#you meet a guy on an airplane and watch him write dramatic shit on a napkin the whole flight wyd

[iinryer]

how do we feel about outsider pov fics. because I had a vision like a year ago and im finally writing it

[lovelyirony]

Through flames and oceans (for the fic title)

u know. this was supposed to not go the direction it did. but it did. 

People say they will do a lot for love. They will walk through flames, cross an entire ocean for love.

Bruce tells himself that that’s the stupidest fucking thing people say. He, for one, will not do that. There is also the unspoken reason of that love really isn’t in the cards for him.

Currently, he’s running away from his ex-girlfriend’s dad, General Ross, because he may or may not have done some experimentation and turned into a rage monster, but also revealed some state secrets.

Come on, can you blame him? Cosmo said twenty-year-olds need to accomplish something before they hit thirty. And he’s quite sure he just made the list.

But as for love, he is thinking about it right now because his ex-girlfriend found a very nice girl named Valkyrie, and they’re kind of set to have an engagement party, and “would you please come to the United States to help us celebrate?”

Betty is a wonderful woman, really and truly. And Bruce is okay with how their relationship ended, because it’s not like Bruce could come to family dinner and expect anything besides murder or maybe cold potatoes. And Betty deserved someone far better than him, and from the picture that was sent, it looks like Valkyrie is an amazing catch.

But there is the small matter of making it to the States without getting caught. He is on quite a lot of “no-fly” and “travel restrictive” protocols. This sucks, by the way. He had frequent flier miles saved up and everything.

It sucks, at least, until he remembers Tony’s number and calls it.

(Tony had given him his number, but sometimes he forgets that four and nine are two distinctly different numbers.)

“Brucie, baby! What can I get for you? Don’t worry, the government hasn’t been able to tap my phone calls since I was seventeen and mostly joking about finding out where their secret weapons storage is.”

“Betty’s having her engagement party, and I’m invited. I kind of need a ride home.”

“Where are you located at, right now?”

“Buenos Aires.”

“You lucky son of a bitch, god I miss it there. You having a good time?”

“When I’m avoiding government agents, yes.”

“Hm, well i’m sending a new employee of mine to go and get you. Big guy, probably Swedish.”

“You don’t know?”

“I don’t presume if someone’s Swedish or not, Bruce. I’m a terrible person, but not that terrible.”

“I...I don’t follow your sense of humor.”

“No one does, that’s why celebrities call me avant garde and ahead of my time.”

“Good to know. What’s your new guy’s name?”

“Thor.”

“Are you...are you fucking with me?”

"Darling, you’d be having a much better time if I was.”

“I don’t like the energy we’re manifesting here,” Bruce deadpans.

Tony snorts. “Okay, hippie. He’ll be there by tomorrow morning. Just stay tight where you are, sugar.”

-

Thor is a gigantic man. He parts crowds like it’s what he was meant to do, and maybe it is. Bruce stares up at him.

“Hello Dr. Banner,” Thor says, smiling gently. “You are Dr. Ross’s friend, right?”

“Um...yeah. I am.”

“Excellent. I’m a friend of Valkyrie’s, is it okay if I go ahead and fly out to the airport nearest their house?”

“Uh, is Tony okay with that?”

“Of course. And we can stop at your house if you need anything.”

“Oh, I don’t have a house. Or an apartment. You would not believe how much the US government hates my credit score.”

Thor chuckles a little bit, leading him back to a nondescript car.

“Right this way.”

-

Thor is cool as a cucumber on the outside, as they’re driving. He’s mindlessly tapping on his phone as Bruce stares out the window.

Inside? Oh, Thor hates Val for this. So much.

so, you didn’t think to send me a picture of dr. banner? just the address?

lmaooooo called it. betty owes me something now. fuckin nerd. just ask him out.

no. we still have to bypass american security

which you are “old hat” at. or did i forget that you nearly almost charmed the pants off of one of the airline people?

we don’t speak of that.

relax. stark’s taking care of it anyway.

The airplane ride home is uneventful, thank god. One of Tony’s jets awaits, and the pilot is very surprised to see a man who ranks number four on America’s Most Wanted List to be there.

“You...you know Tony?”

“And you know what an NDA is,” Tony announces over the intercom. “Bruce, welcome. Mimosas are premade, in stock. Sit back and enjoy the ride! Thor, you do what you gotta do to make sure Bruce stays safe. Enjoy the bridal shower!”

The pilot is a bit apprehensive. But mostly okay. Bruce promises nothing’s going to happen, he’s just going to drink tea and catch up on news about the current state of things.

Bruce gets bored with finding out that things are still terrible, so he talks to Thor.

“So...are your parents just really into Norse mythology, or did they know you’d come out a huge guy who has the potential to probably stop Ragnarok?”

Thor chuckles, the laugh rumbling and deep.

(Okay, that’s hot.)

"My parents’ names were Odin and Frigga. You could say they were traditionalists when it came to my brother and I.”

“You mean...?”

“He embodies the name a bit too well for my taste, but yes.”

“Oh. Wow.”

“Yeah. Let me tell you about the time we accidentally crashed a fashion week thing...” 

Bruce laughs a lot about that story. Thor’s laugh is majestic, and they sit a little bit closer. 

-

By the time the plane lands, they’re great friends and Thor reaches over Bruce in the baggage area and wow that man has very defined muscles. 

Not that that’s important. No, that’s like. Not important at all. So what if Thor is very well-muscled and maybe this will play into Bruce’s intrusive thoughts/daydream thoughts at later intervals? Does not matter. At all. 

(Oh god the man smells like salty ocean air Bruce has got it so so bad. So Bad.) 

- 

Tony greets them at the landing pad with a wide grin, eyes lighting up. 

“Well, don’t you two make the happy couple,” he teases. Bruce turns red. This does not go unnoticed. 

“Bruce, honestly, you run away from government and my friendship, and this is what gets you--” 

“A bridal shower? To get me home? Yes,” Bruce says, cutting in not-at-all smoothly. “Now, where are Betty and her bride staying at?” 

“Oh, they’re staying at the cutest little bed and breakfast for their bridal shower. Rented out the whole thing--well Pepper did, it was our wedding gift to them, and of course I mean Pep’s wedding gift, because I have something else planned-” 

“Please tell me that you do not have a house bought for them,” Thor says. 

“Complete with a laboratory and gymnasium,” Tony says with a wink. “I’m kidding, they already have a house. I just kind of kicked them out for a week while I remodel their entire kitchen. Val gave me the colors, I was surprised that she has taste.” 

“If she hears you say that, she’ll kick your ass.” 

“Which is why she won’t,” Tony reminds Thor. “Now, let’s get to unpacking. Bruce, I’m getting you some good shampoo, holy shit your hair sucks.” 

“Thank you Tony, I love and value our friendship and our kindness towards each other as well,” Bruce deadpans. 

“Oh come on, you have to look good. It’s your ex’s wedding party!” 

“You make us sound so dramatic,” Bruce says with a snort. “We broke up. Big deal.” 

“You and Betty...?” Thor asks. 

“Yeah, but it’s fine. We were dating, and then I pissed off her dad, who happens to be a general. I mean, also the government. But mostly her dad.” 

“Wow.” 

Thor’s type shouldn’t be feral scientist. But it is. 

They’re led inside, and Tony bids them goodbye. 

“Duty calls,” Tony says airily, waving. “Make yourself at home, don’t put coffee grounds down the disposal or I will kick you out. Rogers is still nursing his wounds.” 

“Noted,” Bruce says. 

“I drink tea,” Thor answers. 

Bruce shares a look. 

“You too?” 

“Yeah, I prefer it over coffee most of the time.” 

Bruce smiles. 

“I think we’re going to get along.” 

- 

They have a couple of days until the wedding party, and Thor has never seen New York. Bruce is fairly sure that no one will even see him on the CCTV footage as long as he’s walking next to Thor, so he deems it good enough to go and get a bagel. 

Thor is a very gentle man. That’s a good quality. 

He smiles at a little girl, who is staring, open-mouthed. Even gives her a little wave. Bruce grins. 

“You like kids?” 

“I do. They mostly just want to have fun, want to see what the best of the world is. I think we all need that occasionally.” 

“I’ve never thought of that,” Bruce confesses. He takes a sip of his coffee.

“I love watching my cousins,” Thor continues. “The way they grow and figure it all out, it’s rewarding. What about your family?” 

Bruce freezes. 

“Um. I don’t exactly have a family.” 

“Then you’ll just have to meet some of my cousins,” Thor amends, smiling as he sips his drink. “You’d like them.” 

“I’d like that,” Bruce says, grinning. “What’s next on our New York agenda?” 

"I told Loki I’d visit some stores for him and pick up some items he’s been wanting.” 

-

Have you ever seen a sales associate from Chanel be terrified at your presence? No? It’s worth it. 

Bruce is kind of concerned. 

“I...are you...?” 

“My name is Robert, uncanny similarities,” Bruce responds. “We both were born in Ohio.” 

“Why is it always Ohio,” Thor mutters. “You reckon my brother would want this shoe or that?” 

“Ooh, definitely go with the heel. I think that’s good.”  

“Gotcha.” 

Next shop is Dior. 

This goes a bit out of hand. His whole line about being Robert with Incredible Similarity does not go as planned. 

He and Thor are on a subway, currently running away from some authority figures and calling Tony. 

“I was in the middle of learning drama about high society that I can use in my next romance novel, are you joking?” Tony hisses. 

“You write romance novels?” Thor asks. 

“Now is not the time to question that, I’m in the middle of making sure you get a car to your next stop. How well do you both know what a Chrysler is?” 

“The building, right?” 

“God, I hate you so much,” Tony groans. “No, um...it looks like the wing things that they give army people when they do something that I guess they think is cool.” 

“Oh. Okay. Get in that car?” 

“Yes. It’s gonna be red with silver detailing.”

“Tony, they’re gonna know it’s us.” 

“Believe me, they won’t. Trust me.” 

- 

So as it turns out, it’s not the most ostentatious vehicle. 

Because Tony pulls up in a lifted pick-up truck, painted a sparkling, neon green with bright orange wheels. 

It is the ugliest goddamn thing Bruce has ever seen. Also the most effective. 

Thor nearly shoves Bruce into the car, and they’re sitting too close, and Bruce probably shouldn’t be focusing on the fact that Thor’s hair is now artfully messy, but here he is. Doing that. 

“So, sorry that before the wedding shower we’re being hunted down by the government.” 

“Not the worst thing that I could be doing on a Friday,” Thor says with a shrug. “I think you’re just about the most interesting person I’ve met, Bruce.” 

He smiles at him. Bruce’s heart skips a beat. He can’t tell if it’s because of the eye contact or the fact that they’re in close proximity. Maybe both. 

“You wanna go on a date after all this?” Bruce blurts out. 

He does. And as soon as he says it, he kind of regrets it because they’re in a car with glittery silver interior seats and he’s also in pants that have seen better days, and his hair is a Mess. 

(Also self-esteem issues, but Bruce is used to that so he’s not counting it.) 

“Like, after we get home or when the government gives up on finding you?” 

“I don’t know. Whichever one comes first?” 

“Technically, I think I count as army jurisdiction, and military budget is a fountain of money.” 

“Ah. Then home it is. How do you feel about ordering in?” 

“Mm, sounds good,” Bruce says, grinning. “You’re the best.” 

“Well, I certainly try,” Thor says, grinning right back. “You wanna go to Betty and Val’s shower together?” 

“Yes. Do we have to amend our ‘how-we-met’ story?” 

“Not at all. Valkyrie used to run an underground fight ring. She knows the feeling.” 

“How has that not come up in conversation?” 

“We were kind of preoccupied trying to figure out what a Chrysler car looked like.” 

“Oh, true.” 

- 

At the wedding party, Bruce and Thor are very happy. Betty and Val roll their eyes and laugh as they talk. 

“Leave it to my dad to ruin everything,” Betty gripes. 

“Well he didn’t ruin this party or my meeting Thor,” Bruce defends. “Besides, you know what happens if he steps a foot near you.” 

Betty grins. 

“You serious?” 

“Can’t promise you’ll get your security deposit back, but yes.” 

Betty pulls him into a hug. 

“You’re too sweet to me.” 

“Yeah, tell me that after he steps on the limousine.” 

“Eh, I wouldn’t worry,” Thor says, grinning. “I think Tony has some sort of security feature worked in.” 

“Oh, he does,” Val says. “He’s threatened to pull some of the contracts for safety gear. Won’t go through with it, but Ross can’t touch the wedding. Best gift ever.” 

- 

When the party gets late, Thor and Bruce are sitting out on the porch. Clean-up is happening, and they’re taking a break. Thor thinks that Bruce has never looked more beautiful in a rumpled yellow shirt, soft lights making his face glow. 

“I’m glad I met you,” Thor murmurs, moving a stray curl. 

“Really?” Bruce asks, smiling softly. “I think I’m glad I met you too.” 

- 

Bruce grins behind his door when they make it home. Thor had kissed him on the cheek, and while that wasn’t too big of a deal, it was a big deal to him. 

“See you in the morning, dear,” Thor had told him. 

He was going to be up half the night with that line running through his head. 

- 

A lot of people do a lot of things for love. Bruce still wouldn’t walk through flames, or swim across an entire ocean, but he’s starting to understand. 

[ayellowcurtain]

can you write a coffee shop drijzermans au

Do u think u could write a long-distance relationship au? Like where they've only met through the internet and finally meet one day? It would mean a lot to me

I don’t know much about Belgium, but let’s pretend for the sake of this cute prompt that you can only get across the country by plane

Sander rushes out of work for his break, hearing as Robbe laughs on his phone screen, across the country.

