#whatever else this duo is called my brain is wiped

[iscreamkitty]

Sunrise duo bribery from twit :] the feeling of getting unexpected physical affection lol

[isthisthingeven0n]

someone special : s.r

something a bit different, as this is a vs blog - but i wanted to give it a shot! 

penelope is determined to find out who is keeping you up at night, but when you refer to the someone in question as ‘no one special’ the statement breaks your secret boyfriends heart. (1.7k)

Walking into the bullpen, you dump the files back onto your desk before sitting down. “Someone had a late night, huh?” Morgan remarks as you yawn loudly, unable to conceal it in time. 

“Had a lot of paperwork to finish, nothing new.” You shoot back as you glance up, seeing Spencer at his desk beside yours with a small smile playing on his lips. 

“I don’t think so sweet cheeks,” Garcia speaks up, and you sigh quietly. “you’re tired, your hair is out of place and you wore those pants yesterday.” 

Looking down at your appearance, you mentally swear. “I was in a rush, no big deal, Pen.” You chuckle, but you can’t help noticing the look shared between the devious duo. “You guys,” You start, but Garcia can’t help but squeal quietly. 

“Who is he?” She asks now perching on the edge of your desk as she slides your papers away, blocking Spencer from the corner of your eye. 

“And why’d you think I’m seeing someone?” Leaning back in your chair, Garcia clicks her tongue before resting a hand on your shoulder. 

“Because my sweet angel, I know you all too well. That smile on your face hasn’t been wiped in weeks, and I doubt it’s caused by anyone here, besides me of course.” Derek scoffs lightly as he wanders out toward his own office, leaving you and Garcia to talk whilst Spencer eavesdrops. 

“It could be a number of things, you know.” You comment, opening up one of your files, only for Garcia to close it again. 

“I will find out who he is, I know people, Y/n.” 

Quirking an eyebrow to the blonde, you cross your arms over your chest as you turn in your chair. “Such as?” 

“Kevin.” She mutters, and you smile softly upon hearing the sound of Spencer chuckling over Garcia’s shoulder. “Reid, we’re having girl talk over here, shush.” 

Moving out of the way, you catch Spencer’s gaze for a split second before he averts his eyes back to his files. But as always, it’s long enough to make your heart beat faster. 

“Come on, just tell me who this guy is!” Garcia whines as she stands up, hands resting on her hips as you groan, running your fingers through your hair. 

“Penelope, he’s no one special alright? Now, I’ll tell you what you wanna know later, I just need to finish this report, how’s that?” You answer her prayers, and she claps her hands together as she grins brightly to you.

“You are my angel child, I can’t wait to hear all about your new Prince Charming.” And with that, Garcia turns on her heels and you let out a small sigh before looking over to Spencer, only to see his brows furrowed and fingers clenched into his palms. 

Rising to your feet, you head over to grab a coffee, knowing Spencer would be in need of one too. It wasn’t a lie, technically it wasn’t. You had stayed up late to finish your paperwork, but you just happened to have some company to pass the time by as well. 

With two coffees in hand, one being overly sweetened you placed it on Spencer’s desk. “Thought you might want this.” You mutter with a smile, but Spencer doesn’t even look up at you. “I hope it’s sweet enough, just how you like it.” 

Even with that, Spencer doesn’t react. “Thanks.” He mutters under his breath, hiding his face with his left hand as he rests his elbow on his desk, blocking you out. 

“Okay then.” You whistle, turning back to your own desk, wondering what’s going on in that brilliant mind of his. 

After a few hours, you’re all called into the board room for a meeting. 

Pushing your chair back, usually, Spencer waits for you and walks alongside you about a variety of things, discreetly asking about your plans for the evening. Yet, as you rise to your feet, Spencer shoots off without you. 

As you walk in, the seat he usually sits in is absent. Looking around, you spot him in the far corner, isolated from everyone else as he keeps his head buried in another book, a different one from last night (which isn’t surprising.) 

“We’ve got a debriefing tomorrow afternoon,” Hotch announces now that everyone is present, and you tear your focus away from your boyfriend, forcing yourself to ignore the thoughts circling your mind as Hotch explains the protocol for the next day. 

Weirdly, the rest of your day followed the same suit. Spencer ignoring you, or going out of his way to avoid any encounter with you. 

“Okay my loves, I bid you adieu.” Garcia blows a kiss to you as she leaves whilst you carry on working, knowing it’ll be an hour or so before you head out yourself. 

Another yawn escapes your lips as your eyes continue to grow heavy, causing words in your files to blur together. 

“You know, around 1 in 3 adults don’t get enough sleep, that’s roughly 51% worldwide, but I guess those who do are lucky, then again, no one special, right?” Spencer comments, catching you off guard as you look over, seeing him wearing his glasses as his lips remain tightly shut as he focuses on you before raising an eyebrow. 

“I, I guess not.” You respond, unsure for his sour tone before you return to your paperwork, trying to contemplate his reasoning for the silence and sudden remark. 

Your ears perk up to the sound of Spencer rustling his papers before grabbing his satchel. “Bye Hotch,” He waves up to Hotch in his office, but no response is received as Spencer lowers his hand. 

“Do you want a ride?” You speak up, playing with your pen as you look up at him, only to see Spencer shake his head. 

“I could use the fresh air, think about things.” He tells you and walks out, not even saying anything. 

Annoyance rises through your system and you close your files, knowing they’re pretty much done and grab your bag before following Spencer out of the building. 

“What is with you today?” You yell from the safety of the parking garage, seeing Spencer up ahead as he stops and turns to face you. “You’ve ignored me all day, did I do something to upset you last night? Did I kick you again?” 

Spencer grits his teeth before looking right at you. “No, no you didn’t kick me, Y/n.” He retorts, catching you off guard. In all your time of knowing Spencer, and in the last three months of dating him, he’s never been angry at you, nor lost his temper for that matter. 

“Then what is with you today?” You ask, raising your arms as Spencer scoffs. 

“You seriously don’t know?” 

“Unlike some people Spencer, I don’t have an eidetic memory, so no I have no idea what is bothering you!” You huff, stepping back as Spencer simply nods, adjusting his grip on his Satchel strap. 

“This morning, 9:36am. Garcia was asking if you were seeing anyone, and you said it was no one special. So, I’m obviously not that special to you, Y/n.” You can hear the pain in Spencer’s tone as his eyes dart away from yours, and his lips turn down. “Good to know that all of this, what we had wasn’t that meaningful to you.” 

“Wait, Spence,” You call out as he begins to walk away, this time refusing to turn back. “that’s not what I meant at all. I just, fuck,” You sigh, unable to move your feet. “I’m scared, okay?” 

“Of what?” Spencer questions as his voice echoes through the walls whilst his back remains turned. 

Standing still, you fiddle with the hem of your jumper, pulling at the loose threads. “I’m scared of what this means, and the fact I’m falling for you Spencer Reid, and that I don’t want to lose you in my life.” You can feel your eyes welling up, but fight back tears as Spencer slowly looks over his shoulder, seeing you curled up into yourself as you stand still, desperate to hear him say something. “And if I ruined this, I’m sorry, but please, don’t ignore me forever.” 

A tear falls down your cheek and before you can wipe it away, Spencer walks over and brushes it with his thumb. His large palm rests on your left cheek as you lean into it. 

“I’m sorry for hurting you, Spence.” You mutter, closing your eyes as Spencer moves his hand to bring you closer into his chest, holding you tightly and not wanting to let go. 

Resting his chin on the top of your head, Spencer shushes you. “Don’t be sorry, Y/n. If anything, I should be sorry for doubting you. I just, ever since Maeve, I’ve been so scared to open up like this.” 

Removing yourself from his tight embrace, you focus on his big doe eyes. “I know, Spence. But you’re doing it, and she’d be proud of you.” You remind him, and Spencer simply nods as he sniffs lightly. 

“I, what you said earlier, about falling for me?” Spencer starts as his hands find yours, taking them into his. “I think, no, I know I’m falling in love with you, Y/n. And whatever that truly means, because love is just a chemical reaction caused by the brain receiving oxytocin which is the love hormone, and-”

“Spence,” You giggle quietly, and Spencer just smiles back at you. “I love you.” 

“I love you too, Y/n, so much.” He mutters, leaning down and kisses you softly before you wrap your arms around his neck, deepening the kiss between you both. 

As Spencer pulls away, you breathe shallowly as he chuckles. “You know, an adult is supposed to get eight hours of sleep a night, and of late you’ve been getting half of that.” 

“What’re you saying, Doctor?” You ask with a small smirk. 

“Let me drive you home, and get some needed sleep, alright?” Spencer holds his hand out, waiting for your car keys. 

You grab your keys, hovering them over his palm. “You know, if I have to get eight hours of sleep, we’ll have to postpone our nighttime activities for a while.” 

Taking your keys from you, Spencer sighs as he unlocks your car and opens the passenger door for you. “We’ll work on your sleep schedule next week.” He remarks as he shuts your door, leaving you to lull into the seat as he climbs in and starts the car. 

“Just as I thought, Doctor Reid.” 

[kenmasangel]

getting back together after years

synopsis : the get back, part 1 “why am i even with you”

characters : sakusa, tsukishima

genre : fluff

warning : cursing, mention of alcohol

an : sorry for any gramma or spelling mistakes, everytime i’d right it was nighttime and i’d be really tired so i wasn’t able to focus 100%. please notice me of any mistakes masterlist

Sakusa Kiyoomi

years have passed since your break up with sakusa, it was a sad but necessary break up for you to move on and finally glow up

you also realized that the only person you truly ever needed was yourself and you worked hard to be the person you are today

“at the end of the day, men are trash,” you would try to cheer your friend who had a fight with her boyfriend in one of the best clubs of tokyo. “so wipe your tears and come move your hips,”

on the professional side you became tokyo's favorite journalist, sports related; not only because of your looks but also your professionalism and personality

every hot athlete you've ever interviewed tried to get with you, but they always got rejected

on the other hand sakusa joined MSBY Black Jackals; a professional volleyball team in japan's v.league, in the top tier of division 1

yes sir period

he never dated someone else, the break up kinda broke his heart but he'll never admit it

he also became more distant with people lowkey

however, one day your manager called you to tell you about who are you going to interview next

as she mentionned the name of a famous volleyball team you couldn’t stop your mind of thinking about your ex who used to play volleyball

little did you know that he was a part of the team

lmao who gon tell you

when you got back home you decided to do some research about that MSBY team or whatever

...

oh to your surprise when you saw sakusa kiyoomi’s face there

“no shit,” you mumbled to yourself lowkey annoyed

after the brake up you grew stronger and more independent as you put in mind that all men are trash, you didn’t want to go through that steretipycal sad phase where your self confidence would be all crushed. you wanted to remain strong and you learned how to truly love yourself without expecting anything from anyone as you had your own self

period boo

anyway, you kinda had numbed all your feelings, and to see him now made all your memories with him comeback; how you first met, your first kiss, your first dates and that fight

so here you were, in your appartement checking out their previous interviews trying to get all the juice you needed yet your mind would still zone out on his face

“just keep it pro, y/n, he probably even forgot about you, just keep it pro,” you told yourself before turning off your pc

the day of the interview, here we finally are. the MSBY team knew they had an interview with the most appreciated journalist of all times so they got ready.

“do y’all think they’re cute ?” asks atsumu, “if they’re cute you better back off guys, i’m sure i’m going to catch their attention anyway,” he cockily adds flipping his bang and flexing his muscles, no one bothered answering him at this point they were used to him

“they’re here,” their manager clapped in his hands. “don’t forget what i told you guys, they are very influent so don’t mess it up and don’t scare them away,” he looked at atsumu and bokuto who just stuck their tongues out

“good morning,” you greeted all of them and bowed, “i’m l/n y/n, the journalist who’ll interview you today,” you looked at all of them with a poker face. saying that sakusa was surprised would be an understatement; he was in shock, his brain forgot how to function correctly. you followed the others who took you to the room where all the staff would chill, offering you coffee, tea and snacks

sakusa couldn’t keep his eyes off you, seeing you after all these years was like a wave of fresh air; he was relieved to see you successful and blooming, what a beautiful sight he thought when he saw you laughing with his teammates as he got in the room. but at the same time his heart ached him as he remembred what made you two go separate ways and the guilt he tried to hide deep inside him all those years started creeping up again in his chest

“c’mon, it’s just an interview,” he sighed before sitting on a chair behind his team

the interview started and it was going fine, sakusa’s teammates were cool and you had a lot of fun interviewing them. you liked their chaotic energy and it happened for you to match it, they immediately liked you

“y/n-chan,” started atsumu getting close to you, ”would you like to go out with me tonight, we could have dinner together or just grab a drink-”

“okay barry b. benson, you’re not my type sorry,” you stopped him as you pinched his cheek making all his teammates laugh, you got a pout from him but he eventually laughed liking your attitude

“y/n-chan, why don’t you come and have dinner with us tonight?” asked bokuto with sparkles in his eyes, “oooh~ say please we’d love to!” joined him hinata with the same sparkles in his eyes

you akwardly chuckle looking at sakusa then bringing your stare back at them, “i don’t kno-”, “please come, it would be nice,” finally adds sakusa what made you look back at him

you kept staring at each other for  moment before you nodded makinf the three balls of chaotic energy; bokuto, hinata and atsumu scream a ‘yes!’ you exchanged numbers and you went back home

well, that wasn’t too bad you thought to yourself once back at you appartement plopping on your couch

for some reason your heart was beating fast and you damned those feelings you tried to hide and not get rid of for coming back

he was looking as handsome as ever, you were not going to lie

and that look in his eyes... was it regret ?

“as he fucking should,” you shook your head thinking about what he’d said in that fight

but you were young, he probably regrets, “stfu stupid heart,”

you got up and got ready for tonight’s dinner

“keep that poker face y/n, you’re doing great” you said to yourself before getting into the restaurant, you quickly saw hands waving at you, spotting the team and you went to the table. there was a place left next to bokuto and sakusa, just great, you tried hard not to roll your eyes and sat

the diner was going well, you were not bothered by sakusa’s presence, he didn’t talk much anyway and you had fun talking to the others who were really funny, the thing is that everyone got drunk; hinata and bokuto were hugging each other singing the yarichin bitch anthem, atsumu kept saying ‘ya like jazz?’ every time the someone would pass by, you and sakusa were the only ones in a good state. you couldn’t help but laugh at them trying to stop them but you’d eventually fail

“atsumu please stop,” you tried to stop him from getting on the table to ask everyone if they liked jazz, “i won’t unless you tell me ya like jazz, honey,” he wiggled his eyebrows as you couldn’t help yourself from laughing, “i do like jazz now sit down,” you finally said

sakusa kept thinking if he should talk to you or not in the mean time, he couldn’t help but to create two imaginary cases in his mind one for that says ‘yes’ and the other one ‘no’, he finally came back to earth when you sat back down after stopping tsumu from performing a jazz song

“but y/n i swear it’s a good jazz song, it is called... Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley,” he grins proud of himself, you stare at him trying to hold your laughter and when you were going to anwser you heared sakusa do it first, “no miya, and make the owl and the tangerine stop crying,” atsumu salutes him and goes to talk to the crying duo

“long time no see, l/n,” he finally says making your heart miss a beat

“never thought i’d see you again sakusa,” you answer, finally looking at him

“glad to see you’re doing well,” he adds. “even tho i wish we’d be on good terms,” you sigh turning your head. “gotta admit i am the one to blame,”

“glad to see you are mature enough to admit your wrongs,” you anwser him sipping on your drink

“i’ve always knew that i was the one who fucked up, y/n... maybe back then i just didn’t have the guts to admit it, nor to try keeping you close to me. i just saw how you were doing better off without me, and i thought it was better to let go even if it did hurt me...” he finally admits

all what you wanted to hear, craved to hear when you broke up with him. you felt some type of way, good memories you had with him flooding your mind and the feelings you’ve once had for the pretty germaphobe

what were you gonna say? were you finally ready to forgive him and move on or stay on your positions and just live like you’ve been living since the brake up

“well... we’re grown ups now, it’s all forgiven and forgotten,” you give him a small smile,

“thank you,” it was then quiet for a brief moment before he finally decided to man up, “i missed you,” he looked down at his plate

wow the butterflies in your tummy, heart and brain went off with no warnings, you stared at him with wide eyes trying to comprehend what on god’s green earth did he just say

did you miss him too ? did you hate him ? were you over the fight ? did you really stop loving him or did you just hide those feelings ?

too many questions yet no answers, as he realized you didn’t answer he mumbled few apologies but you stopped him telling it was fine

“it’s just... it’s been so many years and we didn’t end up on good terms,” you explain

“yeah, no, i totally understand that is normal,” you nodd looking down at your lap. “can i hold your hand?”

“pardon me?”

“can i hold your hand? fuck that y/n, can i have another chance? allow treat you right, to love you deeply. that guilt that built up in me kept growing with the years, and now that you’re finally here i just want one thing as i see your face is to make up for everything, even after years.”

oh wow, you were definitely not expecting that; not from sakusa who wasn’t this expressive with his feelings and especially not after all these years

you held his hand and smiled sincerly at him, “it’ll take me time; to figure out how i feel and to trust you again, but i’d like to give it a chance,” he smiled back, hope filling his eyes

after that night you tried to spend a lot of time together

usually he would be the one to initiate it

he did his best to prove you that you can trust him and that he became a better person for you

your heart would melt everytime he told you about a memory of you together or how he still remembered stuff about you

you were on your guards in the beginning but slowly you began to soften

eventually you got back together, but that’s another story

it took several months but you don’t even know how happy he was

oh and let’s just not talk about the media and how powerful you guys were

anyway you were happy and that’s what matters

Tsukishima Kei

ara ara what we have here

do you know how the life works in a weird way sometimes? a compilation of events that happen by sheer luck, fucking coincidences that are just way out of this world that lead you to bump into that one person even if you don’t want to?

no ? aight sorry

anyway, that is lowkey what life had in store for you and salt shaker man

tsukishima had gotten into that college he wanted to attend

he was happy but he would’ve secretely loved if you were there to share his happiness

oh how little did he know that you got into that college too

ahaha *awkward laughter*

homeboy found it out in a special way, not the best way there is but you know he had to know a way or another

he went to that party with his two roomates who actually lowkey forced him ngl

as he was making his way to the kitchen he heard someone laughing, a laugh he’s heard way too many times but he shook it off thinking about how many people may have the same laughter

“oi y/n, you look hot!” a male’s voice shouted

what ?

there was no way you were there and he decided to make sure by checking out by himself

he was CHOKED when he saw you there

“tell me something i don’t know,” you laughed as you approached the boy who called you. “what’s up hot stuff ?” he said as you were finally next to him

hot stuff? tsukki almost gagged at the horrible name you were just given, yet it was not false that you were indeed ‘hot’; you looked as flawless as ever, you did a 180° change

the sweet, soft, innocent y/n was replaced by the baddest bitch in the motherfucking block he almost didn’t recognize you. he wondered if you stayed together would you have gone through this change an didn’t notice you coming his way

“god, don’t stand in the middle of the- tsukishima ?” you stopped when you saw his face. “you attending a party, what a surprise,” you stood there a hand on your hip

“oh y/n, how are you?” homeboy didn’t know how to act at this point, he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck

“i’m doing great actually, so did you get into here ? the ‘college of your dreams’,” he could feel the sarcasm in your voice, he also noticed how cold you were

“yeah, thankfully. where’d you go ?”

“oh i go here, the same college as you,” you fake a smile, he feels his heart miss a beat.. or two.“you know sometimes i look back, and i can’t help from noticing that being in a committed relationship didn’t stop me from attending one of the best colleges out there and you, on the other hand who didn’t want anything to do with a relationship got here too,” you spat, obviously you didn’t get to tell him how you felt when you broke up. “good thing i’m not in the same major as you though,” you sighed

“y/n i_,”

“no save it tsukishima, there’s no need to say whatever you want to say. at this point i’ve moved on, i just found it funny to see you here after what you’ve said and how i actually also got here; now i know for sure that you were the problem... and i hated myself thinking it was me,” you scoff. “hope i won’t get to see you often, good luck for the rest,” and with that you left, joining a group of friends who waved for you to join them

needless to mention that he was pissed and heartbroken

he was not expecting that from you, he always saw you as this delicate person whose kindness is infinite

now, oh now he didn’t recognize you

even your voice got more.. mature? cold? idk

anyway after your encounter he directly headed back to his dorm

he couldn’t sleep the whole night rethinking about all what those years with you and what you said, you hated yourself as you thought you were the problem

bravo tsukishima they hate you, he thought to himself

uhm lol so the rest of your college ‘journey’ went without the two of you seeing each other

you were both majoring in different stuff, the campus is huge, y’alls schedules didn’t match and you had different friend groups

yet rarely he would find you at the library at 4am, many empty coffee cans on your table, looking all sleepy with your glasses falling off and your hair in a messy bun

“fucking ass why on god’s poluted earth did i ever want to major in that fucking shit of a topic, couldn’t i do something basic like stripper or something ? ugh fml,” he caught you once in the middle of an existencial crisis

he couldn’t help his lips from twitching upwards and he couldn’t stop the memories of the two of you studying together flooding his mind

he never came close to you tho, especially after what you told him in that party

sad </3

you guys graduated from college fucking finally

congrats folks you did it!

and you thought it was the end of your story

how sweet, how naive

uh-uh baby life decided otherwise and you saw each other years later

in the same company 🤪 

“oi tsukishima-san, don’t forget we have a metting with the new manager in 10,”

how could he forget ? everyone has been talking about this manager for a week

tsukki was respected by all his work mates as he was such a good element what made him get the best promotions and claims from his boss

n e way

he got into the conf room where everyone was seated and took his place waiting for the new manager and the boss to come in, he was clearly annoyed and didn’t want to be there; he just wanted to finish his work on go back home

anyway his attention was brought back by his boss entering the room, “good evening everyone, with no longer introduction let me introduce you to y/l/n y/n your new manager,”

tsukki’s head SNAPPED, he almost broke his neck

tsukiskima.exe has stopped working

you were surprised when your eyes landed on him too but you’re a bad bitch and kept it professional

he couldn’t focus for the rest of the meeting, even tho it was just presentations and basic information for the future collaboration

the meeting ended and everyone went back home, except for you as you stayed in late to work on some stuff

you thought you were alone since it was late, but you were wrong since tsukishima had also stayed in late to finish up whatever file he was asked to analize

this is why you were startled when you heard some noise and a tall figure got out of the office ahead of you

“oh my,” you held your chest and relaxed when you noticed it was tsukishima, “i thought i was alone,”

“staying in late on your first day huh, didn’t know you were still here,” he responded, you noticed how his tone didn’t change from when you first met him in highschool, maybe his voice got a bit more deeper tho

you couldn’t help noticing how good he looked in his suit, it fit him really well. his broad shoulders covered by the dark blue vest, the first few buttons of his white vector shirt opened letting you lowkey see his collarbone

“yea well i’m leaving now, good night,” you quickly say and took your leave, seeing him after all this time was weird and you didn’t know how to feel

you still remember what you said the last time you saw him at that party, you were hurt and you said some things you probably regret by now and you thought that he probably hated your guts and as long as you wanted to be at the top in your  new work you still decided to stay away from him

“ugh what a dumbass,” you whined and slapped the back of your head thinking tsukishima was still in the floor you left him in, but he saw you and his lips twitched upwards

everytime he thinks you can’t look any better you prove him wrong, he thought to himself as he went to his car finally heading back home. after all those years life decided to still play with you guys and put you in the same company, i mean, he wasn’t complaining but he wished it wasn’t awkward between the two of you

you guys started working together, a new journey for the both of you started

he thought you still hated him and that is why he was cold with you :(

so you were both distant with each other and if you ever had to talk it was cold, formal and quick

it’s been a few weeks your collegues had noticed the tension between the two of you

they were lowkey sus of something but didn’t want to butt in

it was physically painful to watch

n e way everything was going more or less smoothly until a new face made an appariction in the company

“my god! what are you doing here?” you hugged the good looking man

“i missed you and i thought that i couldn’t live without you, so i am here to cling,” you pull away and playfully slap his chest. “nah more seriously i am here to get that bag boo,”

“as you should hun, so you’re a trainee huh? i’ll ask them to put you under my supervision,” you wink

“say less,” he flirtily gets close to you

“uhm, sorry to interrupt your i bet very educational discussion but y/l/n, here, the file,” tsukishima butts in out of nowhere, his voice colder than usual and his eyes lowkey darker than usual

“oh thank you,” and he left

“well, that was awkward,” your friend cringes

“shut up, yuuji,” you roll your eyes

“wait wasn’t that tsukishami? sushikima? suspicual tall bitch who broke your heart?” the last attempt made you chuckle

“yes, it is,” you sigh, going through the file. “i can’t believe you still remeber that!”

“miss girl, you were not the one listening at your own self sobbing at how some tall, blonde, salt shaker broke your heart and how you’d want to, and i quote “punch his beautiful face then hug him so tight that i’ll squeeze his organs”,”

you narrow your eyes at him then for quite a while, then you scoff, “i am glad you’re here, dickhead,”

“so am i, headass,” he gives you a sincere smile

yuuji’s presence made things complicated even more

tsukishima didn’t appreciate the new flirty, good looking, lowkey smart trainee who was under your supervision

he was more irritable than usual, he knew he had no right to feel like that but still, he couldn’t help it

everytime he saw you two together working, laughing, grabing lunch together or even just being in the same area it made him want to break walls

but he couldn’t

he also saw how yuuji would flirt with other female collegues and it made him furious; you didn’t deserve that!

deserve what tho lol you and yuuji were friends but since tsukki was blinded by his jealousy or whatever he was feeling he assumes you were a thing or soon to be a thing

dumb mf

anyway

your boss had assigned you an important file to work on

all cool and shit until he mentioned that you had to work with tsukishima

ahaha.......... right

you started working the day after

°3°

it was awkward as fuck ngl, y’all would share max up to 3 words in a matter of 20mins

each one of you was sitting in their side

the tension buddy, the tension!!!!!

idk how you survived

day 2: you slapped some sense in yourself and an old relationship that ended in bad terms shouldn’t affect your work years after

so you started talking more, always pro stuff, but still

kei was the same as yesterday but that didn’t surprise you since he was always like that and you weren’t expecting anything from him except contribute effectively to the work, what he did

day 3: work in progress, nothing less

day 4: same as day 3 except that you stayed in later than the previous days

day 5: yuuji bursted in because he had broought you food, he kissed your temple before he left wishing you good luck. tsukki almost gagged, homie was fuming in rage

day 6:

it was late, everyone had left but you and kei still working on that goddamn file, thankfully he had given enough time to finish the work

“y/l/n, the food is here,” tells you tsukishima as he got back into the office

“thanks, i almost died from hunger,” you get up getting what you ordered

you were eating in silence until tall man decided to speak up, “funny, huh?” you looked at him confused. “how we went to the same highschool, same college and now we are working together,”

you just let an “oh” thinking about what you told him in that frat party, “i guess you were right, i was the problem,”

“tsukishima look, it’s been years and it’s all forgotten now okay?” he looks at his food, his mind elswhere

“remember what you told me in that party?”

