguely familiar voice

There was a bit of shouting, a ‘sorry’ , and then Milton and Rudy were standing over her. 

“Holy christmasnuts, are you okay?” Milton asked

Y/N nodded, “I think so.”

Rudy grabbed Y/N’s hand and pulled them to their feet, “Let’s get you sat down.” 

He walked them to the waiting area. She looked and saw Jack being held by two security guards. 

“Hey, Jack.” Y/N greeted

“Hey Y/N.” Jack replied with a wink

Jerry came up behind Y/N and patted her shoulder, “You coming over for dinner again tonight?”

Y/N nodded, “Yeah, your mom is making arepas, right?”

He nodded, “Come on, let’s get going.”

Jerry leaned over and let Y/N wrap their arm around his neck and he aided them in their walk out of the dojo. 

At Jerry’s he sat them down on the couch and rifled through his DVD’s.

“What do you want to watch, hermana?” He asked

“I don’t care, you pick.” Y/N replied

She was distracted, thinking about Jack. He really seemed like the perfect guy. Cute, good hair, nice, confident, willing to stand up for others, and not to mention his insane martial arts talent. Y/N wasn’t even aware they had spaced out, but Jerry was. He saw the soft smile land on their face as their eyes seemed to see something other than his living room. The way that Y/N’s eyes crinkled as they thought. 

“You still with me?” Jerry asked

Y/N shook their head, “Yeah, yeah, sorry.”

“Whatcha thinking about?”

He went to the kitchen and brought out the steaming arepas as he listened to Y/N talk.

“Just about Jack, honestly.”Y/N replied, “He’s just... super cool, I guess. I don’t know. I just think it’s nice that he stood up for us when Frank was messing with us, and he’s talented.”

Jerry handed her an arepa, “And cute?”

“Yeah,” She said absently, “Wait, no!”

“Oh, you do think he’s cute!” Jerry laughed

Y/N pouted and Jerry ruffled their hair.

“No worries, your secret is safe with me!” Jerry assured

The next day Y/N was back to normal, if not a little sore. She opted to not get food with the boys and instead went straight to the dojo. Rudy came out of his office.

“Hey, Rudy!” Y/N greeted

“Hey, where are the boys?” He replied

“Falafel Phil’s, they’ll be here in a bit.” 

Y/N dragged one of the practice dummies out of the corner and started working on her form. It wasn’t long until Jerry, Milton, and Eddie came in. 

“Where’s Jack?” Y/N asked as she hit the dummy particularly hard

“With Kim Crawford.” Milton said as Y/N went in for another punch

She knocked it over with the force, “What?”

Jerry smirked, “Oooh, you’re jealous!”

“I am not!” Y/N insisted, “Jerry, come here, hold up the dummy. I need to hit something.”

He picked up the dummy and held it securely as Y/N unleashed an assault upon it. Hit after hit after hit landed, each one harder than the last. Until Y/N knocked over the dummy and Jerry.

“Sorry.” She panted, helping him off the ground

Rudy was smiling at her, “That’s the kind of energy we need for the tournament, Y/N! Good work!”

As he said that, Jack came in spinning a new bow staff with a stupid cute grin on his face. 

“Sorry I’m late-” Jack started

Rudy rounded on him and cut him off, “Sorry doesn’t cut it, Jack! Where did you get that astronaut bowstaff?”

“It was a gift from the Black Dragons!” Jack smiled, “See! We can all use it!”

He tried to hand it to Y/N who turned her back on him and retreated toward Jerry. Jack’s smile dropped.

“What? Students here are forbidden from even entering that dojo!” Rudy replied to Jack

Jack scoffed, “You can’t forbid me from doing anything!”

Y/N rolled her eyes, and Jerry wrapped an arm around her shoulder. They both watched the interaction, Milton and Eddie quickly crossing to them.

“Hey, if it wasn’t for me you would’ve been banned from the mall for two weeks!” Rudy insisted

A silence fell over the room. Jack looked livid.

“Banned from the mall?” Jack demanded, “You told me I was going to jail!”

Rudy’s mouth opened and closed like a fish for a moment.

He sputtered a bit, “Wha- Well, I say a lot of things! I’m what they like to call chatty!”

Jack stormed toward Rudy, “You lied to me! You broke the Wasabi Code! You know what? Kim was right! This place is a joke! I quit!”

Jack marched out of the dojo. Leaving everyone speechless. Then Rudy jumped into action.

He ran toward the door, “Fine! Go!”

Then Rudy turned to the kids, “Who needs him?”

Y/N rolled her eyes and everyone stared at him. 

Then all in unison said, “We do!”

Rudy’s eyes widened as he ran back to the door, “Wait! Come back!”

After that they all left. Y/N was walking to their bike on the bike rack when she passed the Black Dragon dojo. Kim was walking out and smiled when she saw Y/N.

“Hey! How was your day?” Kim asked

“Just swell.” Y/N snapped, “Nothing like hearing that your friend called your dojo a joke.”

Kim’s face fell, “Y/N I’m sorry. But sensei really wants Jack at our dojo-”

“Go away, Kim.” Y/N sighed

The day after that they all resigned to the fact that Bobby Wasabi was going to close. So they all started packing, Y/N was set on rolling up the mats.

“Jack! You’re back!” Rudy burst

Y/N looked at him and gave him a small wave.

“I’m just here to get my stuff,” He specified, “What are you guys doing?”

“Packing up.” Y/N chimed

“Yeah, we’re closing. No Jack, no belts, no dojo.” Jerry finished

Y/N taped up the mat where it was rolled and started to tip it up but it was a bit too heavy, so Jack came over and helped her. He sent her a wink as he did so.

“Milton David Krupnick!” 

Y/N turned around, Milton’s dad was storming through the doors. She sighed, of course he hadn’t known Milton was doing karate.

“So this is your french horn lesson?” His dad snapped

“I’m sorry dad, I started doing karate so that I could defend myself when people made fun of me for taking french horn lessons.” Milton explained, “It doesn’t matter anyway, it’s shutting down. This was the one place I really felt like I belong.”

Eddie nodded, “Yeah, now my mom is going to send me back to Mrs.King’s Dance Academy! My body was not made to mambo!”

“Yeah, guess I’m a lone wolf again! That’s how I like it!” Jerry sniffled, “Don’t think for a moment I’m going to miss any of you meatbags!”

“Guess it’s back to eating lunch with Henrietta.” Y/N sighed, the boys looked at her weird, “My paper mache crab I made for my Earth Science class.”

Milton’s dad motioned for him, “Let’s go, Milton. You’re lucky you didn’t hurt yourself.”

Jack was gazing around at his friends. And then he ran toward Milton.

“Wait, Milton!” Jack hollered, “Why don’t you show your dad how you can break this board?”

Milton gave him a look, “Break a board? Jack, I can barely cut a well cooked piece of fish.”

Jack pulled him up to a board he set on two moving boxes, “Just do it.”

“Jack-” Milton protested

“Do it!” Jack yelled

In a panic Milton slammed his hand into the board and split it in half. Milton’s dad was impressed, and honestly so was everyone else. 

“Milton that was incredible!” His dad praised, then he left

Rudy warily walked to Jack, “These are your friends, Jack. They didn’t break the Wasabi Code. I did.”

They all gathered around them, hopeful glints in each of their eyes. They didn’t want to give this up yet. 

“What do you say?” Rudy asked, then put his fist to his palm, “Wasabi?”

Y/N copied Rudy, which prompted the boys to do so too. Jack smiled and copied all of them.

“Wasabi.” He affirmed

They all got to work. Jack came to help Y/N put the mats back where they went. He looked at her fondly as they worked.

“You’re staring,” Y/N commented as they rolled the mat out

Jack blushed, “Uhm, thank you. For, kind of making me not quit the dojo.”

She shook her head with a small smile, “Keep rolling.”

They all worked hard to get their belts. Hoping to get two, maybe three. 

When the tournament came, Y/N was undeniably nervous. But she came out with her boys in her gi. Flexing their muscles and making a big show of still being there to fight to stay open. They took their seats on the bench. 

“Okay, Eddie’s up first.” Jack said

We all looked at Eddie, he was knelt on the mat praying. Jack ran to him and said something, before seeing Eddie’s opponent.

“What do they feed you, brother?” Jack spluttered

He went back to talking to Eddie before returning to the bench with the rest of the team. Once the match started it was over quickly. Eddie flipped and pinned his opponent easily, surprising all of us. 

“We got our first belt!” Rudy cheered 

“Okay, Jerry, nunchucks is next. All you gotta do is-” Jack began

“Relax, Jack. I got this.” Jerry cut him off and stepped to the mat

His opponent did some fancy moves and Jerry nodded. 

“Oh yeah? Well check this out.” Jerry smirked

It started well, and it gave Y/N a little hope. But before that hope could grow too much Jerry hit himself in the balls and fell to the ground. Y/N was beside him in a moment.

“Jerry, are you okay?” She asked

“Everything is purple.” He groaned

Y/N hauled him to his feet and took him back to the bench. Her match was next so she stepped to the mat. Tyler was the guy she was against. He was huge in comparison to her. 

Jack stepped up next to her, “Hey, you’ve got this. I believe in you.”

He grabbed her hand and gave it a quick squeeze before going back to the team. Y/N took a deep breath and then the match started. With a running start Y/N jumped and landed with her thighs around his neck, which surprised him. She put her weight backward and flipped him over as they both landed on the ground, and kept him pinned until the ref pulled her off.

“Second belt, boys!” Y/N cheered as she went to the bench

Jack enveloped her in a tight hug, “I’m so proud of you!”

They sat as Milton went up for his event. He was against Frank for board breaking. 

Frank broke the one board he was given. 

“Double it.” Milton told the ref

“Ooh! My boy is going for the win!” Jack cheered, being a general dork

Y/N chuckled, “You look so stupid.”

“What, you don’t like this?” Jack asked as he deepened the dumb lunge he was in

Milton won while they weren’t paying attention.  Jack and Y/N cheered as he went around and gloated to the Black Dragons. The red took his belt for his bad sportsmanship.

Rudy scolded, “Milton! That was our ticket to staying open! What were you thinking?”

“That this is the best day of my life?” Milton sighed happily

The vertical peg kick was next, Jack’s event. He stood and went to the mat. He shot Y/N a wink. She gave him a little air kiss as a joke. Jack went around the mat and Frank attacked, taking him down by his leg.

Y/N ran to him quickly, “Jack! Are you okay?”

The rest of the boys were close behind her. She knelt beside him.

“I can’t move.” Jack groaned

Rudy panicked, “Yes you can! Don’t you quit on me!”

“Rudy!” Jack snapped, “You’re kneeling on my leg.”

Rudy stood, “Oh.”

Y/N pulled him up and held his shoulders.

“Are you going to be able to compete?” Jerry asked

Jack shrugged, “I don’t know.”

“You’ve got this, I believe in you!” Y/N encouraged

Rudy ushered the boys away leaving Jack and Y/N alone.

“You gonna be okay?” Y/N asked

He nodded, “Yeah, I’ve got this.”

“Good, now go kick the Dragons butts.”

She kissed his cheek and ran back to the bench. Jerry wrapped his arm around her and smiled.

“Don’t think I didn’t see that.” He teased

Y/N shook him off, “You didn’t see anything.”

Milton tapped Y/N as Jack moved to take his spot. He flipped into a hand stand and it occurred to all of them how he was going to do this.

“He’s launching from his hands.” Rudy said incredulously

They all watched as time seemed to slow down, Jack did his gymnastics and knocked the peg off. Y/N stood up and cheered quickly. Followed by the rest of the team.

“We did it! We get to stay open!” Rudy exclaimed

“And we got three belts so we outdid it!” Jerry added

“You guys feeling what I’m feeling?” Rudy asked

They all nodded before doing their high kick.

“Wasabi!”

[mouwrites]

Omg i Live your writing sm ❤️❤️

I would love to like have a ninjago Kai x fem/reader okay so basically it’s like a good friend of Lloyd in school and they do everything together but Kai has like a crush kn her since idk a year (like pretty long) and Kai’s jealous so he tried to be friends with her but she disagrees (not in his face but she’s like idk how to explane but she like doesn’t really talks to him and everything uk?) but he doesn’t know she has a crush on him too and is too shy to speak to him . But one time she told Lloyd and Lloyd knew Kai loves her too so she like make a date without them knowing idk just like Kai and Lloyd were suppose to meet at the same time as Lloyd and y/n and Lloyd then says to them both he doesn’t have any time so they do sth together and then like it’s a love story u can think of sth here 🫶🏼

Yes ofc!! We need more innocent schemes from Lloyd in this world

Word count: 1.1k

Ninjago - Lloyd Sets You Up with Kai

You closed your locker, nearly jumping out of your skin to find that someone had been waiting behind its door.

Spiky brown hair with warm eyes and a little smirk, you’d recognize hum anywhere. It was Kai Smith, a boy in your grade. You certainly knew about him, but you’d never actually spoken. Perhaps that was why your heart raced nervously at his alarmingly close proximity.

“Hey,” he greeted you.

“Um, hi.” You walked past him, eager to dodge the uncomfortable encounter.

That was weird…

The weirdness didn’t end there. Almost every day after that, Kai would try to talk with you. You didn’t understand why he was so interested; frankly, you were skeptical of his motives. So, you avoided him as best as you could. Luckily you had your friend Lloyd to use as an excuse to leave him.

“Hey, you got any plans for lunch today?”

“I’m sitting with my friend Lloyd.”

You didn’t stay long enough to see the disdain on his face at the mention of that name. Nor did you see his harsh glares at the two of you from across the cafeteria throughout the entire lunch period.

“Hey, you’re friends with Kai, right?”

Lloyd nodded, more focused on shoveling rice into his mouth at the moment.

“Do you know why he keeps trying to talk to me?”

Lloyd froze. His eyes bulging as they locked on his tray in shock. He did, indeed, know why Kai was trying to talk with you. But that wasn’t his secret to tell. Even though you were best friends, Lloyd was loyal to all of his buddies, and he’d never reveal their secrets.

“I mean, I guess I wouldn’t mind if he was trying to get close to me… he is pretty cute, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a little crush on him, but…” You shook your head, cheeks going a little pink. “I’m way too shy for this.”

Too shy, eh? Lloyd thought to himself mischievously. We’ll see what we can do about that.

A couple days later, a sunny Saturday, Lloyd invited you to the arcade. Naturally you agreed, so you met up at his place and headed down together.

Arriving at the arcade, you were perplexed as Lloyd began to wave eagerly. Scanning the area, you spotted the person giving a corresponding wave. Your heart dropped. Spiky brown hair, warm eyes, a little smirk. Kai.

“What’s he doing here?” You whispered hastily to Lloyd before Kai could get within listening range.

“I invited him. It’ll be fine, you’ll see.”

“Hey Lloyd! I, uh, I didn’t know you invited Y/n, too.”

“I guess I forgot to tell you,” Lloyd replied innocently. “Oops.”

Then, with an exaggerated expression of shock, Lloyd whipped out his phone. “Ack! Speaking of forgetting, I totally spaced on my fish’s funeral! Oh, man, it’s in ten minutes! Sorry guys, I really gotta go. You two should have fun together though; don’t let me ruin a good date—er, hangout!”

You both stood dumbstruck as Lloyd hurried out of the arcade.

“Lloyd doesn’t even have a fish,” you grumbled.

“Yeah, and since when does he forget to tell me who he’s bringing to hangouts?”

You shook your head. Clearly he had some sort of scheme afoot, and you were determined to figure it out. In the meantime, though…

“Um, so… what kind of games do you like?” Kai glanced nervously at you.

“I like the racing game they have here,” you responded automatically, forgetting your shyness for half a second. You felt your face heat up when Kai smiled at you, taking your hand and leading you to the machine.

“I knew you had good taste in games.”

“This is something you’ve thought about?”

Kai took one of the two seats on the machine, and in the dim glow from the screen you could see him blushing. “I think about you a lot.”

Unsure of what to say to that, you took the place next to him. You played several rounds, becoming more and more disappointed in yourself as your performance declined. Kai’s words just wouldn’t stop echoing in your mind. You were distracted.

Little did you know that Kai was in a similar state. Why did I say that? He kept asking himself. Stealing fleeting glances at you only further declined his abilities.

“You guys suck at this game,” a child’s voice came from behind you after yet another round. “Let someone with actual talent have a turn.”

You both chuckled awkwardly, scrambling off the machine to let the kid have his turn.

“I’m normally not that bad,” you defended yourself as you browsed the other games.

“Me neither.”

“I guess being with you just made me nervous.”

“I make you nervous?”

“N-not in a bad way! Not in a bad way at all…”

“Does this make you nervous?” Kai brushed his hand against yours as you walked, making you look down with wide eyes.

“I don’t know. Does this make you nervous?” In a sudden bold gesture, you locked pinkies with him.

You could practically see his brain buzzing. “No. Actually, that’s quite nice.”

You looked away with a shy smile, certain that your face was as red as a barn.

It was several hours before Lloyd contacted you next. He said that the funeral (which you both doubted was real) was taking way too long and that you should head home without him.

“This was nice, Kai. I guess I’ll head home now.”

“A lady like yourself? Alone? At night? No way. I’ll walk you home.”

Too flustered to decline the offer, you let him escort you home. You weren’t ungrateful; no, this just meant that you got to spend more time with him. He had proven to be fantastic company in the arcade, and you were eager to see more of him in the future.

“Well, this is my place.” You turned to face Kai, wishing you could prolong the moment for much longer.

“I’ll see you at school on Monday.”

Monday seemed an eternity away. A lightbulb abruptly illuminated in your mind. “Here, just take my number.”

You exchanged numbers, finally bidding each other goodbye with promises of texting in the morning.

You flopped onto your bed, singing in dreamy disbelief. Did that really just happen? Did you really just finally befriend your crush?

A buzz from your phone confirmed it. It was from Kai.

Tonight was fun. Can’t wait to see you again :)

It took everything in you not to squeal as you kicked your feet aggressively. It was real after all!

That night, you both dreamed of futures filled with flowers and kisses, hand-holding and her/him.

Thank you for this awesome request! And thanks for reading, take care guys <33

(divider by saradika)

[jacksprostate]

Part 4 (with links to the other parts)

The first thing I do is, I talk to the man who takes my sheets, with his scrapdog ears and eyebrows, and I tell him: address him properly.

The word spreads on its own. I remember, before I was used to it, that knowing lilt. Sir. It’s still present. Take your pills, sir. It’ll be alright, sir. Take your time recovering. 

Mills starts cursing at the staff. We pass in the halls, he yells at me, tells me to stop them. He’s not their fucking leader. Call off my dogs.

I smile, too wide. They’ve never listened to me, not really. Especially not on this.

I can’t help you. 

Naturally, he hates this. 

The second thing I do is, I ask for photographs. News clippings. Marla’s dildo was large, questionable, encouraging of disorder, and a choking hazard. Slips of paper are much more tolerable contraband. I’m given free rein, like one of Zimbardo’s incentivized guards. It’s a psychology experiment in a psychology experiment, and my psychiatrist is playing Jane Goodall. 

It’s arts and crafts, and all the attendees are either bruised or braindead. There is no one stopping me. I glue all my collected pieces together into the rough shape of a heart, like it’s Valentine’s Day, and I turn to Mills, trapped at the back of the room. He hasn’t seen a shred of what I’m up to. 

