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alt-rose · 4 years ago

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a trip to syracuse - colson baker

colson baker imagine

a trip to syracuse - a trip to syracuse leads to a cameo and a heart to heart.

word count: 4.9K (someone stop me)

the scene is in big time adolescence. if you haven’t seen it, i highly recommend. it’s on hulu.

(this could be considered a part 2 to 21, but it could be read alone)

(GIF from tenor)

it was July. you had spent your last few months working your ass off at SNL before staring as a lead in your first comedy film after your second season of SNL had ended. you had been all over the country in the last few months. you were in New York for work. then, you traveled home to your hometown to visit your family during your first week of the summer hiatus. then, you had to ship out to LA to work on your movie. then, you somehow ended back in your hometown.

you were everywhere. busy. never had time for yourself, or the time to do what you really wanted.

you hadn’t seen Colson since a few weeks after your birthday weekend. you texted back and forth. you called occasionally when you both had time. he made you laugh, and you, of course, enjoyed hearing about all his crazy stories. you looked forward to the random pictures he sent you from the studio or from set. he liked having something to share with someone, or rather, someone to share things with.

the two of you were like two best friends that could share everything with each other without needing to be physically there for each other. you could go days without talking because of your busy schedules, yet whenever you caught up with each other, it felt so natural. your relationship felt impossible to explain to anyone that asked. you felt connected to him somehow, but you couldn’t place the feeling.

colson baker: you should come visit me

that was the text you got at 3 am on a Wednesday, well technically Thursday.

you smiled at your phone as you stared at it. the light blinded you as you laid in bed in your dark bedroom at your parent’s house. it was 4 am in New York. what could he have possibly been doing? you learned not to ask that question often when it came to Colson and Pete. they were night owls and tended to drink or smoke anything they could get their hands on. for your sake, you’d rather not know what they were doing. it helped keep your nerves at bay.

however, 4 am in New York tended to worry you a bit. you opened your phone, squinting as the light grew brighter. you began to type back.

you: I should?

you: please tell me you are being safe

you scrolled through your phone as you waited for a response. your phone buzzed with a notification. you opened the message.

colson baker: safe at pete’s place

ah. Pete’s place was their new hangout. Pete was staying with his girlfriend, AG, as you called her, and it was technically her place. they were getting ready to head to Syracuse in a week or so for Pete’s new movie that Colson was making a cameo in.

colson baker: you should visit

colson baker: call me a pussy but I miss you

you smiled at that text. he missed you. your heart thumped in your chest.

you: I miss you too

you: text me tomorrow when you are sober and it’s not the middle of the night.

you: let’s see if sober colson wants me to visit

you watched as the typing bubbles appeared before the message appeared.

colson baker: sober colson said yes

colson baker: but, I’ll text you tomorrow about it

you laugh at his message before typing back.

you: goodnight cols

you: get some rest

your eyes began to lull shut, but you were determined to stay up for the next ten minutes in case he wanted to text you.

you fell asleep to one finally message from him.

colson baker: goodnight velcro monkey

somehow the velcro monkey joke always made an appearance when someone was drunk or high. it made them laugh at how the reserved, independent person you were could turn into the clingiest drunk on the planet.

you smiled one last time before shutting off your phone and going back to sleep.

the next morning, you sat in your parents’ kitchen answering emails on your laptop. your attention was occasionally pulled away from work as you watched your dogs play in the family room. it was good to be home for a bit, but your parents and dogs were a bit distracting when it came time to work.

“your phone has been buzzing for the last 20 minutes,” you mom said setting your phone down at the kitchen table. “you left this upstairs.”

“god, thank you,” you tell her not looking up from your computer.

“a lot of messages from a Colson Baker,” she gives you a look, raising her eyebrow.

“who’s Colson Baker?” your dad asked butting into the conversation as he made his way into the kitchen.

you moved to quickly snatch you phone from them. you were an adult now with an adult job, yet they still treated you like a teenager.

“a friend,” you reply as you opened your phone.

you had four messages and a missed call from Colson.

“seemed like they really wanted to get a hold of you,” you mom hummed as she moved to make her third cup of coffee that day.

“why do they want to get a hold of you so badly? seems important,” your dad chimed in.

“guys, it’s fine. please chill,” you reply. “just a friend. anyway, I have to take this call.”

you got up from the table before taking your dogs out to your back patio. you took a seat on one of the outdoor lounges as you called Colson.

“hey,” his raspy voice rang through the phone.

“hey,” you sigh. “what’s up with Syracuse?”

“you should come visit me in Syracuse.”

“I know, but why Syracuse?” you laugh.

“Pete’s doing his movie, and we’re both making a cameo.”

you went silent for a bit.

“we talked to the director this morning. they need background for my cameo scene, so I suggested you to Pete, and he was cool with it. the director said it was cool if you wanted to join the project for a cameo.”

“are you serious?”

“deadly. come spend the rest of the summer in Syracuse with me.”

“I’ll have to check my schedule-”

“shut up,” he laughed. “I know you’re free.”

“you’re right,” you sighed. “my family isn’t going to be happy with me leaving again, but they can just visit when SNL starts back up.”

“so you’ll do it?”

“sure, what else do I have to do?” you asked adjusting the phone to your ear. “plus, a week or two in Syracuse with you and Pete would be fun.”

“YES,” you heard him shout over the phone. “aight, cool,” he finally calms down. “I’ll let Pete know.”

“alright, Cols. sounds good,” you sigh into the phone.

“what’s wrong?” he asked after a beat.

“nothing. I’m just trying to figure out how to explain why a Colson Baker was blowing up my phone earlier to my parents.”

you heard him let out a laugh from his end. you heard him murmur something to someone. you heard him laugh once more before he addressed you.

“Pete said to tell your parents that I’m your dealer.”

“tell Pete that my parents might have a heart attack.”

you heard him mumble something before you heard a roar of voices.

“tell your parents that Colson works as a janitor for NBC,” you heard Pete yell into the phone.

“you guys are ridiculous,” you sigh into the phone as you pinch the bridge of your nose.

“but you love us,” Pete sang into the phone.

“yeah, I do.”

you heard them laugh.

“you could just tell you parents the truth,” Colson suggested. “I don’t mind your family knowing. the whole reason we were keeping it quiet was to keep you out of the spotlight.”

you thought about it for a minute.

“and what exactly are we keeping from her family?” you heard Pete in the background.

“that I’m her best friend now. I replaced you,” Colson quickly replied.

“HEY,” you yelled sitting up in your seat. “I never said that.”

“it’s okay,” Pete said louder into the phone. you can only assume he was closer to the phone. “I know you love him more than me.”

“that’s not true,” you said in a defensive tone. “I love you both equally.”

“RIIIIIGHT,” Pete drew through the phone.

“right,” Colson agreed.

“it’s okay. I know who you text when you’re supposed to be working, (y/n),” Pete slyly said in the phone.

“knock it off, Pete,” you growl into the phone, causing the guys to laugh. “where’s your girlfriend? can’t you go bother her?”

“oh shit,” you heard Pete say. “I forgot to bring her the food we made. bye (y/n).”

you laughed at him before you heard Colson.

“I took you off speaker. he went back into his room with the food.”

“you guys made breakfast?”

“yeah, our post-mushroom pancakes,” he said. “totally came down from them a half hour ago. the food’s probably cold as shit now.”

“RIP to AG’s kitchen.”

“RIP, indeed.”

you laughed.

“I can’t wait to see you, Cols,” you smile into the phone.

“I’m excited to see you, too. I’ll send you a plane ticket.”

“I can pay for my own plane ticket. it’s okay,” you reply. “you can save that up to buy me dinner when I get to Syracuse.”

“(y/n) (y/l/n), are you asking me on a date?”

“too forward?” you laugh.

“not forward enough. maybe, I could buy you breakfast too?”

you laugh and cover your mouth with his suggestion before you finally calm yourself down.

“maybe you could,” you reply coolly.

“NOOOO,” he whined into the phone. “can you come to New York now?”

you laughed together before the conversation lulled into a gentle silence.

“can I tell you a secret?” you whisper into the phone.

“shoot.”

“I’ve been listening to your music.”

you paused waiting for his reaction.

“oh boy, have I converted you to hip hop and rap?”

“no, I made an exception for Machine Gun Kelly,” you smile.

“really?” you could hear him shift around. “got a favorite?”

“27,” you reply too quickly. “I’m a sucker for the piano. Kiss the Sky and Habit are pretty good too.”

“next show I have, you’re gonna be in the crowd. I want to perform for you.”

“for me?” you ask in a posh voice. “you could always give me a private show.”

“I just might.”

suddenly, your attention was pulled to your mom who was standing at the back door. you raise an eyebrow at her as you listened to Colson mumble through the phone.

“hold on, Cols,” you tell him. “what’s up?” you ask her.

“we’re leaving in a half an hour to go to dinner at your grandparents. you need to get ready,” she replied.

you nod to her. she stood in the doorway waiting for you to get off the phone. you raised another eyebrow at her. she wanted to eavesdrop on your conversation.

“alright,” you sigh. “Cols, I have to go. I have dinner with my grandparents.”

“fine. fine. call me later?”

“yeah, I’ll call you later.”

“bye (y/n), love you.”

you smiled at that. even though the love was platonic, it felt good to hear it from him.

“bye Cols, love you too.”

once you hung up, you gave your mom a pointed look.

“love, huh?” she smiled.

“just a friend,” you mutter before calling the dogs in.

“just a friend that you love,” she teased.

“so who is Colson Baker?” your dad chimed in once the two of you made it inside.

“he’s a friend of Pete and I,” you reply heading to the stairs.

“what does he do?” your dad asked looking up from his phone.

“just look him up. I have to get ready.”

once you safely made it up the stairs and away from their questions, you began to rummage through your closet for clothes. you were pulled out of your search by your dad yelling up the stairs.

“MACHINE GUN KELLY. YOU’RE FRIENDS WITH MACHINE GUN KELLY?”

a week and a half later, you were on a plane to Syracuse. your parents weren’t super hip about you leaving so soon, but you argued that it was for work. and, it was. you weren’t lying.

they also were not so happy about your friendship with Colson, or Machine Gun Kelly as they knew him. your mom argued for the tattoos, which made no sense, since they liked Pete, and he had tattoos. they were also not so impressed that he was a rapper.

maybe, you shouldn’t have let them read all the articles about him.

he was heavily misunderstood by the media, and Colson was not ‘Machine Gun Kelly’. he was Colson Baker. you tried to explain that he was so much more than what the media portrayed, but your parents were more of the seeing rather than believing type.

with that all said, you were happy to be out of the house. you were tired of constantly arguing for and defending your friendship. anytime you got super defensive of Colson, your family accused you of being in love with him. were you? hell yeah. but, you weren’t going to admit that to anyone. you ran from your feelings, remember?

once you finally landed at the airport in Syracuse, you texted the guys.

colson baker: in line waiting for you

colson baker: north pick up line

colson baker: black escalade

when you finally made it out the doors with your baggage, you searched for the black escalade. you attention was pulled to the sound of doors opening, and you found Colson on the passenger side of the car as Pete climbed into the backseat. you smiled as you watched the guys. you made your way to them.

“hi,” you smile.

“hi,” Colson replied looking down at you.

you kinda forgot what it was like to be around six-foot giants. Colson moved to take your bag from you before putting it in the trunk. after you helped him load up your bag, he took your hand and led you to the passenger seat.

before you could hop in, he grabbed you and kissed you. you moved to grip the fabric of his jacket as you kissed him back.

“did you just kiss her? what? did he just kiss you?” Pete asked dumbfounded from the backseat as he looked back and forth from you and Colson.

you laughed to yourself as you buckled your seat belt while Colson made his way to the driver’s seat. as he hopped in and buckled up, he turned to you. you laughed before turning to Pete.

“anyone want to answer me? did you kiss her?” Pete said slapping Colson’s shoulder with the back of his hand.

“yeah, I did. what are you going to do about it?” Colson raised an eyebrow at him.

you laughed picking at the skin of your lip.

“what the hell? am I third wheeling this whole trip?”

“dude, you would have had me third wheeling this whole trip if we didn’t invite her.”

“how long?” Pete whined. “how long has this been a thing?”

“since my birthday,” you reply quietly.

“since your birthday,” he said dropping his jaw. “that was months ago.”

“I know,” you laugh. “to be fair, we haven’t seen each other much since. we’ve been talking and stuff, though.”

“what the hell, guys.”

you and Colson both laughed as he pulled out of his spot in line and drove toward your hotel.

“oh, I told my parents about you, and they googled you. they aren’t very happy.”

“fantastic.”

you spent your first day on set waiting around for the guys in Pete’s trailer before your call time. you and Colson sat and talked, just being close to each other after months apart. once it was finally your call time, you got your makeup and hair done, which wasn’t much considering you were just an extra in a scene.

the director had you placed at a bar table with two other girls. drinks were all placed in front of you. you fixed your hair a bit before the director called action. the scene began and you just kept your head down, while you waited for your cue. one of the guys walked up to your table and began talking to the three of you. the camera panned over to your table, and the guy began his lines. you smiled and laughed at him.

“I already have a tab open so if you want another-”

“hey,” Pete yelled catching your attention. “I’m sorry about our friend. we found him in a dumpster. he’s a rescue. sorry”

“it’s okay,” the girl next to you yelled.

“aw don’t worry. he’s got all of his shots though, so he won’t bite,” Pete called back.

“oh,” the girl laughed. “what about your puppy?”

“who? Mo?”

“yeah, he looks a little young to be in here.”

“you look a little old to be in here,” Pete shot back. you had to hold in your laugh.

“CUT,” the director yelled. “let’s do it one more time, just in case, and then move on.”

you repeated the scene once more before everyone moved on to the next part of your scene. the guys all crowded around your small table. Colson stood behind Pete, who was sitting on one of the barstools.

“you guys look great. can we get another girl on the other side of Griffin please?” the director asked, gesturing to the second lead in the film. “(y/n), can you move?”

“yeah,” you reply before hopping out of your seat to sit on the other side of Griffin. you then realized that you were directly in the camera’s line of vision.

you looked up at Colson who was across the table from you. he sent you a wink before taking a drink of whatever liquid was in his glass. you smiled back at him before Pete reached across the table to fist bump you. you laughed at him before getting ready for the scene.

the director moved back and called “Action.”

“Mo actually got back from the army,” Pete started his lines.

“yeah?” you respond.

“yeah, he was there for 16 years,” Pete replied to you.

“let’s not talk about, yeah,” Griffin responded giving Pete and Colson a look.

“anyway, yeah, he hasn’t been laid in 16 years. how crazy is that?” Pete said before Colson could interrupt him.

“aye, to Mo,” Colson said bring his glass in.

“to Mo,” the table responded crashing the glasses together.

“welcome back brother,” Colson said.

“yeah, man.”

“hoo-rah, right?” Colson said clinking his glass to yours.

“hoo-rah,” Griffin cheered back.

“hey, may we all make it to heaven before the devil knows we’re dead, baby,” Colson yelled.

“YEAH,” Pete cheered back beating his chest like a frat boy.

“cheers,” Griffin called before clinking his glass to yours.

“wait. what does that mean?” Pete asked.

“like, we’re sinners and-and-” Colson nodded his head. “and, bad motherfuckers, and he’s coming to suck us back…” Colson paused to do a little motion before continuing. “he wants us.”

“isn’t that, like a Buzz Frontier song?” the other guy asked, and Colson looked up at him.

“who wants us?” Pete interrupts looking at Colson. “what did he do? what did we do?”

“Satan, motherfucker, wants us,” Colson said moving his head to emphasize each word.

he then bent his head back up before making eye contact with you. one of the other girls began to laugh, which caused the table to laugh with her. Colson sent you another wink, and you smiled back at him.

“Cut,” the director called. “that was good. let’s do it one more time.”

you were sad that your scene was over. you liked working with Pete and Colson. after you finished getting out of your costume, you put your clothes back on before heading to Pete’s trailer. in there, Pete and Colson were lounging on the furniture.

“what are you two doing?” you laugh as you close the trailer door behind you.

“waiting for you,” Pete shot back.

“what’s the plan?” you asked taking a seat on the couch next to Colson.

he wrapped an arm around you.

“I have to shoot for a few more hours, but we can meet up later,” Pete suggested.

“do you want to go out?” Colson asked you. “while we wait.”

“sure,” you nodded. “what time do you think you’ll be done?” you asked Pete.

“not sure, but I’ll text you.” Pete stood up from his seat. “I have to get back, but I’ll see you later.”

“aight,” Colson replied reaching to dab up Pete.

Pete took his hand before patting you on the head.

“bye Pete,” you call to him as he leaves.

“bye, be safe,” he laughs back at the two of you.

as you watched the door of the trailer shut, you felt a pair of eyes on you. you turned to find Colson staring down at you.

“what?” you laugh at him. “do I have something on my face?”

“no.” he gave you a small smile.

“then, stop staring at me like that.”

“staring at you like what?”

“like that,” you said pointing at his face. “making me feel self-conscious.”

“can’t help that you’re really pretty.”

“and that’s my cue to go,” you say starting to get up from the couch.

Colson laughed behind you before pulling you back onto the couch.

“do you want to go to the mall?” he asked smiling at you. “then I can take you out for that dinner you promised me.”

“ohhhh, I guess I did promise you a dinner,” you hum. “let’s go then.”

“try it on.”

“no. did you see how many zeros were on that tag?”

“jesus, just try it on.”

“no.”

“get in that goddamn dressing room and try on the goddamn dress,” Colson mutter quietly to you.

Colson had dragged you into some fancy boutique to “buy you a dress.” you resisted, of course, and the fact that he was so willing to buy you an expensive dress scared you. you were very responsible with your money, and you never splurged on yourself. this, of course, was not going over well with Colson now that you were refusing to even try on a dress that was more than a hundred dollars.

“Colson, it’s really expensive,” you softly say looking up at him.

“so?” he shrugged. “please let me buy you something nice.” he gave you the closest thing he could to ‘puppy dog eyes.’

“jesus, fine,” you breathe pulling yourself from his eyes. “I’m trying it on, but if I don’t like it, you’re not buying it.”

“scouts honor,” he said holding up his hand.

with that, you snatched the hot pink mini dress from his hands and marched toward the dressing room. you could hear Colson lightly laughing at you as he watched you.

once you made it into the dressing room, you took a seat on the bench. you put your head in your hands before taking a breath. were you doing this? yes, and it went against every bone in your body. after you settled yourself down, you began to take off your clothes before trying on the dress.

once you began to slip on the dress, you couldn’t get it to zip up. you tried every angle possible, but the zipper wouldn’t budge. you let out a heavy sigh before collecting yourself. you peeked through the sliver of the door to see if Colson was outside the dressing room. you found him browsing at a rack of clothes a few feet from your dressing room.

you opened the door by a crack before poking your head out.

“Colson,” you whisper-yelled to him.

his head perked up before finding you. he began to stalk closer to you.

“how does it look?” he asked when he got to you.

“I think I need a bigger size,” you admitted to him.

“I’ll go grab the next size up, but can I at least see it?”

“no, it won’t zip up,” you shot back.

“can I try?”

“can you try?”

“jesus christ,” he sighed pinching the bridge of his nose. “just turn around.”

you opened the door a bit more before turning around. you felt him place his hands on your hips before finding the zipper.

“this should totally zip,” he whispered in your ear. “the zipper’s just stuck.”

you felt him move the zipper down before pulling it back up. the dress finally zipped.

you sighed once the dress finally fit properly. as you glanced in the mirror, you fell in love with the dress. you looked good. it was almost as if the dress was made for your body. it didn’t gap in weird places, and it wasn’t too snug. it felt perfect, and for its price, you were glad it was perfect. it would be a rip-off if it wasn’t.

“damn,” Colson whispered.

“damn,” you nodded.

“you’re getting it.”

“I’m not going to fight you on it,” you reply turning around to face him. “now, get out so I can get dressed.”

“at least, let me unzip you first,” he laughed.

four hours and a shopping trip later, you and Colson were sitting in some fancy restaurant together. he was in a fashionable shirt and jacket while you sat in your hot pink mini dress.

“thank you for dinner,” you say reaching across the table to take his hand.

“you’re welcome,” he smiled at you after he handed the paid check back to the waitress. “I promised you a dinner, didn’t i?”

“you did,” you laugh.

“you wanna get out of here?” he suggests nodding toward the door.

“sure,” you nod back.

with that, he moved to help you out of your chair. with his hand in yours, the two of you headed to his rental car. he opened the passenger door for you. before you could get in the car, you turned and placed a hand on his cheek.

his eyes met yours, and your heart melted. his hands landed on your waist, and he pulled you close before planting his lips on yours. you leaned up to kiss him back. and there you were, standing in the parking lot of a fancy restaurant making out like a bunch of teenagers.

at sunset, the two of you were sitting at the private rooftop patio of your hotel. you were both laying on one of the daybeds watching the sky change colors. you were deep in thought.

“I’m scared,” you admit staring up at the sky.

“scared?” Colson quietly asked you from where he was laying next to you.

“yeah,” you breathe. “I don’t do relationships. I run from them. maybe it’s my fear of rejection or my fear of getting hurt.” you pause for a moment. “I really like you. like really, really like you. and part of me is scared because I don’t want to get hurt, but I want a relationship. I want love, you know?”

“I get it,” he murmured next to you.

you were both at the point of the night where deep conversations were rolling. should you have been so honest with him? who knows. would you regret it tomorrow? maybe. but, right now, it had been said.

“and, I want a relationship with you.” he rolled over on his side to face you. “I’m just scared because I don’t want to be just another girl for you. you buy me a pretty dress and take me to dinner with the hopes that I land in your bed tonight, and it makes me wonder,” you whisper.

you could feel his gaze. he took one of your hands and placed a kiss on the backside of it.

“you and I both know my track record with relationships kinda suck,” he starts. “but, I want this to work.” he brushed a peace of hair from your face. “I’ve never felt this way with anyone, and I’m going to be completely honest when I say it scares the shit out of me. and, if it makes you more comfortable, we can take this relationship at whatever speed you want it to go. I just want to be with you. I want to make this work, and I want to be a part of your life. I want this relationship to be more than just texts at 4 am and kissing you once every three months.”

you were both quiet for a bit. you were processing what he had said. he wants this to work. he wants to be with you. he wants this relationship, and he wants it to be more.

“I’m gonna fall in love with you if you keep saying shit like that,” you whisper after your moment of silence.

“good,” he smiled placing a hand on your cheek. “because, I’m falling in love with you.”

your breath caught in your throat. you wrapped your arms around his neck before pulling him down to you. he placed his lips on yours and kissed you. laying there in the daybed, you kissed him back.

“be my whatever,” he whispered.

“be your whatever?” you ask raising an eyebrow.

“yeah, whatever you want to call yourself. just be mine. be mine, baby.”

“okay.”

and you kissed him once more.

not sure how i feel about this. hopefully, this does justice for a part two, anon. i hope you enjoyed. feel free to send requests. - rose xx

#colson baker #colson baker imagines #colson baker x reader #machine gun kelly imagines #machine gun kelly x reader

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the-acid-pear · 3 years ago

Text

Scarface was too fucking boring, didn't make it past chapter 3, but that's good, because that means Baki-Dou time 😍

Time to read the fourth book in this series! Excited to see Musashi <3

Chapter 1

COLORS

Baki please stop flexing

A FELLA SAYING THE SAME I SAID WHEN YUJIRO PULLED HIS SOB STORY, FR GO TRY SOMETHING ELSE! What happened with that whole "i don't care about fighting" eh Baki?!

Chapter 2

HOHO ALI JR???

ah no :/

HOLY FUCK is this quality bad!

He wants to taste defeat i see

TOKUGAWA PLEASE STOP SMOKING

Oh they removed the... Egg in the back of the neck, nice

God this guy's tits so fat 🥵

FINALLYYY HOW LONG SINCE WE SAW A FIGHT IN THE ARENA? A PROPER FIGHT I MEAN

Chapter 3

He doesn't even know 🐍

DON'T BRING THAT FELLA HERE RETSU KICKED HIS ASS IN TIME. RECORD

Oh i saw fanart of this scene

Baki, it's your fault that you are bored, you fucking teen

This shit boring ME

Chapter 4

Oh, goroukou is a title

I like how the prime minister is becoming a recurrent character

I thought he said babe for a sec-

That little "oh~" is a bit sus, are the old men... No, it can't be 😳😳😳

I'm fucking choking fuck

GOD ALMOST READ THAT AS JOHN CENA 😭

"yes <3"

These ppl never learn

Chapter 5

What a way to go, a la gamzee /j

This dude so weird lmao

FAHDGAHDH king

Dude he has huge round eyes tf you talking bout?

IGDUFSUEASEUURSS he's such a freakkk 😭😭😭

This is the most wtf thing Baki has pulled, remember when this was about fighters fighting? I don't know enough about science for this shit either man

Okay so their hug wasn't Tokugawa being touchy like he is, this guy is even worse, se juntaron el hambre y las ganas de comer HSHAFSFG

Chapter 6

Baki's dead

Katsumi about to kill get killed by my grandpa i see

ALSO KATSUMI OG HAIR WOOO

Katsumi bro don't be so happy over nearly killing him-

I love seeing him get better tho

Uwaadgsgsjdga 😍😳🤤 twisting my hair irl,,, 🥴

Finally Motobe remembered he was a character here 😐

FSGSHDAHDA KOSHO PLS

I LOVE that they got dark lips again

IM SORRY GOUKI HOW DO YOU KNOW SO MUCH ABOUT EVERYONE?! LTDKFsjyrd 😭

Jack's scar looks cool ngl

Retsu living the good life lmao

AND HOW DO YOU KNOW, GRANDPA?

Hana just doesn't care, smartest Baki character lmao

Idk what they talking bout but good for em <3

Cum basement

Chapter 7

SHOW US MUSASHI'S COCK

Obsessed he thought his heart was failing 😭

Dude you can just hear the heart beat of your friends/opponents just like that? 🤨

Notice Gaia in the top left 🥴

WHY CAN HE RECOGNIZE EACH OF THEIR HEARTBEATS AAHSGA

Thick 🥵

Unironically built different

Chronic back pain if you ask me, that's how I stand to relieve my agony

Did. Did you just call him a femb-

STOP SHOWING ME PANELS FROM VAGAMOND

I love John sm lmao

Mr Musashi has 2 (3?) dads

Chapter 8

HAIRY LEGS 🥴

Those things look like boobs

Bet you would know eh SHAFADB

They jerked off the mummy?

Reminds me of eye surgery

AFjshAFDGAJAHAF

Mf came out the tube ripped af 😭

Chapter 9

Everyone is so feminine lately good ol Kureha fell behind 😭

I like his bandana tho it's cute

OH HE TOO? AND HE'S NOT EVEN THAT STRONG

Fat tits 🥴

Eheojeudkshs 😖😳👉👈

JACK STOP YOU ARE BIG ENOUGH ALREADY

HOLY FUCK

You know like i understand Baki, he is at the highest he can be rn, NO ONE can defeat him, but the rest? Like c'mon y'all just beat each other up or something

Ah, the miracle of birth 😍

Chapter 10

I love how all these two do is hang out together in bars, boybosses

TF IS UP WITH THAT ICE? AHDHS

I love what they have

Hana thinking of getting his 4 limbs broken again i see

WOOO!! Nice cock Mr Musashi 😳

HANAYAMA PLEASE 😐

Chapter 11

I love those freaks

I just now I'm seeing the little scars on his cheeks from the fight with Spec ☺️

I love the fact that Musashi has hair in his legs BUT not his arms like ??? Okay king

Heated scientist moment

HOHO POGGERS 👀

Chapter 12

UTSURAARSDFAFA sibling goals

GIRLBOSS 😍

URAURUSYRSAESGA IN LOVE???

Holy shit she's amazing

Chapter 13

And his ass is very thick too 😳

Those fucking sunglasses, obsessed

Debatable, he got struck by lightning :/

HE WAXES HIS HAIR? OMFG OBSESSED

WHY IS HE WEARING THAT LMAO 😭

Nooo they censored the cock again 😔😔😔

DO IT QWEEN 💅

STOP SAYING SHE'S GONNA FUCK THE CLONE

"I'm exciteddddd" "ok."

