#(the worst part of this is the dj school part why oh why did i use official names exclusively here)

[puppys-rhythm-heaven]

okay i like just brought it up so here: (nearly) every rhythm heaven character who bops/moves to the beat. under the cut cuz uh. this' pretty long-

karate joe

the squadmates (during the longer pauses,,, and also it's a keep-the-beat game so-) (makes four total)

the clappy trio (makes three/four total)

dr. cutlery/the sick beats doctor + “yellow organism from sick beats” (thanks wiki)

the donpans and yagura-chan (makes five total)

the wandering samurai (for tengoku, it's specifically in tengoku's REMIXES, thus why i listed him after the other set 2 characters; idr if he bops along or anything in ds, though he also does in (i think) fever and megamix)

showtime monkey

tram & pauline (i think) (makes two total)

the space dancers and space gramps (makes five total)

the mini chouin in power calligraphy (they dance) (makes. idk how many total)

both of the rap men (makes two total)

all three toss boys (why are they the toss boys, aka-chan is a GIRL-) (makes three total)

tap trial monkeys + g i r l (makes three total)

sequel equivalents to characters (namely the cosmo dancers and cosmic girl, rap women, and man-k/salu, making nine total)

the fillbots robots (once filled) (too many total)

pop singer + the fan club monkeys (like, eight total)

the paddlers (they go fast) (two total)

the blue birds + captain blue bird (four total)

the moai birds (three total)

the love lizards (two total)

t.j. snapper

the dazzles (six total)

munchy monk (at the beginning and end)

dj yellow and student (two total) (i have no reason to use official names why the fuck did i do that w h a t -)

taiko rally squad (eight total)

the research scientists of love lab (why is that so long. also is the mysterious lab tech included in that or??????) (three total)

the tiny ghosts (i think) (three total)

the frogettes (at the beginning but i mean, also technically in general given that it's a keep-the-beat game-) (six total i think)

the stepswitchers (again, at the beginning but also technically for most of the game since. keep-the-beat) (too many)

the airboarders (three total)

monkey + mandrill + golfer (three total)

the screwbot factory robots (once fully assembled) (too many)

see and saw (two total)

a boy + his crush + the weasel couple (four total)

tambourine monkey

the executives and assistant (five total)

muscle doll (i. i’m pretty sure. i don’t remember tho tbh-)

wrestler (maybe reporter? if so then two total)

the microbes (at the beginning, though i guess it's technically the offbeat? also again,,, keep-the-beat game-) (uhhhhhh like five or something total probably idk)

the flippers (at the beginning; keep-the-beat game) + captain tuck (five total)

pitcher + slugger (two total)

the huebirds (at the beginning; keep-the-beat game) (too many)

the love posse + mc adore (can they all just be called the love posse or??? why is mc adore just. tacted on at the end??? rhythm heaven lore's so fucking weird sometimes,,, this isn't even lore actually, it's just character names, i have so many questions-) (three total)

the tall tappers (at the beginning; keep-the-beat game) (four total)

the shrimp scamperers (at the beginning; keep-the-beat game sort of) (four total)

the school library pep squad (i think-) (nine total i think???)

sequel equivalents to characters (ds doesn't have any characters replaced in sequels so i didn't point this out there; includes the female golfer from hole in one 2 and. that's it actually-)

i’m not a hundred percent sure for megamix but like. plalin and alalin (the catchy tune guys), the chameleon fin tongue lashing, the woodcutter bear and lumbercats, the animal acrobat monkey (called jose in the french version of rhythm paradise megamix), jungle gymnast monkey (called emma in the french version of rhythm paradise megamix) and karate joe’s dad all do so. that’s an amount-

[goggles-mcgee]

Too Late: Alya & Nino (commission for miner249er)

Fourth chapter of @miner249er ‘s commission

Chapter Summary: The truth is harsh. Teens are harsher.

Previous Work

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Truth.

As an aspiring journalist it was something Alya strived for. It was the most important thing she could give the people who followed her so diligently. She thought she had been giving them that. She had been so good about giving them the truth, her truth, and Ladybug’s truth in the past, she foolheartedly believed she was continuing to do so despite taking shortcuts later on in the road. Why didn’t she fact check herself? Why did she throw that very thing in Marinette’s face? What kind of reporter was she? What kind of friend was she? The answers were all around her and yet she still wasn’t ready to face them head on. There was still that voice in her head that was telling her that this was all Lila Rossi’s fault. 

But is it? Alya thought as her and Nino ate together at her house, the TV on in the background. At first it had been on the news but Alya was done with the news for a long while, all it had been was coverage of The Protector and Nino had immediately taken the remote and changed it to cartoons. This was hitting him hard, harder than Alya had expected if she was being honest. When they found out Ladybug and Chat Noir had, in fact, not defeated The Protector and instead the akuma, that Marinette had gone missing, it hit the class hard. Hard because they learned the truth about Lila in that time and that had been rough to work through. Then they had to come to the realization that they believed Lila over Marinette, the sweet, kind, selfless girl that had all at one point been friends with. 

Then the lies got to them. It poisoned them. That’s what Alya had written on her blog anyways. They were victims of a silver-tongue and they had paid the price, one they had not been prepared to pay for. Their friend was missing, had been missing and they couldn’t do anything. Alya had been searching through as many local papers and news around the world for any clues if Marinette had possibly gone to those places. Everything was coming up empty. She had even made a separate website along with Max all about Marinette and what had happened, she left ways to reach her and her classmates in case anyone had any info. Nino said they should have added Tom and Sabine’s information as well but Alya was too scared to ask them if they would be okay with it, last time they had all been at the bakery the tension had been palpable. 

They weren’t banned like Nathaniel had worried they would be but every time they went in with their families, because that was the only time they went in there, it was always awkward. Tom and Sabine were much too nice to ban them even if they felt like they deserved it. How did everything go so wrong? Even school wasn’t as fun as it had been. Walking into their classroom was like taking a walk of shame, people from other classes, even teachers just stared at them. Some even glared. Then there were the whispers, Dieu the whispers, they followed them everywhere not just school, but they were the most prominent there. Her, Nino, and their classmates would find notes in their lockers, none were really threatening but they tore at her heart all the same. Things like, ‘You’re the reason she’s gone,’ or, ‘Are you guys proud of yourselves now?’ ‘Were the lies worth it?’ ‘You traded in a gem for fool’s gold.’ ‘What a reporter you turned out to be.’

All the notes hurt. That was the truth. That last one? She had found it in her locker this morning and it burned. Alya had been bullied before, she never liked to think about it, who would? But she was and she had to acknowledge it because she had told herself she would never allow herself to be bullied again, and most importantly, she would never turn into a bully. Wrong. She was wrong, and it wasn’t the first time she had been made aware of this since everything happened. Since everything changed. It was a blessing that Nino and her were still together, he never partook in the “tough love” the class had been giving Marinette before she...before she had been akumatized. Sure he didn’t stop them, and that was bad, but he didn’t go out of his way to not invite her to things until she stopped being “jealous” and started acting like the bigger person. Nino wasn’t the one who ignored her text messages, which now that Alya read them, were pretty telling that her friend had been hurting and she had only made that worse. 

“What are you thinking about babe?”

Alya looked up from her half eaten bowl of soup to see Nino gazing at her in concern. “Marinette.”

“Oh…” He breathed out as he put his spoon down and looked down at the table before placing one of his hands on hers and giving her a small smile. “Everything will be okay Alya. Someone will find her and then she’ll be back home.”

Empty words. Empty words fed to him too much from adults who didn’t have any updates on anything. “You don’t believe that. And even if she did...who's to say she would even want to talk to us!? What’s to say that anything would be better? We would still be seen as the bad guys! We will still all have to eat lunch at our houses or the park just to avoid the stares and the whispers and the tossed trash our way and the “accidentally” spilled drinks!”

Alya had never understood just how much their class had been living in its own little world. Not to say they were completely unattached to the rest of the school, Alix, Nathaniel, Rose, Chloe, and Sabrina were in the art club (the art teacher and the rest of the club had made a mural of Marinette without notifying them or asking for their help. Everyone is encouraged to leave notes about Marinette on the mural. The art room even has a chair decorated in honor of Marinette that no one else can use. That was announced very pointedly Alix later shared.), Rose was in the scrapbooking club (no one asked to use her materials anymore like they used to), and Max was in the gaming club which Marinette had helped him set up (people weren’t showing up lately.) They weren’t kicked out, but they were reminded of Marinette all the time,it was like everyone’s way of punishing them. It had never occurred to any of them how popular Marinette was.

So popular that the whole school seemed to hate them. Even Mlle Mendeleiev seemed to be harsher than normal and that was really saying something, it would seem like she had a soft spot for Marinette. In their class everyone avoided Marinette’s seats in class, Alya had to step up as class representative but the silver lining was that Nino had stepped up to be her deputy. Though another negative was the fact Nino had stopped making his music and taking DJ gigs. At first he hadn’t said anything to her or their friends, Alya found out because of Chris actually, but then her and Adrien confronted him and he broke down. He cried and he didn’t stop for a long time, but when he had calmed enough to talk he pulled out old pictures of him and Marinette, told them stories about how they had grown up together. It had made the pit in Alya’s stomach grow, she had just been thinking about her and how much she blamed herself and how much she missed her best friend, she hadn’t even thought how this was affecting Nino.

“I...I need to believe it Alya. I need to. Because if I don’t I will break apart. Mari...Marinette and I were best friends in l'école primaire. I never thought she would ever not be a part of my life. Then the whole Lila thing happened and I turned into a coward again, like I had with Chloe! No, worse than a coward! I don’t even know what I would call myself but I know I can’t call myself her friend.” His voice rose the more he spoke and near the end it cracked. 

“Nino…”

“No. I know that’s the truth! And I know, I know that things at school have been rough. Hell, they’ve been awful, everyone sees us as these villains in some trashy young teen novel when all we’ve done is make a mistake! Yes. It was a big mistake but it was a mistake nonetheless but we’re...we’re kids dammit. We’re just kids.” Alya felt tears race down her cheeks as she saw her boyfriend break yet again, his cheeks wet with his tears, his voice choked with his guilt. 

“I know. I just...I just want her back. I want everything back. I don’t know how many times we have to apologize to the school, but they’re not even the ones that need to hear the apologies! The one we need to have hear us isn’t here and…” Alya could feel herself breaking but she tried to hold on. Nino needed her to be strong. Her class needed her to be strong. Her family needed her to be strong.

“I can’t take the stares! Or, or hear Rose’s cries that she tries to hide from us. Mylene hasn’t been eating and I know she thinks we don’t notice and Adrien, god Adrien. I’m trying to hold it together because my bro is falling apart at the seams! First Marinette gets...gets fucking akumatized, then his dad and Nathalie get taken to the hospital from some supposedly random attack but it’s pretty obvious it was Mar-the akuma’s doing, his mom freaking pops out of nowhere but of course that can’t just be a good thing because everyone has to talk about how his dad and Nathalie were probably Hawkmoth and Mayura! And I’m over here trying not to think too much about all that because it makes actually too much sense, but then we find out that Marinette was most likely Ladybug! LADYBUG!” He lamented, not bothering to hide the fact he was crying, more like sobbing. It just made Alya cry more.

“I...I wanted the truth for so long, but not like this. Not like this. I...I know this makes me sound like the worst person on the planet but I kind of wish stupid Gabriel Agreste wasn’t Hawkmoth because then I could be akumatized and maybe I could be some kind of time-travelling akuma and we could go back and fix everything and school wouldn’t be hell and the twins wouldn’t act like they had to walk on eggshells around me all the time and my dad wouldn’t look like he’s always so disappointed in me and my mom wouldn’t look at my with only pity in her eyes and Nora would talk to me and Marinette would be back!” Alya sobbed out. At this point her and Nino had moved from their seats to the kitchen floor and were huddled together hugging each other for comfort. 

The two just sat there soaking up whatever comfort they could and dreaded the time that passed. For each minute that passed, was a minute that brought them closer to having to go back to school. Alya didn’t know if she had the strength to go back and deal with everything, she didn’t know if Nino could handle it either, but she knew her mother would be by any minute to give them a lift back to school. If there was a way she could just finish school online, Alya was willing to do it, but her father wouldn’t ever allow it. He had put his foot down, Otis Césaire was mad, then he was disappointed and he thought it only fair that Alya face her peers and continue on at Françoise Dupont. It didn’t feel fair, it didn’t feel fair at all, it felt like punishment. Hadn’t she been punished enough? Even in sleep she wasn’t safe, all she dreamed of was Lila and her making her act like a puppet. She would see puppet her do all these things to Marinette and she would wake up in sweat and tears.

“Okay I’m here, I hope you two are ready to head ba-” Alya looked up to see her mom standing there staring at her and Nino, her mouth agape. “Oh Alya...Nino...How about I call the school and tell them you’re not feeling good? And I’ll call your parents Nino.”

Alya was going to respond, she really was, but when she opened her mouth nothing came out but a choked off cry and nod. Nino nodded as well as he took in a shaky breath. “Th-Thanks, Mme C.”

“Nino, you know I told you to call me Marlena. Now you two go rest in Alya’s room while I make those calls. Then maybe I can get the rest of the day off and-” 

“No manman. Things...things are already bad enough, don’t make it worse by not going back to work. I don’t...I don’t want to be the reason why you get fired.” Alya mumbled as she and Nino got up off the floor.

“Oh...Oh my little one, that won’t happen. And if it did, not because of you. Never. Don’t you think that.” Alya’s mother breathed out as she pulled her daughter into a hug before taking her daughter’s face in her hands and doing her best to wipe her tears. 

“Papa and Nora would! Nora still won’t talk to me and Papa only looks at me like he’s disappointed he ever had me!” Alya cried out before she could stop the words from coming out. Her mind completely forgot that Nino was standing right beside her until she felt him hold her hand and give it a squeeze. 

“Your Papa is just being stubborn, but you listen to me, he could never ever be disappointed in having you. You are our daughter. You made a mistake yes, but I know you know you made a mistake and that you are sorry. Your Papa will realize that. He just needs time. And Nora...she just needs time too. I just think she doesn’t know how to handle everything and that she’s mad that she couldn’t protect you sweetie. She’s always been the protective older sister, and this was something she couldn’t protect you from herself. They’ll come around. I’m sure.” 

“If you’re sure manman…”

“I am. Now you kids go relax. I’m going to take the rest of the day off and go to the store for dinner ingredients, I’ll be back soon. I know things are hard my little Melusine but they won’t always be like this.” With a kiss to her forehead and a swift hug to Nino, Alya’s mom left the two teens in the family apartment.

At first they just stood there in silence and sniffles, but Nino made the move to put their plates in the sink and rinse them out while Alya gathered their schoolwork back into their bookbags. Then they  made their way to Alya’s room and kicked off their shoes before sitting on the bed. Nino nudged Alya who looked at him in confusion until she saw him give her a crooked smile and open his arms which she fell easily into. She took off her glasses and placed them on her bedside table while she felt more than saw Nino take off his cap. For a while they just sat there in the quiet of the moment and Alya was content to do just that, to just have a moment of peace, but she slowly pushed away and reached for her remote to turn on the TV and quickly pulled up Netflix. Her mom wanted them to relax so why not fry their brains with some television. 

“Anything in particular you want to watch?” She asked as she settled back against Nino.

“As long as it has nothing to do with school or superheroes...I’m good.” Nino responded with a hollow chuckle. 

“I’m glad we don’t have to go back too…” She murmured, “Should we...tell the others?”

“Probably. But if I’m being honest I don’t really feel like talking to them and them asking how we are and if we’re okay when they know we’re not. I just. I don’t think I could handle that. Not today.” 

“I get it. Sometimes I feel like everyone else even blames me for what happened. Like... Like it was my responsibility to not fall for the lies and to warn them. Like my word would have made a difference! Mari...Marinette’s didn’t so why would mine?” Alya huffed as she scrolled through all the movie and show choices and tried her best not to cry again. 

“If they blame you then they need to blame me too and blame the people in the mirror. We all fell for the lies. Sure you’re the budding reporter, but the blame could just as easily be pushed onto Max who is so smart he created a living AI. But we have no one to be mad at but ourselves and we can only do that for so long.” Nino sighed as he held her closer and kissed her temple. Alya relished in the warmth of it all. 

“When did you get so wise?” Alya teased softly.

“When I decided to rewatch Star Wars. But no seriously. If anyone in class bothers you please tell me because we should be sticking together not at each other’s throats.” Nino stuck out one hand and Alya slid her hand into his.

“Cross my heart and hope to die. I will. And you’re right, we do need each other, especially now, especially at that school.”

“Especially at that school, yeah.” He laughed out. “We’re going to get through this. I don’t know how, but, we are and we’re going to do it together.”

Alya smiled wryly before she looked up at Nino and it slipped into a real small smile. “Together.” She agreed softly.

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l'école primaire - elementaryschool

manman - Haitian Creole for Mother

[a-small-batch-of-dragons]

Let's Call It Funny

Prompt: Hi! If you know about those gen z peter parker posts, could your write something based on that? With Steve Getting It (tm) because fatalistic nihilism in humor tended to show up during the world wars and we’re seeing a reflection of that now? Sorry- I just think it’d make great options for steve and peter bonding, and dad!tony but actual emotions (gasp!) You can totally ignore this if you want!

Don't ever apologize for giving me such a great ask

Read on Ao3 Part 2

Warnings: uhhh gen z humor

Pairings: none! all found family in this bitch

Word Count: 2529

Here’s the thing about humor. It’s not necessarily that one generation is any funnier than another, it’s just that high school kids are perpetually the funniest people alive. Something about being in a pressure cooker of an environment with a bunch of other people whose bodies are changing in new unpredictable ways whilst having very little say in how their lives go creates humor. Gasp of shock, right?

So basically what Peter’s trying to say is that he’s fucking hilarious.

Come on, not only does he have the default high schooler stuff, he’s also gay, which gives him an instant bonus. He’s trans, which opens up a whole new subset of humor for him to explore. He’s neurodivergent as fuck, and we all know that makes people funny as hell. And if that weren’t enough, he’s severely traumatized and he’s Spider-Man.

Peter Parker is funny as hell.

What is truly devastating—and really, it’s their loss—is that so few people seem to appreciate it.

Ned gets it. Ned’s not someone Peter would expect to not get it, just because hey, it’s Ned. They’ve met each other in the hallways and been like ‘hey! You’re still alive! Congrats on having a body!’ Only for the other one to go ‘hey! You’re alive too! I wish I had an intangible form!’

Because bodies are stupid and evolution really fucked us over but at least we’re not horses.

A solid 50% of their interactions are just quoting John Mulaney and Bo Burnham bits back and forth at each other. Peter’s never gonna forget the day they both had detention and had to watch that stupid Cap PSA—it’s propaganda, you Nazi fuckwits—and something reminded them of the ‘horse loose in a hospital’ bit and they just did it. Full out. Stood up and did the actions and everything. The rest of the room was either trying to do it with them—and failing, because they didn’t have nearly enough practice—or looking so confused. The security guard—Paul, he’s great—just looked at them blearily after they finished and went:

“I mean, you kids are right, but you’re not supposed to talk in detention.”

Well, excuse them for trying to make it more entertaining for everyone.

MJ gets it. If Peter’s being honest, he learned most of his humor from her. She is the master and it is an honor to study in her wake. He’s definitely hijacked the asking whether or not anything’s actually meaningful existentialism jokes and they’ve wormed their way into his day-to-day repertoire.

“Why are you late, Mr. Parker?”

“Time is a social construct, Mrs. B, none of us are ever late or early except in the subjective spacetime paths. The limits of our sensory perception make it so we can’t tell if anything is real, let alone whether or not they conform to some arbitrary definition of ‘time.’”

“…just sit down, Peter.”

See? It works.

Aunt May gets…worried.

Sure, they’ve actually talked about when Peter needs help and wants to reach out and when he’s just making jokes off the cuff because hey, humor’s a great coping mechanism or it’s just a joke and not that serious. Peter loves his Aunt May, so so so much, and the last thing he wants to do is really worry her. And she’s gotten pretty good at figuring out when he’s just joking and when he’s spiraling.

Sometimes, though…

“Peter,” Aunt May calls from the kitchen, “did you remember to stop by the store on your way home?”

Peter freezes halfway through the door.

“Peter?”

He swallows. “…no.”

“Why not?”

“Because I am too stressed and consumed by the swirling pit of blackness deep in my soul to remember my head is connected to my body, let alone remember to go to the store.”

Silence.

“…Aunt May?”

“Do you want to drop off your stuff and then go to the store?”

“…yeah, please.”

“Love you, Pete.”

“Love you!”

“Try to remember that you’ve got arms so you can pick stuff up.”

“Got it!”

See? It’s fine.

The Avengers don’t get it. Like, at all.

Natasha and Clint like, sorta get it? They make the same jokes all the time when they think Peter can’t hear them, which—come on, you guys are super spies, surely you know people are gonna hear you when they’re gonna hear you. Natasha will make a crack about something, Clint will laugh and shove her shoulder. It’s their dynamic, we get it. But when Peter does it…

“Hey, Baby Spider?”

Peter sticks his head up from the ceiling. “Yeah?”

“Where’re you crawling off to?”

“I’m gonna go hide in the garage.”

Natasha blinks up at him. “Why?”

“Because if I get crushed by the airlock doors then I won’t have to do my paper tomorrow.”

Silence. Natasha’s mask is too good for Peter to actually see what’s going on with her, let alone from this angle, but silence isn’t good.

“Nat—oof!”

Something blurs out of the vent nearby and tackles him down onto the couch.

“Clint!”

“Nope,” Clint mutters, wrapping Peter up in a hug as Natasha comes to join them. “You’re staying with us now, Pete.”

“Guys, I’m fine.”

“Peter,” Natasha says softly, “don’t joke about that, you’ll make us worry.”

“I don’t wanna do that,” Peter mumbles, “but it’s fine.”

“Coping mechanism, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s got too many brain cells to do that,” Clint says, ruffling Peter’s hair.

“Stark has a lot of brain cells, you see what good that does him?”

“Hmm. Guess you’re gonna have to stay awhile, Pete.”

There are worse fates. Definitely.

Thor just kind of gets confused by it. He acts like Peter isn’t going to be absolutely fine because there’s no need to do anything like that. No, Peter, you don’t have to put the bleach in first into your cereal, there’s plenty of milk left over. No, Peter, you don’t have to throw yourself off the roof because your laptop is freezing, Stark has so many just lying around. No, Peter, you don’t have to pack a rucksack and run away to the Alps and live like a recluse, come here and get a hug.

Peter suspects Thor’s playing dumb on purpose. The man is smart as hell, there’s no way all of this is flying over his head. And honestly, it warms his heart a little bit when he sees Thor’s sincere, concerned look when he thinks Peter’s not looking.

Banner and Rhodey just kinda shake their heads and move on. They’re used to it. They live and work with some of the most dramatic fucking people in the goddamn universe, they’re used to a little bit of extra humor. Occasionally one of them will give him a look that says he’s pushing his luck, but that’s not often. Less often now ‘cause he knows what he can get away with. He’s also seen them hiding smiles behind their hands or poorly disguised coughs. They’re not as slick as they think they are.

Tony.

Tony is the fucking worst.

Peter can’t get away with so much as sighing too hard before Iron Dad™ is swooping in all soft words and concerned touches. Jesus. You’d think he’d get it, he uses humor as a coping mechanism too, goddamnit, why is he so worried about Peter?

Okay, fine, he knows why.

MJ’s over at the Tower, having another one of her ‘sketch people in crisis’ appointments with Natasha. Peter is coming off of a 32-hour caffeine rush and is violently wishing for death. Tony is in the kitchen doing…something.

“Hey, do you think bleach would make a good smoothie?”

Tony wheels around to see MJ pulling a glass out of the cupboard.

“Kid—“

“Sounds like a filling breakfast,” Peter groans, “can you make me one too?”

“…I’m legitimately concerned,” comes Tony’s mutter.

MJ ignores him. “Who’s the bitch on your forehead?”

Peter rubs absentmindedly at the massive knot on his head, courtesy of a wall that rudely decided to move at the last second while Peter was attempting to walk through a doorway. “He’s called DJ Braindeath and he’s my only friend in the world.”

“Peter—“

“Oh did you meet him at the furry convention?"

“Technically it’d be a buggie convention.”

“What the hell are you two talking about?”

“The pantry doesn’t have good coffee, I’m going to Starbucks.” MJ grabs her bag. “You want anything?”

“A will to live?”

“Peter, what the fuck—“

“Oof, I’ve only got like…20 bucks.”

Peter lets his head drop back to the counter. “Then just leave me here to die.”

“Can I have champagne at your funeral?”

“I’ll be dead, I won’t fucking care.”

“God, I wish that were me.”

Then MJ’s gone and Peter gets treated to a 20-minute conversation with a very concerned Tony Stark that he doesn’t remember most of because hey caffeine crashes aren’t fun.

He definitely does it on purpose sometimes just to wind Tony up. Like there’s this one incident with an interview he does as Spider-Man and he gets asked what he thinks about Tony Stark’s newest intern, Peter Parker.

“That boy’s an embarrassment, just…complete failure. Can’t speak without stuttering through every other word and self-esteem issues all over the place. Also looks like he got dressed in the dark.”

The reporter had awkwardly moved on to another question. The interview aired later that day while Peter was at the Tower. Tony sat next to him on the couch about halfway through.

“You look good, Pete.”

Peter had mumbled halfheartedly, only to hear the reporter ask the same question.

“See, that’s the problem with having a secret identity, you don’t…” Tony trailed off as he heard the answer.

Peter snorted as Spider-Man finished talking. “Say that to my face, you bitch, get a real job. At least I don’t look like someone vomited silly string all over my spandex.”

“Are you okay?”

See? Fun.

The only one he’s made a conscious effort to not be this funny around is Steve.

Because, okay, here’s the thing. Steve’s disappointed look has no effect on him anymore. He’s immune, motherfuckers, he’s had detention too many times for it to still work. Here’s the other thing: Steve doesn’t actually use that tone of voice that often. It’s this meticulously crafted image he plays up in interviews because it catches all the bad guys so off guard when Captain America is suddenly swearing a blue streak at them and telling them to go fuck themselves in, honestly, quite creative ways. The sincere Steve Rogers disappointment and concern still very much works. Also doesn’t help that Steve does caring so fucking well, like…who gave him the right to say a few things and hold Peter like he’s something precious and do the quick one-two punch of saying a super sincere compliment and following it up with ‘I love you.’ Who did that? It’s rude. Stop it.

