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jiangchengrights · 4 years ago

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i wake to you at dawn

also available on ao3

“Alright, I get it,” Wei Ying mumbles to herself from where she lays, half of her face shoved into the pillow beneath her head, the other half just barely illuminated by the screen on her phone, “This dog is friends with that other dog now. Whoop de-fucking-do.”

Usually, these soft animal videos on Instagram don’t annoy her that much, even when they are about dogs, but she’s seen this specific post about fourteen times tonight. She can recite by memory the posts that come after it (a celebrity laying out in the sun, the tagline only the sunflower emoji, followed by one of Wen Qing, looking stern but fond as her lap is completely covered by both Wei Ying and Wen Ning, the tagline for that being ‘Reluctant jie’, and so on and so on) because she’s been frenetically refreshing all of her social media apps in order; she now knows the current lineup of instagram posts and tweets in her feed and has seen every godforsaken not-actually-that-interesting story of all of her friends (which isn’t fair to them, really, considering all of the important ones are here trapped in this same hotel as Wei Ying).

“Oh my god,” Jiang Cheng grumbles from the other side of the room where he lays on his bed (because of course he’s a part of her bridal party. Kind of. He’s walking her down the aisle tomorrow which, okay, makes him technically not a part of her party but she wasn’t about to let him skate free the night before her wedding)(or any of her bridal functions)(not that she needed to worry: he’d taken all planning rights away from her for her bridal shower and bachelorette party, he’d only tolerated the help of shijie) and throws his extra pillow at her, “If I have to hear that fucking dog video one more time, I swear to god, I’ll break your kneecaps. Do you hear me? I’ll have to drag you down the aisle tomorrow because you won’t be able to walk.”

“I thought you liked dogs, Shidi,” she replies, shifting ever-so-slightly so that she can squint at him past her phone.

“Wei Wuxian-”

“A-Cheng, A-Ying,” Shijie hums soothingly, from the other side of the room, “Please rest, for me. Your Shijie needs sleep too.”

“And if you don’t,” Wen Qing pipes up, “I know other ways to make you shut up.”

“Okay, okay,” Wei Ying whines, locking her phone with an audible click and resting it on the pillow next to her head, “I’ll try to sleep. For Shijie.”

Wei Ying does not sleep. She tries, she really does. Turns off all the lights and all the sounds and everything shiny that could keep her just engaged enough to stay awake. She tries to listen to the steadying breathes of her bridal party around her; Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang lay on the bed to her left, Shijie and Wen Qing to her right, Wen Ning passed out on the floor (he’d been invited, truly, to sleep in the empty spot next to her, only he’d fallen asleep long before everyone else and moving him to an actual bed proved to be very difficult when all the adults in the room were half (three fourths) wine drunk and giggling, so they’d just put a pillow under his head and wrapped him in their softest blankets and left it at that). She practices all the meditation tricks Lan Zhan had taught her; tries to calm her mind and her breathing and her heart.

It doesn’t work.

God, she wishes to herself, regardless of however illogical it may be, I wish Lan Zhan was in my bridal party.

With a sigh, she spends some time reflecting. She’s made so many bad decisions in her life, ones that have resulted in no less than three broken arms (sorry A-Cheng), many school detentions, almost getting expelled from university, a car accident that had left Shijie with seatbelt burns and a black eye from the airbag and Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, had left Lan Zhan, who’d been sitting prim and proper in the back seat, with scars that still lingered across the expanse of her back in the shape of all of Wei Ying’s nightmares. She’d chosen to hide away after that for three years in a different city with different hair and a different smile on her face and pretend like she didn’t feel a bone crushing loneliness in her entire being every time she thought of her Shijie, and didi, and her Lan Zhan who wasn’t really hers anymore, and that fact that in her self imposed exile she would never seen any of them again. That was, until Lan Zhan found her and dragged her back home and made her whole again.

Wei Ying was always whole, Lan Zhan would say, has said, I just helped Wei Ying find a way back. Will always bring Wei Ying back.

But with all that behind her and mostly wrapped up, this, tonight, right here, feels like her worst idea yet. She’d been so confident too! Had fought every naysayer, including Lan Zhan herself, with a cocky smile and a wave of her hand.

Brides shouldn't see each other the night before the wedding! She had laughed, and then laughed harder when Lan Zhan’s fingers had tightened where they dug into her hip, Besides, we’re not one of those couples! We can handle one night apart!

And she had been right, for the most part. Of course she missed Lan Zhan, but a night spent apart, having fun with her little family, all of them basking in the shared excitement of her impending nuptials. What she hadn’t anticipated was trying to sleep without Lan Zhan beside her, not when she’s this nervous, hadn’t thought about how deeply she would miss Lan Zhan’s warm weight behind her, her steadying arm firm around her waist, holding Wei Ying together like she did every night. She feels the absence with every shift of her hips that press backwards into nothing, every time she throws an arm out to rest on an empty pillow and the fact that there are no warm, soft, calves to ruthlessly shove her cold toes against.

By the time she picks up her phone again, everyone in the room is peacefully asleep and the clock on her bedside table blinks 2:36, proud and red and rude, if you ask Wei Ying. She gives up on sleep and starts mentally calculating exactly how much concealer she’ll need to cover the bags under her eyes. After all, she wants to look her absolute best for Lan Zhan. Lan Zhan who is so steady and warm and beautiful, Lan Zhan who could open her mouth wide and eat Wei Ying’s entire heart in one bite but doesn’t, instead offering her own heart up on a silver platter for Wei Ying.

Wei Ying opens their messages on her phone, reads through the last few, laughs at the pictures she’d sent earlier in the night of Nie Mingjue, eyes half lidded with alcohol, laying messy kisses to the side of Xichen-ge’s face, who seemed to be accepting them with grace and only slightly tinged red ears. She taps her fingers on the screen, starting a message, lan zhan i can’t slee-

She doubles back, erasing it, deciding she doesn’t need to be whiny the night before their wedding, when Lan Zhan is surely asleep anyways. Again she starts, good early morning, lan zhan! i can’t wait to see you in your-

Too much, that is utterly too much. i love you, she types, hesitates with her thumb over the send button. What if the sound of her phone wakes Lan Zhan up? What if then Lan Zhan can’t fall back asleep? What if Lan Zhan tosses and turns all night and ends up with a headache, overtired on their wedding day of all times? What if this texts absolutely ruins everythi-

Her phone sounds, the little swooping noise it makes when she receives a new message on the thread she’s already looking at. She looks down and finds a link from Lan Zhan to a video of baby bunnies playing together with a message that says, When we return from our honeymoon, I think it is time we get another bunny. Possibly two.

And well. Her decision is made for her really. If Lan Zhan is awake, laying in her own bed in a room on the other side of the hotel, fighting off insomniatic boredom with bunny videos, there’s no way Wei Ying can stay here and allow them both to suffer.

She finds herself glad that Wen Ning is on the floor, though it looks a tad uncomfortable, because she’s able to slip out of bed with ease, bare feet silent on the carpeted floor. The only thing she grabs is her phone, not even bothering to try to find her shoes in the colossal mess that is her dark bridal room, littered with take out and bottles and stripped off clothing. Her nose crinkles, amused, when she thinks of the look of reprove she’ll surely get from Lan Zhan when she realizes Wei Ying walked around barefoot.

She manages to zigzag her way to the door without stepping on anything or making any noise, a feat she will congratulate herself on later. The door opens slowly, making the barest hint of noise as yellow hotel-hallway light floods the entrance to the room. Wei Ying pumps her fist, gloating at being able to sneak out without a single one of her party-poopers (read: caring family) waking up to ruin it for her and make her climb back into her own bed.

That is, until she catches Nie Huaisang’s eyes, watching her from where he lays next to Jiang Cheng. The most dangerous opponent, really, because with one shove of his arm he’d have Jiang Cheng up and yelling, alarming the whole room before she’d even make it to the elevator. She’s not sure she knows the layout of the hotel well enough to make it safely inside Lan Zhan’s room before one of them caught her.

Silent, slow, she moves one finger up to place over her lips, keeping eye contact with Nie Huaisang the whole time. She pleads with him from across the room, imploring him to be cool. He blinks, once, twice, slow like a cat in the sun, and then closes his eyes a third time for good and raises one, slow, thumbs up to her.

Her sigh of relief is the last noise in the room before she shuts the door and power walks to the elevator at the end of the hallway. She is going to buy him the biggest fruit basket. She dances by herself once inside the elevator, suddenly feeling cold and exposed in her red silk sleep tank and shorts, goosebumps prickling her arms and thighs. If only Lan Zhan’s room wasn’t so stupidly far away.

Of course her room has to be far away! Jiang Cheng had yelled when Wei Ying whined about it, the second you start drinking all you want to do is sit in her lap! You’re lucky I’m letting her party stay in the same hotel as yours!

And well, he hadn’t been wrong, per say, she thinks to herself as she tiptoes off the elevator and down the maze-like hall to get to Lan Zhan’s room. She still didn’t appreciate the distance though. She quietly tap taps on the door with one hand, pressing send on a text with the other that reads, lan zhan let me in lan ZHAN!!!

The door opens before her hand has even fallen back to her side. And there is her Lan Zhan, in soft cloud print pajamas pants and a white t-shirt, hair drawn up into a neat bun, eyes tired but awake.

“Wei Ying,” she says, the smile in her voice all Wei Ying needs to know about her welcome. She slides closer, wrapping her arms around Lan Zhan’s neck, grinning when she feels the others arms sneak around her waist.

“Mmm, Lan Zhan,” she hums against Lan Zhan’s neck, moving up to her tiptoes so she can nuzzle her nose against the corner of Lan Zhan’s jaw, “I’m tired, let’s go to bed.”

“I thought I was not supposed to see the bride the night before the wedding,” Lan Zhan replies, but she’s already inching backwards into the room, dragging Wei Ying along with her.

“Who ever said that?” Wei Ying asks, knowing full well she was the one who said that, a smile on her face when she lets Lan Zhan drop her into bed.

“Besides,” she says, once Lan Zhan is settled beside her, reaching one hand up to pet the side of Lan Zhan’s face, thumb rubbing gentle circles across the expanse of Lan Zhan’s cheekbone, “Does it count if there’s two brides? I don’t think so, we cancel each other out, see? If anything we have to do the opposite, you know, we have to see each other extra hard tonight.”

“Hmm,” Lan Zhan hums, her lips pulling up ever so slightly on one side as she leans in to rest her forehead against Wei Ying’s, legs tangling together, one hand sliding underneath Wei Ying’s shirt to spread warm and wide and firm in the valley between her shoulder blades, “Is that so?”

“Yes, tonight we have to,” Wei Ying nods, finally allowing her eyes to close as she presses further into Lan Zhan’s embrace, sleep finally weighing on her shoulders. She lets her head drop down, lips brushing against Lan Zhan’s collarbone, breathing her words right into Lan Zhan’s chest, “And every night too. I’ll tack that on for free, Lan Zhan, every night.”

“Yes, Wei Ying,” Lan Zhan sighs against her hair and melts under Wei Ying’s nimble fingers, relaxed at once with the promise of forever, “Every night.”

“I love you,” Wei Ying whispers, one final thing, around a yawn and finally, finally settles for the night. She almost misses Lan Zhan’s whispered reply, I love you too.

But she doesn’t. She never wants to miss a single thing Lan Zhan has to say.

Coda:

For all of fifteen seconds, the world is warm and bright and everything good when Wei Ying wakes up. Toned legs tangle with her own and a soft hand pets her hair away from her face, gentle and comforting again and again. She herself is pressed messily against Lan Zhan’s chest, quite possibly, embarrassingly, drooling ever so slightly. She does not have time to register this, however, before the banging starts.

“Wei Wuxian, I know you’re in there!” comes a belt from the other side of the door, that has her shooting up in an awkward half sitting position, splayed on one-fourth on the bed and three-fourths in Lan Zhan’s lap. Lan Zhan’s hands act as a steadying force, one on her hip, the other on her back, as she blinks deliriously around the room.

Nie Mingjue seems to be in a similar position, probably blinking off a hangover and propelling up from his sleeping position, glaring around the room like he might find the source of their disturbance somewhere inside. Jin Zixuan, on the other hand, groans loud and long, pressing his pillow over his ears.

“I see you are up,” Lan Xichen smiles from the little table where he sits, drinking his cup of tea peacefully, unperturbed by the pounding on their door, “I hope you rested well.”

“I did, thank you Xichen-ge,” Wei Ying tries to laugh around the blush high in her cheeks, only now really registering the fact that Lan Zhan was also sharing a room and not, in fact, alone just waiting for Wei Ying to traipse her way in.

But when she looks down at the woman laying beside her, she sees none of her own embarrassment reflected there, only a fond smile and a soft hand reaching out to tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ears. Huh, she thinks, revising her earlier thoughts, maybe not alone but definitely waiting for me.

“Wei Wuxian!” comes again from outside the door, though this time it just has her laughing, pushing into Lan Zhan’s hands like a cat.

“When did you get here?” Nie Mingjue asks, rubbing at his eyes. But he stands and stumbles his way over to Xichen and the tea and doesn’t seem particularly hard pressed for an answer, so Wei Ying ignores it.

“Hi, we’re getting married today,” she says instead, meeting Lan Zhan’s smile with her own.

“Mn,” Lan Zhan hums while the banging on the door stops. Finally, Wei Ying sighs, leaning down to press her lips against Lan Zhan’s, chaste because they are still in front of Lan Zhan’s brother and her brother in law. She’s still there when the door pops open, revealing a quietly furious Wen Qing.

“Wei Wuxian,” she seethes, taking calculated steps closer, “You were supposed to stay in your bed.”

“I did!” Wei Ying says, smiling wide to prove her innocence, “Lan Zhan is my bed!”

“I am going to-” Jiang Cheng barges through, leaving no one to hold the door open; it swings heavily back straight towards Jiang Yanli.

Before Wei Ying can even shout a disgruntled hey! Jin Zixuan, who was already on his way to the door, catches it with his hand and leads Jiang Yanli inside with a gentle hand and a soft smile that makes Wei Ying want to puke.

But Yanli-jie smiles back, big and happy and unashamed, leaning up to press a kiss to his cheek, “Hello, husband.”

“Good morning, A-Li,” he says back, wistful and dopey as he leads her inside with a soft hand on the small of her back. Right in that moment, Wei Ying decides maybe she doesn’t hate him. For now.

“Sorry, Shijie,” Jiang Cheng responds, automatic when he looks back but Jiang Yanli waves him off with a forgiving smile.

“I know it wasn’t on purpose A-Cheng.”

The commotion leaves Wei Ying relaxed in a way she should have known better than to be, because all too soon she is being hoisted away from her warm spot on the bed and dragged out of the room.

“You promised, Wei Wuxian!” Wen Qing snaps, but Wei Ying can already hear the forgiveness in her voice, the amusement. Wei Ying lets herself be dragged along, barefoot again, back to her own room. And then because honestly she’s a little on the edge of too-excited and too-in love she shouts over her shoulder:

“I’ll see you at the end of the aisle, Wife!” and maintains vision of the room just long enough for Lan Zhan, who’d pushed herself into an upright position, turn red and drop back down into the bed with a gasp, like all of the air had been knocked out of her.

Wei Ying’s cackles are only rivaled by the quiet, but pleased chuckles from Lan Xichen.

“Do you have to be such an annoyingly sweet couple every single day?” Wen Qing huffs, letting go of her (fake, Wei Ying is pretty sure) anger entirely, sliding her arm up so they can lock elbows, walking arm and arm back to Wei Ying’s room.

Wei Ying thinks of Lan Zhan, warm around her and ever inviting, even if it was 2AM, even if Wei Ying looked like a ragamuffin, even if, even if, and smiles wide, cheesy, deliriously with all the right decisions she’s made in this life and says, “Yes.”

#wangxian #wei wuxian #wei ying #lan wangji #lan zhan #lan xichen #wen qing #wen ning #jiang cheng #jiang yanli #nie mingjue #nie huaisang #jin zixuan #my writing #my fics #jiangchengrights

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alias-b · 4 years ago

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sins of my youth. 002

Billy Hargrove x OC! Evie Fenny~ Also posted to my AO3

Summary: It was common knowledge that Billy Hargrove hated Hawkins. Hated Cherry Lane. Even loathed the strange girl next door. Evie Fenny wasn’t too fond of the chaotic Cali transfer either. An awful high school tradition sparks a chain of events that changes everything, ultimately bringing two frayed souls together.

A/N: Hello all~ Down the rabbit hole. TW: Teenagers can be the worst. Bullying. Fatphobia. Slut shaming. Cruel boys being cruel boys.

Chapter 2: A Million Dead Stars

All Evie had to do was wait patiently. For Heather to pop out back and for Billy to swoop in and make his bold move.

The goofy grin Heather walked back in with did not disappoint. Not at all.

“Hey, you.” Curls bounced when Evie cocked her head and Heather plopped down with a drink. They tapped red plastic cups.

“So, I just had an...amazing conversation.”

“Yeah...?" Evie sang softer. "Pray tell."

“Just...wow. Billy Hargrove. Him too, huh?”

“We knew it would happen. He was being way too cool around us at lunch when the guy has been nothing but shitty toward me since moving here. He gave me a ride home, it was obvious. And so…?”

“Where to start?” Heather put her arm up on the couch and took a long drink, laughing. Pretty in pink girl. “First he brought up Jane Austen. Said they were studying it in English which was a total bluff.”

“We’re not.” Evie confirmed. “He’s in my second period.”

"You gave up choir for that specific period with Bowers." Heather recalled more so to herself.

"No, I just," Evie scrambled, "I just didn't want to do choir anymore. The teacher played favorites. Got sick of it."

Another longer drink and she went on.

"So, continue..."

“He brought up Pride and Prejudice. Which, okay, but Emma is way better.”

“You’re wrong, but I still love you.” Evie curled up to face her friend. Heather laughed and took her hand, leaned her head on the couch to gather herself in a fit of giggles.

“He said Mr. Dancy.”

“No?” Evie died there. "And I hoped he might learn something."

“Yes!” Heather smacked at her. Music pumped behind them. Teens roaming and making a mess of the nice mansion. "I felt bad because...I snorted about it. In his face."

“You know, I’ll give Billy a point. Go on.”

“Museums. Fuck me gently with a chainsaw, I love you...but I’d soon jump into a pit of alligators before going to a museum for a date. Bowling or mini golf please.” Heather was chuckling. “Ballpark hot dogs are way better than cheeseburgers. Popcorn over cheese fries and a damn milkshake? Slushies or nothing. I’m lactose intolerant. He was trying to bore me to death or poison me, Eve.”

Evie broke to laugh again, barely able to speak.

“I know! That’s why I suggested all of that.”

“You bitch.” Heather was giggling still into her shoulder. Hands clasped. They broke to drink. “Oh! And campy action adventure movies or rom-coms only for Heather Holloway. I don’t get why you even go for horror, you wouldn’t hurt a fly and you squirm.”

“He bombed.” Evie covered her eyes, wiped a tear aside. “I almost pity him.”

“What’s funny is you like all that stuff. I’m not sure if he was faking it well, but he seemed kinda into most of it.”

“I’ve been running out of ideas when your followers scramble. Sue me, Heath.” Evie pushed up. “I definitely need another drink.”

“Fine, fine. Hey,” Heather laced their pinkies together, “teen boys are the worst. Thanks for bouncing another off me. Billy’s cute and all, but hell, I have too much on my plate for a boy right now.”

“Got that right.” Evie weaved between dancing crowds to the punch bowl. Passed some guy puking into a vase and another group cheering on an arm wrestling match. Spooned herself a full cup. Was mid gulp when she turned to a pair of scathing blue eyes. Oh, Billy.

“You fucking-”

“I’m going to stop you right there, Hargrove, and walk that a-way.” She gulped again and passed him.

“You think that shit’s funny?” Billy had a fistful of her jacket collar. Snarling like a mad dog. "She laughed at me."

The humiliation of it seemed to make Billy the angriest.

Evie felt that resonate bitterly because he sounded wounded and oblivious to what life threw her way.

“Funny? Only after the first ten boys.” She shrugged. “Now it’s just sad. I’m not stupid.”

“I’d say jerking me around is pretty stupid.” Billy was clearly smashed. Smelling of beer and weed. Eyes red to hell. “Maybe you’re so fucking single and miserable, you make sure your friend stays that way too, huh.”

Billy knew a nerve was plucked at that by the way she stilled to go colder. Brown eyes molten at him.

“You don’t know me. You’re a fucking asshole, you know that? I think we both know which one of us is miserable. Go show off for the school all you want, you don't fool everyone with those pretty blue eyes.” Evie shoved off him. Wondered if she caught that same frayed nerve.

"Hey, we got a problem here?" A Hawkins football player towered. Couple of his buddies from other schools that weren't Ridgemont made a barricade between Billy and Evie.

"I'm talking to Fenny, dickweed. You mind?" Billy spat. Evie huffed and rolled her eyes.

"You're talking to the girl who kicked Brock Tannen's ass. Show some respect." Another meathead joined in. Evie hid amusement because this was an odd change over the year.

"Guys, stand down, you really don't have to do this for me." It was...weird. Frankly, Billy looked like he was about to take on all of them.

The boy in front gave Billy's shoulder a comical brush and they went off like a herd of happy buffalo.

"The fuck, are you teen royalty somehow?" Hargrove made a face at her tired expression.

"No, just some lucky idol they keep around. I still get stepped on in the hallway and I pass everyone's love notes for them." Evie sipped. "I don't care that you like Heather, I care that you pretended to be something close to kind with me to get at her."

