#I’ll apply tomorrow bc why not

[e77y]

Okay actually a couple library branches are hiring, but they’re all like 30 mins away from me. Which is fine but would be annoying daily in combination with my class schedule… BUT The requirements aren’t crazy (1 year customer service, which I TTTEEECCCHNICALLY have on paper) so I feel like I could totally apply despite having no library experience…. Should I

[exopelagic]

why do applications feel like your soul is being lightly roasted at 180C

[withleeknow]

wishful thinking. (01)

chapter one: flutter

summary: the instruction was plain and simple: no strings attached. but you should’ve known from the beginning that it could never apply to you and him.

pairing: minho x f!reader rating: 18+ (minors dni) genre: friends to lovers, friends with benefits au, college au; fluff, angst, smut warnings: implied smut, aftercare, mentions of alcohol consumption, hints of oc being a little emotionally constipated lol, barely edited but we should all be used to seeing that from me atp word count: 2.3k note: eeeek my first lino series is here 🥺 there's not much substance in the first part bc we're mostly just setting things up. thank you to my wifeus in the obs server (you know who you are ofc) for being the best cheerleaders, bc i don't think i would've gone through with writing this fic if it wasn't for you. fwb lino probably would've had to gather dust in the attic if you hadn't encouraged me to write him. thank you and love you <3

as always, i’d appreciate any thoughts or comments you may have, and please drop a like and/or reblog if you enjoy reading ♡

navigation › series masterpost › taglist › ko-fi

Tomorrow when it's over and we're sober I just want to believe that you'll miss me But I shouldn't 'cause we're just friends Now we're day drunk in the back seat of a taxi And you're telling me you wanna kiss me But we shouldn't 'cause we're just friends

Just Friends - Virginia to Vegas

“Minho.”

“Hmm?”

“Get off of me.”

He doesn’t, of course. Because Minho is stubborn and Minho does whatever he wants sometimes. “No,” he mumbles against your neck, pressing a soft kiss there that makes the stupid thing in your chest flutter against your will. You don’t let yourself indulge in the feeling for too long though, only a second. “You’re too warm.”

“Min,” you scold lightly, but you can’t say that you don’t enjoy having his body on yours like this. It’s different than when you’re having sex, because this is more intimate somehow, just him holding you - or rather, resting the entirety of him on top of you like the human version of a weighted blanket. Wham! Bam! Thank you, ma’am! but with a Minho-esque flare that he doesn’t have to appease you with, but chooses to anyway.

One of the reasons why you don’t let yourself relish in the moment is because intimacy isn’t what you signed up for. In fact, it’s the complete opposite of what you both agreed on. No strings attached - it was the only instruction, plain and simple.

And so you nudge his shoulder again, making him sigh and begrudgingly sit up, in all of his post-sex glory. Disheveled fluffy hair, a couple of fading marks on his neck courtesy of you, kiss-swollen lips and a kind of glow that you’re fairly certain matches your own.

“Hang on,” Minho says, I’ll get you a towel.”

He quickly throws on his boxers - previously discarded on the floor - and heads to your bathroom. He returns to your side just a couple minutes later with said item in hand, dabbing the soft cloth at your core tenderly.

“You okay?” he asks. “I wasn’t too rough on you tonight?”

You like the aftercare, and how tender he always is with you. You’re not sure if that’s the extra effort that he puts in with everyone he’s ever hooked up with, or if you two are just naturally comfortable around each other, but it’s reassuring. It’s nice to know that this agreement between the two of you hasn’t tarnished your friendship.

Yet?

Yet.

“You were perfect,” you tell him with a coy smile. “I was the one who asked for it anyway.”

Minho chuckles, then pats your bare thigh for good measure as he takes one final swipe at your core before chucking the towel into the laundry basket in the corner of your room.

He plops onto your bed again, propping himself on an elbow so he could look down at your face, highlighted only by the dim light of the small lamp on your bedside table. The way that his bicep flexes still puts you in a bit of a trance, even though you’ve seen it probably hundreds of times already.

“You know, I was pretty surprised when you asked me to try that with you,” he says, eyeing your mouth again. “Didn’t think you’d be down for experimenting new things with me.”

“Well, who else am I supposed to try things out with?”

You’re not even sure what you meant - the words just rolled off your tongue - but you don’t miss the instantaneous look of pride on his face. To hear something like that from you is clearly an ego boost for him.

You don’t miss the subtle blush that tints both of his cheeks and the top of his ears either, but you don’t dwell on it for very long.

Come to think of it, you don’t let yourself indulge in a lot of things when you’re around him.

His free hand comes up to draw imaginary patterns along your arm, starting from your shoulder, down to your elbow, then across your forearm until you could feel his fingers on the back of your hand. “I forgot to mention earlier,” he says, tracing what you think is an invisible outline of a heart on your skin. “Hyunjin knows.”

“Knows what?” you ask.

“He knows that we’re hooking up,” Minho tells you, then clarifies when he sees your eyes widening. “Well, he doesn’t know that it’s you. He knows that I’m hooking up with someone.”

You mimic his position, propping yourself up on one elbow so your face is more leveled with his, evidently alarmed at the mention of your friend finding out about a secret that you've been trying to hide for months now.

No, a secret would imply that you have more things you have to conceal. It’s probably more accurate to refer to it as the secret.

Sometimes, even you yourself wonder why this is something you need to hide from everyone. 

It’s not like you’re living in the Victorian era where people are scandalized by the appearance of a bare knee. It’s not like your friends are prudes either; most of them have had their fair share of friends with benefits. It’s all casual, all in good fun.

But maybe it’s because it’s Minho that you’re currently… preoccupied with, that makes you feel less inclined to share with the rest of the group.

If any of them catches wind of this, you know they’ll have loads to say about it, starting with a thorough but well-intentioned lecture from Chan. 

You were good friends before your thing started.

You had a friendship. You had something to lose.

You don’t know why you would even risk it in the first place.

It just happened.

One particularly lonely night. You had some alcohol in your system, and that always made you more sentimental than usual. There was something romantic in the air, or maybe that’s just what you thought looking at everything through the lenses of three glasses of wine. Not drunk, just buzzed enough to be reminded that Minho was one of the most beautiful people you’d ever laid your eyes upon.

But the accumulation of all those factors didn’t matter - couldn’t have mattered - more than the fact that he was there for you.

He listened to you brood over how suffocated you felt, how stagnant your life was, how nothing seemed to be going the way you wanted no matter how hard you tried. He didn’t offer you unsolicited advice, didn’t make you feel silly for moping. He was a soothing presence and that was enough for you.

Sometimes, your friends liked to say that you two would make a good couple because of how compatible you were. Chan once commented that you and Minho were a perfect fit, and that was what kept plaguing your mind moments before you kissed Minho for the first time.

Maybe you’re the missing piece of my puzzle, you had thought back then. My perfect fit.

You had pulled away after a couple of seconds, mortified, but his reaction was immediate. He’d chased after your lips again, no questions asked.

You knew it was a rash decision, spurred on by the heat of the moment and cheap convenience store rosé. Minho was so… goddamn addictive after just one taste that you couldn’t resist anymore. Having him felt like you finally had a taste of water after spending years deprived.

Needless to say, he ended up in your bed that night. The rest is… well, it doesn’t take a genius to deduce the subsequent series of events that led you here.

“Elaborate,” you say with an arch of your eyebrow.

“You texted when he was hanging out at my place and I was in the bathroom.” Minho shrugs. “That nosy little thing. He scrolled through quite a bit of our texts too.”

You frown. “He read our texts but he doesn’t know it’s me?”

“I don’t have you saved as your name.”

“Then what do you have me saved as?”

Up until now, you never even thought about this, and you’ve always just assumed that you’re in his contacts under your name, like he is in your list. Well, technically you have him saved as ‘Min’, but anyone who comes across it could still easily identify who you’re referring to.

Minho purses his lips, contemplating for a minute before he ultimately decides to withhold this information from you. He gives you a teasing smile, another shrug, before saying, “That’s for me to know and for you to find out when the time comes.”

“I don’t get to know what my own name is in your phone? Even Hyunjin knows, apparently.”

“Yeah, but he doesn’t know it’s you, so what does he really even know?”

“But I have a right-”

“Shhh.” Then he’s leaning forward to shush you with a quick kiss to your lips. It does the job, because you shut right the hell up. It surprises you every time he kisses you when you’re not in the middle of sex. Moments like these are rare, but you’re always rendered speechless by how casually he does it, how familiar the simple action is even when it shouldn’t be, and most of all, you’re dumbstruck by just how right it feels.

“Am I gonna see you before Yeonjun’s party on Saturday?” he asks, like nothing even happened. Your lips are tingling from a simple peck. It’s so silly, considering how just half an hour ago, he was literally inside of you, pounding you into oblivion until you had tears streaming down your face. Until you were crying out his name like it was the only word you’d ever known.

You quickly regain your composure. “I don’t know, maybe. I have a final paper to finish so I’ll probably be holed up here or at the library,” you tell him. “Maybe we’ll catch each other on campus. But if not, then, yeah, I’ll see you at the party.”

Minho seems disappointed, evident from his immediate and adorable pout. 

“It’s just a few days.” You roll your eyes harmlessly, lying back down again to snuggle into your pillow. “You’ll live.”

“Will I?” he grumbles. “What am I supposed to do for four whole days?”

“Don’t you have your finals too?”

“All presentations and papers. Finished the last one today.”

“Oh,” you say, mildly impressed by the fact. You always forget how studious he actually is. “Internships?”

“Already sent in my applications.”

“Changbin says you’ve been talking to that girl Hana in your class.”

You don’t know why you brought it up. You don’t even like hearing the words coming out of your own mouth.

Minho makes a face, almost like he’s taken aback that Changbin would even tell you that. “Because we’re in the same group for our final presentation,” he informs you.

“She seems nice, from what I’ve heard about her. Seems like she has a big fat crush on you too.”

“Not to sound mean, but I don’t really care about that.”

A feeling blooms in the pit of your stomach, a feeling that you cannot and will not give a name to. There’s just something about the way he said it, steadfast, without any hesitation.

“It does make you sound a bit mean,” you tell him.

“I’m just not interested in her.”

“I don’t want to hold up the Minho train if there are other options out there that you want to explore.”

Do you mean it? Yes and no. Part of you wants to be nosy and prod until he fesses up about a potential love interest in his life - if there even is one - so that you could be a good friend that tell him to just go for it, but your curiosity is eclipsed by your selfishness, because you realize that you don’t really want to know if it means the end of this.

Are you being a hypocrite?

Yeah, probably.

He bites his bottom lip as if in thought, just briefly, before he rolls over to lie on his back, staring up at your boring ceiling. “I told you, I don’t care. I’m not interested in any other girl,” he says.

Realistically, you know there will be a finale. It’s only inevitable. One day, he’ll get a girlfriend, or you’ll get a boyfriend - the former seems more likely than the latter - and this arrangement between the two of you will have run its course. Null and void.

It’s part of the reason why you never let yourself relish in him, because you will only be thoroughly disappointed when he gets taken away from you.

As if he’s ever been yours to begin with.

You’ve never belonged to him either.

Neither of you owes the other anything at all.

You blink away the dazed look in your eyes, humming a noncommittal noise in irresolute agreement, before reaching for your phone to check the time. It’s not that late, half an hour shy of midnight, and his place isn’t that long a walk from yours. You know full well that it isn’t much of an excuse, and yet…

“It’s late.”

“Can’t I stay over?” He turns his head to look at you. “I’ll be good. I’ll just sleep next to you.”

“No can do,” you say. “I have a class at 10AM.”

“Me too. I can walk you to campus,” he insists.

There’s something unspoken in his gaze that you can sense but can’t translate. It’s been happening more often lately - you not being able to read him as easily as you could before. You have to admit that it makes you a little unsettled. The unknown that swims in the dark sepia of his eyes.

But maybe you’re overthinking this. Maybe you’re making something out of absolutely nothing.

“Go home, Minho,” you decide, leaving him no room to protest. The instant kicked puppy look on his face makes you feel a little bad, thus prompting you to continue, “I’ll try to see you on campus, okay?”

He looks at you for another moment before he sits up unwillingly. It seems like he has something else to say - something other than a butthurt comment about being bored out of his mind over the next few days - but in the end, he gives up. You notice the way his shoulders slightly slump as he exhales, “Okay.”

all rights reserved © withleeknow. reposting, translating and/or modifying is not permitted by any means. [posted 27.11.2023]

[carmenberzattosgf]

dword thoughts that border on sugar dword but also no not really LMFAO

i picture that once the bear takes off, carmen gets some more money and i believe that he'd be pretty frugal with it lowkey (ignore his stupid designer plain white shirts) but when it comes to you? that shit does NOT matter he likes spoiling you

when he's feeling confident/cocky, he'd give you his card and a kiss to your cheek, muttering something like "why don't you go buy something nice to wear f'me?" and once he's sat on the edge of the bed, watching you model whatever outfit you chose (dress, skirt, swimsuit, lingerie WHATEVER he's eating that shit up) he's smiling "look so pretty, baby. and you used daddy's card, right? good girl..."

same applies to nails or makeup, gotta use daddy's card fr...and he's always giddy to see your pretty nails wrapped around his cock, that new lipstick you bought smeared around the base of it -💫

💫 ANON. OH MY GOSH. WNGWHAGW. I’m going to restrain myself from over typing bc I still gotta cook on the other ask you sent tomorrow

Content warning: dword ( as you can tell)

YEAH. Once the bear takes off? he will buy you anything you want. You don’t even have to ask for it. If he as so much as hears you mention wanting something he’s going to buy it for you.

And him giving you his card… PLEASE. It’s early morning and you’re standing in the kitchen as he scrambles to get ready for work. He’s about to run out the door, but he stops to grab his wallet, pulling out his card.

“Why don’t you go and buy something nice to wear for me, yeah?” He placed the card on the countertop next to your morning cup of coffee before giving you a kiss on the cheek. He’s out the door before you can try to protest.

You don’t go too overboard with his card. You buy a dress, a skirt, and a black lace lingerie set. Carmy gets home earlier than you expected that night. “You’re home early,” you say, hopping off the couch to greet him with a hug.

“I left Sydney to hold down the fort herself. Wanted to see you sooner.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. Why don’t you show me what you bought?”

Carmy sits in front of you on the foot of the bed as you model your new skirt, and then your dress. “It’s been awhile since I’ve bought a dress. Do you like this one? I couldn’t decide between this one and another one.”

“You used daddy’s card, right?” Heat pulses through you as the nickname slips through his lips.

“Y-yes. I did.”

“Then you should’ve bought them both, baby. I wouldn’t have minded. It’s my job to spoil you.”

“I’ll get it next time, then. Do you like this one, though?”

“Of course, baby. You look gorgeous. Always so pretty for me. Did you get anything else?”

Without a word, you slip off the dress to reveal the lingerie set underneath. “I got this just for you, daddy.”

He groans at your words. “Such a good girl, aren’t you. Lay down on the bed for me. Good girls get rewards.”

DUDE THE NAILS PART. Carmy loves your nails so fucking much. The way they feel in his hair, or scratching down his back. When it’s time to get a new set you go to Carmy for his opinion.

“What color should I get for my nails next, Carm?” You watch him think for a second. Right now, a light baby pink is on your nails.

“How about wine red? That’ll look really pretty.”

That’s exactly the shade you pick at the nail salon. Before you head home, though, you make a quick stop at Sephora to pick out a matching lip stick shade. You apply the lipstick in the car so Carmy will see it right as you walk through the door.

“I got my nails done the color you suggested,” you hold out your hands in front of you to show off your nails. It took him a second, but he finally took his eyes off of your lips and looked at your hands. “I liked the color so much I went out and got a matching lip stick. Don’t worry—I used your card for it, too.”

Carmy takes your hand in his, bringing it up to his lips to give your hand a kiss. “Good girl.”

