#BUT I SWEAR IT LOOKED ACTUALLY BAD ITS LIKE HE BECAME A BALLOON AND HE GOT BLOWN UP TO THE MAX

[kavehater]

I always get so confused by the fact the fandom wide accepted fact is that alhaitham has a big nose ? I’m just confused where that spawned from cause it feels so random but so persistently mentioned ? LOL

Edit /// this is the mod. I actually kinda like the skin tone but tbh even a tan would be good, but again he looks like an inflated balloon.

[wisp-wandering]

For those of you who don't understand Taco’s complex character, think she's a straight up terrible person, or just want to know my view on her... this is the chapter for you! I will be going over analysis, psychology facts, and head cannons that align with her character.

Let's start with copy and pastes with Ideas I've already conveyed in other media's;

(This is me):

How come nobody here actually sees II in the light of a *REALITY SHOW*. A thing that's meant to bring out the worst in people? Like genuinely it makes me so frustrated that people can't see that. Characters like Steve Cobs/Walkie/Springy have no excuse, as they were never shoved into the environment. But the Gameshow was not only nonconsensual but offers 1 MILLION DOLLARS. in the light of 2011? THATS A LOT OF DAMN MONEY. most gameshows offer 10k, or 100k? 1 MILLION IS A LOT. Just to put it into perspective try to imagine the difference between 100k and 1Mil in marbles.  the human brain simply can't process that high of a number.

Onto the psychological effects. IT CAN PUT HIGH STRESS ON IT'S CONTESTANTS. and I'm just gonna say it right now. What Balloon, Trophy, and Taco did isn't that bad. LIKE I SWEAR. PSYCHOLOGICALLY IT MAKES SENSE FOR THEM TO USE STRATEGY LIKE THIS. The only thing I'll call Them out on was their rude comments and nature after the fact, but you also have to realize it's to exaggerate their negative antagonism towards the other contestants. In a game show like that it invokes behaviours that would otherwise not be part of their character. Trophy can be seen being a better person once not in the Gameshow. Cheesy was rude as shit until he wasn't in the Gameshow, Balloon reflected on his character when he wasn't in the Gameshow, Taco— oh! Would you look at that! Became better when she wasn't in a game show! Sure she acted shitty in some cases, but that was when money was still put on the line. I'm absolutely furious people can't realize that the Gameshow invokes that behaviour. Nobody cancels people from survivor when they act shitty. In fact, they Invited the shitty people TO PLAY AGAIN??? AND PEOPLE ROOTED FOR THEM??? People actually need to look at it from a bigger perspective.

Taco has conveyed the thing I've believed and tried to communicate on multiple occasions. THE GAMESHOW BRINGS OUT THE WORST IN PEOPLE!!! The only problem is that SHE DOESNT BELIEVE SHE HERSELF IS EFFECTED SIMILARLY. She's been berated and convinced she's a horrible person, and that she needs to act the way she does because that's who she is. Taco probably thinks she deserves what she's gotten, and was always too scared to confront Pickle directly. She probably thinks she needs to have circumstance around her change in order for her too aswell, considering how she wanted to go back with the Time Machine, but, when confronted by Mepad she denied it. I feel like the plot is pointing towards a situation where she tries to save everyone, and when confronted by Microphone she breaks down and curses herself out for being a horrible person, friend, and other things similar. Microphone and Pickle. Creating a situation where they show Taco that the game made her the way she was too. That she didn't have to be the villain.

Notice how Taco never blamed Mephone directly for the shortcomings of others? Sure she did say it was for his entertainment, but never that it was his fault. She blamed the game. Something NO OTHER VILLAIN HAS DONE. She taking account for her mistakes, THINKING ITS HER. And not stressful circumstances! She doesn't understand she's not a villain, She's just *human* (or object for that matter). A living breathing being. Mistakes don't make you the bad guy.

Also saying Taco has no will to make try and apologize for the sake of others is stupid too. She clearly wants to. She REALLY does. She's scared to hurt them, she's scared she will hurt the again.

(Spoilers for a Spider-Man no way home)

Its a similar trip to what happens at the end of Spider-Man NWH, she isn't going back because she thinks she's protecting them from herself. She genuinely believes she ruins everything she touches. She tried to do so by sabotaging the challenge!

Taco didn't really manipulate Microphone—??? I know what you're gonna say. "Ohh!! Wisp! Yes she did!!!" But— I mean... Rewatching it? If she is— it's... more of peer pressure than direct manipulation??? I mean. She never forced Microphone to do anything. Applauded her input... LET MICROPHONE LEAVE? There was no guilt tripping or alienation, Direct threats to Microphone and her friends. It was more so pressure about the game. Which was— probably Taco perceiving herself as still in the competition. Needing to out smart the others to get Microphone further. Taco seemed to admire Microphone's pacifist nature after a while. And I believe when she Attacked the aliens in ii14, she acted out of blind fear, like an unexpected twist in a challenge. You could tell her initial reaction wasn't malice, it was more of a natural response. She was more protecting Microphone than anything else. Trying to get her out as fast as possible.

I myself have been through a manipulative relationship, and... While I know all experiences aren't the same.

It doesn't feel malicious. Taco felt genuine. She wants to protect others from her own mistakes and herself. She's unknowingly putting others first! She doesn't even realize it! Taco is trying to be a villain only to mistakenly be good, and when she tries to be a hero, she's mistakenly bad... I feel bad for her. She doesn't understand she... Has it right now. It's sad...

What about the situation with balloon?

Well...

She tried to convince Mic to harm him, but never threatened Microphone or herself. Nor did she try to alienate balloon to make it more appealing. Taco pointed out a situation and gave a morally Grey solution. But she never forced Microphone to go with it, she just warned her of potential consequences.

People often mistake her strategy with manipulation. When... Taco didn't really manipulate anyone. She pretended, and provided input. Knowing actions have consequences from her own experience.

Taco is experiencing the "illusionary truth effect" otherwise known as "gaslighting":

(Online statements)

—...However, repetition itself should not serve as a signal of truth, since it does not add anything new to the conversation in terms of credibility. For this reason, the repetition bias is also called the "illusory truth effect"

the fact that repeated presentation of information or items typically leads to better memory for the material. The repetition effect is a general principle of learning, although there are exceptions and modifiers

In relationships, an abusive person may use gaslighting to isolate their partner, undermine their confidence, and make them easier to control. For example, they might tell someone they are irrational until the person starts to think it must be true.

It is a psychological FACT that if one, or other's repeatedly give you information, even if it's false, eventually your mind will begin to perceive it as true. It's why bullying can negatively effect someone, or even just simply saying, "hey fatty" as a joke. Even if you're the skinniest human being on the planet, If you or another says say it enough, the subconscious will inevitably perceive it as true, despite if you know it's false. Even something stupid, like, "The sky is red." Well, no. The sky is blue. You think. But, if someone were to bash that into your skull every day. Ranting on about how the sky IS RED. You're mind will betray your knowledge.

Everyone constantly talks about her in a bad light. Say she's horrible. A good for nothing liar. She's going to perceive it to be true in the end. And she has...

Saying Taco is nothing but a terrible person, and a villain just isn't true. She's an Anti hero, anti villain AT WORST. Not to mention her childish decisions and mind sets make her seem in her teen years, as per my head canons. That only makes her mind MORE malleable and vulnerable. Taco is a complicated Character. But that doesn't mean she's the worst human on the planet. Please, if you don't agree with what I've said, before you berate me, rewatch the show, or atleast look up the psychological effects and other such I included in this rant. I may add onto this in the future, so keep an eye out for a future Taco analysis.

Thank you for your time.

[duckduckhjonk]

*very loud clap of my hands*

RIGHT

*very loud cracking of my knuckles*

so tonight marks a special occasion, I finished season one of Inanimate Insanity as part of my tumblr live reactions. Very important day indeed. Now its time for my season review.

I guess if you haven't seen season 1 spoilers?? also its long so it goes under the read more. Also please note I'm just some random critter on the internet, I might not have gods greatest reading comprehension. If I say something wrong, please be respectful but do correct me!

I think the show started off very rocky to say the least. I think it was originally like "We're bfdi but edgy" with all the censored swearing and jabs at what would probably be 'dark' humour. Not really a fan of that bit, like- at all. I think most of what they tried to do early on landed very poorly. I think the way they originally tackled Paint Brush being non-binary was done awfully. I know in the later seasons it is properly discussed, but this is just going through the first season.

But, I think they recovered decently. I think that this season managed to turn that around and make it into genuinely an interesting show. I felt myself getting closer to the screen in anticipation and excitement during some of the later episodes. They ditched the dark/edgy humour and made a good show. I think that was smart and really good.

The characters are very fun. I definitely have some favourites. Those being Paper, Paint Brush, Bow, Balloon, Taco, and Marshmallow, but of them all I absolutely adore Paper. But I also think Bomb stood out a lot. He's a very solid character to me. I don't see a lot of characters with a stutter a lot, and originally I don't think it was done in a goodhearted way, but I didn't see a lot of it being used as the butt of the joke very often. Of course there were times it was, but it wasn't as common as I was expecting I suppose. I also think I'd like to talk about Apple a bit? I thought she was a very decent character, being a little stupid, but iconic I suppose. Although my biggest complaint with her was she was very much written off towards the end with her elimination. While the rest of the eliminated contestants came back and did things, she only got snippets???

Talking more about my faves for a moment. Paper, god I love him. From the bottom of the barrel to the top of the game with him. He became evil, he stopped being evil, he survived isolation, he's a soggy wet cat to me. I love him. I think both him and Bomb were fucked over by OJ. Segway into talking about that guy. OJ, our winner. I have very mixed feelings about him. On one hand, he absolutely is a prick, he's a little dramatic, but on the other hand, he absolutely does feel like Main Guy. He suffers a lot from that Protagonist Syndrome that I think some of these cartoon survivor shows have. Although I don't entirely hate him. He turned out well.

As for everyone's favourite food, I feel a little bad for Taco. She played the game and played it well. Feigning ignorance is not something easily done. If it wasn't for me being a spoiler-seeker and having seen it already, she very easily could have fooled me. She was very much for the most part what Rocky is/was but honestly, 20 times better. I loved her shouting, her auurrrr noise, the lemon spitting. I think that while she's back she should spit a lemon at someone. Please if the movie cares about its fans-

With all of this, I'm actually really looking forward to starting season 2. I'm hoping to be caught up by the time the movie/finale for season 2 comes out so I can possibly add this to my list of object shows to live review. I'm cutting this here because 1) my joints are starting to hurt and 2) if anyone wants more in depth reviews of each character feel free to hop into my inbox and ask, I would love to go more in depth, even with the ones I mentioned here individually. and also 3) its midnight. I'm an eepy guy.

thank you all who are here for accompanying me on this journey :3

[ibis-gt]

I honestly would love to read about the first time Cam finds out Luther is shrinking because he has feelings for him. In that hanahaki disease au.

