#BOY IS IT GREAT TO SEE YOU AGAIN *checks notes* ED!!!

[bagadew]

THE BRONCSTER??!!!

[leeyanyanyaaan]

a curtain away - han jisung

-archival-

an incomplete hospital fic i found in my notes from last year when i was admitted to the hospital lol XD can be read as romantic or platonic. lighthearted/fluffy, altho bittersweet at the end but no angst. no warnings except for the fact that this is a hospital-centered fic so there's gonna be a lot of mention of sicknesses and stuff lol. and also rushed/incomplete ending oof honestly if someone wants to yoink this idea and make it better then by all means feel free to XD

"a curtain away"

han jisung x reader

platonic/romantic/friends to lovers - reader's interpretation

fluff, crack, sickfic, hospitalfic, bittersweet ending?

warning: hospital jargon, mentions of asthma (both reader and jisung are asthmatic), pneumonia, and other sicknesses, but no deaths or anything graphic/severe.

first person pov

"great. here i am again." i thought to myself as the nurse led me into a single room in the emergency department. 

though it was nothing compared to the asthma attacks i had as a child, it was still rather painful to breath with the intense tightening in my chest paired with this high fever i have, so here i was. 

to be honest, i didn't think it was bad enough to be sent to the hospital for, but being an asthmatic, i understood my parents worries.

i wanted to go home soon though...

after the nurses' many testings and medications, in the end, they admitted me to an overnight stay in the ED. then they extended my stay for another day, moving me to the assessment and diagnostic unit. well, at least it wasn't a ward. 

in fact, this is where i met han jisung.

the room i was moved into was a four unit room, two of which already being occupied, with one being ready to moved into a ward, as i heard on the way in. after setting everything up, the nurses left me be to rest.

second person pov

you never planned on poking my nose into the other patients' businesses, no one does really, but hearing a loud crash from beside you raised a lot of concern, i mean what if someone was hurt?! 

it didn't take long for you to debate with yourself before coming to a decision. slipping on your shoes and putting on a medical mask just in case, you get off your bed and step out from your curtains, now standing in front of another. you inhale nervously before opening the curtains of your roommate.

on the other side of the messy, unoccupied bed, was a boy on the floor, who seemed to be around your age, rubbing his backside in pain. he fell...

"uhm... are you okay?" you ask meekly. realizing that someone was in his space, his eyes widen and turn to you, frantic.

"dude! you'll get in trouble if they see you in here and not in bed!" 

"i-i know! but how could i not be worried when i just heard a huge crash?!"

then the boy turned away, face now flushed with red. oh no, was he having a fever this whole time? or-

"...i fell trying to get out of bed to the toilet..."

you look at the toilet in front of him. so that's what it was... you look back at the boy who was yet to get off the floor.

"are you okay though? you seem to be in a lot of pain..." 

"i-i'll be fine... i'll get up... soon..." was his weak response.

you briefly glance at the unlit "call" button above his bed. there you also saw his name.

'jisung han...'

you wanted to help the poor guy up off the floor, but like he said, you'd probably get in trouble for being in another patient's space. 

"i think you should call your nurse just in case."

you see jisung's hand peak out and silently press the green button next to his bed, which you chuckle quietly at. 

"alright, i'll leave you alone now neighbor. but if no one comes in five minutes i'm going out there to ask for a nurse."

thankfully one came in at four minutes and 30 seconds (you we're checking your phone, ready to go out there and cause a fuss /hj).

after everything was sorted out, you wanted to see how the jisung guy was doing. but you didn't want to risk anything more by entering his space again, and talking/shouting between each other from your beds felt kinda silly. then you got an idea... though yes, it did require a bit of shouting lol

"hey neighbour?" he hums in response; you've gotten his attention! "by any chance do you have discord?"

"i do, why?"

"wanna be friends and chat there?"

he chuckles at your straightforwardness, but agrees nonetheless. after verbally exchanging discord ids, you moved your conversation to dms.

HANJI

This is the beginning of your direct message history with @/hanji.

----- Jul 10, 2015 -----

[Y/U/N] Today at 12:06 PM

(you send the wumpus wave sticker)

hi :D

hanji  Today at 12:06 PM

hiii :)

[Y/U/N] Today at 12:07 PM

lol u have a cute usrname XD

fits very nicely w ur name hehe

hanji  Today at 12:07 PM

oh? how do u know my name 🤨 should i be concerned 🤨

[Y/U/N] Today at 12:07 PM

your name's written above your bed on the whiteboard dummy.

hanji  Today at 12:08 PM

oh

you couldn't help but burst into laughter at his response. you heard jisung shout a begrudging "hey" at you, but your contagious (not a nice word for a hospital setting lol XD) joy has reached him too as he laughed along in the end.

hanji  Today at 12:09 PM

hey, but if you know my name, then i think you should let me know yours too!!!

[Y/U/N] Today at 12:09 PM

hmmmm 🤔 lets see...

maybe u should wait for the nurse to come in so u can hear her say it 🥰

hanji  Today at 12:10 PM

heyyyy noooo dont leave me like this 😩😩😩

[Y/U/N] Today at 12:10 PM

ahaha i was just joking XD

my name is (y/n) (l/n)!

nice to meet you 😊

hanji  Today at 12:10 PM

sweet, nice to meet you too (y/n) :)

actually, i think im registered here w my korean name, but u can call me by my english name if u want to

which is peter

[Y/U/N] Today at 12:11 PM

mmmm i think id like to call u by ur korean name instead

or even ur discord usr

its cute ;)

hanji  Today at 12:11 PM

awh, you think im cute? 🥺

[Y/U/N] Today at 12:11 PM

i said ur usrname but yknow what maybe i should take that back 🙄

(you lied, you did think he's cute)

hanji  Today at 12:12 PM

WHAT

NO

DONT I WAS JUST KIDDING AJSBSKSNS

[Y/U/N] Today at 12:12 PM

AHAHAHAJDBKA

anyways

whats your story? how did you get here?

so jisung told his story. he's an asthmatic like you, and unfortunately he just went through an asthma attack the night before. luckily, he responded to treatment well and wasn't needed to be brought into the intensive care unit. you sighed in relief for him, glad he was fairing well. then he asked about you. you told him everything from when you got admitted to the hospital, about how you have a bacterial infection, but was also diagnosed with pneumonia, which is a no-no especially for asthmatics. 

[Y/U/N] Today at 12:20 PM

so since being admitted here theyve been giving me antibiotics thru the iv line to help w the infection and probably avoid it from getting as more serious

ngl theyre also probably keeping me here bc of my asthma aksnamnsms

hanji  Today at 12:21 PM

man

us asthmatics gotta stick together 😔✊

[Y/U/N] Today at 12:21 PM

indeed *holds up blue inhaler* 😔✊

after hearing each other's stories, you two move on to more lighthearted topics: your interests, hobbies, music, school; being the same age, it was pretty easy for you two to get along well. despite chatting online, you would react as if he was physically talking to you, and he'd do the same, filling your hospital room with joyous sounds of laughter. it'd even amuse the nurses who come to do their regular check up on you and him when they heard that you were having a nice time with the other patient (though they'd occassionally tease you, asking if you were in a romantic relationship with him, or that it was fate (the latter made your heart race oop))

your mom came to visit you in the middle of the day too, so you had to put your phone down to have some bonding time with her. with her being a nurse, you laughed at the image of her pretty much acting like one with all her nurse-like questions, receiving a playful slap from her. she brought you some spare clothes, toiletries, your tablet and charger (though no earphones) as well as some snacks for you to eat in case you got sick of the hospital food. 

'ooh chips! i'll try share some with hanji!' was your first thought when you looked through your bag. then you blushed realizing what your first thought was. god you could not be this down bad for the hospital boy already, you just met him three hours ago! 

although you tried to hide it, your mom instantly spotted your reddening face. you saw her see it. you try to act normal, but there was no way you could fool your mom. 

"you know dear, on my way in, one of the nurses told me you're on good terms with your room neighbor. you two aren't up to anything are you?"

"mom! he's right there! he can hear you!"

"ahaha i'm just joking, dear! gosh your face got even redder, must i call the nurse to check your temperature?"

you, who now has your face burried into your hands to hide from your mom's teasing, shouted a muffled "no!" only to her amusement. after your mom's laughter died down, she checks her watch.

"oh dear, it looks like i'll have to leave now. rest well, love, and get better soon."

"alright, safe travels mom. and thanks for the stuff!"

your mom sends you a flying kiss on her way out of your space and you play along and catch it, putting it on your cheek with a grin. your mom smiles, giving you one last loving look, before closing the curtains and walking out. you sigh, already missing your mom, but your thoughts are cut short as a nurse comes in not long after with your dinner. yay! hospital food!

"here's your dinner for tonight: chicken and rice, with strawberry jelly and vanilla ice cream. enjoy your meal!"

you take off the lid of your plate and immediately squint at the portion of rice in comparison to all the microwaved vegetables. this is a crime! but then again, what can you ask from hospital food? you wouldn't even be surprised if the ice cream was already melted (spoiler alert: it was)

you shrug and start eating, turning on your tablet to watch (choice of anime) while you eat (i watched hunter x hunter!). not long after, you receive a ping from jisung. you almost forgot about him oops /j

hanji  Today at 6:16 PM

bruh i can hear anime playing from ur side r u watching (anime)? 🤨

[Y/U/N] Today at 6:16 PM

help i forgot u existed

hanji  Today at 6:16 PM

HEY!!!

that hurt my kokoro 🥲💔

[Y/U/N] Today at 6:17 PM

AHAHHAJSNAKSN IM JOKING IM SORRY 😭😭

also yeah im watching (anime)

im surprised u figured out

hanji  Today at 6:17 PM

how could i not

the opening is blasting through this room

[Y/U/N] Today at 6:17 PM

IS NOT

its less than half volume ok

u just live next to me thats why

...also my mom didnt bring any earphones so i have no choice </3 

hanji  Today at 6:18 PM

ok fair enough

cant complain anyway, (anime) has the best ops 😤

what did u get for dinner?

[Y/U/N] Today at 6:18 PM

chicken with an illegally small proportion of rice

pretty sure we all get the same thing tho

and just like that, the two of you carried on your long discord chats, your silly laughters filling the room once again (in addition to your anime playing in the background). for once, you actually enjoyed your hospital stay over the past multiple times you've been admitted. for once, you were ironically glad to be here, meeting him.

time flew by and it was already midnight. your nurse just finished the regular routine of checkup and replenishing your antibiotics. after making sure she left, you pulled out your phone and texted your neighbor.

----- Jul 11, 2015 -----

[Y/U/N] Today at 12:02 AM

pssst

hanji

han jisung

peter han

are you awake

hanji  Today at 12:02 PM

yeah

why?

[Y/U/N] Today at 12:02 AM

ur nurse alrdy came in to check on u right

hanji  Today at 12:02 AM

yeah?

[Y/U/N] Today at 12:03 AM

then...

is it okay if i come over to your side a bit?

please 🥺

wait no why did you send a text like that. you silently kicked yourself. stupid, what if he thinks you're a weirdo now! why'd you have to word it like that???

unbeknownst to you, the boy next door was flustering silently, his blushing face hidden in the dark.

[Y/U/N] Today at 12:04 AM

SORRY 

I TOTALLY WEIRDED THAT WRONG

*WORDED

AJSNAMSNMS

i just... i actually was just hoping we could take a photo together...?

neither of us know when we'll be discharged or moved out of the room right?

i was just hoping we could take a photo while were both still here

AJSBAMBSMS BUT ITS OK IF U DONT WANNA

hanji  Today at 12:05 AM

NO NO ITS FINE, I LIKE THAT IDEA

really!

so yes pls come over, i'd like to take a photo w u too :D

you'd better send them to me too 😤

you huff a silent sigh of relief, glad that he interrupted you before you rambled any longer. you shuffle out of your bed quietly, slipping on your shoes, before making your way to his side, your phone tight in your grip. inhaling nervously, you pull the curtains to the side. (de ja vu much? hehe)

if you hadn't already fallen for this boy, you sure were falling hard now. underneath the small hospital light sat jisung in his bed. he was smiling warmly at you, welcoming with chubby cheeks puffed out a bit, as his eyes twinkled with delight. you didn't notice at first, since he was mostly scrambled on the floor when you first met him, but jisung is... actually quite handsome. attractively cute. you really had to stop yourself from blushing so much so you didn't make yourself more of a fool than you already are lol.

on the other hand, this was jisung's first time properly seeing you. despite your slightly sickly complexion and just being dressed in a hospital gown, he still think you looked sweet and bubbly, just as cheerful as you were in text. that was enough to take the boy's heart. your uncharacteristic shyness made you look even cuter, he thinks to himself.

since his food table was on his right side, jisung scooches to give you room to sit on his left. you scurry over and lift yourself onto the bed next to him. you couldn't help but blush at your guys close proximity.

"s-so... ready?"

jisung grins, taking your phone off of you to take the photo for you, since your arms were shorter </3 

"ready! now three, two, one...!"

snap!

jisung hands you back your phone, and the two of you smile at your cute selfie. even if you two were in hospital gowns in a hospital bed in a hospital room; it's a reminder of how you two met.

"hey, send it to me too okay?"

"definitely!" 

and so you return back to your side of the room with a silly grin on your face, happy with the photo you two took. you send the photo to jisung just as requested and turn in for the night, the happy smile never left as you drift off to sleep.

it was three am when you woke up to the nurses doing their regular routine. only you were puzzled at the sight of more than one nurse. was something going on.

"hey (y/n), sorry to disturb your sleep. i'm hana, your nurse for tonight, and we'll be moving you to a single room in the ADU after this alright? we'll be needing to clear this room out for the new patients that are coming in."

"oh... okay..." was all you can say, still dazed from being half asleep, though truthfully, you were already getting sad at the thought of being away from jisung. everything went by so fast, you were already being rolled out of the room. just before you were out, you caught a glimpse of a confused jisung peaking from his curtains, eyes questioning your departure. you could only give him a small wave and a sad smile before you were out into the hallways.

it wasn't even a long travel since the room you're now in is in the same department of the hospital of the last room. still, it felt far more lonely being in a single room, without jisung. 

it was three am still. you wonder if jisung would be up. you check your phone. he is.

hanji  Today at 3:05 AM

you got moved out D":

did you know???

[Y/U/N] Today at 3:05 AM

no not at all

they only just told me before they moved me...

hanji  Today at 3:05 AM

oh ok

man its gonna be so lonely here tho =3=

[Y/U/N] Today at 3:06 AM

lol not like we rlly talked physically anyways, were still on discord XD

but i get what you mean... especially now that im in a single room, its weird that youre not a curtain apart

its just me alone in this single room

hanji  Today at 3:06 AM

yeah... its weird just knowing ur not next to me anymore

you both sigh at the same time, looking up at your ceiling. in your case, you knew that they wanted you to stay here for one more day before discharging you... but what about jisung?

[Y/U/N] Today at 3:08 AM

hanji...

do you know when you are being discharged from the hospital?

hanji  Today at 3:08 AM

uhmm

actually, i have a feeling theyll discharge me today

[Y/U/N] Today at 3:08 AM

oh ok

that's good to hear :D

hanji  Today at 3:09 AM

omg do you want me to go so badly

i am hurt 💔

[Y/U/N] Today at 3:09 AM

BRUH 😭

hanji  Today at 3:09 AM

AHAHAHSJJSKS

hbu tho?

[Y/U/N] Today at 3:09 AM

since they moved me to this new room, im gonna be staying here a lil longer :”)

hanji  Today at 3:10 AM

heres to hoping for your speedy recovery too 😔✊

fighting!! 

[Y/U/N] Today at 3:10 AM

fighting!! ✊

now get some sleep before a nurse catches u up XD

you send jisung one of those cute wholesome good night memes before shutting off your phone for the night. you could only heave another heavy sigh as you stare at the blank ceiling, the rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor beside you slowly lulling you to sleep, yet the thin blankets could not keep away the cold of the loneliness you felt in your solitary room as you miss the company of your neighbor, and once again you’re reminded of your dislike of the hospital that’s practically become your second home.

[astraymetronome]

Sometimes death seems better than the migraine in my head

Father Figure’s Make Great Napping Places - Chapter One

Notes

I just thought this was funny and cute so I decided to make it a tiny trope, lol.

Chapter Title - Migraine by 21 Pilots

Shouta was pretty sure Midoriya was having problems with sleep, but he’s genuinely surprised he’s the only student who’s shown signs of it so far. After everything these kids have gone through, you’d think they’d all have problems. If he was honest they all probably did, though they most likely had different ways of dealing with it. He was more concerned about his problem child since he was well aware of Izuku’s mental state and the fact that the boy had a lot of stuff he needed to take care of.

The teen had managed to fall asleep during the study period and before he could tell Iida to leave him alone, the uptight boy managed to wake him up. He sighed when the drowsy viridescent eyes looked around the room before settling on the paper he’d already finished. Midoriya looked disappointed at being woken up, but he ultimately smiled, the quiet thank you he gave managing to graze his ears.

The class still had about 30 minutes left before he had to head to help the Gen-ed students self-defense. With all of the attacks the school has experienced it was safety protection for them, they needed to make sure none of their students were hurt and it was better if they at least knew how to defend themselves without quirks. He sighed and relaxed into his sleeping bag again when everyone seemed to set back to work, a couple of his students just double-checking their answers.

He noticed how once the bell had finally rung for class to be over before he left, Urakara and Iida had swiftly made their way to the shorter student’s desk and, judging on his face, had mentioned falling asleep. Aizawa, of course, had to leave but he felt rather bad that they made it seem like something he should be embarrassed about. He’d just bring it up to Midoriya when they returned to the dorms.

Turns out… Bringing it up at the dorms wasn’t an option for Shouta since, not surprisingly, Toshinori’s class period had ended up with three students in Recovery Girl’s office; he didn't know who had been hurt and of course one of the three had to be his Problem Child. When he came in to check on the three, he was a little surprised to find Yaoyorozu and Kirishima laying on two of the cots. Out of the whole class, those two were the least likely to get hurt in any way considering Momo was super aware of her surroundings and Kirishima was a walking tank when he chose to be.

Now…

The small third form was, less surprisingly, Midoirya. He was often in Chiyo’s office for any reason whether it be a broken bone, far less often nowadays, muscle tension, or overwearing his binder. The supposed head injury he had was a little strange since the boy was often on top of that kinda stuff. Aizawa noticed the baggy hoodie he had on instead of the gym uniform so he had reason to believe the concussion hadn’t knocked him unconscious.

He’d barely taken a few steps into the room before he was grabbed by his wrist and dragged back out to see a very guilty-looking Yagi and a very upset Shuzenji. “Thank Kami! Shouta,” She started before pointing at the tall blonde man. “Toshinori thought it would be smart to have the kids see how long they could hang upside down, over a makeshift cliff!” It didn’t take much else for his glare to focus solely on the other guy.

“What were you thinking?!” He growled as his eyes threatened to flash red. He figured after all of this the formal number one hero would have understood he needed to be more careful. He had a good reason to be upset about it, three of his students were bedridden in the nurse’s office.

He stared daggers into the iniquitous blue eyes in front of him, “Aizawa, in my defense…” He started, hesitant but unwavering, “I didn’t expect young Midoriya to suddenly pass out. If they got dizzy I told them to tell me but it happened so quickly.” Shouta wasn’t buying this.

“How did Momo and Kirishima happen to join him in the infirmary?” He snapped back as his glare sharpened. Midoriya was level-headed and, even if he’s stubborn, the boy wouldn’t risk himself for something like that. He would have been one of the students who would drop to help someone who was falling wrong.

“They tried to grab him and lost their footing… Midoriya was swung into the wall which is why he has a concussion, young Yaoyorzu had multiple muscles torn in her arm, and Kirishima dislocated his shoulder to keep them both from falling..” Listening to him try to explain his way out of this was pretty annoying in Shouta’s opinion. Yagi just needs to stop explaining himself.

“Just- Clear it with me next time, I have a feeling that Midoriya is passing out because he seems to be struggling with sleep.” He said as he looked back into the room to keep an eye on the three.

“That would make sense; he was lacking quite a bit of stamina so he’ll have a headache for the next day or so. I want him on bedrest and take some ibuprofen for the pain.” She told Aizawa before continuing, “Kirishima will just be sore for the rest of the night and Yaoyorzu will have some stiffness for a few days, but I want her to stretch and drink plenty of water.”

He nodded before he turned back to see the latter two of the three stirring into an upright position. He kept the fond smile creeping up his lips to himself as they looked around with eyes thick of sleep. It didn’t take very long for the two to start and get up without much thought, Chiyo was quick to check them over again and shove energy gummies down their throats before sending them back to the dorms with their instructions.

Now Shouta was stuck waiting for the problem child to wake up so they could be sure he got back to the dorms safely. It was currently 18:34, 6:34, and it’s been almost 3 hours since Izuku was healed. According to Chiyo, he was awake shortly after getting into the office, she was quick to help him change from his binder and such before healing him so he could sleep. She was just glad that he hadn’t hit the ground since that would have been a horrible injury and since he was headfirst; it could have been fatal.

Watching the small teen move in his sleep was at least a good sign he’d actually wake up soon since his movement was a sign he wasn’t practically dead to the words. Aizawa had a feeling that Midoriya was gonna be pretty drowsy, he knew that he’d listen to Recovery Girl since she was someone he was used to seeing when he was this tired. He just didn’t know what to do really.

It took another 30 minutes for the kid to be awake enough that when Chiyo’s door closed he shot up. Even though his Problem Child was half asleep the boy never got to feel calm, it made him feel pretty bad for his kid- Student. For his student. His edged atramentous eye’s met a softer pastoral, dull with sleep, as Izuku stretched before holding his head, clearly noticing his headache.

Shouta knew where stuff was so in Shuzenji’s stead, she had stepped out to help with healing an old friend of hers, he grabbed a few energy gummies along with a cup of water and two of the ibuprofen before returning to Izuku. He saw a slight confusion that decorated the boy’s face before he grabbed the cup and took the meds, guzzling the water down as well before he started to explain what Chiyo had said.

The teen had responded with a nod before he stood, wobbling as he did so. Watching him move a little bit like a headless chicken. The black-haired man sighed before he got up and started to walk with him, keeping a close eye on his student. The green-haired boy hadn’t been doing much other than clutching his blazer and dress shirt to his chest, hiding the binder cloth under the fabric, as he headed outside.

Midoriya had seemed a lot calmer once they got outside, less drowsy and more contemptuous. He wasn’t as stumbly with his steps or as uncoordinated other than just being in pain. Aizawa wasn’t gonna make his student walk but the boy seemed to be fully capable of the action.

The two got to the dorms within ten minutes, it was after 19:14, 7:14, when he checked his watch before bringing his student inside. He knew that the kid needed to eat but a headache could get worse and give him nausea. He was pretty relieved to find none of his students seemed to be downstairs as he dragged the teen into the kitchen before Izuku said something. “Aizawa-Sensei, I'd much rather just go to bed.” He said as he rubbed his eyes.

Shouta felt bad but he wouldn’t let it show, he wasn’t the boy’s father and he had no reason to fill that role. As a teacher though, who was currently his legal guardian, he wouldn't let his student just go to bed with just meds and the gummies in his system. “Here,” He started as he pulled a cabinet open, “just nibble on these.” He pulled out a little packet of crackers before shoving them into his student's hands.

He watched as his student blinked in confusion while closing the cabinet’s door before ruffling the teen’s curls. “Thank you,” was all he muttered before he responded. “Don’t mention it, kid. Go upstairs.” He was unable to keep the tenderness in his voice and face hid before he got a nod in response.

He observed as the boy disappeared into the hallway and, most likely, took the stairs to get to his floor. Aizawa waited until the sound was pretty much gone before sighing and running a hand through his hair. He started to pull it up into a bun as he moved to head to the dorm he had. Yes, he normally stayed in the teacher’s dorms but each classes’ dorms had a room on the first floor for when the teachers needed to stay to ensure they were close when they had worries about students or if they needed to be supervised.

He’d unlocked the door using his key card before moving and grabbing the change of clothes he had. Considering he had students who could have been pretty badly hurt, he wouldn’t be surprised if students came downstairs or something so he’ll grade in the common room tonight. A few students came down within the 3 hours that followed. Shouta didn’t mind, multiple hadn’t gone to bed yet and we're about to but Yaoyorzu came down to get tea to calm down. According to her she’d just dozed off and had a dream where she hadn’t caught Midoriya but Kiri had caught her. He sighed and sat with her as she calmed down before telling her to head to bed and that he wouldn’t judge her if she needed to go stay with Jiro.

It was just after midnight when a familiar head of hair left the hallway. He’d been double-checking his plans for the week, making sure they were understandable just in case a possible sub was needed since they planned on helping Eri with her quirk more. Aizawa sat up more as the boy entered the kitchen before walking out after a couple of minutes with a cup of tea, carefully sliding a mug of coffee over to him. He blinked but took it with a hum of thanks, he tended to like the quiet with headaches so he was gonna assume the teen felt the same.

He was watching the shadow-lit teen as he leaned against the couch and gently drank the liquid. He thought for a moment before standing, “Stay here, Problem Child.” he said as he walked to his room not turning to acknowledge the nod he gave. He opened his medicine cabinet and pulled out some Ibuprofen before returning with two of the pills. He slipped it into the boy’s hand before sitting down and taking another sip of his coffee.

“Take these, for your headache, Chiyo wants you to take them anyways.” He said. Midoriya blinked a few times before just taking the meds with his tea. He smiled softly as the boy looked around a little blankly before he reached over and carefully ruffled the teen’s hair. He wasn’t the most affectionate of people but he didn’t mind stuff like this, though, the boy pushing into his hand when Shouta tried to pull it away; he couldn’t help but smile.

He kept his hand in the curls, running his fingers through the knots as he sipped at his coffee with his free hand. The teen had put his tea down a little while ago and the black-haired man was about to take him back upstairs before he noticed the soft sound of breathing. He blinked when he moved his arm only to have his student fall against him. He sighed at the sight of closed eyes and clearly drowsy noises. He could tell he wasn’t asleep yet but if he was this calm, he may not fall asleep in his room.

