#( everyone knows that as soon as kids start speaking to ghost people )

[rin-may-1103]

College Rivalry with the Genius Toddler in the First Row.

My take on this prompt Requested by @purplereaderfans

Danny looked up from his paper, a bright green crayon clutched in his small hand. Jazz patted his head with a quick smile, pushing her chair in so she could start making her way to the teacher, something about the wrong definition if Danny had heard what she'd been muttering correctly.

grumbling, Danny shook his head in an attempt to fix his hair. he hated how everyone was treating him like a child, he was sixteen, almost seventeen for Ancient's sake!

sure, he looked like he was three, but was this really necessary? head pats, baby talk, dumbed-down explanations; it's like they don't notice that he's still mentally a teenager. Like, seriously?

Mom and Dad had been the ones who created the damn device, they should know how to fix this, but did they? no, because; "Aww, Jack, look at him! Isn't our baby boy just the cutest!" and "Why yes, dear, we should get more pictures! It's not like every day a parent gets to witness their kid's toddler years again!"

danny hated it, even Vlad was treating him like a baby! Danny never wanted to hear the man try and speak to him like that again. it might actually be his new nightmare fuel, you know if he wasn't still using what happened with Dan and Pariah to fuel his consistent nightmares, that is.

Danny was ready to start blasting people's knees the next time someone so much as even hinted at dressing him up again. thankfully, for everyone's safety, Jazz noticed he was still mentally normal. She volunteered to take care of him while their parents worked on a way to reverse what their new ghost machine caused. (though he doubted it would be anytime soon, considering the GIW was acting up again.)

which, by the way, apparently wasn't supposed to have de-aged him, but in fact, just you know, 'barrow' his naturally made ectoplasm and knock him out for a few minutes. Ancients, his parents were insane.

he should have known they were going to do something stupid, but no; he had started slacking after revealing his phantom form and getting accepted by them. Because, again, why would he need to keep an eye on them and what they make when they promised to never try and hurt him and his normal rogues again?

they're adults, they should know how to handle themselves. but no.

oh, ho ho, was that such a big oversight on his part. they were Fenton's, of course, he should have kept an eye on them.

no longer making ecto weapons, his parents wanted to learn how to help peacefully capture raging ghosts and how to help heal the injured ones (mostly how to help Danny when he gets hurt). Noble, right?

right?

Wrong. somehow, they managed to create a de-aging device when they were trying to come up with a way to knock out an angry ghost without hurting them. How? Just how?? and what do they do without even testing to see if it would even work? use it on him. because, oh, danny's half ghost, and it's only supposed to make him tired right now, not knock him out. it should be fine.

and now he's a toddler.

a three-year-old toddler.

"psst!" someone hissed, dragging danny's attention away from his crumbled crayon. blinking, Danny dropped the crayon on the table and grumbled. this was the seventh crayon this morning, he really needed to get his strength under control before someone noticed.

"psst, hey kid!" they hissed again, making Danny sigh. turning his head, Danny glared at the weird dude who kept trying to talk to him. The dude usually talked to him like he was an adult, which Danny appreciated, if it wasn't for the fact the dude was hellbent on figuring out danny's secrets.

all because Danny scored more than him on a dumb test.

"What?" Danny grumbled, wiping the crayon crumbs off his hands and onto his pants. the dude, Danny thinks his name is Tam or something, frowned at Danny, watching him wipe the last of the obliterated crayon away.

"aliens," he hisses, leaning forward so he could stare more intently into Danny's eyes. "that has to be it, you and your sister are aliens. probably from some planet that's more advanced than ours."

danny blinked, studied the dude for a second, and blinked again.

"no," turning back, Danny grabbed another crayon and started filling out the worksheet in front of him, making sure to use as little of his super strength as possible.

the dude groaned and slammed his head onto his desk, the sound echoing out and around the silent room like a gunshot. Jazz snorted, pulling out her chair and sitting down. "that one has got to be one of the worst theories yet," she chuckled, turning her body to face the dude.

"you seriously can't believe my brother and I are aliens just because we got higher test scores, Tim." Jazz explained, casually leaning sideways in her seat so she could see him.

the dude, Tim, just groaned, slamming his head back into the desk, his voice muffled, "I wouldn't have a problem with it if it was just you," Tim lifted his head, glaring at him as Danny continued to carefully fill out his worksheet. "I can accept the fact that I'm not the smartest person in the room, I don't like it, but I can do it. I even respect it, having this much knowledge takes a lot of work and dedication, but him?"

"He's three, Jazz. he should be just starting to figure out the names of colors, and noticing differences between things. not astrophysics-level math questions from an April Fools gag test that our Psychology teacher jokingly gave us." Tim's eyes somehow got even narrower as he continued his rant. Danny valiantly tried to keep himself from laughing; Jazz said it was rude to laugh at people, especially if they weren't mentally all there, so he couldn't laugh.

but by the ancients was Tim making it hard.

with a fianl dash, danny smiled triumphantly. Setting the crayon down, he gave the paper a quick once over before deciding he was finally done filling it out.

now, for the moment he was waiting for; turning in his seat, Danny excitedly held up his paper, "Look jazz! I did it!" he had finally managed to complete the paper without ripping the page! and he'd only broken seven crayons! it was progress! there was hope! but Tim didn't need to know that, no, he needed to think Danny was excited about completing the paper.

Jazz, who was just as much of a gremlin as Danny, smiled as she patted his head, "Good job Danny! I'm so proud of you! why don't you go turn it in, I'm sure Mr. Kronmatil would love to see it."

smiling, Danny turned, climbed out of his seat, and started to make his way over to the teacher.

Tim grumbled in annoyance, his crazed theories and curses filling Danny's ears like the sweet sweet sound of music. if there was one good thing that came out of this whole fiasco, it was that Danny was able to work on his studies and cause as much chaos as possible while doing so.

being treated like a baby was all worth it when Danny turned and spotted the same confused and crazed look Tim had been giving him all week. yes, being de-aged wasn't fun, and he didn't appreciate being partially interrogated every time he entered the same room as Tim, but man it was so worth it when he knew he was driving one of the Gotham bat's nuts.

all because he scored higher than him on a test.

He couldn't wait to see Tim's face once the scores were announced tomorrow. He was so going to tell Lady Gotham all about it later.

[outofconcheol]

Collision (LMH x F!Reader)

pairing: football player!Minho x RA!reader (afab) genres/au/rating: smut, fluff, some angst, college au, 18+ summary: The school year was a chance to start fresh - make new memories, meet new people, and most of all to leave the past behind. But Lee Minho is determined to make sure you never forget the one summer night you’d spent with him - no matter how hard he has to work for it.

warnings: alcohol, swearing, some crude jokes, OC is a bad RA, Minho is very whipped, such poor communication, minor mention of weed, bad poetry, disciplinary action against students

word count: 14k

a/n: it's finally finished! this was the result of me spiraling after seeing this tiktok edit of Super Bowl Minho? also totally not because i was also an RA who lived next to a pack of frat boys in college (don't jump into fountains with boys kids). this also might be a good time to confess that i know nothing about football, so that's fun! i'm so sorry it was so slow coming out, i hope you enjoy!

smut warnings under the cut!

smut warnings: brief, non-graphic smut scene, but also: kissing (so much kissing), dirty talk, marking, nipple play, fingering (f!receiving), oral (f!receiving), unprotected sex (wrap it before you tap it pls)

The common room was oddly quiet. Normally, you’d hear people shuffling around and chattering in the halls, their laughter echoing off the dull grey tiles. But right now, silence. With the dingy wood and fluorescent lighting, it felt like a ghost town. It wouldn’t have bothered you on any ordinary day. Except today was your first meeting with the new residents of your dorm as their RA. And it was five minutes to eight and they were nowhere to be found.

You honestly couldn’t understand why anyone hadn’t shown up yet. The bulletin board had been decked out in the colours of your school football team, the Stray Kids, and you’d even promised snacks! In fact, a lot of the people you’d run into in the halls had been excited to come - or maybe they just felt pressured into it by your overeagerness. Now, looking at the different spreads of cookies and brownies you’d baked with the help of your roommate Felix, your heart sinks. Speaking of Felix, where was he?

You’d been looking forward to the start of the school year all summer, so excited to finally embrace this job and your new responsibilities. But even more than that, you were so excited to make a handful of new friends heading into your senior year. Your entire college career had been consumed by studying and getting involved in a million different clubs, and although you hung out with Felix, and a few others, you felt like you’d been lacking in the experiences that made college… well college. And what better way to get access to college experiences than to be left to look after a rowdy group of students?

You hear footsteps thudding down the hallway, and heavy breathing, and all of a sudden, Felix’s freckled face comes into view. You shoot him an angry glare, before softening when you realize he’s not alone. Three other boys walk in after him.

“____, this is Jisung, Jeongin, and Seungmin. They’re down the hall from us.”

“Welcome you guys!” you set aside your anger, putting on your best smile for them. The three of them greet you happily, not even lasting five seconds before descending on the snacks, and you giggle at the way Jisung’s cheeks puff out as he stuffs chocolate chip cookies into his mouth. 

Soon enough, more people shuffle in, until the common room is filled to the brim with residents, and you let out a sigh of relief. Maybe they didn’t hate you after all. Before, long, everyone is settled in, and you waste no time, heart pattering as you launch into an explanation of the rules and expectations for the year.

As expected, a handful of people are nodding off, while others have their eyes glued to their phones. However, Seungmin, Jisung, and Jeongin are hanging off your every word attentively, smiling after every phrase, and despite it being corny, you can’t help but find them endearing. You’d have to make a mental note to visit their room later and get to know them.

While you continue on, not wanting to keep everyone too long, you notice a couple of guys sneak in the back, twenty minutes late, and immediately your smile drops. The blue jerseys tell you immediately that they’re the players from Stray Kids. A few heads turn when they walk in, and suddenly, there’s a hum in the air, the residents thrumming with excitement at the sighting of campus celebrities. Suddenly, all the attention is off you and on them.

Felix shoots you a look of apology, and you huff, watching the meeting go down in flames. You don’t know how many minutes pass before the crowd dies down, people spilling out one by one, until only the four players and Felix are left. 

Putting on your fakest sweet smile, you stomp up to them, ready to give them a piece of your mind, when you bump into a solid chest, strong arms wrapping around you to steady you.

“Whoa there, you good?” A deep voice booms out, and you look up to see Chan, the captain of the team, looking down at you with a smirk.

“I—,” you begin, nostrils flaring in anger, but you’re interrupted once again by Chan.

“Sorry for crashing your little party, practice ran late, you know how it is.”

His eyes are alight with a glimmer as he says it, taking you in.

“I’d appreciate if next time, you could let me know, so I can plan ahead,” you grit out through your teeth, watching another one of the guys, one with arm muscles so huge he could probably rip a tree in half, descend on the cookies you’d laid out.

“That’s Changbin,” Chan chuckles. “And over there is Hyunjin.”

You look to the door, where another tall, lanky player is leaning against the frame, a look of casual disinterest on his face. He gives you a nod, and you scoff under your breath, hoping he doesn’t hear you.

“And this is Minho, our other roommate.”

You freeze on the last introduction, finally taking in the final figure in the room. He’s just as paralyzed as you are, unable to move, lips parted in shock. Feeling like you’ve been struck by lightning, you feel your throat tighten, unable to look up. The ground beneath you feels like it’s about to give way, and you’re suddenly aware that Felix is no longer in the room, mentally cursing him out in your head for leaving you alone right now.

“Hey,” Minho finally manages to get a word out, and your eyes snap up to his, watching the way he shoots an easy smile in your direction.

You hate the way your heart reacts to that smile because you’d promise yourself once already you’d never let it get to you again. All of a sudden, a distinct memory from the summer comes rushing back to you, one you’d tried so hard to bury in the back of your mind. 

Twinkling fairy lights, red solo cups on the table out back, and Usher blasting from the speakers. The one house party you’d snuck out to that summer with your best friend, Ryujin. The one where you’d met him.

Those same lips had smirked at you from across the room, dark and serious eyes inviting you to come over and take a chance. And you had. Lips crashing onto his, Minho’s kisses swallowing your moans. The music from the party gradually fades as he leads you upstairs, the soft click of the door locking behind you before he pushes you onto the bed. The cute outfit you’d chosen to wear that night was discarded carelessly to the side, Minho’s hands tracing circles across your skin, his lips latching desperately onto your neck, sucking blooms across your skin. Minho is on his knees, your legs thrown over his shoulders, eyes completely blown with lust, looking like he wants to devour you. Watching the dim light hit the lean lines of his body as he strips, his soft groan when he pushes into you, digging your heels into his back.

Minho’s low voice when tells you how pretty you sound, how good you are for him before you’re exploding, falling apart at the seams. 

And then, regret. Slipping out before dawn could come around, watching Minho snooze peacefully, unaware that he’d wake up to an empty bed, unaware that thoughts of that night with him would continue to haunt you the entire summer. 

The boys’ boisterous laughter breaks you out of your daze, and you watch Chan and Changbin wave to you before grabbing a handful of snacks and slipping out the door. Hyunjin isn’t far behind, eyeing your shocked face with a curious expression.

Minho lingers for a moment, studying you with the same hypnotic gaze. You’re painfully aware that you haven’t been able to get a single word out, but his stoic face twists into a salacious grin. He trails after his roommates, but not before pausing and shooting you a wink.

“Well damn, this year just got a whole lot more exciting.”

Kim Namjoon was extremely good at his job – or so he thought. As the grad advisor for the resident assistant program at the university, he’d painstakingly read through hundreds of applications, combing through many impressive resumés in search of the best of the best. And he thought he’d found it in you. Which is why the situation he found himself in was completely and utterly baffling to him.

“It’s literally the first week of the school year, and you’re telling me you already want to quit?!”

You fidget in your seat uncomfortably, looking anywhere but directly at Namjoon, knowing that if you caught his gaze, you’d be finished. Over.

“Are those pressed resin flowers?” you gesture over to the wall, hoping you can distract him.

“____.”

“W-well, it’s not exactly like that, it’s just…”

“I fail to understand what could be so horrible about your current group of residents that you’d give up free room and board,” Namjoon quips, before pausing. “I mean — great responsibility as well.”

You want to scream. How were you supposed to tell your boss that the reason you wanted to quit the job you’d worked so hard for is that, in one drunken night, you’d slept with one of your residents and now didn’t have the gall to face him for an entire year?

Your cheeks burn, thinking of Minho’s smirk, the one that had you screaming into your room. In the few days since the meeting, you’d managed to successfully avoid him, and his roommates, making a mad dash for your room straight after class. Oh well, you could always branch out and live your best college life next year. After the football players graduated. 

Namjoon could put you anywhere, even banish you to the hell of a single room in that maybe-haunted residence hall on the edge of campus. The one where there was an alleged ghost wandering around? Yeah, you’d take it. Anywhere away from Lee Minho.

“I chose you for this job for a reason, ___, because I saw great potential in you,” Namjoon continues with a heavy sigh. “I’m confident that whatever you’re anxious about, it’ll resolve itself. Now, you should head out. From the schedule, I saw you have a room meeting scheduled.”

And with that, you’re ushered out of Namjoon’s cosy office, left with more questions than you started with. Huffing as you sling your bag over your shoulders, you make the trek across campus back to the dorm, trying to muster a weak smile for the meeting you had coming up. 

Only for that smile to disappear completely when you check your calendar, seeing exactly who’d signed up for the slot.

Room 103. The football players’ room. Minho’s room. Could your luck be any worse?

Apparently, the answer to that was yes, because just as you lifted your fist to knock, the door opened, leaving you face-to-face with a smirking Minho.

“Just the person I wanted to see,” he drawls, the smirk fading when he sees you look past him at the wall, shuffling your feet. 

“Come in,” his voice softens, stepping aside to let you through. For a moment, he pauses behind you, and you can feel his breath fan the back of your neck.

“Listen, I just wanted to, uh–” he’s interrupted by a loud holler, one that wreaks havoc on your eardrums.

“Well well well, if it isn’t the girl-next-door!” Changbin comes into view, slinging an arm around Minho’s shoulder, before the other man scowls, brushing him off.

“Guys,” Chan’s captain voice has their heads turning, “I know you’ve all got a boner for the pretty RA, but she’s here doing her job.”

You could have sworn you saw Minho go pale.

Changbin snickers, but abides, plopping onto the couch, dragging Minho with him. That made three of them. But where was…

“Hyunjin,” the tall boy appears out of nowhere, his sharp eyes taking in your presence. For a moment, you wonder if he knows about you and Minho, but you shove the ridiculous thought from your brain. They were just guys, and you were just doing business as usual. Nothing to worry about.

“So guys,” you manage to get out. “I’m just here to talk to you about your expectations for each other this year as roommates.”

“Expectations?” Changbin throws up an eyebrow. “Yeah, like some ground rules you want to establish for the room,” you clarify. “As roommates.”

“We’ve been living together for three years at this point,” Hyunjin gives you a pointed stare. “I’m sure we have it down.”

You chew mindlessly at your lower lip, realizing that you aren’t getting anywhere with them. Out of the corner of your eye, you catch Minho draped over the side of the couch, one leg dangling off onto the floor.

“Well,” the sudden addition of his voice shocks you, a small smile lighting up his face when catches you looking at him, “We obviously need to follow bro code.”

“Bro code?” You raise an eyebrow. You knew what it was, but that didn’t make you any less confused. 

There’s a sharp ow! followed by Hyunjin shuffling in the corner. Minho is gingerly nursing his arm, his eyes narrowing at his teammate.

“Pretty sure one of the rules of bro code is to never lie to your bros,” Hyunjin quips, casting a glance between you and Minho.

“Not lying! Okay! Okay, we can work with that —,” you straighten up, a grin on your face. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all. 

“Especially not about girls you’ve slept with,” Changbin adds with a smug expression. 

Minho’s face immediately twists into a pained expression, and for a moment, everything is silent. You wonder if this is it, the moment where everything finally blows up in your face and the truth about what went over the summer is revealed.

“I’m so sorry, ____,” Chan gives you an apologetic look, standing up to usher you towards the door. “I’ll have a chat with them, and we’ll draw up a list of rules and send it your way by the end of the week!”

Everything happens so quickly, Chan’s hand on your back, the brief flash of Minho’s concerned eyes looking at you before the door closes, slamming shut.

The rain patters against the window, making the fluorescent lighting of the common look even more bleak and grey than usual. You let out a heavy sigh. The dorm meeting should have been enough of a sign to you that very few people would be interested in the events you held this year. Now, you were alone, surrounded by far too many tubs of ice cream, and Felix was in class. 

Deciding to wallow in your sorrow, you pop open one of the tubs, scraping at the frozen top with a spoon, the sweet ice cream melting on your tongue.

“I told you, Jeongin, she just bought the ice cream to eat herself,” a voice at the door startles you, and you look over to see Seungmin beaming at you through the door. And he’s not alone. Jisung and Jeongin trail in after him, and your heart swells in relief at their presence.

“I thought no one would come.”

“And miss ice cream? Please, they’re either stupid or even more stupid for turning down free food,” Jisung chuckles, sliding up a few chairs next to you.

The three boys settle in, wasting no time digging into the ice cream, happily chatting about their days to you. Something about their presence makes the unbelievably rainy weather seem not so bad. You learn that Jisung and Seungmin are in the year below you, studying math together, and Jeongin, the poor freshman, was their random roommate.

“You guys are worse than the football players,” you chuckle when they explain their tactics of how they get Jeongin to run errands for them across campus.

“I think it’s cool how we have the players living here with us!” Jeongin’s eyes shine with excitement. “Do you think they’ll invite us to one of their parties?”