ask and ye shall receive.... cam figures it out. just shy of 2000 words.

~~~

“Aaaand… there,” Cam said, and gave the screwdriver one final twist. He pulled on the little contraption in front of him a few times to test its stability and sat back on his haunches, finally satisfied. “You’re all set.”

It is one of four little rope and pulley elevator systems that he’d set up around Luther’s apartment. It consisted of a small wooden plank that Luther could stand on and use the rope system to raise or lower himself. Each one was operable at height ranges between about a foot and a half to four inches. They let him get up onto his sofa, his bed, the kitchen counter, and the bathroom sink.

“You really didn’t have to do all that,” Luther protested from his position just behind Cam. “I mean, I don’t get that small that often, I probably won’t use them that much.”

Cam laughed and pushed a stray wisp of hair out of his face, looking up at Luther. “What are you talking about? You’re always shrinking around me. It’s okay, I’m happy to help. That’s what friends are for.” He watched the usual blush spread across Luther’s face, the telltale shiver run down his spine, and smiled as Luther shrank another inch. He’d lost some height here and there during the installation process as they chatted, and had gone down to about five foot even, if Cam had to guess. “Anyway, you let me know if you have any trouble with these, and I’ll be over to fix ‘em as soon as I can. And there’s the bells if you’re in any real trouble - those strings there, see? They’re hooked up to a bell in my apartment, ring that and I’ll come right over.”

“My cat’ll have a field day with them,” Luther murmured, brow furrowing. “Maybe we should do something other than string.”

Cam chewed on the end of his screwdriver in contemplation. “Hm. Good point. I’ll figure something out later.” He slipped the screwdriver in his toolbelt and slapped his hands on thighs as he stood up. “Well! I’d better get back to my place and start dinner. You’re coming over, right?”

“Oh! As long as it’s not an imposition? I mean, I don’t want to be any trouble…”

“Nah, s’alright, you’re always welcome. Spaghetti and meatballs tonight. See you in an hour?”

Luther’s blush deepened and he lost another two inches. “S-see you then,” he managed.

Cam chuckled fondly to himself as he left. He tried not to think of Luther’s condition as cute or funny, because when the shrinking was really bad it put the poor guy in danger. But he couldn’t help but find it amusing when Luther lost just a little height, ending up just a slightly shorter version of himself. And when he went on one of his long rambles and shrank a little bit at a time all throughout, it put Cam in mind of a deflating balloon, which was just too silly not to laugh at. And when he ended up really tiny, and he was just like a little doll, and fit so perfectly in the palm of Cam’s hand…

Cam shook his head to clear his thoughts. No, that was too far. He shouldn’t think like that, no doubt it was terrifying for Luther to be so small and vulnerable. He sighed as he shouldered his door open, hands full of leftover wood and string. He set them on the little table where he kept his keys by the door, then unbuckled his toolbelt and hung it on the coat rack, lost in thought.

He’d been puzzling over what caused Luther to shrink for a while now. Was it just at random? Was it like an allergic reaction, and some kind of food or environmental thing kicked it off? He had a brief vision of Luther sneezing and instantly shrinking down to bug size. No, knock it off, he chastised himself, not funny. A little funny. But don’t laugh at it.

Anyway, he hadn’t seen Luther ever sneeze when he shrank, so that probably wasn’t it. What were the symptoms? He’d make a list, that would help him narrow it down.

Cam slipped an apron over his head - one of the novelty ones his sister kept getting him, he didn’t bother to read the witty joke about buns printed on the front - and started on the dough for his spaghetti. Whenever possible, he liked to make things from scratch. Besides, having something to do with his hands let his mind work better. He worked the problem around in his mind just like he worked the dough in front of him, kneading it, pushing it around, looking at it from different angles.

So. What were the warning signs? Luther tended to get awkward and shy just before he shrank. He’d blush, stammer or trip over his words, either avoid eye contact or stare like he couldn’t look away, and of course the final sign was that signature shiver right before a loss of height. A lot of those symptoms could be attributed to anxiety as well - was that what triggered the shrinking, just whenever he was anxious? But that couldn’t be it, Luther had been anxious plenty of times without shrinking. Not to mention he worked a high-stress job, waiting tables at a local diner, and wouldn’t be able to make it through the day if anxiety made him shrink. So that wasn’t it.

Cam rolled the dough out flat and cut it into strips. He hung the fresh noodles up to dry and put water on to boil, then opened the fridge and pulled out the meatballs he’d shaped that morning.

His brain kept chugging along on the issue as he worked, hands going on automatic. He came back to the present long enough to taste the sauce he’d made, hem and haw, and add a little more garlic, then went right back to it. There was something tugging at the back of his mind, trying to get his attention, but he couldn’t quite grasp it.

A sound startled him out of his thoughts - the ringing of a bell.

“Shoot,” Cam hissed, dropping the sauce spoon. It clattered onto the stove and left little pools of sauce cooling on the glass surface. He’d deal with that later though, Luther needed him now. He switched the burners to low and headed for the door.

Luther’s door was locked, so he had to duck back inside his apartment to grab the spare key. He opened the door slowly and called out.

“Luther? Was that just the cat, or do you need me?” Cam scanned the room, looking for that distinctive neon green jumpsuit. It clashed horribly with everything, but it was useful for spotting him when he ended up tiny. Sure enough, there he was by the strings for the bell, waving an arm to get Cam’s attention. He was easy to spot, as far as things went, standing about a foot tall. Cam hurried over.

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Do you need help?” Cam took a knee in front of Luther and leaned in close, inspecting him for injuries. Luther took a step back, startled by the sudden rush of worry, and Cam made himself pull back as well. It had to be scary to have someone looming over you like that, he told himself, give him a little space.

“I-I’m fine,” Luther said. “I just… well, this happened, and now I can’t really open my door, so I was hoping you could give me a lift over for dinner? Sorry, I shouldn’t’ve used the bell. I could’ve texted you.”

The tension flooded out of Cam and he laughed in relief. “No, that’s fine, I just jumped to conclusions. I can give you a lift, sure.” He cupped his hands and held them out to Luther, who climbed on and settled in, sitting down with his legs crossed. Cam rose slowly, being careful not to jostle Luther, and began to amble back towards the door. A thought occurred to him.

“What did it?” Cam asked.

Luther looked up, startled. “What did what?”

‘“What made you shrink this time? I’ve been trying to work it out on my own and I’m just not getting it. There’s gotta be a common thread, right, you’re not just shrinking at random?”

Luther stared at him in open-mouthed shock, face growing steadily redder.

“I mean,” Cam continued, “if you were just shrinking at random, it’d be hard to hold down a job, y’know? Do you ever shrink at work? And anyway, didn’t you say - ” His eyes widened as that thing that had been nagging at him finally became clear. “You said you don’t shrink all the time! But you shrink pretty often whenever I’m around. Am I doing it, somehow?”

“No, no, no,” Luther said hurriedly, but Cam could feel him getting smaller.

“Oh, liar!” Cam chortled. “Nice try, Pinnochio, but I’m literally holding you right now. Is it actually me?”

“It’s - it’s not - not always?” Luther was practically cowering away from him now, and Cam realized he’d been a little harsh.

“Oh shoot, I’m sorry. Look, we don’t have to talk about it, okay? It’s your business, I shouldn’t’ve pried.”

“No, I… I’ve been meaning to tell you for a while, it’s just… hard to say out loud, um…” Luther fidgeted with the collar of his jumpsuit, avoiding Cam’s eyes. He was red as a tomato, mouth drawn up in an adorable little pout, and so small and cute that Cam’s heart ached. Then it clicked.

“Oh. Is it me, like… because you like me?” Cam asked. “Like, you have a crush on me, is that it?”

Luther let out a sound like a tea kettle whistling, shrinking down at an alarming rate to only five inches tall. Cam couldn’t help himself. He laughed so hard he snorted. When he finally got a hold on himself again, the wounded look on Luther’s face sobered him instantly.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, but you don’t know how long I’ve been trying to work this out, and the answer’s been right in front of my face the whole time! I swear I’m laughing at myself, not at you. Anyway, you wanna go out sometime?”

Luther gaped up at him for a long moment. His mouth opened and closed a few times, but nothing came out. Finally he shut his mouth and nodded furiously. Cam grinned.

“Or this could be like our first date, right? I’ll get some candles and dim the lights. We could even 'Lady and the Tramp' it with the spaghetti! Or - okay, okay, sorry, I’ll stop.” Luther had started to shrink again, and Cam didn’t want his cooking to go to waste just because his guest was too small to eat it. “Hey, I joke a lot, but I want you to know I’m being serious here,” he said gently. “I’d like to go out with you, if you’re alright with it. Is it going to cause problems, though? Like are you going to shrink every time we’re together?”

Luther shifted and looked away, finally finding his voice. “I - I don’t know. The doctor said if I told you about how I felt, it would get easier. But he didn’t say it would go away entirely… if that’s not something you want to put up with, we don’t have to - ”

“No, no, that’s fine, I don’t mind it. Just if it was a problem for you, is all. I like you a lot, Luther. I’d love to be your partner, if you’ll have me.”

Luther looked back up at Cam with a huge, genuine, relieved smile on his teeny tiny face. Cam’s heart melted.

“I’d like that.”

[kingsuckjin]

Jimin's Body- Teaser

⫸ possessed Jimin x reader

⫸  Genre: horror, (Jennifer's body au)

⫸  Rating: M (18+ for eventual smut and very dark themes)

⫸  Warnings: (for this teaser only) demonic possession, blood, low self worth, mention of being a loner, question of a heart attack, embarrassing childhood story, Jimin might be being teased, hmmm Tae's house is haunted maybe?

⫸ About: This wasn't the party Jimin thought it would be. After the party you knew Jimin wasn't the person you thought he once was either... that is, if he’s a person at all anymore.

⫸  Words:1.8k

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

"Taehyung, stop fucking with everyone." You scolded as Jimin stared wide-eyed at the ceiling at the light that had just flickered out.

He had to look tough with you sitting in the circle right across from him on the brown, shag-carpeted floor of this basement that looked like it and its living room-like furniture hadn’t been touched or updated since the 70’s.

It was supposed to be a party, and there indeed was one upstairs blasting music but muffled by the floor above.

You were all supposed to be playing a childish and tipsy game of spin the bottle in the basement.

Jimin was supposed to kiss you. He had only come here because he wanted to spend time with you because you invited him, but so far nothing was going as planned.

"He's not fucking with anyone his house is haunted." Jungkook chuckled while Taehyung gave you a boxy grin. 

Jimin couldn't tell if they were lying or not, he didn't really know anyone here but you and Seokjin, who had already passed out on the basement couch across the room, oblivious to everything happening.

Jimin also thought maybe they were all playing a joke on him, he hadn't said a word to anyone but you and Jin since he had got here.

"He's not lying, I saw a ghost once when I stayed over. I don't even believe in ghosts." The rather stoic guy named Yoongi spoke with his arms crossed.

"Tell them the story Tae." Jungkook urged.

Taehyung's eyes flitted around the circle to each person's face, possibly pausing to add anticipation.

"A woman died in this house." 

"So what? People die everywhere, it doesn't mean a place is haunted." You spoke up, already seeming like you didn’t believe him right from the start.

"She was murdered," Taehyung added.

"Sure." You scoffed as you rolled your eyes.

"She was. Right here in the basement. She ran from the killer and hid in the basement and locked herself in the bathroom. She was supposedly very beautiful and vain. Sometimes if you look in the mirror and tell yourself how nice you look, she'll get jealous and appear, maybe she'll even steal your soul if you're pretty enough." 

Although Jimin had been a little scared at first. He couldn't help but stifle a laugh and a smile at how cliché Taehyung's ghost story sounded and suddenly all eyes in the circle were on him.

"What? You don't believe me?" Taehyung raised his eyebrows at Jimin.

"No one does, Tae. Even if the house is haunted you're obviously dramatizing it." You scoffed.

"I believe it," Yoongi muttered.

"Go in there and do it Jimin." Jungkook urged pointing to a darkened doorway in the basement.

"Oh Jimin, you made her mad." Taehyung teased as he watched the light above begin to flicker back to life just before dying again.

Jimin could feel the "are you serious?" look on his face that he was now giving Jungkook. He didn't know any of these people but you, and you were the one he was afraid of looking like a coward in front of. He cursed at himself in his head for laughing at Taehyung's bad ghost story. He should've just stayed quiet like he always did.

"Go on." Jungkook urged again, ignoring Jimin's surprised look.

"Guys don't. This isn't how you treat new friends. Can we please go back to-" 

"Too scared?" Yoongi now asked Jimin.

"No." He answered more confidently than he felt. Should he be scared? Probably not. Taehyung's story was shit and everyone in the room knew it. They were obviously just picking on him because he was a new friend and shy, right? Jimin didn't really have many friends until he started working at the restaurant with you and Seokjin, he was always just too shy and quiet for friends to really stick. But what if he simply just wasn't this time? What if he became the outgoing popular Jimin he always wanted to be and started over with these new friends. What if he pretended to be everything he wasn't? That’s why he came tonight, he thought if maybe he was all of those things finally, maybe you’d want him. He wasn’t about to mess up the charade he was doing okay at putting on now. 

Jimin stood from his place in the circle of new friends on the floor, trying to stop his nervous legs from shaking.

"So what do I do?" He was wanting to prove them wrong, show them that he wasn't scared and this was all bullshit, even though he knew in the back of his mind that this was how every horror movie and story started.

"Jimin you don't have t-" you were interrupted by a smirking Taehyung. Jimin wondered how he could be so chill about this if it was real.

"Go in the bathroom, don't turn on the lights, look in the mirror, and tell yourself you're pretty and genuinely mean it."

"Oh, so you can all hear me and laugh at me?" Jimin saw a new ploy to their jokes.

"No ones going to laugh at you." Taehyung was serious as he looked Jimin in the eye.

"You've got more balls than I do, new guy." Jimin heard Yoongi say as he looked towards the dark basement bathroom. Something about their suddenly serious tones of voices and the way they were looking at one another now made the fear and nervousness in Jimin’s stomach rise once again. 

"I swear if you're tricking him or you plan on actually making fun of him I swear I won't be your guy's friend anymore, I mean it." Your tone was deadly serious at the group and that gave Jimin some reassurance.

"It's not a joke," Taehyung replied in a way that took away any shred of confidence Jimin had left. What was worse, his new friends playing a prank on him and wanting to embarrass him or something actually happening? Jimin felt fucked either way but still made his legs carry him to the bathroom as he tried to shake off the unsettling feeling Taehyung’s story had left him with.

He wondered if they would stop him and tell him they were just kidding, but as he closed the door and the complete darkness took over the room, he lost any hope of that happening.

The bathroom smelled musty unlike the livable rest of the basement. Although it was a full bathroom with a sink, tub, and toilet, the walls were unfinished. It just felt like someone had given up on the room long ago. 

Jimin placed his hands on each side of the cool, white porcelain sink and looked at himself thoroughly in the mirror in front of him. How was he supposed to tell himself he was good looking and mean it? Jimin felt like he was a timid, friendless, freak. Even this incident reminded him of a sleepover he had in first grade where he got scared and peed his pants and all the boys laughed at him. He knew you'd never want him, not when he was too shy to finally make a move, not when you had all of these cool guy friends.

Jimin placed his hand on his cheek and let his thumb drift over his lips. Have you ever once thought he was handsome? Just once? If you did you wondered what you thought about. Maybe you liked his lips and thought about how good they would feel pressed to yours… or even other places on your body.

Maybe you liked his hair and thought about how nice it would feel to run your hands through it. Perhaps his body? As a dancer, Jimin knew his body was in shape but was it good enough for you to imagine on top of you?

He finally came to the conclusion that maybe he had more in the looks department than most did. That was when he let the words pass his lips.

"I'm attractive." 

The affirmation felt good, he had never once thought to do this before. He continued to look over his features and think about what you might like about him.

"My lips are nice, my hair is nice, my body is nice and I'm so attractive. I'm pretty." 

Jimin began to understand that the others in that room weren't him, they were nothing like him. He had things that they didn't, many things they didn't. Even in the kindness department, Jimin had a leg up, after all, who sends a new friend into a bathroom to scare them? Did they even want to really be friends with him? Probably not. Perhaps they did this out of jealousy. They were probably jealous Jimin was better looking than them, he was a better person than them. They wanted you and couldn't have you, Jimin could.

All Jimin could see in the mirror was darkness all but the beautiful features of his face. He didn't feel the smirk that erupted on it, but he saw it in the mirror and it felt so right.

"I'm the most beautiful here. I am."

Jimin was so lost in himself that he barely noticed the shadow right behind him, reaching out for him with its dark, spindly fingers each tapered to a claw tip.

Jimin did however see the dark liquid begin to drop from his nose, run down his full pips and chin before dripping onto the white porcelain sink in front of him. 

He doubled over with the sudden pain in his chest that hit him faster than a lightning strike. It felt like his heart was being tightened in a vice.

He collapsed completely onto the cold, cracked tiled floor in the dark grunting with a ringing growing overwhelmingly loud in his ears as he waited for the squeezing in his chest to pop his heart like a water balloon.

Could anyone hear him? Surely someone had to. What was happening? He wondered if he was suffering a heart attack. Was he dying?

The pain was so terrible and felt like it was lasting so long that Jimin had tried to dig his fingers into the tile until his knuckles turned white.

Over the piercing ringing, Jimin could hear soft whispers that didn't make sense at first. The whispering of a woman. The longer he listened as his vision began to fade, the more he was able to make sense of the words.

"Let me in. I can make your dreams come true. I can give you everything you want, just let me in Jimin." Whatever it was knew his name, and it knew about you and how much he liked you. it felt like whatever the voice was was burrowing around in his brain looking for something.

Jimin felt weaker and weaker as his struggling against the pain lessened the more he decided to give up.

"Fine." Jimin had struggled to say, but once he did, everything stopped. Everything turned black, even his thoughts of you had melted away into the darkness.

[artzychic27]

The Artist Family? (new movie)

A month has passed since Marc and Nathaniel met and fell in love at age fourteen, now they’re dating

To celebrate their one month anniversary, they decide to visit one of the most romantic spots ever- The burned-down forest they met in- Only to run into some trouble

The mobs from their previous homes have still been looking for them since the incidents and were finally able to track them down

The couple manage to escape the angry mob with the help of Marc’s spiders and a friendly severed hand who cause a distraction

So they can get away quicker, That drives them in an old hearse he found in a graveyard

Marc: Mi querido, why must hoards of angry villagers follow us everywhere?

Nathaniel: *Kissing Marc’s hand* Meyn ziskeyt, I swear to you, we will find someplace so dark, so sinister, so dastardly that no one in their right mind would be caught dead in!

*They arrive in Paris*

Nathaniel: Huh. I see it’s changed over the last few centuries. And I’m noticing a lack of guillotines.

As they lament about how they can’t keep running for the rest of their lives, That, who was recklessly driving, runs over something in the middle of the road, right near an old funeral home shrouded by fog and cut off from the rest of the city

Marc/Nathaniel: *Excitedly* We hit something!

They rush to see who or what they’ve hit, and see that the figure is a blonde, pale young man who seems to have most of his organs missing

They realize that the person they ran over is Félix Culpa, a young man who died centuries ago, but was never given a funeral because the mortician prepping him got the plague. He regains consciousness and goes to attack the two, but Nathaniel just hands him their bags

Nathaniel: Thanks, man. Hey, you mind showing us around the place?

And that’s how Félix became their butler

When they arrive at the old funeral home, they’re given a very warm welcome.

Spirit of the House: GET OUT!

Marc: ... It’s hideous.

Nathaniel: It’s horrible...

Marc/Nathaniel: It’s home.

Weeks goes by, and more people begin to occupy the home, making amazing first impressions

Marinette and Alix actually snuck in and have been living in the walls for a short period of time until Félix found them

Marc found Rose resting in one of the open graves in the backyard

And Juleka Samara-crawled out of the swamp with her hair covering her face

The six of them share their backgrounds, sympathize with each other about how they were run out of their homes, and make the decision to change their last names to Artist

Now they’re sixteen while Alix is still fifteen

Meanwhile, down in Paris, Gabriel Agreste is taking the fashion world by storm, and his clothing (All basic and dull) is a big hit in Paris (For reasons no one understands but they won’t say anything for fear of not fitting in)

His son, Adrien Agreste goes for a bike ride through the woods with his two friends, Nino and Alya, where they come across the gate that separates outsiders from the Artists’ home

They’re immediately scared away when Marinette opens the creaking gate that sounds like the end of the world when opened

Also, Alix’s sinister sixteen is coming up in a few weeks, and part of the celebration is a swordfight, which she is nowhere near ready for

Nathaniel: Alix, you need to practice. It’s the day your family and friends judge you and pass judgement on your worth as a human being!... It reminds me of Hanukkah.

During one dinner, Marinette asks a question that shocks everyone

Marinette: Do you guys think things beyond the gate have changed?

Juleka: ... What?

Marinette: It’s been years, surely things must be different now. Earlier today, I swore I heard people.

Marc: Outside is forbidden.

Marinette: But-

Marc: Forbidden!

Back in the city, Gabriel is anticipating the arrival of tourists to buy his new line of clothing which he calls, Conformist

