#I've got some homework and a class in a few hours

[deadsnakey]

𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔? 𝐖𝐄'𝐑𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐘𝐎𝐔!

𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐘!𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐎 𝐱 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐱 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐎𝐃𝐎𝐑𝐄

—> Mattheo Riddle and Theodore Nott love to bother you, it's so obvious they hate you. Do they really, though?

Check out the request here!

—> Enemies to lovers, kind of... Fluff, a little angst possibly and two idiotic boyfriends who think bothering you very clearly means they like you.

★ Ok, this might be a little messy but just stay with me here.

★ since first year, mattheo thought you were so pretty and just adorable. though, he always kept his distance as much as possible.

★ it wasn't untill around third year that mattheo and Theodore started getting really close, eventually dating in 5th year.

★ but there was still a huge problem, you.

★ they both knew they liked you, they've talked about it voguely a few times and since then they've had to an understanding that you belong to them and no one else...even if you didn't know it yet.

★ unfortunately for you, they only knew one way to flirt; teasing and bothering you.

★ its not too long until you start trying to avoid them as much as possible, knowing you'll be teased relentlessly or the butt of their joke that you never found funny.

★ they always called you names like princess, sweetheart, doll or darling. nicknames in Italian from Theo that you didn't really understand.

★ Stealing your pencils, notebooks, homework or even your wand just to get your attention. They'd dangle it where you couldn't reach. Anything for your attention.

you were going to your last period of the day, hoping you'd be able to make it through without seeing them, the two boys. you've been lucky enough to go the whole day without seeing them but you still technically had two more hours before you'd be safe in your dorm for the night.

you've made it to class, and successfully made it through. walking through the halls, listening to music. your huffy puffy friend ended up stopping you for a few minutes to ask about the material you both were learning at the moment in potions.

once done, you quickly started walking again, about to press play on your music again when you feel someone lightly tap your shoulder. you sigh to yourself, hoping it wasn't the two boys whom you've been dreading of seeing; let alone talking to.

"hey, princess. where you've been lately? hm? avoiding us, weren't you?" mattheo taunted, a smirk stretched on the side of his lips.

you slowly blinked, in disbelief. "why? miss taunting your toy? can you guys just leave me alone? I've done nothing to you." they both huffed, "toy? is that how you really see it? you know it's quite saddening you'd think of us in such a way, darling." mattheo put his arm on theodore's shoulder, slighting leaning on it.

"yeah, okay." you harshly spat out, turning on your heel to get away from them. Theodore was quicker. he gently but firmly grabbed your arm and pulled you into his chest making you stumble; your back now touching his clothed chest. you were quickly intoxicated with the smell of faint cigarettes and cinnamon.

"what? got nothing to say now, tesoro?", "don't call me that. and let me go!" you struggled. "someone's feisty, eh? c'mon, lets go to my dorm. I think we need to have a little chat with you." mattheo said, gently putting his hand on the top of your head in a genuine gesture as Theodore started walking, mattheo in front as he led the way and Theodore making sure you're not trying to escape from behind you.

★ safe to say, you were scared.

★ but they really did just want to talk to you. they confessed their feelings for you although you were confused. they hated you.

★ they explained that they didn't hate you, they were head over heels for you if anything. they just...had a really bad way of showing it, hence the constant and brutal teasing.

★ you were shocked. but you told them that they needed to give you some time, you told them as long as they toned it down and stopped being so cruel with their teasing and jokes and actually got to now them, you'd consider dating them.

★ They finally got your attention and they loved it.

★ after 4 awful months of torture from these two, it payed off.

★ fast forward to the end of sixth year, you developed feelings from them both and heavily overtime. that's when you told them that you had came to falling for them and would love to date them both; now that you felt ready.

★ they were soooo happy, definitely lots of affection from these two the rest of the day and night.

[strangemaleswaps]

Strange Roommate Swap

I started walking back to my dorm from the last class of the day. It was my second year of college and there was no doubt autumn was coming up fast with the amount of people wearing jackets outside. I was way ahead of them, as I was desperate for the weather to get colder so I could wear my leather jacket. I felt really cool with it on, even though I wasn't really a cool guy. I was kinda sensitive and geekish, but hey, if I can look the part then maybe people will think of me as cool.

I arrived at the dorm building, walked inside, and took the elevator to get to the 6th floor where my room was. I opened the door to find my roommate, Nathan, on his PC as usual. He was a pretty big guy, at least bigger than me. I've seen his clothing sizes from when his shirts were lying on the floor, and he wore size XL, and sometimes 2XL. But even though I was gay and we were roommates, he wasn't really my type.

When Nathan noticed me, he immediately got up and started heading towards the bathroom. We were the type of roommates that rarely spoke to each other, unless it was something chore related. We should've been friends because we both spent most of our freetime online, but I guess we're both too shy. But still, I wondered what was up so I broke the silence.

“Hey what's up?” I said.

“I got a date. I told myself I'd start to get ready around the time you got back.”

“Oh nice!” Woah, he didn't seem like the type anybody would be attracted to, but I guess there were plenty of fish in the sea. He grabbed some clothes and closed the bathroom door, so I began working on my homework. After awhile he walked back out in a shirt and tie, with his beard neatly trimmed.

“Looking good,” I blurted out. He didn't seem to care how awkward I sounded because he smiled.

“Thanks man.”

He did his hair a bit and was out the door in a flash. I wondered who he was going on a date with?

A few hours later I was doing homework on my bed when the door opened and Nathan walked in. He didn't look too happy so I'm guessing the date didn't go too well. Since I didn't know much about his personal life, I didn't want to say a word in case he was the type to lash out at others. So I just continued what I was doing.

He began taking off his formal clothes. Nathan was the type of guy that wasn't shy with undressing in front of people. The sight of him shirtless wasn't the prettiest sight though. When he untucked his shirt, his belly flopped back down, hanging over his belt.

People always warned me about eating habits in college and most get that Freshman 15, but from what I've seen with old photos of Nathan, he went way beyond 15. He was as skinny as I was now on some of his socials, so he must've really let himself go. Good thing I had a fast metabolism; I hadn't gained a pound since I got to college.

