#I’m already down bad for one faculty member in this game

[psychopomparia]

GUYS I GO ON THE TWITTER AND I SEE HOT DRAWING OF CROWLEY.

NO, I WILL NOT SIMP FOR THE BIRD MAN. LEAVE ME ALONE (Akira! \o/) AAAUAGAHHHH

[jimlingss]

(sorry my tumblr app glitched so im not sure if this was sent twice) taking a chance for the requests! how about a seokjin or namjoon arranged marriage au with this: “Am I your lockscreen?” “You weren’t supposed to see that.” 🎄 happy holidays!!

↳ Playground Promises

1.9k || 100% Light Fluff || Kim Seokjin

The bell rings.

Moments later, children are sprinting from the doors and flooding the playground. You watch in fondness as some climb the monkey bars while others sit and dig into the sandbox. All of them were forging their first friendships they’ll remember forever and you were their witness.

This is one of your favourite times of day. You enjoy seeing the kids have their fun, listening to their laughter and giggles, watching their games of tag to play pretend. But today, your enjoyment is interrupted by a certain male teacher that comes to stand behind you.

Tall. Dark. And handsome. His broad shoulders carry the weight of the third-grade class and practically the entire elementary school. But you’d never admit that out loud.

“It’s a bit chilly out today. You should’ve brought your coat with you.”

You hum.

Every staff member, married and single, swoons over Kim Seokjin. It’s hard not to. But if others knew what your relationship was with him, you’re sure you’d never hear the end of it. The kids would make a big fuss and so would all the staff and faculty, and you’d rather avoid that.

“I didn’t know you were on playground duty today.”

“I switched with Sana,” he says and leans over to smile. “Thought you could use some company.”

You scoff. “She’s perfectly fine company.”

The corner of his plump lip pulls. “If you want to talk about the mathletes program. And I’m pretty sure you don’t.”

Before you can respond, a boy approaches the two of you with pink cheeks and wind-swept hair. “Mr. Kim, can I go to the bathroom?” the third-grader asks in the midst of catching his breath and the older man nods.

“Go ahead. But don’t run in the hallway, Lucas.” 

Said boy grins and dashes off.

Seokjin turns to you and lowers his voice. “My mom’s been asking about the kids.”

Your brows furrow. “Why? They’re a good bunch.”

“No.” He shakes his head. “I don’t mean your class’ kids, I mean our kids.”

You blink owlishly. “There are no our kids.”

“That’s the problem.”

You sigh and roll your eyes. “Wasn’t getting married enough for them?”

Seokjin shrugs with a faint, mischievous smile. “They want to go out for brunch with your parents this Sunday. Are you free?”

“When am I not free?” you retort lightly, but slip your phone out of your pocket to check your calendar anyhow. Seokjin glances over to your screen and once you finish, you slip it back into your pocket. “I have some marking to do, but I’ll probably finish by then.”

“Okay.” The pair of you turn back to continue monitoring the children playing and you’re glad to revel in the silence that’s been created between you. But after a beat, Kim Seokjin pipes up again. You don’t know why you’re surprised. He’s quite the talkative guy. “Hey, Y/N.”

You look over and he meets your eye.

He asks, “Am I your lock screen?”

Your face heats. If you were once cold, now you were warm from head to toe. “You weren’t supposed to see that,” you mumble. It was just a picture from the other day and you wanted to change things up on your phone. You had nothing else to use. It was convenient. That’s it.

Your entire relationship with him is built on convenience. At least...on his side it is.

Still, Seokjin grins and fortunately, he doesn’t tease.

You rush to change the subject. “A-Anyway, yeah, Sunday works for me. But we should probably talk about this after work.”

“Why? No one’s around.” His smile is spread from ear to ear and he leans in, whispering, “Are you that scared of people finding out we’re married?”

Immediately, you whip your head in all directions. Luckily, there’s no kid or nosy faculty member. You turn back to him, glaring. “I already said, I like to keep my private life under wraps.”

“I remember. But if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were embarrassed of me.”

You scoff and a murmur unintentionally spills out of you, “That’s impossible.”

You don’t notice Seokjin’s smile.

It’s been three months since you got married. It was a summer wedding. More importantly, it was an arranged marriage. And not because you were both wealthy and needed to be wedded to get the inheritance under some arbitrary contract rule or because it was your grandmother’s dying wish. No. You live a much more mundane, normal life than the dramas, movies and books.

It was your mom who threw a fuss. She was scared you’d be alone and unmarried, an old maid like your aunt — you didn’t say it, she just heavily implied it. But following her practically senile meltdown, you agreed. Partly to appease her worries and partly just out of curiosity.

You always wanted to get married. And deep down, you always wanted your own kids. But at the rate you were going, you had a feeling you wouldn’t be able to meet someone on your own.

What you didn’t expect on that blind date was for the other person to be Kim Seokjin, third grade teacher. Down the hall from you at the school. Someone across the room every lunchtime. Your dads were apparently long time colleagues, but Jin was still as equally shocked as you were during that first meeting. Yet, he easily agreed to getting married when you brought it up. Even when it was only after two months of occasionally seeing one another outside of your workplaces.

You still don’t know why he said yes.

“Ms. L/N!”

You’re torn out of your trance by a little girl at your knees. 

She pouts. “Jennie won’t let me play on the slide!”

“Did you ask her to share?”

“Yes!”

Before any more can be said, she drags you over and Seokjin trails after you. There’s another girl with brown braided hair climbing on the slide, and she swivels her head over as the two of you approach, eyes the size of saucers. 

“Are you taking turns, Jennie?” you ask her, and she vigorously nods.

“I am!”

“Well, you’ve been on it for a while. How about Lisa takes a turn next.”

“Okay,” she draws out and gets off of the slide before turning to her friend. “Here you go.”

It’s always little problems you have to solve — from sharing to knee scrapes and monkey bar accidents. Sometimes it’s difficult for the children to compromise, difficult for them to apologize and difficult for you to find a good solution. But you undoubtedly wish your own issues were this simple.

While you’re stuck in your thoughts, you miss Jin watching you fondly. 

“You’re good with kids,” he says as you move out of the way of running children and walk back to the perimeter.

“I wouldn’t be doing this job if I wasn’t. But I deal with older kids much better.” There’s a reason you teach fifth graders and not any lower than that. Seokjin knows it too.

“Remember when we had to supervise that kindergarten class together?”

You shudder. “It was a nightmare.”

“You weren’t that bad,” he tries to say but then laughs. You feign a glare, and he adds on, “Okay. I’m sorry, but I still mean it. It’s not as terrible as you thought. You’d make a good mom.” 

At that, your glare vanishes in favour of furrowing brows. You really shouldn’t, but you can’t help it when curiosity pries — so you break your own rule against discussing private matters at work. 

“Do you want my kids?”

Seokjin is wide-eyed and he turns to you. “Why not? We’re married.”

“Yeah….but…”

“But? Do you not want kids?” 

“No! I definitely want them,” you declare, almost a bit too boldly. He nods and you explain, “It’s just...I don’t know if you’re serious.”

Seokjin blinks. “I’m being perfectly serious.”

“I mean I don’t know if we’re serious.” You add, “Enough to have kids.”

“What’s more serious than being married?” Jin has a genuinely inquisitive and amused expression, head quirked to the side. 

You inhale a sharp breath and his gaze coaxes you to go on, so you do. “It’s just that you agreed so quickly to be married to me. It doesn’t….feel real. I don’t know if you wanted to marry me, if you did it on a whim, if this is some kind of joke—”

He frowns. “This isn’t a joke, Y/N. I wanted to marry you.”

Your mouth hangs open. Your eyes are rounded.

“Wh—”

“Mrs. L/N!” You’re interrupted by your fifth-grader, Park Jimin. He sprints to you, huffing and puffing, before leaning his hands onto his knees to catch his breath. “Have you seen Taehyung?! We’re playing tag!”

“No, I haven’t.”

Jin suddenly points to the left. “He went that way.”

Jimin books it.

Silence fills the spaces between you and Seokjin again, but it isn’t like normal. It’s filled with unanswered questions and the suspenseful cliffhanger of an unfinished conversation. The laughter of kids on the playground and field resound around you, but for the first time, you don’t listen to it. 

It fades into the background as you turn to Seokjin, wanting to know more. “What did you just say?”

The man smiles softly. “You have to know.”

“I don’t,” you assert. “So tell me.”

“I’ve always liked you.”

You blink and he continues, “Since you substituted for the art teacher and I saw you squirt red paint all over yourself. It’s something I couldn’t forget. Plus, the way you draw those stick people.” Seokjin laughs heartily and you’re trapped in your spot, unsure of how to react or what to say. He reads your expression and softens. “Did you really think I would rush into a marriage if I didn’t have feelings for you?”

“I…” Your mouth is agape. “I don’t know. Why did we never talk about this?”

Seokjin shrugs. “You never asked and I didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable if you didn’t feel the same way. I knew you married me for convenience.”

“That’s not true,” you retort within a beat. This whole time, you thought he married you for convenience sake. But it wasn’t entirely like that for you.

Seokjin’s eyes are big and you swallow down your embarrassment. “Isn’t it obvious every single breathing person loves you? It’s hard not to.”

Slowly but surely, a grin spreads into Seokjin’s puffy cheeks and he’s smiling from ear to ear again. “Well, you’re very good at hiding it then.”

Suddenly, the bell rings.

All the children reluctantly climb off the equipment, some dusting their hands while others grabbing their friends, and they rush into their lineups. There’s a few stranglers lugging their legs while groaning. But busy in their small playground worlds, no one turns around to notice you leaning in and pressing a chaste kiss to Seokjin’s mouth. It’s shy and brief, like the first peck exchanged between two for the first time. And you pull away just as fast, lips left tingling.

“We can continue this later, Mr. Kim.”

You stride off while Seokjin’s left smiling. After a breathless moment, he chases after you like children who have just made promises of their first love on the playground.

[angryschnauzer]

Jingle My Bells

Summary: Continuing my AU Rugby Teacher theme that was so brilliantly plot bunny’d by @feelmyroarrrr​, Henry finds himself bored at home having been put onto quarantine due to cases at the school he teaches at. With his school shutting early for the holidays, when his wife needs help at her school, she calls in his assistance for some festive fun... with some after hours fun for themselves too.

Pairing: AU Rugby Teacher Henry Cavill x Teacher Wife

Warnings: Bad Puns, NSFW, 18+, Established Relationship, Public/Risky Sex Workplace Sex, Henry dressed as Santa Claus (yes thats a warning in itself).

Gif by @littlefreya​ and used with her kind permission.

Previous Rugby Teacher Henry Ficlet.

Masterlist on AO3, and old fics can be found at @angryschnauzerwrites​. I don’t run a tag list.

Jingle My Bells

Henry was bored. Two weeks of quarantine after another faculty member had tested positive had meant he'd been confined to the house 24/7. Just as his test results had come back negative and his return to work for the last week of term had been scheduled, the high school had been notified that two students had come in contact with confirmed cases, so to cut their losses the board of governors had simply implemented end of term a week early.

And sure, Henry had done what he could to help keep himself busy; online gaming, World of Warcraft, hell; he'd even helped you mark homework for your primary school class. He cooked dinner for you so it was ready the moment you arrived home, and the house was the cleanest it'd ever been, but without you home with him he was just… bored.

"Just one more day, then its the end of term" you'd reassured him as you'd kissed him goodbye that morning, and he'd pulled you into his arms;

"Will you wear the elf outfit home tonight?"

"Oh, does someone have an elf kink?" You'd grinned and raised an eyebrow.

Henry lifted his hand to the little bells that were attached to your green knit dress;

"I kinda want to find out how i can make these jingle… i have some ideas…"

"Well you can fill my stockings after work, but i've got to go or i'll be late…" you pressed a kiss to his cheek; "Got to set up the area for Santa" 

With a groan your husband released you;

"Fine, but i want you to sit on my lap later"

-

Henry was standing at the fridge contemplating whether eating Babybell cheeses wrapped in Parma ham sandwiched between two slices of toast counted as lunch when his phone rang. Seeing your school's number on the display he was half curious and half worried, but visibly relaxed when he heard your voice;

"Hennn…." You purred

"Oh god… you only use that voice when you want something i won't like…"

"Are you free this afternoon?"

He sighed over dramatically;

"What do you need?"

"We need a Santa. The guy we booked was someone's grandad but he's been on the sherry and we had to send him home because he was slurring his speech and referred to the kids as 'crotch gobins'"

Henry let out a snort of laughter;

"I've met your class… some of them are…"

"Nevertheless… could you stand in? We've got the suit, and you've been quarantining for 3 weeks so are safe… pleeease…"

"Hmmmmnn"

"Hennn, please… i've got a thirty kids that still believe…"

Henry sighed;

"Okay… i'll be there in ten minutes"

“You’ll need to walk…there’s no space left in the staff car park”

He sighed;

“Okay, make it thirty minutes”

-

If there was an award for best/worst performance as Santa, Henry would have got it hands down. Putting on his best pantomime Brian Blessed voice, he'd Ho Ho Ho'd his way through the three youngest classes of wide eyed Little Ones that had thoroughly loved meeting Santa. When it had come to the older kids in the Junior years, generally 8 years old and above, he'd taken a different tactic, instead filing them out to the playground and if they could score a hoop through the Netball net, he'd deem them nice rather than naughty.

By the time hometime rolled around every single child had a smile on their face, excitedly rushing out to their parents waiting at the gate, pointing out Santa to their younger siblings sat in Pushchairs and Prams.

When you’d finally waved everyone off you made your way back to your classroom, the security door alert sounding as you entered the corridor, the hallways quiet where your colleagues had already packed up their stuff and left for the day. Henry trailed behind you, chattering away about what the kids had told him, shedding himself of the fake Santa beard and the scratchy jacket, leaving him wearing the hat, his plain black t-shirt, and the Santa trousers and boots. He flopped down into your chair as you busied yourself around the classroom, his feet up on your desk. 

Moving around him you stacked papers ready to be archived when he wrapped his hands around your waist and pulled you onto his lap;

“Come and sit on Santa’s knee”

Abandoning the papers you laughed as you settled on your husband's lap, turning to kiss him and the little bells on your dress jingled as you moved. The kiss went from chaste to needy in a matter of seconds, and you could feel Henry harden beneath your ass as you wriggled on his lap. His hand groped at your breasts through your dress as his lips started a trail along your chin and down your neck;

“Have you been naughty or nice this year?”

You wriggled on your lap;

“Oh I've been Naughty…”

Suddenly you were spinning as Henry fluidly moved to his feet, pushing you over your desk and stood behind you;

“Well i guess i’d better do something about that then” he pulled your dress up with a jingle of the bells attached and smoothed his hands over your ass, the green and white stripes of your tights framing your buttocks. With strong fingers he grasped the thin fabric and tugged, ripping a hole in them and letting out an appreciative grunt when he found you wearing a lace thong;

“You’ve been parading around in that little dress with this poor excuse for underwear beneath all day? You really have been a naughty girl” he purred in your ear as his fingers tugged the elastic aside.

You tried to move away, painfully aware of your location;

“Hen! We’re at school!”

“Shhh… the door alarm to the hallway will sound if anyone comes… so how about i make you cum before that happens, eh?”

His fingers had found your clit as he’d pushed his thumb into your velvet channel, and any further arguments were lost on your tongue as you sighed in pleasure;

“Hen, make it quick… the cleaners will be doing their rounds soon”

Looking over your shoulder you watched as Henry quickly shoved the Santa trousers and boxers down, his thick and meaty dick springing free where he was already rock hard and dripping with need;

“I’m gonna jingle your bells darling…” he positioned himself and quickly thrust in, making you gasp at the sudden stretch of it; “Gonna fill your stockings…”

“Tights” you corrected

“Same fucking thing” he grunted as he started to pound into you, the rhythmic thud of his efforts topped off with the delicate jingling of the bells on your dress. His hands moved and grabbed at your breasts, his breath hot and heavy against your ear as he filled you hard and fast from behind; “Want me to come down your chimney tonight?”

Grinning you turned your head;

“How about we save that for when we’re at home…?”

Henry paused, his eyes going wide when he realised you were agreeing to the one thing in your sex life you hadn’t tried yet, even after being married for a number of years and him dropping numerous hints;

“Really?”

“Well, i know you didn’t put it on your Christmas list but if a elf is gonna be naughty she might as well be naughty all the way…” you winked at him; “But you gotta hurry up now…”

With a grunt of determination he started to pound into you, one hand moving down your stomach and pushing between your legs, rubbing at your clit as he did his best to quickly bring you both to orgasm. Your moans started to get louder, and he clamped his other hand over your mouth as he started to feel you cuming, your body shaking and the loud thuds of his thrusts filling the room as your desk squeaked on the linoleum floor. With a grunt he thrust in deep and at the height of your orgasm you felt him flooding your womb with rope of his creamy seed, his massive hands pulling you to his chest as he buried his face in your neck whilst your cunt milked the last of his cum from his body. 

Breathless and glowing, you rested your head on Henry’s shoulder, your chest heaving before he carefully pulled out of you, pulling your underwear back into place as he tucked himself back into his boxers and Santa trousers. As you shimmied your dress back down you heard the thrumming of the floor polisher along the corridor, your eyes going wide before Henry turned you and rested his hands on your shoulders;

“C’mon, lets get home”

Taking a deep breath you smiled;

“Help be grab the last few bits then we can go”

Five minutes later you were stepping out of your classroom, Henry holding the large box of things you wanted to bring home for the holidays including your peace lily, pulling the door shut when you heard footsteps, turning to see the after hours cleaner;

“Night Mr Howell, have a good Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas Mrs Cavill…” he paused when he saw Henry standing next to you

“This is my Husband, he stood in as Santa today”

The old man nodded and smiled, carrying on with his mop as you walked in the opposite direction. Just as you got the security door you heard him starting to whistle, your eyes shooting up to meet Henry’s as you heard the tune;

‘Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way…’

Henry wrapped his free arm around your shoulders;

“C’mon my naughtly little Elf, i’ll drive you home” he grinned at you; “Then we can see about that chimney of yours…”

You clenched at the thought, your body already tingling at the thought of it. And hey, if you were going to let your husband finally fuck your ass, at least you had the entire school holidays to recover.

[smutbymia]

classmate jeno x reader with enemies to lovers please 🥺

There were a million and one reasons why you couldn’t stand Jeno: 

1. he’s an asshole

2. he’s the student body president for the second year in a row (you lost twice)

3. he’s a popular rich kid

4. he’s smart, athletic, AND good looking (I mean seriously... who is that lucky?)

Just to list a few. 

        You went to school together all your lives and it somehow felt like each year he got more and more irritating. This year is your last year and you promised yourself you wouldn’t let whatever ridiculous rivalry you and Jeno had ruin it. And so far you had done a good job of keeping that promise until this very moment. 

School had ended for the day, marking the completion of the first week of your senior year. You were reaching for a pen that dangled from a string next to a sign up sheet when you felt the warm skin of another hand brush against yours. You raised your head planning to mutter a quick apology to the person until you locked eyes with that bastard Jeno. The soft expression on your face immediately went icy as did his. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” you spat at him, the pen lingering in your hand. Jeno plucked it from between your fingers and wrote his name on the sign up sheet. Your eyes went wide and he dropped the pen, letting it hang from its string once more before turning to you and stepping forward. 

“What does it look like I’m doing?” he towered over you with his height. 

You groaned, stomping your feet before whining “You’re already president, why do you have to join yearbook too?” 

Jeno rolled his eyes, “Because I need more clubs for my college application.”

Your eyes shot daggers into his. You picked up the dangling pen and scribbled your name under his on the list before turning on your heels and walking into the open classroom next to you. You emerged from the room an hour later, expressionless. You pinched yourself, hoping that today was just an awful nightmare. Person after person left the room, walking past you until the hall went quiet with the exception of a few voices that lingered further down the school hall as people slowly made their way out. 

Things had gotten just slightly worse. When choosing the president for the Yearbook club, you and Jeno ended up in a deadlocked vote -- thus encouraging Mr. Park, the faculty member in charge to come up with the brilliant idea of electing you both to share the presidency. As if it wasn’t bad enough that you had to be in the same club. Now the two of you would be spending basically the entire year together working on such an important project. 

“Im not going to let him ruin me, I’m not going to let him ruin me, I’m not going to let him ruin me,” you repeated to yourself quietly as you slowly walked towards the nearest exit, in what felt like a daze. 

“That is quite the mantra,” teased Jeno. He had left the classroom last after talking with Mr. Park and caught up to you at some point. You jumped at the sound of his voice. 

“What do you want now?” you groaned.

Jeno stepped in front of you blocking your path. 

“Does it look like I want to be president with you? I’m being mature about it because it’s what everyone else wanted so you should stop acting like such a brat,” he spat. 

“You’re calling ME a brat? How ironic,” you scoffed, “You’re already in a ton of different clubs and hold multiple presidencies. What else could you possibly need for your college application? You could even buy your way in if you wanted to.”

Jeno froze at your final sentence. You continued the assault of words. “You know what your problem is? You can’t stand to lose,” you said, standing toe to toe with him. Jeno chuckled under his breath before bending slightly so that his face was hovering over your face. 

“You know what your problem is, princess? You’re okay with losing unless it’s to me,” he began, “You may still be royalty but that doesn’t mean you are anywhere near as powerful as I am,” he said as he straightened himself back up, walking backwards as he spoke. He tapped on one of the series of pins fastened to his school uniform jacket and you dropped your gaze to see what he was gesturing to -- it was a golden line drawing of a king’s crown. You locked eyes one last time before he turned around and stormed out of the school, leaving you standing alone in the empty corridor, blood rushing through your body with your fists balled up at your sides. 

That night you returned home, diving right into your study routine and getting an early start on some assignments to distract yourself from the awful day you were having. You had just gotten comfortable in bed when your phone buzzed with new notifications. You leaned over to squint at the bright screen. 

JENO: It’s Jeno 

JENO: School tomorrow. 5:30pm. 

You groaned before reaching for the device to type out a reply. 

Y/N: How did you get my number?

JENO: I’m the student body president. I can do anything I want. 

JENO: Just be there we have work to do. 

You rolled your eyes at his response before locking your phone and drifting off to bed.

The next day flew by the way Saturday’s typically did. You had breakfast with your family before heading out for a jog and coming home to do some workouts on youtube in your bedroom before taking some time to study and do some yearbook club work. When that evening finally rolled around you threw on some black biker shorts and a comfy oversized black graphic tee with some rock bands logo printed on the front before putting your hair up into a bun. 

Your school uniform was very preppy looking and you had to keep up appearances so every other part of your appearance had to be up to the same standard everyday. This resulted in you dressing quite “girly” so you enjoyed being able to dress down on the weekends when you weren’t out socializing.

Once you were done getting ready you made your way over to the school. According to Jeno, he had both keys and permission for the both of you to get some work done despite it being a Saturday. A security guard was parked outside by the gates when you arrived and you held up your yearbook club pass before he gave you a quick nod then immediately returned to watching some sports game on his phone screen and eating a sandwich. 

When you finally entered the school and got to the Yearbook/Media club lounge, you found Jeno leaning back in a computer chair as he clicked away at the mouse with his eyes glued to the monitor. He didn’t hear you when you entered because of the headphones he had covering his ears. He was dressed down too. He sported grey sweatpants, and a white t-shirt and his black hair looked slightly damp as the strands clumped together slightly and rested against his forehead. He nodded his head to music, and tapped his free fingers against the desk he was seated at. 

When you stepped further into the room he spun in his chair to face you. Jeno’s eyes scanned the entirety of your body before he slipped the headphones down to his neck and spoke. 

“I almost didn’t recognize you without your preppy headband, all that makeup, and those stupid earrings you always wear,” he muttered. 

Okay, low blow. The downside to wearing school uniforms is that you lose a lot of your individuality, and the school rules limit what you can and cannot wear. In fact, students had to fight for the right to accessorize until the ban was lifted. You personally enjoyed wearing tons of different earrings from hoops, to waterfalls and of course you felt a nice headband would draw together your academia look. Both were your signatures and makeup was just a given at such a fancy school. 

“I’d insult you back but honestly you look a lot less annoying when you’re not wearing that preppy uniform jacket filled with pins and patches,” you snapped back. 

“Whatever, I never said it was meant to be an insult,” he mumbled before gesturing for you to come look at his computer screen. 

“I’ve been working on the first draft for the welcome week pages. I think we should follow this layout and theme for the rest of the yearbook. I’m submitting it to Mr. Park,” said Jeno.  

