#ALSO got asked between two options and then told that basically my choice doesn’t fucking matter

[catzgam3rz]

I can feel the rage of a thousand suns coursing through me istg (<- daily routine has been interrupted and will be for the near future)

[occasionaloneshots]

You Belong With Me (Reddie’s Version)

Warnings: toxic relationship, swearing 

Closeted bi Richie x closeted gay Eddie

Words: 1.7k 

“You’re on the phone with your girlfriend, she’s upset.. She’s going off about something that you said, ‘Cause she doesn’t get your humor like I do.” 

     Eddie was bitter. Quite frankly the boy wondered if bitter was even a strong enough word. But he stuck with it, down right lemon sour, bitter. Richie was supposed to sleep over, just the two of them, like old times. But of course his girlfriend had to go and throw herself in their plans, it seemed like she always did. Eddie swore that the girl had it out for him, hell she had called his house to talk to Richie. So now, while Eddie sits across from a paused movie that he was never really interested in to begin with, he gets to listen to Richie trying to explain himself over nothing. At least Eddie thought it was nothing, nothing for Richie at least. 

      “No, baby, come on please don’t be like that,” Richie’s vice floats in desperately from kitchen. Eddie didn’t have to be in the room to see the exhaustion on the boy’s face. “It was just a joke, you know I love you more than anything.” If Eddie was right, Richie was scrunching the phone cord in his hand, he always seemed to do that if he was getting yelled at over the phone. Maybe that was an exclusive thing for phone calls from his father though, as he got chewed out for being late to leave or forgetting to call and say he would be staying for dinner. “I’m sorry okay? I’m so sorry I’ll never joke about that again, I swear.” Eddie scoffed, it’s not like she was involved in the joke, it was a joke about the losers. As far as he was concerned, Richie’s bitchy girlfriend would never be a loser, no matter how many times she invited herself along. If she doesn’t want to hear Richie’s crude jokes about Eddie’s mom, she shouldn’t invite herself to hang out with him and Eddie. Everyone knows that’s his thing. Why even get with a trashmouth if you just want to change him? Sure the joke wasn’t funny, but that was Richie. (If Eddie was honest, he slowly began to find Richie’s mom jokes funny, but maybe that was a cheap stab at his mother.)

    The dark haired boy wonders back into the room, falling back on the couch beside Eddie, “I’m sorry about that. Do you wanna finish the movie?” Eddie looks back at it for a moment, a random frame of Wayne’s World (Richie’s choice) staring back at him. “Not if you don’t want to, we could just go do something else,” Eddie plays with his fingers as he talks, looking up at the taller boy nervously. He wasn’t sure what made him so nervous about it though, maybe it was just knowing that Richie was upset. “Yeah, let’s just go to your room or something?” Eddie nods, turning off the tv as they stand up. Richie collects the blankets they were using off the couch, throwing them over his shoulder as Eddie grabs the popcorn bowl. It’s pretty quiet as they make it to Eddie’s room, both throwing themselves on his bed seemingly exhausted despite the fact that it was only nine-thirty. Suddenly Eddie jumps up, walking over to his bookshelf. “What ya doin’, Eddie Spaghetti?” Richie’s head lolls to the side, watching as the smaller boy scans the shelves. A red CD case resting in his hand as he opens the CD player on the shelf. “Don’t call me that, Rich. You’ll see.”

“I'm in my room, it's a typical Tuesday night, I'm listening to the kind of music she doesn't like”

      Meer seconds after Eddie closed the player, a familiar song began to boom out of the speakers. The opening cord of Ramones “Censorshit” making Richie’s face light up, “Is that my copy of Mondo Bizarro?” “It’s mine now, you gave it over, remember?” The dark haired boy rolls his eyes, getting up off the bed. “I didn’t give it to you, I let you hold on to it. Heidi hates this type music, she kept complaining about it so I wanted someone who would take care of it to watch it.” Eddie shrugs, “Gave it to me, told me to take care of it, same difference.” Richie didn’t respond though, instead, putting his arms out in front of him, pointer finger up on each hand like he was trying to silence a room, before breaking out into a dance. His curls flying around his head in a way that made his face hard to see as he moved. It was not a good dance, but one that had Eddie smiling and jumping around with him nonetheless. They were on the twelfth before they were exhausted enough that they had to sit back down. Both boys sitting with their legs crossed on opposite sides of the old bed, laughing.

      “God,” Richie pants, “I forgot how good that album was.” “Yeah, because all you’ve been listening to is Madonna,” the words ended with a scoff as Eddie shook his head, “You hated Madonna until you got with Heidi.” Richie stops mouthing the lyrics of “Heidi Is a Headcase” to scoff, “I still hate Madonna.” Eddie shakes his head, “Why are you even with her anyway?” He was mentally cursing himself the moment e said it. Eddie you fool, you absolute fool.

“'Cause she wears short skirts, I wear T-shirts, she's Cheer Captain and I'm on the bleachers”

      Richie simply shrugs in response, “I don’t know.” This leaves the other boy stunned for a minute. “You don’t know?” Richie had options, so many options, there was no reason for him to be with someone who makes him miserable, at least not one his friend could see. Richie got hot in high school, everyone knew that as much as they hated to admit it (especially Bill, who was a little too used to being the hot one of the group). He basically sprung up a whole foot the summer between eight and ninth grade, his face thinning out to reveal a sharp jawline and prominent cheekbones. He had that whole pretty boy thing going on which earned him more than a fair share of female attention, and even his fair share of attention from other guys, though they weren’t as open about it. 

     “I don’t know, I mean, she’s the cheer captain and I guess that part of me just wants what comes with that? But I want her too you know, even though it stresses me out. What would happen to me if I left her you know? We’re not really true losers anymore, I don’t want to drag the rest of you back down with me.” That was another thing, Richie started going to games just for the half time show to watch her cheer, dragging Eddie with him, and any other loser if he got the chance. Eddie sighs, shaking his head, “You wouldn’t become a total loser again, Rich. You’d just have every girl in the school throwing herself at you.” 

“And you've got a smile that could light up this whole town, I haven't seen it in a while since she brought you down”

   Richie laughs, a dry laugh that was no where near his normal one, “Yeah right, maybe I’ll go for Greta Keene next time. Fuck myself up in a different way.” Eddie scrunches up his nose, “Yuck, why would you say that? Greta?” “What?” Richie smirks, leaning over to shove his shoulder, “Is she your girl or something?” Eddie lets out a whiney groan, “That was the seventh grade will you please let it go?” In a game of truth or dare Eddie admitted to  lied about having a crush on Greta and Richie hadn’t let it go since. Eddie never talked about things like that, it wasn’t his thing. So of course the scrap Richie had, he would use. The taller boy burst out laughing, a genuine smile flashing across his face in a way that made Eddie smile too. “Dude you’re the one who did it.” 

    When the boy finally calmed down, Eddie gave him a soft smile, ”Seriously though, why don’t you break up with her, Richie? Cheer captain is not a valid reason to stay with someone.” “The rumors she would spread are a valid reason to stay. I don’t know if I would be able to handle that.” Eddie scoffs, leaning back against his headboard, “Who cares about rumors? Bev survived them, you could too.” Richie shakes his head, “I believed the rumors about Bev back then, the whole school did.” “That’s because you’re a fool, Rich. Seriously, you think anyone would care about the rumors she’d spread? What’s she gonna say? You have a small dick? Stan says that all the time,” Eddie shakes his head, “She’s not good for you Richie.” I could be though, the thought clouds his mind, though he’d never admit it out loud, Eddie was crushing on Richie so hard it was embarrassing. Some of the losers saw it though, just like how they saw his crush on Bill back when they were younger. At least, Bev and Stan did, though they’d never admit it, outside of the two of them, but Eddie was paranoid that Mike knew it too. If Mike asked him why he looked so upset while Heidi was on RIchie’s lap one more time, the boy thinks he might combust.       “Come on Eds, even if I wasn’t scared about rumors, who else would be willing to deal with me anyway? I’m lucky she even puts up with me.” And that made Eddie frown, “Rich,” he reached out, grabbing Richie’s hand, “The right person loves you, they don’t just put up with you because you’re hot.” Richie lets out another dry laugh, “Yeah, like someone out there is like that for me. Girls like that exist for Mikes and Stans, not me Eds.” Eddie shakes his head, watching as Richie pulls away, getting up to look in the mirror. “ think there’s someone out there like that for everyone. I mean, my dad loved my mom, at least as much as I remembered, and she’s my mom.” Richie shakes his head, “I guess you’ve got me there. Hey, maybe mine is also your mom.” And despite the fact that it was cheap, Eddie laughed at it. Mind barely holding in the words “what if it’s me?” Because, Eddie knew he wasn’t ready to open that can of worms yet, and Richie was no where near the right place for that. 

‘All this time how could you not know, baby? You belong with me, you belong with me”

[rubyvroom]

Playing ME: Legendary is so Frustrating

because, eventually, you have to play Mass Effect 3.

And look, ME:1 is greatly improved in the Legendary set. They not only boosted the visuals, they improved all the interfaces and brought them in line with the series in a way that improves playability. The story was already great, the gameplay was brought up to match. 

ME:2 was already damn near perfect. I can’t think of any noticable improvement other than including all the DLC I didn’t pay for the first time, and I was happy with that. It didn’t need improving. I wouldn’t change a thing. 

But ME:3. I’m only in the very very beginning of the game and already I’m frustrated, and it’s exactly because I just finished playing two really excellent games. 

You are much more on rails for this game than ever before. Yes, it meets the exact same structure as the previous games -- opening disaster, first squad members humans, first mission on a human colony, then it’s time to gather your alien supporters -- but there’s a lot less room for you to decide how Shepard reacts to things. The game has already decided who Shepard is and what Shepard wants, and there’s no room for you to disagree.

In some ways that’s cool because it remembers exactly what you had Shepard do in 1+2. The continuity between the games is pretty strong, and that’s impressive.

But in most ways it’s bad. Because it means your character-building is already done at the very start of the game. You can’t have your character grow or change their mind about things based on their experiences so far - what you did in the previous games is still what you’re going to do now. And your range of responses for all Shepards is greatly limited compared to before. So for example Shepard is thrilled to be back with the Alliance after it kicked her out for what she did to stop the Reapers and after working with Cerberus for an extended period of time. But that wasn’t a decision I made - that was my only decision. I don’t get the option of telling the alliance to fuck off after how they treated me and maybe rejoining them only reluctantly because Anderson asked me to. I don’t get any character options at all.

Then, I’m immediately reminded how garbage your romance choices are in Mass Effect if you’re a female Shepard. There is no way to romance the same person in all three games. If you want the romance achievement you will have to choose 2-3 different partners. And this has a lot of unpleasant consequences for female Shepartd that Male Shepards don’t have to face: being accused of cheating and betrayal (does not happen to M!Shep), your LI from 2 dying in 3 no matter what you do (can’t happen to Male Shep), and just having to role play losing your LI in some way or other every game. (Also, and I’m going to complain forever about this, but so many love interests are locked in for Straight Male Shepard in a way that doesn’t make sense. You going to tell me aliens care whether I’m male or female? That Miranda cares? That freaking JACK cares? Come on. This is classic bro-pandering from Bioware same as they do for the Dragon Age series, and it’s really irritating.)

Also, I haven’t gotten into the meat of the story yet, but I’m already reminded of some of the stupid, stupid story choices that were made: The Illusive Man is indoctrinated. We’re fighting Cerberus again after years of working with them and no apparent ambivalence about this. EDI has a sexy robot body now (siiiiiiiiiigh). Kai Leng. The fucking Star Kid. I told myself I could enjoy ME:3 right up to the deeply stupid ending and then just stop the game and make up my own ending, but the fucking Star Kid is all over the damn place in this game, as is the 3-part choice of Destroy, Control, and I forget Blend? Something? It was so stupid, you guys. So stupid. It’s hard to ignore.

But here’s the worst thing of all. The combat in this game is SO FUN. When I said ME:2 was near perfect, this is the one thing that is better in ME:3. You run better and more naturally, you can dodge roll, and do more satisfying melee moves. They finally got the balance right between powers, guns, and ammunition, and made more dynamic fights where you aren’t just hiding in cover until everything is dead. Even the interfaces are better than in previous games, getting rid of the eyebleedy orange data pads from 2 for instance. The weapons mod system from 1 is back, and improved. Although I liked the leveling in 1 the best, 3 is a close second, with more choices to build your characters. ME:3 is fun to play! It’s the most fun fighting has been in the whole series!

Plus, you get all the payoffs from the previous two games: you get to cure the Genophage, for instance. Which is a choice, but of course you’re going to cure the Genophage - who doesn’t cure the Genophage? You get to resolve the Quarian/Geth conflict which has been a huge part of the series, plus make peace between Tali and Legion. Plus some flat-out cool stuff.  A Thresher Maw fights a Reaper! Hang out with the huge cast of characters on shore leave in the best DLC of the whole series!

So it’s basically impossible to just skip 3. You have to have the whole frustrating experience again, with all of the pretty high highs and the really, really low lows. As an end to the whole Legendary Edition experience, it’s just a reminder of how Bioware lost it’s way. 

[hopeymchope]

Parascientific Escape: The sci-fi “escape room” visual novel-style series nobody talks about

I can’t help thinking that Parascientific Escape would probably have an active fandom somewhere on the Internet if it wasn’t TRAPPED ON THE 3DS ESHOP.

I mean, it’s an escape room-centric visual novel-style sci-fi Japanese game that is clearly inspired by Zero Escape and very anime in its style. There are endearing characters, including optimal waifus/husbandos, plus a gradual buildup of an interesting fictional world full of political intrigue, its own countries, its own companies, and of course... psychic powers. Because you can’t have a trilogy of Japanese visual novel-style games featuring escape room puzzles without mental powers, now can you?

But as I said... they’re trapped as download-only titles for the 3DS. That’s fucking brutal. 

Even so, there’s a pretty big 3DS/2DS user base still in existence. It’s not like they’ve never been translated or something, so at least we have the capability to play them. So if you look into them, what are you getting?

A basic overview: Parascientific Escape is a trilogy of anime-style games about solving escape room mysteries and tracking down evildoers via the use of psychic powers (obvious Zero Escape influences). There’s an overarching plot about a mysterious mastermind who believes it’s time for the recently emerged psychics of the world to take their place as the next evolution of humanity and get their own nation (obvious X-Men influences).

They don’t work very well as standalone stories; each story relies on information from the last one, culminating in a game that stars the protagonists of both parts 1 and 2 together as they finally unravel the motivations behind the events of the whole series and face off with the people behind everything. In addition, the escape room puzzles start out pretty easy in the first game build to be pretty frustratingly obtuse by the tail end of the third. And on top of all that, each game taken on its own only contains about 3-4 escape rooms. So when you bundle all three together, that’s when it all works as a single satisfying package. 

Don’t worry about burning a lot of cash to play the whole series, however. The three games are $5.00 US each on the 3DS eShop and are usually on sale for $2.50 each these days. I got the entire trilogy for $7.50 US!

So let’s break down the gameplay and setup in a little more detail. Don’t worry; I won’t give any spoilers that go beyond the first five minutes of any game in the series. The twists and turns are part of the fun here.

The first game is Parascientific Escape: Cruise in the Distant Seas. You play as  Hitomi Akeneno, a high school girl (because of course she’s a high-schooler) with the dual abilities of mild telekinesis and a type of clairvoyance that lets her peer past barriers or into the insides of objects. She finds herself trapped on a sinking cruise ship where some mastermind keeps systematically locking her into isolated sections while she’s trying desperately to escape. 

I really liked how you could look inside of an object with clairvoyance and then use her telekinesis to manipulate the various switches and levers within, gradually pulling some object you need out from within a maze. I also thought it was clever how the solution to a new escape roomight require you to backtrack to a previous escape room to investigate some object or area that wasn’t relevant to that previous room’s original puzzle. 

(One of the things I found most fascinating about this one is the ethical debate raised by Hitomi’s friend Chisono regarding how Hitomi got herself involved in all this. Chisono offers a perspective that is extremely unusual to see in most fiction. You can even say it’s pretty cold, but it’s not without having some merit to it. I don’t want to say too much about what I’m talking about, though; it’s better left as a surprise.)

The second title, Parascientific Escape: Gear Detective, almost seems standalone at first. You play as Kyosuke Ayana, a private detective and actual adult (!) who is 22 years old. A young woman shows up at his office and asks to hire him for protection. See, there’s a serial killer on the loose, and she believes she’s the next target.

We are swiftly told that Kyosuke was once in an accident that necessitated the replacement of his left arm and right eye. He volunteered to be a guinea pig for some very special prosthetics that granted him artificial psychic powers. As such, he now has “chronokinesis” — to the power to look back in time. However, he can only look back for five days, and he only has limited ability to move or manipulate the things he sees in the past. 

Naturally, Kyosuke’s investigation winds up trapping him within some escape rooms that require use of his unique abilities to solve. Some of the hints at the proper timestamps or exactly where you should be looking when you peer into the past are a little vague, though, which can cause momentary frustration. Because I like to always be making forward progress, I actually preferred Hitomi’s telekinesis/clairvoyance powers from the first game. Still, Hitomi had some pretty basic puzzles in her rooms. I can’t deny that these puzzles took more thought.

Outside of the escape rooms,  everything is undeniably a huge improvement. The first game presented strictly linear segments of storytelling between the rooms, but this one is more of an adventure game. You can choose where you go, select from a limited menu of things to do when you get there, and do all of it in any order you like. There’s usually a correct sequence order to progressing the story, but it’s typically pretty clear what the next step is, so it’s not like you’re just flailing about and trying a bunch of locations blindly. Besides, there’s no way to get stuck, so don’t stress it. There are even a lot of actions you can take that have no impact on story progression at all — they’re just there to generate additional dialogue that further develops the characters. 

The tradeoff is that you actually get fewer escape rooms overall. The first game had four, but the second only contains three. This is also the first game in the series to introduce multiple endings; you get a number of dialogue choices throughout, and unfortunately, it’s far too easy to trigger the “bad” ending. There are guides online to help you trigger the Gold Star “true” ending, however. Just hit up GameFAQs. You might want to use the guide on your first playthrough, because I can say from experience that it’s annoying to have to replay all the dialogue sections just to make the correct choices. (Luckily, you can skip over any irrelevant sections of each chapter — including the escape room puzzles.) 

In spite of my above whining, the second one is probably my single favorite story in the Parascientific trilogy. It’s a lot of fun.

The final game in the trilogy is Parascientific Escape: Crossing at the Farthest Horizon. Mysterious characters who were plotting offscreen for the previous two games are finally given faces, locations that were talked about extensively in both are finally visited, and the two protagonists of the first couple games finally meet and team up. It’s absolutely a culmination of what they set up in the first two.

The narrative jumps around from the perspectives of many different characters, but the most time is undoubtedly spent with Hitomi and Kyosuke. Sadly, there is no gameplay usage of Hitomi’s powers this time; the escape rooms are all done with Kyosuke, and they are more devious now than ever before. Personally, I found the next-to-last one to be incredibly obtuse and frustrating. I ultimately had to consult a video playthrough on YouTube for that. (The YouTuber in question didn’t seem to have the same issues figuring things out that I did. So I guess your mileage may vary.)

The “adventure game” segments make a return here as well, although they’ve also become a bit tougher to figure out. There are a couple of times when you might find yourself wandering the various location options, clicking on every possible action to try and progress. Luckily, there aren’t so many default options that you’re left flailing for very long. Even the longest period of clueless wandering lasted me a maximum of 15 minutes.

Once again, you have to make the correct dialogue choices if you want a positive ending. And once again, GameFAQs is your friend and co-pilot.

Ultimately, even the gated endings and occasional puzzle frustrations did little to curb my enthusiasm. I really had fun with these characters and their stories, I greatly enjoyed the majority of the escape rooms, and I was pretty satisfied with how it all wrapped up. The character designs/artwork get better and better as the series goes on. The selection of music tracks may be the same throughout the whole series, but I really dug on them, so I can’t complain. Do I have any other misgivings? Well, just one; the English localization is pretty sloppy. There are a pretty large number of typos, and the dialogue can sound stilted and awkward at times due to being a direct translation. It’s actually at its worst at the start of the first game. Luckily, after about 30 minutes of playtime, it settles in and finds its voice.

Seriously, they should really figure out a way to re-package these games for another system that doesn’t use the the dual-screen setup. Put all three of them together, and it’d easily be satisfying as a full retail release!

But for now, if you have a 3DS/2DS, they’re only $7.50 in total most of the time (and $15.00 at the worst). Do you like adventure game-style mysteries and visual novel-esque progression and, of course, escape rooms? You should give these a shot! And I hope these devs get to make games with bigger budgets and better localizations in the future.

[love-fireflysong]

It be June 3rd now, and would you look at that, the second of my prompts is already up! Who’d a thunk it? Anyway, as successfully guessed by the lovely @torahime here is 5 + 1! And as by the nature of this trope in general, this one ended up long. Like crazy loooooooong. (Also I’m a moron who didn’t understand what the prompt meant for like a week. I kept trying to figure out what the hell the number six had to do with anything, and when I finally googled it out of desperation, all I saw were the words ‘five times’ in the first link and I immediately felt ashamed of myself. I should have known. Why didn’t I know?)

Anyways, you can read the long-ass fic in question at ao3 over here: Do You Ever Wonder What Could Have Been? You can also read this one under the cut, but considering the length I wouldn’t recommend it asdhaskdjh The next one should be much shorter due to the fact that like the first one, I blanked for ideas completely lol.

Do You Ever Wonder What Could Have Been?

Trope: 5 + 1 Fandom: Until Dawn Characters: Ashley Brown, Chris Hartley, Josh Washington (all the other kids also make an appearance but due to them only having like one scene and a single line each I’m not tagging them) Words: 12733 Rating: Teen (though I think I’m being pretty damn generous with that rating tbh) Authors Notes: Yes you’re reading that word count right. Almost thirteen thousand words. Don’t ask how I managed to write this in 5 days, I have no fucking idea. Just take this fic about two nerds being morons in love and mutually pining over each other for six. fucking. years.

Chris is fourteen and so goddamn tired of this stupid crush on his best friend. It's been a whole year now since he met her, and he hates that this stupid, silly, little, crush of his hasn't abated at all. He doesn't even know why he likes her in the first place! It's just Ashley after all, there is absolutely no reason to feel this tongue-tied around his best friend. It's Ash: with her braces, arms always full books (when her head wasn't buried in one that is), stringy red hair, wide green eyes, who sometimes snorts when he tells a joke, freckles that dot her nose and shoulders and—

Okay, he was maybe getting a little side-tracked here. The point was, there was 100% absolutely no reason to feel this way about her. In fact, he bets this was all Josh's fault in the first place! Yeah! That was it! None of this would be happening if Josh hadn't basically kidnapped Ashley from her true home in the library and forced him to meet her! 

...But then he wouldn't have met her. And stupid crush aside, she is pretty much the only girl he knows who laughs at all his jokes and helps him with his English homework sometimes. He likes knowing her and likes being her friend even more, he just doesn't like liking her. And maybe that was it? Maybe he just likes Ashley cause she's the only girl who willingly hangs out with him and Josh, and isn't Josh's sisters. 

And that's what he's going to prove today once and for all. He heard from Josh that Hannah was absolutely adamant that everyone was going to play spin-the-bottle at her and Beth's birthday party in a couple of days. And that everyone meant not only the people that the twins invited for said party, but also the people that Josh invited over (ie: Chris and Ash) so he would have some company during the twins big b-day bash. Chris was going to find Ashley and explain that losing their first kiss over a game like spin-the-bottle was just so not cool, and that maybe kissing each other first would just be a way better and smarter idea of doing things. And once he kissed her he would finally realize that yup, Ash was just one of the guys and that was so fucking gross and they were totally never ever going to do that again.

Perfect idea. Fool proof even. No way that this was totally going to backfire into his face. Absolutely none at all!

So when he finds Ashley sitting and reading under her usual tree just outside of the school, he is so sure of the success of his ingenious plan that he brings it up right away. 

"I think we should kiss before Hannah and Beth's party."

See! Right away! Straight to the point. He has got this shit in the bag baby!

Ashley looks up at him, clearly a little startled from reading her book and squints at him. "Huh? Chris? Is that you?" For a second he's a little confused about how Ash doesn't even recognize him, but then he quickly realizes that he's probably got the sun directly at his back so she can't see him clearly and he awkwardly shuffles to the left a little so she can see him better. "Oh! Hey Chris, what was that you said earlier? I got so absorbed that I didn't really hear a thing you said, sorry." While she doesn't close her book, she does give an embarrassed little laugh that makes his stomach flip-flop just a little and starts to weaken at the cracks of his once fool-proof plan.

He finds himself messing with the strap on his bookbag as he tries to ignore the butterflies fluttering around in his stomach. 'Um, I asked if you were going to the twins' birthday party this weekend." Okay, falling a little behind schedule now, but it's fine. No problem.

"I mean, I wasn't exactly invited, but yeah. A whole night of graphic horror movies to drown out the sounds of screaming pre-teens. I honestly can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday night." The absolute dryness of her tone has Chris smiling.

"Oh come on Ash, it's not gonna be that bad."

"Our choices are either to hang out with a bunch of kids who have basically never talked to us ever, or watch Josh's disgusting horror movies Chris."

"Well, I mean, when you put it that way...actually, no. The screaming pre-teens sound like a safer bet honestly." The little snort of laughter she lets out only has Chris pushing the butterflies down harder. God, he is going to be so glad when those stupid things finally leave him alone. "And well, from what Josh said, it sounds like horror isn't the only thing planned for that evening."

"It isn't? You mean he's actually opening up to other movie genre options? Shocking. I truly never thought I would see the day."

"Ha, I wish. Nah, I was, um, talking about what the girls—well, what Hannah wanted to play. Actually." Great. And now he's starting to blush. Really keeping with the rails of his plan there!

"What Hannah...? Oh! You're, uh, talking about the spin-the-bottle game." Ashley brings her lower lip into her mouth and pushes some hair behind her ear. "Yeah, Josh mentioned something about that."

Perfect, one less thing he had to explain. That would speed things up immensely. "Honestly, between you and me? I think it's a stupid idea."

Ashley nods her head vigorously in agreement. "I know right! I mean, who wants to kiss some stranger over a bottle of all things? Can you imagine losing your first kiss to some person who probably doesn't have a single idea who you are in the first place? God that would be awful." Oh man, things are lining up right for him! Ashley's even on the same page and this next part is going to be so easy— "That's why I asked Josh if I could kiss him first instead when he told me a couple of days ago."

Wait. Waitwaitwait wait . She already asked Josh?! "Oh, wow. You were, uh, really thinking ahead there huh?" God, he could feel every ounce of determination he had slowly deflating out of his body. There was no way he could ask her now, absolutely no way! Ashley was gonna think that Chris wanted to kiss her—or worse, liked her! And okay he kind of did, but this was supposed to prove the exact opposite. That this was just stupid hormones and puberty really messing with his life and not something else.

"Of course, there was absolutely no way I was gonna have my first kiss with some popular buttface who was just gonna make fun of me behind my back afterwards. Better to have it with Josh, who would also make fun of me, but at least it would be to my face." Ashley starts to return to her book, flipping a page but stops halfway through. "Wait. Were you going to ask me the same thing?" She sounds a little unsure and a little of something else he can't place right now because he's too busy trying not to panic. 

"What? No! God no! Of-of course not!" Oh god, was his voice seriously choosing to crack now? He really, really hoped that the shade being cast from the tree was enough to hide how red his face was. He needed to get out of here and quick .

"I-I-I mean, it's not like it was good or anything—"

"Think I should probably go now anyway."

"It was, like, really wet and-and-and like so bad. Super awkward honestly."

"Lots of things to do. Lots and lots of things to do in fact!"

"I mean, we could still, uh, k-k-kiss? If you want to...?"

"Nope!" Chris was honestly looking everywhere except at Ashley right now, which was fine because she was currently in the middle of trying to hide behind her book. "There's absolutely no reason to do that. Because, because... I already kissed Josh too!"

"...you did?"

"Yup! Totally did. Just came over to see what you had planned to do about it actually. And because you're so much smarter than me, you had totally already done the same thing. So no reason for me to still bother you after all! None whatsoever! So I'll just let you get back to your book. And the battle between the uh, vampire and the, um, cowboy? Riveting stuff I bet."

"Um, yeah. But—"

"I'll just, uh, see you tomorrow then, I guess. Bye!"

Chris thinks he catches a wave of disappointment flash across her face when she returns his farewell, but he's already basically fled half away across the yard to find Josh so he doesn't think about it too much. And it turns out that Ashley is right, kissing Josh is wet and pretty fucking awful in the end. Which should only prove his idea that kissing her would have been just as bad and awkward.

So why does he feel like it would have actually been the complete opposite?

"I'm going to fail."

Ashley rolled her eyes as she struggled not to laugh. "Oh my god, you're not gonna fail Chris."

Chris didn't even deign to raise his head from where he had face-planted it into the open book only moments before, letting his words come out muffled and flat. "I am Ash. I am going to bomb this exam so hard that they're gonna make me repeat ninth grade."

Ashley groaned, but it was more of an attempt to hide her amusement than out of any exasperation, as she tried to lift Chris back into a sitting position and wasn't laid out prostrated over the table. "Okay first of all, get your dumb face out of that book. Ms. Norman is not gonna be happy with either of us if she discovers your drool all over the pages of the only half-decent copy of Lord of the Flies that the school library has." Once she finally has finally managed to prop Chris into a halfway decent sitting position, she moves the book closer to her in case he decides to try smashing his face into it again. "Second of all, I'm pretty sure that the school's not going to make you repeat the grade just because you failed English, your grades in everything else are high enough that they'll definitely pass you. That, and there is no way that the teachers would let Josh move on to high school of all things without supervision."

"...That is a scarily good point."

"And thirdly, there is absolutely no way I would be able to get through the next four years of school with you in my grade," she teases him with a poke in the arm. "I mean can you imagine? Having to go to class everyday knowing you're going to be there with me? I can't think of anything more terrifying honestly."

Chris gives a startled laugh. "Gee, thanks Ash. Really appreciate that vote of confidence. Making my self-esteem soar over here. And also, I for one can think of something way more terrifying."

"Really?" Ashley says as she crosses her arms across her chest and levels him with a disbelieving look. "Well go on then, try me. Cause I can promise you that there is absolutely nothing more terrifying—"

"Me and Josh in the same grade as you."

Ashley just blanches. "Oh god. You're right. That is so much worse and the idea of this even happening is now going to give me nightmares for the rest of my life."

"Oh please, it wouldn't be that bad."

"It would. It so would. And to prevent this we need to double down on you studying for your English final so that this cataclysmic event never occurs."

It's Chris's turn to roll his eyes as he slumps down even further into his seat. "That's what I was doing earlier until you stopped me."

"What? Planting your face into the middle of the book?"

"Exactly. Decided to try out a new method cause the other one wasn't certainly working. Learning by osmosis."

