#'oh this classmate wants to have lunch with me on Saturday after working on something! i should cancel before it's too late-

[thecherrygod]

/

[nyanko-sensei-tte-yonde]

After the joint training exercise, Hitoshi is desperate to catch up to the rest of the Hero course students in time for his transfer. He's having trouble finding people willing to let him use his Quirk on him, which is completely understandable, but it means he's not making the progress he needs. Both Togata and Monoma are willing to help him out, and he's so, so grateful, but when he unwittingly makes Monoma reveal what he really thinks of him, he fucks up so bad he doesn't think he can face him ever again.

[My first time writing fluff, and I still had to throw some angst in there lol. When I was watching season 7 and Shinsou showed back up, I was thinking about who he'd be training his Quirk on and the people who came to mind were Togata (bc he's so chill) and Monoma (bc he likes Shinsou so much). And Eri's there too because she's adorable.

This is set in the period between the Joint Training Arc and the Final War Arc.]

“Are you busy again today, Aizawa-sensei?”

His teacher was strapping on his boots at the door, so the answer was obviously yes. Aizawa looked up at Hitoshi, absently checking his watch. “Yeah, unfortunately. Don’t know when I’ll be back. You’re still trying to find people to train your Quirk on, aren’t you?”

Hitoshi nodded. He’d asked a couple of his classmates in Gen Ed, and while they’d gotten more friendly with him since the Sports Festival, they were, understandably, wary of being used for Brainwashing practice. He’d gotten one of them to agree but even a twenty-minute session had been too much for her and she’d had to quit. Hitoshi was grateful for even that, but it meant he’d gotten basically no practice in the couple weeks since the joint training exercise, especially since Aizawa had been busy with some sort of project at the hospital.

“If I’m going to be transferring to the Hero course next year, I really need to step up my abilities. But it’s been kind of hard to find anybody.”

Aizawa stood up, adjusting his binding cloth and considering for a moment. “Have you tried asking Togata and his friends? They’re around a lot to take care of Eri.”

Hitoshi rubbed his face. He’d interacted with Eri quite a bit since he’d been training with Aizawa, and since Togata was spending pretty much all of his time with her, he’d spoken with him, too. But he wasn’t exactly friendly with the third years and asking them to allow him to Brainwash them seemed like a huge ask. He didn’t have time to express this, though, as Aizawa was already halfway out the door.

“Well, you’ll figure it out. Make sure Eri eats— you can use my card if you order something.” And then the door shut and Hitoshi had no choice but to figure it out.

“Is Aizawa-sensei gone again?” Eri came to the door, clutching a chapter book to her chest.

“Yeah. Is that a book you’re reading?”

“Uh huh. I just finished it and I only needed Lemillion’s help three times! I wanted to show Aizawa-sensei but he’s already gone…”

“That’s okay! You can show him when he gets back.” Togata appeared behind Eri with a stack of books in his arms. “Did you want to start another one, or take a break? You want lunch?”

Eri thought for a moment before nodding.

“Sure thing! What do you wanna eat?”

“Hmm… hamburger steak!”

Hitoshi followed Eri and Togata into the kitchen. It was a Saturday, so Amajiki and Hadou were there, too. If he was going to ask, this was probably his chance.

“Um… I was wondering…”

Togata was bent over as he dug through the fridge, but instead of turning around, he bent further to look at Hitoshi through his legs. “Shinsou! What’s up?”

“Uh…” Maybe this was a bad idea. But he’d already started talking, so he had no choice but to continue. “I was wondering if the three of you might be willing to…help me with Quirk training.”

“Oh!” Togata straightened and whipped around, leaving Amajiki and Hadou to actually find the ingredients to cook with. “Your Quirk is Brainwashing, right? Sounds like fun!”

“I’m sorry, I’m afraid I must refuse,” Amajiki said shakily, clutching an onion and a bell pepper to his chest. “The idea of not being in control of my own body… I think that’s too much for me.”

“Brainwashing? How does it work? What’s it like? What would you need us to do?” Hadou leaned over the kitchen island at Hitoshi with such enthusiasm he had to lean back.

“Well, if someone responds to me verbally while I have my Quirk active, I can control them until I turn it off or they get hit by some sort of impact.” Hitoshi wasn’t used to having people pay this much attention to him. He forced himself to keep his arms down so he didn’t cover his face. “I still can’t make people talk or…do things that require them to think. And that’s what I want to work on.”

“I see! Sure, use me for whatever you need!” Togata was chopping the onion somewhat unevenly. “After lunch?”

“Interesting! I’ll try it, too!” Hadou beamed at him and the force of it was so strong that Hitoshi had to look away. Were all Hero course students this energetic?

Hitoshi nodded. “Yeah. Um, thanks.”

The hamburger steak and accompanying sauce was made with minimal disaster and only a moderate amount of mess to clean up. Hadou volunteered to go first, practically bouncing in her seat.

“Alright… Do you cook much?”

“Not really!” Her face went blank as Hitoshi’s Quirk took hold.

Hitoshi looked at her, unsure of where to start. They’d moved to the couches and Togata was watching with interest as Eri chewed on an apple slice. Amajiki was staring at his friend with some consternation and waving a hand in front of her face.

“Can she see me?” he asked.

Hitoshi nodded. “Yeah, pretty much, but I’m not sure how much she’ll retain afterward.” Another thing to work on. Everyone in the joint training exercise had developed their Quirks so much… Hitoshi felt the gulf between himself and the Hero course students like a soreness. Now that he had a willing test subject in front of him, though, he couldn’t figure out what to have her say.

“Tell us a joke!” Togata said, peeling another apple without looking.

“Sure, tell us a joke,” Hitoshi repeated.

She was silent, staring at the space in front of her with a blank expression that was familiar enough that it didn’t really weird Hitoshi out anymore. Amajiki and Togata were watching with varied amounts of fascination. Togata cut his finger in his distraction, prompting Amajiki to take the apple and knife from him and take over apple-cutting duty.

“Maybe coming up with something’s too much to start with,” Togata said. “You could have try having her repeat something?”

“Okay… Say, ‘I’m a third year Hero course student at U.A.,’” he tried. He could feel the pull of his Quirk on her, trying to work the parts of her brain that would move her mouth and throat so she could talk. It felt sluggish and clumsy and all he managed was getting her to open her mouth and make a little vocalized ah.

“That was something!” Togata exclaimed.

“Not much, though,” Amajiki said quietly. Eri took an apple slice from him and munched it thoughtfully.

“You could try her name?”

“Good idea, Eri-chan.” It was only a few syllables and something Hadou would be used to saying. “Senpai, what’s your name?”

“Hadou…Neji…re…,” came the slow response. It was slurred and zombie-like but clearly discernible.

Hitoshi released his Quirk, happy for the progress but only now realizing how many steps there were between where he was at and where he was trying to get to.

“Whoa, that was weird!” Hadou said as soon as she had control over her own body. “It’s like I could see stuff but I couldn’t move but I didn’t know what I was doing but I don’t really remember anything! So how’d it go?”

“I was able to get you to say your name, but anything more than that didn’t really go anywhere,” Hitoshi said, rubbing his cheek. “And having you saying something you had to make up yourself didn’t work at all.”

“Hmm!” Hadou leaned back against the couch cushions, plucking an apple slice from Amajiki’s hands. “That’s so interesting! Are you gonna do Togata next?”

Togata sprang up from the couch and struck a pose. “Sure! Whaddya need?”

“I guess just, respond to what I say?”

“Okay!” Togata froze as the Brainwashing took hold. His face went blank, but he didn’t otherwise move, creating a bit of a weird effect with his arms in the air for whatever pose he was doing.

“Maybe…just stand normally to start with.”

Togata lowered his arms and straightened his legs so he was standing with his arms at his side. Less weird, but still a little bit weird, just because Hitoshi wasn’t used to the third year not moving animatedly with a wide smile on his face. Eri tilted her head and stared at him with a little furrow in her brow.

“Senpai, what’s your name?” Hitoshi decided to start with something he knew could work.

“Togata Mirio!” Togata answered, voice smooth and only slightly stiff. Hitoshi blinked. There seemed to be a little less resistance with Togata for some reason. Maybe it was the third year’s easygoing attitude. His optimism and cheer was sometimes a little off-putting sometimes, but in this case Hitoshi was just glad it made things easier.

“Who’s your homeroom teacher?”

After a pause, Togata said the name of a teacher Hitoshi didn’t recognize. It seemed to be correct, going off the looks on Amajiki’s and Hadou’s faces.

“Making progress already!” Hadou exclaimed. “Can you, like, feel his mouth moving when you make him talk?”

Hitoshi scratched his cheek. “Not really. There’s not much feedback besides how hard they’re resisting the Brainwashing.”

“I bet he’s not resisting very hard,” Amajiki said. Hitoshi smiled a little and shook his head, at which Amajiki shrunk back into the couch, muttering something about self-preservation instinct and mental fortitude.

“Can you make him move around?” Eri asked.

“Yeah, that’s easier. Anything you wanna see?”

“Make him do that All Might dance from that commercial!”

“That might be harder since he’d have to remember the dance.” Hitoshi wasn’t feeling particularly confident but seeing the eager glint in Eri’s eyes, he had to cave. “We can try it, though.”

Eri nodded eagerly, head bouncing like a bobblehead. Hitoshi suppressed a snort and turned back to Togata before she could snap her neck with the force of her enthusiasm.

Hitoshi didn’t quite remember the dance Eri had been referring to, but that shouldn’t matter as long as Togata knew the moves. He had to try really hard not to feel really stupid as he said, “Senpai, do the All Might dance.”

Togata raised his arms robotically and slowly, silently held them to his head to mimic All Might’s hair tufts. Eri giggled as Togata did the dance, jerky and awkward and completely off rhythm but recognizable. Hitoshi was just about to let himself feel hopeful about his progress when the front door burst open.

“Shinsou-kun! You get lunch yet…?” Monoma froze halfway through the door, plastic 7-11 bag in one hand and mouth dropping open in shock. Togata continued to do the All Might dance, on loop since Hitoshi hadn’t told him to stop, and Monoma dropped the bag and backed out the door, shutting it with a slam.

Eri’s laughter only grew louder as she rolled on the couch. Amajiki coughed and suggested that maybe Togata should stop now. Hitoshi released his Quirk while he ran a mental calculation on whether he should chase after Monoma to explain or go hole up in his dorm room and never come out.

Having been coaxed back inside and bribed with a reheated hamburger steak, Monoma sat at the table in the common area of the faculty dorm and looked around at the gathered third years. “Why didn’t you ask me, Shinsou-kun? I thought we were friends.” He was chewing on his fork as he turned his gaze to Hitoshi with a raised brow.

Hitoshi cleared his throat and hoped the warmth in his cheeks wasn’t visible. It hadn’t occurred to him to ask Monoma— he was a Hero course student and so one of the rivals he was trying to catch up to. And were they friends? Monoma had practically demanded Hitoshi’s number after the joint training exercise and they had been texting a little and had hung out a couple times but it wasn’t like they’d been speaking for that long. At this point he realized he was taking a little too long to answer so he groped for something to say. “Are you saying you’re okay with helping me?”

“I’d love to help you!” Monoma burst out, gesticulating wildly with his fork. Eri was watching its trajectory with wonderment. “We’re kindred spirits, you and I, and now that we’ve fought together we’ll always be comrades-in-arms! How better to stick it to those class A kids than to help you train so you’re better than any of them!”

Hitoshi wasn’t sure what to say to that and decided against mentioning that there was an even chance he’d end up in class A next year. “Oh. Um, thanks.”

“Think nothing of it! In fact, think of it as doing me a favor! This could be the beginning of a historic partnership! With your Brainwashing and my Copy, we’d take the world by storm!”

Hitoshi let himself zone out a little as Monoma continued to rant between bites of food, detailing their epic rise to the top of the Hero charts. He was just glad he’d been able to find people— multiple!— willing to help him train his Brainwashing. Monoma even seemed eager, and as he tuned back in to his speech, Hitoshi couldn’t help but feel a little warm.

* * *

Eri let out a shrill giggle as Monoma crashed into the coffee table. It was enough of an impact to knock him out of the Brainwashing and he dropped to the ground, rubbing his shin. They’d developed a bit of a routine over the last few weeks, Monoma coming by after class or on weekends when he didn’t have his work-study to help Hitoshi train with Togata. Hitoshi was finally starting to make real progress with his Brainwashing and he was able to make people answer simple questions. Things requiring more brainpower than that were still a struggle, and he still needed to really concentrate or he’d slip up and the person he was controlling would veer off and do something he hadn’t been going for.

“Ow, that’s gonna bruise! I didn’t agree to this so you could bodily injure me!”

“Sorry,” Hitoshi said, biting back his own laughter. “Maybe that was trying too many things at once.”

“I, for one, greatly appreciate your sacrifice,” Togata called from the couch. Eri had buried her face in his side, giggles exploding into guffaws at Monoma’s outraged expression. “No one can make Eri-chan laugh like you!”

“Why don’t you try something that doesn’t require me to move around?” Monoma stood up again and crossed his arms, shooting an exaggeratedly prim expression at Hitoshi. “Just have me talk, so I don’t have to risk life and limb for your Quirk training.”

“Er, yeah, okay.” Hitoshi rubbed his neck, in fact feeling a little guilty. He’d had Monoma walk around the room while describing things he saw. Simple, but maybe still a bit ambitious for where he was at. “Hey, Monoma.”

“Yeah?”

Hitoshi felt his Quirk take hold, the vague sensation of something catching on the edges of someone’s consciousness. He pulled at it a little as he spoke. “What’s two plus two?”

“Four,” Monoma answered, voice flat. It was still strange to hear him speak without his usual exaggerated affect.

Eri giggled again. “Even I know that!”

“Yes, you’re very good at math,” Togata agreed.

Hitoshi ignored the peanut gallery. “What’s the capital of France?”

“Paris.”

“Is general trivia really making him think?” Togata asked.

“Hmm, good point,” Hitoshi said. “Who wrote the Arsene Lupin stories?” Monoma had described this character to him once, one of the inspirations for his hero name. Hitoshi didn’t remember the answer himself, but he was trying to see if Monoma could recall it.

“Maurice Leblanc,” Monoma said, rolling the r with an impressive French flourish.

“What’s the plot of one of the novels?”

Monoma was silent. Damn. Was that level of information recall still too much?

“Close your eyes.”

He did so.

“Who else is in the room right now?”

“Shinsou-kun. Eri-chan. Togata-senpai.” The words came out slow, but they were correct.

“Who’s your favorite out of us?” Eri called from the couch.

Hitoshi looked back at her, raising a brow. Eri stared back at him, wide-eyed, nodding eagerly. “Fine. Monoma, who’s your favorite out of the people in this room?”

“Shinsou-kun,” Monoma answered quickly.

Eri burst out into more giggles and Hitoshi felt his face warm a little. “I guess since we were on the same team during the joint training exercise.”

“Aw, that’s really sweet,” Togata said. “I’m glad you two are such good friends!”

Hitoshi cleared his throat, trying to find something else to ask Monoma. “God, this is stupid… What are you thinking about right now?” By this point, he was able to keep the person under his Quirk somewhat conscious, but they’d still often forget what they’d been doing while under the Brainwashing. Maybe with more practice, he could control how much they remembered, but that was probably pretty far off.

“I want you to kiss me,” Monoma said.

Hitoshi released the Brainwashing without meaning to. Behind him, he heard Eri gasp and then protest as she was picked up by Togata.

“Uuh, Eri-chan, why don’t we go for a walk? I’ll buy you a candy apple!”

“Hmm… okay!”

The door closed before Hitoshi finally worked up the courage to say something.

“Sorry about that.”

“About what?” Monoma looked around the room. “Where’d Togata-senpai and Eri-chan go?”

“They left because, um…” Two sides of Hitoshi’s brain warred over what to say. Lie or tell the truth? Brainwash Monoma to forget he’d ever met him? Probably not within the scope of his abilities, not to mention morally objectionable. “They had to go.” Neither side won.

Monoma was making a face at him and Hitoshi sorely wished, not for the first time in his life but for the first time in a while, that he had any Quirk except the one he had, preferably one that could dig him a nice hole to hide in. “Did you make me do something stupid?”

“N-no.” It’d been Hitoshi who’d asked something stupid. “It was nothing, don’t worry about it.”

“Shinsou-kun.” Monoma closed the distance between them and grabbed Hitoshi by the wrist as if worried he was going to run away. Hitoshi had been considering it, but only vaguely, and now it was too late to act on the impulse. “What was it?” His voice was gentle but probing.

Now that Monoma had touched him, there was a chance he’d Copied Hitoshi’s Brainwashing and could use it to force Hitoshi to tell him, or do something embarrassing until he did. They’d tried that a few times, and thanks to that Hitoshi knew how it felt to be under his Quirk and had even been able to use that to speed up his progress. He didn’t think Monoma would Copy and use his Quirk without asking but the threat of it was enough to make him still, though he continued to look anywhere but at him. “Eri-chan wanted to know who you liked the most out of the three of us,” Hitoshi said. His wrist felt hot where Monoma’s hand was clasped around it. He was probably sweating. “And you said me.”

Monoma snorted. “Well, sure, I talk to you the most. Why would that make them leave?”

“Then I asked what you were thinking about and you said…” Hitoshi glanced at Monoma’s face. He’d stepped even closer and Hitoshi’s vision was filled with the blue-gray of his eyes. Hitoshi couldn’t stop his gaze from flickering down to Monoma’s lips and he felt his face burn as he forced the words out. “You said you wanted me to kiss you.”

Monoma’s eyes went wide and Hitoshi saw a twinge of recollection in his face. “Shinsou-kun—”

“Sorry, I think I should go.” Hitoshi shook himself free and rushed to the door, ducking his head to avoid eye contact.

“Hey, wait!”

“Don’t follow me!” Hitoshi couldn’t suppress a flinch as his Quirk took hold of Monoma. He hadn’t meant to do that, but it gave him the opportunity to get out of there, so he took it. For the first time, he felt Monoma struggling against the Brainwashing. Hitoshi picked up his pace and felt the connection fall away about halfway across the lawn in front of the faculty dorm. He saw Togata and Eri returning down the sidewalk, Eri happily munching on her promised candy apple, and ran in the direction of the Gen Ed dorms, hoping they hadn’t seen him. He didn’t stop until he’d locked the door of his dorm room behind him and then sat down against the door.

That had gone incredibly shittily, for a number of reasons. He’d used his Quirk against his friend, someone who’d been trying to help him get into the Hero course, against his will. Monoma had made himself open to what were essentially psychic attacks and Hitoshi had not only violated that trust but also forced Monoma to divulge something private and probably really embarrassing. Some hero student Hitoshi was turning out to be.

Monoma definitely wouldn’t want Hitoshi to kiss him now, if he even wanted to see him again. Hitoshi couldn’t blame him if he didn’t. He felt the bile rise up in his throat, familiar and sour after years of reckless, defiant resolve to prove everyone wrong. Indulging an impulse he hadn’t since middle school, he put his forehead against his knees and let the self-loathing wash over him.

Maybe ten seconds later his phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket to see Monoma had texted him an ominous ‘Shinshou-kun.’ Hitoshi stared at it for a few minutes, too scared to open it and send a read receipt. Monoma sent one more ‘Heyyy!!!’ After several minutes there were no more messages. Hitoshi let out the breath he’d been holding and put a hand over his face. He wasn’t sure if the tightness in his chest was disappointment or relief.

* * *

Hitoshi hadn’t gone back to the faculty dorm in a week. Aizawa-sensei wasn’t around much these days but he was able to train with his binding cloths by himself on school grounds, though he was pretty much just going through the motions at this point. He’d hoped doing some familiar drills would keep his mind off things, help him focus, but swinging around the trees before class and trying to remember to keep his wrists loose did little to occupy his thoughts. If anything, it was only making him feel worse.

Hitoshi landed softly on the grass (falling had been the first thing Aizawa had drilled into him) and looked down at the new callouses forming on his hands. Was there even a point to this? He’d spent weeks, months at this point carving out space for himself, training and sweating and getting his ass kicked by Aizawa-sensei so he could finally have his dream within his grasp. But if last week was anything to go by, he’d only proved that everyone had been right all along, and all his powers were good for was villainy.

Hitoshi checked the time before coiling up the binding cloth. The carbon fibers glinted a little in the light. He flexed his fingers against the fabric, feeling the scratchy texture of the weave. He hadn’t texted Monoma, or even really seen him. Monoma hadn’t texted him since the incident, either, which confirmed the theory that he didn’t want anything to do with him anymore. In the normal course of the school year Hitoshi didn’t really get opportunities to interact with the Hero course kids, so he might not see him again for the rest of the semester. That was probably for the best.

Hitoshi frowned. Staring at his hands wasn’t going to help him get a handle on his feelings, it’d only make him late so he tucked the cloth into his bag and headed to class.

He was antsy the whole morning, barely able to pay attention to the lectures. There was a pop quiz in math he’d definitely bombed. Working to get into the Hero course hadn’t distracted him so much before; he’d only stubbornly thrown himself into his training while keeping his grades up with sheer force of will and sleep deprivation. Hitoshi heaved a sigh as the bell rang for lunch. He saw a couple of his classmates staring at him, but mercifully they didn’t try to ask him about it. He’d been using lunch periods to train more, so they went ahead without him.

He wasn’t feeling up to training right then, though, so he pushed himself up from his desk and followed the rest of the class to the cafeteria. In the hallway, he saw a familiar swoop of blond hair and Togata was upon him before he could formulate an escape plan.

“Shinsou, it’s been a minute! How you been?”

“Alright,” Hitoshi said, avoiding eye contact. He hoped the terse response would get Togata to leave, but he wasn’t so lucky.

“Eri-chan’s been a little sad not to see you. Is something going on?” Togata’s voice was cheerful and airy as always, but Hitoshi still had the feeling of being cross-examined.

“You know, exams and stuff,” Hitoshi said to the floor. He kept his hands in his pockets so they wouldn’t be tempted to fidget and give him away. “Can’t let my grades slip or they might pull my transfer.”

“Oh, I thought your grades were really good,” Togata said, voice filled with thoughtful surprise. “Did you still need someone to train your Quirk with? I’m always happy to help. Heck, I can tutor you if you’re worried about your grades.”

Togata was being weirdly, characteristically nice, which was just making Hitoshi uncomfortable. Hitoshi cleared his throat. “No, I think I’m good. Thanks.”

“Hmm,” was Togata’s response. He eyed Hitoshi for a moment and opened his mouth to say something. As Hitoshi steeled himself, he seemed to think better of it and grinned at him. “Well, let me know if there’s anything you need.”

Hitoshi just nodded mutely. Another third year turned the corner and took Togata’s attention, so he was spared from having to verbalize a reply. Togata hadn’t said anything about Monoma, but Hitoshi found himself unable to push the thought of him from his mind as he reached the cafeteria. Togata and Eri had gotten back to the faculty dorm right after Hitoshi had made his exit. They would have found Monoma there, after Hitoshi had done something terrible and then run away on top of that. What had Monoma said to them? Whatever it’d been, it’d probably been nicer than he deserved.

The cafeteria was already crowded as Hitoshi entered. He started to make his way to the back of the line, looking at the clock over the door and trying to calculate if he’d even get his food in time to eat. He was feeling a little nauseous, probably from the lack of sleep, so maybe it’d be better to just grab a seat and try to take a nap at a table.

All the introspection meant he wasn’t looking where he was going, and he bumped into another student. Damn, he had to get his shit together. “Sorry,” he muttered, registering who he’d bumped into too late.

“Shinsou-kun!”

Hitoshi froze as he looked up and locked eyes with Monoma. “Fuck.” He found himself unable to escape as Monoma grabbed his wrist and got up in his face. He looked everywhere except at Monoma.

“Is that all you have to say for yourself?” Monoma hissed, lacking his usual drama and exuberance.

“Can we not…do this here?” Hitoshi continued to stare at the floor, trying to get his brain to start going again. Here they were, the consequences of his actions. Monoma definitely hated him and was going to let him have it.

“What, are you gonna Brainwash me and run away again?”

Hitoshi couldn’t suppress a flinch. He felt the absurd urge to laugh, like a toddler caught doing something wrong, and that made him feel like even more of a piece of shit. He tamped it down. “…No.”

Monoma huffed a sigh, but his grip on Hitoshi’s arm didn’t loosen. “You know what, just, come here.” He started to drag Hitoshi toward the doors. For someone smaller than him and not particularly muscular, Monoma was surprisingly strong. Hitoshi didn’t fight him, only glancing over his shoulder on the way out to see the orange-haired girl from 1-B staring at them from over her noodles.

Monoma pulled them into an unused classroom and pushed Hitoshi further inside until they were out of view from the door. He blocked in Hitoshi between the desks, cutting off an easy exit. He was also entirely too close and Hitoshi found his gaze going to Monoma’s mouth again.

“You’ve been avoiding me.”

“It’s not like we get a lot of chances to see each other, since we’re in different courses.”

“Then you’ve stopped going out of your way to see me.”

“I guess, yeah.” Hitoshi ducked his head. It took two seconds of fighting with his mouth to finally blurt out, “I’m really sorry! You trusted me enough to let me use my Quirk on you, and I Brainwashed you without your permission. And I made you say something private in front of people… If you never want to see me again, I understand. I know I should’ve… apologized sooner.” He forced himself to look at Monoma, afraid of his disgust but also needing to know what kind of face he was making.

Monoma was scowling, looking just to the right of Hitoshi’s jaw. After several seconds, he finally said, “Yeah, that wasn’t very nice of you to just run off.”

Hitoshi’s insides were cold mush. He could see Monoma trying to disguise his hurt with his usual blithe smile, but it was unsteady. Hitoshi let out a shaky breath. “Maybe I am just a villain,” he muttered.

“Excuse me? What are you talking about?”

It’d been directed at himself, but since Hitoshi had said it out loud, of course Monoma had heard. Hitoshi once more wished for a hole to hide in, not that one was likely to open in up the floor of the classroom, but he deserved to take his lumps, even if it was making him feel like he was being skinned alive. “Cause I… I violated your trust. And after you called me your friend… I was terrible.”