You looked over the screen as Jeno waited for your feedback. “I like my version better,” you said after a few minutes. 

“Your version? Let’s see it then,” he urged. You took a USB keychain that hung with the rest of your keys out of your bag and connected it to the computer before leaning over Jeno and pulling up the file. He shifted his chair backwards to give you room, and sat back as he admired you from behind. It wasn’t until you spoke to him again that you realized what he was doing. 

“How does it look?” you asked as the document loaded onto the screen.

“Real good...” he said as his voice dropped an octave. You turned your head to face him, catching him with his bottom lip trapped between his teeth and his eyes still set on your backside before he drew them up to meet your gaze and flashing you a cheeky smile that turned his eyes into crescent moons. 

“Stop being a perv and come look,” you said sternly as you changed your position, lowering yourself to your knees by the monitor. Jeno scooted his chair forward again before looking up at your work. Within seconds he had a series of critical comments spilling from his mouth thus triggering a heated argument between the two of you. 

“You know what? I’m tired of going back and forth with you. Let’s just send both to Mr. Park and see which one he likes best,” he challenged. You were both on your feet now and standing toe to toe like you did yesterday during your face off. 

“Fine,” you accepted. Jeno sent the files off and the two of you drifted off into other work. You were both working in the dark room, developing some film, when you heard the faint sound of an email notification ring out from the monitor in the room next door. You and Jeno immediately looked at each other before frantically wrapping up your work and rushing to the computer. 

The two of you were huddled closely by the screen when Jeno clicked on the email to reveal its contents. You both silently read the screen before you were overcome with disappointment 

Mr. Park: Hey President’s. Both look great and would work perfectly with this years Yearbook but if you want my personal opinion, I think I’m leaning more towards Jeno’s! Great work so far and kudos for being so productive on a Saturday! Reach out if you need anything. 

You groaned as you stood back up. Jeno chuckled next to you. 

“Congratulations, you win again,” you snapped at him. He was so caught off guard by your tone that his smile fell from his face immediately and was quickly replaced by a smug expression. 

“Is that all that matters to you?” he asked raising his voice, “winning?”

You were toe to toe for the third time now and it was really starting to get on your nerves because Jeno was built and tall and something about him looking down on you made this stupid position even more annoying for you. 

“One thing! You couldn’t just let me have this one thing!” you yelled back. 

“Oh... my... GOD. You are unbearable!” Jeno groaned as he ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. 

“You want to know why I couldn’t let you have this one thing?” he started, leaning down closer to your face. He was inches from you now and his breath danced across your lips when he spoke. 

“Because... you’re such a fucking brat. Every time you whine and complain all I can think about is filling up this pretty mouth so I don’t have to hear your voice anymore,” he said through gritted teeth, reaching his hand up to your chin. 

“And your face... the look on your face every time i beat you at something or take something away from you... the way your eyes get big and teary, and the way you pout your lips like you’re doing right now” he continued, running his index finger across your bottom lip. 

“Nothing turns me on more than taming you like this,” he whispered. Your body shivered under his touch. You were fuming on the inside at his words. They hurt. Yet you were also feeling things you had never felt before. Your eyes scanned Jeno’s face, along his lips and eyes and his jawline. Your nipples hardened underneath the cotton material of your shirt. Jeno noticed. You fought back tears of frustration as one slipped down your cheek, cursing yourself for being so turned on at a moment like this. 

“Don’t cry, baby girl,” Jeno muttered as he took his free hand to wipe away at the tear as his other hand cradled your cheek. Your hands were balled into fists at your sides and you stood frozen in your spot. 

“You’ve been so worried about me ruining you, but maybe that’s exactly what you need to get rid of that attitude...hmm?” he murmured. 

“I-I hate you,” you sputtered out, sounding more whiney than angry. Jeno let out a breath of air as the corner of his mouth turned up into a brief smile. He  stepped closer to you and you stepped back until you were trapped against a table.

“Yeah, whatever,” he mumbled as he hovered his lips dangerously close to yours, eyes searching yours for any sign of resistance. You broke eye contact with him as your gaze settled on his lips. You subconsciously licked your own as you blinked away the remainder of the dampness in your eyes. 

You didn’t notice the way you gravitated towards his lips like a magnet until he leaned away from you slightly and your lips chased after his -- not letting the distance grow too much. Your eyes were still glued to his lips which had formed into a smug grin when you noticed how you had chased after his lips like a needy girl just as you felt the first wave of heat rush to your face.

“Just as I thought...” he muttered as one of his hands dropped to your waist and you felt him tighten his grip ever so slightly. Jeno ran his hand down the side of your body, trailing his fingers along your thighs before running his hands back up again -- this time gripping the bare skin of your waist underneath your graphic tee. 

You sucked in air when his warm hands came in contact with your skin. His eyes were glued to your face and his expression showed a slight hint of darkness. Jeno gripped your waist with both hands firmly before suddenly lifting you off the floor to sit on the edge of the table you had been trapped against. 

You let out a gasp as your butt landed on the cool surface, leaving you seated with Jeno standing between your legs. He bridged the gap between you by stepping closer and pulling you by your hips -- until every part of you was pressed against him. Your hands flew up to his chest to stop you from literally crashing into his chiseled torso.  

You accidentally let out a breathy moan when your crotches met -- feeling Jeno pressed against your center, leaving only the thin material of your biker shorts and your undies between your bodies. Jeno bit his bottom lip in response and rolled his lips once more, making you whimper and sending your hands sliding from his chest down to his waist. You hesitated but your hand placement was a dead giveaway that you wanted more friction. Jeno pulled at your hips one more time as he met your center with another stroke. You felt wetness begin to pool between your legs and tightened your grip on his waist. This time it was you who pulled him forward but he froze just before your bodies could properly connect again as you desperately tried to rut yourself against him. 

“Look at me,” he ordered. Your gaze immediately locked with his, eyes wide and lips pouted, a bit frustrated that he had stopped moving. 

“Good girl... Didn’t think you’d listen to me so well the first time,” he said, rewarding you with another roll of his hips. You groaned at the contact. 

“F-first time?” you question, rolling your hips to meet his as his breathing became more unstable. 

“It’s gonna be a long year, baby,” he started, “We have to work together, so it’s my responsibility to calm you down when you get all bratty.” 

There was something really sexy about the way you both managed to continuously grind against each other in pure ecstasy while having a full blown conversation, speaking between moans and grunts. 

“I’m n-not a brat, you’re just an asshole,” you snapped as you crossed your legs at your ankles, pulling him against you even harder. 

Jeno cursed under his breath at the friction as his hands reached down to grip at your ass before mumbling, “only person who thinks i’m an asshole is you,” he taunted, “you on the other hand are widely known for acting like a complete...”

You interrupted him with another roll of your hips, as a groan slipped from his lips. “Choose your next words carefully, Jeno,” you warned. 

he chuckled before finishing his almost forgotten sentence, “princess... that’s what you’re known for. For acting like such a fucking princess,” he groaned. 

Jeno wasn’t entirely wrong. You did strive for excellence when it came to your common interests in academics and extracurriculars. In fact, a pet peeve of yours was the fact that you and Jeno were always compared to each other, with most of the school being shocked that two people who were so alike seemed to always be at war with each other. In everyone else's eyes you were both one in the same.

Though you were respected, you weren’t delusional. There were definitely people who weren’t fond of you, but you had chalked it up to mere jealousy that was inevitable for a person who excelled as much as you did to experience. Jeno must have noticed your mind wandering because he lifted your chin slightly to direct your attention back to him muttering a soft “hey...” as he snaked his free hand up your shirt, hands brushing against your bare breast. 

You moaned when you felt his fingers tease your sensitive nipple. “Whats wrong with being a princess? People only call me that because they’re jealous,” you questioned. You had definitely begun to soak through your shorts, as you watched a faint wet patch begin to show on Jeno’s joggers. You gripped at the collar of his shirt as he dropped his head down to your neck, leaving a trail of kisses all over the delicate skin. 

“F-fuck,” you groaned at the contact, hips jerking. 

“Exactly,” jeno said, lifting his head to lock his eyes with you again. “They’re jealous of how powerful you are... but that’s exactly what turns me on,” he confessed. 

He ran his hands along your cheek, leaning in to a whisper. “Do you know how hard it makes me when I think about turning the most powerful girl in school into a powerless mess?” Jeno tugged at one of your nipples as he finally drew your mouth into his for a kiss. You whimpered into his mouth, overcome with pleasure. 

Jeno deepened the kiss and for once you just allowed him to take control. As much as you hated him, you couldn’t deny that his energy was intoxicating and yes, maybe you were a little bit jealous of him for the same reasons as others were jealous of you. 

How could you not be attracted to someone who was as driven and talented and equally, if not even more powerful than you were in that regard. As much as you butt heads there was no doubt that you were very much a good fit for each other-- if all the fighting and competition were set aside, that is. But this didn’t matter right now. All that mattered was the way he was making you feel. It was as if though all those years of tension had finally bubbled over. 

Jeno’s tongue swirled against yours sloppily, just the way you liked. Even your bodies seemed to be on the same page. He pulled away from you after a few minutes of making out -- leaving a trail of spit hanging from your lips to his as he lifted you off the table and carried you over to one of the couches in the lounge area of the room. 

The sun had already begun to set ages ago, and only the faint hint of the computer screens you had been working on were illuminating the room. Jeno sat on the couch with you straddling his lap as he pulled his shirt over his head. You did the same and soon enough you were both left topless. Jeno wasted no time drawing you towards him and trapping a nipple between his lips as he palmed your other breast. You arched your back into him letting his name spill from your mouth. 

He kissed his way back up your chest as he pulled you in for a kiss. 

“Mmm.. Need all of this gone,” he said as he pulled at your shorts. You got up from his lap, and he immediately began to peel off the remainder of your clothing, dragging the material down the length of your body. 

His breath hitched as he stripped you of your shorts to reveal your white cotton thong. He brushed his fingers softly against the material before mumbling to himself, “cute...” 

His fingers ran against your slit, feeling the damp material under his touch and making you grow weak in the legs. 

“You’re so wet for me already... Such a good girl,” he said. Hearing words of praise fall from his lips like that made you feel so soft. For some reason, compliments hit different when they came from him. Your eyes drifted to the growing bulge in Jeno’s joggers. 

Your mouth fell open with the sudden desire to be filled with as much of him as you could fit as you slowly fell to your knees. Jeno raised his eyebrows while he watched you intently. You tapped your fingers against his knee, “off, please” you said as you pulled at the strings in the waistband of his bottoms. 

“Fuck, do you know how good you look on your knees for me?” he said as he lifted his hips to get rid of the rest of his clothing. Your eyes went wide when he finally settled back into his seat and began stroking his length while analyzing your expression. 

For once you couldn’t blame him for the arrogant expression on his face. He had every right to be proud of what he was packing. 

“Ugh, is every part of you perfect?” you complained as you scooted closer to him. You dragged your fingernails along his thighs as he drew his bottom lip between his teeth again. Your fingers danced dangerously close to his member as he slowed the movement of his hand before letting go of himself. 

You wrapped your hand around him, shocked at how much bigger he looked between your fingers. He throbbed and raised his hips slightly, thrusting up into your first. “Needy...” you teased, looking up at him as you giggled softly. 

“Y/n” he whimpered, a bit embarrassed at the sounds leaving his mouth now that you had momentarily gained the upper-hand. Jeno watched as you pressed your tongue to the slit of his cock before popping the head right into your mouth and sinking down around his length in one go, bottoming out. 

Your lips were wrapped around the very base of his cock when you moaned around him, making your entire mouth vibrate. 

“Holy shit,” he moaned loudly as he reached out a hand to draw circles on your cheeks while you worked at his length. You lifted your mouth all the way back, as his hips jerked forward again, fucking into your mouth as another whimper fell from his mouth. Your eyes were locked in his and you couldn’t believe how different he looked. His hard expression had gone soft. You had definitely managed to strip him momentarily of his power. 

“So naughty - where’d you learn - to use your mouth like this- huh, princess?” he asked between thrusts. Your eyes watered but you continued to let him use your mouth as you watched him grow more desperate. 

You removed him from your mouth with a pop as you pumped at his length fast. Jeno cursed under his breath before letting his head fall back on the couch for a moment. 

“Gonna c-cum,” he warned. 

“Look at me,” you ordered and Jeno obeyed.

You locked eyes as you delivered the final pumps, and waited with your mouth open and your tongue out as you felt him throb underneath your grip before spurts of his warmth shot up -- spilling onto your tongue and dripping from your lips down your chin. The remainder of his cum had spilled over onto your fingers, and you released him to pop them into your mouth to clean them off. 

You were aimlessly licking and sucking at your fingers, caught up in your own world when you noticed Jeno staring at you, chest rising and falling with a surprised expression on his face. 

“Hmm?” you hummed as you titled your head, wondering if everything was okay. Jeno, who had just cum harder than he ever had in his life was in pure disbelief at how you sat so calmly and managed to look so sweet and innocent with his cum dripping down your chin as you suckled at your own fingers. The sight alone made him start to grow hard almost instantly. 

After a few seconds he snapped out of it, leaning forward and cupping your cheek in his hand like he had been all night. 

“D-don’t think I’m letting you win that easily,” he muttered. He motioned for you to get off your knees, and he drew you in for a kiss as he repositioned you both on the couch so he would be on top of you. You seemed to have sparked the competitive fire within him. 

Jeno hadn’t expected you to switch on him like that and he was determined to follow through on his promise of ruining you. 

He trailed kisses down your body, skipping your pelvic region to drop kisses along your thighs as he peeled off your panties. 

“I’m sorry but I won’t be going easy on you... not after what you just did,” he warned as he pushed apart your thighs. You could feel the warmth of his breath against your center and it drove you insane. 

Jeno carried out the first lick along the length of your slit and it was enough to have you moaning and immediately roping your hands in his hair. You had been turned on for so long that even the slightest touch felt like heaven. 

He flicked his tongue against your entrance, muttering to himself about how great you taste, teasing you as your clit yearned for attention. He worked at your flesh, dipping his tongue in between the folds of your center before prodding at your hole and slipping his tongue inside. You tried to move your hips against his mouth but he firmly held you in place.

“Jeno, p-please,” you pleaded. He smiled against your skin as  he continued to dip his tongue into your hole, driving you closer to the edge but still not quite getting you there. 

“Whats wrong, princess?” he taunted before running his tongue up the length of your slit, once again avoiding your clit. You whimpered, reaching your hand down to feel yourself before he roped his fingers in yours to stop you. He lightly flicked his tongue against your clit, just enough to send electricity running through your body but still not enough to please you entirely. 

“I want to hear you beg for it,” he said as he blew air softly against your center, the sensitivity was overwhelming. He planted a soft kiss directly on top of your clit that would have melted your heart a bit if you weren’t so violently horny at this point. So instead, your hips jerked against the plushy feeling of his pursed lips. Jeno chuckled at your body’s reaction, before repeating the action -- drawing the same result.

After the third peck landed on your clit, and the third jerk of your hips sent you into a frenzy, you simply couldn’t resit any longer. 

Tears pooled at the corner of your eyes, and words spilled endlessly from your mouth. “Please, Jeno.. fuck, please let me cum. I’m d-desperate,” you confessed as your hips raised off of the couch, and he pulled away teasingly watching you squirm beneath him. 

“How would you like to cum, baby?” he asked.

“I need to feel you inside of me,” you pleaded before adding a soft “please” to the end of your sentence. 

You watched Jeno position himself at your entrance before stopping. 

“i’m on the pill, we don’t need --,” you assured him, reading his expression. 

He groaned straight away, interrupting you before you could finish as his mind drifted to places he was too ashamed to admit. He ran his head along your slit, making you twitch before he entered you with a quick snap of his hips, bottoming out immediately and forcing a scream from your lips. 

You weren’t sure what to expect from Jeno but it definitely wasn't this. He angled himself perfectly, propping you up so he was hitting all the right places as he pounded into you relentlessly. Within a single minute you were both racing towards your orgasms. 

“I’m close,” he murmured as he planted a kiss to your lips. 

“Me too,” you answered, “one last thing...” you said as he continued to thrust into you at a delicious pace. 

“Hmm.. what is it, baby?” he asked. You locked eyes with him, feeling quite shy at your next words. 

“F-fill me up, please. I want you to cum inside of me, really really badly,” you whimpered and with a final groan at your unexpected demand, you felt Jeno’s warmth spill all over your insides, sending you right over the edge and leaving your insides contracting against him. The two of you remained exactly how you were for awhile. 

Jeno was the first to move after catching his breath. He slowly slipped out of you with a breathy moan before lowering himself towards your center and softly licking at your folds even though they were covered in his own cum. 

“Shit, i’m sorry... I barely made it to the end of your sentence before letting go,” he chuckled as he lapped at your skin. 

“JENO” you shrieked as an unexpected orgasm rushed through you again when he flattened his tongue against your entire slit and you found yourself moving against his mouth in seek of more pleasure. You pushed his head away as you clenched your legs together feeling a mixture of both pleasure and agony run through your body. 

“Sorry, sorry, sorry... last one, i promise” he laughed as he moved to your face to plant soft kisses on your cheeks and a peck on your lips. It took you a while to come back from your high.

     it was a bit late when you guys had finally cleaned up and locked the school back up. Jeno had driven you home in his new Volvo which he tried to convince you was a totally normal back to school gift, and had texted you for the remainder of the night about things like yearbook, and homework. It almost seemed as though what had happened was merely a dream. 

It wasn't until you were back at school on Monday that you realized that going back to normal was going to be impossible. You and Jeno still bickered over Yearbook decisions and didn’t hesitate to challenge each other during class debates but things had changed. Every annoying exchange you had simply fuelled your desire more. 

You’d get into intense match ups only to find yourselves coming up with excuses about Yearbook club to sneak out of class for quickies in Jeno’s car. He even had his way with you more times than you could count across his desk in the office he was awarded after becoming student body president. At first it was fun -- your adrenaline would pump at the thought of sneaking around so much but then things slowly started to shift again. 

Soon, you would spend afternoons at his freaking massive mansion of a family home where you guys would go over yearbook work. When you didn’t have yearbook work to do, he began inviting you over for study sessions, and to do homework -- all of which would end in amazing sex. Soon those invites extended to regular hangouts for no particular reason but to enjoy each others company and you found yourself drifting away from casual hookups to something that felt heavier -- more serious. 

The final nail in the coffin was when Jeno let your little secret slip after getting so worked up in a class discussion. You had been discussing the symbolism of a film you had just watched for an english class when you began to clash. 

“Baby, that makes no sense,” he mumbled after you had shared your opinion. He was doodling aimlessly on his notebook. The entire class went wide eyed, and a few gasps were let out.

“Actually, it makes perfect s--” you began before freezing. You had just noticed his mistake, and everyone had noticed yours which was how the pet name didn’t seem to phase you at all. Luckily Mr. Park quickly moved on to another topic as you both sat cursing yourselves silently. 

After the final bell rang for the day, you locked eyes with Jeno. 

“Idiot,” you mouthed. He offered you a sheepish grin in return as he approached your desk.

“I’m sorry, it slipped,” he began, “but now that every knows..” Jeno, slipped his arm around you as you entered the hallway. Most students minded their business, which you were grateful for while others stared and whispered. 

“I have a student body meeting for the next hour... you have debate team right?,” he said as you approached an intersecting series of hallways. You nodded.

“I’ll meet you outside then, and we can go to mine to go over the photographer schedules for this months events,” Jeno said. 

“Sounds good,” you responded before turning on your heels to head in the opposite direction. Jeno’s grip on your wrist had him tugging you back towards him. 

He stood above you with an annoyed expression on his face, pouting. He pulled your face close to his, mumbling about you being heartless before he planted a lingering kiss on your lips, of course drawing the attention of onlookers. Your cheeks were on fire when he pulled back, leaving you flustered and a bit embarrassed as he shot you a final wink before checking his watch and rushing off to his meeting. You turned around to head to debate club, wondering how exactly your biggest enemy had turned into the sweetest, most caring lover you could have ever asked for. 

[hime-hana]

inspired by the neighbourhood - stargazing

non!idol au - university professor!au

bae jacob x fem!reader

trigger warning(s): smut, sexual depictions, semi-public sexual scenes, unprotected sex

15.44 pm

"windows start to fog, clothing coming off, making it too hot, you got me thinking"

Everyone knows Jacob Bae, the guitar teacher with an angelic voice who joined the university’s alumni less than a year ago. More importantly, everyone loves Jacob Bae; from the way, he always greeted his fellow staff members and students with the brightest smile each morning to the way he was always there for anyone in need. You were no exception. Getting to know Jacob was probably one of the best things to happen to you in the year that has passed, and it became even better when the dean appointed you and Jacob to work on an extra-curricular project. As the sole acoustic composition teacher at the university, it was only fair to expect to be chosen.

Jacob turned out to be less of a help and more of a flirt than you expected. Fingertips ghosting over your lower back as he excused himself when he passed by, a faint smirk on his lips each time he noticed you swallow hard at his little games. His piercing eyes only seeing you even in a full room, making you understand that behind his kind smile there was another side. One that he was dying to show you.

And you enjoyed it too. Getting caught up in this not-so-innocent game with him made your pulse race and your heart beat like a drum each time you sneaked to the back of the university’s library to meet him or one of the empty rooms in the old wing of the building. He would pull you close by your waist, burying his face in the crook of your neck with the same innocent smile he gave the old lady at the library, but marking you up with a devilish desire.

Everyone could feel it. The air changed when you got two got close and somehow you were always met with sighs and exasperated looks from the older piano teacher who swore she saw you two kissing in the empty parking lot yesterday. Jacob pats her shoulder with a coarse laugh you could recognize.

It wasn’t unusual for the two of you to be seen together after class. All the other professors knew Jacob was a gentleman who sometimes drove you home; or that is what they thought because only your hearts knew the way your moans danced together with the foggy windows of his car, his backseat feeling more like home than your own apartment at this point.

It wasn’t unusual either the way Jacob turned small talk into a heated make-out session and had you pressed against the wall of the class in which he prior taught a bunch of church choir students how to play the acoustic version of an Easter hymn.

“A little impatient today, aren’t you, Professor Bae?”

He licks his lips, gaze following the line of your cleavage and the way your pendant fell right between the mound of your chest.

“I have something to show you,” you clear your throat.

His kisses on the shell of your ear pause and even if you can’t see it, you can feel a smirk form on his face. “I bet you do,” his voice comes out raspier than usual.

He pulls your black leather belt off before his lips find yours. A kiss so sweet, but filled with hidden moans and racy images implanted in your mind by the way his tongue passes over your bottom lip. He pulls you towards his desk by your skirt loops, not once breaking the kiss as he lifts you up and places you facing the classroom.

His teeth sink into the skin of your exposed collarbones, tongue tracing over the hickey you tried to hide under too much concealer. Too bad, Jacob already knew it would still be there; after all, he was the one that created this masterpiece, which he could not help but paint lower to your chest and abdomen as well. You looked far too good all marked up, he always thought when he was done with your body.

“How would you feel if the whole faculty was here, watching while I fuck you? I bet you would love that.”

You bite back a moan, head falling to the side. He kisses your neck again, fingers rushing to unzip your skirt. You grip his button-up shirt, placing your hands on his chest. You’ve been in this position so many times before, Jacob getting up to the skies as his fingers worked magic on your body, but now? Now you wanted to play, it was your turn to drive him crazy.

You push him away, and he gives you a confused look.

“I don’t need anyone else watching me but you,” you purr with a smile.

He takes a few steps back and drags a chair until he is in front of you. The way his eyes lustfully watch your parted legs, dick hard enough to be throbbing just at the thought of how well he would stretch you out over and over. You drag your manicured fingers along your neckline, undoing each button one by one. Jacob watches you like a hungry wolf who just found its prey, ready to jump and devour you at any given time.

Your marked body on display for him, hands playing with the sensitive skin of your nipples, taking them between your fingers, and softly moaning as you pinch them, just like he loves to do. Lifting your pleated skirt, you give him a better view of the dark blue fabric covering your heat. Jacob leans forward on his elbows, licking his lips, almost hurrying you to show him more. And you do, tracing the outline and placing your fingers underneath the cotton. Jacob groans watching your digits rub circles begging you to remove them completely so he could watch you.

“Don’t do this to me,” his voice is deeper than usual as he leans back in the wooden chair.