“tsuki-”

“i mean, now that we’re grown ups we can talk about it, right? i feel like i didn’t get closure, not like i deserve it but still,8

you just nodd and go sit in front of him

“well, i lashed out on you on that party because i didn’t get closure, i was obviously still hurt and petty and immature. Seeing you there was like a slap in the face, i really want to apologize but i feel like what i said was true,”

“and it was true, it took sometime to accept it and realiwe it, but you don’t need to apologize; i didn’t treat you right, so i am sorry,”

you give him a small smile, “i am also sorry, i shouldn’t have talked to you that way it was rude,”

“but true,” he adds and you chuckle

“yeah, it’s all fine now. we can start over again,”

“i mean, i’d like to,” he gives you a small, tiny smile but you could still see it

“y/n?”

“mmh?” you look at him, your mouth full and cheeks about to explode

“i know we just made up and stuff but... please be careful with that new trainee,”

“yuuji? what why?”

“look i’m a man and i know wha another man thinks when i see him in action, and he’s just... not trustworthy i guess,”

“tsukishima kei, tf are trying to say?”

“look, i don’t want you to get hurt! but he is all flirty with other women and it’s just a huge disrespect to you and your relationship,” he explains

you look at him with wide eyes than laugh your ass off, you couldn’t believe what you just heard

“tsukki, yuuji is my bestfriend we’re not dating,” you wipe a tear tha slipped

he just stares at you, “oh” is all what he could say

“thanks for worrying tho,”

“whatever,” he rolls his eyes

as the days went by you and kei got closer

he would tease you and you’d tease him back

“oi, salt shaker, put my stuff on a high shelf again and i’ll pull your highschool pictures when you played vb,”

“as if you still have them” he scoffs

“don’t mess with me!”

“whatever shortie- OW why would you throw the stapler at me?”

“it’s your mouth that i’m gonna staple next time,”

anyway it was all giggles and shit

you enjoyed working together and gaining your complicity back

the due date came, you had to present in front of 3 other CEOs and your own ceo

you did an amazing job, obviously

everyone liked the harmony between the two of you and how neat your work was

“WOHOO here’s my bad bitch,” yuuji hugged you after the deliberation

“stfu we’re not alone,” you laugh. “did i look good?” you ask

he smirks and checks you out, twirling you and wolf whistling, “hotter than ever and thicker than snicker,” you laugh at his remark

“uhm-uhm,” tsukishima came behind you

“hey, sushimika, good job out there,” yuuji gives him a big grin

tsukishima just nodds and his eyes dart to yuuji’s arm around your waist, something he notices

“erm anyway, Vanessa is calling me gotta go,” he kisses your head and leaves

“he’s one of a kind, i gotta admit,” you say pulling him out of his trance

“i mean, y’all are bestfriends so i’m not surprised,” you roll your eyes

“we did a good job out there, i mean i was better but you weren’t too bad yourself,” he smirks

“you’re so annoying,” you laugh. “i guess we make a good duo,”

you lookn at each other for a while before tsukki finally speaks up

“uhm look, i know it’s only been one month since we’re back to normal but... would you maybe like to have dinner with me?” he rubbs the back of his neck

“like a date?”

“you know what i mean y/n,” he rolls his eyes

“uhm sorry i don’t clearly see what you mean,” you grimace

“ugh alright, like on a date, would go with me yes or no ?”

you laugh at his impatience, “pick me up at 7,”

“is that a yes?”

“you know what i mean, tsukki,” you say as you leave

so the date went well

really well

you didn’t want to burn steps so you lowkey took your time in the process of getting back together

going on dates, talking everything out to build a strong base

work together was fun

i mean i’m not gonna talk about the sneaky make out sessions but haha you know 👀 

surely you got back together, even shared an appartement and you are the happiest you’ve ever been

he proposed 3 years after

fin

taglist : @fallingforyuu @ukhyeonn @yeonayona  @terminallyvolatile @bryai003​ @ichigo-post​ @virgyalizu​ 

i truly hope you like it, <3

[dirtyoatmeall]

The ways I love you (Matsukawa x reader)

A/N: I love Mattsun so much. I think out of all the characters, he’s the one I’d most likely end up actually dating, not to mention time-skip mattsun is a whole nother conversation. anyway I hope you enjoy, I just really love him.

Pairing: Matsukawa x Reader (gn pronouns but references to reader being able to be pregnant)

Word Count: 2.8k

Warnings: Mentions of 18+ activity as a joke, spoilers for s2 (spring preliminaries), me not proof reading, me not knowing how to describe coming down from your tiptoes

--

Matsukawa liked to think he was observant both on and off the volleyball court. But as he watches you laugh from afar, head thrown back, holding onto your friends shoulder for balance, he can’t help but think, how did he not notice you before? It was enough to stop him in his tracks, unconsciously tuning out the sounds around him, blatantly staring at you as you continue to talk to your friends, a wide grin on your face as you gesture wildly, pausing every so often to laugh at the story you were telling. It took Hanamaki walking in front of him, blocking his view of you, for him to come back to his senses. He heard Hanamaki calling his name, waving a hand in front of his face.

“Hey earth to Mattsun, you okay bro?” He nodded in response, still thinking about your laugh, he wanted to know what you were talking about. He wanted to know your name. Hanamaki turns to look at where Matsukawa was focused so intently on before, grin breaking out when he saw your group. “Ahh, so that’s what’s got your attention? And which one was so lucky to literally stop you in your tracks?” He rolled his eyes in response to Hanamaki’s teasing, when Iwaizumi appeared next to him, raising an eyebrow at Matsukawa. “What’re you talking about?” Hanamaki is happy to fill the spiker in, and Matsukawa returns his gaze to your group again, before furrowing his eyebrows.

He watched Oikawa saunter up to your group, he must have called your name since you turned to face him, eyebrow raised. The setter says something that causes you to roll your eyes, hands on your hips and you respond, teasing smile evident. In true Oikawa fashion, he responds by pouting dramatically before scanning the courtyard, face lighting up when he spots his group of friends. He grabs your wrist, you wave to your friends before following and Matsukawa’s eyes widen when he realizes Oikawa is bringing you over to them. Did Oikawa see him staring? Were you somehow dating the setter? Matsukawa wracks his brain for any memories on a new fling when you two finally reach the group.

“Iwa-chan! (Y/N)-chan still won’t agree to being the manager! Won’t you convince them?” Oikawa says dramatically, letting go of your wrist in favor of attempting to lean on Iwaizumi, who promptly shoves him off, rolling his eyes. “And why would I do that? I don’t want to subject them to dealing with you anymore than they have to already.” You laugh at Iwaizumi’s insult as Oikawa cries out in offense. (Y/N), Matsukawa repeats your name in his head, wanting to commit it to memory. Though all thoughts immediately halt at the sound of your voice.

“I never said I wouldn’t, I just asked how you were gonna make it worth my while?” Your voice had a teasing lilt to it as you raised your eyebrows in anticipation of the setters response. Iwaizumi rolls his eyes again, grumbling about you egging him on. Oikawa brightens up, a flirty smile adorned as he leans closer to you, eyebrows wiggling up and down. “I know exactly what can make it worth your while.” You throw your head back, loud cackles of laughter filling the air, Hanamaki and Matsukawa chuckle as Oikawa pouts, crossing his arms childishly. After a few moments your laughter dies down, you make a show of wiping tears from your eyes before smiling. “Alright, just because I’ll get to more chances to make fun of you, I’ll do it.” Oikawa seems to ponder being excited or offended by your agreement, choosing the former and hugging you while Iwaizumi pinches the bridge of his nose in exasperation. Thankfully Hanamaki says what was on both of their minds.

“Soo, are you guys like dating or something?” He tries to be casual, eyebrow raised when Iwaizumi snorts, “I can tell you there is no chance of that happening, ever.” Oikawa sputters as you nod, nose scrunched in disgust.

“Let me put it this way,” you pause, thinking before your lips raise into a sly grin. “I would rather be spit roasted by the coaches of Shiratorizawa and Nekoma before I’d hold hands with Tooru romantically.”

Oikawa jaw drops as the rest of them crack up at your words. “(Y/N)-chan! You have to be spending too much time with Iwa, you didn’t used to be this mean!” You roll your eyes playfully before turning to the duo to clarify.

“In all seriousness, I used to live in the same neighborhood as Tooru and Iwa when we were kids, we went to school together up until middle school, when I moved to Fukushima, but I’m back now! And I gotta make up for all the time I missed preventing him from getting a big head, obviously Iwa hasn’t been doing his job.” Said ace narrows his eyes at you, grumbling before Oikawa cuts him off. “It was horrible not having you here (Y/N)-chan! We’re never going to let you leave again!” You smile softly at his admission, and Matsukawa wonders if he’s sick, why else would he be sweating in the middle of November?

--

Months later Matsukawa realizes that he wasn’t sick on that chilly November day in his first year, he was, much like now, infatuated with you. While he wasn’t sure exactly what his feelings for you were, he knew he had it bad. Ever since he noticed you, he started seeing you everywhere. In the hallway, when he was glancing out the window during class, anywhere he was, his eyes always found their way to your form. It didn’t help that Oikawa stuck to his promise, and you became an integral part of their group. He was seeing you at all times of day, even when he closed his eyes at night, images of you, laughing and smiling softly, danced behind his eyelids.

And of course, it did not go unnoticed. Hanamaki was, unsurprisingly, the first to find out. Now whenever he caught Matsukawa staring at you, he’d grin amusedly at the middle blocker, wiggling his eyebrows. Iwaizumi was even seeming to catch on, a knowing look on his face, small grin present whenever Matsukawa would flush slightly after contact with you, whether it was a seemingly innocent hug between friends, or you hanging off his arm dramatically while teasing Oikawa. Speaking of the setter, he was, without a doubt, the last person Matsukawa wanted to find out about his, whatever they are, feelings for you.  But he hid it well, only a few moments of weakness compared to all the other times he kept it together around you, however hard it was.

--

It was in his third year that Matsukawa was able to name his feelings for you, love. Love in the way his heart skips a beat whenever you laugh, in the way his hand twitches to lace his fingers through yours, in the way he can’t imagine not seeing you every day, in the way he fantasizes about a life with you; seeing you first thing in the morning, slow dancing in the kitchen to a song no one can hear but you two. He no longer hid it well, openly gazing at you with a fondness anyone could see was only for you. It seemed the whole world knew of his feelings, except you.

Oikawa found out about 6 months after you returned, the setter vowing to keep it a secret, saying something about letting fate bring the two of you together. Matsukawa no longer tried to hide it, though he wasn’t going to confess anytime soon, he wasn’t above shameless flirting, lingering touches pairing with his love-stricken gaze. Either you were the most oblivious person ever, or you knew but elected to stay silent. He wasn’t sure which he preferred.

It all came to a head the day they lost their chance at nationals.

The loss to Karasuno was hard on everyone, the third years especially. After Coach Irihata talked to the players, you step forward, getting their attention. Unshed tears shining in your eyes you smile sadly at the team. “I’m not a coach, and obviously not a player, so I know my words don’t hold as much value as they would if I was. But I don’t care. I am so proud of all of you. You worked so hard to get here, and even though the outcome wasn’t what we hoped for, I don’t want anyone blaming themselves, not a single one of you. You gave it your all, and I want you to be proud of that. I’m obviously not planning on being a motivational speaker after we graduate, but you get the idea.” A few of the players chucked, and more of them looked tearful than when you started.

For a moment you worry your words did more harm than good, until Iwaizumi steps forward, enveloping you in a hug. You let out a strangled cry/laugh when Oikawa follows his lead, the other third years joining and eventually the whole team, and you smile despite the tears running hotly down your cheeks. Over the 3 years you’ve been manager you have come to love and be loved by the team. As the group hug disperses to pack up for the bus ride home, you and the other third years linger, sharing bittersweet smiles.

The bus ride home is silent. The loss having drained the energy from the team, as many of the players are sleeping. You sit next to Matsukawa, head resting on his shoulder. As you start to drift off you slip your hand into his, sighing contentedly before succumbing to sleep. He looks down at your sleeping form, squeezing your hand as he smiles sadly. The day before he had briefly entertained the idea of confessing if they win nationals, but now, especially after your speech, he knows he can’t wait.

He gently shakes you awake when the bus arrives at the school, his heart stutters when you blearily look up at him, a tired smile gracing your features. He doesn’t let go of your hand when the two of you disembark, the first years telling you to go home when you try to help put stuff away. You tear up again, in appreciation for your underclassmen, looking up when Matsukawa squeezes your conjoined hands. He smiles and tugs you along, waving goodbye to the team before the two of you join Hanamaki and walk to the train station.

The train ride is peaceful, Hanamaki and Matsukawa talking quietly while you resume your place next to the latter, leaning into his side. You wave when Hanamaki gets off, and you sit in comfortable silence until your stop comes up. You look at Matsukawa, confused, when he gets off the train with you, He tugs you forward. “C’mon, I’ll walk you home.” You try to ignore the butterflies in your gut and the heat in your face as you nod.

A few blocks from your house he stops under a streetlight, gently pulling you in front of him. Your eyebrows furrow as you search his face for any tell for his actions. You don’t know what to make of what you find instead, blush deepening when he takes a step closer and cups your cheek with the hand not occupied with your own. “(Y/N),” He sighs, and you think it sounds the prettiest when it comes from his lips. “Originally I wasn’t planning on ever telling you, and I thought about doing it at nationals,” He pauses, and you nuzzle into his hand, shifting your other hand to intertwine with his, a quick squeeze urges him to continue. “but since that’s not going to happen, now seems as good a time as any.” He takes a deep breath, taking another step forward, now toe to toe with you.

“I’m in love with you, have been for who knows how long. Well, I guess I do.” He huffed a laugh, “Probably since first year honestly. I remember the first time I saw you, I literally stopped in my tracks you were so beautiful. God, I sound so lame.” You laugh with him this time, tightening your grip on his hand. He clears his throat before continuing. “I know we haven’t really discussed our plans after graduation, but I wanted you to know, just in case there was some possibility. And when I say I love you, I mean it. I love you in the wake up next to you every morning and make you breakfast kinda way. The buy a cat together kinda way. And I understand if you don’t feel the same, I don’t want you to feel pressured, I just couldn’t not tell you, ya know? I think it would eat at me for the rest of my life if I didn’t.” He wasn’t looking at you anymore, choosing to look at your joined hands instead. Your free hand comes up to cover the one on your cheek, and he looks up to meet your gaze.

He wasn’t expecting the shine of unshed tears or the tender look on your face. You smile, and his heart does the little back flip it does whenever you direct one at him, but there’s something different about this smile, it holds unspoken promises behind it, ones he wants so desperately to hear come tumbling from your lips. “Issei,” You breath, and he shudders slightly hearing you say his name with so much emotion. “I love you too. I love you in the wake up next to you every morning smiling even though you have the worst morning breath,” He snorts and your smile grows as you continue, “I love you in the adopting two cats together kinda way, because we didn’t want it to be lonely when we’re away. I have loved you since the day you told Tooru you were my baby daddy,” You laughed brightly as you recall the memory, the horror on Oikawa’s face when Matsukawa went along with the prank.

“You fell into the role so effortlessly, and yet I never regretted a prank more, because after feeling you pull me against your chest, wrapping an arm around my waist for the day, I was hooked. Constantly thinking of ways I could touch you again.” Your face was a deeper shade of pink, bordering on red, and Matsukawa smiled as he recalled the memory, and how you were more touchy afterwards.

You turn your head, softly kissing the palm of his hand, eyelashes tickling his fingers. Your hand moves to lightly grasp his wrist when his hand moves to your neck, resting on the side for a moment before cupping the back of your head as he leaned down slowly, committing the sight of you; eyes fluttered closed, lips slightly parted, to memory. Impatient, you push yourself upward on your toes, closing the small space between you as your lips finally meet.

You untangle your hand from his, moving to bring both upwards, over his chest and around his neck as you tilt your head slightly, deepening the kiss. His hand tangles into your hair and his other hand moves to settle on the small of your back, bringing you closer as your lips move against each other slowly, pouring years of love and pining into the kiss, savoring the feel of the other. After what feels like forever, you part, panting slightly, out of breath. You rest your weight back on the balls of your feet, smiling as Matsukawa follows you, bending down to rest his forehead against yours. You close your eyes for a moment, processing what just happened, and what it means for the future.

You open your eyes as he kisses you again, this time shorter, but no less sweet. You have a dopey smile on your face when he pulls away, standing to his full height. He untangles his hand from your hair, running his fingers through it for good measure and takes your hand, which had fallen back to your sides, before nodding in the direction of your house. “C’mon, I said I’d walk you home, and we’ll be here all night if we have it your way.” He teases at the pout on your features when he pulls you along the street. 

You turn to him once you reach your steps, hesitant to leave. His hand cups your cheek again, directing your attention back to his face. “Hey, what’s wrong? You look like I’m gonna disappear if you leave.” You bite your lip slightly instead of answering, though he can see it in your eyes. He smiles softly and pulls you into a hug. “I’ll see you tomorrow, I promise. I’m not going to miss out on a chance to rub it in Makki’s face that I got a girlfriend before him.” You laugh lightly into his chest, heart swelling at the word. You breath in the scent of his cologne, squeezing your interlaced hands before stepping back,

“Okay, tomorrow. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He grins at the obvious reluctance present on your features. He lands a quick peck on your cheek, ruffling your hair. He waits until you close the door behind you before leaving. He checks his phone as he walks, cursing as he realizes he only has a few minutes until the last train of the night departs.

[delaber]

Just Friends (Part 2)

Story Summary: After moving to America for a 3-month long internship, you meet two interesting characters on a boring night out.

Word Count: 3.7K

Pairing: Rafael Casal x Reader

Warnings: Alcohol, minor drug use, smut, slight dom!Rafa, swearing, and loads of British references (sorry not sorry lol).

Chapter Note: Thanks for your kind words! So nice to feel the love in this community. Feel free to ask and hit me up if you want to be on the tag list, have questions, suggestions, etc. /Best!

Tag List: mysearchforgratification lonelydance 

Other Parts: See Masterlist

You were trying to count eight hours ahead but with each passing margarita, the math was becoming harder and harder to do. Eventually you just opened the app on your phone and let it do it for you; it was almost 11 a.m back in England. If you went to the coat-check immediately you could call your old lab-partner Laura on your way home and get a much needed update on the project you'd both been working on before your American exchange program had started. Constantly being eight hours behind was rough on keeping in touch, and right now you missed everything back home - even the stupid yeast cells from your project that had kept dying on you and Laura.

You were just about to message Laura and tell her that she should be expecting a call from you shortly, when you were interrupted by someone clearing their throat loudly above you. You slowly looked up from your phone only to see the snarky blonde mystery man from earlier towering above you, clutching two drinks.

"Hi," he smiled as you looked up at him.

"Mystery man," you nodded in greeting.

He sent you what seemed to be his signature charming smile and you realised that his right incisor was just a little bit crooked. It was annoyingly cute.

"Mystery girl," he winked at you, "mind if I sit?" he said as he made himself comfortable on the cushion next to you.

"Uh, I guess not?" you raised an eyebrow at him.

"I brought you another double Margarita," he handed you one of the drinks he was holding, "I wanted to apologise for my behaviour earlier. I hope I'm not interrupting anything?" he nodded towards the lit phone in your hand.

"No, uh, not at all. I was just typing up an email for work," you tossed your phone aside.

The blonde mystery man sent you a sceptical look, "who types up emails for work after they've had a million drinks? Not to mention; at 2.30 in the morning?"

"What can I say except welcome to my story: the life and death of a temporally challenged European in America."

Mystery man laughed at your words, "yeah, you're far away from home, aren't you?"

"Oh what gave it away, bruh?" you said slowly, doing your best to fake a Californian dialect.

Mystery man almost choked on his drink, "You're British?" he asked with a smile while wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Nice to finally see his human side.

"English," you nodded.

"Definitely far away from home then," mystery man nodded, "you here on holiday?"

"I'm actually here for a couple of months in a mandatory exchange program as part of my PhD."

"PhD, huh?" He looked impressed, "damn, I could tell you were smart."

"Well," you said quietly, turning your eyes away from his burning gaze.

He sensed your discomfort at his statement and continued, "What about your friends over there? Why aren't you out dancing with them?" He pointed towards Miranda and her two friends on the dance floor.

You were just about to tell him about your situation with the three girls when you realised something, "hey; how'd you know they're my friends? Been keeping an eye on me, have you?" you laughed at his suddenly stiff smile.

"Well," he ran a hand through his blonde hair while licking his lips slowly, clearly trying to come up with a clever answer, "I couldn't just let you leave before you've found out where you know me from, now could I? Have you given it more thought?"

"No, I actually haven't thought about you at all," you teased him, earning yourself a sincere laugh from the guy, "but... that being said; I'm no closer to guessing it than I was a few hours ago. Although I am sure that I've seen both you and your friend before. So if you have any ideas, I'd be much obliged."

"Hey; I don't know," he shrugged, "I'm just trying to get you to admit to your obvious pick-up line."

"That was not a pick-up line!" you chuckled, "I was genuinely wondering where I've seen you before."

"That's what they all say," mystery man rolled his eyes with a playful smile on his lips, "you're lucky it worked, you know."

"Too bad it didn't work on your friend though," you clicked your tongue, mocking him before continuing in a whisper, "it was intended for him."

He clutched his heart in mock offence, "Ah!" he exclaimed as if he'd been shot, "sadly, that's what they all say too..."

"Aw, you poor man," you smiled and took a sip of the drink he had handed you.

"So why aren't you out dancing with your friends? They seem..." he hesitated as he looked them over, "...fun?" he tried.

"I think you just answered your own question," you laughed.

"Good point," he mumbled.

"Why aren't you out dancing with your friend?" you nodded towards his friend Diggs who was casually moving on the dance floor next to a swarm of girls who all seemed to want his attention.

"Well, I've been patiently waiting for the only interesting woman in here to go dance so I could casually bump in to her on the dance floor. But apparently her ass is glued to this booth. If I was out grinding on Diggs, I wouldn't be able to talk to her - Which would really be a shame as she is without a doubt the prettiest woman in the room," mystery man smiled.

You made a gagging noise at his horrible attempt at flirting.

"Over the top?" He laughed.

"Way over the top!" You joined in, "remember; I'm British. We like it low-key."

"What? You want me to invite you out for tea and scones instead?" he said in a horrible cockney accent.

"It wouldn't hurt your chances," you laughed, "but I'm good with the margarita for now."

"So you don't want to go out with me?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Nope."

"So the way you were staring at me and Diggs earlier really wasn't an attempt to flirt?"

"No," you laughed at him. He looked almost shocked.

Mystery man squinted his eyes as if seizing you up, "You're completely unfazed, aren't you?" He said.

"About what?"

"Well about me being charming as fuck of course," he said with a chuckle.

"Meh," you shrugged. It wasn't true. You were completely mesmerised by him. But he was acting too cocky for you to not give him a challenge.

"Meh?" He repeated.

"You're bloody cute - I'll give you that. But you're a silver tongue, and well... let's be honest; you need the rejection."

"Are you challenging me?" He raised an eyebrow at you, "it feels like you're challenging me..."

"Hey, no need to feel down by the rejection. I'm doing this for you. I have your best interest of heart," you laughed, touching your heart with the palm of your hand.

He looked you over for a couple of seconds, "I cannot figure you out."

"Well that's a good thing, isn't it? Keeps things interesting."

"Yeah, you definitely strike me as a girl who keeps things interesting... What's your name?"

"You can call me -" your eyes landed on the drink in front of you and you remembered the bartender’s words from earlier, "- Margarita Girl. As that is probably how you're going to remember me after tonight," you smiled.

"How about breaking-my-heart-girl?" He smirked.

"Ah see; you're doing it again," you pointed your finger at him and he laughed at you, "you're way over the top. Keep it low-key for Margarita Girl, damn," you laughed.

"Okay, so we're really not doing names?" His smile grew wide. He was probably already thinking about how hot it'd be to fuck a girl's brain out without even having to bother to learn her name first. Textbook fuck boy.

"Let's keep it interesting," you reciprocated his smile with a small shrug, "what can I call you?"

"You can call me whatever the fuck you want," he said cockily, probably realising that by asking for his name, you'd agreed to spend more time with him.

"Okay, Margarita girl and Mystery Man it is."

"Sounds like a superhero duo," he smiled.

"Interesting. What are our powers?"

"Well, in line with our names: you're intoxicating as fuck luring in all the bad guys, and I have the ability to turn invisible."

"Only creeps want to have a superpower where they can vanish on command," you laughed at him.

He was about to retort when he was interrupted by a male voice coming from beside you, "Hey Rafa!"

You'd been so fixated on the blonde man in front of you that you hadn't even seen Diggs approach your booth with a swarm of girls at his heel. So his name is Rafa? Odd, you thought to yourself but had enough decency to pretend that you hadn't heard.

"What's up," Mystery man - or Rafa apparently - responded to his friend.

"The bar is about to close. I'm thinking about grabbing a cab home. You coming?"

Rafa looked at you briefly before answering, "I think I'm good for now, bro."

"Alright, see you tomorrow then," Diggs padded Rafa on the shoulder before heading towards the door.

Rafa turned his attention back on you and stared at you with a small smile playing on his lips, "So bar's closing down in a bit," he said, "maybe we can squeeze in another drink somewhere else?"

"Yeah, no," you shook your head, "I think I'm about to head home. I have a long walk ahead of me. If you're fast, you can still catch your friend and join him in that taxi though."

Rafa looked at you, "do you live far away from here?"

"I live over on the corner of Mayflower and Lafayette," you responded, "it's roughly a 30-minute walk or something."

"Yeah, I know where it is - I live close by," he eyed you carefully, "if you want to, we could walk together?"

"Taxi doesn't sound too enticing?"

"Meh, I'd much rather take the walk," he shrugged

"Alright then," you nodded, "I guess I wouldn't mind the company."

"Aw," Rafa said, "I think that's the sweetest thing you've said to me all night!"

No more than ten minutes later, you were both wearing your coats and were headed in the direction of the townhouse you were sharing with another British girl, Samantha, who you'd met online a couple of weeks back.

"So how do you find California?" Rafa asked you after a couple of minutes of walking.

"I like it. It's different, that's for sure," you sighed, "but I think it's quite great here."

"Different how? Are you from a small town or something?"

"I'm from a small town called London. I don't know if you've heard of it?" you teased him.

"Hey, don't get smart with me," he laughed, "But in all honesty; apart from the obvious, how is L.A. so different from London?

