#His parents were already sitting in the middle class but after putting all their chips in setting up (taking up?) an import company...

[miisfits-toys]

More of Caligo Narcyz...! Or excuse me, Clyde Elos. Don't know who that first man is yet.

A very young man Clyde, fresh out of medical school in 1896. Running off so he wouldn't take over the family business as the only surviving son was worth it, right? It's five years after his graduation that he cracks under pressure.

[skyeet-the-writer]

Can you write a corpse x reader when she finds out she's pregnant and she's playing among us and she imposter with corpse and she kill someone and someone sees and reports it right away she get all nauseous and let's it slip to everyone while she go to throw up and corpse doesn't know what to do but he's excited to be a dad. You can change it up and add thing if you want, I was writing everything down, sorry if this is weird.

And If You Wanna Stay … Please Stay

yes finally a pregnant request! also, i’m gonna be waiting to get the triggered pro-life people in my asks and DMs about how ‘iT’s A LiViNg BeInG”. like what’s the baby gonna do? tell it’s mom??

corpse x female!reader 

summary: when the reader gets morning sickness during an Among Us game, Corpse and her expect the worst. And they get it. 

word count: ~4.8k 

warnings: swearing, vomiting, mentions of abortions, mentions of being pregnant, a little bit of suggestive content near the end but nothing happens

He’s finally asleep, you think to yourself as you watch your boyfriend’s chest rise and fall. He needed it.

Recently, Corpse has had trouble sleeping for more than three hours. You two had tried everything you could think of. You had tried staying up late to get him tired, you tried subliminals and music to get him to sleep. You even tried to give him a massage one time, but that led to other things.

You look over at the drawn curtains and pull them back a little. There, on the window, you have tin foil covering them. It’s a trick you learned from your dad when you were younger. When he worked night shifts, he had to sleep during the day, and he had trouble sleeping since your parent’s room had thin curtains. And so your father taped tin foil to all of the windows in their room so that he could sleep.

You’re not exactly sure why this seemed to work for Corpse, but you’re certainly not complaining. He looks so peaceful when he’s sleeping. He doesn’t look stressed, he doesn’t look sad. He looks so calm.

You lean forward and peck his nose. His breathing stutters and his nose wrinkles. You giggle and slowly, he opens his eyes. He blinks a few times and his brown eyes look around the room before settling on your face. He grins and your smile widens.

“That’s a pretty face to wake up to,” he mumbles and his morning voice makes you blush. “Oh my god, you’re already blushing.”

You blush even harder and bury your face in his neck. He laughs and hugs you around your waist. “Don’t make fun of me, asshole.”

He kisses your hair. “Morning, baby.”

“Good morning,” you mumble into his skin. You pull away so that you’re only a few inches apart. He leans forward and nuzzles your nose against his. Instead of kissing in the morning--you can’t handle his morning breath--you nuzzle your noses together.

“How’d you sleep?” you ask after you two pull away.

He smiles. “Really good, actually.” He chuckles and looks up at the window. “I guess the foil worked.”

You laugh and sit up. You’ve been awake for a little while and your stomach growls. “You hungry, babe?”

He nods and sits up as well, running a hand through his hair and shaking it out. “Can we have pancakes?”

“You can eat those, right?” you ask. You stand up out of bed and walk to the kitchen, your boyfriend trailing behind you.

“Yeah,” you hear him say. “Even if I couldn’t, I’d still want to eat them because you make really good pancakes.”

You smile. “Really? Thanks, babe.” 

You get out the ingredients to make the pancakes when Corpse announces that he’s going to take a shower. You give him a kiss on his cheek and notice it’s a little scratchy. You grab his chin suddenly and he blinks at you as you run a thumb against his cheekbone. 

“Want me to shave?” he asks softly.

You shrug. “If you want.”

He grabs your hand and presses his lips against your finger. He gives you a sweet little smile. “I’ll shave.” He squeezes your hand before walking back to your room.

After mixing all of the ingredients, you drop a few droplets onto the buttered up griddle. When it sizzles, you pour two medium-sized pancakes before going to search for the spatula. 

When you find it in the dishwasher, you flip both of the pancakes and grin. They’re both perfect. You notice it’s quiet in the kitchen and call out, “Alexa.” You hear her go off in the living room. “Play some fall lofi.”

“Playing ‘Midnight Lofi - Fall Vibes’.

”You smile when it starts to come from the living room. It’s a little quiet, so you say, “Turn it up.”

The music starts to play a little louder and you smile more. It’s so aesthetically pleasing, lofi music. It’s probably one of your favorite music genres. Before you moved in with Corpse, you had to listen to something and you eventually began to fall asleep to lofi. But now that you’ve been living with him for almost a year, you don’t listen to it as much. Usually when you’re cleaning the house or playing music when you study for school. 

You cook a few more pancakes and when you’re putting them on a plate, you have an idea. Corpse can’t eat chocolate because of his health, but you can. And you usually have a secret stash of chocolate in the back of the pantry. You’ve been craving chocolate a lot for the past week which is weird because your monthly hasn’t started yet even though it should have a few days ago. But you don’t dwell on that thought and pull up a chair from the small island and stand on top of it to reach the very back of the pantry. Your fingers skim the edge of the chocolate chip bag and you grab it between your middle and index finger. You grin at it and go to hop off of the chair when suddenly--

“What are you doing?”

You yell and you almost slip off the chair. Luckily, you land on your feet and wobble. You look up at your boyfriend when you regain your balance. He’s smirking and looking between you and the bag in your hand. 

“Chocolate,” you tell him, making your way back to the griddle like nothing happened. “You know, just because you can’t eat it doesn’t mean I have to suffer with you.”

He laughs and leans on the counter next to you. “I know you have a stash, y/n.”

You look at him with wide eyes, stopping in your tracks. “You do?”

He nods. “Yep. I knew since the first month you moved in. You’re bad at hiding it, you know.”

You blink at him before shrugging, walking over to the griddle. “Well, you’re not allowed to have any.” You stick your tongue out at him and sprinkle the mini chocolate chips into the remaining batter. There are enough pancakes for Corpse, so you’ll just cook up the rest for yourself.

Usually, you and Corpse don’t wake up until after breakfast time since you have a habit of sleeping in. But when you can wake up early enough for breakfast, you both like to sit out at the small balcony and eat together.

“What are we doing today?” you ask Corpse, sitting across from him at the small metal table.

There’s a breeze and it ruffles his hair. “I was gonna stream Among Us later. You can play, too. My fans love you.” He smiles and looks down at his plate.

“As they should.” You flip your hair and the two of you laugh. “Yeah, I can play for a little while. I’ve got classes to do and a paper due tomorrow, though.” While Corpse is a Youtuber and a streamer, you’re a college student taking classes at San Diego State University, trying to get your major in anthropology and a minor in Spanish and engineering. “God, I have a test at the end of the week, babe. I’m gonna fail it,” you mutter, putting your face in your hands. 

“What’s it in?”

“Spanish,” you tell him, pushing a blueberry with your fork. 

He gives you a stare. “Babe, I’m literally half Mexican.” He laughs.

You throw the blueberry at his head and it bounces off onto the floor. “Shut up, stop making fun of me!”

He grins. “I can tell you the answers as you take the test. It’s online, right?”

You nod. “Yeah, I chose all online classes this year. I mean, you could. But that’s cheating.” You flip a piece of your pancake over. “And I don’t wanna cheat. I cheated all the way through high school. I want college to be different.”

Corpse grabs your hand and you look up at him. He’s smiling at you. “You’re smart, baby. You’re gonna do fine. You’re gonna get your degrees and you’re gonna be the best... what are you studying again?”

“Anthropology,” you tell him quietly.

“You’re gonna be the best anthropologist ever.”

You crack a small smile. “Do you even know what an anthropologist is?”

“No.”

You laugh and that gets him to smile. You lean across the table and press a gentle kiss to his lips. It’s a little sticky and sweet because of the syrup, but you’re not complaining.

Later that morning, after taking a shower while Corpse cleans breakfast up, Corpse says that he’s going to stream and you come and join him. There’s a monitor across from his that you use from time to time and a headset as well.

Your boyfriend sends you the code for the Discord and the Among Us game. Corpse looks at you from across the desks and you smile. He grins back and your stomach churns. You blink and wince at the feeling. You’ve been feeling nauseated for a few days now and you don’t want to get sick during a stream.

“Hi Corpse,” someone says as you load into the waiting room. You look back at the screen as someone gasps. “y/n! Best friend!”

It’s Sean and you laugh. “Hi, Sean.”

“y/n!” exclaims someone else and you realize that it’s Lily.

“I thought I was your best friend, Jack!” says Sykkuno and he sounds hurt.

You smile and move your character to the customization. You choose yellow and choose the leaf hat. Since your gamer tag is “lemon” you always try and be a lemon.

“Aw, y/n’s a lemon,” says Dave.

You laugh and run circles around him. “Hi, Dave.”

You hear him laugh and Corpse chuckles in front of you. You look at him and be flashes you a smile.

The round starts and the red “IMPOSTER” text lights up your screen. You’re paired up with Felix. You haven’t been the imposter with Felix too often, so you don’t know what to expect. You mute your headset and head down to storage to fake wires before going to fake another task.

 You’re standing in the electrical room pretending to download data when Sykkuno walks in. You pull up the sabotage map and close the door before killing him and venting. You come out in the medbay and head over to the cafeteria.

 When a body is reported, it’s Lily’s. You unmute yourself and bite your thumbnail as your stomach churns even more. You’re starting to get worried that you’re going to get sick.

 “I found Lily in admin,” says Sean. “And I didn’t see anyone around.”

“Sykkuno is dead, too,” Julien points out.

 “Oh shit,” you mutter and hold a hand over your mouth. You try to keep the bile from rising while everyone talks and you don’t bother to listen. You do hear someone say that they’re going to skip voting and you do the same.

When no one is ejected, you mute your mic once again and go to follow Corpse down to the shields. You stand beside him while he does his task. Sorry, babe, you think and kill him just as your kill cooldown reaches zero.

 You smirk and run away in the opposite direction and you can feel him staring at you. You glance up at him and your smile widens. “What?”

He just shakes his head and you laugh.

You meet up with Dave and follow him around and fake wires with him. At one point, you and he cross paths with Felix and Toast. You may not know Felix too well, but any good imposter knows to go for a double kill. So as you run by each other in the cafeteria, you close the door and both you and Felix kill who you were with before venting away. 

By the time you’re out of the vent and running away from admin, Dave’s body is reported. Your stomach feels awful now and you’re almost certain you’re going to throw up in the next thirty seconds.

 “Fuck.” You unmute your mic. “It was me, I killed Dave. I’m the imposter. I’ll be right back.” You practically throw your headset off and run for the bathroom.

 ~

Corpse watches you practically run out of the room. For a second, he’s not sure what to do. Should he go after you? But he’s in the middle of streaming.

“y/n?” Sean asks. “Corpse, where’d she go?”

“Is she okay?” Julien wonders.

He nods even though no one can see him. “Y—yeah. I’m gonna go check on her. I’ll be right back.” He mutes his mic and takes his headphones off before leaving the room to go check on you.

He finds you on the tiled bathroom floor vomiting into the toilet. He curses and kneels behind you, pulling your hair back.

When you finish, he says, “This is the third time this week you’ve gotten sick, baby.”

You groan and lean your head on your arm. “I know. I don’t know why. Well, I—“ You cut yourself off and go still as if you suddenly had a realization.

Corpse tilts his head. “What is it?”

It takes you a few long moments to respond. “…My period is late. And I’m getting morning sickness. Plus I’ve been moody.” You turn back to look at him and he can tell you’re about to cry. “Corpse.”

You don’t need to say anything else. He’s already standing up, trying to ignore the pit in his stomach and his shaking hands. “I’ll go get you some tests.”

You grab his hand. “Corpse, no! I’ll go.”

He shakes his head and gets on his knees in front of you. “It’s okay, baby. I’ll be okay, don’t worry about me.”

Your lip quivers. “You don’t have to do this. I know how much you don’t like going outside. Really, it’s not a big deal, I can go get some.”

But then he kisses your forehead. “y/n, it’s okay. You need to rest. I won’t be out for very long.” He stands up after squeezing your hands. “I’ll be back in, like, twenty minutes.”

Before you can do anything to stop him, he turns around and goes to grab his mask and his wallet before grabbing your car keys. He doesn’t like to drive, but you’re worried and driving is quicker. And right now you’re the most important thing for him to be thinking about.

~

When Corpse leaves, you sigh and stay sitting on the floor for a few more minutes while your stomach settles itself. Afterward, you get up and brush your teeth after flushing the toilet. Deciding to get some school work done, you grab your laptop and head to the living room.

When you pass by his recording room, however, you see his monitor still on. You curse and head inside. He’s still streaming. You sit down and put his headset on and unmute his mic. “Hey, guys.”

You glance at the exploding chat as Sean asks, “y/n? Where’s Corpse? Are you okay?”

I’m probably pregnant. “Uh, I’m kind of sick, so Corpse went out to get me some, uh, stuff. Sorry, but we gotta go. Uh, it was fun streaming.”

“Okay,” says Sykkuno. “I hope you feel better, y/n.”

“Thanks,” you mumble. “Bye, guys.” You leave the chat and close the game before looking at Corpse’s stream chat. “Sorry about this, guys. I had fun streaming, though, I’m sure Corse did too. Have a good day.” You smile even though they can’t see you before ending the stream. You go over to your monitor and leave the game and chat in your own game. You lean back in your chair and press your hands in your eyelids.

You want to cry. You want to scream. You can’t be pregnant. You’re still a kid, you haven’t completed college yet. You and Corpse aren’t even married.

You suck in a shaky breath and wipe your damp eyes. “I’m probably not pregnant,” you whisper and stand up to go into the living room. “I probably just ate something bad. Yeah, that’s it.”

You sit in the living room on the couch with a blanket around your shoulders, trying to focus on your schoolwork. But you can’t. Your mind is too overwhelmed with the possibilities. You hope Corpse is okay. You know how much he hates going outside and being around other people.

You turn back to look at the lecture your professor posted and sigh. You just need to relax and calm down. Just wait until Corpse gets back and focus on schoolwork until then. 

It takes a while, but he does come back. Some small voice in your head thought that he wasn’t going to come back, but you quickly pushed it away. Corpse loves you and he’d never leave you. 

The front door opens and you look up from the paper you’re in the middle of typing. You meet him in the hallway where he’s taking his mask off, a plastic bag in his hand. He meets your eyes and cups your face in one hand. 

“Are you okay?” he asks softly. 

Your chin wobbles and you shake your head. Tears form in the edges of your eyes and you suck in a deep breath. “Did you get some tests?”

 He nods hand hands the bag to you. But before you can take them, he grabs your wrist. “Hey. I’m not leaving, y/n.”

You nod before taking the bag from him and quickly walking to the bathroom. You’re scared to say anything because you know that if you do, you’ll start to cry.

 Ten minutes later, you’re sitting on the bathroom floor with Corpse, leaning into his side as he rubs your shoulder. There are three tests on the counter and your boyfriend has a timer running on his phone for five minutes. So far, three minutes have passed. To you, they’ve felt like a lifetime.

 “Are you okay?” Corpse asks quietly, finally breaking the silence.

 You shrug, not entirely sure how you feel. “I don’t know. I’m scared.” You glance down at your stomach and place a hand on your naval. “If I am pregnant, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m young.” You look at him. “We’re young. I’m still in college. I can’t afford to have a kid!”

“I know.” He draws you closer to your shoulder. “But whatever you decide to do, I’m going to support you. And I’m not going to leave you, either. In case you were worried about that.”

Even though you shouldn’t have been, you were.

Luckily, Corpse changes the subject, going on to say, “I’ve been working on another song.”

 “Really?” 

He nods. “Yeah. It’s kind of a lofi type song. I can show you the lyrics, later, if you want.”

 You smile a little and look up at him, staring into his shining, dark eyes. “I’d like that.”

He smiles back and leans down to give you a small kiss. When you pull away, his phone rings, signaling that the timer is done. He turns his phone off and you stand up, walking towards the counter where the tests are. You pick one up. 

One line.

 You let out a breath of relief and turn to Corpse where he’s leaning on the sink. “Negative.”

He smiles a little. “What about the other two?”

 You look back down at the other two tests. You pick one up and your heart drops. Two lines. You swallow and gently place it down as your hands begin to shake. Maybe that one is a false positive. There’s still another one. Whatever this one says will probably determine if you’re pregnant or not.

 And so you pick it up. And you smack a hand over your mouth when you see two lines. You’re pregnant. You’re pregnant. The test falls from your hands and you fall to your knees, tears streaming down your face.

 “Baby, what did it say?” Corpse asks, coming to your side and trying to coax your face into his hand. “Babe?”

“I don’t want a baby!” you exclaim through your tears. “I can’t handle that. I’m too young, I’m not ready. We’re not ready.” You lean into his arms as he pulls you towards him. “Corpse, I don’t want it.”

He nods and you feel him run his fingers through your hair. “It’s your decision, babe. It’s your choice. And I’m gonna support you either way if you want to keep it or not. If you do decide to keep it, then we’ll figure something out. If not, I’ll drive you there and get you In-N-Out or something.”

That gets you to laugh as you tighten your arms around him. “You’ll really buy me food?”

“Yes. I’d do anything for you.”

Your stomach churns that night as you’re scheduling an appointment to get rid of the clump of cells in your body. You’re nervous and Corpse was sweet enough to order you whatever you want for dinner. 

You get off the phone as Corpse grabs the food from the delivery person and walks into the kitchen. He looks at you as he places the bags down on the counter. “So?”

You swallow and lean on the counter. “My appointment is in a couple of days.”

He nods and approaches you, placing his hands on your hips and drawing you to his chest. “It’s going to be okay, love.”

You lean your head on his chest. “Am I a bad person?”

“Of course not. It’s your body. You can do whatever you want with it. And besides, it’s not like it’s living anyway.”

You giggle as you try not to cry again. “What’s the baby gonna do? Remember it?”

Corpse laughs his deep and rumbly laugh and you grin. “True. But I seriously will buy you In-N-Out if you want. Or McDonald’s.”

You laugh again and tighten your arms around him. “Okay. And, Corpse?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you for being so supportive of wanting to get rid of it.”

He kisses your head. “Don’t thank me.”

When you and Corpse are laying in bed after watching a true-crime documentary, he’s gently dragging his nails up and down your back as you’re nestled into his chest. The tinfoil is still on the windows and it makes the room even darker. Which is actually the entire point.

 Something had been rattling around in your head for the past few hours and you hadn’t gotten the courage to ask Corpse. But here, in the darkness of the bedroom the two of you share, you often ask each other stupid questions late at night when neither of you can fall asleep.

 And it feels like it’s going to be another one of those nights because you’re wide-awake and you know Corpse is as well. And so you ask, “Do you ever want to have kids together?”

His hand abruptly stops dragging his nails on your back. “What?”

 You regret asking him, but there’s no going back now. “When we’re older, would you ever want to have a family together?”

His hand begins to slowly go up and down your back once more. “Maybe. If you want to. If you want to have kids one day when we’re older, then I’ll definitely have kids with you.”

This makes you smile and you tighten your arms around his middle. “I love you, Corpse.”

“I love you, too.” He kisses your head. “Before we have kids, we should get married first.”

You grumble and say, “We’ll see who proposes first, then.”

He laughs and wraps his arms around your waist. “It’ll probably be you, baby. I’m too anxious.”

“Excuses, excuses,” you huff but the two of you laugh. “I’m too broke to afford a ring, though. You might have to settle with a Ring Pop.”

“If you propose to me with an onion ring and I would say yes.”

You giggle as something else comes to mind. “What about those cheap, plastic spider rings? Or the ones that come on cupcakes.”

Corpse laughs again and begins to scratch your back again. “If you do that, we would get married on the spot,” he says in that deep and gravely voice of his.

 You grin. “I’m keeping that in mind.”

Corpse hums into your shoulder. “You’re not going to fall asleep anytime soon, are you?”

 You shake your head. “No. Are you?”

“Nope.”

“What do you want to do?” you ask him, pulling away from him to look at his face through the darkness.

 Even though you can’t see him too much, you know he’s smirking. “Well, there’s already a fetus in you. Want to see if we can get another one?” 

You laugh and push his chest. “You’re disgusting, Corpse!”

He laughs and grabs your hands and lifts your arms up so he can roll on top of you. “Maybe. But it got you to laugh.”

You blush and turn your head to the side as he sits on top of you, holding your hands above your head. He starts to kiss down your neck and you sigh. “Corpse.”

He hums against your skin.

 You bite your lip. “I’m not really in the mood, babe.”

Immediately, he stops what he was doing and lifts his head. “Okay. That’s fine, babe. It’s been a long day. Can we still cuddle, though?”

You nod and smile. “Of course. You can be the little spoon.”

“Yay!” he exclaims and climbs on top of you and rolls on his side. You get yourself situated behind him and throw one arm over his stomach and use the other one to play with his incredibly curly hair. Your legs get tangled together like they always do and you bury your fingers in his hair while he lets out a deep breath through his nose. 

“Happy?” you ask him quietly and he nods. You squeeze his stomach with the arm you have there and kiss his head. “Okay. Try to sleep again, babe, okay?”

He nods, but both of you know you’re not going to fall asleep for a while. And that’s okay. You both sit there in the darkness talking about everything and nothing while you play with his hair and he holds the hand around his stomach with one of his hands. You don’t say anything else about you being pregnant or kids or how you want to get rid of it, and you’re glad. You don’t want to talk about it because you feel like a bad person for not wanting the baby. 

Of course, you’re not going to change your mind. Neither you nor Corpse are ready for a child. But that small voice in your head tells you that you’re making the wrong choice or a bad decision.

 But you don’t listen to it. You don’t listen to it that night while Corpse falls asleep again in your arms or when you’re in class the next day. Not even when you’re listening to a demo of Corpse’s new song in the car on the way to the clinic.

 “It’s really good!” you exclaim as he parks in the parking lot. “I love it, babe.”

He smiles at you before glancing at the clinic. “Want me to go with you?”

You shake your head. “No, I’ll be fine. It'll take little while, though. So you can go do something else if you want to.”

He nods and leans in to give you a kiss. “Okay. I love you. Text me if anything goes wrong at all, okay?”

You laugh gently and nod. “Okay, I will.”

“Love you,” he tells you again as you’re putting your mask on.

 You pull it down and smile at him softly. “You already said that, babe.”

He blushes and looks away. “O--oh. Sorry.”

You just kiss his cheek. “It’s okay. I’ll be back.” You pull your mask back up and gather your things before getting out of the car. You wave to him and then make your way into the clinic.

 And Corpse did stay true to his words about getting you In-N-Out after your appointment. He even paid for it and got you a milkshake, too. 

That night, after finally dragging Corpse away from his computer so he’ll at least try to fall asleep with you, you begin to think. You feel better after your appointment. Before, you were incredibly stressed out and even a little depressed. But afterward, you felt so much better. You felt like you could breathe and no have to worry about throwing up or eating the wrong thing.

 And you didn’t regret getting an abortion. You and Corpse both knew neither of you are ready for one and that’s okay. You’re both still young and still new to being together. But as Corpse hums some song against your neck with his nose buried in the skin there, you feel the vibrations from his throat against your shoulder. You sigh happily and push a hand into his hair and gently scratch at his scalp. You feel him smile against your neck and you can’t help but mimic it.

 Yeah. You and Corpse aren’t ready for kids. But maybe you will be one day.

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

I’m sorry, but the tag list is closed. It’s just too stressful for me to keep adding them. I’m sorry, guys. Also sorry to everyone who messaged me to add them because I didn’t write them down and can’t access my messages now. Still love you guys! x. 

@honeysuger @chubby-dumpling @polahorvat @annshit @simonsbluee @dad-ee-drea @save-the-sky @wibblytimey @thegirlwholikestomanythings @yagorlnessa @alilshit @majolittlemixgurl18 @the-bunny-anon @hufflepuff-always-and-forever @loraleiix @artist-bby @ellomellows @pillowjj @matthew-gray-g @myherotrashbin @sunnsetteeee @lxdybyrd @cultofandom @anngelllla @tododokizuku @pachowpachowbucket @gaysludge @bethpiercwhy @marvelkatwoman @c0rpsew1fe @your-cherry-bomb @bi-andready-tocry @redosmo @gracehaileym @helena-way07 @nekomacam @fadingprunebagelfestival @fifiyau105 @easygoingtheatre @satanwithagenda @gracehaileym @oumachii @mythicalreader @this-isnt-living-anymore @punkrainbows @kitsunedarian @crapimahuman @honestlyimstilllivinginthe90s @realnicoleworld @scarswideworld @bluewneptune @weeblyheaux @beebo-at-the-church @melmachh @abbiesthings @peterparkerspjsuit @mitchiesdungeon @theeerealpunkin @kaitlynw011 @bookoffracturedghosts @beebeomgyu @tooturntashbash @hughugh20 @spideys-gurl @reddeserths @heartbroken-writer @chimchimsugakookies @danny-devitowo @susceptible-but-siriusexual @moonnei @crystalbaby12 @cherry-pieee @girl-obsessed-with-things @sokkas-paintings @yobroitsjayden @boba-king-iroh @chouxfleur @bbecc-a @tayloryorkscurls @getdevils @nightly-daydreamer @beegobuzzbuzz @dxffxdils @mae-musicbitch @fangirlmisanthrope @bipolarbisexualdisaster @taliyahvermillion @unded-bride @kguerrero-23 @cold-deep-water @demoiselle-en-detresse00 @motheroffae @jokenotfunny @yongboxerrr @theolwebshooter @hawkssnugget @yoyoanaria @babyhoneystvles @rjwinterfell @simp-for-corpse @benjaminka @sailor-earth-1 @mmimozaa @zirvel @bombardia @parkchaeyoung1997 @tetsuluvbot @killuaz0ldick @xibrokensunriseix@fuckbuckyyy @luv-buggie @moneybagmara @betabeta0031 @adorkably @angelic-blxssom @littlebabysandboxburritos @thebriarpatch @i-have-arrived-bitch @alexandrium

[daddysfangirls-marvel]

Polyamorous: No Boy

Pairing Steve Rogers x reader x Bucky Barnes, Stucky x reader

warning:  fluff, 

The First kiss |  The first touch | Moving In | The day they left for war | Found you | The day Stark found out | Big Change | The Train | The Plane | Alone | Unfortunate sequences of events | I know her | The Resturant part 1 | The Resturant part 2 | It’s me | You can keep her | He’s okay with that | Mama loves me | Kissing Captain | Kissing Winter | Healing | Hurt | We’ll Wait | Memories | Prude | Whore | Put in her place | The day Stark Jr. Found out | Now you know |  Nursing | Like a Virgin | Morning After | The Catacombs | Off with her head | Grieving the Insane | Let me make it up to you | Punishment | Spiderling pt1 | Spiderling pt2 | Twentieth-century love | The new we can imagine | Connection | Please, marry me | Walk me | Stand with me | Final touches | I Do | Honeymoon | A moment of Paradise | Pictures from Paradise | The Fever | The bad days | Let’s talk about it | Practice makes perfect pt1 | Practice makes perfect pt2 | Seed | Unknown Stolen | unfulfilled Duties | Talking Emotion | Next Step | Holy Shit!! | First steps to hope | She’s Awake | Nicknames | The Mother and The father | The Boy | The Name Game |Talking | Not Ready | No Boy

"Hey," Peter and Ash said as her parents stumbled in after their late-night missions, the three of them gave a mumbled reply and made their way to their room. It wasn't even Two minutes late that a loud bang was heard, and Steve and Bucky came rushing out.  