Monoma’s scowl morphed into a frown, but not the kind Hitoshi had been expecting. “What are you, stupid?”

“What?”

“We were training! Yeah, your Quirk lets you dig around in my head a little, but that’s a risk I willingly took on when I agreed to train with you. I mean, you know how many concussions I’ve gotten from my classmates in training exercises?”

“But—”

“Look, you’re not a bad person, okay? Your Quirk isn’t evil and you’re not a villain! It’s not like you made me hurt someone! You didn’t hurt me.”

“Doesn’t me Brainwashing you at all hurt you?” Hitoshi could feel himself losing a logical battle he hadn’t been prepared for.

“No! And even if it did, I agreed to it! At some point you have to respect the fact that I make my own choices.”

Hitoshi didn’t have a response for that. Monoma was the sort of person who could talk circles around anyone, but Hitoshi couldn’t help but still feel deeply guilty.

“Also… if you were that bothered about me wanting to kiss you, you could’ve just… said that. You didn’t have to avoid me over it…”

Hitoshi’s cheeks heated and his head whipped up to look at Monoma, who’d bowed his head and was avoiding eye contact. “What? No, that didn’t bother me.”

“Isn’t that why you ran off and stopped talking to me? I mean, I get it, if you don’t…like me, just, tell me you’re not interested, okay?”

The shape of Hitoshi’s fuckup suddenly became very clear. He shook his head emphatically, a hand coming up to cover his face. “N-no, that wasn’t it at all! I was just… I was surprised, okay? I didn’t know what to do!” He stumbled backwards a step and felt the back of his thigh hit a desk. “I’d just never… thought about it before…”

“So you didn’t hate the idea?” Monoma’s voice was quiet as Hitoshi lowered his hand.

“I just figured… you wouldn’t want to anymore… since you probably hated me…”

Monoma snorted. “I don’t lose interest in someone so easily.” His gaze was on the floor and Hitoshi’s hand hovered awkwardly in the air between them, torn between going back to his side or reaching out and…

Their eyes met and Monoma reached up to tangle his fingers in Hitoshi’s hair. Hitoshi let out a yelp as he was pulled forward and then Monoma’s lips were on his and his eyes went wide in shock. Monoma’s eyes were closed, blond lashes ticking Hitoshi’s face. Hitoshi realized he should probably close his eyes too, and maybe kiss him back and then his only thoughts were that Monoma’s lips were soft and he’d been stupid for not talking to him sooner. His hands traveled up to the sides of Monoma’s face to pull him closer, pushing himself forward. He breathed out a sigh and pushed his tongue into Monoma’s mouth because all he wanted was to taste him.

Monoma broke off the kiss, grinning a little as Hitoshi dumbly tried to chase his mouth. “So? I didn’t… ruin everything?”

“No! Of course not!” Hitoshi cleared his throat. “I hope… I didn’t ruin things, either.”

“No.” Monoma chuckled. “For the sort of guy who says ‘I’m not here to make friends’, you really get bothered by this kind of thing.” He started fiddling with Hitoshi’s collar. “We’re still friends. I still like you. I’ll keep training with you, if you still want that.”

“If I still want— Do you? Isn’t getting Brainwashed kind of awful?”

“It’s not awful! I kind of… like it.” His voice trailed off at the end until Hitoshi could barely hear it.

Hitoshi coughed. “I can’t believe you’d say something like that.” He couldn’t believe anyone would say something like that. His face was hot and he wanted to hide again, just because he was so overwhelmed. “Is that… something you’re into?”

“You little!” Monoma smacked Hitoshi’s arm, taking Hitoshi’s genuine question as teasing. “Don’t make me Copy your Quirk! Maybe I’ll give you a taste of your own medicine!”

Hitoshi bit back a laugh. The weight that’d been in his chest for the past week was suddenly gone, replaced with blooming warmth. “Yeah? What kind of horrendous things would you make me do?”

“Shut up, for one thing!”

“I really want to kiss you again.” Hitoshi’s voice was hoarse and his face burned as he said it.

Monoma held up his arms defensively and looked away, cheeks hot pink. “Jeez! I told you to shut it, not say something embarrassing!”

“I’m not embarrassed.” Not entirely true, but seeing Monoma flustered for once was rare enough he wasn’t going to squander it. “Are you?” He reached out and put his hand around Monoma’s arm. His skin was soft and warm under his fingers.

“No! Why would I be?” Monoma didn’t pull away, but stared at Hitoshi’s hand like he couldn’t figure out its geometry on his arm.

“You’re, like, bright red.” He swallowed the lump in his throat. “So, can I?”

“Do whatever you want.”

Hitoshi leaned forward, suddenly, absurdly, nervous as he pressed his lips against Monoma’s again. He laughed a little and pulled back to try again. An ecstatic little rush went through him as he felt Monoma sigh against his mouth and melt into him. Hitoshi heard a click as the door opened. He opened one eye to peek over Monoma’s shoulder and saw his friend from before standing in the doorway in open-mouthed shock. After a good eight seconds of silence, she saluted before shutting the door gently.

Monoma laughed into Hitoshi’s mouth and pulled back just far enough to say, “Oh no, did we get caught?” His lips ghosting against Hitoshi’s felt like heaven.

Hitoshi nodded. He pulled Monoma back to him and let his eyes fall shut again. “I guess you have some explaining to do to your friend.” He smiled against Monoma’s groan. “But in a few minutes.”

[acustardduckling]

Ooh, Racing Pulse sounds interesting. Please tell me more about that

Will do! 😊

Racing Pulse was my Master's Degree project, I had to write the better half of a book to receive my overall grade. I did that much, but I didn't continue it long after ... I still want to someday, I know how it's meant to end, but I've just not been inspired to do so for a few years.

The basic premise follows a high-school girl, Ivy, and her friend Amber. Their classmates are all hyped up about the upcoming valentines dance, but Ivy cares way more about the school's ghostly rumours and the mysterious disappearance of one of her classmates. Unfortunately, her investigation is cut short by .... spoilers!

Here's an extract:

On this particular Monday, we were doing some workbook activities on how the Cold War impacted Western society. It had been rather slow-going, and most people were chatting amongst themselves instead of focusing. Even I was finding it difficult to concentrate.

“Ivy,” Ethan spoke across to me. My head immediately snapped up. “You know how the dance is on Saturday?”

“Yes?”

“Well, you’re the smartest person I know,” he took a pause, and I felt my throat tighten. All my opinions about the dance being stupid, fanciful nonsense had suddenly been put in stasis. “I don’t know if you’re going with anyone, but I feel like you’d understand what’s expected of an invitation better than I do. Which is why I wanted to ask…”

This was it. What else could it be? I was all ears, on the edge of my seat, he had my full attention.

But then he continued:  “You’re friends with Amber, so I was wondering if you’d know the best approach. I’m not really sure—”

I didn’t bother listening to the rest of the sentence. I stared straight ahead as I felt a slow, hollow pain start to well up from within. My heart had slipped out of my ribcage and landed heavily on my stomach.

“Just ask her,” I spat, “I’m not your go-between. Josh already asked, and she said maybe.”

I sat there, consumed with emotion, trying to figure out what I was feeling. Anger? Sorrow? Pity, disgust, annoyance? And at whom? Ethan? Myself?

“Oh,” was all he said for a while. No doubt he was trying to work out what I was feeling too. I had concealed my expression the best I could. “I suppose it’d make sense to be direct.”

We didn’t speak for the remainder of the lesson.

I told Amber about Ethan’s plans at lunchtime. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of surprising her. I would’ve told her even sooner, during our scheduled breaktime, but she’d been held back in her Food Technology classroom to finish baking. I hadn’t wanted to discuss the matter with her tutor hovering nearby, so lunchtime was the next best opportunity to discuss it.

“….and you should most certainly reject him. Josh would be the better option.”

We’d taken our lunch outdoors this time, crunching warm paninis in the bitter frost of February. The snow was thick again, and the sky was clear, but the towering school building shielded us from the worst of the wind.

“Are you sure, Vee?”

“Deathly. I’ve already told you how uppity he is, but he also has poor perception of other’s feelings. That’s not something you want in a Valentine. He’s detestable.”

“If you say so… do you really hate him that much? I thought you were friends.”

“No. He’s the worst.”

“Worse than Greg?”

“Nobody’s worse than Greg, but Greg isn’t here.”   

“Well, I don’t know, but I won’t say yes for your sake. I’m still thinking about it all.”

I knew I was being selfish, but I couldn’t explain – if she found out, she would’ve made me ask him to the dance. I couldn’t think of anything worse. For a moment, we ate in silence.

“Do you think Greg ran away so he wouldn’t have to go to the dance?” asked Amber, seemingly out of nowhere. I had to pause.

“No, I think if that were the reason, he would’ve disappeared on the day. Going missing draws too much attention to himself. But … he was a huge attention-seeker in the first place—” I stopped short as a figure caught the corner of my eye. All the students in the quad were minding their own business, hurrying to the cafeteria or chatting in their own groups. That is, all but one. One lone girl was staring straight at us; I could tell by her stance. Poised. Unmoving.  

When I looked over, I realised I’d been mistaken. There was nobody there, only a stone wall. Amber giggled at my distraction.

“You’re usually the focused one, Vee! What’re you looking at?”

“Nothing,” I lied. Was it a lie? No, it was the truth, because it’d been an honest mistake. “Anyway, I don’t think that’s what happened.”

“Yeah… I’m starting to get worried.”

[marischimmer]

Vignar - Chapter 1, Part 2

– You are...? –

– Princess Lisette, of course! –

– Princess? You have kingdom? –

– No... –

– Then we make one! –

She woke up, hating herself for dreaming about that stupid girl again. Why should she keep seeing her in her sleep, when she was nothing but some disloyal subject? Yes, she may have been one of her first friends, and she may have waited for her to come back for months, but that had nothing to do with this! She was a nobody, a really annoying nobody.

She started her makeup routine, still complaining. Who was she kidding? Of course she’d dream about her, she used to be her best friend. Deep down inside, she hoped nothing bad happened to her. Maybe she just moved away without notice, or something. It didn’t matter. She shouldn’t give it any further thought, she concluded, brushing her shiny, black hair. After some minutes of choosing what to wear, she headed to the canteen, wanting to have breakfast before the students started showing up. She should go to the town later to get her own food, so she didn’t have to eat that commoner food.

Gosh, she could be so arrogant sometimes.

Shaking the thought off her head, she avoided every single person until she got in and out of the dining room. The juice and the cupcakes weren’t that bad anyways.

Back at the dorm, she decided to tidy everything before the new girl showed up. She couldn’t understand why she had to share the room, she specifically said she wouldn’t accept it back when she enrolled in the school. Well, at least they were sensible enough to pair her with another girl; that weird genderless policy wasn’t for her. But anyways, if she was going to have a roommate, at least she should give a good first impression, even if she didn’t plan to talk to her just for the sake of it, less being friends.

It didn’t take much time. Her room was always spotless after all. Soon she was out again, headphones on, straight to town. It was too small for her; she could run into other students too easily, it was annoying. Still, it was good enough for the main purposes: shopping the basics, hanging around and escaping school. Probably the best thing to do would be to stay the whole day there, window shopping and walking at snail pace. Just to avoid going back to the dorms.

But just as she was reaching the main avenue, a familiar, friendly face ran into her.

�� Up so early? – she asked as a greeting, smiling, headphones off. The purple haired boy chuckled, rolling his eyes.

– Nope, I ain’t slept at all. I’ve been working, y’know, I always work Fridays and Saturdays’ nights, remember? That guy’s probably ending up in my pros’ list tho, he wasn’t bad at all – he joked, knowing there was nothing to fear in talking freely with her.

– How much this time? –

– Enough to pay for the next three lunches – he beamed, and she let out a chuckle – This one’s been a good one. Bet the purple suits me, ain’t it? But anyways, what are you doing here? Escaping the common subjects? –

– What else would I be doing here? –

– Enjoying life for once, maybe? Oh, right, too simple for your majesty –

– Very funny, Damon, very funny… If you stop fooling around, I’ll have breakfast with you; my treat, of course –

– Royal breakfast? Sweet! I’d never miss one! –

– Especially if it’s for free… – she joked, teasingly. Damon surely ate a lot, but she didn’t mind it. He was her only friend after all; she had to accept him as he was. And if that meant buying food all the time, then why not? She had enough money to afford it. Who said money didn’t buy friendship?

– Princess, are you listenin’? –

– Oh, sorry. What were you saying? –

– The new classmate. Word says you’re sharing rooms with her. They must be crazy if they thought pairing a haphephobic, kindness-needed girl with you was a good idea –

– You say that as if I were-! Wait, how do you know that? –

– Tracy is my roommate –

– Oh. Right. Still, I’m not a monster –

– Well, I guess you ain’t one. My bad. I apologize, your highness – he teased, messing her hair up – Where are we going to anyways? –

– You know where –

– Palazzo? Sweet –

– Damon… Do you… Do you think she’s gonna hate me? – she asked, worry eating her. There it was, her real voice. Not the fake, arrogant one. For once, he gave it deep thought before answering.

– Well…  That depends a lot on what she’s like. But I don’t hate you, right? She may as well see you ain’t just an arrogant piece of shit, like everyone thinks you are. But we can’t know till we meet her, so don’t worry about that, ‘kay? It’s gonna be fine, promise – he reassured her, striking her hair slowly to calm her down – And if she ain’t nice to you, I’ll get one of my guys to make her –

– …Thanks, Dei –

– Heh, what are friends for? You’re welcome –

Having breakfast with him was nice. Damon usually ate so much she just took bits from his plate. They kept on rambling about random things until they decided two hours in a café was more than enough and left, heading back to school.

– Very well, princess, I’m off to the canteen. Can’t go without my third breakfast! You’ll be okay by yourself, right? –

– Yes, it is not a problem, you can go, Cookie Monster – 

– Sweet. See you later, princess – he chuckled, patting her head, far from getting annoyed for the nickname.

Now that she was back at school, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to go back to her room to load her phone’s battery, maybe even start doing that awful Math homework; it would take her years to finish it, anyways.

Headphones on again, she headed to the dorms, glaring at anyone who looked in her direction. Common subjects didn’t deserve to. 

There it was, the arrogant princess again. She should work on that. Some time. Not today.

Soon she was opening her door… and closing it again to check the number. Yes, it was the 216. She opened it again and looked carefully at her roommate’s side, for she obviously had already arrived.

Anything slim enough to tie something around it was covered with branches. Branches. The bed frame, the desk, even the curtain bar looked like trees. And that wasn’t all, oh, no, it wasn’t. Both the bed cover and the curtains were green. Leaf-patterned. Bet the sheets were, too. Were those stones on top of her drawer?? Just what kind of girl could this be, turning her room into some kind of forest?

And why did it look so good?

She stormed out of the room. Her phone didn’t need charging anyways. And she could do the homework in the library. She suppressed the tears trying to take over her eyes.

Of all the people she could have as a roommate, it had to be a nature-lover. 

[its-tiamat]

|| CHANGING PLANS 1 ||

The reader gets ditched by Mina and, in an unexpected turning of events, finds themselves stuck in the common hall with Bakugo. Anyway, I'm hoping to turn this into a series, so try to read it as chapter one for now <3

Pairings: Bakugo x fem!reader

Warnings: Swearing (#LetBakugoSayFuck); pining just in case

NEXT

masterlist

Just before heading out, you checked yourself in the mirror. Adjusting your hair, you smiled at your reflection and mentally gave yourself a compliment. They say it's supposed to boost your self esteem, huh.

It was a Saturday morning and, as usual, you and your friend and classmate Mina were planning to go on a stroll at the local market. It had become an habit to go out every weekend, to buy some fresh foods, snacks, or simply to ease your mind from the pressure of school.

When you rushed in the common hall just to find it empty, your smile dropped. You waited for a while. Was Mina late? She often was late for classes, but never for this. Had she fallen back asleep? I mean, yesterday's training had been harsh, you couldn't blame her. But Sato had asked you to buy some stuff for a new recipe he wanted to try, so you had to get going if you wanted to complete your list of errands before lunch.

Half an hour passed, then you decided you'd go upstairs and knock at her door.

As you were taking the first step, you heard a familiar voice just behind you.

"Your friend ditched you, huh?"

You froze.

Fuck.

It was Katsuki. Where did he even come out from? You knew he couldn't have been in the room. You would have noticed. You always do. You slowly turned around, to find him standing right in front of you. You stared at each other.

"Oh, maybe Mina just fell back asleep" you answered, after an embarrassingly long time, "I'm gonna check on her."

"She won't be there." He seemed sure of what he was saying.

"Huh?"

"They've all fucking gone somewhere. Her, Shitty-hair, and even that idiot with the yellow hair fucked off."

You tried to play it cool: "She must've forgotten to tell me she was busy, then."

"No" said Bakugo, dry, "I bet this is just one of the stupid pranks they are planning to pull on me. And I bet" he added, making a step towards you, while you subconsciously held your breath "I bet racoon eyes didn't tell you on purpose."

"Why would she?" You asked with a skeptical tone. Them pulling pranks on Katsuki wasn't a new thing, it had become more like a part time job for Mina. But why would she cut you out like that?

"I'm telling you why," answered Katsuki, grinning "this time they are planning a prank that's so fucking stupid, that they fear you would tell them to stop if you knew. After all, you are the only one with some common sense."

Wait. Was that a compliment?

"Oh. Well, thank you Kats-"

"Yeah, whatever. I'm going back to my room."

~

Bakugo walked past you, and started to rapidly climb the stairs, when he heard you calling for him.

"Wait" you said, "do you even know what they want to do?"

He stopped. He didn't. He wasn't even sure they were actually working on something. He should have told you the shit the way it is, but you seemed so impressed by his prediction. And after all, those idiots were probably pulling a prank on him for real.

"They must be waiting for me at the training grounds" he said in the end, "shitty hair and I usually go there on Saturdays."

"Uh-huh" you nodded from the bottom of the stairs. "So do you just plan to hole up in your room as a countermeasure?"

"Well," he said mockingly, "here comes your better plan, I guess."

Your eyes lost their little spark for a moment, then you murmured something he didn't grasp. Your voice just got so small, so thin.

"What did you just say, huh?" he scorned from the stairs.

"Whatever, Bakugo" you looked right back at him, with a new expression. He was taken aback by the sheer indignation printed on your face. "I'm better alone anyway. Go to your room, or wherever the fuck you want."

Now this was new. You talked back, and you were quite confident in it.

But what surprised Bakugo even more, was his own inability to counter you. What the hell was happening?

He observed you from his higher ground. He noticed how your hair framed your face, how nice your features looked, even now that he made you angry. What were you trying to say?

You huffed and turned away, rushing towards the doors. He glanced at you one more time while you tugged you bag closer to your chest, pulling a note out of it. Well, it was a bit too fucking late, huh. You were already heading to the market.

The market.

You were going alone.

You were trying to invite him to the market.

Fuck.

He could still come, you were still there. Yeah sure, you could keep hoping. There was no way he would let himself get dragged to that stupid market. But you were alone. What if something happened? What if you needed help carrying the groceries? What if... well shit, you always looked like you knew how to take care of yourself. Plus, he just said he was going to his room. To avoid those idiots, to avoid those fucking extras. But sooner or later, they'd come looking for him. Maybe the market was a safer place, nobody expected him to go there. He would never. Then why would he go now? It was just you after all. Just you.

Ah, fuck it!

~

You huffed and turned towards the doors, while reaching into your bag and looking for your grocery list. Well, Sato's grocery list. You had to hurry now. That pathetic scene you just put up just wasted more of your already scarce time.

"I'm coming with you."

For the second time that day, you froze on your spot. You looked behind your shoulder.

"What did you just say?"

Katsuki smiled. "Paying me back with my own words now, huh. I said I'm coming with you."

He ran upstairs: "Just give me a second, I gotta wear something better than the fucking training suit."

[kuroosweakness]

things the haikyuu boys did when they had a crush on you 

miya atsumu 

started wearing whatever you really liked wearing/complimented him on. if you mentioned the print on his shirt, you best bet he’ll be wearing that shirt for a whole week straight. a shirt he once thought nothing of is now his favorite shirt. 

“‘tsumu, why don’t you try changing. you know, y/n could probably smell you a mile away,” osamu said to atsumu one morning as they were walking to school. 

“nuh uh,” atsumu quipped back. ��i washed it with the detergent y/n likes.” 

“oh so you finally learned how the washing machine works?” 

“‘samu you’re ruining it for me.” 

asked overly-personal questions. not to be creepy or weird, but because he cherished the information he knew about you that no one else did; it made him feel special 

“y/n, do you have any big regrets?” 

“is there um, anyone you feel really happy around?” 

“what’s your guilty pleasure? c’mon everyone has them.” 

“have you ever been bullied?” 

got visibly irritated whenever another guy interrupted your conversation with him. or if you were just smiling too hard when talking to a guy he doesn’t know about

“if you keep frowning like that, you’ll look like a grandpa by next year,” osamu said right before biting into his onigiri. 

“shut up, ‘samu,” he groaned, trying his best to distract himself from the fact that you looked happier talking to another guy than him. did you smile that hard when he made a joke? he sure hopes so :’ 

kuroo tetsurou 

pointed out the smallest differences in you. he noticed the slightest changes in your body language, style, mood, etc etc. on your bad days, he desperately wanted to ask if anything was wrong, but didn’t want to risk overstepping boundaries. so he just asked “how’s your day?” and even if you answered with a “good/fine/okay” he would know you weren’t telling the full truth 

if you came to school wearing a brand new pair of shoes, he’ll point it out and tease you all about it. if you showed up with a new hairstyle, kuroo won’t say anything, but you can tell he noticed because of the way he looks at it. 

even if you cut off three centimeters of your hair, he probably noticed. 

kept trying to fix his appearance around you 

he tried making it really subtle too. he’ll smooth down his jacket, try to flatten down his hair, and straighten his collar around you in hopes that it’ll make him look a bit better (he’s such a cutie 🥺 okay who’s gonna tell him that he’s looks perfectly fine the way he is) 

teased you, in a flattering way. the type of teasing where you have to force yourself from smiling too hard. and he only does it to you! no one else is worth his teasing 

but the moment someone else starts teasing you, he’d act a little ... distant. he’d back off and just watch you interact with them. if you look uncomfortable, he’d immediately put a stop to it and put them back in their place. 