His eyes roll back when you giggle. Fuck, was he always this hot when he was mad? You decide to give him what he wants, your pussy aching to be filled by him just as much. You pull the almost soaked underwear to the side, slick folds covered in your juices. Pumping with two digits, your head falls back as Jacob’s name dies on your lips.

You can barely hear him unzip his pants, but when your eyelids flutter open he is watching you; cock in his hand and a thumb pressing against the tip. “Come here,” he moans as his own hand moves up and down his shaft. You click your tongue, pushing the fingers deeper inside you while the other plays with your breasts.

“You played enough, Miss Y/N,” the moaning leaving his throat makes him sound so needy that you almost jump off the table and onto his lap.

“Don’t you like it? I still have some time to kill before my evening seminar,” you reply, glancing at the clock on the wall.

“I need you. I want you,” he grunts, eyebrows knit together watching you almost reach your orgasm on his desk.

“Come here,” he repeats, and this time you cave in because you craved having him inside you.

You straddle him in his chair, his lips swallowing all your moans as you sink down on his cock. His head falls forward, taking your nipple between his teeth while his hands guide your hips. His movements are rougher than usual, but you can’t complain, you loved anything Jacob did to you and your body. Fingers lock in his brown hair, pulling him back harsh enough to earn a smirk from him.

“I’m all yours,” he whispers against your lips.

Your lips crash against his, your core aching even more when you hear him speak those words. You knew he meant it. Your movements become sloppier the closer you get to your orgasm and Jacob notices because he feels close to his own too. He holds you in place as he bucks his hips up into yours. You grab onto shoulders for support, muscles flexing as he gets closer.

You lift his chin with two fingers, placing a gentle kiss despite the harsh thrusts. His words still linger in your mind; your relationship was never defined, but maybe it was time for it to be. Maybe you needed to hear it. Maybe he did too.

“I’m all yours as well, Bae Jacob,” you whisper and his name is the last thing you moan before you come undone on his cock, limbs going numb and head falling in the crook of his neck between heavy breaths.

[shoichee]

teiko manager anon back ~ my juicy part 2 will disappoint bc guess what: we're skipping two years into the future. akashi never found out what happened, and by third year the gom were the epitome of cruelty. so reader picks a fight with them after meiko game, only to collapse out of stress after. they graduate, she follows kuroko to seirin and they train to defeat gom. but why is she so insecure and easily sad when gom is mentioned? they get their answer when they catch her overworking

oh teiko anon, so so bold.... really out here stirring the pot of chaos with this part 2 huh KEK alright folks BUCKLE IN YOUR SEATBELTS IT”S TIME FOR PART 2 and part 1 is right here ! part 3 will be here ! update: part 4 is here !

Akashi x Reader

Part 2

[Teiko!manager Headcanons]

remember how I said in part 1 how Akashi would find out sooner or later? this would normally be the case, but in this exception…

you came back to school pretty quickly and restored, only to be in shock when Akashi himself confronts you about where you’ve been… like hello? YOUR CRUSH?? is? talking? to you? about your wellbeing?

here’s the thing, Akashi can easily detect lies through body language because he has an extraordinary sense of kinetic vision and critical thinking, but he’s still a human, not to mention… a middle schooler, and he’s not a true mind reader as some teammates would wholeheartedly believe

still, after some easy sleuthing he easily drew out confessions from some teammates who badmouthed you, although every single one were some type of half-truths and inconsistent testimonies that didn’t really make sense in painting a big picture

instead of incorrectly assuming things, he wanted to hear what’s been going on from your own mouth (keep in mind, this is still Oreshi, the guy who’s still cordial and wants to confirm this with you out of respect)

when he asks you some questions, he doesn’t detect any physical signs of lying from you, which only makes him believe that there wasn’t anything wrong to begin with other than you being under the weather and the other teammates saying utter nonsense either out of fear in his presence or using you as a scapegoat to cover up other delinquencies that he may have yet to discover

“(l/n)-san, I take it that you’ve been resting well? I heard from Kuroko that you were absent due to the seasonal flu.”

“Ah, y-yes! I’ve actually gotten plenty of rest and proper meals, so I’m back on my feet quicker than expected.”

“I actually also wanted to ask you something, if you don’t mind?”

“What is it?”

“Has anything odd happening to you lately? Anyone who has given you trouble or has been uncooperative with you as head manager as of late?”

at the question, you only frown in genuine confusion before you answer no; you genuinely believed that these teammates weren’t in the wrong for “speaking their mind” and if anything, you felt like you were the problem in not being capable enough in managing your own job and your health in the process (despite being knowledgeable in health yourself)

because Akashi saw that you weren’t lying, he dropped it completely out of respect and asked you that if there was anything troubling you that you could reach out to him

oh how he was so, so close to finding out the truth

this wouldn’t be brought up ever again because you and Akashi only continued to grow busier and busier with your own duties; eventually, your fears came true when the Generation of Miracles had in fact “left” you behind when their talents blossomed too fast and left unchecked

honestly, you developed a horrible habit of overworking despite Kuroko’s and Kise’s constant checks on you

what do you know? of course the coaches and faculty members would ignore your opposition against putting the GoMs in every game; after all some of them had been quite dismissive of you already

it’s kind of ironic because if Bokukashi was the one interrogating you back then, he would’ve either easily (correctly) assume based off of the teammates’ testimonies alone, or he’d be a lot more insistent in discerning the truth of the situation and nipping it right in the bud to stop the “nonsense”

but at the same time, Bokukashi has a lot more pressing priorities than a few poor-attitude teammates when he has the entire reputation of Tekio’s legacy on his shoulders; anything pertaining to you never crossed his mind ever since his domineering side emerged

you were really excited for Kuroko since he was gushing about playing against his old friend, since his friend couldn’t make it to finals the first time // needless to say, you were also Kuroko’s mental support when he felt really down at that time

after Kuroko sustained an injury in the game before Meiko, you immediately accompanied him to the infirmary

there, Kuroko requests you to go watch the game and you only reluctantly agree because you wanted to see the game just to relay back to Kuroko just in case if he couldn’t make it, and you were still a manager with a job to fulfill; you’d figure leaving Momoi to watch over was sufficient enough

when you walk out the door though… you bump into Akashi, which is the first time in a while where you two were face-to-face like this; your heart sank when you realize that you had to accept the fact that he’s changed and allowed the distance to grow between you two

but a small part of denial makes you quickly turn and flee out the hallway, but you really begin to evaluate your crush on him as you scurry away; Akashi just stares at you for a moment before he enters into the infirmary where Kuroko is

you’ve distanced yourself from other people (GoMs in particular) in basketball out of denial of the fact you were really left behind (plus, you already dread attending to their games because it’s always a cruel reminder that you’re not working hard enough to achieve results of the same level), which is why reality slapped you in the face after the aftermath of the Meiko game… when you witnessed the full extent of their cruelty on the court

you were really hurt—in fact, you looked more distraught than the Meiko teammates themselves

especially, since the fact that Kise himself, who you thought of him as someone you can trust in, partook in this as well (this is actually your first time in seeing his cruel side in action, since he’s always been very sweet and helpful to you because he respects you)

you first confronted Kise when he was alone for a bit, sounding absolutely heartbroken and on the verge of tears; you shocked him out of his cold side and he immediately becomes a mother hen and asking if you needed water or a seat to calm down before you overexert yourself

after telling him your feelings about the game and your growing distance in the friendship, he sincerely apologizes for making you feel in such an awful way and tells you to let him know next time before a game, so that he wouldn’t suggest this type of entertainment for the game again.

you were in complete disbelief… the fact that your best friend suggested this himself? You dumbly asked for his reason, and he only says that you wouldn’t understand it because no one ever gives the GoM a proper challenge

even though he didn’t intend anything bad when he said this, it just made you feel worse, but you still accepted the apology to get it over with

the other GoMs come and you immediately become angry again and tension just skyrockets; Midorima simply looks away and says nothing, and Murasakibara and Aomine do most of the talking back/arguing… and Akashi only impassively stares at you

later, when Kuroko himself confronts them while everyone was walking in the hallway, you completely lagged behind on the group, tearfully staring at the backs of the GoMs and how you felt really alienated and unmotivated to continue being a manager for a team you don’t even recognize anymore

you grew dizzy again, and you knew your body was dealing with too much at once but you willed your body to at least last the trip

at least you gave a warning when you assumed that you were away from the GoMs at Teiko before you went unconscious; Kise happens to catch you before he brings you to the school infirmary

he does stay with you the entire time, knowing the reason for your collapse was all the extreme emotional and mental toll accumulated in such a short time; he feels absolutely guilty, and when you were about to stir awake, he simply leaves a lighthearted note and a cutely shaped bread before he leaves, knowing that you’d be stressed again if you saw him (around this time is when Kuroko confronts Akashi to quit the team, which is why he was nowhere near you at the time of your collapse/rest)

you felt better that at least Kise still sees you as a close friend when you see what he left behind

you still feel awful, to say the least

it felt wrong of you to quit mid-season, since you felt that you were simply giving up and further perpetuating the fact that you weren’t doing the most that you could

but you didn’t feel like staying for the rest of the season, so you decided to overwork yourself again to get the rest of the paperwork and training plans out of the way for the remainder of the games; you even left detailed instructions to Momoi in how to relieve certain pressure points and muscles for instant relief in case someone hurts themselves

a little timeskip where you decided to tag along Kuroko in attending Seirin High, but you were more reluctant in joining basketball again because you didn’t want to re-experience the stress and burdens in Teiko

well, until you made friends with Riko, and her story in how she was skeptical about basketball at first too inspires you to give it a try again

Kuroko feels really happy that you’re at ease again for the first time, but he definitely notices how you grow gloomy when the Seirin teammates praise the GoMs

you slowly relapse into the habit of overworking to “compensate” for your lack of contributions to Seirin’s team, but this time, every member DROPKICKS you to stop working and relax sometimes (Riko and Hyuuga are the main culprits)

even though you never tell them the reason for your poor habits, the Seirin team members just SENSE and KNOW what to say to make you feel like you’re doing more than enough to support the team in their own unique ways (Mitobe giving really cute shoulder pats and thumbs-ups… Koganei giving you slaps on the back and high-fives… Riko bluntly telling you to relax and giving you encouraging winks… Hyuuga being a roundabout in his praises… Teppei openly praising you… and Kagami telling you that you were doing too much LOL)

Kuroko gives you the SOFTEST SMILES (everyone freaks out every time he does that, it’s hilarious)

however, wounds slowly reopen more once again every time Seirin goes against schools that the respective GoM plays for

after every win Seirin achieves against the GoM’s respective school, each GoM would eventually learn a little tidbits here and there about your tendency to overwork and collapse and possible speculations of why, but you never confirm anything with them

even though you easily forgive Kise after the Seirin vs. Kaijo match (seeing how he interacted with Kagami and Kuroko in the park), for the others… you weren’t so ready to confront…

… particularly with Akashi

[joontier]

Subliminal in Scrubs | V2; report xii 

pairings: dr. jeon jungkook x female reader

chapter rating: PG-15 | genre: humor, workplace relationships

warnings: none to note

word count: 2.6k

g/n: jungkook is a brat wbk; also,,, hoseok here is supposedly as old as seokjin heh i had an internal debate whether or not i should include two other scenes but aslkdfjkasljfas but i ended up with this instead skjff hope yall enjoy!! 

[taglist]:  @nottodayjjk @ditttiii @zeharilisharaban @btsbunny07 @turquoiseandplaidinautumn @aamxxrii @codeinebelle @btsmakesmehappy @stargukkie @moonchild1

Subliminal in Scrubs (the records) |  navi. | m.list

The orientation went by like a breeze with Ms. Narae’s quick run throughs of Woocheon’s clinical processes and systems, training programs, hospital expectations, and the explanation of the rest of the map of the hospital you weren’t able to cover during your tour earlier. Before she wraps up, she retrieves your IDs from underneath the table and places them on top of the desk for everyone to get later.  She dismisses the orientation exactly ten minutes before twelve, requesting everyone to head straight to their department’s on-call room after the break.

Soomin, who you’ve recently discovered to have her own Youtube channel, takes out her phone and records a video. You watch from the side as Soomin does her thing, until she tries to call you all over and officially introduce you as good friends turned work colleagues to all her subscribers. 

You hadn’t really expected this whole vlogger thing from her, especially when Soomin was a bit reserved when you were first acquainted with each other, but then again, as your friendship grew, you realized that she had a bit of Chohee in her as well and you thought that’s what caused you to gravitate towards her naturally. 

“Anybody up for lunch?” Soomin asks, rubbing her hands together after she finishes her short recording and tucks her phone back in her pocket. “Yeah, I’m starving...” you murmur, placing a hand on your belly as you hear your stomach grumble its complaint. 

“I heard Woocheon is known to have the best hospital food in Korea. Ever.” Jungkook says, looking around. You’re starting to get skeptical about how Jungkook is lingering around Jimin...Or was it the other way around now? “Shall we?” With Jungkook’s undeniable proposition, Soomin briefly glances at your reluctant face, her own lips pursing with your reaction. “Fine,” you sigh. 

There’s no getting rid of Jungkook now. 

Woocheon’s cafeteria...does not look like a cafeteria at all. 

You weren’t expecting an...urban haven of some sort, a portion of the hospital that you had least envisioned to what seems to be the warmest part of Woocheon. The laminated flooring, faux wooden grain wall panels, along with the suspended lights from this wave-like uneven wooden ceiling - it was as picturesque as a spread on an interior design magazine. 

The interior could easily outrival any other kitchen in the city. “Are you sure this is not some hotel we just walked into?” Jimin questions as he marvels over the sleek urban design of the cafeteria. There’s even a café - which you recognize holds the same logo as Good Day café. You ought to confirm this with Jimin later. 

As you near the serving area, the unmistakable aroma of roast beef fills your senses, making you hungrier than you were just seconds before. “Please don’t tell me Woocheon is actually serving roast beef...” 

You practically salivate at the sight of the food in the counters, a lot of which you realized were influenced by western food culture. There were three different kinds of salad to choose from, baked potatoes, burgers, seafood stew, stir-fried meat, as well as the Korean classic side dishes that you’d never miss in a meal.  And, true to your trusty sense of smell, roast beef was at the end of the line up in all its roasted glory.  

“Yeap,” Soomin says as she turns to face you, “You have three options for the sauce too: mushroom gravy, pepper sauce, or truffle sauce,” Soomin replies matter-of-factly, pointing at the farther end of the food counter. 

“Oh I love this place already!” Exclaims Jimin who’s undecided between eating to his heart’s content and risking a stomachache on the first day of work, or sacrifice half of the dishes for a later time in your stay at Woocheon. Thankfully, Jimin decides on the former. 

“Make sure you have your IDs ready,” Jungkook announces as he joins the line after you. “You’ll have to tap it against this tiny device then they will automatically deduct the total amount of the food you got from your account.”  

Jimin’s face falls instantly at the realization. Jungkook claps the other man’s back, face crumpled as he keeps his laughter in. “Still love this place, Jimin-ssi? Don’t worry now, the three of us can pretend we didn’t hear anything at all.” 

With features forlorn, Soomin makes a hilarious attempt to appease Jimin’s disappointment by stating facts - “Jimin-ah. Hospital food isn’t free.” 

“Yeah. I realize that now,” Jimin replies, an ingenuine smile playing on his lips. 

“Cheer up though! Ms. Narae did mention faculty and staff get a five percent discount on all hospital services...just so happened that they included the cafeteria there as well.” 

Albeit reluctant about the price, Soomin manages to convince your entire group to try out the roast beef for once (and probably your last too. Figures.) “Oh, and by the way, there is one thing that’s free actually. It’s the drink of the day - free for all staff. One each, and available during lunch only.” 

Your eyes travel to the end of the counter straight away at Soomin’s reminder. Calculating the number of cartons left and the people left in the queue, you’re beyond pleased at the fact that you’ll be able to get a free 250ML carton of banana milk today, and also the last person to do so. 

Unfortunately for you, a staff member returns to the counter and retrieves a tetra pack, claiming it was for a senior doctor who forgot to claim the drink. Much to your dismay, a middle-aged man in a white coat was waving to the counter, with his other hand pointing to his tray to prove that he really wasn’t able to take any milk with him. You can’t hide the scowl that creeps on your face. 

Through your peripheral vision, you notice Jungkook closely monitoring the milk as well, the same look of disappointment evident on his face. Maybe losing the milk wasn’t that bad. After all, if you couldn’t one, Jungkook wouldn’t be able to score one either. 

While Jimin checks out his food, one of the kitchen staff suddenly retrieves another carton from the other side of the counter, mumbling about how it must’ve fallen over earlier. You were just about to grab it when the lady at the till calls you next, and you’re forced to move your tray sideward so she can calculate the total amount of your order.  

When you look up to grab your free drink, Jungkook reaches out at the same time and manages to snatch the milk quicker than you. “Hey!” Jungkook simply shrugs his shoulders at your indignant tone. “Sorry darling, finders keepers.” 

You stare at him in disbelief, until the lady calls for Jungkook next, a little too loud for your liking. Your eyeroll comes almost involuntarily, and you shake your head as you follow where Jimin and Soomin were headed to as they look for a seat. 

Jungkook arrives shortly after you do, so you immediately lose the chance to rant about your annoyance towards the latter. He decides to sit across you and you don’t have the chance to complain about it either when he sticks the straw in his milk while he smirks at you. 

What an actual kid. 

You promised yourself you won’t let him get to you, choosing inner peace over fighting with a brat. Besides, two can play at this game, and it’s going to take more than a small carton of milk for him to truly vex you, so you simply smile at him back, returning the favor (of course, while secretly wishing he might choke on his banana milk too).  

“Would you guys mind if I recorded a little bit?” Murmurs of agreement are heard across the table. “Alrightey then,” says Soomin, “This time, none of you boys will be able to escape the camera this time around.” Just as you’d expected, Jimin and Jungkook whine in chorus, vocally expressing their petulance towards Soomin’s ‘vloggering’. 

“Hey! For all you know, you two might even bring more subscribers when I put you two as my thumbnail!” 

“I’m shy…” Jimin argues as he poorly covers his face with his small ID, yet continues to peek through the small gap between the card and the lanyard. 

Soomin rolls her eyes at their childishness and records her food first, praising how surprisingly appetizing the hospital food is. She proceeds to pan the camera towards you as you say hi for the second time today. As Soomin moves onto Jimin, he instantly puts his ID down and waves at the camera sporting a cute smile. “Everyone, this is what ‘camera shy’ looks like nowadays.” 

On the other hand, Jungkook, shameless as ever, pretends to not pay any regard to the camera but he decides to chew on his food with much suave, jaw tightening with every bite of the beef. Soomin calls on Jungkook to say hi, to which he responds by introducing himself and punctuating his statement with a flirty wink. 

For some reason, you feel your stomach drop at the action, causing you to look away momentarily while Soomin instantaneously switches back to her front camera, “Okay, everyone, let’s just pretend these two weren’t flirting with the camera just now.” Soomin shakes her head at the two, deciding that was enough content about lunch at the hospital cafeteria. 

“Shame the camera couldn’t handle it,” Jimin says, pouting as he places a hand over his chest. 

“Maybe it was the lady behind the camera that couldn’t,” adds Jungkook who continues to wink, alternating both his eyes before making a weird face. 

“Okay Jeon. I think that���s enough winking for today.” 

Jungkook wouldn’t stop though and Soomin finally looks at you for help, “Diagnosis: winkitis, ophthalmologist recommends immediate enucleation.”

“Of course! How could I forget? A wink for this young lady over here too.” Jungkook turns to you now but you simply squint your eyes at him as you fake choking on thin air, “I think I might have lost my appetite altogether.” 

As the three of you head back to the locker rooms to retrieve your stuff before going to the surgery department, another hospital staff stops briefly on their way to greet Soomin. It’s the third time in ten minutes and you’re starting to think Soomin knows not just ‘someone’ from the hospital. Strangely enough, they all seemed like they came from different departments too. This particular person must be of high authority or someone really famous to have people greet her as often as this. 

When you round the corner, at the end of the corridor is a lady in formal attire, sporting the same ID as yours  and it’s Soomin who approaches this person this time. As she pulls the person aside, she urges the three of you to go ahead, telling you she’ll catch up in a moment, leaving you sandwiched between Jimin and Jungkook who tower over you easily. 

“Jimin, do you happen to know who it is exactly she knows here?” 

The blond shakes his head no. “She’s never mentioned anybody in particular...all I know too is that she knows somebody here.” 

“Some relatives perhaps? Maybe she’s a family member of a renowned doctor here?” 

“How about her Youtube channel? Maybe she’s famous then? How many followers does she have?” 

You quickly tap on Youtube on your phone with Jungkook’s prodding, looking up her channel on the app. “It says here she’s got quite the following actually... “ you tilt the screen for them to see, “six thousand followers…” 

“That can’t be it. The second one who greeted her was at least in his mid-fifties...Boomers couldn’t have possibly been following...what does she vlog about again? Um… a day in the life of a med student…” 

From behind you, you faintly hear a ‘goodbye’ and you clear your throat, alerting the two of Soomin’s return. “What were you guys going on about here?” 

Jungkook chuckles, smoothly making up an alibi as he takes your phone in his hands, “Hope you don’t mind us checking out your channel…” Surely enough, your screen was showing a video of Soomin studying for her finals. 

“As long as you subscribe, it’s fine with me.” She gives you all a thumbs up. “It’s been a while since I posted anything though...Maybe if we get to the on-call room early, maybe I could film a few shots too! Come on!”  Soomin hooks your arm in hers and drags you to the locker rooms, leaving the two boys standing there in the middle of the hallway.

You figure the four of you were the first interns to arrive, as most of the doctors lounging around were either in their scrubs or heading out for lunch. “Soomin,” Jungkook seemingly deep in thought, taps the girl’s shoulder. 

“Hmm?” 

“Remember when you bumped into me on the day of our graduation...you were with someone right? Um...Jung...Ho...I can’t quite remember his name…” 

“Oh you mean Jung Hoseok? He’s my cousin.” 

As Jungkook opens his mouth to reply, someone calls Soomin from the other side of the room. “Soomin! You’re here!” You spot the surgeons you’ve met during the hospital tour earlier this morning - Dr. Min Yoongi, Dr. Kim Seokjin, and Dr. Kim Namjoon. You all bow promptly as soon as they stand up. 

“I didn’t really have that much of a choice,” Soomin grumbles as she gets squished with each of the doctors’ hugs. “Come on! You’re saying that as if Woocheon isn’t any good at all!” 

The three of you stand awkwardly in the corner while Soomin and the other doctors mingle with each other. You nudge Jungkook’s elbow, “Hey what’s with Soomin’s cous--?” 

“Oh right! These are my friends - ________, Park Jimin, and Jeon Jungkook.  We’re all under your care now.” The three doctors call you over, extending their arms out for a handshake, “Ready to lose your social life?” Dr. Min asks, his bright tone contrasting his drift. 

“It’s an honor to meet you Dr. Min, Dr. Kim, and Dr. Kim.” You bow curtly. “Oh doctor? It's too much! Call us sunbae instead. Oppa is cool too when we’re not working.” Dr. Seokjin’s handshake lingers a little longer than usual and you feel your cheeks start to heat up. “Besides, I don’t know what I’m doing most of the time.” 

Yoongi visibly grimaces at Seokjin’s words, while Namjoon covers his face with his hands, mumbling, “Hyung.... For the love of god, please make sure the patients never ever hear that…” 

Namjoon’s reaction elicits laughter from the whole group, but someone’s laugh stands out above all and it’s coming from the other side of the door. Soomin seems to recognize the voice instantly. “He’s here!” 

“Soooommmiiiiiinnn!!!” A loud voice echoes throughout the room. He hugs Soomin briefly, and addresses the rest of you. “Wassup bros?” The newcomer gives each of the surgeons a dap in greeting then turns to greet you three. 

“The whole gang's here!” He says, rubbing his chin, “Let me guess...Jeon Jungkook, _________, and Park Jimin, right?” 

Eyes wide in surprise, you nod slowly. “Soomin here has told me all about you!” Soomin is behind the man, drawing a hand across her throat. “My name’s Jung Hoseok, by the way. Nice to finally meet you all.” 

“He’s the next chairman of the Woocheon Medical City,” Seokjin whispers as he winks in your direction. Hoseok elbows him in the ribs. “No I’m not.” 

“Ah yes. Correction. Not yet.” Seokjin mumbles, massaging his sides. You, Jimin, and Jungkook look at each other with knowing gazes. So that’s the ‘someone’ Soomin knows. 