“We’re losers, Jeongin, in case you haven’t noticed,” Seungmin jokes, but his face is strained. 

“That’s not true, you’re currently my favourite people in the dorm,” you respond, watching Seungmin relax, and Jisung’s cheeks flush. “And those parties are lame anyway.”

So lame. Lame enough for you to sleep with one of those aforementioned players. 

You think back to the summer, memories flooding you. In your defense, you hadn’t even known Minho was a player. It was just a random party, full of random people neither you or Ryujin had known. And he’d been there, leaning against the wall, taking it all in quietly.

If you’d had any idea Lee Minho was one of those ever-loving frat boys on the football team, you might not have given him a second look. But then he’d smiled at you - a small one, soft but also teasing, and that was all it had taken for you to drift over, Ryujin smirking behind you.

The conversation flowed as easily as the drinks went down, the two of you managing to talk about nothing yet somehow also everything at once.

“You see,” Minho’s low voice rumbled in your ear, leaning in closer. You can smell the warm spice of his cologne, and it makes you even dizzier than the beer in your hand. “Those two definitely look like they’ve got some shit to sort through.”

“They’ll ignore it though,” you counter, watching Minho’s eyebrows raise. “Probably go upstairs and fuck instead.”

Minho’s jaw hangs open, and it takes a moment to process what you’d just said out loud – and how much of your own intrusive thoughts were contained within the simple statement. Looking over, his eyes have gone impossibly dark, their sole focus on you.

“Maybe we should follow them? Just to confirm.”

Those same dark eyes are now filled with a flicker, one that matches the flames building inside your chest.

Your thoughts are interrupted by the door to the common room swinging open, bringing you face to face with a flustered and panting Minho. His hair is windswept, and there’s a deep flush on the back of his neck. Raindrops plop, plop, plop onto the carpet as they drip from his clothes.

“Did I miss it? I came as quick as I could after class.”

His voice is hoarse and gravelly like he’s struggling to catch his breath after running for too long. 

“Miss what..?” You feel like the air has been knocked out of your lungs at his sudden appearance, completely missing the way Jisung, Seungmin, and Jeongin begin to shuffle behind you, whispering amongst themselves.

“You were hosting something? I tried to convince the other guys to come along.”

Your chest tightens at his admission. He paid attention to those egregiously long newsletters you spent hours making and mailing out to the floor? It makes you feel dizzy inside, a thousand tiny butterflies fluttering inside your chest. 

“Uhm, yeah of course! Help yourself, you know I just remembered I have something like really, really important to take care of for one of my classes,” the words tumble out in a rush, your cheeks burning at lie, but you honestly weren’t expecting to come face to face with Minho so many times in a matter days. 

“Hey Jisung, do you mind cleaning up after you guys are done? Please.” You shoot the other boy a desperate look, and his eyes go round, looking in between you and Minho, who remains at the threshold. He gives you a subtle nod, and you take it as your chance to escape, hastily slinging your bag over your shoulder. 

You feel Minho’s eyes on you while you brush past him and out the door, wondering why you’re the one shivering when he’d been caught in the rain.

. . . 

“Jisung, is it?” Minho sees the boy jump at the sound of his voice, his chair nearly toppling over from the shock. He looks in between a flustered Jisung, to the other two guys, who are equally surprised, their mouths hanging open.

It’s times like these where Minho remembers he’s not just any normal guy. Being a player for the Stray Kids came with its own headaches. He’d never gotten used to the stares. Or people becoming tongue-tied around him.

But you hadn’t been like that, he recalls. Talking to you had been easier than making a catch, the way your eyes lit up underneath the dim lights of the party and how your bubbly laugh remained burned in his memory for the entire summer. 

Minho wants to laugh at the thought of him hung up over some girl he’d fucked one time, but nothing could have matched the cold feeling that washed over him the moment he’d woken up to find you gone, the bed empty. And he found himself actually missing it - not the sex, but everything else. The laughing, the people watching, the inside jokes. 

Damn it, he was turning soft for you.

He stalks over to Jisung and his friends, plopping into the chair across of them. The three of them remain frozen in place, stiff as a board, and Minho lets out a loud groan.

“What do you want?” He raises an eyebrow, a smirk pulling at his lips when he sees the taller one cross his arms over his chest in an attempt to look intimidating.

“What do you mean?” 

“Do you want like, tickets to the game, fake IDs, weed? I can hook you up.”

“F-frat parties,” the younger one elbows him, voice barely above a whisper. “Tell him we want in on the parties.”

“The bigger question is, what do you want? I mean, why are you even talking to us?” “Can’t a dude just be nice to other dudes?” Minho grins, but the tall one is unwavering. He looks over to the one whose name he actually knew, Jisung, and judging by the way his eyes are still wide as saucers, and the manga he’s clutching to his chest, Minho knows he’s found a target who’ll fold.

“Is that Spy x Family? I love that one.”

“Y-you do?” 

“Yeah, I actually have all the volumes in my room? You could always come by if you wanted to borrow one.”

“I could?”

“Hmmm, only if I get to ask for your help with something.” “Anything!” the youngest one pipes up again, choking when the tall one hits him in the back. “We’ll do anything.”

And suddenly, Minho sees his in – these three dorks. Who despite knowing you for even less time than he has, have somehow managed to win over your heart. And he’d be next. 

“Well, let’s start with introductions first of all…”

The 8am walk to your psychology class was one of your favourite parts of your schedule this semester. Campus was just waking up, birds were chirping, and you had time off to just think before getting swallowed by a sea of schoolwork and RA responsibilities. Except lately, your thoughts had been running wild - Minho in every corner, his tired, rain-soaked figure the other day making him look like a wet cat. A very cute wet cat.

You didn’t want to go down the rabbit hole of what it meant for him to show up like that – you didn’t want it to mean anything at all. The simple fact was that guys like Minho, and the rest of his teammates, barely ever gave a damn about anything that wasn’t pratice or their loud ragers. But he’d actually made an effort. 

Namjoon will be so happy I’m getting the team involved in dorm life, you stupidly rationalize the warm, fizzy feeling in your chest. I’ll have something to be proud of.

Trudging up the hill that takes you from the dorms to the heart of campus, you look through the cover of trees, the faint rays of sun peeking through them. In the crisp morning air, they look beautiful, and you sigh happily to yourself. You could romanticize this morning walk, even if your actual romantic life was in shambles.

You close your eyes for a bit, having committed the path to memory, and walk, walk, walk until suddenly — you’re colliding into a hard object, falling backwards through space. Before you can feel the impact of the ground, an arm is reaching out to steady you. A lean, muscular arm, filled with veins. Looking up through the sunlight, you see Minho’s face looking down at you.

“Are you okay?” he asks, a soft smile on his lips. “Why were you walking with your eyes closed?”

“Crap, you weren’t supposed to see that,” you turn away in shame. Were you going to be doomed to a whole school year of embarrassing yourself in front of him? 

“Hey, I’m not judging,” he holds up his phone, and you can’t help but laugh. A cat video is playing on the screen. “I’m glad you’re alright.”

“Thanks for catching me.”

“It’s kind of what I do,” he chuckles, another reminder of who he is. And who you are.

“Oh yeah.”

You don’t remember when you started moving again, but somehow, he’s right alongside you, facing backwards yet still matching you stride for stride. Looking around, you breathe in relief when you spot no one else around – being seen with Minho would definitely have people talking, and you weren’t sure if you could handle that right now.

“Can we talk about what happened over the summer?”

Minho’s voice is tinged with something you can’t pinpoint, taking on a weird sort of lilt. Could he possibly be nervous? Then again, what reason would he have to be nervous? He wasn’t the one with an entire reputation on the line right now.

“There isn’t that much to say, Minho. It shouldn’t have happened. I should have known better.”

Minho narrows his eyes at your statement, clearly taken aback.

“Oh my god, please don’t tell me you feel guilty because we live on the same floor now. There’s no way you could have known! I’m not holding it against you. Let me make it up to you – maybe we can have another shot, hopefully more sober this time.”

In your head, you know he’s right, and that you’re being completely irrational. But wouldn’t starting something now also be irrational, and falling into that very same trap you’d worked so hard to avoid.

“Look Minho, I’m really grateful that you forgive me. I know it was an asshole move, just disappearing like that. But whatever this is, I can’t do it right now. I promise if we run into each other I’m not gonna sprint off in the other direction, but I can’t date you. I can’t date anyone right now.”

You watch the way his shoulders completely deflate, rustling his backpack over his shoulder. More and more students have begun to slip out of their dorms, joining you on the main campus quad, and you know the conversation is over. For now. 

“Hey,” you whisper softly, watching Minho jump slightly at the sound of your voice. “Isn’t your econ class the other way?”

“Nah,” Minho stutters, and you watch his cheeks tinge red. “I dropped it. I’m taking a new one - fermentation sciences.”

“Fermentation sciences?”

“Yeah, you know in this economy, I wanted to learn how to brew my own alcohol,” he looks wistfully over at the science building. “I should probably get going.”

You watch him retreat wondering why you felt such a crushing wave of sadness when you’d been the one to shut it down in the first place.

. . .

Fuck! He was late. Minho knew he should have spent more time on cardio this summer, his heart pounding in his chest as he ran the other way across campus to the business building.

While part of him was relieved by your assurance that you harboured no bad feelings toward him after everything that him, another part of him was deeply unsettled. For some reason, he couldn’t let it end like this, the two of you just being people who resorted to acknowledging each other with a wave across campus.

The thought bothers Minho all through his econ class, and through football practice, Changbin’s obnoxious chuckle echoing in his ear.

“Fermentation Sciences? Really, dude?”

“Stop laughing, punk,” Minho grumbles. “It’s not like you could have come up with anything better.”

For all they knew, Minho was shamelessly flirting with the girl next door, and failing miserably. They didn’t know any of the history between you two - and Minho wanted to keep it that way, or else he’d never hear the end of it from his roommates.

Changbin grunts, his pass landing a little harder than usual. Minho makes the catch, the air wooshing out of his lungs.

“Lino,” Chan’s stern captain voice echoes from behind him. “It’s our final year. Are you really sure you won’t get distracted by this?”

Minho sighs. He knew that this final season hinged on him having his head on straight - if not for his sake, for his teammates’. While he and Hyunjin had jobs waiting for them after graduation, Chan and Changbin were trying to make a career out of football. 

“Yeah dude, it’s nothing I promise.”

Defeat sinks into his bones, realizing that maybe you were right. Perhaps there wasn’t time to be distracted by anything, or anyone this year. Yet, as he strips off his jersey and slumps onto the players’ bench, he mellows in the one part of your statement that had given him a fraction of hope.

You hadn’t said “never”, just “not right now.”

“Remind me why we’re here again?” Hyunjin groans, chewing the tip of his pen. In the corner, a group of students fall into hushed whispers at the sight of Stray Kids’ running back and tight end, hunched over pieces of paper. 

“Stop acting like you didn’t take an entire class on 18th century poetry last year and help me figure out what rhymes with perfect,” Minho shoves the end of the pen into his arm.

“Imperfect,” Hyunjin counters. “What the hell are you doing anyway? I thought we were supposed to be colouring for stress relief.”

“None of your goddamn business, Hwang,” Minho shuffles his paper towards himself, scribbling down the word, only to cross it out ten seconds later.

“Are you, are you writing a poem?” Hyunjin’s eyes go wide at the various words scribbled on Minho’s sheet. Beautiful, delicate, exquisite, perfect. A faint smirk tugs at his lips. 

Minho himself never thought he’d see the day where he put pen to paper in hopes of wooing someone, but it seems life had other plans. Because ever since you’d basically told him there was no chance of anything happening between you, it had made him unable to keep thoughts of you out of his mind.

He wondered sometimes if he was chasing his own ego, going after you just because you weren’t interested in him. But as he dwells on it more, he couldn’t remember the last time he was this determined to win someone over. 

“I have questions, many of them,” Hyunjin starts. “But I’ll start with one? Is this about–”

He flicks his head towards the front of the room, where you’re hard at work on your own drawing. Your sweater looks beyond soft and cosy, bringing out the colour of your eyes, and Minho feels a weird pang inside his chest when he hears you giggle; Jisung, Seungmin and Jeongin right next to you.

Those fucking punks. They were supposed to be helping him, and instead they were crowding around you? He’d probably have to cave and finally entice Jeongin with an exclusive invite to a frat party if he ever wanted things to work in his favour. 

“God, I having to fucking text Changbin about this,” Hyunjin drawls, only to yelp when his phone is swiped out of his hands.

“Send that text and you’ll wish I never looked in your direction, Hwang.”

“My question is when?” Hyunjin looks between you and Minho, lines of confusion marring his face, until realization dawns on him.

“Holy fuck? She’s the one? From this summer? I knew it!”

Minho feels like sinking into his chair and rueing the day he ever ran into Hyunjin on the way to try-outs, but he musters a weak nod.

“___? RA ____?”

“Will you quit asking questions?” Minho continues to scribble, growing frustrated when his pen begins to run out of ink, the four pages of ideas he’d come up with staring him dead in the face.

“Well you’re never gonna win her over if you keep comparing her lips to cherry cough medicine.”

“What would you suggest dumbass?”

“Maybe fucking cherries instead?” Hyunjin grabs the paper from him, shaking his head in exasperation. “Next time you want to pull this shit for a girl, please come to me first.”

“Hoping there won’t be a next time,” Minho looks over at you with a heavy sigh, watching the way Seungmin leans in close to point out something on his page to you.

“Just you watch and wait,” Hyunjin grabs the pen from him, and gets to work.

. . .

“Let me know if you’ll think about it,” Seungmin waves to you from across the room, clearing out with Jisung and Jeongin in tow, and you happily go back to colouring the bunny you’d started. Funny enough, the stress of the last few weeks had melted away, you and Felix easing back into your routine of daily dinners together in the dining hall. Along with new friends - the three younger boys inviting you over to their dorm for movies and video games.

A cough interrupts your thoughts, and you look up to see Minho stop in front of your table, awkwardly bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Guilt fills your chest when you realize you hadn’t even said hi to him, despite knowing he’d come with Hyunjin in tow the moment the previously quiet room had erupted into a faint din. 

“Hey,” you smile up at him, hoping it’ll put him (and you) at ease. “Thank you so much for coming.”

“No problem, uh, thanks for hosting,” Minho scratches the back of his neck, and you notice the piece of paper crumpled into his other fist.

“Did you have fun?”

“Fun? Oh yeah! It was super fun! I felt really calm,” the words spill out of Minho’s mouth awkwardly, and he’s begun to bounce on the soles of his feet.

“Are you sure it was calming? You can give me honest feedback you know. I won’t be offended.”

“Oh yeah, you know, I actually just remembered I have to go, but I wrote something down on this paper and it’s for you!” Minho launches the piece of paper at your desk before scurrying out of the room. Craning your neck, you see him run to Hyunjin in the hall, who claps him on the back.

Furrowing your eyebrows, you unfurl the paper, eyes widening when you see the exact “feedback” Minho had left. 

It takes everything within you not to laugh - the rhyme scheme is completely off, there are random flowery words that definitely look like they were pulled from the dictionary app, and the poem cuts off abruptly with a scribble. Yet somehow your heart is warm at the thought that Minho had sat there for an hour putting this together. For you.

Perhaps you’d underestimated Lee Minho after all.

“I wonder whose idea it was to load a bunch of college-age kids dressed in stiff-ass clothes onto a bus that’s going who knows where, and to not even have alcohol to compensate” you mutter, smoothing over the skirt of your dress, the chilly winter air sending goosebumps down our spine.

“Don’t let the feds hear you say that, miss RA, but to answer your question, probably some prick at Oxford or something,” Seungmin appears by your side, offering up his jacket. You politely decline, grateful that he offered but also that he doesn’t press. Accepting his jacket would be too much of a romantic gesture for… whatever this was. 

“Just two friends hanging out,” Seungmin had reassured you when he’d asked you the other week… the same week you’d received the poem from Minho. The same one that has your heart doing backflips when you even think about it. The same one that’s currently smushed between the pages of your planner, bringing a smile to your face every time you open it.

You shake your head… trying to dispel thoughts of Minho from your mind. Seugmin was your date tonight. He deserved to have your attention. You deserved to not turn it into a miserable time for both of you because you couldn’t sort out anything in your life.

The bus ride helps take your mind off him, Seungmin happily chattering to you about how his year is going so far, and you stave off the chill all the way until the two of you get inside.

Unfortunately, that’s where it all goes downhill. Because the music is too loud, and there are too many bodies crowded on the floor, and you remember that going as dates involves, well actually acting like dates.

A few of Seungmin’s friends from the photography club find him in no time, suddenly swooping the two of you into the middle of the floor, and you’re led down a well-meaning, but incessant line of questioning. Seungmin shoots you an apologetic smile, happy to take the brunt of it for most of you, but it leaves an uncomfortable feeling in your chest nonetheless. Seungmin doesn’t say anything when you drift away quietly, leaving him with his buddies, and find yourself flitting at the fringe of the crowd. An eerie feeling crosses you, one that reminds you of the last time you were in this situation. Only this time the outcome wouldn’t be the same, because Minho wasn’t here. 

Mere months ago, you would have been fawning over the experience of finally attending a formal with a date, feeling like you were coming closer and closer to making the memories you craved. But you realized now that those had been empty hopes. Because memories weren’t about the experiences, but the people you shared them with. And you couldn’t deny what you and Minho had shared.

You don’t even realize you’ve stumbled outside until you’re plopping down onto a bench, hugging your knees to your chest, while fresh tears coat your eyelashes. A soft pair of footsteps echo behind you, and you turn to see Seungmin next to you, taking a seat.

“Y-you should go back inside,” you stutter, even more guilt settling in. “I’m sorry for being such an asshole and ruining your night.”

“Hey, you’re not an asshole. And I meant what I said, I didn’t expect anything from you, just two friends hanging out. But now you’re crying.”

Silence falls between you, and you think about how lucky you are to have a friend like Suengmin. Him, and Felix, and Jisung, and Jeongin. How much they care for you.

“You know,” Seungmin interrupts. “He’s not a bad guy. Lee.”

You whip your head around at Seungmin, not expecting him, of all people, to bring up Minho at a time like this. How did he even know him?

“Oh shush,” Seungmin sees the perplexed look on your face. “He comes over sometimes to watch anime. He’s pretty cool. He even said Jeongin might have a shot at trying out for the team next year.”

“What is my life?” you groan out loud. 

“I’m just saying, maybe you’re doing too much, trying to fight whatever it is you feel. Maybe he could be worth it. But you didn’t hear that from me.”

“I think what I need to do is catch the early bus back to campus,” you grumble, before softening. “You’ll be okay without me?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be fine, don’t miss me too much,” Seungmin grins. “Just sleep on it.”

“In your dreams, Kim.”

You’re bounding off the bus faster than the driver can open the door, silently cursing yourself for not bringing a jacket, or at least stealing Seungmin’s. The straps of the way-too-high heels you’d chosen dig into your feet, sure to blister and leave you groaning the next morning, but to be fair, the headache had started long before you’d left your dorm room tonight.

It had started the moment Lee Minho had strolled through the door at that very first meeting, and secured a permanent spot dwelling inside your mind. And now he was befriending everyone you were friends with? You shiver at the potential implications of what Seungmin had revealed at the formal, surprised to find feelings lingering other than sheer annoyance. 

The wind nipping at your heels, you set off down the campus path, empty save for a few poor souls leaving the library after a study session, until you’re at the campus green, the large fountain that lights up the way to your dorm in plain sight. You feel relief overtake you at the sight, grateful that you could soon unwind and collapse onto your bed, given you had thinking to do. Lots of thinking. 