It’s not long before you find yourself kneeling down in front of Carmy on the couch, with a pillow under your knees. His gaze is focused on your hand as you pump his cock. Carmy’s head falls back in a groan as you kiss the tip, leaving behind a smudge of lip stick.

Carmen’s head doesn’t stay tipped back for long, lifts his head just in time you watch you sink your mouth down on his cock. “Shit—baby,” he sighs. He watches with his mouth agape as your maroon-red lips move. You take him all the way down to the base, gagging slightly as his cock hits the back of your throat.

His hand is in the back of your hair, pulling you off his cock. Carmy’s worried he hurt you. “You alright sweetheart?”

A string of spit is still on your lips as you blink up at him. The lipstick you have on is smeared all over your mouth. The rest of your lipstick had transferred onto the base of his cock. “I’m fine— want you to come in my mouth. Please.”

“My poor little girl is a bit cock-drunk isn’t she?”

“N-need it. Use me, please.”

Carmy’s hand in your hair shoves you right back down on his cock. Both of his hands collect your hair into a pony tail as he begins to fuck your throat. The size of his cock has you gagging around him. The squeeze of your throat around his length makes sinful moans leave his mouth.

“Such a good girl for daddy—fuck. Taking daddy’s cock so well down your throat. Gonna make me cum. You want that? Want me to cum down your throat?”

You let out a moan in response and Carmy’s done for, spilling down your throat with broken groans. He pulls you up off of your knees the second he’s finished, bringing you into a kiss.

Let’s just say… he’s eager to get you to bed to return the favor…

[kithtaehyung]

[ 3tan11 ] alrighty, my loves. i've been on writing lockdown and took a break to finally type this up. few things to note before drop:

this will either drop tomorrow night as scheduled, or sunday, december 3rd to give me a little more time. too many recent unexpected things happened for me to be completely sure about the 27th drop and it hurts to think about pushing it back, but if i need to, i will.

estimated wc will be 25-30k, so this chapter will be split into two parts - two separate posts - on the same night. i know it will be super easy to just move onto the next part, but please consider interacting with both parts equally even if you do it after reading! any likes, comments, and shares would be loved and appreciated :D

just gonna say this now, but if this gets reported by anyone and slapped with a community label, i'm deleting the posts and will completely reupload. if you are curious as to why, this ask by the wonderful kiki @chryblossomjjk herself sums up why labels are harmful to creators.

if you're a person that reblogs with comments, have those notes saved somewhere in case this happens! if you don't wanna see this on your blog, just filter *ryenfictalk, 3tan11, or three tangerines so that it doesn't show on your feed.

🍊the discord server has been amazing! if you are a reader of the series and wanna join this super fun community, go ahead and apply hehehe. it's been one hell of a time already🍊

that's it for now! love you all and i am gonna work super super hard on this bc i know how long the wait has been, and i truly do wanna put my best effort forward for y'all. if that means pushing it back, so be it! i’ll be sure to let you know once i know for sure❤️‍🩹

[etherealyoungk]

light a flame - hoshi

summary: you and hoshi get paired together for a dance competition. the only problem was that you find him annoyingly attractive and may or may not have a small (fat) crush on him.

pairing: hoshi x fem!reader

warnings: kissing

wordcount: 1.9k

a/n: yeah this was a random brain rot idea i had bc light a flame is too good of a song. and thank you so much to em @gyuswhore for reading this over for me and giving me feedback!

taglist: @daisycheols @naaaaafla @slytherinshua @joshuaahong @kangtaehyunzzz @icyminghao

‘don’t forget, practice at 5 pm’, read the text from hoshi.

you internally groaned. hoshi and you had somehow ended up competing in a dance competition together. you never intended to enter the competition, nope, not in a million years. you steered right clear of it when the applications were open but your teacher convinced you that you should enter the partner dance category. “but i don’t even have a partner," you told the teacher. the very next day you were presented with hoshi.

your teacher told me he was to be my dance partner and that hoshi already applied to us in the competition. your jaw almost dropped to the floor upon hearing the news and you went home freaking out that night because 1) you were scared and 2) you may or may not have an itty bitty tiny crush on him. so,this was bad, really bad.

you only danced as a hobby really, something to distract you and get you moving. but your teacher told you that you were really good, and that encouraged you. but still, you were scared and nervous about performing on stage, especially in front of a ton of people. so, here you were, learning how to dance with a partner, and with the competition right around the corner, the nerves were getting starting to get to you. it didn't help how you found hoshi infuriatingly good-looking and attractive and how annoyingly good he was at picking up the dance, unlike you. you probably stepped on his feet a million times during the practice. but you were slowly getting used to the moves and dance once you memorized and practiced them.

you reach the dance studio and open the door to the practice room. hoshi’s already there, doing some warm-ups. he glances at you, acknowledging your presence. why did he look so attractive today, god. I swear he wore that sleeveless shirt on purpose. you mentally smack yourself and peel your eyes off him. this is not the time to be thinking ridiculous things, get yourself together.

you do my warmups as well and soon we’re standing together, facing each other. right when you're about to ask him something, the room goes dark. “what the hell?”, you mutter. hoshi is quick to use his phone and turn on the torchlight. he says something about going out to check what’s going on but is out the door before you have any chance of replying. so, now you were left standing alone in the dark room, all alone. you see a faint light source heading toward the door and it opens. “there’s been a power cut, so power won’t come back till 10 pm”, hoshi says.

“then how are we supposed to practice?”, you ask. “should we just cancel today and do it tomorrow”, you add. “trying to skip practice see", he taunts. "what no! i was just suggesting", you defend and he smirks softly. "there’s no need for that, i have a solution”, he states, walking past me and that’s when you realize he's holding something as well.

you see the spark of flame and realize that he’s lighting candles. “that's your solution?”, you ask, stepping closer to him. "it works”, he says, looking at me. once he’s lit a bunch of candles, placing them around the room, it’s illuminated enough for us to see each other. “this is weirdly romantic”, you mumble. “guess we need a little romance for our dance right?”, he says, giving me a wink. you would be lying if that didn’t make my heart do a little. why was he affecting me so much today?

“ready?”, he asks once he’s done, standing before me. you gulp and nodded. ready as I’ll ever be i guess.

you're wearing my heels because the dance requires them and with them, you almost match Hoshi’s height. but still, he’s tall and well-built. he's confident and takes pride in his dancing and he’s insanely good as well. you on the other hand? you seemed like a mess right now.

the music starts. he opens his hand out for me to take and you do, his palm closing around yours gently. suddenly you're so aware of his hands on your body. you rest my hand on his shoulder and his other arm holds your waist, and you're hyper-conscious about how his hand feels around your waist. we follow the music and dance together, doing the moves as we practiced. but on the twirling part, you lost your footing and stumble. hoshi is quick to catch you, his hand wrapping around my waist tighter as he pulls you into him. we’re so close and he studies my eyes and face.

“why are you so tense”, he asks. "i'm not”, you defend, taking a step back and his hands leave your body. “you are”, he states again. “what’s going on that pretty little mind of yours”, he asks. “n-nothing”, i say, avoiding his eye and looking down but i can still feel his intense gaze on me. “i’m just nervous okay”, you quickly say, your eyes finding his again. “about the competition day?”, he prompts and you nod slowly. and you, you’re making me nervous.

you're suddenly grateful that the room is dimly lit, hoping he can’t see how nervous i actually am. the music continued playing, but none of us bothered to restart it. “remove your heels”, he tells. “why? i should practice with them on”, you respond. “you can wear them later, i don’t want you hurting your ankles or feet”, he adds. you look at him but remove your heels nonetheless, putting them to one side and you slip into your sneakers again. once you're back in front of him, he reaches for my hand again and he gently moves my body along his, guiding me and dancing to whatever part the music is playing. “don’t think about the moves too much, just relax”, he says guiding me. without you wearing heels, he stands gorgeously tall in front of you.

“you’re doing great you know”, he says after a few moments of silence. “thanks”, i say softly. “you’re incredible by the way, the way you dance is so…alluring. you really have a natural talent for it”, you say, complimenting him. the darkness and you two alone suddenly makes you bring out your innermost thoughts about him. you can make out the faint whisper of a smile on his lips.

“you’re still tense”, he says. “i’m not”, i say. “well, the death grip you have on my hand says something else”, he adds, raising an eyebrow. shit. “sorry, i didn’t realize”, you quickly say, loosening your grip on his hand. you look down, mentally cursing myself.

we’re slow dancing now, not really how it was supposed to be but he said to relax so you guess we were just going with the flow. “still nervous?”, he prompts. you mumble a soft yeah as you look up at him. he signals me to twirl, and right before i turn around, he stops me, holding me back so that you're caged in front of him, your back against his chest. his hands are wrapped around me, not letting you move, and you're confused.

“hoshi what are you-“, you ask but you don't get to complete your sentence.

“look at yourself”, he simply says as i look at him through the mirror, his entrancing gaze meeting yours.  “you’re beautiful and even more so when you dance. you’re confident and know what you’re good at.”, he says to me, not breaking eye contact with me as the words leave his lips.

“i’ve seen you dance before”, he adds, his hand encompassing mine tighter. “don’t be nervous about the performance, just think of it as me and you”, he tells and you turn to jelly in his arms and you're pretty sure that you're heart is beating a million miles per hour. his grip on you loosens and he lets me go. you twirl out and back in so we’re face to face again and once again.

you clear my throat before speaking. "am i really good?", you ask, somehow still unsure. "you're amazing", is all he says with a genuine smile. “thank you for that”, you say shyly as you look up at him after a few seconds.

“but i'm sure you were wishing for a partner who didn’t step on your feet as much as I did”, you say jokingly as we dance around, his hand feeling warm around your waist. “no actually. i don’t think i would have done it if you weren’t my partner”, he replies, making your heart skip yet another beat. “really?”, you ask, in denial. “yeah…you’re really good as well and i think we connect well, don’t you think?”, he asks, staring deep into your eyes and you're starting to feel your heart pick up its pace again. you numbly nod because yo're not thinking straight. you glance at his lips and you swear that you saw his lips curl into a small smirk when you did that.

we’re getting to the bridge of the song and he pulls me closer as we continue to dance, not bothering about the actual moves anymore. “you look beautiful when you dance”, he says once again softly against your ear, and you almost miss a step. the music is coming to an end now and you step back, he pulls you into a fancy dip, which catches you slightly off guard but he's careful to hold you tight as he pulls me back up, his hands around your waist tight and you’re flush against him, your cheeks heating up. your hands are resting on his shoulders and you’re so so close god. his lips look so soft. maybe it was the candlelight or the fact that you two were dancing alone in a dark room. or the fact that you were slow dancing, but that brought out some courage in you that you didn’t know you had and you leaned in ever so slightly and placed the softest peck on his lips. you pulled away after five seconds, horrified because what the fuck did you just do.

“shit hoshi im-“, you start but don’t get to complete as his lips crash into yours and you literally melt into his arms when his lips gently move against yours. his grip around your waist tightened in an attempt to pull you closer as one of his hands goes up to hold your cheek. he pulls away and we both stare at each other.

“you don’t know how long i’ve been wanting to do that”, he says, his words reverberating through the empty room. “me too”, i admit softly.

“knew you had an eye for me”, he says with a smug smirk. “what no i don’t”, you say, trying to deny it but he just raises his eyebrow at you. “i couldn’t have been that obvious”, you say unbelievably. “you were baby. i’ve seen you staring at me from the mirror when i practice and not to mention your heart rate always goes up when you’re around me”, he says it like a fact.

“excuse me?”, you say but you don’t have anything to defend myself with. “why do you think you wore this sleeveless shirt today, i know it drives you crazy”, he says. “i really hate you”, you say. “i knew you wore that on purpose, you and your stupid muscles”, you mumble.  he opens his mouth to say something but i stop him. “say another embarrassing thing and i’ll step on your feet on purpose”, you say, making him chuckle.

“let’s go from the top again”, he says, leaning in. “and don’t worry, we’re going to win”, he whispers against you lips before kissing you again.

rebblogs/comments are always appreciated <3

[maddyalexa]

The time is now

So I know a lot of y’all have prob been in the manifestation and/or shifting community for a hot minute, most of us a year or more. (Trust me, I’ve been in the shifting community for 3 years and the Law of Assumption community for 2 years, 3 if you count the horrible yet canon event of Law of Attraction 💀). So it’s been a while and I know how you feel. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. But at one point or another, you need to get out of the victim mindset and own up to why you haven’t manifested your desires, entered the void state, or shifted after a year or more of having a plethora of knowledge at your disposal. I’m applying this to myself as well, so don’t think I’m attacking anyone or being hypocritical. But in all seriousness, when is the last time you really tried? Be honest. And I don’t mean when’s the last time you said affirmations here and there for a few days and didn’t persist or live in the end for a substantial amount of time. Or that time you “thought” about shifting right before you rolled over and went to sleep without setting so much as an intention. But here’s the thing, I’m not telling you to try harder or do more, not in the slightest, because shifting and manifesting and entering the void state is supposed to be simple and easy if you accept that fact and let it. No, the advice and wake up call I’m trying to give is, put in a little more effort, have an INTENTION, and stop being lazy. Like seriously. Aren’t you TIRED???? Aren’t you done living this bullshit life and circumstances and not having your manifestations you dreamed so hard for? Aren’t you tired of not shifting and living in your dream desired reality doing whatever the hell you want?? Aren’t you tired of not waking up in the void state and waking up to the same lifestyle? Aren’t you sick of it? Then do something about it. We are almost done with 2023. 2024 is right around the corner. No way we’re letting YET ANOTHER year pass us by without accomplishing what we’ve been trying to do, and what we came here to do. Enough is enough. You are manifesting your dream life, you are shifting, and you are waking up in the void state or all of the above if you’re like me. I don’t care what you have to do. I’m so tired of y’all not living your dream lives like in what universe do you think that’s okay or acceptable bc it’s not. I know for some of you it’s been so long you don’t see the point and it’s hard to stay disciplined or motivated. So in the comments section anyone that needs to be kicked in gear daily until you get your shit needs to comment and I want all of you to hold yourselves accountable. Someone commented they want to shift to their Hogwarts DR? Okay, remind them every single day to shift and not stop until they do, and let that serve as a reminder to you as well. Ofc if you need to take breaks you always should do that, but if you’re in the right frame of mind to keep going and not stop, do it. The time is now. No more procrastinating. No more “I’ll wake up in the void tomorrow” no bitch DO IT TODAY. Goddamn it. This is your LIFE we’re talking about not a game and you think it’s okay to postpone your desires for another minute??! Hell no. Get off your ass and do what you need to do. Hold yourself accountable to the best of your abilities. Stop complaining about it bc all that time you used to complain could’ve been used to affirm or focus on your shifting or void state self concept, whatever steps it may be to lead you closer to your end goal. I know you’re tired and drained fucking trust me I know how hard the journey has been, but maybe it wouldn’t have been so hard if we had just buckled down from the start and done what we needed to do and figured out what worked best for us and stopped listening to people that are close minded with limiting ass beliefs. So from this point on, starting IMMEDIATELY, you are not going to waste another day. Haven’t tried to shift in over a year and a half like me? (I took a “shifting break” in May 2022💀), or however long it’s been?