Something to remember her by, I say. I don’t call him sir, because I never have. I wonder if he knows this.

I see him look, more instinct than anything from getting layers of paper shoved in his face, and I see how he clenches his teeth so hard his jaw creaks. He rips the collage of his wife out of my hands, and I can tell, he hates me. Real hate, like he wants death to fuck my body until it’s not even for the worms. 

He can’t bear to destroy it, and now I know every time he looks at it in his room, he’ll be thinking of me. Funny how that works.

The thing is; Mills actually didn’t try to kill me this time, so I think I need to take it up a notch. 

I cross the cafeteria just so I can spit in his food. I piss on his door and get the space monkey janitors to leave it for fifty-seven hours. In group therapy, I take a page from Chloe and monologue about how the last thing I’d like to do is get my rocks off chemically unhindered before the seizure medications they’ve got me on arrest all of my brain activity altogether. A nice nugget for Mills to report back to Somerset about my proposed psychosexual obsession. I segue into discussing how I met Tyler, on the nude beach, grit all across him as he hauled pilings and sat with his bare ass in the sand. It’s the most I’ve ever said about Tyler. The group minder scribbles on her sheet like mad as I describe Tyler’s wet, blond hair. His minute of perfection.

And he still doesn’t try to fight me. I know he wants to. He wants to shake me by my throat and rattle me and slam my head into the ground until it splits open like a rotten egg. But he doesn’t, and he looks torn. Like he’s guilty. Like Tyler could ever really feel guilt. 

This is one of the things I want to complain about when Marla calls me. 

She still does. More than when she was alive. But she says nothing, and I can’t break the silence. I sit there, orderlies watching as I say nothing, she says nothing, just a whole bunch of dead air between us.

Ghosts were always calling for Marla, at Paper Street. 

Now I’ve got Marla’s ghost on the line and Tyler’s ghost in the flesh, and neither want to talk to me. 

We get locked up in supervised one-on-one again, now with both of us chained and one twitch away from a new addiction.

I ask Mills, did you talk to her enough, that last week?

Do you think she knew you loved her?

Do you think she felt loved?

Mills asks for the sedation, this time. Polite about it, like he’s not seething. Like I can’t see how his eyes have been only half empty most of these days, since I’ve managed to fill him up with rage at me. Folie à deux, I want it so bad. 

I am Jack’s crippling sense of rejection.

My stupid psychiatrist, he lets Mills amble out of the room and traps me in there. 

I’m corralled. An angel on either shoulder. All the staff who aren’t from the Project have stopped laughing at my jokes. My antics have not gone unobserved. I’ve been given my time to rein as the world’s most entertaining lab rat, and now this localized god wants results.

“What’s your goal here?”

Isn’t it obvious?

“No. Tell me about what you’re thinking,” he says. I look at him, and I see him, for the first time. Not disillusioned, not holy. Just a sniveling doctor with a penchant for human experimentation and the funding to enable him. 

How horribly average.

He says, “I understand this is difficult for you, but we really need to know what’s going on if you want to have continued support in this manner for your recovery.” Play nice, or you’ll lose your favorite toy.

I say, this has never been about recovery. It’s time we faced that, isn’t it?

This man, so used to my religious apathy, has never truly had a challenge. He looks pinched.

He says, “Of course I want you to recover.”

And I laugh, and I point out that we both know those outside these halls are more interested in what’s wrong with me than any semblance of fixing it. 

You’re not getting paid to drain the swamp in my head. You’re here to keep it plugged up, decomposing. We both know this, I’m just acknowledging it. I laugh.

I tell this little god, he can write me up in all his little acclaimed journals.

But don’t come to me, saying I have to play your little games or you’ll take Mills away. We both know you won’t. The day I give up, the day I become a real vegetable is the day your cash cow keels over. You’re not going to punish me. Not really. You’ll take away my jello, my oats, you’ll put me on lithium and clozapine and valproic acid, but you don’t really want this to end. You don’t want me to get better. You want Tyler back just as much as I do. You can’t do shit to me. I have nothing to lose.

You have everything.

Tyler’s words, back home in my mouth. They’re mine now. I get up and the orderlies flanking me do nothing. I look down on this small, small man, and I think, he has never known a bigger fish. He doesn’t even know the hands that feed him.

I’ve hit bottom, I say, and it’s not you who holds the shovel. Be grateful I let you observe.

[fastnights]

confessions • part four

eddie munson x fem!reader

summary: you ask nancy for advice on what to do

i don’t give permission to copy my work!

part one / part two / part three / part four

two weeks since you confessed your feelings to eddie.

two weeks since you last saw eddie in the parking lot at school.

you were over at the wheeler’s house, you were in nancy’s room sitting on her bed just ranting on and on about the situation, you wanted to have her opinion on should you go and talk to him now or wait, you honestly miss eddie and wished he did say something in his van or that he got out and tried to stop you from going in the house, you wondered if he feels the same way as you.

“nance it’s been exactly two weeks since i’ve been avoiding eddie and two weeks since i last seen him in the school’s parking lot, do you think i gave it enough time for i can actually sit down and talk with him about that whole so?” you asked.

“if you’re ready to talk to him now then you should, it’s been two weeks now since the whole situation, two weeks since you avoided him are you ready to see him again y/n?” nance asked.

“i mean i am ready but not ready at the same time like i can’t get myself to get it together and be around him again like nothing happened.” you said.

“if you want my advice i say you should talk to him, as your best friend y/n two weeks is long enough you both need to sit down in a room or somewhere and just talk.” nance said.

“you’re right, i give him a call and tell him we can talk tomorrow after school so you don’t have to drive me home from school, that’s only if things goes well.” you said.

“i’m happy to help and i’m sure eddie wouldn’t mess up again after that first incident y/n, just hear him out.” nance said.

“i am, thank you so much nancy for listening to my rants about the situation, you’re the best honestly grateful to have a friend like you.” you said.

“likewise y/n, likewise.” nance said.

you gave nance a small smile as you nodded your head at the same time, you were glad you asked nancy for advice but nance is right, it was time you should talk to eddie, it’s been long enough that you wanted space from him so you’re going to do the right thing and talk to eddie.

the next day at school you made it your mission to find eddie and tell him you need to talk to him, after you went home yesterday from nance’s house you forgot to give him a call but you knew you probably might run into him at school, so here you were at your locker getting your things for the classes for the day, you hope you can see eddie around lunchtime or something you really wanted to get this over with.

you can’t lie when you say you don’t miss eddie because you miss him a lot, it hurt when you didn’t want to see him anymore just because you expected him to say something to you after you confessed, you told him it wasn’t the easiest thing to say and it wasn’t it was hard but you got it out but his reaction isn’t what you thought was going to happen.

so it was lunchtime you wasn’t going to skip it like you’ve been doing two weeks ago, you needed to find eddie quickly.

once you enter the cafeteria you looked around and found the table where he normally sits and he was right there in that exact same spot, he hasn’t noticed you when you walked right in. you walked over to the table with your lunch in your hands as you sat down in your regular spot next to eddie, all eyes were on you since you haven’t been seen since the day you confessed to eddie.

“hi everyone, i know you all didn’t see me for two weeks something happened and i wanted to not be seen.”

“we all know what happened y/n.” mike said.

“eddie told us why you wasn’t around.” dustin added.

“oh well, what he said was true but the reason why i’m here because well, i’m actually here for eddie.”

oohs were heard from the boys as you glanced over at eddie who was looking back at you, probably wondering why you’re here for him. he looked like he was nervous too, you were nervous yourself honestly, you haven’t spoken to eddie in two weeks you reminded yourself.

“look eddie i know you been wanting to talk the past weeks i just needed time and now i want us to talk but privately.” you said.

“okay sure, meet me by my van after school and we can talk.” he said.

you smiled a bit as you started to finish your lunch, thankfully he wanted to still talk to you. you were hoping you won’t have to regret your choice on talking to him about the situation but the thing is he told the boys in hellfire, maybe they were worried why you wasn’t around during lunch, they knew something was up and eddie opened up to them.

lunch was over you said your goodbyes to the boys and told eddie you’ll see him later, you went back to your class for the day, you just couldn’t wait to finally have a conversation to eddie you will finally know why he acted the way he did the day you confessed to eddie.

[cdyssey]

MY DREAM “MOM” SCENARIO:

It’s close to Mother’s Day at Abbott Elementary, and the school has a brunch where students’ moms/grandmothers/female guardians can come and have a meal with their kids.

Mother’s Day is always painful for Janine.

Of course it is.

Still, she invites her own mom anyway.

Because of course she does.

She has always dreamed that her mother will miraculously take an interest in her job, or, well, literally anything else about her life one day. And when she finally wheedles a yes out of her mom that we either see via text or through a one-sided phone call, our protagonist is so unbelievably happy. She’d never thought her pleas would get this far.

(They never have before.)

And so she brags about it to literally everyone in the teacher’s lounge. Her mom is coming! You guys get to meet my mom! Isn’t that cool? Some teachers are genuinely happy for her. Others, remembering Janine’s various (and often disturbing) anecdotes about her childhood, frown in gentle concern.

(They can already see where this is heading.)

(The writing’s there on the wall.)

And yeah, it absolutely heads there.

Brunch comes, the analog clock on the wall ticks down, but Mrs. Teagues doesn’t show up. (She was never going to show up.) Janine’s optimism holds out ‘til the very last minute until she can’t reasonably cling to it anymore. Her mom isn’t coming. Surprise, surprise. She should have expected it.

She’s learned to never expect anything kind and decent from her mother.

And just as she’s about to hastily swipe away a tear away, just as her shield of a bright smile begins to crumble and crack into a million brittle pieces, a well-manicured hand lands on her shoulder, interrupting her total dissolution. She spins around and sees Barbara Howard there, smiling warmly and so gently.

So maternally.

“Listen, Janine, brunch isn’t over yet—how about you come and join Melissa and I for some tea and cake?”

“What?” Janine flushes immediately, twisting her hands together in front of her stomach. “Really? You mean it?”

Barbara and Melissa never allow anyone to sit with them, not even when they’re on lunch duty in the cafeteria and the round table at the head of the hall is meant for all teachers to share.

Screw everyone else.

Their space is sacred, and Janine has implicitly understood this since her very first day at Abbott Elementary. She’s admired their consummate closeness. She’s sometimes even been a little jealous of it—the way that they’re clearly set apart from the world, just the two of them together.

“Yes, really,” Barbara laughs because she knows this is thoroughly uncharted territory too. “But hurry. Melissa’s getting antsy because you haven’t eaten.”

“She noticed that?”

“We both did, sweetheart. Now quit questioning us and hurry along—we’ve saved a seat for you.”

And Janine feels the magnitude of this moment deeply, the profound gravity of what her beloved mentors are offering her.

Care.

Affection.

Mothering.

Because that’s clearly what they’re doing.

Barbara and Melissa are mothering her.

(She has always wanted to be mothered.)

(She and Ayesha have had to fight for scraps from their mother from the very start.)

She can’t exactly help herself then. She sniffs rather noisily. A tear leaks, unbidden and desperately unwanted, from the corner of her eye, and Barbara, without missing a beat, glances away long enough for Janine to take care of it.

“I’m sorry that she didn’t come,” she acknowledges gently, wrapping an arm around Janine’s shoulders. And she starts to steer her in the direction of Melissa and her crooked smile.

Melissa and the comically large slice of chocolate cake she’s holding up.

Melissa and the way she knows how to love best—through sharing food.

“Yeah, well, maybe things worked out the way they’re supposed to,” she returns, her voice a thousand emotions thick. She’s barely conscious of putting one foot in front of the other.

But she doesn’t particularly have to be graceful.

Not when Barbara’s here.

Not when Barbara’s got her.

Barbara’s hands are sturdy and practiced; they won’t let her go.

Janine leans into the kindergarten teacher’s embrace then—maybe a little too desperately to be allowed—but to her aching relief, it isn’t held against her.

That her innermost desire is to be unconditionally loved.

[not-a-seagull]

PRISON CELL – 05: “Cracking the Whip”

Background: Crow Prison.

Music: BGM 023

Edmond: Over the next few days, in addition to closely monitoring the new inmate, I will also assist with regular guard duties. I look forward to receiving your guidance.

Warden: No, no, it is I who is looking forward to your guidance, Vice-Captain. But I must say, it has come as quite a shock…

Warden: To think that in the space of a single day, the Grand Sorcerer… Or rather our newest inmate… could be suspected of such a serious crime.

Edmond: The investigation in the capital is still ongoing, and it was deemed best that he be held here for the time being to ensure he cannot interfere with proceedings.

Edmond: You have my gratitude for your full cooperation in this matter.

Warden: You’re far too kind, Vice-Captain. Keeping criminals off the streets is what we do.

Edmond: (It seems he has yet to grow suspicious…)

(Flashback) 

Eiden: Wanna hear more? Edmond?

Eiden: My plan is to pretend to be a criminal… and get myself locked up in Crow Prison.

Edmond: Outrageous! No! Absolutely not!

Eiden: But it’s doable, right? i’ve got it all figured out— we just need to come up with a decent enough reason to have me locked up.

Eiden: Any way you cut it, the Warden clearly doesn’t want us getting close to Quincy without him around.

Eiden: Even with you working as a guard, I’d say our chances are slim. And with the way Quincy was acting back there, I can’t just sit back and do nothing…

Eiden: Think about it… Why would he dodge our questions, refuse our help, and then tell us to leave?

Eiden: … This is just a theory, but I’d say the Warden and that other guard nearby had something to do with it…

Eiden: My guess is that he won’t tell us anything with those guys around.

Edmond: The walls have ears, as they say…? In that case…

Eiden: My plan could work, right? If I become an inmate here, I’ll be able to talk with Quincy one-on-one.

Edmond: But that also means I’ll be unable to remain by your side…

Eiden: Don’t worry, I wont do anything stupid!

(End of flashback)

Edmond: (I wonder how Eiden is doing…)

Edmond: (This plan is far too reckless!)

***

Background: Prison Cafeteria.

Music: BGM 023

Eiden: (I don’t see Edmond around… I guess only some of the guards are assigned to monitor the cafeteria.)

Quincy: ……

Eiden: (Alright, no time to waste—)

Eiden: (Target at ten o’clock… Seats empty on both sides… The perfect time to strike!)

Eiden speedily collects his breakfast, his sights on the hulking inmate dining alone in a secluded corner of the cafeteria—

Music: None. (Sound of food tray hitting the floor.)

Eiden: What the?!

As Eiden sets off walking, a figure blocks his path, causing him to drop his tray and splatter his milk across the cafeteria floor.

Eiden: What a waste…

Music: BGM 018

Guard: Newcomer, watch where you’re going! Just look at the mess you’ve made!

Eiden: You’re the one who stepped in front of me…

Guard: I was thinking of letting you off with just a warning, but did i just hear that right? Are you trying to say this was my fault?

Eiden: No, no, no! Of course not… It was totally my fault, I apologize—

Guard: Apologize? If apologies meant anything, we wouldn’t need places like this, now, would we?

Eiden: Ah, in that case, how about i show you a little chest—

Guard: Enough funny business! Keep it up and you’ll soon regret it!

A murmur ripples through the crowd of onlooking inmates as they enjoy the show. Unsurprised, Eiden senses the mockery in their stares.

Nervous Inmate: The newcomer again… That guard sure loves terrorizing the fresh meat.

Spectating Inmate: Only picks those weaker than him, that one. I feel for the new guy, I really do. Once he’s got his sights set on you, even breakfast is like running the gauntlet…

Eiden: (Damn, i didn’t plan on running into an asshole guard like this…)

Eiden: (If i don’t nip this in the bud, not only will he have my ass on a platter, the other inmates will see me as an easy target too… which would make my job here that much harder—)

Guard: Oi, I’m talking to you!

Peeved by Eiden’s lack of response, the guard grabs the new inmate by the collar, elevating the situation from a one-sided verbal beatdown to a—

Background: Nothing

? ?: Hey.

Guard: Huh? Can’t you see I’m busy here…

The imposing forest guardian approaches, towering over the guard— whose attitude, unsurprisingly, softens.

Background: Prison Cafeteria.

Guard: … W-What do you want?

Quincy: I’ve finished my breakfast. What’s my work assignment for today?

Guard: G-Go sit back down! You’ll get your assignment when it’s time…

Quincy: Now.

Guard: … Tch… Fine, come with me.

Music: None. (sounds of footsteps.)

(Quincy and guard leave the scene.)

Eiden: (Haha, no one says no to Quincy…)

Eiden: (But if my theory is correct, he’ll never tell me why he’s locked up here with the Warden and all these guards around…)

Eiden: (I guess infiltrating this place was only the first step… Looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me…)

End of Chapter.

Sources:

Background Images: NU Carnival wiki.

Guard Image: Also from the NU Carnival wiki.

Transcript: did it myself, with the help of this video.

Last chapter: Prison Cell 04 | Next chapter: Prison Cell 06

[amazingmsme]

Day 1: Anticipation Preview

In which Miles is the only one who didn’t know about Miguel’s new belt.

"Yeah well, keep me posted. I wanna know the second you plan on using it," he said, saluting him as he left the room.

Hobie made sure to spread the word to his friends, swearing them all to secrecy in the hopes that they could be lucky enough to witness Miguel's giggly downfall.

Too bad Miles was out sick and didn't get the memo.

He was back at the Spider-Society, catching up with his friends in the cafeteria when Miguel spotted them and decided to check in.

"Miles, glad to see you back," he greeted with a nod. "How're you feeling?"

"Oh, hey! I'm glad to be back sir," he replied, still unable to shake the urge to keep things formal between them. "B-but I'm feeling good! Much better now," he assured. He looked down at the burger in his hands, ready to take a bite when a new accessory caught his eye. He froze just as he brought it to his mouth.

"I've told you, just Miguel is fine," he assured, a soft smile gracing his features. He noticed Miles's gaping mouth and wide eyes, looking him over with a puzzled expression. "You uh, you sure you're okay?" he asked just to double check.

Miles shook himself out of it and nodded. "Yup! Never better!" Gwen shot him a look from across the table, undoubtedly wondering what had him acting so weird. She followed his line of sight and things suddenly fell into place. She locked eyes with Hobie, sharing a subtle nod as Miles continued on, "But is that a new belt? I don't think I've seen you wear it before..."

"Oh yeah, Peter gave it to me. Said he wanted to give me something useful for once," he explained, and it all suddenly clicked for Miles. "It's a nice change of pace from all the useless knickknacks. Don't get me wrong, they're fine in small doses but he seriously overestimates how much free space I have," he said, but Miles wasn't paying attention. "To be honest, I'm just glad he picked something that matches my suit."

"Heh, yeah. 'Cause that's the worst that could happen- ow." Miles wasn't sure who kicked him, but judging by all of their looks, he was clearly out of the loop on something.

"Riiiight," Miguel said, noticing how weird they were all of a sudden. "Well, you know where to find me," he said and walked off. Miles waited until he was out of the cafeteria to speak because you could never be too careful where Miguel's concerned.

"So were you guys just not gonna tell me Miguel got a tickle belt?" he blurted out as soon as he deemed safe.

"We were going to! We just... forgot," Pavitr said, a shy smirk tugging at his lips.

Miles scoffed, "You don't just forget something like that!"

"I was gonna tell you as soon as I saw you, but then we were on a mission and it really wasn't a good time, and I did forget to tell you. Sorry about that," Gwen explained.