Ashley shoves her face into the palms of her hands to try and stop her giggles. It didn't work, not by a long shot, but it at least smothered them a bit. "You can't just read a book by trying to absorb it into your skin, that's not how things work at all!"

"And how would you know that Ash? Have you ever even tried?" Chris scoffs.

"Of course I haven't you dork! I haven't tried because that's not even possible!"

 "Um, sounds to me like someone just isn't open to new ideas."

"Oh my god. Can we please get back to studying and making sure you don't fail. I for one would really like to get back to that." Ashley starts to put the copy of the book back between the middle of them where they can both read it easily. "Okay, so chapter eight is where the divide between the boys finally reaches a boiling point after seeing the 'monster' on the mountain in the last chapter. They argue over whether Ralph should still be left in charge and Jack leaves in a huff."

Chris groaned as he tossed his glasses onto the table so he could throw his arm over his eyes. "Starting to think that Jack has the right idea here." he grumbled.

Ashley ignored him. "Some of the other boys follow after him and form their own tribe with Jack as its chief further down the beach. As a group, the hunters then fall into a savage frenzy when they go hunting and kill a sow, with Roger dealing the killing blow."

"By driving his spear into the thing’s ass," Chris helpfully supplied.

Ashley sighed. "Yes, by doing that. Good to know you're at least remembering some things, but do you remember what happened next?"

Though she couldn't see with Chris's arm in the way, she knew that he was narrowing his eyes in concentration. "Ummm, they... eat the pig?"

Ashley groaned and fought very hard against the impulse to smack her forehead into the center of the table. " Chris . "

"What? Do they not eat the thing? I mean, why even hunt it if they're not gonna eat it?"

"Chris, what they do next is the lead up for what is often considered the most important scene in the entire book! How can you not remember?!"

"I don't know Ash! Kind of think I was distracted by the whole 'shoving a spear into a sow's anus' part!"

"They leave its head on a stake in the jungle as an offering to the beast! This is what creates the Lord of the Flies that Simon sees later that night!"

"Oh right, that. Yeah that sounds a little familiar now that you mention it."

"A little—" Ashley stops fighting against the earlier urge and places her heavy head into her hands in despair. "You literally had to read this book last month! How could you have forgotten so much already?"

Chris groans and drapes himself over the back of his chair. "This is hopeless Ash. I appreciate the help I really do, but I think it's time we face the inevitable and just take a page out of this book."

"What, I stick your head on a pike and be done with you?"

The snort that Chris makes in surprise is enough to bring a tired smile to Ashley's face. "Leaving you to deal with Josh alone? Ha, you wouldn't. Nah, I was talking about just making an offering to the exam gods out there. Think they'll be the best bet I have to pass this shitty ass final."

Ashley removes her head from her hands to give him a withering look. "If we're going that route, you want a kiss for good luck too? Probably work just as well as those gods of yours."

There's an awkward pause, and at first Ashley can't figure out why but then the words finally hit her. She feels her face start to burn and she places her head back into her hands so she doesn't have to look at Chris anymore. Oh god, she can't believe she just said that. Why would she even say that in the first place?! It's a damn good thing that Chris isn't wearing his glasses right now, the heat from her face alone is making her feel like she's about to combust as it is, and him seeing that would probably push her over that physical boundary.

"I-I mean, if you think it will help..." Chris sounds almost bashful when he says it and Ashley snaps her head to him in shock.

"I—" Ashley isn't quite sure what she's trying to say, and is interrupted when her phone buzzes with an incoming text message. She immediately jumps up from her chair and starts grabbing at her things. "Oh man, that's probably my mom here to pick me up. I should really get going."

"Uh, yeah. Yeah! No reason for me to stay if you aren't so I guess I should head out too." Chris starts picking up his stuff too, putting his glasses back onto his face as he shoves his books into his bag.

By nature of having brought less than Chris to help him study, Ashley finishes cleaning first but doesn't leave right away. Chris had said it was fine after all. And sure, maybe he was just desperate for anything that will help him pass his final, but he said it would be fine. So steeling herself, Ashley leans down and leaves a quick but chaste kiss on Chris's cheek.

"For luck!" She manages to squeak out as she all but runs out the doors of the library to the school's entrance where her mom will be waiting for her, too scared to even look back. 

Chris should have known that something was up the moment Josh brought it up: 'Hey, how about you and Ash hang out at my house this weekend instead?' Innocent sounding sure, but he really, really should have known better. Josh never pushed for hang outs at his place, it had always been an agreed upon rule that Hannah and Beth got their place, while Josh preferred to host their get togethers and his and Ash's own houses. It was just the thing that was done and everyone had been more than happy with how it was. Had it been any other time, Chris would like to think that he would have totally seen right through Josh's plan and offered up his place instead.

But Josh's parents were almost never around either, and that meant staying up late and talking and goofing around without parents warning them to go to sleep. Which most importantly meant staying up late and talking to Ashley, because that hadn't been a thing that the three of them had been able to do a whole lot recently. It was still so weird not seeing Ash around in the school halls, not being able to hang out at lunch, and not meeting up after school all the time. It felt like there was something huge missing and it bothered him (just as much as it bothered Josh, not that he would ever say anything about it). The two of them wandering the hallowed halls of high school while she was still stuck back in their middle school just felt so wrong .

So when Josh had brought up a weekend hang out, Chris (and Ashley) had accepted right away. Which, judging from the fact that Josh had somehow managed to weasel the two of them into playing a game of Truth or Dare with him, had been a huge mistake.

"Well, well, well. It seems the time has come. So let's get on with it shall we?" Josh rubbed his hands gleefully together in the dim light of the bedroom (for atmosphere he had claimed) as the three of them sat in a circle. A seemingly innocuous plate of cookies sitting in the middle of them, and knowing better then to trust Josh, both Chris and Ash had been eyeing the cookies warily for the past few minutes. Not that Josh seemed to notice or care of course. "Seeing as I'm the one who set up elegant little ritual—"

"You forced us into playing a stupid game dude, there's nothing elegant or ritualistic about it."

Josh ignored him, unsurprisingly. "I'll go first of course. So Ash, truth or dare?"

"What are the cookies for Josh?" Ashley asked nervously as she continued to eye the plate instead of answering him.

"That's not important. And anyways, it's my turn Ash. So I'll ask again: truth or dare Ashley?"

Ashley raised her eyes from the plate to transfer her nervous and mistrustful stare to him. "...truth," she answered slowly.

"Oh ho ho! So truth it is! Well then Ash, tell me: have you got any secrets you've been dying to share with us?"

Chris could immediately tell that the question had hit a sore spot on some sort, shoulders locked and her body stiff. "You know I'm not gonna answer that one. Pass."

Josh shook his head, a devious smile on his lips. "Nope. Nuh uh Miss Brown. That's not how this game works. If you're gonna pass then I'm gonna have to ask that you take a cookie in return."

"...I'm sorry, what? "

He waved a hand down towards the plate of cookies. "These, my dearest chums, are the fabled Truth or Dare cookies. Anytime one of us refuses to act out what is asked of us, we must then take a cookie in penance."

At first, Ashley doesn't move. She continues to dart her eyes suspiciously between Josh and the plate of cookies, but eventually slowly does reach out and hesitantly grab a chocolate cookie from the plate. She holds it up closer to her face to investigate it further, and Chris watches as all the tension she had stored up just evaporates from her as she physically deflates. "Oh my god, are you actually being serious right now Josh? ‘Dare’ brand cookies? Really? Why in the world are you trying to be so ominous when you went with a pun as lame as using Dare cookies in a game of truth or dare?"

"Wait, really?" Chris reaches out to grab one for himself but Josh smacks his hand away with a grin. 

"So sorry Cochise, but these are only for if you refuse. And trust me, you don't want to refuse." Josh turns back to Ashley. "Oh, and don't eat that just yet." 

In response, she just shrugs and leans back, but keeps the chocolate crème filled cookie in her hand as she looks between Chris and Josh. "It's my turn now, right? Okay, so—"

Josh cuts her off. "Nope, still mine. Now, Chris—"

"What? That's not how this stupid game works Josh!"

Josh waves her off. "You didn't answer my question Ash, or eat the cookie, so it's still my turn."

"But you just told me not to eat the stupid thing!"

Josh ignores her as he keeps his attention squarely on Chris. Who, to his own shame, has begun squirming in his seat in dread of what's going to come. "Well, Chris: truth or dare?"

Chris tosses the options over in his head. Both are terrible obviously, but playing this game with Josh of all people never ends well, so he decides to go with his gut instead. "Dare."

"Ooooh, feeling a little gutsy are we? That's fine, I can work with that. I dare you to... return the favour and do one thing you've been thinking about alllllllll summer."

Personally, Chris is finding it a miracle that he hasn't reached over and tried to strangle Josh yet, but he has a feeling that has more to do with the fact that he's trying not to shrivel up on the floor and die than out of any mercy. Even though Josh for some reason worded it in a really convoluted way, he just literally dared him to kiss Ash. It was so obvious that he was frankly amazed that Ashley hadn't figured it out yet.

Because of course he still thought about that kiss for good luck that Ash had given him in the library. He thought about it nearly all the damn time! Hell, Chris was pretty sure that the reason he had even passed his final even a little bit was because of the kiss. Not because it was good luck or anything, but because whenever a question appeared on the exam that asked about the themes or some shit about Lord of the Flies, he kept getting sent back into that library where Ashley had been drilling the same stuff into him just before she had kissed his cheek.

And there is absolutely no way that he's gonna kiss Ash in Josh's bedroom. No way in hell. Especially not when it's gonna reveal that he had been thinking about what was more than likely a super innocent and helpful gesture on her part.

So glaring at Josh, Chris reaches forward and without a word grabs a vanilla cookie. And for some strange reason, this only causes Josh's smile to widen. "I see, so that's what you both went with huh? Anyways, I think it's about time you take your 'reward' and chow down!"

Exchanging a confused look with Ashley, Chris nonetheless shrugs and pops the entire thing into his mouth and bites down.

And realizes in a horrifying instant that this is not a vanilla cookie.

There's a flash of light that blinds him for a second, and when the spots clear he sees Josh holding a camera and laughing his ass off.

"What the—? Is this fucking mayo dude?!" And it must be, because this is not what a vanilla cookie should ever taste like. While the cookie portion itself is okay if not a little soft, the crème is way too oily and eggy to be anything but mayo. Josh doesn't answer his question right away, but that's from a combo of laughing way too hard and being distracted by Ash trying not to retch in the middle of the bedroom floor.

"Oh my god! You put soy sauce in a cookie?! What is wrong with you Josh?!" She's up in a second and rushing to the garbage can near Josh's desk, and Chris is quick to join her in trying to spit everything out. "I'm never going to get this salt out of my mouth! Why would you even do that?!"

"Cause it's fucking hilarious that's why!" Josh is still laughing as he takes a look at the picture he took on the camera, and starts laughing harder. "Oh fucking hell, this was glorious. Oh wasting those two questions just for this picture was so worth it. Best decision I could have made!

"Now you two get your asses back over here! I spent hours on these cookies after all, and I am not letting them go to waste. We've got hours my friends, and so many questions and dares to get through."

Chris shares a look with Ashley over the garbage bin, both of them now obviously wondering if keeping their own secret had been worth having to eat those cookies, and if they still would have passed their turn knowing what exactly laid in store for them. While he certainly couldn't say a thing about her, Chris wasn't so sure if not kissing Ash and enduring all the fallout that would have resulted in was worth the terrible combination of vanilla and mayo in his mouth. He supposed he would never know, it was too late to simply retract his pass after all.

And well, he really didn't want to kiss Ash when she had just been tricked into eating a bunch of soy sauce.

You know, Ashley kind of figured that once she entered high school all of these stupid games would be done with. Surely high schoolers were too mature and too old to be playing childish games like spin-the-bottle or seven minutes in heaven? And yeah, obviously Chris and Josh weren't, but that was them and they were in a class all their own. But Hannah? And Sam and Beth? She would have thought that they were way too cool to be playing spin-the-bottle of all things, especially Beth.

And yet, here Ashley was: squeezed in between Matt and Sam as Matt spun the bottle around on the now extremely sticky hardwood floor. She wasn't stupid, she knew the entire reason the game was even being played in the first place; Hannah had been making eyes at Mike all through the evening and well into the game after all. She just didn't think that anyone else would have been stupid enough to go along with the game when Hannah suggested it. 

(Ashley knew very well why she had reluctantly agreed to play, she just didn't know why anyone else did.)

Though to be fair, it didn't seem like the game was gonna last much longer anyway. Emily and Jess had started scrolling through their phones ages ago, showing each other whatever was on the other's screen every few minutes and the two of them laughing. Mike had been tapping a really off-rhythm beat on his jeans with the straw from his can of soda and staring into space, while Hannah stared lovesick at him . Beth was starting to doze on Sam's shoulder, not that either seemed too concerned about it, and Sam was nervously eyeing all the spilt pop and chips around them that they were gonna have to clean up before they went to bed. Unsurprisingly, Chris was also scrolling through his phone, snickering every now and then as Ashley felt her phone buzz in the pocket of her hoodie whenever he sent whatever it was that he found funny to her and Josh. Josh meanwhile, had joined Matt in building a rather shaky—if not impressive—tower out of discarded plastic cups, straws, and paper plates.

Ashley yawned behind her hand as the bottle slowed it's spin. She had been ready to drop out of the game a round or two back, but hadn't yet because she didn't want to deal with the others teasing her on being a sore loser who backs down the moment the bottle didn't land on the person she wanted it to. Which would lead to Chris asking who it was even though everyone else already knew who because it was glaringly obvious to everyone except him. The sound of the bottle stopping its spin managed to get everyone's attention as they looked at the neck of the bottle pointed squarely at Mike. 

Everyone made the expected ' oooooooh ' and wolf whistles that everyone always did in this game, though quieter than they might have usually. Bob and Melinda were sleeping upstairs after all, and the last thing any of them wanted to do was wake them up and have them discover that despite it being nearly three in the morning, that the ten of them were still awake as the snow storm raged outside the lodge. Nonetheless, Matt and Mike both rolled their eyes and leaned over Josh who sat in the middle of them with a groan. Mike also didn't hesitate to take Matt's face into his hands and just plant one firmly on his mouth with no fanfare, other than the continued wolf whistles of course, and the two of them settled back down to their previous antics. 

With that done, Ashley stared down nervously at the bottle. Once again, she felt the words stick in her throat. It would just be so easy to say "Oh man you guys, it's really late, I should really just go to bed" but let them die without a fight as she swallowed nervously and gave the bottle a hard flick. She knew exactly why she let the words die, and it wasn't solely because of what the others would say, though that was certainly a large part of it. No, it was because of the same glimmer of hope that sparked in her everytime it was her turn at this stupid game. That maybe this would be the time that the bottle would land on Chris, that she would finally get that kiss she's wanted for three years now.

She watches the bottle spin around the group, slowing its motion every full spin, and she notices that Chris has turned his attention away from his phone to watch it almost as nervously as she is. Which should probably make her question just why Chris is as just as invested on who it's gonna land on as she is, but she's kind of distracted right now by the fact that her heart is rapidly picking up pace in direct contrast to how much slower the bottle is getting. And feels it stop almost entirely when the bottle begins its last revolution and she knows. She knows . It's finally gonna land on Chris. All these years of playing this stupid, stupid game and it's finally happening.  

Ashley's eyes shoot up to meet Chris's over the bottle, but that's also when the lodge suddenly plunges into darkness just before the bottle stops on him.

Immediately, the others are screaming next to her and the tower of cups and plates fall with a soft clatter.

"Oh my god! What the fuck was that?!"

"Holy fuck! Can you guys see anything?"

"Of course we can't see anything Michael!"

"It's probably just the storm you guys. Settle down."

"Can you guys please quiet down? My parents are sleeping and they're gonna kill us if they find out we're still awake."

Ashley isn't yelling though, because she's too busy screaming internally. There is no way that this is actually happening right now. There is no goddamn way. The bottle finally lands on Chris and the power goes out? Because of some stupid storm? She wanted to scream. She has half a mind to reach out and hold the bottle in place so there's proof of this when the power comes on, or to just jump over the distance and kiss Chris anyway. She knows exactly where he is after all, and he must have seen it land on him. He must have, right? It's that little second of uncertainty that decides for her, there's a sound as someone gets up and the flat 'thunk' as they accidentally kick the bottle across the room.

"Shit. My bad. You guys stay here, I'll go and check out the back-up generator in the basement. You coming, Cochise?"

Ashley can hear Chris awkwardly and quickly getting to his feet. "Um, y-yeah. Right behind you, bro."

The two of them walk away leaving Ashley to sit on the floor about to scream from the frustration of it all. And she does scream that it is, though not from almost having the perfect excuse to kiss Chris, but from someone touching her shoulder.

"Sorry, sorry!" Sam apologizes. "You were so quiet Ashley that I got nervous. I know that you're scared of the dark and I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Oh, yeah. That's right. She was so preoccupied with the dark ruining what was almost going to be the highlight of her entire year , that she kind of forgot that it was, well, dark now. And once that realization hits her, so too does the fear that she's sitting in absolute darkness and can't see a single thing other than the lights being cast from everyone’s phones. That she has no idea what else—or who else—is out there. She frantically reaches out and wraps up Sam's arm in her own for a physical reminder that there is someone else she trusts in the darkness with her.

"Wait, you're scared of the dark Ash? Shit. Here, just give me a second." From next to her, Matt rustles in his jacket pocket and brings out his phone, turning it on and casting light around the room, and reflecting off the plastic bottle that Josh had accidentally kicked to the other side of the room. "Hope this helps a bit."

Ashley lets out a breath and a small smile. "Yeah, it does. Thanks Matt."

"No problem. Hey, I think I may have a funny video saved on here somewhere. Pretty sure I downloaded it so just give me a moment." He finds the video quickly enough, and while Ashley doesn't find it particularly as funny as he clearly did, she does appreciate the effort anyway.

Thankfully for everyone, the lights come back on soon enough. Though whether from the power coming back or the back-up generator activating, she isn't sure. It is enough to convince everyone that maybe it's time for bed though, and no one asks about her spin and who it landed on, which Ashley is both insulted for and thankful of in equal measure. Sam unfortunately reminds everyone of the mess they've all made of the great room though, and that they should all clean it up before Bob and Melinda wake up and find it, which Hannah and Beth eagerly echo, and so does Josh when he makes his way back up from the basement with scowling Chris in tow.

Thankfully, between the ten of them, the clean up takes very little time and they're all on their way back to their own rooms in record time, even if Ashley was too embarrassed to even look at Chris now. God, she couldn't believe that she had seriously considered jumping him! And for what? Just because some bottle told her to? Oh man, she never would have been able to live that down. She still spends more time then needed to get ready in the bathroom, and then laying in bed with her lamp on in the hopes that maybe Chris will knock on her door to confront her about the spin and ask for that kiss.

While the fact that he doesn't make an appearance doesn't surprise her, it's still a little depressing. 

Chris is going to kill Josh. He is going to kill him . And he means it this time. Years spent watching Josh's horror shit and listening to Ash go on and on about her mystery novels should have given him a real edge actually. He can murder Josh violently in the way that the weirdo would probably like to go and then Ash can help him get rid of the body so that no one will ever know it was him. Easy.

You know, assuming Ashley is still gonna want to even associate with him after this.

"You feeling okay, Chris? You're starting to look a little red... and surly."

"Yup, I'm fine. Just peachy in fact." Chris takes another swig of the punch that has somehow not been spiked yet, and tries to plaster a smile on his face for her only to once again start looking over her shoulder. Not that there's anything interesting over her shoulder of course, unless one finds a group of football seniors trying to play a game of chicken in the middle of the dance hall interesting, but it's easier than looking straight at her. Not because she looks terrible of course—good god is that not the reason—but because she is way too fucking gorgeous for him to handle right now.

When Chris had decided to invite her to his and Josh's grad thing, it had just been a way for all three of them to hang out and enjoy their last year of high school together. School rules dictated after all that for some stupid reason, graduates weren't allowed to invite anyone who wasn't in school anymore so Ash wasn't going to be able to ask them to hers next year. Which was complete and utter bullshit of course, but that was beside the point. It was supposed to be a fun night... and then Chris's parents found out. And being the complete pain in the asses they are, they insisted that if Ash was going to this party with them, and it was a formal party, then they needed to make this proper. So against his wishes and leaving Chris wanting to die, they went and found out what colour of dress Ash was going to be wearing and got him not only a matching tie but a fucking corsage to go with it! The only thing that had made all of that even a little better, was that they had forced Josh to go along with it so at least he wouldn't be alone. 

But then Josh had showed up not wearing his stupid tie and without the fucking flowers. And despite Chris's repeated protests that he didn't want to do the whole matching thing, especially if Josh wasn't doing it, his parents still made him do it anyway, saying all the while that 'it would make Ashley happy, you do want to make Ashley happy don't you?' And now here he was, sitting with Ashley at their table while she wore his stupid flowers on her wrist and his tie matched her green dress.

He hated how fucking obvious his crush was s0 much.

"...It's because of what everyone's been saying isn't it?"

At the dejected tone of her voice, Chris immediately snaps his full attention to her, leaving his glass of punch forgotten as he flaps his hands around in an effort to not reach out and grab at her hand. "What? No! God no! That isn't it I swear!"

Ashley sighs sadly as she looks glumly down at her lap. "It's fine Chris. I can understand if it's making you uncomfortable."

Chris takes one of his ineffectually flapping hands and makes to run it through his hair, before remembering the amount of gel he had put in it before coming and rubs at his eyes beneath his glasses. "I'm serious Ash, that's not it. I was honestly just thinking about the different ways I'm going to murder Josh when he gets back."

She laughs a little at that, and turns to look out into the direction of the buffet table, as though she'll be able to see Josh coming back with their food through the literal sea of people. "He has been gone a while hasn't he? He left like twenty minutes ago and he still isn't back. Do you think he even went to the buffet table in the first place?"

"He better have. Him coming back with food is probably about the only thing that's going to stop me from murdering him honestly."

Ashley laughs a little louder, and when she pushes a stray strand of hair that had come undone from her simply styled updo, Chris catches the while flowers on her wrist and feels his stomach flip pleasantly. "Any particular reason you want to kill Josh this time?"

"I mean, I have plenty but let's just be honest with ourselves here: do either of us ever need a reason to wanna kill Josh, Ash?"

And there it is, the surprised snort he was waiting for and that just made this entire evening a little more bearable. "God, you're not wrong." She follows his eye line to the corsage on her wrist and just like that all levity to the situation is gone as she hides her hands back in her lap under the table. "...you're sure that you're okay with what everyone is saying though?" she asks a little nervously.

Honestly? No, he isn't. Ever since the three of them walked into the party, everyone they had talked to right away had noticed the matching colours and the corsage and all comments had been the same. 'Fucking knew that there was something going on between you two' and 'Hey, it's about fucking time' or 'Always knew that you two would be good together'. It had been bad enough realizing that apparently almost everyone he had ever spoken to even a little bit had known of his super obvious feelings for his best friend, but the absolute worst thing had been the pained but polite smile that Ash had forced onto her face every single time.

"Honestly, I'm never going to see most of these people ever again once I graduate." He's avoiding the question, and he knows that she knows that he's avoiding the question. "But you're probably gonna have to deal with people brining this stupid thing up for the entire next year. Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. It's not like this is something I don't deal with already." She says it with a little shrug and smile, but Chris can feel his heart sink anyway. How long has she had to deal with the bullshit that his stupid crush has caused her, and why had she never told him? It's way too late to try and fix things, but he can at least hopefully try and stop any further comments from coming, so he lets his fingers fly to his tie and starts to frantically undo it. "...What are you doing Chris?"

"Wondering why on earth I let my parents talk me into this. This is obviously making you uncomfortable and I should have taken this stupid thing off ages ago." His fingers keep catching on the knot and he lets out a fairly explicit curse under his breath.

Ashley's eyes go wide with realization. "Oh!" She instantly flips over her wrist and starts fumbling at the clasp of the corsage with her other hand and Chris finds that his heart has somehow managed to travel all the way from the bottom of his stomach straight into his throat. Abandoning his only partially undone tie, he lays his hand on hers to stop her.

"You don't have to do that." She's staring at their hands in wide-eyed shock, and his breath catches. "Not if you don't want to, that is. It-it looks good on you."

"Okay," she whispers softly, eyes still wide as her fingers leave her wrist, "I can leave it on."

"Only if you want to though." When the hell did his mouth get so dry?!  

"I do," she looks up to him when she says it, and the earnestness of her smile bowls him over. "I really, really do." In an effort to try and distract himself from her smile, he starts fumbling at his tie once again and he catches her eyes flickering to it. Ashley's smile somehow only brightens as she laughs at him. "Here. Let me give you a hand with that."

She scoots her chair closer to him and he removes his hands from his tie so she can take over. The two of them say nothing as she places all of her attention on continuing to loosen the knot, while Chris tries his absolute hardest not to swallow...or breathe...or do anything at all really, as he just stares down at her in awe.

Once the knot is finally undone, Ashley slowly pulls the entire length of fabric from his neck and places it on the table, before putting her hands back where they were so she can carefully smooth out his shirt collar. And when she looks back up at him with a smile, he can feel the entire world stop as they just stare at each other and Chris slowly starts to close the infinitesimally small distance between them. And he's probably just imagining things, but he thinks that she's doing the same thing as well.

"Jesus Christ, sorry it took so long you guys. Line for the fucking food was longer then you would believe!"

The two of them fly apart so fiercely, that Chris's entire chair manages to tip over backwards and send him to the ground with a loud clatter. He can feel everyone's eyes on them and the murmurs that follow, and he hopes that they're mistaking the redness of his face for the embarrassment of falling out of his chair. Yeah, that's a story that's going to make the rounds before he graduates for sure.

"Shit, you okay bro?" From his spot on the floor, Chris watches Josh place a couple of plates absolutely piled high in food on the table and reach down to help him up with a laugh. "Oh hey, I see you finally decided to take off that stupid tie too. Surprised it took you this long honestly."

Chris accepts Josh's hand up. "Yup, me too." He hopes and prays that Josh just thinks that the absolutely breathless and stunted quality to his words is that he's just a little winded from the fall. Once he gets his chair back up and sits back down, he grabs at the tie to shove it in his pocket. He notices that Ashley is refusing to look at him as she digs out a couple of sandwiches from the miscellaneous pile of food, even as she fiddles with the strap of flowers on her wrist for the rest of the meal.

He's exceptionally thrilled to note that she does keep the corsage on the rest of the night though.

Five times. That's how many times her phone has gone off in her pocket. Five. Times. And every single time Ashley lets out a sigh of relief when the buzzing finally stops, it goes off again only seconds later. And checking the caller id the first couple of times only showed that it was Josh calling her. Normally Ashley liked to think that she would have answered her phone if it was literally anyone else, but this was Josh. He called for every little thing after all; from letting her know that he saw a super big dog on the way home from classes to informing her that he was out of chips and if Ash could pick some up on her way to meet them from her job then that would really just be swell. And considering that he and Chris were supposed to meet her and grab a bite to eat together while she was on her lunch break, he was probably just calling to let her know that they had just left, and to make a milestone out of every block closer the two of them got so she could greet them with all the pomp and circumstance he likely thought he deserved. 

Though to be fair she probably would have answered her phone after the third ring, if only to tell him off, but Jared had been giving her a stink eye from his office pretty much since she had arrived so she hadn't.

So she let it buzz...and buzz...and buzz. Until finally, her phone stopped yet again and she tensed her shoulders ready for the next round of vibrations to start. But there was nothing. Nothing but blissful silence coming from her pocket and she let out a huge sigh of relief as Ashley got back to work shelving some of the new stock, letting Kyrstin and Curtis deal with the short line of customers that had begun to form as they bought their books and whatever little trinkets littered the entire front of the store.

She hoped Chris and Josh got here soon, she was overdue for her lunch break and the smells coming out of the nearby food court were calling her name. Particularly the chinese place, she had been craving them for the last week at least . Plus, Jared had been raking her over coals about how her availability was going to drop dramatically once she started college in the next couple of weeks, and one of the creepy regulars had followed her around the store for-freaking- ever (she's pretty sure he had been staring at her ass the whole time too honestly) until Curtis had basically shoved her into the back room to let her escape while he covered for her. And surprise surprise, Jared hadn't been too thrilled about her 'abandoning her post' and yelled at her about that too. 

Whoever said that working in a bookstore was a lazy job where she got to read books in her free time was a dirty, rotten liar. It was hell on earth and she was going to slowly tear the fingernails off whoever it was that said it (even though she had a sinking feeling it had probably be Ashley herself that said it back when she romanticized working in bookstores when she was, like, ten ). God, she really really needed that Chinese if she had any plans of surviving the last four hours of her shift.

The phone at the front desk behind her begins to ring, but a quick backwards glance has her realizing that with poor Curtis trying to deal with an older woman who is adamant that the book he's trying to sell her is the wrong one because she is 'positive that the book had a light purple cover and this one is lavender, that is two different colours and I want the right book now ' and Kyrstin being forced to deal with the rest of the line herself, that Ashley's the one who's going to have to answer the phone. With a groan of resignation (she hated answering the phone at work but Jared was in a horrendous enough mood as it was), she stood up and made her way over, repeating the greeting she was going to have to say over and over in her head so she (hopefully) wouldn't mess it up. And taking a deep breath, and repeating the greeting once more in her head, she forced a smile to her face as she picked up the handset.

"Hi! Thanks for calling—"

"Fucking finally Ash."

In an instant, Ashley could feel every ounce of nervous energy violently expel from her body as she nearly doubled over with another groan, this one entirely of exhaustion. She took quick glance over her shoulder, but Jared seemed to busy with another phone call in his office thankfully. "What are you doing Josh?!" she whispered angrily, "I'm at work right now you moron!"

"Uh yeah, I know. Why do you think I called you using this number?"

Ashley gave Kyrstin an apologetic and pained smile when she looked at her curiously, who responded with a good-natured shake of her head and a laugh under her breath as she turned to help the next customer. "Well, you didn't have to call here."

"Kinda did, Ash. You kept ignoring me."

"I was ignoring your calls you butt, you could have just texted me instead you know."

"Hmmm, no. Anyways I tried calling to tell you that Chris and I might not be able to meet up with you for lunch."

Ashley felt disappointment flood her entire being. "Oh. I see. But you really could have just—"

"We're at the hospital while Chris gets some x-rays done."

Immediately any disappointment fled her body as Ashley all but collapsed on the counter for support as her legs gave out on her. "Is he okay?! Oh god, is he okay Josh?!"

There's a pause on the phone and all Ashley can hear is her own blood pounding in her ears. He has to be okay. He has to be, he just has to be!

"I dunno, it was a pretty gnarly fall. Don't know if he'll ever truly recover, there was a lot of screaming after all."

Ashley doesn't even respond as she slams down the phone and turns to Kyrstin and Curtis who are looking at her in shock as her entire world falls to pieces around her. "I-I have to go. Chris is... Chris is..." she can't get anymore out with how it feels like someone is ripping her heart out of her chest. "Josh said he's in the hospital and...and..."