“I can wait, no need to rush.”

“No...” Sander holds his phone in front of his face, seeing the most beautiful boy he’s ever seen as he pulls his apron over his head, holding it with his other hand, leaning against the wall, smiling at Robbe. “Hello, cutie.”

“Hi...” Robbe tilts his head to the side, against his shoulder like he does when he’s feeling embarassed. Sander wants to kiss him so badly, to make him laugh and giggle while Sander kisses his whole face. Just a few more days.

“How are you? I missed you the whole day...”

“Did you miss me that much?”

Sander frowns, putting his phone closer to make a dramatic move.

“Of course I miss you! What kind of question is that?” Robbe laughs again, moving his top half closer to the phone as well, his parted lips looking so shiny.

“And what do you miss the most?”

Sander smiles, sighing, feeling so stupid for being able to think of a list instantly, ready to tell all the things to Robbe, but he won’t. Not now, they’ll have a whole month to tell what they missed the most in person.

“Wouldn’t you like to know...”

“Yeah?” Robbe says softly, his curious side surfacing like it does every once in a while. During some specific conversations, always wanting to hear Sander spill all his feelings for Robbe out loud. Sander is not used to it, to being in love, but he’s sure he’s a fast learner.

“I tell you in...” Sander checks the time at the top of the screen. “Fifty hours. In person.”

“Not fair.” Robbe sighs in defeat and Sander smiles at his phone, looking at the coffee shop starting to get filled with clients, Senne not able to get every order. 

“What’s your order of the day?” 

They have this stupid thing where Robbe makes his order and whatever he would like to have, Sander will buy for himself to eat on his bike after work, on his way home. Sander can’t wait for them to do that in person, for him to come home to Robbe with some warm and fresh croassaints and coffee. 

“Hmmm...” Robbe grabs his phone and lies back down, smiling. “I think I’ll have some delicious, very well made - by the best guy ever - hot chocolate. With extra cream and melted chocolate on top, please.” 

-

They walk in an exciting silence out of the airport, constantly bumping their arms together, so tempted to hold hands. Sander fumbles, tapping his whole jacket in search for his car keys.

He helps Robbe puts his suitcase and backpack inside the car and they stand there, looking at each other.

“I can’t believe you’re here...” Sander whispers, feeling he might have a heart attack, watching as Robbe comes closer, standing right in front of him, gently bumping their noses.

He watches as Robbe closes his eyes, breathing mostly through his mouth, so close Sander has to look down to really see him. Sander can guess his heart is beating just as fast as his own. Robbe is perfect, smaller than what Sander had imagined.

“Can I kiss you?”

“Right here?” Robbe looks around them, the parking lot filled with cars, but nobody walking around.

“Yes...Or no, if you’re not comfortable.” Sander corrects himself, knowing he’s always going way too fast.

“No...! It’s not that, just...” Robbe laughs, leaning against him, his forehead against Sander’s collarbone and he feels his cheeks heating up, hoping Robbe can’t hear his desperately in love heart. Sander opens his hands that he closed without noticing, carefully putting them up, touching Robbe’s also burning hot cheeks.

“Talk to me...”

Robbe looks up as Sander was hoping he would do and then suddenly their lips are together, kissing carefully. Robbe’s insecure lips just pressing against his and Sander opens his mouth slowly, kissing each lip one time, opening his eyes to meet Robbe still melting against him.

“Shit, sorry.” Robbe steps back, covering his face with his hands.

“Hey, hey, don’t be sorry.” Sander holds his face again and Robbe tilts his head, leaning against his right hand. “I love you. I wanted this for such a long time.”

“Are you sure? I just basically threw myself at you.” Robbe puts his hands on Sander’s side, holding the tips of his jacket and even that small touch means so much. Robbe actually here, in person, touching Sander or his clothes.

“And I hope you keep doing that.”

-

It was a long night and day for both of them, barely able to sleep, thinking about this moment. Robbe was inside an airplane for a few hours and Sander is still just as nervous as he was a few hours ago, seeing Robbe in person for the first time.

Robbe wanted to take a shower as soon as they got home and so Sander gave him some clean, soft towels to use, but it’s been a while since Robbe got inside his bathroom. Sander doesn’t know if he’s overthinking things, but he knocks on the door, trying to listen what’s going on inside.

“Everything ok? You need anything?”

It takes a second, but he can hear Robbe humming, thinking out loud.

“Hm, everything is okay...You can come in if you want.”

Sander looks at the door. He’s not sure if he understood Robbe correctly. If he wants Sander to get inside because he needs anything or if he’s just offering for Sander to get in if he needs anything from the bathroom.

He opens the door anyway, looking inside, only able to see a blurred shadow of Robbe’s figure behind the plastic white curtain.

“Robbe?”

He waits and Robbe waits too, but he pulls the plastic curtain just a little, his curls now damp around his face.

“I can’t adjust the temperature.”

Oh...

Sander feels so dumb, thinking Robbe meant something else.

“Of course! Shit, sorry.” Sander walks to the shower, to the other side of the curtain, where the shower is, trying to turn the shower valve to warm the water a little bit. He tries not to look, but it’s hard to completely ignore Robbe standing there, completely naked.

They stay in silence as Sander adjusts the water, putting his hand under the shower head, it feels good for him.

“Here, see if it’s good.” Robbe comes closer, under the water and he sighs, laughing.

“Yeah, it’s perfect.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah...”

“Okay, hm...” Sander looks before he can stop himself, but at least he manages to keep his eyes on Robbe’s.

And he watches and lets Robbe lead as he stands on his tiptoes to pull Sander for a kiss, his soaking wet hands holding Sander’s shirt carefully and he has to come closer, not minding about being completely dressed and now under the water, kissing Robbe, not as careful or calmly as before.

-

“Come, I’ll take care of you.” He kisses the cheek of a very warm and pliant Robbe, going down to his neck as Robbe whimpers quietly, his arms already knowing the way around Sander’s neck. He holds Robbe by his thighs, letting Robbe climb all over him, carrying him out of the shower, making sure not to step on the pile of soaking wet clothes now on the floor.

Sander is still in the clouds, not even believing that Robbe is here, hugging him so tightly and what they did in the shower...

Robbe laughs as he lets himself fall on the bed, snuggling closer to the pillows, still a little wet, putting on all of Sander’s clothes that he offers him.

As he’s dressing himself, Sander watches. Robbe using all his clothes, clearly a lot bigger on him.

“Come to bed...” Robbe is back to his shy self and Sander smiles, just finishing putting his hoodie on, crawling on top of Robbe, kissing his cheek, looking at his puffy lips, putting his dark curls back inside the hood.

“You’re tired, huh...” Sander sighs, hiding against the side of Robbe’s face as he nods his head.

“Yes, very much so.” He whispers against Sander’s temple, tangling their legs.

“Thank you.” Sander looks at Robbe again, his tired, doe eyes and his lips that Sander wanted to kiss for such a long time. “For coming. I know I was selfish, but I really needed to see you.”

“Don’t need to be sorry. I wanted to come too, so so badly, you just made me come earlier than expected. And I needed to see you, to touch you and make sure you’re okay and that you’re real and that you like me, of all people in the world...”

Sander smiles again, kissing Robbe, lying his head on his shoulder as he moves to lie next to Robbe. He keeps noticing himself staring at Robbe, watching his every move, every line on his cheeks, making sure that this boy, his boy is really here, lying in his bed. They’re finally together after a whole year apart.

They still have 29 days together, but just the thought of saying goodbye makes Sander upset.

“Tell me.” Robbe moves down a little so they’re lying at the same height and Sander looks at him, feeling the tip of his fingers gently touching his cheek.

“Huh?”

“Was I how you expected?”

Sander frowns, trying to guess what they’re talking about.

“About...?” He raises his eyebrows and Robbe opens his mouth, blushing so hard, shoving his shoulder and Sander laughs, holding Robbe by his waist. “Me! Am I phisically what you imagined?”

“It’s because I was still thinking about the shower...” Sander smiles, falling deeper in love every time Robbe gives him back a soft smile in return.

“You pervert. I would never be able to ask you that.”

“Why not? You were amazing.” Sander quietly puts his hands inside his hoodie, squeezing Robbe’s side, pulling him closer.

“We’re not going to talk about that now...” Robbe wriggles under his more deliberate touch and Sander saves that information for later. “Tell me!”

“You’re perfect, Robbe. The most beautiful human I’ve ever seen. You’re perfect size, perfect weight...you and me fit like gloves.”

Robbe laughs, playing with his hair, meeting his eyes just after a long moment.

“You’re cheesy, I thought that was just because of the distance.”

“I can be anything you want.”

“Stop it!”

[nctzendreamz]

HOMECOMING — PART ll

Prologue / Part l / Part ll / Part lll

Summary: The year is 3030, and the divide between the rich and poor couldn’t be greater. Wildwood University is the most prestigious school in the entire world, but it isn’t only because of the impeccable flying cars that can be seen best during the fuchsia lit nights, or the dexterous education everyone receives. It has secrets. A lot of secrets—the biggest being that Taeyong is going to kill you.

Genre: Gang!AU, Futuristic!AU, Dystopian!AU

Warnings: Vivid descriptions of violence, foul language, drug use, and murder.

“You’re new.” Is the first thing that comes from your lips. You’re observing him—eyes trailing up and down his lanky build. He can’t tell whether you like what you see. It’s obvious you’re not easy to read. You have some form of a wall, and it’s up. “And you’ve met Mackenzie.” You eek, mouth forming into a straight line. She can’t hear you, as her headphones are placed in her ears and she seems to be meditating.

“She said you were nice.” Taeyong mentions.

“Oh, she wasn’t lying.” You chuckle. It’s a cute sound. “She can just get...how do I say—a little boy crazy? I wouldn’t be surprised if you told me she had flirted with you. How long have you been here by the way? I’ve missed a lot of class.”

“Today is my first day, actually. And yeah...I think she likes me already.”

“Let me guess—subtle touches, awful attempts to make you laugh?”

“Exactly.” He finds himself smiling from your easy-going nature. He’s not having to jump through the hoops he imagined, as you don’t see him being the new kid as a bad thing. You both are smiling at eachother, but the moment is interrupted when a rubber airplane hits you on the side of the head.

“Can you guys leave me alone for one second? God!” You yell, and Taeyong can see that it actually pissed you off.

“Johnny’s orders.” One of them says, laughing at your annoyance.

“Is that your boyfriend?” Taeyong asks innocently. Of course he knows the truth, but he needs to seem clueless. This will help build his case.

“Don’t even make me think about that.” You barf, holding your stomach and mouth at the same time. “My brother. The guy who escorted me to class as if I haven’t been doing this forever.”

“Maybe it’s because you haven’t been to class recently.” Now it’s his turn to eek, and he gets you to laugh. You think he’s funny.

To the naked eye, it would seem like Taeyong was fond of you. I mean, he was enjoying such stimulating conversation, but he hates you even more now. He seemingly doesn’t remember that Indigo is still in his system, even though it had slightly worn his silent demeanor away. The floating of the desk is kind of making him sick, but he can’t speak on it.

“I try to just focus on a certain something.”

Did you just read his mind? He knows such technology doesn’t exist, right?

“Fun fact, I threw up on my first day of school. Everyone thought it was the funniest thing they had ever seen, but poor Mr. Eddie.” You’re relieving the memory; he can tell. The way your hand reaches for your chest, scratching a non existent rash tells him that this isn’t a memory you laugh at.

“Mr. Eddie? Is that our professor?”

“The professor.” You emphasize. “You should probably know this before class—

“Goodmorning class.” The voice comes from seemingly everywhere, but no one else looks creeped out, so Taeyong keeps his cool.

“Morning.” You all say in unison.

Suddenly, another door in the room reveals itself. A squeak of metal is making itself known, and everyone is either cringing, or covering their ears.

“Is he a fucking—

“Half man, half robot. A fucking robot. It’s crazy because we should be used to it right? I mean, it’s 3030 there are robot people everywhere.”

“It’s just the principle.” Taeyong decides, but in reality his chest is getting tight. He hadn’t even known about this. I mean, he had seen the little robots that could clean a little, and even project news on the wall if you paid a little extra, but this man is walking.

“Jeez Ed!” One of the players yells. “Late to the lecture, and loud. I think this means no homework.”

Is this how annoying the wealthy were allowed to be? Sweaty, presumably blonde jocks who just can’t be settled?

“You all are going to be very upset with me.” His voice is robotic for sure. Everyone begins to pop around, concerned for their professors well being. “But I’m going to have to cancel class. As you can hear, I need more oil.”

It’s like an explosion has taken off, because everyone minus you, Taeyong, and Mackenzie stand up immediately, fighting to get out of class first. It’s chaotic, and it’s making him anxious all over again. It’s not dramatic—it’s slight, but it feels like it can grow to make him actually explode.

“You three need a place to stay?” Mr. Eddie drys, clearly shocked at your presence.

“This is Taeyong.” You introduce. “And while we both know I would’ve been the first one out of here, someone has to show him around.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it Y/N.” Mackenzie speaks suddenly, taking her headphones out. “I’m sure you want to go see Kun anyway. He’s back, right?”

Kun? Who the hell was Kun?

“Kun?” Taeyong questions with a head tilt. “Is that your boyfriend?”