He didn't take off the rest of his clothes; he just plopped down onto his chair, turned on his PC, and started gaming. I finished up my homework and decided to do the same, opening up my laptop and spending the rest of the night online until I was ready to take my contacts out and head to bed.

The next morning I woke up to my alarm, that for some reason sounded much further away. I opened my eyes to find it actually wasn't next to me at all…and for some reason I was in Nathan's bed? I looked to the other side of the room and saw a lump in my bed - a sign that someone was underneath the covers. I reached around to find glasses…although they weren't mine, somehow I could see with them. When I tried to sit up, I found it way more difficult to do so. It felt like gravity was pushing down extra hard. Maybe the sheets were weighing me down? I threw them off to find I was shirtless…and fat! What the fuck! I put my hand over the round lump of flesh to confirm if it was real or not. It was soft to the touch and felt kinda squishy. I also had a good amount of chest hair, which was something I wasn't used to, being a hairless twink. But I definitely wasn't a twink anymore!

I got up off the bed and could feel my entire body jiggle. I looked down at my belly and although it was harder to see with my big gut in the way, I noticed I was wearing blue shorts - Nathan's blue shorts. Oh god. I began making my way towards the bathroom when the covers started moving from my bed. What must've been Nathan in my body pulled them off himself and stared at me for a few seconds until he found my glasses, put them on, and stared at me again, looking even more confused.

“Brent? What's going on? That IS you right?”

“I-uh don't even know.”

“Why is it like…I'm seeing myself?” He then glanced down at himself and squeezed his shirt… I mean my shirt. He then lifted it up and bit and touched my chest, rubbing his hand around.

“Are we…?”

“Each other…”

“Fuck”

I could tell this must've been as awkward for him as it was for me. “So uh…do you want to do the big reveal?”

“The what?”

“You know. Like in those movies where they both look in the mirror at themselves and scream or whatever.”

“Uh…sure.” He jumped out of bed, and power walked to the bathroom. It was so strange seeing myself walk around, like playing a 3rd person perspective game. Is that what I really looked like? When we got to the mirror, I understood what he meant. It really was like in those movies where they freak out at their new bodies.

It was crazy to gaze straight ahead at the mirror and see someone else's face. It was like wearing a mask or something, but I grazed my hands all over and assured myself that it was all real. I slowly moved my hand to my chest and felt the curves of my…man tits. I was grossed out and pulled my hand away.

“You don't have to do that. I mean it is your body now afterall…er right now anyway.”

It was kinda creepy, the idea of him allowing me to touch his body, especially since it was spoken with my voice. All of a sudden reality set in. I was so focused on how ugly I looked that I completely forgot we had no idea how this happened or how to change back!

“We need to figure this out soon. I have class today!”

“Can't you just skip?”

“No I can't. It's the kind of class that knocks down your grade if you don't attend.”

“Oh shit. Well I could go for you I guess.”

The idea of someone else going around looking like me in public was unsettling but I don't think I had a choice.

“Fine. But hurry up. I don't want to be late.”

Nathan got ready for me, putting on exactly what clothes I told him to wear, which included my leather jacket. Seeing myself from a different perspective made me realize how hot I actually was. I glanced down at my chubby belly as I hoped this curse would end soon. I told Nathan the details of getting to my class and everything, and as he closed the door behind him, I realized that I didn't know what I should do today. He didn't have any classes of his own and I really didn't want to go out in public like this.

I walked back into the bathroom and stared at my fat self as I touched Nathan's belly. I instinctively made my way down towards his dick and felt a bulge forming. Why was this happening? I definitely wasn't turned on by Nathan. Maybe it had something to do with the idea that I was technically grabbing someone else's dick. I didn't want to see his face so I took off my glasses. That way I could kinda see everything else, but not a clear identification. I then grabbed my belly as I stroked my dick and started jerking.

The fat slapped my arm with every movement, but I didn't care. I came all over the floor and after a bit, I got dressed and decided to go outside after all. Surprisingly the idea of walking around as a fat guy in public was turning me on once again. I really didn't even mind Nathan walking around in my body now if it meant I could walk around in his!

[melrodrigo]

Lovesick - W.A.

Wednesday Addams x Fem!Reader

Summary: You and Wednesday are polar opposites. Do they really attract?

Word Count: 1.6k

A/N: Request from ages ago, I didn’t proofread this. Please excuse any mistakes. Happy reading! <3

Wednesday had a problem.

When Wednesday had first transferred to Nevermore, and gotten the infamous Enid welcome and introduction, she couldn't have cared less about you.

"That is Bianca Barklay, the closest thing to Nevermore royalty they'll ever be."

Then Enid pointed to a girl sitting next to Bianca, staring at the bubbles in the water fountain with intrigue.

"And that, is YN. She's the school heartthrob. It's just impossible to not love her, you'll see."

"She looks like a mushroom." Wednesday replied dryly, swiftly turning on her heel and heading back to her dorm.

"She's a sweetheart. Everyone likes her. You'll find out what I mean. I'm always right!" Enid shouted out, before quickly catching up and walking side by side with the goth.

Enid had warned that this would happen. God, how was Enid right?

Wednesday's frown only grew deeper as she thought back to the moments you've shared over the past year.

-

"Hey, you must be Wednesday right? New girl?"

All you got in return was a curt nod.

"Allllright, I get it, you don't wanna talk. Trust me I get it, I was so silent the first week here, some people thought I was mute!"

Silence.

You frown a bit but redirect your focus to the teacher emerging from the door.

-

"Enid I do not understand why I have to suffer not only with you, but her. I was content just sitting down in the dorm and practicing my cello."

The werewolf had recently gotten three free passes to Jericho, and decided to drag both you and Wednesday out for a cup of coffee.

"I hate to agree with her Enid, but I really have a lot of biology homework to do." You mused from behind, still sore from fencing class you had that day.

"Oh come on! It's good for you two to bond. My two besties, we're gonna be so cool together!" Enid makes an excited sound, "We should come up with a group name!"