You’re almost across, the gurgling of the fountain audible in the distance, when a shadow emerges from the path to your right. A lone, slim figure in a blue letterman jacket, a large “S” emblazoned on the front. You think nothing of it until you see the accompanying “25 Lee” on the back, and suddenly you freeze. Only he does too, at the exact same time. 

You wonder if it’s too late to duck behind a bush, hiding under the cover of darkness, until you remember that near the fountain is the most well-lit area within a few hundred yards, the rest of the winding path completely blacked out. And Minho is already walking in your direction, even though you both know the way to the dorm is behind him.

He’s clad in sweatpants, his hair damp with sweat, and you wonder why he’s not freezing at this hour. But he’s probably looking at you and wondering the same thing.

“___, hey,” he shouts out, the grin on his face growing when he actually looks at you, his jaw hanging open. “Wow, uh, you look good. Fancy event?”

“Oh yeah a date. I mean a formal. I mean I went to a formal. As a date. With Seungmin.”

Immediately, the grin fades, and Minho’s eyes grow impossibly dark. There’s a strange fluttering in your chest, and you’re overcome with the urge to clarify that it wasn’t a real date, that it didn’t mean anything, but nothing comes out, your throat impossibly dry. 

“Oh yeah, he mentioned something about that.”

“Yeah. I guess even RAs need to let loose once in a bit.”

“Did you? Let loose?” Minho raises an eyebrow, and you know that he knows that it’s too early to be wandering around campus, given most buses don’t come back until after midnight. 

“You caught me.”

“I told you, I’m good at that.”

Minho gestures to a bench, right in front of the fountain. You know you should say no, that you should run to the safety of your dorm. Because somehow, when you’re around Minho, the control you have comes crashing down. You feel reckless and effervescent, and you wonder if being drunk when you met him was to blame. 

When you take the seat next to him, you watch him smirk, and that’s when you realize the bench he’d picked out was the tiniest one, meaning you had no choice but to be pressed up right against him, feeling the warmth that emanates from him. You shiver again, hoping the cold can cover for you. 

“You cold?” Minho’s voice is a low rumble, moving to slip his jacket off his shoulders.

“No, no I’m fine—”

He’s throwing it around you before you can finish protesting, his warm sandalwood and cedar fragrance enveloping you, and you burrow into it. Beside you, you can feel Minho’s faint breath fan against your neck, and you flush, turning away to look above you.

“It’s pretty out tonight, isn’t it?” You point above you. “You can see the stars.”

“Yeah, it is,” Minho’s voice is a heavy sigh, and you turn to find he’s not looking above at all. His dark eyes bore right into yours, a whole universe of emotion trapped within their depths, and you feel the fluttering in your chest begin again. 

His warm hand skims softly against your cheek, and you stop it with your own, pushing him away.

“Minho… what’s happening? What is this? Because if this is some kind of ego trip, or some sick joke with your teammates…”

“Can’t you see, damn it?” Minho’s expression turns dark, shadows dancing on his face. “I like you, ___. Ever since you walked out of that room this summer, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. I keep running it over and over in my head, wondering what I could have done to fuck this up so badly, and how I can make it up to you every day.”

His voice is full of desperation, and you feel tears well up in your eyes at the sheer emotion captured in his rasp.

“Why?” Your voice is barely audible. “Why me?”

“I know we barely know each other, but everything I see about you, I like. The way you laugh, the quirky sweaters you wear, the way you take care of others. And everything I don’t know, I want to learn.”

Your head spins at his confession, at his earnestness, but while your heart is screaming at you to give in, your head can’t take the leap, holding you back from tumbling over the edge.

“Minho, I can’t. My job—” you watch the way his shoulders sag, knowing that you’re right. “I don’t want you to keep waiting for something that I may never be able to give you.”

“Friends then?” He squares his shoulders, his voice shaky, and you turn away, not wanting him to see the tears beginning to form in your eyes.

“Okay,” your voice is just as wobbly. Maybe it was better this way, knowing the distance would inevitably form when it was Minho’s turn to graduate next semester. This way things wouldn’t end badly - they’d just end when it was time.

“Well,” Minho stands up, offering you an arm. “As your friend, I can’t let you end what was supposed to be a fun night on a shitty note.”

He grabs your arms, slipping them into the jacket, before his hand is slipping in yours, the two of you walking up to the fountain. You know friends don’t hold hands, but you say nothing, the two of you staring at the clear water, coins glinting in its depths. 

“Make a wish,” he whispers. You look up, just in time to see a star shoot across the night sky, and close your eyes, wishing for everything to work itself out.

“And now we jump.”

“We what?!—” you whip your head around, but it’s too late, Minho is pulling you into the fountain with him, the cold water chilling you to the bone. Shivering, you stand up, cheeks burning and your soaked dress clinging to your body, watching Minho shake his wet hair from his eyes.

“You. Are. Crazy,” you huff out, laughter bubbling in your throat, and his eyes are twinkling, before he joins in, the two of you laughing until you’re wheezing. 

“You like it though,” he steps closer, his eyes raking over your body, heavy-lidded with desire. He leans over, almost in slow motion, your heart beating so wildly you almost forget how to breathe. You feel his lips ghost against yours, and for a moment everything is impossibly still—until laughter breaks through the silence, the voices of other students chattering behind you. 

Minho is pulling away, his eyes flickering towards the voices, and you hadn’t realized you were clutching his wet shirt. You peel your soaked bodies away from one another, Minho offering you his hand to help you out of the fountain, when all of a sudden the voices soften, indicating that the students were heading in the other direction. 

The walk back to the dorms is full of silence, both you and Minho trying to wrap your heads around what had happened in the fountain. It isn’t until he walks you to your door, the tormented look in his dark eyes the last thing you see before it closes behind you, that you realize you’d forgotten to give him back his jacket. 

“Morning Lino,” Hyunjin pads out of his and Minho’s shared room, rubbing at his eyes. Minho grunts in response, turning his attention back to the eggs at the stove.

“You know some kid named Yang?” Hyunjin asks through a mouthful of cereal. “Came up to me the other day and said he couldn’t wait to sit in on our practice.”

Minho recalls his conversation with the eager freshman, who was bouncing up and down at the thought of being considered for the football team next year. Of course, what Jeongin didn’t know was that his happiness wasn’t even the cherry on top. It was seeing the dazzling smile on your face when the kid ran up to you to tell you all about it.

You’d looked over, seeing Minho lingering at the end of the hallway, and raised an eyebrow, to which he’d nodded, before promptly disappearing. This whole friendship thing was harder than he’d counted on. But he’d try his damn best. 

…

An hour later, he’s watching Jeongin run lines with Changbin, pausing every few minutes to work on some throws. A small smile forms on his face - Jeongin was a nice kid. And he would have never met him if it wasn’t for you. Minho thinks back to how different life would have been if he hadn’t run into you this summer. 

Even though he can’t put his finger on it, Minho feels like something’s changed. Before you, he’d never cared enough about anything to want to make an effort. Football was just something he did, relationships were something he never bothered with. Class was just class. But after meeting you, Minho wanted to be someone who was enough. Someone you could be proud of — to call a friend and maybe something more one day.

He feels the bench thud next to him, Hyunjin plopping down beside him. Hyunjin looks back and forth between him and Jeongin, realization glimmering in his eyes.

“He’s friends with her, right? Jeongin. That’s why you gave him a chance. You’re so fucking whipped.”

“If you’re gonna try to lecture me right now, please don’t,” Minho grumbles, knowing that behind Hyunjin’s sarcasm, he’s always willing to chew someone out when they’re doing something stupid. Like Minho is doing right now with you.

“That’s Chan’s job, not mine. I just hope you know what you’re doing.”

“It’s weird,” Minho blurts out, his own words surprising him. He thought he would have dropped the subject. 

But he finds himself opening up about you, the way he doesn’t know why, but you just make him feel, and how he doesn’t know what to do about it. The way you hold yourself back, and he doesn’t know how to move forward, because he’d be an asshole for overstepping the boundaries you’ve so abundantly made clear. How something with you was better than nothing at all.

And Hyunjin listens, gratefully, but Minho sees how his eyes dart over to Chan and Changbin and Jeongin. The season was still young. If he wasn’t careful, things could implode, not just for the team, but for you. 

He would have to find a way to figure this out. Or else, he could lose you for good.

You hadn’t meant for it all to come spilling out. One minute, you and Minho were cool, agreeing to be friends. The next, his mouth was nearly on yours, and you were confused.

And now, you’re telling everything to Felix in the middle of breakfast. It might be the lack of coffee, or the fact that he’s just naturally baby-faced but Felix is wide-eyed, unable to keep his mouth from hanging open as you recall everything, from summer to now. 

When you’re finished, he crosses his arms, his eyebrows furrowing and your stomach drops. Well. You’d managed to make your roommate, also known as one of the nicest people in the world, upset with you.

“Listen, Lix, it’s not as bad as it seems,” you try to reassure him. “We’re cool now.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me,” Felix whines. “Does our friendship mean nothing to you?”

You feel guilty. You knew Felix was one of the first people who should have known. But honestly, you’d just bottled it up. Even Ryujin didn’t know much beyond you disappearing upstairs with Minho. You feared that the more you talked about it, the more real it would seem. Whatever it was, this thing that you and Minho had. 

“I never asked to hook up with a football player Felix,” you groan, taking care to keep your voice down. “I never asked for him to be my neighbour, let alone my actual responsibility. But that’s just what it comes down to. Responsibility. I have a job to do, and being involved with Minho goes against everything that it stands for.”

“___, you’re human too,” Felix offers you the cookie from his plate, and you accept it, chomping down. “You don’t have to be perfect all the time.”

“I just thought this year would be different. I thought I’d have everything figured out, and that whatever I experienced would be fun. But now I’m just stuck with this. A mess.”

Felix’s jaw tenses, like he’s lost deep in thought. 

“Do you regret it?” Panic lights your eyes at his question. Because it was one you’d never considered. You’d spent so long trying to push Minho away, creating false distance in between you two, when the reality was, it’d never existed in the first place.

All you wanted was to be closer to him. You wanted to learn the same things about him that he wanted to learn about you. You wanted to know what it would actually feel like if he kissed you in front of the fountain.

“No” you manage to breathe out with a sigh. “I don’t. But it still doesn’t change anything.”

“It could,” Felix counters.

Head spinning, you find your appetite has disappeared. You watch Felix look at you with concern as you bid him a half-hearted bye, telling him you’ll see him later. 

Maybe you couldn’t lie to yourself about Minho anymore. But you couldn’t do anything about the truth except live with it. 

You thought Namjoon believed in you enough to not stick you on RA duty during your birthday, but apparently not. So, you’d guiltily waved goodbye to Felix, telling him to go celebrate in your honour, and you’re curled up on the couch, notebook in hand, trying to review your reading for the week. 

A few hours pass, in which you change the way you’re sitting numerous times, get up to take a water break at least every seven minutes, and are finally situated and focused enough to accomplish something, but then the thumping starts. 

At first you’re confused. Was someone working out? Did the room upstairs set up a bowling alley? Both of those explanations seemed more plausible until you actually listened for the source of the noise. It was coming from right next to you. 

Room 103.

You groan. Of course they’d be having a party. Midterm season had just finished, and what else did football players do on a Saturday night? 

Unfortunately, that also meant it was on you to stop it. And deal with the aftermath of ruining the night for a bunch of salty students. You breathe a heavy sigh, running through countless scenarios in your head to avoid going over. You could just keep studying, maybe bake a batch of brownies. But each one of those scenarios is ruined by none other than Kim Namjoon. His voice drones on in the back of your mind, waxing poetic about how with great power comes great responsibility. The man needed to stop rewatching so many Spider-Man movies. 

Setting your notebook to the side, you throw on a cardigan, shuffling over to Minho’s apartment. The cacophonous bass reverberates even from outside, and you give a timid knock, unsure if anyone will be able to hear you. 

It takes a few moments, but eventually, the door swings open, the gleeful eyes of Seo Changbin taking in your presence at the door.

“I, uhm, I’m here to uh,” you barely get a sentence out before you’re being swept inside, Changbin’s bellowing laugh echoing behind you. “Look who joined us!” Changbin shouts, and a few heads turn to look in your direction. You catch a couple of questioning looks, one of them being Hyunjin, but for the most part, your presence is ignored.

“Any chance we can get you up on one of the tables?” Changbin offers you a drink, gesturing to the living room. You shake your head, backing up against wall of the entryway.

“Listen, I can’t stay, I just came to –”

“___? What are you doing here?” A voice sounds from behind you, and you turn to see Minho looking at you, shock on his face. 

You gulp. You’d hoped you wouldn’t have to run into him tonight, that it would be a quick in and out. Once the party was shut down, everyone would go home in a sour mood, maybe Minho would hate you for it, and you’d be able to get over your feelings for him in peace.

“Leave her alone, Bin,” Minho chastises his roommate, who’s still trying to goad you for a drink. And then he grabs you by the hand, pulling you further into the lion's den.

The first thing you notice is the sheer heat. Not only are there dozens of bodies crowded up against each other, but it’s Minho himself. He maneuvers you through the crowd, keeping you close to him, and it makes you dizzy. Through the stench of beer and sweat, his cologne peeks through, spiking your body temperature even more.

You don’t know where Minho is leading you, but eventually you two end up near the end of the hallway, bypassing many loud conversations and couples making out, until you stumble upon a series of closed doors. Your face burns when you realize it’s their rooms.

“I need to go,” you say quickly, turning on your heel. “I shouldn’t even be here, this shouldn’t be happening.”

“Hey,” Minho rests a hand on your shoulder. “I just wanted to bring you somewhere quieter, where you wouldn’t be overwhelmed.”

“Oh,” you breathed out, heart soaring at the touching gesture. “Still, I should…”

“Can’t you stay for a bit?” Minho begs, his sparkling eyes meeting yours, and you’re unable to do anything but nod yes.

“Lee! How you doing man?” a voice bellows from far away, and you notice Mingyu, one of the forwards on the soccer team, walk up and high-five Minho, slapping him on the back. “Who’s your friend?”

Mingyu’s eyes do a once over, eyebrows furrowing at your sweatpants and cardigan, before looking quizically at Minho. 

Minho draws a hand around your waist, coming to rest protectively on your hip. His palm burns through the thin fabric where your tank top ends, keeping you tight to his body.

“This is ___. If you don’t mind, we’re kind of busy.”

Mingyu rolls his eyes, smirking as he disappears in the crowd. That’s when you notice Minho’s leaning back against one of the door frames, his hand resting on the door knob.

“Wanna talk in my room?” he asks softly. And it doesn’t sound sleazy or gross. It sounds earnest. Despite the party raging around him, he hasn’t left your side since you showed up, as if he could feel the anxiety coursing through you. As if he’s telling you he’s got you.

“Or I could walk back with you to your room. Whatever you want.”

“W-we can talk,” you say nervously, fisting the side of your cardigan. Somehow, the idea of returning to your notebook seems wholly unappealing. “Just for a bit.”

“Okay,” he opens the door, leading you in.

. . .

The first thing you notice about the room is that it’s surprisingly clean. For a guy’s room anyway. There are a few stray articles of clothing strewn on the chair, but there’s also a neat stack of books, and a bunch of photo frames on Minho’s desk. One in particular catches your eye.

You pick it up, a smile breaking out onto your face at the photo of Minho, star running back, crouched up to three tiny cats.

“Soonie, Doongi, and Dori,” Minho’s voice echoes behind you. “I adopted them when I was in middle school.”

“I didn’t take you for a cat person,” you giggle.

“There’s a lot about me you don’t know,” Minho takes the frame from you, setting it back in place. His voice sounds distant, like he’s thinking too hard.

“Tell me about yourself,” you blurt out without thinking, watching Minho’s eyes widen in surprise. You realize that you barely knew anything about him, while he’d worked so hard to know you, and his words from the night of the formal echoed in your brain. 

Everything I see about you, I like. And everything I don’t know, I want to learn.

You learn that Minho lives twenty minutes away, something you hadn’t expected. And that he goes home to visit his parents every other weekend, checking up on his cats. You learn football is just something he plays for fun – he’s not super serious about it like Chan or Changbin, but he stayed on the team because they’re his friends. You learn he likes fishing, but also pulling pranks on people. He’d nearly convinced Jisung that they cancelled Spy x Family the other week, and the poor boy had believed him before Minho had to chase him down with a bag of chocolate covered pretzels from the campus cafe and apologize. You learn that Lee Minho is so much more than you ever thought he could be, and that you feel more for him than you could have ever imagined, the realization giving you goosebumps.

“Hey,” Minho pokes you in the ribs. “You zoned out. Everything okay?”

No, everything was not okay. You wondered if he noticed how you’ve gone completely still next to him, your breathing shallow. Minho’s eyes have darkened, filled with an emotion you can’t possibly name, but something you want to believe in. And for once, you want to lose control, and fall off the edge together.

“Kiss me,” you whisper, your gaze dropping to his lips. Minho freezes, but doesn’t back away.

“Fuck,” he huffs, heavy breaths filling the space between you. “You sure?”

“Please,” you groan, closing the distance so your lips ghost over his. Minho finally snaps, bringing his mouth to yours, groaning against your lips. You bite back a moan as he nips your bottom lip. The sound stirs him, and with a hard squeeze to your thigh, he’s backing you onto the bed below him. Heart pounding, the look in his eyes is dangerous, sending chills down your spine.

“Let me make you feel good,” he breathes against your forehead. 

You’re unable to do anything but whine in response, watching as he pushes your tank top up to undo the ties on your sweatpants, fingers digging into your hips while he pulls the fabric down, taking your underwear with it. His mouth peppers rough kisses down your throat and into your cleavage, leaving splotches of crimson and violet as he grazes his teeth in every spot his lips meet. 

“Tell me you want this,” he asks, eyes searching yours. 

“Yes,” you groan, head swimming. “I want this, want to feel you, please—“

Your pleas are cut off swiftly as he slips two fingers inside of you, dragging them against your walls with a low sigh.

“Fucking hell, you’re so wet. Is this all for me?” 

“Only for you,” you whine, completely lost to what is coming out of your mouth.

“You’re so beautiful, fuck, been thinking about this for so long,” Minho hisses when you gush around him, arousal dripping down his wrist.

You feel yourself flutter at his words, throwing your head back while reaching over to swipe your fingers through his sweaty hair. You tug at the back of his shirt, and he pulls it over his head, his shaking hands slipping the cardigan off your shoulders and tugging the straps of your tank top down.

Looming over you, he engulfs your nipple in his mouth, and you gasp sharply when he bites down with his teeth, swirling his tongue over it quickly to soothe your reddened skin. But Minho doesn’t stop there, his lips trailing all over you, unable to stop kissing you. 

It’s a thousand times stronger, more intimate than the time from the summer, the feelings that have built between you mounting and mounting until they’re an inferno. 

The first press of his tongue against your folds has you squirming as you desperately rock your hips against his mouth. Your knees buckle around him as he works you with his tongue, fingers dipping lower and lower until they press right against where you need him most. Feeling a harsh suck to your clit, you moan loud enough that you’re sure that anyone who’s outside can hear you. But you don’t care, reveling in what it means to let him in.

Just as you’re about to let go and surrender yourself completely, Minho’s fingers retreat, leaving you clenching around nothing. You open your lips, ready to protest, but Minho cuts you off, stuffing his fingers inside your mouth.

“Suck,” he commands, and you’re left breathless, unable to do anything but comply while wetting the digits, tasting yourself.