called you by a nickname only he uses

at first, he used it as a joke. but overtime, it just stuck and now it doesn’t feel right for him to call you by your first name. again, the annoyance is clear on his face when someone called you by the same nickname 

~~~

when you first met kenma, he said, “y/n? i’ve heard a lot *glances at kuroo* about you.” 

suna rintarou 

lowkey protects you. such as putting an arm in front of you, shielding you with his body, draping his jacket over your head, lending you his umbrella, that type of stuff (ugh just kiss already) 

he acted like it was no big deal. it’s not like he’d admit it was on his mind for a whole week. the miya twins knew something was up when suna suggested watching a romance movie. (suna needed new scenarios with you in his head) 

subtly invited you everywhere, made excuses to be around you 

“hey, we have a game on saturday at *specific location* in case you wanna come” 

“since they’re having a buy-one-get-one-free, it’ll be a shame if you didn’t come along ...” 

“since we’re both headed towards that place, might as well go together” 

unexpectedly defended you/your opinion in conversations and class. even though suna rarely talks in class, if you brought up a point/answer, he’d defend it

sakusa kiyoomi 

had trouble meeting your eyes without blushing 

even with his mask on, you could see the redness spread across his cheekbones whenever you spoke to him. 

always plopped himself in a seat close to you, even with all those other empty seats 

his became more soft, gentle, and high-pitched around you, his posture became less stiff 

it’s subtle; he didn’t even notice a change in his own voice. maybe because there’s nothing else on his mind when he’s talking to you? 

always walked a little bit slower in the hallways when he saw you pass by and eyed you, hoping that you’d notice him like the way he noticed you

bokuto koutarou 

stumbled with his words and forgot basic things around you

“class? what do you mean by ‘we have to go to class’??” 

listened intently to everything you said and memorized facts about you better than his vocabulary words 

“akaashi, did you know that y/n’s favorite ice cream flavor is ...” 

“nope, y/n can’t make it today. how do i know? because they told me in advance :D oh wait, y/n’s not gonna be here today?? D’:”

made a handshake with you to do in front of everyone to show off that your connection with him is special

the pride he felt when everyone gathered around to watch you and him do your special handshake 🥺

got you gifts out of nowhere simply because you said you liked it

his mindset goes: getting y/n ___ = y/n happy :) i better get it for them before someone does 

tendou satori 

always lends you his stationary and whenever he forgets a pencil, you’re the first person he asks. don’t worry, he always returns them right after :) 

he also loves “borrowing” your personal things. the idea of you trusting him is really special to him. plus, whenever someone asks him where he got it, he gets to say, “oh, it’s y/n’s.” 

loves, loves, loves passing notes in class!! 

he kept all of your conversations with him in a special little box hidden in his room. 

complimented the little things he knows you care about! 

he loves seeing that beautiful smile of yours while knowing he’s the cause of it.

he smiles so much around you <33  tendou’s smile is so contagious it’s hard to be sad around him. not to mention he always knows how to cheer you up :’ 

iwaizumi hajime 

whenever his friends talked about hot actors and classmates they found attractive, he never joined in. (if you were there, he’d be glancing at you ever-so-often) 

he’d always offer to walk/drive you home. every single day. even if you insisted that he didn’t need to, it would take another five minutes of convincing him. if you said yes, he happily got you home. no matter what occasion, he always asked you. it was your regular, daily routine with him :) 

made jokes only for you to hear. he loved having inside jokes with you that only you two understood. the confusion on other peoples’ faces was satisfying. 

akaashi keiji 

had a lot of sympathy for you over small things (and big things too, of course) 

if your weekend plans got messed up, if you lost your jacket, forgot your stationary, tripped on the stairs, he’s the person you go to to talk about these things. he never belittles your struggles and always finds a way to help you feel better 

always checked in with you and made sure you had a lunch to eat 

even if your classroom is across the campus, you better expect him to be at the front door after your class is over

tried his best to get to know your friends and family (and pets!) 

akaashi best boy 🥺 the way he sees your friends and family as his own because he knows how much they matter to you 

-> a/n: i hope you like these hehe :))

[helliontherapscallion]

(Y/n) and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week: Monday

Tuesday     Wednesday     Thursday (Part 1)     Thursday (Part 2)     Friday     Saturday     Sunday

Spotify Playlist (collaborative)

Pairing: SBI x sister!reader (she/her pronouns)

Warnings: swearing, toxic friends, panic spirals/attacks, injury, taking pills for pain

Summary: you have a very bad week, how will you manage? (Characters are fully human, but based on their DSMP characters. High school AU)

Word count: 4,818

(A/N): I’ve never played volleyball or watched Haikyuu before, so I’m not 100% certain how games work. Also, I probs should’ve split this into two parts, but eh.

“(Y/n) love, you look homeless in that sweater, it’s literally so fucking ugly.”

“Haha, yeah it is. I guess I just wasn’t really trying today.”

Adrian snorted, scanning your body with his cold eyes. “Today? You don’t try at all. You always look like trash.”

“More than trash, you always look like you just rolled in dog shit.” Sammy threw her head back and cackled at her own joke.

Your friends around you erupted in laughter as you four walked down the hallways of the hell that was your public high school. You awkwardly chuckled alongside them, you didn’t really find it funny, but you didn’t want to draw more attention towards yourself. 

“Seriously, (y/n), I really don’t know why we still hang out around you anymore. You really let yourself go.”

“Yeah, now that I think about it, you did gain like five pounds in the past week.”

“Really not a good look on you, love. Then again, nothing you do can make you look good anymore.”

You tried to not let their comments get to you, you really did, but sometimes their comments just rooted themselves deep into your subconscious. You didn’t try looking good anymore, you couldn’t wear anything without them criticising it. You could never win. 

“Awe,” Adrien poked your cheeks, “stop looking so sad. We’re just trying to give you advice. You really need it.”

“Yeah, (y/n). You’re so sensitive, get a grip.”

“Guys look, I think she’s gonna cry!” 

You wiped at your welling eyes with the sleeves of your sweater. “I’m not. I just got allergies.”

Annie rolled her eyes. “Uh-huh. Anyways, what are our plans for Halloween? We should totally dress up like sexy angels! I think that’d be so cool. Like, Clint’s party won’t be ready for us.”

“Oh, about that Annie…”

“God, what now (y/n)?”

“I was actually planning on spending Halloween night taking Tommy and Tubbo trick-or-treating with my brothers and dad. I won’t be able to go with you guys, I’m sorry.”

The group groaned loudly. “C’mon (y/n), you never hang out with us anymore.”

“Oh my god (y/n) you still go trick-or-treating? We’re juniors.”

“I’m sorry, I’ve just been busy with my AP classes and studying for the SAT. My team captain’s really been pushing the team hard with volleyball practice. State finals are soon and we want first this year.”

“No matter how much studying you do, you’re gonna fail. You’re stupid, so why try? Just give up and hang out with uuussss.”

“Yeah (y/n),” Adrien looked at you suspiciously, “you’ve been ignoring us lately. I thought we were friends. Do you even wanna be friends anymore?”

You felt a flare of panic flare up in your gut. “I do! I-I just have so much going on right now. It’s starting to get hard to juggle everything.”

“We’re starting to think that you don’t like us anymore, we want our (y/n) back!” Sammy whined. The others agreed with her, making you feel guilty. You were ignoring them, it was selfish in your opinion. You supposed that you could skip out on taking Tommy and Tubbo trick-or-treating, there’ll be other years you could take them. 

“I guess I can take Tommy and Tubbo another year. They’d just have to go without me this year.”

They cheered, giving you praise. You beamed at that, they seemed down lately and you loved it when they’d give you compliments. They didn’t do that much, so that made their praise more special to you. You strived to get compliments.

You four went off to your separate first classes for the day. Yours was statistics, a class you’ve been struggling in lately. You didn’t know anybody in there except for your oldest brother Techno, so you tried to stick with him. Unfortunately, the teacher’s seating chart placed you both on opposite ends of the room, probably because of your last names indicating that you’re siblings. You placed your stuff down on the table and plopped down into your seat, already drained. You had a long day ahead of you; you had a major AP world history test in your next class, you had to give a presentation in your AP english class that was worth a quarter of your final grade, and you had a semifinals volleyball match that would last until late in the night. If your team won, you would be going to state finals, so it was a lot of pressure on your shoulders. You were the main setter, so you had to really focus tonight if you were going to score your team points. 

“Alright class, pull out your homework!”

Fuck, you had homework? You looked in your folder, only to see the unfinished sheet full of equations you didn’t understand staring back at you tauntingly. Mr. Mullins walked over to your desk, took one look at your blank homework, and just walked right past you. Another big fat zero in the gradebook for you, just what you needed. At least he wasn’t in the mood to berate you today. You didn’t need any more stress piled onto your shoulders. 

The lesson felt like it dragged on forever with you frantically trying to copy down the notes on the board and trying to understand the content at the same time. Overtime, he would call students up to the board. Hopefully, he would skip over you today. “Ms. Minecraft.” Goddamn it, you spoke too soon.

Your head perked up and you looked at him. “Yes sir?”

“Come up to the board and solve this.”

Gulping, you felt panic rise up in you and stood up with shaky knees. On the board was part of the newer content he was just teaching. Something that you understood only a little bit better than the rest, and that’s not saying much. You still didn’t understand the content completely. Your writing was shaky as you wrote what you thought was right on the board. Finding the answer, you circled it and looked at Mr. Mullins. He looked disappointed. 

“That’s wrong, Ms. Minecraft. Please sit down.”

You felt like your face was on fire as you saw the entire class burning holes into you with their eyes. Though they looked dead inside, as per usual with any morning class full of tired teenagers, their effects still took hold on you. You wanted to crawl into a dark hole and die. You sat back down and stared at your note packet, you couldn’t focus on the lecture anymore. Your attention was fully on your surroundings, you were hyper aware of every little whisper and bouncing leg in your peripheral vision. You could feel yourself spiraling, usually that wouldn’t happen until after your third class. Today was going to be rough. 

The loud chime of the bell startled you out of your thoughts. You shakily put your papers back into your binder and put the binder back into your backpack. Right as you were about to walk through the door, you heard Techno catch up to you. “Hey, you good?”

“Yeah Tech, I’m just peachy.”

“Are you su-”

“Technoblade. I’m fine. Now if you excuse me, I have to get to my next class. I have an important presentation I’ve gotta prepare for.”

Without giving him any room to argue, you rushed off to your english class. You had Adrian and Annie in your class. For your presentation, you were paired up with people that you hardly knew. At least they did their part in the project, you were certain you were going to die if you got paired up with Adrian and Annie again. You loved them, but they never did any part of their portion of work. They left it to you to finish at midnight the day the project was due. To be fair, they both told you they had family emergencies, so you covered for them just that once. 

You pulled out your flashcards only to have them knocked out of your hand when someone bumped into you. You quickly crouched to pick them up so you could have them in order by time class started. “Oops, sorry love.”

It was Annie. She and Adrian towered over your crouched form smirking at you. Looking back down to rearrange your cards, you murmured “it’s ok.”

“Are you ready for this presentation, I know I am.”

You smiled a little. “Actually, I think I’m going to ace this. English is my best subject.”

“Yeah (y/n), I wasn’t asking you. I was talking to Annie. Besides, you’re probably going to fail this.” Adrian scoffed. 

“Thank you for asking, Adrian,” Annie shot a pointed look at you, “at least someone cares.”

The bell rang, signifying the start of your second block. You felt like you had a lump in your throat blocking your breathing. If Adrian, one of the smartest kids in your english class, said that you were going to fail, then you probably were going to fail. That would take a huge hit on your grade, this project was worth a quarter of your final grade after all. You were zoned out for the entirety of your classmate’s presentations putting yourself into a spiral. You jumped when Mr. Todd, your teacher, called your group up to present.

You stood stiffly in the middle of your two groupmates and clutched your flashcards with clammy hands. Luckily, your part of the presentation was not first. When it came to your part, you were stuttering and tumbling over your words. You even dropped your flashcards in front of everybody, causing half the class to snicker. Your face burned as you hurried to pick them up and your other groupmate took this as a signal to continue the presentation. You still had an important point to make that was integral for the set up to your other groupmate’s part of her presentation. You stared at your flashcards for the rest of the presentation. 

When the bell rang, you made a mad dash out of the classroom. You didn’t want to talk to anybody, especially not Adrian or Annie. It was a relief that you had your lunch period at the moment. You could hide yourself in the bathroom nobody used and let your panic attack ride itself out. 

You ducked inside a stall and sat on the toilet, bringing your knees up to bury your face in them. The tears and panic you were holding in all day let itself out with explosive effects. You started to hyperventilate as you muffled your sobs with your knee. Your chest painfully clenched so you couldn’t breathe. Your limbs felt like they weighed two tons each and they were shaking intensely. You didn’t hear the end of the lunch bell ring. By the time you calmed down slightly, you were five minutes late to AP world history. 

You packed your stuff up in a hurry, power walking through the halls. You probably looked like shit, but you didn’t care, you had a class to get to and a test that you probably wouldn’t be able to finish now. You lost ten minutes of your test time. When you tried to open the closed door, you found that it was locked. You had to knock if you wanted to get in. You raised a shaking hand to knock, but the door was opened by a less-than-impressed Ms. Osborne. She ushered you to your desk and gave you your unit test. 

You couldn’t focus. The multiple choice section was usually a breeze to you, but you couldn’t comprehend any of the questions. When you could comprehend them, you couldn’t concentrate on choosing an answer. You did your best to find the correct answers, but you were almost positive that at least half of them were wrong. Your handwriting was nearly incomprehensible and your essay topic was something you didn’t study for. When you were done with half of the body paragraphs, the bell rang and you had to turn in your unfinished test. 

You had your independent online psychology course next in the library. You usually worked alone secluded in a corner deep inside the library where nobody went. You would get some solace in being alone. Maybe you’d calm down enough so that you could ride home with your brothers and not go for a long walk so you could avoid them. 

You settled down in the comfortable chair and pulled out your laptop to get started. Psychology was your favorite class. It was easy for you to understand, it didn’t have much of a workload attached to it, and it was fun to learn about. It always calmed you down reading about the intricate workings of the brain. 

By time the day was over, you got most of your psychology work done and you were on your way to the car you shared with Technoblade and Wilbur. You took out your spare keys and slumped against the window in the backseat. You were absolutely drained after your terrible day and you still felt panic swirling deep within you, waiting for the right moment to strike. 

You stretched out your legs across the seat and leaned your back against the door. For the first time that day, you felt peaceful. You still had at least fifteen minutes to yourself until your brothers would start to make your way to the car. You felt the panic subside slightly and you fully relaxed. You closed your eyes and let yourself drift off into a light sleep. You needed your energy for tonight’s match. 

The door you were leaning on swung open and you tumbled backwards smacking the back of your head against the metal frame of the car and reverse scorpioning onto the pavement. Your entire upper back and the back of your head exploded in pain and your lower back hurt slightly from having your back bent uncomfortably. You heard laughter above you as you felt tears of pain start to slip out of your eyes. Your legs swung out from their place above your face and landed on the ground with a painful thump. 

You saw three blurry figures above you laughing at your pain. You reached up with a shaky hand to wipe at your tears and saw Adrian, Sammy, and Annie. They were cackling as you shakily stood up and sat on the comfortable seats of the car. You waited patiently for them to calm down. 

Eventually, Sammy calmed down enough to explain what happened to you through chuckles. “I’m sorry (y/n), it was just too good to resist. You should’ve seen your face.”

She and the others broke back into uncontrolled laughter as they remembered your embarrassing fall. You were used to their antics, and quite frankly it felt good to make your friends laugh, even if it were at your own expense. Just as they were calming down once again, you saw Wilbur and Techno walk out the front doors of the school laughing at something the other said. Annie and Sammy heard their laughter and quickly turned around to watch them. They had massive crushes on both of your brothers, many in the school did. 

Your brothers made their way to your shared car and stopped to look at you in slight confusion. “(Y/n), were you crying? What happened?” Wilbur asked worriedly. 

“Yea-”

“Oh Wilbur, it was terrible, (y/n) fell out of the car. I don’t think she closed the door before she leaned on it.” Annie interrupted you with a faked concerned tone, a complete contradiction to her reaction before your brothers came.

Techno hastily made his way to the driver’s side door. “Well, if she’s hurt we better get going, right Wilbur?”

“Yes! We better get going, please excuse us.” He sat in the passenger seat and closed the door without hearing Sammy and Annie’s desperate attempts to stop them so they could talk to them. Your brothers thought Sammy and Annie were annoying. They absolutely hated being around them. 

Waving apologetically at your friends, you pulled yourself into the car and closed the door. Annie and Sammy looked offended that you had let Wilbur and Techno get away from them. Avoiding their eyes, you looked down at your tightly clasped hands. They were shaking slightly. 

After pulling out of the parking lot, Techno glanced at you from the rearview mirror. “You ok (y/n)?”

“Yeah, my back just hurts and I have a headache.”

“Well, do you wanna go and get some ice cream? We still have some time left before we have to pick up Tommy and Tubbo. Dad doesn’t have to know,” Wilbur asked you.

You sighed, you wanted nothing other than to take a nap before your match. “Sorry, but I need to watch what I eat today. We have semifinals tonight and I can’t have anything sugary. I just wanna go home and take a nap.”

Your brothers were quiet for the rest of the car ride until you reached your driveway. Techno twisted his body around in his seat to look at you after he put the car in park. “Did you actually fall out of the car?”

Shit, should you tell him the truth? If you did, they would almost certainly get mad at your friends. Sammy and Annie would never forgive you if you turned your brothers against them. You decided that you would take one for the team again. “Yeah, I wasn’t paying attention.” 

Techno snorted. “Well, that was stupid,” he jokingly said. “Next time you’re gonna get run over by a parked car.”

You knew that he meant that as a joke, but it still stung. Stamping your emotions down, you laughed with him and Wilbur. It was stupid of you to do, you shouldn’t have let your guard down if you weren’t at home. 

You winced as you slung your bag on your back and walked the best you could back into your house. Your upper back was killing you. You made a beeline to the bathroom and rummaged through the medicine cabinet looking for some pain relief pills. You took some and shambled off to your room to take your well earned nap. You set your alarm’s setting to its loudest volume and passed out. 

You jolted up and gasped when you felt a wave of pain hit your upper back. You blearily looked at the time. You had a little under two hours before you had to get back to the school for your match. You groaned when you pulled yourself up, your head pounding with every turn. You pulled yourself out of bed and once again took some pain pills. You went downstairs to grab an apple or something to eat. Your dad was at the stove stirring something around in a pot. 

He turned to look at you with an excited smile. “You ready for your match tonight? You’re gonna kill it!” 

You only nodded halfheartedly and plopped yourself down at the table with your apple. Philza frowned at your lack of enthusiasm, but he figured that it was just because you just woke up from a nap. You’d bounce back eventually. 

“Wilbur told me that you fell out of the car? How’d you do that?”

You shrugged, wincing slightly as it moved your back slightly. “Dunno, must’ve not closed the door.”

Philza was at your side in a hurry, his hands hovering over your shoulders. “Did you get hurt? Show me where it hurts.”

“My back and the back of my head.”

“Can I move your shirt so I could look?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

You felt him gently pull the neck of your t-shirt away from your body to peek at your back. You heard his breath hitch as he looked. Was it that bad? “Good god (y/n),” he breathed out.

“What, is it bad?”

“Don’t you feel how bad it is? Your entire back is bruised. I think there’s some blood too.”

“Damn.”

“First, language. Second, that’s all you have to say? Aren’t you in pain?”

“Yeah, but the pain pills are gonna kick in soon. I’ll be fine.”

“Would you be able to play tonight? I really think you should sit this one out.”

“No, I’m playing tonight Dad.”

“(Y/n),” oh no, he was using his stern dad voice. “It’s not a good idea to play tonight. You’re hurt, I’m sure they’ll understand if you sit this one out.”

You felt frustration rise up in you. “We’re in the semifinals. They need me, I’m the main setter. They’d lose without me playing.”

“(Y/n), I’m serious. You’re not playing today.”

“Dad, I am playing today. Look, I’ll talk to Coach Williams to see if I could be rotated out more often. I know she’d let me.”

He stared at you for a while before sighing. He knew there was no convincing you. “...Fine. But you better talk to Coach Williams about sitting out for a bit if your back hurts too much or I swear I’ll drag you off the court myself.”

You smiled a little at the small victory. “Thank you! I promise I’ll sit out if needed.”

He quirked an eyebrow at you. “If needed?”

You sighed, “when needed.”

He walked over to the pot, stirring the contents slightly. “That’s better. Dinner’s almost ready, I made some pasta.”

“It smells good, but I think I’m skipping out on it for today. I already ate this apple and if I eat any more I’ll probably hurl on the court.”

He made a displeased noise in the back of his throat, “fine, but you’re eating something when we get home tonight.”

He walked off to go get your brothers and Tubbo for dinner. You could hear their booming steps racing down the stairs towards the kitchen. They raced into the kitchen and almost crashed into the back of your chair. You stood up and looked at the two excitable fifth graders. “Careful boys, don’t want you getting hurt.”

“You’re no fun (y/n),” Tommy whined.

“Sure, sorry bout that,” Tubbo beamed at you.

You chuckled, making your way upstairs to get ready for your match. You took off your clothes with great difficulty and slipped on your jersey and your spandex shorts. They were way too short for your tastes, but you couldn’t wear longer ones, they’d just get in the way. You fondly remembered how your dad flipped out when he first saw you in them, he hated them with a burning passion. He still hates how short they are.

When you were struggling with pulling your hair back into a tight, sleek ponytail, the back of your head throbbed continuously with pain. You most likely bruised your scalp. 

You slipped on your shoes that were made specifically for playing volleyball and headed downstairs. You were met with Tommy and Tubbo jumping in excitement seeing you in your uniform. They loved going to your matches, even if they would always pass out in the car after them because matches usually ended late at night. You grabbed your dad’s keys and headed to his car. Before you could lead the boys out the door, Philza’s voice stopped you.

“(Y/n), coat.”

You huffed, grabbing your coat and putting it on before tossing him his keys. You four got into the car and set out for the high school. The short drive was filled with Tommy and Tubbo asking you questions about volleyball and encouraging you. “(Y/n), you’re gonna kick their butts!”

“Yeah!” Tubbo cheered 

Despite their voices causing a spike of pain to shoot throughout your head, you laughed at their enthusiasm. It was always nice to hear your little brother and pseudo brother in the stands cheering you on, they were your and your team’s personal cheerleaders. 

Not long after you got to the school, you were stretching with your team on the gym’s floor. Your posse found their way into the stands, sitting in the front row. The away team watched your team like a hawk, analysing every single player for any weakness. It was because of them that you tried to not show any pain when you moved your back. You talked to Coach Williams before the team stretch and she was obviously sympathetic with your situation. She agreed to switching you out with the standby setter every few rotations. 

The echo of the whistles caused pain to ring in your head every time someone scored or a foul was called. Your team captain, Haley, was constantly, yet discreetly checking on you throughout the game since she was always next to you. She was the team’s main spiker after all. 

The game droned on and on before you realized that the opposing team was targeting you when they were offensive. They probably realized that you were injured a round ago. You tried your best to block every ball that was sent your way, but a few managed to slip past you when you couldn’t move fast enough. This team was good, but your team was better. 

The score during the final round was tied and the clock was on it’s last ten seconds as the ball soared your way. You dove to hit it, landing on your shoulder on the hard floor and hitting it up high enough for Haley to spike the ball down. The crowd went wild as the ball bounced off from the opposite end of the court almost simultaneously with the screeching of the referee’s whistle, signifying the end of the game and your team’s victory.

You laid on the floor in pain, you thought you must’ve pulled your tender muscles in your back and shoulder. It hurt to move it. You felt one of your teammates grab your hand to yank you up into a giant full team group hug. You yelped slightly in pain as you felt arms press against your back and hands firmly patting your bruised shoulders. You were whisked away into the locker room to change into the pajamas you brought with you. 

“(Y/n), are you alright? That was a pretty hard fall.” Haley’s soft voice asked you. You felt your heart sing in your chest. 

“Yeah Hales, I’m fine. I just pulled a few muscles.”

Her perfectly shaped eyebrows furrowed together, “are you sure? As your team captain and your friend, I’m worried about you.”

You couldn’t help the smile that spread across your face. You felt warm knowing that she cared about you. “I’m sure, worrywart.”

She rolled her eyes playfully and breathed out a soft laugh. “Sorry for asking, grump.” Her laugh sounded like music to your ears. 

Your phone vibrated in your pajama pocket, alerting you of your family waiting for you in the car and for you to hurry up. You sighed, “sorry Hales, I gotta go. Dad’s getting impatient.” 

She gave you a small smile. “Oh, well, tell your family I said hi! Good work on the court today, I wouldn’t ask for a different setter.”

You felt your cheeks warm up and you watched with wide eyes as she left the locker room. Your phone vibrated again, your dad was really starting to get impatient. 

You walked out of the school as fast as you could to find your dad’s car waiting for you up front. Jumping in and softly closing the passenger side door, you slumped against the window. “(Y/n),” Tommy’s tired voice slurred. “That. Was. Pog…”

You glanced back to see him and Tubbo snoring away in their seats. Your match was more exciting than usual, so that must’ve really tired them out. You chuckled, turning back around to lean against the window. You took care not to put any weight on your shoulder or back. 

“(Y/n), you were amazing out there, but why did you dive for that ball? That fall looked like it hurt.”

You hummed tiredly, “thanks Dad. I just did what I thought would win us the game. We’re going to finals!” You quietly sang. 

“Did you hurt your shoulder?”

“I actually don’t know, but I think I might’ve pulled a few muscles. Nothing too bad.”

“...I scheduled a doctor’s appointment for you tomorrow morning during your first and second blocks. I want you to get your back, shoulder, and head looked at. You looked miserable the entire match.”