Shouta didn’t know how to feel about this but within a few minutes, he went ahead and adjusted them both. He had put his coffee down, pulling a blanket onto his student as the boy sleepily settled his head on his thigh. Izuku seemed to fall asleep in moments, chest rising and falling in rhythm as he slept. He gave a sigh as he kept a hand in the boy’s curls, sipping his coffee as he read through some reports he had overdue for an analysis.

He was just letting the boy sleep as time passed, around 2 am, since he hadn’t been stirring much or anything, he had been thinking about getting more coffee. The boy was definitely deep enough into sleep that he should be able to move him to just lay on the couch instead. Midoriya was pretty quiet when he was asleep, clearly favoring his stomach since the moment he was up the boy was on his front, pillowing his head with an arm. He didn’t really like the fact the coffee was cold, but he didn’t wanna risk waking his student. He’d be fine without it being hot, still got the job done either way.

He’d barely taken a sip out of it before a noise pulled his attention. Aizawa had walked over to see over the couch, his student curling in on himself. He sighed as he put his coffee on the coffee table before sitting down next to his student and carefully running his fingers through the curls again. He knew better than to try anything unless his student obviously needed to be comforted or woken up.

His student wasn’t calming down as Shouta sighed and just pulled the boy into his lap. He knew full well that if Hizashi saw him like this he’d never live it down but he’d much rather help his student. Izuku had shifted around a little, hands holding onto the back of his tightly as he moved to make it easier. He was just gonna let him get comfortable however he could to fall back asleep. He sighed once the movement slowed and his student seemed to be fine, curled up against his chest.

He was a little confused about how his student could curl up that much but he guessed it had to do with how flexible the teen was. He gently messed with the hair, glad his student was calming down. The tears on his face had slowed and his eyes were just kinda puffy, but he was still with sleep again about 45 minutes after the nightmare became obvious. Shouta felt semi-responsible for Midoriya’s nightmare but he also knew the boy wouldn’t remember or blame him for it.

Aizawa sighed as he gently pets the back of his head before leaning back, he was stuck like this now until the boy woke up. This wasn’t very good on his back but... His student was sleeping and he didn’t mind being used as a napping place for a few hours.

[flowersdaggersviolasandblood]

Blood, Flesh, and Tears

Name: Torment (He/Him)

Race: Zariel Tiefling

Class: Paladin (Oath of Vengence)

Background: Haunted One

Next is Torment, and I stayed up nearly all night a few days ago to get this boy past the Ketheric boss fight. Not because the fight was difficult. Compared to Pero, Torment had all sorts of resources packed in his 18 STR inventory that it was a breeze to get past the first fight on the ground floor and rush to the first phase of Ketheric's fight.

Before fighting him, because Torment was able to explore the tower a bit, I had the options to try to persuade him. There was one with intimidation where he could've threatened Ketheric to stand down, but I decided to use the persuasion check where Torment tries to cater to Ketheric's love for his wife, Melodia, and remind Ketheric of what she would've wanted for him. Now, because Ketheric is still a boss character, we still fought him, but you can definitely see some sort of guilt and remorse from him. Regardless, we threw hands and he bounced.

After phase one, we jump into the mystery flesh, this time with Halsin, Astarion, and Wyll in tow. This time around, Torment just went on a rampage against the roaming intellect devourers. I also missed a room when I did my first run with Pero. As I said before, I didn't stick around in the boss room was Pero because I was naked & afraid. This time around, I was a bit more thorough with my search in this small place and discovered a puzzle!

So there's this door that shows the cave depictions of the Mindflayer's Grand Design that we saw in the reveal trailer for BG3 all the way back then. But to access this area, we gotta reconnect the Memory, Reason, Emotion, and Speech components to unlock the door. It was a pretty challenging puzzle and it took a few times to get it right. Afterwards, because Torment didn't meet Omeluum the Friendly Mindflayer, this pretty much informs us of the Great Design; a worldview where the Mindflayers enslave every race across the cosmos under one mind.

As I mentioned before, during and after the boss fight pretty much serves as a exposition dump for those who missed some content that explains and hints at the Absolute or didn't read the notes littered about the game. Another thing too, I decided to look at the brains that we can have the talking head speak the memories of. We gained a brain of a sleepy child, a tragic fate as they were around during the beginning cutscene of the game when Baldur's Gate was being attacked. We also gained the brain of a Githzerai, a subrace of Gith who believe that fighting the Mindflayers should involve using psionic techniques.

They asked that we destroy their brain, freeing them from their mental torment of being aware of their state of being. In return, they gave us a condition that helped with intelligence and wisdom saves, but we were a susceptible to mental damage.

While down here, we fought Kressa and her Myrkulite crew, but this time around, there's another person who is familiar with Torment and his past. She was surprised to see Torment again, believe that he had died some time ago. Torment was able to pretend to act dumb in front of her, which expelled a few more information from her. Apparently, she contributed to shaping Torment into who he was, but now really the source of it. It's also revealed that Torment has had the tadpole in his head long before entering the nautiloid. We even found the very pod that Torment remembers bashing his head against until he escaped with a bleeding head.

After saving Zevlor, the Flaming Fists, Mizora, and killing everything there, we descended towards the boss room. This time around, because we had Wyll in tow, he called out to his infected father as Orin placed a parasite in his head and bamf-ed away with Duke Ravenguard and Gortash. When we faced Ketheric again, Torment tried again with trying to persuade Ketheric Thorm that he can change for the better.

Now, this might seem out of character for Torment, as the last time he fought some big players (the Goblin Leaders back at ACT 1), he rarely cared to even speak to them. However, being that these three are the big influencers of the Absolute, Torment wanted Ketheric alive long enough and to potentially learn of his past through the General. However, what ends up happening is that homeboy decides to end himself lmao. We skip the 2nd phase of the Ketheric fight and go straight into the Apostle of Myrkul fight. Even ended with a climatic kill as Torment divine strikes the dead bastard after he downed Halsin.

After speaking with our Dream Guardian, we returned to the surface. After speaking with Withers, we get a cute moment where Dame and Isobel are reunited. I might as well mention their whole deal here because we learn a lot more about the two at camp. Long ago, a servant of Selune, Dame Aylin, came to Rethwin and it was love at first sight. Her father, Ketheric didn't approve of their relationship, which Isobel chalked it up to the fact that Dame was an Aasimar, and thus, immortal.

However, her memories are missing as she remembered dying, but not remembering the cause of it. She then remember sitting in her own grave with her father horribly changed, running from him out of fear and confusion. She hid out in Last Light Inn, which is where she would eventually be founded by Jaheira and her Harpers. Isobel was fearful of her father finding out where she went, so she lied about her history and told no one of her story.

While at camp, Torment confronted Wyll about his contract with Mizora and why he partook in such a deal. We learn that Wyll and his father were around during the events of the D&D 5th Edition: Rise of Tiamat adventure module! To go through the context of that adventure, you and your party are to uncover and stop of cult from summoning Tiamat, the evil dragon goddess of evil dragons, and bringing her hellish carnage into Faerun. I actually played a bastardized version of the game by a asshole DM :).

Wyll was place in charge of his own personal army as his father dealt with other matters, leaving his young son to a handful duty. As he crew was being swarmed and assaulted by the cultists of Tiamat, that's when Mizora decided to step in, promising power and Baldur's Gate protection. Of course, being placed in a tight spot and a wall, Wyll accepted the deal. However, when he returned back to his father, with Mizora in tow, he was banished by his father. Whatever grudge Wyll may have about his father, it will not matter as his father is now a pawn in the Absolute's game, and it will be time that we save him sooner than later.

Thanks to the fact that we were able to do Halsin's quest, Thaniel thanks us for saving him and promises that a reward will be granted Torment down the line. As we leave the Cursed Lands, the sun finally shines upon the land as a giant tree presents itself to the healing land.

As you can tell, I went ahead just a bit further as I was intrigued to see what the sight of Baldur's Gate would look like. And we are given a marvelous view. While at our new campsite, Torment spoke with Karlach as she expressed her anger about Gortash being in khaoots with the Absolute and plotting it all along. She then expresses that she's heating back up again, needing to see Dammon again about her condition before she pops. We then spoke with Astarion as he laments about the Ritual of Profane Ascension, showing hints of envy and grand desire to ascend himself. Torment expresses concern about doing so, but he's not a Vengeance Paladin for nothing.

Torment took this oath to defeat villains and to avenge the weak who suffered due to the disgusting deeds of those with more power. Torment understands and is sympathetic to Astarion wanting to ascend in place of his master, however, Torment is unsure if he'll choose Astarion over a few souls.

Before ending this chapter in Torment's story, 2 interesting things happen. One involves Gortash and Orin as she disguised herself as a Flaming Fist as she informs her colleague that a massive earthquake as damaged portions of the city that stutters their plans.

As Torment laid below the stars, he contemplates on what he would do if he were to wrestle control of the Elder Brain, which we are given a bunch of options. Some evil, others good. I picked the option where Torment essentially goes, "We'll talk about it when we cross that bridge." But before he can even get a good nights rest, we are ambushed by Githyanki!

[1863-project]

emmet brings up safety checks quite a bit. do you happen to know what those involve doing?

Yes! I can speak to it more now that I've actually driven a locomotive once.

When operating a train, you're in constant communication with the rest of the crew, and you have to be intensely aware of your surroundings. The locomotive I've worked with, Strasburg #90, weighs 212,000 pounds. That's 106 tons of steel. And that's not factoring in her tender! 90 could get up to 50 mph in her days hauling freight in Colorado (and probably still could if she was allowed to at Strasburg, since they take such great care of her).

So imagine this. You've got something that weighs 106 tons going at 50 mph. Behind it are a bunch of cars laden with goods (in 90's case, she pulled sugar beet trains). You are NOT going to be able to stop on a dime. That's why trains require constant communication with both the entire crew and signalpeople and dispatchers along the line - to make sure traffic flow is kept clear and to warn of any incidents well in advance that would require the engineer to stop the train. Stopping #90 was a multi-step process - I first had to close her throttle down, and then I had to ease on her brake until she came to a stop. It wasn't instantaneous, like it would have been in a car. We came to a rolling stop. No matter how modern or efficient your train is, you're not going to be able to jam on the brakes that way.

I wasn't allowed to take any photos in the cab (safety, again), but here's two shots of me driving her backwards:

Note that I am a) verrrry focused on what I'm doing and extremely serious about it and b) leaning out the cab window for increased visibility. The door in the front of 90's cab was open, too, which helped me see further out the front, but when it comes to going backwards, I had to lean out the cab window. Steam locomotives actually usually have cushioned arm rests in the windows because engineers have to lean out the window going forward and backward.

Staying in communication has gotten a lot easier with modern technology. Although she was built in 1924, 90 has a radio installed, so the engineer overseeing me driving and a conductor were in constant communication, with the conductor reporting distances in terms of car lengths so those of us in the cab knew when to cut the speed. He was an extra pair of eyes on the back of the train. On longer trains, you'll usually have a team of people working under the head conductor to do this, including brakemen, who historically would use flag and lantern signals to send information up to the head conductor and engineer. Nowadays, we have radios, but on heritage railways, these signals survive in places. I try to learn Strasburg's hand signals whenever I'm there, just in case I need them. They're helpful, especially since steam locomotives are quite loud!

These days, trains usually have something called Positive Train Control, which basically sends the train information about where it can travel safely, how fast it can do so, etc. If you see a steam locomotive doing a mainline excursion and it has a diesel behind it, the diesel is likely providing Positive Train Control for the train (as well as power to air conditioning for passenger cars, etc.). In terms of pulling the train, the steam locomotive won't need the diesel's help - it's significantly more powerful. But in terms of staying in touch, that's where it comes in handy. Union Pacific Big Boy 4014 has actually been fitted with PTC, because Ed Dickens is a fucking steam god and I want to be as cool as he is someday.

Before you take off, you need to go through and make sure everything's in working order, too. The system of pointing and calling is an effective way to do this, and it helps improve your muscle memory, to boot. By verbally stating each task as you go through it and check to make sure each step is done in the right order and everything is functioning, you don't miss them or skip over things, you don't rush, and you're more likely to notice if something isn't right. In the NYC Subway, we have these things called zebra signs (or should that be Zebstrika signs?) at each station above the platform. They mark the specific spot on each platform that the train needs to stop at. When the train stops, the engineer should have it lined up so that the car the conductor is in is lined up with the sign, and the conductor confirms this by opening their window and pointing at the sign in acknowledgement. Once you know they're doing it you can start watching for them doing it, or, you know, stand under the sign and hold up funny signs for them that they're legally required to point at.

So Emmet bringing this up isn’t just an off-handed thing. This is a legitimate and extremely important aspect of his job, especially since he and his brother work with moving passengers in a densely populated city. There’s a lot of extra safety things to be concerned with regarding passengers - their safety needs to be ensured if there’s an emergency, the train gets stuck in a tunnel and they have to be evacuated, etc. You have to know exactly how to handle those situations, and you have to be prepared if they do come up, but you also shouldn’t usually get to that point because you already made sure the passengers were kept safe because you followed signals and scheduling.

A quick, tl;dr version would be something like this:

Before you even get into the train, check the locomotive and cars to make sure they’re serviceable (on steam locomotives, this involves the engineer oiling the wheels, etc.)

Once in the cab of the locomotive, go through the operating procedure to start driving

Do NOT start driving without signaling that you’re going to move. Usually that’s two short whistles if you’re going forward or three short whistles if you’re going backwards. This gives people time to get out of the way. You’ll also ring the bell when you start moving, too.

Stay in constant communication with the crew and keep an eye on your surroundings.

At a crossing, you have to whistle AND ring the bell to give cars and pedestrians a clear warning that you’re coming (whistle pattern is long-long-short-long). Repeat as necessary until you hit the crossing.

GIVE YOURSELF TIME TO STOP. This one’s crucial. You can’t stop right away, you’re moving too much weight to do so.

Follow any light signals you receive, as they’re a good well-in-advance warning of any issues, and make sure your radio is working all the time. If you lose that communication, you’re in trouble.

Don’t be this guy. (Okay, this one is a joke, it’s a VHS I grew up with as a little kid. But seriously, don’t be this guy.)

Hopefully this makes some sense, anon!

[iwadori]

Oh my God, I just saw your angst iwa fic with the pregnant reader and then looked for more fics on your blog and I fell in love with it???❤❤ + ayeee another demon slayer lover here 😭can I maybe be an emoji anon?:"D I would love to chat with you but a little bit to shy

And I hope its also okay if I request something: Can you maybe do Tendou and Iwaizumi making the reader insecure? ( maybe where the reader gets jealous/ insecure because some fangirls are flirting with them and they say something like "maybe you are to insecure/jealoue" and they are scared that they will leave them?)

Hope you have a great day <3

When they make you insecure PT 4/ Dating your brothers teammate PT3

When they make you insecure:

Part One  Part Two  Part Three  Part Four Part Five Part six

Dating your brothers teammate:

Part One Part Two Part Three

Word Count: 2.1K

Genre: angst,fluff

masterlist

Authors Note: Thank you so much for liking my other works, and OF COURSE you can message me/be a continous anonymous ask. BTW if anybody wants to privately message me just to talk or whatever or ask me questions on my asks they can!! And IK this wasn’t technically what you asked for but I hope this is good enough <3 (I will most likely do Iwaizumi in the next part) by the way this is NOT proofread (so expect mistakes)

Tendou

You and tendou have been talking since you were in your first year and his second.

So you weren’t officially dating.

He was interested in what the second ushijima would be like.

You were just like your brother, sharp and stoic but great in everything you do and it seemed that Tendou took a liking to that.

You entered your brother's dorm room in the hopes of finding Tendou, but unluckily it was just Ushijima reading his magazines. “He’s not in here,” he said before you could even ask about your crush's whereabouts.  

As you were about to leave the room, Ushijima asked you to sit down for a moment so he could to you “yess toshi?” you said already bored.

“Are you and Tendou dating?” he asked

“Umm I-” You didn’t really know what to say, since you and Tendou haven’t officially put a label on things (as much as you wanted him too.) “Not really dating per se, just going through the motions...i guess” you said with uncertainty.

“Going through the motions?” Ushijima questioned more to himself then to you.  

“Don’t worry about it Toshi” you say ruffling his hair

“I’m just checking to make sure you’re okay Y/N” he said seriously “Oh and by the way when you and Tendou are about to have se-”

“La La La La La” you say putting your fingers in your ears “I do not need a sex-ed lesson from you nii-san" you swiftly leave the room a tad bit grossed out.

“Oh and by the way Tendou is probably in Eita’s and Kenjirou’s room.” he calls.

You excitedly skip over to Semi’s and Shirabu’s room happy to see your boyfriend ‘friend.’ Walking to the door, before you open it, you hear Tendou talking to Semi and Shirabu and the conversation topic seems to be about you.  

“How are things going with Y/N Tendou” Semi asked “You’re practically dating now. Right?”

“Well Semi-sem, I wouldn’t say that...” Tendou said, making you furry your eyebrows in confusion. “Y/N is a bit, you know... what’s the right word” he thinks, “Boring.”

You step back abit from the door, shocked. ‘Boring?’ How were you boring... You were hurt. Especially since you’ve heard the insult of you being boring your whole life, you knew that you took after your brother in most aspects but that didn’t make neither you or your brother boring. You’ve even have voiced that specific insecurity (about you being boring) where Tendou always assured you that you were the most interesting person he’s ever met.

You went back into Ushijima’s room since it was the closest place and you knew you could always go to your brother whenever you were upset or just in need of someone to listen to you rant about anything. Upon your entering, Ushijima looks up at you and before he could ask what was wrong you wrapped your arms around him and just burst out crying. Awkwardly, Ushijima pats your back not really knowing what to do. He waits for you to calm down before asking you “What’s wrong Y/N?”

“h-he called me boring...” you cried again slightly, “I heard him talking with Semi and Shirabu”

“Well I don’t think you a boring, not at all Y/N” he said handing you a tissue so that you can wipe your eyes and blow your nose “Do you need me to talk with him?”

“No!” You exclaimed “Don’t talk to him...I’ll handle it.” You knew that him and Tendou talking wouldn’t turn out right, because you weren’t even dating in the first place and Ushijima would definitely deep the situation more then needs be.  

“Ushiwaka I brought some snacks for us” said a cheerful sounding Tendou entering the room. His voice faltered when he saw a teary eyed you wrapped up in her brothers arm. “Y/N-chan are you alright?”  

“Yeah I’m fine” you respond dryly “Well I’ll be going...thanks Toshi”  

You leave the room not looking Tendou in the eye leaving him confused. He thought you would be happy to see him, although he knew you weren’t officially ‘together’ or whatever so he didn’t get why you seemed mad.

“Hey Ushiwaka, what’s wrong with Y/N” he asked  

“She said I am not allowed to discuss it with you.” Ushijima replied flipping through his magazine

‘So there is a problem..’ Tendou thought trying to think of things that could spur up your problem with him.

When you were heading to your room, you bumped into Semi and Shirabu who seemed to be heading towards your brother. “Hey Y/N” they greeted simultaneously

“hi guys..” you said sniffling  

They could see that you were sad and didn’t want to pry, so in an attempt to make you feel better Semi said “One of our friends, I think someone from Karasuno is having a party do you wanna come with us.” Just then, a lightbulb went off in your head and you thought of the best idea to really show Tendou you aren’t boring and you can also make your ‘boy’ friend jealous at the same time.

You immediately perk up and smile at the boys surprising them, “Sure, I'd love to go pick me up at 8?” you ask making them nod as you rush back to your dorm room to find something to wear.  

After basically emptying your wardrobe, you find something to wear (a little black dress to be precise) you couldn’t deny that you were hot in general but right now in this dress there was no dispute about how beautiful you are.

Semi knocks on your door right at 8pm, his eyes widening seeing how you look. You gave him a knowing smirk making the tips of his ears go red, “should we be going now...?” you ask as he was stood there frozen staring at you,

“Uhm yeah sure” he said awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck feeling a little bit embarrassed.

Entering the party, a lot of eyes were on both you and Semi in jealousy and in want. You were both the most attractive ‘couple’ in the room and it was obvious that you both knew that. Tendou was already there sitting in the corner of the room with the rest of the Shiratorizawa boys, he had of bit of anger brewing in the pit of his stomach at the sight of you on Semi’s arm.

“Semi! My twin, welcome to the party!” Yelled a boy who looked kind of like Semi, making Semi roll his eyes

“Hi, I’m Sugawara but you can just call me suga” he says to you extending his hand “and you are...”

“Oh Hi! I’m Ushijima Y/N” you replied back giving his hand a shake

“I see, Ushiwaka’s little sister...cute” he says smiling in your face “Well I’ve got to now and make sure certain teammates of mine aren’t blowing up my house or anything so talk to you soon”

“You do kind of look the same Semi” you say to him teasingly

“Oh, shut up Y/N” he says jokingly making you laugh pretty loudly putting your arm on his bicep (forearm I don’t know the body part lol.) You look over to Tendou and you could tell he was getting bothered by your interaction with Semi making it even more enjoyable to you.

“Semi, do you wanna dance?” you ask batting your eyelashes at him, throwing him off. “Um okay.”

You were being a bit wild with your movements whilst dancing with Semi (since you’re obviously not the usual party-goer) but you were enjoying yourself nevertheless.  

“Are you okay Y/N?” Semi asks you  

“Yeah why wouldn’t I be” you respond

“Um...it’s just that you’ve been a bit weird tonight and I’ve seen the staring matches you and Tendou have been having” he says “Is everything alright with both of you?”

He leads you over to somewhere more private so that you could properly talk, “So what's been going on with the two of you.”

“You should know more than me Semi” you sigh “You were there when he called me boring”

“I don’t think he meant it th-” he starts  

“I don’t care what he meant to be honest, I just wanted to prove to him more so prove to myself that I’m not boring. Cause I don’t think I am.” you say

“You’re not Y/N” he says looking at you “Of course you aren’t.”

“I guess so... it doesn’t even matter I shouldn’t even be so upset, since me and Tendou aren’t actually dating.” you mumbled looking away

“Tendou really likes you Y/N” he says turning your body so you’re so looking at him “He talks about you all the time, since he thinks you’re amazing.”

You’re now staring into each other's eyes “And that’s because you are amazing Y/N” his words make you smile and look down slightly. Maybe it was just because you were both in the heat of the moment, but Semi lips up your chin so you’re both directly in front of each other and you then subconsciously lean into his face closing your eyes (with him doing the same.) And just as your lips were about to touch you hear a,

“What the fuck is happening here!” you look to your left and see both Tendou and Ushijima. With Tendou having his mouth agape and Ushijima having his usual monotone expression on. Tendou rushes over to you and grips your arm pulling your arm up, making you wince slightly and him lessening his grip on you. He pulls you into the bathroom and sits you down on the toilet (the lid is closed) and he leans against the sink.

“What’s your problem with me Y/N” he says sounding pretty fed up.

“Nothing...I don’t see why you care … It’s not like we’re dating or anything” you say mumbling the last part.

“Oh so that’s your problem!” he exclaims, kind of happy that he cracked the code on why you were mad at him.

“No my problem is that you think Im boring” you whine  

“Boring... I don’t think I ever sai-” he pauses realizing what you were referring too “Oh you heard me when I was with Semi-sem and Shirapoo... we thought we heard someone outside”

You sat there with a bored expression on your face waiting for an explanation, “I never said you were boring, well I did. But I assume you miss what I really said was ‘Boring. No that’s also the wrong word too she’s blunt it’s like I’m talking to a girl version of Ushijima sometimes it’s spooky.... but besides that, I really like her’ that’s what I said”

Oh, ‘I guess that makes sense,’ you think... because you were shocked that Tendou would call you boring in the first place so it makes more sense that he didn’t even fully mean that and you just didn’t hear the full thing.

“Oh” you say, looking down feeling a bit embarrassed  

"I really like you Y/N... and I know you’ve been waiting on me to ask you to be my girlfriend and I’m sorry for not doing it sooner, I just didn’t think we needed a label since we both knew what we were” he says kneeling down to be at your eye level “But obviously when I saw you dancing and flirting with Semi I realised what I gotta do... so Y/N Ushijima my ‘miracle girl’ will you be my girlfriend”  

“Of course,” you say giving him a hug  

“Oh, and Y/N...” he starts “were you really about to kiss semi” he asks in a jokey way “you would’ve been left with a permanent scowl left on your face” making you laugh.

After spending quite some time in the bathroom with Tendou, you finally leave and see Ushijima just standing outside patiently waiting.  

“Umm Toshi-nii what are you doing?” you ask  

“Just making sure you’re okay Y/N.” he says looking at both you and Tendou and then your hands that are holding each other's “Ahh I see you two are now boyfriend and girlfriend”

“Yes indeed we are Ushiwaka, I finally asked her!” Tendou replied

“Oh that’s good.” Ushijima nods at both at you as you start walking off to return to the party “Also Tendou, when you and Y/N have se-”

“Gosh Toshi, stop with the sex talk” you say putting your hands on your ears making Tendou laugh.

You and Tendou have so much fun in your relationship, always enjoying the time you spend together. There were no big problems with you two, besides minor arguments but if there ever was a problem you could always go to your big brother who had the best advice to give whether it was on relationships, plants or sex.

[nygmobblepot-trash]

It was odd for Riddler to get visitors. He wasn't exactly popular with anyone. Oswald would show up when he wanted something and was desperate which was more often than you would hope for from Gotham's mayor/king/whatever he was calling himself these days. Gordon would show up with arrest warrants. The last group would be considered random. They would show up when Riddler got bored and let someone else take over so he could save the puzzle later on.

Riddler hadn't lost control recently... at least he thought he hadn't. He hadn't done anything since being released and Oswald doesn't believe in having to knock. So why at 10:46 pm was someone knocking at his door?