Idc, looks like tonight’s your night and every single night after until you fucking shift. Haven’t tried to enter or wake up in the void state for a hot minute? (I stopped in July bc it was low key ruining my mental health the way I was obsessing over it). Oh, cool, looks like you and I are attempting tonight no ifs ands or buts. NONE. Consider this a challenge. It’s called “Get your desires before 2024” if you’re manifesting, “Tap in the void state before 2024” if you’re trying to enter the void state and manifest your dream life that way, or “Reality shift before 2024” if you’re shifting. It’s early November and if we really persist the entire time this is more than achievable. So, the only rules for this is to either in the comments section of this post or in your own separate post you’re going to document your journey from here on out and update once you’ve finally done it. Every single day (unless ofc like I said you need a break or life happens and you for whatever reason can’t, I get it shit happens lol). I’ll even be doing it with you, so stay tuned for that. No more over consuming info you already fucking know. Use all your free time you possible can or just utilize night time wisely if you only do shit before bed. We’re done. We’re getting our shit. And if you don’t participate I will personally come over and beat your ass bc YOU DESERVE TO LIVE YOUR DREAM LIFE not daydream about it, not sit around wising and hoping for it but actually fucking living it. And idc what I have to do to get the message across. So with that being said, do the “challenge” or however you want to view it and I love you and you got this. 💕

[charmedreincarnation]

What you said about the law is so REAL. My friend was super into the law before I was. And my mom was into law of attraction when I was in elementary school and would tell me our thoughts hold power and she would talk about manifesting. And I didn’t care for it tbh 😭 I was kind of into my own way of manifesting. Tbh I probably just ran away from accountability 💀💀 But then IDEK what happened, it was like a light switch flipped and I started using the law and believed in it. I think it found me when I needed and was ready for it

I was utilizing the law when I was like 5. Thinking about reincarnation when I was 10, even though I was avidly Christian ! even my non Loa friends, Especially as children lowkey all utilized the law in one way ot another without realizing. Then as I got into it I started finding it in everyday people for it to be more real, and realistic for my journey to apply it to myself.

The dude who sleeps throughout class but still manages to get the best score everytime. The law

The girl who never takes track practice seriously, but gets first place at the meets. The law

The dude who realistically shouldn’t have as many friends and a love life yet, som how even manages to not surprise you with their charisma. The law

Those pathological liars (my girl sza I’m sorry) who lie about everything thing but it starts to manifest into their own life for no reason. Bruh the law. it’s here and people use it without knowing all the time. Genuinely almost everyone, even if they’re not conscious about it.

People can use it negatively too

I had a friend who had super strict parents. Even stricter than my traditional African and Latina parents. I also had another friend with super strict parents, same as friend one, but different experience

Friend 1: never asked to go out bc parents would say no. Never snuck out, never tried or wanted to go out because what’s the point, “they’ll say no anyways” then she’d say oki I’m going to ask them today, and would decide to give up on the bus ride home before even seeing her parents.

Friend 2: same family different assumption. When people ask her how she’s coming out she responded “I’ll find a way.” If I told her, how her parents always say no.. she would say “ not this time or why would they” even tho I knew who her parents were and what they would say. They always ended up saying yes.

A lot of us on our journey are friend one.” I can’t get into the void, I’m probably the only one who can’t so what the point my 3D sucks waa waa.”

“I’m going to live my desired life tomorrow Fr! (8:00pm) “ugh my meditation didn’t work, this shit is fake”

“Y’all don’t know my story, I’ve never succeeded in manifesting but I swear I’m living in the end”

(Exaggeration obvi for comedic effects🙄)

Because you’re already giving up before you try, and assuming it won’t 😭💗 lesson of the story, be friend 2 👍

[crosby-interesting]

previous anon: kathy is not of this generation so “its 2024 not everyone wants to get married and have kids” doesn’t apply to her situation. Kathy is 40. her generation of women wanted marriage & children. her 20s & 30s were spent as crosbys WAG in the early/mid 2000s hockey culture-you genuinely think marriage & kids wasn’t her prerogative? Sidney himself has spoken about kids -so clearly there’s a disconnect if that’s the case. Of course a girl in her 20s or EARLY 30s in 2024 doesn’t have to feel pressure to marry bc she is working on building a career, improving her educational goals, or even traveling and experiencing life. Sadly, this is not Kathys case. She is hustling a corporate job while being in a 20 year situationship with a millionaire, who has INTENTIONALLY keeps her hidden, doesn’t dare to utter her name, doesn’t bother to create a proper home with her, does not bring her to team couple events or team parties. The few times they do come as a couple he refuses to be pictured with her even to the point where other WAGS have photoshoped him out of pictures where he’s near her & photography tiktok accounts have been asked to delete videos that included him & kathy pictured at a wedding.-this is not normal behavior. especially for a public figure. Imagine if Lebron James or Tom Brady behaved like this. Its weird. And to top it all off Sidney is Clearly is not maintaining her financially. I say all this as someone who supports feminism and is not conservative. Nothing is progressive or liberating about Kathy situationship. Shes accepted being diminished by a successful man. thats the opposite of feminism. allowing a man to use you to his benefit and your detriment. Kathy is not empowered. She is a TOY prop that serves a purpose of making the man look good. she is not respected by him. she is hidden & brought out only for major milestones that require a wholesome picture for PR purposes. let us pray that this was actually her dream relationship all along; 20 years. no house together.no marriage commitment. no baby. no adoption. not pets together. no charity foundation together. no benefit to her career or social status…i’ll end with this, if he leaves tomorrow shes left with NOTHING. 20 years down the drain. THIS is why a lady from her generation in her social community marriage is essential. he has 20 years left to have kids and even get married. that sadly is not the outcome for women in 40s & 50s. -🫖

ANON you're best!

[oh-my-damn]

Mandy bestie is it okay if I rant a little bit? I need advice 😩

I am 26, and I just graduated as a landscape architect ( I just used google translate bestie I’m sorry if it doesn’t make sense English is not my first language) I applied to a firm and got the job. The first day, everyone was so nice to me, welcomed me with open arms, except my boss. Actually one of my bosses. I have 3 in total, 2 men and 1 woman. And one of the men hated me. I never understood why. I gratuated the top of my class, was never late, did everything was told, I mean my 2 other bosses loved me but he just showed my the hardest time. One time, he even scolded me in front of everyone and I just wanted to punch him in the face, but couldn’t.

Okay, so a couple of days ago I was working late bc I had a project that I wanted to finish before I went back home bc I didn’t want to get yelled at again, and he was there too. I saw that he was looking at me from his office but I never looked up, I was just focused on my thing. Then he came over and apologized, saying that he was being unfair to me this whole time I was here and that I was one of the best in the firm. I was shocked, couldn’t say anything and asked why he was acting to me this way.

Mandy. Maaaandyyyyy.

He kissed me. He fucking kissed me right there. I was frozen in my lips while his kiss was making blood rush to my cheeks. I have to mention that he is 34 and fucking hot. Brown hair, hazel eyes, and beefy. I just never payed attention bc he was a dick to me. After the kiss he whispered “I hope that answered your question” and left me there with goosebumps.

Now I don’t know what to do. I mean yeah he’s fucking hot but also a dick, Mandy. I mean he humiliated me in front of the other assistants and I felt like a piece of shit.

I asked one of my coworkers who worked their for years of this was normal or if he did this with anyone and she said no. That he was a firm and good boss, didn’t talk much like the other two, but was always fair to everyone. He also hasn’t been dating for 4 years bc he couldn’t find the one. He only has one ex and that was he proposed to her, but she ended things off bc he was more focused to his job.

I’m lost. Like wtf am I supposed to do? Is he playing with me? Does he think I’m gonna be his work bitch like where do I go from here? He went to a work trip and I see him tomorrow again, and I’m fucking nervous like I never was before. What if he humiliates me again? Do I forgive him? Please help the girl out😭😭😭

Again, sooooo sorry for this long rant but I can’t tell anyone from work cuz I’m scared that I’ll get fired and I’m just scared my friends will say to go for it just bc he’s not, yk?

Thank you for listening 💖

BESTIE OH MY GOD

OH MY GOD

YOU'RE LIVING THE FANFIC LIFE KSJKSJSKS

OKAY OKAY OKAY

sheeesh don't mind me giggling and blushing here..... WELL I think it all depends on how he treats you in front of everyone else now!

He better change his tune or you fuck him over. I have a feeling he's going to be nice, though. Most likely he was being rude bc he was conflicted about his feelings and didn't want anyone to know he liked you (men....)

But HOT DAMN

Are you into him? Are you even allowed to date him if he's your superior?!

OH MY GOD BESTIE TELL ME MORE

[yawyawnilen]

Hello, it’s 2am and i’m still awake. I took a nap man sad ganiha. so yeah… the consequences of my actions.

I decided to write something here. for my own sanity. i have no one to talk to. well, i do, but i dont want to burden them.

To be honest, i am so lonely these days. i have friends, i have my cousins, but… i got no one to talk to about deep shit that goes on in my head. my closest friend is in Japan and she’s facing her own problems. i dont want to dagdag pa sa iyang gina isip and besides, i’ve told her all about this stuff countless times before. so balik balik ra mi. Hurot na words of advice and comfort namo sa isat isa haha. my two other close friends are here but i dont think they’d want to listen to me hahahaha again, they have their own problems. i dont want to be a burden. Plus im really not looking for advice and they might just unknowingly send me an advice which mag halt akong brain ana and ma activate akong fight or flight. I would just say im fine. If i want to share, all i want is an enthusiastic listener. kanang feeling nako di ko iinvalidate, dili iinvalidate akong ma feel. just like how i’d listen to their own life stories sana.

Anyway, what im feeling right now is of my own. i guess its bcs hapit nako dug-on so im extra emotional. so yeah. I still got no job. im starting to feel a burden to this house but im not actually a burden since i do give money. my savings are almost running out. i am becoming broke na. it’s stressing me out. but i dont want to apply to any kind of stressful job bcs mag balik na sad ko ato na cycle and i hate it so much.

Why cant we just be rich? im so tired of being poor. All i want is to read and watch stuff. Cant i get paid over that? why cant i be a nepotism baby? i wouldnt care. im just so tired of this situation.

I am actually becoming hopeless again. ive been unemployed for 5 months now. i dont know what i want to do in my life. Im sick and tired of being clueless. is there no manual that i can check para kabalo ko asa na padulong akong life?

Sometimes, i wish i could just drop dead so that i wont stress myself anymore. the concept of no life after death tempts me. but i wouldnt directly do that to myself. im too self absorbed to just kill myself no.

I have a lot of things i want to say but my brain is blanking again. maybe i’ll add more tomorrow.

[capriciouschocoberry]

I queued a bunch of things thinking that I won’t be on tumblr during my reading week because I’d be prepping for my final exams, y’know, diligently like a student should

BUT NOPE

If anything, I’m on tumblr MORE THAN USUAL 😭

[remcycl333]

ilysm rem but i hate that mindset.

you gotta remember that some of us are living in pure shit. it’s normal & completely okay to want it to work instantly. honestly, “no matter how long it takes” some of us don want to waste anymore time on bs. for example, if my house is tearing down. hell yeah i’ll want it fixed tomorrow or i’ll be upset LMAO. i understand it’s supposed to motivate us by saying that but in all truth, it’s probably discouraging a lot of people (im not saying you should change or you’re doing anything wrong but try to see it from other peoples perspective of not wanting to wait. i feel like everyone should understand that in this community. eventually, it can be tiring) if we can’t have it when we want, what’s the point of all of this?? we are god so why settle for waiting for it to show up? why wait no matter how long it takes? nobody wants to wait a long ass time. some situations are too toxic for this waiting. i’m not sure. it’s just been so many blogs saying we can manifest instantly but then tell us just wait no matter how long it takes to be in the 3d. or that we need to do a certain thing. ofc we’ll still want our dream life, that’s why we’re here. but we’re also here to get it quickly. everyone says the 3d doesn’t matter but it does. thats where we want. we want that shit in our 4d but also the 3d too. if it’s not there, what is the point? literally.💀 that’s the problem i’m having learning about the law. it seems like a waiting game for the 3d.

so yeah, we want our desire no matter what but it’s also okay to want it now or we get frustrated. idk anybody who would want to wait. it makes sense for everyone to want it instantly and not take forever. maybe we just think differently about it idk.

i get where you are coming from and trust me, i am no stranger to toxic abusive households and situations. i empathize with you all 100%. the reason i say stuff like that is bc either you persist in the law and see changes in your 3D, or you don't and you stay in the same dangerous/scary/bad situations. if you have resources in your 3D to help yourself out of toxic situations, utilize them!! that is not the same as "ignoring the 3D"/messing with the 3D at all!! but if you don't and loa is your only hope, the reason i say not to care about how much time it is taking etc is because those thoughts are what is prolonging your manifestation from getting here. the second you think "it's not here yet wtf but its been x amount of time" your subconscious mind goes "so true bestie its not here yet." that's the reason we say not to care about time. i know it's hard, but if the only way to save yourself from a toxic situation is to use the loa and essentially think your way out, you have to discipline your mind and put in the effort.

something i think a lot of people don't understand is that thinking positively and affirming and cutting out negative thoughts does not pose any risk to you at all. i know that it can feel comforting to keep your focus on the situation and you feel like it'll all come crumbling down if you take your attention off of it, but that's not true. it takes bravery to be able to give you're all into loa. applying the law will only help you, not harm you.

also when we say the 3D doesn't matter, we mean that the circumstances in your 3D that are telling you you don't have your manifestation, that it will never come, that it's impossible, etc, don't matter. of course we all want our manifestations in the 3D, that's why we do all of this!! but when it shows you something you don't like you have to ignore it bc it is going to change and your current circumstances aren't permanent!!

yes, obviously we all want our desires instantly, but to not try to manifest unless it will manifest instantly? that's like if someone offered you one million dollars but it wouldn't be deposited into your bank until the end of the week and you said well nevermind i dont want it anymore then.

ofc you can manifest instantly, but i've noticed over time throughout my journey that my manifestations come so much quicker when i stop obsessing over the time and trying to make it come faster. don't add unnecessary resistance to your manifestations!!

do not waste your power. if you dont want to "wait a long ass time" discipline your mind and apply what we are telling you and stop complaining. the law is 100% real, most of you just aren't willing to deviate from your comfortable thought patterns. whether or you not get your shit is up to you and only you. there's nothing i can say or do that'll help you unless you're willing to apply it.

[chaoticparker]

Trip

Peter Parker x fem!reader

summary: Peter invites you and some of your friends to a cabin for his birthday, teasing from your friends is ensured; and maybe, you’ll finally get together.

warnings: suggestive jokes, fear of growing up

w/c: 3.8k

a/n: originally i started writing this as a ‘end of summer/ last chance to be young’ fic that would have angst, but i realized i could write in peters b-day so i made it fluffy :) ALSO RETURN OF MJ x GWEN BC I LOVE THEM AND TONY ISNT DEAD BC I SAY SO

anyways happy b-day pete <3

masterlist

You really miss four hours ago when you were not stuffed to the brim into a car with your friends surrounding you. Traveling in the middle of nowhere, far from the city, with only the GPS to guide you. Constant yelling and screaming with the additional music playing in the background made you want to scream at the top of your lungs. And there was one person responsible for your little journey. 

Peter fucking Parker.

Tomorrow was his birthday, and he used that fact to guilt all of his friends to go on an impromptu road trip to a cabin that was owned by the Starks. Texting the group chat at three in the morning and said that's what he wanted to do for his birthday. Harry offered his car for the trip and no one was opposed. He came around to pick everyone up and when Peter gave him the top-secret location, they headed south, away from the city and further into isolation in Fairburn, Georgia. 

“Pete, are you sure you’re not gonna kill us out here.” Harry joked as he loosened his grip on the steering wheel. Ahead of him were nothing but clear roads and everlasting trees surrounding the highway.

Peter scoffed, taking another bite of the animal crackers he was eating right from the box. He was sitting in the middle row, he offered you, who was in the passenger seat, some, and when you shook your heads he turned his head around and offered some to Mj and Gwen. 

“I’ll take some.” Gwen chimed as she took the box and started pouring out a few in her hand.

“How much longer do we have?” Mj complained. “Feels like we’ve been driving for ages.”

“Only been driving for less than an hour-”

“An hour!” Mj shirked, taking her headphones off to listen more clearly. “My playlist only has three hours worth of songs and I don’t want to listen to it five more times.”

“You could listen to my playlist.” Harry offered, but Mj just scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“Absolutely not.”

“Why not?”