You sighed, too tired to argue, “mmk.”

He chuckled before the car fell into a comfortable silence. The gentle bouncing of the car and the subtle hum of the engine was lulling you to sleep. Your eyelids were drooping by the time you pulled into your driveway. 

You drug yourself out of the car and into the house, leaving Philza with the sleeping boys. You walked straight to your room and plopped down on your bed, passing out instantly for the second time that day.

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[yukidragon]

Our Life Snippet - Surprise Concert

Time for another snippet of the first draft for my fan novelization of Our Life: Beginnings & Always! We’re back in Step 1 again, but this time it’s a continuation of the original moment I started working on here. I’m thinking of titling this moment Saturday.

To a couple ocean loving kids like Cove and Jamie, a trip to the aquarium would be the obvious fun activity to do on a Saturday. However, as we’ve seen in the previous part, nothing is ever straightforward when you’re a little kid, is it? Maybe they’ll have better luck with a concert instead.

Thanks as always to @gb-patch, my followers, and everyone else who encourages me to keep writing. It makes me happy that so many people enjoy me expanding on the story about this perfectly precious pairing.

...

Jamie had a good time at the guitar lesson as she always did. Mx. Morgan was as nice and friendly as ever, and their praise for how much her playing was improving made her so happy. Playing her guitar was always so much fun, and whenever she played, it felt like the world disappeared for a while.

It should have been a fantastic morning, but Jamie couldn’t stop thinking about Cove and the aquarium.

Jamie found it confusing that it was still bothering her. She was good at not letting missing out on fun things leave her feeling sad for long. Even if it was something big like not getting an invite to a classmate’s birthday party or not being allowed to play with the group, she could always forget about missing out if she tried hard enough. There was no end to other fun things she could do after all, like searching for treasure, making up new games, reading a story, or playing her guitar.

Maybe it was the errands Jamie had to run with Pamela afterwards that made it impossible for her to forget the aquarium trip with her new neighbors, even though they weren’t anything out of the ordinary. Going to the city was an out of the way trip, so she would always help her mom run errands before they went home for lunch. Normally she didn’t mind too much, since she was helping out, which was important, but today the errands felt like twice as much of a chore.

Although Jamie tried her best not to focus on feeling disappointed, it didn’t go unnoticed by Pamela. The blue-haired girl tried her best to be cheerful for her mom’s sake, but she couldn’t stop her mind from wandering elsewhere. She barely managed to engage in the usual conversation on the car ride home, giving only short answers to gentle prompting from her mom as she spent the entire time staring wistfully out the window at the ocean in the distance while twisting one of her pigtails in her hands.

As they returned to the neighborhood, Pamela spotted the Holdens’ car in their driveway. “Oh, hey, it looks like the Holdens are back from the aquarium,” she said as she glanced at Jamie in the rearview mirror. She chuckled as her daughter instantly perked up, swiveling her head in the direction of the Holden house. “Tell you what, how about we give them a call and find out for sure? Maybe see if Cove can come over for a playdate?”

“Yeah!” Jamie said cheerfully. Even if she didn’t get to go to the aquarium, that was fine as long as she got to play with Cove. She was looking forward to hearing all about what his trip was like.

The enthusiasm Jamie had earlier for her trip to the aquarium turned into a barely contained impatience to see Cove. She squirmed in her seat until the car was parked and she could get out. Her eyes kept straying across the street even as she tried hard not to rush her mom retrieving her guitar in its case from the trunk.

Pamela let out a wry chuckle as they made their way to the house. “You’re really that excited to hear all about the aquarium, huh?”

“Uh huh!” Jamie said with a vigorous nod as she hurried alongside her mom. Already she had thoughts of what she wanted to do when Cove came over; not only could they talk about his trip to the aquarium, but she could play her guitar for him. They could both show off what interesting things they did that day.

“Okay then,” Pamela said after opening the door. “How about you take your guitar back to your room while I make the call?”

“Okay, Mom!” Jamie said, eagerly accepting the guitar from Pamela. The case made it a bit larger and more unwieldy, but she was used to carrying its heft by this point. She practically ran towards the stairs until she heard her mom shout after her to slow down, which she did immediately despite her eagerness.

When upstairs, Jamie picked up the pace unthinkingly, wanting to get her task done as soon as possible. However, she wound up rounding the corner at the same time that Lizzie was heading towards her in the opposite direction. She jerked back at the last second to avert disaster with a startled yelp, which her big sister echoed.

“Hey!” Lizzie said as she backed up a step, frowning disapprovingly at her little sister. “Watch it.”

Jamie winced and pulled the guitar case closer to herself as she stepped gingerly around her older sibling. “Oops. Sorry, Lizzie.”

“What’s the hurry?” Lizzie asked, her irritation slowly shifting to curiosity. Whatever had her little sister breaking the rules by running in the house must have been something good.

The earlier eagerness returned to Jamie’s eyes at the reminder. “Mom’s gonna invite Cove to come over.”

“Oh,” Lizzie said, her mouth twisting into something close to a frown. She couldn’t see why that would be so exciting to her little sister. Cove wasn’t that interesting of a kid to play with. If anything, he could be pretty annoying with how much of a wet blanket he could be.

It wasn’t hard for Jamie to guess what her sister was thinking from that sort of lackluster reaction. Cove and Lizzie hadn’t really clicked yet. Hopefully they would soon.

“Cove and his dad went to the aquarium,” Jamie added, hoping that would spark some enthusiasm from her big sister as well. “I’m gonna ask him to tell me all about it, and I’m gonna show him what I can play on my guitar.”

The extra details only served to make Lizzie skew her expression further. “Is that it?”

Jamie blinked at the funny face. She couldn’t quite figure out what that reaction meant. “What is it?”

“Why would you wanna hear about something like that?” Lizzie asked. “It’s not like you can see all the fish Cove saw unless he and his dad took pictures.”

Jamie had to admit that Lizzie had a point about that. Still, that didn’t mean they couldn’t have fun. “Maybe they did take pictures, or maybe Cove has cool stories to tell about his trip there.”

“Or maybe nothing happened except they stared at a bunch of fish for a couple hours,” Lizzie said with a shrug. “Sounds pretty boring to me.”

Jamie shook her head a bit to dismiss the notion. It didn’t surprise her one bit that her big sister didn’t see what was so cool about the ocean and all the things that lived in it.

Lizzie liked the beach well enough, but her interests were more in playing on the sand or splashing in the water than anything that was going on under the waves. She would’ve been perfectly happy doing stuff like that in a waterpark or a pool inland.

In fact, Jamie was pretty sure Lizzie might like that better - her big sister always wanted to live in a big mansion, and those fantasies often involved having a heated indoor swimming pool.

“It’s not,” Jamie insisted, returning her thoughts to the current topic. “The aquarium is like an ocean, but inside!” She threw her arms out to her sides for emphasis. “That’s super cool!”

Lizzie shrugged off the insistence. “If you say so,” she said before continuing on her way. “Don’t expect me to stick around for it though. I’m going out to play.”

“Fine,” Jamie said, her face scrunching up a bit as she watched her sister go.

If Lizzie couldn’t see what was so amazing about an indoor ocean and all the wondrous creatures that it contained, then she wasn’t going to have fun listening to someone talk about it. It was better for her to go someplace else rather than sit around bored, or worse, try to insist that they do something else.

...

Jamie had to wait until after lunch was over before her playdate with Cove, but soon she and her friend were up in her room together with the whole afternoon ahead of them. “So how was the aquarium?” she asked excitedly.

“Dunno,” Cove said. “We didn’t go.”

Jamie blinked, surprised. “Huh? Why not?”

Cove found it awkward to mention that the idea of going to the aquarium was no longer appealing if Jamie wasn’t going to come along, so he could only offer a noncommittal shrug for an answer.

“Oh,” Jamie said, guessing Cove was too disappointed by the trip being canceled to want to talk about the reason why. “That’s too bad.” She did her best to smile to brighten up the mood. “Maybe we can both go to the aquarium another time.”

“Yeah,” Cove said, offering a shy smile to Jamie in return. “That’d be fun.”

Jamie beamed at the idea. Maybe she and Cove couldn’t visit the aquarium together today, but she was sure that they would someday. She could hardly wait for that day.

“How was your guitar lesson?” Cove asked.

“It was good,” Jamie said brightly. “Mx. Morgan taught me some new arpeggio shapes today.”

“Shapes?” Cove repeated, blinking in confusion. “I thought you were playing the guitar.”

“Oh, not like drawing shapes,” Jamie said, seeing the reason for the confusion right away. “In music, shapes are a pattern of musical notes you play. An arpeggio is a specific type of pattern.”

“Oh,” Cove said, though he still didn’t quite get it. His old school had music classes, but none of them mentioned anything like what Jamie was talking about.

Jamie knew that it would be difficult to explain in words, and she doubted that she could do it as well as Mx. Morgan. It had taken her quite a few lessons to understand it herself after all.

Well, if Jamie couldn’t explain it with words, then she would have to just demonstrate it with action instead. “Wanna hear me play?” she asked, eager to show off to her new friend. “I can show you what I mean.”

Cove nodded. “Sure.” Listening to music sounded a lot easier than trying to understand how to play it.

Delighted, Jamie rushed over to her guitar case, which rested beside her bed. Normally she was supposed to put it away in her closet whenever she wasn’t going to lessons or practicing, but she kept it out with the hope that Cove would be interested to listen to her play. Within moments, she had her guitar strapped on and ready to play.

As Jamie sat down on her bed with her guitar in her lap, Cove took a seat on the floor. He thought back to the music classes at his old school and how rowdy the other students could be about playing an instrument. The lessons with recorders were the worst, as the more obnoxious kids liked to blow hard and shrill just because they thought it was funny.

Cove doubted Jamie was the type of kid to play bad on purpose; she always seemed too nice to play pranks like that. Still, playing music was hard. It was easy to accidentally make awful noise with an instrument instead of anything close to music, as he found out from his own fumbling attempts with a recorder.

Still, even if Jamie wasn’t very good at playing, Cove found it nice to see how excited she was about it. He noticed as well that her guitar was covered in dozens of colorful stickers of all sorts of cheerful designs - it was very Jamie. “Your guitar looks cool.”

Jamie beamed at the praise. “Thanks! My moms got it for me when I started taking lessons.” She held out her guitar as far as the strap would allow so that he could get a better look at it. “I decorated it myself. Some of the stickers are from Mx. Morgan when I do a good job in class. I got this one today.” She eagerly pointed out a sticker of a smiling cartoon frog clapping while declaring, ‘Bravo!’

“Neat,” Cove said, noticing that there were quite a few of those cartoon frogs offering cheerful words of praise adorning her guitar.

Once Jamie was satisfied that Cove was done admiring her guitar, she placed it into her lap properly. All at once, her expression changed from cheerful and energetic to one of quiet focus as she arranged her fingers on the strings.

A bright and pleasant sound filled the room as Jamie strummed the strings. Although it sounded nice to Cove, he was surprised to see her suddenly frown.

“What is it?” he asked, wondering what was wrong.

Jamie let out a quiet displeased grunt. “Hang on a sec.”

Without explanation, she plucked at some of the strings before twisting the little knobs at the top of the guitar ever so slightly before plucking the strings again. This repeated on a loop until finally she gave a satisfied nod as she strummed all of the strings at once.

Cove could only stare at Jamie in silent confusion until she finally turned back to him and flashed him a smile.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” she said sheepishly. “Sometimes the drive messes up the strings so it doesn’t sound right.”

Cove blinked at that. “Really?”

Jamie nodded. “Yeah. If the strings aren’t right, the songs sound all weird and wrong and aren’t as good.” She saw the confusion still plain as day on his face, and smiled to reassure him. “But it’s fine now, so I’m ready to play.”

“Okay,” Cove said, not sure what else he could say to that. The guitar sounded fine to him, but he supposed that was because he wasn’t taking lessons like she was.

With the guitar tuned properly and explanations out of the way, Jamie got back into position then started to play.

Cove fully expected to hear the usual kid songs like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or Mary Had a Little Lamb, but what Jamie played was neither of those. It struck him as familiar, but it took him a moment to realize that it wasn’t a song they ever taught in any of his music classes, but something he had heard before on the radio. His suspicions were confirmed when Jamie began to sing the lyrics.

Cove was left stunned. Although he didn’t think Jamie would be bad at playing the guitar, he didn’t expect a kid his age to show this level of talent with not only an instrument but singing as well. He couldn’t do anything but watch her with wide eyes, completely enchanted by the song.

Jamie lost herself in the music, her eyes focused entirely on her hands as they moved fluidly across the strings. Her expression displayed a level of concentration that Cove had never seen from her before. She was typically so energetic it was almost untamed. Still, even with such methodical focus, he could see the joy she always radiated in her bright smile and the sparkle in her dark blue eyes.

It took Cove a moment to notice the silence when it settled over the room once the song ended. He blinked his eyes repeatedly as he snapped out of the spell Jamie had cast over him and came back down to Earth.

Jamie finally lifted her head as she came out of her focused state, practically bubbling over with eager energy as she looked at Cove. “So? What did you think?”

Words failed Cove, and all he could manage was to breathe out a single word, “Wow…”

That hushed reaction had a huge impact, and Jamie lit up, shining as bright as the sun. She had been praised before, but never had anyone reacted to her music with such awe. She squirmed in place as she hugged her guitar close and kicked her feet, unable to contain her joy. “Really? I’m so glad you liked it! I worked really, really hard to get better at playing.”

Slowly, Cove recovered from his amazement and nodded. He couldn’t help but smile back at Jamie, her happiness contagious. “Mm. I can tell.”

Jamie was smiling so hard that her warm cheeks started to hurt, but she was too thrilled that she impressed her new friend to care. “Do you wanna hear another song?”

Cove nodded again. “Sure!”

Music filled the air and the afternoon slipped away as Jamie played every song she knew, as well as a few of the trickier chords that she felt were impressive. Cove was an attentive audience, and his genuine enjoyment left her feeling as though she was floating on air.

The only sour note came when Jamie attempted to show off a trickier song that she hadn’t yet mastered. A twinge of the wrong string stopped her playing instantly, and she winced, as even Cove noticed her mistake.

“Sorry,” Jamie apologized, her cheeks tinting with mortification. “I’m still not good with the faster songs yet.”

Cove shook his head. “It sounded good until the end there. You’re really good with the guitar, Jamie. And singing too. Really good.” He was still having a hard time believing that a kid his age could play an instrument or sing so well even though he spent the past while hearing it for himself.

Although the embarrassment faded, Jamie felt the heat in her cheeks intensify from such sincere praise. However, before she could manage to find her voice, a sudden call from downstairs disrupted the moment.

“Kids, Cove’s dad is here!” Pamela shouted. “It’s time for Cove to go home!”

The news that their playdate was coming to an end deflated the pleasant atmosphere. Jamie put her guitar carefully back into its case as Cove reluctantly got up from the floor and stretched out the kinks in his muscles. He couldn’t help but feel annoyed that his dad had come early.

However, Cove had no sooner finished that thought when he noticed the setting sun outside the window. Glancing at the clock, he was surprised to see that it was actually time for dinner already. When did that happen?

[enhyupn]

⧉ enhypen as your classmate that has a crush on you! ᝢ ∷

pairings: ot7 enhypen members x gn!reader

warnings: swearing, mentions of violence in jay’s one

genre: pure fluff + high school!au

a/n this also. Was in my drafts 💭 i was contemplating if i should post this or not but here i am 😫 i Post too much sorry everyone iJust have no life outside of school 🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️

⌗ heeseung

heeseung is definitely the type of person that tries to talk to the person he sits beside all the time

he nudges you all the time and whispers your name whenever he wants your attention

and the fact he had a huge crush on you also added to it

enhypen always have to listen to him since he never ever stops talking about you. like ever.

“oh my god you will never know what y/n told me when i—” and suddenly he’s cut off by the rest of them yelling “we know!”

you never snap at him because you kinda... enjoy the attention

maybe thats how you knew you kinda liked him too, since you could never let sunoo get away with this if he ever called for your name in class

your relationship only stopped there for a while, since the two of you lowkey scared of each other

“no i feel like y/n’s gonna snap at you one day, like completely just punch you in the face” jay once told him and ever since, he’s never looked at you the same

you think heeseung’s just intimidating, the amount of times you’ve jumped in your seat whenever he’s called your name is numerous

although, one day you fell asleep in class due to the fact you left your english essay last minute the night before

heeseung, noticing you drooling on the table, wrote down the notes for you

he handed them to you after class and you were so touched that you couldn’t stop telling sunoo about it

“his hand writing’s so neat and—” “i get it, you can shut up now!”

you even told heeseung his hand writing was the prettiest thing you’ve ever seen for a week straight

he was happy of course, but honestly unsure how he was supposed to reply to the compliment

he figured out by himself that all he needed to do was ask you if you wanted him to write your name

“heeseung, i mean it! i can’t get over how you write ‘the’, it’s just so— so neat!” “oh really? let me write your name out”

being the smooth guy that he was, wrote down his number instead of your name

and you being the oblivious person you were, ended up being utterly confused

“heeseung i think—” “I WROTE MY NUMBER ON PURPOSE”

you never really got over the shock, nonetheless still took his number and texted him that night

you ended that night by kicking your feet in the air with your face feeling like it was on fire

oh, you also ended up planning a date with heeseung on saturday, not a big deal

it was actually the biggest deal ever

the rest of the head canons are under the cut!

⌗ jay

jay was 100% the type to tease someone when he had a crush to get their attention

he wanted all your attention and the way he got that was through telling you your portrait of a dog looked stupid

well yeah, it did but he didn’t need to point it out

everyone in your art class knew jay had a raging crush on you

he just didn’t know how to express it

his friend jake told him the way into your heart was talking about a mutual interest

jake was, sort of, right about his advice. well, until you and jay started bickering about a character you loved but he oh so hated

“mabel in gravity falls was annoying and weird” “jay if you say that one more time i will shove this paint brush down your throat”

jake, who was trying to play cupid, could not understand why he was so bad at this

i mean jay had no problem getting girls to like him but you? did you genuinely hate jay or something?

“no jake i don’t hate jay” well that answered his question

“he’s just weird” “weird? i’m weird?” “yeah do i need to repeat it again? park jay is weird” you two were a match made in heaven

jay didn’t know when but he had a revelation, maybe this wasn’t the approach he should take to get your attention

after that, he started to be extremely nice to you

it definitely scared you

“d-did i do anything?” “what no? i’m just saying your painting looks beautiful y/n” “oh no something’s definitely going to happen”

he was finally tired of trying so hard while ending up with nothing achieved

jake, being the one out of the two who had the most realistic ideas, decided to give him one more tip

“do you think it’ll work?” “it’s fool proof”

the tip was simply him asking you out to the movies, something that was a little too forward for jay

“no i don’t think it’ll work jake” “jay i swear to god you are going to end up single For the Rest of your Life”

it took... many attempts... and many insults towards you for him to even get the first line out

“Y/NPLEASEGOTOTHEMOVIESWITHME” “the movies? sure” “wait, really? i meant it in a romantic way by the way” “oh? sure i’m free on friday”

turns out you were into him too i mean it was kinda obvious from the way you dealt with those insults

even when you started dating after that date, the insults never stopped

it just now targeted jake, who really is just asking for it at this point from the amount of times he’s asked for credit for ‘getting both of you together’

he was never getting that credit

⌗ jake

jake would leave secret love letters in your locker every time he walked past it

i mean the action wasn’t as secret as he thought it was due to the fact you knew he was the one leaving those letters

for god’s sake the boy was literally in almost all your classes, you were walking the same way as him when he slipped those letters in???

you still were very grateful for them

without them, i think you would of not coped with school

they were all incredibly detailed and even had little doodles drawn around them

you once had remembered he mentioned that he wrote these in the morning before school started during first period

he also told you he was really really shy you found it incredibly cute

the only way he could speak to you without melting was through these letters

somehow you decided that the best thing to do was put replies in his lockers too

his first reaction was complete embarrassment, the fact you knew who he was had his face heating up like nothing else

but he soon realised you didn’t think it was weird or creepy, you actually looked forward to his letters every school day

he mustered up so much courage after that to talk to you in person, to personally thank you

“THANK YOU Y/N!” “NO IT’S FINE JAKE YOU DON’T HAVE TO BOW”

he sheepishly rubs the back of his neck before pulling something out from his back pocket

the final letter in his series of love letters showing up in his hands

“open it” his shy smile making your brain Melt in endearment

the letter contained the usual, the hello y/n! and the usual chatter about his day

what you didn’t expect was the fact he had asked you out at the bottom of the letter

“y/n i’ve liked you for a while now, will you go out with me?” you read out loud before realising what you had just read. “OH MY GOD YOU ASKED ME OUT?”

you pull him into a tight hug, something that jake heated up at

“is this a yes?” “are you seriously asking that right now? of course we are”

you two became the most sickly sweet couple ever

plus the fact you still placed letters in each other’s lockers made enhypen gag (in an affectionate way)

they were just jealous nobody was putting letters in their lockers

⌗ sunghoon

sunghoon always seemed to be there whenever you needed help

especially since you two helped out at the library together every wednesday

he looked forward to it every week, you could tell from the fact ever tuesday he’d remind his friends that the next day he was seeing you again

“tomorrow’s wednesday you know what that means” “yes sunghoon we know, you’re seeing y/n tomorrow”

whenever he’s finished his work (which he does at an incredibly fast pace) he always seems to end up trailing you

constantly asking if you need help, desperate to do something

you find it endearing, always ending up chuckling at his whiney words

“y/n! do you need any help i’m finished” “not at the moment but if you wanna chat i can!”

out of all the enhypen members i feel like sunghoon would have the softest feelings for his crush

like even outside of your assigned library work, he’d constantly check up on you during lunch

“here y/n! it’s a packet of those gummies you like” “how sweet that you remembered! thanks for them”

you, even with sunghoon’s constant affection, couldn’t realise he had a crush on you

you thought that he was like that with everyone, you didn’t think that you were particularly special to get any type of unique treatment from park sunghoon

it wasn’t until your classmate asked you if you and sunghoon were dating

“hey are you and sunghoon dating?” “ummmm no why” “oh my friend wanted to know, they like him that’s why”

that didn’t sit well with you.

you thought long and hard about it but there was literally no reason for you to be bothered about it

i mean? you didn’t like him like that right

wrong

you decided to ask his dearest friend heeseung for help

“heeseung what do i do why do i feel like this” “i don’t know ask sunghoon” “...you aren’t helping”

heeseung being the big blabber mouth he is, told sunghoon all of this

“y/n won’t shut up about you” “really? you’re telling me the truth right? please don’t lie to me”

from many many uplifting comments from his friends, sunghoon was able to talk to you without mentioning the library

“so... what did you do in art class today?” “oh? i don’t do art” i mean at least he tried

after a few attempts he finally hit the nail on the head, securing his place as one of your friend... not the position he was aiming for but at least it was something

that’s when he prepared himself for the final boss (that’s what heeseung called the plan)

interrupting the conversation you both had on what disney show was the best, he popped the big question

“no but mulan was pretty good too also do you wanna go on a date with me” “oh sure! that was really random though”

i mean his timing was incredibly terrible but you were over the moon

even with the calm messages the both of you had sent, the two of you were screaming at your screen, unable to contain any composure

i mean it’s sunghoon... even if he handed you a piece of trash to as his way of asking you out you’d still say yes

⌗ sunoo

no but sunoo definitely asks your friend what your favourite song is and puts it on his story so you can slide up and be like “omg!! i love this song”

OH he also texts you randomly at 11:11 and 22:22 so you think it’s a sign

he so so so desperately wants your attention all the time

he goes up to you at lunch even when you’re with all your friends and makes conversation with you making you forget all about your friends

he sits in front of you in maths! so he knows how bad you are at the subject, he can hear your muttering about how you got a question wrong every morning but don’t Worry! he finds it adorable for some reason

at first he started to pretend he wouldn’t understand a question so he could find a way to talk to you

“hey y/n! what’s six times five again” “are you serious?”

he’s actually kinda good at maths so you’re always confused on how he doesn’t understand basic multiplication but can get 90% on the algebra test

he loves, and i mean loves, talking to you during class

even if the teacher scolds him he doesn’t care, it’s simply the highlight of his day

he gets so pouty and jealous when you excuse him in the middle of a conversation to talk to someone else

he gets jealous especially whenever you talk to his friends instead of him

“hey ni-ki! what did you get for number five?” “oh i got—” “I GOT TWELVE FOR THAT ONE Y/N!”

you kinda adore it not gonna lie

at one point your teacher got incredibly fed up with you two talking class

so! sunoo resorted to passing notes to you

‘y/n did you hear? oh my god, jihan from the maths class beside us told me that yeojin from the year above us got suspended because she started fighting the teacher over her phone. can you believe that? i mean i would of done the same thing’

it was quite clear sunoo talked a lot even through notes too

i mean as if you didn’t reply with the same energy

‘I HEARD THAT TOO!! gowon from her class told me, plus! intak said he saw the whole thing too... omg honestly i think yeojin’s so cool for doing that. maybe i should fight our maths teacher if they try and yell at us for talking again?’

they were one of the many things sunoo loves you for <3

one day ni-ki, being the number one shipper of you two, decides to play Cupid on the two of you

he drew out a note that looked too similarly to a middle school confession text and placed it on sunoo’s desk

“do you like me y/n... tick one. yes. no.” “do you like it?” “what the fuck is this”

i mean sunoo Took it anyways, he knew you’d find it funny too

as usual, you prepared yourself for a long class of sliding notes to each other

you looked forward to it, you found it as a source of entertainment and you liked talking to sunoo anyways

“pssst, y/n!” “thanks— wait did you give me the right one?”

after many whisper shouts and glares from your teacher, he finally convinced you that they were the real deal

obviously. You chose yes

that’s how you landed a date with sunoo to a picnic at han river