“Need to see you come while I’m inside you,” Minho slips off the rest of his clothes. You feel your mouth go dry when his cock springs free, and he chuckles at the depraved look in your eyes, before pushing his cock completely inside, leaving you reeling at the stretch.

“Please, move,” you beg, and he obliges. Fucking you slowly like he never wants to forget this moment. His strong arm slips around your waist, lifting you up against his chest and his lips find yours again, tongue licking into you to steal the moans that escape you, head dizzying at the change in position.

“Minho, fuck, I’m going to come, please wanna so bad,” you whine, feeling lightheaded with ecstasy. Reaching down, Minho rubs tight circles on your clit, messy slick coating his fingers until you feel yourself snap, gushing around him.

“Cum for me ____,” he breathes against your neck.

That’s what does it, pushing you overboard, wetness gushing from you as you moan his name. Minho speeds up his thrusts to join you, groaning when he feels himself explode, before slumping against you, chest heaving with the weight of his breaths.

His sweat soaked bangs are messy, covering his eyes, and his fingertips skim across your cheek, pressing a kiss to your forehead.

“Stay with me?” he blurts out, head ducking in embarrassment at the silly statement. “I mean, not like that, just..”

And you sigh, wrapping your arms around him and pulling him closer to you, burying your head in the crook of his shoulder, soft breath fanning his damp skin. 

Dawn spills into the room, and you sigh, careful not to wake a snoring Minho. He’d fallen asleep quickly, but you’d been unable to do the same, tossing and turning beside him. What scared you was how much regret you didn’t feel over what had just transpired. How much you wished you could just give in and let it happen again. 

But you couldn’t. Not only had you completely broken the pact to be just friends with Minho, but you’d also completely forgotten about the entire reason you’d even come here last night, the forgotten responsibilities of your job weighing heavily on you.

Rising, you carefully pick up your clothes, throwing them on quickly. You feel Minho stir softly, before he’s stretching, rubbing at his eyes.

“Morning,” his voice is low and raspy, but also completely content. A sharp contrast to the torment you currently feel. “Wanna grab breakfast?”

“Minho,” your voice is bleak, and you watch his figure slump. He’d fucked up. You both had.

“Last night should have never happened. And I know that if we keep doing this, spending time with each other, it’ll happen again. But I can’t. I have a job, I have responsibilities, and they’re important to me.”

You know the words cut deep, because you also know you’d give them all up in a second to wake up to him again, to feel his lips on yours. 

Minho’s expression is blank, watching you scurry around the room to pick up your stuff. You knew the moment you walked out of there, there’d be no going back, even to being friends.  

It breaks your heart even more when he doesn’t move to get up and help you, watching you instead with devastated eyes. 

But you also knew you couldn’t turn around and look back at him, because you’d drop everything and stay.

. . .

The sun is too bright, hurting your eyes as you walk to the dining hall, what feels like chalk settling in the back of your throat. You feel like you’re battling the worst hangover of your life, despite not having a single drink last night, and you were so grateful Felix was still asleep when you’d slipped inside.

You’d let everything slip out of control, and now your life was spiralling. For a brief moment, you wondered if you should just accept the guilt for everything, leaving Minho behind and handing in your resignation. But then you realized how stupid that sounded, leaving you with nothing.

You swing the heavy door to the dining hall open, not even noticing the figure on the other side until you’re falling backwards. You catch the door just in time, looking up to be met with the tall figure of Kim Namjoon. And he doesn’t look happy.

“___, my office, now.”

. . .

Namjoon rubs in between his eyebrows, his expression darting in between you and the door. Your heart is pounding, fear taking over, even though you already know that whatever is happening cannot be good.

“____, when I chose you for this position at the beginning of the year, it was because I saw so much potential in you,” he begins, his voice trembling. “I thought you’d never do anything to upset me, to disappoint me.”

The word disappoint tells you everything you need to know, and tears begin to prick at the corner of your eyes. Of course there would have been wandering eyes at the party last night. Of course someone would have recognized you, seen what you were doing, and said something to Namjoon. You couldn’t believe you’d been so stupid.

“Getting involved with a resident is a blatant violation of the responsibilities that have been entrusted to you as a resident assistant. Furthermore, you failed to act and de-escalate a situation that was a clear violation of the student code of conduct.”

“I didn’t mean to,” you cry out, hoping Namjoon will rethink everything. “It was a mistake. I’m sorry.” 

You watch his eyes flash with hurt at your pleading, but you know from the despondency in his expression there’s nothing you can do.

“I’m sorry, ____ but I have to report this to the advisory board. They’ll deliberate, but as of right now, you’re suspended from your position, and it’s very likely you won’t be invited back next year. Karina will fill in for you in the meantime.”

He stands up, before leading you out gently. “I wish there was more I could do.”

You’re unable to say a word, slipping your coat over your shoulders and ducking your head to try to hide the tears that won’t stop flowing. You wonder if you should try harder, plead your case, but you know that the fault was entirely yours. 

Looking up, you see Jisung, Seungmin and Jeongin walk into the dining hall, laughing to each other, and duck behind a corner, your appetite completely gone. Taking off, you run as fast as you can, not stopping until your feet lead you back to the dorms.

Campus in the springtime is a sea of pink - the light, delicate hue of cherry blossoms creating a canopy on the ground, filling up the pathway to the fountain. But their beauty is lost on Minho, who sits by the fountain, staring blankly at the gurgling water. 

Two months. It’d been two months since you’d ended things, rushing out of his room. Two months since you’d chosen responsibility over him. Minho wanted to be angry, wanted to hate you. But he just felt empty instead. 

He’d tried talking to everyone – Jisung, Seungmin and Jeongin had no idea what happened to you. Felix would only glare at him in anger from across campus, and he wonders if he’d broken your heart just as bad as you’d broken his. As if somehow that would make him feel better, knowing you were in just as much pain as him. But it didn’t.

His own teammates saw how everything ached for Minho, from him burning his breakfast to failing to catch the simplest of throws. And they were worried. But Minho couldn’t fix this – he couldn’t go back to how the two of you had been before. Because in reality, there’d never been a chance for the two of you to begin with. He realized it now. You were just too different. 

And yet it hadn’t stopped him from falling in love with you. He’d finally figured it out, when it was far too late. He was in love with you – the way you made him feel alive, like the world was full of possibilities. Only for it all to come crashing down.

“Hey dude,” Chan’s soft voice comes from next to him, taking a seat on the bench. “You okay?”

“Hanging in there, old man,” Minho musters a weak smile, but it falters, and Chan immediately notices. Minho looks at his friend, who can’t stop looking around at who’s passing by, and he realizes he’s keeping a secret.

“Spill,” Minho commands, and Chan furiously nods no.

“Lino, we have our last game soon, you need to stay focused…”

“Say it,” Minho hisses through his teeth, because he knows that whatever Chan is hiding, I t’s about you.

The words come spilling out before Chan can stop them, and Minho takes them all in, everything suddenly becoming clear.

. . . 

The roar of the buzzer echoes in Minho’s ear,  along with the deafening sound of the crowd, and suddenly he’s being dogpiled by his teammates. Hyunjin and Changbin are screaming in his ear, the school fight song is blaring, but time slows for Minho, and he focuses on none of it.

Everything moves too quickly, the fans rushing from the stands, spilling out onto the field and campus beyond. Minho is being pushed, his heartbeat pounding in his ears, until the locker room appears behind him. He’s stripping off his jersey, hitting the showers while his teammates erupt into joy around him. Minho lets the water drip off him, bracing himself against the wall, heavy breaths escaping him.

The win didn’t feel like a win at all. Not with the guilt that resided in his chest ever since he’d spoken to Chan a week ago. Minho knew the celebrations would go all night, the liquor would keep flowing, that all bets were off and every rule could be broken. But he didn’t care about any of that.

All he knew was that tonight, while campus erupted into a riotous celebration, he needed to find you.

He ignores Hyunjin’s protests while he slips out of the locker room, Chan holding his other teammates back. Minho throws a hoodie on, and steps out into the night air.

The first thing he notices is the swarm – there are people everywhere, screams echoing in his ears. Then it’s the pandemonium - banners strewn on the ground, the blare of an air horn in the distance, the blaze of what he’s pretty sure is a firework. 

People line up around him as he moves through the crowd, pushing his way through overzealous fans, and overeager sorority girls offering him a victory kiss. He throws his hood up, ducking his face so that no one else can catch him, setting off to the emptier part of campus.

Eventually, the crowd dies down as he draws closer to the dorms, everyone out celebrating on the main green. Minho walks down the path he’s become so familiar with this year, the familiar sound of the fountain welcoming him.

He knew he’d find you here. Your eyes are turned away from him as you sit on the edge, aimlessly dragging your hand through the water.

“Not gonna celebrate?” He watches you jump at the sound of his voice, quickly rising up.

“Congrats, I’m sure it was a great game,” you whisper, but you’re backing away, and Minho can’t let you leave.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Minho interrupts you, resting his arm on yours, and he watches your eyes meet his, so much pain contained within them when you realize he knows.

“It wasn’t your fault, it was mine,” you counter, looking down at the fountain. 

“That’s such crap, they let you go for that?”

“They let me go because I broke the rules, Minho. I deserved it.”

Minho lets out a heavy sigh, watching you shiver in the cold, and he slips off his hoodie. You dodge it, the two of awkwardly dancing around each other, before accepting it, sinking into the feeling of Minho’s warmth. 

“You’ve gotta stop letting me steal your jackets, I’ve already got a rap sheet,” you joke, but Minho doesn’t smile.

“I’m so fucking sorry, ___.” He says looking out onto the campus. “We really fucked things up, didn’t we?”

“Maybe this is how it was supposed to be,” you tell him. “You know, I was reading up on things, for my astronomy class and I learned that sometimes, when stars collide, they just collapse into dust. Like nothing else happens – they’re together one moment, and then gone the next, the remnants of their collision floating through the universe.”

Minho watches your breath come out in heavy puffs, and his mind wanders back to the stars on the night he’d almost kissed you in the fountain.

“Can I have one more thing to remember you by then?” He asks, intertwining his fingertips with yours, pulling you close to him, watching you nod before closing the distance in between you two. 

Sparks explode across your skin when he kisses you, your hands swinging around his neck. You sway from the wash of emotions that come over you, and Minho’s hands are there, steadying you as you break apart, rubbing his cheek against yours and pressing tiny kisses all the way from your temple to your hair.

Eventually, the sound of the crowd draws closer, and Minho watches you pull away, holding out his hoodie in his hands. Taking it, he watches you retreat, wondering if there’d ever be a time where the universe would let you find each other again to pick up the pieces.

Sighing, you tape up the last box, pushing it to the side before collapsing on the couch. The end of the semester had come quickly after the raucous football celebrations, everyone in campus on a high. 

Surprisingly, you’d dealt with the pain pretty well, settling into a new routine after being let go. Felix had been your biggest support, allowing you to cry into his shoulder as much as you wanted, baking plenty of brownies to keep you from descending into too deep of a depression.

Eventually, you’d learned to just let the wound scar over. The night of the game with Minho had provided you with closure in the best way possible, confirming to you that life had had its own plan for you all along. Thought, from time to time, you mind still lingered on the kiss the two of you had shared – for a moment, you’d thought that it could have meant something, but maybe that was your lesson – learning to take things as they were, because the more expectations you’d had, the more things fell apart.

A gentle knock interrupts your train of thought, and you walk over to the door, opening it up to find none other than Namjoon on the other side. Confused, you let him in, silence falling in between you while you wait for him to speak.

“____, I’m so sorry, Minho told me everything,” Namjoon blurts out, and his words have you reeling. What did he mean?

“He told me how he was the one to overstep the boundaries of your job and how you tried to stop it, I knew I shouldn’t have doubted you. The board says you can stay on for next year!”

You remain frozen in place, unable to speak or even think, before the overwhelming urge to find Minho comes over you.

“Namjoon, I’m sorry but I need to go right now.” 

And then you rush out the door.

. . . 

The door to room 103 is propped open with a six-pack, and you resist the urge to roll your eyes as you barge in, Hyunjin’s surprised figure greeting you right behind the door.

“_____? What the hell?”

“No time to talk, Hwang,” you push past him. “Where is he?”

“Where is who?”

“You know damn well who I’m talking about.”

Hyunjin pauses, before nodding his head towards Minho’s room, the subtle smirk never leaving his face as he watches you bound towards the door.

“LEE MINHO!” your shrill voice causes Minho to drop the book he was packing on his foot, and you smile as you watch him jump around, swearing under his breath. 

“____? What are you doing here…”

“How dare you!” Minho groans when you punch him in the arm. “I cannot believe you did that.”

“Damn it, I swore that Namjoon man to secrecy,” Minho chuckles, a whoosh of air leaving him when you suddenly throw your arms around him, burying your face into his neck. “You. Are. Crazy,” you whisper into his hair, feeling him smile against you while he pulls you closer, rubbing his hands on your back.

“You like it though,” he smirks. 

“I love it,” you correct him, watching his grin go from tentative to ear-splitting. “Namjoon said you were suspended from the team though. I’m confused, isn’t this your last semester?”

“Well,” Minho blushes. “I may have to stay an extra one. Just to sort everything out, you know.”

“Jeongin will be so thrilled to have you on the team with him,” you giggle, kissing the corner of his mouth. 

“And you?”

“I’m gonna need a re-do of that love poem you wrote me. Byron would be rolling over in his grave.��

“I don’t know who the hell that is.”

“Good thing you have time to learn then.”

“So,” Minho grabs your hand nervously. “My parents brought Soonie, Doongi and Dori with them. If it’s okay with you, I’d like to introduce them to my girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend?” you ask him. 

“Oh I’m sorry would you prefer twin planet? Or shining star?”

“Watch it Lee.”

Minho wastes no time dragging you out the door with him, Hyunjin waving the two of you off. Stepping out into the sunshine, you see two figures in the distance waving to Minho, and you smile, the collision that had once steered you off course finally leading you and Minho back on the path where you both belonged. With each other.

a/n pt. 2: they are so getting married btw! As always, any feedback or comments are much appreciated, but I appreciate you all anyway. Lots of love, Isi 💜

tagging: @mal-lunar-28

[sentientcave]

Retirement Party

Chapter 5 - Wouldn't It Be Nice?

<<First Chapter - < Prev Chapter - Next Chapter >

Contains: No Y/N, Kidnapping, Forcible relocation, Dubcon, Plus-sized Reader/OC, female Reader/OC, John introduces Doll to some normal people, Everyone learns new things about each other, Manipulation, PTSD, Doll has a tragic backstory, Doll is kinda sorta Catholic? Who knew (me I knew)

~3.8k - MDNI - Dark fic! Please mind the content warning above but honestly this chapter is pretty mild all considered.

Ghost, Soap and Gaz come back a few hours later with the blue sports car (a bit scratched up, but tail-light repaired) and a pick up truck that looks a lot like the one John had before, but a generation older, and green instead of gray. John speaks to them briefly before he coaxes you into the truck and drives off, promising that the others will be gone before you get back.

He drives a few miles down the road, and pulls up in front of a little farmhouse. It looks idyllic, children and a dog playing in the yard. Two people on the porch wave, and John hops out and circles around right quick to open your door and help you down.

The couple trots up to greet you both. "Who's this?" The woman asks, looking at you and beaming. "You finally introducing us to a girlfriend?"

"Doesn't feel like the right word, does it, doll?" John winks at you, like your circumstances are all just a funny little blip, nothing nefarious or terrifying about it.

"No, it doesn't," you agree, keeping your face carefully neutral. "I'm Dalisay. Nice to meet you, um, Melissa, right?" You stick your hand out and shake hers. There’s no sense in being rude to them, just because they know John. He’s probably smart enough to keep his old life, and his boys away from his new one as much as possible.

"The very same! We were a bit worried John was going to be an eternal bachelor. Nice to see he's found someone." She introduces her husband, Rob, and her kids, Hannah, Haley and Jackson, who are ten, seven and five, respectively.

"Do you want to see the puppies?" Haley asks, grabbing your hand. Jackson grabs the other one and they pull you along to the garage, not waiting for an answer. You very deliberately don’t look over your shoulder at John, because you’re fairly sure that he’ll be looking back at you with a sickeningly hopeful expression. His comments from last night still ring in your ears, and you’re not willing to indulge that foolish fantasy of his.

The puppies are in a play pen with high enough walls to contain them, but still allow their mother to hop in and out. She hops out to inspect you, sniffing your outstretched hands warily. Her tail starts to wag after a moment, and you give her a proper pat, smiling. The dog has soft ears and a silky, black and tan coat, but you're not sure what type of dog she is.

"What's her name?" you ask, kneeling down.

"Bonnie-bell," Hannah says. "And our other dog is Charaid."

"Proper Scottish names," you say. The kids all have a slight burr, and although Melissa sounds scouse, it's the first hint as to where you are.

"Da said we was gettin' too English, livin' in London," Haley says. "I like it better here anyway. Mum says maybe we can get some coos. "

"I grew up near Aberdeen," you say. "But I've lived in Manchester too long. Lost my accent."

"No' far off, then, aye? We're only about an hour and a bit south and west," Rob says, appearing at the open garage door to supervise. His stern face looks friendlier now that he knows you're not proper English. "Was worried John dragged some poor city girl out'f England to live out here."

You hum. "Well, I am something of a city girl now. Been in Manchester since I was seventeen."

"Weel, welcome home then," Rob says with a wink. "We'll get ye proper re-acclimated soon enough." He leans over and plucks a puppy out of the sleeping pile inside the pen, and hands it to you. The pup is at the age where its somewhere between looking like a potato and a proper dog, maybe six or seven weeks old. "Gordon setter, by the by," he says. "Good dogs."

"Cute too." You settle the puppy in your lap, petting its soft little head. Bonnie-bell licks your wrist and hops back into the pen to lay down next to the others.

"Ye want one? This girl's no' spoken for yet. John's been hemmin' and hawin' about it, but I figure he wouldna want ta leave ye home alone, neither."

"Oh, I'm not sure I'll be staying that long. I'm only here because there was an incident at my apartment and John wouldn't hear of me staying anywhere else." You're not certain why you're stretching the truth to fit around what he and his wife think is happening, but you have no idea what John would do if you did say something. Maybe he would laugh it off like you were making a joke, or maybe he would snap. You don't really think he would hurt these people, but there's a wide-eyed prey animal in the back of your mind that warns you to be cautious, to be careful.

"We'll talk about it," John says from behind you. You hadn't even noticed his approach, with the noise the kids had made when they dashed back outside. "I'm trying to convince her to stay."

"Ye've gotta buy her a ring, ye daft bastard," Rob says, laughing. "A good catholic girl isna goin' ta wait for you ta get yer head out'f yer arse."

"If you don't, I'll introduce her to some lads in town that will," Melissa threatens. "Pretty girl like her has better options than you, old man. Better make your move before she realizes it." She swats John on the arm playfully.

You laugh nervously, touching the little cross around your neck absently. The puppy in your lap seems to sense your discomfort, because she starts wiggling in your arms and trying to lick your chin, little tail wagging. John kneels down beside you so he can pet the puppy too, eyes creased with a smile. "Is that it, doll? You need me to buy you a ring?"

"John," you say warningly. "We don't need to talk about this right now."

"No, I suppose you've had a rough morning. I'll try again later."

"You're impossible."

"Think you might kind of like that about me," he says.

"Not remotely. I think you're an awful, stubborn man," you tell him. Your voice comes out softer and sweeter than you intend, like you don't really mean it, even though it's true. The smile around his eyes grows deeper.