Chapter 14

You just hate seeing a girlboss win

She truly is amaizing

Also i just realized spirits have been showing up since the first book so this isn't so crazy lol

MF HOW IS THAT GONNA HELP 😭😭😭

THE LITTLE BUBBLES AND SPARKLES... I BET HE DID 🥺

Chapter 15

WHY ARE HIS TITS SO ROUND AND FAT GODDAMN IT,,, 😳😖

Glad seeing some things never change

He looks so much like Jun

IGSITSURAURZES EPICCC

Someone question if Yujiro knew how too write obsessed,,,

Chapter 16

Goddamn it you got even older in the past 3 or so chapters bro

Mouth to mouth soul transference

OHHH

HIS EYEBROWS FELL HOW IGDUTSITDIYDIGD

Some mf got turned on by this HELP 😭

Chapter 17

I love how Yujiro and Hana are still getting ready to throw hands while this happens lol

Okay yeah that was super disrespectful honestly, guy is having a chat :/

HAHAGSJAHA obsessed

God i thought it was Hana the one grabbing some random lady for a second AFDJSJSSJS

He cute af ngl

POOR GUY MUST BE SO CONFUSED OMFG,,,

Fsr I'm surprised he can talk, like it should be obvious but in all the fanart i saw he never said a word, also, he's so damn respectful 😍

Chapter 18

Idk he was never that clever /hj

Hehehe blood

I love how John can only sit that way

The size of his balls lmao

Coward won't even fight with his dick out smh :/

God he mad cute-

Chapter 19

I MISS THE DEATH ROW FELLAS FUCKKK

Hm i think this random tiny bald man is not Tokugawa but someone that looks awfully similar to him

YEAH NO SHIT I FEEL SO BAD FOR HIM, HE MUST BE SO DAMN OVERWHELMED

Apparently there was a cameo, i don't know enough about anime to know or care

Chapter 20

He's tripping balls

Tokugawa should have gone a bit slower with this poor guy, this is like a lot to process at once <:/

Nvm he's doing better than me

Oydirsusefs look at himmm

WAIT A FUCKING SECOND OMFG DIDN'T DOPPO FIGHT THIS GUY?!

SOMEONE ELSE RECOGNIZED HIM HE ISSS

Chapter 21

OHDIRAYEASURRSUURS HE DOESN'T KNOWWW FFS

Musashi be like °_°

LOOK AT THAT SMILE LMAO

He's just chilling, mentally killing this dude

Murder baby

Chapter 21

The way his eyes are drawn is so cool

YRAURSUFSIDTGA

And he jokes too! Wow I'm in love 😍

(nsfw) CAN YOU HANDLE DICK LIKE THAT TOO? 😍

WOW

I TAKE BACK THAT QUESTION

I remember a show where you would bring your own knives and swords and go thru a bunch of test, Musashi should have been one of them

Mf truly is like :]

I love how he didn't buy it

I can't wait for him to fight Yujiro 😍

Chapter 23

He truly is 😌

ATFJAIDQYSF OBSESSED

He was happy this time at least, 5 times he lost already btw

Tokugawa truly in unhateable lmao

Chapter 24

IM SORRY, HIS LEG???

Oh I forgot Musashi does that

JAGSKSGSKSGS HIS FUCKING FACE I CAN'T 😭

I miss when translators would add notes i don't want to google shit myself :/

"I'm hard as rock" /j

Chapter 25

Look how happy he issss

MUSASHI POG MUSASHI POG-

I love how Tokugawa can't believe he got it first try and it's trying to lie now sjdakdyv

This mf is actually making me insane what the actual fuck i don't know what he has but he's gonna make me act up 😳

Mf be shadow boxing too dammit /j

Baki please

Chapter 26

OLD MAN JUST WANTS A PUBLIC TO SEE THIS LMAO

Look at the size of Baki's eyes holy fuck lmao

He's gonna yeet him!

OH NOOOO

FIRST HIS DAD NOW MUSASHI, THIS GUY CANT CATCH A BREAK LMAO

Chapter 27

How little time passed? They have barely moved

Yeah you did it last book too Baki

King shit

Chapter 28

AKSGSKGSJSGS KING

I love how he only now realized

Okay no he has a point

I love how he just calls him boy

Look at that smug face

I trust Musashi but at the same time he, really should be walking around this new world alone. Now, if i were to accompany him... 🥴/j

Baki please

Chapter 29

I love how soft the artstyle suddenly got, like if done big a big brush

Yujiro you just insulted every single anime character in history

Baby Baki's just like "Ok."

I like how Yujiro looks here

AUGHHJF HE'S SO BABY 🥺

HOHO badass

Chapter 30

He died 😔

Idiot hasn't even beat he 0.5 reaction seconds lmao 🤣

HOHOOOOO?!? 👁️👁️

"my curiosity exceed my fear!!" I RESPECT THIS MAN SO MUCH??

Chapter 31

AMAIZING HONESTLY

Fighter to fighter communication

SHIT LOOK AT THE STATE OF THAT HAND

He's just gone now LMAO

I honestly don't mind Baki being weak against this, he never fought against a two handed swordman, this is new territory

Chapter 32

Oh his really tripping balls now this is why he shouldn't be alone

NVM HE'S STILL DOING BETTER THAN ME ON A DAILY BASIS, I HAVE A LOT TO LEARN FROM THIS MAN

I just now realized he's barefoot

Nice ass king

The policemen are quite nice

He's very cooperative but i can't blame the cops either

Chapter 33

Yeah no shit that must be so insane

IF YOU HADN'T DROPPED OFF SCHOOL THEN...

That's kinda funny but idk man he's right i think

He's just like :3

I love how he isn't picking up a fight out of malice but rather just instinct like, he can't understand shit that is going on

YOU ARE SO RIGHT BAKI IT ISN'T BORING FOR ME EITHER

Chapter 34

Don't you fucking dare shave him Itagaki

It's funny how it took 2 books and a half for Baki to start being a protagonist

Holy fuck did Baki add height or is Miyamoto that big?

Wow how perfect i ran out of space just now!! Having fun with this book ngl :]

#luly talks #baki liveblog #little gay creature sees famous swordsman from the 1600s and loses their mind #"i want his gender'' they claim #also for a man who was born 2 days ago 400 years in the future he sure understands shit better than me 😭#maybe i too should stop having so much anxiety and just get ready to throw hands at ant moment #like back in the day... ☺️(😞)#anyway point is uhh silly little fun saga <3

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talesofafangirlwithadvr · 5 years ago

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Crisis on Infinite Earths Reactions

I ALWAYS look forward to the crossover each year and this one was the biggest so far. While it took me a bit to get into it, overall I liked it a lot and can’t get over how much happened. It’s always a fun time seeing our characters from different shows interact, but in Crisis the cameos were endless. While this reaction post will mainly focus on parts 4 and 5 (because they are freshest in my head) I want to highlight some of my favorite guest star moments for the entire Crisis crossover:

Almost forgot! Here’s your Spoiler Warning!!!

LOVED seeing Brandon Routh as Superman again. Despite popular opinion, Superman Returns is one of my favorites and was the kick off to my love for superheroes. I loved that he got to put the cape back on and revisit this character in a totally new light years later. He was around for a good amount of the crossover, which I was impressed by.

I’m still SUPER SHOCKED that this cameo happened. It confirmed that the DC cinematic universe recognizes the CW shows and I’m honestly surprised that this was kept quiet for so long. Well done! Never saw this guest coming!

When it was released that Lucifer would be joining the crossover I was very interested to see how he would be included. I think they did a great job and his interaction with our heroes (specifically with Constantine) was priceless.

John Wesley Shipp as the Flash once more. Such a heartbreaking scene, but it was fantastic how they brought back his show from the 90s.

And the cameo I was most anticipating: TOM WELLING. As a HUGE Smallville fan I was pumped to see him back as Clark as soon as this was released. The scene did not disappoint. It was awesome to see him and Erica Durance back on the Kent Farm.

PARTS 4 + 5

The Speed force was a good way to highlight old Arrow episodes because Part 4 was an Arrow episode after all. But I always get confused when we have episodes like this of how much is real or what the objective is. I think with Sara’s character it was easier because she had been on the show, while with Kate and J’onn we had to watch them react to moments from Oliver’s past that were similar to their own.

Super poetic that Oliver is the one to re-build the multiverse as he (and his show) kicked off the Arrowverse.

Was still not a fan of the amount of Lex in the crossover, but he did have a good line about being the only one to destroy the universe as he helped the heroes fight.

I really liked Sara and Barry’s moments together. I feel like they never get paired up together and they really should.

This quote KILLED me. Especially because Barry said it twice. I will really miss their friendship.

So originally I was like Oliver can’t be dead, but then he died twice and I was believing it more because it was overall a nice tribute to his character (especially at the end). And then the scenes for upcoming episodes came up and said when the remaining Arrow episodes would air and I just became really confused. Are we going to see our Oliver again or will it just be Mia becoming the green arrow?

The true MVP of the Crossover: J’onn Jones. Without him people would have no idea what the universe was before. Thank you, J’onn.

Speaking of....We’re officially in the same universe!!!! I LOVED when Weather Witch showed up in National City and I was like hang on she’s a Flash villain and then the Flash showed up. This has opened up so many things for us.

Baby Sara is BACK!!!! As someone who references her a lot when we watch Arrow I was pumped to see Diggle with his two kids. I just hope this means he still adopts Connor in the future because they’re relationship is adorable.

Great parallel at the end of the crossover to show all the heroes within the multiverse. I like how we got to hear Oliver narrate now. In December I had just started Titans so it was cool to see them now and know who they are. I just think it would have been cool to reference Gotham. Maybe if the show was still on they would have.

The Legends of Tomorrow episode ending the Crisis was great. Theirs was my favorite, which shouldn’t be a shock as it’s my favorite in the Arrowverse. (I am very excited to see it coming back for the new season.) It was funny and easy to follow.

I love how they explained fighting Bebo previously. On any other show it would make no sense and while it still doesn’t make complete sense it works for the Legends. Hearing Barry explain that Wally told them how they all became Bebo once was priceless. This crew just brings out a different side to all casts.

Breaking down the fourth wall and all “the crossover” references was great. (Especially because the Legends missed out on it last year.)

I definitely enjoyed the ending more than the beginning. I am very interested to see where each of these shows are headed in their seasons post crisis.

Another successful crossover season!

#Crisis on Infinite Earths #cw crisis on infinite earths #reaction #arrowverse crossover #arrow #The Flash #supergirl #Batwoman #DC's Legends of Tomorrow #Brandon Routh #superman kingdom come #tom welling #sara lance #barry x oliver #legends #Barry Allen #kara zor el

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steve0discusses · 5 years ago

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Yugioh S4 Ep 4: Pegasus and His Unlimited Moxie

So, I’m finally back after that long--time--when I was sick, then busy, etc etc. Long story, I peaced out from social media for the large part, and my method for finding solace mostly involved watching so much “big living in a tiny house.”

Those houses are so damn tiny.

And now I feel better, so lets get back to business.

Just FYI, this is a midweek post because this weekend I’ll be exploring a part of California I didn’t know existed before my friend was like “Napa’s booked, so we’re going South to do our wedding in the other wine country” and it’s like “the hell are you talking about other wine country?????”

So I might be driving to a large cardboard cutout of a winery, and me and 400 guests are going to just stand in front of it and pretend that it’s real for a couple days. This means that I will probably make only like maybe three updates this month and I’m just going to have to come to terms with that.

And in case you are wondering (you’re not) the bye bye bye mashup dance we’re doing for the wedding is going great. It’s really freakin great that the Seahawks decided to choose this week to steal our thunder, so now everyone at this wedding will think we’re just all really into Football. (I’m just telling you that because I feel a need to complain so thank you for listening.)

But anyway, it was a nice surprise amongst all this *stuff* I didn’t really want to do, that this particular episode of Yugioh is pretty great. Like...guys we get Pegasus, we get Kaiba having a meltdown, we get PEGASUS. Like I forgot how much I like Pegasus.

So first off, Yugi and friends decided to watch the news about the whole shpeal from last episode, probably because each and every one of them was certain they all shared the same collective fever dream.

Something to note about Yugioh is they use a lot of near future tech, and I don’t know how much of that sci-fi goes completely over the heads of kids nowadays since this has become so normal. But yo, people in 2002 were still using AOL.

A lot has changed in 10 years. Just let that sink in, babies in the back.

(read more under the cut)

Also, please turn your entire attention over to this

Man.

the weird orange cookie on this painting is what really gets to me. It looks like a handmade soap. Because in order to soothe my soul during this stressful month I also watched a lot of cold-process soap making videos.

*quickly looks up to see if there’s Yugioh Soap*

Yeah that doesn’t exist. Hey do you think that if I sent in a Yugioh soap design into Royalty Soaps she’d actually make it? I mean, she did Studio Ghibli. This is just Studio Ghibli but on fire and with terrible hair and actually very different.

(And yes, I did, just now, in fact, make a soap design that I’m absolutely mailing to Royalty Soaps. I’ll put it at the end. No idea what it should smell like, mostly because the last thing I want to do when watching Yugioh is think about how ANY of this smells.)

See, tangents like this are why I don’t have more time.

Anyway, Yugi recalls that he was supposed to *do a thing* but also recalls that he was given really no instructions at all.

When something absolutely wonderful happens.

Y’all I was like shouting at the screen “BE A TAPE BE A TAPE BE A TAPE” and lo and behold:

Dude. Pegasus is such freakin mastermind. Remember that this show started out with them streaming video on a computer, and what did he decide to do? He sent them a tape. Pegasus knows FULL WELL how much they want to see this tape but at the same time...don’t want to watch this tape, and what follows is everyone deciding if they should or should not open Pandora’s box. A Pandora’s box they opened once before and then murdered Grandpa entirely by accident.

I can’t believe they sat on this joke for four seasons. It’s such a freakin good joke.

So of course it’s the same kid who once decided it would be a great idea to put together a puzzle that came in a box that said “WARNING THIS GODAWFUL THING KILLS PEOPLE” who decided to just stick this in the VCR when everyone else was fighting and no one was looking.

And, this is not a joke, this is literally how Pegasus decided to open this tape by scolding him for not keeping in touch when Pegasus tried to kill them not once but multiple times back on murder island. Pegasus thinks this deserves him at least a Christmas card.

Something that’s also very Pegasus is that he um--doesn’t even bother wearing an eyepatch nowadays. He’s just got...one eye now...just an empty socket that he covers with bangs and is like “ya I dare you not look at it.”

And then on, this kid’s show, they basically go through the checklist of things that are “things a child abductor would ask you to do”

And that’s it. That’s the whole tape. It’s the end of the world and Pegasus wants to get one last good prank in before it all goes belly up.

And it worked really good on Joey. But unfortunately, did not seem to phase Yugi.

And then after this, the show gets very sidetracked by some side characters that are...they still exist.

First of all, how much did Weevil spend on a bug drone? Like...what’s this guy’s day job?

Second of all, Rex and Weevil live on some weird brain plane, where they’re pretty sure that the upper echelon of card people are all in love with eachother (which, I don’t blame them, I’ve seen tumblr, it does give that impression if you’ve never watched this show). What they don’t realize is how badly each of the upper echelon of card people want to murder the Hell out of eachother, wipe eachother’s brains, and blow eachother up on a 6000 ft tower on an abandoned island.

so I guess...Unfortunately...Rex and Weevil are...still with us. Their reasoning is kind of weird--they want super good cards--but like...what’s the point of having super good cards if you’re still Rex and Weevil? Rex is so bad at cards we didn’t even get to see him lose in S2.

Also, the biker gang is back, and I still don't know their font color because they’re in dim lighting in this scene so I’ll just use these temporary font colors for now.

So, having done his one last good Joke (and maybe the only good joke that Pegasus has ever made) Pegasus decided to sit and wait for someone to do a murder on him. I mean he’s not psychic anymore, but he’s figured he’s screwed enough people that this was how he was going to go out anyway.

Mai....Valentine....

So I guess she’s back for another season? It’s weird, she made one cameo and then that was it for this episode, but it was very clearly Mai Valentine. Bro brought up that they had to make her a villain again, because she’s literally their only girl villain and I was like “no that’s, not right they’ve got...” and then I kinda sat there for a couple of seconds and I realized “oh dude there’s only been one girl villain so far in all of Yugioh!” and he was like “YEP.”

Because both of us completely forgot about Rebecca until I wrote this in this post and he was double checking it just now. My apologies to the Rebecca stans.

And then Yugi decided to let us know something extremely disturbing about his curse. The showed played it off like this was a cute thing you would want to have happen. But no. No one would ever want this.

Ho boy! They share FEELINGS?

So like...

...bear with me here--when Yugi is scared, Pharaoh gets scared. When Yugi is tired, Pharaoh feels tired. When Yugi has a complete meltdown basically every single day, Pharaoh reaches for his Tums. So um...I have to ask the question...

So who’s dating Tea? Yes, I know the real answer is neither of them, but who is the one that keeps bringing forth this ship that this show is supposed to be shipping? Both of them??? I mean they have the same feelings, and before I was like, well, I’m sure Pharaoh just kinda turns around and watches brain TV when Yugi and Tea talk about...deadlifting, or whatever she’s into, but nah he’s like...he’s got the same feelings as Yugi.

Does that just...never bother them? Like...they never get jealous? Ever?

It’s so freakin weird.

This whole sequence was Yugi being like “You can’t keep a secret from me Pharaoh, I will instantly know since I can feel you lying to me” and it’s like hot damn that’s a big lore drop that they just hop and skip away from.

So the next day they go to the airport and just go unsupervised to a foreign country.

This makes complete sense on Gramps’ part, because he was exploring Egyptian caves most of his life, so in comparison, California is baby town and Yugi would be fine. Clearly Gramps doesn’t know enough about Oakland.

Then again, Grandpa spent a very long and mysterious time in the Middle East raiding so many tombs and stealing an entire artifact that contains the whole history of a lost age of Egypt and an actual Pharaoh’s soul so like...probably wouldn’t get you past TSA in 2002. He’d send off like every red flag warning in the airport.

Give me an Air Joey spinoff this instant, Yugioh, you cowards.

It’ll be just like Wings, except all the pilots are very bad at their job and haunted by multiple ghosts.

There’s a very long pissing segment where there was no piss, but Rex begging Weevil to let him piss in the airplane. It’s about as much as you can expect out of a Rex and Weevil segment. And like, basically at this point, Rex and Weevil are married, yet this ship is never, not once, ever surfaced in my feed of fanart I see out of y’all.

And I don't blame you.

Now, when we get to California, we find out that Croquet either went completely gray or was replaced with an identical twin and also...

GUYS IT’S MY HOMESLICE.

Which doesn’t really look like this, PS.

So bro has already told me that they’re going to San Fransisco next episode or so (OMG I’m so excited to talk about it), so this is absolutely supposed to be SFO in the show. (maaaybe Oakland Airport? But I super doubt it)

Most people outside of CA don’t know the vast scale of Bay Area and that the San Fransisco Airport is not very well named since it is...not close to San Fransisco at all.

So, I’m going to guess that the show thinks they landed directly in the heart of SF. With the way this vista looks, I think they basically just painted the view from north of Downtown. Which is especially fun because that is a pretty bougie community and the thought of having just a major airport smack in the middle of it makes my heart warm and fuzzy because they have voted out an affordable housing community SO many more times than is morally acceptable. Serves you right, here’s your international airport across the street.

But Bro has warned me ahead of time that this season makes absolutely no sense geography wise...and I’m pretty stoked for that.

And then, as if reading my mind, Tea removes Rex and Weevil from the show, yet again.

Incredible that they got through customs like that, but they did arrive on a private plane, and maybe customs are different for them? I...don’t think it would be, even for a private plane, everyone has to go through customs. But, it’s a kids show, so Rex and Weevil snuck into America in a luggage bag, just like how Fox News warned us about.

Then again, I imagine that the customs agent was like “yo there’s two human bodies stuffed in here!????” and was like “ohhhhh wait, it’s a Pegasus’ plane. That adds up. Ya.” and just let it through.

Time for a classic Kaiba meltdown sequence, where he puts on a show of being really competent but is in reality acting like a stack of screaming cats in a purple trench coat.

Mokuba just working overtime to keep this ship afloat because man.

And then this next part isn’t a joke I made up--Kaiba only took as long as it took to monologue for five seconds about his reputation before doing this:

It’s more than possible that the translators have no idea who Roland is, and unlike me, isn’t keeping tabs on Roland every second that green haired fourthKaiba is on screen.

So Pegasus decides to give Kaiba a call on his video phone--because again he only saves the Panasonic Camcorder for spooking Yugi.

Pegasus could have just *called* Yugi the entire time, lol.

Anyway, without the camcorder, Pegasus now has room to stretch out his legs and stick his feet directly in the screen like the end of the world wasn’t less than 2 days ago.

And the show isn’t telling us why or how this is happening after the whole Mai thing that happened. But it’s nice to know that even when Pegasus may be absolutely held up against his will, he still freakin slays.

Youknow, Pegasus does more in this one episode to remind me that “oh yeah, Pegasus was my favorite character this whole time” than anyone else and he did in like two calls, sitting in a chair behind his desk, just screwing with people to screw with them.

And what I enjoy about Pegasus is that, although he had his eyeball removed--he’s still a freakin asshole. He still super sucks. I had a lot of questions about “how much of Pegasus being the worst was the eyeball?” And apparently the answer was “VERY little, this guy is just the freakin worst. Didn’t need to be cursed at all.”

And so, Yugioh doesn’t really do transformation sequences--unless you count when Yugi sometimes goes “yugiohhhhhh” and then to everyone else looks virtually the same. Instead Yugioh does gear up sequences.

Where we find out that Seto promised Mokuba he wouldn’t play cards anymore until he was done building all those theme parks.

I guess it’s unfortunate for Mokuba that this whole Pegasus end of the world thing happened out of nowhere and also unfortunate for Mokuba that Kaiba can build card-themed theme parks Really Quickly. I think Mokuba was banking on it taking an entire lifetime to build a park but youknow, looking at how many sequels of Yugioh there are...eh, Mokuba should have instead dared Seto to give up dueling until he finished a single semester of public school. Then those cards would have stayed buried.

Hey um...did Kaiba add hip spikes on this purple coat since Season 2? I don’t remember him having those.

Good thing I write a blog and I can check. Time for some time travel to Season 2.

Ah, yes, the hip spikes were not there in Season 2. So, at some point in between then and now, Kaiba looked at this old ass coat hanging in his closet and was like “Not Enough Butt Spikes!” and just glued em on there.

But anyway, back to Season 4...

I’m pretty sure this is one of the doors from Evangelion.

And so, off they go, straight to their death, in the world’s most un-aerodynamic vehicle.

Really glad that Dragon Plane seems to have become a permanent character, as it would if you spent 10 million dollars building a dragon plane that can’t possibly fly using real world physics.

So, Yugi and Co are going to California, and Seto is going to Season One.

And I guess Bakura was like “Oi! Loves! Is every body ready for me to murder them?” and Gramps was like “sorry, they’re getting murdered by Pegasus today” and he was like “bloody hell, every time.”

Anyway, if you just got here, this is a link to read all these recaps from the beginning, in chrono order--it’s a lot of content, and I can’t believe I spent this much time doing this.

And because you’re curious, here’s the soap design that will get absolutely rejected by Royalty Soaps because they say they like to watch anime but they also pronounced “Ghibli” wrong like over 20 times on that one video so I have a strong feeling this is not their brand.

#yugioh #ygo #photo recap #episode recap #yugi muto #seto kaiba #mokuba #joey wheeler #pegasus #tea gardner #tristan taylor #grandpa muto #rex raptor #weevil underwood #a bunch of biker gang people I don't know the name of #some guy with huge ass blue hair #s4 ep4

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theburiedbookworm · 5 years ago

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Unprepared Hours

Author: Katie (theburiedbookworm/scentedbygunpowder) Rating: T Word Count: 7,425 Genre: Hurt/Comfort, General, Adventure, Horror (Idk, I couldn’t pick you tell me) Characters: Sheska, OCs, cameos by Falman and Fuery, brief mention of Briggs soldiers and Buccaneer. Summary: All Sheska wanted was a quiet life to read and to be able to keep her mother in a good hospital. All Sheska had signed up for was to copy down the reports that she had read and provide information. She hadn't signed up for loosing a good boss. And she especially hadn't signed up for man-eating white monsters and buildings coming down around her head. But on the Promised Day, that was exactly what she had to deal with, whether she was prepared for it or not. Notes: I always wondered where Sheska was during the Promised Day and what she might have been through. After a few late night discord headcanon sessions with a friend, well, this story emerged. I had to mess with a few things in canon, and I didn't bother to look at where Records might be in the building, but on the whole it should be fairly canon compliant. I hope you enjoy! (Cross posted on AO3 and ff.net under the name RealityBreakGirl)

~*~

Sheska wandered out, looking around the area, but not really looking. Smoke still wafted in the air. She could see buildings that were still smoking. Were they on fire? Or was it from something else? She could see buildings that were destroyed, or half destroyed. One side of Central Command was gone, for stars sake!

She tried not to look that way. There was no telling how many people were killed in that, or who she had known that were now gone.

Just the same as that, she tried not to look at the bodies that were all around too. Briggs soldiers and Central soldiers alike, their bodies were laying around, blood soaked ground near them. She tried not to look at them. She didn’t know if she could bare it if she saw a face, and it was someone that she knew. She had known people that had died before—although there was a little doubt on a least one of those right now—but it was different when it came to seeing them dead like this. It was different seeing them killed.

The thought struck her that she might be doing them a disservice, if there were any people that she knew here. Wouldn’t they want her to see them, to acknowledge them? Wouldn’t they want her to grieve over them? Was she doing them wrong by walking passed and not even stopping to see if they were people that she knew?

She didn’t know if she could do that. Her legs were shuddering now, and, while they didn’t feel weak, exactly, they did feel like they just weren’t going to hold her up anymore. She had been trying to go down the stairs, but now it felt like she couldn’t, and she just sat down on the white marbled stairs, looking at her own dirty shoes, and dusty uniform, and then looking out over the city, still in a state of emergency.

How had the day turned out like this, when it had started off so well…?

~*~*~

Ring, ring! Ring, ring!

Sheska stopped, and looked back at her phone, which was ringing. Her phone didn’t usually ring this early in the morning. Oh! Maybe it was Rachel, calling to ask her to pick something up for the girls who all worked in records? They did that sometimes, call someone to get something.

Ring, ring! Ring, ring!

Well, she’d never know if she didn’t answer it, would she? She shoved the book she was holding in her bag, and then turned to grab the phone before it could ring again. She spared a glance at the clock. She had a few minutes before she absolutely had to leave. “Hello?”

“Sheska?” a very familiar voice came from the other side and Sheska immediately brightened.

“Mom!” she said. “Why are you calling this early? Is everything alright?” It was unusual for her mother to call her this early in the morning, after all, and Sheska couldn’t help but worry.

“No, no, dear, nothing like that,” her mother’s cheery voice said back to her. “I just wanted to remind you not to forget your eclipse glasses. I know how absent-minded you can be.”

Sheska smiled. It was just like her mother to worry about something like that. “Don’t worry, Mom, I’ve already got them packed! I tucked them into a little pocket I never use on my purse so that they wouldn’t fall out or anything like that.”

“Good,” her mother said. “You make sure that you use them when it’s time for the eclipse. Don’t try to look at it directly even for a moment just because you’re curious to see if it’s really as bad as they say.”

Sheska couldn’t help but smile some more. “I won’t do it if you won’t.” she said back.

“Deal.” Her mother replied.

“Are you going to get to see it?” Sheska asked. She knew there had been talk around the hospital her mother was in about moving the patients to a viewing area, but she didn’t know if anything solid had been determined.

“Yes, we are,” her mother replied. Sheska could hear a note of excitement in her mother’s voice. She always had liked seeing and experiencing new things. Sheska was glad that she was going to get to see this. “The nurses arranged a room for us where we can see it. They’re going to take us in there later today.”

“Oh, that’s great!” Sheska replied, glad for her mom. “Just don’t overdo, okay?”

“Oh hush, dear. You don’t need to worry about me.”

“Of course I do, Mom. A daughter is supposed to worry over her mother.”