And yeah, Steve’s the resident Mom at the Ready. It’s a risk to even sit on your bed looking sad ‘cause here he comes, wearing something snuggly and saying ‘hey’ in that stupid, stupid compassionate voice. So Peter knows he’s just gonna end up crying from too much soft if Steve actually gets concerned. Which won’t be fair because he’s gonna try and explain that he’s fine and it’s just his sense of humor while crying. Yeah, like that’s gonna be believable.

So he’s trying not to but damnit it’s hard.

Then he walks into the kitchen one day to see Steve struggling with the toaster.

It’s one of Tony’s new prototypes—which means that anyone struggling with it is so fair—and from the looks of it, it’s managed to not only burn the bread to a crisp, but also mangle the slices beyond recognizable shape.

Peter’s not paying that much attention. He’s on his phone, heading towards his spot in the corner with the beanbag chairs and definitely doesn’t recognize Steve as he goes.

He only plops down and hears someone declare, in a completely deadpan voice: “There is no point to existing at all.”

“Oh, mood.”

He doesn’t think much of it. He doesn’t even know who said that, that’s how hyper-focused he is right now. He hears the others come in and feels Clint plonk down next to him.

“Hey, Pete.”

“Sah, dude.”

“Just vibing. Did I do it right?”

“Yeah, man you’re going great.”

“You teach Thor ‘yeet’ yet?”

“We’re getting there.”

“Steve,” he hears Tony call from the kitchen, “what the fuck did you do?”

“Language.”

“Don’t fucking talk to me about language when you’re making toast that looks like a goddamn welder’s table, what is that?”

“Your prototype’s work, I imagine.”

“How did you even—“

Clint chuckles next to him as the two of them start fondly bickering. Peter’s too busy speedrunning the five stages of grief in his head.

Did…did Steve say the thing about there being no point to existence at all?

No…no way.

He must be imagining things.

Then, of course, there’s a chime on his phone.

Ned: Did u do the bio hw?

There was bio homework?

Ned: yeah, due at noon

“I now know why God abandoned this timeline and when will death come to take me?”

The room goes silent.

Shit.

“Peter,” Clint says, “it’s gonna be fine, you can do bio homework in your sleep—“

“Are you okay?” Ah, that’s Thor.

“Kid—“

And Nat, and Tony’s probably rushing over here as he speaks.

Then there’s another voice.

“We can only pray the reaper arrives early for his appointment with us, kid.”

Peter’s head snaps up.

Steve.

Steve fucking Rogers raises a coffee cup at him in salute and takes a sip. He makes a face.

“…that was definitely salt,” he mutters, before shrugging and downing the whole thing.

…what?

Peter’s still staring at him until he catches his gaze and winks.

Oh, fuck yes.

“Steven Grant Rogers,” Tony says, hands on his hips, “explain.”

Steve just gives him a look. “I grew up in the Great Depression, Tony, and I was in the army. You don’t think I have a fatalistic sense of humor?”

“Plus the fact that most of my generation is resorting to types of humor found when death and stress are so ever-present that you have to joke about it says something,” Peter adds, “doesn’t it?”

Steve raises his cup again. “See? He gets it.”

And just like that, the bond between Peter Parker and Steve Rogers was written, formed, and sealed in salt and existentialist depression.

“There’s two of you,” Tony mumbles, “oh my god, there’s two of you.”

“Oh, you just wait ’til Buck and Sam get back.”

Peter can’t fucking wait.

[oikawaplssteponme]

PART 8 | previously: part 7 | masterlist

pairing: Katsuki Bakugou x fem! reader

ratings/warnings: swearing, fighting

synopsis: When UA’s hot heads, Katsuki Bakugou and you, are forced to put your hatred for each other aside and plan the third year Prom, things end up getting a little heated...

a/n: hi hi!! 💕okay so the prom that im describing throughout this fic is like your ‘basic’ prom so to say. that’s simply because that’s just how i personally know how prom works :) i just wanted to clarify that in case some of you were confused since i didn’t really mention that before and i hope you don’t mind :)) anyway, enjoy xx

•

Eight: tantrum

To say you were embarrassed was an understatement. You felt awful for not giving Deku an answer, and even worse for running away. You didn’t even realize you were moving until you found yourself locked in your room. You felt so stupid. Why didn’t you just say yes to Miydoria? It’s not like Bakugou was actually gonna ask you. So why did it matter?

It was the next day and you were seated in homeroom. You didn’t even want to look at your classmates, let alone Deku. You felt so bad for blowing him off like that.

You watched as Deku took a seat next to you, as he usually did. Trailing behind him was Bakugou, who didn’t give you some witty insult as he did most mornings.

“H-Hi Deku,” you said nervously.

“Hi Y/N!” He smiled brightly. Your eyes widened.

Is he not mad at me?

“How are you?” You asked.

“Good! A bit tired though, I was up late doing some training,” he replied. You nodded.

“Uh, look about yesterday-”

“It’s okay if you don’t have an answer just yet. I can wait,” he reassured you. You sighed.

“Mind if we talk at lunch?” you asked. He nodded.

“Well aren’t you two cute?” huffed Bakugou. You looked at him.

“What the hell are you talking about?” you groaned. Bakugou just shrugged and before you could bother him again, class began.

As the morning passed, you found yourself at lunch. You sat with Deku and Iida as you usually did. You felt kinda awkward, not engaging in conversation as you normally would.

“Hey Deku mind if we talk now?” You interrupted. Deku looked at Iida and watched as he got up from the table.

“I’ll give you two some privacy,” smiled Iida. You now faced Deku and took a deep breath.

“Look, Deku, I really appreciate you asking me to Prom. It was super sweet and I loved the poster,” you began. Deku just smiled at you, nodding at every word you said.

Is he even listening to me?

“But, um, here’s the thing. I-uh, I don’t think I’m gonna go with a date. I kinda wanna just enjoy the dance with everyone...as a group, you know?” Deku stopped smiling.

“But we're going in the same group anyway?”

“Yeah, true. It’s just that I’m-“

“Wait did someone already ask you?”

“No, no, uh it’s not that. I just...gosh I’m really sorry Deku. I just would rather go without a date. Anyway, I’m gonna have to be running the dance so I probably won’t be having fun away. I’d hate for you to have a shitty time because of me,” you explained, which was the truth. Odds are you’d be scrambling around the dance making sure things are going well. It would be unfair to Deku to drag him along. Nevertheless, Deku looked disappointed.

“But I’ll save you a dance! How’s that?” You attempted to cheer him up. Deku looked back at you.

“I’d like that,” he smiled. You felt a wave of relief fall over you.

“Perfect. Thanks for understanding,” you said. Izuku nodded.

“Of course, but I sorta already told my mom you were going with me so do you mind if we still take a picture together on the day of Prom?” You laughed.

“Yeah that’s fine Deku.”

~

After school you followed your normal routine of changing out of your uniform and into something comfortable then going down to the basement. Prom was approaching quickly and you knew there was still much that had to be done.

The door was locked but you could see light peeking out from underneath. You began to knock on the door, hoping Bakugou was inside.

“Katsuki!” You continued to knock.

“I know you’re in there dumbass, it’s me!” You finally heard footsteps approach the door. The door swung open, revealing an annoyed Bakugou.

“Woah what’s with your face?” You asked. Bakugou didn’t say anything, he just turned around and sat back down.

“Uh okay...hey did you ever contact Present Mic about DJ-ing? Apparently he actually charges for school events,” you said. Bakugou paid you no attention.

“Well I called the flower shop for the centerpieces and they said they can give us a deal for 20 but we would have to buy the larger size.”

Still nothing.

“Bakugou? Hello? I’m trying to talk to you.” You went over to him and nudged him. Nothing.

“I know damn well you aren’t giving me the fucking silent treatment right now,” you huffed. You had to clench your fists to stop yourself from doing something stupid. Bakugou shrugged.

“THAT'S IT!” You grabbed the back of Bakugou’s shirt and pulled him to stand up. You dragged him to the wall and pressed your forearm against his neck.

“WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM RIGHT NOW? HUH?”

“I bet you wish I was Deku right now, don’t you?” Your eyes widened.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Bakugou just shrugged. You began to get more heated so you applied more pressure to his neck.

“So that’s what your little tantrum is about? Deku?” Bakugou huffed angrily. He pushed you off of him and pinned your wrists to the wall.

“I AM NOT HAVING A TANTRUM!”

“THEN WHY THE HELL ARE YOU ACTING LIKE THIS?!”

Bakugou opened his mouth as if he were going to yell at you again but he stopped himself. He let out a frustrated sigh.

“Did you say yes?” he asked. You gave him a confused look.

“Yes to what?” Bakugou sighed.

“God you are so fucking stupid…”

“I AM NOT!”

“WELL DID YOU SAY YES TO HIM OR NOT?” You suddenly realized what Bakugou was talking about.

“Do you mean about Prom?” You asked. Bakugou looked down, nodding slightly. You groaned.

“No Katsuki. I told him no.”

Bakugou looked at you with widened eyes.

“Wait, you didn’t choose Deku?”

“What? No, I didn’t choose Deku. Why would I choose Deku?” You questioned. Bakugou looked back down at the ground.

“Everyone chooses Deku…” he mumbled.

“Well I didn’t so clearly not everyone,” you smirked.

Bakugou let go of you from the wall. You rubbed your wrists. Bakugou leaned against the table, his face resting in the palms of his hands. You walked over to him and gently moved his hands so you could see his face.

“Anyway, I don’t think Deku can handle all this,” you joked, gesturing to yourself. Bakugou let out a small laugh.

“I hate you…” he mumbled. You chuckled.

“I hate you more.” You let go of Bakugou’s hands and sat down on the table as you usually did.

“Now that you’re done throwing your fit, will you please go pick up the streamers we re-ordered? They’re in the office,” you said. Bakugou groaned.

“Fine dumbass.”

“Thank you Katsuki,” you smiled.

“Whatever.”

~

“Why are suits so expensive?” groaned Bakugou. You chuckled.

“Just rent one or something,” you suggested. You and Bakugou were still in the basement, though little planning progress was being made.

“Why are there so many different options?” Bakugou was struggling to find the correct attire for the dance. You couldn’t help but laugh.

“Here let me see.” You moved to sit next to Bakugou, taking his laptop and scrolling through the page he had opened.

“Did you want to get a specific color?” You asked. Bakugou shrugged.

“I don’t know how this shit works.”

“Well if you wanted you could get a colored suit but that also depends on if you have a date or not. You’d look pretty stupid if you and your date had clashing colors,” you explained.

“So if I have a date I have to match with them? That fucking sucks.” You laughed.

“All you’d really have to do is find a tie that’s the same color of whatever dress or clothing that they are wearing. It’s not as difficult as it seems.”

“Hmmm okay…”

“The easy choice is just to get a black suit and tie. That never goes out of style. Like this one.” You pointed to the nicely tailored suit on the computer screen. You couldn’t help but get excited at the thought of Bakugou dressed up.

“And uh, those flower things that people wear. Do people still do that?” He asked. You chuckled.

“You mean corsages and boutonnières. Yeah but again you only need to worry about that if you have a date. Like the tie, the flowers you pick would probably match the colors you two wear.”

“For someone who hates Prom, you sure do know a lot about it,” said Bakugou.

“It’s kinda common knowledge dumbass,” you teased.

“Oh shut up!” Bakugou took back his laptop. “Don’t you need to get your dress or something?”

You groaned.

“Don’t remind me. I have no idea what kind of dress I’m gonna get. And the worst part is that it has to be long,” you complained.

“Why don’t you just ask Yaoyorozu to make you one?” He suggested.

“I asked and she said no because that would be ‘damaging to the economy.’ I just think that she’s gonna force me to go shopping with her and the rest of the girls in class.”

“Ha well have fun with that,” teased Bakugou.

“Hey isn’t it way past your bedtime explosion boy?” Bakugou looked at the clock on the wall.

“Not past yet. But I’m going to bed.” He began to pack up his things.

“God, you’re like an old man,” you joked. Bakugou rolled his eyes.

“Well maybe if you got more sleep you’d actually beat me in a fight for once.”

“Seriously?”

“Did it sound like I was joking?” You huffed and followed Bakugou up the stairs.

“Fine I’ll get some stupid sleep Katsuki.”

“Good. Night Y/N.” Bakugou walked back to the dorms and you stopped to take a deep breath.

That stupid boy is gonna be the death of me.

•

[taglist OPEN: @vangoghpoets @vangoghmusings @bokutory @complimentaryhugsgirl @cloudswritings @kriswu46 @neodnyl @evivn1 @jazzylove @mileven-reddie @whalerus @misssugarless @random-fandom-girl-24 @fanfiction-and-stress @ushiwakatrash @minhoswife @addictofsupernatural @the-shota-king-masayuki @freyafolkvangr @fourteenow @tamaguchi @lalayy @athenarosaline @blxck-coffee @katsukibabe @thatonegeekchick @that-chick212 @bibly @nxynxy @theunknownrandom @flustered-blue-eyed-sex-muffin @94potterhead @moonlightaangel (if your name is bold, i couldn’t tag you) ]

[infinitegalahad]

RAY IN THE BATHROOM

Summary: Ray is hiding in a bathroom and has a panic attack over the fact that his only real friend and the love of his life has (supposedly) left him for Brad.

Word-Count: 2.1k

Warnings: References of suicidal thoughts, ptsd, and severe anxiety. Brad is a semi-asshole. Hop on the angst train (with fluff at the end!)

A/N: I was listening to Be More Chill because let's just say that I can heavily relate to Micheal In The Bathroom due to recent events in my life. So then again, what better way to cope then using my biggest kin, Ray Person, in a totally not self indulgent fic?? Also as for the prompt requests-i'm working on them! Sorry, school has been bad. I'm keeping a promise to myself to release at least once a a week and I'm on a gen kill rampage. Idk what else to add so enjoy!

Taglist: @theboardwalkbody

Masterlist | Send In A Prompt!

Ray doesn’t expect himself to be hanging in the bathroom at their first year reunion. But instead of “hanging”, he’s hiding. Those emotions that never come out are now coming back to haunt him. Ray knows he can't hide behind a shit eating grin and sunglasses. He leaned up against the tub inside of the cramped room, his sunglasses tucked into the neck of his polo as tears sting his eyes.

Ray’s legs felt numb and he knows if he looks into the mirror and sees his flushed face and eyes, he won’t be able to conceal his crying. He’s not able to go back outside and would prefer to fake pee or just check his phone in the bathroom.

“C’mon brah!” Q-tip whined like a child, crossing his legs. “This hurts like a butt cheek on a stick”

“You can’t come in!” Ray yelled as he held back a sob, “The little man is going. Suck it up, buttercup.”

Q-tip had been knocking on the door for over ten minutes before giving up and choosing to pee outside. Ray let out a shaky sigh and fell onto the thin side of the bathtub, biting his lip and he batted his wet eyes with his palms.

Ray and y/n had been an unexpected trio. Partners in crime, double trouble, you went well together despite their differences. You were an educated college student and he was a whiskey tango mess who couldn’t shut his mouth for the life of it. You cried, laughed, and did everything together. Little known to y/n, Ray didn’t have a crush on her-but he was more than in love.

However, when Ray is having severe social anxiety, an event he would typically rely on y/n to help him with, his “partner in crime” falls short. Ray knows that y/n is light years better than him. Here was the smartest and most beautiful woman he had met next to a college dropout who didn’t make it past Geometry.

Now the “perfect pair” is severed, leaving one half alone in the bathroom.

Ray’s forgotten how long he’s been in the bathroom for. These types of events always felt forced, and everyone knew that. Whenever that awkwardness would arise, Ray and y/n would choose to ditch and steal a few beers and sit in the bathtub, watching an obscure eighties film in the dark, cramped room with Ray’s god awful commentary.

But even though Ray has Born American downloaded, he can’t bring himself to watch it. Now he’s laying in the bathtub, picking at grout as he softly grieves. He’s hiding in there while y/n is ignoring all of their history.

Ray first arrived at the party, making a dramatic entrance. He made sure everybody knew that he was there, especially y/n. His original plan was to wear a purple tux he had snatched from walamrt since it was ugly as fuck, and Ray knew that. But knowing that you were going to be there, Ray made an attempt with an expensive navy polo and khaki shorts, courtesy of Nate.

Upon seeing you, Ray ran over from whatever he was doing to talk to you. Whether you were OD’S or a casual jumpsuit, you looked dead drop gorgeous-and Ray never knew how to express his affections. So he pulled you into a hug and muttered a shitty joke, and you just laughed.

Over the course of the next hour, the two of you catched up about your mundane lives. It made Ray feel guilty since he knew that you were better than him in every way possible, on the road of success. Your future sounded like you would go to some fancy school and then marry a lawyer. Ray wanted to be good for you, but he didn’t know how to at all. He followed you around like a lost puppy for the rest of the party, feeling a tinge of jealousy whenever one of the guys would give you a chaste hug or when you wouldn't pay attention to him for five minutes.

Ray didn’;t know why the fuck eh was feeling so sappy. It wasn’t like the two of you were dating (even though that’s exactly what he wanted).

Ray doesn’t hate Brad, but he just hates whenever he talks to you. He sees the two of you, smiling and laughing as you catch u[. Ray knows it’s rude, but he buds in and offers to get drinks for the “three amigos”. You kindly accept and Ray goes away to get drinks. He makes sure to spit inside of Brad’s drink as a childish act of revenge.

As Ray walks down the hallway balancing the three drinks, he pauses to hide behind the door since he hear’s Brad mention his name. You and Brad had moved to the couch, sitting too close for Ray’s comfort levels. He had an arm slung over the couch, which was barely touching you, but Ray had taken it as an offense.

Standing by the doorway and leaning, he overheard Brad’s words.

“Ray’s a little shit, whiskey tango loser, sister fucking, type of man. I don’t know what you see in him,” Brad had casually said, cold and straight to the point. He truly lived up to his name.

That’s when Ray dropped the drinks and ran towards the bathroom. He didn’t hear you respond, and that was the last thing he needed to hear.

Now Ray’s sitting in the tub, no longer holding tears back, but there coming out. A sob escapes his mouth and he tries to smile, but he can’t. He gets a taste of his salty tears and tries to stop the waterworks, but they come back, bigger and faster. It’s been a while since he had a good cry-but it happened at one of the most inconvenient times. And it was over a stupid girl-who he coulnd’t deny that he was in love with.

But y/n was lightyears ahead of him. Besides, Brad was (seemingly) a better fit for her. The scenario began to play in Ray’s wild mind. The memories of “double trouble” will get erased. Their wedding will be small, paid for by the Colberts. Q-Tip will DJ, Godfather will make a speech with his horrid voice, and Ray will make a shitty joke as usual. Worst had come to the worst.

Ray hears a drunk Q-tip sing along through the door to “I wanna dance with somebody”. His feelings sink even deeper cause it makes him think; now there’s no one to make fun of drunk girls with anymore. That was y/n’s favorite hobby about these forced get-togethers.

Ray knew that at some point, he’d be forced to come out. As he chokes back the incoming tears, he waits until his face becomes dry, planning to blame it on weed or something in his eyes or the five bud lights he regrets drinking.

Knock, knock, knock, knock

Ray looks up and wipes his face, forcing a fake laugh. “Oh hell yeah, I'll be out soon.”

“Ray, it’s me.” It’s y/n’s voice, and Ray can’t believe it’s her. A part of him wants her to come in, but the other part wants him to defend himself.

“Why do you want me to come out when you can hang out with your new big strong viking? Who talks all educated and shit since you just love being around him.” Ray spits out with a few sniffles.

Based on his words and the sniffles, you can tell something is clearly wrong.

You shake your head and lightly knock again, “Please, that’s not what happened. Brad’s an idiot, and we’re just friends. “Please, come out.”

Ray got out from the tub and came close to the door, feeling your frantic breathes again the door. “My biggest mistake was showing up. I wished I stayed up watching cable porn, or I offered myself. Besides, he’s better for you. Just go away.”

Hearing him say such things made you worry even more, afraid that he could do something to himself that he’d regret.

“Ray, open the damn door. Don’t say dumb shit.” You pleaded, frantically twisting the door knob. The worry was evident in your voice.

“No, fuck you! Fuck this whole place. You’re smart; just leave me alone.” Ray banged against the door as tears came down his face. He immediately regretted his choice of words, knowing that they would hurt you. He turned away to return to the bathtub, only to stop when he heard you now sniffling.

Mega fuck.

Ray reluctantly walks back to the door and opens it, to see your face, all red and wet like this. Both of you stood there, disheveled, tears both running down your face.

Not a single word was spoken between the two of you as you ran into his arms, pulling him close as you cried into his chest. Ray used his foot to slam the door shut and then proceeded to pull you into a bearhug, stroking the back of your head as he comforted you through your sobs.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” He repeated as his tears stained your shoulder as well, “I didn’t-fuck. I’m such a retar-” He froze, knowing that you hated that word. “Idiot. I just-fuck. Don’t cry. You’ll ruin all the stuff on your face-”, Ray said as he tilted your face up and started to wipe your tears.

“Makeup. ‘S fine, I’m not wearing much. I just didn’t wanna get mistaken for a middle schooler again.”

Ray and you both let out a chuckle in the midst of your shared crying session. He’s still wiping the tears from your face as you rest your arms on his waist.

“First time we met, y’know. Godfather thought you had a dick for a long time.” Ray added, which earned another laugh from you.

You shook your head, “Remember when Trombley found out I was a girl?”

“Looked like he was about to shit himself-he wouldn’t leave you alone.”

“Ugh, ‘s a nightmare.” The two of you filled the void with the awakened laughter you shared. Ray’s tiny hands moved to your chin, directing it slightly up.

“I still think you’re pretty hot either way, angel.” Ray confessed. The two of you looked at each other for a minute, seeing the love and pupils widen in both of your eyes. Standing on your toes, you and Ray’s lips gently pecked at each other. You could taste the bud light on his lips as Ray’s lips overpowered yours, gently cupping and sucking passionately.

“Fuck,” Ray breathed through the kiss as your foreheads touched, “I love you.”

“Shit, I’ve been waiting for you to say that,” You chuckled as your finger’s played with Ray’s dark hair. It’s gotten longer, and it’s at a length where he can awkwardly style it, but since Ray is Ray-it’s a mess, “I love you too. I’m sorry about Brad, you know how he is.”

“I just thought you and him were having a moment. I just started overthinking it since I thought you didn't wanna be around me. Which is chill, I was vibing,” Ray attempted to joke, which was a way to cope with his pain.

You shake your head and hold his face to reassure him. Ray looks down at you in awe, which makes a smile curve on your lips.

“Brad wasn’t touching me, he just was stretched out on the couch. Ray, don’t say that. You were in the bathroom for over an hour. I knew that you were ethier upset or having explosive diarrhea from Nate’s vegan casserole-or both.”

“That shit was beyond nasty. I bet he got all the ingredients at Trader joes and sold his soul just to buy it.” Ray quickly quipped.

“Jesus, don’t make me vomit.” You huffed as you looked at the bathtub, “Now are you gonna come out now without beating up someone?”

“Yes babycakes, as long as you do one thing.”

Cringing, you force a smile. It’s not because you don’t love him, but sometimes what comes out of his mouth can be questionable. “Yes Ray?”

He grabs your hand, which fits right into his. “Gotta show the homies who’s the alpha around here.”

You don’t mind holding Ray’s hand. You like the tight squeezes and the feel of his soft skin. As the two of you walk out of the bathroom back into the life of the party with the smell of barbeque and the august heat in the air.

“Oh god Ray, shut up.”

Ray simply responds with a goosey laugh.

[justcourttee]

If you take request how about Class, Bustier, Lila, Adrien salt! Lila had a cousin back in Italy who is a master in manipulations but contrary to Lila with her lies, he use his manipulation skills to help others and he REALLY despite Lila. Back when Marinette was in high school junior she got a pen pal from Italy and this pen pal is Lila's cousin, through their letters the two become friends and even stay in contact for years and Lila's cousin got a crush for Marinette. (part 1)

One day Lila's cousin goes to Paris to finally meet Marinette who is very happy to finally meet her pen pal. Later he learn that Lila is in the same class than her(he know that Lila goes to a school in France but didn't know it was the same school than Mari's)and is worried since he know Lila's antics. And when he learn about the bullying Mari is victim at school because of Lila's lies and he is like "OH HECK NO!". (Part 2)

He use his manipulation skills to protect Marinette and to take down Lila. Not even Adrien or Bustier's BS can stop him. Him and Mari become closer day by day and become a couple. After Lila is exposed for everything, even for being Hawkmoth's minion, and is arrested, the class try to confront Lila's cousin and to talk to Mari but Lila's cousin shut them down and give them a good big "the reason why you suck speech". BONUS: Lila's cousin join the miraculous team. (Part 3)

(I couldn’t figure out how to combine the three asks so I copy and paste them)

Ooo, I love a good salt fic. I hope this is kind of what you had in mind :) @sayuricorner

The PenPal

Marinette knew two things when the day started.

1, She was beyond ecstatic to finally meet her PenPal, Mateo, face to face 2, She was beyond worried that somehow, someway Lila Rossi would mess it up

Mateo had been assigned as her PenPal from Italy as a part of their foreign language class to help improve her Italian and his french. They only had to write back and forth until the semester ended, but as it came and went, she found herself intrigued by the Italian boy. Today was their three-year friendaversary and to mark the special occasion, Mateo was coming to Paris.

Marinette bounced on the balls of her feet outside her parent's bakery, her eyes darting up and down the street, trying to find anyone that could be heading in her direction. Pulling out her phone, she checked the time.

3:00p.m.

His plane landed at 2:15p.m. He said he was leaving the airport at 2:50p.m. The airport was approximately ten minutes from her parent's bakery. Any minute now he should be here.

“Marinette!” Sabine poked her head out of the bakery, her eyes landing on her daughter, a knowing smile plastered across her face.

“Marinette, I know your boyfriend will be here any minute, but you still need to get ready for your school dance tonight. It starts at 6 and you still haven’t decided if you want me to do your hair or not.”

