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kaylans-imagines · 3 years

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0. i hate her

pairing: peter b. parker x fem! reader

synopsis: in which y/n hates everything about peter parker, especially the way she can’t really hate him

↳ loosely based on the movie with the same title

warnings: cursing, fluff, a generous amount of angst, peter's an asshole, y/n's an asshole, familial death, incarceration. i don't know if there's more.

chapter warnings: cursing, starts off slow, flash.

series masterlist

*gif credits to the rightful owner*

The brisk air of the changing seasons accompanied Peter as he made his way to the school entrance from the train stop. His headphones sat snuggly inside his ears, playing a song that made the usually lonely journey to school less so. Ned didn’t take the same route as he did, so he had no one to talk to or make the trek to school less boring. He didn’t mind it; it gave him time to think and even finish school work. Still, sometimes he wanted someone by his side so he could discuss whatever was on his mind that day or ask questions whenever an assignment didn’t make sense.

The long ride to the school did give him time to people watch. There were times when he would deduce who could be a possible threat. Other times, he would simply look at people and try to figure out their stories without actually talking to them. The old lady who brought her cat onto the subway had severe separation anxiety caused by her estranged son. The man with exhausted eyes who looked like he was on the brink of passing out on his seat had a newborn daughter at home. And Peter was just trying to get to school, along with the other teenager on the subway. He didn’t talk to him, they were on entirely different wavelengths, but there was an understanding between the two of them. Whenever they saw each other, they would nod their heads in greeting. They would always sit one seat away from one another, and if the other was running late, they would wait.

He made his way up the stairs and towards the school, turning up the volume as a way to tune out the sounds of high school that he hated. The cheery rhymes that left the sounds of the cheerleaders to the arguing of students over who was right; he hated them before the bite, and he especially despised them now that he had hypersensitive hearing. Sighing in annoyance, he looked both ways before crossing the street only to rush forward as a car came barreling down the road.

“I swear to god, Y/N!” he heard her sister, Juliette, shriek, “we almost killed him!”

“But we didn’t. If you’re going to complain about my driving, then you can take the bus, Jules,”

“You almost killed someone!” Peter heard her exclaim. He could feel the way Y/N rolled her eyes.

“It’s only Peter,” she stated, making eye contact with him through the rearview as she let students pass, “who cares if he gets slightly scuffled?”

“You have literal issues,” Julie gasped. The car sped down the road, leaving Peter alone with a slightly elevated heart rate and irritation laced in his bones. It was the first day of school, and he nearly got run over. And by his ex-best friend turned enemy at that. He couldn’t wait to complain to Ned.

Their dynamic had changed, and Peter blamed her. They became friends because of Y/N’s grandmother and May in kindergarten. They were two birds of a feather until halfway towards seventh grade when Y/N became snippy and ruined what Peter thought was their perfect friendship. They drifted apart, and he blamed her for it breaking apart. He watched as she became someone he didn’t know anymore and left him behind. He just didn’t think it was fair for her to act self-righteous when she ruined their relationship.

“You okay, Pete?” Ned questioned as he fell into step with Peter, who was fuming with irritation.

“Yeah, just almost got run over by Midtown’s resident ice bitch,” he gritted. Ned nodded in response. He was friends with both Peter and Y/N once upon a time. Still, after everything she had put them through and the abrupt way she ended their friendship, he sided with Peter and subsequently lost a friend. He figured it was for the best. He wasn’t as resentful as Peter was—his friendship with Y/N hadn’t been built in kindergarten—but he still didn’t appreciate her actions.

“Oh,” he nodded in understanding, “are you okay at least?”

“Yeah, but it did sorta ruin my mood,” Peter confessed. He was having a pretty good morning until his reflexes were put to the test. He woke up on the right side of the bed and had time to eat breakfast with May before she went to work. The walk towards the subway station was nice; he said hi to everyone he usually greeted and even got a muffin from the lady with the three-year-old daughter. Then the subway wasn’t as busy as it usually was, so he wasn’t squashed next to the man with the foul body odor and could actually sit down. All of that happiness came crashing down the second he saw her in her car, looking unapologetic for nearly killing him and then dismissing her sister for chastising her.

“Well, get happy, my arachnid friend, because I heard some exciting news,” Ned smiled, poking him on the arm as they walked to their first class.

“What?”

“You’re top of our class, which means you’re a shoo-in for valedictorian,” Ned said excitedly. Peter grinned at that. All of his hard work would finally be noticed and celebrated. He had been working on greeting his class for four years, doing extracurriculars, and taking on extra projects for grade boosts. Sometimes he even stayed after school to help his teachers grade papers or help the librarian sort the books back into their respective spots on the shelves. It would all be worth it in the end after he finally reached the goal he had set for himself his freshman year.

There was a snag in his plans. While he may have been top of his class, that didn’t mean that he couldn’t be pushed from his place. Y/N Y/L/N was the smartest girl at Midtown. She was everything he wasn’t. She was popular—if the excessive amounts of clubs she was part of were any indication. She was social—everyone talked about the interactions they had with Midtown’s princess. She was everywhere, and nothing Peter was. She was the head of the planning committee, and everyone knew that any school party planned by Y/N Y/L/N never disappointed. Peter couldn’t compete. He found peace in knowing that he was slightly better than her at academics.

The two continued walking in silence, content with the atmosphere they had created after finding out that Peter would finally have something go his way for once. He figured it was the least the universe could do for him. He had lost both parents before he could make memories with them, then he lost his best friend, and then he got bitten by a spider that changed his life; for better or for worse, he didn’t know. Being valedictorian wouldn’t take away the hurt the world inflicted on him, but it would make him feel somewhat better.

With a skip in his step, he walked into class with a grin so large, he didn’t think anything could bring him down. Of course, he thought wrong. His English teacher had to make a day he felt he could turn around into one he wished would end faster.

“It’s about time you all had a project—the topic of discussion, poetry. You will be partnered up and tasked with reading and creating your own poems by the end of the month,” she paused, waiting for her class to stop looking at one another and whispering amongst themselves, “I’ve already chosen your partners, so it would do you all some good to stop getting your hopes up and listen.”

With that, the high schoolers shifted in their seats and gave their attention back to their teacher. She was good at pairing up students who were cordial with one another and worked well together. Friendships usually sparked from her partnering, sometimes even relationships. So Peter, and the rest of the class, weren’t as annoyed as they wanted to be. They knew she wouldn’t let them down. Peter waited eagerly as she listed off students who would be working together. He hoped he got paired up with someone who matched his work ethic or someone he got along with.

“Peter Parker, you will be with Y/N Y/L/N,” and just like that, he hated English class and lost all faith in his teacher. He looked across the room to where the said girl was seated. She was writing in her planner—Peter was sure she was planning Ms. Ingrid’s death—but she looked up when her name was called. She turned her head and met Peter’s eyes, unamused and bored. She shook her head and looked at her planner once again. Peter took that as a sign to do the same and focus on anything other than his rising anger.

Peter watched as everyone moved to meet their partners, many of them happily talking to one another. He was stubborn. He decided that if she wasn’t going to make an effort to push aside whatever hatred she had towards him and talk to him for the sake of their grades, he wasn’t going to. He was going to sit in his seat and read a poem from the packet his teacher had handed out. Just because he had a lousy partner didn’t mean his grade had to suffer. He would complete the project by himself if he had to.

“Mister Parker, last I checked, you were to be working with Miss Y/L/N,” Miss Ingrid quipped as she walked to Peter’s desk with a teasing smile.

“Actually, Miss, I was hoping I could talk to you about that?” He asked. He liked Miss Ingrid. She was understanding and compassionate, and she didn’t talk down to her students as if they were children.

“Something wrong, Peter?” she asked, concerned. Peter felt bad. He knew he was petty, and his favorite teacher didn’t need to be pulled down to his level. But he couldn’t bring himself to work with someone who didn’t want to work with him. That usually meant he was left to do the work by himself and watch the other person still get credit. It infuriated him so much he would rather do the project himself from the start.

“Yeah, um, I can’t work with Y/N,” he muttered, smiling at her with an embarrassed smile. Peter admitted it sounded stupid and childish when said aloud, but he had his reasons.

“And, pray tell, Peter, why not?”

“I just don’t think we would work well together,” he confessed. Seeing the look on her face, Peter was quick to defend himself more, “and I just don’t want to do the work for someone else and have them get credit for doing nothing. So, if it’s alright with you, Miss Ingrid, I would like to work on this on my own.” He was practically begging. Hoping she would agree.

“I’m sorry, Peter, but this is a partner project. To lessen the workload,” she sighed, “besides, I don’t think you have anything to worry about with Y/N; she’s very good at doing her share.” She stood up with those final words and tapped the table before standing up and sending him a smile. He sighed, putting his head down and looking at his desk in annoyance. He looked up when a book landed on his desk. Closing his eyes to keep himself from exploding at whoever shattered his tranquility, he was met with eyes he used to find joy looking into. Now, he never wanted to look into them ever again.

“We’re partners. I don’t like it, you don’t like it, but we have to do it otherwise, our grades will plummet, and you can’t afford that if you want to be valedictorian. So, we’re going to push our difference aside for this one project and do it, so we never have to talk to again,” she said curtly.

That left no room for argument, which caused Peter to nod his head in agreement. She was right; he couldn’t afford to lose the one thing he was looking forward to being. Sighing deeply, he motioned for her to sit down and opened the book she threw on his desk. She took a seat beside him and opened another poetry book, focusing on the words written on the paper and trying to plan their poem out. They had to get a good grade; she didn’t want him to blame her for something else.

Despite his annoyance and hatred towards her, he couldn’t help but glance up from the book he was reading. Of course, he had seen her around, it was hard to ignore one of the most known girls in the school, but he had never taken the time to admire her. His anger and betrayal kept him from doing so. She still had the same gleeful look in her eyes and the confident aura around her. Time had done her well. She had lost her kidlike features, and it was evident that she had matured. He would be a liar if he said she wasn’t pretty, and even that didn’t truly justify it.

When the bell signaled the end of class, Peter quickly grabbed his belongings and left the classroom. He didn’t stop to wait for anyone, much less Y/N. Their only interactions would be in the English room, a controlled space where she couldn’t kill him for so much as breathing in her direction. Walking towards his locker, he heard the noises of people as they navigated the busy halls of the school. Stopping at his locker with a sigh, he leaned his head on the cool metal. The day had been long, and he shrill had six other classes to go to.

A tap on his shoulder made him pick up his head. Y/N stood in front of him, bouncing on her feet as she played with her fingers.

“You left before I could ask when you can meet up. The faster we get this done, the faster we can stop being around one another,” she quipped. “I’m free on Friday after school.”

“I’m not. I have the Stark internship,”

She rolled her eyes at his response, “okay and? We need to get this done so we can go back to never speaking to each other. I’m sure Tony Stark will understand that you need to take one day off to do a school project.”

“Not happening. I don’t know if you know this, but you’re not worth losing the internship over,” he jibed. He missed the look of hurt that flashed on her face. She shook her head and scoffed.

“Well, we need to get this done. Either we work on this stupid project on Friday, or we’re both failing,” she reminded before walking away. Peter groaned and banged his head on the now open door. He ignored the looks he got from his locker neighbors and kept his head buried in the empty space. Friday’s were the days he went into the Avenger’s compound and actively worked in the lab with Tony after he finished his Spider-Man duties; the last thing he wanted to do was infect the compound with her hatred and bad vibes.

He didn’t want to invite her, but he had been working on something with Tony for the past two weeks that he needed to finish. He figured he could get some work done while someone gave her a tour around the facility—probably Steve. He was easy to convince—then he would work on the English project with her and beg father time to go faster. She was right; the quicker they finished their work, the faster he could go back to hating her. With another groan, he picked up his head and closed his locker, rushing after Y/N and grabbing her by the wrist when he caught her before she slipped into her next class.

“Friday. We’ll meet after school in the parking lot and go to the Avenger’s facility. You can drive, right?” she nodded and pulled her hand out of his grip, glaring at him.

“Don’t ever grab me like that again,” she sneered, “but fine, whatever. I have to drop Jules off at home first though, is that gonna be a problem, Peter?” He knew she wasn’t asking him.

“No, whatever,” she nodded curtly and walked in, not sparing him a glance. He shook his head and walked away. Anger seeped into his bones, and annoyance clouded his head. The following weeks were going to be torture. He just knew. There was nothing worse than being forced to work with someone the person despised.

“Hey, Penis Parker!” there are worse things, apparently. He breathed out through his nose and turned around, meeting his eyes. He knew if he ignored Flash, he wouldn’t give up. He was relentless, and his voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard.

“What, Flash?” he ground out. Flash skidded to a stop beside him with a sick smile on his face.

“I heard from a little birdie that you were partnered up with Midtwon’s resident Princess,” he started.

“Yeah, so?” he questioned. He wanted out of the conversation as soon as possible. He didn’t want to talk to his bully about his enemy. That didn’t sound like a fun Tuesday.

“So, you can help me,”

“One, why would I help you with anything?” he questioned, “and two, I’m going to regret asking, but what could I possibly help you with?”

“Because I have something you might like, and you’re going to help me get Jules Y/L/N to go to the Fall Dance with me,” Peter paused in his step and furrowed his eyebrows.

“Okay, so what does that have to do with me being partners with Y/N? Can’t you just ask Jules?”

Flash snorted, “you’re an idiot, Parker. You don’t just ask the Jules Y/L/N out, okay? Everyone knows that Y/N tells her every negative thing about the guys at Midtown to keep her uninterested and that they’re always together.” He stated.

“I’m still not sure where I fall into this or what you could possibly offer me in return,”

“I’m glad you asked,” Peter rolled his eyes but continued listening, “if you can get Y/N to, I don’t know, fall in love with you so she eases off her ‘I hate the men at Midtown’ rhetoric, then I can swoop in and take Jules to the dance without a hitch.”

“And what do I get in return?”

“Two hundred bucks does wonders for the poor, no?” Flash snarked.

“Three hundred, and you’ve got yourself a deal, Eugene,” Peter smirked. Flash blinked in anger but nodded his head anyway, reaching his hand out and shaking it. Flash walked away and left Peter in the empty hallway, rethinking everything he had agreed to. It was cruel and harsh. Sure, Y/N had stopped being his friend and became a bitch towards him, but he would be playing with someone’s feelings. Then again, three hundred dollars could help May with the bills, and it would be retribution for all the shit Y/N had put him through.

He was going to do it, and he wouldn’t allow himself to feel guilty for it. Because it was her, and she deserved to feel some of the pain she had put him through.

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yayeetsonny · 4 years

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Knucklehead Moves~USWNT x Baby Reader

Prompt: Similar to the imagine “Skateboarding Shenanigans” baby r gets hurt and faints...

Requested by: @laikato

Y/N PRO//

My name is Y/N L/N and I have 22 “moms”and sisters. Now I know what you’re thinking “22 of them? How?” Well you see I’m the youngest player on the USWNT at 16 years old, and as such the older players feel the need to be protective and parental in every situation and the younger ones are treated much the same way that I am. I’m sure if they had it their way I’d be wrapped in bubble wrap and carried around 24/7. They’re always saying how I’m “ the clumsiest kid they know.” and a “knucklehead” when it comes to doing anything that doesn’t involve kicking around a soccer ball. I wholeheartedly disagree but they’ll hear nothing of it. Speaking of the team, they’re picking me up from the airport any minute now.

“Y/N!”

I turned around to see all of my teammates running towards me, breaking into a run myself I met them halfway.

“Hey guys!”

“Short stack! How you been?”

“Kiddo! We missed you!”

“You’ve grown since we saw you last!”

I continued to be greeted like that and made sure to give everyone a hug.

“I haven’t grown that much!” I playfully rolled my eyes

“Yes you have.” They all said

After we finished our Hello’s and got my bag from the luggage claim we split into groups and made our way to the hotel we were staying at for this camp. I was in a car with Alex, Tobin, Kelley, Morgan, and Megan.

“So kid, how’s school?” Tobin asked.

‘it’s good. I’m passing all my classes and I nailed my history test last week.”

“That’s awesome! Good job bub.” Christen said

“Thanks.”

“Any accidents?” Megan said smirking at me.

“U-um, no. No accidents.” I fidgeted in my seat.

“Mhm. How many?”

“3.”

“How bad.”

“Only ever a 4 or less.”

“A 4 on your scale is a 7 on anyone else’s scale.”

“Is not!”

“Right, well what about that time you injured yourself after you fell down a flight of stairs and then said “It’s only a 4.”?” Alex asked

Everyone else gave me a knowing look while chuckling at the offended look on my face.

“It was!”

“Okay, okay. Settle down. We’re only teasing.” Morgan said

“in all seriousness though, you have got to be more careful Y/N.”

I just rolled my eyes playfully at them as we pulled up to the hotel. When we got out Megan was determined to carry my bag for me.

“Pinoe I can carry my stuff.”

“I know but I just want to be helpful.”

“Well, thank you.”

“Anytime.”

“Besides kiddo, I wanted to carry you.” Alex said taking me by surprise and picking me up and all but cradling me.

“Alexxx. I’m a big girl, I can walk.”

“Just let it happen Y/N.” Tobin laughed

“Ugh, fineee.”

When we got into the lobby to find out room assignments Alex finally put me down, with a pat to my butt and told me to “Stay close.”

“Yes mom.” I said jokingly.

I took off in the direction Morgan had gone and caught up with her, Mal, Lindsey, Sam, Emily, Tierna and Rose.

“Hey guys!”

“Hey Y/N! You ready for camp?” Sam asked

“Oh yeah, definitely.”

“You ready for all the pranks we are gonna pull?”

“Yeah Sonny, I am. What are you guys thinking?” I giggled

“Well what about the good ol’ water bucket above the door trick?”

“Nah, that’s such an amateur move.” Lindsey said

“Ooo, what if we switched the water with… flour?” Mal said

“That sounds like quite the mess but that’s what we’re known for. I’m in.” Sam said

“Me too.”

“Me three.”

“Are you guys sure that’s a good idea? You know how the girls are about their hair.” I said hesitantly

“Aw, come on Y/n. Don’t be a chicken.”

“I just don’t want the others to kill us.”

“Why would we kill you?” Carli asked coming out of nowhere.

“No reason!” We all said

“Mhm. What’re you hooligans planning?”

“Wha- why would you think we were planning anything?” I said nervously

“Well, for starters I’m talking to the youngest players on this team and every time we come to camp someone always ends up either getting their hair dyed or with itching powder in their underwear and it’s always traced back to one of you.” She said, giving us a look.

“Oh would you look at that, it’s time to go up to our rooms. Come on Y/N, you’re rooming with me!” Lindsey said, grabbing my hand and dragging me away.

“Thanks a lot guys!” Morgan called after us as we ran away.

“Lindsey, Y/n, walk!” Alex scolded as we passed her.

“Yes mom!” We replied

We made it up to our room and decided to do rock paper scissors for the bed closes to the bathroom. I won of course.

“We have today off to settle in right?” I asked

“Yeah, why?”

“You wanna see if the others wanna go to a park for a little 4v4?”

“Yeah!”

I texted the group I had with the other “Youngins” and told them to meet us down stairs in 5 to go to the park. They all agreed and said they would get a ball from the coaching staff. I texted the group I was in with the veterans and let them know where I was going, with who and that we’d be back soon. I received several

“Be safe.”

“Make sure to wear your sweater, it’s chilly.” And

“Be careful, don’t get hurt.” Texts. Moms I swear, always thinking it’s chilly.

I was pretty certain I wasn’t going to get hurt and that I didn’t need a sweater but I replied and promised that I’d wear one and that I would be careful. The girls and I met in the lobby and made our way to a park that we knew was nearby.

The 4v4 started out pretty smoothly, It was me, Lindsey, Tirena, and Sam on one team and Mal, Rose, Emily and Morgan on the other. My team was down by 2 but I knew it wouldn’t stay that way for long. Sam crossed the ball to me and I went to head it passed Morgan.

What happened next was like one of those freak accidents that if I had shifted my body even an inch away or had been a second earlier or later it wouldn’t have happened. Emily kicked her foot out to clear the ball away and instead made contact with my forehead. I hit the turf with a deafening thud and stayed down in a heap. Getting kicked in the head is just as nasty as it sounds. I could definitely feel blood gushing from my head.

“Y/N! Oh, shit! I’m so so sorry. I was only ever aiming for the ball I swear!”

Emily was the first to reach me the others close behind. Her and Sam turned me over to look at my head and gasped when they saw the blood

“Moms are gonna kill us!” Emily said

“Nu uh, Emily they are gonna kill you.”

“Who cares who they’re gonna kill! We have to do something!”

Mal and Morgan set to work, Morgan texting Abby and telling her what happened, making her swear not to tell until we at least made it look like I wasn’t dying and Mal taking her shirt off and pressing it to my forehead to stop the blood. Rose was doing her best to calm Emily who was distraught and Tierna was doing the same for Sam.

“How you feeling Y/N?” Mal asked

“Like I got kicked in the head.” I replied

“We’re gonna take you back to the hotel and have the medical staff stitch you up.”

“How are we gonna get passed all the vets?”

“uhhh… Not a clue.” Rose said

“We’re gonna be in so much trouble.”

After they were finally able to make the bleeding stop just enough to get me up and help me back to the hotel, we sent Morgan ahead to see if the coast was clear. When she signaled to us that it was we made our way in and quickly headed to see the medical staff. The others surrounded me so that I was hidden from any curious onlookers

“What seems to be the problem ladies?” Dawn asked

“Uhh, well… Y/N sorta got kicked in the head during a 4v4 in the park.” Emily said, moving aside to show Dawn.

Dawn just shook her head, said something like “of course she did.” And told me to sit on the table so the medics could stitch me up.

“You know the others will want to know what happened, right?”

“Dawn, please don’t tell them. I will, but not yet.”

She gave me an unimpressed look but agreed none the less.

“Geez kid, you’re always getting hurt.” The medic chuckled.

“Yeah, yeah. I know.”

They finished the stitches and told me how to take care of them and sent us all on our way. The girls did the same thing they did last time in case we ran into the girls, this time I had my hood up to cover my wound.

“Hey guys, what’s up?” Ashlyn asked, coming up to us.

“Nothing!” We all said.

“Okay, what are you guys hiding?”

“Nothing. We gotta go though, bye Ash.” I said before I pushed Emily and Lindsey forward so they would start running.

Ashlyn PRO//

“Those kids are definitely hiding something.” I thought, shaking my head and walking back to my room with Ali.

“Hey babe?”

“Yeah?”

“Have you noticed the youngins acting weird lately?”

“No, why?”

“I dunno, it’s just that they were walking all tightly together and whispering about something and when I asked them what was up they all were acting weird. Especially Y/N.”

“Hmm, I’ll text Alex to see if she can get them to talk about it.”

She sent her a text and received a reply saying that she would wait in Y/N and Lindsey’s room, after asking the staff for an extra key and that she would let us know.

“I hope they’re okay.”

“I’m sure they are, they probably just set up a messy prank again.” I shrugged.

Alex PRO//

After tricking the receptionist into giving me a key to Y/N and Lindsey’s room, I decided to just wait on Y/N’s bed. I would see what was really going on. I felt like I had been waiting forever when the door opened and all the young players on the team made their way inside.

“Well here’s what we’re not gonna do…”

They didn’t even seem to notice me yet, talking among themselves. Emily was the first to spot me, and when she did I saw all the color drain from her face.

“A-Alex?”

“Alex? What about her?” Morgan asked still not looking in the direction of the bed. Emily stopped her in her tracks and pointed to where I was sitting. Everyone else finally saw me and much like Emily they looked scared.

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh. Is there something you guys want to tell me?” I said sternly

“W-well… you see… what had happened was-”

I cut her off when I saw Y/N was swaying on her feet and holding her head. She looked like she was going to pass out.

“Y/N? What’s wrong?” I asked jumping up and going to her.

“I-I…”

She didn’t get to finish because she fainted, I was able to catch her and hold her up with ease. My focus then shifted to the seven guilty players standing timidly by the door.

“Explanation. Now.” I growled

“I kicked Her in the head! I’m sorry!” Emily cried

“YOU WHAT?”

I picked Y/N up and carried her over to the bed where I laid her head gently on the pillow.

“Someone go get a cold wash cloth and someone call Christen, Ali and Ashlyn. Now.”

They all immediately started scrambling to do what I said and I could tell they were even more scared than before.

“I can’t believe none of you thought to tell us. Completely irresponsible. Does any one else know about this?”

I gasped when I removed her hoodie and saw the stitches.

“We went to Dawn when we got back and we begged her not to tell. And we texted Abby right after it happened but same thing.” Mal said

Dammit Dawn.

“Tell Abby to get her ass in here, right now.”

I took the cold rag from Emily and pressed it gently to Y/N’s cheek, neck and then being extra careful around her stitches, pressed it to her head.

“Y/N, open your eyes baby. You’re okay. Please open your eyes.”

She slowly started to open her eyes, looking around wildly before trying to sit up.

“Wha- where am I?”

“You’re in your room baby. Take it easy, you need to lay down.” I cooed

She kept trying to sit up but I gently pushed her back down every time.

“Shh, it’s okay.”

Knocking sounded from the door and Rose went to answer it.

“Hey Al, what’s the- ”

“Oh my god, what happened?” Christen exclaimed.

“Emily kicked Y/N in the head.”

“You what?!” The newcomers yelled

“And Abby knew about it this whole time.”

“You knew?! Why didn’t you tell us?!”

“Ow, guys cool it with the yelling.” Y/N whined

“Sorry babe.” Ali said

“Sorry, kid. Our bad.” Ash said.

“I said I was sorry! It was an accident, I swear!”

“I swore I wouldn’t tell!”

“Guys, seriously.”

“Sorry, we’ll be quiet.”

“How the fuck did you manage to kick her?”

“We were playing a 4v4 game and when she went to head the ball passed Morgan I went to kick it out and got her forehead instead.”

“Jesus.” Ali said rubbing her temples.

“It was an accident?” I asked

“Completely.”

“You’re all grounded.” Christen said.

“What? that’s not fair!”

“ Actually it’s completely fair. You need to be careful and I know it was an accident but what you did was reckless and someone got hurt, and you hid it from us and we only found out after Y/N passed out.” I said leaving no room for argument

“What about Y/N? Why isn’t she grounded?” Tierna whined

“She’s hurt and I think that’s punishment enough.” Ashlyn said

“We’ll be with her 24/7 from now on anyways.” I added

“mmm… Nooooo” Y/N whined.

“it’s for your own good, kiddo.”

Later we told the whole team what happened and to say they weren’t please was an understatement. I had to talk Kelley down from kicking Sonnett’s ass and Becky had to convince Megan to switch rooms with her so she wouldn’t kill Morgan. The same could be said for the others. They understood that it was an accident but they hated that the girls hid it from us.

“How is she?” Kelley asked, having come over to check on our youngest teammate

“She could be better, she’s still groggy but she’s better than she was.” I shrugged

“What are we gonna do with her?”

“I vote bubble wrap.” Christen said

“I second that.” Tobin said

“Guys, that’s a little extreme don’t you think?” Ali chuckled

“She’s such a knucklehead though. She hid a pretty nasty injury from us. It’d be a way to make sure she’s safe.” Ashlyn chimed in

“Mmm, no. Ali is right. We’ll just have to keep a closer eye on her from now on.”

“I can take care of myself.” She mumbled, starting to wake up.

“We’re sure you can bub, but after today and at least for a little while we’re going to be hovering and babying you more than usual.” Chris said

“Ugh. Whatever.” She grumbled

We chuckled at her but we knew she would appreciate it anyways and that she secretly loved it when we babied her.

She definitely was a piece of work sometimes and she kept us on our toes but we loved her more than anything and would always be there to help her when she was down.

