#*laughter 'omw'

[briefle]

i am deeply unwell about the roomies btw. bless u cleo for the occasional text on screen it makes me want to sink my teeth into drywall.

[oneguardian15]

thinking about my best friend. she stopped talking to me a few months ago after being offish for about a year. I miss her

[cosmiles]

𝟑:𝟒𝟕 𝐀.𝐌.

— late night trips with earth1610!miles

notes: idc earth1610!miles uses kamojis it’s canon !

characters: earth1610!miles

content: fluff, established gn!relationship, sneaking out

words: 0.4k

molasses <33: you up?

You smile sleepily as you read Miles's text. This wasn’t the first time you had received a text like this from him. Every time he had leftover energy from patrol he would always hit you up, down to do anything and everything.

Sometimes you would swing to the bodega and grab a bite to eat, sitting on the rooftop to avoid any passerby’s stares. Other times you would sneak Miles into your room, talking until one or both of you fell asleep. Who knew what adventures you would get into today?

my baby ˃̵ᴗ˂̵: sorta

my baby ˃̵ᴗ˂̵: why?

molasses <33: you wanna do something?

my baby ˃̵ᴗ˂̵: miles it’s a school night.

molasses <33: so?

You sigh. He’s right. It’s never stopped you before. And you even had all your homework done this time!

my baby ˃̵ᴗ˂̵: .

my baby ˃̵ᴗ˂̵: fine be ready in 5

molasses <33: omw ᕙ( •̀ ᗜ •́ )ᕗ

You roll your eyes as you try to find something comfortable to throw on. Where would he take you today? Not even a second after you start to inspect yourself in the mirror, does your phone buzz.

molasses <33: one new image ( •̯́ ₃ •̯̀)

You smirk knowing exactly what it was before even opening it, a picture of you in the mirror. Inspecting the picture further, you could see the direction of where it was taken: the window. As you gaze at your window, you’re not surprised to see Miles smooshing his face against the window like a maniac.

“Dork.” You say as you pull up your window, letting Miles into your room.

“Yea, but you love it.” He quips, smirking as you roll your eyes for the 100th time that night.

“So where are you taking me tonight?” You ask, lacing up your sneakers tightly to avoid them falling off, again.

“It’s a surprise.” You eye Miles carefully, trying to decipher the exact mood he was in. Wherever he would take you tonight, you knew it would be full of fun and laughter.

“Come on you trust me right?”

“Always.”

➥ thank you so much for reading! i hope you enjoyed and don't forget that Jesus loves you, to drink water, eat some food, and get some rest :))

➥ taglist: @morosis-haze @romiantic @mypimpademia @jackibrown @strcnt @haksluvr @ivanari

[hyatoro]

Can you do something with frankie realizing reader loves him as much as he loves her maybe he realizes she has a drawer for him or she has a picture of him in her room or she just notices small things he does

Franklin Russell

It was this man’s nth time being in your room when you weren’t there. It was as easy as opening the door and waltzing in for him. With how many times he’s been over while you were there, there was no need for him to pretend he had zero presence here. 

You were spending time with his sisters cause they dragged you along to a shopping spree when he was in the middle of walking back home. He didn’t worry too much because that’s his family, and it was like you were already in-laws. A goofy smile spread on his face at the thought before he shook his head and went back to rummaging through your belongings. 

As he was digging through your closet a stray box hit him on the head. 

“Ah!”

Soothing the bump on his head he looked at the offending object. It was a small thing. About the size of a shoe box, and that was in fact where it was stored. With the shoe boxes. 

What was different about this was that it had a latch. With zero thoughts about possibly respecting your privacy about some box he unlatched it and flipped open the lid. His brow furrowed in mild confusion.

Inside, though rattled due to its fall, was an assortment of tiny knick knacks from him over the years. Keychains that were too faded to expose to the elements anymore, beaded bracelets that went out of style a decade ago, and many more pieces of memorabilia from your guys’ childhood. Once the dots began to get connected his eyes widened as his heart flip flopped. 

You kept all these gifts he’d given you safe. No, not just gifts. 

There were ticket stubs from movies you went to together, a wrapper from the first time you guys tried your favorite candy, and even a photo album? Immediately, his hands put the box down on his lap as he flipped through the album. 

Pictures of you two in the reflection of shops you two wished you could afford, toothless grins of you two as elementary school kids, candid solo shots of him, some of when he would nap on school trips. His vision got blurry as he covered his mouth to muffle his watery laughter. As if he didn’t love you enough already. There was no limit. 

After taking a moment to steady his breathing he heard a ping from his phone, a dedicated tone just for you. 

‘Your sister is finally done!!! Omw back thank fuck. Are you still at home?’

He chuckled at your relief to be rid of his sister and back by his side. 

‘Yeah! See you soon?’

‘See you soon <3’

Like he’d been shot by cupid’s arrow he dramatically fell back onto your floor as he breathed in your air. 

After a moment he got up, dried his tears, and cleaned up the mess he made, putting your things back where they belonged before running back to his place. 

[ivegotyourbackbuddie]

Being in the Diaz home without Chris around is… weird.

Really there are hundreds of different words that Buck could use to explain the absence, but weird is what fits best at the moment.

It’s not like he and Eddie haven’t hung out alone in the house while Christopher had been at school or a friend’s house. But knowing that Chris is states away with no confirmed return date… it’s weird.

They haven’t really spoken about it much - avoiding Eddie’s house, wordlessly going to Buck’s equally empty apartment that nonetheless contains less of Chris’s essence.

Of course, it’s still there. They avoid the gaming system, the drawer filled with Chris’s clothes, the bin full of Lego’s…

But at Eddie’s, it’s not like they can just… avoid the whole house.

Which is why Buck was surprised to get a message from Eddie reading Come over?��Which Buck had replied omw while racing to get his shoes on.

He had let himself in with his key, calling out for Eddie only to get no response which set off all the alarm bells in Buck’s head. He forced himself to stay calm, trying not to think of the time he had rushed over there only to find a scared Chris outside a room Eddie had taken apart piece by piece as if trying to represent the brokenness he felt within.

“Eddie?” Buck calls out again, trying to ignore the way his voice wavers as he paces through the house opening the door to Eddie’s room and finding it all in one piece. He sighs in relief but tenses again when he still doesn’t see Eddie. But then it hits him exactly where he is.

He slowly walks down the hall, hesitating and listening in at Chris’s door but not hearing anything before opening it.

He spots Eddie quickly, sitting on a chair next to Chris’s bed. It reminds him of the times when Eddie used to read him stories before bed, voice taking pitches Buck had never heard before all to make a giggling Christopher shriek with loud laughter.

The silence in the room hangs almost as heavily as Eddie’s head in his hands.

“Eddie,” Buck says softly as he walks up to him slowly as if approaching a wild animal, knowing he needs the time to adjust to his presence in the room.

Eddie glances up at him, eyes red-rimmed and wet, but Buck can see that he isn’t one breath away from fully breaking like he has been before. “Hey, Buck,” he replies wetly.

Buck kneels in front of the chair, opening his arms to Eddie who drops his weight into them, squeezing around his shoulders as if he were Chris. “I miss him,” Eddie whispers.

“I do, too,” Buck says, allowing a few tears to slip from his own eyes as he glances at the empty bed. He lets Eddie take as long as he needs in the hug, ignoring the ache in his knees that’s not even comparable to the ache in his chest.

Eventually, Eddie loosens his embrace and moves back, wiping his eyes and chuckling as if it’s the only thing keeping him from crying more. “Let’s get some beers, yeah?” Eddie asks, standing up, and offering a hand to Buck who gladly takes it.

They silently make their way to the kitchen, Buck watching Eddie carefully, trying to anticipate if he needs to talk or be distracted when Eddie’s phone lights up and plays the honking text tone alert.

They both freeze, knowing it’s Chris’s text tone which always made him laugh especially when he would text his dad while in the same room as him. Eddie would always play along with the bit asking, “I wonder who this could be.” While Chris would simultaneously laugh and groan, “Dad.”

Eddie grabs the phone off the counter with shaky hands and reads the message multiple times as if he can’t quite believe what it says. But Buck waits patiently, although all he wants to do is rush over and read it over his shoulder or even snatch the phone out of his hands.

But before he can do anything too impulsive, Eddie glances up with a mixture of shock, relief, and panic when he says, “Chris says he misses me and wants me to come to El Paso.”

Buck smiles but sees that Eddie isn’t doing the same. “That’s a good thing, right?”

Eddie shakes his head and shrugs, internally spiraling a bit. “I don’t know. Yes, it’s good that he misses me. But he didn’t say he wants to come back or he wants me to just briefly visit then come back or how long he wants me there. For all I know, this could be a trial run to see if he ever wants to come back here.” Eddie puts down the phone and wipes his hands over his face. He sighs and drops his hands, expression changing from confused to determined yet still mildly panicked. “I have to call Bobby. But I don’t know if he’ll let me take a temporary leave without doing paperwork that all needs to be approved, but I need to go now.”

Buck makes his way around the counter and puts a hand on Eddie’s shoulder, thumb resting in the dip of his collarbone, mirroring the same stance Eddie uses that always calms Buck down. “I’ll call Bobby, okay? He knows the situation, and he’s more than reasonable when it comes to family. You start packing and looking for tickets for the soonest flight.”

Eddie's shoulders relax as he nods. “Right.” He steps away from Buck as he makes his way to his room, but he pauses and turns around quickly. “Buck?”

Buck hums in response.

“Thank you,” Eddie states, eyes firmly on Buck’s filled with an abundance of gratitude.

“Of course,” Buck replies with a small smile, hoping Eddie is too distracted to read the love written all over his face. And he must be since Eddie takes off soon after.

Buck lets out a calming breath as he processes everything and tries not to get ahead of himself with joy that Chris might be coming back.

A quick phone call later, Buck is once again trying to think of how he can ever repay Bobby for the endless understanding and love he has for the team. He makes his way into Eddie’s room and fills him in on the situation with Bobby currently making a new schedule - already knowing several people who have been asking for overtime and others begging for a chance to work at the 118. Buck can see Eddie going through the same emotions as he did moments before, but they remain for a few seconds longer when he approaches Buck and hugs him tightly, thanking him again.

Buck just holds him and asks, “Have you found a flight?”

Eddie nods, pulling away to hold up his phone. There’s already a confirmation email for the ticket he bought. “There’s a flight that leaves tonight in a few hours.”

“Let me drive you to the airport then,” Buck says, with no room for argument. Eddie only fixes him with a look that has Buck preparing for another hug, but Eddie shakes his head a little and looks down as if telling himself he can’t ask for more.

Buck doesn’t comment on it, but he does check through Eddie’s bag, making sure he didn’t miss anything in his rush, only for Eddie to shove his shoulder against his and say, “If I forgot anything, I’ll just buy a duplicate.”

Buck glances at Eddie's nightstand and grabs his charger, handing it over. “I know you say that, but I also know how much you hate duplicates of anything other than clothes.”

“And ‘Best Dad Ever’ mugs.”

“And those,” Buck says with a fond eye roll, remembering all the times Eddie has insisted that he doesn’t need any more mugs, only to immediately change his tune when Chris holds up a dad mug. “Come on, you don’t want to miss your extremely convenient flight.”

Eddie huffs out a laugh in response but doesn’t disagree.

The drive to the airport is quicker than Buck expected, and when they get there, Buck finds himself parking instead of merely dropping Eddie off. But Eddie doesn’t comment on it. Honestly, it’s as if he was expecting it.

They walk at a leisurely pace, now that they both know that unless something goes horribly wrong, Eddie won’t miss his flight.

“You have your ID and your phone is charged enough to display your ticket?” Buck asks.

Eddie smiles and knocks his shoulder against his. “As I’ve already said three times, yes to both.”

Buck nods, but he feels an overwhelming sense of dread fill his gut. Then, it suddenly hits him that the last time he dropped off someone at the airport was… Abby. And with the departure gates right in front of him, Buck can almost picture that moment when she walked away, and the tiniest voice had told him that it was already over and she was never coming back. It seems to be a tragic theme in his life.

“Hey,” Eddie says firmly, taking him out of the memory. “You okay?”

Buck just nods at him, pasting a small smile on his face. “I just wish I could see Chris, too.”

He knows that Eddie can see that it’s something else chewing him up inside, but they both don’t comment on it.

“Well, thank you again,” Eddie says, lingering in Buck’s space.

Buck hugs him, knowing Eddie isn’t going to take the initiative again. “You know you’d do the same thing for me.”

“Yeah, with a lot more complaining,” Eddie jokes startling a laugh out of Buck.

They both pull away after lingering for a few seconds longer than many friends would. They stare at each other, searching each other’s gaze for something that they’re not able to find - call it stubbornness or obliviousness, but love is there loud and clear to anyone else who merely glances at them.

“I’ll be back soon, and I’ll be giving you play-by-plays of everything,” Eddie reassures him.

Buck just nods, remembering Abby’s promise to call and text every day until those eventually dwindled down to nothing on her side.

“Bye, Eddie.”

“Bye, Buck,” Eddie says with a soft look, turning to leave.

Buck stays and watches, debating if he has the strength to turn and walk away even when he’s out of sight. But to his surprise, Eddie gets through the doors and glances back.

Abby never glanced back.

Then, Eddie rushes back, apologizing to a woman he nearly runs over in the process but continuing on his way back to the doors. “Come with me!” He nearly yells, attracting multiple people’s attention, but Buck doesn’t notice - too distracted trying to process what he has just said.

“Come with me,” Eddie says again, much closer this time. “I know it’s last minute. And you don’t have your bags or anything, and I don’t know if there’s even another ticket left on this flight. But please. Christopher loves you so much, and he would love to see you.”

Buck shakes his head, smiling in disbelief, “Eddie, I can’t just ask Bobby to take us both off the schedule for an indefinite amount of time.”

“He’s done it before! We’re always getting injured together. What’s a few days off going to do?”

Buck smiles and steps in closer. “Eddie, you’re going to be fine. You can do all of this without me there.”

“I know I can, Buck. But I want you there. Don’t you see?” Eddie asks and steps closer, “I want you by my side while I deal with my parents and this whole situation. Even without all of this I would want you to bet there.” And pauses to take a deep breath and fix Buck with a look that pierces deeply. “And I don’t want you to think I’m leaving you. I would never do that. I could be gone for years, and I would never stop thinking about you and messaging you. I could never just forget you. I’m always going to come back for you. No matter the time or the distance.”