“Maman,” she couldn’t help the whine that entered her voice. Her parents were literally the worst when it came to boys. “He’s not my boyfriend, he’s-”

“Just a friend. Yes, I’m well aware of the drill. Well, I’m just letting you know, if he’s not here in the next ten minutes, maybe you should come inside and let me get started.”

Marinette nodded before returning to her search of the streets.

“Did you lose someone signora?”

“Oh no, monsieur. I’m just looking for my Italian friend. He’s supposed to be coming in today, hey wait a moment-”

Her eyes widened slightly as she whipped her head around to come face to face with him.

“Mateo?”

“Pleased to finally meet you Marinette.”

Marinette’s face broke into a grin as she flung her arms around his neck. Pulling back, she brushed a few stray hairs out of her face, completely oblivious to the shade of red the boy’s face had turned.

“I can’t believe you’re actually here! Did you remember to pack a suit? I mean I had your dimensions and made you one just in case but I just can’t believe you’re here. How was your flight? How’d you get here? Taxi? Uber?”

Marinette bit her lip trying to stop the word vomit that was falling out of her mouth.

“I’m sorry. I’m just so excited to finally meet you.”

“It’s fine, really. I’m overwhelmed as well. I mean I knew you were beautiful, but seeing you in person?” Mateo reached down to pick up her hand, bringing it to his lips softly.

“Marinette? Oh! Well, hello.”

Mateo dropped her hand quickly, both of their faces flushed red. Sabine leaned against the doorframe, that same knowing look from before creeping onto her face much to Marinette’s distress.

“Maman, this is Mateo. Mateo this is my Maman.” Her voice was strained as she tried to beg Sabine not to embarrass her.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you signora.” Mateo smoothly lifted Sabine’s hand to his lips, placing a gentle kiss on her knuckles.

“Oh, Italian! Well, young man, the pleasure is all mine. Now let’s get you kids inside, we have so much to do in such little time.”

Without thinking twice, Marinette grabbed Mateo’s hand, dragging the blushing boy behind her. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Don’t forget to call me when it’s over! I don’t want you kids walking home in the dark!”

Marinette waved as she pulled away, her eyes rolling at her mother’s invasive tactics.

“She does know we’re 17 right?”

Marinette shook her head before threading her arm through his.

“Don’t mind her, she can be overbearing and invasive, but it’s all with love. Especially with Papa away at the moment visiting his mother.”

“Oh I don’t mind, it’s best to get on your future in law's good side now. It’ll make things so much smoother in the future.”

He sent a wink in her direction earning him an elbow in the side and the most precious laughter he had ever heard.

“You’re such a flirt! C’mon, let’s get inside before you-know-who shows up.”

Mateo did in fact know who. Some girl that moved here while Marinette was 14 and had been making her life a living hell since. He couldn’t imagine what kind of person could hate a  kind-hearted person like his friend, but he was determined to put an end to it tonight.

As soon as they entered the courtyard, Marinette was swept away by two intense-looking girls, both cutting him a glare in the process. Mateo soon found himself by the punch table, taking in the sights of the dance. He was just about to step away to look for Marinette when a loud crash caught his attention.

“How DARE you ruin Lila’s dress?”

Lila? No, God, it couldn’t be.

As Mateo stepped forward, his eyes landed on a small girl with dark hair and glasses, an empty cup in her hand, and much to his horror, his cousin Lila Rossi standing behind her, crocodile tears pouring down her face.

“Marinette would never! She doesn’t even know where Lila got that utterly ridiculous dress from.”

The intimidating blonde from before stood in between the girl with the glasses and his poor friend, now soaked from the punch poured on her head.

Just as Mateo took a step forward to intervene, a blonde boy and an older woman stepped in between the girls, pulling them apart before anything further ensured.

“Marinette, you have to be the bigger person here. I can’t have you starting fights with your classmates. You know Lila has a lying disease, you can’t get angry with what she might spread.”

The teacher placed a fake supportive arm over Marinette’s shoulder, handing her napkins to help soak up some of the punch.

“Yeah, Marinette. We know how she is, we just have to take the higher road.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry girl. I just get so angry sometimes cause I can never tell when you’re just acting out of jealousy or if it’s her disease flaring up.”

Mateo felt his anger rising as he watched the scene unfold in front of him. Lila had no disease, she was just a good liar. He watched as the two girls escorted Marinette toward what he assumed were the bathrooms, leaving Lila to fake cry in the arms of the blonde boy.

It was one thing to take down her bully while he was here for the week, but Lila Rossi was a different story. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Mateo sat up near the DJ, eyeing his first target. A small blonde girl and her goth friend. They looked easy enough to sway, not quite swarming Lila like the rest of the class, but not exactly rushing to Marinette’s defense either. Placing his phone against his ear, he walked toward them, a smirk plastered across his face.

“-I’m sorry Prince Ali. I know Lila promised to help you with your rounds at the Children’s Hospital tonight but she’s just too busy at this school dance. I understand your disappointment, I too am disappointed. Well, what can I say except that call me next time. I’ll be there friend.”

He slipped his phone into his back pocket letting out a long sigh. He turned to face the blonde, her interest piqued as her eyebrows furrowed.

“Were you just on the phone with Prince Ali? Talking about Lila Rossi? How do you know them?” “Me?” Mateo dramatically looked behind him before leaning into where the blonde stood, her hand intertwined with the girl beside her. “Can I trust you with a secret?”

She nodded carefully, her eyes darting left and right as if someone was watching her.

Mateo slipped his phone out again pretending to search for a particular picture before turning it in Rose’s direction. On the screen stood an edited picture of him with his arm thrown around Prince Ali’s shoulders in front of a hospital, both wearing grand smiles. He swiped to the right showing a less ecstatic picture of him and Lila posing together as children.

“I’m Lila’s cousin, Mateo Rossi. Prince Ali is my best friend and has been for the past three years. I introduced him to Lila last year and she made a whole bunch of empty promises to him, you know, with her disease and all. It’s really tearing him up because he knows with her star power, she could really help the poor children, but alas, she never shows.”

The blonde seemed to doubt him for a moment, but as she scrolled through a couple more carefully edited pictures, her face dropped into one of sadness and anger.

“I can’t believe Lila lied to me about helping Prince Ali! She only met him two years ago?”

Mateo nodded sadly as if he couldn’t believe it either.

“Didn’t Lila say she knew him when she first got here? That was like three years ago.” The goth girl had spoken for the first time. It was quiet and difficult to make out, but the blonde understood and it only seemed to fuel her rage.

“I can’t believe I fell for it!”

“Hey, it’s okay. We’ve all been there before, sometimes you just have to take the higher road.”

Mateo smirked as he walked away, leaving the words Marinette’s classmates told her all these years to sink in with the girls as he looked for his next target. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The rest of the night continued on in the same manner. Mateo would listen in on group conversations, figure out what Lila had promised them, and moments later crush their dreams with a few carefully placed lies.

Pretty soon, all that was left was the girl with the glasses, the blonde boy, and Lila herself. Straightening his collar, Mateo shoved his hands in his pockets walking as calmly as he could to the group, his ever-present smirk widening at the sight of Lila’s panicked eyes.

As loudly as he could, Mateo shouted “Cousin!”, gaining the attention of everyone on the dance floor.

Lila seemed to pale quickly as she completed the embrace, her lips close to his ears as her panicked voice trembled.

“What are you doing Mateo?”

“Watch and learn.”

He pulled back, offering his hand to the girl with glasses who hesitantly reached out to shake it.

“Mateo Rossi, how are you doing tonight?”

“I’m fine.” The girl pulled back, her hesitancy and curiosity mixing.

“And you sir?” He reached his hand toward the blonde boy who gladly accepted it.

“Pretty great! I’m Adrien and this is Alya!”

Adrien and Alya. He should’ve guessed from Marinette’s letters that these two were the ones constantly egging on Lila, letting her get away with bullying his friend. His smirk faltered for a moment, but not a second later it was back in a more sinister way.

“Now Lila, I’ve heard you’ve been promising some people things you can’t deliver.”

“That’s- That’s not true. I always deliver.”

A murmur of doubt waved through the crowd behind him, building his confidence in his plan.

“Lila, please. I know your disease is worsening, but you’re really hurting some people here! You’ve got to stop.”

He placed his hand on her shoulder, a fake sincerity monopolizing his face. Her panicked eyes darted between him and the growing crowd behind him. She seemed like a caged animal, ready to pounce when there was an opening with no idea if it would help or hurt it.

“Mateo,” Adrien frowned as he placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to gently pull his arm from Lila’s. “You shouldn’t tear people down for their errors, it won’t put them on the right path.”

Mateo simply shrugged his hand off, not bothering to even glance at the boy.

“Neither will indulging their lying when it’s not only hurting your friend's feelings but their futures as well. What would’ve happened when she lied about getting Nathaniel in to meet a huge Magna artist to publish his comic doesn’t come true? Well, he already turned down other amazing opportunities so oh well, guess he’s never getting published.”

Another wave of agreement and anger washed over the crowd. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the only person who mattered, still in between the overprotective girls, all three smiling brightly in his direction.

“You can’t dO THIS!”

Lila pushed him as hard as he could, causing him to stumble backward. She was honestly making it too easy to play the concerned cousin card, it was making it hard for him not to burst out laughing.

“Lila, please. Your reign has to come to an end. I mean, you threatened your little designer friend that if she outed your lies, you would destroy her life!”

Alya’s mouth gaped as her eyes turned in horror to stare at Lila.

“You did what to Marinette?”

“No! You’re misunderstanding!” Lila’s panic seeped into her voice as she searched for a way out of the growing crowd.

“Mateo watch out!” Before he could turn to look, Marinette tackled him to the floor as a purple butterfly swooped over his head.

Screams echoed through the room as everyone backed up, trying to avoid the butterfly who made a straight beeline for Lila.

“About time Hawkmoth!” Lila jumped, her outstretched arm reaching for the flying butterfly. Just as her fingertips almost made contact, Adrien tackled her to the floor while the teacher from before trapped the butterfly in a small glass container.

The room was silent as everyone stared in horror at Lila.

“She just attempted to purposely be akumatized. She just called Hawkmoth by name, praising him for showing up!”

Alya zoomed in on her phone, her eyes tearing up as she ended the video, posting it straight to her blog.

“Alright kids, let’s just calm down,” the teacher tried to stop the panic from spreading but she didn’t even sound sure herself as she stared in a mixture of fear and pain at her student.

“I already called my dad, he’ll be on his way soon to arrest you, Lila!”

Cheers erupted from the room as they tried to rush forward, all apologizing in various different ways to Marinette. The two girls beside her did their best to hold them back but it was proving too much.

“Everybody back off!”

Surprisingly, everyone moved to the side, allowing a clear path for Mateo to make his way toward his friend.

“You all don’t deserve her forgiveness, not now, not ever.”

He reached back, intertwining his fingers with Marinette's as the crowd burst into anger. Alya and Adrien pushed their ways to the front, both of their eyes zeroing in on their hands.

“You don’t even know Marinette Mateo. She’s my best friend!”

Alya attempted a step forward but was stopped abruptly by what Mateo deemed as Marinette’s bodyguards.

“You haven’t been her best friend in years Alya, get over yourself. In fact, I’ve heard her gush on about this Italian kid more than I’ve heard her mention your name in the past three years.”

Marinette’s face flushed as she felt Mateo’s eyes searching her face for any denial.

“But-”

“But nothing. The Marinette I have grown to care for over the years wrote to me about you people. She tried to say you were redeemable, that you were under some fantasy spell and that one day you would wake up and come back to her, but you never did. If i hadn’t stepped in tonight, you all would have continued treating her like garbage.”

Marinette tightened her grip on his hand giving him the strength to continue.

“Marinette is kind, intelligent, courageous, and extremely talented. She has this bright personality that you just can’t help being drawn to. She did so much for you and your class, but you all overlooked it the instant something shiner came in. Alya, right? You do realize that Marinette got you your first interview with Ladybug? If she said that Lila didn’t know Ladybug, what other proof did you need?”

Alya stood there, her mouth gaping like a fish out of water.

“And you Adrien. Marinette took the fall with your father for the book you stole from him knowing that it could risk her chance in the fashion empire by pissing off Gabriel Agreste. She made sure that you could come back to school to be with all your so-called friends.”

Adrien’s face mimicked Alya’s as they tried to come up with a counter-argument, failing to do so. Mateo turned to face Marinette, his free hand rising up to cup her cheek.

“Do you want to leave this dance Marinette? You, your two bodyguards here and I could go grab some coffee if you’d like.”

Marinette nodded as if lost in a trance, seeing her penpal in a completely new light. The blonde raised two middle fingers to the class as the four of them headed toward the exit.

“Marinette wait!”

The group paused as Alya ran over, her face contorted in distress.

“Who is this guy Marinette?”

Mateo looked down, his eyes meeting hers as if silently coming to an agreement. They both broke into smiles as he brought their intertwined hands up to his lips.

“My boyfriend, Mateo Rossi.”

And without another word, the four left, basking in the victory that one night brought.

[the-i-in-lie]

You know that theory that Tyler and the twins went to the same school? What if I expanded on that hc (also some of the tyler hcs are stolen from some aletyler fic). Ramble warning, there's a lot of tangents, I'm kind of crazy with my headcanons:

Despite the three only being in the same high school for a year (contestants have online school), Tyler made a particular impression on Sammy.

See, Tyler's sportsmanship and determination made him almost the mascot of the school's sports teams. He got sportsmanship awards any time they were available, and even if the more competent players don't value him as a player, he is a good teammate. Although he never fully integrated into the clique-ier part of the teams, so he was nice to pretty much everyone.

Anyways, as Amy was a cheerleader (Sammy was more into art and band, also Amy kept getting minor roles in school musicals, much to her frustration. Them having the same outfit was a producer's idea) and so Sammy always went to the sports games to watch. She usually just kinda vibed in the corner, struggling to talk to people. No tragic backstory (yet), just Amy and Sammy taking different paths in life.

Regardless, Sammy admired Tyler's confidence and positive attitude (two traits she knew she lacked herself), and since he was always around, she ended up drawing him a lot. He just made her smile, especially seeing her artistic progress through him.

Sammy and Tyler also happened to share an algebra class, and it took her weeks to build up the courage to ask him if she could be his tutor. He was very much receptive to help, even if it was weird how a freshman was tutoring a junior. Sammy had to come up with some...creative ways to help him get the concepts, but when Tyler finally got a 100 on a quiz, and he exclaimed,"YES!" while pumping his fist, she had to hide her smile with her notebook to not look like an idiot with a crush.

Amy found out and began teasing her about it, in standard sibling fashion. Unfortunately, this made her another girl's target, I'll call her Kayla. Even after Amy stopped being her friend, Kayla would frequently bully her. When Sammy was late to class, she'd ask if she was making out with Tyler. Sammy would sometimes find her locker broken into, or her books stolen when she wasn't looking. She numbed herself to it eventually, but she became more cautious and paranoid as a result. Amy tried to help, and she even straight up fought Kayla in sophomore year. Both were suspended, but in the end, it made Kayla switch schools.

When she learned that Tyler wasn't coming back the next year (he had been accepted onto TD), she got sad, but tried not to show it. She signed one of his uniforms (idk if that's common but it was a thing at my old school). Sammy had come to associate Tyler with a simpler time, and so even the thought of him made her happy.

Fast forward to sophomore year (again), Sammy came home from a particularly bad day of bullying. She flopped onto her couch, and sighed defeatedly. She was idly flipping through TV channels when she saw a flash of red and the words,"Ladies and gentleman, Tyler!" Could it be?

Indeed it was. So that's why Tyler left! Needless to say, she was loved Total Drama from then on. Not just for Tyler, she loved DJ, Lindsay, Harold, Gwen, Trent and Leshawna as well. Oh also, she cried during Phobia Factor and The Ex-Files. Anyways, during her worst times, Total Drama was an escape, and eventually her sister was hooked on it too. Even when they fought, the show brought them together.

To make a long story short, they auditioned, played up their rivalry for the camera, Jasmine made Sammy question her sexuality, you know the rest.

And during Sammy's first famous person party (idk what they're called but you know what I mean), she still felt like she didn't belong. And then she heard a familiar voice somewhere in the chaos. She ran uo to him, and he smiled,"Sammy! I was wondering how you were doing after Pahkitew Island! Did things really get that bad between you and Amy?"

tl;dr i think i'm a Tyler simp

[leossmoonn]

Polar Opposites [Spencer Reid]

masterlist

pairing - spencer reid x fem!alt!reader

type - fluff

note - hey, guys! this was a request! hope you enjoy it!

summary - spencer takes you out to meet his friends and they learn how different you are from him.

————

*gif isnt mine*

I looked at myself in the mirror, trying to decide if I liked this outfit better, or the one I had just tried on. Tonight my boyfriend, Spencer, was taking me out clubbing to meet his friends. And right now, I was looking for an outfit.

The one I had on right now was a long t-shirt that I sewed together to be a romper. Fishnet tights, a belt that went along my waist with chains hanging from the sides, a necklace Spencer had given me, and Doc Martens. The other outfit I put together consisted of red and black plaid pants, a regular belt that I put a chain through, a black cami top that had a rose on it, and a black jean jacket.

My style was... different to say the least. A lot more alternative than what a usual adult wears. But, I loved it. I was able to express myself better this way.

I heard Spencer and I’s apartment door open. Spencer called my name and I told him I was in the bedroom. He walked in and his eyes widened.

“Woah, who told you you could look that good?” He smirked.

I smiled and walked over to him. “I did.”

I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him in for a kiss. He put his hands on my back, pulling me closer. I pulled away after a few moments, wanting to catch my breath.

“Is that your final outfit decision?” He asked. I smiled as he knew that I probably picked a out bunch of outfits before this.

“Hm, I’m not sure. You like it?” I asked and twirled around.

“I love it!” He exclaimed and eyed my body and the curves that the belt accentuated. My cheeks burned slightly and I led him to the bedroom to see the other outfit.

“Well, if we are gonna dance you might get too hot in the jacket and pants. But other than that, it’s your choice,” he shrugged.

I thought for a moment. “You’re right. I’ll stick with this.”

“Sounds good! I’m gonna go get ready,” he said.

I nodded and he turned his head before he left to the bathroom.

“Have I told you you looked good yet?” He asked.

“Hm... not in those exact words, no,” I chuckled. He laughed, “Well, you look ravishing.”

“Thank you, lover boy,” I winked. He chuckled again and then left to go to the bathroom.

I sighed happily and sat down on our bed. I truly felt like the luckiest girl in the world to be dating Dr. Spencer Reid. Us two were so different and due to that, a lot of people wouldn’t picture us together. But we ran into each other on the street - five months ago - , me accidentally spilling my coffee on him. I apologized profusely, but he said it was his fault and offered to buy me a cup sometime. I, of course, said yes and the rest was history.

I think what made us work was, well, I found him incredibly attractive. His fluffy hair, soft eyes, inncocent nature, and intelligent mind. We also shared a similar childhood it seemed. I was bullied for being different and knowing every word to My Chemical Romance and Linkin Park songs. And Spencer was bullied for being a child prodigy. But in my eyes, I didn’t understand who would bully him. He was a true gentleman, best friend, and incredibly sexy fact-spitter.

While thinking, Spencer’s hands wrapped around me. I smiled and turned to kiss his cheek.

“Ready to go?” He asked.

“Mhm,” I hummed. We both got up and I took a look at him.

His hair fell around his eyes and his lips held his perfect smile. He was wearing a dark-purple dress shirt and black pants.

“You look handsome,” I smiled.

“Thanks, babe,” he said and entertwined his hand with mine. Butterflies flew around my stomach and my knees went weak. Even after being together for almost half a year, he still had the same affects on me as he did from the beginning.

He grabbed his car keys and we went to the car. As we drove to the bar, I sang along to my MCR CD. Even though Spencer didn’t like this type of music, I still found him mouthing the lyrics.

We arrived at the bar and my palms started to get sweaty. Spencer opened the door for me and I thanked him and slowly started walking to the door. A wave of anxiety washed over me as I saw his friends sitting and talking at the bar.

“Hey, they’ll love you,” Spencer said, reading my mind.

“I hope so,” I said and took a deep breath.

Spencer led me over, saying hi first.

“Hey, guys! This is my girlfriend, Y/n,” Spencer smiled.

They all looked at you with friendly smiles and wide eyes.

“Hi, it’s so nice to meet you!” I smiled. “You must be Emily, Derek, Penelope, and JJ?” I guessed.

“Spot on! I see Spencer has talked a lot about us,” Emily smiled.

“Yeah,” I laughed. “I wanted to be prepared.”

She nodded and then Penelope went to speak.

“I love your outfit and style!” She exclaimed.

I smiled and felt myself relax slightly. “Thank you! I’ve always been one for being different.”

“Oh, me too. Hence all the bright colors and green eyeshadow,” she giggled.

“Oh, awesome! And the eyeshadow looks great!”

“Why thank you. I think we are gonna be great friends.”

“Me, too,” I giggled.

“So, Y/n,” JJ started. “How did you two meet?”

“Oh, I spilled my coffee all over him and he offered to buy me another sometime,” I explained.

Derek smiled and clapped him on the back. “My man! You know, pretty boy here used to be all books, but now he has some game!”

Spencer blushed and muttered a ‘thanks’.

“Really? He’s always had game,” I chuckled.

“If you knew me a couple years ago, you wouldn’t have thought so,” Spencer chuckled.

“Well I would’ve loved you either way,” I smiled and kissed his cheek.

“Oh you guys are adorable!” Penelope gushed.

“Thank you,” I smiled.

“Do you want some drinks?” Emily asked.

“Yeah, sure!” I smiled.

“Great, what would you like?”

“Um, a Manhattan,” I answered.

“Sounds good. And an Old Fashioned for you, Spence?” Emily asked.

Spencer nodded. I got out my credit card but they stopped me.

“We invited you out. It’s on us,” JJ smiled.

“Oh, uh... you sure? We can split the bill,” I suggested.

“Yeah, we’re sure. Next time you can pay for all of us,” Emily winked.

I laughed, “Okay, deal.”

“Let’s go find a seat,” JJ said. We all nodded and followed Derek and JJ while Emily and Penelope ordered our drinks.

“So, what’re your interests?” JJ asked.

“Oh, I’m interested in art. I’m actually an Art Gallery Dealer, and I paint and draw, too. I love music, that’s also another big part of my life. I’m kind of in a band, too,” I answered.

“Oh, really? You any good?” Derek asked.

“Eh,” I shrugged. Spencer rolled his eyes and smiled. “She’s being modest. She’s the lead singer and guitarist. She’s amazing.”

I blushed and held Spencer’s hand under the table.

“Wow, mind if we see you sometime?” JJ asked.

“Not at all,” I shook my head.

“Great!”

Emily and Penleope came over with all of our drinks.

“So, what did we miss?” Emily asked.

“Y/n, here, is in a band!” JJ exclaimed.

“Oh, really? That’s fun,” Emily smiled and took a sip of her beer.

“What kind of music do you play?” Penelope asked.

“Alternative Rock,” I said. “Ah, I should’ve known,” Penelope laughed.

“So have you ever liked the alternative style?” Derek asked.

“Ever since middle school. I guess you could call it emo, too. But it’s a fun way to express myself. I was bullied, but I always knew that it’s good to be different,” I explained.

They all smiled.

“Wow, that really cool,” Emily said.

“Thanks,” I chuckled.

“Hey, there’s karaoke here! I know your band isn’t here, but we’d love to hear you,” JJ smiled, changing the subject.

I laughed nervously and Spencer squeezed my hand for support.

“Sure,” I said. I downed my drink and stood up.

“You’ll do great!” Spencer said and gave me thunbs up. I laughed and went up to the DJ.

“Hey, are you doing karaoke right now?” I asked.

“Yeah! Wanna be the first contestant?” She asked.

“Yeah, sure,” I smiled.

“What song, sweetie?”

“Helena by My Chemical Romance,” I said.

“You got it. Here’s the mic, good luck!”

I thanked her and grabbed the mic. I went on the stage and immediately looked for Spencer. My eyes locked with his and he gave me another thumbs up. I smiled at his support.

The intro started and I took a deep breath and put my hand on my stomach.

“Long ago, just like the Hearse you die to get in again. we are so far from you, burning on.” I sang.

As I went on, people came in front of the stage, crowding around. Spencer and his friends came up. Penelope and Emily were singing along even.

“Well I've been holding on tonight. What's the worst that I can say? Things are better if I stay. So long and goodnight. So long and goodnight,” I sang and loosened up. I moved my head and body with the music.

As I sang onto the next verse, almost the whole club was jumping around and singing the lyrics. I smiled and I felt my confidence build up.

“Can you hear me? Are you near me? Can we pretend to leave and then. We'll meet again. When both our cars collide,” I sang into the mic, getting louder with each word.

“What's the worst that I can say? Things are better if I stay. So long and goodnight. So long and goodnight!” I jumped around. “And if you carry on this way. Things are better if I stay. So long and goodnight. So long and goodnight!”

I finsihed the song and inhaled loudly, catching my breath. Everyone clapped. Derek, Emily, and Spencer whistled. I smiled and went off the stage. The group met me back at our table.

“Wow! You are talented!” Emiy laughed.

“Thank you. I took voice lessons for 12 years,” I chuckled.

“It payed off,” Derek smiled.

The rest of the night consisted of dancing and talking more. I felt myself grow tired and decided to go home with Spencer.

“Well, it was nice meeting you, Y/n,” JJ smiled.

“You, too,” I said and returned the smile.

“See you at work, guys,” Spencer said.

————

The Next Day *2nd POV*

“So, you met Reid’s girlfriend?” Rossi asked.

Emily nodded and sat down. “They are like polar opposites, but she’s so sweet.”

“How so?” Hotch asked. “She’s more alternative,” JJ explained.

“Hm... wait, is that her over there?” Hotch asked and pointed to the conference room’s window.

The team saw you giving Spencer his lunch. You were dressed in a blue bad black plaid skirt, crop top, with tights and your boots.

“Wow, she is different,” Rossi said.

“But he looks happy,” Hotch grinned slightly.

“He deserves it,” JJ smiled.

They all looked at the two of you, smiling fondly.

“I’m glad he found her,” Emily said.

“Me, too, Em,” Derek smiled.