Your hand finds home on your earlobe, and it’s rubbing it softly. There is a smile on your face, but it’s extremely quiet and sad. Whoever Kun is to you, you love him—or at the least care about him. But at the same time, things aren’t peachy.

“No.” Is all you say, slapping your hand to your leg. “Enough about me though!” Your bright nature has returned, and it’s almost weird. He must be your ex, and where was he? Why did he leave and come back? “I have to show you around! I also need to meet your roommate and tell them if they try to hurt you it’ll be their head.”

That’s ironic, he thinks to himself. So badly does he want to laugh something evil because you’re so stupid and clueless, but he contains himself.

“What about me?” Mackenzie is pouting now, arms covering her chest. Does she really thinks that’ll work? I mean, it was quite pathetic.

“You know I love you, right?” Your tone is soft as you speak to her, hands on her shoulder. Your eyes must be as beautiful as he predicted, because her aggressive stance is loosening by the second.

“Of course I do.” She spills.

“Then I know you remember that you have a terrifying essay to write for literature, and that you don’t need to be out all day. Plus, weren’t you trying to go to the race tomorrow?”

“It was in my plans.”

“Then finish your essay tonight. Then, all the boys can see you looking good with the LED lights shining all over you...doesn’t that sound perfect?” You’re painting the picture with your hands, the both of you looking into space.

“You’re right!” She squeals, jumping up at the thought.” “You’ll be there too, right Lee?”

He looks at you for a quick moment, realizing he never told you his “name”. You seem to process it for a moment before looking at him for a response.

“I mean...I can’t make any promises. I’m not the going out type.”

“But I’ll be there. And when I’m somewhere, it matters.”

His ears were bleeding. He just knew it. “Right.” He whispers, trying his best to not sound awkward.

He should have said no when you offered to show him around. His current feelings were nothing short of introverted, and the farther the two of you walked, the more hot he became.

“I’m sure you’re used to seeing stuff like this.”

Oddly, you don’t seem tired. You had practically shown him the entire East section of the campus, and even he—the cold blooded murderer needed some water.

“Oh yeah.” He says dryly. “You know how it is in Valhalla. There are things everywhere. Blazing lights, fresh air...”

“Exactly.” You smile.

He had to admit, your smile made him feel safe. He still needed to go through with his mission, but it’s nice to know you won’t be annoying him the whole time he’s getting you to trust him. You’re easy going, and he’s already in the friendzone. He just needs to get farther.

There’s a kid coming by fast on his hoverboard, but you’re too busy looking at your watch to even hear the skrting of the device. With a swiftness, Taeyong takes your elbow and back into his hands, and he moves you to the other side.

“Shit.” You breathe out, hand on your chest now. You’re ashamed. “I’m so sorry. I promise I’m not usually this clumsy—well that’s not true, but none the less I—

“It’s okay.” He chuckles, letting his hand slide from your shoulder all the way down to your hand. He squeezes it lightly, and the look in his eyes are swallowing you. “It happens to the best of us.”

And now the two of you are having a stare down. He can see how genuine you are. The way your eyes soften the more time that passes proves this, and Taeyong is mocking your actions. In the pit of his stomach he can feel something, and he reads it to be disgust. God, you seemed like a nice person, but wasn’t this a waste of time? To do all of this and make you think he actually cares?

“Right.” You finally speak, looking at the first tree that appeared in your vision. “Anyways, we should probably go to your room now. Have you been in it at all?”

This must be how you deal with problems—moving on without a second thought. You didn’t like to think about your feelings, but at the same time didn’t that mean you were in touch with your emotions?

“It was my first stop.” He admits. He had heard about the people whos only job was to move people in and out, all for free, but with the belongings he had in his bag, that obviously wasn’t an option for him.

It took his breath away, although everything at Wildwood did. Back in the day, college dorm rooms were tight-knit, with squeezed beds and insects crawling somewhere unless you went to a top school. His room consisted of two king sized beds, and they gave him the option to make it a water bed.

He had already spent his morning hiding everything, so you wanting to come inside was no big deal. As you two journey up the hologram escalator, he noticed you were looking into space even though you should be looking at all the scenery.

“Something on your mind?”

His voice is soft when he speaks to you, and he decides in this moment that he’ll keep it that way. It seems to make you more comfortable, and comfortable means you’ll start talking; trusting.

“Too many things.” You chuckle. Now your eyes are closed, and you seem to be soaking in the good weather as if it’s the only thing good from your day. “No need to burden you with it.”

“It’s not a burden. There’s nothing worse than having no one to go to.”

“Then tell me a little bit about you, newbie.” The two of you reach the top—another door that leads to his complex. Unfortunately, they do separate these things by gender even in 3030.

Taeyong is looking for a key to his room; stopping himself as he realizes he’s not in NEO anymore. All he needs is his thumb. “Nothing much to know.” He keeps it short. “I’m just a regular, rich guy.” His tone is sarcastic, but instead of being skeptical, you laugh.

“Are you always this funny?”

That was the first time other than Mackenzie that someone had appreciated his sarcastic humor. As deppresing as it sounded and was, there weren’t a lot of jokes to be made in NEO. I mean, he usually was completely intoxicated, not wanting to laugh unless he was taking someone’s life. He’s surprised such a sentence could form from him, especially in a place he was dreading so much.

“Nope, just around nice people like you.”

He hates every second of this. He was never one to be in the mood for love, only death, blood, and darkness. He had his fair share of steamy nights in the alley ways with the street whores, but he never cared about them. He never would care about anyone but his brothers, truthfully.

He can’t tell if you’re a mess because he’s not facing you. He’s focused on his print before the door clicks, and the two of you step in.

Whoever his roommate is, he’s here. The room that Taeyong walked into this morning was empty, but this room was now full of boxes and an outfit on the bed. You’re looking around just as he is, except he’s searching to make sure his belongings are still in place. They seem to be. The pathetic rich boys who went here weren’t capable of putting something back so perfectly, so he lets his guard down.

“Well, this is it.” He motions all around the room, appreciating his own effort to keep his side spotless.

“I always wondered what it would be like to live in a dorm.” You sigh.

“You don’t live in one?”

“My dad is kind of....the president of the university. And per his rules, his kids have to stay with him.”

So you still live with your parents? Not odd, but at the same time why would he be trying to keep you around. The buisness, he remembers. It was never specified what it was. Drugs had crossed Taeyong’s mind, but at the same time, so did paper, and loans. But now that he considered it, your father must have business with bad people, meaning others could be out to get you. I mean, he was. No no, Taeyong. That’s too much of a stretch, and even so, she does live at home, which means the mission isn’t compromised.

“At least he cares about you.”

“I guess.” You take a deep breath, and he can’t miss the way you hault.

“What’s wrong?”

“That scent...I know it.” Now you’re looking all around the room at his mates side, touching his things frantically.

“Y/N, who is it? Did they do something to you?”

The door opens—so cliché. On the other side is a built man sporting a tank top and sweatpants. His hair seems to be black—but it could also be blue. His face is serious as he walks in, but the minute he locks eyes with you, they soften. It was the same thing you had done to him not too long ago. His lips are trying to find the proper words say to you, but instead he just stands there. You’re frozen in place—hands locked on one of his clothing items.

Kun. This had to be Kun.

[chaniters]

The friend-zone.

This took me infinitely longer than usual to write. Mostly because Discord is so addictive. But I think the time paid off, re-reading it several times improved it so much. I generally fumble the middle of these stories in a rush to get to the sweet finales. So I guess I’m learning? I kind of feel somewhat more confident about  the end result. 

Enjoy!

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

THE FRIEND ZONE

You walk carefully through the large dark room, trying not to drop anything.

Hollow Ground, looms ahead of you, larger than life and ready for battle.

You keep walking towards him... until you find the right spot, sliding into your seat on the left row. You pass on the popcorn and sodas to Elyse and Anathema.

Now more relaxed, you lay back, taking your seat, as you watch rapid clips from many of the Ranger’s previous movies cycling through the screen until the Producer's logo comes out from a collage of them.

Anathema Is still watching some video about kittens in his phone, while Elyise still talks to her girlfriend, giggling in a way more befitting of a young teenager.

"Hey," you say  "It's about to start!"

"Oh.. right," Anathema says putting her's in airplane mode. Elyise finally hangs up and smiles to you.

And then, the movie starts...

------Some seventh art magic later--------

You walk out, feeling bit sick. Maybe you ate too much sweet popcorn... Why do they make the buckets so large?

"Well, I'll go first... I didn't like it much..." Anathema starts. "...it's just not a very good follow-up to the Eldritch movie"

"Well duh, Eldritch was... Eldritch. A great and interesting villain makes a better movie than an ensemble of random evil guys. Eldritch took all of us to defeat in the end, remember?”. And it could have killed us all, you say to yourself. We were lucky. 

"You think so?" Elsyise asks. "I kind of enjoyed it. Seeing all the different powers and abilities facing off against each other."

"I guess it's subject to debate" Anathema concedes.

They go ahead while discussing the movie. Your thoughts lie elsewhere.

You always watch movies like this along with Ortega and Themie... And now you've kind of replaced him with Elyise. You fucking miss him. 

She turns at you.

Oh shit.

You let your shields slip for a moment and she noticed you're thinking about her and Ortega.

She says nothing and goes back to talking to Anathema.

You walk him off to his bike and say goodbye as he sets off through the streets.

"So" Elyise finally asks.

"Sorry" you begin before she does. "I keep thinking about Ortega and that fight..."

"I'm intrigued. Steel had a point. Why didn't you join the Rangers already? You and Ortega are very close... Even after that fight"

"I... " you look at her. What lie can you possibly tell her? "I don't... trust the government enough to join them" you say at last. That's not really a lie.

Her eyes widen for a second at your honest response, and then she smiles.

"That's wise," She says with a bitter smile. "No telepath ever should trust them," she says walking onwards.

"W...why?" You ask, your shields raised into impenetrable barriers.

"You're too young to know about it... Back in the day when the first of us... telepaths ... gained our powers... there was a big scare in the media. They demonized us. Some of us had gone public... and suffered for it. The government just rounded us up. And took us to camps and labs... there were... experiments."

Fuck. You know all too well about it.

"That's terrible!" you say "What... happened then?"

"I was lucky. My parents had money... they sued big time. They had to release me in the end, but most who take the hero drugs are desperate, and they had no one outside. There was never any record of them being taken either." She looks much older, tired and sad as she speaks about this. "You know... I still look for some of them... In social media. I haven't been able to find a single one yet." Her eyes are bit tearful."

"It's.. over," you say "They can't hurt you now" You are not very good with words... but you have other means. You can't help it. Your shields open and you brush your mind against her... offering her some comforting thoughts.

You used to do this... when they weren't looking.  And so did your brothers and sisters. It's how you survived.

She gasps as she realizes what you're doing. Blocking and negating her fears and terrors... "THat's... that...." She takes your wrist  "I don't know how you can do those things. I thought I was a strong telepath... I've had these powers  for 20 years and I can't manage something like that"

"It's not so hard..." you smile. "Just... follow my lead" It's tricky teaching her these things. But you're good enough to play the game and hide your cards at the same time.

Her mind observes as you do it a few times... brushing thoughts against people around you. Leaving them with a sense of peace and stupid nonsensical smiles. Sometimes you wish you could do that to yourself...

And then... she attempts it herself. Slowly at first... until she manages to reach the superficial layers of a woman passing by, causing her to smile briefly.

"What the... I did it!" she is overjoyed.

"Told you it wasn't hard!"

"What? That was the hardest thing I've ever done!"

She’s not wrong... without someone showing you how to do it beforehand, you’d probably fry people’s brains and hurt yourself in the process if you tried. 

You roll your eyes. "I think Jupiter would beg to differ."

"Telepathy is the hard part you smartass."

"Hey, I can't toss motorboats at enemies!"

"Sure can... you just ask me!"

A couple passes looking at you and laughs.

“Oh fuck. More people thinking I’m your cougar mamma... Let’s go already” 

You just chuckle. She jokes about it, but she’s quite self-conscious. Oh well... you're not one to judge her. 

Your phone rings, startling you. Anathema made you buy it some time ago, but you almost never use it.

You fidget with it, trying to turn it on

It's Ortega.

You let it ring a few more times, while your mind decides what to do. Elyise stands patiently.

"Hello there" you say in the end

"Hey Cyrus" his voice sounds a bit hesitant. "I was wondering... can I meet you somewhere?"

You doubt for a moment.

Fuck.

"ah... sorry... If you're busy then maybe..." He starts again.

You take a deep breath.

"No. I'm not busy. It's ok. Let's meet"

You agree to meet in a bar, not far from where you're standing. Just a few blocks.

"Ooohh... you are meeting him tonight?" Elyise is guessing who he is... but it's not that hard to guess. She knows how hard it is to get your number.

"Yes... we are meeting. Not far from here actually"

"Well, what are you waiting for? I'll walk you there!" she grins. "I was wondering when were you two going to make peace."

You sigh. "Yeah... we are friends... it's about time we make out" She just snorts walking ahead as you realize what you just said.

"Make up! Make up i mean! We're not going to make out!" you try to correct but it's no use

"Of course!" she says laughing as you reach your destination. She turns to you, and gives you a strong patt on  both of your shoulders "You go in there tiger... and you make out with that man, you hear me?"

"I didn't..." you start

And she turns dramatically looking at you over her shoulder

"French-style" is the last thing she says as she walks away laughing towards her own ride.

You smile. She knows how to make you laugh.

THere's no loud music inside, and several pool tables. It's decent and has some good food.