sunoo and you were. Kinda.... thankful for ni-ki

you two just never wanted to admit his stupid cupid-ry worked

⌗ jungwon

definitely the type to ask you “what homework did we get?” so he can start a conversation with you

replies to your private story with like “omg that’s so funny” or like “PLSSSSS me too”

you do exactly the same with his ps honestly

he always talks to you before class and you have heated discussions about the homework the night before

YOU ALWAYS ALWAYS end up sitting beside him in every class you have together

like it’s not even on purpose anymore (it’s actually fate)

always lends you pens and pencils when you forget them

he also never Asks for them back so you Have like a stash of them at home beside your bed because you always forget to give them back to him

you and jungwon are the kids in pe class that walk around the track gossiping

“jake told me that half of the soccer team aren’t getting along these days because they all like the same person” “no way really? what about their team work, isn’t there some sort of huge match next week?”

the gossip only stays between you two but only ever during pe

you two talk about more, interesting things outside of pe

since you two are in basically every class together, you walk with him everywhere

once when you were about to trip over, jungwon caught you and when you realised you were in his arms, you just blankly stared at him for a good five seconds

once you got off of him your face started to heat up so fast jungwon’s too

every time you have homework due and you didn’t do it he lends you his word

“y/n take this! it’s the french homework from last class” “thanks so much jungwon!”

the real story starts with when you and him were practicing speaking french in the library

you, being terrible at french, needed some sort of help with this

jungwon decided that, even though he completely sucks at french, he should tutor you!

and there you were, ten reasons why i hate you style, in the library struggling on how to pronounce beaucoup

“bow-cewp” “good job y/n!” “jungwon i know for a fact that you don’t know if i’m saying this right”

you stuck up with it because, well because he’s jungwon

“je t'aime you”

i mean you were Terrible. at french but even the stupidest person in the world could figure that out

“i like you too jungwon, now help me with question six” “YOU COULD UNDERSTAND THAT?” “i had a paris phase when i was younger of course i did”

turns out the Parisian style bakery across the street is the perfect date on an afternoon after school

what was even more perfect was that you got 85% on your test with the help of your boyfriend

⌗ ni-ki

he was your partner in cookery class, the both of you had no cooking skills in your bones but you still made it work

you were in the class since your family constantly nagged at you for being terrible in the kitchen

while ni-ki enrolled because he needed the something to show his friends after school

ni-ki thinks he fell for you at first sight

you were baking cookies as your first task and you basically saved him by reminding him to put on oven gloves before getting the cookies out

“that’s the bare minimum” jay tells him. “i don’t care... you wouldn’t know what love feels like”

he looks forward to cooking class because if you every week

he even has it scheduled on his calendar

honestly it’s kind of a miracle the food you two make is some sort of eatable

he always asks you for help even if it’s the simplest thing ever

“y/n? which one is a cup?” “the one that literally says one cup?”

you don’t care though since you think it’s cute

you always end up doing most of the cooking and chopping whil ni-ki just washes the dishes and watches the pot boil which eagerly waits for the food to finish

you’ve met all of enhypen before since ni-ki likes them to gather around your creations and take pictures of them together

when enhypen first collected him from cookery class, they asked him which one of your classmates were you

he literally shyly pointed at you as he hid his face with his hair

“them” “huh? ni-ki who are you pointing at” “them, beside the fridge”

your final exam was to decorate and bake a cake

it’s safe to say from the many burnt cakes you and ni-ki have done, you two were in trouble

you both wanted that passing grade so you practiced almost everyday after classes the week before

he was in charge of the icing, apparently according to him it was his specialty

“look y/n!” “how cute! a little unreadable but very cute”

finally. the Day of the exam came

you both had to prepare and bake the cake together under two hours

you were lucky that you both weighed the ingredients before you arrived

it was definitely. The most stressful two hours you two had ever felt

it also didn’t help that ni-ki shooed you away when he was icing the cake

by the end of it, your face was Dusted with flour while ni-ki’s apron had butter and frosting stains all over it

you were instructed by ni-ki and even your teacher, to stand where the fridge was, out of your sight to see what he was doing to the cake

you were hazily scrolling through your phone when jungwon snapped you back into reality

turns out jungwon was outside the room the whole exam because ni-ki told him he needed support and having him there comforted him

almost instantly after your jungwon interaction, ni-ki called you from your table, excitedly waving his arms in the air

“y/n! y/n! i’m finished!” “perfect! let me—”

your eyes widened realising his cake didn’t say anything like ‘happy birthday’ like you two had planned

instead the icing spelt out a prettily written out ‘y/n, will you go on a date with me?’

your eyes seemed to water at the gesture, unsure why you got so emotional at icing

“n-ni-ki... that’s so c-cute” “why are you crying? oh my god you hate me don’t you?”

it took you ten minutes to stop sobbing (happy tears) and you gladly accepted his proposal

so now you got a Good grade and an amazing boyfriend that can... sort of! Cook

while eating the cake you were reminded with something, remembering some words from earlier

wait did mr lee know about this?

[shyestofhearts]

Hi Shy~

Sooo, I have this headcanon that Damian is like this wonderful child prodigy genius. Like, super smart. So smart, that when Bruce tries to enroll him in Gotham academy, they tell him that Damian has tests for college level. Which, Damian just rolls his eyes at, because duh. After discussing it with professionals and yada yada, Damian gets enrolled into college. He’s like, twelve-ish. He is STILL bored in class, and knows most of the information they are trying to teach. His advisor is so sweet and invested into Damian though. And observant. After noticing Damian lack of enthusiasm, he asks Damian what the problem. Nothing interests him, none of his classes.this advisor is an old timer, in my opinion, and has seen so many kids pushed to do things they never wanted to do, and decides he can’t let that happen with Damian. So the Advisor pulls out every department, every major, and goes through it with Damian. After a few hours, because it takes a while to convince Damian that it is alright to do anything he wants, Damian has his majors narrowed down to a few things. Art and pre-med. Damian’s advisor suggests he visit a few of the clubs on campus to really get a feel of what he wants. Thing is, even after going to the students’ art club gallery and one of the pre-med club meetings, neither really speak to him. It’s a Saturday night, and he’s alone on campus. Damian is about to call Alfred, when a student from Damian’s organic chemistry class spots him.

“Damian!” Jace, a slightly round student with soft curly hair smiles at Damian. “Are you here for the show?”

“Show?” Damian scowls?

“Yeah, the fashion show. This year’s theme is sustainability,” Jace smiles. They one of the few people who never ogled at Damian for being a Wayne or looked down on him for his age. They are just genuinely nice, and Damian knows that.

“I didn’t know we had a fashion show,”

“Really? I swear I thought I mentioned it,” Jace says, surprised. Jace may have mentioned that, but Damian probably was zoned out during the time.“Tickets are $15, if you wanna come”

“Oh,” Damian frowns, “I used all the money I brought with me for the art gallery and lunch earlier,” He says, cursing internally for not bringing more cash with him.

“If you want to go, I’ll cover you.” Jace smiles, “Think of it as payment for help on our last exam” Damian would usually say no, but Jace is just so nice,

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah! Besides,” Jace smiles, turning towards the stadium, “I have a feeling you’re going to love it”

And Damian did love it. The designs were amazing, some more haute couture while others were casual, and each designer explained how their designs involved sustainability. Some were statement pieces, designed to address political issues, others were just to demonstrate that sustainability could still be cute, and while others highlighted affordability and sustainability.

Damian wanted to do this. Running through his head were endless possibilities. Perhaps he can enlist the help of Poison Ivy to create a vegan leather that was also bullet resistant, or…

The next Monday he is waiting for his advisor at 7 in the morning, because he spent the rest of the weekend coming up with ideas, sketches, creating a portfolio, and practicing hypothetical arguments as to why Damian should go into fashion. At 7:15 his advisor sees him, and can tell by the light in Damian’s eyes, determination on his face, and the way he’s clutching his sketchbook, Damian has found it.

“I want into the fashion program!” Damian all but bursts, unconsciously on his tippy toes in excitement.

“Okay,” His advisor smiles, ushering him into his office. “Let’s make it happen”

“Just like that?” Damian asks, eyes wide, voice surprisingly small. His advisor smiles at him kindly.

“I’ll do whatever I can to make it happen.”

It takes a bit before Damian can actually get into the program, he has to work on some prerequisites, and also create a better portfolio with samples, but Damian is determined. By the end of the school year, he has been accepted.

Damian doesn’t tell his family, not in the beginning. He actually doesn’t want to tell his friends either, unsure of how they’d react. He is still insecure, and just entering his teen years. He worries about what any or everyone will say. Eventually, though he tells Jon and Colin, swearing them to secrecy. They both are excited for him, asking if he’d design their costumes for them. Damian blushes but says,

“Tt, like you can afford me”

He eventually tells Alfred as well, because he needs help learning how to use a sewing machine, and fast. Sure, he can stitch someone up flawlessly, but sewing machines weren’t part of the League’s lessons. Alfred is in charge of the one at the Manor, so it only makes sense to ask him. Even so, Damian is reluctant. When he does finally ask, he nearly gives himself an attack, worrying about being scolded for not using his “full potential”. Alfred simply squeezes Damian’s shoulder, and agrees with a kind smile. The young Master finally seemed passionate about something besides vigilante work and violence. Alfred would do everything in his power to foster that.

“Just,” Damian looks down, hands clenching into fists at his side, “Do not tell the others. I would prefer this between us,” He looks at Alfred, unsuccessfully trying to hide the vulnerability in his wide emerald eyes. Alfred agrees, for now. On the conditions that Damian would have to tell his father and siblings himself, and not to far in the future either.

Damian impresses everyone with his designs, and people learn he is actually quite adorable when he’s doing something he enjoys. His classmates and professors encourage him to join the fall fashion show, which is covering “multiculturalism and the media”. Damian hesitantly agrees, though he has been making designs since the theme was announced. His room is full of crumbled paper on his floor, designs he deigned not good enough. Many of his designs are heavily influenced by his Arab culture, but he also has some Chinese-influenced designs as well. His statement piece is the hardest to get right. It involves a hijab and beautiful colors, but he just can’t get the right patter. Ripping another page and crumpling it,Damian is too concentrated to realized Tim and Dick have been creeping into his room.

“What’s this Dames?” Dick asks, startling Damian, as he looks at some of the rejected designs. Panic makes Damian defensive as he yells at them to get out, frustration fueling the dread of his family seeing such unsatisfactory work. Tim flinches, shocked by the emotion coming off of Damian, rushing out with a few crumpled papers he snuck from the floor. Damian is literally trying to shove Dick out the door. Dick turns around, because he can hear the panic in his little brother’s voice. In his Robin’ voice. “Damian,” he says softly, easily deflecting Damian. “It’s okay,” he says, wrapping his arms around Damian, reversing the situation. “What’s wrong, why are you reacting like this?” After a few minutes of struggling, Damian gives up. Slowly,he explains the situation, how he’s in the fashion program and the fashion show coming up, all the pressure to do well, the frustration of not having his statement piece yet. Dick listens, his hold turning into a hug. “From what I’ve seen,” Dick says softly, “these are all wonderful designs,Dami. Whatever you end up making will look amazing, if they look anything like your sketches.”

“It’s not enough!” Damian complains, eyes burning, but he refuses to cry. “You don’t understand!” He says, frustrated.

“Then explain it to me, why is this so important?”

“Because it is about me!” Damian’s voice cracks ask he turns away rosiness his eyes harshly. “When I was introduced to the public, as “Bruce Wayne’s biological son”, do you not remember how the newspapers reacted? They didn’t know me, or my mother, but because—because of my skin, the country I was born, I was mistrusted. Scorned. Yeah, maybe I’ve killed people, but that isn’t because of my skin color or my culture or the language I speak. I have this opportunity to speak out against that!” Damian turns to look at Dick, “I’ve tried to become better, to do better. It’s hard and unfair that none of that matters, because guests are invited to galas hosted in the house that I live in, only to make snide racist comments about “nukes” or the desert or bombs whenever Father and you all aren’t around me. How can I be better, when I’m not given the chance because people can’t see past my skin?” Dick wraps Damian into a tight hug, as wetness drips down Damian’s cheeks. “I’ve been here nearly four years—and it still happens” Damian whispers.

“Why didn’t you say anything Dami?”

“What could I say?” Damian whispers back,

“Bruce—”

“Invites these people because they are important to Wayne Enterprise.” He scoffs. “What could you do, especially if I have no proof?”

“Believe me, Damian,” Dick says seriously, pulling back to look into Damian’s eyes. “Bruce won’t invite anyone who’s racist or derogatory towards his children, back to a gala, let alone do business with him again.” He smiles a hard somewhat vicious smile. “I know because when I was first adopted, he did that for me” Damian’s eyes widen. “And if Bruce can’t defend you, you can bet your brothers will,” Damian looks unsure, but nods. “But I get it now. You’ve always used art to vent and express yourself. This design is something that would allow you to address what the media has done to and said about you.”

“It’s been,” Damian shrugs, looking down, “therapeutic. In a way I never imagined it would be.”

“Well, I think, whatever you end up designing will be amazing,” Dick smiles, and Damian looks up at the sincerity, giving his own smile smile in response. “And I expect an invitation to the fashion show!” He chuckles, causing Damian to blush. “And I bet the whole family would want to come as well,” Damian blushes, looking away once more.

“Tickets are $15 each, and available online,” Damian replies, making Dick belly laugh. “You can invite the others, if you’d like” Damian mumbles.

“Hmm,how ‘bout I invite the siblings while you invite your dad,” Damian grumbles, but agrees. “Great! Now, take a break. One night not designing won’t hurt you.” Dick says, wrapping his arm around Damian’s shoulder. ‘Might do you some good, in fact.”

Things get better after that, because after his talk with Dick, Damian gets an idea for his design. Ziba, a Persian student Damian met in his Literature class, agreed to be his model for his statement piece. She wore her hijab proudly, a solid black color, which helped with the down-to-business look the rest of the outfit screamed. Ziba’s makeup was beautiful, as Damian was putting the last touches on her. They both were quiet, nervous excitement pulsing through them both. Ziba had on white trousers that flared out a bit, to give an almost flowy feel, with black basic vegan leather square pointed toe mule flat accented by a silver buckle. Damian had made the top a cross between a tunic, a blazer, and a cape. It is white, and goes over a plain solid black turtleneck. Printed on both the buttoned blazer tunic top and the trousers are past racist articles written about Damian. In red graffiti styled letters sprayed across the news paper articles are phrases like “Lies” “Warped Perception” “Western POV” “Racist” “I was only 10”. The red paint matches the red lipstick Ziba is wearing.

Damian was nervous with his family in the audience, everyone including Alfred was there. Apparently Superman and Superboy were in attendance too, as civilians of course. Colin was there too. Damian had told his father about the fashion show, and was surprised to see how supportive he was about it. Of course that may have been the shock, as Damian had told him that morning before leaving for school. Bruce blinked, stood up and hugged Damian, before saying he couldn’t wait for the show.

Damian’s set is the last, ask the show is in alphabetical order according to last names. When it’s his turn, all of his model’s line up, and Damian is running around making sure everything is perfect. He hears the speaker introduce his collection, inviting Damian to join him on stage. Damian rushes out, brown cheeks turn red. Together they introduce all seven outfits of the collection one by one, as Damian describes his designs, the material, and the inspiration behind each one. When it get’s to Ziba’s turn, Damian’s nearly choked up. He manages to discuss this piece and it’s significance to him. At the end, Damian received a standing ovation from nearly everyone. Looking over at his family, he has to duck from hiding his flamed cheeks. All his siblings were cheering for him, while Bruce and Dick dab their eyes. Alfred has a proud look on his face, and Damian couldn’t have been happier.

He ends up getting second place, but also his own work room at the Manor. Damian begins selling his work after getting it patented (Tim demanded it), and is surprised when a number of orders are for the galas around Gotham. Dick told Bruce and the others about all the things Damian has been hearing at Galas, and they are justifiably angry. Duke begins chants of “Eat the Rich” every time he hears someone says something problematic about Damian, and that because Tim’s signal on who to take down next.

Damian’s designs become more widely popular as his family starts wearing them, as they love talking about it and how he uses sustainable methods and materials. This earns him big named clients, who start wearing Damian’s designs on the Red Carpet and premiers . Damian also likes to do work for charity, often donating dresses to high schoolers who cannot afford prom dresses or making clothes out of extra material to donate to shelters so people have clothes for job interviews and such.

(He also makes his pets clothes when he’s bored, so it’s normal to see Titus wearing a doggy hoodie with slits in it for his ears)

ANYWAYS, this is my headcanon lol

What do think about it?

—🧵🪡

Headcanon?? Bestie this a whole ass au!

As for my thoughts-

💳 💥💥 💳 💥💥💥 💳 💥💥💥💥

[themonotonysyndrome]

REDACTED verse - A special night

Prompt: Any Fandom | Any Characters/Pairings | Ordering a sweet treat to be delivered to the other person at home/work

Word Count: 2,136

Author/Team: LadyMonotone

Fandom/Original: Redacted ASMR (Gavin/Freelancer. Vincent Solaire/Lovely) 

Rating: T

Triggers: NA

Summary: Having an Incubus boyfriend comes with many perks. The Freelancer and Lovely really should have seen it coming. 

ConCrit: Y 

Well, I guess this can be a sequel to my previous oneshot, REDACTED verse - Those that stood above the rest. I really wanted to write the Freelancer and Lovely interacting after their first, proper meeting so this oneshot suddenly comes to mind! 

-

Exam week is the bane of every student, everywhere — even for the magical ones. 

An uneasy atmosphere lingers around D.A.M.N as the current semester hurl the students into an intense week of revisions, study groups, and extra classes; all for the upcoming exams. 

The seniors are frantically cramming for their final papers and projects under the watchful eyes of the lecturers. The Freelancer doesn't envy them one bit when they caught a Sonal Energetic screamed into his backpack for a solid ten minutes. 

His scream shakes the student lounge, and the windows shattered. 

Once he got that out of his system, he focused back towards his textbook, expressionless. The rest of the students around the Energetic hardly bat an eye over what just happened. 

On that day, the Freelancer learned to avoid a large group of seniors until the exam week blows over. 

"The tension alone in that lounge could make a Serenity Daemon hide underneath a bed." The Freelancer narrates their experience to Lovely. The two of them are currently having their own study session over at the Freelancer's apartment. 

It's a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and yet here they are - flipping through textbooks, reviewing and swapping notes and downing cans of coffee and Red Bulls from as early as 9 AM. "Even the janitor wasn't fazed by it. He just snapped his fingers, and the windows were good as new!"

That night after their proper introduction, Lovely and the Freelancer had become quite good friends, much to Vincent's annoyance and Gavin's pleased smirk when the Freelancer told him that Lovely would be coming over for their study session. 

"Aww, look you, Deviant. Arranging a little study date with that friend of yours," Gavin teased during breakfast this morning. They both woke up early to prepare meals that could last the Freelancer and Lovely throughout the whole day. When his Deviant absentmindedly replied, "Uh-huh" as they were busy chopping the vegetables, Gavin couldn't help but plant a fond kiss on top of their head. "Anyway, I'll be popping into Aria for a bit today. A few of my, ah, older brothers and sisters called for a meeting. Can I trust that you two won't be having too much fun without me?"

The Freelancer stopped chopping to gave their boyfriend a deadpan stare. "Gavin, we'll be studying." They explained. "Our first paper is literally next week. So I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but there won't be any fucking happening." They then stop themselves. They suddenly recalled something. "I don't want to be on that Solaire Prince's hit list too."

Gavin just cooed at their disgruntled partner, as if the genuine possibility that the both of them being shred to pieces by Lovely's possessive boyfriend amused him. 

Nonetheless, Gavin pulled his weight to ensure there was enough food and comfortable pillows and blankets in their shared apartment so that his Deviant and the Electro Energetic would be comfortable for their revisions. 

An hour before Lovely arrived, Gavin kissed the Freelancer goodbye and Rifted into his home dimension. 

And now we're back in the present. 

"I think those students around that guy were his classmates," Lovely commented. They take a quick sip of the lemonade that Gavin prepared to refresh their parched throat. Even in a simple pair of slacks, baggy t-shit, and hair pulled up in a bun, they still look as breathtaking as ever. "They reacted as if it was like a regular Tuesday for them. It's so crazy to think that we'll be seniors like them soon."

The Freelancer pours more lemonade into their glass from the pitcher beside them. Their books, notebooks and snacks are spread all over the dining table. A large and fluffy pillow is propped behind the Freelancer so they can lean back on their chair comfortably. "Urgh, mood. I can already imagine the coursework we'll be forced to do in our final semester." They groan. Their brain is fried from all the information and notes they've been reviewing since this morning. On top of that, the thought that they will be getting even more work once they hit their senior year is starting to freak them out. 

Seeing the Freelancer is having an internal crisis, Lovely quickly glance at the time on their phone and decides, "OK, I think we seriously need a break. You look like you're going to pull a stunt similar to that Sonal Energetic, and I don't think your boyfriend appreciates coming back to a half-destroyed apartment."

"Gavin can fix the apartment with his magic, don't worry." The Freelancer is quick to assure Lovely. "He did that after he and Vega trashed the place anyway."

"Uh, what? Who's Vega?"

The Freelancer snapped their attention back to Lovely once they realised the name that they accidentally dropped. "N-Nothing! I didn't s-say anything!" They laugh awkwardly, doing their best to brush off Lovely's concerned expression. "Anyway, break! Yeah! That's a good idea! Are you hungry? We can watch something on Youtube and eat in the living room. You're OK with that?"

Lovely gingerly nods; it's best not to comment or ask about this Vega person since the name alone made their friend jumpy. They push their chair back, stretch their stiff spine, and get up to help set the plates and cutleries while the Freelancer heats the lunch they made in the morning. 

They then move to the living room with a tray of food and drinks, where the couch and coffee table are surrounded by pillows and blankets thrown around messily. 

"You play video games, right?" The Freelancer asked after Lovely settle down on the couch with a blanket over their lap. "Do you want to watch a playthrough or something?"

"Sure! Do you and Gavin play video games too?"

"Gavin does, though he usually only plays those dating sim games for girls. It's a guilty pleasure of his."

"Oh, Otome Games? My respect for your boyfriend just levelled up. Has he ever played Hatoful Boyfriend?"

"Uh... I don't remember he ever mentioned that title. What is it about?"

"We're watching a playthrough of that game. Right now. You can watch it with me, but you can't tell Gavin anything, OK? I promise you're going to love his reactions."

Lovely's eyes light up with glee and grin widely as the Freelancer switch on the Smart TV. When thumbnails of pigeons with pink hearts in the background pop up on the screen, they immediately throw an incredulous look at the Energetic. 

"That top playlist is good to watch. Come on, sit beside me." Lovely pats on the empty spot on the couch beside them, unperturbed at the look the Freelancer is giving them. "I think you're going to like Okosan."

The Freelancer press play on the first video and kick back on the couch with the Energetic. What's better than having a break after a long study session? Hanging out with a friend with some good food while watching a crazy romance video game about pigeons! 

However, when the fourth video starts to play, the doorbell rings. 

"Uh... are you expecting someone?" Lovely asks curiously; their head is tilting towards the door. Their plate of eggplant pasta and buttered abalones are polished on their lap. The Freelancer internally preened when they enthusiastically complimented on theirs and Gavin's cooking skills. 

Anyway, the Freelancer moves their empty tray onto the coffee table and flip over the blanket to get up. "Not really. Gavin said he'll be coming back home at night." They explain and went towards the door when the doorbell ring once more. 

A delivery man greets the Freelancer with a stoic face, an armful of flower bouquet, and a thick, rectangular item wrapped in hot red packaging. 

"I, uh, think you got the wrong address?" They said, confused to hell and back. 

The delivery man blinks, unfaze at the Freelancer's greeting. "Good afternoon. Delivery for..." He pauses to read the card attached to the bouquet. "Deviant? We received a request from Gavin to arrange a flower bouquet and some... special chocolates. He also left a message for you: My Deviant has been working so hard lately~ So I got you something to... help you relax. PS: give some of the special chocolates to that gorgeous friend of yours and their boyfriend."

The Freelancer could only gape when the delivery man finished reciting Gavin's message. From the living room, Lovely is also doing an excellent mimicking of a goldfish. Their stunned expression made the man sigh tiredly. "Look, I'm not going to judge your... bedroom activities. Just take the packages already. I still have more stops to deliver."

"O-Oh my god! I'm really, really sorry about my boyfriend!" The Freelancer finally snaps out of it and stammers an apology. Their face is bright red. They hurriedly accept the flowers and package, shoot a quick thank you and slams the door shut. 

Lovely watches as the Freelancer stares into the bouquet with a mixed feeling, something between fondness and extreme embarrassment, before they scream into the large sunflowers. 

They patiently wait for the Freelancer to get it out of their system before Lovely delicately asks, "So, uh, does Gavin do these sort of things often?"

"No. This is the first time ever." The Freelancer replies. Their voice is muffled because the flowers are still pressed onto their face. "That's what I get for dating an Incubus, I supposed..."

"Aww, don't be embarrassed, dude! I think it's super sweet how much Gavin loves you. Flowers and chocolates? Boy got some serious game; might even give Vincent a run for his money, and you should've seen how we first met."

The Freelancer peeks through the petals and is relieved to find that Lovely wasn't put off by Gavin's forward nature. In fact, they are very accepting of the Freelancer and Gavin's relationship.

Feeling the warmth on their cheeks slowly disappearing, the Freelancer made their way back to the couch. The rectangular package is tossed onto the couch, and the bouquet is on the coffee table. The Freelancer figured they could put the fresh flowers in a water-filled vase later. 

"The guy said that Gavin sent you some chocolates?" Lovely reiterate as the Freelancer began to untie the ribbon and unwraps the box. 

"Special chocolates, and knowing Gavin, I kinda have an idea of what kind of chocolates they are." They admit and make quick work of tearing the paper wrappings. 

Apparently, Gavin ordered two types of chocolates for his Deviant. One box holds a fancy gourmet assortment of salted almonds dipped in rich Belgium chocolate, double chocolate raspberry truffles, vanilla pieces powdered with light matcha and some white praliné hearts. 