While filming a commercial, a red balloon floats astray and makes its way towards the Artists’ home, which Marinette finds as she’s “helping” Alix prepare for the Swordfight

Alix: Why are you helping me?

Marinette: Because. You are like my sister... And... I... Love... You...

Alix: ... You seem trustworthy.

Big mistake

Marinette: *Walks inside with the balloon* Good news, Alix is gone.

Marc: *Holding a sword to Nathaniel’s neck* Mari, go dig up Alix.

Marinette: You and Nathaniel are once again weakening this generation.

Nathaniel: *Points to balloon* Mari, where did you get that?

Marinette: I’m not sure.

Marc: Strange. There’s usually a murderous clown attached to the other end of these.

Juleka: *Gasp!* And what is this?! *Plucks a piece of pink confetti off of Marinette’s shoulder*

Nathaniel: Smells like cotton candy. *Off their confused looks* I was young and stupid, alright?

The Artists go outside where they find rainbow confetti raining down, and the fog that covers their home is lifting up, revealing to them the town

Much to Marc’s protests, Nathaniel suggests they go see the place for themselves

Marinette: This day is becoming most miraculously disruptive.

While filming another commercial, the Artist Family’s house is in the camera’s shot, and Gabriel passes out the second he sees it

*Somewhere else* Nino: ... I feel an overwhelming sense of... Joy.

The Artists arrive in their hearse, and immediately capture the attention of the other Parisians. They’re given strange looks wherever they go, and sometimes people run away screaming

No one has run them out with pitchforks yet. Yay!

Alix: Guys! *Pulls a tire off of a police car* They’re just giving these away!

Juleka: Alix, mind your manners, people might want tires, too.

After getting coffee grounds, the Artists come across Adrien, Alya, Nino, Chloé, and Lila in the park, prancing around in pink and blue outfits and singing about being conformists

Rose: Wow... That is absolutely horrible!

Marinette: ... *Dumps coffee grounds* I’ve suddenly lost my appetite. However, that blonde boy... Intrigues me

And it seems the feeling is mutual when Adrien steals glances at the gothic girl with braids

Rose: ... Yeah, I’m done with this song. *She hikes up the hem of her robe, releasing hundreds of bats that scare off the crowd* Done and done!

Done with these people, Marc wants to leave, Nathaniel insists that things have changed, but his boyfriend is still reluctant... Cue Gabriel

He insists on hiring interior decorators to fix up the Artists home (So tourists aren’t scared off) Marc, with some urging from Nathaniel allows him to do so.

Marinette: That man seems deranged. His face reminds me of a death mask.

*Somewhere else* Nino: In the future... I will have a new friend. Blue hair. Braids.

Back at the Artists Home, Nathaniel, Juleka, and Rose help Alix prepare for her Swordfight

Rose: Of all the Sinister Sixteens I’ve seen, Nathaniel’s was the stuff of legends.

Juleka: So no pressure!

Gabriel, Adrien, the design crew, and the news crew arrive, ready to remove the gloom and macabre form the Artists’ home

Félix: *Answers the door* Youuuuuu raaaaaanng?

Adrien: *Calling Alya and Nino* Hey, so I’m going into the creepy mansion. If I don’t come back, I’m dead... I love you too, Nino... Yes, Alya, I know he’s your boyfriend.

Much to his relief, Adrien is left outside and goes around back to explore

Gabriel: I do hope this isn’t a bad time.

Nathaniel: The worst!... Do come in.

Gabriel spends most of the time making light criticisms and jabs at the decor, the Artists themselves, their clothes, and Marc’s spiders (Which he considers the greatest insult)

Meanwhile in the backyard, Adrien is nearly killed by a crossbow. To his horror and awe, he finds the shooter: Marinette in all of her dark glory

Immediately, he develops a small crush on her. She’s not like the other girls at school who constantly cling to and flirt with him because of his father’s wealth

He tries his hand at impressing her by shooting an arrow, but accidentally shoots Rose, which actually does impress Marinette

Adrien: So, why haven’t I seen you and your siblings at school?

Marinette: We’re coven-schooled. But, blondie, do tell... *Leans in close so she can hear Adrien’s rapid heartbeat* Can anyone attend your school?

Gabriel and his crew leave, having made no renovations to the Artists’ home. And when Nathaniel explains that family and friends will be coming over for Alix’s Sinister Sixteen, that just motivates the designer even more

Down in Gabriel’s secret lair, he spies on the Parisians through a social media app where he fills the comments section with rumors about the Artists, saying they’re anarchists and breed spiders... Okay, so they’re not all rumors

*The Next Day* Nathaniel: Monochrome, I know the man is an eccentric, but- *Marinette appears behind him* Aah!

Marc: Mari, you know Nathaniel scares easily. Practice your lurking on someone else. *Marinette appears behind him* Better. Now what’s on your mind?

Marinette explains that she wants to atener school, much to Marc’s horror and Nathaniel’s excitement. She needs to torment more kids her own age.

Marc doesn’t want her to go, worried she might fall under the influence of the... Conformists, but Nathaniel somehow convinced him

Marinette walking into school: Ah, so these are the gates of hell.

Adrien, while being crowded by girls he doesn’t even like (Especially Lila and Chloé) becomes awestruck when he sees Marinette walking in. She looks like a beautiful demon queen

Lila and Chloé see this and try to intimidate her, but this is what Marinette says,

Marinette: Listen you future plastic surgery disasters, I’m not locked in here with either of you. You and your outdated, distasteful “outfits” are locked in here with me. And don’t you forget it.

Alya just might dump Nino so she can ask this girl out. Polyamory works too. / Adrien: Back of the line.

Mendelive’s biology class: They’re dissecting frogs.

Adrien: Aw, I feel bad for doing this.

Marinette: Relax. Rose showed me how to do this hundreds of times. *Cue Frankenstein equipment* FLIP THE SWITCH! *Adrien flips the switch and electrocutes all of the frogs* LIVE! LIVE MY CREATURE!

The frogs come to life and attack Lila and Chloé. Karma at its finest. Alya and Nino are impressed by her more than ever

Alya: It is an honor and a privilege to watch you work, spooky girl.

Back at the Artists’ Home, it’s game night! They’re playing the game of Death, but Marc isn’t focused. It’s late and he’s wondering where Marinette is

Finally, she arrives, but much to Marc’s horror, she has a Ladybug hair clip! He’s in so much shock that his face flushes red and a bat has to drink his blood

Marc: What. Is. That?

Marinette: Adrien calls it a “Pop of color” says it brings out my... Smile.

Marc: You don’t have a smile.

In order to see what’s going on with his sister/friend, Marc suggests they do ‘Tea & Seance’ like old times... Only she bails to hang out with Adrien, and they give each other makeovers as acts of rebellion

Meanwhile, Alix is upset because she still can’t get the hang of sword fighting and Nathaniel has been working so hard to help her

Marinette returns from her hangout with Adrien, almost making Marc faint when she shows up wearing pink and her hair in pigtails.

Marc: Okay, this is where I sever the line! You are not going back to that school!

Marinette: *Gives him the evil eye before leaving* You can’t tell me what to do.

Juleka: Dear Hades, that is some evil eye.

Horrified by Adrien’s new gothic look and attitude, Gabriel spreads more rumors about the Artists

Frustrated by the lack of support from her family/friends, Marinette runs away and goes to stay with Adrien

Alix: I always knew it would end up like this. Just didn’t know when.

Marinette: Farewell, Alix! I will never forget you, but I’ll try.

The next morning, Marinette, Alya, and Nino are helping Adrien look for his phone, which Gabriel his hidden punishment for his new look

While looking, they stumble across Gabriel’s lair and discover he’s been spying on everyone in Paris. Gabriel discovers them snooping and locks them in Adrien’s room while he goes to greet the tourists... And some unexpected guests

Nathalie: *Dials Gabriel* Gabriel, it’s an emergency. They’re here! The Artist Family!

The Artists more... Eccentric family members (Gina Dupain, Uncle Wang, Master Fu, Luka, Fei, Jagged, Penny, and the art teacher for example) have arrived to attend Alix’s sinister sixteen.

Things are going well so far. Juleka reunites with Luka, Fei battles Gina to the death, but Marinette still hasn’t arrived, so they do the sword fight without her... Which Alix fails.

As Nathaniel consoles her, a cannonball shoots through the wall. Gabriel somehow got a catapult for the mob to use

Marc: It’s Gabriel. He’s turned the town into a mob.

Juleka: I oddly admire his determination.

While the mob fires more cannonballs and destroy the house, Alix tosses her sword and grabs her explosives, successfully protecting her family... Until a cannonball blocks their only exit and she runs out of ammo

Just as the ceiling begins to fall and it seems like the end, Marinette, Adrien, Alya, and Nino come in just in time and save them all thanks to the possessed tree

She and Marc reconcile

Marc: I’m so glad you came back.

Marinette: Of course. There was no way you all could survive without me. You’re like weak kittens.

The Parisians begin having regrets about attacking the Artists (Mainly cuz they almost killed a bunch of kids), but this is interrupted by Gabriel

Gabriel: I will relish hounding you all until that nuclear waste dump you call is house is destroyed with you all in it!

Juleka: Oh, you are just begging to be dragged down to hell, aren’t you, Gabriel?

Marinette: And this family will never run from the likes of you again. *Her death glare stuns Gabriel*

Nino: Damn, I gotta learn how to do that.

Adrien finally stands up to his father and exposes how he’s been spying on everyone in the city while Alya live streams everything. Gabriel is now ruined

Months later, the Artists’ Home has been rebuilt by the guilty Parisians who learn to accept their new, weird neighbors. Also, the Spirit of the House has returned

Adrien and Marinette start dating while Alya and Nino share a mutual pining for the girl

[trashforgubler]

You’re Lucky I Love You

Word Count: 1k

Summary: You leave Spencer and your daughter home alone and disaster ensues

Extra Info: The title is inspired by the song “You’re Lucky I Love You” by Susan Ashton

Requests: Open

masterpost

Spencer can do a lot of things. Keeping your seven-year-old daughter from ruining your new carpet was not one of them.

As most stories of your home being destroyed go, it started with you leaving. You were redecorating the living room and were off to buy some new paintings to hang on the wall. Spencer couldn’t seem to care less what paintings you chose as long as there was still room for his bookshelf, so you left him and Bella home alone. This was a grave mistake.

Things were going fine until lunch. They had been playing Barbies all day, Spencer reenacting one of the old bank heist cases to Bella’s delight. You had specifically told Spencer he was not allowed to tell Bella about his job unless he made it age appropriate, so after the bad guys were arrested before they were able to hurt anyone and everyone in the bank rode away completely fine on one of the many unicorns strewn around the playroom, it was time to eat. You’ve repeatedly said that if Spencer keeps feeding Bella dinosaur chicken nuggets she’s going to get scurvy, but Spencer being Spencer (and a complete push over when it came to his daughter) always gave them to her, but not before making her pinky promise not to tell you.

They were halfway through their lunch when Spencer got a call. He kissed Bella on the forehead and promised her he’d be right back as he stepped out of the kitchen and into the hallway. Now, Bella could certainty handle eating her lunch by herself. Unfortunately, this is not what she chose to do. She really would have, but something caught her attention. From out the kitchen window, she saw a cat wandering around in the backyard. And if there was anything Bella loved; it was cats. Glancing over her shoulder, Bella quietly got down from the chair, and eased the door open. The cat immediately looked up at her but didn’t seem to be startled. She bent down in the grass and held her arms out to it. The cat slowly walked over to her and allowed her to pick him up. She walked back into the house and put him on the living room carpet.

By this time, Spencer had finished his call and walked back into the kitchen, only to find it empty. “Bella?” he called.

“I’m in here!”

Spencer followed the voice into the next room.

“Bella?”

“Yes daddy?”

“Who’s cat is that?”

Bella shrugged and continued petting it. Spencer stared at it for a moment, wondering where in Gods name his daughter had found the absolute fattest cat he had ever seen. To say the thing was huge would be an understatement, I mean, it looked like it had swallowed a balloon or something. The cat also looked like it was breathing abnormally heavy, but from the looks of it it had been stationary for quite some time. He was trying to figure out why this cat looked so strange, when his thoughts were suddenly interrupted.

“Daddy what’s that?” Bella pointed at a strange sack emerging from the cat. At first, Spencer thought that it was just doing its business, but it became quickly apparent that’s not what it was.

“NOMYGOD IT’S GIVING BIRTH ON THE NEW CARPET!” Spencer yelled frantically.

“She’s having kittens!” The huge smile on Bella’s face would have been adorable if Spencer didn’t have an actual feral cat going into labor in his living room. By the time Spencer stopped freaking out enough to run and grab a bath towel, there were two fresh kittens and a giant stain on the carpet. He gently lifted the cat and put her on towel, and then wrapped the kittens up in another. It took another half hour for the other three to be born, and the cat was just starting to push out her last one when the door unlocked.

Spencer and Bella looked at each other with the same “oh shit” look, having absolutely no idea how to explain the situation.

“Hey guys, I’m home!” You called.

Spencer got up and went to meet you, but instead of being met with the usual hug and kiss, he held his hands up in front of  him and started talking faster than you’ve ever heard him speak before. “Okay before you go into the living room let me just preface that despite what it looks like I was actually watching Bella for the entire time and I was being very responsible but then I got a call from Hotch so I left the room for ten seconds, I swear it was ten seconds and she found a cat in the yard and it was really cute so she brought it inside and put it in the living room and I didn’t know until after a came in and I didn’t really think much of it until it started, um.”

“Started what Spencer?” you asked cautiously. He scratched the back of his head nervously so you walked by him and into the living room where you were met with the most outrageous thing you had ever seen in your entire life. Your daughter was holding a bundled towel and watching the cat excitedly.

“Mommy look! Kittens!”

You laughed nervously as you walked to the other side of the cat and saw that it was indeed giving birth, on your new carpet. You glared at Spencer.

“Surprise?” he said nervously. You couldn’t help but crack a smile.

“Can we keep them mommy? Please?”

You counted the kittens in her arms. There were six of them, plus the mom herself. There was no way you were keeping seven cats, but your daughter was giving you the cutest pleading look you had ever seen, and you know how much she’s been wanting a cat.

“Please?”

You turn around and see Spencer begging too.

“Really Spence? You want to keep seven cats?”

“Just until we can find most of them a home, but we should maybe keep one or two of them…” He gave you a tiny smile and tilted his head down, giving you the same puppy eyes, your daughter was.

“Fine! We’ll keep them for now, but just so you know I’m never leaving you two alone again!” You couldn’t help but smile as you turned around and heard Spencer and Bella high five each other, already picking out names for each of them. “You’re lucky I love you Spencer Reid!” You called over your shoulder.

Now you just had to get the carpet cleaned.

[fairytsuk1]

trainwreck | part one.

pairing: katsuki bakugou x reader

genre: fluff <3

warning: none! swearing lmao 

words: 1,670

summary: your train is late and your eye just wont drift away from a certain explosive blond

a/n: cute shit for my baby <3

    His body language is the first telling sign that this handsome stranger must be pissed. It was only a glance at first, which delved into two. Then about five minutes later you were peeking above your book to really see this person making you chuckle under your breath.

     His sagging pants made a laugh bubble in your chest and the disheveled dress shirt just made him look...droopy. He was droopy and just looked weird. Sort of like he tumbled out of a tornado and randomly decided to go to school. You looked back down at your book and skimmed over the neglected words, a fantasy novel that was definitely a copy of a copy of witches and magic and the same stereotypical tropes. Who needed fantasy books anyways? At this day and age, everyone having quirks made everyday life like a superhero fantasy movie.

     His arms cross again and he rolls his neck around. Oh, you were staring again. You dog-eared your page and shut your book, you were way more interested in this “character” standing right in front of you! A ringing noise sounds through the station and a sharp head turn makes you very aware of why this man was so troubled.

     The train to Kokoshi Prefecture was late. Very late. So late in fact, you’d have to be a track star to make it to your class on time. Had you really missed the delay announcement? What had even happened? Hell, you wouldn’t have minded a thirty minute delay, school isn’t too terribly interesting. But an hour? That’s absolutely ridiculous! Who’s manning this station?!

     “...Are you fucking kidding me?” A snapping sound similar to the cracking of knuckles with a mixture of popping balloons was barely heard over the rickety station ambience. “Absolutely ridiculous.”

     You and this stranger shared the same sentiment. You didn’t even realize you were mean-mugging the digital sign until you turned and saw your reflection in the coffee-colored glass of a work booth. The man inside said booth raised an eyebrow at you and a hot flush of shame washed over you. The angel on you shoulder prays he didn’t take it personally. The devil wants you to strangle the man. The station was nearly empty at this hour, most of the people here were students as well. Either texting or napping, everyone had the same displeased expression. Now you wished you had just gotten a coffee like you had wanted to twenty minutes ago, the boost of energy would’ve been nice as a yawn overtakes you. Staying up late was definitely taking its toll on your body, knees weakening during the yawn.

     “You going to Kokoshi too?”

“Huh?”

     Closing your mouth, you stupidly looked up at the boy and let the first word you thought of run out your mouth. Huh. He tilted his head and the gritty train tiles could have swallowed you whole without complaints.

     “I asked if you were going to Kokoshi Prefecture. You know, on the train that’s one hour late?,” he casted a mean look at the station worker, the man through the glass turning in his chair to disguise the fact he was most definitely not working, “I was just asking ‘cause you’re...y’know, wearing a uniform and everything. Nevermind.”

     Rejection. He looked like he was mad and a little embarrassed too. He thought your silence meant rejection. Shit!!

“No, ah, I’m taking the Kokoshi train too! But I was just confused because you didn’t seem like the type to strike up conversation…,” he looked at you plainly. Did you just offend him? “Oh! Well I didn’t mean it like that!! I just meant ‘cause you seemed so wrapped up in your uh...energy that I didn’t think you were gonna come over or at the very least…”

     Rather than hearing a scoff or even a swear shouted your way, he barked out a laugh and turned his head sideways. He laughed. He laughed!

     “So you were watching me? Stalker. Yeah I’m pissed off! U.A.’s gonna have my ass but how else can I get to school, I thought the train’d be faster. Turns out it’s the exact fucking opposite…”

     Popping sounds came from the ground and you became distinctly aware of the burnt caramel smell. You took a quick look down and instinctively took a step back, explosions?! From. His. Hands. Wow, whatta quirk! And did he say U.A.?! Wow, he was basically a pro hero in the making!

“I know what you mean! I mean, I don’t go to your big fancy school or anything but my campus is huge! Now, I might as well not even go...So are you like a hero yet? Well what about your year? How old are you?”

     Please don’t be a third year and about to graduate!

     He almost looked flustered, the tinge of pink in his cheeks could’ve been from anything on his smooth cheeks, but the deep redness at the tops of his ears told you all you needed to know. His eyes flitted down, you had definitely gotten closer from the excitement of talking to a cute boy, if you used your quirk a bit more, you might have even noticed if he focused on your assets or not!

     “I-Uh-A first year. And don’t you know how being a hero works? You gotta get a provisional license first! Then you can blow up as many villains as you want!...What’s your quirk anyways? You’re way too excited this early in the morning.”

     Katsuki felt weird, his chest felt warm and he could distinctly feel the moisture on his palms and fingertips. You were a pretty girl, sure. Maybe it was the fact that you went to a different school, it was new for him! That’s it! He wasn’t nervous, what the hell would he have to be nervous about? You’re just some girl anyways.

“I’m Y/N L/N! Don’t forget it future hero, shout me out when you get famous. I’m a first year too and my quirk is called analyze! If I have a certain amount of caffeine, I can read people’s body language like I've known them for years! It’s actually awesome. It’s not as cool as your explosions though. Those are something else.”

     Oh. That was it. Now he knew what it was, he scrunched up his face and looked away from your overwhelming presence. He didn’t like you, you were just cute and you’d complimented him and...you smelled like honey. Maybe if he just ignored you, you’d go away.

     “Oh yeah? What am I projecting right now, nerd?”

“You’re feeling like you might be...well I don’t know! You’re complex, a couple minutes ago you were shy and now you’re a little nervous and something else. I haven’t had any coffee today, so I can’t read you. I’m sorry about that!”

     It was humiliating, this cool (and attractive) guy asks you to show him your quirk and you can’t even do that?

     “I’ll buy you a coffee.”

“What? Really? I don’t even know your name…”

     “Shut up and take the offer! I’ll buy you a coffee so I can see how actually strong you are. And didn’t you watch the sports festival?,” a boyish grin rose on his face and the sight made your heart melt, “It’s Bakugou Katsuki!”

     Humming, you repeated his name and watched him nod before facing forward once more. It rolled off the tongue in an odd way. Bakugou had such sharp consonants and seemed fiery, it sort of suit him. But Katsuki...that suit him for sure. The starters of each syllable were gentle and reminded you of other words like whipped cream or honey.

“I like your name. It’s a strong one, I’ll be sure to remember it!”

     “No one’s ever said that before. You’re kinda weird you know? I mean, how marks their book pages like that?”

“Hey wait a minute! I just didn’t have a bookmark on hand! Plus I bought it so there’s no harm really! Well maybe a little but nothing long-lasting.”

     “Sure. You heathen,” he carried an amused smile on his face and took a step forward, “here it comes.”

“What?”

T .    he train burst out of the entrance like a rocket, lights shining into your eyes yet also casting a dim yellow glow over the whole station. The wind from the sheer speed of it whipped you in the face and for a split second it’s realized that if you had stood any closer, you might have been blown backwards. You jacket bristles at the contact and a frown dons your features when you realize that this was the end. Well, maybe the beginning of the end of your love story adventure. 

     Bakugou stood proudly, legs in a proud wide stance and his arms crossed as he quickly stepped up to the platform and then onto the train. He turned and jerked his head back, motioning you to be his accompaniment. Hoisting your backpack up even farther, you squeezed through those small sliding door with the rest of the people in the station.