"I am." He picks up the puppy and holds her up in front of his face. "What do you think, girl?" he asks. The little dog's tail wags furiously, and she answers with a high pitched yip. And then she endears herself to you by trying to bite John’s nose. He looks stunned for a moment, but he grins when you start laughing. “Guess we’re all in agreement then,” he says, setting her down in the pen and standing up.

You accept his hand up, and quickly put a little distance between the two of you, before he anchors you to his side with a solid arm, or tries to reel you in close for a kiss. Rob and Melissa invite you in for a cup of tea, and somehow you end up sitting at a dining room table that’s obviously mostly used for crafts, and handed a piece of blank printer paper by Haley, and told by Jackson that you should draw dragons with them. The walls of the dining room are filled with tacked up juvenile masterpieces— Dragons seem to be a particular fixation of Jackson’s, whereas Hannah and Haley have more varied portfolios.

John stands leaning in the door to the kitchen, talking to Rob and Melissa quietly enough that you can’t quite pick up his words over the children’s chatter. You hate him a little for this, dangling Rob and Melissa’s idyllic little life in front of you. The implication is obvious. We could have this, his blue eyes seem to say when you look his way. Wouldn’t that be nice?

It’s frustrating, and confusing. You want to keep him at arms length for your own safety, but he’s already doing his best to roll right past your doubts and better judgment, like they’re just silly barriers between now and the future he’s dreamed up for the two of you.

And worse, you do want it.

“Didn’t know you were an artist,” he says on the drive back. Jackson had been so excited about the dragon that you drew for him that he’d shown his parents and John.

“There’s a long list of things you don’t know about me,” you say.

"For now. We'll get there, sweetheart."

You hum, looking out the window. Spending time with the Stuarts has you wistful and homesick for something you can't get back. Days like this, you'd usually pour yourself a glass of wine, look through your family photo albums and have a good cry before going to bed early. It's been a while since it's caught up with you like this, but you'd always been reliant on your routine, burying grief in structure and familiarity. "Do we need to?"

"I'd like to."

"I'm not going to be what you want me to be."

John drums his fingers against the steering wheel. "What is it that you think I want?"

"Some little housewife. Someone soft and sweet to come home to."

"You seem plenty soft and sweet to me."

You sigh, pulling your arms around yourself. "I'm not consistent. I don't know what Johnny told you I was like, but he only knows me from work. I'm not like that all the time."

"I don't expect you to be."

"You say that now, but you'll change your mind."

"I'm not stupid enough to change my mind based on a bad day or two, doll. You're allowed to be upset. I wouldn't blame you if you spend the next week slamming doors and snapping at me. I'm still going to like you." He puts a hand on your knee and squeezes gently. Men like him shouldn't be allowed to have such attractive hands, and you shouldn't be attracted to hands like his, scarred knuckles, a few fingers broken and healed crooked. You know he's killed people, know it would be so easy for him to kill you. It turns your stomach that you feel any kind of desire for him at all.

Men like him are no different than the ones that killed your parents. Dealing death is not a noble trade, there's nothing honourable about exporting violence.

You push his hand away, and keep your eyes trained on the window.

He sighs, but he doesn't press the issue, just clicks on the radio to fill the silence.

When you get back to his house he sets you up in a cozy room down the hall from the more open main space where the kitchen is, an office of some kind with a couple of arm chairs and a desk with a clunky looking laptop set on top. The room smells kind of smoky, but you're just glad to have a door you can close while he "moves some things around". He opens the laptop up so you can watch something, but you just curl up in one of the armchairs and fall asleep.

When you wake, the door is open, one of your blankets is draped over you, and there's a mug of tea sitting on the desk, alongside a couple biscuits. You uncurl, your muscles stiff and joints cracking from not moving for too long, and pick up the tea. It's cold, like it had been left a while ago, but you drink it anyway, and eat the biscuits. There's a note underneath, explaining that John had run out to the shops, and that he'd be back by 18:00. You shake your head, and check the time on the laptop. 18:00 exactly.

Military habits must die hard. You imagine he’s usually prompt too, so you wander out into the main room, and put the clean dishes in the rack away. You realize that the living room side has been rearranged, condensed to a slightly smaller footprint, with some open space left by the far corner behind the bigger couch. The smaller leather sofa has been replaced with the little red love-seat from your apartment, and your T.V. is sitting on it’s familiar perch on the refinished credenza that you’d painted twining vines and little red flowers up the side of. You’d found it on by the curb on the Kinsey’s street a few years ago, and your friend Ripley had bused over and helped you carry it all the way back to your apartment.

You’re not sure you like seeing more of your things merging into John’s house, like any of it belongs there when you still want to insist that you’ll be leaving soon. You hate him for being presumptuous, but you can’t help but think it’s sweet, too, that he makes space for you so readily, that he’ll happily include your painted flowers and colourful blankets and bright red couch into space that was all his just twenty four hours ago. That he would leave you tea and biscuits for when you woke up, that he would tuck a blanket around you while you slept. You’re not used to someone wanting to take care of you, and it feels strange.

Strange, but nice too.

You glance at the clock on the wall, realizing that it’s twenty past six, and John still isn’t back. It’s getting darker out there, the sun nearly setting, and as much as you try to tell yourself that you’re not worried, it’s hard to deny the stab of relief when you finally see the truck's lights pull up the wooded drive.

You slip on your trainers and step outside as he parks. He grins at you around a lit cigar as he hops out. “Did you miss me, doll?” he asks, insufferably smug.

“Your note said you’d be back at six,” you say lamely. “I just wasn’t sure if you’re usually on time.”

“Usually am. Got caught talking to Wells, down on the corner. Seems someone drove right through his fence last night. Teenagers, like as not. I’m goin’ to help him fix it tomorrow.”

“Oh.” You grimace. He must know it was really you. “Sorry about that.”

“No harm. By the sounds of it, you’re quite the driver. Soap said you nearly ran him off the road. That what they teach these days?”

“Defensive driving is well and good, but offensive driving gets you the last good spot in the lot,” you say.

He laughs out loud at that, and leans over to pick up a big paper bag from the passenger side. “Here, can you take this in while I grab the groceries?”

You take the bag (which is slightly greasy and smells like curry), and shift it to one hip. “Can I take anything else?”

He nods and hands you a second paper bag, this one with two wine bottles inside. “Wasn’t sure if you liked red or white, so I got both.”

You settle the bags in your arms and turn to walk away. “Bad time to tell you I like rosé hm?” you tease, glancing over your shoulder.

“Terrible timing. But that’s alright. One more thing, doll.”

You turn back toward him, and he’s right there. One big hand cups your jaw and then his lips are on yours, pressing a kiss that tastes like smoke against you. You stand frozen, holding onto your cargo for dear life, too surprised to do anything. It’s just as well, because in that moment you’re not sure if you’d slap him or pull him closer.

He pulls away without trying to deepen the kiss, which is a relief. You’re certain that you’d drop dinner and the wine.

“John, that wasn’t fair.” Your feet are still frozen in place, and his hand is still on your cheek, his fingers threaded into your hair.

His eyes practically sparkle. He’s entirely too pleased with himself. “Not fair because I kissed you, or not fair because I stopped before we got to the best part?”

Your cheeks flame hot, and you pray that he can’t feel it. “You can’t just— You’re impossible.” It takes concentrated effort to take ordinary, measured steps to the door instead of running. The effect he has on you is apparently very obvious. He never would have tried it if he didn’t know you were teetering on the edge of giving in already.

Boundaries need to be set-- Set and followed-- before you can really even contemplate letting this get any further. Unchecked, you have no doubt that John will have you underneath him in a matter of days. Once that happens you know he'll never let you go, and you'll never have peace of mind if you don't really get to know him first. You know he's not as good as he makes himself out to be, but you suspect he's a better man than your deepest fears might whisper to you. He's genuine about his wants, but that's not enough. You need to know him before you can trust him.

You set your packages down on the table and turn to open the door wide for John as he carries a tote full of groceries into the house. “Thanks, doll.”

The paper bag rips when you open it to pull take-out containers out, setting them on the table neatly. "John, can we talk?" You ask, glancing at him as he stows things in the fridge.

"Course, doll. What's on your mind?"

Nerves threaten to choke you, so you take a steadying breath, in and out, trying to quiet the sea of dread that pitches back and forth in your stomach. “You can’t just take what you want from me. Not if you’re serious about wanting this to be something. I’m afraid of you, John, and I’m not going to fight you. If you push me, I’ll fold, and I’ll hate you for it.”

He pauses, holding a box halfway lifted to the cupboard. It takes a moment before he moves again, setting the box on the shelf slowly. The silence is palpable in the room, settling across both of you like a thick blanket of snow. You fold the ripped takeout bag flat, nervous, the crinkle of heavy paper hardly breaking through the rush of blood in your ears, the panic that grips you by the throat. It’s as though the admission has given your body the chance to catch up with everything that’s happened in the last two days.

You’d been drugged and taken from your home, you’d been handed off to someone you didn’t know, with no clear indication if you’re free to leave or not, you’ve been picked up and manhandled and shot at.

Darkness flickers in the corners of your vision. All you can hear is the pounding of your own heart, the sick, dizzying drums of war, and high pitched ringing like a flat-lining hospital monitor, and screaming, and the rapid burst of machine gun fire. No. The screaming you hear is just in your head, the gunshots aren’t real, they can’t be. It’s not happening, it’s over, it’s been over for a decade, you’re safe.

Except you’re not safe.

Hands land on your shoulders. You lash out, fists striking something solid, knocking the hands away. You have to get away, you have to hide until it goes quiet again. Arms wrap around you in a tight hug, stilling your thrashing limbs and bringing you down to the floor gently.

“Doll! Dalisay, sweetheart, you’re alright, come back.” The voice has authority. You know that voice. It rumbles, shaking loose memory. “Come on, love, breathe slow. You’re okay.” You breathe in, warm spice and tobacco smoke, not burning petrol, not scorched flesh. You’re kneeling on the floor, and John is holding you tight, thighs bracketing yours.

The fight melts out of your limbs.

You’re not safe, but you’re not in danger either. John loosens his hold on you and cups your face, his worried face eclipsing all else. “Doll, where’d you go?” he asks. “What happened?”

“Panic attack,” you lie, because that’s easier to say than My parents were killed in a terrorist attack while we were visiting London ten years ago and sometimes I get so stressed out that I forget it’s not still happening. “I’m fine, I’m sorry.”

“That wasn’t a panic attack, doll. Worked with Simon long enough to recognize PTSD. You were somewhere else.”

It’s hard to imagine that Ghost is as fallible, as human as you are, but you suppose there’s no shortage of opportunities for even the the biggest, toughest military men to to wade hip deep in trauma. The worst day of your life would be just another mission for them. The worst day of their lives would probably kill you outright.

"Yeah, I guess it was," you admit haltingly. "Everything just caught up with me. I won't let it happen again."

He shakes his head. "Did I set it off? I need to know— I don’t want to hurt you, sweetheart.”

"No, it's not like that. It’s just stress. It's been building since I got here."

"I guess that's what you meant in the truck, huh?"

You nod weakly. "I don't think I can explain it any better right now. But maybe tomorrow."

"Alright." John sighs, some of the tension in his shoulders releasing. " I don't want you to be afraid of me, doll."

"Then you're going to have to give me time, and space. I need to know what kind of man you are. And you should get to know who I am too.” There’s a wrinkle in his shirt, so you fixate on that rather than look right at him, smoothing it out with your fingers. “Let’s worry about becoming friends, for now. And then we can see if there’s something more.”

He doesn’t like that, you can tell by the way he pulls his hands back, reluctant to let go of you. But still, he nods, and smiles ruefully after a moment. “Guess I’m not as patient as I think I am. Too eager to get to the good part.”

You laugh lightly, the sound shaky from frayed nerves. “John, if we can be kind to each other, and come to an understanding, then it’s all the good part. You can’t build the things you want on foundations like this and hold it all together with sheer force of will.”

“You sure about that?" he jokes, trying to lighten the mood. "I’ve heard I’m pretty stubborn.”

Your eyes flick up to meet his. You still feel unsettled, your heart still pounding, your stomach still roiling with anxiety. The emotion in those blue eyes is something you can't identify, something fathomless that strikes you with a foreign kind of fear, the kind that's shot through with hope that you shouldn't feel.

“You don’t know me too well yet, John,” you say gently, “but so am I.”

Image Credits: Banner

Dividers: 1 - 2 - 3 by @/Cafekitsune

[fruity-mega-coconut69]

Why Not Me?

Pt 2

[Pairings]: Tara Carpenter x Brackett!Fem!Reader

[Summary]: You and Tara are head-over-hills for each other and everyone could see that. Well, apparently not everyone. (au where there were never ghostfaces and they just moved to New York.)

[Warnings]: Swearing?, my writing, slight angst, little fluff, not proof-read

A/N:Where do people get online friends? I want one so much! It must be so fun.

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

“Come on, Y/N! You’re going to make me late!”

You hear Danny shout from the living room. You let out a huff as you finally put your shoe on with a big struggle, walking out of your room and walking over to your brother. 

“I’m done!”You say, grinning cheekily at him.”Let’s go!” 

Danny rolls his eyes, but chuckles nonetheless. The two of you walk a little before arriving at your neighbor's door , Danny fixes himself up and looks at you.” Do you think I look good?”

“Well…..”You say, looking him up and down. His eyes widen and he looks like he’s seen a ghost. You let out a snort before looking ahead of you. “Just kidding. You look fine “Danny sighs and glares at you, knocking on the door.

Soon, the door opens revealing a woman around Danny’s age. You look up at her slightly as she smiles at Danny. “Hey, guys. Come in!” You have met Sam a couple of times so you knew her well enough. And you also knew that she had a sister and a roommate. Also friends who often come over. You never were a person to go out into the streets and make friends or socialize, so to say you were nervous was an understatement. Danny and you walk in and see about 5 more people sitting on the couch. You give them a small wave before turning to your brother.

“I still don’t get it. Why do I have to stay in a house full of strangers? Why can’t I stay home?” You ask, looking at him with pleading eyes.

“Maybe, because the last time I did that, the house was on fire by the time I got home!” He says, annoyed.

You scoff and cross your arms, rolling your eyes. “You’re the one  that left me with no money to order”

Danny ignores you and instead takes Sam’s hand leading her out, but not before shouting to you. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours! Don’t do anything stupid! “And with that, the door closed and you slowly turned around, seeing the 5 people staring at you.

After an awkward minute of staring at you, one  of them -a girl with short hair- stands up and walks over. “Hey! I’m Mindy. Nice to meet you!” She says, smiling.

You give her a small smile of your own and speak up.”Hi, it’s very nice to meet you too! I’m Y/N.”

She nods. “Hmm, I see. So you’re Danny’s sister right?”I nod  and she smiles. Then, the other 4 people get up and walk over to you, introducing themselves to you. And just as Chad was about to invite you to sit on the couch, you all hear a door opening and footsteps approaching. You furrow your eyebrows. The footsteps get louder and soon, a girl comes into the living room. And once she looks up from her phone, you immediately recognize her as Tara from your history class. The girl you have managed to fall head-over-hills for, is standing about 3 meters from you, staring back at you.

Tara too, has been looking at you in a way that she had never looked at anyone else ever since the year started. She’s been admiring you and asking about you from different people. And as she is standing before you, her heart flutters at your rosy cheeks from the heat in the room as it is now almost November.

As the others stare at you and Tara, confused at the tension, Chad-being the oblivious one in the group- springs into action. “Hey, Tara! This is Y/N! She is staying with us because she is Danny’s sister and, well as you know he went on his date with Sam and he doesn’t trust Y/N so, she is here!” 

Tara snaps out of it and walks closer. “Hey.”

Your cheeks heat up even more and you start fidgeting with the rings on your fingers. “Hi” 

Mindy soon smirks as she realizes what’s happening and she leans over to her girlfriend, whispering to her. “Babe, I fucking told you she was fruity.” Anika looks at her confused, but Mindy points at Tara’s red ears as she talks to you, having found a shared interest with you. And also the way she is cracking her knuckles every 30 seconds or rubbing her palms together. Anika smirks and nods. The boys and Quinn had sat down on the couch, watching a show about detectives and all that.

— —

After that night, both you and Tara grew braver and spent a lot more time together. Whether it’d be your and Danny’s apartment, Tara and Sam’s or even on campus, you are now often seen together.

At first, Danny was confused as to why you guys were spending so much time with one another all of a sudden, but also happy. Having known about your not so small crush on Tara. The same With sam.

It was on a Thursday night that you got an invitation to a Halloween party in OKB this Friday. Although hesitantly, you accept after asking around and finding out that Tara is coming too. So then, came the stress the next day about what you’re wearing. After a lot of thinking, you settle on a Tomb Raider/Lara Croft costume.

At night, you walk to OKB and as soon as you’re inside, the loud music fills your ears and the smell of booze and sweaty bodies fill your nose. Your head is already pounding but you pay no mind to it as you start walking amongst the people in order to find Tara and her friends. When you see them standing by the couch in the middle of the room, you wave at them, trying to get their attention. Anika notices you and waves back. As you slowly make your way over, Tara notices and turns around, cutting her conversation with Ethan off, and immediately notices your costume. Her mouth goes dry and a lump forms in her throat as she looks you up and down, her palms turning sweaty and her heart rate speeding up. Her eyes travel to your stomach as it’s covered in dust and god knows what to get the realistic look you’re going for. Your biceps are also slightly covered in dust. Your forehead is sweaty from the heat of the many people in the room.

But it’s not only her, you’re too, awe-struck as you slowly take in her pirate costume.  Your breath gets caught in your throat as you look down at the fishnets she is wearing with very short denim shorts. Then, your eyes meet hers and you feel your face heating up more and look away.

You clear your throat and miss the way Mindy looks at Anika with raised eyebrows.”So, uhm, hey guys. Looking good! “You say, trying to ease the tension. And it works, it seems, as the others greet you with loud ‘Hey’s’ and hugs.

Later that night, you’re standing next to a slightly intoxicated Tara. You have had too much to drink and are stumbling slightly as you lean on the wall behind her. She giggles.

“H-hey, T! Thar must be somethin’ wrong wit’ me eyes, I can’t loot them off ye.” You mumble out the cheesy pick-up line you searched up on the internet before going over, stumbling over your words.

Tara puts a hand over her mouth and lets out a laugh as she looks at you.”Oh my god! That was so bad!”

You frown and look down.”Aww, but I tried!” 

Her laughter dies down and her heart melts as she takes her middle and pointer fingers and puts them under your chin, lifting your head up and staring in your eyes.”Are you usually this cute when you’re drunk?” You just tilt your head in confusion, the music blaring in your ears so loud you didn’T understand a word she said. She smiles and shakes her head.

And this goes on all night, Tara and you flirting shamelessly as the others-expect Chad and Ethan who are trying to get Ethan a girl- stand around, confused.

The next morning, you wake up in your bed. A pounding headache is already forming as you sit up. You groan and get out of bed, walking towards the bedroom door and opening it, the smell of Danny’s usual pancakes hit you like a truck and you walk towards the kitchen as fast as you can and sit down on the bar chair by the kitchen counter, watching as Danny flips the last pancake before turning around with two plates in hand, sliding one over to you.

You smile. “Thanks” Then start digging in. Before he sits down, Danny walks over to the cabinet and takes out some pain killers, giving you a pill with a glass of water. You give him a thankful look before swallowing the bite of the pancake and taking the pill.

“Rough night, kiddo?” Danny asks, finally sitting down.

“Oh, yeah. I don’t remember anything.”You say, taking another bite and looking at your brother.

Danny chuckles. “You will eventually.” Then, he remembers”Oh, and my boss expects me earlier today so you’re buying groceries. “ You groan but nod nonetheless.