Curtis nods quickly as he runs to the staff room, and Kyrstin just starts shoving her towards the door as they all ignore the customers who are standing around awkwardly. "Go. We got this."

Ashley turns her head towards Jared's office. "But I gotta—and, and I need to grab my stuff—

"Nope. You go. Curtis and I will figure something out, and Becks arrives for her shift in another half hour. We can manage just fine until then. You just get out of here right now."

Ashley doesn't try to fight anymore than that, not with how hard she's fighting to hold back breaking down in the middle of the store after all. Curtis meets her at the entrance with her bag and shoves it into her arms. "Do you need me to call you a taxi, or give you a ride, or anything? Kyrstin can drag Jared out of his cave if she's gotta." Next to him, Kyrstin nods furiously in agreement.

Ashley has never loved anyone as much as she loves her coworkers in this instant. "No, my-my mom gave me the car for today."

With that little bit of approval, and a random customer shouting ‘I hope he's okay hun!’ at her, the two of them shove Ashley into the mall itself and the very instant she crosses that threshold she takes off running, shoving her way through people and nearly falling down the stairs in her effort to get to the parking lot as quickly as she can. She is so, so glad that her mom basically forced the car on her today instead of letting her take the bus as originally planned, she doesn't know how she would have lasted if she'd had to wait for a taxi to arrive and pick her up.

As it is, once she's finally (and somehow safely) managed to arrive at the hospital and found a spot to park, she's nonplussed about the fact that she didn't leave any imprints in the steering wheel from how hard she had been gripping it the whole drive over. She fumbles with the clasp on her seatbelt with shaking hands, almost bursting into tears about that fact alone, but she eventually manages to free herself and basically throws herself out of the car, only remembering to lock the door behind her when she's about halfway to the hospital doors.

The moment she bursts into the waiting room, Josh is sitting there waiting for her. He looks up at her in surprise as she hurries towards him, then down at his phone and back up at her again as he gives a low whistle. "Shit Ash, how many laws did you break to get here that fast?"

She ignores him. "What happened?! How is he?! Just tell me he's okay! Please, please tell me he's okay!"

"I mean, I suppose he's as fine as he could be considering the circumstances." He seems to sense that she's about ready to scream at him so he quickly follows up with "He's on the second floor, in room 272 if you want to see him."

Ashley doesn't even bother to thank him as she bolts to the nearby elevator, frantically pushing the 'Call Elevator' button nonstop until the door opens and then doing the same thing to the second floor button as it carries her up. Her eyes are burning in an effort to hold back her tears but she can tell that the dam is about to burst any second, especially with how long this elevator is taking to move. She doesn't even wait for the doors to open fully, squeezing through them the moment they're wide enough and accosting some poor nurse until he points her down the correct hall. She hurries the rest of the way, staring at every number on the wall until she finds room 272. And then she stops, her hand on the door knob as she braces herself for whatever she's going to find. Chris lying in bed, covered in blood and bandages with a heart monitor beeping next to him, just broken and shattered beyond all repair. With a choked back sob she opens the door—

and finds Chris sitting on the bed looking up at the ceiling bored to tears with a splint wrapped around his pinky and ring finger on his right hand.

"Finally! I thought you would never get here, so if we could just get this over with—" he looks over at her standing in the doorway shell shocked and still in her work uniform and jumps to his feet. "A-Ash?! What the hell are you doing here— Wait, did you just come here straight from work?! "

"You're okay?" Ashley hates how small her voice comes out, "You're really okay?"

"What? Yeah, why wouldn't I be? Who told you—"

Spell broken, Ashley’s bag falls from her shoulder to the ground with a small clatter and she dives towards Chris, wrapping him in a tight hug. "Oh thank god. Oh thank god. " Chris starts to return the hug, likely more than a little confused about what's going on, but she's already moved so her hands are on either side of his face as she tugs him down to her level so she can get a better look at him. Twisting and turning his head this way and that as she looks for any bruises or cuts. "Josh told me that there had been an accident and—"

"Ash!" Chris interrupts her by taking her wrists in his hands—though he winces at the pain that likely forms as a result of doing so—and speaks as calmly and reassuringly to her as he can. "Ash, it's okay. I'm fine . I promise. I just tripped earlier that's all."

Ashley takes in the sight of the scuffed up palms of his hands, and the holes in the knees of his jeans that certainly hadn't been there before, and knows that Chris is telling the truth. Though it doesn't explain the splint on his hand.

"Okay, and I might have broken my finger doing so."

Ashley just stands there so dumbfounded and relieved in equal measure, that she blurts out "Josh said that there had been screaming."

To her surprise, Chris only gives an embarrassed groan as he stares at an area just over her shoulder "God, Josh is never gonna let me live that down is he? Okay, so my finger may not have been the only thing that broke..." Confused, mainly because except for the bandaged finger and ripped jeans he seems perfectly okay, Ashley looks over her shoulder and follows his eyes to his phone laying on the counter just behind her. The screen completely shattered to hell and back with no promise of life anywhere on it. Just the dead, black screen reflecting the ceiling above on its cracked surface 

"Wait," Ashley starts to feel the relieved giggles try to break free as her nerves finally settle, "are you telling me that you broke your finger but you were more worried about your phone? "

Chris sputters as he starts to wave his splinted finger infront of her face. "I mean obviously! This doesn't cost me any money to fix Ash; that's what health care's for! But my phone? Do you know how expensive that thing's going to be to replace? How many paychecks I'm going to have to put towards it? All the money I saved up this summer for school: gone! All because of a stupid little sidewalk curb!"

Ashley can't help it, she starts laughing uncontrollably as she collapses into a nearby chair with her head in her hands. "Oh, I am going to kill Josh when I see him, kill him! And then Jared's gonna kill me for bailing at work and not telling him! God, and I just left in the middle of a rush too! Remind me to buy Kyrstin and Curtis a cake or flowers or something as an apology. Oh my god ."

"You just ditched work? Ash!" Chris falls back onto the bed as he laughs with her. "Why would you even do that in the first place?!"

"Josh told me that you were in the hospital getting x-rays! What was I supposed to think?"

Chris rubs at his eyes beneath his glasses. "I asked him to let you know that we were probably gonna be a little late for lunch while I waited to get my cast! Fucking hell, I'm so sorry."

"Am I interrupting anything or..."

The two of them turn to see a doctor looking up at them with an upturned brow, and holding what Ashley assumes (and hopes) to be the materials needed for Chris's cast. "This is Chris Hartley's room correct?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. That's me."

The doctor nods, and walks towards Chris, but stops in front of the chair Ashley is sitting in. "I'm sorry, but I will be needing that chair sweetheart." With a squeak of apology, Ashley jumps out the chair and moves back by the door so fast that she's almost certain that she had managed to teleport over there, almost tripping over her forgotten bag in the process. Red-faced, she picks it back up and goes to leave (and possibly strangle Josh violently) but is stopped by the same doctor as she sits down in the chair with a chuckle, shaking her head. "You don't have to leave if you don't want to. It'll only take a couple of minutes to get this cast on and then he'll be free to leave with you." 

Now even more red-faced (if that was even possible), Ashley just slowly shuffles over to the table where Chris's (broken) phone and wallet is, nervously fidgeting with the strap of her bag as she waits for Chris to get the cast on. Taking Chris's hand in her own, the doctor—Dr. Klorens her name tag reads—scowls at the now slightly bent fingers in the splint, which Chris only gives a sheepish shrug and smile to, and sighs as she unwraps his fingers so she can reset the splint. And Ashley blanches at the deep, dark bruises that spread all the way from the middle of his pinky to nearly halfway down his palm that she had completely failed to notice earlier before those are once again lost. 

And as promised, once the Dr. Klorens has put the cotton sleeve over his hand and trimmed it to the desired length, it only takes her another couple of minutes to wrap starting from the center of his forearm and all the way up to the center of his palm and then finally finishing with his splinted fingers. As the three of them wait for the fibreglass material to dry, Dr. Klorens goes over the do's and don'ts of cast care, which Ashley takes serious note of because she knows that Chris won't. Especially the 'do NOT get the cast wet' part, he's gonna forget about that one the moment Josh tries to bait him into another water gun fight.

"Alright, I think that's about it. Just come back in three weeks so we can do another x-ray to check and make sure that the bone's all healed up before we remove it. Just let someone know that you're done with the room when you leave, and remember to check out at the front desk." She gathers up her supplies and makes to leave, but stops to look over her shoulder at them with an amused smile on her face. "Oh, and if you two take the stairs, just make sure that you're careful. I know that we're in a hospital already, but I don't think any of us want to deal with any more tripping instances. Especially if they result in another broken bone." After waiting for Chris and Ashley to meekly agree to be careful, she finally leaves the two of them alone once again.

"Welp, that's it for my summer. 'Fraid I'm nothing but a cripple now."

Sighing, Ashley turns to Chris with a tired smile. "You are not a cripple, oh my god. You have a broken finger, you didn't lose the entire arm you dork."

Incensed, Chris waves his cast at her. "Um, do you not see this thing Ash? I may as well have. I've lost the use of two of my fingers now! Two! And on my right hand to boot. I can't hold a controller to play games with, I can't type, I can't text. What am I supposed to do Ash if I can't hold a single thing in my dominant hand anymore?"

"I'm sure you'll manage," she dryly responds. "Now come on, let's get out of here. I have to figure out how in the world I'm going to explain this to Jared so he doesn't fire me."

"Pretty sure that you should just let him if you ask me."

Ashley groans in agreement, but says "It's only another couple of weeks until college starts. Just hoping I can hold out until then, I need the money after all."

Chris lets out a resigned breath but then starts eyeing her work apron. "You got a sharpie in there?"

"Um, I think so. Why?"

"Uh, so you can sign my cast, duh. You missed out when I broke my arm when I was like nine, so you can be the first to get your name on this one."

"Trying to weasel my autograph out of me huh?" Ashley asks even as she digs through one of her pockets to pull out the sharpie in question, and joins Chris to sit next to him on the bed.

Chris laughs. "Damn, you figured out my devious plan. Thing’s gonna be worth a fortune when you make it onto the bestsellers list one day. Gonna be fighting off all sorts of crazed and fanatic fans."

Ashley shakes her head as she chuckles and writes her name on his arm, but pauses when she caps the pen. Seeing her name on his cast suddenly pulls everything back into vivid clarity, and she remembers the panic she had felt when she had thought—when she had believed —that she had nearly lost him. That this was it, that he was here one day and gone the next, and she hadn't even told him how much he meant to her. How important he was to her. She watches as a drop of water splashes down onto the cast and she finds herself wondering if there's a leak in a room upstairs.

"What the—Ash? Are you crying?"

"Huh?" She wipes her eyes, and a surprised but weak laugh escapes when her hand comes away wet. "Oh, I guess I am. Sorry about that, you're supposed to keep the cast dry and here I am crying—"

Chris places his left hand on her cheek to help wipe away some of her tears. "Oh fuck, I really freaked you out didn't I? Fucking hell. I'm—"

"Do you promise not to hate me?"

The look Chris gives her is nothing short of bamboozled. "Hate you? Ash, what's going on with you?"

"Do you promise not to hate me? Please Chris, I really, really need you to promise me this. Please . Do you promise not to hate me?" She’s fully aware that she’s practically begging right now, silent tears flowing down her cheeks, but if it gets Chris to promise then she’ll gladly throw away her pride for this one thing.

"Yeah, I-I promise. Will you just—"

Ashley doesn't give him anytime to finish his sentence before she's squeezing her eyes shut and she surges up to kiss him. She doesn't want to see his expression, not when all she wants is just to remember everything else that is happening. Remember the feel of his lips before he pulls away, and the warmth of his hand on her cheek. In fact, she spends so much time trying to memorize what she is sure is only going to be a single shared kiss, that it takes her a few seconds longer than she would like to admit to realize that Chris's hand isn't on her cheek anymore, it's moved to the back of her neck so he can kiss her back . The shock of which is enough for her to break the kiss and stare at him with wide eyes.

"Wh—" that's all she can get out before Chris is pulling her back in for a second kiss, and this time she lets her eyelids flutter close as she completely melts into, throwing her arms around his neck to hold him closer.

Ashley's not sure how long they stay like that—could have been an eternity, could have only been a couple of seconds—before they're both pulling back with their faces flushed and giggling like morons.

"Wow," Chris says after a moment, "I don't know what made you think I could hate you after that , but wow . If I had known that this would be the reaction I get, I would have broken my finger years ago."

There's something about the way he says it that has Ashley's heart beating even faster. "How long?" she demands breathlessly, "Tell how long ago?"

Somehow, Chris manages to flush even deeper. "I dunno, like... six? I guess?"

Six years. He'd had a crush on her for six years and she'd had no idea. The moment the realization hits her she starts laughing. "I knew you were trying to ask me for a kiss back in seventh grade! I should have just chased you down and given you one anyway!"

This time, it's Chris who starts laughing at the realization. "Wait, you liked me too?! Then that kiss, back in the library...?"

"You still remember that?!"

"Remember it? Ash, that stupid little cheek kiss is the only reason I passed that final I'm sure! Hell, why else do you think Josh dared me to kiss you in truth and dare?"

"What? No he didn't!"

Chris shakes his head as he moves his hand from her neck to around her waist. "He did! He told me to 'return the favour' and all I had been thinking about that summer was kissing you back. Fucking hell, I almost killed him when he pulled me away to get that generator working that winter in the lodge."

"Oh my god, I almost jumped across the floor to you that night when the power went out after the bottle landed on you."

"You didn't!"

Chris sounded so scandalized at the idea that Ashley presses her forehead to his as her smile widens, which only causes his own to widen in turn. "I did! But then Josh pulled you away and I just completely lost my nerve." She starts laughing at the next memory. "Oh god, I kept my lamp on in my room after that hoping you would stop by if you thought I was still awake."

The answering gape in shock was all she needed before she broke into more giggles. "I saw that! I don't know how long I hovered outside your door trying to work up the courage to knock before talking myself out of it. I think I just convinced myself that the outage had freaked you out badly enough that you needed the extra light to get to sleep."

Once the giggles started to lessen, the smiles on their faces did so as well, softening to something warmer and infinitely more cozy. "I almost kissed you, you know," Ashley confessed shyly. "Back at your grad party."

"Yeah, I-I almost kissed you too. And, just so you know, I wasn't lying then. The flowers looked really really good on you." 

"That's good to hear," she admits as she leans in closer, her lips brushing his so lightly it's almost a caress, "I kept them, after all."

Nothing more is said as Chris closes the distance between them again to kiss her, and even though she knows that they really should get back downstairs, she doesn't try to stop it.

They have a long six years to make up for after all.

[shield-sheafson]

Chapters: ¼ Fandom: Batman - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Cassandra Cain & Jason Todd, Stephanie Brown & Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown & Jason Todd Characters: Jason Todd, Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown Additional Tags: Found Family, Fluff, Light Angst, Homelessness, Cass knows like 8 words rip, slight crime, Jason Todd and Cassandra Cain meet earlier, Cassandra Cain and Jason Todd are Siblings, but not blood siblings in this just two kids who adopted each other, street siblings au Summary:

Professional street urchin Jason Todd is struck by an uneasy feeling and suspects someone is following him. That someone is former child assassin Cassandra Cain, who, with nowhere else to go, is taking a leap of faith.

—

This is my take on the Street Siblings AU by @a-sketchy-character​!  I told them earlier that I’d write something for it, so here I am owning up! Of course, you can read their comic based on this au @streetsiblings.  Of course, @greytoiletpaper also wrote one (https://archiveofourown.org/works/27100699/chapters/66175306) and Experimental_Muse wrote this one (https://archiveofourown.org/works/27037882).  Go check them out!  Since this is such a popular concept, I hope I do a good job.

—

Jason pops another M&M into his mouth, rolling it around on his tongue instead of chewing it. He has no idea why someone would throw away a perfectly good bag of candy, but he’s not going to think too hard about it. Maybe he’s imagining it, but he can feel the strength coming back into his limbs. He feels less sleepy, too.

He tucks the empty bag into the pocket of his frayed jeans, already regretting finishing them. Now that he’s eaten something, what else is he going to do with his day? He hasn’t found any cigarettes, which is a pain, since it’s so cold that his nose feels numb and he could really use some warm smoke to fill up his aching lungs.

Maybe he’ll go to the library. He’s still too small to kick out for loitering, right? Just as he turns to leave the alley, Jason feels a shiver run up his spine. He whips around, raising his fists defensively. Nobody’s there. This doesn’t calm him down. Jason squints as he peers into the dark, wet alley, looking for any sign of movement.

“Hey,” he says in the deepest, roughest voice he can muster. “Think good and hard about what you’re about to do, buddy.”

What is the invisible person about to do? Jason isn’t sure, but he wants them to think good and hard about it. He hears a scuffle and nearly jumps out of his skin only to realize that it’s just a rat migrating from beneath the dumpster to a pile of cardboard boxes.

“What are you playing?” Jason asks. This voice is making his throat hurt. “Is this some kind of joke?”

Nobody answers. Jason weighs his options and decides that the best choice is to make a run for it. He nearly slips on a patch of slush in his haste to get out of the alley. Even when he’s a safe two blocks away he still has an uneasy feeling.

—

A couple of hours later, Jason has shaken off that gross feeling and has settled down outside the 7-11. He used to go here a lot– when his mom was around, it was where they got their groceries. Sometimes she’d splurge and they would split a can of Yoohoo. Even though he doesn’t have any money to go in with, something about the worn bricks and the smoky smell is comforting.

A gaunt man with dark circles under his eyes and a scraggly gray beard joins him, sitting gingerly on the damp ground.

“Afternoon,” he says cordially.

“It’s dark out,” Jason says. He’s not sure what time it actually is. Days and nights tend to blur together. They’re basically the same, though nights tend to be more dangerous.

“Damned if it isn’t,” the man says. “What’s a kid doing out this late?”

“Anywhere else I’m supposed to be?” Jason asks, scowling.

“Just askin’, just askin’,” the man says, raising his palms. “I’d just get somewhere safe if I was you. Some guy’s been– what?”

“What?” Jason repeats after him. “What’s going on?”

“Just thought I… It’s not safe for kids out there lately, is all I’m sayin’.”

Jason sighs and shoves his hands deeper into his pockets, dragging down the edge of his hoodie. “Is it that big a deal?” It’s never really safe out there, but he’s always gotten by fine. “You’re not a kid, so you’re fine.”

“Nothin’ wrong with a little empathy,” the man says.

Jason rolls his eyes and walks off to find another place to lurk.

—

It happens the next day, too. Jason has the unpleasant feeling of eyes on his back when he covertly removes a woman’s wallet from her purse and he’s certain someone is about to yell “Stop! Thief!” but nobody does.

When he walks proudly out of McDonald’s with a bag of french fries bought will ill-gotten money, he expects someone to ask for one. Of course, he would have said “no,” but it’s almost disappointing when there’s nobody to answer. He’s not disappointed enough to be really put-off, though. He still stuffs his face wholeheartedly.

Maybe he’s just being paranoid.

—

Jason has been sleeping rough lately. The condemned buildings are already full of squatters, and he knows better than to accept “help” from people who offer couches to young boys. With nowhere inside to sleep, he’s been hiding from the sleet in a cardboard shelter he built in an out-of-view area between buildings and lined with newspaper.

Of course, it’s not usually safe to build a fire when your whole house is so flammable, but he’s risking it tonight. He has a pile of yet more cardboard and newspaper on the other side of the alley, but it’s damp and he’s having a rough time getting it to set alight.

“Come on,” he mutters as he clicks the lighter yet again. It’s a nice one (his mother had liked it a lot) but it doesn’t seem to be doing the trick. Jason curses under his breath as the edge of the funnies page smolders and blackens without actually catching fire. Garfield stares at him judgmentally. That’s when he hears it.

A light “thump,” soft but unmistakable. Jason’s head snaps up. He’s afraid to turn and look. At best, it’s another bum looking to share his fire. At worst, it’s…

“What are you looking at?” he says harshly, still not turning his head. “Go find somewhere else.”

The presence at his back doesn’t go away. He feels frozen in place– he’ll admit it, he’s afraid. He knows someone has been following him. He doesn’t know who or why. He hasn’t had a moment where it’s not on his mind, and now his mysterious pursuer is right behind him. His only option is to protect himself.

Jason very slowly reaches into his pocket for the worn switchblade he’s carried since he was nine. His hand trembles as he wraps his fingers around the cold handle.

A hand is laid on his shoulder. He shoots up, pulling the knife out of his pocket and spinning around to face the person behind him.

Before he’s able to do anything a small, strong hand wraps around his wrist, stopping the freed knife in its path. His arm is yanked forward and a palm is shoved under his chin, forcing his face up. He just stands that way for a second, too shocked to move. His opponent doesn’t try to do anything else; they just keep him stuck with his chin pushed up and his arm stretched out, knife useless.

Slowly, cautiously, the hand under his chin lowers, though the grip on his wrist is still tight. He gets a good look at the person who’s apparently decided to hold him hostage.

They’re a kid. They’re (she’s) a little girl, much shorter than him, with big, serious eyes and a mouth covered by a heavy scarf.

“You’re really small,” he says through the hand that’s still partly covering his mouth. “What the fuck.”

She assesses him, eyes darting from his face to his free hand to his battered shoes. Slowly, she loosens her grip and lets go of his chin, releasing him. She takes a step back, body tense and ready to attack or dart away at any second.

Jason clicks his blade back into its case and slides the knife back into his pocket, not looking away from the girl’s face. She has dirty black hair that hangs in her eyes and thick brows. Her nose is delicate and rounded. If she hadn’t just had him in a painful hold, he would have assumed she was harmless.

“Why have you been following me around?” he asks. She doesn’t answer. “What do you want from me?” Again, no answer. Jason sighs (a puff of mist from his mouth). “I’m Jason.” He holds out his hand. Hesitantly, she grips it. Her hand is cold and thin. She still doesn’t say anything.

The girl lets go of his hand and points to the lighter on the ground. It glints at him in greeting.

“What?” Jason asks.

The girl squats on the ground and retrieves the lighter. She hands it to him and points at the pile of cardboard and newspaper.

“Wanna make a fire?” he asks. “There’s garbage in there, so it’ll stink.”

She doesn’t nod. She just points again expectantly.

“'Kay,” Jason says. “Can you talk at all?”

The girl doesn’t respond. Jason shrugs and crouches by his fire heap. The girl plops back on her bottom and crosses her legs.

It takes a while to get it to light. It’s a little embarrassing failing again and again with someone there to watch. Finally, one of the dryer pieces of paper goes alight and spreads to one of the bigger pieces of cardboard.

“See? It does work!” Jason says. Does he sound defensive? “It usually works fine,” he adds. This doesn’t make him any less embarrassed. He puts the lighter in his pocket with the switchblade and holds his hands out, taking in the heat. The girl pulls down her scarf. In the flickering light, he can see she’s smiling at him. She holds out her hands too, and they sit in silence for some time.

—

Jason realizes he’s awake before his eyes open. He’s aware again that his nose and fingers are cold and the back of his hair is wet from the damp concrete. His eyes flicker open and he sees that it’s daytime, pale gray and foggy. He rolls over, realizing with some consternation that he’s not even in his box hut. Anybody could have come and gotten him while he was asleep. He’s lucky they didn’t. He shouldn’t be so– what.

Someone is a few feet away from him, sitting up with her arms wrapped tightly around her knees, looking at him thoughtfully.

Jason scrambles backward, scraping his hands on the rough concrete. He bumps his head on the brick wall behind him. It seems that the bricks knock some sense into him because suddenly the events of last night come back to him and he feels like an idiot.

“What are you doing?” he asks, rubbing his head.

The girl scoots over to him and pats his shoulder. Ah. She’s still not talking. Jason sits up straight. He pats her shoulder back. She smiles.

“So, do you just want to hang around here?” Jason asks, even though he knows she won’t answer. “In this alley?”

The girl just looks at him. This is starting to get frustrating.

“Just– just stay, I guess,” Jason says, standing. He points at the ground. “I’ll be back. I’m gonna go get something to eat.”

He backs out of the alleyway, raising his palms as though he’s trying to calm a wild animal. He turns around when he’s certain that she’s staying. He puts his hands in his pockets and releases a breath of relief. Something about that girl makes him nervous. What’s her game? Is she just stupid? He wraps his fingers around the lighter and somehow feels a little more secure.

Jason settles outside a coffee shop and crosses his legs. Dozens of people walk right past him, ignoring his grubby face as they head to work.

“Hey, miss,” Jason says, making eye contact with a woman in a blue pantsuit. An almost fearful look falls on her face as she realizes she’s been wrangled into an interaction with him. “Got a dollar?”

“I’m sorry,” she says quickly. “I don’t carry change.” She scurries off, nearly slipping in her high heels on the icy sidewalk.

“'Scuse me,” Jason says to the lady with the corgi on a leash. “That’s a cute dog you have there.”

“Thank you,” the lady says apprehensively. She walks a little faster.

“Wait!” Jason says. “Can I pet him?”

“S-sure,” the lady says. She turns and walks the dog up to Jason. It smiles stupidly at him. Jason stretches his hand out and it sniffs him with its wet nose. Jason rubs it between the ears. Even though this is for selfish reasons, he appreciates its attention.

“Can you spare seventy cents?” Jason asks. “For a bottle of water?”

The lady, with nowhere to escape to, reaches into her purse, takes out a dollar, and drops it into Jason’s open hand. Jason thanks her sweetly. When she walks away, he can’t hide his shit-eating grin.

Jason manages to gather up seven dollars before the coffee shop’s manager comes out and says “scram.” Jason smiles appeasingly as he leaves. He knows better than to get in a fight with someone without holes in their shoes.

At the convenience store, Jason buys an energy drink and a hot dog, like usual. Then he remembers someone is waiting for him and adds a plastic-wrapped breakfast sandwich. He’s wondering whether the stupid girl is a coffee person when the cashier starts giving him suspicious looks, so he grabs another Red Bull and pays quickly.

It’s kind of nice shopping for someone else. Even if it’s a little sad to think about the last time he was shopping for two. He whistles quietly as he walks through the glass door when– oops.

“Watch where you’re going!” he snaps.

The girl steps back and smiles apologetically.

“Oh… It’s you.” The door swings shut behind Jason. “I’d ask you to stop following me, but I don’t think you understand what I’m saying.”

The girl tilts her head. Maybe she does understand? Whatever.

He gestures for her to follow him. The convenience store people don’t like it when he hangs out right by the door. It creeps out the customers.

There aren’t as many people on the sidewalk anymore; they’ve all gone on with their days. Jason notices that the girl skips a little on her shorter legs to keep up with him. She isn’t wearing socks, he realizes. That can’t be good in this weather.

They stop to sit on the front steps of the law office. Jason pulls the food out of his plastic grocery bag and hands the sandwich to the girl. She takes it gratefully. He takes out his hot dog and realizes that the jostling while he was walking has deconstructed it. He shrugs.

“I’m guessing you’re new around here,” Jason says. “You’re not supposed to just latch on to people.”

The girl starts tearing greedily into her sandwich.

“I do pretty well on my own. I’m not gonna babysit you, you know.”

She nods. Again, Jason isn’t sure she’s taking in what he’s saying.

“Seriously. You can’t hang out with me. I’m busy.”

She smiles. Jason rolls his eyes.

“I like being alone.”

The sandwich is gone. She points to his hot dog.

“I mean, I guess,” he says, handing it to her. She looks at it for a second. A guilty expression falls on her face and she hands it back. “I don’t even know your name.”

“Cassandra,” she says.

“Wait, you can talk?”

“Jason,” she says, patting his shoulder.

The snow is dirty, but the sun glints off it prettily. Jason hates to admit it, but he’s in a pretty good mood right now.

[heuristicallyinclined]

SPF Five Million or Whatever

Summary: Mspa Reader figures they need some sunlight and recruits a few friends to help them get it.

Rating: T for language

Notes: I haven't written any of the jades before and I really love them and tried my best to capture their dynamic. I really love imagining Mspa Reader's adventures between Friendsim and Pesterquest. I feel like the games were really just scratching the surface of their shenanigans.  

(AO3)

You are pretty sure that people need about twenty minutes of sunlight a day to stay healthy. 

Or at least that is what you think it is. You never really thought about it too much to be honest. Having spent a decent amount of time outside walking, you figured you were getting your daily dose in without much effort, and maybe you just didn’t realize how good you had it, not living on a planet that even passively was trying to kill you. Because right now, you know for a fact you’re getting the ideal amount of sunlight on Alternia, which in your personal experience is fucking ziltch.

You tried it once and learned pretty fast that what might leave you with a healthy glow on Earth, would leave you well done on Alternia, a disgusting state for any piece of meat to be in, let alone your body. So that was clearly an Earth exclusive recommendation. 

Still, you think some sunlight would do you good. 

Especially since you were starting to feel this constant exhaustion after a few months on Alternia. After ruling out your questionable diet and semi existent sleep schedule, you were left with the fact that you were likely getting a vitamin D deficiency. 

Frankly, you have not survived your various trials and many tribulations here on Alternia to let rickets be what finally kills you. Absolutely not. No. You’re too proud to die in the lamest way possible on a planet with significantly more respectable and less preventable ways of dying. 

This does mean you’ll have to face off with the Alternian sun, which really isn’t that much better on the lame death scale. Last time you got caught out during daylight, you got really lucky. You aren’t counting on a second time where a gorgeous cowgirl, alien Lassie, and a lot of dumb luck would happen to rescue you from your own poor life choices. 

So this time, you were going to try to be smart about doing something this monumentally stupid. You were going to get water, a floppy hat, and some ice packs. Now you just had to not do this alone, especially when you knew someone who touted the merits of the buddy system. 

Luckily, you also know a few people who could withstand the sun’s rays. 

Finding out that jadeblood sun resistance was in fact a real thing and not just the latest in fucking with the local alien made this a whole lot easier and left you with a few options to consider. You figured Wanshi was too young to be kept up that late and that you’d rather not traumatize her if this went sideways. Bronya mentioned being busy with a new brood hatching and managing the herd of lusii they attracted to the caverns so that was a no go. Lanque would likely be otherwise occupied or at least claim to be and you’d rather him not see you like this if you could help it. That left you with Daraya, who you knew would be up and likely be down for some alien shenanigans. But most importantly, Lynera.

One massive check in her favor is she already had experience inconspicuously carrying your injured body through the caverns unnoticed by literally anyone else to a secondary location So discretion was clearly already a strong suit of hers. The context for how she even got that much experience in the first place is none of your business, especially now that you’re friends. And you’d say you two were actually pretty close after all the time you’ve spent hanging out with her in the caverns and going out on little cafe trips.

Really, she was the ideal candidate for this by every observable metric. Well, almost.

While she is loyal enough that you knew that she would help you hide a body if asked, she has also threatened enough people for perceived slights against you that she would very likely be the reason there was a corpse hanging around in the first place. So having Daraya be there too was probably a safe move. 

Oh it’s all coming together now.

