#I don’t wanna have to pull up photo comparisons but like you guys see it right

[spineless-lobster]

Supergiant could replace chronos with joe biden and honestly I don’t think I would be able to tell the difference

[harrywritingsbyme]

The one where Y/n is very different from Harry's exes

Based Off Of This Ask

And This One

A/N: I’m sorry the title sucks. Hope I proofread it enough 😂🤞🏾. But I had to do it, I had to write about it! It’s very filthy…enjoy🙃

When people asked Harry how you compared to his exes, all he could say was that there was and is absolutely zero comparison. You were so different from his exes that he still couldn’t believe that you were real. You two have only been together for 6 months and you were already blowing him out of the water. Both figuratively and literally. It was like you had two personalities, and he couldn’t get enough of or keep up with either. 

The “first personality” so to speak was the one that everyone else saw and the one he met first. It was the sweet, fun loving personality that he’d without a doubt take home to meet his mother. And if he had to be completely honest, he was already there when it came to you guys’ relationship. Ever since you guys’ very first interaction, Harry was completely hooked on you. Simply listening to your voice and watching you smile was all he wanted or even cared about. Your level of sweet and just being utterly amazing as if you were a literal angel was above and beyond in comparison to all of his previous relationships.

Harry could also say the same for your “second personality”. Except for the fact that he could not and would not compare this one to an angel by any means. He’d say that this one was a complete shocker to him, and that he was very surprised by it to say the least. Never in a million years would Harry have ever thought that he’d date a girl who was kinkier or “freakier” than him. Harry thought he was down for anything but you took that mindset to another level. And he found this truth out very early in the relationship. After you guys broke the “sex barrier”, it was like game on for you. Harry couldn’t fully explain it, but what he could say was that you were definitely a beast. And he loved it. What he loved the most about your sexual beast, would be the spontaneity. 

There have been many times where you’d sneak your hands into your lap and over onto his. He’d try to latch onto your wrist to stop you, but there was no use. All you had to do was lean over and whisper a simple “don’t fight me baby” and his once tight grip on you would instantly disappear, allowing you to have a little fun with him. It was like your words put a spell over him, causing him to let you have your way with him. And you wouldn’t simply palm him over his pants, if you were going to do anything remotely sexual at the dinner table you were going to go all the way. You’d undo them, pull his cock out, and tug at his ever hardening cock underneath the table, all while still engaging in whatever conversation you were apart of. You were keeping your composure very well even though your thighs were getting stickier and stickier by the second, while Harry was sweating buckets and dying right beside you. Then to make things better, you’d decide to  just stop all together out of the blue. Sometimes you’d tell him to join you in the bathroom, other times you’d just make him wait. This was just one scenario though. 

Another scenario would be you randomly sending him some very nsfw photos. He’d be in the middle of a very important meeting just to revive a message from you. When he would go to open the message, he’d find a very explicit photo of you in a very explicit position. All to which he’d immediately close his phone, take a deep breath, and check around to make sure that no one was looking. Then he’d proceed to dim his screen and look at these pictures you’d sent him. To make matters worse, you’d ask him the most innocent question to justify you sending the photos. One time you sent him an ass pic with a message asking him if he saw a mole, knowing good and well that a mole would be the last thing Harry’d be paying attention to. He’d be so caught up in them that he’d have to be snapped out of the trance you put him in. And then when he went to go stand up, he’d quickly realize that he had a massive hard-on that only you would be able to fix. 

Your spontaneity was also accounted for when it came to you wanting to have sex. You didn’t know why, but you felt extremely comfortable around Harry. Even when there wasn’t anything sexual going on between you two, Harry made you feel extremely comfortable to just be yourself. It was like this for the both of you. The same way Harry made you feel at ease and comfortable to just be yourself, you made Harry feel the exact same way. This confidence and being comfortable around each other translated very well into the bedroom, or wherever you two decided to go at it. Especially for you. You became very comfortable when it came to you telling Harry that you not only wanted some action, but also what you wanted and how you wanted it. You gave him every last detail. From hard or soft, to fast or slow, you told him all of it. Sometimes you even told him what position you wanted him to take you in. It wasn’t just because of you being comfortable around him, it was also because you couldn’t get enough of Harry. He quickly became an expert when it came to your body and pleasuring you. He knows exactly how to tap into the things that set you off and just make your head spin. You loved the way he took control in many situations and did whatever he wanted to you. You liked having a level of control over him, but you were starting to think that you liked him having control over you. It also didn’t help that Harry was more than okay with taking you anytime anywhere either of you wanted.

If Harry had to bring into evidence a final scenario of a time where you’ve shown him the side of you that was a complete sexual beast, he’d bring up the random blowies you’d give him. If he had to describe them in two words, random and sloppy. It didn’t matter if you two were in public or in private, you were going to find a way to get on your knees in front of him. And when you did eventually get on your knees, you gave him the best, and sloppiest blowjob he’s ever received. The way you were practically slobbering all over his cock, and taking him down your throat the way you were was beyond belief to Harry. Normally he wouldn’t cum fast, but if the situation involved your mouth being wrapped around him, Harry’d be cumming in an instant. He couldn’t help it, you were just really good. And you knew it. You knew the power you had over Harry in these situations and you absolutely loved it. You were working his cock so good that he could barely hold himself up. 

Luckily for Harry, he wasn’t standing up this time.

Harry had invited you to spend a long weekend over at his place to not only spend some quality time together, but also to celebrate you guys’ 6 month anniversary. Neither of you were one of those people who celebrated every little milestone, but this was something that the both of you really wanted to celebrate. The both of you could feel that the relationship you guys had was something that the both of you loved and never wanted to end. This weekend was not only the milestone halfway mark for you and Harry’s first year together, it was also the weekend that you two said your first I love you’s. To clarify, it was the first time you two said your non-sex induced I love you’s. It was a very romantic, love and sex filled weekend and last thing either of you wanted was for it to end.

Unfortunately for you both, the weekend was winding down and you two were in your last night together before you and Harry had to get back to real life. After you two made and ate dinner together, you both agreed to go back up to the bedroom. At first you two agreed on just cuddling and watching the rom com Harry chose. But after a while you started to want a little more. You already had a hand on his thigh so  you decide to move it slightly against him, every time getting higher and higher up. You could see out of the corner of your eye Harry looking over at you, silently asking what you were doing. Instead of turning to him and giving a response, you keep your eyes trained on the tv and you keep moving your hand against him. 

As your hand got higher and higher, you could hear Harry’s breaths get quicker and you just kept on going. Eventually your hand made it’s way under his shirt and to the waistband of his shorts. Once you felt like he’d been teased enough, you decide to tell him what you wanted, just like you always did. 

“I wanna suck you off.” You tell him abruptly. Instead of answering you, Harry takes a deep breath and removes your hand from him. 

“Of course y’do.” Harry sighs amusedly, wiping his hands across his face.

“Can I?” You ask him with a questioning tone.

Before responding, Harry hooks his fingers around the waistband of his shorts, shoving them down his legs, kicking them off at his ankles. 

“Now why would I say no to having your pretty lips wrapped round m’cock?” Harry says, tugging your hand towards his very hard cock which was standing up very proudly in his lap.

“M’so glad you just stopped wearing underwear all together around me.” You hum happily, moving yourself so that you were between his spread legs. 

Once you’re laying against the bed between his legs, you waste no time putting your mouth on him. You push the large and swollen head of him between your lips, suckling him in your mouth. You then push your head further down, taking more of him into your mouth. You take so much of him or as much as you could possibly take into your mouth before you feel him pushing against the back of your throat. 

“Fuck!” Harry growls, dropping his head back against the pillows. You hold him there for a few more seconds before coming back up for air. When you take your mouth off of him you start to quickly tug on his now completely soaked cock. You loved hearing the wet sound of you jerking his cock mixing with his labored moans. You wanted to make those moans even louder, so you take your mouth down a little lower, sucking one of his sizable balls into your mouth. When you do this, you hear Harry let out a sound that you’d never heard leave his mouth. It wasn’t a scream, but it wasn’t a moan. It was more of a satisfied yelp. You weren’t going to deny the fact that that you loved hearing that. In fact, you wanted to keep on hearing it. So to keep it going, you take your mouth off of him and you do the exact same thing you just did to his other ball. 

When you hear him let out another yelp, you couldn’t help but hum happily around him. You also feel Harry’s hand fall into your hair, keeping a grip on you. By doing this, he was telling you that he very much enjoyed what you were doing. When you remove his other ball from your mouth, you lick a wide stripe down from his balls to his ass. When you do this, Harry’s hips immediately push up from the bed. His feet become planted on the bed, and his grip on your hair becomes tighter.

“Fuck Y/n!” Harry yells out. You were the first person besides himself to ever venture out to the area below his cock. He’d always been a little hesitant to tell his previous partners that he didn’t mind them venturing out a bit lower. So having your mouth down there, was absolutely amazing for him. You made him embrace the pleasure of it all, and embrace the different types of pleasure he wanted to receive. The fact that you were willing to try new things and just go for it made it all even better for him. 

Before putting your mouth back on his cock, you lap your tongue around the very sensitive area. You  then move your mouth back to his cock, bobbing your head up and down on him. You could hear that his moans were beginning to become needier, telling you that he was about to cum. So to push him right over the edge, you begin to push one go your fingers down towards his puckered hole. When you get down there, Harry pretty much screams out your name. That doesn’t stop you though, it makes you keep on going. You slowly push your finger into him. As you do this, Harry completely lets go. His hand tightens in your hair, his hips push right up from the bed, sending his cock right into your throat, and causing you to gag hard around him. You could even feel him clenching tightly around your finger.

“Y/N!” Harry groans loudly, cumming right down your throat. As he lets go, you slowly pull your finger out of him and his hips go completely limp against the bed. His hand that was in your hair goes completely limp, allowing you to pull your mouth off of him. When you pull yourself up, you try your hardest to catch your breath. Even though you weren’t directly receiving the pleasure, your head was spinning just as if you were. 

You sponge a soft kiss to his hips before crawling back up to the top of the bed with him.

“Will y’marry me?” Harry asks, completely in a post earth shattering orgasm daze. 

“If you ask me again in 6 months, I’ll say yes.” You hum in his ear.

“Deal.” Harry sighs happily. 

Neither of you were sure on whether or not the other was serious or joking about the whole marriage thing, but you both could agree on the fact that you two were a match made in heaven for many reasons and that neither of you were going anywhere for a very long time. 

Masterlist

[stardusttrashed]

The Games you Play- Bakugou Katsuki

Pairings: Bakugou Katsuki x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 3.2k+

A/n: All characters are aged up to 18, slightly nsfw

“Please y/n,” Midoriya asked in a hushed tone, his beaming smile never breaking. “He’ll listen to you, he always does.”

You let out an exasperated sigh and turned toward the green-haired boy buzzing with excitement. “He does not! Why can’t you just ask, Deku?”

“You know Bakugou won’t listen to him,” Uraraka quickly chimed in, defending Midoriya. “But he seems to like you enough to listen to you-.”

“He listens to Kirishima too, y’know,” you spoke a bit too loud as you cut her off. The thought of Bakugou liking you back made your cheeks grow warm. Sure, you’ve spent plenty of time inside and outside of classes with him, but you had convinced yourself he saw you as nothing but a friend. Heck, even the term friend may be a bit of a stretch.

“Who will listen to me?” Kirishima questioned as he slid into the circle, startling you out of your thoughts.

“Bakugou. Midoriya wants Y/n to ask him to join our class bonding activity. He seems to think if she asks he is more likely to agree.” Tenya eagerly broke down the situation, his tone a bit too loud for the quiet conversation the group held.

Kirishima shrugged and nodded nonchalantly, “he’ll definitely come if you ask. Dude kinda has a soft spot for ya.” His eyes lit up with a mischievous glint as he caught a glimpse at who was entering the room over your shoulder. “Now hurry up and ask so we can leave. Trust me you’ll be fine,” he laughed as he shoved you gently. 

You stumbled back a bit, yelping a quiet protest before you crashed into a hard surface. A large hand wrapped around your waist to steady you. “Oi, watch where you’re going, idiot.” The group quickly turned away, acting as if they had no idea what was going on. You felt your body tense up, the butterflies in your stomach set ablaze at the sound of his voice. He must’ve just came in from a workout, the veins in his forearms and tiredness in his voice still prominent. You didn’t have to look at him to know he was wearing his signature black tank. The tank that clung to his chest, leaving little about his muscular stature to the imagination. 

“Are you goin’ to move sometime today? I kinda have things to do.”

Mustering all the courage you had, you turned to face him. You had to force your eyes away from the tight black tank clinging to his sculpted chest and up to his fiery eyes. “Aw, I thought you liked holding me,” you teased, batting your eyelashes at him only to receive an eye roll. The hand resting on your waist tightened slightly, almost unnoticeably. You had his complete attention. Well almost, it was hard not to notice and keep an eye out for the idiots pretending to be busy behind you. “C-come to the arcade with me, er, I mean us.” You did a mental facepalm at the slip of your tongue. “Everyone from our class will be there. I thought it’d be fun and Uraraka convinced Tenya it’d be a good class bonding outing for us. But it’s cool if you don’t want to come. I just figured you could hang with Kirishima or make fun of Deku. Or-.”

“Geez, you’ve been hangin’ out with damn Deku too much. Blabbering, like an idiot” despite his somewhat harsh words you couldn’t help but notice the playful smirk on his lips. “Almost like you just like hearing your own voice.”

You rolled your eyes, “I’m not the only one who likes it, hothead. We’re meeting outside in an hour and we’re heading to the nearby arcade together. You better be there or I’ll kick your ass the next time I see you.” You sauntered away towards the elevators, ignoring the streaming profanities being shouted behind you. 

 ----

You looked around the group, searching for your favorite blond other than All Might. Just as you were about to give up hope something in the doorway caught your attention. 

Bakugou begrudgingly walked through the doors, his hands shoved into his pockets. “Oi, if you bozos don’t hurry up we’ll run outta time,” he shouted as if he had been waiting on everyone the whole time. He glanced at you, slyly taking in your outfit change from earlier, before walking past the group. He’d be lying if he said you weren’t the reason he came. He couldn’t give two shits about ‘class bonding’, but getting to hang with you without having to be the one to ask. Now that, that’s what got him to come.

After a quick walk and train ride-- both of which were full of Mina’s comments about this being the time to act on yours and Uraraka’s crushes-- you all had arrived at a small arcade. 

“Okay, but hear me out, guys. All you have to do is invite them to play a game with you. Bing bang, done,”  Mina continued in a whisper as you all poured into the small building. 

Jiro caught a glimpse of your expression and quickly chimed in. “One game and Mina has to leave you both alone about it for two weeks.”

You looked over at Uraraka contemplating the offer. “It can’t be that bad right, Y/n,” she finally spoke after a moment. “Not like we have to tell them how we feel,” she seemed to be rationing more to herself than you. “It’ll be just like hanging out at school or in the dorms. No biggie.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever.” You turned to Mina with a pointed finger, “but not a peep after okay?” You relaxed slightly as she made a zipping gesture across her lips. 

The two of you separated from the group of girls, all of you scattering about the place. Uraraka had decided to invite Deku to a game of Skeeball. You watched the pair make their way over to the line of machines before deciding to focus on your task. 

“Is this what you do at arcades,” Bakugou scoffed as he walked up to you. “In case you didn’t know you’re supposed to play games or something.”

“Then why are you here and not playing,” you shot back. You leaned against the table behind you. 

“Playing with you is fun enough for me.” You rolled your eyes in hopes of distracting him from the blush forming in your cheeks. 

“Is that the only reason you came?” You took a challenging step toward him with a raised eyebrow. “To play with me? I know it’s not ‘cause you wanna bond with our classmates.” You paused, waiting for him to do something other than stare at you with a frown. “Y’know, some of our classmates seem to think you kinda like me.”

“Who the hell said that?!” Bakugou’s eyes darkened as he scanned the room, glaring at the classmates paying no attention to him. “I’ll beat their ass! I bet it was that damned Deku! Buncha damn idiots.” He continued to mutter under his breath, his focus now on looking around the room for the green-haired boy.

You laughed quietly at his avoidance of the exact answer. He’s cute when he’s all worked up, sparks flickering from his hands. Maybe that’s why you always riled him up, pushing his buttons until you could hear his tough kid act. Knowing when it came to you it was all bark. A smirk played with your lips as they landed on a photo booth. “Cool it sparky, come take pictures with me.”

Bakugou’s lips curled up into a sneer as he clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. The annoyance from his earlier outburst still simmered inside of him. You always did that. Got him to explode just so you could sit there with that stupid, beautiful, heart-stopping smile. It drove him crazy.  “Like I’d do something so irritating,” he clicked his tongue. “Who goes to an arcade to take pictures?! Why don’t you ask pretty boy icy hot to take dumbass photos with you?”

“Fine,” you shrugged, calling his bluff. Before he could say another word or make a move you made your way over to Todoroki. You leaned against the claw machine he focused on intently, watching the way your best friend’s brows furrowed in concentration. “Todoroki, can you take pictures with me,” you mused once he finished unsuccessfully. “I have pictures with like everyone else in the class but you.” You shot him your best puppy dog face. 

Watching you talk to icy hot made Bakugou’s blood boil. The way you leaned in a bit. Or how you took his hand after he agreed. Your angelic smile. That should be him, but his loud mouth spoke before he could think. He didn’t expect you to actually call his bluff, thinking he could get you to ask just one more time. Not to be a dick, but so he could hear those words fall off your lips. So he could relish in you asking him to do something other than train with him or drag him to class movie nights. As much as he hated that you were making the first move and not him, he hated watching you giggle away with Todoroki more. That’s supposed to be him making you giggle. He’d let you press all of his buttons for just a chance to hear your quiet little giggle. 

It didn’t take him long after watching you and Todoroki walk out the booth to make his way over to you. He calloused hand wrapped around yours, tugging you into the booth with him as he grumbled, “come in idiot.” His heart fluttered at the feeling of your soft hand in his. It was different compared to when the two of you trained together. He hadn’t realized how soft you were before, even when you’d come over to cuddle him during movie nights. 

“Katsuki,” you chuckled as you let him pull you back into the booth you just stepped out of. You were barely able to wave bye to Todoroki before the curtain closed behind you. “I thought taking pictures at an arcade was stupid.”

“It is.” He plopped himself down on the bench, “but if it’ll make you smile, whatever.” He mumbled the second part of his statement, but the close space ensured you heard it. You smiled shyly, doing everything in your power to pretend you didn’t hear that. 

“Damn it’s cramped in here.”

You shrugged and sat beside him, “it was fine when Todoroki and I were in here.”

“Yeah, well, I’m bigger than him.” You let out an amused hum at his claim. It was true, Todoroki had a slimmer frame in comparison, but not enough to back Bakugou’s reasoning. “Come ‘ere.” His usually rough hands gently lifted you off the small bench and onto his lap. “See? More room now.” He moved to the middle of the bench, his hands resting on your hips. 

You smirked and wiggled ever so slightly to ‘get comfy’. “Definitely. What was I doing thinking we could fit sitting next to each other,” you scoffed and rolled your eyes. You shifted so he could see the knowing smirk on your lips. “Not like you’re just trying to show up Todoroki or anything.” 

Steam was practically fuming out of his ears and you couldn’t tell if it was his typical anger or from embarrassment. “Do you want the damn picture or not,” he barked as he jammed coins into the machine. “Annoying ass.” His grip on your hips tightened slightly, pulling you closer to him. His chest was pushed flush against your back, providing you with a comfortable warmth. 

Bakugou’s scowl remained pressed into his face as the countdown for the first picture reached zero. Even now you couldn’t help but think of how handsome his features are. The way his fiery eyes tried so desperately to display their normal anger. The small glimpse of his teeth through his lips. You were infatuated by him, to say the least, which spurred your next actions on. 

“Can you smile at least once Katsuki?” You turned your head so that your nose brushed against his jawline. You trailed your nose along his smooth skin up to his cheek while keeping in mind the continuing countdown. 5. “As hot as your scowl is I wanna see you smile.” 4. “Pretty please,” you dragged out the two words the best you could. 3.

The close proximity of you two combined with the feeling of your breath against him drove made his mind hazy. All he could do was watch you through the screen and pray you couldn’t feel the growing bulge in his pants. Or even worse, his ramming heart. 2. His eyes sparkled with excitement despite every attempt he made to stop them. That’s when you struck, your soft lips pressing gently against his cheek. 1. 

“What the hell you do that for?” You were sure his bark could be heard across the arcade, but you couldn’t care less. The blush gracing his cheeks was absolutely priceless and you managed to catch it on camera. Your sweet laughter only helped spread the blush onto his ears. “Oi, cut it out!” You threw your head back with laughter, the melodious sound ringing through his ears. “What’s so funny, eh?”

“Y- your face,” you attempted to speak through your fit of giggles. “Didn’t look so tough then. Maybe you are a softie Bakugou.” His name sounded like honey dripping from your lips.

Bakugou rolled his eyes and tried to force another scowl onto his features, but it was no use. Watching you laugh with your entire being made him feel warm, at ease even. There wasn’t anyone or anything else in the world that matter to him right now other than making that sound continue. Your smile and laughter were absolutely contagious. Before he knew it he was laughing along with you. Or at least he was before the flash of the photo booth brought him back to reality. 

“Yeah, yeah. Real funny.” He desperately was trying to regain his tough composure before the final countdown finished. His only problem was your dying giggles made it unbelievably difficult. That’s when it hit him, “let’s see how you like it.” His calloused fingers caught your chin, gently turning your head to face him once again. He was hesitant, yet somehow confident at the same time. As if he knew exactly what he wanted, but wanted to make sure you wanted the same. His crimson eyes looked down from your own to your lips, desire clouding his vision. 

He had fantasized about kissing you from the first time he fought you during training, but he didn’t think he’d ever actually get the chance. You were the typical nice girl, the girl that everyone in the class got along with. Never one to start any trouble. But when he fought against you he saw an entirely different side. You were snarky the entire time, confidently taunting him. You didn’t even flinch at his outburst or threats, you just threw threats right back at him. That’s what he liked most about you, you weren’t soft like people made you out to be.  Since then he took every chance he had to spend time with you. Every after school training, class required team-ups, and free weekends spent with you and Kirishima only made his desire increase. His fantasies began to take over, filling his mind day and night. And yet, here he was. 