"Wh-what is this? what is happening here? huh?" Steve asked, pointing to teens on the couch, specifically the boy.

"When did he get here? I don't remember saying you could have a boy over, and it's late." Bucky said, " he needs to get out."

"I said she could have him over. I didn't want her all alone while we were on our mission. " (Y/n) said, coming into the living room "Hi Peter."

 "well, we're back now. You can leave now," Steve pointed to the door, " here I'll drive you."

"Actually, he's sleeping over." The boys turned to her like she was crazy and grew two heads. " not here, obviously. He has a room on Tony's Floor. Leave them alone. Let them finish their movie." she swatted her husbands " It's late. You two need to go to bed after this movie, okay?"

"yes, ma'am."

 "Okay, good night" (Y/n) pushed her husbands down the hall and into their bedroom.

 "You're just going to leave them out there. Together. Alone." Steve said

 "relax, both of you. Have you forgotten? We have Friday; she's watching them as we speak. She'll tell us if things start happening. Gentlemen, technology is on your side. Now stop freaking out. And let's shower." 

Bucky let out a frustrated sigh as he sat on the edge of the bed. "How are you okay with this?"

(Y/n) sighed as she took off her uniform in the middle of the room. Steve went to the bathroom to start the shower. " Because he's a modern-day little Stevie. Honestly, he's too shy and kind. He won't do anything to Ash; she doesn't want him to, and she has been through too much to have her thoughts going in that direction. I don't even think she knows about sex... Do you think we'll have to give her the talk?"

Bucky chuckled and groaned " you have this way of calming me down and then stabbing me in the chest. You're going to give me a heart attack one of these days, doll. "

"I'm not trying to hurt you. This parenting thing is hard. I'm just winging it. Honestly, I'm challenging my inner Sarah Rogers."

"you remember Steve's mother?"

"Flashes, but... yeah. My memory of the past still isn't all there; I still have gaps." 

"She adored you," Steve said, coming out of the bathroom coming up behind (Y/n). He wrapped his arms around her waist. "She loved you very much, both of you. Gave you and Bucky her blessing."

"Yeah?" she asked, turning around in his arms.

 "Yeah, I remember you guys telling me about it on my first birthday without her. She knew I love you both and that you both loved me.

" "sounds like a smart woman," Bucky said 

"she was," Steve said, burying his face into (Y/n) shoulders.

"If only she could see you now a husband and a father. Look how far you've come, Steve" (Y/n) said, kissing his head.

 "Also, I have an off-topic question. How old were we when we first had sex?" pushing her away, Steve marched to the bathroom. She laughed " See. You can't get made. They're already better than us." 

-

"School... what's it's like?" Ash asked as the movie came to an end. She wasn't ready for Peter to leave, yet she was enjoying his company.

 "Well, I'm in college. I like it. Majoring in science. You see, in college, we get to choose what we want to study. The campus is pretty big, so classes are all over the place, but it's beautiful. You make a lot of friends there. " Peter said, rambling but then realized she probably didn't fully understand. "Maybe I can take you on tour sometime. so you can actually see and maybe meet some of my friends." 

"I would like that," she said, " the movie is over."

"Yeah... I should go before your dads come get me"  Peter stood up. "I'll see you in the morning."

 "Peter," she called out to him as he reached the door. She looked at him " I... can we make pancakes tomorrow with the chocolate chips?" 

Peter smiled " definitely." 

As he left, Peter looked down the other hall and saw Steve and Bucky standing there leaning against the wall. Looking at the young man, Steve gave him a simple nod. Peter gave an awkward nod in return and quickly left.

 Looking around the corner, Bucky and Steve saw Ash sitting on the couch, smiling to herself. Maybe Peter wasn't that bad, but they were still keeping an eye on him.

[asian-hero]

Number 14 ("Would you like to put the star on the very top of the tree?") is SO CUTE. I picture this with Eri and class 1a! Could you make a drabble (or whatever you like) in which the reader is in class 1a and Eri is particularly attached to her (like a big sister or something) and she ships reader with Mirio or Todoroki?

A/N: You have to have known that I would absolutely say that Eri ships the reader with Todoroki, I mean, c’mon, look at my blog (but seriously, this is such a cute idea, thank you for sharing)

I would also like to thank Kim Taehyung for releasing “Snow Flower” because it was the sole reason I could get one final story out for Christmas :) Merry Christmas everyone!

Wait also I know that in the manga she dressed up for Christmas, but let’s just pretend it’s her first Christmas and it was before Aizawa had explained anything to her okay? :)

"Would you like to put the star on the very top of the tree?" from Tis the Season prompt list 

Summary: What better way to celebrate the holiday season then with the rest of your class and a cute little girl? You may even get a boyfriend out of it

Words: 2,286

Christmas. A holiday where you spend time with those who you love the most, and where children and adults alike get excited to open the presents under the tree. It’s a holiday beloved by all, if not only for the material reasons, then for the memories and love the holiday brings.

However, one certain little girl at U.A. had never known of Christmas, and your class wanted to fix that this year.

You had all found out that Eri had no idea what Christmas was when Aizawa had left her in your class’ care for a few hours, with the excuse that he needed to attend an important meeting, and he wasn’t allowed to bring her along. So, while you and the other girls were fawning over her, the subject of Christmas had been brought up, which had caught the attention of Kaminari, who suggested that you all should decorate the dorm for the festive season. As your classmates had gotten more and more into the Christmas spirit, with Yaoyorozu even stating that there was no reason to go out and buy decorations, since she could probably make enough for the dorm, you felt a slight tug on your sleeve. 

Turning your head, you were met with the most adorable, inquisitive eyes you’d ever been graced with looking at. Kneeling down to match Eri’s height, you tilted your head, a small smile on your lips. “What’s up?”

“What’s Christmas?”

At first, you were confused. You weren’t sure how anyone could not know about Christmas, especially someone her age. However, as your brain had caught up with the situation, you let out a short hum, trying to think of the best way to describe the holiday.

“Well, it’s a holiday in winter that’s about being around those you love and enjoying things like making gingerbread houses, eating good food, and opening presents,” Deciding that you would bestow upon her the white lie that every parent told their children, you spoke, “There’s also a man named ‘Santa,’ and he looks at your behavior for the year and decides if you’ve been naughty or nice. For all the nice children, he travels around the world to give them presents that they wish for,”

Her bottom lip jutted out slightly, a sign that she was thinking about something, “What kind of presents?”

“Well, you usually write a letter to him, telling him what you want and he’ll try to get you what you want,” Seeing how her eyes sparkled a bit when you told her, you felt your smile grow larger, “How about next time you come and visit, we’ll write our letter’s to Santa together, yeah?”

You let out a giggle when she enthusiastically nodded her head.

Soon enough, Aizawa had returned from his meeting, picking up Eri and bidding you all a good night, but not before you and a few other students had asked him if she could come back later to write her letter to Santa and to help decorate the tree. Thankfully, your teacher thought it was a good idea for her to have some fun during the holiday season, and agreed that she could come the following weekend.

So, giving the little girl a tight hug with the promise to do all the fun Christmas activities soon, you bid her good bye. 

Little did you know, as you were gushing over how cute Eri was to the other girls, a certain candy cane haired boy’s eyes had never left your figure once, neither had the small flush that decorated his cheeks.

As the weekend slowly approached, all of your classmates had chipped in to buy all of the items you’d need in order to make Eri’s first Christmas the best it could be. Your class had decided that it would be most efficient if you were all divided into teams so everything would get done on time. A few of your classmates had gone out to buy decorations, while others went to go get ingredients to bake some gingerbread cookies for the little girl. Kirishima and Kaminari had insisted on being the ones to go and get the tree, which therefore meant that Sero and Bakugou had tagged along in order to make sure that those two wouldn’t get hurt, or get something that was too big for the room. 

Once all of the items had been bought, you, Todoroki, Midoriya, and Uraraka were in charge of setting up some of the decorations, like the string lights that would hang all around the common area, and setting up the tree and putting down the tree skirt. You were sure that the girls wanted to tease you and Uraraka, since you were fairly certain that neither Todoroki or Midoriya were good decorators, but you decided to put aside your tiny crush on Todoroki in order to make this the best Christmas you could.

Grunting slightly, you stood on your tiptoes, trying to make yourself even taller, though you were already standing on a ladder, in order to hang the final string lights in the corner. While you knew it wasn’t the smartest idea you had, your brain was simply focused on finishing your task. In fact, you were so focused that you didn’t even notice that the ladder began to shake beneath you, the uneven distribution of your weight taking a toll on the stability. It wasn’t until the ladder began to slip from underneath you that you finally noticed how dumb you were being.

Luckily for you, a hand reached out, stabilizing the ladder before it had any chance to fall. Breathing in a sigh of relief, you turned your head, locking eyes with a pair of heterochromatic ones.

“You should be more careful,” Todoroki chastised, not taking his hands off the ladder, “It doesn’t matter if these lights are perfect,”

Smiling, you shook your head, moving to quickly set up the lights before stepping off the ladder, “It’s Eri’s first Christmas, I want it to be special,”

As you moved to get the decorations out of the second box you noticed that Todoroki still lingered behind you, most likely worried that you’d end up hurting yourself. 

“Well, at least let me do the other lights,” He spoke, taking the string out of your hands, “I don’t think she’d appreciate her favorite person getting hurt over something like this,”

Before you could even protest, Todoroki was already gone, moving to the next section of the room. With a small smile, you allowed your heart to beat just a bit faster, and for your eyes to linger on him for just a moment longer.

Soon after the common room had been decorated, except for the Christmas tree, it was finally the weekend. Aizawa had dropped off Eri in the morning with the warning that all of you should be on your best behavior, otherwise there’d be consequences. However, the way his eyes softened just a bit when she immediately ran into your arms told you that he wasn’t completely serious. 

Once he’d left, you took Eri over to the common room and sat down at the coffee table beside her. Your classmates had left out some pieces of colorful paper out, along with some envelopes, pens, and stickers for her to use to write to Santa. At first, she seemed hesitant about writing, and when you asked why, she told you that she wasn’t sure what she should put down. 

“Well, think about some of the things that you really want, and write them down for him,” You paused in your own “letter,” a small smile on your face, “If you aren’t sure of what you want, you can just tell him about what things you like, to give him some idea of what you might like,”

The two of you sat in silence for a while, writing your letters in peace when you noticed someone walking towards you. Looking up from your letter, you smiled at Todoroki’s curious demeanor. 

Once he realized that your eyes were on him, he cleared his throat, looking even more curious. “What are you doing?”

“Writing letters to Santa, is it not obvious?” You spoke, a teasing lit to your voice.

“Letters to,” He paused, his eyebrows rising, “‘Santa’?”

You hummed in confirmation, patting a spot beside you. “Come and write one with us, it’ll be fun.”

After a few seconds of him standing there like a statue, you were sure that he was going to reject your offer. However, after you had turned your attention back to your letter, you felt a slight thump next to you, followed by a warm presence by your shoulder. Turning your head, you noticed Todoroki sitting next to you, leaning a bit too close to be friendly.

“You’ll have to help me out too,” He started, grabbing one of the colorful pieces of paper on the table, “I’ve never done this before,”

Smiling at him, you nodded your head, and for the next ten minutes, you three had written and addressed your letters to Santa, and you promised Eri that you’d deliver hers to the jolly man personally, and to Todoroki that you wouldn’t read his.

Finally, with the help of the entirety of class 1-A, you had begun to decorate the Christmas tree that sat in the middle of the room. You would never forget the look of astonishment on Eri’s face when you showed her the bag of ornaments you all had bought, nor would you forget the soft smile that lit up Todoroki’s face when he noticed just how excited she was for decorating the tree.

For a while, all of you helped Eri with decorating, helping her reach the taller branches and watching as she piled many of the cat themed ornaments towards the front of the tree. You had even watched Bakugou lift her on his shoulders to reach the top of the tree, and though his face screamed of his pretend anger, you could tell that the small girl had even wriggled her way into his grinch heart as well.

Though, the moment that you would remember for quite a while was when you pulled out the showstopper: a simplistic golden star topper. 

When you pulled the star from the bag you could hear a quiet gasp come from the little girl. Looking over at her, you gave her a warm smile, extending your hand. “Would you like to put the star on the very top of the tree?”

Though she didn’t answer you verbally, the look of excitement made it very clear what her answer was. Squatting down slightly, you hoisted her onto your shoulders, making sure she was secure before moving to grab the star, though a certain boy had beat you to it.

“Looking for this?” Todoroki asked, a ghost of a smile on his lips.

Letting out a quiet laugh, you thanked him before taking the star out of his hands and handing it to Eri. Heading towards the tree, you pointed towards the one upright branch at the top. “Go ahead, give the tree it’s hat,”

With a bit of fumbling, she finally placed the star at the top, cute giggles escaping her lips as she clapped for joy, and though you couldn’t see it, a big smile had found its way to her face. Setting her back down onto the ground, you gave her a gentle high five before she ran over to the rest of your classmates. As you turned around, you found yourself face to face with Todoroki, who continued to look at you with a gaze you couldn’t quite place. Though, as he gave you a small smile, you didn’t really pay attention to anything else.

You didn’t even notice the small plant that Eri had pulled out of one of the bags, nor did you notice Uraraka use her quirk on it.

“So,” You asked, moving a bit closer to the boy who caught your attention, “Was this a successful Christmas?”

He nodded, the soft gaze not leaving his features, “I would say so, she seems happy.”

Just as you opened your mouth to speak, you could hear your classmates begin to giggle. Turning around, you gave them a look, not understanding what they found to be so funny. When Kaminari had pointed up, you could feel your heart stop in your chest. 

Hesitantly, you looked up, not surprised to find some mistletoe floating between the two of you. Snapping your gaze to the boy in front of you, you sighed at the confused look on Todoroki’s face that had resurfaced. 

“What does this mean—“

Steeling your nerves, you leaned forward, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. As you pulled away, you could feel the heat lick up your cheeks. 

“When two people are under the mistletoe, it usually means that they have to kiss,” You explained, not quite looking him in the eyes, “Sorry about that,”

As you were about to leave, you felt him grab your hand, squeezing it gently. Moving to look at him, you noticed a teasing glint flicker in his eyes.

“Well then,” He spoke, pulling you in closer, “We better follow tradition then, right?”

He didn’t even let you answer as he pressed his lips to yours. But you were sure that even if you could speak, nothing would come out.

As the two of you pulled apart, the cheers from you classmates filled the room, with your friends expressing their relief that they’d never have to hear you complain about how he didn’t like you.

While you could feel your cheeks heating up from embarrassment, you supposed that the Christmas gift you’d received made it worthwhile.

[redex-writes]

AWO- childhood friends growing up au fic? Can be ship or platonic

Anon...I’m sorry...I was gonna write something short and sweet, a little drabble...

That was three hours and 3k words ago.

Thank you for this request, I genuinely really liked it! Sorry for making a monster out of it ^^’

(also this is my 100th post and i’m very happy about that)

Allusions to verbal child abuse; Allusions to emotional child abuse

On the first day of second grade, the new kid in class stole Vincent’s lunch. It had been his favourite--an apple juice box, a bag of animal crackers, and a peanut butter sandwich his mom had cut into the shape of a star--all tucked neatly into his Thomas the Tank Engine lunchbox. One minute it had been in his cubby, and the next, he was watching in horror as some kid he didn’t know devoured his food. When the kid caught him looking he just grinned, proud and mean, with peanut butter in his teeth.

On the first day of second grade, Vincent got into his first fight. He told his mom he’d fallen off his bike on the way home, and ignored the suspicious looks his parents gave him when he took third helpings at dinner.

---

On the first day of fourth grade, Vincent grit his teeth when he saw that mop of black hair from across the playground.

Leo caught his eye before he could duck away, and his face split into that stupid grin that Vincent had come to hate.

“How’s it going, Moretti Spaghetti?”

Vincent huffed through his nose, already annoyed. “That’s still a stupid name.”

“I know, right? Can’t believe your ma named you that.”

Vincent narrowed his eyes, but Leo’s smug look didn’t waver.

“Why’re you here?”

He looked at Vincent, furrowing his brow in confusion. “Because...it’s recess?”

“I mean, here.” Vincent gestured to the school. “Emily said that Sean told her that Harvey said you moved.”

Leo shifted, crossing his arms over his chest. He wasn’t smug anymore.

“What’d Harvey say?”

“Uh…” Vincent hesitated, stomach turning uncomfortably when he remembered what he’d been told. Leo just stared at him, waiting.

“He said you...that your foster family kicked you out, and you went back to the...y’know.”

Saying it to Leo’s face was a lot more awkward than hearing it from his best friend. Leo was staring at the ground, tightly clutching his jacket on either arm.

“Well, I didn’t,” he said finally, voice strangely thick. “Harvey’s a liar.”

“I’m sorry,” Vincent started, but Leo was already turning and stalking away.

Guilty and subdued, Vincent couldn’t help but sneak glances at Leo for the rest of the day. When everyone got up to get their lunch boxes from their cubbies Leo stayed seated, staring down at his desk and ignoring the chattering of their classmates. The cubby with his name on it was empty.

On the second day of fourth grade, Vincent grabbed an extra juice box and bag of animal crackers when his mom wasn’t looking. Leo didn’t notice them sitting in his cubby until lunch time, and Vincent watched out of the corner of his eye as he looked around, hesitated, then scooped them up and took them to his desk.

---

Leo got a bicycle on their last day of sixth grade. Vincent was happy for his friend, but at the same time…

“Psst! Vince!”

Vincent blinked the last dregs of sleep from his mind. His room was dark, apart from the sliver of moonlight from the window. The light summer breeze washed over him, carrying the sound of crickets and the scent of honeysuckle and…

When did he open his window?

“Vincent!”

“Gah!” Vincent yelped, startling hard enough that he fell out of bed. He hit the ground with a thunk, elbow smacking painfully into the nightstand.

A snort of laughter from the window made him whip his head around.

Leo was grinning at him, bright-eyed and outlined by the light of the full moon. He was holding Vincent’s window open with one hand, tightly clutching the edge of his window sill with the other. Even in the moonlight, Vincent could tell his knuckles were white with how hard he was holding on.

“Leo, it’s--” he grabbed his alarm clock and turned it towards him, “--two-thirty in the morning!”

“Sure is.” Leo’s cocky look hadn’t faded, but Vincent had known him long enough to be able to hear the slight tremor in his voice. He was already wary about the height of the climb up to Vincent’s window, but it was the middle of the night--it must’ve been important to get him up there.

Vincent sighed, but there was no irritation behind it.

“Let me put on some shoes, at least.”

Leo nodded, continuing to cling to the windowsill as he watched Vincent slip his feet into an old pair of sneakers and pull his housecoat on. After a moment’s consideration, he opened the drawer of his nightstand and pulled out two granola bars, stuffing them into his pocket before climbing out the window.

The climb from his window onto the roof of the covered deck was easy by this point, but he made sure to keep it slow for Leo. They scooted to sit with their backs to the outer wall, Leo taking the granola bars Vincent held out to him and opening one without saying anything.

“So...that bike’s coming in useful?”

“Hm?” Leo looked over at him, mouth stuffed. Vincent raised an eyebrow.

“Your bike. I can’t see you walking all the way across town in the middle of the night.”

“Oh! Yeah.” Leo gestured in the general direction of Vincent’s yard without looking down, and Vincent peered over the edge of the roof to see Leo’s bike leaning against the side of the house where he’d climbed up the lattice. Leo made a quiet sound of discomfort, and Vincent hurriedly shuffled back to safety for his sake.

“Are you gonna tell me why you biked all the way across town in the middle of the night?”

Leo lifted a shoulder in a noncommittal shrug.

“Couldn’t sleep,” he muttered around a mouthful of granola bar. “Didn’t wanna be…”

Alone, Vincent finished in his head. He leaned back and folded an arm behind his neck, rolling his head to the side to look at Leo.

“What about Linda?”

“Didn’t want to wake her up.” Leo crumpled the granola bar wrapper and handed it to Vincent, opening the other one as Vincent shoved the trash in his pocket. “They got two more girls this week--I think they’re five and six? Anyways, the new kids usually don’t sleep easy, so I didn’t want to go to her room and wake them up.”

Vincent hummed, closing his eyes. He didn’t entirely understand Leo’s living situation--he’d never invited him to his house, and Vincent had never asked--but he knew that it was hard to get privacy. 

They lay in silence for a while, the only sounds the crickets and the crinkling of Leo’s granola bar wrapper. When Vincent opened his eyes again, Leo was laying with his arms behind his head, looking more relaxed than Vincent had seen him at heights like this--not including Vincent’s roof.

“Leo,” he whispered. Leo’s eyes opened slightly, and he hummed sleepily.

“You wanna sleep over?”

Leo bit the inside of his cheek, glancing up at the sky. Vincent knew what he was thinking.

“I’ll wake you up once my dad leaves,” he promised. “Mom won’t come in my room either, so you’ll be fine.”

They shimmied back down into Vincent’s room, and Leo flopped down onto the bed on autopilot as Vincent grabbed the extra blankets from his closet. He tossed them to Leo and lay down next to him, pulling his own blankets back up and turning over to face away from him.

“Night, Leo.”

Leo mumbled a reply, already sounding half-asleep.

---

“Sorry I’m late!”

Vincent rolled his eyes as Leo dropped onto the cafeteria bench beside him, but he slid his extra bag of chips over to him without a word. Leo took it without comment, their unspoken routine a second nature by now.

“No, you’re not.”

“No, I’m not,” Leo admitted, grinning crookedly. Across the table, Emily narrowed her eyes at him.

“Please tell me--”

“--that I didn’t get a behavioural warning on the first day of high school?” Leo stuffed a handful of chips into his mouth, talking with his mouth full and spewing crumbs. “I cannot tell a lie.”

“What in the world did you do this time?” Carol demanded. Leo shrugged, grinning slyly.

“Ask Linda.”

As if on cue, Linda slid onto the bench beside him, crowding him closer to Vincent. Vincent grunted when Leo’s elbow jammed into his side, but the two were already launching into a retelling of the trouble they’d gotten into in the last two hours.

“--so awesome, I’m telling you, the look on her face--”

“--she turned absolutely red, you know when someone’s vein pops out in their forehead?”

“--thought she was going to kick your ass right there in front of everyone--”

Vincent finished his sandwich and stood, excusing himself with a mutter that was lost in the chatter. Carol was the only one who noticed him get up, and he could feel her eyes on his back as he disposed of his trash and left the cafeteria. She didn’t follow him, though, and he didn’t wait for her to.

He spent the first week of high school eating lunch in the band room with Gary, pretending to watch as he practiced. He doubted that his brother bought his excuse of ��just wanting some peace and quiet,” but he didn’t press the issue.

---

Vincent attended Gary’s graduation on the weekend after junior year. He sat with their parents, trying not to doze off in the uncomfortable plastic chair while the graduates were called onstage by name. He caught Carol’s eye from across the aisle, and she smiled at him for a moment, only turning away to clap when her cousin’s name was called.

He found her when the ceremony was over, desperate to get away from his teary-eyed mother and her camera, and the expectant looks his father gave him every time someone asked about Gary’s plans for university. She was standing with her own family and looked grateful for an out as well, joining him on a walk down the deserted hallways of the school.

“I bet it’s going to be weird with Gary gone,” she said. Vincent laughed a little.

“You said it. I’m not looking forward to a year alone in the house with my parents.”

She nodded. They walked in silence for a while, their footsteps echoing eerily off the walls. After a few minutes, Carol stopped.

“That’s gonna be us next year,” she said softly. Vincent looked back at her, seeing her looking at him hesitantly.

“Yeah,” he said lamely, suddenly at loss for words. Carol glanced away, seeming to be making up her mind about something, before apparently steeling herself and walking towards him. He stood frozen as she closed the distance between them and, with an audible deep breath, gingerly placed her hands on his shoulders and pressed her lips against his.

Distantly, Vincent wondered if this counted as a first kiss. Were first kisses supposed to feel so...weird? Disappointing?

After a few moments of Vincent standing unresponsive, Carol pulled back. Her face was red, and she seemed to be having trouble meeting his eye; when she did, though, she gave him a small smile that looked almost...sad.

“Just thought I’d try at least once,” she whispered. Vincent didn’t answer--couldn’t answer--wondered if he’d be able to recover from the sheer awkwardness of this moment, when--

“There you losers are!”

Carol pulled away quickly, both of them turning to look down the hall. Linda was walking down the hall towards them, Leo following closely behind. They were both dressed formally, though Linda had on sneakers and mismatched socks under her dress, and Leo’s tie was tied too-loose over his shirt and open vest. Vincent guessed they’d been lingering in the back of the hall instead of being in the visible audience while their foster siblings got their diplomas.

“I didn’t know you two were here!” Carol exclaimed. Her voice was slightly too high and strained to sound casual, and Vincent doubted that he looked any more inconspicuous. There was no way they hadn’t seen the scene unfold from down the hall.

Bless Linda’s heart, she didn’t say anything--merely started off on a mostly one-sided conversation about her summer plans. Vincent met Leo’s eyes, and was momentarily taken aback--his expression was entirely unreadable, blank for the first time since Vincent had known him. He couldn’t think of anything to say, and for once, it seemed Leo couldn’t either.

---

It was nearing the last month of the worst year of Vincent’s short life when Leo scaled his house for the last time.

He’d grown used to waking up to loud cursing, but not from outside of his window. So, when his eyes snapped open at the first thump and “god fucking damnit--” he knew immediately who it was.

Sure enough, a second later one of Leo’s gangly arms was hooked inside of Vincent’s window frame--then the other--and then his head popped into view. It had been a while since Leo had climbed up, and the sight was a bit of a surprise, but Vincent was only taken off guard for a moment before he scrambled out of bed to fully open the window, since they were both too tall for one of them to be comfortably framed in the windowsill.

They didn’t talk. Vincent pulled on his socks and shoes and pulled a sweater over his head, looking up in time to see Leo’s legs disappearing as he climbed up to the covered deck.

Out of habit, Vincent slid open his bedside drawer, only to realize that it’d been almost a year since he’d stored anything in it. There was an unopened box of raisins--for some godforsaken reason--that he brought close to his face to check the date on, before sticking it in his sweater pocket and clambering up to the roof.

Leo was playing with a swiss army knife he’d gotten for Christmas, but he put it away when he saw Vincent watching the sharp blade warily. Vincent awkwardly shuffled to sit beside him, not used to the angle of the climb anymore, and pulled out the box of raisins. He held it out to Leo, who stared at it for a second before breaking out into a wide grin. He laughed as he took the box, but aside from that, ripped it open without comment. The familiarity was welcome in the midst of everything his life had become over the past months, and it made his chest tighten with some emotion he couldn’t put a name to.

“It’s been a while,” Leo spoke up, startling Vincent out of his thoughts. He was staring up at the stars, legs splayed and stretched out leisurely, as if he’d been there for ages. His natural ability to fit in made Vincent smile.