Sorry for any mistakes

-N

#uswnt #uswnt imagines #alex morgan #christen press #sam mewis #rose lavelle #mal pugh #tierna davidson #morgan brian #emily sonnett #lindsey horan #kelley o'hara #tobin heath #megan rapinoe #abby dahlkemper #ashyln harris #ali krieger #carli lloyd

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batfam-rewrites · 4 years

Text

Batfam During Quarantine: Training Day

Thanks so much for the amount of love the last post got!I’m sorry it took me so long to post this next one, school and other stuff started to get in the way, so to make up for it I added a surprise arc at the end. I might start doing theses in chunks to save time and fill in any gaps where I don’t post as much because of school. Not so sure yet but it’s just an idea. I hope that if you read this you enjoyed it! I am going to try and post more frequently now that I’m almost caught up with my school work.

Damian: Good morning Tim! I made you breakfast.

Tim: What do you know? Why are you calling me Tim?

Cassandra: Plus three large hot cups of coffee.

Tim: What’s going on? Why are you guys acting so weird?

Cassandra: No reason. Just want to be nice.

Tim: Nope. That’s not it. What did you guys do.

Jason: Done making Tim’s bed! I’m off to steam his suit!

Tim: WHAT THE SHIT IS GOING ON???

Cassandra, Damian, and Jason: *in unison* We just want to be nice. *all three surround him in a big hug*

Tim: THIS IS SO WEIRD!

Dick: *walks into the breakfast room* Morning Tim! How’s it going?

Tim: NO! ALL OF YOU LEAVE ME ALONE! *storms out of the breakfast room*

Dick: What did you do to Tim?

Jason: We have no idea.

Damian: The dude is losing it.

Dick: *gets face to face with Cassandra* Cass, do you have something to say?

Cassandra: We woke up early and decided to be nice to Tim for no reason.

Dick: You guys are evil. Go have your fun.

All three run out of the room.

Jason: TIM LET US LOVE YOU!!!!!!

Daily Briefing

Dick: Hey, Babs doesn’t know your here. I don’t want her to get jealous or something so could you please join the zoom call from another room.

Helena: Sure, I understand, lover.

Dick: No, we aren’t going through that again.

Helena: I make no promises.

Tim: You know you’re going to be in deep shit when Barbara finds out, right?

Dick: I’m in deep shit anyway.

Tim: Very true.

Dick: *begins the zoom call* Hey everyone, so if you can’t tell, Huntress has arrived to help out. Now, to everyone at the manor I created a schedule for when to work out. They should be completed before patrol. For those of you at home, I trust that you made your own.

Barbara: Yep!

Kate: Please, I’ve been training much harder than most of you guys since I was 6.

Harper: Yeah, sorta did. Not able to do much because I’m not at the cave.

Dick: That actually leads me to my next point. Harper I made a schedule for you because Bruce, Alfred, Selina, and I found a way to have Cullen inside the mansion without him finding out who Batman really is. Cullen already knows the alter egos of Red Robin, Spoiler, Orphan, and Nightwing. Everyone else is a question mark, so we will allow you to enter the mansion. When Cullen is around, we all will have to restrain from talking about our vigilante work. Have everything ready by next week. Once you arrive you’ll have to quarantine in your room for two weeks.

Harper: Awesome!

Dick: Today there has actually been no crime in Gotham City, so far, so we’ll take a day off, but if something comes up, cases will be assigned as they normally are. So everyone, after training, feel free to relax but be ready in case something pops up.

Dick and Jason

Dick: *turns on his training playlist, first song being “Devil in I” from Slipknot*

Jason: You know what, if this is the kind of stuff you have on your playlist, I might actually enjoy training with you!

Dick: I have 357 songs on here.

Jason: Damn!

Dick: What did you expect, I listen to every genre!

Jason: Really! I should actually start listening whenever people talk.

Dick: Remember that next time Bruce yells at you for shooting someone.

Jason: I’m just saying, if I mistake someone’s knee cap for their head, is it really that bad?

Dick: *laughs* Yes!

The two stretch a bit before moving on to pommel horse.

Dick: Figured you’d want to get this out of the way first.

Jason: Fuck you!

Dick: Just think of the music, and not falling.

Jason: *goes for a loop on pommel horse and bangs his legs against the pommels and falls* AHHHHHHH!

Dick: Maybe I should take pommels off first?

Jason: That’s an option? Then yes, please do so!

Dick: *quickly takes of the pommels then goes for a magyar, a triple russian, flare, spindle, press handstand one and a half piro, and flawlessly sticks his dismount*

Jason: Show off.

Duke and Damian

Dick and Jason had been training for an hour and fifteen minutes before Duke and Damian walked in. After stretching, the two began to spar.

Dick: Duke! You made a mistake when choosing your partner.

Jason: Nah! My boy Duke will show Dami who’s the boss.

Duke: I honestly like my chances!

Damian: Good Thomas, your over confidence will be your doom!

The two begin to fight. Damian dives right for Duke, rolling out and uses his momentum to go for a front flip and kick Duke in the chest, however Duke evades Damian’s strike and trips him after Damian lands. Damian gets back up though, thrashing at Duke. Duke dodges each strike and finally jabs Damian in the gut a few times and kicks him in the chest. That would be the only fight out of the three they had that Duke won.

Afterwards, Dick began to teach him the basics on both high bar. Duke was able to catch on very quickly and by the end of his training on high bar he was learning how to do kips and flyaways. Dick and Duke also decided to tumble together so Duke could learn the basics and some advanced skills too.

Damian spent the rest of his time trying to out do Jason. When Jason was using 100 lb weights, Damian would use 120′s. When Jason ran 5 miles, Damian ran 6.

Jason: Dami, you’re going to be extremely sore. Take it easy.

Damian: Easy? *huff* Let me *huff* remind you that *huff* I was also trained *huff* by the League *huff* of Assassins. *runs to the garbage to throw up* I am superior *huff* than all of *huff* you in every way.

Jason: Okay bud. Well, I’m about to spar with Dick.

Damian: I’ll fight Grayson, too. *jogs up to Dick while moaning in pain* *huff* Fight me Grayson. *huff*

Dick: I’m not going to fight you. You look like you’ll pass out.

Damian: I’m *huff* fine.

Dick: Throw a punch at me like you normally would without groaning in pain.

Damian: *starts to punch but his fist his Dick like a soft tap* Ahhhhhh.

Dick: Go rest, take an ice bath, eat a lot of fruits, and drink a lot of water.

Damian: Okay, *huff* but only because *huff* you said so.

Dick and Jason then started to fight and after they concluded, Dick took the trash bag that Damian hurled in and tossed it out. An hour later Duke concluded his workout.

Cassandra and Julia

Cassandra: Woooo! Are you ready?

Julia: Your enthusiasm is a little bit concerning.

Cassandra: Yeah, but just deal with it.

Since she arrived to the mansion Julia has not let herself stop her routine. She has been training as much as she has been since her days in Britain's Special Reconnaissance Regiment. However as soon as she saw Cassandra doing freestanding handstand push-ups while doing an inverted crunch, she knew she had to up her game.

Cassandra just ignored the list Dick gave her for the most part and did the craziest exercises she could think of. When she started strength conditioning, she ran to the still rings and tried to do what she saw Dick doing once. She tried an azarian to an iron cross but immediately fell through the rings. it took her twenty minutes but she finally made it to the iron cross and rolled backwards into a planche. An hour later she finish conditioning and waited for Julia to finish so the two could spar.

Julia: Okay, you ready? *walking over from the treadmill*

Cassandra: More than ready! Lets do this! *she started bouncing on her toes like a boxer*

Cassandra won all three fights within a matter of minutes. Julia almost had a chance in the second one where Cassandra lost her balance, but she reacted too slow as Cassandra regained it and knocked Julia to the floor.

Selina and Helena

Selina focused more on her agility during her cardio workout than anything else. I mean, it’s definitely something that she takes pride in so why wouldn’t she?

Helena: Hey, can I ask you a question? *throwing punches toward Selina*

Selina: Sure! *dodges each strike, jumps off the wall, and dives over Helena’s head*

Helena: What’s the situation between Dick and Barbara? *grabs Selina’s torso and slams her body down*

Selina: Oof. *gets back up from the floor and sits down with Helena* Don’t think of it. Dick is all sad that he has to stay at the mansion without Barbara. I wouldn’t even try to approach Dick about the situation because he’ll act even more weird then when you arrived.

Helena: That explains this morning.

Selina: What happened?

Helena: I said hey and he replied with “Hey, what’s up, gir......friend, lady. Girl who is a friend and a lady. Saved it.” Then, just for fun, I pinched his ass and he jumped up and screamed.

Selina: You’re playing with fire, I don’t blame you for pinching his ass though.

Helena: Hold on, it gets better. After that I leaned towards him and he started leaning over the table and asked, what’s wrong lover. He then stepped to the side and said “Nothing, nothing.” and started walking backwards saying “coolcoolcool” until he reached the door.

Selina: Why bother messing with his head?

Helena: Because it’s fun. Plus I still feel like there is something there.

Selina: Very well. Now that you have that out of your system let’s head to the showers.

Helena: You won’t tell Dick, right?

Selina: What you just told me is between you and Dick. I will not interfere in any way.

Stephanie and Tim

Tim: *walks in tired as hell* Hey Steph. You ready?

Stephanie: Yeah!

Tim: Alright. Cool.

Both Stephanie and Tim go to do their separate training regimes. Tim however, being extremely tired started to move very slow during his workout. Halfway through his work out he stepped out to grab a five hour energy shot and started flying through his conditioning list that Dick made.

Tim: You ready to spar? *jumping around like a rabbit, then lands sideways, falling to the floor only to get back up*

Stephanie: *looking at Tim like he’s a crackhead* No, I think we should skip the sparring match today.

Tim: No, come on let’s go! *grabs Stephanie's wrist and drags her over to the sparring arena*

Stephanie: Tim your going to hurt yourself. Instead of sparring let’s take a nap.

Tim: Come on, sleeping is for people who have don’t have tragic backstories. Let’s fight!

Tim tries to throw a few quick jabs but Stephanie quickly sweeps Tim’s legs causing him to fall. Stephanie Runs forward pointing her fist at his throat.

Tim: Owww! That’s abuse! You abused myself! Why are you mean?!

Stephanie: Tim, when was the last time you slept?

Tim: Ummmmm........... Tuesday?

Stephanie: Okay, training is over, go let yourself rest.

Tim: Pffft. I’ll sleep when I’m dead.

Stephanie: Okay. *text Dick* Hey Dick, we have a code yellow.

Dick: *text back* On my way up.

Tim: You know I like to live by the words of the Beastie Boys anyway. No sleep ‘til Brooklyn, and because I have never been to Brooklyn, I am not obligated to sleep.

Stephanie: You have a problem!

Tim: No, *points his finger dramatically at Stephanie* you have a problem.

Dick: *walks in* Hey Tim, I have a case I want to work on with you.

Tim: *to Stephanie* See, now I can’t sleep.

Dick: We’ll take the Batmobile.

*3 hours later*

Dick: Okay, we just entered Brooklyn. Now go to sleep!

Tim: No fair, you tricked my brain.

Dick: SLEEEEEEEEP!

Tim: NO!

Dick: Why are you staying up all night?

Tim: Because, I don’t want anything to change! *starts sobbing*

Dick: It’s okay, you’re alright. *pulls over to the side of the road*

Tim: No I’m not. Everything is changing and I don’t want it to. I don’t want to fall out of my habits because what about when things get back to normal. Then we have to build those habits again, and what if while we are readjusting someone dies because we weren’t ready. Plus, there is so much stress with helping Bruce keep his company from falling, trying to finish my homework, training, and patrolling the nights where there is more activity.

Dick: *embraces Tim in his arms* Look change is going to happen whether we like it or not. It’s not what happens that shapes who we are but how we react to the changes that occur in our lives that do. The world is never going to be the same after this pandemic is over, so you could either adapt, or repeat your mistakes. It’s okay to not be okay. You are not alone, you have all of us at the mansion to talk to. Another thing that you have to keep in mind is that people are going to die. We both knew that the moment we signed up, and sometimes there is nothing we can do about it. All we can do is learn from what happened to stop it from happening again. You also need to get some sleep. I know you are under a lot of stress right now, not going to lie, but you have it worse than all of us right now, but how do you expect to save others if you won’t take care of yourself.

Tim: *starts calming down*

Dick: I’ll talk to Bruce tonight to see if he could cut you some slack. I’ll find a way to help out too now that we aren’t patrolling as much. Just make sure to take care of yourself.

Tim: Okay.

Dick: Smart, toit.

Tim: Stop it Peralta. *begins to laugh*

Dick: *laughs pretty hard* Now get some rest, I’ll wake you up when we get back to Gotham.

Tim: Okay. I guess.

Black Mask, Hush, Two-Face, and Jason Bard

The night was very silent as Roman Sionis looked upon Gotham from the building. It was quiet, empty, peaceful, and disturbing. Hush walked into the room, followed by Harvey Dent and Jason Bard.

Black Mask: Congratulations, you found your way here.

Jason Bard: You’re pretty easy to find when you want to be.

Black Mask: Or is it because no one else is on the street other then your snitches.

Jason Bard:......

Hush: You called us here. What do you want?

Black Mask: Look out at the city. Tell me what do you see.

The three men walk forward towards the window.

Two-Face: Fear.

Hush: Silence.

Jason Bard: Caution, and paranoia.

Black Mask: You are all correct, but you missed one thing.

Two-Face: Stop playing games! What do you want us to see?

Black Mask: Opportunity.

59 notes · View notes

samsonet · 4 years

Text

There daily I wander as noon rises high,

This is how Raihan becomes Bede’s brother.

Title from Robert Burns’ “Afton Water”

Raihan isn’t used to watching the finals from the sidelines.

He tries to relax in his league-assigned seat, still feeling like any moment now someone will come to ask why he’s not on the pitch.

With every word the commentator says, the sense of wrongness only grows stronger. It should be him out there. It should be him planting his feet into the grass, summoning sandstorms and roaring at his opponent. For the past eight seasons, it has been him in that position, him on the pitch, him and Leon —

“Let's give a round of applause for Galar’s beloved champion, Gloria!”

The earth orbits around a new sun now.

“And on the other side of the pitch, the elite gym leader, the champion’s rival himself—”

Raihan—

“— Bede!”

Raihan sighs, not entirely sure what he’s feeling.

“A bit of sadness,” a voice says, “mixed with some excitement at seeing what these young ones can do. And some pride, too, perhaps.”

Raihan blinks, but he’s had enough experience with Opal to not jump at her sudden appearances.

“Why are you here? I thought you retired.”

“I did!” Opal hums happily. “Now I’m getting to enjoy my retirement — and what grandparent wouldn’t want the chance to see their grandchild battling the champion?”

Bede’s been training under her for what, three months? She jumped into the fairy godmother role pretty quick, didn’t she.

Opal says, “Perhaps it was a bit reckless of me to declare him my successor so quickly… But sometimes you can look at a person and know that you were meant to help them.”

On the pitch, Bede’s Rapidash lands a critical hit. Bede grins. Gloria grins. Raihan is abruptly reminded of his sixth battle against Leon, the first time he’d tried using a weather team. Leon won, of course, but instead of the usual sportsmanlike handshake, he’d given Raihan a full-bodied hug. After all, being the champion’s rival meant he was the champion’s friend, too.

Opal says, “Still, I do worry about whether I can properly care for him. I’m willing to listen to any troubles he has, of course, but he is a young boy, after all. He may not feel comfortable sharing everything with an old woman like me. If he had an older brother, perhaps...”

She looks at him meaningfully.

Raihan knows better than to offer his help; if the fairy queen wants a favor from him, she has to be direct about it.

But Opal doesn’t ask. She seems to feel like she’s said everything that needs to be said, and she merely sits back and watches the match.

The battle ends.

Gloria does not hug Bede.

Raihan pays more attention to Bede after that.

He would watch Bede’s matches anyway, because it’s only a matter of time before they’d have to face each other in a ranking tournament, but now Raihan’s observing the kid himself instead of just his battle style.

Bede’s history is no secret. During his challenge, the league milked the scrappy-orphan angle for all it was worth. A kid who came from nothing, fighting to earn a place in the world… It tugs at the heartstrings. Theoretically, anyway. While the PR people tried to spin Bede’s proud demeanor as a defense mechanism, a lot of the fans found challenger Bede unbearably smug.

Raihan grew up in a loving upper-class family with both parents and two sisters, so he doesn’t have family issues as an excuse. As a challenger, he’d been smug because he really thought he was all that. Well. He still is kinda cocky, and he still sorta is all that. Because the fans like it, because there’s nothing quite so satisfying as seeing a cocky bastard get taken down a peg or two.

The fans won’t get to see Raihan taken down a peg anymore. Sure, he’ll still be losing, to Gloria and Melony and who knows, maybe Bede too -- but that mixture of pride and humiliation is reserved for Leon and Leon only.

But Leon isn't the champion anymore.

Gloria seems to like battling Bede. Bede seems to like battling her. Their inexperience is obvious, though. Their battles seem to be fun and challenging for both of them, which is the important thing, but they haven’t quite gotten the hang of the performance part yet.

If he had an older brother, perhaps…

Is it an insult, that Opal would be so transparent in what she wants from Raihan? Or is it a show of respect, a way of saying that she’s not going to try to manipulate him? But even transparent manipulation is manipulation all the same…

Raihan leans back, putting a hand over his mouth in thought. He’s not the champion’s rival anymore. That was his place in Galar, his place in the league. He may still be the strongest gym leader, but the role feels empty now that Leon and Piers are gone.

Would the role be just as fulfilling if he became the big brother to the younger gym leaders?

He can try.

The next time Raihan sees Bede, it’s at one of the champion’s invite-only tournaments.

The champion has invited all her rivals, and between the battles the four of them stick together in the same corner. Raihan’s curious what they’re talking about, of course, but he gives them space. None of them are his little siblings, after all.

When the tournament finishes (with the champion victorious, naturally), Raihan walks out with the other participants.

Leon and Piers are waiting in the lobby. Raihan gives them a wave and they wave back, but it’s obvious they’re not there for him.

“Lee!”

Hop gives a running jump into his brother’s arms. Marnie has a more dignified motion as she walks toward Piers, but Raihan sees the way her mouth curls up at the corners. The little champion gives a wave goodbye to her rivals; she probably has some business to attend to in another city.

That leaves Bede as the list of the four, looking vaguely upset but not saying anything about it.

So Raihan does. “Hey, Leon, Piers. Whaddya say we take our little sibs to get something to eat? They fought hard, they deserve it. My treat.”

Piers raised his visible eyebrow, but he nods.

It’s Leon, always perceptive, that asks: “Our siblings?”

“Yep!” Raihan looks to Bede, reaching out a hand in invitation. “Bede, can you do me a favor and be my little bro for the afternoon? Leon’s not in the league anymore, but I still have to beat him in something.”

Bede gives him a look of offended confusion. Then he looks toward Leon and Hop.

Raihan sees Hop’s face, how he wears the same expression Leon does when the sponsors force him to drink chia juice.

Raihan sees Bede’s expression change, how his frown slowly turns into a knife cat smile.

Bede nods, reaching out and holding Raihan by the wrist. “I would love to.”

They go to McDucklett’s, one of the few places where people don’t look twice at a bunch of regional celebrities sitting down to eat.

Raihan’s the only one who orders a full meal. Leon and Piers get salads, the tossers. Hop and Marnie both want kids meals, with the potential tiny plush toy of a gym leader’s signature Pokémon. And Bede…

Bede’s staring at the menu, seemingly overwhelmed by all the choices. Has he really never been in a McDucklett’s before?

Oh. No, he probably hasn’t. Between the orphanage and Rose, fast food is probably the last kind of food he’s ever had the chance to try.

“Why don’t I get you some nuggets?” Raihan suggests.

Bede nods vigorously.

Raihan orders him a kids meal as well, and quietly asks the employee for a set of utensils to go with it.

While the grownups are eating their meals, the kids start by opening their toys. Hop has a tiny version of Milo’s Appletun, while Marnie gets Melony’s Lapras. By some coincidence or luck or fairy magic, Bede’s toy is an Alcremie.

He picks it up with something like reverence, lightly tracing its frosting swirls with one finger. He looks around the table, probably trying to find someplace to set it down, then puts it in his lap.

With the toys out of the way, Bede pulls out his box of nuggets. He stares at them as though unsure how they’re supposed to be eaten.

Raihan is torn between laughing at the kid’s hesitation and feeling sorry for him. Eventually, the latter wins out.

He swallows the bite of his burger and says, “There should be a knife and fork in there if you need ‘em. I know they’ve got a weird texture, but they’re pretty good.”

Bede follows his directions, spearing a nugget and taking a delicate bite.

Hop snorts. Raihan glares at him and is gratified to see Leon is giving an identical look. Big brother instincts.

The rest of the meal passes with minimal drama. Bede seems satisfied with nuggets and apple slices. That’s good. Raihan doesn’t want to imagine what would happen if Opal found out he’d sent Bede home hungry.

After the other pairs say their goodbyes and head out, Bede turns to Raihan and asks, “Can you watch Alcremie while I wash my hands?”

“Sure.”

Bede sets the doll on a dry spot on the table. “I know your hands are greasy, so don’t touch her. Just make sure nobody else takes her.”

“I got it, don’t worry.”

Bede heads to the restroom. Raihan examines the toy Alcremie, leaning in close to look in its sewn-on eyes.

“Is this what you wanted, Opal?” he asks. “Am I doing well?”

The Alcremie only stares back. It has a knowing smile on its face.

When Bede comes back, he insists that Raihan wash his hands, too. Raihan thought it was a euphemism, but no, apparently the kid really doesn’t like the idea of greasy fingers.

After that, he’s ready to go home. Raihan offers to at least walk him back to the station. Bede accepts without protest.

It’s when they’re halfway there that he says, with forced aloofness, “I know you’re only doing all of this because Opal told you to.”

“What?”

“Don’t lie to me. She told you I needed a big brother, right? She told me the same thing. Well, I don’t need anybody. I’m a gym leader now. I’ll be fine even when Opal… even when she d…”

And, oh shit, that is not something Raihan even thought of when wondering why Opal would ask him for this. He’s stunned speechless for a moment, mouth opening and closing as he tries to say something reassuring but not patronizing.

At last he says, “I mean… even if she did ask me, I asked you along ‘cause I wanted to. You’re going to be around for a while, right? It’s just smart to try to get on your good side.”

Bede doesn’t say anything to that.

Raihan continues: “And if I may — I gotta say, I see a lot of myself in you. The elite gym leader who rivals the champion? That’s been my life since I was sixteen. If there’s anyone who’ll beat Gloria, it’ll be you.”

He knows the counter the moment he says it, already imagining Bede saying the way you beat Leon? with a sneer on his face.

But to his surprise, Bede does not say that. He only tilts his head, his expression somewhere between flattered and confused.

Then he says, “If you want to stay on my ‘good side,’ you should take me to McDucklett’s again sometime.”

When they reach Ballonlea, Opal is waiting. She greets them with a smile, one long-nailed finger beckoning them in.

#ICYDNMSF #raihan pokemon #bede pokemon #opal pokemon

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leggomylino · 5 years

Text

light switch | yandere!seungmin

Genre: yandere, romance/fluff, thriller, a little angst, some comedy (mainly in the first half) Pairing: yandere!Seungmin x reader Word count: ~11k (and this is only the first half…) Warnings: Author rambling, run-on sentences, mild language (censored), a few memes, moments of high tension and possible anxiety, ooc, and mild abuse/violence A/N: Requests are open~ | Masterlist in bio! | rip this turned out WAYYY longer than I meant it to and it’s my first time writing this format (and yandere for that matter) but, I hope y’all enjoy :’)) Thanks for reading!! <3

Okay so

You and Seungmin had been friends for a while

Y’all met in junior high and immediately hit it off

Here’s what happened fam

It was your turn to stay after class and clean up

The other kids who had been assigned to help you had already done their jobs and left

You let them off easy because it was raining and you didn’t want anyone to miss the bus

You always walked home since you lived in the neighborhood and you liked the rain so it was no big deal to you

*cringey middle schooler voice* “Hey is it okay if we head out? Are you okay by yourself?”

“Oh yeah sure go ahead! Have a great day!”

“Thanks! See you later (y/n)!”

Yeah a n y w a y

So it’s raining out and it’s just you in the classroom after school, cleaning the whiteboard and sorta zoning out

The cloudy weather and sound of steady rainfall on the asphalt outside isn’t helping

But luckily you’re almost done, just gotta get a chair to reach the top of the board and--

Chunk!

What the

Hello?

What was that sis

You look over your shoulder mid-swiping to see the silhouette of a person climbing in through the window

But you can’t see who it is at first cause right at that moment there’s a flash of lightning that lights up the whole room and casts everything in a veil of black and the hollow roar of thunder (just like in all the cliche horror movies), and a scream gets caught in your throat (like half of the cliche horror movies)

It successfully freaks you out a bit but

Once you’re able to see clearly again you realize it’s a boy

A boy you recognize

Barely tho

Like hardly

Because he’s honestly never around

Always skipping class

Typical delinquent kid

His name, you scarcely recall, is Kim Seungmin

He probably thinks he’s some sort of billy-badass or smth, you dunno

Well he’s just frozen like you are, halfway inside with his legs straddling the windowsill, soaking wet, just staring at you

Staring

Still staring...

You furrow your brow at him, slowly getting back into the groove of getting your business done and hightailing it outta there. “Take a picture, it’ll last longer.”

He smirks and leans forward, resting his hand on his chin, just watching you while half of him is still getting soaked by rain; he looks like the freakin’ Cheshire Cat. “The same could be said about you.”

You’re about to ask him what kind of a comeback that is when it dawns on you that you’re still staring as well, and you visibly shun yourself and whirl away to face the board again. He chuckles and you hear him toss his incredibly late ass all the way inside, closing the window and leaving a trail of rainwater and mud and dead leaves and outside nastiness on the floor that you just finished sweeping and cleaning uGH WTF BILLY-LATEASS WHY YOU GOTTA DO ME LIKE THAT

Great now you’re gonna miss the newest episode of Totally Spies and that rerun of Sailor Moon you were really looking forward to...all because this punk had to show up half past four.

He lifts one of the chairs off the desk and takes a seat, and when you curiously peek over your shoulder to see wtfudge he’s doing, he’s watching you. Again. Just sitting at what would be his usual seat in the middle of the room if he were ever in class on time at all. You roll over the teacher’s desk chair to finish cleaning the board and have just decided to leave the trail of dirt and wet grass for him to clean up

But uh

Unfortunately you have a brain made of spaghetti like the author

And well

You somehow managed to forget for a second that the chair has wheels, and the floors are still a little slick

So the moment you clamber your (enter height here) ass up on that chair guess what happens?

Just guess

Yeah you guessed it

London bridge comes falling down

Well in this case (y/n) bridge

It all happened so fast

And yet

You never touch the ground

No you didn’t spontaneously gain superpowers like in a Marvel or DC comic

This isn’t My Hero Academia either, you’re definitely quirkless

It’s this guy

He actually managed to throw himself over the desk and slide over just in time to save you

Wow maybe this is a bit of a superhero movie

Go Spiderminnie B))

Batminnie?

...Okay lame names and rambling aside, he saved you

You stare at him with a shocked look on your face, a bit winded from the experience

But also at the way he’s staring at you

It’s kinda sus sis

He’s looking at you like...almost like he’s seeing right through you

Into your soul

You know how they say the eyes are the window to the soul?

Well this bish is sunlight and he’s cutting right through...effortlessly

Gracefully radiating a strange unnatural light you aren’t really sure how to define

It’s weird, and foreign, and a bit uncomfortable

But a part of you kinda likes it

Which bothers you because sure this guy did just save you from getting a concussion and possibly breaking your neck but still

“Uh...thank you…” you mutter, not sure what else to say. It’s a miracle your spaghetti brain even managed to remember to say “thank you” at all smh

He’s smiling down at you kindly (even tho it’s a bit creepy, surely he means well) and uh

Does he plan on letting go of you anytime soon?