Lovely whistle, impressed over the spread. "Your boyfriend really went all out for you!"

The box below it contains rows of heart-shaped chocolates, but the short message written on the card of said box proves it's anything but ordinary treats. 

'These are homemade chocolates made by one of my close associates. She's a Succubus, by the way, and renowned for her aphrodisiac desserts. You can try some first if your Energetic friend doesn't mind being a voyeur.'

The Freelancer promptly throws away the card and cues them, and Lovely shrieking in embarrassment. Neither of them expects the second batch of chocolates. 

"These are sexy chocolates? Like, legit aphrodisiac chocolates made with magic!? Oh my god, I didn't know they were a thing!"

"I didn't either! I was expecting sex toys below the chocolates!"

"Wait - didn't Gavin wants to give these to Vincent and me!? Dude, does he has a thing for Vincent? Because at this point, I should tell you: he noticed that Gavin was purposely riling us up when they first met, and he's been thinking that your boyfriend is out to get him. But, uh, not in the sexy way, but I'm thinking otherwise now. And if that's the case, then you can warn that Incubus to be ready and catch these hands."

The Freelancer groans and hides their face in their hands. "OK, you know what? I'm going to put the special chocolates in the fridge, and then we'll continue watching a few more videos from the playthrough and get back to studying."

"... You're in denial."

"I'm just trying to keep whatever sanity I have left. It's been a crazy year."

"Urgh, tell me about it."

-

That night, at Lovely's and Vincent's apartment: 

"Vincent, baby? I'm back. Look what I got!"

"Welcome home, Lovely. Dinner's ready if you're hungry. Hmm? What's that?"

"It's homemade aphrodisiac chocolates made by a Succubus. Gavin and the Freelancer gave some to us."

"...I'm gonna punch that Incubus in his smug ass face."

"...Does that mean you don't want them in the bedroom tonight?"

"OK, I'll punch him tomorrow. C'mere, Lovely. I've missed you."

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

[salemwritesxx]

the sweet scent of roses

summary: valentine’s day fluff with bakugou and his boyfriend

w.count: 2.2k

content warning: fluff

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

“Hah.”, a heavy sigh escaped his throat as he looked at the disaster in front of him. Chocolate was everywhere on the counter and also on himself, and yet, as Bakugou looked to the side where his present was resting, a small smile flitted across his lips.

Before he started, he was unsure if doing that – making homemade chocolate and all – was even “okay” to do, since this was the first time he had a Valentine and usually, at least in Japan, girls did all these things on the 14th of February, not guys.

But then he realized how fucking stupid it was to let his chance slip away just because of society being fucked up. He was in a happy and healthy relationship for many months now, so fuck him being a guy, he wanted to give you a gift, no matter if one of his idiotic classmates were to find out about it and start whispering secretly behind his back about his role in your relationship as the “girl”.

Though they better not let that slip in front of him or he would blow their heads off for still holding on these fucked up stereotypes.

As he was cleaning the kitchen in his home, his mother only once sticking her head through the opened door to look at what he was doing and giggling as she went away again, he felt a vibration in his pocket. Swiftly pulling out his phone, another smile crept back onto his lips without him even realizing it – my, he was so stupidly much in love.

“Hey, Babe! Since tomorrow is Saturday, can you come over? We can hang out and go back together to the dorms Sunday evening? So take your stuff with you, yeah? (´▽｀)”, read the message you had sent him.

“Got it, I’ll come over at around 2?.”, Katsuki sent back, though before he could put away his phone, it vibrated again.

“Ehhh? So late? I know you are not a morning person but I thought you would come over sooner, so we can have lunch and stuff…”, he could almost hear the whine in your voice as he read the message, thus he snorted a bit and giggled to himself.

“Okay, okay. 🙄 Didn’t know you were so clingy! You better be up and ready on 8 then, or I will jump into your bed and put my cold hands and feet in your pants”, Bakugou teased you, though it certainly backfired a little when another message arrived while he was already lazily leaning against the counter, “Oh? 👀 I think I might be oversleeping tomorrow morning then. Be sure to come into bed anytime, Darling(´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)”

Inevitably, Katsuki was blushing a bit and yet a big smirk spread across his face, though before he could answer another message popped up “I gotta go now, Kat! Still have a few things to do, so, tomorrow at 8? :D” which definitely made him curious since it was only around three p.m., so naturally he wondered if you still had to run errands, but he simply replied with an, “Ok, tomorrow at 8. And don’t you dare oversleep if I have to go through the trouble of waking up early for you.”

And before he could continue to clean the kitchen, a short and simple “I’d never let you wait, my prince. Love you 💋” arrived.

“Me too.” was his only response as being open about his feelings was still a little embarrassing to him, though he was working on it and with Valentine’s Day being around the corner and him making you homemade chocolate, it was one step further into the right direction.

-

With a heavy duffle bag on his shoulders and wrapped in his scarf and a thick coat, he finally arrived and rang your doorbell, the snow still cracking underneath his feet as he was moving around on the spot to keep himself warm.

And then, the front door finally opened and he saw your face as you gestured him to come in with a “Good morning, Baby.”, as well as feeling your lips on his for a brief moment as you pecked them, Katsuki simply grumbling as he shivered and hastily walked inside your warm home.

“Fuck, it’s so cold.”, he cursed while he rather carefully put the bag down in order not to hurt the present inside.

“Hmm, I know, come here, let me warm you up, Baby Boy.”, and before he could react, you had gently pulled him closer by his scarf and connected your lips, Bakugou instinctively calming down and leaning into the kisses you shared, sighing blithely.

“Oh, Katsuki-kun, welcome.”, you both then heard from behind you, your boyfriend being very happy that his ears and cheeks were already red from the cold outside as your mother watching you both exchange such sweet kisses was definitely still embarrassing to him.

“(L/n)-san. I- uhm-“, he cleared his throat while you giggled a bit, “Sorry for the intrusion.”

Though your mother simply smiled lovingly, before she turned around with an “I’m going to make tea, yes? It’s so cold outside!” and went into the kitchen, you yelling a “Thanks, Mom.” after her.

“Thank you, (L/n)-san.”, Bakugou also said while undressing, your giggle as you watched him making him simply cock his head with a chuckled “Hm? What?” while putting his shoes away.

“Oh, it’s nothing.”, you shook your head, the raised eyebrow from your lover making you snicker again though, “Really, it’s nothing. I just like seeing you and my Mom get along, you know?”

“Oh…”, then a small smile appeared on his lips as he grabbed his duffle bag and the moment he walked past you, Katsuki quickly rose to his tiptoes to peck your lips, before you both walked into the kitchen where you grabbed the little tray with the tea cups on it so you and Bakugou could finally walk upstairs into your room.

Once he put the bag down and flopped onto your bed, the smell of your shampoo and cologne crept into his nose and he felt a sense of “being home” since he came over so often that it truly did feel like his second home by now. Though he certainly was happy when you could both move in together after graduation.

“Here, Kat, drink your tea before it gets cold.”, you gestured to the small table in the middle of your room, hence he grumbled a bit, because he loved laying in your bed and being able to smell your scent, but slipped down nonetheless.

“Where are you going?”, he then asked when you suddenly stood up.

“I forgot something in the kitchen downstairs, I’ll be back in a sec, yeah?”, Katsuki closed his eyes when you leaned in to peck his lips, his “Okay.” merely breathed.

Watching as you walked outside, he stared at the door for a few seconds, only to turn back and finally reach for the cup of tea. An immediate sigh escaped his lips when the warmth spread through his body, though not for long as he took another sip when the door suddenly opened.

“Y/n!”, his eyes widened and simultaneously a gasp was heard once he saw the big bouquet of roses – in an instant excitement ran through his veins, making his hands sweaty due to his quirk.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, my love.”, you grinned lovingly as you closed the door with your foot and then kneeled down in front of him, Katsuki simply speechless for a moment, heart jumping in his chest and cheeks painted in a soft rosy color.

“But it’s tomorrow.”, was the only thing he could mumble, completely flabbergasted, your laugh however didn’t help to calm down his racing heart as he loved the sound of it.

“I know, Katsuki. But I wanted to spend the weekend with you, but I also wanted to give you something because of Valentine’s Day, so I kind of…was in a predicament.”

“So, you decided to give me the gift today so the roses wouldn’t wither without their water?”, Katsuki thought out loud, earning your nod.

“Yes, I thought this was the best decision. So…here. I hope you like it. I know you are not so much of a sweets guy, but I hope you will like them”, the way you smiled was seriously dangerous for his heart, his usual scowl had disappeared and instead, a soft smile that only you got to see, appeared.

“Fuck… I- … Thank you.”, was then the only thing he said while taking the bouquet of roses and the chocolate, before leaning in and connecting your lips. Immediately, he got pulled into your embrace, while you deepened the kiss, Bakugou’s arm that was only holding the little present slung around your neck while your lips melted together perfectly.

“I… I also have something for you.”, he mumbled after pulling away a bit, instantly earning your excited smile and feeling the way your heart also jumped in your chest as you were glued together like that.

Carefully putting the roses and the gift onto the small table, Katsuki pulled the duffle bag closer and pulled out the homemade chocolate from yesterday.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Y/n.”, he almost said…shyly? Bakugou was seriously adorable.

“Thank you. I’m…so happy.”, the way you grinned and almost glowed definitely emphasized your words even more as you took the heart shaped gift, before leaning down and resting your forehead against his. “I love you, thank you.”

“I…”, it was still a little hard to say, but with how his heart was beating a million miles per hour, he simply gulped down the lump in his throat and said with his usual raspy voice, “I love you, too.”

Only to blush and grunt a bit as he buried his face at your shoulder, which made you laugh in return.

“Can I tell you something?”, you asked with a giggle in your voice, Katsuki merely grunting approvingly. “I… was a little nervous today. You know, when I went out to buy chocolate to make my own gift, all the girls and even employees in shops were staring at me weird… Which made me insecure and I thought, maybe it’s weird giving my boyfriend something for Valentine’s Day. But… I am glad I did it and didn’t care about the stares.”

You hugged him tightly to snuggle him softly and pepper sweet kisses onto the right side of his face, while Bakugou was silent for a few moments, just enjoying. Though then, he also remembered how he felt yesterday, which gave him a small sting in his chest.

“I felt the same. It’s fucked up. Yesterday, I… also was scared if you would think it’s weird if I give you something. Since it’s only marketed at girls, I didn’t want others to see me as the girl. God, just saying it out loud makes me cringe. Like, why can’t we just be seen as two guys? No one is a fucking girl.”, he sighed heavily and looked up into your e/c eyes.

“I know. Valentine’s Day should be for everyone to express their love to their partner, no matter if it’s romantically or platonically.”

“I mean we have supernatural, alien quirks that make people do weird shit but a guy buying chocolate leading up to Valentine’s Day is still looked at weird. Society fucking sucks.”, he grunted and rolled his eyes before you both fell against the softness of your bed, leaning against it and looking at each other.

“It does. I just want to kiss you when we’re out and about without people staring.”, you sighed while lacing your fingers together to gently draw with your thumb on the back of his hand.

“But you know what? I don’t give a fuck if they stare.”, Bakugou then smirked and leaned in more to whisper, “The harder they stare the more I will make out with you.”

“Hmm? Now that… is something I like to hear.”, and with that, you pulled him back against your strong chest, your free arm snuck around his small waist and his muscular body cuddling against your own.

For a few moments, it was quiet as you savored each other’s presences, however in the end, Katsuki looked back up and kissed the side of your face.

“You know, no one is staring at us right now, but…”, he didn’t end the sentence, instead, a smirk spread across his face, the mischievous gleam in his ruby eyes you loved so much made you also grin and teasingly tilt your head to the side a bit. However, you couldn’t keep on grinning like that when he grabbed your collar and pulled you down eventually, lips colliding and a murmuring sound escaping your throat.

All on its own, your hand reached out to bury it inside his spiky hair, pulling him as closely against your chest as you could. Sweet murmurs and soft little whines were the only sounds he could make, completely melting against your body.

Now, Bakugou was very thankful that he went through with his idea and didn’t let himself get swayed by society’s views on Valentine’s Day. Knowing that something he made with his own hands could make you so happy truly made him also happy. And as the lovely scent of the roses mixed together with your own in front of him, he couldn’t help but think that having a Valentine was really something very special.

Not that he would have ever said that out loud.

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@salemwritesxx || do not repost, edit, modify or translate my works.

writer’s note: eeerrr this is new to me so i’m a bit nervous but i hope it was enjoyable to read! thought valentine’s day was a good day to mark the beginning of my blog. let the simping begin ✌🏼 

[kerie-prince]

change of pace

Fred Weasley x Slytherin!reader

requested: (@pinkdevile) hey bae, can i request a one shot or headcanon about fred being whipped by one of ron classmates that is a non-pureblood slytherin and kind of prodigy in magic and how would he react to her being a typical dry slytherin and being a prodigy and good at everything?

summary: What happens when a red lion who lives in the moment falls for a green snake with plans for her future? Romance, of course.

a/n: stereotypical, yes but i had fun writing this :) also, i know my posting schedule keeps changing, so sorry about that 🥺 i got lots of requests (thank you guys SO much!) and i'm trying to not make them all sound the same. i'm looking up synonyms and all that stuff lol

(gif cred)

You were the least Slytherin person in your house. But maybe that's made you even more of a Slytherin. Your traits were that of a typical member of the house of snakes. No, you weren't a rude bitch; you had ambition that rivaled that of a Gryffindor and it wasn't even one of their traits. You aimed for the stars and your pride proved that you could do that and more. You are the best witch of your class, and maybe even your school.

And it was this reputation that caught the attention of someone who is quite the polar opposite. You were calm and collected. He was a wild card and unpredictable. Fred Weasley had his eyes on you and was going crazy for you. It all started when one day, he was with his friends and brothers in the Great Hall during lunch when you had walked up to Ron and Harry, “Hey Ron, were my notes able to help you?”

“Yeah, loads. Thank you, Y/N.” Lee was in the middle of a conversation with his best friends when he noticed Fred wasn't responding to anything he was saying. “Mate, you okay?” When you walked to your table, Fred scooted closer to his younger brother, “Dearest brother, how are you?”

“What do you want?” Ron saw right through him. He knew when Fred wanted something from him, just like now.

“Well I’m offended that you would assume something,” Fred held a hand over his chest with a fake offended look on his face, “can’t a person ask about the well being of his baby brother?” Ron had a deadpan expression and Harry was laughing at Fred’s exaggeration. “Fair enough. Who was that?”

“Who? Y/N? She’s in mine and Harry’s class, why?” Ron had taken a large bite from his turkey leg.

“What’s she like?” Fred inquired. Ron thought about it for a minute, “Dunno, she’s pretty quiet.”

“If I didn't know any better, I’d say that Freddie here fancies someone,” George teased. The surrounding friends laugh and point towards Fred. “I don’t fancy anyone. I’m just asking a simple question.”

Hermione and Ginny later joined the group. “What’s all this fuss about?” Hermione questioned.

“Fred’s asking about Y/L/N,” Harry caught Hermione up to speed. “Why? You’re not thinking of doing anything to her, are you?” Hermione started to scold the older boy.

“Why is it that you lot always think I’m up to no good,” Fred sighed.

“Because you’ve never been up to any good,” Ginny teased her older brother. Fred rolled his eyes and turned back to try and find you at your table. You had a couple of friends with you and a small book in your hand as you ate. Fred was determined to get your attention somehow.

✿✿✿✿✿✿

You sat in the library by yourself. You had spent the majority of the afternoon grading first years’ papers for Snape’s class and working with Hermione and Katie on a project for Ancient Runes. Giving up your weekends to study wasn't all that bad. The feeling of being on top was rewarding.

It was funny; your parents had stopped caring about your grades all together because they already knew what they were going to read. Not that they weren't supportive or proud of you. At family gatherings on your father’s side, he loved seeing the looks on his relatives’ faces when he boasted that you were the best student at Hogwarts.

But they have told you on many occasions that it wouldn't kill you to have at least one E. They wanted you to be able to have a normal teen life and have fun. Go to parties, get in trouble every now and then. You assured them that you were fine and all and even believed it yourself. You never had interest in breaking the pattern you had set.

The library was nearing its closing time and you packed your things. When you walked out the grand doors, a tall figure came in front of you and nearly knocked down all the books you carried. His hands caught whatever you couldn't hold before it hit the floor.

“Sorry about that,” you looked up at the towering boy. Your breath slightly hitched at the sight of his attractive face. His cheekbones were defined and his skin looked soft. You didn’t realize that you were staring, nor that he was also staring at you as well. Finally, he spoke up and handed you the book he was holding for you. “I believe this is for you.”

His mouth moved, but you were so distracted that it didn't occur to you he had actually said anything until you saw him looking at you expectedly. “Oh, thank you.” You started heading towards the dungeons when he jogged towards and stopped in front of you. “Aren’t you in the same class as Ron?”

“Yes, how did you know that?”

“I saw you talk to him the other day,” he told you. “I’m Fred.” He reached to shake your hands but then pulled it back when he remembered that your hands were full at the moment.

Ah, so this is Fred you thought. You've heard of him, who hasn't? Years of being at Hogwarts, tales of him and his equally devilish brother creating havoc around campus have traveled from one student to another. How you two had never seen one another until this point was surprising. It’s not like Hogwarts was a large school, but it wasn't small either.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Y/N.” You nodded your head towards him to replace a handshake. Ten seconds of silence caused you to walk past him and return to the path to the dungeons. “W-wait!” Fred called out.

He stood in front of you once again, one of his hands positioned in front of you to block you from walking past him again. “Would you like to get a butterbeer tomorrow?”

If there was anything you didn't like, it was being put on the spot. And another thing? Your routine being disturbed. Your Sunday was all planned out. Helping Sprout with her greenhouse to earn extra house points, tutoring some younger years, and getting a head start on your homework that wasn't even due for another week.

“I’m sorry, but no.” You gave him an apologetic smile as you walked away. Once again, he ran in front of you but this time merged with you and actually caused all of your books to fall.

“Merlin, I’m so sorry,” he bent down to help you pick them up. Fred usually isn't this clumsy or nervous. He usually charms his way through anything, but he was becoming like putty out of nowhere. “Okay, well what about Honeydukes next Saturday?”

“Sorry, but no again.” You started walking away for the nth time and turned around to look at him for the last time, “Please don’t follow me again.” And you were gone. But did this mean that Fred gave up on any chance he had? No. Far from it. If anything, it gave him reason to want to try harder.

He walked all the way to the Gryffindor house and luckily found Hermione studying in the common room with Pavarti and Lavender. There was a spot open next to her and when Ginny was about to take the spot, Fred grabbed her arm and pulled her away to steal the seat.

“Um, excuse you, I was going to sit–”

“Tell me everything you can about Y/N,” Fred interrupted his sister.

✿✿✿✿✿✿

He had tried to learn as much as he could about you. Fred learned that you had the top grades. Much like Harry did, you had learned the Patronus Charm before not only before your own class, but even Fred’s charms class. Your dad's a wizard, and your mum's a muggle. But most importantly, you were a picture perfect student, and although you didn't have any apparent hobbies, you picked up just about everything with ease.

A couple of weeks had passed and every other day, Fred had made any type of excuse to come see you.

‘Oh, my next class is in this direction’ It wasn't.

‘I like that book, too!’ You were, in fact, not holding a book but your personal journal.

‘Funny running into you here!’ It was in the Great Hall during breakfast.

Now, you didn't hate these interactions. They didn't do anything to your routine, and they were actually cute attempts to get your attention. But you didn't think you had any time for anything else. Or anyone else.

“You should give him a chance, Y/N/N. Live a little. I think the top student can take a bit of time for herself at least once,” your friend Millicent advised. Astoria agreed with her, “He’s cute~.” You slightly blushed in your book and pushed their arms away.

“I’ve never been on a date before,” you whispered. The two girls looked at each other confused before turning back to look at you. “Huh?”

“I’ve never been on a date before!” You flinched when you realized your voice was louder than intended. Your friends laughed when you looked towards the Gryffindor table to make sure Fred didn't hear you. He was talking to his friends, so that meant he didn't. Only he did, but felt your eyes on him so he pretended he didn't.

“So this is the perfect reason to go out with him! Go ask him out,” Millie pushed. She was persistently tapping on your arm until you eventually stood up. You took a deep breath to gather confidence and walked towards the table of red and gold.

When Fred's eyes met yours, you turned around and walked out of the Hall. He stood up from his seat and chased after you. He kept bumping into people, including Filch in the hallways. Filch yelled for him to stop, but of course Fred ignored him and kept going.

Momentarily, he lost you in the crowd of mixed color robes until he saw you sitting by yourself on a bench under a tree. He walked towards your direction and asked you with his eyes if he could take the seat next to you. You scooted down more to let the tall boy sit down.

Neither of you said anything for a few moments. You fiddled with your fingers on your lap and he stared up at the sky. “Nice day, innit?” Fred started the conversation. “Yes, it is.”

“Good weather to go walking around Hogsmeade” Fred tried one last attempt in asking you out.

“It would be,” you accepted.

He let out a sigh in defeat, “I know I ask a lot, but maybe just this once– wait, what did you say?” You looked up at him and smiled for the first time. His heart skipped a beat and the butterflies fluttered about inside.

“I’ll go with you.” He was so excited that he jumped up and did an air punch of victory. You laughed to yourself and when he looked at you, you had an eyebrow raised. He blushed in embarrassment and scratched the back of his neck. “I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

“Promptly at 2 in the afternoon in front of the Slytherin dorms. Don’t be late,” you stood up with confidence. You walked back to the Hall to tell your friends, cheeks warmed and ears blushing. “So?” Astoria asked.

“It’s just a date, that's it,” you sounded nonchalant about it, but the smile on your face said differently. You were excited for your day with Fred and for all, unpredictable adventures to come.

A much needed change of pace.

—

requests open!

[lumosandnoxwriting]

Kissing in the Snow - Adrian Pucey

Title: Kissing in the Snow Pairing: Adrian Pucey x Ravenclaw!Fem!Reader A/N: this is for @fandomscombine​ who wanted some fluff with Adrian!! There’s no summary because this genuinely has no real plot haha. Feedback is always welcome and requests are open! Tags: @feltondarling​ @pandaxnienke​

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“He’s doing it again,” Rachel whispers as she leans towards Y/N.

Y/N can feel the blush creeping up her neck, and she turns her head just barely so she can see the Slytherin table out of the corner of her eye. Sure enough, Adrian Pucey is sitting in his usual spot between Theodore Nott and Marcus Flint and he’s staring right at her. She turns her head so she’s looking at her best friend again, a small smile on her face.

“That’s the third time this week,” Y/N points out excitedly.

“Not counting the time in potions when his cauldron bubbled over because he was too busy watching you,” Maya, Y/N’s other friend, reminds them.

“And he still hasn’t said anything to you?” Rachel asks.

Y/N shakes her head, resisting her urge to see if Adrian is still looking at her. Over the past month Y/N and her friends noticed that the Slytherin boy has taken an interest in her. It started with a few wayward glances during classes or meals but as time has gone on he’s gotten bolder and he’s settled on just straight up staring at Y/N any chance he gets. It’s caused quite a few awkward moments during class, but Y/N would be lying if she said she doesn’t enjoy the attention. The only thing Y/N would change is the fact that despite all the attention Adrian gives her, he’s yet to talk to her.

Maya bites her lip, sparing a glance over at the Slytherin table. “I mean he’s still looking. Maybe he doesn’t think you’re interested?”

Y/N shrugs. “You think? Should I like, look at him back?”

“Well I guess it all depends. Are you interested in him?” Rachel asks.

“I mean he is pretty cute,” Y/N muses, biting her lip. “And he gets decent marks. Not to mention the fact that he’s a great Quidditch player.”

“Bet he’s got a nice set of abs under that uniform too,” Maya teases with an eyebrow wiggle.

“Of course that’s all you’d care about you perv,” Rachel responds with an eyeroll. “But this isn’t about you and your crush on every male quidditch player in the school. This is about Y/N and her potential new boyfriend.”

“Woah, woah, woah. Who said anything about a boyfriend?” Y/N interrupts. “He hasn’t even said two words to me, I think you guys are getting a bit ahead of yourselves.”

Maya scoffs. “Oh please, don’t pretend like you haven’t thought about it. I saw you doodling hearts around his name on your Charms notes last week.”

“So you do have a crush on him,” Rachel giggles excitedly. “Why don’t you make a move on him.”

Y/N bites her lip, choosing to ignore her friends’ excited whispering for the time being. She turns around in her seat, allowing herself to make direct contact with Adrian for the first time. Much to Y/N’s surprise, he doesn’t look away. His eyebrows raise slightly, as if he’s challenging her, before he gives her a sly wink. Y/N’s cheeks flush pink and she immediately turns back around, just barely catching the smile on Adrian’s face.

“Okay, there. I looked at him. Now will you two shut up?” Y/N whispers, unable to keep the happiness she feels from creeping into her voice.

-

Y/N is in the middle of grinding up a Bicorn horn during potions class the next week when a crumpled up piece of parchment flies over her shoulder and lands on the table in front of her. Maya nudges her and winks, using her head to subtly gesture towards where Adrian is sitting. Y/N already knows that he’s been looking at her during class, she could feel his eyes on her as she moved around the room to gather the needed ingredients for the potion Snape had tasked them to make.

“Open it,” Rachel urges.

Y/N looks to make sure Snape is busy scolding the Weasley twins for Merlin knows what before she puts down the Bicorn horn and grabs the note. She hunches over to make sure neither of her friends can see what it says, her fingers shaking as she opens it up.

You look cute when you focus like that. I have to be careful or my cauldron will boil over again.

Y/N clutches the note to her chest, a faint blush adorning her cheeks. She lets herself read it a few more times, memorizing the loop of the letters. Y/N checks again to make sure Snape is preoccupied, before turning in her seat to look at Adrian. When their eyes connect her blush deepens, and he winks at her before looking away to scribble something else down. This time she catches the piece of parchment he tosses, and Y/N opens it.

Walk with me to lunch?

She bites her lip and looks back at Adrian. Y/N nods at him, her lips turning up into a smile when he grins at her.