"Don't worry, I'm not interesting in being kind to you again." It came out nastier than he meant it too. Alcohol did that to his old man as well. Disgust welled and Billy had nowhere to put it so it flowed out. "No one here gives a shit about what you have to say, Fenny. Don't count on them trying either just because you're some freak they keep around for one sick story. They're all gonna laugh at you."

Evie blinked a few times. Saw Billy's shoulders sink while they stared into each other, both searching long and hard. Finished her drink in one swig and tossed the cup at his shoes.

“You fucking insecure asshole, check a mirror in five years and let me know if you like what you see. Not like you even do now, I bet, so enjoy denial. And stay away from me, Hargrove.” She went down the hallway beyond a spiral staircase and almost ran into a huge chest. As if this night couldn't get any worse.

Fuck.

Brock Tannen. Poster boy of rich asshole quarterback from their main rival school. Chestnut hair and chiseled good looks covered evil.

“Fat Fenny. Oh, sorry. Old habit. Evie. Missed you around these parts.” He nursed a can of beer and leaned into the wall. “Go psycho on anyone lately?”

“The year isn’t over.” She moved to pass him.

“Look.” He jolted in front of her. “Admittedly, I was a real shithead. I know that now. My folks even got someone for me to talk to. I'm working through all my shit. But, I was an ass to you.”

“We knew this.” Evie tried to go the other way, but his shoulder blocked her. She caught sight of his chain. A silver playboy bunny charm he loved to show off.

“Listen, the year is almost up. I want you to know I don’t hold it against you. You went through some shit at home too. Truce?” No response. A beat before his chin lifted. “You never went crying to your slut mother about me. My dad said she sucks the mailman off.”

"Don't say shit about my mother." Evie was on her toes. Hands clenching.

"Didn't cry to daddy either, oh...my bad. You can't." Brock's laughter rang sirens around her head. He was begging her to go off again. "Why didn't you tell mommy about me? We almost had fun."

“You didn’t get far with me if that’s what you mean, you think I’d give you my tears? Just embarrassed that you bat at fat chicks and get turned down. Eat shit, Tannen.” She got around him, staggered away.

“Maybe I’ll convince you. I just want to be friends. It’s going to be a new year soon.” His voice lingered along the hallways. "Just messing with you cause I like you is all." More chuckles followed.

Guys like Tannen secretly wanted her. Unobtainable and strange girls who didn’t conform to stupid high school stereotypes, it really pissed people off. Exotic, which was truly the worst word. Evie was easy to fetishize.

Billy got over Heather because Evie passed him moments later with his tongue down some Ridgemont girl’s throat.

The boy was all mouth and hands. Sucked face like a fucking giant squid attacking a ship at sea.

"Ick. Fucking Cthulhu." She got away from that, drank more to forget.

Heather pulled her friend into the dancing. Lights blasting all directions. Music pulsed. Couple more drinks and they were stumbling to Heather’s place. Sneaking up the stairs to fall into a queen sized bed.

“Can’t believe we didn’t wake my parents.” Heather rolled to her front, smudged the pillow with makeup. Evie was on her side snickering. “Hey, you’d tell me if something was wrong, right?”

“Nothing is wrong.” Brown eyes blinked. Heather nuzzled her pillow and breathed even, searching.

“You changed last year. After, what happened at home… I know you miss your dad.” Delicate fingertips ran over Evie's arm. Slipped away.

“He left.”

Evie remembered coming home from school. He was just gone. Clothes and all. Mona crying at the table. Pictures down. Like he never existed.

And her mother never really explained why. Just said they had problems and her dad wanted to be with someone else. He never called. Mona cried that day and hasn’t cried since. Evie couldn’t even remember the last thing she said to him.

People vanish. They have that power.

“After...what happened with Tannen. You got all distant with me. I just worry about you a lot.” Heather’s fingers curled into Evie’s sleeve. “Kids are cruel, I don’t understand why. Why they're so mean...”

“Some people don’t know where to put it when they hate themselves.”

“I don't think I hate myself. Sometimes I hate that myself isn't enough, you know? Enough to please my parents all the time and enough to help other people out."

"You're more than enough for me, Heather." Evie heard a sniffle.

"D-Do you hate yourself?” An airy tone slurred.

“I don’t know.” Evie sighed. “I’m fine, Heath, I’m happy. I dealt with it.”

“Happy or pretending to be?” Heather mused, pulling at her hair scrunchie to relieve brown locks. “I just don’t see you a lot, like you’re always with someone else. You never wanted to hang out over the summer.”

“I’m just busy with stuff, it’s nothing.” Evie peered at the walls plastered in their friendship. Felt every smiling version of herself in those old photographs wince at her lies. Stars exploding in total silence.

“You’re going to leave Hawkins and sing your songs for people on a stage. You’re going to be world famous and I’ll get to point and say, that’s my best friend.” Heather grinned. “Keep breaking that shell. I can help you.”

“I’ll try.” Evie scoffed. “You’re so drunk.”

“I am…” Heather hummed. “Just talk to me, okay? I want you to be so happy again. Like we used to be when we’d go to the park. Play on swing sets.”

“I won’t shut you out.” She replied as Heather settled, started to snore. “Goodnight, Heath.”

“M’night.”

** ** **

Billy was still raging into that night. Stumbled out of a bedroom pulling his tee back on, rooting around for his jacket. Most kids were starting to pass out on floors and couches.

“Hey, this belong to you?” Brock plucked up leather so Billy snatched it. “Good to see you, Hargrove. You know, they say Hawkins would have finished out the basketball season with the title if you stayed on the team.”

“They played favorites. Got sick of it.” Billy passed him, lightning a cigarette.

“Come outside, sit with the guys.” Brock cocked his head, square jaw setting when he smiled.

“Hey, B.” Tommy was stoned out of his mind. Looked at Billy like he was trying to find him in a haystack. Not with Carol so they must have had some fight.

Billy eyed the clear covered pool. Lights played up to touch his face before he plopped into a metal chair. Boys from Hawkins and other schools gathered around a glass table, drinking and shooting the shit. A joint was passed. Mostly rich, sporty types.

“Hargrove. Hear you’re the Hawkins Keg King. What the hell happened with Harrington?” Brock faked interest, hands clasped.

“Crashed and burned, man.” Tommy chortled, smacking Billy’s arm.

“Who?” Just play dumb.

“Don’t play coy, man, we all know you beat the shit out of him. Knocked the pretty boy down a few pegs.” Brock only grinned there. “So, you’re in the circle now.”

“Oooh, do I get a medal?” Billy flicked his smoke aside and swiped Tommy’s beer to drink.

“I like this guy, Hagan.”

“We can trust him.” Tommy winked, sitting back.

“You’re not going to hunt me for sport, are you?” Billy inhaled sharper, unworried. Laughter erupted.

“It’s funny you say that,” Brock took the floor, “because we are going to let you in on the deepest secret between the high schools. Something that brings all the boys together. Hawkins. Ridgemont. Hill Valley. Bates. We have this little tradition we do between Homecoming and Prom.”

“Skirt Safari.” Brock’s right hand man chuckled, sucking the joint down. Few boys echoed it with laughter.

“The hell is that?” Billy drank, shaking his hair out.

“Some of us guys throw this big dance party. Rent out a nice place in town, pour some good money into a pool.” Brock shrugged. “You take a girl and we vote.”

“Vote?” Billy puffed. More cruel smiles.

“Yeah, on which girl is the ugliest beast.” Hyena cackling followed. Billy just stared with his brow raised.

“Ah...What the fuck is this? Are you joking?”

“Open season, man.” Another boy chimed in.

“Walk with me, Hargrove, you have something special about you.” Brock got up, swiped the joint to finish it. Billy looked irritated and followed. Fresh air cleared his head. Behind them, teens chattered. “I think you’ll fit right in here. You live on Cherry Lane, right?”

“What’s it to you?” Billy chucked the beer aside.

“Next to that Fenny girl. Kinda cute in her new little outfits if you like something extra to grab onto.” Brock shrugged. Turned from Billy to eye the sky clearing up.

“Didn’t she beat your ass last year?” A sly grin crossed.

“Ah, you heard. Rumors have been exaggerated. Just like you and Harrington I’m sure. Getting booted from the team over a tiff.”

“I left on my own, fuck them.”

“Fenny had a thing for me and I said no because I was with someone, so she got emotional. Girls are like that. They get attached and upset when we don't give them what they need.” Brock stuffed his hands into his pockets. “She’s untouched, you know, so I heard. Flaunting her shit now and not letting us grab the goods. Asking for it man, but too afraid to follow through. I hate that teasing shit. They say the bookworms are wild in the sack. Bet you that musical girl can sing too.”

“You obsessed with her now and her little outfits?” That earned Billy a brief heated expression. The boy was more observant than he was given credit for.

“I just wanted to raise a challenge for you. Get Fenny to go to Skirt Safari as your date. New Years Eve, we’ll give you the address. Kiss her before the clock strikes twelve. She won’t earn you the win, but I’ll bet you money that you can’t get the famous ice queen to go.”

“Man, this is so fucking stupid.” Billy clearly didn’t fit with this crowd of uppity shits. Heels spun to go.

“Is three hundred dollars stupid?” Brock watched Billy skid. Blue eyes shifting to see him again. “Ah, I have your attention.”

“Cash?” Billy could use it. Three hundred would go far for him. Brock Tannen knew that immediately about him.

“I can show it to you if you like.” Brock displayed his teeth, almost glowing and sharp. “Show us that Hargrove charm and break the unbreakable. If you're the Keg King. Prove it. Let us see you in action.”

“I take her to the shitty party and you give me three hundred bucks?" Billy asked carefully, eyes darting. "She doesn't have to find out about this vote shit you guys do?”

“No, not a word from us. I'll even pay your end of the pool as a token. Just an innocent kiss before the ball drops. You don't have to screw her, unless she's your thing. Easy enough?” Brock held out his hand. Billy eyed the campy bunny chain around Tannen’s neck, huffed out his nose.

Took the offer with a hard expression.

“Deal.”

** ** **

Evie rubbed her eyes the next morning and said bye to Heather, raking fingers through curls as she was dropped off. Jacket pulled close while she fumbled for keys and Heather drove off.

Not even a second after, a blue Camaro was pulling up next door.

It was annoying how great Billy looked even with a hangover after a hard night of partying. He stunk of beer and smoke and his hair was ratted, but glowy as always. Evie groaned when he spotted her and got the key in the door.

“Hey, Evie.” Was that her name he just used? “Hey, wait up.” Boots clicked to hurry toward her house. A stronger hand yanked the front door closed and Billy held his ground there. "Wait a second, I'm trying to talk to you."

“Aren’t we both too hungover for this?” Already on the defensive. Makeup smeared around her eyes. She turned, applying some chapstick and sighed out. "What?"

“Look.” Billy pushed his hands into his back pockets, eyes flicking away and back. “It was a dick move. The whole Heather thing.”

“Yeah.” She waited for him to go on.

“And I’m…” Sorry? “It was shitty.” He craned down toward her. "The stuff I said, I was fucking wasted."

"And you're..." She tried to spell the word out with her eyes. Billy blinked innocently.

"An asshole."

Evie flattened.

"Yes, but not what I was...ah, look, it doesn't matter. I was drunk and I jabbed too. And I am...sorry." A shrug before she tried the door again.

Billy pulled it shut once more like this was a game, earning a sigh of irritation.

"I'm still talking at you. I was...I am...a shithead." He couldn't wrap his squid tongue around a fucking apology. Christ.

Evie looked expectantly, leaning in as if more should come.

Billy sucked at this so he decided to jump right in.

“I wanted to make it up to you. There’s this dance up in the city. Real bar. Real drinks. New Years Eve bash. Go with me.” It sounded like an order.

“Go with you?” She blinked in shock. Grew pointed. “Ah, no, Billy.” Evie got her front door open again and pushed by him. Wondered if he was used to rejection in any form. So, she pushed pride aside. “But, Heather thinks you’re cute okay. Just ask her. It’s fine.”

She got around the door and hid half behind it. Billy’s hand went flat to stop it from shutting.

“I don’t want to ask Heather, I’m asking you.” He shrugged with big eyes. Bet ladies fell for it. Evie searched him, beyond confused. She hated confusion. It was too much. “You’re single, it’s this or some lame ass high school party.”

He noted she opened her mouth and decided not to protest the single part. The hesitation was odd.

"I...I happen to like lame ass high school parties." She stammered out.

"Oh, sure." He winked.

"Y-Yeah, I just love them actually because kids our age are very stupid. It's better than public television."

"Right. Right." He sounded not convinced.

"And, you're Billy Hargrove so any girl will jump at the chance, just ask-"

“I’m asking you, Angel. Deal with it.” He lowered his tone and got closer. Flashed a darling smile then bit his lip. Slid that tongue over it. "Don't make me beg. You know I will."

“You...I… Look, I’m...flattered but, I can’t. I, uh, have a thing.” Her voice trailed off. “Sorry.” The door shut.

Billy gave this growl low in his throat.

“We have time, Fenny, I’m fine asking again.” His voice picked up. Silence. "All you gotta do is nod that pretty head of yours."

Billy knew she heard it. He turned and dropped the grin when he spotted Max there on the sidewalk, skateboard in hand. Watching.

"Are you asking Evie out?" She narrowed on him.

"Mind your fucking business, shitbird." Billy stepped off the porch. "She's going to a party with me."

"Sounded like she just said no to you."

Billy swerved to get angry. Remembered a nail bat crashing between his legs. Shut his mouth.

"Whatever." A puff.

"She's nice," Max trailed after him, "you should, you know...ask her to something if you... She's cool. Cooler than you."

He slowed, eyebrow raising.

"Doesn't matter."

"It's Saturday." Max explained, red hair catching the sunlight to flame up.

"I know what day it is, Max, leave me alone." Billy was going up toward their house.

"She probably said no because you stink so bad."

"What the fuck?" He wheeled around again, chest puffing.

Max smirked at him and Billy found himself matching it. Bold little shit.

"I know what I said. And it's Saturday, that means she'll probably be helping her mom at that salon later. You should shower and show up. Girls like spontaneous stuff, it's thoughtful and you suck at that."

Billy scrunched at her.

"Since when do you care about...?"

"About what?" She shuffled there on the grass. Peered at Neil's car in the driveway. "We're family now whether we like it or not. Which means I'm stuck looking out for you. Right, Billy?" Max dropped her skateboard, popping it up with one foot. "I like Evie and I don't want my brother being a jerk to her. Or anyone."

Billy scoffed, near amused.

"Right." He grumbled. Went up and paused to turn once more. "Max."

"Yeah?" She readied to ride off.

"Watch the board around my damn car, will you?" Billy heard her snort. "I got shit to do now, stay out of the way."

"Take a shower and show up. Try asking instead of telling. See what happens." Max rode off with a clatter of wheels on concrete. He only shook his head again. Smiled to himself without thinking before he went in.

Billy decided to take the advise on all accounts. She'd go with him.

Certainty crept the more he looked at himself in the mirror and applied his aftershave. Maybe he forced the feeling so often, it was second nature. Fuck, looking at his reflection was never this difficult. Evie's words rang harder this morning.

He didn't blame her for once.

All these false fronts Billy showed the world. Old photographs flashing like a million dead stars. That was all we ever saw of them. Somewhere else, Evie heard those same stars dying too. Decayed and twinkling too pretty even still. It sounded almost like a cruel fate.

A tongue swept over his lips before he tried something new. Eyes averting to speak quietly like someone might hear. Fingers twisting the silver ring about his middle finger.

"Sorry."

He resumed fixing his curls. Polished up that Hargrove charm until it shined bright.

What Evangeline Fenny didn't know couldn't possibly hurt her, Billy reasoned.