“I think you have that backwards. It’s a mother that’s supposed to worry over her daughter.”

“Well, maybe we can just worry over each other then.”

Her mother laughed. Sheska loved her mother’s laugh, so bright and cheery, no matter what was going on. “Alright,” her mother said. “We’ll be a pair of worriers together then.”

“Deal!” Sheska replied. She glanced at the clock. She needed to leave. She didn’t want to hang up on her mother, though. She always loved talking with her mother. Sheska paused for a moment. “Hey mom?”

“Yes?”

Sheska hesitated, so much she wanted to say, but she didn’t have time, and she didn’t know how to tell her mother the depth of her love. “I’m sorry we can’t watch it together,” she finally settled on saying. She genuinely regretted not being able to, wishing that she could be there with her mother during this event. She would love to see her mother’s excitement at it.

“Oh you hush,” her mother said. “You have work, and a life. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

“I still wish I could,” Sheska said, “But you’re right.” She sighed, and glanced at the clock one more time. If she didn’t leave now she was going to be late. “Alright, Mom,” Sheska said, “I do have to go. But I’ll call you after work, though, and we can talk about it, okay?”

“That sounds fun,” her mother said, “but you go now, Sheska. You don’t need to be late for work. Shoo! Go work hard and make that kind boss of yours proud!”

Sheska couldn’t help but grin again. Her mother was always on top of things and never forgot anything Sheska told her about work. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll get going. Oh—and mom?”

“Yes?”

“I love you.”

She could practically hear the smile in her mother’s voice. “I love you too, My Sheska. Now hurry up! Shoo!”

Sheska laughed again. “Yes ma’am!”

Sheska returned the phone to its cradle, and quickly gathered up her bags. Her purse, her lunch, and a bag that carried things like her books and such in it were all in her hands quickly, Sheska throwing them over her shoulder as she grabbed a muffin for breakfast and scurried out her front door. If she hurried, she’d make it to work on time!

By the time Sheska made it to work, she was barely on time and she had finished her muffin. She could have done with a little coffe, but she’d just have to settle for some of the stuff they kept around the office. Rachel kept a small supply of good ground coffee for them to use from time to time. Maybe she could beg some of it off of her.

“Morning, Sheska,” Rachel greeted her as she came into the office.

“Oh! Good morning Rachel,” she returned.

“Just barely made it in, huh?” Rachel said.

Sheska nodded, “My mother called just before I left,” she said. She smiled a bit. “She wanted to remind me to take my eclipse glasses with me today.”

“Ugh, like we’ll see anything down here.” Susan walked in, a load of files in her arms. “We’re so low down we don’t even have good windows.”

“Maybe we’ll get lucky and Major Armstrong will let us go up to see it,” Sheska suggested.

“You know, come to think of it, where is the Major?”

“I don’t know,” A new voice cut in, and they all looked up, taking a second to acknowledge the officer who had just walked in. She waved them off. “I don’t know where Major Armstrong is,” she repeated, “but that’s not really your concern right now.” She sat down another stack of folders. “There’s work to be done today, so that’s what we’re going to work on.” A chorus of “yes ma’am” broke out and she started to turn to leave, but hesitated. “Don’t… don’t stray too far today, girls. I don’t know what’s going on, but things seem tense out there. Just pay attention.”

The girls murmured their agreement, although they exchanged confused looks.

“What do you think that was all about?” Rachel asked after she had left.

Susan shrugged. “I don’t know. But I guess we should be careful.”

“Maybe it has to do with where Major Armstrong is,” Sheska suggested. “I mean, he is a state alchemist, so if there was something going on, they’d want him, right?”

The others murmured their agreement and they all got to work. But even in their area, it was obvious that something was going on. Tense voices, rushed steps, clipped language; it was enough to set them all on edge. Sheska bit her lip as she worked, wondering what all this could mean. She had a sudden desire to want Maes Hughes back as her boss. He always seemed to know what was going on. But that wasn’t possible. Besides, if the Major knew what was going on, he would tell them too—right? Yeah, she was sure of it. With a quiet sigh, Sheska got back to work. It must have been a half an hour later or longer when she realized that she had a file that didn’t belong down here. She flipped through it, trying to find its identification. It looked pretty urgent, and she bit her lip, trying to make a decision.

“Hey,” she called out to the others, “I’ve got a file that belongs to the armory. It—It looks kind of urgent. I’m just gonna take it to them, okay?”

“Yeah, that’s fine, Sheska.” Rachel said. “You’ve only got a few left, right? We’ll take care of them.”

“Okay,” Sheska responded. “I promise I won’t take long!”

“Hey, stop by the Mess Hall and see what they’re serving will you?” Susan asked. “Their calendar is as reliable as my granny’s taste buds, so I wanna know if I need to go out today or not.”

Sheska nodded. “Sure, I can do that.”

“Oh! Maybe we can go to that new little place if we do go out—“ Rachel’s voice faded as Sheska stepped out and closed the door behind her. It wouldn’t take long to deliver this to where it needed to go, and it would be nice to get out of the office for a moment.

The tension in the building was still really high, though, and something just felt off. Sheska shifted the file a little closer to her, holding it across her chest. It was silly, but it just made her feel a bit better. Hopefully, whatever this tension was, it would go away soon. After all, today was Eclipse day! She really wanted to go see that, no matter what! That way she could talk to her mother about it. It wouldn’t be the same as seeing it with her mother, but it would be something that they could talk about together, at least. The thought put a cheer in her step, and Sheska smiled to herself as she walked. Only a few more hours!

The cheer didn’t last long, though, as the closer she got to the armory department, the more on edge people became. She could hear the voices all around her as they talked, and what she heard couldn’t be right. It just couldn’t be!

“…Mustang and his men captured the Fuhrer’s wife…”

“…have shot and injured Central soldiers…”

“…General Armstrong killed him…”

“…that’s right, she killed General Gardner…”

“…is holding another general hostage…”

“… it’s a coop by Mustang and Briggs, it’s gotta be…”

Sheska stopped as she heard the rumors. This couldn’t be. Could it? This couldn’t be right? Mustang’s team has kidnapped Mrs. Bradley? General Armstrong had killed other generals? The government was being overthrown? No, no, this couldn’t be right at all! Suddenly, Sheska stumbled as something shook the building, and caught herself on a windowsill. What was that? All around her people in the hall were looking up, trying to figure out what had happened. Voices were rising and people were jumping into a professional panic.

“What’s going on?”

“I don’t know!”

“We should do something!”

“Your stations—everyone should return to your stations!”

A voice broke over the crowd, and people looked up. It was a Captain, and he was giving orders.

“For now, everyone return your departments and await further instructions! Unless you’re doing something life or death, or the situation becomes too dangerous, do not leave unless so ordered! Arm yourselves and be prepared. We may have to defend ourselves.”

There was a chorus of “Yes, sir!” and then people scattered.

Sheska bit her lip. She needed to get back to the office. She needed to warn Rachel and Susan! Sheska tried to make her way through the halls, but people were rushing past her, bumping into her as she tried to make her way back to records. She got pushed into a wall more than once, and roughly pushed by as well. This was ridiculous! The main halls were just too crowded, and she needed to leave now, especially as it seemed something else shook the building. Her eyes alighted on the doorway to the stairs. Records was on one of the lower levels! She could head down the stairs and go through some of the lower maintenance levels. No one was likely to be down there, so she should be able to move quicker and without being jostled quite so much.

It took a little more rough bumping before she managed to get over there and push open the door. There were still people here but not as many, especially as she descended into the lower levels. By the time she got to the maintenance levels, no one seemed to be around, which was a relief. She hurried on, knowing that the sooner she got back to the office the better.

For a few moments, there was no noise, no real sound except for the occasional rattling of pipes and the sound of her shoes on the bare concreate. But something started to smell foul, and she heard unusual sounds. They sounded… wet. And like something was ripping. Sheska bit her lip and slowed down. Something inside Sheska told her she should run, that whatever was around that corner couldn’t be anything good. But she had to get back to her office, and to warn Susan and Rachel. Slowly, cautiously, she peeked around the corner

--and had to clamp a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming.

Strange white men, creatures really, with one big eyeball and large mouths were all crouched on the ground eating something. Sheska’s eyes widened and she nearly hyperventilated when she saw the blue of a uniform sleeve and realized just what they were eating.

Trying her best not to scream, Sheska backed away quickly—too quickly. She ran into something, knocking it down and hearing it clatter. She didn’t take the time to look to see what it was. There was no time to do that. Her eyes widened more, and a scream built in her throat as the things suddenly stopped their grisly meal and looked up at her. Their eyes focused on her and Sheska turned and fled, screaming as she went. She could hear them right behind her, smell the stench of them and their bloody meal. A sob worked its way up out of her as tears filled her eyes. She wasn’t going to be able to get out of this. She wasn’t going to be able to talk to her mom again, or see her! She wasn’t going to be able to care for her mother! She was going to die—to be eaten by these things! Eaten alive!

They were right behind her, and she turned a corner quickly, only to bowl right into something else white taking him down with her. In a panic she rolled off of him, and scrambled back, only to realize she was surrounded by white. She screamed again, until she heard her name.

“Sheska?”

“Huh?” She realized that she was hearing gun fire, and that a familiar face with gray hair was looking down at her. Officer Falman, she remembered, one of Mustang’s men, transferred to Briggs. Was he here as part of the take over?

“Sheska! Are you hurt? Are you okay?”

Right. He was asking her questions. “Um—I—yeah, I, I think I’m okay, I just—“she glanced over to where the Briggs soldiers were still fighting the monsters. “They need to watch out! Those things they—they were eating a person!”

“What?” Falman looked at her in surprise.

“Hey—these things don’t want to die! I know I shot it!”

“Shoot it in the leg so it can’t get up!”

Falman stood from his bending position. “Be careful! They’re man eaters!”

There was an acknowledgement as a man that looked more like a bear then a man entered the fray, a strange looking automail arm on him as he attacked the monsters.

“Sheska. Where were you trying to go?” Falman was focused on her again, and she turned her attention back to him and away from the fight.

“B-back to records. I was trying to, um, to deliver some papers that had, um, had gotten mixed up and w-we were all told to go b-back to our departments. I-I-I thought this way would be q-quicker…”

Falman nodded and straightened, offering her his hand again, and pulling her up. The fight seemed to be over for the moment, those strange white men laying dead. Sheska’s attention went from that back to Falman as he spoke.

“Sir,” he addressed the bear-like man. “May I pull a man to escort Miss Sheska back to records? There might be more of those elsewhere.”

The man looked down at her, and Sheska tried not to shake as much as she felt like she was. Finally he let out a snort, and called two of the men over. Falman gave them a rundown of where to go. Sheska wasn’t paying much attention. She was just staring at the bodies of the monsters who had been chasing her, to eat her, and she felt a bit sick to her stomach.

“Miss Sheska?” One of the Briggs soldiers said. “If you’ll just stay between us.”

She nodded, and followed between them, turning her head to look away when they passed the mess of the partially eaten soldier. She just couldn’t have that engraved on her mind. The soldiers didn’t call her on it, though, and for that she was grateful. It only took a few more minutes to get her back to records. When they opened the door, no one seemed to be there at first. Then—

“Oh my Stars, Sheska?!” Rachel came out from behind the desk and Susan emerged from the stacks to hug her.

“Where have you been! And why are you with Briggs soldiers?” Susan demanded. “We heard that they were taking over!”

“Th-they saved me… from—fr-from—“

“Excuse us,” the Briggs soldiers interrupted. “But it’s probably safer for you ladies to stay in here. Is there an inner room you can get into?”

Rachel nodded. “Yes. More than one.”

“Then I suggest you hole up there for your own safety.”

“…Thank you,” Rachel said.

The Briggs soldiers nodded and left, closing the door firmly behind them. Susan still had a hold of Sheska, not having completely released her from the hug. Honestly, Sheska needed it.

“Sheska, what’s going on, you’re shaking,” she said, concern clear in her voice. Rachael wheeled around to look at Sheska too, concern clear in her eyes.

“You are!” she said. “Su, you sit her down. I’m going to go get some water for coffee—“

“No, don’t!” Sheska blurted it out frantically, desperately. “Don’t go out there! You can’t!”

Rachel’s brows drew together, as she looked at Sheska with confusion. “What? Why not? It’s just down the hall, and I doubt I have to worry about more soldiers from Br—“

“It’s not the soldiers!” Sheska said, and she was taking a step forward by this time. Susan’s hands were still on her shoulders. “It’s not the soldiers, it’s the monsters!”

“Monsters?” Susan said, confused. “Sheska, what are you talking about?”

“There’s monsters out there,” Sheska said, her voice dropping. “I—I was on my way back to tell you what I heard was going on. But I ran across some of them in the basement. Like… skinny white men, with one large eyeball and huge mouths. And—Oh my g… I, I can’t…They… they were eating someone! I saw the uniform!” She was starting tear up as she retold her story. “Then they saw me, and they chased me, and I thought I was going to die! They were going to eat me too! I would have died, been eaten, if I hadn’t run into the Briggs soldiers! They saved me!”

Her face was in her hands by this time, as the horror of what she had seen started to catch up with her. There was a moment of silence from the other women in the room, and then Sheska felt a hand slide across her shoulders and give her a squeeze.

“Okay,” Susan said. “We won’t go out. There’s a room further back, with a radio. Maybe we can make it work and maybe we can get some information.”

Rachel was handing her a tissue, and smiling at her. “Hey, it’s alright. We’ll just go back there and see what we can pick up.”

Sheska nodded, taking the tissue and following Susan to the back room even as Rachel locked the door to records. She was still crying, trying to get a hold of herself. It wasn’t easy, though. Susan sat her down and started working with the radio, an old thing that had been wired into the building’s system so that some reception could be gotten down there. Rachel came a moment later with some water for Sheska from the small supply they kept here. They didn’t close the door to the small room, but Sheska did feel a bit safer back there, even if she was still jumpy.

“Well, I’ve not gotten anything internally yet, but I did manage to pick up Radio Capital,” Susan said after a few minutes.

Rachel snorted. “That figures. There’s never anything good on there.”

Susan’s face, though told another story, and she quickly removed the headphones she had been using and flipped a few switches. “You’ve got to hear this.”

“—I don’t even know if my husband is alive!”

“Is—is that Mrs. Bradley?” Rachel asked.

Sheska was staring at the radio. “It is! I’ve heard her before. That’s Mrs. Bradley!”

“If anyone is just tuning in, we have Mrs. Bradley in studio with us. She was rescued early this morning by Colonel Mustang, who pre-emptively anticipated the coop initiated by several of the top generals. At the moment, we have little specific information, but we do know that Briggs troops are involved somehow, and that the Fuhrer’s train was attacked. There has been no word on Fuhrer Bradley or his son Selim.”

“Oh my—is this for real?” Rachel said staring at the radio.

“It—It matches what I heard,” Sheska said.

Susan and Rachel’s heads turned sharply towards her and she started. “Well—when I was trying to deliver those records, um, I was hearing people talk. Th-they said that Colonel Mustang had kidnapped the Fuhrer’s wife and that he was fighting against Central soldiers. They also said that General Armstrong had killed a couple of generals. But that’s all I know.”

“Oh, whoa…” Susan breathed out. “This—this is legit. This is really happening.”

“We need to figure out what to do,” Rachel said. “We need to—“

“Hush!” Sheska said suddenly, leaning in to hear the radio.

“—Justice, we are prepared to give our lives to stop these evil men from corrupting our great nation.”

Sheska’s eyes widened and she sucked in a breath.

“Sheska?” Susan asked.

“It’s Maria Ross,” she said.

Rachel and Susan both stared at her. “What? Maria Ross was killed by Colonel Mustang; it was in the papers.”

“I know!” Sheska said. “But I know her voice! That’s Maria Ross!”

Susan shook her head. “How can that be? There’s no way—“

She was cut off by a sudden banging on the door to the records offices, and all three women jumped, tense. Rachel’s hand went towards her hip, where she had armed herself, just in case.

“Hey! Let us in! Please! We’ve got injured and we need to hide! Let us in!”

For half a second longer, the women exchanged a look again, until they heard the pounding on the door repeat. Rachel hurried out towards the door, Susan following after. Sheska, flustered for a moment and then followed as well. What if those monsters were on the others side? What if they got in? Fear flooded her, but she couldn’t let her friends be hurt. She rushed up to the door too, trying to stop Rachel from opening it, or at least to warn her to be careful. But she got there just as Rachel opened it, and she nearly stumbled out of it.

The one who was banging on the door stood back from it, his gun firing at something down the hall way. Two soldiers stumbled in, one supporting the other. The one who was shooting was yelling at someone else to “Get in! Get it!” Sheska looked around the door, trying to see who else was coming. There was a soldier further down, he was firing at something as well. As Sheska watched, though, some of those white monsters jumped out at him, not being slowed by the bullets in the slightest. He screamed as they started biting into him, eating him alive, and Sheska felt the horror rise in her again. The other soldier nearest to Sheska cursed, and then shot again, killing the other soldier and diving inside the room. Sheska was frozen by the sight, and Rachel reached to draw her back in the room.

“Sheska get—oh my God.” Sheska could hear the horror in Rachel’s voice. “Sheska get inside now!” She yanked on Sheska, pulling her into the room and closing the door behind them, locking it again.

Sheska looked at the room, trying not to panic. Susan was kneeling on the ground with one of the soldiers, the one that had been supported inside was on the ground—bleeding freely from a leg that was no longer there.

“—Sheska! Sheska!”

Sheska’s head snapped over to Rachel.

“Help me move this bookcase! We need to block the door!”

“R-right!” She moved on shaking legs to help Rachel and the soldier who had been firing to move to block the door. They all moved one of the heavier bookcases in front of it, hearing the scratching and scraping of the monsters on the other side.

“Susan, can we move him?” Rachel was asking. Sheska felt like she was working a step behind everyone else. “We can get back to that room, hole up there until things are over.”

“It’ll be better than leaving him here, if whatever that is trying to get in, gets in,” Susan said. “Sheska, grab the supplies. Someone help me get him up and to the room.”

One of the soldiers worked his way under the arm of the wounded one. Sheska scooped up the supplies and followed, Rachel and the commanding soldier following behind. It was only as they got into the room that Sheska realized that Rachel and the commanding soldier weren’t with them. She could hear scraping and moving and their voices, but Susan grabbed her attention again.

“Sheska, help me with him—we need to make sure he doesn’t bleed out. Can you make a tourniquet?”

“Um—n-no. I was never taught how. I’ve read about it, but—“

“Okay, never mind. Just keep track of his pulse.”

“Um—okay? I can try.”

Susan didn’t even look up at her. “Just—let me know if his breathing changes, okay?”

“Okay.”

Sheska felt useless as she watched Susan and the soldier work, and as she heard Rachel and the other soldier barricade them in. She was never taught about things like this, or how to do first aid. Oh, she had certainly read about it, but she didn’t know how to do it. First aid, fighting, even firing a gun—she had never been taught how to do any of it! All she could do was read books!

Rachel and the commanding soldier came into the room, closing the door behind them. “We moved some things around, trying to make it harder for those things to get to us if they get in.” She went and knelt by Sheska, putting her hands on her shoulders. “Sheska—were those what you were talking about earlier?”

Sheska nodded, feeling tears in her eyes again. Rachel hugged her. “I understand why you were so scared, then.”

She smiled kindly at Sheska, then nudged her aside to help Susan with the injured soldier. For what felt like hours they stayed in that small room, listening to the reports from the radio, feeling the building shake and rattle. The injured soldier turned delirious in this, mistaking others for people he knew. Sheska spent a lot of time by his side, as he apparently thought she was his sister. She felt useless in general, but this, at least, was something that she could do.

“Callie? Callie don’t be scared, alright?” Sheska looked down at him as he spoke to her. “It’s all going to be alright, Callie. Don’t worry, your big brother is here. I’m going to protect you.”

Sheska bit her lip, and held his hand, squeezing it. “I—I know. But you need to rest, okay? There are others here to protect both of us. All you need to do is rest.”

“Callie… I’ve always been so proud of you.”

“Does… does something feel… wrong… to anyone else?”

Sheska looked up from her comforting of the soldier to look at Susan. She was sitting in front of the radio and had been scanning frequencies trying to find them the most information. But now she looked pale, uneasy, as if she was sure something bad was coming.

“Actually, yeah.” The commanding soldier hefted his gun, his fingers running over it. “Something has felt really off for a while, but it’s only gotten worse.”

Sheska wanted to ask them what they meant, but suddenly Rachel screamed. “What—what is that?!”

They all looked in the direction she was pointing where something black was rising from the ground. It was like a shadow, with a hand at the end and it waved in the air. Others were rising around them too, more of them, and the other soldier shot at one of them, but the bullet just passed through it.

“What is this?” Sheska asked, panicked. They were rising all around her too, and even though the bullet didn’t touch it, it felt like she could feel them. The injured soldier was calling Sheska by his sister’s name, trying to comfort her. And then—

It was like something was wrenching at her chest, trying to pull something integral loose. It twisted and pulled, yanked and it felt like it was tearing out of her. Her hands scrambled at her chest and throat, and she wanted to scream but she couldn’t. Terror filled her and it was like something snapped.

Suddenly she was drowning, drowning, drowning in a cacophony of terror and sadness, of a heart-wrenching heartbreak coupled with the terrifying knowledge that this was her existence now. It was painful, horribly painful, but almost in a way that was beyond the physical. Terror and grief consumed her, whirling together to make a pain that was absolutely indescribable. She was dimly aware of other screaming, dimly aware that she was screaming too, but she had no control. Only this swirling, terrifying, painful despair compromised her existence. It was more then she could bare, and yet there was no escape, not even into madness. There were no words for it, only sensation and pain.

She wasn’t sure how long she was in that swirling mass before something shifted and she felt like she was being yanked back like a rubber band and the pain was in her now. Suddenly she had a body again, and she was gasping for breath, coughing, trying to breathe. Her eyes were wet with tears and she looked around, seeing the others in similar conditions.

“What was that?” Susan managed to gasp out.

The commanding soldier shook his head. “I have no idea. I’m not sure I want to know.”

“Do… do ya think it was something that Briggs or Mustang cooked up?” the other soldier asked.

Sheska shook her head. “I think that was beyond anything they could have done. That was like… I don’t even know…”

Suddenly there was a rumble through the building, something that felt like it came from below them. The very foundations of the building felt like they were shaking, and they all ducked, Sheska instinctively shielding the wounded soldier. “Are you alright—“ she started to ask him, then stopped.

“What?” The commanding soldier asked her. “What is it?”

“I… I think he’s dead,” Sheska said.

Susan pushed her aside to look at him, and then nodded after a moment. “He was alive before we went through… whatever that was. Maybe the strain was too much on his body.”

The other soldier looked stricken. The commanding soldier looked away and cursed under his breath. Before anything else could be said, though, the building shook from below again, and they all did their best to duck.

“What’s going on?” Rachel asked.

“Is the building coming down?” Susan said.

“It feels like explosions,” the lead soldier said. “But I don’t know what from. This can’t be good.”

The shaking happened again, holding steady for a few moments. Books fell, the radio rattled, things could be heard crashing outside. It was almost like an earthquake, but there was the feeling of something else behind it. Another, sharp explosion could be felt and then, for a few moments, silence.

“Do... do you think its over?” Rachel said, hesitantly.

“I don’t know,” the commanding soldier said. “The room still seems sound, so I don’t think that we should move until we hear fr—“

It was as if the world had exploded. The whole room shook. Things could be heard falling and crashing. Sheska screamed, curling up to protect herself. She felt someone on top of her, protecting her too. Dust and debris rained down from the ceiling on them. The radio died and the lights went out. She had no idea what had happened, but all she could hope was that the building wasn’t about to come down on them. When the sudden shaking stopped, they all were still in the moments that followed, aside from coughing.

“Is everyone alright?” the commanding soldier asked as he lifted off of Sheska.

“Y-yes sir.”

“Yeah.”

“I think so.”

“Y-yes.”

“Alright, good.” Sheska could hear him moving around, as if he were making his way towards the door. “We might need to find our way out of here. It might not be safe right now.”

No, nothing seemed safe at the moment. White man-eating monsters out there, buildings falling on them in here, Sheska wasn’t sure that there was a safe place in all of Central Command. The commanding soldier called to the other soldier to help him with the door.

“Sheska? Susan? Are you two okay?” Rachel called out. Sheska could hear her shuffling their way.

“Yeah, just a little shook up,” Susan replied.

“Sheska?”

“Um—yeah? I guess so, I mean?”

She felt a hand on her and she jumped, but it was only Rachel. “Okay. Let’s just try to stick together for now, alright?”

“We’ve got the door, ladies!” the commanding soldier called out. “There’s some light out here. Wait until we’ve given you the all clear.”

“You’ve got it, sir!” Rachel called out.

With the little bit of light they were getting, Sheska could see a little bit. Both Rachel and Susan were covered in powder and dust, and the room was in shambles. The dead soldier was lying nearby, his face contorted in pain, and she looked away.

“Do you hear that?” Susan asked. They all stopped a listened. It sounded like explosions were still going on somewhere outside.

“Are they still fighting?” Rachel asked. “How long is this going to go on?”

Another explosion seemed to rock the area, and the three women ducked and huddled together, trying to protect themselves. It wasn’t the last explosion that they heard, although there were different kinds. There was no way to tell what was going on out there, and no way to tell if, when things fell silent, it was just a break or if things were over. None of the women were willing to risk going out until they knew, and so they stayed huddled together in the dark, with a dead man for company.

After what felt like hours, the two soldiers came back for them, looking a bit pale themselves. “You can come out now, ladies,” the commanding soldier said. “It’s all over.”

“What happened?” Rachel asked.

The commanding soldier shook his head even as the other soldier moved to the now dead soldier’s side, to get a better look at him. None of them looked back, giving her a moment of privacy with him.

“I’m… honestly not sure,” the commanding officer said. “But it’s over. There’s a truce between the Central and Briggs soldiers. They’re taking the injured to the hospitals, and trying to take stock of the damage. It’s…” he shook his head. “The damage is indescribable. It’s probably best that you ladies come on out. It probably best that we all get out.”

All the women nodded, getting up and leaving the room behind. The soldiers helped Sheska, Rachel, and Susan out, helping them step over fallen shelves and files and books. For once Sheska wasn’t as concerned about the books as she was about just getting out of there. The soldiers helped to lead them all out and into the open, giving them instructions on where to go from here. But Sheska didn’t hear them. She was too busy looking around in amazement and horror at the scene around them. She started moving, not quite walking, not quite staggering, looking at all the damage and all the bodies around her. She couldn’t stop looking at all, moving forward bit by bit until she couldn’t take it anymore and her legs gave out, leaving her sitting here on the steps.

~*~*~

“Sheska?”

The voice brought her out of her reverie. She could hear cries of celebration, cries of grief, orders being shouted and questions being asked. But that voice seemed to cut through it all—the voice of a friend she hadn’t seen in a while.

Her head jerked up to see Kain Fuery standing there, his look of concern changing into a smile for her. She stared at him, and all of the emotions of what happened suddenly hit her all at once. She started shaking, and suddenly she was crying. She heard his footsteps hurry over, saw his concerned expression as he knelt in front of her. His hands went to her shoulders, gentle, kind.

“Hey—you’re not hurt, are you?”

There was so much concern in his voice, that Sheska couldn’t help herself. She threw her arms around him, holding onto him and crying. There was only a moment’s surprise before she felt warm arms coming around her, to hold her as well. There was a subtle shift as he sat beside her, pulling her closer.

“It’s okay,” he said softly. “It’s all over now. It’s alright, Sheska.”

She nodded, and, after a few minutes, slowly pulled herself back, gathering herself together. “I’m sorry,” she said. “It was just—it was a lot.”

“It’s alright,” he replied with a smile.

Sheska sniffed a little. “…Are you alright?” she asked him, realizing that she hadn’t taken the time to see if he was alright. He was part of Mustang’s team. Between whatever he went through in the south and then today, there was a good chance that he wasn’t okay.

Fuery nodded. “Yeah, I’m alright. Better than I’ve been in a long time.” He leaned back and closed his eyes. Sheska didn’t say anything, just letting the moment envelop them. “…I wonder if we’ll get paid overtime for today.”