"Nah it's cool. I just can't believe he's still wearing it," he said in awe.

"Oh he doesn't know," Gwen said, causing Miles to whip around to look at her.

[lolipop-eevee]

Pokemon Lumiose Academy

Chapter 2

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

(Your pov)

Riiiiiiiiiiiiing

The bell woke me up at, I rolled over to see Dawn already dressed and packing her bag for the day, piplup was jumping around on her bed.

"What time is it?" I asked sleepily.

"Oh, Y/n, you're up! It's 7 am so you better get ready before you're late. Class starts at 9" Dawn said.

I got out of bed, got dressed, brushed my teeth, etc. After I was ready Dawn called piplup back into it's pokeball and we went to the cafeteria where we got our breakfast. We finished at 8:30, so we still had half an hour to get to class.

"Looks like we have home room together" Dawn observed.

"Cool, where's the classroom?" I asked.

"Here" she said pointing.

We left to find our first class, we were glad we had the extra time since this was our first time and we wouldn't be late if we got lost. We found the room in 20 minutes and were about to go in when I saw someone behind us.

"Serena!" I called to her.

She came over "Good morning Y/n, how are you?" she asked.

"I'm good, how about you?" I answered.

Serena sighed.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I have to share a dorm room with Misty" she confessed.

"Oh....." I said, that could be a problem. Serena and Misty already hated each other enough as it is, I didn't know how they would handle being stuck in the same dorm.

"But let's not think about that" Serena said. "It's our first day of school, we should be complaining about all the homework the teachers will probably give us, not my terrible roommate"

"Misty isn't terrible" I said.

"Um, Y/n..." said Dawn.

"Oma, I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce you guys!" I exclaimed. "Serena, this is Dawn, my roommate. Dawn, this is Serena, my friend since elementary school"

"Nice to meet you Dawn!" Serena said.

"Nice meeting you too Serena" Said Dawn, then she turned to me. "So, um, who's Misty?"

"Right here" said a voice from behind us.

"Oh, good morning Misty. How long have you been standing there?" I asked.

"Just got here" Misty explained "How was your first night? Was your roommate nice?"

"It was awesome! And my roommate is amazing, she's right here" I said gesturing at Dawn.

"Dawn Berlitz" Dawn said holing out her hand. Misty shook it.

"Misty Williams, good meeting you Dawn" said Misty shaking her hand.

"What's so bad about her?" Dawn whispered to me.

"Nothing!" I whispered back. "Why would you think that?"

"Well Serena didn't seem to like her very much" Dawn explained.

I nodded "They've always hated each other, but they're both really great. If they weren't, then they wouldn't be my best friends" I said.

"Why do they hate each other?" Dawn asked.

"I don't know" I admitted.

"You don't know?!" said Dawn, almost forgetting to whisper. "But didn't you say you were their friend?"

"I am, and no, I have no idea why they hate each other. If I knew I might be able to help put a stop to it" I said.

The bell rang.

"Well, that's the bell, we should probably go in" said Serena.

We all went inside and found seats as close together as possible. Serena on one side, Misty on the other, with me and Dawn in the middle. Thank goodness this school doesn't have seating charts, otherwise, knowing they're luck, Misty and Serena would probably have to sit next to each other. At least this way there was some space between them.

The Prof came in to start the class. "Hello class, my name is Professor Sy—" he was cut off by someone running through the door.

"Sorry I'm late Professor!" said the boy who just came in.

"It's fine, um, Ash right?" the professor said.

He nodded.

"Well you can go find a seat where ever you can find room, I think there's one beside Zoey" said our teacher.

Ash went across to the seat beside Zoey, which just happened to be the one right in front of me, I could already see Serena and Misty freaking out. Damn it, why? I thought as the prof started the class.

"As I was saying, I am professor Sycamore..." he said, but my attention was on Misty and Serena.

Serena grabbed my arm and shook it a little bit "Ash is here! Can you believe it? Ash it here!" she squealed.

"I can't believe this! This is awesome! Ash is here!" said Misty doing fist pumps beside Dawn who looked very confused.

Ash was sitting right in front of me, and I didn't know how he didn't notice the two crazy girls having a party over his existence right behind him. I was about to tell them to quiet down , but professor Sycamore beat me to it.

"Serena. Misty. Please no talking in my class" he said.

"Sorry prof" they said at the same time.

"Ash is here!" Serena whispered beside me.

I sighed. Great. Ash was here. Yet another reason for my two best friends to fight. I can't believe this. Why? Just why?

<Time skip brought to you by professor Sycamore talking about type advantage>

In the cafeteria.

"Wow, the first day of school is great so far!" said Serena. She had barley touched her sandwich since she was so busy talking about how much she loved it here.

"I can't believe Ash is here" Misty happily sighed.

"Hey, you two are finally agreeing on something!" I smiled.

They both huffed and turned away from each other.

"Ash is something everyone can agree on" Serena said.

"I think I'm missing something, who's Ash?" asked Dawn.

"The boy who came in late for prof Sycamore's class" I said.

"What's so important about him?" Dawn asked.

Misty glared at her for daring to question Ash's importance.

"Uh, I think Serena and Misty should explain" I said, I didn't want another 'Ash is so great' speech, but they could probably do a better job at explaining the situation.

"Well for starters he's sweet, and kind, and he loves pokemon" Serena started.

"Not to mention he's a great battler" Misty continued.

"Basically he's perfect" Serena finished.

Dawn still looked confused, I knew I'd have to step in since Serena and Misty were now both stuck in la la land and we wouldn't get anything else out of them.

"He's the guy that Misty and Serena have both had a crush on since second grade" I said and Dawn let out an 'oh'

"Is that why they fight so much?" she asked.

"No, they hated each other before they met him" I said.

"Wow, no wonder you hate him" Dawn said.

"What?! I don't hate him. Why would you think that?" I wondered.

"You were glaring daggers at the back of his head, like, really hard. I'm surprised you didn't burn a hole in it. I was wondering why, but now I know he's one of the reason's your friends are fighting" Dawn said.

"Well, I do wish he wasn't going to this school since Misty and Serena will have yet another reason to fight, but it's not like it's his fault. I don't hate him" I said.

"Could have fooled me" Dawn mumbled loud enough for me to hear.

I sighed "Come on, we should eat something before lunch is over" I said taking a bite of my wrap.

<Time skip brought to you by boring classes>

Me, Dawn Serena, and Misty were in our dorm after the last class of the day, talking about school and other things.

"So Y/n, you know there's a school dance coming up, right?" Dawn said out of no where.

"What? I didn't know about this. How did you find out?" I asked.

"It says so on the schools website. Serena, Misty, tell me I'm not the only one who knows about this?" said Dawn.

"I didn't know either" said Serena.

"I did" Misty said.

"You did?" I asked.

"Yeah, they have one every year two months after the first day to celebrate the new school year. You would know that if you had checked the school's website" Misty explained, shooting a look at Serena.

"You realize that Y/n didn't know about it either, right?" Serena reminded.

"Um, who do you want to go with?" asked Dawn trying to prevent conflict, I could tell she was doing it for my sake.

"Ash" Serena and Misty said at the same time, should have seen that coming.

The two turned and glared at each other. "What do you mean, why would Ash go with an unsophisticated tomboy like you?" Serena said to Misty.

"Well at least I don't spend three hours in the bathroom every morning gazing at myself in the mirror" Misty shot back.

"Excuse me?!" exclaimed Serena angrily.

Oh no, I thought. This is bad.

(Ash's pov)

In Ash's dorm.

"Hey Gary, I felt like someone was watching me in prof Sycamore's class" I said.

"That's weird, are you sure you're not just imagining things?" Gary asked.

"Maybe..." I said, I didn't think so though. Just then, a sound came from my bag.

"What was that?" asked Gary looking around.

"Oh, right" I said, I unzipped my bag and Pikachu came out.

"Ash, why do you have a Pikachu in your bag?" Gary asked.

"You see, Pikachu doesn't like to go in his pokeball, and since pokemon aren't allowed outside they're pokeballs in the halls, I have to keep him in my bag" I explained.

"Is that even allowed?" asked Gary.

"I talked to the principle and he said they could make an exception" I said.

"Ok, if you say so" said Gary.

(Dawn's pov)

Me and Y/n sat on the bed listening to the two girls shoot insults back and forth. I looked over at Y/n, it was obvious that they were hurting her more than they were hurting each other.

"Ok, stop, that's enough!" I said coming between them. "Can I talk to you both?" I asked before pulling them into the bathroom.

 "We need to talk about something" I said.

"Wait" Misty interrupted.

"What is it?" I asked.

"We should give Serena a few minutes to look at herself to make sure her hair is still just as perfect as it was five minutes ago before you start" Misty said.

"What did you say?!" Serena exclaimed.

"Do you need hearing aids grandma? I said—" I cut Misty off before she could finish.

"No, stop it, this is exactly what I wanted to talk to you about" I said.

"The fact that Serena needs hearing aids?" Misty asked.

"No, all of your fighting" I said before Serena could respond.

"What do you mean?" asked Serena.

"I mean that you should stop. You're hurting Y/n more than each other" I said.

"I would love to stop, but somebody is making it very hard" Serena said.

"Excuse me? Who called me a tomboy" Misty snapped.

"That's not an insult, that's a fact" Serena said calmly.

"You see? This is exactly what I mean! Look, I know it's probably to much to ask both of you to stop fighting entirely and become best friends. I don't know why you hate each other, but I do know you won't be able to resolve it in one day. But could you at least try to keep it together in front of Y/n? She's your friend, and she really doesn't like it when you fight" I said.

They glared at each other.

"Please?" I asked.

Serena sighed. "I'll try for Y/n" she said.

"Fine" Misty grumbled. "But this doesn't mean I like you, or that I'm even going to be nice to you. This is just for Y/n"

"I couldn't agree more" said Serena.

"Ok, can we go outside and you guys won't fight?" I said.

They both nodded stiffly. We all went out of the bathroom and we saw Y/n still sitting on her bed playing with her Pikachu and my piplup.

"Hey, what took you so long?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing" I said and we all started talking again. Serena and Misty weren't fighting apart from the occasional glare.

I sighed in relief. Crisis averted, for now.

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

And there's the next chapter! I hope you guys enjoyed this one too. That's all for now, bye!  

[jasonbehrs]

🎭 wear your heart where i can see 🎭

by airauralintensity (aka me, jasonbehrs!)

a dbsk fanfic about falling in love on a trial run

“But you’re a dude!”

“That will continue to be true for every lesson in the curriculum, so I suggest you get over that quickly.”

ship: yunjae chapter: 5/10 word count: 2.6k+ rating: T+ for cursing

read it on ffnet, aff, ao3, or below!

~~~

Jaejoong enters the lunch room the next day a little later and a little more annoyed than he normally does. His geometry teacher held him back after class to talk about his performance on the last quiz. It wasn't the best, admittedly, but he didn't need the reminder. Right now, the only triangular shapes he cares about are pizza slices.

A roar of noise erupts from one of the tables near the food pick-up, and he recognises the students to be the hapkido team as he gets in line. He wants to find their antics obnoxious but cannot. If High School Musical taught him anything, it's that sports teams and drama clubs aren't as diametrically opposed as they think they are.

As the line progresses, Jaejoong idly thinks about what a theoretical 'Stick to the Status Quo' musical number would look like in their school cafeteria, then he recognises Yunho in the middle of the excitement. One of the team members is giving him a noogie, and he's close enough (and they're loud enough) that he can pick out the accompanying jibes.

"When do we get to meet her?" "It must be pretty serious if the Jungster himself is telling us!" "Has she figured out yet that you're a fucking nerd?"

Jaejoong turns his back on the scene with a warm yet wry smile playing on his face. He's always had the impression of Yunho being a diligent student, so it shouldn't surprise him that spirit applies even in this.

When he has his lunch in hand, he looks over at the hapkido table one more time. They've settled down while he was ordering, which gives Yunho the opportunity to see Jaejoong above the heads of his friends. He offers a happy little wave, and Jaejoong responds with a nod. Yunho gives him one last smile before returning his attention back to his friends, then Jaejoong notices there's actually space for one or two more people at their table. Something he is choosing to call an intrusive thought tells him to take the spot next to Yunho, but he resolutely shakes it off.

A wave out of the corner of his eye gets his attention, and he finds the table where Sooyoung and some other drama club kids are sitting. When he gets closer, she shifts to make a spot for him and doesn't even let him take a bite of his pizza before pouncing. "So what did Jung Yunho want with you yesterday?"

Jaejoong blinks at her. He can't believe he never told her about his newest extracurricular activity, especially considering she was basically the inspiration behind it all. Where would he even begin?

He looks into her expectant eyes, opens his mouth, and says the words, "He was lending me his geometry notes. I totally bombed the last quiz."

Sooyoung makes a sympathetic noise. "I'm sorry. Here, have my brownie." She drops the dessert on his plate and lets him eat in peace, but now Jaejoong isn't quite hungry.

He tells himself that it's because they aren't alone that he's hesitant to launch into a dramatic retelling of his past few weeks, but he knows himself enough to know it's just a convenient excuse. He just doesn't really want to find out the real reason yet either, though.

"By the way, what can you tell me about Kwon Boa?" he asks to distract himself.

Sooyoung sends him a weird look over her drink. "Probably nothing that you don't already know. She's the one who kicked our butts during rehearsal last night, does that ring a bell?"

"Humour me."

"Hardass, gorgeous, smart, flexible, unattainable, gorgeous…" she lists.

"Yeah, but you were on the dance team with her last year. Can't you tell me anything more specific?"

Sooyoung narrows her eyes at him, trying to determine the purpose of his line of questioning, but then she tilts her head as she thinks about how to respond. This is what Jaejoong loves about her. She'll judge him and take him seriously in the same instance.

He's halfway done with his lunch when she speaks up again. "Boa has this reputation for being an ice queen, but she really just has high standards. She's pretty normal when she's not in work mode, actually. People also think she's a stick in the mud, but I never thought that was fair. She's just not the life-of-the-party type of person. Like, she has a great sense of humour but can't make the joke herself, you know? … Honestly, she isn't really your type, boobs and vag notwithstanding," Sooyoung ends jokingly.

Jaejoong elbows her in good nature, but inside he's agonising.

She may not be his type, but he could totally see why she would be Yunho's.

~~~

After school, he's doing homework in his room wondering if maybe he really should ask Yunho for his geometry notes when the boy himself texts him.

I'll have you know that the hapkido team has been made aware of new variables to my after school availability

Jaejoong makes a face. please don't say it liek that to your real girlfriend, she's gonna hate it

The reply is quick. Last time I checked, that's you, is it not? Concepts in practise, and all

do not cite the textbook to me, student! i was there when it was written and yes exactly since i am your rEaL gIrLfRiEnD, i'm telling you to quit it wait

What?

what am i saved as in your phone?

Yunho's next message is a screenshot of a contact page. The text at the top, right above Jaejoong's phone number, reads 'Prince Charming'.

Jaejoong's fingers move before he tells them to. YAH!

Is something the matter?

Technically? No. Jaejoong had asked because he was going to encourage Yunho to save him under a nickname anyway. If Yunho's little sister is anything like Jaejoong's older one, then their conversations are liable to be perused at any moment for the sake of her entertainment. As he suspected, Yunho wanted to keep their practise-dating-slash-tutoring thing a secret; and 'Prince Charming' hides enough.

Another text comes in. You said you liked the nickname

But that's the real problem, isn't it? He does like the nickname; he likes that Yunho made that his contact name—as opposed to his initials or a fake name or something else—without any prompting on Jaejoong's part at all.

He likes it a little too much.

i need a cooler one for subterfuge purposes, you understand, he eventually fires off.

Again, the reply is quick. Shouldn't I get a secret agent nickname too then? I bet my name in your phone is just Jung Yunho

Jaejoong burns with indignation. How dare that punk be right.

He looks around his room desperately, trying to find inspiration for something quick and clever he could change Yunho's contact name to. Unseen pressure forces him to choose quick over clever, so he groans and settles for something basic.

excuse you, i am committed to this relationship

The attached photo shows a screenshot of Yunho's own contact page entitled 'Hot Stuff 🔥'. Unfortunately, that really was the best Jaejoong got.

When more than a minute passes without hearing from the other, Jaejoong's mind helpfully supplies he actually has homework he needs to do. He turns his phone face down on his desk with a sigh and looks back at the worksheet he's supposed to be filling out, but then he remembers why he stopped so easily in the first place. He has no clue how to solve this problem.

He figures it's time to actually ask for some real help, but Yunho's incoming text distracts him again.

That's very flattering, thank you. You're rather cute yourself ❤

Jaejoong stares at the characters on his screen like they may change from Korean into something else at any moment. That is a suspiciously flirty response coming from Yunho.

oh yeah? what's cute about me~

He pays rapt attention to the dots at the bottom of the screen that portend an incoming message. It's not that he has expectations or hopes for what the response will be, but he's intrigued by what it will reveal.

Your food is delicious

Jaejoong barks out a laugh into his empty room, more relieved than disappointed. Of course. Yunho couldn't be flirting with him; he doesn't know how!

why am i not surprised that's your answer ;p give me another. i want one about ME

Jaejoong leans back in his seat, waiting for the comedy to be delivered right to his fingertips.

Your voice is cute

He nearly falls backwards, and Yunho isn't done.

Cute may be a strong word, but I like your voice a lot. It's very unique. I can pick it out in a noisy room I also like the way you talk, like everything is a joke just waiting to find the right audience I think you're funny too, but I'm not sure this one counts because everyone thinks you're funny

Jaejoong almost cracks his phone from the frantic way he's handling it as message after message rolls in. Where is this all coming from? Why does Jung Yunho know so many words?

Finally, there is a lull in notifications, and Jaejoong tentatively takes a peek at the most recent message in their chat log.

And of course, you're cutest when you're next to me

His heart beats a dangerous rhythm against his chest when he reads those words. A cursory glance at the rest of the chat reveals a string of compliments that become more and more cheesy as he scrolls through, and he cannot handle any of that right now—not what they say, not what they mean.

yAH CAN YOU READ?! i said one (1)! he sends in an embarrassingly hopeful stupor before desperately scrolling back up again. What did Yunho say? What did Yunho mean?