Right?

~~~~~~

Thanks for reading, chat with me if you have time! Tried to push another chp out quick. Imma pass out now XOXO TAGGED: @80sbxtch @nottherightseason @orxhidshavana

#billy hargrove #Billy hargrove x oc #Billy Hargrove imagine #billy hargrove fanfiction #billy hargrove fic #SOMY #writing #mine #Angel Fenny #billy x Angel

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nineteenseventeenbarnes · 4 years ago

Text

Cinderella

Pairing: CollegeAU! Bucky x reader Genre: fluff Word Count: 3084 Warnings: n/a

I stood in the middle of the school gym, sweat dripping down the back of my neck, I was dead tired. I can’t wait to get home and jump under the sheets of my big comfortable bed.

I snapped out of my trance as I heard the beat of the music blasting through the stereo and moved to the side, waiting for my cue before I hopped in and began dancing to the music alongside my cheer mates.

“Good job, girls!” Our head instructor yells, clapping her hands. “Take a break! Be back in 5. We’ll go through the routine a couple more times and we’re done for the day!”

The other girls cheer, some of them dropping themselves on the floor, others making their way out the gym to grab food or a breather. I need one too.

I walk over to the bleachers and grab my water bottle, chugging the entire content of the bottle down, savoring the feeling of the water passing through of dry and itchy throat.

“Hey! Save some for me!” Nat yells and grabs the bottle from my hand, drinking whatever was left in the bottle. I let out a big sigh and sit on the bleachers, massaging my aching legs.

“I just want this to end,” Nat groans, plopping beside me.

“You’re telling me,” I mumble in response.

“Wanna go grab a bite after practice?” she asks me, watching me remove my shoes and massaging the sole of my aching feet.

“Nah, I’m gonna head right home and sleep,” I reply. Nat rolls her eyes and grabs one of my shoes, examining it.

“Hey, give that back,” I demanded, scared of what she’d do.

Sometimes, Nat could be unpredictable. There was a time in high school where she pulled the fire alarm because she thought the whole week had been too ‘uneventful’ - her words. Needless to say, it was definitely eventful for her after the incident, I heard the principal’s office served instant coffee.

Nat looked at me, wiggled her eyebrows, and then threw my navy blue Nike Air shoe across the gym, landing right below the ring of one of the basketball courts.

I give her a look. She just stood up with an innocent look on her face and skipped away, knowing I was going to be annoyed. I rolled my eyes and made my way across the gym to grab my shoe.

Right before I could pick my shoe up, someone beats me to it and holds it out for me.

“Thank you!” I tell the stranger before I glance up and get a better look at him. He was around 6 to 6'2, wearing the university’s basketball jersey and had a towel hanging around his neck. He had dark brown locks that he pulled into a bun, a little stubble growing, and the most captivating set of ocean blue eyes ever.

“No problem, Cinderella.” He grins and walks away.

Hi, my name is Y/N L/N, a senior college student at Oregon State University. I’m a member of the university cheer group together with my best friend Nat, and we’re proud of that. We worked really hard to get where we are.

The next day, I get to the campus and see a bunch of colorful posters and streamers being hung up. I almost forgot graduation was around the corner, meaning the graduation ball was coming up.

On the way to my last class for the morning, I receive a text from Nat, who had decided to ditch classes today.

FROM: Nat Y/N/N, meet you in the mall at 5. See you! Xx

Oh right, I was going graduation ball shoe shopping with her this afternoon - I nearly forgot. I tucked my phone in my pocket and proceeded to class.

I impatiently tapped my foot on the tiled floors of the mall and checked my phone for the 100th time. It was nearly six, and Nat was nowhere to be found. I couldn’t reach her through her phone, nor could I find her in her favorite café down the street.

A couple of minutes later, I receive a text and nearly screamed out loud.

FROM: Nat Y/N, I LOVE YOU. SO MUCH. Can’t make it. :( Bruce’s taking me out to meet his parents. I’LL MAKE IT UP TO YOU, I SWEAR. xx

“Fucking hell,” I mumbled, closing the message. “Guess I’ll have to go pick something out myself.”

I begin to walk around the mall, looking through shop windows to see if any heels attracted me, and as I got on the escalator to get to the second floor, someone grabbed my wrist, startling me and making me lose footing.

I fell backward and crashed into someone’s chest as the escalator continued moving upwards.

“Whoa, easy there, Cinderella,” A familiar voice spoke, a hint of playfulness in his voice. I spun around and saw the boy who gave me back my shoe during practice the other day.

“It’s you,” I whisper, standing back up, still a bit shocked from the fall. He grins and gently pushes me, signaling me to get off the escalator as we got to the top.

“Yes, it’s me.”

“What are you doing here?” I ask him, trying to make small talk. It’s not that I wasn’t comfortable with him or anything; it’s just that we barely knew each other and he was talking to me as if we were buddies.

“Well, I was going to buy a tie for the ball next week, but then I saw you,” he tells me. I nod and turn to walk away, letting him go do his business until he grabs my wrist again.

“Yes?” I politely ask him.

“What are you doing here, Cinderella?” he asks me with a toothy grin.

“Shoe shopping for the graduation ball.”

“That’s pretty ironic,” his smile turning into a smirk.

“How so?” I ask him, trying to humor him and his small talk.

“You’re Cinderella,” he starts. “Buying shoes. For the grad ball.” He explains. I raise an eyebrow, obviously confused with where this ctonversation was going.

“Well, Cinderella, why not let Prince Charming come along?” he suggests, wiggling his eyebrows.

A small smile forms on my face, amused by what this boy was saying. Hell, I didn’t even know his name.

“Well, Prince Charming,” I play along. “Before I let you take me shoe shopping, may I know your name?”

“My name is James Barnes, but they all call me Bucky.”

“Well, hello, Bucky, the name’s Y/N L/N.”

“Well, Y/N, shall we start looking for your glass slippers?”

About an hour and a half later, Bucky plops himself on the sofa of the last shoe store in the mall.

“I swear, if there isn’t a pair you like in this goddamn shop, I might as well just get you to sneakers,” He grumbles, tired from following me around the 26 shoe stores in this mall. I chuckle and start looking through the shelves. "Dummy, you didn’t have to tag along,“ I told him the 10th time today.

"Dummy, I told you wanted to,” he responded, mocking me.

After walking pass every shelf in the store, with nothing catching my eye, I turned around and got ready to go, until I saw those pair of shoes in the corner of one of the shelves. It was a pair of gold stilettos, probably 5 or 6 inches.

“Hey, Cinderella, are you done? 'Cuz I’ m-” Bucky whines, walking over, but stops midway. “Those look hot.”

I roll my eyes at his comment and check the bottom for the size. It’s a size 38, perfect. As I bend down to try the pair of heels on, Bucky stops me.

“What?” I ask him.

“May I have the honors?” he asks in a fake British accent.

“Sure. I AM Cinderella after all,” I joke and give him the pair. He bends down and grabs the left heel and my left foot, gently slipping the heels on, followed by the right one.

“It’s perfect.” I squeal, walking around in them.

Bucky grins widely, probably relieved that I finally found a pair of heels.

It was the night of the ball and I was sitting at our table, going through some of the pictures I’ve taken with Nat earlier tonight. I was in this gorgeous gold gown and my matching heels from the other day.

Surprisingly, I hadn’t seen Bucky around all week. I never got to thank him for tagging along with me the other day. After paying for the shoes, we had a quick dinner and McDonald’s and parted ways.

“Boo,” a voice whispered into my ears, making me jump in my seat.

“Good Lord,” I breathe out, turning around to see Bucky with an amused look on his face. Speaking of the devil.

“Scared you, Cinderella?” he asked with a raised eyebrow, chuckling. I roll my eyes but smile a little.

He sits on the empty chair next to me. It was supposedly Nat’s seat, but she’s off somewhere playing or mingling.

“Hey, Bucky?”

“Yeah?” he replied, looking at me.

“Why do you keep calling me Cinderella? You know my real name,” I ask him, wanting to know what he’d say. He merely shrugs and smiles.

“Boys,” I mumble, earning a soft chuckle from the boy.

“And why are you here, Bucky?” I ask him, trying not to sound rude.

“I was bored. Plus, I missed you,” he answered, giving me an adorable crooked smile. I return his smile and get back to looking through my pictures, Bucky still beside me.

“Hey, Y/N,” he calls out.

“Yeah?” I tore my eyes away from my phone and to the boy beside me.

“I-”

“Y/N!” Nat calls out, walking back to our table from somewhere. She gives Bucky a questioning look, wondering why he was here.

“Umm… See you around,” Bucky mumbles as he stands up and quickly leaves the table.

“What was that about?” Nat asked.

“Don’t know…"

It was almost midnight when the ball ended. The students were leaving the area, but Nat and I stayed, waiting for our other friends.

When we were finally ready to go, Wanda, one of our other friends, suggested we should hit the club down the road.

"We’re going drinking?” I asked, not exactly surprised, but just making sure.

“Yeah!” Wanda responds, hopping up and down in excitement. Clubbing was her forte. So we left the area and walked towards Club Hydra. 80% of the seniors should be there right now, partying.

“WOOOO! YEAH, BABY!” Tony, a guy from one of our classes, screams in our ears as we walked in the club, music blasting through the speakers. Many people sat by the bar, others in the booths while others danced on the dance floor.

“Let’s go dance!” Nat shouts over the music, pulling me along. I laugh and follow her to the dance floor, jumping around, doing really stupid moves like the sprinkler and bunny hops.

Half an hour later, I got tired and told Nat I was going to grab a drink and sit down. She shooed me away and continued dancing with our other friends.

I made my way towards the bar and ordered a margarita, making myself comfortable on one of the bar stools.

“Hey, Cinderelly,” a familiar voice called out, I turned around to see Bucky standing there, his signature crooked smile etched on his face. His bow tie and the first two buttons of his dress shirt were undone.

“Hey, Prince Charming,” I played along, laughing as Bucky struggled to get on the high bar stool despite his height.

“Here’s your drink,” the bartender says, pushing the blue drink towards me. I thank him and take a sip, feeling the alcohol burning down my throat.

“My, oh my,” Bucky talks in his not so convincing British accent, his words slurring a bit. “Her majesty drinking alcohol?”

“Bucky, are you drunk?” I asked, amused at how similar his attitude when he’s drunk and when he’s sober are so similar.

“Of course I’m not, Y/N!” he replies, taking a sip from the glass he was holding. Probably whiskey.

“Oh yeah?” I chuckle. “How many fingers am I holding?” I ask him, holding all five of my fingers up.

“I’m tipsy, not blind,” he reminds me, patting my head.

“You just admitted you’re drunk,” I tell him, shaking my head.

“No, no, no,” he shakes his head. “I’m tipsy. There’s a fine difference between the two, Cinderella.”

“Sure, sure,” I answer, not wanting to start an argument with a drunk – I mean – tipsy person.

“There really is a difference, though!” he begins, his words becoming more and more slurred as he takes another sip of his whiskey. “If I were tipsy, I would tell you you looked beautiful tonight, if I were drunk, I’d tell the same thing and tell you how much I regret not asking to for a dance.”

“E-Excuse me?” I shrieked, choking on my margarita, surprised at the sudden confession. I feel my face heating up, will he notice?

“Aww, look, she’s blushing!” he chuckles slowly, his head was probably spinning. Yeah, he did.

“I said you looked beautiful tonight,” he repeats, smiling.

“Umm,” I mumble, not sure how to react. “Thank you…?"

Wow, smooth, Y/N. Someone just drunkenly told me I was beautiful and my response sounded half-assed.

"BUCK. PAL, THERE YOU ARE!” someone shouts over the music, approaching us.

“STEVE!” Bucky shouts back, reminding me of a puppy whose owner just got home after a long day. He stands up from his seat, almost tumbling in the process.

“Whoa,” Steve, as Bucky called him, quickly catches his friend. “Slow down, pal.”

“Hey, Steve,” Bucky quickly speaks. “I was just telling Y/N how beautiful she was tonight.”

I mentally slapped myself as I felt my face growing even hotter. Steve shook his head and chuckled.

"I’m sorry about all of this, Y/N,” Steve apologizes, throwing an arm over Bucky’s shoulder, holding him up. “I’m Steve Rogers.”

“No harm done. I’m Y/N L/N,” I smile as Bucky’s piercing eyes continue to stare at me.

“We should get going, Buck,” Steve mumbles, trying to pull Bucky away.

“Whaaaat? But I was talking to Y/N,” he whines, his words continued to slur. Steve chuckled and kept dragging Bucky away as he protested.

“We’ll see you around, Y/N. It was nice to finally meet you,” Steve grins.

“Bye, Bucky, bye, Steve,” I waved as they left. I continued thinking about Bucky’s words. Was he being serious? I tried not to think about it, but his words continued to echo in my head.

Here I am, six months later, still kind of fresh from college, but definitely enjoying my 8-8 job - sarcasm intended.

After the party, in the two months before graduation came around, I never saw Bucky around campus or around town anymore. Yeah, sure, I searched him up on social media, never having the guts to add or follow him, and I saw Steve around campus, we occasionally said hi, but never had we ever brought Bucky up. I didn’t bother asking anyone either. It felt like that night, the night at the club, it was supposed to be something between us.

For two months, I wondered and wondered about where he had gone. It’s not my fault, after his remarks at the club, I wouldn’t be a girl if I didn’t want to confront him and ask for answers. Did he mean it? What he said? That was the question running through my mind, a question I believed never would be answered.

But of course, like every question we have, we find the answers eventually. I found the answer to my question on graduation day as all the students were called one by one.

It was a windy, but sunny afternoon. Everyone was gathered in the university auditorium and our school director began the ceremony. He was reciting his long boring speech about how a chapter in our life was ending and we were starting a new one. Not interested, I decided to glance around the auditorium, trying to get time to pass.

On the other side of where I sat, I saw Steve, who met my eyes. He smiled and waved, mouthing congratulations. I smiled back and congratulated him back. I glanced around his area, wondering if Bucky was around.

I’m not one to deny that I’ve taken a liking to him. A normal person wouldn’t just come up and call you Cinderella and almost treat you like one.

But then again, Bucky wasn’t a normal person.

An hour later, after all the speeches and presentations, they finally started calling our names one by one for our diplomas.

“James Buchanan Barnes,” the school president called out. I looked around, hoping that maybe that certain a particular 6 foot, brunette’s head would stand up, but to my dismay, no one stood up.

“Ah, yes,” the president spoke up, clearing his throat after. “Barnes moved to another state a few months ago.”

Well, you can imagine my reaction by now. Wide eyes, mouth agape. But, at least my question was answered.

I sat at a café across the university. The area just brought back so many memories and even after graduation, I didn’t want to move away, not especially since Nat was staying.

I was going through the notes I had written during my meeting with my client earlier and occasionally sipped on my peppermint latte, scanning through my notes.

A couple of minutes later, I receive a text, my phone lighting up, the picture of Nat and me at the ball was set as my wallpaper. I unlocked my phone and saw that I had received a text from Nat asking me where I was.

The picture brought my mind back to the graduation ball, back to Bucky. To the first time I met him, thanks to Nat, to the time at the mall, the stupid jokes he made, his whining - I shook my head, quickly replying to Nat’s text.

No, I shook my head. He was just a little crush, his crooked smile and steel blue eyes didn’t affect me. Brain, just shut up.

I went back to reviewing, blocking out the chatters in the café, when suddenly, the seat across me was pulled back.

I looked up and my eyes widened. I couldn’t get anything out of my mouth.

“Mind if I sit here, Cinderella?”

#bucky x reader #bucky barnes fanfic #marvel fanfic #avengers fanfic #college au #bucky x oc #james buchanan barnes fanfic

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jimins-melaninfilter · 4 years ago

Text

🔥 PINK PANTHER 🔥

** SMUT WARNING **

After a long busy day at work Y/N just finished up the last bit of paper work for her annoying boss Mr.Scott .

Y/N : Ughh finally now he can get off my back about this damn work .

Y/N gets ups from her desk with a pile of papers and heads to her boss office

Y/N : *knocks on Mr.Scott office door * Hello Mr.Scott I’m finally done with everything you asked me to

𝗱𝗼

here you go .

Mr.Scott : Ahh yes thank you Y/N you know you’re my best worker in the office you’re really amazing you worked really hard go enjoy your weekend

Y/N : Thank you Mr.Scott I really appreciate that I will you enjoy yours as well

Y/n turns around and rolls her eyes while walking out Mr.Scotts office closing the door

Y/N : * starts mimicking Mr.Scott * Blah Blah anyways * Y/N cell phone starts ringing it’s her bestfriend Michelle *

Y/N : Hello

Michelle : Hey girl you off yet or you still being a lap dog for Mr.

𝗪

cott

Y/N : * starts laughing * I’m getting my stuff and leaving now and it’s Mr.Scott your crazy ass

Michelle : Girl you tryna

𝗴𝗼

hang and do something tonight

Y/N : And whats that ?

Michelle : GO TO THE PINK PANTHER BITCH DUH !!

Y/N : ahh I’m to tired I’ll see plus I don’t have nothing to wear

Michelle : Girl you say that boring ass excuse every weekend I’ll be to your house in about 15 mins so hurry up take a shower we are going to find you something to wear !

•

Clicks the phone hangs up *

Y/N : Hello ? Hello ? Ughh Crazy bitch Fine !!

•

Time skip to Y/Ns House *

Y/N : ughh my nice comfortable bed I should really get my ass up and get in the shower because 15 minutes for Michelle means 5 for me the girl drive like a bat out of hell

•

shower time *

Y/N : now I feel a lot better

•

knocking at door *

Y/N : nobody but Michelle * walking towards front door * Comingg

Michelle : Why you not dressed yet girl did you lay down first

Y/N : yes you know me to well , just sit right here and I’ll be ready in 5 mins

Michelle: yea sure grandma Daisy

Y/N : I am not a grandma shut up

Michelle : Hm whatever anyways whatchu got to eat in here * checks cabinets and fridge * just absolutely nothing that’s great girl you need to be in jail cause you aint got shit to eat what the hell you be doing ? starving your damn self ?

Y/N : No I don’t starve myself dumb ass I cook when I feel like it

Michelle: Ugh girl anyway

Y/N : I’m ready let’s go

Michelle: Finally lets go Miss Daisy so we can hurry up and find you something sexy

•

Time skip to the mall •

Michelle: oohh lets go in Agaci they got some cute ass clothes

Y/N : yess thats my favorite store lets hurry so we can go to the food court

Michelle: yea I bet you are hungry cause you aint got shit to eat in that house but crumbs and dust

Y/N : Girl shut up, I do got food it’s just i haven’t cooked it yet , but you wouldn’t know about that since all you do is burn ramen

Michelle: get out my business

•

both girls started laughing •

Michelle : Ouuu girl that rose gold dress is sexy as fuck hold it so you can try it on and this and this and this

Y/N : ok girl damn

Michelle : Oops Sorry

•

both girls start laughing •

Y/N : * stomach starts growling * Uhh * giggles * let’s just try these 5 dresses on

Michelle : Excuse me maam don’t be so rude umm , excuse me do you have any dressing rooms open ?

Store clerk: yes right this way

Y/N : thank you

Michelle : here call me if you need help

Y/N : Will do

•

Starts trying on clothes *

Y/N : ouu this fits nice but I really don’t like it

•

Next dress •

Y/N : Nope hate it

•

next dress •

Y/N : now this is the dress this is damn perfect ! And I have the perfect heels for it

•

Y/N picks the short skintight spaghetti straps that crosses in the back draw string on one side Rose Gold Dress

•

Y/N : Now let’s take this off so I won’t mess it up

•

Gets dress and exit dressing room •

Michelle : took you long enough and I’m shocked you didn’t call me

Y/N : I was fine anyway let’s go check out I’m starving

Michelle: Yea lets do that

•

leaving the store •

Y/N : So what are you wearing at the Pink Panther

Michelle: ouu girl I got this nice ass red dress with some cute ass black heels and my makeup is going to be hitting its going to be a sight for the boys

Y/N : ayeeee yess maam we definitely gonna bring life to the party I can’t wait can you do my makeup too ?

Michelle: you know I gotchu girl cause you need a man in your life all you do is work and go home do you even talk to niggas , no sneaky links , like damn you need to get back out there bestfriend you need to get them cheeks clapped for god sakes not a fuck buddy in sight just you and your damn cat

Y/N : Uhh you in my business , dont do that * starts laughing * anyways when I find someone again then I will right now I’m just chilling and leave my damn cat alone

Michelle: girl all I’m just saying is that that just chilling mess waits for nobody next thing you know yo ass just chilling in your damn rocking chair patting that damn cat and watching Golden Girls

Y/N : Aye bitch now wait cause aint nothing wrong with Golden Girls !

Michelle: I know it ain’t cause I watch a couple episodes here and there

•

Both girls start laughing again •

•

while walking to the food court Y/N kept hearing this laugh from somebody a happy cute laugh so she looked and she saw these 3 boys sitting at a table chatting and laughing

•

one of the boys caught her eye but she didn’t want to stare and make it obvious so she kept walking once Y/N and Michelle got their food they finally sat down and ate

Michelle: bitch this food was life a lady was hungry I don’t think I can get my ass up

Y/N : * laughing * you so damn extra this food was hitting but we do need to get up before we be sleeping at the damn mall cause they are about to close girl lets go .

•

time skip back to y/n house •

Michelle : Wheew bitch Ima take a nap before we start getting ready

Y/N : you know that don’t sound too bad I am a lil beat girl

Michelle : * snoring sounds *

Y/N : Ugh she get on my damn nerves

•

while Michelle was sleeping Y/N started to doze off as well but she couldn’t help to think about what Michelle was saying in the mall telling y/n to get back out there and have fun . Previously Y/N had bad luck with relationships and guys although her last fling wasn’t but 4 months ago so it wasn’t that long ago since she had sex or anything •

•

Alarm starts going off @10 pm •

Michelle: Ok bitch wake up lets get fine cut some music on lets go

Y/N : ouu you heard that new Megan

•

starts playing Megan the Stallion •

•

Time Skip to wear Y/N is putting on her dress and heels both girls are done getting ready •

Michelle: Ouuuu bitch now you know you know damn you aint got no business being this fine and I’m serious girl you look good

😌

Y/N : you see me bitch

😜

Bitch that red dress is cute as fuck omg we did a bomb ass job with everything we need to take pictures !

Michelle: a wise man once said A Beat Face starts a Case , Free The Titty Protect The City

Y/N : * starts laughing * Girl who the hell told you that crazy ass shit anyways lets go

•

Club time

😎

Purpleish Pink lights , Loud music playing and people everywhere •

Michelle: Girl this shit is hitting lets go get a drink and a booth

Y/N : Yes I need a good drink

•

while at the bar Y/N heard the same laugh from the mall earlier and thought is this the same guy Y/N turns around and sees a group of guys the same 3 dudes from the mall they just added 4 more

•

dudes to the group and she sees the same cute guy and they met eye to eye a cute , bunny smile bright eyed guy who was wearing some black pants , black shirt , black leather jacket and and some black shoes Y/N was staring so hard the guy winked at Y/N

Y/N : Girl dont look too fast but its 7 fine ass boys behind us and I caught one their attention and he winked at me

Michelle: omg bitch where

Y/N : behind us !

Michelle : do one of them got on all black

Y/N : yea and he got a cute bunny smile

Michelle: yea

Y/N : yes bitch thats them

Michelle: ouu girl they walking over here

Y/N : well bitch quick turnaround so staring

Michelle: okokok just act normal

•

the 7 boys walked to the bar where Y/N and Michelle were bunny guy leading the pack and approached Y/N

? : Excuse me maam I couldn’t help but to see you looking I think I saw you at the mall earlier