You were feeling really good about this. Your confidence in yourself, your friends, and your planning abilities carried you through two difficult conversations. One with a veneer of apathy trying to conceal some very real concern, the other incredibly loud and extremely worried, but you got through them and that’s what matters. 

So here you are at the brooding caverns, tucked away inside the turn just before the mouth, clad in some cool guy shades from Cirava, a sun hat from Charun, some shorts from Remele, and a Xoloto brand tank top complete with strategic ripping that makes it basically impossible to wear anywhere in public without a layer underneath. 

Your friends are right here with you. Lynera is alternating between pacing and fretting over the placement of your sun hat for the seventh time to really make sure your hair doesn’t ignite. You know it won’t and you told her it won’t, but you let her fuss. She just needs to do something with her hands to stay calm. You can at least let her have that with what you’re about to do. Daraya checks her palm husk again for the time as dawn steadily approaches. You take a deep breath in, psyching yourself up. 

So you never actually figured out what the Alternian sun equivalent to twenty minutes of Earth sun is. But you think a minute should be enough to do it and not pass out. It feels about right. You have based this off of no math whatsoever, but you’ve done worse with less prep, so you’re not going to let some nerd shit stop you. Especially not now, when you hear Daraya sigh. You know that it’s show time. 

You look at her to confirm as she pockets her device and you see some light begin to stretch into the cavern’s entrance. She looks at it too, frowning as it approaches.

“▲▲ try not to fry your pan ▼▼"

You give her a reassuring smile and run up through the mouth of the cave, and stop just past the entrance, arms up wide and outstretched, like you were doing the YMCA dance and lost rhythm just past the first letter, ready to receive that sunlight you so desperately craved. The sun hits your skin and there is a comfort in feeling’s its warmth after living in eternal night.

You really missed this.

...

Actually, you know what? No you don’t. Fuck this. 

That “gentle warmth” quickly became a scorching blaze and to your credit, you made it a solid ten seconds under the full wrath of that relentless bitch they called a sun before you decided to quit while you were ahead and conscious. You dash back towards the entrance, uncomfortably aware of every step you take. Lynera stops nervously pacing and stiffens when you reenter the shade and runs towards you. Daraya is ready and quickly hands you a water bottle. You struggle to open the cap because of the condensation making the bottle slick and it exacerbates the painful tingle you’re feeling all over your hands. And your face. And your everything actually. 

You continue struggling until you finally succeed in twisting the cap off, but your victory immediately proves to be a hollow one, as your tight grip on the bottle has water going everywhere. 

God. Damn. It. 

You’re vaguely cognisant of a screeching sound somewhere behind you, but you have more important concerns right now. By some absolute miracle, a decent amount of the water seems to have gotten on you and saturated your top, soothing the skin under it. You feel less like you’re on fire and more like you had marinated your entire body in icy-hot for a few hours before getting deep fried. 

You’d like to believe that that is a much more manageable situation. Your skin can’t tell much of a difference though so you waste no time and pour the rest out all over your face like you were a champ who just scored the winning goal instead of a dipshit speedrunning skin cancer. 

Daraya mercifully cracks a cold one with the boys and pours the contents of another water bottle on you like you were a plant she forgot to water. The cool sensation on your skin causes you to sigh in a relief that doesn’t last long, before you lose contact with the ground. Lynera has you thrown over her shoulder and starts quickly making her way back into the caverns to her respiteblock. The physical contact takes that previous painful tingle and absolutely fucking floors it, bringing you to a familiar world of pain that your ass was very content not revisiting. Daraya keeps pace behind the two of you with her arms crossed the face of someone who is totally not panicked.

You try to calm them, telling them you feel better already. Really, you mean it. 

This just causes Lynera to speed up and Daraya to grimace down at you instead of giving you an actual response. 

While, yes, you resent having flesh, you actually feel really awake right now. 

Daraya narrows her eyes. “▲▲ you mean from the pain? ▼▼”

No. No. That's different. And way more familiar. 

God. Despite looking like a freshly hatched octogenarian, Lynera can really book it. 

She carries your limp, increasingly dizzy body with ease. You knew she was deceptively strong and fast first hand, based off of her being able to immediately able to knock you the fuck out and lug you back to her combination study block murder dungeon. Honestly, being able to do anything with an alien discreetly deserves commendation. Commendation up and out the wazoo. 

You’re about to attempt to try to verbalize that thought, but just before the turn to get to Lynera's study block, she suddenly stops. She nervously glances between this hallway and another adjacent one one. Daraya almost bumps into her but stops herself just in time. 

"▲▲▲ what are you doing? We said we were just going to put them in a spare recuperacoon ▼▼▼" Daraya whisper yells. 

"They're a new color Daraya !!!" Lynera whisper yells to the point of negating the whisper part of the whisper yell and more just using a normal speaking volume with a hiss. “-they need !!! A medicull kit !!!”

Oh. You glance down at one of your dangling arms. That happened fast. In retrospect, you should have mentioned that was a thing that would potentially happen. How did you forget that?  

“▲▲▲ and do what? A medicull kit could make them worse. We don’t know shit about aliens ▼▼▼”

“-!!! well how would you know all of their injuries were taken care of! that we didnt miss anything!”  

“▲ they’re fine. We just, I don't fucking know? Rotate them in the slime? ▼”

“-like some sort of !!! rotisserie cluckbeast !!!” Lynera indignantly whisper shrieks. 

"▲▲ No!▼▼" Daraya quickly defends. The way her eyes quickly glance to the side seems to imply that's kind of exactly what it's like. 

Just like them rotisserie chickens. 

The longer their arguing went on, the more uncomfortably aware you were getting about the fact that you had a body and Lynera's clothes felt like steel wool grating against your poor skin. That and describing what they were doing as “whisper arguing” was becoming more and more of a stretch as it went on and started to get louder. You were worried you were going to attract unwanted attention. 

It is as soon as you have that thought, that a door opens, and you see an irritated Lanque groggily peek his head through to find the source of the commotion. 

His face remains still at first, blinking tiredly as he takes in the fuckery and only opens the door wider when the other two turn at the sound of his door opening and he registers you slumped over Lynera’s shoulder with a single raised brow. 

You smile and wave at him, despite how lightheaded her turn had you feeling, and Daraya quickly pulls your hand down and stands in front of you like there was nothing to see here. You let out a weak, “ow,” as she did, your flesh protesting at the touch. She glances back at you quickly, before exasperatedly turning to look back at Lanque with her arms crossed.

“▲▲ what? ▼▼”

He measuredly looks at the scene before him. Really taking in all of the bullshit before side eyeing Lynera. 

“You threW the alien into broad daylight? EVen for you, that's crazy.” He almost sounds surprised, before smiling sweetly, “NoW Who’s going to tolerate you?” 

Lynera sputters something, clearly offended, but Daraya cuts her off with a groan, 

“▲ they literally need sunlight to live Lanque ▼”

His face twists. “Are they a fucking plant?” 

“-no!!!" Lynera considers for a moment before yelling again just as loud. “-most likely not!!!”

He looks from your trio, to the small puddle of water forming under you, and glances back to the trail of water you apparently had dripping from you this whole time. 

You know, you’re really starting to see the plant angle here. 

“▲▲ look they just needed some stupid sunlight and we hung around to make sure they didn’t just get too cooked or whatever. What, are you going to tell Bronya on us? ▼▼" Daraya half mocks, half asks.

“No, of course not.” Lanque almost seems offended. “I don’t see any reason to inVolVe myself With you tWo Watching the alien give themselVes sun sickness.”

You ask no one in particular what sun sickness is.

“-can aliens get sun sickness???” Lynera asks with a newfound panic.

Lanque irritatedly replies, “HoW Would I knoW?” 

You feel briefly dejected that no one answered. Until another thought crosses your mind. It wasn’t related to anything occurring at the moment, but it was weird enough that you don’t know how this was the first time you had ever really thought about it. Maybe the events of this morning were what it took for you to even be able consider this quandary. 

Why do they say troll before a name? Like troll Will Smith? Doesn’t that imply there is another kind of WIll Smith? Like if they’re all trolls, why say troll? Oh shit, is that why they do it? Did you tell them about human Will Smith or would that be like human Whillh Smithh? Human Willhh Smyyth? 

You rack your mind for other ways of making Will Smith a valid troll name, concentration evident on your face. 

Lanque looks at you like you’re an idiot. “What the fuck are you talking about? You're just repeating the same name.”

The spelling? You narrow your eyes as you consider the spelling. It is the clearest thing in the world right now to you. It’s spelled different Lanque.

“I can’t hear how it’s spelled.”

Daraya’s eyes widen. "▲▲ They fried their fucking pan ▼▼ " 

You still don’t know what sun sickness is, but you strongly suspect you may have it, especially since most of what happened afterwards was kind of a blur. 

What you think you can remember is the sound of someone coming. Quick, determined footsteps that you couldn’t recognize, but Lynera clearly could as she stiffened first. She maybe said something about Bronya doing a curfew round? You think? Either way, it had everyone else on immediate edge and was enough for Lanque to decide this wasn’t worth staying awake for. He made a final comment and you heard a door shut, leaving your trio behind. 

Daraya and Lynera exchanged words, finally remembering the “whisper” part of whisper yelling. They came to an agreement of some sort with Lynera nodding and heading to her studyblock and Daraya going off in the direction of what was probably Bronya.

Mentally, you are pressing F to pay your respects. Physically though, you register your orientation rapidly shifting. While you weren’t crazy about your position over Lynera's shoulder, what with her sweater vest grating against your torso and all, it turns out you enjoyed being moved out of it even less. The blood running away from your head had you feeling woozy in a whole new way.

To her credit, Lynera did not just immediately dunk you into the recuperacoon a la Space Jam like you’re sure she wanted to. She instead carefully lets you sink into it with a gentleness that starkly contrasted her worry. Normally, you would say that being put into a vat of slime is not an experience you would be looking forward to. Right now though, you’re loving it. It is an absolute godsend as it acts a cool balm against your skin.

Lynera continues and gingerly removes your shades and places them on an end table next to your sunhat. You were about to thank her and let her know she was in fact “a real one,” but you got cut off by her grabbing a handful of slime and smearing it on your face. 

You sputter and instinctively try to move away, but you’re no match for her. She’s dealt with fussy grubs with sharp teeth for way too long to actually be deterred by your feeble efforts to resist. You don’t know how you’d rate the experience between, “children haphazardly covering you in slick grease paint” to “alien clay mask ensuring you don’t have enough skin to even entertain having clogged pores,” but you aren’t in a position to be opposed to it. It actually feels kinda nice when it’s in a smooth, even layer and not a huge fucking dollop on your face. 

When she’s done, she wipes her hands while saying something to you. You don’t really register it, so you just kinda smile and nod. It’s your usual go to when you aren’t quite sure what is happening around you and it hasn’t led you too astray in the very many times you’ve done it. You’ll just ask her what she said in the evening.

Lynera seems pleased and starts moving to turn off the lights. Before she does, you thank her. She smiles at you, the corners of her eyes crinkling, and glances back at you as she goes, leaving you feeling warm inside and out for two extremely different reasons. 

You settle down, trying to get cozy. You're not going to pretend you know much about sopor slime. You assumed it comes from a plant and haven't tried to confirm that little theory of yours because you need to believe that for your own sake. It's plant goo. From some kind of alien aloe vera or something. An extremely fleshy plant just ripe with goo for the taking. If you ever learn otherwise, no you didn't. 

After you wake up and wipe off the slime, you find that you’ve healed surprisingly quickly. You’re still very tender to the touch, you find that out real fast, but your skin looks a lot less irritated than when you last saw it. This bit of good news and vitamin d that you assume you now have coursing through your veins that hopefully was not mostly used up on healing your skin, puts a little pep in your step as you get ready for the night. Before you exit the caverns, you feel a pang of hunger.

You can practically hear Bronya reminding you how breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so you walk into the meal block, figuring that no one would mind too much if you grabbed a breakfast bar or two before you left. Maybe you’ll even get lucky and find the ones that kind of taste like peanut butter and are crunchy for reasons you’d rather not identify. You aren’t alone when you enter. Lanque is there, sitting at a table. He looks up from his palm husk and eyes you.

“Did you change color?”

Yeah. Humans being exposed to sunlight makes them create a protective pigment so they're more able to be exposed to the sun.

“I’m fascinated.” he says, anything but. “So you're going to turn jade?” 

No, more of a slightly darker version of what you are now. 

He hums, now totally disinterested and looking back down at his chittr feed. Guess the limits of your rainbowdrinker like attributes have worn off on him. 

Anyways, this just means that this will be easier next time you go out during the day. 

That statement gives him pause. Lanque looks up from his palm husk, looking out before glancing at you dubiously. 

"Next time?" 

[kooala]

once you realize - chapter one

USERNAME CHANGE!!

!!used to be kookie-off-his-kookie  but now it’s kooala!!

Pairing: Jungkook x Reader, Taehyung x his girlfriend Mina

Tags: best friend! Jungkook, idol verse, friends to lovers!

Genre: fluff, mutual pining, basically the cutest falling in love story 

Wordcount: 4.3k

Warnings: language

Parts: chapter one / chapter two / chapter three / chapter four / chapter five / chapter six / chapter seven

Summary: Seeing your friend regularly turned out to be difficult because of your colliding schedules, but seeing him again after a couple of months something about the way you thought about Jungkook seemed to have shifted. If only you wouldn’t have started getting close with someone else before you had realized how you felt about your best friend. 

Masterlist 

You knocked on the practice room door hesitantly before opening it an inch, peeking inside to see Jungkook and Jimin sitting on the floor, sharing snacks, and talking about something.

“Look who we have here.”, you announced your arrival, opening the door more to walk in and hug both of them in tightly because it had been months since you had seen each other. The conflicting schedules and the fact that they tried to keep male and female groups separated most of the time made it difficult for you to see each other. 

“Oh my god, what are you doing here Y/N?” Jimin was the first one up on his feet and you hugged him in tight, realizing how much you had missed him as a friend over the past months. 

“I figured I was going to come to say hi, it’s been forever.” Smiling you walk over to Jungkook who peeled himself off the floor, walking towards you to wrap you in a massive hug that embraced you completely. He seemed to have gotten broader, taller even. 

“If I had known we would’ve made up some nice plans.”, he smiled over at you after letting you go from the hug and the three of you just smiled at each other, starting to talk and catch up as you follow them up to their rooms for chatting.

You had met BTS back in your days when you had just debuted with your group because social media and tv had picked up on the fact that Jungkook and you had similarities in the position of the group. Not only were both of you the Maknea’s back then, but both of you had the same sense of competition and mastering things with ease - most of the time. 

This had resulted in a couple of collaborations and backstage videos together, where both your girl group and BTS had to compete, both Jungkook and yourself ending up fighting over the deciding points and differences that would make your team win. But as random as it had been to meet during competitive videos, all of you had gotten along well immediately and you had especially grown close with Jungkook, Jimin and Tae, who were all similar to your age. Jungkook never enjoyed the fact that you were a year older but you had always loved it because it annoyed him so much. 

Those years seemed to be long gone now but the friendship had stood the test of time over the past couple of years and it had turned into a tradition to meet up with some of the idols from other groups who were around the same age, going for dinner and some drinks whenever possible. All of you had turned into a strong core group of friends.

 “Honestly, we just talked about going out for a drink a couple of days ago and mentioned that we have to call you guys up before doing so!” Jimin announced as you entered Jungkook’s bedroom, all of you sitting down on the couch in the corner. 

“I wish I could but there’s no time at the moment. I’m so happy we got tonight off, it was only because they canceled a broadcast last minute. Mina is with Taehyung already.” You say, wiggling your eyebrows excited because they all knew how close the two of them had gotten randomly out of the blue over the past couple of weeks.

“Of course she is.”, Jungkook laughed and sunk lower onto the couch, putting his feet up on the table.

“How did they end up talking again anyway? I never saw them hang out before.” Jimin pulled his legs in on the couch and it seemed like he was thinking hard about it.

“Oh wow there is an entire story behind all of it and I’m surprised Tae hasn’t told you.”, you start laughing. “You better go ask him sometime.” 

Both of them looked like they were ready to tickle the answers out of you but they both seemed to have decided that being quiet might be the more gentlemen thing to do.

 “What should we do? Should we get some drinks? Or watch a movie?” Jungkook asked after a while of catching up about each other’s schedules and Jimin got up after looking at his phone.

“I’m meeting up with Yoongi and Hoseok, I can’t. You can come if you want to?”, he asked, running his fingers through his hair while opening the room door.

“I can’t go out or be seen.”, you smile excusing and he nodded understanding.

“Okay, then I hope you’ll be here after we return from dinner to hang some more. See you guys.” Leaving the room he closed the door and there was a sudden moment of silence that made you chuckle and after looking over at Jungkook, you couldn’t help but notice that he definitely had been working out more. He seemed thinner, more toned, you could’ve sworn his jaw never stood out like that before. 

“You really went all out, didn’t you..”, you mentioned, poking his firm chest once and he put both his hands over it a little shy and protective before he started chuckling, his ears turning slightly pink.

“What do you mean?” 

“Oh you know very well what I mean don’t make me compliment you.”, you laugh and he got up with a smirk on his face because you hit the mark with your statement. 

 “So do you want to watch a movie? Game? Order food? We haven’t made a cover in a while.” He mentioned in thoughts as he walked across the room while making different offers, switching on a floor lamp and a couple of lights on the shelves before turning off the ceiling lamps, turning the room into a more dimmed and chilled mood. 

Although you, like everyone else, had always thought of him to be very attractive, seeing him with his slightly longer, messy hair in a sweatshirt and sweats - you couldn’t help but wonder how things had changed under that sweatshirt... 

“I don’t know, what are you up for? I’m too exhausted for gaming. I’d fuck it all up for you. Movie and food? ”, you ask and sit up to walk over, dropping on his bed to get your phone out and look through all the places to order from. 

“Do you want fried chicken? Or ramen? I don’t know why but I’m really craving some soup right now.”, you chuckle and the bed dipped down by your waist when he dropped down on it next to you, looking at your phone screen as well to choose one of the options. 

“I’m always for fried chicken? Totally your call. I’m good with anything.” He sat up more, leaning against the headrest as he pulled two remotes from his nightstand to let down a massive white screen on the opposite wall to project movies on.

“Oh my god since when do you have that?” You sat up, crossing your legs to watch the screen roll down slowly, all amazed by the size and quality of it.

“To impress hundreds of innocent girls coming in here.”, he chuckled and you rolled your eyes, looking over to him because he was mocking your reaction a bit.

“Oh, yea because there are sooo many girls in here all the time. You’re lucky they like me and allowed me in after that stupid no people in dorms rule.”, you chuckle and he shrugged. 

“I have a lot more freedom now than I used to. Which is also why you’re here - because I’m a biiig boy now.”, he laughed and you couldn’t help but agree with his statement. They hadn’t even flinched when you announced your arrival to the security team, letting you through without any issues.

 “Crazy how much things have changed, isn’t it? I mean obviously things are going amazing for all seven of you but also little things. You’re not the Maknea anymore and all of that, crazy to think that. I mean in this setting right now you are, but who’s really keeping a record, you know?” You smirk while teasing him, getting a little lost in your thoughts, watching him look through the movies to pick from, and eventually turn your attention back to ordering food on your phone, handing it to him then so he could pick some things for himself. “You enjoy this way too much.”, he mumbles quietly.

“Sometimes I forget how far we’ve all come, honestly. We met when both of us were... what, seventeen?”, he asked and smirked.  

“Well I was, you were sixteen. Don’t try and brush your age under the carpet, I’ll forever be older than you. Wiser, prettier, more talented... ”, you smirked and he rolled his eyes.

“Want me to formally talk to you? Pour your drinks first?” Jungkook asked a bit cocky and you looked at him as if you had to think about it for a moment.

“You know what? That’d be super fucking great actually.” 

Laughing at your cursing he shook his head, ordering his food quickly before dropping the topic, both of you rummaged through all the movie options available to you. 

 The food arrived and you still hadn’t picked a movie and eventually the both of you played rock paper scissors for the power choice, with you winning it meant you were going to pick one of the horror movies you enjoyed watching only with him. It was going to be a win-win situation.

“I usually hate eating in bed.”, he mumbled as he unfolded his fried chicken box, careful not to get crumbs on it. “We can put a blanket down so it doesn’t ruin your sheets?” 

After getting up, putting down a blanket, and then opening the food while watching the movie, both of you were sitting down content and happy for a solid thirty minutes with comfortable silence only interrupted by the occasional ramen slurping from either of you, switching bowls and items between each other. 

Namjoon had burst in at one point, looking surprised at your presence in the room and saying hi to chat a couple of minutes before leaving again. It had been so nice to relax and feel like a normal person in their twenties without any obligations, feeling trapped or like all eyes were on you. It was relaxing and you really appreciated Jungkook for being the lowkey, chill person he was. 

 “You know -”, he started talking after both of you had finished eating, lying down all comfortable and stuffed to the brim, ready to enjoy the second movie you had just started.

Lying on your side and hugging in the massive pillow a bit, you looked up to him snuggled all cozy and cute next to you in the pillow. “I kind of missed you, not going to lie. It has always been nice to have someone from outside the group that’s.. you know - not a dude.”, he chuckled and looked over smiling. You weren’t sure what kind of undertone was swinging in that comment so you just waited for him to elaborate.

“I don’t get to see loads of people because of schedules and all. I mean I don’t have to tell you, you know what it’s like but I’m just saying it’s nice we have kept in contact all this time. And it’s fun seeing each other grow up. I haven’t seen you in a long time and you’ve changed a lot since I last saw you.”, he chuckled and looked down at your face.

“I hope what you’re trying to say is I got more talented, funnier, prettier, more toned I’ve been working out you know I’m a muscle machine... ”, you joked, counting it off on your fingers and he laughed at your comment, putting one of his arms behind his head, looking back to the screen. 

“You’ve always been super pretty, there was nothing to improve.”, he chuckled and you kept looking at him, waiting for another reaction but his gaze was focused on the tv, if purposely out of interest in the movie or simply to not look at you was unclear. 

“Thank you..?”, you mumbled hesitantly and he chuckled at the sound of confusion in your voice, looking back down at you.

“You’re very welcome.” The smile on his face was so bright that all of a sudden you noticed the lack of distance between your body and his. Both of you weren’t close or intertwined on the bed, there was still a good amount of space between the both of you but the comment about how he had always thought of you as pretty, somehow made that distance seem significantly smaller.

“Rich coming from you, but - ok.”, you chuckle quietly and knew he understood immediately that this was supposed to be a compliment judging by his lack of response from being shy. 

The movie had turned into a third one and you couldn’t help but doze off a couple of times, your mind heavy from all the stress you’ve been having over the past couple of months and being in the comfort of someone who made you feel great just the way you were, combined with the dimmed lights and a full belly, it hadn’t taken you long to fall asleep. 

You felt him get up at one point and leave the room and you only woke up again as he laid back down next to you, putting a blanket over you quietly. 

 The next time you woke up, the movie screen was playing the end credits, music blasting through the speakers as you frowned, disoriented for a couple of seconds. Only then you realized Jungkook’s head was buried at the crook of your neck, his body leaned towards yours, him almost laying on his stomach next to you, cuddled into your side, breathing deep and slow as he was sleeping. His breath was tickling your neck which made you wake up in the first place and the sudden lack of proximity between both of you made your stomach twist in a surprisingly good way.

You pondered for a moment, thinking about if you should act like you were sleeping and just enjoying how warm his body was or if you should scoot out before he woke up so he wouldn’t feel uncomfortable or intrusive. 

Selfishly, maybe a little dazed by the scent of his freshly washed clothes and hair lulling you in, you opted for closing your eyes and turning your body towards his more, enjoying having someone close which you hadn’t felt since joining the company all those years ago - not soft like this at least.

Through your almost completely closed eyes, you could see that he had woken up just now, lifting his head suddenly confused by the position both of you were sleeping in, just like you were a minute ago, and to your surprise, you could see him look at your face for a brief second longer, lingering, before laying back down on his stomach, scooting in an inch closer, making your bodies touch. Although it was in an innocent way of sleeping next to each other, you could feel the heat radiate from his body, making you tingle and feel like wanting to giggle. Taking it a step further, you reached your hand out, seemingly still sleeping, and wrapped it around his back, leaning in cuddly, resting your hand on his waist. You couldn’t help but feel like your arm was very heavy on his back and suddenly regretted your decision. What if this was something he didn’t even want? You could still always act like you were asleep but you hadn’t even thought about how he would feel about that move of yours. The urge to do it alone confused you completely since it was Jungkook you were lying next to - not just anyone. It was one of your closest friends, not your lover.

 Hesitantly you stretch your arm, acting as if you were just waking up, pulling it back in onto your chest slowly and start blinking. You were curious to see if he was going to play the asleep role a little longer or not, curious to see what happened now that you had done a little more than what friends would’ve done in their sleep. 

Opening your eyes, them genuinely feeling heavy from being in a daze and the dimmed light in the room, you tilt your head over to look at his face. To your surprise, his eyes were openly looking at yours, you could see his back rise and fall with every breath and he didn’t do anything except look at you, not saying a word. 

His gaze made your cheeks feel hot and you knew that they were blushing. Cursing yourself for your weak reaction and being so obvious about the fact that you knew what happened, otherwise you wouldn’t have blushed, you felt like an idiot for openly making this feel awkward although it seemed like you were the only one feeling awkward in this situation. 

 Jungkook’s lips grew into a soft smile, looking at your features, slowly letting his gaze drift over your face before turning his head into the pillow, smiling shy to himself. You could see the corner of his mouths turned into a bright smile in his pillow and the affirmation of his behavior made your heart jump a little more than it already has 

You weren’t sure what to do now since you hadn’t been in a situation like this in a while - in fact, you had never been in a situation like this at all which made you hope that Jungkook was going to do something now, anything to guide this weird situation in one of two directions: he was either going to confirm your suspicions, making it obvious that what just happened, didn’t happen on accident but because he wanted it to - or second, he was going to turn this around and make it feel comfortable and easy, putting it off as two friends just falling asleep and accidentally waking up almost in each other’s arms. 

Either way - he had to make a move because you wouldn’t be able to do it for him. 

 As if reading your mind, he turned around to his side, facing you and stretched his arms and legs, yawning into the pillow, looking like a soft marshmallow, making your heartache a little bit with the urge to reach out and touch his cheek and lip softly.

There you were, just staring at him comfortably and when he noticed your gaze he gave you another bright smile, scrunching up his nose gently which gave you the deadly shot you had needed to know that there was no point of return for you now. 

 When you started speaking after the silence all you could get out was a whisper. “I should really go, I’m already going to be in a lot of trouble for coming back so late.”, you mumble into the pillow and his eyes examined your face carefully, looking for something he couldn’t quite put his finger on yet.

“Okay, let me drive you.”, he smiled and although it took both of you a couple of minutes, you managed to crawl out of the bed heavy-hearted. Taking a deep breath, stroking your hair back and hoping that you didn’t look like a complete mess, you went to grab your things, following Jungkook out the door to the hallway.

 “Ah, good. I was just about to kick you out so you don’t get in trouble. Mina left earlier - can you believe they’re lovey-dovey all of a sudden? Still freaks me out. He’s so tiny... ”, Namjoon said laughing and you smiled at him.

“Yea happens to the best. People growing up, I bet they’re doing loads of dirty things together.”, you teased a little bit, seeing his almost ‘shocked parent’ expression. “And thank you. I fell asleep so that was on me. I’ll see you guys soon though. And you don’t have to drive me, I can take a cab.” You stirred the conversation away before Namjoon could get mad at you for being disrespectful and smiled at Jungkook instead, trying to sound as casual as possible and not wanting to cause any inconveniences since you were well aware he had to start early as well tomorrow.

“It’s no problem, really.”, he smiled and you knew that this was off for him judging by Namjoon’s confused look while Jungkook went to grab the keys and put on his shoes, along with his coat.

“Thanks.”, you smile at Jungkook, waiting by the door. “And thank you again. Good luck with the tour if I don’t see you before that.” Bowing your head a little bit towards Namjoon you walked over to the elevator with a smile on your lips, feeling nervous and excited for the car ride ahead.

 “Dirty things together? You really want him to kick you out, don’t you.”, Jungkook laughed once the elevator doors closed and it started moving.

“I don’t know why I said that -  I panicked.”, you admit chuckling and following him down to the parking garage you look at all the fancy cars standing there, none of the members ever able to drive them properly so all they did was appreciate the beauty when they walked past them. 

“Such a waste.”, you mumble as you walk past Hoseok’s G-wagon with a sad expression on your face. It was a matt grey color, almost a green tone, looking exactly as extra and badass as you’d expect Hoseok to look in a car like that one. 

“Wait till you see the luxury vehicle we’re going to have to take.” He pushed the button on the car key and the Hyundai Palisade’s lights started flashing.

“Honestly, this car still confuses me because the front is ugly and the back looks like a Range Rover.”, you admit and Jungkook chuckles as both of you get in the car.

“Sure you don’t want me to drive?” The little dig at his car crash back in the day made him squint his eyes in your direction, seemingly not amused.

“Do you want to walk?”, he retaliated and you lifted your hands in defense, putting your seatbelt on quietly. Sometimes it was hard not to tease him because truth be told, he was kind of sexy when he got a little mad and annoyed or disappointed. 

“Can I at least be in charge of music?” 

He drove out of the parking spot smoothly, making his way out of the garage. Jungkook was a good driver and you knew he was. 

“God they’re already mad.”, you mumble looking at your phone but deciding to ignore trouble until you had to face it face to face in about twenty minutes, you closed the conversation to plug your phone in and got right to picking some good tunes. 

One of your favorite things was hearing Jungkook sing in enclosed spaces like cars or small rooms because his voice seemed to fill out the entire space, going through your brain and tingling it in all the right spaces. His voice was everything and when both of you sang together and you got to perfectly harmonize because both of you were perfectionists, those were the moments that truly made you happy in your friendship. 

Each of you recommending songs, both of you immediately got to singing along together, trying to find an even better one until silence dominated the car ride, making both of you enjoy the songs and just listening to them while driving through the still busy streets. 

“Car rides always freak me out, what if someone sees us at the light.”, you chuckle and Jungkook shrugs smiling, resting his elbow on the car door, sliding his hand through the hair on his neck absent-minded, making you want to scream from excitement. 

“They won’t. Don’t worry.” He smiled and started singing along to the song playing and only now you realized what kind of song had come up next in your playlist. ‘Outta my head’ by Khalid was one of your favorite songs at the moment but given the context of the earlier situation, it just seemed to hit a little different this time with both of you in the small car together and your brain going foggy only thinking about how Jungkook was snuggled in by your side earlier, smelling like heaven. 

 “I was thinking, maybe next time we can make food instead of order? You still want to show me how to make those Italian little balls we had last time.”, he stated as the red light turned green, driving off into the street of your apartment.

“You mean Gnocchi?”, you start laughing and he seemed a little embarrassed by your reaction. “They’re... I mean yeah, we can do that if you’d like.”, you chuckle smiling as he stops the car in front of your apartment. 

“Perfect, I’ll text you then.” He put the car in park and smiled over.