When Wednesday quips back that she'd rather die in a long long torturous death (which she'd probably enjoy) instead of have a group name, you can't help but snort in agreement.

You shoot Wednesday a look, small smile playing on your lips.

-

Ever since that first day at Jericho, Enid had you guys connected by the hip. Unwillingly.

But as the days went on, Wednesday found out you weren't so bad.

She was particularly late to lunch today, catching up with updates on the hyde case.

In fact, she was debating skipping lunch all together. But as she glanced over to the pentagon, a hand shot up along with a shout.

"Wednesday! Over here!" You were waving your hand wildly, gesturing for her to walk over.

Wednesday bit back a sigh as she moved towards you, and to her surprise, there was one empty seat opposite of you, plate full, apple on the side.

"I got some lunch for you. Oh and a plain granola bar, I see you always like eating them." You tell her absentmindedly, munching on a sloppy joe.

Wednesday hesitates, before saying a quiet thank you.

"It's my pleasure Wends. So, how's the hyde case going?"

You both don't mention the fact you used a nickname to address her. She sighs, she supposed it was nice of you to get her lunch, so she tells you about the case.

"It's going well YN, I've just had a breakthrough......"

-

"Come on Wends, pleaseee? I really really really wanna go to The Weathervane."

You stare at Wednesday with your famous puppy eyes, and see Wednesday's glare soften just the slightest bit.

"I....suppose we can go in a few hours. After I've finished my writing hour, I have hyde business to do there anyway." She says, even though she'd already taken care of the issue already.

"Could you help me study for midterms? I do not understand anything for the life of me." You whine and throw the book back on her bed. Flopping onto the soft fabric dramatically.

"Bring it with you to the Weathervane." Wednesday says sharply, and returns back to her typewriter.

-

"Sucky Birthday to you Wednesday! Come, follow me." You squeal excitedly, reaching for the goth and pulling her by the wrist.

Physical touch has come sort of, natural to you with Wednesday. You were a naturally touchy person anyway, but when you were around Wednesday everything felt very...heightened.

Hm, I wonder what that is.

Wednesday was constantly complaining about your intense need to be touching her at all times, but she never actually pulled away when you did; and you're well aware she could if she wanted to.

"Where are we going?" She asks, tone somewhat annoyed.

You turn to her and smile; so bright Wednesday swears light shone through your teeth.

"Grave digging!"

Wednesday's eyebrows twitches in amusement, a small but noticeable movement. You've become sort of professional in her mannerisms over the past few months.

"I knew you'd like it. Come on." You say, practically sprinting to your destination. It's not a smart move, and you stumble over your own feet; arms still connected with Wednesday's.

You fall flat on your back into the soft grass, Wednesday on top of you.

She looks so good, the moonlight shining on her face. You steal a glance at her lips.

She's staring at you with wide eyes, arms on both sides of your face. Her braids frame your head a little.

She coughs awkwardly, then gets up and looks the other way.

You follow suit, trying to calm down your racing heart.

"Ooookay. Let's- let's get grave digging now." You say finally, watch as Wednesday walks toward you but avoids your eye.

She's grateful it's dark out, or else you would've seen the red coating her ears. And when you reach for her wrist she pulls back, afraid you'll be able to feel her racing heart.

-

It's parent's day. The long awaited dreadful day where Wednesday has to talk to her parents.

They'll be able to tell right away, she has no doubt. She's lovesick.

They’d see right through her. They're like magic love wizards in that way.

"You ready Wends?" You muse from behind her, take her hand in yours. You were currently situated in her dorm room, the two of you alone; waiting for your parents to come.

"No." She replies, but not in a sarcastic or dry way. She sounds kind of...scared.

You poke her cheek and watch as she tries and swat your hand away.

"You look a little on edge." You observe, staring at the hairs on the back of her neck.

She's a little afraid if she tells you why she's nervous for this specific meeting she'll let it slip that she might've accidentally caught feelings for you.

Ugh. Feelings.

It's come to the point where she can actually say she has feelings for you. It’s pathetic, and quite frankly sickening.

"I'm fine. Let's just get this over with." She grumbles, and bursts through the door; leaving you standing dumbly in her room.

"Wednesday, darling how have you been?" Her mother drawls, smile on her lips as she speaks.

"I've been good mother. Apart from the gigantic monster that's trying to kill me. Actually, I think I'm having lots of fun." Wednesday says, looking over her moms shoulder to spy on you.

Just a little bit.

You look lively, and happy. It makes her feel weird in her tummy.

"My little storm cloud, what are you looking at?" Her father asks, watching Wednesday with keen eyes. It wouldn't be obvious to anyone else, but Addams were very observatrice people, and he could tell straight away when Wednesday has lost focus.

He follows his daughters gaze to a certain werewolf. He has to blink one more time to make sure he's not seeing things.

“Oh," He smiles, soft. "I see what's going on."

Wednesday turns sharply, face impassive.

"You don't see anything." She says hotly. Too fast for her normal speech.

Her mom smirks, catching on quick.

"Oh sweetie, we think it's cute. Our little storm cloud is in love." They coo, leaning forward to whisper with Wednesday.

The black hair girl scoffs, and folds her arms in front of her chest.

"I am not in love. I do not know what you are talking about." She replies.

"Sure you don't." Pugley adds, peeping in between his parents.

Wednesday suddenly feels hot underneath their gaze. She gets up abruptly, tilts her face up in hopes for some high ground.

"You all annoy me. This is why I don't write to you." She says before turning on her heel and heading over to you.

You stare at her with curious eyes as she walks toward you. Stops in front of you, hands stiff like a soldier.

"Hey? Whatcha doing?" You ask, pat the seat next to you. She ignores the feeling of something fluttering in her stomach when you accidentally touch fingertips.

"I would like to stay here with you. If you do not mind. My parents are being...unreasonable." She says, picking her words carefully.

You chuckle, smile softly.

"Of course you can stay here Wednesday. Come, come meet my family."

Wednesday’s heart almost jumps out her chest. She's really not one to be scared easily, but this was easily one of the most intense moments of her life.