Y/N : uhh yea sorry I didn’t mean to stare , I think I saw you too

? : No its ok I dont mind I was staring back myself

Y/N : Ohh * starts laughing and playing with her hair *

? : I’m sorry I’m Jungkook and these are my friends Tae , Jimin , Hobi , Namjoon , Yoongi and Jin

Y/N : Well hello nice to meet you all I’m Y/N and this is my bestfriend Michelle

Michelle: Hey yall wassup nice to meet you all

•

Michelle and Tae had been blushing and smiling at each other for a while until Tae came and sat by Michelle at the bar •

Tae : can I buy you a drink or something

Michelle : Sure that would be nice thank you

Namjoon : Jungkook you should invite her over to our booth to sit and chill

Jin : Yea go back to our booth before it gets taken , Hobi do you want to dance I made some new dance moves

Hobi : Shit wassup I’m down

Jimin : I’m coming to watch you make a fool of yourself so I can laugh

Namjoon : Yea I think I’ll go to , Tae you coming? Tae , Tae

•

Tae wasn’t paying attention to anyone but Michelle they were flirting at the bar •

Tae : Huh ? No go ahead

Namjoon : * shakes his head * whatever , Yoongi ?

Yoongi : Yea I’m coming to watch ans make sure Jin doesn’t hurt his self you know how he is

Namjoon: Yea you do have a point

•

Y/N and Jungkook began laughing at Namjoon and then Jungkook turned to you and asked •

Jungkook: Do you want to come sit with me at the booth and we can get to know each other

Y/N : Yea let me let Michelle know

•

Y/N looks to the side and see that Michelle and Tae are too focused on each other that they not even paying attention so Y/N taps Michelle on the shoulder and says •

Y/N : sorry to interrupt but I’m going to go sit with Jungkook at the booth maybe y’all need to go sit and mingle in private to so y’all can get away from the bar

Tae : * looks at Michelle * how would you like to go sit at booth by ourselves * Smirking licking his lips with his glossy eyes *

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nineteenseventeenbarnes00 · 5 years ago

Text

CINDERELLA

Pairing: CollegeAU! Bucky x reader Genre: fluff Word Count: 3084 Warnings: n/a

I stood in the middle of the school gym, sweat dripping down the back of my neck, I was dead tired. I can't wait to get home and jump under the sheets of my big comfortable bed.

"Good job, girls!" Our head instructor yells, clapping her hands. "Take a break! Be back in 5. We'll go through the routine a couple more times and we're done for the day!"

The other girls cheer, some of them dropping themselves on the floor, others making their way out the gym to grab food or a breather. I need one too.

I walk over to the bleachers and grab my water bottle, chugging the entire content of the bottle down, savoring the feeling of the water passing through of dry and itchy throat.

"Hey! Save some for me!" Nat yells and grabs the bottle from my hand, drinking whatever was left in the bottle. I let out a big sigh and sit on the bleachers, massaging my aching legs.

"I just want this to end," Nat groans, plopping beside me.

"You're telling me," I mumble in response.

"Wanna go grab a bite after practice?" she asks me, watching me remove my shoes and massaging the sole of my aching feet.

"Nah, I'm gonna head right home and sleep," I reply. Nat rolls her eyes and grabs one of my shoes, examining it.

"Hey, give that back," I demanded, scared of what she'd do.

Sometimes, Nat could be unpredictable. There was a time in high school where she pulled the fire alarm because she thought the whole week had been too 'uneventful' - her words. Needless to say, it was definitely eventful for her after the incident, I heard the principal's office served instant coffee.

Nat looked at me, wiggled her eyebrows, and then threw my navy blue Nike Air shoe across the gym, landing right below the ring of one of the basketball courts.

I give her a look. She just stood up with an innocent look on her face and skipped away, knowing I was going to be annoyed. I rolled my eyes and made my way across the gym to grab my shoe.

Right before I could pick my shoe up, someone beats me to it and holds it out for me.

"Thank you!" I tell the stranger before I glance up and get a better look at him. He was around 6 to 6'2, wearing the university's basketball jersey and had a towel hanging around his neck. He had dark brown locks that he pulled into a bun, a little stubble growing, and the most captivating set of ocean blue eyes ever.

"No problem, Cinderella." He grins and walks away.

Hi, my name is Y/N L/N, a senior college student at Oregon State University. I'm a member of the university cheer group together with my best friend Nat, and we're proud of that. We worked really hard to get where we are.

The next day, I get to the campus and see a bunch of colorful posters and streamers being hung up. I almost forgot graduation was around the corner, meaning the graduation ball was coming up.

On the way to my last class for the morning, I receive a text from Nat, who had decided to ditch classes today.

FROM: Nat

Y/N/N, meet you in the mall at 5. See you! Xx

Oh right, I was going graduation ball shoe shopping with her this afternoon - I nearly forgot. I tucked my phone in my pocket and proceeded to class.

I impatiently tapped my foot on the tiled floors of the mall and checked my phone for the 100th time. It was nearly six, and Nat was nowhere to be found. I couldn't reach her through her phone, nor could I find her in her favorite café down the street.

A couple of minutes later, I receive a text and nearly screamed out loud.

FROM: Nat

Y/N, I LOVE YOU. SO MUCH. Can't make it. :( Bruce's taking me out to meet his parents. I'LL MAKE IT UP TO YOU, I SWEAR. xx

"Fucking hell," I mumbled, closing the message. "Guess I'll have to go pick something out myself."

I fell backward and crashed into someone's chest as the escalator continued moving upwards.

"Whoa, easy there, Cinderella," A familiar voice spoke, a hint of playfulness in his voice. I spun around and saw the boy who gave me back my shoe during practice the other day.

"It's you," I whisper, standing back up, still a bit shocked from the fall. He grins and gently pushes me, signaling me to get off the escalator as we got to the top.

"Yes, it's me."

"What are you doing here?" I ask him, trying to make small talk. It's not that I wasn't comfortable with him or anything; it's just that we barely knew each other and he was talking to me as if we were buddies.

"Well, I was going to buy a tie for the ball next week, but then I saw you," he tells me. I nod and turn to walk away, letting him go do his business until he grabs my wrist again.

"Yes?" I politely ask him.

"What are you doing here, Cinderella?" he asks me with a toothy grin.

"Shoe shopping for the graduation ball."

"That's pretty ironic," his smile turning into a smirk.

"How so?" I ask him, trying to humor him and his small talk.

"You're Cinderella," he starts. "Buying shoes. For the grad ball." He explains. I raise an eyebrow, obviously confused with where this ctonversation was going.

"Well, Cinderella, why not let Prince Charming come along?" he suggests, wiggling his eyebrows.

A small smile forms on my face, amused by what this boy was saying. Hell, I didn't even know his name.

"Well, Prince Charming," I play along. "Before I let you take me shoe shopping, may I know your name?"

"My name is James Barnes, but they all call me Bucky."

"Well, hello, Bucky, the name's Y/N L/N."

"Well, Y/N, shall we start looking for your glass slippers?"

About an hour and a half later, Bucky plops himself on the sofa of the last shoe store in the mall.

"I swear, if there isn't a pair you like in this goddamn shop, I might as well just get you to sneakers," He grumbles, tired from following me around the 26 shoe stores in this mall. I chuckle and start looking through the shelves. "Dummy, you didn't have to tag along," I told him the 10th time today.

"Dummy, I told you wanted to," he responded, mocking me.

"Hey, Cinderella, are you done? 'Cuz I' m-" Bucky whines, walking over, but stops midway. "Those look hot."

I roll my eyes at his comment and check the bottom for the size. It's a size 38, perfect. As I bend down to try the pair of heels on, Bucky stops me.

"What?" I ask him.

"May I have the honors?" he asks in a fake British accent.

"Sure. I AM Cinderella after all," I joke and give him the pair. He bends down and grabs the left heel and my left foot, gently slipping the heels on, followed by the right one.

"It's perfect." I squeal, walking around in them.

Bucky grins widely, probably relieved that I finally found a pair of heels.

It was the night of the ball and I was sitting at our table, going through some of the pictures I've taken with Nat earlier tonight. I was in this gorgeous black and gold gown and my matching heels from the other day.

Surprisingly, I hadn't seen Bucky around all week. I never got to thank him for tagging along with me the other day. After paying for the shoes, we had a quick dinner and McDonald's and parted ways.

"Boo," a voice whispered into my ears, making me jump in my seat.

"Good Lord," I breathe out, turning around to see Bucky with an amused look on his face. Speaking of the devil.

"Scared you, Cinderella?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, chuckling. I roll my eyes but smile a little.

He sits on the empty chair next to me. It was supposedly Nat's seat, but she's off somewhere playing or mingling.

"Hey, Bucky?"

"Yeah?" he replied, looking at me.

"Why do you keep calling me Cinderella? You know my real name," I ask him, wanting to know what he'd say. He merely shrugs and smiles.

"Boys," I mumble, earning a soft chuckle from the boy.

"And why are you here, Bucky?" I ask him, trying not to sound rude.

"I was bored. Plus, I missed you," he answered, giving me an adorable crooked smile. I return his smile and get back to looking through my pictures, Bucky still beside me.

"Hey, Y/N," he calls out.

"Yeah?" I tore my eyes away from my phone and to the boy beside me.

"I-"

"Y/N!" Nat calls out, walking back to our table from somewhere. She gives Bucky a questioning look, wondering why he was here.

"Umm… See you around," Bucky mumbles as he stands up and quickly leaves the table.

"What was that about?" Nat asked.

"Don't know…"

It was almost midnight when the ball ended. The students were leaving the area, but Nat and I stayed, waiting for our other friends.

When we were finally ready to go, Wanda, one of our other friends, suggested we should hit the club down the road.

"We're going drinking?" I asked, not exactly surprised, but just making sure.

"Yeah!" Wanda responds, hopping up and down in excitement. Clubbing was her forte. So we left the area and walked towards Club Hydra. 80% of the seniors should be there right now, partying.

"WOOOO! YEAH, BABY!" Tony, a guy from one of our classes, screams in our ears as we walked in the club, music blasting through the speakers. Many people sat by the bar, others in the booths while others danced on the dance floor.

"Let's go dance!" Nat shouts over the music, pulling me along. I laugh and follow her to the dance floor, jumping around, doing really stupid moves like the sprinkler and bunny hops.

Half an hour later, I got tired and told Nat I was going to grab a drink and sit down. She shooed me away and continued dancing with our other friends.

I made my way towards the bar and ordered a margarita, making myself comfortable on one of the bar stools.

"Hey, Cinderelly," a familiar voice called out, I turned around to see Bucky standing there, his signature crooked smile etched on his face. His bow tie and the first two buttons of his dress shirt were undone.

"Hey, Prince Charming," I played along, laughing as Bucky struggled to get on the high bar stool despite his height.

"Here's your drink," the bartender says, pushing the blue drink towards me. I thank him and take a sip, feeling the alcohol burning down my throat.

"My, oh my," Bucky talks in his not so convincing British accent, his words slurring a bit. "Her majesty drinking alcohol?"

"Bucky, are you drunk?" I asked, amused at how similar his attitude when he's drunk and when he's sober are so similar.

"Of course I'm not, Y/N!" he replies, taking a sip from the glass he was holding. Probably whiskey.

"Oh yeah?" I chuckle. "How many fingers am I holding?" I ask him, holding all five of my fingers up.

"I'm tipsy, not blind," he reminds me, patting my head.

"You just admitted you're drunk," I tell him, shaking my head.

"No, no, no," he shakes his head. "I'm tipsy. There's a fine difference between the two, Cinderella."

"Sure, sure," I answer, not wanting to start an argument with a drunk – I mean – tipsy person.

"There really is a difference, though!" he begins, his words becoming more and more slurred as he takes another sip of his whiskey. "If I were tipsy, I would tell you you looked beautiful tonight, if I were drunk, I'd tell the same thing and tell you how much I regret not asking to for a dance."

"E-Excuse me?" I shrieked, choking on my margarita, surprised at the sudden confession. I feel my face heating up, will he notice?

"Aww, look, she's blushing!" he chuckles slowly, his head was probably spinning. Yeah, he did.

"I said you looked beautiful tonight," he repeats, smiling.

"Umm," I mumble, not sure how to react. "Thank you...?"

Wow, smooth, Y/N. Someone just drunkenly told me I was beautiful and my response sounded half-assed.

"BUCK. PAL, THERE YOU ARE!" someone shouts over the music, approaching us.

"STEVE!" Bucky shouts back, reminding me of a puppy whose owner just got home after a long day. He stands up from his seat, almost tumbling in the process.

"Whoa," Steve, as Bucky called him, quickly catches his friend. "Slow down, pal."

"Hey, Steve," Bucky quickly speaks. "I was just telling Y/N how beautiful she was tonight.”

I mentally slapped myself as I felt my face growing even hotter. Steve shook his head and chuckled.

"I'm sorry about all of this, Y/N," Steve apologizes, throwing an arm over Bucky's shoulder, holding him up. "I'm Steve Rogers."

"No harm done. I'm Y/N L/N," I smile as Bucky's piercing eyes continue to stare at me.

"We should get going, Buck," Steve mumbles, trying to pull Bucky away.

"Whaaaat? But I was talking to Y/N," he whines, his words continued to slur. Steve chuckled and kept dragging Bucky away as he protested.

"We'll see you around, Y/N. It was nice to finally meet you," Steve grins.

"Bye, Bucky, bye, Steve," I waved as they left. I continued thinking about Bucky's words. Was he being serious? I tried not to think about it, but his words continued to echo in my head.

Here I am, six months later, still kind of fresh from college, but definitely enjoying my 8-8 job - sarcasm intended.

After the party, in the two months before graduation came around, I never saw Bucky around campus or around town anymore. Yeah, sure, I searched him up on social media, never having the guts to add or follow him, and I saw Steve around campus, we occasionally said hi, but never had we ever brought Bucky up. I didn't bother asking anyone either. It felt like that night, the night at the club, it was supposed to be something between us.

For two months, I wondered and wondered about where he had gone. It's not my fault, after his remarks at the club, I wouldn't be a girl if I didn't want to confront him and ask for answers. Did he mean it? What he said? That was the question running through my mind, a question I believed never would be answered.

But of course, like every question we have, we find the answers eventually. I found the answer to my question on graduation day as all the students were called one by one.

I'm not one to deny that I've taken a liking to him. A normal person wouldn't just come up and call you Cinderella and almost treat you like one.

But then again, Bucky wasn't a normal person.

An hour later, after all the speeches and presentations, they finally started calling our names one by one for our diplomas.

"James Buchanan Barnes," the school president called out. I looked around, hoping that maybe that certain a particular 6 foot, brunette's head would stand up, but to my dismay, no one stood up.

"Ah, yes," the president spoke up, clearing his throat after. "Barnes moved to another state a few months ago."

Well, you can imagine my reaction by now. Wide eyes, mouth agape. But, at least my question was answered.

I sat at a café across the university. The area just brought back so many memories and even after graduation, I didn't want to move away, not especially since Nat was staying.

I was going through the notes I had written during my meeting with my client earlier and occasionally sipped on my peppermint latte, scanning through my notes.

No, I shook my head. He was just a little crush, his crooked smile and steel blue eyes didn't affect me. Brain, just shut up.

I went back to reviewing, blocking out the chatters in the café, when suddenly, the seat across me was pulled back.

I looked up and my eyes widened. I couldn't get anything out of my mouth.

"Mind if I sit here, Cinderella?"

THE END.

_______________________

A/N forgive me

#bucky x reader #marvel #james barnes x reader #bucky x you #winter soldier x reader #the avengers #buckyxreader #buckyxoc #buckyxyou

29 notes · View notes

koala-soap · 5 years ago

Text

| Big People School |

Woo, the first request on this blog! I love this idea, and ya’ll know I can’t resist a little sister request. Thanks for your lovely request and I hope it suffices xx

This is very long, but who’s complaining, right? It’s chock-a-block full of fluff.

Story below.

“Psst... [Name].” Todoroki’s quiet voice soothingly wakes you, his hand patting your teeny shoulder under the blanket. He watches you open your eyes, stretch your limbs until you became the shape of a starfish and yawn up at him. Your blankets were a mess, but he fixed them as he used a hand to help you sit up. “Morning, sleepy.” he smiles a tad.

“Morning...” You sleepily reply with another yawn, rubbing your little eyes and grumbling when your older brother picks you up. Your cheek squished up against his shoulder and you wrapped your arms around his neck and shoulder, struggling to keep your eyes open. You rocked around for a bit as he bent down to tuck your sheets in and fix your couple teddies.

“Hey, where’s your Mister Giraffe?” He quietly questions with a quirked brow, walking around the bed to try find the small giraffe teddy. He knew he was one of your favorites, so when he heard an adorable little gasp and felt your head lift, he wasn’t surprised.

Your face was full of worry and you wiggled around in his arm. “Mister Giraffe is missing?” You pout.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find him.” Your brother smiles, and pats your back gently while walking over to your drawers to get your clothes ready. He pulls out the top one, and pokes around for a suitable outfit for kindergarten. “Bunnies or frogs, sweet?”

“Bunnies!“

Most of your clothes had little bunnies or frogs on them, because they were your favorites.He picked out a long sleeved jumper with tiny bunny print and little denim shorts.

He placed you on the ground as carefully as he could, and smiled when he gently pulled your fist away from your red eye. “Come on, now, stop. Your going to dent your eye in if you don’t stop rubbing it.” He was still talking quietly, because Enji was sleeping in the room next door.

You eyes were still closed and your mouth was still drooling while he helped you step into your shorts and pull the jumper over your head. Of course, he didn’t forget the rainbow striped stockings you always wore. It was weird, but everyone knew that the girl with the rainbow stocking was [Name] Todoroki.

After you had your white velcro shoes on, he did his best to tie your fluffy white hair into a ponytail and make it look decent. He was pretty good at it.

“Here, sweetheart.” Shouto places a plate of toast with peanut butter and sprinkles on it onto the dining table, but he looks around for you since you weren’t at any of the chairs. “[Name]?“

He ended up finding you in the hallway calling out for Mister Giraffe with a plate full of chocolate biscuits on it. Apparently chocolate biscuits were his favorite, so Shouto just chuckled and let you put them there so Mr Giraffe would come back.

Just as he was clipping you into your car seat while you sang some song from a kids TV show, his phone chimed and he checked it quickly.

“Bipity, bipity, bomp!” You finished singing the last line of your song, kicking your feet around with a goofy smile. Your hands were flinging Mr Giraffes arms around to make him dance on your lap. Shouto found him under the driver’s seat when you got in the car. Lord knows how he got there.

You saw Todoroki and asked him what he was reading.

“Ah... It’s mom saying that you can’t go to kindergarten today. You were supposed to get your flu shot yesterday but since you didn’t, they.. can’t let you in.” He sighed, and lent against the outside of the car brushing his hand through his hair. He honestly didn’t know what to do now. He could stay home with you, but UA would probably bust him for it.

He sighed and thought of the last resort. “I think you might have to come to school with me.” ____

“I know, I’m sorry sir. It’s just for a day before we’re able to get her back in to her kindergarten.” Shouto explained, with his sister’s small hand in his.

“Don’t let it happen again.“ Aizawa stated, clearly irritated with the situation Shouto turned up to school with. Having a kid on school grounds wasn’t exactly allowed, but Aizawa let it slip for a day.

“It won’t. Thank you sir.” Todoroki nodded, and that was Aizawa’s queue to sigh and trudge back to his desk drearily. Your brother looked down to you, a patted your hair and tapped your chin. “Come on.“

You nibbled on Mr Giraffe’s ear and listened to the voices coming from behind the giant class door. You really didn’t do well with new people, or really any people at all. Especially men. You know, with the delinquent father and all.

“Shou, it’s scary.“ You mumble.

He smiles sympathetically and bends down to pick you up and haul you onto his hip. “I’m right here, okay? If you get too overwhelmed, you can tap my shoulder and we can go home.” He kisses your cheek and waits for an answer.

“Okay...“ You pout nervously. And switch from chewing Mr Giraffe to fiddling with your brother’s hair.

He smiles, and goes to push open the door with his spare hand, and the talking got louder when you both went in. You couldn’t see anyone yet, since your head was facing backwards on his shoulder, but as he walked down the aisle to his desk, you lifted your head to see more and more people looking at you with excited smiles.

“Oh my god!” A girl gasped and was shaking and squealing. “She’s so cute!”

A guy with spiky red hair was grinning and tapping his mate’s shoulder. “Look, man!”

Another girl with pink skin and a boy with green hair were both whispering to each other and smiling at you.

“Yeah, yeah. Quiet. Todoroki has brought his little sister in for the day because of valid reasons, so don’t go squealing and crying, okay? This is still a school day.” Aizawa pointed out from the front of the class, getting all the talking and squealing to stop. Shouto sat down with you on his lap at his desk.

While the teacher started talking, he lent back to look at your anxious face. “Are you okay?”

“Mhmm.” You nod, looking around the large room while. You felt safe and comfortable in your brother’s arms despite the huge weird room. “He has spider arms.“

Shouto looked to who you were pointing at, and it was Shoji. He actually found it a tad funny and he smiled. “Spider arms?”

You nodded, and giggled. “Spider arms!”

“Alright, do the rest of those pages and don’t do anything stupid. Wake me up if there’s a fire or something.” The tired guy with the black hair grumbled, and seemed to disappear behind his desk.

The girl with pink hair stood subtly, peering as far as she could to check if Aizawa had fully gone down. She realized he wasn’t paying attention, so she jumped up from her desk, jittering and exploding with excitement. She was suddenly leaning on your brother’s desk, and he lifted his head and held you against him by your stomach. “Yes?”

“Oh my god, Todoroki, is this your sister?” She smiled giddily at you.

“Yes, what do you want, Ashido?” He replied, and you looked at her with a teeny pout.

Then another two came to his desk. One had spiky red hair and another had spiky yellow hair. “Dude, this is fucking awesome! They let you bring a kid in her-”

Shouto sighed, and frowned at the frantic yellow haired guy, eyeing him like a pissed off mother bear. “I’d appreciate if you wouldn’t swear.”

“Aw c’mon, bro! She’s so freaking cute!” Kirishima yelled, slamming his hands on the desk and smiling. The loud noise startled you and you jumped in Shouto’s arms. “You wanna come sit with us?”

“Why would she want to sit with you?” Todoroki said.

It took a bit of arguing, but you ended up sitting with Ashido, which made her very happy. You thought she was pretty cool, and you loved her pink hair. Todoroki was constantly peering over to make sure you were okay, to the point where he wrote down one sentence in twenty minutes. You were standing in front of her desk, peering over the top as she drew some sort of unicorn. “Huh... This sorta looks like a blob of play dough with a tumor on it’s head.” She frowned.

“Can I color it?” You asked quietly.

She smiled and rotated it around for you. “’Course, cutie!”

She handed you some pencils and you stood there and colored in her unicorn with them. Wasn’t the best coloring, but you were four, so it’s fine. Mina giggled and said, “That’s pretty good, lil’ miss Vincent Van Gogh!”