Instead of playing the guessing game, Riddler decided to throw the door open and deal with whatever or whomever was making all that noise behind it. Except when it swung open he saw no one.

That's odd.

Another mental break down perhaps?

Whatever.

He'd deal with it later and shut the door. He didn't get very far till he heard the knocking again.

Ignore it. It will stop eventually. Just distract yourself.

He looked around the room to find something fitting for the task. Which was a old torn up book hidden under the couch. He brushed off the cobwebs and collapsed on the couch.

The knocking persisted.

Riddler tried to focus on the words with all his heart but the pounding wouldn't stop.

He had enough. Please don't be Ghost Oswald, he thought as he threw open the door for a second time.

Still nothing.

He went to close the door for the second time when he felt something grab onto his arm in order to prevent the action.

Riddler quickly looked down and everything clicked into place.

He wasn't expecting a child. "Oh it's just you, Martin." He sighed happy he didn't accidentally drug himself. The calm quickly disappeared when he repeatedly his words, "Oh it's you! What are you doing here?"

Martin must have already assumed that question was going to be asked because he only had to flip to a page in his notebook and show it to the annoyed Riddler.

"Oswald dropped me off." Ed read aloud with a frown. "I doubt it. He would never leave you in my care without an hour lecture. As if I need a lecture on how to keep a child alive."

Martin gave Riddler an, 'Are you sure about that?' look.

"I forgot to feed you one time! I've gone days without eating and no one throws a fit. You go without dinner one time and I never hear the end of it!" Riddler yells as he retreats back into Ed's apartment.

Martin follows and closes the door behind him.

Riddler quickly turned around. "Oh no you don't. Go back to Oswald. I know you're lying about him driving you here."

Martin shakes his head no.

Riddler aggressively digs into his pockets to look for his phone but finds nothing. "That's odd... I had it in here an hour ago." Riddler scans the room and sighs when he immediately doesn't find it. "Once I find my phone you're gone, Buddy."

Martin shrugged and made his way into the kitchen as he was hungry. PB&J sounded real good. He had managed to find all the supplies while Riddler threw stuff around the apartment. The more the man looked the angrier he got. Now all the boy needed was a knife to put the jelly and peanut butter on his bread. He found one fairly quickly. What was even quicker was Riddler grabbing the knife away from him. He was paying attention?

"You cut yourself and i'll get blamed." The green man announced.

Martin expected to hear the knife go back into the drawer, but it didn't. Instead Riddler with a roll of his eyes quickly smeared the toppings onto the bread. When he was done he tossed the knife into the sink with a loud clank and went back to look for his phone without another word.

Martin quietly ate his sandwhich and when he was done put the dirty dish into the sink after washing it off. Like Oswald said, 'no one likes a pig.'

The boy took this opportunity to clear out any unusable pages from his notebook. He didn't see certain responses being used soon, if ever again.

"I haven't left all day. It should be here." Riddler mumbled from under the couch he retrieved the book from. After throughly checking the couch Riddler turned to the boy. "Shouldn't you be... I don't know... in bed?"

Martin shrugged knowing damn well the answer.

"Bed." Riddler commanded.

So the boy did as told... well almost. The man yelled, "not my bed," as the child climbed into his bed ignoring him.

"I'm going to kill Oswald." Riddler promised under his breath.

The boy quickly wrote in his note book and turned it to the man when he was finished.

"I don't care if Oswald reads to you. I'm not Oswald." Riddler answered coldly.

The boy scribbled down more.

"I do have great stories! Way better than any of Oswald's." Riddler hissed.

So Riddler lost again and told the boy a story. But he boy refused to shut his annoying little eyes. So he said another one, which turned into another one. Riddler wouldn't admit that the stories were infact true and about himself and Oswald.

After the 3rd story Riddler stood up. "You said he reads you one story and I have given you three. It isn't my fault you're still up, so go to sleep."

Martin quickly wrote in his notebook and threw it at the Riddler as he was leaving.

Riddler quickly bit his lip to avoid yelling at the boy and picked up to see what the runt wanted now. "...you want to know what my parents are like?" Riddler was about to tell him no when he read the next sentence, "I'll go to bed and never bother you again, I promise." He ripped the note out of the note book and placed it his pocket. "This is legal now." He sighed and sat back down.

Riddler opened his mouth to answer the boy's request but the words seemed to leave his lips.

You technically don't have parents. A voice not belonging the Riddler echoed in his head.

"Shut up." Riddler hissed through clenched teeth.

For someone who thinks he's the best of me is terrible at taking care of kids. This one doesn't even speak and you're losing it.

A pain started pulsing behind his eyes.

As Riddler grimaced in pain the boy stuck another note in front of his eyes. It read, "Is it Ed?"

Hey kid.

"Please be quiet." Riddler whisper as he put his head into his hands.

Martin upset at what he seemed to cause quickly ran out of the room. Riddler don't notice this at all. He hadn't known how much time had passed even he managed to look farther up the bed where Martin was last seen. The issue was the boy wasn't there anymore. In his place were a couple of pills and a note, "I'm sorry I bothered you, Mr. Riddler. My dad seemed more happy when you're around. I came here to figure out why Oswald and you don't get along. I even left a note for Oswald hinting you took me. I wanted him to show up and see that you do take good care of me. It's my fault that you don't see each other anymore. I refused to eat that day and you still took the blame. I'm going back to Oswald's to explain what I did. As an apology I'll give you a riddle, 'I can be a salty treat for some, and a breath stealer for others. What am I?' -Love Martin."

Riddler quickly looked at the time on his watch, it read, 1:07 am. "Oh dear." Riddler and Ed said in a worried tone.

Riddler wasted no time finding the peanut butter in a cabinet. Please don't be ruined and please be what I hope you are, he though.

Ed on the other hand was trying to calculate all the possible routes the boy could be taking.

Riddler spun the lid off and shouted, "Yes!" as he quickly unwrapped the napkin that was in the jar. It was his phone which he may need later. It was the nuclear option.

Then suddenly the front door swung open and crashed into the wall harder than it ever had.

Shit. Riddler though as he hit the floor to avoid being seen.

"EDWARD DUMBASS NYGMA." An angry mother penguin shouted louder than should be possible.

'What did I do?!' Riddler heard Ed scream in terror.

'We have to avoid him at all costs, when he's like this he won't listen to a word we say.' Riddler told Ed.

The pair listened as Oswald stomped around the apartment. Once they could hear him in the guest bedroom he bolted to Ed's room. Going out the front door would get them spotted immediately.

Riddler could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He has never moved this fast and quietly in his life, including all the other personalities. He threw open the window and leaped out of it. He fell about 6 feet before he was able to stop his fall by grabbing onto the fire escape ladder. The force made the ladder extend closer to the ground. Once it stopped a few feet above the ground Riddler let go and landed in the snow.

He didn't feel the coldness nor acknowledged it was even winter in Gotham as a voice from above him dripping with hate, "YOU CAN'T ESCAPE ME."

'There's no way he'll come down this way. Just go.' Ed commanded.

So Riddler did what Ed said for the first time in his existence. His mind was a blur, but that was okay because Ed was giving him directions. It wasn't long until he spotted the boy walking under the street lights on a particularly dangerous street.

"Hey! Kid wait!" Riddler yelled very out of breath. When the boy stopped and turned Riddler finally noticed how tired he was.

He was about to collapse when adrenaline shot back up his body.

"I TOLD YOU."

Riddler's eyes widden as he turned to see Oswald quite a bit off into the distance hobbling towards them. "...how?" The three questioned together.

He was running out of time so Riddler whipped back to the boy to say what he wanted to say. Unfortunately Oswald was faster and had a gun pointed directly at him.

'And you're the bad parent?" Ed questioned.

Martin quickly stood in front of Riddler to his surprise. He frantically waved his arms around and shook his head. All three men noticed the tears in his eyes.

"Martin I want you to step to the side, put your hands over your ears, and face away with your eyes closed. Do. Not. Make. Me. Ask. Again." Oswald said with a reassuring yet offsetting tone.

Martin stood his ground.

"Oswald I need to show you something, you're only making the situation worse." Riddler pleaded.

"You won't ever stop crossing the line will you? Every single time I let you live you make sure I regret it. Well not this time, old friend."

'Well we're dead.' Ed sighed.

Martin dropped to his knees with his hands together, no doubt pleading for Riddler's life.

Oswald's moved his finger to the trigger. Since he was aiming for Nygma's head, Martin wouldn't get hit. "Haven't I taught you anything? Don't be like me. Don't let anyone stab you in the back ever. I wouldn't be doing what I preach if I don't do this."

Riddler slowly moved his hand to his pocket.

'Stop you idiot' Ed screeched.

Riddler grabbed a piece of paper from his pocket and held it above his head. "He thinks we aren't..." Riddler didn't know the right words, many of them made his stomach flip. "you know... a team anymore, because of him. He blames himself, Os."

"But it isn't his fault." Oswald's finger slowly backed off from the trigger. "Let me see. I doubt this will save you."

Riddler nodded and handed the note back to Martin. The boy whiped away some tears before running to Oswald.

Oswald held the note in the air under the street lamp to read the pencil words.

Ed, Riddler, and Martin watched with baited breath to see how Oswald would react.

Paying attention to microfacial expressions wasn't Ed or even Riddler's strong suit, but this time they caught everything. How Oswald bit him bottom lip as tears brimmed in his eyes. How he quickly turned his head away and blinked those tears away to avoid Martin seeing them. Ed and Riddler watched as he shook silently. Then he took a sharp breath and blew it out. "It was never your fault and it never will be. Edward is an idiot-. No we are, grown ups are. I'm sorry you had to see us flight. I promise to be better and I think me and him going our separate ways will ensure that."

Martin shook his head.

'Wow look at Oswald Cobblepot being the adult. I guess you got what you wanted.' Ed's voice still echoed in Riddler's head, thankfully without the migrain.

"You're wrong, that's not what I want." Riddler said out loud to his and Ed's surprise.

"What the hell-" Oswald started to yell again but Riddler cut him off.

"I don't think we should go out separate ways. It would be a shame if Gotham's best duo faded into nothingness. There is still greatness for us. Our story isn't done yet, Ozzie." Riddler closed the gap inbetween him and Oswald. "I'm sorry... for some of the things I did. Sometimes you deserved it though."

'Please shut up.' Ed begged.

It was Riddler's turn to bite his lip. He then took and deep breath and through clenched teeth spoke, "The truth is..." Riddler felt his face go warm and suddenly realized how terribly cold it was. "I'm happier when... you're...around...too."

Oswald covered his laugh with a cough. Ed did not follow that courtesy. 'I knew it!'

"Oh God damn it." Oswald sighed. "You're going to make me regret this, aren't you?"

"You know me so well." Riddler answered with a coy smile.

"Holy shit it is fucking cold. Can we go inside now before I actually turn into a penguin? And you..." Oswald pointed at Riddler with a smirk. "Shouldn't you hate the cold."

"Nope." Riddler shrugged as he tossed his suit jacket onto a shivering Martin. "It reminds me how I saved your sorry ass."

[tedturneriscrazy]

Okay, here we go, time to gather my rambly thoughts about Echoes of the Past!

Huh, from the trailer I figured this version of Eda was a lot younger.

More studious Luz, please. Also that doodle is so anime, I love it.

Lilith for Titan's sake put your glasses on

Why is Lulu and Hootcipher so good, tho? 😭 (yes, Luz, it is nice that they're friends)

Ooh, invisibility glyph! Em and Ed can never know about that one (though realistically they can probably already make things invisible considering their track)

"Don't ever do that again!" "Do that again!"

Also, King seems to have a shaky grasp on object permanence.

So Lilith's a history nerd, interesting...

That black eye really just came from the high five, huh? And yes, I am still stuck on that high five, it's so good. I'll need to find a gif of it at some point.

Let's not sleep on that roast from Lilith, though. You can tell Cissy has fun with lines like that.

Raving about tyrannical rule immediately followed by Luz cooing over King with belly rubs. Yep, this is The Owl House.

Jesus Christ, Lilith, you didn't need to be so savage

Luz's turn to be mom, I guess

"Hootrageous!" Dammit, now I want to see Hooty cosplay as Brave and the Bold Aquaman.

Oh hey, Hollow Knight and Piplup!

It doesn't seem like King should be able to grab the staves so casually, but eh.

You can tell Hooty has been waiting for a long time to be allowed to go somewhere. Also him detatching from the door is apparently as gross and horrifying as everyone was led to believe.

Hooty has no right to look so adorable in that little portable house, especially with the pulsating organs!

"Oh, no, not again!"

Okay what the hell is that bathtub thing, Eda?! You had that this whole time?!?!

Very convincing "aw," Lilith. 10/10.

This episode's gonna have some lore.

Hooty really just decided to be Lilith's bodyguard, love that for him.

Luz seems especially dedicated to indulging King this episode so far.

Hooty does have a point about the graffiti. It is quite nice.

I don't know why I keep being surprised by Lilith being cute, but I love it.

"With all the sugar I eat it better be!" More mounting evidence for @nikkydash 's moss mouth Luz theory.

I see Lulu and Hootcipher have reached the "sharing a single brain cell" stage of their friendship.

So apple blood really is just booze, huh? And they serve it to children in schools? Damn, the Demon Realm is hardcore.

Luz, no! You of all people should know not to split the party!

At least high fiving a dessicated corpse wasn't Luz's first instinct?

To quote Strong Bad: "Gross! I hate you! Gross! Gross! I hate you!"

I do love Eda's potion bandoleer. Very reminiscent of my artificer in D&D.

And nice to see Lilith's big sister instinct.

Backstory time!

Am I the only one who got film noir vibes from Eda's narration?

Boy, that curse does a number in the span of eight years, huh?

BABY KING HHEIKWKWJWHWG

So that's what happened to his horn!

Holy shit that's Dana voicing baby King, isn't it?!

I know Eda lied to King, but her telling the stories to King looks so cute.

Welp, that's heartbreaking.

Also, Alex Hirsch is a good voice actor, who knew? /s

"Is this what regret feels like? I HATE IT!" Future meme material.

Oh hi, guilty Luz. Haven't seen you in...*checks watch* five minutes.

King is so...shattered. 💔 (Bravo, Alex)

"Special delivery! P A I N"

I love everything about Hooty bazooka...Hootzooka!

Putting those invisibility glyphs to work. Very nice.

(Oh god I just realized that fanfic writers have been given a dangerous tool)

Hmm, maybe those "delusions of grandeur" weren't so delusional, after all...

Okay, creepy moon flesh thing, I hate you less now.

Ooh, future adventure hook!

Everyone looks so done with Hooty about that.

So that thing's name is Jean-Luc, huh. Bet I won't see any TNG references in the fandom. Nope. Not at all.

"All out of kisses." Amity will be so disappointed...

So. Many. Questions.

Final thing to note: this means King is only 8-9 years old, which means that younger sibling energy he gives off with Luz is justified.

Well, that was a great episode! Emotions and lore galore! I'm eager to meet Mama Clawthorne next week! Then again, considering what people have speculated about her, maybe I shouldn't be?

At any rate, I'll be chiming in once again next week!

[binunus]

college bf!bin

a/n the duality of this man??? i’m deceased...anyway i did not think this would go this long but uh my hand slipped...happy birthday binnie!

word count: 5k

genre: fluff, smut, (tiny) angst _________________________________________________

ugh yo

bin is so??? infuriatingly hot??? yet cute at the same time

major: exercise science

and because I love mermaid prince/the beginning, he’s been on the swim team since first year college

swam varsity starting his second year

besties with eunwoo, they were roommates their whole college career

alright so bin loves making friends

he’s so playful and talkative once you really get to know him

but his aura?? tbh very intimidating

like he has an rbf and just like he’s so tall, broad shouldered, built, like he just carries himself very strongly that you will get intimidated when you first meet him

very well known in the university

literally has a professional photographed banner of him hanging in the athletic building with the gold medal he won freshman year

a little embarrassed about it

not really, only when the boys (as in literally the other five) tease him

myungjun: woOoOw bin that guy on the banner really looks like you, don’t you think?

rocky: we geeeeet it you’re a star athlete

blah blah blah you know the vibes, they’re endearing

so how do you meet bin?

basically you’re a friend of a friend—you’re eunbi’s (sinb) friend

you’ve only met bin briefly from time to time, but otherwise you never really had any reason to get acquainted with him

your only encounters of him are when he wants to annoy eunbi and she immediately puts him in his place

but then suddenly in the spring semester of your 2nd year, you and him are in the same 8 am

a boring statistics gen ed class that everyone needs to take in order to graduate

you were running a bit late during the first class meeting—you woke up 30 minutes after your alarm and literally rushed out of your apartment—you made it to class with 2 minutes to spare

most of the seats were filled up already, except that one seat in the back left corner by the window next to the one and only moon bin

oh would you look at that

you felt a bit relieved honestly, you didn’t know anyone else in that class so at least you saw a semi-familiar face

he grinned at you when you sat down

“hey y/n”

you were a bit taken back, “you know my name?”

he laughed a little, “yeah of course, you’re one of eunbi’s really good friends, why wouldn’t I know your name?”

before you could respond, the professor started class and ceased your conversation

one thing you realized as the weeks start to go on

you and bin could not give any two fucks about statistics

no offense to stats lovers

every 8 am on mon/wed/fri, neither one of you would pay attention in class

you both enabled each other to not pay attention basically

so when the professor announced the content and date for the first exam

you and bin literally looked at each other with the same expression

you were both fucked

after class was dismissed, instead of the two of you quickly packing your things and fleeing the room immediately, you both lagged a little bit

you: so...do you know anything that’s going to be on the exam?

bin: uh...no? y/n you’re literally right next to me, you know I don’t do jack shit in this class

you: well fuck, how are you gonna study then bin?

bin: I was probably gonna ask my roommate to help me, he passed with a 96 when he took this class

you give him the best puppy dog eyes you could muster up, you lean in and clasp your hands together like you’re praying

“can he help me too...? please?”

bin’s eyes go a lil wide bc you were a bit closer than he was used to and shit was his heart racing rn?

bin: uh...yeah...sure, i’ll text you to come over when we’re gonna study

you beam at him and like in your excitement you give him a hug

“thank you thank you thank you! i literally cannot fail this class. I’ll see you on friday bin!”

with that you grabbed your bag and just left, leaving bin shocked

he’s surprisingly a shy boy okay!

he always thought you were cute from when he first saw you hanging out with eunbi, but ofc he never thought any more of it

until you guys had this class together and he started to think every day, that wow you are really cute

bin texts you the next day

coincidentally, eunbi texts you too

bin: hey this is bin, if you’re free in an hour my roommate’s gonna help me go over the material in ch. 1

eunbi: why did bin ask for your number

you to bin: yes! send me your addy and i’ll be there :)

you to eunbi: we’re in the same stats class lol and we’re gonna study for our exam next week

eunbi: lol moon bin studying? you might wanna bring some wine with you for emergency y/n

you: lol what do you mean by that?

eunbi: binnie hates studying, but good luck!

ahh, eunbi becomes unhinged when it comes to bin

but you know it’s bc they’re that close, they’re literally childhood best friends, more so like siblings

still, studying w him couldn’t be that bad right?

spoiler alert, it went alright

you felt bad showing up to bin’s apartment empty handed so you picked up some coffee before you arrived

you officially meet bin’s roommate, eunwoo, and you’re floored for like 2 minutes bc literally how can a man like him be real?

cue bin being a bit jealous bc yeah he knew his roommate’s perfect but like damn did you have to be affected by him too :(

eunwoo’s a good teacher alright? you actually understood the material from him

you: idk what eunbi’s talking about, you’re actually not that bad at studying bin

bin being offended: oh god what did eunbi say about me

eunwoo smirking: maybe it’s because you’re here y/n, bin usually doesn’t focus this much when it’s just me trying to help him

you: ???

bin in his head: i can’t trust anyone huh 

before you left his place, you and bin planned to meet up and study one more time before your stats exam

it was just you and bin this time

although you’d never admit it, yes you tried to look good for meeting up with him

yeah he’s a friend?? at least you think you were at that level?? but still, he’s a cute friend and you really didn’t want him to see you looking crusty

you and bin end up studying for a whole 5 hours

granted, half of that time you two were messing around, eating food, trying to procrastinate for as long as you could

bc even though you two had a good handle on the material now—thanks to eunwoo—you both still hated statistics

you knew bin started to get more comfortable with you bc he started teasing you

it made you happy hehe so ofc you started to quip back at him

not at the intensity that he and eunbi do but it’s enough for you :)

he walks you back to your apartment after your study session

wow what a gentleman

bin waving bye at your door with the cutest smile: see you in class y/n :)

mayhaps your stomach did a little somersault

anyways

on the day of your exam you were freaking out

you have test anxiety ah ha ha

you woke up at 5 bc you were paranoid about being late to class

you’re like hastily looking over the notes again when you get to class like are you really prepared omg you’re psyching yourself out hella

bin comes in with 2 cups of iced coffee and he’s like woah are you okay

you: i woke up at 5 bin, idk if i can do this omg

you are like visibly in distress rn and he feels like a pang in his chest 

he was gonna mess with you and say like “bet im gonna get a higher grade than you” but he smartly decides against it

instead, he just takes your hand and gives it a little squeeze: y/n, take a deep breath. you’re going to do great, you studied your ass for this and we both know that you got this material down—even eunwoo hyung said you were gonna ace this exam. just trust your instincts, okay? breathe with me.

he was staring at you so intently and genuinely when trying to calm you down

your anxiety yeeted and suddenly you felt shy

you: th...thanks bin...

bin was worried about you while taking the test rip, he kept secretly glancing at you (while also trying not to make it look like he was cheating) just to make sure that you were okay

he walks you to your next class after you both finished your exam

bin: you sure you’re okay? you said you woke up at 5, did you even eat breakfast? let’s get food after your next class.

you were feeling better after the test but like you got so endeared at his fussing

yes you and bin got lunch that day

your exam results were uploaded the next day

you immediately called bin: I GOT A 95

bin: i told you that you would ace it! i got a 90 hehe

you: bin i literally owe you and eunwoo my life, lemme buy you guys food or something

you hear a little bit of bickering over the phone and suddenly you’re talking to eunwoo

eunwoo: i would love some sushi, but since bin can’t eat seafood, why don’t you come watch his swim meet this weekend :)

you: o...h...o-okay yeah i’d love to watch, what time is it? :)

eunwoo: it’s saturday at 10 am

you: okay! i’ll see you there bin

bin already planning on drop kicking eunwoo

cha eunwoo—best wingman™

you basically beg eunbi to go with you to bin’s swim meet

eunbi: i know bin can swim, why do i have to watch him flounder around under water

also eunbi: faster bin! don’t you fucking dare lose!

bin places first this meet

are we shocked? no

okay you mentally prepared yourself for seeing him shirtless, but clearly you didn’t prep enough bc you’re on the cusp of drooling when you’re watching him from the bleachers

and let’s face it, you’re not subtle and eunbi knows everything so she’s literally closing your jaw for you and like messing with you

eunbi: y/n, you’re really sure you like bin? he’s a good guy but c’mon, i think you deserve better

you: since when did i say that i like him ???? and what do you mean ??? i think he checks...all the boxes...for me...

eunbi: maybe it’s bc i’ve known him since when he used to wet his pants so i don’t understand why people are attracted to him, but like...really, you’ve been checking him out since he removed his shirt. even the ref can see that you’re simping over him

you and eunbi meet up with eunwoo and the rest of bin’s friends—that you haven’t met yet but know of

jinjin: oh so you’re the y/n that bin’s been talking about *wink wonk*

baby you’re blushing

even more so when bin comes up to your group

mmm middle parted wet hair, muscle tee and white sweats, towel around his shoulders

he’s so hot ???

you’re all congratulating him blah blah, but like bin keeps glancing at you and all you can do is just smile and like nervous laugh

sanha: y/n! eunbi noona! you should come eat with us to celebrate bin hyung’s win

eunbi glances at you, little smirk on her face: i have plans, but i know y/n’s free! bin you make sure they get home safe after y’alls dinner plans :)

hwang eunbi—best wingwoman™

dinner with the boys was chaotic, you were talking and joking around with them as if you didn’t just meet them today

*you about to get your wallet*

bin, not even able to look at you: it’s okay y/n, i got you this time

cue the boys teasing

astro: kings of making fun of each other

rocky as the group is splitting up: walk y/n home safely hyung :) don’t stay out too late

bin: sorry about them, they’re a bunch of loud idiots...ah haha...

the walk back to your apartment is actually pretty sweet

he didn’t know if you would actually come watch his meet or not but he was excited when he actually saw you

you talk about small random things about yourselves, but it’s not like useless information, you bet that both your subconsciouses are keeping track of whatever y’all are talking about

you give each other a “friendly” hug goodnight...that lasts like a minute or so

and while you’re hugging, bin just can’t help but think that wow you fit so perfectly in his arms

and on the other hand, you’re thinking he feels so warm? so safe? you don’t want to pull away?

but ofc the hug has to end and you’re thanking him for walking you home and he’s like glued to his spot waving goodbye sweetly and waiting for you to go inside so that he knows you’re safely in your apartment before leaving

bin sighing dreamily as he walks back to his and eunwoo’s place

eunwoo waiting on the couch with a glass of water: how was your date ;)

bin: it wasn’t a date, i just walked y/n home

eunwoo: yeah, but you want it to be a date

bin: ...shut up

god why is the pining stage so long

alright everyone knows you and bin like each other

it becomes pretty obvious after the swim meet

you and him fall into this little routine of switching who buys coffee for your 8 am

and then he’d walk you to your next class afterwards

you both still don’t pay attention in stats, sorry

but that means more outside study sessions dates

you come watch his swim meets, whether astro’s there or you’re just watching by yourself

and then you and him get lunch?? early dinner?? right afterwards, it depends on whenever his meet ends

but like??? neither of you have confessed your feelings for each other

even though you both have like a little hint that yeah the feelings are mutual

you and bin are literally like this for 3 months, like damn the semester is almost over

eunbi and eunwoo are tired of your shit, they’re both just like: when the fuck are they getting together? we’re sick of this.

alright so the masterminds literally pay one of eunwoo’s friends from his major to ask you out while you’re studying with bin

let’s do mingyu why not, he was in your korean history class last year

you and bin are in the library, half studying half goofing off per usual

eunwoo, eunbi, and mingyu are at the opposite side of the floor

mingyu: u sure bin won’t clock me for trying to ask out y/n

eunwoo: probably not??

eunbi: just do it please

mingyu giving them both the finger before walking up to your table

“hey y/n...i was wondering if you’d like to get dinner with me...as a date?”

you: o_o huh?

mingyu: i always thought you were cute from when we had class together last year, but i never had the balls to ask you out or anything...you’re not dating anyone, right?

you glance at bin to find that he’s already looking at you with an expression that you don’t really know how to read

you: um...well no I’m not-

bin: actually, we’re dating so y/n can’t go out with you mingyu, sorry.

mingyu’s not even phased, he just gives you a thumbs up and then leaves

you’re confused like literally what is going on—and then you process what bin said and you whip your head to look at him

bin: sorry i said that...i just felt...jealous i guess when mingyu asked you out

you: I wouldn’t have said yes anyway...I sorta like someone else

bin: fuck it, the topic already came up...y/n I’ve liked you for a while now but uh...I don’t know I guess I was scared to tell you because I’m scared of rejection

you just laugh, but not mockingly! more like bin you’re so cute wtf

“bin, why would I reject you when I’ve literally been into you for the past four months?”

it’s safe to say that you and bin officially began dating after that

eunwoo texting in their gc: bin and y/n are finally together

myungjun: fucking finally

bin: how...did u know that eunwoo...?