Buck’s heart hammers in his chest at the confession that chips away at every insecurity he felt when Abby had left. All the things the tiny voice would say are being directly challenged by everything Eddie says. But this time… Buck realizes the voice wasn’t even there to begin with. Sure, the memory of the voice is loud and clear but… when it’s Eddie? Nothing.

All those years ago, he would’ve gone with Abby in a heartbeat. He would’ve abandoned everything to stay with her and try to make her happy. But now…

Now he knows what it’s like to be truly loved. And to trust the person he loves to come back to him.

So Buck just grabs Eddie’s hand and whispers, “I love you. And that’s why I’m telling you that you can do this on your own. Because I’m going to be here the whole time, waiting for you to come back and making sure everything is okay while you’re away. We’ve already basically built a life here together, and I’m not going to ever risk throwing that away. Plus, I think Bobby would kill us both if we suddenly decided to run away and take Christopher wherever he wants because we both know that’s what would happen if we went together.”

Eddie smiles and laughs, eyes a bit misty as he nods. “Maddie would kill me if I took you away from her.”

Buck smiles softly. “I think she would try, but ultimately she’d be happy for us.”

Eddie nods in agreement but his expression changes from fond amusement to steadfast fondness. He pauses before saying, “I love you, too, you know.”

“I know. Especially after that confession. Really dramatic of you, Diaz.”

“Like you can say anything, Evan,” Eddie laughs.

And Buck can’t help but notice the way that his name falls off his lips, always in a way that screams love but he never noticed before. He shakes his head and laughs, “How long have we been in love with each other but too dumb to realize it?”

Eddie shakes his head and says, “I don’t know. I think I loved you a bit ever since you were an asshole to me and tried to call yourself my elder.”

Buck laughs loudly before sincerely saying, “I think I loved you the moment I laid eyes on you.”

Eddie rolls his eyes. “I think you felt that way more about Chris than about me.”

“Maybe.” And yeah, that’s probably one hundred percent true. Buck gets a sudden idea that has him frowning and tilting his head. “Hey, how much longer do we have to stay idiots who haven’t kissed even after we confessed our love for each other?”

Eddie laughs and shakes his head, turning away to say, “Dios, Buck. I’m not going to let our first kiss be outside an airport. That’s a little dramatic even for us. I’d much rather it be in my kitchen when I bring Christopher back to us.”

Buck steps closer and tilts his head down. “How about we make that our second kiss?”

Eddie bites the corner of his lip and glances around before saying, “Fuck it,” pulling Buck in right then and kissing him chastely before pulling back. “And don’t ask to do that again because I don’t want Athena to arrest us for public indecency.”

“And you say I’m the dramatic one,” Buck laughs, trying not to pull Eddie in for another kiss.

“Because you are,” Eddie says, backing away. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Yeah,” Buck replies, knowing that no matter how long Eddie is gone, soon will never be soon enough. But that’s okay. Because he knows he’ll always have his back. And that’s more than enough for him.

(Ao3 Link yay!!!)

[tlou-reid]

Suburban Legends ❆ Ellie Williams

☃︎SUMMARY: ellie is getting ready to leave for a dangerous patrol, but spends time calming her lover down

☃︎WARNINGS: mentions of typical tlou violence, fluff

☃︎NOTE: i’m currently sitting in the car omw to nyc so this may not be formatted correctly but i wanted to get it up in time <3 i will fix it later

☃︎swiftmas masterlist!

.｡❅⋆⍋∞｡∞⍋⋆❅｡.

We were born to be suburban legends. When you hold me, it holds me together, and you kiss me in a way that’s gonna screw me up forever.

You weren’t sure when or how Ellie had found the way up to the top of the roof of one of the many storage buildings in Jackson, but you were not complaining. You could see the Christmas lights that had been put up and the way they reflected off of the blanket of snow that had fallen during the day.

Ellie held you close, keeping your shivering body as tucked under her own jacket as she could. She had warned you it would be cold, and you had on a few layers, but you did not want to delay the adventure she had planned for you. She was leaving tomorrow, going with a team of some of the relevant patrol people to a recently discovered abandoned town. You weren’t sure if abandoned was the right word when there were people there, they just happened to have cordyceps growing in their brains.

You wished you could burn the image of your outstretched legs, tucked neatly in between Ellie’s own into your brain. You wished you could keep the sound of her breathing on repeat while she was gone. You wished this moment was never going to end.

But, it was going to. Ellie was going to have to leave, adventuring to a place that could easily have her killed in less than a couple of minutes. You knew she was doing it for the town, and that her main motivation was you. She had whispered to you how she was going to get you supplies for the children you watched at the daycare, how she was going to bring back new clothes for you to look pretty in, hot chocolate to keep your hands warm on your next adventure, all while she held you tightly, just as she now.

There were few times when Ellie could find the right words to say. She was easily overtaken by emotion, often saying things she didn’t mean, whether it be because she was angry and trying to hurt someone’s feelings, or if she was making a joke because a situation was uncomfortable for her. She stumbled over her words when she was trying to be sweet and spit them out with venom when she was trying to be mean.

But, you could feel everything she couldn’t say as she held you close. She picked up your darkest fears, your biggest worries, your happiest memories, and everything in between in her large hands, and bundled you up, protecting you from anything that could hurt you.

Even your own thoughts, just as she was now.

Ellie broke the comfortable silence that had settled between you with a deep sigh, pressing a warm kiss into the back of your head. “I hate that this is the world we were given,” She whispered into the night. She wasn’t sure if she was talking to you, or if she was just speaking into the open air. Either way, you were listening.

“What d’ya mean?” You asked, pressing yourself closer to her, trying to absorb some of your warmth. “We could’ve like, fucking,” there she was, struggling to vocalize her thoughts, “lived in a townhouse, or some shit like that. We could’ve had a cat, an orange one like you always wanted.” You smiled in her arms, recalling all of the times you’d mentioned the cat you wished you could’ve had.

“We could’ve lived in a suburb,” You giggled, trying to imagine Ellie working a 9 to 5, stressing about things that were happening in the office, rather than the infected that were walking around. “We really could’ve,” she laughed, really enjoying conjuring up this imaginary life with you. She let out another chuckle, “I’d have a hot work wife that you’d be crazy jealous of.”

“Hey!” You exclaimed, lightly slapping her arm. “I would not!” You two were a mess of laughter, each picturing the different lives you could’ve been given. As things settled down, she pressed another kiss to the back of your head, “you totally would, though.” You rolled your eyes, letting her win the argument.

Another comfortable silence fell over you two. This one was heavier. You both knew the other was full of wishfulness, desires that could never be fulfilled. It went on like this for a few moments.

“I’m sorry,” Ellie mumbled into the back of your head after a while. “For what?” You asked, grabbing her hand in an effort to warm your own. “That I couldn’t give you a better life."

“Ellie,” you gasped, actually hurt by her words. You turned your body to look at her, making sure she was listening to every word you were about to say. “You have done everything you can to make sure I’ve gotten the best out of the shitty hand we were dealt. I would not trade my time with you for any townhouse, any cat, or any suburb.”

Her eyes were practically hearts are you reassured her. You couldn’t tell if the pink on her cheeks from your monologue, or the piercing cold. She held eye contact with you for a while, taking in how pretty you were. Then, she was pulling towards her, meeting you halfway. The kiss was electric, warming your entire body. Your cold hands slipped under her hoodie, pulling her as close to you as you could. Ellie didn’t mind the chill of your hands, she was too entranced by you.

You two pulled away breathlessly, but neither one of you let go of the other. “Can I tell you a secret?” She asked, her grip on you tightening. Her heart was beating in her chest, and you see the way her breathing sped up by the clouds of smoke that continually spread over your face. You mumbled an “Of course”, reaching up to push a loose hair out of her face.

“You don’t have to worry about me getting infected tomorrow,” You laughed at her statement. Of course, you were going to worry, you always worried about her. “I mean it, you really don’t.” There was some kind of seriousness in her tone that quieted your laughs. You gave her the space to continue talking. “I’m immune,” she was hesitant to speak, “that’s why we ended up in Jackson in the first place. We needed Tommy to take us to this doctor guy, shit went down, and now I’m back. I was supposed to be the cure. I could’ve given you your townhouse.”

Tears were filling her eyes as she told you her story. You felt yourself start to well up. If there was one thing Ellie was good at, it was self-sabotaging. She could never let herself have anything good, and she could surely never believe someone would choose her over everything. But you’d commit to trying to get her to every day.

“Ellie, please don’t make me tell you again,” Your tone was soft, but it was clear you were joking. It made her smile. “I don’t want a stupid townhouse, or even a single family home for that matter. I just want you.” She moved her hand out of yours, holding it up for you to twist your pinky into. “Promise?” She asked, sheepishly. You locked your pinkies and leaned down to press a kiss to your intertwined hands.

You two resumed your first position, snuggled up tightly. However, the silence was once again broken when you spoke up, “You still have to be careful, y’know. You can get hurt even if you can’t get infected.” She laughed again at your worries and tried to ease them with one more kiss to the back of your head.

[lookingforlia]

Tsukishima x reader

Getting walked on in

Minors DNI

Semi smut , we don't get to the actual act.

Your checks burn in a bright shade of red while he sits you in his lap hands on your hips grinding you on himself . Your face twists in pleasure . A bit ago you guys were arguing about who's got more restraint , and here you are on your boyfriend's lap while his eyes pierce through yours the whole time making you strip of every piece of sanity you had left.

"stop looking at me like that. "

"like what baby ?" He chuckles from his chest .

"like I'm powerless over you. "

His lips curve up into a grin that only sends more heat to your core .

"But you know you're powerless over me. "

He moves one hand from your waist to run circles on your clothed clit . And almost involuntarily it pulls out a moan from your throat.

You can feel his eyes darkening on you. And you could never ignore the twitch if his hardening cock under you.

" Such a good girl for me. " He breathes out. You look back at his eyes finding them still searching for yours. Loosing your last bit of self retrain you pull your shirt off . And he looks at you , almost in predatory manner. But to your expectations he doesn't move. His hand .

"you need to tell me what you want princess . I'm not doing it if you don't say it. " He says quickening his pace on your clothed clit. You were sure he could feel your juices running down his pretty fingers at this point. And it made you moan again in frustration. You knew you wanted more . He knew that you knew . And suddenly you could slowly feel your self restraint slipping away from your mind .

The door opening suddenly breaks the tension between you two.

"tsukki , I was wondering you could tell me which headphone would be -"

Yamaguchbi freezes realizing what he walked into.

And your boyfriend's composure is suddenly gone now with his face flushed in all shades of red . Pretty sure he was debating if to jump off his window at an instant or kill his friend or both in order. Attempting to cover his face with one of his hands and shielding you with the other one , he looks up at him .

"get the fuck out Yamaguchi " he yells out in embarrassment. Yamaguchi didn't stand there for the yelling to come following him. He closed the door in absolute panic as fast as he could .

You could hear sounds of laughter outside from Tanaka and Nishinoya already laughing at the incident knowing very well the reason of Yamaguchi's sudden panic .

You and tsukishima knew they're gonna tease you about this for the rest of your lives.

((An: omw to touch some grass cause this was the first smut I wrote. Sorry if it's bad 😭😭))

[laniissocool]

starboy

pairing(s): jack champion x actress!fem!reader

warnings: none really ? she/her pronouns, fem reader, cursing, mentions of stabbing and scream VI spoilers i think ? also not proof-read and lowercase intended !

a/n: hi everyone !! so this is my first fic and i do plan on doing a second part. i really am more of a reader than i am a writer so please leave criticism in the replies !! also instead of y/n or reader i use just a blank (___) so let me know if i should change that and i dont know whether this is fluff or angst or like in the middle ? i’d say its a normal story but wtvr !! hope you enjoy !

you made your way onto set. you walked with your tote bag thrown over your shoulder, phone in hand as you walked pretty fast without looking up. knowing how clumsy you were, you were surprised you hadn’t bumped into anything yet. or maybe anyone. you got a text and opened as fast as someone could blink as soon as you saw the name. 

jackkk💫:

R U Coming to set yet?🎥

you:

omw !! ready 4 me 2 stab u ?🔪🔪🩸

jackkk💫:

As ready as I’ll ever be😵‍💫

you asked jack if he wanted you to show him how to turn on all lowercase, but he refused. he said typing like someone’s dad is cool.

you caught yourself smiling at your phone before turning it off and looking around as you walked. 

a few minutes later you made it to your trailer. you walked in and turned on the light, cracking your knuckles then tossing your bag on the small couch you had. you took your phone back out and texted jack.

you:

i’m here in my trailer, come get me ghostface👻👻

seen at 1:14

you thought it was sweet that there was a mutual thing between you and jack where it was completely needed and necessary to end all texts with an emoji, if either of you couldn’t find one you’d have to call or send an audio message.

about an hour later, everyone got their costumes on and ready to film. you were so thankful that the character you played, Elena, gave off the same vibes as you, so, you could dress her yourself. sometimes even with your own clothing. maybe it was your face ? you were very pretty, after all. a kind of rarer pretty, like a magical pretty ? but it definitely was not just your conventional attractive pretty. everyone got on set and you saw jack for the first time that day. you ran up to him and hugged him, your arms wrapped around his waist, in a friendly way. he hugged you back and you pulled away after a few seconds. 

“ y’know, i think you’re a pretty good-looking killer “ you said to him with a soft smirk. 

you guys always flirted with eachother, not even realizing. 

“ why thank you “ he said in a weird accent. 

before you started filming the prop guys had to fix some stuff so you guys got a quick break. you walked over to jack’s trailer, which he wasn’t in and sat down eating some gummies you found in your bag. after a few minutes jack comes inside without making noise since the door was cracked open already. he closes the door behind him silently and sits right next to you. he peeked over onto your phone as you played your favorite game. even though it wasn’t really fun to watch, he was insantly interested in anything you were. you didn’t even realize he was there because of how into it you were, besides, he didnt make a sound.  you noticed when he reached over to your bag of Haribos to get one. you jumped and almost dropped your phone.

“ shit, jack ! fuck ! you scared the life out of me “ you said with your hand that held your phone up to your heart. 

he burst out into a fit of laughter.

“ your- “ he couldn’t even speak without laughing. after about a minute or two of him laughing wiping his tears and you staring at him like he’s insane he finally says something. 

“ your face, ____ your face ! you looked at me like i’d just stabbed you ! “ he said, still with a smile from ear to ear on his face.

you looked at him with an unimpressed look on your face, scoffing at him as you bit back a smile. 