“Because it's shit.” Mj sat back down in her seat and leaned her head on Gwen's shoulder. Gwen gave a little kiss on her head. 

“How is it shit?” Harry asked, his voice a little offended. 

“You have One Direction and Cupcakke on the same playlist.” Mj deadpanned. “You could be crying your eyes out to one song then getting horny the next.”

“And that just how I like it.”

Everyone groaned, and you made a small vow to never let Harry get the aux cord. “Pete, what made you wanna do a roadtrip for your birthday?”

“Dunno.” Peter shrugged. “Thought it would be fun.”

In reality, when Peter was out doing his nighttime patrol when he passed over his school is when he got the idea. This upcoming school year was going to be his last, along with you and the rest of his friends. It all just hit him right at that moment. That this time next year, you all will be drifted apart, only mere memories of each other. 

Hell, it's already started.

Betty has been looking at universities out west. Her dream was UCLA, and her grades were good enough already to get in. Ned had his heart set out on CalTech, already looking into scholarships he could apply for and how expensive plane tickets are. That's why they weren’t even here, they were off touring campuses. 

Mj and Gwen planned on staying on the east coast, but both wanted to leave New York and its madness. They entertained the idea of Yale, it had a good english programme for Mj and a good art school for Gwen. 

Harry planned on getting away from his dad as quickly as he could. He wanted to get out of his grip, but still make a difference. Recently, his dad planned on opening up a new branch of Oscorp in Europe, and Harry was the frontrunner to lead it. 

You, on the other hand, still had your plans up in the air. You are still undecided on what you wanted to do. You refused to ever talk about plans, still living in the fantasy like ignorance that your adult life was years away.

Peter hoped that you would stay in New York. He had to stay in New York for Spider-related duties, but it would be so much better to have someone that he knew, that he trusted around. The only person who Peter truly trusted was you. He would only confide in you, knowing that you could help him with whatever problem he had. 

And of course, you confided within him too, it's where the deep level of trust comes from. It couldn’t be this deep of a connection with it only being one sided. Being able to rely on one another for comfort and an untalked about love that made your relationship so perfect. 

And of course, any love-sick fool would want you to stay with them.

“Dude, wake up.” You nudged Peter on his shoulder. Peter just groaned. “Wake up!” you punched a little harder, causing Peter to sit up and rub his shoulder.

“The fuck was that for?”

“You’re fine, you’ll heal in like two seconds.” Peter scoffed and blinked his eyes. Everyone else was out of the car, stretching and getting ready to go into what looked like a rest stop. 

“Where are we?” Peter asked. Rubbing some of the sleep out of his eye.

“Outside of Richmond in Virginia.” You answered. “Now come on.” You patted Peter on the back. He opened the door and both climbed out, immediately squinting their eyes at the harsh sunlight.

“Oh, so he’s finally awake?” Mj teased. She was holding hands with Gwen, the most amount of PDA she’ll normally show. “Thought Sleeping Beauty was gonna need a wake up kiss.”

“I’m sure Y/n would be more than happy to do it.” Harry joined in.

“Shut up Harry.” You groaned. “Now come on, I wanna grab some gummy bears.”

Inside the rest stop was not as disgusting as what you thought it was going to be. It was clean, or clean enough for everyone to use the restroom. And it wasn’t busy at all so you could easily pay for your snack without too much trouble. 

You stood with Peter as you waited for the others, reluctantly sharing your food with him. “Ayo, lovebirds!” Mj called, close to the exit. “We’re getting ready to go!”

He took some of your gummy bears as you both headed for the car. Everyone was already out, slowly getting into the car and into their old seats.

“Y'all ready?” Harry asked and a series of ‘yes’s’ was heard. You set up the GPS on his phone and positioned it so it was in the perfect view for Harry to see. A few minutes of silence passed, but it felt like an hour for Harry so he might as well stir the pot and help Peter out. “Don’t you think that Y/n and Peter looked cute standing back at the stop?”

Peter’s ears perked up and he hit Harry from the back seat. “Dude, what the fuck-”

“They really did.” Gwen chimed in from the back. “Looked all sweet, standing there sharing their food like couples do.”

“I’m not sharing my popcorn with you.” Mj mumbled. Gwen rolled her eyes and leaned forward so her face was near Peter’s. 

“Are you gonna make your move on the trip?” She whispered, softly enough for only the boy could hear her. 

“What?” Peter looked over to you and you seemed to be preoccupied on your phone with your music. “She doesn’t like me like that.”

“Are you serious?” Gwen blurted and looked over at Mj. “Is he serious?”

“You’d think with his genius level IQ he would be able to figure it out by now.” Mj joked, causing her and Gwen to laugh. Peter on the other hand was dumbfounded.

“Hey Pete.” Gwen spoke up, loud enough for everyone to hear. “Isn’t the cabin right by a lake.”

“Yeah? I told everyone to bring a bathing suit-”

“And you got your swim trunks.” Gwen smiled. “Good time to show off your impressive abs.”

Peter went red, “What? It’s nothing-”

“I’m just pointing it out in case anyone-”

“Y/n” Mj coughed, interrupting Gwen’s sentence. You whipped your head back to her and gave her a death glare. 

“-was interested.” Gwen finished.

You turned to Mj and mouthed, ‘I will kill you.’ And she just mouthed back ‘I’m helping you!’ You rolled your eyes and looked at your phone.

“Speaking on Y/n, did you bring that bikini we got a couple weeks ago?” Gwen asked. Her voice was sweet but you have never wanted to strangle her more.

“Yeah, why-”

“You looked so good in it, it really made your boobs look amazing.”

“Mhm?” Giggles spread through the car, and heat rose to your cheeks and gave another death glare.

“That purple one you wore to my pool thing a few days ago?” Mj asked. You slowly nodded your head. “Girl you looked good in that! And Gwen’s right, your boobs did look amazing in it-.”

“Your ass too!” Gwen interrupted. You sank further in your seat, and your eyes went wide from embarrassment. You took a quick glance at Peter and he was beat red, while Harry had a concerning smirk on his face.

“You know, I’m sure your tits looked-” Harry started, but you hit him before he could finish his sentence. 

The car went quiet, which you were internally grateful for. Peter groaned and layed back in his seat, trying his best to sleep. He tried to stop his thoughts drifting over to you, memories and his brain finding a way to romacize them. He tried his best to never indulge in them, only thinking about it if he needed to calm his brain from the frightening and worrying thoughts that came with the superhero gig.

You on the other hand put the volume all the way up on your headphones so you could drown out whatever anyone else is saying. You stole one last glance to Peter, you saw his eyelids drop and eventually shut. It made you smile whenever he was sleeping, knowing that his mind is safe in whatever dream he was having.

And though you would never say it outloud, you hope he dreamed of you.

~~

Eventually, you were woken up by Gwen poking you and she told you that you arrived. You got out of the car, took your bag, and entered the cabin. You all went upstairs into your respective rooms. In Stark fashion, the rooms were spacious with their own connected bathrooms. 

You heard a knock on your door, and went over to open it. “We’re all going out to look at the dock now if you’re ready.” Peter announced. He was wearing a different pair of shorts and a different sweatshirt; curls better than ever. 

You glanced behind you to look at your unpack suitcase on your bed. Either explore the million dollar cabin or start unpacking? “Yeah, I’m ready.”

You shut the door behind you and walked next to Peter downstairs and outside where everyone was already waiting. “Hurry up lovebirds, I wanna check out everything” Harry yelled. You rolled your eyes as Peter blushed as you ran over to the group. “You two took forever.” Harry groaned. 

“Thought you two finally fucked.” Mj mumbled. 

“MJ!” You and Peter shrieked. 

“Kidding, kidding” Mj smiled, interlocking her hand with Gwens. “Maybe.”

Continuing to walk with the group you eventually got to a wooden shed with a lock on it. Harry tugged on it, but it didn’t budge. “Don’t suppose anyones got a key?”

“Let me try.” Peter volunteered. He stood weirdly in front of the lock, you peaked your head and didn’t see any key, but Peter’s hands were ready to break the lock. No one else here knew about Peter's secret life, and knowing how stressful it could be, you always did your best to help him out.

“Hey, look at the view.” You pointed away from the shed and when everyone's attention was away from Peter you heard metal break and fall to the ground. 

“It’s really beautiful.” Gwen commented, swinging her hand that was entwined with Mj’s, who hummed in agreement. “Wanna go down to the dock?”

Everyone nodded and headed for the water. Harry stayed and turned around and saw Peter with the shed door open. “How’d you do that?” Harry’s jaw dropped.

“I used a rock.” Peter shrugged and went into the shed and Harry behind him. They admired the surprising amount of water guns that looked a little bit too high tech to be only Morgan’s. As well as some high tech scuba equipment that had to be worth at least a couple thousand dollars. 

“Hey, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, but I think you should really ask Y/n out soon.” Harry mumbled. “Or else, someone is going to make a move on her and she’s not gonna wait around for you.”

Peter sighed. “I know, but it’s hard. I don’t know how Mj and Gwen did it.”

“They did it because they have enough common sense to see how the other liked them.” Harry wrapped an arm around Peter. “Besides, I know for a fact that she’s in love with you.”

“You don’t know that-”

“Yes I do-”

“Dude, stop.”

“I’m not gonna stop telling you to-”

Peter put his hand over Harry's mouth, “No, I mean stop talking.” Something didn’t feel right and it was coming from all over. He felt the hairs on his arms stick up and a strong compulsion to go down to the dock. Then, they heard a scream and some shouts. 

The boys raced out of the shed and sprinted to the dock. He saw Gewn and Mj, pulling you out from the water and back onto your feet. You looked absolutely freezing. Shivering and crossing your arms and rubbing your hands over them, trying to warm yourself up. 

“Fuck, Y/n what happened.” Peter quickly took his sweatshirt off and gave it to you to put on to get you warm. He then wrapped his arm around you. 

“Mj slipped and almost fell in but I grabbed her arm and I ended up trading places with her.” You gave a sad laugh. Peter still kept his arm around you and you buried yourself closer to his chest. 

The others, of course, felt their hearts melt at the sight. 

“Let's go inside and get you dry.” Peter decided. You nodded your head. “We’ll be back in a few.” He told the others and you both headed back up to the cabin. 

After walking in silence, you eventually made it into the house and up the stairs as Peter guided you to his room. You walked to the connecting bathroom and Peter turned the shower on. “I’ll be waiting outside.”

The way Peter hugged you and held you close made you feel all warm and fuzzy, but when Peter left that shiver came back. You hopped in the shower and turned the handle so the water was burning nicely on your back. Making sure to use enough body wash to get rid of any remnants from the ocean. 

As you turned the water off and grabbed a towel, You felt guilt creeping in. It is his trip for his birthday, he should be hanging out with his friends; not dealing with you. You looked at your clothes, your shorts were dry but your shirt that you were wearing was still damp, leaving you in Peter’s sweatshirt. 

You walked out of the bathroom, Peter looked up and cleared his throat, he blushed briefly and stood up. “You look nice.” He smiled.

You looked down. “Oh, I’ll wash your sweatshirt and give it back to you soon. I just didn’t have any other clothes-”

“You don’t have to do that!” Peter said, a little too quickly for his liking. He would never want to admit what you wearing his clothes does to him, making him feel like he’s with you. “You -uh- you look really nice wearing it.”

“Really?” You were shocked to say the least. “This is your favorite one, you never let it out of your sight.”

Peter blushed but quickly tried to cover it up. “It’s nothing, you look too good to change.”

“Are you sure, ‘cause I can always change if you want.” You offered again. 

“I’m sure.” Peter pursed his lips together and sat back down. You sat down next to him.

“So, why did you want to come here for your birthday?” You admired his face as you asked. His cheeks had a soft blush to them with freckles sprinkled over them and across his nose. His eyes always caught you off guard from the rest of his face though, the dark circles just begin to show how tiresome he is and his eyes always look like they’ve seen too much.

“Thought it would be fun-”

“No, don't give me that, we’ve been friends long enough for me to know when you’re lying.” You wrapped an arm around him, giving him a much needed hug. “You can tell me.”

Peter sighed, giving into your hug. “It’s our last year and I don’t want more things to change y’know?” 

You nodded your head. “Everything’s gone by fast, huh.” You agreed. “Pretty soon we’re gonna have to be making decisions about college and I don’t even know where to start.”

“Do you think you’re going to stay in New York?” Peter asked. You gave him a glare. “Sorry, sorry, it’s just everyone has plans and they’re all telling me that I shouldn’t have regrets.”

You quirked an eyebrow, “what would you have regrets on?”

Fuck. “Just, you know.” Peter stuttered. “Normal stuff.”

“What, like asking someone out?” You laughed. Peter’s eyes got a bit wider and your smile dropped for a second, you were right, there was someone. “Pete, if there is someone, tell them.”

Peter sighed, clearly thinking to himself and you could practically see the gears turning in his head. He looked up to you and tried to say something, but he couldn’t think of anything to say. All he could think about was the way you looked in his sweater, the way your eyes looked at him with hope and your lips, just there and looking like they need a little-

Peter closed the gap between you and gave you a kiss. He pulled back instantly, and stood up pacing in his room. “Fuck, fuck, fucking fuck.” He mumbled, pulling his hair and trying not to look at you. 

You on the other hand were stunned. Did that just happen? Did you both really kiss? Did he mean you? You stood up and made your way over to Peter and grabbed Peter’s hands. “Y/n, I’m sorry, I know you don’t feel the same-” 

You shut him up with a kiss, slowly moving your hands away from his hands and to his hair, deepening the kiss. Peter couldn’t believe what was going on, this had to be a fake. No one could love him, especially not someone as ethereal as you.

You both pulled away, your hands still in his hair and his were now respectfully on your waist. Peter gasped a little, a mixture of needing some air and feeling like he was going to faint. “I love you.” You spoke quietly. 

“Oh my fucking god that is the sexiest thing you have ever said.” He blurted out, then immediately regretted it. Thinking to himself that he has been hanging out with Harry too much.

“I just confess my love for you and you go and say that.”

“I’m sorry!” Peter tried, looking up and giving you a sheepish smile. You, although, didn’t look that impressed. “But, I love you too.” Your eyes softened and you went in a little closer, not to give him a kiss, but a hug. 

“Do you still love me after I said that?”

“Yes.” You sighed, pulling him away and giving him another kiss. It was supposed to be just a little peck but Peter seemed a little desperate for a little more, but you pulled away. “Just never say it ever again.”

~~

The rest of the night went by quickly, everyone went out to a fast food place to get dinner, and after a movie everyone suddenly yawned and claimed they were too tired, insisting that you and Peter should stay up. You looked over at Peter who blushed, and immediately knew that he told someone -most likely Harry- who told everyone else about the kiss. 

“How are you doing?” You asked. “Feeling any better about the future yet?” You combed your hand through his curls and he just smiled.

“Better now that I know I won't have any regrets on my love life.” 

“Mhm.” You hummed, sat peacefully with each other, snuggling closer and closer as you got sleepier. 

An alarm went off, jolting you both awake. “Whas’ that?” Peter groggly asked, raising his fists a little. 

You laughed as you reached over to the coffee table and took your phone, stopping the alarm. “I set an alarm for midnight so I could be the first to wish you a happy birthday.” Kiss. “So, happy birthday, Pete.” You gave him another quick kiss on the lips, pulled away, and got up.

“Where are you going?” Peter whined, making grabby hands at you to come back.

“Just grabbing your birthday gift.” You went to grab a small box with a bow from a drawer that you hid in there earlier, and walked back to the couch. “Here.” He took the box from your hands and slowly opened it. He gasped a little when he saw it.

“It’s... it’s just like in the photo.” He mumbled, pulling out the watch. Only touching it with his finger tips, scared it would break.

“I know you were sad when you lost Ben’s old one. I showed the picture around some shops so it’s the same model too.” You said sheepishly. “I hope you don’t mind.”