He shows up a moment later.

"Hey," you say a bit awkwardly.

"Hey, you" he answers. You stand apart... 

"About the other day..." he starts. He’s also feeling the awkwardness, grabbing his elbow across his body tightly with his right hand.  

"Yeah... that was... bad..." you say looking down

"I mean... I'm so..."

"No... I am." You say it first. Let’s make this painless

"Hey, that was my line!"

"Yeah... but... I'm not happy about that argument...either"

"Well... I'm sorry too. We shouldn't have let you out of the loop, you were part of the mission too. Sometimes Steel gets too muddled up in the rules."

"I know... but still I  shouldn't have asked you to go against him. You're the Marshall"

"So... we forget about it?" He asks extending his hand

"Yes. Forgotten already, Ricardo" you shake hands, and he draws you into a hug.

"Darn. Should have called you sooner. We could have seen the movie together"

"It sucked. And I should have called you first"

"It's in the past. Let's go in!" he says, his bright smile flashing again. You avoid it like the plague. 

You talk. You play pool. You have some drinks. You're being careful not to activate any of his or your triggers, and thus he doesn't make another move on you this time. He's just grateful you're hanging out again. And you are as well.

Now if you can just manage to maintain this chemistry... he'll hook up with someone else soon enough and you'll be in the clear. It's all about knowing how to keep the balance.

A few hours later, you are leaving together. He had a few more drinks than he should, so you agree to drive him home. You can take a bus there.

"Put on your seatbelt, safety first," you say as you adjust the mirrors. "We should invite you to one of that safety on the road campaigns they make us do" he chuckles “You’d look swell in the posters!” "Well, if it pays, I'll do it," you say. "But the mask stays on" "Not sure if they can send you a check if they don't know your true name" "So we're not doing that then" you grin. "I have to tell you... you're the most paranoid, neurotic, unreasonably suspicious person I know..." "Oh, I just know what's best for me" you smile as you take a turn. 

Odd... your mind feels there are several bugs around. Did some insects get inside the car? You feel them flying towards you. You look around but don't see them. 

He bumps your arm lightly "You sir, are a loon. But you're my kind of loon!" "You're a crazy maniac yourself" you chuckle. You are happy. Success. You're plot worked, and you’re back in the friend zone. You just need to remember to never overstep the boundary again. Ricardo’s your best friend, after all you’d be lost without him.

You can't help it... you swat at the air around you.

"Is there a bee in the car?" you ask out of the blue. He looks around, a bit bewildered. If there is, Drunk Ortega won't be able to see it. "I don't think so?" he says in the end.

You stop at a traffic light. This is getting weird. You focus your thoughts, looking for the bee. Bees. Eight bees. All focused on you. And then you realize... they aren't inside your car. You look at the car next to you.

"Ortega.. what the fuck is that?" you look in disbelief.

The driver on the car next to you wears a trenchcoat and a hat... and its eyes glow burning yellow. IT's face isn't human... but robotic.

He turns. "Wha...” he takes a brief look before almost jumping in his seat “START THE ENGINE RIGHT NOW!" Ortega utters you.

"But the traffic light is...."

"Forget about the stupid traffic light! Get us out of here!"

You start the car, accelerating as fast as you can.

And then you hear the shots. The things in the car behind you are shooting.

"Just keep going, this car is bulletproof!" You take a turn, trying to avoid them.

"What are those things?"

"It's HIVE" he says as if that explained it all. "I mean they are HIVE."

"Wait... are those the bees?"

"Yes. HIVE always attacks in numbers! Keep going!"

You ignore the following two traffic lights. Another car joins the one already pursuing you, shooting energy weapons and bullets at Ortega's car.

You keep trying to outrun them...

And you don't notice the car coming from your left and right. They drive forward, ahead of you, trying to force you to slow down.

"They are going to catch us!"

"Not if I can... help it!" Ortega opens his window and you notice a discharge from him. The driver on your left explodes in a rain of sparks, overcharged, and its car goes out of control, crashing into a small flower shop. You take the chance to turn left now that it's not blocking you.

"What the fuck are they? I only sense bees inside them!"

"Rogue robot network, controlled by Bee's brains! It's my Nemesis!"

"What?! How come I’ve never fucking ever heard of it??!"

"It's a secret government project... and it was destroyed! Hood And I defeated Hive back in the day!"

"It seems pretty Healthy to me!"

And then you sense it... bees... so many bee brains.

"Fuck they have us surrounded! they're coming from all sides!"

"Can you evade them?"

"I'll try,” You say with little confidence. Fuck. Ortega is the better drive... if only he hadn’t had so many drinks...

More cars full of robots come into view.

You try to get in between them... but they turn at the last moment causing a crash. The airbags burst in your face, leaving you winded.

Something tears down the door on your side and a robotic arm struggle to pull you off, but the seatbelt gets in the way. You shoot at it with your energy gun, sending it into the ground. Another one inmediately takes it’s place, pulling the gun from your hand. It then unbuckles the belt and pulls you down onto the pavement, face-first.

You stand up with difficulty. They approach with their glowing yellow eyes. All of them wearing the creepy trenchcoats and hats, disguising their metallic bodies. You see Ortega fighting them off, he's good enough to do it even while drunk. And his electrical arcs are good excellent weapons against them. Several are already broken on the floor.

One of them charges.. and you try to block his fist, but the kick to your gut takes you unprepared, sending you down on your back.

You have no idea how to predict a or read a bee's brain.  You try to stand up again, but another one sends a metallic fist to your face that makes you see dotted colors.

Two of them take you by your arms and drag you away, your arms and legs refusing to cooperate.

"Cyrus! I'm coming to you, Cyrus! Hang on!!" you hear Ortega's voice in the distance, as the robots toss you at the back of a ban and start the engine.

Someone runs a hand through your face... what...? You look at them and immediately regret it.

"Oh hello, again you sweet sweet funny man!" The CandyMaster greets you. "We're going to play so many games together. It will be so much fun!!"

What. The. Fuck.

You open your mouth to scream.

His hand covers it before any coherent sound can come out of it.

"HHMMHGGFFRHFFHG!!" You scream for someone to help you. Anyone. This one gives you the fucking creeps.

He widens his gaze as he activates his power. You feel the crystal candy expanding inside your mouth. Sealing it shut. You can’t even spit it out. 

One of the HIVE robots takes hold of your hands and locks them with handcuffs.

"Now now, don't be rude! Eat your candy or there will be a ...punishment!" he chuckles giving you a smile with his shining white teeth that is just the stuff of nightmares.

The overwhelming sweetness in your mouth wants to make you throw up. But you can’t even do that. 

You try to enter his mind... but It’s so warped...  It will take a while to get to know how it works. 

The ban drives off through the dark streets of Los Diablos' suburbs.

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

My fanfiction: https://chaniters.tumblr.com/post/181692759294/my-fanfiction-for-fallen-hero

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction using characters and the setting of the Fallen Hero: Rebirth and upcoming Fallen Hero: Retribution games written by Malin Riden. I do not claim ownership of any characters from the Fallen Hero wold. These stories are a work of my imagination, and I do not ascribe them to the official story canon. These works are intended for entertainment outside the official storyline owned by the author. I am not profiting financially from the creation of these stories, and thank the author for her wonderful game/s, without which these works would not exist.

[bethhxrmon]

All I Ask of You Pt. 24

“Turn my head with thoughts of summertime” - “All I Ask of You” from the Phantom of the Opera

Pairing: Peter Parker x Female OC

Word Count: 2.2k

Summary: The summer camp arc commences!!!!!

Warnings: Some kinda rude jokes??? Cute stuff??? Maybe swear words

A/N: We’re getting closer to the part that I’m super hyped to write about !!!!!!! Just saying

You can find the masterlist for the series in my bio!

“So… we’re seriously going on a road trip… all the way across the country?” Harper asked dryly as Tony pulled out into the traffic.

Tony nodded, “Yeah, we gotta keep Underoos and Pikachu under the radar. And if the press saw that Pep and I had four teenagers, it would be noticed.”

“But… we went to Germany on a plane,” Peter pointed out.

“You know there’s an ocean between New York and Germany, right?” Annie asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Precisely. And I needed to get over there quickly. If it were up to me, I would drive everywhere,” Tony replied.

Harper sighed, “This is gonna be such a long drive. You should’ve just let me stay in Seattle and meet up later.”

“But what about orientation?” Annie asked.

“Psh… I don’t need classes or to know where my stuff is! I don’t wanna be stuck with all you guys for a four day drive. No offense,” Harper said, pulling a sketchbook out of their bag.

Ned turned around to face Harper, “But we’re the fun crowd! We can play all sorts of games and look at all the landscapes and stuff!”

Harper scoffed, “Don’t kid yourself, I’m gonna probably take a nap and if anyone wakes me up, I might commit murder- wait… I shouldn’t joke about that…”

“You don’t need to protect me. I can take death jokes. Isn’t laughing about stuff supposed to be therapeutic anyways?” Annie questioned messing around with her cardigan sleeve.

“Well, I’d keep things business as usual if I were you guys. If anyone starts asking questions, we don’t need them finding out two of you are overpowered teens and one of that one of them has a body count,” Tony said, keeping his eyes on the road.

Pepper turned around to face the others, mainly looking at Annie, “He doesn’t mean that-”

“But he does. And it’s fair, I kinda killed a dude… I mean, at least it was a bad guy and not some innocent guy,” Annie said with a shrug.

Harper frowned, “I should’ve gotten over here sooner-”

“Nope. No. We’re not doing this shit right now. It’s way too early in the day to start crying about stuff,” she responded, pulling a huge book from her backpack.

Tony nodded, “Well, whenever you do decide to talk about your life story, just don’t do it in public or near cameras.”

“Says Tony Stark of Stark Industries, but okay,” Harper retorted, looking up from their sketch.

“Hey, maybe we should talk about something else,” Peter suggested, “Like, what book are ya reading?”

Annie glanced up at Peter who was turned in his seat to look at her, “Oh, just some light reading.”

“That looks like it’s as big as a dictionary!” Peter exclaimed, staring at her book.

She shrugged, “Maybe it is… actually, that would be dry as hell to read. It’s War and Peace, actually.” “You’re kidding.”

“Nope, look at it for yourself, I started it last night,” she replied, handing him the book.

Peter blinked, “No way, you had to have started it after school.”

“No, I just don’t sleep much,” she replied with another shrug as she took back her book.

Ned looked back at Harper and Annie, “I just don’t know how you guys can do anything without getting sick.”

“Well, when you have parents who are crazy rich, you get used to trips. I mean, it’s normally an airplane, but same difference I guess,” Harper responded, swearing under their breath when they hit a bump.

The conversation stayed fairly light-hearted, and Annie paid more attention to her book. She hadn’t been able to sleep, but that was beginning to become something that was normal for her. It was either stare at her dark room and watch her cat run around or do something that was moderately productive.

In all fairness, she had been meaning to read the book for some time, but hadn’t had the time. Between being a hero and play rehearsal, Annie barely got her homework done. However, with a long drive ahead of them, she felt that getting the book read would be a breeze.

“How does she do that?” Ned asked.

Harper raised an eyebrow, “Do what?”

“Ignore everything we’re saying and keep reading that book. I tried reading it, it’s the dullest thing ever. Who cares about a bunch of Victorian Era people anyways?” he responded, shaking his head.

“I do, clearly. And it’s not Victorian Era… I doubt she was even alive at the time. So it’s actually the Regency Era, which is only if we go based off of what the English labelled their time periods. And if you really tried to read it, you would know it’s Russian anyways,” Annie interjected, still staring at her book.

Peter chuckled, “That’s actually brilliant, how do you know that?”

“My dad’s an English professor at an Ivy League school. If I didn’t know that, he’d disown me. If he didn’t do that already,” she replied with a weak laugh.

Pepper turned around, “You’re kidding right? Your dad wouldn’t actually do that, would he?”

“Heck if I know, I kinda ratted him out for rigging my audition… oh, yeah, by the way, Peter, I probably wasn’t supposed to get the lead. So there’s that,” Annie sighed, “Anyways, he probably won’t as long as my mom has anything to say about it, but who knows.”

“Well I doubt anyone would go to such drastic measures,” Pepper insisted.

Harper nodded, “Yeah, Annie’s always had a flair for the dramatics, this isn’t anything new by any means. Like when she first got her powers… oooh, she thought that she was getting cancer and that she had a funky tumor. It was actually kinda funny.”

“Was not!”

“Definitely was.”

Tony coughed, “Okay, kids, I’m not supposed to be a babysitter, but I need you to all settle down.”

Harper smirked, “Shoulda thought about that one before you went ahead and took four teens across the entire country.”

“Besides, what’re we gonna do? Wake the Amish?” Ned asked, looking at the fields as they drove through what was clearly no longer New York City.

Tony sighed, “Maybe I should’ve thought this through. Maybe I should just stop here and have all you guys walk.”

“Bet! I can be pretty damn resourceful,” Harper replied with a smirk. Ned nodded, “Yeah! And besides, Peter’s literally Spider-Man, he could figure something out!” “Hey, Peter’s not the only one with superpowers,” Annie pointed out, looking up from her book again. The banter was distracting enough for Annie to not think about everything going on. Not that she felt like there was a whole lot to think about that she could get away with. Hell, by all rights, Annie knew that she shouldn’t be alone in the first place. Not after everything that had happened, she wasn’t even sure if she trusted herself. So she tried to focus on what everyone else talked about, but every once in a while her mind would simply wander off and she couldn’t help but think of everything at once.