Woocheon ought to be...interesting.

© joontier 2021

[yuraimi-lee-bunny]

Gray’s Character Analysis Part II. Empathy vs Ambition

Hello! Sorry if it took me a while to show the next part of my Gray’s analysis, but this part was a bit difficult for me especially in what order I should give it. You'll see what I mean as soon as you read. This part is going to be a little longer than the previous one and will explain some issues not only about Gray, but also about Carmen and VILE in general.

Thank you very much for the support of the previous analysis and I hope you like this too! Here we go!

As we already know, Gray is an orphan. And yes, it’s important to understand certain behaviors and ways of thinking about him. First, I want to explain a small detail of Black Sheep/Carmen so that Gray's decisions are understood in greater depth once he’s in VILE and his ease of trying to go far (and even the position of almost all VILE agents would also be understood usually)

Why does Carmen think and feel different compared to all VILE and especially Gray?

Simple: Empathy.

Now, it doesn't mean that Carmen is the only one who has empathy and others don't. Rather, Carmen's level of empathy is greater, deeper and broader. What caused it? Living in VILE was the first.

Yes, surprisingly it was that, VILE created her own "enemy" since they decided to give her a home on the former Island of VILE when she was a pretty baby. From the first episode, Carmen relates how stealing was a game for her and VILE Faculty was like her family in some way, especially Coach Brunt because her relationship was "mother/daughter." The other members of the faculty treated her well, they taught her the culture of thier countries and around the world, they gave her food and clothing, a large home, basic education and also living with many VILE students. But Black Sheep only knew the "basics" about VILE, because she lived with the belief that they only taught to steal all over the world, just a "the game of cat and mouse" but it didn't harm anyone, or so she believed.

Another very important factor helped Black Sheep's empathy to expand: Player. That's right, our little favorite hacker was very influential on her. First, because he was the first person she met, empathized and talked about her life outside of VILE. Black Sheep always wanted to know the world outside the island, and Player was his first contact outside the world, and a white hat hacker, his abilities used for good. Black Sheep never saw that as something bad or like a "enemy". On the contrary, he was her friend and appreciated him very much.

Last important factor: The archaeologist's words:

Black Sheep, the one who didn’t know anything about her roots, about her family, thought about how she wouldn’t like someone or an entire country and it’s people to live the same as her: not to know a part of her life. These factors caused that Black Sheep's empathy was different from that of VILE and her agents.

The other agents, although we don’t know their lives completely, the fact that we know that they’re orphans is enough to give us a glimpse that their lives haven’t been easy. The reasons why one can be orphaned are many, which can lead to sad experiences, hard, full of pain, others not of course, but being an orphan is to carry a great mark on your life. And in the end one must survive and get what he needs by his own hands if you are alone. But maybe have a brother, have a life partner, in these cases a brother/sister, can change everything, because you no longer feel alone in life, and you can create a bond of empathy, like Zach and Ivy. Or maybe not, like Shadowsan and his brother.

Sorry if it seems that I'm moving away from Gray, but I need you to understand how the VILE agents don't have a great connection and their empathy is lower because they don't know (or perhaps they do and not having good consequences) about their roots. To experience rejection more than once and for years. Of not having had a "family" or person to help them connect with the world and thereby seek and understand other people. Perhaps most of them had to survive alone. Or they got together with people of bad influences as seen with Shadowsan. They didn't have or lived the points that I mentioned about Carmen, or maybe they did, and even so they wanted to steal for mere enjoyment and get money easily. Everything is possible.

The fact that the faculty recruits students over 16 (it seems that it's from the age of 20 or is an approximate) is a great plan because it's 20 years of a habit of only trusting you, seeing for you and stealing for you, there comes a point where you live it with more enjoyment/play than just "surviving". A "vocational school" will provide you with a home, food, appreciate you for your stealing skills, without being without any communication, living for a year on an island, with people who have in common being an orphan and stealing, feeding your enjoyment of theft , that the faculty helps you find and develop skills to achieve a successful robbery, continuing to see it as a game and now see it in a professional way, which will make you survive forever, generates the idea that “it's okay to do it ”And you do it together like a family.

Graham and Black Sheep understood each other very easily and enjoyed spending time together most of the time. Antonio, Jean Paul and Sheena also considered them his friends, but not as close as Black Sheep. They communicated just by looking at each other, they understood each other easily, and they covered their backs. How to forget when as long as they didn't expel Black Sheep, Graham lied to the Faculty. He reassured her as long as he trusted that he would pass the exam and graduate from her. He felt very bad to realized that they wouldn’t graduate together. Gray somehow began to develop an empathy for Black Sheep. In the book he mentions to Black Sheep in detention: 

“I know they say there is no loyalty between thieves, but we’re in this together right? I have always taken care of you”

Which shows that he appreciated her a lot, but being on the island and under their ideals, made him think that everything was to be in a “family”, everything was loyalty, he didn't realize it could be more than loyalty, but appreciation, the beginning of great empathy. He really knew her very well, her goals, her desire to be the best thief and always improve herself. He knew Black Sheep, but not the factors that would make her Carmen Sandiego.

The next thing I will say is more of a theory/assumption, not a fact: As I mentioned in the previous analysis, Gray is someone who wants to be successful, he's always going to prove it to himself and will give everything to achieve it. Being an orphan, perhaps he has affected him in some way, that at some point in his life he decided to just see for himself and show that he can be successful and that nothing would stop him. He's ambitious. But when he met Black Sheep, his empathy grew more, however, a “struggle” began within him between his ambition and his love for Black Sheep, a person outside his life, but who has lived with her so much that your appreciation is big. A fight, of which, throughout the whole series, Gray will never be aware, but with acts it is always demonstrated.

There is a sentence from him in the second episode that I always found very curious:

This is cute and talks about how much he appreciates Black Sheep to mention her well-being first.

"Criminal Career" Do you realize how much Crackle has thought about it? He doesn't see being in VILE as a game or something. He sees it as a "Career". Something tells me that if it were up to him, he would have set his sights on a position at the faculty. That he would be willing to do anything to achieve it.

At least as far as I'm concerned, Crackle wasn't going to kill the archaeologist because he's evil, or because he doesn't have absolute empathy, it's because he always tests himself to achieve his goals, for him, to start with his criminal career, was to abide by ALL the rules of VILE. He somehow affirms it:

Did he want to be successful? Did he want to have a great criminal career? He had to do EVERYTHING.

BUT!

His empathy reminder was there

and was still there

This, this expression says it all (This expression was the one that convinced me that Crackle wasn’t bad at all and from then on no one moved me from that belief). Deep down, Crackle wasn't so convinced of going that far either. Something in him, the empathy in him spoke and made him feel that such acts were too much for him. Carmen's words reached him. Deep down, he felt she was right. But what could he do? Although he listened to all of Carmen's story, even his ambition and all that year in VILE resonated more with him. Because he hasn’t lived experiences of strong empathy as Carmen already lived.

His goals are very big, he commits himself to them at any cost. But there is also still a place for her in his heart. Unfortunately, we don’t know in detail (or rather nothing) of how he reacted when Black Sheep managed to escape from VILE. But when he and Carmen Sandiego meet on the train, he asks so many questions because he doesn't understand what led her to do all this. As I said before: he didn’t know the factors that I mentioned at the beginning, and there was no time for them to talk about it. He no longer recognizes her, he only has his memories of Black Sheep and of course he misses her, but he doesn't understand that she is no longer Black Sheep, she is Carmen Sandiego:

He told her that because he believed that she was still thinking like Black Sheep, but no more.

I always liked this scene because it shows how Carmen is in the light and Gray is in the dark.

I can only say that he didn’t want to do it, he only did on VILE's orders, because of his ambition that he was almost going too far. But deep down he didn't want to, if only there was a proof… oh, yes there is, but this is not the time to move on to it ;D

In the end and as we know, Carmen defeats Crackle and she uses him to distract Devineaux. This is caught by the police, VILE saves him, and he "regrets" not having caught Carmen (he’s relieved that he had not killed her rather. Crackle NEVER wanted to.)

BUT

VILE can accept failures, but not be trapped by the Law.

So Crackle, since you've lived so many years for your goals and ambitions, let's see what happens to live as little as 18 months with just pure empathy.

It would be all with this part! Geez, I feel that I wrote a lot but it was necessary to tell all this! Believe me that doing this is making me better connect my ideas and understand better to Gray. I hope it’s also helping you, you like it and it makes you reflect. I want to know what they think and if they have any other points of view. I love talking about analysis with more people. The next part for sure will be shorter, but still very important, it’s the safest that if they have it in two days. Greetings!

Part. I Introdution

Part. II Empathy vs Ambition (HERE)

Part. III Amnesia and it’s Future Consequences

Part. III.5 Graham Calloway: The Walking Enigma

Part. IV Integrity At a high (and unfair) price

Part. V The final decision and a new beginning

Plus 1. Gray and his strange habit of explaining things

Plus 2. Crossover: Sabrina And Gray: New Beginning

Plus 3. Crossover: Hawk/Eli and Crackle/Gray: Redemption

[fromthedeskofelizabeththird]

Habanero

You're a good girl, well behaved.

Absolutely not the type to rail random guys in nightclubs.

Until you are.

Fandom: BNHA

Pairing: Aizawa x Reader, eventual polyamorous Erasermic x Reader

Rating: Explicit. Minors BE GONE

Trigger Warnings: None in this chapter.

AO3: Here | Want to support me? I have a Kofi

Chapter: 2/16 (all chapters)

“Oh...do you two know each other?”

Principal Nezu glanced from you to Shouta, eyes bright with curiosity. You didn't blame him. In his shoes you too would wonder why such a thing hadn’t cropped up during the application process. Why hadn’t you named him as a reference? Why hadn’t Shouta mentioned knowing someone with your skillset the moment the role became available?

“No, no,” you said, conscious of how defensive you sounded.

Nezu was now your boss and there was no appropriate way to explain the circumstances of your first meeting. You were the new guidance counsellor, hired for your good sense and professionalism; the perfect role model for teenagers in line to become the next generation of pro heroes.

Good guidance counsellors didn’t fuck strange men. They didn’t sit in nightclub toilets for twenty minutes, scrubbing away a seemingly never ending stream of cum. You had thought having a guy cumming inside you would be the least messy option. Oh, how wrong you were.

Nezu didn’t seem convinced, but he didn’t press it any further. Instead he dismissed himself, leaving you and Shouta alone in the corridor in an awkward silence. He clearly hadn’t expected to see you again either.

“This way,” he said, leading you to his classroom, which had erupted into chaos in his short absence.

You wondered what sort of teacher he was. He must have been a respectable one if Nezu had asked you to observe him specifically.

The change in atmosphere as you entered the room was enough to answer your question. The classroom fell silent, all eyes on you.

“This is (Name). She’s the new guidance counsellor and the Principal wants her to observe us for a while. Don’t embarrass me,” he said, before turning to you. “Take a seat.”

He wasn’t even your teacher, but you hurried to obey, taking a seat at the back of the classroom and reaching into your purse for a notepad and pen.

You tried to concentrate and ignore the elephant in the room. Every time you tried to focus on Shouta’s words, though, your mind wandered to how he’d sounded groaning with pleasure.

You crossed and uncrossed your legs, trying to ignore the heat pooling between them. It was inappropriate for you to be thinking of such things at work, in a classroom no less.

Unfortunately, that only seemed to make it worse. You wondered how it would feel if he bent you across the desk; what it would be like to ride him on it.

You were only too grateful when class took a short recess and Professor Nezu returned to show you to your office.

“You look a little flushed, (Name),” he said, “are you feeling alright?”

“Oh, yes,” you said, “it’s just...new job, lots of information to process. I’m fine, really.”

You got the feeling Nezu knew you were lying, but he didn’t say so. Instead he left you to log into your computer and rearrange your desk, safe in the knowledge that someone would come in to check on you in an hour or so.

Reshuffling the office turned out to be a bad idea. The previous guidance counsellor had a collection of pamphlets behind her desk that covered all manner of issues, such as drug use and bereavement. Your gaze lingered on the one about unprotected sex.

Somehow, even the office was judgemental.

You reached for your cell phone and opened the group chat.

>> I’m in trouble

Sayaka was the first to reply.

>>Why? What happened?

>> The guy from Ego. He works here.

At that, everyone in the group started to type at once.

>> Omg is he your boss?

>> No, he’s a teacher here.

>> Kinky ;) does he have a cane

>> Of course not!

>> Shame.

You put your phone down on the desk, rubbing your temples as it continued to ping with each new message.

Your mother had always told you to be mindful of your actions and their consequences, but she’d never told you what to do when it was too late.

You thought you’d gotten away with it. You weren’t pregnant, you weren’t sick and you were never going to see him again.

You picked up your phone again and skimmed through the new messages before typing yourself.

>> What do I do?

Aptly enough, Rei was the first to respond.

>>Talk to him. You said he didn’t like games, remember?

She was right. You remembered the straightforward way he had asked what it was you wanted from him and how flustered it had made you feel. You got the impression he would want the same treatment under the present circumstances, no matter how awkward it was.

>> Alright. I’ll try and get him alone at some point.

>> Good luck!!!

You switched off your phone and sat back down at your desk, running your fingers through your hair.

It was the right thing to do and you knew it, but you got the feeling it was going to be easier said than done.

━

Five minutes after the final bell of the day, Present Mic walked into your office.

“(Name),” he called out, “con-grat-u-lations on surviving your first day!”

“Thank you, Professor,” you said. “I’m looking forward to working together.”

If Shouta worked here, then the guy you saw at Ego must have been the real Present Mic and not just someone with a passing resemblance. You wondered if he recognised you, though soon dismissed it. He was direct in a completely different way to Shouta, who didn’t waste a single word. Present Mic didn’t seem to have an off switch, but all of his words came straight from the heart. If he recognised you, he certainly would have said so.

As if sensing your thoughts, he thrust a hand into your face and waggled his finger.

“No, no, no! This will not do! Call me Hizashi. Hi-za-shiiii.”

“Okay,” you said with a small smile. “I’ll make sure to call you that from now on...Hizashi.”

“Cute! So cute,” he cried out, wrapping an arm around your shoulders. “Now listen. The school day is over, and you know what that means?”

He didn’t give you a chance to reply, instead squeezing your shoulders.

“It’s time for the after party!”

“A-after party?”

“Yes, yes,” he said. “You’re the newest member of the faculty and the principal has asked us to be as welcoming as possible, so we’re going to take you for beers!”

“Beers?” You said, suddenly wondering if they were going to take you to Ego . You hoped not.

He led you out of the classroom, arm still wrapped around your shoulders.

“Yes, yes...no need to thank me,” he said, “it’s our duty as your colleagues. You are but a cute duckling stepping out onto our riverbed…soon to be a beautiful swan.”

You chose to ignore the implication that you were an ugly duckling.

“Hey, Eraser!” he called out across the corridor. “Eraser, this way!”

You wondered who he was talking to, only for your heart to skip a beat when you actually saw. Shouta was standing in the doorway of the staff room, a pile of folders under one arm. His gaze drifted from you to Hizashi and then, as if he already knew what was coming, turned the other way and let the staff room door close behind him.

“Hmmm, maybe he didn’t hear me,” said Hizashi and you had to fight to keep the smile from your face. This was exactly how things had played out at Ego .

Hizashi led you to the staff room, where the professors were packing up for the day.

“Everyone,” he called out, “grab your things, we’re going for drinks!”

“You really don’t have to make a fuss,” you said, feeling incredibly self conscious. “It’s very kind of you, but…”

“Nonsense,” said Midnight, strolling over. “We should get to know one another, we’re going to be working together, after all.”

“Eraserrrrr,” whined Hizashi, “you’ll come too, won’t you! It’s 2 for 1 on drinks!”

You hoped he’d say yes. There would be plenty of opportunities to get him alone at a bar.

“I’ll pass,” he said.

“Awww, come on,” said Hizashi. “It’ll be fun. They have those fruity drinks with the umbrellas that you like!”

Shouta shook his head and dumped the pile of papers he had been carrying onto his desk.

“I have papers to grade.”

Hizashi let go of you and scooped the files up from Shouta’s desk.

“These papers?”

“Give them back.”

“I will,” said Hizashi, an enormous smile across his face. “At the bar.”

Shouta’s face fell, as if they had had this conversation a dozen or more times before.

“Fine,” he said. “Let’s go.”

━

An hour and a half later, you were sitting at a table in an izakaya, cradling a lukewarm beer. You’d taken only a couple of sips since your arrival, partly because of how self conscious you were about being in the company of your new colleagues, but also because you wanted to keep your wits about you in the hopes of getting the opportunity to speak to Shouta alone.He had had even less to drink than you, spending the time glaring from the sealed bottle in front of him to the papers Hizashi had confiscated.

Questions had been rapid fire from the moment you sat down. What was your quirk, where did you go to college, were you local, had you relocated for your new job?

Midnight, Nemuri as she had told you to call her, asked the question you had dreaded the most.

“So,” she said, leaning over the table, “are you seeing anyone?”

“No.”

“A cutie like you? Single?”

She raised an eyebrow, clearly curious.

“I was seeing someone,” you said, thinking back to the dinner that had changed everything. “We were together for years, actually, but we broke up a little over six months ago.”

You didn’t miss the flicker of recognition in Shouta’s expression as he no doubt did the maths. You cringed, realising too late that you had indirectly admitted to him being your rebound. He picked up his drink and took a long sip, all while your coworkers murmured between themselves. Your gaze drifted to the edges of his jawline; the bob of his Adam’s apple as he swallowed.

“Don’t tell me...did he cheat?”

“No, nothing like that.”

“Did he travel overseas?”

“No, no…”

“Did he die in a horrific accident?”

Everyone turned to Sekijiro, who shrugged defensively.

“What? Someone had to ask.”

“He didn’t die,” you said, “he didn’t leave the country either… he just…wanted different things I did, that’s all.”

Not so long ago just the mention of your ex left you in floods of tears. Even now, after so long had passed, it brought tears to your eyes if you didn’t catch them fast enough.

You had found one of his sweaters in the back of your wardrobe only a matter of days before your interview at UA. You had no idea how long it had been there, or how you had managed to miss it during your clearout, but it still smelled of him and you buried your face in it before you could stop yourself.

“Men are dogs,” said Nemuri, raising her glass and clinking it against yours, “you’re better without him.”

“We’ll find you a new guy,” said Hizashi, “what’s your type?”

“I…”

You didn’t know and you didn’t want to admit it.

“I um…”

“I think I know a guy,” said Nemuri, “how do you feel about dog hair?”

Shouta sighed loudly at that.

“This is a waste of time,” he said, “I’m going home.”

He reached across the table for the papers Hizashi had taken, only to receive a slap across the knuckles.

You were grateful for the interruption, especially as it seemed to distract everyone else from your love life.

“A toast,” Sekijiro said, lifting his glass, “to our new guidance counsellor!”

Nemuri lifted her drink and you lifted yours, clinking drinks together.

In that moment, embarrassing one night stand aside, you felt less like an outsider and more like you belonged.

Maybe this wasn’t going to be as complicated as you thought.

“Cheers!”

━

You parted ways another hour later, Nemuri and Hizashi drifting away for karaoke and Sekijiro saying something about chicken wings. 

“I’ll walk you home,” grumbled Shouta, “I have business that way anyway.”

“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to put you out.”

“I told you. I’m going that way.”

“Okay, well, if you’re sure.”

You hadn’t had the chance to get him alone at the bar and knew this would be the only one you got that day. Perhaps that was his plan as well. You found it difficult to get a read on him.

You stood in awkward silence as you took the train, body close to his. You thought about making conversation a few times, though very few subjects came to mind. You didn’t know him well enough to make small talk that wasn’t immediately obvious.

“Well, this is me,” you said as you arrived at your front door and fiddled with your keys. “It’s not much but it’s home!”

Relax, you told yourself, we’re adults and more than capable of an adult conversation. If you show your professionalism then-

You dropped the keys.

Fuck

“Haha, sorry about that,” you said, scooping them up all but shoving the door open. “Butterfingers.”

Up until recently you had been proud of your apartment. Originally it had belonged to a great aunt, who let you rent it for a discounted rate. You had painted the walls yourself, built cupboards and shelves and painted those too. You’d crocheted your own throw blanket and stuffed every single cushion you owned.

Since your boyfriend left, though, all you could think about were the hopes and dreams you had lovingly worked into everything: the corner you had left empty to make room for a future moses basket; the wine rack you had bought for when you hosted dinner parties. It was surely a direct contrast to anything Shouta might have expected, and almost embarrassingly so.

“Uh, would you like some tea?”

“Mhmm.”

This was your chance and you were determined not to waste it, reaching for some snacks as the kettle came to a boil.

“Make yourself at home,” you said in an attempt to distract yourself from how badly your hands were shaking. You had no idea how to broach the topic with him. No matter how you phrased it in your head, it sounded awkward.

Shouta had taken a seat at your kitchen table and nodded his thanks as you carried over the tea tray.

“I wanted to talk to you about my students,” he said, reaching for the folders Hizashi had taken from him. “Just seeing them isn’t enough. They keep their problems to themselves.”

Only then did you realise that he hadn’t got papers to grade at all. These were student dossiers- gold dust for a guidance counsellor. Had he meant to discuss these with you all along?

“Sorry if it’s not a good time,” he said. “But I wanted to give you an overview of the students in my class and my points of concern.”

It was the last thing you might have expected from this conversation. In class he had seemed distant, almost hostile. Here he was, though, giving you a head start on how best to support them. It was not at all what you had expected from him, yet you weren’t sure why. You had left almost everything you knew about him in Ego’s bathroom.

“Of course,” you said, taking each file he offered.

He took the time to go through each one, going through every grade, every quirk, every weakness. You had never known a teacher with so much insight into their students, from Todoroki’s difficult home life to Midoriya’s self destructive need for success. You could see you had your work cut out for you.

“Thank you for all of this,” you said, turning a page as he nibbled a rice cracker.

“Don’t mention it.”

Even now, in the process of giving you a cheat sheet, he was straight to the point. It brought a smile to your face.

“What is it?”

“Nothing,” you said, “it’s just...you’re a surprisingly nice person.”

He sighed at that and the pair of you fell into a heavy kind of silence.

“About what happened,” he said, “at Ego …”

“Y-yes?”

“I’m not gonna say anything about it at work.”

“Really?”

He raised an eyebrow and you realised just how excited you had sounded.

“What, did you think I was going to compare notes in the staff room or something?”

He genuinely did sound offended and you instantly felt awful. You’d admitted to him being a rebound, expressed surprise at him being kind and now this. You’d insulted him so many times today without meaning to.

“No, no,” you said. “Nothing like that. It’s just...well...I’ve never...done anything like that before. I don’t know what happens next.”

“Nothing,” he said. “That’s what happens next. Today is our reset.”

Reset.

You quite liked the sound of that. It was the best case scenario and more than you could possibly have asked for. You could shelve the events at Ego as something someone else had done.

It was perfect, so why did it leave you feeling empty?

Your heart was heavy as you showed him to the door and you leaned against it after you closed it behind him.

You had never dated, so why did it feel as if he’d broken up with you?

You told yourself you were happy for the reset, even as you ripped the door back open. He hadn’t gotten far, walking along the street with one hand in his pocket and folders under his other arm.

“Shouta,” you called out.

“Hmm?”

He stopped and turned to you, perhaps wondering if he’d left something behind.

“Tomorrow,” you said, “tomorrow is day one.”

He smirked.

You wanted your life to go back to normal and the rational part of you protested even as you took two steps back through your front door, dragging off his shirt. He hadn’t undressed much at all at Ego and for the first time you saw exactly how many scars cobwebbed his body. You wanted to run your fingers over them all, but he reached for your hands and lifted them above your head to pull off your shirt.

You dragged him closer, adding fuel to the flames. You’d never wanted anyone quite this much, running your lips over his jawline and throat.

You led him towards your bedroom, fiddling at your skirt zipper and kicking it to the floor. Fittingly enough, you were wearing the same bra as when you went to Ego, though that realisation lasted all of half a second as you ripped it off and threw it across the room.

You were wearing only your panties and a smile now, but it didn’t occur to you to be modest. Instead you crushed your lips against his and reached for his belt buckle, sighing at the feel of his chest against yours.

He lowered you onto the bed as if you were made of bone china before stepping out of the rest of his clothing. It was the first time you’d been exposed to a fully naked man in well over six months and you couldn’t stop yourself from staring.