Peter shook his head and put the watch on his wrist. “I love it.” Peter smiled again. “Thank you.” You leaned into him and he leaned into you. You gave another peck on the cheek and he smiled again. 

“Thanks for the best birthday.” 

“It’s only been your birthday for five minutes.”

“I know.” He smiled, holding you a little closer. “But this is my first birthday where I’m not hiding my love for you.”

You kissed his lips. “That has to be the sexiest thing you have ever said.”

[pascalpanic]

Ok so i read a little snippet of the new interview w pedro and something stuck with me. He said something about loving to read aloud so IMAGINE FRANKIE. Like I have an idea maybe you’re like a college student who’s cramming for finals and assignments and all overwhelmed. One night before an exam Frankie reads your notes to you as you lie against him in bed. Like this mans voice lulls you to sleep. One page in you’re asleep but u can’t tell me the man doesn’t keep reading since he thinks maybe even in your sleep him reading your notes will help you remember the material for the next day I’m soft 🥺😭

Study Buddy (Frankie Morales x f!Reader)

W/C: 2.4K

Warnings: crying, stress, mentions of food, alcohol, non sexual nudity, reader is studying psychology

A/N: this is.... the dream. like the actual dream. And I included ravioli the cat bc I love that little man :)

God, you can’t remember any of this shit on the page in front of you. It makes your brain hurt, and the fact that you’re studying psychology makes it all even worse. You’re studying what makes you tick, the reasons why you can’t remember it, and it’s endlessly annoying. Your eyes burn from how long you’ve stared at your laptop, hand cramping from the amount of definitions you’ve written several times in a desperate attempt to commit them to memory.

You’ve spent this Sunday at your desk, only getting up to use the bathroom. Your doting boyfriend, Frankie, brings you food, refills your water, rubs your shoulders for you. The final exam is Wednesday, but you’re still filled with anxiety over what you do and don’t know. It feels like everything you learned this semester went in one ear and out the other after the initial tests on the individual units.

This exam is important. The course is a heavily impactful one, naturally an essential knowledge base for the field of mental health work, and passing it with a good grade would be a real standout later when you’re applying for medical school. It’s safe to say the pressure’s on, and you’re feeling it squeeze down on you like a vise.

Frankie walks in again, about an hour after the last time, when he brought you graham crackers and hot tea. You lift your head to look at him, wincing as your neck crunches with the movement. Frankie winces for you. “Wow.” “I know,” you whine, rolling your neck side to side and working out the rest of the air bubbles that formed from staring down at the full notebook. Looking up at him, your eyes water from the constant light of your laptop, even with your blue-light glasses. “What time is it?” You ask.

Frankie sits on the edge of the bed, hands on his thighs. “Uh, it’s about 8 P.M. now.” Ravioli, his cat, lifts his head from where he’s curled on the bed. Frankie murmurs something and rubs the cat’s fluffy little head. Ravioli prances over to Frankie’s lap and curls up in it.

You groan and scoot your rolling chair over to him, his hand finding the tender spot where your neck and shoulder meet and rubbing the sore muscles. “Oh, honey,” he sighs, removing your glasses and wiping the small gathering of tears from your lower eyelids. “Can I run you a bath?”

“I don’t have time, baby,” you whimper, real heavy and hot tears forming as you look back at your desk. “A whole portion of the exam is gonna be on classical conditioning, and I can’t even tell the difference in the unconditioned and conditioned stimuli, and-”

As your words rise in pitch and the cry chokes your throat, Frankie pulls you out of the chair and into his lap. Ravioli nervously removes himself from Frankie’s lap, not wanting to be crushed as you two embrace. “You have all of tomorrow and Tuesday.”

“But I need to use tomorrow for parts of the brain and Tuesday for all-around final review!” You wail, burying your face in his chest and sobbing.

Your tears dampen his shirt but Frankie doesn’t care, he just wraps his arms around you tighter as you cry. He lets the tears fall for a bit, allowing you to get the tension you clearly need out… well, out. He rocks you gently in his arms, holding you in his strong arms and kissing your head. When the tears slow and your wheezes turn to small hiccups, Frankie gives a slow deep breath, knowing you’ll feel it and hoping you’ll mimic it. “You’ve been at your desk for nine hours, baby. It’s time to be done for the night. I’ll let you study a little longer, but I’m going to run us a bath. Okay?” He asks.

Nodding, you sniffle and wipe the tears from your eyes. “I got snot all over your favorite shirt,” you whimper.

Frankie shakes his head. “It’s nothing, querida. Go finish up and I’ll get the bath started.” He slides you back into your desk chair and rolls you back to your desk.

You wipe the snot onto the sleeve of your hoodie and look up at him with big eyes. “You’re too good to me, baby,” you coo, voice still watery.

“Just doing what you deserve.” Frankie stands behind you and removes the tight bun from your hair, letting it fall down and massaging your scalp gently. “Oh, honey,” he sighs as he sees you visibly relax. “That was tight.”

“Didn’t even notice,” you murmur as your eyes slip shut, falling back into Frankie’s strong fingers as they trace your sore scalp. He kisses your forehead and walks off to the bathroom, making you sigh and put your blue light glasses back on for the final few minutes of studying.

With these moments, you review things you already know, deciding to use part of tomorrow to focus on the classical conditioning components again. It’s incredibly basic, you know, and the fact that you don’t get it makes you even more frustrated. You break your own rules and stare at the blank diagram, trying to properly label them, only to feel angry tears welling up.

“Pavlov was an asshole, doing all that tempting to his dogs,” Frankie chuckles as he walks in to see you at the segment again. His small smile falls when he sees your eyes are watering. Helping you from the chair, he shuts your laptop and notebook and wraps his arms around you. “Hey. You’ll get it, baby. Taking a break and coming back helps, right? Didn’t you call that…”

“Spaced practice,” you nod. “Or dispersed. Either term works,” you sniffle.

“See? I’m learning from you. You’ll have your M.D. in no time.”

You give a weak chuckle and walk with Frankie to the bathroom, sighing as you smell your favorite candle and notice that he turned the bathroom light to a soft orange glow. He’d insisted on putting in the color-changing lights recently, and you have to admit you enjoy them. The tub steams with clear water and you turn to Frankie to frown only to see him holding two bath bombs. “Your choice. I know you like picking.”

This makes you finally break from your scowl into a small smile. You pick your favorite, one with pink and purple swirls and a rose on top. Frankie nods and lets you take it. “You do the honors. I’ll go get the bubbles.”

Before he can turn, you stop him and take his face in your hands, kissing him lovingly. “You’re the best,” you tell him with a weak smile.

“How about some wine too?” He offers, rubbing your side.

“God, let’s run away and get married,” you laugh and rest your head against his chest. “Yes, wine please, baby.”

“Be right back,” he smiles and kisses your forehead.

You squat and drop the bath bomb in the water, sighing as the steam becomes scented of jasmine and sage. The water swirls purple and Frankie returns in a few moments with a bottle of red wine and lavender bubble bath. Sighing, you stand to full height and stretch, your back aching from the strained position. Frankie helps you remove your hoodie, slipping it off and tossing it aside before removing his own clothes.

Frankie pours some of the opened red wine into two glasses, then drizzles some bubble bath into the tub. He turns on the jets for a moment, letting the bubbles foam to the top. He slides in once he’s fully naked, grabbing his wine from the side and sighing. “Come on in.”

Smiling over at him, you tie your hair back and slide in, sitting on his lap in the water and grabbing your glass of wine too. You rest your head against Frankie’s broad chest and he turns on the jets, swirling the warm water around the both of you.

It’s just as relaxing as he’d hoped it would be. You sip your wine as he snakes an arm around your middle, kissing the top of your head. You’re both fully naked, but the moment isn’t anything sexy or hot. It’s just loving, snuggling in the warm water.

Handing Frankie your glass, you slip beneath the surface of the bubbles, fully submerging yourself in the deep tub. God, you’re glad Frankie chose the deepest tub they had. Popping back up, you push back your hair and sigh, nuzzling back into his chest.

“Is this all okay?” Frankie asks you after a bit, having set his wine aside and wrapped both arms around you.

Turning off the jets to talk, you smile contentedly as his warm body envelopes you. “So good. God, you’re amazing.”

Frankie smiles at that and squeezes you a little tighter. “You deserve it. You work so hard all the damn time, and you’re so beyond smart. I’m so proud of you, and you need to be treated like this.”

The mention of your work alone makes your body less fluid and relaxed as you start going over your studying plan to make sure you have everything ready for the next few days. Frankie can feel it. “Hey. Relax. Do you want me to help you study?”

You open your mouth to say no, but the offer intrigues you, making you pause. “How?”

Frankie shrugs. “I could quiz you. Read your notes to you.”

His voice always makes things stick better. You remember things much better in Frankie’s voice, holding every little thing the man says in extra high regard. “That would be lovely, baby. Thank you.”

“Anything for you,” he mumbles and kisses behind your ear.

Frankie pours you another half of a glass and by the time you finish it, the water has become lukewarm. The two of you drain the tub and dry off. Frankie brings you warm and clean clothes, a pair of cotton shorts and one of his hoodies. “You know me so well,” you beam at him and kiss him slowly. “When this is over, I’m gonna give you the best fuck of your life for being so good to me.”

Frankie has to laugh. “I mean, I’ll never say no to that, but you don’t have to. This is what partners do. This is my job as your man.”

“‘Mmm, and what a good man you are,” you purr as you nuzzle into his body once your clothes are on. “Gonna go take my meds and meet you in bed, okay?” You ask.

“Sure thing.” He kisses your head and pulls on his pajamas, blue plaid boxers and an old t-shirt, a grungy old thing with a terrible graphic relating to the Delta Force.

“You wanna put some pants on?” You tease, admiring his bare legs beneath the soft fabric.

Frankie yawns, stretching his arms above his head, before shaking it and smiling at you. “Mind your own business.” He retreats to the bedroom, and you can hear him cooing to the cat.

Taking your pills in the kitchen, you return to the bedroom and smile to see Frankie snuggled under the covers, Ravioli’s whiskers sniffing at Frankie’s face. The cat stands on Frankie’s chest, investigating his face. When he sees you, Frankie lifts Ravioli off his chest and pulls back the blankets. “Get on in here.”

Grabbing your thick notebook, you snuggle into the bed, resting your damp head on Frankie’s chest. Frankie kisses your wet hair, wrapping his arm around beneath you and taking the notes from your hands. He cracks it open and sighs. “Alright, brace yourself. I don’t know how to say any of this shit.”

You laugh, resting a hand on his chest. “Do your best.”

“We’ll see,” he chuckles and reads over the page. “Do you want me to quiz you or just read to you?”

“Just read, please,” you say softly as you let your eyes fall shut, absorbing Frankie’s warmth and Ravioli’s weight as he lies down on your feet.

His voice is so soothing. It always is, everything about Frankie is. His voice is low and soft, only loud enough for you to hear it. He begins explaining the difference in the Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas, and even though he clearly doesn’t understand the meaning behind the words, his lovely voice makes them stick.

He reads to you as you get sleepier, the weight and exhaustion of your burning eyes bringing you closer to drifting off. Before you do, you catch yourself and open them, smiling at the cat snuggled at your feet and the rise and fall of Frankie’s chest.

“Will you read me the bit about the different components of classical conditioning?” You ask quietly, hoping his voice will make the concept clearer or at least more memorable.

He nods and his scruff brushes over your forehead as he readjusts his head. Your hand rests on his soft belly, the warm skin and tufts of hair leading lower. He’s like a human comfort blanket, and you can’t help but nuzzle closer into his body.

Trying to go slowly and understand the concept himself, Frankie reads aloud the differences in the conditioned and unconditioned responses and stimuli. As much as you try to focus, your mind slips away into a warm fog, only emphasized by the lilt of his deep voice.

It doesn’t take long after one last yawn. You succumb to the sleep, and your whole body melts into the mattress and into Frankie. One slow sigh tells Frankie that he has succeeded in relaxing you.

Careful not to shift you too much, Frankie leans upwards to toss the notebook on the desk. It lands with a slap, making you jump and startle awake. “Shh, it’s all good, baby, it’s just me,” Frankie murmurs to you, stroking your back through the hoodie.

That’s all you needed, a reassurance that Frankie’s got whatever it is covered. You give half of a nod and rest your head on his chest once more, returning to the slightly deeper sleep.

As your breath slows, so does Frankie’s. He just barely holds back a yawn, clenching his teeth so that he doesn’t make enough noise to wake you again. Once his eyes slip shut, he’s done for, and your little family is all asleep on the bed: you and Frankie intertwined, and the cat at your feet.

-

taglist:

@remmysbounty @mishasminion360 @blo0dangel @binarydanvvers  @sleep-tight1 @apascalrascal @randomness501 @spideysimpossiblegirl @notabotiswear @pedro-pastel @sanchosammy @lv7867 @greeneyedblondie44 @hunnambabe @astoryisaloveaffair @emesispo @pedritobalmando @magikfanatic @a-court-of-feysand-and-elorcan @princess76179 @deltadebelleza @tacticalsparkles @queridopascal @wintermuteway @maievdenoir @dobbyjen @beskarboobs @sharkbait77 @day-off-inkyoto @darnitdraco @iamskyereads

[missyasf]

Game Of Hearts

| 1 |

↳ Summary: Your life is in monotonous tones of grey, day in, day out. Nothing matters besides your sister, the only thing you remember is seeing fireworks before waking up to Tokyo abandoned . Soon enough you are properly introduced to the deadly Borderlands where you must fight for your life in Games to survive. When things can’t possibly get worse soon division arises and rivalries are made. No matter what though, you are constantly plagued by a blonde who, no matter how hard you try, just can’t seem to go too far without.

↳ Pairing: Chishiya/Reader

↳ Genre: Angst, smut, thriller

Word Count: 11k

___| Next

Trigger Warning: ⚠️ much like the manga/Netflix adaptation this will be a dark fic which includes mentions of prostitution, attempted murder, child ab*se, sexual harassment, heavy grief and attempted suic*de among other things. Additional warnings will be added for chapters when triggers are brought up. Please read with caution if these are triggers for you or just skip all together! 

Side mention: This could be considered a prequel to the current Alice In Borderland. I’m writing based off the Manga bc I was a glutton and couldn’t wait no spoilers will be present as of...

Escapism

noun

the tendency to seek distraction and relief from unpleasant realities, especially by seeking entertainment or engaging in fantasy ♡ 

You had known all about this during your short lifespan, as a child you’d often play pretend with your sister that you were movie stars living in a five star hotel rather than the shitty busted up apartment on the wrong side of town. Escapism came in, many forms. It was often a way for people to cope psychologically, simply because sometimes, facing the reality of your situation can be too much for one person to handle mentally. 

Or at least, that was the topic of your lecture today in class. The human mind always fascinated you. Even at the young tender age when your mom died and you watched your once cozy little family fall apart piece by piece until nothing was left in its wake. 

It was your fascination that drove you now for most things, why? Why, why, why? You always wondered what the motive was behind someone’s actions, not only thing but you wanted to  understand them better, to try and sympathize. You were already fairly intuitive in nature. It wasn’t difficult to read people. In fact your line of work made it easy, you’d watch a man who would be excited to be with you reach for his left finger as if used to touching something. A wedding band perhaps? 

The lowlife cheater was fairly common in a whore house after all. Or the man who had been pissy this morning behind you in line because you had decided to try something new on the menu and you weren’t fast enough, obviously because he was tardy and woke up late, his shirt unbeknownst to him was button the wrong way and his tie loose and even the way his hair fell were all signs of being late to work. 

It was the little things you noticed in people’s facial expressions, the way they moved and spoke. You could read people like a book, and sure sometimes it was useful. But you often wished you weren’t so perceptive. It drove you mad knowing when a potential love interest was no longer interested through a simple text or a friend not wanting to talk by their tone. Sometimes you wished you could just blot it all out, still, you lived like this day in and day out, you were used to this kind of thing and honestly. Friends? Love? Your gaze dropped a little to your feet, the pumps you were wearing a jet black and the heel too high for any respectable woman to ever wear. 