“Thank you for driving me and distracting me tonight. I had a lot of fun. Even not having to sleep alone made me happy.”, you smiled at him, hoping he got the little nudge and without wasting too much time and being suspicious, you exited the car and smiled at him, the door still open.

“Anytime. I’m glad you came over and stayed. I’ll see you at MCountdown?” You nodded smiling. His eyes met yours with a sincere expression and with your cheeks blushing one last time, followed by a shy smile, you nodded and closed the door, waving to him one more time before walking towards your apartment building. When you looked over your shoulder, he was sitting in the car, waiting for you to get inside safely and when you gave him a last quick wave before opening the door, he smiled to himself knowing you were safe inside, starting the car again and disappearing into the night. 

Whatever just happened was going to only be the beginning of what was about to come. 

If you’ve managed to read this far, I’d be more than happy if you could like and share my first chapter if you enjoyed it! If you have any suggestions for improvement or any drabble requests - make sure to shoot me a message! 

thank you so much for reading and I hope you’ll stay for the second chapter 💖

© kooala (stealing, translating or reuploading to other sites is prohibited.)

[ye-bloodeh-liar]

I just finished AC Valhalla – A résumé.

I finished the "main story" of Assassin's Creed Valhalla. These are some thoughts of mine. (This was saved in my drafts for two weeks or so. But my stance hasn't altered. Actually, I'm even angrier now.)

Disclaimer: This obviously contains some spoilers here and there. You've been warned, but tbh, who even cares about the story at this point. Also, I know I don't have many followers, and I suspect none of the few that will come across this post will actually be interested in it. That said, if you like reading people's rants about things, regardless of your interest in video games, this might be something for you. I just needed to get this out of my system somewhere. This is a rant (well, vent? I'm venting, I guess) written as it came to my mind. There's no real structure, I think. Sorry for that in advance.

After Origins, which I thoroughly enjoyed and actually played again between Odyssey and Valhalla, and Odyssey, which's name was perfectly fitting since it felt like a fucking odyssey to grind through, I hoped, actually, I was convinced, Valhalla would right Odyssey's wrongs. You see, Odyssey had one big problem for me: It did none of the things that made and still make me love Origins. In short: The world was massive, but felt copied and pasted, uninteresting to explore and lifeless. Basically, it was a lot of green sprinkled with some olive branches. A lot of the times the only way to know roughly where I am was pulling up the map because based on my surroundings, I could've been anywhere. Compared to the intriguing world of Origins, where you always knew in which area of the map you currently were, this was a shitshow. I mean, just walking through the desert in Origins had more atmosphere than the whole city of Athens (the main fucking city) could ever muster up. (Oh, remember the times of AC Brotherhood, where Rome actually felt like a city even though it wasn't actually humongous like the new games are? Or how atmospheric the whole of AC II was? I mean, Venice? Hello? M a s t e r p i e c e) But I can overlook that. The combat didn't feel heavy, or to put it better, "impactful" like it did in Origins, but more like poking the enemies to their deaths with something that made sword-y sounds. But I can overlook that. The loot system improved a bit, in the sense of giving the option to modify your loot and being able to combine different armor pieces, however, Origins outfit-system was more up my alley. But I can overlook that. Funnily enough, compared to its predecessor, Odyssey looked worse. In Origins the fabric of your outfit look like actual fabric and, I can't stress this enough, waved in the wind. In Odyssey everything felt more static and somehow "fake". But I can overlook that. To me, Origins' story was masterfully done. Personally, I'd say, that this is the closest we've ever gotten to the Ezio-Trilogy. The voice acting was top notch. Bayek was a great character, and the side characters like Aya/Amunet were equally intriguing. I still remember the first time I saw the first confession cutscene after killing Medunamun. It gave me shivers and goosebumps and got me excited for what was about to come. What I want to say with this, is that Origins made me care; care about its characters, care about their backstory and motives, care about the world, etc. After I had finished the DLC The Hidden Ones I felt like I had actually witnessed the igniting spark of something epic, namely the Assassin Brotherhood, in such a chilling way, even though they basically were just chillin' in a cave. Because that's what character building gives you: payoffs. Well, Odyssey did none of that. All it did made me care about was to get all the loot, because that's what my mind always goes for in any game (I'm that kind of stupid ape). I didn't care about what would happen in the end – I just wanted to get there. I wanted to know how the story would end, but in whichever way it would, I knew I wouldn't care for it in the sense of being disappointed or yearning for a different outcome for the character I was so invested in, because, as I said, nothing got me invested in the character(s) in the first place. That's what bugged me the most about Odyssey. Not the flimsy feeling combat, not the husk of a world I found myself in, not the downgrade in design and animation, etc., but the lack of care it invoked.

Now, when Valhalla was originally announced, I was excited as I could be for a video game. Ubisoft was clearly aware of their mistakes with Odyssey and tried to show that they're willing to listen to their fanbase. A world where every area has its own identity? Sounds great. Heavy combat? Hell yeah. Gear and loot that actually matters and is special (unlike in Odyssey where after a few hours of playing you find yourself carrying the same fucking bow 25 times)? Oh my. Choices not for the sake of choices, but story? Yes please. I mean, if you have to implement choices. Even though choices don't really make sense in Assassin's Creed, but that's another topic.

Well, did it deliver (for me)? No. And to be completely honest, I prefer Odyssey, even as the grindfest that it is, over Valhalla, and me replaying Odyssey seems a lot more likely to me, than going through all of Valhalla again. I'm not going to list all of the points mentioned above again in full detail: The world is a bit more intriguing than Greece, but a shadow of what Egypt was. The combat feels heavy, yet every weapon looks too big (????) and it still feels a bit off. My biggest grudge of the minor points is actually the look/the graphics: How on earth does Valhalla manage to look less real than Origins? The fur and pelts on the armor, every piece of cloth, i mean just e v e r y t h i n g looks somewhat plasticy (at loss for a better word here; just compare Origins' outfits in motion to Valhalla's) Anyway, let's get to the real problem here, because all boils down to the point I've mentioned before: Invoking care.

This became very apparent to me after forging the fourth (?; was it the fourth? They all blur together. That's how e n t i c i n g they are. Great.) alliance or so. I didn't give a single fuck about the characters in those arcs. It was very clear that they'd be soon replaced by other characters in the next alliance's arc, which I probably wouldn't care for either, especially, since they all felt somewhat the same: empty. Alliances felt like checklists to do. Even Wincestre, which had an interesting beginning, somehow managed to loose all of its "darkness" after the first two quests. But I could overlook the dreary sidequest-like alliance arcs, if they served the main storyline in some way or form. Now you might ask, what main storyline? E x a c t l y. Looking back, there is none. At least not really. And there where a lot of times playing the game where I found myself wondering, if this alliance-arc-thing I was currently dragging myself through was in fact meant to be the actual story. But it shouldn't be. Was it? I have no fucking clue. My conclusion on what Valhalla's main overarching story is, is what follows:

Eivor's parents got killed when he was a child (never seen before lol), got adopted, and is now part of the Raven clan with his "brother" Sigurd//Sigurd comes home from some raid with the Assassins Basim and Hytham//(Eivor gets the Hidden Blade; I mean, this is an Assassin's Creed game. Big moment. Done in 2 seconds.)//Sigurd and Eivor aren't happy with the new King of Norway.//Sigurd and Eivor fuck off to England (with Basim and Hytham) to set camp there.//Eivor starts to forge alliances throughout England to make his clan's hold on England stronger.// Sigurd and Basim do their own thing.//Eivor meets Sigurd and Basim two or three times throughout his alliance forging.//Basim seems a bit off.//Sigurd says that he was told (by Basim?) that he is a descendant of the gods.// Sigurd wants to "pursue his destiny"// (sidenote: the last few things are all within one (!) short cutscene in a small house. d e v e l o p m e n t.)//Sigurd gets captured and tortured and loses his hand.//Eivor rescues Sigurd.// Sigurd is back in the settlement.//Sigurd distrusts Eivor because Eivor doesn't believe Sigurd and Sigurd thinks Eivor wants to take his title as the jarl (jarls are the bosses of settlements).// And then the end sequence hits. This is where I want to go into somewhat detail again. We go from Sigurd distrusts Eivor to "Eivor, I don't wanna be the boss of the town, so I don't hold a grudge anymore, let's go back to Norway and I'll show you I was right all along" like it's nothing. It's literally just that: You walk up to Sigurd, he says this (more or less) and you sail away. Again: development is taken very seriously in this game. Honestly, at this point I didn't even know that this was going to trigger the ending. My genuine thoughts were "Oh my, finally, after all this grinding, the story is going to start." when in reality of course, ironically, it was going to end. Absolute belter. So you sail to Norway with Sigurd, which takes fucking forever, because OF COURSE you have to sail (for everyone who didn't play the game, yes, sail, that means looking at a viking longship while occasionally moving the stick slightly to change its directions slightly) to your original settlement in Norway, for what feels like far too long, only to say Hi to your dad. Fucking lost it. I thought we were going to assassinate the King? Nah bruv let's just have some quick family talk instead. Some action? Nah. Just get back to the longship. A N D S T A R T S A I L I N G A G A I N. Where? Just around the curve of our settlement in Norway. Yes, they pulled the old trick of the ending is literally just right around the corner of your starting position hehe. Absolute belter. Is this to make it seem like something is about to happen? The calm before the storm? It doesn't work like that. Well, then you actually sail through a storm (lol), which doesn't matter, because Sigurd just says "Let's keep going" and, well, you keep going. Also, to this point the weather conditions have never affected neither Eivors health, nor the ship in any way whatsoever, so why should I be impacted by a storm now? Like, it's a nice thing for atmosphere, but at least make the ship harder to steer or something. Then you walk up a mountain. Funnily enough Sigurd walks in manner that shows that the walk against the storm isn't easy, whereas you, hah, you can just yeet yourself up that mountain like nothing. I could sprint up there. Fucking sprint. Anyway, Eivor and Sigurd enter the Isu temple, because of course, we had to throw an Isu temple in there, I mean, i t ' s A s s a s s i n ' s C r e e d. Was it hinted at before in the story? Not really. Were we chasing or searchig for it? Nah, better get that next alliance going. It just suddenly was. Again: development. So we walk to the main platform of the temple and activate the machine and bam we're in Valhalla (because at some point Ubisoft realised that maybe they should include what is literally in the name of the game). Again, were we looking for Valhalla? Like not in the sense that every viking was, but more in the sense

of was it the main objective of the game? Did Eivor look for a way to Valhalla? Was there anything that led us here other than Sigurd having had a few dreams (that only got mentioned, like, twice?) and being influenced into thinking he was a demigod or something? Nope, Eivor was looking for that next alliance to forge. So, Eivor realises that his experience of Valhalla is fake and he wants to get out. But fake-Odin doesn't want to let him go. In a really weird cutscene (jump to 6:30), Eivor eventually escapes Odin and enters a door with his settlement-family (look, I'm all here for metaphors, but this, this is just utter rubbish. It just doesn't make sense, and there is no payoff whatsoever). Odin actually had a build-up of some sort. In every assassination sequence he's there and talks with Eivor. I actually thought there would be some cool payoff/ending/reveal here. But nah, this ain't it chief. Yet somehow, until here, I had hope. I thought maybe now, building on all this confusion, there's gonna be a relatively good ending. Something enticing. Something that made everything somewhat worthwile. And Ubisoft went: Lol nah. So, you're out of the Isu machine again (for all the non-AC-peoples here: basically like the matrix. Eivor gets hooked up to the machine and experiences alternate reality: Valhalla), and Basim is there. What a twist. The guy that showed up like three times and went from friendly in the first time to super suspicious (like glaring-in-your-face-suspicious) in the two-or-so other major cutscenes he was in, has now been revealed as the enemy. Congrats to that. What a twist. The thing is, and this bothers me a lot actually, it could have been anyone there. It didn't need to be Basim. It wouldn't have felt out of place if it wasn't him. Why? Because Ubisoft failed terribly at making you connect to any character and at building any actual story (or character). It could have been Gunnar, the friendly black-smith in our settlement, and it would have been as fitting as Basim. Then Basim says that this is "for his son". Ah yes, the lost son of Basim, which was mentioned once. Right. Eivor defeats Basim by hooking him up on the Isu machine and gets back to the settlement with Sigurd (in my ending at least. There seems to be a possible ending in which Sigurd doesn't come back.) Cut to the modern day, where Layla now knows the coordinates of the Isu temple, goes there, hooks herself up to the machine, becomes the overseer of time with the other overseer of time which already was hanging out there (I mean yeah, great idea, terrible execution. Build it up, then you can have a payoff. This was just straight outta nowhere, and who cared about Layla anyway.) Anyway, meanwhile Basim, who was still hanging on that machine a fuck ton of years later, pops off, and is now living in the modern day. The idea here is, that we lost the hero (Layla) which caused the (just established) vilain (Basim) to do his fuckery in the modern day. But why should I care? Basim was basically nonexistent in the basically nonexistent story and suddendly I should feel sad or shocked, because he's in the modern day? Is this supposed to be intriguing? And yeah, Layla is "gone". Layla, who had no character building over three fucking games. Why should i be bothered? Why should I care about anything that just happened? Remember when a side character (Lucy) died in AC Brotherhood? That was intriguing. Why? Because they built her as a character we (Desmond) trusted, even though it was in the modern day (which no one really cares about in AC). And this is why Valhalla broke me and Odyssey didn't. Valhalla failed to make me care on a much deeper level. It's just a lot of nothingness. Empty characters in a nonexistent story. And by nonexistent, I mean non-built at all. When I play the game now, I have no actual reason, and throughout the game never actually had any actual reason, to continue. It was a chore. I didn't bother if after three hours of grind I would eventually get a mini-snippet of a husk of a story, and neither do I care now. Everything in

this game is so devoid of sparking curiosity and screams of lacklusterness to the point where I don't even know what I have actually expierenced. For fuck's sake Ubisoft, make me care again. At least once in 40 hours.

May I sum up Valhalla's "story" and content in the glorious words of Catherine Tate: Am I bovvered? The answer, sadly, is a holistic no.

[ruzek-halstead]

respectfully

pairing: jay halstead x hailey upton

hailey somehow gets roped into attending her ex-fiancé & ex-best friend's wedding, and there's no way in hell she's going solo. hailey requests jay's help as her pretend boyfriend and he discovers he is incredibly attracted to badass hailey.

“anyway, congratulations on your wedding day but respectfully, fuck off.”

masterlist || ao3

warnings: swearing, fluffery, hailey upton’s badassery

jay can tell something is bothering his partner. he notices it during the first twenty seconds after he picks her up that sunny chicago morning. he doesn’t pry though; that’s just not how they work. he knows she’ll talk about it when she’s ready.

today is actually supposed to be their day off; however, both detectives are interested in some overtime, after sergeant platt asked them to help out oh so nicely.

they are in their blues (which is a very rare occurrence), acting as extra security during a chicago street festival. jay honestly has no idea what the festival was for and platt wasn’t in the mood to explain it to him.

jay and hailey stick together as they patrol the street; the conversation is kept fairly light, but hailey seems distant and uninterested and jay is starting to worry slightly.

“hey, is everything okay?” he asks her, as they turn a corner. she turns to him with her eyebrows raised and he instantly jumps in to defend himself. “i know, personal question. but you’ve been off all morning. just want to make sure you’re alright.”

hailey chuckles, losing their eye contact to watch the festival in front of them. it was busy but not overly crowded that they couldn’t hear what the other was saying. “no, i’m fine. just have a few things on my mind.”

it was jay’s turn to raise his single eyebrow, attempting to catch her gaze again. “anything you want to talk about?”

hailey looks like she wants to laugh and that just leaves jay even more clueless; she really was aloof about her personal life. “no, it’s nothing serious.”

“still,” he shrugs, stuffing his hands into his front pockets. “i’ll listen.”

hailey smiles, patting his shoulder that slumps in defeat. “i know, jay. but i’m fine.”

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jay doesn’t pry anymore after she shuts him down. they finish their volunteer shift, agree to go home and shower and meet up at a bar nearby. they still go to molly’s to hang out with the other first responders, but they’ve started going to this other bar, as to not have other prying eyes around. sometimes they just want to talk, something they just want to drink, but this way, it’s just the two of them.

he’s watching hailey at the bar, buying them another round of beers. she’s still been slightly off, but he’s confident she’s about ready to crack.

jay’s halfway into his second beer when she finally explodes.

“okay, i've decided i'm going to tell you what’s up, but you’re not allowed to laugh.”

she looks so serious and jay is so confused. why would he laugh if something was wrong?

“okay?” he replies, more as a question.

she looks as if she’s mentally preparing herself and he’s clueless, but that seems to be the norm around hailey.

“one of my ex-boyfriends is getting married.”

jay raises his eyebrows, expecting everything but that.

“to my ex-best friend.”

realization is slowly dawning on him.

“he cheated on me with her, so we broke up, naturally.”

he’s kept quiet because she doesn’t look finished venting yet.

“but they’re getting married in like a week, and i wasn’t going to go because fuck them, you know?” hailey was going off now and jay listened diligently, a hint of a smile on his lips. “yes, you heard correctly; i received an invite. anyway, i never sent in my rsvp either just to keep them guessing and mess up their wedding plans. but then,” she adds dramatically, rolling her eyes; jay is trying really hard not to laugh now. “i saw them! i saw both of them last night on my way home. of all the places i could run into them, i ran into them at the convenience store when i was picking up milk,” she looks so annoyed, “milk, jay.”

at this point, jay can’t contain his laughter anymore. hailey looks affronted.

“hailey, i’m sorry, okay?” he can’t seem to stop or look the least bit apologetic. “i’m not laughing at your story, i promise. it's just the way you’re telling it. i've never seen you so invested in something and so annoyed.”

hailey is pissed, but not at jay; it’s just the whole situation in general has been bugging her all day and she just needed to tell someone. “oh, there’s more.”

jay's eyes widen. “oh no, what happened?”

“so, there i am, carrying the milk and they’re being all friendly and shit like nothing happened,” her eyes are squinted, “like what the fuck?”

jay nods, smirking. “how dare they?”

hailey pauses, glaring at him. “i know you’re being a smartass, but i'm going to ignore that because, listen to this,” he leans in, completely invested. “they asked if i was going to the wedding, but like what the hell am i supposed to say to their faces?”

“oh no,” jay mumbles, “hailey, you didn’t.”

“yes, jay, i absolutely did,” she laughs, “when they mentioned they never got my rsvp, i told them it must have been lost in the mail because i definitely sent it.”

jay is full on laughing again and hailey can’t even be mad because she’s laughing too.

“jay, it gets worse,” she groans, dropping her head into her hands. jay is basically already losing it; he’s not sure how much worse it can get. “they asked me for the details so they could add it into their plans, and they asked me if it was two spots; one for me and one for my boyfriend.”

jay's eyes widen. “oh shit.”

“i know they were messing with me; i could see it on their faces,” she adds angrily. her blue eyes are slightly wild, and her messy hair is sticking to her face as she spoke ferociously. “but there was no way in hell i was telling them i’m going to their wedding solo! so, now i need a last-minute date, and the wedding is in like a week.”

jay takes a swig from his beer, amusement still present on his facial features. “wow hailey, that was a rollercoaster. no wonder you’ve been off all day.”

“yeah, yeah, laugh it up, halstead,” hailey sasses while rolling her eyes. “but don’t you worry, your time of reckoning will come.” jay’s eyebrows furrow and he doesn’t like where this conversation is going. “you got a nice suit?”

jay shakes his head rapidly. “no. not this again.”

“what?” hailey interrupts, looking confused. “you’re coming to this wedding with me, you have no choice.”

jay sighs. “are you sure this is a good idea?”

“i'm not showing up solo, jay,” her expression is serious. “and if i have to pretend to be in a fake relationship for one night, i would rather it be you.”

jay ignores the way her words make him feel inside. “okay, fine. looks like i don’t have much of a say anyway.”

hailey smiles toothily and any doubts he previously had disappear. “no, you definitely don’t. also, i'm pretty sure voight is out of town, so you’re really my only other option.”

he chuckles, finishing the last of his beer. “okay, if we’re going to do this, tell me everything i need to know.”

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hailey should probably be nervous, but she surprisingly isn’t.

she's about to spend a night pretending to be madly in love with her partner (which honestly wasn’t that hard to do), and she hasn’t started panicking. it's basically like working undercover; she has just never done this level role-playing with jay before.

but he seemed good. he didn’t seem nervous at all, as she gazed at him from the passenger seat of his truck. he picked her up about twenty minutes ago, looking absolutely dazzling in a pressed simple black suit. she was momentarily speechless, but she awkwardly smiled and gave him a random compliment when he cleared his throat.

contrary to what hailey thought, jay was a little nervous. this was uncharted territory and they hadn’t discussed much of how they would act around each other. it was like an undercover operation and they would just go with the flow. but he had to be honest; with hailey wearing a dress like that, it was going to be extremely hard to focus. her dress actually was quite similar to erin's from their undercover op in the sex club and honestly, the parallels between them lately were uncanny.

“what?” he asks as he catches her staring for the fifth time since they left for the ceremony.

she giggles, “sorry, nothing. i'm just picturing nate’s face when he sees you.”

nate is the ex-boyfriend; kathy is the ex-best friend. hailey had caught him up over the last week on everything he needed to know. she may have omitted a few details, but what he didn’t know, he didn’t know, right?

jay raises an eyebrow, turning right onto the street of their destination. “why?”

hailey rolls her eyes; he can be so adorably clueless. “shut up; you know you’re attractive, okay?”

he smirks and internally debates whether he should use this moment to blatantly flirt with her, but figures he’ll have lots of time for that throughout the evening. he pulls into the venue and secure a parking spot, catching hailey’s fidgety hands from the corner of his eye.

they had decided to keep their fake relationship as close to reality as possible, as to make everything easier. they had been partners for a bit over three years and started showing romantic interests in each other two years in. they decided to give it a try a few months later, and have been together ever since.

“you ready?” he asks in a soft voice.

hailey nods. “yeah, yeah, i'm okay,” she wipes her hands on her red dress (honestly, red? was she trying to kill him?). “just realizing i'm going to see a lot of people from my past in there tonight.”

jay reaches over the console and taps her knee, careful not to linger. “what did you say the other day? fuck ‘em?”

she looks over at him and smiles. “fuck ‘em.”

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the wedding is taking place at an extravagant hotel wedding plaza; the ceremony is happening in the outside garden at sunset, while the reception is immediately following within the hotel. as they make their way to the back garden, hailey is stunned by the beauty of it all. there are fairy lights decorating the whole perimeter, clearly illuminating the make-shift altar where the vows would be held. over the altar, there is a gorgeous arc with lights intertwined and a pathway made up entirely of flowers. the color scheme is off-white and light pink and it blends together beautifully.

“i have to hand it to them; this place looks amazing,” hailey murmurs low enough for only jay to hear.

jay smiles, grabbing two flutes of champagne from the waiter passing through. “you ever think of how your wedding would look?” he asks as he hands her a flute.

hailey chokes into her first sip. “god no,” she licks her lips and jay stares. “after everything we deal with and see on a daily basis, thinking of something like my own wedding just seems so miniscule and pointless.”

“so, you’re a vegas wedding type of girl?” he smirks.

hailey returns his devious look. “if it saves me time and money, i'll cheers to that,” she clinks her glass with jay's before turning to scan the crowd. it was part of her nature to surveillance everyone around her, even if she didn’t realize it. “oh hey, that’s nate, by the way.”

she points to a tall man, dressed in a pressed black tux, laughing with what jay assumed were his groomsmen. jay surveys him for a second, well aware of hailey’s eyes on him, and shrugs, “you can do better,” he says as he takes another sip of champagne.

hailey beams and he fucking loves it.

but he sees her smile fade away as the man in question starts making his way over to them.

“oh my god,” she panics, “here we go.”

“relax,” he murmurs into her ear, sliding closer, “we’ve got this.”

nate reaches them and jay takes a moment to study him up close. he looks polite enough, but jay knows better. nate’s eyeing hailey like she’s a piece of meat and he’s definitely not into that. he decides he doesn’t like the guy.

“hailey! i’m so glad you could make it!”

jay glances at hailey and sees the strain in her features. he can almost read her mind; is this guy serious?

“thanks nate, and congratulations,” she turns to jay with adoration in her eyes (wow, she’s good). “i want you to meet my boyfriend, this is jay.”

jay sets nate with a cool but polite look. “hey, it’s nice to meet you. and congratulations on your wedding, this place looks beautiful.”

nate reaches for jay’s outstretched hand and doesn’t falter under his tight grip. “thanks, man. how did you meet hailey?”

“we’re partners,” he replies easily.

nate raises his eyebrows. “robbery-homicide?”

“no, i joined the intelligence unit at the 21st district a few years ago,” hailey jumps in.

nate looks oddly surprised. “oh, you left? i didn’t know you moved to the other side of town.”

hailey smirks, “yeah, guess i just had to leave some stuff behind.”

nate nods, teetering awkwardly. “sorry, i just always thought you’d be a lifer down there,” he says with such a nonchalant attitude that jay is raising his eyebrows at his audacity. “you always said you weren’t cut out for more.”

hailey opens her mouth to respond but she looks temporarily stunned; jay decides to step in with some truth bombs. “hey man, hailey’s an amazing detective. it it wasn’t for her, i probably wouldn’t even be here today.”

“wait a minute, what the fuck?” hailey snaps and jay bites his lip. her voice is low because she knows better than to embarrass the guy too horribly on his wedding day, but he deserves this. “i never said that, you said that! because you didn’t want a fiancée more successful than you!”

jay casts a quick look at her when he hears her say fiancée, but she’s too heated to notice.

nate also looks affronted that she mentioned that, or that she responded at all. clearly we’re both remembering different situations.”

“yeah, clearly,” hailey snorts. “anyway, congratulations on your wedding day but respectfully, fuck off.”

jay is absolutely stunned as she grabs his wrist and yanks him in the direction of the outdoor bar. she quickly asks the bartender for four tequila shots and downs the first one, all within the minute.

jay has literally never been more attracted to her.

“can you believe the nerve of that guy?” hailey hisses angrily. she takes another shot. “i swear he just invited me to piss me off.”

jay pushes the other two shots in her direction. it's one in the afternoon; he can’t fathom having two tequila shots at that hour, but hailey has already had a day and she clearly needs them. with jay’s silence, hailey stills after her third tequila shot. her brows furrow and worry lines appear on her face.

“shit, was that too much?” she says, panicking. “did i overreact and make a big scene on his wedding day for no reason?”

jay smiles, instantly putting her worries at ease. “oh no, not at all. he was an ass and deserved it, trust me,” she nods and takes the last shot. “that was pretty badass.”

hailey snorts, rolling her eyes. “he's lucky i didn’t punch him in the face. i have a pretty great right-cross.”

“let's not give the groom a black eye before he’s even gotten to the altar,” he says as he leads her to the seating area with a hand on her lower back. other guests are starting to find their seats, while the groom and his party make their way to the altar. “we’re still not halfway through this thing.”

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the ceremony is standard; nothing special.

jay and hailey politely stand for the bride to make her grand entrance. her dress is big and poofy and hailey hates everything about it, but she stands quietly and watches. her anxiety is out the roof given the situation she’s currently in but having jay next to her really does calm her. he's not doing anything special; they’re only touching the bare minimum, sitting right next to each other, but that’s all she needs to relax her.

the reception that follows is also very bland. they are seated with three other couples, who are surprisingly very friendly. hailey doesn’t recognize them, so they must have come into the picture after her departure.

“hey,” jay murmurs, a few minutes after they dim the lights for dancing. “i don’t want to pry, but i’m curious.”

truthfully, hailey has been waiting for this question since her outburst earlier with nate. she’s surprised he didn’t ask sooner, considering his lack of patience when it comes to curiosity. “what do you want to know?” she levels him with a slightly smirk.

“come on, hailey,” jay gives into a half smile. “why didn’t you tell me you were engaged to him?”

hailey pauses for a moment, actually thinking about her response. “the truth?” he nods solemnly. “i didn’t really want you to know about my failed relationships.”

jay’s eyebrows raise to his hairline. “your failed relationships?” he’s almost laughing. “hailey, have you even seen all of mine?”

she laughs, “i know, but i don’t know,” she’s twisting her fingers together to keep her busy. “i just – i really loved him. and then that happened, and i felt like it was my fault, you know? like i did something to warrant that. i didn’t want people knowing. especially you; i didn’t want you to think any less of me.”

jay’s eyes go wide and he shakes his head. “hailey, i can’t even begin to tell you how wrong everything you just said is.”

hailey looks at him shyly; she’s not a shy person.

“i would never think any less of you; you’re one of the best people i’ve ever known,” he says seriously, his eyes star deep into her soul; she can’t escape. “also, none of that was your fault. if he was stupid enough to lose you, he’s an idiot and nothing you did caused that.”

hailey smirks at him. “i know that now. he’s trash and i deserve better.”

the smile jay sends her is blinding. “good. you do deserve better.”

he continues to look at her and she doesn’t tear her gaze away; she can’t.

their tender moment is interrupted by the screeching of chairs, as the bride and groom decide to make their rounds to every table. and because hailey has been extremely lucky lately, all the other couples are either on the dance floor or at the bar when they decide to come to jay and hailey's table.

hailey can see them approaching, and she wants to run, yet tragically, she cannot.

“you got me?” she mumbles to jay quietly, grasping his hand automatically.

he looks at her with a fond smile and tightens his grip. “always.”

both detectives brace themselves for the next few minutes. they've faced flying bullets and bombs, but somehow, this feels worse.

“hailey!” kathy squeals, dipping in for a hug. hailey goes rigid and her facial expression changes to one of pure discomfort. “so glad you could make it! and who’s this?” she sets her eyes on jay, and now it’s his turn to be uncomfortable. nate has looked uncomfortable during this whole interaction so far; probably has something to do with hailey telling him to fuck off. respectfully.

“i'm jay,” he introduces himself, thrusting out his hand before she has the idea to hug him too. kathy pauses, but shakes his hand anyway; clearly, she wanted a hug.

kathy raises an eyebrow. “you’re the new partner, right?”

“sure,” jay shrugs. “it's been a while, but yeah, you could say that.”

she raises her eyebrows suggestively in hailey's direction. “i can definitely see why you wanted more than just partnership with this hunk.”

hailey stares at her. “do you hit on everyone’s boyfriends, or just all of mine?”

jay's eyes widen, but he keeps his composure for hailey’s sake. kathy’s face blanches and she straightens as if hailey has just slapped her across the face; well, she may as well have.

“hailey, please don’t forget you’re here at my wedding, as per my request,” kathy deadpans in response and if jay thinks they were in trouble before, they’re really in for it now. “do not disrespect me like that.”

hailey’s eyes squint and the words she’s hearing are causing her physical pain. “are you kidding me?” she hisses. “you slept with my fiancé and had the audacity to invite me to the wedding, so who the hell do you think you are sassing right now?”

kathy purses her lips. “i thought you’d be happy for me. we were such great friends.”

hailey is about to lose her shit. “jay, i’m going to hit her,” she says quickly and jay decides to take charge and jump in.