He really did have scars everywhere, though your gaze drifted past that to the trail of hair beneath his belly button. He was already hard, and your mouth ran dry. If you hadn’t already had sex with him you would have been very daunted.

He reached down to grip his cock and you crawled up the bed, reaching into your bedside drawer and tossing him a condom. He tore the foil with his teeth and your insides turned to jelly; it was probably the most sinful thing you’d ever seen.

He put on the condom and got down onto his hands and knees, crawling towards you until you were able to stroke his face with an intimacy that didn’t cross your mind until much, much later. He grazed his lips over your cheek and you giggled as his stubble scraped your skin.

He lined his hips to yours and pushed in, so slowly that you thought you were going to die. You gasped, running your hands down his back and tracing every scar.

“Please,” you whispered, loud enough for only him to hear. “Please…”

At that he pushed himself in all of the way and you cried out as your bodies connected, digging your nails into his back and earning a moan from him in response.

He sat up and took hold of your bed frame, steadying his weight and giving you a dark smile before slamming his entire length into you.

“Oh...my g-“

You never got the chance to complete that particular train of thought, for he did it again and again until the bed rocked from the force of his body.

You knew you were being loud, but you didn’t care.

Tomorrow everything would be reset, as if you were perfect strangers. You finally understood why people got so desperate in movies about the apocalypse. This wasn’t remotely the end of the world, yet you dug your nails into his back in the hopes of never letting go.

You held onto him as the coil inside of you snapped and left you in free fall, frantically rubbing your clit in the hopes of loosening up even more. He lifted one of your legs over his shoulder and took you even deeper, though it still wasn’t deep enough. You wanted to lose track of where you ended and he began, though settled for the impact when his hips hit yours.

Just like the first time, he lost almost all of his rhythm as he grew close. You stroked your clit, chasing the shivers of pleasure running through you and making sure to catch his eye as he sucked in one breath and then another, losing himself in his own release as well as yours.

“Ahh, F…” he groaned, squeezing his eyes shut in a failed attempt at keeping his composure. He bit his bottom lip and gave a few more shallow thrusts, dragging out his orgasm for all it was worth.

He rested his forehead against yours the moment it was over, stealing several lazy kisses that you would have been only too happy to give away.

He pulled out of you and rolled over onto his back, gasping from the exertion even as he pulled off the condom and tied a knot in the middle before dropping it in the waste paper basket at the side of your bed.

“I’ll just...catch my breath…” he said, resting his head on the pillows. He closed his eyes, basking in the same happy afterglow that had so thoroughly overtaken you both.

You caught yourself reaching to stroke his hair, though stopped yourself just in time.

Before long, he was snoring softly and you glanced around your bedroom. It had been immaculate when you left that morning. Now, though, it was a mess of discarded clothes and heady with the smell of sex.

You glanced across at your bedside clock and took note of the time: 1:02 AM.

Well… you thought, glancing across at the man sleeping beside you. So much for Day One .

[prettywordsyouleft]

After School Hours

Pairing: Joshua Hong x reader (ft. Seokmin, Soonyoung & Jeonghan)

Genre: teacher au / co-workers to lovers / fluff

Warnings: none

Word count: 4501

You tried to convince yourself to look away. You didn’t need to watch on any longer than you already had. You’d witnessed more than enough for your heart to ache and tears threatened to fall from your eyes.

Thankfully, a group of students interrupted your moment. Jackie stepped forward and reached out for your arm excitedly. “Miss L/N! I didn’t expect you to come to the carnival tonight!”

You hadn’t exactly planned to either. However, your housemate Sasha had begged you to join her, even mentioning your neighbour Tom would be coming along. And because you had a crush on the aforementioned, you had put on your favourite dress, done a satisfactory job with your makeup and even wore some heeled wedges.

You had put aside your dislike for crowds to come tonight, all to find Sasha locking lips with Tom in front of the cotton candy booth when you returned from the restroom.

Swallowing back your emotions, you smiled weakly at the teenagers before you. “I should be marking your assignments at home right now much as you all should be studying for your next pop quiz. Especially you, Tori.”

“Teach, it’s Friday, live a little. You look so cute tonight; maybe you’ll find someone to make you forget all about that little test next week. There’s no point working us so hard when the school year has just started!”

You laughed and shook your head. “Not a chance. It’s not your first year in school either so you know how much this year counts the most for college admissions.”

“It was worth trying, right Tanith?”

“How about we go ride the Ferris wheel before Miss L/N finds out how badly I did on that assignment.”

You shook your head at the three girls as they waved animatedly and dashed through the evening crowds, your faint smile fading when you realised the distraction they had gifted you with was over. Turning around again, you sighed when you saw the couple grinning and feeding each other the sugary fluffy treat.

Just how often had you proclaimed to Sasha that you found Tom attractive? You felt like an absolute idiot and willed yourself to find anything, anyone to take your attention away and for them to remain oblivious to your realisation. As you searched the crowds for an escape, you faltered, noticing four men sitting at a picnic bench looking your way.

As if it wasn’t bad enough that you had witnessed what you had, you were now questioning how much they had pieced together.

You closed your eyes, wondering in what universe you had even decided to come out tonight in.

“Y/N!” Sasha called out as you spun away, and you stopped walking off hastily. Looking back at the woman, you smiled weakly whilst exchanging your steps away to back towards her. As you got closer, you glanced in the direction of those watching you and then back at your friend.

Or, you at least thought of her once as a friend. Now you were unsure what to trust in. Tom was gone from her side and before you could mention an excuse of feeling unwell, she clutched at her stomach instead. “Oh, there you are! I was worried where you had gotten to since you don’t like crowds much. Are you alright?”

“Actually-”

“Good, hey I’m not feeling well so Tom has kindly offered to take me home. You’ll be able to get a ride home right? I don’t want your night to end here all because I need to go to bed.”

You stared back at Sasha and tilted your head to the side, biting your bottom lip. She wasn’t sick. One look at her could tell anyone that she was bright-eyed and bushy tailed. Her eyes flitted in the direction to where you saw Tom waiting and you almost laughed out loud. Were you really this pathetic that the pair thought they could fool you like this? You knew exactly what was about to happen. There wouldn’t be just one person in that bed, and going home now sounded like the last thing you wanted to do with your night.

You smiled brightly, surprising Sasha with your lack of opposition. “I’ll be more than capable of finding my way home. Don’t worry, I’m sure Tom will take really good care of you.”

“Are… are you sure?” the woman asked, trying to decipher what was going through your head. “Do you know anyone here?”

“Of course she does, right, Y/N?”

You glanced at Jeonghan, one of the student teachers from your school, now beside you, his arm securing around your shoulder. You found yourself nodding along with the intense stare he gave you. Satisfied he had you playing along; he turned to Sasha who was darting her eyes between his arm around you and his handsome face. For a moment, you focused on following through, the euphoria of stunning your roommate making you feel incredibly warm all over.

And once she had said an awkward goodbye and dashed off to Tom, you succumbed to sudden mortification. Ducking your head and shrugging off his arm, you sighed. “Thank you for helping me.”

“I’ve been there before,” he said simply, gesturing his head in the direction of the others. You winced. They definitely knew too much about you now. You didn’t know how you would be able to face any of them in the faculty office on Monday morning. Jeonghan tugged you gently over to them.

“I actually should get going.”

“Where exactly?” Seokmin wondered, looking to Soonyoung beside him. You cringed as your cheeks coloured and then flinched at the former’s laugh. “I know where!”

“I don’t trust that sudden enthusiasm,” the final member said, and you barely glanced at Joshua. Of all the teachers before you, Joshua was the one you were most familiar with, given he was training under you and your fellow English teachers.

“To the whack-a-mole booth! Let’s go!” Before you even had a chance to slip by, Seokmin was dragging you over, paying the money for a round and handed you a fabric club. He then waved to the machine. “Do your worst, Y/N!”

You were hesitant but when the first creature shot out from the hole you smacked it down, focusing on where the next one would come from. As the game sped up, you tried harder to keep in sync, laughing when one of the moles slipped back down before you could hit it. Eventually, your time was up and you grinned, handing back the game instrument to the booth attendant and turned to the others.

“No way, is that all you can do?”

You smiled faltered at Soonyoung’s exclamation, watching as he rolled up his sweater’s sleeves. He shook his head. “Come on, I’ll do a round with you.”

After three more sessions, your sides hurt from laughing so much and you felt better for the energy you had exuded.

Jeonghan cleverly suggested a stop at one of the drink shacks for a juice and then you moved onto a couple of rides, played a few more games and watched as the sky turned dark. Resting on another bench as Seokmin and Soonyoung fought over who was meant to pay for the last game, you looked to Joshua beside you.

He smiled warmly and spoke before you could. “Is this your first carnival?”

“No, I went a couple of times as a kid but usually I asked to not go. Even as a kid I wasn’t very fond of crowds.”

“Ah, that’s why it seemed like everything was brand new to you. I hope you had fun.”

“I did, actually. Thank you.”

“It’s our pleasure. If anything, you kept me from dealing with a headache.”

“Oh?” You frowned and Joshua grinned, pointing to his fellow teachers in training. “Ah, they’re fun though.”

“They’re the right kind of people to be around on a night like this.”

You knew what he meant and nodded softly. You hadn’t forgotten what happened earlier, the kiss still lingering in the back of your mind. However, you had less time to think about it when Seokmin was dragging you about, Soonyoung was challenging you to do another round and Jeonghan was calling for a rest in between.

Without the events of tonight, you would have simply remained on polite terms and not gotten to know any of the student teachers further than sharing a smile when you crossed paths in school.

You hadn’t felt lonely before, but tonight made you realise what you did miss out on when you were cooped up in front of the TV every weekend.

“It’s getting pretty late,” Jeonghan announced and you took Joshua’s hand to help you up, rocking a little on your heels. You vowed next time you would wear comfortable sneakers in the very least. You blinked, realising you wanted another round of fun out like this and smiled with the idea.

Jeonghan hiked his thumb towards the parking lot. “We’ll give you a ride home.”

“Oh, I can’t-”

“You can, we’ll not feel comfortable letting you find your own way home, right guys?”

You nodded softly at Seokmin’s statement and followed them over to a van.

Soonyoung shook his keys to the vehicle proudly. “I teach a bunch of kids how to dance so this thing comes in handy for events. It might not look the prettiest but it’s reliable and safe. Hop in.”

The ride home was comfortable, with conversation about the school and their time there so far. You enjoyed hearing about Seokmin trying to teach a student how to utilise his falsetto by failing to maintain his own in the exercise, Jeonghan having a run-in with the bossy Vice Principal and Soonyoung admitted teaching teenagers dance and physical education was a whole lot different than he had expected it to be. Joshua only had nice things to say about his time in your department, and you confessed to crying in your first week as a fully fledged teacher because one of your students threw his textbook out the window. It wasn’t every day where you got to chat about things like this outside of school and when your street arrived, you were almost disappointed the night was about to come to an end.

And then your eyes focused on the house next to yours where Sasha and Tom were sharing a passionate embrace on the doorstep of, no doubt having spent a whole lot more time in bed together too. It didn’t hurt as much as it had at the beginning of the night but it subdued your excitement from your time with the others.

Slinging your bag over your shoulder, you reached for the sliding door handle. “Thank you again for tonight. And for the ride home.”

“Y/N wait,” Jeonghan said as you opened the door slightly. Looking back at the man, he was giving you that intense gaze that you remembered from when he first came to your aid. “Don’t let them have the upper hand in this situation. If they want to be like this, why not show them up for thinking of you as a fool. I don’t know the whole situation but if it was anything like my own, I know they’ve pegged you as something less than what you deserve.”

“I probably am.”

“No, you’re not that at all.” Jeonghan licked at his lips and looked at his friends before continuing. “Climb out of the van and say goodbye loudly and then turn back and…”

“And?”

“Kiss someone! Just do it.”

Your eyes grew wide at the preposterous concept, and you shakily stepped out of the van. Glancing in the direction of Sasha and Tom, now guiltily caught in the act, you felt something within you snap. You repeated the sentence from before thanking the four of them and then took a deep breath, expecting to meet Jeonghan’s lips when you leaned back in.

Instead, you were surprised to see him out of the corner of your eye as Joshua pressed his mouth to yours. You didn’t know if it was because of the whole situation or the added surprise that your co-worker was now kissing you, but you felt dizzy, pulling away and stumbling a little on the sidewalk. You smiled and nodded softly, waving at them before turning around to head up the footpath to your front door. You focused only on your steps, not paying any attention to Tom and Sasha staring at you or listening out for the van to depart.

Which is why you were surprised when a hand reached for your lower arm, swinging you back around. You stared up at Joshua who was now soul-searching your face, his head lowering towards yours again for a second embrace. Clinging to his strong back, you closed your eyes and melted into his kiss. It had been too long since you had tasted a man like this, sucking in a deep breath as he moved in for yet another kiss. And when you were certain you had no air left, Joshua pulled away, blinking rapidly.

“I just… I felt something,” he confessed, now staring at you again. You bit at your swollen lip and he watched the action before smiling. “I couldn’t not take the chance to see if it continued.”

“Did it?” you asked softly and he nodded, brushing your plump lips gently with his thumb. You felt giddy, leaning into his touch. “Me too.”

“I’ll see you again, I hope.”

“Well yeah, we work together.”

Joshua rubbed at the back of his head awkwardly. “Right, of course. Goodnight, Y/N.”

“Goodnight.”

You covered your face as Joshua jogged back to jeers coming from within the van, hearing a loud toot as they pulled away from the curb. Once they were gone, you spun around and walked up to the front door, uncaring of Sasha waiting beside it.

“You... you kissed that guy!” she exclaimed as she followed you inside, lingering at your side as you placed your keys on the hallway stand. She continued along with you as you headed towards your bedroom. “That’s not something you do.”

“How do you know what I do and don’t do, Sasha? Just because you see me one way, and think you have me all sussed out, doesn’t mean I’ll follow along with your expectations. We’re housemates, not best friends.” You opened your door and stepped in, stopping to throw a look over your shoulder at the stunned woman behind you. “Oh, you’re looking like you’ve recovered from your illness well. I’m glad Tom helped you with that. Goodnight, I hope you feel better in the morning.”

And with that you shut your door, walking over to your bed in a daze and threw yourself down on it.

What a night it had been.

Monday morning arrived, along with a bundle of nerves. Even with the giddy feelings that overtook most of your weekend, you had enough time during those moments to realise that your trip to the carnival wasn’t your reality. You were unsure how you would remain professional whilst teaching a class that Joshua sat in on and there was a multitude of meetings and department needs where you would be expected to attend and keep on task. You were gravely concerned that after Joshua had kissed the life out of you that you wouldn’t be able to focus on anything but his lips.

You weren’t secure enough into your teaching contract at this school to jeopardise your professionalism by locking lips with Joshua again. Yet, the idea made your heart leap around erratically in your chest and before you made it to the faculty office upon arrival at school, you diverted into the library, groaning heavily as you leaned onto the top of the front desk. Your closest friend within these walls was the librarian and Ela looked up from a stack of books she was cataloguing. “Is that a it’s Monday morning groan or a I’m having a hard time with my emotions groan?”

“Why are they your only two options?” you questioned with a whine and Ela grinned knowingly. “It’s the second.”

“I knew it. What’s wrong?”

“I did something completely unlike what I normally do.”

Ela became thoughtful. “You went clubbing?”

“No, why would I do that?”

“You said something completely unlike-”

“I know what I said but that’s all that comes to mind?” Ela shrugged and you sighed heavily. “I kissed someone.”

“Scandalous.”

“A student-teacher,” you continued and you suddenly had her full attention. Chewing on your bottom lip, you caved when she began to shake your lower arm repeatedly. “Joshua Hong.”

“Details!” she chimed, pulling you around into the back office for privacy. You told her about everything that happened that night at the carnival, placating her moans for missing out on hanging out with the four men with you.

You smirked. “You don’t have to be so obvious about liking Seokmin.”

“If I hadn’t been out of town this week and you didn’t ring me to come join you, please know that I’d no longer give you extensions on the books you hire out for longer than you’re meant to.”

“Duly noted. But what am I meant to do now?”

“Go to work?” Ela suggested and you merely gaped at her. She grinned and clasped your hand within hers. “Come on, Y/N, you boldly kissed him in front of all his friends.”

“Don’t remind me.”

“I bet you were on his mind all weekend long. No one comes after you for another kiss if they don’t like you enough. Joshua’s probably been pining after you since meeting you at the start of the term.”

“Ela!” you warned, swatting your friend away. Still, your cheeks warmed at the possibility. And with several encouraging words, you got to your feet and walked as confidently as you could possess down to the faculty office, scanning the room for a specific face.

“Y/N!” Soonyoung called out and you grinned, waving gently. Walking over to the kitchenette area where he was making a coffee, you thanked him for the cup he handed you and then spluttered on your first sip when he said, “He’s not here yet.”

“I-I wasn’t looking for him.”

“Uh-huh.” Soonyoung seemed amused. “That was some kiss you both had.”

“Can you quieten down some?” you pleaded, looking at the other teachers within the room. You didn’t want news to travel any time soon.

Soonyoung held no tact, or rather, wasn’t about to let your suffering end. “You definitely outdid your housemate’s moment.”

“Soonyoung!” you breathed and then greeted one of the senior staff members awkwardly. Holding up your coffee cup, you grimaced. “Thanks for this.”

“I’m sorry it’s no-”

You covered his mouth and laughed weakly at the PE teacher who passed you by, reaching for a mug. Desperately searching your new friend’s eyes for his silence, you finally stepped back and all but rushed out the door.

During the rest of the morning, you bumped into both Jeonghan and Seokmin along your way, thankfully having an easier time than with Soonyoung. Still, it was evident they had given Joshua enough grief over how your night ended on Friday and you wondered if that was why you hadn’t seen him yet.

Of course, you knew you wouldn’t miss him in the English department’s meeting just after lunch. It was usually you who arrived to these meetings first, bringing your lunch in and using the office as a quiet place to read until the other teachers arrived.

However, Joshua had the same idea as you and chuckled softly when you placed your lunchbox down on the table. You didn’t say anything at first, merely staring at one another, the rush of Friday night overwhelming you again.

Joshua gestured to the seat beside him. “I won’t bite you.”

“Just kiss me?” you said without thinking, waving your hands around immediately to dismiss your comment. “Wow, I’m sorry, that just came out of nowhere.”

“I mean, I won’t deny that. I would kiss you again. But I have enough pride to wait until after school hours. I’m not about to jeopardise our professionalism all because I can’t get you off my mind.”

Sliding your lunchbox around the table, you took the seat beside him and nodded gently after sitting down. “Same.”

“So I was on your mind, huh?” he teased and you groaned.

“First Soonyoung teases me after handing me a coffee, and then Seokmin passed me by in the corridor making kissing noises. Thankfully Jeonghan wasn’t as bad but still! Are we back in high school?!”

You both broke out laughing when you realised the irony of your current location. Joshua swivelled in his chair to face you, reaching out to brush the strand of hair that had escaped your ponytail back behind your ear. You ceased all movement, looking slowly over at the man. “They’ve been relentless all weekend. I know Jeonghan was only going to help you because he’s had it done to him, but I think he was a bit miffed I moved in first.”

“I wasn’t expecting it to be you either,” you admitted.

“Did I disappoint you? Was Jeonghan your aim?”

“No, I didn’t-- I mean, I wasn’t looking around and trying to take my pick.” Taking in a deep breath, you smiled at him. “I wasn’t disappointed at all.”

“I was,” he replied and began to grin charmingly. “That I had to end it there. Given how many people were watching on, I guess it was appropriate to but just know the next time I kiss you, we won’t have an audience.”

“The next time?” you repeated and Joshua hummed in answer. “When’s that going to happen?”

“Tonight? Dinner?” he proposed and you nodded, letting out a relieved breath. Joshua took your hand as he began to eat and you both conversed with ease over your lunch, sighing when the bell went off to signal the next period was about to begin. You watched the door with annoyance.

Your hand was still loosely held by Joshua and you went to remove it when the door opened, however, he tugged it under the table, resting your linked hands within your lap. Shooting him a look and then greeting the head of the department distractedly, you felt the small encouraging squeeze he gave you, a silent plea to keep the connection there.

And you managed to for the whole meeting, actively participating in the session, only taking a couple of nervous looks at Joshua during the beginning of it. You reluctantly let go when it was over, collecting your things to head off to teach the first-year students for their final period of the day. Just before you got up to leave, Joshua leaned into your ear.

“I’ll pick you up from your house at six, okay?”

He was gone then and you tried not to openly swoon over how well he had you hooked on him now.

The daze from the romance you were under cleared a month later, Joshua looking a little nervous to meet with you for lunch today. You wondered why, given you had shared lunch together every day since that Monday.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah… actually no. I’ve not been entirely honest with this situation.” Your heart dropped and Joshua clued onto your thinking of the worst and he shook his head. “Oh no, not like that. It’s just, my placement here is up in two days.”

“You’ve got another six months of university, right?”

“Yeah, and I’m being sent to another school for my final placement so I won’t be coming to this school as the others will be in the spring.”

“How far away?”

“Two hours,” he replied and you nodded numbly. Whilst you weren’t heavily into your relationship with him, you were finding yourself more involved in romantic notions towards him. He was caring, playful, sensitive and incredibly good at kissing thus far. You could easily see yourself falling for him within a few months time.

It was still too early to cling on, however, and you sighed. “So when do you leave?”

“Sunday.”

“We can spend time together until then,” you announced and Joshua gauged your reaction.

“You sure? I feel like I led you on but I wasn’t exactly expecting to date whilst I was here.”

“It’s been fun and you’ve helped me open up from being so enclosed in my world. I’m going to miss this, but I know it’s too early for commitment over long distance. Just, if you ever head back this way…”

Joshua nodded, reaching out for your hand and rubbing it gently. “It’s not like we can’t keep in contact. I won’t disappear.”

And he didn’t.

Initially, you did keep in regular contact. However, with preparation for exams and Joshua’s own busy schedule, you became merely social media friends. You would see his sporadic posts and reminisce over that early autumn romance you had together and then moved on with your day after liking the post. A year passed and you even went along to the final carnival of the summer. Instead of Joshua, Ela joined you this time around, the laughter doubled and you hoped it would be her getting that special kiss from Seokmin when the night ended.

You were ready for the new school year to begin.

Arriving early for the first meeting for staff members, you frowned when you found a water bottle on the table already. You felt it and was surprised to feel how cold the water was, sitting down beside it and frowning.

Who else would get here before you?

“Oh sorry I was-”

You looked up then into a set of eyes you hadn’t seen in person in so long. Blinking slowly, you realised he was still standing there and not disappearing with your efforts. Rounding the table, without taking his eyes off of you, Joshua sat down in the chair beside yours and let out a small chuckle. “Some habits never change, huh?”

“You beating me to this room every time is a feat, you know.”

“One I take pride in.”

“What of your professionalism?”

“I have to protect it with all my might. This is my first job fresh out of school, after all.”

You nodded as your smile continued to spread. “It’s a good school to work for.”

“I know, it has a lot of opportunities for me.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

You took in a sudden breath when you felt his warm hand reach under the table for yours. Looking in Joshua’s direction, he bashfully grinned. “Is it acceptable for me to still take this hand? You haven’t given it to anyone else, right?”

“On the first day back at work, you sure are willing to risk things.”

Joshua leaned in closer, noting the way you gripped at his hand. “Don’t worry I’ll leave the kissing until after school hours.”

_________________

All rights reserved © prettywordsyouleft

[SEVENTEEN Masterlist] | [Main Masterlist] | [Request Guidelines]

[quolant]

oh god i’m blanking but i’ll start out with a cjtoby sports night au bc i’ve never seen sn but your parallel thoughts are going to make me!!

aw ty!! this is going to be based on the stuff ive already written for some context but like... slightly different?

1. cj cregg is running the third best national sports show on television and she's great at what she does. the clips are on point, the scripts are great, and everything's going alright, for the most part. she's been in sports journalism since she got into her intro to journalism class at williams, and she's always loved basketball. she grew up with sports and she's good at what she does. the network sucks but that's not new—things are going well until leo mcgarry, the managing editor, tells her he's sending over a research analyst for ratings and sports stats. cj's expecting some kind of bland corporate pencil pusher from csc—one who doesn't care about the reporting, just the ratings but instead: toby ziegler shows up.