After finishing your breakfast, Danny was already gone and you got ready to go shopping. Now, you’re looking for your purse literally everywhere in the apartment when you remember.

Shit. I gave it to Mindy last night.

You’re thinking maybe she’s over at the Carpenter’s apartment. You go over to the kitchen counter, taking Danny’s spare key and going out. Soon you’re unlocking the door to Sam and Tara’s apartment, walking inside and immediately looking for Mindy when you notice her coat on the coat hanger.

As you step closer to the kitchen, you hear the sound of maybe a body colliding with the kitchen counter. You step into the kitchen and what you see is nothing like anything you expected. It’s Tara. Pushed up to the kitchen counter by Chad as he kisses her. You rush to walk out as tears sting your eyes, only letting them fall after you hear the sound of their door slamming shut.

Your hand flies up to your mouth as a sob echoes through the hallway, heavy tears blurring your vision as you hurry down the stairs.

But, you’ll never know the truth. The truth that Tara had pushed Chad away almost immediately. Staring at him in disbelief.

“What the fuck Chad?!” She shouts.

“I-I-I’m sorry. I-I thought-” Chad stammers and stutters, his eyes widening.

Tara shakes her head and storms away, her thoughts almost immediately on you. Your cute flirting last night. The light slight touches that you did in your drunken state last night. She sighs and sits down on her bed, staring at your contact, a longing feeling in her chest. Tara scoffs and turns her phone off, holding her head in her hands.

[hugsandchaos]

New idea for DP x Encanto!

How neat would it be if the Madrigals, or pretty much everyone, helped to teach Danny how to speak Spanish? I just think it’d be really neat to see everyone working together on it. Camilo 100% taught Danny to say something that was like a playful kind of rude and told him it was a compliment so he’d say it to someone. It backfired when Danny said it to him.

Also, the village is definitely a pretty tight-knit community. Not too soon after Casita fell, the entire town pulled up with shovels, hammers, nails, wood, all sorts of tools and such needed to rebuild Casita like “Hey, we’re all right here to help you out, don’t worry one bit!”. Even the kids helped out!

And something tells me that after that, the whole “everybody helping out” thing only grew stronger between everyone. So when Danny shows up in front of one of them once, suddenly the whole village knows about this strange boy in the forest who appears injured with red stained bandages around his left arm and a limp.

Another thing to add to this; Once some people heard the bit where he’s injured, some, if not all, of the fear of the fact that this kid is from outside their safe haven leaves their bodies. Honestly, I think Dolores might’ve been asleep or just in her room when he got hurt, and that’s why she didn’t hear him.

I like to think her room silences outside noise, or at least muffled it to the point where it’s distant background noise so she can relax.

Speaking of Dolores, after learning about her gift, Danny instantly realized that she knew he wasn’t normal. His heartbeat randomly slowed down or even stopped thanks to his ghost half, and she could hear the heartbeats of people close enough. So when he was sure he was alone, he started talking to “himself”, but he was really just making sure only Dolores could hear him so he could apologize.

Danny would say that there was an incident that affected him pretty wildly and one of those things was his heart, but it was a secret of upmost importance for his safety and the only reason she was hearing it was because he wanted to say sorry for scaring her. That was one of the few secrets Dolores kept.

[dragonridernoobie]

How would Clark Kent meeting Ghost Rider! reader who is at him city as a leader singer as she is that very famous and didn't hide that she is a meta human

Liked she is a very confident individual and very out going with a Kenu Reva's level of kindness and generosity

Ngl, I don't really know Ghost Rider. I've heard of him but never really know about him. But I tried my best! Also, sorry if this is a tad short. I have a lot of reqest atm and it's hard getting to them all woth one working hand.

Superman x MetaHumanReader

Clark kent was walking to work when he noticed a large number of people in front of a shop. It wasn't a popular shop either, just a normal coffee shop. So he decided to go take a look.

When he got closer, he heard people saying that someone named (Y/N) was so cool and that they were so strong. When he got close enough to look inside, he saw a person inside drinking some coffee while holding a table with small kids on top who where laughing and smiling.

He was surprised by this since he had never seen this person before. He decided to ask somome nearby which caused alot of people look at him surpised.

They asked if he was joking, and when he said he wasn't, they told him that the person inside there was (Y/N). A meta human singer who is always giving kids a chance to have fun with her by whatever they ask. Like now.

Clark was surprised and looked back at (Y/N) inside. He never met a meta human, so opened about them being a meta human. Well, non that arnt evil.

He decided to talk to (Y/N) personally. So he walked away and went into an alley so he could change into his Superman outfit. Once he did, he "acted" like he just arrived at the Cafe shop and everyone steps back amazed that the great superman was here.

They watch Superman enter and go up to (Y/N). (Y/N) looked at Superman and smiled. They lower the table where the kids were on and gently pushed them toward their parents who were waiting.

They turn to Superman, and Superman wished to speak to them privately, and (Y/N) agrees. Superman grabs (Y/N) and flies off with them. Landing ontop of a random building.

There, Superman starts to ask questions. Superman asked why they were doing this, and (Y/N) respawns with a simple "because I can and I can bring smiles to those kids who need it."

This made Superman surpised since he was expecting more of "because I can because IL get famous."

Superman warns them about their powerful strength, and (Y/N) said they know and never use their full strength. They were just at the coffee shop since they needed coffee, but some kids wanted to meet them, and they were wild.

Superman talks to them more and even started to get information about where they came from. (Y/N) happily explained where they were made since they had nothing to hide.

In the end, Superman brings (Y/N) back to the Cafe and bid goodbye. Before he could leave, (Y/N) wrote down their personal number and gave it to Superman. They told him to give them a call if they ever wanted to come to one of her shows.

Superman nods, smiles, and bids goodbye before flying away.

Soon, he looked up more about (Y/N) and saw they had done over 400 make a wish request and always made those kids happy. It seemed he might just have a friend.

[brandnewhuman]

It still hurts

☆starring☆

König aka dominik from now on bc me and @bloodlst said so

Tw: people being fucking trash, fatshaming(?) Like idk but like a very mean comment about weight, depictions of anxiety, panic attacks and overall big sad könig.

Summary: könig may be bullied a lot even now as an adult but at least he has you

A/n: this is so self indulgent and I took the liberty to project my own big fat sadness onto him CAUSE I AM TOO VERY SENSITIVE ABOUT MY APPEARANCE. Not as good as I wanted it to be but at least I've tried. Take the German bits with a grain of salt cause I used the Google translator IM SORRY.

Es ist so entmutigend: it's so discouraging

mein Schatz: my darling

König could see the subtle worried glances you would give him but he couldn't find it in himself to care about it, he just wanted to run away as far as possible and let it all out. He hated to feel like this, he hated even more how people always managed to make him feel so weak and stupid all the time even now that he was an adult. He knew they were just joking, he knew that but it didn't help his uneasy mind to find some of the remarks cruel and hurtful. He always felt stupid for getting offended over such things, so he would crack a self-deprecating joke now and then hoping they would just drop it if they saw he was laughing about it too, he always tried to make himself go as unnoticed and small as possible cause maybe if he didn't exists too much too loudly people won't bother him too much.

But they always end up doing it. If it wasn't about his height it was about what or how much he eaten, if it wasn't about him fumbling too much while speaking it was his accent, if it wasn't him getting scolded for being clumsy it was reminding him about how his stupid anxiety and his stupid appearance didn't allowed him to become what he wanted. There was always something to say or joke about him, and he saw them doing it to other people like ghost or soap. But he wasn't them, he wasn't the ever so stoic and cold Simon who didn't care anymore about anything or the easygoing and always ready to talk back John who didn't let anyone walk over him. He was just..him, at best he was könig the surprisingly efficient and dutiful soldier who always completed the mission no matter what, at worst he was just Dominik, feeling like the chubby kid again hiding in the bathroom at lunch time because they won't stop tormenting him.

While he just let everyone at the table using him as the bottom of the joke you were very much pissed with how your teammates were acting. You have clapped back at them multiple times before they started to use it to reinforce the already infinite jokes about könig, which just led you to silently death glaring everything while biting your tongue back from snapping at their stupid remarks. They couldn't possibly know how much it affected könig comments about his appearance, or if they knew they just didn't care cause as soon as the next sentence came out of their mouth you felt your heart sink to your stomach.

"König you gotta tell your grandma back at home to stop with the sweets, the older you get the harder it is to stay in shape mate" their laugh made you feel sick as they playfully slapped könig shoulder.

He could feel himself pulling on a mask of easiness and replying to a funny and careless reply but his mind was already out of the conversation. His mind was already sending waves of debilitating and painful hurt that spread all over his body making him suddenly too aware of every part of him and, most importantly, everything that was wrong with him. His already weak self-esteem was being drowned by the countless intrusive thoughts and harsh judgments of his own brain. From outside all you could see was him stiff as always, his hands now resting on his lap torturing themselves and his absent gaze looking forward.

At some point he excused himself to get some fresh air and he felt your steps behind him but once again couldn't really think about it now that his mind was going so fast yet so slow. It wasn't hard for you to find him anyways, you just had to follow the sound of his panicked deep breaths coming from not too far from the building.

And there he was indeed, pacing around with his hands tugging at his soft hair. He wasn't crying and anyone who didn't know him wouldn't think he's as upset as he really feels, but you do know him and that's why you can't find the right words. "Sweetheart are you okay? Do you…do you want to talk about it?" You cautiously took a few steps towards him, now your own hands fidgeting too, while looking at him closing his eyes, his face contorted in distress while trying to keep back the tears "I just…I'm fine. I just need a moment, can you- i…I need to be alone please" his accent slipped even more as he tried to keep his voice as steady as possible, failing miserably and rubbing his eyes with frustration. He was quite literally shaking now and the way his jaw clenched looked so painful you had to actually look away "I know you want to be alone but i-" you sighed defeated and just closed the distance, stopping in front of him to prevent him from pacing around any longer and softly taking the hands away from his face. "I just want to help.." your tone was as gentle as possible, mentally thanking the universe for allowing you to say it without your voice trembling from unshed tears.

His hands were still close to his face, balled into fists with his knuckles turning white and his face scrunching in an attempt to keep himself from actually breaking down. His bottom lip quivered ever so slightly as he tried to say something that never actually left his mouth before a single tear fell from down his cheek. He shook his head no as trying to get all those thoughts to go away, to make the tears go away and not feel weak like this. "Hey…hey hey hey it's okay, you can let it out. You hear me? You can let it out Dominik.." hearing you say his name with all that love, to say he was allowed to feel like this broke something inside him. He let go of that painful sob he was holding back with such difficulty and you almost sigh with relief seeing that he was ready to let it go.

He just let his hands fall down to his size while yours find their place on his cheeks, getting caught in the flow of tears spilling out of his big, sad glossy eyes. It wasn't the first time you saw him like this, he always bounced out of it pretty quickly but that didn't stop your heart from shattering at the sight of him looking so defeated and broken. You would never be able to understand how he always manages to get over such a state so quickly.

His forehead gently pressed against yours as he cried a river, your hands slowly guiding him into a hug while you whispered sweet nothings. "I-I'm sorry… I know it's really stupid to get…to get so upset, they were just joking but it's…Es ist so entmutigend" he sobbed in the crook of your neck, his voice raspy from crying as he gave up on trying to speak another word in English. His hands were slowly placed on your back, you could feel his long fingers pushing on your shoulder blades to bring you closer to him. You just kept rubbing his back trying to think about what you could possibly say to make him feel better "it's not stupid love, they were being rude. It's normal to be upset, you know that right? You know there's nothing wrong with you, right?" You moved back a little to look him in the eyes. The sentence, maybe even just your voice being so kind after hours of listening to harsh and offensive sounds made his troubled mind melt slowly. Somehow you always managed to get more in his head than any hurtful joke and he would never understand how you could do that, he just felt the need to believe everything you say. You held so much power over him and you never took advantage of it, maybe that's why it wasn't hard to just take everything you say as the truth.

It took him all the strength in the world to not keep avoiding your gaze and when he finally locked his eyes on you his breath hitched, his own gaze softening as he felt his heart speeding up not from pain but because of you. He never felt quite pretty in any sense, his view of himself was one of resignation to not being able to change what he saw. But every time you looked at him he could swear he felt the prettiest he has ever felt in his whole life, which made him wonder if you did it on purpose, if there was an intention full of love behind that adoring gaze. "I wish you could see yourself like i see you…if you could you would never have to worry about those jokes'' you softly whispered as you brushed back a strand of his soft hair, a sad smile grazing your face as he just looked at you "it will pass mein schatz…it hurts only in the moment" his voice was hoarse but still held that special kindness only reserved for you, and in a moment he had that shy smile again on his lips although a little tainted by the redness in his eyes and the traces of tears on his cheeks. His big hands slowly went up to hold your face, engulfing your cheeks with ease "you know it will always pass…I just need to let it out" he sighed and once again his forehead found its home on yours "I could never believe those things if you're looking at me the way you do my love…" you couldn't help but smile at how cheesy but inherently sweet he could be, always reassuring you even when you weren't the one who needed it. You stole a quick kiss before your courage could falter, just to see that pinkish blush coloured his nose, cheeks and ears as his eyes widened from surprise. You breathed out a laugh at how he still managed to get so flustered with these things as if it was always the first time, and it somewhat always felt like it. It always felt like every time you looked at him you both were simultaneously falling in love all over again, even now as you kissed his palm and moved to hug him again. He just couldn't but smirk to himself and pulled you as close as possible, feeling so much better and making you both slightly swing back and forth while already planning a well deserved nap with you once back inside the base.

[bisexualbard-writes]

Ella Enchanted AU where Kim has to do whatever he's told to do :)

OH SHIRLEY I LOVE YOU. Ella Enchanted MY BELOVED. So. I think Kim would Not Respond Well to being compelled to do whatever he's told. And by that I mean there are two Theerapanyakul recluse brothers in this story.

Kim hides away from everyone except his brothers. He's practically considered a ghost, most people who work in the compound think he's a ghost, the other half doesn't think he exists at all. Before his mother died, she told him not to tell anyone of his obedience affliction for fear it would be exploited.

It gets exploited anyway by Korn. His father commands him with a smile and a soft word and sends Kim on dangerous missions he's literally not allowed to refuse. Kim tries to hide from him, but then his father told him he wasn't allowed to avoid him. The best thing he can do is just try and avoid everyone else.

His brothers are the exception. They always try and make sure that they're asking him to do things, and if they accidentally give him a command Kim can yell at them and they'll change the command into a suggestion.

His only refuge is his music. He adopts the persona of WIK and releases his music on YouTube, but he never takes WIK beyond the four walls of his room. He can't even IMAGINE being a celebrity out in public. Fans scream the most ridiculous things, and even a single "wik, have my babies!" would ruin him. Thank goodness he doesn't have to obey the comments he sees written on his videos.

One day a new bodyguard starts, and Kim avoids him like the rest. But then the new bodyguard lures Tankhun out of the tower, and Kim is delighted for his brother and also kinda jealous and grumpy.

Then one day, a kid is allowed to just wander the compound and accidentally finds his way up to KIm's rooms. Kim doesn't have time to get his soundproof headphones or kick the kid out before he's flailing and saying, "hecking shit, I didn't know you lived here Wik, please be my guitar tutor!"

Which is a command, and Kim is really disgruntled by that, but he can't not obey.

So he tutors the kid, Chay, and he tries to keep it as short as possible, but then Chay tells him to stop and listen to his song. So Kim has to do that then. But then... Kim really shouldn't be spending time with this fan, but...but his music is lovely. And Kim isn't going to admit it anytime soon... but he might be lonely.

And Chay's not dumb, he realizes Kim's a shut in, or there's something clearly wrong with him. Sometimes Chay can't find him, and then when he reappears he's extra grouchy. Sometimes he's hurt. But he also seems happy to hang out with Chay. And when Chay suggests they go out into the world, Kim agrees! (because "please, P'Kim, let's go to the movies" is technically a command.)

But Kim is finding he doesn't mind being ordered around by Chay. He should probably avoid Chay, it's risky going out into the world, especially in public with other people and without someone who knows about his afflection. But oh no, it's the curse, he can't help but spend time with this cute boy.

But Korn takes notice that Kim has been distracted recently. He commands Kim to tell Chay he was just playing with him and that he never wants to see Chay again. Kim screams at his father, and is commanded to speak politely. He tries to attack Korn and is commanded to never let Korn come to harm. Kim tries to destroy his father's office but is commanded to stop throwing a tantrum and respect his father.

Kim has no choice but to obey.

He leaves Chay like he does in canon, walking away while Chay is on the ground crying.

He thinks that's it. Kim locks himself away again, not opening the door for the staff or his brothers or anyone. The only one who can get in his Korn, and that's because Kim is forced to pay him his respects. But then he gives Kim another command: A coup is happening soon. Find Chay, bring him as leverage.

Kim dreads this and resists as much as he can, but he's compelled to go. He finds Chay at hum bar. The only thing is, he also finds his uncle's men there. Part of brining Chay to his father means keeping Chay alive, right? So he fights off his uncle's men.

In this version Chay turns around and sees Kim fighting for him. After Kim wins, Chay throws himself into Kim's arms, which is a blessing and a curse because he gets to be close to Chay but also he's one step closer to bringing him to Korn. Kim draws out the conversation as long as he can.

Chay: You kept me safe? Kim: I wanted to. Chay: You broke my heart though Kim: I had no other choice.

But eventually the curse fights him and he slowly brings Chay back to the compound, trying to delay at every moment. Chay can tell something is wrong, Kim is physically fighting for something, but he doesn't understand what.

Kim brings Chay to Korn before Porsche and Kinn get there. His father has a different plan now, keep Chay locked up with his mother. It's leverage over both Porsche AND Kim.

Kim refuses to help. He's not going to let that happen, not under his watch. He's not allowed to resist though, and he feels like his body is going to tear itself apart. Chay holds him tight as Korn keeps giving orders and Kim screams and shakes and falls apart and builds himself anew. His determination and Chay's help break the curse. Finally, Kim rises, shakey on his feet but whole again. Korn: Don't hurt me Kim. You cannot hurt me. Kim: I do what I want

And then he kills Korn.

After that he and Chay have a lot to talk through, but it's much easier now that Kim's lips aren't magically sealed.

(send me a trope, maybe one you hate, and I'll attempt to kimchay it)

[kerokerogecko]

Killer x Reader

warnings: some curse words and lil tiny bit almost invisible bullying (not with the reader)

notes: hi, sorry it took me so long to finish this, life kind of got in the way there for a bit, but please rest assured I don't plan on dropping this fic without finishing it :)

♡

A Chance Encounter on a Rainy Day

Chapter Three

< previous chapter | next chapter >

After finishing your project with Killer that day, you walked home with a light skip on your step. The image of Heat and Killer play fighting while Wire silently laughed at them had made your day.

When you met Killer on your first day of school seeing him so carefree was the last thing you thought you would see. Somehow, the thought of seeing new sides of Killer made your heart flutter.

…

You woke up in a good mood the next day and was surprised when you saw your aunt making breakfast.

"You're up early, something wrong?" You asked, sitting down at the table, waiting for her. "Fell off the bed I guess" she answered with a shrug “Breakfast will be ready soon”

You waited patiently and were happy when your aunt placed the food on the table, you both chatted while you ate and soon you made your way to school.

…

Despite beginning your day in a great way, once you stepped into your classroom your easy going mood immediately changed. The chatting of students minutes before the class started was gone and there was something in the air, the many eyes of your classmates looking at you told you everything you needed to know. The familiar feeling of being judged and scrutinized by your classmates crept up your spine.