“If you’re gonna kiss me then get on with it,” your voice came out as a shaky whisper. His hot breath ghosted your lips which made the butterflies in your stomach dance with anticipation. You lifted your head slightly to let him know you wanted this as much as he did.

That was all he needed for him to roughly crash his lips onto yours. He hungrily leaned into you, desperate to get closer. You bunched up his shirt in your hand in an attempt to pull him closer. He had to keep you close. He needed to prove to himself that all of his fantasies were nonsense. Or maybe it was to prove to himself that this was real. That someone like you would give him the time of day. 

The roughness quickly dissolved into a soft yet insatiable hunger. Your lips were so much softer than he imagined, it took everything in him not to melt. Your hands rummaged through his blond hair, tugging whenever you tried to get closer. You were flush up against him yet there was still too much space in between. You needed this just as much as he did. Bakugou’s grip on your hip tightened as if to anchor himself. He furrowed his brows as he deepened the kiss, determined to make this moment last as long as possible. You both could barely breathe, but neither had intentions on breaking. As much as he enjoyed pecking your soft lips, he craved more. His tongue brushed against your bottom lip.

The bright flash quickly reminded you of your surroundings causing you to begrudgingly break the kiss. You kept your eyes closed as you waited for the haze in your mind to clear. “Been hopin’ you’d do that for a while now,” you chuckled, ghosting your lips over his before opening your eyes. You were met with his drunken gaze, his crimson irises undeniably intoxicated by you as they took in every curve of your face. 

His chuckle spent shivers down your spine, “all you had to do was ask, idiot.” He growled quietly, pressing a quick kiss to your lips then the crook of your neck.

“Didn’t think you’d be that good.” His eyes darkened at your playful tone. “Or that you’d even have the balls to-.” You were cut off by another kiss, rough enough to shut you up but quick enough to leave you wanting more. He took your bottom lip between his teeth and gently tugged. 

Just as he opened his mouth to speak a familiar voice cut in, “anyone in there?” You were greeted by Mina pulling back the curtain, her mischievous grin growing wide at the sight of you two. One look at your swollen lips and Bakugou’s messier than usual hair and she knew automatically, but the pictures would confirm it.

“Mina no-,” you begged as she disappeared back behind the curtain. You jumped out of the booth with Bakugou close behind only to hear Mina’s squeal. The role of photos laid in her hand as she scanned each picture. You could feel your cheeks growing warmer by the second. “Hand ‘em over Mina.” You made a failed attempt to grab the role from her.

“Mind your damn business raccoon eyes,” Bakugou hissed as he snatched both roles out of her hand. You sent him a wide-eyed look. “What? She doesn’t need to see the pictures to know you’re mine.” He carefully shoved the roles into his pockets. His strong arm wrapped around your waist, pulling you close to him. Your back pressed against his chest as he buried his face in the crook of your neck, whispering against your skin.  “You are mine right?”

You ignored Mina’s excited gaze as you turned around to face him. “Duh, dumbass. Took you long enough to realize it.”

[commentaryvorg]

Digimon Data Squad Dub Comparison Episode 8 - The Singer’s Secret

This is a companion to my commentary on the original Japanese Digimon Savers! Reading my commentary on the original version of this episode (which you can find here) is recommended before reading this dub comparison. 

Original name ~ Dubbed name

Masaru Daimon ~ Marcus Damon

Yoshino Fujieda ~ Yoshino “Yoshi” Fujieda

Tohma H. Norstein ~ Thomas H. Norstein

Chika Daimon ~ Kristy Damon

Captain Rentarou Satsuma ~ Commander Richard Sampson

Hitoshi “Neon” Hanamura ~ Neon

[Since several characters share the same name between the original and the dub, quotes from the dub will always be in italics, while quotes from the original will not, in order to distinguish them.]

Since the dub constantly varies which character reads out the title card for each episode, I have to side-eye the fact that it’s Marcus and not Yoshi reading out the title card for Yoshi’s episode.

Marcus: “And now it’s eatin’ time!”

I am amused by the variation on Marcus’s “it’s fightin’ time” catchphrase. Gotta find something to replace the very-Japanese itadakimasu, and this sounds less awkward than a lot of things would in a very dorkily Marcus way.

Reporter:  “We won’t name names, but only because we haven’t discovered who she is… *yet*.”

The dub appears to be leaning into the seediness of this whole gossip thing even more than the original, which I guess is fair, since it was already pretty seedy to begin with.

Megumi:  “What’s the meaning of this?”

Miki:  “How did you, the meekest of us all among DATS members…”

Megumi:  “…Manage to snag Hanamura Neon?”

~~~~~

Megumi: “You’re dating Neon?!”

Miki: “That ring a bell, Miss Keep-Secrets-From-Her-Friends?”

Megumi:  “We read all about it in the newspaper!”

I actually somewhat prefer Megumi and Miki’s angle in the dub. Instead of being jealous and putting her down as if she doesn’t deserve to date a celebrity because she’s too “meek” or whatever, they only appear to be upset that she didn’t tell them this because they consider themselves someone she’d share this sort of thing with. (Whether they actually are that is another matter; Yoshi never seems especially close with these two. But at least that is a less tiresomely misogynistic thing for them to be being unreasonable about.)

Megumi:  “We’ve been getting phone calls one after another since morning!”

Miki:  “We’re also getting loads of hate mail from Neon’s fans!”

Megumi:  “They’re demanding to know who Fujieda Yoshino thinks she is!”

~~~~~

Megumi: “We’ve been getting phone calls all morning long asking for Yoshi to give interviews!”

Miki:  “Not to mention the mail from Neon’s fans. My papercuts have papercuts!”

Megumi: “Everyone wants to know who ‘Yoshi’ is!”

Neon’s other fans are also apparently being a little more reasonable in the dub. Rather than being jealous and hateful (“who she thinks she is” very much carries connotations of them acting like she’s too ordinary to deserve to date a celebrity), they instead seem to be suddenly treating Yoshi like a celebrity as well. Even though jealousy and hate is definitely the way a fanbase would be likely to act to something like this in real life, I do not mind at all that the dub is toning this part down.

Yoshi: “…and I wore a hat. That’s a foolproof disguise!”

Apparently Yoshi subscribes to superhero universe logic if she believed that that was ever going to work. She had a hat and sunglasses; totally couldn’t have possibly been recognised.

Thomas then pulls up the photo that was taken of Yoshi after she took her hat and sunglasses off, amusingly implying that that’s the only reason she got busted and she totally would have been fine otherwise.

Thomas: “Your name, phone number, even your favourite music… Hmm, showtunes.”

Based on his tone, Thomas appears to be judging Yoshi for her taste in music, which doesn’t really seem like the kind of thing he would do. The dub just threw in that quick gag without thinking about if it fit the character.

Also, if, according to the dub, the information published about her included her phone number, why isn’t Yoshi herself the one getting all the phone calls and not her workplace? The dub does not mention her workplace being one of the details that was made public about her, so why Miki and Megumi have been swamped with letters and phone calls about this is a mystery.

Agumon:  “What’s an undercover investigation?”

~~~~~

Agumon: “Under what cover?”

Oh hey, dub, remember how Agumon shouldn’t know a whole bunch of human terms because he only recently came into the human world? And hey, look, you can make jokes with that, too, rather than making jokes with things that it doesn’t make any sense for Agumon to be saying!

Tohma:  “So if we carelessly break in, we’ll be kicked out before we know it.”

~~~~~

Thomas:  “So if we rush in, the Digimon will know that we’re after him.”

Gaomon: “And he’ll run.”

The dub actually gives a much better excuse for why the building’s hi-tech security system means they can’t just rush in: not because the security guards will kick them out, since they should be able to pull DATS authority on that, but rather because it’ll alert Keramon than they’re coming. Good job, dub, fixing a plot hole!

Unfortunately, despite the dub’s attempts to remove Miki and Megumi’s jealousy of Yoshi and turn it into them just having wanted the gossip, which I appreciated, the dub can’t really change the part where they jealously complain that they weren’t the ones to get to (fake) date Neon. Their animations for that are too extreme to really be interpreted as anything else.

Yoshino:  “Neon is my childhood friend.”

~~~~~

Yoshi:  “I knew Neon when we were children.”

Yoshi doesn’t mention the fact that he was specifically her friend. Their conversation later in the episode is still going to clearly establish that they were indeed on friendly terms back then, but I feel it’s a bit of a shame that their friendship isn’t something Yoshi outright mentions here. Her friendship with him is obviously quite important to her and to how she approaches investigating him; it makes sense that she’d want to bring it up.

Yoshino:  “He’s completely different than before. He was shorter than me, and he was fat. When he debuted, I didn’t recognise him at all.”

~~~~~

Yoshi: “He’s so different than he used to be. He was just a shy little boy back then. I would never have guessed that he’d become such a success story.”

I am very disappointed at the dub leaving out the part where he used to be fat, because that’s an important detail that makes it significantly easier to imagine that he was probably bullied back then. Yoshi doesn’t mention that she literally didn’t even recognise him as a singer, either. The dub’s take on this is focused more on his personality and less on his image.

Under normal circumstances, that shift in focus might be a good thing, but in this particular context, image is an even more relevant thing in the celebrity world than personality is. And image also tends to be more important in terms of how likely a kid is to be bullied. This is watering down the interesting parts of Neon’s character and it makes me sad.

Yoshino:  “Hitoshi!”

~~~~~

Yoshi: “Hi, Neon!”

Another very significant change: apparently, Neon just is his real name in the dub? Or, if it’s a stage name, Yoshi doesn’t care and is happy to call him by that rather than by whatever name she knew him by as a kid. Neon having an ordinary real name and Yoshino insisting on using it (and him not liking her doing so in public) was a neat aspect of the original that helped showcase the vast contrast between who he used to be and who he is today – again, kind of the whole point of Neon’s character – so I’m very sad that the dub loses this, too.

(The dub also hasn’t mentioned his surname and just calls him “Neon” at all times. Which really doesn’t actually matter at all, because the connotations of the surname Hanamura that I talked about in the original post would obviously be lost on a Western audience (unless they changed his surname to a Western one with similar connotations – now there’d be an actual reason to give a Japanese character a Western name, for once!). But I am disappointed about it for a very silly reason anyway, because Neon’s English voice actor happens to also voice one of those other Hanamuras that I mentioned in that post (who incidentally happens to be one of my favourite fictional characters, which is probably the only reason I care about this), and it would have been a hilarious coincidence for him to have voiced two Hanamuras. He still sort of did anyway, but only sort of.)

Neon:  “I told you not to call me by my real name.”

Yoshino:  “What does it matter?”

Neon:  “You haven’t changed at all.”

~~~~~

Neon: “Hey, wanna blow off work and come to the beach with me?”

Yoshi: “Sorry, I can’t. Too much to do.”

Neon:  “Oh well, I guess it’s your loss then.”

Because Neon doesn’t have an ordinary real name in the dub, we also lose the exchange that told us some interesting things about Yoshino and Neon’s characters and how they see each other and their relationship, replaced with completely meaningless fluff. (Inviting her to blow off work and come to the beach with him is a significantly more usually-romantically-coded thing than anything else they actually do in the episode.)

Masaru:  “Is this really a mission?”

~~~~~

Marcus: “You do know this guy’s a criminal.”

Miki & Megumi: “Alleged criminal!”

Marcus: “Gimme a break!”

Instead of being exasperated by relationship nonsense, Marcus is instead really sure already that Neon’s a criminal and writing him off as not worthy of respect as a result. Miki and Megumi are being totally reasonable to point out that it’s only allegedly for now.

Masaru:  “But Yoshino…”

~~~~~

Marcus: “Yoshi, he’s hiding a Digimon.”

Marcus is way more sure and making a much bigger point of this than Masaru.

(Masaru may have already basically decided as well that Neon’s probably the culprit, but even if he had, I don’t think he’d really have cared. He’s not here for the crime-solving and human-focused side of things – so long as he gets to fight that Digimon, that’s all that matters to him!)

Yoshi and Neon have basically the same conversation about carrots as in the original, but it doesn’t have quite the same meaning without the detail that Neon used to be fat, implying that Yoshino was probably encouraging him to eat them to try and help him lose weight.

Yoshino:  “I was exercising parental love because I wanted you to eat healthy and get bigger.”

~~~~~

Yoshi: “Hey, I was just making sure you grew up big and strong by eating your veggies!”

The one real difference here is the lack of her mentioning parental love, which is a shame because I liked it emphasising the idea of Yoshino the mom friend. Perhaps they removed that because they’re trying to make this relationship seem more actually romantic. I also liked the idea that it really wasn’t that romantic in the original, at least on Yoshino’s end.

Yoshino:  “I remember you were never able to do anything on your own…”

Neon:  “Thanks for the meal.”

~~~~~

Yoshi: “This has been so much fun. It’s really a shame that you have to work tonight.”

Neon: “Wish I didn’t.”

Another really meaningful and interesting line about Neon’s kid self (and his subtly telling reaction to it) gets removed and replaced with more fluff. This isn’t even the dub accidentally losing meaningful bits because they’re missing the point; this is clearly them removing these interesting parts on purpose. Why. Neon’s character was one of the most compelling things about the original episode. All they’re doing is deliberately making this episode significantly less good.

Chika:  “Neon is so cool!”

Masaru:  “What part of him?”

~~~~~

Kristy:  “Oh man, that Neon is so cool!”

Marcus: “Yeah, right.”

Marcus sounds so weirdly bitter here, like he really has firmly decided that Neon sucks and doesn’t deserve anyone’s admiration because he’s A Criminal. Why the hell does he care so much? Masaru was just bewildered as to what the big deal about him was in a way that had nothing to do with the suspected Digimon-harbouring.

Chika:  “Obviously, the part where he tries so hard to protect his girlfriend!”

~~~~~

Kristy:  “Do you think I’ll ever date someone who’s as cool and sweet as Neon?”

Kristy also does not specify that she admires Neon for trying to keep his girlfriend out of the limelight, which I appreciated Chika doing.

Kristy: “Just have him make it out to ‘Superfan Kristy the Most Beautiful Girl in the Whole World’.”

Geez. Kristy: still noticeably more of a brat than Chika.

Masaru:  “Look, Chika, you wouldn’t like it if other people were prying about who you like or date, right? It’s the same with Yoshino. That’s to say nothing of the fact that you’re demanding his autograph just because he’s a celebrity…”

~~~~~

Marcus: “Look, you wouldn’t like it if people kept prying into the private details of your life – I mean, if you had any. Well, Yoshi’s the same. Besides, Neon is probably sick of signing autographs for annoying fans.”

Marcus is technically giving the same sort of advice here, but my god, he is being way more of a dick about it than is necessary. The dub is ruining Masaru’s adorable fatherly-advice moment and turning it into a Marcus Is A Jerk™ moment instead and I don’t like it one bit.

Kristy: “You think I’m annoying, Marcus…?”

And so in this version, Kristy is actually pretty within reason to get upset, because her brother was being a dick. (Though she was also being slightly more annoying and bratty about the autograph thing than Chika was in the first place.)

Promotional video: “Hey everybody! Have you heard the new song by pop sensation Neon? Download it today, and tell all your friends, too!”

The dub version of the “promotional video” actually has a voiceover and therefore is vaguely more believable as an actual promotion than just a weird silent two second loop. Fixing another minor plot hole, dub, well done.

The dub completely cuts out the security guard who confronts Masaru at the door, probably because they didn’t want to include the part where Masaru assaults the guy. This is despite the fact that in the original episode, Masaru implicitly gets in trouble for this later when the guy wakes up, and otherwise generally comes across as having acted very rashly and unreasonably for this whole situation. But nah, apparently we can’t have our kids’ show protagonist do a bad thing, not even when the story presents it like it was kind of a bad thing to do.

Marcus: “Open the door, I’m here to protect you!”

Masaru never actually mentioned that he’s here to protect Yoshino, even though the possibility that she was in trouble is most of the reason why he came. Marcus making an explicit point of this is him making things a lot more about himself than Masaru did, like him coming here is mostly him wanting to seem like the Big Hero, rather than him genuinely just being worried about his friend.

Yoshino:  “Masaru! What are you…?”

~~~~~

Yoshi: “Marcus, what are you doing?! You’ll blow it; Neon’s here! Go away!”

Yoshi gets a longer line here – they’re probably filling in time lost from cutting the security guard – but in the process I can’t help but think that Neon should have heard the “you’ll blow it” part, since he shows up at the door just a second later. Which in fact would have been Yoshi blowing it and not Marcus.

Masaru:  “Don’t play dumb! This was all part of your scheme!”

Neon:  “Wh-What are you doing? Who are you?!”

Masaru:  “What are you plotting, using that Digimon?!”

~~~~~

Marcus: “Don’t play dumb; I know what you’re up to!”

Neon: “What do you mean? Who are you?!”

Marcus: “Just confess and tell me what you have planned in that mind of yours!”

So, despite Marcus having been significantly more convinced than Masaru ever was that Neon is definitely hiding a Digimon, he’s… not bringing up the Digimon for some reason now that he’s actually confronting Neon, even though Masaru did. What the hell.

The dub cuts the moment of Yoshino slapping Masaru, albeit not very convincingly, since there’s still a shot of him briefly looking like he’s just been slapped, and then a visible mark on his face a shot later.

Yoshino:  “How dare you suddenly intrude into other people’s houses! How about you consider *not* being a nuisance to others for a change!”

~~~~~

Yoshi: “Who do you think you are, barging into somebody’s house just for a measly autograph?! I don’t care how big a fan you are, you better learn some manners, kid!”

I do enjoy Yoshi putting on even more of an act here, trying to make it look like Marcus is some crazed fan desperate for an autograph. Though I’m not sure that angle entirely matches with Marcus’s behaviour of grabbing Neon and demanding that he confesses what he’s up to. Then again, Neon is going to figure out people are onto him from this either way, so I guess it doesn’t matter how convincing Yoshi is or isn’t.

Masaru:  “Hey, wait! I said wait! What was that for?”

Yoshino:  “You’re ruining my undercover investigation.”

~~~~~

Marcus: “What was all that for, Yoshi?”

Yoshi:  “To stop *you* from blowing my cover and all of my hard work.”

I enjoy Yoshi being more pointedly annoyed about this with her emphasis that he’s ruining her hard work. She has a right to be.

Masaru:  “What the hell, I was just worried about her.”

~~~~~

Marcus: “Well, I’m so sorry for trying to save you!”

Marcus! This is not about you! Masaru wasn’t trying to make this about himself; he was just worried about his friend – but Marcus is making this all about him Being The Hero and him being the one to save her.

It’s not that I don’t hypothetically enjoy characters who have issues along those lines, but that should not be the point with Marcus here. The dub isn’t going to go anywhere interesting with this because it wasn’t a thing in the original, so instead this just sticks out as another thing making Marcus more self-absorbed.

The security guard showing up here now is still there in the dub, even though they cut Masaru knocking him out earlier.

Sampson: “Keramon’s making it seem like Neon’s selling more songs than he is.”

[…]

Kudamon: “The more popular people think he is, the more albums they buy.”

They have an interesting point here not brought up in the original, that even if Keramon is only making Neon look more popular by messing with the figures, that’s going to result in actually making him more popular. In the original, it was unclear exactly what kind of manipulation Keramon had been doing (until the obvious stunt last night) and I sort of vaguely got the impression that it’d been actually making people download his songs even if they never wanted to. Then again, that might be obvious enough that people would have reported it, so perhaps things were always meant to be how the dub is explaining them to be here. Good job to the dub again for making that clearer. (…Or so I thought; hold this thought.)

Thomas: “Clearly, Neon’s making a fortune through fraud.”

I don’t especially like the dub adding this, though, because Neon should not be doing this for the money. He’s doing this for the popularity. Admittedly Thomas is only speculating and wouldn’t know better, but him stating it like this makes it seem like this is the correct conclusion to make about Neon’s motives.

Neon:  “To think that you were one of them…”

Yoshino:  “It’s prohibited to give a Digimon refuge!”

~~~~~

Neon:  “I just can’t believe you were a part of this. I trusted you!”

Yoshi: “Yeah, that’s why you told me all about your illegal Digimon!”

I enjoy Yoshi actually somewhat responding to the accusation of betrayal by pointing out that he was hiding something from her as well. Though I also do think Yoshino’s response of completely avoiding the topic says something interesting in and of itself.

Neon:  “Don’t order me around!”

~~~~~

Neon: “Don’t you judge me!”

While the “don’t order me around” perhaps touched on Neon’s past of not being able to do much on his own, “don’t judge me” would also potentially touch on his past of being bullied. However, I can’t help but think that’s more by luck than judgement on the dub’s part, since they went and deliberately removed so many of the other hints of Neon’s past even being like that in the first place.

Neon:  “He distributes my songs around the world and manipulates music charts…”

Wait, so Keramon actually does forcibly distribute the songs even to people who don’t want them, and not just fake the figures so that people will be more likely to check out what the fuss is about?

Yeah, actually, this line is basically exactly what Neon said here originally, so I guess that is what was meant to have been going on after all. Sampson and Kudamon must have missed that part when they were discussing things earlier.

Yoshino:  “Hitoshi, stop this!”

~~~~~

Yoshi: “You have to stop this. Fraud is a criminal offence!”

Though the lack of her being able to call him Hitoshi is a bad thing again, I do appreciate Yoshi pointing out that fraud is a crime. Even aside from DATS’s rules that nobody’s allowed to have a Digimon unless they’re a DATS member, Neon has still been breaking the regular law anyway, and the original didn’t really emphasise that very much.

They cut out the moment of Keramon grabbing Yoshi by the neck, but they do still show her being held like that in a shot a second later.

Neon:  “No way! Keramon is my partner!”

~~~~~

Neon: “Keramon is my partner just like your Digimon! I wouldn’t betray him any more than you’d betray them!”