“I like unicorns.” You smiled. “And I like the ones with the- with the wings!” You grinned, jumping up and down flapping your arms like wings.

“I like them, too!” Mina giggled, watching you bounce around.

“And fairies, and mermaids, and um- and- and Mickey Mouse!” You were just bouncing around talking weird toddler nonsense, but it was cute. “And like bunnies, too! Look, there’s a bunny rabbit on my jumper. Shou picked it.”

You looked down at your jumper, pulling the bottom of it out to get a good look at the picture, which gave you a double chin. “He has a top hat.”

“He’s a fancy bunny.” Mina giggled.

“He needs a mustache.” You stated simply, and reached for one of the girl’s permanent markers, which made Mina laugh and jump to stop you.

“I don’t think your mom will like that, honey...” She laughed, putting the pen back in her pencil case.

The first two classes were pretty fun. You spoke to Mina and colored her unicorn for a while, but eventually went back to Shouto. You and him drew in his book, and you drew a cute little smiley face on his cheek with a texta. When the bell went, you followed him out the class, holding his hand and Mr Giraffe.

“Look at my unicorn, Shou! He has a um- a tuxedo.” You told him tilting your head to the side, flailing your coloring all over the place. Your brother smiled and gently took the page from you to look at it.

“You’re good at coloring.” He said truthfully. He looked at the paper and all the little smiley faces and hearts everywhere. The smiley face was still on his cheek, but he had forgotten. People who walked past him thought it was pretty funny.

“Do you get nap time?” You asked.

You heard a chuckle, as Todo put your picture into his backpack. “I wish, but no. You can have a nap now if you want. Are you tired?”

“A bit.” You say, getting closer to the cafeteria. “Drawing is hard work.”

You ended up falling asleep at lunch, two minutes in, on Shouto’s lap. You managed to eat a couple of bites of your peanut butter and sprinkle sandwich, but that was about it. While you were asleep, everyone was giggling at your divine choice of filling. It was yummy, but sleep felt better.

“You know, I’d imagine it’d taste pretty good!” Uraraka said from the other side of the table, thinking about your sprinkle and peanut butter sandwich.

“Do you think that’s what the teletubbies eat?” Midoriya chuckled.

“Oh my god, yeah! That’s what that elephant vacuum thing makes.” The girl laughed. “What the hell even is that thing, though? Director must’ve been on drugs.”

“She’s eaten so many of those. She had it for breakfast, too.” Shouto smiles, patting your back as you snore quietly.

“Damn, how has she not gotten diabetes yet?” Uraraka says with a smile and a shocked face.

“Uraraka, don’t joke about that...” The green haired boy nervously said.

“She used to like jam and sprinkles, but a commercial on TV showed strawberries with smiley faces on them going into the jar, so she thought that jam was dead strawberries, which is why she hates jam now.”

“She isn’t exactly wrong, though..” Iida said, shrugging. “About the dead strawberries.”

“That is true.” Uraraka said. “What kinda TV advert shows that to kids, though?” She giggles.

“I think I’ve seen that one! With the weird bear in overalls?” Midoriya asked. “His eyes look like golf balls...”

“Yeah, that’s the one.” Todoroki replied. He felt your head start to move and looked down at you, seeing your eyes opening and closing again because of the bright lights. In the background, everyone was talking about the weird jam commercial.

“Shou?” You grumble, seeing your brother’s face.

“You fell asleep when you were eating.” He said, smiling slightly at the peanut butter and sprinkles on your face. All over your face. “Here, lets get this off.”

He grabbed a napkin from the table and wiped the stuff off your cheeks and mouth. You were still pretty sleepy, and all the bright lights and talking was a little scary. Shouto got the rest of the stuff off your face and you yawned, reaching for the rest of your sandwich.

“Hey, [Name], can I try a piece please?” The girl with the brown hair asked, with a small smile.

You nodded, and ripped the corner off and handed it to the girl. She took it and put it in her mouth as her eyebrows rose and she nodded slowly. “That is actually Gordon Ramsey menu worthy!”

“Is it really?” Midoriya asked.

“You bet. This stuff is gold!” She muffled, pointing to your sandwich.

“Hey, Todoroki, has she gotten her quirk, yet?” Iida said out of curiosity.

“Yeah, she got it about two months ago.” He said, and Midoriya lit up with a cute little smile. Everyone knew he loved the subject of quirks and heroes, so everyone braced themselves for the giant flood of talking they were about to encounter.

“That’s so cool that you have your quirk!” He smiled, and you smiled back, nodding. “How’d you get it?”

You pulled up your jumper’s sleeve to show a small scar going down your arm. Everyone looked at it and you said, “I froze my bed and my blankies went all hard and cold and then I moved and it cut me here! Shou had to make fire and un-freeze it so I could get out. And then Fuyumi gave me a Little Mermaid band aid.”

“So your quirk is like your brother’s ice?” Iida said.

You nodded dramatically, shooting your arms out and smiling, “I’m like Elsa!” ____

“So, [Name], how was Yuuei today? You get to meet cool heroes?” Fuyumi asked, carefully placing a plate of veggies, chicken and rice in front of you. You blew on it and stabbed the chicken with your fork, which you were holding backwards. All of your siblings sat down at the dinner table around you, thanking your sister for the meal.

“I like old people school!” You exclaimed, shoving the chicken in your mouth.

Natsuo smirked and sat down next to you with his plate of food, ruffling your hair. “Who you calling ‘old’?”

“She froze an entire rock when we were doing hero training in the courts.” Shouto smiled proudly. Fuyumi gasped quickly and smiled at you.

“That’s so good, [Name]!” She said.

Natsuo chuckled and pointed his fork at you. “When I was four, I couldn’t freeze a damn pebble. That’s some pretty good stuff, squirt.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna be a hero when I’m big and I’m gonna freeze all of the villain’s butts!” You say happily, punching the air. All your siblings laughed and you sat in your chair for the rest of dinner thinking of ways to sneak into Shou’s backpack to go to his school again, because today was fun.

#todoroki #todoroki shouto #x reader #todorokis little sister #love me some todoroki #BNHA #mha

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lgcsoho-blog · 5 years ago

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take two.

@lgcmiso between classes, practice rooms. week 2, latata !

it’s strange to be in practice rooms at lgc that are unfamiliar to her. they sprawl around her new and modern, shining smooth floors and fresh papered walls. not a smudge or scratch to speak of on the mirrors. it’s unfamiliar, and that in itself seems as if it’s been impossible. the walls of lgc practice rooms have been her home for almost five years now, after all. but there’s a quiet understanding here, that they’ll all upgraded a step for the purposes of the show, allowed onto a new floor, between new walls. another new proving ground to challenge.

it’s a strange feeling. with dance practice winding down, soho is content to take a breather, coating her throat in the eska water they’ve been provided, groaning low in the back of her throat as she sinks down to kneel next to the familiar face nearby, squatting on flattened feet and balancing her hand on her knees. “no, don’t get up,” she scolds the other, who seems to shift as if she might stand. “your legs are eight miles long and i’m trying to look like my proportions are okay.” she informs her sagely, pointing at the little camera not-so-surreptitiously in front of them. “in fact if you could just angle your chin down as far as possible and really press back until you’ve got a half a double chin going that would be fantastic.” she adds brightly, lips blooming to a heart shaped smile, too gummy, with bunny rabbit teeth on full display. maybe she should have had them shaved down like her mother had suggested. now everyone will see them and it’s too late to get rid of them without clear plastic surgery speculations. her heart flutters in her chest. no use worrying about it now. but of course, she will anyway. it’s what soho does- suppress worries with jokes at her own expense, endearing to a fault.

she shifts slightly, thunking into the other’s shoulder lightly and passing off the extra bottle she’s brought over. “it’s a good choreography right? you look so pretty doing it.” she sighs, pouting as she rolls her head slightly to regard the other, faux scolding, “stop stealing the spotlight and share some with me instead.” she teases, a playful pout on her lips. “everyone’s gonna fall in love with you like that,” she says, accenting the final word with a snap and an exaggerated gesture, before clasping her hands together, batting her lashes. “i know i did.” she dissolves into rough-around-the-edges laughter, taking a sip from the bottle once more.

what do you think of the choreography for latata?

the choreography? she repeats, taps a finger against her thin as she formulates a thought. it’s funny, she gets a lot of questions like this from them, about the technicalities of things. maybe becasue they realized she’ll ramble about the musicality and composition at any given opportunity regardless. are they going to paint her as some kind of song surgeon, picking it all apart carefully? it’s not entirely untruthful. part of her prior studies and her backup plan has meant a specific focus on marketability and likeability, both of songs and of herself. “it’s great, honestly.” she admits, grinning slightly as she does, her gaze slightly distant, as if she’s currently visualizing it, isolating moves to express her appreciation for. “when you look at the overall picture, it seems very fluid and powerful, but in an understated way. unlike some choreography it lacks that intense and powerful shoe-squeaking and stomping sharpness, “ she kind of misses that, enjoys that powerful engagement with a song, “and while that may make it look simple, and indeed, makes it a bit easier to sing - or rap- stably alongside it, it’s definitely got it’s own challenges. when you restrict the movements to something more restrained like that, you have to be much more technical about each one. when it leaves you s much room for personal feeling and interpretation, you really have to make sure that your performance can shine with your personality, and with the mood of the song.” do you think the choreography suits you? what about the other girls? “i think this is the kind of choreography that can suit anyone who is able to embody the mood of the song. it leaves a lot of space to integrate your own personal details while still looking like part of the cohesive flow, and it’s one that’s easy to communicate with one another and augment in little ways that can leave an impressive impact. because the song itself has such a driving but restrained intensity, it’s important to capture the mood and energy of it. i think this group of trainees is really excellent at that, honestly, so i hope we can continue to improve. i think personally i’ve been keeping an eye on miso as we practice. she has such a gift for putting emotion into her features as she dances - probably because she’s such a skilled actress and model, you know? i hope i can learn from her a little bit on how to channel the song not only in my movements but in my features as well. there’s always room for improvement when it comes to performance. “ she cuts off the ramble with a little nod, pushing her hand back through her hair and then dropping it abruptly, fingers flying up to the strands. “oh, i forgot about the hairspray, did it get all wonky?” she questions, looking worriedly at the pd. weren’t you recently noted for your performance abilities, though?

she bursts into a quick, rough twinge of laughter, slightly too loud and covered up just a moment too late. “yes, and i’m incredibly thankful for that. but that doesn’t mean i have nothing to learn. besides, i was only practicing one or two songs obsessively back then. now there’s much more to do in much less time. i need all the tips i can get.”

#lgc:futuredreams #filed:thread #+ eska water lol #lgcmiso

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writing-realityawayfromreality · 6 years ago

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I can’t keep kissing strangers and pretend that they’re you

Requested: Yes

“I can’t keep doing this Ty. One day you are telling me how much you love me and the next you make it seem like you wish you were, i don’t know... free. For christ sake Ty, you’re 25 and still not ready to settle down. Clearly you can’t make the choice for yourself so i am making it. It’s over Tyson, I’m sorry.”

And with that you left. You didn’t look back because you knew that if you looked back you would had never left. But you couldn’t keep living the way that you were, never feeling good enough for him, always coming in second.

It has now been two years since that day. You haven’t really kept in touch with Tyson after the breakup. It was too painful to see how happy he was and how sad you were. You kept in touch with some of the guys who you were close to on the team. You go to their games but make sure to leave right away so you have less of a chance running into Tyson. Plus it was a farther drive since you had moved, you had to since you and Tyson shared the apartment but at least your new place is closer to your work.

Tonight you had finally given into your friends and are letting them drag you out to a club. You haven dated once or twice but it was never anything too serious. you didn’t allow it to get to that point. Your friends couldn’t really blame you. You and Tyson had been together for a little over five years. Everyone thought that you two were it, that you were going to get married, start a family and live happily ever after. But life doesn’t work that way, it’s not all fairytales.

You heard a knock on the door to your apartment, “Come in.” You yelled from your room. It was Vanessa, Mackinnon’s girlfriend (I know they broke up but just for the stories sake) who you had grown really close to over the years. “I thought we were going out tonight?” she questioned. “I thought so?” you questioned back “You aren’t even ready to go yet.” She responded. “Oh, why are we leaving so early?” you asked looking at the clock. “To get there before all the creeps do. Now come on lets go” she said walking out to your living room.

You rolled over getting out of bed and headed to you bathroom. You plugged in your hair curler and got out your makeup. You didn’t want to go too bold so you did a light eyeshadow but a darker color on your lips since they were your best feature. You quickly ran to get changed into your favorite black dress before heading back into the bathroom to curl your hair. Giving yourself a glance over you walked out to the living room where Vanessa was sitting, coming up behind her you could see that she was on Instagram. Looking over her shoulder you saw Tyson’s face. You dropped your shoes that you were holding making Vanessa jump and turn to look at you. “Y/n....” she looked back down at her phone seeing that Tyson’s picture was still on it, she quickly clicked out of instagram.

“Y/n... It’s been two years...” Vanessa said. “I know. It still hurts, and I haven’t seen him in so long. Maybe I could just peek on his Insta?” You said pulling out your phone and typing in him name. Clicking on his page you saw a whole bunch of pictures with him and different girls. The pictures were probably like two weeks apart and there was always a new girl with some cliche caption, you also noticed how all the girls all looked sightly similar and almost like you. “Y/n, are you okay?” Vanessa asked grabbing your arm slightly. “Yeah, you ready?” You said placing your phone in your purse, bending down to get your shoes on.

You called an uber to have you guys taken to the club in town. You were honestly so excited because it was your first time out since Tyson. You walked in and headed straight for the bar. This was honestly your favorite club, there wasn’t a whole lot of creeps and the music was always amazing. You got yourself and Vanessa a shot before heading to the dance floor. You and Vanessa were having a great time. That was until you spotted him. Vanessa must had seen him at the same time you did because she pulled you towards the bar.

“I didn’t know they were going to be here, Nate didn’t tell me...” “Vanessa, it’s okay. lets get a few more drinks and have a good time, yeah?” You said grabbing the bar tenders attention. At least an hour goes by and at this point you have at least three or four mixed drinks in you so you were feeling pretty good right about then. Tyson hadn’t seen you which made your night ten times better.

Nate had showed up surprising Vanessa, needless to say they went off and did their own thing leaving you alone on the dance floor. There was now a whole lot more people then there was a few hours ago. Even though you had some drinks the buzz was starting to wear off. Heading back to the bar you bumped into a rather large man. Saying your excuse me’s you continued to the bar. After ordering you drink you went to reach for your purse to which it was no longer on your shoulder. feeling a tap on you other shoulder you turned around. “I think you... Y/N!?!?” Tyson said. “Thanks.” you said grabbing you purse, downing your drink, placing the money on the bar and headed for the doors.

You just couldn’t be around him, not yet. Seeing him there all up on the other girls dancing, buying them drinks. It was just too much. Pulling out your phone you started to call for an Uber. “Y/N,,, can we just talk?” Tyson asked out of breath from clearly running after you. Ignoring him you hear a faint hello on the other end of the line, giving them your address you hung up.” “You moved pretty far huh? Why?” Tyson asked still standing behind you. “It’s none of your business Tyson, now just go back into the bar and forget you even saw me.” “How can I Y/n, you the most beautiful girl here.” “You’re drunk Tyson.” You said walking away.

“Y/n, just stop. I haven’t seen you for two years and this is how you are going to treat me?” Tyson asked sounding kind of hurt. “Do you think it is easy for me Tyson, I spent five years of my life with you, loving you, supporting you, waiting. You didn’t even act like you wanted to be in a relationship anymore towards the end so I made the right choice for the both of us. I moved because I couldn’t stand to see how happy you were with the other girls after we broke up. And honestly nothing has changed, so go back in there and go hook up with some puck bunnies or something because I’m not coming back.” You said now spotting your uber.

Before you knew it Tyson grabbed your arm turning you around to face him. “Tyson, what...” Tyson crashed his lips onto yours, it was like fireworks going off inside your head. Even though it had been two years, and even though you had broken up with him didn’t mean that you stopped caring for him, it didn’t mean that you didn’t love him. Pulling away you looked into Tyson’s eyes. you could tell they were sad. “I can’t keep kissing strangers and pretend that they are you. After you broke up with me I tried to find someone to drown out my sadness, all the girls I kept picking just reminded me of you. I didn’t even really like them, I just wanted you Y/n. I tried pretending that they were you and they weren’t. I hoped and prayed i would run into you again. I am so sorry that I wasted five years of your life Y/n. I wish that I could take it back and been the better boyfriend that you needed. That you deserved.” Tyson said now with tears in his eyes. “Y/n, please, I need you. I’m 27 now and I’m tired of playing these games. I love you.”

“Ty... I... i need some time to think.” You said before getting into your uber. You were heading back to your place, I couldn’t stop thinking about what Tyson had said. Maybe he has changed. Maybe he is finally ready to settle down. Before you knew it you gave the uber driver your old address. You hoped that Tyson had gone home by this point. Pulling up to the old apartment building you got out. Taking a big breath you headed up to Tyson’s apartment.

Knocking on the door you head footsteps. The door opened revealing a puffy eyed Tyson. “I can’t keep kissing strangers and pretend that they are you either.” You said making Tyson smile. “This is your one and only chance Tyson Barrie. You better not waste another five years of my life.” You said kissing Tyson.

#tyson barrie #colorado avalanche #hockey imagines #requests are open #requested #thoughts?

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enixamyram · 6 years ago

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Can you write a fic that alice and Robin first feeling Blessing kick? Please? I want all kinda family time we can get!!

... Yeah at this point this might as well be a oneshot haha, but I’m still classing it as a short! XP

“I found… Myself… In Wonderland…”

Taylor Swift’s chorus to Wonderland sang out loudly from the phone inRobin’s pocket and she paused her trolley in front of the frozen goods sectionto answer it. She smiled at Desirae, sitting in the plastic seat and playingwith Mr Hatter, the little stuffed rabbit toy that Alice had given theirdaughter on the day they had first brought her home from the orphanage. Despitestill being so young, her soft light brown hair was already getting quite thick,even if it was still very short, not even passing her ears completely, and allthe strands curled upwards slightly towards the ceiling. The blue eyes she hadin her pictures shortly after birth had long since darkened into somethingclose to golden brown colour, although the pink cheeks seemed like they werenever going to fade. She was currently in an orange flower dress with whiteleggings underneath and soft white shoes on her chubby feet. She had beenwearing a pink rose headband as well but had kept pushing it off to the floor eversince leaving the house until Robin had finally just pocketed the damn thing.

While pressing the phone to her ear, Robin reached her other hand overand made Mr Hatter dance in front of little Rae, watching her squeal and giggleat the sight of the playful rabbit, reaching to pull his long ears towards her.She tugged dangerously hard on them and Robin quickly moved to make the rabbithug her so she wouldn’t rip the toy to pieces – though she knew that if thatdid happen, then they could always get her aunt Regina or mother to use theirmagic to put it back together again in a matter of seconds. Alice’s own magic wouldbe of no help, as it seemed her abilities were being affected by her pregnancy,making almost everything she did go a different way and was quite unpredictableat best.

“Hello?” Robin said. She was so busy watching as Rae played with herbunny, she hadn’t even bothered checking her caller ID.

“Robin!” It was Alice. She was sounding very breathless and Robin mighthave been worried about her if not for the excitement so obviously mixed in hervoice. “She’s kicking!”

One second. That was all it took before Robin realised what she meant.

“I’ll be right there!” She shouted, hanging up with a sharp jab of thebutton and breaking into a dash for the doors.

Robin dodged and ducked around the various people in her way, preparingto sprint the entire way home if she had to. With her quick speed and agility,it took her no time getting all the way towards the automatic double doorentrance… Only to skid to a sharp stop just before she stepped outside. Curisngherself and turning back around, Robin ran twice as fast back to the trolley,not even bothing to dodge people this time and simply pushing them angrily outof her way. Despite the people shouting after her, Robin felt a wave of relief whenshe caught sight of her trolley, unmoved and untouched. Even though she knewnothing would have happened to her – not here in the United Realms – it wasstill scary to think of the possibilities and what if’s and Robin nearly criedto see her daughter was safe and sound in her plastic seat, still playing withMr Hatter and oblivious to her momentary abandonment.

Lifting her daughter out of the seat, Robin cradled her close and kissedher forehead and cheeks repeatedly. “I am so sorry, Rae-Rae!” She gasped,pausing to look her in the beautiful eyes. “I am so damn sorry, I won’t everforget you ever again! I love you so much, I promise you.”

She knew Rae couldn’t understand a word she was saying and the younggirl clearly hadn’t noticed being left behind for those short few secondsanyway, but Robin still felt it needed to be said aloud. If Robin did one thingas a mother, it was going to be to make sure her daughter never felt like shehad been abandoned or forgotten.

With that, she gave Rae one last cheerful bounce against her hip. “Nowlet’s go!”

Rae giggled in her mother’s arms as she turned and started runningagain. She felt Mr Hatter’s ear tickling her chin from where it was squishedbetween her chest and her daughter but ignored it, rushing back the way shecame, only slightly slower than before due to her precious object now sittingin her arms. In a matter of seconds she was pushing through the doors and hurryingout into the parking lot where their car sat waiting for them.