“ it wasn’t even that funny, idiot “ you said as you ran your tongue across your teeth trying not to smile. he saw right through you.

“ you wanna laugh so badly, don’t you ? ” he said as he looked down at you. you looked up at him, with a soft smile on your face. you laughed a little too as you had to give in. the room went silent and awkward as you’d looked at each others faces for a few seconds. unconciously, you both leaned in. you looked at his lips and your full lips parted a bit. your heart was pounding but you didn’t know that his was too. your lips touched and your hand travels up his chest to the back of his neck, sliding up to grab a handful of his curly hair. you pulled him closer and before you knew it you were turning your head into the kiss. both hands around his neck now as you tugged lightly on his brown locks. then you realized. you really realized. you were close to, but not quite making out with jack champion. he was your starboy. you’d never believed it, even if you told yourself from this morning that you kissed jack champion for a good, 30 seconds, you wouldn’t believe it.

you opened your eyes and they widened, looking back at him. his cheeks a flushed, rosy color. as were yours. you opened your mouth to say something but nothing came out.

you got up and he did as well after you, towering over you. he looked at you with eyes that were saying that he wanted you to say something. anything. you couldn’t. physically, nothing could come out. you had no idea what was going on, you never thought of jack in that way. or, well, in the way that you would kiss him for almost a minute straight kind of way. you walked out practically running to your trailer. 

all jack could do was watch, he was frozen and just as, if not even more shocked than you were. as you walked you remembered all the times you were around him. you’d get butterflies. he could be in the same room as you and you’d get butterflies but you’d labeled it as ‘nervousness’ for ‘no reason’. but it’d only ever happen around him. him. then you realized, the non-purpose flirting, the butterflies, the need to be around him. you were inlove with him ! god, how didn’t you notice before. that’s why everyone would look at you too with funny eyes whenever you’d flirt without knowing, thinking it was a friendship thing that only you two did around each other.

everyone probably definitely knew. they knew how you felt before you did. you opened the door to your trailer and locked it. you sat down as thoughts raced through your mind. how would you tell him ? how would you tell jenna and devyn and liana ? did he like it ? did he mean it how you meant it ? was it just a kiss for him ? .. is jack inlove with you too ?

[cher-rei]

love song ♬— chapter 5 [ J.M ]

pairing: jamal musiala x fem!oc

summary [please read]

genre(s): strangers to lovers, fluff, angst and sports romance [love song playlist]

[w.c: 3k] masterlist

notes: cutie piesss. that's what they are. omw and the next chapter is gonna he super domestic too shut uppp

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“wow, you're all decked out, spider-nerd,” aaliyah said and turned to look at noelle as she entered the living room, looking as if she was about to head to comicon.

with a proud smile, noellle showed off her spiderman zip up hoodie, a vintage blue and red spiderman t-shirt which she definitely thrifted and a pair of washed denim jeans. to a stranger it would seem that she'd been preparing for this moment her entire life.

which wasn't technically true. she didn't flinch at aaliyah's “spider-nerd��� nickname, not when she saw it as a compliment, an accomplishment.

when sophia walked in she didn't even bat an eye, simply patting noelle's shoulders before sitting down on the sofa. “this isn't even bad. when we still lived in london, there was a day that she skipped school because the cinema was doing a rerun of the amazing spiderman. all three movies.”

the look of shock on aaliyah's face was comical, a scoff of disbelief leaving her mouth while noelle simply shrugged. “noelle braun, you start shaking when you accidentally jump a red light.”

she didn't fight however, and held her chin up. “I have no regrets,” the last thing she said before sliding away on her socks, leaving her friends to laugh as they finished up getting ready.

when they got to the cinema, the boys were already there and occupied with their own conversation. but soon the attention was on them, calls of approval from florian and kai rang through the air at noelle's outfit.

“you're seriously committing to this,” florian commented, impressed with her dedication to a simple movie.

a smile of pride tugged at her lips as she gave everyone a twirl to show off her full outfit. “I gotta represent.”

as they made their way over to get their snacks the conversation continued, this time the highlight happened to be the red light that noelle jumped in fear of being late (they were 30 minutes early). she couldn't catch a break, just when aaliyah mentioned that she wasn't a fan of breaking street rules.

“hey,” she put her up her hands in defence. “one little red light never killed anyone. the road was empty.”

kai raised an eyebrow at her excuse. “one little red light? you're like a racing prodigy— of questionable life choices.”

the jab didn't phase her, neither did their banter. noelle had known kai just as long as she'd known sophia, their sibling like relationship always bringing a smile to his girlfriend's face. “at least I'm consistent. I'm just living life on the edge.”

“the edge being the line between green and red?”

the group erupted into laughter, their banter filling the cinema lobby but noelle just shrugged. eventually aaliyah intervened, ready to defend her friend. “hey, no teasing noelle. she's just embracing her inner speed demon.”

“more like inner speed bump,” florian deadpanned, earning a look from noelle and before anything could happen sophia pushed them further into the line so that they could finally order their snacks.

everyone got their combos as per normal but aaliyah made sure to clarify that noelle didn't want popcorn, which raised some confusion in jamal who had been silent for a bit, still upset that this was a group activity.

he raised an eyebrow. “how can you not like popcorn?”

the question made her pout. “just not my thing.”

from ahead of them florian scoffed, not too fond of the idea of not eating popcorn

while watching a movie. “that’s like watching spiderman without the webs.”

the younger girl rolled her eyes. “I'll survive.”

the vip movie theater was surprisingly empty, causing jamal to internally jump up in triumph. this was exactly what he wanted. the seats were separated, two recliners and a table with nearly a metre of space between the others.

nothing was said as they stepped in besides the silent look of significance that was shared between the three footballers, followed by nods.

they stalled finding their seats, waiting until noelle sat down, which took longer than expected because she was awkwardly hopping in between the open spaces and then looking at the screen before moving on to the next row.

“what are you doing?” jamal asked in genuine confusion, his brows furrowing.

“I'm finding the perfect spot. I need to sit somewhere where I won't have to strain my neck or my eyes… here!” she exclaimed, settling into her chosen seat.

with that, the rest of the group found their seats with jamal next to noelle just as planned. “spider-nerd needs optimal viewing conditions,” kai teased, earning a playful shove on the arm from his girlfriend.

she was strange. that was jamal's initial thought— funny in her own way. she did things a certain way, had certain preferences that differed from most but it made her attractive. and what he learnt throughout the movie was that she was a lot geekier than he originally thought.

she spoke throughout the movie— her hushed whispers commenting on certain scenes and details that he didn't catch. she even took the liberty of explaining the base of the spiderman lore to him.

Iit got to the point where he would ask questions just to have her explain it to him. she would turn in her seat to look at him, her attention occasionally directing back to the big screen while her friends whisper-yelled at her to be quiet.

“the spider-verse is collapsing,” she muttered, more to herself. “the spider-totems, the web of life… it's all connected.”

jamal leaned in, his face inches from noelle but she didn't seem to care in that moment. “what's happening?” (he knew exactly what was happening)

noelle's explanation poured out in a rush, her excitement filled eyes glued to the screen. “the spider-totems are destabilising the spider-verse. each spider-person has a unique frequency, and when they intersect, it creates a rift.”

there were so many things running through jamal's mind at that moment. so many things that he couldn't say out loud for so many different reasons. he was entranced to say the least, eyes unintentionally dropping to her lips as she spoke. of course, he had to swallow those words and keep the interaction as pg as possible.

he cleared his throat, sinking further into his seat. “you're like a spider-verse encyclopaedia.”

noelle smiled at the compliment, waving him off. it was quiet for a moment again until her hand flew to grab jamal's hand to gain his attention— her excitement blocking out her consciousness. “oh, look.”

he didn't look because what the hell was stopping him from intertwining there fingers??

“thats’s the web of life. it's the interconnected web of spider-people across dimensions. each strand represents a life, and when one breaks, the entire web unravels–”

she was interuppted by aaliyah shushing her from the row in front of them, but jamal silenced her with a gestare, the girl's lips parting in shock at the audacity. “let her finish,” he mouthed, and she turned back to the front.

from the row in front, florian nudged his girlfriend who was plotting jamal's murder. “jamal’s got that ‘I'm-listening-to-you-and-only-you’ face.”

aaliyah scoffed in amusement and took another look at the two behind them, having a ball of a time. “I give them five minutes before discussing the merits of spiderman's web shooters.”

from in front of them sophia snickered, taking the liberty to get up and join them on the floor to enter the conversation with kai flowing after her. “we should start a betting pool— how long before he asks noelle about the difference between dc and marvel.”

their hushed whispers and laughter continued as they discussed the situation, looking back at the two every so often but they were stuck in the same position— with jamal nodding along to whatever noelle was saying. it was all jokes from there but aaliyah felt off.

she knew noelle, and just a few days ago she wasn't too happy about what happened at the training session. “guys, can I ask you something?” she asked, her voice just above a whisper.

the three of them nodded, more than ready to conspire. “noelle's been off lately. she's been doing really well with him, but… something feels off.”

kai frowned. “what do you mean?”

“she's a naturally guarded person, we know this but she's realising that she's becoming more comfortable and friendly with jamal.”

florian pulled a face at her statement. he understood what she meant about being guarded, it took noelle a week after meeting florian to tell him her last name. an entire week for something that wasn't even important.

the group went on to discuss the possibility of her pulling away from jamal and doing a full 180. sophia looked back at the two of them again, her laugh stifled as she watched them go through some sort of handshake, noelle stopping jamal and asking him to try again between her laughter.

“man, she's got this look in her eyes when she talks. it's like her face lights up.”

“oh boy, here we go again,” kai sighed in irritation as they entered the camp, his head pounding with the sound of jamal’s voice talking about noelle.

the entire car ride back, it's all that he talked about. he kept on talking about “special” she was, but kai and florian couldn't back him up. they've known her for years, and have seen sides of noelle that haunted them— how groggy and mean she could be when she was tired and having caffeine withdrawal, and how easy it was for her to zone out during conversations.

that was just the surface of it. noelle was what they called a tough cookie. she had her moods, she needed reassurance and comfort because of how often she overthought certain situations. and jamal found her rambling and hard working nature attractive but he never experienced how it could break her.

she was like a volcano. with emotions that shifted like the wind. one moment, she'd be effervescent, her eyes sparkling with passion and the next she'd be disconnected and lost in thought.

despite her tough exterior, she was vulnerable and guarded. even if it didn't seem like that right now.

no.elle

liked by sophiaamealia and 213 332 others

no.elle i dig the whole "spider-nerd' thing 🕷

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liyah babe that lighting white washed you so bad 😭

→ no.elle no shut up, I tried to fix it!!

spamjam._. need the link to that hoodie yesterday

→ no.elle of courseee xx how's the euro tour going so far?

→ spamjam._. I can't say any of the words that I want to say here 😃

→ no.elle well that's just great! (manifesting that germany plays england so that we can meet up)

→ spamjam._. 🕯🕯🕯

it was about 20 minutes into the first half of the germany and denmark match in dortmund and barely anything had happened apart from the expansion of the darker clouds in the sky, and the droplets that noelle chose to ignore. the wind had started to pick up as well, but there was nothing more to do than to endure it.

eventually, the rain worsened and it started pouring. thunder clapped in the distance, the bright strike of lighting hitting only seconds before. sophia jumped up at the sound and reached for noelle's free hand, a giggle leaving her lips at the situation.

“petition to go home?” she asked jokingly and aaliyah lightly shoved her, glad to see that she was slowly regaining her colour.

another clap of thunder sounded, and the referee's whistle as well which earned mixed reactions from the crowd. apparently they were checking to see if an intermission was necessary due to the weather interference.

a decision wasn't even made yet but the storm had worsened, the players having no choice but to stay on the pitch, drenched. water was pouring from the gutters, the supporters taking the liberty to enjoy the atmosphere and make the most of it.

“up, up, up,” aaliyah hurriedly said, indicating that they were going to head to the family booth so that they could dry off. the game was going to be suspended until further notice, which was unfortunate because it was 10 minutes before half time.

the three girls looked up at the sky for another moment, their jaws dropping sight of the strikes of lighting striking through the clouds. noelle couldn't move, it was too captivating. her friends thought the same, their phones out to capture the moment as they stood on top of the stands, nearby the exit.

the pitch was empty, both teams had been sent to their dressing rooms but some had other priorities. noelle was the first to feel a tug at her hand, pulling her backwards into the shelter of the building only to realise that sophia and aaliyah were already gone.

“I'd prefer if you didn't get struck by lighting,” the familiar voice said and when she turned around, jamal was standing in front of her, drenched and out of breath.

noelle's heart skipped a beat as she met jamal’s concerned gaze. his eyes sparkled with amusement, despite the chaos around them.

“thanks for saving me from myself,” she said, out of breath and slightly taken back.

jamal's smile widened, his lips curling upward. “I'm starting to think that you need a permanent bodyguard.”

she playfully rolled her eyes at his comment, following him to the family booth where her friends were warming up. when they entered the booth, sophia and aaliyah were quick to rush to her side, concern etched on their faces.

jamal took a step to the side, watching as aaliyah took noelle by the shoulders. “since when do you let go of my hand in public places?” the apprehension in her tone was amusing, and made noelle stifle a laugh.

“sorry, mum” she replied jokingly with an eye roll. “the lighting was going off like crazy.”

aaliyah rolled her eyes, sophia taking the liberty to thank jamal, who waved her off. “no problem. besides, I couldn't let my favourite psych student get struck by lightning.”

noelle's cheeks flushed, her friends’ confused but curious eyes drifting to her, their smiles mocking her. “you're really milking that, aren't you?”

not long after, kai and florian entered the room with relived sighs to see that sophia and aaliyah were okay. there was still enough time until the game continued, so they spent it chatting and warming up.

most people were familiar post *insert situation* clarity. that gut-wrenching feeling and pit of realisation that settles in after coming down from a high, or just any good feeling. at that moment, while everyone was laughing and comfortable she felt herself drift.

it was an outer body experience.

noelle's gaze drifted away from the laughter-filled room, her mind disconnecting from the warmth and camaraderie. the sounds of her friends' voices faded into a distant hum, like a radio dial tuned to a distant station.

a jolting shock spiked through her body, up her spine and through every nerve, pulling her back down from the suffocating cloud she was on. with a deep breath her eyes blinked to regain awareness of her surroundings— jamal, kai and florian getting up to leave, seeing as they were needed back in the dressing room and aaliyah and sophia laughing.