*eunwoo has left the chat*

alright but bin’s charm?? flirting?? teasing?? sweetness?? up 1000%

bin is touchy y’all, in private his hands are always on you, whether it be sexual or not sexual is up to you

he restrains himself in public ofc, the most he does is put a hand on your waist or hold your hand

eunbi threatens bin early on in your relationship: bin you’re like my brother, but y/n’s one of my dearest friends and if you as much make them cry i will kill you

ofc bin is still eunbi’s punching bag, but when you three are hanging out, he’s dramatic and acts like he’s hurt so he’s like whining to you

sometimes you play along and coo at him like: aww binnie, where does it hurt baby?

other times you’re like: you really think i believe that?? with the size of your biceps??

eunbi: excuse me while i vomit

okay but binnie? bestest sweetest boy

yes he looks all big and intimidating

but he’s soft—especially for you

your nicknames for each other are either “bub” or “baby”

yes will join in making fun of you with the boys, but when you start pouting he’s a goner and will defend you

bin is also a big cuddler, but i mean you’re not complaining hehe

he’s the big spoon, no questions asked

okay but being in bin’s arms is like your favorite place in the world

his frame literally just envelopes you and all you can feel and smell is him and it’s so??? content, you feel at home with him

you feel bad in the morning bc like his arm has to be sore from your weight so you try to like get out of his grasp, but he literally just whines and hugs you tighter

okay but just imagine you and bin napping and his arms are around your waist, his nose is buried in your neck and he wakes up like nuzzling his face in your shoulder like a puppy

im soft

one week you’re staying over at bin’s apartment and then the next week he’s staying over at yours, the cycle goes like that

if you’re one of my ladies with a ~vagíne~, he will buy all your cravings and your tampons/pads, literally anything you want that week, it is yours

doesn’t really get jealous now that you two are official, he knows that you’re his and he’s yours

you two lightly bicker like friends, but you’ve never had a terrible fight before

you were really close to though—or...like you did?? but it was resolved really quick

one of the only problems of bin is that he hates showing weakness and it takes him a whole lot to truly fully 100% be vulnerable with someone even if it’s someone close to him

he pulled a muscle in his arm and it cost him one of his swim meets

he had to go to rehab for like a month and you knew that mentally he’s been off bc of it

you try to ease talking him into telling you about how he’s really feeling but he just kept dodging the subject

one night after one of his rehab sessions, he came back to your place and you’re just like

“hey bubbie, how was rehab? how are you doing?”

and he just snaps at you: stop asking me how I am, y/n, it’s getting really annoying

you’re taken aback, like what the fuck where did that come from?

your eyebrows furrow and you cross your arms bc you are not going to get spoken to like that

“so me worrying about you and wondering how your recovery’s going is annoying? that’s what a partner is supposed to do, moon bin. what’s going on with you?”

bin: you’re being suffocating! it’s the only thing you ask me about nowadays, sometimes I—

oh boy you got mad

you: I ask you because I know you’re not telling me things! I know you’re suffering by yourself and I want to let you know that I’m here for you, I want to help take some of the pain away or at least help you deal with it because I’m your partner! but how can I if you can’t even let me in?? we’re fucking dating moon bin, we’re supposed to go through rough times together. and you call me suffocating...? 

bin’s silent and he’s looking at the floor

you sigh, tears are building in your eyes because you’re frustrated and a bit hurt by what he said, and your voice cracks when you speak again: if i’m suffocating you, then you should leave. text me or something when you can breathe again, I don’t know.

there’s a bit of spite in your words, hidden by the pain

bin sees the tears rolling down your cheeks and that’s when he knows he fucked up

he’s never seen you cry before—besides like from a sad movie or something

so like the fact that he made you cry and hurt you with his words? damn he hates himself rn

he immediately wraps his arms around you, and you like try to push him to get away bc why is he hugging you? didn’t he just say that you were suffocating? why is he confusing

bin: baby, I’m sorry...I shouldn’t have taken out my frustrations on you, you’re not suffocating me I promise...you’re right about everything, I should be sharing things with you and telling you how I’m really feeling...I’m sorry.

you don’t say anything and just like sniffle and he picks you up and brings you to your bedroom and then he just lets it all out

he tells you how rehab is hard and like yeah his muscle pain is going away, but he doesn’t know if he can swim as fast as he used to and that scares him

and he tells you that sometimes he’s thought of giving up swimming since his injury, but then he thinks of you and that’s how he’s still going through with rehab

you’re his motivator and comfort but he doesn’t want to show you his weak side bc he hates that part of himself

and at this point, bin starts tearing up and you’re like stroking his hair to try and comfort him

bin: I’m not good at telling my feelings baby...probably why I didn’t tell you I liked you until 4 months later...but I promise I’ll work harder and at least try and tell them to you.

ugh pain

anyway your communication with serious things got better after that encounter

eunbi finding out that you and bin argued and he made you cry and she literally punched his stomach

you: omg eunbi stop

bin: it’s okay...I sorta deserved that

eunbi: why...are you not swearing at me? shit, bin are you okay?

he nods to the girl and just puts an arm around your shoulder: we talked things through, don’t worry. I’m all good now, but I did deserve that punch because I hurt y/n when I promised you I wouldn’t

bin ends up having a full recovery and bam his first swim meet after he got the clear from the PT, he gets first place again

all the boys and you and eunbi were there supporting him

bin was hella nervous before the meet started, but you gave him a little good luck kiss and was like: I believe in you bub, no matter the result, as long as you give it your all and don’t hurt yourself again, you’ll be the winner to me :)

this was actually when the first “i love you” was said

after your little pep talk in the locker room, bin’s just hugging you and holding you for comfort

and he just went out with it

“I love you y/n”

you blush hella hard bc you were not expecting that

obviously you’ve been feeling it like yeah your feelings for bin have grown into love for a while now

you just bury your face in his chest and hug him tighter

“I love you too binnie, now go get em bub.”

he smiles and kisses you and tells you that he’ll see you after the meet is over

you come back to the crowd where the boys and eunbi are and you just have a huge smile on your face, you’re literally glowing

myungjun: please tell me you guys didn’t fuck before his swim meet

speaking of fucking

okay let’s get down and dirty ladies and gents wink wonk mmm grr bark bark

bin is so sexy y’all like i dont need to tell you that

he’s 100% a tease

you have a little muscle kink hehe

which bin very much uses to his advantage

if bin is wearing a sleeveless shirt, you bet he wants to smash that day

will walk around shirtless after a shower or after a workout just to turn you on and then depending on his mood, he might tease you for like an hour or you’ll just get right to it

he’s very proud of his body and the work he put into it and knowing that you get turned on from one look of it?? gives him an ego boost, he loves it

one time at a party, he wore a crop top (mm hello bad idea bin) and you literally went feral

you dragged him inside the nearest bathroom and just started making out

he’s an ass guy

...all of astro are ass guys, it’s just obvious with how much they slap each other’s asses and poke each other’s assholes

okay you know how he’s touchy right? i mentioned that earlier

he always wants you on his lap

even if there’s a space available, nope your seat is his thighs

ofc when the situation allows, like you’re not gonna sit on his lap in class duh

most of the time in public like if you’re hanging out with the boys or something, it’s innocent

but if he wants to be a tease, he’ll literally just tighten his grip on your hips and grind you down onto his cock

subtle, he won’t straight up thrust into you

just enough to get his dick stirring and make you feel the outline of it through your pants

and then he just stops and hugs your waist again?? wtf

his major’s exercise science right? will ask if he can practice on you for anatomy and physiology, but you know after touching you in a couple places, y’all will just end up fucking

likes to bite and mark

very proud seeing the hickeys he leaves on you

you can bite, but you can’t bruise, idk his upper body is exposed a lot bc swimming so you can’t really leave any marks on him unless it’s the off season

foreplay’s cool, but he prefers the main event, he just wants to be in you

as much as he loves doggy, his fav position is the hook

(it’s when your legs are on his shoulders ohoho and it just lets him fuck you in a deeper angle mmm)

also in the hook, he can choke you

if i have a choking kink, you have a choking kink

okay little tangent, choking is so hot?

like just imagine you and bin are making out, he pushed you against the wall, literally grinding his hips into you, and his hand just comes up and squeezes your throat? that’s so sexy

likes butt stuff oops

i don’t make the rules, he just does

daddy kink, but no power play

will not degrade you (even if you really just want him to call you his dirty slut) bc he really values seeing you as equals

seeing your face when you cum is a must

almost always: you cumming → bin cumming

nothing gets him off more than knowing that he’s making you feel good

after !! care !!

sweetest boy!!

will clean you up with a warm towel after sex

and if you’re one of my ladies, he will always remind you to pee so that you don’t get a UTI

if y’all had a marathon or something, he will draw a bath and carry you to the bathroom and you will bathe together, so soft

always ends sex with an i love you :’)

okay let’s get back to the soft stuff

special thing about swimmer bin: pool dates

sometimes when he’s practicing and it’s just him, he asks you to come to the aquatic center and you two end up splashing around and being cute together

he like knew that you were the one for him some time during senior year

it was the holidays and his parents invited you to spend christmas with their family since your parents were out of the country this break

his parents and sister liked you immediately—which you were so scared about, but bin just knew

you woke up early christmas eve (and bin was out like a rock) so you just went downstairs to brew some coffee or something and you saw that his mom was already starting on making food

naturally, you offered your help and she was like no, you’re a guest y/n, but obviously you started helping

bin comes downstairs like an hour or two later to see you, his mom, and his dad just cooking and listening to christmas music and talking and his heart just like swells??

you: morning binnie :)

his mom: how can you be sleeping when y/n’s here helping us with christmas dinner

his dad: what kind of boyfriend are you, son?

just kidding all jokes

but that’s the moment when he knew

best boyfriend bin ugh

he becomes a legend in the school for swimming

but doesn’t continue after college, he’s all about becoming a physical trainer after graduation

he goes to grad school, while you’re out working in business

bin moves in with you after graduating, it was the obvious next step

you do talk about the future together, but obviously bin’s still in school and you’re both fresh from undergrad so there’s no rush yet to tie the knot

doesn’t stop his or your parents from talking to you two about marriage tho oops

ugh but the domesticity after bin moves in with you? superb

like yeah obviously you both basically lived together anyway when he still roomed with eunwoo just from how much you and him spent at each other’s places

but like your apartment is now both of your place and it’s like your home is finally complete

your apartment becomes the reunion place for the boys and eunbi

at this point everyone knew you and bin were gonna get married eventually

eunwoo and eunbi: we did that ;)

and that’s how you and your college bf!bin live happily ever after uwu

happy birthday binnie moonbob ♥

1-25-21

[thebookreader12345]

Boy Troubles

Pairing: Connor Rhodes x reader

Summary: Y/N and Connor have liked each other for a while, but both are afraid to take the first step. Then, one day, Connor sees how close Y/N is to Jay, and he decides to make a move so that he doesn’t lose her

Requested: Yes, by anonymous

Warnings: brief mention of blood and bullets/being shot at

Word Count: 1,484 Words

“Hey,” Connor said and ran up to me in the ED. “Thanks again for taking me home the other night.”

I laughed. “No problem. You were in no state to drive. How were you that drunk? You had like 2 beers.”

“Oh shut up,” Connor joked and shoved me away playfully. “And for your information, I had 2 beers and a few too many shots.”

“Sure,” I joke and take a tablet from the nurses’ station. My eyes then looked over to Connor, and when I saw him, I smiled. His hair was a bit disheveled, and his eyes were a bit red from what seemed to be sleep loss, but other than that, he looked perfect. Yes, I’ll admit, I had a crush on my co-worker. I was the first one to greet him when he started at Chicago Med, and I worked with him on his first case here. That’s when we learned we actually worked pretty well together. It was great for awhile, but he eventually moved up to being a Cardio fellow, and since then, we hadn’t seen much of each other. So, whenever we went out to Molly’s after our shift together, or had cases together in the ED, I was delighted.

“L/N! Rhodes! Incoming!” Maggie shouted as 2 paramedics burst through the ambulance bay doors.

“What have we got?” Connor asked.

“His name is Mitch Randall. Intelligence has been chasing him for the past few days,” Jay answered and appeared next to the paramedic. That’s when I looked Jay over, and I saw that he was bleeding.

“Hey. What happened?” I ask him.

“Randall shot at us. I’ll be fine,” Jay assured me. “The bullet barely grazed me.”

“I’ll be the judge of that. Connor, you got him?” I question and nod to Randall.

“Uh, yeah. Are you sure you don’t want to help me out?” Connor asked.

“April is fully capable of taking my place. I’m going to get Jay checked out,” I say. Connor sighed, but brought the gurney into the nearest trauma room while I took Jay into the room next to Connor and put on some latex gloves.

“So that’s the guy you like?” Jay asked me.

“W-what?” I stammer out. “Who said that?”

“I could tell by the way you acted around him. And Will also gossips a lot,” Jay added and took off his shirt so that I could get a better look at his side. The cut wasn’t too deep, so it wouldn’t need stitches, but I did have to bandage it.

“Yeah, well, he doesn’t like me back,” I state and press my hand against Jay’s side to stop it from bleeding. “So it’s not like it matters how I feel.”

“You’re joking, right? Connor totally likes you,” Jay said as I cleaned out his cut, causing him to flinch. 

“Sorry,” I murmur and place some gauze against his skin, using some medical tape to keep it in place. “There. All done.” Just then, Connor walked into the room, and his eyes darted between me and Jay, who was still shirtless. For a few seconds, everyone was silent, and the awkwardness in the room was at an all time high. Finally, Connor turned to Jay.

“Your guy is going to be fine. The bullet was a through and through, and it didn’t hit anything major. Someone’s stitching him up right now, and after about an hour of observation, you guys can get him out of here,” Connor explained.

“Thanks,” Jay spoke and pulled his shirt back on, wincing as he moved to pull it over his head.

“Oh, um, your side looks fine. Just change the gauze every so often, and take some pain killers if you need them. Knowing you though, you’ll probably want to tough it out,” I say.

Jay laughed. “You know me so well. Uh, Will and I our going to Molly’s tonight. You guys are more than welcome to join.”

“That sounds fun,” I tell Jay and turn to Connor. “You in?”

“Yeah,” Connor declared. “I’ll be there.”

“Great. I’ll see you both there,” Jay noted and left the trauma room, leaving Connor and I to stand around in awkward silence again.

“So,” Connor started. “You and Jay.”

“What about me and Jay?” I ask and begin to clean up the mess I had made.

“How long have you guys been together?” Connor questioned.

I stifled back a laugh as I tossed my gloves into the waste bin. “You think Jay and I are together?”

“Well I mean, yeah. It’s pretty obvious based on the way you act around him,” Connor stated.

“Jay and I are just friends,” I clarify. “We’ve been close ever since we were kids. I lived a few houses down from him and Will.”

“But you were just standing in here with him shirtless. He’s got a great physique, and you were acting like everything was completely normal,” Connor pointed out.

“One, seeing people shirtless is part of the job,” I claim. “And two, it’s not the first time I’ve seen him shirtless. The amount of times Jay has been in this hospital is insane.”

“Oh,” Connor muttered, clearly embarrassed by the conversation. I could even see his cheeks flushing a little bit.

“However, I do have my eyes on someone,” I tell Connor and glance up at him through my eyelashes. And with that, I left the room, leaving Connor slightly confused behind me.

That night, I was getting ready to head to Molly’s. I decided on a pair of black skinny jeans, a light blue cropped blouse, and my white converse. Once I was finally ready, I climbed into my car and drove to Molly’s. When I got there, Jay and Will were sitting at the bar.

“Hey. We ordered you a drink,” Will said and handed me a beer.

“Thank you,” I respond and take the beer bottle from his hand. “Is Connor here yet?”

Will shook his head. “Not yet. But I’m sure that because you asked him to come, he’ll be here.”

“What is with you and Jay both thinking he likes me? He doesn’t,” I remark and swallow a mouthful of beer.

“But he does,” Will pointed out. “If you weren’t blind, you’d see that.” Just then, Connor walked through the front door, and when I saw him, a grin spread across my face. Connor’s eyes then met mine, and he smiled when he caught my gaze. I could myself blushing, but at the moment, I didn’t care.

Later that night, I was taking a breather outside. I inhaled a breath of fresh air, letting in sit in my lungs for a second before breathing it back out. There was a slight chill in the air, but it didn’t bother me too much. As I was taking in my surroundings, the door to Molly’s opened, and Connor stepped outside.

“Hey,” Connor said and stood next to me. “What are you doing out here?”

“Just getting some air,” I reply. “And giving myself a break from Will and Jay. They’re a handful sometimes.”

Connor chuckled softly. “You’re not wrong. Um, listen, about what I said earlier with you and Jay.”

“It’s cool. It didn’t bother me, and it shouldn’t bother you,” I exclaim.

“What do you mean by that?” Connor asked. I took a deep breath and turned to Connor, and before I could stop myself, I reached up, cupped his cheeks with my hands, and pressed my lips to his. For a second, he didn’t kiss back, so I was going to pull away, but Connor responded right after, moving his lips in sync with mine. He rested his hands on my waist, bringing me closer to him to where there was almost no space between us. When I ran out of breath, I pulled away, and Connor rested his forehead against mine. “I did not see that coming. But I’m glad it did.”

I smiled. “You don’t know how long I’ve been wanting to do that. Can we do it again?”

“Of course,” Connor mumbled and kissed me again, this time with a little more passion than before. I grinned against his lips, loving the way they felt against my own.

“We should probably keep this a secret from Jay, and definitely Will for a bit. He’s quite the gossip,” I disclose.

“All right. But if I have the sudden urge to kiss you at work, I won’t be able to stop myself,” Connor admitted.

“If that’s how our relationship gets out to our co-workers, it’s fine by me. It’ll be less of a hassle,” I point out.

Connor laughed. “Good point. You ready to get back inside?”

“Not yet. Lets just stand here for a moment,” I say and wrap my arms around him. Connor returned the hug and sat his chin on top of my head.

“Anything for you, Y/N,” Connor hummed.

____________________________

Tag List:

@prettypyschoinpink @securityfriendly-jay @scarletsoldierrr @lorenakaspersen @virtualreader @carnationworld @caitsymichelle13 @king-crockett​

[bluefirewrites]

i gotta Juke AU story

————

this is inspired by this one filipino movie i watched “para sa hopeless romantic” but julie and luke go to the same uni and julie writes a random line of lyrics on a schools desk and luke writes the next lines when he’s in his class. the next day julie sees someone finished her lyrics and they end up having a finished song throughout the week. they obviously end up falling in love with each other’s words but one day the desks in that classroom were thrown out so julie and luke try and find the desk and run into each other only for Luke to find out it’s Julie, his crush since the beginning of school, and Julie finds out it’s Luke, they boy who she’s been eyeing ever since she’s first seen him. honestly this is all over the place. this is just another random college au. tehe

I DID NOT KNOW THIS WAS FROM A FILIPINO MOVIE!

I have much more pride in my culture now you have no idea haha! But no really,  Filipino movies can be the cheesiest, silliest, most cliche things I’ve ever seen. And I mean that endearingly. 

So it makes total sense that this super cute trope that I see popping up in different fandoms came from a Filipino movie. 

I think I’ve seen an iteration of this on AO3 and it was super cute! (But I think it was more like leaving a piece of paper on a desk). 

But yes, yes , YES. 

Juke is the perfect ship for this. 

Hmm... I think it would be an interesting take, because my mind went to Luke first, if it was Julie who would start it- yes I agree with you. 

It is canon that Luke helped Julie finish the song that she had been working on with her mom (’Stand Tall’), so might as well run with it. 

Maybe during her quiet year, where she didn’t sing or play piano, she often found herself doodling a lot. She kinda threw herself into drawing. It was her creative outlet that brought her comfort during these rough times. 

She’d have trouble paying attention in class sometimes, and so she would end up doodling. 

Now, I used to have a history class that frowned upon doodling in notebooks. The notebooks would be graded, and if there is a non-history, non-relevant doodle in the margins or anything- you get points docked off. 

So Julie, like me, tried remedying this by doodling on post it notes to avoid getting in trouble. 

But one day, Julie forgets or runs out of post it notes, and she’s only got her history notebook and textbook with her. And since she has no qualms marking up her jeans and shoes, she thought she’d be discrete and doodle on the desks.

Not like anyone would have a problem with that anyway. These desks are old af and scratched up and had doodles on them already. 

She would start drawing her usual stuff- funky creatures, bubble letter-ed profanities, etc. 

But then she starts thinking about her mom, she starts doodling dahlias and even a rose in one corner. Memories start flooding back and she starts absentmindedly writing down a lyric of a song they never finished, just bits of pieces figured out: 

‘Don’t blink...no, I don’t want to miss it’ 

She didn’t think to erase it. Just grabbed her stuff and went to her next class. 

The following day however, she pulls out her post-notes (after getting more) and is about to doodle when she sees a new scribble on the corner of the desk where she wrote her lyrics. 

Squinting, she realizes those are words (geez, the penmanship sucks). But she was able to make it out: 

‘One thing, and it's back to the beginning’

It’s written right under her line. And she reads them together- 

Wow. This sounds... pretty good. 

She quickly jots this mysterious new addition to the song in her post-notes, but not before giving writing another shot and provide another line. Curious, if she would get another response. 

She does. 

And it’s perfect. 

It’s been a year, a year since she felt the urge to write, to think about music- but, when all the lyrics fall into place, Julie is suddenly inspired to continue. 

She spends the entire class thinking about how to reply, how to keep the momentum of this song going. 

When she gets it, she writes it down underneath the new line. And waits. 

And like clockwork, next day she sits down and there’s a new addition. 

First verse done- Julie couldn’t believe it. 

Smiling, she records it all and had to erase everything from before to make more room. 

‘Thanks’ she writes ‘Keep going?’ 

The reply the next day has her grinning from ear to ear: 

‘I’m game :)’

And that’s how it goes: Another day, Another killer line. 

Julie would rush from her next class, confusing Flynn who did not think she would be so excited going to history, smile on her face, anticipating another message from this mystery writing partner. 

Sometimes, she gets too caught up in her head, eagerly thinking up new lines that she often doesn’t watch where she’s going. One time, she pretty much embarrassed herself while bumping into the cute Luke Patterson in her rush to History. 

(She practically fell on him and he tried to talk to her after, but she jumped out of his arms before whatever awkward conversation that was bound to happen if she stayed). 

Julie and her pen pal would keep working on the song, even came up with a system to let each other know if they’ve finished a verse. 

And sometimes it’s not just lyrics. Julie draws her normal doodles next to her lines, and she’s delighted to find even more ridiculous ones waiting for her when she gets back. 

There was one time when she’s had to stifle a laugh because a crude caricature of their History teacher in their corner, yelling out the next lyric: 

‘I'm goin’ out of my mind!’

(Glad to know someone else shares the same sentiments about their strict history teacher.)

They finish her mom’s song and Julie’s glad... grateful even. But she couldn’t help but feel disappointed... assuming it’s over. 

But come Monday the following weekend, her pen pal decided to leave another line- 

‘Running from the past... Tripping on the now’ 

and a new comment: 

‘My turn now?’

A new song, and Julie grins, already coming up with ideas... 

She loves writing again, especially music. Sparked by this exchange, she eases herself back into listening to music again, looking for inspiration to use for the song she and her mysterious partner are working on. 

And writing with this person... is really something else. 

But Julie’s favorite part of the whole experience really is the comments written on the upper corner. Stuff like: 

‘This part is killer!’

‘Mindreader, much? :P’

‘Wrecking ball at it again. So talented :)’

and her favorite:

‘You make me a better writer...’

She ducks down so no one can see her blush as she writes back: 

‘I think we make each other better...’ 

Flynn one day tells her straight up she’s got a crush on her pen pal, to which Julie denies because how could she have a crush on someone she doesn’t even know. 

But as she thinks about it.. she feels like she does. Or at least know enough to establish this sort of connection that feels like they’re in each other’s heads, know how the other person thinks, inspiring the other. 

It was... special. 

Flynn suggests that she needs to figure out who is leaving these notes. But it’s hard seeing as though Julie has the class in an earlier period, a bunch of other classes are held in the same room after she leaves. 

(Flynn tries a sting operation, but ends up getting caught ditching class before she could solve the mystery). 

Julie’s worried though. As much as she wants to figure out who this great pen pal is, she wonders if they would be disappointed to find out they’ve been writing her. And not someone as cool and as pretty as Carrie Wilson or her friend Kayla. It’s hard to live up to those expectations. 