"You know... London's population is almost twice as big as that of L.A., yet somehow everything's just bigger over here."

"Yeah," he nodded, "I could imagine. I remember the first time I was in L.A... It completely blew me away."

"You mean you're not from here?"

He shook his head, "I'm from up north. I moved here a few years back to focus on my career."

"Yeah? What do you do?" You asked curiously.

"Hey; what's the point of not having names if you know all about my career?"

"That's not fair. You already know that I'm a nerd," you winked up at him, pronouncing the last word as he would've.

He smiled down at you, "yeah sorry for calling your field of work nerdy earlier," he laughed awkwardly.

"I work in a lab. It is nerdy to be honest," you laughed, "no need to worry."

"It's just... I don't think I've ever pictured anybody looking like you to... you know.... actually be a nerd," he chuckled.

"We come in all shapes and sizes," you winked up at him and noticed how his smile grew wider, "as I'm sure people in your line of work do."

"Smooth u-turn you just did there," he laughed at you, "Well," he drawled, "if you absolutely must know, I moved to L.A. to focus on my music."

"You're a musician?" You looked up at him. Of course he was. Probably one of those douchy John Mayer-types who brought their guitar everywhere and always had to play Wonderwall at every. single. party. "Is that where I know you from? Am I currently being walked home by a well-renowned musician that girls from all over the world would be dying to be serenaded by?" You laughed.

"I assure you that millions of girls would kill to be in your position right now - but I highly doubt that it's because of the music," he chuckled, "I don't even have an album out."

"What kind of music do you do?"

"Rap mostly," he said proudly.

You looked him over; you would not have taken him for a rapper. "Oh, that's... cool," you said quietly.

He looked at you with a bemused smile, "what? You don't like rap music?"

"I hate it..." you whispered with a chuckle.

"WHAT?" He bellowed while looking at you with huge eyes, "are you insane?"

"Right after accordion-music, it is the worst genre there possibly could be! It's probably what they play for you when you enter the gates of hell."

"I've finally done it," Rafa looked shocked, "I've gone and found the only person in L.A. that doesn't like rap. You're probably the type of person who'd murder me in my sleep!"

It made you laugh loudly, "well how else would I know what kind of music they play you down there." He chuckled at your comment and you continued, "sorry. It's just not really my style."

Rafa clutched his chest, "I'm offended! How can it not be?"

"I didn't grow up with rap music," you laughed, "Name one famous British rapper!"

"Uh, easy!" He started counting on his fingers, "Skepta, Dizzee Rascal, Giggs, Doctor Green, The Streets, Stormzy - should I just keep going?"

"Okay, okay you've made your point. Apparently, I'm uncultured."

"So, what do your uncultured ears like then? Adele? Ed Sheeran? One Direction? Should I throw in some Spice girls?" He joked.

You smacked his arm lightly, earning yourself a low chuckle from him, "oi, the fact that I'm English doesn't mean that I only listen to the pits of British music."

"Sorry," he continued in a chuckle, "but I am genuinely interested."

"Well I'm not going to tell you now. You'll just mock me!"

"If you don't tell me, I'll keep assuming the worst."

"That's not my problem," you laughed at him.

He blinked twice, his charming smile still in place, "You are easily one of the most interesting women I've ever had the company of. You keep surprising me."

"I'll take that as a compliment," you smiled up at him.

"Oh, you definitely should."

You kept walking side-by-side for a couple of minutes, talking about the differences between life in L.A. and life in London. Just like when you had observed him at the bar, he talked with much vigourosity, hands flying everywhere as he spoke, his fingers slightly brushing against yours on several occasions. You had no idea whether he was doing it on purpose or not.

He was in the middle of a story about something that had happened to him earlier that evening when you suddenly stopped dead in your tracks. He looked at you with raised eye brows, "what? Was my story boring you?"

"Not at all. But this is me," you nodded towards the small townhouse in front of you.

He let out a soft whistle, "Nice place. You live here alone?" He took in the building.

"I know it seems childish at my age but since the rent is expensive for a common student I atually have a room mate..."

"Having a roomie is not childish," he laughed, " I know society would have you believe that, but fuck 'em. It's much nicer than living alone. I have a roomie too; Diggs - you know, the guy you met earlier tonight."

"Oh! That's why he asked you to come home with him," you teased him.

Rafa shot back his head with laughter, "you really thought we were an item or something?"

"Hey, who am I to judge?"

Rafa continued to chuckle, "I love the man but it's completely platonic. Also; he's too ripped for my taste," Rafa joked.

"Waaaaay too ripped!" You chimed in, rolling your eyes to match Rafa's.

"So manly!"

"Too manly!" You continued in an over-exaggerated tone.

"...And he definitely doesn't have enough tattoos!" He continued.

"That man is a boring plain canvas," you joked.

"I keep telling him that a tattoo on his pec would do him good. But - sigh - he never listens."

You looked him over and couldn't hold back a small snicker, "Strong words coming from you."

"Yeah? What do you mean?"

"You're not exactly the 'tatted up'-type, now are you?"

"I have several tattoos," he chuckled.

"Eh, you do?"

"Yeah," he nodded with a vibrant smile, "on my chest and arms."

"I did not see that coming," you laughed.

"See - I can be interesting and unpredictable too," he looked awfully proud of himself, "How about you? Do you have any?"

"I do," you nodded, "just a small one. It's embarrassing really..."

"Yeah? Where?" He smiled sweetly. Even though it was dark, you could easily make out his charming crooked tooth.

"Uhm..." you contemplated not telling him but ended up thinking to hell with it, "it's on my inner thigh," you said carefully. Talking about your dumb tattoo that was located at a highly sexual place wasn't exactly something you'd normally do with men you'd only just met.

"Inner thigh, huh?" He licked his lips while examining your face, "not gonna lie; the thought alone turns me the fuck on!" He laughed, "why don't you invite me inside so we can study eachother's  tattoos?" He took a step closer to you. The sweet, charming guy who you'd had the pleasure of walking by your side was suddenly replaced by the fuck boy from the bar.

"You really don't waste your time, do you?" You laughed at him. Men you'd been on several dates with back home in England hadn't even been half as forthcoming as this guy was and you hadn't even known him for more than a couple of hours.

"Sorry," he shrugged while not looking the least bit apologetic, "I might've had a drink too many, but all I've been able to think about tonight has been how I want to take you home and get to know you better," he said while leaning in and stroking his thumb on the side of your arm, "you seem... different."

"Okay; full disclosure," you said with a sigh, "you're cute and all, but I'm not going to sleep with you."

He sent you a pout, "why not?"

"Well, as much a turn-on as it is to have a grown man beg you for sex," (he laughed at that), "I'm not going to have casual sex with someone I've only just met."

"Who says it has to be casual?" He smirked while leaning even closer, "I can do you good."

"God, you're insufferable," you rolled your eyes at him while fighting the urge to just jump him.

"But the good kind of insufferable, right?"

You laughed at his remark while slowly leaning closer to him, "no," you whispered.

"I'm really fighting hard not to kiss you right now," he groaned as he released his lower lip from between his teeth, a small smile playing on the corners of his mouth. His put hands on your waist, and he was slowly edging his face closer to yours.

Your fingers easily found the back of his skull, and you softly nuzzled with his hairline, silently telling him that it'd be alright for him to kiss you.

His hungry gaze was fixated on your smile as his lips came crashing onto yours, finally closing the distance between you completely. As soon as your lips touched, he stopped dead in his tracks however; he was clearly waiting for you to take the next step - which you did, but not as fiercely as he would have hoped; instead of attacking him - as he was used to when he normally whipped up this move - you captured his lips in a soft, tender kiss, lips barely touching but still with so much raw emotion spilling into him, that he was left with a weird feeling in his chest. He thought to himself that the way you reciprocated the kiss almost was... loving? It was definitely something he hadn't tried in years.

He was about to pull you closer and advance further into the kiss, when you pulled your face away from his and whispered, "I've had a great night tonight. Thank you." You stepped out of his arms.

"Ah, you're being serious," he said with just a hint of hurt to his voice, trying to pull you back to him without any luck.

"Yep," you laughed while turning away from him.

"Hey," he called from behind you, "will I see you again?"

"You know where I live, don't you?" You looked at him over your shoulder. His hair was a mess and he was looking at you all innocently while you continued to walk away from him.

"What? You want me to make a big romantic gesture or something?" He laughed.

"You have my address, do what you want," you smiled before turning away from him and towards your front door.

You heard him groan from behind you as you put your key in the door, "Hey, I don't even know your name!" He bellowed.

"It's Margarita Girl."

"Aw, come on. The least thing you could do is give me your name," he called from the pavement.

"Goodnight Rafa," you laughed before the door closed shut behind you.

[billyspotato]

Heyy could you do a rafe Cameron imagine where he cheats on her in a party and then she finds out from the piggies and confronts him. They then break up for a couple of weeks until he can’t take it anymore and wants her back?? Can you make it reallyyyyy angstyyy?😭😭🥰💕

A/N: I really hope you like it!! I changed a few things to make it more angsty, hope that’s okay.

Cheat on you - Rafe Cameron

Words: 2.905 words

Type: Angst

Warnings: English is not my first language, therefore, sorry for any misspelling. Drug use. Sarah being a bitch. Mentions of rehab.

A/N: Gif’s not mine :)

It was around midnight when you finally found your friends in this random party and started to share various drinks with them. Now, it’s around 2 and you would be lying if you said that you’re even slightly sober.

“Hey, didn’t you come with Rafe?” Your friend asks with slurred words.

“Yeah, why?”

“Where is he?” She asks while looking around, as if she was looking for him before letting out a giggle.

“I don’t know. Maybe with his friends” You say, smiling at her contagious giggles.

You take another sip from your cliché red cup while looking at your friend, which is bobbing her head at the song that her sober-self hates. You’re so ready to make fun of her in the morning.

You look down at your phone, expecting Rafe’s usual text to know your whereabouts and you slightly frown at the lack of notifications.

Your friend continues to dance around you, waving her arms in the air and sometimes closing her eyes as if she was feeling the music, and the only thing you could do was laugh or just smile at her.

You look around you, through the stupid amount of people in this ‘small’ party and try to find your missing boyfriend. He couldn’t be far, right?

After some time of looking around, you feel somebody tap your shoulder. You turn around quickly, expecting it to be your drunken friend, but it actually is your ex-best-friend, Kiara.

“Can I help you?” You ask with a slightly annoyed tone.

You and Kie were the best of friends. You, Sarah and Kie were the best trio in the whole island. But that was until Sarah’s birthday and the whole calling the police situation. The trio became two duos, and you were right in the middle of them. But of course, that duos ended when Sarah and Kie, separately, discovered that you had started dating Rafe.

Sarah was disgusted at the fact that you were dating her brother, she even ended up saying that you were probably using her for all this time so you could get to Rafe. And Kie, she just shoved in your face all the times that he had been mean to her friends or anything of the sort.

So yes, after that, you were just alone. When coming over to Rafe’s house, you had to make sure to not come close to Sarah and, of course, refuse every invite from Rose to have dinner with their family. Sarah just hated you with everything in her. But Kie on the other hand was easier to stay away, especially after she started hanging out more with the pogues - far away from Figure 8.

By the end of all of this, it was just you and Rafe against everyone. You had to go to school alone and stay there with no friends or anyone to hang out with. After school, you had Rafe, which always seemed available to hang out with you. And that was it. 2 years ago, when it all fell down.

Sarah doesn’t hate you anymore, but she still doesn’t want to be associated with you in many ways. And you practically don’t ever see Kie.

“There’s something you might need to see,” She tells you.

With that, Kie grabs your wrist and pulls you away from your drunk friends and over to a more deserted area of the party, where you could actually see the back porch of the house.

“She has been all over Rafe since you two got here” She says while pointing at the tall guy broad-shouldered blonde, that you call your boyfriend.

A girl is standing right next to him, her hand on his arm sometimes giving it a squeeze to make him look at her. And Rafe… He’s high out of his mind. You can tell just by the way that he’s leaning back, and his eyes are almost closed.

“How do you know that she is flir-” You ask Kie, not taking your eyes out of the girl and Rafe.

“JJ heard her when he went in to go to the bathroom” She explains, her hand now moving over to your elbow, grabbing you lightly. “She was saying something along the lines of ‘getting out of here’ and moving somewhere else”

You’ve never seen the girl in your life; therefore, your brain wants to believe Kie and what she’s saying. But your heart doesn’t, for all the times you have felt bad and Kie was never there for you, all just because of your boyfriend. The person she’s trying to warn you about.

You just want to walk in there and pull Rafe away from her, but what does that prove? That you need to pull away your high boyfriend away from other girls, so he doesn’t do anything with them? You’re better than that.

You stay still next to Kie, watching it all happen, wanting to see what’s coming next.

The girl does not look like she’s ever going to give up on trying to grab Rafe’s attention, as she keeps leaning on him and making him look over at her. His mouth would move sometimes but you couldn’t really read his lips to find out what he’s saying, he’s too far and way too high for him to say anything with a more open mouth.

That’s when the girl risked it all, Rafe’s friends have looked away to talk to other people and she just did it. She just grabbed Rafe’s face and kissed him.

Your heart squeezed at the sight, but the sentence ‘he wasn’t the one to kiss her’ keeps replaying in your head making you start taking deep breaths. But that was until his hand moved away from the railing and over to her hip, right as his lips started to move with hers.

“Fuck,” Kie says with a tone of disbelief.

You felt like somebody just cut off your airways, air wasn’t going in or out. Your heart is pumping in your ears and you feel it in your fingertips. But your body just feels numb. It’s like if you passed out. Your legs were ready to give out and your hands were starting to shake, but that wasn’t just because you were sad, oh no. Your blood is almost boiling with anger.

As your hateful gaze stayed on your boyfriend, Kie was just in pure shock. She did not expect this to happen or even go this far.

That’s when Topper came along. He was talking to Sarah on the other side of the porch when this all happened. Once Sarah’s eyes drifted away from him to you and Kie, he followed her eyes to yours and with that, to Rafe.

Topper’s eyes widened in shock as he saw it, but he just took action into his own hands right away. He practically ran over to his best friend and pushed the girl out of his grip, making Rafe open his eyes and look over at Topper.

“Are you fucking stupid?” Topper screams at the top of his lungs.

That you heard, and you answered it right away in your head. Yes, he is fucking stupid.

The anger in you evaporated as Rafe looked over his shoulder to find you, guilt was written all over his face.

You pull your arm away from Kie’s grip and you just start walking away. You can hear over the loud music at least 3 people calling you, but you didn’t look back or even stop.

You just want to go home.

As your eyes filled with tears and a sob fought its way out of your chest, you heard someone running over to you.

“Y/N”

That voice. The same exact voice of the one person that decided to destroy everything you have ever shared for a random tourist. The same exact voice that belongs to the person that you have sworn to always love and never stopped loving. Not even now.

Rafe’s warm hand grabs your wrist and pulls you towards him. You, on the other hand, just keep trying to get off him and run away.

“No, please. Y/N, listen to me” He says, making your heart shatter once more.

“Let me go, Rafe, please,” You say in a weak tone, letting out a sob as he tries to pull you closer to him.

“I didn’t do it on purpose,” He says, and you sob louder while looking up at his eyes.

“Rafe, I saw you kiss her,” You say while letting all of your tears wet your face, letting all of them fall.

“I know, but I didn’t know who I was kissing,” He says while quickly moving his hands over to your face, cupping it and trying to wipe your tears away with his thumbs. “I thought it was you”

You aren’t resisting him anymore. You don’t see a reason to do it. He won’t let you walk away freely if you just don’t listen to his explanation. So, that’s what you’re doing, listening.

“How did you not know, Rafe?” You say in a whisper.

“I’m high out of my mind right now, Y/N. I promise that’s all it was” He says lowering his head down to yours.

“Rafe-” You try again, “I don’t believe you” and with that, you just sob into his warm hands.

“So, tell me how can I can prove it to you?” He says in a whisper as well, “I love you so much. You know I would never do that if I was completely myself”

“But Rafe…” You start, “You get high almost every night with your friends - when you’re not yourself -how do I know that this hasn’t happened before?”

“It hasn’t, I promise with everything in me. You can ask Topper, or Kelce or whoever. They wouldn’t lie to you” He says as your noses touch from how close you two are.

“I just want to go home”

Rafe wipes the tears off your cheeks as you sob silently while, now, looking at the ground. His breathing is quick, and his chest is heavy, he even fells lightheaded. And not from whatever drug he just took, but from this whole situation.

“Let me walk you home” He offers.

“No, Rafe,” You say, looking up at him. “I need space… And time”

Rafe stays silent for some seconds, his mind going a mile a second.

“Does that mean that we’re-”

“Breaking up? Yeah, Rafe, we are” You answer.

“But I love you,” He says, not really knowing what to say.

“I love you more, Rafe,” You tell him, “But what you di- I just can’t ignore it”

Rafe lets you go as you say that and as you slightly pull away. Your eyes water once you see his glistening with the light right next to you, at the side of the house.

You turn around and start walking out of the backyard and to your house, which is close enough for you to run there quickly.

Rafe stayed on the exact same spot for at least 4 minutes, silent, letting his thoughts get the better of him but also letting his tears freely fall, not caring who sees it. With that, he wiped them away and went back in the backyard, where everyone that ran behind you two (Topper, Kie, JJ, and Sarah) were looking at him.

“Good job, asshole,” Sarah tells him, but to her surprise, he ignores her completely.

He walks up the porch and grabs his stuff from the chair before turning back around and leaving, not giving a fuck about the cocaine that is now left on the table or the small bag of weed next to it.

“I’ll drive you home,” Topper tells him as he passes by him once more, making Sarah frown at him.

(…)

A few weeks have passed, you don’t really know how many. Your life has only been staying in bed and watching shows on Netflix, nothing more.

Rafe started to leave you messages and voicemails after week two, asking if you two could talk again. You never answered or picked up, but he knew that you were at least alive because of your mom, who answered every weekly call from your house phone.

The scenario of the other night has replayed so much in your mind that you’ve dreamed about it, which resulted in you always waking up sobbing or just silently crying. But that was until week 3, after that, you started eating and texting your friends as you would before it all happened.

Now, you couldn’t really cry anymore. Your mom even joked about you not having any more water in your system, which surprisingly made you laugh. And you’re still sure that you love Rafe. You haven’t changed you lock screen either, which has a picture of Rafe laughing at you behind the camera. Or even deleted any pictures from your phone, not even one.

You don’t hate Rafe. You feel like you can’t mentally or physically do it. He has done so much for you that you just can’t. Even after what he did.

You don’t know how he is now, even though your mom does. She knows that right after week 2, Rafe just signed himself in a rehabilitation system to get himself cleaned, which didn’t take long. People say that everything is done faster if you have some sort of motivation, and Rafe is the living proof of that. And that even shocked Sarah, who just thought her brother was just a lost cause.

Today, you’re home alone, cooking yourself lunch while listening to music. But that was until you heard your doorbell ring.

You expecting it would be your mom, which has forgotten her keys too many times for the last month and a half, walk over to the door before opening it.

Your breathing stops as your eyes land on Rafe, who looked surprised at the sight of you.

“Hi,” He says, careful with his words.

“Hey,” You tell him in a whisper.

“How are you?” He asks while shoving his hands in jacket’s pockets.

“Better. And you?”

“I’m good,” He says while nodding, taking a good look at you. “Sorry, I wasn’t really expecting on seeing you”

“Who did you expect?”

“Your mom,” He says, but then shakes his head, “That sounded wrong. I’ve been coming over to talk to your mom for the past week about you, that’s all”

“Past week?” You ask confused.

“Yeah, I’ve been calling for a few weeks now but since I got out of- Uhm- re- rehab” He says almost chocking with the word, not really proud in saying that, “Your mom and I have been talking in your house”

“You went to rehab?”

“Yeah. I got out of there quick, they said I went there still pretty early in my addiction. So, everything went by really quick” He says, half lying.

You stay silent after that. You don’t know what to say. You missed him terribly, but you still aren’t over what he did.

“Actually, that’s kind of a lie” He starts once feeling pressured over the silence, “I got cleaned for you” He admits, making you bite your lip while deep in thought.

Silence, once more.

“I still love you like before” Rafe admits, making you look up at him. “It’s okay if you don’t love me anymore, I’ll understand,” He says, while his expression says the exact opposite.

You know that he’ll be heartbroken if you tell him anything of the sort, but to be honest, so will you. You just can’t lie to him.

“Are you trying to do Rafe?”

“I want to talk to you about that night,” He says sincerely, “You know I could never cheat on you. I would never betray you like that”

“But you did, Rafe. You were high out of your mind, but you did cheat on me” You tell him.

“You’re right. And that’s why I got cleaned” He says, taking his hands out of his pockets, “And also because I love you”

“I love you too Rafe,” You say, making the weight lift out of both of your chests, “But I don’t think I can forgive you just yet”

“That’s fine,” He says right away, “Don’t feel pressured into doing anything or saying anything. I’ll wait for you” He says, and you bite the inside of your cheek, “Even if that means that I have to wait until we’re 80”

A smile grows into your face and you shake your head slightly. With that, you pull away from the door and wrap your arms around his neck, pulling him into a hug. His arms wrapped around you quickly and you rest your head onto his shoulder, breathing in his cologne.

“Thank you” You whisper to him.

“You don’t need to thank me. I did what was right”

You pull away and Rafe lets you go as if he’s scared that you might think he’s holding you for too long.

“I have to go finish my lunch,” You tell him, and he nods.

“Will you call me when you know the answer?” Rafe asks before you could take another step back.

“Of course, I will,” You say with a really small smile while walking back inside your house, “Bye,” You say while closing the door slightly while listening to his small ‘bye’.

- - - - -

I actually really like how this turned out.

- - - - -

🌸✨Sorry, but I’m not writing in this account anymore. Go check out my new one @twinklelilstarkey✨🌸

[clevernewdimension]

Polaris Part Fourteen

Parts: Preview, Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven, Part Eight, Part Nine, Part Ten, Part Eleven, Part Twelve, Part Thirteen, Part Fourteen, Part Fifteen (Coming soon!)

Genre: Action, drama, romance, sci-fi, etc.

Paring: Jongin x Character

Word count: 4.1K

A/N: I have been a mess, but I’ve managed to write this. Thank you all for your support. It’s been hard to write for me, but I’m trying because it’s what y’all deserve after being so wonderful and kind to me. Just... be sure to tell your loved ones that you love them and tell them often. Because you will never know when it will be the last time they hear you say it.

I frown, looking out at the hangers and seeing supplies being loaded up. The feeling in the air has changed drastically. It was once pretty calm and peaceful here on the island. Now, with the war looming, everyone was on edge, myself included. Though, one would assume they would be after almost dying. It’s been four days since the attack on my life. I’ve been in mandatory therapy twice a day since. One more day and I’m allowed back to work. I’m fully healed, the skin just a bit tender.

Sehun sits beside me, cleaning and making sure his upgraded high power pistol is ready to go. I see Yixing out on the beach, a few other special operatives with him as they look over various maps of Tribil. The important buildings, the security and blueprints. It was a very small planet compared to Earth, but the power it held was still massive. Kyungsoo was looking over and making a note of the medical supplies being gathered here, keeping the totals of it all from here and other Syndicate bases close by.

Soon, we’ll all be sent to different large ships, the size of space stations. War ships. The council will likely be on their own ship with a few Fighters there for security. They will be acting as the brains of the battle. Reacting to what is happening, developing strategies to best gain the upper hands and try to keep the deaths on our side as minimal as possible.

“What ship are you and Jongin assigned to,” I ask, looking over.

‘Warship 3H793GT,” He says, looking up at me, “Also known as ‘The Vengeful Valor’.”

I sigh with relief, letting out a breath I was unknowingly holding. “Me too.”

“I know,” Sehun says with a smirk, “I actually requested you before anyone else could. Since Jongin is technically still out on medical leave until…,” He looks at his reader, checking the time, “Five minutes from now, if any other high ranking pilots would have requested you first, and they would have, they would have gotten you.” He smiles, “Besides, I don’t want to hear Jongin complaining about you having to be anyone else's mechanic.”

“Thank you,” I mutter quietly to him, knocking my knee into his.

All he does back is wink.

Minseok looked stressed as he walked by, checking on all the weapons and supplies. I frown, looking down at my new laser pistol and knife. They were placed there for me but I have yet to touch them. The beam of energy went from being white and bright as light to a black color from the power shift. The knife does the same. I could cut through unarmored skin as if it was air. It's that powerful. It has to be, since we’re going to be facing Myrthraians.

I was trained to kill. Grew up seeing death on every street corner. But, in all honesty, violence was never something I wanted to be a part of. I wanted to be better, to try to help people. But this life is better than what would have been the alternative. This one is a life where I would probably have to kill in order to protect myself or others. I’d take that any day. Especially over a life where, before, it was likely the only life I’d ever take would have been my own. If the Syndicate refused me, that was the plan.

Desperation for freedom will do that to a person. Death is freedom from the pain and suffering.

“Tribil will soon be free, Lyra,” Sehun says, looking back up. As if he can see what I’m thinking about. “The people there will no longer be slaves or starved. Everyone can go back to living there peacefully.”

“I wouldn’t be shocked if most of them just want to leave and never go back,” I say, my hands becoming fists.

“Then we will help them with that too,” He says, before I see his eyes glance over my shoulder. “Welcome back to the force.”

Before I could turn and look, I felt someone press a kiss to the top of my head before sitting down on the bench next to me. Jongin sighs. His eyes are red and puffy.

After his first session, he looked like he cried a lot, but I could tell he didn’t want me to mention it, so I didn’t. I just hugged him tightly. Now I place my hand on his knee, giving it a comforting squeeze.

“New weapons,” He asks, looking at Sehun’s and I’s pistols and knives.

“Yours are in your fighter,” Sehun says, “Checked the pistol, rifle and knife myself.”

“Thanks,” Jongin says, his hand moving over mine. It was warm. Comforting me back.

“You and I are going to be part of the front line,” Sehun says, “Twenty fighter pilots on our Warship including us, each with three back up fighters. I already took the liberty of putting my symbol on your back up ones. Not that you’ll need them, really.”

“Our codenames?”

“You and I are Gold One and Gold Two. On our Warship the other duos are called other colors. Silver, Red, Black, Blue, Green, Purple, Bronze, White, and Jade.” Sehun points at me, “Lyra will be handling the repairs for Gold team as well as Jade.”

“I take it Captain Allura is on a different warship,” Jongin mutters, “She’s the second best in all of the Syndicate.”

“You’d be right,” Sehun nods, “It would be stupid to have all of the best Fighter pilots on one warship.”

“Anyone else we know on our ship?”

“Baekhyun is our communications head officer,” I say, “He’ll be the one speaking directly to Junmyeon, who’s the master of communications for the whole army now.”

Jongin nods, “And what about Chanyeol? Yixing? Jongdae?”