The reply comes in as a bubble at the top of the screen. Ah, right… Extra credit then? ;)

Jaejoong will not admit it to himself until his subconscious does it for him later at night, but that winky face, in all of its unassuming and unexpected glory, is probably what seals his fate.

~~~

The text messages are still on his mind in the minutes between English and Literature the next day, which makes Yunho's sudden appearance by his side a welcome yet disconcerting surprise.

"Woah, hey! Jumpy today. Everything okay?"

Uncharacteristic awkwardness overcomes Jaejoong in the face of Yunho's concern. "Yes?"—No, he should sound more confident.—"I mean, yeah! Yeah, I would say so. You don't have to worry about me."—No! That's such a weird thing to say, what the hell.—"I mean, um."

He needs to get over this.

"What's up?" he finishes lamely.

Yunho only blinks at him, and yeah, Jaejoong deserves that. He forces himself to find a grip and get it. "I have Literature next. What about you?"

Not the best recovery, but at least Yunho stops looking at him like he should take Jaejoong to the nurse. "What classroom is that in?"

"206, why?"

Yunho looks around furtively, which is a silly enough action that the need to make fun of Yunho makes Jaejoong come back to himself. They're in a high school; there's no such thing as privacy.

Yunho seems to realise the same thing. "Come with me." He grabs hold of Jaejoong's hand to pull him in the opposite direction they're walking, and Jaejoong's feet follow him in surprise before putting up a feeble fight. "What are you doing? We have class!"

Yunho continues to pull him through the hall and down some stairs. "I don't have a quiz or anything. Do you?" He looks over his shoulder with mischief in his eyes, and Jaejoong feels awkward again. He only shakes his head.

They're not running in slow motion through empty halls like in the movies, but they may as well have been in Jaejoong's mind. Is this really Yunho—studious, learn-the-theory, can-homework-be-part-of-a-date Jung Yunho—who's making them skip class so they could be alone together?

He was stupid to think that he could put up a fight against whatever Yunho's planning, not like this. He wants to see where this will go, late Joseon poetry be damned.

Yunho takes them all the way outside, and Jaejoong's feet trip over nothing. The only thing out here on this side of campus worth visiting is the Backstreet. Yunho knows what the Backstreet is for, right?

To Jaejoong's surprise and anticipation, it's empty.

Yunho walks them to the alley entrance, not much deeper than they were the first time, and leans against one wall, hands in his pockets and legs stretched out to almost reach the other side with his toes. Jaejoong mirrors the pose on the opposite wall and tries to calm down. He is thrumming with the energy it takes to contain his expectations, but he doesn't know what this all means yet.

He knows what he wants this to mean, though.

Yunho leans forward and leers. "So, how did I do?"

Jaejoong doesn't know what he's referring to, but that isn't enough to stop a stupid answer to a stupid question. "You were very good at leading us all the way here," he says with a faux-serious nod.

"No!" Yunho laughs. "I meant last night."

Jaejoong straightens his posture in interest. Yunho wants to talk about last night? The hope he has been refusing to acknowledge blazes anew in his chest. The memory of Yunho's sweet, promising words; the auspicious location for playing hooky; the way Yunho is looking at him with eager eyes—he can feel a blush blooming on his cheeks, but he doesn't bother trying to hide it. What use would that do? He's the cutest when he's besides Yunho, after all.

Yunho's grin widens, gets a little toothy. "Yeah? I passed?"

"Passed?" Jaejoong repeats with a confused smile, still trying to figure out if he's going to have his first kiss with a boy today. Not just any boy. Jung Yunho.

Jung Yunho, who pulls his hands out and gestures excitedly. "Yeah, the flirty texts? The 'concepts in practise'?" He makes lazy air quotes with his fingers. "How did I do?"

Jaejoong's heart drops with no bungee cord to pull it back up to where it belongs.

With painful clarity, he reimagines last night in the context of what Yunho must have been thinking the whole time: it was one of their lessons. A test. He brought up extra credit, for fuck's sake, and Jaejoong still didn't get it.

He collects himself enough to remember he owes Yunho an answer. "Fine."

"'Fine'?!"

Jaejoong nods, face turned out of the alley. "You did fine."

"What! I thought I was being really sweet while maintaining a subtle, yet undeniable, flirtatious undertone!"

He was, but Jaejoong can't feel good about being on the receiving end of it anymore. He thought Yunho really meant those things, but he was stupid. Why would he humour Jaejoong so much if it weren't part of his endgame? It hasn't even been two days since he learned Yunho is doing all of this for Kwon Boa. Yunho wouldn't change his mind in two days.

"Is it because I didn't initiate?" Yunho wonders out loud.

It's his fault. Jaejoong is the one who changed his mind in two days. "Sure."

"Dangit, I knew you were gonna dock me points for that. Listen, I've been thinking about it. At this point in the relationship, isn't it fair for me to expect some pursuing in return? All the stuff you told me about my girlfriend wanting to feel wanted and whatever, doesn't that get to apply to me, too?"

Jaejoong pushes himself off the wall. He needs to get out of here. "You know what? You're right. Your girlfriend should ask you out."

Yunho perks up and follows Jaejoong out of the Backstreet. "Really?"

"Really." Jaejoong doesn't even bother to turn his head so that his voice can be heard better, focused as he was on the nearest school entrance. "Wait to hear from her."

He makes it inside a few paces before Yunho does, then he books it for the nearest staircase. He spares half a mind to hope that Yunho thinks he's preoccupied with making it back to class, but he's not going to class.

On the second floor, he beelines for the bathroom and locks himself in a stall. He gets up on the toilet and squats and curls inward on himself just in time for the first tears to fall.

He was so, so stupid.

~~~

A/N (4.16.2023): Past midnight where I am, but it's still Saturday somewhere in America! This chapter was pretty short and perhaps weirdly paced, but the next one will make up for it! Also, I made slight edits to chapters 1-3 to help set up for later in the story. I normally only publish my works after the whole whole thing is already written for this very reason, but I was trying something new with this story. I'm gonna go back to my old method for my next work, but this was still a good learning experience. :)

[t-h-i-n-g]

Can you do. Dustin henderson x reader where the reader is a freshman like him but a football cheerleader who likes dnd so since it's the basketball game she can sub for Lucas. (At my school we separated cheerleaders by sports because the seasons often overlap)

On The Sidewalk

(gif not mine credit to owner)

a/n: sorry it took me a hot minute to do this. i wasn't expecting it to be FOURTHOUSOUNDWORDS?? but, it turned out pretty cute. kinda proud of it ngl. sidenot: did i use ericas dnd character cause im unoriginal... yes BUT THATS THE ONLY PROBLEM I SWEAR enjoy :)

word count: 4.2k

summary: walking to your spot next to chrissy you overhear a conversation as you pass a table. sparking an interest in you that has been missed.

warning: none, if there are any let me know

st - masterlist m.masterlist

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

You entered the cafeteria, scanning across the crowd. The same people sitting in the same spots as usual. The white and green uniforms showed through the crowd like the north star at night. You fidgeted with your fingers, biting your lip nervously taking in the different groups.

Today was full of nerves. The fact the championship basketball game was tonight had your table filled with tension that could be sensed where you remained, across the room. To be honest you really didn’t want to go. You were happy for the guys, really. It was great they made it this far. It was just… you didn’t really like basketball. It was the main reason why you did cheerleading in the fall during football season. You made the executive decision in August that at the beginning of your freshman school year would be spent on the sidelines of a field for hours rather than spent durring the winter and spring in a small space on the gym bleachers every Friday and any other time needed.

Your attention was broken as someone jumped up onto one of the lunch tables. Shouting across the room. Jason suddenly stood up making your eyes fall to him. He said something you couldn’t hear. Your sight fell to your shoes, bringing a hand up to your mouth to nervously bite your nail.

So here you were; thinking of an excuse on how to get out of going to the game tonight. You doubt blaming it on sickness would work as that's what you used last time. Or saying you had to babysit with the fact you know most of the people at that table knew you hated children. With their sticky hands and grubby faces. And you couldn’t say that you had plans with a friend for the fact all of them were already booked to go to the game tonight. 

Sighing in defeat you dragged your shoes across the floor’s tile. The amount of looks you received was enough for you to accept that you would have to face an endless amount of time tonight witnessing boys passing balls back and forth to one another. Looking up you met Chrissy’s eyes. A smile finding its way to her face as she raised a hand to usher you over. You gave a meek one in return picking up your pace to take your spot next to her.

“It’s not that we want to postpone it. It’s just that most of the subs will be at the championship game.” You stopped in your place overhearing a conversation as you passed by. Was this… your opportunity. Had grace from whatever gods that existed decided to shine down on you; to support your hatred for basketball. You tapped your foot pondering if you should approach them. I mean you didn't even know what they needed a sub for. A game night? Gambling? Some satin ritual that needed a certain amount of people to be successful with it?... Eh you could deal with worse.

You turned to your left, placing your hands rather roughly on the edge of the table. Making you wince slightly as the group's attention snapped to you. You let out a meek ‘sorry.'

“I heard you needed a sub,” you stated, looking across the individuals. Taking in their matching Hellfire Club t-shirts. You furrowed your brows, the name seemed familiar. Your eyes widened as you recalled Jason talking about them once. “DnD right?” you questioned.

The guys just kind of stared at you while you stood there awkwardly, waiting for a response.

“Y-yeah,” one of them stuttered out. You turned to the voice, gaze falling on his curly hair. Dropping it to your face you met the eyes of Dustin Henderson. Someone who was in your intro to chem, math, and english class. A smile broke out on your face as you rushed to the spot empty next to him. Sitting down at the table you brushed your arm against Dustin’s, giving him a light smile.

“I know how to play. My dad taught me when I was like 12. I’m a little rusty but I swear I can do it.” Nobody made a sound as you frantically searched each of their faces for some kind of answer. Turning to who you were pretty sure was Eddie Munson, the guy who was struggling to graduate. You were getting desperate at this point. “Please, I don't want to go to the game tonight. If I don’t have an excuse to tell Chrissy, she’ll make me go and I cannot handle another game of boys shooting balls into holes.”

Gareth let out a snort, covering his mouth in his hand as he turned away to compose himself.

“Aren't you literally a cheerleader?” Mike asked, you gaze went him.

“Yeah but that’s for football. This is basketball. I can stand being on the side of the field, but being in the stuffy gym for hours watching people move back and forth in less than a 100 foot space? I’d rather not.”

“Isn’t it basically the same thing? In football they go back and forth the whole time.” You rolled your eyes.

“This is off topic, that’s not the point, can I join or what?” Turning away from Mike you looked back at Eddie with a raised brow. He leaned forward in his seat, a smile growing on his face.

“Absolutely not.”

“You did ask for a sub,” Dustin stated, “This is the sub.” You pointed at Dustin, nodding with his statement.

“This is Hellfire club. Not some excuse for you to be able to cancel some plans.” You raised your hands up defensively.

“Hey man, if that’s how you view it, fine. But, I bet that you’ll struggle to find somebody…” You motioned your finger in a circle, “In this place that knows what the heck they’re getting into..” Some quiet ‘ooohs’ were heard amongst the group. Eddie snapped to them, shutting Gareth and Jeff's mouths. Eddie pushed himself out of his seat, taking a spot to the right of you. He bent his head down to your level.

“What’s your class?” he questioned, “Level one dwarf?” Another sound of commotion came from the boy. You gave him a light smirk.

“I’m called Lady Applejack, thanks. Who’s a level-14, chaotic good half-elf rogue and can sneak up behind any monster that you throw my way. And stab them with a smile as I watch them die a slow, agonizing death,” you ended your sentence in a deathly whisper. You tilted your head to the side. “So are you gonna let me join or are we just going to keep chatting away?” Eddie was silent for a moment, his brows furrowed. Before standing up straight and holding out his hand.

“Welcome to the Hellfire club,” he replied. A smile broke out on your face as you grabbed it, shaking it gently.

—

“Okay, so the campaign starts at four. In case you have anything you need to get, you got enough time to do so,” Dustin explained as the two of you walked to English together after the lunch bell. “It’s going to go on for a while so make sure you tell whoever that you’ll be home late.” You nodded, approaching your locker quickly grabbing some items you needed for your next class. Dustin stood next to you and suddenly went quiet. You pulled out a folder as you looked over at him.

“Anything else?” You took in his expression. “What?”

“It’s just,” he paused, “You were the last person I expected to actually like DnD.” You let out a snort.

“Even Jason came before me?” He pondered the thought.

“Second to last person to expect.”

“Or Jarry Theft.”

“Third-”

“Or Francis Finch.”

“Fourth-”

“Or-” Dustin waved around his hands, cutting you off while you chuckled.

“Fine, whatever, you were like the… twenty second to last person I expected.” You rolled your eyes playfully, shoving a loose binder back on a shelf and closing your locker with a slam. You let out a sigh.

“I get it,” you stated, continuing your way down the hall, “I’m not the most passionate about the subject. But that doesnt mean I don’t like it. I don’t really have anyone to play DnD with. I mean I knew you guys played it but-”

“Didn’t want to hang out with the freaks,” Dustin once again stopped you. You looked over at him.

“It’s not really that per say. Jason really doesn’t like you guys. He would most likely pull Chrissy away from me if I did approach your club,” you tried to explain.

“What about now?” You shrugged, huffing.

“If Chrissy does let him do that, so be it. The more I think about it, the more I don’t think she will allow it. I mean soon as school started we clicked. She’s one of the sweetest girls I know. I have no idea how Jason pulled her, but I know the fact of how she and I get along will play a factor in it.” You nudge your shoulder with his, “Plus you guys seem cool and not like the satanic worshipers the school has made you out to be.” Dustin winced.

“Was that supposed to be a compliment?” You let out a laugh as you approached the classroom door.

“It sounded better in my head,” you replied. You paused in front of the desks, turning to face Dustin. “Do you want to come over to mine after school?  To help see what I’ll need?” He blinked at you, slightly talking aback by the request.

“I-I mean, sure I guess.” You smiled at him.

“Cool, I'll meet you by the flagpole?” He nodded watching as you separated from him to make your way to your seat. Dustin’s eyes watched as you walked away. Snapping himself out of his gaze before going to his own.

—

The final bell of the day rang. You packed up your items from your desk. Following the other kids into the hallway. People stood next to you shoulder to shoulder, walking robotically down the halls. All with the same mind set of getting the hell out of here.

You pushed your way lightly through to get to your locker. Opening the lock and door, you placed a folder on the shelf and grabbing your backpack. Out of the corner of your eye you saw someone lean onto the locker next to yours. 

"Are you coming to the game tonight? You never gave me a proper answer," Chrissy asked, her voice soft like usual. You smiled sheepishly looking over to her.

"I actually have plans with a couple people," you replied. She furrowed her brows.

"Who?" You bit your lip.

"Dustin Henderson and some of his friends." Her eyes widened excitedly before leaning closer to you. She spoke in a whisper,

"Didn't you say you liked him last year?" You sighed jokingly, shutting your locker.

"Yeah, but that was last year. It was just a little thing after a project we had to work on that's all."

"Just a little thing?" Chrissy scoffed playfully. " If I recall, you said it lasted from when you danced at the Snowball to spring break."

"Like I said a little thing. We barely even talked after the dance," you said between giggles. She linked her arms with your as you directed her towards the exit. You walked through the doors, continuing down the sidewalk. Someone called her name from behind the two of you. Looking over your shoulder you saw the voice belonged to… Jason. He waved you guys over. You turned to face Chrissy.

"I'm meeting him at the flagpole," you briefly explained to her, pulling away. She nodded, pulling you back in for a quick hug.

"Have fun," she said with a smile. You returned it.

"Yeah, you too." She gave you a squeeze on the shoulder, walking back to join Jason. He peered over Chrissy to stare at you. You have an awkward wave. He gave one back, gaze lingering on you as Chrissy approached.

"Where's she going?" Jason asked. Chrissy looked back at you, seeing your back as you headed in your own direction.

"She has plans tonight," she simply stated.

"With who?"

"A boy." A light smile fell onto her features. Jason furrowed his brows.

"Actually?" Chrissy nodded. Jason looked back up to see you were no longer in sight. "Huh, didn't think she would ditch you for anyone." Chrissy shrugged. 

"It's okay. I knew she'd find someone, sometime this year."

–

Your feet walked across the concrete. Turning the corner to see Dustin, hands in his pockets scanning the area. His eyes landed on you, his face lighting up. You smiled.

"Hi," he greeted.

"Hey," you replied back, placing your hands on the straps of your bag. "My house is just a five minute walk from here," you informed, looking left and right on the street. He stood next to you waiting for the signal to cross the road. Both of you lightly jogged across and once again found yourself on a sidewalk.

"Do you usually walk?" Dustin questioned. 

"Mhm." You nodded.

"Even in the winter?" 

"Depends on the weather. If it's a snow storm I have someone usually drive me to and from," you explained. Silence passed over the two of you. You took a left, Dustin following.

"Who drives you?" Dustin asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

"Usually one of my parents in the morning but they couldn't really do it after with work and all. Jason did it after practice if it was really bad outside. Which was probably like five times." Dustin furrowed his brows.

"Didn't I have to give you a ride with Steve or something last winter? When we had that science project?" You stuttered a breath at the memory. An anxious chuckle left you.

"Yeah, that was a bad day. I swear I thought he was going to crash." Dustin laughed. 

"He nearly hit a fire hydrant on his way back over when he came to pick me up." You giggled. Another beat of silence passed by, Dustin broke it once again.

"You know we never really talked about the snowball. I didn't get to thank you for the dance," he mumbled, bumping his shoulders with yours. You kicked a fallen pine cone.

"Ofcourse, I couldn't resist the hair, y'know?" He let out a snort.

"Oh yeah, that was… something."

"Definitely something," you agreed in a fit of giggles. You looked up to see your house come into sight. "It's the third one," you informed him. He hummed in response. 

Approaching your driveway you opened the mailbox to check if anything was in it. Taking the few envelopes in your hand you made your way up the lawn. Dustin followed behind you. Going up the steps you opened the front door, keeping it open for the boy behind you. He shut it while you took off your shoes. He did the same, stepping out of them and looking around the space. Not much has changed since he had last been here. Just some furniture pieces in different places. 

Dustin noticed you moved down the hall, he took after you. Entering a new room her had not been in. 

"This is my dad's office," you explained in a murmur as you searched the area. "He keeps all the DnD books in here." Dustin hummed in response. He took in the rather bland wall paper on three of the walls, while the other was filled with posters. From movies, to bands, to fantasy games, the ultimate nerd wall.

"You said your dad taught you it right?" Dustin asked, taking a closer look at one of the papers.

"Yep," you said looking through a drawer on a desk, "He was a total nerd in highschool. And some of the nerdiness obviously carried into adulthood, cause here we are now," you finished with a grunt pulling out the different binders and books. Searching through them you grabbed the one that suited for the event and went to place it in your bag.

You grabbed Dustin's hand to drag him away from the wall. His eyes widened at your actions, taking a look at your conjoined hands but not pulling away. You made your way into the kitchen, to look through the cupboards.

"Are we going to need any snacks?" you questioned sifting through the different foods. 

"I mean if you want you can bring whatever you want. It's gonna take a while for it to finish up so…," he trailed off, leaning against a counter. Dustin peered at you as you scanned the different options. Pulling out some sort of chips that were already eaten  and Oreos. He nodded, solid choices.

Dustin cleared his throat as you placed the foods in your bag with the books, zipping it up and once again placing it on your back.

"Ready?" he asked, straightening his posture. You nodded before following him out the door. 

You found yourselves again on the sidewalk, silence casting above the both of you. You sighed lightly, kicking a rock before walking up and continuing to kick it across the concrete. Dustin passed it back to you when it veered off in his direction. Making you smile to yourself lightly.

"Thanks for coming with," you spoke up, attention still on the rock as it ended up in the grass. You frowned slightly then turned to look at Dustin. His gaze met yours.

"Ofcourse it was no problem," he stated. You gave him a great full smile. You took a right watching the school approach slowly.

"Sorry if I suck tonight. It's been like… a year since I last played," you mentioned. 

"That's fine, I'm just glad we have you so Eddie isn't on mine and Mike's asses about not having a sub. Then he'd bring up Lucas and blah blah blah," he dismissed with a wave of his hand. "And you'll do good, don't worry about it. Even if you do mess up a little bit it's not like we're gonna kick you out or anything. Just do your best, that's all that could be asked of you." The two of you paused waiting for a car to pass. You looked over at Dustin as he turned to you giving a reassuring smile.