————

Like / Reblog !

message to be on taglist :)

[upamongthestarss]

Perfect Timing//Bill Denbrough x fem reader

Please be kind! This is only my second time publishing on tumblr, so I’m not really sure what I’m doing, but here we are!

Warnings: smut, brief mention of fem oral receiving, swearing, mild angst, underage drinking

Spring break came way too slowly, especially for Y/n. Freshman year of college is said to be one of the best years of your life, but it’s definitely the worst. Her high school was entirely too easy for her, probably because her teachers were just idiots. Then college hit, and the workload was unbearable. Not to mention, she grew homesick for her parents and her best friends and even a tiny bit for Bill. 

Oh, how she hated Bill back home. 

Well, okay, she didn’t hate him, it was more of just a mutual tension that sometimes led to the Losers separating them at all costs. 

They went on a few dates freshman year, and even kissed once, but it all ended when popular Autumn asked Bill to “help her with English” at lunch one day. He completely forgot to tell Y/n, but didn’t think much of the whole affair anyway. When Y/n walked out of the lunch line, she smiled at her newly official boyfriend. He was hunched over a piece of paper, diligently writing with ginger hair falling into his eyes. When Autumn saw her coming over, she tapped Bill on the shoulder, and kissed him full on the mouth when he turned to her.

Y/n’s hands went slack, causing her tray to clatter to the ground. Tomato soup splattered all over her new white Keds. She obviously looked down to see the damage, and missed Bill pushing Autumn off of him. He went over to check on her and help her clean up, but she stormed off to the bathrooms. 

From then on out, there’s been so much tension between them. Even though Bill explained what happened countless times, she’s absolutely refused to listen. She’s had trust issues after her biological father cheated on her mother when she was little, and this, well, this basically made them inflate like the economy. She wasn’t on speaking terms with him until the end of the school year, and even then their friendship was rocky.

But there was also a sexual tension. Bill and Y/n still had blatantly obvious feelings for each other, whether they wanted to admit or not. In fact, they even went to senior prom together, but it ended in disaster. There was a dramatic exit from Y/n when he mentioned how he was on good terms with Autumn now, and she was really sorry for what happened. 

“Why the hell would you bring that up now?” Y/n rose from her seat.

“B-b-because she t-told me she w-wanted us to-”

“Can’t we just completely forget what happened back then? It was so long ago.”

Bill flushed. “Well, it r-r-really seems l-like you’ve n-n-never forgotten ab-about it these past th-three years.”

She threw her napkin on the table and left after saying, “You’re a dick.”

That night she vented to Eddie and ultimately admitted to having feelings for him, but he knew that all along anyway.

That night was the last time they talked until it was time for Bill to leave for NYU.

“Good luck,” she told him, bouncing on the balls of her feet nervously. 

“Th-thank you, Y/n, y-you too!” he was so excited that day that he even pulled her into a hug, much to her surprise (and delight). 

And now, here she is, on the plane to Palm Springs. It’s a long flight from Marywood, so Y/n uses her time to finish her homework. She’s majorly jetlagged by the time she lands at Palm Springs International. Luckily, the cab ride isn’t ridiculously long. When she gets to Richie’s beach house, he’s on the porch with his feet up and a daiquiri in hand.

“Y/N!!!!” he shouts, putting his drink to the side and running down the stairs.

“RICHIE!!!!” she yells back, dropping her bags to run and hug him. 

“Oh, it’s been so long!”

“I know!! And holy shit, your house is gorgeous!”

“I’m telling you, Y/n, I lucked out so much by scoring that audition. Can you believe it? Rich Records Tozier, the nation’s youngest beloved DJ.”

“Hardly,” she chuckles. “So how is the life of fame treating you?”

“Oh, brilliant. Come on in, I’ll give you a tour,” he scoops up her bag and leads her to the door. It’s an incredible house, with a beautiful kitchen and even a movie theater. 

“And here’s your room,” he gestures to the first door upstairs. 

“May I?” she asks, hand on the doorknob. 

“Be my guest.”

She swings it open to a redheaded girl on one of the two beds. She looks up from her magazine, smirking. “Hey, roomie!”

“Bev!” Y/n shrieks as her best friend runs to her and practically knocks her over. 

“When did you get here?!” 

“About an hour ago. Stan’s here too, but he’s taking a nap.”

“Well, we’ll have to fix that, won’t we?” Y/n grins mischievously. 

“Everyone else is supposed to get here tomorrow morning, except for Mike. He’s coming tonight.”

“Oh, thank God. No Bill for a half day more.”

“Oh, Y/n, don’t be so close-minded,” Bev giggles and they sit down on the same bed, bursting with so much to catch up on. Richie doesn’t know if he should sit down with them or just go back to his daiquiri, but the doorbell rings.

“Saved by the bell,” he says, getting the side eye in response. 

The girls talk for hours until they decide to say hello to Mike. Y/n stops at the bathroom first, and it takes her a while to find the kitchen after that. She has to follow the voices and Richie’s booming laugh.

“Sorry, I got lost,” she says, turning in the kitchen. “Hi, Mi-”

The third person talking to Richie and Beverly is not Mike.

It’s Bill. And she looks like a total bum in her old sundress and messy ponytail. She isn’t wearing a drop of makeup, either.

“Y/n.”

“Bill. Good to see you,” she holds out her hand professionally. He shakes it.

Is it good to see him? Looking at his cerulean eyes certainly sends butterflies through her stomach and through… other parts of her body.

“Y-you too.”

That immaculate stutter. She sits down at a barstool and crosses her legs together tightly. Richie and Beverly are quick to notice it, but restrain from commenting.

“I thought you were coming in tomorrow morning?” 

She doesn’t sound rude or accusatory, just curious.

“M-my flight got c-c-cancelled.”

“Okay, gotcha.” 

She drums her fingertips on the counter restlessly, not really knowing what else to say.

Luckily, Richie has a plan in case things get awkward between these two- and he’s already having to use it.

“Anyone want a drink?”

************************

“Nursing school is so insane. In anatomy, our teacher dissected a literal human body, and we had to examine it.”

“Eddie, please. We’re eating,” Y/n coughs. 

“It was disgusting, but it was also fascinating,” he defends himself.

“Whatever floats your boat,” Ben shrugs. 

“Y/n, tell us more about Marywood,” Eddie says, but she’s way too busy watching Bill talk to Richie’s cute next door neighbor while holding her little sister.

“You’re so good with her!” she simpers, tossing her shiny brown hair.

“Y/n? Earth to Y/n?”

“What?” 

“How’s Marywood?” 

“Oh, it’s… fine.”

“Just fine? Did you pick a major yet?”

She shakes her head.

“What about that guy? Are you still with him?”

“David? No, we were together for a while, but I guess the spark just kinda died. I mean, he initiated the breakup, but it was all mutual.”

Eddie squirts a dollop of sunscreen the size of a clementine in his hand. “That sucks. I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Don’t be,” Y/n shrugs, averting her gaze back to Bill. She’s very glad that she's wearing sunglasses, to hide her stares.

The cute girl was right, he is good with that little girl. Her heart would be melted, but Bill keeps flirting with the older sister. It’s disgusting.

And then, that girl has the audacity to drop the rattle she shook in the baby’s face. Y/n is close enough to hear the conversation, or at least read lips.

“Oh, l-l-l-let m-me get that.”

“Don’t worry, I got it,” she smiles, bending over so stealthily so that her breasts are all but out of that bikini.

“Ugh,” Y/n rolls her eyes.

“What’s up?” Ben asks.

“Nothing. I’m just going to go to the bathroom,” she stands up and walks almost catatonically to the door.

Instead of going to the bathroom, she finds a glass and slams it on the table. 

“D-damn, Y/n. That’s n-n-not a napkin, you kn-know.”

She jumps at Bill’s voice. He obviously followed her in, and she’s not too thrilled about it.

“Funny,” she replies, searching the cabinets. “Do you want anything?”

“I-I was ac-actually getting d-drinks.”

“Oh, for you and your new girlfriend? Hey, let me know when the wedding is. That is, if I even get on the guest list.”

“What’s your p-p-problem?”

“I don’t have a problem.”

Y/n finds a bottle of straight vodka and pours it right in the glass.

“Hey, its eh-eh-eleven AM,” Bill warns her, reaching for the glass. Unfortunately, their hands grab for it at the same time and it goes crashing to the ground. 

“Great, thanks,” she says.

“I didn’t w-want you to be w-w-wasted all d-day.”

“Listen, Bill,” she takes a deep breath. “I really appreciate your concern. I do. But it’s my life, and if I want to get wasted this early, then no one should stop me.” 

He doesn’t answer. They both grab rags and start to clean up around their feet.

“Th-this kind of r-r-reminds me of a certain sit-situation involving t-tomato soup,” Bill risks saying.

It was a terrible idea.

“Are you kidding me? I thought we moved on from that!”

“Yeah, so w-w-we can j-joke about it now!”

She’s silent for a minute, a blend of wrath and sadness.

“Just,” Y/n says, “Just go back out with your girlfriend.”

“I-I-I h-hardly know- o-okay, what the hell is y-y-your problem? We’re n-not together an-anymore!!! You sh-sh-shouldn’t c-care about my l-l-love life.”

“You don’t get it, do you?” she stands up, vodka dripping from the rag to her toes. “I don’t care that I shouldn’t care. I do care! I’ve always cared!” 

Bill is speechless, and she honestly doesn’t blame him. Y/n assumes he doesn’t feel the same about her. After all, they haven’t dated since freshman year. Sighing, she puts the rag in the sink and walks back outside.

She’s opening up her book and lying on her stomach to get a tan when Y/n hears an obnoxious “Excuse me?”

She looks up to the girl, who could literally be a bikini model.She looks at Y/n like she’s a piece of dirt, and Y/n just wants to smack her. She could never hurt anyone, though.

“Um, do you know when Bill will be back with the drinks?”

“Not a clue.”

******

Bill absolutely could not stop thinking of Y/n all day. He never really can, ever, but his thoughts have been out of control all damn day. They range from wild fantasies to regrets from way back when to just simply: She still likes me, she still likes me, she still likes me!!!!

He wants more than anything to talk to her and confess he’s been in love with her since high school, maybe even before that. But some small voice in Bill’s head tells him that even if she does have feelings, she won’t want to act on them. After all, he’s been nothing but an asshole to her.

Then again, so has she.

It’s really ironic that they’re so abrasive towards each other. Y/n is so kind and friendly to everyone she meets; that’s why Bill fell for her. And everyone tells him that he’s nothing but a sweetheart. And he’s always treated his every girlfriend like a princess. 

But it’s Y/n he wants as a girlfriend, and it always has been. 

Y/n comes running down the stairs, using the bansiters to prop herself up and skip the last couple steps. She’s been strangely lighthearted after she made that confession to Bill. It had been a weight on shoulders for the longest time, after all. And now that it’s out of the bag, she feels as if she can finally move on.

Holy shit, she’s so cute, Bill says to himself. She has this youthful energy, but the looks of a gorgeous young woman. Not to mention her outfit- a pastel yellow halter top, short jean shorts, and a sky blue scrunchie- looks magnificent.

“Okay, I’m ready to go!” she grins widely. “Sorry for the holdup!”

“You’re good,” Richie replies. “We were just figuring out transportation, considering I can only take five of us in my car.”

“I don’t mind taking the trunk,” Y/n shrugs. “Anyone else?” 

“I will,” Beverly volunteers. 

“Okay, great, and five of you can squish in the backseat. Mike claimed shotgun earlier.”

Everyone else groans while he flashes a smile and gives them finger guns.

“So charming,” Bev laughs and grabs Y/n’s hand. They run out to the car and squish in the trunk.

“Bev, I have to tell you something,” Y/n whispers.

“What?”

“I’m still not over Bill.”

“Thank you, Y/n,” she responds sarcastically.

“How did you know that? I only told Eddie!”

“It was just a little obvious,” she laughs. “And the good news is that we all think he feels the same way!”

“I don’t think he does, Bev,” Y/n shakes her head.

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, I told him today-”

“You what?”

“Shush!” she scolds as the boys get in the car. Luckily they’re all talking and can’t hear the girls if they whisper. “It just sort of... slipped out. But he didn’t even say anything. He just kind of… froze? It was so awkward.”

“You know he’s a little awkward around girls that he likes.”

“Is he, though?”

“Sure he is!”

“I don’t know, Bev. He stood there for a full thirty seconds without saying anything, and he just let me leave,” Y/n explains. “I think if he really liked me, he would have told me by now.”

Beverly gets quiet. “I’m so sorry, Y/n.”

“Hey, it’s okay! The timing was never right, and that- that happens. And it’s better I know now so I’m not hung up on him for the rest of my life.”

The rest of the drive is mostly just Beverly telling Y/n that there’s someone out there for her, and to keep her eyes open at the restaurant. 

It’s a bright restaurant, very tropical and very flamboyant. A lush plant, obviously made of silicon, is the centerpiece of every table. 

Good, it can hide me from Bill and spare my embarrassment, Y/n thinks as she sits opposite him. Unfortunately, Ben asks the hostess to take it away so he can see everyone. Y/n is mortified. Being directly across from her, he can watch and judge the girl the entire dinner.

She tries her hardest the whole meal not to pay Bill any mind, but it gets difficult when he starts getting tipsy. And drunk Bill can be wild. Singing and dancing on the tables wild. Luckily he isn’t at that point yet.

She doesn’t even know how he was able to buy drinks here; he’s only nineteen. The waitress must have a crush on him or something. Maybe she and Richie’s neighbor could start a Bill fanclub.

Y/n has a feeling the waitress would ask for her ID, though, so she sticks to soda. And three Shirley Temples is never good on anyone’s bladder.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” she announces. “Anyone else?”

Everyone shakes their heads. Everyone except…

“Me! M-m-me!” Bill waves his hand around like a hyper child.

“Great, I’m a babysitter now,” Y/n murmurs.

She starts walking to the bathroom, Bill hot on her heels. Surprisingly enough, when she finishes peeing, he’s actually waiting for her. 

“F-f-finally. G-g-girls take so long in the buh-buh-bathroom.”

She ignores him.

“Y/nnnnn,” he slurs. “I’ve been m-m-meaning to t-t-tell you, your a-a-ass looks fantastic in th-those shorts.”

“Because that’s not a rude thing to say at all,” she replies, feeling her face burn up.

“I’m n-n-not trying to be r-rudeeee,” Bill grabs her waist and pulls her in. Y/n can smell all the alcohol on his breath, and it’s disgusting. He kisses her full on the mouth.

She shoves him off, embarrassed by his behavior. “You’re drunk.”

“If b-b-being drunk makes me w-w-want to m-make out with you, I-I-I never want t-to be so-sober.”

That hits Y/n hard. Bill Denbrough wants her. But only when he’s drunk. 

He doesn’t love her in his right mind. This is all she has, and she can’t even fathom just taking advantage of him when he’s drunk. Using someone would hurt her in such an inexplicable way, and not to mention it would tear whatever small bond she had with Bill into shreds.

She plops back down in her seat, barely touching the rest of her food or speaking for the rest of the night.

When she gets to her shared room with Bev, Y/n takes a shower. She’s always loved showers because they’re a place where you can cry without risk of anyone hearing over the water running.

And that’s exactly what Y/n does. She lets the tears stream down her face, washed away by the showerhead’s water.

*******

Bill knows he got plastered last night, so it’s no surprise when he wakes up with a pounding headache. But he isn’t sure why Y/n is so quiet, especially around him. Usually she has a remark or at least a glare for him, but she seems almost meek today.

He pulls Beverly aside at one point, and asks if he did anything to her last night.

“I don’t know, Bill. You guys went to the bathroom at the same time, and when you came back, Y/n seemed really upset.”

“L-l-like angry, or s-sad?”

“Sad. But she didn’t tell me anything that happened. I’m sorry, Bill.”

“It’s o-o-okay. Th-Thanks, Bev.”

He spends the rest of the day trying to remember something- anything- from last night. Bathrooms. Bathrooms.

There are some vignettes. Y/n across from him, in that pretty top. Watching her ass as she walked to the bathrooms. 

Oh, shit. Bill made some sort of comments about those shorts. What happened after that? He kissed her, didn’t he? But why would that make her sad?

When evening rolls around, Bill still doesn’t remember anything new. He’s the only one in the living room, not even paying attention to the TV. His friends come bounding down the stairs, all wearing sneakers and athletic outfits.

“A-a-are you g-guys going somewhere?”

“Yeah, to the new rope climbing place,” Stan replies. 

“Where’s Y/n?”

“She has vertigo, and wanted to stay here. We thought you could stay here so she’s not alone all night.”

“You d-d-didn’t th-think about asking me f-first?”

“We drew names out of a hat,” Beverly steps in. “You just weren’t around when we did it.”

“Isn’t that a l-l-little ruh-rude to Y-Y/n? One of us is g-g-going to st-stay with her instead of h-having fun?”

“No, Bill, it was the opposite!” Richie tries to save the group, much to their chagrin. “We were voting on who didn’t get to stay home with Y/n. And you won! You get to!”

“Wh-what i-if I want to donate m-my win?”

“Doesn’t work like that. Wins are final.”

It’s all BS, and Bill knows it. There never was a hat draw, everyone knows that Bill and Y/n have a lot to work out, and they don’t want the two to go back from spring break with even more animosity for each other. 

Also, they know that the two have feelings that have been expressed so wrongly over the years. Maybe now it’s time to work them out.

“So we’re going to head out now; have fun with Y/n!” Eddie waves, and they run out excitedly.

 Bill sighs, not knowing what he’s going to do with Y/n all night. Maybe she’ll just be antisocial and hide in her room all night, but he personally hopes she won’t. He decides to hang out by the pool for a while, and changes into his swim trunks.

By the time he gets outside, though, Y/n is already there. She’s hugging her knees to her chest and watching the little waterfall intently.

“Hey,” Bill says, making her jump.

“Hey.”

“C-c-can I join you?”

She nods. 

“Why aren’t you with the others?”

“B-because I w-w-won their ‘contest,’”

“Contest?” she shakes her head, not understanding.

“To b-b-babysit you, ap-apparently.”

“Ah. Sounds legitimate.”

He doesn’t know how to respond to that, so he just lets the sounds of the waterfall and the faint grasshoppers fill the silence. He’s sure Y/n doesn’t mind, though. When everyone else complained about the summer grasshoppers as kids, she would always dote on how they’re melodious and comforting.

Bill can’t hold himself back any longer.

“Y/n, what d-d-did I do l-last night?”

She turns to him. “You really don’t remember?”

“I re-remember making a com-comment, which I-I’m sorry about b-by the way, th-that was an a-asshole move. And I-I remember kissing y-you. But then what?”

Taking a deep breath, Y/n continues. “Well, then I pushed you off and told you that you were drunk.”

She pauses.

“And th-then?”

“Then you said, ‘If I want to make out with you when I’m drunk, then I don’t ever want to be sober.’”

That’s it? Bill thinks. He’s not stupid enough to voice his thoughts, luckily.

“Oh, Y-Y-Y/n, I w-w-was drunk. I d-didn’t know what I w-w-was saying.”

“Listen, Bill. I know you remember what I told you yesterday in the kitchen. And what you told me at the restaurant really hurt, okay?”

“Why? I-I wanted to k-k-kiss you,” he asks, genuinely confused.

“You’re such an idiot sometimes!” Y/n laughs incredulously. “You wanted to kiss me when you were drunk, not in your right mind!”

“I al-always want to k-k-kiss you in my right mind!”

“What?!” 

“I-I think I love you, Y/n.”

She’s frozen. Could he actually mean that? Has he been drinking again? Hearing that from Bill Denbrough has been her dream since… forever.

“I think I love you too, Bill.”

He jumps up from his lounge chair, and leans over Y/n. He tucks a piece of hair behind her ear and kisses her tenderly, gently. Her lips are just as soft as he remembers them to be all those years ago, softer than any other girl he’s kissed.

“Wow,” she beams as they pull apart. “I guess I knew this, but you’re a much better kisser than my ex.”

He laughs. “W-why, thank you. You’re n-n-not so bad y-yourself.”

“Thanks,” she giggles. “I just… I can’t believe this is happening. I feel like doing something crazy now, something outrageous.”

“L-like what?”

“Hm…” she thinks for a minute. “Do you want to go skinny dipping?”

“Okay, sure,” Bill chuckles. 

Grinning, she begins to peel off her one piece. She slips the straps off, and the rest slowly slides off her body. Her breasts are exposed first, then her stomach, then everything. Her skin is smooth and glorious.

Bill pulls off his swim trunks and throws them behind him. Y/n wants to tease him about his erection, but she’s way too shocked at his size.

They bask in the beauty of each other for a moment before they dive into the water, crisp and cool on their bare bodies. Y/n splashes Bill right in his face.

He pushes wet strands of hair from his ocean eyes. “H-how dare you?” 

“What are you going to do about it?” she taunts.

“This,” Bill says, throwing Y/n over his shoulder and taking her outside the water. She’s both screaming and laughing her head off at this point. He carries her all the way to the deep end and tosses her in. 

When she surfaces, Y/n makes sure to flip him off. 

“So r-r-rude.”

He cannonballs in, and they swim around, and eventually go under the waterfall. They end up making out and gasping for air.

“D-d-do you want to tuh-take this inside?” Bill whispers.

She nods, and they get out. As Y/n shivers, Bill gets them fluffy towels from a bin by the chairs.

Grabbing his hand, she pulls him through the sliding glass doors. They run around the house in nothing but towels, giggling and kissing and dripping pool water everywhere. The two finally make it to Bill’s room and go directly to the bed (after locking the door).

“Spruh-spread your legs,” Bill breathes in her ear, sending goosebumps up and down her body. 

She obeys and lets him kiss her knees, her thighs, and eventually her core. He pleases Y/n in a way her old boyfriend never did.

When she finishes, Bill holds her for a minute so she can catch her breath. Then, when he turns around to put on a condom, she moves against the wall.

“Oh, s-s-so you w-want wall sex n-now?” Bill raises his eyebrows.

“Maybe,” she shrugs. “If you’re comfortable with it.”

Instead of using words, Bill throws Y/n up against the wall and kisses her roughly. Their tongues clash, and she loves every second of it. Then he goes in. He starts slow at first, but begins to pick up the pace with her approval.

“D-damn, you’re so t-t-tight,” he whispers while she keeps muttering his name.

“Probably because I wasn’t with someone as big as you before.”

Hearing that makes him turn redder than his hair. “Really?”

“Really,” she sighs. “Can you go a little slower?”

He listens to her, and almost screams in pleasure when she starts to suck on his neck.

They both finish in a couple minutes, and are pretty burned out- Y/n especially because she’s never made such rough love before.

She lies in his arms, back on the bed, and traces the love mark forming on his neck.

“I think I love you,” Y/n says for the second time tonight. 

“I-I th-think I love you t-too.”

They can’t help smiling for the umpteenth time in the past hour. Their stars had never aligned until now, and it couldn’t be a more perfect exchange of love. The wait was unbearable, but incredibly worth it. 

Y/n and Bill make each other feel whole, like there was a sort of void within each other, unfilled until now. 

“Hey,” Y/n’s voice is soft and gentle. “I’m so sorry about these past years. You know I have trust issues, but I took them too far and didn’t treat you right. And I’m so sorry.”

“I’m s-sorry, too. I’ve been an ass-asshole to y-y-you, a-and it’s m-m-my fault we broke uh-up in the f-first place.”

“Don’t say that,” Y/n frowns. “It was Evil Autumn’s fault.”

They chuckle. 

Resting her head on Bill’s chest, Y/n asks the dreaded question. 

“So what’s going to become of us? After spring break.”

Bill thinks for a minute, stroking her hair, and admits, “I don’t w-w-want us to c-c-cut each other off again.”

“Neither do I.”

“I think our sc-sc-schools are like t-t-two hours ap-apart; that’s n-not terrible.”

“It’s not,” Y/n agrees. “Maybe we could take turns driving every weekend, and find a halfway point or something.”

“A-an ex-exact halfway point,” Bill adds.

“An exact halfway point.”

They can make it work, they’ve got to. Both Bill and Y/n are extremely optimistic about the future ahead, now that every feeling has been sorted out between them. And even in the unfavorable event where things don’t work out, there will always be Palm Springs. 

Bill presses a kiss to her forehead. There’s not a chance that they won’t make it. The timing is finally, after all these years, perfect. 

[purplesurveys]

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esurvey by joybucket

Facebook's "Did You Know" questions (4/5)

The pictures I upload the most are... Usually the newest merch I’ve bought just because it’s polite to give feedback to the people or shops I transact with...and, quite selfishly, also because K-Pop merch is the price of fucking diamonds that I feel the need to show off the stuff I’ve been able to buy with my own hard-earned money HAHAHA. Makeup or no makeup? You do you, but I personally never wear makeup. It’s unnecessary expense for me. The first thing I do when I turn on the computer is... Close all the apps that automatically boot up when I do so, like Word and Excel. My favorite Mexican food is... Enchiladas. One of my most memorable birthday parties was... I haven’t had a lot of birthday parties per se, but my 23rd birthday (this year) was pretty memorable. I had freshly moved on from a bad breakup and it was the first time I hosted dinner for my family.