“Chanyeol is on the same one as Amelia Allura,” Sehun says, a small pout on his face. “Jongdae is working on getting laws and shit sorted, so he won’t be leaving Mars until we’re about a quarter of the way to Tribil, then he and the Head of Justice will be escorted to HQ. Left early this morning for Mars, actuall.” Sehun’s pout grows, “And Yixing is… well, a ghost. He and the rest of Phoenix team six are likely in the process of getting deep undercover and starting the attack from within.”

“Did they say anything about their plan,” I ask, looking at the suddenly sad pilot before me.

“Nothing that can be repeated in the open like this,” He whines. “Even then it was just… barely anything he told me.”

“He’s a spy. That’s probably a good thing that he and Phoenix Team Six are keeping it close to the chest,” Jongin says, in an attempt to make Sehun feel better.

“This is what I get,” Sehun pouts, “For getting involved with a spy.”

I look away, seeing the large loading ships almost ready. Tomorrow we leave for the Warship. “We have to win,” I say, looking as the cargo ships start to take off.

“We will,” Jongin says, hand patting mine.

A cadet came, pulling Sehun away from us with something about his fighter that was here.

Dread filled me, thinking about Tribil. About Theo Rhys. What happens if we lose. Theo always gets what he wants. Except one time. He wanted the Syndicate to refuse me. But they didn’t and for the first time he had to face what it was like to not have something. Something, because all I was to him was a toy to be used.

“Lyra,” Jongin says as I see how he made me look at him. His eyes looking into mine as his thumbs wipes at my tears.

I turn, moving one leg so that I was straddling the mensch I was sitting on. I reach up, grabbing his hands from the sides of my face. “Jongin, I need you to promise me something.”

He looks at me, his eyes searching for whatever could have hurt me, “Anything,” He says, as he moves to sit like I was, facing me.

“If we are losing… if it’s a lost cause… I need you to make sure I don’t get to Rhys’s hand again,” I say, tears still falling.

I know what I’m asking of him is cruel. I know that it’s wrong. That this would be torture to him. But I can’t go back.

“I don’t understand,” He says, holding my hands tighter. Comforting.

“If he gets me and marks me, I will be his slave again,” I say, sobs starting to shake my body. “He will order m-me to live for him again. He’ll a-abuse me again. Rape me again. I-I can’t go back to that, Jongin. S-so… if there is no other way to save me from him, then I a-ask that you kill me.”

The horror on his face was gut wrenching. The pain. He shakes his head, “I can’t… Lyra, anything else. I can do anything else for you but please…”

“J-Jongin, please,” I mutter, my hands shaking. “Don’t let me go back to t-that. I’d rather my last me-memory of anything related to what he will force me be of you and not h-him. He w-will kill me, who I am, my s-soul. My body would be his puppet for YEARS. I’d rather the man I l-love kill me than have the person I hate most r-ruin me.”

The stare into my eyes was like he was looking directly at me. My self, wholly and completely laid bare emotionally for him to see. He looks down, hands squeezing mine.

“If there is no other way, I will do everything I can to free you from him, Lyra.” He says, before looking up, tears falling from his eyes. “If that means killing you so that deranged asshole can’t hurt you anymore… I promise I will. But it will be the absolute last resort.”

“I’m sorry,” I cry, as he pulled me into his arms.

“I understand,” He mutters, “I get it. If it was my father and going back to what he made me… I understand.”

My face rests on his shoulder as I cry. Horrified I would ask him that but terrified of the reality that could be if we lose.

Space travel on our little ship to Earth was homely. Small, but it felt cozy in a way. A warship is anything but cozy. I was assigned a bunk in a room with ten other people. Higher ranking officials have their own rooms. I’ve been too busy to even think about going to Jongin’s room. I get up, do everything I need to in the morning, eat, get to work on Fighters and oversee the work to other smaller aircrafts, have lunch, continue my work, have dinner, shower and fall asleep the second my head hits my pillow. The calluses on my hands are getting worse as I don’t have the time to take care of my hands. I’m just thankful there isn’t any blisters.

Even though Jongin and I haven’t seen each other for days, since we started the journey, we’re apparently the hottest topic of gossip. I see some officers look at me, quietly whispering away their rumors or disparaging my appearance. I ignore it, but after a few days, they’ve started to grow bolder with their disapproval of Jongin’s choice.

“Her back is so muscled it looks like a mans,” I hear a woman mutter as she is checking the hangar force doorwars, making sure they’re up to code.

Her friend, who was helping her, nodded, “Who would like someone who had smudges of grease on their face so often, too?”

“She’s somehow conned the most wanted man in the galaxies into da-Oh my god, look!”

I don’t look, focusing on making sure the tire for Jongin’s first backup Fighter was up to code. I feel someone’s hand on my arm as I look, seeing the man himself. He looked tired, but smiled at me as he surveyed the Fighter. The paint job on it is completely done. The name in the common language, Aryl 2. I rolled my eyes, seeing the glittering of golden paint of the names once more. On the side by the thrusters was a deep blue rose, his mother’s favorite I’ve come to learn. It was more plain this time, as he started a new place to count the tallies of ships shot down with this fighter.

“Looks good,” He says, “Not that I’ll need it, really.”

“You will if you decide to do your best suicide mission impression,” I say, shaking my head. “I will lose my shit if you ever do that again.”

I hear a small chuckle from him, “I swear I will not wreck another one of your pride and joys like that ever again.”

“Good, because there is only one backup Fighter stick so after that one would have to use the wheel just like everyone else,” I say, smirking at him.

“Well that’s just awful,” He says with a small smile. He looks at me in the eyes, and it makes my heart race just a moment. He glances at my cheek, “Did I ever tell you how cute you look with grease on your face?”

My face flushes, “Stop. We’re supposed to be professional.”

“You’re a professional at being cute.”

I roll my eyes, “First of all, that was just so cheesy and lame. Second, will you just take the second Fighter out on its test run, won’t you?”

He smiles, untying the pilot suit arms from about his waist and pulling them on. He zips up the dark blue suit, before reaching for his helmet. “You sure you don’t want to come this time?”

“And almost puke again? Pass,” I say, shaking my head. “Besides, it was brand new. No rebuilt anything. Should be fine without me. Besides,” I say, looking back, “I have two more I have to do before Dinner.”

He tosses his helmet in, turning to me. “Have dinner with me tonight.”

I nod, “Sure. I hear officers have better food anyways.”

He lets out a small laugh, “You just can’t say you want to see me, hm?” Before I could reply, his hands gently grabbed my face, pulling it to him as he pressed his lips to mine. It was very passionate for such a quick kiss that it left me red in the face. He smiles, before saying, “Hopefully this will stop people from saying such unflattering things about the woman I love.” He turns, looking at the two gossips who’s mouths are hanging open. Their faces flush with embarrassment before turning back to their work.

“For the record,” He says, muttering into my ear, “I think your muscular back is very sexy.”

I shove him, “Will you just get on with it!”

The laugh was like music to my ears as he started the Fighter. It sounded normal as I covered my eyes, watching it slowly and carefully take off out the hanger. The eyes of the two women look over andI just roll my eyes, before turning to the next fighter.

It was an older version of the model we use now, so it needed a bit more love than the others. One of the metal panels was loose so I had to weld that back to the ship. It was after that when Jongin came back. He lands easy, being sure to reverse the Fighter so that it can take off quick if needed.

When he exits the Fighter, he lands with a thump. I wiped the sweat from my face as I saw Sehun meet him and talk. The Fighter pilots spend a lot of their time in their units making sure to have their battle plans all set. Yesterday was Gold unit’s watch. When they’re on watch they fly around our warship, making sure there are no threats.

“Lang,” I hear a voice call.

I look over and see our Judiciary officer at the door. He was from a planet I wasn’t familiar with. His dark shin was a deep gun metal gray as his freckles looked like he had some glowing opals on his face. He was tall, about six and a half feet. “Come with me,” He says, “We have a few things to sort out.”

“Alright,” I say, before looking back to the other mechanics, “This last Jade team fighter just needs the tire pressure adjusted and it’s engine looked at.”

“Yes Ma’am,” A younger woman says. Fresh recruit.

I turn, quickly washing the grease off my hands and face before following him. He leads me to his office in the officers section of the ship.

“My name is Officer Yvetal Rit and we’re here to discuss what should happen to your assets should something tragic occur to you,” He says, looking at me. He sighs, “I know it’s not what you want to do, but it needs to be done. But first...”

He passes a reader towards me, “Sign here to show you’ve been informed that Major Kim Jongin has, should something happen to him, left all his assets, monetary or physical, to you.”

“What,” I ask, looking at him in the eyes. My heart started to race. To me? Everything? I look at the paper, seeing a very very VERY large sum of money as well as a few of his bigger and more important items listed. My heart was in my throat looking at this.

He smiles, “He did. Please.”

I quickly sign the line on the reader, seeing him look at him, nodding.

“Major,” I mutter, “He didn’t tell me that he was promoted.”

Officer Yvetal chuckles a bit, “So, Lang-”

“Two can play at this game,” I say, looking at him. “All of my shit goes to him if something happens to me.”

I see him smile, “He said you would do that.” I see him type some things into the reader, before passing it to me. “Handprint and signature to confirm you wish to leave everything to Major Kim.”

I press my hand to the screen until I hear the beep of confirmation. Then I quickly sign my name.

“Should you pass away, what would you like to have done to your remains should we be able to collect them?”

“Incinerated and…” I stop, thinking. “My ashes spread at the base we left on Earth.”

He nods, “Alright. Sign and handprint again, please.”

I do that again before he nods, “Well, that’s all set. Thank you for making this easy instead of listing off twenty people to give things to.”

I smile, “Some people are that bad, hm?”

“You wouldn’t believe,” He says, standing and holding out his hand, “Thank you, Miss Lang.”

I shake his hand before leaving the office. I see Sehun standing outside the office, “Your work for the day is done.”

“Hello to you too,” I say, rolling my eyes.

“Soon you’ll have to meet the medical officers and give the power over your medical decisions over to someone should you don’t be of sound mind or awake to make them,” He says, looking over at me. “Yixing is my number one, then it’s Jongin… then you.”

My eyes go wide, “Really? Me?”

“I know you’ll choose based on what you think I would want,” He says, nodding. “I already know Jongin is going to be your number one, but they will ask for at least one other in case something happens to them or they’re indisposed.”

“Um… You, I guess…. And Kyungsoo?”

“Fuck,” Sehun mutters, “I should have chosen Kyungsoo.”

I smile, before he takes my arm, “Come on, I’ll help you get to Jongin’s room.”

“When was he going to tell me he’s a Major now,” I say, pouting.

“He doesn’t really care about rank to be fair,” He says, looking at me. Sehun smirks, “You must have been shocked at the money he would leave you, hm?”

“He’s fucking loaded,” I say, shaking my head.

“He’s not one to spend frivolously,” Sehun says. “He’s mostly wanting to get a place on a planet somewhere after he retires. Peaceful, you know?”

“With his battle experience, he could retire early,” I point out.

The more battles you’ve been in, the shorter your time to retirement is. You do risk your life, after all.

“He could retire now,” Sehun says, looking at me, “He has that much experience. I know, because I have the same.”

I laugh, “I still have a few years before I get enough mechanic experience.”

Sehun glances over, “But you also have battle experience. Pilots have twenty-five year contracts that go down with battle experience because battle experience reduces the time quickly. Mechanics have ten year contracts. With your six years experience plus your battle experience from the two battles you’ve taken part in, you’ve probably had a few months after this war. Unless you get into another battle, then you’d be clear too.”

My eyes widen, “Battle experience is that much?”

“For mechanics? Absolutely. It counts double for people who are not Fighter or Bomber pilots, spys, ground fighters, et cetera.”

“Fucking hell,” I say, shaking my head.

Sehun stops in front of a door, knocking. “Tell Jongin I say that our next patrol is tomorrow morning.” He smiles, walking away.

The door opens and I see Jongin. He was still in his flight suit, though tied around his waist like before. He glances at me from the reader in his hand, smiling. “Hi.”

I smirk, before saluting. “Hello, Major Kim.”

He groans, “Who told you.”

“Judicial. When I found out you could potentially leave me a shit ton of money.”

He moves to the side, letting me in. It was a nice room. It had a desk, a private bathroom and, to the left, a full sized bed. Much bigger than my single bunk.

“So you found that out, hm,” He says as I walk by him.

I nod, “Did the same back to you. Not that I have anything really…”

He laughs, “I knew it.”

The dynamic outside the door was all around us as it shut. An air of fear. Terror knowing you’re about to head straight into a battle where many will die. When you and your loved ones can die. I couldn’t get my mind off of these thoughts as Jongin so graciously let me use his shower instead of the community ones those of us of lower ranks would use. How many people with those tattoos are going to be made to fight us? To die because of us? How many of my fellow Tribians are going to make it out of this war alive? Any?

I pulled on one of his t-shirts, looking at myself in the mirror. I look exhausted, and this is from the emotional turmoil alone. The stakes that Yixing and I have in this war are higher than most. If we fail, we will be sentenced to a fate worse than death itself.

Briefly, my mind saw that disgusting man over me. A memory of him using me for his sick needs. I shake my head, try to steady my shaking hands as I looked at myself once more in the mirror.

I turn, leaving the door and I see Jongin on his bed. He was dressed comfortably and he leaned up, his eyes full of worry. It was then when I finally broke. I moved to him, pushing him to lay down. I curled my body to him and just sobbed. All of my tangled maze of emotions finally coming out bit by bit has led to the flood. The stress, the fear, the worry… it all came out as I felt him wrap his arms around me. Soft words muttered to me, but he was letting me have this time. This moment of safety to let it out.

And I do. I cry so long that my head pounds, my throat was sore and my hands were shaking. It was like I was preemptively morning to loss of many of my people, of my friends and allies. I will probably see this as cathartic tomorrow, but for now all I feel is utter fear and almost hopelessness. The only way I could have ever let his out is because of the feeling of safety Jongin gives me. A small part of me feels sorry for doing this to him, but I know he wouldn’t mind.

His arms are the only comfort I have right now. His presence. The warmth of his body next to mine. It was only because of him I even managed to get a restful sleep for the first time since I was attacked on Earth. And for that I will forever feel grateful.

[the-hotter-otter]

Strangers || ATEEZ Fanfic

Seonghwa X OC

Mafia/Crime AU

3.7k words

Part 3 || chapter list || previous chapter || next chapter

Hyejin can’t fully commit to Seonghwa’s tempting offer, meanwhile Hongjoong continues to keep secretes.

Warning: blood, minor death, injury, violence, knife use

Angst, fluff, smut, cussing, violence, death

note: ayo shit will start moving soon I promiseee, I seriously don’t know where this story is gonna go but fuck it we’ll see. 

No pov

Hongjoong wasn’t at all surprised when Seonghwa came into his office late at night. He could tell there was a lie in between the lines Seonghwa spoke when he confronted the two last week. Being best friends for years with a bit of blood, death and guns on the side really did bring people together. 

“What’s her name?” Hongjoong asked, he couldn’t stay mad at Seonghwa. Hongjoong knew punishment wasn’t necessary on the eldest who was already racking his brain on it, as a leader he could tell when further discipline was needed and when it was best to leave it to their own self conscience. “If she’s staying here, I should at least know.”

“Lee Hyejin,” Seonghwa said, cursing the weird feeling of familiarity he felt after saying her name. 

“Lee hyejin?” Hongjoong quirked an eyebrow, he’s definitely heard of the name from somewhere, he just couldn’t pinpoint where. “Sounds familiar.”

Seonghwa merely nodded, somewhat glad that Hongjoong didn’t directly question him. “I’ll take responsibility for her.”

Hongjoong liked the sound of that, though it didn't change the fact that he was overlooking one more person. “That means a lot of things hwa, keeping her in line, taking care of her, watching her and protecting her if shit goes down.”

“She isn’t 5.” Seonghwa sighed, “I’m not spoon feeding her.” 

“But she knows.” Hongjoong reminded him, “and she knows she has you wrapped around her finger, people take advantage of that.” 

“I can always shoot her.” Seonghwa said as if it were so simple.

Hongjoong looked him up and down, silently judging the older one. Hongjoong sighed, he wasn’t exactly up for this kind of conversation at 2:30am, “Dramatic much... Aish don't waste the bullets, the suppliers have been shitty to us lately.”

“What I’m saying is you won't have to worry,” Seonghwa said, “you’ll barely notice her.”

Hongjoong looked Seonghwa up and down, “you want her to stay that badly?” 

Seonghwa was taken back by the other’s awkward perspective, “yes? There really isn’t any ulterior motive.”

Hongjoong gave a dawdled nod as he chuckled, “I’m playing with you hwa. Bring her in, I’ll let the others know of our latest addition.”

Seonghwa was about to step out of the office when Hongjoong suddenly spoke up again, “don’t forget about that task I gave you.”

Seonghwa gave a sharp nod, “I'll see to it by the end of the day.”

“Dont fuck up!” Hongjoong noted loud enough for the other to hear, he could imagine the rise he got from it. Deep down he was just joking, after all, Seonghwa never fucks up. 

Hongjoong enjoyed the tease he gave his best friend, more often than not, the former was in tight situations with serious consequences, loosening up was often the last thing he’d find himself doing. 

His smile was short lived when he suddenly felt the vibrations of his phone, and it wasn’t from the bold red one that was sprawled on the desk with the many papers. His face dropped drastically upon realizing that someone was calling the phone hidden deep in his pockets. There was only one person who’d be ringing. 

Mazaki Meiyo.

“Yes?” Hongjoong cautiously spoke up, his eyes darting around the office. He got up and opened the door to check if anyone was giving his conversation a listen. 

“They moved the deal.”

Hongjoong pinched the bridge of his nose, “when?”

“In an hour. You know just as well as me that this isn’t going to end smoothly.”

“Your deals rarely end well.” Hongjoong scoffed bitterly, he pulled the phone away from his ear when the other line went dead. He had to go now if he were to make it in time, he couldn’t afford to be late, not for these kinds of deals. 

Hongjoong pushed off his seat and swiftly buckled his hidden artillery onto his thigh and around his torso, making sure that his best weaponry was in close reach, ready for whatever conflict he was about to get into. Pulling the hood over his masked face, he checked the location Meiyo had sent him. 

The leader eyed the pile of paperwork that was due in a matter of days, he dreaded the inevitable all-nighters we’ll have to pull because of it. 

As Hongjoong left the household in silence, he turned his main phone off completely and stowed it in a hidden compartment. No one was going to find him tonight.

-

Hyejin pov

I stared at the phone screen in dismay, the loan shark has been after my ass for the debt I’ve yet to pay. I've been trying, but even after much struggle I only possess half of what I owe. 

I hated to take that offer from Seonghwa, the money from that deal would have covered my debt and rent from my residence long enough for me to make something out of a scrubby part time job, he just had to ruin me once more.

Then again, what other choice do I have? I leaned back on the wall of the alleyway, I don’t know anyone in this world. I was forgotten years ago, Seonghwa is the last person I’d go with, but he’s also the only one. 

My eyes drifted to the tall buildings around, they blocked the sunlight from ever entering these shabby alleys with large bins and locked deserted gates and doors. I met with the gazes that had been watching me for a while now, in a building a few blocks away yet still in perfect view, two middle aged men who most likely reeked of cigarettes and alcohol admired me from their apartment which could easily come off as an abandoned building left to collect dust and grime.

I squinted my eyes as I felt my vision start to give into fatigue, unrealistic hues of blue and neons started bouncing around. Every now and then, the migraine in my head would dust my eyes with a cloud of grey that blurred my sight ever so slightly. I sighed as I began seeing four instead of two weird men. I tried to refrain from focusing on anything, the lack of good sleep and food had me feeling all sorts of murky effects. 

Their stalkerish behaviour had been creeping me out for the past few days, despite it, I never saw a proper reason to leave the little spot I've claimed for rest. Plus, the odd duo hadn’t made any advances that had worried me thus far. 

The day continued, and the city had been busy as usual. Bikes raced down the side of the roads and paths, scaring the uptight mothers into a slur of curses. Teenage girls carelessly skipped around in their tiny croptops, powdery make up and flaunty shoes with boys their parents have no idea existed. Cars drove with their temperamental owners honking and anything and everything, then there were the workers who were either strolling around after their shifts or sprinting in swerves around people in effort to not be late.

Yet here I was sitting in a slump not so far from the hoards of people, absorbing the natural noises of the city that started to sound more like blaring megaphones instead of white noise. 9pm had crept faster than I expected, truthfully I wasn’t sure whether or not to go through with Seonghwa’s offer. I still had a chance to reconsider, perhaps I could deal with the information for money? After all, a controversial topic surrounding Seonghwa would no doubt bring in a big sum. 

I shook my head from the ludicrous thoughts, there was no guarantee in shady business, ever. It's a far-fetched plan, and the fact that I didn't have a name to my face meant I was that less convincing. 

Though I knew this offer would mean gambling my safety and if I were to stretch the possibilities, my own life. I still wasn’t 100% on board with the whole moving in with Seonghwa and whatever team he’s apart off, neither could I fathom the thought of that sinful man working with people, and that’s without mentioning his sudden change in attitude towards his victims.

It was yet another reason why I’m so reluctant to associate with him, because this isn’t the Seonghwa I was familiar with, he was a stranger, and no one is at ease when they’re affiliated with someone they don't know, especially when that person had guns, knives and all sorts of deadly possessions in their grasp. 

I groaned as I got up with a hazy mind. I looked up and to my suprise the stretchy men were back to watch me, it started to feel uncomfortable now. “Nice knowing you too I guess…” I keep my voice to a murmur. Soon I found myself heading to the meeting spot. 

My heart feels enraged with regret, and it’s impossible to ignore. There was a mere few minutes till the clock struck 9, I can get out of here now or never. 

The Central Train Station was quite grand. With multiple steps just to get to the entrance, neatly trimmed gardens surrounding the place and ancient pillars that held up the building. It was one of the older buildings that turned into a modern utility. 

“Fuck...” I muttered under my breath, “no, fuck this.”

Before I could think I was already speed walking to get the hell out of here. I had pride, I could at least preserve that after losing everything else. 

-

No pov

Blood coated the blade and splattered across the floor and walls of the office, the books on the shelf were drenched and soaking up every bit of red fluid. If only the man had just followed through with the deal, he wouldn’t have ended up dead. 

“What a hassle.” Seonghwa sighed, as he wiped his blade clean on his way out, though it was satisfying seeing the horrors painted on his face as Seonghwa taunted him, revenge for the knife he flung at Hongjoong during their last deal not long ago. 

Seonghwa analysed the slash along his shoulder area, it wasn’t serious at all but it sure did look ugly and soaked his dress shirt in a dark red, in the midst of the tension it felt numb but as his heart rate came down he could slowly feel the stinging pain emitting from the open flesh. He let out a relieved sigh after knowing that none of his own blood had ended up dripping anywhere. 

If it weren’t for the man’s sleeping family in the other room, Seonghwa could have easily finished it off with a bullet but he had to move silently. In turn, it cost him when the man felt fit to fight back with his own blade.

Seonghwa felt Hyejin was partly accountable for his injury. 20 minutes was a bit of a rush for a mission like this, but he had no choice if he was going to make it to the station in time. There was a chance that Hyejin wouldn’t even show up, and that chance made seonghwa unsteady and tense. 

As he pulled up to a red light he felt a distant memory unfold, one that brought a sense of discomfort.

Laughter bubbled up in the front of the car, toothy smiles that twinkled despite the gloomy rain outside. The lull of the music had been turned down for a while now as the soft chatter continued. 

“Hyejin, I told you I don’t need anything for my birthday.” Seonghwa insisted once more with a light chuckle, his one hand on the wheel while the other tried to hold her hand back. He watched in helplessness as she clipped the dangling toothless charm around the rear mirror of the car, her little laugh escaping her lips as it dangled between them.

“It’s cute! I’m telling you, you look just like him.” Hyejin insisted, “and that’s not even the best part.”

Seonghwa couldn't help but smile when the toothless unclipped in half to reveal a small photo framed inside, the details were minuscule but clearly contained the two of them on one of their more memorable dates. 

“Ya, this looks expensive, how much did you spend on me.” Seonghwa diverted the conversation as he observed the matte black of the green eyed dragon. 

“It wasn’t much, don't worry hwa.” Hyejin patted his hand, “I’ve got something else, it's more personal since I made it myself.” 

“So you have something else now?” Seonghwa sighed, though his stupid grin betrayed the annoyed look he tried to show.

The red light cascaded from red to orange to green and before hyejin could whip out the other half of her gift seonghwa sped off, “fine! I’ll accept your gifts, love.”

Seonghwa sneered at the Toothless charm he had yet to take off, if anything it became part of his car’s identity, making it slightly easier to navigate the garage of small black cars, specially on the days when all the vehicles would be together. 

Seonghwa had pulled to a slow stop in front of the station, hiding the charm was his first and foremost priority, Hyejin would most definitely recognize it. 

As he was about to yank the chain off, the corner of his eyes caught a sudden shadow appearing at the window.

Completely forgetting about the charm, Seonghwa halted in his seat, his hand already clasped around the gun latched onto him. It wasn’t until a hesitant Hyejin peered through the window did he relax his grip. On the other hand, Hyejin was feeling anything but relaxed, especially after seeing the bloodbath of a man in the driver's seat.

“So you’ll take my offer?” Seonghwa asked as if it wasn't already obvious enough, Hyejin scoffed. Her response was seen through the way she snuggled down into the passenger seat in a strained sigh of relief after being situated on the hard concrete for days on days.

Throughout the ride Hyejin had kept a careful observation of the roads they had been speeding across, if worse came to worse, she could make a run for it. 

Hyejin silently and subtly glanced around, the car itself hadn’t changed at all, not even the peppermint scent it gave off from the gum Seonghwa had been loyal to for most of his life, though it was currently heavily overpowered by the stench of blood. Hyejin didn’t want to know how and what got him that gruesome injury.

However, the most prominent and unusual feature that had still existed in the car was the all too familiar charm that dangled and swung around underneath the rearview mirror. The dragon's bright green eyes and toothy smile didn't go unnoticed, especially since Hyejin was the one who got it for him years ago. 

Hyejin had the decency to stay silent about it, the stiffness of the air was already far too overbearing, there was no need to intensify it’s sour atmosphere.

“It’s not just me who lives here.” Seonghwa brings up, 

“I figured.” Hyejin sighed, she had heard the many rumours over the years of how a certain group had been overturning the criminal world with unrivaled skill and accomplishments, they became big in the industry. This group of young, skilled men made a name for themselves and it became one feared by many, ATEEZ. 

Though it wasn’t just their skill that had made them the talk of many circles, it was the people within the group, the majority of which already had a reputation high on their shoulders. Hyejin had heard of the promising sniper who had joined their ranks, the insanely witty dealer who knew how to smooth talk his way to riches, the stealthy man who snuck into and claimed dangerous possessions without a single sound. 