“please be careful,” sophia's gentle voice sounded and she placed a kiss on kai's cheek. “everytime you slip on the pitch aaliyah and noelle laugh like it's their last day alive.”

her comment alone made aaliyah laugh again, hitting florian on the back as she did so. he tried to walk away, to break free from the torture but she managed to pull him back into a bone breaking hug. “stay dry on the bench, okay?”

although her tone was maternal, it was obvious that it was meant to be backhanded and jab him which it did of course. without another word, kai pulled his friends back into the corridor, his bidding goodbye drowning out florian's cries of protest.

they stayed in the booth for the remainder of the match because the rain outside was not in anyway appealing. the match was slow, yet somewhat electric as usual. germany emerged victorious once again, 2-0 thanks to jamal and kai.

the stadium was ecstatic, their country now into the quarter final with more hope than ever before. and even as noelle stepped onto the soaking pitch with a light drizzle in the air, the supporters didn't care and continued to celebrate underneath the stadium lights.

“ah! you did it!” sophia squealed and leapt into kai's arms with a beaming smile.

noelle pulled a face of disgust at the couple. “ew, can you not do that in front– ah! what the hell flo?!”

“I'm giving you some affection,” the footballer said and tightened his grip on her, a cunning smile on his face as she tried to fight him off.

noelle scoffed at the answer, knowing that he just wanted to wet her clothes since he was already soaked. she resorted to jabbing him in defence but he was stubborn, violently swaying their bodies to the side.

“liyah!” she called out in desperation. “he won't let go! flo I swear to god I will bite you.”

aaliyah didn't bat an eye at the situation and simply waved the two off and carried on with her conversation with a few of the other family members on the pitch. noelle could practically feel the water seeping in through her jersey, a desperate fight for comfort not reigning.

“I'm just sharing my love with you,” florian said with a smile, his mocking tone making noelle whine as she continued to struggle.

“I don't want your love,” she shot back, a slight laugh escaping her lips and before she could fight anymore, his grip loosened on her.

with sly grin and the sight of his friend walking up to them after talking to their coach, florian took hold of noelle's arm. “you're right, you don't want my love.” and with one harsh shove, “you want jamal's.” she landed on jamal's chest.

noelle stumbled, her eyes shut at the impact. florian’s mischievous grin lingered in the background, clearly please with himself as he skipped over to his girlfriend.

“hi, to you to?” jamal joked with a lighthearted chuckle, his hands draped around her shoulders to hold her in place.

she mentally cursed herself and tried not to focus on the proximity or the sound of her heart violently pounding in her ears. she let out an apologetic sigh, not having the courage to look up at him.

“sorry for the tackle.” she rolled her eyes. “your friend's a walking migraine.”

jamal's chuckle deepened, his cheeks a flush of dusty pink that he ignored very well. his demeanour was calm and to any other person it would look like he didn't think much of the situation. “he's just trying to spread the love… and chaos on occasion.”

noelle stifled a laugh, finally craning her neck slightly to look up at jamal. “I think he enjoys watching me suffer more than kai.”

there was silence for a beat until her eyes flickered with genuine fear and dread. “you're not going to shove me at anyone else, right?”

a hearty laugh vibrated through his chest and she could feel it so close to her own. this was undeniably the closest she's ever gotten to man. the feeling was strange but… nice? it was comforting, lighthearted, to be this close to him and still have a conversation.

jamal shook his head and pretended to think for a moment, leaving noelle to worry slightly and prepare to be tossed back to florian. “no, actually I think I'll keep you here.” he relaxed his grip around her shoulders. “you're really warm.”

noelle's heart skipped a beat. her lips parting in shock as her smile faltered for a moment, their gazes locked. “you're kidding. you can't even handle a little rain?”

a mock gasp left his mouth. “I can handle rain. I just prefer warm, dry women.”

her eyebrows shot up in shock, her body relaxing against his. “warm, dry women?” she repeated. “that's your type?”

“yeah. it's a niche market.”

as they stood together, the stadium's vibrant atmosphere faded into the background, leaving only the two of them, suspended in a bubble of intimacy. noelle's heart still skipped a beat from jamal's words, her lips parted in surprise. his gaze held hers, sparkling with mischief and warmth.

the chill of the rainy evening dissipated, replaced by the gentle heat radiating from his body. she felt her tension melt away, her shoulders relaxing into his grasp.

this proximity was unfamiliar, yet strangely comforting. noelle's experiences with men were limited to kai and florian's playful teasing, but jamal's gentle, lighthearted manner put her at ease.

as they stood there, the sounds of celebration and laughter swirled around them, but noelle's focus remained on him. his eyes crinkled at the corners, his smile softening.

the stadium lights cast a golden glow on his features, accentuating the sharp lines of his face. noelle's gaze drifted to his lips, her pulse quickening.

she felt herself drifting into uncharted territory, the connection between them growing stronger with each passing moment. her instincts whispered warnings, but her heart overrode them, savoring the warmth and closeness.

jamal's hands, still draped around her shoulders, seemed to anchor her to reality. his touch sent shivers down her spine, yet she felt grounded, protected.

the world around them blurred, leaving only the gentle pressure of his hands, the warmth of his body, and the captivating sparkle in his eyes.

noelle's thoughts whirled, struggling to keep pace with her emotions. she couldn't deny the connection between them, the sense of belonging that settled within her.

as the moments ticked by, noelle realized she didn't want to pull away. for the first time, she felt like she was exactly where she was meant to be.

the uncertainty was exhilarating, the thrill of the unknown coursing through her veins like adrenaline. noelle's heart soared, her senses heightened, as she let herself drift deeper.

[fairykazu]

selfish ft. kazuha

cws: best friends, unrequited, pining, kazuha was humming city of stars btw.

masterlist

the moon hung low in the sky, casting a silverly glow on the quiet town. kazuha was sitting atop of the old schoolhouse's roof, a deserted place that you and kazuha self-proclaimed to be the best friends' hangout spot. well, how was it the place?

it was where you two met, wandering through the city, finding hidden spots that weren't crowded with people. as he was walking into the abandoned building, he heard someone humming. as he was humming in sync and trying to find the source of the humming, he accidentally bumped into you, and you apologized even though he was the one bumping into you. eventually, the both of you grew closer and spent countless hours, talking about anything, everything and nothing; you and kazuha just crying, laughing and smiling about inside jokes or everyday topics.

his hair billowed in the wind, leaning against the brick wall, lost in thought. he couldn't help but think about how he gained feelings for you. it had started with the way you could light up a room with your laughter, or the way you would hum to yourself when you thought no one was listening.

sometimes, he'd find himself humming the same tune, as he was now. it was a song called, "city of stars", a movie called, la la land. a movie that you two watches on repeat together on a terrible quality screen projector but too cheap to buy a better quality one.

he chuckled quietly to himself, occupying memories of the two of you spending time together, the laughter from watching the movies echoing in the halls and the music from the speaker playing softly as he waltzed with you. maybe, just maybe, you return his feelings too and you wouldn't go for that guy -- what's his name?

scarab? scab? scaramouche?

the guy who's the object of your affection at the moment. kazuha winced at the thought of it. he noticed you were being more clingy than usual, is that a sign or is it something he made up? he texted you randomly,

kkaedehara: wanna hang at the school house?

he tossed his phone carelessly to the side, burying his face into his hands. what is he even doing. his thoughts began to spiral until a familiar ding popped up.

lovelee: ok! omw!!

he smiled at your text message. maybe he isn't wrong. you are coming after all.

is it really wrong to be selfish? if you do like this "scaramouche"-guy, he'd spend every night with you. so what he's being selfish wanting you to stay by his side. it's better than being without you.

[halucynator]

Save me.

Pairing: Gabe X fem!reader

Summary: You try to send Gabe back to the well house but it goes wrong.

A/n: so for this story I replaced edens role with Gabe's because it helps the story progress better. If you don't understand what I mean, I mean that I made Gabe have parents and Gabe not be a shapeshifted version of Dodge. Instead Gabe always looked like Gabe and did actually fall in love with reader until later. Sorry for this extended thing! Enjoy! Also if I make a second part, their may be an imaginary key (one I made up to help the story progress). I almost forgot to mention, reader is related to Kinsey. Adopted child of Brian and Duncan because why not.

Gabe looked at your chained body on the floor like a predator. His sight made you sick. He was the reason your uncle died. He persuaded Sam. You wanted to scream.

"You know, I don't want to do this. And I don't have to. IF you tell me where the keys are kept."

Keys, keys, keys. It's all about keys. Gabe probably never even loved you. He only used you, a blood Locke, to get to the keys. This was the only time you hated being a Locke.

"If's? You know, this is kidnapping. What you're doing is illegal."

"Oh yeah? Well, right now you are the one threatened so I'd better watch what you say. Now, where are the keys? Do you have any on you? Apart from this chain one obviously. You know, I'm shocked you thought you'd be able to capture me with this." Gabe smirked.

"You certainly talk a lot for a demon. Well, now that I think about it, I don't know how much demons talk. If they talk as much as you then I feel bad for every person kidnapped by a demon. And everyone in Hell. Are you from Hell? You probably are. Are you Satan? Oh my god, do you have any air conditioning? It's really hot in this room. Anyways, is being a demon fun? How does it feel? Do you li-" you went on and on about random things to annoy Gabe until you were interrupted.

"ENOUGH." Gabe shouted.

"Excuse me, if you want to talk, wait for me to finish. Now, where were we. Ah yes, so d-" you continued like you didn't just get threatened by a demon.

"SHUT UP Y/N. JUST SO YOU KNOW, IM THE ONE ASKING QUESTIONS HERE. YOU'RE HELD HOSTAGE." Gabe said angrily and loudly.

"Alright calm down." You were dying of laughter inside but managed to say it with a straight face.

"So do you have any keys on you?"

The correct answer was yes but ain't no way you were going to tell him that. You were in Gabe's basement and his parents were home.

"Gabe sweetie! Come for dinner!" His mum shouted for him. You started snickering like crazy.

Gabe was mad.

"I'M COMING MUM!" He said frustrated.

He walked towards you and leaned in. He then whispered in your ears.

"Don't go anywhere. Not that you can."

"I hope you trip and fall while walking up the stairs and die" you retorted.

He scoffed and then left the room and locked the door.

First things first, you took the keys you had out of your pocket and in your hand. Your movement was limited by the chains but not enough to restrict any movement at all.

You took the head key, the music box key and the prison of the self key out of your pocket and placed them in your hands. Then, you took your phone out and texted Tyler, Bode and Kinsey your location simply with the words "HELP IN GABE'S BASEMENT. STAIRCASE IN HIS ROOM."

After a few minutes you got a message back from Kinsey.

"omw" the message read.

Gabe came into the basement after a few minutes.

"oh! Good to see you haven't moved." He said with a smirk on his face.

"very funny." You rolled your eyes.

"I see you have some keys in your hand. Going to give them to me?"

"NEVER." You replied.

He took the chain and tightened them around you. Then he made them release and wrap around your hand with the keys. He made it really tight. So tight that you were forced to let go of the keys.

"NO" You screamed.

"Any more?" Gabe smirked. His smirk was unbearable.

You had one more key on you. The anywhere key. But you couldn't let him take it from you.

"no." You lied.

"Well, you see, I'm good at reading body language. You looked away from me when you said it. You always look away when you lie. So where is it."

Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh. No.

You weren't going to tell him. He couldn't know. It was a hard to reach place.

"I'm not lying!" You lied. Again.

"oh really?" Gabe walked towards you and then knelt directly in front of you. He leaned close. So close your lips were almost touching. Any movement could result in you kissing and you for sure did not want that.

"look at me and say it. Prove that you're not lying." He whispered.

"I- I uh... I don't-" Him being so close to you made it hard for you to speak.

"I don't have it!" You finally managed to say it.

"look, I know you have it. You tell me where it is, you won't lose anything." He threatened.

"threatening does not become you Gabe." You said to him disgusted.

He gently placed a hand on your cheek. You couldn't believe this touch once used to make you feel comfortable. Now any touch from him made you feel less safe than ever.

He slowly leaned in.

"Where. Is. It?" He asked "this is the last time y/n. No more chances after this."

You resisted. You didn't give in.

He slowly leaned in and placed a kiss on your lips. You squirmed. He continued to kiss you making you feel more sick every second. He stopped after a good 15 seconds.

"why are you doing this to me?!" You asked, disgusted.

"you're doing this to yourself." He replied.

He looked down at you in a way which made you uneasy. He smirked.

"I promise you this won't hurt a bit."

He pulled out a knife from his back pocket.

____________________________________________

a/n (again lol) : tell me in the comments if I should make a part 2! Thanks for reading!!! Also sorry if there's any spelling and or grammar mistakes!

[bathomet-writes]

stakeout

summary: Raph invites you to help him out on a surveillance mission, and you try to secretly turn it into a first date. Hijinks ensue.

relationship: Raph x GN!reader

warnings: romantic, fluff, humor, minor hurt/comfort, sfw

word count: 6,828

The crisp night air swept across your face. It felt fresh and invigorating as you made your way up the ladder to the roof of the building you’d been searching for.

Raph had texted you, rather last minute, if you’d be interested in helping him on patrol that night. You’ve had some experience helping out the brothers on some of their missions before. Nothing too life-threatening or complicated. But it had always been in a group, not one on one like this was.

This seemed to be one of his R.A.P.H. excursions (Red Angel of Preventing Harm, apparently). You heard about it from Leo, where Raph would go out on his own thwarting any criminals or ne’er-do-wells he came across on his path to justice. It was kind of admirable. You were just glad Raph was getting more comfortable going out without his brothers.

big red: I’m omw! Were you able to find the warehouse ok?

me: yeah..just chilling on a building. in a sketchy part of town. by myself. no need to hurry or anything.

big red: :(((( I’M HURRYING

me: ;)

Setting your phone down, you looked out into the distance and observed the lights of the city. Disregarding the slight danger of the situation, you felt at peace at such a high vantage point. The warehouse Raph had sent you to seemed to overlook an abandoned factory of some kind. There didn’t seem to be any activity in sight, human or mutant. You quickly gave up trying to scope out the place and busied yourself with reorganizing supplies.

You didn’t know exactly what to bring with you to a stakeout, but you ventured a guess that a dark outfit and a pair of binoculars was a good start. You reached out and pulled at the opening of your backpack of snacks and other various essentials you two might need. If you two were going to spend hours monitoring for criminal activity, at least you were going to be well-fed.

And maybe, if you were lucky, score some romance points.