2. toby ziegler grew up with sports too, but he likes the numbers side of it. the records broken, the statistics, the ability to predict based on previoua data, and you know, the game, the anticipation. he's working at the columbia graduate school of journalism after a storied career as a sports writer—he's good at what he does. one day, he gets a call from leo about maybe doing some consulting work to help with sports night. he's heard of sports night—everyone's heard of sports night with donna moss and sam seaborn. he likes a challenge because the show is good but it could be doing better—it should be doing better. andy wyatt, his ex-wife (but they're still friends—because you only meet people you click like that a few times), and fellow faculty member of the columbia journalism school and senior politics editor at the new york times says that she knows the executive producer there. "she and i went to j-school together," she says, when they're grading finals. she grins when toby grumbles at some poor grad student's essay. "she's the best in the industry and a hell of a person." so toby says, what the hell, and decides to go.

3. toby ziegler shows up during a rundown, takes their show apart and cj is—mad because what the hell does he think he's doing? but also she's curious because toby ziegler is quiet and he's grumpy but he's also intelligent and opinionated and has a conscience. she thinks that he could help if he stops trying to pick fights with josh over the mets and stops making last-minite edits to the scripts. he fascinates her. he challenges her. and against all odds (or maybe because of that) she starts to like him. they talk about the show, but she also talks about other things. he does too, and the first time he actually smiles at her after she's made some kind of crack about how bad the mariners are this year, cj—cj thinks oh.

4. for toby, the descent is much faster. the first time, after the first rundown, cj chases him down, and she shuts them both in editing to make a game plan, because "we are going to beat espn, damnit!" she's crackling and snarky and funny and sharp. she's magnetic and she's steady when the show's going on, and she laughs and it's beautiful. for toby, it becomes personal, very very quickly. but then—six months is over, the thing at sports night is up and it's the second best sports show on television and it's better than ever. and then out of nowhere, northwestern—northwestern which has the best journalism school in the us—says they want him to do some guest lecturer thing for a year. he tells cj—she hugs him and her eyes are wet and she tells him that if he doesn't take it, she'll kick his ass. she tells him, "you did a really good job here, you know?" and then he wants to—he wants to—but then she turns away from the door and she kisses him.

5. they make it work. they make it work because they can—they do. they call and they laugh over the phone lines, and cj and andy get together to talk about toby and sports and politics. things aren't perfect, but they're good. and toby gripes about grad students and cj gripes about josh and sam and donna and charlie (with love, of course, always with love)—and then the show is nearly almost sold but then it's saved—and when toby hears that from cj, who sounds like she's laughing or crying or both, he flies to new york with a whole bouquet of roses. he shows up in her office when she gets in, and she's amazing. she's spectacular. she's cj.

6. when toby's northwestern thing is up, he moves back to new york, and cj says, "we'll have a cake. any kind of cake you want," and toby says, quietly "what kind of cake do you want?" and cj looks at him, and looks at him and thinks that she's lucky that he stumbled into a rundown when he did. she pulls him close and kisses him because sports night is doing great, and she's got toby, and toby's got her.

[shadow-scenarios]

Omggg how you wrote out my request certainly surprised me but I totally enjoyed what you did with it!! And you said that you'd love to write a second part? Well, may I perhaps request that? 👀👀 (P.S.: I'm really relieved that you liked the idea haha, I've been sitting on it for awhile)

Hey again, simulationone!! I’m happy you like the direction I look it in. I was going to have the Reader become Akechi’s Navigator but I think that was a better direction to take it. Also, I tried a different style with this one, so I hope you like it!!

I loved the idea, it was so unique! If you have anything else that you want to request, you’re more than welcome to. By the way, this is suuuper angsty. If you don’t like that kind of thing, skip this post!!

Link to Part 1 here!!

- Nexus.

Trigger Warning: Major Character Death ;; Blood ;; Violence ;; Injuries ;; Swearing

Dance With Justice [2] | Goro Akechi

Perhaps there was a reality where she never had to hurt anyone. A world in which the Phantom Thieves never existed & justice was never an issue. Everyone could simply be happy without any concerns. However, thus was not her current fate.

This was never supposed to happen. She was going to die here, stuck in Mementos until she bled out.

{ Sat, 23 / 10 / 20XX }

Akechi had laid the plan out to her on this day: He had been given an opportunity to meet with the Phantom Thieves at the Shujin Academy. In particular, there was a panel in which a Q&A style show was being held. All they had to do was attend & imply they knew the identities of the Phantom Thieves before he ‘ inconveniently received a phone call ’. Afterwards, the group would be forcibly assembled in the Faculty Room & there they would unfurl the evidence. The photos the both of them had gathered & the video of them disappearing into the Metaverse.

As a result, they would be forced to stop committing their crimes after they took down the Palace of one individual in particular: Sae Niijima. He did admit that he was afraid for the life of his colleague because she was investigating the Phantom Thieves. If they were the perpetrators behind the metal shutdowns, she might be targeted next because she was seen as a threat.

However, there was one thing they were not to be informed about. The additional plan to arrest their leader as a warning of sorts. Additional police forces were to be sent out into the Metaverse & they would corner him when he was alone. It was quite simple but effective. All they had to do was cooperate with them.

This was all communicated to her over lunch in the school rooftop & she nodded, steeling her resolve.

{ Wed, 26 / 10 / 20XX }

Alas, the school festival came too quickly. The first day was ‘ unimportant ’, according to Akechi { although he did look rather embarrassed when she asked what happened with the Phantom Thieves... }.

It was about 20 minutes before the panel was due to start & she had already taken a seat somewhere near the centre. People were already gathered at this point because the Famous Ace Detective: Goro Akechi was going to be answering questions. Frankly, she found it quite creepy the levels most fans went to in order to see him.

Eventually the debate began. Makoto Niijima, student Council President, was hosting & essentially demanded answers related to his detective work reguarding the Phantom Theives. It was immensely impressive how he managed to dance around the answers, giving something vague yet satisfying. Was this is the life of a celebrity?

The question about the identity of the mysterious group soon came up. As her cue came, she texted him & there was the sound of Akechi’s ringtone going off. Silence spread through the auditorium in a strange mix of disappointment & comedic timing. After making a remark along the lines of not wanting to be trolled online, he quickly requested that a break be tacked on.

Quietly, she moved her way across the row & slipped out before the crowd could congest any corridors. The PE Faculty Office was easy enough to find, with many students easily offering directions. Slipping in before anyone else, there he stood.

“ Akechi. Are you ready for this? There’s no going back after we present the evidence. ”

“ Of course. The Phantom Thieves are a menace to society & by getting rid of them, people will finally feel safe in Japan. That’s what you want as well, right? ”

“ Yeah. Murderers aren’t welcome. ”

Once they had all entered, she presented the photographic evidence & introduced herself. Ryuji was in shock. Makoto seemed to be struggling to process the information. Explaining how both herself & Akechi had met, she pressed onto the point: Sae Niijima. She had to be saved from the mental shutdown culprits. An agreement of sorts was made by their rather stoic leader Akira. They would all work together to solve the cases.

{ Wed, 16 / 10 / 20XX & Thurs 17 / 11 / 20XX }

After the initial investigation into Sae’s Palace, keywords & location, these were the days of infiltration, so to speak. The Casino of Jealousy was vibrant & full of money. Coins were messily spread around on every single surface, posters containing snappy tag lines about how winning was key to survival. It was all so decadent. Cognitive shadows lined up for a chance to participate in the game known as the legal system. What a sick way to look at justice.

Despite the crimes they had committed, the Phantom Theives were very casual. They showed no symptoms of guilt nor doubt & insisted on these strangely flashy moves such as the All-Out Attack or the Showtime, in which they would defeat a bundle of enemies all at once. Although they were powerful, did they really feel the need to show off that much?

The other problem was their leader, Joker. He was tenaciously gripping onto both herself & Akechi { or Crow, was it? She never understood the need for the ridiculous code names... } to remain on the front lines to see what they could both do. Despite having bounds of energy at the beginning & regular breaks, it was quite tiring to keep having to constantly battle. Perhaps that was why she ended up being held captive by a Shadow.

It demanded Yen & safety. It was not a substantial amount of money & the Palace’s supposed ‘ Security Level ’ was not particularly high. She had seen how Akira had been picking through remains of the corpses of these beings, as they contained Yen. For some unknown reason during the negotiation, he simply refused to part. Apparently Joker, the supposed leader of the just Phantom Thieves believed some money more important than an ally.

Even as the shadow tore through skin & left almost fatal wounds, it hurt more to reaffirm her belief that the Phantom Theives were merciless.

Waking up was a surprise to be sure. To be greeted by Akechi in the nearest Safe Room asking if she was okay? It was very much a shock. He offered to patch up the wounds that were unreadable by her own hands & scolded her for being so reckless on that battlefield. It was good that both Queen & Mona were on hand, otherwise she would have died. Despite the presence of the other members of the group, this felt like a rather intimate moment.

The two of them kept having these strange moments: Delicately & intimate but as though something was missing.

A touch that lingered for longer than it needed to; Comforting words on a cool evening when she felt upset; Sitting within close proximity despite there being more space for the two of them than needed. Small signs that seemed to be hesitantly trying to convey something.

Even now as she paused to take in his appearance, it was startling. Dressed up in his princely regalia that was his Metaverse outfit, he looked rather charming. With golden tassels & a red cape, something about him seemed to just ooze noble. Though at times he could be slightly extra with the poses he pulled, Akechi was kind.

That was why she never saw it coming.

{ Thurs, 18 / 10 / 20XX }

Signaling for a meeting, Akira explained that they were going to write & send the Calling Card today. The debate about where to send it was long, strenuous & boring. After they eventually decided to be direct by mailing it to the Niijima residence, everyone disbanded for the day.

Aside for Akechi, who invited her to play Darts in Kichijoji. What a strange request.

The atmosphere was actually rather calming. At night, there were few around to disturb them. Handing over 800 Yen to play, the game began. It was nice to simply be able to talk about something unrelated to the Phantom Thieves for the both of them & although Akechi’s aim was unerring, she found it rather difficult to hit the tiny target, let alone land it in a specific place to score as many points as possible. After a while & with some expert advice, there was definitely some improvement.

By the time night struck, she had barely noticed until he had pointed it out. Everything was moving so swiftly. Offering to walk her to the train station, he was ever so polite. Until it rained.

It absolutely poured down with rain as the two of them descended the stairs of Penguin Sniper. Luckily, she had packed an umbrella into a crevice in her bag. The detective next to her? Not quite as fortunate as he sighed. Feeling bad, she offered to share & he accepted with reluctance after realising that it was better than the alternative of running home in the rain.

Being this close was both enthralling & embarrassing. Something about being forced this close to him was killing her. Akechi seemed to be doing alright, staying underneath to avoid both his hair & briefcase from becoming drenched by the cascading water. After a while that was in some respects a long time but in others not long at all, they reached the train station, parting ways when they had a difference in train line.

She knew exactly what she was feeling: There was no use in denial. Repressing such feelings would be more painful in the end. However, now was not the time to tell him. Catching the Phantom Thieves & saving Japan was more important than a high school romance. Filing the secret away for later, it was kept close to her heart.

{ Fri, 19 / 10 / 20XX }

It was almost too easy how quick everything was to fall into place. Putting on her best acting face was difficult but it was a believable lie, especially when most of the stress was based around getting Joker out alive. All their valiant efforts were for nothing. Similar to a spider spinning a web to catch prey, they had fallen victim.

After facing down the shadow of Sae Niijima herself on this strange roulette like battlefield, her desperate desire to achieve victory at all costs was her downfall & as she fell to her knees, clearly defeated, Queen went over to comfort her. Skull took Fox with him to steal the Treasure & once they discovered the numerous police forces that had made their way into the Metaverse, everything was taken up a notch.

Whilst Joker agreed to take the Treasure, thus becoming a distraction, everyone else would take the time to escape back to reality. A makeshift plan but one that would work in both her own & Akechi’s favour. Dashing along the protruding walls of the casino was thrilling as the group moved in sync, grappling along & weaving through like a natural born instinct.

Inevitably, he was captured. The leader of the Phantom Thieves, put behind bars. People would be safe from the mental shutdowns, they would no longer have to worry about having a psychotic breakdown. Without the branch that held them all together, there were no roots. As to not arouse suspicions, everyone parted ways until Akechi stopped her.

“ I... Know it’s rather late & we’ve just been to the Palace but there’s something I need to warn you about in the Metaverse. Will you join me in Mementos tomorrow morning? Preferably before school, if that’s okay with you, ” was all he requested with a ghost of a smile.

“ Sure, I don’t mind. Is there something else dangerous I should be worrying about? ”

“ It’s nothing too urgent but I thought I’d bring it to your attention since we are working on this case with the Phantom Thieves together. After all, we still need to hold the others accountable for their actions. ”

With that, she left. Akechi had always been a reliable source of information, so why would he lie?

{ Sat, 20 / 10 / 20XX }

It was the early morning. Despite the cold, she was in warm spirits as she approached the Shibuya line. Waiting there for her was the Detective Prince himself. Overnight, there was a decision made that once Akechi broke this bad news to her that she would change the mood by confessing. After all, it would be difficult to keep under lock & key.

Fading into the background as other students filtered in, they talked for a short period of time before getting down to business. Typing in ‘ Mementos ’ to the MetaNav was easy enough & there they were, standing at the dusty entrance.

Together, they fought their way down into a few floors below the surface. Although it took longer for them to traverse these levels due to not having a method of transportation such as the Mona Car, the Shadows were easy pickings for the two of them. At least, that is what she thought until two laser blasts from a ray gun burnt into her back.

Standing over her was a very different Goro Akechi to the person she had preciously known. What was once a charismatic smile that could charm anyone become a psychotic grin that looks unnaturally wide. Though she had once thought of his eyes as a storm of emotions, worries about the future & the safety of Japan, they were most definitely a typhoon, pulling victims in to tear them apart without a trace of mercy. Even as he called her a blind fool for trusting him & berated her sense of justice, the burning pain of the wounds that burnt through the Metaverse outfit were clouding her vision. She could have sworn there was the sound of someone walking away but there was too many sensations for her to clearly tell.

No one was going to find a dead body in the depths of Mementos. She found it morbidly ironic that her last thought was that she would never be able to tell Akechi how she truly felt.

Word Count: 2.3k

Publish Date: 06.10.20

[8requiems]

A Webcomic Review of “Garden Club Detective Squad”:

Oh God Oh Fuck did someone just die?

By: 8Requiems

The Description:

“Gardening and solving crime aren’t what straight-A student Yeon Han thought she would be focusing on at her new school. But when she discovers a notebook that contains clues to a 15-year-old murder mystery, she and the other members of her new gardening club realize the murderer not only has access to the school -- they probably work for the school. Can the gardening club squad figure out who committed the murder even though the principal and their teachers seem desperate to cover it up?”

Now, this description is quite detailed, maybe a bit too detailed.

This comes down to personal preference, but personally, I don’t like seeing the plot in thorough detail before reading the story, especially if it is a mystery.

If it were me, I would write the description as:

“In her attempt to not become a backwater girl, Yeon Han eventually decides to become the President of the Gardening Club. But she’ll soon realize that maybe she might have bitten off more than she could chew”

This description may be a bit rudimentary, but it shows an idea of what my ideal description for this webtoon would be.

It says just enough about the story while also leaving enough to imagination. But the current description at present shows what the first 3-4 chapters are. Had the description not even mentioned the teachers, I probably wouldn’t have considered they were trying to cover anything up to begin with.

That being said, I did read chapters 1-3 of the webtoon blind. And I have to say, I didn’t expect the unassuming colorful cover of this Webtoon to show such menacing and dark panel off-rip.

(A panel from the first scene in Chapter 1)

But, let us familiarize ourselves with the cast, shall we?

Characters:

Yeon Han - The Brain:

Yeon is an honor student who moved outside of Seoul, presumably due to not having enough money to stay. Despite this turn of events, she doesn’t want to become a “backwater girl”. For the sake of her academic record, she decides to settle on becoming the class president. But her peers are just amused at how cocky she was despite being new to the school.

(A panel in the middle of Chapter 2 ^)

When that fails, she decides to settle on becoming the president of an after school club. But forget becoming president, they wouldn’t even allow her to join on the basis that she is too qualified. BRO, THE LITERATURE DISCUSSION CLUB HAS THREE MEMBERS. ONE INCLUDING A BODYPILLOW FOR FUCK SAKES. Part of me wanted to laugh but part of me also felt insulted for her.

I expected her character to be the “genius that finds a niche that she enjoys compared to other activities they would usually dominate at”, but she is already fed up with how hard gardening actually is. Not to mention the amount of faculty and students who ask favours from her.

It was a very pleasant surprise, because now I can rightfully assume that while she works on her cases, she might pick up skills from the gardening club. Dare I say, she actually comes to appreciate and enjoy it as a hobby? I guess only time will tell, as this is still a very new Webtoon, with 12 Chapters out as of this review’s conception.

The one thing I have on my mind at the moment, is if her range of skills she currently has will be useful when tackling the murder case.

Whether or not that is the case, I have high hopes for her as a character.

Mirim Shin - The Spiritual:

Although I said I have high hopes for Yeon, I think Mirim is my favorite character. As the daughter of a priest, she is in tune with her spirituality on a whole other level compared to her club mates. 

An interesting tidbit about her is that she decided to practice all forms of faith before her baptism. I can only assume it’s so she could have an idea of what could have been, before deciding to lock in on one specific faith.

Honestly, I genuinely didn’t expect for her to say something like this, not because it sounded ridiculous, but because up until that point, it felt like her spirituality was just a running gag that came with her character.  

It was nice to see her character expanded upon, and I hope the other characters get the same treatment, even if it is only brief.

Baekji Kang - The Muscle

Then there's Baekji, who easily wins in cool factor. 

I can’t say much other than that in addition to being a part of the garden club, she is also in the Judo club. Although the story doesn’t technically address it, I feel like she fills the role of pseudo-leader / Vice-President of the club. 

She’s cool.

Saessak - The Green Thumb’d Romantic?:

Ssaesak is a soft-spoken girl who attends to the garden's needs as one of the two members of the garden club. 

She is unexpectedly a romantic, being interested in bad boys.

I only found her annoying for a brief moment because it seemed like she was going to hold back information on her latest crush, Hyeonsu Jeong (the lunch guy), before finally finding the resolve to give a possibly game changing piece of evidence to Yeon.

She’s alright.

Execution:

Despite the mostly positive things I have said in this review, my first impressions of Garden Club Detective Squad were more negative in comparison to the opinions I shared at present.

When I read Wizard of Arsenia, I had overblown expectations because my editor Nen had already recommended God of Bath, a webtoon I have now come to really appreciate. I assumed I would love it in the same way.

My expectations were what held me back from what I usually do best: Sit down and just enjoy the show. Granted, I still hold opinions about it that I believe hold back the story, but the opinions were way fairer than what I could have said.

This time around, I made a similar mistake.

I decided on my own to read Garden Club Detective Squad for this review, and held expectations for the mystery element of the Webtoon, which was reinforced by the first panel I showed in the review. Thankfully, even if the webtoon didn’t live up to whatever expectation I had, I know that I could still appreciate it for what it was because I just went with the flow. At worst, the mystery could come across as contrived.

(A panel from the first scene in Chapter 1)

That being said, somehow, I was disappointed. Even a bit annoyed 5-7 chapters in. Disappointment is one thing, but why was I annoyed?

At first, I was thinking it was because the story had a problem with how it presented tension. After all, the webtoon is categorized as a mystery, so I criticized it as such.

In my original draft, I wrote the following: 

“The webtoon is categorized under mystery, but I don’t really feel the urgency of the case whatsoever. I feel like I am getting whiplash between moments that I feel are supposed to be serious and moments that are just ‘slice of life’ hijinks.”

I hadn’t taken into account that, although it was a “mystery”, it functioned more like a “comedy”, like God of Bath.

I feel as though the Webtoon was miscategorized. I use God of Bath as an example because it could have easily been categorized under “Action”, because of the Ttaemiri battles. But despite these battles, because of the way dialogue is presented, it is understandably under the comedy genre. Moreover, the action was more of a vehicle to tell the stories and values of the characters themselves. In other words, even if you were to take out these action elements, God of Bath would be fundamentally the same.

But according to my logic, does this mean that if this webtoon didn’t have mystery elements, it would be fundamentally the same? 

No, and I do not think it would be the same if the webtoon didn’t have the comedy elements either.

To be perfectly clear, just because I think Garden Club Detective Squad is a comedy, it doesn’t mean that I think it shouldn’t present mystery elements, or vice-versa. But I wish Webtoon could at the very least categorize it as both a “mystery” and “comedy”.

Who knows, maybe my opinion will change as more and more chapters get uploaded. Or rather, I hope it does.

Personally, despite my position towards the webtoon being a comedy, it isn’t all that funny.

And as of the currently uploaded chapters, I think the mystery is all right.

In my opinion, what makes a good mystery is having all the clues presented to the characters and the reader to be able to solve the case. To understand 52chu’s take on mystery, I’ll break down the first suspect, Hyeongsu. Take this scene the beginning of episode 6 for example:

This scene is trying to insinuate that Hyeongsu is the killer. The dramatic irony of this scene, Saessak’s photo of Hyeongsu dumping bones in the garden, and the story deliberately pointing out that there are no cameras in the cafeteria/garden area are the three pieces of information the story provides to help the indirect claim.

(A panel from Episode 8 ^)

(A Panel from Episode 9 ^)

(A panel from episode 8 ^)

But it was all a misunderstanding. Whoops, my bad. “I was just trying to help you all”.

(A panel from episode 9 ^)

It's almost comical how much the plot just wanted to frame Hyeongsu, I can’t help but laugh.

All forms of evidence lead to Hyeongsu, except the fact that the bones were the remnants of ribs from past cafeteria specials:

(Panel from episode 9 ^)

(Panel from episode 9 ^)

If you were able to pick up the possibility, then great. But somehow, Hyeongsu’s mini-arc just fell flat for me. Whether you knew this one detail or not, it feels like I’m going to be dragged from suspect to suspect in the future. Everyone one of them will be the “killer” except for that one contrivance that makes them innocent. Honestly, I firmly believe that it isn’t any of the faculty.

You know what, here's my Trademark 8Requiems theory. The culprit is Chair Juyeong. 

(A panel from Episode 6 ^)

I don’t mind the club reaching dead ends, but if there aren’t elements that could at least help me identify who the real culprit is, I doubt I could enjoy it as much as I’d like to.

Conclusion:

Reading and understanding this Webtoon has been somewhat of a ride. Although it is still ongoing, I have mixed feelings on whether or not I want to continue reading. But despite the gripes that I have with it at the moment, I think I will continue reading it just to see where 52chu takes the story.

You will likely enjoy this Webtoon if you like stories where the plot focuses on the reader having fun with the misadventures of the cast.

But what do you guys think? Do you think my criticism was unfounded? Do you think it really *IS* a mystery, and that I am looking at this Webtoon in the wrong light? Talk about it in the comments below.

And as always,

Arrivederci Brothers. May you attain your grain.

[jaskierswolf]

You Set My Heart Ablaze Pt. 14/25

Previous

____________

Jaskier ran down the corridors of Dol Blathanna. His guitar case was slung haphazardly over his shoulder and books were on the verge on tumbling out of his satchel. His blasted alarm hadn’t gone off this morning, although that was probably his own fault for getting so caught up in his book that he’d forgotten to set the alarm before falling asleep with the book still in his hands. Luckily for him he’d still woken up at a vaguely reasonable time and on any normal day he would have made it into school before his class had started to arrive.

Unfortunately it wasn’t an ordinary day.

An email had been sent out to all the faculty the night before from the school board, calling a meeting in the school hall before class started.

And he was already late.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” He muttered as he ran. A book flew from his satchel as he turned the corner in the corridor. “Oh cock!”

He turned on his heels and ran to gather up his book only for two more to fall out of his bag along with several loose sheets of paper.

“Shit!” He grabbed another one of his books but his foot caught on one of the bits of paper.

It all happened in slow motion.

His legs were suddenly up in the air and he landed, quite painfully, on his arse. His guitar case dropped heavily on the floor next to him, strings twanging in the case and his heart sunk as he heard a sickening crack of wood.

“Bollocks!” He groaned and scrambled to open his case.

Sure enough the neck of the guitar had broken and the strings were the only thing keeping it together.

“No no no!” He stood up and kicked the case. “Fuck!”