Dub-Neon is very deliberately making the parallel to DATS’s Digimon rather than only accidentally invoking it by happening to use the same word – but it really isn’t a parallel he should be making deliberately. Keramon is not a person. It hasn’t spoken or expressed its own desires or sense of self at all; it’s just giggled creepily and done as he’s ordered it to. There is no actual meaningful bond of friendship here for Neon to care about not wanting to betray.

I think the dub added this in because the dubbers actually think that it’s basically the same deal going on with Neon and Keramon as with DATS and their partners. But it really, really isn’t.

Neon:  “Thanks to him, my songs are played throughout the world! He’s making me famous!”

~~~~~

Neon:  “He made me rich and famous!”

Famous, yes, but the money is not the point, dub. Neon in the original never mentioned money as being part of why he’s doing this.

Also, the past tense implies that it’s only because of Keramon that Neon became famous at all. Which I really doubt is supposed to be the case, because there’s no sense given at any point that Neon just burst into the public eye out of nowhere within the past month since he’s had Keramon. He must have been already doing reasonably well on his own merit before he started using fraud.

Masaru:  “What’s this crap about him making you famous?! It’s not through your own efforts! If you wanted to change yourself through your music, then do it using your own merit!”

~~~~~

Marcus: “Your whole career is a giant lie! You haven’t actually achieved anything! That Digimon of yours did everything for you; you’re nothing but a phony!”

…But it seems the dub really wants us to think that it’s only because of Keramon that Neon got anywhere at all and he was never genuinely good enough to deserve any amount of success whatsoever. I think the dubbers might have missed the point of this as well and believed that that was actually what was going on in the original episode.

And of course, because of this, we lose the interesting nuanced moment of Masaru being really good and pointing out that Neon should have kept working at this using his own merit. Instead we just get Marcus boringly shooting him down completely.

Yoshino:  “Stop!”

Lalamon:  “Stop!”

~~~~~

Yoshi:  “No pictures!”

Lalamon: “Give me that camera!”

Lalamon demanding the camera further emphasises the point of Yoshi choosing to do this instead of fight, and it gives more of a vague impression that maybe she really does take the camera and wipe the pictures offscreen, even though we won’t be seeing it. I approve.

Neon:  “Everyone needs to quit making fun of me!”

~~~~~

Neon:  “My career’s ruined now, and you’re gonna pay!”

Unsurprisingly, after everything the dub has already removed about Neon’s interesting aspects, they also remove probably the most interesting line – the one that very strongly hints he used to be bullied and that this has all been about him breaking away from that in a way that gradually became more and more desperate and obsessive to the point of illegality.

Instead, dub-Neon is somebody who wanted to be rich and famous just because, apparently had genuinely no actual talent or merit to base that on whatsoever, and just faked his entire success story (which the dub expects us to think he could have believably done within a month) using Digimon-driven fraud. That’s just… boring.

It also makes it significantly less interesting and meaningful why Keramon evolves in response to these words, though I suppose a burst of vengeful anger at them for ruining his fraudulent career is still reasonable enough to do it.

Masaru:  “Change places! Let’s go, Agumon!”

~~~~~

Marcus: “We’ll take ‘im! It’s fightin’ time!”

I am mildly sad at the loss of the sense that Masaru sees this as him tagging in for Tohma and being equal teammates with him, rather than trying to grab all the glory himself.

Neon:  “Even the memory of when we met again?”

~~~~~

Neon: “Even the stuff about you and me?”

In the dub, Neon makes this just about losing what their relationship is now and nothing else. I liked the sense that, after all the fraud had been uncovered and he’d basically given up, original-Neon was mostly sad to lose the memory of seeing her again, his childhood friend who was there for him during that tough time and could be proud of how far he’d come.

Overall differences

This episode has quite a few significant differences, with a lot of them being bad, but at least there’s a small handful of good ones too, for once.

Let’s start with the good ones. This episode’s dub actually has a couple of small fixes to some minor logic issues the original had. They explained that they can’t break into Neon’s building because the high security meant that Neon/Keramon would see them coming and run, which made a lot more sense. Then they gave the promo video a voiceover, making it a lot more believable as a promo video than some weird silent two-second loop.

Yoshi also has a few minor good bits: leaning more into the story that Marcus is a crazed fan when he shows up at the door, pointing out that fraud is a crime. I also appreciate that they attempted to tone down Miki and Megumi’s harshness towards her at least a little.

But onto the bad stuff: the really huge glaring problem with the dub of this episode is Neon. Neon’s character was the big saving grace of this otherwise not especially interesting episode to me in the original, and none of what makes him that way is present in the dub. All of the hints of him being weak and helpless and probably-bullied as a kid are watered down into him simply having been kind of shy, there’s no hints of him remaking his image (no mention that Neon is a stage name; for all we know in the dub, that’s somehow his real name), and way too much emphasis put on him doing this for money, not just fame. If Marcus is to be believed, he had absolutely zero talent and got where he was entirely through Keramon’s meddling, which is extremely unrealistic to have happened in a single month without anyone questioning it and is also way, way less interesting. Dub-Neon is just some boring flat villain greedy for fame and fortune, rather than an interestingly messed-up character.

And it’s really strange to me that this character assassination is so complete and consistent that it must have been deliberate? The dub writers consciously decided to remove everything that made this episode’s focus character interesting. Why in the world would they choose to do that.

Then there’s this episode’s treatment of Marcus, which is standard fare at this point but still frustrating enough that I am always going to talk about it when it happens in any significant amount.

He’s more insistent that Neon’s harbouring a Digimon from the start despite the lack of proof, but then, bizarrely, doesn’t bring up Digimon when he breaks in even though Masaru did. He makes the breaking-in part a lot more About Himself by making a point that he’s here to save Yoshi, which is a very different thing than Masaru coming there in case Yoshino needed saving but not actually caring whether she knows it or not. Marcus is also more of an unnecessary dick to his sister in the bit where she’s asking him for Neon’s autograph. And the interesting nuance that Masaru had in his speech to Neon, about putting in effort and changing yourself through your own merits, is lost in favour of this new boring narrative where Neon apparently had zero talent and deserved none of his fame in the first place.

Oh, and the bit where Masaru attacked the security guard was cut, because I guess your kids’ show protagonist isn’t allowed to attack a responsible adult, even when the narrative presents this as a bad thing that he shouldn’t have done and implicitly gets in trouble for.

[staywritten]

All In│Bang Chan «Chapter Twenty»

All In│Bang Chan «Chapter Twenty»

Synopsis: After a messy break up your sophomore year, you decided that the best thing for you was to finish off your college career single. You wanted to focus on yourself, grow as a person and finish off your degree strong. There’d be plenty of time for love after college. But after losing your camera you become friends with the seemingly perfect boy that threatens to ruin your plans.

Genre: SocialMedia!AU, College!AU, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Smut

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Admittedly you’d drank far too much, trying to forget all about the wasted last month with Chan. By the time you came to terms with your feelings and unmuted him, seeing his instagram and snapchat filled with photos of Rosie hurt your pride. It's like it affirmed what you already knew. You got your shit together long enough to finish your term papers, but eventually you succumbed to Momo’s idea to go to a party. 

You were starting to regret coming to this house party with Hyunjin and Momo, especially since you excused yourself to use the restroom and couldn’t find them again. The party was too dark, too stuffy, too loud and too crowded. And honestly you were just missing your bed. You looked at your phone, stumbling around trying to find a signal to call Hyunjin and let him know you wanted to go home. You braced yourself against the wall as you made it outside for some fresh air. 

The cold air hit your skin, causing a shiver to run through you. You were just a pile of regret. You regretted these shoes, you regretted this tight dress, and you regret drinking as much as you did. You frowned looking down at your phone trying to use what little bit of battery you had to text Momo that you were in the backyard. There was still a bunch of people outside but at least it wasn’t as stuffy.

“Long time no see Babe” A voice called out to you that instantly made your skin crawl. Yugyeom smiled leaning against the wall in front of you. “You come here alone? You look so good, nice dress”

“Fuck off” you sighed turning to walk away, stumbling after a step. 

“Woah, careful now.” he caught you by your forearm, bracing you and stopping you from falling. “You never could handle your alcohol.” He chuckled “Where’s your little lap dog Hyunjin? He finally get sick of your temper tantrums?”

“Let me go” you pulled your arm trying to shake his grip, to no avail. 

“I heard you and Perfect little Captain Chan broke up.”

“Yugyeom, what do you want?” you sighed, tired of trying to pull your arm from his vice grip. 

“Aw come on, I know you’re mad at me, but we’re both single now. That’s all that matters.” He leaned in closer to you, backing you into the wall. “We had fun together right?”

You scoffed “Fun? You mean when you cheated on me?” 

“It’s so cute, you still think I cheated on you huh?” his eyes darkening as he took you in.

“What the fuck does that mean? And can you let go?” you groaned, your head was spinning, your arm hurt, and on top of it you just felt so weak. You didn’t want to have this conversation now. “What else do you call sleeping with Mina?” You pushed his chest away from you with all your might but he still held your arm. “Yugyeom fuck! Let me go it hurts!” 

“Don’t be so dramatic, you were always so good at being dramatic.” he smirked. “Among other things” his eyes raked over your body. “Besides… Mina was my girlfriend. I didn’t cheat on you, I cheated on her. You were the side. I never considered you my girlfriend, you were just a really clingy fling.” You stopped struggling and just stared at him in disbelief. He sneered “How could I say no to you? Huh? You were always so well behaved. You never nagged me like Mina, you were fun” He grinned tugging you a little closer by your arm, whispering into your ear. “You were such a good girl for me”

“You’re hurting me…” you cried, pleading with him.

“Get your hands off of her!” Chan pulled Yugyeom away from you. His eyes filled with rage “Have you lost your mind?!” Changbin stood between the two of them stopping Chan from swinging.

Yugyeom raised his hands up, in surrender. “I didn’t do anything, she had a little too much to drink and could barely walk. I was just helping out” He scoffed. “You’ve gotten good at playing victim” he pointed at you and winked “Anyways call me when you finally come around” he walked away disappearing into the crowd. 

Your eyes filled with tears as Yugyeom’s words finally hit you. The stinging from your arm failing in comparison to the one in your heart. You cradled your arm and finally broke down. 

“Are you ok?” Chan moved to your side, looking you over “Does it hurt?” his fingers grazed your arm and you snapped out of your daze. Your arm, far too sensitive to the touch. 

“Don’t touch me” you sobbed into your hands. “You’re both the same…” you whispered more to yourself. “I’m always just a fling…” 

“Hey… Hey that’s not true you know I don’t think that...I love-”

“Don’t.” you warned him. “You’re not allowed to say that to me”

“There you are” Momo sighed in relief running over to you and pulled you into a hug. “Felix came and found me” She looked you over “Honey...what’s wrong? Why are you crying?” she wiped away your tears before shooting a glare to Chan “What did you do to her!?”

“I broke her heart...” he said honestly, shoulders slumping.

“It wasn’t him… It was Yugyeom…” you mumbled.

“That bastard is here?!” she looked around, glaring.

“Momo...I just wanna go home…” She nodded, walking you back into the house. 

Chan watched as you disappeared into the house, crying into Momo’s shoulder. It killed him seeing you so broken and there was nothing he could do to help, worst off that he was partially the cause of it. He waited a moment before trying to follow you out but Changbin grabbed his arm and shook his head. “Leave her alone tonight. Check in with Hyunjin in a little if you gotta but you can’t corner her”

He sighed, shrugging him off before deciding to get another drink instead. He didn’t even want to be at the party, but the swim season was over. His boys played hard and they won. He’d done his job as a captain and they were out celebrating. For his team he stayed, nursing a beer as he looked out at the party. 

But he couldn’t stop thinking about you and how utterly broken you looked. 

He lost track of time just thinking about you. How you were the first voice he’d hear when he woke up and the last voice he heard when he went to bed. How you would always hold his hand, or how shy you got when you called him Chris. 

Your laugh, your smile. Everything. 

“Captain Chan to the rescue~” Yugyeom slurred standing beside him, noticeably a lot drunker since the last time he’d seen him. “Did you save the damsel that wanted nothing to do with you?” he leaned on the bar top. Yugyeom glared watching Chan ignore him. “She’s a tease isn’t she? Acts like she wants it, seduces you and then gets mad that you have a girlfriend”

“Shut the hell up. I’m not like you”

“But aren’t you? I heard you had a pretty little thing back in Australia. I don’t blame you though, she is a nice lay. She gets really needy when-” he didn’t get to finish his thought before Chan swung at him, hitting him square in the jaw; knocking him back. 

“Hyung!” Felix was quick to grab Chan to stop him from going in for another punch. “Let’s go man…” he pulled him away.

“Don’t you ever go near her again” Chan called out as he was pulled away. 

“Hyung what the hell? You don’t go around punching drunk people in the face” Felix sighed walking him outside. “Sober up will you”

“He had it coming” 

“I’m sure he did but that doesn’t make it ok. Graduation is around the corner and you’re losing it, if this is about y/n you just need to talk to her”

“She doesn’t wanna talk to me.” he sighed. “I don’t even blame her… I really fucked up Felix…”

“I still believe in you guys, you just can’t force her” Felix rubbed his back. 

Chan let Felix lead him away from the party as Yugyeom dissapeared from his sight. He was just so angry. Angry that Yugyeom thought he had the right to talk about you like, angry that he thought he could even put his hands on you. He angry that in a time like this he couldn’t even comfort you. 

He felt helpless. 

To Be continued…

( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ Hey Friends! I hope you like that chapter, if so please feel free to let me know

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[themoonisalwayschanging]

Do you trust me? requested

REQUEST: Can you write about a female reader who meets Ashley and she just sees right through her, like the real her. It's about the first time they have sex and the reader is really self-conscious but ashley makes her feel really safe, and secure?

As I stand in the middle of the crowded room, alone, I curse Teagan under my breath for leading me here once more, she swore she wasn’t going to disappear, yet once again is nowhere to be seen. I text her repeatedly, hoping she tells me where she is so I can get my keys from her purse to leave.

Teagan is obsessed with Hollywood parties. She has been talking to some actor on instagram for a while and he invited us (her) here, while I came to make fun of all the Hollywood clichés together, she uses her time to hook up with the stars.

People all around the room are dancing, high couture and expensive alcohol. A drunk guy that was making out with Teagan earlier pushes me to make his way to the bar and I follow, resigned since Teagan won't text me back.

The bar is almost empty, there are a few guys on the side, shouting as one of them is drinking tequila shots nonstop, next to me there’s a girl playing with the straw in her drink, she is wearing a short skin tight silver dress over her body covered in tattoos and when I take a sit next to her she turns around and smile. She has deep hazel eyes, her nose is covered in freckles and her hair is long and black.

“having fun?” she asks ironically before sipping from her glass. She somehow fits here perfectly though, in this party and with this people, even when she is sitting here all alone. I realize she is someone important, probably famous, but I can’t tell who.

“You have no idea” I reply sarcastically. She offers me her glass and I doubt. She drinks again, showing me there’s nothing weird in it.

“bourbon” she says and I accept her glass, sipping slowly. “I´m Ashley” she offers me her hand playfully and I shake it. Her voice is beautiful, it sounds familiar, it's soft and raspy.

“nice to meet you Ashley, I’m y/n” she smirks and I feel my legs getting weak, she is extremely beautiful.

“Why are you here all alone?” Ashley wonders playing with her hair. The guys that were shouting seem to be over it now, and despite the whole party scenario, this corner is quite quiet, enough for us to speak without screaming.

“Ugh, my friend is nowhere to be seen and she has my keys, so I’m stuck here. Why are YOU here all alone?” she laughs, gosh her laugh is so cute.

“I hate coming to these things, but my friends are having fun” she says pointing to a group of people dancing on the side “at least I get free alcohol, right?” Ashley calls the bartender and orders two shots, she handles me one and I lift it up, she offers me a toast, laughing, “to the shitty party that led me to meet this beautiful girl” I blush and clash my glass against hers, Drinking all of the content inside of it.

After some time, Ashley leads us to the backyard and we spend all night talking.

“What do you do for a living?” she asks me eventually as we are sitting side by side with our feets inside the enormous pool that decorates the backyard of the house. She has been acting flirty since we started talking but I try not to get my hopes up since she seems to be too gorgeous to see me like that.

“Oh, I have nothing to do with all the people in here! I work in a small bookshop downtown and I’m majoring in English literature” she smiles widely “what do you do for a living? You seem to fit in here perfectly” Ashley laughs again.

“I'm a singer, I don’t go by Ashley though, Halsey is my stage name” She says this with a deep sigh, as if saying this was both relieving her from a burden and also scaring her. it took me a bit to realize what this meant, of course I knew Halsey, this confession startled me since I have plenty of her songs on my playlist, but I didn’t recognize her voice before.

“Oh my god, of course I know Halsey! You are so talented” she moves uncomfortably in her chair and when I notice I add “but I like Ashley better” she bites her lip and moves her hand on top of mine.

“so, do you like Ashley?” she asks and I realize the weight in my words. I nod, she smirks, leaning into me and I close the gap between us, kissing her eagerly, when we pull away she holds me and we spend the rest of the party talking and stealing kisses from each other in that backyard.

The night ends too fast, she asks me for my number and Teagan appears after what seems ages, she looks confused as she clearly recognizes Halsey in the first look but I introduce them anyway. When we left I was never expecting to ever hear from her again, she’s gorgeous and successful while I’m just not pretty in comparison, but a day later she asks me out again. We go to have dinner at a beautiful restaurant, and then another date and then one more. 

Since she has been the one inviting me to all of these dates, I decided to take the lead for once, inviting her over to my place for dinner and to watch some movies she has been telling me I MUST watch since the first time we met. I told her she can sleep over and she happily agreed.

 I'm good at cooking, so I take care of the food, making homemade pasta, her favorite. I finish the food by 7, she is coming over at 8. I set the table and wait for Ashley putting some comfortable clothes on, though it is true that I was still trying to look pretty for her.

I wore my hair down, a pair of Nike pink short shorts and a white tee, I couldn't help myself but wear cute underwear, just in case since all of our dates have limited to making out sessions, mostly because of me, since I have been quite insecure in this topic, especially considering the way Ashley looks and the way her exes do compared to me.

She arrives early, bringing a bottle of my favorite red wine with her. She kisses my lips briefly when I open the door for her and I invite her in. She is wearing grey leggings and a basic and tight shorts sleeve that ends mid stomach, fuck, she looks amazing. She moves around my place, my apartment Is small and its walls are mostly covered in books, she stops to read the titles and smiles with some of them.

“would you lend me one, pretty please? your choice” I nod walking up to where she is standing, she smiles.

“of course ash, what about this one?” I move in front of her grabbing one of my favorite books, she sneaks her arms around my waist and drags me closer, she is shorter than me but she manages to rest her face on the crook of my neck and I smile.

“That one seems perfect” she leaves a kiss on my neck, I close my eyes for a second, she grabs the book from my hand and takes me out of my trance. Ashley removes herself from my body and makes her way to the small kitchen. I ask her to sit down in the living room so that we can eat while we watch whatever she wants to show me.

I prepare everything on the coffee table quickly while Ashley looks for the movie she wants me to watch, “Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind”. She stands up from the sofa and pours some wine on each of the two wine cups resting on the table in front of her, I place the last plate in front of her and she compliments my cooking skills, “oh my god, baby, this looks amazing” we put our plates in our laps and rest comfortably in the sofa, Ashley press play and we start eating.

We ate in a comfortable silence, occasionally looking over to each other, the movie was actually amazing and I understand why she insisted on watching it so much. When we leave our plates on the table once we are done eating, she motions me to come closer and I wrap myself around her, watching the film ending with my head resting on her shoulder. When the credits start, we both feel tired.

“So? What did you think? It's amazing isn’t it?” Ashley asks me excitedly, interested in my opinion.

“it was great honestly, which one are you going to show me now?” Ashley yawns and I giggle “Ash, baby, wanna go to sleep and we can watch whatever tomorrow morning?” she nods, smiling shyly.

“I am getting old so I’m sure I won’t be able to stay awake throughout the three hour movie that’s left” I get up and leave the leftovers of our dinner in the kitchen, Ashley following with the cups on her hands. I wash the dishes quickly as ashley hums to some song looking at the few photos around the place. She finds herself in one.

“Oh my god, when did you print this one? You look so pretty in it.” I laugh, a bit uncomfortable because she looks like a goddess next to me. It’s a photo we took last week when she drove me home after one of our dates. I am smiling widely and I look happy but she looks even better. “What?” She says when she gets not response, “I mean it, you’re gorgeous y/n”. I roll my eyes and walk her way, sneaking my hands around her waist and I shrug her off. 

“Do you need me to prove it to you?” she asks, raising her eyebrows and grabbing my waist again half jokingly, but tighter this time. I freeze in my place under her strong gaze and she moves her hands slowly from my waist, up my back to my neck, where she moves my head so I'm looking right into her eyes. “Because I would like to do that” she adds, smirking and waiting for my reaction.

The truth is I have been over this scenario about a million times in my mind. Indeed the woman I'm dating must be the most beautiful woman on earth so it's just expected I´d fantasize about her a lot… However I can't help but get very self conscious when things escalate, I get afraid she might notice I am not as pretty as she seems to believe, because next to her, I'm definitely not. She notices I get lost in my thoughts and stares with a curious smile, I decide I might as well do as my body urges me too and surrender to the desire.

I move my face closer to hers, our lips almost touching and she closes the gap between them with a tender kiss. My hands find her face and I cup her cheeks allowing myself to let go for now, Ashley's smile grows bigger and she deepens the kiss, I oblige chucking softly at the sudden change in her mood.

“Can we move this somewhere else?” I ask, getting a little braver for a second, unconsciously biting my lip as I wait for her answer. She nods and asks me to guide her. Our lips meet again and I blindly guide Ashley into my bedroom. She takes control again when the kiss becomes rough and her hands find my ass. I let out the smallest moan and she smirks again, my body clearly reacting to her actions. 