Sheska let out a watery laugh, and leaned against him. “I don’t know,” she said. “I’m glad you’re back, though. And that you’re alright.” Part of her wanted to start crying again, but instead she laid her hand on his and squeezed it. The human contact was needed, and she decided to take it. He didn’t seem to mind, anyway, as he held her hand back.

“It’s good to be home again,” he said, and Sheska nodded.

But she looked around and “home” was in shambles, in pieces, around them. Part of the Central Command was gone, the generals in charge of things had betrayed them, the Fuhrer was dead, and there were so many injured and killed. It was overwhelming.

“What do we do now?” she asked in a quiet voice.

For a long moment, he said nothing, and the air was thick with what could be said. But then he just looked at her and smiled. “I think I’m going to take a shower,” he said. “I’ve never been covered in so much dust!”

“At least your coat is supposed to be white,” she said, giving him her own smile back. “I think the dust has changed my hair color. I need to get a brush after it, at least.”

“Guess I’ll have a lot of laundry to do,” Fuery smiled at her, and stood up, brushing off his pants as he did. “Brigadier General Hughes would probably tell you to take the rest of the day off, because there’s going to be a lot of work to do. You might as well rest while you can.” He offered her a hand, to help her up.

She took it, and stood, brushing her own skirt off. “…Maybe I will,” she said. She thought of the soldier who thought she was his sister. “Maybe I’ll go see my mother, check on her after I clean up.”

Fuery nodded. “I’m going to clean up and then go by the hospital to check on a few people. There were a lot of injuries.”

“Oh! Then don’t let me hold you up,” Sheska said, not wanting to keep him from injured friends. She had to wonder how the rest of Mustang’s men had faired. She hoped that they were all alright.

“You’ll be okay?” He asked her, one last time, and Sheska nodded.

“Yes. I’ll be alright,” she said, and it felt true.

“Alright then. I’ll see you later, Sheska!” He gave her a wave and turned to run off.

“Hey!” it was a split-second decision, but he turned at her call anyway. “If you need one, there’s a laundromat near my apartment!”

“Thanks!” he said back and then, with another wave, he turned to leave.

Sheska stood there, on the steps of a broken, damaged building with the dead around her, and the sounds of the clean up after a battle ringing in her ears. This had been the most harrowing and terrifying day in her life, but was over. She was going to see her mom, probably cry on her, and then? Then she had no idea what would happen. But she would take it one day at a time. If she survived this, then she could keep going.

~*~

#fma fanfiction #fma fanfic #Sheska #FMA Sheska #fma fan fiction #fma fan fic #sheska fan fiction #fma sheska fan fiction #Sheska fan fic #fma sheska fan fic #sheska fanfiction #fma sheska fanfiction #sheska fanfic #fma sheska fanfic #writing #my writing

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restlessmaknae · 6 years ago

Text

that summer when love comes

Sungjin is assigned to be the team leader of the most mischievous kids (the so-called Stray Kids) at the annual summer camp, but he soon founds out that this year will be different from the others for a different reason.

♦ Pairing: team leader!Sungjin x team leader!OC

♦ Supporting characters: the rest of DAY6, Stray Kids and many more idol cameos

♦ Genre: comedy + fluff + no angst

♦ Words: 9.7k

♦ A/N: The ages of the supporting characters are different from their real ones. Apart from DAY6, you have to deduct 4 years from the others’ ages aka Bang Chan is 17 and Jeongin is 13. *-*

Sungjin knew that the summer camp would be difficult with almost 50 students, but he would have never thought that it would be this difficult.

He was always said to be a leader type, someone who can take responsibility for both his and his team’s actions, someone who’s always punctual and reliable and has the ability to make others listen to him. That's exactly why he was assigned to be the leader of the most mischievous kids in the 8th and 9th cabin whom everyone called the Stray Kids because they were always all over the place, messing around and pulling pranks on each other.

“Jeongin, please don't put glue on Jisung's head while he's sleeping! It's really difficult to get it off him when he wakes up.”

“I've told you, Felix, that we don't have a girl group dance cover battle this year. Wonpil decided not to renew the tradition because of the ridiculous costumes some elder students put on last year and because the girls got offended.”

“Hyunjin, I know it's hard to resist, but I kindly ask you not to steal Seungmin's clothes because your own clothes will end up in the lake just like they did last year.”

These and other similar sentences left his mouth from the moment he entered the little camp site where the wooden houses were like dots on a green canvas. The scenery was beautiful as always with overgrowing trees sheltering the area, the pleasantly cold lake offering the chance for a quick and refreshing swim, and a huge forest with multiple little animals and flowers in all colours of the rainbow. If anything, this was really the perfect venue for such an event.

No matter what, Sungjin was certain that he could handle the kids, he wasn't chosen the best team leader three years in a row for nothing. Though last year Wonpil snatched his place because the girls loved him so much that they kindly asked the organizers (aka the organizing committee who consisted of the four team leaders and Jae) to let him get the trophy just this once and seeing their cute aegyos, the guys didn't have a heart to protest.

The organizers were best friends anyway, the five of them have been a part of the summer camps ever since Jae’s uncle – Mr Park Jinyoung – was chosen as the headmaster of the high school they once went to, so helping the so-called JYP’s students out became the most exciting and adventure-filled two weeks of their summer holidays. No matter how naughty the kids were, at least they had some fun and had some pocket money for the rest of their break. Not to mention that they were still kids at heart, so taking care of children wasn't that difficult of a task for most of them.

Though Wonpil and Dowoon were usually shy when it came to youngsters, they eventually got used to their roles, and always got along well with their teams after some initial mishaps. Wonpil was with the girls from the very start as he was the most gentle and caring, plus he seemed the least likely to hurt the girls' feelings with unnecessary teasing and stupid games. Needless to say, the girls were always head over for him. Dowoon was usually the one who got the calmest, quietest group of children, this year his team consisted of Xiaojun, Hendery, Yangyang, Jaemin, Renjun, Jeno, Dino and Vernon.

“They are really nice kids, I swear. Maybe one of the chillest ones I’ve ever had,” the youngest team leader boasted with his huge, trademark grin, giving the others a thumbs-up.

Jae almost laughed straight into his face, clearly unconvinced by the truth behind Dowoon's words.

“Oh, I think they just need the right team leader to bring out the worst in them,” Jae retorted smugly, ever so proud of the fact that he didn't need to lead a team as he was the one who organized the group activities. He would have probably lost a kid or two if he was chosen to as a team leader. If not more, really.

“The girls are lovely as always,” Wonpil admitted coyly, a blush creeping onto his face. Young K couldn't stop teasing him about his teams, they really had a soft spot in his heart, small wonder he immediately cooed at Wonpil’s words. “Chaeyoung had made me a flower crown and Tzuyu invited me to bake with them tonight,” he announced proudly, his toothy smile showing.

Jae and Young K exchanged a look while Sungjin rolled his eyes.

“My boys have overheard it, and they were about to ruin your little baking, but I managed to convince them to come fishing with me instead,” Sungjin said, and the ever so innocent Wonpil was so dumbfounded, he looked like a little puppy who just got lost.

“Fishing? Are you kidding me?” Jae chortled. “That's the most Sungjin thing ever. Indeed our reliable Busan guy,” he joked as he patted the said leader's shoulder who didn't even bat an eye as he was already used to his friend's antics. He merely rolled his eyes, knowing all too well that Jae would be talking his ass off instead of doing anything for his team if he was given the role of a team leader, so he was sassy only until he didn’t have to control 8 to 12 kids all day long for two whole weeks.

“But don't forget about the karaoke night today. We'll start at 7 sharply, and we won't accept late registrations like last year,” Young K hinted as he glanced at Jae who didn't let the words affect him. He merely shrugged his shoulders.

“Kevin's team was the one who came in first place anyway. It would been a shame not to let them join us,” he pointed out, arms raised in defeat. Young K couldn't help but let out a laugh. What were rules anyway to Mr Park Jaehyung?

Sungjin shook his head with a knowing smile on his face, then he cleared his throat to regain everyone's attention.

“Alright, let's end this meeting here if no one wants to say more!” He suggested firmly, looking for any kind of disapproval in the other's eyes. He liked to have quick meetings to gather everyone and see how they were doing with the youngsters, but he didn’t like when the meetings got dragged on without anything useful to be said. They knew about the activities that were held for all of the other teams and not just their own, so there was no need to emphasise who would organize what.

“Moonbin wants to know what's for lunch today,” Young K butted in, everyone smiling at his request. The so-called Bro Brian had a really versatile group from cool kids like Chani, Hwiyoung and Taeyang, playful kids like Q, Kevin and Hwall, and sometimes whiny but very very lovable kids like Moonbin, Rocky and Sanha.

The others looked at Sungjin for an answer as everyone knew that he was the one who could have known such things. He wasn't just a team leader, he was also the so-called info man because no matter what you asked, he knew the answer to it or at least he was willing to find it out.

That’s why no one was surprised when he knew the options as if he was reading them from the menu.

“Lasagna with a banana and apple juice, or noodles with veggies and tofu, plus an apple and banana milk on the side.”

“Gluten-free?” Jae teased, a smirk evident on his face.

“Yes, both the lasagne and the noodles.” Sungjin nodded seriously, and Jae couldn’t have been more amused by him. “The banana milk is made from coconut milk, so it’s naturally lactose-free and vegan,” Sungjin announced and Young K clapped his hands like he was clapping for the president itself.

Frankly, the camp’s chefs had a hard time considering all the allergens and nutritional preferences of children, so they’ve tried their best to satisfy everyone’s needs. JYP had paid a generous amount of money for the camp anyway because the students who were there were talented and intelligent students in at least one field of life, so the two-week long camping was actually the reward for their hard work. That’s why the chefs could actually afford to make two dishes every day and offer some fresh fruit or vegetables on the side. Knowing that Sungjin liked his stomach almost as much as he liked his own group, he inquired about the daily menus first thing in the morning.

“Very nice, Sungjin, very nice!” Young K patted Sungjin's shoulder teasingly, then rose from his seat to start planning his afternoon with his own team.

“We’re going BBQ-ing anyway,” he announced before he finally left the scene and let poor Sungjin fume inside. Why would it matter what would be lunch if they were eating on their own anyway? Though Moonbin could eat a lot, so it wouldn’t have come as a surprise if he had lunch at the canteen and then one with his team at the BBQ. Who knows?

“Plus, tomorrow there’s the afternoon trip to the nearby look-out tower, don’t forget that!” Jae reminded them loudly, so that everyone could hear it. It’s not like the team leaders didn’t talk about the group activities, it was more like they forgot to bring their kids to a certain place and instead they organized programmes for their own teams.

Sungjin sat by the lake with the kids by his side, letting out a long, long sigh in disbelief. He was already worn out even if they had just started.

Jeongin had almost poked his own eyes out with the fishing rod, Jisung had almost fell into the lake when he was chasing after Seungmin and was chased by Hyunjin while Bang Chan and Changbin were sulking like emo kids at a unicorn-themed birthday party, Woojin was daydreaming about chicken and fussing why they didn’t have a barbecue like Young K’s team, Felix was dancing to Gashina and Minho was flirting with the girls from the camp which was on the other side of the lake, flexing his muscles and showing off his award-winning smile.

After all the mess in the beginning, finally everyone was quiet, and the most enthusiastic kids even tried fishing as much as they could while the ones who were too immersed in their self-sorrow or their flirting didn’t make any mess anyway, so why bother reprimanding them? As long as no one hurt themselves or others in the process (last year, Changbin had broken a leg when Jeongin pushed him down the stairs to test if he was going to miraculously save himself from the fall or fall down for real… needless to say, what happened was the latter), it was okay. On Sungjin’s part, it was.

Six girls from the camp on the other side of the lake came to see Minho for themselves, cheering and gasping when they saw the boy in person. Even though the girls from school were pretty much neutral towards Minho (and Sungjin had no idea if it was because they didn’t care or because they had already dated him and he had dumped them all, could be both honestly), he seemed to be pretty popular amongst the other girls. At least, it was their third day at the camp, and the other camps’ females were already head over heels for him, so Sungjin could draw such a conclusion.

The team leader of the Stray Kids looked at the scene in front of his eyes, wandering why he had never been lucky with the ladies. He had some girlfriends, some really nice and lovely girls, and he had his fair share of blind dates thanks to his friends, especially Jae, who always felt the need to set him up with someone. On the other hand, there was the sixteen-year-old Minho and a smile of his was enough to attract six girls’ attention.

“Girls, I’ve told you not to go away from the team!” A firm female voice called out, showing up beside the said girls, hands on her hips, eyebrows furrowed in frustration.

She had long, jet-black hair that fell over her shoulders like a waterfall, cheeks tinted in pink from both the summer heat and the intensity of the situation and beautiful, almond-shaped, star-filled eyes. Eyes that held stars that were waiting to shine, to light up the sky and to die out as the most beautiful ones he had ever seen. Her features were defined, feminine and rounded in just the right places, and she radiated confidence that swept him off his feet. She wore the same uniform as the young girls beside her, except the fact that hers said ‘Mom Mirae’, indicating that she was (probably) like their mother figure. She was a bit shorter than Minho, yet the vibe she gave off made even the flirty boy shut up on the spot, waiting for further instructions.

“Why is it so bad that we wanted to talk to him? Just talk to him?” One of the girls whose team shirt said Yuqi whined just like a child who didn’t get to lay her hands on the dessert she had wanted.

“Not on my watch, young lady, not on my watch,” Mirae warned her, shaking her head in disbelief. Then, her features became even more solemn and she looked the girls straight into their eyes, one after another. “You’re only teenagers, you have your whole life to talk to boys!”

“Sure, then we’ll end up single like you,” a shorter girl (Soyeon according to her shirt) snorted, giving Mirae a disgusted look.

The team leader acted like she was immensely hurt when it could be seen that she was merely dancing around the edges of her patience.

“You can talk to him when we’ll have the trip to the watch-out tower tomorrow,” she explained after letting out a sigh. Then, the events took an unexpected turn, and Mirae caught sight of Sungjin watching the scene and turned to him with her whole body. “You are going there tomorrow, right?” she inquired as she raised her voice to be heard properly, tilting her head while she was waiting for his response.

Sungjin was so shocked to get caught staring that he opened and closed his mouth like a fish while he was trying to gather what was left of his pride. After a few more seconds, he finally regained his senses; he shook his head and cleared his throat.

“Yes, we’re going there too.” He nodded still dumbfounded, but he didn’t even have the chance to ask how the girls’ team leader could know about the other camp’s plans because the group of girls were already leaving the scene, reassured that they would have the chance to meet Minho the next day, too.

Sungjin watched Mirae’s fading silhouette, his brain still not catching up with the events. He knew she knew that he must have been with the boys because no other man could accompany the kids, and he was apparently the eldest. Yet, he was still surprised that she talked to him without hesitation and without even a hint of anxiety. She was born to be a leader, that was for sure.

“Our hyung is totally whipped,” Jisung cooed gleefully when Sungjin finally looked back at the boys to see if anyone had been doing something wrong.

Even before he had the chance to protest, Jeongin was about to run after the fishing rod which got a catch and poor boy nearly fell into the lake because the fish was so adamant and so heavy. Sungjin saved him in the last minute, and instead of saying thanks, Jeongin started crying that he had missed his best catch because of their team leader.

Oh really, Sungjin started to realize that this year was definitely different from the ones before. Not just because of the mischievous kids he was assigned to look over but also because of the girls from the other camp and their confident team leader.

Sungjin was definitely looking forward to the trip to the watch-out tower, not because of anything in particular… he was just excited. He felt a bubbly feeling in his stomach, and it was so strange, so stupid to wait for the time when he could see her again. He didn’t even know her, he didn’t even know if she would want him to know her. He only knew her name because of her shirt, nothing else. What if she didn’t even want to talk to him?

“You alright, Bob?” Jae nudged the guy’s shoulder to get his attention.

Sungjin casted him a deadly glare when the blondie called him by the nickname he had given him. He really didn’t see the resemblance between the said figure and himself but oh well… Jae always saw the world differently.

“Sure.” He nodded, looking like he wasn’t distracted by the thought of a certain someone. “You sure you have the map and everything?” Sungjin asked just in case Jae didn’t prepare well enough for the trip even if it was his time to shine. The team leaders could organize activities for their teams individually, but Jae was the one who organised the activities for all of them. Some of them went pretty well but for example, last year, they did a trip to a nearby folk village and Jae ended up directing them in the opposite direction, so they ended up at a graveyard instead. Needless to say, Renjun passed out on the spot.

“Of course.” Jae shrugged his shoulders. “It’s not like it’s so far away. We can’t even get lost on our way there,” he explained ever so casually while Sungjin rolled his eyes.

“That’s exactly what you said before we walked 20 miles instead of 10, right?”

“That was a one-time thing!” Jae exclaimed, putting a hand over his heart like he was so hurt by his accusation.

“It happened twice,” Sungjin corrected him, giggling when his friend couldn’t bring up anything to deny the facts. Truth to be told, Jae was so much better at talking about plans and whatnot than actually making it a reality, that’s why half of his activities turned out to be failures. Though until the other half turned out to be a success, JYP didn’t really mind. At least, the kids could always tell their parents such amusing stories.

“Alright, is everyone here?” Jae clapped his hands together to get everyone’s attention, and when the kids calmed down a bit, he started counting who was there, and was surprised to find out that one child was missing. Later, he was informed that Moonbin had eaten too much BBQ chicken the day before, so he needed to stay at the camp with the nurse who would take care of him for the day.

After gathering together and making sure that everyone had enough food and drinks for the one-day trip, the group headed out. Sungjin was taking care of all the 9 kids he had, walking beside them to make sure that he could watch every single one of them while they were walking. Apart from the fact that Jeongin couldn’t stop pulling Seungmin’s hair, Woojin couldn’t stop whining about the BBQ chicken of Young K’s team and Felix was singing Chungha’s Why Don’t You Know on the top of his lungs repeatedly, everything went smoothly.

Though he had to admit that he was extremely puzzled when Minho came up to him to ask a question.

“Have you ever been in love?”

The straightforward question took the team leader by surprise because he would have imagined anyone else to ask the question but Minho himself. Yet, Sungjin knew that there was nothing he needed to hide about his love life, especially when a younger one was curious about it. Sungjin was also really curious when he was younger, he didn’t know what it felt like to be in love and be loved by someone other than your friends and your family, so of course Minho wanted to know the same.

Sungjin cleared his throat before he gave him an answer.

“Yes, a few times.” He nodded, thinking back to all the girlfriends he ever had. It’s not like he was so heart-broken that none of his relationships worked out in the end, yet when you are in love, you never think about the end, and that’s what makes the pain ever worse.

“What’s it like? I mean being in love?” Minho inquired with wide eyes, and even Jisung turned his head in their direction upon hearing the question.

“Well…” Sungjin chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. How could he explain it? There was really no right word for it, everyone had to experience it to know it for themselves. Plus, he was pretty sure being in love meant different for everyone, and everyone acted differently when they were in a relationship. “You want to see the other one more and more, you want to get to know every little thing about them, whatever they do make you smile, you start remembering something you’ve done together multiple times a day and at very random moments, and suddenly you find yourself thinking about them all the time,” Sungjin concluded dreamily, earning a few snorts from the younger ones.

“Eww, gross…” Seungmin snickered, making a disgusted face.

“You’ll know when you feel it,” Sungjin continued nonchalantly, not caring about the others’ disapproving glances or eye-rolls. It was no surprise that 13 to 17-year-old kids didn’t feel like falling in love or wanting to experience the feeling. He had his first girlfriend when he was 18 years old, and he didn’t want to fall in love either. It just happened, it’s not something you can be prepared for or you can prevent.

“Thanks, Sungjin,” Minho said thankfully, patting the other guy’s shoulder. Sungjin really didn’t know why he was so grateful as he didn’t do anything extraordinary, he merely told him how he felt.

Luckily, the rest of the walking didn’t include any love-related talk, so the team leader didn’t need to feel uncharacteristically uncomfortable around the kids. They busied themselves and started playing all kinds of games anyway, so he didn’t need to interfere to calm them down or to stop them when something was getting wild. They were acting like chill kids for the first time during the first three days of the camp, and he couldn’t have been more glad.

Time went by fast since he didn’t need to supervise them so intensely, and by the time his thoughts could go back to Mirae, they were already at the watch-out tower and settled down to have a picnic. Much to Sungjin’s dismay, the girls weren’t there, neither was their team leader.

The youngsters were busy munching on their sandwiches and cookies they had gotten from Wonpil’s team, they didn’t even notice that Sungjin’s attention was completely elsewhere and not on the kids, especially when the other camp arrived at the resting area in front of the watch-out tower. Maybe he really started hallucinating things, but he could have sworn that Mirae’s eyes found his for a second, for only a tiny bit of a fraction, yet it was enough for him to completely get his hopes up. He couldn’t even tear his gaze away for the rest of the lunch, his eyes were only on the girl and her team. Though he caught sight of other groups and their team leaders too, but he was too mesmerized by the way she firmly yet caringly took care of the girls that he couldn’t concentrate on anything else.

The six girls were chattering casually, eating their little lunches while they glanced in the boys’ direction, especially Minho’s who waved back at them, earning a few excited squeals and giggles from the others. That’s when Mirae and Sungjin finally exchanged a glance, and when they did, their lips curled upwards at the same time, and they soon broke into little fists of laugher.

Sungjin turned to Minho.

“Go, talk to them! You have 15 minutes,” he told the young boy who was so taken aback that he didn’t even know what to do for the next few seconds. However, after that, it was no turning back, he jumped up and ran to the girls, sitting in the middle of the circle they had created for him.

Mirae found this moment to excuse herself and leave the scene, walking further from the lovestruck group. When she was getting closer and closer to Sungjin, the team leader got more and more nervous. What was he about to say? Was she really going to come and talk to him? Would she even remember him?

Though all his questions were answered the moment the confident female showed up beside him and pointed at the blank spot on the blanket beside him.

“Can I join?” she inquired casually to which Sungjin could only nod fervently. She hopped down beside him in the next second, her eyes darting between the face of his and the kids he was looking over.

“Are you the team leader of eight boys?” she asked in awe, her lips parted in disbelief. Well, since they didn’t have a lot of volunteers, all of their team leaders had at least nine children on their watch, so it was no surprise that he had to take care of such a large number of youngsters. On the other hand, Mirae’s question was very much reasonable considering that their camp didn’t seem to be short on volunteers. There were at least 6 team leaders apart from her.

“Nine with Minho,” Sungjin corrected her with a soft giggle, earning a same reaction from her.

“Wow, that must be difficult!”

“Oh, it’s really not that bad!” He shrugged, and even though it would have looked like he was just trying to show off, it wasn’t about anything like that. He merely got used to the silly and childish behaviours since he was a part of the organizing committee for the sixth year already. After a while, people get the hang of it and nothing seems too extreme.

“I’m Mirae, by the way,” she introduced herself with a soft smile, one that was like a breeze of the gentle spring wind after only seeing her cold demeanour. She may have looked rigid and strict when she was with the girls, but maybe they needed this amount of strictness to behave well. After all, Sungjin knew all too well that you have to use different methods with different children.

I know, he wanted to say, but he bit down on his tongue before he could say anything that indicated that he was stalking her. To be precise, he was examining her from head to toe the last time they met, and that’s how he took notice of the name on her shirt.

“I’m Sungjin.” He bobbed his head with an equally friendly smile, reaching his hand out and Mirae immediately shook hands with him; quickly and gently. When they both backed away a bit, a moment of silence fell upon the two of them, yet Sungjin had been meaning to ask her a question even the day before, so he didn’t want to dismiss it this time. “How did you know that we would come here today, too?”

Mirae let out a chuckle when she heard his question. Her chuckle was like a flower that was in bloom: beautiful, elegant and thriving. Sungjin knew he could listen to it without getting sick of it, without getting sick of the sight that accompanied the pleasant sound.

“We know about your schedules because we don’t want to interfere with your activities too much. We never know if our kids would get along well with yours, and we really don’t want to hear complaints that the children had to spend time with the kids from other camp just because we couldn’t take care of it,” Mirae explained thoroughly, her eyes shining with fondness.

“Honestly, we don’t know anything about your schedules,” Sungjin admitted nervously, wondering why JYP had never contacted them about the other camp’s activities. Maybe he really didn’t pay as much attention to the issue as Mirae’s superiors. Maybe they couldn’t even call it an issue since kids were bound to get along after a while, so why would have it mattered anyway?

“Until one of us knows, it’s okay,” the female voiced out reasonably, making Sungjin let out a genuine smile. He could already see why she was a team leader, she was not only confident and smart, but she could also make the younger ones listen to her. Even Young K, Wonpil and Dowoon were all different kind of leaders when it came to the kids in the camp, so it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that Mirae was also totally unique.

“And will we have another event together?” Sungjin asked smoothly, secretly curious if he could see her again.

“Well, our encounter yesterday wasn’t even planned, so I think only time will tell.” She shrugged her shoulders, not even giving a proper answer to his question, but maybe she was just as smooth as Sungjin himself, and she knew exactly when and where they would meet up again.

“Alright, then don’t tell me classified information,” Sungjin joked, acting like he was so sulky, and the girl smacked him in the chest.

“You are almost as nosy as the girls.”

“I’ve just wanted to know if your girls will steal our Minho again,” he teased with a wide grin, pointing at the guy who was laughing freely with the six girls around him. He seemed to have fun with them, and even though his team leader knew that he couldn’t have fallen in love with all of the six girls, at least he had made some new friends too.

“If you are that curious, I can reassure you that we’ll steal your Minho only twice in the future,” Mirae responded with a cheeky smile.

Sungjin was aware of the fact that they could still meet more than twice (just like yesterday which was indeed unplanned), but it seemed unfair that they were so close, yet they didn’t frequently bump into each other. At least, it seemed unfair to him considering that he wanted to see her more.

“Alright, alright, that’s not too bad,” Sungjin concluded with an unfathomable facial expression, and may it be leader instinct or the fact that he didn’t check on the boys for a while, but he looked at the youngsters just in time to see when Changbin almost choked on some rucola.

“Oh gosh, Changbin, are you okay?” He ran to the boy to hit his back a few times, helping the boy to cough some more. The dark-haired kid merely nodded but he couldn’t talk for the time being because he was still caught up in the aftermath of his actions.

“Y-yeah, sure,” he managed the words out after he was over the worst part of his coughing and held onto Sungjin’s shoulder until he became himself again.

“Drink some water to help your insides going!” Sungjin suggested gently as he went back to his own water bottle to give it to the poor boy who received it thankfully. Maybe that was the first time Sungjin could earn a thankful smile from the usually closed off guy, and the fact that he could achieve something like this warmed his heart a bit. Of course, he wouldn’t have admitted it for the world, yet he was extremely thankful that he could be there for him, and he didn’t dismiss his help. For moments like this, everything that he had to endure during those two weeks was worth it.

“Thanks,” Changbin said as he let go of Sungjin’s shoulder and let out the last cough of his. When the team leader made sure that he was really okay, he retreated back to Mirae, and sat down with a sigh.

“Is he okay?” the girl inquired though she was probably not as worried as she had been if Sungjin hadn’t taken care of the boy.

“Yeah, sure.”

“You are really good with kids,” Mirae complimented casually, and it wasn’t the first time he had heard the exact same words, but it was definitely the first he felt uncharacteristically nervous because of such a compliment. Hearing it from someone like her did mean a lot to him.

“Oh well, I’m just trying my best,” he remarked gently, thinking of all the times he had managed to assist the children and prevent any mishaps. Needless to say, mishaps were likely to occur, and even if he had been their father, he couldn’t have saved them from some bruises and falls, but until everyone was happy and in one piece, it was okay. Kids recovered quickly, both from injuries and bad memories, so he wasn’t as worried about them as he had been when he first started out as a team leader.

“Alright, everyone, let’s go up that watch-out tower!” Jae announced with a clap of his hands, and Sungjin could have strangled him in that moment for ruining his moment.

“I’ll go back to my girls then,” Mirae said with a bitter smile and stood up to brush the dust off her jeans.

“Sure, see you soon then!” Sungjin waved in her direction, not knowing what else to do because he couldn’t have made her stay.