She usually didn't care if anyone didn't like her, but there was an underlying nagging feeling that told her this was important. Your family was an essential part of you, and if she wanted to win you over; she had to win over your family too.

"I can't wait."

[opiopal]

a fic requested by anon and also my very first request!! and also a very silly request that makes me giggle, does this count as a crack fic? probably! (gn Mc as always ofc!) the idea was a demon rapper/singer constantly throwing shade at mc, why? cause they exist lol. (this does not properly fit into the timeline of the second session of the first OM game,)

.

after coming back to the devildom, Mc of course had plenty of catching up to do! they were gone for oh so long so of course all their attention was on their friends(and also their classes), so they were pretty occupied and whenever they were alone they were most likely just napping or doing homework. so they weren't aware of any new music or trends on the internet.

but, one afternoon they had gone out for some much needed alone time, just browsing shops and thinking about what to get for lunch or if it was even worth eating at the moment at all. eventually they decided to take a small break on a bench and pull out their phone to start playing one of the many mobile games levi suggested to them, though their focus was suddenly interrupted by a hand on their shoulder. which causes them to yell and nearly drop their phone as they whip their head around and see.. solomons stupidly happy face.

"STOP. sneaking up on me. you're going to give me a heart attack."

"ah, but i didn't!"

despite feeling a little annoyed by his giggles, mc of course invited him to sit with them and catch up, since they hadn't talked much since he had suddenly teleported them back to the devildom. after what feels like a very short thirty minute chat, he suddenly turns to completely face Mc.

"you know.. I'm surprised that you're so unbothered by the recent drama,"

"... huh?? what drama?"

his eyebrows raise in amusement,

"you really dont know? With the brothers I figured that you would have heard! here, pull out your D.D.D and go to deviltube"

"ok??"

doing what he intructed, Mc ends up finding themself on a profile for a singer they hadn't heard of before, though recognized a song title or two from internet trends and character edits. solomon instructs them to listen to a song and so they do.

"I mean- it sounds good- 'seven dicked sheep bitch' is kind of a weird lyriaaAAAAAA- WAIT."

they turn to look at him

"IS- IS THIS- ABOUT ME?? WHAT??"

they take at least a good hour listening to song after song, this guy even joked about mc being related to lilith! when did that even become public information?! by the end of it they felt so angry that they were certain satan would have been able to sense it. I mean- what did they ever do to this person??

"so what do you want to do about this? I've been keeping myself from sending a few curses their way before I got your opinion on it"

"NO. no. I mean- I appreciate it but- if I just let someone else deal with it then that would just prove points.."

it was silent for a good while before an idea dawned on them.

"I could write something back,"

"how so?"

"you know, make something and put it out, its not unheard of- ugh nevermind its a stupid idea- I dont even know anything about this guy-"

the sound of a loud 'aheam' cuts mc off and spooks them, they turn their head quickly to see- mephisto??

"WHY- are people just sneaking around today?! hi hello- do you need something?"

Mephisto clears his throat, glancing around for a moment before speaking,

"well. I couldn't help but overhear your conversation-

"you mean eavesdropping for the newspaper club?"

he stops and glares at solomon for both the interruption and the completely untrue accusation!

"I overheared. and I would like to offer my assistance."

silence falls over the two humans before Mc suddenly smiles brightly

"seriously?! i would love your help with this!! I knew you secretly liked me!!"

mephisto's face reddens slightly, probably both from embarrassment and Mc's excitement.

"NO. I- simply think this sort of drama would do well for the newspaper club. I have no interest in helping your pride recover in the slightest."

"mhm, okay, sure."

later on Mc ended up texting the HOL group chat to say that they were staying over at purgatory hall for dinner, though made sure to leave out the fact that mephisto and solomon were there to keep any of the brothers from showing up. unsurprisingly, Mephisto already knew a lot about the guy, and hardly even had to search far to find any more dirt on him. though solomon didn't have a clue on the technology, he surprisingly had some skill in the poetry department, probably due to his old age, so it went smoothly. and the last time mc had sang anything was in elementary school chior, so they surprised themself. all in all it was actually kind of fun, despite the fact that all they did was spend hours on end insulting and airing out a demons dirty laundry.

eventually Mc pointed out how late it was, and that they would sneak back into the HOL and post the music under a new account. but of course they didn't leave before Mephisto made both humans swear to never mention he had anything to do with this. ever. which they agree while giggling, and they all head out and Mc does exactly what they said they would.

and just like in most tv shows written by boomers who dont know how the internet works, it gained attention FAST. mainly because a lot of nocturnal demons had found it and spread it around like crazy.

out of everyone Levi was the very first to hear about it, since he was up into the late hours of the night, and had been tagged by one of his online friends asking "hey isnt this YOUR human lolol?" and he lost his mind, of course the moment he heard about it he was vibrating with amazement and excitement until breakfast, once he knew everyone was downstairs he rushed into the dining room- only to bump into asmo, who was also going to tell everyone the same thing. asmo had been tagged by one of his followers who realized the human artist that popped out of nowhere with ten distracks in one night was also the same human Asmo posted selfies with. once the two composed themselves they told the other five as Mc sat at their chair awkardly trying to eat their breakfast as they feel the brothers eyes slowly land on them one by one. lucifer, on the outside, seemed to be disappointed that mc didn't bring this issue up with them, but on the inside was proud of them for doing something that would surely embarrass the artist. mammon, after getting over the wave of pride he felt for his human, immediately turned and brought up how much money Mc could make off of this! but it was shut down by lucifer the moment it left his mouth. satan and beel both felt angry for a moment at how someone could just insult mc so carelessly, satan calmed down once he thought about how embarrassing it must feel for the artist to not only get such a harsh response, but also to get publicly shamed by other demons. beel only calmed down after Mc told him it was ok, but he was still bummed that someone could ever say anything nasty about Mc. Belphie simply chuckled, referred to the artist as an idiot, and laid his head back down on the table, though on the inside he thought the entire thing was hilarious.