Robin ran all the way to the vehicle and rushed to get Rae seated in herseat in the back, double checking Mr Hatter was still safely tucked in hergrip, before she slammed the door and threw herself into the front seat behindthe wheel. Once inside, she quickly buckled her seat, flipped on the engine andshot out back into the street. Alice would have most certainly hit her over thehead for how fast she drove, especially with Rae sitting in the backseat, butRobin couldn’t help it. She needed to get home right away! And anyway, she wasa good enough driver that she wouldn’t let herself be caught in a sillyaccident.

The shop wasn’t too far from home, and in the end it took Robin lessthan ten minutes at the speed she was rushing to make it back. The street whereher house was settled was mostly deserted at this time of day, allowing Robinto be a little riskier with her driving. She skidded to a dramatic stop justoutside the building. She pushed herself the extra few inches so she was halfwayon the driveway and half still sticking out into the road behind her. It wasn’tgreat but it would do for now. She could fix it later.

As soon as she was parked and had the engine switched off, she jumped out,nearly getting caught in her own seatbelt as she did, and ran for the front door.Her key was in the lock and she was about to turn it when she sword loudly toherself, pulling it out and hurrying back to the car and to where Rae was stillsat waiting for her in the backseat.

“I swear,” She said as she unbuckled her car seat straps. “I am notgoing to make a habit of this. I am not going to forget you for your littlebrother or sister. I swear to you, I do and will love you both equally.”

With that she lifted her daughter back into her arms, hugging andkissing her as she kicked the door shut behind them before she hurried back tothe door again. After scrambling to unlock the front door, she left it wideopen behind her and dashed from room to room, shouting Alice’s name as she wentuntil Rae finally began to whimper, getting upself from the loud and constant noise.Robin forced herself to pause, bouncing her gently and lowering her voicegently.

“Shh, sorry, sweetheart, it’s okay, shh,” Robin said guiltily.

“I think she might want this.” Alice said suddenly, stepping out intothe hallway from the first floor bathroom and picking up where Mr Hatter hadfallen in the open doorway.

Robin spun around sharply and her face broke out into a wide smile. She tooka large step towards her only to stall and blink. “Did I… Did we…?”

Alice gave her a sad smile, shrugging slightly. “Yeah, sorry. Shestopped not long after she started.” Robin’s face dropped hard and Alicequickly moved to put her hands on her shoulders, giggling. “Don’t worry. Shemight start again soon any minute! I get the feeling she’s gonna be a wild onelike her mum.” She grinned, leaning forward and kissing Robin softly.

O*U*A*T

“Knock knock,” Zelena called, rapping her knuckles against the door atthe same time as she swung it open with a soft tap of her hips. Withouthesitating, she let herself into the house, arms overloaded with a weeks worthof shopping stuffed inside two reasonably sized white plastic bags. “Anyonehome!”

“In here, mum.” Her daughter called from the living room.

“So are you going to tell me why you had me do your shopping for youthis week?” Zelena called as she walked towards her daughter’s voice.

When she stepped into the room, she saw Alice was lying spread out overthe sofa, feet taking up what little room the rest of her didn’t with a cold drinkin hand, watching the television quietly. She was dressed in a black vest and aloose knee length brown skirt that seemed tight on her already bulging stomach.Her blonde hair was pulled back into a limp pony tail out of the way of herface and she looked completely at ease, sparing a quick moment to glance up overthe back of her chair and smiling at Zelena as she walked towards her.

“Hey there, Alice. Where’s Robin?” Zelena blinked, glancing around. Shehad sworn it was her voice who called out to her.

“Down here!” A hand appeared beside Alice, stretching up into the air.

Zelena frowned, walking around to find Robin sitting on the floor byAlice’s stomach, Rae lying in her lap, chewing on her fake toy keys. Theylooked perfectly content with Robin leaning against the cushion and smilingcalmly up at her mother while her hand supported her young daughters head.

“Thanks for picking up the shopping, mum,” Robin smiled.

“Okay. And why did I have to pick up the shopping when you so clearlyhave a bundle of free time on your hands?” Zelena said, raising an eyebrow downat her.

“The baby kicked and I missed it.” Robin said sadly, pulling a facebefore scowling and turning back to Alice. “And I’m not missing the secondtime!”

Zelena paused, frowning at the two women in confusion, looking fromRobin to Alice and then down to her stomach. “Alice… How far along are you?”

“About eleven weeks.” Alice chirped casually, reaching down andstraightening Rae’s dress slightly.

Zelena paused again, frowning even more now. “Robin, I know you neverpaid much attention in your biology classes but… You do know the baby doesn’tstart kicking until at least week sixteen, right? I mean sometimes it’s earlierfor your second pregnancy but even then that’s normally around week thirteen.Certainly not week eleven.”

“Wait what?” Robin did a double take and looked up. “But… Alice said…”She looked at her wife.

Alice paused before she smiled innocently at her. “Oh wow, really? Huh.Who’d have known. I mean. Um… Guess it was… Indigestion?”

“You lied to me!” Robin yelped, picking Rae up and standing sharply.

Alice pouted slightly. “I was lonely and wanted you to come home.”

“You could have just told me that,” Robin said, feeling oddly furiouswith her. She’s been so disappointed thinking she had missed something special,except now it turned out it was a cheap trick all because Alice wantedattention. Which was really god awful because she could have called and Robinwould have done everything she could to finish her shopping and get home assoon as possible. There was no reason to lie like that!

Alice was oblivious to Robin’s inner frustrations and just shrugged upat her. “It was quicker my way.”

There was a single short pause. “I’ll just put these away, shall I?”Zelena said, sensing the building tension between the girls and hurryingthrough the door that connected them to the kitchen. However her own noseycuriosity got the better of her and she let the door hang open slightly so shecould still see and hear what was happening.

“I thought I’d missed something special!” Robin complained, irritably,trying to stay calm even while she felt her face growing hot.

“And now you know you haven’t,” Alice shrugged, smiling cheekily. “Comeon. You’re not really mad at me over this, are you?”

Robin hesitated, shaking her head down at her and scowling. “I’m notmad, Alice. But I sure as hell am pissed.”

As Robin stormed passed her, Alice twisted around in her seat, watchingher slam her way out of the room without a look back. As her wife and daughterdisappeared up the stairs and out of sight, Alice lingered on the spot, feelingboth awkward and a little confused. Was it really that big a deal? Alice hadn’tthought that a little teasing trick could upset Robin like this…

She turned back around and caught Zelena’s eye from the kitchen. Alicehesitated before smiling with a mixture of shyness and guilt, only relaxingwhen Zelena gave her a genuine smile in return.

“Don’t worry. She’ll get over it.” Zelena nodded. “Now why don’t I makeyou a chocolate apple pie to help settle your nerves? Stress is never good forthe baby.”

Alice felt her mouth water hungrily.

O*U*A*T

Some time has passed and Robin’s irritation faded away. She could neverstay mad at Alice. Not really. And then, one night, she found herself beingshaken awake.

“Robin… Robin!”

Robin sat up sharply and nearly headbutted Alice from where she wasleaning over her. She narrowly avoided it, pulling back at the last second andblinking in the night darkness. The only light in the room was streaming fromthe silver of the half moon outside, peeking between a gap where the curtainsdidn’t quite meet. Alice was lying by her side, leaning closely towards her,her expression masked by the shadows of the room and making it near impossibleto tell what she was thinking.

Reaching up, Robin rubbed at her face, trying to wake herself properlybefore she began squinting through the dark towards her love. “What is it? What’swrong?” She suddenly felt her body go tense. Now that she was awake, her mind wasrunning a thousand miles ahead of the rest of her. “Is it Rae? Is she okay?!”

“Rae’s fine,” Alice said quickly, putting a hand over Robin’s in comfort.“It’s the baby.”

At first, Robin was even more confused than before. Rae was the onlybaby they had. But then she realised her wife was talking about the second baby– the one that was yet to actually be born.

The worry came back twice as hard this time. “What’s wrong with the baby?!”Robin gasped, sitting up and placing one hand against Alice’s back and theother on her arm, pulling her towards her slightly and already preparing toleap from the bed for the phone. “Are you okay?! Does it hurt?! I’ll call DrWhale!”

“No!” Alice grabbed her arm even as she began to roll off the bed. “No,Robin, it’s fine, everything is perfectly fine. Just… Here.” She took her hand.“Feel.”

Robin – still feeling a little panicked and very confused – let Aliceguide her hands down to rest on her stomach. It had certainly grown fast overthe last few weeks and due to her own insecurities about showing her stomach, shewas already having to switch to a different wardrobe in order to keep covered. Fora moment there was nothing and Robin was close to demanding Alice to explain whatwas going on when she felt the slightest pressure slap against her hand and thebreath froze halfway in her throat. She paused, waiting to see if she imaginedit before she felt another light pressure once more slap against her palm. Finallyshe looked up at Alice, a smile spreading across her face excitedly and allthoughts of sleep disappearing in an instant.

“Is that…” Robin whispered.

“Yeah,” Alice beamed, looking at her with tear filled eyes. “Our baby.”

“I can’t believe it.” Robin whispered, looking back down to theirgrowing child.

Alice hesitated, then said quietly. “Robin… I’m really sorry abouttricking you before.” Robin looked back up at her with a puzzled expression onher face. “When I pretended the baby kicked.”

“Oh, forget about it.” Robin shrugged. “I was all tense that day. I’msorry I got so huffy about it.” She looked back down. “To be honest, I have allthese fears that I’m going to miss stuff. Like, the way my dad missed so muchof my life. I don’t want to miss any of the first. Not the first kick, thefirst steps, the first words, the first… Everything. I want to see it all.”

“You’re not going to miss any of it.” Alice promised. “Even if I have touse my magic to bring you home in the middle of a life or death situation.” Sheshrugged. “And if the baby starts walking when I’m not here well then… I expectyou to pick them up and hold them until I get home!” She grinned.

Robin laughed. “Deal!”

Alice smiled, slipping down on the bed slightly. “I do mean it. Neitherof us are going to miss a moment with our family.”

“You know you can’t really promise that,” Robin said softly.

“Watch me.” Alice said stubbornly.

Robin grinned at her, fighting the urge to giggle for fear of gettingtoo loud and waking up Desirae next door. To keep quiet, she leaned towards herand kissing her softly. “I love you, Alice.”

“I love you, too, Robin.” Alice whispered, returning the kiss and lying onher side to face her.

They curled up together in the bed, Robin keeping her hands on the sideof Alice’s stomach and pressing their foreheads gently together. They stayedawake for hours afterwards, staring happily at one another in almost silence,broken only by the occasional soft kiss, long after their child had finally settleddown and stopped kicking, though the baby would prove to be a restless one overthe coming months.

It seemed Alice had been right. Their child really was going to be awild one.

#Curious Archer Short #Once Upon A Time #Alice Jones #Robin Mills #Curious Archer Family #Desirae Jones #Blessing Jones #Curious Archer #OUAT Fanfiction #Anonymous

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inhodear · 4 years ago

Text

* long flight ( solo )

WRITING TASK #001: music prompt! ↳ taeyong -- long flight

dance in a swimming pool called sky, in that space, my lips are tingling in the cold air

TW: anxiety, animal death, emetophobia, (implied) violence, (implied) gore. last but not least: Furry Shit

[ SPRING 2018, TUESDAY NIGHT, THE FOREST BEHIND GRANDMA’S HOUSE. ]

inho’s recent growth spurt hit him like a truck.

while the extra height is worth celebrating, his arms and legs feel too long, making him even more awkward than he was before. he’s too clumsy now -- wider shoulders making him bump into his classmates in the hallway, bringing more attention to himself than he ever wanted. it was his grandma who pointed out the difference to him, complaining lightheartedly about how quickly he grew out of two shoe sizes.

the changes do bring him some relief; being mistaken for a high school freshman all the time is getting tiring. it’s about time he caught up with everyone -- most of his classmates have sharpened up, filled out, started growing facial hair, etc., so inho is grateful that he’s at least the same height as the other boys now.

he’s not completely happy, though, in fact his clumsiness has made him very frustrated -- more so because of the contrast between how his teenage body feels compared to... this one.

how cruel is it that he can only feel comfortable when stuck in the body of the thing he hates so much? how he feels the most himself when he’s not even Himself?

this Big Ugly Grey Thing moves with more grace and purpose than inho ever could. this body is filled with a level of energy and awareness that the sleepy, lazy inho has never been able to achieve. it feels upsettingly, terrifyingly good to be like this, as much as he tries to forget that feeling for three weeks every month.

as he makes his way over prickly shrubbery and stones, the Big Ugly Grey Feet don’t miss a single step. the water of the local creek glitters beside him, reflecting the cold light of the moon, but he doesn’t stop to admire it yet. he races up the path he’s familiar with until he finds the tree that marks his section of the forest and slows, sharp eyes taking in the area to make sure it hasn’t changed since he left it last month.

his log is where he positioned it, covered in soft moss and laying on its side a few yards away from the creek. the cover he made using dead branches painstakingly layered over each other is also intact, blocking the little clearing from view on all sides except for the one facing the river.

and, most importantly, his books are still there.

inho sighs with relief, in a puff of air that comes from his nostrils. he walks over to perch himself on the log in what must look like the most awkward seated position ever.

it’s bare, dirty and ugly, but this has been his home away from home for so long now; it’s been especially comfortable since he managed to teach his Big Ugly Grey Fingers to turn pages without ripping them, and he learned that he can kind of read most of the words if he squints hard enough. these past few moons have been more peaceful than any of the other ones -- it’s much easier to convince himself to stay still if he can focus on someone else’s story, instead of wasting the whole night wandering around and being melancholy.

getting brave about his improved dexterity, he’d also tried to bring his phone out with him last month. but it didn’t go as well - tapping in a password doesn’t work when your fingertips are claws and Siri does not parse weird wolfy noises. smashing his phone so easily was a nasty wake-up call, reminding him that no matter how much he tries to make things feel normal out here, they never will be.

oh... did i finish this book already?

he squints as he carefully reads the last paragraph of his novel. he recognizes the words on the last page of both of the other books, meaning that he’d read them all and then forgotten.he groans audibly, but immediately cuts himself off as the sound comes out too loud, too... scary.

he’s always hated to re-read books, so he resigns to settle in for another night of Nothing.

he supposes he can’t complain that much, because being bored and alone for 12+ hours is much better than any alternative. the pros of being in his own mind far outweigh the cons (even if his inner monologue tends to hurt him sometimes.)

he gets up to wander after a little while, knowing that being under the moonlight is the best way to calm down his mind.

he walks up the side of the creek for a while. his usual daydreams start to take over as the moon slowly angles herself higher over his head, cool light washing him and almost soothing his nerves.

there’s one daydream that he sees often.

it changes from time to time, but the gist is the same: a too-perfect scenario in his head where his best friend is out here with him, where he’s not too afraid to tell her the truth, where she’s not too afraid of him, where he can finally show her this forest and everything he loves about it and share with her all that love he feels pouring down from the moon. where he doesn’t have to be alone out here and left with only his thoughts to keep him company.

of course he knows it’ll never happen. his eunji is brave about many things, but inho is not -- at least once a week he finds himself in a thought loop where he’s just terrified of losing the only person other than grandma who makes him feel safe.

as often as those pretty daydreams play out in his mind, the Bad thoughts paint pictures in his mind too, uninvited -- though none of them are things he’s ever seen in person, there are horrible visions. visions of eun looking at him in an expression of disgust -- a mirror of that of the teacher who once tried to get him taken away years ago. visions of her looking at him like he’s a stranger. visions of her looking at him with fear in her eyes. her running away from him. and even worse, her--

inho knows where the Ugly part of his brain tends to go next, and he knows he’ll end up spiraling if he lets himself go there. so he shuts it down quickly, stopping to vigorously shake his head as his stomach churns with nausea and a sour taste fills his mouth.

don’t think, don’t think about anything, he tells himself as he looks up. there’s nobody else out here to worry about. just me and the moon. yeah...

he inhales deeply, and then breathes out slow, closing his eyes as his anxiety slowly starts to drain out of him, the energy from the moonlight filling the empty space left behind. like this, he starts to feel okay. to let himself feel okay.

but that doesn’t last very long.

he jolts as a familiar hunger rips through him, and he lowers his head again, a hand coming up to press down on his abdomen. it hits so suddenly that it’s alarming. mostly because inho knows exactly what it means. oh no no nonono.

he crouches in the bush, heart racing. he stares towards the sound of rustling with wide eyes, fearful, but not for himself.

hey - HEY, no! not this way!

he starts shaking the bush in front of him, stomping his feet, growling pathetically, doing everything he can to scare off the whatever-it-is, even as pain stabs his stomach when the earthy scent of an animal enters his nose without his permission.

panic spikes in his chest as he watches as a little white bunny hop out into the open.

don’t, he thinks, taking an unsteady step back. don’t be stupid! there’s a monster here! go away!

inho is definitely making a racket now, but the bunny is too far away to hear it. it’s upwind and apparently incapable of smelling him, either, stopping to groom its fluffy fur in the moonlight. inho drags his claws down his face, groaning, pulling on tough skin as if he could just take it off.

after a moment of this, he gets an idea. in desperation, he tears a large green leaf from the branch in front of him and stuffs it in his mouth.

he chews aggressively. there. salad! this is fine. i won’t be so hungry now. yeah--

it only takes about five seconds for the Wolf to spit it all back out in a fit of dramatics, inho’s brain taken over with BLEGH VEGETABLES NO VEGETABLES EW EW EW on loop as he frantically scrapes the horrible taste off his tongue.

when he looks up, he doesn’t see the bunny in that ray of moonlight anymore, and relief floods him as, just for a second, he thinks that it smartened up and ran away. he eases a little, shoulders sinking, until that scent hits him much stronger and every hair on his body stands up.

it’s only a few yards away now.

are you serious!? dumb stupid idiot bunny, just run away! please run away --

the anger and frustration he feels towards the little thing only serves to ramp up the other, more feral, feelings. chest heaving, he can feel his own mind slipping from him a little, as the one Big thought shoves itself to the front --

HUNGRY.

there’s enough of inho left in there to feel despair, though -- the voice in his head crying out not again not again in time with the loud thumping of his heart. his body tenses, and though he wants to run in the other direction more than anything, his eyes remain fixed on the rabbit, his feet rooted to the ground.

this has happened too many times for inho to not know what happens next.

i’m sorry... i’m sorry... you’re so cute... i’m sorry...

the next thing he feels is the wind whipping past him as he jumps out of the bush.

[ WEDNESDAY, GRANDMA’S HOUSE. ]

“i’m sorry--”

-- it’s that phrase that he says again and again into the toilet bowl the next day, shaking uncontrollably, hunched over like that until every trace of rabbit is out of his system.

he’s inconsolable for the remainder of the weekend, sitting there in the bathroom alone except for when grandma sets down a cup of water or his wolfsbane flask on the sink next to him, or gently brushes fingers through his hair. he eventually takes a shower, then passes out and wakes up a day later in his own bed, slowly feeling himself again as he gets ready for grandma to drive him back to school the next day. he’s all smiles for grandma after, but his heart hurts.

i’m too tired, grandma, he wants to say, but he knows she’ll just get sad that she can’t fix it for him, so he stays quiet.

[ FRIDAY, HIGH SCHOOL MESS HALL. ]

it’s usually only eunji who will notice when something’s off, as good as inho thinks he is at hiding it. but it’s a little more obvious this time, he guesses, as their whole lunch table stares at him pulling Green things out of his lunch bag for the first time since... ever.

“uh, inho? where’s your real lunch?” eun asks.

“this is my real lunch,” inho replies, not looking at her.

“oh...” he can feel her gaze, the attention making his own cheeks warm. “even that... is that just a leaf of lettuce...?”

inho meets her gaze now as he nods, breaks off a piece, and places it on his tongue. ugh. he chews for a painfully long moment, swallows, then gives a very forced smile. “oh, i forgot to tell you... i’m vegan now.”

eun seems to choke a little on her food (a very delicious-looking piece of stir-fried duck that her mom no doubt prepared for her today... inho tries not to salivate.)

she blinks several times. “that’s new,” she seems like she’s trying to be nice about it, but he can see the utter confusion on her face as she’s no doubt remembering that inho had five(5) hamburgers the last time they went out.

“yes,” inho says, dumbly, unsure of what else to say. this is so awkward... of course she knows this isn’t normal.

eun is looking down at her own lunch box, and inho can’t help but to follow her gaze to the duck. his stomach gurgles, but the feeling is nothing like the agony he feels during the full moon so he can handle it. and he will -- no matter what, he’s done with eating animals. he’s sick of how gross it feels. and if he gets used to vegetables, maybe he’ll be able to control himself when he’s out there next month. maybe one day he won’t have to crave bunnies or squirrels or deer or humans ever again.

“okay, but can i ask why? do you... like vegetables now or something?”

he doesn’t answer the second question, because his lie would be far too obvious. he takes another bite of his Nothing Sandwich, and eun waits while he chews. he answers after a moment with a shrug: “i think i just need a change.”

eun peers at him. “we’re about to graduate, and then start at college soon... those are big changes already, don’t you think?”

he thinks about his reply for a second. "maybe i want to start at pocheon as a new man?” he keeps his tone light, but there’s a note of sadness there that he hopes she doesn’t notice.

eun takes a sip of her drink and then speaks. “being vegan isn’t going to make you a different person, inho...”

inho looks down at his gross, ugly, stupid rabbit food. “i know. i mean, i’ll change other stuff too.” he wants to, at least he thinks so. as much as he’s felt content having eunji as his Number One all these years, he knows he should start to branch out a little if he wants to actually experience all of the things that he hasn’t yet. things that he can’t experience with eun...

“well, i support you of course, but...”

there’s a pause, long enough for inho to glance back up at eun, who he catches looking at him with an unreadable expression on her face. she looks away quickly, and swallows. her voice comes out a little hushed, almost too quiet for him to hear. “i don’t think you need to change. you’re fine just like this.” though her face is turned away her expression makes it seem like she’s saying a little more than that. like it’s something closer to i don’t want you to.