Then there was the hitman who possessed the skill of 100 men, he was a young and promising lone wolf who had been rumoured to have joined ATEEZ.

Hyejin didn’t want to believe it was Seonghwa, in fact she didn't want to hear about anything related to Seonghwa, but it wasn’t possible when she was involved with loan sharks and illegal exchanges for the money she was in dire need for. Of course, because of her interactions with others, Hyejin was aware of Seonghwa’s growing skill and relevant changes, it disgusted her to say the least, how much better he had gotten at taking lives.

However the failed deal from last week confirmed her denial to be wrong, Seonghwa was well and truly closely associated with a group, and that group was no doubt ATEEZ.

“Dont try anything stupid.” Seonghwa warned, Hyejin rolled her eyes slightly, “I’m serious, I see the way you're memorizing these roads.”

Hyejin froze momentarily, she eyed Seonghwa who had removed his eyes from the road after stopping at a red light. Hyejin had forgotten how sharp he actually was, the intellectual from highschool still existed within him.

Hyejin got the chance to really see how much Seonghwa had changed, even underneath all of that stained blood and light smears of dirt, she could easily tell that his facial features had sharpened immensely, he wasn’t the same soft faced charmer that made highschool hearts throbs on a daily. If anything, Seonghwa now resembled a high class heartbreaker with a body count worthy enough for a world record. 

Of course some things don't ever change, like his lush lip and stunning eyes that stared back at her. Before the awkwardness could settle, Hyejin looked away, subconsciously glancing at the toothless charm. Seonghwa noticed the glare she gave it, his hands went to take it off but was ultimately stopped by the swat Hyejin gave.

“What’s the point of taking it off now? You had years to do that.” Hyejin raised an eyebrow. 

Seonghwa did not respond and merely sighed as he began moving on the road once again. Hyejin was taken back when they suddenly verged off into a bush area, what was a simple scenery of grass turned into a splatter of greenery. Trees towered high, vines and dense bushes had taken over, it was an untouched forest and they were driving right through it.

Hyejins eyes squinted in growing concern, she wanted to believe they were just passing through to get to another town, but her panic only continued to rise as they got deeper into the maze of nature. Her eyes glare at Seonghwa who seemed to have already expected her to build up doubts.

“Jump out and you’ll be as good as dead.” Seonghwa warned, as he quickly glanced at her stray hand reluctantly reaching for the handle.

“Where are we going Seonghwa….” Hyejin glowered at the driver who was rather unfazed. Even when the subtle sound of a knife being drawn was heard, Seonghwa didn't look away from the road.

The driver pushed his head back against the seat as soon as he caught sight of the fast approaching knife. With the blade a finger's length away, Seonghwa sighed, “I’m not gonna hurt. We’re going to the house, so put the knife down and have a little faith.” 

“Who the hell lives in a goddam forest?!” Hyejin hissed in a raised voice, her eyes teared up from staring so intensely into his side profile. 

“Put the knife down or we’ll both die.” Seonghwa lowered his voice, and Hyejin did not comply. The male halted the car to connect his eyes to hers, in one swift and unnoticeable movement, he grasped her wrist tightly, causing the knife to be let loose and drop to the pit of the car. Hyejin suddenly let a sharp exhale out as Seonghwa pinned her hand down in between them. She cursed her hazy headaches for causing the drastic disadvantage against Seonghwa.

“Stop panicking, we’re almost there.” Seonghwa said as he began driving once again, Hyejin didn’t attempt to squirm out of his hold.

“Your a fucking joke,” Hyejin hissed, “I’ll never put faith in you, not after all the shit you’ve done to me.” 

Soenghwa pinched his lips together at the indirect upbringing of her family’s murder. He wasn’t about to smooth that mess out now, it’ll require a calmer Hyejin and a better situation to explain. 

Hyejin tried to compose herself, but she knew the only way to soothe her panic was to see proof of what Seonghwa was saying.

As they pulled into the driveway of Horizon, Hyejin's tense shoulders melted into the seat. Seonghwa scoffed as he got out of the car first. The jerking of his head signalled for her to get out, hyejin sneered at the man, “give me a damn second will you?”

Seonghwa rolled his eyes before heading inside momentarily, most likely to check if anyone was still up in the early stages of the night. Hyejin took the time alone to get a good grasp at what she had just gotten herself into.

A house, full of dangerous men, in the middle of a forest and a single long ass road back to civilization. 

This wasn’t ideal at all, and Hyejin started to regret this more than ever.

As she took in short breaths her eyes trailed back to the rear mirror charm. All of a sudden, curiosity had her fiddling with the Toothless till it unlatched. She furrowed her eyebrows at the sight of the blank frame. It wasn’t that she was disappointed, it was merely confusion.

“But you keep the charm…” Hyejin glared at the Toothless that was once a gift of love. In the back of her mind she wondered if her other gift was still intact.

Hyejin could worry about that later. Right now, she needed to stay sane and alive, she knew well enough that she would never be guaranteed a way out of death's grasps. Relish in the house and slowly pay off her existing debt? Yes. Get comfortable and trust that your back will be safe in a distant place full of criminals? Hell no.

[stupidwithu]

Idk if youre still taking prompts but could you do one where peter thinks hes got the stomach flu and tries to tell people at school and at the tower but they all think hes trying to get out of tests and training. He ends up getting really sick and hides in his room cuz nobody wants to be around him since they think hes lying. It ends up being friday who convinces tony the kid isnt faking

thank you for another prompt! I actually almost declined it (I’m not a huge fan of the Boy Who Cried Wolf scenarios, especially with Peter) but I got randomly inspired. this is my first posted fic, so please be gentle lol

Peter Parker/MCU Sickfic

MCUtopia AU (basically canon except everyone survives Endgame)

__________

six words you never understood

“Hey, Ned,” Peter whispers. “do I- uh, do I feel warm to you?”

The two are seated in the front row of their first period class. Ned is juggling a handful of color-coded Spanish flashcards and taking deep, labored breaths (in through your nose, out through your mouth, Ned). Peter leans close to him as he speaks, freeing one of his best friend’s hands from the notes and attempting to bring it to his own forehead.

“Wha-” Ned pulls away just before the contact. “What are you doing, man?”

“I feel weird,” Peter mumbles through a tight jaw. It’s a bit of an understatement, but he really isn’t sure how else to phrase it. This morning, he felt weird; now, he’s got an unsettling ache in his limbs and the daunting taste of breakfast lingering beneath his tongue.

Ned looks confused - almost worried - for a second before his expression changes. “Oh, Hell no… Peter, you are not leaving me here to do this presentation alone!”

“I- What?” Peter glances at the mess of rainbow card-stock, then back to his friend, exasperated. “I won’t, but-”

“You look fine to me.”

“I feel sick, Ned.” As if on cue, a sickly burp rises in Peter’s throat. He lets out a quiet gasp, pressing a fist to his lips to stifle it. Ned doesn’t seem to buy it, though, and Peter can’t really blame him. He felt the same way this morning: Oh, this kind of stuff still happens.

“¿Estás nervoso?”

“Nervioso,” Peter corrects. “But, no-”

“See? Nothing to be worried about!” Ned exclaims, cheerful and borderline obnoxious. His eyes widen suddenly, and he picks up a neon green index card between his fingers. He flips it back and forth, then, “Me, on the other hand…”

“Leeds? Parker?” A stern, clear voice rouses Ned from his pre-hysteria. “¿Estás listo?”

“Oh, God.”

_____

It’s a miracle they make it through the four-minute presentation. Ned was surprisingly quick to get his stuttering under control, and once he did, Peter found it easy to hide behind his enthusiastic explanations and the flashy PowerPoint the duo had put together the week prior. They ended up getting a B (Ned isn’t that great at Spanish and Peter wasn’t much help), but the two were content with that, all things considered. Peter’s luck, unfortunately, was short-lived.

He extends a trembling hand to flush the toilet, wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his sweater as an extremely agitated “C’mon, man!” erupts from outside the stall. Peter hauls himself into a standing position with the help of some superhuman strength and a grip on the empty toilet paper dispenser. He mumbles a quiet “Sorry,” as he stumbles into the bathroom’s common area. Stopping at the sinks on his way out, Peter watches the cold water pool into his cupped hands with a dazed expression. When he remembers, he splashes his face with it, taking a second handful into his sour mouth and sloshing it around. He spits it out and grimaces.

Peter had spent the remaining two periods before lunch slipping in and out of not-so-subtle naps and texting Ned beneath his desk to try and keep himself sane. He’d completely given up on him by the third but, you’re spider-man text though. The worse he feels, the less he cares to convince Ned there’s something wrong. He obviously isn’t getting it, and Peter no longer has the energy to argue.

As soon as he takes his first wobbly step out of the overcrowded boy’s bathroom, he bumps – quite literally – into MJ, who remains firm after the collision, grasping Peter’s forearm with both hands to steady him.

“Holy shit, Peter.”

“I. uh-” Peter sighs, running a hand over his face. He no longer needs confirmation on the fever; he can feel it radiating off his own skin. “I’m sorry.”

She shrugs. “I was looking for you anyway.”

Peter glances up at her. He can’t read anything from her expression (he never can), so he just lets her finish.

“Happy’s here.”

“What?” Peter takes a few minutes to process the sentence. First, he’s caught off guard by the fact that MJ knows Happy by name, but this bewilderment is quickly overcome by wait, Happy’s here?

“What?” He repeats, but it’s no longer directed at her. He pulls his phone from his pocket, scanning over the multitude of notifications littering his lock screen.

Happy :) : I’m outside.

Happy :) : Peter.

Happy :) : Do I need to sign you out?

Happy :) : PETER

Happy :) : If I have to get off this car…

6 missed calls from Happy :)

Peter blinks, the light from his phone intensifying a headache he apparently hadn’t even noticed until now. He locks the phone, shoving it back into his pants and dashing past MJ with whatever speed he can muster. He catches her shoulder with his backpack.

“Sorry!” he shouts through gritted teeth, at the same time she calls out “Peter!”

He skids to a stop, turning clumsily to face her.

“Take it easy, okay?”

Peter nods, continuing his race to the Student Pick-Up area. He can’t help the smile that spreads across his feverish cheeks as he runs. If he didn’t know better, he’d say she was worried.

_____

“You… forgot…”

“Happy, I’m so sorry.” Peter pants. He’s outside the black sports car now, doubled over with his hands on his knees, panting at the road beneath his feet. It seems to sway under his weight, so he closes his eyes to regain balance. “I’ve just- I’m kinda sick, and-”

Happy raises a finger to his lips to silence Peter. It seems like everyone’s doing that today. He unlocks the car and grumbles, “Get in. If Tony asks, we stopped to get gas.”

Peter takes the invitation gratefully, sliding lazily into the backseat. His book-bag lands on the car floor with a thud, and his aching body collapses onto the seat with a similar weight. Happy’s words don’t really sink in until they’ve been driving for a few minutes. “Wait, why are we lying to Mr. Stark?”

“Let’s just say it’s not one of his best days.”

Peter snakes an arm around his abdomen, leaning his face against the car window with a deep sigh. “That makes two of us.”

_____

“Mr. Stark,” Peter swallows.

In the five-minute walk from the parking lot to Mr. Stark on the compound’s first floor, Peter’s condition has completely tanked. The headache he’d been sprouting on the ride over has now evolved into a sharp stabbing behind his eyes, making him dizzy and unbelievably nauseous. The reasonable part of Peter’s sick brain can tell he still has a fever, but most of him is just focused on how cold he is, the hair on the back of his neck and arms standing with chills. “I don’t feel so good.”

Tony shoots the kid a glare, and he immediately retracts his choice of words. “Sorry.”

The two are standing just behind the large glass doors that lead to the biggest open grass in the compound. They always train here when there’s a large group, Tony had said. It’s been a while, he’d also said; he wasn’t sure they’d ever train like this again. Peter wants to smile at the irony as he watches Captain America tighten the straps of his shield around his arm, still in otherwise-regular clothes. Peter would be ecstatic if he didn’t feel so awful. Tony taps the glass to point at where Thor is standing. He’s not really doing anything, just looking around.

“You ready for that?”

Peter almost gasps. Eagerness sprouts in the pit of his stomach, bubbling up his throat at the idea. Training with the God of Thunder! Officially meeting Thor? Peter’s almost lost in his fantasies before the butterflies make him feel sick again. “Uh oh.”

“C’mon kid,” Tony smiles, patting Peter’s back. The force of it makes Peter cough, but he muffles it into his sleeve. “There’s no reason to be nervous. He’s only a God.”

Peter gulps.

“Pete,” Tony laughs, turning to face him. “I’m just kidding. It’s only sparring.”

“No, I- I know.”  Peter hiccups. “I just really don’t think I’m up to this.”

Tony looks confused – and a little annoyed, Peter notices.

“Why not?”

“I’m sick.” Peter says, feeling small.

Tony gives him a weird look. “You’re… sick?”

“I know, apparently-”

“Are you trying to play hooky, Spider-Man?”

“Mr. Stark, no, I- I wouldn’t,” Peter trips over his words. He knows he’s not in the wrong here, but something about Tony’s tone makes him nervous.

“Bold choice,” Tony continues. “considering you’ve never hesitated to fight impaired before. Like that time… what was it? The time you let me annihilate you in a three-hour training session without telling me your wrist was broken. In two places, Peter.”

“Okay,” Peter breaths. “That was dumb, but this is-”

“What? It’s not the same?”

Peter feels like he must have missed something. There’s a hint of venom behind Tony’s words now, an anger that’s only really been directed at him once before. Peter shakes his head and sharp pain pierces through his temples. He’s definitely not understanding. “Mr. Stark-“

“Right,” Tony interrupts, again. “because that’s the God of Thunder out there and I’m just Mr. Stark.”

“Please,”

“No, it’s okay… You know what, Peter? You’re right. You’re not ready for this. Go upstairs. I’ll have Happy take you home in a few hours.”

“Mr. St-” Peter clamps a hand over his mouth, eyes watering as he gags into it. He looks to Tony for help, but he’s already halfway out the automated glass door.

Peter closes his eyes in a desperate (and failed) attempt to feel steady. Kitchen, he remembers, he’s close to it. He runs – now with both hands caging his mouth – to where he thinks it might be, arriving just in time to heave into the sink. The remains of his breakfast spray past his fingers and soak the previously-pristine metal.

“Mr. Parker, do you require assistance?”

_____

FRIDAY’s voice begins to echo just as Tony sends a final blast from his gauntlet straight into Steve’s – Sam’s? He isn’t entirely sure – shield. It ricochets, but he ducks just in time.

“Boss, may I interrupt?”

“You already have, FRI,” Tony spits. Steve nods in his direction, undoing his arm straps and tossing the Vibranium to the side in two swift movements.

“Peter Parker is in distress.”

At this, training halts. Natasha makes a T-shape with her arms and the remaining Avengers fall in line, each taking the time to collect themselves as they listen.

“He having a nightmare or something? Wake him up for me, I’m a little busy.” Tony immediately resorts back to a fighting stance, but it falls flat when Steve doesn’t join him. They’ve been at this for a while, he notices.

“Tony?” Steve tries.

“Mr. Parker is displaying a temperature reading of approximately 103.9 degrees Fahrenheit and has been throwing up, on and off, for the past four hours.”

“What the fuck?”

“I had been advised not to bring this to your attention, at Mr. Parker’s request. However, he has since lost consciousness and his two degree rise in temperature has led me to override his decision as per protocol. How would you like to proceed?”

Tony takes a shaky, uneven breath. He’d been stressed, hyper-fixated on this training session as the first Avengers group activity since… It would be Steve’s last - he made that clear - but Tony begged him to come. Peter wanted him there. Peter. How could he not have seen this?

Tony doesn’t realize he’s panicking until Steve’s hand is on his shoulder. He hadn’t noticed the hyperventilating until he had to carry the weight of Captain America’s arm with each hitch.

“Tony,” Steve says again, softer.

“I fucked up.”

“I can get him. It’s okay.”

“No, no,” Tony takes a final deep breath, stabilizing himself. Tony’s bare hand shoots up to push at Steve’s chest, as if he possessed half the force necessary to hold him back. “I’ve got him.”

_____

The sight Tony finds in the downstairs bathroom makes his chest feel tight. Peter’s slouched over the toilet seat, his face resting on the porcelain – which is so, so gross – and his eyes are closed. His breaths are labored; Tony can tell by the way his back arches and trembles. The kid’s out cold, but his face is twisted in a look of pain and his now-limp hands are still white-knuckled from previous exertion.

Tony takes a few small steps forward, kneeling carefully to get closer to the boy’s level. He sighs, reaching up to run a hand through the mess of damp curls plastered to Peter’s forehead.

“Rise and shine, Underoos.”

The second he wakes, Peter is immediately gagging. Tony lifts him back over the toilet seat when he falls, though nothing comes up but water and bile. The poor kid continues to heave after everything’s gone, spluttering and choking on his own breath.

“Hey, hey, that’s enough,” Tony soothes, dropping into a sitting position so he can pull Peter close to his chest. “There’s nothing left, kid.”

It takes a few minutes, but Peter eventually falls into a semi-even breathing pattern. When Tony briefly wonders if he’s sleeping, Peter takes a handful of fabric from Tony’s shirt into his fist, pulling him closer.

“Listen, Pete,” Tony tries, unsteady. He would’ve thought he’d be a little more prepared for this after five years with Morgan, but his relationship with Peter now seems more fragile than ever. “I’m really sorry. I should’ve listened.”

“Shh, Mr. St’rk,” Peter slurs through layers of congestion. With a finger to his lips, he motions to his apparently-sensitive ears. “S’okay.”

“You’re here now,” he says after some time, and Tony watches him close his eyes.

“Yeah,” he chuckles, sadly. “I’m here.”

[daybreak-academy-fanfic]

Daybreak Academy: Chapter 31

The Formal: Fast Slow Disco

Summary: In which the King and Queen of the Spring Formal is crowned. Word Count: 2,946 First | Previous | Next ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆

Compared to the heat inside the gym, the cool spring air outside was like a slap to the face. Anora immediately shivered as they walked outside. The water in her plastic cup swished and threatened to spill over at the sudden movement. Ephemer gave her a worried look, but was afraid to touch her.

“Are you too cold now?” he carefully asked. “I can give you my jacket if you want it.”

But Anora shook her head- it only served to worry him more.

The two found a park bench by the gym and decided to sit down. They both took the opposite ends, almost refusing to look at each other. An uncomfortable silence started to fill between them. It hurt even more when they both wanted to say something, but were unsure of what to say in regards to the situation.

“I told you not to fall in love when you saw me all dressed up.” Ephemer finally teased- hoping to break the tension. “Now the gym's going to be too cold when we go back in!”

All Anora could do was give an exasperated shake of her head. He was taking this a lot better than she thought he would. She had enough embarrassment to be red for days. Of course, now that they were out of the heat of the gym, even she could admit that whatever had happened seemed almost silly. Ridiculous, even. Falling in love with your friend during a slow song only happened in movies. Real love took time, and there was still so much that she and Ephemer didn't know about each other. This wasn't real love, it was adrenaline.

Ephemer, on the other hand, was thinking a bit differently on the matter. Sure, he could agree he didn't know much about Anora (in fact, he knew less about her than she knew about him), but he definitely wanted to. Was that love? He wasn't much of an expert in that department; his last commitment lasted three months, and it was not something he liked to talk about. But for Anora…?

With a wistful sigh, the boy started to fondly remark, “Hey Ano-”

“There you two are!”

Both teens blinked in confusion for a moment before turning to the source of the voice. Turns out it was Skuld, with Ventus not far behind her, as the two came over to the bench. Ephemer almost immediately stood up; a small frown on his face as he studied the other two carefully.

“Were you guys looking for us?” he asked once they were close enough.

“You kinda disappeared out of nowhere.” Ven agreed with a small nod of his head.

“Besides,” Skuld added- a small smirk appearing on her face once she glanced at Anora, “Someone has to make sure you don't get suspended for making out on school grounds.”

For a moment, Ephemer raised an eyebrow at his friend before a cheeky grin crossed his lips. “It's too early in our relationship to start making out.” he insisted with a callous flick of his wrist. “Especially not in public- you know how rude that is?”

Skuld snorted. “Right.” she bemused. “Sure, casanova, I know the effect you have on women when you wear a suit.”

“What can I say? It's a gift!”

Anora and Ventus gave each other an equally worried glance. Whatever this line of conversation was, it didn't seem like something you would lightly joke about.

“Either way,” Skuld then said, “Are you two going to come back inside sometime soon? It's getting close to the King and Queen announcement.”

“When are they going to announce the King and Queen?” Ven yawned. He tried to hide it with the back of his hand, but didn't do a very good job at it.

“Tired?” Skuld mused with a half smile.

“Yeah, actually.” the boy agreed. “You know a lot of people- I can't keep up.”

“You talk as if you didn't go hard for the Electric Slide when it came on.”

“I think he did better with the Cupid Shuffle.” Ephemer thoughtfully chimed in. “It looked like you got so into it that you totally forgot that the rest of us existed.”

Ventus nervously chuckled as he scratched the back of his head. “So glad you guys chose to forget that I knew the dance for that K-pop song...”

“How did you know that?” Skuld questioned with a neat raise of her eyebrow.

Ven started to blush as he admitted, “Someone I knew before coming here. She had a whole K-pop and anime phase for awhile.”

Ephemer gave a cheeky little grin before deciding, “Sounds like Skuld in the good ol' days.”

“Oh shut up!” said girl retorted as she lightly hit Ephemer on the back of the head. The older boy gave a small whine in protest and mock hurt, leading the four of them into a happy laughter.

“Ephemer! Anora!” a new voice called out to the group. The four of them turned their heads to see a duo come up to them. Anora noticed the fedora on the boy first before recognizing Pyra a few steps behind him.

“Hey Brain.” Ephemer greeted with a smile. “How's your night going?”

Brain gave a satisfied little snort before saying, “Pretty well, if I had to guess.” He looked over at Pyra, winked, then said, “What do you think Pyra? Fun night so far?”

For the first time since Anora knew her, Pyra refused to say. As Brain's smirk only continued to grow, a bit of light glimmered against his face revealing a bright red lipstick mark on his lips.

Before anyone could stop him, Ven naively asked, “Are you wearing lipstick?”

For a moment, Brain gave Ventus a weird look before wiping his mouth off. When he saw the lipstick stain on the back of his hand, he gave a small laugh to himself.

“Oh, that's not mine.” the older boy mused. “I must have borrowed it from someone else.”

“Wh-” Ven started to asked before Skuld elbowed him in the ribs. “Ow!” he then retorted instead. “What was that for?”

It was Skuld's sharp expression that made Ven realize that he might have overstepped somewhere. He didn't know what he had said, but he was coming to know that he shouldn't have said it. Brain found it incredibly hilarious.

“Would you four like to come back inside with us?” the intelligent teen asked. “I hear they're going to announce the King and Queen soon.”

“I am getting hungry.” Ephemer agreed with a small nod. He turned to the others before asking, “What do you guys think? Ready to head back in?”

Skuld, Ventus, and Anora all looked at each other, shrugged, then looked back at Ephemer and Brain with a nod. With that being decided, the six of them started to head back inside. After Anora stood up to walk with everyone, she moved over to Pyra and gave her a quizzical look. The older girl only blushed before taking a tight hold of Anora's arm.

“Nin was right.” Pyra hissed just loud enough for only Anora to hear. “He is a lady killer.”

. . .

The gym seemed a lot more crowded than it was at the beginning of the night. Trying to make sure the microphone was working was Mr. Snoops.

“Attention!” the muscular teacher said into the mic. “Can I have everyone's attention please!”

Everyone in the gym came to an eventual hush, allowing Mr. Snoops to go on with his announcement.

“As you all know,” he said to them all, “It's now that time to crown this year's spring formal King and Queen!”

A modest applause followed. At the same time, a student that had been placed on the ballot counting committee walked up to Mr. Snoops and handed him a small envelope. Mr. Snoops thanked the student before turning his attention back to the crowd.

“In my hands, I now hold the all important envelope of truth!” he declared, snickering a bit at his humor. “So, without further ado...” The gym teacher pulled out a small multi-use pocket knife to open the envelope. He pulled out a small card with the winning results and read the names listed. With a grin he announced, “And the King and Queen of this year's formal is...” (he paused here for dramatic effect, not that anyone really wanted him to) “Ventus Hikari and Ninjitsa Edo!”

“Hey, congrats buddy!” Ephemer happily cheered to the younger boy. Ven didn't react- every inch of him frozen in surprise. Meanwhile, the very loud, very angered screech of Nin demanded, “ARE YOU SHITTING ME?!” rang throughout the gym, causing a few background snickers. Anora had to fight back her laughter at the revelation.

“I assume they're a friend of yours?” Skuld questioned, noticing Anora's lack of tact. She nodded, still trying to hold back her amusement.

Everything in Ventus had froze in place. He didn't quite register as Ephemer ushered him up to Mr. Snoops. He didn't even notice Nin as the disgruntled teen adamantly denied the tiara Mr. Snoops was trying to place on her. Instead, Ven stared down at the crowd- his face paling as he was just now realizing how many students were at the formal. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Vanitas stare right back at him. When Mr. Snoops put the king's crown on Ven, the boy could almost see Vanitas over him instead, squeezing him to an inch of his life.

It was because of Nin that there wasn't a slow dance between the two of them. So Ven numbly walked back to his friends as other students started to dance again. His senses slowly started to come back him as Ephemer gave him a hearty pat on the back. If he had been a bit more coherent, he would have realized that Skuld was genuinely smiling at him for the first time since they met.

“You ready to go now, your highness?” Skuld teased.

“Yes please.” came the small, bashful answer. Apparently, Skuld thought that Ven's catatonia was the result of exhaustion and not because he hated being in the spotlight- literally and figuratively.

“We'll catch you guys later!” Skuld said as she waved Ephemer and Anora goodbye. The two waved her and Ventus away before Ephemer turned to Anora.

“What about you?” he then asked. His grin was wide and filled with joy. “Are you ready to head back too?”

But Anora shook her head. She gestured to the dance floor, indicating that she wanted to dance again. The King and Queen crowning really gave her a second wind, it seemed.

“Promise not to faint on me again?”

Anora gave him a bright, wide smile that he absolutely adored before she took his hands and led him back out to the dance floor.

. . .

Ava was actually surprised that Ephemer had stayed so late. Normally, the boy could only go on for a good two hours before deciding he didn't like crowds. This year he stayed for a good five hours before escorting his friend, Anora, back to her dorm. Ava hugged herself as a small gush of wind brushed past her; she could still remember how small he was when she first met him.

A sharp pinch from behind caused Ava to immediately whip around to exclaim, “Gula!”

The youngest of the headmasters only offered her an innocent smile. Ava could feel her face flush in realizing just how close he was to her.