Something weird I've eaten is... My mom isn’t a skilled cook so she’s mixed some stuff up before that...aren’t traditionally mixed together, I guess? like they’ve never tasted bad but a lot of them have also not made sense. A favorite color of mine is... Pastel pink. I feel at peace when... I have the aircon turned on and a cup of coffee next to me. For me, the best time to go running is... Oh I hate running lol. I used to be good at it and was even part of the track team in elementary school, but I didn’t keep up with it. A favorite class of mine was... History or any branch of social studies. My favorite emoji is... I use varied emojis for different situations, but I tend to rely on the simple smiling face emoji that can come off as sarcastic depending on the context haha. It’s this one: 🙂 I've never taken a... Sleeping pill. My favorite soup is... Miso soup. A song I love right now is... The DJ Swivel Forever Mix of Euphoria, by Jungkook. I cannot forget... The time I got food poisoning. Action or comedy? Not a big fan of both but I would go for comedy for the laughs. I’m incapable of lasting through an entire action-filled TV episode or movie. Toast is better with... I don’t have toast a lot, but I do like mine with butter and scrambled eggs. The last time I changed my profile pic was... On here? Sometime last week. My favorite 90's clothing is... High-waist denim jeans. A friend who is most loyal to me is... Angela. One goal I want to accomplish in my lifetime is... Purchase my own place. It doesn’t need to be a house; all I want to be able to say is that I have a place that I can call mine. Something I'll never do again is... Dissect an animal, maybe? I can’t imagine a situation wherein I’ll have to do it again. My name means... “Bright famous one.” I'd love to have a pet... There aren’t a lot of animals I want as pets. I already love my dogs. I really miss... Traveling abroad. Have many cities have you lived in... Just one other city, which was Manila. I’ve lived in my current city my whole life, otherwise. The best things in life are... Paid for, which is why I’ve never believed when people push that money can’t buy happiness. Of course it can, and it does. If my life were a movie, the title would be... I’ve never been good with titles. If I could, I would... Cook stuff for family and friends all the time. An unexpected place I've spent the night is... In the car, with my entire family. There had been a terrible typhoon then and the latter part of the highway leading up to our village (and the village itself) was badly flooded, so we, along with what were probably up to a thousand cars, were stuck at the highway and were forced to spend the night there. We were very lucky to have been situated right beside a Jollibee, a 7-11, a gas station, and a restroom. One of my worst nightmares is... Nightmare as in a dream? I had a hundred nightmares about Gabie post-breakup and they were all of course terrible. My perfect day looks like... Staying at a quiet resort, with the aircon turned on all day, taking surveys while I have room service and have the sea right in front of me. Between colored photos or black and white, I prefer... Colored. If I could choose between sleeping in a tent or open air, I'd choose... Tent. It’s so easy to feel vulnerable with the latter, and besides...mosquitoes. Social media has helped me.... Not give a fuck about what people think about the things I post. What are you looking forward to today? Continuing to do nothing for the rest of the day. A friend who always cheers me up is... I don’t believe anyone is capable of successfully cheering me up every time, but the closest would be Angela. One of the weirdest style trends is... I am not the biggest fan of shrugs. If I could go back in time and give myself advice, I would say... I already answered this in an earlier section of this same survey. I've always wanted to start a business of... I’ve never had any interest in starting a business. To be happy one thing you need is... The ability not to care so much. If I went back to school, I'd love to learn... I’d probably just continue hoarding history electives, maybe sprinkle some political science courses in there as well. The thing I love most about my hometown... It’s small and urbanized, so there are a lot of malls, coffee shops, and restaurants that are super easy to get to but at the same time not super populated, since I’m not in the main part of Metro Manila. Something that's better than chocolate is... Literally so many things. Risotto is one. What gets me out of bed in the morning is... For the most part it’s the fact that I have work and I hate being absent. The longest I've gone without sleeping is... Maybe a little over 24 hours. A crazy thing I did once was... Putting a finger onto an iron that just so happened to be plugged in. If I could spend the day with any athlete, I'd spend it with... Mick Foley. My favorite age I've been so far... 23 has been fun. Do you consider yourself a neat person? No.

[cherryblossomflowers]

DDD Week #8

Pairing: Jensen x Daughter!Reader, Jared x Niece!Reader

Summary: YN is off to college, but Jensen isn't ready to let his little girl go so he drags Jared with him to YN's university to check it out.

Warnings: Angst, Cursing, Yelling/Fighting

A/N: Week #8 of DDD is here! Make sure to check out @mlovesstories​ Week #8 and their masterlist! Feedback is greatly appreciated! Enjoy!

Jensen: 42 Jared: 38 YN: 18

***ASK OPEN***

*LET ME KNOW IF YOU’D LIKE TO BE TAGGED*

Dynamic Duo Drabbles Masterlist

"'Why don't you trust me,' she typed to both of the boys."

With freedom in her sights, YN pulls into a parking spot in front of her dorms. She steps out of her Jeep and stares up at the four-story building in front of her.

A boy in a bright yellow T-shirt and clipboard in hand ran up towards YN, "Hi, I'm Trey. And I'm helping freshmen with their move-ins. Can I have your name?"

"Oh, uh, I'm YN Ackles."

Trey gave her a shocked look, "So it's true. We have a celebrity at our school."

YN immediately shook her head, "No, no. Just a regular girl who's parents happen to be celebrities that wants to get her degree and have her own life."

Trey nodded, "Yes ma'am! So you'll be on the 3rd floor, room 302," he paused reading his clipboard, "Oh, and your roommate is already checked in so she should be up there."

YN nodded, "Thanks, uh, is there any way you could help me with the mini fridge?"

Trey smiled, "Sure thing."

Across campus, Jensen and Jared sat in the bed of Jensen's truck looking at YN's Jeep in the parking lot.

"Jay, this isn't a good idea," Jared said.

Jensen sighed, "She's my babygirl. I need to make sure she's safe."

"Spying on her isn't the best way to do it though."

"What else am I supposed to do? Blow up her phone with calls and texts, asking her-"

Just then, Jensen's phone started ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw YN's name flashing across the screen.

He quickly answered, "Hi honey. Did you make it to school all right?"

"Yeah, I just got checked in and one of the RA's are helping me with my fridge."

Jensen paused, "RA? Male or female?"

"Dad, I'm 18. Boys aren't your concern anymore."

"You're right, you're right. I'm sorry. So how' the-"

"Sorry, Dad. I got to go. Trey is helping me with my stuff. Call you tonight!"

"Wait wait, who's Trey-"

YN hung up before Jensen could get another word in. His phone dropped to his lap and he stared off towards YN's Jeep.

"Well," Jared said, "What did she say?"

"We can't leave, Jared. We have to stay here. She's with some boy."

Jared laughed, "Jensen, she's dated guys before. That's not new."

"No he's...he's helping her with her belongings. What if he helps her unpack? What if they..." Jensen shivered at the thought in his head.

Jared sighed, "So what? Are we just going to camp out here all day?" ______________________ YN and her roommate were walking out of their building and towards the university square where there was a karaoke show happening. YN had quickly become friends with her roommate and was getting more comfortable with the college life.

There were many people that recognized her because of her father, but she shrugged it off and explained to them that is not who she is here.

She was simply YN Ackles, an English and Psychology double major from Austin, Texas.

YN and her roommate found a spot near the stage so they could watch the show. Several people came up to YN, introducing themselves and asking to sit near her.

Back across campus, Jensen is still sitting at the bed of his truck but this time he had a pair of binoculars and is watching YN from afar.

Jared is in the passenger seat of the truck, wishing he was home instead of here.

"Hey, Jared. There's like a ton of kids grouping around her," Jensen yelled behind him.

"Mhmm," Jared responds.

"And it looks like...it's older boys! Why are older boys around her?!"

"Who knows."

"Jared, are you evening listening?"

Jared stuck his head out of the truck, "To be honest, no. I stopped listening about 4 hours ago when you kept freaking out that YN hadn't come out of her room."

Jensen sighed, "I just want-"

"To make sure she's safe. I know, Jay."

Jensen grumbled and went back to spying on his daughter. Jared rolled his eyes and new he was going to regret leaving the truck.

Jared got out of the truck and walked towards Jensen, "She is safe though, Jensen. Look at her, she's having fun. She's meeting new people. She's-"

"She's getting on stage!" Jensen yelled as he stood from the bed of the truck.

YN was in fact walking on the stage after everyone was cheering her name, begging her to sing. She laughed and tried to talk her way out of it, but it was no use.

She walked on the stage and stood in front of the microphone, "Hey, uh, hey everyone. Um, so I guess I'll be singing...something."

YN walked over to the DJ and gave him a song to play then she walked back in front of the microphone.

Jensen grabbed Jared's shoulders, "What if she starts singing and they throw things at her?!"

"Jensen, you and I both know that won't happen. YN has a beautiful singing voice."

"But what if she messes up the words?" Jensen continued panicking.

"It's karaoke. That happens."

"But what if...what if..."

"Jay, you have got to calm down. YN is fine. She's having a good time. Just leave her be. Let's go back to Austin and let her live her life," Jared stated calmly.

Jensen sighed, "Maybe you're right. Maybe I'm overreacting."

Jared looked past Jensen to the stage, "Isn't that the guy that helped her move in today?"

"What?!" Jensen spun around.

They were right. Trey joined YN on stage for a duet of Shallow. The music began to play, the guitar begin strummed made YN sway in front of the microphone.

Trey walked up to the microphone, closed his eyes, and sang his part, "Tell me somethin', girl. Are you happy in his modern world? Or do you need more? Is there somethin' else you're searchin' for? I'm falling. In all the good times I find myself Longin' for change. And in the bad times I fear myself..."

Trey smiled at YN after singing his part. She blushed at him and smiled back.

While Trey was singing, Jensen devised a plan, "Okay, we're going down there. And we're just going to listen. But if something happens, we're getting her out of there."

"Jay, this isn't a good idea. You really aren't thinking-"

"Oh, she's about to sing. Let's go!"

Jensen hauled ass and ran towards the stage. Jared rolled his eyes and ran after him. He quickly caught up to Jensen, but not by running past him.

Jared tripped over his own feet. He fell and ended up rolling down the hill towards the stage. Jensen turned and saw Jared rolling behind him. He tried to dodge, but Jared ran into him, causing him to fall as well.

Meanwhile, YN was singing her part on stage, "Tell me something, boy. Aren't you tired tryin' to fill that void? Or do you need more? Ain't it hard keeping it so hardcore? I'm falling..." but she got interrupted by Jensen and Jared.

The two men fell on the stage right behind her. YN and Trey turned around and saw Jensen on top of Jared holding his head.

Jensen looked up to YN and chuckled nervously, "Hey, sweetheart. We, uh, we just wanted to check in. See how college was going."

Trey then yelled out, "Holy shit, it's Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki!"

The crowd started screaming and fangirling at the two celebrities. They crowded around the stage, jumping around in excitement.

Jensen and Jared finally got to their feet and walked up behind YN. Jensen laid a hand on her shoulder, but YN quickly shoved it off.

"What the hell are you two doing?" YN yelled.

Jared turned to Jensen, "Before we explain, just know your father dragged me into this."

Jensen glared at Jared, "Thanks, man," he turned back to YN, "Honey, I'm sorry. I just wanted to make sure you were safe."

"Safe? Dad, have you been here all day?"

Jensen looked at his feet, "Not all day. More like 5 minutes after you got here this afternoon."

"What? Have you lost your minds? Do you seriously not trust me enough to be on my own that you'd just crash in here?" YN screamed.

"No, no. It's not that we don't trust you. We just don't trust..." Jensen pointed at Trey, "That. Boys like him have intentions with girls like you."

YN clenched her teeth, "Girls like what, Dad?"

Jensen gulped, "Just like...girls that are, you know, innocent and such and-"

"And nothing, Dad. I can't believe you two don't trust me! And Trey? He's an RA, all he did was help me move into my room. I asked him to sing with me on stage, big deal. He's a friend."

Jared stepped towards YN, "We're sorry, YN. Truly, we are."

YN shook her head as tears filled her eyes, "No you're not. You embarrassed me. You made me look so stupid. And now nobody will see me as myself. They'll only see me as Jensen's kid or Jared's niece," she turned away from them and mumbled, "I hope you're happy."

Then YN sprinted back to her building and to her dorm. Jared and Jensen stood on the stage and watched her run.

"We messed up," Jensen whispered.

Jared turned and hit the back of his head, "You think?!"

That night, Jared and Jensen sat on Jensen's couch and stared blankly at the wall in front of them. Genevieve and Danneel scolded them when they got back, both women receiving phone calls from YN before the men got home.

Jared sighed, "I'm the worst uncle."

Jensen scoffed at him, "Worst uncle? Try being the worst father."

Then Jensen's and Jared's phones chimed, alerting them of a text. They were both shocked to see YN's name on their screens. They exchanged a worried look before opening the message.

YN sat on her bed, still crying from the events that happened that evening. Her roommate was out of the room, leaving YN alone.

She stared at the ceiling, talking to herself, "Why? Why did that humiliate me like that? What made them think that was okay? Do they...do they not trust me to make the right choices?"

YN pulled out her phone and typed out a text to Jensen and Jared. "Why don't you trust me", she typed to both of the boys.

Jensen and Jared stared at their phones for a moment, reading YN's message over and over again.

"How am I going to fix this, Jared?" Jensen asked his best friend.

Jared shrugged, "To be honest, I don't think you can. This is going to take some time. Just...just leave her alone for a while. Let her call you when she's ready."

Jensen nodded, "You're right."

That night, Jensen and Jared didn't move from the couch. They both felt so bad from their actions. YN cried herself to sleep. She didn't understand why her father and uncle did what they did.

To be honest, Jensen nor YN knew what to do. It's just going to take time to get over this.

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

Masterlist

My Cherry Blossoms

@mlovesstories​​ @adorable-minibot​​ @chessurkait​​

@idksupernatural​​​ @desiredposion​​​ @thevelvetseries​​​ @let-me-luve-you​​​

@obsessedwithfandomsx​​​ @mangueweaschester​​​ @starchildwild​​​ @deans-baby-momma​​​

@spnbaby-67​​​ @unicornmadness2444​​​

@emery--nicole--morrison​​​ @spnfamily-j2​​​ @akshi8278​​​

@wecantgiggleitsafandom

[newagesispage]

OCTOBER                           2021

 THE RIB PAGE

*****

We miss U Charlie Watts!!

*****

The Stones performed at a private party for Patriots owner Robert Kraft of all people. The test run looked like just that. Shark jumped. I am becoming disillusioned.

*****

SNL is back with Owen Wilson as first host of season 47. Kacey Musgraves is the musical guest. Episode 2 will have a ridic choice for host. Halsey will sing. I suppose $ is power with the Kardashians. I could think of about 10 million other people to host but more and more Lorne goes for the shiny object , what he THINKS people want instead of taking risk. Beck Bennett is out.

*****

Is everybody watching the Amber Ruffin Show?? I loved her before but now… I learn so much from her show. Sometimes it takes a comic to get to the real serious shit. For example: Have you heard of drowning towns? Towns like Oscarville, Kowaliga, York hill, Seneca Village, Prentiss and countless other black towns that were drowned out to make lakes for the local whites. Central Park was also made after a black community was erased from history. Development displacement? Alleyway dwelling authority? Even those rabid for history can find out new things everyday. Thanks Amber!!

*****

Bob Woodward and Robert Costa are finally giving us Peril !!!!!!  I’ve been waiting!!** I was in political nerd heaven on Sept. 24 when Yamiche hosted Robert, Bob and Weijia Jang on Washington Week. All of my favorite pundits all together at one table, my dream team!!

*****

Iman looked great at the Met Gala!! Other great looks belonged to AOC, Tessa Thompson, Maluma, Helen Lasichanb and Pharrell Williams. Gigi Hadid, Kiki Layne, Ashton Sanders, Hailee Steinfeld, Kehlani, Zoe Kravitz, Michaela Cole, Lili Reinhart, Kate Hudson and Shai Gilgeous- Alexander were great. Whoopi Goldberg seemed a bit off.

*****

Jason Isbell is back with his latest offering, Georgia Blue.

*****

I see a lot of Title Max type establishment are closing down. Are they a thing of the past? Let’s hope.

*****

Law and Order is coming back to NBC for season 21. Dick Wolf will own 2 entire nights of television. Some of the old cast is reported to be returning.

*****

Britney Spears Father was suspended as her conservator.

*****

Timothy Chalamet, Rowan Atkinson, Sally Hawkins and Olivia Coleman will star in Wonka.

*****

The 2022 Super Bowl halftime show will bring us Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Dr. Dre and Kendrick Lamar.

*****

People are doing test runs for school board positions to see if their political ideas will play well for the big leagues. If they don’t seem to work, at least they can sometimes change the rules in their own area.

*****

Joe Rogan got Covid.

*****

Lake Michigan beaches were closed down thanks to a US Steel plant chemical leak.

*****

Is this country the master of endless administrative work?  None of us should have been surprised at the red tape that the slowed down the end of the war in Afghanistan.** Uber donated 50k for rides and meals to the Afghans when they arrive.**And why do so many waste taxpayer $ on useless recounts and recalls when people need real help with food and healthcare? They must really hate humanity.

*****

R. Kelly was found guilty of 8 counts of sex trafficking and 1 count of racketeering.

*****

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. – Dwight D. Eisenhower

*****

Texas has put a law into effect to allow most Texans to carry open without permit or training.

*****

Texas has banned abortion at about 6 weeks. Uber and Lyft will pay drivers legal fees if sued under Texas abortion law. Lyft donated $1mil to Planned Parenthood. ** Look for the ruling in the Mississippi law over Roe V. Wade in June 2022.**Hear us roar!** BTW.. Go Jen Psaki!!!!!!!

*****

They seriously banned plastic straws and abortion before assault rifles? – Eden Dranger

*****

Please stop banning abortions, the last thing the world needs is more Americans. –Sarah Beattie

*****

Women don’t inseminate themselves. Vasectomies are reversible. Should every man have one until he’s deemed financially and emotionally fit to be a Father? – Bradley Whitford

*****

90 year old William Shatner will go to space for Blue Origin.

*****

The Q Anon Shaman pled guilty to a felony for obstructing the Electoral College proceedings. I say 20 years and a $250K fine.** 600 others have been indicted.

*****

Days Alert: The Beyond Salem thing was ridic but it was so great to see some old characters.  Days is so great at visiting old family. Who can resist Shane, Austin and Carrie, Billie and the old Kristen? I do wish that Peacock would get their kinks out!! Back to the real Days: Are we smelling an Emmy for Susan Seaforth Hayes and Bill?? ** Good to have Abigail back. It is always fun to wonder which actress and or personality it will be. ** Deidre Hall got her star on the walk of fame.**And just in time for Halloween, the Devil is making a comeback. The end of the year in Salem is always the best!! It is so brave to give the 96 year old man the old switcheroo into the Dark Lord.  It was fun to see the grandkids discover Grandma Marlena’s story. Delicious!! Hail Satan!!** It is past time for Tate and Teresa to come back to town. Brady needs to be put in his place. And thanks for the Philip and Chloe flashbacks!!

*****

The breakdown of the vaccinated: 90% of Atheists, 86% Hispanic Catholic, 84% Agnostic, 79% White Catholic, 73% White mainline protestant, 70% Black mainline protestant, 57% white evangelical. 1 in 500 Americans have died of Covid.

*****

So Mike Lindell and Jim Baker have teamed up to sell children’s Bible pillows.** Piers Morgan has returned to the Murdoch organization by joining Fox. That sounds about right.

*****

Please stop saying the vaccine does not have severe side effects, I took my shots and now I’m alive and have to keep working. –Mohand Eishieky

*****

In theatres Oct. 22: The French Dispatch.** October also brings us a new season of Curb your enthusiasm and Oct. 17 will catch us up on Succession. Whew!!!

*****

So people under conservatorship are not free to marry who they want? What?

*****

46% of Americans believe in ghosts.

*****

Simone Biles, Mckayla Maroney and Aly Rasiman testified at  the Senate judiciary hearing about the FBI’s handling of accusations against Larry Nassar and it was eye opening!

*****

We wanted a no -nonsense Dem who pushes on and does not puss out.  I am a bit surprised to see we have it. There are so many pressing issues that I hope Biden works a bit more on Haiti though.

*****

The National Police Act was passed to celebrate cops. Still no police reform.

*****

John Mulaney and Olivia Munn are going to have a baby.

*****

The Emmy’s were a little different this year with more of a Golden Globe look.  Cedric the Entertainer hosted with Reggie Watts as DJ. Lots of minority noms but barely a win. It was a white people night. Ted Lasso had a great night. Mare of Eastown took home a few with Evan Peters, Julianne Nicholson and Kate Winslet. Now, Kate is great but how did Anya Taylor- Joy not walk away with that? Queens Gambit did win a couple and gave the longest speech with the seemingly arrogant director Scott Frank who opened up 2 page acceptance. Categories were tough but I was routing for Renee Elise Goldberry and Bowen Yang but perhaps next year. The people in England who had their own party for all the statues that the Crown won seemed to be having more fun! Hacks won for writing and directing and Jean Smart!! It was nice to see the Norm Macdonald love which was barely mentioned by Lorne but celebrated by John Oliver. Colbert ‘s election night special won as did JB Smoove. Hamilton won and Debbie Allen got the big one. I do not understand why real singers and or musicians have to be there for the in Memoriam. It takes me out of it a bit and concentrates the focus on them. Do they think that people will pay attention more? Do they want to keep the home audience or live audience from the bathroom?  My best dressed were Anya Taylor-Joy, Michaela Cole who won for I may destroy you, Jean Smart, Josh O’Connor, Kathryn Hahn, Billy Porter, MJ Rodriguez, Keenan Thonpson, Leslie Odom Jr., Catherine O’Hara, Trevor Noah, Eugene Levy, Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys, Bowen Yang,  Anthony Anderson, Leslie Grossman, Amber Ruffin, Allyson Felix, Renee Elise Goldberry, Samira Wiley and Rege- Jean Page. My worst were Sarah Paulson, Gillian Anderson,  Beanie Feldstein, Elizabeth Olsen and Aidy Bryant. To me the best part of the show was the enthusiasm of Conan and the way he injected himself into much of the evening .He was the show.  Go Conan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*****

Next year there must be some Emmys for Sarah Paulson and Cobie Smulders in Impeachment!!!!!

*****

Oh Boy!! The Eyes of Tammy Faye!!

*****

Looking forward to the Electric Life of Louis Wain with Benedict Cumberbatch and Claire Foy.

*****

Abba has a new album!!

*****

Shang Chi is the biggest Labor Day opening with a $71.4 mil opening.

*****

Sen. Amy Klobuchar has announced she has breast cancer.

*****

Is it the 70’s? A streaker ran past the studio of the Today show.

*****

Rascal Flatts Joe Don Rooney was arrested for DUI.** Nicholas Cage was thrown out of a prime rib pace in Vegas after being drunk and disorderly.

*****

Jennifer Eckhart has filed a lawsuit against former Fox news anchor Ed Henry for rape and retaliation after allegedly being handcuffed and beaten.

*****

Scarlett Johansson has settled her Disney lawsuit.

*****

Pete Buttigieg and Chasten had twins they named Penelope Rose and Joseph August.

*****

I noticed a commercial for Dancing with the Stars. Are we onto the E list because I have heard of hardly any of these people. ‘Stars’is really stretching it. And as I post this I see there are some covid issues there as well.

*****

Virgin River was renewed for 2 more seasons.

*****

Trevor Noah is right? Why do they stop giving lollipops to adults at the doctor?

*****

Jon Stewart is back on Apple tv with ‘The problem with Jon Stewart.

*****

Brooklyn 99 had about the best finale (other than Newhart) that I can recall. I had my fingers crossed that Chelsea would be back. Will they honor us like they did in the show and come back for a special about once a year? That would be fucking awesome!!

*****

Don’t expect compliments from an insecure person.- Mr. Pickles

*****

Thousands and thousands of people are in need. Haitian refugees and other immigrants have seen nothing like this what with assassination, a hurricane and earthquake. The Southern border is a mess.** Why does Fox news keep telling refugees the border is open as they sit back and laugh at Biden’s predicament.  Spreading false info to intentionally hurt poor, distressed people has no end for them.

*****

Do companies know how fucked up their employment websites are? It is true that some people do not want to work. It is true that people schedule interviews and don’t show up. It is also true that companies have made it so hard to apply that many can’t. I suppose it is easier for them but the poor who may really want to work have a hard time. Paper applications are almost completely gone. The old fashioned way of walking into low paying job sites and finding a connection with a manager rarely exist. Some places only accept texts or have long ridiculous psych tests that a working Mother may not have time for. A Father working many hours already, may not be able to go to the library to get online if they cannot afford a computer. Many websites tell you that there no positions available in your area while there is a huge sign in front of the establishment. Can’t find people to work.. Gee I wonder why?? And treat people with respect once you find them, how about that?

*****

Keep your head up in failure, and your head down in success. –Jerry Seinfeld

*****

Hey.. There was a van air B’n B biz going that got busted. Hey.. The poor need vaca’s too. It is wrong but If they are willing to sleep in a van, why not. I truly think that many do not understand how much people are struggling.

*****

Free coffee day came and went but only a few places really gave you free coffee without rules to govern the promo. Some places wanted to sell you something else and some made you belong to their club. Starbucks held that customers had to come inside for the free cup of Joe, handicapped or not.

*****

One would think the Republicans would run out of $ for recounts but they have deep pockets. Just think how much good they could do for the huddled masses with that scratch.

*****

Sad to lose Mick Brigden, protégé of Bill Graham who managed The Stones and worked with Frampton, Dylan and Santana.** And the comics were very vocal about the loss of Norm Macdonald. He was one of a kind and he will be missed!

*****

R.I.P. Ruth Marx, Lee Scratch Perry, Willard Scott, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Isadore Bleckman, George Wein, Michael K. William,George Holliday, Anthony Johnson,  Basil Hoffman, Al Harrington,Willie Garson, Mick Brigden, Tommy Kirk and Norm Macdonald.

[purplerose244]

Lighten up

Here’s my fic for the @mlsecretsanta! So happy I joined in this year too, it’s one of my favorite events!! 😍 Hi @xlexicx! ❤ I’m your secret santa! Here’s my present for you, I hope you like it! Merry Christmas!! 😊😊

Summary: Take the high road, do not intervene. That was what Adrien said, to his friend and to himself. Then again, Chat Noir said none of that. And he really didn't like seeing Marinette sad.

Also on AO3

How to make the worst Christmas Eve, by Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Ingredients.

Seven days filled with plenty of akuma attacks, as fresh as possible, dripping with exhaustion. A couple of extremely busy hours to finish the dress to bring to the party, whipped consistently with stress and pressure considering all the important figures that were going to see it. And a big handful of disappointment, because while trying her best to ignore how out of place she was feeling during such an event – at least without wearing her special pois suit –, Marinette had almost forgotten the golden boy to add to the situation, or to be precise it was Adrien himself that hadn’t been able to come. Because that was what gave this terrible night its distinct disappointing taste.

“I can tell you all about him, he’s even more charming when he’s not into his suit!” A whistle in his ear. Lila was marching in the middle of the ballroom, waving around her black dress, the feathers on the hair pin over her head, and her long innocent eyelashes, followed by some of Marinette’s most precious friends. “He said he got in like a breeze even without getting recognized, I guess this party could only be that exclusive since even Marinette could get the tickets! Oh, but I’m still grateful!” She waved at her, grinning widely.