"You're just as I remember you Henderson," you spoke in a whisper. "Always the sweetest guy around." A blush settled itself lightly on his cheeks as he scratched the back of his neck.

"Well I wouldn't say sweetest but-"

"Take the compliment," you laughed, pushing his shoulder lightly.

"Just a heads up, all that I just said could be a lie. Depending on how into it Eddie gets," he mentioned. You let out another chuckle, once again taking his hand to pull him to cross the street. 

"Well at least you gave me a heads up," you replied opening the school doors, yanking him inside in the process 

–

The lighting was rather dramatic. A red hue casting along everyone's bodies. Candles lit across the table.It was nearing the end of the campaign, you could feel it. The question was; will it be a good or bad ending?

“The hooded cultist chant, “Hail Lord Vecna.’” Eddie looked among the group with a dangerous gaze. “‘Hail Lord Vecna,” he repeated. You slowly bit onto a chip, the crunch breaking the silence. “They turn to you, remove their hoods. You recognize most of them from Makbar. But there is one you do not recognize, his skin is shriveled…” Eddie turns sharply to Jeff, “..desiccated. And something else. He is not only missing his left arm, but his left eye.” Eddie covers his own, rising from his seat, as the group bursts with complaints. You threw your hands up in defeat as the others slammed theirs on the table. You put your head in your hands.

“Vecnas dead,” Jeff exclaimed.

“He was killed by Kas,” Mike added.

“So it was thought my friends, so it was thought. But Vecna lives,” Eddie informed, putting a little Vecna man on a throne. “You are scared, you are tired, you are injured. Do you flee Vecna and his cultists? Or do you stand your ground and fight?” Eddie asks to take his seat once more. Everyone's brows furrowed in thought. “Come on,” Eddie coaxed.

“I saw we fight,” Dustin stated, “To the death.”

“To the death,” Mike agreed. You nodded.

“To the death.” Everyone began hitting the table in sync chanting, ‘To the death!’

You anxiously held the dice in your hand before deciding it was now or never. You quickly rolled them and as the numbers revealed, the group cheered.

Mike's turn came, only his roll knocked him down. 

Then came Jeff and he followed Mike. Back and forth it when, offense and defense knocking each other down. The stakes grew higher as the end grew near.

“Guys, I hate to say this, but we’ve got to flee,” Gareth stated, as you guys were huddled together.

“I concur.”

“Did we not just say it was ‘to the death?’” you asked sarcastically.

“That wasn’t literal,” Gareth seethed.

“Vecba just decimated us,” Jeff informed,” We can’t kill him with two players.” You looked over at Dustin.

“You too? He only has 15 hit points left. Don’t be pussies,” he replied.

“Pussies? Really? Cause we’re not delusional?” Gareth shot back. You spoke up.

“Delusional? How about not being a coward.”

“Hey!” Eddie called from behind you, “If I may interject, gentlemen, Lady Applejack. Whilst I respect the passion, you’d be wise to take Gareth the Great’s concern to Heart. There is no shame in running,” he insisted. “Don’t try to be heroes. Not today, ‘kay?” 

Dustin held up a finger.

“One Sec,” he turned back to the group, wrapping an arm around your shoulders and mikes, beginning the group back down. You leaned into him gently, “What do you think?”

“How many hit points do you and LadyApplejack have left?” Mike asked. 

“Twelve,” you both said in unison.

“It’s risky as hell. But you’re the ones on the battlefield. So it’s your call,” Mike replied.

“What do you say, Lady Applejack?” Dustin questioned, turning to you. You gave him a teasing smirk.

“You really gotta ask?” His eyes lingered on you for a moment before looking down at his shoes again. He looked back,

“Screw it.” You and him turned back to Eddie. “Let's kill this son of a bitch.

“The chances are twenty to one,” Eddie mentioned.

“Never tell me the odds. Give me the D20.” Dustin held out his hand, Eddie tossed it to him.

—

Dustin stood at the end of the table, shaking the dice then releasing it onto the table. Eleven. 

“That’s a miss!” Eddie called with a shake of his head. Once again the group erupted in complaints. 

Now it was your turn. The last hope of anything good coming out of this. You shook the dice anxiously with both hands, the rest of the individuals stood behind you, cheering you on. You let it roll onto the table.

“Please.”

“Come on!” It rolled across the table, agonizingly slow, taking its time to stop. Only to land on a…

“Crit hit!” you cheered as the die revealed a twenty. Your arms went up into the air as you faced Dustin. Catching him in an embrace as the others were celebrating with each other. Letting go you faced Gareth, giving him a high five. Doing so you missed the stunned look on Dusin’s face.

— 

You burst through the doors, everyone still howling with excitement as you exited the school. Everyone went their own ways. And once again you found yourself alone with Dustin Henderson on the sidewalk. You looked over to him, a smile still casting over your face.

“This was the most fun I’ve had…,” you paused, “In a while.” Dustin nodded, making his way down the school’s pathway.

“It was really good and we couldn’t have done it without you Lady Applejack,” he said, bumping his hip with yours. You let a giggle escape you as you cross the street. He turned to you. “Gonna make it home alright?” You nodded.

“Yeah, I’ll be okay.” The two of you were silent for a moment. Gazing into each other's eyes. You looked away shyly, clearing your throat. “I better get going though, don’t want to make my parents worry too much.” Dustin agreed watching as you continued down the street.

You paused mid-step and quickly turned around, making your way back to him. You cupped his face lightly, placing a kiss on his cheek and giving him one last smile.

“Have a goodnight, Dustin,” you whispered lightly, walking backwards. He nodded absent mindedly, trying to come up with anything it responde.

“Y-you too,” he stuttered. You chuckled, facing in front of you again. 

Dustin watched you go, a hand coming up to where your lips touched his face. Leaving him stunned on the sidewalk.

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

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[redrobin-detective]

Half of

Danny Fenton was half ghost. Or something.

No one was quite sure what that meant exactly or if it was even true. A ghost in a pure white suit had announced it during an attack on the town until he was beaten and silenced by Phantom. It’s been three days since then and the nerd hasn’t been at school. Not that Dash was looking for him or anything.

Dash worried, for just a second, that something bad happened to him. The Guys in White creeps had been asking questions around school the last few days. There’d been a noticeable lack in ghost attacks around town, maybe another ghost got to him? What about his ghost obsessed parents? Surely they wouldn’t have done anything to their own kid...

“Think Danny will be in school today?” Kwan whispered nervously, leaning in close to Dash’s side. Talking too loudly about the elephant, or ghost he guesses, in the room got people very forcefully interviewed by the government. 

“Why the hell would I know?” Dash grumbled, shaking his friend off to shove his hands deep into the pockets of his letterman jacket. “No one knows what’s going on, Manson and Foley haven’t shown up either.”

“I hope they’re ok,” Kwan said quietly, looking down at the floor. 

“Why do you care?” Dash grumbled, harsher than he meant to.

“You and everyone ditched me for Danny when Paulina was dating him, remember? Sam and Tucker were real pals and Danny, well he’s weird but not really that bad.” Kwan said bitterly before his eyebrows twisted in confusion. “That was actually pretty out of character for Paulina to date him now that I think about it, maybe he was, like, using ghost magic to control her?”

“That’s stu-” Dash was interrupted by the usually noise of Casper High going dead silent. He and Kwan shrugged at each other. He saw Star down the hallway, staring at something. He caught her eye and mouthed What is it at her. Her eyes slid back over to the hall before mouthing Fenton back. 

“Shit,” Dash couldn’t help but mutter under his breath, “Fenton’s here.” He glanced over at Kwan, trying to hide his nervousness. “Guess we’ll find out if he’s some sort of ghost freak after all.”

Kwan eyed him for a second, “you know if Danny really is half of a ghost then maybe you’ll want to quit it with the names.” The warning bell rang for first period. “You guys have homeroom together with Lancer, right? Just, I don’t know, don’t make him mad or anything.”

“Man, don’t even joke,” Dash said with a strained smile. “It’s Fenton, what’s the nerd gonna do?”

XxX

Fenton always sat in the back right of the class so seeing him there wasn’t that strange. What was strange was that he was there before the bell rang, not looking sweaty or exhausted or beaten up. Seeing him sitting there with an almost bored expression, casually leaning one arm over the back of his chair. It was eerie, seeing Fenton try to act normal. Dash felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on his head as he stiffly walked by the nerd he usually smacked when he walked by. He thought he felt Fenton’s icy eyes following him as he passed. Dash made sure he didn’t scurry like a wimp to his seat but it was a close thing.

“Class, please stop staring at Mr. Fenton and let us begin,” Lancer sighed, unsuccessfully trying to start the class.

“Do you know the ghost boy?” Paulina asked, slamming her palms on her desk and ignoring their teacher. “Because if you’ve been holding out on me-”

“I mean everyone in Amity Park knows him,” Fenton shrugged. He’d been so chill this morning, like the whole thing wasn’t bothering him. It only made Dash more antsy. He bounced his leg under the desk.

“Can you do anything cool? Like fly or shoot lasers from your eyes?” Mikey asked, leaning forward with curiosity.

“I can do lots of cool things,” Fenton sniffed. “I know a lot about the space program and local astronomy. I draw sometimes and I’m think I’m pretty good. I also have super flexible joints so I can do this.” He grinned a little as everyone squealed when he bent his thumb back so far it nearly touched his wrist. “Of course,” his grin turned into an eye roll, “no one really cares about that only my supposed superpowers.”

“What is a half of, exactly? What that ghost called you?” Dash found himself asking. He almost didn’t want to be heard but Fenton turned to look at him anyways. 

“What do you think it means?” Fenton questioned back. Though he had a teasing smirk, his eyes looked dull and dead. Dash couldn’t look at them and ducked his head. 

“Alright, alright, enough with the questions. The Fenton’s gave Danny a clean bill of health and allowed him to rejoin class so that’s all you kids need to know. Now, back to what we were actually talking about.” Class continued as expected but everyone still snuck glances at Fenton. He’s not sure what they were all waiting for, him to suddenly turn green or sprout horn or whatever. But Fenton just sat there, still as anything, trying to act normal and it just didn’t fit him right and it was all just. Wrong.

XxX

Dash was relieved Fenton wasn’t in his second or third period classes but they did have the same lunchtime. For the first time since he was skinny, bucktoothed 6th grader, Dash wanted to hide away and eat his lunch in private. But Fenton wasn’t the only one trying to keep up appearances.

“Alright, what has everyone got,” Paulina was whispering to the table by the time Dash was sitting down. “The day is halfway over, someone had to have seen him doing something ghostly.”

“I mean we don’t know how long he’s been like this,” Star commented, flipping her hair as pretense to sneak a glance at the loser trio near the back entrance of the cafeteria. “He could’ve been hiding his for a while.”

“Fenton’s always been weird,” Dale commented with a sneer, stabbing at his beefaroni. “Since day one, he’s been jumpy and clumsy and goes through weird mood swings.”

“Maybe he’s never been normal,” Kwan said with a little frown. Now Dash knows this wasn’t true. He was the only one at the table who’d gone to the same middle school as Fenton. The nerd had talked too much about space and was always tripping over something but he’d been like all the other annoying brats in middle school. Dale was onto something, Fenton had changed once high school hit which means whatever is up with him as been going on for a while. Years. 

He suddenly felt eyes on him, a cold, crawling feeling that made his breath catch in his throat. Dash squeezed his eyes shut and breathed a silent sigh of relief as the eyes turned from him. They didn’t return but Dash found he couldn’t eat after that.

XxX

“Dude, did you hear about Fenton?” Victor said in an excited but still hushed whisper as Dash was leaving fifth period. 

“No, what did he do?” Dash asked with dread.

“He had gym last period and apparently he’s been faking his loser weakness. He crawled up the rope climb like a goddamned spider monkey and then slid himself back down. Don’t know how he didn’t have intense rope burn from that. He also beat Charlie, Katie and Veronica on the sprinting portion. Must be those ghosty genes.”

“Fenton did all that?” Dash asked, he bit the inside of his cheek. Hard.

“Yeah it was crazy, I thought Tetslaf was gonna pass out,” Victor laughed. “Maybe we should get him to try out for the football team, he’d be a great running back or-”

“Come on, Vic,” Dash laughed but the sound came out wrong. “Why would we want Fenton on our team? He’s, he’s Fenton! Just a skinny, weird little wimp.” Vic side-eyed him a bit before clapping Dash on the back.

“World’s changing, Dash. First ghosts, now half ghosts, it’s all wrong but you just gotta roll with it. All I know is I have 2 years left in this hell hole before I leave this miserable place for Chicago and never look back. I recommend you do the same, after all,” Vic grinned again but it was sharper. “Fenton’s always been your personal punching bag, not every day you learn your victim has superpowers.”

“We don’t know what the hell is up with Fenton,” Dash defended. Vic just shrugged.

“Yeah but he’s always been a freak now we know he ain’t human. Who knows what else he’s hiding?” Vic said with a smug smile before wandering off, giving a halfhearted wave over his shoulder as he left.

Dash stood in the hallway, trying to get himself under control until the warning and late bell rang. Only then, when he was certain he wouldn’t run into Fenton, did he head to class. 

XxX

“Should we follow him, see where he goes?” Paulina said, biting onto one of her nails in nervous excitement. Paulie was gorgeous and overall pretty cool but her thing with ghosts sometimes tired Dash out. Now more than ever. 

“Come on, that’s like stalking,” Kwan scolded. “Even if that wasn’t illegal or whatever it’s just not cool. They had a rough day today, leave ‘em alone.” That icy chill returned and Dash looked out of the corner of his eye to see Fenton and his cronies walking out of the school. 

Truthfully, Dash didn’t think Fenton had that bad of a day. Yeah people were asking questions but he’d side stepped them all, gave non-answers. Other people talked about Fenton’s supposed strength in gym but there’d been conflicting reports, some said he flew up the rope climb, others said he levitated doing his push ups. Dash really didn’t know what to believe. Fenton was just acting, well, like Fenton. He paused for a second, stopped walking before catching up with the group.

Maybe... maybe Dash was getting caught up over nothing. There really was no proof Fenton was this ‘half of’ other than what one dumb ghost said. He thought back to Fenton’s grin during first period; stupid nerd was probably milking his 15 minutes of fame and bully free time. His earlier fear and uncertainty burst into flames until a familiar anger was burning in his gut. Now this he knew what to do with.

“Yeah, well his day is about to get rougher,” Dash heard himself say as he stomped off to where Fenton was smiling tiredly at something Manson was saying. “Hey Fentonio! Think you’re pretty cool with every paying attention to you but I-”

Fenton gasped suddenly, like a hiccup only his breath misted out in front of him cold as a winter’s day. Dash stopped midsentence watching as Fenton’s whole face twisted. His earlier weary but tolerant annoyance that he’d been projecting all day was stripped away. He glared at Dash with an expression that was hard as ice and full of an exhaustion and bitterness he couldn’t begin to understand.

“As payment for being forcibly outed,” Fenton spoke up loudly enough that most of the school yard could hear him. “I was promised a week.” His eyes slowly but methodically scanned the crowd who had frozen in place at his authoritative tone. “Where I didn’t have to deal with ghosts, so I want to know... Who is trespassing on my haunt.”

Fenton’s mouth opened impossibly wide revealing what seemed like rows of sharped teeth. He curled his fingers into claws and, looking closer, his fingernails had indeed become real claws, as sharp and deadly as his teeth. His eyes blazed an impossible, ectoplasmic green and his dark hair developed streaks of white. He was terrifying, monstrous, but he was still Fenton. That feeling that had been eating at dash all day came back full force. Not the realization that Fenton had powers or whatever but that he had been hiding it in plain sight through ghost attacks and bullies and failing grades. This had always been Fenton, they just hadn’t seen. Until now that is.

And now the script had flipped and Dash didn’t know how this Ghost Fenton, who still was the same Fenton Dash had wedgied last Wednesday, fit. A green blob ghost materialized over by stairs, quivering and wailing in some ghost language. It turned and fled, presumably in the direction of the Fenton Portal to escape Fenton’s wrath. Fenton’s glowing eyes tracked it for a moment before he straightened up from his hunched posture and... was human again.

He brushed his hands through his black hair, lazily blinked blue eyes and, when he smiled, his teeth were normal. But Dash had seen, they all had. He’d let them see but to what end, he had no idea. Fenton turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow and another small smirk, just as tired as earlier.

“Sorry about that Dash, I take my vacation time very seriously. You were saying?” Fenton said with a smug lilt but his eyes were still dead and there was a bit of fear in them now. Despite his powers, he still gripped his backpack tightly.

“When your dumb little vacation’s up, Fentionail,” Dash said with a shaky voice. “It’s-it’s back to business, okay? Punches and wedgies and locker shoving. You,” he voice cracked a bit and he fought it down. “It’ll ramp up now that I know you can take it.” Fenton blinked, once then twice before he smiled. This time it wasn’t annoyed or scary or fearful but like the dumb grins he usually gave his dumb friends. 

“Yeah okay, we’ll start back up next week. The usual time?” Dash nodded, not knowing what else to say. “Alright, see you around.” He turned to walk away before pausing and turning back. “Actually you should be careful on who you shove into lockers, it can get hard to breathe in there and not everyone can phase out of them. You never know who’ll turn up dead,” he grinned and his eyes flashed green again, “if only half.”

That said, he and his friends walked away, ignoring the stares of the entire school on them. “Oh and it’s halfa, not half of,” Fenton called out over his shoulder. “I’m not half of anything, I’m just a whole me even if the details get a bit complicated.”

“Bye Danny, see you tomorrow,” Kwan called after with a grimace. No one else said anything for a minute until Dash found the strength to move his legs from where they’d been planted. He clenched his fists to hide his shaking and continued his walk home. Everyone else slowly did the same, talking quietly among themselves.

“What the hell was that?” Dale asked in a nervous high pitched voice. “What the hell did I just see?”

“Fenton being a weirdo but that’s nothing new,” Dash shrugged with a confidence he didn’t have yet. But if Fenton could show up to school after being outed and then willingly show them his inhumanity, then Dash needed to up his game. Couldn’t let the nerd be cool or anything. “So what if he glows or whatever, he’s still Fenton. Look I gotta get home, it’s Pookie’s feeding time and he is NOT going to believe the day I had.

[stantrash171819]

Reassurance —> Vernon

vernon x gn reader (like no specific pronouns altho i wrote it in a female perspective???)

childhood friends au, non-idol au, hint of university au

genre/warnings: insecurity, reader tries to shy away from problem instead of addressing it but Vernon is convincing :3, mentions of a food place

note: vernon has been on my mind lately and i stumbled upon some prompts in pinterest lol. put two and two together and this happened. this is so cliche and generic but i hope you like it :3

Vernon was attractive.

That’s a well-known fact that has been confirmed multiple times since you two were little. There was always someone crushing over him, fawning over his looks and admiring him from afar. Some are even bold enough to actually make a move on him. 

And there were times when they succeeded. Of course, it’s inevitable for Vernon to start dating. 

It was intolerable for you. You didn’t have the guts to confess, so you had to watch him be with these people he’s dating. 

Except now, he's yours. Years and years of pining over your best friend, and now he’s your boyfriend. Sounds like a dream come true, doesn’t it?

Problem is, you never really got used to those lingering eyes on him. Whenever you two eat in the cafeteria at lunch, you can see girls unsubtly staring and squealing at him from the other table. In your favourite burger place near your dorms, this one cashier would be staring at him with eyes that resembled those heart-shaped things in cartoons. 