I mean

He’s still wet and you like the rain and all but

Okay there we go he’s setting you down now

Phew see he’s not a weirdo or anything, it’s all good

“That was a smart move you just pulled. I’m guessing you aren’t very fluent in the common sense department.”

Uh eXCUSE ME?!

Okay wow rude much

Who says something like that after saving someone?

Who says something like that to anyone they barely know ever?

Way to ruin the moment … wait what moment

There wasn’t a moment

That wasn’t a moment that was just uh...he was just…

:)))) moving on

You squint at him and scramble up to your feet to get away from this rude boy who you’re just starting to notice is kinda cute even if the way he looks at you is a little creepy and his attitude needs work, dusting yourself off and inwardly cringing at the chill snaking up your side. That’s just from the rainwater, right...? “Like you’re one to talk.”

He laughs at that...his laugh sounds like a bell. A bit obnoxious, but it’s still pleasing to you. And that makes you pretty angry.

“Stop laughing at me!”

“Huh?!”

“I mean it! Cut it out!”

He’s mimicking everything you say in a horribly applicated high-pitched voice, which only fuels your anger and frustration. Not to mention your embarrassment.

You’re embarrassed, right? That’s why your face feels so hot right now? Or you’re running a fever. Maybe you caught the bug that’s going around. People catch colds all the time during a rain shower, it’s only in every cliche romance anime ever.

Wait a sec…

Romance anime?!

Uh hahaha no no sis that’s not what this was

Not in the slightest

But I mean

It’s all set up like one

The rain

After school atmosphere

Cute delinquent guy with a bad attitude rescuing and teasing airheaded good student

Crap crap crap

Abort mission abort abort

You gotta scram baby

So that’s just what you do

...Well you try to anyway

But next thing you know he’s lifting you up in his arms and like

Dude

Have you not heard about personal space before?!

You turn your heated face down to him and he’s smiling up at you, so sweetly, so purely, all rainbows and sunshine

“Sorry, I was just teasing you. I thought maybe you could use a lift?” ❀

Well crap

He wasn’t wrong tho

Hnnnnn you can feel your face heating up again; er, even more

HNNNNN THIS REALLY IS AN ANIME ROMANCE ASDFGHJKL;

Okay okay calm down (y/n)

Just go with the flow

No use fighting it

Nothing good ever comes of fighting it

So you smile and mumble your thanks and let it happen

And guess what?

You two end up becoming the best of friends \^-^/

It’s quite cute actually

And it happens very naturally too

A nice slow burn transition into acquaintances, then friends, then good friends, and finally by the time you reach high school, y’all are besties

He’s always there for you when you need him

...

Like, always

It’s kinda strange actually...

He always knows right where to find you and texts you the moment you unlock your phone to text him

You: 𝖶𝗈𝗐, 𝖨 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝗃𝗎𝗌𝗍 𝖺𝖻𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗍𝗈 𝗍𝖾𝗑𝗍 𝗒𝗈𝗎! 𝗈𝖠𝗈

Him: 𝖮𝗁 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗅𝗅𝗒? 𝖧𝖺𝗁𝖺𝗁 / 𝖶𝗈𝗐, 𝗐𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗈𝖽𝖽𝗌? / 𝖨 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝗃𝗎𝗌𝗍 𝖺𝖻𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗍𝗈 𝗍𝖾𝗑𝗍 𝗒𝗈𝗎!! :) / 𝖦𝗎𝖾𝗌𝗌 𝖨'𝗆 𝗉𝗌𝗒𝖼𝗁𝗂𝖼 :𝗉

But more recently, it’d gone a little something more like:

“𝖸𝖾𝖺𝗁, 𝖨 𝗄𝗇𝗈𝗐 <𝟥”

… *shrugs*

Guess he’s got some kind of a sixth sense or something

He just knows you so well

But you don’t think much of it because the two of you do spend an awful lot of time together

As in you’re practically joined at the hip when you’re not separated by classes or your mom calling you home for dinner if you happen to go out on the town somewhere

Usually it’s the ice cream parlor or the mall

His buddies Felix and Changbin work at one of the shops there so you like to stop by and say hi to them

But you don’t stay too long because Seungmin really values your alone time

Just the two of you strolling side by side, sometimes hand in hand, while he listens to you ramble on about your day and get excited over cute things in the storefront windows and grumble about being hungry every time you pass the food court

You always tug him in front of one of the stands with the full intent of buying, yet he always ends up paying; he simply insists on it

Because he loves it

Your whining

Your excitement

The way you ramble over the speed limit and express your passion so effortlessly

It’s real to him

Attractive

Inspiring

Photogenic

He’d bottle each memory up and relive them over and over again if he could

Of course they’ll always be in the picturebook of his heart, but that’s a little cringe

He doesn’t care though cause it’s true

Watching you twitch your nose and turn your head like a muskrat as the scent of fresh cinnabuns wafts through the air

It makes him smile and beam with delight and the whole atmosphere becomes warm and inviting

Of course, you don’t know that

Because Kim Seungmin isn’t an open book

More like a locked diary (with chains all wrapped around it like something out of a medieval fairy tale)

Some people have questioned why the two of you aren’t dating yet

But Seungmin’s too shy to say anything; the very notion makes him feel faint and his heart race; and you always dodge the question or tell people you’re simply “just friends”

Because to be honest, any feelings you thought you had for him have sorta cooled down into a comfortable friendship

And while you may have thought about the two of you being an item before

You’re not sure how he feels

Before you rant at the author whAt do YoU mEAN hAve yOU nOt beEn pAYInG aTTENtiOn to WhaT’S gOinG On?!

LET ME (well you) EXPLAIN

While the two of you HAVE been rather inseparable over time since that fateful encounter in junior high

Seungmin is still a bit of an odd duck

Ya know him

But sometimes it feels like you don’t

Lately he’s been getting harder and harder to read

At least when it comes to the feelings department

Aka pathos

You know he certainly cares for you, a lot

And you care for him...a lot

But surely it doesn’t mean anything...more

He’s like the brother you never had

Just looking out for you, wanting the best for you, like family

It’s not anything romantic~ or lustful~ or anything like that …

Is it?

I mean uh

So what if you cuddled while watching movies together, and when you started to drift off against his chest you distinctly felt him place a soft kiss atop your head? So what if you shared milkshakes and ice cream sundaes at the parlor while holding hands beneath the table and speaking of hands you both blushed and giggled cutely when they touched while reaching for the popcorn at the same time? So what if he made you flower crowns and took pictures of you looking like a beautiful mess down by the river, or at the beach, or in the garden behind his house? So what if he occasionally showered you with gifts and bought you food and always left you the biggest mess of flowers and chocolates on Valentine’s day and worked himself tirelessly trying to teach you material you didn’t understand, and was the first one calling to see how you were doing when you got sick, even going so far as to skip class to bring you soup and tease that “you probably caught that dummy virus you had the day we met” and stayed sitting crisscross applesauce on the floor while you laughed stuffily at Tuxedo Mask calling Usagi/Sabrina a Meatball Head and he smiled at your congested laughter while mimicking you in a memey fashion (to which you respond by throwing used tissues at him that never get very far), copying all of the days notes you missed into your journal with that surprisingly pretty cursive handwriting of his...and leaving cute little love poetry off to the side for you to find later...so what if...something is starting to click inside your head...it doesn’t mean anything. None of it does. None of that meant anything!! \(>-<)/ …

……

……...right?

You scream internally into the void

For you do not know

(╥﹏╥)

One day after school of your senior year you’re doing rounds like you normally do

And you whine like you usually do

And he snickers like he regularly does

And y’all wander over to the food court like two happy little love birds (to him) and a couple of friends in a we-aren’t-dating-we’re-just-great-buds-it’s-complicated relationship (to you)

And that’s when you see him

Wow

I mean WOW

This new guy behind the counter

You recognize him from school

He just transferred to your school from out of town

His name is

Uh...

Shoot what’s his name? (._.”) ??

It’s almost your turn in line

Guess you’re about to find out ♥

Gosh he’s gorgeous wowowow

He’s looking more attractive the closer you get, and you’ve only seen him from a distance at school and he was ALREADY the bees knees then

You take a step forward up to the counter…

That is until Seungmin stops you

This bish just completely cut you off

His tall 5’9 ass is completely blocking your view of Hunkilicious >:((

Your peeking around him as best you can, but it’s hard when he’s constantly shifting his weight in time with you; you still manage to get a glimpse though, and wowza he’s fine (♥‿♥)

That sandy blonde hair

Those gorgeous bright eyes

A whole snacc sis

You smile at him while Minnie’s placing your order, and he catches your shy little wave, sending a flawless wink back at ya

(/❛o❛)/❤,.-~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸,.-~*´¨¯¨`*·~ o(~_^)o

OOF

MAN DOWN MAN DOWN

HE GOT YOU

ONE HIT KO

AHHHHHH <3

If love at first sight is a thing

This may very well be it

He’s. So. Cute~ 乂❤‿❤乂

At least you think so

Seungmin, on the other hand…

…

Not so much :))

In fact

The way he’s looking at this guy

You may not know what he’s thinking

But you can tell

He’s trying really hard to put up a normal/average front

His aura is…

Well

It’s not pleasant that’s for sure

When you two stand off to the side, waiting for your order

You tug at his sleeve and ask him if he’s alright

“Hm?” He snaps out of glaring daggers to peer down at you, smiling softly. “Yeah, everything’s fine.”

You highly doubt that, but you aren’t about to open any doors that should remain locked

“Okay…”

Just then your order is being called, by the cute blonde by that recently stole your heart

You instantly light up like a Christmas tree, and before Seungmin can make a move you dash over to the counter to pick it up

Leaving Minnie in your dust

“……”

He doesn’t say a word

Meanwhile, back at the food stand, you’re taking the bag of goods from…

You’re squinting at his nametag…

Only to notice he isn’t wearing one. Now you feel kind of dumb.

“It’s Jaemin,” he laughs, dropping some extra napkins in the bag. But also…

Why is winking at you like that?

“Maybe I’ll be hearing from you sometime?”

What…

You look down into the bag

Sure enough, there’s a phone number scribbled out in pen over the top napkin

...Wow. He’s not even trying to be sneaky about it. He’s letting you know what’s up.

But doesn’t he think that…?

You look at him earnestly. “Don’t take this the wrong way or anything, but um…”

His eyes grow soft, and looks disappointed all of a sudden. But he seems to be taking whatever he thinks is going on respectfully. “Oh, so you are in a relationship. I’m sorry, I thought that-- well, Jeno told me you two weren’t anything serious, so I thought that--”

“Jeno?” You look over his shoulder, and sure enough there’s Jeno, school jock, meeting your stare and giving you a quick “what up” nod before he hustles back to work

Jaemin sighs, making himself look busy by swiping down the counter. “Sorry, again. That was really rude of me, you can just ignore--”

“No!” you cut in.

He’s looking back up at you, a bit surprised, and you clear your throat. “I mean uh...he’s right. Jeno’s right. I’m not...seeing anyone right now. I mean, I’m not in a relationship or...anything like that. Seungmin and I are just really good friends. He’s like a brother, almost.”

Jaemin’s surprise quickly spreads into a smile that travels from ear to ear, and chuckles mostly to himself, giving himself a nod as well. “Okay. Sounds great. Maybe I really will be hearing from you then.”

Hnnnnn your insides are turning to goo, and you nod a little too ecstatically, having to contain the excited squeal threatening to erupt from the butterflies in your stomach as you hurry back over to Seungmin’s side

He’s right where you left him, and he looks…

He looks like a kicked puppy

There’s no way he could have heard what just happened

But you knew he saw the whole thing

...That didn’t matter though, right?

Cause it’s not like you guys are dating

He doesn’t even like you like that

Just friends

Just friends, (y/n)

So it’s fine

You don’t even care if he sees the phone number napkin

Which he’s looking at right now; actually glaring intensely would be a better word

And now he’s

He’s reaching inside the bag

He’s taking it out

He’s glaring at it

He’s debating something

He doesn’t look very happy

Brave (Y/n) tries to reach for the phone number

Her attack missed

Minnie’s power level is too strong

It’s over 9,000

Now he’s walking away and…

You gulp as he waits to get Jaemin’s attention

exchanging some words with him

Oh dear stars

What are they saying?

What’s going on?

You’re not sure why, but your legs won’t move

There’s some kind of...barrier...there’s this aura emitting off of Seungmin. It’s the same as earlier when he first caught you smiling at Jaemin.

But now it’s stronger, more powerful. Clearly you aren’t the only one who feels it either, because the customers and employees around him are taking a few steps back and sending curious glances as well...when he comes back, he’s empty handed. And he looks…

Calmly pleased with himself. “Sorry about that, (y/n). He won’t be bothering you anymore.”

You frown. “He wasn’t bothering me, Minnie. In fact--”

You don’t get to finish that thought, because he’s ushering you off like a shepherd herding a lost sheep away from a pack of wolves...

Except you’re starting to suspect that he may be a wolf in sheep’s...well, shepherd's clothing

You sit down to eat, and it’s like nothing happened. Minus the twitch in his face every time you so much as look toward the Cinnabon shop.

~~~

The next day you’re sitting in your chosen science course, Environmental Systems. It was either that or Quantum Physics...and let’s face it, you hate math, so ES won ten to none

You’re sitting at your lab table totally zoning out...you can’t stop thinking about Minnie’s behavior the other day. What the heck had gotten into him? Why was he acting so strangely? So rudely?

He’d gotten better after he started hanging out with you. He’d stop skipping classes, started taking his classwork seriously

It turns out Minnie is actually really smart; like, really smart. His IQ has gotta be in the 150 range. It was just a matter of applying himself and actually giving a hoot; and for some reason, he’d listen to you. Most of the time, anyway.

So you’re sitting there all slumped over in your stool, elbows on the table with your head propped up in both hands. Your eyes are locked in an internal battle with the clock on the far wall; each second that ticks by is a second lost, a second wasted, a second longer that you STILL can’t figure out what’s wrong with--

...Say, why is this bothering you so much anyway?

You two ain’t dating

You’re just friends

But you still care about him and are worried for him...as a close friend, right? That’s normal, isn’t it? You’re like a fretting sister worried about her brother’s strange behavior

Yeah yeah that’s all it is

Also what was up with that aura coming off of him?

You’re pretty sure even the Fire Nation would have turned and run with their tails between their legs

Wonder what it was he said to Jaemin…

...Aw man

Jaemin

So much for that romance waiting to be written (“=3=)

You feel a hand on your shoulder

“Ahh!”

You whirl around to see Seu--

…

Lucas?

He gives you a tender smile, slinging his backpack to the floor beside the table. “Hey. You okay?”

“Oh…” You sigh, shaking your head to clear it. “Yeah. Yeah I’m...fine.” ...Not fine, but it’s okay.

New character introduction! → This is your lab partner, Lucas. He’s sat beside you all year, but you normally don’t speak much beyond idle chitchat and classwork.

But today is different

Because today is the day he’s finally getting up the courage to…

...No, not confess his undying love for you. He just wants to talk more. He’s seen you around with Seungmin a lot; in fact the two of them share a class together, and let’s just say you’re not the only one who’s noticed some odd behavior. Lucas is a caring guy, and he’s worried about you… He thinks you’re a good person. And to him, good people are precious treasures that must be protected!! (/oAo)/

He takes a seat in his stool beside you, the one next to the window, and looks at you with concern in his eyes. “So, listen...I know we don’t talk a lot, but…is it okay if I ask you something?”

“? Sure, go ahead.”

“You and Kim...what’s your relationship like?”

You frown. “We don’t have a relationship. I mean, I’m not romantically involved with him...we met in middle school. We’ve been friends ever since.”

“...Are you sure about that?”

...what?

“What do you mean?”

“Well...not to sound out of line or anything, but I’m a bit surprised...well, I have a hard time believing...erm, seeing a person like you hanging out with a person like him. And it’s not just me, either. Anyone who knows either of you feels the same way.”

(• ε •) ? Why tho

You’re looking to him for the answer, but he doesn’t give you one. Instead he’s changing the subject.

“...Not to be nosy, but Jaemin told me what happened the other day. Uh…” He rubs the back of his neck, glaring down at the table. “He wanted me to apologize to you again, in his place. But you really should have told him if you were--”

“I’m not in a relationship with him!”

You’d slammed your hands on the table, jumping out of your seat. The rest of your classmates all silence their chatter or last minute scribbling of unfinished homework assignments, staring at the far left corner of the room where your table is.

Oops

You uh

You hadn’t meant to do that

Muttering an apology you sink back down into your seat, head bowed to allow your hair to hide your face like a curtain. Showtime’s over, folks. No encores, please.

Lucas hesitates, but after a moment he places a hand against your back. Something wet rolls down your cheeks...sheesh, when did you become such a crybaby? Are you seriously crying about this right now? But why…?

You hear him swallow, and next thing you know he’s asking you for your side of the story, and you tell him everything. About Seungmin flipping like a light switch. About his scary aura you’d never noticed before. That you had no idea he was gonna react like that.

“I see…” Lucas is quiet for a moment. Then he holds out his hand to you. “Give me your phone for a sec.”

??? Okay…

You give him your phone, and he smiles a bit at the phone charms of things you stan clinking together as it’s being passed over to him. He grabs your wrist for a second (lightly) to unlock it, making you chuckle, then he’s opening the contacts app. He slides it back over not but a few moments later with the friendliest smile he’s ever given you; a smile letting you know that everything’s going to be alright.

“Text me anytime. I gave you Jaemin’s number as well. You should call him. I know he seems kind of like...a womanizer, but he’s really not. That’s just a dumb rumor going around from the popular crowd ‘cause he turned one of the cheerleaders down. He’s really a nice guy, and he talks about you a lot.”

……

QAQ <3

LUCAS I COULD KISS YOU RIGHT NOW

OmgoshomgoshomgOSH \(^.^)/

GO LUCAS YEEHAW

You do hug him at least

You can’t help yourself

You feel like a weight has been lifted

Like you can breathe a little easier

Lucas just laughs half awkwardly, half genuine, and pats your back before the teacher walks in and makes a comment about PDA, and you both roll your eyes and take your seats

You spend the whole class chatting and catching up like two good friends that hadn’t seen each other in a long time, really hitting it off even though you’ve been lab partners the whole semester

Your teacher doesn’t mind as long as you get your work done; today is a relaxed, catch up on late assignments kind of day

You’re so engrossed in a debate about which flavor of ice cream is superior that you scarcely hear the bell ring; you notice it but it leaves your mind after five seconds because this hoe over here is trying to convince you that vanilla is better than chocolate

CHOCOLATE IS SUPERIOR OKAY?!? (Author Note: if you feel otherwise, just pretend the roles are switched✌️)

You’re going into heavy detail about how your flavor is just melts-in-your-mouth kind of good, being a river of pure joy when you notice Lucas staring towards the door with a troubled look on his face...is he trying to tell you he needs to go?

Probably. Well shoot, is it pretty rude to keep someone from getting where they need to go…

You’re about to apologize and turn to get your things and uh

Seungmin is there

At the door

Just watching you two

He’s wearing the same resting b*tch face he wore during the Jaemin fiasco

Uh-oh.

He doesn’t approach you like you fear he will, though. He simply waits patiently, one eye on you, the other on Lucas.

The moment you get your things together you bow your head to Lucas, being overly respectful in a state of minor panic before scurrying for the door. Seungmin flips his attitude again to be all smiles and sunshine, taking your hand a bit too forcefully and sending a look over his shoulder before hauling you off.

“What was that all about?”

He may be smiling, but his tone is the complete opposite, making you frown

He’s not gonna freak out again like yesterday, is he??

Uh uh uh

Wait you don’t have anything to hide

You have the right to have friends

You know what

YOU KNOW WHAT

You’re about to tell this guy

This whole thing is dumb, you’re probably making it out to be way worse than it actually is

It’s surely nothing

Guys are just weird and testy

...But when you open your mouth to let him know how you feel

Aka the truth

Nothing comes out

Not a dang thing

You close your mouth; open, close, open

N o t h i n g

Then something finally does come:

“Lucas is my lab partner. We were just talking about--”

He cuts you off, squeezing your hand a little tighter. Ow. “No, not that. I meant before class.”

Be--

Before class?!

“I saw you handing your phone to him. What happened?”

Sis what

He saw that? He was there?!

WHERE?!?

He always walks you to and from class, but you were sure you saw him leave after he dropped you off! He...He had to be hiding somewhere…

Normally you’d think it was a bit cute because “oh he’s just a helicopter brother” or laugh ‘cause he’d be trying to pull a prank on you but

Given what happened yesterday

It freaks you out.

He’s squeezing your hand tighter. It’s really starting to hurt.

“Um...it was nothing! It was part of a warmup assignment!”

“Warm-up assignment?”

“Yeah! We were comparing the current temperatures around the world, and his phone wasn’t working, so I let him borrow mine!”

The lie comes tumbling out of your mouth like a rolling stone

You can’t very well give him the truth

Not if he can’t handle the truth

Plus you need time to sort out what’s really going on with him

But does he buy it?

Well let’s see

He stops and looks you in the eyes

His gaze is cutting through you again

Just like it did when you met him some four or five years ago

It’s more than a little unsettling, but you refuse to crack

Please buy it please but it please buy it…

He sighs and studies you, more gently this time, before pressing his lips together and giving a few small nods. “Okay. I guess that’s okay.”

He uh

He what now?

He guesses that’s okay…?

……

“...Listen, Seungmin. I think we need to talk later.”

“I do too. I have something for you.”

He um

He has something...for you?

Another present?

“What is it?”

His grin is almost too excited. Yet it also seems so pure and innocent. His eyes are smoldering… At least that’s how your brain interprets it, but surely he’s just trying to scare you as is his hobby 24/7. “But you’ll have to wait ‘til tomorrow to open it.”

~~~

Tomorrow comes sooner than you know it

It’s Valentine’s Day

Flowers and chocolate and greeting cards are all over the place

Ribbons and lace and delicious cakes

Hey that kinda rhymed B)) You’re the new Shakespeare

Okay anyway

You’re at your locker; for once Seungmin isn’t around between periods, he’s being held up with a board meeting

Oh yeah, that’s right...forgot to mention, he’s on the Student Council

Told you he was smart tho

But that also made him a lot more...worrisome, given his recent outburst and weird personality flips

The Student Council had a lot of influence at your school

They practically ran the whole circus here

For example, you knew it wasn’t a coincidence that you no longer shared Statistics class with Jeno, Jaemin’s buddy.

… sigh

This whole thing was just one giant me--

What is all this?? (o.o)

You open your locker, right

And well

There’s a huge mess of roses

And chocolates

And greeting cards

And ribbons and lace and delicious cakes; word 😎

You have to grab a few bouquets and boxes before they spill all over the floor

How is it that...since when did you have so many admirers?

No offense to you or anything

You were a very nice girl

Cute, smart, sophisticated, good sense of humor

But you were also rather quiet and shy

Mostly because Seungmin took up all your free time

He kept it that way

Once you survive shoving everything back into the locker in a way that won’t result in them burying you alive, you open one of the greeting cards while a janitor and a few students give you looks at the mess of petals all over the floor

(𝑌/𝑛), 𝐻𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑦 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑒'𝑠 𝐷𝑎𝑦! (\(^-^)/) 𝑊𝘩𝑒𝑟𝑒'𝑠 𝑚𝑦 𝘩𝑢𝑔? 𝐽𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝘩 𝑡𝘩𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑢𝑚𝑚𝑦 𝑣𝑖𝑟𝑢𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 ;𝑃 -- 𝑆𝑒𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑚𝑖𝑛

You open another:

𝑅𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑑, 𝑉𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑙𝑢𝑒, 𝐿𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑡𝑢𝑙𝑖𝑝𝑠 𝐹𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑎 𝑏𝑖𝑟𝑑'𝑠 𝑒𝑦𝑒 𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤

??? Okay then…

You’re noticing that all the cards and boxes are labeled “Seungmin” or “Minnie” or “you know who” as you’re shuffling through the garden that has become of your locker

You find the tulips near the back next to some daffodils and classic red roses, having to use half your strength just to wrestle them out

Oi vey

You peer inside from “a bird’s eye view”

…

But you don’t see anything

Wait a second yes you do

There’s something dark and boxy buried inside the bouquet

You dig inside...fish it out

It’s a lovely black box, long and rectangular, with a beautifully elegant ice-blue ribbon tied around it

Wow this thing looks pretty pricey...how much did he spend on you exactly?

Seungmin had always been a little extra when it came to you but this year was overkill big time

There’s a note sticking to the back of the box; it says: 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑚𝑒

Wow he may as well just attached all the notes he gave you into a novel

But okay you read it

You like reading anyway

𝑂𝑝𝑒𝑛 𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑐𝘩𝑜𝑜𝑙 𝑝.𝑠. - 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑠 <𝟥

...Huh??

You examine the flowers before you…

Your eyes instantly land on the one in the center, which looks slightly different from the others

Because it’s fake...

~~~

Minnie helps you carry your things home after school. He handles your bags and chocolates and most of the flowers, but he insists that you carry the tulips

Why not roses? → Tulips were your favorite flower

But even if they hadn’t been, he’d bought you one of every kind of flower on the freaking planet anyway, as well as every good chocolate combination in existence

He’d even gotten you that cute plushie you’d been eyeing in the window of a toy shop in the mall

“Did you like everything?”

“Yeah...it’s great. You didn’t have to, though.”

His face gets a little...resting b*tch again. “Nonsense. I wanted to. You deserve it.”

M’kay…

“...Thanks, Minnie.”

“I mean it. You deserve this and more.”

“No, no. This is plenty. Wayyy more than enough.”

You laugh at first, but the moment you notice Seungmin’s not laughing, you stop.

There’s an uncomfortable silence in the air for the rest of the walk, that is until you reach your house.

“Listen, (y/n)--”

“Welp thanks for everything today!!”

You rush inside, dumping the load in your arms by the front door. When you run back outside to get the rest of what Seungmin is carrying, he tries speaking to you again.

“(Y/n)--”

“Geez it’s awfully cold out! Winter sure is a bummer huh? But I do love curling up inside and um...oh wow I’ve got a lot of homework to do--”

“(Y/n)!!”

You wince at the harsh tone in his voice; if you were an animal you’d have your ears flat against your head right now. “...Y-Yeah?”

Something...uh...uh-oh

His cheeks are turning the color of the roses in his arms.

This can’t be good

But when his lips part to say what he needs to say, nothing comes out

Cause here comes Lucas riding his bike down the street

And there’s a red rose gripped against the handle

Oh dear stars what fresh hell is this

You’re lost for words

Maybe he’d just passing by on his way to give some other girl a--

Nope he’s putting on the break in front of your house

He’s wheeling his bike over to you

Seungmin’s going into resting b*tch mode again

Why does karma hate you??

“(Y/n),” Lucas chuckles. “Don’t get too excited or anything. This isn’t from me. Jaemin asked me to give it to you. He’s been swamped by girls all day and hasn’t had a moment to himself to come find you. He’s got practice after school so...well I owe him a favor after losing a bet last week, so here I am. Haha...ha.”

Oh man, karma really does hate you

You look over to Seungmin, slowly, careful that any sudden movements will set him off (if Lucas’s words haven’t)

…

……

Wow he’s actually pretty calm right now

Hey maybe he’s okay

Wait no he’s not

He’s crushing those roses and chocolates in his arms pretty tightly

He looks really stiff and rigid

You’re surprised there isn’t a vein throbbing out of his forehead right now

And that scary aura is leaking back into the air again…

“Uh, th-thanks Lucas…” You can’t stop stuttering as you reach for the flower

You take it and after exchanging a few lame jokes and chatter, he waves and gives Seungmin a Bro Nod before riding off

...I mean

That could have gone way worse

You honestly thought Seungmin was going to try and stop you

Or say something

And truth be told the author did plan that

BUT

Then she got another idea okay back to you (y/n)

Gee thanks >->

Okay now

You’re watching Lucas ride off into the sunset (not romantically or anything, just seeing him off and secretly cursing him for choosing such a poor time to pull a stunt like that) when Seungmin blocks you view and is standing...really close to you.

Why is he so close?

He’s...looking down at you intently. Watching you closely.

Huh who what

Why

This is weird

He just keeps getting weirder and weirder

Making less and less sense

And then he says:

“(Y/n)...listen for a second. Please?”

Um okay

Kinda scared to but sure

“Okay…”

“About what happened yesterday...I’m sorry.”

Oh! He’s apologizing!

He’s not crazy after all (っ◔◡◔)っ ♥

I’m fine you’re fine everybody’s fine

You smile in relief, feeling your muscles relax and all the tension leave the air. You’re seeing the old Minnie you became friends with in those sparkling eyes, that kind lopsided goofy smile, those soft lips, that...that uh…

……

Soft lips?

Sis I

*internally shaking your head*

Girl you gotta get your butt inside RN

You quickly tell Minnie that it’s alright and sweep the whole thing under the rug, giving him a FRIENDLY kiss on the cheek that he may or may not have taken the wrong way

And you get your crushed flowers and broken chocolates and scramble up the sidewalk leading to your doorstep.

…

You fail to notice how long Seungmin is glaring after you with the purest, yet most lecherous, smile on his face

~~~

The moment you yeet yer ass back into the house

It’s like a reminder notification goes off in your head

And you remember about the tulips

Luckily your parents are out having a romantic dinner at some four-star restaurant, so you gather up all the stuff Seungmin had bought you and make three or four trips getting everything securely into the closet of your room

Plushie goes on the bed

You put the tulips in a vase, pondering curiously at what to make of the whole “last flower dying” business

But that can also wait

Because you have a gift to unwrap

You crack open a box of broken chocolates first (hey they’re still good even if they are a little messy and no longer visibly attractive), then you set the box down before you on your desk and just...stare at it for a minute

Admiring how pretty and fancy it is

It’s after school now, sooo…

You tear into that bad boy ヽ(⌐■◡■)ノ♪♬

…

……

………

It’s

It’s a

ᴵᵗ'ˢ ᵃ ᵏᶰᶤᶠᵉ

Seungmin

He got you a--

Holy cow uh

Holy shiz

What

What are you supposed to make of this??