“alright, you know what? it's your wedding day, we don’t need to make a scene,” he says calmly; hailey is still breathing deeply. “but you both should acknowledge you did hailey dirty and she deserves an apology, at least.”

the bride looks affronted that he would even get involved. “apology? she should be apologizing to me! she’s causing me stress! you don’t upset the bride on her wedding day!”

“i’m about to do more than just upset you,” hailey growls, quickly standing up and planting her feet firmly to the ground. jay has no doubt in his mind that hailey will not hesitate to give the bride a black eye, but he really can’t let her do that.

with his rapid instincts, he’s able to wrap an arm around her waist and yank her into his side and farther away from kathy, who pales and flinches a few steps back. to anyone watching, it merely looks like he’s unable to keep his hands off his girlfriend and pulled her closer for a quick cuddle. it seems this is enough to snap hailey out of whatever revenge-infused fantasy she’s living in her head. “i'm going to leave,” she says calmly, “and i would like to say i wish you both nothing but happiness but really, i want to tell you both to go fuck yourselves. respectfully.”

with those last few words, hailey grabs her clutch, jay’s hand and pulls him in the direction of the exit doors.

and once again, he has never been so attracted to her.

“oh my god, i can’t believe that just happened,” she groans as soon as she exits the building. she instantly leans against the brick wall and allows the coldness to distract her. at his silence, she peaks an eye open to see him gaping at her. his cheeks are flushed, and he looks flustered, which is highly unusual for jay.

“what's wrong?” she questions. “why are you looking at me like that?”

he seems to snap out of it but he is blushing like no tomorrow. hailey is shocked; this literally never happens. “it's nothing, sorry,” he mumbles. “you just look really good.”

hailey has to strain her ears because she almost can’t hear him, but she does. “what?”

jay huffs but decides he can’t get out of this now. “apparently i have a thing for angry hailey,” he says honestly, and she’s floored. “i’m probably crossing a line here or something, but i'm very attracted to you right now.”

jay is being bold and meeting her blue eyes, but hailey is slightly speechless.

“and if i'm being honest, i really want to kiss you. i've wanted to all night.”

hailey decides to feed off his confidence and play along. “what's stopping you?”

he forces his eyes not to widen at her forward manner and instead takes a step closer to her position against the brick wall. “so many things…” he groans, his hands finding her waist.

“but?”

“but i don’t care.”

his lips meet hers tantalizingly slow.

his kiss is soft, much like his entire character when it comes to hailey. one of his hands reaches up to cradle her cheek and hailey surges forward because it’s not enough. jay pulls back.

“finally,” hailey mumbles, cuddling her face into his neck. he holds on tight, the overwhelming scent of her enough to keep him smiling. “i've been wanting to kiss you since the first time you got shot.”

honestly, he can’t remember when he started wanting to kiss her but he’s damn well glad he finally did. “thanks for coming with me today,” she says quietly, “it’s hard for me to open up about my past, but i really hope i can get there with you.”

he's still holding on tight, and he’s smiling as she sneaks a glance at him. “we have all the time in the world.”

[harryhooksgazebos267]

Broken Trust~Part 8

Paring: Bang Chan x reader; Mark Tuan x reader(arranged marriage)

Genre: Mafia au, angst, little bit of everything honestly

Warnings: Cursing, mafia life and shizzle

MASTERLIST

After Chan left, Jisung entered your room and the two of you basically caught up with each other and told dumb stories.

“So then Felix chased us around the house screaming put some more, put some more while spraying us with whipped cream. Let’s just say Chan wasn’t too happy when he came home,” Jisung explained while the two of you died of laughter. All of a sudden, you heard a really loud bang downstairs, causing the two of you to jump.

“What the fuc-”

“BLACKPINK IN YOUR AREA,” Four voices yell at the top of their lungs.

“Oh my god!!” You squealed while you rushed to the door.

“Hey slow down! You don’t even know where you’re going.”

“ Touché, hurry up old man, we don’t got all day now.”

“What’s that sunny?” Jisung asked in a fake old man voice.

“Shut up,” You laughed out as you grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the room. He lead you down into the living room where you saw all the boys and, the most important part, Blackpink! Jennie was the first to notice your presence.

“Oh my god Y/n!” She exclaimed with a large smile rushing over to hug you.

“It’s been too long!”

“You’re telling me,” She joked as the two of you pulled away. You then turned to hug Jisoo, Rosé, and Lisa.

“How have you been?” Rosé asked.

“I’ve been alright, got kidnapped but other than that I’m doing just fine.”

The four of them gave you a puzzled look.

“Who kidnapped you?” Lisa asked.

“They did?” You questioned, equally confused as to why they thought you were here willingly.

“Okay kidnapped is a strong word,” Seungmin defended.

“Yeah, it has a bad connotation,” Jeongin agreed.

“Well what else would you call it?” You questioned.

“A friendly get together?” Jeongin suggested.

“There is nothing friendly about Hyunjin’s attitude,” You remarked causing him to roll his eyes.

“I can’t believe you kidnapped her,” Jennie scolded while staring at Chan causing him just to shrug in response.

“Again, really strong word to use.” 

“Seungmin, we kidnapped her,” Chan deadpanned.

“Dumbasses,” Jennie whispered causing you to snort.

“What about you guys? How have you been?”

“We’ve been good! Kicking ass and looking good while doing it, you know, the usual,” Jennie said while flipping her hair.

“How’s Mark?” Lisa innocently asked not realizing how touchy the subject is.

“Fine.”

“That’s good. How about your relationship? I know last time we talked you guys still hadn’t warmed up to each other,” Lisa questioned while taking a seat on one of the couches. You and the other girls following after her.

“Our relationship? Umm, I guess it’s also fine. It’s still kind of weird between us so,” You trailed off, really not wanting to talk about it.

“It’s weird between you to?” Chan sarcastically asked.

“Oh will you get over the damn phone call already!”

“What phone call?” Jisoo asked.

“It doesn’t really matter...”

“Clearly it does if it’s got Chan all up in his feels,” Lisa pointed out.

“First off, I’m not in my feels, second off, he told her he loved her.”

This caused everyone to gasp and the girls to squeal.

“Oh my gosh that’s so cute,” Rosé gushed while squishing your cheeks.

“Stop,” You whined while swatting her hands away.

“Did you say it back?” Jisoo eagerly asked, wanting to get all the tea.

“No?”

“Y/n! Why didn’t you say it back?” She scolded.

“Well I mean, he didn’t really give me a chance to. He hung up the phone as soon as he said it, not that I would have said it back,” You explained.

“You’re gonna break that poor mans heart,” Lisa commented.

“Oh please, Mark doesn’t have a heart,” Minho scoffed.

“Oh shut up, what would you know?” Jisoo scowled.

“More than you would! Since when are you best friends with him? Since when were any of you best friends with him?”

“Get over yourself Minho,” Jisoo said while rolling her eyes.

“Y/n, have you even been making an effort to get closer to Mark?” Jennie asked.

“Do you really have to talk about this here?” Jeongin whined. 

“No please, let them continue. I would love to hear all about this,” Chan stated with a fake grin on his face.

The room fell silent as the air grew tense. Probably not the best conversation to be having right now.

“Oh, don’t get all quiet now.” 

“Don’t be such a dick,” You mumbled out.

“Don’t let them ruin girl talk y/n, spill all the tea,” Lisa said while giving all the boys dirty looks.

“Yeah, spill the tea,” Jisung added.

“Really?” Changbin asked in disgust, causing Jisung to flick him off.

“Anyway, to answer your question Jennie, I wouldn’t really say I’m making an effort. I don’t really see the point,” You shrugged out.

“Period, Mark is a dirty nobody,” Minho agreed.

“I never said that but pop off I guess.”

“Okay I get Chan and Y/n used to be a thing or whatever but why are you all so against Mark? He isn’t a bad guy,” Rosé questioned.

“He isn’t a bad guy? You deal realize he would kill her without a second thought,” Hyunjin, to your surprise, hissed out. Guess he didn’t hate you anymore? 

“Oh please no he wouldn’t,” Lisa denied, “and why do you care? Thought you were giving y/n a sour attitude.”

“That was past me, I’ve grown since then. And just because I was giving her a “sour attitude” doesn’t mean I didn’t, well don’t, care about her.”

“Past you? That was like two hours ago annnnd you said you should just kill me,” You deadpanned.

“That is a very good point,” Jisung agreed causing Hyunjin to glare at him.

“I didn’t actually mean it.”

“Whatever, but seriously, you guys haven’t seen how he acts around her,” Jisoo stated.

“Neither have you,” You pointed out.

“Well yeah but....it’s different,” She defended.

“How the hell is that different?” Hyunjin questioned.

“Because it just is! I’m older than you which means I’m wiser so I can judge Mark better,” Jisoo sassed.

“Clearly you can’t,” Hyunjin shot back.

“Will the two of you just stop already?” You snapped, tired of hearing them fight like little kids.

“Honestly, I think you both are right to some degree. I think at first Mark wouldn’t have hesitated to kill me if his father told him to but now, I guess things have changed,” You remarked.

“Are you serious?” Rosé asked.

“Well from what Felix told me yesterday, yeah. That would explain why Mark was so cold at first.”

“How do you know he still wouldn’t kill you in a heartbeat? Maybe he’s just saying I love you and all that just to get you to warm up to him so you fully trust him. That would make it easier for him to kill you, ” Minho suggested.

“Or he could be doing that just so you give up SM easier,” Changbin adds.

“I don’t know, that could be true but I really don’t feel like that’s the case,” You reply honestly.

“Well if he actually has feelings for you, we could use that to our advantage,”Felix says.

“How so?” You question.

“Wait, hold up. What the hell is going on?” Jennie asks, confusion written all over her face.

Chan quickly explains plan awaken to them, finishing with “and that’s why I called you over here. We were hoping you would help us take down JYP.” 

“Of course we’ll help,” Rosé answers, the other three nodding in agreement.

“Now Felix, what were you thinking?” Chan asks.

“Well if he really has feelings for Y/n, maybe he would be more willing to give up information, like the original plan, but maybe he’ll also change sides? I mean, maybe he’ll help us take down JYP. It’s always good to have an inside man,” Felix suggests.

“Felix that was fucking dumb, why would he want to take down his own empire? Or help us kill his dad? Plus we have Itzy, we don’t need anymore inside men,” Hyunjin rants.

“Itzy? They’re in on this?” you question surprised by this new information.

“Of course! What kind of operation do you think we’re running here,” Jeongin said.

“Fair point,” you responded, “but I’m with Hyunjin on this, I don’t really think Mark would just turn on Jinyoung.”

“So what do we do about Mark? I’m sure once you guys get your revenge, he’ll just retaliate,” Lisa points out.

“True,” Chan agrees.

“But if I’m on your side, maybe he wont?” 

“Y/n, I don’t know. It might be safer if you don’t pick a side,” Jisung says.

“I agree, if Mark goes after us then he’ll probably go after you too,” Chan says deep in thought.

“Not if he loves her,” Felix, once again pointed out.

“Love has nothing to do with the mafia Felix, it won’t matter how he feels. If she’s with us then she’s against him, he’ll go after her,” Chan said.

“Why does it matter if he goes after me? I thought I wasn’t here to be your friend?”

“Well...while you and Jisung were talk, the rest of had a group meeting-”

“You had a meeting without me?” Jisung whined like a five year old.

“Stop crying, we already knew your feelings on the matters. Now, as I was saying, we all had a discussion and we’ve reached the conclusion that you most likely didn’t know about JYP’s plan. With that being said, we also reached the conclusion that we should protect you and, if you want, you can actually join us. Not as our prisoner but as an actual ally, I guess. But if you don’t want to, that’s okay. Basically, we want to give you the option, seeing as though there is no point in dragging you into this if you don’t want to be apart of it.”

“I don’t really have a choice, either way I’m going to have to pick a side one way or another,” you state.

“Yeah but the longer you have to put off that choice, the less sticky the situation will be for you,” Chan explains.

“Well, seeing as though my mafia is directly involved and in danger, I’m on your side. I’ll help in anyway I can. My only worry is this entire plot of revenge, wont it harm more than do good? What do you expect to happen after Jinyoungs death, assuming that things go as planned. GOT7 will just retaliate and so will DAY6. You have Itzy so there is one group we don’t have to worry about, but what about Twice? And not to mention JYP’s allies. We have to worry about BTS, TXT. I’m assuming we don’t have to worry about IKON since we have Blackpink.” You ramble on.

“Well, not exactly,” Lisa trails off.

“What do you mean?” You question.

“Well, the thing is, we were doing business with Stray Kids before we knew who they were. Once we got wind of their identities, our boss wanted us to cut ties with them. Apparently Jinyoung gave him a phone call and since we’re allies, JYP’s enemy is our enemy,” Jisoo explains.    

“Then why are you here?” Changbin asks.

“Well, we kind of thought you would tell us what happened. At the end of the day, we used to be friends and we wanted to know why you all disappeared. And now knowing everything, we want to be on the right side. If Jinyoung is power hungry, who says he wont go after YG next? Plus, if y/n’s life is in danger, we want to help,” Jisoo states causing everyone to nod there heads.

“Maybe you can convince YG to change sides. Then we would have Winner, Ikon, and Treasure on our side,” Seungmin suggest.

“We’ll try but I’m not sure if he’ll listen. Either way, we’re on your side,” Jennie says.

“Very well. Now, on the topic of GOT7, DAY6, BTS, and TXT, we’ll deal with them when that problem arises. I’m not worried about Twice. Y/n, you’re friends with them so maybe if you explain everything to them, they’ll understand. I would talk to Jihyo. We also have to remember that if you tell your father, we’ll also have SM. So, we’ll have SNSD, TVXQ, SHINee, SUJU, EXO, F(x), Red Velvet, and NCT. We also have SM allies. So we would have Loona, Ateez, Block B. You know what, can someone get a piece of paper and write all this down?” Chan suddenly questions.

“On it!” Jeongin says while quickly leaving the room and coming back with a pencil and a piece of paper. After about debating for ten minuets, this is the list you all came up with.

“Well, it seems like if, well when, a war breaks out, the sides will be pretty equal,” You point out.

“Yeah,” Jisung agrees.

“So what do I do now? Are we still going to go with the “I told them I would join them to get information” plan or are things different now that I’m actually on your side?”

“No, no we need you to talk to your father and Twice. We need to make sure we have them on our side. You’ll probably be able to get more information in person with Mark and Jinyoung anyway,” Chan states.

You nod your head in agreement.

“Are you just gonna like drop me off or how is this gonna work?” You question.

“I have an idea!” Rosé exclaimed.

“Go on,” Chan urges.

“What if we bring her back? We could say that you called us over since we had been allies before we knew who you were. You wanted us on your side and we’ll say we just played along or whatever. We could say that while we were here, y/n pulled one of us aside and told us that she had a plan but it was going wrong and she needed help breaking out. So, we helped her escape blah blah. That way, it looks less sketchy as to why Y/n left and it looks like we’re on JYP’s side.”

“Damn that’s embarrassing, I’m here for one day and my plan already gets fucked up,” you joke, “all jokes aside, I like that plan. Mark was hesitant to even let me stay here so I don’t think it would surprise him if my “plan” got messed up.”

The room was filled with words of agreement and head nods.

“Perfect. Y/n, you need to be careful when discussing this with Soo man and Jihyo. If any of JYP’s goons hear you, your life will be in danger. If at any point you think the plan was compromised, call one of us or text us. We’ll come and get you. Do you understand me?” Chan stated dead serious.

“I understand...but I don’t have any of your numbers so...”

“I know, give us your phone.”

You handed Chan your phone and he put his number in your phone. After passing it to all the boys, they handed your phone back to you.

“If you think it’s safer, you can also call or text us and we’ll be there,” Jennie adds in.

“Thanks.”

“Of course. Should we take her back home now or is there anything else we need to discuss?” Jennie questions.

“No I think that’s it. If there is anything else, we’ll text you. You’ll probably want to change our names in your phone by the way.”

“Yeah that would be a good idea,” you chuckle out. You and the four other girls stand up to leave after saying your goodbyes. The five of you began to leave but you were stopped by Chan.

“Y/n?” He called out.

“Yeah?” 

“Be careful.”

You give him a little smile and quickly leave with the rest of the girls.

“This should be fun,” you thought to yourself as you get into there KIA and drive away.

A/N: Okay the fact that they’re driving away in a KIA sends me.

TAG LIST (feel free to send me an ask if you would like to be added to the tag list or if you would like me to send a private message every time I update <3): @elenaramos1 @yup-indecisive-girl-cece @ewok7attack @0leelina0 @letterstoskz​ @lilacyeonjun

Part nine

MASTERLIST

[king-finnigan]

Ok so you know those fics where Geralts hair is damaged by a monster and Jaskier fixes it? Modern au, but Geralt still hunts monsters and lives with his platonic friend (crush) jask. One night he comes home and his hair is wrecked so jask helps him cut it but he realizes too late that the clipper doesn’t have a guard. This would 11/10 help me cope with how my sister did the same thing to me :( lol

I now have an incredibly drastic short side cut and a guilty sister. Luckily we aren’t going out so it will grow lol. I just feel like that’s something (messing up clippers) Jaskier would do.

A/n: oh noooo, I’m so sorry to hear that! I hope your hair grows back quickly! Hope this little fic helps lmao. (Also I added a bit onto the story because I have one (1) hobby and I can and will use it in my writing)

Jaskier looks up from his book when he hears the roaring of Roach’s engine outside the living room window. He can’t help the wild grin that spreads across his face, though he takes a moment to gather himself as he walks to the front door – he doesn’t really wanna show Geralt how glad he is to see him after spending the last few days on his own. After all, Geralt’s just a housemate, nothing more. Definitely not Jaskier’s crush. No, sir.

His composure falls when he swings the door open and finds his Witcher in the driveway, his hair a veritable fucking mess. He bursts out into laughter, which earns him a glare from Geralt, who pushes past him, into the house. “Don’t mention it,” he grumbles.

Jaskier closes the front door behind him, leaning against it as he watches Geralt dump his laundry by the washing machine under the stairs, his face as still as ever, the tightening of his jaw the only sign that he’s in a really bad mood. Of course, Jaskier’s never let that stop him.

“So what happened, Witcher? Run into a lawnmower?” Geralt glares at him again, and Jaskier grins. It does really look like a mess – a large chunk of hair missing from the back of his head, some loose strands hanging at random lengths around it.

He sighs, folds his arms in front of his chest. “Alright, I’ve got an idea. There’s no way that’s gonna look good for the next…” he waves his hand a bit “year or so? At least until it grows back to full length, which is gonna take a while. So, what if… I give you a new haircut?”

Geralt looks at him, narrows his amber eyes. “No.”

Jaskier scoffs, leaning his head against the door, looking up at the ceiling. He notices a spider web in the corner and makes a mental note to vacuum it up later. “Come on, Geralt. We both know your hair’s gonna look like shit if we don’t do something about it. And you know,” he shrugs, “maybe it’s time for a new look. You’ve had the same haircut for… what? Sixty years? Don’t you think it’s time for something new?”

Geralt sighs, his shoulders slumping a bit in defeat. “Fine, I’ll go to a hairdresser tomorrow.”

Jaskier scoffs, pushing himself away from the door to start loading in the washing machine. “No, you won’t. You told me you don’t want a stranger with scissors getting anywhere near you, like, a year ago. Oh, don’t give me that look, I actually listen to what my housemate says, unlike some people.”

He straightens again, slams the washing machine door shut. “Look, Witcher, I’ve got perfectly good scissors and clippers in the bathroom. I’m perfectly adept at cutting my own hair and maintaining it, so doing yours would be easy as fuck. Your options are trusting me, trusting a stranger, or looking ridiculous.” He shrugs, picking his book from the living room table, walking up the stairs as Geralt continues staring at him. “Your choice.”

---

A knock on his door startles him out of his concentration. “Yeah?” The door opens a crack, and he sees Geralt’s amber eyes peering at him. “What is it? Changed your mind?”

“Hmm.” The door closes again, and Jaskier can’t help the slow smile that spreads across his face as he closes his laptop and gets up. He finds the Witcher in the bathroom, his hair clean and slightly damp from, presumably, a shower – though still very much a mess.

“Alright, so…” He waves his hand vaguely. “Any ideas? What do you want to do with it?”

Geralt’s frown deepens, and he looks at himself in the mirror. “I don’t know.”

Jaskier sighs, purses his lips. “Alright, let me see.” He moves to stand behind Geralt, carding a hand through the soft locks, assessing the damage. “Yeah, definitely gonna have to go for an undercut, here. Or a crewcut, if that’s what you want?”

“No.”

“Okay, undercut it is.” He takes a step to the side so he can see Geralt’s face in the mirror. “Do you want the top to be, like, the same length as my hair, or like, as long as it is now?”

Geralt seems to hesitate, eyes flickering between himself and Jaskier, probably trying to imagine how he would look with hair the same length as Jaskier’s. Finally, he seems to decide, and nods once. “Long.”

Jaskier grins, pushing past Geralt to rummage in the cupboard under the sink. “Alright, please do take my desk chair from my room, master Witcher, and I’ll be with you shortly.”

He doesn’t miss Geralt’s eyeroll, though the Witcher does as he’s told, walking out of the bathroom, returning with Jaskier’s chair. Usually, he does his own hair standing up, but Geralt is an inch or two taller than him, which would make it hard to do his hair – it’s easier if Geralt sits down. Which is what the Witcher does, before Jaskier even has to ask. He grins again, and moves to stand behind Geralt, hairtie in hand. He gathers the hair at the top of Geralt’s head, tying it up in a messy bun, so he doesn’t accidentally cut it off, before he takes the heavy scissors.

“Alright, we’re gonna have to cut off the longer parts first, before I shave it.”

He sighs, taking a lock at the back of Geralt’s head, before looking up, meeting amber eyes in the mirror. “You ready?” Geralt nods, once. Snip. The lock falls to the ground, Jaskier’s eyes following it all the way down. He sighs again. “Alright, let’s continue.”

---

Before long, the back and sides of Geralt’s head are significantly shorter, and Jaskier lays down the scissors, flexing his stiff fingers a bit, before taking the clippers.

“Hmm. Maybe start with 9 and work our way down? That way we can always cut it shorter if it’s too long.”

Geralt sighs softly, rolling his eyes. “Fine. Just get it over with.”

Jaskier grins. “Don’t like clippers?”

“Too loud.”

He nods, even though he personally enjoys the buzzing of the clippers, enjoys the feeling of them scraping against his head, but hey, to each their own, he supposes. He turns them on, setting them against the back of Geralt’s head. He heaves a soft sigh, before moving the clippers up, and-

Oh, fuck.

He forgot to put the guard back on the clippers. Meaning that those 9 millimeters he planned on leaving on Geralt’s head have turned to… well, 0. He can’t hide the horror on his own face as he looks from the clippers to the bald patch he managed to create on Geralt’s head.

“What did you do?”

He looks up at Geralt’s reflection, at the amber eyes studying his face intently, a storm brewing beneath the surface.

“Jaskier, what did you do?” the Witcher repeats, and Jaskier swallows thickly.

“I, uh… Forgot the guard. And now…” He points at the back of Geralt’s head sheepishly. “No hair.”

Geralt’s jaw tightens, and a muscle starts pulling at the corner of his lips. Usually, when he looks like that, he goes outside for a few hours and comes back home with bloody knuckles and bits of bark clinging to his skin. Except today, it seems, as Geralt deflates in the chair, tension leaving his shoulders. “Fine.”

Jaskier blinks, frowns. “What?”

“I said ‘fine’. Just do the rest like that. It’ll grow back.”

Jaskier bites his trembling lip, guilt flooding him as he sets the clippers against Geralt’s head again.

---

“It’s a bowl cut.”

Jaskier frowns. “No! It’s… a very short undercut.”

“It’s a long bowl cut, Jaskier.”

He chews on the inside of his cheek, fidgeting with his fingers, as he looks at Geralt, who’s staring at his own reflection. “Okay, maybe it is, but… It’ll grow back? Eventually?” He swallows, looks away. “Geralt, I’m- I’m so sorry, I-“

“It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not, Geralt, I fucked up and I’m so s-“

“Jaskier. I said it’s fine.” The Witcher sighs, walking to the bathroom door. “I’m going to bed. Goodnight, Jaskier.” He closes the door a little bit harder than he usually does, and Jaskier flinches.

He sighs, spending the next half hour cleaning the hair from the bathroom floor and brushing it out of the clippers, guilt mulling in his head. When he’s done, he rolls the desk chair back to his own room, sitting down on it heavily. He fucked up, he really did. And there’s no way to fix it, either – Geralt will have to walk around for the next few weeks with, well… basically a bowl cut. A long bowl cut, but a bowl cut nonetheless.

He sighs, leaning his chin on his hand, trying to find some way to fix it, when his eye lands on a crochet hook in his penholder. It’s been a few years since he’s done crochet, but it can’t be that hard, right? He suddenly remembers the box of wool under his bed, and a plan forms in his head.

---

Turns out relearning crochet is hard, and he spends the entire night hunched over his work, pausing and unpausing the tutorial over and over again, clumsy fingers working even clumsier stitches. But by the time the sun rises, he’s done it. He’s managed to make a beanie for Geralt. Of course, he’s not sure if it’s gonna fit – he had to use his own head for measurements and added a few stitches to make it a bit bigger – and the colour is… questionable, but it’s there, in all its uneven and bright yellow glory.

He looks up when he hears Geralt’s door open, and sprints into the hall, nearly bumping into the Witcher’s broad chest. Geralt frowns, looks down at Jaskier’s disheveled clothes, still from the previous day, at the circles under his eyes, and scoffs. “What did you do?”

Jaskier frowns, takes a step back, because being this close to Geralt is making his heart do weird things, and hides his work behind his back. “Why do you always think I’m up to something, Geralt?”

“Because you always are.”

Jaskier nods. “Fair enough.” He sighs, chewing on his lower lip. “Look, I’m sorry for what happened yesterday, I really am. So, I uh… made this. For you.” He holds out the beanie, depositing it in Geralt’s hands, who frowns at the misshapen lump of wool.

“What is it?”

“It’s a beanie.”

“It’s yellow.”

“That’s the only wool I had left.”

“You could’ve just bought one, you know that, right?”

He sighs, rolling his eyes. In all honesty, he did forget about just buying one, but Geralt needs to learn how to appreciate a nice gesture, really. He stretches out his hand, reaching for the beanie. “Look, if you don’t want it, you can give it back.”

His eyebrows shoot up to his hairline when Geralt snatches his hands away from Jaskier’s, clutching the lump of wool against his chest. “No.”

“No, what? No, you don’t want it, or no, you’re not giving it back?”

It’s quiet for a while, amber eyes looking at his face intently. Finally: “Thank you.”

That surprises him even more. “For what? Fucking up your hair or making a shitty beanie?”

Geralt grins, a sight that leaves Jaskier slightly breathless. “For trying.”

Jaskier feels a blush creeping up his cheeks, and smiles. “Well, thank you for putting up with me trying.” Before he can think twice about it, he takes a step forward, planting a soft kiss on Geralt’s cheek. The Witcher merely looks at him wide-eyed, and regret curls in Jaskier’s stomach. He’s about to take a step back to flee back into his bedroom, when Geralt’s hand closes around his wrist, stopping him.

He can only stand there, heart in his throat, as Geralt leans forward, softly kissing him. It’s just a feather-light touch, but it’s enough to leave Jaskier breathless and desperate for more – so when Geralt moves back, Jaskier closes his hand around the back of the Witcher’s neck, pulling him closer again, deepening the kiss this time.

He does have to come up for air, eventually – and regrettably – but the sight of Geralt grinning at him makes up for the lack of kissing. He smiles softly. “You know, Witcher… that bowl cut is actually really growing on me, you sure you don’t wanna keep it that way?”

“Absolutely fucking not.”

[junietc]

car rides with you - peter parker

peter parker x reader

pairing: peter parker/spiderman x reader

word count: 6567

warning: swearing, some asshole who doesn’t know how to respect women, and fluffffff

a/n: i’ve had this in my drafts for way too long so i decided to finish it before i forgot it ever existed. its really long but i hope you’ll enjoy a one shot with our favourite little peter benjamin parker :)

send in requests and share your love ~

If you were being honest, it wasn’t like you needed Peter to drive you to and from school each day. You had options. You could take the bus or ask your dad to pick you up or even walk. But having a personal chauffeur didn’t hurt, and if he was so nice as to offer it, then how could you say no? 

Plus, it was on his way. Sort of. It was only a detour of about a block; maybe less a detour and more an alternate route? Either way, his apartment complex was hardly two minutes away. Five minutes to walk, three with your bike, six if you hobble over with a tweaked ankle. 

This was a route you’ve been intimately familiar with since you became best friends in the seventh grade. Back when your hair was barely past your ears after a platinum blonde mishap (you still immediately dyed it green after lobbing off half of it) and Peter was wearing the same hideous Star Wars sweater every day. Somehow, both of you believed these fashion choices would help improve your social status.

Both of you were delusional. 

Luckily, by ages sixteen (you) and seventeen (Peter, by default), you’d come to your senses. Sure, Peter’s penchant for sweaters persisted – why would any one person need five of what was basically the same sweater? – but you grew your hair back out and kept its inoffensive natural colour. And neither of you wore shirts with puns on them. Not anymore.

Earlier this year, back when you were still sophomores, Peter passed his driver’s test. Now with a full license and his aunt’s old sedan, he’s taken the habit of waking up the whole neighbourhood with his obnoxious honking.

Okay, maybe not the entire neighbourhood. Really, just you. 

Still, today was no different.

“Hey, Peter,” you yelled out as you swung the door open, “How about shutting the fuck up?”

You shoved your feet into your shoes and scrambled out, backpack dangling off the crook of your elbow and burnt toast between your teeth as you try to shut the door. Peter leaned across to push open the passenger door so that you could throw your things into the backseat. Papers flew out of the half-zipped bag and spilled onto the floor. 

“For the expletives, I’m afraid I’ll have to only give you a three-star passenger rating,” Peter quipped.

You frowned deeply, pulling the seatbelt. The mechanism got stuck, and you had to pull it out a few more times again. Peter just grinned at you, clearly taking joy in your glares.

“So, ready for the chem test?” he asked, shifting the gears. 

You rolled your eyes, knowing very well that you had sent him a distressed voice message at four in the morning of you crying, saying how you were going to fail, but decided to respond as nicely as possible. “Fuck off.”

He chuckled. He pulled up to the intersection, slowing down but not stopping at the sign. 

You mock gasped. “Wow, illegal. Imagine if there were cops. I’m going to have to give you two stars. I can’t have my Uber driver potentially getting arrested.”

He sighed, shoving you with his free hand. You almost scolded him for not keeping both hands on the wheel (one star!), but he began talking before you could. “You should know, that if I ever was sent to jail, it would never be for something as lame as not stopping at a stop sign”

You snorted before rolling your eyes. “Oh? What would it be for then? Pirating video games?”