You filled your bag with home-made sandwiches, drinks, and a large blanket. At the bottom was a personal gift for Raph. You’d spent months on sewing and crafting a custom stuffed animal for him, and were too much of a coward to give it to him beforehand.

You reached in and grabbed ahold of the teddy bear you’d lovingly made, just to triple-check that it was still there. To be honest, it was just a thrifted Teddy Bear Town bear you attached red accessories to, but it was the thought that counts.

Raph was usually around his brothers, and you just never found the right moment to give it to him in private. You loved the other three turtles, don’t get it twisted. But you could just picture how they would inevitably tease you to no end if they were to witness you giving Raph the bear. Public displays of affection, even if they were just giving someone you really liked a gift, were hard for you to navigate.

A stakeout was as good an occasion as any to get some quality alone time with Raphael.

Your calm moment was soon interrupted by a quiet thud that echoed behind you. Turning around, you saw the familiar red bandana-clad turtle stand up and reveal himself to you. Wearing…some kind of superhero costume, complete with a red cape and gray onesie that bore his name.

“Um—“ You bit the inside of your mouth to try and stifle your laughter, “What are you wearing?”

“Hm?” Raph looked down and did an experimental twirl, trying to show off his outfit. “Whaddaya mean, I always wear this on solo missions.”

He seemed so casual about his, respectfully, ridiculous look. You couldn’t help but giggle a bit.

“No, no it’s great. I’ve just never seen it before.”

He scoffed and crossed his arms defensively, “Whatever. And what about you? What are you, some kind of spy?”

You shrunk back a bit as he studied your all-black outfit. “I thought this was a stealth mission! So I…” You gestured dramatically at your figure, “went with a more subtle approach.”

Raph gave you the best dead-pan look he could before the two of you let out your collective laughter. He gave you a playful tussle of your hair, as he was prone to do with you.

“So what are we doing here, Hoss?” You slung the binoculars around your neck as you glanced out at the surrounding buildings.

“Well,” He turned his head toward the abandoned factory you noticed earlier, “there’s been some suspected Foot Clan activity in the area. This might be a safehouse or something, not sure.”

That took you slightly aback. The Foot Clan hasn't been much of an issue for a while now, Cassandra made sure of that when she left the organization and (aggressively) convinced most of the other sane recruits to split. And after the whole Krang situation, all that was left of the Foot had seemed to be laying low.

“Think they’re trying to start up another evil shoe store or something?” You joked.

“Hm.” Raph’s noncommittal reply signaled that your attempt at levity was unsuccessful.

Raph looked rather serious, eyebrows creased in deep concentration as he surveyed at the edge of the roof. Getting down on your knees beside him and looking through the binoculars, you tried to mirror his stern expression.

You couldn’t help but spare a passing glance at him, taking in his strange appearance and attitude. Raph was usually the more outwardly mature of the turtles. He took his role of protector very seriously, so much so that you often poked fun at him for it. You knew you could be a bit of a pain at times, but it came from a place of genuine respect. You admired his dedication, even if it was while wearing a bright wrestling outfit. His earnestness was downright charming. You wanted to tell him as much. Most attempts at sharing your genuine feelings usually came out as snide remarks, so you breathed in and calmed your nerves. The air seemed tense all of a sudden.

“If I’m being honest, I’m a little surprised you asked me to help.” You fiddled with the straps draped around your neck. “Honored, but surprised.”

It took him a beat to process what you said. Raph must have been in deeper thought than you realized, but he turned to you and gave a smile that revealed his signature fang.

“Of course. You’re great at this kind of stuff, observing and…” He trailed off a bit.

“Reporting?” You finished his thought.

“Yeah, that!”

“Isn’t that a movie, the one that completely ripped off Paul Blart: Mall Cop?”

He smirked and knocked your shoulder lightly. “You sound a lot like Leo sometimes, y’know?”

You shuddered in mock-disgust. “Oh-ho-ho, no. Anything but that.”

—

After a while, the two of you settled into a comfortable silence, watching for any activity at the factory below. One hour, nothing. Hour and a half later, a couple of joggers passed through. The next hour, you noted a couple dog barks in the distance, but not much else. You had a suspicion that this would be a long and uneventful night, so you took the opportunity to finally set up your makeshift picnic. Nothing like turkey and cheese sandwiches and sparkling cider to nourish the soul.

Slowly, you sat up and stretched out your tense muscles. “Are these missions always so action-packed? I’m so thrilled my legs fell asleep.”

“Yeah, this is kinda boring.” Raph let out a sigh as he relented, almost like he was disappointed. You felt a little bad about your comment, you hadn’t meant to take the wind out of his sails.

“Hey, no worries. No criminals means nothing to do. And I don’t mind doing nothing with you.” You offered him a placating smile.

Raph raised a questioning eyebrow at you, almost caught off guard by your sentiment. “Really?”

“I mean, yeah. There’s no one else I would want to spend countless hours staring at an empty building with than you.”

Raph closed his eyes and smiled warmly. “That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard you say.”

Before you could give a reply, you caught sight of movement just beyond your field of vision. You immediately turned to your left, craning your neck over the edge of the roof. You could swear you saw a door open down at the ground.

“No way.”

“What? What is it?” Raph swiveled in your direction and leaned next to you.

Sure enough, you could see the two Foot Clan leaders moving around inside the building. Their telltale flame heads blatantly gave away their presence. You quickly brought the binoculars up and adjusted the sight.

“It’s those foot-face guys!” You exclaimed.

Raph let out a gasp, then grabbed the binoculars from your grasp to bring them up to his own face. The action forced your bodies uncomfortably close. You prayed he didn’t notice your heartbeat quicken.

“You’re right! Okay, stay here. Raph’s gonna go down there and investigate.” He let the binoculars go slack as he positioned himself at the edge of the roof, ready to jump.

“I’m going too.” You stated matter-of-factly. Sure, your plans of having a nice, quiet picnic with Raph were basically squashed. But, you weren’t just going to let him go off on his own.

He looked back at you with sympathy. “Look, I know these guys don’t seem like much, but trust me. I don’t want you getting hurt.”

Of course. You internally rolled your eyes.

Despite your desire to witness Raph beat up some bad guys up close, you knew he was probably right. “Fine. At least let me help from up here.”

You reached into your pocket and pulled out your earpiece communicator Donnie lent to you. Picking up on your suggestion, Raph did the same with his own and secured it in his ear.

“Right. Lemme know if you see anything. I’m gonna try and find a way in.” Raph gave you a swift salute as he dropped to the ground below. You returned the gesture and watched him as he fell.

Switching on the comms, you searched the exterior of the factory for any points of entry. A side door, window, anything. A pretty shabby looking parking lot neighbored the structure, with an even shabbier chain link fence surrounding it.

You squint your eyes to see Raph approach the fence. He easily cleared it in a flying leap, then landed silently within the parking lot.

“I would say try the front doors, but they might be—“

“Locked.” Raph gave the handles a small tug, then took a step back. “See any other doors?”

“Maybeeee…“ You elongated the last syllable as your eyes flitted across the building. “Wait! There’s an open window up there. On your right, above that shed.”

Raph turned, and saw the window and the dilapidated shed that sat beneath it. “Bingo.”

You smiled a bit to yourself. This night might just prove to be successful after all. Maybe Raph would delegate you as his official side-kick?

You were shaken from your daydreaming as you heard a distant, unfamiliar sound. Growling? Was that growling?

“H-Hey there! Good doggies.” Raph held up his hands as he cautiously approached the shed. Of course, the shed just had to be a dog house. And the dogs just had to be viscous-looking guard dogs, ready to attack a large mutant turtle.

“Raph— wait, back up. Do not approach.” You knew Raph didn’t exactly have the best experience with animal handling.

“It’s ok! I know what to do. You just gotta be calm with ‘em. Completely chill. Look at how chill I’m being, right little guys?” The two dogs looked to be Dobermans, and they only responded to Raph’s friendly coos with increased growling.

Deciding that preventing him from getting mauled by dogs was an acceptable excuse to override Raph’s orders, you quickly grabbed your bag and scrambled down the fire escape. You booked it, skipping over the last couple of steps and landing on the pavement to run toward the fence.

You saw Raph continue to inch closer and closer to the shed, slowly encroaching upon the dogs’ living area. Running at full speed, you slammed your body into the fence and did your best to climb up and over. Raph heard your struggled sounds and balked at the sight before him.

“What are you doing?” Raph did his best to quietly call out to you.

“Saving you from yourself!” Your voice comes out in a hushed scream.

Finally, you unceremoniously fall to the ground. The dogs turn their attention to you, their growls now escalating to sharp barks.

Goddamnit.

Raph cringed and brought his hand up to shush the dogs. “Quiet down, little guys!” He turns and gives you an accusatory glare. “I thought I told you to—“

“Raph!” You called out his name, but he let his guard down just enough not to notice the two dogs pounce. All of the sudden, Raph was on the ground, trying desperately to separate himself from the jaws that had bit down on his arm and leg.

“GAH—!” You watched in horror as Raph managed to get back onto his feet and run in wide circles around the parking lot, shaking limbs and crying out in pain.

You swear, this man was going to be the death of you.

You shook yourself from your frozen state of panic. Think, damn it! You had to distract the dogs somehow. And the idea hit you.

The sandwiches.

You hurriedly slammed your backpack onto the ground and dug through to find the ziplock baggies you put them in. Fuck, and you were just now starting to feel hungry too.

“Hey doggies!” You bellowed. Despite your wavering voice, the dogs looked to you and the two sandwiches you held high above your head. They quickly detached themselves from a pitiful looking Raph, his outfit all but torn to shreds and his skin littered with scratch marks.

You threw the food as hard as you could to the far end of the parking lot, away from the shed and away from Raph. Thankfully, they seemed to enjoy turkey and cheese more than turtle and bounded away to devour the sandwiches.

You leaned down and lurched Raph up and over your shoulder to hobble him over to the shed. “Hey, you alright?”

“Never better.” He didn’t seem too injured, just mostly shaken up. Raph gave you a weak smile and a thumbs up.

“Good thinking with the sandwiches. Where’d those come from, anyway?”

Your face flushed a bit, but you tried to tamp it down. Getting inside the building and away from the dogs was more of a priority. “Never mind, let’s just get inside already!”

Thankfully, Raph accepted your quick reply. He climbed up to the top of the shed, and easily lifted you up behind him. Opening the window as quietly as you could (though after that whole ordeal outside, who gave a shit about staying quiet anymore), you awkwardly crawled inside with Raph following after you.

“Do you think they heard—'' Raph's hand then comes up to cover your mouth, making you muffle the last of your sentence. He looks to the left, then right. There doesn’t seem to be any imminent danger, so he lowers himself until he’s eye level with you.

“If you’re gonna come along, you need to do exactly what I say.” He warns in a hushed tone.

Your instinct to protest is quieted by the look in his eyes. It’s stern, but pleading. He wouldn’t say that if he didn’t mean it. You internally chide yourself for making him worry, but you could handle yourself. You want to prove it to him. So, you look at him and give a silent nod.

“Okay,” he lowers his hand from your face. “Follow me.”

You tighten your grip on the straps of your backpack, and follow close behind as Raph tiptoes across the catwalk you two seem to have landed on when you entered. The old metal creaks and groans at the added weight, and Raph stops for a moment. He looks back at you as sweat drops begin to form around his face.

You look around at the interior, hoping to find any sign of the Foot guys. All seems quiet, and you assume that means they didn’t hear you. You decide to continue forward, until you bump your face into Raph’s spiky shell. He’s stopped, and you follow his gaze to a set of doors at the workfloor just below you.

Before you could question him, you can see Raph all of a sudden tense up. In a flash, you and him are pinned to the wall, with his arm protectively caging you. Sometimes you forget these guys have ninja senses.

Once again, your heart rate increases and you feel a heat color your cheeks. You were beginning to think Raph was doing this just to make you flustered.

“Okay, that’s the rest of it,” You hear the distinctive rasp of Foot Lieutenant reverberate throughout the large room. Some shuffling and sounds of a door opening also signal that his partner isn’t far.

“We should stop for food on the way back. I’m too lazy to cook.” It’s the deeper voice of Foot Brute. You glance up to Raph, and you give each other questioning shrugs.

The cover of shadow shields you both from their view, but you also can’t exactly see what they’re up to.

“Ooh, let’s try that Thai place on 53rd.” The skinny one suggests.

“Ugh, no. We had Thai last week.” The large one replies.

“See, you always do this. We can never just pick a restaurant.”

Aww, that’s nice. Your mouth curls up into a small smile. It was sort of heartwarming to see the two villains bickering with one another in such a domestic fashion. Almost made you forget the countless crimes they’ve committed. While the two of them argue back and forth down below, Raph releases you from his hold and lets out a shallow breath.

“What are those chuckleheads up to?” Raph whispers to himself.

“I dunno. Maybe that’s where they stash their loot.” You nod towards the set of doors.

“We need to get them outta here. But by the look of it, I don’t think they'll leave anytime soon.” You and Raph can still overhear them debating on where to get dinner.

You quietly reach back to your bag as another idea to use it crosses your mind. Maybe you could distract them with something in it long enough for Raph to get down there and scope out the room. You rummage around in your backpack and wrap your fingers around the bottleneck of sparkling cider. It’d be risky, but it’s the only thing you had left that could cause a sound.

“I got this.” You calmly assure Raph, and in a moment you reel back and chuck the cider. The two of you watch as it flies through the air, then cringe as it lands. A chorus of broken glass rings out as the bottle collides with the concrete below. The sound was a bit louder than you were anticipating, your eyes twisting shut in shame. You peek over to a flabbergasted Raph, mouth agape.

“What was that?” The Foot Lieutenant called out.

“Go check it out.” The Foot Brute replied.

“You’re the boss,” he spat out sarcastically.

“Fine, I’ll go look.”

“No, I want to go look. I never said I didn’t want to go look!”

“Jesus Christ, dude.”

After the heated exchange, the two Foot soldiers made their way to the source of the sound, leaving the doors open and unguarded.

Before you could move to go investigate, Raph grabs your shoulders and shakes you like a madman.

“What did I say about doing exactly what I say? Oh yeah, it was doing exactly what I say! Not exactly what I don’t want you to…do what I didn’t say.” His anger fizzled out as he floundered about his thoughts.

“I’m sorry, okay? I have a lot of adrenaline right now!” You huffed indignantly, and lightly pushed Raph forward. “It worked, didn’t it? Now go.”