Ashley pushes me on the bed carefully next,she is on top as her lips make their way down to my neck where she bites and kisses getting some loud moans from me, her mouth moves to the sweet spot in my ear and to my collarbone before she starts kissing on the fabric of my shirt.  She looks up to me asking for permission with her eyes “can we take this off?” I Nod and I help her take the shirt off, however, I notice my hands moving down to cover the newly exposed skin “why do you cover yourself in front of me?” Ash asks softly while leaving kisses down my collarbone to where my bra is  “you're really beautiful y/n” her hands grab mines and she uncrosses my arms from over my body, again she kisses down where my arms are not covering me “I have never seen anyone as beautiful as you, Y/N, Do you trust me?”

I don't know if I believe her, I don't know if I’m the most beautiful girl she has seen, but i do know I feel safe under her touch, in her arms, in this bed and exposed under her gaze. everything it’s okay just because she's here “I trust you Ash” I say unclasping my bra reassuring my words. 

Ashley compliments my body once again, staring at it as she takes off  the bra I unclasped for her “is this okay?” she asks moving softly over my boobs. I moan in return and even though I see a cocky smile on her lips she is waiting for my permission before doing anything. I shakily answer a simple “yes baby” and she is kissing me again. Her tongue meets mine and the kiss feels desperate already as she hovers over my body.

Her lips move down again, except this time there's no fabric when her kisses descend. her hand grabs my boob and her kisses tease my neck until loud moans leave my lips. Her hands replace her mouth as she takes my nipples between her lips and I don't longer try to hold them back. I want to press my legs together to get some relief and Ashley notices my squirming movements.  “What's wrong y/n?” she teases me “is everything okay?”

“Ash” 

“hm? what baby girl” she asks, drawing on my ribs with her finger.

“Please Ash, I need you!” Ashley chuckles, I notice she's holding back from teasing me any further when her lips meet my neck again and she leaves a wet path down her hand meets one of my boobs and her lips the other; when she bites on my nipple, my hands go to her hair and I pull, earning a little groan from her and I need to push her head further down. Her mouth keeps moving eventually until she finds the hem of my underwear where she stops one more time to ask for permission. I am close to taking off what's left on me myself as I tell her once again I need her touch. She seems satisfied with my answer as she pulls my shorts off in a quick move. 

Ashley uses her nails to scratch down my exposed thighs “Y/N, I love your body” she reassures me one again every few seconds. She is now kneeling in front of me, right in front of the place where I need her the most, and her fingers keep getting close to my sex all of her movements make me whimper in return. I attempt to close my legs once again due the impatience and she keeps them open and moves my panties to the side, touching my center.

“Oh baby, you are so wet for me” She says and I can only reply with a loud moan when her finger moves the wetness up to my clit and starts circling it slowly, I bite my lip to stop the sounds I'm making and she stops. 

I am about to complain as she pulls my panties down and ties her hair in a ponytail in a second. each of her palms rests on a thigh and she then holds them in place when she tastes my entrance with her tongue. I grab her left hand from my thigh as she pleasures me, intertwining our fingers. Her tongue persistently moves to my clit, and her free hand moves to my entrance once again, eventually introducing one finger. 

I cry out loud, pulling her hair carelessly, and she picks up a slow pace with her finger, matching it up with the movements from her tongue.  “Oh, fuck!” I mumble in between gasps. She hums, sending vibrations through my body, signaling she is proud of the reaction she is getting from me. 

She introduces another finger when I start to get used to the feeling of the first one, her movements are fast and steady now, and her tongue keeps teasing me. I notice the way my walls start to clench around her fingers and so does she. 

“Come for me, princess” she says, moving her fingers to my clit and her lips to my entrance. 

In no time I feel the orgasm hit me, hard. I scream her name as I climax, as if I was thanking her for it. When I come down from my high, I see Ashley licking on her finger that was inside of me before. Her eyes find mines and she smirks.

“Here, wanna taste yourself?” She brings her fingers to my mouth and I suck, feeling my own juices on her fingers “You are very sweet” she continues, seductively and proceeds to kiss me on the lips. I kiss her back, moving her underneath me and straddling her, the wetness in between my legs leaving a little spot on her clothes. Her hands rest on my ass when we kiss.

Her short tshirt leaves her abdomen exposed when I push her back in the bed and I move my hands underneath the fabric, slowly, my hands right under her breasts and our lips break apart again. My hands stop moving and my lips go to her neck.

“Can I?” I ask whispering in her ear. Her grip on my ass tightens and she nods.

“yes, please” she smirks.

Part two?

Please send your requests!

[camelely]

13rw S4 Fix

 So i did one of these for last season and I think now that I’ve had some time to think about S4 I’ll do the same. While last season I thought the issue was one character being overused. But here it seems like there were multiple smaller things that could have improved the whole season Again I’m keeping the same basic plotline and characters :) 

1) Winston 

Have Winston stay at Hillcrest. Him moving to Liberty did nothing for the main plot and he was basically a red herring through most of it. Let him try are befriend the characters from the outside. He can learn about Jess from Bryce’s trial and the news coverage and then try to befriend her at Monet’s. This is where he meets and later starts to date Alex. Since he doesn’t go to liberty school Alex sees him as a sort of escape and lets him in. Clay and Ani dont tell everyone about him because they dont know he is trying to get close to them. It makes them seem less like assholes and more like people. They don’t mention his connection to Monty because they dont realize how close he is getting to answers. Clay can still suspect he did the graffiti, after all it was a break in and a non student could have done that. Plus Estella is another red herring in the school. She serves that purpose so let Winston be the outsider looking in. His arc would still be about knowing a different Monty and not knowing who is was at Liberty but now he is literally the outsider who didn’t really get Monty, rather than it just being a figurative thing at the prom. You can still have the prom scene it would just be entirely imagined rather than the half imagined thing they went with. I think they overused the people talking to ghosts thing so here it would be a  fantasy of Monty and the relationship they had rather then a representation of what could have been. However I don’t think this would have retracted from the point. Also play him up, he is a sympathetic antagonist and it sucks how much he is sidelined for Diego. I didn’t hate Diego but Winston and him basically went through the same arc. They were pro Monty and ending up dating a member of the group, couldnt believe that member was involved and then learned something about Bryce and Monty agreed to move on and just did. All while saying they will alway care for that member of the group. It was an unnecessary rehash. Having WInston be the outsider looking in and Diego the insider looking out also lets their characters compliment each other. They should still work together, just have Winston contact him looking for Monty’s friends. It’s simple. 

2) Tyler and Tony 

Oh Tyler. The character who seems to be in the middle of everything despite never doing anything himself. I didn’t mind his arc of helping the cops find the guys who sold the illegal guns. But Tony’s suspicions, eventually leading to Clay and Tony finding out the truth and just moving on never really go anywhere. I think  it would be cool if Tyler tells Tony, despite the cops telling him not to tell anyone, because he trusts Tony. But Tony, who has had bad run ins with the cops, thinks it is a bad idea. He doesn’t want Tyler taking the deal. Tyler says its the only way the guns wont be traced back to them but Tony thinks teh cops are planning to double cross them to mind out more about Bryce and Monty. At the same time he starts getting close to that cop that takes him boxing and helps him get into college (i dont remember his name for the life of me lol). Tyler sees this as being hypocritical and pulls away. Tony still suspects Tyler is behind the lock down because he is pulling away and Tony is getting paranoid. The rest of their story can still be the same but this way they can show Tony’s paranoia and his loyalty. 

As for Tyler and Estella, It was fine. The scene of them in the bathroom was really powerful, being in the bathroom with a de la cruz and becoming comfortable because isnt her brother was really nice. This could even be another reason Tony and Tyler fight. Tony can be paranoid that Tyler is trusting her too quickly and think she will turn on him. 

3) Jess

Her arc with the principal, being scared and agreeing with the security measures before she sees them in action was really interesting. Focus more on it and less on her manipulating Diego. I did like parts of that arc for her so I don’t want it completely gone but I do think focusing on her working with the principal would have been cool. I would call more attention to her first meeting and her agreeing with the measures and slowly show her change her mind and start to turn against them. Maybe even have an early scene of her and ANi talking about it and have Jess admit she feels safer. Move the creepy cop trying to pat her down to the second or third day. So she can have a moment where they make her feel safe before the negative experience. I loved the protest and a bit better build up would have made it amazing

Her arc with Ani. They fought over Bryce... It should have been a conversation. Not a moment where Ani judges Diego and then they argue. I still think this arc should have been Chloe and Jess and should have been in last season. But they had the opportunity to include Chloe this season and just didnt. I’ll talk about this a bit more in the Zach section but I think Chloe should have been at Prom and the moment between the Ani Jess and Chloe should have been then. It would be right after Jess and Ani made up and would have been cool. 

I don’t think she should have had scenes where she saw and talked to Bryce. Yes it created some powerful moments but they could be reworked. Have WInston use his wealth to commission a positive thing in the paper about Bryce and Monty and have her talk to his idealized photo of Bryce. I will mention it in the Clay section but her hallucinations detracted from his journey with mental health. 

4) Clay

Okay two thing here the first is his arc with mental health, hallucinations, and blackouts. They used it for drama and I wish they hadnt. It should have been about him healing. I didnt mind the way they handled the realization for clay that it was him doing everything (Did they explain the symbol he kept drawing because I missed it if they did? or i just forgot because it was that forgettable lol) but I think the whole thing could have been handled a lot better and a more educated fan then I can provide a better explanation for what exactly was off about it. I will say the the therapy sessions were repetitive and I know thats realistic but for a tv show its boring. The scene were Clay goes to his home was weird and low key scary. I understand the purpose but  I wish he had called him and asked to meet at his office instead. A more likable and relatable journey for Clay with his mental health would be really good for a show that was accused of glorying suicide (personally i dont think it did. My inbox is open if you wanna talk though :))

The second thing is the phantom phone caller. I hate this trope so it might just be me but this is so stale. There are exactly two ways it could go. The person could know everything and be a real problem or the person could be fishing for information and not be a real problem. The whole thing was predicable since Winston had red herring written all over him, Estella was barely developed, and on this show it is always the football guys. Instead let the pranks be smaller and less crazy. Like these boys had to coordinate a lot to mess with Clay. There should be more than one prank and end with a Monty doll and Clay holding a knife to set up the camp episode. But they should be pranks, not the phantom caller psychological torture bs. The blood shower can also happen just on a different day. Clay can be confused about what is real and what isnt making him even more worried about his blackouts and again assuming the mental health arc is handled well, the pranks can be a real part of it. Dumping him in the pit on the camping trip also seemed kinda attempted murdery so maybe do something like tie him to a tree of the path or in a small dirt ditch not a rocky pit where if he hit his head or fell weird the team would all be murderers. 

5) Alex

His arc with Charlie was one of my favorite stories this season. I was also not bothered by him getting close to and exploring his sexuality with Winston and Zach. I’m in the minority but I’m glad Zalex wasn’t made canon and Zach was used to be an effective (kinda) ally and good friend. Plus this way Zalex can live on in the fandom untouched or ruined by the writers interpretation. 

They should have given us Alex in therapy. He tried to kill himself had a traumatic injury, an arc with steroid abuse, and an arc about killing someone. All of which were forgotten this season. All the other characters seemed to be dealing with Bryce and Monty, why not focus on Alex? Even if it isnt in therapy just let him exist in his feelings.

6) Zach

I have one major issue with Zach’s arc, the lack of Chloe. She was the reason he almost killed a man. Let them date, let him start to spiral while dating her. She doesnt know what he did. Have them grow apart on screen but her still connecting to him and not wanting to give up on him. They should go to prom together. I know the hooker was supposed to represent Zach turning into Bryce with the hookers and the drunken sex/potential rape  and cocaine. But Chloe fills the same comparison. He brings cocaine she is not okay with it, He tries to convince her to have sex in the back she is not having it. Maybe he tries to convince maybe it becomes a bit worse than that but she breaks up with him at prom and leaves early. She sees Bryce in him, she doesnt have to say it but you can see it on her face and she walks away when her mind and heart tells her to this time no making excuses. Boom Chloe actually has an arc. As for Zach this is a big wake up call for him he sees what we had become. I know it is later in the actual show but I think it should be in the prom episode so he can have a better conclusion in the finale, like the other characters. The whole season was a downward spiral and I wish we got to see more of him pulling himself out of it. If the whole finale is him getting better even though he wont be all the way done he will be in a better place up the end.

7) Justin

Okay the hard one. I think the writers really wanted to kill him. I mean a fan favorite, who did bad things, and the death would be in the series finale. this is a tv writer’s drug of choice. So I’m gonna do a fix where I still kill him first then to the ideal version. Ok so first Justin dies. No HIV/AIDS. It was out of nowhere, unneeded, and seemed a bit insensitive. If you want it to be related to his drug use, make it so he got a bad batch when he relapsed. Or maybe organ failure. If it doens’t need to be drug related it can be an accident or someone he knew on the streets getting revenge, like that drug dealer we spent time with last season. Or if Justin helps Tyler put the gun salesmen behind bars then have it be retaliation for that. He can still go to the hospital and have goodbyes but it wont be an aids diagnosis and death in the same episode. I know they had signs in earlier episodes but the timeline is still really fucked up...

An ideal ending would have him live. He can still pass out at Prom. The diagnosis can be a combination of stress and withdrawal symptoms.He can be the red herring for the person in the coffin. If Justin lives he can represent hope. He can show the audience that you can get better and things can work out. Even if you are sick and think you will die you can do better be better and live in a better world. Plus I love him and really wanted him to be happy. The message would be you can get out of a bad situation and wold have ended a sad series on a positive note. Even if you are a bad person. Even if you have bad circumstance. Even if it feels like the world is against you, it can get better if you put in the effort. Which felt like the message the show was going for in eariler seasons by showing the people on the tapes doing better but abandoned this last season.

So who would I put in the coffin. Ani’s mom. Now I know she wasn’t a well liked character and her mom wouldn’t have the same audience or character reaction Justin’s death did. But this version isn’t about making the audience sad. Ani would finally have a plot that was really about her, her mom died, Bryce’s mom basically wants to provide for her. And she isn’t sure what to do. Justins funeral felt like it was overshadowed by graduation anyway. Now Ani’s moms absence and the funeral being overshadowed both make sense. She is going to college and doing what she can to honor her mom. And the death of a parent causes Clay to immediately appreciate his own family more. The theme in the first season with Clay was appreciating and acting on his feelings for Hannah before she was gone. Ani’s mom dying is a reality check for him and he know the most important things are his family and friends. Justin’s arc was about finding a family and he did. The core of the show is about family, friends, and the importance of  a strong support system. And starting it with a mother grieving her daughter and ending it with a daughter grieving her mother would be a cool full circle moment.

This post is really long so if you read all the way down Thank you! :) 

[i8jisoo]

heyy, you said requests are open so :3 could you do like an angsty blurb with calum? like maybe he's jealous of a guy friend or something? totally up to you. thank you!

𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐔𝐌 𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐃  ⇉  jealous

warnings ➢ cursing ppff

cal obviously knew about you being best-friends with ashton before ever coming here, but ashton was one of a kind and he felt as if he couldn’t compete with this bright eyes, god sculpted man whom you had spent years around. ash played matchmaker with you, fishing around his friends before you were the one who suggested calum. he was surprised since you never once mentioned him or he ever really brought up him, but yet you suggested him as if you had been genuinely interested. though, you and cal went on the date and ever since then, it had been the two of you together and it was smooth.

so when the sudden distance and tension between you came unbearable, you spoke as soft as you could, “cal? what’s up, you know you can talk to me about anything.” you murmured, taking the spot next to him at the counter in his house. calum had briefly introduced the idea of you moving in with him, but it fell flat as now this whole tension had been brought between you two. he shook of your question, “i’m fine.” he responded, the back of your mind telling you that you should probably back off but you couldn’t help it. “seriously cal— what’s the problem, i wanna help you— you can talk to me, we always do that.” you sighed, calum shaking his head.

“there’s nothing you can do, just leave it be.” he mumbled, standing up and putting his used cup in the sink. you let him have that, for the rest of the week and let the problem quietly bubble throughout the week. you often were over at ashton’s house, calum coming to visit and seeing you in the house with ashton just made his stomach turn. he had briefly heard about your guys small friendly asking out to your homecoming and prom, which you had an array of photos from. it’s what set him over the edge, he tried to convince himself that it was friendly but, he just couldn’t shake it off that there was possibly a tinge of chemistry between you two.

“we need to talk.” calum heard first thing when his front door opened, you brushed past him and started pacing the hallways. “why do you ignore my calls and just pretend i don’t exist, what the fuck is your problem?” you questioned, cal feeling anger bubble inside of him due to your tone of voice. you knew this going to lead to an argument, but you were far past backing down on this situation. “say something. anything cal, please?” finally hearing a sigh from him, “why do you stay? why do you try so hard, i’m not ashton or luke, or michael, i’m just calum. you tried so hard this whole week and i just—“ without even needing to hear the whole story, your arms slid around him, calum and you both sinking to the ground. small mutters of comparisons to the other boys left his lips, breaking your heart. you saw the tears that fell down his cheeks and the sniffles that erupted from him, your hands pulling up to his cheeks to kiss his lips while you lightly smushed his cheeks.

“cal, i don’t want anybody else. we stay to make things work, ashton is my best friend, luke and michael are your best friends. i would never, ever think for a moment you are any less than any of them.” you murmur, feeling calum’s arms circle around your waist. his usual tired, yet excited eyes were drained of their natural enlightenment. you smile, pressing a kiss to his forehead. “besides, i was the one who wanted you first.” calum giving a watery laugh, “guess you’re right.” he murmured, returning the small kiss to your forehead.

[arsonanddahlias]

Silent Melodies and Orange Bottles

I realised that the song Unsaid Emily has a lot of lines that make more sense if you consider the boys death so I wrote a little fic about Luke planning to commit s*icide. I've censored it here but it isn't censored in the fic so please don't read if this is a triggering topic!

Link on ao3 https://archiveofourown.org/works/28359648

Luke looked at his hands, and the pill bottle in them. It made sense, really, that it would come to this. Just him, alone, in the studio, with a little orange bottle.

Guilt swam in his eyes, or maybe it was tears, but either way he couldn't see. He felt bad for his boys. The boys that were there for him, always. Except tonight.

He knew, in hindsight, that is was getting bad again when the chords got harder to play and the silence was almost deafening between jokes. Maybe he should have told them. It was too late now.

Bobby was out of town with his parents. His fucking parents who were there for him all the time and took happy little family trips and cared, really cared. Bobby hated them.

Reggie had been grounded for sneaking out. All the boys had worried, they knew how Reggie's parents could get, but there was nothing they could do.

God, he was fucking pathetic. Here he was crying about his parents, they're nothing in comparison to Reg's. Or Alex's, even.

Alex was still at school. He claimed that he really wanted to stay after school to do art, but all the boys knew it was less about the painting and more about the cute boy that had joined their class.

Really, he should have told them. But here he was, crying in the studio alone.

He should leave a note, really. So he did.

Words didn't really come easy to Luke

"Hey boys. I'm sorry, I really am. We were gonna make it big. I love you guys more than I could say.

Luke"

He should probably write one to his parents too. His mom, especially. But when he put his pen to paper, nothing came.

Well, something came. Lyrics.

Luke did what Luke does best, he wrote a song.

The lyrics rushed through him, like this was correct. Like the universe was willing this song into existence. He'd always been better at expressing himself through his songs than through his words.

He finished the song. Unsaid Emily.

He flicked absentmindedly through his song book, landing on a song he'd written recently, Crooked Teeth. It was about reggie, and the boys. Reading through his poorly drawn scribbles he noticed the parallels with Unsaid Emily.

God, that's depressing, he accidentally wrote a fucking suicide note.

At least he had something for the boys that was more than a quick, poorly written note. They deserved it.

He decided that, if this was really it, he wanted his last memory to be something nice. He pulled out a photo, it was one Bobby shot with Reggie's Polaroid. They were sat on the pier, laughing about something Alex had said. Alex was bright red but had a huge grin on his face.

God he was gonna miss them. He hoped they'd miss him too. Maybe that was selfish.

Luke didn't believe in God, but maybe there was someone watching over them, because that was the moment Alex and Reggie stormed into the studio, loudly chatting.

They stopped abruptly, staring for a moment at Luke, sitting on the floor with tears pouring out of his eyes, clutching a little orange bottle like a lifeline.

They were Instantly by his side, voicing concerns that Luke tried his best to listen to.

He wasn't really in his head.

Reggie kept talking to Luke, trying to keep him present as Alex glanced at the table. He reached out to the paper and the songbook, bringing them both towards him. He read each in turn, carefully. It took a moment before all the pieces clicked into place.

"Luke I-" he whispered softly, trying to tread lightly around the boy. He looked so small and Alex hated that. He was usually so full and bubbly and bouncy. This wasn't him.

The blonde reached forward and prised the pills from his hand, putting them in his Fanny pack before filling the empty space with his own hand. Reggie now had a grip around his shoulders and was holding him tightly in an almost awkward side hug.

Luke looked like a lost puppy.

"Luke, look at me. You don't have to tell us anything, but we are here for you. And, if you want, we'll listen. But if you just wanna sit and watch a movie until you feel better I- we'll be here no matter what"

"Can I.... Can you riff with me for a bit please?" Luke choked out

"Sure, man" Reggie said, picking up on the softness of Alex's tone and copying it.

They didn't play for long, and Luke's voice was cracking throughout, but neither boy said anything.

When they finished, the boys asked if he wanted to refine it. He quickly refused, saying it was just perfect how it was.

And it was, perfect that is. Sure, maybe it was a little dysfunctional, but he had his family.

Luke looked at his hand, and his friends hands in them. Everything was going to be okay.

[little-bit-of-cinnamon]

I Just Hid it Better - Javid AU

Anything Javid love confession I’m a sucker for love confessions like either Davey confessing his love to Jack on accident (please) or “hand holding but it’s complicated” 

Javid Modern AU - 2.3k words Jack sketches David as he sleeps 

The sound of the door slamming woke David up from his nap on the couch. Groggily, he rubbed his eyes and sat up to see Jack setting his bag down by the door. He could see the guilt on Jack’s face when he realized he woke David up. 

“Sorry,” he said with an apologetic frown. 

“Nah, you’re good.” David repositioned so he was sitting properly. “Tough day?” 