That was all he needed. It was bad enough that the rest of his instruments were currently in storage whilst his landlord managed to sort out the repairs to the apartments. He was incredibly lucky that none of them had been damaged in the fire. Geralt’s team had gotten the fire under control quickly and the blaze hadn’t managed to spread much further than the third floor. A few of his neighbours from the fourth floor had lost some of their furniture and the flooring had been toasted but Jaskier had had a lucky, if not humiliating escape. Unfortunately he wasn’t allowed to stay in his flat whilst they made repairs. There were concerns that the ceiling below his flat sustained some damage, making his home unfit to live in.

He was currently staying with Triss in her little bungalow. He was lucky she had a guest room and allowed him to bring his guitar along with him but she’d put her foot down at his wider instrument collection, he had said goodbye to his precious lute with a heavy heart as he’d locked his storage unit.

He was less lucky that she hadn’t thought to wake him up this morning.

He scooped up the remains of his guitar and zipped up the case. He didn’t have time to mourn. This time he was smart enough to close his satchel properly too and he scurried towards the school hall. He pushed the heavy door open as quietly as he could and slipped inside. A woman stood at the front of the hall where Stregobor would normally stand.

How peculiar.

She glared fiercely at him and he muttered an apology and ran to find a seat.

“As I was saying.” The woman continued, still holding his gaze in a death stare. He swallowed nervously as he begun to wonder whether he’d been cursed today. Nothing had gone his way so far. “We have received several alarming reports regarding your headmaster. Therefore, the board has made the decision to temporarily suspend Mr Ban-Ard whilst we conduct an investigation into his behaviour.”

Jaskier couldn’t help but smile.

They’d done it.

The whole case had blown up just before half-term. Jaskier and several of the other faculty members had written some very strongly worded emails to the school board to highlight the nasty goings on in the school. He was aware that Yennefer Vengerberg had also been involved. Istredd had told them with a very smug smile on his face. Jaskier supposed he’d finally pulled his head out his arse and done something about that ridiculous crush of his.

Two weeks into the new term and they’d gotten rid of the pervert. He wanted to cheer.

“Furthermore.” The woman said sharply. “We were also made aware of other members of staff supporting Mr Ban-Ard’s views in his treatment of women. I’m sure you will have noticed that not all your colleagues are in the room.”

There was a rumble of noise as everyone looked around. Jaskier met Triss’s eyes and she seemed  relieved to see him. He scanned the room looking for his nemesis.

“Oh this is good.” He mumbled to himself, barely able to keep his excitement contained.

Valdo Marx was absent.

He grinned and linked his fingers in his lap. Maybe he wasn’t cursed after all.

“They have also been suspended until we can ensure that they are not able to use their influence as teachers to encourage this sort of behaviour in our students.” The woman continued with a rather sinister smile. It would have been sexy if it wasn’t so darn right terrifying. She reminded him in many ways of Yennefer.

“Of course, if nothing is proven against those who have been suspended then they will be allowed to continue teaching. In the meantime I’d like to introduce you to Mr Filavandrel Fidháil and Mr Mousesack Ermion. They will be filling in for Mr Marx and Mr Degerlund. I do trust that you will treat them both with the utmost respect. Finally, Ms de Vries will be acting as your new headmistress for the time being. If there are any problems she will be reporting to me directly.”

After a few more minutes the woman in charge let them go and the room burst into noise as everyone began to gossip about what had happened. Of course, by now everyone knew about the whole affair. When one teacher knew something then it was only a matter of time before the whole school knew. Jaskier found Triss first, wanting to catch up on what he’d missed.

“You’re awake then.” She teased as he approached.

He put his hands on his hips. “No thanks to you!”

“I thought you were just being slow.” She defended herself. “We both know you’re not a morning person, Jaskier.”

He waved his hands dismissively. “I’m a great person in the mornings!”

She raised an eyebrow at him.

“It just has to be with the right person.” He smirked.

She rolled her eyes and hit him on the arm. “Gross.”

He laughed. “I know. I know!” He whined. “I’m sorry. It’s just been a while.”

“Still pining after your sexy fireman?”

“Not my fireman.” He grumbled. “and I am yearning! I am dying of thirst.”

“Can’t believe you were late!” Triss giggled. “I thought Philippa was going to kill you!”

He frowned as he tried to recall the name. He was certain that none of the staff were called Philippa. He’d even written a song to help him remember all of their names. “Who?”

“Philippa Eilhart, the person we’ve been listening to for the last fifteen minutes?”

“Ooohh.” He nodded. “I was just calling her. ‘The Woman’”

“Very ominous.”

“Maybe she’ll be the next star of my new song.” He pondered. “She certainly knew how to control a room.” He went to pull his guitar case round to his front but he froze as he felt the broken wood beneath the leather. “Bollocks!” He moaned. “I’ll never write again!”

Triss rolled her eyes as they reached her desk at the front of the school. “Are you sure you’re not one of your six year olds?”

“My guitar broke!” He pulled out the dead instrument and laid it forlornly on her desk. “I fell. Just look at it.” He cried. “And all my other instruments are still in storage! I can’t bring my lute into class everyday, it’s too fragile and far too expensive. I need my guitar!”

Triss patted him patronisingly on the shoulder. “Chin up, Buttercup. Maybe your fireman will by you a new one.”

He gaped and stumbled backwards at her remark. “Not. My. Fireman!” He pointed at her accusingly. “You are the actual worst, Triss Merigold. No wonder Yennefer loves you.”

She smirked. “I’m taking that as a compliment.”

“It’s not.”

“Now kindly get your precious instrument—”

“Dead instrument.”

“—off of my desk. I’ve got to work.” She finished with a pointed look.

He sighed and picked up his guitar. The kids would be here soon and he needed to get ready for the day.

________________________

Ciri was crying and once again Jaskier had decided that he’d been cursed.

The beginning of the day had gone smoothly after his guitar incident. They were picking up their numbers excellently and they’d even begun to write little short stories of their own. Jaskier was incredibly proud of his young authors. Once their stories were finished, the kids were going to split into groups and act out each one. It was all fun and games and the arts really help to improve their imaginations and confidence. They had been sad when he told them that they wouldn’t be singing along to his guitar today but Kayleigh had suggested that the could make their own instruments which Jaskier thought was a fabulous idea. After lunch they were going to be making tissue box guitars if he could raid the supply cupboard and collect all the tissues into one box. As long as the cleaners didn’t spot him then he would be fine.

Probably.

Although knowing how this day was going he would be caught and lose his job.

But that was neither here nor now. Right now he had one screaming child on his hands.

She had forgotten her lunchbox and it wasn’t a Friday so Geralt hadn’t given her money for a hot lunch.

“I’m going to starve!” She cried in between sobs.

He wondered, for a moment, whether his love for dramatics was rubbing off on his children in a bad way.

He knelt down in front of her so he was at her level. “Ciri, look at me, Buttercup.”

She sniffed but met his eyes. Her cheeks were tearstained and her eyes were red and puffy. He tilted his head and opened his hands in front of him so that she could take them, if she wanted, which she did.

“Do you trust me, Ciri?” He asked softly and she nodded. “Good. Now I promise you that I won’t let you go hungry.”

“But my lunchbox!” She sobbed.

“I know.” He nodded and squeezed her hands. “But we can fix it. Ok?”

She nodded and chewed at her lip.

“I can either call your father and get him to bring your lunch box.” She scrunched up her nose.

“No he’ll hate me!” She cried. “It’s all my fault and he’ll send me away!”

Jaskier took a deep breath to calm himself. Geralt would never abandon Ciri like that and it broke his heart that she would think that, but it was so easy to forget the circumstances that brought her to Geralt in the first place.

“Oh Ciri. It’s ok to be frightened but I promise you that Geralt would never do that.” He stumbled backwards as she threw her arms around him and cried more into his chest. “Come on, let’s get to Reception and we can call your father.”

“Nooo.” Ciri whined into his chest.

Jaskier was going to offer to pay for her lunch for the day as a second option, he knew Geralt would pay him back. Not that he wanted Geralt to pay him back, he still felt indebted to the man after the fire, but he couldn’t be seen to be favouring Ciri by paying for her lunch. It didn’t matter anyway. Ciri needed to see her father wouldn’t leave her so he wasn’t even going suggest the hot lunch option.

He pulled her gently to her feet and extracted himself from her arms and then turned to face the rest of the class.

He waved to get everyone’s attention before talking, signing as he went. “I’m just going to Reception, with Ciri. I’ll ask Mr Fidháil to take you to the dining room. You’ll be good for him won’t you?”

The class chorussed their agreement with the exception of Marilka who grinned cheekily and said ‘No’.

He tilted his head in her direction and gave her a warning look. “What was that, dear Buttercup?”

She giggled. “Yes, Mr Jaskier!”

“That’s what I thought.” He shook his head. She was certainly a handful. “Come along now Ciri.”

He crossed the hall to Filavandrel’s room and asked him to keep on eye on his class whilst he went to the reception with Ciri. It would have been much easier if he could have just called Geralt on his own phone but that would have raised questions and ones he wasn’t prepared to answer.

“Mr Pankratz? Ciri?” Triss asked, surprised by their appearance. By the looks of it she’d just been packing up to head to lunch herself when they’d arrived.

“Can you call Geralt?” He asked. “Ciri has forgotten her lunch.”

Triss nodded and pulled up Geralt’s number on her screen. She was about to pick up the receiver when Jaskier stopped her.

“I can talk to him. Please.” He pleaded.

She was too professional to call him out in front of one of his students, especially Ciri, but he could see the mischievous glint in her eyes. He’d have to pay for that one later once the kids were on break. She dialled the number and passed him the receiver. “Thanks.” He muttered and smiled down at Ciri reassuringly.”

The phone rang a few times before Vesemir picked up to announce the fire station. Triss must have used Geralt’s work number.

“Ah. Vesemir isn’t it?” He stammered, unprepared to speak to not Geralt.

“That’s correct. What can I help you with? If it’s an emergency you need to call the emergency line.” Vesemir sounded tired, that was a relatable feeling.

“Oh no. No. Umm. Hi. I’m Jaskier Pankratz.”

“Geralt’s Jaskier?”

He blushed. “Umm. Well. I wouldn’t say that exactly.”

“Bath tub Jaskier?” Vesemir chuckled and he realised the older fireman was teasing him.

“Ah yes. That would be me.” He agreed reluctantly. “Is Geralt there?”

“Why?” Vesemir asked sternly.

“Ciri forgot her lunch today. I was wondering whether he could drop it off. It really is quite important!” Vesemir hummed in response.

Well wasn’t that very Geralt like?

Perhaps they really were like family.

Unfortunately, Jaskier wasn’t fluent in Vesemir’s grunts like he was with Geralt. “So is that a yes?”

“He’ll be there shortly, unless we get a call.”

Jaskier grinned. “Of course. Thank you Vesemir!” He replied but it was too late. The other man had already hung up the phone.

Ciri tugged at his arm. “Is that Uncle Vesemir?” She asked.

“It was, Ciri, your father is on his way. Shall we go wait in the lunch hall so the others can start to eat?”

She nodded with a sad smile.

“Tell Geralt we’ll be in the lunch hall!” He called back to Triss as he walked back to his classroom with Ciri.

“Will do.” Triss replied, Jaskier could practically hear the her eyes rolling.

He gathered the rest of class and bundled them into the lunch hall. They were later than he would have liked and his own break time would be cut short because of it but it was a risk of teaching a younger class. He couldn’t just let them wonder around the school on their own. At least he wasn’t on break duty this week. He hated break duty. It wasn’t so bad in the summer term but in the spring it could still be cold and it meant that he didn’t get a real break until he got home. He was, however, on after school pick up duty which meant he’d have to stay late.

Sometimes he’d stay late to finish off some marking at his desk, he didn’t really enjoy bringing his work back home, it made it harder for him to switch off when he was ready to relax in the evenings, but that was a choice. He hated being forced to stay late.

He sighed as Ciri ran off to join her friends. He browsed the hot food options but nothing really tickled his fancy so he picked up a cheese and onion sandwich instead. Sadly, being the beginning of the week there wasn’t a good dessert option. Fridays were the best for that. They always had chocolate cake with chocolate custard on Fridays. He reluctantly picked up an orange instead of a bowl of goopy rice pudding.

He wasn’t a fan of the rice pudding.

He was half way through his sandwich when Geralt arrived. Ciri ran over to him and he picked her up and spun her around as if she weighed nothing more than a feather.

Then again, Geralt had also picked him up like he weighed nothing and he was a lot larger than Ciri.

He snapped himself out of that train of thought before he ended up daydreaming about all the different ways Geralt could throw him about, preferably up against a wall, and walked over to the pair.

“Mr Pankratz.” Geralt greeted him as Ciri tugged her lunchbox from his hands.

“Geralt. Hi.” He flashed the fireman a dashing smile as the ashen-haired girl ran away to eat her lunch. “I’m glad you came.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t notice her lunchbox.” Geralt replied sheepishly. “It won’t happen again.”

“Nonsense.” Jaskier waved it off, Geralt could forget to notice more often if it meant he would come in to visit. “But I am worried about something Ciri said.”

Geralt frowned and Jaskier launched into an explanation of her tantrum and her fears about Geralt sending her away. “I know we agreed that she didn’t need to see anyone at the start of the term, but this isn’t the first time she’s overreacted when she thinks someone might leave her.”

“She’s just a kid.” Geralt huffed.

Jaskier nodded. “I know, my dear, but Ciri’s lost a lot already. I think she may have some form of rejection sensitivity.” Something Jaskier knew far too well. “It would do her good to be able to work through that with someone.”

Geralt pressed his fingers to his forehead. “It’s because I work too much. I can’t spend enough time with her anymore.”

Jaskier resisted the urge to hug his friend. “No. Geralt. No.”

“It was fine during Summer. We had a better routine. I could take her to see Roach every weekend. Now we’re lucky if we get to both go once a month. I rarely get weekends off anymore and she can’t go during the week. Poor Coën sees more of her than I do.”

“It’s not your fault, Geralt.” Jaskier said softly, his teacher voice seeped in slightly but it was hard to turn that off at school. “You never expected to be a single parent.”

Geralt just grunted in response.

“Just promise me you’ll consider what I’ve said, my dear.” Jaskier implored.

Geralt hummed.

“A promise needs words, Geralt.” Jaskier rolled his eyes at the fireman.

“I’m not a child, Jaskier.” Geralt grumbled but sighed when Jaskier put his hands on his hips and gave him a pointed look. “Fine. I promise I’ll think about it.”

“Excellent!” Jaskier clapped his hands together. “Now off you pop. I’m sure those wolves of yours will be missing you White Wolf.”

“Who told you about that?” Geralt snarked.

“Not telling!” He grinned.

It had been Lambert. After they’d met in the coffee shop, Lambert had asked for Jaskier’s autograph when Geralt had been distracted on his phone. Jaskier had happily scribbled on the back of a napkin and the pair had exchanged numbers in case the band ever decided to play live then Lambert would be one of the first to know. They didn’t talk much but Lambert did enjoy sharing embarrassing stories of Geralt at work. Jaskier had even been invited to hang out with Lambert and his brother one evening. It had been a little awkward at first but Jaskier had always had a talent for making friends and he found that he enjoyed Lambert and Eskel’s company rather a lot. It had been nice to make some new friends outside of work and his band.

“Jaskier.” Geralt almost growled which made his brain dive straight into the gutter.

Honestly, the way Geralt said his name should be illegal.

He couldn’t resist a wink at the fireman. “Allow me to have my secrets, dear heart.”

Geralt froze at the nickname that slipped out.

Fuck.

He hadn’t meant to say that. He didn’t even know where it came from normally he just stuck with ‘my dear’ or ‘darling’ both could easily be excused as Jaskier just being flamboyant, but ‘dear heart’? He couldn’t exactly hide his feelings with that one.

Fuck!

Geralt just smirked, and to the gods was it sexy. “Fine.”

“Good!” Jaskier stammered.

“But.” Geralt leaned a little closer and Jaskier could almost feel the tickle of breath against his ear. His heart was thundering in his chest and he felt like he was going to pass out. “You still owe me that drink.” Geralt whispered so that no one else could hear.

Jaskier’s cheeks lit up and his buried his face in his hands. “Geralt!” He chided. “I am working. Go on. Shoo!”

Geralt laughed but strode out of the school hall. Jaskier’s fingers twitched by his side, desperately needing to pluck away at non-existent strings.

He nervously looked around the room to see if anyone had noticed the interaction but everyone seemed to be engrossed in their lunches.

Thank Freya for that.

He managed to finish up his lunch in record time and the kids were all eager to go outside and play. He decided to spend his break at his desk. He couldn’t face Triss right now. He just knew she was going to corner him about Geralt and he didn’t have the energy to deal with that right now.

Maybe he could go for a nap?

He glanced at the clock at the back of the classroom.

He still had twenty five minutes. He could absolutely have a nap and the school bell would wake him up before his class came back inside.

He sighed and rested his head on his arms. It wasn’t comfortable but he was done and it was only fucking lunchtime.

He moaned into his desk.

Maybe if they could just keep the flirting to a minimum until summer then everything would be alright. Once he was no longer Ciri’s teacher then he couldn’t really be accused of doing anything wrong.

At this point he was certain that Geralt liked him back. He’d never seen the fireman flirt so openly around anyone else, he’d expected something around Renfri but really their whole vibe was more like siblings than anything else. He spoke fondly of Yennefer but again there didn’t seem to be any lingering chemistry between them, although that could very well be wishful thinking on his part, but he was good with people and he knew when people were flirting with him.

Geralt was definitely flirting with him

No matter how many times they both insisted what they were doing was just things that friends do.

He thought back on how his friendship with Geralt had grown. Starting with the clandestine meetings after school/work to discuss Ciri’s progress and the extra emails back and forth during the week, then after Solstice and he’d given Geralt his number leading to them occasionally hanging out in coffee shops whilst Ciri was at her Ukulele lessons with Pris and the infrequent evening phone calls if one of them had something to say that couldn’t wait until school time.

He swallowed.

Then the fire.

It had shaken him up more than he would have expected when he couldn’t put any weight on his ankle. He had been beginning to think he was going to burn naked in the bath and he really hadn’t wanted to greet the gods like that.

But Geralt had appeared like his own guardian angel. He’d been hoping Geralt would turn up but it could have easily been any of the wolves. Geralt had saved his life though. He would never forget that, even if his crush turned out to be just a fleeting moment in his life and they ended up passing like ships on an ocean.

They’d talked more frequently after that. Jaskier had had trouble sleeping the first few nights and Geralt seemed more than happy to stay up late talking to him in the evenings. Jaskier had even fallen asleep a few times whilst Geralt was still on the phone but he hadn’t seen Geralt in person since the fire.

And he missed him.

Fuck, he missed him.

Jaskier bumped his head against his desk a few times in frustration and then a thought hit him like a train.

They were dating.

The stolen moments after school, the emails, the phone calls and coffee shop dates.

They were fucking dating.

And no one else thought to let them know!

“Shit, shit, shit!” He shot to his feet and began pacing around the room and then yelled in frustration. He needed his guitar, or his lute or something!

He tore through the drawers of his desk looking for a spare notebook. He must have one somewhere. “Come on, come on, come on!” He muttered but there nothing expect the work books of the kids.

His fingernails dug into his palms as he clenched his fists.

What was he going to do?

They’d just been lying to themselves this whole time.

He had to cut it off. No more reckless meetings. No more evening phone calls.

And absolutely no flirting!

He could do that. He was a professional and Geralt was a parent. He just had to treat Geralt like any other parent. He fell in and out of love all the time. This would be easy. If he had any concerns about Ciri he would ask Triss or Tissaia to relay them. There was no need for him to get involved personally, except for parents’ evening and his weekly emails. Geralt probably wouldn’t even noticed. Geralt hadn’t noticed they were dating so he wouldn’t notice if Jaskier pulled away.

The plan formulated in his head, his hands tugging on the bottom of his shirt as he steadfastly ignored the pain in his heart.

No more gossiping with Triss over Geralt’s quite frankly sinful body, which was a shame because their friendship had really grown since Geralt had come into their lives. He hoped their new found camaraderie would last. It was good to have a partner in crime at the school. It had made his break times a lot more entertaining.

No more hot and heavy dreams.

Ok, maybe he couldn’t control that one but he would scold himself for it in the morning!

And he had to get a grip on this! Two of his colleagues had already been suspended just for expressing misogynistic views. If either of them dared to mention his chats with Triss about Geralt as part of their defence then he was a goner and he loved his job, he loved his kids.

His heart felt like it was burning in his chest but it was too late.

He’d made his decision.

If Geralt forgave him for this maybe they could try again in the summer.

He scoffed.

Why would Geralt forgive him? He didn’t deserve that. He’d led him on all year and, if he was right, he was going to break his heart just to save his own career.

He was a fucking idiot. ___________________

Next

[nialledfromfics]

The Dating Game | Chapter Two

~~

Nearly a week had gone by since her catastrophe of a first date with Puke Boy and Joey woke up the following Friday morning, bright and early, to get ready for work. She attempted to stretch her legs out under the warmth of her weighted blanket as her phone alarm blared from her bedside table, but a little bump at the end of her bed hindered her from moving. Twisting her upper body to tap off her alarm, Joey eased herself up and used her toes to gently nudge at the warm bundle that rested by her feet. With a tiny furry head popping up from the protective curl of its body, Joey smiled and reached down to ruffle her fingers over the dogs’ head. “Morning, Sadie,” she yawned out, flipping the covers off her bare legs and forcing herself out of bed. “Time to get up!” 

The brown long haired Dachshund hopped right up as Joey pushed to her feet, Sadie jumping onto the floor to follow the young woman into the bathroom. After a quick shower and taking Sadie on her morning walk, Joey grabbed her travel mug filled with coffee from the kitchen counter and the overstuffed ‘#1 teacher’ tote bag that was hanging on the back of a chair, and headed into work. 

She was met by her best friend, and fellow teacher, Alexis and her son, Lincoln, the moment she stepped foot into her empty classroom. “Morning, Lincoln,” Joey greeted her student as she flipped on the classroom lights.

Lincoln slumped over to his cubby to put his book bag away. “Mornin’, Ms. Parker.” 

She smiled at the fair-haired little boy before turning to her best friend. “Hey you,” she greeted, setting her bag and hot coffee down on her desk.

Alexis shuffled two large tote bags on her shoulder. “I forgot my coffee this morning,” she whined, wringing her hands up through her dirty blonde hair as she attempted to pull it back out of her way and in a low ponytail. 

Joey chuckled, and nodded to the travel mug on her desk. “You can take mine if you want.” 

“Oh please, no. I’ll just have to live off the bad excuse for coffee that’s in the teachers lounge this morning,” she said with an eye roll, “wouldn’t be a normal crappy morning without it!” 

Pushing out another laugh, Joey turned to the whiteboard behind her and picked up a marker, writing out the date and the topic for the day: Rhyming Words. “So,” her fidgety friend continued as a few of the other faculty members began to noisily fill the hallways, “what are your plans for this weekend? Another hot date with Puke Boy?”

Alexis had a very sarcastic tone with that last bit and Joey peeked over at her, noticing the smirk on her face. “Funny,” she commented before going back to her board and marking down the days’ forecast. “Actually I do have another date tomorrow night. But with a new guy.” 

A playful gasp came from her blonde friend. “Ooh do tell.” 

Setting the marker down, Joey spun back around to face her desk and began pulling some graded papers out of her tote bag. “I really don’t know much about him, to be honest,” she started, glancing up at Alexis. “His name is Omar. He’s tall, from what he says, he’s an exec at some kind of tech company and he drives a Maserati. That’s pretty much all he told me.” 

“Interesting,” Alexis mumbled with narrowed eyes. “Where are you guys going?”

“To that...music festival in Santa Monica? I forgot the name of it.”

“Rhythm and Lights?”

Joey’s eyes went big and she pointed at her friend. “Yes, that’s it. We’re meeting there at five.” 

“Hmm,” Alexis hummed out, her mouth turned down at the corners, “that should be fun. At least if he gets drunk and throws up, ya’ll will already be outside.” 

Joey let out a long sigh, slightly cocking her jaw to the side in agitation. “I’m never gonna live that down, am I?”

“Nope,” her friend said with a satisfied giggle.

Joey shook her head and went to grab the containers of crayons out of the utility closet just as a few of her students started to trickle into the classroom. “Alright, I guess I better get over to my own room or those fifth graders will have my head!” Alexis joked, stepping over to Lincoln to give him a kiss goodbye. “Have a good day, buddy.” 