“Y/N, Y/N, Y/N!!!!” A body suddenly crashed into you from behind, snapping you out of your past memories. You turned around to see one of your kinder classmates hugging you and looking at you through her round eyes that were overflowing with tears, ruining her makeup. 

“Perona! Calm down! What's this all about?” You ask, turning around to face your friend and slightly pushing her away.

“Oh Y/N I was so worried about you!!!” The pink haired girl said loudly, tears still streaming across her face “Those guys are such big meanies!!! Not cute at all!!! How could they do that to you?! I knew pairing you up with Killer was a bad idea! Oh I'm so glad you're okay!!” She moved to hug you again but you held her hands, before trying your best to wipe her tears away.

“What are you talking about Perona? Who did what to me?” You gave her a somewhat angry look, but still tried to calm her down.

“The- Kid gang of course” she says in between sobs “Someone totally saw Killer and other two scary guys being mean to you yesterday. They said they even tried to mug you!”

You were speechless, while the ghost princess sobed in your arms trying to calm down you took a look around the room and immediately noticed how everyone moved their heads trying to avoid being caught staring. What the hell?...

“Right.” You said with an annoyed tone, with a stern expression you began, loudly enough for the whole class to hear “Listen. The person who told you this has no idea what they're talking about” Perona looked at you confused “They were never even rude to me, much less steal from me! Honestly…” you huff out the last part, so long good mood.

Looking around again, your scolding seemed to work for the most part. But a few curious eyes remained on you, did they want to know what really happened? Or will they try to speak ill of people they don't know again? Every second that passed only made you angrier and angrier, you were getting ready to give your class another ear full when you felt someone come closer from behind you. 

You turned to glare at the person who was approaching you only for your angry gaze to melt once you saw who it was.

“Killer-”

“Hey Y/N” your classmate greeted you shortly before looking at the rest of the class, his usual calm voice now stained with a threatening tone “What's going on here?” You follow his gaze and scoff to yourself as you see your classmates busying themselves with whatever they can, hoping to escape Killer’s piercing gaze. With a sigh, you look back at the blond “Is nothing…” he tilts his head, probably not buying your dismissal but letting it go anyway, he silently walks to his seat and lets out an “Alright” as he places his bag down.

The bell, thankfully, rings, signaling the beginning of class. Perona quickly apologizes and you make sure to calm her down, saying it's alright before you both go to your respective seats. With a tired sigh, you hope this is the last you'll hear of this.

…

That morning, for some miracle, Killer managed to arrive at school in time, managing to arrive almost late, instead of late. Something he quickly came to regret as he heard loud voices coming from his classroom. He was used to people talking shit behind his back, this was nothing new. What was new however was your angry voice rising above the accusations and mean words. 

He took a small peak at the classroom and cursed when his heart skipped a beat after his gaze settled on your angry face.

He didn't know what to think about you. He knew you were kind, probably caring too, as well as smart and not to mention… pretty. But could he trust you? Or would you turn against him if something happened?... he wanted to believe that wouldn't be the case.

He watched the anger melt away from your face after you looked at him, a smile hiding behind the mask he always wore.

...

You simmered down as the day went, while the conflict with your classmates passed, you were still left with a nasty mood and a light frown on your face, something that made your classmates stay away from you throughout the day. So, you had lunch alone, something you didn't mind, not really, the small moment of peace before the last classes allowed you to recharge a bit of your social battery.

You were halfway through your lunch when Killer showed up beside you with his own lunch at hand.

“Hey…” he said with an awkward tone “What happened earlier?”

“What you mean?” You said in between bites

He gave you a deadpan look before raising his eyebrows lightly, questioning your half-assed attempt at forgetfulness.

You sighed before answering “They were spreading those damn rumors again and I got pissed when they talked about you, Heat and Wire.”

“They were talking about us? Why?” 

You looked at him with a worried look, but decided to be honest. “They were saying you three tried to mug me yesterday after we were kicked out of the library. It pissed me off!” You said, stabbing the meat on your plate to let some of that left over anger go.

Feeling silly after that, you looked at Killer, only to find him looking right at you. His eyes were curved upwards, making the big smile he wore on his face obvious despite the mask he was wearing, making your face heat up and your previous small blush even worse.

“Don't tease me!”

“I didn't even say anything.” he said, holding back a laugh.

Desperate for a change of subject, you directed your attention to his unopened bento box.

“What are you having?”

“Tonkatsu and tamagoyaki” he proudly answered you while opening the lunchbox.

The meat and omelet were snugly placed on a bed of fluffy white rice with a bunch of different greens to make for a balanced meal.

Your eyes widened in awe. It was so pretty! Everything was neatly arranged and it gave a completely different aura from the ones you usually bought.

“That looks so good!” You said “Where did you buy it?”

Killer froze for a few seconds, taken back by your enthusiasm and reaction “...Uuum. I made it.” he said shyly, a bit of embarrassment in his previously confident tone.

“Really?” You said, still in awe. “That's so cool, where do you find the time?”

You've never seen Killer look so shy before, it was kind of adorable. “I… make them the night before and put them in a bento the next day. Is no big deal really.” He said looking away from you, trying to hide the pink embarrassment crawling up his face and failing once you could see his reddening ears.

Talking with Killer seems natural now, getting to know him little by little is nice and, in all honesty, makes your heart flutter a bit.

With both of you entertained by each other, neither seemed to notice the three large shapes approaching your table.

♡

Thanks to: @p0chy @fireflykaizoku @the-witch-of-one-piece @archangel1206 @henrioo @thegrandlinesimp @icy-spicy (if I tagged you in a previous chapter and didn't tagged you here is because I'm not sure if you're still interested in this fic and didn't want to be a bother. Sorry)

[juniperjellyfish]

Ninjago headcanons because my alarm goes off in two hours and I don’t think I’ll be sleeping anytime soon

Kai is very hot/cold resistant. If it’s super cold outside, you can watch steam rise from his body

Cole gives everyone nicknames. Kai is HairGel. Nya is WaterLily. Jay is ZapTrap/MotorMouth/HalfStack. Zane is Popsicle. Pixal is just Pix because she doesn’t really like nicknames and Cole respects that.

Lloyd calls everyone Buddy

Zane has the sass of my nine year old little sister who wears her baby crown proudly

Pixal sees herself as a lesser being than the other ninja, and has identity issues

Nya struggles with depression

Whenever Jay gets excited, sparks fly off of him, and there’s been times when he accidentally shocked Nya when he kissed her.

Speaking of Jay, he is covered in lightning scars

Cole can play the violin!

Kai is a homophobic bisexual

Master Wu feels guilty about making the ninja team in the first place because he sees how he has added so much hardship to their lives, he doesn’t realize that at the end of the day, the ninja love what they do

Except lloyd. If he could retire, he would

Lloyd has enhanced hearing, vision, smell, etc because of his Oni/dragon blood

Lloyd suffers from chronic migraines (I have these so he gets them too)

Jay used to be the tallest of the ninja, but now he’s the second shortest and thus the nickname “HalfStack

KAI HAS FRECKLES

Dareth does crack (long story)

Pixal has a smal crush on Nya, but she won’t say anything because of Jay

Jay reads fanfiction about himself

Wu doesn’t allow the ninja to have alcohol, but Kai has secret stash on the hydro bounty

Jay wants kids one day

The ninja got so sick of the electric chicken that they made Lightning chicken nuggets

Nadakhan is gay

Mr. F has a reputation if ya know what I mean

Cole plays DND with the Upply twice a month. Vania is the DM

Ultra Violet and Kilo are distant descendants of Oni and the people from the first realm

Akita thinks furries are cultural appropriation

Cole hates heights and hasn’t really gone mountain climbing since his fall

Skylor and Benthomaar are besties

Skylor had never seen a dog while living on Chen’s island, so when she saw one for the first time, she freaked out and thought it was a monster

Christofern is now Christotree

Jay and Nya are the only ones that can remember Skybound. Whenever they tell someone the story, they forget within the hour because of magic

Lloyd got his blonde hair because of genetics. No one cheated, no hair dye, so sun bleaching. Just basic genetics

Jay’s birth mom cheated on Cliff and got pregnant, so cliff walked out on her and she abandoned Jay because she couldn’t take care of him.

Kai’s brown hair is a recessive gene

Nya doesn’t like drinking water, because she can feel its energy traveling into her body and it grosses her out

Ronin has almost asked Misako out

Pixal likes butterflies

Lloyd loves to read

If pixal was a human, she would have vitiligo that somewhat resembles her purple markings

Cole and forest green eyes

Lloyd loves root beer

Nya’s powers have been permanently weaker since coming back from the sea and it gives her severe anger issues

Cole occasionally walks into walls and doors because he forgets he’s not a ghost

Cole can see ghosts

Cole is the group therapist

Kai realized he was bi when he saw Cole do the glow worm song

Every Friday, the group does a movie night

Jay loves his buff gf

Cole likes to paint

Jay likes to draw

Kai made everyone weapons for their birthday

If Kai is mad, he starts smoking. No- not like that- like smoke rises from his body

[toomanyplotbunnies-sendhelp]

Hello and welcome to Day 6 of "Let's Explore My Plot Bunnies"

Today, I wanna explore a Mo Dao Zu Shi fic idea that started because of another fic.

I started reading "Cultivation Chat Group - Scum Villain Edition" by shorimochi on AO3 (link here) a week ago. I have never heard of "Cultivation Chat Group" as a novel at all before this, so I checked the novel updates synopsis before I read the fic.

My brain, my wonderful but annoying brain, just went, "Ya know, this is the type of bullshit Wei Wuxian would get himself into in a Modern AU where Cultivation is some secret/legend" after reading the synopsis.

From there, it turned into a Modern AU + College AU + Cultivation is a secret that normal people don't know about AU + Wei Wuxian can see Ghosts AU + Reicarnation without memory (yet) (on Wei Wuxian's side) AU (Basically, everyone is an immortal in the chat group but Wei Wuxian, who is still a normal-ish human)

So, I present to you:

"Cultivation Chat Group - Wei Wuxian Edition" (title in working)

(Attempt at) Summary:

Wei Ying has always been a very... weird child. Despite being in the top students in his class, he is almost always absent-minded and not that interested in studying. Despite being a charming and sociable child, he always seems to keep himself back from forming closer bonds with his classmates. Despite being a seemingly well-adjusted child, many would see him talking and laughing at the air - which did sprout some spooky rumors about him.

Wei Ying, however, would say that he is quite content with his life - thank you very much. Sure, he sometimes sees things that many can't (and most times, he helps the little souls? spirits? pass on peacefully even if it did cause him troubles), but it's not that bad.

He is currently in his 1st year of university and aiming for a foreign language degree. He has friends (who have yet to be driven away by his "weird behavior," as others have told him). All in all, life is good.

And then, one day, he gets an invitation to a chat group. A chat group that he only intended to enter just to tell them that whoever sent the invitation got the wrong person. But he misses the timing... several times over.

Wei Ying gives up and decides that even if he is in this chat group, since they will realize soon they got the wrong person, he will just not interact at all.

(It's not like he wants to interact with them either. Especially since they seem to be into some role play thing with "cultivation", "cores"," and "corpses" (which wtf!?? Should he call the police?) and "spiritual weapons."

.... Yeah, no. He is definitely never interacting with these crazy people.)

"Let's just ignore this, and it will go away."

Final last words, Wei Ying.

Some small details:

WWX's name in the chat will be "Yiling Laozu," which is a silly nickname he uses on sites so that his friends don't recognize him. The name comes from "Yiling," which is the name of the street he lived on when he was young. "Laozu" is just something that WWX felt it was right to add - don't ask him why, he couldn't tell you.

WWX takes classes for 3 languages: Chinese, English, and Korean (he had to deal with spirits of tourists who didn't know English or Chinese and only Korean.. it was a headache and a half). WWX wants to learn as many languages as possible (at least to conversation level) so that he won't have to do miming or drawings to communicate with the spirits. (Just because you die in China, it doesn't mean you can fluently speak chinese in death - unfortunately)

He fully believes everyone in the chat group has some screws loose.

But he still ends up interacting with them (irl) because he found 4 children (more like 3 kids with manners and 1 with a short fuse) wandering around in the city while loudly talking about their "cultivation mission" or something. WWX doesn't want the kids to be attacked by some drunk bastard on the street because they are spewing bullshit so he decides to become their babysitter for a day. ("It's gonna be easy." - yeah about that)

What WWX is not aware of is that the "Junior Quartet" he met were not the first people from the chat group he met in real life. Some of those members attend his university and share classes with him.

The Reincarnation AU think I mentioned basically means "WWX has lived once before, which is why a lot of the cultivation stuff he reads in the chat he feel like he understands. In his previous life, WWX became something akin to an omen of death since he was always seen controlling resentful energy. He was never part of the Jiang Clan but grew up in Yiling and ended up staying at the Burial Grounds later on. He and LWJ crossed blades a lot in that life since they were on opposite sides when it came to the correct path of cultivation: LWJ said resentful energy is bad; WWX said resentful energy is natural and still energy and that if it wasn't a natural energy of the world, nature and heaven itself would revolt against it. In the end, WWX died from an ambush led by the other clans against him since he was seen as a heretic."

Just to be sure I mention it: in his past life WWX was never called "Yiling Laozu" so no one in the chat group knows who he is supposed to be (yet).

LWJ mourned WWX's death. Despite going down that path, WWX never killed without reason. LWJ met him a few times before he realized that he was using resentment in his cultivation, so LWJ saw a WWX who was incredibly kind, warm, and, surprisingly, childish. When he learned of his cultivation, LWJ was merely worried for his health.

This is why when LWJ sees Wei Ying again in the modern time, he is very much looking to help and protect Wei Ying this time around.

LWJ, seeing Wei Ying again at University: You are just as beautiful as the day I lost you.

WWX: What?

LWJ: What?

This is about all I have for this one right now. So, what do you guys think?

Honestly, this, for me, was fun to think about. The act of bringing cultivation into the modern world where technology reigns supreme is very funny since I can tell you right now Lan Qiren doesn't know how to operate a phone at all, and I feel like car rides make him nauseous.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my ramblings and also please check out both the fic that started all this and the novel if you haven't yet. (They are both good and soo funny).

Till next time,

- TooManyPlotBunnies-Send Help

[outofconcheol]

Collision (LMH x F!Reader) - Teaser

pairing: football player!Minho x RA!reader (afab) genres/au/rating: smut, fluff, some angst, college au, 18+ summary: The school year was a chance to start fresh - make new memories, meet new people, and most of all to leave the past behind. But Lee Minho is determined to make sure you never forget the one summer night you'd spent with him - no matter how hard he has to work for it.

warnings: brief, non-graphic smut, minor alcohol mention, brief swearing, more warnings to come with the final fic

word count: 1.3k for the teaser

a/n: roman empire this, roman empire that. what if I told you my roman empire was this tiktok edit of Super Bowl Minho? like i literally haven't gone a day without thinking about it since i saw it, so of course it's spiraled into a full fic. also totally not because i was also an RA who lived next to a pack of frat boys in college (not at all). this teaser is very unedited, and subject to change, but hopefully you'll enjoy the fic when it comes out! please let me know if you'd like to be tagged!

The common room was oddly quiet. Normally, you’d hear people shuffling around and chattering in the halls, their laughter echoing off the dull grey tiles. But right now, silence. With the dingy wood and fluorescent lighting, it felt like a ghost town. It wouldn’t have bothered you on any ordinary day. Except today was your first meeting with the new residents of your dorm as their RA. And it was five minutes to eight and they were nowhere to be found.

You honestly couldn’t understand why anyone hadn’t shown up yet. The bulletin board had been decked out in the colours of your school football team, the Stray Kids, and you’d even promised snacks! In fact, a lot of the people you’d run into in the halls had been excited to come - or maybe they just felt pressured into it by your overeagerness. Now, looking at the different spreads of cookies and brownies you’d baked with the help of your roommate Felix, your heart sinks. Speaking of Felix, where was he?

You’d been looking forward to the start of the school year all summer, so excited to finally embrace this job and your new responsibilities. But even more than that, you were so excited to make a handful of new friends heading into your senior year. Your entire college career had been consumed by studying and getting involved in a million different clubs, and although you hung out with Felix, and a few others, you felt like you’d been lacking in the experiences that made college… well college. And what better way to get access to college experiences than to be left to look after a rowdy group of students?

You hear footsteps thudding down the hallway, and heavy breathing, and all of a sudden, Felix’s freckled face comes into view. You shoot him an angry glare, before softening when you realize he’s not alone. Three other boys walk in after him.

“____, this is Jisung, Jeongin, and Seungmin. They’re down the hall from us.”

“Welcome you guys!” you set aside your anger, putting on your best smile for them. The three of them greet you happily, not even lasting five seconds before descending on the snacks, and you giggle at the way Jisung’s cheeks puff out as he stuffs chocolate chip cookies into his mouth. 

Soon enough, more people shuffle in, until the common room is filled to the brim with residents, and you let out a sigh of relief. Maybe they didn’t hate you after all. Before, long, everyone is settled in, and you waste no time, heart pattering as you launch into an explanation of the rules and expectations for the year.

As expected, a handful of people are nodding off, while others have their eyes glued to their phone. However, Seungmin, Jisung, and Jeongin are hanging off your every word attentively, smiling after every phrase, and despite it being corny, you can’t help but find them endearing. You’d have to make a mental note to visit their room later and get to know them.

While you continue on, not wanting to keep everyone too long, you notice a couple of guys sneak in the back, twenty minutes late, and immediately your smile drops. The blue jerseys tell you immediately that they’re the players from Stray Kids. A few heads turn when they walk in, and suddenly, there’s a hum in the air, the residents thrumming with excitement at the sighting of campus celebrities. Suddenly, all the attention is off you and on them.

Felix shoots you a look of apology, and you huff, watching the meeting go down in flames. You don’t know how many minutes pass before the crowd dies down, people spilling out one by one, until only the four players and Felix are left. 

Putting on your fakest sweet smile, you stomp up to them, ready to give them a piece of your mind, when you bump into a solid chest, strong arms wrapping around you to steady you.

“Whoa there, you good?” A deep voice booms out, and you look up to see Chan, the captain of the team, looking down at you with a smirk.

“I—,” you begin, nostrils flaring in anger, but you’re interrupted once again by Chan.

“Sorry for crashing your little party, practice ran late, you know how it is.”

His eyes are alight with a glimmer as he says it, taking you in.

“I’d appreciate if next time, you could let me know, so I can plan ahead,” you grit out through your teeth, watching another one of the guys, one with arm muscles so huge he could probably rip a tree in half, loom over the cookies you’d laid out.

“That’s Changbin,” Chan chuckles. “And over there is Hyunjin.”

You look to the door, where another tall, lanky player is leaned against the frame, a look of casual disinterest on his face. He gives you a nod, and you scoff under your breath, hoping he doesn’t hear you.

“And this is Minho, our other roommate.”

You freeze on the last introduction, finally taking in the final figure in the room. He’s just as paralyzed as you are, unable to move, lips parted in shock. Feeling like you’ve been struck by lightning, you feel your throat tighten, unable to look up. The ground beneath you feels like it’s about to give way, and you’re suddenly aware that Felix is no longer in the room, mentally cursing him out in your head for leaving you alone right now.

“Hey,” Minho finally manages to get a word out, and your eyes snap up to his, watching the way he shoots an easy smile in your direction.

You hate the way your heart reacts to that smile, because you’d promise yourself once already you’d never let it get to you again. All of a sudden, a distinct memory from the summer comes rushing back to you, one you’d tried so hard to bury in the back of your mind. 