It’s not like Vernon gave you a reason to be insecure. When you two started dating, he made sure to decline all of the advances made by other people. He isn’t big on PDA, but he proudly holds your hand whenever you walk together. (And it makes you all soft inside cos his palm is so warm against yours-)

Yes, you know Vernon is attractive. But sometimes it just gets to you. Like now.

This one girl keeps on chatting Vernon up. From the time she spotted him until now, she has NOT left you two. She’s been sharing some funny stories with him, occasionally patting his shoulder and touching his arm. Best of all, she’s not acknowledged you at all. She isn’t doing anything that’s drawing the line, but something tells you that she will once you’re out of the perimeter. 

You trust Vernon will turn her down just like all the other times this has happened. Sure enough, when he starts to notice your fidgeting, he bids her goodbye and walks you to a different area.

“You ok? You look off.”

You shake your head, crossing your arms to your front. “Just thinking.”

“Yeah?” Vernon sits on a bench and pats the spot beside him. You leave a hand-width space between you two, making him frown. “Care to share?”

You sigh and look ahead, “It’s…just that you’re so attractive.” 

“Huh? That’s what you’re spacing out about?” 

“No!” 

His eyes narrow, eyebrows furrowing in disbelief.

You sigh, “Nevermind it’s stupid. Didn’t we see an arcade on the way here? Let’s go check that out.” 

“Hey hey hey,” he takes your hand and tugs lightly when you try to stand up. “C’mere, let’s talk about this.” He pulls you back down and holds your hand in his, finegrs intertwining.

“I just,” you start to say, “it kind of bothers me how girls still hit on you.”

“...Oh.” 

“Yeah ‘oh’.” 

You two are silent for a while. Then it clicks with Vernon.

“It’s because of the girl earlier, isn’t it?”, he asks. 

When he sees you nod, his thumb traces circles on your hand, a silent way of encouraging you to continue. You feel tears prickling in your eyes, so you close them and lay your head on Vernon's shoulder.

“It just seems like there’s always someone ogling you and chatting you up and trying to make a move on you. I know it’s not your fault cos how can I blame my boyfriend for being so cool and funny and handsome and cute.”

​​ Vernon grins at that but you don't see it.

“But it’s frustrating that it keeps on happening even when they know you aren’t single. And it makes me feel like they can just steal you from me or something-” 

"No no." You shoot your head up in shock and confusion.

You don't get to process him interrupting you before he leans in and touches your lips with his.

When he pulls away, he holds your cheek in his palm. “I’ve known you since we were kids, Y/N. I’m not going anywhere. Plus I’m pretty sure no one else is able to handle my dumbassery for as long as you have.” 

The statement makes you giggle, and Vernon smiles back. “I love what we have,” he moves a strand of hair away from your face, “which means no one’s gonna take me from you. I’m right where I wanna be. Alright?”

 You nod. “I still kinda wanna go to that arcade though.”

“Sure. Tokens on me if you win the claw.”

“Deal.”

[jakesimfromstatefarm]

how to fake date your best friend | jake sim

✰ summary: the rules were simple -

pretend to be the boyfriend of you, his best friend who wants the attention of their crush, for a week and a week only

no kissing (bc gross cooties amirite) allowed, unless needed in times of desperate measure 

and no matter what, absolutely, most definitely, do not fall in love. 

simple, right?

well apparently not. because news flash––jake's already broken one of the rules. 

and to give you a hint, it's neither rule 1 or 2.

✰ pairing: jake sim x y/n [ft. members of enha!] 

✰ genre: fluff, comedy | fakingdating!au, highschool!au, bestfriend!au, friends to lovers

✰ warnings: cursing, high-schoolers doing dumb highschool things, underage drinking (pls don’t actually do any of this irl), jake being a certified simp, it’s LONG (i’m so sorry), cheesy kithes bc im a sucker for kithes ( ˘ ³˘)♥

✰ wc: a whopping 9.5k

✰ a/n: it’s finally finished :’)))))) it ended up being much longer than i wanted but i had so much fun writing the characters that i got carried away lolol anywaysss i hope you guys enjoy it,,,i got a little unmotivated during the process bc i didn’t know if it was good or not but here it is heh (ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ)♡ 

Tuesday, December 8th

Jake Sim lives a simple life. 

He likes to think he leads the normal, stereotypical life of a teenage boy. Has decent grades, plays soccer after school, skateboards around the neighborhood, has a best friend who he’s desperately in love with, and has a stable group of friends. 

Okay, maybe not so simple, because this boy would physically launch himself to the moon and drill at its surface to collect moon dust for you if you asked him to––despite his deadly fear of combusting in outer space. 

But that fear doesn’t even compare to his worst one yet: not having you in his life. 

And so, he decided to just repress any and all feelings he’s had for you ever since he discovered them in middle school, when he realized he hated seeing you go to the eighth grade dance with a date––that wasn’t him. 

He decided that he wasn’t going to risk losing a life-long friendship over some dumb, teenage boy feelings. 

They were probably powered by his testosterone anyways. Yeah, that’s totally it.

He’s totally not in love with you. 

So yes, he lives a pretty normal life. Every day is the same as the last, and tomorrow will be the same as today. But he likes it like that––he doesn’t want anything to change. 

Especially not now, when he finds himself content with every aspect of his life (okay maybe except for his history grade, god, does he hate history). 

So, it catches him off guard when you arrive at the group’s usual lunch table, located outside in your school’s courtyard, looking as excited as ever. 

Jake’s the only one at the table so far. The remaining usually showed up late––Heeseung spends his first half of lunch tutoring freshmen for community service hours (but the poor boy has no idea what he’s doing), Sunghoon is probably stuck in line in the cafeteria again (he always forgets to pack his own lunch), and Jay is...well actually, no one ever knows where Jay comes from. He’s a special one. 

It catches Jake even more off guard when you skip over any greeting a normal person would give, and start speaking at one hundred words per second. 

And that catches us up to the present.

“Y-You want me to what?” Jake’s stuttering as you stare at him with your hopeful eyes from across the lunch table. 

Despite the expression planted on your face, which screams your excitement for your “brilliant, amazing, genius, Einstein-could-never” idea (or whatever other words you used to describe it––Jake can’t exactly recall the specific terms you used, they all came out of your mouth too fast), you don’t respond to his question of bafflement. You continue to stare at him, awaiting his response. Jake could compare the look on your face right now to a puppy looking up at its owner, eagerly waiting for a treat. You know, tongue out and all. 

He swallows the lump that’s lodged in this throat (is that the sandwich he’s having, or his nerves?) and continues to give you his look of confusion laced with a nervous smile because surely, you’re joking. 

You grab what’s left of your sandwich from his hands and take your own bite. Somewhere in between you arriving at the table and now, Jake’s managed to steal the sandwich you brought today. You did make the best chicken sandwiches, in his defense. 

“Well? It’s only for the week! And I promise you, after one week, if nothing happens––if he doesn’t make a move or anything––I’ll move on from him like you’ve been telling me to.” Your words are muffled from you savoring your sandwich, or what’s left of it anyways. (Mental note to self: don’t share your lunch with Jake ever again.) 

When Jake still doesn’t respond (you’ve truly gotten this poor boy paralyzed), you find it as a sign to continue. 

“I think it’s the perfect plan. Plus, if it doesn’t work out, it’ll be like the universe is telling me to finally move on, right?” 

Wrong. 

Jake has been encouraging you to move on from your crush because well, if we’re being honest here, he selfishly wants you to himself. Even if it wasn’t romantically.

Preferably, he would kill to get to be the one who holds your hand in the hall, call you cheesy pet names, post disgustingly cute couple pics for the ‘gram––but for the sake of potentially ruining his relationship with you, he’ll just have to settle with the role of being your best friend. 

(And he’s totally fine with that! Totally. Yup.) 

But he didn’t think that you moving on would only be a mere possible outcome (that may not even happen!) from whatever this stunt is you wanna pull. 

Said stunt: Pretend to date one another and hope it catches the eye of a certain someone you have your eye on: Park Sunghoon. 

Ah yes, Park Sunghoon. The previously mentioned one who’s probably still in line waiting to get his lunch as we speak. 

Park Sunghoon, the tall, kind, intelligent, charming young boy that everyone knows. And if anyone didn’t know him, they most definitely knew of him. He wasn’t hard to miss in the halls; everything about him just radiates perfection. 

If you plucked a random high-schooler from the halls of this school and interviewed them on the Park Sunghoon, they’d say you’d be lucky enough if the quiet boy so much as sparked a conversation with you, even if it was about what last night’s chemistry homework was. 

Well if that were true, then you and the rest of the boys would be considered lottery winners. 

How that happened, how the four of you dysfunctional beings earned his friendship, the world may never know. However, Jake is fully convinced that this was the universe’s way of playing a cruel joke on him. 

For as long as Jake could remember, it’s always been just the two of you. You and Jake. Jake and you. (With the exception of Heeseung and Jay, of course, who came along in middle school) 

In fact, your earliest memory of Jake was when he peed his pants in the kindergarten during nap time. You would know, you had the privilege of sharing a sleeping mat with him that one fateful day and in result...let’s just say the smell didn’t wear off from your clothes until a week later. Five-year-old you didn’t forgive five-year-old Jake for the longest time. 

And since then, you’ve been attached by the hip. And Jake liked it like that. Jake didn’t need anyone else in his life (with the exception of Leila) if he had you. He had found his home within you, and he didn’t plan on sharing his space anytime soon. 

Nevertheless, the universe had a completely different idea for the two of you. 

Sunghoon came into the picture last year, towards the end of the school year. Despite being the new kid, he found his way into your cherished friend group and naturally, the five of you grew as close as friends could be. 

That was the problem. Jake wanted to hate Sunghoon, to despise him for being the one that you had heart eyes for, but he couldn’t. 

Not only was Sunghoon one of Jake’s closest friends, but he didn’t want to ruin the dynamic of the friend group. After you, the three chaotic boys were the next most important people in Jake’s life. 

And so, we have the typical love triangle plot that every coming-of-age movie follows. Of course, this is all unbeknownst to you––you may be intelligent and a people-person, but oh boy can you not see the heart eyes your very own best friend has for you. 

“It’ll be easier than you think, really! Look, we can even set boundaries or rules or whatever,” you propose, as if you’re trying to get him to sign a contract. 

Rules to a fake relationship? We’re not living in a Netflix romcom, are we? 

“Okay rule number 1: it’ll only be for a week and a week only, rule number 2: we don’t have to do anything too couple-ly like...” you pause to wonder for a second. 

“Like PDA or anything! You know, unless we really need to convince him,” you casually add. When he responds with radio silence and stares at you with absolute concern painted all over his face, you cough. “Jake, I’m joking.” 

Right. Of course. Obviously. 

“And of course, just try not to fall in love with me, it’ll be hard, I know,” you send a playful wink his way. 

Too late. Turns out it’s not that hard. Jake would know. 

Jake continues to stare at you in hesitation. Yeah, you’ve had your fair share of crazy ideas (that Jake always find himself agreeing to––the poor boy just can’t seem to say no to you), but fake dating you?

Jake is sure he wouldn’t be able to pull it off without slowly destroying himself. He’d just have to say no, he’s sure you can find someone else to do it for you. 

Yes, that’s it, just say no. 

Jake has to keep some of his pride in tact. 

Jake does not say no. 

He doesn’t know what went wrong. His mind said one thing, but his words said another. 

To be fair, Jake’s actions have always been influenced by his heart, not his brain, anyways. And when it comes to you, you bet it’ll be coming from his heart. 

So here he was now, under the stare of three equally shocked and confused guys across from you and him at the lunch table, your fingers intertwined with his.

Just a few seconds ago, you had spotted the rest of the lunch bunch approaching the table, and you quickly grabbed Jake’s hand and scooted in closer to him.  

Now here you were, explaining to your friends of your sudden relationship.  

Jake is too zoned out to even physically pick up your explanation. Something along the lines of "we’ve been dating for a while but didn’t want to tell you guys yet." From the feeling of your hand clutched tightly into his and your body right up next to him, his mind was short-circuiting. 

How is he supposed to last an entire week of this if he couldn't handle innocent hand holding? Hand holding? God, what are we, back in the fifth grade?  

Two minutes into this scheme and Jake's mind has already downgraded itself to a fifth grader's.  

Jake mentally scolds himself for giving in, this was not a good idea. 

It takes Jake approximately 12 hours to conclude that this stunt of yours may, actually, be a good idea. He knows this because approximately 12 hours after the events surrounding lunch, he receives a text from you: 

y/n [12:03AM]: thanks again for doing this for me jake

y/n [12:03AM]: ur actually the best

y/n [12:04AM]: ew ok that was cheesy but really i owe u a big one <333

Following your thread of texts is a really close up photo of you widely smiling into the camera. A smile so big, Jake’s convinced your face was probably in pain after taking that picture. 

Anyone else might’ve thought the photo looked borderline insane but because Jake’s Jake, aka a simpᵗᵐ for you, he comes to the conclusion that it’s singlehandedly the cutest thing he’s ever seen in the entire world. 

After quickly saving the selfie into his phone, Jake tells himself that maybe this won’t be a bad thing after all. I mean, anything that makes you smile like that meant it has to be a good idea, right? 

Spoken like a true simp. 

Plus, dating you––fake dating you––is pretty much the same as it was before. He already spends most of his days with you to begin with. Now, it’s just with added displays of affection. For show, obviously. Obviously. 

And look, if Jake will never get to actually be with you, then he’ll take what he can get. And if that meant fake dating you, well, he reasons that it’s better than nothing at all. 

Wednesday, December 9th 

Jake’s playing with the rings on your right hand and you’re in the middle of dramatically telling the lunch table about the infuriating Karen you had to deal with at work the other day when Jay comes up with a grin you all know a little too well. 

“Okay that grin means one of two things: you finally grew the balls to ask out that poor girl you’ve been teasing all year or you have something planned that we won’t like,” you interrupt your story when you catch Jay’s sly expression, evoking a chuckle from Jake, who’s now found a new distraction with the bracelets perches on your wrist. 

“Excuse you, I’ll have you know that I did ask her out. It just so happens that she’s currently ‘in between boyfriends’ whatever that means. Ouch, by the way,” Jay feigns hurt from your comment by clutching the area above his heart through his shirt. Ever the drama queen. “But yes, I do have something planned. And no, it’s not a bad idea.” 

Jay squeezes his way in between Sunghoon and Heeseung from across you and begins to pull out his own lunch. Everyone’s eyes follow him as he settles in because as bad as his unknown idea may be, you’re all still curious on what this boy has to say. 

“Well are you going to elaborate or...” Heeseung speaks up for everyone after you all mentally debate one another through darting eyes on who’s going to have to bite Jay’s silent bait.

Jay then forcefully sets both hands on his table, which elicits a little jump from you as you go for a bite of your sandwich. Adorable, Jake tells himself. 

“My parents are out of town this weekend. We all know what that means...” 

Yes. We do know what that means. The four of you have seen this scenario play out many times, a little too many times for your own good. 

This meant one of Jay’s infamous house parties that he always throws whenever his parents go out of town. And because his parents are hot-shot CEOs of an important company whose name you don’t remember (it’s nothing personal, your brain can only handle so much information and this physics exam you were studying for took up 90% of your brain capacity at the moment), they’re out of town often. 

And along with Jay’s parties comes chaos. Lots of it. And that’s because...well, it’s safe to say that despite the many school-wide presentations the police officers of your school have held in the auditorium on why you shouldn’t drink underage, Jay’s parents’ liquor cabinet always seems to find itself missing many a few bottles after each party. But we don’t talk about that. Shush. 

Almost simultaneously, everyone at the table lets out a groan, much to Jay’s disappointment. 

“C’mon guys! It’s been a while since anything’s fun happened to this school, think of all the sad students in that building right now,” he extends a finger whole-ass arm and points at your school, “who are in dire need of fun and a little...” he punctuates his sentence with the hand motion of chugging down a drink, followed with a gulping sound elicited from his tongue clicking. 

You roll your eyes along with everyone else. Don’t be like Jay, kids. Listen to those police officers. 

“Jay, it’s midterm season! I have an exam on Monday and I definitely do not want to spend the nights before wasted,” you give him an apologetic look. As crazy as Jay is, you do feel bad nonetheless. The boy just wants to have fun. 

Your response is followed up with similar comments from around the table. 

“I’m helping y/n study” 

“I have an important skating performance on Sunday” 

“Uh...my hamster died?” (ok Heeseung panicked, don’t blame the guy)

Ignoring that last excuse of an excuse, Jay continues his debate nonetheless. “Just come for the sake of it! No one’s saying you have to get wasted. Pleaseeee for me?” 

Jay throws these parties so often, you’re not sure why he’s so set on making sure you’re all going to be there. Well, I guess who wouldn’t want their closest friends to be at their own party? 

That and, Jay needs to make sure his friends are there to stop him from doing anything stupid. We all know this boy has had enough embarrassing moments to last him a lifetime. 

Everyone at the table gives each other the same hesitant look. Heeseung is the first to give in, “Oh fuck it. Sure, count me in.” 

Jay’s fist pumping the air before turning to Sunghoon with the most hopeful eyes. 

Sunghoon simply sighs in return. “Alright okay, I’ll bite. But if you vomit on my shoes again, I’m out the door.” Jay’s finger is automatically drawing a cross over his heart as a promise to not ruin Sunghoon’s Nikes again. 

He then looks to you with puppy eyes. 

You, who's already staring back at Jay with a stoic look in your eyes, are stubborn and (unlike the previous weaklings) are not as easy to convince. And somehow, this began an unannounced staring contest between the two of you, a contest to see who would budge first. This isn't an uncommon occurrence between you and Jay, but the rest of the boys are still on the edges of their seats watching this duel.

Jake casually wraps an arm around your shoulder and you’re brought in close, but still undeterred from your death-stare match with the boy across from you. 

If it’s not obvious enough, Jake’s really gotten into his role of being your boyfriend, despite it only being 24 hours since he last froze at your touch. Character development, you’ll give him that. 

You almost forget he’s faking it for a quick second. And for an even quicker second, you imagine he wasn’t faking it. And you swear you feel butterflies in your stomach at that thought. 

Weird. 

You mentally shake the thought out of your head. Priorities first, aka, beating Jay in this staring contest. 

“Fuck,” you stutter when you finally blink, admitting defeat to a grinning Jay. “Okay, okay, I’ll THINK about it. I’ll let you know.” 

Not exactly the answer Jay was looking for, but he’ll take it. Better than a no. 

He turns to Jake next, knowing there’s no way Jake will turn down a party. Just like Jay, the boy loves himself a good party. 

But–

But because Jake would take your physics exam this Monday for you if you asked, because Jake would bungee jump in the Grand Canyon without a safety net below him if you asked, because Jake would fake date you to make your crush jealous for you if you asked, he doesn’t hesitate in his answer this time around: “Same as y/n, I’ll let you know.” 

Jay looks at Jake. Then back at you, who he’s still clinging onto like a koala to a tree. Then back at Jake. “You two are gross. Admittedly cute. But gross.” 

You look up at the boy next to you to see him already grinning at you. 

For the first time today, you find yourself agreeing with Jay. 

Admittedly cute. 

Thursday, December 10th 

You are having a bad day. 

You’re having the mother of bad days. 