“It has.”

Leo sighed, running a hand over his face. “I’m sorry for that.”

Vincent furrowed his brow. “What? It’s not your fault.”

“It is, though.” He looked over, and Vincent was taken aback by the guilt in his eyes. “It’s completely my fault.”

Vincent shifted uncomfortably. “Well, it’s not like I went out of my way to fix anything, either.”

“There shouldn’t even be anything to fix!” Leo huffed, throwing his hands up in frustration. “We’ve been best friends for years, and suddenly I just--I go and fuck everything up!”

He was getting to the point he got to sometimes--where his frustration came out without a filter, and would keep going until he’d gotten it all off his chest. So, as much as Vincent wanted to protest, he simply leaned back and listened.

“I mean, I didn’t even tell you why. I just kept it all to myself, didn’t do shit about it--probably ruined the best fucking friendship I’ve ever had--and left you completely in the fucking dark about everything, let you feel like shit over it--and I know you did, Emily told me--she had to threaten to beat my ass for me to actually get over myself--but by then it’s too late, and I waited until the day I leave forever to tell you that I’m in love wi--”

He cut himself off abruptly, the unfinished words floating off and disappearing into the night. As Vincent watched, wide-eyed and breathless, he opened his eyes and slowly turned his head, looking more unsure of himself than Vincent had ever seen.

“I...didn’t mean for it to come out that way.”

Vincent pushed himself to sit up, feeling suddenly dizzy. He rubbed his eyes hard, wondering for a moment if he was still asleep.

“You...you’re…”

Sorry? In love with me?

Leaving?

“Where are you going?” His voice came out small, unsure. He heard Leo sigh and sit up beside him.

“California. I’m gonna get my GED, get out of this town. As much as I appreciate my foster parents...I don’t know. This isn’t the place for me, Vince; hasn’t been for a while. Maybe ever.”

Vincent let out a shaky breath, trying to steel himself.

“And you’re leaving today?”

“Yeah.”

“And you’re…”

“In love with you.” Leo’s voice was rough, would probably sound harsh to anyone’s ears but Vincent’s. “I’m in love with you, Vince. And I know it’s fucking stupid--you’re straight, I know that, you’re my best friend, you’ve done so much for me and you deserve so much more than--”

Leo’s words were cut off by Vincent’s lips when he grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him in. It wasn’t awkward, didn’t feel wrong or disappointing--it felt right, felt like everything.

It felt like home.

“We’re so fucking stupid,” Vincent mumbled against Leo’s lips when they parted, and Leo’s laugh rang in his ears, as giddy as Vincent felt.

“Absolute morons.”

The giddiness faded all too soon when Vincent remembered what else Leo had said.

“You’re leaving.”

The mood dropped immediately. Leo pulled away, the miserable look back on his face.

“I--”

“Take me with you.”

The words were out of Vincent’s mouth before he realized he was even thinking them. Leo stared at him, mouth agape.

“What?”

“I mean--” Vincent squeezed his eyes shut and hurried to backtrack, “I’m sorry, that was--I shouldn’t have--”

“Do you mean it?”

Leo’s voice was hesitant, but he sounded...hopeful. Vincent opened his eyes again, scared of what he’d see in Leo’s.

Leo’s eyes glittered in the dim light. He was looking at Vincent like he held the fucking stars, and a small flicker of something big started in Vincent’s chest.

“Yeah.” He glanced down to where his hands were pressed to the shingles. “Leo, I hate it here. Ever since Gary graduated my dad’s been getting worse--I can’t focus on school with all the yelling. I could get my GED too, we could both find jobs in the city--I have money saved up from my part times, it’s enough to get us there at least--”

Leo was laughing, hands coming up to cup Vincent’s face, thumbs brushing over his cheeks.

“You moron--you beautiful, hopeless, genius moron--”

“That’s not--” Vincent started, laughing into the kiss that Leo cut him off with, “it’s not--Leo--”

“Let’s go, then, let’s get out of here.” Leo grinned at him, warm and bright and everything to Vincent. 

It took him less than ten minutes to pack. He threw his bag down to Leo, who stored it in the trunk of his beaten-up car as Vincent scrambled down the lattice. He let Leo catch him up in his arms for a moment, lets him kiss him once, twice, before pulling away and getting into the car.

It was the first day of the rest of Vincent’s life when he sped away from everything he’d known, with the one person he’d ever wanted to learn it all over again with.

[slapshot-to-the-heart]

merry christmas, ya filthy animal

Hi guys! This is my contribution for @hockeynetwork holiday gift exchange, it’s 2.5k of sweet Tito fluff for @dreamypeaches and I hope you all like it. As always, I read all the tags and love love hearing your feedback, so hop into my inbox and reblog if you like it! 

word count: 2.5k+

Everyone has a favorite movie. Some go for a childhood classic like Cinderella, some find an indie documentary from a film class in college, some inherit their parents’ love for the Princess Bride or Casablanca. Not you. For you, there was no movie that could hold a candle to Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. You had watched it for the first time maybe around 7 or 8 years old, and had been hooked ever since, and even Donald Trump’s five-second cameo couldn’t taint the love you had for it. But your favorite part, other than the large cheese pizza and stretch limousine, was the end. The Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, Kevin and his mom finally reuniting after she moved heaven and earth to get back to her son by Christmas. 

It wasn’t your first Christmas in New York City, but it was the first one where it really felt like it was your city, like you belonged to it. And it was your first Christmas with Tito. You had started dating earlier in the year, just as the team was starting to make the big push for playoffs and two months or so before he left to Montréal for the summer. It was strange while he was there, not just because he was hundreds of miles away and in a whole different country, but because the two of you had only been exclusive for a few months and were set to be separated for three. You flew up for Canada Day and met his parents, and he came back for a week in August, but the interim was filled with more FaceTime calls and lonely nights than either of you would care to admit. 

But summer was long over, the leaves had fallen from all the London planes, and the temperature had started to drop below freezing even in the day. The cold weather wasn’t always great; you didn’t love having to scrape the ice off of your windshield or trudge through the slush when it was too early for the snow to stick to the ground, but you wouldn’t change it for the world. One thing that winter changed was date plans. Unless you hit it at just the right time, coffee in the morning was more prone to freeze your fingers off than warm you up, having dinner outside — normally one of your favorite things to do together — was all-but banned after November, and you could only walk around Central Park so many times. And it wasn’t for lack of trying; you knew for a fact that Anthony had spent hours on plane rides trying to figure out what was open, flipping in between Google and the weather app. He was making an effort, though, and that’s what mattered. 

Which is why you weren’t particularly surprised when he showed up at your apartment door on Christmas Eve, twelve hours after he asked you if you had plans that night. You didn’t and it wasn’t a game day, so he told you to dress warm and be ready by 8. You were waiting by the door five minutes early. He greeted you with a hug and a kiss on the cheek, closing the door behind you. “Did you already eat? I know it’s pretty late already but I think I saw a few food trucks by where we’re going if you’re still hungry.”

You nodded your head. “Anthony. It’s 8 at night. ‘Course I’ve already eaten.”

He ducked his head in embarrassment, the slightest pink appearing on his cheeks. “Should have figured.”

“It’s fine,” you said, slipping your hand into his and smiling. “You going to tell me where we’re going, though?”

“Wouldn’t be a surprise if I did,” he said. 

You should have known by the duffel bag in the backseat what his plans were, but some thirty minutes later and he was pulling into a parking lot off of West 49th, shouldering the bag and looking over to you with a grin. “What’s a Christmas in New York without ice skating at Rockefeller Center?” 

You rolled your eyes, trying desperately to keep in a laugh. “You don’t think it’s a bit unfair? You’re paid buckets of money to balance on knife shoes and the last time I went ice skating was,” you tried to remember, “two years ago? Three?” 

Tito shrugged, taking your hand as you walked out the door of the parking lot. “What’s life without a little risk?” Whether the Harry Potter quote was intentional or not, you weren’t sure. 

“Fair,” you conceded. “You’ll have to look out for me, though.” He promised he would, handing his card over to the cashier, who in turn passed you your skates. Anthony led you over to a bench, grabbing a bag of roasted chestnuts from a street vendor before sitting down. You ate a few before tying your skates, swinging one up on his thigh for inspection. “Do these past muster, inspector?”

Anthony took one look at them before undoing your knot, adjusting your foot in his lap while rolling his eyes good-naturedly. “You didn’t tie them tight enough, you could break an ankle in these, babe, and we wouldn’t want that, would we?” You shook your head; he pulled you up to a standing position, leading you over to the gate to get onto the ice. “Don’t feel bad if you’ve got to hang onto the side for a little bit, it doesn’t look like the zamboni’s been over it in awhile so the ice is probably pretty chippy.”

Now it was your turn to roll your eyes. “I’m not completely hopeless, Anthony. I’m no professional,” you half-slipped while taking your first step onto the ice, clinging to the railing, “clearly, but I’m an adult and I can handle myself.” 

He held his hands up in surrender, gliding backwards on the ice before stopping. “I know you can.” The two of you skated for about an hour before taking a break, sipping cups of piping hot apple cider while sitting on a bench off to the side of the rink. “There’s always that one person who feels the need to go in the center and show off, huh?” Tito mused, glancing towards center ice, where a woman was indeed in the middle of a spin so quick and intricate you had no clue how she didn’t throw up from the sheer centrifugal force of it all. 

“Says the professional hockey player,” you quipped. 

“I’d go insane if I tried to do anything like that,” Anthony responded, drinking the last of his cider before dropping the cup into the recycling bin. “Just about the only thing hockey players and figure skaters have in common is our ability to skate in a straight line.”

You laughed, squeezing his arm. “Have a little more faith in yourself than that, Anthony.” 

“Mhm,” he said, noncommittally like he didn’t quite believe you. “You ready to get going, or do you think you’ve got more in you?” 

You looked down at your watch; it was 9:30; the rink didn’t close for another hour and plenty of people were still milling about. “I think I’ve got a little gas left in the tank.” 

Sounds good,” he said, taking your hand and doing an extremely admirable job of not laughing at your attempts to hobble over to the ice on your skates. “One of these days I’m going to get you to go backwards,” he said as he stepped on, gliding back easily before coming to a quick stop. 

“I’ve just stopped having to hold onto your hands like a five-year-old, Beau,” you said, rolling your eyes as you took a moment to find your balance on the slippery ice. In your defense, he had been right about the lack of resurfacing on the ice; the skate attendant said the zamboni only came around once a day, shortly before opening, and the lack of smooth ice couldn’t have done you any favors. But you were determined to prove yourself, to show him and everyone else in Rockefeller Center that you were a fully grown and capable adult who could skate for a few feet without needing assistance. Which you did, for approximately two minutes, trailing ten or fifteen feet behind Anthony as he skated backwards, executing poorly-attempted jumps and spins for no reason other than your amusement. You were doing fine, until the toe pick of your skate caught in a chip in the ice and you tumbled down, down to the ice before Anthony could skate over and catch you,. Down, trying to break your fall with your hands. Pain radiated up your left wrist, the cold of the ice already beginning to melt into your jeans. 

“Oh my God,” Anthony said, kneeling in front of you as several passers-by looked over in concern. “You okay? That looked like a pretty bad fall.” 

You nodded, trying to push yourself up to a standing position, but the second you put pressure on your hand, you let out a sharp shriek. “Fuck,” you said, moving to rub your wrist. Not a good idea; the pain only got worse when you touched it. 

His brow only furrowed more. “If you put your wrist out to break the fall, you could have broken it or something. We should go to the hospital.”

You shook your head. “I’m sure it’s nothing, Tito,” you said as the two of you skated off the ice, your wrist hanging limply by your side as you bent down to try and untie the skate laces. He looked up at your face, seeing you biting your lip with tears pricking at the corner of your eyes as you tried to pull them. 

“Hurts to pull?” You knew it was no use trying to lie to him, so you nodded. He pushed the sleeve of your jacket up as gently as he could after untying your skates, handling your hand and wrist with as little pressure as he could. “Not exactly how I thought I’d be kneeling in front of you,” he said, the corner of his mouth twitching. You knew he had only said it to distract you, try to get your mind off of the inordinate amounts of pain you were in, but the words still made your heart skip a beat. His fingers moved feather-light over your skin, keeping an eye on your facial expressions as he felt. “Hurts to close your hand?” You tried; you nodded. “Hurts to turn your wrist?” A second nod. “Has it gotten worse or better since you fell?”

“Worse,” you managed to squeak out. 

He bit his tongue in concentration. “Shit. Yeah, we should go to the hospital.” You knew it was no use to argue, even as you weakly kept telling him it was probably just a sprain that would heal on its own as he herded you into the car, looking up the waiting times of Manhattan emergency rooms. “The ER wait at Lenox Hill is twenty minutes, it’s like two miles away,” he said, puting the car into reverse and backing out of the parking lot. Of course, two miles in New York City on Christmas Eve really meant fifteen minutes, and by the time he parked at the hospital and you were walking into the ER, it was just past 11. And of course, an ER wait time of “twenty minutes” the day before Christmas meant that, as a relatively low-priority case, you weren’t seen for well over forty. “I feel terrible about this,” Anthony said, slumping back in the chair to the side as you sat on the exam table. 

“Not your fault,” you said emphatically. “Could have happened to anyone. Literally anyone, Tito,” you looked over at him; he still looked guilty. “It could have just as easily been you, if you’d hit the chip at the wrong angle or there was some kind of slippery patch you weren’t expecting. And,” you added as he opened his mouth, “you were too far away to catch me.” Your expression softened. “I know you would have if you could have, but I’m sure it’s not hurt too bad and I don’t want you to keep beating yourself up over it. I’ll be okay.” 

The nurse practitioner chose that moment to poke her head through the curtain, calling your name. You nodded. She flipped open your chart. “I’m Emily, I’ll be taking care of you tonight. It says here you’ve got a wrist injury?” You nodded, explaining what had happened. She pulled a pair of gloves on, fingers moving over your wrist. “With what I’m seeing and how you’re rating your pain, I think we’re probably looking at a bad sprain or a break, but we’ll have to get an X-ray to confirm.” Fifteen minutes later, you were in and out of the radiology suite, and Emily was looking at the images on a tablet. She leaned over the table, pointing to the images on the screen. “Okay, so what you’ve got is called a Colles’ fracture, it’s a break in the radius and they’re actually super common, by far the most common type of wrist break we see. Yours isn’t too bad, so I’d say it can come off in six weeks or so.” She left for a minute to get the casting supplies. Ten minutes later, your entire lower arm was covered in cotton and fiberglass wrap tape. You wiggled your fingers towards your boyfriend. “I think purple’s really my color, don’t you?” you said, nodding towards your cast. 

You saw him crack a smile, his first since the accident. “It’s beautiful, babe.” Fifteen minutes and more than your fair share of paperwork later, you had handed over your insurance information and gotten the okay to leave, with strict instructions to keep the cast dry and call if you had any problems. 

“I think this definitely wins as the most interesting date I’ve ever been on,” you said as the two of you crossed the parking lot. 

“I’ll have you agree with you on that one,” Anthony replied. “I’m glad it wasn’t anything more serious, though. I would have felt even worse.”

You nodded. “You and me both.” Anthony looked down at his watch as he held your good hand, smiling when he saw the time. “What is it?” you asked curiously. 

“Guess there was too much going on in there to keep track of time. It’s 1:37 AM.” 

The painkillers they had given you had kept the pain in your wrist to a dull ache, but all was forgotten as you realized what it meant, what it being past midnight meant, and you couldn’t stop a grin from spreading across your face. “It’s Christmas?” you said, almost like a question. Nothing could extinguish your love for the holiday: not the freezing cold air nipping at your nose or the apple cider that was so hot it burnt your tongue or the fact that you went out for a night with your boyfriend and came back with a broken wrist. You had him, and that was enough. 

Tito laughed, leaning down to press a soft kiss against your lips as he unlocked the car. “Merry Christmas, baby.”

[ill-be-your-honey-bri]

Wouldn’t It Be Nice

Hello all!

It is an honor to say that I am participating in my very first Fic Challenge! @helladirections​ put together this AMAZING Summer Feeling Challenge with a list of a bunch of summer prompts for writers to chose from. For this fic, I chose the BBQ and Fireworks as my prompt.

So without further ado, I present a very fluffy college!Harry.

Warnings: Fluffy-fluff, mild drug and alcohol use.

Please keep an eye out for the other writers and fics involved in the Summer Feeling Challenge and spread some love and peace to those amazing writers as well.  

Harry had always looked forward to the summer; time off from school, getting back to work in the bakery and bugging Barbara. The thing he looks forward to the most is his time with his family at the lake house, and going to the lake house meant spending the summer with you.

Harry had a school boy crush on you since your family bought the lake house down the road. He was in awe of how fearless you were. You were always the first to grab at any creepy-crawly or amphibian, the first to dive into the lake, and the one to suggest scary stories in the middle of the night at the gazebo by the lake.

As time progressed, Harry’s crush turned into something more. He remembers the first summer of puberty when you filled in your bathing suit a little too well and how he is positive he was sporting a semi the whole summer. Damn hormones.

But now, on his drive to the lake house, he smiles thinking of how he will be reunited with his summertime buddies and the girl he can never get off his mind. He turns up the music, hearing “Summer of ‘69” to put him in the perfect mood for another great summer.

Harry drives past your house, seeing your car already parked there. He is half tempted to stop at your place first but realizes that you're probably down by the lake already. His mom is out front of their house talking to your mom when Harry pulls up, both women promptly giving him a hug when he steps out.

“God Harry, you got so big and handsome! And your hair!” Your mom praised Harry as he tried to detangle his hair from the wind of having the windows down, giving her a shy smile an a ‘thank you’.

“Y/N is down by the lake with Sarah and Mitch darling, she has been asking about you.” Anne gave him a wink and a tap on the bum, knowing his feelings for you, your mom giggled at Harry’s blush. As Harry was walking away, he could hear your mom mumble, “Always thought those two would be perfect together.” Harry’s shy smile turned beaming as he walked his bag to his room.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry walked out the back of the lake house and began his walk to the dock. He could hear The Beach Boys playing, becoming clearer the closer he got to the lake. He could see Sarah laying out next to Mitch, who was sitting in a chair with his guitar in his lap, lazily strumming along to “Good Vibrations”. He couldn’t see you until you breached the water, hiking yourself up onto the dock.

“Harry!” You quickly stood up and ran before you tumbled into his arms, still dripping from your swim and not grabbing a towel. He embraced you, giving you a tight squeeze, soaking his shirt. You giggled as he picked you up so that your feet were a few inches off the ground.

Sarah and Mitch quickly got up to give Harry a warm and welcoming embrace before all walking to where your towels were all laid out so you can all sit and talk. Everyone was talking about their year since they last saw each other. Well, accept Mitch and Sarah since they have been dating since last summer.

It was getting warm, so Harry took off his now dry shirt. You gasped when he did, seeing his skin exposed littered with new black ink. He had a few accumulating over the summers but there were so many new ones for your eyes to explore.

You propped yourself on your knees looking at all the ink in their details, Harry shivered as your fingers grazed his skin. He could see Sarah and Mitch begin to smirk and giggle just past your head but he quickly returned his gaze to you; skin glowing in the sun, hair frizzing from its air drying. You were more beautiful every summer. You smiled up at him as you talked about the new markings before the smell of the grill indicated it was time to head back to help set up for the barbeque.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The barbeque was being held at Harry’s house, his step-dad, Robin, wearing the fitting apron that says “Grill Master”. Your dad was helping Robin with grabbing the meat from the kitchen that he had helped prep to bring it out to the porch where the grill and it’s master were perched.

Anne had put on an Eagles playlist that was coming through an outdoor speaker, Robin and your dad singing into their tongs and spatulas. Anne was putting together a summer sangria on the porch when all of you came running up the back steps from the lake.

Mitch’s and Sarah’s parents started bringing out different dishes with salads and fruits, your mom following with plates and silverware. Harry promptly took the cutlery and plates from your mom and began to set the table, you were quick to help Harry, bumping his hip with yours. Mitch and Sarah were helping with chairs.

“One of These Nights” began to play through the speaker and you grabbed Harry’s hand to begin dancing and singing along, Sarah did the same with Mitch, your dad with Robin.

Anne was emitting bubbly laughs as she and your mom passed out a glass of sangria to everyone. Once Robin sang that his masterpieces were complete, everyone sat at the table.

Harry sat across from you, smirking at you throughout your meal, giggling when you had barbeque sauce on your cheeks. You quickly wiped it off and nudged his shin with your foot.

Conversation was light throughout the meal, everyone’s parents asking all the kids how school is, what their future plans are, how much longer until they graduate. Harry kept his eyes on you as you were telling Mitch’s dad your favorite classes and how you are starting to look at graduate programs.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The night had come to an end when the sun had set, all the families exchanging ‘good nights’ and hugs. You were the last one that Harry had embraced. You turned your head to his ear to whisper, “gazebo at midnight”, before pulling away and kissing his cheek. You ran off quickly to catch up with your parents as well as Sarah and her family, grabbing Sarah’s hand before turning to look back at Harry. You gave him a final smile and wave before turning back to talk with Sarah.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry should have known that it wouldn’t be just the two of you at the gazebo, it was tradition after all.

Sarah and Mitch were sitting on the banister as you were spreading out the blanket for you all to sit on. Mitch was packing a bowl while Sarah was sipping on the bottle of liquor she stole from her parents cabinet. You were all of age at this point but it was a sentimental gesture from all the years prior.

Harry gave a weak smile and a wave as he approached. You had brightened when he stepped foot in the gazebo, skipping to him to grab his hand to pull him to the blanket. Your eyes were glowing in the twinkling lights hung along the top of the shelter.

Sarah handed you the bottle as Mitch took his first hit, promptly handing it to Harry. As Harry was inhaling, you had grabbed the bag that you brought with snacks and your phone, putting on some music and opening up the bag of Doritos.

You popped a chip in your mouth as Harry passed the bowl to you. “So, do you have a boyfriend from school?” You smiled at him before taking a hit and holding your breath, shaking your head no as you exhaled.

“No, but I had a girlfriend last semester. Found out she was screwing our whole friend group so I ended that quickly.”

Harry choked on the liquor he just tipped back, coughing with a, “Sorry to hear that.”

You shrugged it off before asking Harry, “And you? Any boyfriend or girlfriend?” smirking as he blushed. This group of friends were the only people you all could truly be open to, both you and Harry had come out as bisexual last summer.

“No, no one for me.” He began to dig into the snacks as the booze and weed got passed around.

“That’s a shame, you're a catch.” Everyone looked straight at you with wide eyes. Sarah giggling out from either the liquor, the weed, or the fact that she knew you had a massive crush on Harry.

Harry was stunned by your comment, giving a shy ‘thank you’ as you passed the bowl back around to him. Sarah continued her giggles, falling into Mitch who was kissing the top of her head.

The night progressed with the passing of substances between the four of you and ended with all your heads in the middle of the blanket telling stories from college. You began to yawn, getting a shiver from the wind. Harry pulled off his green flannel and handed it to you for you to keep yourself warm.

After putting your arms in the sleeves, you rolled over to rest your head on Harry’s chest, falling asleep to the now talkative Mitch telling horror stories from his pizza delivery job. Harry wrapped his arm around your waist to pull you close to him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next morning, you all wake up to the sun rising, the lake reflecting the pink and orange sky. Harry woke up before you so he was able to take in your sleeping beauty. He moved the hair away from your face, flinching when Sarah talked.

“She really likes you, ya know? All she talks about is you whenever we are on the phone. Counted down the days until summer vacation.”

Harry began to smile looking back down at you, tickling your cheek with the tips of fingers causing you to rouse. You blink at him slowly and mumble a ‘morning’ before cuddling back into him.

After all fully waking up, you made your way to Sarah’s place where her parents were setting up a breakfast buffet on the porch. You promptly grab a plate and a mug of coffee before settling next to Harry and eating your breakfast, softly smiling as you both munched away.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

You had spent all day on the boat with your parents, warming your skin in the sun and reading your book of the moment. You had watched Harry swimming and splashing around by the dock with Mitch.

“Are you excited for the fireworks sweetie?” Your mom had asked you as she added some more lotion to your shoulders so you don’t burn.

“There are fireworks tonight?”

“Mhm. The owners of the lake are putting on a show for the anniversary of when they opened it up.”

“I wonder if Harry knows. He hates fireworks.”

You dad looked over at you as he started the engine of the boat to head back to the dock, “What better way to spend your night than distracting Harry during fireworks.”

“Dad!” You were all laughing at what your dad was insinuating, approaching the dock to moor the boat. You hopped off to tie up the boat as Harry was swimming up to the dock boosting himself out of the water and grabbed his towel.

“Have a nice swim?” You stood up straight to see Harry was close behind.

“I did. Did you have a nice boat ride?” He was towel drying his hair before he started to wipe down his body.

“I did. Hey, do you want to hang out at the gazebo with me tonight? Just us?”

Harry stopped drying his legs and looked up at you with a slight shock. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, that would be cool.”

You smiled with a nod, “Good, we can meet up after dinner.” You walked over to give Harry a kiss on his cheek before grabbing your stuff from the boat and running inside.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry was already at your meeting spot, sitting on the banister and looking out to the lake. He had his go to flannel on and a beanie covering his unruly curls.

You walked up behind him and gently tapped his shoulder that cause him to turn to you.

“Hey.”

“Hey. Have you been here long?”

“Uh, no. Only a few probably. Did you have a good day?”

“I did, thank you. Did you?”

Right when Harry was about to respond, you hear the tell tale sign of a whistle followed by a loud pop that was the start of the firework show. Harry jumped mumbling a ‘fuck me’ as you rested your hands to cover his ears.

Harry looked up at you, blues, reds, and greens painting your skin from the sky. You looked down at Harry mouthing a ‘sorry’ and he quickly rested his hands on yours that were still covering his ears. He moved his hands down your forearms before gripping your waist, pulling you closer.

You were now settled standing between his knees, his fingers wiggling nervously on your hips. You continued to look down at him, gently brushing at his hair that your fingers can reach.

Harry couldn’t take it anymore, loudly asking, “Can I kiss you?” since his perception of sound was off due to you covering his ears. You let out light laugh, nodding as you lean down to slot your lips against his.

Harry hummed into the kiss, pulling you closer by your hips, moving his lips to have more of you. He pulled away to tell you louder than he anticipated that, “I have been waiting so long to do that!”

You let out another laugh, kissing the side of his mouth, pulling away to tell him ‘me too’ before kissing him again.

That night, Harry was no longer afraid of fireworks because whenever he kissed you, all he could see and feel were the bright bursts of colors against your lips.

[brelione]

Road Trip (JJ Maybank X Reader)

  so this was requested a while ago by @afterglows7b-tch13​.I started it and its just been vibing in my google docs ever since so I decided to publish it.If you guys like it I might make a part two :)

All you wanted was to have a nice,relaxing sunday morning.But of course there was never a dull or relaxing moment in your life.You had been trying to have an aesthetically pleasing morning as you sipped your coffee by your window as the sunlight peaked through the blinds.But then JJ walked in.You could tell by the big grin on his face and the backpack hanging from his shoulders that he wanted to do something stupid.He frowned once he saw you enjoying your morning. “I wanted to wake you up.”He sounded disappointed as he placed his cheap speaker down on the counter.