Twinkling fairy lights, red solo cups on the table out back, and Usher blasting from the speakers. The one house party you’d snuck out to this summer with your best friend, Ryujin. The one where you’d met him.

Those same lips had smirked at you from across the room, dark and serious eyes inviting you to come over and take a chance. And you had. Lips crashing onto his, Minho’s kisses swallowing your moans. The music from the party gradually fading as he leads you upstairs, the soft click of the door locking behind you before he’s pushing you onto the bed. The cute outfit you’d chosen to wear that night discarded carelessly to the side, Minho’s hands tracing circles across your stomach, his lips latching desperately onto your neck, sucking blooms across your skin. Minho on his knees, your legs thrown over his shoulders, eyes completely blown with lust, looking like he wants to devour you. Watching the dim light hit the lean lines of his body as he strips, his soft groan when he pushes into you, digging your heels into his back.

Minho’s low voice when he tells you how pretty you sound, how good you are for him, before you’re exploding, falling apart at the seams. 

And then, regret. Slipping out before dawn could come around, watching Minho snooze peacefully, unaware that he’d wake up to an empty bed, unaware that thoughts of that night with him would continue to haunt you the entire summer. 

The boys’ boisterous laughter breaks you out of your daze, and you watch Chan and Changbin wave to you before grabbing a handful of snacks and slipping out the door. Hyunjin isn’t far behind, eyeing your shocked face with a curious expression.

Minho lingers for a moment, studying you with the same hypnotic gaze. You’re painfully aware that you haven’t been able to get a single word out, and his stoic face twists into a salacious grin. He trails after his roommates, but not before pausing and shooting you a wink.

“Well damn, this year just got a whole lot more exciting.”

a/n pt 2: i hope you’re as excited as I am! i don't really have an anticipated release date for this, but it's just something i'm working on for fun!

[john-kramers-left-sock]

Inktober Day 7: Drip

Pairing: John Kramer x Reader

SFW

(This is the edited version because I changed the direction of my story)

"Come on, there's no one here. Let's just take a quick look," your boyfriend of six months, Sam, encouraged you and your friends to step through the gap in the chain-link fence. The abandoned warehouse towers over your entire group, covering the moon and casting a dark shadow on the land around you.

"I don't know about this, guys. What if we get caught? There have to be cameras or something around the property. I mean, it's not like we're the first ones to try this," Emma, your best friend raised her concern to the group. It was mainly met with eye rolls and a couple of groans.

"You gotta be kidding me. It's just an old warehouse. Wait, are you scared that it's haunted or something?" The bad boy of the group, Eric, snickered slightly. He wrapped an arm around Emma, mocking a ghostly moan. "Woooo I'm the ghost of of a warehouse worker named Bob! I'm going to bore you to death by talking about my kids and my erectile disfunction!"

"Knock it off, Eric. It's fine for people to be freaked out with this kind of thing. I mean, it's pretty dark out," Ben gently pulled Eric away from Emma, his brows slightly furrowed in concern.

"It's Halloween night! What's better than going to a creepy, abandoned building? Who knows, we coulf find a body or something," Sam replied with a smirk. He looked at you, a grin on his freckled face. "Besides, (Y/n) is pretty good at this urban exploring stuff, right?"

"Well, I've only done it once before. It's not like I'm an expert," you awkwardly attempt to explain to your friends, rubbing the chills from your arms. "We should just be careful. If it seems dangerous, we'll just leave. Besides, I'm sure an old building like this has interesting history."

"Yeah yeah, we don't need a history lesson. Let's just get inside. It's gonna start raining soon," Eric pushed his way past you and Sam, crawling under the gap in the fence. One by one each person slipped through, making it to the imposing warehouse before them.

"Wait, there's no lock?" Emma said in a surprised tone as the group gathered in front of the large doors. It was clear that it had been chained up before, but not right now. "We should head back, someone might be in there."

"No chance. There's not a single car around and the front gate is still chained up. Maybe the last people who snuck in left it unlocked. Let's go," Sam pulled the door open without questioning, waiting for everyone to enter the warehouse.

As you enter, you catch the sign nailed to the outside wall. DO NOT ENTER is printed out on the metal shape, years of wear leaving it covered in rust. Your instincts tell you one thing, but your curiosity wins out in the end. You enter the warehouse, watching Sam shut the door behind you.

'Damn, it's dark in here. Stick close, guys," Ben pulled out his phone, turning on the flashlight and shining it across the room. It doesn't look very special, with worn furniture scattered across the room and rusted tools on the floor. The rafters creek on their own and a dripping sound can be heard in the distance. "I was expecting it to be more... Terrifying."

"Well, maybe this is just a front. Who knows, there might still be some stuff hidden around here. Let's look around," you suggest, looking over every detail. The group stays close together, checking each room. Most of it was empty, having been cleared out when the warehouse was shut down. As you continued, the dripping noise got louder and louder.

"Woah, look at this," Ben speaks up after shining his flashlight to the right. The light hits a large metal door. It was solid and heavy, almost like the entrance to a vault. Ben approached it first, pressing his ear to the metal. "I think I hear that dripping coming from in here."

"Now you're talking. Move, I'll get it open," Eric rolled up his sleeves and grabbed the handle. He pulled with all of his strength, expecting it to be locked. However, the door swings open, sending him to the ground with a thud.

"Are you ok?" Emma rushes to Eric's side, kneeling to check him over. Her lips purse in concern when she sees a scratch on his arm. "That looked like it hurt. Hold still, I have a bandaid."

While Emma tended to Eric, you, Sam, and Ben approached the large door. Glancing inside, the room was empty, but far cleaner than any of the place in the warehouse. You step inside, hearing the dripping coming from the ceiling. Liquid would form on the surface before dripping down to the floor below.

"That's weird, this is too dark to be water," you mumble to yourself as you step inside the room, holding out your hand. After catching a drop, you gaze down at the substance. It looks to be red, and a strong smell of iron hits your senses.

Suddenly, the metal door slams shut, locking behind you. You whirl around, panicking as you bang your fists on the door. "Guys?! This isn't funny! Let me out!" You yelled, trying to twist the handle. From the other side, you can hear small dull thuds and yelps, before an overwhelming silence hits. "Guys...?"

No one responds to the sound of your voice. You stand there in silence, thoughts racing. Just when you think that this is some messed up dream, you hear a voice from the corner of the room. A speaker sits on the ground, a raspy voice muttering through it.

"Hello (Y/n), I want to play a game."

[richincolor]

We have a ton of books on our calendar for July, so I thought it would be fun to highlight a few that caught my eye. Are any of these on your TBR list?

All the Yellow Suns by Malavika Kannan

A coming-of-age story about a queer Indian American girl exploring activism and identity through art, perfect for fans of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Sixteen-year-old Maya Krishnan is fiercely protective of her friends, immigrant community, and single mother, but she knows better than to rock the boat in her conservative Florida suburb. Her classmate Juneau Zale is the polar opposite: she’s a wealthy white heartbreaker who won’t think twice before capsizing that boat. When Juneau invites Maya to join the Pugilists—a secret society of artists, vandals, and mischief-makers who fight for justice at their school—Maya descends into the world of change-making and resistance. Soon, she and Juneau forge a friendship that inspires Maya to confront the challenges in her own life. But as their relationship grows romantic, painful, and twisted, Maya begins to suspect that there’s a whole different person beneath Juneau’s painted-on facade. Now Maya must learn to speak her truth in this mysterious, mixed-up world—even if it results in heartbreak.

What a Desi Girl Wants Sabina Khan

The romance of Becky Albertalli meets the nuanced family dynamics of Darius the Great is Not Okay in this YA novel from acclaimed author Sabina Khan. Mehar hasn't been back to India since she and her mother moved away when she was only four. Hasn't visited her father, her grandmother, her family, or the home where she grew up. Why would she? Her father made it clear that she's not his priority when he chose not to come to the US with them. But when her father announces his engagement to socialite Naz, Mehar reluctantly agrees to return for the wedding. Maybe she and her father can heal their broken relationship. And after all, her father is Indian royalty, and his home is a palace--the wedding is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime affair. While her father still doesn't make the time for her, Mehar barely cares once she meets Sufiya, her grandmother's assistant, and one of the most grounded, thoughtful, kind people she's ever met! Though they come from totally different worlds, their friendship slowly starts to blossom into something more . . . Mehar thinks. Meanwhile, Mehar's dislike for Naz and her social media influencer daughter, Aleena, deepens. She can tell that the two of them are just using her father for his money. Mehar's starting to think that putting a stop to this wedding might be the best thing for everyone involved. But what happens when telling her father the truth about Naz and Aleena means putting her relationship with Sufiya at risk . . .

Firebird by Sunmi HarperCollins

Caroline Kim is feeling the weight of sophomore year. When she starts tutoring infamous senior Kimberly Park-Ocampo--a charismatic lesbian, friend to rich kids and punks alike--Caroline is flustered . . . but intrigued Their friendship kindles and before they know it, the two are sneaking out for late-night drives, bonding beneath the stars over music, dreams, and a shared desire of getting away from it all. A connection begins to smolder . . . but will feelings of guilt and the mounting pressure of life outside of these adventures extinguish their spark before it catches fire? -- Cover image and summary via Goodreads

A Guide to the Dark by Meriam Metoui Henry Holt

You can check out of Room 9, but you can never leave. The Haunting of Hill House meets Nina LaCour in this paranormal mystery YA about the ghosts we carry with us. Something is building, simmering just out of reach. The room is watching. But Mira and Layla don't know this yet. When the two best friends are stranded on their spring break college tour road trip, they find themselves at the Wildwood Motel, located in the middle of nowhere, Indiana. Mira can't shake the feeling that there is something wrong and rotten about their room. Inside, she's haunted by nightmares of her dead brother. When she wakes up, he's still there. Layla doesn't see him. Or notice anything suspicious about Room 9. The place may be a little run down, but it has a certain charm she can’t wait to capture on camera. If Layla is being honest, she’s too preoccupied with confusing feelings for Mira to see much else. But when they learn eight people died in that same room, they realize there must be a connection between the deaths and the unexplainable things that keep happening inside it. They just have to find the connection before Mira becomes the ninth.

Rana Joon and the One and Only Now by Shideh Etaat

This lyrical coming-of-age novel for fans of Darius the Great Is Not Okay and On the Come Up, set in southern California in 1996, follows a teen who wants to honor her deceased friend’s legacy by entering a rap contest. Perfect Iranian girls are straight A students, always polite, and grow up to marry respectable Iranian boys. But it’s the San Fernando Valley in 1996, and Rana Joon is far from perfect—she smokes weed and loves Tupac, and she has a secret: she likes girls. As if that weren’t enough, her best friend, Louie—the one who knew her secret and encouraged her to live in the moment—died almost a year ago, and she’s still having trouble processing her grief. To honor him, Rana enters the rap battle he dreamed of competing in, even though she’s terrified of public speaking. But the clock is ticking. With the battle getting closer every day, she can’t decide whether to use one of Louie’s pieces or her own poetry, her family is coming apart, and she might even be falling in love. To get herself to the stage and fulfill her promise before her senior year ends, Rana will have to learn to speak her truth and live in the one and only now.

[somevillainfuckery]

With every fandom comes great trauma

Hi I'm dumb and I like to traumatize even the most normal perfect and happy characters cause I have no life- LES GO

Because my AU involves the Splits all running away as kids, heres the random bullshit on why:

Snorky got bullied a lot for several reasons. First of all, they dont speak, if I know anything about shitty schools [and trust me I do], Snorky got bullied on sight. Plus, for an elephant they aren't exactly- big. At least not in height.

Drooper got shit on my his own family. He's scrawny and his mane isn't all that extravagant. A family disappointment if you will. He talked shit behind their back and to their face so genuinely, he didn't care that much.

Fleegle wasn't bullied much. At school or at home. That's because he was basically invisible to everyone, not even his parents bothered with him [they were humans though so thats probably partially why]. After some time it stopped being sad and started getting more annoying than anything. Bingo was never the brightest. He still isn't. There wasn't ever a test he actually passed. Because of that, he was pushed and shoved around alot- and when that wasn't happening, the assholes around school usually bribed him into doing something stupid and dangerous. What happened after all this?? Well It started with Bingo and Snorky meeting- Snorky would serve as a tutor, and for anyone who didn't get weirded out by Snorkys honks, Bingo would attempt to translate it. He wasn't the best at it, but he understood it more than other people. Then Fleegle came into the picture. With basically being a ghost to everyone, Fleegle kept to himself- why even bother. Snorky and Bingo decided since they see literally nobody ever look in Fleegles general direction, they would be the first. So what went from a small conversation, soon turned into the three hanging out a lot. Plus, Fleegle knew about some random old treehouse in the woods, so they all just made it their own cool hang out spot. Then came Drooper. Drooper, sick of his parents shit, ran off after an argument with them and found the treehouse. He thought it was empty so decided to climb up and just sit there for a while- almost fell being immediately met with three other random kids. They helped him up the rest of the way and decided to let him stick around- sounded better than going home. Everyday, after school, they immediately went to the treehouse [occasionally having to throw things because a group of assholes from their school followed one of them there.].. One day Fleegle ran over to them with a couple of hats that he totally didn't steal from the school storage room, and decided that they could make a cool club! Sounded fun, and they all went along with it! And after some debate on a name, The Banana Splits were made. They played games, created stories, they all loved music, and everything they did was in the treehouse. [which they definitely decked out in a bunch of decorations eventually]. They planned a complete future, wanting to be stars, to be known as something great!! And since they were good at singing they decided the best way to go about it would be to make a band! Not once were they ever apart afterwards.. :)

[carmenized-onions]

as soon as i read the word ‘amish’ i physically recoiled because i just knew you would mess with my mental stability this chapter!

ignore how much of a shambles this is, i start off coherent but end up just making incomprehensible statements so don’t worry if you need help translating! i just wanted to make sure i gave you an idea of HOW FUCKING GOOD THIS WAS

i love the way you wrote this interaction, like i feel like it’s perfectly both average and extraordinary if that makes sense - which perfectly sets up what mikey and chips friendship was omg you are too good

of course he won’t let you have peace that’s literally a member of the berzatto family they haven’t known a moment of peace in their lives

MIKEYS ALWAYS SEEN YOU and fixer friend combo is insane don’t play with me

love me some divorce era richie angst

i’ve never heard the word jamoke before i had to google it is that so british of me

“you’re not gonna remember that” oh sweetie you will remember richie because i will make you remember

they are my fav comedic duo #guarddog vibes

a moment for the pork sandwich, and the yoink

i don’t want to go back to a time where mikey wasn’t there after reading this first section, like it’s too much

wait you giving me carmens pov of his worst friday ever is enough for me to slightly forgive you for mikey tb

random but i want to know what chips handwriting looks like - i know it’s a reader x carmy book but she’s basically an oc in my head now

no way chip is a youngest child wtf

no one gets being the guy like mikey and chip i fear

she keeps kid band aids in her wallet oh yes

YOU FUCKING TELL HIM carmy (im still mad at you btw)

her being mikeys sponsor i can’t i really cant do it

she quit being an emt for him

this is almost as painful as hearing him call her a failure

“im not a fucking patient chip” - oh you berzattos when you feel vulnerable

jazz hands away the awkwardness so real

never assume they are together ever ever

chip will not listen to people calling addicted junkies ever

the whimsy is gone

no.

get him syd go for the jugular

they’re multiplying DONT MAKE ME LAUGH NINE FAKS

eva’s richie she’s a little richie “insane uncle”

no … not the funeral … NOOOOO

she is a patoot!!!! she really is!!!!

performance anxiety… girl that’s your brother

it’s still michael’s office

richie the book nerd era

i took no notes after this as i was too upset!!! i’m sorry all i can say is it’s ur fault for being too good

IT’S THE FINAL ASK BEFORE WE UPLOAD NEXT CHAP BABY LETS FUCKING GO I DID IT I DID IT IN A NIGHT I’M GONNA BUY MYSELF LUNCH IN THE MORNING CAUSE I DIDN’T HAVE TIME TO MAKE ONE TONIGHT LMAO who wants to donate to my ko-fi kidding kidding kidding

I WAS SOOOO HOPING FOR THAT RECOIL. What I love about the “what are you amish” is that I don’t know if everyone remembered— But that story chip told was so specific and so immediately upon seeing amish which has only been used one other time, it IMMEDIATELY TRANSPORTS YOU AND I LOVE THAT. 

Thank you thank you thank you— Any thoughts are good thoughts and you’ve always sent the most wonderful analysis’ so to see you rendered kind of speechless really is a genuine tremendous honour so thank you I do appreciate i DO!

I absolutely wanted that like perfectly average yet extraordinary meeting— It’s like Tina and Mikey meeting to me— Or even honestly like, us as viewers meeting Mikey for the first time in his first scenes he actually speaks in— Those were genuinely so magical to me. It was like getting to meet the fucking wizard. Or the ghost that haunts us. Two things can be true. 

This family doesn’t know the WORD peace, they know the word piece. Like pieces? Is that what you ordered? Torn to pieces u say? FIXER FRIEENNDDDD!! I can’t believe Jamoke hadn’t made it across the pond until now. Happy to educate. Had to look up if Jamoke is used in chicago— A solid 5 articles came up so I think I’m good. 

Genuinely while writing everytime I had to switch I was like MOM DONT MAKE ME GO OVER THERE I HATE IT THERE!!! And then I’d get stuck in and have a lot of fun, and then I’d have to switch back, and the cycle would repeat. 

Ahhh Chip’s handwriting. What would it look like? I feel like it’s gotta be either really neat like wrote the most insane school notes in college with mildliners and everything or it’s literally fucking incoherent. Maybe both. When she’s got time it’s the first, when she doesn’t, it’s the second.

I WILL NOT TAKE YOUNGEST CHILD SLANDER ITS MY TURN ON THE XBOX I GET TO CHOOSE THE SIBLING DYNAMIC REPRESENTATION!!!! No one’s gonna ever get being the Guy like Chip and Mikey (and her child bandaids)

I should clarify also— Did Mikey’s OD act as the final nail in the coffin of quitting? A million times yes. Does Mikey think she abandoned the career for him? A million times yes. But she really WAS considering quitting already— SHE GETS TO MAKE THE CALL OF WHAT SHE BETS ON MIKEY YOU FUCKER !!!!

Berzattos when anyone tries to take care of them in any way: Oh so you think i’m fucking crazy? You think I need to be put in a ward? I’m going to prove you wrong by going ape shit right now.

Chip gets so defensive over Carmen sayin’ junkie ESPECIALLY because Mikey said it about himself!! To hear the brother that Mikey loved so much say that shit OH her blood was boiling. Jazz hands the pain away. Sydney get his ass. 

Faks are multiplying, Richie is multiplying with a little Eva— PEOPLE GET PERFORMANCE ANXIETY OVER A LOT OF THINGS— I GET PERFORMANCE ANXIETY WHEN I MAKE TUMBLR POSTS OKAY

I don’t honestly remember if I intentionally wrote it being ‘he goes back to Michael’s office’. I hope i did that intentionally because it’s fucking gutting. I also did forget they redid the office in S2— Which like. Why. Why are we spending any of the budget on anything not required. I dont. Gettit. Regardless, in CK, it’s absolutely the old shitty S1 office and i have NO intention of changing that. 

Thank you for these thoughts i would spend so much longer thanking you but we have to get thIS FUCKING CHAPTER OUT BECAUSE I WANT TO REREAD IT BEFORE BED THERES NO TIME I LOVE YOU LOVE YOU NEW CHAPTER IN LIKE 10 MINUTES OKAY PROBABLY LESS