     He said nothing and sat in the closest seat, conveniently leaving the two next of him empty as he looked as you expectantly. Even if it wasn’t meant to be friendly, you couldn’t deny the fact that his sharp glare made you feel a little weak at the knees. Clutching your bag to your chest, you sat so close your knees were touching and your heartbeat thumped like a rabbit’s foot in your chest.

“I actually don’t like riding the train. But…”

     “Don’t get started. I don’t wanna hear your mushy shit.”

     You deflated a bit.

“But yeah, it’s not so bad if you’re around, loser.”

     You smiled and played with the ripped hole in your bag. Who could read who again? You couldn’t even tell anymore as the universe made itself known in the piece of gum he handed you that, indeed, this would not be your last meeting.

[reverseblackholeofwords]

Memory Lane

(So... this is Definitely the last teaser! I solemnly swear not to reveal all the good stuff! But again, if you have non-spoiler-y questions I will be happy to answer them or just gush about how much fun its been to write this with @rubbersoles19, who - have I mentioned - is the best? So creative? Seriously. Okay, done gushing now, back to our regularly-scheduled YouTube-related nonsense...)

    The interior of Freddy’s was even more revolting than the outside. The checkered floors were littered with all manner of dirt and grime while the walls were streaked with stains of unknown origins. Streamers and deflated party balloons hung limp from the rotting, moldy ceiling tiles that sagged with the weight of the rain that had managed to leak through over the years. Nate pulled a flashlight from his bag and swept its beam over the entryway and both hallways that led off to either side of them.

    Nothing moved but the dust through the air and the cockroaches that skittered along the floors and walls. Stephanie pulled the neck of her t-shirt up over her mouth and took Nate’s elbow from behind. “Matthew?”

    No reply came aside from her own, faint echo.

    Nate gave his head a single, weary shake. “He won’t hear you.”

    She looked up at him, but in the oppressive darkness of this hallway, she could barely make out the line of his jaw among the shadows. “What? Why not?”

    “Because if he’s here,” Nate muttered, “he’ll be in the secret backroom near the security office. Assuming it hasn’t collapsed in the last six years.”

    “S-secret backroom?” Stephanie squeaked, staying as close to Nate as she possibly could without actually riding on his back. “How do you know all this?”

    “I told you.” Nate swallowed. “Matt and I hunted this guy down before.”

    The hallway opened up into the large, main party room. Nate took a slow, aching breath as he surveyed it all, the tables scattered around, the posters peeling off the walls, the carousel in the corner with the animal eyes watching them as they walked past. The stage was empty, the curtains ripped and weighed down by all the dust and cobwebs they collected over the years.

    But Nate blinked, and it all changed. He blinked, and the stage lights came on, the room filled with music, and the faded colors became bright and blinding and garish once again. Three massive animatronics - a bear, a rabbit, and a chicken -  moved in clipped, mechanical motions on the wooden stage under the glow of several spotlights, and Nate could hear the children laughing, singing, screaming just behind him.

    Nate stumbled back a step, and the vision faded just as quickly as it had come. He rubbed his eyes and looked around again. But it was really gone, all gone. Stephanie squeezed his arm. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

    “‘m fine,” he muttered. “It’s not as bad as I thought it would be. Come on.” Nate pressed on with Stephanie still clinging to him, until he found a door leading to the back of the restaurant, an “Employees Only” sign nailed in place. Nate set his jaw, forced the door open, and staggered into the hallway beyond. It was all too familiar, but he was close, so close. He jogged the rest of the way to the security office as his heart began to drum out a quick pace in his ears.

    One push at the door let him know that this wasn’t going to be easy, so he handed off the flashlight to Steph and put all his weight into one swift kick. The door burst open with a swirl of dust, the musk of rot spilling over them in a fresh wave. Stephanie gagged and waved a hand in front of her face. “Oh, that’s disgusting!”

    “Yeah, almost like it’s been sealed all this time…” Nate ignored the stench and pushed his way inside. It was just how he remembered it, more or less, and devoid of his brother.

    The old dented filing cabinets, the corkboard of children’s drawings, the desk covered in filth and yellow papers - and it all rushed back to him, the sounds of computers humming and the telltale phone ringing and children screaming in the distance - but he didn’t come here for the merry little trip down memory lane. He shook the illusions from his head and looked back towards Stephanie as the monitor on the old security desk flickered to life with the face of a little girl framed in the screen.

    Ignoring it, Nate slid past Stephanie and followed the hallway to the very end where he pressed his hands to the bare wall. “It’s here somewhere, if I could just…” His hands smoothed over the surface until he found the chink in the drywall that he was searching for. “Got it.”

    Stephanie shone the light on the wall. “What are you looking for exactly?”

    He stood back. “After the first round of killings, every restaurant in the chain sealed up their old employee closets. They’re not on the security cameras, so… it was the perfect place, you know. But the older buildings, like this one, still have them, you just have to be a little bit creative to get inside…” Nate knocked on the wall and smiled when he heard the echo behind it.

    He readied himself for another kick just as Steph cried out, “Are you really sure about--?” But it was too late. He broke through the drywall chunk by chunk, pulling it aside until he could see through into the other room. Another cloud of toxic air rolled out of the hole, and even Nate gagged at the smell.

    Rotting flesh, it tended to linger.

    But he continued to pull away bits and pieces of the wall until he could fit through if he sucked in and ducked his head. Then he reached a hand out to Stephanie. “The flashlight,” and when she gave it to him, he drew his gun and squeezed inside...

[moonlit-imagines]

Prank Gone Wrong

Steve Harrington x reader

warnings:

a/n:

prompt: anonymous: “can you do an imagine with Steve Harrington with drabble numbers 40, 46, and 50?” 40: “The kids, they ambushed me.”//46: “It was a joke, baby, I swear.”//50: “This is girl talk, so leave.”

Max, El, and you sat together in your apartment, having a nice time, mind you. Max was telling you about the most recent annoying thing Lucas has done, and El was talking about how she was never allowed out of the house. These kids were pretty interesting. All was calm until the boys arrived. The whole crew following your very own boyfriend, Steve. The three of you were unimpressed by the ruckus they were causing. Once they realized they became silent.

“What?” Steve asked nonchalantly. You rolled your eyes at his single word.

“Are you kidding me?” You asked him.

“What?” He repeated. “The kids, they ambushed me. I couldn’t resist. They made me bring them here.” You saw Mike and Lucas staring at the girls you were talking to. And they looked pretty ticked off.

“Leave. Go somewhere else. We don’t need this right now. Plus you all stink, maybe if you take a shower I’ll let you in.” You instructed.

“No way, why should we leave?” Mike interrupted. You leaned down in front of him.

“This is girl talk, so leave.” You smiled as you nudged the boys out the door. Once they were all out, you shut the door and turned the lock. The girls broke their silence with pure giggles. “God, they can be so clueless sometimes, am I right?”

“You’re definitely right.” Max agreed.

“Always.” El joined. You grabbed a box of Cheez Its out of the pantry and offered some to the girls.

“I’m guessing the boys won’t be messing woth us for the rest of the day, so wanna make some plans?” You suggested to the pair.

“Well,” Max started, “El has never seen the Karate Kid, maybe we should go rent it?” El smiled at the idea.

“Sounds like a plan, wanna take a walk to Family Video?” You grabbed your keys. They girls stood up from the couch and chair to follow.

You three walked down the empty sidewalks of Hawkins, it was warm and sunny. Not a single cloud in sight. But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t trouble.

The boys were waiting in an alley nearby, waiting for you to step into their territory of terror. Dustin and Lucas filled a few buckets up with water balloons, now they were just waiting for an opening. Steve and Will were a little hesitant on this whole idea. Will didn’t want to be mean, since he actually liked you. Steve didn’t want to sleep on the couch. But it was too late, your trio passed the alleyway and there came the water balloons.

“Take that, fun-killer!” One of them yelled. You and the girls ran to the other side of the building for cover.

“Oh, they are so dead.” You were filled with rage. The girls were up there with you.

“Agreed.” They told you. You stomped back over to the alley and the boys continued launching at you. You paid no mind to it, which shook them to their very core, so they ceased fire. Steve saw you heading straight towards him and he knew he was in for it.

“What the hell is your problem, Steve?” You shouted in front of the crown. You were soaked in water and still had broken pieces of balloon on you.

“It was a joke, baby, I swear. Just a simple prank, yeah?” He explained to you. All the kids were staring right at you and your boyfriend.

“Yeah, just a joke.” You gave him a fake laugh that he joined in on. “I have a prank, too.” Steve gulped at that.

“What...what is it?” He asked you, wide eyed.

“Oh, shit.” Dustin whispered.

“You don’t get to come home tonight! Instead, you can couch ride at one of your little friend’s house’s.” You patted Steve on the arm and met the girls at the end of the alley. All the boys were screaming and freaking over what you had just told Steve.

“We’re sorry, man. We didn’t know she’d take it that far.” Lucas told him.

“Don’t worry, Steve. You can stay on my couch tonight. Tews won’t mind.” Dustin offered.

“Told you it was a bad idea.” Will shrugged. “You got yourself into this one.” Steve knew he was right.

“I have to make it up to her.” Steve announced. The only question was, how?

—————

You, El, and Max continued your journey to Family Video. You weren’t going to let the boys ruin your fun. Even if you were soaking wet.

“I have some clothes that’ll fit you guys, so you can change when we get back to my apartment. If you want you can spend the night, too.” You told them. “Girls night!”

“Oh, awesome! I’m up for it,” Max cheered, “what about you, El.”

“I have to call Hop.” She told you.

“I’ll let you borrow the phone when we get back.” You approached the video store and opened the door for the girls.

“Thanks.” The both said quietly. You quickly located the “K” section and picked out the Karate Kid.

“Got it!” You set the movie on the counter. “Pick out some candy.” The girls scanned the candy aisle and brought back a few packages El hadn’t tried yet.

“Thank you, y/n.” El said.

“Yeah, thanks!” Max repeated. Your team of girls headed out and back for your apartment. Once there, Max clicked the movie in to play and you popped popcorn on the stove. El watched the bag rise.

“Hopper never popped any popcorn in front of you, El?” You asked. She shook her head, not looking away from the bag. You took the bag off the stove and emptied it into a bowl. “Time for some fun!” The girls and you sat on the couch and started snacking.

—————

The the three of you passed out on the couch, then morning came. You heard a loud knock on the door that woke you all up. El eyes the door cautiously while you looked through the peephole.

“It’s just Steve.” You opened the door and saw him with a giant bouquet of red roses.

“Hi.” He chuckled.

“Hi?” You replied.

“Can we talk?” He motioned to come in, but instead, you came outside and closed the door.

“The girls are in there, what’s up?” You shut the door.

“I’m sorry, okay? I never should’ve let the boys attack you. I can’t stay on Dustin’s couch again tonight, that was the weirdest night ever.” Steve rambled. “I’m super sorry and I need you to forgive me, please.” You smiled and he was confused.

“Well, that’s all you had to say.”

[damndaehyung]

Daniel Choi Vs Timezones

Valentines Day

Included: Daniel, Tyler, Maude Mentioned : Tara,Mark, Emily, Minah and Sungjae

“Am i still dreaming?” Tyler asked, significantly more awake than Daniel had last him. “Because I swear I had this really wonderful dream last night that my boyfriend showed up at my house 3 in the morning and now it looks like he is making me breakfast - are they supposed to be heart-shaped?” he asked, wrapping an arm around Daniel’s waist and resting his chin on his shoulder. “Adorable, but you know during the season I try to keep it healthy and no offence. The small feast you somehow managed to cook is enough for my entire team,” he laughed, the movement of his laughter lead to his hair tickling Daniel.

“Firstly you dream about me? That is so cute,” Daniel said unwrapping himself from Tyler’s grasp and turning to look at him. “And two surely you can make an expectation for today?” Daniel said with a grin, reaching into his pocket and pulling out one of those cheesy cliched happy valentines balloons. “Happy Valentine’s day,” he said, handing it to Tyler.

Tyler looked at the balloon with his brows furrowed. “Look i know its kinda lame but -”

“Daniel today is the 13th,” Tyler said cutting him off, this time Daniel’s brows furrowed. No yesterday was the 13th he specifically took that flight so he could be back in time for Valentine’s day. “Babe you do remember that time zones are a thing -” Tyler said. Timezones… stupid fucking timezones….. They ruin everything.

“No, I was just trying to get back in time and now I’ve ruined everything,” Daniel pouted, as poetically the pancakes he painstakingly made started to burn. “Including breakfast,” he huffed, turning back to the now burned pancakes and moving them off the stovetop.

“Babe you’ve ruined nothing,” Tyler frowned. “Come on how about we have breakfast and you can explain to me what is happening?” Daniel nodded, glaring once more at his heart-shaped shards before sitting at the kitchen bench.

“So,” Tyler said as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

“Well,” Daniel sighed stabbing a strawberry. “I had this grand plan of surprising you on Valentine’s day but Australia with it’s stupid backwards, no forward, timezones ruined it all,” Daniel huffed. “Now i am here on the 13th, Galentine’s day for women, when is the male equivalent of this day is it the same? At least then I could have claimed i did it for our Broentine? Palentine? Day,” he ranted as Tyler snorted, shaking his head. “Anyway sorry i ruined it all,” he sighed.

“I am going to ignore Broentine because really Daniel? You are better than that,” Tyler laughed. “But you’ve ruined nothing, I am very much happily surprised, a little shocked that managed to keep it a secret from me and i might have to make a few calls soon to change a few orders -” Tyler said, nose scrunching. “But as if i am going to be disappointed about you here a day earlier and to be honest you shouldn’t be either, in fact, you should be happy because you get to spend more time with me,” he pointed out, Daniel nodded in agreement because in his opinion more Tyler was always better. “Though not gonna lie, I never pegged you as a Valentine’s day type given you aversion to literally every other holiday,” Tyler teased.

“It’s not a holiday, a hallmark trademark,” Daniel pointed out. “ And i am not, well not usually, but you know,” he said vaguely, looking down as his face heated up. Tyler coughed making a go on gesture. “Okay well this is super embarrassing for me so if you ever bring this up again i will invite Mark over for Broentine’s day,” Daniel said ignoring Tyler’s protests over that not being a real day. “Anyway as i was saying -'' he continued. “This is kinda the first time i had a boyfriend during Valentine’s,” Daniel frowned. “Not that i haven’t had offers of course but i was never really interested in the whole thing like who needs a specific day to act like you are actually in love if you are supposedly in love why wait for one day you know?” he ranted.

“I agree,” Tyler said.

“Right but i guess i got swept in all the hype because i wanted to make today - well tomorrow,” Daniel scoffed. “Special, lame huh?” he mumbled.

“Not lame,” Tyler said with a grin. “And if i say it’s not lame than it’s not lame - plus you know I’ve got plans as well as I said earlier I have to change the delivery address but I went all out,” he said before pausing. “Well not all out because of the whole secret relationship but just know next Valentine’s Day I’ll really go all out.” Tyler jokingly threatened. “So by default, you’d be saying I am lame and we both know that isn’t true,” he said tossing a grape at Daniel.

“When you are right you are right,” Daniel nodded, picking up the aforementioned grape and chewing on it.

“I am glad you agree,” Tyler grinned. “Because babe as much i love you, you need to shower,” he smirked. Daniel gasped in offence. “You know I’m right,” Tyler shrugged. “You were on a plane all day yesterday,” he pointed out as Daniel frowned, unhappy that now it was pointed out he couldn’t ignore it and was once again reminded how much he hated timezones.

“You aren’t and now that i think about have you ever been right?” Daniel said, stroking his chin. “But I will shower because i love you,” he said nodding as Tyler laughed. “You can go get me some clothes to wear because i don’t have anything but what i am currently wearing and as good as i look naked i probably should put some clothes on,” he shrugged said standing up and ruffling Tyler’s hair as he walked past.

“You just said i am right all the time and you have a whole suitcase over there,” he said nodding to Daniel’s ‘luggage’. “I think someone just wants to wear my clothes,” he said, raising an eyebrow.

“Not exactly… my suitcase is full of gifts for Valentine’s day,” Daniel paused his cheeks heating up . “Like i said i got caught up in it so i might have gone overboard,” Daniel muttered. “If you tease me i swear,” he said.

“Baby last time i checked you like it when i tease you,” Tyler smirked, “And i feel honoured that in a rush to get back and spoil me you forget to pack clothes, it’s adorable - really- “ he said as Daniel opened his mouth to argue about teasing him. “But no can do about the clothes, I am going to be a little busy while you are having your shower,” he said.

“Doing what exactly?” Daniel asked, raising an eyebrow as Tyler stood up as well closing in on him.

“You,” he grinned. “I mean showering totally showering as well,” he laughed. “If that is okay with you?” he said pausing. “Because you did spend 24 hours on a plane and maybe you’d want -” he started to speak but was cut off by Daniel’s lips.

“More than okay,” he said, peppering Tyler with kisses. “We should go right now,” he said, pulling Tyler forward as the headed away from the kitchen.

----

“Did you just take a photo of me?” Daniel asked, raising an eyebrow as he pulled on his shoes. “I mean i know i am killing this Ty Core look but really?”

“Ty Core?” Tyler snorted. “You need to stop talking to Penny. She is a bad influence on you,” he said leaning down and kissing his forehead. “And yes i was taking a picture off you because i wanted to show off my model bestie wearing my clothes,” he said.

“I see,” he nodded. “Did you get my good side?” he asked, doing an exaggerated pose that no real model would do.

“Both sides are good so it was pretty easy for me,” Tyler said, Daniel beamed up at him as he was weak for compliments. “So do we have any plans since you’ve raided my wardrobe or are we just staying in,” Tyler asked, wiggling his eyebrows. “We could always Netflix and chill?”

For a brief second Daniel considered this, there was nothing he enjoyed more than been on top of, underneath and everything in between when it came to Tyler but flashbacks of those muggle Harry Potter movies flickered in his mind, making what should have been a flirty comment back became “Dumbledore was the worst,” Tyler at tried to hide his laughter but failed when he began to chuckle.

“There are other options, you know more movies exist -”

“No, I don’t trust it” Daniel said, shaking his head. “But now that you bought it up, how about we go to Hogsmeade?”

“Hogsmeade?” Tyler repeated confused. “What? Why?”

“Well isn’t that where all Hogwarts students go for their dates?” Daniel asked. “We never got to do that because we were -” he trailed pulling a face. “Busy,” he said as he nose crinkled at the thought.

“You mean Madame Puddifoot’s Tea Shop?” Tyler asked as a disgusted look made its way onto his face. “No Daniel, that place is hideous. It is something we can totally skip out on,” he said seriously.

“Hmmm I feel there is a story here that I very much want to hear one day,” Daniel said an eyebrow raised. “But I meant Hogsmeade but noted about the tea shop,” he said with a laugh. “We could always just go out as friends, celebrate broentine day today and Valentine’s Day as lovers tomorrow - you know the whole best of both worlds thing,” he said. “Except we are really together so not only do we get the best of both worlds we also get to secretly mock the lonely people by dating,” he continued.

“Didn’t you go to Hogsmeade when we went to Hogwarts, I could have sworn we went to the three broomsticks together,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “Look I am not saying no I am just confused as to why you want to go there?”

“Yeah maybe,” Daniel shrugged, he went to a lot of places with Tyler most of the time though Daniel would be distracted with other things. “Look I want to go to the screaming shack,” he said.

“Shrieking shack?”

“Same difference,” he said waving a hand dismissively. “Look, if madame pudding's teapot is for dates then the screaming shack is clearly for hooking up,” he pointed out with a grin. “None of my Hogwarts hookups ever took me there, it was always the broom closet or the prefect’s bathroom or that weird room on the seventh floor,” he said scrunching his nose up.

“Firstly what Hogwarts hookups? When did that happen? Why did I not know and who was it?” Tyler asked with eyes narrowed. “And the shrieking shack wasn’t a hookup spot, you saw it in the movie people thought it was haunted because of potters-“

“Furry godfather and his werewolf boyfriend yeah I remember,” Daniel filled in. “Which is why the shack was shrieking, they were totally fucking,” he pointed out as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Tyler stared at him for a second mouth ajar before breaking out into a fit of laughter. “Okay let’s go then,” he said with a grin. “But after we have to go to Diagon alley, I need to check something at gringotts,” he added.

“Oh I got you showing me your bank accounts after one shower succ I knew I was good but wow,” Daniel teased with a wink.

“You wish,” Tyler said with an eye roll. “And please that is not the first time that has happened,” he smirked.

“Yeah yeah,” Daniel said dismissively as he stood up. “Let’s go and maybe if you are good you can make my shack scream,” he laughed.

“I don’t think that metaphor works,” Tyler chuckled.

“What was that invite mark and Tara on a double date at the tea house?” Daniel said with a boxy grin gigging as he saw Tyler’s eyes narrowing before racing down the stairs before he could catch him.

%%#%

“Well this is disappointing,” Daniel frowned as he looked around the shack. “I expected a place full of sin and all I got was a place full of dust bunnies,” he said kicking a broken chair. “Well I am not going to have sex with you here, we might catch something and not in the way you’d expect,”

“We were going to -“ Tyler laughed. “You what never mind, I am sorry this place is such a disappointment. How about head to Diagon Alley, we get a drink and then I will take you on a real date,” he offered. “You can even sex me up all you want.”

“I suppose I could use a drink,” Daniel said. “But I’m paying since I dragged you all the way here for nothing,” he added.

“Is it really for nothing? I am spending time with the person I love in a…. Shack.” Tyler said nose wrinkling in disgust.

“Tyler Lee shacks up in a shack now there is a headline I never thought I’d see,” Daniel teased, linking their hands and dragging Tyler towards the exit.

“The crazy things you do for love,” Tyler said with a laugh.