once at RAD it was apparent that it was all that everyone was talking about, and unfortunately for the teachers it was all they would focus on as well. the first to approach mc about it during RAD was Simeon and Luke, Simeon was almost giggling as he asks "so is this what you three were up to last night? I just heard Asmodeus talking about it," which Mc explains that they just didn't want anyone else to handle it with violence or even the death of this demon. Luke, his little speciest self(/j), made it known how proud he was of them for standing up to a demon. Dia of course figures out whats happening as soon as possible once he realizes the entirety of RAD is out of focus, and laughs his ass off over it, of course Mc would do something so silly! humans are so odd!! barbatos of course also finds it funny, but not as much as Dia does. mephisto is questioned by other students on it at some point once they hear he's going to put it in the school news paper, the only thing he says is that mc must have gotten their information from a very reliable source. 13 also thought it was funny, and gloated to other demons about the fact that Mc did such a thing, though later on asked Mc why they would leave her out of something this fun!

at the end of the day multiple students were given detention for being focused on the situation, and the artist was fighting for their LIFE online trying to debunk or defend everything that was mentioned in Mc's tracks, though it didn't help.

(sorry abt the lack of Raphael, I wasn't sure of how to write him- also mb for this taking me so long lol, life got in the way and I got busy) ((and also my apologies if this seems out of character for anyone at all, the emperor's groove got thrown off:[ ))

[pandorasprongs]

PROLOGUE | hold on to the memories.

'it's nice to have a friend' fic masterlist + playlist

PAIRING: jamie tartt x fem!reader

WORD COUNT: 5.0k

SUMMARY: stories of jamie and reader's friendship over the years, from age 7 to 17.

WARNINGS: language, slight body image/appearance issues, slight panic attack, vague descriptions of sex

A/N: yay! finally starting this fic with sort of an overview/background on their relationship, but there will be more flashbacks throughout the chapters. no gif for this one cause tbh i could not find one that fits the vibes here, but regardless hope you all enjoy the prologue!

Age 7

"You mind handing that back over?" You hear a voice coming from the other side of the fence as you pick up a loose football.

You turn to find a boy around your age in a football kit. His hair was completely waxed to one side, probably to keep it from covering his eyes while playing. You recognize his uniform as your school's football team's, though you're not sure if you've seen him before. Then again, you didn't know anyone in town yet. You had just moved to Manchester a few months ago, just as the school year started and while you had a few people to talk to in class, you didn't have any solid friends really.

You toss the ball back to the boy, who catches it swiftly. You think that's the end of it, so you start heading back to your house when he calls out to you again.

"Hey! What's your name?" You answer him, with him nodding in acknowledgment. "I think I've seen you around the school. I'm Jamie."

He reaches over the fence and extends his arm for you to shake it, despite the fact that you were already at your front door. You walk back and shake it, as he asks, "Do you wanna play football? I got a game tomorrow, but Mum's too busy to play goalie."

You had hoped your look of glasses, multiple layers of clothes, and generally un-sporty demeanor was enough to dissuade offers to play, but this Jamie didn't really seem to care.

"Maybe another time," You reply, but this boy is persistent.

"Okay, do you wanna watch me score goals?" He offers before glancing at the book tucked under your arm and pointing at it. "You can read while I play."

Once you realize that he wasn't going to quit, you finally agree. You head back inside to tell your mom that you'd be playing with your neighbor for the afternoon and since you already finished your homework, she was more than willing to let you go. She always said you needed some fresh air, which was why you were outside in the first place.

You walk back to your yard to find Jamie still standing where you left him, but this time he was practicing his dribbling. He was pretty good from what you knew about football, and walk over to his side of the fence. He stops when he sees you and starts leading you to his backyard. There was a goal net in the far back and some cones set up, probably to practice maneuvering the ball better. 

Jamie turns to see if you're still following him and drags you to a small table with two chairs near the door to the house. "You can stay here and count my goals," he instructs you and you nod your head in understanding.

While Jamie kicked around the football, you continued reading your book, occasionally looking up at what the boy was doing. It was easy to keep track of the score since Jamie would be cheering like he just won the Premier League when he scored. 

After getting bored of reading, you decide to ask Jamie to teach you how to play. You see his eyes light up and immediately drags you up from your seat. The first thing he teaches you is how to dribble the ball. He held your hands the whole time to stop you from falling over, but that only seems to make it harder for you to move around.

Once you finally got the hang of that, — meaning you no longer tripped over your own feet — the next few hours were then spent teaching you the other basics of football like passing and shooting. You only started to get decent at shooting when you realized that the sun was already setting.

"I think I have to go home now," You tell Jamie, whose expression suddenly fell at your statement. You go and grab your book from the table and wave at the boy. "It was nice playing with you!"

If he said anything in reply, you didn't hear it because you sprinted back around the fence and into your house. You take off your shoes, relieving the ache of kicking around the ball, and go to tell your parents everything you did that day.

—

The next time you see Jamie was Friday morning. He spotted you leaving your house for school and invited you to his team's football game that afternoon. "You just have to stay in school a little later. My mum said your mum might get worried, so she told me to tell you now so you can ask her."

You run back inside to do just that and after informing her that the other parents would be chaperoning the game, she agreed. You also take the chance to get your scarf and gloves because you hadn't realized how cold it was outside. She went out with you to tell Jamie the good news.

"Thank you, Ma'am," he replied, causing your mom to let out a chuckle at how polite the boy became. She finally sends you off to school and Jamie decides to walk with you too.

—

You couldn't help but be amazed at how well Jamie was playing. You knew that he was at least decent based on how well he taught you that day, but he was practically scoring all the goals for his team. None of the opposing players could even catch up to him, at times. You wonder how he kept his energy up despite the fact that it was freezing outside and he was only in shorts.

After the game, his team got hot chocolate to celebrate their win. You go to congratulate him, but find it hard due to the number of people surrounding them. Jamie was looking for you too, so the moment he spots you trying to make your way through the crowd, he heads to you instead and pulls you aside.

"Did you like the game?" was the first thing he says to you.