“I enjoy it when history repeats.” he then said, slinking an arm around her waist.

Ava blinked, letting out a confused, “What?”

At first, Gula only smirked. Then he carefully placed a finger under her chin and guided her to look in a certain direction. It took Ava a moment to realize what he was making her look at, and when she did, her knees started to weaken a little.

Gula had brought her attention back to Ephemer and Anora; the two were a bit further than before, but Ava could still see their happy smiles. It had been a long time since she'd seen Ephemer that happy.

“Makes you kinda jealous, doesn't it?” Gula then mused, leading her attention back to him. “So youthful, so innocent...”

Despite knowing full well when Gula was trying to make a pass at her, Ava shook her head.

“I'm not jealous.” she told him. “I'm happy for them, for him.”

“Oh really?” Gula entertained, now moving closer to her. Ava gave a small giggle as she mirrored him.

“Really.” she agreed before the two shared a loving embrace.

. . .

“And that's when I tell Skuld,” Ephemer laughed, “That's when I tell her, 'maybe you should have left the lights on!' and she got so mad, I thought she was going to murder me!”

The duo went into a loud, happy uproar of laughter at his story. Anora had to stop walking for a moment because she had almost forgotten how to breathe. They couldn't stop laughing for a solid five minutes- it took another three for them to settle down completely without a random bubble of laughter here and there.

When they had finally settled down, they look at each other and smiled. In the light of the quarter moon, they almost forgot that they had just spent five hours at the formal. Their minds forgetting the night's earlier events but their hearts were still yearning for more. A small sigh escaped from both of their lips; now it was only them in the stillness of the night. They didn't have to hear teachers telling them to stand a respectful distance away from each other, or go to talk to a friend they hadn't seen in awhile. It was just them, alone, and it felt nice.

But Ephemer started to frown.

“Formals and stuff always ruin the way we see others.” he thoughtfully told Anora. “Everyone's all dressed up, some of us are still stressed by schoolwork or from preparing everything, and by the end of the night everyone is so exhausted that they usually can't sleep.”

Anora gave him a very quizzical look. But something had sparked deep within the boy, something he couldn't quite name.

“Right now, if I had my way, I wouldn't share you with anyone else.” he mused, stepping a bit closer to her. “I'd sneak up to your dorm and just stay with you all night. I don't know what we'd do, but after the formal I'd do anything just to know you more.”

Still a bit confused, Anora softly said, “But you can't...”

“No.” he agreed. “I can't.”

Not without getting caught...

“But it is funny,” he said to her with a teasing wag of his finger. “Skuld knows I've got a thing for a well applied smokey eyeshadow. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she's trying to set us up.”

Anora raised an eyebrow at him; what an… oddly specific detail. And a super random one at that. He seemed to have noticed this and only proceeded to shrug it off.

“I'll probably start talking like this after the play too, just so you know.” he went on. He almost sounded like he was talking to himself more than her. “Skuld can attest to that. So don't take anything I say to heart, okay? We're friends- nothing is going to change that.”

A small part of Anora ached when he said that. She didn't know what, but she easily dismissed it. Ephemer also partially regretted saying it the moment it came out of his mouth. The boy bit his lip in thought. He didn't want to leave her yet- it felt like there was still something else they needed to do.

“Let's audition for the play together.” he then suggested, almost blurting it out as he said so. He didn't quite expect for Anora's eyes to widen in surprise.

“I have never...” she started to say, but she couldn't quite finish her thought. Ephemer already knew what she was trying to say, though.

“Been up on stage before?”

Anora gave a small nod of agreement.

“That's why we'll do it together!” Ephemer told her, taking her hands into his. “It'll be fun- promise!”

Anora continued to look down as she thought it over. She looked up at him and looked Ephemer directly in the eye for the third time that night. Unconsciously, the two drifted closer to each other. And when they were just close enough for their foreheads to touch, Anora pulled away.

“Tomorrow, right? At the gym?” she asked. Ephemer blinked for a moment- his brain trying to come back from a moment that didn't happen.

“Y-yeah.” he agreed. “I think the auditions start around 10.30.”

Anora gave a small nod. Looking back him she said, “Good night.” and started to walk to rest of the way to the dorms.

“Good night.” Ephemer agreed. He stood where he was, like a deer in headlights, as he watched her leave.

When Anora entered her room, she lightly shut the door behind her, and immediately flopped herself on her bed. For the longest time she stared up at the ceiling. She knew that the moment she closed her eyes, she would have been asleep- so, to delay the inevitable, she pulled herself back up again to pick up Chirithy. Anora gently stroked the toy in thought. In the back of her mind, she knew that if it could talk, it would ask her how her night went. She gave it a smile as she imagined her answer back.

Tonight had been perfect.

[ilovemygaydad]

Friends in Dark Places [ch 15]

pairing: moxiety, logince, background eventual remile, background eventual remy/emile/deceit

WARNINGS: mentioned panic attack, mentioned depressive episode, depression, anxiety, verbal arguments, insults, kissing, PDA, self hatred, internalized homophobia, mentioned PTSD, food mentions, eating, swearing,  anger, yelling, fighting, misunderstandings, crying, possibly something else

tag list: @hufflepuffgirl01 @cocobearthe4th @cas-is-a-hunter@band-be-boss-blog @theunoriginaldaisy

a/n: jsyk, it’s totally okay to ask for a modified chapter if you need it or if i need to add tags! i get it, and it’s no problem for me to quick edit a chapter or whatever :) also, feel free to send requests or questions that you have!

first - previous - next - companions

consider buying me a coffee (please)

-

Mrs. Shea called Patton down about an hour before dinner. Although he’d expected this conversation, the whole depressive-spiral only made things more stressful.

“So what happened last night, honey?” She took a sip of her tea.

“Virgil had a panic attack, obviously. I think that after the first slow song, the abrupt shift in volume overloaded his brain, and he just needed to get out. He fled pretty soon after, so I went to go calm him down. And then, um…” Patton paused. He was hesitant to share the next part.

“Go on, Pat. Everything you say is completely confidential.”

“Then Virgil kissed me.” Patton’s voice was barely a whisper. The embarrassed heat in his cheeks was nearly unbearable.

“Did you kiss him back? Oh my gosh, is he a good kisser?” Mrs. Shea pressed, a giddy smile on her face.

“Mom!”

“At least tell me tell me that you didn’t leave him hanging.” She wiggled her eyebrows jokingly.

“Mother!”

“Alright, alright,” her voice returned to being serious. “And what about this morning? It’s so unlike you to lock yourself up like that, honey.”

Patton bit his lip. “I overthought things. I got it in my head that I wasn’t good enough for Virgil, so I holed myself away because then I wouldn’t have to deal with it. But then Logan forced me to talk with Virgil, and we had a really good heart-to-heart and ended up making things official.”

There were a few beats of silence. “So did you kiss him?”

“Yes, mom! I kissed my boyfriend!” Patton exploded, running a hand through his hair.

“I’m glad that--unlike Roman and Logan--you two finally got your shit together so I won’t have to deal with your ridiculous heart eyes anymore.” Patton choked on his tea, and Mrs. Shea just shook her head in amused irritation. “Those two are just insufferable! Like, can you imagine crushing that hard on someone without realizing that it was requited? Clueless morons.”

“What?” Patton sharply coughed, trying hard to get a handle on his incident.

“Oh, don’t tell me you can’t see it, too! They never stop staring at each other; it’s disgusting.” She took a gentile sip of her tea, as if she hadn’t said a word.

“No, no! I have; trust me. I didn’t realize that you noticed. God, and you don’t even have to hang out with them! Roman constantly flirts with Logan, but Lo’s so clueless he doesn’t understand. But, of course, when Logan tries to compliment Roman, Roman takes it as Logan trying to learn slang terms. It’s literal torture!” Patton sighed, leaning forward on his hands. It had been a long time since he’d had a nice chat with his mom, and he had missed it.

“Please, Pat. I’m begging you. Play matchmaker for them. They’ll never get there themselves,” Mrs. Shea said with an air of actual worry in her voice. Roman and Logan were like her sons, and she couldn’t stand the thought of them ending up with someone else and, worse, unhappy.

“I will, mom.”

---

“Patton… I know that look, and I don’t like it. What are you planning?” Virgil’s voice was cautious as he caught up with his boyfriend after dinner. Patton had practically leapt from the table; his signature plotting face securely in place.

“Mom gave me an idea,” Patton said simply, rounding the corner and climbing the stairs.

“No shit. I gathered that much, but what is that idea?” He was beginning to get anxious. He didn’t like surprises in the slightest, and this was certainly a surprise.

“It’s about Logan and Roman. After mom and I talked, we realized we needed to do something about them.” Patton swung open his bedroom door and made a beeline for his desk. He grabbed out a notebook and a few pencils before swiveling his second chair around to face Virgil on the bed.

“What do we need to—Oh! Oh my god, no way! That makes so much sense.” The pieces clicked together neatly in Virgil’s mind. He’d seen the little glances and hidden blushing, but he had never taken any notice to them. It made so much sense.

“Exactly! They’re absolutely clueless, so we need to help them figure it out.” Patton titled the page. How to Get Two Idiots Together. Virgil thought that it fit quite well.

“Alright, what do you suppose?”

A sly smile grew on Patton’s face. “Well…”

---

By Monday afternoon, all of the blocks had perfectly fallen into place. The group would first go to the diner before heading to the park. It would be perfect.

Logan picked Virgil and Patton up at five o’clock sharp. Roman was only slightly done up; he had a neutral brown smokey eye and deep purple lipstick. He looked wonderful, and Virgil caught Logan glancing at Roman every so often under the cover of checking for traffic. It was odd seeing Logan actively checking someone out, but he couldn’t help but think that it was pretty adorable.

They stepped into the bustling diner about fifteen minutes later, sitting in their normal booth. Patton and Virgil obviously sat on one side, forcing the oblivious duo to the other. Phase one initiated.

For the entire five minutes before they had ordered, Virgil and Patton didn’t take their attention off of each other. They giggled at the other’s jokes, lightly kissed when applicable, and even leaned on each other as a gesture of protection. Roman and Logan were left to their own devices. It took a minute, but the two began a quiet discussion about the couple across from them, careful to make sure the others didn’t hear.

“They are truly disgusting,” Roman grimaced. He was the romantic one of the group, but even that PDA was a tad extra.

“Yes. But I am glad that Patton has found someone to be happy with. See the look in his eyes, Ro? He hasn’t looked like that since he started dating Jason,” Logan pointed out, watching as Virgil quickly pressed a kiss to Patton’s lips.

“Ugh, don’t remind me of that jerk!” Roman groaned. “I agree, though. It’s going to be good for him. Ah, it’s been too long since I’ve had someone like that.”

There was a moment of hesitation before Logan spoke again. “Me as well.”

They sat in silence for half of a second before Emilia walked up to their table. “Oh my goodness! Has Patton found himself someone? He looks absolutely adorable, sweetheart!” A bright pink blush formed on both Patton and Virgil’s cheeks, but Virgil’s became even deeper as she said, “Aren’t you going to say something, honey?”

“I—Uh… I’m…” Virgil sputtered. 

Emilia roared with laughter, lightly ruffling the teen’s hair. “I’m kidding. What can I get you?”

They all ordered without incident, but Virgil’s flubbed words weren’t forgotten. “Flustered Virgil is so cute!” Patton squealed, covering his mouth with clenched fists. Virgil pulled his hood over his face and groaned.

“Shut up, Pat,” he muttered from his dismal cavern.

Roman nodded in affirmation.“He’s quite right. But do you know who’s even funnier when they’re caught off guard? Logan! He blushes like mad and ends up just spouting off random scientific factoids,.” He smirked, lightly knocking Logan with his shoulder. The latter blushed fiercely and groaned.

“Roman…” Logan chided gently.

“I’m… sorry!” Roman said between intense bouts of laughter.

“C’mon, kiddo. Let’s not torture Logan.” Patton’s voice was stern, but still loving.

“Fine, fine.” Roman wiped the tears from his eyes and sat back in the booth.

Patton returned his attention to Virgil, reaching his hand under his boyfriend’s hood to gently swipe the hair from his eyes. “You okay, sweetheart?”

Virgil flicked his hood down and nodded. He placed a light kiss on Pat’s cheek to reaffirm that he was, in fact, fine. It was made even better by the fact that Virgil teasingly hovered his face just centimeters from Patton’s with a devilish smirk before pulling away. Patton pouted and turned to look out the window in mock displeasure. Virgil worriedly put his hand on Pat’s shoulder, not quite sure if Patton was joking. Logan and Roman both caught the flash of a smile on Patton’s face before he spun around and kissed Virgil on the nose.

“Absolutely vile,” Roman muttered.

“As if you wouldn’t be doing the same thing if you were in their situation,” Logan retorted with a pointed eyebrow raise. Ro dramatically turned to face his booth partner; their faces ended up just barely apart. A flicker of realization flitted across Roman’s features as soon as he took in how close they were. It was microscopic, unnoticeable to the untrained eye, but Virgil and Patton saw it.

Their satisfaction, however, was cut short by the food arriving. The four friends munched quietly, barely talking at all. Well, except for when Virgil and Roman threw jabs—and often French fries—at each other. When that happened, it was all-out chaos.

Less than an hour later, Logan pulled into the gravel parking lot of their favorite park, parking all the way at the end of the nearly empty space. Most families were already back home to have dinner, so they’d pretty much have the place to themselves. Patton excitedly led the group, dragging a less than energetic Virgil to all of the prettiest spots of the park.

“This is the strangest feeling; it's as if I’m a parent who is proud of their child for finding someone they’re happy with,” Logan mused as he walked along the winding paths with Roman. It was near impossible to keep up with Excited Patton—a lesson that Virgil was learning very quickly—and the two decided it be best to save their energy for when they had to carry Tired Patton to the car.

“I feel the same way. Our boy is growing up so fast!” Roman paused for a few steps. “I wish I had something like that—a relationship, I mean.”

Logan flat out laughed at that. Was he fucking kidding? “Roman, you can have literally anyone you want, and all you’d have to do is say ‘go!’”

“It’s not that simple,” Roman mumbled. It really wasn’t. He couldn���t have the one person that he wanted. He wasn’t Logan’s type at all; he was infuriatingly dumb and all over the place, not neat and smart like who Logan wanted.

Not cis, either, and although Logan had been so accepting when he’d come out, it wasn’t like cis gay guys were suddenly going to jump at the chance to date DFAB dudes with PTSD.

“I’m not following. You have everyone drooling over you, yet you can’t have who you want?” Logan’s face grew puzzled, contemplating the evidence.

“You wouldn’t understand.” Roman’s voice sounded dismissive, but he didn’t mean it that way. He was frustrated in himself. He couldn’t own up to his own feelings and tell Logan. No. Of fucking course not.

“What do you mean I wouldn’t understand? I’m not some kindergartener to whom you’re trying to explain basic multiplication! I can figure things out, Roman, even if I’m not great with feelings,” Logan snapped, stopping dead in his tracks. Roman stopped, too, and spun to face his friend.

“Can you, Logan? Because sometimes you’re as perceptive as the dirt on the bottom of your shoe! It’s infuriating that I can’t get my thoughts through to you, of all people!” Roman roughly jabbed at Logan’s chest. He knew he shouldn’t be acting so rashly, but he was far too frustrated and angry to stop himself.

Thoughts swirled around Logan’s mind as he tried to formulate something intelligent to say. How in the world had he fallen for someone as rude as Roman fucking Patrick? He really was an idiot, wasn’t he? It was ridiculous to have thought that he’d be able to get past the prickly sarcasm to see Roman’s caring nature.

A sickening cackle escaped Logan. “That’s rich coming from you! I can’t believe you’d say something like that about your best friend of five years.” He shook his head in anger. “I’m done with this. You three can walk home for all I care.”

It took a few seconds for the fight to register in Roman’s brain, and by then, he had been left staring at Logan’s retreating figure. What the fuck had he done? He slowly turned and began walking down the trail towards Virgil and Patton’s voices. He’d ruined everything.

The moment that Virgil saw Roman’s expression, he started to feel anxious. He hadn’t known the guy for too long, but he could clearly tell that something was up. “Dude, are you okay? Where’s Logan?”

You can’t tell them the truth! They’ll hate you.

“Logan and I had a disagreement, and he got so pissed that he decided to bail.” 

Roman looked more upset than he let on, but Virgil didn’t push. He knew what it was like to want to keep some things to himself.

“Well, I suppose we should call someone to pick us up. Roman, do you want my mom to drop you off at home?” Patton asked, already pulling out his phone.

“No, I’m just going to walk home. See you guys tomorrow?”

“Of course,” Virgil agreed, nodding his goodbye.

---

Roman quietly closed his bedroom door, shutting himself off from the world. He slipped into his pajamas and sat lightly on the edge of his bed. The tears ran down his cheeks like tiny raindrops on a car window. He buried his face into his pillow and cried until sleep finally absorbed his consciousness.

next

(a/n: roman isn’t out as trans to virgil yet, jsyk!)

[calliecat93]

RvB17 Episode 4 Review:  Breaching the Torus

Fun fact: a torus is a shape that looks like... well a donut. Yeah, the episode title is literally ‘Breaching Donut’. Well with a title like that, I expect only wholesome things form an episode that picks up right after Genkins screws over Donut and Wash’s plans! Leaving the universe certain to be wiped out by the evil time God AI... algorithm... whatever! Let's just jump in already!

Overview

We begin where we left off, Chrovos is gloating as her prison continues to fracture. But she doesn't get far in her evil gloating as Wash essentially tells her to shut the fuck up before heading for the Everwhen. Yeah, with the Time Gun out, getting the guys to realize what's wrong is really the only viable option. Wash immediately regrets this since he has no idea what to do along the Everwhen, but Donut explains it to him and gets him to focus on a memory that they're both in. Three guesses on which one Wash picks, and the first two don't count!

Yeah... Donut gets shot. Again. This time with Wash feeling bad and apologizing before going a few seconds back and stopping himself from pulling the trigger. This is the greatest running gag ever. Of all time. Anyways, the two talk about what to do next while poor Simmons is just confused by everything happening. They ultimately decide that they need to go back to a strong memory where Genkins is likely to go to. But Donut points out that they need to cause as little damage to the timeline as possible and keep things on track... so naturally, Wash shoots him to keep S7's finale intact. Poor Donut.

The two go back to S13 in a moment that I can't remember if it actually happened or not. It's before Felix and Locus went to activate The Purge and got a beatdown from the Freelancer duo. Wash is in the middle of a motivational speech when past him and Donut possess themselves. Wash tries to get Donut to explain... but after accidentally spouting and entendre, he knows he's not going to be believed and has Wash do it. Wash proceeds to try and convince the guys not necessarily about Chrovos, but that they're experiencing deja vu and that something much greater is about to wash over them (that pun was not intentional BTW). But it's okay, because they win the fight that they're about to go into, and they keep winning again and again. For now, they need to forget the Purge. They need to forget Chorus. They need to focus on what's about to come and trust Wash at his word.

It's a very well done speech and performed very well by Shannon McCormick, as always. It seems to work as the guys, while confused, all agree to follow Wash... until Genkins, whose possessing Epsilon, twists it around. He essentially makes it look like Wash is having a shell-shocked veteran moment, which Carolina agrees with and is very much concerned. This causes Wash to give a sharp 'Of course you wouldn't believe me, Carolina" in a very clear venomous tone. Even Tucker and Grif are shocked by it. Wash does catch himself, but Carolina is confused on why Wash would talk to her like that and 'Epsilon' suggests that he go take a walk. Wash does do, Donut chasing after him.

So yeah... they came close, but the attempt was not great. Wash, however, is not up for hearing Donut point this out, his anger at Carolina lying to him about his brain damage now back at full force. Donut points out that technically, he no longer has it since she saved him. That doesn't exactly make Wash any less pissed, but Donut keeps going. He points out that despite knowing the risk, Carolina still decided to try and save Wash because she cared about him. She was on the verge of tears when she brought it up... which Donut had left by then so him saying that he had been there makes no sense, but with time fucked up, I'll let it slide. Anyways, Wash realizes how angry he really got and just how much baggage about everything he's got. Right now though, they need to focus on the matter at hand, so time to go to another memory.  

And... back to the S7 finale! This time it's Donut's fault, haha! They soon manage to get to when Lopez was shot, but before Donut. As Simmons frets over Lopez, Wash and Donut walk off to talk about what to do now. They realize that Epsilon had indeed been possessed by Genkins at that point, so plain convincing isn't going to work. But... Donut realizes something. He didn't necessarily convince Wash of anything, he just got him to believe in something that was impossible for him to have known. That is the key. Everyone has deja vu. They know that something is wrong, just not what. They need something to shock them into remembering. They need to see something that they shouldn't know about but recognize anyways. Simmons walks over, still confused and pretty much going 'WTF?!' to Wash for shooting Lopez. But this gets Wash to realize something... at this point, Simmons had only met him maybe a year ago. But what if he showed up when he wasn't supposed to? Like, say... during the Blood Gulch Chronicles? If he did, and the guys recognized him despite not knowing him at that point, it may be just the shock that they need to snap back to normal.

With the new plan, Donut and Wash jump forward to Blood Gulch. Donut arrives at the canyon... but Wash isn't there. Which of course he wouldn't be, this was before any of the BGC met him. Problem is that Donut doesn't know where he sent him. We cut to Wash, standing at a beached area. He tries to figure out where and when he currently is when a voice comes over the radio. A Lee Eddy voice... and there's no accent, so no it's not Chrovos. In other words... it's 479er calling from Command to find out where Wash is. Or, specifically, where Recovery One is. My friends, welcome back to Recovery One.

Review

This episode was short, clocking in at nine minutes, but man it was SO GOOD! I've been very curious about how this Wash and Donut dynamic would go. They haven't exactly had many interactions outside the S7 finale, and we all know how that went. But God... it is SUCH a good dynamic. They're both dorky morons, so there's that going for them. Donut's a little goofier and cheerful, Wash is more serious but still capable of his lighter moments. They really played off of each other well, both listening to each other and figuring out step by step their next course of action. It's funny, it moves things forward, and really sells this newfound comradery really well. Very well done~

Not only do the two characters play off each other well, but we got plenty of character development stuff. Donut's clearly still frustrated about not being listened to, especially when everyone goes and listens to Wash easily. Wash still has a TON of baggage towards Carolina and how she lied to him. He can't repress that, as we saw with the pure venom he directed at her even though she doesn't remember any of those events. And his hesitance when Donut brings up that they're going to have to save her after the guys... it hurt. I mean we all know that Wash will ultimately do it, but the fact that he hesitated because of how hurt Carolina made him feel... damn man. When Carolina gets her memory back, it is gonna hurt. And even with his own issues, Donut still tried to help Wash through his, which displays a lot of emotional maturity on his part. It's been really great to see more of Donut's character, and his and Wash's talk really shows how great they both are

There's plenty of feelsy moments, but also plenty of funny ones. S7's finale becoming a running gag is frekain' hilarious. Donut essentially resigning himself to his fate, Wash feeling guilty every single time, Simmons freaking out and just being confused by everything going on around him. Seriously, he's gonna be SO pissed when he comes to and realizes how many times he had to relive that moment. Also, Kimball's clear confusion when Wash gives his speech, haha! You can just feel the awkwardness emitting off of her. Lindsay only had like... two short lines, but God she nailed the mood. It was a great balance of hilarious and feelsy without feeling rushed or forced in. Jason has done such a great job with the writing, and this episode really shows his talents I feel.

What's also good is that so far, every episode has advanced the plot in some way. As much as I love S16 and will defend it from the more vicious hate it gets... yeah the pacing had issues. It had things happening, but it took far too long for Joe to get to anything truly impactful. I can see why he went that route, but it still made it kind of annoying that whenever it looked like we were getting to a plot point, it sidetracked to something else. I guess that he learned that when he plotted the season (or it's Jason's own doing) because every episode has moved things along swimmingly. There's very little padding or filler. We get to something, have a nice little time with it, and move to the next thing. Here we had a nice romp of the new S7 running gag, had Wash make an attempt with saving the guys, get a little character development for both him and Donut, and onto the next plot point. It's going fast, but it never feels rushed. Like... I'm starting to get why they may have gone with a 12 episode count because if that cut down on padding and needing to stretch things out to hit that count, it would hurt it more than help it.  

So now we come to what's coming up next. First, we now know the next plan: have Wash arrive at Blood Gulch and shock the guys into remembering since they shouldn't know Wash yet, but if they recognize him it'll do what Donut did to Wash in Episode 3. The only problem is... well, Wash wasn't at Blood Gulch during Blood Gulch. So hopefully Donut picked a point before everyone got transferred out, haha... anyways. So yeah... looks like Wash is about to relive Recovery One. Which leaves a TON of open possibilities. He has the chance to save certain people and correct any mistakes. Which means dealing with his lingering guilt and pain over everything. But he also has a mission: to save his current team. Which may mean having to abandon Recovery One which is not only going to cause plenty of problems with the Freelancers but having to abandon his old friends to save his current ones... yeah that is going to hurt. Considering that Miles 'I'm going to have Pyrrha die in the most heartbreaking way possible in RWBY' Luna is writing the next episode... yeah... prepare your graves, everyone.

So here's what I think is going to happen. Either at the end of next week's episode or in Episode 6, Wash will arrive in Blood Gulch and whoever is all still there will snap back to normal. The second half of the season will focus on both getting everyone left back to normal and on how to stop Chrovos before she breaks out and Genkins before he makes anything worst. And we still have plenty of feels material with Donut still being frustrated, Wash and Carolina's issues, and for conflicts that haven't come up in awhile... well... Grif still needs to know about Huggins. Boy is THAT ONE gonna be fun, haha... but yeah! I could be wrong, but I can't see them stretching out the memory stuff much longer, so the halfway point seems like a good place to get the majority out of it. We'll see.

Final Thoughts

This season has been great so far. Great Wash and Donut dynamic, a great blend of funny moments and character development, wasting no time in getting the plot moving, it's been such a fun ride. And with the ending, we have plenty more to look forward to. This is easily becoming a great season, and it hopefully just keeps getting better and better. Great episode and now, if you all will excuse me, it's time to prepare my grave for when Miles utterly breaks us all next week! Yay!!!

[monotonemanday]

Star Crossed Entertainers - Part 4

Y’all ready for some back story? Also ANGSTFEST. I wrote this part several different times, several different ways and hooooo boy, it was a trip. In order to set everything in place so we can get back to some gorgeous musical actors and hot ass business men, this part is pretty damn lengthy. Also Surprise. Someone else is joining this series. :)

TRIGGER WARNING: It honestly isn’t a whole lot but there is abusive language and mention of sexual assault and attempted rape. 