...It wasn’t like you ever had any of those in your life and you had struggled to come to terms with the fact that you could survive without that kind of support. Still...it made you envious, the couple happily holding hands on the sidewalk. The group of friends all laughing at a table while they studied. Oftentimes these feelings are muted, but when you’re faced with something you’ve always craved, those muted feelings suddenly become hyperactive in your mind. 

It’s pathetic, honestly. 

“How dare you! You disgusting slut!” 

In this moment however, you were brought back to reality at just what was happening, you squeaked loudly as you dodged the shoe the woman had thrown at you. This was all a regular occurrence, you had a lot of regulars who weren’t the most amazing people but hey, money was money. But along with them they also left a trail which their wives and girlfriends always followed. And then they always blamed you instead of their partner for leaving them for a prostitute despite you never having agreed to anything such as that.

It really wasn’t your fault, you were just trying to make a living while juggling with keeping up your own education, paying your fathers debts, rent and still somehow getting food on the table. What part time college job could provide that?

Prostitution wasn’t a job you would’ve gone into willingly but given the past and your trauma that was already laced in it you had been learning that sometimes because of the trauma we experience, sometimes people go back to that same trauma and actively participate in it as a way of feeling like they’re in control. 

That whatever happened before, would never happen again if you were in control. You weren’t sure if you qualified under this category, trauma came in many forms but the one most used as an example in your class was that a study showed that women who were assaulted often develop a kink for consensual non consent as a way of coping with what happened, except this time, it’s in a controlled environment where it can end the moment they want it too. 

Again, you weren’t sure you fell into this category, but you often wondered if your line of work was intertwined with your earlier memories when you were younger, if anything it brought comfort to you. Much of it, blotted out now simply because your mind couldn’t take it. Trauma expressed through amnesia was also much more common than many thought, and it’s so small, so easy to miss. After all how can you be aware of something if you have no memory of it anymore?

“Security!” Your manager screeched, two of the bodyguards were already between you and the feral woman who was ready to gut you clean as she screamed hysterically, her husband...your regular....at her side trying to get her to calm down only for her to come to her senses and slap him clean across the face. You didn’t condone violence, but he did have it coming...

You weren’t about to justify cheaters, you couldn’t imagine the hurt someone had to feel that not only did their partner cheat on them, but it was with someone...like you...You had been trying not to put down your job occupation, sex workers were just as valid as anyone else...you knew you would’ve thought this way if it was anyone but you in this position. 

You sighed as you ran your hands through your hair, watching the couple get dragged out of the tight space of the brothel, “Jesus christ....didn’t you say you stopped using perfume because of this?” Miki, your manager sighed as she crossed her arms. You didn’t want to say your manager was your friend but she was the closest you had as you’d often complain to her about most of your problems. Sex work often attracted broken people, it wasn’t something she wasn’t used to. 

“Yeah, but apparently he never got around to washing his clothes…” You wiped your mouth on the back of your hand, “Lipstick stain,” You glanced down at the ruby pink color that stained your skin now, “Fuck...that did hurt.” You rubbed your sore cheek that was still throbbing from where she had first slapped it when she ripped the door open of the room where she got to see with her own eyes you riding her husband. 

It had happened so many times now you weren’t even embarrassed about someone walking in let alone a partner. Miki gave you a lopsided smile as she patted your shoulder, “Guess that just pays for being one of the best here. Did you at least get paid.” 

You nodded, “Yeah, I always make them pay in advanced but I was hoping to get a tip afterwards...He was a lawyer so you know he had good money.” You sighed, crossing your arms, you were well aware of his partner because a lot of the time he didn’t even come in for sex anymore. It was funny how humans work. 

He often felt his wife was overbearing and you had suspected some sort of verbal abuse by the way he talked about her constant screaming. Truthfully, you don’t think he ever intended on cheating with her. He just wanted someone to talk to without being judged, you could relate with sympathy to that, but he unfortunately chose to walk into a brothel instead of a therapy clinic and this truly was the only inevitable outcome. Still, you hope if for anyone’s sake, he gets that divorce for himself. 

 “Hey I think I’m gonna call it a day. I need to get back to Nanami, she was wanting to talk to me about college applications.” You sighed as you rubbed your neck, ever since she had graduated high school she had been chomping at the bit to start applying for college, maybe to just get out of the house and into a dorm. You couldn’t blame her and if she did that it would lighten your load a little. 

Guilt washed over you at the thought as Miki chuckled, “They grow up pretty fast huh? My brother was the same way, except the moment he found out I was a sex worker was the moment he called me a whore and we haven’t talked since. That was probably about five years ago,” She crossed her arms as she sighed, “Crazy how the things we do for the ones we love, never appreciate our effort...I’ll see you tomorrow then?” 

“If I’m not bruising.” You offered a weak smile as you nodded at her before going back to your room to get changed. Truthfully, you much like anyone else, often wished you could go to a world where reality wasn’t a concept any longer. Where you could lay out in the sun for the whole day and just soak up it’s rays with no worries or trepidations. 

But sooner then later everyone had to face their fears. Even you, you supposed. But no matter how hard you fought your demons, they always came back tenfold. Again, you supposed your story was no different from tens of thousands, and yet you all live on regardless. Maybe it’s you who should be the one seeking therapy. Pulling on your jeans and the cropped top over your head before pulling the jacket over your arms and grabbing your bag. 

The walk home was as quiet as ever, your hood over your head and earbuds any unwanted attention, it wasn’t too late at night, only eleven PM and your work had just been getting started but that had ruined the night for you and besides, you had already failed a test today, you could use the sleep tonight. 

Occasionally you’d hear the sirens of  a cop car passing by or a bystander shout, nothing out of the ordinary in this neighborhood. Walking up to the apartment complex you pulled the key from your bag as you unlocked the door. Quietly stepping insides as you shut the door before locking it once more. Your nose wrinkled at the smell of stale air mixed with rotten...something…

If anything, you were always lacking in something, you had been so busy most of the day that you never had time to clean anything leaving the house in a horrible state. Not that you thought this was much of a house. 

Walking down the narrow hallway you opened the rickety door with a missing lock as you gave a brief smile to the small clump of bedsheets. Your sister was curled up and on her phone, eyes darting to the door with a hint of fear before she jumped up, “Y/n! You’re home earlier from night shift already!?” 

You offered a smile as you set down your bag and nodded, sitting down on the mattress that laid on the floor as you replied, “Yeah, a coworker needed the extra hours so I let them cover for me tonight. Besides, you wanted to talk about college applications?” Your sister was under the impression your late night job was bartending at some hole in the wall downtown, where in all actuality you just went there to drink a few days and talk to the loud and sometimes obnoxious, but good hearted bartender who loved talking about his nerdy underaged friends that couldn’t do anything beside stay and drink soda. 

It wasn’t that you didn’t think your sister would accept you, if she knew what you were actually doing. Fear, most times came in many different forms and this was one of them. You simply didn’t want to be judged, even by her. So nobody in your life truly knew who you were, and therefore, how could you hold the expectation for people to accept you into society if you were already self sabotaging yourself? 

All philosophy aside, you were simply a lost soul, looking for your way in the cruel reality called life. 

“Yes!” Nanami was chipper as always as she squealed, clapping her hands, “I…! I was thinking about applying to the university you attend! Maybe I'll get a grant and move into the dorms there? I already applied for several jobs, I’m just waiting on a callback!” 

You offered a small smile as you hugged your knees to your chest, “I think you’d like it there, there’s lots to do around campus. But what will you go in for? The only advice I can offer is be sure it’s what you want to do.” 

Nanami’s face faltered a little as she hummed, “Well...I thought maybe working with animals? I’d love to be an assistant surgeon in veterinarian? I know it’s a pretty...sad job but...I really like the idea of being able to heal such innocent things.” Your smile tugged into a gentle one at your sister. She was too tender for this world.

It had been your goal sense the day your mother died that you took care of your sister, it didn’t matter what happened to you. You could rot for all you cared at the end of the day, all you wanted was to look up and see your sister's smile and her happiness in life blossom. She more than anyone deserved it. 

“I think you’ll be great at it.” You encouraged as you rested your chin on your hand, always happy to see her bounce in excitement as you yawned, your body was used to your demanding schedule but it was always more than happy to welcome a few extra hours of sleep.”

Hearing the door loudly slam close caused you both to jump, Nanami hurriedly crawled back in bed, pretending to be asleep as you frowned. Your dad must’ve come back home from wherever he was. 

“Y/n! Just stay here! Can’t you talk to him later?” Nanami looked scared, she always did when he was around. But you weren’t about to stand down to the bastard any day of the week, you offered a weak smile as you replied. 

“It’s fine Nami, I’ll be just a few minutes.” You replied, you knew that she knew, that was probably a lie. But you’d try your best, for her sake at least. But somebody had to put this guy in his place occasionally and it was always you. It results in a lot of screaming sometimes, other times he’d break down in tears or on a bad occasion you’d get shoved to the ground, a few times hit. Nothing major. 

Walking out of the room you leaned against the wall of the entrance of the hallway watching your father stumble around in the living room, “Did you finally talk to the loan company?” You called out as you asked, not in a forgiving mood tonight. He had said he’d do this for two weeks in a row. The company that sank your whole family into the ground. The reason your mother couldn’t take it anymore and put a blade to her wrist. 

Your father stood up, looking a little wobbly, obviously drunk, “Now listen here little girl I don’t have shit to own to you or anyone else.” You sighed as you tucked your tongue into your cheek, annoyance flowing inside you as you straightened up. You weren’t going to be bullied into being scared of this guy. 

“Actually you do,” Your smile twisted into something more sharp, more bitter and sinister as you walked forward, “See, if you hadn’t of gotten involved in something shady like loan sharks we wouldn’t be drowning in debt and mom wouldn’t have killed herself because of you and both your daughters wouldn’t hate you. I know you drink away all our money in some pathetic attempt to escape from the cold reality that you fucked up your whole life and watched your family slip from your fingers while not even trying to do anything other then put us in further shit,” You closed your eyes as you tilted your head, “But the least you could do, is admit that. You owe us at least that for being a total fuck up.” 

You opened your eyes to find pure rage brewing in your fathers eyes as you smiled once more, this time a false sense of sickly sweet tone to it as you shrugged, “Or you could live in denial, at this point, there really isn’t anything you can do to get anyone back ♡ ” 

You had turned around, planning to tell Nanami that maybe she should go sleep over at a friends house today but you never got the chance, suddenly being slammed into the wall and flecks of spit hitting your face, “I am your fucking father! I deserve respect from you and your worthless sister! Do you know how much I provide for you both?” 

Anger splintered through your veins as you grabbed onto his wrists, his fingers digging into your neck as you squirmed, “Like fucking what!? A shitty broken down apartment that your vacant from because you’re too fucking ashamed of yourself to even look at us sober!?” 

Much like years in the past you weren’t surprised to hear Nanami cry as she rushed out of the room at the sound of you both screaming, “Stop!” She cried out, trying to break you both up, “Stop! Don’t fight! Why…! Why can’t we all just get along!” She sobbed only for your dad to shove her down making her curl up in defeat. 

Alarm bells were triggered in your head at the sight of Nanami on the ground, she had never actually gotten hurt while in your sight and it was triggering something deep inside you as you watched him stalk up to her. Your hands shaking and rage boiling in your mind as you grabbed the closet thing you could find. An empty beer bottle on the table. 

Your vision blurred and you don’t quite remember what happened other than glass shattering over his head and the brute force of you shoving something before blood was stained on your hands. 

How did you end up sitting against the wall? Why was there….blood on your hands…? Your fingers trembled at the metallic sticky substance. All you could hear were Nanami’s sobs and cries as she frantically pushed herself away from the body slumped on the ground. 

“You…! He…!” Nanami’s eyes brimmed with tears as you heard a loud boom making you jump, your eyes darting to the open window where….fireworks, big and bold crashed and crackled before you felt like you were sucked into a vortex making your whole vision black out. 

Your head felt fuzzy and there was ringing in your ears as you groaned, curling up into yourself as the darkness beckoned you closer before you forcibly opened your eyes. You were laying against the hardwood floor. Beams of light streaked through the window and you could see dust particles in the air against the shower of sunshine that streamed in. 

...Wait...Light? The thought had perplexed your head enough to make you push up from the ground, memories pulling into your mind as your breath became shallow, suddenly looking to the side where...you slumped against the wall. It must’ve just been a bad dream….your eyes flickered to Nanami’s curled up figure...a really vivid dream…? Something wrenched in your gut as you rubbed your eyes. What happened? “Nami…!” You whispered, forcing your muscles to move despite their protest as she whined. 

After another moment she reluctantly opened her eyes, flickering around before she suddenly scrambled up, taking a deep breath as if realizing what had happened before, looking towards where your dad once was she frowned, “...I...What…” She seemed just as perplexed as you and if her face was anything to go by, last night had obviously happened, “Is dad…” She looked at the absent place of the floor. 

Leaning against the wall your eyes darted around the room, “I guess so…” You silently felt relief at knowing your dad was still very much alive as you leaned back as you closed your eyes, trying to remember what had happened before everything went dark...oh..! The fireworks...had it been a celebration last night? Your brows pinched together, something felt...off...getting up you opened the door to the apartment walking out. 

“Y/n? Y/n! Hey! Where are you going!” Nanami called out, quickly chasing after you as you frowned, cars were parked odd and there was no one out on the street...as in...at all...Something was very wrong and you couldn’t figure out what. 

“Wow...it..must be a slow day…” Nanami felt a sense of discomfort at the lack of life as you both walked down the side walk, it didn’t just feel like a slow day it felt, apocalyptic. As if humanity just left on it’s own leaving nothing but an empty city behind. Cars were parked on the curb and a few even left in the street.

“No, it’s like everyone vanished...This is really weird.” You wrapped your arms around yourself as you frowned, looking around as you came closer to where typically it would be a booming part of the downtown but it was empty, just as everything before. 

“Well, maybe it’s a national holiday?” Nanami rubbed her head, trying to make sense of the situation just as much as you, surely everyone wasn’t...gone...right? She looked around as she bit her lip, second guessing herself at all the cars that were vacant, “Hey Y/n.” 

You paused as you looked at your sister, curving an eyebrow as she offered a weak smile, “What if everyone got raptured away like they talk about in christanity?” Your expression flattened as she giggled, obviously getting a rise out of you as you crossed your arms. 

Raptured? Where? To heaven? “Wouldn’t it be fire and brimstone then if that was the case?” Nanami pouted at your words as you shrugged, snickering yourself at her expression, the tables now turned as you sighed, “I don’t think there’s anyone left in Tokyo...I mean, it feels like...we’d have seen someone by now...right?” 

“Well…” Nanami frowned once more, a little disturbed at your words as she spoke, “There’s no way everyone could be gone I mean, where would they go? And how could we miss something like that...Maybe the police found us and now we’re under some weird simulation.” 

Chills spilled down your spine as you shoved her making her whine, “Don’t say that! That makes me feel all weird…! I didn’t…!” You cut yourself off, you didn’t what? Murder your own dad in cold blood...you looked down at your hands, they were free of any blood but it still felt like something like sin lingered. Like no matter where you went, it would always be stuck to you.

You didn’t like this, not one bit. Briefly you felt the urge to go hunt down your dad, he was a deadbeat but you would never...you’d never kill him....Right?

“Well…” Nanami hummed her eyes scanning ahead before they jumped to the mall that was up ahead, “Hey…! If nobody is here...maybe we could make use of it! Come on! Let's go!” You yelped at her grabbing your arm before dragging you ahead. Cars were all parked and yet not a single person exited through the mall's entrance. Something just felt off! You wrapped your arms around yourself as you warily looked around the empty mall, “Nanami I really don’t like this!” You looked around, concern bubbling inside you as she ran ahead into the store, digging through the section of clothes as she giggled. 