“Sooner than you think.” She winked and before he could ask what she meant by that, she was already out of his reach, taking care of her own team.

“I’m pretty sure that he’s really whipped now,” Jisung muttered under his breath, but of course Sungjin could still hear it. When he looked at the kid who was smirking from ear to ear, he wished he could swipe that smirk off his face, yet he was right after all. He was really whipped for Mirae, and they didn’t even speak a lot. What was in the air, really?

The two exchanged a few glances here and there in the next hour while they were going up and down the watch-out tower with different groups and started wrapping up their picnic in the resting area. For some odd reason, Felix couldn’t stop singing High School Musical songs the whole time, and when the high notes part came, and his voice resembled a pan that fell onto the ground, Bang Chan covered the younger’s boy mouth to shut him up but it was no use since the moment he removed his hand, he went back to Something New anyway. Sungjin shook his head at the boy’s antics, yet he couldn’t stop smiling while they were walking back to their base.

He really hoped that Mirae was right and that they would meet sooner than he would have assumed.

Two days passed and still no sign of Mirae or the kids from the other camp. As they were situated on the completely opposite sides of the lake, and for safety reasons, even those cabins were pretty far from the lake, there was no chance of them even interacting if they didn't go near the lake.

During those two days, they had a games' night when the different teams were competing against each other in almost every possible game including football, cheerleading, arm wrestling, mini archery, IQ quizzes, roleplays from famous kdramas and Activity. Then, the next day, they had a bake-off between the different cabins, and needless to say, it turned out to be a literal mess. Considering that even Sungjin's team was in two different cabins, he didn't know where to help out, and some kids looked like they had never set foot in the kitchen. Hyunjin almost turned on the mixer when Jisung's hand was still in the dough, Seungmin poured too much milk into the mixture and was surprised when it turned out odd while Woojin still couldn't let go of the BBQ idea. Bang Chan and Minho were the ones who tried their best to keep their cabins together, plus they knew a thing or two about baking, so they could save their teams from complete failure.

Young K's team was, on the other hand, a complete mess, and since the guy himself liked eating more than making food for himself, he nodded to every idea the kids had, and that's how even the two cabins had completely different cookies from the very same ingredients. Moonbin, Sanha, Rocky, Chani and Hwiyoung ended up making vanilla-raspberry muffins with star and heart shaped food decoration and even though the dough stuck to the baking paper, it was at least edible. Q, Hwall, Kevin and Taeyang made a chocolate-raspberry dough and put it on the tray with all kinds of edible decoration and called it a cake. It was a bit too sugary and a bit too artificial because of the amount of artificial colouring they put into the mixture, but the taste wasn’t so bad.

Wonpil's cabins were the best as always as the girls were really good at cooking and baking too. Even those who were not so interested in baking took part in the making, melting Wonpil's heart with their efforts. Wonpil was watching them from a safe distance, murmuring to himself how lucky he was to get a team like this.

Surprisingly, out of the boys, Dowoon's two cabins were the best ones, at least their cookies looked decent and their tastes were good, too. Plus, the way Hendery smiled throughout the whole preparation warmed everyone's heart. Though everyone knew that Dowoon would have complimented the outcome even if the boys had totally messed it up because last year he even ate a totally burnt cake just to save his team's pride. Needless to say, he had a horrible stomach ache for the rest of the day.

The two days were eventful, that's for sure, yet despite it all, Sungjin missed talking to her the most, and he had already regretted not asking for her number. That way at least he could have contacted her even if they had been on the opposite sides of the lake.

He was already starting to give up when on the third day after they met, everyone was invited for a movie night to watch Spiderman: Homecoming. It was an outside event, the movie was shown on a screen beside the lake and it shouldn't have come as a surprise that the other camp was also there since it was organized by the dude who ran the whole place including the two camp sites with the lake and the secluded forest.

When Sungjin settled down with his own kids, he caught sight of the confident team leader who had just sat down with her girls, lying down on the blanket with the six girls. Mirae was also searching for a familiar face, Sungjin was sure that she was looking for him becaseu she stopped looking around only when she caught sight of him. They both broke into a huge smile when they exchanged a look.

“You can go, you know.” Bang Chan nudged his shoulder, pointing in Mirae's direction.

Sungjin suddenly felt guilty for being so obvious that even the kids themselves realized that something must have been going on with those two. Yet, he really couldn't help it; Mirae was really charming, and the more time he spent without her, the more he wanted to see her. It was crazy that he was already missing her when he couldn’t see her for two days, yet it was the truth.

“Ah no, I can't let you be alone,” Sungjin protested right away and shook his head in disbelief. He couldn’t just leave those kids alone, they could have seriously hurt others or themselves. He always put the kids' safety first. Always.

“Come on! We are just watching a movie, nothing can go wrong,” Bang Chan reasoned, giving a slight pat on the team leader’s shoulder to prompt him to move. Sungjin knew that he was right, yet he was still very much unconvinced about the whole idea.

“You sure?” He furrowed his eyebrows, yet the 17-year-old guy nodded so hard that his head almost fell off.

“Yeah, sure. Just go!”

With a few more encouraging smiles and nudges, Sungjin was finally reassured enough to get up and walk towards Mirae and her girls. It didn't take a lot of time for the little group to realize that he was approaching them; when the wavy-haired girl squealed, so did the rest of them, and soon enough they pushed Mirae towards Sungjin.

“We don't want to see you until the end of the movie. Period,” the shortest girl (maybe she was Soyeon, Sungjin couldn't really recall her name) told their team leader who seemed so shy all of a sudden. It looked like Mirae wasn’t the boss here anymore, it was rather the teenage girl who literally told her off.

“Alright, but take care of yourself and let me know if something happens or if any of you need anything,” Mirae told them after she had recovered from the shock her own team caused her, furrowing her eyebrows worriedly.

“Yeah, sure, we will, just go! Don't make your Prince Charming wait too long,” the girls chattered cheerfully and laughed when they saw how red the two adults' faces became. They were sure not prepared for such reactions from their kids.

They silently decided to move away from the mass of people, so they decided on a little bench that wasn’t far from the scene, but it was far enough for them to at least hear each other properly.

“The kids are surely up for something,” Sungjin remarked with a soft giggle, earning a joyous laughter from the girl.

“I wonder what,” she topped his comment with a wide smile, and she was so beautiful under the sunset, Sungjin had a hard time breathing. She was painted crimson by the last rays of sunshine on the horizon and her jet-black hair seemed chest-nut brown in the midst of the colour palette that the nature has created around them. Her eyes seemed to be holding the stars that would soon move onto the night sky, shining and twirling in joy and affection. Her laugh added a mesmerizing melody to the background music that was presented by the chattering of the kids, the chirping of the birds and the sound of the scattering leaves. Everything was so picturesque, and her feminine charms added even more to the beauty of the sunset. It was crazy how beautiful she was in her own natural way; no make-up, no lipstick, only her nails were painted baby blue, but it was probably the girls’ work and not her own.

“So what have you been up to these days with the kids?” Mirae inquired and curiously titled her head. Sungjin blinked a few to get back to reality and to avoid staring at the girl so intensely. Although he was pretty sure he had already messed up the latter.

That’s how he started talking about the bake-off and the games’ night and their solely camp-related conversation soon turned into getting to know each other, about the other’s family, brothers and sisters, their university studies, dream jobs, most memorable memories when they themselves were kids at camps, family vacation stories and their favourite foods. Sungjin may have embarrassed himself once or twice but Mirae was an excellent company, she couldn’t stop laughing at his facial expressions, and her laughter was contagious. Once, even a group of children turned back to shush them because they were being loud while it was time for a confession scene, and they almost died of laughter, they tried so hard to contain their emotions.

Sungjin never knew that he could get to know so much about someone in such a short spare of time, yet since they were both quite talkative, it all went well. On top of that, they were both the types to use hand gestures while talking, small wonder Mirae once accidentally hit Sungjin’s head when she was talking about a family holiday of hers. Yet, they merely laughed it off, there was nothing to be sorry about.

It was already the end of the movie with the credits list when they realized that they would need to go back to their own groups before they would make a mess without adult supervision.

“Wait!” Sungjin yelled after Mirae before she could scamper away, leaving him in misery for another few days. “Can you… I don’t know… at least give me your phone number, so that I can contact you?” he inquired nervously, tilting his head. He usually didn’t find it hard to bring up such topics, but he was oddly anxious when it came to the ever so confident team leader.

Mirae let out a soft chuckle in response and nodded her head.

“Of course,” she gave in without hesitation and told him her number on the spot. Even when she left, Sungjin was smiling to himself at the number on his screen, not quite believing what had just happened.

He was sure one very lucky man.

“What’s good everybody?” said Jae that night, walking into the organizing committee’s cabinet like he was on the runway with such posture. Then, he pointed at his phone, wiggling his eyebrows to add to the whole ruckus. “I’m sending this song to our local lover boy, Bob the Builder!” he hollered gleefully, his trademark smile never leaving his face.

Everyone looked at him as if he had lost it; Wonpil blinked confusedly, looking like he was about to solve a Maths question with that furrowed eyebrows of his, Young K was grinning to himself even though it could be seen that he was merely there for the drama, he actually had no idea what was going on while Dowoon merely turned over and went back to sleep. Sungjin was the only one who knew exactly what the lanky guy had tried to imply, that’s why he was the only one whose face remained stern.

“I wanna know, know, know… what is love?” Jae busted from his phone, the lyrics accompanied by his stupid high school cheerleading dance. Young K snorted at the sight, covering his mouth not to make a lot of noise while Wonpil still resembled a statue.

“Mind sharing with us what’s going on?” Young K inquired as he glanced at Sungjin who let out a sigh. He knew there was no way he could hide it from the other guys, plus they were his friends after all. No matter how annoying they could be, they deserved to know the truth.

“There’s this girl who’s a team leader in the other camp and we’ve started talking.”

“And he’s also asked for her number!” Jae butted in with a knowing smirk, winking at the so-called lover boy.

“Yes, we’ve exchanged numbers, too,” Sungjin admitted as he put his hands into the air. There was really no way he could have got away with it if Jae was around. Considering that he was in charge of the group activities and didn’t supervise a group all day long, he had a lot of time to examine every single thing in the camp and to catch up with everything that was going on.

“Oh, nice one, dude!” Young K clapped his hands, cheering his friend on. Wonpil, who was lying down on the bed beside Sungjin’s, merely gave him a wide, supportive smile. He was always more serious and reserved than others, yet even his little actions meant a lot to him.

“And guess who’s managed to organize a bonfire night for both camps?” Jae asked overly enthusiastically, and even without waiting for a second, he exclaimed. “Yep, that’s right, it was me! So who’s your favourite boy, Bob?” he shouted into Sungjin’s ears when he got close to the boy.

Sungjin was more dumbfounded by the words he had said than by his actions, that’s why he didn’t push him away. Otherwise, he would have told him off right away.

“When it’s going to take place?” Wonpil spoke up for the first time since Jae’s grand entrance, yet the blonde guy couldn’t have been happier about the fact that he had decided to join in.

“This Sunday, my friend,” he answered immediately, then leaned closer to Sungjin to whisper into his ears. “Hope you’ll gonna thank me one day, buddy,” he remarked playfully, then patted Sungjin’ shoulder and continued on signing to the Twice the top of his lungs much to Dowoon’s annoyance who woke up from his peaceful sleep.

On the other hand, Sungjin couldn’t have cared less about Jae’s childish behaviour because his mind was already preoccupied with the news of the bonfire night. He immediately texted Mirae, asking if she had known about it, and she confirmed that she got to know about it during their daily meeting with the team leaders. She event sent a smiley emoji to him which warmed his heart, and his expression must have been expressive too since Young K cooed at him and Wonpil gave him a toothy smile.

“He’s so cute when he’s in love,” Young K mumbled to himself, but it was loud enough for him to hear it. Though he couldn’t deny it, instead he threw his pillow at the boy who grinned even wider after that.

Man, it was difficult to have such friends.

After that, Sungjin felt like he was a part of a modern comedy. It seemed that the whole camp knew about his feelings towards Mirae and vice versa. Not just his kids but even bratty ones such as Chani gave him glances whenever they walked past him, and girls gushed over the fact that the team leader was all heart eyes for another team leader from the other camp.

As promised, Jae managed to get the bonfire night organized without any inconveniences, and he even tried to help Sungjin out by looking over the Stray Kids himself while Sungjin was talking with Mirae, yet it ended in Seungmin’s clothes catching fire and Jeongin almost burning himself when he wanted to reach for his sausage that fell into the fire, plus Woojin was still not over the fact that he hasn’t eaten chicken for almost a week, so Jae seemed more stressed after only a few minutes with the kids from the 8th and 9th cabin than he was all his life.

Needless to say, it wasn’t the first time things got out of control when others merely tried to help them to meet up again. When Minho and the six girls tried to set them up and got a whole picnic date ready, Yuqi twisted her ankle in the morning, and Mirae had to be there for her the whole day (at least, she wanted to be there for her) until she made sure that Yuqi was doing okay, and that the other five girls would assist her whenever she needed help. Not to mention the time when Young K invited Mirae over to their cabin for a dinner, yet it turned out that Sungjin was on a night trip with his group, so she was introduced to the other guys instead, and she had the opportunity to see a very dumbfounded Jae as he was walking out of the bathroom half-naked, a toothbrush hanging from his mouth, a very shy Dowoon who didn’t know what to say to the girl, an angelic Wonpil who smiled the whole time and praised Sungjin as much as he could and an overly anxious Young K who mentally killed himself over and over again for messing things up so badly.

Though there were times when they could finally meet up, usually during sleepless nights and at the break of dawn when the kids were still sleeping, yet they gladly gave up their precious sleep just to talk a bit or to see each other a bit more. The more they met, the harder he fell for her, and he knew there was really no going back. The thought of Mirae occupied his thoughts all day long, and he waited to see her every day like a kid waits for Christmas every year. He was still a kid at heart, of course he was, yet this newfound enthusiasm really made him feel like a child, just like the ones he was watching over. Sometimes it was enough for him to know that she was doing okay, and no one fell into a trash bin in the other camp (yep, it happened once with a guy named Wong Yukhei), other times he was over the moon hearing her laughter that could light up his heart more than any firework could.

Yet, as all good things come to an end, the two-week long camp was also nearing its end very soon, and just when things were about to get serious, they already had to start packing. The goodbye was inevitable, therefore they decided to meet up personally before Sungjin and JYP’s students would leave since Mirae and the other kids came later, so they also stayed a bit more.

Sungjin was uncharacteristically nervous on the day of their departure, and when all was well and every student was on the bus that would take them back to Seoul, his eyes were searching for the oh so familiar orbs. They had agreed on meeting at 9 as the bus would take off at 9:30, so they would have some time for themselves, yet it was nearing 9:15 and the girl was nowhere to be seen. He was a bit afraid that she had forgotten about it even though he knew well that she hadn’t forgotten about anything. He had a hunch that something had happened at the camp and she couldn’t leave earlier, so when Mirae came panting and catching her breath, he knew that he was right.

“I’m so sorry, Shuhua was pranked by the girls and I needed to calm her down before she would set fire to the whole cabinet. Oh my gosh, I was so afraid that I wouldn’t get here on time,” Mirae explained so fast that Sungjin could barely get the words out.

“It’s okay, it’s really okay,” he reassured her as he put a hand on her shoulder, and merely laughed it off. Even her presence was enough to pacify his crazily beating heart. Even her voice was enough to make him feel satisfied even though they were about to say goodbye.

“I really wanted to say a proper goodbye,” Mirae admitted with a bittersweet smile, unsaid confessions and worries hiding behind her ever so lovely smile. Even if she had been running to get here, even if her hair was in a really messy bun and her clothes were still dirty from the previous night’s storm, she was so utterly beautiful.

“You know we don’t have to,” he said gently, his hand not leaving her shoulder. “We can keep talking even when the camp ends.”

“Well, after all, we live and study in the same city.” She nodded and let out a relieved sigh. Maybe she was afraid that Sungjin wouldn’t want to see her after the camp. Maybe she was afraid that he didn’t feel the same way. He couldn’t tell why she was so relieved all of a sudden, but her reaction prompted him to ask the question he had been meaning to ask for a while.

“You want to grab lunch with me when you finish here?”

Mirae froze for a second before her lips started curling upwards, eyes shining with joy. Sungjin thought that he had totally messed up everything when her eyes widened, yet it seemed that she was merely surprised about his question and not shocked.

“Sure.” She nodded enthusiastically and seeing her smile becoming wider and wider was like watching the sun rise on the horizon. “Is it a date?” she blurted out cheekily, and now it was Sungjin’s turn to get surprised.

Yet, he assumed that because she asked such a question, she actually thought of the possibility of them having a date. Which meant that he could also think that way.

“Yes, it is,” he concluded with a nod of his head.

“Then, it is,” she repeated with a wide grin and cutely scrunched her nose when her cheeks turned really red. Sungjin would have never thought that he would see the ever so confident and quite solemn team leader become so embarrassed. but he was glad that he could see yet another side of her.

“Get on, lover boy! We need to go!” Jae hollered after him, breaking their little moment into tiny little pieces.

When Sungjin rolled his eyes, Mirae slightly nudged his shoulder.

“Go!” She pointed at the bus where the kids were waiting for their scene to come to an end. Sungjin knew that they had been watching the whole thing from afar, yet he hoped that they didn’t hear a thing. “We’ll see each other soon anyway,” she promised with a sweet smile and before he could even respond to that, she gave him a quick peck on the cheeks and turned on her heel.

“Oh my gosh, she kissed him!”

“Shut up, Jeongin! That was only a kiss on the cheek!”

“I saw what I saw!”

“Then get new glasses!” Seungmin snorted and rolled his eyes at the youngest’s antics.

Needless to say, this year’s camp was full of twists and turns, but at least they were all in one piece and they had one more lover boy in the crew.

Maybe next year’s going to be even better.

48 notes · View notes

makeste · 6 years ago

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BnHA Chapter 115: Hard-Boiled Villain Antics

Previously on BnHA: The provisional license exam concluded. Everyone from class 1-A passed except Todoroki and Bakugou. The exam committee announced there would be a special training course for the ones who failed, and they would then receive their licenses as well. They want all the students who made it to phase two of the exam to ultimately succeed because with All Might gone, the world needs as many quality heroes as it can get. The U.A. kids said their farewells to the other schools and prepared to board the bus home. Deku inquired about the weird girl from Shiketsu Academy and was told she had already left, and that furthermore she’d been acting strange for the last few days. We then learned that the girl, Camie, had actually been Toga in disguise, and that she has a shapeshifting quirk which allows her to take on others’ appearances once she drinks their blood. Oh, and. Now she has Deku’s.

Today on BnHA: We take a break from our intrepid hero hatchlings to check in with Twice from the League of Villains. He stares broodingly out the window like a noir character, listens to the news talk shit about Endeavor, watches a group of Tarantino tribute villains rob a store, and gets a phone call from the villain broker Giran. We learn that the League has temporarily split up and are recruiting to expand their organization. We also learn that Twice has more than a few screws loose, the reason being that when he was younger he used his duplication quirk to clone himself, only to have the clones all murder each other one by one until he was the last one standing. If that isn’t fucked up enough for you, perhaps I can interest you in the new villain introduced in this chapter, who goes by “Overhaul” and has a penchant for dismembering peeps. Or perhaps you’re more a fan of the classic villain, in which case the chapter ends with All Might meeting up with our old friend All for One, so, you know. Enjoy that.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 151 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

who the fuck is this

he’s staring darkly out of his window and hating all the people he sees walking past

but also there’s a black speech bubble thinking the exact opposite. “I think it’s fantastic”

is this that Twice guy, maybe

I was wondering what you were up to, yes. good catch there

“THIS MAN STARTS HIS MORNINGS A LITTLE MORE HARD-BOILED THAN MOST.” yes, the really hardcore way to start your day is to hate people from windows

holy shit this ominous fucking chapter! right from the get go!

“unleashed.” and the text underneath: “a world where All Might is not coming”

I’m thinking it’s safe to say the villains are winding down from their little break

I’m so curious how Tomura is doing. prediction: still crazy

the narration is saying that the news networks and Internet are constantly buzzing with “idle chatter fanning the flames of anxiety”

jesus christ this is so similar to the real-world climate in the last few years. anxiety and fear-mongering

oh shit the newspeople are talking about Endeavor

depends on whether you’re the type who can accept assholes who beat their wife and kid

(I personally am not)

they’re being really polite about it, but they’re saying that you can’t help but contrast him against All Might

he’s “coarse”

“he just looks like an ordinary person pretending to be a superhuman” I’ll take it a step further; he looks like an asshole not even trying particularly hard to pretend he’s a nice guy. and yeah, he’s strong, but not even in the same realm that All Might was

oh my god it’s a list of top “Moogle” searches for Endeavor. this is the most 2010s shit I’ve ever seen in a manga omggggg

yeahhhh, public opinion is just not on this guy’s side. and good riddance

basically he’s become “the symbol of weakening heroes.” exactly. I feel like all these people must just be like, “is this really the best we can do now omg”

is Endeavor Donald fucking Trump

this is one of the best chapter openers I can recall reading in a long time. there’s something fascinating about watching a well-established fictional world get shaken up and seeing how the people of that world respond. it’s reminding me a little of the post-Goblet of Fire Harry Potter universe. and why do I have a feeling that by the time this series ends, we’ll have progressed all the way to Deathly Hallows in terms of grittiness

the narration is continuing and saying that just as All Might brought hope to everyday citizens, his presence was a curse to villains

and now that curse has been lifted, so “it’s no surprise at all that it’d turn out this way”

and it’s showing some guy robbing an ATM or something. not sure what he’s carrying, but anyways he’s busting through a wall looking happy and deranged

now a pro hero is showing up to stop him

but another villain is cracking the back of the hero’s head with a huge metal pipe

and two more villains are waiting over by their getaway truck

nice Tarantino reference there. bold and unsubtle and in-your-face

and the narration is talking about how villains are feeling more emboldened and more free to run around without fear of consequence. and that the more daring they get, the more villains they inspire in turn, and it goes on and on. “running a red light isn’t scary if everyone does it with you”

we’re seeing the exact same thing happen irl nowadays with racists and nazis and the alt-right and such, aren’t we. my escapist manga is really starting to hit close to home here

now Twice is getting a call from someone

isn’t this the guy who introduced Toga and Dabi to Tomura

damn, manga, you’re really going to make me go all the way back to like chapter sixty-something to check this. fine

yep, it is. chapter 68

he says that in the past two weeks there’s been a surge of black market requests for things like suits and related items

he says it’s all thanks to the League of Villains

really it’s thanks to one specific villain that did all the work and is now imprisoned though. just saying. though no doubt he won’t mind Tomura getting the credit

anyway so Twice is asking why the broker guy called him

probably cuz Toga got Deku’s blood, so now the gang is getting back together to hatch some more schemes

yep

so Twice is like yeah of course I heard, and the broker dude is like okay catch you later then

gotta say, I was already fond of Twice just as a funny and eccentric (you have no idea how much my brain struggled to find an adjective to use in place of “quirky” there, but needless to say I wouldn’t have been able to keep a straight face otherwise) character. but it’s pretty damn fascinating to witness his psyche on display now as well

apparently the League has been separated and scattered for a little while, both to lie low and to scout for more people to join the group

and now we’re cutting to Dabi and he’s just roasting some poor dudes alive

damn son

oh shit what’s happening to Twice

this guy is soooo weird

he says his quirk is “doubling.” “I make one into two”

okay. I don’t get it at all, but

-- WHOA

IS THIS THE FUCKING PRESTIGE OR WHAT. AND WASN’T THIS ALSO A PLOTLINE IN FUCKING CALVIN AND HOBBES

he says each of the clones claimed to be the real one (by “real” I assume “original”) and they started arguing and eventually they all killed each other

and he’s not sure even now whether he’s actually the “real” him

holy shit I would read an entire book about this guy. I want David Fincher to direct a movie about him

it seems like he’s not even really that evil, it’s just that he’s so crazy that the league was the only place he could find that would accept him. “what I was searching for were others who are just as crazy as I am”

I would read a spinoff manga about Twice and his existential nightmare of an existence, trufax. this is so compelling I almost forgot about the fact that we’re thirteen pages into this chapter and so far it’s been all villains and no U.A. kids

-- what the fuck

IS THAT THE GUY FROM EARLIER?? WHO ROBBED THE ATM???

(answer: yes, I just went back and looked)

WHY IS HIS FUCKING HEAD HERE?? IS THIS HIS QUIRK OR SOMETHING MORE HORRIFYING THAN THAT

farewell Reservoir Dogs. you had a brief and uneventful run culminating in THE MOST HORRIFYINGLY GRUESOME SCENE I’VE EVER SEEN SHOUNEN JUMP ALLOW IN THEIR FUCKING MAGAZINE. NOT ONLY WAS IT INDEED HIS FUCKING HEAD, I COUNT LIKE SEVEN OF HIS AND HIS FRIENDS’ OTHER BODY PARTS MORBIDLY STREWN ABOUT AND ROASTING ON THIS OPEN FUCKING FLAME. dude what the fuck

oh boy here we go

now his buddy in a raincoat -- and they all have the same plague doctor masks on btw -- is saying he took the money and let’s get out of here

he’s calling the “YOU GUYS HAVE AN ILLNESS” dude “Overhaul.” okay I’ll admit that’s a pretty badass villain name

and Twice is watching them all like, “oh. more maniacs”

so I’m guessing he’s going to recruit these guys lol

the narration says that both the heroes and villains’ sides have begun to undergo changes in appearance. well, we’ve seen a lot of the heroes’ side of things so far so I guess it’s nice to take a break from that and see what the villains have been up to

is this the prison??

OH SHIT!!!!!

WHAT IS HE DOING COMING OVER THERE TO TALK TO HIM OH MY GOD

“THE DISCUSSION WITH THE BIG BOSS IS ABOUT TO BEGIN” [FRANTICALLY CLICKS TO THE NEXT CHAPTER!!!]

-- except no, damn it, because I gotta check out the bonus page first :/

bonus

...actually the bonus page is just Horikoshi being excited that there are now two spinoff series. apparently he’s a fan of Illegals. I do want to check that out (especially since he just said Eraserhead has a cameo in it omgggg), but like hell if you think I’m clicking away from this main story just yet. I still have 85 chapters to go and it’s not like things are exactly getting boring omg

#bnha #boku no hero academia #bubaigawara jin #twice (bnha)#dabi #chisaki kai #overhaul (bnha)#all for one #makeste reads bnha #merry christmas everyone #please enjoy this surprisingly violent and disturbing chapter and its dystopian ambiance #I found it surprisingly enjoyable myself #mostly because I love twice so fucking much #I know he's a fucking villain but dammit I can't help rooting for him #he's just so great

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babylon-bitch · 7 years ago

Text

Always Late

A/N:This is so long but I had a lot of fun writing it. I’m thinking of doing a part 2, I’m not sure, I’ve got a few ideas. I’ve recently gotten back into Tom Odell, and his music has a recurring cameo lol, I also love Fake Plastic Trees, it’s one of my favourite songs.

Words:13441

Summary: (Y/N) is a music fanatic, she’s grown up with music all around her, mainly because of her dad being a music producer. When her dad forgets some things, (Y/N) has to drop them off at the studio, where she meets the 5SOS boys. As her dad and the boys work together more, they are invited over for dinner and a certain guitarist takes interest in (Y/N)

My fingers move at a rapid pace, causing one of my favourite sounds in the whole world. I’m about to get to the best part when all of a sudden I’m cut off and my guitar makes a pathetic sound.

I look up and find my mum standing by my amp. “Dude, why’d you cut me off?” I ask.

“As much as it sounded great, dad forgot his phone and his notebook, so could you drive down to the studio and give him his phone?” She requests.

“Why can’t Jacob do it?” I ask with a sigh.

“Because your brother is already out getting some food for lunch.” She says. “Now get dressed and head out.” She claps her hands and heads towards my door.

“I swear you and dad only had children so we can be your servants.” I call after her.

“Quite enjoyed the process.” She calls back.

“Mum!” I exclaim and shake my head in amusement as I hear her laugh.

Taking my electric guitar off my lap and place it on my bed for now, before I head to my wardrobe and pull out a pair of ripped black jeans, an old bandshirt I probably got when I was 16, and a black and whire loose flannel.