He shot you an exasperated look, but leapt down with a gentle thud. Raph could chew you out later. You nervously glanced back and forth from the doors to the other end of the building, hoping the two Foot guys were taking their sweet time.

You cupped your mouth and quietly called out, “What’s in there?” You imagined stacks of stolen cash, or ancient mystic artifacts of some kind. Whatever it was, it stopped Raph cold in his tracks.

“Huh,” Raph stood there, beside himself as he stared into the tiny room. You couldn’t stand the anticipation as you bent your upper body over the railing.

Just as you craned yourself over, the Foot Lieutenant and Brute sauntered back over from their investigation. They’d be sure to see Raph, still standing dumbfounded at the doors. Crap!

“Raph…!” Your voice cracked from nerves.

Your mind raced as you thought of a way to stop the inevitable. They were getting closer. Why couldn’t this have been a simple, secret date night like you’d planned? Your heartbeat throbbed in your ears, and then your right hand fell back onto your backpack.

Oh well, might as well go all the way.

“I’m tellin’ ya, there’s nobody here.” They were standing right by the doors now. You square your shoulders and wait until just the right moment. That’s it, just a little more to the left…

The skinny one scoffed and was preparing to shut the doors, when his head turned and he finally caught sight of you.

“HEY—!”

You hoped any divine being that was looking down on you right now was keeping you safe, as you held your picnic blanket before you. Arms outstretched, you kicked yourself off of the railing and leapt at the villains.

To your surprise, you successfully managed to wrap their hands in your blanket as you landed. You hooked your arms around their necks, trying to rein in their thrashing long enough to give Raph an opening to attack.

The commotion made Raph whip his body around, once again shocked by your sheer audacity. It seemed your mission for tonight was to put yourself in harm’s way as much as possible. His face was etched with shock, and he called out your name and lurched forward throwing the doors open.

“HOW DID YOU DO THAT?” He shouted in astonishment.

“I HAVE NO IDEA! I HAVE LIKE NO UPPER-BODY STRENGTH!” Just as you admitted your weakness, your arms gave out and were overpowered by the two men. You were assuming your blanket was just bewildering enough to throw the Foot guys off their rhythm to let you hold them as long as you did. They swiftly threw you off, and you landed square on your ass. You skidded to a halt before Raph, who immediately knelt down to inspect you. Fuck, that smarts.

Foot Brute ripped your blanket off the two of them, and they were quick to glower at Raph and you.

“What is this?” The skinny Foot member hissed.

Once Raph was sure you were mostly unharmed, he rose up and shot an accusatory finger, “We could ask you the same thing!”

You shook yourself from your stupor, and Raph’s bombastic voice bolstered you enough to engage with the Foot guy as well.

“Yeah, what are you guys keeping in this safe house? Weapons? Diamonds?” You spat out, trying your best to interrogate them. You turned your head to the room behind you all, when you felt all the color drain from your face.

What you came face to face with was a dingy-looking room, filled wall to wall with an assortment of furniture and clothes. Boxes filled out the space, labeled with permanent maker titles such as ‘Kitchen Stuff,’ ‘Bedroom,’ and ‘Waffle Irons.’

A storage unit…this was a storage unit.

Foot Lieutenant growled in annoyance. “No, you fools! We’re in between apartments right now and we needed a place to store our stuff!”

You and Raph blinked owlishly at them.

You were honestly without words, but you managed to reply. “Um…why?”

“I’m sorry, have you tried to rent a storage unit in New York City lately? It’s outrageous!” The Foot guys stared at the two of you like you were the weird ones in this situation.

Raph collected himself, and raised a sai to point at them. “Be that as it may, we cannot allow you to illegally store your belongings here. I’m sure there’s a city code you’re in violation of.” His voice held a commanding timbre.

“What are you gonna do, throw a couple sheets and throw pillows at us like your stupid little friend here?” The large one joked, and the two started pointing and laughing at you as you sat on the floor. You could feel your body heat up with anger.

If you had looked up at Raph instead of shaking an offended fist at them, you would have seen his eyes darken with a newfound anger.

Raph’s chest filled with a righteous fury, and he launched himself foreword to Foot Brute. You watched as he moved past your head with impossible speed, your hair blowing into your face as he charged by.

“Didn’t quite catch that, pal.” Raph grabbed a hold of the larger man with one hand, with a sai trained to his forehead in the other. It glowed with that familiar red hue of mystic energy.

Foot Brute slammed his head into Raph’s, challenging him, “I said stupid, and little, but I left out the ugly part. My mistake.” His voice was laced with bile.

Before you could process their exchange, fists and sais were flying. Meaty punches and yells erupted from the two burly foes. Your stomach dropped at the blatant display of violence, but your mind buzzed with the sudden realization that it was all to defend your honor.

If you weren’t so pissed off, slightly bruised and terrified, you’d be a little turned on.

Your love-struck haze was interrupted by a figure quickly making its way to you. The Foot Lieutenant had decided that you would be his target, and he looked like he meant business.

You couldn’t let the squeak of surprise escape your lips, and in a moment of pure panic you swung the only object you had left— your backpack— to shield your trembling body.

He reached into his pocket and let loose a ninja star that whizzed through the air. You could only feel the weapon connect with your bag, as your eyes had screwed shut on instinct. The star had become stuck in the fabric and padded material, leaving your body still intact. You let out the biggest sigh of your life, your body slumping a little.

The skinny man lowered his eyes and hands in defeat. “Ugh…whatever. I don’t have enough energy to care about killing you.”

Raph took a moment to pause his fight with the Foot Brute to look over at you, his attention piqued when he overheard the shorter one’s admission.

“This was supposed to be a nice, relaxing night. No meddling turtles, annoying accomplice, a nice Thai dinner.” His bloodlust was now completely gone as he wistfully mourned his ruined plans. It seemed that even you and the Foot guys could relate to each other in some way. This was truly a strange turn of events.

You stiffly stood back up, still clutching your backpack to your chest. “I know what you mean, buddy. Why don’t we…call a truce? Just this once.”

You shifted the bag back onto your shoulder as you offered out a hand to solidify the agreement. If you had any of your wits left to seriously think about this, you would most certainly not be standing before one of the turtles’ sworn enemies trying to broker an armistice. But you decided to just forgo logic at this point.

All three of the men took pause to mull around your statement. That at least proved that choosing peace wasn’t totally out of the question tonight.

“…Fine,” Foot Lieutenant took your hand rather weakly, narrowing his eyes at you, “but this never happened.”

“My lips are sealed.” You gave a quick, firm handshake. And who said conflicts couldn’t be solved just by acting like civilized gentlemen?

You rode the high of your unlikely accomplishment and strode toward Raph, who had now let go of the other Foot member. Grabbing the top of his plastron, you led him back out the front doors of the building. “C’mon Raph.”

Then, you and Raph walked away, leaving the two men to similarly disappear within a pink-ish portal behind you.

Raph had been rather quiet for a while, and it became noticeable as you two finally exited and stood in the parking lot. You looked about to make sure the guard dogs weren’t nearby. They didn’t seem to be around, so you looked up to Raph.

You awkwardly broke the silence, “…So.”

Raph’s face seemed to be stuck on some kind of emotion that was between ‘you could have died back there and I’m very angry with you’ and ‘I can’t believe you just did that and I’m unbelievably impressed.’ It was a bit concerning.

“Listen,” you meekly rubbed the back of your neck, “I know I kind of deliberately disobeyed you back there and put myself in danger. A lot. I’m not going to say I had everything under control, because I didn’t.”

Raph remained quiet, taking in your words. You continued, “I just get so, I don’t know, stupid? Like, normally I’m not such an idiot, but when I’m around you I’m reckless, and cocky. Even more so than I usually am. I just get this feeling that I need to prove myself to you, because…”

You paused a bit to consider whether or not you were over sharing. You run your sweaty palms over the front of your pants as you try to articulate yourself.

“Because you’re so cool! I admire you so much, you have no idea. I never thought I could stand next to you and be…enough. We’re so different.” You let yourself ramble on, “I don’t even know what I’m saying anymore, but I am sorry. For a lot.”

You felt so small. Once your word vomit started, it was almost never ending. You absentmindedly grabbed onto the straps of your backpack, when you failed to realize until just now…that there was something still inside it.

Your worst fears creeped into your mind as you brought your back in front of you. You reached inside, and to your abject horror, pulled out Raph’s teddy bear. Its chest was sporting the ninja star, stuffing beginning to spill out of the wound. Your precious token of your affection had been the one to take the bullet for you back there.

Your emotions were running so high all of the sudden, you felt your eyes begin to sting with tears. “Of course, I had to go and mess this up too!”

In an instant, you threw your backpack to the ground in anger and were prepared to toss the bear into the far reaches of the parking lot. Raph finally stirred and reached out to put a gentle hand on your own, fingers gingerly brushing over yours.

“W-Wait! Slow down.” Raph coaxed your hand down, bringing another of his own to cradle you. His touch brought you back to him, immediately soothing you.

“Hey,” he urged you to look him in the eye, “it’s ok! Really.”

You felt a sharp pang of shame, and you couldn’t help letting a stray tear run down your cheek. You hated whenever you got truly angry, because you always seemed to end up crying. You felt weak and clumsy, and didn’t know how to bring your gaze up to Raph’s.

His eyes softened as he looked at you. All the anger Raph had for your reckless behavior from before melted away. You looked so dejected, so sad. And the knowledge that you felt this way because you thought you’d let him down, suddenly made Raph very troubled. Did he make you feel like you weren’t enough?

He thought back to his struggles dealing with his brothers as their leader. Being the eldest and team leader led Raph to adopting the role of the responsible, sometimes strict older brother. There were more than a couple occasions when Raph had to confront the fact that he, even unintentionally so, put a lot of pressure on them. Made them feel like they were less than capable without his guidance. He put so many expectations on himself, and the ones he loved. Those old mental scars ached a bit as he looked at you, and he wanted so badly not to hurt you like you looked like you'd been hurt. You weren’t the weak one. You weren’t the stupid one. He was.

Raph’s emotions quickly spiraled as well and he moved his hands up to your face, cupping your cheeks and tilting you up to meet his gaze.

“Don’t ever think that…that I’m disappointed with you. That you have to obey me. I know I can be a little overprotective.”

You blinked and a few more tears fell as you listened to Raph.

“But it’s only because I care about you. I care about you a lot.” His eyes were starting to become glossy. Both of you stood in a heavy silence in the abandoned parking lot, the weight of both of your intense emotions for each other was almost overwhelming.

You cleared your throat, hoping your voice wouldn’t betray your attempt to calm yourself, “I guess we’re both sorry. And we’re both kind of a mess.” You chuckle shallowly.

“Yeah, little bit,” Raph gives you a small grin as he attempts to wipe away your tears.

You focus for a moment on the feather-light touch of his fingers on your face. You’ve never felt Raph touch your face before. Sure, you’ve shared a friendly hug or two, and held his hand a couple of times. The foreign tactile sensation of his hands on you this way has you reeling. You feel so safe and cared for, like he would do anything to protect you. You detect a deeper feeling of something you can’t quite describe forming within you, in the back of your mind. The two of you lock eyes, and somehow you communicate to each other without words that it’s okay. You’re both okay.

Eventually, his eyes drop to the desecrated stuffed animal you both had been holding onto for a while. You were so caught up in the moment you almost forgot it was there. You see his eyes light up, his mind registering the fact that it was a teddy bear dressed up to look exactly like him, red bandana and all.

“Where did you get this?” His voice is small and reverent, his hands lowering to take the bear into his grasp.

You sniffle a bit and lay your hands on his, basking in the warm feeling that touching him seems to give you, “I uh…kind of made it. I just sort of customized a Teddy Bear Town guy I found.”

Raph looked between you and the bear, his eyes widening in genuine wonder. Then, his large smile that had been steadily growing wavered a bit.

“So you just had this? In your bag?” He looked to you, trying to piece together his mental puzzle.

You give a quick nod, “Yeah.”

His eyebrow ridge raised in question. “Along with a huge blanket?”

“Yup.”

“And a bottle of champagne?”

“Sparkling cider, but yes.”

“And two sandwiches.” Raph seemed to have finally put the pieces together.

“Okay, you caught me. I was trying to throw us a picnic or whatever,” you huffed out, feeling embarrassed at Raph for making you fess up about your cheesy attempt at romance.

“And I was going to give you the bear. We aren’t usually alone together like this, so I just thought,” You let yourself trail off and threw your hands into the air, unable to verbalize the obvious fact that you liked him more than platonically. “There, are you happy now?”

Once again that night, Raph was dumbfounded by you. Not for you being foolhardy and charging into danger like you were before, but for how utterly sweet and thoughtful you were being.

“You ended up using them all…to help save us back there.” It took saying the words out loud for their meaning to finally dawn on Raph. He looked at you with the most saccharine grin, tears now flowing freely down his cheeks.

You could feel your face become tinged with blush as you sputtered, “Y-Yeah, and what of it? Just goes to show I shouldn’t do cutesy stuff like that for you ever again.” You turned away from him and folded your arms over your chest, playfully pouting. You just couldn't bear to keep looking at his dumb, adorable face anymore.

You let out a choked scream as Raph all at once lifted you up into a bone-crushing hug from behind. He let his head come down to unabashedly nuzzle against your own as he held you in place. You knew once you were trapped in one of Raph’s hugs, there was virtually no escape. You wiggled a bit in protest, knocking your limbs weakly against his body. Your cheeks felt absolutely bright red now, so you were glad that Raph couldn’t really see them from this angle.

“You are the sweetest,” Raph gushed.

“No I’m not,” you tried to stay mad at his aggressive form of affection, but your obvious smile came through in your voice.

“Are too,” he teased back.

Raph carefully placed you back on the ground, and you wobbled a bit from your now apparently weak legs. You turned back to him, a goofy grin plastered on both of your faces.

Trying to sober your now love-riddled mind, you decided tonight’s mission was a wrap. You leaned over to grab your backpack and held it open before Raph.

“Let’s head back already. I haven’t eaten in hours and I don’t want to hang around long enough to see if those dogs come back.”

Raph nodded at your suggestion. Before he forgot, he gently plucked the ninja star from his new favorite possession and delicately placed them both in your bag. You smiled warmly at his tender treatment of your gift.

As you both made your way out of the parking lot and through the chain link fence, you couldn’t help the lingering regret that remained in your gut. You looked earnestly up at Raph, not wanting to leave anything important left unsaid.