Right, she forgot one important part of this disgraceful recipe, an extremely generous sprinkle of lies all over. Better of hypocritical origins. She clenched her hand around her glass, the drink raised up a little. She was starting to wish he got the Cat Miraculous.

Just for the sake of a good old Cataclysm.

Marinette forced her grimace into a smile, for the sake of Alya, Rose, Nino and Juleka all orbiting around the star of the night. Yeah, of course she was. Even though it was the stylist who got the tickets from Jagged as a little Christmas present, it was all about that liar once again. She didn’t even know why she was surprised anymore.

“You’re welcome…”  More unique was, the latest idea the brunette had come up with to grab attention. And that one was even more out of the line than her usual.

“You guys, I’m really thirsty, and I saw Chat pretty tired too. I’m gonna take a little break, have something to drink.” Lila snapped at her friends one of those insanely studied, absurdly accurate, innocent smiles. “I would never want my date to get tired, especially since he’s a superhero in disguise! Oh, sorry, I raised my voice but remember that this stays between us, right?” She did her bat of eyelashes, she did her little wave of her hair that was meant to be annoying only to those who knew her – ergo, only this everyday Ladybug at the moment –, and leaving her excited friends behind she headed straight towards the drink station.

Right where Marinette was. Oh no, not another war declaration. When she had decided to come to this party despite knowing her sixth ticket would had gone to her, she had promised herself not to cause an argument and to stay as far away as possibly from her. Something that Lila had deliberately decided to ignore considering how she was pondering on what to drink while giving her the smuggest look, like she had just discovered Hawk Moth’s identity and wanted her to beg for it.

Hawk Moth had to be busy today. With all the evil intentions that the stylist was feeling right now, she could had become three different akumas. Then, her phone vibrated from her purse. She read the name, and all darkness dissipated immediately. Her heart was melting way before reading.

“Getting to my rescue, my prince?” She whispered, checking the new notifications.

Adrien had sent her Nino’s video first, that alone brought a smile to her face. The DJ had been absolutely adamant that he made at least a little film about the party, to show the blonde that they were all hoping he was going to recover soon. For once that he would had been allowed to attempt to an event that had happened to include a few friends of his, he had to faint a day after the end of school for Christmas break. Exhaustion. If it hadn’t made so much sense she would had been so much angrier. And she was fuming. She was mad, and furious, and sad, and all of the sudden Christmas felt so unfair. Like after being unfairly negated so many things in life, Adrien had to be stopped by a cold.

More messages followed.

Adrien: I’m glad everyone’s having fun.

Adrien: I hope the night gets better for you, you look tense.

Adrien: See you soon :)

Of course, she had made quite a face, since Lila had started to talk about her supposed relationship with her partner. Also of course, complete goo heart. Along with a deep sadness.

An angel. Even now, while forced under the cover of his bed – with those lovely cheeks all red and lucid gorgeous eyes and perfect lips and dang Mari stop it –, like he hadn’t been stuck into his own room enough to last him for a lifetime, even now he had taken the time to worry about her. He was worried about her. What a wonderful, sweet, caring, so lovable, unbelievably kind-

“Well hello Marinette, grabbing something to drink too?” Awful, hypocritical, incredibly annoying liar that had dared to interrupt her mental praises towards her beloved Adrien. Lila put herself right next, grabbing a glass herself, wearing that smirk on top of her lips. “I am too, I’m so tired, you have no idea! I didn’t know admitting my relationship with Chat Noir was going to cause all of this fuss! I guess these people really drink whatever you tell them…” It had to bring some kind of relief to her, not having to lie to Marinette since she was perfectly aware how little integrity the brunette had in her. Then again, who knew if even this manipulative face wasn’t another lie. If it turned out under all those veils there was absolutely nothing underneath, the stylist would had believed it.

She knew engaging her was a bad idea. Take the high road, like Adrien said.

But then she noticed a little necklace hanging over the black dress. With a round bell on it. And it was enough. She put the glass down to not crush it out of frustration.

“What do you want to get out of this?”

“I’m so glad you asked, you know what feels even better than seeing you hopelessly trying to prove to everyone that I’m wrong?” Yep, good call on the glass. “Thinking of that pathetic pois superhero discovering on the Ladyblog, because let’s be real Alya can’t keep her big mouth shut even for a second, that her beloved partner is going out with the girl she hates so much.” Lila hummed with satisfaction, sipping her drink, sighing delightfully. “Two birds with one stone, bella! She won’t be able to prove it wrong either, because the stupid doesn’t even know Chat Noir’s real identity!”

Marinette had always thought that her normal life and her superhero life were separated by one giant wall in between. Then this girl had come along, managing to get all the hate from the both of sides, making her feel like double herself, and double the need for vengeance.

She tightened her fists, glaring at her.

“This is dangerous, Lila! Their identities are important, their lives are! It’s one thing messing with me or our classmates, but they’re the heroes that save us every day!”

“So glad to hear your opinion, the one I don’t care about. Well then, I think I’ll go meet with my date, Chat Noir.” Lila giggled, pointing at a random guy. “Could it be him? Or maybe him? I’m the only one who knows, after all!” She laughed, Marinette grunted. “Maybe him? How about him?”

Not her kitty. Not her partner. Not her l-

“I might have a good guess.” One cheerful, sassy, unmistakable voice erupted between them. “But please keep going, don’t let me stop you. After all, when the cat’s away, the mice will play!” Chat Noir winked at Marinette, most likely hinting at that short time of her as Multimouse. Which would had been very annoying yet kinda witty, if she hadn’t been this shocked to see him.

To see him… like this.

The mask was there as usual, the ruffled hair and the pulsing eyes too. But that wasn’t his usual costume, at least not completely. He was rocking a full black suit tailored like it had been made just for him, yet the gentle shine over the cloth and the clawed gloves still present gave it away that it was still part of his normal superhero attire. He had a bright green tie with a minuscule fantasy that looked like many tiny Cataclysms one next to each other, and his usual reinforced shoes looked less rough and more refined.

He looked good. Something about Chat Noir’s confident attitude and that certain egomaniac tendency gave it away how in a proper suit he would had looked pretty great, but this was real. This was actually happening, and Marinette found herself catching her breath.

Luckily – for once in her life and only this once –, Lila was there as well.

“Chat Noir?!?” Oh, that horrified, overwhelmed face made the stylist’s night. That perfect satisfied face cracked violently, and she was frozen on the spot.

“Oh my, it is him!!” Unluckily, for once for Lila, Alya had a special filter in her ear for scoops and even from the other side of the room she managed to hear – also the brunette had erupted into a pretty impressive and delightfully scared squeak. “You actually showed up in your costume, what happened to the secrecy? Don’t worry, I know about yours and Lila’s situation, and I promise it’s between very close friends!” She had the recorder out already, pointed out like a weapon, looking oh so hopeful.

Chat Noir grinned, flashing a wink at the phone Nino was holding up to record the scene.

“You know I’m always up for a special interview for the Ladyblog, Alya.” The holder of the fox Miraculous brightened. “But I’m gonna need a heads up, because I have no idea what you’re talking about.” And just as fast the glimmer died down, turning into a frown. She put a hand over her hip, her peach-colored dress wrapped tight around her torso.

“Come on, do you really have to make it difficult? I don’t actually know your identity, although I did have a look around knowing you were somewhere.” A snort.

“Yeah I was somewhere, somewhere else. You do realize I just arrived, right?”

“Of coooouuurse, you just arriiiiived.” Alya winked at him. The cat superhero stared at her blankly, taking his time to fill a glass and empty it pretty quickly. He did look pretty tired now, like he did quite the run. “… you were here as a civilian, right? You even sent those little notes to Lila, saying how beautiful she was and all the rest!” The journalist held the recorder with one hand and picked up something from her pocket. A little green note saying ‘love the feathers, you look like a queen. CN.’. And wow, Marinette could at least compliment how shameless the brunette had been.

Chat Noir peaked over it, frowning.

“… Alya I signed stuff for you, you know that’s not my handwriting.” The journalist hummed uncertainly, like she did have that thought. “Besides, as I said, I wasn’t here. I arrived now.”

“Oh you don’t have to lie Chat Noir!” At last Lila came back from whatever world she had been stuck on, pulling off that obnoxiously wide smile right towards her kitty, huh, this kitt- the kitty! “But I understand that you’re not ready, so don’t make too much of it, forget about it and enjoy the night!” Of course she couldn’t give up, it was never that easy with her.

The cat superhero simply smirked, filling his glass again.

“Thank you Lila, a very warm welcome. How about you give the same to Officer Roger and Mr. Ramier over there?” Next to the mayor, chatting happily, where the two named that had in fact appeared only in that moment. Sabrina was greeting her father with a big hug. “We had a pretty tough moment back there, they got into another argument over pigeons and laws, luckily we managed to arrive to a compromise before things escalated. Bet Hawk Moth bite his Miraculous over this one!” He snickered, emptying another cup with a satisfied sigh.

Trying to solve a conflict through words and a plan instead of destroying everything, that sounded like the Ladybug way. And there he was, her – the – kitty, looking all happy about it like he was thinking of her proud owner petting his head.

A smile came on its own, Marinette couldn’t help it, and maybe didn’t want to.

“Great job, Chat Noir.” The superhero beamed at her. Adrien’s eyes were pure and breathtaking, but the unnatural beauty of these was impressive too. So very pretty.

Alya looked like she had half the forehead from how hard she was frowning.

“But Lila said you’ve talked all night together…”

“We did! He’s just covering it up!!” Lila’s voice raised of one octave at least, judging from how hard Chat Noir had winced being right next to her. The brunette smiled at him, batting her deer-like eyelashes. “Chat, I know what’s going on, you still feel like you own something to Ladybug. But you got hurt so much by her already, and this is not fair! Don’t you think you deserve better?” She scooted closer, raising a hand over him. “Come here, come to someone that can give you what you want.” Okay was Marinette really the only one who thought this was getting weird?

Apparently not, from how promptly the cat superhero had dodged the touch. He was suddenly extremely tense, a very wary smile on his face, hands raised like he was surrendering. Somehow his usual goofiness looked almost charming today…

Or that was the suit. Yeah, definitely the suit.

“Now there, I know I’m irresistible, but I really don’t think you should get any closer.”

“Why would you get away? Do you hate me? Prove me you don’t and get over here!” Lila tried to grab him again, but it was too easy for him. “Ladybug doesn’t even love you, why all this fuss??”

“Lila, I’m telling you, it’s better for you to stay awa-”

“I said get back here!!”

“Nope, no way!”

What a weird scene, an angry fox chasing a cat in the middle of the ballroom of the most luxurious hotel of Paris, surrounded by guests now very aware of the commotion happening. Their friends, guests, celebrities, even the mayor was starting to get worried. Marinette spotted Rose and Juleka, with the former all saddened by the fight between two people that she knew and probably wanted to get along – predictable –, and Luka along with Chloe and Kagami, with the rich girl absolutely living through this – predictable and relatable.

As a fairly common scene, Chat managed at the end to step on his own tail and struggle to stay up, right as Lila finally managed to land onto his chest with a grin.

“See everyone? It was simply a little fight between sweethearts, nothing to-”

Marinette could confidently say that, in her life, she had witnessed plenty of extremely satisfying moments. Saving her city every day along with her trusty partner while helping the people she loved? Awesome. Stepping up as her own person thanks to the confidence given from being Ladybug and getting to leave a mark into her life? Incredible. Spending occasional but so precious time with the love of her life knowing that with every single moment spent together, the chance of becoming something more became at least somehow possible? Priceless.

But this one, this very specific moment when Chat Noir scowled visibly and then sneezed, loudly and very grossly, right into Lila’s face, this one could take the cake. She had never seen such a perfect sequence of moments happening in her life.

The brunette screamed, panting in pure shock, as the hero wiped his nose.

“I tried to warn you, achoo!” He took two steps back, waving his hand at her. “I’m super allergic to feathers, and you’re wearing a hair pin full of it! I couldn’t stay near you if I wanted to!” It had some weird effect, this suited up Chat sniffing with his head up in desperate search for a tissue. Both extremely him and endearing, to the point Marinette cracked a laugh when the research was fruitful and the superhero blew loudly into a paper towel.

With the white feathers on her head, the nasty green of her eyes and the absolute flushed face of her, Lila looked one with the flag of her country. For a second. One extremely Italian second.

Then, of course, the waterfalls arrived.

“That was so mean of you, you should’ve at least warned me!” Chat Noir’s simple retort was a large grimace that said ‘I tried to’ quite clearly, but the brunette was into her part now. “I thought you were kind and special, but you’re just a jerk! You wanna make me look bad! I should’ve known! Right Alya?” She turned around to get her friend’s support.

Only to meet with something that for luck of fate, when she had first transferred in their school, Lila Rossi hadn’t managed to encounter: Alya Cesaire’s inquisitory glare.

“Wait a second.” She lowered her recorder without switching it off, stepping forward with one foot. “If he’s allergic there’s no way he talked to you or even got close to you tonight! All along you told me you were chatting with him… Lila… were you lying?”

Marinette could hardly believe it. She stared, agape, but never as much as the actual liar.

“I wasn’t! Of course not, he’s making that up to make me look bad! I don’t know why he’s pulling up all of this act, he’s probably getting manipulated by Ladybug to make me look bad! And here I thought she was a friend! Besides, I bet he’s pretending the allergy!”

“Excuse me, miss.” Completely out of nowhere none other than Mr. Ramier appeared, along with Roger and Sabrina, with the latter immediately running towards Chloe – with eyes sparkling like stars at the sight of her best friend’s two chaperones. “But if I may interject, there’s no way Chat Noir is lying about his allergy. I would know, since I get akumatized quite often and he’s forced to endure my pidgeons all the time. Very sorry about it by the way.” The gentleman looked at the cat hero, who got another tissue kindly offered by Rose and simply waved his hand like it was not a big deal. Which was fair, Mr. Pidgeon wasn’t nearly the most menacing threat ever – a bit of routine in the mess that was their lives was actually nice sometimes.

That same sweet blonde and helpful girl with the pink dress gasped all of the sudden, tears shining in her eyes. Actual, genuine drops, unlike someone else’s.

“You said the feathers were artificial, that your grandma was running a charity association that wanted to erase everything made by animals in the fashion world!!” Her lip covered in peach gloss quivered vividly. “I can’t believe you would lie about that, Marinette was right!” She turned to the stylist, who couldn’t believe this was actually happening. “I’m so sorry Marinette, I should’ve known!” Juleka from behind her nodded, looking sorry.

Lila gasped, again in her overly dramatic way, shaking her head.

“How could you say that? You know I would never lie, you know me! I… I…” Marinette should had seen it coming, as soon as those vengeful eyes got stuck on her. “It’s all Marinette’s fault!” Crocodile tears once again, the stylist didn’t even have it in her to be annoyed. “She wants to make me look bad, she did ever since I came here! I don’t know why she hates me so much!” There was such a long list into her diary, but the stylist felt like it wasn’t necessary. Her friends looked doubtful. Like they were on her side again. “And you’re trying to make me feel bad, I could get akumatized! How could you?”

“You do realize I’m right here, right?” Chat Noir grinned at her, getting closer to Marinette. “I could easily take care of you while Ladybug gets here, no problem. So go along, get crazy.” Wow, Ladybug would had not approved that. Good thing she wasn’t here.

“Did Marinette drag you into this?? She is the worst!!”

“No way, Marinette’s the best! She made these awesome shades of mine!” Out of nowhere Jagged Stone interjected, cocking a wink to her favorite designer who couldn’t help the little giggle – the frequency he showed those glasses reminded her of her dad whenever she accomplished anything. “Girl the way you’re talking to her is totally not rock and roll, who do you think you are??” The Rockstar glared. And so did Fang behind him, showing all of his teeth.

All colors drained from Lila’s face, as she pointed at the rockstar.

“What- Why- He isn’t supposed to…!”

“Oh yeah, didn’t I tell you?” Chat Noir seemed to be trying his best to contain his smug aura. “Another reason I got here this late, I thought of inviting Jagged and prince Ali! Isn’t it great? They’re usually super busy and not really into random celebrations, but it turns out they’re more than happy to participate knowing one of their heroes is here. What do you know?”

Lila was at loss, going with startled eyes from the celebrity in front of her, to the royalty not too far, to the people staring judgily at her. She opened her mouth to speak, try more covers, but Alya’s lips smack interrupt her. The journalist looked like she finally had enough, turning to Jagged.

“A question. You don’t know Lila, do you?”

“This girl? Definitely not.”

“So you never wrote her a song because she saved your cat?”

“Pff, a cat? I’m allergic to cats, and I hate them, they’re so unfriendly! Well, most of them, Chat Noir is pretty cool.” Another wink was thrown at the superhero, who cocked finger guns at the superstar. It looked oddly appropriate between these two.

Alya grabbed her head between her hands, groaning loudly.

“I can’t believe it, I… I’m so stupid. Marinette.” Her eyes were so gloomy, so different from her usual self. It made them trustworthy, despite everything. “I’m so sorry, I should’ve believed you right away. I promise I’ll make up for all I did. In the meantime…” With a quick gesture, as quick as Rena Rouge would had done it, Alya grabbed Lila’s arm and dragged her forward. “We’re gonna make sure you don’t know prince Ali too, and find out where in the world where you during your vacation since, you know, it looks like you missed school without a reason! And all of my interviews on the Ladyblog, ooooh, you’re in big trouble girl!!”

“No!! Let me go!! Marinette’s lying!!” The image of the perfect girl crumbled right away, as Lila started to pull such a tantrum that Manon would had felt embarrassed for her. “It’s all Ladybug’s fault! Or Marinette’s! Or both!! And Chat Noir’s!! It’s their fault, not mine, they’re the liars! I’m not a liar! I’M NOT A LIAR!!” And like that she was dragged away without mercy, like a criminal finally getting brought to justice.

People followed the scene, Rose and Juleka still looking sorry, Nino as well while making sure his girlfriend wasn’t going to straight up murder Lila. And Marinette stayed where she was, looking at them as the prince turned around, and another tantrum was born from the exposed liar.

After five full seconds of silence, Chat Noir blew his nose into the tissue once again, so loudly nearby guests gave him weirded out looks.

But not Marinette, no. She burst into laughter.

“Oh my gosh, it actually happened! Karma happened! A Christmas miracle!” She had to wipe a tear, more relieved than happy in reality. “If this is a dream please don’t wake me up, I wanna live in this world forever!” And in that precise moment the music changed, a slow rhythm that made her smile incredulously. “Wow, really? This night everything is meant to go just right, huh.” She giggled again, pushing a lock of her hair behind her ear. She turned towards the hero, her actual hero, finding him staring at her. The mask covered most of his face, but was that a blush?

“… then it would be a pity going against the flow, right?” Chat Noir smirked, bowing in front of her and extending a gloved hand. “May I have this dance?”

Marinette gaped at him.

“Me?”

“This superhero has every intention to dance with the prettiest girl of the night, yeah.” Curse this flirtatious little kitty, looking like he had everything under control after pulling such a stunt against that liar. Curse herself for letting it work, as she was led in the middle of the dance floor.

The lights got softer, the song too. Even with the confrontation happening not that far in the room, Marinette found it extremely easy to simply live in this moment. Especially given that her – the… alright her – kitty turned out to be quite the dancer, pulling her along gently, a hand over her hip and the other clenched around her hand. It felt like her goofy partner was miles away from this elegant person, but at the same time something told her that this made sense. For some reason him being so kind and sophisticated made her feel like it was perfectly normal.

Marinette smiled softly, moving slowly. Savoring this instant.

“I didn’t think it was going to end up like this.” Chat Noir hummed questioning. “Dancing with a superhero after the defeat of a villain without akuma, that’s something.”

“You got pretty lucky, huh? Especially on the first part.” And there he was, ruining the mood, pulling her along as he laughed. Maybe a little too much? “… oh! Sorry!” He straightened up, snickering nervously. Looking dizzy. “I’m a little out of it tonight.”

The stylist frowned in worry.

“If you weren’t feeling good you shouldn’t have come.”

“Bet Ladybug would tell me something similar, along with the scolding of my life for getting involved into civilian stuff.” She was pondering about it. Mm, maybe she could let this one go. “I understand it, I do, and I usually would’ve been on my own without interacting with anyone, but I couldn’t keep it shut anymore… not after seeing how sad you looked.” And suddenly his eyes were serious, focused. Like there was actually a guy underneath all the jokes.

It was supposed to be a shock. It felt more like a surprise to her. A little push in an unknown right direction, unexpected yet somehow helpful.

“You did it for me?”

“I think Lila getting busted helps everyone, but yes, mostly for you.” Again with the red on his cheeks, this time it was undeniable. “I thought I could let it go, but I saw how it got on your nerves, and after a while it got on my nerves because it got on your nerves, and I guess I couldn’t get my paws out of this one huh? I thought that fox needed a little less- Oh.” Huh, apparently this kitty did have an off button. And Marinette actually grinned while holding him, her cheek over his solid chest, hands around his neck. Feeling comfortable, happy.

… familiarly happy? She frowned a little.

“How did you know I wasn’t okay? You said you just arrived.” She could feel him swallow from this close, after finally putting his hands over her back. And again that warm lightning shocked her over the skin, a pinch in the middle of her brain. Like this was a dream that had happened before.

Chat Noir snorted softly.

“Let’s say a friend told me.”

“Let’s say I don’t believe you.”

“I would never lie to you. I… I really don’t want you to be sad, ever. You’re so amazing, you deserve all the happiness you can get.” And with that he let himself go with the movement, less shy, more him as he led her through the dance.

The music was lovely, Chat was lovely, and one by one other people were joining the dance floor like they were all part of the same fairy tale. She could spot Juleka and Rose holding each other, Kagami pulling forward the arm of a very flushed Chloe with a giggling Luka following behind, Alya clearly satisfied of the dealt situation with Lila dragging her boyfriend in, who looked way too into it to say anything, putting quickly his phone in his pocket.

His phone… the video… everything.

Marinette gasped, her mind finally unlocking that everything.

The film of the party that only one person had managed to see besides the DJ. The same allergy to feathers. The same golden hair, the same gorgeous green eyes. The confidence in his ways, the poor health of tonight – he was here while he should had been recovering, this dumb reckless kitty, she so wanted to slap him and smooch him. And this emotion, this undeniable feeling of belonging that came whenever she was between his arms, dancing like they had at Chloe’s party when he had made all of her dreams coming true with one single moment.

It was so obvious. The more she thought about it, the more she felt stupid and unbelieving and so, so incredibly happy. So much it was making her tear up, so much it was burning her heart violently. So much she wanted to scream it, tell all of Paris, tell the entire the world that it was happening.

“It’s you.” It came with a whisper, without her realizing.

“Mhm? You’re kinda shivering.” She untangled herself from him, missing the warmth, melting into his big, confused eyes. “Are you okay?”

There really was no one else.

“… could you come to my house tomorrow night?” Marinette tried her best to hold her voice together, tightening her hands onto him. She could see his smile. She could see him, under the mask or with it. “I’ll have a Christmas present for you. As a thank you gift.” And just like every time with every single akuma she had met, a specific plan formed into her head, with Chat Noir by her side.

Only this time, it was a complete solo mission. The most important one.

 ***

 How to make the best Christmas night, by Adrien Agreste.

Ingredients.

Seven days filled with plenty of akuma attacks, as fresh as possible, dripping with exhaustion. One or two – two – very generous pinches of scolding from father because of ineptitude at being absolutely flawless. And kwami, possibly cat kwami, fallen asleep on his pillow with his cheesy smelly breath directed towards him all night. Let it all fall onto the ground because of exhaustion, making him miss the Christmas Eve party where he was supposed to meet with his friends and have a great night – black cat, bad luck, har har.

Then… pick up the bowl and start over. Add an abundant thirst of revenge after watching one blue-haired girl all gloomy – and pretty, that dress wow, she really was unbelievably talented –, a fulfilled vendetta that hopefully wasn’t going to generate more troubling problems than the major one that got solved, and an invitation from said blue-haired girl for Christmas.

An actual, proper Christmas.

Chat Noir grinned widely, jumping right into the freezing air, way less fatigued than yesterday. He slept all day, regaining the strength, getting constant smug eyes from Plagg for some reasons. His father had even checked on him, maybe even sad that this year they hadn’t had Christmas at all. So he brought dinner to his bed, and they had it together. It had been somehow unsettling and nice at the same time. Last Christmas, his escape had caused a major problem, yet the solution to everything. Adrien really hoped it was going to be the same, especially for his feelings.

He stopped over a building. He could see the Dupain-Cheng’s bakery from there, and a sudden surge of worry caught him off guard. What was he expecting from this? Marinette was incredible, being invited felt like an honor alone. Was that why he was out of breath? What else was coming? His heart was for Ladybug, then why did it not doubt about helping Marinette?

A breeze caught his right under his neck, making him shiver. Ah, he was here in any case. And he was pretty sure his social skills still weren’t developed enough to let him come to a conclusion.

He jumped over the railing and landed on the small terrace at the top of the bakery, feeling his entire being immediately burst into amazement: it was beautifully decorated with Christmas lights and plants, little Christmas balls, stars, bows and little angels all over. A little table was settled with two chairs, with plenty of sweet goodness like bonbon, macarons, brownies and one wonderful Bouche de Noel. It had stopped snowing this morning, so the night was as clear as ever, shining of stars and wonder.

This was too much. It was so much that Adrien felt himself coming out of the costume in form of little tears, that Chat Noir quickly rubbed away. He faced a bully for a girl the other night, and now he was getting emotional because this precious little corner felt so comfortable he wasn’t used to it? He had to pull himself together before-

The door of the terrace opened. He took a deep breath. Play it cool, thank her, enjoy the moment. So he turned towards the sound with the widest smile Chat Noir had.

“I have to admit, this is pretty paw-some, Mari-” His voice got stuck into his throat.

This was a dream. This was the most vivid and lifelike dream he had ever had. Ladybug was stepping up from the door, eyes glimmering under the mask, wearing a majestic red dress covered in black dots. Long black gloves covered her elegant arms, her blue hair fell gracefully over her shoulders, and her pink lips were curved in the sweetest smile possible. With her flushed cheeks and the lights framing her figure, she looked like a queen.