In the end, she wants to know. At least so she could maybe thank them in person, for helping bring music back into her life and for making history class the highlight of her day. 

She decides this right before they break for Thanksgiving. She writes down: 

‘I wanna meet you. Can we talk?’ 

And she’s on pins and needles the entire break, just wondering what her pen pal would say back. ‘Yes’, ‘no?’. 

But what she finds when she comes back from break is so much worse than the fear of rejection. 

They got new desks. 

Their school finally got their shit together and replaced their old, worn down desks. 

‘No, no, no, no, no’. 

That means she’ll never know what her penpal end up replying... 

She runs out of class and finds Flynn, panicked, she tells her what happened. And Flynn does some digging, and she’s able to find out where the janitors dumped the old desks. 

Julie totally underestimates just how desperate she is in finding out the identity of her pen pal because she finds herself sneaking back to school at night with Flynn, seeking out the lot behind school where the dumpsters were piled high with the old desks. 

Flynn, the ride or die she is, armed with a flashlight, starts taking out the desks along with Julie, and there are... a lot of desks. 

They go at it for an hour, and the situation starts to look hopeless, especially when Flynn discovers a whole new set of dumpsters with desks that they haven’t even checked yet. 

They’re about to throw in the towel- 

But then they hear voices. 

Quickly, they hide behind a dumpster right when three guys, with flashlights, come onto the scene. 

“Dude, I can’t believe we’re here at this hour-” 

“Oh my god. There’s like a boatload of stuff here-” 

“Guys. Can you not? And please help me? It’s gotta be here somewhere”. 

They sound... familiar. They were definitely not the custodians. 

Risking it, Julie leaves her hiding spot- 

“Luke?” 

Luke Patterson jumps and whips around to face her, “Julie?” 

Behind him are his bandmates, Alex and Reggie. Everyone looks at each other confused. 

“What are you doing here?” he asks. 

“I...uh, I’m-” Julie stammers, “Well-” 

Flynn cuts in, “She’s looking for something,” 

Luke nods, “Really? So are we.” 

Alex scoffs, “Nope. Just you, dude. But we’re helping.” 

“Maybe we can help you too?” Reggie offers, “What are you looking for?” 

Julie sighs, “... a desk?” 

“Well... you came to the right place...” Luke laughs, shining his flashlight on the dumpsters, “Funny enough that’s what we’re looking for too.” 

“One in particular?” 

Then the guy gets all clammed up, “Uh... yeah. I think... I might have... left something... in it. Something important.” 

“How about we all look together?” suggests Flynn, “Help each other out?” 

And so they exchange the descriptions on the desk, with Julie leaving out the glaring obvious detail of the note. 

They’re surprised to find out that they’re looking for the same kind of desk. The ones they used in a particular building at school, the same one her history class is in. 

So they break off and search. And she ends up in the same dumpster as Luke. 

“So what’s in your desk?” he ends up asking. 

“Huh?” 

“You know... that’s so important that you’re here on a Friday night, digging through a dumpster,” 

“Right... uh,” Julie scrambles for an answer, “There’s something on- I mean, in the desk... that really helped me. I was going through a hard time. Lost my mom last year-” 

Luke stops his search, “Oh, I’m so sorry-” 

“It’s okay. I just...” she sighs, finding another desk that looks like hers but not quite, “I just want to find it...” 

“I get it. Hopefully we can find your desk.” 

“Hopefully we’ll find yours too,” 

After another 20 minutes searching, Julie finds it. At the very bottom of the dumpster. Luke’s face lights up once she brings it out. 

“Oh my god, you found it!” He exclaims, hands gripping the edge to take it off her hands. 

She tugs it back, “Yeah... I found it... my desk,” 

“Your desk? But this is my-” he breaks off, eyes widening, “Wait. Are you...?” 

“Am I what?” 

Luke drops the desk, clears his throat, and starts reciting: 

‘I believe... I believe that we're just one dream...’

Julie gasps, then continues: 

“Away from who we're meant to be...”

Then together: “That we're standing on the edge of...”

“...great.” Luke finishes, in awe, “You! You’re ‘Lyric Girl’!”

“You’re my pen pal?” Julie says in disbelief. 

Luke Patterson has been her pen pal this entire time? The cutie with the cutoffs? It makes total sense. He’s in a rock band and the songs she’s heard from them have amazing lyrics. 

Wait... she has been lowkey crushing on Luke Patterson through his words... 

“Wow, it’s you! Luke... wow...” she honestly has no words. They used to come easy to her when she talks to him via the desk, but now, after finding out that the local heartthrob is her writing partner, she’s super nervous. 

“Look... if you’re disappointed that it’s me... I get it. I’ll give you an out, and you won’t ever have to talk to me again-” 

“Julie-” 

“-like this is weird- this is weird right? But I mean what we had was nice and all-” 

“Julie, can you-?” 

“-we don’t ever have to talk about this if you don’t-” 

“Julie!” He reaches for her hands and intertwines their fingers, shutting her up. 

“Yeah...?” 

He takes a deep breath before saying: “Why would I ever be disappointed that it’s you? I’ve... got like a mad crush on you since freshman year...” 

Julie choked, “Wait, what?” 

“Voice of an angel and wicked beauty to boot? How could I not?” he smiles, “And... finding out that you’re my mystery muse is just... you don’t know how happy that makes me.” 

His smile drops and he’s all the sudden bashful, “Wait... are you disappointed that it’s me?” 

She shakes her head, “No, no! That’s not why! It’s just... you’re this rockstar in the making! I didn’t think- I didn’t think you’d ever pay attention to me.” 

“I do... I do pay attention,” he looks down at their desk, “Well... maybe not enough attention, otherwise we would have met sooner.” 

She laughs, “Totally,” 

They stand there for a while, grinning at each other like idiots. 

“So...” Julie decides to jump the gun, “Do you... maybe wanna grab something to eat?” 

Luke raises an eyebrow, “Are you asking me out, Julie?” 

She blushes, “Maybe,” 

“Interesting,” 

“So what’s your answer?” 

He leans in, “Might wanna look down,” he whispers. 

She does, right on their desk and finally reads the reply she’s spent weeks thinking about. 

‘Tell me where and when...

I’ll be there...’

Needless to say, but that from that day on- they don’t need to use their desk to talk anymore... 

[smol-and-grumpy]

Golden Cage - Chapter.08

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader

Summary: She’s a spoiled little princess — at least that’s what people say. Her father is the King of all Kings, the man who everyone fears. Then, along comes Dean Winchester, the one guy who manages to see into her soul, but — — is Dean really who he says he is?

Chapter Warnings: Violence, threats, minor character death, fluff, angst, doubts

WC: 5675

Beta’d by: @deanwanddamons​ <3

Series Masterlist ~ SPN Masterlist

Become a Patron ~ Buy me a coffee

Dean’s in the bathroom, dressed and ready for the day ahead of him, when he hears furious banging against his bedroom door.

“Be right there!” He shouts out with his mouth still full of toothpaste. Dean spits it out and rinses the brush. 

He already took a shower this morning, as he needed it to wake him up. Maybe he also needed it to calm himself down because he was so goddamn hard and there was no Y/N next to him. His cock was aching for the intimacy they shared last night, but he thinks that his heart ached more for the closeness, he just doesn’t really want to admit it. Can’t possibly admit it just yet because he’s a stubborn idiot.

“We’re leaving in ten!” The voice says and Dean knows that it belongs to Ed. Benny had most likely sent him to get Dean. It’s probably not because Benny wants Dean to tag along again, but more because Azazel wants it that way. They’re all not really happy about him being nosy in their operation at all, but Dean can’t really fucking care about that.

And yeah, he wants to be there this morning because he has a fucking blood bath to prevent. He doesn’t even want to think about what would happen if the dude didn’t have the money like he promised he would. 

Dean rinses his hands under the warm water and turns the faucet to cool before splashing some cold water onto this face and dries himself off with a washcloth, “I’ll be down in ten.” He calls out and flips his wrists to check his watch. It’s 6.37 AM. It’s way too early for his taste and he’s still so tired.

Last night was fucking amazing, there’s no doubt about it, but Dean has maybe slept two hours, tops. He’s even more grumpy when he doesn’t get his four hours of shuteye and there’s a pounding in the back of his head. He has to be careful that it won’t grow into a full-blown headache.

The lack of sleep is really his own fault, though. Dean really has no one else but himself to blame. 

Last night, he waited until she fell asleep. Then, waited some more to make sure that she was in a deep sleep before he scooped her up to carry her over to her own bedroom. He had to do it because there wouldn’t have been a good way to spin a story of how she would wander from his room into hers in the morning when everyone’s up and awake. He’s sure someone would have seen her if he would have let her stay and it pained him that he had to do it, it really did.

God knows how much he wanted to let her stay beside him. How much he didn’t want her to leave his bed at all, but this whole thing is fucked up enough as it is, he doesn’t need to pour gasoline on a goddamn fire. 

This whole thing is fucking stupid and risky—

—and yet, he knows in his heart that he can’t possibly walk away from it. From her.

Dean braces his hands on the sink and drops his head. He’s smirking as memories from last night flashes before his eyes. He came fucking twice! Within fucking minutes! It had never happened before and he wasn’t lying when he told her that never wanted to stop fucking her. How could he? It felt super awesome being inside of her wet heat. And the way she came on his dick? Jesus, he’s getting hard again just thinking about it. He’d like to experience it again sometime, would really fucking love to.

The fucking was awesome, he’s established that. But the thing after was also super great? Like, Dean didn’t account for that, if he’s honest. 

The way she laid in his arms, the way she curled up against him, the way she fell asleep. It was great and Dean felt a calmness in his heart he never experienced before. He couldn’t stop himself from touching her. Couldn’t possibly stop, no matter how much he would have wanted to. No, there was no stopping because he wanted to memorize every feature of her face, wanted to memorize the bumps and creases of her skin with the tip of his fingers. 

Carrying her over to her room was hard for him to do because he had to make sure that she didn’t wake up while at the same time making sure that nobody heard him walking around. He even wore fucking socks so as not to make too loud of a sound. 

He laid her into her bed and pulled the cover over her, tucking her in gently, before he kissed her lips one last time, lingered a little longer than he first wanted. It was just so hard to part. 

Dean shakes his head to clear out the pictures of her swimming around in his mind and clears his throat after, to get the bittersweet taste out of his mouth, before he pushes himself away from the sink and makes his way out of the bathroom. 

Her panties and the shirt she came into his room with are still on the floor. Dean picks it up and stuffs them deep into the hamper, making sure that nobody will find them. He doesn’t think that anyone would search in there anyway. 

She didn’t ask any questions last night about why Dean handed her his shirt instead of hers. It was a spur of the moment decision for him. It was just.. when he came out of the bathroom and looked at her shirt, he felt the sudden urge to give her one of his. There was a sudden possessiveness that crept up his spine. Dean can’t really explain it himself, to be honest. He smirked when she pulled it over her head, thought that she looked fucking cute in his shirt, but he tried to not be too obvious about the joy he felt.

Walking over to the door, Dean turns around again to take a last look to see if he left anything behind that could bust him — bust his ass for the things he’s already doing and of course bust him for fucking her. When he’s satisfied that there are no traces, he leaves the room and closes the door. He doesn’t lock it, fears that it would raise suspicion if he does. 

Dean walks along the landing, has to pass her door on his way down the stairs, and he almost stalls, almost knocks on her fucking door. Almost. He catches himself on time, reminds himself that he’s running late as it is. Besides, it’s not even 7 AM. She’s most likely still sound asleep. He hopes she is. He also hopes that she’s not too sore.

She did ask him to fuck her harder. 

Dean chuckles at the memory, gets flustered too. His ears are burning. He hopes that they aren’t too red because it’s hard to conceal.

Jesus, this fucking girl.

He shakes his head as he makes his way down the stairs and suddenly, there’s another thought popping into his mind. There’s still an issue he has to talk to her about. Wanted to actually talk last night, but when he saw how exhausted she was, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Dean makes a mental note to bring it up as soon as he would meet her. He hopes it’s going to be today.

 *

 Dean’s the last one to arrive at the restaurant. Benny and his boys are already inside because even though Dean said he’ll be down in ten, the fucking gang had already left. So much for taking him along. 

To say that the incident is making him even more grumpy is an understatement.

He barges into the door to find the restaurant owner strapped to a chair yet again. The man’s sobbing uncontrollably, he is gagged with a tie. The man’s wife is already laying on the ground, a bullet wound through her chest and the middle of her head, which seems a bit of an overkill. It happened just a moment ago because he can see that the blood has only started to seep from under her body.

Dean takes it that they didn’t manage to get the money.

The kids are each strapped to a chair, both of them squirming and crying, both of them have ties around their mouths, too. 

And that, pisses Dean off to no end.

“What the fuck is going on?” Dean roars it out so loud that the other men are flinching, “Who the fuck did this?” He gestures wildly at the dead woman on the ground.

Glancing at the men, Dean notices quickly who fired the shots because Benny’s the only guy who has a fucking gun in his hand. 

Dean rushes over to Benny, presses up close in an act of dominance, their faces only inches apart. 

Benny snorts, “Who the fuck are you to tell me how to fucking do my work?”

Oh, Dean’s angry, alright. He knows everything about how they fucking operate. Bobby made sure to tell him details and this never came up. They don’t shoot women. They don’t fucking kill children. 

“I don’t fucking care, Benny, you don’t fucking bite off a hand that fucking feeds you!” He spits out his words into Benny’s face. 

The other man snorts some more, “He doesn’t have the fucking money!”

Dean turns away and paces around, still shaking his head. At last, he turns to face Benny again, but from a safe distance, “Then fucking shoot him and not her!”

“We just want to scare him,” Ed chimes in and gets shot down by Dean’s menacing glare. The man quickly shuts his mouth. 

“Well, he is scared,” Dean says. His voice is a little calmer now. He had noticed the wet pants around the man’s crotch, “Congratulations! Mission accomplished. I hope you’re fucking proud! And what now?”

“We kill off the boy next,” Benny says drily and the dad whimpers while the boy screams. 

“And then?” Dean asks, because he can’t wrap his head around it. It’s not what the family stands for. Not at all.

“Then the dad.” Ed shrugs as if it’s no fucking big deal.

“And the girl?” Dean asks, and he fucking knows that he shouldn’t be discussing any of it in front of the victims, but that’s just how it is, and there’s no way for him to talk to his men in private. 

Benny smirks, “We have connections and I’m personally thinking about expanding the family business, branching out, you know.”

Oh, Dean knows. Dean knows exactly what Benny’s talking about, and he’s not happy about it. 

“Does Azazel know?” 

“Not yet,” Benny shrugs, “But I’ll have a meeting later, I’ll bring up the new business idea.” 

Dean looks from Benny to the kids and back at the guy, “I’m taking them with me—”

“—You will do no such thing!” 

Benny cuts Dean off before Dean could even finish his sentence. The man’s also in Dean’s hair, inches so close and pushes at his chest, “You let us do our fucking job and you do yours!”

There’s a lot of staring each other down, a lot of quivering lips and steely gazes. Dean sighs before he resigns. Not because he wants to, but because he knows that he has to. He would overstep his duties, and he would make himself suspicious. More than he already is in the men’s eyes. 

So Dean does what’s expected of him. He takes a step back and walks out of the room without another word. 

 Y/N wakes to the sound of soft knocking at her door. She blinks the sleep away before her eyes scan her surroundings. It takes her some time to realize where she is. 

She’s back in her own room.

Disappointment clouds her face and she curls up on her side. Her eyes stay open as she stares at the door where someone knocks again.

“What is it?” She calls out grumpily. Today’s not a good day, she can already feel it. 

“Madam,” The maid says, “It’s past 1 PM, would you like your lunch?”

What? Past 1 PM? How? She never gets up this late. Has probably never slept past 10 AM in her whole life.

“No, thank you.” She says, “I’ll go into work once I get up.” 

“Alright, Madam. Just ring me if you need me.” 

“Thanks.”

Y/N sits up in her bed, pulls the blanket aside, and notices that she’s still in Dean’s shirt. And then it dawns on her. That is why he wanted her to wear something for bed, wasn’t it? So that he could carry her back into her own room. 

Bringing the shirt to her face, she sniffs at it. Couldn’t really do it last night when Dean was next to her. She smells him. Smells his cologne, his soap, his musk. He probably slept in it the night before, because it doesn’t smell like it has been washed in a while. And strangely, she doesn’t care. It smells heavenly. 

The scent of the shirt brings her back to last night and her mind starts to spin. God, they really had sex. Dean’s a great lover, he made her come more than she had with any other man. Even on his dick alone, which never happened. It was totally different from Adam. Adam didn’t really make a big effort if she had to compare, but also she doesn’t know what’s the norm? Was Dean just over-attentive or is that standard? 

Jesus, she even forgot to go pee afterward and that’s what she should have done, right? Ellen told her so many times already that she should go pee after having sex so as not to contract UTI. She completely forgot in her blissed-out state. 

Dean did that to her. She was incapable of forming one coherent word afterward. 

Y/N liked everything about last night. Like how he took care of her, liked how he fucked her. But most of all, she liked how he took her in his arms afterward, how his hands brushed over her face, how the gestures lulled her to sleep.

Getting up, she peels the shirt from her body and stows it away underneath her pillow. Just in case. And she wants to wear it again tonight just because she can. It’s hers now, she won’t give it back no matter how much Dean would want it returned to him. 

On her way to the bathroom, she feels something warm running out of her vagina and she hurries to the bathroom, doesn’t necessarily wanting it to drip on the carpet because she would have a hard time explaining it to Ellen. That woman has bat ears and eagle eyes, she would know, Y/N’s so sure of that.

Inside of the shower, she inspects the wetness that runs down her thighs and it keeps running out. God, just how much did Dean come inside of her? Because it’s a lot and it was his second time too, having spilled the first load onto her stomach and pussy. 

She turns on the shower, washes herself down there with water before soaping herself up. Her hand rubs at her clit and it somehow hurts a little because it’s very sensitive. It doesn’t help that she actually wants to rub there some more because of the tingly sensation she feels inside of her guts. Dean has really left a lasting impression on her, that much is clear. 

After the shower and with no release because it just hurt too much, she walks out of the bathroom frustrated and grumpy. It also doesn’t lift her mood when she sees Ellen in her room. The woman has a key to every door in the house and she’s not afraid to use it. 

Ellen’s in the process of stripping her bedsheets and she already notices the edge of Dean’s shirt hanging out from the laundry basket.

“No!” She shouts and runs to the basket, fishing the shirt out, “I want to wear it again tonight.” She says, but then she realizes that she maybe shouldn’t have said it, “I mean, I just pulled it out of the closet and… uh, it’s still good to wear. It doesn’t need to be washed yet.” She stammers, trying to somehow make sense. 

The woman looks at Y/N with a frown on her face, “Hun, since when do you care if I wash a shirt you’ve only worn once?”

“Uh, I don’t know? Just— I know that I want to wear it again, okay?” She clutches at the fabric and pulls it out of the basket, proceeds to walk with it to her walk-in closet but Ellen was having none of it. 

The woman tugs her back by her arm, “Y/N, show me.” 

“Ellen!”

“Do I have to use force on you? Because I’d rather not.”

God, she hates how Ellen goes all mom on her. The woman’s been here since before Y/N was born and when her mother died, she came closest to being a mother figure to Y/N while she also took care of her own child. Ellen knows her better than she knows herself, even knew about Adam, but Ellen didn’t tell. She wonders if she can tell Ellen about Dean? If she should tell? No, that’s probably not a good idea since Dean doesn’t want anyone to know.

“Y/N, I’m asking nicely.” Ellen holds out a hand, waiting for her to hand over the garment. 

She sighs and rolls her eyes, “Fine!”

Ellen doesn’t even wait for her to lay the shirt into her awaiting palm, instead, she tears it from Y/N’s grip. 

The woman holds it up, frowning, “That’s not your shirt.”

“How do you know?”

“I know every item in your wardrobe, Y/N, and this shirt isn’t yours,” Ellen says and puts the shirt to her nose to sniff at it. Y/N cringes, “Yep, definitely a man’s shirt. What happened?”

“Nothing?”

“Well, I hope that nothing knows what he’s done and that he’s in a lot of trouble if the King finds out.”

“I told him—” Y/N says meekly, “—about Adam.”

“Good, boy needs to know.” Ellen hands the shirt back to her, “Please don’t tell me it’s one of his.”

She doesn’t say anything but also, she doesn’t meet Ellen’s questioning eyes, avoiding them at all costs.

“Dear God, honey! No!” Ellen sighs loudly, “This is not going to end well, and you know it!”

“It’s different!” She shouts, “He’s different!”

“Yeah, tell that to your father when he has the boys balls in his hand ready to cut them off, will ya?”

Oh god, the image of it makes her skin crawl. Ellen is right. Of course the woman’s right, and Y/N hates that she is.

“He doesn’t need to know,” Y/N mumbles softly. 

Ellen gestures with her hands and there’s obvious irritation on her face as she rubs a hand over her forehead, “Look, I’m on your side, okay? Just please be careful, and I’m going to get you new pills, I’ll drop them off and hide them in your room in the evening, okay?”

Y/N’s pout turns into a big wide grin as she throws her arms around Ellen’s neck and sprays kisses on her cheek, “Thank you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Ellen says, “I love you, okay? I just want you to be safe.”

“I know.”

 Dean’s sitting at the counter of a roadside diner a couple of hours out of the city. To be honest, he didn’t know where to go at first, just got into his car and thought about leaving it all behind. He knows that he can if he really wants to, knows that he’s allowed if he has a good reason. 

While he drove, he thought about the reasons, but he came up empty-handed. Apparently, corruption of his own moral compass isn’t good enough of a reason, and he knows that too. It’s not going to be a reason for them to accept it because he’s been in his game long enough. 

But he has decided something for himself on his way out here. After this is all over, he’s going to leave the Bureau. He’s going to leave it all behind, get in his car, and drive. He has the feeling that he’s getting too old for all this bullshit. When he first started, he really had the impression that he could make a difference, that he could help make the world a little safer, but the reality caught up to him pretty fast, and now, after doing what he does for a decade, he knows that the world doesn’t change. When he catches a bad guy, there are at least five more who are going to take that guy’s place. When he closes a case, there are going to be ten more coming up. It’s a vicious circle that keeps on spinning.

He’s here now, isn’t he? He’s going to get this over with and Dean started to think about reasons for him not to leave, and there are some. There’s also a chump holding him back by clawing into his skin. That chump comes in the form of a stunning girl with a beautiful smile. That’s when Dean realizes that he doesn’t have a good enough reason to leave, but has a better reason to stay.

It’s afternoon and the diner is more than half empty. He’s nursing his coffee that tastes more like water with a sprinkle of coffee flavor as he waits. 

He knows it’s fucking risky disappearing after what happened at the restaurant this morning. It’s fucking risky to just get in his car and drive away without telling anyone where he’s going, but he needed a breather and he especially needed time to sort things out in his head. 

This whole operation is fucking with his mind. Fucking with his grip on morality. He has always known what’s right and what’s wrong, and he’s worked undercover before, but it never involved innocent fucking children for god’s sake!

The bell of the diner chimes and he notices a woman coming in. She walks to the counter and sits next to him.

“You got any news?” Dean asks, but he doesn’t look at the women. Instead, he stares down at his coffee, signaling for the waitress to pour him some more. 

“Not much.” His supervisor says, “You know we shouldn’t meet like this, right?”

Dean snorts, “We shouldn’t be doing a lot of things, Naomi. Yet, here we are,”

The woman ignores him.

“We found out that Benny is in contact with Marv,” Naomi says, while she signals for the waitress to bring her a cup as well. 

Dean debates on telling her that the coffee tastes like shit, but he decides against it. It’s the little thing he finds joy in nowadays. Instead, he tries not to frown too much as he asks, “Marv?”

“Marv Armstrong. He’s big in the human trafficking business.”

“Oh no,” Dean rubs at his eyes with his thumb and forefinger, bringing it together in the middle to pinch at the bridge of his nose. He didn’t sleep nearly enough for such fucking bullshit.

Naomi thanks the waitress and takes a sip from her cup, spitting it right out with a disgusted expression on her face, and Dean has to hold himself together so as not to laugh out loud. 

The woman soon regains her composure, even before Dean’s done with laughing, “Try to be there when Benny meets Azazel. We want to know more about it.”

Fucking Christ, first they have a mole in the fucking family, and now this? Dean didn’t fucking sign up for fuckery, did he? 

He sighs and gets up from the stool before he fishes out a five-dollar bill from his jacket pocket, “I’ll try.”

“You want to leave so much for a bad coffee?” Naomi grits her teeth but doesn’t look at him.

Leaning down a little, he places the bill on the counter, “Hey, everyone needs money to get by, doesn’t matter how bad the coffee is.”

Dean walks out without another word and hurries to his car. He knows he has to be there for the meeting, but he has to do something else first.

 Y/N spends some time working in the restaurant after lunch. After she ushers Ellen out of her room, she gets dressed and puts some makeup on her face in order to hide the dark circles around her eyes. She arrived at the shop hangry, so Garth had made her a delicious burger and fries because he somehow knew that she needed it, and it really did help lift her mood a little.

Garth always knows what she needs and she loves him for it, is thankful that he enjoys working in her restaurant. He never complains about anything and always smiles. Sometimes, Garth is indeed the light of the restaurant and it makes her workdays so much more bearable.

After the meal, she checks in on her other employees to see if they have trouble managing the whole place without her being in as much as before, but apparently, everything seems to be going fine which actually disappoints her a little because it shows that she’s really not needed at all. 

Her dad’s right about it, and she hates that he is.

When she’s about to go to the back and continue with her inventory, the bell chimes and her dad walks in with some of his entourage. He walks straight to the counter and doesn’t sit down in his booth like he normally does. She senses that something must be going on.

“Are you hungry, dad?” Y/N asks and looks back at Garth who’s tossing some fries into the oil, “Garth’s making a new batch of fries.” 