“It’s my stupid drawings class,” Jack started, moving into the living room. “It's already not my favorite because charcoal isn’t my medium-” 

“Because you prefer oil paint.” David nodded. 

“Because I prefer oil paint. And drawing with a group can’t be good for creativity or whatever, I mean how does it make sense to have one model in one pose and it’s just supposed to work for all thirty of us?” Jack sat next to David, kicking his feet onto David’s lap. 

“It’s bad enough that we only do portraits, ya know?” 

“Because you prefer landscapes.” David nodded, again. 

“Because I prefer landscapes. It’s like, I like portraits, but I like drawing people I know, ya know. I feel like I can really get the mood right when I know what they’re like, what’s going on in their head.” At this point David wasn’t convinced Jack could actually hear him over his own rant. 

“I wanna work on charcoal and I wanna work on portraits, it’s just that the class isn’t the best environment for me.” Jack took a slow breath. “I’m sorry, I woke you up. Tough day for you too?” 

“Just tired.” David rested his head on the top of the couch cushion. “Work was long.” 

“I’ll never understand how you get to work at 5:00 in the morning.” 

“People need coffee in the morning and somebody has to serve it.” It was silent for a second before David spoke again. “You can draw me if you want.”

“You hate sitting for my art.” Jack said, surprised. 

“I’m not gonna. But I am gonna take a nap, and if you happen to draw me that’ll be okay with me. We’ll see if you can draw what’s going on in my dream or whatever it is you’re looking to do.” David tapped Jack’s legs on his lap so Jack swung his legs back onto the floor and stood. 

“Geez, Dave. Isn’t that a little intimate?” Jack joked, but he was already walking toward his bag with his sketchbook. “I mean, I didn’t mean it like,” David was relieved Jack had walked away and couldn’t see him blush. 

“I know, Dave. Take your nap, you deserve it.” Jack settled on the floor with his back against their coffee table and his sketchbook in his lap. Surprisingly easily, David drifted off to sleep. 

David woke up to a completed sketch on the coffee table and Jack cooking dinner in the kitchen. With a yawn and a stretch David stood up and wandered into the kitchen, he sat on the counter and kicked his foot out to nudge Jack. “Whatcha making?” 

Jack turned and grabbed David’s head and gave him an exaggerated kiss on the forehead. “Stir fry!” He said with a smile. 

“Damn, you’re excited, must be the one from Trader Joes.” “No, it’s just,” Jack waved a wooden spoon as he spoke. “I’m just really happy with how my sketch came out and I actually feel really good about my drawings class now. I mean, I have to keep up the practicing outside of class so I don’t get stuck in a rut again-” “But you’re feeling better?” David filled in.

“But I’m feeling better!” Jack turned the stove off and took two plates out of the cabinet. He served two plates of the stir fry before joining David on the counter top. “Thanks for letting me sketch you,” “I literally just took a nap on the couch, but I’m glad you got your groove back. Thanks for dinner.” David was always willing to help out, well, he hated sitting for Jack’s art. Just sitting here for as long as it took for Jack to either finish or get bored, hours. But if all he had to do was nap on his couch after his six hour opening shift, well that wasn’t a bad deal. 

The next few days were business as usual until Jack’s next class and David’s next shift. David came home, got changed, and took his place on the couch. He scrolled through Instagram, attempting to stay awake but the fatigue from his early shift and long work day caught up to him. 

This time, he woke up to Jack on the couch beside him and Netflix playing quietly on the TV in front of them. When David stretched his arms out he accidently hit Jack on the chest. “You’re up!” Jack turned the volume of the TV up. 

“I’m up.” David sat up so he was sitting next to Jack, rather than lying with his head by Jack’s lap. “How was class?” 

“A lot better than last time. Obviously it’s still not my favorite but it’s not a drag anymore.” Jack pulled some of David’s blanket over his own legs. 

“That’s great, Jack.” They settled into a comfortable silence for a while, ordering a pizza for dinner and watching Netflix until the evening. Eventually, Jack left to take a shower and David noticed his sketchbook sitting on the coffee table, again. 

He picked it up and began flipping through the pages, Jack never was secretive of his work. There was a mixture of drawings of his friends and models from class and they were all amazing, David would be the first to tell you how talented Jack is, but David could tell the difference. He could see the love and concentration on the sketch Race’s face as he worked out a problem in his notebook. 

The sketches of the models were more technical. Each stroke looked calculated, precise. It looked incredible, but in comparison it just wasn’t the same. David flipped the page and there was the drawing of him from earlier in the week. He looked peaceful, calm. David was surprised by how… nice he looked. He always thought Jack’s art presented David as much more attractive than any photo. It was probably just Jack being nice and not including his imperfections. 

The next page was another model, from class today. Again, beautiful but with less emotion than the ones of David and their friends. David was about to set the book down when he noticed there was another sketch on the next page. 

It was David. Asleep on the couch with his phone resting next to him. Asleep. David didn’t know Jack was going to sketch him again. He wasn’t like, weirded out or anything but he was a little surprised. He figured Jack would prefer a more interesting subject than a sleeping David. But, still, he looked better than David saw himself. It was a beautiful sketch. 

“Sorry, I hope it was cool that I sketched you again.” Jack stood in the doorway of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel. 

“No, it’s no problem. I figured you’d want a more interesting subject now that you’re more inspired, or whatever.” Jack walked into his room to get dressed as David spoke. 

“Dave, I got all the inspiration I need sleeping on my couch everyday.” David pretended that his heart didn’t skip a beat. 

“That so?” David managed to squeak out.

“Yeah, Dave.” Jack came back, dressed, using his towel to dry his hair. “I mean I know you so well I feel like I always know what’s going through your head, conscious or not.” 

David could practically feel his heart beating in his ears. He hoped Jack couldn’t tell what was going on in his head at this particular moment. 

“It doesn’t hurt that you got a nice face to draw, too.” Jack wandered into the kitchen, casually looking in the fridge, as if he isn’t making David’s heart go a mile a minute. 

David wanted to smile, to tease Jack as they’ve been doing for years but for some reason he was nervous. He couldn’t get the words out. Something about the compliments, the vulnerability, the emotion in the art. He just felt different than he usually did with Jack. Flirting isn’t uncommon in their friend group but Jack sounded genuine and David could tell he was speaking differently than he usually would with the guys. 

But it was getting late and he was tired, he’ll probably feel differently in the morning. 

“Good night, Jack.” David stood up and stopped in the kitchen for a bottle of water. 

“You alright, Davey?” “Yeah, work in the morning, that’s all.” 

“Good night, then.” David couldn’t see the way Jack watched him walk into his room, a concerned look on his face. 

Work. Home. Change. Nap. 

David got tired of the routine but he needed the money, and he liked his job, really. Good coworkers and regulars he could chat with. It wasn’t all bad. When his classes change next semester he’ll get new shifts and all will be well. 

David had hardly woken up when he saw Jack. “Hey,” David said softly, voice low from his drowsiness. 

“Hey, Dave. Sorry, I thought you’d be out for a little while longer.” Jack started to close his sketchbook. 

“No, it’s okay, I love you.” And suddenly David was awake. 

“I mean, I love it. Your art, I mean.” He lost control of the words coming out of his mouth. 

“Don’t worry about it Davey, you’re tired. I get it.” Jack grinned. 

“Yeah, tired. Sorry if I ruined your process or whatever.” “Don’t worry about it, I’m sure I could draw you with my eyes closed.” Jack continued his sketch. 

He wasn’t making this any easier for David. 

“You want some tea?” David wouldn't be able to get back to sleep now so he would at least need some caffeine in  him. He knows Jack won’t touch coffee. 

“Do we have peach?” Jack called to the kitchen. 

“I wouldn’t have offered if we didn’t.” David turned the coffee pot and the kettle on before taking the tea out of the cabinet. 

He leaned on the counter, looking into the living room. Jack was still sitting on the floor, sketching, even though David had left. He stood and watched him until the kettle began to whistle. He did love Jack, and so what if his feelings might be romantic? He and Jack have been friends forever, this can’t be the thing that brings them apart. Still, that doesn't mean that he should say anything to Jack, or say anything else, really. 

He prepared their drinks and brought them into the living room, he set Jack’s mug beside him on the table, not wanting to disturb him further. As soon as David sat down Jack closed his sketchbook and joined David on the couch. 

“I feel like I haven’t seen you lately, you’ve been working so much.” Jack sat dangerously close to David. 

“The money’s good. I’m hoping if I keep up the hours next semester I could be a manager over the summer.” David sipped his drink slowly, taking in the heat. 

“But I miss you, shouldn’t that be a consideration?” Jack took a sip. “This is good, Dave.”

“That’s the kind of good work that’s gonna land me the promotion. I’m scarily good at putting a tea bag into hot water.” 

“Shut up and take the compliment.” 

David didn’t realize he missed Jack too until they started talking again. Usually they would sit and eat together while watching TV or they would hang out in groups. He and Jack have been friends for years but he still missed him. Suddenly Jack seems far away. He wishes he could be closer to Jack, romantically. He wants to reach out and touch him, kiss him, love him. 

But he doesn’t want to lose what they have. He’s probably worried about nothing, but still. He can’t just look to his best friend and say “hey I think I’m in love with you.” It was bad enough when he accidently let it slip. But maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing? Jack’s been single for a while and it’s not like he’ll be infringing on something. And Jack wouldn’t judge him, would he? 

“Hey, Jack?” Jack hummed in acknowledgment as he sipped his tea. 

“Earlier, when I-” “Don’t worry about it, Davey. You were tired and it’s not like I don’t love you too.” Jack leaned into David, bumping their shoulders together. 

Jack really wasn’t making this easier. 

‘Right, right. It’s just that, recently, I don’t know. I feel like I might be developing some… feelings. For you.” David stared into his mug, afraid to look up at Jack. 

“You feel like you might maybe?” Jack said, cautiously but with a grin. 

“Jack.”

“Right, sorry. You’re sure about this?” Jack looked to David. 

“I felt like it would be better to just tell you, so it doesn’t affect our friendship.” David finally made eye contact with Jack. 

“Actually, that’s not the best idea.” 

David’s heart dropped. 

“I mean,” Jack began, “our friendship is for sure gonna be different.” “Jack, I’m so sorry. I just-” Jack cut him off. “I mean kissing you stupid, that’s gonna affect our friendship. And going on dates and stuff.” 

“Do you mean..?” David couldn’t finish his sentence, couldn’t get his brain all in one place. 

“I mean I would do anything to be your boyfriend, Davey.” “I was so scared that I was gonna ruin everything.” Jack could hear the smile in David’s words. 

“I’ve been scared to say something for years, you’re just braver than me.” Jack grinned back. 

“Maybe changing our relationship up a bit won’t be the worst thing,” David said, leaning into Jack. 

[chaoslordjoe]

Iceberg Week Day 3-Swim Lessons: Cannonball!

Author's note: The original version of this prompt, I wasn't happy with at all. Hence the sudden repost of anyone who recalls how I originally wrote it. That being said, I hope you enjoy this prompt if you are just now stumbling across it.

[Weiss sat at the rooftop pool at SDC’s Vale headquarters. Her one-piece was, you guessed it, ice blue adorned with a pink ribbon around the chest and a see-through sarong. Through her sunglasses, she was anxious for Neptune to show up already. Today was going to be some swimming lessons for him. Something that Weiss had planned on for a while.

Ruby hung with them, casually swimming and splashing with Zwei as Weiss couldn’t help but think about how she was going to help with her boyfriend’s lessons. The thought made her sigh. Yeah, he agreed to it. But at what cost would it be? Obviously, Weiss didn’t do it to make him uncomfortable or put him on the spot. But it wasn’t going to be an easy task.]

Ruby: *sits at the edge of the pool, cuddling Zwei* Weiss? Weiss.

Weiss: *looks at Ruby* Yeah.

Ruby: How much longer is Neptune gonna take? He's been in the locker room for hours.

Weiss: His hydrophobia isn't an easy thing to overcome, Ruby. Jokes aside about what happened at Vytal, we can't rush him into simply outgrowing his fears in a snap. I'm afraid it's not as simple as just learning how to properly face a Grimm on foot.

Ruby: *pets Zwei* I know. But it's been going on for so long at this point that I dunno if his Team can really focus on some missions near the water.

Weiss: Right. Hence why he asked me to teach him. I'm the one who took him to the side about it, after all.

[Ruby sat Zwei down on the surface. The corgi immediately shook himself dry and listened in on the girls' conversation, bobbing his head to the side at whoever was speaking.]

Ruby: Wait a minute, wait a minute. So Sun never talked to him about it?

Weiss: Well, he planned to- -

Ruby: Neither did Scarlett?

Weiss: Actually, he was gonna- -

Ruby: Sage?!

Weiss: RUBY! Could you please let me speak, dolt?!

Ruby: *inches back in the water* Sorry!

Weiss: No-no, that's alright. I…Kinda worded that wrong. See, the boys had debated it with Neptune after their clash with Team NDGO. But then when they moved to Vacuo after the Fall, there really wasn’t much room for swim lessons apart from the oasis they'd stop by to rest up. And since they were so high up in Mistral's mountain ranges, there wasn’t much time to discuss that, either. Especially with how they only came for farewells with how we had to get to Argus.

Ruby: *inches up* Wow, so he trusted you to teach him?

Weiss: Yes. Neptune asked me since there really wasn’t much room for the boys to teach him due to their own duties at Shade at the time. I figured we'd fly out to the company office to make this easier, as sort of a comparison to the fear of heights versus the fear of water.

Ruby: *smiles* Aww. Well, I think it was really sweet what you're doing for your boyfriend.

Weiss: Yes, he- -What?! Oh my gods, no! We are not dating right now!

Ruby: *smug look* Then why did you sneak photos of him and his teammates in the locker room one time?

Weiss: Shut up, that was Coco who took the photos and left them on my desk!

Ruby: *cat smile* Uh-huhhhhh~!

Weiss: Argh! If I had one of those Pyrrha dolls, I would throw it at your head.

Ruby: *frowns* Geez. Rub it in, why don't you.

[Just as the girls were about to resume their banter, the doors to the poolhouse opened revealing Neptune in a red speedo and a life vest. He wore water wings for good measure as he nervously smiled at the girls.

The vest, predictably, failed to hide his lean figure. If anything, his perfectly toned ass was on display more with the speedo. Neptune wasn't a Herculean titan like Jaune, Sage, Yatsuhashi, or the like. But his twink-like figure was more than enough to catch Weiss' attention, which sold quickly.]

Weiss: Oh…There you are! I figured you needed a moment to acclimate to the pool. (He's hot! He's hot! I completely forgot about this until now and he's so incredibly hot! It's gotta be a war crime to look this good!)

Neptune: You, uh…You ready to start, Weiss? *embarrassed grin*

Weiss: Y-Yeah, of course. Come here, let me help you into the water.

[Weiss offered Neptune her hand as Klein came by with refreshments for the three of them. The Schnee clan's butler wore a Hawaiian pattern shirt and shorts as he brought Ruby a cherry soda.]

Klein: Thirsty, Miss Rose?

Ruby: *takes soda* Yep. Thanks, Klein.

Klein: *bows* My pleasure, ma'am. I take it you are also enthralled with Mister Vasilias' body?

[Ruby got out of the pool, towling herself off as she sat in a chair with her soda.]

Ruby: That's not really my thing. But how often has this happened with Weiss?

Klein: Well, many boys have come to the pool with her in the past. Not in Atlas, but here. Predictably, they were interested in Weiss' money rather than her personality.

Ruby: *sips soda* I guess it's a first with Neptune, then.

Klein: Hmm. Indeed.

Neptune: *walks to the edge of the pool with Weiss, holding her hand* This is fine, this is fine…

Weiss: *smiles* It’ll be fine, Neptune. Just focus on me. We'll get this done together. How deep can you usually go?

Neptune: Huh?

Weiss: How deep in water can you go?

Neptune: W-Well, I can dip my feet in the water. But going beyond my ankle is where I start to panic.

Weiss: Just don't let go of me. Keep holding my hand, and we'll start with standing in the shallow end.

Neptune: Alright…

[Weiss stepped into the pool first, feeling her hand tightened by Neptune's thick grasp. She winced a little, but dipped her thighs in, gesturing Neptune to follow.

The intellectual hesitated, then nodded by dipping his ankles after his girlfriend went into the drink. He gasped a little. He then noticed that Weiss began stroking into the pool. A surge of panic went through him, diving in after her.]

Neptune: Weiss, hang on! *dives forward*

Weiss: What, Neptune- -?! *gets pounced by Neptune* GAH!

[Ruby raised her sunglasses, noticing them both falling in from Neptune's jump.]

Ruby: GUYS! *Petal Bursts into the pool, diving in after them*

Klein: Good heavens!

[As Ruby dived in after them, Klein made a beeline for the lifeguard post and grabbed the inner tube ring. Just as Ruby pulled out Weiss, she let go of Neptune who floated up, gasping for air as Ruby held up her partner.]

Weiss: Neptune? Neptune, can you hear me?!

Neptune: *shakes head* Hah! W-Weiss?

Weiss: *swims over to Neptune, hugging him* Yeah, it's me. What the hell got into you there?

Neptune: Um… *bites lip*

Weiss: Neptune. Please tell me what’s going through your head.

Neptune: I'm- - *hugs Weiss* I'm scared of the water because I shocked my friends when I was a kid.

Weiss: *looks up* What?

Neptune: Basically, my mom was taking us out for a swim after my dad was hospitalized at the time. My friends and I, we- -We were having fun for a while, but then my friend Scylla and I were hanging out by the car. I thought I saw mom drowning, but it was actually one of Scylla's relatives. I ran in, and, my mind went blank.

Klein: *frowns* Oh dear.

Ruby: How did you get out?

Neptune: Okay, I can basically cast static electricity. I can charge it over time, but I mostly can just shock my way out of some problems. It's not really lethal against Humanoids. This shock back then, though…Whew! Just as I was gonna black out, I zapped myself awake, then the whole pool lit up along with the other kids. I survived, but I was pretty much scared of water after that.

Weiss: What happened to them?

Neptune: Gods, I'm not even sure. But the last I heard when the police finally finished questioning us was that…That my friends were also hospitalized and homeschooled for a while. *lets go of Weiss* I've never been so embarrassed about one of my fears. I'm sorry, Weiss. This might not be a good day for lessons.

[Zwei gave a sad whimper, with Klein's “Bashful” personality kicking in at this sight. But Weiss wasn’t having any of his excuses today, and gave Neptune another hug from behind. Her chest sat against his rocky back. And she pillowed her head against the back of his neck.]

Weiss: Neptune. You have nothing to be sorry about. That was then, this is now. Besides, you admitted you trusted me to help you with this, right? So I'm gonna help you because I love you, and wanna help you through your pain. Don't EVER be afraid to ask for my help.

Neptune: But- -Alright. You're right, Weiss. I gotta stop worrying with you around. *takes Weiss' legs into piggyback position* Let's uh…Let's try again tomorrow. Water's getting a little cold.

[Weiss hugged him tighter, nuzzling the back of his neck and planting several kisses while brushing the side of her lengthy hair against his shaved spots.]

Weiss: Is this better, sweetie?

Neptune: *blushes* Well, uh… *smiles* Yeah, it is. *steps out of the pool, shedding water wings still carrying* Thanks, Weiss. I knew you'd listen.

Weiss: Of course, Neptune. Ruby, why don't we shower up and get lunch?

Ruby: *smirks, getting out of pool* You just don't wanna see Neptune all wet and naked right now, do you?

Weiss: *blushes* N-No! Not until we're married…Okay, maybe a little.

Klein: *switches to Doc personality, chuckling* Never a dull moment. I shall go retrieve your towels at once.

Weiss: *gets off of Neptune's back* Thank you, Klein. Could you please give Zwei a bath as well?

Ruby: He likes baths, just be sure to lure him in with some toys I brought.

Zwei: Ruff-ruff!

Klein: Certainly, Miss Rose!

[The heroes dispersed to wash up for the afternoon, before enjoying lunch together. Weiss wasn’t going to let Neptune's aquaphobia bring him down so easily, because nothing could stop a Schnee from achieving her goal with their SO. Such was the nature of Neptune and Weiss' relationship.]

[dyscrasia-eucrasia]

Part 3

<<Prev | Next>>

"So how was that show you went to last night?" Javier asked as he preened in front of the mirror. 

"Oh my god, it was so, so good," Angel replied as he peeled off his shirt and folded it. "Totally worth taking off a Saturday for. I actually got to talk to the lead singer for one of the bands and he was so gorgeous." 

"Yeah? Tell me you got pictures." 

"I got a couple when they were playing, here, come look." He motioned Javier over and retrieved his phone from his locker. 

Opening up his photo gallery, he'd already pushed the photos from the show down under a wall of selfies, most of the same angle and expression, with only the most minute of differences. 

"Girl," Javier said, clicking his tongue as he looked over Angel's shoulder, "you are so conceited." 

"Shut up, I am not. This is advertising." 

"Sure it is, Miss 'I'm a thousand followers away from ten K.' I saw your post begging for brand deals. Hey, if you get those flat tummy teas to sponsor you, you can do a post about how they flush out your system so you can take a ton of dick." 

"Oh my godddd," Angel laughed. "You are such a bitch! Do you want to see these pics or not?" 

"Yaaaas, show me!" 

"Here," Angel tapped a photo and it expanded to fill the screen. It was probably the best picture he'd gotten at the show, one of Demie as he'd growled into the mic, his long hair cascading on either side of his face, which was half cast in shadow by the stage lights. Angel was especially fond of the way the shadows highlighted Demie's long, gaunt face, and the way the fake horns curled up around his ears. 

"...Girl," Javier said. His tone didn't sound like he was impressed. More like he was being judgemental. 

"What?"

"That is like, one of the ugliest dudes I've ever seen." 

"What? No he isn't, he's hot A.F." 

"Giiiirl, you can't be serious. Look at that ratty-ass beard! Oh my god, could you imagine trying to kiss someone with one of those?" 

"Oh whatever, you think bald old men are hot." 

"Nooo, I think Daddies are hot, not every old guy is a Daddy." 

"Ugh, gross." 