“Exactly.” He winked exaggeratedly; you shoved his face to focus back on the road. You looked down at the charred toast, which had been sprinkling crumbs all over your lap. It was far from appetizing, but your stomach growled, and you decided to scarf it down – it was that or no breakfast at all.

Peter laughed at the wince you tried to stomach what was basically a brick of carbon. (Honestly, he laughed at your expense a lot. Some friend.) “I really don’t know why you haven’t just started waking up earlier. I mean, I pick you up at the same time every day and-”

“Okay dad. I’ll start waking up earlier,” you lied.

“I hope you know that I know, you’re lying.”

You flipped him off. 

-----

Lunch seemed to be the only time that you and MJ ever got to hang out at school, so you took pride in making the most of your conversations. 

The two of you shared a laugh and through your peripheral vision, you saw Ned and Peter waving at you before coming to sit down. “So, what are we talking about?” Ned asked as you turned to face them with a smile. 

“Where MJ is going to hide my body after she kills me,” you notice her crack a smile as Ned and Peter both give you strange looks. “I was thinking maybe throw me in a river, but she thinks that burying me twenty feet underground would make it harder for the cops to find.”

The two boys looked at you apprehensively as MJ chuckled as you grinned cheerfully. “Should I be concerned?” Peter asked before you all laughed. 

“Anyways. I was thinking of finally taking my driver’s test. I decided might as well get it over with no?” MJ and Ned both nodded at your suggestion, MJ even mumbling something among the lines of “finally”. Peter on the hand looked, well, skeptical. 

“You want to take it now? Out of the blue? Why? I thought you wanted to wait until you had a job,” he questioned.

After taking another sip of the juice box you managed to steal from Ned, you shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I might as well get it over with. I mean, it’s been well over six months since my written test and I’ve been practicing enough with you and my dad, so I should be fine.”

Peter nodded, though a slight frown still prominent on his face. The conversation steered over to a completely different topic when Ned brought up the chemistry test causing you to pretend to bawl and everyone to laugh.

After lunch had ended, you said your goodbyes to Ned and MJ as you and Peter stopped at your locker. You were in the midst of grabbing your book when he sighed heavily, causing you to stare at him. “You know if you really wanted me to stop driving you, you could have just said so,” his voice was offended as you scoffed.

“What? Where would you get that idea from idiot?”

Huffing slightly, he shrugged, “I don’t know, maybe when you said you wanted to finally get your license.” 

“Are you serious? I’ve been meaning to get my license for the past few months you dummy. Plus, I can’t count on you to drive me everywhere. You’re busy with your own life, you know with that Stark internship and everything. Not to mention, you’re still going to have to drive me to school, since I don’t even have a car,” you roll your eyes at the boy. 

A light smile started to tug on his lips. “Alright. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t trying to get rid of me,” he joked as you snorted in response.

“Oh trust me, I’ve been trying since the day I met you,” Peter pouts as you flicked him in the forehead. “Stop with that face. You know I suck up to how cute each time,” his cheeks tinged a pinkish hue as you ruffled his hair and laughed. 

“O-Oh. Yeah, haha. Sorry,” he murmured as you started to walk in the opposite direction. He caught up with you before heading over to English – which truly was your worst subject – and sitting next to each other. 

Peter fiddled with his pencil for the most of class while you aggressively took notes, wishing that Mr. Petersons would slow down and breathe.

“Alright class. That’s it for today but if everyone could just pick their partners for the project and try and get started over the weekend, that would be great,” as he dismissed everyone, you and Peter turned to each other, giving a silent acknowledgement that you were each other’s partner. 

Heading out of the classroom, you and Peter both went your separate ways. “See you after school!” you waved before heading to History.

History was blur of numbers, years and dead people that you were going to have to remember for an upcoming test, so you were thankful that the clock had finally read 3:00. Your teacher finally dismissed you, causin you to rush to the parking lot, seeing Peter already sitting in the front seat. “Hey there Parker,” you knocked on the window as he smiled and unlocked the door. 

“Hey, how was history?” rolling your eyes, you told him about the dumb test you were going to have to study for. He laughed as he buckled his seatbelt, “well at least you have the weekend to study for it. Speaking of which. When do you want to meet to work on the English project?”

Sighing slightly at the reminder that you had other things you also had to work on, you bit your lip. “Are you cool with Saturday? I’ll just walk over, maybe at like three or four,” Peter nodded as he started the car. 

“Sounds good to me.”

------

Swinging around Queens was always a nice break for Peter, seeing all of the buildings and feeling almost weightless was a nice distraction from all of his studies and duties but he always seemed to forget the time when he was doing so. 

Cue Peter – well Spiderman I guess – hurriedly swinging back to his apartment when he received a text from you saying you were at his door. “Shit, shit, shit!” he swore, finally reaching his window and climbing in. 

As he changed to some regular clothing, May’s voice echoed throughout the little apartment, talking to you as footsteps approached. “He’s been in his room for quite a while. I’m not sure what he’s been up to,” Peter was frantically trying to search for a shirt in his mess of a room when the footsteps got closer. “I have some muffins I baked earlier on the counter, feel free to have one if you get hungry. I’ll be off for a bit so just call if you –” May’s voice seems to be getting closer when she suddenly opened the door, revealing you staring at him, neck immediately snapping to turn the other direction. Peter tried covering himself with a pillow as May immediately said she had to go and left you both alone, very uncomfortable. 

You stood there, unsure of what to do and more so, where to look. Though obviously you looked away and allowed Peter to have his privacy finding a shirt, you couldn’t help but think of his shirtless figure. Since when did he start working out? ‘When did he get those abs? Is this the same Peter that literally dropped me during a drama performance last year?’ you thought to yourself, cheeks tinging pink as Peter finally put on a shirt.

“Hey, um – sorry about that. I was just –”

“Nope! It’s alright. We can just forget this ever happened,” you rushed to say, shaking your head.

Peter blushed before nodding. “Right. Let’s just erase the last two minutes from our brain.” 

You swung your legs as you sat on his bed. “You weren’t doing anything weird right? Because I know that guys - “

“That’s not what I was doing! I was just changing,” he shook his head as you laughed. “Asides from that. Do you want to start working on the project?” You nodded as the two of you got to work. 

– a few hours later –

  You were both hard at work, basically finished the first two parts of the project, leaving only the last section left when you flopped onto Peter’s bed dramatically. “I’m so exhausted,” you whined, as Peter chuckled. 

“We only have one more part to do and we’re practically done the project, so do you want to finish it now?” Peter asked, still typing in his laptop. 

You pursed your lips, pondering on the idea of that but shook your head ultimately. “Nah. I’m tired. Plus, we’ve been working our asses off the past three hours. I just need to breathe.” 

Peter laughed at your dramatics before he asking question. “Do you wanna watch a movie?”

Obviously agreeing to a break in any form, you nodded eagerly and headed over to the living room. You managed to steal a blanket from his bed and bundled yourself up as Peter turned on the television. “So, what are we watching?” he asked, flipped through the collection of old DVD’s. 

“Can we watch Star Wars?” he pleaded as you rolled your eyes, this was probably the third time this month he wanted to watch Star Wars, but you agreed to it anyways. 

“Fine, just don’t be annoying about it again.” 

------

The weekend seemed to breeze by with you desperately trying to study for the history test, and with only a few mental breakdowns and a couple thousand replays of your favourite song, you were ready.

Obviously, you severely underestimated how cruel Ms. Gail could have possibly been and left the classroom wanting to punch yourself, or her, in the face.

Luckily you didn’t have to endure another class seeing as the day was over and you could get home to your bed to cry in private. But before that of course, you were forced to see Peter’s face.

A light smile was etched on his face as you settled in the car. “So how was the –”

“Don’t bring it up. I am already debating whether or not I should throw myself off a building,” you groaned, leaning your head back on the seat. Peter laughed before trying to reassure you that it really couldn’t have been that bad, but you responded with, “no it really was. I honestly think I only got one or two answers right.”

Trying to raise your spirits, an idea popped in his head. “Do you want to get sandwiches at Mr. Delmar’s? Maybe that’ll lighten up your mood,” he suggested as a bright grin formed on your face. As devastated as you were, you were sure that a full stomach would make everything better. “Alright let’s go.”

Obviously, parking was a nightmare in central Queens, so, you decided it would be easier to walk there instead. The two of you headed to the small corner shop, making light conversation. After opening the door to the store, the two greeted Mr. Delmar, Peter snatching a packet of gummies worms and you going directly to pet Murph, Mr. Delmar’s cat. 

“Hey Murph! How’s my cutie doing?” he purred in response before you walked over to the cash with Peter. “Hey Mr. Delmar! Business running smoothly?”

He smiled at you before answering. “Of course. I’ve got my two most frequent costumers keeping me in business,” you and Peter laughed before ordering your sandwiches, paying and heading off. 

You walked back to the school and got back in Peter’s car, eating your sandwiches in the school parking lot. The two of you conversed, making up dumb scenarios and silly topics for a while. Peter nearly choked of laughter as you tried to defend Tik-Tok.

“Not all of Tik-Tok is thirst traps okay! Maybe yeah there’s a weird subsection of it, but it really depends on the algorithm! Most of the users are sane – ish,” you argued as Peter shook his head. 

“I really don’t get it. And somehow you stay up until morning watching them! Didn’t you do that when Vine was still around?” he took a pause, a dramatic gasp escaping from his lips. “You’re not saying what I think you’re saying are you?”

You placed on a hand on your chest in slight offence. “No! What? Listen, I’m not saying that Tik-Tok is better than Vine, don’t get me wrong but –”

“But what? Tell me?” he raised a brow at you, suspicious as to which team your truly were on. 

You shook your head laughing before punching him on the side of his arm. “You’re such a piss off Parker. Hey, should we get going? It’s getting late,” Peter looked at the time on his phone before nodding, taking a final bite of his sandwich before starting the car. 

“Oh, shoot you’re right,” you smugly flipped your hair, as he rolled his eyes. 

“Aren’t I always?”

----

“You said yes?” Peter demanded, trying to keep up with you as you walked to your locker. 

Sighing as you rummage through your locker you answer, “Yeah I said yes. Noah is a good guy and quite frankly, I don’t see why it would even matter to you?” 

“You said that you would think about it!”

Turning to face him as you shut your locker closed, you rolled your eyes. “That was nearly a week ago and I’ve thought about it since then. Besides, it’s not like it’s that big of a deal. It’s just one date.”

“You see that’s where it starts!” he exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation. “It’s just a first date but then it’s a second and a third and soon he’s your boyfriend and he’s the one driving you to school and everywhere and then, where am I?”

You shook your head laughing slightly at the brunette. “Would you calm down Peter? You’re getting way too ahead of yourself for the first part. And yeah, maybe it’ll be more than one date but trust me you can keep driving me to school. Also we’ve been best friends since middle school, I wouldn’t just ditch you when I got boyfriend,” he seemed to calm down, nodding slowly at the words you were saying but he knew it was more than just being allowed to drive you to school. “I’ll see you around okay?” you smiled before heading off to meet up with Noah, who was standing with a group of his friends. 

Peter’s smile faded away shortly as he watched Noah wrap his arm around your shoulder. He was too busy thinking of different scenarios to notice Ned had come up beside him or the fact that you had slapped Noah’s arm away. “Hey Peter. What are you looking – oh. Sorry man,” Ned tried to console Peter, but the words seemed to pass his mind. Sighing, Ned tried to pat his shoulder. “I mean, it is kind of your fault.” 

“Excuse me?” the words seemed to catch his attention as he turned around to face his best friend. 

Ned shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets. “Hey not trying to be rude but maybe if you hadn’t chickened out into asking her out, you could’ve been the one dating her,” Peter stared at his friend, slightly hurt but also aware that everything he was saying was right. 

“Yeah, maybe if I had.” 

He couldn’t help but look at you wistfully, his heart almost aching at the idea of you going out with anyone else but him but at this point, what could he really do?

Waving bye to Ned, Peter headed off into his car and drove home since you were already going with Noah on your date. Once he got into his apartment, he saw May and smiled.  “Hey Pete, how was your day?” tucking his hands in his sweater pocket he sighed slightly. 

“It was okay, I guess. Erm – I’m gonna work on my assignment in the library. I’ll be back in a bit,” he said, heading off to his room to grab a few things. 

May shouted from in the kitchen, “alright! I’ll be heading off to grab a few things. Just be back before dinner!” he grabbed his suit and tried to get some fresh air to distract himself.

----

A month had passed, and you and Noah were happily dating, much to the dismay of Peter, who constantly tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his heart every time you two would display physical affection, but it was whatever. 

You got in his car and buckled your seat belt without a word to Peter. You were tired of schoolwork as you always were, so you weren’t as talkative as you usually were. Slumping into the chair and sighing heavily Peter stared at you.

“Everything okay?”

You looked at him surprised, nodding. “Of course! I’m just really exhausted. Got a lot of work, that’s all.” You sighed, looking at the text on your phone. “Hey, we should get going. May’s probably wondering where you are, and I have a date with Noah so I can’t be late.” 

The moment that Noah’s name was mentioned, Peter mentally rolled his eyes but nodded and started to drive again. 

He dropped you off at your place before texting his aunt May that he would be heading over to the library to work. He drove over and got to the library, trying to find a place to sit.

After finding a seat, he pulled out his laptop and worked for a while, maybe a few hours or so before heading back home. May still wasn’t back and Peter really needed some air, so he put on the suit before leaving through his window and swinging around. It was a nice distraction as he watched the sun slowly start to set, dealing with a few petty crimes around the neighbourhood. He was about to call it a day when he heard a shout coming from someone. 

“Hey! Get off me!” the voice sounded awfully familiar and as soon as he realized who it was, Peter’s stomach dropped. “I said get off!” you were shouting from about a block away, trying to keep a man away from you. 

“Oh, come on, you look all nice and dolled up. Why won’t you just –” the man started before you started to attack him with your bag. Sure, you weren’t scared of him, but you were really hoping he would catch a clue and leave you alone for the rest of the night. You were tired and your feet hurt, and the sun was setting so you really didn’t want to be walking alone back to your place in the dark. You’d forgotten your phone like a dumbass in your room, so there really weren’t that many options. “You bitch! I can understand why you’re walking all alone! I wouldn’t want to be near such a whore either!” the words sank into your skin as you made a disgusted face at the man. 

“Listen if you could please just leave me alone it would be –” as you placed your hands up trying to be defensive, the man grabbed onto your wrists and started to pull on you. “Stop! What are you –?”

“She said stop.”

Your head whipped around, and you saw Spiderman hanging from a web. You watched the man smirk and laugh for a minute, his hands still holding onto your wrists. “And what are you gonna do? From what I’ve heard about you Spiderman is that you’re just a kid. Don’t think that I’d fear a –”

Before he could finish his sentence, Spiderman had knocked him cold with a single blow to the face. He turned to you and tried to make sure you were alright. “Wow, I wasn’t expecting him to get knocked out. Are you alright miss?” you nodded, trying to massage your wrists, damn that guy had a firm grip. You glared at his lying figure, still holding onto your wrists. Spiderman’s eyes, or well, you couldn’t really see his eyes through his mask but whatever, moved to your wrists. “Are you sure? Here, let me see.” 

He took your wrists gently, examining the potential bruises and making sure you were okay. You smiled before taking back your wrists. “I’m alright, honestly. Thank you for your help, even though I didn’t really need it,” you stated, causing him to scoff.

“Um what? From what I saw, he was holding you and you couldn’t move,” he crossed his arms making you snort.

“That’s because I was trying to reason with him before kicking him in the balls,” you mentioned, causing Spiderman to choke in response. “Kind of stupid that guy. I mean my legs weren’t restrained. But whatever. Thank you though. I do actually appreciate it,” you smiled and was about to walk off before he kept talking. 

“Why are you walking alone? I mean it’s getting late, no? Why not call someone to drive you home?” he asked making you stop and turn around. 

You placed your hand on your hip and shrugged. “I don’t know. I just thought it would be nice to get some fresh air so I just decided to walk. But I’m starting to think I should just take the bus for the rest of the way back.”

“I could swing you back?” Spiderman’s offer was a surprising one, considering how this was your first time encountering the hero. Though it was a bit skeptical, you agreed to it, wanting to go home. “Just hold on tight alright?” he asked as you nodded, latching yourself to him, arms wrapped around his neck. You heard his breath hitch slightly as you wrapped your legs around his waist but ignored it as he shot a web up and started to swing. 

You screamed loudly, the adrenaline of being so high up and swing fast soon kicking in. “Do you even know where we’re going?” you shouted, the wind smacking you in the face. You rolled your eyes before giving your address to him and soon landing safely at your windowsill. Thankfully, your widow was still unlocked so you lifted it up and slid in. Before he left you tapped his shoulder. “Thanks Spiderman.” 

“Not a problem. Just being your friendly neighbourhood Spiderman.” 

He left soon, leaving you in your room, bored. You walked over to your desk and saw your phone there, a bunch of texts from MJ asking you how your date went so you went and responded. After binging a bit on Netflix, you decided to get ready for bed, knowing Peter was going to come honking at the door the next morning. 

----

“Wow, you’re early for once,” Peter joked as you sat in his car. You rolled your eyes at him, before turning on the radio. “How was your, umm, date yesterday?” he asked, clearly uncomfortable. 

You raised an eyebrow, confused as to why he had suddenly taken interest into your date with Noah. “It was the same as usual I guess,” you shrug. “Why?” 

“You walked home last night?” he huffed, causing you to readjust your position. You awkwardly nodded, because you knew he was going to go into his “you shouldn’t be walking home alone late at night” speech. 

“Yeah,” you admitted, as he stopped at the red light. “How did you know –”

He kept his eyes on the road before speaking. “Why didn’t you tell me?” you pursed your lips, shrugging once more. “I went to bed pretty early for once. I just forgot about it, I guess. Sorry,” you tried to apologize yet Peter’s face stayed stern. 

“Why didn’t Noah drop you off?”

You were shocked at his tone but answered him, trying to keep your own temper. “He said he had to go somewhere once we were done the movie. He apologized for your information. He’s got more in his life then just me.”

“No one goes on a date with someone and just leaves because they were ‘busy’,” he argued. You rolled your eyes at his behaviour. 

“Would you cut it out? It really wasn’t that big of a deal,” you snapped, crossing your arms and turning to look outside of the window. 

Peter turned to you and glared. “Not that big of a deal? I heard some guy tried to attack you,” he retorted, causing you to turn back and face him, confused as to how he knew. 

“Who told you?” 

“That doesn’t matter!” his tone was harsher, making you wince at the volume. He took a breath and regained his composure. “I just can’t believe Noah let you go home alone. Why didn’t you take the bus?” 

You were getting tired of his protective behavior, sighing. “Oh my god Peter. I’m not a helpless child, I can walk home on my own! For your information I didn’t have my bus pass. Besides it was hardly dark!” your attempts to reason with him fell on deaf ears. 

“There were so many other things you could have done though!”

“Like what?” 

“You could have called me!” 

“You were busy! You have a life that’s not taking care of me twenty-four seven! I don’t want to have to rely on you for every fucking moment of my life!” you retaliated, breathing heavily. “Besides, I didn’t even have my phone.”

“You could have –”

“Could have what Parker?” you were sick of him treating you as if you were incapable of doing anything. “I get that you’re just trying to look after me, but I can handle things on my own!” 

“Can you? Because it seems like the one time you are on your own you get yourself in situations like yesterdays!” 

“You think that it was my fault? You think that some guy trying to assault me is my fault? Are you fucking serious right now? You know what, I’ll just get Noah to drive me home tonight seeing as you clearly don’t trust me walk home on my own, because I don’t want you to drive me anymore. Don’t wait for me after school,” and with those words, the car had come to a stop and you slammed his car door, leaving Peter to slap himself across the forehead at his stupid mistake. Groaning to himself, he placed his head on the steering wheel. 

“What the fuck did I just do?”

------

It had been two weeks since you and Peter’s argument and neither of you had spoken to each other since. There had been awkward moments where you two would cross paths, like if you were hanging out with MJ and Ned, but you made it seems as if it were your sworn duty to ignore the boy. You sat with Noah and his friends at lunch and either walked home or had your dad pick you up. 

That was all until one fateful night.

It was maybe eleven, possibly even midnight, and Peter had just gotten back from patrol. It was boring that night. Nothing happened, maybe a guy flashing people down the street but asides from that, the city was calm.

He had climbed back into his room and sat down on his bed, laying up at the ceiling. He hadn’t done much the past few weeks since he didn’t have you to bother him with, so his life was boring. He laid there for a few more minutes before his phone buzzed.

He was quick to get up and grab his phone, wow addicted much, and his eyes squinted when reading the name, making sure they weren’t deceiving him.

you: hey

you: do you think you could come over?

Peter: ofc! On my way right now

you: thanks :)

The ride to your house was short and before he knew it, you were sitting beside him, awkwardly staring forewords. “Can we drive? Anywhere is fine,” you mumbled under your breath, latching on your seatbelt.

Peter nodded and started to drive off. He glanced to look at you a couple times, watching as you anxiously played with the sleeves of your sweater. Maybe ten minutes had passed, and you motioned for Peter to park the car on the side of a quiet street.

“Me and Noah broke up.”

Peter looked at her surprised. “Oh. Do you want to talk about – “

“Do you still have those movies you downloaded on your phone?” you asked quickly, avoiding his previous question. He nodded as you smiled. “Can we watch one of them in the back? I really just don’t want to think about anything.”

Peter smiled at the girl. “Anything for you.”

So, the two of you sat in the backseats of Peter’s old sedan, wrapped up in an old blanket and watching trashy romcoms together.

And it was perfect.

-----

The two of you had finally made amends after the incident and nearly a month had passed until the two of you were working on a project in Peter’s apartment.

While Peter was vigour sly typing up the document, you laid on his bed, playing with various Knick knacks he had scattered around his room.

“Peter?” He hummed his response before you continued. “What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about me?” 

“Sorry?” He paused his writing, confused at why you had suddenly decided to go into such a deep question.

You sat up for a second, repeating the same question. “What do you think of when you think of me?” you collapsed back down onto your back and laid your head on your arms. “Go on. Answer it?” 

He took a second to think about it before answering: “Annoying.”

“You think I’m annoying?” you deadpanned, rolling your eyes at his childish answer. 

“Undoubtedly. Every day I wonder how far I can shoot you into space,” he joked as you threw one of his pillows at his head. He caught it with ease, turning on his chair to face you. “Why are you asking? Did someone say something?” he asked defensively. 

You shook your head, playing with some strands of hair, braiding them carelessly. “No. I was just kind of sitting in my room earlier today and stumbled over a Tik Tok where a girl asked people what they thought of when they thought of her, so I just wondered about it. I asked MJ and she said that I reminded her of comfort and that one time we plotted to kill Ms. Gail,” Peter looked at you with a cocked brow as you shrugged. “I mean, at least her answer wasn’t as rude as yours.”

“Oh, come on. It was just a joke,” he tried to reason with you as you laughed. He left his desk and sat at the bottom of his bed beside you, taking a second to think about it. “I guess the first thing I think about, when I think about you, is cars.”

“Like the Pixar movie?”

Smacking you with the pillow he was holding, he rolled his eyes, “and you wonder why I said annoying?” 

“You love me,” you stated, as Peter sighed.

“No, but like cars. More so car rides,” he stopped himself, thinking of all the memories you have made in the car rides you had been on. “Like, I guess car rides with you are what I think of. Like how I pick you up and drop you every day. And all the stupid conversations we have, or watching you trying to put yourself together in the mornings when I pick you up. I think about the arguments we have gotten into, the tears that we shed, the terrible jokes you made, the movies we watched in the back of the car on your phone late at night,” a smile tugged at his lips as he thought: ‘It’s where I fell in love with you.’ He leaned his head back on the mattress of the bed. “I guess it’s just, our special thing.” 

You smiled to yourself at his answer, as you laid on your back staring at the ceiling. “That was a solid answer Parker,” you teased him. You slid down the bed, so that half of you was lying upside down and turned to face him. 

“Yeah well my real answer is just annoying,” he laughed before turning to face you. You both hadn’t realized how close you were to each other’s faces. Your nose was almost touching his as you stared into his soft brown eyes.

Neither of you moved. 

Just the sound of silence and your heartbeat going haywire.

“Do you want to know what comes to my mind when I think of you?” you asked smiling. “I think of how many times you’ve been there for me, showing up at midnight with your old sedan and your hair a mess. I think of how you always seem to be there no matter how pissed off I am at you or the world. I think of your cute face and how you always manage to make me smile. I think of how much I really love you Peter Parker. How your dorky face manages to be my entire world.”

Peter’s mind seemed to unravel as the words left your mouth. “You, love me?”

A light scoff seemed to escape your lips before you responded. “I do. Have been since sophomore year, but if you don’t feel the same, don’t feel obligated to answer. I know it’s really-“

His lips sealed over yours before another word could have been spoken. His hair tickled your eyes as you two got closer together, his hand placed on the back of your neck. The two of you parted, your eyes staring longingly into his. The two of you shared a pair of love sick smiles. 

“I guess that means you love me too?”

“You have no idea.”

[swansstuff]

So uh, I've been thinking about a hypothetical Trucy Wright: Act Attorney and here is the very poorly written outline for it because yeah. No spoilers except the Apollo Trucy thing. Tw death, murder, blood and grieving so yeah.

Trucy's first case is literally her first ever case. This is a flashback case. We follow her as she wakes up, slightly stressed about today, Phoenix gives her cereal and a pep talk and a cryptic message. Trucy asks where Papa is, it is Miles, they are married. Phoenix is cryptic about that too. He stays behind as he "has to buy groceries" so Trucy heads into the office. Apollo greets her, it's clear they know they're siblings, and he hands her a case. Miles is prosecuting. She is fucking terrified. She goes to the crime scene, Gumshoe is the detective and he's educating his teenage sons, constant confusion of who's who, because they are twins and they look very like Gumshoe, it'll be kinda funny. Its a simple investigation. During the investigation, the player can check Trucy's profile and the profile system shows character's middle names now. We get some gems such as Klavier Hyacintha Gavin later on, the reasoning behind this is coz Trucy is nosy. The important one here is Trucy Mia Wright. She says something about how she chose her own middle name when Phoenix adopted her and she chose Mia after learning about her. Yada yada. Trucy wins the case. Edgeworth is very proud, Phoenix is in the gallery and there's a flash of him crying proud tears, Apollo hugs her afterwards, Athena congrats her.

Next case, flash forward three years later, we do not see Phoenix and nobody really mentions him. Thats because he's fucking dead but we don't know that yet. This case is a Fey case, we meet Maya who is married to Franziska and they're technically on honeymoon in Kurain and Pearl becomes the Maya to Trucy's Phoenix. Its another fey murder case. There are a few mentions of Trucy's admiration of Mia, mainly just a mirror of a few lines she's said and a conversation where her and Maya talk about her, Trucy says she would have loved to meet her and Maya explains how her spirit has been dormant for ages now and how she assumes she's moved on.

"If you want I can try and channel-"

"No no no no NO. Its ok!"

This is our first hint that Phoenix is no longer with us, but we don't know until later thats what she means. Sebastian is the prosecutor, the player finds out that Miles is taking a break from prosecuting work, Trucy already knew of course, and Sebastian is dubbed Chief until he comes back, Fran says

"It would've been me were I not on my literal honeymoon right now." We are not told why yet, but it is because of Phoenix. Kay Faraday is the detective, somebody murders someone and frames Maya, no-one is shocked by this. We also get an update on Iris, she's thriving. She wins yada yada.

Next case, a couple of months later, Trucy gets a call from a friend that the player can't identify at first. Its Katrielle Layton. She needs Trucy's legal knowledge because someone is sueing her detective agency because have you seen how they practice. This, of course, turns to murder and we get another surprise when we meet the prosecutor. Who probably has a licence to practise law in England? Simon Blackquill, he is British ok. Yeah, Trucy wins with Kat's help, we meet Ernest and Sherl and Alfendi and Flora if we have time. I miss them. Trucy and Kat have a conversation that cryptically addresses their fathers and their "whereabouts" and living up to their legacy. We see Trucy cry, but only a similar flash to AJ:AA and we do not know why. Yet.

Next case, flashback case. Trucy is the assistant on this case but we still play as her, even in the court sections since Phoenix is prepping her for the bar and getting her to give him the answers. The bar exam is only in three days. Klavier is prosecuting. The case somehow relates to Kristoph and there's the whole mirror dynamic thing of when Phoenix lost his badge. Kristoph is dead by now, but the whole thing is there was a plot inside prison to make Phoenix pay for putting a bunch of them in, Kristoph was the assumed ring leader until he died and the cops now dont know who's running it. Somebody (Godot? That would hurt big time) was their inside man, sent to figure that out, so when whoever it was turned up dead, the whole thing got exposed. We get a bit of a Mia moment in the trial where Trucy tells Phoenix to flip over the receipt (thats evidence for some reason). Phoenix says "I feel like that shouldn't be the second time someone has said that to me". The killer is found, by Phoenix, and put into isolation, as have most of the other participants. We then see Trucy get her badge. They have a conversation and Trucy says Phoenix basically forgot about it for a couple of months. The case closes with a foreboding "and I forgot about it too, until..."

Next case. Phoenix is fucking murdered. Trucy gets a phone call late at night, she hears laboured breathing on the other end and a "don't forget I love you" from Phoenix. Trucy pulls a simba and goes "dad? Dad?!!" And the line goes dead. The player is presented with a choice of who to call. They have two phone calls. Who they choose first makes no difference, but the second time they are forced to choose Ema who will trace Phoenix's phone call. They could call Apollo and he would comfort her, Miles would panic, Maya would say he was just messing around, Athena would sense her distress and say she's coming over etc. You could attempt to call Phoenix back but he would not answer and you would be allowed to call someone else. Ema then traces the phone call and we follow Trucy to the crime scene. We get a truly haunting cutscene where everything kinda goes blurry except Phoenix's face and the blood. Trucy doesn't cry. She stands there in shock. The WAA is there in various states of shock and upset. Return of grieving Apollo I guess. Miles turns up and the look on his face is haunting. Trucy and him make eye contact and they share the thought of something has to be done. And then. "The bar association took me off the case and Papa too, they said we were too close to it. As a result, we never found out who did it... Until now." And we see a determined Trucy face. We jump forward to where we last saw Trucy, she and Pearl are coming back from England and its a bit more cheery. Trucy sends Pearl on a train back to Kurain and heads on home. She enters the house and we see Miles pouring over Phoenix's case. He jumps up and runs towards her.

"Trucy! I think I have a lead, I-"

"Papa, you're tired, go to bed." (Or better dialogue along those lines)

Its clear he's been doing this sort of thing a lot.

"But I do! At least...I think I do..."

He trails off and rests his head in his hands.

"Do I? Or am I just a mess?"

Trucy gives him a sad smile.

"C'mon let's go to bed."