You sighed,sipping your coffee. “What do you want,J?Its seven in the morning.”You grumbled.He giggled,jumping up and down. “Ok,ok,ok.So you know how you’ve always wanted to go to the White Mountains?”He asked.You shook your head. “No,I dont think i’ve ever said that.”You replied.He sighed,scratching the back of his head. “Ok,well I’ve always wanted to go and then I realized we have literally nothing to do ever so why dont we go to the mainland and take my cousin’s truck and drive to New Hampshire?”He explained his idea.You looked up at him. 

“Baby,as much as id love to,we cant go to the White Mountains.”You watched as his smile faltered. “Why?”He asked,squatting on the ground in front of you.You ran your fingers through his hair. “How are we gonna get to the mainland?”You asked.He leaned his elbows on your knees,gazing up at you. “A ferry.”He answered.You looked around your messy kitchen. “Right now?”You asked.He hummed,arms going around your waist.You couldnt say no to him.

You huffed,slowly standing up.He stood up as well,looking at you and waiting for you to say something. “Okay.Alright.Let me shower and get my shit together.”You kissed him quickly before heading to your bathroom.He made it his job to go into your bedroom and into your dresser.He knew where you kept all of your things by now.He couldnt help staring at your bed and smirking at all the memories.He remembered all the way back to the first time he had fucked you on your bed.It had been after he had walked you home.

He remembered asking if your parents were home and you had simply laughed and reminded him that your parents were dead.He had been embarrassed of course but it didnt matter when his head was between your thighs and your fingers tugged at his hair.He heard your shower turn on,snapping him back into reality.He grabbed a few of your bras and panties before putting them at the bottom of your bag as neatly as possible.He grabbed eight of your crop tops,a few normal t shirts and a baggy long sleeve.

He went into your pants drawer to grab you a few pairs of shorts,a pair of jeans and socks.He forced the bag to zip shut,opening the next pocket.He thought about things you might need.He reached under your bed to grab you a handful of pads and tampons,pushing in a bottle of ibuprofen.He sat down on the bed,waiting for you to get out of the shower.He had told the others already that you two would be gone for a while and hadnt even bothered telling his dad.You walked into your room,your wet hair in a bun and a towel wrapped around your body.He watched as the towel dropped and you opened your dresser,eyebrows furrowing at your lack of clothes. 

“I packed your bag,baby.”He grinned.You nodded,grabbing one of the two bras left.You settled on a sportsbra,pulling it over your head and down your chest. “Stop staring at my ass,J.”You grinned as you picked a pair of boyshort undies.He sighed,still looking. “Its right there though.”He frowned as you pulled the underwear up your legs.You smirked at him,straddling him on the bed and placing a kiss on his lips. “Do we have time?”You asked,kissing his neck gently.A shiver went up his spine,his hands going straight to your butt.

 “Im sure if we’re fast enough….”He let out a small moan as you bit his tan skin.You smirked,kissing his lips. “You know,I just showered so probably not the best time.”You grinned before getting off of him and grabbing an oversized shirt.You slipped on a pair of joggers,tying the shirt into a knot at your waist.You looked like a hippie but you didnt care,you were comfy as hell.You grabbed the bag that JJ had packed,swinging it over your shoulder. 

“bras,panties,socks,pants,bikinis,shorts,pajamas,pads,tampons,ibuprofen.Did I get everything?”He asked.You shrugged. “We’ll find out.”You smiled up at him.You two began the walk to the docks.He had left his packed duffel bag on your steps and had it swung over his shoulder,holding your hand as the two of you walked. “Ive got $400 to last us.”He informed you. “I’ve got my $100 for emergencies.”You kissed his cheek.

The ride on the ferry wasnt payed for,you two had just snuck on with the others.JJ’s cousin’s house was only a mile walk from the docks. “I cannot believe I agreed to this.”You giggled.He wrapped his arm around your waist,kissing your forehead. “Well believe it because its too late to turn back now.”He smiled.His cousins house was exactly how you imagined.

Small but much cleaner than anything in The Cut.He told you that he already knew you two were coming.You two went up to the door,JJ swung it open without even knocking and the fumes of weed immediately filled your senses. “HEY BITCH!”JJ shouted.Another voice shouted back before a tall boy with brown hair came into view,a blunt hanging from his mouth as he fist bumped JJ.

 “Hey,hoe.”He nodded towards JJ,glancing over at you. “This is her?”The boy asked.JJ nodded. “Leo this is (Y/N),(Y/N),Leo.”He introduced you two.Leo laughed loudly,holding out his fist and looking you up and down. “You know,he told me you were hot but I didnt believe him!I mean seriously though,have you seen him?You’re like wayyy out of his league.”JJ smacked Leo’s arm jokingly.

You just grinned,hands in your pockets. “You and me though,we could work.You know where I am.”Leo winked.God,he was so much like JJ.He tossed JJ the keys to the truck that was parked outside along with a tin,waving bye to you guys.You two tossed your bags in the back seat,seeing the stacks of blankets and pillows ready for you two.You got into the passengers seat,JJ’s hand resting on your thigh after he began driving. “You hungry?”He asked,pulling up to a McDonalds drive thru.

You got icecream and fries as well as a burger,sitting in the parking lot to eat. “Hey,hey (Y/N).”JJ turned to look at you.You raised your eyebrows as you put a fry in your mouth. “Hey,hey JJ.”You mimicked,making him roll his eyes. “Are you stressed?About the car ride,I mean.”He sipped his cola.You shrugged. “I dont know,dude.The Mountains are far away I just like...dont want you to fall asleep driving.”You answered.He nodded,his hand squeezing your thigh reassuringly.

You went through Leo’s CD’s,pleased to find Panic At The Disco Too Weird To Live,Too rare to die.You played it,leaning back in your seat as JJ drove.The area was unfamiliar and he seemed to just be driving in whatever direction his heart was telling him to.You didnt care though,you just enjoyed having some time alone with him.You ended up stopping at a large gas station to get snacks.Oreos,a jar of nutella,brownies,chips,iced coffee,gum and energy drinks was what you ended up getting. 

“This is fucking insane.I dont even know where we are right now.”JJ admitted,laughing.You took a sip of iced coffee with a smile on your face. “I’ve literally never left the island so like,you know,im lowkey freaking out.”You giggled.He nodded in agreement,looking at every house you passed by.There were large and small houses next to eachother,high end stores next to shitty looking bakeries.It was nothing like OBX. “Everywhere else has middle class families,cant relate.”He chuckled,pointing out to the medium sized houses with three cars in the driveway.

Thats the last thing you heard from him before you fell asleep.When you woke up it was dark out and the truck was coming to a stop. “Rise and shine,princess.”He smiled.You rested your head against your hand,looking at your surroundings.You were parked in a field surrounded by tall trees.The sky was full of stars,the moon a bright crescent. “Where are we?”You asked. “Somewhere in New Jersey,Diner Capital of the Country.Pretty cool,right?”He raised his eyebrows.You nodded tiredly,reaching for his arm.He intertwined his fingers with yours,lifting up your arm and kissing the back of your hand lightly.

[itspufflehuff]

Cookies - Peter Parker Imagine

Summary: Y/N, Peter, and Ned have all been best friends since the second grade. When Y/N experiences her first heartbreak will they be able to help her? Most importantly will Peter?

MATERLIST // TAGLIST

I know I normally post Sebastian Stan/ Bucky but I want to also get into the other MCU characters/ actors so here is Peter Parker! I have some more Sebastian/ Bucky imagines in the making but for now enjoy.

Let me know what you think! You can read part two here.

Word Count: 2,558

~~~~

You and Peter first became friends in the second grade. He fell off of the monkey bars and lay on the floor holding his arm in pain. His friend, Ned, stood to the side smiling and clapping, "Do it again!" You grabbed the last cookie from your lunch box then walked over to Peter. When he got to him you stood there holding the cookie out, " I fell off the monkey bars one time. I cried but my mom said cookies will always make me feel better." He giggled and reached out taking the cookie from you.

From that day on Peter and Ned would join you for lunch and ask you to play with them during breaks. The three of you soon became inseparable.

You loved your best friends and always saw them as just that, friends.

That was until sometime in middle school. You don't know exactly what happened to flip your emotions the way they did, but when you looked at Peter your whole day got better. You always found yourself wanting to sit next to him whether it be in class, during movie nights, on the bus, or in the cafeteria.

Once you noticed how your feelings towards your best friend had changed you did your best to suppress them. You knew he didn't think about you that way. It was obvious, the way he and Ned would drool over girls in front of you. So you pushed your feelings to the side and tried to move on.

You did for a bit. As middle school went on you developed crushes on other boys. Of course, nothing ever happened with them you were too young and boys at that age were too dumb.

When high school came along your feelings for Peter grew stronger. He was so smart, kind, and nerdy. You loved his pop culture references even though they were lame. He always made you laugh and it didn't help that he was cute.  But he would never feel the same about you.

Or so you thought.

Little did you know he too started to develop feelings for you. He loved watching you read. It fascinated him the way you would react to what's happening in the book as if you were there. Whenever you would furrow your eyebrows or raise them in shock made him smile. And when you laughed he laughed too. He had no idea what about but he thought it was so adorable the way you would get lost in your book. He also loved the way you understood all of his references. Not only did you understand them but you went along with them. Like that one time, the three of you so badly wanted to go to the premiere of Star Wars Rogue One but your mom said no.

~~~~

You all sat there in disappointment when Peter jumped up from his chair excitedly, "Ok I got it! Remember that one episode of Law and Order when the three girls sneak out of their house? They pretend to be their mom and text the other mom saying they're gonna have a sleepover."

You looked at him impressed then shook your head, "No that wouldn't work, my parents love you guys but they would never let me sleepover."

The boys nodded understandingly when you got an idea, "What if I just sneak out the fire escape? Kinda like how the girls from Sleepover snuck out, except they left the window from a two-story house, and ill be on the fifth floor of an apartment."

"Good idea. I live down the street so I could pick you up. But what if your parents want to check on you?" Peter questioned.

"Well in the movie Julies older brother put on a wig and had his back to the door so their dad would think she is home. The only problem is none of us have siblings who can do that for me."

Then from the left of you, Ned looked up excitedly, "I have a cousin our age with your hair color who owes me a favor."