“No, I already ate,” Her father says, “Is Dean in?” 

Well, should he be? She doesn’t know, because she hasn’t heard from him since last night. Her cheeks burn up at the memories.

“I’ve not been here long enough to know.” She says simply. Maybe because it’s the truth and maybe, because she does want to sound like she cares. 

God, she does care, though. Where is Dean?

“We’re going to be down for the rest of the day. Send him down when he drops by,” Her dad says and doesn’t even wait for her answer. Instead, he strolls to the back door, his entourage following him. 

“Benny is in but I haven’t seen Dean,” Garth chimes in from the back, but she doubts that her dad registered it. It doesn’t matter to her dad what Garth has to say anyway. 

Garth’s still smiling and it almost breaks her heart. She watches as Garth just shrugs and continues to whistle a tune while he takes out the fries as if he doesn’t really care if people don’t like him. He’s just being himself and that’s what she admires him for. She wished she could be a little more like Garth.

“Jo, you got this? I’ll be in the back,” she says, as Jo walks back to the counter with an empty tray after having served customers. 

“Sure thing,” the girl smiles at her.

Y/N nods with a smile before walking to the back thinking that she’ll definitely miss working in here.

 *

 About a half-hour into boring inventory, she hears the doorknob being turned. She has stopped listening to music while she’s in here, it just doesn’t seem safe when she can’t hear her surroundings. Her hand immediately goes to her gun that’s laying on the shelf next to her clipboard, as a precaution.

“Leave it, it’s me.” 

Y/N doesn’t have to turn around to know who it is. She’d recognize the hushed whisper anywhere. She’d recognize the smooth bass of the voice, even if her eyes were closed. It’s crazy how the sound of someone’s voice can jump-start her heart in a flash.

She doesn’t turn around, doesn’t know if she’d be able to look him in the eye, because she’s still a little salty that she didn’t wake up next to him, even though she knows that it’s irrational to be salty about it.

It’s absolutely stupid, she knows. 

He did the right thing, because how should she explain if she would have gotten caught going out of Dean’s room in the morning wearing only a shirt and panties? There’d be no way to talk herself out of it and it would land Dean in so much trouble. It’s just… her brain is incapable of thinking rationally at the moment, and she’s as far away from being reasonable at this very moment as she can be. It’s probably the princess-effect. 

“Dad’s waiting for you.” She says simply, trying to occupy herself as she takes her clipboard and writes something on it. She doesn’t even know what to write, draws stupid circles, and makes up numbers to write on it, hoping he doesn’t see the doodles. 

Still with her back to him, she feels him coming closer, feels the broad of him standing right behind her. The heat of his body radiates over to hers. And she smells him too. Smells the soap on his skin, the cologne on his shirt. 

God, it clouds her mind.

Dean places a hand on her shoulder, the other hand strokes down her back until it weaves around her waist, fingers span wide on her stomach. He pulls her closer, molding her back to his firm chest, and places a kiss on her neck. She feels the roughness of his scruff, which sends shivers up her spine.

“Have I upset you?” He whispers into her skin. 

She tilts her head a little and Dean kisses her temple, leaves his lips there as the grip around her waist tightens. 

“Just disappointed that I woke up in my own bed.” She mumbles.

Moments pass before she hears him chuckle next to her ear. 

“I’m sorry,” He says and kisses her once more on her cheek. 

He breathes out after, and she smells coffee on his breath, wonders where he got one. Wonders if he had one here. She places the clipboard on the shelf, turning around in his grip to meet his eyes for the first time, noticing when she sees him that he looks tired. There’s worry on his face also. 

Y/N hooks her arms in the back of his neck and Dean leans down, presses his forehead on hers, “I got something for you,” He says and smirks before he pecks her lips. 

Dean’s hand leaves her waist, goes to his jacket pocket and she feels something hard poking at her from in between them. It’s a little box and she leans back to be able to take a look at it. She takes it in her hand, examines it.

 Plan B

One Step

 The words read boldly on the box, and she looks up at Dean with a frown etched between her eyebrows. 

He chuckles and lifts his thumb to rub at the crease, “I shouldn’t have, uh, you know, come inside of you. I’m sorry about that, but you said things that made me forget my own damn name.” 

“I don’t need it,” She whispers, holding the box to him and wants him to take it back. 

This time, it’s his turn to frown. There’s clearly irritation on his face which she has to laugh at. 

“Why?” He asks, but he doesn’t take the box back. 

“I’m taking the pill, Dean. It’s okay, don’t worry about it.”

Dean exhales loudly. His hot breath fans over her face. He takes a step back and paces around, before he threads a hand through his hair, “Jesus,” He groans in relief, “It was nagging at me the whole day! Fuck!” 

Y/N laughs when she watches him pace around some more and there it was, the realization that dawns on him, the tension that ebbs out of his body. Suddenly, Dean’s on her, wrapping his hands around her and lifts her up, one hand around her waist and one at the base of her neck as he draws her in for a kiss. It’s soft and gentle, tongue only teasing at her teeth, but when she opens up her mouth, he sucks in her tongue. 

God, it feels incredible. 

He chuckles when he parts and lets her down, but she’s still lost in the moment, still chases his lips with her mouth, her eyes still closed. His chuckle grows into a laugh and he pecks her nose, making it wet. 

“Baby, your dad wants to see me,” Dean whispers, pecking her lips once more and she groans out in frustration. His big hands go further down, cups her ass in his palms, and give it a squeeze, “I’ll see you, okay?” 

“‘K,” She nods, and licks her lips as he places one more kiss on her forehead. 

Dean leaves to walk to the door.

“What’s with that?” She still has the Plan B box in her hand and waves it around. 

“Keep it,”

“What?”

“Well, I can’t possibly turn up with Plan B in my jacket.” 

He’s not wrong, but still. Now she needs to walk around with it in her purse so she rolls her eyes, making him chuckle as he opens the door to the hallway.

Dean takes a last look back at her, lips curving up, creases deepening around his eyes, “You know, you’re really the only thing that keeps me going. I don’t think I would still be doing the shit I’m doing if you weren’t in it.” 

Y/N feels the color rising in her cheeks and Dean closes the door with a last nod of his head.

Chapter.09

Please share your thoughts with me, I’d love to hear your feedback.

[tcm]

Andy Griffith: An Underrated Movie Star By Susan King

Andy Griffith was one of the greatest actors of the 20th century. He didn’t make the impact of his peers Marlon Brando, James Dean and Paul Newman when they all burst onto the scene in the 1950s, but Griffith demonstrated he was an actor of depth, complexity and, at times, brilliance during his 50-plus year career. His depth is especially on display in his greatest role as Lonesome Rhodes, the odious hard-living, hard-loving Arkansas drifter who becomes a television sensation in Elia Kazan’s A FACE IN THE CROWD (’57).

A dark social commentary about power and the media, A FACE IN THE CROWD is as prescient today as it was 63 years ago. It wasn’t a hit upon release but has grown in reputation over the years. And, it’s head scratching to believe that Griffith wasn’t nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his performance.

Perhaps he’s not uttered in the same breath as a Brando because Griffith achieved his greatest success on the small screen. He starred as the gentle widower Sheriff Andy Taylor in the beloved 1960-68 sitcom The Andy Griffith Show and as the folksy but brilliant and often cantankerous attorney Ben Matlock in the 1986-95 legal eagle series Matlock. Despite his popular, genial and understated turn as Andy Taylor (who many kids thought was the best father around), Griffith didn’t even earn an Emmy nomination.

Griffith originally wanted to be a singer or a preacher but ended up teaching at a local high school after graduating from college. But the lure of performing was too great, and he left the chalkboard behind to become a comic monologist. And he was funny. Check out his most famous routine, “What It Was, Was Football” from a 1954 The Ed Sullivan Show on YouTube. He’s so believable as the backwoods rube, audiences undoubtedly thought that was Griffith’s real character.

The year of 1955 was life-changing for Griffith. He became an overnight sensation after he was cast in the lead role as the naïve Air Force Private Will Stockdale in the live TV comedy No Time for Sergeants. He’s so mirthful as the good old boy that members of the crew can be heard laughing. Later that year, he made his Broadway debut in the stage version of No Time for Sergeants earning rave reviews and a Tony nomination. It was while he was the toast of Broadway that he was approached by Oscar-winning screenwriter Budd Schulberg (ON THE WATERFRONT, ‘54) about playing Lonesome Rhodes.

Griffith told me in a 2005 L.A. Times interview that Schulberg and his mother came to see the play and soon after Griffith met the writer at a bar. Ironically, Schulberg didn’t think Griffith could handle such a ruthless character. “We were sitting there talking and drinking,” Griffith recalled. “He told me, ‘you can’t play this role.’ I had never read the script or his short story on which it was based at that time, but I just kind of envisioned the character. I said, ‘I can’t provide it to you…but I can play it.’”

Kazan also had his doubts, but quickly changed his mind when Griffith did an impression of evangelist Oral Roberts “healing” the filmmaker. “At that moment, he and Budd could see that I had a little wild side – that is, I can create a wild side. So Gadge [Kazan’s nickname] used that. He used that part of me to find the emotions of evil, the various thousands of moods that this man had.”

Kazan and Schulberg, Griffith noted, “were trying to make the social commentary that the medium and the people who control it can control the thoughts of the country and how dangerous that can be,” Griffith said. The director told Griffith to drink some whiskey for this film’s conclusion when Rhodes is unveiled as a phony and a demagogue. “They brought me a bottle of Jack Daniels Black Label,” he said. “I would shoot a little bit and drink a little bit. I thought I was great. Gadge pulled the plug around 3 o’clock. The next day he said, ‘Andy, we have to shoot most of that over again. Today, just smell the cork!’”

The 1958 film version of NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS and another 1958 service comedy, ONIONHEAD just didn’t work and bombed with both critics and audiences. “I basically struck out in Hollywood,” Griffith told me in 1993. He returned to Broadway, earning another Tony nomination for the musical version of Destry Rides Again. Griffith admitted, though, the show wasn’t very good. So, he decided to do television. The pilot for The Andy Griffith Show, which also starred Ron Howard as his young son Opie, Frances Bavier as Aunt Bee and Don Knotts as the ultra-nervous deputy Barney Fife, aired on the popular The Danny Thomas Show. The show was quickly snapped up by CBS to develop into a series.

Knotts, who won five Emmys as Fife, wasn’t in the pilot. Knotts, who appeared with Griffith in NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS, called him and said, “Don’t you need a deputy?” “I was supposed to have been the comic, the funny one,” said Griffith. “It might not have lasted even half of season that way, but when Don came on, I realized by the second episode, he should be funny, and I should play straight to him. “

Despite the fact the series was the no. 1 show, Griffith wanted to stretch his acting muscles and the series ended in 1968. But Hollywood still didn’t know what to do with him. He signed a three-picture deal with Universal, but the first film ANGEL IN MY POCKET (’69) had a devil of a time trying to find an audience and the critics were not impressed. He struck out again and returned to the small screen. In between series work, TV movies and guest spots, Griffith appeared on the big screen, most notably in the sweet nostalgic comedy HEARTS OF THE WEST (’75) with Jeff Bridges and Alan Arkin.

He finally earned an Emmy nomination in 1981 for the TV movie MURDER IN TEXAS, in which he got the opportunity to show his dramatic chops as a wealthy Texan who thinks his daughter’s new husband isn’t exactly who he appears to be. His turn in Matlock gave him a renewed popularity. Griffith was doing guest spot on TV and had just released a hymns and spirituals CD when I interviewed him in 2005. Two years later, Griffith was perfectly cast in WAITRESS (2007) as Joe, the elderly and curmudgeonly owner of a small café who had a generous and kind heart. The role fit him like a comfortable glove.

Baby boomers felt they had lost a big part of their childhood when Griffith died in 2012 at the age of 86. Ron Howard summed up what so many of his fans were feeling: “His pursuit of excellence and the joy he took in creating served generations and shaped my life. I’m forever grateful. RIP Andy.”

[ikleesfiction]

Will you follow through if I fall for you?

Fandom : One Chicago Word count : 2250 words Author note : My first dip on this fandom. Endgame would be Jay Halstead x reader. Jay will appear in the next part. Disclaimer

Part 1

You arrive at the swimming pool much later than you've wanted. You wish to get a few laps before the school kids coming for their class. But here you are, only begin to warm up, the raucous laughter of school kids echoing in the pool already.

You get into the deeper side of the pool, not wanting to interrupt the class or get interrupted. Starting your lap without forcing yourself. Ever since the incident, you have yet reached the perfect movement of your feet. Some day, like this morning, it was hurting so bad. Made you wish you don't have to get up from the bed. 

But after about forty minutes of light swimming in the pool, you feel like it's getting better. You think you could swim for another ten minutes before coming up. As a challenge for yourself, you swim deeper and doing apnea. From your periphery, you can see three kids get closer to the deeper side of the pool and swimming playfully. You reach the poolside and come up for air, trying to see if the boys are safe enough or if you need to warn the teacher.

All of a sudden, one of the boys puts his hand up. Panicking, as he tries to get more air. You cannot spot the kid's friends. When you dive and swim to the boy as fast as your feet allowed, you see the other two boys pulling their friend's foot down. Not realizing that their friend is drowning.

Once you reach them, you pull the drowning boy up, bringing him to the poolside. The pool guard and the school teacher are ready to help you get the boy out of the pool. The boy is coughing water and keeps panicking. They try to calm him down so he can breathe. Shortly enough, the boy calms down and breathing through his sobs. Still in the water, you feel the boy's friends approaching. They gape in shock, realizing that their friend was almost drowned.

We're so sorry, Owen! I thought you're ready when we pull you in!!" said one of the friends.

"That was a dangerous thing to do, David. I told you, right before we get in the water. Nobody should swim on the deeper side of the pool. But you three even played in here. Someone could get seriously injured by your recklessness.", chides the teacher to her students.

"Yes, Miss, we are sorry," says the other boy from the pool.

"Now, everybody gets out of the water. We have to stop the class. I need to bring Owen to the hospital to make sure that he is not badly hurt. David and Noah, I will call your parents to report your behavior. You too, Owen. I will tell your mom the same at the hospital," declares the teacher.

""I called 9-1-1, paramedics are 3 minutes out, to bring him to the hospital," says the pool guard. "Nice save, by the way," the pool guard continues to acknowledge you.

"Nah, just lucky I saw them first," you object. Looking at the drowning boy, Owen, as the teacher called him, "You're gonna be okay, kid," you continue to soothe him.

Owen looks back at you, and through his hiccups, he says, "Thank you." You return him with a smile.

A moment later, you see Gabby Dawson and Sylvie Brett arriving. They check Owen and briefly pack him up to go to the hospital.

"Hey girl, nice to see you here," Sylvie greets you.

"I don't wanna be ungrateful, but I wish I didn't have to see you here, Syl," you reply, slightly amused.

"Eh, what can you do, right?" She remarks jokingly.

"Alright, we're ready to go, Owen. Let's go see your mom at Med", Gabby informs her patient.

"I'll follow you there. I need to wait until the subs teacher gets here to take over the class," The teacher tells Gabby. "Thank you again for saving my student," She earnestly says to you.

Gabby and Sylvie notice the encounter and raise their eyebrows in question.

Gabby then rolls the gurney out while Sylvie hangs back and grins at you, "You saved him from drowning? How's the table turned! The rescuee turns to be the rescuer!"

"Shut up, Brett!" you whisper-yelling, feeling embarrassed.

As you try to pull yourself out of the pool, your left hamstring suddenly cramps. "Argh!" you shout and let yourself back into the water.

"You okay?" Sylvie inspects you.

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine. I just need a cool-down lap, then I'll be okay. You better go catch Gabby before she leaves you here", you try to dismiss her.

"You sure you okay? Do you need a ride to go back from here? Your feet hurt because you sped up to save Owen, don't they?" Sylvie pries.

"No, I'm okay. It doesn't hurt much. Seriously, if it feels bad, you'll know, Syl. I won't shut up about my pain when I can badger you", you pull out another tactic to get rid of her worry.

"Alright then, you'll promise to go to your clinic if it gets worst, right?" Sylvie finally relents.

"Of course," you simply reply. You need Sylvie to leave soon because you want to give your left hamstring a massage. You are not going to do it under Sylvie's scrutiny.

"Okay, girl. See ya!" with that, Sylvie goes.

You have known Sylvie and Gabby, and also almost everybody from Firehouse 51, since that accident. You were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Then Firehouse 51 got to rescue you. But the accident badly hurts your legs.

You were supposed to only stay in Chicago for 3 days for a business trip. But because of that accident, it becomes 3 months. You have to complete a series of treatments so you can gain full recovery of your leg movement. You cannot go back home. Your family cannot come to be with you for that long. You ought to rearrange your life and have been doing this treatment for the last couple of months.

You stay in the pool for another ten minutes before you could move with much less pain. Slowly getting out of the pool, then you go take a shower in the locker room. You decide that you need to go to the clinic, meet your physical trainer to check out your feet. It wasn't that you lied to Sylvie when you said that it doesn't hurt much, but you're on the last segment of your treatment. You don't want to take a risk and have to redo the treatment.

Now, if the treatment is successful, presumably you can leave Chicago in four weeks. As lovely as the city is, you don't want to risk staying longer in this city than you have to. You get a job that you love, that makes you travel all over the world. So being stuck here in Chicago, by yourself, feels like torture to you.

Firehouse 51 is very supportive of you once they know that you have to stay in the city by yourself to recover from your injury. They help whenever they can. Kelly Severide basically adopted you as his little sister since he's the one who pulled you from the incident scene. You're grateful for them, but it made you missed home more. At home, you are close to your parents. You're working with your best friends, surrounded by your favorite people. You still call them whenever you can. But their life continues while yours is stuck in Chicago.

You take a taxi to the clinic where you're treated. Crossing Chicago Med on the way, you remember hearing Gabby would take Owen here for further checkup. You hesitate slightly in front of the hospital entrance.

Maybe I can check on Owen one more time? Ensuring that there's nothing serious happening to him? You thought to yourself.

You ask the cab driver to pull over as you passed the hospital entrance.

You step to the ED nurse station, "Hi, Uhm, there's a boy, named Owen, that was brought here because of drowning. May I ask if he's doing okay?"

The nurse gives you a hard stare, "We cannot disclose any information about our patient to any non-family member, Miss,"

You scold yourself for being too soft-hearted. Naturally, the hospital will not tell you anything. For all they know, you could be a kidnapper, child abuser, or something similar.

You're just gearing yourself to leave, throwing an apologetic smile to the nurse, "Of course, I understand. Thank you,"

However, a doctor in dark scrub interrupted politely, "Who's asking?"

Looking up to the doctor, you see a "Connor Rhodes, M.D" embroidered on his scrub.

"Uhmm, my name is Y/N. I was there at the pool. He couldn't breathe for a moment when I pulled him out. I know the paramedics said he'd be okay, but I thought I could make sure, for my sanity, that Owen is going to be okay,"

The doctor and the nurse glance at each other, contemplate shortly before the doctor tells you to wait. He goes into one of the Trauma Rooms. You are just standing awkwardly at the nurse station, trying to be unobtrusive as possible.

Then a woman in a doctor's coat comes out from that Trauma Room, follows by another doctor in red scrub and Dr. Rhodes himself. Once they are in front of you, you can see "Natalie Manning, M.D" on the woman's coat.

"Are you the one who saved my son??" Dr. Manning stares at you with teary eyes.

"Err... I pulled him out of the water, yes. But the pool guard.."

"Before you can finish your sentence, you are hugged by the woman.

"Thank you so much! Thank you! I don't want to imagine what it would be if you're not there!"

Surprised by the hug, you're just awkwardly patting her back, looking at Dr. Rhodes and the other doctor behind her. You read, ".. Halstead M.D" on his chest, but unable to see his first name.

"Uhmm, I just happened to be there," You return, not knowing what to say. Dr. Manning lets you go from her hug after some time.

"Is he truly going to be fine? No water in his lungs?" you ask the doctors.

"We did a scan on his thorax. Nothing worrying is in his lungs. We will monitor him further. Hopefully, there'll be no sign of infection occurred. We can send him home tomorrow if all goes well," Dr. Halstead reveals.

"That's great to hear," you feel relieved after hearing that. "I hope Owen won't be afraid to be in the water again after the scare,"

"Well, I'm the one who's afraid to let him in the water now," retorts Dr. Manning. Her eyes are still watery, but her makeup is not smeared.

Stupid thing to notice, Y/N, you thought to yourself.

You pull out a pack of tissue from your bag and offer it to Dr. Manning, who receives it.

"I'm sorry I'm a mess. My name is Natalie Manning, Owen's mom. Here is Dr. Will Halstead, my fiance. You met Dr. Rhodes before,"

"Y/N Y/LN. Nice to meet you, even though the circumstance is not nice," you introduce yourself as you shake their hands.

"Seriously, thank you for saving Owen. How can we ever repay it to you?" Dr. Halstead sincerely says.

"Ah no, I did not do that or come here expecting anything. I'm just glad that you can let me know Owen is alright," you refuse.

"Why don't you come to our place for dinner someday when Owen is home?" Dr. Manning suggests.

"It's okay, doctor. There's no need for that.", you try to turn down their offer.

"Yeah, that's a great idea!" Dr. Halstead says. He pulls out his phone from his pocket. "Please put down your phone number here. We'll set up the dinner schedule" as he hands his phone to you.

You receive the phone, in reflex. "Truly, doctors, you don't have to do this. You don't even know me. What if I was lying to you?". These people were too trusting, you thought.

"His teacher told us what happened. Gabby Dawson also told us that her friend saved Owen. I could double-check with her if I ever doubt you. Not that I am, though," Dr. Manning explains.

"Dinner is the least we can do for you, Y/N. I could also ask my cop brother to come to dinner, in case you turn to be a villain", Dr. Halstead jests.

You snicker lightly. "Alright then, only a fool refused free dinner," as you put your number on Dr. Halstead's phone.

"Well, don't expect much from the dinner. These people are not known to be a good cook, you know", quips Dr. Rhodes.

"Just for that, Connor, you're not invited to dinner," Dr. Halstead points at him.

They laugh as you return the phone to Dr. Halstead. "I should go. Thank you again for letting me know about Owen. Hope he will back to the pool soon", say you with your cheeky grin.

"Thank you so much. You're such a good person. Saved my boy, came here to check on him, even gave me a tissue!" Dr. Manning lists to you as she dabs her eyes.

Dr. Halstead and Dr. Rhodes shake your hand goodbye. Dr. Manning gives you another hug before letting you exit the ED. None of the three doctors miss the limping on your left foot.

Next on this fic : Part 2

[cipheress-to-k-pop]

Eduardo Dorado Jr. with an s/o who is a Scientist

amateurwriterbigdreamer said: Could I request Eduardo dorado jr with a university student who is a metahuman and a scientist so she gets along with his father causing Eduardo dorado jr to feel left out?

You were interning at S.T.A.R. labs

That’s how you met Eduardo

You were a couple years older and an incredibly intelligent, beautiful woman

It was no surprise that Eduardo developed a huge crush on you

At a young age, he thought he was handling it well but, on your side, it was painfully obvious

He would get super blushy and embarrassed and still try to flirt with you

Which was kind of adorable

Because he was no nervous, he would end up messing up his lines

“Um, did it hurt?”

“What?”

“Did it hurt when you became an angel?”

“.... Do you mean ‘did it hurt when you fell from heaven’?”

“Because you look like an angel!! Thank you!!”

“Sure.”

You indulged him of course because you just couldn’t bear to break his little heart

But you never ever returned his flirting

You just listened to them

One of the reasons that you never shot him down was because his father told you not to

Ed was always more compliable and cooperative during routine checks

He tried to impress you and didn’t lose his temper as quickly as he used to

And that helped with the experiment, which you were hired to do so you agreed

And however pathetic it may sound, you felt special that someone was so infatuated with you

He would hover around you, asking questions about what you’re doing even though he’d never understand what when you did explain to him

He’d still offer his opinion though even though it wasn’t really appropriate

“I think you look really hot next to that thing, babe.”

“It’s a particle collider, Ed. And don’t call me babe.”

“Noted.”

He’d get really jealous too when you would hang out with his father because at the time, he wasn’t on good terms with him

He’d get huffy and upset

“Ed, your father is my boss, I kind of have to.”

“I know...”

Your relationship just remained that way because you knew nothing would ever come from it

He was way too young for you and it was creepy

And even though you were expecting a confession from him, when you finally received it you were incredibly surprised

“I like you, (Y/N), will you please be my girlfriend?”

You really didn’t want to shoot him down because he would never forget it

“Um, you know I’m too old for you, Ed. It’s not right.”

“Age is just a number.”

“So is 911.”

He looked so disappointed; you just couldn’t find it in your heart to leave him then

So, you just ruffled his hair and said

“Tell you what, you ask me again when you’re a few inches taller than me and I promise I will think about it.”

He sent you such a blinding grin you thought a little fib was worth it

Besides, when he actually got to the height, he would totally forget about this

At least that’s what you thought

You saw him for the last time when he was escaping

You were on the phone with his father, looking around for the Runaways

And you did find them

You just stared at Ed for the longest time as he silently pleaded for you not to say anything

“Yeah, I’m here, no, they’re, they’re nowhere to be found.”

He gave you a huge hug and you ruffled his hair again

“Be safe, okay?”

“I promise I’ll come back and ask you when I’m taller.”

“Haha, I’ll hold you do it.”

You don’t see him again for a couple years, you were sent to another country to intern

But you returned after learning something very important

You were a meta

The first person you thought to contact was Ed Sr. because he had the most experience with this

That was when you met Ed again

And oh boy

Puberty was extremely kind to him, and you felt extremely disgusted with yourself when you couldn’t seem to get your eyes off him

“It’s good to see you again.”

“You too.”

“So, am I tall enough for you yet?”

“Kind of sudden don’t you think?”

“I don’t think so, I’ve been waiting 4 years.”