Miles returns the sad smile and fades out like all ace attorney characters do. The player is given the option to look around. There's probably some emotional dialogue and bits that give clues to how she and Miles have been fairing the past 3 years. Answer is, not very well. Examine the pile of papers on the table. Trucy will take a look and then realise her papa may have actually been onto something. Its a diagram of which prisoners knew each other, with an arrow from each leading to a defense attorney we have never met. Trucy is confused, but she calls for Miles anyway. He comes back downstairs and Trucy asks him about this lead he found.

"Well I realised all those prisoners would know this defense attorney (insert name?)"

"Why? And why would they be suspicious?'

"They (pronouns?) Were always the defense attorney who would take on the cases of those Wright had already accused. They gained a reputation of being the doomed defense attorney."

"So... They knew all the prisoners in the plot and they had a grudge against daddy... Papa I think you're onto something!"

And the case continues, since we already know who's been accused, it plays out more like an investigations game, Trucy has to prove it, with Miles' help of course, literally every other character we know and love plays a part in making sure this guy gets a guilty verdict. There is still a courtroom bit and a moment when all is looking dark, Trucy literally has a full on breakdown as the Judge threatens to remove her from the case again. Miles is by her side, they're both technically prosecution here i guess. Miles, however, is too deep in his own mental breakdown to help. Everyone else is in the gallery besides Pearl. Pearl channels Phoenix as a last hope sort of thing. Phoenix comforts her and tells her to keep fighting, he touches her badge and probably says some sort of bullshit about it. The Judge is about to bang the gavel when Trucy and Phoenix object at the same time. Miles looks up and realises whats going on and he objects too, a little later. The battle goes on until it finishes and the other attorney has a breakdown that steals little bits from every other murderer Phoenix has put behind bars.This is the one time seeing the word guilty on your screen feels good. There's a whole heartwarming celebration at the end, Phoenix sticks around for a little bit and everyone gets a bit of closure. Its assumed he's gone since Pearl passes out and Trucy dips out for a sec. She's away from the festivities, staring at the badge in her hand and we see someone coming up behind her. Maya is channelling Phoenix now. He gives Trucy a hug and utters the words "the only time a lawyer can cry is when its all over and, Trucy darling, my light, its over." Echoing both Diego and Mia.

And the screen fades to black with a final hug between father and daughter.

:)

[makeste]

receive, and entrust (or, my rambling thoughts about That One Thing that happens at the end of Heroes Rising)

I wrote up all of my other thoughts on and reactions related to the movie here, but since this particular section was so long and involved, I decided to make it a separate post. so let’s talk about Bakugou and Deku and the big thing that happens between them in Heroes Rising.

please note this post has spoilers spoilers spoilers and more spoilers, for both the movie and for the manga (apologies to anyone who’s anime-only but there are aspects of OFA which are very difficult to discuss without getting into significant spoiler territory, so in the end I wasn’t able to make this post spoiler-free).

this is it. this is the dynamic I’ve been patiently waiting for since the very start of the series. they really fucking did it. one thing that I was bemused by is that I was making the rounds on twitter and tumblr and reddit checking out people’s reactions afterward, and I saw a lot of “there was real respect between them” and “I like Bakugou a lot more in this dynamic” and “now I understand why some people ship it” and so on and so forth. and just... how do I put this. first of all, yes, exactly, this. but second, I think that what some people missed is that this is the dynamic that people who ship BakuDeku (either platonically or romantically) have really been shipping this entire time. that even when this dynamic wasn’t present, it was the potential for it, the hints of what could be, that made people invested in this relationship. anyway, so to see that finally out in the open though for everyone to see was just so, so gratifying. it was like, yes! this is it! this is what the two of them were always working towards, what they were always meant to be. and it’s all the more rewarding for how hard they struggled to get there. anyway. suffice to say it has been a good weekend.

let’s talk about the big thing. the OFA transfer. the trust and respect and intimacy involved in this moment. Deku knows he has no choice, but he’s also relieved in a way that if it can’t be him, if it has to be someone else, that that someone is Kacchan. he tells Kacchan that he doesn’t regret it, and he says that All Might would approve of it as well, because Kacchan already knows about OFA. but what goes unspoken is the much deeper meaning of this. like yes, it’s convenient that the person Deku ends up passing the quirk onto is the one other person who’s already in on the secret. but it’s not a coincidence that Kacchan does know the secret. Kacchan knows because Deku told him. because they have always been together, because their fates have always been tied together, because Deku could never have not told him.

and sharing OFA is so much more than just sharing a power. it’s sharing a responsibility; a lineage. both a great burden and a rare privilege. this is not something to be passed on lightly, and it isn’t. Deku isn’t making the decision lightly here. because -- and this is the important part! and the part that is the culmination of all of their character development up to this point! the part that took 200+ chapters to build up to! -- this isn’t actually a decision that’s made in this moment at all, but a decision that was made by him ages and ages ago, when he first told Kacchan I got my quirk from someone else. when he opened up to him even though they weren’t friends. when the truth flowed from him even though he was trying to hold it back. because it was Kacchan. and because that bond runs so deep that this secret, this burden, could not be held back. and because Kacchan, even though it took him a while, eventually put the pieces of it together afterwards, because it was Deku. and because he knows Deku. and because, when All Might explained the rest of it later on, Kacchan told the two of them both, without being prompted, without being asked, I won’t tell anyone. because he immediately understood the gravity of it, the importance of it. because Deku was right to choose him.

so the fact is that the decision to pass it on to Katsuki isn’t one that’s just made here in the heat of the moment, with no other options on the table. the decision to choose Kacchan as the one he trusts, as the one to share the burden with, as the one he knows that he can rely on in this moment, is something that stems back to their childhood. does that make sense? basically I’m trying to explain that the circumstances which led to this moment are circumstances which arose because of Deku’s own will, as well as Kacchan’s. that the two of them have made countless decisions which eventually led up to this moment. and so this is not a coincidence. and so that’s why it’s a choice that can be made effortlessly by Deku here, as soon as he thinks of it, with no hesitation or reluctance felt other than the sorrow of losing his dream. the fact that it is Kacchan is a relief. the fact that it’s Kacchan is why Deku knows it will work as soon as he realizes it. so yeah. make no mistake, you guys. Kacchan is his successor, and not once does Deku have even the slightest flash of regret about that. and meanwhile I have about a hundred thousand overflowing thoughts and feelings about it, but I suppose that’s to be expected lol.

so now let’s talk about Katsuki’s side of it. the moment when he realizes what Deku is doing is so intense, you guys. like a dozen different emotions flit across his face in the span of a few seconds. but you can see that chief among them are shock, and then frustration, and then this brief look of intense regret, and then finally, a sort of begrudging determination. and then he takes it.

so a couple things here. first it’s worth noting that at first Katsuki actually has no idea what Deku’s plan is other than that he’s giving him OFA lol. he doesn’t even ask him why until after the transfer, at which point Deku explains that he should still be able to use the embers to fight alongside him, so that they can team up and hit Nine with the ol’ OFA two-for-one special. but before this, for all Katsuki knows, Deku could be giving it to him for any number of reasons. he could be too hurt to fight anymore. or he might even think he’s at risk of dying, and thus is passing it to Katsuki so that it can live on. now there’s a scary thought, though one that I honestly doubt Katsuki would have considered for all that long, if he even did at all (because Katsuki has always seen Deku as someone strong, and we all know that in Katsuki’s mind, strong people = people that don’t lose; but that’s another essay topic for another day). but it certainly was a possibility, that can’t be denied.

but regardless of whatever was running through his mind at that moment, Katsuki takes it. but now here’s the other thing I really want to talk about: he hates it.

he hates it. the entire time, he hates it. he doesn’t want this. he doesn’t want One for All. One for All is Deku’s. and it’s not just that he feels that he himself is unworthy of it (although I think he might, just a little); but more than that, it’s that OFA is not just Deku’s quirk, it’s Deku’s dream. and he happens to know, better than anyone else in the world, just how much OFA means to Deku. what being a hero means to Deku. because this dream, after all, is the one thing that they’ve always had in common. the one thing that they’ve always shared.

and so even though he doesn’t hesitate either once he realizes what has to happen, because he knows they have no other choice, he still grieves all the same, for just a moment. because it’s the end of something that was maybe more important to him than he ever realized until exactly this moment. this partnership he has with Deku, this trust -- because they do trust each other and work with each other so seamlessly time after time again in this movie, and it’s amazing -- he is losing all of that if they go through with this. and also!! maybe, in addition to what he’s losing, maybe just maybe he is also grieving for Deku’s own loss, because he cares. about. Deku.

but he takes it. and he proceeds to kick some ass. and you guys. Bakugou with OFA is a fucking force to be reckoned with. he is a beast. but I’m not gonna go too much into that because there’s not really much to analyze or add to the discussion at this point, other than yes, Bakugou is a legit fucking conqueror and he was put on this earth to kick ass and take names and he knows it and it’s so fucking great holy fucking shit.

but so afterward. after they’ve OBVIOUSLY defeated Nine (BITCH YOU THOUGHT!! GO TELL HELL THE WONDER DUO SENT YOU, AND GOOD RIDDANCE), and they’re both lying there, unconscious. and All Might shows up (which lol how did he even get there; that’s another plot hole that I couldn’t really figure out. Hawks is one thing because the dude can fucking fly, but All Might is just sort of there on the island all of a sudden before almost anyone else, and I guess that’s just the Symbol of Fucking Peace for ya), and he makes a little pillow for Bakugou with his coat, which is something I didn’t see mentioned anywhere and so I wanted to point it out, because he doesn’t just ignore Bakugou and go straight to Deku; he takes care of them both. he’s a good dad.

but anyway. so he’s there and Deku wakes up and starts crying and apologizing and explaining that he gave OFA to Kacchan so they could save everyone etc. etc. etc., and then he passes out and All Might cradles his head and it’s. ;__; why movie do this to me. fff.

BUT ANYWAY I KEEP DIVERGING FROM THE POINT I WANT TO GET TO LOL. which is that at this point, OFA suddenly starts flowing back into Deku. and All Might is the only one that sees this, and he has no fucking idea why this is happening, and then he just decides, or guesses, or whatever, that it must be the Vestiges willing the power to go back to Deku. and he even calls it a OFA miracle in the same vein that people say “Christmas miracle”, which lmao yeah. it’s a OFA miraclleeeee happy holidays.

and I guess this is certainly possible. the Vestiges clearly do have their own wills; that’s canon. and Deku most definitely has some kind of Chosen One thing going on, because he’s the one who finally manages to activate SIXQUIRKS after nine generations, and I don’t think that’s just a coincidence. they clearly like Deku. which, of course they do, because who wouldn’t. Deku is great. and if I were one of the Vestiges and it were up to me, I sure would want to give him a second chance as well!

but here’s the thing which surprises me: no one ever seems to take into consideration what to me is the obvious alternative explanation for this whole thing. which is that this isn’t, in fact, any sort of miraculous occurrence at all, but is in fact OFA just following its normal old rules same as always. because as far as I can tell -- and I could very well be wrong about this, but I’ve looked all over to find a canon source that contradicts it and so far haven’t -- there is nothing in canon that states that OFA can’t be transferred back to someone after it’s been given away. and I don’t see why that would be a thing, either. like, why wouldn’t you be able to give it back and forth? as long as the person who currently has it wills it to go back to the other one, then why not? it’s not like the thing expires or something. it’s just that up until this point, all of the previous successors were either too dead (rip), or too injured to take the quirk back on, which is why they fucking passed it on to begin with.

all of which is my long-winded way of leading up to my point: Bakugou did not want OFA. and Bakugou’s DNA had already been shared with Deku, when they did the blood transfer that Deku used to give OFA to him. that went both ways. so as far as I can tell, all of the prerequisites are there for OFA to simply be handed back to its previous owner once the fight was done. Occam’s razor, right? why look for a convoluted explanation when another one is already there which makes sense? why did OFA go back to Deku? because One for All’s new wielder, a.k.a. the one currently in possession of the ability to pass it on, decided to do just that. and gave it back, to the person he thought was most deserving of it. the person who still had unfinished business with it. when are you going to make that power your own?

why not. to me it makes sense. there are a couple of inconsistencies here if this truly is the case, granted. chief among them being the fact that Bakugou should then logically be included among the Vestiges (and possibly Deku himself for that matter). but (1) that’s still a plot hole either way tbh, and (2) I don’t think handwaving this away is any more of an asspull than the whole “OFA just goes back to Deku because it feels like it” original explanation is, lol. like, either way there are clearly some established rules being broken here. maybe Bakugou didn’t have OFA for long enough for his will to be fully integrated with the other vestiges; or maybe his ghost doesn’t appear because he’s still alive (similar to how All Might’s outline is still pretty faint compared to most of the other vestiges); or maybe this has something to do with that Bakusilhouette which still hasn’t been explained; or whatever. but there are ways to explain it, is my point. and hence, to me, this is the most satisfying explanation for what happens at the end of the film, and the most consistent with the character development we’ve seen. because even if this didn’t end up taking place, Bakugou was always going to give OFA back to Deku in the end anyway. that much, I think, is a given.

anyway. so those are all my thoughts on the whole OFA transfer. oh, except for the whole amnesia thing I guess. and honestly, I’ll just come out and admit that while I obviously would have been thrilled if Bakugou had remembered all of this afterward, I get why they did what they did. because it’s a lot, and while I’m pretty sure this movie is considered canon as far as the manga goes, at the same time it would be pretty unprecedented for Horikoshi to just suddenly start referencing a development as big as this in the manga out of nowhere, and just assuming that all of his readers had the opportunity to watch the movie. the manga has to be self-contained and be its own story which can be understood and enjoyed even if you only read the manga. so for that reason I think a reset button was pretty inevitable, and so I’m okay with it. and on a lighter note, it’s something that can easily be explained away by a concussion (since concussions often do cause precisely that kind of specific forgetting-events-right-before-and-after-the-injury amnesia which Bakugou experiences), and in my mind that would only be fitting. since, again, these kids got fucking bodyslammed into SO MANY FUCKING CLIFFS, YOU GUYS, I KEEP SAYING IT AND I’M GONNA KEEP SAYING IT. it needs to be acknowledged! so. many. cliffs.

so that’s it! tl;dr (1) Deku trusts Bakugou and the transfer of OFA is a momentous display of that trust, (2) Bakugou respects Deku in turn and clearly hated the thought of “stealing” his quirk from him even though that wasn’t what actually happened, and so (3) my headcanon or whatever you want to call it is that Bakugou is the one that transferred OFA back to Deku in the end after all was said and done. and maybe there’s some reason why I haven’t seen this possibility being discussed much elsewhere, like maybe I’m missing some obvious reason why this has clearly been disproven already; but regardless, I see this as being in line with their character development, and something Bakugou absolutely would have done regardless, and I have TEN TRILLION FEELINGS ABOUT IT AND THEY ARE ALL “[wistful crying emoji]” the end. 

[forkanna]

[AO3] [WATTPAD]

After a few fluffy pleasantries were exchanged, some cutesy things for their new fans, Rise bid her lady love farewell and went back to class. The rest of the day, she doodled in her notebook a few thoughts about the situation, trying to make sense of everything that happened. All in all, she was more or less satisfied with the results, even though she desperately regretted that they had to arrive there through such a rocky avenue.

Once she stepped outside, she barely had enough time to start fishing in her bag for an umbrella before one appeared over her head, blotting out the rain. She looked over to see Ai smiling serenely down at her.

"Awwwww," a chorus of girls from nearby cooed as the two headed off toward Inaba together. The boys around them mostly just looked confused.

Walking in silence with her arm hooked through Ebihara's was the nicest thing she had felt in a long time. If only it would last… but Rise knew better. Being right didn't make it any less hard to take.

"Let go of me," Ai growled when they were alone.

"Aww, c'mon," she purred in an unctuous voice, only tightening her hold on that arm. "We still make an adorable couple. And you know this still feels good."

"I ought to punch your lights out for what you did to me today. How could you out me in front of that whole crowd? Again?"

"What?! I didn't! In fact, I specifically saved you from being outed — they were going to lynch you, and somebody would have knocked your towel off!"

"That isn't- do you really expect me to believe that's the reason you did all that?"

It was, actually. "Of course not. Not all of it, not the only reason. But it's why I sped things up and jumped in when I did. I didn't want…"

Ai let out a bone-weary sigh. "Fine. Doesn't matter, the damage is done. Thank you very much, you cunt."

"Oooh, ouch." They were both quiet for a minute. "What do you mean, I outed you again? I didn't even out you on purpose the first time, and I specifically stopped anybody from finding out this time. Kind of self-destructed my career to do it."

"Oh please, your career was going nowhere. This isn't going to change that. And I didn't mean outing me as trans; I meant outing me as bisexual."

"What? Oh… well I did it to myself, too. You didn't leave me any choice! Do you not remember the part where I begged you to just let me walk away?"

"That's not the point! You made that choice, just like you made the last choice! It was all you! How do you not see why I'm pissed at you for taking away all my options?!"

"FINE!" When that word echoed off the nearby buildings, they both ducked their heads and tried to do a better job of keeping their voices down. "Fine. I'm a huge moron, I do everything wrong, I just mess everything up for poor you."

Ai snorted. "If you're waiting for me to disagree with you, you're going to have a long wait."

"But now you're stuck with me. At least for a little while. Maybe in a week or two, we can stage some big breakup — one where you're wearing all your clothes, and you could get away from me, and spend the rest of your life thinking I'm the worst person on Earth. But until then, it's me and you, so you're just going to have to make the best of it."

This silence was a lot longer. Both of them resented each other, and resented that they still cared about each other despite the damage they were causing. It wasn't until they were walking past the Shiroku store that Ai suddenly seemed to find her voice.

"Crappy as you're being toward me… I have to admit, I'm impressed. You got really conniving in that locker room."

"Yeah, well, you didn't leave me much choice," Rise sighed as she watched the clouds for a moment. "I can't let you run me out of my own hometown, or destroy my whole career. And making life miserable at school was just really getting old."

"Oh." When Rise turned to look at her, Ai shrugged. "Sorry. I don't know how, but I forgot this is your hometown. Probably because you were too busy slutting it up all over Japan to come back until last year."

"Oh yeah, slutting it up. The total virgin."

"You are not. I don't buy that at all; I never really did."

"Oh well," she sighed with a shrug. "Guess you'll never find out now, since you hate me so much."

"Oh yeah? Wait…" Ai brought them to a stop in the middle of the street, near the old Tatsuhime Shrine. "Did you think… I was going to stick my dick in you?"

Rise winced. Hard. She felt an odd chill run through the back of her knees at the directness of the language. "Do you have to be so vulgar? I mean, wow, you could use a little tact!"

"You did. You thought we would be each other's firsts. Awww, that's so cute!"

"Hey, I did not think that far ahead! And I always thought Yu-kun would be… my…"

That one still hit them both hard enough that the ire faded immediately. Seemed that despite all their best intentions to move on with life, they were still two women who carried a torch for a boy that had always been bound for greener pastures once his parents returned from overseas.

"That… can be what you give me."

"What?"

Ai turned to look at her coldly, directly. "Give me Narukami-kun."

"EXCUSE ME?!" she burst out, eyebrows shooting sky high. In the corner of her vision, she saw a little fox wearing some kind of bandana start and rush into the bushes. "Are you crazy? You think I'm just going to-"

"It's really simple. You and I take care of this breakup thing. Then, once I graduate, I'll chase after Narukami; we'll go to the same college. It'll be perfect. You're a year younger, you can't even try the same thing. And if you give me that… I'll consider us square. I will actually forgive you for trying to out me the first time, and for whatever the hell just happened in the locker room. Totally square on all fronts."

Rise couldn't even form a response. That was crazy. No, it was more than that. "Are you that disgusting?"

"What now?" Ai fired up. "Disgusting?!"

"Yeah! For thinking you can just say that Yu-kun is yours without even asking him!"

"God, you're such a goody-goody," she groaned with a huge roll of her eyes. "I meant, you will take yourself out of the running. Obviously I won't want to hang onto him if he's not interested anymore! But if it's between you and me for him, which it was looking like before…"

"Then you're the one, because I'm off the list." Sighing, she pinched the bridge of her nose while Ai smirked triumphantly. "That isn't… I mean, I can't really agree to that. If he comes after me, I'm going to let him. He deserves to be happy. But…"

"But?" she asked swiftly.

"But I will not chase him anymore. That is the best I can promise."

"You'll… really do it? Wow, I thought you had more fight in you."

"Oh, you have no idea," she grunted, and Ai snorted. "But I also know I really messed up. You won't believe me that it was an accident; okay, I can't help that. But I still should do what's right and try to make it up to you."

The prissy girl pursed her lips as she shook her head. "You always sound like you're in front of a fucking camera." But when Rise just shrugged and looked down at the ground, she didn't follow it up with another snide comment. Just started walking again in silence.

They made it all the way to Rise's before they seemed to realise what they were doing. Ai cleared her throat as she led them up to the door. And she couldn't resist. "What, were you waiting for a goodnight kiss?"

"For your adoring public? Pass." Then she sighed. "I was trying not to let you get rained on. Hurry up."

"Okay." Though she did hesitate. So many things she wanted to say… but now wasn't the time. As defeated as she felt, she had to convince herself that there would be more chances to patch things up if she didn't foul this one up by pushing. "Thanks."

"Yeah, whatever. Go."

And that was that. Except Rise knew, deep down, it wasn't. They would have more chances to do something besides snipe at each other ceaselessly. It was all she had to hang onto for now.

                              ~ o ~

"So wait… I don't get it."

"Neither do I," Rise sighed into the phone as she sorted through her clothes. "But like, do you mean you don't get it at all? Because I can explain it again if you need-"

"No, no, let me try." Chie's tinny voice took a deep breath. "You basically forced him to play a big game of chicken. Either he cops to the fact that you two have been screwing with each other, and he's been playing all these shitty pranks, or he has to spend time with you and like, you can maybe patch things up?"

"Youuuu got it. Oh — this one's cute, I forgot about this." She hung the garment over the closet door.

"Man, that is twisted. But he really said that if you back off Narukami he would forgive you?"

"She did."

"And you believe him?"

That pronoun thing was really starting to get on her nerves. "Chie… can you do me a big favour? Stop calling her 'him'."

"What? But… you told us he's a guy under all that makeup."

"It's disrespectful. She wants to be seen as a girl."

"Well… maybe he shouldn't be a dick to you. That kinda goes with the dick he has in-"

"Chie…" Rise wasn't even entirely sure why her blood was boiling over this so much. Especially when it wasn't like Ai had been entirely respectful to her. But she did know that she couldn't focus on the topic of discussion if she had to keep mentally correcting Chie.

"Okay, okay, geeze. It's not like I meant anything by it."

"I know. Just try? Pretty please?" Rise cleared her throat. "Anyway, yeah, I do believe her. But I'm not stupid. I know this could just be some kind of trick to one-up me again. Like, she still sees it all as a big game to win, and… I don't like it but I can't stop her."

"Right. So he's- she's willing to blow your friendship to kingdom come, and for what? The win? Bragging rights? That's so… depressing."

"She really thinks we hurt her. On purpose. And the more I think about it, the more I get it."

"Well, I don't! We were supposed to be her friends!"

"Her friends have betrayed her before. Back in her old school, they all said she was a gross pig, and disgusting, and… and all that other stuff. And here we act like we'll be her friends, but the minute we find out she's a little different, what do we do?"

There was an annoying groan on the other end of the line, preceding a sigh. And then… "We blabbed it all over school. You're right, I'm… we all sucked. But doesn't he know it was an accident by now? You told him, right?"

"Told her, yeah."

"Fuck. But yeah, so like, what more does h- she want from us? To make a public apology during the morning announcements?"

"Well…" Rise dropped the capris in her hands. "Whoa. Actually, that might be a great idea."

"HUH?! H-hey, come on, I was just messing around! I couldn't do that, you know how I get stage fright!"

"No, no, listen. Not what you said exactly, but… I think you and the others could apologise to her. I have, and that's important since the whole thing is my fault for blabbing in the first place. But I think if we all told her we were sorry for spreading it around…"

Chie didn't answer right away. Rise had enough time to put half of her clothes away before she breathed, "Okay… I don't like it, because it still feels like I didn't do anything wrong. But seeing how it turned out kinda does say otherwise, doesn't it?"

"A little bit."

"Yeah. Copy that, I'm… me and Yukiko are in. I'm sure she would have done it without even putting up a fight. And I can call Yosuke and bully him into agreeing."

"Thanks," Rise laughed as she flopped down on her bed. "Now… what do I wear on my date?"

"Yeah, I dunno. Wait — your what?!"

                              ~ o ~

Her date. With Ai Ebihara.

Now that the entire school was gossiping about how two of its prettiest girls were dating each other instead of the most eligible bachelors at Yasogami High, it was put up or shut up time. Which meant they had to be a couple as visibly as possible or be exposed as a sham. They had thought about simply being cutesy around school, but that could have the unpleasant side effect of getting them in trouble with the staff; they frowned upon public displays of affection. So they settled upon a little flirting and winking in the hallways, and going out to Aiya afterward.

Which was all Ai would talk about on the phone. No deep reflections on how they had hurt each other, no attempts to patch things up; just business. Which was funny, considering their "business" was pretending to patch things up. What a disaster. But Rise tried not to let it get to her; there would be plenty of time to improve this situation if she paid attention for opportunities.

Flirting and winking was easy, because it was brief. They both had some experience with acting; Rise professionally, and Ai in terms of learning a completely new set of outward responses and behaviours. That was another realisation she came to with all that free time apart from Ai. How hard must it be to learn how to be a boy all your life, then realise you aren't one, and have to start over from scratch? She had been about a dozen years behind the other girls her age at that point. No wonder she spent so much time poring over fashion magazines, exhibiting typical bitchy queen behaviour. She had to cram a lot into six short years.

"Well, are you ready, girl?" Ai said with a convincingly enraptured smile.

"Mmhmm!" Bounding over, she wrapped both arms around one of hers. Clinging. That was going to be her thing; since Ai was taller, she would be the 'girl', right? "Let's go! I'm starving!"

Once they were out of earshot of the students, Ai whispered, "Why are you hanging off me like this?"

"Because it's cuuuuuute," she cooed, making the taller girl snort. "And they expect me to be the cute one. I'm Risette, it's my whole thing; if I weren't, they would probably figure out something is up."

"Oh, you had a legit answer. Didn't expect that." Then she shrugged. "I guess that works. It's just… nah. Forget it."

"Oh, don't get all shy now, Ebi-chan!" When she poked her in the stomach, Ai looked so offended that she couldn't help laughing. "No, really. What's up?"

"No, I… I'm just… I know you don't care, but this is bad for my dysphoria."

"Dyswhat?"

Her eyelid twitched in annoyance. "Gender dysphoria. It means… like… you know how euphoria means you feel really good?" Rise nodded. "Dysphoria is the opposite. And in terms of gender, like, it means I'm uncomfortable because…"

Ai was really and truly struggling. So she might as well give it a shot. "Because… your gender isn't right?"

"NO. That's the opposite of- forget it."

"Hey, I don't know this stuff. I don't know why you keep acting like I'm supposed to be- like, you. That's not fair."

"No, it's not. But it's not my job to educate you on all of it, either. Crack a book, go online? God, you have so many resources avail-"

"And you are one of them. I'm asking because I want to understand better! Really! Clearly I screwed up bad so I… do you want me not to screw up anymore, or what?"

That seemed to take Ai by surprise. She blinked a few times before shaking her head. "Wow. Spoiled as ever. You should still try to learn this shit on your own, too, but… I guess… I am a little impressed."

"You said you felt this badness because I'm hanging off your arm, right? I don't get it. I mean, is it because it makes your boy-parts uncomfortable?"

"They're not-" Another deep, cleansing breath. Was she really being that much of a pain in the ass? "Okay, I'll walk you through this, princess. You're hanging off my arm like you would for a guy. But I'm not a guy — and I've literally spent thousands of dollars and years of my life trying not to be seen as one. So when you treat me like one, anyway…"

A crease marred her perfect brow. "Oh. It… gives you the big feel-bad. I see."

And she let go right away. Rise felt even more alone now, walking next to Ai, than she had over their days of total silence. Even now, she was still screwing up. She wasn't wanted by the person she found herself most wanting to be with. If that wasn't the lowest feeling in the world, it was definitely in the running.

"There you go."

"What?"

"There." Ai was pointing at her. "The way you look right now? Probably feel like garbage? That's it — that's how I felt all day when people were spreading the rumour around, how I felt back before my transition began. Like I'd rather walk into traffic than have to keep feeling that way. Maybe it's not quite that terrible for you but at least it gives you an idea."

"Oh." By now, her eyes were watering, but she told herself this wasn't the time for a pity party. She had to take care of Ai if she wanted to show her she was really listening, not just making nice for the sake of moving past the painful retaliation. "S-so I shouldn't… grab your arm. Or do other things that make you feel like the 'boyfriend'? But I don't… know how to… what e-else I'm…"

"Spare me the tears," Ai said — but at least this time, she just sounded defeated instead of angry or disgusted. "Just say what you mean, like an adult."

"Fine! Then I don't know how to be your girlfriend, because all I know how to do are girlfriend things! What, am I supposed to be the boy? I have NO IDEA HOW! Should I get a driver's license so I can chauffeur you around?! Buy you a really, really late White Day present?! I… I'm not good at that, I'm just going to screw it up, and you already think all I do is screw up! So can't you just tell me what to do already if I'm such a failure?!"

By that point, there were definitely more than a few people standing on the sidewalks, staring at the two of them. Rise knew it was her own fault; she had lost control of her emotions. The frustration was manageable most of the time but her patience and resolve weren't infinite. The look on Ai's face was one of abject horror, mingling with confusion. But little by little…

She began to smile. Then laugh — not much, just a chuckle or two. "Oh my God, that was a lot."

"Tell me," Rise said in a softer whisper.

"Fine. The real answer is 'neither of us is the boy', but I don't think you'll like that one. So…" She shrugged and started walking again, Rise hurrying to fall into step next to her. "Just do what you want to do for a friend. But for me. And say something cutesy and girlfriend-y; that part is fine. I would want you to act like the girlfriend, anyway, since you are a girl. I just don't want to be treated like a boy."

"But that's so complicated!" she burst out in frustration.

"Yeah," Ai admitted with a long sigh, eyes downcast. "Everything is. You… really complicated my life. I was hoping I could just marry Narukami, finish my surgeries and so on, and maybe life would fall into place. And here comes Risette to throw a wrench in the works."

That left her quiet for a moment. Then a small smile formed on her lips. "Along comes Risette? Meaning… you aren't completely done with me yet?"

"Tch. Clearly I'm not now that you blackmailed me into this relationship."

"Hmmm, you mean like you tried to blackmail me into outing you?" She examined her nails as they reached Inaba proper, turning down the street toward the diner. "Which I figured out, by the way."

Ai blinked a few times. "You did? What do you mean, you 'figured it out'?"

"Your motive. Guess I'm not as dumb as I look."

"What motive?" But instead of answering, Rise merely skipped ahead a few steps, turned to walk backward, and stuck her tongue out at her. "Hey! What the hell are you talking about?! JERK! You are the WORST!"

                               To Be Continued…