Just like that, you all escaped for the night.

~~~

Before that night you'd never made a pop culture reference, of course, you quoted movies and shows from time to time but you never referenced them the way he did, you only ever understood them. That night his crush on you grew bigger.

Peter never showed interest in you though, which lead you to believe he could never like you in that way. In another attempt to move on you started dating Flash freshman year. Yes, Flash.

I know what was wrong with you?

But in your defense, he was different back then. He was a really sweet guy, and he made you feel cared for. Of course, everyone knew his family was filthy rich but that's not why you dated him. You two were friends and although he didn't have the same interest as you, he appreciated them and asked you about them. He made you happy.

At the beginning of your relationship, everything was great. He was never threatened by your two best friends so when you told him you wanted to sit with them during lunch he had no problem. After school, you two would study and talk about how your day went. He would always ask you about the latest book you read. Seeing how happy books made you he bought you more, but they were always special edition covers. When you weren't with Peter and Ned you were with Flash. He held your hand so sweetly and he was your first kiss but he never rushed it. The first time he tried to kiss you, you pulled away. You weren't ready yet, you wished it were Peter kissing you. Then a month later you had gotten over your Peter crush, so you kissed Flash. You were both so happy.

That is until he realized what being rich meant. People started coming up to him and inviting him to parties. He slowly became more and more popular. He started buying you jewelry instead of books. He asked you to wear the jewelry when you were with him, and when you didn't, he would distance himself from you. Instead of dates, you went to parties, none of them were ever fun. Study time became the Flash show where he would go on and on about himself never letting you speak. He started showing up to school in a limousine. Then he started flirting with the popular girls. At first, he had the decency to hide it from you then he started doing it in front of you. One day he broke up with you and moved on to a prettier girl.

Even though your relationship was already falling apart it still hurt you bad. You cried for days. Peter and Ned did everything they could to make you feel better. They would walk you home and stay with you until your parents kicked them out. Peter was so angry.

How could anyone hurt Y/N? I would never treat her the way Flash did.

The day Flash dumped you, you ran home straight after the bell rang. Peter and Ned were so confused they went to your home to check on you. Your mom let them in and pointed to your bedroom, "I don't know what happened but she seemed sad when she got home. She won't talk to me, would you let me know if she's alright?" The boys nodded, their faces full of concern.

Hesitantly they knocked on your day, "Go away!"

"It's Peter and Ned." They heard sniffles behind the door. Peter got closer to the door and in a low voice said, "Please let us in we want to know you're ok."

"Fine, come in."

Your eyes were puffy and your face stained with tears. You were sitting on your window seal with a blanket draped over your body. The boys slowly dropped their bags beside your door. They didn't know what to do.

"What happened?"

You looked to the window not wanting to see their faces, "Flash dumped me for some popular girl. I guess I wasn't good enough for him anymore." Tears fell silently as you sniffled and held back sobs.

Peter and Ned looked at each other.  They were thinking the same thing. In the past few weeks, they noticed a change in Flash's behavior. They saw how miserable he was making you. Although they didn't say anything they knew it wasn't too long until he broke up with you.

The boys were silent so you looked over to them seeing that they still stood in the doorway, "You guys can sit down."

So they did, Ned walked over to your desk sitting on the chair, and Peter on your bed.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Peter asked cautiously. They'd never seen you like this before so they didn't know what to do.

"Do you want to eat chocolate while we watch chick flicks?" Ned offered

"What? No. Ned, I don't think girls actually do that in real life."

"I don't know what I'm doing! I've only comforted you after a girl rejected you, even then all I said was, 'that sucks wanna go build some Legos?' and everything was better."

"Yeah but-"

"Wait." You spoke from where you were. You were silently watching them amused. The tears stopped coming as a soft smile arose on your lips.

The boys looked over to you as you spoke, "I like Ned's idea can we do that?"

He proudly let out a chuckle and smiled, "See I knew she would like that."

Peter rolled his eyes, "We will handle the snacks if you handle the movies?"

You nodded excitedly. Everyone got up from their spots, Peter and Ned headed for the door and you headed for your laptop.

Ned walked out first and happily called out, "We'll be right back Mrs. Y/L/N."

Your mom came out of the kitchen confused. She stopped Peter and asked about you. "Flash broke up with her today and she's taking it pretty bad. If you don't mind we're gonna head to the store and grab some snacks for a movie night? I really think it will make her feel better.

Seeing as it was Friday night your mom agreed and smiled at Peter.

Two blocks away from your apartment there was a convenience store where the boys went to pick up the necessities. They grabbed handfuls of chocolates, chips, ice cream, and drinks. As they were getting ready to pay Peter saw a stack of cookies. He remembered that day in second grade, 'Cookies will always make me feel better.' He smiled at the memory and quickly grabbed them.

When the boys got back to your room everything was set up. Your computer was hooked up to the TV, you made room on the floor where Ned usually lays (you even made it comfortable for him with pillows and layers of blankets), and the bed was made usually you and Peter lay there.

"Let the festivities begin!" Ned shouted as he dropped the snacks onto your bed. You all laughed as everyone took their spot.

Before you laid down you started the first of many movies, The Hot Chick.

When you made it to the bed Peter was sitting there waiting for you, "I got you a special snack."

You scrunched your eyebrows as you looked at him. He pulled out your favorite bag of cookies. Excitedly you grabbed them from him with a smile on your face.

He never failed to make you smile.

"Just like your mom said, cookies will always make you feel better." He looked into your eyes with a soft grin.

You said that to him many years ago you almost forgotten, "Thank you."

He took his shoes off and laid on your bed. He was on his stomach facing the foot of your bed. You sat up on the headboard with pillows behind your back and a blanket over your legs.

Two movies later half the snacks were gone along with Ned. His mom wanted him home for a family dinner, which left you and Peter alone. You two took a break from the movies to have dinner with your parents.

When you two got back to your room you took Peter's old spot at the foot of the bed and he took yours sitting at the top, "What movie next?" He asked.

You pondered for a second, "Hmm, how about Princess and the Frog?" You tried holding back a smile. Noticing this he couldn't hold back his own, "Start it."

As the movie played he could hear you softly reciting the lines along with the characters, "I would kiss a frog. I would kiss a hundred frogs if I could marry a prince and be a princess."

You didn't even realize you were doing it, you just loved this movie so much you knew practically every line. Peter watched you and smiled.

How could anyone not love her?

He noticed you shiver ever so lightly and quickly covered you with a blanket, but you were too into the movie to notice.

When the movie ended your mom walked into the room, "Ok Peter time to go home."

You groaned, "Moooom, just one more movie. Please, please, please please, please!" You begged just as Lottie did when wishing on the star. Peter chuckled at your antics.

Your mom gave in knowing you needed it more than ever right now.

"Ok, it's the last movie gotta make it count!" Peter said bouncing on the bed.

You typed the movie in as Peter read it out, " Love, Rosie. What's that?"

"One of the best romance movies ever!"

You got back onto the bed this time sitting up next to Peter. He laughed beside you, "Ok we'll see about that."

The movie played as you two watched the stories of two best friends fall in love at the wrong times. Peter couldn't help but think maybe you two would fall in love one day. He looked over to you surprised to see tears falling down your face.

Instead of asking if you were ok or if something was wrong, he grabbed your hand and squeezed. Just a small gesture to remind you he was there for you.

Grabbing the blanket you wiped your tears. He started to let go of your hand when you reached out for it again, this time interlocking your fingers.

Without looking at each other you both smiled to yourselves.

At some point, you rested your head on Peter's shoulder and fell asleep still holding onto his hand.

When the movie ended he was surprised to see you had fallen asleep. He let the credits play in the back as he rested his head on top of yours just enjoying the moment.

"I love you, Y/N. Someday I will have the courage to tell you and we will have a love story even better than what we see in the movies because ours will be real. I promise." He kissed the top of your head, slowly let go of you, and with one last look, he left.

He did keep his promise, but that's a story for another day.

[curedeity]

From Different Worlds

Summary: the world of Magix is made up of many different peoples, and thise differences are sometimes very, very tangible.

(Aka: what if the winx were actual aliens)

    It was a bright morning, the sun having snuck in through the blinds and forced all the girls awake. Stella was still yawning as she and Bloom padded down to breakfast together.

    “Hey Stella, could you tone it down a bit, the sun’s being super obnoxious today, like you,” Musa sniped as she passed the duo with her tray. Stella pulled a face at her, leaving Bloom in a fit of giggles.

    “That is a misconception of her powers, it's doubtful Stella has the actual power to control the sun,” Tecna pointed out the obvious. “And if she did, Flora would already be begging her for help with her gardening.”

    Flora shrugged innocently, walking over to go sit with Mirta today.

    It was a normal morning, all in all. Fairies pouring into the breakfast hall, slow conversations and sleepy eyes.

    A sun shining brightly in them-

    God, what Bloom wouldn’t give for some shade. Maybe if she stood behind Stella, her shadow would block out the glare-

    Bloom’s eyes flicked down, widening in shock, before she tapped Stella’s shoulder.

    “Huh, what is it hun?” Stella turned around to look at her, one perfect eyebrow cocked.

    “Where’s your shadow?” Bloom whispered.

    Bloom had seen some strange things at her time in Alfea. Magic had become a routine occurrence in her life, just another part of the atmosphere. Yet she had to be dreaming right now.

    “Oh, I don’t have one,” Stella shrugged. As though that was all the explanation needed. Stella was Stella, so she simply didn’t have a shadow.

    Bloom was going to fucking lose it.

    “Almost all Solarians don’t have shadows. It has to do with how their bodies process and emit light,” Tecna explains to the look of confusion on Bloom’s face.

    “Oh yeah, you wouldn’t know that,” Musa mumbled to herself in the background. Bloom was glad some of them were now remembering how batshit this stuff was to her.

    But-

    “That doesn’t make sense.” Bloom dredged through her memories of her middle school science classes. Because Stella’s body was opaque and solid, light wouldn’t pass through it. Therefore, due to the angle of the sun, parts of the ground would end up shaded from where her body blocked the light.

    That’s how things worked.

    “Well, I don’t get how you all have shadows,” Stella waved a hand dismissively.

    “I guess not all of us can be as radiant as you, Princess,” Musa taunted her.

    And the conversation moved on after that, leaving Bloom to just having to accept that some people didn’t have shadows. Because that’s a thing now.

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

    Flora was the best roommate Bloom could’ve asked for. Sure, sometimes her plants ate her homework, but in those cases Flora would help Bloom redo them. And Flora was much better than Bloom at the problems, so it would ultimately raise her grades.

    Or at least, that’s Bloom thought. The day her opinion was challenged was after one of Griselda’s classes. They had spent two whole hours practicing a litany of spells, and Stella was the only one of the Winx in the class with her. 

    Griselda hadn’t let them off easily afterwards either, piling them high with homework to complete over the weekend.

    Bloom was exhausted by the time she returned to her room, her bag digging into her shoulder. She swung open the door with a little shout to announce her presence, and stumbled on in, ready to drop her bag on the floor, then drop herself onto her bed.

    Her attention was captured, however, by Flora. Who was sitting on her bed. And eating dirt right out of a flower pot.

    She ate it like popcorn, squeezing it in between her fingers and tossing it into her mouth. She wasn’t even focused on that, rather she was doing her homework. It was… casual.

    Flora looked up with a soft smile directed towards Bloom, as she did every time Bloom entered their shared room. “How were your classes Bloom?” She inquired, as she popped even more dirt into her mouth.

    “You know, you know you’re eating dirt, right?” Bloom couldn’t stop herself from asking. This had to be a mistake made from lack of sleep. Flora must’ve been reaching for the bag of chips they kept on the counter for studying snacks, and accidently grabbed one of the many, many flower pots instead.

    “Yeah, it’s specially made to taste like cotton candy! My sister sent it to me as a treat. Would you like to try some?” Flora offered, sticking the pot out in Bloom’s direction.

    “No, thank you,” Bloom managed to respond, giving up on the conversation entirely and flopping down onto her bed.

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

    Classes at Alfea didn’t tend to run on any curriculum Bloom could understand. While there were vague outlines for the subjects, it seemed like the teachers could give any lesson, and if they had even the vaguest justification Griselda wouldn’t stop them.

    Which, Bloom supposed, was how they had ended up learning about sea creatures in Professor Paladium’s class. 

    Living in the same dorm as Aisha, Bloom had already learned a fair deal about the variety of species that lived in Magix’s seas. Flora, Aisha and Tecna could get into long discussions about the biodiversity and importance of them. It seemed to be one of the few commonalities between the many planets of Magix.

    When Bloom first thought of magical sea creatures, her thoughts were filled with ideas of Krakens and Sirens, Kelpies and so much more. And while there were some very odd creatures out there that made her fantastical heart scream with joy, there were also many that were similar or the same as those found on Earth.

    “Dolphins are quite majestic creatures. They eat a variety of other fish in the seas, making them quite the predator. In fact, they even have quite the complex language, made up of calls, whistles and clicks,” Professor Palladium lectured them, spreading his hands out in grandiose gestures, a picture of a dolphin on the whiteboard behind him.

    “It would be helpful if you could all hear them communicate then. Oh, Musa, could you demonstrate for us?” Professor Palladium clapped his hands together as Bloom tried to piece that sentence together in her mind.

    Before she could even give it a cursory thought, a series of inhuman noises filled the room.

    Bloom jerked around wildly, her eyes landing on Musa.

    Who had her mouth open.

    And was emitting those eldritch calls.

    Like- like a fucking. Dolphin.

    “Fantastic demonstration Musa, now, each dolphin has their own individual name…” Professor Palladium’s class droned on as Bloom sat at her desk, reconsidering the existence of reality itself.

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

    Bloom had never played many video games. Consoles were expensive, and she spent most of her free time drawing or reading. It had been during her first week at Alfea that she had been hanging out in Musa and Tecna’s room, doing her nails, that she had paused to watch Tecna play.

    Bloom had entertained herself by sketching the wild scenes, a mash of movement and color of the fast-moving games Tecna played. After a few days, Tecna had offered the controller to Bloom while she had gone to grab a few snacks. She had returned to Bloom having died a dozen times.

    Video games were not Bloom’s forte, and she often came in last during Winx Game Night. The few times Stella got worse scores than her, Bloom was 99% sure Stella did so on purpose so Bloom wouldn’t feel bad.

    It was fun though, to watch Tecna obliterate Timmy in every game they played. They were a quite competitive duo, and Tecna had no qualms about crushing them in virtual combat.

    It wasn’t until the specialists had joined them for their game night that Bloom had realized Tecna and Timmy made an even more terrifying team. After that, Tecna and Timmy were no longer allowed to partner together during these games.

    Bloom had to admit, she was a bit jealous that Tecna could maintain her decent grades while spending so much of her time goofing off.

    That’s why it was odd when, during one of their long weekends with little homework, Bloom entered Tecna’s room to find her not playing video games but rather opening a package.

    “Whatcha got there?” Bloom asked, peeking over Tecna’s shoulder curiously. It was a fact of life that privacy was different when they all lived together. They were expected to knock on doors before entering any room, not to eat each other’s snacks, and not go through each other’s cabinets. Anything else was fair game.

    “It’s a new controller that was just released on Zenith, I ordered one to test it out. It has new technology that should improve response time, which will make it easier to shoot Timmy before they shoot me,” Tecna explained, grinning all the while. Tecna’s grins were small, just a tiny upturn of the mouth, a twitch of movement. Barely any warning before she destroyed all your plans.

    Bloom watched as Tecna pulled out what looked like a small half orb. A cord dangled from the base, and Tecna plugged it into her laptop.

    “Uh, how does that work?” Bloom couldn’t see any buttons on it, and it couldn’t spin…

    “Oh, I release a certain amount of electrical data that this controller interprets and uses for it’s commands. I just have to hold it and have the right instincts.” Tecna’s attention was more on loading a new game than talking to Bloom.

    Bloom had been at Alfea for a year and a half now. She just left the room.

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

    Bloom had used to love summer, school was stifling and getting to sit outside all day and draw the scenery really was her passion. But now, her feelings on it had become more bittersweet. Every year it was hard to readjust to the routine with her parents after spending so long with the Winx. No more late nights throwing popcorn at Flora’s plants, or getting her makeup put on by Stella in the mornings.

    It wasn’t bad, she missed her parents dearly while she was at Alfea, but there would always be pieces of her scattered at both places.

    They still saw each other over the summer. Stella would take her out for shopping at Magix, and Flora stopped by the shop to help out her mother. Musa got concert tickets for all of them, and Tecna had a server set up so they could always text and play games together.

    Aisha, for her part, had invited them all out for a beach day.

    Bloom rubbed sunscreen onto Tecna’s back while Stella just laughed at the duo. It was unfair that Stella couldn’t get sunburn, when she could burn easily through other means. Bloom stuck her tongue out at the laughing girl.

    Musa had gone off to get them surfboards, given Aisha had promised to teach them all. The other two were already in the water, laughing as they splashed water at one another.

    Bloom stood up, giving her own sunscreened body a once over to make sure she had got everywhere. Stella was already dashing for the water, only a cursory cry of warning that gave neither other any time to move out of the way before Stella cannonballed between them. 

    The water showered over them, Aisha just laughing as she playfully promised to get Stella back, and Flora coughing as she tried to rid her lungs of the excess water. Bloom paddled in and rubbed her back.

    “Sorry Flora!” Stella shouted before returning to her banter with Aisha. 

    “I’m ok,” Flora smiled at Bloom, clearing her throat once more.

    Bloom returned her brilliant smile. “We’ll have to plan a retaliation.”

    Flora nodded, “Most definitely.”

    Bloom’s attention was drawn back to the argument at a splash of water, Aisha was already gone by the time she looked over, only a shadow under the water, and she watched as Aisha pulled Stella down with her.

    “I think Aisha might’ve given her enough actually,” Flora admitted, and Bloom had to give her that.

    She watched her two friends reemerge, hair soaked and Stella whining. Her attention was almost caught by the way Stella’s hair glowed in the sun, before her eyes noted a rippling on Aisha’s neck.

    There, closing back into layers of skin, were gills.

    Alright, so one of her friends had gills. That’s fine. This is fine. 

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

    Bloom’s parents had always known she was a strange kid since the day Mike brought her home, but sometimes that oddity was really hammered in. It was only now, with the context that Bloom was basically an alien child, that the two sat at the dinner table and began reconsidering all those incidents.

    “Remember that time Bloom got stuck in that walk-in freezer while we were chaperoning one of her school trips?” Vanessa added in to the litany of memories.

    “I don’t want to remember that was terrifying!” Mike shivered. “But then I opened up the door and she was completely fine other than a bit annoyed.”

    “I guess we were too relieved to think properly about that, huh?” Vanessa teased.

    Mike sighed. “What about that time we went camping and were making s’mores and Bloom just held the marshmallow in her hand and stuck it into the fire.” The anxiety Mike had felt in that moment bled into his tone, now mixed with the resignation of time.

    “Oh yeah! That’s why we never went camping again,” Vanessa mused.

    Bloom had been a very strange kid, but they’d loved her all the same. Maybe it would do some good to check in with one of the other fairies and see if all this should be considered normal though, just in case. They were responsible parents after all.

[gravelyhumerus]

Criminal Minds College AU

Fandom: Criminal Minds

Title: “I may just take your breath away”

Relationship: Jemily 

Summary:

Emily Prentiss, college sophomore, absolutely does not have a crush on the girl across the hall.  

Slow-burn Jemily college AU where they live across the hall and despite all odds, the universe pushes them together. AKA they’re silly gay babies who pine after each other for months. 

Read it on AO3

Tumblr:  One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, (bonus scene), Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty, Epilogue

“Come in, it’s open!” Emily Prentiss yelled out over her music blasting out of the laptop on her desk. She was listening to her pregame playlist, which was chock full of throwbacks, middle-school jams and of course, The Killers to keep things interesting.

Derek Morgan pushed open her dorm room door and waltzed in. He had a pair of light blue jeans on, held up by a brown belt, with a white t-shirt on top. He jumped on top of Emily’s slightly-too-high bed, and bounced as he grinned at her. Derek was many things, shy was definitely not one of them.

“You look hot,” Emily said, with as much sarcasm as she could manage, looking him up and down. She could tell he dressed up.

“You know it, princess.”

Rifling through his backpack, he grinned as he pulled out two blue college-branded metal water bottles, filled with what was probably not water at all.

“I made us sangria!”

Emily laughed, then spun back around in her desk chair. She still needed to finish her makeup. She had her foundation and eyebrows done, but she needed to focus as she applied her eyeliner.

“Did you just mix some juice into the wine?” She asked, taking the bottle from him, having a sip of the fruity liquid.

“Yup! There’s going to be a keg there, but I wanted to give us options.”

Emily laughed before focusing on her mascara wand gliding across her lower eyelashes, trying to finish up so they could start preing for the party. She wasn’t quite dressed yet either, still wearing her class jeans and not her going out jeans (there was an important distinction between these that mostly involved whether or not she could wear them with a belt.) Morgan was about five minutes earlier than she expected. Moreover, the boy had only sprung the invitation to the party during their lab that afternoon.

As much as she hated to admit it, Derek was basically 90% of Emily’s non-academic social life, the second year boy already very well connected due to his football scholarship, letting him in on all of the good parties. Unfortunately that also meant for Emily that he would spring themed parties like anything but clothes, or no cups allowed on her with absolutely no heads up most weekends.

Emily will not wear a tote bag as a skirt again if she can help it.

Despite the excessive drinking and mixed bag of party attendees, Emily genuinely enjoyed the boy’s company. Anyways, he was the best beer-pong partner that she’s ever had.

“Can I hop on aux?” He asked, leaning over her computer before she could even protest.

“Sure,” she replied, knowing he was already on his own Spotify account and putting on his playlist titled ‘FOR THE BOYS and emily’ that he found hilarious. She knew she could get him to sing along to the Mamma Mia! (2008) soundtrack once he was a few shots in, but for now she resigned herself to wordless EDM.

He sat on her desk, bobbing his head along to the beat.

Emily reached into the bottom drawer of her desk and pulled out a smallish bottle of vodka and two shot glasses, with their college’s crest etched into the glass. For a school that denounced drinking-culture, they had a shocking amount of merch for sale that encouraged it.

She filled each to the line, and slid one towards her friend.

“Bottoms up,” she said, as they cheersed the foul tasting liquid. Morgan grinned and winked at her before shooting it back with the confidence that only a nineteen year old could have.

Vodka still made her queasy, but being underage meant that the college students would take what they could get. Morgan’s senior friends would boot alcohol for them for an extra five bucks, but only every few weeks.

The one thing about the states that Emily still couldn’t wrap her head around was the backwards alcohol policy. Almost everywhere else on earth she would already be legally drinking. Hell, when she was 16 she was passed out in a ditch in rural England, drunk off her ass on legally acquired beer. Even now, if they drove north of the border, Emily could be off to the bars, no questions asked. America was absurd.

“How was the rest of your day?” Emily asked him as she stood up, digging through her dirty laundry to find her other pair of jeans. She tossed aside her fuzzy pjs, a bra and an assortment of band tees but her jeans must’ve been at the bottom. She needed to do laundry but was ripe out of quarters.

“Eh,” he made a face, “I had to finish up that quiz for psych, but honestly I just needed to catch up on some readings. I had like fifty pages of a badly scanned book from like a hundred years ago to annotate.”

“Reading? In this economy?” Emily snarked at him, still rooting through the bin. She knew her blue jeans were here somewhere.

“Well I know you can’t read,” he replied in a haughty tone, “doesn’t mean the rest of us have to remain unenlightened!”

“Ha-ha.”

There they were, right at the bottom of the bin. She changed right then, with Morgan politely averting his eyes, despite the fact that both have seen just about everything in the year or so that they’ve been acquainted.

No, they didn’t hook up or anything, it wasn’t like that.

It was the strange phenomenon that only could happen in college where you get really close really fast. Emily’s RA had explained it to their first-year floor, likening it to soldiers in the war (Emily wasn’t sure if the metaphor was kosher, but it was apt.). Young adults first starting out in the world, free from their family supervision and previous lives, cling on to those around them for stability. The RA explained this as in a cautionary tale, explaining that this can lead to high emotions, to fights, and… a bit more.

This talk led into their floor-cest talk, which was apparently required in every co-ed dorm at their school. Emily was the first to point out the heteronormativity in that policy. Floor-cest, for the uninitiated, was the concept of hooking up with someone on your floor in the dorm. It was formally discouraged by residence life staff. It was easy to have meaningless sex, harder when you have sex with someone you live down the hall from. Things could get messy.

Emily and Derek got this talk on move in day, both sitting cross-legged on the floor of their common room as their RA, a bubbly girl named Carol, explained the fundamentals of dorm life. Emily has been dropped off by her mother’s driver, who helped her unload her things.

Emily was still reeling from being surrounded by happy families, of crying parents and bitter that her mother was too busy to even send her own daughter off to school. Not that Emily wanted her there or anything, but the gesture would have been nice.

She remembered the startling moment when Derek walked straight into her room and offered his hand, introducing himself to his new neighbour.

They shared a wall, the co-ed bathroom down the hall, and most of their free time for their first year at college.

He had assumed that the driver, Paul who was one of Emily’s favourites out of her mother’s staff, was Emily’s father, which started things off on an awkward note. Soon she was swept up in a whirlwind of his family: his mom and sisters who insisted that Emily pose for photos of Derek and ‘his new dorm friend.’

A year later, Emily and Morgan were basically siblings. Emily didn’t actually have any siblings, but after going to Chicago for thanksgiving with the Morgan family, she was pretty sure she had officially been adopted.

Last year, they had a much nicer dorm, one of the newer ones with big windows and nice common spaces. This year they were both living in the oldest residence, a beautiful red brick building, covered with ivy, but the inside was all painted this gross beige, and the paint would chip off whenever Emily tried to hang her posters. There was also no air conditioning, the showers didn’t get too hot and the kitchen smelt like eggs. It was definitely a downgrade, but at least Morgan was on the same floor as her again.

Morgan had lucked out and gotten a corner room with tons of windows, and Emily was right next to the bathroom and could hear when anyone flushed.

After donning the jeans and a black tank top, Emily grabbed her leather jacket and they were ready to go.

“Another shot?” Derek asked, grinning at her mischievously.

“Of course,” Emily said. “Where are we even going anyways?”

“Well, you remember David, the TA from our psych lab? His housemates are throwing a party in their backyard. I heard there was going to be a DJ!”

“David Rossi?” Emily said incredulously, “How did you swing an invite to that?”

“I can’t reveal all of my secrets, you know that pretty lady.”

Emily scoffed. It was probably through their mutual friend Aaron Hotchner, who despite not being much of a partier, was very in the loop about the happenings on campus.

“Did you invite you know who?” Derek asked, a bit too casually as Emily locked her door.

Emily refused to bite.

“She definitely has better things to do than hang out with the likes of us.”

---

“I’m a criminology major,” Emily repeated, the exasperation in her voice palatable.

The boy, who was on the rugby team as she already learned, had asked her what her major was. He misheard her and began asking her how she likes studying biology.

The music was loud and the boy was clearly wasted off his ass. She was pretty sure she saw him do a keg stand in the kitchen earlier.

Emily took another sip of her drink, keeping it close to her chest. She looked around. They were only five minutes off campus at a decent-sized student house. The room was close to being at capacity, the old home creaking under the weight of dozens of students crammed into the living room. Music blared on a strangely impressive speaker system. The party was at its peak in the backyard, and was probably only an hour from being shut down by the cops if it got much louder.

Emily had carefully positioned herself next to the open window, enjoying the slight breeze as the body heat was making the old house steamy with humidity. This also happened to be the location of the bong, but she accepted the trade-off.

Derek was currently playing king’s cup, a game Emily refuses to play, since last time she got roped into it she lost miserably. She was forced to drink the king’s cup: a mixture of shitty beer, whiskey, cider wine and whole cream from the fridge, as she had been a bit too slow with bouncing the ball into the red solo cup. Derek held her hair back as she puked off the porch that night.

Never again.

Emily squinted as a few people she recognized walked into the room. It was only a month into classes, so she really hadn’t had the opportunity to get to know the new random assortment of people in her building, lectures and in her general orbit but she was pretty sure she was starting to recognize some faces.

Entering the party was the blonde from the end of the hallway who always complimented Emily on her outfits when she passed and had the most colourfully decorated dorm in the entire building. ‘Penelope G.’ read her name tag pinned to her door in their RA’s loopy handwriting.

Next to her was a younger boy that she had seen in the cafeteria with Penelope before, and while Emily wasn’t that good at identifying ages, he definitely looked a bit too young to be at college. He was tall, skinny and had a mop of unruly brown hair. He was also wearing a sweater to a house party, which was a major beginners mistake. He looked around nervously.

A few seconds later, the door closed, only dumping an assortment of other boys into the already packed house.

Emily let out a breath she didn’t know she held, as she found herself hoping that Garcia’s other friend might have been joining her that night.

Derek had teased her already about the girl across the hall. Jennifer Jareau. “My friends call me JJ,” she had said. Second year varsity soccer player and communications major. The girl Derek was convinced that Emily had a crush on.

JJ was the kind of girl who propped her door open during orientation week and always waved at Emily when she walked down the hall.

She did not have a crush. She barely knew anything about her besides that she was blonde, athletic and was always smiling. Both had been so busy since school had started, and seemed to have completely opposite schedules that they hadn’t really gotten to really connect.

Whenever Emily was coming back to their floor, JJ always seemed to be leaving. And vice versa. Somehow they were on exact opposite schedules. Probably since JJ was a varsity soccer player with early morning practise, and Emily was a bit of a night owl (that was a polite way of saying insomniac procrastinator perfectionist.)

She seemed to hang out with Garcia around residence, Emily having spotted the two getting coffee or studying in the library together occasionally, hence Emily’s hopes that Garcia may have JJ in tow that evening.

JJ was also definitely, one hundred percent, completely straight. Fairy lights and Polaroid pictures on her walls straight. She even had a high school sweetheart that might survive the turkey dumping season. Emily didn’t know his name but JJ said the key word early on in the year: boyfriend.

Emily turned back to the boy in front of her, who was describing, in detail, how the stock market worked, without realizing that Emily was not paying attention at all.

He was quite conventionally attractive, with mussed curly hair and broad shoulders. He obviously was interested in her—or rather interested in talking at her and potentially sleeping with her—that despite herself, Emily decided to slot him into her roster for that evening.