inho blinks once, twice, and then his eyelashes flutter a little as he looks away, pretending to stare at something else to the side. something stirs in his chest -- something weird and sad, but there’s something else too?

“um,” he stammers and rubs the back of his neck, scrambling to find words. “i-- i mean, we’ll still be best friends, no matter what. yeah?” eun still doesn’t look at him. “we’ll still go out to eat, i just won’t be getting barbecue... unless they barbecue vegetables? that might taste good, actually,” (he does not believe that.) “-- and i can still eat fries too, i think. so it won’t be that different. and they make vegan ice cream now...”

his attempt to babble to her until she’s comforted seems to work somewhat, because she offers him a smile with her nod.

gradually, they ease back into regular conversation about exams and girl groups and the usual things, as inho very obviously struggles to keep down the lunch he packed for himself.

yeah, i'll change a little, he thinks, even as a piece of broccoli almost triggers his gag reflex. you’ll see, he affirms in his head, though he doesn’t know who he’s talking to.

#( * solo )#╰ ♡ ✧ ˖ stealing the light as you pierce through the clouds ┊ ft. eun .#( can u see why he hates beastars DFJSDHDF. it triggered him TT #tw animal death #tw violence #tw emetophobia #tw anxiety

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meepface · 7 years ago

Text

i’m kind of having a panic attack about school starting tomorrow so i am just trying to distract myself feel free to ignore me

(1) Do You Sleep With Your Closet Doors Open Or Closed?

closed

(2) Do You Have Freckles?

i used to have a lot as a kid but they kinda went away but you can still sorta see them. when i’m out in the sun a lot though they come out and it makes me so happy i wish they would stay like that

(3) Can You Whistle?

not very well

(4) Last Song You Listened To.

Most Girls by Hailee Steinfeld, honestly this song is such a bop n it makes me !!!!!!!

(5) What Is Your Favourite Colour?

cerulean blue and yellow

(6) Relationship Status.

taken !!

(7) What Is The Temperature Right Now?

78F !! it’s nice n cool, thanks Harvey

(8) Did You Wake Up Cranky?

probably

(9) How Many Followers?

3,933

(10) Zodiac Sign.

aries

(11) What Is Your Eye Colour?

green

(12) Take A Vitamin Daily?

(13) Do You Sing In The Shower?

no but i dance sometimes lol

(14) What Books Are You Reading?

furiously happy by jenny lawson lmao i keep forgetting im reading it though so i haven’t gotten very far

(15) Grab The Book Nearest To You, Turn To Page 64, Give Me Line 14.

“Sometimes she wondered if the shape of his eyes effected how he saw things” - this sounds bad out of context

(16) Favourite Anime?

rwby

(17) Last Person You Cried In Front Of?

caitlin

(18) Do You Collect Anything?

hats, i used to collect stuffed animals, bouncy balls and littlest petshops when i was a kid though lmao

(19) What Did You Have For Lunch?

chicken bites from whataburger

(20) Do You Dance In The Car?

definitely

(21) Favourite Animal?

i like grizzly bears and bunnies

(22) Do You Watch The Olympics?

yes my family and i get into them usually

(23) What Time Do You Usually Go To Bed?

lately like 1:30 AM but hopefully earlier tonight since i have school in the morning lmao kms

(24) Are You Wearing Makeup Right Now?

yeah i need to take this shit off i am ready for beddd

(25) Do You Prefer To Swim In A Pool Or The Ocean?

pool

(26) Favourite Tumblr Blog?

slimetony

(27) Bottled Water Or Tap Water?

bottled

(28) What Makes You Happy?

i’ve been really into watching slam poetry videos lately

(29) Post A Gif Of What You’re Currently Feeling Right Now.

(30) Do You Study Better With Or Without Music?

depends on my mood but usually without or if it’s chill songs that i’ve heard one million times before so i can just tune em out

(31) Dogs Or Cats?

dogs

(32) If You Were A Crayon What Colour Would You Be?

a bright obnoxious yellow

(33) PlayStation Or Xbox.

xbox

(34) Would You Swim In The Lake Or Ocean?

yeah i’d swim in both, i enjoy lakes a lil more than the ocean though

(35) Do You Believe In Magic?

(36) What Colour Shirt Are You Wearing?

a light gray sweater

(37) Can You Curl Your Tongue?

no but i can make it do that clover thing

(38) Do You Save Money Or Spend It?

save unless i’m really sad and have free time bc in that case i buy myself $70 of new clothes to make myself temporarily feel better

(39) Is There Anything Pink Within 10 Feet Of You?

a coloring book w a pink cover

(40) Do You Have Any Obsessions Right Now?

wouldn’t say obsession but i’ve been really into blackbear’s music, the my favorite murder podcast, videos of people exploring abandoned places and hi-chew candies lately

(41) Have You Ever Caught A Butterfly?

yes i caught a monarch one time when i was little and i accidentally touched its wing and my mom told me if i touch their wings they could die and i cried about it

(42) Are You Easily Influenced By Other People?

yeah lol i try not to be but i definitely have no idea how to be my own person at all whatsoever. no clue who i am

(43) Do You Have Strange Dreams?

i had one where i was shot in the back of my workplace and died kinda recently and it really freaked me out bc i’ve never had a dream that i died in so i’ve been doin a lot of research about the meaning of dreams lately lmao

(44) Do You Like Going On Airplanes?

i enjoy airports and being on planes but not after the initial excitement is over and then you have to wait for like 5 hours

(45) Name One Movie That Made You Cry.

i cried like a baby when i watched hachiko

(46) Peanuts Or Sunflower Seeds?

sunflower seeds for sure

(47) If I Handed You A Concert Ticket Right Now, Who Would You Want The Performer To Be?

blackbear

(48) Are You A Picky Eater?

nah i don’t think i’m that picky, i will try just about everything

(49) Are You A Heavy Sleeper?

i want to say no but i have slept through a fire alarm before so idk. it takes me forever to fall asleep though it’s the worst

(50) Do You Fear Thunder / Lightning?

not at all

(51) Do You Like To Read / Write?

i love writing even though i don’t think i’m all that good and i used to love to read but now i just have depression

(52) Do You Like Your Music Loud?

yes unless i’m feelin overwhelmed then i like a nice soft playlist of chill music. i’m listening to the lumineers’ cleopatra album real softly right now and it’s so nice

(53) Would You Rather Carve Pumpkins Or Wrap Presents?

i’m bad at both but probably carve a pumpkin

(54) Put Your Music On Shuffle, What Is The First Song That Came Up?

destroyer // saint motel

(55) What Season Are You In Right Now? (Weather)

summer

(56) What Are You Craving Right Now?

takis lmao idk why i’ve been intensely craving those lately bc they always make me so sick but they’re sooooo good

(57) Post A Screenshot Of Your Tumblr Feed.

nothing nsfw tonight

(58) What Is Your Gender?

female

(59) Coffee Or Tea?

coffee

(60) Do You Have Any Homework Right Now? If So, What Is It About?

school hasn’t even started for me but i still had homework today lmao i finished it a few hours ago but it was a quick quiz over the syllabus for history. if you did it before the class met you got 1 point added to your overall grade at the end of the semester and i’m bad at history so you know i was all over that

(61) What Is Your Sexuality?

bi but probably gay i really don’t know i never experimented quite enough

(62) Do You Make Your Bed In The Morning?

no i don’t believe in that

(63) Favourite Pokemon?

espeon

(64) Favourite Social Media?

instagram

(65) What’s Your Opinion On Instagram Stories?

they’re fine i just always forget to watch them or use them. i like the boomerangs though

(66) Do You Get Homesick?

i mostly just miss having time by myself in my room to just chill

67) Are You A Virgin?

(68) What Shampoo And Conditioner Are You Using Right Now?

idk pantene something and it smells so good

(69) If You Were Far From Home And Needed To Sleep For The Night, Would You Choose To Rent A Crappy Motel Room For $60 Or Sleep In Your Car For Free?

probably the motel, i’d feel safer

(70) Are Both Of Your Blood Parents Still In Your Life?

yes

(71) Whats The Next Movie You Want To See In Theaters?

It!!! i wanna see it with my brother realllll bad

(72) Do You Miss Your Ex?

not oooooone bit

(73) What Is Your Favourite Quote Right Now?

"look. life is bad. evryones sad. we're all gona die. but i alredy bought this inflatable boumcy castle so r u gona take ur shoes off or wat"

(74) What Eye Colour Do You Find Sexiest?

i mean i wouldn’t say sexiest i think that depends on the person but i feel like brown eyes are jus like, deeper u know. i love em

(75) Did You Like Swinging As A Child? Do You Still Get Excited When You See A Swing Set?

yes yes

(76) What Was The Last Thing You Ate?

some lays limon chips bc i didn’t eat enough dinner

(77) What Games Do You Have On Your Phone?

flow, gin rummy (my personal fave), 1010, gardenscapes, tiny tower, tripeaks, snake vs block, ballz, adcap and this morning i downloaded dumb ways to die and roll the ball bc i am bored w the games i have and wanted to play smth else

78) Would You Give A Homeless Person CPR If They Were Dying? Why Or Why Not?

i would if i knew CPR but i do not so i would try to find someone that does so i don’t waste time trying and doing it wrong

(79) Been On The Computer For 5 Hours Straight?

yeah probably but i don’t do that so much anymore

(80) Stalked Someone On A Social Network?

not like stalk in the bad way but i’ve checked up on people and i’ve done some digging before

(81) Do You Like Meeting New People?

it makes me anxious but i really like meeting new people

(82) Do You Wear Rings? If You Do, Take A Picture Of Them.

i just wear this one!! it’s my gf and i’s promise ring, she got em for us as our 1 year anniversary gift and i wear it every day

(83) Do You Sleep With Your Bedroom Door Open Or Closed?

closed !!!

(84) What Are Three Things You Did Today?

1. i had lunch with my girlfriend 2. i picked my brother up from school and we talked shit 3. i had a full blown panic attack about school being tomorrow

(85) What Do You Wear To Bed?

usually just underwear but if i’m cold i’ll wear a big t-shirt too

(86) List All Of Your Different Beauty Products You Have Right Now.

(87) Are You A Day Or Night Person?

night

(88) List All Of Your Video Games On Your Phone, Console Etc.

answered the phone on already but i have sooo many games bc my brother plays a lot of videogames lmao but i have an xbox 360, an xbox one, a playstation 2, and a wii and i have a ton of games for each of those that we’ve collected overtime lmao, plus some for our old PC and i also have access to everything my brother buys on steam. out of all that i only really play call of duty, LA noire, GTA V, just dance, harvest moon for wii ?? that’s it lol, i’ve been meaning to play life is strange and gone home and the wolf among us though

(89) Tell Me About A Dream That You Had And When It Happened.

had a really bad nightmare recently that someone was robbing my workplace and killed my best friend, Caitlin and my brother in front of me and then we went on business as usual like nothing happened and it was so scarring i honestly only think about that when i think about my dreams anymore

(90) Favourite Soda Drink?

coke

(91) What Sounds Are Your Favourite?

i like real ambient upbeat music that you’d listen to on like a road trip or smth

(92) Do You Wear Jeans Or Sweats More?

jeans but only bc my favorite pair of sweats got bleach all over em and i keep forgetting to go buy some new ones

(93) How Do You Look Right Now?

like an undercooked fish fillet

(94) Ever Had Any Suicidal Thoughts?

oooooooo boy have i

(95) Name Something That Relaxes You.

soft music, driving, my girlfriend when she talks real gently to me n rubs my back

(96) What Tattoo Do You Want?

right now i am tryin to decide if i wanna get a big ol B&W half-sleeve of sunflowers on my right arm

(97) Favourite YouTuber?

still love grace helbig a lot bc she’s funny n i have a crush on her but i’ve been binging elijah and christine so much lately

(98) Post A Picture Of Yourself.

this was me yesterday when i let my hair do it’s natural thing and i looked like a lion. i was into it though

(99) Do You Have Any Illnesses?

my brain is not a good one but thas ok it happens

(100) Favourite Place To Relax?

my room or my car

#like if ya read #long post #about me

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superbearfun · 8 years ago

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The day began well enough. Much colder than a few days before and with a light coating of overnight snow on the ground, but otherwise fine for a weekend morning in early March. The daffodils had been blooming all week, along with white-flowering Bartlett Pears and other trees budding and coming into bloom. Yellow forsythias were just beginning to stretch and awaken, as well. In the tree tops, Cardinals were still singing despite the snow and cold, seemingly to encourage Spring warmth to quickly return.

Peacefully savoring a hot cup of breakfast tea, the day took a turn when Little Red Bear came thru the door, accompanied by my writing muse, hovering alongside. If you have never seen a writing muse, or at least mine – so chances are you haven’t – just picture a sweet and kindly fairy in your mind, but with a “my way or the highway, don’t cross me” attitude.

“Jim, I want to talk to you about something,” Little Red Bear blurted out.

“Hi,” I replied. “And good morning to you too, Red.”

“Yeah, yeah. Good morning. I want to talk to you about something.”

“Go ahead, Red. What’s on your mind?”

“Jim,” Little Red Bear began, “I want to add another character to the stories.

“What now?” I replied, aware that we had already over-filled our story character recruitment goal for “The Second Holler Over!” story collection underway now, and greatly exceeded the budget with the recently published “Pine Holler Christmas” story.

“A dog. I want to have a dog in the stories.”

“We already have a dog coming into the stories – remember? Ol’ Blue. And we just added the Barker House Blues Band, as well. They’re going to appear with Banjo the Bluegrass Bunny at the benefit concert later in the summer.”

“Well, I want one more.”

“Why?”

“Because.”

“Because is not a reason.”

“Because – I want to.”

“That’s still not a reason.”

“It’s good enough for me.”

“Not for me. Not a reason.”

At times like these I look back thankfully for a patience skill developed, sometimes agonizingly, over many years of raising four children.

“I want to add a dog to the stories.”

“We have already added Ol’ Blue.”

“Yeah. But his name says it all – Ol’ Blue – ‘old. O – L – apostrophe – D. Old. He just lays around on the front porch or by the fireplace reminiscing about the past.”

“Well, he had a very interesting past. That’s why we decided to add him. Remember?”

Ol’ Blue, the Bluetick Coonhound (retired)

“Well then, I want to add another dog to the stories.”

“Why Red? Please tell me why you want to add another dog to the stories when we are already overflowing with new characters for the next collection.”

“Well, because . . . . I want a dog . . . . and . . . . Cinnamon Charlie would like having a dog around to play with. Yeah, Cinnamon Charlie — he wants a dog, too.”

“He plays around with Goat.”

“We need a dog. A watch dog. Nobody has a ‘watch goat’. To keep an eye out for the weasels poking around all the time.”

“The little fox sheriff, Albuquerque Red, takes care of that. He oversees weasel patrols.”

“Jim, now listen up here, ‘cause apparently from what I can see, you just ain’t hearin’ me well this morning. I – want – a – dog.”

Little Red Bear crossed his arms, firmly planted his right foot on the floor and then started pattering his large left foot on the floorboards of the cabin. He did seem determined and it was obvious he had his mind made up. But stories can only have so many characters and surely there must be a limit. Somewhere.

“Red, now you listen up. You know very well what the ‘writing rules’ people say. Too many characters can be confusing and make it hard for readers to keep track, and slows down the story pace. They tell writers to consolidate many characters into one. Clean – fast – snappy – to the point, start to finish. Everybody wants to hurry and get to the finish nowadays. That’s what they say. Too many characters and cooks spoil the broth.”

“Well, Mr. Fancy Writing Rules – we ain’t makin’ no broth. Are we? Or soup. Or stew. Need I remind you that we are telling old-fashioned, family-friendly stories, not modern, fast-paced thrillers? One of your own favorite writers is William Faulkner, who could take one sentence and spin it into a paragraph. Folks back then called it ‘artful and colorful writing.’ Now the rules people want everything bare bones, ‘zip-zip.’ And don’t you always and adamantly maintain that you don’t follow any rules, and openly defy the ‘writing rules police’ anyway?”

“But . . . .”

“There ain’t no ‘buts’ about it. Now Jim, listen here. You, your very own self, described our slower paced stories as being told at a pace of ‘country comfortable’. Those were your own words. I didn’t think that up – you did. And it’s you who always contend that readers today already have enough helter-skelter, hurry-up stories and stress in their lives and need somewhere to go to slow down and relax. To take time to smell the wildflowers and listen to the songbirds, and to reconnect with Mother Nature. Read and let the story unfold at a leisurely pace. That’s what our stories are about. And I don’t see how adding one more character – a dog – is going to harm anything. And what reader worth their salt doesn’t love a dog?”

It’s hard to argue back when getting beat with your own logic.

“But the character list has already grown so long, Red. It’s getting harder and harder trying to fit everyone into the stories and give them a job. Now you want to add yet another.”

“Well, you’re the writer, Jim. You’ll figure it out. And besides, you always assert that the stories are supposed to be Entertaining, Informative and Educational. How can we inform or educate folks about new animals, critters, flowers, trees, nature, and such, if we never meet them or talk about them in the stories? You can’t consolidate a chipmunk, a raccoon, a porcupine and a turkey vulture into one character no matter what the ‘writing police’ say. There ain’t no such creature. That’s fantasy then, not education. Have an answer for that one? Are you going to just sit there and let the ‘writing police’ tell you what you can and can’t do? Huh?!?”

(We couldn’t find a good Writing Rules sign for you anywhere, so Little Red Bear brought back this one, saying it was the same principle.)

Scratching the top of my head, I closed my eyes and thought for a minute, a curious habit picked up from working with Little Red Bear thru the years. He wasn’t playing fair, because he challenged my strongly independent nature and disdain for ‘rules’. I then looked over at my writing muse, still hovering in place beside Little Red Bear and impatiently tapping her wand in her hand, with a “you better do this” look on her face.

“I’m not going to win this argument, am I?”

“Nope,” Little Red Bear replied with a grin while patting me on the back of my shoulders, “you’re not. Now, why don’t you just busy yourself with writing that new dog into the stories and I’ll go start getting a spot ready for him to stay.”

Little Red Bear turned to leave, stopped and came back towards me.

“And make sure it’s a big dog. Not some little froufrou, yappy type. I’m a bear and need a big, burly dog to keep up with me. And if Cinnamon Charlie goes wrestling with some little teeny dog he might break it. Someone sizable and strong to guard against the weasels, like me.”

“How about an ox instead?”

“I don’t want no dadgum ox! I want a dog. A big one!”

“Yeah – big dog – got it. Anything else?”

“With a loud bark to scare away weasels and trespassers.”

“Okay. One big, noisy dog.”

“And brown. I like brown. Kinda reddish-brown, like me. And white. And maybe a touch of black here and there. And a long, bushy tail.”

“Anything else that you want on it? Racing stripes? Polka dots? Dancing shoes? Power windows?”

“Well now you’re bein’ silly. Just get busy and add the dog, please.”

Little Red Bear turned once again to leave, only to wheel back around, shaking his right paw at me in a scolding manner.

“One more thing. No tricks like you did to me with that mini pig Swinestein that I couldn’t understand or talk to in the first set of stories! I had to spend all last winter learning how to speak ‘Pig’. I want to be able to talk with this dog.”

With that, Little Red Bear went back outside and I was left to be overseen by my writing muse to make sure I got busy, with a now very cold cup of tea.

“Hey, Charlie!”, I heard Little Red Bear call out. “We got the dog!”

Note to self – “add a dog – a BIG one.”

What kind of dog do you think we should find for Little Red Bear in the next story collection? And what should we name it? Please feel free to add your suggestions in the comments, and we’ll have some fun. — Jim (and Red!)

Family Times — Together Times — The Best Times!

Children + Nature + Outdoors = Happy, Healthy Balanced Kids

“The Adventures of Little Red Bear” Short Stories on Amazon.

Old-fashioned, Family-friendly Stories and Fun for All Ages and Fitness Levels!

About an Uncommonly Special Bear and His Friends.

Tap Here For A Free Preview!

Finding A Dog For Little Red Bear! The day began well enough. Much colder than a few days before and with a light coating of overnight snow on the ground, but otherwise fine for a weekend morning in early March.

#bears #children #childrens literature #collection of Short Stories #Dogs #Family #Little Red Bear #Reading With Children #short stories #writing

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oniusagimaru · 6 years ago

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[Akutagawa/Atsushi Fanfiction] Collide (5/?)

Title: Collide Pairings: Akutagawa/Atsushi, Akuatsu Author: Oniusagimaru Rating: T Warnings: None Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters Summary: All it takes is one chance meeting and Atsushi’s life slowly becomes tangled up in Akutagawa Ryuunosuke’s. This has to be some kind of cosmic joke. A/N: In case anyone wants to know, the idol game in question is heavily based on THE iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls: Starlight Stage because I’ve been playing it the longest

The day after Akutagawa had bolted from his apartment, Atsushi tried to confront him about what happened since it was a…strange turn of events. Instead of being ignored, the other had gathered up his things and moved himself to the other side of the classroom. He sat in stunned silence for the remained of class. As soon as everyone was dismissed, Akutagawa made a beeline for the door and didn’t bother looking in Dazai’s direction when he was addressed.

His teacher quirked a curious brow in his direction, and Atsushi could only hold his hands up defensively. He couldn't tell Dazai a thing when he himself hadn’t wrap his head around the other's strange behavior. The same thing happened three more time, and it finally clicked that Akutagawa wasn’t being his usual rude self when the other fled in the opposite direction once their eyes met in the hallway.

Akutagawa Ryuunosuke, the biggest pain in the ass Atsushi has ever had the displeasure of meeting, was avoiding him.

Atsushi would’ve found the situation far funnier if it weren’t for the fact that he and Akutagawa needed to communicate. So, after having himself a good laugh, he went about trying to solve the problem. Since Akutagawa was avoiding him like the plague, Atsushi had to go to the next best source for information: Gin. The downside to relying on her was that Gin’s visits on campus were random, so an entire week went by before Atsushi managed to see her again.

He explained the situation to her, and as soon as he mentioned Akutagawa’s odd behavior following the chipper voice that emitted from his phone, Gin damn near doubled over in laughter. When she finally stopped, she confessed that her brother had been acting strange for some reason, but to hear that she believed Akutagawa was avoiding him due to embarrassment caused Atsushi to stare at her in shock. What was there to be embarrassed about? She said her brother might have accidentally opened an ‘idol game’ without headphones, and Instead of telling him more, Gin pulled out her phone. Atsushi watched as she turned her phone sideways while pressing on an app.

Though the voice was different, he was still greeted with the same phrase that had caused Akutagawa to flee his apartment. A girl dressed as a secretary welcomed them back as she presented a ‘log-in gift’ consisting of a rainbow-colored gem and what looked like an energy drink. With a bow she disappeared, the screen changing to a picture of another girl dressed in intricate, colorful clothing striking a dynamic pose, and Gin’s right thumb tapped the ‘LIVE’ option on the menu without hesitation. She chose a song from the long list that popped up, one he’d never heard of, and the screen went black before a countdown began to flash.