After putting those on, I do my regular make up, and brush my hair through, putting a little salt spray in it.

Walking down the stairs and jumping off the last one, being met with the smell of fresh laundry. I love that smell, especially on a Saturday morning.

Sitting on the third step as I put my black vans on, trying to battle off Lacey our dog in the process.

“Where’s dad’s stuff?” I ask as I pick up a banana from the fruit bowl and begin to peel it.

“His phone is on the coffee table and his notebook should be in his office.” My mum tells me as she walks into the kitchen holding a laundry basket.

“Why couldn’t you get it for me?” I whine.

“Because you’re a big girl now and I’ve been busy. Oh and I packed some lunch for him, it’s on the island.”

Turning around I see a little Tupperware container filled with some sort of rice dish with a fork next to it.

“You guys are so cute you make me sick.” I gag and make my way to my dad’s office.

After 15 minutes I’ve got everything, I kinda got distracted by the piano that’s in there.

“Is there anything else you want me to do, your Majesty?” I ask.

“Jesus (Y/N), you’ve still not gone yet?”

“Well evidently not.” I shake my head.

“Whatever, that’s it, drive safely.” She kisses my cheek and I say goodbye before heading out the door and into my car, the eargasmic sound of The Hunna hitting me when I get started.

As much as I love them, I’m craving some Nothing But Theives.

Driving down the streets whilst blasting out music on a sunny day has got to be one of my favourite things to do, I can’t think of a more relaxing thing than that. I do this a lot when my mind is clogged, usually if I’m feeling some type of way I’d go at night but by doing that you get a different vibe, a much darker vibe.

Music always comforts me and I see it as home.

I’ve always grown up listening to music, whether it’s my own, something on the radio in the kitchen, or something my dad is producing, it’s just always been there. I love that there’s always a song for every emotion.

Happy? Listen to Million Bucks

Angry? Listen to Seretonia or anything by Highly Suspect, it just makes you feel powerful.

Anxious? Listen to So Sad, So Sad

Sad? Listen to Visions

So many choices and options, that what I love about it, there’s such a broad spectrum.

I love going through old playlists or old iPods, because I can see what I was into at that moment in time and it takes me back, it’s almost as if I’m there again, seeing the people who were in my life at that point, what I was obsessing over, and probably what posters I had on my walls.

My dad is a music producer and has worked with some of the best artists in this past few decades, usually punk rock artists but he has worked with a broad spectrum of people.

I get a lot of my musical talent from my dad, he taught me how to play guitar when I was 8, bass guitar when I was 12, and taught me how to produce music in the studio when I was 14. My mum also taught me how to play piano when I was 10. I’m teaching myself how to play the drums, I’ve been doing that since I was 17, which is two years ago now, I still haven’t properly grasped it all yet. I’ve learnt a few more instruments on the way, like how to play ukulele, violin, saxophone, and the clarinet but I lost a little interest in them, I’m not really into that type of music, but I can appreciate it when I hear them being played.

We’re a very musical family, my brother Jacob can play bass and drums, and a little bit of piano and guitar. I’ve always been fascinated by instruments, I used to love it when my dad played guitar, and ever since then I’ve fallen in love with music.

My dad used to sing and play guitar to us when Jacob and I went to bed, it didn’t really help us go to sleep because we used to get so excited when it was out.

I write a lot of songs, I first started actually writing when I was 13, it was some silly song about a fantasy land I’d made up in my head, but it’ll always be a special song. My mum taught me how to properly write a song and I’ll forever be greatful for her help.

I love writing because it’s like my own little diary, I can pour my thoughts out or write about a past experience that I don’t necessarily want to talk about, or I can make up a situation in my head and write a song about it, when I wasn’t so experienced in life, I used to write about how I imagined a character in a book I was reading or a tv show I was watching felt. I still do that sometimes when I’m bored

I’m not much of a singer, I can sing a little bit, but I’m a little shy about it, as opposed to being quite bold with all my instruments. My dad always asks why, and I’m not really sure why, I guess I’m just not that confident in it.

Of course I sing in the shower or around the house, because who doesn’t?

I’ve never released any of my songs, I like to keep them private, I just find them too personal to release, and it’s my little hobbie.

I’ve helped my dad with a lot of stuff, lyric wise and music wise. Sometimes when dad’s notebook is out, I’ll look through it, then get my notebook and either rewrite it or add little adjustments, then tear out that page from my notebook and put it in his notebook with a little note or something.

I feel a lot of things, so words come quite easily to me, I’ve got endless amounts of random pieces of paper strewn around the house of lyrics.

I’m such a daddy’s girl, I’ve done a lot of things with him, spent a lot of my childhood in his office. We’ve always been close, we contastly have little guitar battles and help each other out with lyrics. We’re also really competitive, that explains the guitar battles, sometimes we set ourselves a time limit and see who can write the best song in that time, in a few cases he’s actually used those songs for artists, and we/I always laugh when I hear them on the radio.

That’s not to say I’m not close with my mum, we’re very close, she’s taught me so many lessons in life, and will always be one of my biggest inspirations.

My whole family is really close, and I’m so greatful for that, and we’ve all got a passion for music, which is so fun, because on occasion we sing/make music together.

I remember one time when the power went out because there was a huge storm, me and my dad got some acoustic guitars and my brother played the drums, whilst my mum sang and played on a keyboard. Sometimes I look back and cringe because we seem so lame and something out of a movie but it was really fun.

I’ve met quite a lot of my dad’s clients, sometimes they come round for dinner, or just hang out with my dad. Never really got close to any, I’ve gotten along with people who are around my age and got their phone numbers, but I’m not in regular contact with anyone. I’m okay with that though, I’ve got my own friends and people come and go in life, and that’s okay.

Pulling into the studio’s parking lot, which I’m very familiar with, I spend quite a lot of time here.

Gathering my dad’s notebook and his lunch, I grab a yoyo from the glove box, and get out of the car, slamming the door behind me.

Locking my car, I make my way towards the building, smiling at the doorman as I walk in. I make small talk with people on the way, until I reach the hallway my dad’s studio, that he should be in.

Turning the corner and see that his door is open and I see and hear people talking and laughing.

They look kind of familiar.

“It was actually my daughter’s idea t-”

My dad gets cut off by me knocking on the already open door, and 5 pairs of eyes turn their attention to me.

“Hey.” I smile and play with my yoyo.

“Speak of the devil, guys this is my daughter (Y/N), (Y/N) this is Luke, Calum, Michael, and Ashton.” My dad introduces.

“Hi, I’ve heard so much about you!” Ashton says.

“Hey.” Calum waves.

“Hello.” Michael smiles.

“Hello.” Luke matches Michael’s smile.

“Hey, good thing hopefully.” I chuckle.

“Of course, I wouldn’t tell them about the time fell over when you were doing ballet.” He smirks.

“Dude, I was like 6, so shut up.” I laugh. “Anyway mum said you forgot this so here.” I pass him his notebook and place his lunch on a nearby table.

“Late as always.” He comments.

“Yeah, I kinda got distracted by someone selling pretzels.”

“I’m not even gonna ask.” My dad shakes his head.

“Anyway, I made some adjustments to the bass line on the most recent entry.” I inform him.

“You play bass?” Calum asks

“Yeah, I’ve been playing since I was 12, so that’s 7 years.” I nod.

“Are you good at it?” He asks.

“No, I’ve been playing shittily for 7 years.” I sarcastically reply.

“It’s true, she’s really good, but of course she learnt from the best.” My dad smirks.

“Oh give over, I’m way better than you.” I exclaim.

“Who taught you?” He reminds.

“That doesn’t mean shit.” I respond.

“I don’t know what we’re witnessing but it’s really cute.” Luke laughs.

“Are you guys like this all the time?” Michael asks.

“Yeah, my dad just can’t admit that I’m better than him.” I laugh.

“We may or may not be very competitive.” My dad states.

“You’re 5 Seconds Of Summer right?” I question finally noticing them.

“Yeah, that’s us, you a fan?” Ashton asks.

“I wouldn’t call myself a fan, but I listened to Sounds Good Feels Good.” I shrug.

“What’s your favourite song?” Luke questions.

“Lycically I liked The Girl Who Cried Wolf, Invisable, and Jet Black Heart, but musically I love Waste The Night and Money. I like all the songs but they are some of my favourites.”

“I’m so glad you like them and I hope you like album number three.” Michael smiles.

“I hope so too.” I nod. “Well, I’ve gotta go.” I gesture towards the door.

“It was nice meeting you, see you around?” Michael questions.

“Well if my dad forgets his things again, which he does quite often, there’s a guaranteed chance of seeing you guys again.” I poke fun at my dad.

“Oh give over, you forgot your guitar when that was what you were performing.”

“I’m still wondering how I did that.” I laugh. “I’m meeting up with Mason, so I’ll see you later.” I say and my dad rolls his eyes.

“That damn boy.” He shakes his head.

“Whatever, see you later.” I shake it off and pull him into a hug.

“Bye, thanks for coming down.” He smiles and I wave to the others before leaving the room.

Mason is my boyfriend, we’ve been going out for a total of 9 months. We met at a party, I was watching my friends mess around and be stupid and he was watching his friends do the exact same. When I was in secondary school he was known as the badboy, which he still has that rep, but we aren’t in school anymore and labels are still as irrelevant as they were in high school. He’s got a few tattoos scattered around his body, got his eyebrow pierced, at one point he did have his lip pierced but took it out after a while, and dresses in all black most of the time.

My dad isn’t particularly fond of him, he just doesn’t think he’s right for me. Which used to upset me a lot because I wanted to please my dad as much as I could, but I soon learnt that we can’t agree on everything.

Mason hasn’t actually done anything to make my dad not like him, I think it’s just the whole badboy look, which is just a look he’s actually got a heart of gold and is so sweet.

Mason said he’d pick me up outside of the studio, but when I got out I couldn’t see him so I decide to call him.

“Hey, I’m so sorry, but I’m gonna be late.” Is the first thing he says.

“It’s okay, how long will you be?” I ask.

“Around 10, 15 minutes.” He estimates.

“Alright, I’ll just go back inside and play around with some things.” I say.

“I’m sorry, baby. I love you.” He apologizes.

“I love you too, see you later.” I tell him and hang up.

We first said ‘I love you’ last month, we were on top of a hill, watching the sunset, and he told me he loved me.

My mum doesn’t mind him, she actually quite likes him. She tells me dad doesn’t like him because he’s protective of me and doesn’t like seeing his daughter all grown up, or some bullshit like that.

Jacob actually gets along really well with him, they used to hang out with each other sometimes, they sorta had the same friend group.

Turning around and walking back into the studio, and all the way back to where I just was, but a few doors down, it’s kinda like my dad’s spare studio. When he’s busy with a client, I use this one, if it’s not occupied of course. We do have a studio back at home, and I use that quite often, when I’m bored I like to mess around in there, and make the stupidest songs.

Opening the door and walking in, and I have a song in mind I want to play.

Pressing a few buttons here and there, I get the music going, so I only have to sing and play guitar.

Sitting down on a chair and I place my fingers on the right frets and take a big inhale.

“(One Of Those) Crazy Girls”

Now when you say you wanna slow down, Does it mean you wanna slow dance? Maybe you just want a little extra time To focus on our romance.

What do you mean I got it backwards? You know we’re gonna be forever. Why are you tellin’ me goodbye? Aren’t you gonna stay the night?

Are we really over now? Maybe I can change your mind? Soon as you walk out my door, I’m gonna call a hundred times.

Now I walk under a pink sky (ooh), Lovers float along and pass me by. I pour my heart out to your voice mail, Let you know I caught a bus To your side of town.

And now I’m standing at your doorstep With Los Angeles behind me. If you don’t answer I’ll just use the key That I copied ‘cause I really need to see you.

If you’re not here when I break in, I’m gonna go to your closet, Just so I can smell your skin. As the chemicals swim, I know I’ll never love again, I swear I’ll never love again!

Baby, are we over now? Maybe I can change your mind? As soon as you walk out my door, I’m gonna call a hundred times!

I’m not one of those crazy girls, I’m not one of those crazy girls, I’m not one of those crazy girls, I’m not one of those crazy girls.

Hey, baby, are we over now? Maybe I can change your mind? As soon as you walk out my door, I’m gonna call a hundred times!

Baby, are we over now? Maybe I can change your mind? Soon as you walk out my door, I’m gonna call a hundred times!

Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh.

Now I’m one of those crazy girls, Now I’m one of those crazy girls, Now I’m one of those crazy girls, Now I’m one of those crazy girls.

Doing a little pluck of the strings once I finish, before I take the guitar off my lap and place it back on the stand.

“Is that a new song?” I recognize the voice of my dad.

Turning around I’m met with my dad and 5SOS.

“Uh yeah, I’ve been working on it these past couple days. It’s completely fictional, I’m not a psycho.” I laugh.

“How long have you been guitar for?” Michael asks me.

“11 years.” I purse my lips.

“Wow, what other instruments can you play?” Luke asks me.

“Guitar, bass, piano, and I’ve been learning how to play the drums for two years now. I can play others but those are my usual instruments to play.” I answer.

“Have you released any music?” Calum asks.

“No, I find it way too personal to release, I don’t know how you guys can do it, it would feel like reading my diary to the world.” I explain.

“I get that. It’s so cool that you guys are a musical family.” Ashton chuckles.

“How old are you?” Michael asks.

“19.”

“Wait, shouldn’t you be in college or university?” Ashton questions with an eyebrow raised.

“I’m supposed to be going next year. I’m taking a gap year, me and a bunch of my friends are gonna be driving around America for a couple months. My friend has got a school bus and it’s gonna be so cool.” I explain.

“I thought you were with funeral boy.” My dad says making me laugh.

“He’s honestly not that bad.” I give him a look.

“Well where is he?”

“He’s late.” I reply.

“Ah, something you have in common.” My dad teases.

“I’m not always late.” I claim.

“Are you sure about that?” He raises his eyebrows.

My phone goes off, signalling I have a text, so I pull it out and see it’s from Mason.

“He’s here, so bye, and I noticed you were struggling with the guitar part, put a capo on the third fret it should sound a little different, but hopefully a lot smoother and better then.” I tell them.

“Don’t be late.” My dad smirks.

“Shut up.” I glare at him with a laugh.

I pick up my bag and head out the door, saying goodbye to everyone on the way.

As I walk out into the corridor I see Mason standing at the end on the hallway, looking down at his phone.

“Hey.” I smile as I walk up to him.

“Hello.” He smiles back and puts his phone in his pocket, before holding my hips and placing a short but sweet kiss on my lips.

“Lets go.” I say and we intertwine our hands, I turn around and wave at my dad and the boys one final wave. For some reason they’re all still staring at us, but I shrug it off and pay my attension to Mason.

***

The sound of my bass guitar fills the room and the deep instrument fills me with such joy.

The bass is so underappreciated, it’s so versatile and people just go straight to the guitars, but the bass drives the band, and makes everything so smooth.

Plus a lot of bass players are hot as fuck.

“There’s my favourite-”

“Child!” I say.

“Hey!” Jacob whines from the other side of the room.

“I was gonna say daughter, actually.” My dad says.

“Either way applies.” I smirk.

“I’m not a girl!” Jacob exclaims.

“The eyeliner and straightening your hair says differently.” I tease.

“Firstly it’s called being emo and secondly it’s called guyliner.” My brother huffs. “And please don’t mention my emo years, it was a tough time for me, and I still have nightmares about it.”

“I’m pretty sure you wore my jeans once. If it’s called guyliner why did you take it from me?” I raise an eyebrow.

“Because you’re a guy.”

“Um, elaborate.”

“Uh, you never wear dresses.” He replies but it comes out as a question.

“Just because you don’t wear dresses doesn’t mean you’re a dude. And I’ve worn dresses before, I wore one when we went to mum’s friend’s wedding.” I explain. “And fuck gender rolls, be who and what you want.”

“Preach.” I hear my mum agree as she walks past the living room.

“You only wore one because you had to.” Jacob mutters.

“Anyway,” my dad looks between us, “I came here to say, thanks for your advice last week.”

“What advice?” I ask.

“When you said to put a capo on the third fret, it actually worked, then Michael had the idea of tuning it down to drop D, and now we’ve just got to finish the lyrics.” He explains.

“It was simple really, can’t wait to hear it.” I smile.

“The boys are actually coming over tonight for dinner and we are just going to talk about the new album.” My dad informs.

“Do I have to be there?” I ask with a whine.

“Well yeah, kinda.” He chuckles.

“But I’m hanging out with Mason tonight.” I say. “What time are they come over?”

“Around 6. I’d really appreciate it if you were there, plus you got along really well with them when you met them last week.” He tells me.

“Of course (Y/N) got along with them.” Jacob smirks.

“Meaning?” I raise an eyebrow.

“Well they are boys and play instruments, you’d be all over them if you weren’t with Mason.” He laughs.

“Keyword, Mason.” I glare at him.

“If they make a move on you, kick ‘em in the nards.” My dad warns.

“Gladly.” I laugh.

“Remember when that kid made you drop your ice cream and you kicked him in the balls.” Jacob bursts out laughing.

“I was like 9, it wasn’t recently.” I point out.

“I’m gonna leave you guys alone.” My dad trails off.

“I’m going to go over to Mason’s.” I say.

“Don’t forget to be back before 6.” Dad reminds me.

“And don’t get too busy.” Jacob teases.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that, and keep believing that you’re saving yourself for marriage.” My dad tells himself.

“Jacob!” I exclaim and throw a stray pick at him.

“Remember that time a couple months ag-,”

“I’m leaving.” I say with my eyes wide.

Placing my bass guitar next to me, and standing up heading towards the door, where I put my shoes on and head out the door, escaping my brothers inappropriate comments.

***

“So we’re actually breaking up?” I ask and Mason nods.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to hurt you, you’ll always have a piece of my heart wherever you go. I’m not doing this because I don’t love you, I’m doing this because I love you.” He explains.

“I get it though, we’re moving in different directions in life, and maybe we weren’t meant for each other.” I sigh.

“Exactly, can we still be friends though, I don’t want to completely lose you.”

“Won’t it be a little awkward?” I question.

“Maybe at the start, but we were friends before we started dating.” He shrugs.

“I guess we could still be friends.” I look down at my scuffed shoes.

“Hey, I’m still in love with you, I always will be, you were my first love and that’s hard to get over.” He gingerly places his hand on my neck. “Last kiss?” He sadly questions.

“Sure.” I nod.

He ever so lightly places his lips on mine, and moves so slowly it’s almost painful.

This is almost worse than the break up itself, this is my last kiss with the boy that I love. It tastes so bitter, but so inviting at the same time that I could get lost in it. All this hurts, this is the last time he’s gonna touch me like this. We were so good together, but all good things must come to an end. There’s so many things that I can’t do anymore, not couple affectionately wise, but now there’s gonna be this barrier between us now, that I’m always gonna be tempted to climb over.

“I’m so sorry.” He says and a tiny tear escapes his eye.

I pull him into a hug and bury myself into his chest, taking in his scent. Mason presses a butterfly kiss on my neck, where previously there was a hickey made by him himself a couple days ago.

“I love you.” He whispers.

“I love you too.” I whisper back.

“When can I see you again?” He questions as he holds my jaw.

“I don’t know, but I think it will be good to take a little break from seeing each other for a while.” I explain.

“I respect that.” He nods. “I’ll see you soon?”

“Yeah. I’m gonna miss you.”

“I’m gonna miss you too.”

Mason places a gentle kiss on my forehead before walking away.

I give myself some time to cry in this lonely play park made for children. I can’t hear anything but my sobs and the occasional car.

There’s a stunning sunset right infront of my eyes, yet here I am crying, ruining the whole beauty of it by crying.

Jumping off the climbing frame and onto the tarmac, and heading towards my car. Turning on the radio and taking in a big inhale, before heading home.

As I’m driving down a random street, I remember I have to get home for dinner because 5SOS is coming over, it’s currently 7, so I’m already an hour late.

Great, just great.

I’ve got a pretty valid excuse for being late.

When I’m close to our house, I pull over so I can do my make up, because when you’ve you’ve smudged eyeliner and mascara running down your cheeks, it’s not exactly the look I’m going for.

It reads I just broke up with my boyfriend.

And although I feel a lot of things, I’m also good at hiding my feelings. People usually find out my feelings through my songs, and sometimes it can be a cry for help.

I rarely get properly sad, but when I do, it shows me I’m human and it’s okay to get a little sad sometimes. Your sadness also depends on who you are and it feels different for everybody, like how no one sees colour the exact same, it’s different but it also varies, it can be ever so similar or feel completely different for other people.

When I’m sad and feeling down, it goes deep, it’s not just a little, it’s either all or nothing, it also varies on time, it can last a few days, weeks, or months.

Things that make you feel better can be different too, it could be a person, a thing you like to do, yourself, or all that combined.

For me, it’s a combination of it all.

Starting up the car again, I drive round the corner and down the street a little before reaching our house. There’s a car parked in my usual space, so I park just outside our house and get out.

Pulling my bag up off the floor and bringing in some CDs so I can put them in my room, and slamming the door behind me, locking the car, and walking towards the front door.

Taking my keys out of my bag and putting them in the door, walking in, being met with the smell of my mum’s cooking, which always comforts me, and my dog coming trotting up to me, her tail hitting everything.

Putting my bag on the staircase for now, and putting my focus on the four CDs in my hands, looking at the back and seeing what songs are on here.

“You look like the teenage version of an adult looking through mail.” The voice of my dad steals my attention.

Looking up I’m met with my dad, Michael, and Calum staring at me, whilst Jacob, mum, Luke and Ashton are talking about something.

“Oh, yeah, I’m looking at Stereophonics’ album.” I say.

“Which one?” Michael questions.

“Language.Sex.Violence.Other?” I hold up the case.

“Always a good artist to rock out to.” Calum smiles and I nod in agreement.

“So, late once again.” My dad smirks.

“Yeah, sorry, I got caught up with Mason and shit.” I sigh.

“Of course you did.” Dad rolls his eyes.

“Well, I gonna put these upstairs, I’ll be right back.”

Turning around and walking up the stairs and into my bedroom. Tonight really isn��t a good night for people to come over. Dumping my stuff on the bed, and taking a breather so I can calm down a little, before heading down the stairs again.

Walking into the lounge, noticing that there aren’t any spare seats, so I decide to sit on the stool infront of the grand piano.

“You okay?” My dad asks.

“Yeah.” I nod.

“You sure?” He asks.

I pick up a fidget spinner from the shelf above me and spin it, “see I’m calm.”

“Okay.” My dad laughs.

“If I was rich, I’d just spend my time in a robe, having someone play the harp in the corner, and get people to do things for me, whilst I have girls in coconut bras fan me when I get hot.” My brother says, I don’t know what context this is in, I was daydreaming, then I heard that monstrosity.

“You’d have someone playing the harp?” I ask.

“Yeah what’s wrong with that?” Jacob questions with a slight smile.

“If I were rich, I’d have Slash play.” I point out the obvious and laughter erupts.

“You’ve got the right idea.” Michael laughs.

“Also, you’d be a dick if you were rich.” My mum adds.

“You basically get everyone to do your chores anyway.” My dad joins in.

“I didn’t know I came to a family roast.” Calum laughs.

“Why would you have the harp playing anyway, that’s the least you thing ever, you play the drums for god sake.” I question.

“Uh, when you’re rich you have to keep up a specific look.”

“This conversation is so dumb.” I shake my head.

“Can someone play me something?” My dad asks and all eyes turn to me.

“Why me?” I questions.

“Because you’re by the piano.” Luke says.

“So? It doesn’t mean I wan- fine.” I sigh and turn around and pull the lid up. “Any requests?”

“Play some Tom Odell.” Ashton speaks up.

“You have to guess what it is.” I say and place my fingers on the right keys and my foot on the pedal.

I haven’t listened to this song in years, it’s called Grow Old With Me.

“That was beautiful.” Calum smiles and I smile back.

“It’s a really pretty song.” I say.

“Grow Old With Me.” Ashton guesses and I laugh.

“Wow, well done.” I sarcastically clap.

“It blows my mind how talented you are.” Michael smiles.

“I wish I was born into a family like this.” Luke pouts.

“You play drums right?” Calum asks Jacob.

“Yeah and bass.”

“This family is so talented.”

***

We’ve had dinner, all the boys are with my dad in his office, it’s just my mum and I that are on the ground floor, I’m not sure where my mum is though, I think she might be in the kitchen.

As everyone is busy, I decide to do some writing, I’ve had all these words in my head all evening, some I’ve forgotten but I’m sure they will come back to me. I turn onto a new page in my notebook and just let my heart and hand take control.

I’ve got the first verse done, I’m gonna make up the music.

Placing my fingers on the black and white keys, letting my fingers go where it feels right.

I use my heart for the lyrics and my brain for making the music, sometimes I use my heart to make the music too, doing that determines what kind of vibe you’re going to get.

After around 25 minutes, I’m nearly done, I’m just stuck on the bridge, I’m not sure what to do.

“I think you need to let it ring out a little.”

A voice from behind me startles me.

Turning around I see Michael leaning against the doorway of the living room.

I try it and it fits perfectly, and gives the song more emotion.

Adding the last verse that I already had planned, and that completes my song, I take my fingers off the keys and return to my usual slumped posture.

“That’s a really heart breaking song.”

Realizing Michael is still behind me I turn around.

“Yeah.” I sadly sigh.

“What’s it called?” He asks.

“Long Night.” I reply.

“Any particular recent inspiration for it?” He asks and walks towards me.

“I actually broke up with my boyfriend right before I came here, and I’m dreading going to sleep tonight, becuase I know what’s gonna happen.” I confess.

“I’m so sorry. If you don’t mind me asking, why did you break up?”

“We were just moving in different directions in life.” I shrug.

“How long were you together for?”

“7 months, he’s the first person that I loved.” I stare at the ground.

“He’s the dude who was at the studio right?” He asks.

“Yeah.” I nod.

“He seemed like a cool guy. Why does your dad hate him?”

“My mum just says it’s because he’s protective of me or something.” I shrug.

“What was your relationship like?” Michael asks.

“We were bestfriends, people would wonder if we were actually just really close friends. I could talk to him about literally anything and he would talk to me about anything. We did everything together, we’d planned our life out ever since we left high school, and I don’t know what to do with these plans now. We thought we could take on the world together, but it shows that that isn’t the case.”

“Were you blinded by the fact that you were actually with him, that you didn’t take notice it was a high school relationship?”

“We got together like a month after we graduated, so not really. We didn’t really talk when we were in school, he was just a friend of my brother that I saw occasionally.” I shake my head.

“Maybe you were just meant to be bestfriends, but you mistook the connection between you both for romantic feelings.” Michael says and that takes me back a little.

“Wow, never thought about that.” I trail off. “But I did have feelings for him, I know that for sure.”

“That’s expected, if you did all those couple-y type things for quite along time, you’re bound to catch feelings. I believe that you have multiple soulmates in life, musical taste soulmates, friend soulmates, late night adventure soulmates, distant friend soulmates, anything soulmates for specific things in life, the romantic soulmates are just a portion of life, don’t forget. Sure, they’re going to be there for a lot, but they aren’t the main aspect in this thing we call life.” Michael explains me his view.

“Have you got all your soulmates?” I ask.

“A lot of them, there are a lot of things that are a specific fit for specific people. You gradually gather people along the way, and sometimes they stay and sometimes they come and go.”

“I’ve got to say, you’ve got a beautiful way of looking at things.” I smile.

“We’ve all got differnt ways of seeing stuff.” He shrugs. “You’ve got an amazing way of looking at things too, the way you transform everything into a song, and by the sounds of it, everything is really well written and sounds fantastic.” Michael adds.

“Thank you.” I chuckle, blushing ever so slightly.

“When your dad first told me about you, I thought you were just some emo 16 year old, that could only play a black electric guitar, and had written really depressing lyrics, I couldn’t of been more wrong.” He laughs.

“That was kinda me when I was like 14.” I laugh.

“Is that your notebook that you right all your songs in?” Michael points towards the black covered notebook on the edge of the piano.

“Yeah, I’ve got so many of them, I’ve nearly finished that one.” I confirm.

“Can I?” He asks.