You couldn’t really tell if he was being serious or joking but you chose to ignore it

You just couldn’t get past the fact that he used to be so tiny

You couldn’t stop seeing him that way

To no one’s surprise, you still hover around the labs

You help the justice league by performing DNA fingerprinting and such

As always, Ed still helps you around

He’s become more mature than you realize

Earlier he always used to flirt with you and it sometimes seemed like his life revolved around you

But now it was different

You could speak like equals now

It made you realize how much you would just brush him off as a kid

Everything he used to think and say at the time was just something that he’d grow out of

Now you’re realizing that he’s much more profound and intelligent that you gave him credit for

It makes you see him in a different light

Then you begin to feel all awkward and embarrassed around him

And extremely annoyed with yourself that you like a kid

So, you begin to avoid him until these feelings go away

But Ed quickly corners you and asks you why

“I just, I’ve been having feelings for you lately.”

“And you don’t want that?”

“You’re just a kid, Ed.”

“I’m not a kid anymore...I’ve grown up now.”

“I still see you that way though, and it’s embarrassing and weird that I’ve begun to have feelings for you now.”

“Well instead of making yourself feel guilty, you should try and look at me differently.”

He waits until you’re ready

Extremely patient and it makes you fall even more to be honest

Since him being taller that you was basically what started this whole thing

You better believe he is making some short jokes

“How’s the weather down there?”

Uses your head as an arm rest

Sometimes pretends not to see you

But also uses your shorter self to an advantage

Corners you against the wall

Towers over you many times

Does that thing when you’re reaching from something, he just comes behind you and then you’re all close and warm

He still spends time with you in the lab

Until he’s caught making out with you on the table and then gets banned

He also helps you train and get control of your powers

Makes out with you on the training mats too

He gets insecure that you may still think of him as a kid

How does he get rid of those fears?

By kissing you until you can’t feel your legs

And therefore, everyone finds you making out most of the time

He loves that you’re so intelligent

Like loves it

So much so that he actually brags about it

Also talks about you a lot to his friends who are not impressed

“You know, (Y/N) said this the other day.”

“She would look so good in that.”

“She loves to eat that.”

“Maybe I should bring something home for her?”

“We get it, you have a girlfriend!”

People would expect you to mother him and you do most of the times

But Ed also takes care of you a lot

You get stressed and sometimes extremely overwhelmed because your career is just as important to you as your abilities

Ed is the one who keeps track of your self-care

Also fusses around you like his abuela when you’re not taking care of yourself

He also feels extremely comforted by the fact that you’re older than him because he knows whenever he needs advice, he can go to you

Because you’re more experienced and a lot smarter than him

He never makes you feel the age gap though

And when people make jokes about it, even though they meant for it to be harmless, Ed is there just looking like they might as well have shot you

All in all, regardless of age, he is a great boyfriend

[rjhpandapaws]

A Cup of Something Better

Ch 10: Down to the Wire

This was it, the week that had been two years in the making, his last finals week as a gen ed student. Assuming he passed all his tests, he would be able to take the nurses exam the following Friday. If he passed that he be enrolled into the nursing program for the fall semester. Five tests over three days, not the worst test load that he'd dealt with. The fact that they were between five and eleven at night was a pain in the ass.

He'd asked for the week off from the cafe so he could have more time to study. Some of the time he spent studying was also spent at the cafe, he preferred the idle chatter over the silence of his apartment.

Connor was spending the morning at the cafe again, going over calculus today. He had an Iced Americano that was helping to keep him concentrated. He'd had a few late nights that he was beginning to feel the effects of. His first set of tests was tonight, calculus and art history. Tomorrow was biology and mythology. The day after being his sociology final. Hank thankfully didn't have a final for his class so Connor had a chance to recuperate before his nurses exam.

He finished the problem he was working on and sat back rubbing at his face to try and wake up more. He needed to focus. He took another drink of his coffee and looked around the cafe, it was almost empty. As one would expect at ten in the morning on a Monday. He finished his coffee and figured he could use the break to order another drink. Hopefully he'd be more awake afterward.

He headed for the counter and ordered his usual before heading back to the table. Refueled and somewhat ready to go again, he sat back down and got back to work.

Connor woke up sometime later to North knocking on the table. He looked up to find that it wasn’t North, but Hank, though the red haired she-devil was behind the counter laughing.

“So, uh, North asked me to bring you this.” Hank said after a moment, setting the bigger of the two cups on the table, “she also said that knocking on the table would wake you up.”

“Thanks.” Connor took the cup and yawned, “you can sit down if you want. I’m just studying.”

Hank chuckled as he took a seat, “planning on learning through osmosis? I was lead to believe you had to be awake in order to study properly.”

Connor rolled his eyes as he took a drink from what turned out to be a large cup filled with just espresso shots, “I’ll do whatever works at this point.” He covered a yawn and leaned forward, “how do you like having the week off? Getting any writing done?”

Hank laughed as Connor got back to work on his calculus, “I’ve gotten a couple of chapters into my manuscript and started a couple of short stories.”

Connor took another drink from his cup, “you’re planning to release another collection then?” He yawned, “how is Sumo doing?”

When Connor looked up Hank was looking at him with a concerned expression. HIs brow was furrowed and his sky blue eyes were clouded over with worry. Connor knew that he looked rough but he was pretty sure he wasn’t bad enough to warrant that level of concern.

“Sumo is doing fine.” Hank leaned forward and rested his forearms on the table, “can you answer something for me Connor?”

“Hmm?” Connor sat up from where he had been slouching into his textbook again, “what’s up?”

“How many days has it been since you’ve gotten a full night’s rest?” Hank watched as he took another drink of his ‘coffee’.

“Today is Monday so...” He counted back on his fingers, muttering the days of the week under his breath, “Saturday, I think. Why?”

Hank sighed, and the sound was pure disappointment, something that if it hadn’t been directed at Connor would have impressed him, “Since you’re the one of us going into nursing, I feel like I shouldn’t have to tell you what’s wrong with that Connor. Do me a favor and get some rest. You can’t keep going like this.”

“I sleep two hours before classes. I’ve increased my calorie intake and added more caffeine into the mix as well.” He stumbled over his words as he yawned again, “five hour energy and espresso have been life savers for me.”

“Connor.” Hank groaned, “I was in college too, so I can’t argue with you, but try and get at least get four hours today alright?” He put a hand up when Connor opened his mouth to argue, “I know your nurses exam is important to you Con, but what happens if you burn out before then? You’ll have to wait a whole semester to take it again.”

In theory Connor knew him to be correct, but he had so many tests and he wanted to make sure that he was ready, “I just don’t want to fail Hank, if I can’t pass these then I won’t even be taking the nurses exam.”

Connor could feel tears pooling behind his eyes from the lack of sleep as well as the stress. The nickname made Connor give a watery smile as he rubbed at his face trying to collect himself.

“Hey now, don’t cry.” Hank reached out and squeezed his wrist reassuringly, “I’ve gotten to see you at work Con, you’ve got these tests in the bag. Go home, get some rest.”

Connor let out a wet laugh and wiped his eyes with his free hand. After another reassuring squeeze Hank let go of his wrist and Connor began packing up his things and putting them back in his bag not quite managing to bite back another yawn. He was starting to think no amount of coffee was gonna help this. With everything packed he sat back and rubbed at his face again hoping to wake up a little more.

“Alright.” Connor said before he drank more of his coffee, “time to go home and nap I guess. Sorry you had to wake me.”

Hank chuckled, “Its no problem. Do you need a ride? The weather looks like its going to take a turn for the worse.”

Connor looked out the windows and despite it being early afternoon apparently, the sky was almost black and the wind was howling through the streets, “thanks, but I’ll just get a cab.”

Hank nodded and stood. They walked out together and parted ways at the parking lot with a wave. Connor hailed a cab and checked his phone which had been vibrating consistently since Hank had stood up. There were several new messages in the coffee shop group chat, probably because he had been crying.

The Coffee Crew:

Northern_Lights: Aww, you two are so cute together

Northern_Lights: Why are you crying?

Northern_Lights: Is it his fault? I’ll kick his ass if I have to

Northern_Lights: Holding hands?

Northern_Lights: You’re good then?

Northern_Lights: Connor?

RunawayArkait: North, everything is fine.

SimonSays: Are you sure? We saw you cry

RunawayArkait: I haven’t been sleeping and the stress from finals got to me

RunawayArkait: Hank kind of gave me a pep talk is all

SimonSays: Aww his name is Hank, that’s fitting

Northern_Lights: That had better been all. Or I will fight him.

RunawayArkait: It’s fine North. I’m gonna get some sleep then get to class

Northern_Lights: Sleep well

SimonSays: You got this!

Connor smiled at his phone as he paid and got out of the cab. He walked up to his apartment and set an alarm for a half hour before he needed to leave. He set his backpack by the door and went to change into pyjamas. Connor was still fighting off the embarrassment from having cried in front of Hank, if he needed to sleep anything off it was that. Hank probably found him to be weak and pathetic for having cried ever a few tests. Whatever chance, if he’d even had one, was gone.

He sighed and rubbed at his face again and climbed into bed, double checking that his alarm was on and also at full volume. He plugged his phone in and rolled over falling asleep almost instantly. When his alarm went off he hadn’t moved. The song blared to life yanking Connor violently back into consciousness. He groaned, sat up, and rubbed the sleep from his eyes He turned off the alarm and checked his phone. He had quite a few messages.

The Family Feud:

Sixty-Second-Set: You’ve got this Connor!

UnluckyNine: You’ll be a nurse in no time

RunawayArkait: Thank you

The Coffee Crew:

Northern_Lights: Good luck college boy!

SimonSays: Don’t worry alright? You’re a genius

What.Josh.Does: See you in calculus. Who ever scores the lowest buys drinks on Friday

RunawayArkait: Thanks guys. You’re on Josh.

Made-By_Markus messaged you!

Made-By_Markus: Good luck Connor!

RunawayArkait: Thank you Markus.

Connor dressed in his day clothes again and made a pot of coffee. Travel mug filled, he grabbed his bag and headed for the door. He pulled up his hood as he got to the parking lot since the storm picked up since his nap. He walked toward the road and caught a cab to head to the university. On the ride over he pulled out the notes he had taken for his calculus class and got in some last minute studying.

He arrived early and made his way to the Math and Science building. Josh was waiting at one of the hallway tables and waved Connor over. There were two paper Hand Brewed Hope cups on the table, when Connor took his seat Josh slid one over to him.

“Figured you could use the pick me up.” Connor took a drink of what turned out to be Chai Tea with cinnamon and nutmeg as Josh spoke, “I know finals week is rough on you.”

Connor gave a dry chuckle, “It’s just stressful, and even more than usual this time because of the nurses exam.” He sighed softly, “You had tow tests earlier today. How do you think you did?”

He was distracting himself, but thankfully Josh let him, “Good. I was more confident for my philosophy exam than I was for chemistry, but it is what it is. Once I finish this up I’ll get to move on to student teaching. Which I’m looking forward to.”

Connor smiled, Josh was excited to becoming a teacher. He was going to be missed at the cafe but he would have more fun as a teacher, “You’ll be great at it. Those kids are going to adore you.”

Josh beamed at him and Connor took another drink from his tea, “I’m gonna miss the cafe though.”

“We’re gonna miss you too.” Connor said kindly, “I’m sorry that I can’t join you guys this weekend but I’m going to be getting ready for my nurses exam.”

“It’s alright Connor. We know how much this means to you, so no one is holding it against you.” Josh responded with a gentle smile.

When it came time to, they grabbed their things and headed for class. Josh gave Connor’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze before he headed for his seat at the back of the class.  Connor headed for his as well, letting out a shaky sigh. He had an ‘A’ in this class, he could handle one last test. Probably.

The two hour test block seemed to crawl by. He fell into routine, solving the problems as he went and then checking them over when he had finished. Then, just to be sure, he checked them again. With a half hour left in the test block he grabbed his things, turned in his completed exam, and made his way to building one to study for his art history final. Having found a bench to sit at and go over his notes, he sent a few messages.

The Family Feud:

RunawayArkait: Calculus is done, just Art History left

RunawayArkait: Just finished calculus

UnluckyNine: Good job! You’ve got this one in the bag too

Sixty-Second-Set: Look at you go!

SimonSays: Bet you nailed it

Northern_Lights: Nicely done, you beat Josh

_

RunawayArkait: Calculus is done

Made-By_Markus: Congratulations Connor!

Connor was smiling as he put his phone away as he put his phone away and began to study, wanting to be as prepared as possible for the final. He packed up when the door to the lecture hall opened. When the class had emptied he took his seat and got ready for his exam.

This two hour block went by a little. Though that was probably because he had the confidence of having finished one already. When he finished this one he could go home and sleep for a couple hours before he got back to studying. This final took him a little longer but he finished it with ten minutes to spare. If he napped in the cab he could spend even more time studying. He probably wouldn’t though, he hated sleeping in cars. He sent messages as he headed out.

The Family Feud: 

RunawayArkait: Done for the night

UnluckyNine: Nice. Now you can get some rest

The Coffee Crew:

Sixty-Second-Set: You’ll be a nurse in no time

_

RunawayArkait: First day of finals is over

What.Josh.Does: Congrats! Meet me at building 27 and I’ll give you a ride home

SimonSays: Three more to go, you’ve got this

Northern_Lights: You’re doing great

@Made-By_Markus

RunawayArkait: Thanks. I’ll be there soon Josh

_

RunawayArkait: One night down, two to go

Made-By_Markus: Don’t forget to get some rest.

Tuesday morning found him back at the cafe, is biology textbook as well as the semester’s notes spread over the table. He’d been at this since about midnight; rotating between biology, mythology, sociology, and subjects that would be covered on the nurses exam. His travel mug still had some coffee in it so he hadn’t bought a drink yet and he also had a couple of five hour energy shots in his bag if needed them. He figured he would, because despite the extra sleep he had gotten yesterday, Connor could still feel exhaustion hanging off of him.

After a couple hours he switched from biology to mythology when his concentration started to wane. When that didn’t work he grabbed a five hour energy bottle and got in line to order. He tossed the bottle between his hands without looking at it, occasionally tossing it straight up only to catch it and start the cycle over again. He had put it back in his university sweatshirt pocket by the time it was his turn to order. He was ordering a drink that North had made up that wasn’t on the menu, so he said it out loud.

“I’ll take a large Due North, Simon.” Connor said around a yawn and Simon looked at him with concern.

“You do know that drink is basically just straight espresso with a couple pumps of chocolate syrup right?” Simon was typing the drink in anyway, “with how much coffee you drink in a day, I’m worried you might vibrate out of existence.” 

“I’ll be fine Simon,” Connor said as he paid for his drink, “I just need a little extra help staying awake today is all.”

“If you’re sure Connor,” Simon said as he handed the cup off to Josh who looked at it with worry.

While he stood in the crowd to wait out his drink he got out his lucky quarter and began to toss it between his hands. He would stop and roll it over is knuckles, toss it straight up, catch it and then start over. On the third pass his drink was called, he pocketed the coin as he walked up to the counter. He thanked Josh and took his drink. When he got back to the table he took the lid off of the cup and added the energy shot, stirring it with the straw so it would mix in. He put the lid on and took a drink when he finished. If the sheer amount of caffeine didn’t keep him awake, the taste probably would.

Connor was surprised that he actually finished the monstrosity that North had created. He’d moved on from mythology to sociology, and despite all of the caffeine pumping through his body, he could still feel himself fading. He knew he couldn’t go up for another coffee so soon after pumping so much espresso into himself, Simon wouldn’t let him. So he would just have to tough it out. He leaned more into his notes, resting his arms on the table.

He woke up to talking, “North, why are you drawing on him?”

“Because, he fell asleep and he knows the rules.” Came North’s reply, and now that Connor was slightly more coherent, he could feel something moving against his face. He opened his eyes with a tired groan and whatever had been on his face was yanked away. North laughed, “Shit.”

“Morning Sunshine.” Hank said with an amused smile as Connor sat up, “how is your studying going? I can see you’re trying that learning by osmosis thing again.”

He gave Hank a tired smile as North laughed, “it seemed to work well enough yesterday.”

“Alright Point Dexter, go wash the dicks off your face. I’ll have another Due North for you when you get back out.” North said as she pulled Connor to his feet.

As Connor made his way to the bathroom to clean his face North retreated back behind the counter. He checked the mirror to find that, yes, North had actually drawn cartoon dicks of various sizes along the left side of his face and a detailed shooting star down the side of his neck, He wet a paper towel and started rubbing at his face, glad that they didn’t use permanent marker to write on the cups.

With all the marker washed off his face and neck Connor went back to the table to find Hank had settled in and gotten to work on his laptop. As promised there was another large Due North beside his sociology notes. He sat down and gave Hank a tired half smile.

“So why was North drawing on your face?” Hank asked as he looked up from his typing, “she said something about rules.”

“Yeah.” Connor laughed rubbing at the back of his neck, “the first time you fall asleep in public is a freebie, after that whoever catches you gets to draw on your face. Either she caught me, or Simon chickened out again.”

“So you fall asleep while out and about pretty often then?” Was Hank’s follow up as he watched Connor get out his biology textbook.

“Sometimes,” he said with a casual shrug, “usually during midterms or finals week when I spend most of my time studying.”

“Your nap yesterday was your freebie then?” Hank’s attention was returning to his work, as was Connor’s.

“Probably, or your timing saved me.” With that the conversation fell away to be replaced with the clicking of a keyboard and the occasional turning pf a page.

It was a few hours later when Hank stood, “I’m gonna go get another drink. Do you want anything?”

Connor looked up from his notes, “A Chai Tea please. Thank you Hank.”

“No problem kid.” He said as he headed for the counter.

Connor put his biology book away and got out what he needed for mythology. He had about two hours until he needed to leave for the university. Time to concentrate on his test subjects. He sat back and stretched, his back popped like a line of fire crackers since this was the first time he had moved in a few hours.

By the time Hank got back with the drinks, Connor was once again absorbed in his work and jumped when a paper cup came into his line of sight. Hank laughed as he sat down.

“Anyone ever tell you that you’ve got tunnel vision Con?” He remarked with a laugh, “I called your name three times before I gave up.”

There was that nickname again and the bubbling warmth that came with it. Connor was fighting not to grin like an idiot when he spoke, “A few times. Sorry though, I wasn’t trying to ignore you.”

Hank chuckled as he got back to work, “I get the same way when I work sometimes too. Don’t worry.”

“After tonight I’ll at least be getting my sleep schedule back,” Connor said as a way of making conversation, “I just have sociology tomorrow and then I can pace myself for the nurses exam.”

“North won’t be able to draw on your face anymore,” Hank laughed, “but honestly, I’m glad you’ll be catching up on your rest.”

“I’m honestly just looking forward to getting back to my normal work schedule.” Hank gaped at him.

“Connor, do you ever take time off?” He asked, worry lining his voice.

“Yeah. When I’m sick, for finals week, and whenever Silas has a performance that’s within travelling distance. Why?” Connor asked with a tilt of his head.

Hank shook his head, “Let me rephrase that. Do you ever take time off for yourself Connor?”

“Well no. But I don’t need to, I’m happy.”

Hank sighed and leaned forward resting his forearms on the table on either side of his laptop, “Connor are you working this weekend?”

“No. I have-”

“Great. You’re gonna meet me here at noon on Saturday. I’m going to bring you to my place and you’re gonna meet Sumo. One day, that’s all I’m asking.” Hank’s tone made it clear that he wasn’t going to be taking no as an answer.

“Alright.” Connor wouldn’t have turned down the offer anyway, not when it came to spending time to Hank.

With that taken care of, they both got back to work. Connor nearly jumped out of his skin when the alarm on his phone went off. From the looks of it, the sound had startled Hank  as well. Connor turned it off quickly and began packing his things.

“Well, that’s my cue,” he said with an awkward laugh, “I’m gonna grab a drink for the road, Want me to get you anything?”

When he looked up, Hank was also getting his things together, “how about you get the drinks Saturday. I’ll join you in line though.”

Connor waited for Hank to finish getting his things together and then they joined the line. Now that he was standing, Connor stretched slightly to alleviate some of the stiffness in his back and let out a satisfied sigh when he finished.

“Do you have plans for the night Hank?” He asked, looking over his shoulder.

“Go home, order take out and pend time with my dog.” He replied, “What about you?”

“Take my finals. Then when I get home check to see if I passed the ones I took yesterday and either order victory or pity pizza.” He responded which got a laugh out of Hank.

“How about this. Since I’m so certain it will be victory pizza, I’ll pay for it.”

“But you don’t have my number,” Connor said turning to face Hank.

“You’ll have to give it to me then, won’t you.” He said with a wink and Connor died. Or maybe he was already dead. Adding that energy shot to the Due North probably killed him and this was just a hallucination.

Hank tapped Connor’s shoulder to get his attention and he took the offered phone. He put his number in and set his contact as Connor :). He handed the phone back and by the time he got to the counter he felt his phone vibrate with a message, he could guess who it was from. Josh gave him a suspicious smile.

“Don’t even start.” Connor muttered, cutting him off, “a medium black coffee please.”

Josh put one hand up in mock surrender and used the other to put in the drink order. Connor paid and headed for the end counter, fighting a smile the whole way.

He checked his phone for new messages, and sure enough there were two from a new number.

3132480705: Hello

3132480705: This is Hank :)

Connor: Hello Hank :)

He added the other to his contact list under Hank <3, because he had a crush and couldn’t help himself. He put his phone back in his sweatshirt pocket as Hank joined the group at the end counter.

“So what tests are you taking tonight,” Hank asked, crossing his arms over his chest in a relaxed manner.

“Biology and then mythology. Tomorrow is sociology.” Connor pulled his phone out to double check his calendar, then put it away again, “then assuming I’ve passed those I’m scheduled to take my nurses exam next Friday.”

“It’s good that you gave yourself a week to study,” he said as Connor went up for his drink, when he came back Connor was wearing a sheepish smile.

“I, uh, didn’t plan it like this. The first testing block was full when I applied.” He waved at Hank as he stepped away, “anyway I’ve got to go. I can, um, text you updates if you want.”

“Sure. Good luck Con.” Hank said as Connor left the cafe.

As soon as he got a cab he texted the group chat which had been suspiciously quiet the whole time he had been with Hank.

The Coffee Crew: 

RunawayArkait: Hank gave me his number!

RunawayArkait: Also! I am meeting Sumo this weekend.

RunawayArkait: So, progress. I think?

What.Josh.Does: You have his number and you’re meeting his dog. Yet you’re still questioning if you made progress

Northern_Lights: Go get your man!

SimonSays: Be safe please

RunawayArkait: I mean, Saturday is more of a hostage situation

RunawayArkait: I don’t take enough time for myself apparently

Northern_Lights: Oh. So you’ll listen to him on that!

Northern_Lights: What does that make us?

RunawayArkait: Friends who I love dearly

What.Josh.Does: Well either way, congrats

SimonSays: Don’t forget to tell your brothers

RunawayArkait: Thanks

-

The Family Feud:

RunawayArkait: Guess what?

Sixty-Second-Set: Your finals were cancelled!

UnluckyNine: You passed your exams?

RunawayArkait: Close, but no

RunawayArkait: Hank gave me his number

UnluckyNine: Nice

Sixty-Second-Set: It’s about fucking time

Sixty-Second-Set: If I had to hear you shine about him one more time I was going to pose as you and get it myself

RunawayArkait: Silas!

UnluckyNine: Just be glad it didn’t come to that

Connor rolled his eyes as the cab pulled up to the university. It shouldn’t surprise him that Silas would threaten him with something that extreme, in Silas’s opinion the more dramatic the even the better. Connor was glad it hadn’t needed to come to that, he knew Silas had meant it. He paid for the cab and made his way to building 27 for the last time this week.

He made his way to the second floor and took a seat at one of the hall tables. He took out his biology notes to go over them again before it was time for the test. He had half an hour, he wouldn’t get through everything but it was better than nothing. Science was a bit like math in that following a predetermined procedure would lead to one of a few results.

The half hour passed quickly since he was preoccupied, when students began leaving the lecture hall he began packing up his things. Just like his two previous finals, he didn’t feel like he was ready. He knew his grades by themselves were good enough to get him into the program, but the tests also came with a passing margin and he didn’t want to rely on his grades alone.

HIs  father had raised him and his brothers under the belief that it wouldn’t matter how hard they worked toward their goals since there would always be someone out there that could do it better. He had meant for it to encourage them to go to school and help with the business, but Connor had taken it to mean that he needed to be the one working the hardest to get where he wanted in life. Silas had done similarly albeit in a very different way, and Richard had worked to make himself as close to invisible as possible.

He was waiting outside the classroom for the last of the students to leave when his phone vibrated and pulled him from his thoughts. He pulled it out of his hoodie to put it on silent and saw a message from Hank. He had time, so he opened it.

Hank <3: You’ve got this kid

Connor: Thanks :)

Connor smiled and put his phone away. The room was finally empty and the professor allowed them to come in. He took his usual seat and took a moment to mentally prepare. He got drawn into the test into the test and what he needed of the two hour block flew by. He finished with fifteen minutes left after having gone over his answer just to be sure. He texted Hank first as he left the classroom.

Connor: One more then I’m done for the night

Hank <3: You’ll do great, don’t worry

Connor: :)

He waited until he was in building 1 to message everyone else. He sat in the second floor study area and took a break from his notes.

The Family Feud:

RunawayArkait: Just mythology left

UnluckyNine: That should be easy

Sixty-Second-Set: Hopefully there aren’t any essay questions.

-

The Coffee Crew:

RunawayArkait: Last test for the night is mythology

SimonSays: You’ll be able to get some decent sleep tonight

What.Josh.Does: Good Luck

Northern_Lights: God I hated that class

He spent the hour before his mythology final studying for it. Working his way through all of the lecture and reading notes he had taken during the semester. This particular professor didn’t believe in midterms so the final covered everything they had gone over during the semester. It annoyed Connor slightly, he would rather take two smaller tests than one massive one. They had been told that there would be at least ten questions from each era of mythology they had covered. it was a daunting undertaking and Connor didn’t think he was ready for it. Not that it mattered much, considering as he didn’t have a choice, but the sheer size of the test made his looming anxiety seem heavier. If he didn’t finish in time he would fail automatically and could kiss his shot at the nurses exam goodbye.