“Love or not let’s get you that drink you mentioned,” Daniel laughed as they apparitied to Diagon Alley. Daniel looked around the cobblestone street, the bright colours and busting life a stark contrast to the dusty disappointment of the Shrieking Shack.

“Yes and while we are having this drink you can tell me about these Hogwarts hookups that you conveniently kept secret all these years,” Tyler said huffed from beside him stepping forward. Daniel glanced ahead sussing out if Tyler was genuinely upset or just teasing, despite the way he had said it lightly there was a flicker of hurt in his eyes.

“I didn’t keep it a secret, at least purposely,” Daniel sighed as he jogged to catch up with Tyler. “I never really bought it up because it wasn’t important you know? They were just hookups, some of them I can't even remember names off which is kinda horrible of me,” he frowned. “It was never serious, I think half of them just wanted to experiment and I wanted to get off,” he frowned. “I was kinda a whore,” Daniel said with a shrug, playing it off as a joke.

“No you weren’t, don’t talk about yourself like that,” Tyler said seriously stopping mid-step. Daniel hummed, his automatic response would have been to play it off making a crude comment about he could be for Tyler but the way Tyler look genuinely upset with him for saying that stopped any words from leaving his mouth. “I wasn’t judging you, you know that right, I was just- surprised, not that these boys would want to hook up with you, I mean your gorgeous but i just thought as your best friend i would have known,” he said.

“Let’s get to The Leaky Cauldron, yeah, i think a drink is needed for this conversation,” Daniel said, remembering that they were indeed in fact on a busy street surrounded by people who would eventually realize that Tyler Lee was among them. Tyler brows furrowed a frown making its way onto his handsome features, Daniel had to ball his fist from reaching out and caressing Ty’s face. “You know away from prying eyes and especially ears,” Daniel said pointedly as recognition flashed across Tyler’s face.

They walked into the leaky cauldron, Daniel had only been to this particular pub once in his life, the summer before he started at Hogwarts. It was safe to say this shabby little pub had not been touched by time, but one good thing was the number of dark closed off corners it had, perfect for a conversation that didn’t want to be heard. Daniel watched as the pub’s patrons slowly realized just who had walked in, now Daniel was not a modest person, he was pretty famous but it was nothing compared to the fanfare Tyler caused. Soon they were swarmed as people all ran to get a piece of Tyler.

“Oi you lot none of that,” The landlord called out, pushing through the crowd. “Give him some space, you vultures,” he said. “You two come through the private parlour,” he said to Tyler and Daniel. “Let them through, i swear anyone who hassles him is getting kicked out.” he threatened, sending withering glares towards the crowd.

“Here you go,” he said, leading them into a room behind the bar, it was a little small but it was clear it had a renovation the rest of the pub had not. The walls were clean painted a lovely shade of light blue, luxurious lounge chairs were pushed against the wall, has a small table was placed in front of them. “I am sorry about them,” the landlord said scratching the back of his neck, genuinely seeming embarrassed. Daniel couldn’t help but narrow his eyes at him despite that, he was sure there was some kinda catch he’d probably want Tyler to date his sister now or something like that. “We don’t get too many famous people here these days but its no excuse, what can I get you two? Don't worry it’s on the house,” he said, Daniel waited for the catch but it didn’t come.

“Could i get two malt whiskeys,” Tyler said to him as the landlord nodded backing out of the room. “Daniel I’m so so-”

“Don’t even finish that sentence,” Daniel said, placing a finger on his lips. “You deserve the fanfare, maybe not that craziness but i get it if Tyler Lee walked into my local I would want a picture of him as well - plus you’re the boat,” Daniel shrugged.

“Boat? Do you mean goat?” Tyler moving his head back, raising an eyebrow at Daniel.

“Best Of All Time? Why would I compare you to a farm animal?” Daniel frowned. “Wait, are you trying to be self-deprecating? Usually, when people do that you can see why they would say it but with your pretty face, it just doesn’t work” Daniel pointed out.

“No, i mean your version works but the term is the G.O.A.T, the greatest of all time,” Tyler laughed. “Again no more Penny for you Mister,” he said flicking his nose. “I swear you are such a fan sometimes,” Tyler grinned.

“Number one fan, thank you very much,” Daniel huffed playfully.

“The bestest,” Tyler said leaning and pecking Daniel’s lips, pulling away as the landlord walked back in with a tray of drinks and two menus. “Just in case you get hungry,” he said before leaving the room. The two of them blinked before laughing. “I think we are alone now,” Tyler said as he took on a sit on the couch tapping it gesturing for Daniel to come sit beside him. “So about that other thing -” he said.

“I never told you because i didn’t want to waste your time talking about people that didn’t matter,” Daniel said, grabbing his glass of whiskey and taking a gulp as he sat down. “It wasn’t anything but that, none of those guys were important, the only people that mattered to me were you, Emily and … you know,” Danel said. Even now he was reluctant to mention Sungjae’s name. He was over him he knew that for sure and he hoped Tyler knew it but he didn’t want to upset Tyler even more by bringing up his crush on Sungjae.

“Well, you should have told me,” Tyler huffed, “ I could have found some better guys for you,” Tyler said. Daniel smiled, placing the glass back on the table before cuddling up to Tyler. Truthfully a part of him wanted to laugh at the idea, he knew the majority of Tyler’s friends and none of them were his type.

“I could have and should have told you I agree but you my little over-achiever would have struggled to find the right guy and it would have driven you crazy,” Daniel laughed. “Who would have guessed all you would’ve had to do is look in the mirror,” Daniel grinned.

“Well everyone should have because I am a catch but let’s face not even you would have known plus me as just a hookup? As if,” he scoffed.

“You’re right you would have ruined me for other guys,” Daniel said seriously. “Like you have now,” he added with a wink.

“Hell yeah, I have,” Tyler boasted. “And as I should you since I am your boyfriend, best friend and in general the love of your life,” he said.

“You’re adorable,” Daniel said smiling at Tyler fondly. “But now we have discussed my Hogwarts dating experience we need to talk about yours, what’s with the tea place?” Daniel asked raising an eyebrow.

“Do we have to?” Tyler all but whined. “Maybe i just don’t like it because it’s tacky, have you ever considered that?” Tyler said with a pout.

“Normally I’d say yes but considering how you had no problems going to an abandoned old shack for me but the possibility of that tea shop you were like no not happening, something happened in that shop, something bad, something you need to share with me,” he said patting Tyler’s thighs. “Come on, you know I’d never judge you,” he said in mock seriousness.

“I already know you are going to laugh,” Tyler said with an eye roll. “But first please know when i say tacky i mean tacky, everything was covered in frills and bows,” he shuddered. “Gaudy tables and chairs, so much lace.” he continued.

Daniel hummed sympathetically handing him his glass, “My poor baby,” he said caressing his face. Tyler nodded dramatically tapping a large gulp of whiskey. “Continue when you are ready,” Daniel said shifting so he could lay, his legs over Tyler’s laps effectively locking him in place.

“Well, in my third year this girl, i am not going to give names because we both know you are the jealous type,” Tyler said with a grin. Daniel’s brows furrowed protesting that he was not. “Don’t even deny it, love, you totally get jealous when i spend time with Maude,” he smirked as Daniel pulled a face, he was not jealous of Maude Olivier, he just didn’t like how obviously in love with his boyfriend she was. “Anyway this girl was a grade above me, super popular and pretty enough so when she asked me to go to Hogsmeade with her my friends at the time pushed for it, I was already the youngest quidditch Captain could you imagine if i was dating a pretty fourth year, so i said yes, it was no big deal, i figured we’d just go to Honeydukes, Zunko’s and maybe the quidditch shop,” he said with a frown. “But i was naive, “ frowned.

“What did she do to you?” Daniel asked eyes narrowed, murderous thoughts running through his mind, he could always find out this girl’s name on his own.

“No nothing like that it was just a terrible date, Madame Puddifoots was packed full of other couples we were pretty much stacked on top of each other, the decorations - there were golden cherubs, i love gold but that was just awful, the tea was terrible, and it was just so awkward,” he said with a shake of his head. “And then the girl asks me if i think she is the prettiest girl in the school and like she was pretty but the prettiest girl in the school? No way, so i thought i was doing the right thing and -”

“You didn’t?” Daniel laughed as Tyler nodded causing Daniel to break out into a fit of laughter.

“Anyway she bursts into tears and everyone looks at us, like imagine crying over that i didn’t say she was ugly -” Tyler scoffed.

“13 year old you had zero game and was not here for nonsense, i respect that,” Daniel said trying to control his laughter as Tyler glared. “Anyway, honestly that girl didn’t deserve you,” Tyler nodded in agreement, scoffing about how you could say that again. “I am sorry that you had to relive that trauma,” Daniel said sitting up pressing a kiss to Tyler’s cheek. “It gets better,’” he said trailing kisses down Tyler’s jawline.

“I thought we were meant to be having a bro day,” Tyler groaned, pushing Daniel down, climbing on top of him and kissing him.

“We are,” Daniel said breathlessly as Tyler pulled away. “I mean it’s not to bro-ee considering I’ve talked about fucking in a shack,” he shrugged pulling Tyler back down. He can’t just kiss him like that and stop. No, he needed more, much more. Luckily for Daniel, Tyler got the message very quickly.

He didn’t know how long they were making out but sadly they were interrupted by Tyler’s phone ringing, Daniel groaned his hair messier, lips were swollen, shirt askew and pants significantly tighter. “Ignore it,” he said, leaning up to kiss Tyler pecked his lips before pulling away laughing. Daniel pouted as Tyler held his phone to his ear with one hand while buttoning up his shirt with the other. Daniel scoffed sitting up pressing his ear against Tyler’’s trying to hear who was on the other end. Tyler raised an eyebrow as he stood up walking to the other side of the room, causing the pout on Daniel’s face to turn into a full-blown frown.

“Mhm thanks,” He heard Tyler say. “Okay I actually really need to go to Gringotts now,” he said coming back over to Daniel and sitting back down next to him. “Just have to pick something up,” he said,

“Do you want me to come with you? Or - “ He asked, raising an eyebrow as Tyler smiled sheepishly. “Fine,” Daniel rolled his eyes. “I’ll just go get Em’s Valentine’s day gift, do you want me to get something for Tara?” he offered. “Wait do you buy each other presents? And if so, do you have a price limit?”

“I already got her something and yes, all because my gifts were better than Mark’s,” Tyler huffed.

“Didn’t he write her a song -” Daniel began to say as Tyler glared at him. “But how dare he not spend money on your little sister? He is beyond lucky to have her as a fin-” he started but trailed off as Tyler’s glare only intensified. The F word has a different meaning when it comes to Tyler, fiancee had been on the do not say list since his sister got engaged. “Anyway -” he trailed off trying to change the subject, Tyler snorted clearly amused by his attempt. “How about we get going?”

“Yes we should,” Tyler said. “How about we meet at Fortescue’s Icecream Parlour?” Tyler offered.

“Sure,” Daniel said. “This time i am definitely paying, no matter what your fan club tries,” he said with a laugh.

-------

“So did you get what you needed?’ Daniel asked as Tyler sat down across from him, raising an eyebrow as he spotted his bowl of ice cream.“It’s your favourite and I’ve already paid so you can’t say no,” he added.

“I did and okay, i’ll just pay for our date later,” Tyler grinned. “So did you get your cousin a gift?” he asked. “What do you even buy a huff n puff?” he asked nose turned up.

“A Tyler Lee voodoo doll,” Daniel deadpanned as Tyler frowned. “I am kidding, i just got her some chocolates and a new quill set,” Daniel said, nose scrunching up. “She won’t let me buy more since she mostly gives her friends and family homemade things,” he pouted. “But instead i bought my friends gifts, including you, happy broentine day,” he said pulling out a Tyler Lee figuring. “And here is me with heart eyes and my number one fan jersey,” he said pulling out his custom made doll.

“Seriously,” Tyler laughed. “Strange but cute,” he said with a grin.

“It’s realistic thank you very much, you exist. I have heart eyes, it’s the natural order,” Daniel said as Tyler grinned at the praise.

“I see well in that case you should keep this one,” he said, pushing his figuring towards Daniel. “And i should keep this handsome fella,” he grinned, grabbing the Daniel-esque figure.

“You monster! how dare you try to separate them?” Daniel gasped dramatically causing Tyler to chuckle.

“Uhm excuse me,” A woman said, “I am really sorry about this but would you mind if my son said hello,” she said gesturing to the small human hiding behind her leg, peaking out to look at Tyler with awe. “It’s his birthday and you are his hero,” she continued. Daniel looked down to see a bag full of presents in the woman’s hand proving her claim to be true.

Tyler over at Daniel questioning if it was okay, Daniel nodded for him to go ahead. “What’s his name?”

“Artem,” the woman said, trying to get her son to stop hiding, “Sorry he is a little shy,” she said. Tyler shook his head, got out of his chair and kneeling so he could spot Artem.

“Hello Artem,” Tyler said softly as the boy slowly moved to the front. “I heard it was your birthday today,” he said as the little boy turned red nodding furiously. “Happy Birthday,” he said with a smile. “How old are you now?”

“Four,” Artem said with a toothy grin. “I am a big boy now,” he said, getting braver as time went on.

“Four,” Tyler gasped. “Wow that is so cool,” he said. “Have you had a good birthday?” he asked.

“Mhm, I got to have ice cream with my friends and mummy said she is going to go to the quidditch shop to look at the new broomsticks,” he said. “I might be a junior broom,” he said excitedly looking at his mother who smiled fondly.

“Wow that sounds so fun, my friend bought me ice cream,” he said nodding to Daniel who waved awkwardly as Artem stared at him. “And your first broom?” Tyler asked. “That is so exciting, you are very lucky.” Artem nodded happily.

“I am gonna practice so i can be as good as you,” he said looking at Tyler as if he had put the stars in the sky.

“As good as me?” Tyler asked, stroking his chin. “Hmm I think if you practice really hard you might be even better,” he whispered as Artem's mouth hung open. “How about we take a quick photo, yeah?” he asked Artem who let out a squeal of excitement. The mum pulled out her phone quickly, taking the shot of her beaming son and Tyler who had a well-practised media smile on his face.

“Thank you so much,” The mother said as Artem excitedly stared at her phone, not fully believing he had just met his idol. “I am sorry about the disruption,” she said bowing pushing Artem along who was waving excitedly at Tyler.

“Sorry about that,” Tyler said sitting back down. Daniel shook his head, there was no need for him to apologize.

“It was cute, you made his entire day and they were a lot more polite about it,” Daniel said. “You are really good with children,” he said, Tyler grinned. “Anyway about our -”

“Tyler!” Daniel heard an all too familiar voice screech out. He looked across the street to see Maude Olivier making her way over to them. Daniel looked at Tyler who just shrugged, shaking his head letting Daniel know he had no hand in this. “I thought it was you,” she said as she came to their table. Daniel rolled his eyes, she was probably stalking him looking for any updates on his whereabouts. “Daniel,” she said looking at Daniel with a sneer before turning around pulling a chair from a nearby table. “I haven’t seen you in forever,” she said, leaning forward, blocking Daniel.

“I’ve been busy but i am pretty sure you came to my match the other week,” he said.

“But we haven’t hung out in like forever,” she pouted making Daniel want to throw what was left of his icecream at her stupid head. “How are you holding up,” she said, reaching out to rub Tyler’s arm.

“Fine,” Tyler said, pulling his arm away, shifting away so she couldn’t touch him. “Why wouldn’t I be?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You know since Valentine’s day is tomorrow and Minah is rubbing her loser husband in your face like marrying Sungjae Lee is something to be proud of,” she said as Daniel glowered, bringing up the M word and insulting Sungjae, while Daniel was completely over him, he was going to let someone like Maude drag him, especially when he was miles above her.

“You know what I am surprised by? ” Daniel commented, “That Minah hasn’t blocked you, I mean you’d think after you and your entire family make a name for yourself after copying her family's designs,” he said mockingly, he couldn’t stand Delacroix but he hated Maude so much more.

“Shouldn’t you be in Australia right now? Why are you even here?”

“Why am I here? You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Daniel snorted, this bitch invites herself to their table and dares to ask that. “And how dare you bring her up in front of him, what kind of friend are you-” he snapped. “Oh crap you got me saying her name now, Ty, babe, I am so sorry,” he said causing Tyler to laugh.

“It’s fine, I don’t care,” Tyler said waving a hand dismissively. “But maybe we should go back to mine, you know to make sure you can’t say any words,” he said suggestively, winking at Daniel. Daniel flushed wondering where exactly that had come from. “Already speechless? Wow, i haven’t done anything yet,” he smirked.

“What?” Maude said looking between Tyler and Daniel. Damn it, Daniel had momentarily forgotten about her presence.

“Why are you still here?” he muttered as he looked at Tyler panicked, telling their friends and Minah was one thing but Maude Olivier, a woman who in Daniel’s opinion has an attic dedicated to Tyler with like a piece of his hair that she smells before going to bed. Daniel opened his mouth to explain it was a joke, a weird nonsensical joke, yup a joke.

Tyler shrugged, “Any way we have to go,” he said to Maude. “I’ll text you to find a time when we can hang out,” he said standing up and grabbing Daniel’s hand and pulling him up.

“What -” Daniel said, eyes darting to Maude.

“We have some not speaking to do,” Tyler said, wrapping an arm around his shoulder not glancing back at Maude.

[leejihoonownsmyheart]

Christmas Retreat

Part Three of the 13 Days of Seventeen Series

Summary:

You’re the head of Riverdale Church Youth Group, and Joshua is the head of Saint Mary’s Catholic Youth Group. For no good reason at all, your youth groups always end up in the same places for every Mission Trip. You think that you’ll get to escape them for this year’s Christmas Retreat, but when you guys end up in a snowed-in cabin together with your meddlesome youth groups you suppose that fate really just isn’t ever on your side.

2k+ Words 

-

“You guys brought this on yourselves.”

“And we aren’t letting you out until you guys are married-”

“Okay not married, just like… Talk about your feelings.”

“But-”

“Okay! Now work it out between you two!”

The muffled voices from outside of the closet door slowly became quieter and quieter. You sighed, brushing your hair out of your face.

“I wish I could blame you entirely for this mess,” you murmured hesitantly, your eyes glued to the closet door that despite how badly you wished it to, you knew wouldn’t open. “But, for once my kids are partly to blame for this too.”

You heard a deep chuckle echo from within the closet, and you risked a glance towards the small rooms second occupant. You weren’t surprised to find that he was just as annoyed by the situation as you were. He had his fingers buried into the roots of his hair, and his eyes were cast towards the floor.

As disappointed as you were to be in this situation, it sure did give you the opportunity to look at Joshua better than you had been able to all weekend.

The last time you saw him, the fall mission trip to the mountains to build houses his hair had been short, and dark. His cheeks had been a bit chubbier at the time too, you had an inkling of a suspicion he had a huge lifestyle change sometime between then and now because he looked a lot different.

He had let his hair grow out to the point in which he had to brush the strands out of his eyes every few minutes when he was talking to someone. That would be strange in itself if it weren’t for the fact that he had also dyed his hair in the past few months- those dark locks were now white whisps that were a little distracting to look at.

No one had any right to look as good as Joshua did with white hair, but here he was, and here you were taking any chance you got to stare at it without him noticing.

“Don’t suppose we exceed the closets maximum occupancy?” Joshua joked, jolting you back into the present. Your nose wrinkled slightly, and you tried to look away as quickly as you could without making it it too obvious that you had been staring.

If he noticed he didn’t comment on it.

“Sadly, I don’t think the kids would care even if we did,” you stated. “I mean, I’m not surprised they’re tired of the back and forth practical jokes, but I didn’t think they would lock the two of us in a closet together.”

“The masters became the victims,” Joshua agreed dreadfully.

When you had promised your youth group a weekend getaway in the mountains right before Christmas, they had all been ecstatic. Sure, their parents had been a little hesitant to send them on a trip that would bring them back on Christmas Eve, but after some coaxing all the parents had agreed to it.

You rented out a cabin for the trip- well half of one- and you cleaned out the Church van, and you printed out packing lists and everything.

The whole way up you had all sang Christmas carols and shared fun Christmas stories, and you were all so eager for the weekend full of snowboarding and smores by a campfire you had planned.

What you hadn’t accounted for was Joshua.

Apparently, the other group renting out the cabin was Joshua’s youth group. Aka your rival youth group and Christmas didn’t mean that Joshua was going to lighten up on his pranks…

Ever since you had first started leading the Riverdale Church Youth Group you had been rivals with Joshua’s youth group. It wasn’t some tradition that two of you blindly held or anything of the sort. It started with the very first mission trip your groups had been partnered on when Joshua interrupted your groups quiet time with a water gun assault, and since then, the war didn’t end.

Joshua had thrown you in pools, gotten marshmallow in your hair, hung your clothes on flagpoles, gotten paint all over your groups van, and had even taken over your lunch tables one year. In retaliation you had led your group on water balloon raids, and switched out shampoo for hair dye, and put a fake snake in a bed, and so much more.

It was all pretty harmless, and honestly, everyone was secretly just a little excited to find that they had been raided by the Saint Mary Youth Group. Rumors of your rivalry spread like wildfire amongst that of the local churches and every group in the state was eager to hear about what pranks you had all pulled on each other this time.

It was just, the fall retreat had kind of whipped everyone out, and you knew you didn’t just speak for just yourself when you said that you were just a little annoyed when you opened the milk cartoon to prepare breakfast for everyone only to find that it had been dyed blue overnight.

So, when you struck back, this time you didn’t hold back.

“Maybe we did go a little far this time,” you mumbled. “Honestly, I think I spent more time wondering how I was going to prank you back then I did with how we were going to best utilize movie night.”

“And I shouldn’t have dyed your hair pink,” he said.