……………………

There’s another note inside the box, beneath where the knife was

You carefully set down the weapon, you don’t know if it’s a switchblade or what and the last thing you need is this thing popping out at you

𝑊𝑖𝑡𝘩 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑡𝘩𝑜𝑢𝑔𝘩𝑡

𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝘩𝑎𝑡 𝑏𝑖𝑛𝑑

𝑆𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑠

𝐵𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝘩𝑒𝑦 𝑔𝑜 𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑑

……………………………………..

*takes a breath*

Okayyyyyyyy

You take it back

There’s a sinking feeling in your gut right now

You have an idea of what this could mean

But you don’t want to

…

You peek outside your window

No one is there

You stick your head out into the hallway; no one’s home either

Normally you’d hope Mom and Dad would bring you home some leftovers

But tonight you’ve lost your appetite

You don’t even know why you’re stuffing your face with chocolate right now

Stress eating you guess…

…...

You close your door again with a small shiver, reaching down to examine the knife he gave you

Once you manage to get it open anyway

You let out a little yelp the first time, but after practicing a few times it becomes easier and less scary, your confidence in not cutting yourself or losing an eye growing

You turn the blade in the sunlight

It was really freaking pretty

Really really pretty

It’s shiny af

So so shiny

And let’s face it you love shiny things

You were probably a seagull in a past life with how attracted you were to sparkly objects

S o s p a r k l y ✨💕

The colors blended so beautifully too, one spectrum flawlessly cascading into the other, then the next

The whole thing was very elegant and feminine

But also cool and kind of retro-looking

A rainbow-stained blade with a black chrome handle

It had a little pocket clip on one side, in case you wanna clip it to your jeans or attach it to something

The design on the handle is pretty

It honestly looks like a butterfly knife, but it’s not

Just a basic spring-assist

You only know this because Minnie catches you examining it again the next day and tells you

Why did you bring a knife to school, you ask?

Well…

What if your mom decided to do cleaning? Was your whole thought process; she always gets a little nosy after Valentine’s Day and likes to tease you about all the stuff Seungmin usually busy

Wait til she gets a load of Butterfly Gardens in the closet

You’re looking over at Seungmin now, who’s all peaches and cream, looking cute as a button for someone who just gave you a deadly weapon the other day

He looks really excited and pleased with himself

And then he asks you

“Are you gonna keep it?”

...

Well let’s see

You’re pretty sure if you bring a knife home

As in, your parents see you walking through the front door and actually find out about it

Even if you are just about a legal adult now

Your mom is gonna freak

Your dad won’t be having any part of it either

“yOU’ll shOOt yOUr EyE OUt!1!1!”

“Mom it’s not a gun and this isn’t A Christmas Story!!”

“You’LL STaB YouR eYe ouT1!1!”

Ugh yeah it’d be a no go sis

Plus with that poem he wrote you…

And everything else…

Even if you are friends and all…

Or whatever the heck your connection to him was

It’s all too much

You’re about to respectfully and politely decline when you look at Seungmin’s face and

...

He’s staring at you

Hard

Really hard

Like he looks a little pissed

It’s almost like he read your whole thought process just now

Like he knows you’re about to say no and hand it back to him

Holy shiz

Uh okay bro chill out haha...ha

“Well?”

Dang he don’t sound very pleased either

Uh uh uh

You smile to cover up the weird feeling in your gut, gripping the blade close to your chest (closed, ofc): “It’s great! So pretty! I love it!”

...That’s not a total lie, anyway.

It is really pretty

And you do like it

Even if it does creep you out a little a lot

But you getting grounded and swamped by Angry Mom™?

Not so great no

Seungmin is suddenly all smiles again, back to his usual goofy/cheerful self. “That’s great, I knew you’d like it. It suits you perfectly. It’s colorful and charming...just like you.”

He swipes a stray hair from your face, tucking it behind your ear tenderly. The whole action is oozing with love and affection...but you’re not sure if it’s the good kind. It’s light on the outside, but it’s got some weight to it. It’s got a...it’s just...

The final bell rings, signaling that All Students Must Yeet Themselves Off The Premises Because Teachers Wanna Go Home Too

Seungmin places a hand against the small of your back, leading you off campus

Once you turn the corner off official school grounds that hand snakes it’s way around your waist, resting on your hip

U m

You’re uh

You’re honestly too scared to say anything

A chill runs up your spine that doesn’t disappear until after he’s dropped you off at home

The next day goes by in a flash, mostly because for the first time ever you stayed up horribly late way past your usual bedtime to stare at what Seungmin had given you, other than a recent case of the heebie-jeebies (> ︿ <”)

You’d managed to keep the blade hidden from your parents; the moment Minnie dropped you off you’d rushed inside before he could invite himself over (since you could tell it was heading that way and uh...well he was starting to get a bit more handsy) and stormed straight up the stairs to your room, shutting the door and stashing the deadly weapon in a drawer

Seriously, what the heck was going on?! Why was he acting like this? >:((

...

It was on your mind the rest of the evening, while you were doing homework, when you were having dinner

Not even a few episodes of Sailor Moon or your favorite sitcoms were helping

Not even Studio Ghibli

Your mind was present for all of five seconds of Arrietty before you came back to reality and the credits were rolling

Preferably that one part where the dad goes, “sometimes it’s best not to go looking for danger...”

S i g h

Tell me about it, Papa Borrower

You’re trying but it’s like danger won’t stop looking for you

Danger by the name of Kim Seungmin...

...

Was he really dangerous, though?

Kim Seungmin? Dangerous?

He was such a sweet boy

A former delinquent, yes, but the worst he’d done was skip class to do...whatever it was he did. He’d never hurt a fly— at least, not that you knew of

He’s was a Chaotic Shy boy with a kind face that loved photography and flowers and being a sarcastic ass half the time

So what if he had a thing for knives?

It’s normal for teenage boys to be into all that stuff

And maybe he didn’t even have a thing at all

He probably just wanted to catch you off guard to fool you

He wanted to freak you out on purpose

It was all a joke

Yeah!

That’s it!

A dumb prank

Finally you could get some shut eye…

“Would you like to answer this one, (y/n)?”

Your head snaps up, and a few giggles circle round the classroom. Your face flushes in slight embarrassment.

“Um...yes Mrs. Hwang, of course”

Okay you’ll get some shut eye as soon as school is over

You got the answer wrong, btw

Stupid Seungmin 😞😒 you’d let him have it for giving you a scare like that later

That poem was a nice touch too, the bastard

And as soon as later rolls around, you’re ready to pass it over, boys

Here comes the thunder

It’s your free period, and while you thought about taking a nap and telling a friend to wake you a few minutes before Environmental Systems (that friend being Lucas), you were too upset to sleep

You had to give this jerk a what for

A good slap upside the head outta do the trick

Yeah!!

He should be in Woodshop right now, if your sleep deprived brain was remembering correctly

Get ready you jerk 😤 cause here comes the—

...

Your froze in the doorway

Wanna know why?

It’s because your eyes instantly find Seungmin

But the moment they do they can’t help but travel downwards to the project he’s working on in his hands

It’s a statue of you

Like okay hear me out

You ain’t tryna be vain or nothin

Because while the carving is really beautiful and all

It’s totally you

There’s no mistaking it

It’s really freaking detailed

And you see yourself in the mirror at least twice a day

So you should be able to recognize yourself when you see her

And bish that is most certainly, without a doubt, a wood carving of you

......

What are you supposed to do now?

What were you doing here again??

Um uh uh

Sh*t bro

This ain’t good

Normally one would be flattered, right?

But you don’t know

You don’t know what to think

You haven’t known what to think since the incident involving Jaemin

You really aren’t sure how you feel about this sudden new development

You’re just standing there two steps into the room with a fist raised when the boy next to him, your friend Felix (but mainly his), looks over his shoulder and smiles to you, not even questioning why you’re frozen like that.

“Hey, (y/n)! How’s it going?”

Crap.

Seungmin immediately looks up, and his whole demeanor goes from zero to sixty, calm and focused to chaotic and delighted

If only you could say the same about yourself

“(Y/n)...I wasn’t expecting you to come find me.” He smiles. He does that a lot so long as there isn’t another guy around. (Felix and Changbin not included). “Is everything okay?”

“Um…” Say it, (y/n). Say it!

You put on a brave face, trying to look as stern as possible. But that idol of you staring you down from across the room is weakening your stature like kryptonite. “Actually...no, it’s not. It’s really not. I need to talk to you--”

“Then let’s go someplace quiet.”

Wait

Right now?

Apparently so

He’s pulling you out into the hall, yelling at Felix to “cover for him.”

The last thing you see is the freckled boy giving him a thumbs up before you’re dragged off to the Student Council office

It’s empty and dark when you get there; the door is locked

Seungmin must have known it would be

He pulls out a key and unlocks the door, sliding it open and sweeping you inside.

He closes the door but

He doesn’t turn the lights on

So you reach and try to feel your way along the walls for the switch, but your fingers find his instead

Causing him to intertwine them with his

He pulls you right up against him…

And he kisses you

Softly

It’s very gentle, very tender

And you find yourself melting into it, even though just a second ago you were ready to klonk his brains out

But then…

Then he shoves you into a wall

No, he’s not passionately throwing you up against it

He’s slamming you into it

Hard

It honestly knocks the wind out of you for a second

And the first thing you see now that your sight has adjusted are his eyes; they’re boiling, dark, violent

He’s definitely not a happy camper

His grip on you is tight; like he’s trying to make you pop or something

It hurts bro

It really, really hurts

You suck in a sharp breath of air, but he silences you by getting the first word in

“Why the hell are you so difficult?”

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUh

You, difficult?! He’s one to talk!

“Wh-What are you--”

“Shut up! I’m not finished talking yet!”

He’s totally cutting off your blood circulation

You feel your arms starting to go numb, then your hands. He continues yelling at you in hushed tones.

“Why did you let me kiss you just now? Why did you kiss me back? Why are you...and them…”

...Them?

Is he talking about...Jaemin? And Lucas? And all the other guys you’ve so much as smiled to?

“...I can’t do this anymore, (y/n)...not if you’re not going to listen to me or do as I say. It’s driving me crazy. Don’t you get it? Don’t you f***ing see how I feel about you? Have you really been so dense this whole f***ing time?!?”

You

You don’t know what to say

But that’s okay because he’s not finished yet anyway

“The other day...on Valentine’s Day...when you told me...you said it was too much…...even if you were just joking…”

He loosens his grip on you for all but two seconds before squeezing you again tenfold

You no longer have it in you to meme the situation or find any part of anything remotely ironic or lighthearted

You let out a whimper of pain and he shoots a hand over your mouth to stifle it...then he’s cupping your face with both hands, using his thumbs to brush away the tears

You’d run

But you’re too scared to move again

Seungmin is much stronger than you

Taller

Faster

And now that you think about it

You’re pretty sure you heard him lock the door while you were fumbling around for the light switch

“......”

You hiccup and bite your lip, trying to stop yourself from crying so he’ll give you the space you need right now

This isn’t driving you crazy anymore

It’s scaring you

He’s scaring you

You want the old Seungmin back

The one that wasn’t bipolar and insane

Cause it was all starting to come to you now

The dots were finally connecting

How could you be so blind…?

…

Blind…

Blind.

The poem

What did it say again?

𝑊𝑖𝑡𝘩 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑡𝘩𝑜𝑢𝑔𝘩𝑡

𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝘩𝑎𝑡 𝑏𝑖𝑛𝑑

𝑆𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑠

𝐵𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝘩𝑒𝑦 𝑔𝑜 𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑑

……

You just got an eerie feeling in your chest

Seungmin is still looking at you like a puzzle he can’t seem to piece together. You’re sure you’re looking at him the same way.

“(Y/n). I need to know...tell me, do you…” You can feel his cheeks getting hot inches away from your own. “...Do you feel the same way?”

Crazy? No.

Scared? Upset? Yes.

“...I……” You end on a little sigh, a hesitant puff of air. You can’t get your voice box to work properly.

Unfortunately for you, Seungmin takes this the wrong way; slamming you back into the wall again, he reaches into his pocket, cursing while punching in a number you can’t see. Probably because you’re sinking down the wall with fresh tears in your eyes. You seriously want to go back five years ago and reverse such a terrible mistake...or at least be at home.

You think he’s calling someone, but for some reason he only holds the phone to his ear for all of five seconds before hanging up and putting it away. Guess whoever he was trying to reach wasn’t around.

“......”

And then you see something slowly cross over his face. Like watching a sunrise of realization. Like waking up from a horrible dream, a bad nightmare.

And then you see that he’s crying.

The tears are silent and steady

And he angles his body quickly to gape at you with a look of pure horror on his face.

“(Y-Y/n)...”

He drops down to his knees, reaching for you again

But you squeal in panic and flinch away, and he retracts his hands, gripping them close and hanging his head in shame. He’s shaking all over...staring at his hands in disbelief

“......I...I’m so sorry, I...I just...wanted to protect you, (y/n).”

“......”

“Th-Those guys you hang out with. They aren’t good for you. I wanted you to see that...”

“......”

“I’m the only one, (y/n). I’m the only one that understands you. But when you toy with my heart like this--”

“Toy with your heart?!”

You found your voice again. And she ain’t happy.

“...” he swallows, tilting his face up to look you in the eye. Still crying, softly. “...Yes. I--”

“I’ve never toyed with your heart once in my life! I can’t get a word in because you scare the heck out of me! Ever since I met Jaemin at the mall and started talking to Lucas you’ve been acting totally crazy! It’s like I don’t even know who you are anymore…!”

………

And then it’s silent for quite some time

“......” he swallows again, turning his head away and muttering curse after curse to himself while he heads to door.

He locks it behind him.

~~~

Well you found the light switch, but turns out it doesn’t work for some dumbass reason

You’re sure you’re doomed

Your phone is in your bag with the rest of your belongings

You’re confused

And sore

You don’t know what to think anymore, for real this time

You could try calling for help? But…

The Student Council hall is located in a more isolated part of the school that rarely anyone uses

Then Seungmin comes back

And he’s got a first aid kit with him

As well as that kicked puppy expression on his face

Nothing really happens, thankfully

He just patches you up (even though you don’t really need it, since it’s just a few bruises and minor scratch marks)

……

And he leaves you alone

School is long over, so you grab your things from where you left them in your cubby--

…

Wait where’s your stuff

Your bag is gone

Your phone was in there

All your textbooks and homework

Gone

...This day just keeps getting better and better doesn’t it?

Then you turn around

And Lucas is standing there

He’s looking pretty worried with his bag slung over his shoulder, yours in the opposite hand

“Where were you today? You just up and vanished all of a sudden. It’s not like you to skip out on class like that.”

“......”

“Some girls in your class told me you didn’t show up for Statistics either.”

“......”

“Or English.”

“......”

“...” Lucas sighs...then his eyes travel down to your arms, catching on a bit too late, and he gapes at you. “...What happened…?”

“......” You can’t help it. Maybe it was the traumatic experience you just had. Maybe you were about to start your time of the month. But (y/n).exe shut down and fell apart.

Lucas drops everything as you run to him, and he stands there and holds you while you sob into his chest, just letting everything spill out: tears, secrets, all of it.

“(y/n)...”

You gasp for another breath, looking up at him.

“...” His face is twisted with pain, letting you know you’re not gonna like what he’s about to say. “...I think you should stop hanging around him. In fact, I think you need to get a restraining order. I’m not kidding. You don’t know this, but...the way he acts when you’re not around...it’s very different than when he’s with you. He’s very hostile and closed off. He rarely speaks a word to anyone unless he absolutely has to. He’s civil at first, but he gets short pretty easily...he gets hot under the collar the moment anyone, especially a guy, so much as mentions your name...and then today, with you…” He squares his shoulders, standing straight and tall as he’s looking down at you. “Why don’t I walk you to my house? You’re parents went out of town today, didn’t they? I don’t think it’s safe for you to be alone if he knows where you live…”

…

It was true

You’d practically forgotten

Your parents would be out of town for the evening on a short overnight business trip

……

You really don’t want to be alone right now, and you’ve never gotten a bad vibe from Lucas before. You’d grown closer to him since the two of you exchanged numbers as well, so…

You nod your head, and he gives you a kind, sympathetic smile as he leads you away with an arm wrapped carefully and lightly around your shoulders.

~~~

The moment you get to Lucas’s house

You call your mom to let her know you won’t be home

In case she tries calling the house phone and you don’t answer

You can’t tell her you’re staying at a boy’s house that she’s never officially met before, because even if you do trust him she won’t go for it; and because you don’t want to tell her about the Seungmin fiasco either, you mean to tell her you’re staying at a galpals place

But unfortunately for you you don’t have any you can recall off the bat, and because Seungmin is still on your mind his name is the first one that rolls out of your mouth

And you have to go with it

Your mom is a little unsure at first, buuuuut...well okay, Seungmin is a nice boy, he’s over all the time and you’ve known him forever. Just be careful and don’t stay up too late!

Honestly you thought she’d yell at you even if it was Seungmin, so you’re a bit surprised but

Oh well

At least she won’t call or worry now

You ask if you can at least stop by your house to get a change of clothes and your toothbrush, but Lucas doesn’t think it’s a good idea; instead he buys you a new one from the convenience store and let’s you wear his clothes

The t-shirt nearly swallows you and you have to tighten the drawstring pants all the way to keep them up but

It works out okay ^_^

You’re still a little shaken up over everything, but Lucas is a really good friend; he makes up a space on the floor just for you (he insisted a million times you take his bed; he’d changed the sheets and everything) but you didn’t wanna put him out since it was all such short notice, and he finally caves but makes a tent for you that’s as comfortable as possible

The two of you actually have a lot of fun making a pillow fort.

He orders delivery and the two of you curl up in the tent together watching some old Disney movies on a small box TV he hauls out of his closet

Wow this dude is vintage af with his VHS tapes

But it’s nice

The two of you sipping noodles and laughing at Toy Story and Finding Nemo

You started drifting off halfway through Emperor’s New Groove when he decided it was time for lights out and cleaned up everything

He tucked you in and made sure you were nice and comfortable before closing the tent and turning out the lights

Big Brother of the Year award goes to: Lucas Wong. *applause*

But, well…

M e a n w h i l e

At a certain Dandy Boy™ house

Something was rotten in the state of…[enter town name here]

It started with a phone call he’d just gotten from a little someone called (Y/n)’s Mom

Or as he referred to her, Mrs. (L/n).

“Mrs. (L/n)?”

“Hey, Minnie! I was just calling to check on (y/n) and remind her to bring the mail in before she gets too comfortable. She’s not answering her phone and well...you know how scatterbrained my daughter can be sometimes. I’m sure she’s just got it buried in her purse again or forgot to turn it off of Silent mode.”

“...I’m sorry, I don’t understand. Is (y/n) not home right now?”

“...Well no...is she not with you? She called about...oh, three hours ago? Said she was spending the night at your house.”

“......”

𝑻𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒆𝒅.

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phantomphangphucker · 5 years

Text

Ectober Day 23: Soul- This Is A Little Bit Much Chap. 2 - Even Plains Of Reality Need Souls

Danny’s one part impossible, one part too powerful for his own good, and one part a series of existential crises.

Jack shrugging as Maddie speaks, “well it shouldn’t do anything. We never tested it out in such a way. If a ghost had any reaction they’d probably look human. Which would probably cause them to go into some form of ghost shock”, Maddie’s eyes widen, “wait, sweetie did, did someone get Phantom to use it?”.

Jack looks excited and bounces in his seat slightly, while Danny nods, “yeah and then a little after seeing him Technus apparently tried to flee. And a bunch of people were commenting that his ecto-blast was way brighter and stronger. Also, this”, Danny shoves his phone into the centre of the table. His parents giving it the single most confused expression he’s ever seen on their faces.

His moms muttering about how ‘ghosts can’t even glow like this’ and how ‘strength increasing isn’t even a possible function’. While his dad stares, thinking face on. Before speaking up, “maybe it’s showing the Ghost Zone”.

Danny blinks, mumbling around the spoon in his mouth, “what?”. Maddie also seems confused, as she raises an eyebrow at her husband.

Jack taps his chin and nods, “think about it. The Ghost Mirroring Key was designed to show a persons base ghost. And what makes up a base ghost is a persons true self, their soul. A reflection of what really makes them, well, them. The Ghost Zone makes ghosts, gives them their ectoplasm. So at their very base they’d be the Ghost Zone?”.

Maddie shakes her head, “ghosts at their base would still have to be separate otherwise they wouldn’t have a form at all. And being in a base state, if that affected strength at all, should have made Phantom weaker”.

“Well, maybe he’s more connected to the Ghost Zone like this?”.

“Being more connected with the Ghost Zone should logically just make him look more ghostly”, gesturing to the phone, “not this”.

“Maybe it just hyper-concentrated his ectoplasm?”.

“Then his skin would be green, not black”.

Danny looks down at his phone and blinks, thinking of how, exactly, he became a halfa. “What if, what if Phantom was created closer to the core or epicentre of the Zone? Had more pure ectoplasm?”.

Maddie scrunches up her eyebrows, “I’m not sure if that’s even possible sweetie”.

Jack slams his fist into his hand, “wait! Phantom’s weird, we know this. This is another example of that. Maybe Danny-boy is on to something here. Maybe Phantom isn’t a ghost in the traditional sense. A dead being that was once living”, Danny’s officially feeling nervous and regrets speaking. Then his dad throws him through a loop, “what if instead, Phantom is a ghost of the Ghost Zone itself. A personification and culmination of the Ghost Zone. It would explain him trying to keep ghosts in the Ghost Zone. That’s where the Ghost Zone would want them to be. Why he finds and rounds up ghosts, the Ghost Zone’s way of keeping an eye on and effectively leading ghosts. Why he can be outside of the Ghost Zone indefinitely, because he is it. Why he always seems to know where ghosts are, the Ghost Zone should be able to sense the location of any ghost. Maybe our sensors and barriers and weapons don’t always work on him because they’re made for regular ghosts, not an embodiment of the Ghost Zone. Why he’s so strong, he has the whole Ghost Zone at his disposal”.

Both Danny and Maddie are gaping at him. Before Maddie nods, “yes that, that would make sense. It would also mean that all laws and norms generally assigned to ghosts might not necessarily apply to Phantom. Which we already know many do not. It would also explain why he’s so human-seeming. The Ghost Zone is the other side to our world. If we were to take that further, that would make Phantom the ghost of humanity itself as well. And that would explain why he’s protective of humans”.

Meanwhile, Danny’s attempting to not have a complete existential crisis. Combining what his folks said with what Danny knew of how he half died. He was literally infused and half offed by the entirety of the Ghost Zone. His parents, they could be right. Excluding the never alive/human bit. Because really? His obsession didn’t make any sense for him to have as his obsession. He’d never been all that protective before? Or a fighter? Oh fuck, was he literally the will of the Ghost Zone? And being the High Ghost King, he literally ruled over all other ghosts. His word was basically law. So was Phantom, was Phantom literally a combination of Danny’s ghost before he became a halfa -because let’s be real, becoming a halfa changed his base ghost - and the Ghost Zone itself? Looking down at himself, if it wasn’t for Phantom, would his base ghost even look anything like he did now? Oh Ancients he needs to stop thinking. Deciding instead to blurt out, “so what you’re saying is, Phantom’s basically ghost god”, which honestly just gives him another crisis. Because what was a god? An immortal being that watched over their world, or in Danny’s case, world’s? Who possessed massive, seldom rivalled, and unheard-of power? Who leads and guided the people of their world(s)? Who could see everything from a wildly different point of view and existed in a state that was nearly unique? Because fuck, that was Danny. He was just lacking the whole omniscient and omnipresent thing....Which ClockWork did have....and he was Danny’s advisor and mentor. Danny...Danny is not sleeping tonight.

Maddie and Jack blink at Danny before exchanging a look and nodding. Maddie speaking into her hands while staring at the screen, “it would seem so. It’s the only thing that makes sense. But I wouldn’t say he’s anything like the way gods are written about in books and I wouldn’t say he truly knows”.

Danny can’t help but think, no fucking shit.

Jack nods again, “it would explain his growing too. If he was really just a teenager when he showed up. The Ghost Zone itself would only have human ageing to go off of, so it moulded its personified self after that”.

Maddie looks at Danny, smiling a bit softly, which he honestly can’t comprehend right now. He’s too busy having one crisis after another, while she talks, “teens often don’t know who they are or what their role in life is. So it only makes sense that he wouldn’t know just what he was. I suspect the other, normal, ghosts don’t know exactly either”, Maddie goes wide-eyed and asks Danny, “wait, you said Technus fled from him right?”.

Danny just nods numbly.

“What if that’s because he could see or sense that Phantom was the Ghost Zone?”.

Now Jack looks worried, “so we may have inadvertently revealed Phantom in a sense? Mads, you don’t think that could be bad?”.

Danny can instantly see both of them worrying now and looking guilty. So Danny decides he should be the only one have a mental freak out tonight, “um actually, none of the ghosts seem to view Phantom as a normal ghost. Skulker literally screams about him being unique. And people have seen Spectra mock him by calling him an unnatural freak. And-”, Danny blinks realising he was literally worshiped, like a god, “-and, I’ve heard there are ghosts who...who worship him. Call him the Great One and Saviour”. Danny’s basically whispering by the end. He’d always just passed off the Far Frozen's people’s words as fanciful compliments and shows of respect. Never giving them much thought other than the fact that it was a bit embarrassing and seemed unnecessary.