Not only is it midterm season, but you still have all your regular weekly assignments to finish before Friday hits. So as a natural-born procrastinator does, you stayed up all last night trying to get a good amount of work done because what’s better than cramming all your work the night before it’s due? Doing it two nights before it’s due. 

Well apparently it wasn’t such a good idea. Because now, here you were, frantically throwing on whatever articles of clothing you find nearest to you because you slept through all your alarms. 

You’re lucky enough to make it through your school’s doors right as the second bell rings, even if you did look like you just walked straight out of a zombie apocalypse. 

You’re not so lucky when you find out your first class of the day, calculus, had a pop quiz. A pop quiz on the only unit you just happened to know absolutely nothing about. 

To top things off, you forgot to pack your lunch during this morning’s frenzy, meaning you’re automatically stuck sharing with Jake.

And because his mother started making him pack his own food out of a lesson of responsibility (she said something along the lines of: “Jake, you’re about to be in college and you don’t know how to pack a decent meal”), he only has a plain PB&J sandwich and a pack of Scooby-Doo gummies in his bag today (because newsflash, he still doesn’t know how to pack a decent meal). 

Not that you could care less at the moment, you were too preoccupied with catching up on your assignments to even eat. And if any of the boys noticed your zombie-like state during lunch, they did a good job of not mentioning it. They knew better than to bother an irritated y/n. 

Somehow, you make it through the entire school day and your after-school meeting for environmental club (save the trees!) in one piece. As you finally walk out of the school building, you exhale, automatically feeling lighter. At least the hard part of your day was done. 

Now you just had to wait for Jake to finish soccer practice, which usually ended around the same time as your club, and he can drive you home, where you can continue being irritated with your day in the privacy of your own space. 

You wait on the steps of the school’s entrance, waiting for a smiley Jake to come around the corner as he usually does at 5:30pm every Thursdays. 

Yes, a smiling Jake is exactly what you needed to make your day ten times better, you conclude. 

As if on cue, you hear a ding from your phone. 

Jake [5:30PM]: ugh coach is extending practice for “team bonding” 

Jake [5:30PM]: idek what team bonding is 

Jake [5:31PM]: you ok if i cant drive you today? :// 

It’s as if the universe decided to use you as its punching bag today. 

You physically let out a distorted groan, not caring if anyone who happened to hear you thought you were a creature from out of this world, as you send him a text back.

y/n [5:32PM]: it’s all good lol have fun with tEaM bOnDiNg

Things were not all good. But no matter how upset you may be, you weren’t going to project your negative vibes onto Jake’s naturally positive ones. So you get up from the stone steps and begin your dreaded walk back home. 

It’s freezing out. You should’ve known better to just throw on a hoodie and call it a day when it’s the middle of December. But then again, you figured by now you’d be in the comfort and warmth of Jake’s car and presence...not walking home in these freezing temperatures. 

You think about Jake and how he’s probably currently suffering from not only his team bonding exercises (but really though, what are team bonding exercises?), but doing them in this weather as well. The poor boy. 

You’re quickly broken out of your thoughts by the sound of a car engine from behind you. When you don’t see it pass by you and instead hear it pull over and park next to the curb of the sidewalk you’re currently on, you automatically deduce that this is it, this is my time, I’m about to get kidnapped by whoever it is behind me but y/n, you should probably turn around and check first before you drive yourself insane in this inner dialogue. 

You turn around and squint into the front window of the car. If it were a kidnapper, this is exactly what your mother told you not to do. Her exact words were: “Run, don’t look back, and scream bloody murder.” 

Good thing it wasn’t. Just an innocent Sunghoon waving his hand at you, motioning you to get in. 

“Sunghoon?” You approach his car and stop at the passenger side’s open window. 

“y/n! It’s freezing out, I’ll drive you home c’mon,” he nods his head towards the passenger side door. 

Well, how could you say no? Sunghoon owns a nice car. Like a nice car. Like car-seat-heaters-that-make-you-feel-like-you’re-physically-melting nice. Beats getting hypothermia outside, right? 

“Why are you going home from school so late?” You ask as you settle into his car, instantly melting at the touch of the aforementioned heated seats. 

“Debate club, actually. Decided I needed another personality trait other than ice skating,” he starts the engine and begins driving towards the direction of your neighborhood. 

You laugh at his comment, you didn’t peg him as a debate kind of student. Quiet Sunghoon? Debate club? If 2 plus 2 is four...

“Hey, I don’t call you the Ice Prince for nothing! Also, don’t forget your other personality trait: forgetting your lunch every day.” 

Sunghoon quickly glances over at you to send you a dirty look (because eyes on the road, kids!), which you return with a cheeky grin. “Need I remind you that was you today?” 

“Touché,” you click your tongue. 

The two of you fall into a comfortable silence, the faint sound of Sunghoon's music in the background filling in the quietness.  

You’re humming along until Sunghoon breaks the silence, “Did Jake get stuck at practice again?” 

You don’t know why, but you swear you feel your heart beat faster at the mention of Jake’s name. No, that was always there right? Because you were with Sunghoon...your crush..obviously. Obviously. 

Ignoring the feeling, you turn your attention towards the boy driving you. 

“Oh yeah, something about team bonding. How’d you know?” 

“Eh, I just figured since he wasn’t driving you home like he always does.” He turns into your neighborhood. 

You nod at his answer. 

“You two make a good couple.” 

You whip your head at him. Did you hear him correctly?

“It was about time, really. You two have been ogling at one another for so long, Heeseung, Jay, and I almost placed bets on who would be the first to make a move.” 

He keeps his eyes on the road, casually going on about how you and Jake make the cutest couple he’s ever seen. 

You're frozen, unsure of what to think, let alone say. 

You think to two days ago, when you started this entire fake relationship because of the very boy driving you home right now. The same boy who's complimenting you on your fake relationship. The same boy who's supposed to be jealous over that said relationship. The same boy you’re supposed to be crushing over.

But now...only a mere 48 hours later, you were finding yourself okay with the fact that he was happy for you. And for the life of you, you couldn’t remember why you liked Sunghoon in the first place. Not saying he isn’t one to be crushed on, I mean, look at the guy. 

Maybe, just maybe, it had something to do with the fact that you didn't feel nervous or giddy or..anything at all when you got into the car with Sunghoon. At least, not until Jake's name was mentioned. That's when you felt the butterflies. At the mention of Jake.  

Jake. 

Weird. 

But before you can come to a conclusion on why you're feeling the way you do, Sunghoon interrupts your thoughts.  

"Well, we're here! Say hi to your parents for me," he pulls into your driveway as you're still collecting your thoughts.  

You give him a quick thanks and one last wave as you enter the front doors of your house.  

Seeing that your only solution towards confusing feelings meant distracting yourself, distract yourself you did.  

Even if it meant distracting yourself with your piling assignments.  

The next time you look up from your work, it's suddenly way past sundown and a heavy storm has taken over. You’re surprised it hasn’t started flooding yet with the amount of rainfall you were hearing. 

You check the time on your phone, the bright 8:16PM on the screen illuminating your dimly lit room. Seeing that neither of your parents have yet to be home from work, it looks like you were going to have to settle with some instant ramen for dinner tonight.  

As you trudge down the stairs of your home, the sound of light knocking against the front door catches your attention. It's been a long day y/n, you're probably hearing things, it's definitely just the rain.

Nope. There it is again, but much louder. Much more urgent.  

You contemplate any and all potential disasters that could happen from answering the door. Only a crazy person would be willing to go out in this hurricane-like weather to be frantically knocking on your door.  

And so, you assume it has to be some psychopath trying to get into your house. Yes, there’s definitely no other logical explanation. 

You scramble around your living room, looking for the next best weapon to defend you. Resorting to the flower vase your mother keeps on the table next to the front door, you hold it out in front of you, as if you're waiting for the door to burst open.  

The knocking continues, gradually getting louder. You mentally curse at yourself for dropping out of the taekwondo class your dad signed you up for when you were younger.  

Vase in hand, you swing open the door and brace for–

"Jake? What the fuck? Get in here, you're gonna get sick!"  

You’re suddenly aware of how stupid you look, holding a light pink vase with a couple of orchids as your only form of self-defense...for it to only be your own best friend. You immediately put it back on the table as Jake quickly rushes past you and into your humble abode.  

You close the door behind you and turn to face the soaked boy.  

“I come bearing gifts, also known as take-out and hot chocolate from that one cafe you love. Also my company, if you’ll take it. I had a feeling you weren’t having the best day today,” he’s simply standing there, holding up a large brown paper bag in one hand, and a deliciously smelling cup of hot chocolate in the other, but you’re looking at him as if he bought you the Moon. 

You stare in awe at the angel of a boy in front of you, silently thanking the stars for gifting you this amazing human being as your best friend. You don’t know what you did to deserve him. 

You give him a soft smile. “Jake, you didn’t have to. It’s practically a shitstorm out there,” you cock your head towards the window, showcasing the downpour of cats and dogs outside. Jake stays by the entrance as you go down the hall and through your house’s linen closet to find a spare towel for the drenched boy.

“Nah it’s no big deal, really. Just fulfilling my duties as your loyal boyfriend,” he grins, even though you can’t see him. He likes calling himself that. Your boyfriend.

Jake continues to shake his messy hair to get the excess rain off, giving a mental apology to whoever is going to have to mop up the puddle forming on the floor due to his unannounced visit. Probably you. 

Jake hears you laugh down the hall. “You’re really invested in your role, huh? Keep this up and you might actually trick me into believing you’re my actual boyfriend.” 

Actual boyfriend? Jake likes the sound of that. Maybe he will keep this up then.

Jake doesn’t have much experience in acting, unless you count that time he played the role of Town Villager #3 in the third grade play, so he never found it as one of his interests. But playing the role of your boyfriend was one he was willing to fulfill for the rest of life, even if it was just for show. 

Jake doesn’t respond to your comment, he’s instead self-aware of his blushing cheeks, thankful that you’re too busy rummaging through your linen closet to take notice. 

“Plus, you didn’t have lunch today and I had feeling you were going to be too caught up in your work to feed yourself anything other than instant ramen,” he sets down his gifts to you on your living room’s coffee table as you come around the corner, fresh towel and new set of clothes in hand. 

His eyes fall on the familiar looking pair of sweatpants and hoodie resting on the palms of your hands. 

Hm. A little too familiar. 

Then, it clicks in his head. 

His eyes narrow at you as you giggle at his reaction, “Oh, so it takes me getting drenched in the rain for you to finally return my clothes that I’ve been missing!?” 

“Hey! I’m not returning them, simply loaning them out to a friend who’s in dire need. You basically gifted them to me the second you left them here months ago.” 

“You’re annoying.” 

“Love you too,” you toss the clothes at him and take a seat on the floor around your coffee table, prepping the table with the boxes of Chinese food Jake supplied. 

After Jake changes into the stolen dry clothes, he takes a seat next to an already-eating you at the coffee table. 

“You. are. my lord and savior Sim Jaeyun,” you’re saying with your mouth full of fried rice. You sigh from satisfaction and rest your head against Jake’s shoulder as you continue chewing. He grins as he helps himself to his own serving of fried rice and orange chicken. 

You look up at him from your spot, “How was team bonding today?” 

Jake groans in response, clearly annoyed. “Stupid. I don’t get how doing trust falls and pyramid building is going to get us any closer. If anything, I almost FELL off that pyramid today!” 

You don’t know why, but you find yourself admiring him and his soft features as he continues to rant about one of his teammates, specifically, the one who almost dropped him. 

The way his messy hair, unkept from the rain ruining it, almost covers his eyes (but you tell yourself you like it this way, it looks more natural on him), the way the corners of his lips are always perked upwards (even when he’s ranting), the way his eyes sparkle whenever he’s truly passionate about whatever he’s talking about, the way his eyes look at you like–

“Stare much? Look, I get you can’t resist my good looks but at least be subtle about it,” he smirks at you as he takes another spoon of rice. 

You break out of his trance and scoff at him. 

“You’re cute when you rant,” you nonchalantly say as you move from your spot to mirror his actions and add more rice to your plate as well.  Jake’s stills at your sudden comment, unsure of how to respond. Lucky for him, you’re distracted by the mountain of food on your plate to even notice the blushing mess of a boy next to you. 

“You know, you’re lucky you’re cute. Or else I’d deck you right here and now for ditching me after school today.” 

Anddd there goes the moment. Leave it to you to follow up a compliment with a threat of violence. 

Jake finds it cute anyways. He always finds you cute. 

Jake narrows his eyes and lightly shoves you before an apology is written all over his face. “Sorry about that by the way. I feel awful about making you walk home when it was freezing out.” 

“Nah, it’s okay. Sunghoon gave me a ride, actually. Did you know he does debate? I guess you learn something new everyday,” you ramble, unaware of the boy next to you getting tense at the sudden mention of the other’s name. 

Up until now, Jake’s completely forgotten about Sunghoon's involvement in this entire scheme. In fact, the past 48 hours with you have felt so normal, so comfortable, he almost forgot about the deal in the first place.   “You think he has any clue?” Jake suddenly asks, referring to the plan. 

You immediately know what he’s referring to, as Jake practically worded out your very own thoughts. 

You shrug. “Not a single one. We’re practically William and Kate in his eyes. But honestly, that’s the least of my worries right now. I’m too distracted by my exams right now to care.” 

Jake feels guilty for being satisfied with your answer. He’s 100% sure that if convincing Sunghoon took you two an entire lifetime of fake dating, he’d be all too willing to do it. 

“Go to Jay’s party with me tomorrow,” he abruptly says, catching your attention as your mouth is stuffed. Cute. 

He pokes your cheek. “It’ll get your mind off of work and plus, what’s more convincing than showing up to a party with your amazing boyfriend?” he wiggles his eyebrows at you. Jake doesn’t know where he gets his sudden surge of confidence. But he does know he loves calling himself your boyfriend...even if it’s for the time being. 

Rolling your eyes and swatting his poking fingers away from your face, you ponder on his suggestion. 

“You mean my annoying boyfriend,” you stick your tongue out at him. Jake takes a mental picture and hopes it never leaves his mind. 

“But I guess you could be right. Maybe I can clear my head for the night before I study my ass off all weekend.” 

Friday, December 11th 

The party does not clear your mind. 

If anything, it gives you enough headaches to last you at least until the end of high-school. 

You come to this revelation as you and Jake approach Jay’s home, a luxurious mansion sitting at the end of a cul-de-sac, lined with similarly luxurious palaces, located in an equally luxurious neighborhood. 

You come to this revelation when you can already feel the pounding bass of music as you walk up Jay’s driveway. 

You come to this revelation when, not even two seconds after entering Jay’s front doors––

“You’re here!” A buzzed Jay shouts at the two of you, causing the both of you to contemplate your past choices that brought you here today. Jay definitely isn’t straight up drunk yet, but Jake still makes a mental note to keep an eye on him tonight. Just in case. 

The blonde-haired boy is quick to hand over two red solo cups of god knows what, to which you and Jake immediately put down on the nearest table after Jay walks away to greet the next incoming guests (you know, to not hurt his feelings). 

You and Jake are lucky enough to have been around Jay and his parties long enough to know that going all out at these parties will not be pretty the next morning.

You cringe at the memory of last year, when you had to suffer from possibly the worst hangover of all hangovers after one of Jay’s parties. Jake will never let you forget how miserable you looked the next morning. His camera roll’s album titled “y/n blackmail pics” can vouch for that.

“Remind me again to never listen to you,” you almost have to shout at Jake over the thumping music. Jake laughs at your comment and tugs at your hand as he begins entering the house.

The two of you do your rounds of greetings to the people you know...and random underclassmen who you swear you have never seen before but somehow made it to this party. You’ve always questioned how Jay’s invite list worked. Maybe there isn’t one. That would explain how it looked like someone announced Jay was giving out free Teslas and the entire school got hold of the news. 

“Thank god you guys are here,” you hear a voice come from behind the two of you as you guys leave the main room to enter the house’s smaller, but just as luxurious looking, den. You turn to see Heeseung with Sunghoon following closely behind, trying his best not to get swept away in the crowd of people. 

The den is where you usually stayed during these parties. It’s not like there are rules of where people are allowed to party, by any means, but it’s like how a high-school’s cafeteria worked. There’s a mutual silent agreement of where everyone goes, and the den is where the party host and his friends went.  

“Okay, is it just me, or is tonight’s party just a little...too..much?” Sunghoon asks as the four of you take your seats on the main couch of the room. Jake’s quick to make space for you next to him as you go to sit, but to his surprise, you find your home right on his lap. 

“You said be convincing right?” you say into his ear as you settle yourself. Right. That’s totally why. Because you had to go along with the ruse. Obviously. 

You shift a bit so you’re more facing sideways, not blocking off Jake’s line of vision as the boy himself is..well, calling him a rag doll might be excessive. 

But he’s sure he looks like one right now, having lost all senses in his limbs, leaving him frozen underneath you. 

Jake Sim is the epitome of politeness. He was raised in a family that taught him how to respectfully greet others, how to always offer food to others before eating it himself, how to properly treat a significant other. As a result, Jake grew up to be one of the sweetest, kindest, purest people to ever walk this earth. 

(Relatively speaking, the earth is large, but so is Jake’s heart.) 

But human-beings aren’t perfect, they must have a balance. A balance of pros and cons. 

Sure, he can’t pack his own lunch and sometimes forgets to water the little succulent you gifted him that’s currently seated on his window sill. Sure, sometimes he’s too sweet for his own good, you know, like willing-to-be-your-fake-boyfriend too sweet. But aside from the minor details, Jake Sim doesn’t have many cons, no. 

But he sure can be awkward. 

And so because Jake Sim is sweet, kind, pure, and awkward, he is unsure of what to do with himself when you’re seated right on top of him. 

As if you could read his befuddled mind, you take his arm that’s resting behind you to wrap around your waist as your support as you throw one of your arms around his shoulder. And throughout this entire adjustment, his widened eyes are staring right at you. 

Bless this pure, pure boy. 

Also bless the position you’re in, blocking the two other boys from directly seeing Jake’s face. Because if they were to catch glimpse of Jake’s expression right now, your cover might be blown, just like that. You’re lucky Heeseung and Sunghoon are distracted by another classmate who came up to them. 

“Relax,” you sweetly laugh, cupping his chin with your free hand and lightly squeezing his cheeks. “You’re so adorably awkward.” 

Jake pouts at you. “I am not awkward!” 

“Right, and I’m totally dating you for real,” you playfully whisper at him, eliciting a poke at your waist in response. 

Twenty minutes of people-watching-aka-“who do you think is gonna pass out first?”-from-your-spot-on-the-couch later, the four of you draw your attention to the rowdy party host you all have the honor of calling your friend––aka Jay––dancing (that is, if you call wildly swinging your limbs in all four directions dancing) in the middle of the den. 

"Oh god, look at him," Sunghoon voices from besides you.

Heeseung's already filming the moment on his phone. Ah yes, technology. The best thing to ever happen to drunk teens' friends.  

"He's so wasted," you throw your head back as you let out a laugh. “We should help the kid out.” 

Poor Jay. He's not gonna hear the end of it after tonight.

"I don't know why he thinks these parties are such a good idea when he knows how trashed he's gonna be when he wakes up," Jake says, his hand naturally squeezing your waist as you giggle at his comment. "And how trashed the house will be."  

Jay slumbers over to where the four of you are seated, and abruptly stops right in front of the couch.

"My best friends!" Jay happily cheers. “Having fun?” 