It wasn’t a smart idea, and Annie knew that. At least, some part of her did. However she zoned out entirely, focusing on her own thoughts for the time being. She hardly realized how long she had been thinking until she felt the minivan they were all in slow down. They were stopping at some gas station in the middle of nowhere, and the way she jolted was easy for Harper to notice.

“What got into you?” Harper asked, raising an eyebrow.

Annie shrugged, “Wasn’t expecting… well the slowing down I guess.”

“Right… well do you wanna run around the gas station with us?” they asked, pushing the seat down in front of them and got out of the minivan.

She shrugged, “Why not?”

Annie got out of the car, realizing that her legs had been seriously asleep when she got out and stood on the weathered asphalt. It almost felt like there wasn’t any ground there, and she quickly tripped over her own feet. Before she could, Peter caught her.

“You gotta be careful,” he said, not letting go of her until she was standing properly.

Without a word, Annie hugged him tightly. Her strength almost surprised Peter, but he was quick to hug her back. They stepped apart when Tony coughed a bit.

“Please tell me this isn’t a thing,” Tony said dryly.

Harper laughed, “Please, this is long overdue. Oooooh, Peter, you should’ve heard all the things Annie’s said about you! It’s actually super cute!”

“W-what’re you talking about?” Peter asked, his cheeks reddening.

They grinned, “Oh, just about how sweet you always are and how your eyes-”

Annie cut Harper off by trying to jump on them and close their mouth, “Not important! Let’s get some snacks!”

“Wait, you should know what Peter’s said about Annie! It’s sweet! Clearly we’ve got a lot to talk about,” Ned said, leading the way into the gas station

Harper nodded, “Oh, hell yeah we do! Come on!”

Peter looked at Annie, “So… what was that about my eyes?”

“Oh um… nothing, that was like… oh jeez, look at the time. We gotta blast if we’re gonna make it to Chicago tonight,” she said, slowly backing up.

He chuckled a bit, “It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me, come on, we should go inside at least.”

It took Annie a moment to agree, but she eventually stepped forward. As they walked into the small convenience store, her hand had just brushed against Peter’s. She nearly pulled her hand back, but Peter laced his fingers between hers.

“Y-you know, I don’t remember exactly what I said when I was talking about your eyes and stuff, but I definitely know it was when we were doing all that rehearsing and… well, it’s just really hard to not crush on you when I was spending so much time with you. And… I don’t know where I was going with that, but yeah,” she trailed off, feeling her face heating up the more she spoke.

Peter squeezed her hand, “I get it, I mean… I liked you before, and I wasn’t even sure which… well um… part of you? I guess that’s how I’d say it. It’s like… well, I don’t really know.”

“Annie! Look over here, they’ve got cheap ukuleles over here,” Harper called out, waving Annie over. She walked over with Peter, “Oh, I should get one! I’m definitely getting one! That’s, like, the one instrument I know how to play! Well, unless you count vocals… but I had to play it for my musical last year!”

“You’re not getting that,” Pepper said.

Annie frowned, “But it’s my money, I literally have so much because, ya know, guilty parents… well, guilty parent, benefits!”

“You’re not getting it because I can get you a way better one. You shouldn’t buy some cheap, plastic instrument. I’ll find one that you’ll love when we stop for the night.” Pepper insisted.

Annie shook her head, “No, I couldn’t possibly accept that! I’m not even that good, you don’t gotta spend a bunch of money on me.”

“Well, you gotta learn to accept expensive things, Harper and I are gonna be working on your suit. That’s gonna be worth… well, let’s not go into that,” Tony added, walking up.

“Come on, these people are filthy rich, richer than my family. Come on, just take the thing that hasn’t even been given to you,” Harper said, running a hand through their ginger hair.

Annie sighed, “Okay, fine, but just know I can be perfectly capable of providing for myself.”

Once they grabbed all sorts of junk food, they piled back into the van where Annie once again tried to read her book. Her concentration on everything everyone else was saying dwindled. Though they did switch seats so Peter was in the back next to Annie instead of Harper.

Everything had gone to a calm state of things once a lot of the candy and snacks they bought had been eaten. Annie was reading about how Natasha was madly in love with her cousin, something Annie would occasionally point out to everyone else. She was resting on Peter as she read, Peter occasionally glancing at the words on the page.

After a couple of hours, Tony had to put on some classic rock music to keep from getting bored while driving for hours on end. It didn’t ruin Annie’s concentration and she actually felt herself starting to fall asleep from how tired she was. For the first time in weeks she felt like she was going to get some decent sleep. That was until she felt Peter shift his position.

“Hey, um… Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good,” Peter said, his face paling.

Tony turned back, “Shit, kid, are you sick?”

“I feel like I’m gonna…” Peter held his hands over his mouth.

Annie jolted up, not wanting to get thrown up on and she found one of the plastic bags and handed it to Peter. Though the car was slowing down, it was anyone’s bet if they were going to stop in time.

Once the car did stop, Peter bolted out, not hesitating to throw up on the side of the road.

“Um… has he ever been on a road trip before?” Harper asked, continuing their sketch.

Ned shrugged, “I mean, yeah… like bus rides… but not cross-country.”

Tony had been out with Peter, making sure that he was okay. And when Peter got back in the car, Annie positioned herself so he could lay on her instead. Either way, they both ended up falling asleep until they stopped for the night right outside of Chicago.

Taglist: @flushings-here / @gaypanda / @gryfinpuffs / @parkerpuff / @lionsfandomsandbearsohmy / @buzzinglee / @ijustdontknowsometimes / @dolphinsarecuteandstuff / @lcy-thot / @twilightparker (just ask to be added to the taglist!!!)

[ac-ars]

everyone needs a therapist

i am currently writing one thing, having another on my mind and     yet this happened: one hour of my life and zero proofreading, 

anyway i dont know what is the purpose of this thing, i dont know why i wrote it or what even, but it had been fun so i hope you do have fun too 

this shit is short so dont worry here lol please remember i have no idea about any actual therapist and what i wrote below is just a fic ok

everyone needs a therapist

“So you say you don’t have anyone to talk about your life?” He asks her, sitting with crossed legs, looking at her from above his black glasses, sometimes throwing glances at the paper he is holding.

“I don’t need a therapist.” She pouts and scrunches her nose, watching how he shakes his head. “Everyone needs a therapist, my dear.” He fixes his glasses. “Okay then, they say you don’t have anyone to talk about your life and recent life events, is that any more right?”

Luna sighs dramatically and nods. “I just don’t want to talk to them about that, you know?”

He smiles, lacing his fingers on his lap. “Well then, they pay me for that, but my name is Matteo and I am going to make you talk to me eventually.”

“Let’s start at the beginning.” Matteo hums. “You are Luna Valente and you come from Buenos Aires, but after the fire in your parents house, you were taken to the Mexico City, when Valentes adopted you?”

Luna crosses her arms and nods. “Why do you want to torture me?”

“Because they paid me for this,” he laughs. “And because I see some issues here.”

“They have issues, could you please just let me go?”

He grins, flipping the paper. “No. First we need to get over those sixty minutes for today.” He throws quick look at the watch on his wrist. “Actually, now it’s just 55 minutes, we are going so fast!” Hearing his fake-excited voice, Luna covers her face and growls. This is gonna be a mess.

“No offense, like don’t take it personal, but the whole Sol/Luna name thing is kinda dumb.” He gives her small hum and Luna opens her mouth wide to say something, but no words can leave. It is kinda silly. Silly yes, dumb no.

“One can’t pick their name really.”

Matteo looks at her with something serious in the eyes. “Are you Luna or are you Sol then?”

She straightens her spine taking deep breath and stares shook at him. She has no idea. She has always been Luna, but now when she got to finally find out who her parents were, she has no idea who she is. She still is sure of Miguel and Monica being her parents, yet at the same time her biological parents are knows. She has their names and last names, pictures of them.

The only thing Luna is sure of, is that she doesn’t like this guy Matteo for making her feel all of this stuff at once. “My name is Luna,” she says and it doesn’t really sound like she is certain.

“I know your name, Luna. What I asked was who you are.”

She shakes her head. “I am done.” He only laughs.

“You are 22 years old, so like they made you change your home, university and like, everything?” Matteo asks softly, playing with his glasses he took off few minutes ago.

“Yes.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Yes? That’s all?”

“What else do you want to hear?” Luna bites inside of her cheek leaning her head against the armrest of this big armchair he has in the office. He chuckles. “Maybe how do you feel about it?”

“Well, this sucks obviously. My… aunt,” she hesitates before saying her blood connection to Sharon Benson, or whatever her last name was before she took it. “She made me move here, live in this weird house and I don’t even know the purpose. Wasn’t it just easier to let me live in Mexico? She would have her money and all of this stuff she really likes.”

“I don’t know. Rich people want weird shit as their heads are filled with it.”

Luna giggles. “Aren’t you supposed to use all formal, smart words and not trash others?”

He shakes his head. “I am here trying to find some common language with you, so you have it easier, less stressful to talk to me. Open up.”

She sighs. “Rich people want weird shit as their heads are filled with it indeed.”

“Let’s proceed to your aunt. What do you think about her?”

Luna takes deep breath before letting all air out with loud sound and wide opened eyes. “I shouldn’t say this all out loud.”

Matteo nods, writing something on this weird paper he always puts into light blue folder named Luna Valente - observations. It kinda feels like she is in some more serious thing than therapist, or whatever he calls himself, but he promised to show it to her on their very last session so she will take it.

“Okay then. Do you like something in her? Anything?”

She bites her lower lip softly. “I guess she has nice…, hm, I don’t know. She is very determined? And hardworking I guess. And I admire her ability to manage all those headaches without painkillers.”

Matteo snorts. “I guess those all count. Now tell me what you don’t like in her.”

“Her personality.” Luna blurts and he drops his pencil laughing.

“Do you have any friends here in Buenos Aires?” He asks, scratching the tip of his nose with end of the pencil.

“I am not sure really. I have been for just a few weeks and I met just few people.”

“But you started attending classes at your university. So you have had to meet someone at least nice.” The brunette shrugs and Matteo sighs, not saying anything for few minutes and Luna is almost sure he has no idea what to say. He always does, though. “Your friends in Mexico. Tell me about them.”

Luna throws her head back against the back of her armchair. “I had one best friend, his name is Simón and he wanted to come with me here, but he got into one of better bands in Cancun so he’s been busy.”

“Would you talk to him about this whole thing if he were here or at least not busy?” Matteo raises his eyebrow at her and she has to admit that as weird as his questions are, they are somehow the same questions she’s been asking herself since she left the airplane to Argentina.

“I guess yeah. I would. And he wouldn’t take money for that.” She winks jokingly at Matteo, who shakes his head noting another thing. “He wouldn’t help you as I do, believe me.”

“Oh really?” She asks, throwing her legs over the armrest.

“Of course. Friends do tend to keep you in your comfort zone, trying to make you feel better. I, on the contrary, am here to take you as far from your comfort zone as it’s possible and it is gonna help you in some way.”

Luna blinks surprised. “You are very mean person doing that.”

“They pay me for this,” he smiles. “Next question.”

“The goddaughter of your aunt. What do you think of her?”

Luna snorts. “Ambar? She creeps me out.” Matteo frowns at first, and then laughs a little. “And why does she creep you out, like you put it in the words?”

“She always looks at me like she will get into my apartment at night through the balcony I surely left closed, and kill me in my sleep.” She shrugs when he looks at her surprised. Ambar gives everyone this vibe, so it doesn’t really mean anything. It might be as well just an impression, as the blonde girl wants to keep it all for herself, when someone else entered her great world filled with jewelry and fancy brunches.

“That’s… very strange description. But maybe something else? Something that isn’t really obvious, but you noticed it anyway. Something that wouldn’t tell how much she wants to murder someone.”

The Valente shrugs again. “I don’t know. She has a thing for texting her friends furiously when Sharon doesn’t say what Ambar wants. She always reminds that my name is Luna, when someone calls me Sol, which I’m really grateful for anyway.”

“Something else?”

Luna smiles. “She likes to hit Rey, who works for our aunt, when she flips her hair.”

“Rey is also a creep.” She blurts. “He always wears this weird black suit, I hope he owns more than one and does the laundry.”

Matteo frowns. “Luna, the fact that someone wears only black, doesn’t mean that they are a creep.” Mentioned Luna shakes her head. “You didn’t let me finish. He gives the vibe of a guy who would search teenager’s bedroom and when he is close to get caught, he decides to hide under the bed to wait until the person leaves. Well, it could be just me.”

“I guess this I should tell to your aunt, because this sounds alarming, but let’s ignore this as long as there is no teenager living at your aunt’s mansion. Tell me something else about people working there.”

Luna curls on the armchair almost like to nap. It’s definitely too comfy there. “I guess Amanda is super close to, or super fresh after having some problems with her head. She gets scared whenever someone gets into the kitchen, jumps at every louder sound and she keeps whispering everywhere.”

“Why do you think she is acting like this?”

She takes her hands under her cheek. “If I lived so long with miss Sharon, Rey and Ambar, I would have had problems as well.”

“What a lovely surprise, Luna. You are here two minutes earlier, this is definitely your record.” He grins taking a fresh paper sheet from his desk drawer.

“I finally guessed that the faster we get over it, the better.”

“I am sure you just couldn’t wait to see me,” Matteo says, scribbling something already and Luna shakes her head. “I thought you guys can’t flirt with people during the sessions.”