Emily considered herself a reluctant bisexual. Women could make her heart skip a beat just by looking in her direction, and men could get it when the situation was right and she didn’t have any other options. The second half of this pleased her mother to no end, as when young fourteen year old Emily Prentiss had decided to come out to her mother—at one of their rare dinners together—she watched her mother grit her teeth and tell her to keep that to herself. Her mother had eventually accepted this part of her daughter’s life, but only under the assumption that Emily would eventually end up with a man, and keep the rest to herself.

Emily looked around the room and wondered if she was going to have any other options that evening besides the very talkative boy.

Excusing herself from the company of…Matthew, she thinks was his name, she tries to find Derek, who had disappeared into the kitchen. Emily weaved through the crowd, steering past a couple making out in the corner.

She turned the corner and found Derek filling his cup with more beer from the keg. He grinned up at her and did the same for her.

“I hate beer,” Emily said to him, grimacing at the scratchy taste of the fermented barley in her red solo cup.

“Suck it up buttercup, you’re in college. You also complained about the juice from earlier.”

“Yeah well, watering down eleven percent wine is as bad as this five percent crap.”

“It did taste a lot better,” he agreed. “Who was that guy?”

Emily rolled her eyes.

“Matthew attempted to explain macroeconomics to me.”

“Oh god, is that what men are like out there?” He asked. “Guess you’re stuck with me tonight.”

“Lucky me.”

“Pong?” He asked, gesturing towards the row of tables set up in the backyard, through the open door and passed the crowd milling about near the speakers. The game seemed to be wrapping up, as the two teams shook hands and reset the cups to their original positions.

“Always.”

They found their spot at one of the tables across from their new opponents: Penelope and her very young looking friend.

“Penelope Garcia?” Derek grinned, recognizing the girl from their floor and walking up to her for a hug. Their rooms were facing each other, and they had apparently gotten the chance to get to know each other.

She grinned and hugged him, clearly a lot more sober than him having only arrived minutes earlier. There seemed to be a lot of hugging at house parties, Emily discovered when she moved to America, acquaintances became close friends once alcohol was involved.

She had bright pink glasses and a matching dress, with bright artfully done make-up highlighting her large smile. Emily knew that she was a CompSci major and had loaded her dorm room desk with monitors and the largest computer set-up that Emily had seen in her life.

“Derek, my love,” Penelope replied, gushing over Emily’s friend in an unexpected, but not unsurprising way. “Fancy meeting you here! And Emily! Have you two met my fine young friend here, Spencer?”

She gestured to the boy, who waved awkwardly.

“Hi, I’m Spencer Reid,” he said.

“He’s like a boy-genius or something. He already has a degree in mathematics and he’s currently working on his second degree in engineering. Isn’t that très cool? We met at the club fair last week.”

“I’m double majoring in philosophy,” he added.

“How old are you kid?” Morgan asked him, quick to the punch.

“Uh- sixteen?” Spencer seemed to ask, shrinking into himself a bit. “I skipped a couple of grades.”

He had a pair of glasses perched on his nose, a brown sweater with a white shirt collar poking through and had tucked his brown hair behind his ears. He was still taller than Penelope, but the smattering of acne and wide eyes made it clear that he was very much a kid.

“More than a couple!” Morgan exclaimed.

He shrugged.

“Are you in intro to logic with Williams?” Emily asked, realizing that she had recognized him from somewhere.

“Yes, I am. Though I find his repeated chess metaphors a touch reductive.”

“You’re right about that. Like, we get it Willy, you play chess. Big whoop,” Emily said, then introduced herself.

He smiled at her, slightly less awkwardly this time but with a touch more confusion.

“And this is Derek Morgan,” Penelope piped in, “the most gorgeous football player I know.”

“Do you know any other football players?” Spencer asked.

“Now you hush!” She admonished him. “We have a game to play.”

“Do you two have something to drink?” Derek asked them, moving back towards their side of the long fold-up table, which was crudely painted in their schools colours.

Emily took a sip of her beer, wondering if the boy should be drinking.

Penelope babbled about how it was Spencer’s first college party, and how she was so excited that it was this one because look at the pretty string lights decorating the backyard and the fact that there was a keg, like in the movies.

Smiling at her new neighbour, Emily thought that this might also be Penelope's first college party.

Derek returned with a cup of water for Spencer, and some beer for Penelope. Spencer seemed relieved at the gesture, smiling as he took a sip. Emily marvelled at her friend's kindness, despite what anyone said about drinking culture on campuses either way, it was tough to attend a party and not drink, putting his drink in a matching red cup gave him the appearance of participation.

“Do we all know the rules?” Derek asked.

“The question you should ask,” Emily said, “Is if they’re willing to play by your rules.”

Emily had discovered that this game, depending on the people you were playing with, had radically different rules. While the premise of the game remained the same: there were six cups on each side of the table, into which you threw ping pong balls and whenever you got a ball in a cup, that cup was then taken out of the picture until there were no cups left. Depending on who you were playing with, the cups were filled with water or beer (Emily hated when they had beer in them, it make things sticky and it was very unsanitary), there were specific rules to what defined an airball, when one could get balls back, when you could call island and what was a permissible trick shot.

“Ha ha Prentiss,” Derek said to her, rolling the ping pong ball in his hands. “I wanted to know if they had played before.”

“Oh I’ve played before,” Penelope said, “and I am unbeatable.”

She waggled her fingers in a gesture that implied magic was involved.

“It’s simple physics,” Spencer added, “I’ve memorized the rules and common approaches. We’ll be more than fine. ”

“Ok pretty boy, let’s see what you’ve got. Eye to eye?”

Looking into each other’s eyes, rather than at their targets, the two boys aimed at the cups, with only Reid’s making it in.

“What the fuck Morgan,” Emily exclaimed as Penelope and Spencer whooped, “what even was that throw?”

With the other team having won the privilege of starting first, Emily was forced to toss her ball towards Penelope, who took it with a grin.

She threw first, missing the table entirely.

“Air ball!” Derek announced, leaping forward and waving his hands in front of the cups on their side, the rules granting him the ability to defend their territory.

Spencer frowned, apparently perturbed by this turn of events. He stuck out his tongue, aimed, and launched the ball, hitting Morgan right in the chest. The ball bounced off of it and fell straight down into the cup.

Derek’s draw dropped. Spencer and Penelope whooped in excitement.

“Derek, how did you lose us that cup?” Emily whined, pulling one of their cups to the side. One point to Spencer.

Derek, who had something to prove, lined up his shot. He gazed at his targets with the focus of a sniper, dunked the ball into one of their cups, dousing it with water, and rolled it in his hands, giving it a bit more weight. He aimed and fired off a quick shot into the centre-left cup. It spun around in the cup, floating above the water, but fell in. If the other team were crafty, they would have blown into the cup and Derek would have lost the point, but Emily sighed in relief when she realized that despite their first point, they didn’t know the rules well enough to beat the current reigning beer champs.

It was Emily’s turn. She took a gulp of her beer—she would always swear she was better when she was drunk because she didn’t think too hard about it—and threw. It neatly fell into the back right cup, scoring them two points for that round.

“Balls back!” Derek roared in delight.

Penelope tossed them, and the game continued.

They sunk one more shot on their turn. 3-1.

Penelope got another cup, Spencer missed. 3-2.

Derek’s ball bounced out, Emily sank hers. 4-2.

Only minutes later, after playing at breakneck speed, there were three cups left on the table and Derek and Emily were quite drunk, with Penelope not far behind. Reid, still very sober, was matching the duo with intense concentration.

It was his throw, with two cups left until his victory. He shots carefully, sinking it without a splash.

Derek and Emily had one cup to go. He went first, sending one barreling towards the cup. It hit the rim and instead of going in, it bounced towards Emily, who leaped forward and grabbed it before it fell off the table.

“Trick shot!” She yelled. Derek could try again, but only if he does it in an inventive way. At the frat house they spent a lot of time in first year, the only acceptable trick shot (under this house’s rules) was bouncing the ball off a poster of Obama. This time, Derek takes an empty cup, puts the ball in, and uses the cup to aim.

Somehow, it went in.

They leap into the air, yelling with delight. But they hadn’t won yet. The other team still had a redemption shot.

“How ya feeling kid?” Derek taunted, “Wanna give up now, save yourself the embarrassment?”

“Not a chance.”

He squinted at the table, lining up his shot with precision. With his left hand he licked his finger, sticking it up in the air like golfers do to measure the wind. Emily wasn't sure if this was a joke, something to psych Derek out, or something the boy was genuinely able to do. He frowned, seeming to ponder the information.

He aimed. He tossed it. He sunk the redemption shot.

They were in overtime.

“You can do it princess,” Derek told her, watching her with utmost intensity. Emily adjusted her stance, chugging back the last of that glass of beer, feeling the alcohol with greater focus than before.

She glanced around at the other team, but out of the corner of her eye she caught a familiar face looking at her: Jennifer Jareau from residence. Her not crush.

She was looking at her. Watching her play.

A swell of nervousness flooded up through her lungs, and she forced it out by huffing a breath.

She needed another drink. Moreover, she needed to focus.

Emily threw it. If it made it in, then they won. If she missed, Spencer and Garcia had another shot at redemption. They couldn’t lose this, not now, not in front of… uh, everyone. She was definitely not thinking about JJ in this situation. That would be something a frat boy thought about. She didn’t want to win beer pong to impress some girl, she wanted to win because she had pride.

The ball sailed through the air, Emily held her breath. It caught the lip of the cup, teetered. A splash announced that they had won.

Thank god.

With a whoop, realizing what they had done, Emily and Derek roared with joy, jumping into each other and hugging in their celebration. A few onlookers clapped, noticing how close the game had been.

They pulled apart and reached out their hands to their opponents.

“Great game,” Emily said, shaking Spencer's hand, “Really.”

He grinned despite his loss.

“Honestly I understand the principles, it’s simple parabolas and high-school level physics,” he frowned, “Unfortunately, I need to work on translating those parabolas into the real world.”

“We’ll work on it Spence,” Garcia grinned, shaking Emily’s hand while smiling at her younger friend.

Emily realized that in their celebration, Derek had spilled quite a bit of beer onto Emily’s sleeve and down the side of her shirt and it was currently dripping onto her boots. Emily sighed, handing her friend her cup.

“I’ve got beer all over me,” Emily sighed, “Get me a refill? I’m going to try to find a bathroom.”

Derek nodded and turned back to their new friends, chatting about how impressed he was with their game.

Emily felt a bit sticky, feeling the beer coat her bare arm. Walking back into the house, she glanced at the kitchen sink trying to see if there was any paper towel or something there, but no luck. The sink was full of dishes, the counters covered in assorted empties and cups, without a dishcloth in sight. Not wanting to rifle through their drawers, she made her way towards the staircase.

There was a couple making out on the staircase, which was not something Emily would do herself. It seemed a bit precarious since alcohol was involved, but, to each their own, she thought. Emily opened a couple of the doors upstairs before discovering one of the most disgusting washrooms she’d ever seen.

There was only one thing in the shower: dawn dish soap. The boys who lived here must use that for their bodies. Emily shuddered. On the sink were some toothbrushes, razors and some floss, but for some reason, no soap. Emily found a roll of toilet paper on the floor (ew), and wadded it up to try to reduce the wet spot on her side and hopefully from smelling like a brewery when she returned to residence.

For a moment, Emily found herself gazing at herself in the mirror, feeling hazy and a bit unsteady. She checked her make-up, noting that her dark red lipstick was holding up, but her mascara had smudged under her eyes giving her more of a goth vibe than the alt look she typically went for.

Emily sat down on the tub, patting the toilet paper against her wet clothing, feeling very drunk now that she was seated. Dammit Morgan, couldn’t he have spilled his beer on himself instead of her nice shirt?

The thud of the music was muffled, but there was a ringing in her ears that made everything feel very quiet. That was until there was a thundering of footsteps and the sound of a girl announcing: “I’m going to vom, right now.”

Emily sat, jaw dropped, as a red headed girl threw open the bathroom door, kneeled down on the floor next to the toilet, and relieved herself from the contents of her stomach without so much as a knock. The girl coughed into the bowl, yacking up what was probably way too much beer for the poor tiny girl.

“Oh my gosh,” said another voice, at the door, “I’m so sorry. We didn’t realize there was someone here! ”

Emily looked up, realizing the voice came from no other than Jennifer Jareau.

“JJ!” Emily said, not really knowing what else to do with the girl heaving at her feet.

“You ok?” JJ kneeled down next to her friend, carefully pulling her friend’s long hair back, tugging a hair tie off her own wrist and collecting it so that it didn’t get anything on it.

Emily felt stupid sitting on the tub, not helping anything. She tossed the rest of the toilet paper in the garbage, placing the half-empty roll on the edge of the tub.

“Can I get her some water?” Emily asked, “To rinse her mouth?”

JJ looked up at her and nodded. Emily felt herself blushing slightly as she turned away. Who let one girl’s eyes be so big, and so blue. It was rude.

She returned a minute later having had to rinse her own beer cup out in the gross kitchen sink to make sure that she wasn’t accidentally giving this girl some random person's sketchy cup.

Emily remembered that earlier Derek said that it was a varsity party, so it did make sense that JJ was also in attendance. The whole team probably was. The other girl looked like a soccer player, she had that vibe.

Emily handed the cup to JJ, who gave her a grateful smile. Emily felt their fingers touch for a moment, before JJ turned to attend to her friend.

She tried to get her to take a sip, and Emily took the moment to look JJ up and down, taking in her light blue skinny jeans, black tank and high heeled boots. She was basically wearing the uniform of a straight white girl at a houseparty. Not to say Emily wasn’t also basically wearing the same outfit, pairing the jeans with combat boots and attempting to set herself apart with her black nail polish and eyeliner that her mother once called ‘a lot.’

In contrast to Emily’s fairly undefined thin body, she took note of the strong looking shoulders that flexed as JJ kneeled down on the floor. She was definitely an athlete. Emily looked away, checking her phone, feeling suddenly embarrassed for looking at the girl.

‘Where u go bbg????’ Read a new message from Derek.

‘Girl puknigh up hre’ Emily typed, ‘Got her waterr’

Emily blinked at her typos, pressing the red underlined words, hoping her phone would correct them for her. She wasn’t that drunk.

The two girls were talking quietly, and Emily decided to take her leave, but before she could the red-head beat her to the punch deciding that she wanted to puke in peace.

“Leave me aloooooonnne Jennifer,” she wined. “Get out, I don’t want any more fucking water.”

JJ pulled back, making a face and holding her hands up in the ‘I surrender’ motion. Emily hurried out into the hall with JJ on her heels. The girl kicked the door shut angrily, and the sound of her retching ensued.

“There was a funnel,” JJ offered as an explanation. She leaned against the door. “How has your night been?”

Emily blinked. JJ was making conversation. She didn’t want Emily to leave just yet.

“So far so good,” Emily replied. “Doing better than your friend, at least.”

“That’s not hard to do. So I guess you didn’t chug from a funnel yet?” JJ quipped, smiling and revealing a perfect, white smile.

“Oh I have that scheduled for one-thirty, actually,” Emily said, pretending to check her watch and grinning.

“Let me know before you do, I’d like to watch that,” JJ said casually.

A wave of heat rushed to Emily’s face as she realized that drinking from a funnel would entail Emily on her knees, with JJ watching her… a thought that she needed to push out of her brain immediately.

“I’ll have you know,” Emily said in retort, “I can chug amongst the best. I am no stranger to these sorts of parties.”

JJ grinned. “Oh yeah?”

“I’m a reigning beer pong champ, I’ll have you know.”

They laughed.

“I saw your last victory. Very impressive.”

JJ, in a controlled fall, slid down the door and sat down in the hall, resigning herself to waiting for her friend. Emily wondered if she should return to Morgan now, but unable to tear herself away from the opportunity for a conversation with JJ.

“I’m awful at pong,” the blonde admitted. “I miss every time.”

“You probably just need a good teacher.”

JJ raised her eyebrows, “oh yeah?”

“I mean,” Emily said, sitting down onto the top step of the staircase, facing her floormate, “it’s all about hand eye coordination. It’s basically a sport. You need a coach.”

They both laughed.

“Well if that’s the case, why don’t you teach me?”

Emily gulped.

The door opened, and JJ fell back slightly before catching herself.

“I’m going home,” JJ’s friend announced.

JJ looked up at her dishevelled friend and nodded, turning back to look at Emily apologetically.

“Another time?” Emily offered, smiling before walking down the stairs and rejoining the party.

Next chapter ->

[ateezmakemeweep]

it’s always been you.

mingi x reader; friends to lovers au

word count: 10k

fluff, smut

kim hongjoong was not only the first boy you ever had a crush on, but your first bully. you remember your palms sweating and cheeks warming when the teacher assigned you the seat right in front of him. you were excited by the small and scrawny boy who exuded such natural confidence, a powerful energy surrounding him despite only being in second grade.

and apparently, you were able to sense that. or maybe it was something twisted preparing you for the journey of boys who would go on to mistreat you. because it only took 30 minutes for him to start pulling your hair, the strands resting on the top of his desk repeatedly knocking into his pencil and causing it to roll down the flat surface.

you had noticed the slight pinches and pulls but felt too scared to turn around, your tiny body and heart far too nervous to confront the boy even though he was pulling at your scalp.

every time you felt it, your eyes shot to your best friend mingi who was sat across the room.

you and him have always been attached at the hip, the children of best friend's and neighbors who made you guys do everything together since the day you were born. and it was lucky that you genuinely liked him, that you didn't just put up with his company because your parents forced you to; but truthfully, you really don't know how anyone couldn't like him. because he wasn't only one of the funniest people in your life but he was kind when it mattered most.

sure, his laugh was a little too loud and he could be clingy and sometimes he took his jokes too far. but he was always quick to throw his arms around you, squeeze you into a hug and keep you in his embrace until you accepted his sorrowful, whiny apology.

"he keeps pulling my hair," you whispered to him at lunch, ripping your peanut butter and jelly sandwich down the middle.

"what?" mingi laughs out slightly, keeping his voice quiet as he rips his ham and cheese sandwich. "did you ask him why?

"no," you squeak out, shaking your head as you take your designated half of his sandwich.

you two have been doing this since you started kindergarten, one day deciding to split your sandwiches down the middle and swap; you still firmly believe that it was because mingi was bitter over the tuna sandwich his mom had packed him meanwhile you had had a grilled cheese.

but regardless, it's something that had stuck. something that you two don't even think about anymore and just do on autopilot.

"why not?" mingi asks.

another reason your friendship worked was because whereas you've always been on the shyer, quiter side, mingi was outgoing and lively. he was able to talk to anybody, even the older kids in gym class or at recess, without a hint of nervousness or apprehension. and apparently, he was able to talk to hongjoong as well, in no way affected by the small boy passing your table who you found so intimidating.

"hey! hongjoong!"

your eyes widen, nervousness quickly morphing into anger when your best friend opens his fat mouth. you smack his arm lightly, a tiny, embarrassed squeal leaving you. "what are you doing?"

the smaller boy sends him a slightly confused smile and wave before walking passed to sit at another table. mingi looks at you with an innocent smile before a loud cackle leaves his mouth.

"you look so scared," he teases, poking your warm, pink cheek. "like the time you peed your pants on halloween."

"i did not!" you whine to him, quickly forgetting about hongjoong before eyeing mingi's juice box mischievously and snatching it away. "but you did."

your best friend's loud yelp and your giggle catch the attention of the lunch monitor, the older woman stomping over to the both of you with her arms crossed. needless to say, you two spend recess inside that day, the wet, juice stain on mingi's pants occasionally making the both of you giggle.

it takes three more days of hair pulling from hongjoong to finally get you to whip your head around at the small boy, eyes wide as you look at him.

"what?" he huffs out after a few seconds of you just staring at him.

"why are you pulling my hair?" you ask, wishing your voice didn't sound so mousy and weak.

"i'm not," he spits out, looking over your nervous, blushing face. "why is your face all red?"

"it's not," you squeak back as you shake your head, quickly turning back around as your gaze instinctively moves to mingi. he catches the exact second your face morphs into one of pain, face crumbling and a yelp of "ow!" booming through the classroom when a harsh tug stings at your scalp.

big and fast for his age, mingi is over to the desk before the teacher can make it, staring down threateningly at hongjoong who wears an equally pissed off scowl.

"don't pull her hair!"

"she's so annoying," hongjoong whines, "her long, stupid hair is always all over my desk and it won't stop knocking into my pencil!"

"that doesn't mean you have to hurt her!"

hongjoong scoffs at the tall boy standing over him and yelling, throwing you a dirty look that has mingi cleching his small fists; he doesn't like when people are mean to any of his friends but especially you.

"she's just a baby," hongjoong spits, "it wasn't even hard."

"shut up!" mingi says just as you grumble "yes it was!"

"you shut up! why are you even yelling at me?" the smaller boy asks, "is she your girlfriend?"

"no! she's my best friend, you idiot!"

the teacher finally rushes over and seperates the boys, bringing them out into the hallway. you smile with watery eyes as you hear mingi's booming voice defending you, hongjoong's higher pitched whines frequently cut off by the boy.

he stomps back in a few minutes later, his eyes meeting yours and softening when you send a smile his way. and when school gets out at 3:00, you both sit on the swings where you tell him maybe you don't have a crush on hongjoong anymore.

jung wooyoung was the new boy in 5th grade. all of the girls had fawned over him the second he walked through the door, smacking each other lightly and giggling into one another as he introduced himself; and perhaps you were one of them.

because when your teacher asked you to be the new student's tour guide/buddy for the week, you hadn't really known what to expect. but then in he walked, all friendly and bubbly with his high-pitched voice bringing a smile to your face.

you introduced yourself five minutes before lunch, going up to him to explain that you were his arranged buddy for the week.

"oh, okay!" he chirped happily, "i'm wooyoung...but i guess you already knew that."

you giggle softly, nodding your head as you take out your purple lunchbox. "i'm y/n. do you...do you wanna sit with me at lunch? you could meet my friend mingi, too."

"sure," he said happily, his wide smile causing juenvile butterflies to flutter in your stomach.

"alright, cool!"

"cool."

you smile shyly before leading the way to the cafeteria, explaining to him all about the time periods, what hot lunches were best and how there were two other classes in your grade.

you spot mingi at your usual table, sending him a wave as he looks at you and the unknown boy with a mysterious look.

"mingi! this is the new student, wooyoung. wooyoung, this is my best friend mingi."

"hey," the boy said, smiling and waving at the boy.

"hi," mingi said back, nodding his head at him. "so y/n is your tour guide for the week?"

"yeah," wooyoung says, "she's been great so far."

"just wait, she still gets lost around this school."

you roll your eyes and scoff at your friend, smacking his arm lightly before plopping down in the seat next to him and chatting more with wooyoung. you had gotten better at talking to people as you got older but still struggled sometimes, feeling anxious when there was even the briefest of pauses in coversation.

but mingi was quick to fill it, asking wooyoung all about sports he liked and video games he's played. you hit the boy when he exposes your lack of athletic ability, laughing with wooyoung as he tells him about the time you almost knocked yourself out with a basketball.

but apparently, mingi's friendliness was a little insincere. because when you were sat on your living room floor doing homework a few days later, he confessed to you that he was a little bit...suspicious of wooyoung.

"really, mingi?" you laugh out, "because he's too nice? you sound crazy."

"i'm telling you, y/n," he insists, peeking at your math homework and erasing it upon seeing you had the wrong answer. "there's something up."

"leave my work alone!" you yelp, smacking the pencil out of his hand before you shake your head at him. "and leave wooyoung alone, too, he's a nice boy."

"it's suspicous, y/n," he grumbles, "i don't trust him."

but it only causes you to roll your eyes because nothing the boy did gave any indication he was less than genuine. and it's something you remind mingi of a week later, after consistently sitting with wooyoung at lunch and getting to know him in class.

"remember when you were like 'oh no, he's way too nice, i don't trust him, blah blah blah,'" you mimic, doing a lousy imitation of his voice. he throws a stray chip at you, watching as you attempt to catch it in your mouth and chuckling when you miss it.

"just wait, y/n," mingi says warningly, narrowing his eyes at you. "just you wait."

something about his tone causes you to raise an eyebrow, turning your head to the side before you mouth falls open.

"oh, my gosh!" you squeal, "are you... jealous?" you've never seen the boy's cheeks turn as red as they did upon you saying that.

"jealous?" he yelps, "no! of course not! what the hell would i be jealous of?"

"you don't want him to replace your spot as my best friend!" you reply adamantly, the giggle bubbling out of you causing your head to tilt back. "oh, my gosh, i totally get it now."

"now you're the one sounding crazy," mingi grumbles, shaking his head as he feels his cheeks continue to grow warm.

but you can only giggle again, crawling over to the boy with a teasing smile. "you don't have to worry, mingi," you tell him, pinching his cheek lightly, "you'll always be my best friend."

"i wasn't worried," he says dryly, pushing your shoulder lightly as you fall back with a squeal. "because who else would put up with you?"

"i'm sure wooyoung would," you tease, sticking your tongue out and smiling when you see an annoyed expression cover his face.

"just kidding!"

and thank god you said that. because you would've ended up looking like quite the fool. you walked into class monday morning excited to talk to your new friend, ask him all about his weekend and tell him about the new board game you got.

but the second you spotted him, you saw him talking to hongjoong, the boy you still haven't quite forgiven for his second grade antics. but you didn't think too much of it, shrugging it off and making your way to your seat to talk to the small group of girls you're close to.

but then when you went to get your lunch, you saw him come up next to you and brightly smiled at him.

"hi wooyoung! are you ready for lunch?

"hey, y/n," he said quietly. you noticed the solemn look on his face and furrowed your eyebrows, not used to seeing him lacking a bright smile or lit up eyes.

"are you okay?"

he looks back at hongjoong and the rest of the boys who are standing around the his desk awaitingly before turning back to you.

"yeah, i'm good," he says, "i just....i wanted to tell you i'm gonna sit with hongjoong at lunch today." your eyes filter across the room to see the group of boys now staring at both of you.

oh," you say, feeling just a little disheartened; you felt excited to talk to him after the weekend, gaining quite a soft spot for the boy after these past two weeks of becoming friends.

"i'm sorry," he winces, "they asked me before and i don't wanna-"

"it's okay," you giggle out suddenly, feeling silly for feeling upset in the first place. he's new and doesn't know anybody, obviously he was gonna be making more friends. "maybe we'll talk tomorrow?"

and you should've known by the half-hearted way he nodded at you that you wouldn't. that everytime you walked into the classroom and looked at him, only a small smile would be sent your way. that he now got his lunch before the teacher announced lunch time, successfully avoiding you and the need to have a conversation.

"i just don't get it," you mumble to mingi a few days later in the cafeteria. "why doesn't he wanna be friends anymore?"

mingi's cold gaze travels to wooyoung who has now seemed to become a permanent member of hongjoong's clan, narrowing his eyes at the boy in question when their eyes meet.

"i don't know," mingi mumbles, "boys are stupid."

you shake your head as a small giggle leaves your mouth at his comment. "but you're a boy, mingi."

"exactly, that's how i know," he teases, ripping his sandwich before assessing both halves. "here."

you try to hide your smile when you notice he's holding out the bigger piece, thanking him quietly and your fingers graze lightly as you take it. you munch on a few bites in a comfortable silence, the noisy chatter of other students surrounding both of you until mingi blurts out:

"you'll always be my best friend, too, y/n."

a wide smile covers your face immediately, the tugging feeling in your chest something you're still quite too young and naive to understand. but anyone around you can see it, the way your smiles brighten and eyes twinkle when you look at each other.

"i know, mingi," you say softly, hitting his foot with yours lightly under the table and giggling when he does it back. "because who else would put up with you?"

choi jongho was the youngest boy you ever had a crush on, noticing the cute sixth-grader at recess while you and your seventh-grade friends sat on the steps and watched.

"do you guys think he's cute?" one of your friends asked curiously; she had been watching the boys play kickball for the past 20 minutes.

"who? that sixth-grader?" your other friend said, eyeing the girl next to her like she just asked if she'd eat dirt.

"yeah," she says with shrug.

"that's so gross of you, why would you even care about a stupid sixth-grader."

you resist the urge to snort at her, watching as the boy kicks the ball and makes it go flying. he quickly makes his way around all the bases, his team cheering when he dramatically slides back to home.

"you know, that was just us last year," you point out to her, removing your gaze from the boy and looking at her face still full of distaste.

"oh god. so what, you think he's cute, too?"

"i mean, i guess..." you say, eyeing your other friend who gives you an affirming nod as you resist the urge to giggle.

and then your crush is basically confirmed by the next day at the end of recess. because the girls had been able to snag the last kickball, happily running to the field before you heard a male voice speak behind you.

"do you mind if we join you guys?" the voice says cooly and calmly, "maybe boys versus girls?"

you turn around to see him and he was even cuter up close, not too much taller than you but definietly bigger for his age. you can only find it in yourself to stupidily nod before attempting to snap yourself out of it.

"su-sure! let's go!"

mingi watches the field from his spot on the monkey bars where he consistently spends his time. you couldn't pay him enough money to play tag or chase a ball around, much preferring to chat with his friend while lounging in the sun.

he watches you with a smirk as you try your best to play, because he knows you really are trying. but once you miss the ball not only once but twice and then start hobbling your way over to the base, he bursts into laughter.

his eyes squint to see you in the distance looking over at the boy guarding first base. he's able to tell immediately that you like him, your shy smile and the way you quickly look away when he feels your obvious stare a dead give away.

"don't tell me you like that little sixth-grader," is the first thing mingi says to you as you guys line up to go back inside.

"what! who!" you yelp out, looking at your friend with a confused expression. but he knows you're feigning it, knows you know exactly who he's talking about.

"hey, you," mingi says to your friend who stood a few feet away from you. "who was the boy guarding first base?"

"the cute sixth-grader?" she says, a small huff leaving your mouth because now you know you're busted. "i think his name is jongho."

"jongho," mingi says as he turns to you. "please don't tell me you like jongho."

"oh, just shut up!" you say, pushing him forward as the line starts moving. his laugh rings through the fleeting outside air, shaking his head as turns around to start walking backwards.

"a younger boy?" mingi teases as he looks down at you, "c'mon, now, y/n."

"what's wrong with sixth-graders?!" you squeal, "we were in sixth-grade literally three months ago!"

"okay but now we're in seventh-grade," he says and a part of you hopes he stumbles over his feet, just a little. "you can't be crushing on little boys."

"i only see one little boy here," you spit, squinting your eyes at him and disregarding the fact that this boy has towered over you since the age of one.

"yeah, right," he quips with a roll of his eyes, turning around and laughing when he feels you smack his back lightly.

mingi and your friends tease you about your little crush on jongho for weeks, in disbelief that you'd even give the boy the time of day. but it's not like you even talk to him that much, only words in passing on the kickball field and at recess.

which is why it's incredibly embarrassing when your friend, in an effort to tease you, asks jongho to help you practice your kicking technique, insisting you need the extra assistance but are too shy to ask on your own.

"sure," he says with a shrug of his shoulders but your reddening cheeks and sweaty palms were hoping he'd say differently.

"no!" you squeak, "please, you don't have to! that's not-"

"it's fine," he chuckles out as he stands next to you. he makes your friend roll the ball to him, instructing you on the proper way to time it and then how to apply the right amount of strength.

mingi had noticed from his spot on the monkey bars and immediately had to jump down and make his way over; a front row seat to watching you interact with a boy you liked was something he couldn't miss.

"i noticed you seem to look scared of the ball," the boy says to you, a small grin on his face. "but there's no reason to be."

"i know.... but sometimes it just looks...fast," you say sheepishly and he chuckles at the shyness in your tone. the boy's about to respond when your friend, whose really not been acting like a good one lately, squeals about what a cute couple you'd make.

your face pales as you look at her with wide eyes, gaze nervously switching between her and the slightly stiff boy next to you.

"uhh..." jongho mutters, side-eyeing you before looking at your friend.