I never let anyone read my book, I mean no one, I’ve let my dad read a few pages, and I think my brother found an old one a couple years ago, but I snatched it from him before he could look any further, but for some reason I find myself nodding my head, because I feel almost comfortable letting him read something so personal, and it feels right.

He leans over and grasps it in his hands, and opens up a random page.

“You have really petite handwriting.” He comments after a while and I chuckle.

Deciding to do something with the silence in the air, instead of hearing the occasional turn of a page, I face the piano again and just play a simple piece.

“Honestly most of these things I can relate to so much, and you’re so talented with words it blows my mind how elegant the words are.” He speaks up after a while.

“Thank you so much. I love your music too, Jet Black Heart is so well written and I can relate to it a lot.” I say. “What was your favourite?”

“I’m not sure if there is a favourite, but I was curious about the song Strange Love.” He smirks.

“God, if my dad heard that one, I don’t think I could live with myself or look him in the eye ever again.” I bite my lip.

“I can’t really pick a favourite, they’re all so good, it’s like when you’re picking songs to actually put on the album, it’s so hard, it would be like picking a favourite child or guitar.” He admits.

“You know, being with you made me pretty much forget about the fact that I broke up with someone mere hours ago.” I confess and make my way over to the couch, him soon joining me.

“Really?” He questions with a warm smile.

“Yeah, and I don’t really feel guilty about it.”

“When you break up with someone, you don’t have to be hung up over them for ages, it’s okay for it to not affect you, as long it’s not a fake facade then in that case, you need time to greive so you move along. It’s okay to feel everything, not feel anything at all, or be in the middle, you have emotions and when you don’t use them, it doesn’t mean they’re broken, if you’re feeling a lot of things, it just shows you that they are there and might be bigger than some people, if you’re in the middle, I just shows you’re human. Anything on the emotional radar is acceptable and normal.”

“I’m so glad you’re a musician so that you can tell millions of people it’s okay to be who they are.” I smile.

“So am I.” He nods. “You’re a really great girl, I’d love to get to know you better.”

“Thanks.” I bashfully laugh. “Why don’t we ask each other questions?”

“Sure, I’ll go first. What’s your favourite song at the moment?” He asks.

“I’m actually loving Diamonds by Our Last Night.” I answer. “What is your biggest fear?”

“Besides spiders, it would probably be losing the people that mean the most to me. If you could go back 5 years, what advice would you give yourself?” Michael questions.

“I was 14, I’d probably tell myself that it’s okay to be you, you don’t need to be this type of person, you are allowed to be weird. What experiences have shaped you to who you are today?”

“I mean the band has shaped me into who I am, but my teenage ‘demons’ have shaped me, I guess, there’s no big experience, just little things. What’s your story?”

“I was born in 1998, uh we were constantly moving around because of my dad’s band, for quite a while up until I was like 6, we actually went on tour with my dad’s old band for a year, then we settled down for a while. I was home schooled, properly got into music and started learning all these instruments, when I was 12 I went to school, I tried to fit in with people, but never really found the right people until I did when I was 13 and became friends with my type of people who had the same interests as me. Moving into my teenage years, the first couple years were alright, I was trying to figure out who I was and what I liked. When I got to 15, I lost myself, is the only way I can put it. I went through a rough patch mentally, I lost quite a few people during at that time by pushing people away, I hated people seeing me so vulnerable, so I decided if they can’t see me it will help me, when in reality I needed them more than anything. I lost someone who was so special to me, which I think caused it all, I sunk deeper everyday, and one day took two days to climb up. That lasted until I was 17, I wasn’t always sad, I did have happy days, but there was a big contrast between the two, I spent that year nursing myself back to health, properly experiencing life again, and either seeing the same people I pushed away again or meeting new people. Then I started to find myself again, and now I’m here, going on 20 in a couple months.” I tell him. “If you could have one super power, what would it be?”

“Just one? I don’t think I’d be able to choose just one, definetly invisablity for obvious reasons, flying because that’s fucking cool, and teleportation because I could be anywhere I wanted plus I could fuck with people so hard. What is the most valuable thing you own?”

Fender custom materbuilt Greg Fessler 1960 Stratocaster

“I own my great grandmas diamond necklace, I also own a Fender custom materbuilt Greg Fessler 1960 Stratocaster, as well as a few other expensive guitars.” I say.

“No way! Holy shit.”

“Yeah, I got it for my 18th birthday.” I nod. “What’s your favourite thing to do when you’re stressed?” I ask and he wiggles his eyebrows, making me rolls my eyes.

“Well, besides that, I love to listen to music and just sit there. What was your first concert?”

“It was probably something like the Jonas Brothers or something, I can’t really remember, I’ve been to so many concerts, I’ve forgotten.”

This all goes on for a while, until we end up asking stupid questions and messing around whilst being sprawled out the couch.

“What’s your favourite food?” He asks.

“I fucking love nachos and cake.” I answer. “What’s do you want as a pet?”

“I really want a tortoise or a hedgehog.” He explains. “Favourite colour?”

“Either purple, navy blue, or black. If you could go anywhere right now, where would you go and who would you take?”

“I’d probably go to some random beach or a big ballpit, and I’d take you. What’s one thing you wish you could do?”

“I wish I could whistle blowing out, and have an unlimited amount of mac and cheese. Cats or dogs?”

“I can’t pick! It’s like picking a favourite sibling!” He exclaims.

“How many siblings do you have?” I question.

“Firstly, it’s my go, and secondly I don’t have any.”

“Then how would you know what it’s like to pick a favourite sibling?” I ask.

“How would you know, you’ve only got one choice.” He points out.

“Uh, don’t judge my choices.” I say.

“Then don’t judge mine.” He dramatically turns his nose up at me and looks away.

“You don’t have any choices for me to judge.” I laugh and he gasps.

“I thought you were cool and a nice girl, but clearly I was wrong.” He tells me.

“So, you think I’m cool?” I smirk.

“I never said that.” He defends.

“Are you sure, because I remember hearing ‘I thought you were a cool girl’.” I accuse and adding emphasis on the word cool.

“I think you heard wrong.” He replies and sits up, tapping my earlobe slightly.

“Are you sure?” I raise an eyebrow.

“Defiently, you are so lame and I’m the coolest one here.” He rolls his eyes at me.

“Admit it, I’m cooler than you.”

“Never in a million years.” He shakes his head.

“It’s okay Michael, it’s understandable.” I tease with a smile.

“Why would I admit something that’s clearly untrue?” He asks in disbelief. “Like look at this, then look at… that.” He gestures to me.

“Am I damaging your ego, Michael?” I coo.

“No.” He huffs.

“You think I’m cool, and I can clearly see why.” I chuckle.

“You need to have a look at yourself in the mirror.” He tells me.

“I think you j-”

I get cut off by his lips crashing onto mine, at first I freeze but then work my lips against his. I begin to un-tense when I feel his hands on me, he reaches up to hold my jaw and places a hand on my waist, where as I hold the junction where his neck and shoulder meet, and place my hand on his lower thigh.

Once we get more comfortable with each other, Michael starts to push me back onto the couch, once my back hits it, he climbs on top of me runs his hand up and down my side.

This kiss feels so differnt to the ones I’ve experienced before, it feels more… real? I don’t know it just feels a lot more special to any other intimate moment I’ve shared with someone.

“I think we can both agree I’m cooler.” He quietly says against my lips.

“Yeah fucking right, Clifford.” I laugh.

“I’m g-”

I cut him off my pulling him into another kiss. It’s a lot more heated than last time, I think it’s because we both know we both want it. His right hand runs agonisingly slowly down my sides and down my thigh, before he pulls my thigh up to his waist, then trails his hand down my thigh, up to my hip.

Michael swipes his tongue across my bottom lip and I grant him access. I explore his mouth and begin to get accompanied by his tongue.

“I think I found my musical soulmate.” He smirks as he pulls back.

Suddenly we hear the sound of voices coming closer and the sound of doors opening and closing, we quickly scramble away from each other and sit on opposite ends of the couch.

“Thank you so much for helping me with the chord progression.” I try and play it off.

“It was such a beautiful song, I’m glad I got to help you with it.” He smiles at me.

“You helped her with a song?” My dad asks as they all walk in.

“Yeah, Michael gave me an idea for the bridge.” I inform. “What were you guys doing?”

“We were discussing some new things for the album, and we started a little bit of writing.” My dad explains. “We used part of a bassline I heard you play the other day, hope you don’t mind.”

“No, I love when you steal my originals.” I joke. “Nah, I don’t mind, which one was it?”

“The one you and Jacob were messing around with on Thursday.” He tells me.

“Oh, right, I wasn’t really digging that anyway, we were just fucking around.” I shrug.

“So uh, we’re gonna head back home, it’s like 11 now and we have a morning full of interviews that start at something like 9:30.” Ashton laughs.

“Alright, thank you guys so much for coming, looking forward to the future.” My dad begins.

“Thanks so much for having us, and thank you for cooking dinner for us.” Calum smiles.

“Yeah, see you in the studio in a couple days.” Luke says.

“Had a great time tonight, hope to see everyone soon.” Michael adds.

My mum comes into the foyer, Jacob soon following, his head buried in his phone.

“Nice meeting you, you’re all so kind.” My mum beams brightly.

“See you around, my team will totally beat yours on Wednesday, Calum.” My brother smirks.

“Dream fucking on.” He laughs.

“Great talking to you about music, and your favourite bands, gotta say, you’ve got a great music taste.” Luke tells me.

“Thanks, I mean, we’ve got the same taste, so you’ve got a great taste too.” I chuckle.

We all continue to chat for 5 more minutes before we all start exchanging goodbyes.

Calum and my dad shake hands and laugh about something, before he moves on. Whilst my whole family is focused on saying goodbye to everyone, Michael comes up to me.

“It was good getting to know you better.” He smiles down at me.

“Same here, uh, I’m guessing I’ll see you around the studio or you’ll come over again soon.”

“Probably.” He nods.

Michael smirks and places a hand on my waist, and brings me into a sort of hug and whispers in my ear, “I’ll admit you are kinda cool.”

“Cooler than you?” I ask as we pull back.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself.” He laughs.

“I hate you.” I laugh.

“Really? Earli-”

“Go.” I turn him around and push him towards the door as he laughs to himself.

I say goodbye to everyone, my mum and I giving hugs to the boys, whilst Jacob and my dad shake hands with them.

“Bye, guys.” They all wave as they walk out the door.

“Oh shit, I need to move my car.” I realize.

“What?” My dad questions.

“They were parked in my spot, so I had to park outside, and it’s not gonna be easy to get out.” I explain as I get my keys.

“Alright, see you in a minute then.” He waves.

Walking out the door and down the long pathway, until I reach them.

“Stalking us?” Calum jokes as I walk next to them.

“No, you parked in my spot, and I don’t want my car to get scratched as you drive off, so make your own mind up.” I reply as I open my car door.

“Oh, shit sorry.” Ashton chuckles as they reach their car.

I smile in return before I sit down and out my key into the ignition, causing the sound of All Time Low to come out the speakers. Turning that down a little, I begin to put a Paramore album CD back in its case.

“Hey.” Someone says next to me.

I look out of my wide open door and see Michael standing there.

“Hey.” I nod.

“Why so you use CDs to listen to music? Why don’t you just use your phone?” Michael asks.

“I lost my Aux cord the other week, so then I used CDs and I just haven’t gotten round to buying a new one.” I explain.

“Haven’t listened to an actual CD in ages.” Michael muses.

“They bring back some memories huh. So what’s up?”

“Well, whilst those idiots mess around on snapchat, I thought I’d say goodbye.” He smiles.

“Aw how nice.” I joke.

“I’m a nice guy.” He says.

“Eh.” I shrug.

“Rude.” He gasps. “Okay what I really wanted to do is this.” He grins and presses his lips against mine.

Which I’m kind of surprised by, but I also kind of expected it.

He loosely holds my neck and gently rubs his thumb on my jaw as his mouth works against mine.

“Great, now can I have your number?” He smirks as we pull back.

“Bold as ever, Clifford.” I mutter as he passes me his phone.

“Always am.”

“Here.” I pass his phone back, and he puts it in his pocket again.

“Thank you.” He sincerely says and gives me a small kiss, a little more than a peck.

“See you soon.” I wave and close my door as he walks away.

***

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD.” My brother and I yell when my dad comes into the kitchen.

“Thanks, guys.” He smiles appreciative before he gives my mum a greeting kiss.

“Ew.” Jacob and I cringe.

“We’re in love!” My mum exclaims.

“So?”

“You do it with Mason pretty much everyday.” Dad claims.

“Speaking of Mason, I haven’t seen him in a while.” Mum notices.

“Oh yeah, you’re right, I saw him the other day, he seemed fine.” Jacob adds.

“We uh, we broke up.” I confess. “But I’m okay with it, I’m not sad about it anymore.”

“What?” Jacob exclaims.

“When did this happen?” Mum asks.

“Couple weeks ago.” I shrug. “It was actually the night the 5SOS boys came over.”

“Why’d you break up?” Jacob questions.

“We were just moving in different directions. It was kinda mutual, I guess, now that I’m out of it, I can see it, and it needed to happen.” I say.

“Well this has to be the best birthday present ever.” My dad jokes.

“Shut up.” I laugh.

“You’re okay though, you feel fine?” Mum asks.

“Yeah, great actually.” I nod.

“That’s great.” She smiles.

“How’s Mason?” I question Jacob.

“He seems fine, I guess. He was a little off for quite a few days, but now he seems to be getting on the mend.”

I’m glad he’s alright, we might not be dating anymore, but it makes me happy to know that he’s okay.

“Good.” I smile.

“Do you still care about him?” Jacob teases.

“Kinda, but you wouldn’t know because your love life is non existent.” I smirk.

“Uh, excuse me.” He gasps.

“When was the last time you had a girlfriend?” I ask.

“Last year, but I’ve had things going on with other girls since then, thank you very much.” He turns his nose up at me.

“They ran away because they realized how much of a loser you are.” I laugh.

“Really? What about Dianna?” He refers to his most recent ex girlfriend, and they went out for 5 months.

“She felt bad for you.” I shrug.

“Rude.”

“Well, I’m gonna be in the living room, dad I’m gonna need your help later I think.” I say.

“What with?” He asks.

“Some lyrics, I might be wrong though, it’s just a guess.” I shrug.

“Okay, give me a shout if you do need me.”

“Thanks.”

With that I leave the kitchen table and go into the lounge, picking up the acoustic guitar I was working with before I went for breakfast.

Placing the guitar on my lap, I pluck some open strings to just test the waters. Picking up the pick I had on the coffee table, I begin to play through from the start.

“Who are you texting because you’re smiling like an idiot.” My brother asks.

“Uh, no one.” I say.

“Oh really?” He raises an eyebrow. “Then what are you smiling at?”

“A Twitter thread.” I tell him.

It’s a little while later now, and I’m currently texting Michael. We’ve been texting constantly ever since the night he came over, it’s mainly just getting to know each other and joking around. We’ve talked on the phone a couple times and facetimed once, it was mainly to talk about music, more specifically helping each other out with music.

I needed help with the chorus of a song I was writing, so I placed my phone onto the table so my guitar was in frame, and he helped me with it, as well as the lyrics. It turned out really well, and it’s become a really special song to me.

He called me up, with the intentions of wanting help with some lyrics for the song, that did work for around 20 minutes, until we ended up just talking about everything and nothing for ages.

“Hey, so, as you both know it’s your dad’s birthday, and there’s going to be a party-,”

“Speaking of parties, I never got an invite.” Jacob cuts mum off. “Did you, (Y/N)?”

“No, I didn’t actually.”

“It’s your own father’s, you don’t need an invite, it’s at our house anyway.” Mum rolls her eyes.

“What up, anyway?” I ask.

“I was just wondering if you’ll be around all day to help me and some of my friends out with decorating and stuff. It starts at 4, if you aren’t around.”

“What kind lf party starts at 4? It usually starts at 9 or 10.” I exclaim.

“This is a 50 year old’s birthday party, not a house party.” She points out.

“I would prefer seeing a load of old people getting smashed.” I mutter.

“50, is not old!”

“It’s half of 100.” I say.

“Just answer my question.” She sighs.

“I’m actually super busy, so…” I trial off. “Wait, are your weird vegan friends helping out because if Samantha goes on another rant about avocados or if Tilly keeps making me weird food again, I will be perfectly fine with flying over the Bermuda Triangle.”

“No, they’re not and they’re not that bad, plus Tilly is going through some family issue right now so cut her some slack. And oh really, what with?” She raises a perfectly shaped eyebrow.

“Uh, I’m, um, hanging out with Mason, yes that’s what I’m doing.” I click and point a finger at her. “Also, Tilly pretty much force fed me mushrooms and peas, I’m not cutting her anything but a restraining order.” I add making her roll her eyes.

“You broke up with Mason.”

“So? We can still be friends.” I state.

We’ve barely talked actually, we had a quick text conversation the other day, we were just checking in with each other, and we haven’t spoken since then.

“Jacob?”

“Unlike my rude sister, I’d love to help my mother.” He glares at me as he says that.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, I’ve actually got some stuff to do, I need to finish a piano part, which I’m finding really difficult. I can help for a little bit though.” I honestly tell her.

“Just like your father.” She chuckles. “Thank you, do you need any help with it?”

“Maybe, I’ll see how it goes.” I shrug with a smile. “When do you need my help?”

“Not right now, probably in a couple hours though, although, Jacob, as you were so eager to help, I could use some muscles to lift some things up.” She smugly smirks.

“Hey! I’ve got muscles.” I protest.

“(Y/N), you moved your desk like 3 metres, and your arms hurt for 2 days.” Jacob sighs.

“Touchè.”

***

After hours, of helping set everything up, I can finally relax, so I climb into the hammock that is tied to two trees.

“Lacey!” I call and pat my lap, knowing she’s sitting right next the tree.

She gracefully jumps up, and struggles to stand up for a little while because when she jumped she made the hammock move, before she begins to settle down, and lays down on top of me, I stroke her silky coat and laugh at her expression.

I pick my phone up and begin to scroll through various social medias.

Guests are due to arrive at any second now, I have no idea whom is actually coming, I just know it’s a lot of people. Some of mine and Jacob’s friends are coming, and most of our family is also coming, I know that much, but the rest I don’t know.

There’s an unnecessary amount of balloons everywhere, some helium and some filled with just air. There’s banners hung up around the place, streamers everywhere, and fairy lights hung up anywhere possible. There’s also speakers dotted around playing some music, there’s multiple tables filled with every type of food you can think of, for some reason there’s a small piano placed outside, I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of people playing that.

I suck on a strawberry lace as I hear people coming and the volume of the music begins to increase as the crowd gets bigger.

I love being antisocial, in this hammock it literally engulfs me and Lacey, so you can only see us if you sat right next to the hammock, obviously you can notice someone is in here, but you can’t see who.

The sun is shining down, I would of complained if my face wasn’t in the shade, but thankfully it is, and Lacey is watching the world go by happily.

“Well this is the cutest shit I’ve seen in a long time.” A voice interrupts me a little while later.

“Michael?” I questions and put my phone down.

“That is me.” He confirms.

“I just didn’t expect to see you here.” I say.

“Why wouldn’t I come and see my favourite girl?” He states as if it’s the most obvious thing.

“Well it’s good to see you again.” I smile.

“Same here.” He nods. “Why are you here?”

“I was here before the party started, but firstly I couldn’t just push this girl off me, secondly it is a great way of escaping saying hello to people.” I chuckle.

“That would be pretty cruel.” He agrees as he strokes Lacey’s head.

“Are you all here?” I questions.

“Yeah, Luke and Ashton are talking to your dad, and Calum is by the piano.” He explains.

“Oh, how long have you been here?”

“15 - 20 minutes, I was actually looking for you.”

“Here I am.” I smile.

“Yeah, so how have you been?” He asks and shoves his hands in his jeans.

“Great, yourself?”

“Really good, music is going well, people in my life are good, everything is going great.” He nods his head with a smile.

“Lacey!” I grab her attension with a high pitched voice, and her head perks up. “Could you pass me that tennis ball over there?” I ask Michael.

He turns around and walks the small distance, grabbing the old ball, before coming back to us.

“Good boy.” I joke. “Do you want the ball, Lacey?”

She begins to excitedly get up, and I throw the ball over where Jacob is standing, then she jumps off the hammock all together and chases the ball.

“That was effective.” Michael laughs, I nod my head in agreement and stand up.

We subconsciously end up slowly walking around the whole garden, talking about the most random shit ever. I love talking to Michael because I can literally forget about everything that is going on around me. I forgot we were surrounded by so many people until I nearly bumped into someone, but Michael quickly guided me away with a hand on my waist.

“I have no idea why this is out here.” I say as we reach the small piano.

“How long have you been playing piano for again?” Michael asks as we both sit on the stool.

“9 years, coming up to 10. My mum taught me, she’s more into classical music, where as my dad is more into rock, which was always confusing when I was growing up, because there’s graceful music playing in one part of the house, and rock playing in another.”

I begin to press a few keys here and there, and Michael places his right hand on multiple keys on the higher keys.

“Wait you go here, and I’ll go here, then, yeah then keep that rhythm.” Michael instructs and places my hand to his choice of keys.

Soon enough we create a little tune, which keeps progressing.

“You guys should write as song, it’d be so good, you both have slightly different writing styles, but I think they’d work really well.” The voice of my dad speaks up.

“Maybe in the future.” I shrug.

“I agree, we could make a great song between us.” Michael adds.

“I’m gonna leave you kids alone now, don’t get too busy.” He winks then walks away.

“Dad!” I exclaim whilst Michael laughs.

“I’ll be back in a minute, I’ve just gotta talk to Ashton for a minute.” Michael tells me and stands up.

“Okay, I’ll be here.”

I watch everyone socialize and have smiles on their faces. I know or at least have seen most of the people here, although there’s a handful of people I’ve never seen before.

There’s the younger people playing with balloons, the dog, and each other. Young adults who are talking with themselves or observing whilst drinking. The older adults are laughing and talking with everyone, drinks in hand. There’s also quiet ones dotted around, but they still seem to be had fun.

My fingers make their way to specific and I find myself playing the opening chords to a song of mine.

“Walking on the rooftops Talking of times With our eyes a glowing Like the city lights She stands on the ledge, She says, 'it looks so high’

You know it’s a…

Long way down Feels like a long way down Feels like a long way down Like a long way down So honey don’t leave, don’t leave, Please don’t leave me now

Cuz I can feel the rivers Winding through the lands Two lines, and a poet Like a kind old rye You know we could talk in that language Only we understand

But you know..

It’s a long way down You know it’s a long way down Feels like a long way down Love it feels like a long way down So honey don’t leave, don’t leave, Please don’t leave me now.”

It’s an old song, I wrote it when I was 16 or something.

“That’s a stunning song, is it recent?”

Looking to my right, I see Michael staring down at me I awe.

“No, it’s an old song, I wrote it when I was 16.” I say. “I haven’t played it in years, I was just looking down at the keys, and remembered it.”

“It’s a nice song, could be used for a movie or something.” He chuckles.

“You left your Moose Blood CD in my car.” My brother interrupts us and throws it on my lap.

“Careful, it has feelings!” I exclaim.

“Let me guess, your guitars have feelings too?” Jacob teases.

“Obviously.”

“Sure, whatever, I’m gonna leave your lameass before your air affects me.” He says and walks away.

“You wanna go up to my room with me?” I ask Michael.

“I don’t know, this is all moving too fast for me.” He holds his hands out.

“Shut up.” I laugh and turn him around and push him towards the house.

I lead him all the way up to my room, and I push the door open, and go to my bed.

“Nice guitars.” Michael gestures to the 4 guitars on the wall.

“Thanks.” I nod and stand up, heading to my CD collection.

“How long have you been collecting those?” Michael asks.

“CDs? Years, I’ve got a high school musical one here.” I laugh and pick it out.

“This looks oddly similar to our album CD.” Michael notices.

“What can I say? You are pretty lame.”

“So I was uncool last time and now I’m lame? What’s next?” He smirks.

“Depends on what you do.” I tell him. “Anything can happen next.”

“Anything huh?” He raises an eyebrow.

“If you play your cards right, you could get whatever you want.”

“And what cards do I need?” He asks and places his hands on my waist.

“That’s for you to work out yourself.” I reply. “If your game and strategy is good, the odds may be in your favour, but if your words are copy and paste, shit strategy, babe.” I put emphasis on the final world and take his hands off me, taking a step back.

“How many rounds are there?” Michael questions.

“Till I get tired.” I shrug and watch as he sits down on my bed. “Or if the person is boring.”

“Am I boring?” He asks.

“I don’t know, I haven’t spent much time with you.”

“Do you want to?” He questions.

“Depends how this night ends.”

“I think you and I both know how it’s going to end.” He sends me a knowing look.

“Oh yeah? What do you think is gonna happen?” I raise an eyebrow.

“Well it usually starts with you coming closer.” He hints and I walk across the dimly lit room and closer to Michael.

Apparently this isn’t close enough because he gently takes hold of my hands and pulls me in between in legs.

Michael runs his hands from my thighs all the way up to my waist.

“I made my move, now it’s your turn.” Michael smirks.

“Alright, this isn’t a board game.” I say but make my move anyway by sitting on his lap and he hums in appreciation.

“Coming at me again with these weak insults.” He says and wraps an arm around my waist, holding onto my hip.

“Coming at me again with these weak comebacks.” I mock him whilst playing with his hair on the back of his head.

“Come on babe, we can both agree I could own you at most things, easily.” He cockily states.

“Like what?” I raise and eyebrow and gracefully turn around a little bit, and reposition myself so that I’m straddling him. “I’ll tell you what you do beat me at, having a big ego and being cocky.”

“You know what else is big?” He winks.

“Michael!” I laugh.

“I can definetly beat you at having a bigger dick.”

“Really? I don’t doubt that for a second.” I say as he rubs circles on my hips with his thumbs.

“You know, it’s not nice to use sarcasm.” He replies.

I stare down at him, how his lips are slightly parted, his green eyes staring up at me, filled with as much intensity as mine, and his ever so slight stubble against his pale complexion.

“Your go.” I whisper when I realize how close our faces are getting.

Michael makes the very short distance and presses his lips on mine in a rushed manner. His hand travels up and goes to my hair, lazily playing with it, whilst the other is comfortably placed on my waist. Michael pulls me as close as he can so our bodies are pressed up against each other and trails his hands down so that they are on my ass, he squeezes it a little which makes me gasp and he takes that opportunity to slide his tongue in. I become a little bit daring and push us back so that we’re laying down on my bed.

Casually making out is fun, but I’ve already done that with him, and I want to see what he is capable of.

I straddle his hips and disconnect our lips, and connect my lips to his body again by paying attension to his neck. He tilts his head back and to the side, giving me more access. I appear to of found his sweet spot because he lets out a small groan as I suck on it.

He lets me work my magic on his neck for a little bit, but I can tell how he is itching to take control, as his hands keep twitching and he keeps tensing up every now and then.

All of a sudden he flips us around and he straddles my hips, pinning my hands down to the bed with his hands.

“Never took you for a dominant person.” He muses as he gets to know my collarbones.

“You also took me for an emo 16 year old, I guess your predictions are wrong.” I reply, pausing slightly in the middle when he sucks on my exposed cleavage.

“I can predict that I could have you screaming my name if I had the chance.” He says in my ear.

“You better show me what those guitarist fingers can do then.” I whisper back.

He breaks away from me and smiles, before he crashes his lips against mine and his hands travel.

***

“That was fun.” Michael says as he catches his breath.

“Yeah.” I nod in agreement as Michael’s arm tightens around me.

We continue to just lay down, enjoying each others presence, and welcoming the silence whilst we think about what just happened. We didn’t go all the way, we just returned favours, shall I say.

“I could get used to this.” Michael sighs.

“Then let yourself.” I tell him and his hand pauses on making random shapes on my collar bone.

“I think- I think I will.” He smiles down at me. “Let me take you out.”

“Okay Clifford, I’ll let you take me out on Friday.” I say.

“Thank you.” He smiles and presses his lips against mine in a short kiss.

“I think we should probably get back to the party.” I remind him.

“Probably.” He nods and places a tender kiss on my neck before getting up.