She grins seeing that he rolls his eyes very obviously at her. “I did not mean it like that. I am simply sure I am the only person who is able to have a conversation with you on some decent level and you really needed someone like that.”

“Okay, so can I pick today’s topic?” The brunette asks and he blinks at her surprised. “Yeah, sure. That sounds lovely.”

“I miss my parents.” She sits on the armchair, dramatically letting her purse fall to the floor nearby. “My aunt is an asshole and didn’t let them come with me here and there is still much mess with the lawyers and the money so I can’t go to see them.”

Matteo takes deep breath with some unreadable face, looking at her. “Well, this is normal, human reaction at those events.”

“It’s not really about that. At least not completely. I just can’t still take this shit to myself that I know who my real parents are, but don’t feel that big connection to them, you know? Is there something with me?”

“It’s not like you have some memories with them. You had been raised by Valentes so it’s, again, normal reaction.”

Luna sighs, sitting cross-legged on the armchair. “Will it change or will I be forever lost in the space, not knowing what even and my aunt will be sending me to another and another therapist to fix my brain?”

“Maybe next time you should bribe Ambar with some jewelry and sent your aunt to some therapist instead? Just not to me please, I have seen much, but I’m never sure if I would be able to help that woman ever.”

“I am hungry, can we finish earlier today?” She asks with small whine, because she ran here straight from uni and he kept making her uncomfortable for already very long twenty minutes.

“I think we can stay ten minutes more, and then add the other thirty to the next session.” Matteo nods few times with raised eyebrows, waiting for her decision. Luna almost jumps and fixes her t-shirt. “There is no way I would stay with you a hour, and a half and no break. I will have extra dinner later.” She freezes a little for a second. “Unless you are free and we can just order pizza here or go for pizza.”

“Hunger speaks through you very weirdly. I guess we can just add ten minutes to next three sessions, if you are so against more talking than needed.”

“Don’t you wanna go for pizza with me?” She asks jokingly and he puts the folder with the paper on his desk. “I don’t really meet any of my patients outside my office.”

“Well, for now I am your patient, but I am also patient person.” Matteo blinks at her shook. “You just didn’t.” Luna starts giggling loudly and hides her face in her elbow. “I did and I haven’t seen your face so surprised before. And I’ve said many weird things.

It’s the last session, the very last day she sees Matteo and he is wearing pretty nice, light blue shirt and he looks surprisingly well in it. He is talking some summing up shit, some kind of summary after the whole therapy and she feels light in a way she didn’t before.

His notes about her are very messy; in some Luna can’t really find herself, while others are so on point, she can’t believe. Most of the stuff she never mentioned, yet he caught them all, lowkey sweeping her off her feet and it’s weird feeling to have someone who knows you so much, while you know exactly nothing about them.

There are some words underlined as progress and some have this arrow directed downwards, which, she guesses, are bad, yet there is not many of them.

He keeps pointing at some additions to the notes, adds his conclusions and entire hour passes faster than she thought. The funniest thing is that she never noticed any change in herself until he did let her open the folder.

The last sheet of paper, though, at the very end, has written Luna’s pout is very cute and it confuses her so much she looks at Matteo, whose eyes are turned to the watch on his wrist.

“What-” the brunette intends to ask, but he stops her with his other hand up. “Wait.”

She keeps her stare at him, getting even more and more lost, until he turns to her. “Okay, the last session just ended. What about the pizza now?”

[sienna27]

Fear TWD - New Rant!

Jebus help me, I’ve been on another hate watch of Fear The Walking Dead.  Season two was on as background the last few days, and I’m sad to say that it’s just as awful as it ever was.  Let me bullet out my internal screaming.  Be advised, this is a pure hate post, so if you enjoy the show, you do NOT want to read this :)

First up, Travis’ son, even bigger jackass than he was before.  I mean it was bad enough with his teen angst emo shit while the world was still turning.  Now he’s like the shittiest OC fanfiction character you can imagine, yet, “professional” writers, are scripting his words and actions.  Season two starts and he is clearly supposed to be the “Carl” of their group, running off when he’s told to stay in one place, taunting walkers, killing people just because he now can kill people.  But oh wait, Carl was fucking TEN!  This kid’s like sixteen.  Then by episode six, literally the only ‘personalized’ trauma he’s suffered is his mom dying (and it wasn’t even a big dramatic, torn apart death, she just got bit) and he’s gone full Shane??  He’s watching Madison get attacked, and then threatening Alicia when she says she’s going to tell her mom he just stood there (shades of Shane/Dale).  And his reaction there pretty much negated the alternate theory that maybe he really did just freeze up for a second in the churchyard because now he’s actively threatening bodily harm to his step-sister.  And when Madison brings her concerns to Travis about him threatening her daughter, he starts yelling at her about how much he’s done for Nick and she’s not ‘standing by him’ now.  What?!  All she did is say this just happened, and he’s coming back with how he used to go looking for her drug addict son?  Literally, leaped over the Grand Canyon to get to that fight.  Also, Chris figuring out that everyone’s infected and they all reanimate when the die, FOUR days out into the larger Apocalypse when it took our mothership group two seasons to get there is such a cheat.  The kid didn’t earn that knowledge.  Again, it was a HUGE Grand Canyon level leap for him to suddenly just know that based on the one guy reanimating on the plane.  Given how the whole area was swarmed with the walkers and the guy was all busted up to hell, the LOGICAL assumption (based on knowledge to date) would have been that he’d been bit.  But no, he just “knows.”  Then four days later he is a complete, stone cold killer, far beyond what Shane ever became.   At least with Carl becoming a child killer (the boy in the woods) there was a serious, LONG TERM, setup for how he was becoming affected by one seriously fucked situation after another.  That was three years of the show, and a solid twelve months into the ZA.  But no, this kid, who had showed NO previous signs of ‘mental disturbance’ is now a complete sociopath.  Season 1, he’s all about trying to save Alicia when she gets attacked in the backyard, they go off and spend that day in the house trying on clothes and shit like normal teenagers, (the whole sequence was dumb, but there was nothing ‘sinister’ about it), season two starts and he’s telling Madison how she’s his mom now, and then we get to (what I’m guessing on original airing) was their back end of episodes and he’s totally fucked in the head and Travis is all, “oh I missed the signs!”  Yeah, dude, we ALL missed the fucking signs!  BECAUSE THEY WEREN’T THERE!!!!!!!!  The writers just decided, “oh, this will be a good twist!” and they just did it.  Again, like the shittiest piece of fanfiction you can imagine.

Next up, they ruined the only unequivocally solid, smart, decisive character they had from season one, the girl on the airplane who wanted to kill the infected guy before he turned.  We catch up with her post plane crash in a life raft with three other people.  One of them is fried to a crisp, has zero chance of survival because again, fried to a crisp, middle of the ocean, post civilization.  She then proceeds to kill everybody else on the raft who is perfectly healthy to keep this one kid alive who is begging her to let him die.   Then they turn her into a full blown revenge driven avenger who wants to kill Travis because STRAND, dumped her off in the middle of the ocean.  “You put us in the life raft.”  No, you dumb ass, you put YOURSELF in the life raft, he tied it onto the yacht to save you, and then some OTHER asshole set you adrift.  Zero, zero, zero, logic to justify this plot point.  

Madison.  The woman playing the Mom still can’t emote worth a fucking damn.    Resting Bitch Face is only supposed to be a thing when your face is resting. When you’re expressing, “Fear,” “Happiness,” “Rage,” “Concern,” etc., etc, your face should do other things.  Loud talking, does not emotional expression make.  And they’re trying to pretend like four days into free roaming the ZA, she’s like season five Carol, Michonne and Maggie all swirled into one.  Because you know, her experience as a high school guidance counselor definitely prepared her to be taking on a fleet of fucking PIRATES!!   These are not people with months of hardcore survival experience, they were in the locked down, protected by the fence and government, neighborhood for the entire breakdown of civilization.  Just like with Chris not earning his Psycho Shane stripes, she has not even come close to earning that degree of badassery.  And don’t even get me started on her and Strand getting trashed drunk on hard liquor and yet still taking on a full room of walkers.

Mexico. Cool idea to have a totally fresh location, and I get how somebody in the writer’s room was all tickled pink at being able to write about ‘reverse coyotes’ smuggling Americans over the border for hardcore cash, but they sort of missed a key glitch there you know, BECAUSE THE WORLD ENDED!  Like two episodes earlier we find out that everything for sure, from Vancouver (Canada!) down through San Diego, (America!) is freaking bombed to shit, and what’s left of the U.S. Coast Guard responds to all requests for assistance with, “sorry, we can’t help you, nobody’s coming,” but somehow, the Mexican Border Patrol, is still a freaking thing!   Like anyone still showing up to work week three of the ZA wouldn’t have been immediately overrun and torn to shreds. That was so stupid that I literally said aloud, “wait, what are you paying for?!”  So yeah, this reverse smuggling would have been a fun twist five weeks earlier in their world, back when governments still, ‘existed.’  *eye roll*

Strand, I had no problem with the jaded and focused on survival thing, but the cutting that raft adrift in the ocean was a serious line to cross for his personality.  Those people weren’t on the boat, they were no threat.  Towing them to the shore was the right, easy, thing to do, because even if the kid had turned, they could have cut the rope then, so basically it was one hundred percent sociopathic to do what he did.  But of course the next episode we find out his big mystery, which is literally, that he’s gay.  Like it’s the 1950s or something and seeing him kiss this rich dude who we thought was going to turn out to be a drug dealer (the way they were setting it up anyway) was going to be all shocking or something.  Then, almost INSTANTANEOUSLY, now he’s just portrayed as “normal” and “likeable” and he and Madison are buds, because now we know what his driving force was to get into Mexico . . . to find his boyfriend.  Which means now is the point where we just forget that he dumped those people in the middle of the ocean to die for absolutely no reason.  Again, perfect example of what is so wrong with the writing on this show.  They don’t know how to portray people as “real.”  They write things like a kid would write them, “oh this sounds cool,” with no forethought of whether or not it makes any SENSE.

The whole thing with the compound in Baja.  I could have gone with that as being just ‘the way things were, that the mistress of the place had just decided that this was some sort of religious resurrection and all that, except, they then explain how she poisoned the Eucharist(?!) and actively murdered an entire parish full of families for no apparent reason.  People are dropping dead left and right as it is, you didn’t need to be helping shit along.  And if you are all into the idea that this is a great spiritual shift to a new type of human existence, then off yourself first, lady!   Offing everybody else just makes you a serial killer!   Then the great twist there for me was it turned out she was just the freaking housekeeper!  I thought the lady collecting the guns at the gate was the head housekeeper, but no, the woman who is murdering and setting out decrees and slapping the shit out of Strand is just the damn housekeeper.  I thought she was the boyfriend’s mom, (shit at least had some logic to it then), but now she’s just the help!  I mean, I’m blue collar through and through myself, but fuck if I’m going to be taking post apocalyptic shit from another working class grunt.  If she’s slapping me around and telling me off, I’m going to be, “bitch, get out of my face!”  Then her death made no sense.  She’s all about just being alive and running this compound and suddenly she just disassociates and is like, “yeah, that’s cool I’ll just feed my living human body to my dead son and all of the townsfolk . . . for NO reason!”  Again, plot twist with zero prior foundation laid down in the plot.

Alicia.  I will allow that she is head and shoulders improved from season one.   If only this had been the character we met in season one, I might now have some attachment to her.  But the way it went, I just feel like she’s somebody ‘new’ and it’s kind of too little, too late to save the show based on one character who doesn’t suck.  

Nick.  Now that he’s sober, they started the season by making an effort to make him the likeable, funny one.  Though at the same time pushing WAY to hard to put “Glenn type” lines into his mouth about saving people and all that, but okay, it’s bad writing, it’s always been bad writing and it couldn’t be more obvious that they’re just trying to pull the character traits that work from TWD, and apply them to this group of people.  Like you can SEE that’s what they’re doing, almost everybody is being molded (to the point of stealing actual lines from TWD) around somebody the writers know already works.  Then with Nick though, they totally veer off course with him coming into his own in this world to take care of the family, when he promptly ABANDONS said family, ONE day after meeting the crazy ass housekeeper.  All of his loyalties shift to this woman, and when he ‘suspects’ that his mom maybe has something to do with the compound burning down (she didn’t) he’s like yeah, fuck this, I’m leaving.  He goes off, slices up a fresh walker and smears himself in gore.  Side note, his embracing of the gore thing is weird and gross.  As an emergency survival mechanism, I get it obviously, but he’s just, “yeah, this is how I live now . . . painted in the innards of a rotted corpse.”  I guess that’s sort of kind pulled from the comics with the Whisperers, but they (from my limited wiki knowledge of that group) are just supposed to be full on crazy and assimilated with the dead people.  He’s just weird about it.  Back to my main point though, if the world ends, and you’re lucky enough that your mom and sister (who you profess to love) are still alive, you don’t just walk off and leave them.  This isn’t the world where you can take off and bum around for a few weeks, come home and move back in with your family.  World’s over.  You go off and leave your family, odds are about 99% you will never see them again.  Not just for the near impossibility of ‘running into each other’ but for the fact that your group loses a person, you make the group weaker.  So to go off and just basically leave your family to die, makes you a complete shitbag.  They then off and try to make him likeable again by having him join up with this other group where he plays with the kids and makes nice with the head guy and helps out on supply runs like we’re supposed to just be all, “oh, yeah, we love Nick!”  No!  We don’t!  He abandoned his family in a foreign country, during the apocalypse.  He’s a dick.  As I say here, for the millionth time in my rant, the writers can’t write.  They just wanted to do something new (break up the group and meet new people) so rather than doing that organically, like simply having Nick and his family get ‘separated’ in the chaos of the compound burning down (duh), they just have him make this douche move.  Why?!   All that does is take a character you spent all this time trying to make sympathetic (now that he’s not an active drug user) and ruin him.  On mothership TWD, the only person who ‘voluntarily’ left his family . . . was Merle.  He was high on meth and a known, established, douche.  Him abandoning Daryl totally fit his character.  Every other time a character went off alone, they were either exiled (Carol) or they were overrun and got separated (everyone else).  That’s how you fling your characters off to have new adventures and meet new people, all on their own.  I’ll even allow in Fear that Travis leaving his family because he had to take care of sociopath Chris was “reasonable.”   He was trying to protect the others.  Nick leaving was just asinine.