“Watching you? Always,” you say to the boy who’s squeezing into a seat between you and Sunghoon, as if the small couch wasn’t already suffocating enough (and that’s with you on Jake’s lap). 

“But for real though, you should probably lay off the drinks for now,” Heeseung insists. “For all our sakes.” 

Sunghoon nods along and grabs the cup Jay’s currently nursing and sets it down where it’s out of Jay’s reach, much to his dismay. But the disappointment quickly leaves the dazed boy’s head, as his attention is now directed towards you and Jake. 

“Well if it isn’t mom and dad,” Jay turns to face you and Jake, certainly amused by your seating arrangement. 

“You know–” Jay points a finger at the two of you. “For a couple that’s certainly close, I haven’t seen you two kiss.” 

Jake is immediately coughing, certainly not expecting that to come out of his friend’s mouth. 

“Okay and your point is?” Jake frowns at Jay. If Jay wasn’t tipsy, Jake would’ve smacked the back of his head by now. 

“I’m just saying...” the blonde responds, both hands up in the air as if Jake is accusing him of something, when in was, in fact, the opposite. “But nevermind, Jakey boy here is probably too innocent for such nonsense anyways.” 

Yes, it’s confirmed. Once Jay sobers up tomorrow, Jake is driving over to his house (even though it’s a good ten minute drive from his own) just to smack him. 

“What do you mean I’m too–” 

Jake doesn’t finish his sentence. In fact, Jake doesn’t even remember what he was going to say. 

Jake doesn’t think nor feel anything else other than your lips planted on his. 

You’re pulling him in close, your hands cupping his face as his own are twitching on your waist, his mind flustered. You move your hands from his face to his neck, to which Jake immediately relaxes at. 

Sure, you two are in the middle of a dumb high-school party, one filled with pounding music and shouting teenagers, but right now, in this moment, Jake can only feel you. And he doesn’t want the feeling to ever stop. 

When you part, Jake’s eyes flicker from your eyes to your lips, his own parted in shock. He thinks he might pass out right here and now. He thinks his heart might explode right here and now. He thinks he might lov-

“Happy?” you turn to a satisfied Jay, ignoring the looks of amusement from Heesung and Sunghoon besides him. 

“Well,” you pat Jake’s leg as you get up from your spot. “I’m gonna get us some drinks. Punch only, of course.” 

Jake’s eyes are on you as you walk away, his face tinted pink from the adrenaline of it all, his heart racing. 

Jake thinks back to three days ago, when he told himself that this idea of yours was going to be all fine. After all, it was only going to be for one week. Afterwards, he can move on with his life as if nothing happened. 

But fast forward 72 hours later, 72 hours after you and Jake started this act, 72 hours after Jake told himself it’ll be all fine, Jake knows he was poorly mistaken.

Because 72 hours later, in the middle of a party that reeked of the combined smell of alcohol and sweat, Jake knows one thing and one thing for sure.

He never wants to move on from the feeling of being with you. He never wants to move on from this.

From you. 

He’s screwed. 

Saturday, December 12th 

When Jake wakes up, much later than he intended to, on Saturday morning, the first sensation he feels are his tingling lips, still in disbelief that they graced your own last night. 

The second sensation being his pounding mind––it’s running through ten million thoughts at a time, telling him no last night wasn’t a dream. 

Third: his heart beating so fast at the thought of you, he thinks he might beat out of his chest.

And fourth, a buzzing noise. 

Jake blindly flounders his arm to the table beside him in hopes of finding the origin of the annoying sound, aka, his phone. 

After knocking down multiple miscellaneous items on his nightstand (he makes a mental note to clean his room later), he successfully retrieves the item of search. 

Jake squints at the bright screen, mind still cloudy from a mix of 1) being half-asleep, and 2) still processing what happened the night before. 

y/n [11:10AM]: r u awake yet? 

y/n [11:22AM]: imma take that as a no

y/n [11:35AM]: lemme know when ur up 

jake [11:44AM]: just woke up sorry 

jake [11:44AM]: are you okay? what’s up

y/n [11:45AM]: r u busy? 

y/n [11:45AM]: kinda wanted to talk abt smth

jake [11:45AM]: uh well no im still in bed lmao

y/n [11:46AM]: cool im outside your door 

Jake’s eyes widen as he processes your last few texts. 

Talk? Outside his door? 

Jake’s heart is nervously pounding as jumps out of bed and quickly puts on the first plaid flannel he finds. He scrambles to his mirror and gives his reflection a quick run-down. 

He’s sporting your his favorite hoodie underneath the flannel that’s long overdue a wash and his tousled hair has seen better days, but he couldn't care less. 

Before his mind can catch up to his actions, he’s rushing down the stairs, skipping two at a time and to this front door. Because he didn’t want to keep you waiting? Because he was too excited to see you? Maybe a mix of both. Definitely more of the latter, however. 

He quickly runs a hand through his hair to try to fix it up as much as he can, to no avail, before opening the door to reveal you, sitting on the steps of his front porch. 

“y/n,” he’s breathing heavily as you turn to greet him with your sweet smile he didn’t even realize he was missing. Is it possible to miss someone overnight? Jake concludes yes, it definitely is. 

“Did you run down here or something?,” you question his out-of-breath state, a teasing tone laces the tip of your tongue. 

“Or something,” Jake mutters as he closes the front door behind him to join you on the steps when you make no sign of moving. “Have you been out here all morning?” 

“Not allll morning. I had a feeling you’d sleep in so I came around the time I first texted you. Would’ve knocked but didn’t wanna bother your family,” you hum, keeping your eyes trained on the peaceful scenery around you. 

You’ve always loved Jake’s neighborhood, it brought you a sense of peace, a sense of home. 

Or was that because it reminded you of Jake? 

“You could never be a bother,” he quickly rebuttals as he takes his seat next to you on the steps. 

You respond with a soft smile before turning your attention back to anything other than the boy next to you. Your mind seems to be lost in its own thoughts, Jake can tell by the distant look in your eyes. 

The sound of birds chirping in the distance fills the silence that falls between the two of you. 

Any other day, Jake would love this. He savors every second he’s with you, even if it’s just pure silence. 

But this silence was different. It wasn’t the usual comforting, warm silence that the two of you share on a typical day. This one held tension, tension so thick that Jake doesn’t know where to begin thinking. 

But here’s the thing. Jake doesn’t think. 

Not when it comes to you. 

He takes a deep breath. Rubs his hands together. Pats them on his lap. Turns towards you. 

“Look, I-” 

“I think I might like you.” The words come out of your mouth so fast, Jake’s positive he heard you wrong the first time around. 

He whips his head to meet your eyes, your own already staring back at him, your bottom lip nervously tucked under your teeth. 

“No, I––I do. I know I do. I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to tell you and I don’t think I’m doing a very good job right now,” the words are all of the sudden tumbling out of your mouth as if your brain flipped a switch and isn’t able to turn it off. “In hindsight, I should’ve known better to fake date my own best friend. But these past few days made me realize how much I love being with you. And not like how I’m always with you 24/7 before this entire thing started, but being with you. I even started getting that weird, bubbly feeling in my stomach every time I so much as heard your name. And then last night at the party, I realized afterwards that I wouldn’t have kissed you if some part of me didn’t see you in that way. Even if it meant Jay would’ve been on our asses all night if I didn’t. So yeah.” 

You finish with a deep breath and look up at him to meet his widened eyes. Silence.

Jake thought he was braindead during last week’s history quiz. Jake thought he was braindead when he had to cram a semester’s worth of chemistry content the night before his exam. Heck, Jake thought he was braindead when you first told him about your idea of a fake dating him. But no, this is braindead.

He’s finally hearing what he’s been dreaming of for so long, and of all times, now his brain decides to shut off.  

“Are you..uh..are you gonna say anything?” You’re nervously fumbling with your hands, desperate to distract yourself with anything else apart from his silent stare. 

"Why are you sorry?" Jake says before his mind can think of anything else. He doesn't pay attention to his thumping heart that's one look-from-you away from exploding right then and there. "You didn't do anything wrong. If anything, you took the words right out of my mouth.” 

Now you're staring at him with the wide eyes, the words processing in your mind.

Jake realizes he's waited too long to do this. A few years too long. He also realizes he shouldn't have put on that extra layer of a flannel. The nervous tension created by the two of you was suffocating enough, and being outside under the bright sun didn’t help. 

"I like you too. God y/n, I like you too so much," Jake doesn't even care if his words are all sorts of messed up right now. He just needs you to get the idea. "I have for a while now.” 

You let out a relieved sigh, ecstasy rushing through your blood. “Really? I think I have for a while too. I’m so stupid, it took me so long to realize it. It didn’t hit me until I realized how I felt around you, compared to the guy I’m supposed to actually have a crush on.” 

Jake lets out a laugh, the tension immediately dissolving. “Hey, if it wasn’t for Sunghoon, I don’t think we’d be here right now.” 

“You’re right, I’m too oblivious and you’re too awkward to actually make a move,” you wink at him. If his heart wasn’t fluttering at the sight of you, on his porch on a Saturday morning, confessing your feelings to him, Jake probably would’ve lightly shoved you away. 

Instead, he’s turning to you with the most endeared look on his face, and you’re blushing underneath his gaze.

“What? Stare much?” You giggle, quoting the boy himself as you shyly duck your head to avoid his stare. 

Jake gently grabs your chin to tilt your face towards his, and before you can process what’s happening, he suddenly meets your lips with his own, closing the gap between you two. 

Jake thinks if the ground underneath him right now decided to open up and swallow him whole, he’d die happily. 

Jake smiles against you, feeling comfort in ways he’ll never be able to achieve without you. 

Your hands instinctively find their way into his hair, as one of his rests below your ear, thumb softly caressing your cheek, the other pulling you in by the waist. He’s naturally leaning into you, gravitating towards your warmth, unable to stop the giddy feeling bubbling in his stomach. 

He doesn’t think the feeling will ever go away. 

When you pull away to catch your breath, you rest your head against the nook of his neck, basking in his presence as his arms both find their way around your waist. You sigh in pleasure. 

“Remember at the beginning of all of this, when you told me ‘Just try not to fall in love with me?’” Jake gently says. Jake feels the slight nod you give against his shoulder as you hum in response. 

Jake whispers two more words into your ear, filling you with happiness and warmth you know you won’t be able to find through anyone––or anything––else. 

“Too late.” 

✰ if you made it ‘til the end, ily :’))))) 

[kissbentennyson]

I have no idea if you'd do this but I need a nega ben x reader. He's my favorite out of the alternates. A softer one shot would be nice but whatever you're feeling is good too! I'll take any content I can get!

*Emo Boy by Ayesha Erotica begins to play* Yeah me too.

Nega Ben x Reader | reader uses they/them pronouns, but dresses femininely.

Spill

He’d been waiting all day, and I mean, all day. Classes always seemed to drag on and on longer when he wanted something, and sure, he could have skipped. But that would have taken too much effort not to get caught. He isn’t afraid of the cops or the school administration… But dealing with his parents? Yeah, no. Not worth it. He’d b-lined it across Bellwood, all the way to the “café” he frequented. Truthfully, it wasn't much of a café seeing as how they specialize in more smoothie like drinks, but whatever. It has been rather crowded, too crowded, and everyone just wanted to get in then out.

He should have expected to bump or get bumped into someone, but it didn’t dawn on him until his espresso smoothie was all over your bright pink, fuzzy sweater. Both of you stood there with slack jaws and wide eyes as the brown liquid dripped from your chest and down onto an equally as pink lolita-esque skirt. It looked expensive, not in a daddy's money way, in a “I saved up to buy this” way. And so, he was prepared for hell.

“Oh my god! I am so sorry!”

When it left you, Ben was confused. “Gosh, I should have been looking where I was going… But I was too distracted. Ugh, I-” You were flustered , more than actually, embarrassed is the correct word. “Um… Give me a second and I'll buy you a new one…”

“What?”

Watching as you tried to pat away the coffee with one of the recycled paper napkins the café gives out, a million thoughts passed through him. Of course he took the offer, he wanted that coffee. The line was a lot shorter this time around, and got by a lot quicker too. You ordered for him as he zoned out suddenly looking over your shoulder at him. “What?” He asks, watching you get even more flustered. “I just asked if you wanted anything else. Do you?” “Oh, uh, yeah.” he clears his throat, raising his voice. “The kale chips.”

You both walked out together, your head was down and you watched your shoes as you walked. “Again, I’m really sorry.” He glances at you with a slight side eye as he sips on the coffee, this was the gazillionth time you’ve apologized in just the last few minutes. “It’s… whatever.” He lets out a quick and breathy chuckle. “You apologize to me, but I ruined your sweater.” All of the sudden, your embarrassment seemed non-existent. A light and bubbly laugh leaving you. “Ruined? Oh, trust me, I’ll be just fine. I've dealt with worse.”

“Anyways! I have to get home and change, It was nice meeting you!”

-

The lunch room was beyond packed, packed like the reunion tour of a popular punk band from the 2000's. The doors and tables overflow with hungry and impatient mouths. You had managed to get in before the rush and snag a serving of less than okay school food, but by the time you got out of line, they had all flooded in. People had no concern for others around them, pushing and shoving like toddlers over toys, and you were getting the brunt of it. Not actually, but it sure felt like it.

You were halfway across the room and were looking around the tables for a free space- but it was too late for that already. A body slams into yours hard, you hit the ground as your food falls and splatters all of the chest of the sweater you had just gotten the coffee stain out of. Feet come down around you as you struggle to get up, the other person now looming over you. “Could you have watched where you were going!?” This whole situation was not intentional, but they had no right to get angry at you for that.

You felt the tips of your ears heat, unable to answer. Her eyes bore down on you as she sways with every passing body bumping into her. Suddenly, you feel a hand grab the back of your sweater and pull you from the ground, as if they were scruffing a cat. “Or, maybe you could stop play fighting with your friends in the cafeteria, like a bitch.” Her jaw drops and her freckled face goes red with embarrassment, obviously on the fact that she can't pawn her mistake off on someone else this time. The voice was rather monotone- in a way- compared to the words spoken. And rather familiar.

When you look up it’s the guy from the café, his neutral expression was a thin vale to hide his irritation- at least to you. His hand still had a grip on the back of your shirt, it was a firm hold, and it made you just a tad bit nervous. You swallow as the person swallows her embarrassment, rolling her eyes desperately to try and hide. “Whatever freak, sorry…” she turns and disappears into the crowd. You watch her do so, completely shocked at the situation at hand. Your lips part to say something, but his grip on your sweater releases, being replaced by an arm around your shoulder. Suddenly, you’re being dragged through the crowd and towards the cafeteria door.

He walks you out into the hallway, which is mostly empty at this point. “Thank you.” you choke out through the lump in your throat. He doesn’t say anything, just keeps walking with you- and you aren’t in any position to object.

Eventually you reach the stairs. Under it is a mostly empty black backpack, and there’s a light reflection of gold from inside. The weight of his arm leaves your shoulders and he walks ahead, sliding under the stairs and sitting with his back to an old AC unit. You hesitate for a moment, you’ve only met this guy one other time… maybe you should just wait…… nah.

Sliding under the stairs right after him, you sit straight across from the guy. He’s already looked away. “I think we have third period together. Your name is Ben, right?” His phone is already out, and he’s scrolling through it. “Well I'm…” you give him your name, and all he does is look up at you with a nod before going back to his phone. The volume is low, but there are noises coming from it, ones you recognize. “Is that the Sumo Slammers mobile game?” There was no judgement in your voice at all, and suddenly the losing end sound plays.

The corners of his mouth twitch. “Yeah?” “My little brother is obsessed with that series. He says that the mobile game isn’t that good, but he still played it to the end.” He let out a little huff like laugh through his nose, pressing the power button and finally giving you his full attention. “Yeah, maybe the old one wasn't that good, but this one is a new release- Doesn’t even have dubbed lines yet.” He clears his throat, slouching a bit as his hands slide into his pockets. “Actually, it’s not fully released in the states yet. I got pre access to the game.” He watches you smile, and suddenly there's a slight tense feeling in his chest.

“That’s really cool, are you a beta tester or something?” He shrugs. “No, and it’s whatever.” He glances away, gaze holding on the wall. “Well I think it’s really cool, especially since it's a series you like.” “How do you know that?” His gaze snaps back to you, suddenly defensive. “Your backpack is open and the sun is reflecting off of the cold backing of the trading cards.” You lazily point to the stairs above you, and there is the reflected image of the symbol on the cards. “Those are the collectors additions, from japan. I know because I’ve been looking for that exact deck for my brother.”

You watch as his cheeks dust a light pink color, lightly nudging his bag so it falls over. He starts avoiding eye contact, leaning back fully against the old AC unit. “Why are you still here? Shouldn't you be cleaning up your sweater?” You lean back against the stairs. “Yeah, maybe. But I think you’re kinda cool, and I’d like to stay.”

It was rather silent the rest of lunch, when you tried to hold a conversation- he would end it with short answers that gave you nothing to build off of. The bell rings above you like the screech of an angered bird. You both get up, him raising from the floor before you. You brush the dirt off of the back of your thighs, the light sound of unzipping catching your attention. You watch as the zipper of his hoodie comes down as he pulls it. Yanking it off of his shoulders, revealing the greenish-grey long sleeve he had under it.

“Here. Even if you get the food off, it’ll still stain.” He hands you the coat, slinging his backpack over one shoulder, the already open flap lolling open even more. “Oh, thank you, I don’t know what to sa-” “Don’t. Don’t say anything. This never happened.” He walks past you and into the crowd of students, with his head down.

You watch as he does so, eventually looking back down at the hoodie in hand. You feel your face just slightly twinge with heat. “Yeah… Alright.” You say under your breath as you rush off to the nearest bathroom to scrub the food scum from your sweater.

-

It was a game day.

Not that he kept track of that, he had never been into football. Once upon a time he played soccer, but after he got the Negatrix any hopes of that former love returning was gone. Ben knew it was game day because his cousin was in her cheerleading outfit- and it was no were near time for cheer competitions. Her makeup was done and her strawberry blonde hair was pulled up, and she sat in the front seat of her boyfriend's car chatting to said boyfriend about the routines she had to do.

Ben sat in the back, as he always did, waiting for the drive to be over. It came soon enough as the car pulled into the drop off area in front of the school, slowing to a stop. Neither Tennyson waited for it to fully stop before opening their doors. He got out, closing it with a slam and without a thank you. Gwen still leaning in and talking. The chatter of the hoard of tired teenagers flocking into the building almost drowned out the shouting of his name.

Almost.

He groans, looking over his shoulder, spotting the mass of pastels jogging towards him with something in their arms. “I’m so glad I got here on time! They were packed this morning- and I thought I'd be late- but I made it.” In your arms is his hoodie and an espresso smoothie. You hand him your gifts with a large smile. “I um, washed the jacket for you. Thanks again.” The bell rings and you give a quick wave before pushing into the school building yourself.

His jaw hangs slack, looking down at his freshly cleaned jacket- lint free, folded, and still warm- and the smoothie. When he moves there's a light cracking from inside the jacket, like the sound of a chip bag. He pulls back one of the folds and there is a bag of kale chips, stuck to it is a yellow sticky note written on with a pink gel pen. A phone number with “See you at lunch.”

“Who was that?” Ben looks over at his cousin, an impressed smirk on her lips.

“You’re getting mileage out of this, huh?” “Soooo much.”