You immediately nod, "Yeah, it was really fun to watch! Congrats on winning."

Jamie shrugs, "Thanks, but it's really nothing, we've been on a streak for a while." You don't know if he's just being humble or bragging about his team, but either way, you're happy they're doing well.

Afterward, Jamie decides to bring you to meet his mom. She's quick to embrace you and mentions that Jamie's been talking about you non-stop, much to the boy's embarrassment. She hands you a hot chocolate of your own and you're grateful to be able to warm your hands. You lost one of the pair around lunchtime, so you've been keeping your hands in your jacket pocket the whole day.

While Jamie goes to change, you stay with Georgie as you savor your drink. She notices the lack of cover on your right hand and gives you an extra pair that she kept in her bag. It's clearly too big for you and its orange color clashes with the blue and white on your left hand but you're grateful regardless.

Soon after, Jamie's rushing out of the locker room looking cozy in a sweatshirt under his winter jacket. He's wearing gloves as well and when he notices your mismatched gloves, he takes one of his off and switches them with the orange one. 

They're a much better fit and you thank Jamie for it. The boy adds, "My hands are bigger, so they won't slip off as easily." 

"Come on, let's go home!" He adds, grabbing one of your hands with his left and his mom's with his right as you walk off the pitch.

After coming home, your mom notices your new glove and decides to bring some cookies for the neighbors as a thank you. That started a months-long gift exchange between the two moms for reasons ranging from watching over their kids on weekdays to lending their kids a pencil for a standardized test. 

You didn't really mind it though, because it usually meant you'd get to hang out with Jamie longer. You spent countless weekends riding your bikes around town, playing football, and even camping in your backyards. The boy who threw that ball over your fence was quickly becoming your best friend.

—

Age 15

“Aww, my little girl is so grown up, now!” Your mom exclaims as she opens the door to see you in a pink knee-length sundress. You don’t know why she’s so shocked you’re wearing it considering that she was the one who bought it for you. “Hmm, but do you think you need a necklace?”

“Mom!” You whine and she immediately backs off. It’s not like you minded the suggestion, but you had your own issues to deal with and didn’t need your parents to get involved.

When you said yes to Tim asking you on a date, you knew you’d be both excited and nervous. But you didn’t realize how insecure it would make you. Your parents say all the time that it’s normal for kids your age — being insecure about your looks and body, — but that advice never seemed to help. As your mom leaves the room, you turn back to the mirror and sigh. Something was just off. The dress was pretty, the shoes matched, and your mom did great with your hair, but even then, you still aren’t satisfied.

You weren’t as experienced with make-up and fashion as the other girls in your school and you had long since accepted that. You just didn’t realize it would backfire on you in times like these. You sigh sharply again. If Tim really liked you, it wouldn’t matter that much right? You add the necklace your mom was suggesting before heading downstairs.

After a string of ‘oohs’ and ‘awws’ from your parents, you start heading to the restaurant. Most popular restaurants among your schoolmates were walkable and you didn’t want an even more awkward introduction with your parents there, going there by yourself was the best plan. You had gotten there early, so you settled on the bench outside the restaurant to wait for your date.

Maybe around the first half hour, you should’ve suspected something was off. But you stayed for another hour in case Tim actually showed up. God, you shouldn’t have believed he was sincere. Why would someone ask you out? You always kept to yourself in class, spent most of your time studying, and never even tried to go to parties or anything.

You check your phone again because some hopeful part of you thought he’d text you with a valid excuse, but all you see are some messages from classmates asking for notes and a missed call from your mum. You were not ready to face your parents right now, not after the hopeful looks on their faces that their daughter might be sociable for a night.

Instead, you call the only other person you can. Jamie makes it to the place in record time and the first thing you do is hug him. The moment you make contact with his body is the moment you let the tears flow from your face. It didn’t really matter at that point if people were staring: you just needed someone. You needed Jamie.

“I’m gonna murder that prick,” Jamie threatens as he reciprocates the hug.

“Please don’t,” you whisper into his chest. “I can’t have you going to jail right now.” Despite trying your best to say it jokingly, your voice is too hoarse to properly convey it.

After what felt like hours in that position, you finally let go. You soon realize that your streaming tears had stained Jamie’s shirt. “Shit, I’m sorry.”

The boy looks down and just shrugs. “It was getting too small for me, anyway.” That’s enough to put a smile on your face.

The two of you get into the car – Georgie’s car, since technically, Jamie only had a provisional license – and start driving back to your house. Maybe it was your wrecked emotional state, but you decided to outright ask, “Jamie, do you find me attractive?”

You gasp as Jamie almost crashes the car. You quickly clarify as he steadies the vehicle, “Fuck, I didn’t mean it like that! It’s just, I don’t really know how I look to guys.”

“Right, sorry.” He says but doesn’t look away from the road. “I mean, you are pretty. As long as you don’t let it get to your head.”

You roll your eyes. “Oh, fuck off Jamie, I’m not you.” You could list the number of times Jamie’s flashed that cocky smirk to girls at school during breaks. Those were some of the very few times you were embarrassed to be seen with him and you laugh at the reminder. But your smile quickly disappears when you look down at your outfit. “Do you think other guys think I’m pretty?”

Your voice is as soft as it’s ever been, not wanting to show how insecure you’re feeling at the moment. But Jamie can tell like he always does. You turn the corner to your house and he stops the car in the road and fully turns to you.

“Fuck those other guys. Fine, if you need someone to say it, I will. You are fucking gorgeous, especially tonight.” You cringe at his words, not used to having anyone say that about you, but he gets you to look at him again. “I’m serious. And Tim’s a fucking idiot for ditching you.”

Despite his harsh tone, the soft look in his eyes as he tries to comfort you almost makes you tear up again. As if it’s become a routine, you reach over and envelop him in a hug once more. To make up for the failed date, the two of you spend the rest of the night eating a tub of Neopolitan ice cream and soon enough, you forget that Tim even existed.