Which leads to my base issue with the show, the whole show is asinine.  I’ve now finished two full seasons and I still don’t give a crap about any of these people.  And I don’t mean, God I hate everyone, I mean, I don’t care about anyone.  Somebody dies.  Shrug.  Somebody is in danger.  Shrug. There is no impact to anything that anyone does because everything is so badly written that it doesn’t feel like I’m immersed in a world.  Nothing matters.  And it sucks because it is a cool concept to explore how the shorelines would be infested with water walkers, and hear about the whole west coast going dark (another angle on the apocalypse), and to see how these reanimations are seen as ‘spiritual’ in this part of Mexico because of this hardcore Catholicism, and I even liked having whole huge swaths of the scripts in Spanish with subtitles because I liked being able to brush up on my super rusty Spanish, so it’s just so much wasted money and time to take those concepts and hand them over to a shit team of writers.  Because I think about how truly VESTED we were in the core family by the end of mothership TWD and there’s not even the faintest of comparison from that show to this one.  Not that the mothership is perfect, they drop story lines and introduce crap out of the blue occasionally without sufficient foundation, but nothing ever so egregiously (or offensively) like I’ve seen here.  And I know, if I hate it, don’t watch it.  I’m not :)  It was a background marathon, I finished.  Though I fear that in a year I’ll be back here again bitching about season three.  Til then!  Ha, ha!  :)

[lobsterdex]

Kent trying to come out subtlety but heteronormativity gets in the way. He is continually frustrated and keeps getting less subtle each time.(Maybe Jack joins in and they compete to see who the media notices first?)

this got kind of out of hand which is why it took me 200 years to publish it?? it is also arguably the worst thing i’ve ever written and i love it. not exactly what u requested by enjoy :)

Kent is lying on his side on the couch with his head inJeff’s lap.

Jeff is watching Sports Center, and Kent is mostly justspacing out. It’s warm and comfortable, and he feels safe, and the backgroundnoise of the TV and Jeff’s hand carding through his hair is lulling him tosleep.

“Should we?” Jeff says.

“Should we what,” Kent mumbles.

“Come out.”  

Kent’s eyes snap open, and the analysists are talking toeach other with Jack’s picture in the corner of the screen. Ah.

Jeff’s hand stills. “We don’t have to, I don’t know. I don’tknow why I said that. I just. Maybe it would be better if it wasn’t just him,y’know?”

Kent lets his eyes fall close. “Yeah.” The same idea hasbeen rolling around his head for the past few weeks, since Jack and Bitty cameout quietly via Jack’s Instagram. The entire Falcs organization and fan base isbehind him, as they fucking should be, considering he’s the reason they’ve madethe playoffs the last three years. And yeah, one player is not the team, Kentknows the spiel. He is the spiel. Butso is Jack. A single player isn’t an entire team, but one of Jack’s calibermakes a world of difference. It changes the dynamic and can turn the wholething around if the rest of the team clicks.

So they can’t really tear down his game. They can’t play the“he’s doing badly because he’s gay” angle, because Jack has a seven game pointstreak. No one is really saying anything outright, but they’re stilluncomfortable.

It would be the same way if he came out. They can’t say hissexuality ruined his game, because he’s been gay since the draft. He was gaywhen he was born, he was gay in juniors, he was gay when he won the Calder, hewas gay when he won the cup the first time, he was still gay when he lifted itthe second time. If anything, he could argue it made him better.

He’s safe in the knowledge that he won’t get traded or sentdown to the minors. He doubts he’ll lose much of his fan base, and most of theteam knows already anyways.

It’s always been something he thought would never be anoption, so he never let himself think about it too much. But now, he realizesthere really isn’t much to lose.

“Do you want to?” he says.

“If we did, I’d be okay with it,” Jeff says quietly.

Kent rolls onto his back and smiles softly up at him. “Iguess we should, then.”

.

Kent doesn’t want it to be a big deal.

It is a big deal, but he doesn’t want to hold a pressconference or make a speech.

He and Jeff sit in one of the conference rooms with the PRpeople and the GMs and the coaches. They’re in there for an hour and a half,and everyone just decides it would be best to do it via Instagram, which theydefinitely didn’t that long of a meeting to decide, but whatever. Kent isn’tthe boss here.

Kent chooses a picture of the two of them and gets PR’sapproval. He captions it with the red heart emoji, and then it’s done. There’sno going back now.

.

Apparently, it wasn’t a big enough deal.

They’re all sitting in the damn conference room again, and someonefrom PR is summarizing it for them. It’s not a lot to summarize. Deadspin ranan article about their bromance, and some tumblr blogs started speculating andpulled out receipts, but nothing legitimate enough to publicly confirm it.

“I don’t think any of us want to sit here for another hour,so how about Jeff posts a picture and we cross our fingers and call it a day?”Alex from PR says, clapping her hands together at the head of the table.

“Sure,” Jeff says. Kent nods in agreement, and they break.

.

It’s still not a big enough deal.

It’s progress, though, if you count a Deadspin articlespeculating about whether or not there’s a romantic nature to their bromanceprogress. Jeff reads it aloud to Kent in bed.

“So I guess we should go fuck in the Bellagio,” Jeff says,and Kent snorts.

“Nah, then the headline would just be, ‘Two bros arrestedfor wrestling naked in the Fountains of Bellagio.’”

Jeff laughs so hard Kit falls off the end of the bed andbolts out the door.

.

Kent doesn’t know why they’re all still bothering with theconference room; it’s just him, Jeff, Alex and some other guy from PR, and Tag,who is mostly here for “moral support,” because he thinks this is all hilariousand has nothing better to do.

Alex asks them about a press conference for the hell of it,and doesn’t seem surprised when they immediately veto it.

She flips through a few pages in her notebook, then sighsand looks up at them. “You just want to keep trying Instagram and hope someonecatches on?”

Kent looks at Jeff, who just shrugs. “Yeah. Should I captionit with two hearts?”

Alex rolls her eyes. “Whatever you want, just run it by mefirst.”

“We could do a date night or something,” Jeff suggests.

“That would work,” Alex says.

.

It doesn’t work.

They go out to dinner, and it’s been decided that Kentshould do most of the posting because he has more followers and a biggeroverall fan base. “More eyes are on him” were Alex’s exact words, but they allknew what she meant.

So Kent posts a picture of Jeff sitting across from him, fancyrestaurant with white and gold trim and potted plants everywhere, candles andglasses of wine on the table, more silverware than Kent knows what to do with,the whole nine yards.

He captions it “Date Night” with the red heart emoji, andthen he puts his phone in airplane mode and has dinner with his boyfriend.

.

It’s still not enough, and Kent is starting to seriouslyconsider Jeff’s plan to fuck in the Bellagio.

Alex would kill him. He would have to get his affairs inorder and write his will and whatnot if they have to resort to that. He alsodoesn’t really want to do that to his mother, but least they have a plan Z.

They all meet up in the conference room and Alex sighs andstarts a group chat with the three of them and tells them to keep trying and torun anything they come up with by her. Kent makes them all put their hands inthe middle and do a countdown and break.

“Say ‘gay’ on three!” he says, and it gets a smile out ofAlex. They break, and then Tag walks them out to their cars rambling about howridiculous the whole thing is. The media loves the gay scandals, and yet hereare Kent and Jeff giving them the second big gay story of the year, and theyjust keep saying bromance.

“If I hear the word bromance one more time, I’m skating intoour next game naked with a pride flag,” Jeff says.

“If I see the word bromance in one more headline, we’refucking in the Bellagio,” Kent says, and Tag groans and says, “gross,” but he’sa little shit who once hung up mistletoe all over Kent’s apartment, so Kentfeels zero remorse.

.

Jeff posts a picture of Kent sitting on the couch with Kitin his pajamas, grinning lazily at the camera.

It’s captioned “the Boyf.”

The next day, there’s another Deadspin article about theirbromance, and Kent texts Alex asking if she’s sure about the Bellagio plan.

Her response is an immediate “absolutely not,” followed by“this is fucking ridiculous” and “keep trying.”

.

He’s in a groupchat with Jeff, Jack, Bitty, and thePoindexter kid called “gays of the nhl.”

Bitty keeps sending screenshots of Kent and Jeff’s Instagramposts with obscene emoji combinations. He also leaves Kent a two minutevoicemail of him laughing his way to wheezing because they’re being so goddamnobvious but the whole world has decided to stay in denial.

Poindexter: Lolghost asked if you guys were dating

You:really??

You:finally

You:what did u say

Poindexter: Isaid yeah and then he said “why the fuck is no one talking about this”

Bitty: HONESTLY

Jeff: Would youguys still love us if we came out by fucking in the Bellagio

Poindexter: Thewhat

You:the fountains

Poindexter: Ohthat

Poindexter: Yeahdo it

Bitty: I mean youcan afford the public indecency charges……………so  I don’t see any reason not to

Jack: Bitty has apoint

Jack: We’d stilllove you

You:perfect let’s do it

Bitty: haha “doit”

You:fuck u bits

Bitty: ;))

You:ur not funny

Poindexter: Sexpuns are always funny

Jeff: ^^

You:et tu???????????

.

In their next game, Kent breaks the tie with a minute left,and Jeff and Tag crash into him, yelling. He and Jeff are nose to nose,grinning, and Kent decides fuck it, what does it matter anyways, at this point,and kisses him on the mouth.

It isn’t a long or intense kiss, because Tag is screaming intheir ears and Brennan crashes into them a few seconds later. The only personwho brings it up is one of the regular beat reporters who asks him about thegoal and says, “dramatic celly” with a wink. And also Tag, who laughs at themfor about five straight minutes once all the reporters leave.

The next morning, Alex texts them a link to yet anotherarticle about their bromance. The embedded picture isn’t even of them kissing,it’s just of them nose to nose, hugging and grinning.

Alex: I give up

Alex: Which meansyou still CANNOT try the Bellagio plan, but I don’t have any other ideas thatwouldn’t require a presser or a big publicity thing.

Jeff: So what now

You:I have an idea

You:But like I’m not sureif it’s possible or legal

Jeff: ????? U nevertold me???

You:You’re literallysitting right next to me

Alex: That isn’treassuring, but what is it?

.

It’s the first time in years that Alex approves one of hisideas. Granted, they’ve gotten more ridiculous with time as he needs less real helpwith PR, but still.

She says she’ll make some calls, pull some strings.

Jeff is shaking his head. “I hate you.”

Kent is grinning. “It’ll be fun.”

.

Poindexter: Kentyou’re the worst person in the world

Poindexter: Youreally did this

Poindexter: I can’tfucking believe

You::)

Bitty: ???

Poindexter: https://www.buzzfeed.com/norbertobriceno/ten-times-kent-parson-came-out?utm_term=. xmRKnqDZV #.garlzmkkr

Bitty: HSHDGGDHSHFGGF

Bitty: YOUG FUCKIN G DIDN’T WHO ARE YOU

Jack: They let you write it yourself?

You:yeah isn’tit great

Jeff: Lol yeah sure whatever helps u sleep at night babe

Jack: I honestly wish I was more surprised by this

Jack: I would’ve never come up with it on my own but now that it’shappened it’s more like “oh yeah fucking of course” instead of “wow I can’tbelieve this”

You:awthanks jackie boy

You:youare my oldest friend after all

Jeff: It’s a really stupid article but at least we got to point outall the stuff no one noticed

Jeff: That part was fun

Bitty: “I can see how the first one or two could be taken as a joke,but date night? The Boyf? Really?” this is the best thing I’ve ever seen thereare actual tears in my eyes

Poindexter: Iconic

You: thanksboys i try

[zodiacmac]

For the love of God what happens at the end of trailer trash!???!?? If you won't come bank to it will you just tell me where you saw the characters going next like a breif summary of what would happen next. PLEASE I need to know

okay, so turns out i actually had 2,800 words before i abandoned this LMFAOO. i do not remember writing this at all, but just for you, here’s what it was going to be. 

harry thinks he and louis have a sort of unspoken agreement about their relationship. he’s not sure if louis is aware of this though - because it’s, well, unspoken and all.

ever since louis had that little breakdown (louis squeezing his eyes shut so harry couldn’t see him crying even though it was obvious he had been), harry’s been walking on eggshells around him. it’s a little nerve-wracking because he thinks louis might need him to be a better friend, but he isn’t sure how to be.

harry’s sitting in class, twiddling his thumbs and staring at the clock on the wall, waiting for the day to end. he used to like going to private school before he knew louis - he’s friends with everybody here, has to be since he’s known them all since he was six. 

it’s so bad that every year when they start a new class, everybody knows where to sit without being told, because the teachers always go by last names. so harry is always on the opposite side of the room from nick. 

not that it matters, because they always text during class. harry met nick because nick dated his sister gemma before he realized he was gay. gemma graduated a few years before and still chatted with nick on facebook when she wasn’t working. 

nick’s wearing a light wash denim jacket over his uniform sweater and has a few pins in it, one pink peace sign given to him by gemma.  

he hears something buzzing. 

harry’s arm shoots down his pocket as he tries to silence his vibrating phone, but it’s too late. he glances down at it with a furrowed brow. 

louis picking u up 2day?