“Relax! I doubt any of this is real and even so…! Who’s going to stop us!?” She shrugged as she bounced in excitement, “Oh my god! I had dreamed of something like this happening! Now we can do whatever we want! Go wherever we want! Y/n!” She gasped with a smile, “Now we don’t even have to worry about money!” 

“We don’t even know if this is permanent.” You looked around warily, not partaking as she began plucking off the racks, “Regardless of what this is, I don’t like it. I want to go back home, our home. This just doesn’t…” You shook your head, “This just doesn’t feel right.” 

“Well you can feel that way!” Nanami clacked her tongue as she gave a childish smile, “But I’m gonna go through this whole store and get a new wardrobe so feel free to sit on the bench and tell me what you think looks good!” 

Looking away you sighed, unable to pinch the anxious feeling you had away as you sat down reluctantly as Nanami went into the changing room. Well...at least she was smiling and she was happy...With each outfit Nanami tried out and giggled, you giggled with her and maybe things weren’t so bad after all…

“What a perfect day.” Nanami hugged you close as she sighed, yawning as you looked up at the sky in awe, you had seen a single star while living in Tokyo before, but now it was filled with constellations and millions of stars that stretched for miles. You could stare at it for days and days. The sun had just set a little over half an hour ago and you were ready to retire and find something to eat at the apartment. 

You and Nanami had tried going to the food court but much to your dismay everything had been...rotten...soiled and ruined, meaning there was no point in trying to find anything there and you were getting really hungry despite devouring bags of chips you had both got at the convenient store, another thing that stood out to you was that there was no electricity...at all..

Looking back up to the sidewalk something caught your eyes...was that…! Light!? “Hey! Nanami look!” You shook her making her squeak as she looked up ahead, “It’s the hospital! They have electricity there which means there’s other people! Of course! Why didn’t we think to check essential areas!? Come on! Lets go! I wanna figure out what happened.” 

“Alright! It sucks that this is already over but at least I can finally charge my phone, the battery is pretty low.” Nanami nodded in agreement as you both made your way up the road. 

The walk wasn’t too far and you felt excitement fill you at the sight of the hospital all lit up as you walked into the entrance, a frown slowly setting on your lips once more as you walked past the receptionist desk and…! Oh there’s other people! 

You felt relief wash over your as you ran up, there were at least seven other other people here at least! “Hey! Guys oh my god. I thought everyone was gone! What’s going on?” You asked, smiling bright in relief that you and Nanami weren’t the only ones left behind. Was this some kind of evac point or…?

Silence ensued and you slowly began to frown as you felt everyone stare at you as if you were insane, “Um…” You wrapped a hand around your arm, suddenly feeling as if everyone knew something you didn’t, “What’s going on…?” You furrowed your brows as you tilted your head, unsure of why everyone was looking at you like this. 

Somebody looked like they were going to talk to you, a guy relatively around your age but a woman stopped him- his girlfriend maybe? “Stop, the less that know the better chance we have.” She said quietly though you still heard just enough. Fear twisted inside you as you took a cautious step back...The...the less you knew? 

“Wow, you guys are assholes,” A girl suddenly whistled out, she was sitting in a waiting chair, a cowboy hat on her head paired with distressed jeans and...a bikini top? Strange but you’d roll with it if it meant getting answers. She stood up as she offered a smile, “Akari, nice to meet ya’. You folk must be new to the Borderlands huh?” She jutted her bottom lip a little as you frowned. 

“Um I’m Y/n and this is my sister Nanami...?” You introduced yourself despite feeling confused as you raised a brow, “Borderlands…?” You echoed, what was that supposed to be? Other than Tokyo?

Akari gave a nod as she let out a brief chuckle, as if amused by your confusion but you sensed she had no real ill will unlike....your eyes checked to the couple that stood off in the corner on their own, “That’s what they call it here,” She nodded in affirmation as your eyes darted back to her in confusion, “To be frank with ya’, I don’t have a damn clue what's going on. Nobody does. But ever since you crossed the threshold there’s no going back, so I’ll be brief. We’re all considered outsiders here and we participate in games at venues such as this to extend our stay.”

Nanami and you looked at one another confused as Akari waved you over to the table in front of a TV, “Here, you’ll wanna put these on, it’s for the game.” She explained as you carefully picked up the metal bracelet, something about it felt ominous as you reluctantly put it on, jumping at the way it latched together and there was no getting it off now, “Word of advice, just don’t panic and you probably won’t die.” 

“What?!” You screeched as Akari smacked your back, panic evident in your voice as you turned around to face her making her laugh again, this girl was insane! She had to be! “You’re…! You’re joking!” 

Akari wrinkled her nose as she tilted her head, “Ah shit, I wish I was- Oh…! There’s the last player!” Just on que everyone turned to look at who had arrived, someone heaving breaths with their hands on their knees as if they had sprinted. You were mildly worried at why he seemed so scared but you had a feeling that was the least of your problems right now.

“Y/n what’s going on…?” Nanami frightened grabbed your arm as she hid a little behind you due to all these immensing strangers that looked like they were ready to feed you to the sharks, literally. 

The guy walked past you both as he put on his bracelet, your eyes sharp as you watched it latch together automatically, your gaze jumping to everyone's wrists to notice you were all now wearing one. The TV suddenly lit up. 

Game 

You squinted your eyes a little at the sight of the screen, just what were you about to unwillingly participate in…?

Difficulty: 5♣

“The game you will be participating in is, Monster under the bed.”

A playing card? Monster under the bed? Your brows furrowed as you looked at Nanami who shrugged a little despite her concerned expression, looking just as confused as you. You could’ve made a joke out of this, surely it would’ve been easier. Maybe everyone would bust out laughing and you’d be at the end of a poor joke but...somehow you felt that wasn’t the case. Thus paying very close attention to whatever was on this screen, 

“Everyone will be sectioned off into pairs by the number chosen on your bracelet, when the doors to the ward open you will have three rounds ten minutes each to figure out who is the monster under the bed that must be returned to its own, once the ten minutes is up you must hide before you are found. If the selected pair that is the monster is chosen correctly it’s a Game Clear.  If the monster is not found by the end of the third round or if the pair fails to hide it’s a Game Over.” 

Rules: 

Once the doors are open you and your partner must find a hiding spot by the time limit

Both partners must be hidden. If one is exposed to the monster it’s a Game Over for both partners

There will be an X marked on the ground to place the monster of your guess onto. 

You will have three rounds of ten minutes each to find the monster.

Any attempt to remove bracelets results in a Game Over

If the monster is not found by the third round a Game Over.

The only Game Clear condition required is for the monster to be returned by the third round.

What…

What!? 

“Now the game will commence, you have five minutes to figure out who you have been paired up with before the doors open.”

Your mind was blanking as you watched everyone look down at their bracelet, hurriedly you lifted your arm as your mind blanked 2 looking back at Nanami her lips were already quivering as she sniffled lifting her arm in defeat as your lips dropped open, 5.

“Hey! Guess you’re my partner!” Akari grinned as she wrapped an arm around Nanami who sniffled, “Oh…” She looked between you both, “Oh! Oh don’t worry! We’re not the monster so I’ll make sure your sister lives! You should go find your partner.” 

Your hands trembled unsure of what to do before you went to hug Nanami, “Whatever happens just stay calm okay! I need to go find my partner now!” You whispered, kissing her cheek as she sniffled while nodding. 

Everybody was shuffling around looking for their partner now, you passed by a few people, 4, 1, 3...did you even have a partner…? You scanned around, your throat tightening a little in panic, there had to be a mistake! There were only 8 people surrounding you- you yelped at the tight grip that suddenly held your arm forcing you to turn around to be met with a white hooded figure, a lollipop handle hanging and earbuds in before sighing, “So it appears I’m stuck with someone useless.” The man concluded as he stood up making you back away a little as your lips parted somewhat indignantly. 

How...how rude! You looked up, unable to fully make out his face but you could tell you didn’t like him one bit, “I’ll…! First of all I’m not useless! I’m just trying to understand what's going on! This is insane! We aren’t actually going to die from this, are we!?” Pushing his hood down you were immediately met with a snide gaze and cat eyes that leered at you like you were nothing more then dirt beneath his feet, long blonde hair pushed behind his shoulders and his bangs hanging low, suddenly a viscous side smile appeared on his lips, “Apparently so, otherwise I wouldn’t have watched half my last game get their brains blown out and the other half hung.” 

You reeled a little away from the blonde, your face dropped in semi horror, unsure if this was just a sick joke or he was serious. You searched his face a thousand times over, but for the first time in your life, you couldn’t figure out what his goal was. You couldn’t figure out anything about him, except he was exceptionally cold, “Well I don’t suppose I have much choice to doubt you,” He said with an annoying sing song tone as he rattled his wrist that showed the bracelet with a matching 2 on it, “My name is Chishiya, just stay out of my way and we’ll both live.” 

How arrogant! You scoffed as he walked past you, not the least bit bothered at your offense as you whipped around, glaring at his back. How come out of everyone you got stuck with the most…! Pompous! Arrogant! Ugh! You crossed your arms as you followed behind him, stilling secretly sending daggers into his back with your eyes as everyone shuffled into the ward. 

Hospital beds were scattered around the room, a few closets and one large vent at the bottom right corner of the room ahead. 

“Wait, what is this?” The first person to speak was a fair thin older gentleman, he appeared friendly as he observed the room around him, everyone looked around in confusion as you noticed what he meant. 

Any possible hiding spot was covered by either sheets of metal or locked tight...How were any of you supposed to hide if…!? The rules mentioned nothing about solving puzzles to gain access to a hiding spot!

“Forget that,” Another man said with a sneer he was broad and a bit older, well into his late twenties at least, perhaps a gym coach? Or maybe a wrestler of some sort? He looked like he could break you and nearly every other person in this room like a twig, “We need to figure out who’s the monster. “ He cracked his knuckles as you leered a little away and nobody spoke for a second. 

Of course, who would out themselves as the monster, more importantly, how does one even know they’re the monster? You could immediately feel tension rise as the previous, more patient man spoke, a little more collected, “How about we just check one another's’ watches! If anywhere it would show us on that! One pair should work on solving these puzzles here so everyone has a place to hide” 

“Unless the monster is among us and it sabotages us so we all die by the time limit.” The girlfriend crossed her arms as she darted her eyes around. Truthfully you didn’t know what to believe, the wording on the soundbox was rather confusing as to just what were you looking for. Was the monster supposed to be in the group or it’s own entity?

“If that were the case it would’ve showed up on our watches, which it didn’t. So that won’t work.” Chishiya spoke matter of fact, his tone cool as his eyes gazed across the room before he walked away from the group inspecting various hiding spots granted you didn’t think he was about to help anyone but himself, if anything you were at least lucky that him securing a hiding spot meant it was one for you as well. 

You looked at everyone in confusion, some arguing while others scattered to look for a hiding spot as the clock ticked down. You breathed in relief at the sight of Nanami and Akari both going for a bed to hide under. Your gaze finally found Chishiya’s form before following him, unsure of what you were supposed to do, if anything outside trying to figure out just what the monster even was. 

You glanced up at the digital clock that stood above the entrance you had just come in from, it was already a minute in before you searched the floor where you found a red X in the center of the room, that must’ve been the...what? Offering spot? You cringed a little at the idea. Looking forward you peered behind Chishiya’s shoulder deciding to not think about that, it seemed the metal sheet that had wrapped around the bed and was sealed to the ground was locked by some sort of metal device…? Contraption? Lock?

“Isn’t hiding under a bed a bit obvious…?” You frowned as you crossed your arms, unsure as you looked behind your shoulder once more to where accusations were already being thrown in the group. 

“The vent is a decoy to make you waste time, I already checked,” Chishiya replied, his fingers nimble as they rattled the metal, “And even if someone were to accomplish it in the time limit it’s the most obvious spot the monster would first check. Next would be the closet given it’s at eye level and the first thing one is drawn too when they walk into a room.” 

Your lips parted a little in surprise at his assessment...obviously he wasn’t just overconfident, “And why this spot?” If he had really thought about all this in less than a minute then...did he have a reason for this spot? You now found yourself, slightly less annoyed and a little more curious as to what was going on in his mind. 

“If the monster were to check a bed it would be after his eyes are drawn to the closet. Next in that line of sight would be the vent directly across it, which would be his next place to look if not his first and vice versa. The beds are all staggered throughout the room making them less conspicuous compared to the other hiding places, the bed on the far end of the room would be no good.” 

Your brows furrowed in curiosity at his assessment as you watched Chishiya blow a piece of hair from his face, wiggling out one piece of the knotted metal, “It’s too far from the entrance where as the one in the middle is by average the one most people would start with, where as the first? It’s almost too soon in the start to look there thus making it the safest.” 

“It’s them! They’re over there conspiring!” You both twisted around to watch the broad man point an accusing finger at you both as your eyes darted from him to the clock on the wall, which read at six minutes. A few other pairs, relievingly so was your sister had started working on a hiding spot while a few others stood around and argued. 

Your face coiled a little as you replied, not appreciating the accusation to such a baseless accusation, did they not realize the longer they argued the less time they had to secure a hiding spot? “Someone who’s terrible at playing the minority would often be the first to point fingers. There’s only six minutes left before the first round is over and we need to hide. But if you want to talk about this then sure,” 

You stepped closer as you crossed your arms, scanning over him before continuing, “Let’s talk about the chances of you being the monster, ever since you first came in you’ve been all twitchy and acting like something is wrong. Even when we first got paired up, you seemed a little panicked. Anyways,” You turned around as you spoke, “How do we know one pair is a monster and not one single person?” 

“Eh,” Akari sat on the bed that her and Nanami chose as Nanami fumbled to work out the puzzle, she had always been good at those! You felt assured as your heart beat frantically at the idea of them not being able to get a hiding spot in time, “Let’s all calm down,” She gave an awkward laugh, “This isn’t a hearts game, we shouldn’t divide our trust. This is a team building after all which means this game should be making us work together, the last thing we need to do is throw that away on our own accord.” 

“...Team building?” You frowned as you murmured having not been aware that this was some sort of game category...Hearts? Clubs? The memory of the playing card flashing on the screen appeared in your mind again, right...was that to stand for some kind of game genre? If Clubs stood for team building then...there should be no reason that the monster is any of you. Why would they even suggest that to begin with?

Then...what was the monster? 

“One minute remaining.”

The lights suddenly began flickering, “Got it.” Chishiya yanked the last piece of metal undone as he pulled the sheet of metal off, everyone was now scrambling and the few who had not done their puzzle were now panicking. Getting down you crawled under the bed, your back flat to the ground as you inhaled sharply as you noticed the lights beginning to dim, “This is...uncomfortable.” You mumbled, trying to ignore being pressed shoulder to shoulder with a man you didn’t even know besides him having a god complex, “We should’ve went with the vent.” 

“By all means, if you want to try and get yourself killed already. Go for it.” You turned to look at him, dark endless cat eyes meeting you as you harshly glared at him, why was he so condescending!? 

You were about to snap back something before you realized it was completely dark and the door slammed open causing you to jump. Was your heart always this loud? You could see the heavy boots step against the ground making you unsteadily inhale, swallowing as you closed your eyes. You could only place your trust that Chishiya hadn’t picked a horrible spot. 

More importantly your mind was plagued with worry for your sister, you had been so caught up you hadn’t even tried to help her yet...did she even…! You heard a sudden loud scream from two people causing you to stiffen as you looked up at the bed frame lined with wooden planks. You could only cower back down at blood suddenly painting the floor.

Your stomach suddenly churned as you covered your mouth. So he wasn’t lying. Chishiya however looked just as nonpulsed as he did when he first told you himself, his eyes blankly staring up at the bed frame as if this was just a regular game of hide and seek as people screamed as they were torn apart. 