It takes all of Y/N’s willpower to turn back around and continue working on her potion. It takes all of her focus to keep her mind from wandering towards Adrian, partially due to the fact that both Maya and Rachel fire question after question at her. They quiet down when Y/N promises to tell them everything at lunch, and she’s able to finish her work. When the bell finally rings for lunch Y/N packs her things up slowly, making sure to put the notes Adrian sent her into a pocket in her bag.

Rachel groans. “Will you hurry up?”

Y/N pauses so she can grin up at her friends. “You two go ahead. I’ll meet you at lunch.” Maya opens her mouth to question her, and Y/N tries to subtly gesture towards where Adrian is hovering by the door, clearly waiting for Y/N.

“Oh,” Maya sighs, getting the hint. “Rachel and I will meet you at lunch.” She sends Y/N a wink before grabbing Rachel’s arm and dragging her towards the exit. They both give Adrian a look as they pass, their giggles loud and clear as they head down the hall.

“Sorry about them,” Y/N apologizes as she comes to stand with Adrian. “They can be a bit much sometimes.”

Adrian smiles at Y/N as they start to head towards the Great Hall. “That’s okay. It’s kind cute actually, that they worry about you.” His hand wraps around the leather strap of her backpack as he watches her struggle to hitch it on her shoulder. “Let me carry that for you.”

Y/N blushes. “It’s fine, it’s fine, you don’t have to,” she stutters.

“I want to,” Adrian insists quietly, giving Y/N a reassuring smile. He winks at her as he takes the bag from her, slinging it on his shoulder like it weighs nothing. “Although you may have to give me a back massage afterwards,” he flirts.

“Name a time and place, I’ll be there,” Y/N responds cheekily, nudging him playfully.

“Don’t tease me, Y/N. Because I will absolutely take you up on that offer.” Adrian looks over at her as they slowly head up the stairs out of the dungeons. “I’m sorry for all the staring, by the way. I hope it didn’t creep you out too much. You just really are beautiful and it’s very distracting.”

Y/N blushes, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “No need to apologize, I didn’t mind at all. It was um, kinda nice actually.”

Adrian lets the back of his hand brush Y/N’s, and when she doesn’t pull away he links their pinkies. “Good, because I find it so hard not to look at you. You’re by far the most beautiful girl in the entire castle.”

“The entire castle? Are you sure about that?” Y/N asks playfully. “Even with all of those Beauxbatons girls fliting around the castle?” While Y/N had gotten to know a few of the girls from Beauxbatons, she couldn’t help but feel insecure around them. Their uniforms are far more flattering than her Hogwarts one, not to mention the fact that they all are drop dead gorgeous with alluring French accents.

“Y/N, not even Fleur Delacour holds a candle to your beauty,” Adrian assures her, squeezing Y/N’s pinky with his own.

“That is a load of rubbish, but I’ll let it slide because you’re cute,” Y/N teases. They reach the entrance to the Great Hall then and they both pause, turning to face each other. Y/N can feel her friend’s eyes burning holes in the back of her head and she shifts her weight from one foot to the other. “Thank you for walking me to lunch. And carrying my bag for me.”

“It was my pleasure, Y/N. But I will have to take you up on that offer for a back massage,” Adrian reminds her with a wink. He hands Y/N her backpack, letting his fingers graze the back of her hand. “Before you go,” he says quietly, grabbing Y/N’s wrist lightly. “I was wondering if you’d like to accompany me to Hogsmeade on Saturday?”

Y/N bites her lip and she can feel how hot her cheeks are. “I would like that a lot.”

“Great,” Adrian says, smiling at her. “I’ll meet you at the door to the castle at 11.”

“See you then.” Y/N waves at Adrian before turning on her heel and heading towards the Ravenclaw table, a swarm of butterflies fluttering in her stomach.

-

“Hi gorgeous,” Adrian greets as Y/N comes down the last few stairs towards him, a smile forming on his face as a warm blush creeps across her cheeks. Adrian has found that it’s quite easy to make Y/N blush, and he takes advantage of that fact every chance he gets. He thinks she looks even more beautiful with a pink tint to her cheeks.

“Hi,” Y/N responds, reaching out to take the hand Adrian offers her. He intertwines their fingers and brings their hands up to his mouth, pressing a brief kiss to the back of her hand.  “You ready to go?” Y/N asks, trying to hide some of her nerves.

“Now that you’re here, yes,” Adrian responds playfully, pulling Y/N closer to his side. They head out of the castle together, groups of their classmates swarming around them as they make the familiar trek down to Hogsmeade. Adrian just watches Y/N for a moment as they walk, dumbfounded by how beautiful she is. It took him nearly a month to work up the courage to speak to Y/N purely because his brain turns to mush every time he looks at her. Her hair is up in a delicate bun, a few long tendrils of hair framing her face, and it takes all of his willpower to not twist one around his finger.

Y/N watches Adrian out of the corner of her eye, still in disbelief that he wanted to go on a date with her. She’s had boys ask her out before, but none that were quite on Adrian’s level of desirability. He and some of his fellow quidditch teammates were often the topic of gossip during girl’s nights in the Ravenclaw common room, and a few of the Beauxbatons girls even inquired about his relationship status when they first arrived at the castle a few months prior. There are plenty of girls he could have given his attention to and while Y/N is surprised he’d chosen her, she’s also extremely happy.

“Are you enjoying the Triwizard tournament so far?” Y/N asks to break the silence that had fallen around them. “Or has Quidditch being cancelled made it too hard to enjoy?”

“I wasn’t too thrilled at first, I’m not going to lie,” Adrian chuckles. “But Flint and I still break our brooms out and pass the Quaffle around when we get a chance, which is better than nothing. Plus, that dragon thing was pretty sick.”

“I never thought I’d ever see a dragon that close in my life. It was about as thrilling as it was terrifying,” Y/N adds with a giggle. They reach Hogsmeade then and pause, neither of them sure where to go from here.

“Do you wanna go into that Madam Puddifoot’s place or whatever it’s called? That’s where Flint always gets dragged off to with Daphne,” Adrian suggest.

Y/N shakes her head, a shiver running down her spine. “Cho like to go there as well. But the place creeps me out if I’m honest.”

Adrian laughs. “Oh, thank Merlin, I feel the same way.” He bites his lip before giving Y/N a cheeky grin. “We could head into the bookstore. I’m sure that’s your favorite spot,” he teases.

“I get it, because I’m in Ravenclaw I like to read. Ha ha, very funny,” Y/N teases, shoving Adrian playfully. “Just for that the first round of Butterbeer is on you, Pucey.”

“Aw come on! It was a little funny!” Adrian laughs, letting Y/N drag him towards the Three Broomsticks. Once they push through the door Adrian reluctantly releases Y/N’s hand, nudging her towards the seating area. “You grab us a table, I’ll grab the drinks.”

Y/N nods and shoots Adrian a smile before going to find them a table. She’s heading towards a free table in the back corner when someone grabs her wrist and pulls her down into a booth. “I thought you guys promised to stay in the common room!” Y/N scolds, glaring at Rachel and Maya.

“No, we promised we wouldn’t follow you,” Rachel points out with an eyeroll.

“And we didn’t,” Maya points out with a laugh. “We got here first. So technically you’re following us.”

“Well technically you’re both annoying,” Y/N teases, flicking Maya’s ear.

“You two can fight later,” Rachel starts, giving Maya a look. “We only have a few minutes, how’s it going?”

Y/N blushes, fiddling with her fingers. “Good so far,” she admits with a small laugh. “He kept looking at me while we walked, and he held my hand.” Rachel and Maya squeal for a moment before Y/N shushes them. “Quiet I don’t want him to hear. He thought you guys being protective was cute, but I’m sure it’ll turn creepy quite fast. I’m gonna go, I’ll see you guys at dinner tonight.”

Y/N sneaks out of the booth and heads for the table she originally set her eyes on and she settles into a seat just as Adrian turns around, two frothy mugs of steaming Butterbeer in his hands. She waves him over, smiling as he approaches.

“Trying to hide on me?” Adrian jokes, placing the mugs down on the table. He slides into the chair next to Y/N, scooting as close to her as possible.

“More like trying to get you alone,” Y/N flirts, wrapping her hand around one of the mugs and pulling it closer to her. “Thanks for buying,” Y/N says quietly, taking a sip from the mug.

“Y/N I’d buy you the moon if it made you happy,” Adrian responds, smiling as her cheeks flush pink. He takes a sip from his own mug, letting the warm liquid calm his nerves.

“Not sure how that would work, but I appreciate the sentiment,” Y/N laughs. She smiles as Adrian puts his mug down since some of the foam is stuck to his upper lip. “You’ve got some um,” she starts gesturing towards his mouth.

Adrian chuckles, and Y/N watches in awe as his tongue swipes across his mouth, taking some of the foam with it. “Did I get it all?” he asks, his voice an octave lower than it normally is.

“Here, let me,” Y/N responds quietly, bringing her hand up towards his face. It takes all her concentration not to let her hand shake as the pad of her thumb brushes against his mouth, wiping the last bit of foam away. “There, all better.”

Adrian clears his throat, praying that the blush that now adorns his cheeks isn’t obvious. “Thanks.” He reaches out and tucks a piece of hair behind Y/N’s ear. “So, what do you like to do? When you’re not reading that is,” he jokes, winking at her.

Y/N shoves his shoulder, a shiver running down her spine when he grabs her hand and intertwines their fingers. “I really like to paint and draw actually. That’s why my backpack is so heavy, my giant sketchbook is in it.”

“That’s so cool. I like to doodle sometimes, but mostly when I’m not paying attention in class,” Adrian chuckles. “You’ll have to show me some of your stuff sometime.”

“I’d really like that,” Y/N says with a smile. A lot of the members of Y/N’s house are into some kind of art form, so her love of drawing and painting often goes unnoticed. She can’t remember the last time someone asked to see one of her pieces and the fact that Adrian is interested causes butterflies to rumble in her stomach. “I’m actually working on a sketch of Flitwick right now. He was trying to teach us all how to dance the other day for the Yule Ball and he had the funniest pair of dress robes on I’ve ever seen.”

“I can’t even imagine what that must have looked like,” Adrian muses with a laugh. “Snape was trying to teach us as well, though his lesson was less funny and more, disturbing.” He pauses to take a sip of his drink. “Although he did knock a fourth year over with his cloak when he did a spin and I laughed so hard I cried.”

Y/N laughs at that as well, unable to get the image of Snape dancing out of her mind. “Now that is something to see. I can’t even imagine Snape dancing. To me he only exists in the Potions classroom, I can’t imagine him just walking around living a normal life.”

“I know, right?” Adrian agrees. “Like he has to have hobbies or something, but all I can ever imagine him doing is sitting behind his desk starting at a wall.” Adrian bites his lip, watching as Y/N sips at her drink. “Speaking of the Yule Ball,” he says slowly. “You don’t have a date yet, do you?”

Y/N shakes her head a small smile on her face. “No, I was planning on just going with Rachel and Maya. A friend thing or whatever. Do you? Have a date?”

“Hopefully I will soon. After I ask you,” Adrian adds quickly, hoping his nervousness isn’t too obvious. “Y/N, will you be my date to the Yule Ball?”

Y/N squeezes Adrian’s hand. “Yes. Absolutely yes.”

Adrian and Y/N sit and talk until their drinks have long been finished and the sky has started to turn orange with the sunset, talking about anything and everything they can think of. They decide to head back to the castle as the students who were taking up tables start to leave in groups. Dinner will be served soon, and no one wants to miss that. Their walk back to the castle is surrounded by a comfortable silence, their intertwined hands slowly swinging between them.

“Can I walk you to potions on Monday?” Adrian asks as they reach the entrance to the Great Hall.

Y/N nods and her face turns beet red as Adrian leans in and presses a soft kiss to her cheek. “Thank you, for today.”

Adrian smiles at her, giving her hand a final squeeze. “It was my pleasure, Y/N. There’s no other way I’d like to spend my Saturday.”

-

“Wow, Y/N. You look incredible,” Adrian compliments dreamily as they come together in front of the Great Hall.

Y/N blushes as Adrian’s hand lands on her hip and he pulls her into his chest. Despite the fact that her and Adrian have spent nearly every moment together since their date at the Three Broomsticks, being close to him still makes her palms sweaty and erupts a swarm of butterflies in her stomach. “You don’t look too shabby yourself.”

Adrian smiles down at her, pressing a soft kiss to Y/N’s forehead. “We’re the hottest couple here I reckon.”

Couple. The word sends a tingle down Y/N’s spine and her knees quiver as Adrian intertwines their fingers and leads her into the Great Hall. It’s the first time either of them has defined their relationship, and it makes Y/N feel lightheaded.

“Wow,” Y/N gasps as they enter the Great Hall. “This doesn’t even look like we’re still at Hogwarts.” The room looks like the perfect Winter Wonderland, with a giant Christmas tree at the far end completing the décor.

“Maybe this shouldn’t have been our second date,” Adrian muses with a chuckle. “I don’t know how I’m ever going to top this.”

Y/N rolls her eyes playfully. “As long as you’re there with me it’ll be perfect.” She leans in and presses a kiss to his cheek. “Oh look, here come the champions.” They both turn to watch as the champions enter when Y/N feels Adrian wrap an arm around her waist before he pulls her into his chest.

“Fleur isn’t even half as beautiful as you,” Adrian whispers, causing goosebumps to erupt down Y/N’s neck.

As the champions start to dance Y/N turns around in his embrace and playfully slaps him on the shoulder. “I’m already your date, no need to be so sappy,” she teases.

Adrian chuckles as his free hand comes up to cup Y/N’s cheek. He pulls their lips together, and kisses Y/N sweetly. She melts into his embrace, her arms wrapping around his neck to pull him as close as possible.

“Come dance with me,” Adrian murmurs, pulling Y/N onto the dance floor. His hands settle on Y/N’s hips and her hands grip his shoulders tightly as they start to sway back and forth.

Fake snow starts to fall from the ceiling and Y/N tilts her head back, giggling as the flakes start to land on her face. “I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to celebrate Christmas normally after all of this.”

Adrian reaches up to brush some of the snow off of Y/N’s cheeks, smiling when she looks back at him. “I want you to be my girlfriend,” he says suddenly shocking them both. “I-I mean,” Adrian stutters, his cheeks turning a light pink color. “Will you be my girlfriend, Y/N?”

Instead of answering Y/N pulls Adrian into a slow kiss, their bodies still gently swaying as the snow falls all around them.

[dirtyoatmeall]

Dig (Tsukishima x Reader)

A/N: I will def be writing more for these, as an archaeology major, I hold paleontology major tsukki in a special place in my heart. Also everything about the dig I describe is most likely incorrect lmao. 

Pairing: Paleontology major! Tsukki x Archaeology major! Reader (she/they pronouns used)

Word count: 1.6k

Warnings: None :)

`

You met Tsukishima Kei the first day of your first year of college. It was your intro Anthropology course, and you had bumped into him on accident entering the auditorium. You had kept your head down, mumbling an apology before hurriedly finding a seat in the middle of the room. He sat a few seats over in the same row and you tried your best not to glance at him, he was obviously attractive, but all it took was a raised eyebrow when he caught you staring for you to look away blushing, pretending to look through your bag for something. You busied yourself with numbering the pages in your notebook until the professor started class.

It was a relatively small class, so the professor had everyone stand up and introduce themselves with their pronouns, major/minor, and one thing they want to accomplish. When it was your turn you tried your best not to sound confident as you spoke, though it didn’t last long, as the professor immediately asked you to repeat yourself louder. You were bright red by the time you finished introducing yourself. “H-hi, my name is (Y/N), I’m double majoring in bio-archaeology and Classics, my pronouns are she/they and I want to find Alexander the Great.” The professor nodded and the next person stood up to introduce themselves as you sat down, fiddling with your pen.

Tsukishima didn’t really think much of you until he watched you do the icebreaker for class. He thought it was an ambitious goal, and respectable dual majors. Though the thing that really drew his attention to you was the face you made when the person next to you introduced themselves as an archaeology major and that they wanted to find a complete T-Rex skeleton. Your face had twisted rather cutely into a grimace at your classmates words, turning to your notebook and scribbling in the corners. After the professor kindly explained the differences between archaeology and paleontology, it was his turn. He stood up, introduced himself “Tsukishima, he/him pronouns, paleozoology major, museum studies minor. And I’d like to find a job right out of school.” He sat down as the professor nodded and made a joke about finding a job. Soon enough the entire class had introduced themselves and the professor started going over the syllabus.

The first time Tsukishima saw you outside of class it was a Friday night. 3 a.m. to be exact. Thankfully your university had a 24hr library, and most of the students took advantage of it, though it was usually dead at this time of night, or morning. He spied you almost right away, nestled in a corner with multiple stacks of books and cans of energy drinks. You were nodding your head along to a dong and when he walked past he could very clearly hear ABBA blasting in your headphones. He smirked to himself and sat down a table down from you, getting ready to study for the upcoming test on Wednesday. He would get up periodically to get a book or a snack from the vending machine near the door. He noticed that every time he got up, your eyes would flicker to him, and you would pause your work, messing with your phone until he sat down again. He would return the favor, watching your things while you were gone.

About an hour into his study session he looked up to your spot when he heard you groan quietly. You aggressively paused your music and cutely pouted down at your notebook. You skimmed a few pages in the book next to you, comparing it to your notebook and whatever was on the screen of your laptop before rolling your eyes and softly face planting onto the book in front of you. Your eyes briefly fluttered to where he was, and you smiled slightly when the two of you made eye contact. He pretended to get back to the book he was supposed to be reading, but he watched you sigh as your eyes flickered from your notebook to him before you quietly got up and shuffled towards his table. He fully looked at you when you slid into the seat across from him, and he raised an eyebrow when you smiled awkwardly.

“Uh, Hi. I’m (Y/N), we have anth 250 together right?” You asked even though you very well knew he was in that class, but you still waited for confirmation before you continued. “That’s what I thought. Could you maybe help me with this? I’m having a hard time grasping it.” He glanced at what you were pointing at and nodded, he had also had some trouble with it, and had just recently figured it out. He explained it to you, smiling when he saw your eyebrows raise as you let out a soft ’ooohhh’ once you had grasped it. You had moved to get up when he cleared his throat, “Uh, you can sit here if you want, that way if you have any other questions you don’t have to come all the way over here.” Tsukishima didn’t look at you when he said it, but saw you smile and nod out of the corner of his eye. You brought your stuff over to his table and the two of you studied together for a few more hours, occasionally talking about class that led into talking about random things the two of you both liked.

At 5:30 you sighed, closing your laptop and putting away your things. “I should probably head back to my dorm, I have been here for about 12 hours” You chuckled and Tsukishima nodded and began to pack up as well. “I’ll walk you to your dorm.” You paused, looking at him puzzled. “Oh you don’t have to do that, I live all the way in East Village.” He simply waved your concern away “Me too, I have a class at 10 anyway, I should probably stop for the night. You snorted and waited for the blonde to be done before the two of you headed to your dorm building.

The two of you continued to talk about random things on the way back, from music tastes to favorite myths to what tree you would be. You both paused to watch the sunrise at the hill next to your dorm building, watching the colors slowly melt together as the stars disappeared from view. You turned to smile at Tsukishima to find he was already looking at you, an uncharacteristic soft look on his face. You flushed slightly and the two of you continued to your dorm building. You saluted to him before getting off the elevator onto your floor. You glanced at your phone as you got ready for bed, glad you didn’t have any classes until noon.

From that day on you and Tsukishima sat together during your anthropology class and studied together every Friday. You partnered together for the few projects assigned and even hung out outside of class, growing closer as the semester flew by. You were planning on meeting him for lunch after you finished finals, which you just did. You sent him a text and headed to the café the two of you frequent. You ordered a drink and sat at the corner table, scrolling through your phone until Tsukishima arrived. The two of you discussed your finals, and the classes you were taking next semester (you had 2 of them together thankfully) before Tsukishima sighed. “Do you want to get dinner on Saturday?” You smiled nodding, “Yeah! Are there some last minute things you want to go over for a final?” He rolled his eyes and looked at you flatly, which was a normal look for the blonde. “No, like a date.” You stopped, mid-drink as you absorbed his words. When you did you flushed and swallowed, looking away shyly. “Yeah, I’d really like that.” Tsukishima smiled and nodded.

10 years later~

You sighed, wiping your forehead as you straightened up, moving to your phone to change the music blaring from the speakers. It was hot, the hat doing nothing to shield you from the sun as you crouched down again, picking up your trowel. You were about to continue your section of the dig when you heard a noise of surprise from the next section over. “(Y/N)! I think I found something, it looks like bone!”

Your eyes grew wide and you jumped out of the pit into the one a few feet away, joining the college student in looking at what they found. They brushed some more dirt away, revealing a large bone, too large to be human. You groaned, climbing out to grab your phone, disconnecting it from the speaker and dialing a number before stepping away, pout on your face. The college student looked at the other dig lead, confused on why you seemed upset. The dig lead chuckled, waving away their concern. “Don’t worry, you didn’t do anything wrong. (Y/N) just has to call in a paleontologist, and the one on this dig just happens to be an ass.” The college student nodded and climbed out of the pit, not wanting to disturb anything.

Thankfully it wasn’t too long before another car pulled in. You immediately walked over, hands on your hips as you talked to the person getting out. The rest of the crew could see them smirk and flick your forehead, before leaning down to kiss you. The college student made a noise of surprise as the two of you walked over, bumping shoulders and you discussed details of the dig. “Wait, I thought you said she didn’t like them.” The dig lead just shook his head, “I said he was an ass, that doesn’t mean she doesn’t like him, in fact, they’re married.”

[pandemilkbread]

nine days // bakugo katsuki

author’s note: here is the sequel to paubaya! it can be read as a stand alone fic, but it’ll feel better once you read the first one. 

please enjoy ♡ please leave a like or comment if you enjoyed it,, it’ll mean alot aaaaa. also, beware. this is pretty long! 

ʙᴀᴋᴜɢᴏ ᴋᴀᴛsᴜᴋɪ

nine days. (angst!fic) part 1

sᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ: It took eight, just eight days to fall in love with you; and as dense as Bakugo was, it’ll take him a lifetime (or two) to admit it.

i.

The idea of love has always been a difficult subject to comprehend. 

And to a young boy at the tender age of four, whose typical acts of love revolved on beating the crap out of anyone who dared to mess with him (or his friends, though he’d rather not call them that), the subject was more troublesome to speak out loud. 

Which was quite contrary to the Bakugo household persona that radiated pure noise throughout the whole course of the day, a feat their neighbor would love to refute if they were able to.

(how a detached and sound proof home such as theirs could release that much clamor, they hardly knew.)

However as loud as the Bakugos were, it’s a no-brainer to realize how quiet they became in regard to their own feelings. The eccentric family breathed the words “show don’t tell” like a mantra; the essence of touch being the utmost way of showing affection—something Bakugo Katsuki never truly understood until one Saturday afternoon. 

Bakugo loved his quirk. His favorite part? Not one single part, but a bunch load of favorites. 

Blasting shit into smithereens. 

Screams of wow! and cool! from his followers. 

(”the imaginary people in his head, who continually shower him with praise.” not that he’d admit it.)

The sizzle of sweat on his fingers. 

…And exactly everything else that buffed up his currently fragile ego.

The worst part? 

The smell of burnt cloth that followed his usual fits of excitement. 

The lukewarm water plummeting from the ceiling sprinklers.

…Most especially the whack that vibrated through his skull when his mother found out his only son almost managed to burn down the whole kitchen. 

He took it personally, very personally. What happened? An accident!  The All Might segment thrilled him to the point of attempting a somersault, one that he succeeded in doing! Was it his fault a measly floor couldn’t handle his greatness? Yet, how does his crappy mom reward him for this feat— a full throttle to the head. 

“Katsuki,” his father muttered, rousing him from his thoughts. The scent of antiseptic lingered in the air, forcing him to scrunch his nose in disgust. Was he so weak to need a dab of a stupid medical solution to—

“You could have gotten hurt. Don’t be stubborn.” He sighed. “Your mom was very worried.”

Bakugo grunted. ‘A pissy way of showing it!’ He’d retaliate, but the downcast glint in his father’s eyes stopped him. He was clearly worried for his son’s wellbeing. 

“...Could’ve said so.” He sputtered out. (unwillingly, of course.)

“Sometimes you have to look past words to truly understand how someone is feeling, Katsuki.” A small grin perched on Masaru’s face. “People love differently. You just need to spot how.”

ii.

“I like you! Can we please start seeing each other?”

“Hah? Who the fuck are you?”

One tear, two tears, three tears. With that, the girl ran, and down the middle school staircase she went. 

Bakugo hardly understood why he was invited to the rooftop in the first place. No. He knew a confession would take place, that was obvious. All thanks to his fellow female classmates who couldn’t stop gossiping about it. One more ‘oh God! she’s going to confess to Bakugo-san later!’ and he’d burst, literally.

No. He couldn’t grasp the whole idea of confessing your love to a stranger. Bakugo knew nothing of the teary-eyed student, except she was a crybaby. Besides, it irritated him to the point of seething. Why confess your love only to run out halfway when things go sour? 

It wasted his time. Time he could have spent training, studying, doing something important. 

Don’t misunderstand. Bakugo was not a cruel person, he never was. Just one with below par conversational skills. He wanted to know the reasons, not disregard her feelings. He wanted to understand the why’s and what’s of the equation; the basis of what directed her feelings onto him. 

But, he would never accept her proposition, even if she managed to spur out a million reasons. Bakugo never saw himself in a position to love someone, it was too troublesome. Hell, he never understood the whole idea of love itself. 

He scoffed. If he had found himself fancying a person, it would be one akin to himself. 

Someone strong. 

Someone who spoke their mind. 

Someone who could handle him. 

Someone who—

Whack! A shoe smacked him out of his dazed stupor. Apparently, the friends of so-called stranger who shuffled off the rooftop in a crying heap told what transpired. The whole girl squad fashioned themselves into a line meant to reprimand his actions. 

“You could have softened the blow, you know!” One of them hissed. “In a way that wouldn’t hurt her feelings!”

“Yeah. You’re pretty selfish, Bakugo-san. You could have at least tried to hang out before deciding!” Another chided.

The act ignited his anger, leaving him an irked mess. 

Soften the blow? What did they expect him to do? Listen to the confession wholeheartedly, seemingly interested in actually dating the other party? Hell no. Why would he do so? It would only make the rejection hurt more. No matter how you put it a rejection is still a rejection; and a rejection will hurt. 

Selfish? He had done the girl a huge favor. More or less she would finally move on and treat the event as a lesson; focus on someone who had the time for affection. 

Was it his fault for not feeling the same way? Fuck no. He owed them nothing. 

“Don’t wanna. Too much of a hassle.” Bakugo sneered. 

And, oh boy were women scary. Nothing was more terrifying than a group of women who managed to suppress Hell’s fury and rage into their whole being. Hypocrites. Speaking of softening blows when one hit from any single one of them could break bones. 

God. He hated their quirks. 

(scratch that. he hated the sound of his mother’s cackling the most. ‘now what did i tell you about pissing off girls!’ she scolded.)

iii. 

Bakugo was a lot of things: perceptive, intelligent, strong— Hell he could list down a thousand adjectives if he wanted to. But, he was never the observant one. 

Sheer power? He was fucking amazing. 

Keen leadership? Bakugo is your guy!