Connor did his best to shake those thoughts from his head as he go this things together. Maybe if he got there as the first exam was finishing he could get an early start. He grabbed his bag and made his way to the classroom waiting across the hall for the other exam to let out. He got his quarter out again to calm his nerves. He went through the same motions as the cafe. Rolling the coin over his knuckles before tossing it in the air and catching it. He did all of this without looking. On the fifth toss the door opened and Connor caught his coin putting it away. He waited for a gap in the students so he could enter the classroom. The professor wouldn’t let him start early, but he did gain extra time to study as he waited on his classmates. He hoped it would help him get through the test faster to have some of the information fresh in his mind.

When the exam was handed out Connor silently cursed Silas and came to understand why North had hated the class so much. More than half of the test was made up of short answer or essay questions. This was going to take forever. With a sigh that was just as much annoyed as it was anxious Connor started on the exam. He finished with a little over five minutes left in the test period. He was one of the last students in the room. He turned in the exam and left quickly, letting out a relieved sigh once he was back in the hall.

Connor: Done for the night and about to head home

Hank <3: How are you feeling?

Connor: Stressed and relieved

Connor: Happy that this is almost over

Hank <3: Take a break tonight. Alright?

Hank <3: Try and unwind

Connor: That sounds like a good plan

Connor: When I get home I’ll let you know if you owe me a pizza :p

Hank <3: Cheeky bastard

Connor: That shouldn’t be news to you

Hank <3: Its not ;)

Connor smiled at the conversation and opened discord as he got in the cab. He tapped his apartment address into the terminal before he messaged his brothers.

The Family Feud:

RunawayArkait: Silas you jinxed me

RunawayArkait: More than half the test was short answer or essay questions

Sixty-Second-Set: Oops. But you finished didn’t you?

UnluckyNine: Obviously. Congrats by the way

Sixty-Second-Set: Then everything is fine

RunawayArkait: Anyway, I’m gonna be offline for the night

Sixty-Second-Set: Enjoy talking with Hank

UnluckyNine: Don’t do anything Silas wouldn’t do

RunawayArkait: That leaves me a lot of options

RunawayArkait: Also I hate you both

-

The Coffee Crew:

RunawayArkait: Done for the night

RunawayArkait: We can compare test scores tomorrow Josh. I’m going to be offline tonight

SimonSays: Tell Hank hello

RunawayArkait: Why is everyone assuming that!

Northern_Lights: Are we wrong

RunawayArkait: Well no

What.Josh.Does: Alright. Tomorrow then. Have a good night Connor

RunawayArkait: Thanks

He opened Canvas in his phone’s web browser to check if the exams from yesterday had been graded. They had been and he had passed them both. He had gotten 100% on his calculus exam and a 95% on his art history exam. Both above the cut off. It was definitely going to be victory pizza. Then he was going to unwind with a glass of wine and a bubble bath. He’d use what was left of his night to catch up on his sleep.

The cab pulled up to his apartment complex, he paid and got out to head up to his unit. Once he was inside and had put his backpack away and sent Hank a screen shot of his test results.

Connor: So, victory pizza?

Hank <3: Victory pizza. You got any place you usually order from

Connor: Nope. You can pick

Connor: Medium with cheese and mushrooms please

Hank <3: I really should have known that your pizza order was going to be fucking weird

Hank <3: I need your complex name and your apartment number

Connor: Ridgewood Apartments building B5 apartment 205-B

Hank <3: Alright. It’ll be there in an hour

Connor: You’re the best

Hank <3: You only say that because I bought you pizza

Connor: And coffee ;)

Hank <3: You’re the worst

Connor: I try my best

He put his phone on full volume and walked into the kitchen and got out a stemless wine glass as well as the bottle of white wine Silas had bough him the last time he came over. He poured himself half a glass and put the bottle away. With the glass in hand he made his way back to the living room sat back on the couch and kicked his socked feet up onto the coffee table. He turned on the tv and turned it to the true crime channel, quickly getting absorbed in what was on. An hour or so later when there was a knock at his door Connor just about jumped out of his skin. He collected himself and answered the door. He took the pizza and tanked the delivery person before heading back to the living room. He opened the box and set it on the coffee table beside his wine glass. He took a picture and sent it to Hank.

Connor: The right way to celebrate finals (almost) being over

He received a picture in return. It was of Hank’s coffee table, there was a half full whiskey glass and Chinese take out. Sumo was sprawled out in the background.

Hank <3: You’ve got the right idea Con

Connor: Glad we can agree

He moved to the floor in the space between the couch and the coffee table so he could use it as a dining table. He had a couple slices of pizza and finished his first glass of wine before he put the left overs away. He poured another glass of wine and made his way to the bathroom. He started the bath added bubbles and let the water run as he went to his room to get pyjamas. He texted Hank again before he got into the bath.

Connor: Now for the best part of the night. Relaxing with a glass of wine.

Hank <3: I’m more of a whiskey guy myself, but that sounds like a good plan.

Connor let out a content sigh as he sank into the water and relaxed into the warmth. He played music from his phone and stayed in the water until it went cold. He rinsed off and got ready for bed and texted Hank as he plugged his phone in for the night.

Connor: Good night Hank

Hank <3: Sleep well Connor

Hank <3: We wouldn’t want North drawing on you again :)

Connor: No we would not

The next day he didn’t wake up until around noon, his body deciding to try and make up for all of his lost sleep in one go. He got up and got ready, taking what he would no longer need out of his backpack and heading for the cafe. Deciding to walk since it was nice out. While he was waiting to cross at a crosswalk he sent the screenshot of his test results to Josh.

What.Josh.Does: Nice! I got a 97%

What.Josh.Does: I’ll cover your first drink as promised

RunawayArkait: You’re the best

What.Josh.Does: You’re only saying that because I’m buying you a coffee

RunawayArkait: See you soon

He tucked his phone away and crossed the street and continued on his way to the cafe, He put his bag at his usual table and went to stand in line. Connor hadn’t been in line long when Hank’s voice sounded from behind him.

“Late start today Con?” Hank asked, the nickname he had given Connor rolled off his tongue like they had known each other for years. The dopey grin it caused to curl over Connor’s lips made him glad that Hank was behind him, “you’re usually passed out at your table by now.”

“That’s only happened like twice this week,” Connor argued, it was weak but it was all he had.

“Connor, its Wednesday,” Hank continued, “two out of three days this week you’ve been asleep at the table. A two-thirds average isn’t that great when you’re on the third day.”

“I don’t think I’ll be doing that today considering as I didn’t wake up until like noon.”

“So you finally made up for your lost sleep.”

“Apparently.” Connor said as he stepped up to the counter, “a large Iced Americano please.”

Josh put the order in and Connor walked to the end counter to wait. He was tempted to pull out his coin but the cafe was pretty busy today and the sound tended to annoy people. So he settled for signing the alphabet in reverse. This would be his last test for the semester, he’d had plenty of time to prepare and yet his anxiety was still eating at him. He finished one cycle of the alphabet and started over.

“So what are you doing with your hand?” Hank asked, scaring the life out of Connor who had retreated into his own thoughts.

“Signing the alphabet backwards.” Connor replied once he had collected himself.

“Why?”

“I need something to keep my hands busy when I’m anxious and I don’t want to annoy anyone with my quarter.”

“Test anxiety? Is that why you’ve been studying so hard?’

“Yeah. I want to do everything in my power to make sure I pass my exams.” His drink was called and he went up to the counter to grab it. He pointed to the table where his bag was and when Hank nodded Connor made his way over.

Connor took his seat and got out his sociology textbook and notes. By the time he had gotten his stuff out Hank was taking his usual seat across the table. He got out his laptop and they both got to work. They passed the time in busy pleasant silence until Hank asked him a question.

“So what do you do with your quarter that annoys people?” Hank asked as he looked up from his work.

“This.” He said as he pulled out the coin rolling it over his knuckles then flicking it up in the air, catching it in his other hand and then showed it off with a ‘tada’ motion.

“That’s a pretty neat trick.” Hank said with a half smile, “but i can see why you wouldn’t want to d it in a crowded place.”

“It annoys some people so I try to avoid doing it if I can.” He said, returning his attention to his notes.

The conversation fell away after that. Hank was the first to leave today, Sumo had a doctors appointment. They said their goodbyes and Connor got back to work. A few hours later when he was on his way to the university he sent Hank a text.

Connor: Last one. Wish me luck

Hank <3: You’ve got this Con, luck or no luck

Hank <3: But good luck

Connor: Thanks Hank. You’re the best

Hank <3: I try to be

Connor was smiling at his phone like a love struck idiot and it took all of his strength not to send a heart back. He didn’t want to make Hank uncomfortable. They were only friends and most friends didn’t do that. He set his phone in his lap and used his hands to cover his blush and matching dopey grin. He knew he had it bad. Going back over the texts, some of them sounded like flirting. Connor took a deep breath trying to collect himself, he needed to focus on his final for the time being.

He was somewhat back to himself when he got to the university. Once this test was done he had four days of what amounted to free time. Thursday, Friday, and Sunday were days he was going to use to study for his nurses exam and Saturday he was going to meet Sumo. Monday it was back to work as usual and then that Friday he was taking his nurses exam. Then it was back to business as usual until the fall semester started, He got out and made his way to building 1 for the last time this semester.

He made his way to the classroom as the previous class left. There wouldn’t be any last minute studying this time. He took his phone out of his pocket to double check that it was on silent then put it away. When the last of the students filed out Connor entered the class and took his usual seat.

Once it started, the testing block seemed to fly by. He finished with half an hour left. Surprisingly this test was the one he felt the most confidence for. When he got in a cab, he messaged Hank first.

Connor: I’m done!

Connor: My finals are finished!

Hank <3: Congratulations! For the next two weeks you’re free

Connor: I’m going home and taking a fucking nap

Hank <3: It’s well earned

Hank <3: Sleep well Con

-

The Family Feud:

RunawayArkait: I’m done

UnluckyNine: Congratulations

Sixty-Second-Set: Time to celebrate

RunawayArkait: Time to take a nap

UnluckyNine: That works too

Sixty-Second-Set: Boring

-

The Coffee Crew:

RunawayArkait: I’m free

SimonSays: Nice

What.Josh.Does: Good for you

Northern_Lights: Party time!

RunawayArkait: Sorry to disappoint, but I’ll be taking a nap

Northern_Lights: That’s boring

Connor rolled his eyes as he closed discord going back to his conversation with Hank.

Connor: Apparently I’m boring for wanting to sleep off my finals

Hank <3: They’re your tests. You get to pick how you celebrate

Connor: Exactly. So I’m going to make up for lost sleep

Hank <3: Sounds like a good plan to me

Connor: Thanks

The cab arrived at his apartment and he paid and got out. Exhaustion weighed down on him as he made his way up to his unit. He’d reheat a couple slices of pizza for dinner and then head to bed. He fumbled with his keys for a moment before getting his door unlocked

Once he was inside he dropped his bag by the door and kicked his shoes off. In the morning the mess would probably bother him, but he was tired now so that was future Connor’s problem. He opened the fridge and grabbed two slices of pizza and put them on a paper towel then in the microwave. Tonight was a lazy night. He changed into pyjamas and came back into the kitchen when the microwave went off. For the sake of convenience he ate over the kitchen sink. He rushed through his nightly routine, Before he climbed into bed he pugged in his phone and messaged Hank one last time.

Connor: Good night Hank

Hank <3: Sleep well Connor

Thursday found him awake around eleven. Unlike yesterday there was no sleep hangover, for the first time in a long time he felt well rested. He spent the first part of the day cleaning his apartment and doing laundry. Giving his brain a break from the bookwork, which felt pretty nice.

Around three o’clock he made his way to the cafe. He stood in line and looked around. He found Hank at their usual table, he was absorbed in his work and had earbuds in. Since he had the time, he messaged him to see if he wanted anything.

Connor: I’m in line. Would you like anything

He scanned the menu deciding on a chai tea rather than coffee since he felt well rested for once. He looked down when his phone vibrated.

Hank <3: Fist of all, you scared the ever loving fuck outta 

Hank <3: My usual with two shots please

Connor: Got it :)

Connor: And sorry. I just thought I’d ask since I was up here

When it was his turn he noticed one of the new trainees, Echo, he believed, working the register while North worked the bar. He smiled at the blue haired woman, “Could I get a medium Chai Tea with cinnamon and nutmeg as well as a Vanilla Latte with two shots of espresso.”

She seemed to struggle with the first drink and North came to her aid, staying to help with the second and writing on the cups to make things easier. Connor always spoke his orders to the new hires since knowing how to sign wasn’t a requirement and he didn’t want to assume they knew it.  Shifts were designed so that at least one person who knew Sign Language was there. Once the drinks were up, he headed for the table.

He sat across from Hank in his usual seat and slid the cup across the table while Hank took out his earbuds, “so manuscript today or short stories?”

“Manuscript surprisingly enough.” Hank said before drinking from his latte and letting out a content hum, “what about you? What book are you rubbing your nose against today?”

“Today I’m going over the notes and study guide Markus gave me to make flashcards to go over on my breaks since I go back to work on Monday,” Connor said as he got out what he would need. Typed out notes, a hand written study guide, a stack of one thousand notecards, and a pencil pouch with that said ‘always look on the bright side’ on the front.

Hank gave an amused chuckle and shook his head, “I still think you should go over the definition of the word break Con.”

Connor drank from his chai tea to cover the involuntary grin that the nickname caused, “I’m taking an ‘actual’ day off on Saturday. Remember?”

Hank rolled his eyes but seemed to accept Connor’s flimsy argument. They lapsed into a companionable silence. Connor was working on his flashcards and Hank was working on his manuscript. Occasionally Connor would catch himself staring at Hank, but would look away before he got caught and forced himself get back to work. Until his luck ran out and Hank met his eyes cracking a smile that lead Connor to believe he hadn’t been nearly as stealthy as he had thought.

“See something you like Connor?” Hank joked, and it had to be a joke. Despite the way some of their messages read there was no way Hank would ever flirt with him. Connor turned into a tomato anyway.

“I was, um, I was just staring off into space...” he trailed off never having been all that great of a liar. He wanted the ground to open up and swallow them whole.

Hank didn’t look like he believed Connor but he didn’t comment on it. They went back to their easy silence until Hank had to leave.

“Sumo is getting groomed tomorrow, so I’m not gonna make it to the cafe,” Hank sounded almost upset that he was going to miss a day. Like he looked forward to these days too.

“That’s alright,” Connor said with a slight shrug, “we’ll see each other on Saturday.”

“See you Saturday then,” Hank responded with a half smile as he turned to leave.

Connor watched him go before getting back to his notecards. It took him a few hours and a couple cups of coffee to get them finished, and once he was done he headed home. He would probably stay home tomorrow too. Take a day to himself and mentally prepare for meeting Sumo and what that would bring.

He finished off the pizza and did the rest of his laundry. With his apartment mostly clean and his laundry done, Connor decided to call it a night. Once again messaging Hank before falling asleep.

Connor: Good night Hank

Hank <3: Night Connor

Hank <3: Don’t work too hard tomorrow

Connor: No promises, but I’ll try my best

He spent most of Friday morning fretting over what to wear. Eventually deciding on a black short sleeve button down that was patterned with gradient grey roses, black jeans and grey converse. It wasn’t a date, but looking nice couldn’t hurt anything. He hung the outfit on his closet door and paced into his living room debating on if it would be better to message his brothers or his friends. Richard hadn’t dated anyone before so seeking him out for romantic advise probably wouldn’t be the wisest. Silas preferred a friends with benefits arrangement over dating so he wouldn’t be any help. North would just make fun of him. That left Josh, Simon, and Markus. Simon and Markus were dating so that would probably be the best bet.

RunawayArkait has started a group chat with Made-By_Markus and SimonSays!

RunawayArkait: I need help

RunawayArkait: What does one do on a not-date visit to their crush’s house to meet their dog

SimonSays: Send their kind and supportive friends pictures of said dog. Obviously

SimonSays: Keep a level head, but pay enough attention to see if he is flirting back

RunawayArkait: Flirting back? That implies that I flirt with him. Which I don’t!

Made-By_Markus: But you do. I’ve heard all about it from Simon

RunawayArkait: Rude!

Made-By_Markus: As cliche as it sounds, just be yourself

SimonSays: Relax. Like you said, it’s not a date

RunawayArkait: Thanks I guess

Made-By_Markus: Anytime. Also Simon, I’m in the lobby

SimonSays: Alright. I’ll be down soon

RunawayArkait: And that’s my cue to leave. Enjoy your date!

Made-By_Markus: Thanks

Connor groaned at the lack of help. Figuring he was stressing too much over something that was decidedly not a date, he decided to spend the rest of his Friday curled up on the couch catching up on all of the true crime shows he had missed on his study binge.

He woke up at eight in the morning on Saturday. He took his time getting ready and once he was satisfied with his appearance he left for the cafe at around eleven-thirty. He decided to walk so he could work off some of the anxiety that was thrumming beneath his skin. He debated cancelling several times, but eventually decided that he deserved to meet a new dog after having worked so hard to pass all of his finals. If it so happened that he was reading too far into this, which was incredibly likely, he would have at least gotten to see a new dog. He would be able to add a Saint Bernard to his mug which he would have to edit and then reorder. He won either way.

Connor arrived to find Hank waiting outside the cafe with one of the biggest and most fluffy dogs he had ever seen. Sumo sat neatly beside Hank looking to be very well trained, which was probably pretty helpful considering the dog’s size. He took a picture of Sumo with is phone before greeting Hank.

“You’re here early.” Connor said in way of a greeting and Hank turned to him with a smile.

“So are you Con,” he said, lifting his free hand in a lazy wave, “but that’s more expected of you than me.”

Connor laughed, “Yeah.”

Hank changed the subject, “So I didn’t find a no pets sign but I just wanted to check if Sumo would be allowed inside.”

“Unfortunately no. We do have a service animal policy tough.” Connor kept himself from gesturing at the door with his free hand by reaching it out toward Sumo so the large dog could sniff at it, “I can go inside and get the drinks then meet you back out here, since I’m covering drinks today anyway. Your usual?”

“Sounds good to me,” Hank said with a thankful smile. “I’ll let you know if we head back to the car.”

“Thanks/” Connor said as he headed inside.

The line was thankfully short and it didn’t take long to place their order. An iced Americano for Connor and a Vanilla Latte with two shots of espresso for Hank. When he exited the cafe, both Hank and Sumo were at the bench.

“Ready?” Hank asked as he got up, Sumo obediently following suit.

“Yup.” He handed the latte off as they walked to the car and Sumo happily snuffled at his free hand as they went.

When they got to the car Connor opened the back door on the passenger side so Hank could get Sumo in. With that taken care of, Connor got in on the passenger side, only to have Sumo lean forward and lick a stripe up his face when he turned to look in the back seat. Hank laughed at the sight.

“Hello to you too Sumo.” Connor said, using his jacket sleeve to wipe the drool off of his face then reaching back to pet him, “its nice to meet you.”

“What kind of dog do you think you’re gonna get once you graduate?” Hank asked as he pulled out of the parking lot and began the drive to his house.

“Either an Australian Shepherd or a Golden Retriever,” Connor replied, “small enough to keep in an apartment but big enough to socially be considered a dog. I hope to be able to put them through search and rescue as well as service training.”

“Why am I not surprised you have all of this planned out.” Hank shook his head with a fond smile.

“I like being organized.”

“I can tell.”

Connor rolled his eyes, “What made you decide on a Saint Bernard?”

“I picked him up from a shelter a few years back.” He paused for a moment, seeming to consider his words, “my fiance and I had split and I didn’t want to be alone in the house. Took about a month to realize i was going to need a bigger yard and then we moved. Whoever had him first had already trained him which has made things a lot easier.” He looked in the rearview mirror at Sumo for a moment, “the big lug even knows a couple of hand signs.”

Hank had a fiance at one point, a few years back apparently. Connor wanted to ask about it, but the rapid change in topic made it clear that Hank didn’t want to, “Really? What commands does he know the signs for?”

“I’ll show you when we get to the house, how about that?” Hank suggested.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

As it turned out, Sumo knew the signs for sit, stay, laydown, and roll over. Connor spent the next few hours teaching him the sign commands for speak, play dead, shake hands, and high five. It didn’t go well, which was fine because hank seemed to get a kick out of it. Once he gave up and settled beside Hank on the couch they ordered take out and talked enjoying each other’s company. It was a few hours later, when they were getting ready to leave that Hank asked him a favor.

“So I kind of had an ulterior motive for asking you over today,” Hank started with a tentative smile. “There’s a writers’ conference next weekend, I was wondering if you would mind stopping by to check on Sumo while I’m away since he seems to like you.”

“Of course I wouldn’t mind,” Connor said as he headed for the door. “He’s well behaved and a sweetheart.”

“Thank you so much.” Hank sounded genuinely relieved. He opened the front door and called over his shoulder to Sumo, “I’ll be back soon. Be good while I take Connor home.”

“I’ll see you next weekend,” Connor called to the dog as he left.

The ride to Connor’s apartment was filled with idle chatter, broken up occasionally by Connor giving Hank directions. It was nice, and his anxiety over today seemed distant and unnecessary. Today had been easy and comfortable. They arrived at his complex about twenty minutes later and Connor wasn’t ready to be done yet.

“Uh, today was nice,” Connor said eloquently. He was pretty sure he couldn’t have been more awkward if he tried.

“Yeah, it was,” Hank said seeming just as nervous, “um, if you want to come by again just let me know I guess.”

“Yeah. Uh, thanks then.” Hank unlocked the door as Connor reached for the handle, “I’ll um, I’ll watch Sumo whenever you need me to.”

“Thanks Con,” he said as Connor opened the door and got out, “have a good night.”

“You too Hank.” Connor gave him a slight wave before he shut the car door and went inside the complex. He had been so awkward. Hank definitely know now and he was probably uncomfortable.

Connor let out a frustrated groan once he was in his apartment. He made himself a cup of tea to help wind down before bed. The best thing he could do would be to act like nothing had changed and maybe they could still be friends. He sighed and finished his tea and got ready for bed. He texted Hank as usual before calling it a night.

Connor: Thanks for today Hank. It was a lot of fun

Connor: Good night

Hank <3: I’m glad you enjoyed yourself. Sleep well Con

Connor smiled at his phone before setting it aside and falling asleep. As long as he could keep his feeling tucked away, things would be fine. 

Sunday went by in a blur of studying and self pity. He answered messages as they came, trying to make it seem like things were normal. Like he hadn’t potentially fucked everything up. He was thankful he had today to wallow because come tomorrow he had to be a functioning human being. When he was getting ready for bed, he checked the messages from Hank like he hadn’t been avoiding him all day.

Hank <3: Are you coming to the cafe today?

Hank <3: Is everything alright?

Hank <3: Connor?

Connor: Sorry

Connor: My exhaustion from the week came back with a vengeance

Connor: I didn’t mean to worry you

Hank <3: It’s alright

Hank <3: I’m just glad to see that you’re okay

Connor: I’m going to call it a night

Hank <3: Sleep well

Connor: Thank you

Guilt clung to Connor as he drifted off making his sleep uneasy and restless. He didn’t mean to make Hank worry he just hadn’t known how to face him. When morning rolled around he was exhausted. He went through his morning routine on autopilot. He made coffee and poured it into his travel mug before walking to work. He was almost late, but made up for it by working part of the lunch rush. He didn’t see Hank before he clocked out for the day. He walked back home and took some time to himself before studying. 

The rest of the week went similarly. His texts to Hank throughout the day and before bed became the parts of his routine he looked forward to the most. he had Friday off so he could take his nurses exam. Connor didn’t feel like he would be ready, but this was all the time he was going to get. He would deal with it come Friday.

He woke up early on Friday and spent his morning studying. He left for the university around two and messaged Hank first when he got in the cab.

Connor: On my way to the exam

Hank <3: Good luck

Hank <3: Let me know how it goes

Connor: Will do :)

-

The Family Feud:

RunawayArkait: Time for the exam

Sixty-Second-Set: You’ve got this

UnluckyNine; You’re more than ready

-

The Coffee Crew

RunawayArkait: Exam day

Northern_Lights: Bet you’ll be in the top half of the class

Echo-Over-The-Water: Good luck Connor!

SimonSays: You’ll do great

What.Josh.Does: Here comes the cafe’s second nursing student

Connor put his [hone on silent and spent the rest of the cab ride going over his notecards. Markus had given him a general idea of what the test would cover, though the specific questions were changed every testing period. The test was a mix of essay, short answer, and multiple choice questions. They would have three hours to finish. Connor wasn’t exactly confident that he would pass, but he was fairly certain he would finish before the testing period ended. The results would be posted on Monday and he would have time to register for the recommended classes and buy books after that. Not to mention a whole weekend with Sumo to help with his worry.

He took his time on the exam, and then more time to go back over and correct some of his answers. He turned in the exam with fifteen minutes left in the period. He ordered a cab and messaged Hank, knowing that the other was on a flight and he wouldn’t get a reply.

Connor: Finished my exam and I’m feeling pretty good about it

Connor: I’ll swing by in a couple hours to check on Sumo and send pictures

-

The Family Feud:

RunawayArkait: It’s done

UnluckyNine: Congrats

Sixty-Second-Set: Look at you go Mr. Nurse

-

The Coffee Crew:

RunawayArkait: Finished!

RunawayArkait: I’m gonna be gone for the weekend

SimonSays: Give Sumo lots of love for us!

Echo-Over-The-Water: Congratulations!

Northern_Lights: You did it

What.Josh.Does: Enjoy your weekend

When he got to his apartment he set his bag on the couch and set an alarm on his phone for three hours from now and laid down for a nap. When he woke up he would pack for his weekend with Sumo.