Maddie nods, looking a bit more relaxed, “that’s good then, we didn’t mess things up. I hope. But that, that just confirms it. There’s no way he’s a normal ghost at all. He’s something more. The Ghost Zone itself”, while Danny tries to not look like his brain stopped working, Maddie frowns, “but why would ghosts treat him unkindly then? Call him such things?”. Maddie sighs, giving herself the answer, “maybe he wasn’t supposed to exist. Maybe something horrible happened, something went wrong, and he came to exist. That if he didn’t exist something bad would have happened...”.

Jack rubs his temples, “maybe they resent his power or affection for humans and simply take whatever cheap shots they can?”.

Danny blinks, technically they were both right. All ghosts insulted each other. That was just a ghost thing. But his mom, well, the answer was yes. Regardless of him existing or not, Pariah would have happened. The G.I.W. would have tried to blow up the Ghost Zone. OverGrowth would have awakened. Hotep-ra would have been summoned. Nephitius would have tried to remove gravity. Phantom was needed in every situation. And when he was the one who needed to be stopped, and needed to be protected; ClockWork showed up. The world(s) were literally dependent on him, he could either destroy it all or keep protecting it. You know, after the whole ‘King of the entire Ghost Zone and ghost species’ thing, you’d think nothing could really shock him anymore. But Ancients, he was a goddamn god. The embodiment of the Ghost Zone. Personification of the afterlife. Death given form. The very soul of the underworld. But he was also alive, a person, a teenager, and perpetually in over his head. Oh, and tired. Really damn tired. And not just physically.

Danny looks at the kitchen clock before getting up and putting away his plate, “well I’m going to go to bed and pointedly not think about how our local teenage town hero, who sometimes faceplants into buildings or forgets to dodge. Is probably a godly embodiment of an entire realm and it’s will”.

Halfway up the stairs, his mom calls out, “you forgot your phone sweetie”.

Danny mutters, “oh, right”, before grabbing it and heading back upstairs.

Danny flops onto his bed and calls Sam and Tucker.

“What’s up dude? Ghosts?”-T

“What’d your parents say about sorta ghost you? Mine rolled their eyes and complained about it not being girly enough”-S

“Oh shit yeah. Mine complimented me but made me promise not to die. Three times”-T

“Come to think of it, mine didn’t ask me about that at all”-S

“Is that really surprising though? Your parents are the most selfish people ever”-T

Groaning, “tell me about it”-S

There’s a pause for a while.

“Uh dude? You’re being awfully quiet”-T

“Should we be worried?”-S

“Ugh”-D

“Okay that was more ‘I hate my existence’ than ‘my half life’s in danger’”-S

“I’m, like, eighty percent mental crisis right now”-D

“Dare I ask, why?”-T

“Did they say they’ll love and accept you if you ever became a ghost? ‘Cause yeah that is exactly the kind of thing that would give you, of all people, a crisis”-S

Danny blinks up at the ceiling a couple of times, “uh, oh yeah right. That did happen. Forgot about that”-D

“You...the guy who constantly worries about their folks not accepting them, forgot your parents accepted you? Well sorta at least?”-T

“What else happened Danny”-S

“Ugh, just belgerfuncklederck”-D

Tucker wheezes in laughter some, “care to try again dude?”-T

“Uh, in between my folks blatantly stating they expect me to become a ghost and actively wanting me to be powerful. Which just, like, what? I mean yes. Just, like, yes please. I honestly cried. Then there’s them going to call a truce with Phantom, which yay. But then it’s all ‘should I tell them?’, ‘would they feel the same?’, and...and oh Ancients they asked me not to die”-D

Tucker snorts, “little late”-T

“Were they manly tears or did you blubber like an idiot?”-S

There’s another pause in the conversation before Danny barely whispers, “is it really? Am I dead or just, like, the Zone?”-D

“Dude what? You’re supposed to say ‘hey that’s my line’. Your question doesn’t even make sense. And you ignored Sam’s jab”-T

“I thought we were already past the whole “I’M NOT DEAD!!!’ thing?”-S

“I showed my folks the photo. A photo. Image. Thing that captures our likeness to suspend it forever in existence to show off to whom ever’s willing to look at our mugs. Thingys we look at with our eyeballs, whatever the fuck. Of Phantom me all fucked up glow bug-”-D

“Uh, you know I’m not one to question your mental state. But do we need Jazz?”-T

“Tuck, goddamn fuck. Ancients and shit. Just no, fuck. Just fuck no. Ugh. Fuuuuucck. Hebergebber nerugh”-D

“This seems like an overreaction and definitely a call Jazz thing”-S

“Please don’t. I mean, fuck, uh, I’d say I’d hang up if you did but, like, fuck, how do fingers work?”-D

“I mean yours have ectoplasm in them so they probably work a little differently”-T

Danny points aggressively at the phone, though internally grateful for the slight distraction, “you. Shut the fuck up. I, uh...what? Fuck, I forgot what I was going to say. Why was I even calling?”-D

An exaggerated sigh, “Ancients Danny”-S

“Something to do with your parents, mental crisis, and you questioning your deadness. Which yeah, you were over that”-T

Danny blinks up at the ceiling, “Uuuuuuugh. Fuck yeah. That. My brain don’t feel like workin’ no more”-D

“Then stop thinking! You’re really good at that”-S

“Not good enough apparently. Look, like, fuck. So, like... fuck. The picture right. My phone and shit-”-D

Tucker cuts him off, “don’t think you actually mentioned your phone yet, so that’s progress”-T

Danny’s screws up his face and starts laughing; and he just sort of keeps laughing.

“Dude, it’s not that funny”-T

After a while, with Danny still laughing, “Uh... you okay?”-T

“You broke him Tucker”-S

Danny wheezes and flops his hand/phone down onto the bed. “Ancients fuck, holy shit. Good goddamn”, snorting and wheezing some more while his friends muffled concerned voices come through the speaker. Shaking his head, “how the fuck does mash potatoes and peas change the universe”.

Lifting the phone back to his ear, “Alright, I’m back. Not fully dead. Still fuck and, like, never going to look at mash potatoes the same again”-D

“Dude don’t do that. You know we do actually worry about you”-T

“Yeah Danny. Stitch and ditch is another thing we’ve established is bad to do”-S

“Heh. Yeah, well, you’re conversing with the equivalent of a puddle that apparently decided to eat a shift in reality for supper”-D

Sounding unimpressed, “what happened with your phone Danny”-T

“Okay fair enough on the shortness. I did kind of, uh, ghost? you there”-D

“You being awkward about puns is honestly more worrying”-S

Danny takes a deep breath and wheezes, words coming out in a rush and firmly reminding everyone that he doesn’t actually need to breathe, “my parents decided Phantom’s a literal god the embodiment of the Ghost Zone and It’s will. That he was created from the very essence of the Ghost Zone after something horrible happened. That he captures and sends home ghosts because that’s where the Ghost Zone wants them. That he’s protective of humans but earth is the other side of the coin and will become ghosts. That he’s so strong because he has access to the entirety of the Ghost Zone. That he knows where ghosts are because of course the damn Ghost Zone knows where ghosts are. And Ancients holy jerzerbelerbed. It, fuck, it accounts for everything. Except the half alive shit. But like fuck guys, I was zapped by the entirety of the Ghost Zone. Would I even look like Phantom if I had died normally? I mean fuck, you two make it clear all this ghostly crap changes how our ghosts would look. And my obsession? Where the fuck does that even come from? Why am I such a protective son of a corpse? And I don’t know if I’m just really fucking confused, weirded out, or fucking terrified. Because just what the fuck even am I? Like dead yeah sure, fucking dead. Partly. But like fuck am I really? My folks officially don’t even think so. Cause created from the Zone apparently doesn’t count as dead. And I’m literally worshiped and if I wasn’t Phantom and shit, you know how fucked we’d all be? Pariah and OverGrowth and goddamn Nephitius. Fucking Nephitius. No fucking gravity. Hurgerflebergederhurg. And, and the fucking King thing. I literally rule the whole damn place and a guy with fucking omnipresence and omniscience is my fucking advisor. I am a god. I. Am. A. Fucking. God. Like the Zone just got all up in me and decided ‘oh yeah this looks like a great place to push my will and being into!’. And I’m sitting here like what the fuck did my ghost originally look like? Did I even have one? Was I just some shell? Waiting to be filled by the void of death? Oh god that mental image! I did not need that! Oh Ancients. Aregerflagerdertic-“-D

“Danny shut the fuck up”-S

“-The Zone, fuck, it’s like the body of death and shit. So am I like the fucking grim reaper now? And oh fuck right, the, like, first fucking thing they said was ghost of the Ghost Zone. So am I even my own ghost at all? Or did like my ghost and the Zones ghost like fucking fuse. Or did the Zone fucking yeet my ghost back into me thusly making me alive again but then like, fuck, insert it’s ghost where my ghost should have been? Or did it-”-D

“Danny be quite”-S

“-make my ghost extra ghost to the point where it couldn’t possibly be fully ghost. Or maybe made my ghost so extra ghost that it literally became the Zone itself. I am I just, like, super ectoplasm absorbent to the point of just yanking it all into my very being? What the fuck am I? Like, what the fuck is up with half my shit? I highly fucking doubt Vlad half died looking like a vampire twat. But then what the fucks up with Vortex and Nocturne? The fuck are they? What the absolute fuck?!? And I am literally the strongest ghost there is. WHYYYYYY??? I’m only half one! And my core? The fuck is it ice for? Because the Ghost Zone is cold, that’s fucking why. And my obsession, my goddamn obsession! I’m not a protective person! Wait no, UGH! I uh ugh. Yes I am. I really fucking am. But just fuck, ugh. GAH! I DIDN’T USED TO BE SUCH A PROTECTIVE WEIRDASS! WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH ME! WHAT AM I!?! WHAT IS PHANTOM!?! WHO THE FUCK AM I!?! FENTON!?! PHANTOM!?! FENTON!?! PHANTOM!?! ARE THEY THE SAME FUCKING PERSON!?! AM I THE SAME PERSON AS MYSELF!?! AM I ME!?!-”-D

“DANNY!”-S & T

Deciding he really should probably just shut up,“I, um, FUUUUUUCK!”-D

“Dude it’s okay. You just unloaded a lot of shit. But dude, we’ve been over this. You are Phantom. He is you. You are yourself. And that’s fucking awesome. We all know this secret identity shit messes with you sometimes. But that’s not what this is, is it?”-T

Being a little pissy and hating himself for it just a little bit, “no Tuck, no it’s fucking not. I’m not even sure how to put it beyond, just what am I? Like ugh”, taking a deep breath, “halfa yes, obviously. Half human, half...ghost. But is the ghost half actually a ghost? Like my dead half? Or the Ghost Zone itself given form through me and thus changing me as a person in the process. I wasn’t protective guys. I wasn’t fucking protective”-D

“Alright, I’m going to try and unravel your word vomit from earlier. Your folks deciding something about Phantom doesn’t count for shit, they literally have only half the picture. They are constantly wrong about ghosts, Danny. They have made hundreds of incorrect assumptions about them that we know for a fact are wrong. So on this, what they think means nothing. It doesn’t matter. Now the idea of you, more specifically your ghost half, being the manifestation of the Ghost Zone; would make sense if you weren’t a halfa. But I’ll give you that the idea that your ghost form is a combination of both your natural ghost and the Ghost Zone’s essence makes sense-”-S

Danny cuts her off, “that doesn’t exactly make me feel better Sam”-D

“It wasn’t supposed to. Like you said, all this ghost stuff has affected our natural ghosts. Valerie’s probably isn’t the same either. But so what? That’s normal. For life to affect who we are as people. It’s just more extreme for us because it’s ghost stuff that’s happened in our lives”-S

“I think it just bothers you more because you notice it. Because you changed so suddenly. ‘Cause yeah, you never used to be such a protective bastard”-T

“Still not helping”-D

“Dude, we’re your friends and sidekicks. Not your therapist. That’s Jazz’s job”-T

Rubbing his eyes, “ass. But yeah, I know. But I couldn’t just sit on all of that and I definitively can not deal with Jazz’s psychoanalysing”-D

“That is incredibly obvious. And Danny, out of everything, your obsession is the only one that yeah, this is probably the only explanation for. Vlad’s powerful too, sure he’s weaker than you but just how much does he even use his powers? Hardly ever. Sure you could be right, but it’s not a sure thing on that. Your core is a major stretch, they don’t seem to have much of a reason to them ever”-S

“And Danny dude, so what? Even if the Zone fused itself to you and changed who you were, it made you the you you are now. So really, you wouldn’t be you if it didn’t fuse with you. And come on dude, you love who you are now. We ALL do”-T

Snickering, “shit Tucker, have you been going to slam poetry without me?”-S

“I, fuck, you’ve got a point there. But like guys, my protectiveness is, like, at least twenty-five percent of who I am now. And like the other shit? Feeling the need to send ghosts back without interfering with their ability to get back here? And come on, did I ever seem like I’d be the leader type? At all? I guess you’re right, it’s doesn’t really matter. I do love it, but it is quite literally impossible for me to have a remotely normalish life. Like, ever. You guys have that option. And okay point to you too Sam. I was being dramatic”-D

“Thank you for accepting your role as the teams drama queen”-S

“Pfft, you stage riots over what kind of oven brands stores sell”-D

“Ahh there he is. The wise cracking idiot has returned. Glad to have you back”-T

“I’m still fucked up”-D

“You, by your very impossible nature, always are. But that just makes you fit in better with us. We’re all fucked up. And dude, do you seriously think normal society could handle either of us either? And do you seriously think we’d drop this shit for normal lives? Naw man, you’re fucking stuck with us. We’ll be ninety years old, half blind and deaf; and will still be helping your ass. And then we’ll join the Zone and still help your ass. And Danny, you’ve always been the leader of our group. You’ve always fit in with and lead weird. So maybe the Zone just straight up sensed that shit in you. Knew you’d do it right and do right by it”-T

“Why, out of everything, is that comforting. Being deemed worthy by a dimension to get to become Its personification”-D

“If you blame it on your ghost pride, I will come over there and kick you”-S

Feeling the healthy amount of genuine fear that statement requires, “uh... it’s not because of my ghost pride”-D

“Good half ghost Zone god”-S

“I’m not sure if I should be saying too soon”-D

“Dude, you made dead jokes within an hour of half dying. You literally made a ectoplasm absorbent paper towel joke during your mild mental break down. If there is one thing in the entire universe that is definitively you, it’s a dark sense of humour with zero sense of sensitivity”-T

“You are on a fucking roll today Tucker”-S

“Oh shit, I totally did”-D, which just makes Danny start laughing again.

“Laughing in the face of everything is what you do”-S

There’s another pause in the conversation, as Danny mulls things over in his head.

“So just so we’re clear, my ghost half, Phantom, is at least partly the entirety of the Ghost Zone. That my obsession is a direct result of the Ghost Zone part of me wanting to keep all the ghosts inside of it aka the Ghost Zone and the Ghost Zone’s desire to stop mortals from becoming ghost prematurely. Oh, and the Ghost Zone’s desire to not be destroyed or for any of its ghosts to be destroyed. And that, due to all of this, combined with my immortality, absurd power -which is possibly because of being partly the Ghost Zone-, being High Ghost King, and how my ghost forms base ghost looked; that I am Ghost God. And that we’re all just okay with this?”-D

“Yup”-S

“Sounds about right dude”-T

“That’s really fucked up”-D

“You’re an impossible paradox and basically an entire dimension. I think being fucked up would be a requirement”-T

“Ass”-D

“You feeling less freaked out by your own self now”-S

Sighing, “yeah. Still not keen with the fact that this definitely changed who I am as a person and not just giving me some quirks”-D

“You’re still you dude. Same as you’ve always been. Just more ghostly in an extreme and very saturated way. I think the way Phantom looked kind of proved and currently proves that”-T

Scrunching up his eyebrows, “oh?”-D

“Yeah that makes sense, your ghost self looks like you Danny. If Phantom was just straight up the Zone you’d probably look wildly different. Even all, I can’t believe I’m saying this, Mega evolved, you still looked like Danny”-S

Grumbling, “could have just imprinted off my form”, defeatedly, “but yeah fused with my ghost self makes more sense”-D

“No shit. So there, no more ‘am I me’ crisis”-S

Snorting, “yeah right. Danny never really stops having his crises. They just hide away for a while”-T

“Ouch, but true. I’ll probably flip shit and turn into a mental puddle again the next time I’m being pushingly or overwhelmingly protective. Or the next time I go to the Zone and can’t help but notice how comfortable I feel. And oh fuck, how did I never think that was weird?”-D

“I thought that was just a ghost thing?”-T

“No, fuck. I got eyed-balled funny three of the times I mentioned it around ghosts. Vlad being one of them. Come to think of it, CW’s the only one to not eyeball me funny about it”-D

“Guess that says a lot about all of us that we don’t even notice weird anymore”-S

“Well weirdness sensitivity level check aside, y’all should sleep. And I should stare at my ceilings glow-in-the-dark stars until I self actualise fully”-D

“Does that include accepting and loving yourself as being a dimension and your purpose as Its defender and lord?”-T

“Pretty sure he already accepted that last bit after becoming King”-S

“But now it’s on the god level Sam. That’s different”-T

Motioning his hands around wildly, “it’s different. It’s so fucking different. And fuck you Tuck....ah goddamnit it. Ain’t I fucking, like, lording over and ruling myself then? If I’m the fucking Zone or some shit, the Zone’s soul, and ruling the Zone. Fuck, Tuck you goddamn fuck”-D

Laughter, “dude yes, yes you are”-T

“You’ve actually achieved the highest possible level of individuality and self-sufficiency then”-S

“That's our Danny, taking ‘I am my own king’ to its absolute conclusion”-T

Facepalming, “how is that not supposed to be terrifying? Fuck y’all. I’m hanging up before y’all give yet another existential crisis”-D

Danny hangs up to laughter and tosses his phone onto the corner of his bed, before turning over and growling into his pillow. Turning back onto his back to stare at his ceiling. Jabbing his thumb into his chest, “me, I am a fucking mess and I’m a fucking entire different realm of reality”. Snorting and barking out a laugh after a while, smirking, “wow the Zone really drew the short stick on Its personal meat suit”.

Staring at the ceiling till his eyes begin to unfocus and burn. Shaking his head with a slight chuckle, “but I guess I have been doing pretty well. And it infused itself into my being so easily that I wasn’t even aware for years”, shaking his head again, “Hell, I still wouldn’t be aware if it weren’t for my parents coming up with the weirdest theories. And I guess, I guess that means it really must be okay. For me not to notice. But still, it changed me into someone I wouldn’t have been. My very being, my soul, my ghost. Irrevocably bound and one with the Realm of the dead”. Raising an eyebrow before wheezing in a way that sounds almost like a laugh, “oh Ancients! I’m only half ghosts but technically I’m more ghost than any other ghost can ever be”. And oh god, ghosts are partly created by the Zone. So technically him. Does that make literally every ghost his child in a way? Ah fuck. And then, if he wants to be really dramatic about it, all living beings have their base ghost right? Technically that couldn’t exist without the Zone creating that as well. So then, every single living and dead thing was sorta the Zone’s child. His child...No wonder he was so fucking protective, goddamn. Everything was a child of his soul or part of his ghost. Or was a child of the thing, Realm, that he was the soul or ghost of. Ancients this was all so fucked up.

Shaking his head and roughly putting an arm over his eyes. Him, Danny, was just one big cluster fuck of escalations. A boy. A hunter. A halfa. A hero. A saviour. A king. A god. A universe. Was there no end to his existences surprises? He really fucking hopes so, because this? This bullshit was getting a little much. But hey, at least he was less ‘this is utterly horrifying’ and more ‘not this shit again’ now.

End.

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carmenlire · 5 years

Note

I just had the best thought ever, prepare yourself. Malec human au where Alec's friends & family know he's dating some guy but only his bff Clary (Yes theyre gay besties) knows it's Magnus. Then, one day, they get engaged & Magnus posts an obligatory "he said yes!!" pic & tags Alec, Izzy follows Magnus on insta (maybe he has a following? maybe because of his job? maybe she just follows him because of mutual friends? maybe they're friends?? who knows) & sees the post & is like Alec,,,,, explain??

This was super fun, Julia, and I hope you like this!!!

read on ao3

Alec answers a text message as he sits down, only to look up when Clary snorts.

“You’re so smitten,” she teases, taking a drink of her bubble tea.

“Shut up,” Alec huffs. He turns his phone so that the screen faces down as he gives his friend his total attention.

Clary had been a total pain in his ass at first when they’d met in college. Taking pottery as an elective to fulfill his fine art credit, Alec had gotten to class early enough to have his pick of seats. Of course, he’d taken an empty table only for a bright-haired whirlwind to come crashing into the seat next to him just before class started.

She’d introduced herself cheerily and while Alec knows his own expression had probably been closer to a pained grimace, Clary had been unfazed. As things would go, they were assigned partners for the semester and after four months Alec had a fervent desire to never even see a pottery wheel again and a reluctantly good friend.

Sighing as Clary just stares at him with an expectant look, Alec dryly wonders that he shouldn’t be surprised. In their early days, the two had bonded over talking about relationships. As luck would have it, Clary had ran into Isabelle during an art exhibition a few weeks after they’d met and Alec hasn’t known peace since.

“What, Fray.”

Alec’s tone isn’t what anyone would call welcoming but Clary doesn’t let that stop her as she perks up. She raises a brow, mouth upturned.

“When are you going to tell everyone? It’s been what, over a year?”

“Almost two,” Alec mutters and jerks away when Clary reaches over and slaps his shoulder.

“Alec,” she exclaims. “You’ve been dating Magnus for two years and you still haven’t told your family? How the hell have you managed that? Why would you want to do that? You know Izzy thinks you’re dating, like, a CIA agent or something, right? For God’s sake, you two live together.”

Wincing, Alec shrugs defensively. “Magnus is gone a lot for shooting. Do you know how hard it is to explain his absences without making him sound like a black ops spy?” Running a hand through his hair, he goes on to mutter, “It just sorta happened? Magnus wanted to keep things quiet for awhile to stay out of the press and then it just snowballed from there.”

“Surely you could trust Izzy and Jace, though.” Clary’s tone is incredulous and Alec doesn’t blame her. Whenever he stops to think about it, it does seem inordinately ridiculous that he’s been in a relationship without his siblings catching wind of the guy.

“I was exciting at first, you know that. Sneaking around, annoying Jace and Iz by refusing to say anything, especially since I know that Izzy’s halfway in love with him herself. But then it just got to the point where I didn’t know how to tell them. The timing never seemed right.”

Clary laughs softly. “What, tell them that their brother is dating Magnus Bane, two time Academy Award winner? Yeah, I’m sure that’d go over smoothly.”

“I can hear Izzy’s screams now,” Alec says grimly before sighing deeply. He flips his gaze up to meet Clary’s eyes. “I’m halfway surprised you haven’t told her.”

Sniffing delicately, Clary just offers, “I am capable of keeping secrets, you know. After we ran into Magnus that first time, when he called me that night and demanded pretty boy’s phone number, I didn’t know if anything would come out of it. Magnus is a pretty private kinda guy when he’s not working.” She snorts. “And then, like you said, things snowballed. You two started dating– and were dating for months before I even realized– and by then, I didn’t think it was my place. She’s your sister,” she accuses with a glare.

Alec just huffs out a breath, beleaguered. “Yeah, trust me, I know.”

Leaning over the table, Clary’s tone drops to something encouraging and a little beseeching. “All I‘m saying is that this will bite you in the ass if you don’t tell everyone.”

“Know something I don’t, Fray?” Alec asks with a raised brow before glaring at her when she does nothing but smile.

The conversation moves on swiftly from there. While the two of them regularly hang out, the schedules have been so busy lately that it feels like ages since they last stopped for coffee and chatted until the sun started drooping in the sky.

Still, as Alec enjoys a rare afternoon out of the courtroom, he can’t help but wonder what the hell Clary was being so cryptic about.

Alec wakes to the feel of lips against his spine. Smiling into his pillow, he relaxes deeper into the mattress as he feels Magnus trace invisible lines along his back with a wandering hand before chasing a string of kisses across his shoulders.

“Morning, babe,” he finally manages to get out, voice hoarse with residual sleep.

Pausing in his ministrations, Magnus leans over him further until Alec shivers at the breath against his ear.

“Good morning, fiance.” The words are immediately followed by a lingering kiss just under his hear that’s more of a nuzzle against warm skin.

Alec can’t stop the grin that lights up his face and he doesn’t try to as he shifts until he’s on his back with Magnus looming over him. The morning sunlight streams through their gauzy curtains and paints them both in burnished shades of gold.

“That does have a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”

Humming, Magnus nods emphatically. “Oh, darling, you have no idea. How are you feeling this morning?”

Alec’s voice is traitorously soft as he brings a hand up and combs it through Magnus’s wild bedhead. His boyfriend– fiance– looks ridiculous and perfect and like everything he’s ever dreamed of. “Like the luckiest man in the world,” he replies and he watches Magnus’s mouth tip up in a faint but glowing smile.

Leaning down, Magnus catches Alec’s lips in a kiss that’s warm if not heated. Time spins out for long minutes, the two of them enjoying each other and this perfectly ordinary– yet special all the same– morning.

It’s a couple of hours later, after they’ve finished breakfast, when Magnus gets that gleam in his eye that Alec would know anywhere.

Laughing a little, he asks, “What’s going on in that head of yours? You have something up your sleeve.”

Resting his chin in his hand, Magnus gazes across the table at him, eyes moving between the engagement ring on Alec’s hand up to his face. “Can I paint your nails?”

Surprised, Alec blinks. “Why,” he asks, bemused. “It’s been months since you painted my nails.”

“Well,” Magnus drawls out, reaching for Alec’s hand and tangling their fingers together. “That ring looks lovely on you, if I do say so myself– and I should know since I bought the damn thing– and what better way to set it off than with a little polish?”

Alec brings their joined hands up to his mouth, placing a quick kiss right below Magnus’s knuckles. “Yeah, okay then,” he agrees easily. “Did you have a color in mind?”

Grinning widely, Magnus just winks at him. “Oh, Alexander, how could you even ask me that.”

He’s just finishing the last nail’s clear topcoat when he looks up at Alec.

Alec, who’d been smiling as he watched his fiance work– Magnus was always so cute when he concentrated– shakes his head a little as he sees the faint line between Magnus’s brows deepen.

“Hey,” he says softly. “What’s up?”

Straightening from where he’d been leaning over Alec’s nails, Magnus frowns a little and looks uncertain. That’s an expression that rarely comes across his face and Alec studies him, a little worried.

“I was just thinking,” Magnus starts, “That if we’re getting married then we’ll probably have to come clean, don’t you think? Really, we probably should’ve made an announcement awhile ago but I do so enjoy having you all to myself.”

Magnus’s voice lowers on the last few words and Alec finds himself smiling even as heat sweeps up his spine.

Careful with his still tacky polish, Alec grabs Magnus’s chin, urging him closer for a soft kiss. “Whenever you want,” he agrees easily as he pulls back. “I respect your job and you not wanting us to become fodder for the media. I know I can handle things, though, if you think you’re ready.”

He rolls his eyes. “And I mean, come on. Everyone knows that Magnus Bane is off the market. They just don’t know who.”

“Fair enough.” Magnus laughs a little before he looks down and studies Alec’s hands, now painted with a dark blue polish with the faintest hint of shimmer.

Alec watches his love take a deep breath before his gaze flips back up and meets his. “So we’re doing this?”

“We’re doing this,” Alec repeats, voice firm. “How do you wanna play it?”

Magnus’s eyes go from his phone on the table to Alec’s hands– back and forth a few times and Alec can pinpoint the moment he gets an idea.