"You won't think it's so gross when I'm married to a hot rich old guy who dies and leaves me his mansion," Javier said, giving Angel a little shove and heading back over to the mirror. 

"That's right, I forgot your idea of romance is murder," Angel shot back. Javier shot him a look, pursing his lips, and gave Angel the finger before heading out of the locker room. 

Angel laughed to himself. He took another look at the picture of Demie. He'd taken surprisingly few photos of the show - something about the music had just taken such a strong grip on him that he'd forgotten to document the experience. In a way, it had felt too intimate to post on Instagram with a long-winded caption about how much he loved music or whatever. 

Plus, he preferred to tag artists in his posts, and despite doing a lot of digging, he hadn't been able to find any social media presence for Bacchus at all. No Instagram, no Twitter, no Spotify, not even a Bandcamp page. He'd even scrolled back through nearly a hundred of Marius' Instagram posts, looking for a picture of Demie or Elaine, but both were notably absent. 

That tracked, he guessed, considering Demie had said he didn't have a phone, but he could've sworn he saw Elaine on one. Surely she posted something about them, at least to let fans know if they had a show coming up. But all he'd been able to find was a post on a heavy metal Subreddit with a low-quality recording of the band, asking if it was true that Marius used to play for them. There were only two replies - one reporting that Marius had said in an interview that he used to play bass for an indie band, and another saying that Marius' music sucked. 

Angel sighed, thinking that he should've gotten a selfie with the band, to memorialize the show for himself if no one else. With that thought, he put his phone back in his locker and stripped down, changing into a g-string and heading out onto stage. 

He liked his job, for the most part. He enjoyed the freedom of being openly, luridly sexual in front of others. He enjoyed feeling like he had a power over the men who came into the club. It was a power he didn't really get elsewhere. Sure, he was tall and muscular for an Asian man, but in comparison to the average American, he was still short, and in the local gay scene he was expected to be a submissive little bottom. 

Not that there was anything wrong with being a bottom. He definitely was one. But he didn't appreciate the way he was expected to be a doormat for tops. 

When he was dancing, though, he held the power. And he loved that feeling. 

He didn't love when drunk guys tried to get handsy, though. And he didn't love having to pay to work the club, nor did he enjoy how unreliable the pay was. Some nights he could pull upwards of $600, others he struggled to get $100. Taking a Saturday off for the sake of a concert was an especially unwise move, since weekend nights were the best financially. 

He didn't really regret it, though. He was glad he'd gone to the show and had the opportunity to meet Demie. The singer occupied his mind the entire day, so much so that, after the club closed for the night and he got home, he pulled out his phone and dialed Demie's number, already saved to his contacts. 

The phone rang four times, and he was ready - albeit let down - to accept that Demie had given him a fake number when a female voice finally answered. 

"Hello?" She asked groggily. 

"Um… is Demie there?" He asked. 

"Who the fuck…" He could hear her say, though it sounded like she'd held the phone away from her. Her voice came back louder and asked, "Can I ask who's calling?" 

"This is Angel, Demie gave me this number after the show last night?" 

"Jesus fucking…" Her voice got muffled, but he could make out that she was shouting Demie's name. 

After shouting Demie's name twice, Angel could just barely make out Demie's voice shouting something back. 

"Phone! It's that guy from the show," Elaine shouted. There was some weird feedback, like she was rubbing the mouthpiece of the phone on her shirt, and then a clatter as the phone was handed over. 

"Hello?" Demie asked. 

"Hi, this is Angel. We met the other night." 

"Dude, it's like four in the morning." 

"Oh! Oh shit, you're right. Sorry, I work nights. I can call back later…" 

"Nah, it's cool, I was already up." 

Angel could hear Elaine shout something that sounded like 'I fucking wasn't.' Demie grumbled something and a few seconds later there was the sound of a door slamming shut. 

"What's up?" Demie asked. He made an 'oof' sound, like he was flopping down on a bed or chair. 

"What's your band's Instagram handle?" 

"Oh. We don't do that shit." 

"Seriously? What about Spotify? Or Bandcamp?" 

"What are those?" 

"You're kidding."

"Nope. Never heard of them." 

"Where do you sell your music, then?" 

"Uh… I've got some cassette tapes that we used to sell at shows. They're old stuff though, back when Mar was still in the band. Why, do you wanna buy one?" 

"Holy shit," Angel said with a laugh, tossing himself down on his futon. "What fucking decade did you walk out of?" 

"What? Tapes are cool. I don't know why anyone would want some e-file digital copy on their iPod or whatever when they could have a physical copy." 

"God, you sound like a hipster."

"I don't really know what that means but I'll take it as a compliment." 

There was a brief lapse in the conversation. Angel wasn't sure what to say. The more he found out about Demie, the more quaint he seemed. It was oddly endearing, knowing that there was no way Demie would've seen his Instagram. He never would've seen the airbrushed photos or the flirty stories or the pics of beautifully crafted breakfasts that he never actually ate because he had to maintain his abs for the sake of his job. 

In a world where everyone had to put their best self on display at all times for a digital audience, Demie had no expectations. He didn't see Angel-the-wannabe-micro-influencer. There was something beautifully vulnerable in that. 

"So what are you doing up at 4am?" Angel eventually asked. 

"Eh… I was writing some music. Haven't really done much since Mar moved out, but I dunno… I just kinda got this flash of inspiration. Just gotta see where it takes me, y'know?" 

"No, I get it. Back when I was in school, I just couldn't write essays during the day, somehow the words only came to me when I'd been up past midnight." 

"Hm. Yeah." 

"Can I ask what the song's about, or is it like… trade secret stuff?" 

"Yeah, no, it's cool. You ever heard of Orpheus?" 

"Oh, yeah. A friend of mine is in love with that one musical, what's it called? Hadestown?"

"Oh shit, they made a musical out of that? I thought it was just an album." 

"See, I didn't know it was an album first." 

"That's cool. So this song's more about the original myth…"

[harrywritingsbyme]

Sold

A/N: It’s a cute one🥰🥰!! Enjoy 🙃

House hunting. You both liked your house, you really did, it’s just, you both kind of outgrew it. You moved in with Harry after two years of dating and it was great. But after four and a half years together, 9 months of them being a married couple, you both were ready for a fresh start. Plus you both were talking more and more about starting a family and you just couldn’t do it in your current house.

“I found a really nice one not too far away from here.” Harry says, turning his laptop around to show you the photos. 

“I like it, I’d definitely need to see it in person though.” you say, clicking through the pictures. 

“I’ll just ask Andrew to add this one to the list.” he shrugs turning the computer back around. 

“We already have so many on the list. If we add anymore, Andrew is going to quit and we’ll have to find a new real estate agent.” You sigh.  

“Okay, so we narrow it down to five and let Andrew pick the rest?” 

“That sounds like a plan.” you huff, making your way around the kitchen island to Harry. He pulls you onto his lap and rests his head on your chest.

“Who knew finding your forever home would be so difficult.” He pouts wishing the process would hurry along. 

“We’ll find it, I promise baby.” you coo, running your fingers through his hair. “And when we do, it’ll be worth the search and we’ll have forever to enjoy it.” You continue, calming Harry down. Even though you were trying to calm him down, you were also trying to calm yourself down. You didn’t know how many more houses you could look at before you just gave up on it all.

For the next few weeks, it’d been the same routine. Look for houses online, go look at the houses, not like the houses, have your ever so patient real estate agent reassure you that you were going to find a house, then repeat. You both had pretty much given up for the time being. That is until now. You were finished looking at the houses on the new list that the three of you had come up with when Andrew told you about the house. 

“Before we finish up, I have one more left to show you guys. I think you both will like it.” He says handing Harry the information sheet. From the picture it looked spectacular, what you both were looking for when it came to the exterior, you were just praying that it was spectacular on the inside too. 

“Wanna go?” He turns to you, showing you the house. 

“Why not.” you shrug looking at the picture. Yes the house looked amazing, a lot of the houses you two looked at were amazing on the outside. But when you walked in, it wasn’t what either of you were looking for. So even though you thought this house was perfect on the outside, you lowered your expectations for what was on the inside.

“Alright, the address is on the top, and I’ll meet you guys there.” Andrew gives you guys a quick smile before heading over to his car. While you both are getting into the car there’s complete silence. You both were starting to get exhausted, mentally and physically. 

“It’ll be fine.” Harry reaches over the console to pick your hand up in his.

“I hope it is.” You give him a tight lipped smile and you lightly squeeze his hand.

“It will be. And if this isn’t the house for us, then we could always buy and do a renovation.”

“Yeah, but that’s a lot of time, energy, and money going into it. I know it’s our forever home, but I don’t want it to take forever.” You drop your head back against the headrest and you turn towards Harry. 

“Well let’s cross our fingers that this is the one.” He gives you a soft smile before bringing your intertwined hand up to his lips.

Harry starts the car and begins the short drive to the final house. You didn’t want to tell Harry this but if you guys didn’t like this house, you were ready to just throw in the towel. So you really wanted to like this one. When you guys make it through the gates of the house, you become really hopeful in this one. It was something about it that was different from the others you’d seen, and you really liked it. 

“It looks prettier in person.” you evaluate the front exterior and you instantly have a feeling that this could be it. Once Harry parks, you both get out and you follow behind Andrew to the front door. While Andrew was giving you both a little more info on the house, you grab onto Harry’s hand, letting him know in your own subtle way that you had a feeling that this could be it. 

“Okay, are you guys ready?” Andrew asks excitedly, wanting to give you both a little bit of pep. 

“As ready as we’ll ever be.” Harry says optimistically. Andrew pushes open the door and steps off to the side, letting you both fully take in everything. As soon as you walk through the door, you and Harry immediately taken aback. 

“And that’s the reaction I was hoping for.” Andrew says to you both, giving himself a little pat on the shoulder in his head. Everything you both were looking for when you first walk through the door was here. Sure the paint color wasn’t necessarily your taste in colors, but that could easily be fixed. The light fixtures were great, you loved the floors and the entire look of the foyer was perfect for you and Harry. You had a little checklist in your head and so far based off of what you’re seeing right now, this house has the opportunity of checking off more than just the first two boxes.  You were really hoping that your instincts were right about this one.  

By the time the three of you finished touring the first floor and the backyard, Harry was completely sold. You were the one that needed a little more convincing. The upstairs had plenty of rooms which you thought be perfect for when your family and Harry’s family came to visit. They were also perfect for yours and Harry’s future family. You made it to your last stop on the tour which was the master bedroom. When you pushed through the doors, you were completely floored. This bedroom alone was absolutely stunning, add the rest of the house to it and the entire property was everything you guys wanted and more. Andrew quickly finishes up the tour, clearly seeing that you and Harry were ready to talk about the house on your own and maybe even put an offer on it. 

“This is my Dream house!” you gasp as Andrew walks out of the room. “I love it so much” you shriek in excitement. 

“I really love it too. It’s everything we want, perfect location, perfect price, perfect for kids. It’s exactly what we wanted and some.” He says completely sold on this house. Harry honestly believed that nothing could top this one

“I really want it.” you say walking around the room. “What if we don’t get it?” you begin to panic. 

“We’ll get it, we’ll put in an offer they can’t refuse. It’ll be okay love, don’t worry.” he reassures, quickly making his way over to you. He opens his arms and you fall into them.

“I love you.” you look up at him, resting your chin on his chest. 

“I love you more.” he presses a sweet kiss on your lips. You guy’s moment is immediately interrupted when Andrew walks into the room.

“So, what d’you guys think?” He questions, even though he already knew you guys’ response. 

“Were standing in our dream house.” you lift your head to face Andrew.

“Well I’m glad to hear that. If you guys are both are dead set on this house I suggest putting an offer on it ASAP, there’s another couple who also think that this is their dream home.” 

“Wanna put an offer on it?” You tilt your head up to look at Harry. You both just look at each other and you both say yes without actually saying it. 

“Let’s put an offer on it.” Right now you were beaming, you were beyond excited, you couldn’t believe that you could actually be getting your dream/forever home with Harry today. 

“Okay, so how about we go downstairs to figure out the numbers part so we can lock this house down for you guys?” You and Harry follow Andrew downstairs where the three of you come up with an offer that the owners hopefully wouldn’t refuse. 

“So now that we have our offer, what do we do now?” Harry asks the question that was being asked over and over again in your head. 

“Now we just wait. Normally, prospective buyers hear back after about two weeks or so. I’ll give all of this to them today, and we should hear back around the same time in the next two weeks.” Andrew closes the folder with all of you and Harry’s information and paperwork, before walking you guys back to the front door. 

“That’s not too bad I guess.” You wished that you could find out whether or not the house was yours right that instant, but you knew that some sales took way longer than just a week so you weren’t going to complain at all. 

“It really isn’t, and considering the fact that the owners really want to sell this house, we may hear back before the two weeks are up.”

“That’s even better.” Harry chimes in. “Thanks again for all of your help. I know we were a bit of a handful.” 

“You guys were delightful in comparison to some of my other clients.” Andrew chuckles. “Well I have another showing in a little bit, so I have to go. But I look forward to checking in with you guys really soon.” 

For the next few days, you and Harry carried out your normal routines, still waiting to hear back from Andrew about the house. Well you were waiting to hear back from Andrew about the house. Andrew had called Harry a little over a week ahead of schedule to let him know that your offer had been accepted. He already knew that you were a little bit stressed over this entire house buying ordeal, so he wanted to leave you out of the rest of the process and make everything a surprise for you. He made sure everything was running smoothly and on track for two weeks like promised. He knew for a fact that you were counting the days, so he was definitely going to be on top of every last thing. Harry picked up the keys the day before the two week mark and if right on time, your meltdown began.

“I don’t think we got the house.” You say out of the blue. You say this right as Harry was drifting off to sleep. 

“Don’t say that love, it’s probably taking a little bit longer than expected.” Harry reassures. He throws an arm around your waist, trying to pull you down so that you could go to sleep. But you wouldn’t budge, you just continue to sit up in the bed, resting against the headboard, thinking about all of the possible outcomes to this entire house situation. 

“If they’re deliberating then, they’re still mulling everything over and they could choose the other couple and were gonna be back at square one.” You seemed to alway find the worst possible scenario in just about any situation. There’s a long pause in the conversation before Harry rolls away from you and out of the bed. He walks into the closet and grabs a pair of joggers for himself and a hoodie for you before coming back out. 

“Y’wanna go get ice cream?” He questions as he hastily pulls his joggers on. “And before you say no, I’m not too tired and it’ll help you take your mind off of the house.” 

“Fine-“

“And I want ice cream too.” Harry quickly jumps in. Trying to make his argument so solid you couldn’t not comply with.

“Okay, let me get dressed” you pull back the comforter and Harry throws one of his hoodies at you. He grabs his glasses from the nightstand and he pulls you both down the stairs. He throws on a jacket and you both throw on some shoes before heading out the door. 

Since it was late on a Tuesday night, there was just about no traffic. You guys were en route to the ice cream shop you and Harry always went to before you suddenly weren’t. When Harry was coming from the house after the inspection and he drove past an ice cream shop, and he was planning on taking you there right before he surprised you with the house.

“I thought we could try something new, I saw it when we came from the house and I wanted us to try it out.” You were up for trying something new plus Harry was right about the whole taking your mind off of the house idea. Once the two of you got your ice cream you were on your way home. You guys were driving through the neighborhood and things started to look a bit familiar. 

“Where are we going?” You have a little bit of suspicion in your voice. 

“Theres one more place I want to go.” He tries to bite back the smile on his face at the way you were completely clueless as to what was going on.

As he gets closer and closer to the house he begins to slow down. He reaches down into his pocket and opens the gate with the brand new keys.

“Harry, I thought we were trying not to think about the house.” Now you just thought he was teasing you. you had a lot of questions running through your head, the first one being how in the world is he able to get past the gates. 

“Well I only said that to get you out of the bed.” Harry sends you a quick smile before parking. Before you could even respond, Harry grabs the bag of ice cream from the backseat before walking to the front door. You follow behind him and you take everything in. You were starting to think that even though you both loved it so much, maybe it wasn’t meant to be. Maybe eating ice cream on the front step was Harry’s way of realizing that too. 

“As much as I want to eat ice cream on the front step and think about all of the memories that could have been in this house, I think this is trespassing.” Before Harry replies, he sits the bag of ice cream down because he knew exactly what was going to happen once he told you about the house. 

“I don’t think you can trespass on your own property.” He says calmly, pulling the keys from his pocket. When you see the keys dangling on his finger, your hands fly to your mouth. Before you knew it, you were launching yourself into Harry’s arms. You couldn’t believe that the house of yours and Harry’s dreams was finally yours.

“Welcome to our forever home Mrs.Styles.” Harry finally whispers in your ear. 

For the rest of the night into the early morning, the two of you talked about all of the plans you had for your new home. And the both of you made sure that those plans involved christening every last room. It may have taken what felt like forever to find but now that you finally did, you were going to have forever enjoying it. 

Masterlist

[choupichoups]

Blue [2/2]

Prompt: soulmate au // “please tell me this is safe”(...) // “i'm cold”(...)

Lucas has seen colour ever since he can remember.

His memories before meeting Eliott pale in comparison to everything that comes after. But he’d never ever utter a word of that observation— god knows his soulmate doesn’t need anymore fodder for his gigantic ego. 

Besides, how can he have room to remember anything else when everyone just loves to remind him all about the incident— as if the idea of Lucas crying over his first kiss is a perpetually hilarious concept.

He’s perfected the blasé, I was five, he often uses to defend himself.

“Please tell me this is safe,” he says, stepping over a frozen tree root as he follows Eliott deeper into the woods. 

“This is safe.” 

Lucas watches him hop down an icy slope, long legs able to step over the deep grove without risk of falling and breaking his head open— which, yeah, no, Lucas is not going any further. “Please tell me this is safe, without lying.” 

“You’re really demanding, you know that?” Eliott looks up at him from where he’s waiting on lower ground. “You don’t trust me?”

“Uh, not really, no.” 

Eliott laughs, moving closer to where Lucas’s stood at the edge of the boulder. “Come on, I got you.” 

“What if you slip?”

“I won’t.”

“What if I slip?”

“I won’t let that happen.” 

Lucas sighs, bouncing in his spot as he weighs his options. “Eliott, just come back up here, please,” he says, voice soft as he peeks over the steep edge and loses all his nerve. “Let’s get back to the guys.” His mind plays out a scene akin to a horror movie, where one wrong step would send Eliott rolling off the edge of some hidden cliff, or Lucas would be standing under the wrong tree and an icicle would drop down to stab him to death. Call him a coward all you want but it’s really fucking dark out here and Lucas has never claimed to be brave. 

The playfulness on Eliott’s expression softens, and he reaches up, straining until he’s able to grab one of Lucas’ hands in a reassuring grip. “I swear nothing will happen, Lucas.” He runs his thumb over the back of Lucas’ hand, smiling up at him with those endearing wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. “When have I ever let you fall?” 

At seven years of age, Lucas’ parents fight so much that they don’t even notice their only son sneaking out to escape the loud, loud yelling.

He’s climbed into the play structure at the park his mama used to always take him to— back when she’d been less stressed out, back when papa had still eaten dinner with the two of them every night.

Lucas curls himself into a ball, hiding tear streaked cheeks into the crook of his elbows. He’s not necessarily crying about the fight, he doesn’t understand what they’re talking about, it’s just that he’s really scared right now. 

He’s at the highest point of the play structure and he kind of wants to go down but every way back down to the ground looks too scary. He doesn’t want to fall and die. Mama used to always pick him up when he gets stuck like this, but she doesn’t even know he’s here. 

“Lucas?” 

He looks up at the sound of his name and sees Eliott down below, holding a basketball in his arms. 

“Hi,” Lucas says lamely, sniffing as he wipes at his tears.

Eliott gasps. “Why are you crying? Wait for me, I’ll come get you!”

“No!” Lucas stops him, afraid that both of them would get stuck if Eliott climbs up after him.

“What?” The basketball falls uselessly on the sandy ground. One of Eliott’s legs is already poised to step up the ladders. “Why not?”

“I can’t get down,” Lucas whispers, feeling more tears fill up his eyes. “I wanna go down!”

“Oh.” Eliott frowns, jumping easily onto the second level of the structure, contemplates a bit, and then climbs onto the third level. “Come, give me your hand.” 

Lucas shakes his head. Eliott looks too far away, Lucas will die. 

“Come on, Lulu. I got you.” Eliott’s reaching upwards, both hands open for Lucas to take. “I promise I won’t let you fall.”

Lucas jumps off the rock and Eliott catches him easily. 

“See? That wasn’t so bad.” Eliott grins, carefully setting Lucas down on a patch of snow, ensuring that no ice is hidden underneath the powdery surface. 

“Revisit the topic when it’s time for us to get back up and I can’t climb over the damn rock.”

Eliott ruffles his hair, chuckling. “I’ll take care of everything.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Lucas scoffs, grumpily kicking small blocks of ice away from his path as they continue walking. “How much further?”

“Not much longer, your highness.”

Lucas rolls his eyes, ducking under the branch that Eliott pulls out of the way for him.

Eliott’s sneaking glances at him, eyes curved slightly in a hint of a smile so Lucas puts in the effort to pull different faces for each time his aggravating boyfriend looks back. It gets him happy little giggles from Eliott and Lucas has to bite his lip against a smile. He can’t have Eliott thinking that he’s enjoying this ridiculous trek in the woods now. 

“Thank you for coming with me,” Eliott says, snapping a particularly stubborn branch off one of the trees when it wouldn’t bend. Lucas could have just dodged it himself but he’s not about to argue with Eliott’s adorable and sometimes (always) successful attempts at chivalry. “I know it’s late, I really wanted to take you out here earlier but the guys wouldn’t leave us alone.” 

“You could have told me, I would’ve kindly asked them to fuck off for you,” Lucas says, walking faster when he sees Eliott cupping his hands around his mouth to blow warm air into them. In a weird twist of events, Lucas’s the one who’d been smart enough to bring his gloves for the cabin trip and Eliott had somehow managed to pack three winter jackets but had jack all for toques and mittens. 

“I know.” Eliott’s laughing again, stuffing his hands in his pockets to keep them away from the biting cold. Lucas stumbles clumsily over the bumpy forest floor, almost falling into Eliott’s back and startling his boyfriend into turning around. “Hey, you okay?” 