"what, you don't think?" she squeaks with a turn of her head and it causes mingi's blood to boil; he's never liked her and now he knows he's had good reason.

yours and jongho's discomfort is obvious, shoulders squared and eyes flickering nervously.

"uh...aren't you guys older than me?" he asks quietly. "that'd be kind of...weird."

your face flames even more, pressing your lips together into a tight line so you don't scream at her or start crying. but then you feel a familiar presence at your side, mingi's tall figure wrapping an arm around your shoulder.

"more weird than a girl wearing a tank top over a long-sleeved shirt?" mingi quips, eyeing your friend's questionable outfit as her face twistes into one of shock and annoyance. "i don't think so."

jongho bursts out laughing, snorting into his hand before the familiar blow of a whistle rings through the air. "i'll see you guys tomorrow!" he says, turning to wave at you before making his way towards the buliding.

mingi and your friend have a bit of a staredown, your own hurt gaze roaming over your friend before the tall boy next to you speaks.

"let's go, y/n," he says, keeping his arm tight around you as he drags you off the field. you turn your head slightly to groan into him in embarrassment, his soft chuckle right below your ear.

"don't say a word."

"wasn't planning on it, grandma," he teases, fully accepting the hard slap that lands on his stomach.

kang yeosang was the first boy you "talked" to, the exciting but nervewrecking feeling of texting a boy into the night while claiming not to be tired at all. because you just don't wanna stop talking to him, giggling to yourself when he sends you a string of playful emojis and then squealing at the message that just pinged through.

but it's quickly cut off by mingi's whines.

"can you shut up already and stop texting him?" he rolls over in his sleeping bag, staring at you through sleepy eyes. he knew ninth grade was gonna bring dating and romance but he had no idea it'd be so damn annoying and start impacting his sleep at your friday night slumber parties.

"he asked me on a date!"

"at 1:00 in the morning?" he asks grouchily, voice deep from tiredness.

"no, silly," you say, rolling over to ruffle is bedhead. "for tomorrow night. we're gonna meet at the movie theater."

mingi hums lowly, a sinking feeling in his stomach already. and it's like you can feel it yourself, groaning lightly when you see his face.

"what?"

"nothing," he says, "he's just kind of douchey."

"you have no right to judge with some of the girls you associate with," you retort, wanting to roll your eyes and scoff just thinking about the little clan that surrounds mingi after basketball games or before class.

"i know, the one i'm with right now is dreadful," he says, smirking when you narrow your eyes at him. "kidding."

your phone pings with two more vibrations and mingi lets out a groan, rolling his eyes when he sees you quickly reach for your phone. your face flushes looking at his teasing expression, sticking your tongue out again before flipping over on your blanket.

"mind your business!"

when you and mingi wake the next morning, he attempts to calm your nerves. talking you off the ledge multiple times from telling yeosang you've fallen horribly ill or have to go visit your great aunt.

"why would you even say great aunt? why just not like...an okay aunt? a good aunt, even. but great?" mingi questions as he's laid out on your bed, watching you flip through the clothes in your closet.

and despite the nervosness fluttering through your stomach, you find yourself able to laugh at your friend, turning around to shake your head at him.

"you're so dumb."

"and so are you for being nervous," he says, getting up and walking over to you. "it's gonna be fine."

you lick at your dry lips, looking up at him with wide eyes. "how do you know? what if i don't know what to say and we lapse into an awkward silence? what if i fall asleep during the movie? oh, my god or what if i burp when we drink from our shared soda?"

"oooh, a shared soda?" mingi teases, "one straw or two?"

your lips turn into a pout at him making fun of you, craning your neck to the side and resisting the overwhelming urge to stomp on his foot with yours.

"don't do it," he says warningly, eyes dropping to your sock-covered feet causing a small smirk to cross your face.

"how did you even know," you mumble before turining back to your closet with a groan. "oh, my god i have no clothes. i can't go. i'm not going."

"you can and you will," mingi says, getting up and guiding you over to the bed by your shoulders. he commands for you to sit before rifling through your closet, picking out two different shirts and laying them out next to you.

"those are nice. pick between one of those and then like jeans or something," mingi says, "i'm going to raid your fridge and when i'm back, you better be dressed."

"get me some water, please!" you yell after him, smiling when throws a mock dirty look your way. you look over the two shirts mingi laid out, trying them both on before choosing one and pairing it with boots and a long necklace.

"and before you ask, i put in six ice cubes the way you always-"

mingi's loud voice halts when he walks back in your room, his mouth nearly falling open. you hadn't even done anything to your hair or face yet but the outfit clings to you in ways only puberty could cause, his eyes widening as they roam over you.

"what?" you squeak, quickly turning to the mirror to assess yourself. "do i look bad"?

"no," he's quick to assure, placing the glass of water on your dresser and making his way over to you. "you look like...." your eyes meet in the mirror and you raise your eyebrow at him, "a girl."

you spin around, a scoff leaving your mouth as you push him by the shoulder. "i've always been a girl, asshole!"

"i know," he laughs out, doing his best to keep his eyes on your face. "but now you really look like one."

"oh, my gosh are you... you're a pervert!" you squeal, hitting his chest multiple times and leading him towards the door. "i'm kicking you out! no pervs allowed!"

"i'm not!" he whines, "i swear i'm not. i was just saying."

"i'll see you tomorrow, pervert!"

but you end up seeing him just a few hours later. because you walked to the theater only a few blocks away around 6:45 since yeosang told you the movie started at 7:15.

7:15 came and went, your head popping up everytime you heard the ding of the door opening. but it was never him. not when it happened at 7:20 or 7:30 or even 8:00. you were on the verge of tears, the pit in your stomach growing as more time passes. you're there for a full hour before you accept that he's not coming, not a single text back from him after sending him five and calling three times.

the cold air stings your watery eyes on the way home, hands shaking and mind racing with a thousand different thoughts. why would he stand you up? did he intend to from the start or did something maybe come up? you felt more embarrassed than anything else, standing in that theater watching couples come and go while the workers looked at you grasp your phone with sympathy.

you stomp up the stairs and straight to your room, slamming your door and throwing back on your pajamas. you keep your face in the pillow for so long you can't believe you don't suffocate, not allowing the tears fall for that stupid boy.

your hands start itching to text mingi and you scramble for your phone, typing out a frowny face to him.

‘what happened?’ he texts back a minute later ‘is the movie that bad?’  

‘i don't know, he never showed up’

your door bursts open five minutes later, two plastic bags in mingi's hands with a dark, anger expression on his face.

"i knew he was a douche," the boy growls, plopping the bags on your dresser before walking over to sit on your bed. "are you okay?"

his face crumbles when he sees your lips form into a pout, tears welling up in your eyes and he's quick to take you in his arms. you sit there and listen to his mumbles assuring how how much yeosang missed out, how he's just some random loser who didn't deserve to go on a date with you in the first place.

netiher of you comment on your tears, the wetness soaking through his shirt as you silently cry into him. he eventually leans you both back on the headboard, his arm around you as your head rests on his shoulder.

"i'm sorry," you wince, rubbing over the wet spot on his shirt.

"it's okay, a little snot won't hurt me."

"there's no snot," you grumble lowly, the whine in your voice causing him to chuckle.

he reluntanctly pulls himself away from you, gathering up the snacks he bought and bringing them over to your bed. and that's how you spend the rest of the night, cuddled into his shoulder watching a marathon of movies completely forgetting about the boy who made you cry.

choi san was the boy you had a two-month summer romance with. you think you loved him as much as a 15-year-old could love somebody, spending your days by his side on the beach or at the pool.

he wasn't only one of the most beautiful boys you'd ever seen, he was sweet. so sweet almost to the point where you didn't believe that he was real at first.

you had been laid out on your pink beach towel, nearly asleep in the blazing summer sun when a volleyball bounced right off your head. your first instinct was to yelp, your hand flying to your head and quickly shooting up to see where it had come from.

and there he stood, concerned eyes looking over your figure.

"i'm so sorry!" his voice franticaly apologized, "apparently i'm really out of practice and shouldn't be playing around the general public. i can take you to the first-aid office if you-"

"it's okay, i'm fine," you giggle at his rambling, stretching out your foot to drag the ball closer to you. "here. get some more practice."

his melodic laugh echos throughout the beach as he thanks you with a smile; you immediately notice his dimples and your own smile widens because that is the cutest thing you’ve ever. and he's about to turn around and walk away when he looks you over again, pursing his lips to the side before inviting you to play and help him practice.

"you just wanna make sure i'm not concussed," you tease, his bright smile aimed right at you the first of many that summer. it was all pure and innocent, arms and hands knocking into one another as you walk down the beach, always sitting side by side at weekend bonfires, his arms gripping your waist as you fall off the board during your surfing lessons.

he asks you the night he pecks your cheek if the boy you always talk about is your boyfriend. and you throw your head back in laughter like it was the funniest thing you ever heard because

"mingi?" you squealed, "no way! he's been my best friend since i was little. it's... not like that between us."

because when you got home from your nights out with san and his friends, you told mingi all about him. how you'd never met a boy that was just as cute as he was nice and, given your track record, mingi was reluctant at first. but then the more you talked about him, even briefly allowing them to meet over facetime, he got the best friend seal of approval.

the last week of your vacation was packed into time with san, the both of you trying to spend the last few days of your vacation together; mingi also had refused to video chat you, insisting he had a surprise for you when you got back.

so with a tearful departure and an exchange of phone numbers, you said goodbye to san. you guys promised each other to keep in contact, leave your relationship as just friends and see what happens within the next few months of texting.

and while a part of you was sad to leave behind his dimply smile and the hot sun, another part of you was overwhelmingly excited to see mingi now; you think this is the longest you've ever been apart. so the second you get home, you drop your stuff on the front porch and run to his house, banging on his door rapidly.

and when it opens, an audible gasp leaves your mouth. because there mingi stands, his tall handsome self even more handsome with sunkissed skin and a head full of red, wavy hair.

"your hair!" you squeal, jumping up to throw your arms around his neck; a deep chuckle leaves his mouth as he picks you up in a hug and you're trying to remember if it always sounded like that.

"you like it?" he mumbles as he places you down, "i was so damn bored without you."

“i love it!” you squeak, lifting your hand up to ruffle his soft hair. he narrows his eyes playfully, moving his head away before dragging you into his house by your pointer finger.

you two lay out on his bed, your feet by his head and your head by his feet as you catch up on what you both did during your time apart. he tells you about the drama-filled house parties you missed, how a group of juniors crashed it and then successfully checked off mingi getting french kissed.

“you’re lying!” you laugh out, “you are lying to me.”

“i wish i was, y/n,” he says, the honest pain and terror evident in his voice as he relives the memory. “it was like she was trying to get me to inhale and digest it.” 

your loud giggle booms through his room as you lean up on your elbows to look at him, leaned back against the headboard as he wears a tortured expression. but even with it, you can see why the girl’s were attacking him this summer.

because between his new hair and basketball workout routinue paying off, he is straying quickly from his nerdy, gangly teen self; your eyes can’t help but notice how broad his shoulders have also gotten.

“are you checking me out, y/n?” he asks, not being able to help the smirk that crosses his face. 

“shut up,” you scoff with a roll of your eyes, trying your very hardest to pretend you weren’t. “you think because one girl tongues you, you’re hot shit now.” 

“when did i say it was only one?” he quips. you shake your head, kicking him lightly in the stomach and causing him to snort. you hear your phone vibrate across the room, craning your head back before mingi suggests going to ice cream place in your town that’s only opened seasonly. 

“oh, my gosh, please! i totally forgot about that!” you say, jumping up from his bed and tugging him out. “let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!”

you run over to check your phone, seeing two messages from san; you quickly respond to him asking if you made it home safe, sending him a confirmation with a purple heart before rushing out with mingi. 

and that’s how it goes for the remaining weeks of summer. you and san sporadically texting before you run off to go in mingi’s pool or walk to the ice cream shop with him. you and san were able to talk on the phone one night jut for you to fall asleep ten minutes in, since mingi had woken you up bright and early to get breakfast. 

by the time school starts, your texts with san fizzles out. both of you free at different times, you distracted by plans with mingi or san preoccupied with family functions. and two weeks ago, you would’ve thought that you’d be sad about that, not seeing his name pop up with a good morning or night text.

but it’s like the second you were reunited with mingi, you just wanted to spend all your time catching up with him. 

jeong yunho was your first boyfriend, one of the happiest and sweetest people you’d ever come to know. you guys had been on three dinner dates, one more perfect than the next, before he nervously fumbled over his words and asked you to be his girlfriend. 

your time with him had been ten months of bliss, soft kisses and gentle words from the boy you never once saw without a smile or heard raise his voice. you knew anyone would be lucky to have a boyfriend like him. 

because on days you were sad or stressed with schoolwork, he would bring you your favorite snacks and let you fall asleep on his chest. when you were having a problem with something, he sat down and quietly listened before kindly offering his advice. when your relationship had started to get more sexual in nature, he was so slow with you. 

pulling back from your lips and asking if you were sure it was okay to take off your shirt, slowly trailing his lips down your body and looking up at your eyes every so often to make sure you were okay with going past making out, insisting that you didn’t have to return the favor after he made you come on his tongue. 

tonight, you were on a double date: you, yunho, mingi and his newest fling, a girl a year younger than you guys. the two boys had become incredibly close within the past months, sometimes you’d even come home to see them hanging out without you; but it made you happy, it felt good knowing your best friend and your boyfriend liked each other. 

and mingi’s girl was actually really cool and sweet, she was a lot more friendly than the other girls he usually hangs out with. they’d been talking for about four months now and you both have become quite close of friends, sneaking off into the bathroom as girls do during these types of things. 

“you and yunho really are so cute,” she says softly. “i know you guys were holding hands under the table.”

a small, embarrassed giggle leaves your mouth as your hands fly up to your cheeks. “stop!” 

“better than mingi!” she says, “cheeky fuck was trying to finger me under the-”

“oh, my god!” you squeal, slapping your hands over your ears immediately. “stop it! he was not!” 

“he was!” she squeals, her own embarrassed laugh leaving her now seeing your cheeks redden. “he’s so crazy.” 

“oh, my god yunho would’ve died,” you tell her, “he’s so shy with stuff like that.”

“have you guys...” 

you shake your head; you guys had covered most of the bases already, clumsy hands and muffled moans under his blanket or in your elbow. but you guys always got interrupted before anything could happen, whether it be by parents or phone calls. but it also seemed as if yunho was...apprehensive, almost overly concerned that you’d regret it or not want too. 

“well i can’t imagine why,” she says, drying off her hands with a paper towel, “he can’t seem to keep his hands off you.”

for the reminder of dinner, you brain is wracking over the conversation from the bathroom. you’re not saying you wish yunho would try to do the shit your crazy best friend tries but you’ve been...more than ready to take the next step for the past few weeks now. 

so after you guys depart and go back to yunho’s empty house, you make sure to tell him.

“are-are you sure?” the boy asks, “i told you i don’t mind wait-”

“no more waiting,” you say, leading him into his room and kicking the door shut with your foot. you’re about to kiss him, tug him down by the front of his shirt to meet your lips when you ask. “unless... do you want to wait?” 

you giggle against his lips when he mumbles “no way,” your mouths connecting and your tongue slipping into his mouth. you fumble over to the bed, clothes littering the floor before your hands and mouths explore each other’s bodies. you moan out when his long fingers toy at your clit and enter you slowly, wriggling your hips toward him in an effort to make them go deeper. 

“more, yunho,” you mumble breathily, “please.” 

he responds with a kiss to your lips, his finger sliding in deeper and then adding another one when you ask him. after you come you lie on your back in bliss and wait for him to enter you, little whines leaving your mouth as you lay there wet and ready.

and you have to imagine this first experience went as good as any first time, his large length entering you and your tightness adjusting around him until he’s able to pick up his pace. it’s a nice feeling, you certainly wouldn’t call it bad, but it also didn’t feel as mind-blowing as its claimed to be. 

yunho thinks otherwise though, thrusting into you with a final loud moan before rolling over and onto his back. and because he’s him, he’s quick to clean you up and guide to his chest. his hand runs over your hand soothingly, his touch as sweet as him and you can’t help but smile against his warm skin. 

“wait, you’re really complaining that he’s too nice, y/n?” mingi asks a month later in disbelief, “am i actually hearing this right?” 

“you don’t get it,” you say, slapping your hands on his counter in frustration. because you know it sounds like an absurd complaint to have about your boyfriend but... “we’ve almost been dating for a year and we’ve never had a single fight. he never disagrees with me, it’s almost like he just...agrees on everything with me to avoid a fight.” 

mingi’s lips purse to the side in thought, cutting his sandwich down the middle; he had noticed that actually, how you mostly led the conversations and opinions. which he always found ironic, given that you’re typically the more shy and timid individual. 

“i mean, that is a little odd...” your friend agrees but you see the reluctance on his face. “but c’mon, it could be worse. he could be a dick.”

“i know,” you squeak, snatching the other half of his sandwich off his plate and taking a bite despite his groans of protest. “but like...i don’t know, it’s just a little frustrating. like boring?” 

“hm,” he hums, a smirk crossing his face before he looks at you. “sounds like you’re frustrated about something else as well.”

your eyebrows furrow together at the boy, shaking your head at him despite the fact that he’s spot on. “okay, mr exhibitionist, not everything is about that.”

a snort leaves him as he rolls his eyes. “apparently it is, mrs. i wanna be choked.”

“i never said that!” you squeak, a deep red blush rushing to your cheeks that only makes him laugh harder. 

“i’m kidding,” he says, “but really. if you’re not happy with him, you should tell him.”

“i know,” you sigh, “but it doesn’t seem right. because he doesn’t do anything wrong. that seems very...i don’t know, selfish.” 

“it’d more selfish to not tell him, i think. to just lead him on into thinking you’re okay with everything.” 

you eyebrow raises at his comment, surprised by his slightly insightful comment. “you just want what’s best for your new best friend,” you playfully whine.

“new?” he asks, reaching out to bop the tip of your nose. “i’ve known you forever, y/n.” a small, shy smile crosses your face because there’s always something about him calling you his best friend that makes your heart tug.

and because your best friend was right, you sit down and talk with yunho a few days later. you tell him about your concerns and he tells you about his and you end up coming to the conclusion that perhaps you’re better as friends instead of significant others.

mingi comes over that night ready to mend a hurt heart, because break-ups no matter how amicable, are hard. but he’s happy to discover you’re okay and the two of you have a sleepover like old times. except this time, you share your bed and somehow end up falling asleep with his arms around your waist. 

park seonghwa was merely a test, a known ‘badboy’ player at your high school who hasn’t had a serious girlfriend a day in his life. you figured he’d be a good test since as of lately, your mind has been...overflooded by thoughts of your best friend. thoughts you absoluetely shouldn’t be having. 

because now you don’t only seek out his touches, playful grabs of your waist when you and your friends play manhunt or needing to have skin on skin contact during move nights, but it’s gone deeper.

waking up from a dream in a cold sweat and an ache between your legs. the sounds of his deep voice in your mind, flashes of his broad shoulders and wavy red hair and plump lips that you just want between your-

“seonghwa,” you moan, gripping his hair tightly as his head is buried between your legs. 

the boy made it very clear: only call him when you wanna get off and he’ll do the same. and it made for quite a convenient arrangement during these past few weeks, waking up every few days from another sexually explicit dream of your very familiar neighbor; it also didn’t hurt that he had quite the skilled tongue. 

“moving you,” is all he says as a warning, flipping over to lay on his back before guiding your hips back to his face. you quickly get the hint and start to lick him up and down, slipping him in your mouth and bobbing your head up and down.

the room is full of muffled moans and chokes, pressing back further onto his face as he bucks his cock further into your mouth until you both come with a loud cries. 

you flip over onto your own back, catching your breath before sitting up in his bed. “always a pleasure, mr park,” you say playfully causing him to snort.

“that’s the forth time this week, y/n,” he hums, “what has you so pent up?”

you turn your head to look at him and he recognizes the look on your face all too well, a smirk crossing his face.

“or should i ask who?” 

your mouth drops open slightly, eyes roaming his face because how the hell does he know? 

“i’m frequently used for unrequited love,” he says lowly, throwing a wink your way. “so is it an ex or a friend’s boyfriend?” 

“my best friend,” you sigh out after a few moments, throwing your naked body back down on the bed and rubbing your hands over your face. “i never thought of him this way and now all the sudden i’m...”

you end up telling seonghwa all about your friendship with mingi, explaining to him how long you’ve known him and how close you’ve always been before you noticed it morphing into something very different. because the more you thought about it, the more you realized just how quickly you’d forget or drop other boys because of him. how you were always comforted best by him, how you sought him out in times of distress or excitment and felt most comfortable with just you and him. 

seonghwa hums thoughtfully at this information, taking it all in before nodding his head. he only utters a cryptic “interesting,” before tugging on his boxers and asking if you wanna get food. 

you do the same thing next week with him, work up an appetite in the form of exhausting sex that numbs your mind until you both get food at the only late night diner open in town. and for a relationship based solely off sex, you and seonghwa find it easy to talk. it’s light-hearted conversation, picking fun at teachers and students you mutually dislike until your plates are polished off and you leave cash on the table.

seonghwa opens the door for you to leave just as mingi walks in with a group of boys, smiling at your friend who meets yours gaze. 

“isn’t it past your bedtime?” he quips, ruffling the top of your hair. 

“oh, shut up,” you spit, sticking your tongue out and poking his chest lightly. seonghwa watches the exchange with a smirk, mingi’s eyes catching his gaze. 

“hi, seonghwa.”

“hey.”

mingi has heard far too much about seonghwa’s reputation, expressing his concerns to you over and over about the boy. but you insisted you knew what you were getting into and that appears evident before his very eyes, seeing as how seonghwa’s arm has snaked itself tightly around your waist. 

there’s a few moments of awkward silence and you bite your lip in confusion, squinting your eyes at the harsh expression on mingi’s face. 

“can i meet you at the car?” you ask, turning to look up at seonghwa. “i have to talk to him about something.” 

“sure,” he says, smirking down at you before squeezing your hip. “but don’t make me wait too long.” 

when the sound of the door shuts, you look up to see mingi’s eyes following seonghwa’s departing figure. 

“hey,” you say, standing up on your tippy toes in hopes to block his view. “what’s wrong?” 

“i don’t like him,” he grumbles lowly and you let out a small groan.

“mingi...”

“he’s not good, y/n,” he says, taking a step closer to you, “especially for you.” 

“oh? and why’s that?” you ask, turning your head to the side as you raised your eyebrow at him playfully.

“he just... isn’t,” he grunts out deeply, your eyes widening slightly at his tone.

“i know what i’m doing, mingi,” you say, poking his chest lightly. “it’s the same thing that you do.”

because you’ve seen how many different girls he’s had flings with, how he’s exactly the same as seonghwa in the sense that he’s never had a real girlfriend.

“that’s how i know he’s not good for you, you deserve more than that.”

you smile softly at the boy, lifting your hand to rake your fingers through his fluffy hair. “it was my idea to start with him,” you hum lowly, “don’t worry, okay? i’ll see you tomrrow, yeah?” 

his eyes roam over your face, feeling your heart contrict when he meets your gaze. you’ve watched him grow over the years but his eyes have always been the same, brown and soft as they look right into you. 

“you’ve had a lot of dumb ideas but that’s probably been your worst.” 

you let out a small giggle, poking his cheek lightly before turning around. “enjoy your pancakes!” you say over your shoulder, giving him a knowing wink that has a smirk pulling at his lips. 

when you plop down in seonghwa’s passenger seat, he looks over at you with a shit eating grin on his handsome face. 

“what?” you squeak out, pulling your eyebrows together at his expression.

“you guys are both dumb,” he laughs out, shaking his head. 

“what do you mean?!” you yelp, refraining from hitting his arm.

“you guys like each other” the boy says, “actually, you’re probably in love.” and when you don’t say anything because your cheeks are too busy flushing, he makes it ten times worse by adding, “and he definitely wants to fuck the shit out of you as well.”

song mingi was your best friend of eighteen years. you were there for each other during everything: bullies and fighting parents and boyfriends, true, self-proclaimed best friends until one day the inevitable seemed to happen.

because you always wanted to believe you and him could just be friends, that platonic relationships between a boy and girl are absolutely possible. but it quickly became obvious that wasn’t the case for you both. 

the middle of senior year was when the change happened and it was because of something as cliche as a drunken night. the both of you stumbled up to his room, his parents gone for the weekend visiting family, with a box of pizza in hand. 

“you know how-” the boy hiccups, “you know how i know i love you?” 

“how?” you whine out, stumbling over to his dresser to look for a pair of sweatpants. 

“because...i would never eat this shitty pizza,” he groans, “but i-i know it’s your favorite and i like when you’re happy.”

you giggle into your hand, taking out a pair of black sweatpants before not so gracefully sliding your jeans down your legs. and because you’re in the state you’re in, mingi turns just in time to see you fumble over your inside out pants, running over to catch you last minute with a chuckle.

“oh, my god, y/n.”

he carefully lays you back on the the carpet, your druken giggles and flushed face distracting him from the fact that the only thing covering your lower half is a small, black thong. he’s doing his best to not let his eyes drop, training his face right on yours but he thinks that might be making it worse. staring at each other with you under him, your eyes hazy and hair splayed out on the floor.

“mingi?” you say suddenly, tone quiet and soft as you look over his face.

“mhm?” he hums, moving his hand so he’s grazing your hair. 

“do you-do you actually love me?” 

his eyes squint at you before they roam the rest of your face, his hand twitching with the need to reach out and touch your face. 

“of course i do,” he says before getting out through gritted teeth, “you’re my best friend.”

because you never gave him any indication you wanted more, the way he’s wanted more since he hit the age of 14. he thinks it’s why he was never able to date a girl, far too distracted in kissing and fucking away the obvious need in to be with you. too busy comparing all of them to you and your connection.

“i don’t mean like that,” you whine, “i mean like...”

he waits for you to speak but you never do, just the sound of your heavy breaths filling the room now. 

“like what?” 

but you only shake your head, not wanting to be humiliated and the cliche, tipsy girl who pronounces her love to her best friend. “nevermind,” you mumble, arching your back to stretch and reach out to grab the pants you dropped.

but he’s quick to grab your wrist, shaking his head as his eyes remain on you.

“tell me.” 

his grasp on your wrist and the deep demand in his voice causes you to swallow nervously, that familiar feeling brewing in your lower stomach; but your humiliation, the fear that you could potentially ruin everything outweighs it. 

“it’s nothing, mingi,” you say quietly, “can we just eat the piz-”

“tell. me.” 

his eyes are burning into yours now, your teeth digging into your lip now because okay, maybe your arousal might be outweighing all of your rational thoughts. 

“you want to,” he hums lowly, his face lowering to yours, “i know you do.”

and whether it was your doing or his, your lips suddenly connect and bring a sense of immediate gratification. moans muffled by each others mouths, his hand fisting your hair as you bring your own to his cheek. he pulls away to kiss down the skin of your neck, mumbling your name and “finally” as you throw your head back in pleasure.

because it’s just the fact that it’s his lips, his tongue, his voice that has your veins flooding and coursing with excitment and lust. 

“i’ve wanted you for so fucking long,” he mumbles against you, his large hands running up and down your sides. 

“me too, oh...my god,” you whine, snapping your head up to look down at him; the sight alone makes you clench, biting the flesh of your lip to surpress another moan. “mingi, please.” 

and you only have to ask once for him to scoop you up and place you on the bed, his body hovering over yours as you pull at his shirt. he takes it off in one fluid motion, portraying his bare chest and shoulders causing your mouth to turn up into a smile before it’s quickly replaced by his lips. 

he hits every spot inside you with ease, your eyes rolling back and shrieks filling the room that you’d normally be embarrassed by. but then the sound of his moans and groans filling the room made it impossible to stop, the both of you breathing each other’s names and proving just how long you’ve waited for this. 

you know what you did that night was meant to happen because the naturalness of it all almost seemed impossible, how easily your lips and bodies melted and fit into one another.

you fell asleep on his sweaty chest after hours of pleasure, listening to his rapid heartbeat slow under your ear. the last thing you heard was his deep mumble of “i love you” and you woke to a pepper of kisses on your cheek. your eyes popped open and heart soared when you saw him, the sunlight shining through and surrounding the strawberry-haired boy. 

“hi,” you say softly, lifting your arms out to snake them around his shoulders and pull yourself into his chest. he chuckles into your messy, morning hair, pressing a kiss to the top of your head. you stay like that for a few moments, close and warm and breathing each other in until he pulls back to ask how you’re feeling. 

“good,” you say quietly, your cheeks flushing at the sight of him in bed, in the morning light next to you. “really good, actually.”

“yeah?” he mumbles lowly, “and why’s that?” 

you pick your head so your chin rests on his chest, wiggling your eyebrows playfully at him. “no reason.” 

a mock look of hurt covers his face, his eyes narrowing at you which quickly causes to you to place a kiss on his cheek. “kidding!” 

he smile softly, bopping your nose lightly before pulling you back into his chest. you spend the morning never leaving his bed, light kisses and soft giggles and quietly spoken love confessions. 

and when you both hear the his front door open, his mom’s voice calling his name, your eyes widen and you scramble to put on clothes before running downstairs. you hadn’t even realized you were hand-in-hand, fingers intertwined, until his parents stop and look at you. both of them blankly stare, eyes moving from your flushed faces to connected hands, before his mom lets out a high pitched squeal of “finally!” and his dad groans.

you both watch as mingi’s dad takes out his wallet and hands over a $100 bill to her, side-eyeing the both of you as his mom snatches it and runs over to envelope you both both in a hug. 

“you couldn’t have waited a few more months,” his dad grumbles.

“i knew you’d get together before high school ended!” his mom squeals, pulling back and letting out an aww when you hide your flushed face and giggle in his chest. 

“mom! what the he- you made a bet?!” 

“okay c’mon, you guys, it was obvious,” she says, bouncing off into the living room excitedly with a full heart. because she knew nothing made you both more happy than each other, her and your mom swearing from day one that this was destined to happen.

she watches an hour later you both at the kitchen counter, mingi smearing peanut butter on your face as you giggle and throw a piece of cheese at him.

you both make your sandwiches before cutting them down the middle, giving each other the bigger pieces out of instinct. mingi leans down to place a kiss on your lips as you rise to your tippy toes, giggling against one another before mingi asks if you’re allowed to be both his bestfriend and girlfriend. 

[thesewordsareallihavetogive]

Final Act - Liam Dunbar x Reader

(gif credit)

Summary: It’s graduation day for Liam and y/n. They’re going to different schools on opposite sides of the country and she still hasn’t confessed her true feelings for him.

Word Count: 1816

Warnings: angst, fluff, cursing

a/n: hi again! here’s my first liam fic, let me know what you think! also, feel free to send me a message for requests or to be added to my taglist :)

masterlist

y/n blew out a long breath, smoothing out her maroon graduation gown as she stood in front of her bedroom mirror. She adjusted the cap on her head, a bittersweet smile gracing her face. So this is it, she said quietly to herself. The drive to the school was quiet, not that she expected anything different. y/n’s parents were almost always too busy with work to pay attention, nonetheless talk to her, unless they noticed a B instead of an A on a report card. She was honestly surprised they took the time out of their schedule to come to her graduation, but she had still mentally prepared herself for one or both of them getting a work related call in the middle of the ceremony and leaving without saying anything.