Socializing skills? …Working on it. But, God yeah!

As perceptive as he was, his ego took a bit of a hit the moment he crashed into her. And as much as he would like to boast it was her fault in the first place, with the stacks of books that perched on her forearms, he knew better than to daze off in the middle of a crowded hallway. 

The books shook in momentum, and in return one hand steadied the massive collection. The blonde Pikachu outwardly reached out preventing the crash, a feat Kaminari would evidently use as a bragging tool later on. 

“Ah, sorry about that! Spiky over here’s in a daze after the math quiz,” Kaminari snickered. 

“Says the cheater who got caught on question one.” Bakugo retorted with an eyeroll to match. 

The other person in question huffed out a breathy laugh, the books shook once again in reaction, forcing her to side step to balance them out. “That’s fine. Sorry for blocking the way too.” The stranger reassured. 

By then, Bakugo’s stomach growled. God was he hungry. He casually followed the flow of people toward the lunch area. A few steps later his blonde companion tapped him on the shoulder, almost frantically. 

“I-I’mma help carry the books to—” Kaminari whipped his head back and forth at him and the other person walking the opposite direction. “So... yeah! Go without me!”   

Bakugo grunted. A non-verbal consent which easily meant “go, I don’t care”, or more likely “bye. i’m fucking hungry”. He couldn’t understand why Kaminari would go that far for someone he barely knew, especially when their whole body was covered by the stacks of books. Suspicious if you asked him. 

The boy was simply unpredictable and troublesome. Nah. He had no time to think about the electrical cord, he wanted to eat. Once he arrived at the dining hall, the other three constituents of his group sat on their usual hangout place. Thankfully (he won’t admit it) the eccentric red head ordered his regular lunch for him, allowing Bakugo to immediately slide into the table. 

“Bahkuwgo! Whersh Kahmiyari?” Pinky blurted, her mouth filled with food. 

His eyebrows furrowed. Where was Pikachu? “Shithead’s busy.” 

Bakugo returned to the matter at hand, his aching stomach, and began chewing. Obviously, the angry porcupine had no time to gossip about the who, what, where, and when’s, hello? Stomach first. His ears on the other hand had no shut-off button, prompting him to listen in the conversation rather irately. 

“I told him to study! Three nights ago! And what happens? He decides to write down the whole syllabus into his hands!” 

Sero sighed. “Mina. He’s helpless and will never learn—”

“Didn’t you copy off him too?” Kirishima chortled. “I saw you look over his answers!”

The black haired boy feigned shock. “Are you assuming I cheated? I thought we were friends!” Seconds of thought later, his eyes widened in real shock. “If you saw me looking... it means you looked too!”

“Bro. I wouldn’t cheat. It’s against my honor—” 

“Oh my God! All three of you are idiots.” Mina gushed. 

“Says the girl who left the whole back page em-empty.” Sero snickered, his palm jabbing his chest to dislodge the food stuck in his throat. 

Kirishima gasped. “There’s a back page? The—”

“Hey! How do you know? You’re seated at the third row! So you’ve really been chea—”

The thwack of a lunch tray interrupted the conversation, an achievement only possible by the fourth idiot of the group. The lightning bolt returned from the alleged errand in a sputtering mess; like he would be when overloaded by his quirk, almost but not quite. 

“Denki! What took you so long? I bet Aizawa-sensei decided to talk some sense into you!” Mina teased, tilting her head in confusion when the blonde suddenly dazed off. 

Bakugo smacked the Kaminari on the forehead, rather lightly. “...Idiot’s broken.”

“No... I met an angel...” The chargebolt mumbled. 

“Here we go again.” Sero shook his head in response. “Who is it this time?”  

“Shush! She’s here!” He hissed. “Bakugo bumped into her earlier. She had these big books—”

“Bro! That’s no way to talk to a girl—” 

“No! Not that! Real books! So, they were heavy and... Yeah. I helped her carry them to Recovery Girl— and yeah!” 

“You’re not making any sense.” Sero advised. 

“Shut up! She might hear us!” Kaminari gawked. “...She’s so pretty...”

Four sets of eyes travelled towards the person the Pikachu was ogling at, a silent agreement among all five of them to be as unsuspecting as possible. Evidently, she was a simple normal high school girl whose smile seemed to radiate glee likely from her co-classmates who sat with her. 

Bakugo surveyed her face, and then onto her gestures and actions. A Goddess? Huh. The girl seemed pretty normal to him, no one special. Kaminari unmistakably gushed over another woman, like he usually did for no reason at all. 

“Where’s she from?” Bakugo asked, rather boredly.

“Ah, yeah! I don’t know.” The lover-boy continued ogling. “...She’s not from the Hero department for sure.”

“No shit, Sherlock.” 

iv. 

Bakugo hated many things; failing tests (he’s too smart to fail), winning without actual merit, God he despises losing even more, Deku (he doesn’t actually, too prideful to oppose it though), nagging— He hates Aizawa’s nagging the most. 

It must have something to do with the nonchalant tone, more like dead and spiritless if you asked him, the all knowing attitude, the deep timbre of ‘Bakugo. Fix that up. If I find out you’ve been bleeding all over the floor. Good luck.’, the threatening staring contest thereafter, and the resolution: him walking furiously to the nurses’ office. 

He groaned. It was a tiny scratch. Maybe a bruise, or two. The gash on his temple stung, not just physically. The reason why he was cut in the first place was all because of shitty Pikachu blabbing about his fucking angel. If he said “You’re just jeaaaalous” one more time, he would explode. 

Bakugo warned him. Multiple times. Kirishima could vouch it. But, no. Bolty decided to repeat the phrase manifold of times, leading him to screech a “shut the fuck up!”, causing Pinky to scream, in succession scared Shitty Hair forcing him to activate his quirk—

Fuck that. In short, it was all thanks to the living and breathing phone charger. 

Bakugo gripped the clinic door and slammed it open. The quicker he found Recovery Girl the quicker he returned to class and beat the shit out of Pikachu. Yeah. He’d do that, but instead he found her. 

For fucks sake. The indirect reason why he was in this state. 

He marched toward the desk, dragging his feet in a somewhat stomping manner. The way she blankly stared irritated him more. Was she just going to stare? Bakugo rolled his eyes. Did she think he was pathetic to come in for a slight scratch?

He had no choice. Not his fucking choice. 

“What the fuck are you looking at?” 

Finally. The girl roused from her state of daze and stood up. Now all he needed to do was ask— nah, he’d wait for the head nurse himself. 

The other person in the room darted her eyes to him and a clock on the wall almost quizzically, as if she was contemplating what to do. With that, she spun around and faced him. 

“She’s not here. Bear with it for a sec, let me get something to help.” She mumbled. 

Oh? The girl wasn’t a bystander after all. She reached for a small kit inside a cabinet in the wall. Her hands then beckoned to a chair and it was his cue to sit down. 

This gave him ample time to observe the woman who’s been driving him nuts. Through the oddball Kaminari of course. 

First of all, she was no goddess. Looked more like an enraged chipmunk on Christmas morning. Her cheeks puffed up in concentration, dabbing antiseptic on his temple. How Kaminari fell for her, he had no idea. Not surprising though, he’d fall for the whole female populace if he had the time for it. 

Second, why the fuck would he be jealous! What was there to be jealous about? Pikachu should be the envious one. The girl he fawned for happened to be the same woman in charge of cleaning his wounds. No. Not wounds. Scratches. Stupid scratches. Her eyes glazed in utter focus at the task of hand, this beat Kaminari’s “watching habits” any day. 

Hell, he was a tad excited. Using this incident as a tool to finally make the idiot shut up. The imminent power he’d have over the crappy blonde. He would bring it up on every occasion possible, well— not every one. Bakugo did have mercy for the goofball. So, maybe five times a week. Almost enough to make up for all the weeks of his bantering. 

Third, he thought, wouldn’t it be better if he introduced you to Kaminari instead? Yeah, he barely knew you. Even so, it was worth a shot. Maybe referring you to the Pikachu would be better in the long run. Maybe, the experience could humble him. Bakugo shook his head. No. Even if he managed to coerce you into meeting Bolty, there was no guarantee you’d actually like him. 

Then there was the impending heartbreak and sobbing and whining and complaining. Nevermind. He’d go through so much shit for a tiny bit of satisfaction. Scratch that. 

Anyway, what was so great about you? You weren’t from the hero course. Obviously. Bakugo knew most of the students from that department. Although he couldn’t remember names, faces seemed to pop up in his mind. You didn’t have an awesome quirk. Hell, if you did, he recalled no one who looked like you from the sports festival. Business department? He assumed people like them don’t intern for the clinic. General department then? 

Bakugo growled. Why was he trying to understand you? You were nothing to him. A simple stranger who crossed paths with first time, and highly for the last time once the whole ordeal was over. God. He’ll kill Kaminari for this. 

At that instant, Bakugo felt repetitive pressure on head. It took him a few seconds to realize she patted him. Like a kid!? Fuck no. His ego couldn’t take her treating him as a child. A small vein popped on his forehead and when he was about to berate her for her actions, apparently she spoke first. 

“Good boy, you can leave now.” With. A. Matching. Grin.

Fuck no. This was worse. You didn’t treat him as a child, he was a pet to you! A pet? Why a pet!? He wanted to wipe that dumb smile off your face. You were exactly more annoying than Pikachu ever was! 

Her cheeks flooded pink from the small laugh she released.  Bakugo’s eyes hovered over to yours and one though popped up: cute. 

What. The. Actual. Fuck. 

Imaginary steam evaporated from the top of his head. Cute? Cute! Gross. The woman in front of him wasn’t cute. She was fucking annoying. He bet his mind spelled u.g.l.y wrong. The scratch on his head fucked up his intellect. 

Bakugo immediately stood up, pointing an accusing finger at her. “What’dya call me, ugly!?”

v. 

Anyone who thought Bakugo was the type of person to run away from a fight would be met with the indignant monster himself, threatening the offender with fury akin to the devil.  

It’ll take a million years before Bakugo willingly scampered off the battlefield without dealing a punch (or two). 

However it would take longer for him to admit he was running away from you. No. He wasn’t ‘running’ per se, he was observing the situation. The whole clinic event left him irked and in a sense, intrigued. 

Now that he thought about it, anyone who met his “angry” side were prone to either a. running; b. crying; c. anger; and d. all of the above; and in rare cases: e. laughing. He assumed anyone who laughed at him after his usual feats of anger were the real creepy ones— or idiots reincarnate. 

The moment he knew of her existence, he found himself noticing her more and more. He remembered specs of her daily routine from mere perception, something he hated he did, yet couldn’t stop. 

She hated tomatoes, he gathered from a passing conversation on the way to the lunch room. 

She hated snakes even more. Something to do with a childhood fear that forced her to go to the hospital. 

She loved reading, he presumed with all the books she had on the top of the desk in the library. 

As much as it irritated him to realize she took up a part of his thoughts (a big part, really), it pisses him off further when she spotted him looking at her as well. That led her to offer him a smile, sometimes a nose scrunch, other days furrowed eyebrows in confusion, but most of the time you never noticed the blonde hero student glancing at your direction. 

Well, that’s fine with him. More time to speculate the shitty woman who managed to take up his time. 

She took the courage to approach him one day. Bakugo knew she headed to his table in the library. So what does he do the moment her eyes met his in an attempt to introduce herself? Run. He fucking runs. 

An accomplishment that only happened when the world split into two. 

Yet, here were are on Day Four: Bakugo Ignores Gen. Girl to Restore His Self-Esteem. Part one of the “he was caught looking multiple times and almost confronted” franchise. This happened for quite a while, pretty easy actually. Both of your schedules never met, the only times he caught a whip of your existence were in the library (your humble abode) and the clinic (your humble abode part two). 

Obviously, he avoided both places like the plague. 

His plan worked for a while. 

(for the first five days, honestly.)

Bakugo’s broke his streak one lunch afternoon. He caught her eye the exact moment she looked at his, inciting a silent battle of leering. She grinned set out to stir his anger and he glared right back. The fight lasted for minutes neither parties admitting defeat, earning the attention of his fellow lunchmates. 

“Bakugo? Could you teach me this later?” Mina pleaded. “If I fail one more quiz I’d be dumber than Denki!” 

“Hey! I studied this time. I bet I might get a higher score than Midoriya this time!” Kaminari disagreed, flicking the girl’s forehead. 

“Finish eating already. We might be late again...” Sero sighed. “God. Aizawa-sensei gives me the chills...”

The red head of the group noticed Bakugo’s full tray and focused glare first. Kirishima lightly tapped the blonde, earning a grunt in response. Kirishima’s eyes then followed his line of sight to see the girl Kaminari has been talking about nonstop, and stop he did weeks ago. 

“Ah. You know her, Bakugo?” Kirishima whispered. “You might... with that staring contest going on between you.”

“No. I don’t.” Bakugo scowled, in concentration. 

Sero, who was in close proximity, heard the short discussion and pulled the other blonde by the ear. “Yo, Denki. Isn’t that Goddess #18?” 

“Ah!” Denki immediately covered his ears. “Stop! Can’t handle it! Don’t even mention her anymore— Bakugo ruined the whole experience! Remember Goddess #20? Yes. I’mma stick with her.”

“Woah... Bakugo that’s one intense stare you have. Don’t tell me... you’re dating her!” Mina gushed. “Denki you never stood a chance!” She laughed. 

“Who would like that— ugly!” Bakugo chided. 

“No wonder you hated it. You were reaaaally jealous, huh?” The Pikachu sang. “It’s fine with me. You have my permission.” 

Bakugo fumed. “I don’t need your permission to do anything!” 

Kirishima blinked. “Oh, you were serious, bro? You do like her?” 

“You’re all fucking annoying! Shut the fuck up!” 

Sero grinned, a wide cheshire smile. “You know what this means? Time to meet the princess who stunned the angry dragon.” He stood up. 

Mina understood the signal and followed suit. “Watch Bakugo for us, Kiri! We’re going to— Denki. You’re coming too.” She pulled the latter by the arm, dragging him unwillingly. 

“I don’t wanna!” Kaminari cried. 

“Hurry up. She could have pretty friends—”

“Ah? Let’s go.” The blonde picked up his weight and dashed. 

The remaining two students sat in silence. Bakugo groaned in frustration. He’s going to kill all four of them. Maybe a slower death for Spiky Hair since he called their attention in the first place. Bakugo smacked his head on the table. 

For fucks sake. Out of all the times they had to notice, why now? God. He hated his friends. 

Kirishima patted his back, gently. He did not want to enrage the irritated Bakugo even further. “There’s no harm in meeting someone new, right? Think of it as a — fun experience.”

Fun, alright. Bakugo was going to have fun beating his friends up. 

(says the angry pomeranian who heeded, and plomped down on the seat next to the stranger— not so unfamiliar anymore, almost happily. well, in his own way.)

vi. 

You and Bakugo were polar opposites; the duo that clashed every second possible. 

Believe it or not, the slightest of jabs ignited an argument so intense that calling the fire department would be justifiable. 

(alright. this may sound over dramatic. but, hey. it came from kaminari himself. dramatics beget drama.)

One argument in particular stood out among the rest. It started little, truly. A small squabble, really. 

Bakugo preferred sweets, she hated them. 

He liked mathematics, she detested the subject.

He thrived with attention, she favored staying in the sidelines. 

He loved the winter, she wished for summer. 

And one phrase led to another, one plain phrase led to an even more painful prick, and in conclusion—

“You’re quirkless. Stop complaining.”

happened. 

Bakugo never meant for the remark to hurt your feelings. It was a smooth attempt to disguise his embarrassment; you begged to hold his hand. Utterances of ‘we’re friends!’ and ‘don’t be shy!’ irked him. How the fuck was it possible to stay calm when the simplest brush of your hand against his, sent him into a frenzy?

Safety. He rebutted. It was for your safety. As much as he’d like to hold your hand with his—

(he’d die before admitting it, though.)

that quirk of his, stopped him. Sweat triggered his quirk. The very instance of the substance forming in his hands could cause an explosion. He doubted you’d be thankful spending Christmas in a hospital, your parents resorting to call a lawsuit. 

Was warmth a suitable reason to lose an arm? Hell no. Bakugo knew you hated winter, and all sorts of cold weather. Yet, he’s not stupid enough to risk your safety for something so... immaterial. 

Her words of ‘you’re selfish, Bakugo!’ prickled his skin. It was an innocent jab, he knew it was a joke. Still, if you haven’t understood the way his quirk worked. He thought it would be better for you to learn the hard way. 

And bingo. Bakugo said it. 

“You’re quirkless. Stop complaining.” 

Little did he know those words impacted his companion harsher than he initially thought. 

A small forced laugh came from your lips, compelling you to step sideward. An attempt to move yourself farther from him. “We should hurry up. I don’t think they’d like cold pizza.” 

Bakugo nodded, unconsciously watching your every move. He understood the topic of your quirklessness was taboo. A sort of innermost disappointment, and the focus of childhood bullying. He should have phrased it in a better way... a small part of him thought maybe, you wouldn’t get hurt, a way to attest your friendship. 

He grunted. His mom would kill him if she found out it was his fault. And knowing the woman’s personality, he preferred not being chewed out in front of his schoolmates. With a sigh, Bakugo unshuffled his muffler and wrapped it around his female buddy. 

“Next time, wear something thicker. I won’t always be here to save your ass.”

Her eyes blinked in succession. Her eyebrows furrowed after. Roughly, comprehending his actions. 

She beamed. “Oh? Is little Bakugo apologizing?” Her fingers twisted the pizza box, forcing it onto his hands. “Then carry this ‘oh holy’ one. I might forgive you then.”

“Fine. Crappy woman.” Bakugo grumbled, tugging her forward by pulling his muffler. “Hurry. I’m hungry.”

By 5:30 P.M., the pizza deliverers (Bakugo and her, the idiots who lost at rock, paper, scissors) arrived at the Bakugo household with the food. The appearance of the two prompted cheers and yells from Mina, Kaminari, and Sero who huddled on the couch. 

“What took you so long? Imagine listening to Denki sing the karaoke for hours!” Mina whined. 

Sero jested. “Next time, we forget inviting him. This early Christmas celebration can carry itself without his presence.”

“Get the fucking pizza yourself then! Stupid crowds hogging the whole pizza place...” Bakugo threw the box at the group, instantaneously, marching towards Kirishima.  

“Bakugo! B-Becareful!” Kaminari worried. “If it’s destroyed... you... get a new one!”

Heh. Like the expensive meal couldn’t handle a bit of force. Bakugo stomped towards the redhead and took a soda from the table nearest to him. 

Kirishima rose his eyebrows. “So. Had fun?” He elicited an all-knowing grin. “I think you did.”

“Shut up!” Bakugo hissed, eyes wandering to the bundle of people on the couch. 

“You know, you’re too obvious.” He laughed. “Well, except for one of us. That one has no idea.”

“I don’t fucking know what you’re talking about.”

“You don’t? Or you’re pretending not to?”

“Ugly’s a friend!” 

Kirishima hummed. “Alright, bro. I won’t pressure you into talking about it.”

A loud pop interrupted their conversation. Kaminari opened a fizzed up can of cola, the drink sprouted into Mina’s face. “I’m going to kill—”

“But, If you want something to happen though. You have to learn to speak up, Bakugo.”

vii.

“Come on, Bakugo! Just this once, please!” Mina begged. “It’ll be great for everyone! Don’t you feel sorry for Denki... He’s been cramming for days!”

“That’s what the gets for playing the whole weekend.”

“Please! I promise we’ll make it up to you!” 

“No. Too much of a hassle.”

“C’mon... Princess, help?” The pink haired student gestured to the other girl in the group. 

You sighed. “Mina, he doesn’t want to do it.”

“See, ugly agrees!”

“...Oh, wait. On the other hand, Bakugo’s too busy to teach. Mina, try asking Midoriya to help.” Her eyes met his in a stare off. “He’s got the time, especially when he’s so busy himself.”

She knew using his rival’s name as a bargaining chip kindled his anger. It was his fault for calling her such an offensive nickname in the first place. 

“Might let Pikachu teach you math too. You’re dumber at it than he is.”

“Oh? I should let him. He’s better at teaching than you are!”

Mina glanced back and forth between the two parties. A silent ‘oh boy, this will not end well.’ featured on her face. Pinky shook her head, and placed a hand on Bakugo’s shoulder. 

“It’s fine! Stop arguing, really.” Mina murmured. 

“No. She started it.”

“Don’t be a child, Bakugo! …Oh, you scared?” Ugly taunted. “I might beat your score in math.”

“Hah? You, the flunk? Fine. I’ll teach the shitty subject.” Bakugo grinned. “Any score lower than mine means you owe me one.”

And she gulped, anxiously. 

This became the humble beginnings of how Bakugo became the professor of the study group, ultimately leading to her doom. He was excited. Oh, what shit he’d make her do in retaliation. 

He agreed on the following terms: library after classes, subjects will be appointed beforehand, anyone skipping must be told in advance... and fifty other rules so on and so forth. 

And on the third week of the so-called cramming agenda, four of his classmates decided not to attend, leaving him and ugly as the remaining participants. The whole point of the activity was to teach the idiots, if they don’t show up why was he here?

Bakugo scanned through the math test he gave his companion. First, she was no idiot. There were hardly any errors, if there was, he presumed it was her faulty writing and adding. Solutions were well done, the logic was there. The problem? Yes. The idiot forgot her calculator. 

He clicked his tongue. The assumption was apparent, the whole back page had scribbles of numbers, divides, and all the shit. Why the hell did she not have a calculator? Forgetful one she was. 

And second, why the fuck was she dozing off? Sure, mathematics was a boring subject. Sure, he was a boring teacher. Sure, he was teaching them to pass the subject. They should all be grateful for his fucking effort. 

The hues of the sunset danced on her skin, the reds and oranges bounced on her hair radiating a wave of light. Her head perched on her crossed arms on the table, the head leaning slightly right. He saw the dark pigments below her eyes. 

Must have been studying hard, huh? Bakugo knew the girl was on a scholarship. It’s been discussed millions of times. He realized the pressure must have gotten to her, especially being one of the only quirkless students in the school. Seemingly, all she had to offer was her bright intellect. 

(not all. she was way better than most of the students in the whole department! bakugo punched anyone who thought otherwise.)

“...Do you like someone?” She muttered. 

What? In a split second, he focused his eyes on the girl in front of him. She stayed in the same sleepy position as earlier, convincing him she might have been talking in her sleep. Shaking his head, he returned back to the papers in his hands. 

Minutes later a sudden tap on the table prompted him to look at his companion. Her eyes gazed at him with such intensity, his stomach jumped. Somersaults, loops, rollercoasters. God. This only happened after a punch to the gut in battle. The woman was supposed to be asleep! What the fuck was she doing awake. 

Oh. So, she did ask the question. Was he supposed to answer? Silence is an answer. Knowing the girl, any answer he’d give sired more questions. God. He wanted to leave. What was the shittiest answer he could give her. Yeah.

“...Shut up, extra.” 

Perfect. Now back to the question at hand. What kind of fucked up person willingly confesses ‘You. Stupid. I like you.’ without proof the other party felt the same? It was simply a formula to fail. 

Hold. 

The. 

Fuck. 

Up. 

Did he really think he liked her? No. Brain thought wrong. Brain really thought fucking wrong. Just because he hated it when she focused on people who weren’t him doesn’t mean he likes her. Just because he’d break someone’s face for talking shit about her doesn’t mean he cares like that. Just because every retort she said in retribution turned him on doesn’t mean he wanted to kiss her. 

Fuck. He wanted to kiss her. 

Kiss her badly. 

He wanted to grab her by the collar and just kiss her. 

God. He hated it. 

The girl abruptly reached for his collar, pulling him towards her. “Who is it?” She whispered. 

Oh fuck. The cogs in his brain twisted and turned. Did he say it out loud? Did he fucking say that out loud? What the fuck was he doing? Who is it? What the fuck were you talking about? 

Who is it? Who was who? He hated cryptic messages. His eyes searched for meaning on your features. A person? Who?

Ah. You asked who he liked. 

Great. What was he supposed to say? It’s you, ugly! Wake up! He’d burn in hell before speaking up. 

One name popped up. Miruko’s agency. Rumi. The woman he was interning for. Like crap she’d find out about it. 

“Rumi, her name’s Rumi.”

viii.

12:00 P.M.

bakugo: i’m hungry

bakugo: bring ur snacks

12:50 P.M.

bakugo: u not gonna eat huh?

bakugo: suit urself brat

3:00 P.M. 

bakugo: think u gonna win the bet now aren’t ya

bakugo: keep ignoring me maggot

bakugo: fine

5:00 P.M. 

bakugo: spiky hair said to come 

bakugo: he has shitty fish crackers for food

bakugo: the fuck??????

bakugo: you ignore me and answer his calls?????

Bakugo was not an avid texter. Most of his messages consisted of ‘ok’, ‘nice’, ‘no’, curses, other single word messages, sometimes barely a reply at all. The sheer amount of effort he put into texting you proved otherwise. Yet...

Read. Read. Read. 

All of his messages sent to you were on read. What he fuck was going on? For five days, she’s been missing in action. He tried everything. 

Inviting the woman to lunch. Ignored.

Reminding her of the cram session. Bailed. 

Snacks! You loved snacks! Ignored again. 

Bakugo was this close to shoving you up against the wall and forcing the shit out of you. What did he do so wrong? Oh, was it the kiss thing? Did he say it out loud? Your face showed no clear answer at the time. Your deadpan expression irritated him. 

What if he wanted to kiss you? Was that shit so bad?

That had to be it. 

You weren’t ignoring Spiky hair, Pikachu, Duct Tape, and Pinky— then it had something to do with him. 

He grunted. Swiping the contacts on his phone, he hovered over the one named ‘Ugly’ and tapped it. Bakugo disabled the block function. 

If you weren’t talking to him, fine, he won’t fucking talk to you. 

(yes. he was that petty.)

Streams of notifications buzzed. All of them coming from you. 

Ugly: 6 P.M.

Ugly: Outside 3-A. 

Ugly: Don’t be late.

Ugly: stupid.

Fucking finally. The woman finally decided to text back. 

A meeting place? For what?

The exams were over. A celebration party then. No. Why was the location at 3A then? Oh. The bet. She wanted to compare answers for the shitty bet. 

Bakugo flicked his phone on. 6:25 P.M. 

Amazing. He was fucking late. 

The distance from the faculty room and the third year homerooms were near. It took him no time at all to stomp all the way to the designated meeting spot. Why you couldn’t have texted the shit down, he hadn’t understood. 

Bakugo sported a look of annoyance the moment he found you. Shitty woman. 

“You finally decide to text me back, shithead.” He cursed. 

The girl fashioned an amused expression. “Hm. You missed me?”

Of, course he did. How crappy of you to fill his thoughts of only you, annoy him ‘til worlds end, only for him to be forgotten and ignored. Like a thrown away puppy on the sidewalk. 

“Who would miss you, ugly.” He fumed. 

Yeah. That’s what you get for pretending he didn’t exist. You can’t leave him begging for your attention, that was something shitty fan girls did. And she stood there feigning ignorance of the whole ordeal. He bet she never even noticed he blocked her. 

She erupted in giggles, clutching her stomach as the stronghold. “I’m sorry. The exams were really difficult.”

You bet they were terrible. They had the same general education syllabus, except for major hero subjects and courses. The outright tears Pikachu shed after the math exam proved its difficulty. Bakugo bet she cried after the exam as well. 

Might figure out the task he would make her do. Something embarrassing? No. He wasn’t that cruel. A weird prank? What prank though—

“I missed you too, Katsuki.” She consoled. 

Of, course you did. Who wouldn’t miss him? The dweeb better be thankful he blessed the his friendship onto her. 

(though, he’d like a little bit more than that.)

Hah! Bakugo could force her to buy him a new muffler. The one he had disappeared (into her closet) and wanted a new one. 

Katsuki. 

Katsuki. Katsuki.

Fuck. She called him by his first name. And he only noticed it— now? Gears and cogs twirled within his consciousness. What did it mean? What did that mean? God. He hated it. Was that your way of showing your love? Did that love mean affection as relationship or love as friendship?

Fuck. He couldn’t tell. 

Yet, he knew one thing. 

He wanted to kiss you so bad. 

The snickers and giggles from the people outside the room stopped him though. His shithead friends managed to ruin it, yet again. 

Heh. Maybe next time. 

Love has always been a difficult subject to comprehend, and for Bakugo whose typical acts of love revolved around teasing, and riling you up, the subject was more troublesome to speak out loud. 

However, you were worth the trouble. 

Now, you just needed to spot how.