—

Age 17

Your teachers always said you were a good writer. But no one ever told you how fucking difficult it was to start your personal statement. You'd never realized how hard it is to prove you should go to university until you forced yourself to sit down and actually try and write something. You started with the outline route, trying to note all your academic achievements, extracurriculars, and things like that before you ended up boring yourself.

You've written 9 possible starting lines at this point, and in the end, you decide to just shut your laptop in despair. Try again tomorrow, you said to yourself. The same thing you said yesterday and the day before that. 

You go to lie down on your bed when you hear something hit your window. It's a light clinking sound, and you ignore it till you hear another one. You finally decide to check outside your window and hear shouting from above.

"God?" you ask hesitantly.

"Nope, just me," you look up to find Jamie Tartt sitting on his rooftop, almost giving you a heart attack.

"Get down from there!" You tell him immediately and instantly cringe at how similar your tone is to your mom’s. Jamie rolls his eyes at the order but obliges anyway. He starts going down the roof into his bedroom — carrying an empty bottle of beer in his left hand — and makes it through his window.  Once he's safe with his feet on the floor, he turns around to face you in your adjacent bedroom.

"Why'd you even go up there?" you question and Jamie, like always, simply shrugs.

"Felt like it," you shake your head at his reasoning. You knew your best friend could be reckless, but you didn't think he'd do something as stupid as that, especially before scouting season.

"So falling off and breaking your legs wasn’t something you thought could possibly happen?"

"Well, that’s why I have you to warn me," He exclaims, before going back to the conversation. "I'm coming over."

Both your sets of parents were out for the night and they'd known each other long enough to trust each other's kids enough, so neither of you needed to message them about it. You watch him sprint out of his room and after a few minutes, you here the doorbell ring.

You head downstairs and open the door to find a panting Jamie leaning on the frame. "3 minutes, new record time."

"Well, they do say I'm one in a million." He jokes as you let him inside and he takes off his shoes.

"Who's they, in this situation?"

"Mum." He says blankly, collapsing on the couch. "And Simon."

You laugh, before lifting his legs and shuffling on the opposite side of the couch. You rest them on your lap for a second, before a wave of stench from his feet hits you and you shove them off. Jamie goes back to sitting upright and he instead leans his head on your shoulder.

You turn on the TV and start browsing for a movie as your entertainment for the night. Most weekends were like this; hanging out in one of your houses, ordering pizza — which Jamie did as you looked through channels, — and relaxing on the couch.

The order was placed and you settled on the Hunger Games this time. You watched the first part of the movie in silence as usual, but once the pizza arrived, Jamie decided to change things up.

"Wanna play 20 questions?" You look at him curiously. You knew practically everything about each other, so why on Earth would you play a game that's every person's go-to icebreaker?

You don't have a chance to protest because after taking a bite of the pizza, he asks, "What were you doing before I got here?"

Your eyes widened at that. Maybe the one thing you never really talked about with Jamie was your future. Neither one of you would admit it, but there wasn't any chance that you two were going to be doing the same things in your career. You had academia and Jamie had football. It's hard to imagine something that kept the two of you together and also made both of you happy, so you never brought it up.

"Uh, I was having a wank," you joke but Jamie isn't amused. He continues to stare at you with an expression that you rarely ever saw; he was being serious. "I was trying to write my personal statement."

 You look cautiously at your best friend who is quiet for the first time tonight. He takes a bite of his pizza again and with a full mouth, says, "And? How's it going?"

You groan and lean your head back. "Fucking terrible. I can't think of anything to say about myself."

"The fuck do you mean? You're like the smartest person I know." He points out and while you're touched he thinks that, you sigh.

"Unis don't just look at grades anymore. They want substance and worldly impact from their applicants. How the fuck am I supposed to change our societal landscape at fucking seventeen?" You admit, and it's like a weight has been lifted off of you. You drop your plate of pizza on the table and lean into Jamie's side.

"You want me to write it for you? I've got a bunch of great things to say about my best friend." He offers and you finally let out a laugh. "I can put how fucking amazing you are at Scrabble, how you can predict the ending of a movie in the first 20 minutes, how loud your voice can get when you cheer me on at a football game, and how you can hear a song once and already figure out how to play it on the piano."

You look up to find Jamie giving you a wide smile and his happiness is contagious. But that feeling is almost instantly replaced when you remember the position you two are in and feel your heart beating faster.

You don't ignore the fact that Jamie has grown up a lot more in recent years: finally passing you in height, having more defined arm muscles, and definitely growing into his features. It's harder to feel normal when you do the things you did as kids like when he rests his head or arms on your shoulders, pulls you into his chest to stop you from walking in front of a passing car, or just like right now when you're leaning into him, his arm pulls you closer to his body.

You slowly pull yourself away, but then he grabs hold of your hand instead. You've held hands before, but again, there's just something different about now. You decide to leave it there before finally replying, "I'm sure with that kind of stories in it, they'll let me into fucking Oxford." The two of you laugh before you grab your plate of pizza again and turn to back to the movie.

—

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” You hear someone say, as you turn the corner to your school’s locker room.

It was normal to hear the players get nervous before the finals, but hearing Jamie Tartt panicking was a whole new thing for most of your classmates. Some league teams had sent scouts for the striker in this game and while everyone knew he’d do great, it seemed like the school’s support still wasn’t enough to convince him of that.

When his teammates couldn’t snap him out of it, their Plan B was to call you.

“Sorry, I’m looking for my best friend, Jamie Tartt. Brown hair, blue eyes, kind of conceited, but pretty nice if you get to know him.” You start out jokingly, but when his panicked eyes landed on yours, you quickly shift gears. “Shit, sorry. Not the time for jokes, I guess.”

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m off my game right now,” He starts, still trying to catch his breath as he moves around frantically. You take his hands into yours in order to steady him, but when that doesn’t work, you grab him by his shoulders.

Usually, Jamie would be towering over you, but with his slumped posture at the moment, you were almost eye-to-eye with the guy. “Jamie, take a deep breath. Focus on me, okay?”

You’ve gone through this enough times — usually with you in Jamie’s place — to know how to calm him down.