Soft sunlight was peaking into the lounge through the sheer black curtains as Samantha made her way to the entry way of the apartment where her and Kaeli piled their shoes that they wore the most. She was already showered and dressed. She was wearing full length black leggings that had a leather panel on the outer sides from the waist band to the ankle, a blush colored tank top and a black bomber jacket that had a salmon and cream colored floral pattern. She grabbed her boots and sat on the step that connected the entryway to the lounge. First the left, then the right. She slipped the black boots up to her knees and began to lace them up. A long process. Once she had the bows double knotted she stood up and decided she would open the curtains at the far window. On her way to the window she noticed that Kaeli had fallen asleep on the couch. She must have been worried last night and fell asleep without putting herself to bed. Samantha grabbed the throw blanket off the back of the couch and went to lay it on Kaeli when she stopped and let out a sigh. Kaeli was using one of her t-shirts as a nightgown again. Butt head. Laying the blanket down on the sleeping beauty, Sam made her way to the kitchen where she sat on the cushions in the bay window. Her favorite spot. Her legs stretched out in front of her, crossed at the ankles, she stared looking out the window, watching the sunrise out over the city, then looking back at her roommate. No. Her best friend. And she thought about everything that had led up to this very morning.

They had been friends since they were 5 years old. Best friends. On the very first day of school they were drawn to each other. None of the other kids were too keen on being with them because one was the size of a toddler and the other was the size of a 5th grader. There difference in size brought them together but it turns out they had the same sense of humor and outgoing personalities. Kismet. All of the other jerks kids hadn’t wanted to be their friends but once the two were together they became a dynamic duo. The two were the same but also couldn’t be more of polar opposites. They were both outgoing and well liked. They weren’t popular or wealthy but they knew everyone and everyone knew them. Kaeli wasn’t very studious but she was very active in the student body. Events, festivals, dances, she was apart of it all. Samantha was in every performing arts class there was. Marching band, jazz band. wind ensemble. She was involved in choir, musical theatre, and  drama with Kaeli as well. She played 5 different instruments. She never thought she would spend her school days like that but it was just so natural to her once she started. She was like an entertainment machine and also held perfect grades.

Kaeli reached her maximum height of 4 feet 11 inches her freshman year of high school. She was adorable and no one could resist her colorful laugh and big dimples when she smiled. Despite her being as cute as a button she was a huge flirt. It radiated from within her. It was like a disease. Usually she was unaware she was even flirting and it got her into trouble. By senior year she had won the titles of Homecoming Queen, Winterfest Queen, and Prom Queen. She didn’t necessarily dress overly feminine but she was always in pink, pastels, and soft patterns. Her family wasn’t necessarily wealthy but she lived very comfortably. It was just her parents, herself and a couple of dogs. She didn’t have any extended family. Her mother came from a family of wealth and power but her father did not. Neither sides of the two families were accepting of the other and disowned the couple, therefore denying Kaeli’s existence entirely when she was born. That’s why when her parents died in a plane crash senior year she was taken in by Samantha who had been on her own for awhile. Kaeli had a huge heart and she used it far more often than her brain. She was too trusting and opened up too easily. This led to her often being taken advantage of in friendships and even to some abusive relationships. But she always had Sammy.

Samantha was 6 feet tall by her junior year of high school and she still had growing pains. Slow down Shaq. She was intimidating but she had beautiful eyes and she was so expressive and goofy, people were drawn to her. Everyone knew her as outspoken and sarcastic but she also had an undeniable warmth that made people feel like they could open up to her about anything and everything. Gross. By senior year she had directed 4 plays, starred in 6 musicals and even put together a sketch comedy show that the school made apart of their homecoming celebration each year. She dressed in lots of muted colors. Olive, tan, navy, maroon, mustard. She had developed a very fashion forward style her sophomore year. Up until then she had dressed like an absolute tomboy. Usually skinny jeans, converse and a t-shirt, or overalls and baseball hats. She didn’t have much money and she worked at a bakery for income. Samantha didn’t have a family. She never knew her parents and she only had a sister who was 20 years older than her. When she was about 8 her sister had started a family and Sam felt like a burden so she had runaway. She was fending for herself until someone had taken her in. Someone not much older than her, but who had already mastered the art of living without a family. At 17 when she started working at the bakery the elderly couple who owned the business let her rent out an apartment upstairs and when Kaeli lost her parents the elderly couple gladly accommodated Sam getting a roommate. Samantha was loved by many and although she was never cold, she didn’t like people. She did not trust others and never let anyone in. That’s how she was raised. No one knew that she didn’t want people too close and she never held a relationship. She was constantly dumping guys for trying to get too close to her. The only person she ever let in was Kaeli.

Kaeli begin to stir in her sleep and Samantha looked her way. 

“Kay?” The small blonde shot up.

“...damn. My neck hurts. You’re up already? And you’re dressed?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna go visit my old babysitter.” Both girls chuckle.

“You shouldn’t call him that Sammy. He basically made you who you are today. Plus, he actually is a babysitter now.” The blonde laughed even harder.

Samantha shot off a text message and stood up from her seat at the window. grabbing her keys off the kitchen island counter she glides over to the closet by the entry way and pulls out a sparkly silver helmet.

“Hey, no way! You’re not taking your bike! If I can’t ride one, you can’t drive one.”

Sam tucked the helmet under her left armpit and reached for the doorknob, looking behind her she met Kaeli’s yelling with a steady tone. “And you did ride one. So after this we’ll be even.”

“HOW DID YOU KNOW?!”

“Lee texted me when you left the theatre.” And with that she was out the door.

BBBZZZZTTT BBZZZZZTTT ~ 2 texts and now someone was calling but he couldn’t hear the phone over the vacuum. His ponytail rapidly swinging back and forth trying to keep up with how fast he was moving. Suddenly there was extremely loud banging on the door. He turned off the hoover and reached around to his back where his taser was tucked into his pants.

“OPEN THE DOOR DICKHEAD!”

The man looked through the doors peep hole and swung it open rapidly. 

“I swear one day I’m actually going to tase your obnoxious ass. Get in here. Geez...who raised you?”

“Uhhhmmm, that would be you.” The tall brass haired brat walked into the house and flopped down on the couch propping her feet up on the coffee table.

The man knocked her feet off with a swift slap.

“Get your dirty boots off my clean surfaces.”

“Easy Vanhelsing. There isn’t a spec of dust in this place.”

You could see the man growing more irritable. “I’m not a vampire. That’s not my name. And it’s not about mess, it’s about manners.”

Vanderwood. The man was a grade A bad ass with a passion for Fabreeze and Lysol wipes.

“If you came here just to be a brat, you could have waited until Christmas.”

Vanderwood waited for a snarky response from the woman but he was met with her looking defeated.

“Samantha, what is it.” His tone turned exponentially serious.

“I just came to ask you one thing. If Kaeli and I need to get out of here in the near future...would you be able to help me with that?”

Vanderwood. He joined the agency when he was 16. Tired of dealing with his family and no one recognizing he was superior to them in everyway, he signed a contract of employment with them. He was 2 years in. Now about 18 and progressing fast within the ranks of the agency. One day he was doing some recon on some local thugs when he heard a commotion in a near by alleyway. He saw 3 adult men, cornering a girl. The girl wasn’t small but she could only have been in elementary school. He figured he should intervene when he started to hear smacks, and punches. Cries of pain, but what the bloody hell? The screams were coming from the dudes. Who is this 8 year old and how is she kicking the asses of these GROWN men! With the dumbasses subdued he spoke to the girl. He learned that she was on her own and she was actually the one that picked a fight with them. He didn’t know why he did it and to this day he still doesn’t know what compelled him but he offered to take her under his wing. And for whatever reason, which he also didn’t understand, this little girl trusted him, and accepted. He became her guardian and he was honestly excited to have a "mini me”. He had bought her clothes and taught her the basics of living. Cooking, cleaning, laundry, cleaning, fighting, cleaning, manners, cleaning, studying, CLEANING. He didn’t know how a little girl was supposed to dress, he had never been one. So she usually went to school in overalls, sneakers, and a backwards baseball cap with her hair in two loose braids. She usually was covered in band aids and 90% of the time one was on her face. This girl was a fighter but she was clumsy as hell. She was constantly getting cuts and bruises due to her own carelessness but according to Vanderwood, pain didn’t exist. He was constantly telling her to ignore others because hurt feelings didn’t really matter, and not to trust anyone because you never know who could be after you. Falling down and being clumsy or getting hurt were no excuse to show weakness. Every time he helped her put a band aid on he would say things like “Never let boys see you bleed.” or “Never show someone how deep a cut is!” He didn’t know that all this strength and fight he was trying to implant in her was going to lead her into brandishing her own vigilante justice. She was constantly getting in fights outside of school. Trying to beat up bullies or even trying to go after muggers. He had to have a stern talk with her about what was morally right and wrong for a little girl and why her rules were different than his, being a trained assassin, big boy. He was glad she had Kaeli to balance her out and calm her down.

By the time the smart ass brat Samantha was a senior in high school she had gone from constantly trying to kick everyone’s ass on the streets, to simply just knowing how to defend herself and Vanderwood was actually glad that she was leading a pretty normal life. When she was 17 he let her fly away from his mama bird nest and get her own job and apartment. Good. It would keep her away from his line of work. That was until after she graduated. Kaeli was planning on moving away for a performing college program and Samantha came to Vanderwood with a request. She was planning on cutting all ties with Kaeli while she was gone and asked Vanderwood to get her training with the agency. No. He didn’t want that kind of life for this girl he had known to be so bright, and talented. Fun loving and carefree. Sure he had accidentally made it so that she didn’t trust people and didn’t form close relationships out of concern for others safety. And she was incredibly skilled and intelligent. The agency could really use someone like her but he just didn’t want that for her. A life of solitude. She was stubborn and determined so he agreed to get her training, but with two conditions. It would only be for a year and she would only take the training courses that he picked and she had to keep in contact with Kaeli. Her best friend.

Samantha had started her year of training before the official application process to get into the same agency that Vandy had joined when he was 16. Due to Vanderwoods terms of her training she was in contact with Kaeli while she was away for her college program. But Samantha still intended to disappear with the agency once the year was over. It’s not that she didn’t want to be around Kaeli anymore, it’s that she didn’t want Kaeli being around her. She believed that she was destined to be alone and not deserving of having normal relationships. Her parents never wanted her, her sister didn’t want her, and until she had met Kaeli and Vanderwood, people had only ever seen her as a threat. She was dangerous. But she didn’t realize it until a week before they graduated high school.

Reagan. He was popular, good looking, wealthy, obnoxious, a real douche. Samantha didn’t like his attitude or how he treated people. So she was extra irritated when Kaeli started dating him. It wasn’t long into their relationship that Samantha knew he wasn't a good person. He quickly became obsessed, possessive and controlling. Kaeli brushed it off. Classic Kaeli. She had let herself be treated like this before and it always took Samantha to snap her out of it, but this time she couldn’t be snapped. Samantha didn’t know it but Kaeli was afraid of Reagan. He had became abusive but she tried her hardest to hide it from Sam. She didn’t want to admit she was in over her head and she was afraid of what Sam might do. One day Kaeli was taking off her sweater and her shirt had lifted up. That’s when Samantha saw bruising all over her torso.

“He’s fucking dead.”

“Sammy please, no. Don’t do anything rash and get yourself in trouble. He’s coming over tonight and I’m going to break it off with him. That way I’ll have a clean break after we graduate and I can move with no strings attached.”

Samantha was seeing red, she didn’t have any words and knew that she wasn’t going to be able to have a rational conversation so she went downstairs to the bakery and started her shift. A couple hours past and as she was closing up the bakery Sam was greeted by Reagan. He looked at her and made no attempt to say hello. He went right upstairs to the apartment. Samantha went back to locking up. 5 minutes later she heard shouting and something had slammed onto the floor. Her mind went blank and her eyes dazed over, it was like she blacked out. Her body was possessed. She ran upstairs as fast as her legs would take her and threw open every door with excessive force. The shouting had stopped and she couldn’t see anyone in the immediate area. That’s when she heard crying. Soft sobbing from Kaelis room and then...grunting. She ran to the bedroom door and tried the handle but it was locked. Rapidly jiggling the handle she slapped the door with an open palm again and again.

“OPEN THIS FUCKING DOOR!”

“FUCK YOU!”

“SAM HELP ME!”

Smack. “Shut the fuck up.” The slap echoed throughout the entire apartment.

The adrenaline took over her whole body and Samantha stepped back and then lunged her right shoulder at the door, breaking the lock and pushing it open. Reagan was on top of Kaeli and his pants were around his ankles. Samantha grabbed him by his hair and threw him against the wall. His skull made a loud smacking noise and his eyes glazed over. He slid down the wall, and she grabbed his shirt in her fist and began beating his face with the outer part of her closed fist. Kaeli was crying and screaming. Sam didn’t stop until she realized blood was being splattered across her face. She would have could have killed him. She wiped her forehead, unintentionally smearing blood across it. She turned around. The fear in Kaeli’s eyes. It was because of Reagan but Samantha thought it was because of her. She wrapped a blanket around Kaeli and walked her downstairs. She called Vanderwood who came and cleaned up the mess and got medical attention for the boy. The next day they all acted like it never happened. And that is why she wanted away from Kaeli. What kind of a life was that? She was dangerous.

The year of training went by fast. Samantha had gone through all the courses Vanderwood specified she had to take. Tactical, physical training, espionage, seduction, driving, stealth, and combat. Part of training was doing recon and infiltration of low level crime rings. All candidates were informed that not only the agency but other employers would also be keeping an eye on them. She had made her way into several small mafia branches and mob conglomerates. They mainly used her for shake downs and collections. A lady thug for hire. Beating money and secrets out of desperate scumbags. It was also easy enough making deals without having to beat them to a pulp since a lot of the time the goons were too busy looking her up and down, licking there lips like they were about to scarf down a 3 course meal. At the end of her year she had gone back home and was planning on saying her goodbyes to Kaeli.

The night she planned to say goodbye to Kaeli and submit her official application to the agency they had gone to karaoke. It had been forever since they performed together. They ended up taking over the whole bar, it was no longer karaoke it was a two woman variety show and people were loving it. She was having a blast with her best friend but the entire time she couldn’t help but feel like eyes were on them. Eyes that she couldn’t see. Vanderwood? No these eyes were definitely menacing.

They left the bar and started walking. Trying to sober up a bit. They were laughing and it was just like their carefree days of high school. The sound of metal hit Samantha’s ears and before she could react someone had grabbed her pinning her arms to her back.

“KAELI RUN!”

“GRAB HER, ASSHOLES!”

That voice. It was fucking Reagan.

Samantha whipped her head back as fast as she could and made contact. Her arms were released and she quickly made her way to the two men that were holding on to Kaeli, ripping at her clothes. Sam’s fist flew through the air. Shit. Something had cracked. Her hand or his jaw, one of them was broken. Kaeli shook herself loose and began running to get help when a limo had pulled up and blocked them in. Samantha was throwing punches and dodging them at an incredible rate, she was roundhousing their asses and Kaeli couldn’t believe what she was witnessing. The limo door opened and Sam lost her focused and turned to see who was stepping out of it. That’s when Reagan landed a sold punch right into her stomach. Her body jolted and blood came out of her mouth, then a hand connected with her face. “Fucking freak. Stupid Bitch always in my FUCKING way.” Samantha was on her knees, blood pouring out of a cut above her brow. 

“That’s enough Reagan!” A round stocky woman had stepped out of the limo. “I asked you to retrieve the girls but you decided you were going to do whatever you wanted. I’m sure the boss would love hearing that you damaged his new merchandise” the air was silent and extremely bitter tasting. “Now, ladies, if you would.” The woman gestured to inside of the limo.

“NO WAY!” Kaeli screamed, incredibly defiant. “Do it, Kaeli.” Samantha’s voice was soft but it was firm. The two girls climbed in the limo. Sam knew who this woman was and who she was employed by. Stuff she had learned doing the undercover work for training.

The girls rode in silence and they were let out at a night club. The lights were blinding outside. They were following the round woman with her huge bodyguards on the outside of them. No words were being exchanged. 

“If you'll excuse me for a moment.” The woman broke the silence and walked away. One of the guards gestured for Kaeli to take a seat and the other gestured towards a door off to their left, a bathroom for Sam to clean up in. Splashing water onto her face and trying to scrub the blood off her hands she heard a bit of shouting outside. She turned off the water and wiped her hands with paper towels and opened the door. She looked around. They weren’t in the regular part of the club. They were in a members only VIP area. She didn’t see Kaeli. She panicked. She was running up to everyone asking them if they had seen a tiny blonde woman when finally one man pointed into a room in the back and told her that a couple of men had gone in the room with her. She pounced at the door like a cheetah and kicked it open. She didn’t care what was happening, She just started swinging. There was crashing and yelling, and guests were starting to get concerned. The round woman appeared in the doorway and cleared her throat. The body guards she was with pulled Sam off of the men in the room. “The employer would like to speak to you privately.” Kaeli and Sam both began to follow the woman when she raised her hand. “Just the amazon.” Rude.

“Fine, but she stays with your guards. And Reagan and his ugly ass two bit thugs leave. Now. Or I will kill them.” Her eyes were like hot coals. Sam was serious.

Samantha sat in the lush leather chair and stared at the rich cherry wood desk in front of her. the man sitting at the desk had his tall chair turned around and didn’t even attempt to face her. Sam had her guard up and was on high alert but the man started speaking and got right to brass tax.

“Vanderwood raised a firecracker I see. Intelligent, talented, strong, and a body. All those curves and me with no brakes.” Are you serious right now? “I’ve gone ahead and submitted an application to the agency on your behalf. I also put in a submission for denial to the agency and a request that the application for consideration of employment go to me. So don’t think running to the agency will get you out of this. I was going to make you both my very special VIP package for our best clients. However you have come in here and caused a disturbance. Vandwerwood raised a fighter but he didn’t raise a lady. If you want to act like a brute than you will be one. You will now be my hired gun and your little pixie out there will be my most esteemed call girl. You will be rewarded with very sizable salaries and club privileges. Now get out.”

“No.” Samantha’s voice didn’t waver. Not even for a split second.

“No is not an option, you are now my employee and due to how close you are with that girl she will and already does know too much. So you both are indebted to me. You by contractual obligation and her by threat. If you try to leave , you will both be killed.”

“I’ll do both.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’ll be your hired gun and a call girl. She stays away from any part of what goes on with the clients in this club.”

The man was silent. Still facing away from Sam. “Madam, bring her something to type up her terms with.”

20 minutes later and Sam had signed a contract. And all her terms and stipulations were met.

Samantha and Kaeli would be trained in high society, upper class, and etiquette. They would both be available for dates , dinners, and events with the top tier of the elites. Sam would  be awarded business classes and Kaeli would learn Public relations. After a certain amount of time was put in with Kaeli working events and handling all PR and media for the club or scandles for the club and the employer, she wouldn’t have to go on dates anymore. Sam would be a lady goon, and a jazz singer/performer for the club and she would spend nights with clients. Normally most girls would have the choice on whether or not they wanted to sleep with clients but he had told Sam that there would be no exceptions with her. She would bring in top clients and top dollar. She would have opportunity to progress and climb up the ranks.

The madam was impressed with Sam’s sense of business and her courage to try and sacrifice all of her freedom for Kaeli to get away. The madam agreed to help Sam lie to the employer about her sleeping with clients.

Kaeli had worked off her debt and now only had to work PR and media for the club, and Sam had worked her way from all thug duties and had become the clubs “Sparkling Diamond” and a business partner. They made incredibly good money but they kept it to themselves. As far as everyone else was concerned, Kaeli and Samantha were just two strugglers. A struggling actor and a struggling screenwriter/stage manager. The only little slice of a normal life that they had.

“Sam, SAM!”

Vanderwood’s booming voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

“Sorry. Look, it’s nothing too serious right now I just, I got reckless and I may have messed up with he boss.”

“Don’t piss off your employer is one of the first rules I had ever taught you. What on earth would make you jeopardize what you have?”

“I don’t know Van! I was with the C&R director working a party being held in his honor and he is nothing like the chairman and I just thought maybe I could do things my own way. A way that works better and runs smoother and I just...”

“Oh, Sam...don’t tell me. You like the walking ATM.”

“No. I don’t.” She was extremely annoyed by Vanderwoods assumption. She knew better than that.

“No. I respect him as a business man and he has a very kind and insightful soul.”

Sam smirked she knew exactly how to mess with Van.

“And I mean I don’t know...I guess he’s just so...damn...seeexxxxyyy.”

“Stop.”

“I swear he makes my knees weak.”

“Gross.”

“He touched me and I swear my legs started to tremble, What I wouldn't’ give to see his big throb-”

“YOU DON’T TALK LIKE THAT IN FRONT OF ME.”

“Easy, Van. Holster your taser. Listen I just came over to make sure that if something does happen, you have my back.”

“Always.”

The two shared a quick side hug and Samantha made her leave. She had a lot to think about. Good think she took her bike. She was going to zip through the freeways at high speeds to clear her mind.

[imagine-knb]

Three Reasons Why [Hyuuga Junpei] 1/5

Back when I used to take personal requests, this was one of them. I hope you enjoy!

Riko growled in frustration as her pencil lead snapped under the weight of her hand. Clicking the end of her mechanical pencil proved to be fruitless and she soon realized, with a quick shake of the pencil, that it was running on empty. Sifting through her school bag, she found the little container that would house the lead for her pencil. She flicked the lid open with her nail, but was immediately annoyed to find that the container was void of the lead she desperately needed. She glanced around the silent classroom at her peers, all of them with their noses in their textbooks as they tried desperately to keep up with the teacher's notes and instructions on the board. Riko's eyes caught sight of one particular classmate; [Name], a girl she had grown to know quite well due to her ties with the basketball team's captain.

"Psst, [Name]," Riko hissed out in a whisper, trying her best not to be noticed by the teacher lest she interrupt class.

Said female turned in her chair, questioning eyes finding Riko. In response, the brunette held up her empty lead container, shaking it to show her friend that it was empty. [Name] smiled before nodding in acknowledgment, quickly sifting through her own school bag before tossing a small container in Riko's direction. Catching it easily, Riko flashed [Name] a thankful grin before refilling her pencil. The rest of class went on without a hitch for the pair, the both of them diligently jotting down notes—well, Riko only assumed [Name] was taking notes—and before they knew it, the bell was ringing, signaling the students' release to lunch. Riko immediately hopped out of her chair, bounding over to [Name].

"Thanks for the lead, [Name]," Riko beamed, dropping the small container into said girl's open palm. "I needed to finish jotting down some strategies before I forgot them. You're a life saver."

[Name] shook her head as she replaced the container in her school bag, telling Riko that it was no trouble at all. Standing from her place and swinging her bag over so the strap could rest on her shoulder, [Name] nodded her head in the direction of the classroom door, silently asking Riko if she would like to grab some lunch. The two girls made their way out of the classroom, waving a polite farewell to their teacher as they went. Outside, the hallways were crowded, students packing up the small spaces and bumping into each other as they tried in vain to snag some lunch before their limited time ran out.

Making their way into the cafeteria, Riko and [Name] took their places in a long line of students waiting for their meals. After a few minutes of waiting, each girl had a tray in hand, their eyes scanning the large room for a place to sit.

"Oh, look, there's a table over there!" Riko started jogging towards the empty table, her tray of food jostling slightly from her quick pace as she raced to be the first one there. "[Name], hurry up before I let someone else take your seat!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming," [Name] laughed, quickening her pace as she followed behind Riko diligently. The duo sat at the table, placing their belongings in the chairs adjacent to them so they could save seats for their friends who had yet to arrive. [Name] was panting slightly, still not used to Riko's fast paced lifestyle. "Not everything is a competition, you know," she teased, poking her tongue out at the young basketball coach.

Riko merely waved her off with a smile, happily placing a carrot stick between her lips so she could nibble on the light snack. "Hey, [Name], can I borrow your notes from class?" Riko asked, changing the subject so that their conversation could continue anew. Riko scratched at her cheek, giving her classmate a sheepish smile. "I kind of need it. You know, since I was writing out strategies instead of paying attention."

[Name] frowned, a light blush on her cheeks as she looked away from her brunette friend. Stirring the unidentifiable mass on her lunch tray with her chopsticks, she murmured an apology. "Uh, actually… I didn't really take notes myself. Sorry, Riko…"

"Eh?!" Riko looked at [Name], utter shock written on her face. Normally [Name] was a good student, always taking notes and answering her teacher's questions whenever they came up. It was practically unheard of that the second year would be daydreaming during class. "But I saw you writing something! You had to have taken at least some notes!"

[Name] reached out for her bag, sifting through its contents before pulling out her notebook. She flipped through its pages, searching for the day's date as she did so. When she had finally found the page she was looking for, she turned the book around to show Riko its contents, hoping the excitable girl wouldn't mind her awful doodles.

"I started taking notes in the beginning, so you can have those, but as you can see I sort of got side tracked…"

Riko scanned the page with her eyes. It was true that the first half of the left page was covered in notes, some words highlighted for emphasis; however, the rest of the pages were all covered in small drawings and words that pertained to nothing about their class. Reading some of the small words and phrases, Riko recognized them to be important days along with date ideas that [Name] could go on. Besides the date ideas were small drawings of two people—Riko assumed that [Name] had drawn herself along with Hyuuga—holding hands or talking or simply being near each other. Riko cooed in awe at the drawings, effectively causing [Name]'s cheeks to glow red.

"You two have been going out for quite a while now, right?" Riko asked, gesturing for [Name] to put her notebook away before anyone else saw the embarrassing doodles.

Nodding with enthusiasm, [Name] grinned. "Next week makes five months," she admitted. Thinking about Seirin's basketball captain had started to make her blush and a content sigh bubbled up from her lips as she daydreamed. "I was so distracted in class because I really want to do something nice for Junpei to celebrate."

Riko rolled her eyes at her lovestruck friend, though a teasing grin still made its way to her lips. "Just get him a warlord figure. He likes those things."

Shaking her head in protest, [Name] gave Riko a pout. "I can't! It needs to be something special since it's been five months now!" [Name] crossed her arms over her chest in a huff, slightly frustrated that she was having such a hard time deciding on a good gift. "Besides, I got him a warlord figure for our three month anniversary."

Riko laughed, small tears springing to her eyes as she did so. Wiping them away with the back of her hand, she patted [Name]'s shoulder. "I'm sure whatever he gets, Hyuuga will love." Thinking back to all the times the bespectacled captain had received a gift and complained, Riko revised her sentence. "Or at least, I'm sure whatever you get him, he'll love. Or else."

The two girls laughed with each other, going back to eating their lunch as they waited for more friends to arrive. The conversation continued with Riko bringing up different ideas and [Name] either praising them or rejecting them. It was becoming quite clear to Riko that her classmate was absolutely infatuated with the basketball captain. It was actually quite confusing for her to say the least.