You were surprised by his tone of voice, it was soft… Almost sounded genuine. You risked a glance towards Joshua again, catching him staring at you this time. There was no shame in his gaze.

“Even though you do look great with pink hair.”

You rolled your eyes and raised your hand to your hair subconsciously. You ran your fingers through its strands, staring at the pink mess.

“My parents are going to kill me,” you said with a chuckle. You brushed your hair back behind your ear and smiled at Joshua shyly. “But, you’re right. It does look good.”

Silence fell between the two of you and for a moment you weren’t really sure what to say.

You had known Joshua for about four years now, and you couldn’t rightly say when you had ever gotten the chance to talk to him directly like this. Probably never without the presence of at least one of your kids and especially not in such a small space.

Honestly, being this close to him made your heart pound in your chest so loudly that you worried he could hear you.

“It sucks,” you blurted before you could think over your words. “That were all going to be stuck here. For them to miss Christmas with their families at this age…”

And the reason that everything was truly going wrong this trip.

When you guys had been up at the cabin for only a day an unexpected storm front had swept in. Overnight it snowed eight inches. You were all snowed in and that meant, you would all be there past Christmas. You would have to wait until people could come and dig you all out and that wouldn’t happen until at least the 26th.

Everyone had been bummed, and that low mood was hard to bring up for a group of thirty teenagers.

“We should try to do something for them,” Joshua agreed. “Even though…”

“Yeah,” you mumbled back. It wouldn’t make up for missing Christmas with their families. Nothing you guys did could. “But what should we even do…”

Again, that silence fell over you two as you began to think about what you could do for the kids. Smores by the fireside? Carols all through the night?

As you thought over all the possibilities, wondering what you could possibly actually voice to Joshua you raised your thumb to your mouth, nervously gnawing on it. You had only had your thumb in your mouth for a few short moments when warm fingers wrapped themselves around your wrist.

You looked up, startled to find Joshua intently staring at you. You bite the corner of your lip as he pulled your hand down, lowering it to your side.

“What?” You asked, confusion riddling across your brow. Joshua swallowed hard, his fingers withdrawing from you almost as quickly as they had appeared.

“You uh, you just shouldn’t chew on your finger like that. It’s a bad habit,” he stated. You rolled your eyes.

“I don’t do it much.”

Joshua scoffed at that statement, which made you frown even more.

“What?” You demanded. He shrugged.

“Just… You do do it a lot. Like, all the time,” he elaborated. “I swear no matter what we are doing you have your thumb in your mouth.”

Your confusion didn’t fade, but your slight annoyance at his words melted with his words. Your head fell to the side.

“Really?” You mumbled. “Gee, I should really kick that huh? I hadn’t even noticed.”

“You also,” he hesitated again, seemingly like he didn’t really want to finish his statement. You leaned forward a bit.

“I also?”

“You also don’t eat enough,” he stated. “I’m not judging your portion sizes or anything but you feed everyone else before yourself and you let the kids take from your plate and I know you want more food than you get when you’re with the youth group and you should start making sure you get all the food that you actually want.”

“I’ve also noticed that you wake up really early, and you go to sleep really late. You definitely don’t get enough sleep, and it sort of makes me worry you know? You never seem tired but if you aren’t sleeping your body has to like collapse at some point, right?”

“And I can’t help but notice that you braid your hair when you’re stressed. I mean… That’s not a bad habit, but it’s something you do you know?”

You pressed your lips together, muffling a small laugh.

“You uh, really noticed all that?” You asked him softly. He looked away from you.

“Well…”

“The kids didn’t lock us in the closet because our pranks had gotten out of hand… Did they?” You asked softly. Joshua’s cheeks reddened but before he could say anything there was a bang at the door.

“We did it because Joshua has some middle school crush on you and won’t stop talking about you!”

“Oh my god, Jeremy they were about to get to that!”

“Kate what would your parents say if they caught you saying oh my god,” Joshua called through the door with a roll of his eyes.

“Probably the same thing they would say if they found out we locked you two in a closet. It’s hardly my top concern at the moment.”

You muffled a giggle with the back of your hand, an action that dragged Joshua’s attention back to you. He quirked an eyebrow at you curiously, a look that made you back yourself into the closet door.

“What are you laughing at?” He asked in amusement. You shrugged, folding your hands behind your back.

“Nothing,” you said. You looked away from him, a smile crossing your lips. “You really think I’m cute?”

Joshua grew closer to you at that, his eyes flickering down to your lips.

“If I say yes… Will you let me kiss you?”

You were surprised by the suddenness of the question. Unsure at first of exactly how you were going to answer. Before you could think twice about it however, you leaned forward, your lips hovering just before his.

“You don’t even have to say yes.”

Joshua didn’t need any more permission past that. His hand raised to your cheek, his thumb brushing your hair out of your eyes before he leaned forward, his lips pressing against yours. You were immediately lost in the sensation, the faint taste of the peppermint hot chocolate he had earlier that day, and the warmth of his body hovering so close to yours. You were so lost in fact in the sensation of being there with him, in his arms that you completely forgot to listen to what the kids outside were doing.

So, while you were surprised when the door pulled open and the two of you tumbled to the ground in a flurry of limbs and coats. You heard your two youth groups erupt into laughter as they peered down at the two of you. You didn’t have to look at Joshua to know that his cheeks were as red as yours. You sat up, shooting a glare at the nearest kid. They just shrugged innocently and pointed to the clock.

“We just wanted to wish you two a Merry Christmas.”

You rolled your eyes and lifted yourself off the floor. You supposed that you and Joshua could finish this later... Once the kids were all back asleep.

[heyyylittlemo]

Ask game

1. Where did you hide the body??

Me: *pause* No, where did you hide the body—

*police stare at me with disbelief*

Me: there’s no—there’s not a single body here—well stop looking at me like that, you’re the cop! You should know! Why are you asking me for! Body? Whaaaaaat. Ahaha.

*cops shake head*

*whispers to my friend* Guys I think I pulled that one off

Police: you know we can hear everything you’re saying

me: 👁👄👁

2. Favorite rock? The 1975. Dominic Fike. Arctic Monkeys. Bad Suns. The killers. Pale Waves. Etc. That good good shit 👌

3. Most aesthetic season? Fall. Love them orange colors. The leaves falling. Though spring is also neat if you have a bunch of flowers bloomin in shit and winter is only aesthetic when it’s snowing. Boring ass summer tho just be heating me up.

4. When texting do u shorten words or spell out? I used to write stuff out all the time mostly but now it’s like half and half bcuz its just faster and nobody got time for it 🤣🤣

5. Vintage stuff? Hell yeah, but maybe not anything too expensive since some old stuff IS hyper expensive.

6. Colors that pop or blend? Not sure I understand what u mean abt them blending ahaha u mean like when they’re so similar to another?? Well I think it’s nice but honestly I prefer a pop and a bang, y’Know?

- At this moment I realized I was answering the last few questions from a completely different ask and felt like a dumbass 😂 anyways the actual number we’re on is three so imma just kickback

3. Worst dream u have ever had? I had sleep paralysis but was imbetween that and a lucid dream. At first I was paralyzed and could see my bed but my eyes felt closed and open at the same time?? A giant dark demon looking dog had towered over me and began to tear at my neck. It looked and felt very real I started to try to scream and it felt like a scream was coming out but no sound exited. Then I went into a lucid dream where I was being chased by this dog and running for my life I was running by and nobody could save me nobody in the dream when it caught up to me I was back in my bed and it was trying to eat me again. I was so terrified I couldn’t sleep for a whole week.

4. Lyric that comes to your mind? “And I don’t think I can be there. I’m paralyzed,I’m terrified of being alone. When you said I deserved what had happened.”

5. Blood make u uncomfortable? Yes, I passed out once when getting my finger pricked and a VERY small blood sample and another when dissecting a fish.

6. Even or odd numbers? Well I like the number 5,7,9, 3 so odd. (Like me 🤣🤣)

7. Something I hate that I love? Anything I’ve ever loved becuz love can be frustrating. Bruh.

8. 1st initial of someone I hate? Hmm...do I hate someone tho? Not that I can think of...

9. *Skipping down the lane* NOPE

10. Corn dogs? It’s funny cuz when I think of corn dogs my mind will always go to when we first moved to our current house because at our initial town we never had Sonic and while we were getting the house fixed up and moving stuff we use to always get Sonic since it was the closest to us most times to eat and that was a bunch of corn dogs and hotdog days 🤣 so thnk u corn dogs for ur service

11. I’m not a huge movie person so...I looked up movies from 2005 and movies Inlike from this time are Brokeback mountain bcuz it’s gay af, Shark Boy and Lava Girl damn I rewatched the shot out of it when I was younger, Narnia and the Chocolate Factory(although it low key creeped me out as a kid, and idk why).

12. Least fav music genre? Most country, most EDM, dubstep, screaming/really hard rock, some pop music, mumble raping.

13. As someone who waits on tables, my job is my least favorite restaurant experience 🤣🤣 just dealing with ppl...like ok, I’m half Hispanic right?? But I look white. Well, I work at a Mexican restaurant and so sometimes racist costumers will say shady shit just bcuz I guess they think it’s appropriate to say it to me just bcuz I’m not Hispanic in their eyes?? But it pisses me off and I feel like I can’t say anything without causing a drama which I hate and when the “costumers always right” it can be hard to budge and stand up and say “bitch wtf did u just say??” And there’s just folks who take things the wrong ways or ask too much at once or give u a hard time or just say something that sticks onto you for the whole day. One bad move can turn my whole day upside down.

14. 3 things never come near me? Cockroaches, Needles, and close mind ppl

15. Worst way to die? With regrets. Something really brutual, random, or where something just happened to go wrong (accident). Being killed by someone u love.

16. Unusual habits? Doing a Michael Jackson esque “hee-hee” after every sneeze I make, being extremely clumsy and making every task 100% more difficult, having the ability to talk as if I have an accent that comes from nowhere in particular just stupidity also I can’t speak my own language half the time 🙃getting words confused or misusing them in a sentence so I sound dumb having a very weird imagination and thoughts, I swear it like I never went to school and don’t know how the world works, plus many many more

17. Clothing style u want? I want to dress in a way that screams who I am and is a blend of both femininity and masculinity. A little vintage. Grunge. Urban maybe?? What do I know abt fashion 🤣🤣

18. Song or artist that deserves more? Dijon, hands down. I love his stuff. He’s like Frank Ocean meets light-singing beautiful lyricist with a more rock vibe?? Hidden gem. I also think Durand Jones & the Indications needs more love along with BadBadNotGood they sound like old-times but are new!! Oh, and Pale Waves is like a female The 1975 and kicks it. Bad Suns is a good alt rock band that no one seems to recognize :,D Toro y Moi too! His song with Flume “The difference “ is a banger!! Kid Cudi is my man when I want a blend of rock and rap. Also Dominic Fike,King Krule, and Roy Blair, who are all amazing!! Ok I need to stop 🛑

Duck I answered the past questions from a different post I’m sorry 😐

17. Emoji never used? There’s a bunch since I reuse the same over and over again. Lmao

18. 3 sentence Gatorade horror story? A faint quiver overtook the small freezer the Gatorade lay in; no one had come by in days, hours, weeks; when was the last time he met the lips of a thirsty body? They’d forgotten about him, as his last sips remained glued to his hollowing entrance. ‘Help, ‘it wanted to say, but it’s frozen lips could not be moved; It’d stay here, die here...just like the rest.” What am I doing with my life 🤣🙏

19. Do u know what an old bay is? A bay that is old? And old ocean? Idk!!!

20. Can u dance? Sometimes I dance when I’m alone but nothing spectral lol

21. What first comes to ur mind when u see ropes? 2 extremes. Sex and death. Hm. Ok. Moving on.

22. Make an obscure reference. “Even a bra couldn’t hold these nipples” *Holds a water gun to chest*

23. Fav balloon color? Pink or yellow.

24. If u were in court would u be innocent or guilty? Depends, what am I in court for 🤣 lmao jk honestly idk bcuz I don’t think I’d wind up in there

25. Are u hungry ? Nope

26. Unlucky number? Hm I don’t think so but I have a lucky number “123”

27. What’s “JMD”stand for? I’m guessing...Jamming my d—- 💀lol jk ahaha why am so dirt

28. Random inside joke? *chirpy squeak* I’m making a double batch of cookies

29. What sends chills up ur spine? Seeing disgust food or smell disgust or talking abt disgust things like gore

30. How many questions are in ur inbox? A pathetic zero ahaha no one want to ask me anything 😂

31. Someone real who scares u. 2 of my ex friends. One when I was 10 said disturbing things and I was kinda forced onto the friendship and everything they said make me fear for others lives...and then a different ex friend who seemed normal at 1st but became both low key psychopath cult leader type stuff and I booed out of there—-.

32. Run or hide? Uhh probably hide because I’d say even if ppl say “u can run but u can’t hide” u CAN just hide! that’s the point of hiding they not find u xD also why not combine them? Hide then run somewhere far away once I got them off the trial.

33. Last person who made u angry? A frickin beetle that flew at me and pinched me in the middle of singing in the shed xD also my autocorrect

34. What’s going on in ur head? I should probably pee soon—

35. Little thing that makes u Smile? A lot of little things bruh.

36. Are u a descisive person?

Not sure.

*pAuse *

Ok, I guess I’m not then 🤣

37. Would ppl say I’m paranoid? Hm maybe about certain things social situations, singing in front of others what ppl think abt me etc etc

38. Store least likely in? Any southern clothes shop, Abercrombie & Finch types shit, lol

39. Do I like hats fave type? Hm not wear many hats but I think they’re cool any type is cool for different ppl and their aesthetici just can’t rock a hat.

40. Bow ties or ties? Don’t really care but now want to see more bow ties

41. Who? You.

42. What? Reading this shit

43. Where? In ur ass

44. When? Now.

45. Why? Not even u know why.

46. How? We all want to know

47. Do u collect anything? Vinyl records.

48. What tome is it? Time to get a watch

49. Fav transportation? My car or walk is possible

50. Would u ever kill someone to save someone? Don’t want to think about that

51. Make a joke. Yo, it’s time to make a joke—so the other day I was working. And I was practicing my Spanish, yes? Anyone whose trying to learn anew language k n o w s that sometimes words can be so close to another u just confuse then! So apparently churros in Spanish is a desert but if u say it more harshly (it literally sounds almost the same) it makes a whole different meaning—diharrea, but like I didn’t know that so I legit just walked up to this person and asked if they would like some shit to eat. So yeah, that was great. Let’s not forget that I mixed up blood, watermelon, and sangria which is a wine. I legit once said I had mixed wine in my vines and another time watermelon 🤣

52. I’m really confused so I skip

53. Would ur dash be confiscated SFW? By dash do u mean this account? Um not 😬

54. Do I like to cuddle? Hell yeah and manhandle ppl all the time it’s my affection

55. What makes u angry? Close minded ppl or ppl who jump too fast to conclusions, strict schedules just dumb stuff that people try to force when I just want to be carefree 😭✌️

56. How many voices are in ur head? 😐

57. Do U consider urself mentally stable? 😐

58. Are u easily offended? Well U just called me mentally unstable and asked it there was voices in my head!!

59. What’s wrong with taking the backstreets? Uhm...

60. Any questions u want ppl to ask u? Nothing in particular but it’s be nice if someone care to ask me something abt me from personal question to my opinions on shit to 19 days fandom related junk 😌

Woooo I’ve finished this game! Thanks to @seiji-amasawa for introducing me to this ^^

[redstarwriting]

I Won You This

Natasha x Fem!Reader

Request: “Hi!! So I have this idea that I can't get out of my head: imagine you're taking your gf natasha to a fair and play all these games (you suck but she thinks it's cute) and she wins you stuffed animals and its really sweet and then you get to the one with the guns and the owner is just standing there with dollar signs in his eyes bc no one can beat his game and nat is like let's blow this guys mind and she fucking kills it while you cheer her on and it's just super fluffy urgh i miss her so much”

Word Count: 1,216

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: Swearing, Rude carnie, Heated Natasha, Chauvinism

A/N: I’m really sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted, I’ve been working like crazy recently and now I’m going back to college early and I also had intense writer’s block. I started this so long ago and finally finished it, and I hope you enjoy it. Soft Nat makes my heart happy, and yes. I miss her too, Anon. But we’re getting a Black Widow movie so I’m excited! I hope you enjoy, I’ll try to get out all the other requests I have as soon as possible, I’m just high-key swamped right now, I’m sorry. :(

───────────────────────────────────

You convinced your girlfriend, Natasha, to go with you to your town’s local fair, and you’re very happy you did. Not only is she having a great time and smiling from ear to ear, she keeps winning you stuffed animals. The only downside is no matter how hard you try, you can’t win her anything. You aren’t the best at these carnival-esque games, and it’s becoming very evident every and any time you try to play anything. Ring toss? Ring loss. Balloon dart pop? Balloon dart stop. Literally whatever game you tried, you miserably lost. You were very pouty about this as well, and Nat found it very amusing and adorable. “Come on, (Y/N). Eat this funnel cake with me and cheer up,” she pushes the fried sweet closer to you and you sigh, picking off a piece and sticking it in your mouth. “I just want to win you something! You’ve won me like five things so far, it’s not fair to you you deserve something,” you mumble, and she chuckles. “I don’t need anything, babe, I have you to cuddle with at night.”

“Aw, I love it when you go soft.”

“Shut up,” she tosses one of the smaller stuffed animals at you with a laugh and you smile. “Well, there’s a lot of other games we can play, I’m telling you. I’m winning you a stuffed animal before we leave. Mark my words. We just need to find a game that I can actually do, and I will get you a thing and all will be well as we go on the ferris wheel and hold our new family of fabric and stuffing.” Nat laughs at the determined look on your face. “Okay, (Y/N), whatever you say.”

“Which one do you think I could actually win?”

“Well, I feel like you’d be good at that bowling one over there,” she points to the bowling game and you stand up immediately. “I will win it, and I will give you my winnings, just you watch.” You sprint over there as Nat picks up all the stuffed animals and walks over to you as you begin playing the game. On your first try, you fail, however on your third try, you win. You cannot hide your excitement as you pick a big teddy bear. “I told you I’d win you something!” Nat smiles at your excitedness, gladly accepting the big teddy bear as you take all the animals, she won you. “It’s still a little disproportionate, but at least I actually won you something. I feel unstoppable right now,” you tell her as you both begin walking to the ferris wheel. “Woah, that’s a lot of prizes! Too bad you’ll never be able to win a prize from me.”

You and Nat glance over at the male voice who interrupted your giddy speaking, only to see a shooting game. “I’m sure we’d have no problem winning from you,” Nat says, barely slowing down her walking. “Sweetheart even the guys here can’t win my shooting game and shooting games are meant for the men to win for their girlfriends. Unless you have your man here, you’re not winning, and that’s implying he actually would win. Which he wouldn’t.” Nat stops dead in her tracks, her head snapping to look at this dickhead of a carnie. “Actually, I don’t have a man. I have a girl and she’s right here next to me, and I can win every single prize you have here, smartass.” The carnie rolls his eyes, holding out a gun to her. “Be my guest.”

Natasha hands you her stuffed animal, and the carnie can’t understand why you’re just standing there with a smirk on your face. “I must warn you; my game is basically unbeatable so don’t be too discouraged when you can’t get your friend anything.”

“She’s not my friend, she’s my girlfriend you idiot,” Nat grabs the gun, placing her five-dollar bill on the board dividing the carnie from her. He snatches up the money with a smile on his face, beginning to open his mouth to trash talk her again before he’s interrupted by you. “You got this Nat, show this piece of shit how to shoot.”

“With pleasure,” she responds to you, beginning to aim. The carnie’s smile is wiped clean off his face the minute Nat starts to shoot. She doesn’t miss one target. All the while, you smile at her proudly, cheering her on. She places the gun down on the countertop in front of her before pointing to the biggest and cutest stuffed animal the man has. “I’ll take that, please.”

“What- No, this is impossible! No one can win at my game, you must have-”

“Let me tell you something, you miserable old man. I’m literally a spy. I shoot for a living. Ever heard of the Avengers? Yeah? Well, I am one. So shut the hell up and give me the stuffed animal before I take it from you,” she says to him, straight face the whole time. It seems like he finally realizes who she is, gulping and shoving the stuffed animal in her arms as quickly as he can. “Thank you,” she says with a smile, before flipping the man off and walking over to you. “I won you this,” she says with a smirk, and you grin. You immediately kiss her, not caring about the carnie staring at you two in fear before you take her hand and you two begin walking to the ferris wheel again. “You’re cute when you’re angry,” you tell her, and she gets the faintest blush on her cheeks but rolls her eyes anyway. “You’re cute when you’re cheering me on,” she shoots back, and you smile. “Well of course I was gonna cheer you on, that guy was a dick.”

“Oh, I know he was. He’s lucky he’s just a douchebag and didn’t break the law or something because I would have severely injured him otherwise.” You laugh at what she says as you stop walking since you’re finally in line for the ferris wheel. “We should always come to this fair, can we make this, like, a tradition?”

“Um, yes, of course we can make this a tradition. I’ll come back and embarrass that guy every year. If he even dares to show his face at this place again.” You chuckle at her words, and she smiles at you. The line moves, and you two get in the ferris wheel car. It’s one of those ferris wheels where you face the person you’re riding with, so Nat gets to see you hugging your stuffed animals while gazing out at the lights of the fair with the sunset in the background. She hurries to snap a picture of you, but you don’t notice until you look at her phone a week later and see it as her home screen background. Going to the fair became a thing you two would do at least once every year, and every time Nat would absolutely demolish that carnie’s career and take a picture of you on the ferris wheel. Oh, she would also always win you at least seven stuffed animals while you would struggle to win her one. But she loved it. It’s part of your charm.