Growing up, y/n and her parents moved around a lot for their jobs, so it was hard for her to maintain any lasting friendships. When she finally got to high school, her parents decided to stay in one place at least until she graduated. Her freshman year she joined the lacrosse team, deciding to put her years of playing on teams for a max of a few months at a time and playing alone as best she could to good use. Despite her being one of the better players on the team, she ended up lumped in with the underdogs because she was a freshman and a girl. That’s how she met Scott and Stiles, who were sophomores at the time. They soon were like big brothers to her and the trio became inseparable. 

y/n hadn’t been out in the woods the night Scott was bitten, but she was the first person that Stiles came to once he started connecting the dots. She found herself alongside the boys for each supernatural disaster from that point forward and ironically enough y/n and Stiles, both very human, became the first members of Scott’s pack. She quickly became friends with each new member of the pack, Liam especially. They talked to each other about pretty much everything and spent more time with each other than they did with the rest of the pack until Hayden came along. If the pack hadn’t known before, they definitely knew the moment that Liam started spending almost all his time with Hayden that y/n had feelings for him. She was down in the dumps for the first few weeks but was able to manage her feelings a bit better once she started hanging out with Kira, Lydia, and Malia. They’d always been friendly and she found that it was nice to have some close girl friends for a change.

“y/n, we all know you like him. It’s a little painfully obvious,” Lydia pointed out with a sympathetic smile one night when they were having a sleepover at the red head’s house before the three older girls left for college.

“Yeah, just ask him out already,” Malia agreed around a mouthful of chips. Kira, the more understanding one of y/n’s friends, rested her hand over y/n’s.

“You don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with,” Kira consoled and was quickly met by glares from Malia and Lydia.

“Come on, you’ve been pining after him since your sophomore year,” Lydia said.

“-aaaaanndd he’s now a single pringle since Hayden dumped him,” Malia added. y/n rolled her eyes but deep down knew they were right. She did like Liam, a lot if she was being honest.

“It’s not worth risking our friendship for,” y/n sighed quietly. Malia murmured “bullshit” under her breath, Kira offered y/n a sad smile, and Lydia simply hummed as she moved to set up the movie.

As luck would have it, y/n ended up sitting next to Liam for the graduation ceremony, she half expected it though since they had the same last initial. She waved to her found family when she spotted Malia, Kira, and Scott in the audience with Mama McCall, as y/n affectionately called her. If she was being completely honest, the ceremony was rather boring. The principal and different school personnel gave speeches, along with the valedictorian and a random alumni. Once it came time for students to walk across the stage and shake hands, everything seemed like a blur to y/n. So this is it, she repeated her words from earlier in her head. She hadn’t even realized that the people next to her had gotten up to line up at the edge of the stage until Liam lightly shook her shoulder. 

“y/n,” he spoke into her ear. “y/n, it’s time.” Still in a daze, she managed to make her way to the edge of the stage without breaking an ankle in her heels. As she got closer and closer with each name called, she began to have flashbacks of the last four years, particularly the moments she had spent with the pack and the moments she had spent with Liam. Liam, the boy that she might even love but who had no clue that she wanted them to be anything other than friends. It made y/n want to scream sometimes, but she had somewhat accepted the fact that there wasn’t much that she could do about it now. At the end of the summer she’d be headed off to Boston to attend classes at Harvard and Liam would be staying in state, going to UCLA.

She was about to reach back and hold his hand but she stopped herself. Her eyes began to water as she watched the last three people in front of her start to walk across the stage. Fuck it, she thought, and she whipped around to wrap him in a bone-crushing hug as she lightly sniffled into his neck. Liam paused for a moment, shocked by her sudden action before he wrapped his arms around her back and pulled her close.

“y/n y/m/n y/l/n,” called the senior administrator. y/n pulled away from Liam, offering him a small, sad smile as she began to turn around. He watched as she walked across the stage, beautiful as ever, even with tears in her eyes. When it came time for him to walk across the stage he wasn’t as concerned about shaking hands and picking up his diploma as he was about getting back to y/n’s side. He sat down in his seat soon after and looked towards y/n, whose tears had since dried. She was staring straight ahead, trying to ignore the fact that this was it for them. Sure, they were in the pack together and would see each other over school breaks, but it was never going to be the way it was. 

“Hey,” he whispered in her ear, barely heard over the applause and cheers for the students still walking across the stage. She hummed quietly in response so he knew she had heard him. “Are you okay?” he asked sincerely. y/n thought about lying for a moment, but she knew he’d be able to tell.

“No, not really,” she murmured, quietly enough that he probably wouldn’t have heard her had it not been for his supernatural senses. Liam decided it was better to let the topic rest, at least for the rest of the ceremony. The remaining names were called and the principal stood in front of the podium once again.

“Family and friends, I now introduce to you the class of 2018,” the older man announced . The students threw their caps in the air and began cheering. y/n hesitated for a moment before Liam squeezed her hand in his own and gave her a reassuring nod. She gave him a watery smile before plucking the cap off her head, careful not to mess up her styled hair, before they tossed their caps in the air in unison. She let out a bit of a laugh as she dodged a few falling caps before grabbing her own. 

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Liam asked, pulling up her chin to look at him as other students began to clear out and meet their families.

“I just can’t believe it’s over,” y/n admitted. “Not just high school though,” she followed up as she cleared her throat. He raised a brow in confusion and urged her on with a nudge. “I mean, we’re not going to be together anymore. The rest of the pack is already in college and has moved away, sometimes it feels like we’ve lost them. Now I’m losing you too,” her voice broke towards the end. Liam pulled her into a hug and ducked down to whisper into her ear.

“You’re never going to lose me, no matter what happens,” he assured. y/n smiled into his shoulder but shook her head.

“You don’t get it,” y/n let out a deep breath. Now or never, I guess. She pulled away from him and held both of his hands as she looked him in the eye. “I’ve- I’ve liked you since you got here. God, I didn’t realize it until we’d spent the better part of a year hanging out. And then- then when you got with Hayden, I realized that I love you,” she sucked in a breath and waited for his reaction as she searched his face. Liam wore a blank look for a moment. Fuck, I just screwed up the best thing that I’ve ever known. She opened her mouth again, preparing to tell him to pretend she’d never said anything, when he lunged forward and brought her in for a deep kiss. One of his hands held the back of her neck gently while the other hand was placed on her waist, pulling her closer to him. She squeaked in surprise at first, her eyes wide, before she relaxed into the kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck. The pair hesitated to pull apart, only doing so once their lungs were screaming for oxygen.

“Did that just-” y/n began, out of breath.

“Yeah, it did,” Liam replied as he rubbed a hand over the back of his neck.

“I told you so!” Malia’s shout could be heard throughout the entire room. Liam and y/n looked towards their friends sitting in the bleachers and blushed. Kira was holding out a big thumbs up for y/n with a wide grin on her face, Scott was clapping, and Melissa was shaking her head with a smile at the kids’ antics. y/n ducked her head into Liam’s shoulder and groaned as he chuckled and rested his chin on top of her head. When she pulled away he leaned forward and pressed a sweep kiss to her lips.

“I love you too,” he murmured against her lips as his icy blue eyes gazed into hers.

taglist: @linkpk88​ 

[judylicious]

And When He Smiles I Swear I Can’t Breathe

Alan Rubin x fem!Reader

Word count: 1,655

Fandom: Blues Brothers

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Blues Brothers characters or movies. This refers to Alan Rubin as a character in the movie, not the real Alan (although he obvsly played himself but you know what I mean)

I’d like to add that I made everyone of the band a few years younger (so the age gap between the reader and Alan isn’t that big), so he’s approx. in his early 30s.

Sophia & Lisa are two OCs created by two lovely people within the fandom.

Warnings: none

Chapter IV

A few days past and Sophia and Lisa had a hard time to get a hold of Charlotte. She barely was home and spent a lot of time in classes or in the College’s own library. Her plan was to keep herself distracted from thinking about Alan and also putting more effort into her studies had settled her parents in some way. At least they were asking less questions and leaving her alone for most of the time.

One day the two friends went by Charlotte’s home again, hoping she’d be there. And as she opened the front door, her friends were purely delighted to see her again. “Hey hun, we’ve been trying to reach out to you.” “Yeah I’m sorry, I was pretty busy studying. Please come in.” “You’re parents home?” “Nope, fortunately they’re not.” “We really have been worried about you.”, Sophia said and took a seat on the couch. “I know and I’m really sorry, I had some trouble with my dad and you know how I prefer to isolate when things become though.” “We’re always there for you.”, Lisa reassured Charlotte and they both sat down beside Sophia. “We are meeting the boys Friday night for a casual get together and thought it’d be lovely if you joined us.” “Just Lou and Jake?” “Yes exactly.”, Lisa replied to her. But Sophia shot the girl with the red hair a commanding eye. “A-and Alan.” “Well, to put things straight he said he’d be there if there was a chance of you being present.”, Sophia explained. “What? Girls this ain’t funny.”, Charlotte said and wanted to get up but her friends hold her in place. “The last times we met the boys he asked about you, wanted to know why you wasn’t with us.” “Alright don’t toy with me. The last time I saw him, he had some blonde woman in his arms.” “Look I don’t know who that woman was, perhaps we was unhappy with the situation between you two and was simply trying to distract himself.” “You know what men are like.”, Sophia also trying to comfort Charlotte. “He really asked about me?” “Yes, yes, he did! A few times actually!” And just the day before yesterday. I told you the very first night he’s crazy about you.” Charlotte needed a moment to think about it. “Well, okay, yeah, why not!” “Great, I can’t wait for the three of us back together, we really missed you.” Sophia gave her friend a tight hug. “If anything’s wrong, call us. Please.” She gave her friends a warm smile. “I will. Oh, Sophia before it forget… I hope you gave Jake an appropriate welcome the other night.”, Charlotte said with a whimsically grin. “Oh you bet I did. We didn’t even made it home without, you know. So finally my car’s inaugurated.”, Sophia boasted with a big laugh. “Woah remind me to never ride along in your car ever again.” “Well in that case you shouldn’t use my apartment’s door anymore either! Or sit on my sofa, my kitchen table-“ “Damn girl, I got you!”, causing the three girls to scream with laughter. “No seriously Jake’s a wild boy,  couldn’t wait for him being back but there’s no better feeling than falling asleep in his arms, cuddling into his chest.” “Well, we certainly are happy you got him back for now.” “Truth to be told you were pretty narky without him.”, Lisa rolled her eyes joking.

Until Friday there were going so many thoughts through Charlotte’s head and she constantly told herself not to get her hopes up again. Yes, he asked about her. But that didn’t mean anything necessarily. He still could be interested in a casual hook, especially after what Lou had told her. But tonight would give her a harmless opportunity to learn more about him and that “issue" without making a fool out of her by asking him out directly.

Charlotte picked out a nice dress and did her make up in front of the mirror, while dancing and singing along to one of the boy’s albums. When she was satisfied with her look, she grabbed her coat and jumped on to the next bus heading city centre. 

They agreed to meet at this little bar with live music, which especially gave young, newcomers of the rhythm and blues scene a chance to gain experience.

Sophia and Lisa waited for Charlotte in front of the bar. “Hiya girls, am I running late?” “No, not at all, the guys are already inside but we didn’t want you to walk in on your own.” They gave each other a hug before Charlotte went inside first. She let her gaze wander through the room and found Jake sitting at a table near the small stage where a young girl with a guitar was performing. Lou was walking towards the bar, where no less than Alan was sitting on one of the barstools, a lady leaning into him. She was tugging and fiddling with his shirt, his hands grabbing hers and the upper part of his black, silk shirt was unbuttoned, exposing his chest hair. Her face only inches away from his. And that was all Charlotte needed and wanted to see. She turned on her heel, squeezed past her friends and straight through the door. “Wait, Charlotte where’re you going?” Hearing her name, Alan looked to the door and saw a baffled Lisa and Sophia, who quickly noticed the woman that was almost on his lap by now and they gave each other a concerning look.

Lou carefully grabbed the woman, trying to pull her away from Alan. “Miss you’re drunk. You’re surely doing better if you go home.” “No, get your hands off of me. I’m in the middle of a conversation with this very handsome man, can’t you see?”, the woman slurred. “We’re not!”, Alan claimed. “I’m sorry but I already told you, I’m not interested.” “No, no, you gave me those eyes, I can always tell.”, the woman persisted. Luckily the bartender chipped in “Listen, Ma’am, we called you a taxi, it’s waiting outside and will bring you home. You are way to drunk to be in my bar and I won’t approve of you molesting other guest.” Jake started up from his chair and he and Lou both grabbed on arm of the lady, dragging her outside, placing her carefully in the car waiting outside. “Thanks guys.”, Alan thanked the two as soon as they got back in. He greeted Lisa and Sophia and they all took a seat at the table next to Elwood. Alan looked at the girls, “Charlotte, she…?” “Is probably home by now.”, Sophia finished for him. “There was nothing going on, SHE approached me, I wasn’t even interested.” , he tried to explain himself. “We know that, Charlie’s just… overreacting sometimes, when it comes to things like these.”, Sophia told him and Lisa felt the need to correct her, “she’s overcautious, that’s all.” The three musicians gave the girls a curious look. “Her ex cheated on her for quite some time. Problem was he was an employee of her dad, he introduced the two.” “Some young and rich wanna-be.”, Sophia added. “Everyone knew he wasn’t good for Charlotte but her dad thought so much of him it was hard for Charlotte to convince him otherwise. So she had a hard time when she was trying to break up with that guy. Her father simply didn’t let her and she had so stay with him.” “That’s shit, man.”, Lou mumbled. Alan looked taken aback. “She knows not every man is like him but if a guy she likes is surrounded by women every time, it scares her off.” “No chances for you then, Mr. Fabulous, huh?”, Jake joked and gave him a bump with his elbow and Alan said nothing but lowered his eyes. “I’m sure she will understand that she was wrong to judge the situation from what she saw only.”, Lisa said with a smile and laid her hand on Alan’s arm. Lou though quickly grabbed Lisa’s other hand and she understood that little hint by removing her hand from Alan’s arm causing him to chuckle about the cute couple next to him. 

For the rest of the night the four tried to cheer up the trumpet player but didn’t success. He had been looking forward to this evening so much. He understood that Charlotte was being cautious after what had happened with her ex but was as disappointed he didn’t even had proper chance yet to show her how much he liked her.

The next Monday afternoon Charlotte’s father got home excitedly. “Sylvia darling! We won the case against ‘Jones & Johnson’! They finally decided the verdict, what a triumph.”, he praised and gave his wife a big kiss. “We’re all going out for dinner, tonight. This calls for a celebration. Tell the girls to get ready and dress up!”

On schedule for their reservation the family got into their car. “You know I still think you and mum should enjoy this night on your own, you deserve some quality alone home.”, Charlotte tried to bluff it out. “Nonsense, you two are joining us.”, her dad told her. “What was that restaurant called again….?”, the youngest sister enquired. “Ugh, don’t even bother to tell us, I bet it’s just another snobby French place”, Charlotte snapped and laid her head against the window.

As they reached the posh restaurant, the bored girl ambled behind her parents, checking out the place. “Chez Paul.”, she mumbled the name of the place and scoffed. “Good evening, Sir, we have a reservation at 8, for Ellington.”. She heard her father say. “Of course, welcome at the Chez Paul, Mr. Ellington. Please this way.” And at the first word Charlotte had already recognised that voice. His voice. So soothing and sexy, like the melody of her favourite song.

Chapter I Chapter II Chapter III

[monty-whatshisname]

*Untitled Story*

Chapter 1

***

“Hey, John.”

“Hello, Brody.” The newcomer stood in the direct middle of the hall, staring down his nose at me with an elegant expression. “Why did you stay behind yesterday?”

“Detention,” I shrugged, gingerly attempting to pass on his right. “It happens sometimes.”

He lifted an arm to block me. I froze as the cuff of his pristine white shirt brushed against my chest “Ah. So where are you going now?”

“To class?” I tried to swallow, but every muscle was burning. I felt like if I moved another inch, I'd regret everything. John was a newcomer to my school. He'd only been here a few weeks, but had already gained the admiration of practically everyone he locked eyes with. “I’m not interested in joining your little fanclub, sir.”

Dunno where the “sir” came from, but apparently it was the wrong move. I refused to look at his face, but his arm visibly tensed, fingers twitching and regaining composure in the span of a blink. “What?” His voice, usually so vanilla, had suddenly spiked. He cleared his throat and tried again “What on earth are you talking about?”

“You’re not normal,” I muttered, grabbing his arm to push past to my classroom.

He got his fingers laced backwards around my hand, catching me as I passed “What was that, Brody?”

“Nothing.”

“No, really,” he rotated under his arm so his face was barely inches away from mine “You can tell me. I’m not insulted easily.” His breath smelled like an abandoned candle store: sweet, smooth…tinged with must.

I bit my lip and dared a glance up into his eyes. Oh, mercy, they were so fake. Like little marbles sitting where his eyes should've been. “I…I said you’re…you’re not normal!”

“Eh?” John’s voice croaked in surprise, his eyes lighting up with a brief spark of realism. I'd caught him completely off guard.

There was silence for a moment. The hall was empty, the final bell already rung. The only noise was the murmur of teachers behind classroom doors, as if the two of us had slipped into a crack of frozen time and space.

John's marble-eyes held steady contact with mine as he pulled away. “Wh-where on earth did you get such a silly notion…” he mumbled. He turned away and started walking, attempting to shield his rapidly darkening expression “Who’s protecting you…?”

“Me!” Emboldened by the fact I'd finally touched a nerve, I stepped after him “What alien is controlling you?”

“No one's 'controlling' me.” John walked a little faster, his answer surprisingly blunt. “Isn’t your classroom the other way?”

“We go to the same class, pal,” I have longer legs than he does.

He started half-jogging “Leave me alone, then.”

“Not gonna.”

This is stupid, my brain was saying. But I was too hungy to stop now. Two weeks of nothing but trying to subtly rope me into his growing gaggle of "friends", and now he couldn’t even stand up to a little odd comment.

“What are you hiding~?” I singsonged, skipping next to him as he tried to go faster.

I saw his eyes flash, with what emotion, I couldn’t tell, and he broke into a dead run. His perfectly shined shoes made a pinging noise against the hall floor with every step, becoming successively more deliberate with every stride.

I finally had to break into a trot behind him, still tailing him enough to brush the back of his sweater. “Dude-huff-you running only makes this worse!” How long was this hallway? “You look-puff-really guilty right now~!”

His feet hit the floor simultaneously and he sprinted, flinging his book bag into a row of lockers with an echoing crash. We barely heard the shout of an exasperated teacher telling us to slow down. Nothing mattered now. Reality was an insignificant blur. I had prey to catch and it wouldn’t. stop. running!

The impact happened before I even had a chance to register the wall. John stumbled to a stop and spun around to face me, but I slammed full-force into his stomach. The world was fuzzy and my breath came hard, but I heard John's breathing come just as ragged and realized I had him pinned.

“Where’re all your friends now, Goody-Two-Shoes?” I huffed, a carnivorous grin spreading helplessly over my face.

“Boys! Knock that off this instant!” A voice from behind. Judging from the footsteps and flash of grey curls, it was our substitute teacher, Mr. Elliot.

“Speak!” I hissed. I grabbed John’s arms and forced them over his head “Are you crazy? Are you scared of me? What is it?”

“Mister Maria! Get off him!” Elliot’s voice was edged with a shrill enough pitch to make your ears boil.

But I didn’t let him go. I shook his arms “Tell me!”

John mumbled something I didn’t quite hear.

“What?”

“It doesn’t matter.” John raised his head and locked eyes with me. I realized his fingers were gripping, no, sinking into the wall behind him. The wall fragmented like a punched mirror, cracks spidering outward in a chorus of unholy creaking. I felt like I was watching through the eyes of someone else. I couldn’t move.

John leaned backward into the fracture and grabbed my wrists. I was flung over his head, splinters of wall scraping along my body, and plunged into the dusky abyss on the other side. Gracefully, John leaped off the edge of the hallway and hovered down beside me, a crooked smile spreading across his face “Got you.”

***

Stop.

Pause game.

Continue?

My eyes felt runny and heavy. I pried them open regardless.

My limbs were suspended in midair, and yet they felt impossibly heavy. My head? No, I couldn’t move that either. Blinking felt like dragging a 100-pound weight through a pit of half-dry cement. My vision flickered and crackled, everything swimming like an old-fashioned TV screen. What was this? Hello?

Is this an after-dream? The air certainly felt warm and thick. Like a blanket. Am I asleep? This heaviness…I wanted it to drag me down into its conclusion. Wrap me in its singularity and never permit me to wake up…wake up…

Greetings, mortal.

The words weren’t so much spoken as they sort of just appeared in my head, scrolling by like rpg dialogue.

Hello?

My lips couldn’t move, but the word seemed to hover in the air.

Hello!

I wasn’t alone. The rainbow static burned at my eyesight, but I could still make out a vague form. No arms, large shoes, round glasses…curly hair…? Elliot??

Hello!

Elliot repeated. He didn’t seem to move, but his expression changed. This was no surprise to me, honestly. He had always been a little off.

What happened?

You fell through a wall.

Well, I mean…duh.

What about now? What’s happening?

I’m protecting you.

Why?

Elliot's face flickered to a different expression.

The wood shards created by Johnny’s little mess will impale you in about 1.32 milliseconds.

You stopped time?? Get me out of here, then!

Another flicker.

I cannot. I am not that powerful.

I noticed an earring swinging from his right lobe. It was gold, studded with exactly two red gems. Despite my grainy vision, I could see every detail of it clearly.

Can you do anything, then? Or…what was the point of this?

I can give you a choice: you can die, and the one you call John will reveal himself to you. Or, I can administer rebirth and you can find out on your own.

My eyes got lost in his words, reality feathering at the corners of my gaze like a corrupted video tape. So this confirmed my suspicion that John wasn’t normal, but more questions welled up because of that. He's going to kill me in…what was it?

1.32 milliseconds.

Yeah. He's going to kill me in a literal second. Does this mean he would hurt the rest of the school? Why would he want to kill me, anyway? Not even the popular girls go that far if someone doesn’t like them.

But on the other hand…my parents. My teachers. My family. It’s complicated, but…I don’t want to put a funeral on their plate, of all things.

What’s does rebirth entail?

You lose your humanity. But gain a second chance.

I stopped.

What…kind of…

Are you scared of teeth?

No…?

It took a minute to fully process. This was something only talked about in joking, disregarded as myth.

Please choose quickly. Our time is almost up.

I felt a tremor in the air, like distant thunder. I wasn’t breathing, I realized. The only thing that wasn’t a part of the air were mine and Elliot’s thoughts. The connection flowed freely between us. I understood everything. And so did he.

I don’t want my parents to notice, okay?

They won’t. At least for a few weeks.

Meh. I'll take what I can get.

Elliot smiled. He tipped his head back to reveal the full extent of his glistening teeth, two small fangs pushing through, widening…stretching…sharpening…

His earring caught the dim light like a gleaming eye.

Continue game.

Loading new files, please wait.

***

The air dropped me out of its grasp, a searing light ripping across my eyeballs. The sound of wood chips plinking to the ground below nearly deafened me. I squeezed my eyes shut as a million little wooden knives bit my flesh and my skull fractured into the pavement. Two little spots of red, residual light from Elliot’s earring, lingered in my mind as everything else faded away.

Loading complete!

[cheekymochiiii]

Surprise

part 4. [cont. from Where is Lucy ->]

✰ Mini Series

✰ NaLu Short

Natsu and Happy stand wait outside the guildhall door’s of Blue Pegasus debating the best way to approach Anna Heartfilia. The pair knows Gajeel may already have a head start but the boys know Anna is their best resource to find Lucy.

“Are you suuuure you wanna do this?” Happy asks uneasy about seeing Ichiya and the Three Idiots. Remembering the last time they were here the boys were forced to dress in penguin suits and be escorts to random people.

A job the boys were not wanting a repeat of.

“Anna is our best chance to find Lucy,” Natsu states fiercely.

“Aye sir!” Happy nods matching Natsu’s bravado.

Natsu knocks and the guild’s doors swing open.

“Welcome to Blue Pegasus, how can we—oh Natsu and Happy. What are you guys doing here?” Hibiki asks cocking his head to the side. Before the pair can answer Hibiki’s eyes light up, “I know! You’re here for the entertainment!”

“Huh?” The duo asks in confusion.

“Places everyone we have newcomers!” Hibiki announces ignoring them and pulls the boys inside before shutting the door behind them, the lights clicking off and a spotlight shining on Jenny who is standing on a center stage.

There are other customers sitting in the booths that allow them a view of Jenny. All the men drool and stare with wide eyes. Natsu and Happy begin trying to sneak away but Hibiki forced them to stay in their spot.

“Hey man we’re just looking for Anna,” Natsu complains.

“We’ll tell you where she is after you watch our number,” Hibiki says, “Don’t move!” He tells the best friends as he runs to join the other two, Eve and Ren, who are background dancers to Jenny.

Jenny begins singing a soulful song and with each line she begins stripping her clothes. Natsu’s eye twitches, “Let’s get out of here Happy,” Natsu states turning to leave when Ichiya blocks them from the doors to freedom.

“Meeeennnn,” he croons while striking his signature pose, “What brings Sir Natsu and Sir Happy to our humble guild hall?”

“We’re looking for Anna,” Happy states using his exceed wings to hover.

“Lady Anna is at the school as we speak. She is in the middle of teaching a class on the outskirts of town,” Ichiya informs the two while stepping back and forth in that small dance he does.

“Great we’ll find it ourselves,” Natsu states pushing past Ichiya to escape the torturous performance.

“You don’t want to watch the rest of Jenny’s performance?” Ichiya questions.

“No thanks,” Natsu quickly denies causing Jenny to send a glare at his back as the duo quickly ventures off.

“How will we know which direction to go?” Happy asks as he soars next to Natsu.

“My nose, duh!” Natsu grins as he easily picks up Anna’s scent and begins tracking her, “We’ll find her in no time.”

The duo manages to reach the teacher in the middle of her outdoor activities with her youngest class. She is chasing a few of the children in a game of tag, some of them even using magic to get away from the others.

“Yo! Anna!” Natsu greets as Happy is instantly attacked by the children’s grubby hands and all try taking turns to ride and pet the exceed.

“Natsu and Happy what a pleasant surprise, what can I do for you two?” Anna asks kindly as she picks up one of the students off of Happy but the others are relentless in their chase to catch him.

It still surprises Natsu how much she and Lucy look and smell alike. It makes him smile at how different they are in personality. While Anna is refined and graceful, Lucy is brash and rowdy much like the guild she joined, which he likes far better than how she was the first time he met her. He remembers she would be haughty and scared of nearly everything but she’s changed. She isn’t scared anymore and isn’t the princess she was supposed to be. He wonders what she would be like if she had stayed at her estate. What he didn’t like to think about was if he had never met her at all.

“We’re looking for Lucy,” Natsu states pulling himself out of his thoughts, “She’s been gone a few days now and we aren’t sure where she is.”

Anna’s face changes then as she recalls where her relative is. “Did she say how long she would be gone?”

“She only left us a note about being gone for a week,” Natsu shares.

“A week?” Anna echoes unsure if that time would be too long for poor Lucy.

“Do you know where she is?” Natsu questions wondering what is with all the secrecy.

“Yes she, um...” Anna trails off trying to decide if it would be appropriate for her to tell him where she is. After all, Lucy had turned down her offer to accompany her to Acalypha. Anna looks to Natsu and can see the desperate look behind his eyes.

“I need to know where she is so I can beat Gajeel to her!” Natsu says competitively as he shakes a fist to the sky as if Gajeel could see him.

So that’s why he looks so determined, Anna thinks with a funny smile.

“Natsu help!” Happy cries as the children have now somehow managed to tie him up and have gone to tossing his precious fishies back and forth as a game with each other.

Natsu starts laughing, “They sure got the jump on you didn’t they buddy.”

“Hey why are you talking to Miss Anna?” One of the children with wild blonde hair asks looking up at Natsu with scrutiny.

“I’ve got to find a friend kiddo,” Natsu answers raising one eyebrow as he looks down at the boy.

“I’m not a kid!” The boy shouts looking to Anna with a blush, “I’m a mature man just like the wizards at Blue Pegasus. More mature than you are clearly.”

“You think those weirdos are mature?” Natsu mutters, “Wait a second!”

“If it’s Miss Anna you want, then I’ll fight you for her!” The boy challenges Natsu.

“Oh yeah? Bring it on!” Natsu grins.

Anna only laughs, “Now boys there will be no fights while I’m the teacher here. Reo it’s time to go inside anyway. Why don’t you go ahead and pick out a book for me to read to the rest of the class?”

The blonde haired boy nods fiercely, “Right away Miss Anna!” He agrees and leaves to the classroom.

“Alright children that’s enough rough housing for today let’s get back inside for our story time!” Anna orders the class as she opens the door for them. They all cheer with excitement to learn more from Anna and rush inside the school house.

“That snot-nosed kid,” Natsu grumbles.

“I’m afraid I don’t have much time but I can tell you where Lucy is. She will need her friends most today,” Anna says with a sorrowful look.

• • •

The morning for Lucy was long. She was tossing and turning all night after she had finished her writing. She wasn’t sure why she was so anxious. All she knew was that the moment she saw her parents it would melt away. Luckily, the sun was out and brighter than ever. Despite the cold snow and air the sun was keeping Lucy’s face warm from its rays.

She spent time in the market getting items for her picnic, but when she tried to find two flower bouquets for her parents the shops were out of stock. All that were left were empty vases and wilted stems.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get you flowers,” she tells her parents now standing before their gravestones with a sad smile, “I’m also sorry I couldn’t face either of your for so long,” Lucy admits sniffling.

“Hey Lucy.”

The celestial wizard turns recognizing the voice and is in awe of the bouquets of flowers in Loke’s arms.

“Loke? What are you doing here?” She asks.

“These flowers are from all of us,” he explains holding them out to her, “Plue told us you were in need of flowers before you closed his gate and we all chipped in with some flowers from the celestial spirit world.”

Lucy gazes at them in awe as she gently takes them from Loke. In the sun the chrysanthemums twinkle and almost glow beautiful shades of purple and blue that remind her of the skies in the celestial spirit world. The stems are long and have leaves that are a vibrant green against the snow.

Lucy feels tears building in the corner of her eyes, “Thank you so much,” she tells Loke as she meets his eyes, “They’re beautiful. You all did an amazing job putting them together.”

“Plue said you’ve been upset and we all wanted to try and ease the pain,” Loke admits and gives her a glistening smile, “You’re far too beautiful to have permanent frown lines and puffy eyes so if it will make you feel better I’m willing to go out with you now,” he says putting a gentle finger under Lucy’s chin and leans incredibly close to her.

“You never give up,” Lucy rolls her eyes as she swats his hand away from her and begins placing the flowers on the graves. She dusts the snow off of tombstones and gives them a sad smile as she places the stunning bouquets down. “I wish I could talk to you both...one more time,” Lucy tells them with a sad smile, “I’ve gone on so many adventures and made even more friends. I think you’d be proud of me Father. I never got to thank you Mother for the sacrifice you made for me...” Lucy trails off and feels the tears sliding down her cheeks as she wipes at them.

Loke puts a gentle hand on her shoulder and helps stand her up as he does a quick dark movement flashes across Loke’s periphreal vision.

“Lucy look out!” Loke exclaims and pushes her out of harms way causing a metal clawed hand that is connected to a chain digs into his side and the wielder of the the weapon pulls back causing a gash to form in his side.

“Loke!” Lucy cries out for her celestial spirit.

“Damn it!” Loke grunts and disappears back to the celestial spirit world leaving Lucy alone.

“Surprise!” A voice shouts with enthusiasm, “Well, well, well look at who we’ve got here, Lucy Heartfilia,” the person says with a terrifying grin.

Lucy looks over at the person and sees a man with a red and black striped sweater and a black fedora on his head. He’s wearing worn pants and heavy boots too. He swings the metal claw around on its black chain with a malevolent swagger.

“Looks like I’ll finally have my revenge today,” he says licking his lips as he looks at Lucy.

✰exxtra comment || y’all I finally updated from my short like months ago! lol I’m only doing one more chapter to this mini series so I hope y’all will like it when I finally get it done.