"Say, [Name], why do you like Hyuuga so much anyway?" Riko asked once their previous conversation about ideal date spots died down. She was chewing on a celery stick between her lips, the satisfying crunch muffling her words a bit. "I mean, it's obvious you like him so much, but he seems like such a bad boyfriend. He doesn't even show affection at all."

"That's not true," [Name] protested, upset that Riko was accusing Hyuuga of being subpar. "Junpei is a great boyfriend. He does stuff for me all the time!"

Riko grinned, knowing she had flustered her friend quite a bit with her accusation. Leaning slightly forward in her seat, Riko looked [Name] in the eyes, a mischievous glint shining through her own. "Okay, give me three reasons why he's so great."

[Name] blushed, placing a delicate finger to her lips in thought. She looked away from Riko, her eyes darting back and forth as they blindly looked throughout the cafeteria. What had Hyuuga done for her that showed he loved her just as much as she loved him? [Name] couldn't quite remember exact moments in time, but she was sure that somewhere in her memory the tall second year male had shown his affection.

"He's, uh, let's see," [Name] murmured, trying hard to wrack her brain for any sort of memory. "He's helped me with my homework, he's shared food with me, he's pretty nice to me, he's—"

"[Name], that's all stuff a friend can do too," Riko interjected, stopping the girl from rambling. "Geez, I knew Hyuuga was hopeless when it came to love, but is that really all he does for you? Are you sure he's the one?"

"O-Of course he is," [Name] stammered. She cursed herself for stumbling over her words, knowing it only fueled the fire that was Riko's questioning glare. "Junpei is a great boyfriend, I swear."

"I'll believe it when I see it," Riko said, shrugging as she went back to poking at the cafeteria lunch she had on her tray. Glancing up from the table, her eyes lit up at the sight of two basketball players. "Speak of the devil, there he is along with Kiyoshi."

Riko called out to Hyuuga and Kiyoshi, watching as they waved back at her from across the room. They each had trays of food in their own hands and, as they slowly made their way over to where the girls were sitting, they tried their best not to spill their precious food. Briefly, Hyuuga's eyes met [Name]'s and the girl found herself fighting back a blush as she waved to her boyfriend, a smile breaking out onto her face. Hyuuga nodded at her in acknowledgement, the smallest of smiles playing on his lips as well.

"Don't worry Riko," [Name] muttered to her friend as they both watched the males try their best to avoid the crowd, "By the end of the week, I'm sure you'll be convinced that Junpei loves me just as much as I love him."

Giving her friend a teasing smile, Riko moved her stuff to allow Kiyoshi to sit next to her, [Name] doing the same with her own bag for Hyuuga. "Like I said, [Name]: I'll believe it when I see it."

[gorocult]

Pensieve

Hidekane Week 2017 - Day 1: Honey/ Mixed Up The Recipe/ Sweet Shop AU/ Author: ayainu Summary: Kaneki recalls the fun times he spent as a Ravenclaw in Hogwarts with his Honey Badger of a significant other. (Basically used Honey as an excuse to make a Harry Potter au.) Warnings: Just senseless fluff, mentions of Kaneki being uncomfortable with the Asaoka household, it’s kind of a mess because I had a lot of ideas and too little time. Rating: Teen Title: Pensieve

Accompanying art

Out of all his classes in his final year at Hogwarts, Kaneki found himself thinking he’d miss History of Magic the most. Yes, that notorious for its boring nature class. Even though got to take Alchemy due to the heavy demand the previous year. Alchemy was really fun, and he shared it with a lot of his friends, including the snoring honey badger next to him.

He’d known Hide since even before they enrolled into Hogwarts. It used to be one of his biggest worries since he discovered his ability that he’d have to leave Hide behind for Hogwarts.

He had been so conflicted because he honestly wanted nothing more than a golden chance like this to leave the hellish Asaoka household, but Hide was important. So important he knew he’d have discarded his letter had Hide reacted the least bit negatively.

He’d asked him to meet up at their park and found him waiting, perched easily on their whale hill. His heart fluttered in a way it still does to this day, only his eleven year old self had no way of knowing what he did today about the nature of his feelings. Kaneki precisely remembered the warm breeze that surrounded them that day, how he felt like he was breathing icicles in the middle of the summer despite that. He’d been so nervous approaching Hide, his letter cradled in his shaking hands, hidden out of view behind his back.

“Hide..” Kaneki swallowed through the lump in his throat. “I…”

Hide turned to him and cocked his head curiously.

Kaneki took a deep breath to calm his wild heart. He must’ve taken too long because the next thing he knew Hide was standing right in front of him, his palms cushions for Kaneki’s pale cheeks.

“Is everything alright Kaneki?” His tone was so full of his gentle concern that Kaneki found tears prickling at his eyes.

“Yes Hide, everything is okay, more than okay, it’s just..-” I might have to choose between you and my dreams, he was too choked up on his emotions to say.

“Then why do you look like you’re about to cry? Hey, Kaneki what’s the matter?”

“Hide I.. It might sound insane but I was born with magical powers, I just got the letter today, that I’ve been chosen for this super elite magic school, I am happy but…- Hey Hide why are you laughing? I’m serious!”

“Ah- Sorry Kaneki,” Hide wiped mirthful tears from his eyes. “It’s not that I don’t believe you, it’s just-” Hide was cut off by another fit of laughter.

“Hide are you in hysterics? I won’t go if you don’t like it I promise!” Kaneki was confused and panicking, and thank whatever lucky stars he had that Hide collected himself at that moment in an abrupt pause from his laughter.

“No! You absolutely must go Kaneki!” Hide exclaimed too loudly.

“What?” Hide might’ve stopped laughing but it didn’t at all help with Kaneki’s confusion.

“Well you see..” Hide fidgeted with his scavenged his jacket’s pocket for a bit. “You see it’s an odd coincidence but I’ve been meaning to bring this up today..” He brandished a letter identical to his own, and when Kaneki’s sight caught up with his brain he let out a soft gasp and scrambled to tackle Hide in a hug.

“I’m so happy I didn’t want to have to give up anything I’m so happy!” Kaneki’s voice was a string of murmurs against Hide’s shirt.

Hide chuckled and ran his fingers through Kaneki’s hair, ever so gentle.

“So, want to explain?” Kaneki looked over to him, a relaxed smile on his face. They’d settled down after getting over the initial shock on top of their whale hill to piece together what it all meant.

“My family.. They’re all purebloods.”

“Purebloods?”

“That means they’re all pure wizards and witches, no muggle marriages. Only magicians. It’s a given I’m a wizard too.” Hide laughs quietly. “Even if my mother was a muggle..”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, mudblood is the right term for someone like me, at least to them.”

“My mom.. She was human too.”

“To hell with opposites attract huh?”

Kaneki laughed.

***

It was such a relief to have Hide by his side on the train ride to Hogwarts, heavens knew there would’ve been no way for him to run headfirst into a wall if he hadn’t had Hide’s hand clasped tightly in his own.

They had met the others on the train.

The second year Nishiki, his beautiful girlfriend Kimi, the second year Shuu with his expensive clothes and bag, the goddess among mortals Rize and jellybrain Naki.

It was the usual case of Nagachika Hideyoshi’s infectious smile and approachable nature that drew them all in. What surprised him though was that on that train a beautiful girl approached him as well.

“Hi, my name is Rize!” She smiled prettily.

“H-Hi, I’m Kaneki, nice to meet you..” he could feel Hide’s eyes bore into the side of his face. Somehow he felt uneasy.

“The book..” she motioned to the book that was now lying face down on Kaneki’s lap. “I was thinking about reading it too, I really like this author. Is it good?”

Kaneki willingly took the bait and started talking in length about how amazing that book was from what he’s read so far. They discussed the author’s other works too and when the author’s name came up Hide let out a small sound of surprise.

“Hide?” Kaneki looked at him quizzically, concern in his tone.

“Oh it’s- hello by the way I’m Hide!” He smiles easily at Rize and she smiles back. “If it’s Takatsuki Sen then you’ll meet your idol at Hogwarts..”

Both Kaneki and Rize looked at him with excitement that was almost palpable.

“What do you mean Hide?” Kaneki’s voice shook with the force of his anticipation.

“Well she’s a family friend, we go way back. She teaches at Hogwarts,” Hide scratches his cheek bashfully. “She’s actually one of the reasons I’m so excited about Hogwarts..”

“Oh?” It was very immature and irrational for Kaneki to feel a tinge of jealousy at that. Not of Hide because he had personal relations with his idol. Rather, it was because there was someone else other than him that was close to Hide, that Hide was excited to see. It was completely nonsensical of him really.

When the train screeched to a halt, all his worries dissipated and the air in their cart was buzzing with anticipation and excitement.

Kaneki was brought back to the present time when their teacher’s voice raised a notch. He was worried he got caught for zoning out but luckily the teacher’s attention was trained on the other side of the room, where Naki was making a scene as usual.

Trust Naki to keep the teacher’s attention away from Hide’s snoring corpse.

Kaneki let his mind drift back to its reminiscing daydream. Maybe it was the fact that they would say goodbye to Hogwarts soon that got him all emotional and nostalgic.

He’d been absolutely hopeless at flying. Hide on the other hand, was amazing, had it not been for all his “moves” he would’ve been a prodigy. But he insisted he didn’t care about doing it properly as much as he did about doing it with style.

“What’s the point of flying if I’m not going to do it in style? That’s boring!”

Hide had always been incorrigible. Well, at least Rize was there to mellow it out.

Rize was a great friend, after meeting her on the train, he and Hide formed strong bonds with her. They were absolutely inseparable, their duo became a trio and they were both happy about that.

To put it simply, Rize was a fucking badass. She was, in Hide’s own words, awesome and super cool. It was fun to hang out with her and she seemed to genuinely enjoy their company.

Kaneki had been so sure at the sorting ceremony that she’d join him over at the Ravenclaw table but was surprised when the sorting hat proclaimed her a Gryffindor. Looking back on it now Kaneki knew she couldn’t have been anything else, her daring nature and adventurous spirit and sometimes cunningness fit the house description to a T.

But he wasn’t as surprised as the head of the Slytherin though, when the hat had announced Hide a Hufflepuff. The poor man looked absolutely horrified, and Hide’s expression was, in simple terms, shit eating. He loved this, he loved going against all his family’s traditions. He broke their spotless pureblood Slytherin streak and he reveled in the fact.

Hide admitted later that he didn’t believe Slytherin was a bad house, and he thought that he belonged in it to some extent. It wasn’t the house he was going against, it was his family.

Kaneki never trusted Slytherins at all, he was quite shocked to find out Takatsuki Sen, or as he found out, Yoshimura Eto was a Slytherin.

Eto was the person who taught them that Slytherins are only villainized unfairly all the time because a common enemy was needed. She taught them a lot, and continues to. He’ll forever be in her debt for all the help she’d given them with that hopeless mess she called hair that framed her face, pink mouth constantly pulled in a smile, and her signature round glasses perched on her small button nose.

Kaneki glanced over to their teacher when he was snapped back out of his reverie once more. This time it was at the mention of their final N.E.W.T.S. He diligently wrote down what their teacher told them to focus on and put a note to tell Hide later.

They had met the second batch of friends when they were in their second year. The feisty Touka, gentle natured Yoriko, Hairu the madonna of Hogwarts, and Karren the cool beauty.

Touka and Yoriko had been inseparable from the very start, it was only natural that they’d end up befriending Kaneki and Hide. Childhood friends quartet was what they were known as. Karren found home in Shuu’s shadow, and Hairu ended up being the covergirl for the Gryffindors. Yoriko ended up with Hide in Hufflepuff and Touka in Gryffindor with the third year power couple Nishiki and Kimi. Karren also ended up in Gryffindor, luckily the same house as Shuu.

It was all fun times really, with all the new meat. Hide had been overly excited about being an upperclassman and it was kind of adorable to watch.

Around their third year was when Kaneki realized the nature of what he felt. It’d taken him a while, and the insistent prodding of Rize, but he did eventually.

“Rize I think I like Hide, like like, you know?”

“Took you long enough.”

“What?”

“I’m going to make some major money that’s what.”

“You bet on us?”

“No, that was obvious to everyone, we bet when you’d realize and when you’d get action.”

“I can’t believe you guys..”

“Touka gave you two too much credit and said you’d end up together by the end of second year, poor girl lost some big money.”

“I can’t believe this.. even Touka-chan?!”

“Especially Touka-chan, she knows first hand how being with someone your whole life is bound to make you develop some feelings.”

“Wow, so Touka-chan and Yoriko-chan..?”

“I only know that Touka has feelings for her, I haven’t talked to Yoriko much, and Touka seems adamant on never telling her.”

“Wow..”

“Which leads me to you, when do you plan to confess?”

“Ah I- it’s not simple Rize.”

“Of course it’s simple, Hide is a sweet boy he won’t cut off ties with you over something like that. You have nothing to lose, you tell him and he says yes, then good for you and I call best woman, if he doesn’t reciprocate your feelings and wants to stay friends then sorry for you, but good on Hide for being a great person. These are literally the only two turns of events possible I don’t see why not get it over with it’s either win or nothing changes.”

“How much did you bet on us getting together this year Rize?”

“I bet my entire Takatsuki Sen collection’s worth in money, please get on with it.”

“Can’t make you sell the books you love so much, I guess,” Kaneki chuckled, Rize as cunning as ever.

Rize just laughed, her voice a lilting melody.

As a third year, Kaneki didn’t feel invested in befriending the newcomers as he was the year before, but Hide was as relentless as ever. Kaneki was glad for that, the newcomers that year were the most amazing thing that’s ever happened to Hogwarts, no offense to anyone.

Saiko and Shirazu from Hufflepuff, Urie from Slytherin and Hinami the sweet soul and Mutsuki from Ravenclaw. They brought so much life into the dull old school. Even professor Arima ended up becoming friendlier.

Rize had won the bet, Kaneki listened to her and confessed, around a week after he learned about the nature of his feelings.

“.. Hide I need to talk to you..”

“Is something wrong?” Hide, forever the worrywart, panicked immediately. “If it’s about that jellybean prank I already said I’m sorry, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes for you to forgive me!”

Kaneki, despite his nerves, found himself laughing. “No no, Hide I’m okay. Not that I encourage your pranks but I wasn’t actually mad, I found it quite funny actually.” He grinned.

Hide grinned back. “Whassup then?”

Kaneki knotted his fingers together. “Hide I…” he took a deep breath. “Hide I like you! Like like you.”

“Like?” Hide’s eyes were wide and his lips was slightly parted in silent shock. A soft pink dusted his cheeks and nose.

“Like I want to date you..” Kaneki’s face was beet red and he swallowed thickly. “It doesn’t have to change anything between us, I just thought that it’s best to get this out as soon as possible so I don’t have to keep thinking about all the possibilities. I’m sorry if it’s a burden to know.”

“No! Kaneki it’s not a burden at all. Actually I…” Hide cut himself off and took a deep determined breath. “Let’s date.”

“What?” Kaneki sputtered. “It’s not like you have to or anything!”

“No, I want to. I’ve liked you for a while actually, I was shocked when you suddenly confessed but I was really happy.” Hide smiled sweetly at him and Kaneki’s heart hammered in his chest.

You’d think the spark would’ve been gone by now, the flame extinguished. As Kaneki looked over to the little trail of drool at the corner of Hide’s mouth and the way his hair fell in honey-gold waterfalls over his freckled face, he realized his heart thumped as hard as ever, never weakening.

“Hey Hide..” Kaneki whispered but only got a grumble in response, something that sounded suspiciously like ‘hamburger’.

Kaneki shook his head fondly, what an idiot.

They’ve had their ups and downs, their relationship got rocky at times but overall he could only look back on every experience with a smile. Their bonds were strong, and even when their friends teased them about being a lovey dovey couple, they only found pride in that. He’d never forget the first time they held hands for everyone to see in the dining hall. His heart had been thumping, delightful at holding Hide’s hand with an inexplicable dash of nervousness.

His heart would’ve exploded had their first kiss been similar. Thank Hide’s common sense, however scarce at times, that when he pulled him in for a kiss they’d been in the privacy of the gardens, hidden behind the curtain like drooping leaves of a willow.

‘Idiot..’ Kaneki thought fondly as stared some more. In the soft lighting of the class, Hide’s hair looked fluffy and soft. His goldish brown locks reminded him of the color of honey. Almost unconsciously he found his fingers buried in Hide’s hair, and every time he moved them the sweet scent of honey filled his nostrils.

Would he go that far?

Kaneki felt a hand rest over his own and he looked back down at Hide to find his warm brown eyes trained on him, a smile on his lips.

“I take my honey badger pride seriously.”

“No kidding,” Kaneki snorted softly.

“Were you awake the whole time?” Kaneki moped.

“It’s fascinating watching you think. But to answer your question I was only conscious after ‘hamburger’”

Kaneki blushed. “You’re an idiot, you missed some important information about the N.E.W.T.S.”

“Fine, I’ll get you a prerelease copy of Takatsuki’s new work.”

“Signed?”

“With a blue pen, I gotcha.”

“Here then.” Kaneki passed his notebook to him and Hide proceeded to copy the test related notes.

Kaneki yawned. “What’s on next?”

“Alchemy, let’s get moving or Mr. Marude will kill us,” Rize piped from the seat right in front of theirs.

“Oh shit!” Hide grumbled under his breath and collected his things. “Let’s go.”

Kaneki laughed at Hide’s panic and proceeded to collect his things as well.

Ah, he really was going to miss this. But he was also excited. He looked down at the promise ring, a reassuring weight resting against his chest. He and Hide decided to live together after school. Their friends wouldn’t be too far away and could always visit.

He looked forward to the future, even if the past was a sweet series of memories in this place that he had to bitterly leave behind. The past was beautiful, but he couldn’t wait for the amazing things the future has in store for them.

[veloxaraptor]

Flashback, hazrah cause chiss

“You alright there, Tanya?”

Hazrah turned her head, removing her blade from between the shoulder blades of her victim. The body hit the ground with a dense thud. With a boot Hazrah kicked it over, kneeling down to check the individual’s personal belongings.

“I’m fine.” She answered in an upbeat manner, plucking a wallet from the corpse’s breast pocket. “And finer now that I’ve got several hundred more credits.”

“Whooo~” Her partner gave a toothy grin, placing his hands on his hips. “You know, you still amaze me with how brutal you get in a fight.”

“What? Why?” She stood and tilted her head to the side in curiosity.

“Just the way you go for the kill. Hacking and slashing.” He mimicks the actions with an imaginary knife in his hands.

“Well… it’s kill or be killed. I like breathing.” Hazrah--”Tanya”-- grins, wiping her blade off at last on her pants leg before sheathing it. “Just something you pick up on the streets, you know? You don’t get second chances there.”

“Yeah, I getcha.” A trusting bob of the head. “Anyways, let’s get back home. I’m sure everyone’s wondering what’s keeping us.”

“Lead the way.” Hazrah gestured for him to precede her and a final glance at the body she was leaving behind, began to follow.

‘Home’. The hideout of the rebel group she had been infiltrating for the last few months. It was a small group, only a dozen or so and mostly aliens. Despite its small size, Intelligence had deemed the group a threat and wanted them neutralized as soon as possible. Hazrah was only too happy to oblige.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t sympathise with their cause--equal rights for aliens--in fact, she most certainly could. As an alien herself, she felt the scrutiny of the Empire despite the fact that the Chiss were official allies. But she knew it was something that couldn’t be changed and that fighting the system only ended up getting a blade wedged in between your shoulderblades. Things were as they were and you either obeyed, or they sent someone like Hazrah after you.

In honesty, she had come to the conclusion that the only reason this rebel cell was even considered a threat was because they made a big entrance. A known hangout for Imperial military members off hours had been blown to pieces as their opening move. Nearly a hundred soldiers had been killed or injured. And that was just their very first public statement. The subsequent actions afterwards had been bigger and the body count higher. Intelligence had suspected there was a leak in the military somewhere, some disgruntled ground pounder who wanted to be more than cannon fodder. But in all her time with the rebels, after having gotten close to each and every one of them, she had found no evidence of a leak.

No, they were just smart and well organized. Knew exactly where to strike and when, to cause the most carnage as possible. That in Hazrah’s eyes made her more dangerous than if there was a leak.

The duo paused and let out a wavering whistle. There was silence for a few moments before a hatch in the ground opened. Hazrah stood watch while her partner dropped down in and once the coast was clear, followed suit. She didn’t much care for the sewers of Kaas City. They were dank, filthy and smelt of things unmentionable. The months had seen her become accustomed to the later, though the filth was something that would never sit well with her. but that was alright, she wouldn’t have to deal with it much longer.

The man she had slain topside was carrying a message for her. Scribbled on a piece of flimsi, in a coded Minnisat, the message had come directly from command. There was no further point in her remaining with the group, they were to be handled and she was to return to Command for a debriefing immediately afterwards. That suited her just fine. As it was, she was going to need months worth of bathing to remove the stench of the sewers from her skin.

“Welcome home!” A medley of several voices greeted the pair as they entered the hideout. Hazrah grinned cheerily as she was clapped on the back, a drink foisted into her empty hands. “So tell us how it went? Are we good for tonight?”

“Yeah. The bombs are planted. We just have to pull the trigger and BOOM. No more barracks.” Hazrah imitated a large explosion with her hands, snickering wildly.

“Eeeeexcellent! Knew we could depend on you two!” Another clap on the back, drinks raised in a toast.

“You know what? This calls for a celebration.” She stood suddenly. “I’m going to crack out the good stuff.”

“The good stuff?”

“Yeah, the stuff that will get even me drunk.”

“Oooooh. Yeeeees. Tanya drunk. I’ve gotta see this.”

With a chuckle, she waved a dismissive hand and made her way to the back room. Searching through the shelves and crates, she finally pulled out the bottle she had been looking for. A bottle of Starshine Surprise. It would knock nearly anyone on their backs and with the appropriate addition, Hazrah would make certain of it.

Reaching into her breast pocket, she pulled out a thumb sized vial filled with a viscous liquid. Uncorking both bottles, she poured the smaller into the Starshine surprise, recorking it afterwards and shaking it up.

“Tanya.”

A sudden voice caused her to jump and turn. Standing in the doorway was the group leader, an aged and grizzled mirialan. Arms crossed over his chest, he stared at her with piercing blue eyes.

“Sir?”

“What are you doing?”

“Getting a celebratory drink for the crew. We felt the need to celebrate our biggest move yet.”

“And what you just poured into it?”

“Sir?”

“Don’t act coy. I watched you.”

Hazrah let out a sigh, setting the bottle on the shelf. She had slipped up. Now she needed to decide quickly whether to try and lie or outright remove him from the equation. Something in her said that he wouldn’t believe whatever half-baked story she came up with. No matter how convincing she made it sound. Shaking her head, she looked up at the man with an apologetic look.

“Well, this is rather unfortunate…” With a flash of movement, she shot forward, knife ready to bury itself into the old man’s solar plexus.

The blade missed however, the older gentleman still bearing reflexes that belied his age. He dodged to the side, the blade just grazing his side. A fist came flying for Hazrah’s jaw, catching her off guard and sending her flying into a set of shelves. Pain shot through her arm as a gash opened up, a well of blood blossoming on her sleeve. Grunting she pulled herself out of the pile, brushing herself off even as her opponent advanced.

Another fist came barreling towards her, but she had expected it this time, ducking under the massive fist. Using her momentum, Hazrah sprung herself upwards, another hidden knife in hand and this time, she didn’t miss. The blade buried itself up to its hilt in his jaw, penetrating the skull and entering the brain. He gurgled a bit, body spasming though unable to move. Hazrah held the blade there for a moment before giving it a brutal twist.

Her ‘leader’s’ eyes went wide before all light suddenly left them and the body became too heavy for her to hold up any longer. As gently as she could, she lowered the old man to the ground, removing her knife. Wiping it clean on his tunic, she sheathed the knife and reached for the bottle of Starshine surprise. Well, one was down at least. If she was lucky, the others wouldn’t have heard the ruckus. If she were unlucky, well, she’d have to take a more forceful approach to the cleansing.

As things would have it, luck had been on her side. The rest of the crew had decided to get the celebration underway early, with music so loud it would drown out your own thoughts. Plastering on the most convincing grin, she lifted her bottle to the sky as she entered the room. In response, the men all cheered and hollered in response, banging their mugs on tables in demand for a drink. ‘Tanya’ lifted her other hand to pacify the crowd before calling out above the music.

“Who’s ready for a drink?!” More hooting and hollering met her question. With a strut, she made her way to everyone with an outheld glass, pouring the concoction until the bottle was emptied. It passed their noticed when she reached for an alternate mug, one filled with nothing but water and raised it high. “TO US! TO OUR MISSION! TO SUCCESS!”

Another cheer rose up amongst the group as they raised their glasses and drank deeply. Hazrah watched over the rim of her drink, waiting for the effects to kick in. Within moments, the poison began to work its magic. Anyone who had partaken began to cough, crimson stained foam bubbling forth from their mouths as they slowly collapsed lifeless onto the floor. Slowly, Hazrah made her rounds, shoving at each with her foot to ensure they were no longer breathing.

“What happened?!” The shocked exclamation caused Hazrah to spin on her feet to face the individual it had come from. Her partner stood in the doorway, bottles in his hands and a horrified look on his face. “Tanya… what… what happened? Did… did you do this?”

“Yes.” There wasn’t any point in denying it, he had caught her red handed so to speak and lying in the situation would have proved pointless.

“Why?”

The question was met with a blaster bolt connecting with his chest. It took a moment for the injury to register, or that Hazrah had pulled out a blaster and had been the one to do it. The bottles in his hands crashed to the ground followed shortly by his knees. Hazrah made her way towards him slowly as he gazed up at her with wide, frightened eyes. The look of betrayal was etched deep into his expression as she kneeled down face to face with him.

“Because.” She commented flatly, no longer masquerading as someone else. “It was my job.”

“But… but these people… they were your friends! I was your friend! We.. we trusted you!”

“Because you were led to do so. But it was all fake. I wasn’t ever your friend. Tanya never existed.”

“No! You… told me about growing up on the streets! You… you knew things no one but a street urchin would know!”

“A carefully crafted story. And you, you gullible fools… you ate it up. Took me into your fold, trusted me. Because that was what I wanted. And all of that… was to bring me to this moment.” Lifting the blaster pistol, she placed it against his head and pulled the trigger without a second of hesitation. As she stood, she wiped the splatter from her face and reached for her holocom unit.

“This is Agent Aezel reporting. All targets eliminated, proceed with sweep team to search for any stragglers and deactivate the weapon. I’m headed to HQ for debrief.” She felt no remorse as she stepped over her ‘partner’s’ lifeless form. After all, she had spoken the truth to him in those final moments. They had never been friends, she had never formed any bonds. Everything up until that moment had been a carefully crafted and acted out farce. Tanya was nothing but a string attached to puppets. As she walked out that door and into the Kaasi rain, everything from the last few months became nothing but a hazy dream.