“Yeah, fine, I just—” Lucas gives up trying to explain himself, reaching out to wrap both of his gloved hands around one of Eliott’s freezing ones. “Should’ve borrowed Yann’s gloves before taking me here.” 

Eliott shrugs. “I was hoping you’d do this actually so… success, I guess.”

Lucas squints at him. That’s total bullshit. “Just admit you didn’t think of it and go.” 

Eliott raises his hands in surrender, laughter loud amongst the silent trees. Lucas grabs his hand back in his hold. “What do I do with my other hand then?”

A side eye is all he gets. “Suffer.” 

“Aw, come on.”

“I’ll switch to your other side later.”

“You’re so sweet sometimes that I forget you’re the biggest bitch I know.” 

“Oh yeah? This bitch is done warming your hands then.” Lucas lets go of him, sealing the deal by lagging a few steps behind.

“I’m kidding!” Eliott jogs backwards, making the dumb gesture somehow look cute. Lucas scowls at himself, disgusted at how in love he is with this goofball. “I’m kidding, please hold my hand, Lulu.” 

Lucas makes sure to heave his biggest sigh, “I guess if I have to.” 

But Eliott doesn’t resume with the banter, only dipping his head down to Lucas’ eye level and nudging his cheek with his nose like the overgrown puppy he is. “I mean it. Thank you for coming.”

Lucas looks up at him when Eliott pulls away, hands clenching tighter around Eliott’s fingers— now toasty warm. 

“You know I’ll follow you everywhere, dumbass.”

Lucas is fourteen when Eliott calls him at half past two in the morning, words indecipherable in between his heaving sobs. It’s a good thing they live close by, because nothing would have stopped Lucas from pulling his shoes on and running right over. 

They’re in Eliott’s bed the morning after, sitting cross legged from each other as Eliott fiddles with the many tubs of paint in his collection. Lucas watches him silently, offering a small nod when Eliott swears under his breath and leaves the room, promising he’d be right back.

They still haven’t talked about what happened the night before. 

Lucas flops back down on the bed, snuggling closer into the large hoodie Eliott’s lent him after his shower— his soulmate hadn’t even tried to look for something that would fit Lucas better. 

“This should be good enough,” Eliott says as he returns, tone slightly giddy, and when Lucas looks up he catches the tiny smile gracing Eliott’s features. Lucas sighs, relief spreading over his chest like a soothing balm— it’s definitely progress from how Eliott had been acting last night. 

“What’s that for?” Straightening up, Lucas nods towards the small bottle of nail polish in Eliott’s grip. 

“Remember when I asked for your help last month?”

“For your project?” 

“Yeah!” Eliott jumps back into bed, pulling Lucas closer by his legs. Lucas would have kicked him in the face for it if the memory of Eliott’s tears still wasn’t so fresh in his mind. “I need your hands for the cover photo.”

“So you’re using me as a free hand model.”

“I’ll buy you ice cream after.” Eliott looks up, shooting him a quick wink. 

Great. So they’re still not talking about it. 

Eliott folds the sleeves of the hoodie twice over to get the material away from Lucas’ hands. They work in comfortable silence— Eliott trying his hardest to make the blue nail polish look smooth and even while Lucas opts to staring at him unashamedly. 

He’s kind of missed Eliott, actually. 

Eliott has started high school already while Lucas’s still trudging along in middle school, pretending his handsome dork of a shadow isn’t a gaping absence in his everyday life. It’s not like they’ve grown apart; they see each other out of school sometimes (when Eliott’s not drowning in homework) and they text each other a lot of times. 

Still, it’s different from how they’ve always been inseparable during their younger years. 

“I went to the doctor yesterday.” 

Lucas perks up, nodding as Eliott moves on to painting his other hand. But when the other boy doesn’t continue, Lucas decides to give him a verbal cue. “Okay.” 

Eliott blinks, like he’s just remembering that he’d said something in the first place. “Something weird happened last week.”

Lucas doesn’t quite get how it relates to the doctor thing but he lets it be. “Okay.”

“I was invincible, Lucas,” Eliott explains vaguely and despite the positive words he’s using, his tone implies otherwise. Which makes sense, since Lucas vividly remembers Mrs. Demaury telling Lucas that Eliott hadn’t been feeling well at all the past week. “And then I wasn’t.” 

“Okay.” The urge to hold Eliott’s hands in his is almost overwhelming but his nails haven’t dried yet and he really doesn’t want to ruin Eliott’s hard work. 

“It’s like… my mind was going to so many places.” Eliott replaces the cap on the nail polish, letting it roll on the sheets between them as he talks. “But my body can’t move.” There’s a slight tremor in Eliott’s hands and Lucas decides fuck it, to hell with the goddamn nail polish. He reaches out and intertwines their fingers together, squeezing the hands in his when he feels Eliott hold onto him a little harder.  

“Okay.”

“I didn’t— I was feeling everything and nothing all at once and I just wanted to sleep.” Eliott closes his eyes, his grip on Lucas bordering on painful but the latter doesn’t stray from it. “But I wasn’t fucking sleeping.” He lifts their joined hands up to his forehead, head ducked down as if in prayer. “This,” Eliott continues, knocking his head lightly over their hands. “This was elsewhere and I couldn’t fucking control it.” 

Lucas pulls their hands towards him, brings them to his lips. He places the lightest of kisses over Eliott’s knuckles, willing for him to look up. “Okay.” 

“I’m bipolar, Lucas,” Eliott whispers, words shivering out of his lips. “It’s not okay.”

There’s a pinprick behind his eyes, tears stubbornly wanting to make their appearance despite Lucas’ best efforts. Still, he clenches his teeth against them. “Maybe. But it doesn’t change a thing.”

“It changes everything.”

The fact that Eliott uses the same words that Lucas’ father had used a couple of years ago, against his mama, has him losing the battle. The tears he’d been holding back fall from his eyes and his heart lurches painfully when Eliott’s immediate reaction is to wipe at them gently with his thumb. 

“No,” he says, just as soft. “It doesn’t, not for me. Not for us.” Lucas can be anything in his life— he’s young and brash and has his whole life ahead of him. He will not be his father. “I’ll be right here, as always.”

“It’s going to be hard.”

“Things don’t stay easy forever anyway.” 

“You weren’t there last week, it was so bad.”

“I’ll learn.”

“But—”

“Are you trying to get rid of me?” He says, brows raising in accusation. It gets a small huff of laughter from Eliott and Lucas smiles at the sound. “Cause give it up, I’m not going anywhere.”

“What if I go where you can’t follow?”

“Impossible.” He doesn’t ever want to think about what that means. “Where you go, I go.” 

“Fuck,” Eliott breathes out, shaking his head. “Fuck fifteen.”

Lucas’s only confused for a second before Eliott leans over and captures his lips in a kiss. He’s swear to god not expecting it and certainly not when Eliott tumbles them back into the sheets, tongue hot and insistent against his closed lips. Not knowing what else to do, he allows Eliott in and immediately after can’t decide whether it’s the best or worst decision of his life. Either way, the very telling moan that claws its way out of his throat is enough to have him mortified. 

You see, Lucas has never had anyone but Eliott and his experience in this area is absolute rock bottom as Eliott hasn’t actually kissed him on the lips ever since that time when he was five. And he’d cried back then. 

He has half a mind to demand where Eliott learned to kiss like this because he’s pretty sure his soulmate hasn’t had anyone but Lucas either or he most certainly will be kicking him where it hurts. But all thoughts of demanding anything flies out the window when Eliott’s hands make their way under his borrowed hoodie and, well, just no, Lucas has to mentally prepare for this beforehand please and thank you.

“Wait, wait, wait,” he gasps out, finally finding the strength to turn away and use his jelly limbs to push Eliott off. 

“You okay?” Eliott asks, all worried like he hadn’t just attempted to murder Lucas with his tongue. 

“Yeah,” he says quickly, moving so that he’s face down on the bed with a hand over his pounding chest. Jesus. “Just, wait, I think I’m having a heart attack.” 

Eliott falls into the pillows laughing; unencumbered, bellowing, genuine— happy.

He wipes his half dried nails over the sheets in revenge.

“Lucas!” 

“Why is it so fucking cold?” Lucas mumbles mostly to himself. Blowing out a breath upwards and seeing the cloud of white in its wake irrationally pisses him off even more.

“I told you to bring a jacket,” Eliott says, nonchalant as he ambles through, all warm in his shirt and hoodie and two fucking jackets. 

“I did,” Lucas retorts. “I just didn’t know we were going to fucking Antartica, Eliott.”

His boyfriend outright laughs at his discomfort. Lucas pouts, carefully stepping around slippery patches of ice as he shivers in misery. If Eliott has to take him to the hospital for hypothermia after this, he’ll see who’s laughing then. 

Everything around him goes pitch black all of a sudden and Lucas stops, breath halting its steady rhythm as he looks up. His eyes haven’t adjusted yet so he can’t even see Eliott’s outline in the dark.

“Shit.” He hears Eliott from somewhere ahead of him and Lucas tries to walk over but he bumps into a tree two steps into it, feet sinking into a fragile glass of ice. The crunching sound it makes under his feet is jarring. “Lucas? Stay where you are, okay? Don’t move.” 

And yeah that’s some smart thinking right there. He’s glad at least one of them still has common sense. 

Eliott’s phone battery has probably ran out. Lucas’ phone is back at the cabin, charging, so he can’t even do anything to help fix this. His brain starts coming up with horror movie scenarios again and Lucas thumps his head against the tree, turning around to lean his back against it as he waits for Eliott. 

“Baby?” He hears Eliott’s voice again, still from the same direction as earlier.

“Right here,” he answers, thoughts of hypothermia taking a backseat for now. 

There’s a light click from somewhere on his left and Lucas can breathe properly again. The path in front of him is lit with the flashlight in Eliott’s hand and Lucas wastes no time running towards him. 

Eliott doesn’t make fun of him when Lucas jumps into his arms, only bending down a little so that Lucas doesn’t strain so much to reach him. 

“I’m sorry, baby.” Eliott murmurs into his hair. “I forgot my phone has shit battery life.”

Lucas laughs at that. “It’s okay.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I wasn’t scared.” Lucas doesn’t need to see Eliott’s thumb moving over the flashlight to know what his jackass soulmate is about to do. “But I will murder you myself if you shut that light off right now and no one will find your body out here.”

He feels Eliott’s laughter from over his head but Eliott obediently keeps the light on. Thank fucking god. 

Now that the crisis is over, Lucas starts to shiver from the cold again and he’s beginning to very seriously think that he’s actually going to die that same night when his body is wrapped in immediate warmth. His head snaps up, and Eliott smiles down at him, outer jacket now placed over Lucas’ shoulders instead. 

“You’ll be cold,” Lucas protests weakly, not really wanting to lose the blessed warmth but also not wanting Eliott to feel as cold as he’d been earlier. “Take it back.”

“Do you really think I need two jackets to stay warm?”

“Hm?” Lucas still hasn’t moved from his position against Eliott’s chest, arms wrapped securely around the latter’s waist so he doesn’t move away. 

“I knew you’d be too lazy to dress properly so I brought this for you,” he says, rubbing circles around Lucas’ back over the jacket.

“Oh.”

“What? You doubted me?” Eliott pulls back, lifting Lucas’ face by the chin. “How many times do I have to tell you that I’ll take care of you before you drill it into that head of yours?” 

Lucas presses his lips together but his efforts hold no candle over the enormous smile that tugs them apart. 

At fifteen, Lucas quickly gets exhausted by the attention he’s receiving in high school. 

He knows the bulk of the interest comes from being one half of a soulmate duo. He doesn’t exactly shout it out to the rooftops but the rumour mill is brutal around high school. Everybody somehow knows who’s got the syndrome or not. It doesn’t even help him that Eliott makes it no secret just who exactly Lucas’ other half is. Ironically enough, it only makes things worse.

“I’m having a party this Friday,” Robert, or whatever his name is, leans against the locker beside Lucas’, unperturbed even when Lucas treats his presence like air. “If you and your friends wanna come.” 

What Lucas wants is for what’s his face to leave him the fuck alone. “No.”

“You answered that too quickly, I think you might wanna think about it for a bit longer.” 

Lucas slams his locker shut, spares the nuisance some eye contact for a few seconds longer than usual, and reconfirms his answer. “No.” 

He hears Yann and the others coming up behind him and breathes out a sigh. Finally, some rescue— or so he thought. 

“Hey man!” Arthur greets the guy behind Lucas while Basile looks starstruck. And, okay, Lucas understands the fascination; Robert is in his final year and is in one of the more popular cliques in school. Doesn’t change the fact that he’s fucking annoying, though. 

Lucas looks at Yann with an expression he hopes is meaningful enough to get him to bail Lucas out. 

But Yann doesn’t get it. Lucas’s seriously going to demote him from best friend status now. 

“Fine,” Robert sighs, straightening up from the locker to loom infuriatingly close behind Lucas’ back. “I won’t hold it against you if you change your mind.” 

“Change your mind about what?” Basile snaps out of his daze just in time to fuel the fire Lucas’s desperately trying to douse. 

“Nothin—”

“Lucas says you guys wouldn’t be interested in a party this Friday?” 

Fuck you, Robert. 

“What?!” Basile exclaims, looking at Lucas all offended. The latter shrugs, remaining uninterested. Arthur gives him a subtle tap on the shoulder, widening his eyes in reprimand when Lucas looks over and they really need to calm down, it’s just a stupid party. There’s one practically every week. 

“No, no.” Arthur takes over, pushing Lucas aside which means he now has to turn around and see Robert’s triumphant smirk. “He cracked his head on a wall this morning, we’ll definitely be there.” 

“Cool. I’ll see you then.” And with that, Robert walks off— backwards. It doesn’t look half as attractive as when Eliott does it. Lucas barely resists flashing him the middle finger. 

“Lucas!” Arthur turns to him, scandalized. “How could you turn that down?” 

“It’s just a party.”

“It’s not just a party. That was Roden Caron inviting you, himself, just now. Are you crazy?”

“Whatever, you guys can go if you want. I’m staying home.”

“Pretty sure he won’t let us in without you,” Basile pipes up, eyes round and pleading. 

Lucas turns to Yann, who’s been quiet for the entire conversation, only to see his best friend’s head tilted down, tapping aimlessly at his phone. He knows Yann and Emma are having a rough time with their relationship right now and guilt churns in Lucas’ stomach. He hasn’t exactly been acting the role of the best friend either, too preoccupied with the shift in his and Eliott’s relationship for the past year. 

But maybe that dickhead Roden’s given him an opportunity to redeem himself a little. 

“Yann,” Lucas calls out, Yann looking up at them only after he’s been directly addressed. “You up for some distraction on Friday?” 

“I don’t know…” 

“Come on, man.” Basile knocks him encouragingly on the shoulder. “There’ll be unlimited drinks for free! And hot girls!”

“Yeah! And I heard his parties are bomb,” Arthur pitches in, almost vibrating at the prospect of attending. 

Yann meets Lucas’ eyes. “Eliott’s gonna be okay with this?”

“Uh.” Eliott probably wouldn’t want to go to a party hosted by some guy with a vendetta against him but Lucas can try. “I’ll ask if he wants to come.”

“No, no, no.” Basile takes Lucas’ phone away before he could do anything. “We are going to this party as single men.”

“We’re not single, though,” Yann retorts.

Basile pauses. “Okay, not single single but no significant others for the night.”

“Why?” Lucas doesn’t feel all that comfortable going without Eliott, for obvious reasons. 

“When was the last time we all hung out together with just us?” Basile spreads his hands out quite dramatically, looking around to meet eyes with each one of them. Lucas concurs he doesn’t have a good answer to that. “Exactly.”

They all mumble disgruntled agreements, even Arthur who isn’t even in a serious relationship. 

Lucas pockets his phone without asking Eliott to come with him. It’ll probably be fine anyway. 

Except, of course, it’s not. 

Yann’s shitfaced drunk on the couch two hours into arriving and Lucas, having stuck to him like a leech in order to prevent anything too disastrous from happening, is on his way to getting there as well. He listens to Yann’s moaning and groaning about not meaning to lie to Emma all the time but things are just so complicated. 

Lucas sloppily pats him on the back, taking another swig at his beer until he realizes that the bottle is empty. 

He should get more. 

Getting up from the couch is a hassle— his legs feel too weak to support the rest of his body and his head seems to have cotton for brains.

He should stop drinking now.

Digging around his pockets, he walks towards the kitchen in hopes of finding a little peace and quiet— and two water bottles for him and Yann as well. He’s glad his cotton brains are at least half functional. 

His hands finally reach into the correct pocket for his phone and he gleefully presses Eliott’s speed dial, excited to finally talk to his boyfriend after a long day without him. Eliott knows he’s at Roden’s party, having mentioned it offhandedly after Eliott complained about having to go to a classmate’s house, on a Friday night, to finish a group assignment. 

Just as predicted, Eliott’s face soured at the mention of Roden but he shrugs it off, kissing Lucas goodbye with a teasing, “Don’t be too bored without me.” 

And Lucas tried, really, but parties are just way too dull without his boyfriend around. 

“Hey.” Eliott picks up from the other line, sounding sweet and sleepy. 

Lucas realizes he doesn’t know what time it is. “I’m bored, Eliott.” 

There’s a muffled chuckle and then, “I think it’s time for you to leave that lame party.” 

“But the guys are still here?” He speaks slowly, trying not to slur his words. Eliott would get worried if he catches wind of how much Lucas has already drank. 

“With you right now?”

Lucas looks around and spots Arthur and Basile engaged in a giant drinking game that looks a hair’s width away from being too much. 

“No.” 

“Then you can leave whenever you want.” 

“Yeah… yeah,” he answers absently, leaning against the kitchen counter as he stares at the cupboards. Which one would hold the cups? He wants cold water from the fridge, not those stupid water bottles scattered around on the floor. 

"Lucas?” There’s a lot of noise from Eliott’s line but Lucas can’t figure out what he’s doing at this time of the night. Or early morning. Whatever. “Hey, baby, are you okay?” 

“Mhm.” He rubs his eyes with the back of his hand. “I think…” Drunk Lucas is too much of a disaster to be hanging around in public so he should probably go. “I’m—”

“Finally caught you.” There’s another voice nearby but Lucas understands that it’s not coming from his phone. He turns around, cursing in his head at the sight of Roden. He’s been doing so well avoiding the guy all night. 

Lucas holds the phone tighter. “I’m just leaving,” he mumbles, trying to push past him to get out of the kitchen. Except Roden holds out an arm to block his path and it’s enough to confuse Lucas’ drunken state into staying put. 

Eliott’s saying something from the other line but Roden picks the phone out of Lucas’ slack hold and ends the call. “You don’t have to.”

“I do.” Lucas attempts to leave again, only to realize that he still needs his phone back. He makes a grab for it but Roden pulls it out of reach. “Give it.” 

“Get one more drink with me and I’ll let you go.” Roden gestures towards the two bottles of beer on the kitchen island. 

Lucas shakes his head, he’s not drunk enough to be too stupid. “No, I wanna leave.”

“Come on, I just wanna talk.” Roden’s arms fall by his sides as he shrugs and Lucas’ eyes follow the movement.

“I don’t wanna talk.” Lucas snatches his phone back, pocketing it real quick. With that done, he tries for another escape but this time Roden’s hands grab him by the wrists, pressing him against the wall and this is getting really fucking frustrating. 

“Fine, no talking. Let’s do something else then.”

Lucas twists around, trying to free himself enough to punch this imbecile in the balls. “Are you deaf or what?” He wants to yell but even that small attempt to raise his volume causes him a bout of dizziness. Shit, this would be the worst time to pass out. “I said I wanna go home. Get off me.”

“Come on, stop pretending it’s not boring, staying with just one person your whole life.” 

He stops struggling for a second only to give Roden an incredulous look. Is this guy serious? He’s really going to go fake deep about soulmates with Lucas over here? 

“None of your business.”

“I’m just trying to do you a favour, see?” Roden leans down, breathing over his neck. Lucas’ pulse spikes with the first strike of fear. “Maybe after this, you’ll even forget all about Demaury.” 

The mention of Eliott’s name, in that mocking tone that Lucas is unfortunately too familiar with, brings out such sheer anger in him that Lucas manages to rip his hands away from Roden’s grip, punch him twice in his dumb, entitled face, and kick him in between the legs for good measure. He’s light headed by the time he’s done and Roden looks more furious than hurt, which doesn’t bode all that well for him, so Lucas makes a run for it. 

As best as he can anyway. His knees are this close to buckling but Lucas holds onto that thread of adrenaline, hoping he’s going the correct way to the front doors.

When he gets out, the wind is comfortingly cold against his skin but he stutters in his steps— he can’t go home like this. His mom would worry and get even more stressed out. Raking shaky hands through his hair, he’s just about to stagger down the porch steps to figure things out on his walk home when Eliott, wide eyed and windswept, comes running into sight. 

“Eliott?” Lucas sure hopes he’s not hallucinating right now or he’d be really worried for himself.

“Come here.” Eliott walks up to him and Lucas barely gets off the top step before Eliott’s arms are around him, embrace so tight it pulls him off the ground. “What the fuck was that, Lucas?”

“Huh?”

“The fucking phone call,” Eliott says carding one hand through Lucas’ messy hair. “I heard his voice and it just ended and—”

“I’m fine.” Lucas tries not to think about it or he might not be fine. “How did you get here?” 

“I ran.”

“Fuck.” Lucas buries his face in Eliott’s neck. “Stop being so sweet, I’m gonna puke.”

“Pretty sure you’re gonna puke anyway.”

“Shut up.” 

Eliott sets him down carefully, but Lucas can’t bring himself to walk another step. He’s run out of adrenaline since Eliott’s arrival and he’s reminded of how truly useless his body becomes when inebriated. 

“Here.” Eliott stoops down in front of him, taking Lucas’ hands to wrap around his neck from behind. “Get on my back.”

“I’m sorry.” Lucas slumps against Eliott’s back, holding on when Eliott straightens back up. “You must be tired.”

“Never.” 