Little orbs began to descend quickly from the upper part of the screen, falling in time with the beat of the song the girls in the background sang and danced to. What moved even quicker were Gin’s thumbs, and Atsushi was mesmerized combo score on the side of the screen kept going up well into the hundreds. By the time the song ended Gin had gotten a ‘full combo’, and Atsushi was at a loss of words.

It was hard to image that someone as irritable, aloof, and intimidating as Akutagawa would enjoy something that looked so upbeat. That might’ve been the problem; he’d accidently saw a glimpse of something personal to Akutagawa, and the other only saw fit to distance himself as far as possible from him. Unfortunately, that didn’t work in either of their favors. Atsushi told Gin of the arrangement Dazai had made for them, and after a moment of silence, she announced that she had an idea.

The coming Sunday would be her brother’s day off from work, so she invited him over so the two of them could (attempt to) work on their assignment. Atsushi rightfully freaked out, turning her invitation down politely because, well, Akutagawa would kill him. That day he learned Gin could be just as stubborn as her brother, and within a minute she had broken his resolve. They exchanged phone numbers, and before leaving she said it’d be all right if he brought his sister along.

She left zero room for him to protest.

The days leading up to Sunday were tense, because it was clear that Gin hadn’t told her brother about his coming visit since he was still avoiding him. He feared that one day he’d walk on campus and Akutagawa would pounce on him, beating him for daring to even speak to his sister again. To distract himself from the thought of his potential beating, Atsushi downloaded the idol game that’d been the cause of Akutagawa’s behavior shift. He knew of idols (a fairly popular group got their start in Yokohama that Kyouka liked) and rhythm games, but it was his first time seeing the two combined.

Gin made playing the game look easy, and even though Atsushi knew it was from practice, he wasn’t ready for just grueling the gameplay could be. Hidden behind the smiles of cute girls lied a game that tested one’s endurance and hand-eye coordination, neither of which Atsushi possessed. Any live he played above the easy difficulty ended with him barely making a combo or passing…at least the girls commended his efforts which eased the sting of how terrible he’d done. At one point he texted Gin asking if she could give him any pointers, but was shocked to learn that her brother played far better than she did.

He also learned that Gin really liked to use emojis.

When the day finally arrived, he invited Kyouka to go along with him, and his sister nervously fiddled with the strap of her shoulder bag the entire way. Atsushi had his own reasons to be nervous; as far as he knew Akutagawa didn’t know they were coming, and the dread of dealing with that confrontation made his stomach churn uncomfortably. ‘If I’m there, everything will be all right’ Gin had reassured him, but her words did nothing to calm him down the closer they got. Upon reading the find train stop, he was hit with a wave of anxiety that must’ve read on his face, because the next thing he knew Kyouka was tugging at his sleeve and asking if he was okay.

What an awful big brother was…His sister was clearly anxious, yet she pushed her feelings down enough to worry more about him, something he should’ve been doing for her. Yes, he feared Akutagawa killing him, yes, the unease of being invited over to someone’s place for the first time gnawed at him, but first and foremost he was should’ve been looking out for Kyouka. Atsushi took a deep breath before taking her hand, his lips quirking up into a small smile as he tells her he’s fine and that everything was going to be okay. She nodded slowly, her grip around his hand tightening as they left the station.

Atsushi did a decent job keeping himself calm for Kyouka’s sake, but as soon as he stood in front of the door belonging to the Akutagawa’s apartment, it felt like the ground disappeared from under him. He wanted to run, to be a bit selfish and say to hell with Dazai’s threatening assignment, but…abandoning the whole thing left an awful taste in his mouth. Sometimes he really was too duty bound for his own damn good.

With a groan he raises a fist to knock, only stopping once he hears something on the other side of the door. It was a high pitch…’boof’? He doesn’t have time to process it because the door suddenly swings open, Gin greeting the two of them with a bright smile. Atsushi feels Kyouka tense up next to him.

“You made it!” she says while stepping to the side, motioning for them to come in, “Ryuu should be up soon, so you can wait in the living room. Oh, and don’t mind Ra-chan.”

“A-Ah, all right.”

As he slips into the apartment, his sister close behind him, Atsushi wonders who this ‘Ra-chan’ is. Gin hadn’t mention anyone else joining them, but as he removed his shoes he notices Kyouka staring at something. Raising an eyebrow, he follows her line of sight, stopping once he sees a black, puffball like figure peaking around the side of the couch. Atsushi notes the skull shaped tag dangling from a light blue collar, and he doesn’t have to wonder who’d been responsible for that. Pointy ears twitch as Atsushi steps further into the apartment, and beside him he can see an unmistakable sparkle in his sister’s eyes.

Kyouka wants to the pet the dog so badly, and Atsushi knows it’s taking all her self restrain to not run over and do so. Truth be told, Atsushi can’t blame her…the dog is cute. He hears Gin give off an amused sound as she closes the door, his cheeks flushing slightly at how transparent he and his sister look.

“His name is Rashomon. He’s a bit wary of strangers, but I’m sure he’ll warm up to you in no time,” Gin says, and Atsushi can see Kyouka’s eyes ablaze with determination.

The now named Rashomon continues to stare, though his ears stand a bit straighter as he snaps his head in another direction. Atsushi watches as little paws scurry across the floor, and he can’t help but feel disappointed as the dog vanishes around a corner. He and Kyouka sit on the small couch as Gin briefly retreats to the kitchen, and she returns holding a tray of cookies and tea.

“Your brother said you liked bunnies, so I tried to make the cookies look like them. Although, I think some of them came out a little messy,” Gin says as she gives off a nervous laugh.

Kyouka looks surprised that she’s being addressed, but she quickly shakes her head.

“No, they look really cute,” Kyouka says while picking one of the cookies up. “The last batch I made fused into one big cookie when I baked them.”

“I’m sure they still tasted good.”

Atsushi can’t help but smile. His sister isn’t the most social person, and even though she was asked to be a stand in for sports clubs, he’d never once seen her take an interest in joining any. Kyouka never mentioned friends or even people she spoke to at school, and one of her teachers had even expressed to him that they were worried about how closed off she was. So, to see her easily talking to someone else, even smiling, makes Atsushi feel light.

That feeling is quickly replaced with one of utter horror as the sound of footsteps reach his ears. They’re being accompanied by the ‘tap, tap, tap’ of little paws hitting the ground, and it’s clear that Rashomon had disappeared to retrieve his other owner. Atsushi sucks in a breath as Akutagawa comes into view, the other yawning as he runs his fingers through his hair. He takes a step in the direction of the kitchen but suddenly stop, and Atsushi braces for what he knows is coming. Akutagawa slowly turns to look at him, eyes wide and face full of shock.

“…What the hell are you doing here?”

The shocked look on his face quickly turns to anger, and Atsushi wonders briefly if he can grab Kyouka and run for the door before Akutagawa decides to strangle him.

“I invited him and his sister over,” Gin says without missing a beat.

“What? Why-?”

“Because you two have an important assignment to do. You’re usually so diligent when it comes to your school work, so I was disappointed to find out you’ve been slacking.”

Akutagawa shoots him a heated look, but after a short while he clicks his tongue and averts his gaze. He hesitates for second once his sister tells him to have a seat next to her, and he lets out a frustrated sounding sigh as he does so, arms crossing as he mutters something inaudible. Atsushi knows this is great opportunity to start a conversation with Akutagawa, but the situation is still freaking him out. He nervously fiddles with his fingers as he listens to Kyouka and Gin talk about baking, but once the discussion turns to the two of them actually baking, he knows he needs to get his shit together and fast.

Maybe he could talk about Rashomon who’s lounging by Akutagawa’s feet, but there’s a chance the other will catch on that he’s far more interested in his dog than talking to him. Honestly, he’d much rather have a one-sided conversation with the dog. It’s then that he notices what Akutagawa is wearing, or more specifically what is printed on his black t-shirt. Across the bottom in bold white letters is the fictional production company name from the idol game, and on the right side of his chest is the signature of one of the girls. He squints to see whose name is written there, and once he finally makes it out, he sits up a bit straighter.

“You, um…like Satomi?” he says, and Akutagawa tenses up.

His fingers grip his shirt, and Atsushi acts fast before he can run, or worse yet, glare at him with murder in his eyes.

“I’ve only been playing for a couple of days, but I’m not that great at it,” he says while rubbing the back of his neck. “If you don’t mind, could you give me some pointers? I mean, I like the game, but it feels like I’m doing something wrong…”

Akutagawa is still silent, eyes downcast as he stares at Rashomon. His grips his shirt tighter, and Atsushi worries that maybe he overstepped. He knew it’d be a terrible topic to bring up, but it’s better to get the reason for him being there out in the open so they can deal with it. The last thing he wants if for Akutagawa to keep avoiding him, because if Dazai catches wind that they haven’t been working together, there might be hell to pay. Dazai might be a good teacher, but if the rumors are true, he is not the kind of person you’d want to cross.

He jumps slightly when Akutagawa gives off a frustrated sigh.

“Your phone…”

“Huh?”

“Get over here and let me see your phone.”

He practically hisses the words out, and Atsushi knows he needs to comply with the other’s demand. Quickly getting up, he fishes his phone out of his pocket before sitting down next to Akutagawa. He practically snatches it, and he pretty much ignores Atsushi’s sharp ‘hey!’. His annoyance almost gets the better of him, but Atsushi manages to swallow it down while watching Akutagawa unlocks his phone. The game is started up, and the other easily navigates the menu all the way to the options.

“Well, problem number one is that you have the animations for the lives on,” he says, finger clicking the ‘animations off’ button.

“Wait, why does it matter that they’re on?” Atsushi questions, especially since he rather enjoyed seeing the girls dancing in the background- …oh.

“It’s a distraction and it causes lag. If you want to watch the MV so badly, play hard mode to unlock it.”

“Um…MV?”

“…Music. Video.”

Akutagawa looks at him like he’s the dumbest goddamn person he’s ever met, but how the hell was he supposed to know what he meant? Groaning, Akutagawa asks him why he hasn’t changed the timing for the notes, and Atsushi says he thought the best option was to keep it at zero. He’s given that look again, and Akutagawa hand him back his phone, telling him to take the tuning test. Begrudgingly he does as told, and once he’s finished Akutagawa instructs him to play a song.

The difference is evident as soon as he starts. Instead of dancing, there are small versions of the girls in the background that don’t move. Once the notes start falling, he notices that he’s missing them far less than before.

“…Are you looking at the bottom of the screen…?” Akutagawa asks, and Atsushi can feel the condescending air around his words.

“O mighty master of rhythm, where the hell else am I supposed to look?” Atsushi shoots back, and from the corner of his eye he can see the other giving him a nasty look.

“Look in the middle of the screen asshole. You can look at the top where the notes fall, but sometimes they change direction by the time they get to the middle on harder difficulties.”

“Ugh, fine.”

Atsushi plays another song, this time trying to focus on the middle of the screen instead of the bottom. It’s a lot harder than before, so he doesn’t fair that well by the time the song ends. Two hours into Akutagawa barking orders at him and Atsushi shooting back with a smartass comment, Atsushi, as much as he hates to admit it, has gotten better. He’s no pro by any means, but he’d at least gotten himself a few full combos, which gave him a rush of excitement. He even managed to give Akutagawa a smile, who in turn just scoffs and looks away.

“Despite you being a pain in the ass, you’re actually a decent teacher,” Atsushi says while rearranging his party.

“If you weren’t so damn stubborn and listened to me the first time around, maybe things could’ve gone smoother,” Akutagawa says as he fiddles with his own phone.

He gives him a half-hearted ‘yeah, whatever’, and it’s then that his fingers stop moving. He isn’t sure when it happened, but at some point he’d stopped feeling nervous around Akutagawa. It probably helped that the other wasn’t radiating hostility, and simply seemed annoyed with his behavior rather than his very presence. It’s kind of weird. Chancing it, he glances over at Akutagawa who still has a frown on his face, but he looks…a little more relaxed.

“…What? Is there something on my face?” Akutagawa asks, and Atsushi in turn jumps at being caught staring.

“U-Um, no I,” he stutters out while he tries to think of an excuse, “could I…get your friend code?”

“My friends list is full.”

“Then can I get your phone number?”

The words tumble out of his mouth so quickly he doesn’t have time to process them until it’s too late. Akutagawa looks at him with wide eyes, almost comically so, mouth slightly open as he almost drops his phone. He hears a snort from the side of him, and with a quick glance he sees Gin covering her mouth, shoulders shaking as she attempts to contain her laughter.

Oh god, no, no, no.

“Just so I can text you questions about the game!” he says quickly, and he prays his words aren’t a jumbled mess.

The shock on Akutagawa’s face morphs into irritation, and Atsushi feels like kicking himself. Had he chosen his words better, the light mood around them wouldn’t have come crashing down.

“…I swear to god if you text me random shit-”

“I won’t,” Atsushi says, because he knows Akutagawa will delete his number without hesitation if he did something like that.

His phone is taken again, but this time Atsushi makes a small noise of protest since he knew it was coming. Akutagawa types in his phone number before handing it back, and Atsushi in turn texts him his number so he can save it. Now that he thinks about it…Akutagawa’s number will be one of the few he has in his phone. Of course he has Kyouka’s, as well as his job’s, but as for someone outside of family and work…he’d be the first. It gives him a weird feeling, one he can’t place a name to, but it isn’t…unpleasant.

A half an hour later the sun begins to set, and Atsushi thinks it’s about time for him and Kyouka to head back. Gin gives them a bag of the cookies she and Kyouka made, saying if they ever wanted to come over again, all they need to do is ask. Akutagawa makes a face at his sister’s words, but doesn’t say anything to deny her invitation to them. If fact, he just silently stands by the door. Rashomon even allows the two of them to give him a goodbye pet, and Atsushi has never felt more honored in his life.

On the way to the station, Atsushi reflects on the afternoon’s events. Even if he’d driven him up a wall most of the visit, at least Akutagawa was speaking to him again. So, things had worked out to a certain degree, and even though he hadn’t probed the other for information, a few interesting facts had fallen into his lap without him having to ask. It still isn’t enough to complete the paper, but now he and Akutagawa have common hobby to serve as a bridge to other topics. It’s the most progress they’ve made in a while, and Atsushi can’t help but mentally sigh in relief.

Spending time with Akutagawa no longer fills him with dread, and for him that’s a step in the right direction.

#fanfiction #akuatsu #Akutagawa Ryuunosuke #Nakajima Atsushi #Akutagawa/Atsushi

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tomishaped · 6 years ago

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522 Things I'm not allowed to do at Hogwarts

Numbers 391-488

391. Asking the Weasley twins, "So do you do everything together?" is ill advised.

392. Telling Lucius what he could do with his staff... is not advisable.

393. I will not ask the school to sponsor a break dancing crew.

394. Voldemort, after being defeated, did not get served.

395. Getting Colin Creevey drunk and steering him toward a sleeping Harry Potter is just a bad idea all around.

396. -Then using his camera to take incriminating photos is not nice.

397. Coming up behind Harry while he and Draco are glowering at each other and saying "Oh, go on and kiss him already!" is not funny.

398. -Even if Luna Lovegood does say, "Yes, I thought so too."

399. I am not a Balrog animagus.

400. The house never did fall on Professor Umbridge's sister, nor is she suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result.

401. I may not try to find out if any of the owls are David Bowie in animagus form.

402. I will not ask people what their daemons are.

403. I will not offer Professor McGonagall lasagne.

404. I will not tell the Ravenclaws that they're basically useless because Hogwart's smartest student is in another house.

405. I will not call Pizza Hut and ask them to deliver to the common room.

406. I will not poison first years. No matter how much I think they need it.

407. It is not appropriate trade first years between houses.

408. I will not tempt Ravenclaws with apples. I will also not say that the Slytherins have tempted other students with apples.

409. Frankenstein is not required reading for DADA classes.

410. -Neither is Dracula.

411. I will not try to explain the laws of physics, not even for the sake of argument.

412. If I even look like I might sing "I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves" I will be Obliviated.

413. Using the 'Petrificus Totalus' curse on Draco Malfoy and dumping him in the Gryffindor common room as a Christmas present to the House means you should watch your back until June.

414. -Especially if the Weasley twins were staying over break.

415. -If Lee Jordan was there too, you're going to need a bodyguard.

416. I will not claim to be able to see the Thestrals if I cannot.

417. -I will not tell first years that "any true wizard or witch" can see Thestrals, and that if they can't they "obviously aren't cut out for this school".

418. I am not to tell Muggleborn first-years that Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans taste better when one eats a whole handful simultaneously.

419. I will not take out a life insurance policy on any Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

420.I will not attempt to repel Dementors by covering myself in chocolate body paint.

421. I will not sneak up behind Draco and Harry while they are in their Staring Snarky Yelling Matches and yell, "SLASH SLASH SLASH! LET'S SEE SOME SLASH!"

422. I will not give Hagrid Pokmon cards and convince him that they are real animals

423. -Likewise, I will not tell First Year Muggle-borns that Pokmon battles are a part of the Care of Magical Creatures curriculum

424. I am not qualified to perform exorcisms on Hogwarts ghosts, and attempting to do so will merely offend them.

425. Draco Malfoy is not the secret identity of "Ferret Boy".

426. Harry Potter and Ron Weasley are not the magical equivalent of "Batman and Robin".

427. Telling Draco Malfoy to "make like a ferret and bounce" is always a bad idea.

428. The Crucible is not summer reading for History of Magic, and I should not tell First Years that it is.

429. "You might be a Pureblood if..." jokes will get me in trouble, especially in front of Slytherins.

430. I will not play the Darth Vader theme for Professor Snape.

431. - However, when Lucius Malfoy visits, I may play it.

432. The bludger is not a bowling ball, and Professor Snape is not a bowling pin. I will not attempt to prove otherwise.

433. If I insist on carrying out my plans of producing "Riddle-de-dee: The Voldemort Musical", I will do so under a nom-de-plume.

434. - I will not attempt to recruit the title character to play himself. Even if he looks good in tap shoes.

435. The Slytherin prefect is named Draco Malfoy, not "Rocky Horror.

436. -Transfiguring Draco Malfoy's uniform into a gold thong is inappropriate.

437. -Especially if he's wearing it.

438. Crabbe and Goyle should not be referred to as "Bulk and Skull". "Dumb and Dumber" is equally inappropriate.

439. -I should not refer to Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle collectively as "Team Rocket" either.

440. Comparing Draco Malfoy to Alex Krycek, Lindsay McDonald, Lex Luthor or any similar character is not an appropriate subject for a Muggle Studies essay.

441. I will not attempt to determine whether Malfoy is a natural blond.

442. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle's first names are, respectively, Draco, Vincent and Gregory, not Larry, Darryl and Darryl.

443. The Slytherin Quidditch team should not be referred to as "Draco Malfoy and a moderate amount of cross-dressing".

444. -Even if that is an accurate description.

445. The song "Ding Dong, The Witch is Dead" is never, ever appropriate.

446. "Springtime for Voldemort" is not an acceptable suggestion for the class play.

447. I am not allowed to spank others.

448. -Even if Malfoy liked it.

449. No matter how vast the uses and entertaining the results, I will not indulge in fun with duct tape.

450. -This goes double for superglue.

451. I am not to dance naked in the great hall.

452. -Or on the grounds.

453. -Generally, dancing naked is wrong.

454. Despite the appearances of the employees and the vaults, Gringotts is not the entrance to the Labyrinth.

455. -While in the company of goblins, I must not demand that I be taken to Jareth.

456. -Nor shall I tell them "You remind me of the babe.

457. Draco Malfoy no longer requires a nanny, nor does he need tucking in and "a bit of a cuddle" at bedtime.

458. - Not even if he insists that he does. And that his father has hired me to provide said service.

459. I am not to call Hogwarts "the most covert anti-Death Eater organization on the planet.

460. The Easter Bunny is not Jesus' Animagus form.

461. I am not allowed to ask Pureblood students things like, "If your parents got divorced, would they still be brother and sister?"

462. I am not allowed to discuss my theory that Voldemort is actually the second cousin of Sauron.

463. I will not tell first years that they should build a tree house in the Whomping Willow.

464. I will not write forged letters home to the parents of Muggleborn first years detailing the Satanic rituals they are learning.

465. I will not ask Dobby why he doesn't look more like Orlando Bloom.

466. - Nor will I ask him if he works for Santa Claus in the off-season.

467. I will not invite Professor Snape to a midnight showing of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show".

468. -The same goes double for Voldemort.

469. -Likewise, I will no longer be permitted to refer to Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange as Riff Raff and Magenta.

470. -Especially to their faces.

471. I will stop pasting happy face stickers on Lupin's office door.

472. Draco Malfoy does not appreciate being called 'Ferret Boy'

473. -Or 'The Blond Boy Wonder'

474. Hagrid's skin is not green and I should stop calling him 'The Jolly Green Giant.'

475. Sending love notes to Professor Snape and signing them 'With Love, Draco Malfoy' is not appropriate.

476. -Neither is signing them with: 'I had a great time last night, Argus Filch.'.

477. Breaking into song during Potions class is not acceptable.

478. -Especially if the song is 'I feel pretty, oh so pretty'.

479. Or 'I'm too sexy'.

480. I am not a 'ninja sent here by Lord Voldemort to destroy Harry Potter' and should stop shouting this at meal times.

481. Lucius Malfoy's cane is not a 'pimp cane'.

482. I must never sneak up behind Draco Malfoy and coo "How's my Blondie-Bear?"

483. Teaching first years to chorus in unison "The amazing bouncing ferret" whenever they hear the name Draco Malfoy is just wrong, funny, but wrong.

484. It's not tasteful to approach Cho wearing a shirt that says All the good-looking ones die young with a picture of Cedric Diggory on it.

485. I am not to tell Draco that I know all about his affair with Hermione Granger.

486. -Especially if it's not true.

487. -I also cannot sell the story to Rita Skeeter.

488. -Or owl Lucius, Narcissa, or Bellatrix with the imaginary details

#harry potter #522 things im not allowed to do at hogwarts #hogwarts #list #funny #slytherin #gryffindor #hufflepuff #ravenclaw #hermione granger #ron weasley #draco malfoy #crabbe #goyle #snape #dumbledore #mcgongall #minerva mcgonagall #hagrid

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