And she stepped forward, her highness, looking pleased and even endeared by the kitty’s reaction, that still couldn’t move a single muscle.

“I’m glad you like it, I know you have a bit of a sweet tooth. And you seemed to really dig dad’s vol-au-vent that time we had Sunday brunch, so I asked him to make some. Without telling him why of course.” Dad…? Before…? “Ah, but you’re here for this, aren’t you?” Hadn’t he been completely out of himself from the daze of this apparition, maybe he would had noticed the little box into her soft hands. It was covered in a green wrapping paper, with a black bow on it.

Chat Noir blinked. Adrien blinked, because his brain was returning to him incredibly slowly but he could still hear the echo of what was happening. And he didn’t know if he was going to be able to take it. So without looking at it he grabbed the present, lips shivering.

“L… Ladybug?” And she dared to blush, like she didn’t look breathtaking already.

“J-just open it, okay?” And she dared to ask him to do something, alluring to the possibility to move or think or act – honestly it was asking a little too much from his little feline brain.

Nonetheless, after what felt like an eternity, Chat managed to trace the wrapping of the present with his claw, gently cutting the paper in the process. He grabbed an edge and discovered another box, black with a red cover. It was already perfect. But shivers caught him as he was pulling up the top, because Ladybug looking at him so intensely, so incredibly involved with him, that every movement felt meaningful. And when he finally peaked inside, his poor heart thought it was going to stop right there, just for the sake of passing away this happy.

A green branch, tender leaves, and white berries. A little mistletoe plush was waiting for him inside the box, soft looking and well made, like only one person he knew could had done with such care and dedication. So there was no stopping the gears inside his head anymore, not when everything was making this much sense all of the sudden, not while Ladybug was stepping close, putting her hands on his over the box.

Those hardworking hands, those hair as dark as night, those pretty bluebell eyes – blindness, thy name Adrien Agreste – that desire to get her closer and more comfortable with him. That feeling of ease that he thought was only meant for the closest of friends.

Ladybug smiled. Marinette smiled.

“Tikki, spots off.” In the cold night of Christmas, a red glimmering light manifested over the girl of his dreams, revealing the one he had been looking for all along. And through her lucid eyes, her goofy smile, her flushed cheeks, he could still see all of her. Because this was her. Beautifully her. “I-I thought this was the best present I could give you, after what you did yesterday and always did for me.” She laughed when Tikki flew over the present and picked it up, right over their heads. He loved that kwami. “I hope it’s good enough…?”

Her eyes fell, the slightest fear shaking the hands that were still covering his.

And Adrien felt appalled, so outraged, looking at her straight into her beautiful eyes, smiling so much he probably looked silly. But she didn’t seem to care.

“Plagg, claws in.” She knew, he didn’t know how, but she knew. Perhaps he was going to ask later. Right now, while Plagg reappeared and gave his fellow kwami a hand, still showcasing that same irritating smirk, all Adrien wanted was to take this miracle and hold on to it as long as he could. “It’s the best present of my entire life.” He let the box fall, gently grabbing her hands.

She laughed, and all of Paris felt envious of such beauty.

“Silly cat.” Marinette beamed at him. She then leaned forward, shy, glowing. And Adrien did the same, meeting her in the middle, finally kissing the girl of his dreams, feeling the glimmering joy inside of his heart outshining every single light of Christmas.

[artificialqueens]

Crying In My Prom Dress (Cracker x Jujubee) - Mumu

AN: Couldn’t get the Prom Queen Fantasy runway out of my head, so I wrote something for it! Read on AO3 here.

Summary: Jujubee knows she’s not winning prom queen. Brianna makes her night better.

Jujubee is bored out of her mind. Whoever said that prom is the highlight of your life must not have had very much of a life to begin with, because Jujubee has been to basement parties better than this. Then again, school dances are always boring, so maybe she should have known.

She’s been standing at the edge of the dance floor for what feels like hours, swirling a cup of punch in her left hand. Thank the heavens the stoners had the good sense to spike it a few hours before. If not for the alcohol, Jujubee probably would have ditched by now.

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Shea, head thrown back in the middle of a laugh. She looks absolutely gorgeous tonight, with red petals clipped into her hair, her pink dress shimmering under the cheap neon lights. She looks like every little girl’s dream.

Jujubee can’t help feeling childish in her own gown, an 80’s inspired tulle number. She loved it when she first picked it out, but now, eyeing Shea’s form-fitting choice, she sort of feels like an over-decorated cupcake. Jujubee’s stomach twists watching Shea, and she chugs the rest of her punch to cover the jealousy. It’s not like Jujubee isn’t popular, or pretty, but every school has a hierarchy. For as long as she can remember, Shea’s been at the top, and Jujubee has been playing second fiddle to her. The worst part is that Shea is genuinely a good person, which makes her impossible to hate.

Jujubee checks her phone again. The screen lights up: 11:55. Five minutes until prom queen is announced, and then Jujubee can slip away and get some real food. She’s been through three cups of punch by now, and all she’s eaten all day is some popcorn because her dress has a built-in corset and she’s not about to test the universe by risking a popped zipper. Maybe her empty stomach has something to do with her sour mood. Regardless, she’s craving fried chicken really bad right now.

“Girl!” Raven stumbles over, grabbing her arm. “You look stunning!”

“Fuck, did you pregame, Rav?” It’s a rhetorical question, given the fact that the girl looks absolutely slammed. It’s a miracle the administration even let her in. “Back up a step, your breath smells like vodka and I’m not tryna get that all on me.”

“Sure did, and fuck you,” Raven giggles. “C’mon, come dance with us!”

That sounds like the last thing Jujubee wants to do, especially cause she can barely breathe in this dress, but she knows it’ll be impossible to convince Raven to let her mope around on her own. Jujubee lets herself be led into the huddle her friends have made in the middle of the dance floor, plastering on a friendly smile.

“Juju!” Shea immediately wraps her in a warm hug, talking at a mile a minute. “Where have you been? This song is such a bop! I love your dress, purple looks so good on you.”

Jujubee feels a flash of guilt, realizing suddenly that she’s kept herself isolated this whole night.

It’s not Shea’s fault, really, that she’s a shoo-in for the prom queen title. It just hurts that Shea doesn’t even care about popularity or crowns and yet she’s constantly winning those things. Jujubee doesn’t trust herself not to be a bitter bitch about the whole thing, so she’d figured it would be best to avoid Shea for the night. It would be completely on-brand for her to make some petty little jab as a way to bring attention back to herself and soothe the blows to her ego. Jujubee doesn’t want to risk ruining the moment for her best friend, no matter how rocky their relationship.

Lucky for her, Shea has the attention span of a goldfish, and the girl is already back to grooving along to whatever the DJ is currently playing without Jujubee having to answer her question. Small mercies.

“Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention?” A voice booms from the DJ booth. Everyone turns to face it. “The time has finally come. It’s my pleasure to announce to you the nominees for this year’s Prom Queen!”

Jujubee feels the bile rise in her throat. Shea grabs her hand and she flinches at the unexpected contact.

Shea shoots a concerned look at her. “You good, girl?”

“Yeah,” Jujubee lies. “Just nervous.”

“Mhmm,” Shea murmurs. “Don’t be, yeah? We got this.”

Easy for you to say, Jujubee wants to snap. She doesn’t. Shea’s done nothing wrong. It’s not her fault that the girl is prettier and nicer and more charismatic than Jujubee can ever hope to be, and it’s certainly not her fault that Jujubee’s being a bitter Betty tonight.

“Farrah Moan!” The DJ bellows.

A light swings over to a pink-haired girl to Jujubee’s left. Jujubee thinks she remembers her from French class last year. All she really recalls about Farrah is the pounds of highlighter she came to school with every day. By the looks of it, nothing has really changed: Farrah is practically metallic under the spotlight.

Jujubee applauds politely and resists the urge to roll her eyes at the girl’s fake smile. Everybody knows Shea’s going to win. Why do they even bother announcing the nominees?

“Shea Coulee!”

Shea shifts, stepping away from Jujubee so the spotlight falls solely on her. She smiles brightly. She looks radiant, and Jujubee feels that pang of jealousy again. It’s not fair that Jujubee has had to try twice as hard to even come close to the level of popularity Shea attained during her first month here. Then again, nothing is ever fair with Shea. The girl is just god’s favourite.

The light swings away from Shea after a few seconds, falling onto Raven next, and Jujubee lets out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding.

“Juju,” Shea says, mistaking her envy for nervousness. “Chill. You’re an amazing person. This doesn’t define you, okay?”

Jujubee doesn’t trust herself to respond over the lump that’s in her throat and the jealousy clawing at her insides, so she just offers the other girl a soft smile and a nod.

“Jujubee Inthyrath!” The light settles on her, finally.

Jujubee tries not to squint against the brightness. She squares her shoulders, flashing her most dazzling smile and blowing a kiss into what she thinks is the general direction of the DJ booth. The direct light is blinding, and Jujubee sees green and red spots at the back of her eyelids when she blinks.

After a few counts, the light shifts back towards the DJ booth again. She tries to recenter herself, shaking her head lightly.

“Bright, right?” Shea laughs good-naturedly at her dazed expression.

“That’s a lawsuit waiting to happen,” Jujubee jokes in response, swallowing over the jealousy that seems to have made a home in her throat tonight.

“Ladies and gentlemen…” The DJ says, dragging out the last word.

God, hurry up, Jujubee wants to complain. She fixes her best ‘runner-up who’s happy for her best friend’ look on her face instead. She’s been practising her graceful loser smile in the mirror for two months, and she’ll be damned if she lets any of her pettiness show now. As much as Jujubee thrives off of attention, she knows she will never be able to forgive herself if she messes this moment up for Shea.

“Your St. Charles Prom Queen is…”

Jujubee digs her nails into her palm.

“Shea Coulee!”

Besides her, Shea gasps, face breaking into a wide smile. The awful part is that Jujubee is absolutely sure she’s genuinely surprised. Shea’s never been one to expect anything to be given to her.

She forces her fake smile even wider, hugging Shea fiercely. “Congrats!”

“Oh my god,” Shea lets out an incredulous laugh. “Oh my god!”

Jujubee feels like her heart is being ripped out of her chest. She wonders if it would be suspicious to start crying. Probably, she decides. She’ll save her tears for later. Her cheeks hurt from maintaining the face-splitting grin she’s glued to her face, but she keeps it there anyways.

Shea shuffles towards the DJ, who drapes the sash around her and places a crown on her head. She still looks absolutely shocked at the outcome, tearing up a bit. Their friends gather around her, squealing their congratulations and crushing Shea in hugs.

Jujubee watches the scene unfold in front of her and can’t suppress the bitter chuckle that passes her lips. Everything is happening in slow motion. The neon lights dance across Shea’s features. Her eyes shiny are shiny with tears, and she’s slightly shaking as her hands go up to touch the crown on her head.  

Jujubee gets the feeling that all her friends are having their glorious teenage coming-of-age moment and she’s just an audience member sitting in the theatre. They’re only a few feet away, but they seem to be in a whole different world.

There’s a soreness building at the back of her throat. She has to leave, now, before she ends up having to explain why she’s crying over Shea’s win. Jujubee’s eyes dart around the banquet hall. Everyone seems to be occupied with congratulating the newly crowned queen.

Now is a good time as any, she supposes, so she slips out of the back doors and into the night air.

Jujubee takes a seat on a nearby bench, flinching at the cold steel pressing into her thighs. She shivers as a breeze blows by, suddenly acutely aware of how unpractical her dress is for San Francisco’s late-night weather.

The tears have been building all night, and now that she’s finally out of Shea’s sight, Jujubee lets them fall. Once she starts, she can’t stop, and before long she’s fully sobbing. She grinds the heels of her palms into her eyelids with complete disregard for her eyeshadow. Her hands come away a mess of glitter, mascara and pink pigment.

“Um, are you alright?” A voice asks.

She whips her head around so fast she almost breaks her neck. A girl is standing there, in a hot pink gown. Her platinum blonde hair is piled on top of her head in a voluminous updo.  Fuck. This girl fully just witnessed Jujubee having a breakdown. She sniffles, wiping at her eyes and trying to maintain some shred of dignity.

“Yeah, uh-” Jujubee’s voice strains on the word, and, to her horror, she feels another wave of tears coming. She opens her mouth to reassure the girl that yes, she’s totally fine, thank you so much, but ends up bursting into tears again. Her dignity is officially gone. Every bit.

“Oh no, please don’t cry!” The girl slides onto the bench next to her.

She pats Jujubee awkwardly. After Jujubee shows no signs of stopping, she just sits quietly next to her, hand still on the small of Jujubee’s back, letting her cry it out. Jujubee has never hated someone as passionately as this girl right now. Can’t she just leave her alone? This is mortifying.

The girl pulls her hand back from Jujubee like she’s been burned. Fuck. Did she say that out loud?  A sidelong glance at the girl’s hurt expression confirms her suspicions.

For what feels like the millionth time tonight, Jujubee feels guilt pooling in her stomach. This time it crawls all the way up, burning as it builds in her throat.  Jujubee half-falls off of the bench in her haste, stumbling over to the bushes. She proceeds to hurl her guts out. Well—it’s more of a dry heave, really, since Jujubee hasn’t really eaten anything in the past few hours to throw up, but it’s embarrassing nonetheless.

“Holy shit, are you okay?” The girl rushes to her side, doing her best to hold Jujubee’s hair out of her face.

Despite her condition, Jujubee still manages a sarcastic, “Just peachy, thanks.”

She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand, wincing as it comes away smeared with hot pink gloss. The girl helps her back to the bench, taking a seat next to her.

“I’m Brianna,” The girl offers.

“Juju,” Jujubee says.

“Wanna talk about it?” Brianna asks.

Jujubee almost snorts at her. In less than five minutes of meeting this girl, Jujubee’s managed to sob, throw up, and make a bitchy comment towards her. Brianna still wants to play therapist?

“Okay,” She says quietly, surprising herself. That was not what she meant to say, at all. But Brianna brightens considerably next to her, and suddenly Jujubee doesn’t have the heart to take it back. Besides, she sort of owes it to Brianna after being a bitch, Jujubee reasons. It’s not at all about the fact that Brianna’s kind of pretty and Jujubee needs to vent.

“Where do I even start? This night has been a mess.”

Brianna takes her hand gently. Jujubee tenses, but lets Brianna brush her fingers over her own. It’s strangely intimate. It’s also far more comfortable than it should be, given she and Brianna are complete strangers.

“You don’t have to talk about it if you aren’t comfortable,” Brianna whispers.

Jujubee feels something unfamiliar swell in her chest. She almost feels like crying again, but out of a different reason than before. She can’t really remember the last time someone was willing to listen to her feelings, nevermind being as gentle with her as Brianna is being right now.  Usually, Jujubee would scoff and call herself pathetic for even considering opening up to this girl, but something about the mess that tonight has been has made her stone-cold exterior crack a bit. She takes a shaky breath in and out.

“No, I want to,” Jujubee says. She feels the other girl’s gaze but doesn’t meet it, staring down at the crystals on her shoes instead. She worries a loose cobblestone with her left heel. “I didn’t win prom queen.”

Brianna makes some kind of shocked noise next to her. When Jujubee peeks up at her, the girl looks like she’s trying her hardest not to laugh and to stay supportive.

“You think it’s ridiculous,” She says, a touch of amusement behind her words. It’s an accusation, but there’s no bite behind it.

“No, I don’t!” Brianna shakes her head. Her updo wobbles dangerously at the movement. Jujubee quirks a brow at her, and Brianna flushes. “It’s just… you look absolutely beautiful. Why let some stupid popularity contest ruin your night?”

“Oh,” Jujubee says, slightly reeling from the compliment. “This old thing?”

Thank god for her quick wit, because otherwise Jujubee definitely would have been stammering some sort of awkward “thank you.” She’s suddenly hyper-aware of how Brianna is pressed close against her side and how their fingers are laced together in the blonde’s lap.

“It’s just, my best friend, Shea? She won, and I know it sounds terrible, but I can’t help but feel super jealous. She’s just perfect, you know? She doesn’t even have to try. And I’m just-”

She laughs self-deprecatingly, gesturing at herself, “Well. You see me.”

“Juju, don’t downplay yourself,” Brianna says. “You’re amazing.”

“How do you know?”

Brianna furrows her brow. “Oh. Oh! Uh, you don’t remember me, do you?”

“Remember you?” Jujubee racks her brain for any memory she might have of Brianna. Nothing. Surely she would have recognized this barbie look-alike if she ever ran into her in school?

“Jesus,” Brianna reddens. “I must have seemed so creepy then, just coming up to you out of nowhere?”

Jujubee must still look confused because Brianna explains further. “We’ve had classes together since seventh grade. I was in your homeroom this year.”

This time it’s Jujubee’s turn to feel embarrassed. God, she’s such a bitch.

“Oh my gosh,” She buries her face into her hands. “I’m so sorry, I-”

“Don’t sweat it,” Brianna laughs. “You know who I am now, so that’s what matters, yeah?”

“Yeah, guess so.”

They sit in comfortable silence for a few minutes. The music leaks out of the banquet hall and wraps around them, bass throbbing. Jujubee breaths in the night air deeply. It’s always the after-party silence that she’s liked the best. That feeling of shivering in the chilly breeze and walking home barefoot, heels in hand. The atmosphere always makes her slightly nostalgic for an experience she’s never had and can’t quite name.

“Do you want to dance?” Brianna asks.

“Hmm? I like it out here,” Jujubee says. “If you don’t mind.”

Brianna smiles at her. She looks pretty when she smiles, Jujubee decides. The corners of her eyes crinkle and her nose scrunches up.

“We don’t have to go back inside,” Brianna says. “We can just dance here.”

“Oh! In that case, uh, sure!” Jujubee stammers. She’s barely gotten through the sentence before she’s mentally kicking herself. Of all the times to be socially awkward, of course it happens to her while talking to a pretty girl.

Brianna stands, brushing down the feathers on her dress. She extends a hand that Jujubee takes. Brianna’s palm is warm, and the skin-to-skin contact makes fireworks go off in her chest. Jujubee meets Brianna’s eyes tentatively, snaking a hand around the blonde girl’s waist.

She hears the song change into something slower, and Brianna guides her into a gentle sway. She can feel her cheeks flushing, and her teeth tug on her bottom lip. It’s quiet, save for the leaves crunching beneath their heels and the faint music leaking from the hall, but Jujubee doesn’t mind. It feels peaceful.

She’s always been hopeless romantic, has dreamt of slow-dancing at prom since she was five. Her younger self watched those Disney channel movies that cumulated with a girl being swept off her feet by the football captain religiously.

This is different from all of the scenes she dreamed up when she was younger. There’s no parting of the crowd, no spotlight illuminating her. There’s no crown on her head. But somehow, Jujubee doesn’t really mind.

“This is so cheesy,” Brianna laughs softly.

“This is our rom-com moment, I guess,” Jujubee agrees, grinning. “I don’t mind though.”

“I’ve liked you since seventh grade,” Brianna admits. “You walked into class with a pink streak in your hair and immediately cracked a joke that made everyone laugh.”

“You remember that?” Jujubee’s impressed. She remembers that hair. It was such a pain to have to re-dye her roots every few weeks that she’d sworn to never touch a semi-permanent colour again.

She tells Brianna this, and the girl laughs, gesturing to her updo. “You’re lucky you don’t touch your hair! I’ve been dying mine this icy platinum forever.”

“What? I totally thought that was natural,” Jujubee marvels. “What’s your normal colour?”

“It’s more of a honey shade,” Brianna explains.

Jujubee cocks her head, trying to imagine Brianna with a warm-toned colour. She’d look nice with it. “That sounds pretty.”

The song playing from inside the hall finishes, and the two girls step away from each other. Jujubee shivers, already missing the warmth of Brianna’s hands around her waist.

“Cold?” Brianna asks sympathetically.

“Yeah, my dress is fluffy but it’s still really thin,” Jujubee answers. Her stomach growls, loudly, and she flushes. “Sorry. I haven’t eaten anything in a while.”

“We can go get Denny’s if you wanna leave?” Brianna offers hesitantly. “I drove.”

Jujubee pauses at the request, considering.

“I’d like that,” She says, finally. “I think we have a few years worth of stuff to catch up on.”

“Yeah, well, conversation always flows easiest over pancakes,” Brianna says with a wink.

The action gives Jujubee butterflies. Yes, she would very much like to get to know Brianna better. Something tells her they’ll be awfully close in the future.

[sunflowerhazzavol6]

Man After Midnight

Y/N is out for the night on a quest to find someone to sleep with and forget about the next day. The last thing she expects is to run into someone and find herself feeling like she's known them forever. 4k words of fluff, partying, drinking, and cursing (will most likely end up being a series). Enjoy!

Y/n was always up to go out.

It was fun, to get drunk, to party with her friends. It was fun to go to bars all dressed up, flirt with guys that she had absolutely no intentions of committing to. She supposed that was the case for most people her age; making decisions based on the theory that they were invincible. That there was no way they could get hurt when there was nothing and no one they were responsible for.

Tonight was no different than any other. San Francisco was bustling with its usual nightlife, twenty-something year olds stumbling into the entrance of the next bar they were going into. Y/n and her friends had just left one of their favorite places, beginning to head to the next destination for the night.

“Can you believe that guy?” Lydia, one of her friends, frustratedly wipes at her jacket with an old receipt from her purse. “Clumsily grinding on someone and then spilling your drink all over them is not a one way ticket inside their pants.”

“God, it was like watching a train wreck!” Her other friend Veronica skips around them holding a flask. “So bad you want to look away and yet you can’t help but watch.”

Y/n laughs, plucking the flask from her hand. “I kind of feel bad for the guy. He clearly had no clue what he was doing.” She takes a swig, coughing and handing it off to Penelope.

“Fuck that. He was definitely just drunk, not inexperienced.” Penelope says, rolling her eyes.

“Fuck him and fuck these hills. A bitch wants to be able to wear heels out without breaking an ankle.” Lydia groans.

“Cheers to that.” Y/n takes another sip and the girls pass it around, laughing.

Y/n never really got time with her girl friends like this. She was currently working at a coffee shop part time while she got her degree in digital marketing, which meant that between studying and work, she had no time to herself.

“You know, I think this is the one.” Y/n says at a pause in the conversation.

“The one?” Veronica laughs, narrowly avoiding a very drunk couple sloppily making out against a storefront. “You said the last one was ‘the one’.”

“I feel it this time.” Y/n turns to walk backwards to face her friends, entering the bar. “Mama is gonna get her p- Oh!” She falls against someone, laughing.”Fuck, I’m sorry, I should have-”

“Not been walking backwards?” The person interrupts her with a thick British accent, laughing heartily. She turns around, biting her lip when she sees the victim of her drunkenness.

“Well shit, of all the people to fall into...” Lydia says under her breath. Penelope elbows her in the side to shut her up.

Lydia was right. He was hot. Tattoos were littered around his tan arms, the sleeves of his white button up pushed past his elbows. A handful of the top buttons were undone, tattoos of sparrows just below his collar bones peeking out from underneath the fabric. Beautiful pale green eyes looked at her through long, thick eyelashes. His hair was a curly mop on top of his head, slick with sweat from dancing. The worst of it all was his smile. Blindingly white, crooked, dimples. That smile could make an honest woman out of her and she wouldn't mind one bit.

“Fuck- I mean, I’m sorry. You’re right, I probably shouldn’t be walking backwards, let alone walking backwards while drunk.” She laughs, holding out her hand. “No harm no foul?”

“None at all.” He shakes it firmly, his skin rough and calloused. Musician hands. She could feel them on the pads of his fingers.

“Well, we’ll be on our way then.” She says, nodding toward the inside of the club.

“Good luck to you, don’t back into anyone else.” He flashes his crooked grin at her again before his blonde-haired friend slaps him on the back and leads him out.

“What the fuck, y/n!” Lydia says, smacking her friend’s shoulder with her clutch. “He was the one! That was fate!”

“There's no way I’m going to talk it up with a guy that I quite literally ran into.” Y/n leads the group to the bar, ordering herself a drink.

“The sex gods not only sent you a bedtime buddy, they sent you one of their fucking own. Did you even see that man? Are you blind? Does your insurance cover eye care?”

“Forget about it.” She laughs. “They're probably long gone by now anyways.”

“I think Lydia is right. Anyone after looking at him is going to be mediocre at best.” Penelope says, sitting on the stool beside her.

“Whatever, I’ll find someone else.” Y/n says, trying to play it off. Maybe she had been to quick to brush him off. Usually she was the type to be forward and flirtatious, not the type to be nervous. “So, shots?”

As usual, their lucky bar had been a total success. Lydia had already left with a tall guy that said he was an engineer. (“Smart guys have the best dick, trust me.” She had said before she left. “They bottle up all that sexuality in high school and then release the beast when they go out into the real world.”) Veronica had met a guy and was currently pulling him off the dance floor to y/n and Penelope at the bar.

“Derek here says that there's this great spot just a block over with a bar downstairs and a DJ on the roof. Wanna go?”

“Sure.” Y/n shrugs. “Penny?”

“I think I’m going to head back home. I’ve got work in the morning. Should I wait up for you guys?”

“No, don’t worry about it, get some rest.” Y/n kisses her on the cheek, squeezing her arm. “Text me when you get there, alright?”

“Yeah, no problem. Be safe.”

“Always.” Veronica says, grabbing y/n’s arm. She barely has time to slap down money for the tab before she's pulled back out onto the street.

Veronica spends the walk clinging to Derek, leaving y/n to her thoughts. Maybe she was stupid for not talking to that guy more. He was really good-looking, and nice enough to not yell at her for tumbling into him. Not to mention that smile. God, she had never thought about a smile so goddamn much. She shakes her head to rid herself of those thoughts. He was long gone anyways, and if she wanted to get any tonight, this was the last stop.

Derek was right, this place was very cool. The bar was dimly lit and clearly busy, people ordering drinks and laughing with their friends. Even from down here she could hear the vibrations of the bass coming from the rooftop.

“Wanna dance?” Veronica yells over the noise.

“Sure! Drinks?”

“I’ve got them. You guys head upstairs.” Derek says, waving them off. Veronica shrugs with a laugh and grabs y/n’s hand to pull her upstairs.