[gwil-lee]

roses are red, violets are blue, I may bleed out, but I still love you

Pairing: Joe Mazzello x Reader

Words: 3.2k

AN: Look, this was supposed to be just a little sweet, funny drabble for Valentine’s Day, but yeah, apparently it’s a one-shot now. I regret nothing. Comments are appreciated <3

Warnings: swearing, slightly implied smut

Joe was acting… well, weird. Or rather weirder than usual. You were not sure what was happening. He made you your favourite breakfast, he even had managed to get fresh raspberries and blueberries to go with the pancakes, and he brewed your favourite tea. And this time he even had left the bag in for as long as the instructions on the box required, which was the first time, since he usually got distracted when making tea and the drink turned bitter. The whole morning, Joe was fussing about everything you did. He asked you several times how well you had slept, and whether you had had a nice dream or not. He asked you about your plans for the day, when you were going to come back from work and whether you were going to do anything specific tonight. Your answers were wary, still not sure where he was going with the inquiries. You had slept well, and you were pretty sure that you had dreamed of something but couldn’t for the love of God remember what it had been about. You should be back around five p.m., and no, there were no plans for tonight. He just nodded his head, muttered a quick, “good, good,” and asked another question. You were usually enjoying his attention but the sudden preoccupation with your person seemed too much.

He also kept touching you, but the touches were very innocent – a little caress on your hand, a gentle brush of his fingers on your hip, a little pat on your shoulder – although that one was a bit awkward. It happened when you reached to the top shelf in your kitchen to grab a lunchbox just as Joe pulled out two cups, and he bumped into you. He pulled you to his side to stop your movement, since he’d thrown you off balance. He looked down at your lips but let go of you immediately. You stared at him for a moment, a bit dumbfounded by his odd behaviour, but he just smiled and patted your shoulder. Patted your shoulder? What the hell! Why? You gaped at him some more and he left you standing there with your mouth open, moving to the kitchen bar with his tea. Eventually, you sat down next to him. Why was he like this? Even when your napkin fell down on the floor, he rushed to pick it up for you as if you were not perfectly capable of doing that yourself.

When you finished the meal, packed your things up and said your goodbyes, you went to kiss him on the lips, but he turned his head at the last moment, and your lips pecked his cheek instead. “See you in the afternoon,” he said, ushering you out, and the door closed behind you. You started walking but soon stopped in your tracks to gather your thoughts. He had been sending you mixed signals the whole time, and it had left you utterly confused. One the one hand, he had been very attentive, with the breakfast and the seemingly accidental touches, but on the other hand, he had not kissed you. Why, though? Had you done or said something wrong? Had he done or said something wrong?

You turned back on your heel, wanting to stride right back in and ask him what the hell was happening, but then decided against it. It was Joe. Sometimes, his actions just lacked any reasonable explanation. Who knew what was happening in the head of his. But to be honest, that was one of the reasons why you had fallen in love with him in the first place. He kept surprising you, sometimes doing the craziest things that no one would have thought of. But usually, it brought you amusement and not confusion as it had that morning. You were running late to work anyway, no need to infuriate your boss some more. You raced down the stairs of the apartment block, outside into the morning winter cold. Wrapping yourself up in your coat, you resolved to talk with Joe in the afternoon. Puffs of air leaving your lips, you burrowed further into your scarf and caught a taxi.

With your nose in your phone, trying to deal with work emails, you entered the office. As soon as you opened the door, you noticed that the chatter of your co-workers was much louder than usual, and you raised your eyes from the screen of your phone. You were surprised by the avalanche of pink and red paper hearts and balloons, your colleagues milling around the office as if there was no work to be done, and you thought it might be “Love Is All Around Me” coming from the radio.

“Happy Valentine’s Day!” your friend and colleague Tina rushed to you and gave you a hug and a peck on your cheek.

“Hi,” you said and absentmindedly rose on your tiptoes to return the embrace, not paying much attention to her words. “What’s going on?” you asked a bit stupidly, considering the decoration.

“Halloween, can’t you tell?” she mocked you and burst into laughter. “Are you deaf? It’s Valentine’s Day!”

Wait, what? When had that happened? Wasn’t Christmas just a few weeks ago? You had never paid way too much attention to this pseudo-holiday, anyway. Just an ordinary day in the calendar that only reminded single people that they were alone. No, thank you. And you shared this attitude with Joe, since a few women had broken his heart already and he loathed this day just as much as you did. When you had started dating you agreed that you both were not the kind of people who celebrate Valentine’s Day. No gifts, no special acts of affection, only an evening and night spent in each other’s company just like any other day. Wait, had he been acting so weirdly because of Valentine’s Day? The breakfast would suggest so, but why hadn’t he said something? And anyway, you were not supposed to celebrate anything, you had agreed on it! Had something changed? Not that you would complain about the breakfast, not at all, it was delicious and sweet from Joe. Just right now, you were not sure whether you were supposed to do something as well.

The morning in the office was quite uneventful, since nobody seemed to do their work, although your boss strode into the open-plan office a few times, glared at all the workers sharply and returned to her personal office. After that, the chatter turned into a murmur of hushed voices, but a few minutes later, everyone forgot about that silent reprimand and kept talking about the dates and the presents they had bought for their loved ones. People chatted, your friend called your name a few times to show you a funny picture that she had found online, since she sensed your pensive mood and tried to cheer you up. You returned the favour every time the work became extremely dull and you needed a break. But today, you were not enjoying these little moments with your best friend as much as usual. You kept thinking about Joe and his plans for the evening. Maybe you could pop into Forbidden Planet and buy him a sweatshirt (and probably one for yourself as well while you were at it).

When it was time for a lunch break you dived into your bag and scrabbled around, but no lunchbox was there. Shoot. You must have left it at home, probably when the weird incident at the kitchen counter happened. God, why had he patted your shoulder? And you were looking forward to the pasta that you had made the day before. Crap, now your mood was even worse. Although… maybe you could dash back home, your flat was not that far, eat the lunch and talk to Joe. There was no need to fret over everything till five, when you could deal with it now. It was not as if something big would happen here anyway.

You gathered your things and knocked on Tina’s desk. “If someone was looking for me, just tell them I have something I need to take care of and will be back any moment. And call me, so I can rush back here, okay?” you said and blew an air kiss in her direction. “See you, sweetie!” You ran to the door, quickly called “Happy Valentine’s Day” over your shoulder and disappeared in the lift.

On your way home, you pondered the things you wanted to say to Joe. The last year and a half had been the happiest time of your life and you were immensely grateful that you could spend it with him by your side. You shared all the ups and downs, always supporting each other and providing a shoulder to cry on if needed. And if he had decided that it was not a bad idea to celebrate your love on this very arbitrary day, you would actually have nothing against it. You wanted to make clear that you were not prepared for any grand gestures though, maybe a nice dinner out, or you could go to the cinema, but nothing posh and expensive. You also intended to pester him for behaving so oddly in the morning and playing Mr. Mysterious Guy when he could come clean and just tell you what was happening.

Rummaging in your bag for keys, you let out a tiny squeal of victory when your fingers touched the cold metal. You opened the door and immediately gasped and stopped in your tracks, not believing your eyes.

The floor of the hallway was covered in dark red rose petals. They were everywhere, just gently lying there, a few of them rising above the floor due to a little whiff of air caused by your opening the door. The petal trail disappeared behind the corner where the hallway turned left to your bedroom. You followed the trail, your eyes filling with tears. You were touched and couldn’t help yourself. But when you turned the corner, the trail stopped in the middle of the hallway, and at its very end there was a bouquet of roses unceremoniously dumped on the floor. That was when you heard the string of profanities coming from the bathroom. “Shit, fuck, fuck, oh, for God’s sake, fuck,” with the last vowel much longer than the preceding ones.

You dashed to the bathroom and flung the door open, frightened that something awful had happened. Joe, still in his pyjamas, was sitting at the edge of the bath, his legs slung over and one of his foot held in his hands as he inspected it closely, curse words leaving his lips. “Joe?” you breathed out, “Are you alright?” You crossed the room in an instant and kneeled right next to him, attempting to get a glimpse of what he was intently looking at.

“No, I’m not. I’m an idiot and now I’m going to die,” he deadpanned and shook his head. “Why such things happen to the best of us?”

“What is it, what happened?” Your voice was getting higher and more urgent, as you were still freaking out a bit.

“I dropped one of the roses and I fucking stepped on it and now I’m bleeding!” he exclaimed and tossed his arms around himself as if asking the world for another blow.

You could finally see his foot and started laughing. There was a small wound on the sole of his foot with a few droplets of blood around it, but that was all.      

“This is not funny, I’ve lost great amounts of blood and now I may die!!” he screamed dramatically which only resulted in another burst of laughter on your side. You could tell he wasn’t serious as the corners of his lips betrayed him, slowly turning up. “Stop it!” he said, the smile in his voice evident now as he watched you clutch your stomach, still shaking with laughter. “You know, as my girlfriend, you could show a bit of sympathy for your old man.”

“Ohhh,” you cooed and raised your hand to play with his hair. “Sorry, babe. Should I take care of you and treat your deadly wound?”

Joe paid no attention to your mocking and answered with a smile, “Yes, please, that would be lovely.”

You just chuckled and shook your head and moved to the mirror cabinet, opening it in a search of a plaster. You moved a few bottles of pills, but eventually found what you were looking for. What captured your eyes though was something different and you smiled mischievously. You grabbed the can and returned to Joe.

“I must clean it first,” you said with all the seriousness you could gather when a flash of horror crossed Joe’s eyes.

“It’s not that bad,” he said and instinctively moved farther away from the disinfectant in your hand.

Although it was fun to ‘torture’ him like that, you knew that it actually should be done, all jokes aside. “Come on, Joe, we don’t know what kind of chemicals the roses could have been sprayed with.”

He nodded his head in defeat, straightened his back, allowing you to get to his foot, and scrunched up his face in preparation of what was to come. You gently grasped his foot and pointed the spray can in the right direction. Joe screamed and you jumped, almost dropping the disinfectant down on his foot. “Damn it, Joe, I haven’t started yet!”

“Sorry, sorry! Just a reflex. I’ll be good, I promise,” he said sincerely and squeezed his eyes shut.

You gave him one last look, which was a mixture of disbelief and amusement, and pressed down the pump. You could see him jerk a bit while biting down on his bottom lip.

“All good,” you announced after a little while as you cleaned the wound, put a plaster on it and gently ran your fingers over it to get rid of some unwanted wrinkles, making sure that the plaster would not come unstuck and fall down.

“Will you kiss it better?” He made puppy eyes and hopefully looked at you.

“I’m not kissing your foot, Mazzello!” you exclaimed, and he pouted. Instead, you pulled his head to you and placed a small kiss on the tip of his nose. “Better?”

“In a minute,” he answered and pressed his lips to yours, kissing you until you were both breathless. He then rested his forehead against yours and took a deep breath. “Happy Valentine’s Day?”

“About that,” you warily started. “Are you going to tell me what had gotten into you? I mean, I appreciate it – the breakfast and flowers, but I thought we didn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day.”

He clicked his tongue and put his legs over the bath to stand up. “Yeah, I thought so, too. But I don’t know, I was thinking about it all the time, and well, I just wanted to make you happy, I guess, ‘cause celebrating Valentine’s Day? With you, it just feels right, you know?”

You were silent for a while, taking it all in. “But why keeping it a secret and not telling me something? And you were being so weird in the morning.” You remembered the awkwardness and had to ask. “Love, you patted my shoulder. Why did you pat my shoulder?”

“You noticed, huh?” Joe sheepishly smiled at you and headed to your bedroom. As he put his whole weight on the injured foot, he let out a quiet “fuck.” You followed him, watching him hobble cautiously around the flowers that were still lying on the hallway floor. “You know, I had this plan,” he finally said and sat down on the bed while you leaned against the doorframe. “A lovely meal, good company – that would be me,” he pointed at himself with his thumbs, “then letting you go to work and prepare everything. Flowers, rom-coms for the evening, your favourite food – which reminds I still haven’t called the restaurant, remind me to do it, please – romantic music, I even bought you Funko Pop Princess Leia! And yeah, I also bought Han for me, but that’s not important.” You let him ramble on, a small smile gradually spreading across your face. “I wanted to be attentive, but also a gentleman. But all I could think of was you and how I would like to show you how much I love you right there, probably on that kitchen counter, even though I still didn’t know where to buy all the things and not much time was left. If I kissed you, I would totally lose it. So yeah, I patted your shoulder. Trust me, even I was surprised,” he huffed and tried to carefully lie down. “I couldn’t concentrate! And you weren’t helping either, you know,” he added matter-of-factly.

“Oh, I wasn’t?” You raised your eyebrow and smirked.

“Nope, you little minx,” he gave you a cheeky smile. “Parading around in that bathrobe of yours. Do you realise that it’s sinfully short? How am I supposed to concentrate on anything?!” You pulled yourself up from the doorframe and moved to close the distance between you. The bed dipped a bit as you sat down right next to him and pushed his hair from his face. He smiled at you, but suddenly gave you a look of confusion.

“Wait, aren’t you supposed to be at work? What are you even doing here, young lady?”

You laughed at his attempt to mimic your mother and explained the whole situation happening in work and the fact that you had forgotten your lunch. “And don’t try to change the subject, I can see right through you!” you grinned at him. You tried to lighten up the mood, but you knew there was something you needed to say.

“Thank you, Joe, for all of this. I know it probably didn’t go the way you had planned, but I appreciate it, I truly do. And,” you took a deep breath and closed your eyes, “I can’t imagine my life without you.” You waited for his answer, but he was silent. You opened your eyes and saw that his eyes were a bit glossier than usual. He raised your hand to his lips and placed a most delicate kiss on the back of your hand.

You cleared your throat. “I still have some time before I need to head back to work. If they need me, they’ll give me a call. You hungry?” you asked, already standing up, when Joe grabbed your wrist.

“Yes, I am. Very,” he said and pulled you to him. His kisses were gentle at first, full of love and affection that he held for you. Soon enough though, he deepened them and dragged you down to fully lie on the bed next to him. He moved on top of you but the moment he did so, he hissed and loudly exclaimed, “Fuck, my foot, damn it.”

He screwed up his face in pain, rolled back on his side and clutched his foot, almost throwing you down of the bed in the process.

“Stop, stop, honey,” you said and made him let go of his foot, calming him down by placing your hand on his chest, feeling his heart beating. “Let me take care of you,” you whispered and gently pushed him to lie on his back as you leaned over him.

“God, I love you so much.” He caressed your cheeks and kissed you slowly.

“I love you, too, Joe,” you said when you stopped to take a breath and you wholeheartedly smiled. "Happy Valentine’s Day.”

[emilyelizabethfowl]

A Cup Of Coffee And Birthday Wishes

This is my response to @paigyloli beautiful challenger piece!

Both pieces were made for the @uravitybang organized by the incredible @clairelutra!

Available on AO3

Length: 5519 words; Pairing: none; Other characters: the entire 1AUA class, only there’s Shinsou instead of Mineta;

Disclaimer: I have never in my life drunk coffee. I have no idea how to make coffee. I have researched featured drinks extensively, but please do not try to make them at home unless you have experience in coffee-making. 

“Welcome! How can I help you today?” Ochaco perked up at the sound of the door bell as her voice ringed through the empty café.

“Sorry, Occhan,” Midoriya said, crossing the threshold. “It’s just me and Tsu-chan, here.”

Ochaco’s smile slipped a bit. She was happy, of course, to see her friends and co-workers, but it just wasn’t the same as having customers.

She plopped down on the counter, staring at the perfectly arranged pastries, that had taken her half of the shift to get sorted.

“Not many customers then, I take it? Ribbit.” Tsu-chan said as she walked up to her, patting Uraraka’s cap gently, as the girl dropped her head, her arm being the only thing preventing her forehead from thumping on the cold surface. Midoriya took the time to get their coats sorted out in the backroom.

“Not one,” Ochaco mumbled out into the crook of her arm. “Not one through the entire week!”

All Atsui could offer was a soft hum of patient understanding.

“It’s only wednesday, though!” Midoriya pointed out, entering the main room again, his apron firmly in place. “I’m sure someone will turn up soon!”

“But what if they don’t?” Uraraka looked wistfully at the cakes again. “These will all go to waste!”

The other two looked at the pieces as well; the moist layers of sponge, connected by the generous portions of creme, covered with glaze on the outside, and sugar flowers on the top.

They were simply mouth-watering, alluring everyone who entered the café with their ephemeral beauty and promise of heavenly taste.

Midoriya shook his head slightly.

“Yeah, Kacchan really did his best with those, didn’t he?” He managed, his strong will being the only thing that prevented him from gluing his face to the glass case like a child. “I still can’t believe these pieces landed here and not in a art gallery!”

Atsui could only manage a slight nod.

“And now they will all turn into garbage!” Ochaco wailed miserably. “I don’t understand! Last week there was someone here all the time!”

Her co-workers exchanged a worried glance.

That café was her oldest dream, her most pampered child; To have it not filled with life, chatter and the smell of coffee must’ve been hard for her.

With a heavy sigh Ochaco pushed herself off the counter.

“Guess I’ll go sort through the materials, again.” She declared, straightening her cap and re-knotting her apron. “For the third time today.”

She headed towards the backroom, her shoulders slumped as if the world’s entire stock of coffee beans rested on it, her feet dragging as if she was wading through the thickest cream and toffee muddled together.

The second she disappeared behind the door frame, Tsui and Midoriya huddled together.

“Do you think it was a good idea? Ribbit.” Tsu-chan asked, wringing her hands nervously.

“I didn’t expect everyone would just, stop coming.” Izuku wasn’t much better, fiddling with the edge of his apron as if it held the answers to all of the world’s problems. “I thought she would just have a bit of a break, you’ve seen the bags under her eyes.”

“I’m not sure if worrying over no customers helped with that particular problem, ribbit.” As usual, Tsu-chan’s bluntness hit where it was most relevant.

Midoriya bit his lower lip, twisting his fingers so hard Atsui was sure people could hear him from the other side of the street.

“I’m sure it’ll work out just fine, ribbit.” She decided to have some mercy for the boy, getting distressed over him being distressed. “This evening everything will go back to normal, and she’ll be happy again in no time, ribbit.”

“Let’s hope,” Midoriya agreed, on the verge of biting his nails. “Let us hope it will work.”

In the meantime, Ochaco was busy in the back room, looking at the bean bags with a calculating expression on her face.

“Am I desperate enough?”  she mused quietly, her hand sieving the beans softly.

She was on the verge of deciding that yes, she was desperate enough despite the bag not having the bean-count, when her phone ringed.

Her phone almost landed on the floor when she very enthusiastically tried to remove it from her apron pocket as soon as humanly possible.

“Hero Café, Uraraka Ochaco at the phone, how can I help you today?” She chirped happily, forgoing reading the contact name.

“...” The other person didn’t say anything for a moment, “Do you always answer your personal phone like this?”

Uraraka blushed, silently grateful it wasn’t a video call. Although, if it was, she wouldn’t have greeted him like that in the first place...

“Kacchan! You’d know if you called more often,” she retorted, going on offensive. “I don’t think I’ve heard from you outside of business matter in at least half a month! I bet this time isn’t any different?”

A loud sigh sounded from the other side. She could picture him rubbing his forehead with the back of his hand, constantly aware of the flour or dough that was probably staining his fingers. If Bakugou was doing one thing at a time, it would be lying down when he’s dead, nothing else, no sooner than that.

“You know Koji and I are really busy around Christmas,” Bakugou said, regret ringing faintly in his voice. “But, actually, we’re going to drop by this afternoon. See around, check what new kinds of coffee you’ve got brewing, this kinda thing.”

The overjoyed squeal Uraraka made most likely reached the frequencies usually used by dolphins and bats, and it had the side effect of momentarily deafening Bakugou.   

“Yeah, go on, destroy my eardrums, it’s not as if I need them!” He complained, louder than strictly necessary.

“Sorry, Kacchan,” Uraraka giggled apologetically, one hand moving to play with the beans again. Her shoulders slowly became less tense and the soothing motion took the forefront of her mind, pushing the lack of customers to some old, dusty coroner.

“Anyway,” Bakugou’s voice was back to its normal volume. “Do you need me to bring anything? I know the monday’s delivery was supposed to last til friday, but if you run out of something-”

“Sorry,” She interrupted him, “I’ve got full stuck.”

Fidgeting with the hem of her apron, she waited for Bakugou to answer.

“Damn,” he finally said. “Gotta kick it up a notch or two, if no one wants to buy our cakes.”

“Oh, I’m sure if people actually came in and saw them, they wouldn’t be able to resist their overwhelming cuteness and charm!” Uraraka replied, refusing to make Bakugou feel bad for longer than what it takes to rely the message. “It’s just… There’s not many people around, lately.”