“I really am sorry, by the way. I know I can act kind of—“ You felt his finger land on your lips, shushing you. Raph tutted you, eyes closed and head shaking back and forth.

You side-eyed him, eyebrows raised at his boldness. He looked at you and chuckled a bit in embarrassment.

“I— uh, sorry,” Raph removed his finger. If you looked closely enough, you could swear you could see him blushing.

“It’s fine though, for real. I know you were just trying to help. I’m glad you came with me tonight.” His eyes flitted over to you as you walked side by side, a smile gracing his features.

You let your shoulders relax a bit with his confession. You once again had trouble looking Raph in the eye.

“Really?” You walked with a bit more confidence.

“Who else could have saved me from wild dogs with a couple of sandwiches, and then successfully talk their way out of a fight with the Foot Clan in one night?” Raph seemed to move a little bit closer to you.

You took note of his new proximity, and closed the gap with a bump of your arms. “When you put it like that, I guess I did kind of nail that mission…”

You smirked up at him, pausing for dramatic effect.

“…like a boss?”

Raph gave you a big belly laugh, as you walked ahead and turned around to face him. God, you couldn’t get enough of his laugh.

Despite the night going into completely unknown territory, you couldn’t have asked for a better turn of events. You and Raph continued to chat and joke as he escorted you back to your apartment, your visible breaths intermingling in the cold air. You would have to try and ask Raph out properly another time, when it wasn’t the dead of night. The thought was enough to warm you from your head to your toes.

author's note: thank u for reading!! i'll continue to cross post the rest of the series this is a part of on here but here's the first entry 🥳🥳

[maestro04yayyy]

Antivillain au

((Post chloleka confession and reveal) Hypothetical situation that i wrote cause im bored.)

Tigress hurried along rooftops away from her girlfriend and toward the emergency meeting called by Rena Rouge (still dont know how to spell it). Usually they were called because a permanent hero would be absent for a few days to reduce worry and allow them to plan ahead. She knew this one was different because not only was she the last one there, everyone was sitting in a pre-planned semi circle. Even her brother was somehow there before her and she knew he was twice the distance to the rendezvous point. She sent a quick text to her brother that was just question marks and then one to her girlfriend saying she was there. They told her to sit opposite of the group as they all faced her, some with worry others confusion. Her brother had his unmistakable shit eating grin as he silently replied to her msg with 'they know'. Tigress tried to hide her her panic and reply with 'know what?'. Before Viperion could reply Rena stood up.

"So I'm assuming, we've all seen the LadyBlog?"

Tigress had not seen the Ladyblog, and became very worried when she shot a glance at her messages and the Hen rapidly replied: 'Sounds good!' 'holly shit' 'babe' 'check the ladyblog' 'fuckit' 'im omw' 'as hen' 'dont say anything'

"Um..." Someone was about to say they hadn't by was shot a glare by Rena.

"Tigress?" Rena switch from sour to sweet in an instant. "Have you seen the Ladyblog?"

"Uh," both Chat and Viperion were hiding laughs in their palms while Carapace holds Ladybug's shoulder to keep her from intervening. "I have not."

"Allow me to show you." Rena grabbed her flute and pulled up an image, glancing between the image and tigress like she was double checking something. She turned her flute around and there was an image of Tigress kissing the Hen in an alleyway. It was a split second occurrence in the middle of a chase, a literal peck as she remembered it. How did someone get a picture of the actual kiss? Yeah they stared at each other for multiple seconds before and after, but the actual kiss happened so fast she wasn't sure if they were still being chased. "Care to explain?"

"Ummmmm..." She looked around at her teamate and friends for assistance. Some shrugged, Viperion muffled even more laughter, and Chat looked like he was going through a crisis. "Photoshop?"

"See, I thought that too, so I ran it through some programs." Ladybug really looked like she wanted to intervene but Carapace held his grasp. "Its legit."

"Um, oops?"

"Yep, big oops" Rena returned the flute to its sheath. "Now, Ladybug thinks, maybe, possibly, even a tad bit likely that you are a liability."

"Oh." It was Chat's turn to hold back Ladybug as Carapace stopped Viperion from stepping in.

"Now, we've been working together for so long that I trust you to give an honest answer.-"

"I will."

"Okay, do you know the Hen's true identity?"

"No." She said with as much confidence as she could summon, y'know, like a liar.

"Does the Hen know your true identity?"

"No."

"Are you and the Hen romantically involved?"

Before she could answer multiple fireworks went up behind the group, distracting them enough for the Hen to run through and grab Tigress without conflict.

"I'd love to stay and chat,-" she spoke fast, glancing at the conflicted cat hero and smiling at her own pun. "-But I've got a crime to commit."

Quickly everyone looked around to see if this was planned. No one knew so they all chased after the villain. "I guess thats a yes." Carapace nodded to his girlfriend before following their teammates.

(The entire time the conversation happened, Chat is trying to figure something out. He starts off laughing because of the situation but then he remembers tigress is Juleka and Juleka is dating Chloe so holy crap, Juleka is cheating on chloe as tigress with the hen. And then he thinks about how smart and confident Chloe is so she had to know that Juleka was 'unfaithful'. So why were they still dating? He comes to the conclusion that chloe and Juleka were secretly in an open relationship and the hen was also dating juleka. And then a thought occurs, just as the blonde villain runs off, 'what if Chloe is the Hen?' (I typed juleka so many times not im not even sure if im spelling it right anymore))

Holy shit i love it!!!!!

Oh and I love a lot that chloe used fireworks.

By the way ladybug is very lucky she hadn't tried to retrive the miraculous from juleka while chloe qas able to see. That would have triggered her pretty badly.

Oh and honestly adrien is smart but he is goofy so I think he will belive the open relationship theory more(also he would probably be in denial too, since even if they play a lot, THE HEN is still his enemy)

[vxnillite]

fluffy ZNoah drabble

Summary: it's just them training with gay tension and pining i cant come up with titles to save my life, sorry

Word count: 2212

[Edit: ok so i forgot to post this on ig, but then thought to edit it while i was here. nothing much changed, it even got 4 words shorter lol]

"I'm clocking out early today."

Kroi looked up from his work with genuine surprise. "But you're usually the last one out," he said.

Noah talked as they packed a small backpack with their water bottle and a change of clothes. They shrugged. "Z's giving me self-defense training or whatever."

"You agreed?"

"Shocked myself, too, actually." Noah slung a single strap over their left shoulder. "But she did have a point. She doesn't always come along for the school visits, and while the Na'vi are really skilled fighters, I guess it wouldn't be a bad thing if I were able to defend myself."

Grace emerged from the adjoined room. She looked oodly smug as she asked, "Is that the only reason?"

Noah raised a brow. "Should there be another?"

Kroi and Grace exchanged looks but said nothing. The latter smiled and patted Noah on the shoulder.

"Well, you've done enough at the lab today," she said, "Great work, as always."

The young scientist couldn't help but blush a bit, a bubble of pride swelling in their chest. They smiled. "Thanks, Grace."

"Alright, go get your strictly necessary training."

Kroi beamed, "See you at dinner, Noah!"

A slightly perplexed Noah waved goodbye as they left through the vacuum doors of the lab. They haven't told a soul, but they'd begun to notice the weird pattern of reaction whenever they mentioned the soldier to their friends, but Noah had never thought much of it, except that it was probably just a bunch of friendly yet fruitless teasing.

When the doors hissed to a close, then the other two scientists burst into lighthearted laughter.

"How are they so clueless," Kroi mused, "Z-Dog could outright tell Noah and they still wouldn't believe her."

"I made a bet with Dr. Patel that Noah might notice in two weeks."

The doctor mentioned chimed in from the other room, "You might as well hand me the money now, Dr. Augustine. That kid's never gonna notice that soldier girl's got a crush on them."

----------

Noah's phone buzzed incessantly while they were on their way to the SecOps wing, much to their annoyance. They already knew who was blowing their phone up and thought it better to just walk the entire way in relative peace. A few paces later, their phone still wouldn't shut up, so Noah yanked their phone out of their pocket and read the messages.

'u out yet?'

'where r u'

'hurry up im bored'

'stop ignoring my texts'

'damn u slow'

"Puta, ingay," Noah muttered to themselves as they punched in a response.

'omw :P'

'walk faster'

'no'

'oh i forgot'

'short legs ;)'

With a sharp click of the tongue, Noah quickly shoved their phone back in their pocket. The thought of just turning right back around and heading to their sleeping quarters instead seemed rather enticing now. As of late, Z had become bolder with teasing Noah around like that, and it's been driving them insane. The dumb jokes and that stupid laugh she made whenever she got a reaction out of Noah… All of it would be stuck in their head for hours, and Noah didn't know how to deal with it.

They started walking faster as they recognized the corridor leading to the SecOps training rooms. The volume of soldiers passing by was growing by the meter. Noah could feel the confused looks that some were throwing at them, while others, thankfully, seemed like they didn't give a crap about the scientist.

Noah looked closely at the room labels placed above the doors, trying to recall the room number Z had told them to go to—without much success.

Just how many training rooms do a bunch of these grease monkey musclebrains need?

Unfortunately, after racking their brain a bit more in vain, Noah had no choice but to ask Z. They were impatient enough as is, and they genuinely couldn't remember that tiny bit of information to save their life. They groaned as they pulled their phone back out of their pocket.

'room?'

'u forgot? :('

'nvm im going back'

Somewhere beside Noah, a bubblegum popped. "And, here I thought you were excited for training."

Noah jumped back a bit at Z just suddenly materializing in front of them. How did they not notice her?

Quickly composing themselves, Noah cleared their throat and said, "Stop playing games already. You were the one telling me to hurry up, weren't you?"

Z chuckled as she ruffled the scientist's hair. "Just wanted to see you sooner," she said, "Is that so wrong?"

Noah frantically pushed the hand off their head and looked around at the crowd in a panic. "Ugh, can you even hear yourself," they chided in hushed tones, "Just—! Let's just get to training already!"

They stormed off, and Z, knowing better, chased after Noah and pulled them along to the training room they'd be using, which was in the opposite direction that Noah was marching off to. Upon arrival, Noah checked first if it was empty. It was one of their conditions for this series of self-defense training with Z. The latter agreed, actually finding it ideal for her, too.

Satisfied that there was nary a human being in the room aside from them, Noah put their backpack down on a bench and plopped down beside it.

They looked up at Z expectantly. "So, what are we gonna do first," they asked.

Z stood across them, arms crossed under her chest. "First, have you ever had any sort of physical training before?"

Noah recounted their experiences on their fingers. "Failed high school phys-ed, used medical notes throughout college… Oh, and Kevin tried teaching me, but I guess I was a terrible student because I didn't learn shit."

"Oh, wow," Z chuckled, "We better get started then." 

The soldier cocked her head towards the small black bin by the door and spat the gum in her mouth straight in. The small spectacle shouldn't have been of any note to Noah, but it was. The fact lingered in the back of their mind, but they did their best to not let it show.

"Warm-up first," Z said as she motioned Noah over to the mat, "Some basic stretches can't be too hard for you, right?"

Noah snickered, "Don't count on it yet."

"Alright, nerd. Just follow my lead."

Z started doing some basic stretches. Noah seemed to be following along okay, but they kept tumbling over or losing their balance. At some point, it concerned Z, and she stopped stretching. When she spared Noah a little exasperated stare, the scientist stood up and looked back at her, confused.

"What's wrong?"

"Do the stretch we just did."

Although their brow was still raised, Noah just shrugged, then went back into the stretch. Z walked around them, humming in thought. When she came back to her spot, she had her conclusion.

"Your posture sucks, Noah," she said, trying not to laugh.

Noah immediately straightened up and clutched their braids, their eyes averted from Z in embarrassment in a fruitless attempt to hide their blushing face and ears. "Stop fucking giggling, you pinhead," they retorted, "It's not that bad!"

"Dude," the soldier wheezed, "It's why you keep falling over. It is that bad."

Noah twisted on their heel and began to storm off when Z caught their shoulders, then pulled them back towards the mat. "Don't just give up like that, idiot," she chuckled, "I didn't say I wouldn't help you."

"Still took a fucking sweet time to mock me, though," they huffed as they were dragged.

Z let them settle their feet back on the mat. "Alright, now do the stretch again."

"No."

"Noah."

"Ugh, fine."

A snarl and a string of curses came through as Noah redid the stretch. Z told them to relax as she went behind them and started correcting Noah's stance. But when she went to try and hold onto Noah's side, they jerked back and made a noise between a squeak and a yelp.

Noah, absolutely mortified, looked back at Z. It took the soldier a few seconds to process what she'd just heard.

"Was that… Was that you?"

Noah could feel their ears burning as frustration and humiliation created chaos within them. "You didn't fucking hear that!"

Z absolutely heard it, and she was suddenly in hysterics. "Noah, you're ticklish? Hah!"

"Shut the fuck up!"

"Oh my god. That's just cute," Z smirked, "Who would've thought?"

Noah thought their ticklishness was something stupid, embarrassing, and totally unbecoming of them — but never 'cute'. That tiny comment echoed in Noah's head, as well as the loud pounding of their heart. It felt extremely weird that, no matter how hard they thought, they couldn't come up with anything to snark back at Z with. So they just stood there, stunned, hair pulled over their reddened ears. The same couldn't be done to hide their face though, as it burned a deep, cherry red.

"You're blushing," the soldier teased.

Noah hissed, "I know that!"

Z's laughter trailed into a softer chuckle, then she asked, "How sensitive are you?"

Silence.

Z put a hand on her waist, looking expectantly at Noah. "I'm not trying to tease. I'm asking so I know how to help you in training."

Noah answered reluctantly, "It's really bad when I'm taken by surprise, like what you did just now. But I think if I see it coming…  it wouldn't bother me as much."

Having absorbed that little bit of information, Z went behind Noah again. As she guided them into the right position, she'd tell Noah beforehand if she was going to touch them and where. Noah still jerked back on reflex, but they tolerated the annoying tingling sensations until they actually eased into a sense of comfort. The feeling of Z's firm, heavy grip lingered on the areas she would touch, and it rendered Noah quite complacent to the soldier's instructions and helplessly flustered from the tiniest bits of praise.

When they got through the warm-up, Noah could barely feel their muscles burning over the heat they felt in their face. As soon as Z stepped away from them, Noah ran to the bench and chugged their water, purposefully turned away from Z as they mentally tried to calm themselves down.

It wasn't working that well.

"If you were that thirsty, you could've told me," Z said, both teasing and concerned. "And, don't drown yourself."