Lucas cuddles closer, pressing his nose into Eliott’s hair. “Thank you.” 

“I told you, Lulu.” Eliott turns his head and steals a little kiss. “I’ll be here to take care of you. Always.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re never going to a party without me again.”

“I know.”

“I’m gonna fucking kill Roden.”

Lucas snorts, “Don’t bother.”

“No, he’s gonna die on Monday.”

“Eliott.”

“You said we were almost there like, two hours ago,” Lucas says, mostly to be difficult. He’s starting to not mind the long walk in the deep, dark woods with Eliott. Except for the fact that, you know, they could die any minute now. But that’s no big deal. 

“It’s been half an hour,” Eliott retorts with a scoff. “And we really are here this time. Careful, watch your steps.” He leads them up a soft mountain of snow and Lucas feels the wooden stairs buried deep under. It gets steadily brighter around them the higher they get, with the trees no longer shielding them from the night sky. 

And wow, okay, maybe Eliott’s onto something over here. 

High up as they are, Lucas sees nothing but an expanse of dark skies speckled with stars that are alive. Is that…?

“Meteor shower.” Eliott leans his chin on Lucas’ shoulder, watching his reaction closely. “It started about half an hour ago. I was worried we’d miss it.” 

Lucas stands there with his mouth open, shaking his head in disbelief. 

“How did you…” Lucas turns, laughing incredulously up at Eliott. “Did you make a deal with the devil? How do you do these things?” His eyes slide back up where the stars continue their mesmerizing dance in the dark. “Fuck.” He feels Eliott’s gaze still on him so Lucas nudges him with an elbow. “Why aren’t you watching it?”

“I’ve got something much better.” 

Lucas rolls his eyes, thankful that the flashlight’s shut off, making it way too dark to catch the warmth on his cheeks. “Stop.” 

Eliott grins. “I’ve been so obsessed with your eyes from the moment I saw them.”

“Obsessed?” Lucas repeats, laughing. “How romantic.”

“Would you turn down the attitude? I’m trying to make a speech here.” Eliott’s bouncing on his feet now— is he getting cold?

“Sorry, go on,” Lucas says, gesturing with a hand for Eliott to continue. 

“I’m starting over.”

“Sure, whatever.”

“Jesus, I’ve always thought you were so fucking rude, you know.”

“You’re really nailing the romance up in here, dude.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Or what?” Lucas’ eyes are still stuck on the sky. 

“Or I’ll marry you,” Eliott whispers and Lucas feels his brain combust.

What?

What?

He hasn’t moved, still facing the stars, but his eyes are unseeing. 

It isn’t like Eliott hasn’t talked about marriage before, but that was years ago, when they were children. And Lucas had doubted how serious he’d been about it. 

Eliott’s graduated from college last year and he’s having the time of his life as an intern in the film industry. He’s got his own apartment where Lucas had moved in ages ago— it had been a chill, unofficial thing, really, Lucas had gone over once upon a time and just didn’t go back home.

Lucas is only nineteen, he’s still got quite a bit to go before figuring out where he wants to be after graduation. 

He doesn’t know if getting married any time soon is a good idea at all. 

“No,” he says, zoning back in, blinking up at the sky. 

“… No?”

“No.” He turns, gazing up at Eliott’s falling expression. Despite the loss of spark in them, the skies above the two of them are no match against the galaxies in Eliott’s blue, blue eyes. “No, I won’t shut up.” 

To hell with good ideas anyway. 

The smile that blooms on Eliott’s face is worth the, probably, very fucking stupid decision Lucas has just made. Faced with the intensity of the joy radiating from his soulmate, Lucas can’t comprehend how he’s ever to decline the question. 

Eliott drops down on one knee.

“Oh no,” Lucas says, shaking his head. “Get up, get up, don’t do this.” 

But of course Eliott doesn’t listen. He soaks up Lucas’ panic and seems to gain confidence from it, the utter asshole. “Lucas Lallemant…”

Lucas takes the hood of his jacket and folds it over his eyes. 

Eliott laughs, “Baby, it doesn’t have to be now, or the year after, or any time soon. I don’t care when it is. But I’ll really appreciate it if you say yes to marrying me at some point before we die.” 

Lucas peeks down at him. “Is that your big speech?”

“No, I forgot my original speech when you said no earlier,” Eliott admits, pulling Lucas’ hands away from his face to make sure that he sees clearly what’s hidden inside Eliott’s palm. 

Lucas watches Eliott’s fingers unfold and he knows there’s got to be some kind of ring in there but what he sees makes him gasp out a resounding, “No!” And he spins around, hands over his head. He can’t believe this. “No! You’re so cheesy, what the fuck?” He doesn’t know what to do with himself, it feels like his limbs are trying to shiver out of his body from the inside out. 

Eliott isn’t even on his knees anymore, he’s just sitting on the snow powdered ground, laughing it up. “You don’t like it?” He barely gets the words out before dissolving into more high pitched laughter. Lucas doesn’t understand why he loves this idiot. 

“How… it was so ugly,” he mumbles, stepping closer to look at the ring again. It’s not ugly anymore, to be honest. The metal is now slimmer, more delicate than crude, its polished surface glimmering every time it catches onto a source of light. The haphazard knot that connects the band together has been trimmed so that it looks more like intertwining branches rather than a badly screwed keychain. 

“Can I?” Eliott stands, hands hovering close to Lucas’. 

Lucas nods, fascinated as it slips perfectly over his finger. 

It’s actually really stupidly beautiful.

“Fuck.”

“Are you crying?”

“Shut up.”

He’s five when mama tells him that Eliott is going to be a big part of his life. 

So on the Monday after everything suddenly looked weird and bright, Lucas seeks Eliott out so he can watch him make more ugly paintings. 

He’s letting Eliott talk him through what’s going on in his newest project when something falls out of Eliott’s sweater pocket. Lucas picks it up, frowning when a sharp end pokes at his finger. 

“What’s this?” He lifts it up to Eliott’s face and the boy goes cross eyed a little.

“Oh!” Carefully, he takes it off Lucas’ hold and places it on the desk. “It’s your ring.” 

Lucas doesn’t get it. “Why would I have a ring?”

“For when I get you to marry me,” Eliott declares, looking at it proudly. “Mama makes things with metals, she said I can have this!” 

“It’s big.” 

“Of course, silly. You have to grow up before you marry me.” 

Lucas stares at the ring some more. The whole thing is crooked and he’s pretty sure the knots will stab someone’s eyes out if they’re not careful. It’s so ugly, he doesn’t like it. But Eliott seems very happy so Lucas keeps those thoughts to himself. “Is it… abstract?” 

Eliott blinks, looking like he doesn’t know what to say. That’s okay, Lucas asks a lot of questions even adults don’t know the answer to. 

“Huh,” Eliott says, putting a finger to his chin like he’s thinking hard about it. 

The teacher interrupts them before Eliott can give him a proper answer, letting Eliott know that his parents are there to pick him up. 

Lucas smiles when Eliott pouts— it’s really cute. It reminds him of when his neighbour’s little baby frowns. Super adorable. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Lulu,” Eliott sighs, getting up to pack up his backpack. “You can have this one too.” He gives Lucas the new ugly painting; it looks like the one Lucas already has but Eliott’s used different colours this time— all shades of blue. 

“Bye bye.” Lucas waves him goodbye.

“Wait!” Eliott runs back to their table and drops a kiss on his forehead. 

Lucas blinks up at him. “Why?” 

“Because I love you but papa says I can’t kiss you again until you’re fifteen!” Eliott prattles out, already jogging back towards the door as he waves his hands about. “Bye, Lulu!” 

Lucas leans against the table, chin resting against his folded arms as he smiles at the new painting Eliott’s made for him. 

He’s beginning to like abstract. 

[motleycrueimagine]

This Ain’t a Love Song - Part Eight - Nikki Sixx Fan Fiction

Words: 1477

Warnings: Language, alcol, drugs, soft smut

N/A: I know it took ages for me to update, but I'm really struggling through my first semester as a University student and time flew by like nothing. I hope you like it, feedback is appreciated as always <3

Huge thanks to @blonde-shamrock

Summary: Maya Prescott has done anything possible to fix her life. It was 1977 when she left her groupie life: no more parties, no more concerts, no more drugs, alcohol or casual sex, just to achieve a full standard life. Now it’s 1981 and after a four years disappearance  Maya Prescott unexpectedly shows up to the party of one of the most promising emerging bands of the LA’s rock’n roll scene: Motley Crue. But what should be her last ride is destined to change her life in so many unexpected ways.  

TagList: @motleycrueee  @babygal-babygal@unknownoblivion @sweetshutter​ @sparxx27​ @bandaid-rainbow​

Masterlist

Nikki’s POV

She was walking a few steps in front of me, the sound of her black heels on the sidewalk was all I could hear. We had taken a secondary road in order to avoid the mass of people that every night gathered down the Sunset Strip. Here the music was only a light background noise.

“Why are you running?” I asked as my lazy ass struggled to keep up with her. Maya stopped, waiting for me.

“You’re as slow as a sloth, and you’re not even wearing heels,” she mocked me, sliding her arm on the low side of my back, taking possession of my personal space; not that it bothered me anyways. I did the same embracing her shoulder, despite the height difference provoked by her pumps.

“I was afraid you were running from me,” I jokingly said, or at least I tried to make it seem like a joke. It had been almost a week since our ‘almost fuck’ and she had literally disappeared from our place. We had barely talked after that and she was making it pretty clear that she was not really into the idea of doing it, at least in the near future.

“I would never run away from you, Sixx!” her fake outraged voice was enough to make me laugh.

“Oh yeah? As if you hadn’t run away the other morning…” I liked to poke the bear every now and then. In the meantime, we were getting closer to the liquor store, the neon sign illuminating our path.

She rolled her eyes while a light, kinda bitter smile grew on her lips; it seemed like she was trying to find the correct reply to my words. It never took her too long to collect sarcasm.

“Well, to be fair… I wasn’t running away from you, but from the situation. I told you I don’t want to have sex with you that’s it.” She let go my hip trying to deviate towards the entrance of the store. I did the same with her shoulders, but I couldn’t help but hold her wrist preventing her from entering. She stopped, looking back at me, and lifted a brow “What?”

I gently pulled her closer, she didn’t bother to resist. “Well, to be fair,” I imitated her with a smirk “You asked me to fuck you.”

Her big blue eyes wandered around my face with an annoyed frown. She didn’t like to be contradicted.

“You were naked and you were touching me,” she pointed out, “I never denied that you’re attractive, I’m just trying to be a good girl; not sleep with every fucking human being that turns me on, and buy some fucking alcohol. Do you think I’ll get through all these tasks at least for tonight?” she listed with a straight face. I didn’t let go her arm; my curiosity was having the best of me.

“I think I’m gonna let you go through the last one if you tell me what is preventing you from having the most memorable night of your life with me.” I was not expecting an answer I just enjoyed too much messing with her.

“Well I don’t wanna risk you getting a crush on me for how well I ride your dick. That would be a problem.” She tried to hide a smirk by biting her lower lip. My imagination flew toward the picture of her getting wild on top of me. How come that I always ended up with a boner when I was around her?

“I bet It would be the opposite.”

She shook her head, “I’m not gonna bet with you, course then we’ll have to try and see and that is not gonna happen.” We looked at each other silently for a while; studying each other’s profiles as if we were both unsure whether to say something else or not, for a split second I almost considered pushing her to the wall and fuck her in the middle of the street.

“Let’s go buy some booze, Sixx,” she whispered, taking my hand, finally entering the shop.

We wondered the store buying as many bottles as we could, and dragged them on the way home.

-

Maya’s POV

The day of the shooting Vince had offered to drive me to the studio. There I met the photographer: his name was Robert Greiner and surprisingly he was not as creepy as the previous ones that I had met. He was pretty young, I wouldn’t have put him at more than thirty years old - definitely good looking, very caring too and interested in knowing what I was comfortable doing and what not. For the whole afternoon we shoot different photos under Vince’s watchful eyes, at times way too watchful.

“They’re gonna be amazing,” Robert reassured me for the tenth time after we were done. “If not, that means we’re gonna do them again, okay?” I nodded moving my hair to the side.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that is very important for me,” I apologised while with the eyes I followed his hands as he was storing the lensed he had used for the photoshoot.

“Your boyfriend is gonna love ‘em too,” he added with a playful but discrete smirk, I looked back at my blonde escort, I cleared my throat.

“Uhm, Vince is just a friend… but yeah I’m sure he will.” I smiled back. An awkward moment of silence stepped in as he was processing that new information.

“Well,” he zipped up his bag, “I’m gonna call you as soon as they’re ready.”

“I want a copy of each one of them!” was the first thing Vince told me once we headed out of the building towards the car. I lightly laughed shaking my head in disbelief.

“Do you think they were good?“

“I don’t think they were good, I know they were good! I mean if those pictures were the cover of magazine I would definitely buy it.”

I playfully pushed his shoulder and then took him by his arm and reached the car. The ride home didn’t take too long. When we arrived, we were still debating about the supposed interest that, in Vince’s opinion, Robert had shown for me.

“Well if that smile didn’t make him hard then the guy has a problem,” he was trying to make a point, failing miserably. We stepped into the apartment not even bothering to acknowledge the presents in the living room.

“Vince, darling you are not a very good term of comparison, you’re always hard.”

“That’s just because I’m always available to satisfy a lady in need. My dick is donated to society.”

“They used to call him the master at the grand entrance,” Beth’s voice didn’t seemed too pleased, while Vince looked pretty surprised to see her at the Motley house.

“Babe, I thought you were at your mom’s place.” I frowned, my eyes following Vinnie as he started arguing with the love of his life, till they moved towards a more private space.

“Why does she have to freak out every single time?” I asked the two boys that were sitting on the couch, but none of them answered. Instead Nikki studied me for a few seconds before questioning me.

“By the way… what were you two doing you together?” he wondered nonchalantly.

“C’mon she babbled all morning about this fucking shoot, man…” Mick, stiffly seated on the couch, intervened. It surprised me that he had actually listened. I pointed my finger at him nodding.

“See? Somebody actually cares about what I say!” I exclaimed while arranging the table for dinner.

“As if I had any choice,” the guitarist scoffed in his classic stoic way. He fixed his sunglasses up his nose and went back in silence. Nikki rolled his eyes before approaching the table to pick inside the In-N-Out Burger bag that me and Vinnie had brought. I slapped his hand as he tried to pick up a French fry.

“Hey!” I protested trying a second time and I slapped him again. His hazel eyes, unusually uncovered from his hair, widened, “Do that again and I swear you won’t be able to sit for the entire dinner!” he warned me.

“Is that a threat or a promise?” I jokingly teased, moving the bag away from his clutches.

“Both,” he replied with a douche-like smirk.

“I think I’m gonna throw up,” Mick intervened again. I turned towards him ready to gift him with a sarcastic answer.

“Whoo French fries!” Tommy, who had appeared form the hallway stole a pack from the bag, interrupting me.

“What’s wrong with you guys!” I pushed both hands through my hair. “Vince! Beth! C’mon they’re gonna eat everything!” I called out to them, as I let the bag go, allowing the hungry animals, known as Motley Crue to start devouring the burgers.

[queen-of-deans-booty]

With Just A Little Effort...

Characters: Briana Buckmaster x Reader, minor characters

Word Count: 1,524

Warnings: some relationship/long-distance angst, but fluff at the end

Summary: Briana is always away on tour, and you’re stuck in the office at work. Will you two make it work, or will your relationship crumble under the intense pressure of long-distance relationships?

Beta: none

Author’s Note: If you have any requests, please send them in!

This is the December 3rd fic for my 25 days of RPF Christmas with the prompt: Won’t Be Home for the Holidays

Feedback the glue that holds my writing together

Tags at the bottom

There was a time when you and your friends went on your annual hike, and the mountain was so steep that it almost knocked the wind out of you. You came home after that trip with blood in your shoes from how much they hurt--well, it felt like your feet were bleeding. Now that trip was hard just like the time you ran a small marathon. It was nothing like the big leagues, but something small for breast cancer awareness that you absolutely loved even if you were so sore afterward. It was also very hard for you when you got into a minor car accident a year ago when some woman wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings and crashed into the back of your car.

There are many more events that have been hard for you, but all of those pale in comparison to what you’re going through now. Your girlfriend, the beautiful Briana Buckmaster, has been away all holiday. She’s on tour around the country with some of her good friends, and you couldn’t be happier for her. Hearing about her success over the phone brings a smile to your face, especially when you think about it. The hard part is seeing her smile on the photos she posts, hearing her laughter through the videos she sends and watching other people embrace her and tell her how good of a job she’s doing.

The hard part is realizing those people are doing what you’re supposed to be doing. It’s supposed to be you hugging her and congratulating her. It’s supposed to be you who gets to hug her and kiss her when something great happens. Instead, she’s with her friend and having the time of her life without you.

Sure, she calls and Facetimes every night, but it’s not the same. She’ll ask you about your day, and all you can say to her is how your boss said something rude, or how you had a computer jam and had to do all the paperwork by hand. You ask her about her day, and she goes off on a tangent about how fun it is to be on stage, how her supporters (she hates calling them fans) are always cheering her on, and how relaxing the end of the day is. You can’t help but get jealous of her. She can see it in your eyes even if you deny it all the time. You try to be happy for her, but sometimes it doesn’t show.

She offered you to come with her, and under any other circumstances, you would. However, your work doesn’t allow you to travel and keep your job at the same time. It definitely puts a stressor on your relationship, but you try not to let it win. The Christmas holiday is coming up, and soon she’ll be in your arms for a little longer than a month. She should be calling you about the details of her flight any minute now, so to pass the time, you start playing home videos of the two of you. Your favorite video is when you two went to the beach a few summers back in Malibu. It was sunny, the weather was perfect, and you had your lady with you.

“We’re here in lovely Malibu where the sun is always shining and the party just doesn’t stop,” Briana laughed into the camera she’s holding.

“All day and all night, motherfuckers,” you shouted from your spot in the background.

“And that foul-mouthed pretty lady over there is my beautiful girlfriend, Y/N,” she introduced you as she swiveled the camera to face you.

“Watch this!” you grinned and got yourself ready to do a cartwheel. You got into the stance and took off, landing on your hand the wrong way. You crumbled down to the ground with a groan that turned into laughter.

“That was terrible. Are you okay?” she giggled.

“I’m good!” you held out both your thumbs with a smile.

“I love you. Even if you’re not flexible.”

A tear slides down your cheek at the fond memory. Your phone binged which means you’re getting a Facetime request. Upon seeing your girlfriend’s name, you wipe the tear from your face so she won’t suspect anything is wrong. This is the call you’ve been waiting for, and honestly, you could use some good news. You connect your phone with the TV so you can see her on a bigger scale.

“Hey baby, were you crying?” Briana asks when she sees your face. You could never fool her no matter how hard you tried.

“Please tell me you’re coming home. I really need good news right now,” you plead.

“I… won’t be coming home for the holidays. We’re swarmed here. Y/N, I’m so sorry.”

Just like that, a new wave of tears flows down your cheeks. You fist your hair with your fingers and place your elbows on your knees.

“Please don’t cry, babe, I’ll make it up to you as soon as I can.”

“When are you going to be back?” you sniffle, pushing your hair back and crossing your arms.

“Sometime after January.”

“You’ve been gone since September, Bri,” you cry softly.

“I know, but I can’t leave now. Trust me, you know I would if I could.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” you sigh.

“Are you going to be okay?”

“No, but what else can I do? I can’t leave work, and you just said you can’t. I-I miss you.”

“I miss you too. More than you could ever know.”

“Hey! Briana! We ten five minutes until stage time!” someone from the background shouts.

“Y/N,” she trails off.

“Go, have fun. I’ll talk to you later,” you cut her off and end the call. It’s not fair to be treating her this way, you’re just upset you’re not going to be able to see her for the holidays. Work will keep you busy anyway, so you’re not staying at home all the time and just crying. At least at work, you get to work hard to pretend that everything’s okay.

You walk into work the next morning sluggishly. There is no energy inside of you to deal with anything. You and Briana had a long talk once she was alone in her hotel room. She understood how upset you are, and despite this little kink in your relationship, you two still love each other dearly.

Work is going to be hectic, you can already tell by the way your coworkers bustle around the office and papers in their hands. At least the computers are working just fine so you don’t have to waste your time writing everything down. Last time that happened, you had a hand cramp for the rest of that day.

As soon as you set your things down on your desk, your boss calls you into her office. She normally doesn’t talk to you unless something serious happens, and you go over everything that you did this past week that might prompt her to call you. You hadn’t done anything wrong, didn’t say anything wrong, and you did all of your paperwork correctly with minimal mistakes. Why could she possibly want with you in her office? What did you do?

“You wanted to see me?” you ask when you knock on her open door.

“Yes, please, sit,” she smiles.

“Did I do something wrong?” you ask, doing what she told you.

“No, no, nothing like that. I wanted to run something by you.”

“What is it, ma’am?”

“I’m granting you the rest of the month off. Paid, of course,” she grins.

“Wait, what?”

“Yes, you heard me correctly,” she laughs.

“But, why? Did I fill something out wrong? Do you not want me working here anymore?” you ask when your mind goes to the worst possible situation.

“No, Y/N, you’re not in trouble. You’re a star employee.”

“If I may ask, why are you giving this to me?”

“Briana called me, and we had a little chat. I can see how much you miss her. Consider this a Christmas present. You’re cleared to come back the second week of January.”

“Are you serious?” you whisper.

“Deadly. She asked me to give you this,” she explains and hands you a plane ticket to where Briana was staying.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” you gasp emotionally.

“Have a good Christmas, Y/N. We can handle things around here without you for the month.”

“Thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome,” she smiles.

You get up and leave her office, grabbing your things on the way out. Briana must be doing a soundcheck or something big, which is why you decide to text her instead of call. Pulling out your phone on your way to the car, you sent her a quick text filled with love.

You’re something special, Briana. I love you so much. I’m heading to the airport now.

You don’t even care that you don’t have bags. You can always buy some more when you get to her. Your excitement of finally seeing her after so long clouds your rational side.

Anything for you, my love. Merry Christmas.

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