“I’ll have to invite Jace and Izzy to brunch tomorrow and tell them the good news,“ Alec says, picking up on Magnus’s train of thought. "I don’t want them hearing it from anyone else.”

“Whatever you say, darling,” Magnus agrees absently as he reaches for his phone and starts shifting Alec’s hand how he wants it. “I can meet you depending on the time. I do have that interview tomorrow afternoon in Midtown.”

Alec makes a faint noise of acknowledgement as he grins down at his ring, his stupidly perfect ring that Magnus had surprised him with last night.

It’s a bold move but right now, in this moment, Alec feels like he could shout his love from the rooftops. It’s unforgivable drivel but it’s true and he’s excited to finally proclaim Magnus as his and, by the looks of things, his forever.

“Okay, hermano, you told us to be at Taki’s bright and early. Here we are, I’ve eaten two plates of appetizers, and you have yet to tell us what’s so important that you dragged me from my Sunday morning ritual with Clary. Spill.”

Alec takes a bracing drink of his coffee as he looks between Izzy and Jace. Clary’s next to Isabelle trying valiantly to swallow her smile, though Alec sees the discreet thumbs up she throws his way.

He clears his throat. While one arm rests on the table as he fiddles with his coffee mug, the other hand is under the table and he tries to calm his nerves by playing with his ring, spinning it slowly to ease the vise that’s clamped down on his throat.

He’s not worried about his family’s reactions. They’ve heard him gush about his boyfriend enough to know that he’s a good man and that he makes Alec happy. Still, Magnus is famous and Alec’s kept this under wraps for a surprisingly long time.

Distantly, he has a moment to wonder that the timing just never fucking fits.

As he starts thinking about what to say– and yeah, he did practice but Alec’s never been good at remembering speeches when they’re not in front of a judge– he’s vaguely aware of Isabelle studying his nails. He catches the smile that spreads across her face before her expression turns thoughtful, her eyes narrowing.

Alec’s just opened his mouth when Isabelle speaks over him.

“Oh my God,” she exclaims, eyes widening but laser focused on his hands. “Oh my God, Alec.”

Her mouth is hanging open and Jace is staring at her like she’s lost her damned mind as Alec deflates and Clary stifles the giggles that he just knows she’s hiding behind her hand.

Isabelle stands up from the table abruptly, her chair scraping the floor loud in the cacophonous din of the morning crowd.

Pointing a sharp finger at him, Izzy demands, “Show me your other hand, Alec.”

Sighing, Alec obeys and climbs to his feet. He holds out his left hand in front of Izzy and watches as she gasps before immediately reaching for him, thumb brushing over his ring.

“I ought to kill you,” she mutters, sounding dazed. Her eyes are glued to his hand before she lifts her head with, what looks like, herculean effort. “Explain everything.”

Alec winces as he sits back down, playing with his ring blatantly now. His sister’s voice had been sugary sweet as she spoke through clenched teeth.

He swallows hard. Before he can say anything, though, Jace is talking.

“What the hell’s going on,” he asks, confused. “You got engaged– I’d have to be blind not to see that engagement ring– but why is Iz about to murder you and everyone you’ve ever cared about?”

“Because,” Isabelle grits out, "He’s engaged to Magnus fucking Bane, movie star and fashion icon.”

At that, Jace does a double take. “Wait– what.”

“Yeah, about that,” Alec says, clearing his throat. He looks at Izzy. “How did you know?”

“I saw your hands. They were familiar but it took me awhile to place where I’d seen that color lately. Wouldn’t you know, I saw it on Instagram yesterday. It was a post by Magnus of a hand with that color polish and a ring and the caption He said yes. It’s all anyone can talk about, the prospect of Magnus taking his relationship public. If only I knew that my brother’s boyfriend– who I thought was some sort of super top secret spy– was the man in question.”

Running a hand through his hair, Alec leans back in his seat, deflating. “I should’ve known you’d check Instagram before brunch.”

He doesn’t get to say anything else before there’s a whirlwind heading toward them. Magnus drops a quick kiss on top of Alec’s head before plopping down in the chair next to him. He’s grinning and Alec’s the only one who sees the nerves that are lighting him up from the inside.

Without thinking, he reaches over and takes Magnus’s hand, sweeping a thumb over his to steady his fiance. Magnus squeezes his hand, throwing him a look of thanks, before turning toward the table.

“Hello, I’m Magnus and I’m Alexander’s–”

“Fiance.” Isabelle says the word with Magnus and the table sits in stunned silence for a minute.

Jace is the first one to rally.

He holds out a hand for Magnus to shake before tilting his head in Alec’s direction. “We heard you proposed to Alec last night. Congratulations but I just have one question.” He pauses for a brief moment and the glint in his eye has Alec wanting to preemptively sink to the floor. “Are you sure you want to tie yourself forever to a guy that has the social life of a ninety year old great-grandmother?”

Alec doesn’t have time to take offence, to offer a sharp rebuttal, before Magnus is responding.

His fiance– the love of his life, the very beat of his heart– just winks at Jace, settling in his seat as he reaches for Alec’s coffee with his free hand.

“You know,” he starts, and Alec rolls his eyes at Magnus’s thoughtful, facetious tone. “I daresay the grandmother would be more lively than Alec– especially when he’s on a case. Have you ever played cards with him? He’d be kicked out of bridge club before he could be offered a hard candy.”

Jace barks out a laugh and it breaks the tension. Alec joins in even if it’s at his expense and feels relief that everything really will work out alright. He’ll have to answer a million and one questions from Izzy and he’s already bracing himself for Jace’s ribbing but as he introduces Magnus to his family and finally sees one of his most anticipated daydreams play out, Alec’s comfortable and happy and so full of joy that he barely knows what to do with himself.

Brunch is a splendid success and becomes a sort of tradition for the Lightwood siblings and their significant others. Isabelle forgives him after bleeding every single detail out of him and he breathes a quiet sigh of relief when her ire turns toward Clary.

Later that evening, when Alec sees a picture of him and Magnus splashed across the front of TMZ, he chuckles and thinks, This is it.

"Hey babe,” he calls out from where he’s laying in bed, scrolling aimlessly on his phone.

“Yes, darling?” Magnus’s voice echoes from the bathroom where he’s taking his makeup up and going through his night time routine.

“It looks like our secret’s out. People saw us walking today and know who I am.”

Stepping into the bedroom, Magnus studies Alec for a minute before smiling and coming over to his side of the bed. He looks down at him softly before combing a hand through his hair.

“Don’t you know, Alexander?” He winks. “The best news is when people think they’re pulling something over on someone.”

Humming a little, Alec looks back down at his phone. He takes a single breath, turning his head slightly to kiss Magnus’s wrist. “Out of the frying pan,” he murmurs.

Magnus’s voice is just as quiet– and just as confident– as he replies, “And into the fire.”

#wirtanzenimregen #julia tag #asked #answered #my writing #worth a thousand words #malec fic

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pen-and-a-microphone · 4 years

Note

i love your casting of your therapy group in six, i would cast my robotics team in six but there aren't six girls/enbies that show up to our zoom calls regularly

It's concerning easy to assign roles to groups, my friendship group did a sorta mini cast of Heathers a while ago for no apparent reason. I think it's a nice way to reflect on the things you like about yourself. It was agreed that I'm the Heather C of my group, which made me feel very confident, which was nice. I'd recommend thinking about shared positive characteristics if you relate to certain characters - it's good for self esteem

Also mood, Seymour didn't show up on the zoom call this week because of son issues, and I hung up halfway through because I was crying 😅

#Tell you what you want what your really really want..... To know (asks)

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tenaciousarcadeexpert · 5 years

Text

Criminal Minds-The Good Ol’ Days

Tagging: @marvelfanlife, @itsmeedee, @cynbx, @jaqren, @gabriellewritermua, @princesswagger15, @screaminginbi, @tleighstone12, @cosmicmelaninflower

A collaboration fic with @princesswagger15.

After a long hiatus, the wait is finally over. Here is the new chapter

Chapter 8-Rossi’s Past

The next day, the gang were eager to meet up with Rossi at their usual spot near the river. The students were very happy that their professor was back, but they were all wondering what’s he been doing when he was away. Barnes looked out from the window as she sees Rossi and the team leave the campus.

“I see you’re not trying to break up David and his little crew.” She turned to see Strauss walking up to her.

“I’m not an animal, Erin. I have my limits, besides, we could all use a little space.”

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

Meanwhile, the group march into the forest while asking Rossi a few questions.

“Are we there yet?” Garcia complained. “These little twigs keep hitting my feet and my heels hurt.”

“Geez Garcia what are you five? We’ll get there, be patient.” Luke jokes. “Besides, I don’t understand how you can wear those things every day.”

“Shut up heathen!”

“Wooow Garcia, always a heathen am I?”

“Guys, can you not? Especially at 7am?” Hotch complained.

“Jeez, someone’s grumpy without their morning coffee.” Muttered Derek.

“I don’t see you complaining.” He rolled his eyes as Derek snickered at him. The group continues to trek into the forest with Rossi.

“So professor, I’m wondering why you decided to meet with us as early as 7 and then have us walk into the forest?” Emily asked Rossi.

“Well firstly, I know you all don’t have classes today, and secondly, I choose this early for a reason. No one is gonna be up 7 am just to snoop on us.”

“Why would someone ‘snoop’ on us?”

“Well whoever these people are want to know something about me really bad. And they’re not afraid to use you all to get to me. So that’s why we’re out here so early Miss Prentiss.”

“Oh okay.” “You seemed to know a lot about the forest.” Ashley walked over by Emily.

“Well, I used to be a boy scout when I was younger.” “You were a boy scout? Cool, so was I.” Matt replies.

“Oh wow, so you know your fair share of the forest don’t ya?”

He shrugged his shoulders.“Sorta, not as much as you do.”

“Eh, still cool to know.”

They kept walking till they stopped at a river separating them from the other side of the forest. There, they notice a tall grey-ish building with four windows. Judging from the worn out paint, torn down wires and the interior being almost pitch-black, the place looked abandoned, not having been touched for almost ages. The group looked at it in curiosity, though Rossi had a more grim look at the building.

“This building was abandoned for years. Surprised it hasn’t been demolished yet.”

“What was it? A factory? A hospital?” “....An asylum.”

“An asylum…..in the middle of the woods?”

“Yes, it used to be fairly silent back in the day.”

“What happened?” JJ asked.

“The patients were rioting and some escaped but they were never found. But ever since then, it’s been abandoned.”

“Is there a reason why it was abandoned?”

“Well after those few escaped the other patients were even more mad so they set fire to the place, everyone got out and the firemen came just in time before the building was completely gone. I don’t think anyone has used it ever since though. Probably never will either.” He continued to look at the building, scrunching his nose and trying not to choke up as the team noticed.

“Something wrong, professor?” Kate asked.

“I-I, it’s nothing.”

“You sure? You seemed to be in deep thought.” “Did something else happened in that building?” JJ asked.

“That’s a story for another time. Let’s get down to business shall we?” He then escorts the teens away from the building as they follow the trail of the river. Ashley took another moment to stare at the building before following the rest of the group.

“And here we are.” They stopped at a small cabin, to their surprise, it was the same cabin they broke into. They wondered if Rossi knew that they were there, and if he brought them here for one reason: to interrogate them. They were all secretly relieved that Rossi didn’t shoot off a round of questions and instead asked, “Do you guys want something to eat or drink?”

The gang all looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.

“Got any orange juice?” Reid asked.

A few minutes later, Rossi starts up the stove as he cooks up some pancakes while the gang looks on.

As Rossi gets lost in his cooking, Garcia freaks out and turns to the team as she whisper yells, “WHAT THE HELL MAN! WE BROKE INTO ROSSI’S CABIN!”

“Can we not talk about this Garcia?! Rossi is literally right here!” Emily responds.

“Wait wait wait, why would ya’ll break into his cabin?” Asks Marissa, clearly confused.

“Guys, can you all shut up!” Hotch whispered. “Can we talk about this later, when we’re not at Ro-” “WHO WANTS BACON!”

“HELL YEAH!” The group all turned to Luke, who covered his mouth. “Pig.....” Garcia groaned.

“What? I can’t help it. I need meat!”

“Dude’s got a point.” Marissa nodded.

“Not me, I’m a vegetarian.”

Marissa dramatically turned to Garcia and gasped. “I don’t know you anymore!”

“Hey, not everyone is a meat-eater. I love animals waaaaaaaaaay too much.”

“Look, don’t get me wrong, I’d die for any animal okay. But I’m just saying that I can’t live off of rabbit food like you can.”

“Rude.” Garcia then covered her nose as she and the gang smell the scent of bacon frying in the pan.

“Yeah okay suuure.”

Reid the walked over to Marissa’s shoulder. “Just let her be, if she doesn’t want any bacon, that’s her decision.”

Back at the kitchen, JJ continued to watch as Rossi cooks the bacon. “Wow professor, you’re quite the chef.” “Of course I am. I’m Italian, it’s in my nature.” “I’m not trying to be rude or anything but you didn’t really have to cook for us.”

“Oh no really, it’s my pleasure since I brought you all here at such an early hour.”

“It smells really nice.” Tara smiled.

“Yeah it really does, thanks Professor.” Says Derek.

‘You’re welcome.” A few minutes later and breakfast was already set. The gang all silently munch on their meals while sitting outside of the cabin.

“Uh professor?” Tara asked. “Yes?”

“Why did you decide to bring us here?”

“Hmmmm.” They looked as Rossi rubbed his chin.

“Let’s just say that this give me the time for you all to get to know me more.”

“Speaking of, Professor, from what I gather we don’t know you all that good. Why don’t you tell us a story about you or something?” Marissa politely suggests.

Rossi chuckles. “Well, for starts, I wasn’t always like this when I first started teaching. At one point, when I first started teaching Criminology, I was just rambling for hours a day. Just telling the same facts over and over again until I realized that students were losing interest in the subject. Some even quit the course halfway through the year. So that when I decided to get a bit creative. Doing partner ups for certain assignments. Less tests and quizzes and more fun in the classroom. I was doing so good in fact, that my classroom one year was filled to the brim and students were mad because they couldn’t get in the class.”

“Wow.”

“Never thought that ‘fun’ is something that was associated with you. No offense.” “None taken, Greenaway. Since then, more people started taking me seriously, both students and staff. I earned a lot of respect from almost everyone in the campus. They even increased my paycheck cause I was so good at what I do. Though there were some that envied me.”

“Why?”

“......Cause some of the staffers thought I was ‘too good’ at my job.”

“Wow, so just because they couldn’t step their game up, you were ‘too good’?”

”Yeah, though there was also some that I guess were a bit ‘wary’ of me.” “Why would they think that?” Emily asked.

“Some of my methods were a bit…..unorthodox. I didn’t always follow their strict set of…..standards.”

“Like, your ‘trips’?”

He nods. “Y-yeah, those trips.”

“You’ve ever gotten into trouble for those trips?”

Rossi paused for a moment before shaking his head. “No, not really.”

“Okay.” No one else spoke a word as the only noise being heard was the sounds of crickets chirping and leaves rustling.

Rossi then took a deep breath and smiled, admiring the forest smell. “Don’t you just love that?” “Love what?” Asked Reid.

“The sweet scent and sounds of the open woods.”

“You mean the smell of animal crap?” He chuckled. “Well, it takes some getting use to, but you’ll soon get past it. Man, being here reminds me of the good ol’ days.” “The good ol’ days?”

“Yeah, this is where I use to go whenever I want to relax and not teach.” “Oh….so this cabin is basically you’re home?” Kate asked.

He chuckled. “Nonsense, I live in a mansion, not a cabin.” Garcia choked on her drink. “You live in a mansion?!”

“Yes.” “Wow.” “Well professor, if you do live in a mansion, why bother spending time at a small cabin?”

“Well, Prentiss, sometimes I’d prefer to spend time where it’s secluded and peaceful, where no one could bother me. It’s also a good place for me to write my own novels.”

Everyone looked at Rossi in surprise and all screamed, “YOU WRITE NOVELS?!”

“Yes. In fact, I have written nearly five books, all of them were bestsellers.”

“Wow professor! I think I’ll go check those when this is all over.” Reid said.

“That’s pretty thoughtful of you, Spencer.”

He then escorts them back inside, where they gather on the sofa as he pulls out some photo albums and an old yearbook.

“Um, Rossi what are we doing?” Kate asked.

“You guys seemed curious about my past. I can tell, so i thought I can show you some old photos and tell you the story behind them.” The group gathered around him as he shares some old photos of him.

“This was me when I first started teaching at this college.”

“Woaaah, you look so different!” JJ says as they all look at the photo of him when he was younger.

“Yeah well, it was the 80s.”

“Geez man, how many stories do you have?”

“I am a man of many stories.”

“Wow, I want to know more of them.”

“Woah, patience, everyone. There are some stories that I might have to put off for another time.”

“Why Rossi? Is it not PG-13?” Derek mocks.

“No, that’s-not it. Sometimes a person can only share enough about them.”

“Oh okay, I think we all understand.”

“Good.” He then continues to flip through several pages, where JJ noticed a small photo of Rossi smiling with a group of people, maybe around her age.

“Hey Rossi, who are these people?”

“Huh?”

JJ walked up to him, showing him the photo. “These people in the photo, are they your students?”

Rossi, looking very uncomfortable, shifts in his chair a little. “Uh, yeah, yeah they were.”

“What were they like? You seemed pretty happy with them.”

“Well, they were almost exactly like you all. Intelligent, observant, creative. To be honest, they were a pretty rough crowd at first. But once I got to know them, we started to mellow, bond over similar interest and then I helped them out with their grades and personal problems. Of all the people I’ve taught, they were the best students I ever had.”

The rest of the group smiled at the photo.

“They all sound pretty cool.” Matt said.

“Yeah, I’d love to meet them.” Kate adds.

“Oh, um, well we all don’t talk anymore.” He croaked.

“What happened? Did they leave on bad terms?”

“I guess you could say that, yes.”

“Why? What happened? You seemed pretty close to them.”

“Yes, we were all very close but some unfortunate events happened, and we all decided to cut ties with each other.”

“Uh, ‘unfortunate events’.......like what?”

“Like I said earlier, some stories must be told another time.”

The team all looked at Rossi, as he takes the photo from JJ’s hand. They noticed that his eyes were watering, as if the thought of his former students pains him for whatever reason. They wondered what really happened to them, and why their professor was reluctant to share anything about them.

“So professor, if you’re not gonna tell us what happened to them, is there anything about them whom you’re willing to share?”

“Well I remember times of us being close, almost everyday I’d have a new story to tell about me and them. I write it down in my journal. Any notes of anything important, or stories that I never want to forget, I’d write in my journal. Maybe I should read a few stories of them from my journal. I’ll be right back.” As he got up, he froze and swung his arm when he realized something. “Shit!”

“Professor? What happened?” Ashley says.

”I forgot. Unfortunately, someone broke into my cabin and stole my journal.”

“Wait a minute, what?” Hotch asks as he stands up along with the rest of the team.

“P-professor, w-w-when did this happen?”

“This was around a week ago when i first left. Like around…...Sunday.”

The gang all gasped, with the exception of Marissa. They all looked at each other, realizing that something happened in the same day they snuck into the cabin.

“Ummm, what the hell is wrong with you guys? Did I miss something?” Marissa asks as she looks at Reid.

“We can talk about this later. Just not here.” He whispered.

“Is everyone alright? You all seemed a bit shaken.” Rossi asked.

“No no no Rossi, they look……… just, broken.”

“Uh, is there anything you all want to share?” They all shook their heads. “Uh professor, you don’t happen to know who stole your journal, do you?” Elle asked, only for Kate and Emily to elbow her.

“Umm no. Me and some friends were trying to figure out what could’ve happened.”

“Oh okay.”

“I think we had enough for the day.” He looked at his watch, revealing that it was now 10:42 am. “We should all head back to the campus.”

The rest of the gang all nod and exits the cabin, following the trail of the river and walking through the thick woods till they see the exit, with the campus not far from where they were.

“I guess this is where we part ways.”

“Y-yeah Professor, we’ll see you later.”

The group part ways with their professor as they ponder over the things they’ve learned about him.

“Can someone tell what in the pure, fresh fuck just happened?” Marissa said. “You all just blanked out when your professor said that someone broke into his cabin.”

“Sweetheart, it’s no-”

“NO NO NO!! Something just happened. What the shit just happened?!”

“We’re trying to figure it out, Marissa!” Hotch yelled as they all gathered near the entrance of the forest. “I thought we made it clear that we shouldn’t take anything from the cabin.”

“So you guys did broke into his cabin, that’s why you all lose your sh-” “Yes! Marissa, we did, but it’s not so we could steal some shit!”

“You don’t think someone was following us the last time?” Kate asked.

“No, we made sure of that. The only ones that were in the cabin at that time was us.” He rubbed his head. “Dammit, this is not good.”

“I mean, it’s not like he knows that we broke in, right?” Elle awkwardly chuckled.

“Well, it becomes a serious problem when he wonders how his journal was missing in the same day his students broke in his cabin.” “What are you trying to say, Hotch?” Ashley asked.

Hotch looked at the rest of the group. “I hate to say this, but we were in the cabin where the journal was still there. Once we left, it was gone.” “That means……” “ Someone here must have stolen the journal. One of us.”

#aaron hotchner #derek morgan #emily prentiss #jennifer jareau #spencer reid #penelope garcia #luke alvez #matt simmons #tara lewis #elle greenaway #ashley seaver #kate callahan #david rossi #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds au #the good ol days

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amosbarot · 5 years

Text

( cismale ) haven’t seen AMOS BAROT around in a while. the DEV PATEL lookalike has been known to be (+) INSOUCIANT & (+) KEEN, but HE can also be (-) TROUBLED & (-) DERISIVE. The 24 year old is a SENIOR majoring in COMPUTER ENGINEERING. I believe they’re living in AUDAX but I popped by earlier and no one answered the door. ( james. 20. EST. she/they. )

hello !! here is my other baby, who is...somehow, more of a mess than naeva !! no dilly dally, let’s jump right into it !!

TW: drug addiction/abuse, car accident. mental illness.

a e s t h e t i c s ( except i am a sham of a person and sorta very much forgot to save my aesthetics so ! winging it ! )

floral suits and a light air of mock-arrogance, charming smiles and a mischievous glint, easy sarcasm and raised eyebrows. rolling joints resembling cigars, smoke drifting towards ceilings as conspiratorial rambles escape intoxicated lips, wild gestures and toppled book stacks, four expresso shots at the stroke of midnight and equations leading off whiteboards. heavy eye bags and warm smiles, dismissive words and excuses. sleepwalking to the middle of the quad for the third time that week, donning white boxers littered with red hearts...again. secret glances and barely contained excitement, distractions from the obvious.

general info !!

full name: amos ronak barot

nickname(s): n/a !!

b.o.d. - january 17th, 24 yrs old, capricorn

label(s): the academic, the ebullient, the fallen, the icarcian.

height: 6′2″

hometown: london, uk ooo fancy

sexuality: wildly. chaotically. bisexual.

his stats can be found HERE

and his pinterest can be found HERE !

biography

introducing...another one of indira’s cousins !!!!

born to olena barot, member of the american embassy in london/future U.S. ambassador to the UK and ronak barot, CEO of his very own computer company. needless to say, he and his younger sister alya were born into a certain wealth

they hopped between the US and the UK and wherever else they desired to go on vacation to with ease; UK for school and US for breaks, rome or paris or wherever else, simply whenever.

despite this though !! olena and ronak had always wanted their children to find their own success, to be financially stable without their assistance once they got older. therefore, it was a known fact in their household that they’d be cut off financially by the time they were 21.

luckily, neither of them really minded this? both children had always had an extreme thirst for knowledge and a wonder for things. even so--their childhood wasn’t quite typical, as their competitive natures led to them trying to one-up each other?

alya and amos grew up extremely close to each other, being so close in age it really didn’t feel as if she was the younger sibling; they were more like twins than anything. obviously, amos still gloated about being the eldest, but their bond was tight.

there were moments in their childhood where if anybody, and i mean anybody--spoke ill of alya, amos would get into physical alterations. he’s much more peaceful now, but the history is still there.

by the time amos entered sixth form, his studies were--while still very important to him--less frequent. he’d go out nearly every night, gone whole weekends, partying or being a general hooligan.

alya, however, did not partake in these activities. this is where they differed--amos had always been an extrovert, fond of crowds and people and being in the center of it all. causing ruckus. wrecking havoc. alya’s always been...reserved, in the best way possible. few knew just what a gem she was, but she really was to be treasured. even so--the less time amos seemed to spend at home, the more distant alya became towards him.

but, surprise: despite being literally, incredibly smart, amos got BIG DUMBASS ENERGY and was very very oblivious to the why and how of this. which really, really did not help.

unfortunately, there wasn’t any time to dwell about this.

around the same time, tragedy struck the barot family.

after one of his lil’ runabouts, amos came home to find furniture being escorted out of their house, police--his sister crying, his mother ashamed, his father nowhere to be found.

and soon after, amos found out that his father was arrested for a scandal that sent many into a tizzy. essentially: the company fucked over their own customers via stealing their info, committing some fraud, y’know, credit cards and social security numbers, sellin’ it. just. some nasty white collar crime.

it also wound up fucking up olena’s newly acquired position as the US ambassador for the UK. she was released from the embassy during ronak’s trials.

he ultimately wound up in prison, and olena moved their family back to the U.S.

and amos--being the big dumb baby he is, figured the best thing to do was to pretend it hadn’t bothered him one bit! so he did exactly that!

i imagine that they moved close to indira’s family, and amos spent a lot of time with her from there then.

however, in between pretending things were fine and dandy, and home life, and the drag and pull of parties, anxiety weighed down amos’ bones like...constantly. his family was now, essentially, poor with a mass debt thanks to their father. the expectations for amos to do good, to be better--the fall of amos’ biggest role model.

it was all too much. anxiety attacks became frequent, provoked by the slightest thing--he could only lay awake at night, sleep infrequent. he was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and insomnia, and treated for both--some days it still doesn’t feel like enough.

getting a scholarship to lockwood is probably the best thing to happen to him in a long time. it was a new look into a potential future.

got into the uh...career, of sorts, of doing people’s assignments for them for a hefty payment, alongside his normal job. just to make sure he had spending money and whatnot.

involving tatiana: their friendship bloomed after he did a few assignments for her, y’see--then came the midnight adventures, and whatnot. i wouldn’t have called them close by any means, but they had fun together when they weren’t arguing. their friendship ended after a pretty bad car accident--neither were fatally hurt, but the car was wrecked and it was amos’ fault and it just. sorta was the end of that.

he’s got a...reliability on his sleeping pills, if you will. it’s not healthy in the slightest, but he’s convinced it’s nothing serious. it’s pretty serious.

his eyesight is also getting worse--expected to become legally blind by the time he’s forty.

more on those l8r

personality

there’s a lot of words you can use to describe amos! pretentious, sarcastic, provoking, hardly ever serious, immature, petty, Just Like That, full of himself, smartass, big dumbass energy. y’know. just an infinite amount.

he can be so dramatic! everything he does is exaggerated. he rolls cigar-sized joints at every party. goes around with a horrible ‘20s mobster voice, voicing his lil’ conspiracies.

it’s both hard and very easy to forget that amos graduated as valedictorian of his high school (stealing it, from somebody else--i should mention, as he came in halfway thru the year and kinda just. snatched the title.) because he can be a real idiot sometimes.

because he tries to hard to mask his insecurities, he overcompensates with just. being childish. he’s fun to be around but sometimes he can just be. exhausting.

so like, he went into computer engineering because that was just sorta what he always wanted to do? besides programming? he really wanted to take after his father--but with him being in jail and whatnot, kinda puts a damper to that dream. still, he can’t stop.

so he’s just. really good with computers tbh?? built his own, programmed his own firewall. his dream is to open his own cybersecurity company.