They both stayed silent for a second.

Then, Uraraka could swear Bakugou grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like “Fucking Deku”, but before she could question him about it, he was talking again.

“You gotta tell us all about it when we come over,” he said in his I run out of time voice. “I gotta run now, y’know how it is. See ya.”

“See you, Kacchan!” Uraraka rushed out, managing to fit the entire bit before the tell-tale sound of disconnecting.

She put her phone back in the pocket, suppressing the heavy sigh that threatened to escape. It wouldn’t do to despair over the customers, or rather the lack thereof.  

Bracing herself, determined to do her best no matter what. She left the backroom only to have her eyes assaulted by the most sparkling stack of glittery something that ever existed.

But Deku and Tsu-chan seemed as if they were talking to that highly reflective surface…

“Aoyama-kun?” She hazarded a guess, knowing he was the only person who would willingly wear such amount of sequins and rhinestones.

She knew she got it in one as the stack turned around, revealing the unmistakable, absolutely dazzling smile of one Aoyama Yuga.

“Oui, it is indeed I!” He exclaimed, waving around with the armfulls of glitter-filled balloons he had with himself. “And I have brought decorations!”

Uraraka tilted her head.

“It’s really nice of you… But is there any occassion? I thought today’s just a random day like all the others…”

With her attention pinned to the effervescent figure in the middle of the room, Uraraka missed the quick glance exchanged between Midoriya and Asui.

“Ah, but every day is worth celebrating, mon amie!” Aoyama declared with flourish, the balloons leaving generous amounts of glitter in their wake.

Uraraka eyed the colorful trail. On one hand, it was creating a big mess in the middle of her café. On the other, that was precisely what she needed - something new to make her hands busy.

Aoyama must’ve wrongly interpreted her sudden silence.

“N’est-ce pas?” He turned towards the other pair, asking for support.

The two green-heads nodded eagerly, succeeding in distracting Ochaco from the idea of checking the calendar.

She faked a sigh, making it seem as if they had to convince her to let the balloons stay. Who wouldn’t want to have such colorful spheres in their café?

“If you would be so nice and put them up on that wall, it would be fantastic.” She directed, smiling softly.

Aoyama’s smile reached its full blinding potential.

“I will do so tout de suite!” He beamed, skipping to the wall she pointed out.

Another sparkling path followed him, making Uraraka wonder how much glitter exactly did he stuff on the inside and outside of balloons he was carrying around, and what prompted him to waste a good few hours on decorating the few dozens of them.

“What’s the deal with all this glitter?” She decided to ask, with a wide hand gesture necessary to encompass the entirety of the balloons.

“Ah!” Aoyama exclaimed, as if he was waiting for this question to be asked (he most likely did). He did a pirouette where he was standing and faced Uraraka once more. “I have decided to buy  a couple of des ballons today! But all of the ones en la boutique were comme ci, comme ça - terriblement moche, the lot of them! So as you can see, I had no choice but to sparkle them up myself! Much more éclatant now, n’est-ce pas?”

She nodded seriously, pretending the possible existence of ugly balloons was the worst thing in the entire universe.

“How much time did you spend on them?” Midoriya asked curiously.

“And how much money did you spent on glitter? Ribbit.” Asui added.

Aoyama flipped his hair out of his face.

“Je ne regrette rien!” He said proudly, and moved towards the wall again.

The trio shook their heads in unison, well aware of Aoyama’s antics. Nothing was sparkly enough for him - even store-bought glitter was not glittery enough. No one had any idea what his secret ingredient was, but the glitter he produced was at least three times as dazzling, making the common one look pale and plain in comparison.

Uraraka made a move to go and grab the broom, but changed her mind before she could even take a single step.

“Would you like something to drink, Aoyama-kun?” She asked, moving to the counter instead.

“Sûrement!” The man replied, almost completely focused on getting the balloons just right.

“The usual?” She clarified.

“Mais oui! Merci beaucoup!” Aoyama looked over his shoulder to express his gratitude and blowing her a long-distance thank-you kiss, before once again immensely focusing on his precious floating glitter bombs.   

“I assure you, the pleasure is all mine.” Uraraka grabbed at the ingredients necessary to prepare the “Can’t Stop Twinkling Coffee”.

Maybe it wasn’t the most original name, but the coffee itself was most certainly one-of-a-kind.

It was a cappuccino, and its every sip was absolutely dazzling. The foam on the top glistened like a layer of fresh snow on top of the velvety expansion of caffeinated pleasure. On top of that  was a star made with the most shining edible glitter Aoyama was able to produce.

The drink was bright enough to blind you and delicious enough to make your taste buds find everything else bland for the rest of your life.

It’s also very quick to make. Even when she was trying to slow down the process, it didn’t take her longer than a mere five minutes.

After bringing the cup over to Aoyama - she served it in a see-through glass cup and saucer, to make sure it’s beauty and sparkliness could be properly appreciated - Tsu-chan handed her a broom.

“Thank you,” Uraraka took it, grateful to have such understanding co-workers. If they were to clean it and she was to just sit around and do nothing, she would surely go crazy with restlessness.

She only swooped the broom only a couple of times, before the most beautiful sound in the entire universe sounded through the café - the bell above the entrance!

“Welcome!” She called out happily, stilling the motions of the broom. Midoriya and Asui looked up from where they were sitting at the table as well, only Aoyama being completely unperturbed. “How can I help you today?”

She looked over at the front, looking for the customer she was welcoming, but there was no one there. The door stood wide open, but no one entered the café. Uraraka stared at the tracks in the snow, confused.

“Hello?” Midoriya called out, half-way out of the chair, the green lightning bolts of One-For-All buzzing on the surface of his skin.

“Oh, sorry!” A breathless voice sounded from the threshold, enabling them all to identify the newcomer as Hagakure. “I’m- on the job- with Sato!”

All she was able to say after that were pants - it was clear she must’ve ran all the way to the café - but then again, nothing else had to be said.

Uraraka knew what they needed. She was back at the counter before someone could say “Sugar Rush Coffee”!  It was another one of her special coffee series.

This one was a simple caramel macchiato, but the sugar contained in such a small glass was a dose that would seriously mess up an usual human!

In Sato’s case however, it was the perfect energy shot for when he’s out of his own packets.

First into the cup went a shot of espresso, with seven sugars. Then a bit of highly-concentrated vanilla syrup. Next goes frothed milk, extra sweetened by the addition of vanilla. On top went a generous dose of caramel sauce, and after sprinkling it with brown sugar, the drink was ready!

Ochaco served it in a solid but light metal cups with lids, so that they were easy to discard and almost impossible to get destroyed upon impact - it might not exactly matter when she fixes a cup for a normal customer, but in the case of Sato it was very important.

“Thank you!” Hagakure chirped, paying with an application on her phone. She grabbed the cup and run out of the shop, rushing towards the place she left Sugar Rush at.

Hagakure had her own “Invisible Girl Coffee”, but she rarely ordered it - she rarely ordered any coffee, really.

Fortunately, she had many fans who loved it. And Uraraka loved making it, so really, it was a win-win situation for everyone.

That coffee was one of her greatest creations - a blend of highest quality, imported straight from the plantation Ethiopian Arabica coffee beans, carefully processed to result in a completely clear coffee.

A single serving contained as much caffeine as a cappuccino, but its sweet, aromatic and just a little sharp taste resembled more a latte. It was also less bitter than regular coffee - therefore there was no need for milk or sugar.

Of course, there was always someone who wanted to add some, but it was between them and their cup of coffee-

“That would be two customers, by now,” Deku pointed out cheerfully, again seated comfortably.

Uraraka eyed them carefully.

“Let’s make it four, shall we? Ribbit.” Tsu-chan proposed with one of her rare smiles.

Ochaco grinned widely.

If she could spend her life by only making coffee, she would die happy.

Asui’s coffee, the “Froppy Coffee”, was a more of a tea than a coffee, but she left the name so that it’d fit the collection.

A spoon of matcha green tea and twice as much sugar went to the cup and got mixed with water until it was dark and smooth. Then in went milk, usually with a hint of vanilla, to reach a light green coloration. On top went a tiny bit of frothed milk and a simple symbol of a frog, made from the matcha powder and green glitter.

Served, of course, in a forest green cup with cute froggy accents.

Deku’s “Deku Coffee” was more of a concentrated shot of pure caffeine with a microscopical tang of sweetness with a complimentary tartness. It was made by compiling three shots of blackest espresso with the thinnest possible layer of frothed milk, painted dark green by tasteless food coloring. And the grand finale - grated lime zest and, of course, some golden glitter.

Soon enough the drinks were done and Uraraka went back to sweeping the floor.

She hasn’t done so for long - the sparkling trail had barely a third of itself cleaned up when the bell rung again.

“Welcome!” she greeted the newcomer. “How can I help you today?”

On the doorstep stood Tokoyami, Dark Shadow hidden under his jacket. It was holding a thick, black notebook - all three were a regular view at her café. Tokoyami always insisted it was the place where he wrote the best pieces of poetry.

With a quiet word of greeting directed at each of the four people currently in the café, he moved directly to his usual table in the coroner.

Uraraka set the broom down and happily skipped to the counter.

“Tsukuyomi Coffee” was one of the darkest coffees she ever made or drunk, both in color and taste. Tokoyami insisted the sharp bite was doing wonders for his creativity.

It was basically a large slow-drip coffee from a roast that was light enough to guarantee a strong taste and dark enough to make sure the cup stays as close to an imitation of a black hole as possible.

It had a rough finish and was almost too strong to drink - that’s why Uraraka tended to add a small layer of frothed milk and use the created surface to add a likeness of Dark Shadow made with dark cocoa.

That particular coffee was very popular with coffee addicts who were no longer able to reach the desired effects of coffee consumption via regular brews.

“Thank you,” Tokoyami said as she placed the insanely black cup in front of him. The tiny white dots here and there only emphasized on the infinite expanse of darkness presented on the ceramic.

With the customer taken care of and as happy as he wanted to show, Uraraka grabbed the broom and all too soon all the misplaced glitter was gathered on a single stack near the wall.

Speaking of which, the wall decorations Aoyama was putting up already covered almost half of the available surface. And of course another sparkling trail gathered at the junction where the wall and the floor met.

Another quick job for when Ochaco got too restless with the lack of customers.

Fortunately for everyone, two people just decided to drop by.

“Hiiii!” Sounded through the café simultaneously with the bell.

Uraraka’s head whipped around. Only half-caring whether or not the broom will find support on the nearest table she let it go, crossing the room in a few quick strides and hugging the hell out of the pink newcomer.

“Welcome!” She added, moving to hug Yaoyorozu. Facing both of them, she asked, “How can I help you today?”

“We heard Aoyama-kun was set on decorating your café,” Yaomomo explained. “We came to help him.”

“And to get those sweet, sweet drinks you created with our names!” Ashido added, bouncing on her feet. “I still can’t believe you’ve got our entire class done! And every one of them is absolutely delicious!”

Ochaco blushed slightly, moving to fidget with a loose strand of her hand.

“I just thought it would be a great way to bust the recognition, especially since we barely graduated,” she explained, a soft smile constantly present on her face.

“And it was a genius idea!” Midoriya called over.

“Agreed. Ribbit.” Tsu-chan added.

Neither of them got up to greet the newest additions, but they did exchange waves.

Uraraka blushed harder, moving towards the counter to get started on the coffees, while the girls made their way to the sparkling highlight of the café.

Her goal when creating “Alien Queen Coffee” was to make the pinkest coffee imaginable. It did take her multiple tries to get the recipe just right, but the resulting sweet paradise was absolutely worth it.

She started by mixing a shot of espresso with an equal portion of honey. Then in went three times as much milk mixed with raspberry, thoroughly frothed. On that she placed a layer of whipped cream, also colored pink, and after grating a portion of pink chocolate, the drink was ready.

It was of course served in a cup covered with a layer of pinkest pink paint that ever existed.

After this one was ready, she started on Yaomomo’s drink.

“Creati Coffee” was kind of a mix of frappuccino and mocha cappuccino.

Into a mixer went a cup of ice, half a cup of milk and three shots of espresso, complemented by 3 pumps each of vanilla and dark chocolate syrup and a few tablespoons of chocolate chips.

On top went a generous dollop of chocolate whipped cream, drizzled with caramel syrup and sprinkled with oreo cookie crumbs.

Its sweetness rivailed that of Sato’s drink, but it was a side-feature of the drink. The main goal of Uraraka’s while making it, was to make the fat content as high as she possibly could.

And since most of the fattest coffee additions are sweet… Well, no one was complaining.

With both coffees done, she brought them over to the girls, who were quietly conversing with Aoyama.

“Do you want another cup, Aoyama?” She asked, handing out the drinks. “That glitter on your lips must be driving you crazy!”

“Oh, non, non!” Aoyama explained, his focus shifting to cover solely her. “C’est mon newest lipstick line!”

He rummaged through his purse, pulling out a handful of tubes.

“Ça, alors!” He said, showing off the four tubes - yellow, two pinks and a red one, all of them looking as if they were made of compressed glitter and glitter only.

Plucking the yellow one out of his own hand, he decaped it and fixed his look.

He motioned the rest towards the girls.

“Je made those with you in mind!” Aoyama prompted, causing the girls to help themselves to the sticks.

Ashido immediately opened hers and after quick eradication of her previous lipstick, she applied the new one.

“Oooh!” She squealed happily, “It doesn’t feel like glitter at all! I feel no grating!”

With such an encouragement, the other two applied their own as well.

“It’s truly most delightful!” Confirmed Yaoyorozu. Uraraka nodded in agreement.

“What is it?” Deku came closer, Asui looking over his shoulder.

“Ah!” Aoyama plucked his hand into his purse again. “I have some rouge à lèvres for you two aussi!”

He extended his hand with a flourish, presenting the two of them with two sparkling green lipsticks. With a quick look around, they applied it as well.

The five of them gushed over the delightful make-up when the bell sounded again.

“Welcome!” Uraraka turned around promptly. “How can I help you?”

This time at the entrance stood three people.

“We have come for your delicious coffee!” Iida explained with his usual grand gestures.

“Yeah, what he said,” Shinsou and Todoroki chorused, flanking both of his sides.

Uraraka lighted up almost brighter than it was possible. Another three coffees from her beloved collection? That day was shaping up better and better with every passing moment!

“Ingenium Coffee” was a unique kind of coffee that only the biggest connoisseurs ever dared to try - a full serving of sparkling coffee.

It was a very popular drink, as people found it unusual; It was also the second drink most often dared to drink, right after “Tsukuyomi Coffee”, even though it was right on the other end of spectrum.

It was quite easy to make, too. A cocktail shaker was to be filled with ice, vanilla syrup and espresso shot. After a vigorous shaking, the resulting mixture got strained over glass filled with ice. Then the entire thing was topped with sparkling water and decorated with some mint leaves.

Of course, the cup resembled one of Iida’s engines.

Shinsou’s coffee had an extremely unfortunate name. The reason was simple - Hitoshi was a not-so-little shit and took his sweet time with his hero license, choosing his hero name after Uraraka already began her coffee line.

With the naming convention known, Shinsou choose the name “Order”.

If Ochaco got a coffee bean each time someone went up to the counter with a “Order Coffee, please” or many of its variations on their lips, she would never have to order any ever again.

“Order Coffee” was a simple cappuccino: a shot of espresso, steamed milk, and a layer of foam. On that went some simple swirls made with purple violet syrup. With a bit of grated chocolate on the top, the cappuccino was ready.   

“Shouto Coffee” was a variation of affogato. While normally the ice-cream went as the base and the cup got filled with espresso, she preferred to make it half-and-half with a vertical division.

She had Hatsune Mei make a scoop that shaped the ice cream to fit perfectly the arctic blue cup she liked to use for that specific drink. The actual coffee bit was made with lighter beans to reach the reddish-brown coloration, making it a quite strong concoction.

After the boys’ coffees were done, she brought them over to the table they were sitting at, close to Aoyama. She gathered the empty cups on her way and set to wash them, happy to have something to do.

The universe had other plans - barely did she put the cups in the sink when the bell rung and another group of people entered.

“Hi, Uraraka! Hey, everyone!” Sero called out, stepping over threshold first. Directly behind him was Jirou, greeting everyone with a solemn nod. Last entered Shouji and Ojiro, following through with their own words of greetings.

“Welcome!” Uraraka responded cheerfully. “The usuals?”

A handful of confirmations later, Ochaco once again started in a flurry of movements, getting ready for another four cups of coffee.

Jirou’s, Shouji’s and Ojirou’s coffees weren’t exactly original; Rather, they were personalized.

“Earphone Jack Coffee” was a simple latte - a shot of espresso, a portion of milk. On top of that went a stave, a key and a few notes drawn usually with hazelnut syrup.

“Tentacole Coffee” was an Americano - that is, a shot of espresso diluted with water - with a bit of blue-colored foam covering half of the cup, resembling his trademark mask.

“Tailman Coffee” was a mocha - espresso with chocolate powder, mixed with frothed milk and with an added tiny, yellow-colored puff of whipped cream on top, resembling the tuft on the end of his tail.

And then there was the Sero’s one.

“Cellophane Coffee” did not, as many young people apparently believed, contain any cellophane. Although it was just as thick and hard to swallow.

A ristretto, which is basically an espresso shot with half the water, gets mixed with condensed milk. That ensures the coffee is thick and velvety. Then on the top Uraraka draws swirls with extra thick vanilla syrup. No water, no standard milk, only the thickest ingredients for the highest quality tape-like coffee.

This time she didn’t even get to properly stand behind the counter before the doors opened again.

“Welcome!” She turned with a wide smile. “How can I help you today?”

The café entered Kaminari and Kirishima, equally wide smiles visible on their faces. Behind them stood Bakugou, with a slightly smaller frown than his usual one, which equalled a smile in his book. He grunted in greeting.

“Hi Uraraka!” Kirishima called out, with followed by Kaminari,“Hi everyone!”  

The two of them made a beeline towards her, while Bakugou preferred to focus on his cakes first.

“Do you know where’s Koda?” Ochaco asked. “Kacchan said they would both come this afternoon.”

The boys exchanged a glance.

“I don’t know,” Kaminari said. “We only met him right in front of your café.

“You’d need to ask Kacchan himself,” Kirishima added, pointing at Bakugou engrossed with the cakes.

“I’ll sure do!” Uraraka assured.

With a bit more of small-talk, the both of them ordered their usual drinks, after which they went to greet the rest of the group already present in the room.

“Red Riot Coffee” was an advanced macchiato - double shot of espresso as a base, with red-colored frothed milk arranged into spikes just like his hair.

A strong but sweet coffee - just like him.

“Chargebolt Coffee” was a large espresso with a thin layer of foam, on which she drew a lightning bolt in yellow edible glitter.

Absolutely electrifying drink, ideal for recharging when your energy’s low.

She finished both of them quickly, only then realizing that at some point, Kacchan shifted his attention from the fruity freshness of cakes to her swift movements.

Blushing slightly, she took the cups to her customers, feeling his eyes following her.

“So, where’s Koda?” Ochaco asked when she got back behind the counter, setting down the empty cups she gathered.

“He’s coming in a bit, he wanted to get some touch-ups done on his latest creation.”

Uraraka hummed quietly, focusing on making his coffee. It was one of her more creative creations.

“Ground Zero Coffee” was almost as explosive as Kacchan himself. Made in tall glass, it contained a shot of espresso, then got filled with a thick layer of whipped cream. On that she sprinkled some pop rocks, another layer of cream, pop rocks, cream, and pop rocks again as the grand finish.

The drink popped in one’s mouth with tiny sparks just like those Bakugou produced when his temper spiked suddenly.

“Should I make his order now, or wait a bit?” She asked, putting the glass in front of Bakugou.

“Now, I suppose,” he said, taking a sip and grinning madly. “God, I love this coffee.”

Uraraka blushed bright red, preparing Koda’s drink.

“Anima Coffee” was just a shot of espresso with hazelnut syrup and a tall layer of milk foam and a cute paw mark made from cocoa powder at the top. Precisely as cute and sweet as Koda himself!

She set the cup aside, pondering the question of what to do next. She could ask if anyone wanted a refill-

“Why don’t you make yours, too?” Kacchan interrupted her musings. “I know you don’t make it often.”

Uraraka thought about it for a moment.

“Well… I mean, Aoyama said that every day is worth celebrating, so I don’t see why not!” She decided in the end.

“Uravity Coffee” was the second least coffeey drink on her “1AUA Hero Coffee Collection”list, right after Asui’s one.

To reach the perfect creamy texture and the ethereal weightlessness, she had to forgo the standard methods. Instead, she mixed a shot of espresso with light milk and frothed the mixture to reach the perfect foamy concoction, that seemed to defy the laws of physics and attempt to escape the cup.

She moved to take the first sip, when the doorbell rang. A bit reluctantly, she set the cup down, but before she could say anything, the others spoke instead.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” Sounded through the café, with a few party cannons going off.

Startled, Uraraka looked around.

At the entrance stood Koda, holding the biggest, yet lightest looking cake she had ever seen.

Behind him were Sero and Hagakure, out of their hero suits and holding a tray of  floaty-looking cupcakes.

Everyone who already was inside the café stood in a group in front of the decorations, grinning at her, a pile of colorful boxes at their feet.

When she actually focused on the ornaments, she noticed the balloons spelled “HAPPY BIRTHDAY OCHACO!” which made her feel a little silly for not seeing it sooner, but other than that, it warmed her heart to see her friends care about her so much.

She could feel her eyes welling up with tears, but she ignored it in favor of hugging every single one of her friends.

“This is the best birthday ever!”

And with that declaration, the party started.