“harry,” mr. loomis sighs, walking over to him and holding out his hand. harry groans. “no- please-“ 

“you can pick this back up after detention today.” mr. loomis looks at the screen of harry’s phone and harry grins, already knowing what’s coming. “nicholas?" 

mr. loomis asks, "i take it you’ll be joining harry in detention? wonderful choice. phone, please." 

nick moans aloud, slumping over in his desk, and causing several of their classmates to giggle. harry sticks his tongue out at nick and nick waits til their teacher turns around to put their phones in his desk before he flips harry off. harry hears perrie laughing loudly from two rows in front of him. 

"shit,” he mutters. he was supposed to be meeting louis after school and now he had no way to tell louis he was going to be late. 

he rips out a piece of notebook paper and scrawls a note to perrie messily on it, asking her to tell zayn to tell louis what’s happened. he passes it to the kid next to him (who’s had bad acne since they were literally nine) with the name pez written on it and underlined so nobody else reads it. 

by the time it gets to perrie, harry can tell someone’s drawn a dick or two on it and there’s also a piece of chewed gum stuck inside. although harry would have once found this hilarious, he know finds it aggravating. 

perrie gives harry a thumbs up and then folds the note into a paper airplane and chucks it at the girl next to her (probably the gum instigator). she shouts like she’s been shot and mr. loomis whips around and, lo and behold, gives her detention. 

“fuck,” she mouths to harry, wincing, “i’m sorry.”  

-

harry buries his head in his jacket as soon as they sit down in the cafeteria. because the school is so tiny, only needing to encompass about eighty students, there’s no place for detention other than the same place they eat in. 

well, technically, they could use the basement, which is what the school used to used before formaldehyde was discovered. harry prefered the cafeteria anyway - there were no melting, waxy pictures of the virgin mary glaring at him on the walls there. 

harry lifts his head to see nick sitting across from him, rolling his eyes at harry. “don’t give me that look,” nick says, “this is for your own good, anyway." 

"what is that supposed to mean?” harry says sharply. 

nick shrugs. “i knew your phone was on vibrate." 

perrie comes up and drops two heavy books loudly on the table and sits next to harry just as harry leans over and punches nick hard in the shoulder. "what the fuck?” he asks. 

nick glares. “i’m just saying, maybe you shouldn’t be hanging out with him so much." 

harry gapes. "are you-” he pauses, stunned, “sabotaging me?" 

perrie watches on cheerfully, biting into an apple. "you guys, the cafeteria is still open. there’s no line." 

nick ignores her, leaning over the table and lowering his voice. "you’ve got no fucking respect for yourself! he’s never going to-" 

"who are we talking about?” perrie asks, frowning. 

“nobody!” harry practically shouts. 

“louis,” nick says softly. 

“oh, i didn’t know you knew him,” perrie says to nick, smiling innocently.

“he doesn’t!” harry cries. “and i don’t want yor fucking advice!" 

nick folds his arms across his chest. "you know i’m not sabotaging you. god, don’t be such a drama queen. i’m trying to keep you from making a mistake-" 

"is there anything i can do?” perrie asks, looking very uncomfortable. she’s already started to stand and leave the table before either of them answer. 

“look,” harry says, rubbing his forehead, “you don’t know him. there’s - things he does -”

nick interrupts him. “are you sure that’s not just you looking for something that’s not there?" 

harry groans and runs one hand through his hair. "he lets me rub his feet." 

nick’s eyebrows cinch. he pulls back, laughs, and says, "what?" 

"yeah. actually yesterday he asked me to." 

nick stares. "the guy you showed me pictures of on your phone with the rat tail and- fucking leather jacket- asked you to rub his feet?" 

harry flushes. "yeah." 

nick blows air out of his mouth noisily. "wow. maybe you do have a shot." 

-

"so what?” gemma asks. she sounds like she’s not really paying attention. 

“are you filing your nails or something?” harry asks, holding his phone to his ear while he’s in the bathroom. there’s only five minutes more of detention, but he managed to get his phone back early by saying his sister was going into labor. which- wasn’t really true. 

“he hasn’t even made a move. what are you doing with him today?” she asks slyly, “going to see his ant farm?" 

harry groans in frustration. "would you let a girl rub your feet?" 

"i don’t know, sure,” gemma shrugs, “why not?" 

"it’s, like, in pulp fiction,” harry whines, “you know, like when they say a foot massage is, like, a sex act?" 

"well, they said it’s like cunillingus, harry,” gemma snorts. “you planning on giving louis cunillingus?" 

"don’t say ‘cunillingus’,” harry moans. “and i’m trying to come to you for your insight." 

"i have girl insight, haz.” gemma must be blow-drying her hair because there’s some sort of noise coming from her end. “if louis’ dick shrivels up and falls off his body, let me know. until then, i have a shoot to go to." 

harry rolls his eyes. gemma is living out in california temporarily trying to find roles in movies and modelling on the side to make money. 

"fine. you suck. goodbye.” harry hangs up. 

-

“where have you been?” louis asks when harry jerks open the door to the truck. he’s sitting in there with one hand resting on the bottom of the steering wheel, the other hand laying on the inside of his own thigh. harry stares. 

“detention.” he easily gets up into the truck without having to step up on the foot guard first, which louis always has to. he throws his sports bag between louis and himself. 

“liar,” louis laughs. “you were probably tutoring some blind six year old girl who’s first language was spanish." 

harry rolls his eyes. "technically it’s your fault i got detention in the first place." 

"what?” louis smiles, shaking his head. he twists the key and starts the truck up. 

“nick texted me asking if you were picking me up and my phone went off in class." 

louis turns back to harry in disbelief. "so it’s my fault you can’t remember to shut your phone off?" 

"yeah,” harry sighs dramatically, “selective memory. your brain can only hold so many pieces of information at once, and you’ve been teaching me way too much about viruses and infections, so something had to go." 

"so i’m guessing you didn’t remember that my mom’s having her friends over tonight to sell those god awful purses?” louis is back to looking straight out at the road, and harry feels neglected. he wonders if it would be too much to ask louis to give him a foot rub right now. 

“uh, yeah,” harry says slowly, “that does sound familiar…." 

"well, where are we going, then?” louis asks. “zayn’s?" 

harry thinks. louis’ never seen his home before. he’s thought a lot about it - mostly because he doesn’t want louis to see it and think harry is bragging. 

because, truthfully, it’s very big. his mom’s been through two profitable divorces, the kind of settlements that come with houses and cars and child support. 

but louis has been complaining about his back a lot and it might be nice for him to sleep on a nice mattress, something nicer than the paper thin mattress in his trailer. 

"we can go to mine?” harry asks hopefully. 

louis squints. “why? is your mom going to be out?" 

"does she need to be?” harry laughs loudly. “what exactly were you planning?" 

louis scoffs and punches harry’s arm with one hand still resting softly on the wheel. "fag." 

harry ignores him. "so we can rent a movie and order in chinese, or something."  

"we can watch whatever you want if i can take a shower at your place,” louis promises. “my hair is nasty right now." 

"oh, is it?” harry asks, grinning. he rumages through his sports bag and pulls out his white velcro visor and sticks it on top of louis’ head. apparently harry has a large head, because the visor droops in louis’ face. 

“i’m trying to drive here, dickhead.” louis laughs and pulls it off, throws it at harry’s chest. he’s got stubble and, if harry looks close enough, chapped lips. his hair does look greasy, in that sexy, axe murderer type way. 

“what are you looking at?” louis asks roughly, fiddling with the radio to calm himself. harry can tell he’s on the precipice of another meltdown, so he thinks on his toes. 

shrugging, he plops the visor back on his own head. “the next serena willaims, obviously." 

louis laughs and his eyes crinkle, but his hand goes tight around the steering wheel suddenly. harry wants to grab it and hold it, but he looks out the window and pretends he doesn’t see. 

-

harry’s mom is still at work, so they sit on harry’s enormous plush couch to watch a movie. harry can feel louis’ terror from literally four feet away from him. louis is sitting as far from harry as he can without looking like he thinks harry might have a catchy airborne disease. 

he keeps glancing over at harry and then quickly looking away, licking his lips. harry is beyond confused, but decided to let louis move at his own pace at whatever he’s working out in his head. 

it isn’t until he looks down and sees that louis looks a little stiff in his loose sweatpants that he even considers it.

"hey,” harry says softly, patting his lap. 

louis manages a blank expression before scooting closer to harry and throwing one foot in harry’s lap, then looking back to the tv screen.  

louis’ foot is so hot compared to how cold harry’s hands have gone. he wraps one hand around louis’ foot, swallowing hard. his hand fits all the way around louis’ whole foot way too easily - louis’ feet are tiny. 

he’s so hard and so afraid louis will notice and pull away, but he tries not to move, though his dick strains straight up against his stomach in his pajama pants.

louis jerks his foot out of harry’s hand, and harry thinks he’s done something wrong until louis runs his toes up harry’s crotch. 

“pull yourself out,” louis says, looking at him oddly. “harry?” he asks, and harry realizes louis actually wants him to respond. 

he quickly yanks his pajama pants down enough to get his dick out before louis changes his mind. “yes?” harry chokes out when louis licks his lips and stares blankly at harry’s dick. 

“you’ve got a nice dick,” louis says wistfully. “i cant tell if - if i wish mine looked like that, or i just like it on you. its confusing." 

harry doesn’t really know what to say. he opens his mouth to crack a joke, but louis smears harry’s pre-cum onto harry’s stomach with his toes and he gets cut off. 

harry looks down, panting, so his chin is pressed against his chest, looking at his own dick and louis’ foot rubbing up and down against it. his dick aches, stiff against his skin.

"you shave?” louis says nonchalantly, like hes asking if it’s going to rain. “that’s bizarre.”

harry gasps when louis’ foot catches the slit. he nods frantically, not sure if he’s answering louis’ question or just nodding to egg louis on. he clenches his legs so he can rock his hips up towards louis’ foot as he tries to fuck against it without much progress. 

“can you get off like this?” louis asks, amazed. 

harry finally unclenches his legs and groans, hair falling in his face as he grabs louis’ foot and holds the ball of it against his shaft, slowly moving it until he’s shaking and gasping, still trying to hold on a bit longer, still leaking onto his own stomach and making a mess.

he forgets to look back up at louis, so immersed in louis’ foot, that when louis finally speaks again, he’s caught off guard. 

“are you gonna shoot all over yourself?” louis snorts, sounding disappointed, not even trying to turn him on. when harry looks back up at him, louis is giving him a judgemental look and that’s what does it for him. his eyes roll back as he pumps out, with louis moving his foot again to help him. 

louis wipes his wet foot off on harry’s clothed thigh and brings his foot back to the carpet. 

“do you want-” harry starts to ask eagerly, raising his hand to signal a handjob. louis shakes his head violently. “nah." 

-

"why did your bed cave in? did i break it?” louis asks, frowning. his palm is pressing into harry’s mattress and when he lifts his hand, the mattress shows the indent still. 

harry laughs. “it’s memory foam." 

"is this the kind of bed kim kardashian sleeps on?” louis asks, now punching the mattress earnestly to see it leave the shape of his hand.  

“remind me not to piss you off,” harry jokes, looking at louis’ brutal attack on his bed. louis takes out his phone and scrolls through it, frowning again. "what is it?“ harry asks. 

"nothing,” louis sighs, “my sister is saying her ex is dating some new girl already and that she sounds pretty." 

"you think an actual human would go out with him? i bet he reinflates her when he gets home from work." 

louis chuckles, looking fondly at harry. "try telling her that, though.”

“i will.” harry pulls out his own phone and begins typing a message to lottie. 

“what the hell?” louis asks, “you have her number?" 

"mmm,” harry says passively. he tries not to grin at how angry louis sounded at this news, feeling pleased with himself. 

-

harry leans up against his headboard, starting to nod off with his head propped up by his huge mass of pillows his mom had bought for him. he’s so close to falling asleep when louis turns the volume up on his tv, waving the remote around in his hand. 

“how many fucking channels do you get?” louis sneers in mock anger, but the way he excitedly goes to the guide once again tells harry that he’s not really jealous. 

harry shrugs sleepily, head drooping. “put whatever you want on. sorry if i fall asleep." 

he actually does fall asleep almost immediately after warning louis, exhausted from his horrible day at school and from louis’ amazing foot job. he startles awake later not knowing how much time has passed. his room is now almost pitch black except for the light radiating from the tv. 

his vision is blurry from sleep, so he rolls over facing away from louis, intending to go back to bed. then he starts hearing the noises. soft moans coming from the tv on the other side of his room. 

it sounds like a girl and a guy, but harry doesn’t even know if louis is awake or not to hear it. maybe he rolled over on the remote in his sleep and changed the channel to porn by mistake?

——————-

okay, so after the last part cut off, i’m pretty sure they were going to either jerk off in the same bed, or harry was just going to watch louis jerk off, i can’t remember. i should have just finished the fic, i hadn’t realized i had already written half of it LMFAOO.