I follow his actions and head towards the mirror, fixing my make up slightly and brushing my hair.

“You ready?” Michael asks as I stand next to him, and he wraps an arm around my waist.

“Yeah.” I nod and we kiss one final time before we disconnect from each other.

“Okay then.” He gestures for me to go out the door and lead the way.

“Ah, there you guys are!” My dad greets us.

“Hello, I was showing Michael my CD collection and stuff.” I tell him. “Having a nice birthday?”

“It’s been great so far.” He replies.

Us three all drift into a conversation about music, and joke around a little, before he gets called over by my mum.

“Bye guys, I’ll talk to you later.” He smiles and walls away.

“You wanna sit down over there?” Michael asks and nods over behind me, to the places where the rest of his band is and two of my cousin’s are.

“Sure.” I respond and we walk over.

“Hey.” I wave and sit down in one of the chairs.

“Hello.” They all greet us.

“Where have you been?” Calum asks with a smirk.

“My bedroom.” I say and put my foot on the small garden furniture table.

“Oh really?” His smirk widens.

“Not like that.” Michael laughs. “She was showing me her CD collection and we just talked a little.”

“Hey, Y/N, play something.” My brother interrupts us as he brings me an acoustic guitar, although I’m glad we dodged that bullet.

“Why me?” I ask in annoyance.

“Because you’re the only one I know who can play.” He says which makes Luke, Michael, and one of my cousins cough.

“Shut up, just play.” He chuckles.

“Fine.” I shrug taking it from him, and Jacob sits down in one of the spare chairs. “Any requests?”

“Play Fake Plastic Trees.” Jacob tells me.

“Is this the only reason you asked me to play something?” I ask as I check if it’s tune.

“Maybe, but it’s a really good song.” Jacob pleads.

“But it’s not just a guitar that goes to it.” I reason with him.

“Haven’t you got it recorded on your phone?” He questions.

“Oh yeah, good call.”

I pull my phone out my phone and see if I have it saved, it turns out I do.

“Okay then, I’ll play it.”

Placing my fingers on the right frets and I begin.

“Her green plastic watering can For her fake Chinese rubber plant In the fake plastic earth That she bought from a rubber man In a town full of rubber plans To get rid of itself

It wears her out, it wears her out It wears her out, it wears her out

She lives with a broken man A cracked polystyrene man Who just crumbles and burns He used to do surgery For girls in the eighties But gravity always wins

It wears him out, it wears him out It wears him out, it wears him out

She looks like the real thing She tastes like the real thing My fake plastic love But I can’t help the feeling I could blow through the ceiling If I just turn and run

It wears me out, it wears me out It wears me out, it wears me out

If I could be who you wanted If I could be who you wanted all the time

All the time… All the time…”

“Wow, thats a very sad song.” Ashton says.

“What’s it about?” Luke asks.

“I feel as if music can be interpreted in different ways, for me, I was having one of those late night conversations with a friend about random things, and fakness came up, and for me, the song simply focuses on the fact that the artificialness of the world will wear you out in the end. I use examples like plastic surgeons, fake plants and of course fake love, like marriage based on money or looks. It’s depressing but it can be very true. Your job, your home, and even your love can be based on something completely fake. There is a love part to it, but it’s not crucial, but it’s a song so you can make it into anything you want.” I explain.

“How old is the song?” Calum questions.

“I wrote it when I was 16 or 17, that’s kinda why the love part isn’t crucial, because I wasn’t experienced and I didn’t even know what love felt like. I wrote it at a time in my life when I was very sad.”

“I haven’t heard it in a while, and the lyrics came into my head, so that’s why I came over here.” Jacob steers the conversation away.

“I would love to hear every song you’ve written suddenly.” Luke chuckles.

“At least read them.” Ashton adds.

“She never lets anyone read her notebooks, I read part of it one time and she didn’t speak to me for 2 weeks.” Jacob laughs.

“Oh really?” Michael smirks making me look at him, giving him a warning glare.

That’s how the rest of our night goes on, talking about stuff, Michael and I giving each other sneaky glances or finding ways to touch each other affectionately, playing music, and getting to know the other boys until iy got dark, not knowing what the future holds for us, but all I can do is hope it works out in my favour.

Little did I know that I’d end up being late to Michael and I’s first date, but there were going to be many dates after that to make up for it.

228 notes · View notes

zzizzigom · 7 years ago

Text

Moonflowers — Hyungwon | 3

Characters: Female Reader x Heir!Hyungwon, Minhyuk cameo

Genre/warnings: fake relationship, fluff, no warnings for this part

Length: 4972 words

A/N: Sorry this took so long to put out, it’s quite longer than the other parts but I just don’t want the relationship to feel too flat so I tried to add a little more in-between the lines stuff but idk lol I’m also trying to balance between tumblr and ao3 now as well so, please for give me if things take a little longer now.

I hope you all enjoy it and I apologize for any typos I missed.

Parts: one | two

You’re nose deep into your textbook when the chair across from you scrapes across the floor jolting you from your focus. Head snapping up, you have to reach up and push the glasses teetering on the tip of your nose back into position. In front of you, Hyungwon looks on with an amused and slightly apologetic look.

You thought he looked stunning in the suit at the party, but you’re shocked to silence when you realize he’s just as stunning in casual clothes. He’s wearing a plain white shirt with a long black cardigan and some black jeans. Instead of the gelled up look from the last time, his hair is now falling across his forehead, the ends slightly damp and curling. As he sits down, he places a black clutch bag on the table top and leans back in the chair, crossing his arms and legs.

“Sorry,” he starts. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”

His husky voice pulls you out of your reverie and you blink away your wandering thoughts. “Uh...it’s fine. You’re late.”

Hyungwon’s expression drops the amusement and is full blown apology now. “I know, I’m sorry. I forgot to set my alarm, and if that thing doesn’t go off I will not wake up.”

“Oh,” you let out lamely. You open your mouth to say something more but close it, realizing you don’t know what to say. Suddenly awkward, you save your page in the textbook and shut it to shove it and your notebook back into your bag. Sensing your unease, Hyungwon leans forward to rest his arms on the table. He lowers his voice so nearby tables can’t hear. “I was serious, if you don’t want to do it just tell me.”

“No, I want to. I think.” Your voice is slightly shaky and by the unconvinced look in Hyungwon’s expression he doesn’t believe it either. Clearing your throat, you push up your glasses once more and look him in the eye. “I want to do it. I just have some things I want to ask you.”

Hyungwon nods encouragingly and leans back into his previously relaxed position. “I’ll answer anything you want to know.”

You nod your head and when your glasses slide down your nose at the motion you purse your lips and slide them off your face. The screws are starting to come loose, and you make a mental note to yourself to look up how to repair your own glasses before sticking them back in their case. “It’s more of a confirmation, I guess.” When you don’t continue, Hyungwon gives a small reassuring smile. You sigh and give an attempt at returning the gesture. “You’re not going to do anything weird, right? We’re just pretending to date to tick off your parents and in return you’ll...uh...you’ll give me some financial assistance?”

The corners of Hyungwon’s lips twitch but he nods. “Yes. That’s all it’ll be.” His tone turns teasing suddenly, “Unless you want something more?”

You choke on your intake of breath and give him an incredulous look. Hyungwon returns it with a smile of feigned innocence, eyebrows raised. Regaining yourself, you click your tongue and roll your eyes at his sudden display of cheekiness. Deciding to bring the conversation back to its point you speak again.

“Listen, I don’t want to keep dragging this out, so I’ll do it. But promise me that if I want out, I’ll get out.”

Hyungwon immediately nods picking up on your no nonsense tone. “Say the words and it’s over.” You let out sigh of relief as a weight you didn’t realized had settled was lifted off your shoulders. Last thing you wanted was to be stuck in some weird hostage situation. Hyungwon seems to notice your change in attitude because he smiles brightly and holds out a hand.

“Well then, I guess I should formally introduce myself. My name’s Chae Hyungwon, it’s very nice to meet you.”

You give out a small snort and take his hand in your own, marveling to yourself how soft and secure his hand feels, before giving it a shake. “My name’s Y/N, nice to meet you as well.”

Hyungwon smiles and you feel his fingers tighten ever so slightly on your hand. When you meet his slightly lethargic, yet warm gaze, something akin to electricity sparks down your spine and you pull your hand away.

Awkwardly clearing your throat you blink and look away. “So when does this whole charade start?”

Hyungwon turns thoughtful. “It’d be better if it was soon so that the rumors from the party don’t die out too fast.”

“Rumors?”

Hyungwon nods. “Apparently we were the most interesting thing happening at the gala.”

“Oh my God…”

“Hey, don’t worry about it. I promise you whatever they’re saying is going to die out pretty fast.”

“And then what? They’ll just keep talking about us when we come out as a couple.”

Hyungwon reaches out, this time with both hands and clasps yours in his own. You look down and stare at the gesture, his hands are so much bigger than your own. The motion once again has that shock going down your spine. “Y/N, I promise it’ll be okay. I’ll make sure nothing gets too out of hand.”

You take a deep breath and decide to trust him. “Fine...fine. Do you have a story you want us to stick to?”

Hyungwon’s face suddenly goes slack. It’s adorable really, the look that blooms across his face. Gone is the seemingly well kept, and slightly over confident lazy look. Instead, Hyungwon’s eyes widen a little as they focus on the wall behind your head and his jaw drops open slightly. He blinks, the blank look still in his eyes and you can’t help the short laugh that breaks through your lips.

At the noise his eyes focus back on you and he gives a sheepish smile. “I didn’t think a story would be necessary.”

“Well, unless we want our details to be all over, we should get one in place.”

“Okay,” Hyungwon nods in agreement. “Let’s figure a story out.”

It doesn’t take very long and Hyungwon does most of the brainstorming. Together, the two of you weave together the truth and some embellishments and have decided on this:

Hyungwon saw you at the party with Dongwoo. He fell head over heels for you immediately and was able to pull you away from your date. Having spoken with you for a long time that night, he decided that you were his ideal type. But he knew his parents would never accept a poor girl, so he kept you a secret since the party in a scandalous affair. And to show his love for you he’s been buying you everything you desire.

You read over what he’s written once more and frown with a slight tilt to your head. “Okay, but you haven’t been buying me anything. We should change it to something like, we’ve been spending time together secretly, or something more believable.”

Hyungwon puckers his lips slightly as he looks at the sheet of paper in your hands. He hums in thought for a moment before his eyes suddenly light up. With a grin, he snatches the paper from you and folds it into a small square as he stands up. You watch him tuck the paper into his pocket and then hold out his hand to you.

“Come on.”

Grabbing your bag, you hesitate for only a few seconds before placing your hand in his. His fingers tighten slightly around yours and then he’s gently pulling you up from your seat. You fumble for words as he leads you to the door and out of the cafe.

“Hyungwon where are we going?” You watch in bewilderment as Hyungwon leads you to a slick black town car and opens the door for you. He lets go of your hand and makes a sweeping gesture towards the interior of the vehicle. When you don’t budge he gives you an urging look of excitement. You reiterate your question, “Where are we going?”

“If you get in the car, you’ll see,” he smiles cheekily.

“No,” you say with resolve. Your arms are crossed and you’re shaking your head. “No, no, no. I’m not going in.”

Your eyes are latched onto the chic looking building across the street. Handbags line the display windows along with colorful decals and eye-catching designs. The name of the shop sits atop the door in shiny gold lettering. Everything about the store screams high end and expensive.

“All you need is one handbag, we can lie about the rest.”

“Why don’t we lie about the handbag too?”

Hyungwon sighs. “Because if we have one thing of proof that I’m buying you things, everyone will believe it when we say I’m buying you more.”

It’s your turn to sigh. “Okay, I can understand that, but can’t we just go to a thrift shop? I’m sure someone’s dumped a name brand purse at one.”

“A what?” Hyungwon frowns slightly in confusion. You turn and stare at him silently. He doesn’t know what a thift shop is?

“A thrift shop,” you say slowly. “You know, where you donate things you don’t want anymore and other people can purchase them?”

His frown deepens. “But why would you want to buy other people’s things?”

Your hands lift and you clap them together as if to send up a prayer before dropping them. “You know what? Nevermind, let’s just get this over with.”

Hyungwon smiles. “That’s the spirit!”

If you thought the outside of the store was lavish, the inside was even more so. Two giant crystal chandeliers hang from the ceiling and part of you is impressed and another part of you wants to roll your eyes at them.

Multiple glass tables line the sides of the store, creating a sort of walkway through the middle. Each table showcases multiple bags, all organized by color and size. The white marble floors glint up at you and you cringe slightly at having to walk across them with your dirty sneakers. At the sound of the door chime, a store employee looks up from the front counter.

Her hair is slicked back in a tight ponytail, and she wears a dark grey skirt suit. Her golden name tag glimmers in the light from the chandeliers.

When you meet her eyes, she doesn’t bother trying to hide the surprise that flashes across her face. But she does do a good job at quickly neutralizing her features. Until she sees Hyungwon and you watch as her eyes widen in evident attraction. You give a little scoff but turn away to look at the bags as she begins to make her way over to you.

“Good afternoon!” Her voice is cheery and a little too loud as it blocks out the soft classical music that plays in the background. “Is there something I can help you find?”

You peek over your shoulder find the employee speaking directly to Hyungwon, not even giving you a second glance.

Hyungwon purses his lips and looks around the store. “Mmm, if we want one of the bags on the wall, we can ask for help, right?”

The employee nods, a little too eager. “Yes, of course!”

“That’ll be all for now then,” Hyungwon gives her a polite but final smile. The employee catches on and you feel a little bad when you see disappointment wash over her. But she nods and scurries back to her desk. Hyungwon turns to you and the smile brightens. “Okay, choose any bag you want.”

“I don’t know, Hyungwon. These bags cost more than my measly campus job paycheck.”

“How much is your paycheck?” Hyungwon asks curiously as he picks up a bag and twists it this way and that to study it. He scrunches his face a little and sets it back down.

“My meal tickets.”

Hyungwon looks at you in confusion. You were beginning to become very well acquainted with this look. “Your job pays you in meal tickets?”

You nod and gingerly pick up a handbag, opening its front flap to inspect inside. “At the party, I told you I don’t qualify for a scholarship, remember?” Hyungwon nods and you set down the bag. “Well, despite that, I was able to get a campus job at the bookstore and it takes off some of the stress by granting me meal tickets so I can eat on campus.”

“Oh.”

With Hyungwon’s lackluster response you look up with a quirked brow. He’s not paying attention to you however, instead looking down at a handbag with a thoughtful frown. You watch as he begins to nibble on his bottom lip as if he finds what you’re telling him to be truly troubling. Deciding he looks ready to hurt himself by thinking too much you pick up a random purse. “What about this one?”

He gives a little double take and then scrunches his nose. “Oh no, that’s a hideous green.”

You give a little pout, “I don’t know I kind of like it.”

“Don’t. Go look at other tables.”

You give a small giggle and diverge from him to go wander around. A part of you feels kind of fancy and elegant walking around the tables but then you remember you’re wearing ratty jeans, dirty sneakers, and the first t-shirt you saw. Near one of the tables there’s a mirror and you imagine yourself in another life wearing a prim dress and heels as you hold purses on your shoulder, or the crook of your elbow, using the mirror to gauge how well they match your outfit.

But that’s not the life you’re living and you become aware of that when you catch Hyungwon behind in you the reflection. Even in his casual cardigan, he looks like he belongs in this high-end world. His modelesque features carry a look of perpetual boredom that seems to shout “I don’t care about your problems”.

Your eyes drift away from Hyungwon’s tall form and fall upon a gorgeous purse. It’s a deep burgundy color that you love. The main pocket, a small but decent size to hold a phone and wallet, is clasped shut with a small golden rose. The strap matches the color of the purse and is lengthy enough that you can tell it would sit right at your hip. It’s so small and simple, but you love it.

Walking over to the purse, you flip over it’s price tag and feel your jaw drop. How is this small thing so expensive?! Hastily you walk away from the purse, figuring if you don’t dwell on it you won’t be too sad. You hesitantly walk over to the cashier counter casting looks over your shoulder to make sure Hyungwon isn’t paying attention to you.

When you reach the counter the employee barely glances at you before sighing. “Can I help you?” Her voice is now flat compared to the cheerful tone she’d used with Hyungwon.

“Um...you wouldn’t by chance have a clearance table, would you?”

The employee rolls her eyes but points to the back of the store. “Back right.”

You decide not to waste your breath thanking such a rude person and head to the back of the store. It’s obvious why the bags on the clearance table are there. Most of them are slightly damaged, as if they’d been bought and then returned after a use. You were never interested enough to know what was in and out of season, but judging by styles and colors the out of season purses were here as well. You find one you like enough to carry around and grab it.

“Hey, I found-”

You’re cut off abruptly as you turn and find Hyungwon standing behind you. He’s holding out a black bag with white tissue paper peeking out. When you get a better look at the bag you see the store’s logo on the front and realize he’s already purchased a purse for you.

“I thought I got to choose,” you laugh a little at his look of excitement.

“You did!” He grins and shakes the bag a little, prompting you to take it from him. With a suspicious look you sift through the tissue paper and find the rose clasp of the burgundy purse glinting up at you. Eyes wide you look at the man in front of you.

“But how did you know?”

“I saw you looking at it. The look on your face was the most intrigued since we’ve been here.” He looks around as if finally seeing where you are. “What are you doing in the clearance section? Who cares, come on.”

Thankfully it seems like the bag really is all Hyungwon will be buying for you. Instead of another store, he takes you to a small cafe for a late lunch. The two of you sit near the window and busy yourselves looking through the menu. Your leg begins to bounce nervously when you see the prices. They’re not terribly expensive, but it’s definitely enough to have you dreading pulling out your card.

“You’re here! Oh, who’s this?”

At the sudden loud voice you look up and see a tall and thin man walking towards you. He’s shorter than Hyungwon, but you know he’d still be taller than you if you were to stand up. His hair is dyed a striking blonde that contrasts well with his tanned skin. The smile on his face is brighter than any smile you’ve ever seen before.

“Yeah, sorry we’re a little late,” Hyungwon stands as he apologizes. The blonde man eagerly pulls Hyungwon into a hug and then pulls away with a shake of his head.

“That’s okay, we’ve been pretty slow today.” In a silent reiteration of his question the man’s eyes dart to you and then back to Hyungwon. Hyungwon starts to sit again and motions for the man to pull up a chair. You awkwardly scoot over a little to make enough room and the man smiles apologetically to you.

“Minhyuk, this is Y/N, Y/N this is Minhyuk. He’s one of my best friends.”

Minhyuk places a hand on his chest and gives an exaggerated gasp. “What?! Chae Hyungwon finally admits we’re best friends? Oh how my life is complete.”

Hyungwon rolls his eyes. “Don’t make me take it back.”

In response, Minhyuk laughs and then turns his mega-watt smile on you. “Nice to meet you, Y/N and welcome to the fruit of my labor.”

Your brows raise. “You own this place?” You look around at the dark wood accents and almost sparkling floor. “It’s a beautiful spot.”

If it’s possible, Minhyuk’s smile grows. “Thank you! I designed it all myself. The photographs you see hanging are also my own work. Well, mine and our friend Kihyun’s as well.”

You’re taken aback slightly by Minhyuk’s enthusiasm, but still find it cute how he begins to ramble about every bit of the cafe. Gently, Hyungwon places a hand on his friend’s shoulder silencing the latter.

“You’re scaring her Minhyuk.”

Minhyuk looks to you again with wide eyes and a sheepish grin. He reaches up and scratches the back of his neck. “Ah, sorry. It’s just I’m so proud of this place, I get a little carried away.”

You shake your head and give a smile. “You’re passionate. I like that.”

Minhyuk’s smile turns mega-watt once more. The three of you fall into easy conversation. After a while, Minhyuk, as if realization has smacked him on his forehead, offers if you want any food or drink. Hyungwon asks for only an americano and you go for a fruit smoothie, despite having been eyeballing the pesto pasta.

“Y/N wants something else,” Hyungwon says, idly scrolling through his phone, before Minhyuk can wander off. The blonde turns back to look at you expectantly. You gape slightly and look between the two of them. At your silence, Hyungwon looks up and nods encouragingly. “Go ahead. It’s on me, anyways.”

“Uh...the...the pesto pasta please.”

Minhyuk nods with a smile and leaves to pass on your orders. Once again alone with Hyungwon you look at him curiously.

“How did you know that?”

Hyungwon shrugs and sets his phone down. “You’re easy to read. I saw all the troubled looks you gave to the menu so i knew you must’ve wanted something else.” You open your mouth to argue it but Hyungwon speaks again, meeting your gaze square on. “Listen, Y/N, when you’re with me just tell me what you want. Don’t be afraid of the prices, okay?”

You purse your lips and shrug. “I just don’t want it to be me, like, taking advantage of you or anything.”

Hyungwon gives you an amused look. “It’s not if I’m telling you to choose what you’d like.”

You shrug again. “I guess not.”

“Should we take a picture together?”

The request is so randomly given you find yourself a little startled. You remember though that you and Hyungwon are supposed to be in a secret affair. You nod your consent and, Hyungwon twists in his chair, holding the phone up. In the screen you can see your face and you quickly make sure you’re presentable before giving a smile. Hyungwon holds up a v-sign and gives a small smile before clicking the shutter button.

“We should take more when the food gets here,” Hyungwon says with an oddly soft smile as he looks at the photo. He blinks as he suddenly realizes what he said and looks up at you. “Only if you’re okay with it.”

You nod. “It’ll be good evidence.”

Hyungwon grins in agreement. He goes back to scrolling through his phone, every now and then typing out things. When Minhyuk returns, he politely puts away the phone and helps his friend place the orders on the table. True to his word, Hyungwon begins taking photos of the food and drinks before having Minhyuk take a photo of the two of you. The blonde gives his friend a suspicious look but obliges nonetheless. You fall into silence as you begin to eat your pasta, letting Hyungwon and Minhyuk do most of the talking.

As you near finishing your dish, Hyungwon clears his throat a little awkwardly. “Hey Minhyuk, can I or we, I guess...anyway, can we ask you something?”

It’s in that moment that you realize Hyungwon is going to share with Minhyuk about your deal with him. A witness to your “shenanigans”.

Minhyuk nods, “Yeah, what’s up?”

“You see, Y/N is helping me get my parents off my back a little. So I was wondering if you could maybe “accidentally” let it slip to someone that you saw Chae Hyungwon and his secret girlfriend together.”

You watch as Minhyuk goes still and then his eyes widen. “You guys aren’t a real couple?!”

It’s a blessing no one is in the cafe right now aside from the employees, because Minhyuk’s shout is shrill and excited. You still look around and realize none of the employees or Hyungwon is at all shocked by the blonde’s shouts. You give Minhyuk a look of confusion. He thought we were a real couple...

“No, Y/N’s just my fake girlfriend,” Hyungwon explains. “But no one else needs to know that.”

Minhyuk blinks and shakes his head as he tries to wrap his mind around what Hyungwon is telling him. He lifts an arm and rests his elbow on the table to point back and forth between you and Hyungwon.

“You two are fake dating to make your parent’s back off you?” Minhyuk turns to you suddenly and narrows his eyes in thought. Suddenly his expression bursts in realization. “Y/N is the girl you met at the gala!”

The two of you nod.

“And we need more rumors apparently,” you mutter.

Hyungwon gives you a soft look and grabs your hand. He turns it so your palm is face up and he soothingly rubs his thumb on your palm.

“I promised it’ll be okay.” His voice is as soft as the circles he’s drawing on your hand and the combination has you giving a small shiver.

You take a peek at Minhyuk as he’s watching your hands with an intense, thoughtful gaze. He looks up and sees Hyungwon still watching you. Following Hyungwon’s gaze, Minhyuk meets your eyes and soon his face breaks into an almost conspiratorial smile. All too quickly he nods, “Okay. I’ll do it. My mom comes in tomorrow and you know how she likes a good story.”

Hyungwon grins. “Thanks man.” Minhyuk nods, the smile on his face making you worry a little.

As you two are getting ready to leave the cafe, Hyungwon announces he’ll be back and heads towards the restrooms. Left alone with Minhyuk you fiddle with the hem of your shirt before looking up and finding Minhyuk’s eyes already on you. You start a little, caught off guard by how intense his gaze actually is, and then decide to speak.

“You won’t make the rumors too big right?”

His eyes soften considerably and he nods. “Don’t worry about a thing, Y/N.”

Despite his words you don’t feel any more at ease than you did two minutes ago. You’re actually relieved when Hyungwon returns, not knowing how to act as Minhyuk continues to observe you.

You start to walk towards the door but Minhyuk stops Hyungwon from joining you. When you look over your shoulder you find Minhyuk whispering something in Hyungwon’s ear. The latter’s cheeks turn a soft pink and he looks at Minhyuk with wide eyes. Minhyuk grins cheekily and flashes a thumbs up before pushing Hyungwon over to join you.

“It was nice to meet you Y/N! Come back anytime.”

As you and Hyungwon leave the cafe, you come up to walk beside him and peer up at his face. He’s still a little pink in the cheeks but seems to be calm again. You debate on if you should ask him or not before you shrug away your internal questions.

“What did Minhyuk say to you back there?”

Hyungwon jolts slightly at your voice and his cheeks once again turn pink as he makes eye contact with you. “U-uh, nothing. He didn’t say anything important. He just...he just likes to tease, that’s all.”

“Okaaay,” you draw out the word, not at all convinced but ultimately decide to drop it.

When you return to the dorms, after waiting at the edge of the parking lot to see Hyungwon’s car drive off with him waving from the back seat, you flop onto the bed and place the bag holding your new purse on your bedside table. Lena immediately notices it and beelines for it. Before you can snag it back, she’s peering inside and looks at you with wide eyes and a bright smile.

“You did it, you sly fox.”

“Shut up.” You use your feet to slip off your shoes and then your socks before burying your feet in the fluffy blanket at the end of your bed. “It’s only to make our story work.”

“Mm-hmm.” Lena places the bag back down and reaches over to poke your side. “My precious Y/N is finally getting the attention and pampering she so rightly deserves.”

You scoff and swat her hand away. “Whatever. Like I said, it’s for our story.”

Lena continues to look at you, unconvinced. She sits down on your mattress and you scoot over so she can lay next to you. “So where else did you go?”

“He took me to his friend Minhyuk’s cafe.”

“Oooh, cafe extraordinaire Lee Minhyuk. Hyungwon does have his own little chaebol posse, maybe you’ll get to meet all of them. Find yourself a real suitor.”

“Pfft, as if. Once this whole charade is done, I want a peaceful life.”

“Or you’ll want to be the new Mrs. Chae.”

“Lena!!” You playfully shove her off the bed and she goes rolling to the floor with a bright laugh, bordering on cackle. When she stand back up, she sends a wink your way and then climbs onto her bed with a magazine.

“I’m just saying, don’t be surprised when you realize you’re no longer faking it.”

“That won’t happen.”

Lena gives an amused sigh and you grab your pillow to place over your face. When Lena laughs you give a groan.

It would never happen.

Hyungwon sits on his bed, flipping through paperwork his father had given him when he returned home. Despite his efforts in trying to concentrate, all Hyungwon could think about was you. Most importantly how your hand felt when it was clasped in his own. He liked how his nimble fingers almost completely devoured yours. Suddenly a whispered voice is moving through his memories.

“Maybe you should make your fake relationship real?”

Minhyuk’s words earlier had caught him completely off guard. Hyungwon would be lying if he said he wasn’t attracted to you, after all he was going to fake date someone it might as well be someone he finds to be a good person. But he would never actually pursue you, would he?

Hyungwon thinks about the first night he saw you at the gala. He had intentions on pulling your attention to him, but he wasn’t quite sure how far he would’ve taken it if you and him hadn’t begun talking by the flowers.

Hyungwon can’t deny he likes to be around you, he came to realize that more and more as they day went on. You two were from such different worlds, and yet your presence made him feel happy and light. Maybe that was infatuation, but Hyungwon couldn’t be sure right now. He figured he’d just have to wait and see.

#mxwriters #2wonnet #monsta x scenarios #monsta x imagines #monsta x au #hyungwon scenarios #hyungwon imagines #chae hyungwon #hyungwon #monsta x #kpop scenarios

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