VERY STRESSED LIKE CONSTANTLY like catch him in the library with six empty coffee cups surrounding his work, it’s 2am--he hasn’t slept, in fact his eyes are likely taped opened. he works a lot.

but parties...a lot more! he tries rly hard to not mix his medication with anything so that leads to him...not always taking it, or overcompensating when he misses. it’s a mess. he’s a mess. he thinks he knows what he’s doing but he’s NOT.

i think...i’d consider him lovable. he’s a lil eccentric, a lil high energy.

LOVES HIS FAMILY. like, listen. he still loves his dad. would protect his cousins and sister and mother with his mf life.

alya and him aren’t on the...best terms rn. so that Hurts.

he can be really petty tbh ?? like he can’t take arguments seriously so he just becomes this fucking manchild. he will mimic u. he’ll mock u. he can be hurtful.

god...i don’t even know what else to say. just take him TAKE HIM

wanted connections

as always, i am a big slut for every connection.

give him his Lads. his buds. his pals. his broskis. his bromances.

ride or die(s)

people he tutors !! people whose work he does for them !!

somebody who goes to him b/c of computer troubles n he’s just like...r u going to pay me or nah

high school friends??

party pals??

his sister may become a WC in the future but idk quite yet, we do stan her though !!

drug dealer pls n thank

ex friends ?? fake friends ?? toxic friends ??

bad influences ?? good influences ??

hook ups ?? like a lot of ‘em ??

confidante ?? just somebody he can. rant to.

academic rival just b/c i really love intense study-offs

enemies for whatever reason ??

exes ??

particularly this one ex he was really, really in love w/ but life just got really stressful and idk it affected their relationship and they sorta just. ended it. idk who ended it w/ who but it probably wasn’t mutual and he’s probably really still hung up about it.

i mean i’ll take...anything...did they run into each other once and now just see each other everywhere??

unrequited things??

really cute close friendships??

#water:intro #hi it takes me fifty years to do things but i DID IT

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professionally-unprofessional · 6 years

Note

Shouto's bashful crush/interest being caught shifting behind the school (after he went to give her sketchbook she dropped) into his fuzzy black furry friend that keeps him company on weekends (cat shifting quirked reader) confusion & embarrassment clouds his mind for he has told that fuzzball many secrets. confrontation? maybe. thinking about the embarrassing things she did to make him feel better? (playing with a Cheerio dropped on the floor) definitely.

Oh geezums this ended up being really long. OOPS. I’m so sorry for the wait with a bunch of requests. I’ve been trying to make more time for fic writing and somehow managed it. Then I got halfway through this one and got stuck with a specific idea I wanted to do that I just couldn’t write and it didn’t fit and ahhh xD but I’m alive. Sorta. I’m trying my best to get back into writing. Also this is super long and I’m really tired. I didn’t quite finish my final proofread so there might be a couple of mistakes in here. Please ignore them if they’re there.

Anyyyywayy I hope you enjoy. I’m finally getting back into requests so I hope more should follow soon.

Ah, this was the life. You smiled and continued to doodle in your sketchbook. This was the best time to sketch. You were in some kind of creative spree which meant that - soon enough - a creative block would kick you into an abyss where inspiration did not dare to dwell. It was fine though. Hatsume would drag you out again with her endless chatter focused around her babies.

You heard a loud bang and smiled lightly, knowing that the pink-haired girl was likely in the design studio right now. The spotlight focused on the heroes was merely blinding to you. A role like that demanded too much attention. Even less popular heroes sometimes got dragged into the light. Despite the path of the hero not suiting you, you still wanted to make yourself useful to the hero society in some way and what better way for a tinkerer to do so than to make support items and hero costumes?

As your latest creation began to take shape on the paper, you wondered if you should go and save Hatsume from forgetting to eat lunch. Again. Despite the large personality differences between the two of you, your duo managed to function reasonably well. It seemed that Hatsume was always happy to enthuse about her ‘babies’ and, since you tended to prefer to be quiet and listen, it worked out well for both parties. She was a fountain of inspiration and you were a companion.

A win-win situation.

However, it wasn’t the pink-haired inventor alone inspiring you to live up to the school’s motto. Your other big sources were the two first-year hero classes. As much as you knew Monoma would hate to hear it, class 1-A enthused your creative mind more than 1-B. It wasn’t your fault that their class just had so many heroes with such interesting quirks and personalities.

Deciding to actually move, you headed back inside to the support course workshops and found your friend with a soot-covered face and a determined grin. Of course. With a small wave, you called out for her and she immediately turned around, greeting you warmly. Ignoring her rambling about her latest failed experiment, you pulled her out of there and into the lunch hall to grab something to eat. Settling down, you noticed that lunch was already halfway through. Oh well. You’d spent it in a way you enjoyed.

You noticed a familiar group of heads nearby as you took in the large dining hall. Looking over to them, you noticed a pair of dual coloured eyes lowering back to the meal in front of the individual. He was sat at a table with the green haired boy who needed something done about his arms and the gravity girl who had the big pink boots on her outfit. Oh, and there was the guy who had the white suit like Ingenium.

You smiled as you watched the bi-coloured boy for a moment. If memory served correctly, his name was Todoroki. He’d come to you a couple of times to help with tweaks to the temperature sensors in the vest on his hero costume.

Since he’d started using his quirk for both fire and ice after the sports festival, he’d needed small adjustments to the sensitivity of the heating and cooling elements in his jacket. You’d been overjoyed when Power Loader - Maijima-sensei - had assigned you to it. Apparently you were much better at doing live work than Hatsume. On two accounts; you were less likely to cause injury and you didn’t make students uncomfortable by touching them all over to determine if they were as muscular as they seemed.

Todoroki was a pleasure to work with; he gave instructions and feedback perfectly when you needed it. Not only that, but he was patient and polite with you. Smiling to yourself, you wondered if he may need anything else again soon.

Realising that you probably looked like a loon smiling to yourself like that, you quickly shook your head and cleared it. You were just thankful that your companion was still so deep in thought about how she could improve her work that she hadn’t noticed your little daze. You shifted a little in your seat and debated on how you’d spend the evening after school.

A yawn left the bi-coloured boy as he headed back from meeting his mother. It was later than he’d thought. He kept walking and soon came to see a familiar black bundle of fluff on a bench outside a coffee shop. As he approached, he paused and noticed that the little creature wasn’t asleep but merely curled up. Raising its head, the cat unfurled itself and stretched luxuriously as a light breeze ruffled its fur.

He extended a hand in greeting and waited. Once a soft muzzle had rubbed against his fingers in a feline hello, Todoroki stroked the small one’s head and was given a quiet purr in response. His gaze followed the cat as it hopped up onto the back of the bench and then looked to be making a calculation for a jump. He remained still as the feline soared and landed on his shoulder lightly.

Todoroki could remember the first time it had tried that. It had been such an epic fail that it’d pulled a small chuckle from him before he’d softly scooped up the fuzzball and put it where it desired. For the rest of the evening the cat had seemed almost indignant, puffing up and lashing its tail slightly… at least until it was given a nice scratch behind the ears and calmed down. He began walking back towards home and heard a small, uncomfortable mew as a spot of water assaulted his nose.

The forecast hadn’t predicted rain for today. He picked up his pace and headed for home. Endeavour was away with work this weekend in another city so at least it would be quiet in the house. Having a bit of company wouldn’t hurt and his companion always seemed to like curling up on the tatami flooring. The soft rumbling of a lazy purr was rather comforting in the silence of the house. There was either that, or the black bundle of fur would bat something around the floor of his room while he worked. He’d dropped a small bit of cereal before and had gone to retrieve it only to find the cheerio halfway across the room with playful paws spurring it on.

As he settled down, the cat descended from his shoulder and began rubbing its head against his side. Smiling, he stroked their soft fur. It was soothing to some extent and he didn’t feel so bad whenever he had this friend by his side. The companionship was fine and the more he had the cat around, the more he found he enjoyed and appreciated the quiet comfort.

Sometimes animals were far better company than humans.

He sighed softly and looked down at the papers he’d taken from his backpack. Homework. Fine. After a while, he looked up and realised that a pair of eyes had been watching him. For a moment, he thought the feline’s face held an expression of concern. It must’ve been his imagination, but sometimes the bundle of fur felt almost… human.

Smiling wryly, he patted the small head as though in reassurance that everything was fine. He was alright. As the head tilted with what felt like a slight frown, he blinked and unloaded a little. It was nice to be able to talk to something and even better that they couldn’t speak back and pull him to pieces. He didn’t want to be told that all of his thoughts were wrong and that he shouldn’t be concerned with some of the situations that plagued him.

Just because he was a hero-in-training didn’t mean that the rest of the usual teenage problems didn’t apply to him at all.

It was easy to forget that everyone in their class- no their entire year… they were all still children, really.

After a while, he tilted his head back and found that your face came to mind. Why was he thinking of you now? You’d helped him out a few weeks ago with his hero costume and hadn’t minded when he’d been finicky about how finely-tuned the temperature-sensitive vest was. You’d been so happy to help with such quiet cheerfulness that he’d found that the experience rather pleasant rather than long and draining.

Even if you were just another student in another course, he recalled your name. Maybe you’d forgotten all about him, but he couldn’t get your quiet patience and positivity out of his head. Even when the vest had decided it didn’t want to adjust, you’d kept going. Your tiny smile hadn’t even wavered.

He wished that he too could face everything with such indifference to challenges.

There was a muffled bump and Todoroki found the fluff-ball had tipped itself over batting a loose pencil around on the table. When the pencil fell off, a paw reached down and tried to touch it, only for the figure to slip off the table and tumble down. He smiled and the feline face that met his seemed more bright than before. Could this cat really understand him?

“Are you trying to cheer me up?” He questioned blankly and received a small nuzzle to his outstretched hand as a response accompanied by a soft mew.

“Hey… there’s someone I like. Do you think she’d like me back?” At this, the form paused and looked up at him with big, warm eyes. After a moment, a fluffy belly was exposed to him and he fulfilled the request and earned a quiet purr. Perhaps if a feline could be so comfortable around him, so could his crush. The thought warmed him and he uttered a soft thanks to the cat, receiving a number of headbuts and purrs as a result.

A cat for a councillor. Who would’ve thought?

You smiled happily to yourself as you left the UA campus the next week. The weekend had been a nice break. Time to get back to work. Hatsume had conjured up yet another baby but this one needed some more fine tuning before it could be set loose on human beings.

As her friend, you’d helped. You were better at the tiny, extremely boring and equally frustrating adjustments that were required before any piece was fully finished. Half of Hatsume’s unfinished work was because she’d almost be done and then another amazing idea would sweep her away into a frenzy of creation. Who could blame her?

No matter how hard you worked, thoughts of a particular student plagued you. Despite your mind being flooded with different thoughts, you continued onwards. The hours of the school day ticked by and after lunch you were given a new assignment. Designing work would come first. Personal woes could wait.

After an hour and a half of sitting with no inspiration or ideas, you huffed and closed your sketchbook. Hatsume had gone into her hyper-focus mode where she went quiet and worked really hard. That inventive glow never left her face. Yet still you didn’t seem to be able to work. The temptation to gently hit your face against the table was overpowering.

Nothing. No ideas. Useless, empty brain!

Wow. Washed up as a first year… So sad.

After another half hour of fruitless struggling to come up with anything half decent, you’d had enough. With your face resting on the desk, you let out a small, frustrated huff. A mop of pink hair moved in the corner of your eyes and you felt those quirk-filled eyes staring directly at you. A blink. Another. The gaze shifted back to the item in her hands.

You couldn’t blame her for not saying anything. Not only did she have her own work, but you doubted that she’d have anything useful to say and she probably knew that too. From what you’d seen, either Hatsume didn’t understand how normal people worked or simply didn’t care to try and work with that.

You still hadn’t figured out which yet.

Sitting back up, you had a look at the now filthy page. There were tiny indents from the previous sketches that you’d erased and a couple of extremely rough sketches on paper around your workbench. Pencil met paper again, sketching lines and curves but everything was too stiff and unimaginative along with the fact that it didn’t fit your brief and just—

No. This wasn’t your day. As you picked up the eraser to get rid of your latest set of failures, you found a piece of familiar yellow headgear beside your bench. “Are all the ideas feeling terrible?”

A small nod was all you could manage with the frustration churning inside.

Your short teacher took a glance towards the clock at the back of the classroom. Half an hour to go. This designing didn’t need to be finished today but you still needed to have something to work from in the next lesson. You nervously waited to hear what solution or punishment you’d get only to receive a sigh from Power Loader.

“Why don’t you get some air from the studio? There’s only another half hour. Just don’t leave campus early.”

You nodded, knowing what he was getting at. Frustration would lead to more frustration and it would only amount to a mental block, generating more irritation. The spiral of unproductively would get worse and more self-destructive until it became unbearable. Calming down was the best option. Agreeing, you packed up your things as the headgear and ginger hair disappeared further into the classroom.

As you threw your things back into your bag, you wondered where to go. One of the windowsills in the large corridors would be good. It was raining outside and you always felt worse when the weather was bad. Perhaps it was a side effect of your quirk. Placing the sketchbook down against the wall as you would rather it didn’t get crushed in your bag, you pulled out some headphones and decided to cool off with some good music.

Your mind raced back to the previous night. You’d been enjoying your quirk as you usually did… with Todoroki. Despite what he’d said, you smiled. It was fine if he liked someone else. You allowed yourself to wonder if it could be you that he liked. Some sort of storybook cliché where he’d actually confessed to his love but didn’t know it. Nah. That couldn’t be it. Not when there were people like the ginger-haired girl with the big hands and the black-haired girl with the creation quirk in his year.

They were amazing. They were upcoming heroes. You were just someone cheering everyone on from the sidelines; a cheer which couldn’t even be heard. As much as you took pride in your skills, you knew that you’d forever be a world apart from heroes. You were fine with that. You didn’t want the popularity or fame. So you would watch as your gear assisted them and you would smile and feel that you’d at least done something worthwhile.

Even when you wondered if the students you’d helped remembered your name.

Why would they? You were just another gear-head in a support course classroom. You weren’t even outstanding like Hatsume. You smile widened and you felt the facade beginning to crack. You had nothing to complain about seeing as you wanted to melt into the background. Gosh, being a cat was so much easier. All you had to do was be cute and the world would come to you. Well, give or take the odd shady stranger that looked as though they might try and kick you.

There was always the option of confessing, but what would the point in that be? Brutal rejection happened to be well… brutal. Not exactly a desirable experience you wished to go through. So you’d continue to shove down a blush when he came into the design studio. You’d continue to feel a strange warmth in your chest when you heard about his successes in his class from other students.

You’d continue to be unable to look him in the eye as a human but do so as a cat.

Todoroki blinked as he noticed something against a windowsill in one of the corridors. A black notebook? Despite the fact that merely leaving it be would be the best and easiest option, he picked up the item and looked it over. There was something strangely familiar about the object but he couldn’t place where he’d seen it before.

It was none of his business, but he wondered if there would be a name in the front. Opening it, a scrawl of designs met his eyes. No name, but the ideas were proof enough of who it belonged to. For some reason, he couldn’t help but quickly glance through. The neat final designs that had been put together with such care and attention were beautiful. However, it was the messy rough sketches that he preferred. Namely, the personality that shone through in each and every one.

This was important to you. It was always beside you. Wherever you went, this went. It was always beside you when he saw you in the design studio, or in your hand when you wandered through the lunch hall with Hatsume.

Todoroki remembered that he’d seen you walking in the opposite direction only a few moments ago. You usually hung around in your classroom for a few moments after school finished since he’d seen you there when he’d gone to request one of the capsules on his belt be replenished after a training session.

Trying to think of which way you’d have gone if you were leaving school in that direction, he walked off. If he couldn’t find you now, he’d go back to your workbench and leave it there.

He hurried and caught sight of the back of your head turning a corner. How lucky. You exited the school from a back entrance and the bi-colored boy wondered why you’d leave this way. Oh well. Each and every one to their own, right?

He caught the door before it latched shut and found you tucking your bag behind a large bin. As he was about to call out, there was a flash. Standing before him, no taller than his shins was his black fluffy friend.

Surprise and confusion instantly rose to the surface. Wait, that was you? Or wasn’t it? Well, there were probably other black cats in the city, not just your other form, right? Why hadn’t he asked what your quirk had been when he’d been with you getting adjustments? Why hadn’t he shown more of an interest and figured this out—Wait.

He’d confessed. The realisation of everything you knew came crashing down upon him and he almost swayed. You knew everything: his mother and his father along with his scar, his frustration, his pain, his fears… everything.

You knew… everything.

A sudden feeling of vulnerability crashed into him. You had a huge wealth of knowledge on him. Blackmailing him would become child’s-play to you if you really tried.

Then something else came to mind. The cheerio— you’d played with it and always done something silly as a cat to try and get him to laugh. Even when he’d almost frozen his room solid in an emotional outburst similar to what had happened with Sero at the sports festival… you’d still sat on the table when you could have fled through the open window. You had hopped onto his lap and nuzzled your head against his hand.

All the times when you’d brought him a gift while he was doing homework sprung to mind. You’d offered him erasers or pens by batting them across the table. Other days when he was feeling a bit blue you’d move something across the table and away from him, making him chase you around the room a couple of times to get it back.

He’d never deigned to freeze you. Freezing an animal was just cruel, even if he could melt it afterwards.

Not to mention that your little bean paws happened to be so desperately soft. Damaging them with ice would be a tragedy. For both parties involved.

He fought down the urge to turn red at the realisation that you’d been present when he’d changed. Wait, you’d always either left the room quickly or gone out of sight. Had you been saving his modesty?

Coming back to his senses, he realised that his breath was crystallising in front of him and frost was creeping up his arm. There had been one night where the rain had been thrashing down outside and you’d been shivering in the cold. He’d let you curl up beside him atop the futon. When your shivering didn’t stop, he’d put his hand over you and used his quirk just enough to keep your form warm.

You wouldn’t do something with the information. You weren’t the type.

But what about how you saw him? You’d never acted differently around him. What did that mean?

Either way, you were gone for now and he was still holding your sketchbook. Glancing down at your bag, he slipped the sketchbook carefully into a position where it wouldn’t get wet if it rained nor damaged should the bins be moved. Once it was safe, he stood and left.

You couldn’t focus. Not at all. Someone had put your sketchbook back into your bag but how had they known where your bag was? Who would’ve known that the sketchbook belonged to you, anyway? There was no name in it, you remembered that whenever you thought you’d lost it.

So who had recognised your drawing and followed you outside? There wasn’t anyone who knew about your little evening adventures. Some part of you wondered what was so alarming. Your quirk was cat-shifting. No big deal.

The thing that was alarming was the fact that you had heightened senses as a cat. Which also meant a greater sense of smell. You’d caught a whiff of Todoroki on your bag before you’d shifted back and disregarded it. Until you’d noticed the notebook.

Did he know? Had he witnessed the shift or just recognised your bag? Either way you weren’t exactly happy to contemplate what you’d do with this knowledge. You weren’t sure what he’d do with it either. Oh, how had you gotten yourself into this mess?

Huffing softly, you slumped further and buried your face in your arms. Nothing was going right today. You just couldn’t focus. You’d try and then your mind would bring Todoroki up and you’d have a whole inner argument about how this was going to ruin everything but that it was also going to be fine.

“(Y/N)?”

You nearly jumped out of your skin as your name was called. “Y-yes?!” You blushed at your own flustered response and whipped your head up to see whoever it was that needed your assistance. “Todoroki. Um, how can I help you?”

You gaze hit the desk and remained there as he merely stared down at you. With a jolt, you realised that only you and Hatsume were left in the studio out of all the support students. When had the day ended?

“I just wanted to ask if you could note down for one of the capsules of disinfectant to be refilled.” You blinked. Slowly. Nothing he said was registering. “The capsules on the belt of my hero costume.”

At his clarification you nodded and tried to tell him that you’d do it, but the words died in your throat and you were left just sat there. Why wasn’t your voice working? This was the worst. Biting down on the warmth that was rising to your cheeks, you shook your head and gave a firm nod. Professionalism. You could do this!

“That’s fine. I’ll leave a note for Power Loader. It’ll be done before your next training exercise.”

“Thank you.”

He was about to leave. For some reason, you didn’t want him to go. Maybe you were ill today. There must have been a reason that you were doing so badly today. Even if you had a bad time, you never messed up in every aspect of life all at once.

“Uh, how are the adjustments in the heat sensors doing? Is the sensitivity better than before?”

He paused from turning away and politely explained that it had been better. Somehow, you managed to smile and tell him that you were glad it helped.

This was awkward. You should really let him go. Thanking him for stopping by and letting the support course know about the problem, you threw your bag over your shoulder. As you went to pick up your sketchbook from the table, you noticed Todoroki’s gaze lingering on it.

He didn’t attempt to comment on it.

You were leading the way to the door when Hatsume’s cry of alarm reached you. Well, it was more a cry of “Baby!” Either way, it functioned the same as an alarm call. You turned to see what the issue was and were met with a metallic arm shooting towards your face.

You weren’t entirely sure what happened in that moment. Instinct took over.

One moment you were staring at it and the world felt like it’d frozen. The next, you were opening your eyes a mere few inches from the floor with cold hitting your sides. Shaking your head to clear the sudden fuzziness, you looked around. Your bag was just behind you and was bigger than you were. Brilliant. Shifting right in front of him had been at the top of the things you wanted to avoid. Guess there was no running from it now. No chance of hiding this anymore.

Todoroki was looking down at you with his usual poker-faced expression. Well, that solved the mystery of who had put your sketchbook in your bag and who might have seen you shift. It took a few moments for you to realise what it meant. However, you had other things to worry about at this moment in time. Transforming back into a human being would be a good start.

Focusing on your quirk, you let the familiar image of yourself fill your mind. Your hair, eyes, form and all the little details came back and when you opened your eyes again you were seeing the world from the comforting height of a teenager. Fantastic. One issue down and probably many more to go.

You looked at Todoroki and gave him a shy shrug. For some reason, it was all you could think of to offer. There was a silent apology in that shrug but he merely rose a hand to the wall of ice and melted it.“We need to talk.” Despite being used to the lack of emotion in his voice, it had never been so harsh when he’d spoken to you as a cat. It hadn’t been quite as chilly when he’d spoken to you as a support course student.

“Yeah.” You managed out.

He turned and walked out of the classroom. You picked up your bag and followed him, head hung low. You’d blown it. Well and truly blown it. Your little times of happiness beside him as a feline were over.

You’d both left the school and turned into a small side alley just outside the school when he stopped.

He opened his mouth to speak but you knew you had to say something first. You couldn’t take this. Despite the embarrassment and shame coursing through you at being found out like this… You could do it. You’d go first.

“Before you say anything,” you took a small breath and managed to raise your gaze to meet his. Bashful, perhaps, but not weak-willed. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I didn’t mean to cause any discomfort, I just enjoyed being in your company. I should have told you or stopped—”

“You enjoyed those evenings?”

You nodded. As much as a part of you hated the attention, you would stand here. You wouldn’t back down. You weren’t a coward. It didn’t matter that you didn’t want to shine brightly and draw attention like the hero course students and Hatsume. You could still muster the courage to say what you wanted to say now.

When push came to shove, you could do it.

“I did. I’m not sure why, but I really did like being there. It was rude of me to hear about what’s going on in your family. That was personal, but I couldn’t just run away or block it out. I didn’t know what to do other than listen.” You shifted slightly, feeling more and more uncomfortable as Todoroki’s gaze remained on you. “I promise I won’t say a word about it to anyone, so don’t worry about that.”

“Why did you come back so many times. It must have been boring after a while.”

You took a moment to collect your thoughts. You’d gotten this far, so you might as well go the whole way. Why was he asking so many questions? It didn’t matter. This was it. You were ready for rejection but at least you’d have it out. You could combat this shyness if you wanted.

“I liked your company. I enjoy being around you and well, I didn’t like seeing you sad. Cheering you up is just like helping the hero course out in another way.”

Inwardly cheering at how flat you’d managed to keep your face for that small confession, you went to move past him. There was no need to get told that he didn’t want you around. You knew that he’d never stop by the bench you’d used to wait on. Those times were gone now.

“I enjoyed having you around too.”

You paused and looked back. A small spark of hope had ignited in your chest. “Would it be okay if I did it again. Just an evening every so often. It’s fine if that’d be strange now.”

“That would be nice.”

You turned fully to see him and gave him a shy smile, unable to stop the redness rising on your cheeks as a joyful warmth filled you from head to toe.

“Would it be alright if we spent an evening like that with you in your human form as well?”

Shhhhh I’m a Ghibli fan and there was a black cat in this fic.

#todoroki shouto #todoroki #shoto todoroki #shoto #my hero academia #my hero academa x reader #boku no hero academia #boku no hero academia x reader #oneshot #fwuff #fwuffy

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airyravenmaid · 6 years

Text

Again There Were Four

What’s up, y’all? Guess who decided to write more weird stuff with my Final Fantasy Versus XV crossover AU? I actually do have a handful of snippets from it done and soon-to-be done, but I wanted to get this one up so it’s less confusing going off of my other fic posted on here (due to what certain others thought of the other earlier on in the storyline big sis and I came up with, but I’m sure you can guess that one). So, yeah, this one takes place after that and during Chapter 10 where everything in Noct’s life goes even more to shit, meaning this... isn’t the happiest of parts lmao. Nonetheless, I hope you guys like it, and if possible, I really hope to get more up! Enjoy! 💘

How could things possibly get any worse, Noctis kept wondering to himself on the train taking him and his comrades to the Cartanica Station in Tenebrae of all places following the disaster of a lifetime. It was bad enough he had to deal with Luna dying in the line of duty, but now not only could Ignis no longer see arguably because of him, but the latter incident caused a nasty spat between Noctis and Gladio over what the bigger problem was in their opinions. To say things had taken a turn for the worst would be putting it lightly in the cruelest form of the word.

There he continued to traverse the locomotive cars, idle whenever he heard some passengers speak of the events that befell Accordo’s unfortunate capital city (including word of the older of the Nox Fleuret siblings, who was currently facing punishment for being the blame). He passed his longtime friends in their own seats, but eventually came across a head of rose pink hair he knew only naturally belonged to one person in possibly all of Eos. They hadn’t spoken much since what was supposed to be their peaceful first date, but after their “forbidden” first kiss, things only got more awkward when they did somewhat spot each other before the Hydrean’s wrathful trial. Now was a good time to break the new ice, Noctis figured, since he really had nothing else left to lose in his life.

‘Alright, here goes,’ Noctis started in his thoughts, sitting next to Lightning and waiting until she looked his way to attempt to speak. A lot of words got lost on his tongue from the thick atmosphere and how he could speak again to the girl he liked following disaster after the next. To his luck, he managed to get something out for progress. “...Hi.”

“You’re not holding up so well still, are you?” Lightning wondered a tad too bluntly.

Well, so much for small talk. Being reminded at losing his first love by the second definitely put enough of a damper on Noctis’ already-gloomy mood. “Not even a little,” he confessed, head sagging forward with his arms supported only by his knees.

“As expected from you, really. Something would seriously be wrong if you were suddenly acting fine.”

“What? You gonna call me a mopey coward too? I heard plenty from Gladio in case you forgot.”

“Maybe if you didn’t put words in my mouth and waited for me to talk, then we’d actually be having a good enough conversation.” Lightning’s no-nonsense tone once again prevailed over Noctis’ hard-bitten variant, the man conceding easy defeat. “What I am still gonna tell you though, is that you can’t let yourself get dragged around by one sudden tragedy, whether or not it was out of your control.”

“This isn’t even just one sudden tragedy, Claire. It’s two after another that’s happened since I even left home. I’m not saying I’m ready to throw the towel in, but… is it really that bad I’m not exactly ‘overjoyed’ that people I care about keep having all this crap happen to them because of me?! It’s not exactly the easiest damn thing in the world to swallow.”