Or that’s at least what you assumed it was. 

After an agonizing few minutes the doors finally closed and the lights flickered back on making you breath in relief as you waited a moment, could you even bear to face what was waiting on the floor? You winced a little before something caught your eye. What was with all this extra wood stuck in the frame? 

Chishiya had already gotten out from under the bed and before you suddenly heard a few girls scream, your sister among them making you puff and breath as you scrambled from beneath the bed.

Standing up your mouth agape at the horrid sight of the female and the broad male that had been too focused on accusing others, they didn’t have...enough time...it looked like they had been completely mutilated, blood pouring on the floor and the smell made you want to gag as you looked away. 

“Well, now what do we do.” Akari scratched her head, also not looking phased that two people had just been brutally killed. Your eyes stayed placed on the bodies before they slowly trailed to your hands, the memory of blood staining them still fresh in your mind. 

“Well we have to figure out where the monster is?” The girlfriend of the couple spoke up, she looked around somewhat suspiciously, “But I’m not sure where we could find it? Maybe it has to do with the bracelets? Maybe there’s a clue hidden.” 

“Oh what about in the cabinets?” The collected man from before offered as he went to search the cabinets, your frown furthered as you glanced around. Everyone was now getting along, still on edge but along at least. 

Chishiya only leaned against the wall, his hands in his pocket as he rolled the lollipop in his mouth, his gaze the same steely one it was before as if he had done his job in securing his temporary salvation and was now done. 

Or maybe he just didn’t know what to do? It was obvious his strength didn’t lie in teamwork, clearly. But then again, you weren’t sure what was going on, you couldn’t get a read on him. Crossing your arms you stayed beside him, your eyes briefly washing over your sister who was working Akari to dig through a desk together. 

“Cabinets and drawers are too obvious.” 

Chishiya’s eyes flickered to your figure, his expression just as cold if not...a little smug maybe? He said nothing in return as you continued, “If we’re looking for a monster, it’s obvious it’s a metaphor for something. Inanimate most likely,” Your eyes flickered around the room, inhaling sharply, why did it feel like the answer was right in front of you? 

Think…! You glanced at the clock, only six minutes left. The rounds were really short…! “It’d be something small and inconspicuous, something that’s in plain sight….but easy to miss...and the game said it was a pair which means there’s more than likely two.” 

“Three,” You glanced at Chishiya as he spoke, pulling the lollipop from his mouth, that permanent smug look on his face as he answered, “Two is what they want you to think and if you spend a round searching for each like they hope it’s game over by three.” 

You rubbed your neck as you frowned, “It’s already the second round and we haven’t even found one…” You glanced around before you suddenly perked up, “Wait…!” Getting back down on the floor you laid on your back as you pushed yourself under the bed, “Chishiya! Help me get this thing out!” 

Within a moment the blonde appeared as well, his eye sharp and keen as they noticed straight away what you were tugging at, “You think this is the monster?” 

You looked at him as you raised a brow, “We have less than four minutes left on our second round, you have a better idea?” Chishiya said no more but helped regardless, successfully with the both of you maneuvering it around from beneath the wooden boards you managed to get it out. 

Holding it up you looked at it, “It’s a poppet doll.” You turned to face him as you smiled in accomplishment, “They’re typically used as curses to place upon people in folklore. If anything is a monster, this would be it.” 

Excited at your first victory you pulled out from beneath the bed as you waved it up, “Hey guys! We need to start looking for something similar to this! If not a replica.” Everyone huddled around you examining the doll before the microphone sounded, “One minute remaining.”

Everyone had immediately scrambled back to their hiding place as you ran to the red X, placing the poppet on it, that's the reason that had to be there right!? You’d just have to see, hurriedly you ran back to your spot under the bed. Making it just in time as the lights flickered off. 

The door slamming open once more as you slowly inhaled, it had to work right? If not...then you were at a loss for what to search for and you were utterly screwed. 

The boots stomped against the floor past the bed as you closed your eyes, unable to calm yourself. After a moment you heard a screech and something rip open before screams followed making you jump. Chishiya’s eyes were on the feet that stood by the closet that had been obviously ripped open. 

You heard the sound of something wet and a gurgle before a body slumped to the floor and you could hear begging before something got snapped in half causing you to close your eyes once more...Did you make it angry!? Was that not it? Fuck. You had never felt this stressed before as it roamed around, passing in front of your bed as you tensed.

Was this your last moment alive? Truly? 

Much to your relief, the door closed once more before the lights followed, flickering on, relaxing a little you sighed as you reluctantly got out from underneath the bed with Chishiya to see what had happened. Much to your horror it was the man who had been so kind this whole game and his partner. 

The monster didn’t check anywhere in the first round, yet he did this round? You tried to block out the bodies slumped in the corner as you glanced at the red X, the poppet doll gone. 

“Why- why were they killed!” Nanami’s eyes began to water as she grabbed her head, “This makes no sense!” 

“If it accepts the doll that means we only need two more. What happened to them is irrelevant.” Chishiya stuffed his hands back into his pocket as you glared at him sideways, not appreciating his careless tone. You could deal with it, but you didn’t want your sister dragged into it. 

Grabbing your chin you thought about it for a moment, “Well...the game said to return the monster to its own and…” You glance down at the X, was there some kind of unsaid rule that if you didn’t get all three of them on the first try that it would start hunting down players? “How would a mother feel if they only returned one of its children?” 

“This thing doesn’t have feelings,” The girlfriend of the partners replied coldly, her eyes like steel of her own as she clung to her boyfriend, “It’s as he said,” She waved to Chishiya, “It doesn’t matter, we’ll be like them if we don’t figure this out.” 

You glanced around the room, “Tell me this, if it doesn’t matter, then why did they give us all these different hiding spots?” Everyone was silent, all eyes on you as if your question didn’t make any sense, your eyes flickered to the clock that was nearing eight minutes, you didn’t have time to monologue, “No think about it. The monster never intended to look for us- that was never stated in the rules. So why did they give us all of these choices if we only needed one per pair? My point being, if we found one poppet in our hiding spot then...You get where I’m going with this? Chishiya.” 

He glanced up at you acknowledgement as you curved a brow, your lips threatening to tug into a smile as you tilted your head, “How confident are you in solving that vent?” 

He glanced back down and for the first time, you watch a cocky wide smirk twist onto his lips, “You’re lucky to have someone as smart as me here to be able to open it.” You tucked your tongue into your cheek as in annoyance as he sauntered over to the vent already getting to work, “As for everyone else, we need to open up as many of these as possible to find the other two.” 

Everyone immediately scrambled to get to work, with only seven minutes on the clock this was...going to be difficult. First Nanami and Akari searched all the opened spots as you worked on another bed. Rubbing your head as muttered, “Shit...I never was good with puzzles.” You awkwardly hung your head in defeat temporarily, briefly letting your eyes shift to Chishiya who was fiddling with several locks, his gaze sharp and you couldn’t even imagine all the calculations going on in his mind. You were somewhat envious of what it would be like to be that perceptive to anything adhering to logic and solution. 

“Aha! Found one!” Akari yanked the poppet from the top of the closest as Nanami covered her mouth, looking like she was gonna throw up being so close to so many dead bodies. You ignored the grisly sight at the second victory of the poppet doll. Akari quickly placed it on the X as you began to work on the puzzle once more, looking up at the clock. Oh no...Oh no there was only three minutes left!

“Chishiya! Hows that puzzle coming along.” You called out, trying not to sound alarmed but you could see the clear cut annoyance on his face as he continued working through the locks, “If you’d like to help while struggling on a novice lock feel free.” He replied condescendingly, not appreciating the pressure. 

You rolled your eyes with huff as you finally managed to get it undone, feeling triumphant as you searched under the bed but there was no luck, “There’s nothing here!”

“Or here!” 

Several people called out as well as you rubbed your head, standing up, “If the only other place that hasn’t been searched is the vent then maybe there’s only two? It did say a pair.” You felt a lump of anxiety well in your chest at the sight of the clock ticking close to a minute and half. 

“Should we really take the risk?” The boyfriend asked as he rubbed his neck, concern on his face as he looked around, “If we’re wrong then we’ll all…” 

You hadn’t even thought of that…

“...! Hey.” You turned to Chishiya who seemed to be trying to get your attention making you immediately come over, if he was asking for you it’d have to be for something important given there was nearly less then two minute on the clock, “Hold this right here.” He immediately pushed your hand onto the lock right where he wanted it, “This is a two handle mechanism meaning that there needs to be two people unlocking it. Push down and out at the same time.”

“Hide! Everyone needs to hide now!”

The lights were beginning to flicker as everyone scrambled to hide, stress evidently put on your shoulders now more than ever. You could only hope he was right with your life on the line, “Now!” You pushed down on your side, the lock sliding as you pulled out, pulling a piece of metal holding up the lock directly out as Chishiya did the same with his side. 

The lock fell off as well as the metal of the gate of the vent, you immediately with no hesitation leaned inside it was dark and hard to make it out anything besides the steep drop off. So he was right, this was a waste of time for a hiding place. 

Looking down you caught sight of wood before laughing in relief, “It’s here! Wait shit! Chishiya! It’s too far down in the vent, you’re gonna have to lower me down to reach it. Time?” 

“Forty five seconds.” You felt unfamiliar hands on your hips lifting you up as you were lowered down, “We have time.” 

You squinted trying to see as you reached down, “Lower me further! I’m not quite in reach,” Your muscles began to ache in your shoulder as you reached harder, growling in frustration, “Time!?” You were lowered a little further, the wooden poppet brushing against your fingers. 

“Thirty seconds! Could you go a little faster?” 

“Could you lower me a little quicker- Ah! Hey did you almost let go!?” You snarled back, grabbing the poppet doll, giving a good yank as it lodged in between the crevice it was in, “Get me back up! I got it. Time!” 

“Twenty seconds.” Chishiya called back, pulling you up as you gasped, pain from the metal jabbing into your stomach evident as you were met with a darkening room. Setting your feet firmly on the floor your eyes flew to the flock fifteen seconds and your spot was all the way across the room….! 

“Where are we supposed to hide!? We can’t get all the way there in time!” You hissed out running to the X as you dropped the poppet down. The lights shut off as the final five seconds counted down and before you could do anything you were shoved to the floor as you squeaked. Your body throbbing in pain and your mouth immediately covered as you were met with the coverage of a bed but neither one of you were bold enough to try and scramble beneath it as the doors slammed open. 

Fuck.

Your whole body was tense as your eyes squeezed shut, you were just a little ahead of the X here, if this is all the poppet dolls...they’d have no reason to go further into the room...unless...Your hand squeezed tight around the wrist of the hand that covered your mouth as you tried to calm yourself at the loud thudded footsteps. 

It was quiet for a moment before you heard more walking before the doors closed. 

“Game Cleared”

The lights turned on as you fell limp against the side of the bed, Chishiya’s hand removed from mouth as you pushed your hair from your face, closing your eyes as you breathed in relief, “Holy shit.” Was all you could mutter to yourself, you had never been more grateful to breathe air in your whole life. 

“I guess you weren’t that useless after all huh.” Chishiya clacked his tongue as you turned your head to look at him, raising your brows as your face contorted into something between insult and amusement. 

You’ve only known this man for a half an hour and yet...something about his words, if you dug down deep past that smug expression of his, was this a compliment? Looking away you pressed your tongue into your cheek, trying to keep from smiling, “Yeah, and you’re still conceited and arrogant but, I guess you have a good reason to be.” You glanced back at him again but you could hardly hold his gaze, something in that brief moment was electrified between you both as you laughed somewhat sheepishly, closing your eyes as you looked away once more. 

What the fuck was even wrong with you? If this was back before today you would’ve totally kicked this guy in the balls and went about your day.

“Y/n!” You straightened up at the sound of Nanami’s voice, your expression brightening as you stood up, quickly running to her as you hugged her tight, “I can’t believe that just happened…” She whispered to you as she pressed her face into your neck. You couldn’t either but, you were thankful you had survived this game. Whatever it was. 

“Come on, let's get out of this room.” You tugged on her arm, no longer wanting to be in this death room despite knowing it was all over. Pulling her out you paused at the sight of the TV and a...register…? You bracelet unlocked as you took it off, tossing it on the table as you tilted your head. 

“Congratulations Game ''Clear ``.''

“...Now issuing visas to those who survived the game…?” You furrowed your brows as you glanced at Nanami who rubbed her head in confusion. You grabbed the receipt as you looked it over with a frown before picking up the 5 of clubs playing card along with it. Odd. 

“It’s how many days you’re allowed to stay now! Almost a whole week, that's a good score for a first game!” Akari called out as she patted your back making you jump a little. 

Almost a whole week…”Until we have to play again to...continue our stay?” You raised a brow, deciding not to ask what happens if you refused. While you had many questions, you had a feeling you knew the answer to that one. 

A part of you couldn’t even believe this had happened, or was it all still a dream. 

“Hey…! Sorry for all of that in there,” You turned to see...oh…! It was the boyfriend of the partner, the gifrlfriend stayed behind looking brooding, “I’m Ryu and that’s my girlfriend Hiroko I was...ah…” He faltered a little, rubbing the back of his neck as his gaze flittered to his girlfriend who was glaring him down, “You should stop by the Beach- I...I think you guys would make good additions! Bye!” He hurried not even finishing his original sentence before scurrying off making you furrow your brows at what he even meant. 

“The hell?” Akari raised a brow as she watched the guy run off, “Seems to me he wanted to chat more…guess we know who's really pulling balls in that relationship.” 

Nanami suddenly snickered, covering her mouth as she giggled, “Hey Akari! Why don’t we stay together! We did really well in the game together!” 

“Awh shit, if you guys really want me too!” Akari offered a quirky smile as you laughed, you had no problems with someone staying behind with you. Looking past Akari your smile faded a little at the sight of a white hoodie exiting the entrance. 

“Hey- I’ll be right back!” You pushed past the both of them who paid you no mind as you pushed out of the exit and down the stone steps, not sure why your feet were making you chase after such an egotistical man but…!

“Chishiya!” You called out, making the man pause, he turned around, pulling the earbuds out as he glanced up from his hoodie, raising his brows in acknowledgement, “Um…” Why did you even chase after him…? You stepped down the last step as you wrapped your arms around yourself. 

It was silent for a moment as you berated yourself internally for why you seemed so speechless all of a sudden. Chishiya however didn’t seem to mind, his eyes absent now as he stared up at the hospital, “I used to do my clinical rotations here.” 

You were broken out of your silent thrashing of internal humiliation as you raised your brows, lips parting in curiosity as you asked, “You were a doctor?” 

“No,” Chishiya snorted, that amused calico look of his on his face once more as he looked down at you, “I was a medical student. Training to be a doctor but that obviously didn’t happen…” His lips curved into a frown, his eyes cold once more as they looked back up at the building, “I came here tonight to see if anyone I knew would be here.” 

“Oh…” You looked away, feeling somewhat awkward and unsure of how to reply to him as silence took over once more beside the occasional rustling of the wind in the tree’s, the urge to speak overtaking you to the point you couldn't resist, “Chishiya...I…” You looked away, feeling somewhat bashful, “We...made a really good team back there.” You forced yourself to look up at him as you offered a bright yet subtly shy smile, “If you want...you could stay with us…?” 

Chishiya pulled the lollipop stick from his mouth, letting it drop to the ground as he spoke, “No thanks.” You turned to him in surprise as you frowned a little, you shouldn’t have expected anything less…

“Oh...I understand.” You offered a weak smile as he turned his back on you and began to walk once more, “I just have one more question,” You called out causing him to pause, “...Do you by any chance know about a place called the Beach?”

Note: Whew...! As a lurker in the Alice in borderland fandom I saw a lot of people complaining about the lack of Chishiya fics so I decided to volunteer myself and take on for the team to write a series for this little blonde fucker so PLEASE let me know your thoughts and I hope you enjoy!! Also