Noah drank almost the entire bottle of water and was panting as if they'd run a marathon when they put the tumbler down. They wiped away any stray water trails with the back of their hand, then turned back around to face Z.

"What's next," they huffed, expression steeled as if they weren't blushing crazily just moments ago.

Cute, Z thought. She stifled her laughter out of consideration for Noah's determination. "Alright, we'll start with the basics: just punching and kicking. Nothing too complicated"

An hour later, Noah was lying spread-eagled on the mat, drenched in sweat and eyes closed as they struggled to catch their breath. Every muscle in their body was screaming and Noah listened to their plea. They stayed still on the mat while Z looked on.

She snickered, "So, want to move on to lesson 2?"

Noah raised a middle finger at her, only for it to drop back down on the mat. They earned a hearty laugh from the soldier.

Z got her tumbler and Noah's towel from their bag, then handed both items to them, whom she had to pull up to a sitting position. They flung the towel on their head and started chugging down the bottle. It was empty in seconds.

"Ah, shit," they muttered, frowning at the empty bottle. Then they looked up at Z, their gaze soft and apologetic. "Sorry about that."

Z sat beside them. "Nah, it's fine," she said, "I've got an extra bottle in my bag."

"I'm real shitty at this physical stuff," Noah sighed. Training was rough, but halfway through it , they actually started having fun. They had to admit—and they really didn't expect it—their teacher was a pretty good one. But they couldn't help but feel bad about being so crap at following her directions at times.

Z laughed, "Yeah, you are." She patted Noah on the back and smiled. "But, you did good today. Tripped a few times, but hey, baby steps, right?"

Noah lightened up at the comment. "Right," they nodded. "Oh, by the way, I've got a pack of bubblegum in my bag. It's your favorite."

"You remember my favorite bubble gum flavor?"

"Uh, yeah, 'cus you're never not chewing on one."

Z suddenly tackled Noah into a headlock, laughing loudly as they tried to squirm out from under her arm to no avail.

"Isn't that sweet of you," she chuckled.

"Gago, bitawan mo nga 'ko!" [T/N: Let go of me!]

They tried pushing her off, but Noah's arms were twigs in strength compared to Z's. Yet as they cursed out the soldier, Noah was grinning and laughing along with her. Eventually, Z loosened her arm around their neck, and rested it over their shoulder. They didn't try to remove it.

"Same time tomorrow," they asked.

"You don't mind?"

Noah shook their head. Z grinned.

"It's a date, then."

[jinkx-monswoon]

ANARCIA FANGIRL AU, CHAPTER 3

SATURDAY, 11:46 PM

marciax3nyc: BITCH

marciax3nyc: EMERGENCY

marciax3nyc: THE QUEEN FROM THE BAR SHOW

marciax3nyc: COME OVER TMR !!!!

SUNDAY, 10:12 AM

looseyladuca: wtf? 😭

looseyladuca: Fineee omw lol

looseyladuca: Getting a latte first though

- - - - -

“Shut up! You’re lying!”

“Bitch!” Marcia playfully snaps. “You think I would’ve called you here if I was?”

“I mean, there’s just no way you had it in you! The last time you even wore lipstick in an actual saturated color was for Halloween—two years ago."

"What can I say?" Marcia throws her arms out beside her and sinks into the couch. "Love can make you do crazy things…"

Loosey, sitting opposite Marcia, swallows a sip of latte and sets her cup down. "And then you're telling me that Anetra chick kissed you?"

"Hah! Oh my god, please." Marcia rolls her eyes with a smile, certainly not opposed to the thought. "No, what happened was… okay, so like, I said I kissed the dollar, right?"

"Whatever you say," Loosey jokes.

"No, but for real! Because I just wanted to put a cute little kiss mark on it for her to see." Marcia explains, sitting back up. "I wanted her to think that it was special, y'know?"

"I'd argue that the 20 dollars was special enough on its own."

"Well then, I made it super special!"

"Whatever you say, Miss Casanova." Loosey chuckles, but not at her friend's expense. In fact, she's becoming entertained by Marcia's little love story.

"Oh, you wanna talk casanovas?" Marcia's eyes light up—she's been eager to recount the magical moment since she got home last night. "Because then Anetra stops to pick up the tips, and she walks up to the front and picks up mine…"

"And she thought, 'Oh, that's hot as fuck', and you guys made out."

Marcia wants to be mad about the interruption, yet she can't help but burst into laughter. "A-ha-HA—! Hah… ohhh, my god, stop that!"

"Alriiight, I'm sorryyy," Loosey says, with a lighthearted lilt in her voice.

"Okay…okay, so"—Marcia catches her breath—"So she picks up my $20 and I can tell she's like: 'Oh.' And I'm like: 'Fuck. Fuck, what am I doing?' And then she looks at ME and now I'm REALLY like…" She puts her hands on her head in mock anguish. "'FUCK!'"

"And then…?!" Believe it or not, Loosey is now genuinely invested.

There's a pause. Marcia leans in. She looks Loosey dead in the eye.

"And then she fucking kisses it."

Loosey gasps. "No!"

"Right where I! Fucking! Kissed it!"

"NO!"

"YES!"

"OH MY GOD?!"

"AHHHH!!!"

The exchange quickly devolves into a mess of giggles and squeals, with Marcia and Loosey joining hands and jumping around like teenage girls at a slumber party.

"So she did kiss you! Kind of!" Loosey says, as the excitement wears down.

"I…oh my god! You're actually so right!" Marcia beams.

"Marcia, she's, like, totally into you! What are you gonna do?!"

"I—!"

Even in the silence, it's almost like you can hear the screeching halt.

A knot ties in Marcia's stomach. "...Shit, I actually don't even know."

"What do you mean?" Loosey tilts her head.

"I just…" Marcia flops back down onto the couch. "God, I'm nervous to even go back next week! What am I supposed to do? Is it still too soon to even do anything?"

"I mean…hmm…"

Loosey racks her brain, hoping to formulate her friend's next move, but she can't seem to think of an immediate solution either.

Well…if not an immediate solution, then perhaps…

Suddenly, she has an epiphany, pronounced by a clap of her hands. "Alright, I got it."

Marcia looks up at Loosey, a glint of hope in her eyes.

"...I don't know yet."

And then Marcia deflates. "Wow, thanks, genius."

"But!"

"But…?"

"The keyword here is yet. Let's just…go back on Saturday and see what happens, okay? Assess the situation and stuff."

"Go back…like, you and me?"

"Yeah?"

"Looseyyy!"

Marcia shoots back up to her feet, throwing her arms around her friend.

"Aww…" Loosey returns the hug with one arm, and lightly ruffles her hair with the other.

"Thank youuu," Marcia purrs, relieved that she doesn't have to be alone in her predicament.

"Of course," says Loosey.

"And mark my words, I'll be the best fuckin' moral support!"

Marcia chuckles. "I'll take your word for it, then."

(A/N: one could argue that this chapter is mostly a comical retelling of chapter 2...and you'd be right OOP </3 but hey! if Frozen II can do it, then so can I lol)

[canned-goose-feathers]

XIV.

Mumbo has joined the game

GoodTimesWithScar: mumbo!

GoodTimesWithScar: Mr. Jumbo!!

GoodTimesWithScar: Just the man I was looking for

Mumbo: What do you want? GoodTimesWithScar: Scarland is missing something very important I think you can help with

Mumbo: OMW

Sneaking around was kind of Grian’s thing. He’s been told by many he was incredibly silent and now that mattered more than ever. He needs to be as quiet as a mouse. Getting caught means . . . well, he doesn't want to really think about it. The sound of rockets overhead pulls him out of his thoughts. 

“Hey Mumbo! Over here!” Scar’s voice startles him, far closer than he thought. 

Okay, is he spying on Mumbo and Scar? Maybe. Possibly. It's going to be worth it. The gnawing paranoia hasn’t gone away and it was about to drive him mad. Something was going on between those two, and he was becoming increasingly convinced it had something to do with him. 

But the hostility he'd seen from Mumbo when he joined wasn't there anymore. Sure, it had been a few days, but now Mumbo smiles softly at him like nothing had ever happened. 

"So, Scarland needs me?" 

Scar waves his cane at the vacant streets and gently flapping banners. "You haven't seen it, have you? Can I give you the grand tour?" Mumbo gestures for him to continue and Scar's off. 

It's kind of incredible how Scar so easily captures attention. His waving arms and grand, blinding smile are entrancing. Grian’s reminded of Last Life, how Scar was able to talk himself into and out of basically any situation. Mumbo follows him dutifully and even Grian from his hiding spot finds himself enraptured as Scar covers every detail. Even with his cane in hand, he moves as if he knows every spare stone on the ground and every plant, easily walking backwards at points to talk directly to Mumbo. He can’t quite hear what they’re saying, but nevertheless it’s interesting just watching. Finally they come to a stop in front of the main gates. They're clearly still under construction, with scaffolding. Here Scar stops, leaning cooly on his cane. 

He's performing, or at least has the air of it. One leg crossed over the other, his hat tilted just to the side, a sly smile on his lips. 

"What's a theme park without turnstiles?" he says, gesturing at the chaos of redstone. 

Mumbo hums. "Is this what you called me for?" 

Scar shrugs, his smile never leaving. "Haven't tried it." Mumbo gives him a look. "You're the redstone expert, you tell me if it works."

As Mumbo approaches the turnstile, Scar shifts and turns to look directly at Grian. Even as Grian freezes, Scar's smile widens and he winks. 

Several things happen in quick succession. 

Mumbo presses the button on top of the turnstile, and then Mumbo is gone, the spinning rods launching him at high speeds into the sky. Scar nearly topples over laughing and Grian can't help himself, he erupts in giggles. There's a yell growing closer, then there's an explosion of items across the stone plaza. 

Mumbo fell from a high place

Scar does collapse at that and Grian joins him, clutching his stomach. They nearly have their laughter contained when Mumbo comes stomping up, gathering his items and shoving them haphazardly in his inventory. His grumbling sends both of them back into fits of laughter. 

"Grian!" Grian's mouth snaps shut, though the corners of his mouth still twitch. "You planned this, didn't you?" 

Scar snorts. "Grian's been spying on us, he had nothing to do with it. I just found out it does that and I wasn’t about to waste the opportunity." Grian flushes, but Scar doesn't look angry, simply pushes himself up to a sitting position and looks at Mumbo. "Okay but seriously, can you fix it?" 

"Can I fix it," Mumbo grumbles. He pulls off his suit jacket and carefully rolls his sleeves up. Grian’s eyes linger on the freshly exposed skin and his blush only deepens when he catches Scar looking as well. 

Grian coughs a bit and tries to smooth his feathers down. 

Scar leans on his cane with both hands, his attention turning to Grian. "What WERE you doing spying on us?" 

"I wasn't spying—" 

"You were there since Mumbo got here." The clinking of tools stops, as does Grian's heart. "You're not exactly quiet, G. And I'm not exactly dull." Scar shrugs a bit, "You're off your game, man. I could hear you coming from a mile away. Don't tell me you got into Doc's secret stuff."

Grian wrinkles his nose. "God no, not this early into the season."

"It's like three months into the season."

"It is?!" 

Scar nods. 

"Is it good this season?" 

"He's experimenting with watermelon."

"Ohhhh, I'll have to pick some up."

"Back on topic, Gri," Scar says with a wry smile, one that makes Grian want to swear. "You were spying, why?" 

Grian goes silent, which is as good as a confession. He could lie, but there's something in the back of his head that tells him Scar will know. He can't very well say the truth either. Half-truths it is. 

"You two have been acting really weird lately," he says. Scar arches an eyebrow but Grian beats him to the punch. "Not the usual weird. Weird about me." 

Scar hums, his face carefully neutral. "What makes you say that?" 

"The fact that you and Mumbo have been acting like a pair of feral cats fighting over one can of tuna, except now you're fine?" 

"We're good, Grian," Scar says, with the believability of any of his schemes, which is to say none. Grian scowls. 

"Mumbo?" 

The redstoner pops his head up from his burrow, his hair askew and cheeks dusted with redstone and grit. "We're fine, G."

"I don't believe that for a second." Grian crosses his arms and turns back to face Scar. "The second Mumbo shows up, you act like a kicked puppy for almost a week and being around you two at the same time is unbearable, then all the sudden you're buddy-buddy again? I mean you really expect me—" Grian cuts himself off as a horrifying thought comes to surface at the forefront of his mind. The words are out of his mouth before he can catch them. 

"You two are together."

Mumbo and Scar instantly both go pink. Scar holds up his hands while Mumbo attempts to sink back into his redstone paradise. 

"Not that that's— I'm happy about it—" 

"Grian, no, you've got it all wrong." 

"—I just wish you'd told me."

"Grian, please—" 

"And oh, I'm intruding, I'm so sorry—" 

Grian takes a step back and Scar practically leaps forward, grabbing his wrist and stopping him. 

He expects to feel lashing anger from the Entity, the jolt of losing control, but instead his breaths still and his body relaxes at the touch, his frantic mind whirring to a stop and allowing him to really see Scar. 

Scar, who is looking at him like he's losing him, who looks terrified and still very pink and so familiar. 

"Grian, it's okay we're not . . . That's not a thing." He sighs. "Look, I have a uh . . . Tendency to get jealous, and we'd been spending a lot of time together, and Mumbo coming back, it just kind of." He rubs the back of his neck. "You know your bird instincts? Kind of like that."

Grian's brows scrunch together. "But you're human." Scar smiles at that, wider than he's seen in a long while. 

"Right. Yeah. Humans still have instincts though. Right Mumbo?" 

"Right!" Mumbo says from the bottom of the hole, probably not paying any attention. 

"So. I'm sorry. We really are fine, G, and so are you. The dynamic just changed a bit, yeah?" 

Grian nods slowly, "yeah." 

"You're okay, right?" 

Grian thinks of the nausea that claws up his throat and the constant rush of blood and heartbeats that aren't his but still swim in his ears. He can't. He's too tired for that. "I'm fine," he says instead. 

Scar pulls him forward until they can both see down into Mumbo's temporary lair. Scar sits down cross-legged and Grian does too. Scar's hand backs away from his wrist. Grian catches his breath in his throat, stopping the whine that builds there, but Scar’s arm wraps around his shoulder and pulls him close. 

"Now, let's sit here and listen to Mumbo break his PG-13 rating," Scar says, peering over the lip. 

"Hey!" Mumbo goes to pop up and, as if on cue, hits his head against the underside of the turnstile, letting out a few words that make even Scar blush. Grian bursts into laughter.