“See ya at lunch, Lex,” Joey called out as her friend began to walk out of the classroom.

“Yup!” 

•

“Omar, right?” 

He hadn’t lied, he was tall. Like six foot, four tall. And his arms were massive. He was respectively handsome, dark eyes and dark hair and he immediately hugged Joey when she met him outside of the festival grounds. That took her by surprise for a split second, but as they began walking through the front gates and his hand slipped to sit at her way lower back, it became clear that he was a touchy feely kinda guy. Really touchy feely. 

It also became clear that Omar was very confident. Almost too confident for her liking and had a bit of a wandering eye from the few glances she caught him taking when a group of girls would walk past them. But Joey decided to roll with it and let herself have some fun. The music was blaring and he was a good dancer, and he did make her laugh a few times. 

“This was a really great idea!” Joey shouted to Omar, assuming he could hear her over the thumping music from the band that was on stage. 

“Huh?” 

Apparently he couldn’t. Joey moved herself closer to him, Omar taking what he thought was a hint and wrapping his arms tightly around her waist. “Oh…” Joey stuttered out, as she felt both his hands start to slip down her backside. She contemplated kicking him in the shin and running away, but that seemed a bit too dramatic, so Joey, once again, decided to just go with it. He seemed harmless. She hung her arms up around his shoulders, following his rhythm as they began to dance. “This is fun!” she told him, hoping he would hear her this time. 

Omar smiled and nodded his head before burying his face down against her neck. Joey’s eyes went big as his mouth latched onto the side of her throat and she nearly choked on her breath when his fingers dug harshly into the bottom curve of her ass. Pushing back slightly, Omar lifted his head with a crinkled brow and Joey smiled big at him, not wanting to make the situation any more weird that it had already gotten. “I’m gonna go get us some more drinks, okay? You want?” 

“Sure...a beer is good.” 

“Cool, I’ll be right back!” 

Spinning on her heels, Joey rolled her eyes and carefully weaved around the crowds to make her way back towards the tented bar at the other side of the grounds. She waited in the long line for at least fifteen minutes, brushing tiny strands of her red hair off her face that had fallen from her high ponytail and stuck to her sweaty skin. She was sure she was looking quite ravishing. If the drops of sweat sliding down the middle of her back, the mud covering her black boots and the spilt beer on her jean shorts were any indication.

After placing her order, one beer and one large mojito, she moved over to the side a bit to wait with the other customers as the busy bartenders prepared the drinks. Joey pulled out her phone and tried to check her email but she was barely getting any service and refreshing the app wasn’t working. She was beyond frustrated at that point. “C’mon, you stupid piece of shit–”

“Joey?” 

The vaguely familiar and mesmerizing voice stalled her mid sentence and Joey peeked over to her right. There was no mistaking those gorgeous baby blues, it was him. Again. “Niall?” she blurted out, almost not believing it herself, “Oh my God, hi!” 

He tipped his head down slightly in a half smile. “How are ya?”

“I’m good,” Joey said, stuffing her phone into her back pocket and turning her shoulders slightly to face Niall. “Wow, this is so crazy running into you here, how are you?”

A chuckle slipped past his lips and Joey’s eyes caught him as he messily combed his fingers through the front of his hair. It looked even softer than the last time she had seen him. “I’m alright. How, um...how was your date last week?” 

Joey pulled in a deep breath. “Well...he ended up getting super drunk, threw up on my leg at the restaurant and I had to call him a Lyft home before we even finished dinner, so...not super great.”

“Jesus.” 

“I know,” she laughed, shaking her head as she shyly looked down at the toes of her boots. “He was also weirdly obsessed with his cat? Most definitely dodged a bullet there.” 

Niall tossed his head back in a low laugh, his eyes pinching shut as the sound rumbled in his chest. Joey bit at her lip as she watched him, her stare locked on the base of his neck. He had a really, really nice looking neck. She couldn’t help but let her eyes slide down just a bit further, Niall’s white tank that nestled under his open short sleeve button up perfectly showed off just the right amount of his dark chest hair. There was no denying how sexy he looked. Shaking her head out of her insane thoughts, she quickly glanced around her, hoping no one had seen the drool that was uncontrollably pooling at the corner of her mouth. 

“Are ya here with friends or...?” 

Joey shot her attention back to Niall as his question hung idly in the air. She licked across her lips. “Actually...I’m here on another first date.” 

“Oh,” Niall said, his brows raising, “uh...how’s it goin’ so far?” 

“Well, he wasn’t late...so that’s a start.” They both chuckled and Joey leaned her hip against the side of the makeshift bar. “Are you here with friends?”

“Yeah,” he said, Niall tipping his chin up as he began to shoot his stare through the crowds of people, “they’re over...there somewhere.” Joey followed the wave of his finger, taking note that he was on the completely opposite side of the stage than her and her date. “It was my turn to get the drinks.” 

Joey slowly brought her gaze back to his. “Enjoyin’ the festival so far?” he then asked her. 

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool!” she replied with a nonchalant shrug of her shoulder, “I like seeing bands that I’ve never heard of before. I was kinda hoping my favorite band would be in the line up but...I never have that kind of luck.” 

“Who’s your favorite band?”

“The Wildflowers?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve heard of them.”

“They’re great, this...indie chick band with fiddles,” Joey added with a chuckle, “I’ve actually never seen them live. They play a lot of those small underground shows that are, like, super hard to get into. Never been lucky enough to get tickets.” 

Niall narrowed his stare and a tiny smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth. “I could get ya tickets.” 

“What?” Joey choked out, her light brown eyes going wide. “Are you serious?”

He threw her a nod. “Yeh, I can get pretty much anythin’ through my label. Ask and you shall receive,” he told her with a giggle. “Why don’t I, um, get your number and see what I can do and hit ya up when I get me hands on some tickets.” 

Joey could barely believe what she was hearing. His words floated around in her head like vivid daydream before Niall covered his mouth in a stifled laugh. She was sure the look on her face was nothing less than embarrassing. But tickets? To the Wildflowers? Her parted lips creased into a huge smile and Joey rubbed her palms down the sides of her face in excitement. “Oh my God, that would be...holy shit, that would be so fucking incredible.”

Niall grabbed his phone from his front pocket and Joey took a step closer to him, both their heads tilted down as he typed her number in. Joey also couldn’t help but take a nice deep inhale, confirming to herself from the last time, that he still smelled damn good. Niall, on the other hand, was rendered numb with how close she was to him. The tiniest whiff of her shampoo tingled his nose as her ponytail slid down between their faces and the barely-there scent radiating off of her exposed dewy skin made his mouth water. It was intoxicating. 

Peeking up at her through the tops of his eyes when he finished, Joey caught his stare for a moment before she realized just how close their proximity was–so close that her chest was nearly touching his bicep–and she quickly took a step back. 

She cleared her throat. “Thank you so much.” 

Slipping his phone back into his pocket just as one of the bartenders set Joey’s drinks in front of her, Niall softly smiled. “ ‘course, love, no worries.” 

“Okay, well,” Joey started, picking up the two plastic cups, “I guess I should get back to my date. Hopefully he doesn’t get too drunk and puke all over me.” 

Niall breathed out a laugh. “That would not be very fun.” 

“Not really, no,” Joey smiled. “It was really good seeing you again, Niall.” 

He faintly nodded his head and licked across his lips. “It was good seeing you too, Joey.” 

Turning away from him, Joey started to walk through the large crowd towards her date, taking one last second to look back over her shoulder at Niall. She caught his gaze, still stuck on her as he shoved his hands down into the front pockets of his striped shorts. Joey smiled big at him, something she couldn’t seem to help when she was around him and he smiled right back, and just as big. 

•

Joey woke up the next morning with a splitting headache, her face plastered against a pillow and in a room that she had never seen before in her life. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she pushed the mess of hair off the side of her face and slowly began to roll herself over. She then realized she was completely naked, in someone else's bed. A muted groan fell from her lips and she heard a soft ‘hey baby’ come from next to her. 

Turning her head, she was about to reply when she noticed that Omar, her date from the night before, was laying naked next to her, talking on his cellphone. Joey’s brow wrinkled, her mouth falling open as she sat up and bunched the grey sheet up around her bare chest. 

“We still on for tonight, baby?” he continued into the phone, apparently not even aware that Joey had awoken. “Good, good. Missed you last night. Can’t wait to see you.” 

Shaking her head with a look of pure disbelief written across her face, Joey muttered a low ‘oh hell no’ before scrambling out of his bed and grabbing her clothes that were sprinkled all over the floor. She didn’t say a single word to him in the process, hurrying out of his room as she tugged each piece of her clothing on. Shoving her feet down into her boots, she snatched her bag from the couch and ordered herself a Lyft, not even bothering to look back as she quickly left his apartment. 

Joey sat quietly staring out of the backseat window on her ride home, part of her not even sure what happened the previous night, the other part of her not wanting to believe it. The skin on her bottom lip was nearly bitten off, her fingers twisting in her lap and she closed her eyes for a second, hoping it would settle the intense thumping that she was feeling against her temples. After about ten minutes, she pulled out her phone and dialed Alexis, knowing she would be the only other person awake at 9am on a Sunday morning. 

It only rang twice before Alexis answered. “Jo?”

“I fucking slept with him.”

It was quiet for a moment on the other end. “...the guy from last night?”

Joey rested her head back on the seat, her hazelnut eyes watching the palm trees flash by as they drove. “I can’t believe I decided to waste my revirginized vagina on him.” 

A cackling laugh belted out from the other end of the line. “Where are you?”

“On my way home.” 

“How far away?”

Joey lifted her pounding head to peer around as the car slowed to a stop at a light. “Um...I dunno, fifteen minutes, maybe?” 

“Okay, I’ll meet you there.” 

•

Joey was able to get back to her apartment, take a shower and some much needed aspirin, and take Sadie for a walk all before Alexis even showed up. Not unusual for her. Alexis was a great friend, her and Joey had met a couple years prior when Joey got her teaching job at Midlawn Elementary School. She was the first one to strike up a conversation with Joey, and they immediately hit it off. She was fun, a bit loud and spontaneous but was the most caring person Joey had ever known. 

Answering the door, Joey let her best friend in and Sadie went ballistic, hopping up and down and barking nonstop. Alexis attempted to bend down and pet the dog, hoping to calm her, but Sadie skitted away from her touch, barking even louder. 

“Sadie, knock it off!” Joey yelled, having no patience for her antics at the moment. She gently pushed the dog away with the side of her foot and the dog quieted down and scurried into the other room.

“After all these years, your dog still doesn’t like me,” Alexis commented, tossing her purse down on Joey’s table as they both shuffled into the living room. 

Joey laughed. “She doesn’t like anyone, Lex. At all. You’re not special.” 

“Ha, Ha,” her friend retorted with an eye roll, both girls plopping down on the sofa.

“Where’s Lincoln?” Joey asked.

“With his dad.” 

“Oh. I forgot it was his weekend.” 

Tucking her leg up on the couch, Alexis turned her body towards Joey and reached out to tap her knee. “So...c’mon, spill.” 

“There’s nothing to spill,” Joey started, slumping back into the sofa with a huff. “I just...gah, I dunno. I mean, he was cool, I guess. A bit handsy but once I had enough alcohol in my system, I didn’t really mind it. We danced a bit, he made me laugh a little and we just ended up back at his place. But honestly, I’m never doing that again. I don’t even know what I was thinking.”

“Well…” Alexis said with a snort, “to put it bluntly, you were thinking you hadn’t gotten laid in two years, Jo.” 

Joey dropped her face in her hands with a groan. “But he was so douchy, Lex. Especially this morning.” She lifted her face and scratched across her forehead. “He was already making plans to see some other chick tonight. While I was lying there in bed next to him!” 

“Ew,” her friend commented, pulling her face in. “was it even good?”

Joey shrugged. “It was alright, I guess. He didn’t get me off but...what’s new.”

“Humph,” Alexis pushed out, crossing her arms over her chest, “yeah, tell me about it. Most men these days can’t. But you were at least careful, right? You don’t wanna end up like me, getting pregnant by a guy you barely know.” 

“Lex, you got a beautiful little boy out of it.”

Alexis rolled her eyes. “I know that, but still...better to be safe than sorry.” She raised her brows at Joey. 

Carding her fingers up through her damp hair, Joey tossed it up into a loose bun and let out a knowing sigh. “Yes, mom, I was careful.” 

Alexis grabbed a throw pillow from behind her and threw it at Joey, hitting her right in the side of her face. The red-haired girl giggled. “Oh..oh my God, I totally forgot to tell you,” Joey exclaimed after chucking the pillow back at her friend. “Guess who I ran into last night at the festival?”

“Who?”

“Niall.”

“Niall?”

Joey furrowed her brows. “Ni-...oh fuck, did I not tell you?” she said, realizing that she had yet to tell anyone that she had met Niall at all. She watched her best friend's brown eyes go big in curiosity and Joey eagerly scraped her teeth across her bottom lip. “Okay, so listen, the other week when I went out with Puke Boy, well, he was, like, super late and I was waiting for him up at the bar, having a drink or whatever, right, and someone said something to me and when I looked over...it was Niall fucking Horan.”

With her mouth falling open, Alexis stared intently at her best friend. “Stop it.” 

“I’m serious,” Joey continued, “we got to talking, he bought me a drink and shit and, I dunno, it was just, like...really chill. He was totally cool. To the point that I almost forgot he was famous. Anyway, he was there last night at the festival too! We ran into each other, oddly enough, getting drinks at the tent bar.” 

“That’s fucking crazy!”

Joey chuckled. “Right? That’s what I told him!”

“So… are you guys gonna hang out or something?” Alexis pried. 

“Well..no,” Joey said with a shake of her head, “I mean, we talked while waiting for our drinks, but he did get my number.” 

Alexis squealed. “No, he didn’t!” 

“He did!” Joey explained. “We were talking about the Wildflowers and I mentioned that I had never seen them live before and he said he could get me tickets and...asked me for my number.” 

“And you just...gave it to him?”

Tossing her head back, the young woman laughed. “Why not? I’m literally going out on blind dates with random guys from Tinder. At least everyone knows who Niall is and he’s not, like, some creep.” 

Alexis chewed at her bottom lip, wanting as much tidbits from her friend as she could get. “‘So are you guys gonna go out then?”

A loud snort came from Joey. “You’re joking, right, Lex? Like he would ever in a million years go out with me. No,” she said, peeking down at her lap and shaking her head, “he was only gonna let me know when he could get some tickets, that’s all.” 

“Sure,” Alexis said with a narrow stare, drawing out the word.

“Believe me, it would be a cold day in hell before Niall Horan ever asked me out on a date,” Joey said with a chuckle, “But I dunno, besides being crazy fucking hot, he was just really chill, you know? Really easy to talk to. I could definitely see us being friends.”

Alexis bowed over in a full belly laugh. “Okay, Jo,” she said between breaths, not for one second believing her best friends intentions, “whatever you say.” 

“I’m serious,” Joey told her, playfully pushing the front of her shoulder, “Besides, there’s no point to even entertain the absurd idea that we would date, ‘cause...I’m literally never having sex again, remember?”

They were both rolled over in laughter at that point, almost in tears when the sound of a text coming through to Joey’s phone dinged loudly through the apartment. Hopping up off the couch, Joey wiped the wetness of laughter from under her eyes and gathered her breath as she stepped over to the kitchen counter to pick up her phone. It was a number she didn’t recognize, but the text itself told her immediately who it was. 

“Well…” she said, holding the phone up towards Alexis as she bit off a smile, “speak of the devil. It’s him.” 

[mwolf0epsilon]

Maybe a story about Norman being a good parent?

Summary: Mindless beast or not, the Projectionist was a Polk, and the Polks did not hurt their young, or whatever they perceived as such.

You all knew it was coming inevitably...

---

[[MORE]]

     Norman's and Margarite's marriage had come as a surprise to the entire Polk family. A simple signature on a piece of paper, and a pair of battered rings that had belonged to Nanna and Poppop Polk (gifted to him by the former who always knew he'd be a better fit for them). No fanciful ceremony with pretty dresses or suits, expensive cakes and extensive guest list.

A disappointing waste, his mama had proclaimed over the letter she'd sent as a reply to his own that detailed his status as a married man in a far off city. She'd wanted to witness the event, shed her motherly tears as one of her little ducklings became a real man ready to start a family.

But, to Norman and Maggie, the marriage wasn't a motive of celebration like his mama thought. It was insurance against further discrimination towards them. They were, after all, the black couple that lived in a quaint apartment in New York city.

Already that was a challenge of its own, as said apartment was populated primarily by white hot-blooded tenants, with only one more laying vacant for a (hopefully) friendlier family.

Their downstairs neighbor clearly hated them from sight alone, and the others were unsure how the new additions fit into their "perfect" lives in the Big Apple. If any of them were to discover that they both enjoyed the full spectrum of the gender binary, well... Accidents happened in the big city. Accidents that targeted specific minorities for some "unfathomable" reason.

So yes, as shameful as it may be, their wedding was strictly business. Rings for show, public displays of affection to dispell the gossip, and overall just the usual married life arguments in the grocery store to sell the deal (neither of them could care less about which type of sugar made the best apple pie crust, or what brand of soap was better, but it sure made the couples they passed by smile knowingly at the common domestic disputes). There was just one thing left to do to really make a statement on their relationship status.

  "Three of my coworkers are getting maternity leave. It's been a few months, I think it's time."

Children were a sensitive topic. Both Norman and Maggie wanted kids, had a vague idea of how many they planned to raise, and were quite certain they'd make beautiful and healthy younglings with one another. The question was: Was it fair to bring in chidren into a farce of a matrimony? What if one day they found their actual ideal partner?

  "Yous better be sure it's the right time darlin'..." He'd urged her to think more on the subject. "Don't want to rush things like that now, do we?"

  "I'm ready." She'd stared him in the eye with a certainty and confidence he couldn't begin to imagine. He knew she was, but was he? Was he truly ready to bare such a responsibility?

That night he relented to her wishes and they had finally consummated their marriage. Nine months later, little Nancy was born a small but relatively healthy baby. Upon seeing his firstborn for the first time ever, and then holding her gently in hands that dwarfed her little head greatly, Norman immediately understood he was ready to be a parent. And a loving one at that.

-

     In total, Norman and Maggie had five children. Three boys and two girls. Nancy was their eldest child and the more levelheaded of the bunch. The apple of her mother's eye, and her father's baby girl, she was the perfect balance of their greatest qualities and teachings. A clever and determined young girl with big aspirations for her future. She wanted to be a doctor.

Aaron was the second eldest child and the one most like his father. Clever and with an eye for detail, enough so that he had taken up an interest that fits his perceptive nature: Photography. The walls of the Polk household were filled with his works, at first done with Norman's own old and battered camera, until he'd bought the young lad his very own fancy new model.

Louise was the middle child, and the troublemaker of the bunch. She was a bit of a tomboy, and liked to scrap with the boys in her class, to the point where it wasn't uncommon to see her with several bruises and band-aids, and haphazardly taped wireframed glasses. She kept both Norman and Maggie on their toes.

Albert was the second youngest and the quietest. A little bookworm that appreciated the art of literature over anything else. He wanted to be a novelist, even at a very young age, and often shared ideas for stories at the dinner table. There was no doubt in Norman's heart that his little boy would write a best-seller one day. Maggie fretted for his social life, however, as he was the least sociable of their children. Far too shy.

Finally the youngest child was Willard. An outspoken young toddler that was definitely as confident as his mama. A little tot with a very big personality indeed, that Norman couldn't wait to see grow up into yet another fine young boy. If any of their children was to ever get what he wanted in life, it'd definitely be Will.

Truly there was nothing in this world that Norman loved more than his offsprings, and indulging in their interests was always an adventure. One to be shared with three other members of the family.

The vacant apartment had been occupied by Norman's younger brother, Alfred, and his own two children. By then almost all their neighbors (minus the one that hated them from day one) had warmed up to them. So another set of friendly faces was a good addition to their home life.

Norman absolutely loved watching over his nephew and niece, especially because his children were delighted to have other kids around their age to play with.

It reminded him of being back home in Louisiana, his own brothers and sisters sparring with him and playing whatever games they could come up with on the spot. Watching Louise and Nelson tumbling about fighting as equally dirty as the other, really stirred up some good memories he had of his older sisters.

"Bite her Nelson! Bite her!" Lydia cheered as her older brother pinned their cousin to the ground.

"Louise tug on his ears! Pummel him!" Aaron called out to his little sister, encouraging her to fend off her opponent.

"Lydia and Aaron! What I tell y'all 'bout encouragin' yous's siblings t'fight all nasty?!"

"Not to...?"

"Exactly."

Granted some play-fighting needed to be monitored when most of the audience were enablers, and neither his middle child nor his nephew had any qualms sending each other to the hospital. They were still learning about consequences after all.

Still, there wasn't anything else in the world that built better character than teaching the children that they were equals to one another in all their shared activities. Respect was an important lesson to be learned. One Norman wished every parent taught their child.

The world would be a better place otherwise...

-

Sometimes the Projectionist would inevitably be unable to fend off sleep. The exhaustion would wear it down and give way to the nightmares of a life it could barely remember. Then it would wake up and scream, trying to rid itself of heinous visions of itself ripping its offsprings apart.

Norman Polk would reawaken inside its brutish body and lash out, hoping to either physically fight away his own broken psyche or perhaps cripple the Projectionist so that it could never fulfil these dreamt up acts of violence.

A Polk was all about family, and the thought of becoming the sort to bring harm upon his own children... Well, Norman had heard the stories. Knew why Poppop was such a taboo topic. He did not want to be the man besides his Nanna in the portrait above the fireplace... One he'd resembled if his eye wasn't wrong and he'd grown out his beard...

The Projectionist didn't have the mental faculties to understand this distress however, but it seemed to recognize that what it saw in dreams was bad. That what it did to the vermin, it should never do to those innocent little youngsters that looked at it with love instead of fear and hatred. So... Why did it do it in dreams? Why did it kill when it wanted to be docile? The children were not a threat, so why...?

It made no sense... But it didn't much care for elaborate existential crisis like that. Norman's consciousness would freak it out, but ultimately loosened its grip and go back to being dormant. The lumbering beast resuming its tiring trek through the endless maze. A cycle that would repeat itself the next time it fell asleep.

It was in the aftermath of yet another nightmare that the Projectionist came across something completely new to it. Something small and living, and very much intruding on its space. Something that very vaguely looked like it...

A living being with a body similar to the ones the horrible botched critters that ran around in packs had, yet with no visible imperfections to it. Its head though... It was kind of like a projector, but not. Square in shape, with a lens, a tube, dial and something very round that kind of looked like a big ear. A camera, like the one Aaron had gotten for his birthday.

It seemed to have gloves, shoes and a belt that sort of looked like the speaker lodged in the Projectionist's torso, but it was hard to tell since the strange being was on the ground flailing about like a dying fish.

The towering amalgam stared at the tiny new thing in dumbfounded silence, unsure how to react to such a strange discovery, until it realized why the thing was flailing about to begin with.

One of its legs was pinned under a crate that appeared to have fallen from a nearby stack, and the Projectionist could tell the limb was broken. Nearby lay a series of Ink Hearts that had been resting on the fallen crate.

On any other occasion it would have simply walked over, raised one heavy foot, and crushed the intruder's skull for daring to try to steal from it. This time however, was completely different... Something primal was urging the Projectionist to do something completely alien to its usually aggressive nature. Something instinctive.

The poor creature grew agitated upon finally noticing the Projectionist's presence as it approached, but its broken limb ensured it stayed put even after the crate was picked up and tossed aside. It shook fearfully once the Projectionist knelt down to pick it up by the torso. It stopped shaking once it was brought to rest against the much larger beast's chest, cradled gently like an infant. The Projectionist rumbling softly so as to reassure it that no harm would befall it.

The little creature, with a head that was not a projector but a distant relative of a sort, stared up with its own dark lens before reaching out to gently pat the Projectionist's "face". It seemed to understand its intention to help it, rather than exterminate it.

The lumbering beast carried on in its path, now carrying a most precious cargo. It would find something to help treat the injury and then it would begin teaching this newly adopted offspring to survive in the studio.

Mindless beast or not, the Projectionist was still a Polk, and the Polks cared for their younglings. This tiny sentient camera was its child now, and the beast would protect it from the horrors of this horrid studio.