“Never said it was easy. Possible, but not easy.” Lightning saw how Noctis didn’t seem the least bit reassured. Bringing hope to nigh-damned souls was something she’d done fine in the past, but apparently pep talk here felt much harder than she thought. “Noct. You have to understand you’re not gonna be ready for— well, anything, actually. But also get you aren’t going through this by yourself.”

“That’s a shock. A lot of people that wanna help me wind up paying the price for it in the end.”

“And everyone who did knew that, too. They wanted to see you keep going, and did whatever it took to make sure it happened. Doesn’t that at least mean something to you?”

“Why would I say it didn’t?! If none of it meant a thing to me, I wouldn’t be feeling like this! How could you even know what it’s in any way like to—?!” Noctis stopped when he realized how angry he was getting and who he was about to say what to. Lightning, as usual, kept a stoic face, but he knew at this point not to mistake that for acceptance of just anything. He sighed, sitting up and looking more dejected than ever. “...Nevermind. I’m not gonna take this out on you. Sorry.”

“Smart choice. But, do you get what I’m saying, or not? At least tell me that part.”

“More or less, yeah. Question is why you’re bothering to tell me this, though.”

“Besides the fact that I and plenty of others care about you, you mean? Well… it’s another reason besides that.”

“What’s the other reason?”

“Noct, don’t you remember?” The hesitant pause in her voice was so short Noctis almost missed it, but what came from her mouth after was far more important. “‘Altissia and back’.”

...Oh. That was right, wasn’t it? Noctis felt his heart sink at the rather ironic reminder, looking right at Lightning almost shocked. He shouldn’t have been in any sense of the word, considering it was him who had initially held the deal to almost philosophy levels from the moment they left Duscae. But, how everything had changed since then. He remembered how the others did warn him on changing his mind about Lightning before their destination, but in no way did he think it’d be like this, or severely come to get back at him once the initial deal had been nonetheless kept and now unequivocally concluded.

Wow. Having to pretend he’d never met Lightning was aching far more than his past self thought it ever would. Noctis looked up with her, seeing a very familiar morose glint in her eyes that he only recognized as being in his own. So much swirled in his cumbersome heart about it, but in the end, it all fell defeated at the unavoidable truth of the matter.

“We did say that,” Noctis sighed, matter-of-factly. “In that case, you’re more than free to go, but I don’t need to tell you that. When are you leaving? Our next stop is near where the next royal tomb is.”

“I won’t be joining you then,” Lightning told him, equally somber. “After this, I’m boarding another train bound for home. A promise is a promise, and I have every intention of keeping it.”

“And you’re sure you don’t wanna stay a little longer and leave after we get the next arm?”

“Well, as much of an… experience as it’s been here in Eos, you four aren’t the only ones I need to be with. I’m a woman of my word, and this is my decision.” Lightning glanced ahead at the front of the train, her pointer finger hooked over the front of her chin. “In a way, you could say this was sorta my ‘Focus’ that I needed to complete.”

Noctis didn’t at all know what she meant by the word spoken as if it were some object, but assumed it was the same as a goal to keep her motivated. “Then I won’t keep you here longer than you need to be.”

“Fun while it lasted, at least, but the next stop’s the one. For now… let’s make it last while we can.”

Noctis only nodded his head in agreement, staying put in his new seat next to Lightning. Both were unsure of how exactly to look at each other, at the very least positioning their bodies to be facing their seatmate in case their faces weren’t going to comply. Their hands were resting on the seats not too far from the other’s, Noctis’ wanting only to get close enough and hold Lightning’s for what seemed like the final time. His fingers, however, only got halfway to hers before flattening and only laying near it from a lack of boldness. She didn’t seem to notice either; too lost in wistful thought to notice how much her own love was beginning to hurt at the inevitable.

Cartanica’s arrival came too soon, something Noctis and Lightning both agreed on. The five initially traveling together all got off the train, all of them aware that this was the last time they’d all be a merry quintet. Lightning even looked prepared to depart, her outfit now her more casual open white blouse over a matching shirt tucked into brown capris pants with black open-toe, ankle-strapped low heels in place of her black “Heartstealer” outfit usually donned during her time in Eos. That in itself seemed to upset Noctis even more, taking it as the unforgiving nail sealing the goodbye coffin.

None of them looked particularly happy for this to happen, but they all understood Lightning’s decision to go back home. It was especially so in the fact that she wasn’t enlisted as permanent help, even with staying forever not going against her assigned mission. Everyone had a life to follow, and she knew where hers needed to be despite her tune changing from all that time ago when everything began. Her luggage was loosely gripped in her hands, its owner hesitant at carrying it and herself away from the new friends she’d made in the newer world.

“This appears to be farewell, doesn’t it?” Ignis sighed, no effort made to mask the melancholy in his voice. “I can’t say I’m surprised, but this journey’s gone by far quicker than I thought.”

“Seems like just yesterday, we were all picking you up for the ride,” Prompto brought up, a sad chuckle to match his mood. “Now, here we are…”

“Seein’ ya go for your last one,” Gladio finished for Prompto, arms folded and keeping his composure to mask his own missing of a new friend. “But, mission accomplished, either way.”

“I’ll certainly say,” Lightning agreed, keeping her head up high and showing her rare, mild smile at the boys. “What I can also say is that this last journey of mine’s been strangely worth it. Can’t think of any other way to retire.”

“Good to know we made your last hurrah the best one. You hang in there, got it, Sarge?”

Lightning gave a playful punch to Gladio’s arm, the group’s tallest member letting out just as playful a chuckle in response while also reminded at how strong the girl was by default. “It was an honor fighting with the King’s Shield. Hope to see you in the long run sometime, Gladio.”

“Heh. Don’t get yourself into too much trouble, ya pink menace. You’ve come way too far to get backtracked that easy.”

“I won’t let you down.” Lightning turned to Ignis, though not quite used to his visual scarring, still nonetheless showing a genuine fondness for him too. “I have to say, Ignis. I’m happy at least one other person in the group played the sensible one around here. I’m definitely gonna miss that.”

“T’was a pleasure working with the esteemed Lightning Farron,” Ignis told her, a gentle smile crossing his face while looking in her voice’s direction. “Truly, I’m thankful of all the help you’ve done, but at the same time, a valued, unexpected friend was gained in the process.”

“Likewise. I don’t think I’ll ever meet anyone able to come up with that delicious of ‘recipes’ either.” In midst of imitating Ignis’ trademark pronunciation of his cooking methods, Lightning found herself drooling a little at the scrumptious food she’s partaken in during her time with him and the others. “Especially… such a perfect, juicy behemoth steak— err! Bottom line is, I’m gonna miss you too, Iggy.”

“Your compliments to the chef won’t go unappreciated. Do take care of yourself back home, Light.”

“I promise you’ve also got my word, Sir.” Then, Lightning turned her attention to Prompto, who looked on the verge of losing it as she gave him a kind smile to ease things up a little. “You know. I think I’m gonna miss you most of all, Prompto. You behave for our friends out here, alright?”

That did it. His efforts to smile for her were washed away by the pipes ultimately bursting, the photographer running and hugging Lightning tightly through his incoherently emotional blubbering. “I’m— oh, Pink, don’t go, I’m gonna miss you…!”

“Don’t cry now, Prompto. Who knows? There could be a chance I could find my way back to seeing you again.”

“I’m trying, but they just won’t stop…! You sure you can’t stay just a little longer?”

“Would if I could, but I’ve gotta go back to where I came from at some point.” Not unlike that of a mother consoling her bawling child, Lightning ran her fingers through Prompto’s chocobo-esque spiked locks to console him, the man simmering down into sniffles and hiccups after a little while. “Try to hang in there for me, Prom. I know you can.”

“Don’t… try not to forget me too much where you’re going.” Prompto coughed a bit from sobbing, using his forearm to clean his stained face as he at last flashed a tender smile to Lightning. “‘Cause any photog worth his salt wouldn’t dream of forgetting being around a face like yours.”

“Good thing you fit that bill right on the money, then. Think I’ll be keeping a few of your best shots for keepsake.” Lightning held up the photos Prompto had given her before and waggled them between her index and middle fingers before putting them back for safekeeping.

“Well, why stop there?” Prompto had his camera out already, gesturing for everyone to get together behind it while he held it in the selfie position. “One last group shot! Everybody get in!”

Prompto adjusted his camera once everyone was present and made the pose they desired, snapping the photograph expertly and saving it to his camera. He’d make sure to send the picture to Lightning as soon as humanly possible, but for now, everyone opted for looking at their final shot taken together. With Lightning herself, she said her last regards to the others so she could ensure she caught the next train back home. She noticed the whole time, Noct had been eerily quiet, but showed no signs of resent or defiance to name.

“Ya gonna say something or what?” Gladio demanded to know sternly from Noctis, earning a dirty look from the Lucian prince. “In case you haven’t noticed, Light’s leaving for home.”

“He might just need some time alone with her to say his goodbyes,” Ignis suggested a little less bluntly. “Is that correct, Noct?”

“Mmm-hmm. If that’s alright with you guys,” Noctis uttered, his heart aching the more reality started to sink into him.

“Take all the time you need,” Prompto told him comfortingly, putting a gentle hand on Noctis’ shoulder before going to lead Ignis in the same direction Gladio took off from.

Alright, now it was just him and her. They faced each other eye-to-eye, Noctis shyly stepping closer to Lightning and sealing a reasonable distance between them. All the sincerity bled right through his eyes, the same morose feeling in hers at what had to happen without any foreseeable way around it. It pained her heart just as much, but if there was something Lightning knew like the back of her hand, it was how nauseatingly different ease and duty tended to be.

It also seemed to include the difficulty in leaving behind her actual first love with no certain reason of returning to him again. Both of them had lives to live and get through, and the choice was tough, but no less for the better.

“This… is really it, huh?” Lightning sighed, frowning.

“Guess it is,” Noctis agreed, a hollow desolation evident in his dry voice. “And there’s no backing out of this, is there?”

“Afraid not. Staying here for too long is out of the question.”

“Well, wait. I wouldn’t go and say that.” Noctis’ cheeks burned a modest shade of red, scratching the back of his head to get out what he wanted to without sounding too foolish. “Like I said, I won’t keep you here any longer than you need. But— and though me and the others can handle things just fine, with Ignis’ eyesight having not come back yet… having another person around to still help us all out in the meantime wouldn’t hurt too much. You know?”

Lightning sunk her chin to her chest, her heart growing heavier with Noctis’ earnest pleas to get her to reconsider. There was pressure behind her teal eyes, but she wasn’t going to give into it. Not in front of him. “Temping as it is to stay longer, I know where I need to be now too. Besides, you just said it yourself; you four are capable of handling things without me, with or without Ignis being able to see.” She looked back up at him, her eyes shining and dewed. “Altissia’s over and done with, so— and so are we. That was the deal. Breaking my promise by keeping everyone else waiting because of my feelings would be completely unfair of me.”

“I—”

“My fight’s over, Noct. Now it’s time to let you four continue your own.”

Noctis could feel the rest of his heart breaking into hundreds of pieces at Lightning’s sincere, but very much honest words. The worst part was, she was completely right too. Making her stay behind and selfishly preventing her sister and friends from giving her the warm welcome home they were looking forward to? No. He loved her far too much to do something so awful. Forcing his brain against his heart, Noctis knew what conclusion he had to unfortunately come to.

“...I guess you’re right,” Noctis conceded, offering his hand and shaking it amicably when Lightning met him the remaining way after hesitating. “I’ll see you around, Lightning. Thanks for everything, and take good care of yourself.”

“Pleasure to be a part of the mission,” Lightning replied, releasing Noctis from the handshake and smiling sadly. “You be just as careful out here. I’ve got a feeling you’ll do just fine in the long run. And… as a king.”

“Heh. Here’s to hoping.” Noctis began walking his own way when something in him commanded him to stop, turning back to Lightning before she had the chance to leave just yet. “...Claire, hang on.”

“What is it?” Further use of her real name captured her attention, Lightning facing Noctis once again to see what else was to be said.

“Well, first, I wanna give this to you.” Noctis reached into his pocket and balled the item into his grasp, laying it down on Lightning’s bare palm and letting go. When she opened her hand, sky blue eyes widening to see a studded rose gold scallop shell brooch resting on it. “I got this back in Altissia, but never got enough courage to give it to you. You said Bodhum’s a seaside town, so I thought you’d like something a little closer to your old home.”

“...It’s lovely. Thanks.” Lightning closed her fingers around the brooch, storing it in one of her pockets to keep it intact. “Is that all?”

“No, now I just wanna say something else. You may not be needed here anymore, but…” A wistful smile crossed Noctis’ face, his eyes watering and fighting back letting the tears fall to darken the mood even more, “just know you’ll always be wanted here. With us.”

Lightning was breathless when he’d said that to her, the words a heavy contrast to how they’d have been in the past. Without saying anything, she took long steps forward to Noctis while looking more downwards as if hiding her eyes. Once close enough, she pulled the prince tightly into a heartfelt embrace, her forehead to his shoulder. Noctis’ hesitated for a second at the sudden action, simmering down and wrapping his arms around her just as lovingly.

She released the hug to rest her hands on both of his shoulders to look into those alluring night-blue eyes for one last time. The delicate smile from before never left her face, matching her personal heartbreak to a perfect tee. From behind, the train whistle blared to warn Lightning that her ride home was bound to leave very soon, separating her from Noctis to hurry and run to it and board. Any sort of luggage bag she’d been carrying was stowed away, the owner taking her seat and feeling the train move away from its resting spot in the Cartanica Station. Lightning took the brooch from her pocket, staring it down as her tears finally dripped from her eyes after she’d already traveled further past where Noctis was last.

‘Don’t let him see you cry, Claire,’ Lightning vowed internally, using her sleeve to clean the tears away and clasping her gift brooch protectively in her other grip.

Noctis didn’t at all bother watching the train leave his sight. Before it went too far, he turned his back on it and another beloved he’d never again get to see to walk towards where his remaining friends were. The broken heart beating heavily in his chest started to numb, the pain still existing but hardening in the form of a tiresome gloom. He saw Prompto, assuming Ignis and Gladio’s absence to be justified by the two waiting on them both.

“...You gonna be okay, dude?” Prompto asked, sympathetic.

“Dunno,” Noctis got out, hardly able to even look at his best friend.

“What are you thinking now?”

“I think…” Noctis looked behind him, the tracks now free of Lightning’s train as if it was never there in the first place. “...I just got dumped.”

#Lightis #Nokurai #Noctis x Lightning #Noctis Lucis Caelum #Lightning Farron #FF Versus XV #Oh my God this is so sad; Alexa play 'Gotta Go My Own Way'#Apologies if some things seem confusing; I don't mind uploading more to clear things up #...And WRITING more to clear things up; lmao sue me 'XD #I think I need a tag for my stories at this rate; hmm...#Tales From The LibrAiry

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snacc-noir · 6 years

Text

Kim Week, Day 2: Hero/Villain

Day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

(This is a continuation to my random-as story ‘Oblivious’ on Ao3, where basically Alix has a tantrum to Max and Kim about Marinette and Adrien not dating, so Kim suggests they try to set them up being quote: ‘shipping superheroes’. I had no idea what else to do for this prompt so here)

Three pints of ginger beer from the Kubdel’s pantry, a shambolically filled-up notebook of ideas and two exhausted teens lying on a pile of skater gear later and Alix and Kim were finished their game plan.

Unlike Alya and Marinette’s complicated ‘Operation: Secret Garden’-type schemes to make ‘Adrinette’ happen, the pair opted for creating a plan most defiantly quick and easy—that they were sure was going to work by the end of the day—as both had had enough viewing of slow-burn to last them a lifetime.

“Our class is going to love us,” Kim during his sleepy drowse murmured to the wearied pile before him. After discussing few ideas at Max’s the previous day, their scheming expanded into a sleepover (with zero sleeping) at Alix’s. “I told you this ‘shipping-superheroes’ idea was a good one.”

Her half-lidded eyes blinked up at him behind pink tuffs. “I still think the ‘superhero’ thing is a weird a title.”

The hoarseness whirring in her voice was so clear Kim would’ve mocked her about it if not his own voice were identical. “It’s the biggest ‘heroic’ thing we’ll ever do for our class, so let me have this.”

Alix closed her eyes and hummed in response.

…

The pair were so beat the following Monday morning that the commotion of the latest akuma attack was a mere buzz in their ears.

Kim only caught something about, ‘Gabriel akumatized again’, ‘Carapace, Queen Bee and Rena Rouge joining’, ‘LB and Chat leaving halfway to come back blushing messes’, and that the battle was ‘really long’.

At least whatever happened during the disastrous battle wasn’t going to affect their success in setting up Marinette and Adrien.

“You’re on phase one, remember?”

Alix couldn’t care less about yesterday’s kerfuffle if it distracted her from her task at hand. She’d waited enough months taking part in pointless operations that she wasn’t going to allow one bigger-than-normal akuma delay her plan, especially when her eyes fell like falling out from exhaust and arteries to burst from ginger beer over-consumption.

“Um, yeah.” Kim peered around the classroom to see Adrien slumped in his desk and without his usual bright smile. Only Alya was seated behind him. “I don’t think Marinette’s arrived yet, though.”

Alix planted her fists in the curves of her waist and glared at the class president’s vacant desk. “I’m astonished.”

“Do you think I should wait a bit, too? Adrien looks sorta out of it.”

She shot him a look that said her answer enough for him. “I’m not waiting any longer for the oblivious punks to make-out. Phase one happens as soon as Marinette walks through that door.”

Kim turned to scrutinise the entryway. Ivan and Mylène were sauntering in wearing smiles as they exchanged pleasantries with animated hand gestures.

“And if she doesn’t come until during homeroom?”

“Then do it as we’re walking to our next class.”

He nodded and moved off the stairs to take his place, as she did the same. Max was already performing calculations at his desk and didn’t address the pair in his usual form. Instead, he sighed as the two instantaneously began confirming details about their scheme again the moment they sat down.

“Are you two still doing the Marinette and Adrien plan? Or was the probability of success too low for you to proceed?”

Alix leant her weight on the wall behind to stare hopelessly at the door Marinette had yet to stumble through during her mad flap. “We’re still doing it. And we’re sure it’s gonna work.”

Kim drew out his tablet and slid it on his desk. “We figured out the phases and stuff last night. We’re going straight for the homerun instead of gradually easing them to get together, since there’s been enough time for that. By the end of today, our mission as shipping superheroes will be complete!”

Alix pulled a face. “Superhero thing’s still weird.”

“Certain, huh?” Max pushed his glasses up with a forefinger, smirking sideways at Kim. “You’re sure your need of force will have the appropriate impact you want it to have on their relationship?”

“Well, yeah—”

Kim cut himself off when hearing a, “Gah!” holler from nearby. He searched for the noise and was delighted to see the notorious sight of Marinette tripping headfirst through the doorway, only to catch herself in an odd position at the last minute.

He didn’t need Alix to tell him what to do next.

Whilst Kim ambled down the classroom’s staircase—attempting to do so as nonchalant as ever—he failed to see the way Marinette took one glance in Adrien’s direction and turned into a blue-headed fire hydrant, nor did he see how the model quickly resembled the same after his sight caught her.

When he headed to initiate phase one, he didn’t expect to see two furiously blushing teens in front of him.

Though the surprise wasn’t great enough to cloud Alix’s whispers of, “Go.”

“Whoops!” Kim blurted as he frantically stumbled away from Marinette—the same Marinette who he had just shoved bumped on his way down the stairs, leaving her ‘unfortunately’ in the lap of a wide-eyed and pink as a pig Adrien Agreste.

“I’m so sorry, Marinette.” He pressed a hand on his heart and looked at her earnestly for good measure. Alix’s wide grin behind him was almost palpable to sense. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

Her awkward smile stretched beyond her crimson cheeks and her pupils were still frazzled. “Uh—um, it’s—it’s okay, Kim. I’m sure you didn’t mean it.”

Then, as if she’d just realised her position, Marinette gasped and flipping leapt off of paralysed Adrien and faced him with one of the most mortified expressions he’d ever seen.

“Oh! I’m terribly sorry Cha—Adrien! Adrien. The model. Yeah. That’s you!” She took a deep breath but it didn’t calm her. “I’m, uh—” It was only right to say she squeaked halfway through her sentence and bolted past him to her seat, while all Adrien could do was turn himself to stare stupidly at the front of the classroom.

Kim and Alix shared a victorious thumbs up across the room.

…

Phase two, in their opinion, went even better.

After a mad race of downing their food before even reaching their lunch table and finding their assigned idiot to corner, the pair had gained information only the class’s girls could dream of having.

When Kim discovered Adrien tossing a popper in the trash during a mission to ask him about Marinette and his love life, he did not expect a bottle of emotions to be flooded out to him during an extemporaneous therapy session.

“I love her—I really do love her,” Adrien had blabbered on, raking a hand through his blond tresses as they sat in the corner of the cafeteria, “but I know she doesn’t love me.”

Kim could’ve sworn he heard Adrien mutter, “anymore…” under his breath a second later.

Alix’s situation went likewise, and she reported that Marinette almost said the exact same thing during their private talk under the stairs, confirming their un-doubtful suspicions that good-old mutual pinning was involved in their set-up plan.

During excited bubbles of laughter after the story exchange, they declared ‘phase three’ to commence.

…

Phase three was the last and furthermost challenging aspect of their scheme. The risks of getting detention or even loss of friends, they decided, were totally worth it for the high chance of progression in Marinette and Adrien’s intimacy levels.

The girls in the class had spent hours constructing plans to set the two up on dates that always ended up in failure. Kim and Alix studied the approaches and realised its failure was because of A: spontaneous akumas. B: the time it would’ve taken Adrien to figure out it wasn’t a ‘friend date’. And C: how both teens had the sovereignty to flee the set-up scene whenever they wanted.

Hence why forcing Adrien and Marinette to be together without a chance to escape was to be the most successful idea.

In other words, locking them in empty room was the mission’s clincher.

…

“I cannot believe you just did that.”

Kim wiped his hands on his sweatpants to remove the imaginary lint, only glimpsing up to give Alix a smirk. “You better believe it. It was your idea anyway.”

“My one-hundred-percent joking idea.” She shot a nervous look to the boiler room’s door, barricaded with excessive amounts of stolen desks and chairs.

She could only hope her and Kim’s crouched place in the corner of the vacant hall was enough of a hiding spot for Adrien and Marinette not to hear their conversing. “How long are we giving them? The guilt’s eating me already.”

Kim rolled his eyes and shuffled up next to her. “There’s plenty of space in the boiler for them to sit twenty meters apart. It’s not like we went for the closet idea.”

Alix wondered if the closet idea would’ve even been easier. Luring Marinette to the boiler (‘Oh, I accidently left my spray cans there. Can you please get them while I help Kim with this thing?’) to leave her wandering on a wild goose-chase for invisible paint cans was difficult enough, but getting Adrien to stay there—Alix was surprised he even bought Kim’s, ‘You wanna meet up in the boiler to talk more about your Marinette situation and stuff? Just a warning; the door sticks. But I’ll come anyway if that happens.’

When they heard gasps of names inside the boiler after Adrien had stumbled in, Kim moved the desks to obstruct the door.

Alix hugged her knees. “That’s ‘cause our school doesn’t have a closet.”

“Whatever.” He tipped his head back to lean against the dim-lit wall. “Either they’re emotionally confessing to each other, trying to find a way to break the door, or making-out.” He slipped her a sidelong grin. “See? Nothing to feel guilty over.”

Her features pressed into a frown as she salvaged her phone from her shorts pocket. “You’re lucky Max prohibited me to punch you.” The illumination of her screen was a contrast to the dusky hall-light they’d been enduring for three minutes. She noticed she’d received two messages. “Nate’s in the art room for our free period. Everyone’s wondering where the art desks are.”

They simultaneously looked at the blockage items securing the boiler door’s lock.

“Um…” Kim trailed. “Say you and I are going for a hunt for them.”

“On it.”

…

Ten or so minutes past before Kim and Alix returned the desk and chairs to their original places, claiming they found them in the woodwork room (everyone bought it). The former revisited the boiler alone and burst out apologies to Adrien (‘Alix was helping me with this thing so I couldn’t come in time—by the way Marinette, she found her cans.’) to which Adrien responded positively; beaming at Kim with a ‘no worries’ and tightening his grip on Marinette’s hand as she discreetly wiped away—were those tears?

At Kim’s offer to continue talking about the Marinette problem, he was more than elated to hear the response: “We’ve worked it all out”.

Alix was more than elated too.

…

“So they’re totally together? Like together, together?” Alix practically squealed in question, trying to no avail to stifle her excitement as she bounced up and down on the school’s entry steps.

Kim stood with arms akimbo, smiling down at her. “Yup,” he said, popping the ‘p’. “Operation: Shipping superheroes was a success.”

She halted her bouncing to shoot him a look. “You know, for someone who as an akumatized villain had the aim of destroying love, I find it quite ironic you claim to be a ‘set-up superhero’ for Marinette and Adrien.”

He frowned. “I couldn’t help it; Hawkmoth’s fault. Besides, I was a villain tearing apart Ladybug and Chat Noir. Now, I’m a hero setting up Marinette and Adrien—different position, completely different people.”

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

He grinned and leant downward (goodness how she hated that) to be closer to her eyelevel. “Can you believe we actually did it, Kubdel? Like, us. We were the ones who set up Marinette and Adrien. It was all our influence and doing.”

Alix chuckled and pushed his face away. “Gaining ten pounds from sugar in ginger beer and waking up with your quiff in my mouth was worth it.” She released a sigh of contentment. “The two idiots are actually dati—”

She paused. Her eyes sparkled.

Kim gave her a questioning look. “What?”

“Does this mean we can do phase 4?”

His face dropped.

“No.”

“Yes!”

“If you dare—”

“Dare? Kim’s daring me to do something? Okay.”

He stepped forward. “Alix Kubdel you know that is not what I meant—”

“La la la, I can’t hear you!” she sing-songed in an unnaturally high pitch, bouncing around him with hands pressed on her ears and smiling giddily. “My senses don’t register rubbish!”

He huffed and glared at her twirling figure. “You were totally joking with phase four. We are not doing it.”

“Oh? Is that so?” she asked dubiously. “I thought I was totally joking with phase three, but we did that anyway. Guess we’re doing this too.”

Kim inhaled with frustration and tipped his head back, casting a defeated look to the sky. The girl was a nightmare.

“They’re gonna hate us forever.”

She retracted her hands from the sides of her head. “I’ll just mention what our plan did for them then. You could even speak at their wedding.”

Kim began to mutter something along the longs of, “Oh, so you heard that?”, but Alix’s jovial yelp cut his grumbling to a close.

“There they are!”

He glanced in the direction of her outstretched finger, smirking instantly at the love-sickening sight he’d usually cringe at.

Adrien was ambling out of the school’s bulky entry doors, a smiling Marinette attached on the side by the wrap of his arm, both seeming to be submerged in a world of pure bliss.

The perfect couple, it looked like.

So of course Alix just had to initiate phase four.

“Oi Agreste!” She cuffed her hands around her lips, and Kim was pretty sure his heart tripped out of existence at her bellow. “Hurry up and shove that tongue of yours in her mouth!”

To her astonishment and Kim’s—well to be fair his was more gaping horror—Adrien smirked at the incongruous demand as Marinette let out an incredulous squawk. Then, not only that, but it was another stilling moment of silence before the girl was swooped in a bow with famous Agreste lips planted on hers.

...

Kim and Alix walked out of school feeling like heroes.

#this is so stupid #and flipping long my goodness #le chien kim #kim appreciation week #we are miraculous #Alix Kubdel #Miraculous Ladybug #adrienette #adrinette

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