If y/n was impressed by the bar portion, she was blown away by the rooftop. Tables were spread around the edge of a large dance floor brimming with bodies, lights strung up back and forth overhead of them. The DJ had his own light set up as well, colorful lasers darting back and forth to the beat of the music. The sky was clear above them to top it all off, no token San Francisco haze to block their view of the stars. Y/n was suddenly grateful for the rain she had complained about in the morning.

“Fuck, this song is my shit!” Veronica exclaims as ‘Gimme Gimme Gimme’ by ABBA comes on.

“Ronnie it's our girl group song!” She laughs, grabbing her friends hands.

“Hell yeah it is.” She takes two shots from the mini-bar adjacent to the dance floor, handing one to y/n and holding her own up. “To getting a man after midnight.”

“To getting a man after midnight.” Y/n grins, tapping their glasses together and downing the amber liquid. She coughs slightly before setting the glass back down and making her way to the dance floor.

Song after song plays, y/n somehow making her way to the center of the crowd of people. It was too tight for anyone to really dance, so she was just jumping around laughing and having fun. This was what it was about. What all the stress and hard work came back to. This. Letting go, having fun, dancing next to strangers who were equally as drunk and stressed and tired. A mass of twenty-somethings tossing away every bad part of their life. Y/n closes her eyes to soak it all in, tipping her head towards the sky.

“Fancy seeing you here. Run into anyone else yet?” A British accent yells over the music next to her. She opens her eyes.

“Not way.” She laughs, pushing her hair out of her face. “Hey!”

“You didn’t answer my question.” He grins, looking up at the DJ when the song changes.

“Not so far. The night is still young, though.”

“Right, of course. Silly me to think one would only step on a single person in a night.”

“I didn’t step on you!”

He looks down at his shoes, which were scuffed up at the point.

“Shit, my bad. I’ll pay for a shining?”

“Don’t worry about it. Pay me back with a drink?”

Y/n smiles. “I’d love to.”

The man takes her hand and weaves through the crowd of people back down to the bar. By now most of the crowd had either left or were upstairs, leaving the bar quiet besides a handful of people and the muffled noises from upstairs.

“What do you drink?” She asks, sitting on a stool.

“I’ll have a scotch, please.” He says, sitting beside her.

“A martini for me, and a scotch for...”

“Harry.” He finishes. “Thanks.” He says to the bartender.

“Y/n.” She says to him. “Nice to officially introduce myself in a way other than fucking up your shoe.”

“Indeed.” He laughs. “Well, y/n, where are you from?”

“Really? We’re starting with that question?”

“Is that a bad question to start with?” The corner of his mouth turns up, amused.

“A terrible one. People always ask that when they’re trying to get to know you, but I’ve found that where someone is from is the least telling information there is.”

“And why is that.” He grabs his scotch when it's set in front of him, nodding his head to the bartender in thanks.

“Well, there's a reason people left wherever they’re from. A reason why they wanted to get out of that place as soon as they could. So, therefore, they are likely the opposite of wherever they’re from and that information is irrelevant.”

“Thats contradictory. If they’re the opposite of wherever they’re from, doesn’t that tell you what they’re like anyways? Perhaps not so plainly, but it still does all the same.”

Y/n pauses and then laughs. “You got me there.”

“So then, where are you from?” He tries again.

“A small town outside of Chicago.”

“Aha. A midwesterner.”

“See, these are the exact kind of assumptions I wanted to avoid.” She takes a sip of her martini.

“You don’t want people to assume you’re nice?”

“I don’t want people to assume I’m a pushover.” She corrects.

“Darling, I have no assumptions whatsoever.” He turns in his seat to face her. “I’m from Cheshire, England. A little place called Holmes Chapel.”

“Little place? You’re from a small town?”

“Population 5,000.” He shrugs.

“I just assume every English person I meet is from London.”

“That's very American of you.” He laughs. “But I suppose I can’t judge you for that, I assume everyone is from LA or New York.”

“Is there anything about me that screams LA?” She raises an eyebrow.

“Nothing. As soon as your large midwesterner feet landed on my posh English shoes I knew exactly the type you were.”

“Did not!” She smacks his shoulder jokingly.

“’Did not’ indeed. That would have been cool, though.”

Y/n laughs, finishing her drink. Usually by this time she would have been in between the sheets with this stranger, and definitely wouldn’t know where he was from (or maybe even his name). Something was different about Harry. Maybe it was his teasing, or maybe she just wasn’t drunk enough. Or maybe it was because she felt like she had already known him for forever, which seemed crazy even to her.

“Hey.” Harry clears his throat, setting his empty glass down. “What do you say we get out of here?”

“And go where?” She bites her lower lip, running a hand through her hair. Maybe she had spoken too soon and this was just foreplay after all.

“It's a really clear night for San Francisco, right? My friend told me about this place where you can see the Golden and the entire bay. We could pick up a drink on the way, if you’re interested.”

“I am interested. Let me just let my friend know I’m leaving and we’ll meet back on the street?”

“Absolutely.” He grins lopsidedly, standing up and then helping her out of her chair.

“I’ll be right back, I promise.” She sets down money for the tab and then walks back up the stairs, finding Veronica.

“You found who?” She yells over the music, grinning. “No fucking way!”

“Yes fucking way.” Y/n grins. “So I’m leaving with him right now, if you’re good with Derek.”

“Absolutely I am. Go get that dick, baby!” She says, high-fiving her. “I guess you were right about that bar being ‘the one’, huh?”

Y/n rolls her eyes, squeezing her friend’s arm before making her way back down to the street. Harry is standing just outside of a taxi, leaning against it. He immediately smiles when he sees her, standing up and opening the door. “Ready?”

“To leave with a man I violently assaulted and just met? I guess.” She jokes, sliding into the car. He slides in next to her, leaning towards the driver, saying something she couldn’t hear.

“Alright, what other get to know you question can I bore you with?” He asks, sitting back.

“What brings you here?”

“What brings you here?” He repeats, looking at her.

“No, I’m asking you.” Y/n laughs, crossing her legs. “No offense, but your accent puts you heavily out of place.”

“Is that so? I hadn’t noticed.” He twists a ring around his middle finger. “I’m here on business. I work for a record label seeking new talent.”

“I would expect you to be a musician.”

“Now who’s assuming?” He teases, running his tongue along his lower lip. “I mean, I am one. A musician, I mean. I write stuff for people sometimes, and just for myself, but I prefer being on the sidelines for the time being.” He shrugs.

“So you sing?”

“I do.”

“That's cool. I wish I had a talent like that.”

“Tell me what you’re good at then.”

“Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of humility?”

“A bit, but you don’t strike me as someone shy.” He glances out the window when they stop at a 7/11, smiling. “Press pause on that, looks like we’re stopped at the epitome of class winery. Thanks for the ride, mate.” He hands the driver some cash, opening the door and helping y/n out.

“7/11? Really?” She laughs.

“Can you think of anywhere else open at nearly three in the morning that sells wine?”

“So we’re drinking wine? That’s very classy of you.”

“I’m trying to impress you, what can I say?” He shrugs. The door chimes when he opens it for her, following behind her and waving to the bored clerk. She walks to the wine section, Harry standing behind her with his hands stuffed in his pockets. “This isn’t your first midnight 7/11 wine run, I’m assuming.”

“What makes you say that?” She bites her lower lip, looking back at him.

He looks at her mouth and then back up at her eyes. “No reason. You just went straight for the wine section without so much as a glance at any of the directory signs.”

“So what if I have?” She turns back to the shelf, surveying the selection. “Are you a white or red wine type of guy?”

“I feel like that's a trick question, seeing as how you’re obviously an expert on 7/11 wine.” He grins when she looks back at him, glaring. “Are you going to judge me?”

“Would I ever?”

He snorts. “White. Chardonnay especially.”

“I would never have pegged you for a white wine bitch.”

“Hey! What happened to no judgement?”

“That was before you revealed you were a basic white wine bitch.” She grabs a bottle, pressing it to his chest. She can feel the warmth of his skin radiating through his shirt to the back of her hand, and it gives her the chills. “It’s okay. Chardonnay is one of my favorites too.”

“Is it?” He pulls his lower lip into his mouth, suppressing a smile at her touch. He wraps his hand around the neck of the bottle, covering hers. “Guess we’ll have to settle on that then, shall we?”

“We shall.” She lets go of the bottle, casually walking to the aisle full of snacks and grabbing a bag of Doritos.

“Wine and Doritos?” Harry quirked up an eyebrow.

“Wine and cheese is considered fancy and socially appropriate. Why not wine and… nacho cheese?”

“Right, of course,” He laughs, reaching over her to grab oreos. His arm was positioned beside her head like a boy leaning against his girlfriends locker in every high school rom com, and she wasn’t sure if the heat in her cheeks was from the alcohol or from his proximity.  “And we can’t forget the chocolate.”

“It would be an absolute crime to consume wine without chocolate.” She laughs.

“Precisely.” He takes the bag or Doritos from her hand, walking to the clerk and paying for their haul.

“You didn’t have to do that.” Y/n says, following him out the door. “Pay for everything. I could have pitched in.”

“Don’t worry yourself with it. I’m the one that asked you out, remember?”

“Asked me out? Is this a date?”

He shrugs, smiling slyly. “It’s whatever you want it to be. Come on, the spot is a short walk from here.”

Y/n looks down at her heels with a small sigh before wrinkling her nose and shrugging. “Are you going to be thoroughly disgusted if I take off my shoes?” She asks.

Harry snorts. “I wouldn’t want to wear them. Go ahead.”

She puts her hand on his shoulder to stabilize herself, stepping out of her heels. Harry bites his lip at the contact, placing his hand in between her shoulder blades to assist. “Better?”

“Much.”

He shakes his head with a slight laugh before continuing on again. He leads her up the street and then turns down an alleyway, checking behind him every once in awhile to see if she was keeping up. Y/n trudges behind him with her heels and Doritos in hand, glaring at him when he looks back at her for the fifth or sixth time. “I’m perfectly capable of keeping up.”

“I don’t doubt your abilities.” He falls into step beside her, taking the Doritos. She doesn’t say anything, but smiles to herself. Harry grins wider when they get to a steep hill, blocking their view of what's ahead.

“Are you serious? A hill?” She groans, watching him bound up easily with his long male legs.

“Because a hill is the worst thing you’ve encountered in your life?” He calls behind him. She raises her middle finger in the air. He laughs.

She stomps up the hill, mumbling to herself about being a sucker for tattoos and dimples.

“For fucks sake, y/n. You’re almost there. I promise it's worth it.”

“You don’t live here, of course you think it's-” She cuts herself off, looking out over the view. The Golden Gate bridge was as twinkling in the night, lit up from end to end just to the right of them. Sometimes you couldn't see the other end of it, but tonight you could see the whole city, lit up and peaceful as sleep fell over it. She could taste the salt in the air here, feel the slight humidity on her skin. She could feel the grass between her toes too, this hidden little hill having not been trampled by the feet of locals and tourists alike. He was right. “...worth it.”

“Right?” Harry grins, placing his hands on his hips pridefully. “Not bad for a non-local.”

“Not bad at all.” She approaches him finally, biting her lower lip. “So…”

“So…” He smiles lopsidedly, holding up the wine in one hand and their snacks in the other.

“So.” She grins, taking the wine from his hands and screwing the cap off. Classic, convenient cheap wine. No cork to get in the way. She raises it up in the air, smiling to herself. “To getting a man after midnight.” She says before taking a swig.

Harry snorts, taking the bottle from her and tipping it in her direction. “To getting a man after midnight.” Y/n giggles when he sputters slightly after taking a sip. “Oh. This is cheap cheap.”

“Hey, you’re the one that took us to 7/11.”

“Sure, blame the foreigner.” He grins, sitting on the top of a lone picnic table, his feet on the bench. Y/n drunkenly hoists herself up to sit beside him, their sides pressed together as they pass the bottle back and forth.

“You know, I’ve never done this.” Y/n says, looking out at the water.

“Never done what?” Harry asks, looking at her profile.

“Hung out with a guy after meeting him at a bar. Or even wanting to hang out with a guy after meeting him at a bar.” She shakes her head with a laugh. “I was kicking myself for not talking to you, and then there you were showing me your shoes. I am sorry about that, by the way.”

“Don’t be.” He smiles, putting his hand over hers when she starts to pass him the bottle so that they’re both holding it when he leans in. She meets his eyes, biting her lower lip. “I like them better scuffed up. It reminds me of you.”

She had never had a kiss like this one.

One like the movies, the kind where you move slowly and bump noses before you kiss. The kind where your teeth knock together because you’re both smiling, where the kiss turns for a serious note when he holds your face in his hands and kisses you so hard it makes you breathless. He was kissing her like that now, setting the bottle to the side before immediately pulling her closer. There was no hand traveling up her thigh, no nudging her hands to certain places. He was completely invested in her, not her body.

She moves her hand to his forearm, pulling herself closer to him until she's on her knees on the table. Her hand slides up his arm and to his neck, tipping his jaw to fit his mouth to hers like two pieces to a puzzle. He takes this as a que to pull her into his lap, resting a hand on her hip and another in her hair. “Harry…” She breathes.

He pulls away slightly, biting his lip to keep from smiling embarrassingly big. His hand moves from her hair down to her hip. “We kind of forgot about the snacks.” He says quietly.

Y/n laughs, rubbing her thumbs along his jaw and putting her forehead on his chest to catch her breath. He rubs her back, resting his chin on top of her head. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but that was not a hook-up type of kiss.”

“That was not a hook-up type of kiss.” Y/n confirms, sitting back onto his thighs. “Whatsoever.”

“Well, in that case, what are you doing tomorrow?”

[justcourttee]

Love your stories. The premise for this one involves Plagg learning And overhearing about Lila’s deal With Gabriel. Spying on Adrien and keeping him away from ‘bad influences’. Plagg tells Adrien what he found out, Adrien is a bit reluctant, but when he heard of Lila sabotaging his friends and the involvement with the expulsion. Adrien finally has enough. Your take on how this goes out

This was such a good prompt that I literally had too many ideas of how I wanted it to go. Hopefully, this works :)

Because We’re Friends, Right?

“But Adrien! You have to believe me! It’s not like I was snooping on your father on purpose! I was just trying to find some more Camembert cheese!”

It felt useless arguing with their chosen. For whatever reason, the humans were fond of their personal space and Plagg phasing through walls was an apparent ‘invasion’ of that.

“Plagg, you know I keep a stash in my drawer, how did you blow through it this fast?”

“That’s not the point Adrien! I feel like you are just redirecting your anger at your father on me. After all, for someone who doesn’t like this pigtails girl, you sure got real red when I mentioned Lila setting her up.”

Plagg nudged Adrien’s arm, but it provided no relief. The tension was still strong in the air, almost as if a cataclysm couldn’t breakthrough.

“Plagg, there’s no way Lila is working for my father to keep my friend’s from me. Neither could be so cruel. Lila just wants to get her way and so does my father, I don’t see their agendas ever crossing.”

“Oh, really now, think about Pigtails getting expelled. You knew it was Lila, but you didn’t know what she had to gain from it right? But what did your father have to gain? An excuse to pull you out of school due to the mass amount of akumatizations that would've happened in one day.”

Adrien opened his mouth, ready to argue, but a small nagging thought sat at the back of his head. It was the first time his father had personally called him in a while, not Nathalie, to make sure he was okay and ask him to come back home.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re working together Plagg, it was just a really messed up coincidence. Besides, I know you’re just trying to take the conversation off of the fact that you left my room, again. You’ve gotta stop dude, what if someone catches you?”

Plagg shrugged their shoulders. Adrien was going to need a lot more than just words to convince him, that was for sure. So Plagg settled in, ignoring Adrien’s speech on privacy for the tenth time that month. Sure enough, sooner or later, Adrien was going to see that Plagg was right, and they couldn’t wait to rub it in his face.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Monday morning came and as Adrien exited his room, he found no other than Lila was waiting for him in the foyer, a fake smile plastered on her face as she chatted with Nathalie.

It was suspicious enough to see her standing so freely in his house, but he tried to brush it off, not let his imagination run wild with the stories Plagg had tried to sell him. She was probably there for a last-minute before class shoot that his father scheduled.

That had to be it.

“Hey, Adrien! I thought I’d ride with you to school today seeing as we’re not only school friends but now work buddies too!”

Adrien’s eyes darted to Nathalie’s face for any explanation, but he was given none as she stared straight ahead her usual expressionless look present.

“Sounds good Lila, after all, that’s what friends do huh? Maybe tomorrow we can invite Nino too.”

Nathalie shook her head, shutting down his idea before he even had a chance to fully ask.

“Miss Rossi was only allowed today due to your photoshoot at your lunch hour. Her stuff would be more conveniently located if it were already in the car than waiting for her to gather it from her locker.”

The excuse was pitiful, even Adrien could see through that. But as the small nagging voice in his head grew larger, his will to ignore it did too. There was no way Plagg was right, this was just another coincidence.

So without another word, he walked out the door, Lila practically skipping beside him as they slid into the car. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . As the rest of the week passed, Adrien noticed Lila hanging around the house more and more. Sometimes to catch up on homework, sometimes, well, he wouldn’t even know she was there until he was slipping out his window, a quick glance of her exiting the gates as he landed on the nearest rooftop. As much as he didn’t want to, he was starting to think that he not only owed Plagg an apology but that it was also time to sit down with his father and finally ask him.

So he waited until their next scheduled dinner, the Thursday before a big photoshoot nonetheless, to strike. It was silent like usual, neither looking up much from their plates. Adrien simply wasn’t sure where to begin, but if he didn’t say something, this dinner would end all too soon.

“Uhm, father?”

Gabriel’s eyes rose slowly as if he wasn’t quite sure if he heard him right.

“What is it, Adrien?”

“I-” Adrien cleared his throat trying to swallow his growing nerves. “I just wanted to know why you hired Lila Rossi.”

Gabriel’s eyebrows furrowed as if it was a stupid question for him to ask. As if Lila made the most logical sense.

“She had quite the impressive resume. Miss Rossi has worked with many big names and is around your age. An older model would look bad on my part. That is all.”

He returned his attention back to his nearly finished plate leaving Adrien with a hundred more questions than he had time to ask. Adrien knew her resume was faked and if Nathalie had done her usual background check, she could’ve discovered that with ease. Something didn’t sit right.

“Father, Lila  Rossi has no connections.”

Gabriel’s frown sent a small shiver down Adrien’s back. He had never so openly defied his father, especially in their once a month dinners. It terrified him that angering him could mean never seeing him again.

“I was not made aware. Are you saying Nathalie is incompetent at the one job I hired her for?”

Adrien shook his head quickly. The last thing he wanted to do was get Nathalie in trouble when he knew that no matter what she did, his father, the perfectionist, always double-checked. There was no way he was so in the dark.

“Adrien, I suggest that you drop this topic. Lila Rossi would be an excellent friend and coworker for you, unlike your DJ friend or the young lady with the pigtails.”

The younger blonde opened his mouth to argue, but he saw no point. Without meaning to, his father already confirmed what he had feared.

Plagg was right.

“I apologize father. I will make more efforts to befriend Lila.”

No other words were spoken during their meal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Weeks came and went and Adrien only felt sicker about the idea. Lila wanted him to date her, his father wanted him to stay home. Lila seems to be working willingly with Hawkmoth who not only benefits her agenda, but his father’s as well.

The more he investigated, the worst he felt. He tried apologizing to Plagg, but the kwamii simply shook it off, only asking for more cheese to compensate for their hurt feelings.

Adrien debated talking to Marinette about it. After all, she was the only one who knew what Lila was like. But something stopped him. Marinette tried to warn him that her lies would hurt their friends, would hurt them, but he shook her off, told her that as long as they were in it together, it didn’t matter if the others knew.

Yet another person he would have to apologize to when this was all over.

As he turned the corner to the lockers, a small yelp caught his attention. Pressing his ear against the wooden door, he could faintly make out the conversation taking place inside.

“-I’m so sorry Nathaniel, please don’t be so upset with me. I asked Adrien to contact the publisher for a meeting because they knew each other better. I really thought I could trust him with such a small task for his friends.”

The sobbing was completely over the top, but unfortunately for him, it seemed to be working. Peeking through the small glass window, Adrien saw the redhead comforting Lila, his face a mixture of anger and disappointment and if Adrien had to take a guess, it wasn’t for Lila.

“It’s rude to spy on people.”

Adrien whipped his head around, his face matching Marinette’s own shade of red.

“Me? Spying? Oh, no, I was just, uh.”

Marinette giggled, the red on her cheeks rising until it reached the tips of her ears. It was adorable.

“It’s okay Adrien, I was just picking on you like you pick on me.”

“Oh,” his chuckle wasn’t as convincing as the red in his own cheeks seemed to meet the tips of his ears as well.

“Adrien, what’s wrong?”

Was she always so good at reading him or was he just an open book lately?

“We can’t talk here, follow me.”

He didn’t bother for her answer as he grabbed her hand, dragging her out into the courtyard. Scanning the area, he found the furthest open bench, bringing Marinette with him. As he sat down, he reluctantly let go, oblivious to the shade of red that had spread now to her neck as well.

“I think my father hired Lila to cause trouble at school in order to force me to come home.”

Marinette bit her lip, unsure how to respond. If it was true, so many things made sense, but it still raised a question.

“What would she gain from that?”

Adrien’s face confirmed her answer before he even spoke.

“As a model, especially a young one, it can be good for business if the models are seen as a couple. Lila has been trying to ask me out since she arrived. I thought that if I was nice, that if I gave in to her demands, she would eventually wear herself out, but here she is, still going strong. I-”

He paused, the image of Nathaniel’s upset face burned into his head.

“I think she’s trying to turn everyone against me so that I’ll choose to go home, where I’ll see her because of work.”

Adrien felt a soft touch on his cheek, the feeling starling him. Marinette reached forward again wiping a tear that he hadn’t realized had fallen.

“Adrien, maybe it’s time we told Alya and Nino. They’re our best friends. I’m sure they’ll understand, they might even know how to help.”

He wanted to shake his head. It would only cause a backlash and he couldn't risk Marinette getting caught in it, but at the same time, he’s left it alone for this long and it has only gotten worse.

“Maybe.”

Her smile was almost blinding as she offered him a hand to stand, apparently intent on seeking them out now. He hesitantly reached up, amazed at how strong she looked standing over him as if she would protect him to the end. It reminded him of someone, but he couldn’t put a finger on it, not when she was standing here so captivating.

“Adrien! How could you?”

Immediately he withdrew his hand as if he was a little kid, caught in the act. In front of him stood Lila, Nathaniel, and worse of all, Alya and Nino.

“When you said Marinette was your special friend, I thought you meant best friend, not the girl you were seeing behind my back.”

Marinette tried to deny it, but Lila wouldn’t even let her get a word in.

“I know you said you were only dating me to please your father, but I thought you were going to try to love me! I mean, I’m the only one who understands your world. Marinette couldn’t even keep up!”

Adrien looked at the gathering crowd, many of them wearing the same weary face.

Adrien, I-”

“That’s enough Lila.”

Silence spread throughout the courtyard as all eyes turned to them. He realized how loud his voice was, but it didn’t matter to him at the moment. In fact, he would get on top of the roof if he had to. He was done cowering away and he would be damned if he let her drag Marinette down.

“Let’s get one thing straight right here. I was not made aware of any arrangements you and my father have made for the company, therefore, I had no clue about this, about us dating. Let me also state that Marinette has more connections in the business that I have met face to face with her than I have standing by your side.”

Lila’s eyes were deadly as if threatening him to continue, but he couldn’t find it in him to stop.

“Marinette has done cover designs and costume accessories for Jagged Stone. You said you saved his non-existent kitten? Well, let’s have Marinette call him right now and see for sure. I mean surely someone who saved his prize animal would remember the name of its savior right?”

“He’s too busy right now, that’s not necessary-”

“And how about you teaching Clara dance moves? Marinette was actually picked to be the star in her music video and impressed Clara when she turned down the spot to get her friends in the video as well. She even came up with the idea that Clara used for her Miraculous music video. She has her phone number as well, shall we call her as well?”

“I-”

“What about your connections in the fashion business? Besides me, you have none. Marinette has managed to impress Style Queen Audrey Bourgeois with a derby hat, the same hat that she impressed my father with as well. Don’t doubt for a second that she couldn’t keep up in my world.”

The growing crowd seemed split, unsure who to believe. Alya and Nino had slinked away from Lila’s side as they comforted the very pale Marinette. Adrien wanted to rush over, be by her side as well, but he had to stand his ground, see it through to the end.

“I don’t understand Adrien, why are you doing this? You know I have a disease that causes me to lie, I just-”

Adrien placed a hand on her shoulder sending a wave of shock through the girl.

“Because we’re friends, right?”

Lila’s eyes narrowed at his words.

“Friends can’t let other friends hurt themselves with lies, whether those lies were meant to wound or not. I understand you and my father have an arrangement, but with your condition, I don’t believe it would be best for you to be in the spotlight. If you don’t have a strong center, the cameras will eat you up. As your friend, I’m asking you to take a less stressful job.”

The group around them cooed as if Adrien caring about Lila’s health was just so in character of him. As if the two weren’t locked in a silent battle, one only they could see.

“Fine, I’ll resign tonight, but I doubt your father would like that very much.”

Her half-cocked smile worried him. She was obviously far from done, but for the moment he was ready to celebrate a small victory.

“Let me worry about my father, after all, what are friends for?”

Lila nodded, her head tilted as if seeing Adrien in a new light. He didn’t bother waiting around for her answer. Instead, he made his way over to where his friends’ stood.

“Marinette, I’m sorry about that. I know you were trying to keep your connections a secret.”

She shook her head ferociously, her eyes shining with what looked like pride.

“Adrien, we’re going to try and find Andre cart, would you like to come with us?”

“Like as couples?”

Marinette’s face flushed red as she began stumbling over her words, trying to back away, only failing when Alya pushed her back.

“Relax Marinette,” his chuckle surprised even himself. Why was it so easy to flirt with her? Was it just a friend thing? “Today we’ll go as friends, but maybe some other time we’ll try the couple thing.”

“Agreste, did you have to go and break her?”

Alya playfully shoved him as the four of them left the school, ignoring the stares they were receiving. It was so easy right now, but Adrien regretfully knew that it was just the calm before the storm.

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