He follows your directions and you slowly nod your head. “Keep breathing, just do that for now.” Jamie closes his eyes and slowly starts to steady himself. Your hands move from his shoulders to his hands like you initially planned.

“I know it’s fucking terrifying, but believe me when I say that you are incredible. You know how you always tell me that I’ll smash it as Model UN conferences? This time, I’m the one telling you you’re gonna be the best fucking player out there.” You pause for a moment in case he reacts, but all Jamie does is nod his head. “I believe in you. Georgie and Simon believe in you. Hell, this entire school fucking believes in you. I swear, I saw people planning a chant for you outside.”

That gets the player to laugh and you smile, seeing a glimpse of his usual self. “Also, I know I’m complimenting you right now, but better savor it cause I’m never inflating your ego like this ever again.”

“Not even when I help Man City get another win in my first year?” Jamie finally speaks up.

“I’ll be complimenting Pep, not you.” You playfully roll your eyes. “But to be able to do that, you have to get out and play today.”

Jamie straightens up and starts shaking away the nerves. He turns to head to his team, but not before giving you a quick hug and a ‘thank you.’ Once he enters the locker room again, you start heading back to your seat.

—

Age 18

"Do you really want to do this?" Jamie asks carefully, but you've already made up your mind as you pull him closer.

You were going off to university in a few months and Jamie would be doing his summer training soon. Both his and your parents were out of town on a couple's retreat, so it was either now or never.

You knew that going off for college would increase the chances of your first time being with a random guy you met at a frat party infinitely, so you could say it was a calculated decision to jokingly ask Jamie when you talked about it if he'd be willing to sleep with you.

You didn't really expect anything and for the first few seconds, Jamie was too in shock to actually reply. You immediately tried to dismiss it as a joke, but before you could, he replied, "Sure."

You knew that Jamie had already had sex with girls before, — hearing him try and sneak the girls out of his bedroom window was always a fun story to bring up the next day — so you thought that it would just be another one for him.

But that night was the most delicate you've ever seen him. He didn't rush you or make you feel uncomfortable. He checked up on you constantly, making sure it didn't hurt and you were actually enjoying yourself. You made sure to hug him after, — not being able to say any words of gratitude out loud, — and you eventually went to sleep like that.

You woke up the morning after, still with him beside you, but after you got changed and he went back to his house, neither of you brought it up again. You went back to your old routine of hanging out in the afternoons and movie nights as if nothing even happened.

And it really was for the best, considering that the next time you had sex really was in a frat house’s bathroom.

—

Now, you were loading the last of your things into your car for your family road trip to Cardiff, which was to also move you into your dorm. Your mom was recounting the boxes, making sure you didn't forget anything because in her words, "We are not driving 3 and half hours twice just to bring you your toothbrush." Your dad was in the kitchen fixing up snacks for the trip, so you decide to take this chance and finally say goodbye to your best friend.

You barely saw Jamie in the weeks leading up to this since he spent most of his time at training. Even on weekends, he would be passed out in his room from the painstaking drills of the days prior. So as you knock on their door, you aren't very hopeful.

It reveals Simon who instantly pouts and brings you in for a hug. You always appreciated him for how he accepted Jamie into his life, despite the latter's fears that he'd be just like his father.

"Come inside," He offers, but you shake your head. You had to leave soon and you didn't want to delay the trip any longer. “Alright, but I was actually baking some muffins that you guys can take on your drive there, and you can’t say no to those.”

You laugh as you nod, before asking, "Is Georgie home?" 

Simon calls out to his wife to tell her that you're about to leave. You soon hear quick footsteps descending the stairs before you are once again enveloped in a hug. 

Simon heads out to presumably pack up those muffins, but you're too distracted by the rising feeling of sadness as you say goodbye to the woman whose practically been your second mother for a decade.

"You stay safe, okay? I know you'll enjoy your life there, but don't make your parents worry too much. Cause then they won't be able to stop talking about you," You laugh at her prediction before giving her one last hug.

Simon races back to you with a brown paper bag which he hands over, along with a pat on the back. You turn around to see if there's any sign of your best friend, but Georgie answers that for you. "He said he might be running late at practice." You feel your heart sink, but do your best to mask it. You wave goodbye to the couple before walking to the car.

You hand your dad the bag of muffins and sigh, "We can go." Your parents exchange a look but oblige nonetheless. You start heading into the car when you hear the call of your name.

You turn to see Jamie, still in his kit — shorts and all, — running towards your house. You decide to meet him halfway and once he's close enough, the football player pulls you into a tight hug, as if he's never letting go.

"Did you really think I'd let you leave without saying goodbye?" He whispered into your shoulder.

"If you're in trouble for leaving practice early, that is not on me." You try and keep it light-hearted, but his laugh only makes the pit in your stomach feel worse.

"Call me, okay? As often as you can. And send me pictures of all the stadiums you're playing in. I don't care if you send ten pictures of Etihad Stadium in a row, just do it. If you ever come to Cardiff, take some time off to see me. And," you try and think of more things to say, but Jamie cups your face in his hands to make you stop.

"I'll see you during the off-season, yeah?" Jamie's look is soft and you can feel the dam stopping your tears about to break.

"Don't you fucking forget me, Jamie." You try and say as angrily as you can, but your voice cracks as Jamie pulls you into another hug.

The two of you finally separate and you head off to your car. You stop yourself from looking back as you get into your seat. 

Jamie doesn't take his eyes off you, though. He watches as your car starts and turns the corner off your street.

A/N: hope you all enjoyed this one! if you couldn't tell, some of these flashbacks were based on the song 'it's nice to have a friend' by taylor swift which is what inspired this whole thing! see you next week for the official first chapter !!

[froznwater]

im so sorry this is incredibly random but if i dont write alenoah i WILL die but i cant think of anything to write. do u have any simple ideas. ignore if not

HI!!! tysm for your ask <3 i hope you can find something to write amongst all the ideas. These are a bunch of ideas have written down in my notes/google drive/tumblr posts and have not got gotten around to. I still might at some point in time but feel free to use them. I will still do my own take if I get the time/motivation. There's simply so many, why not share and inspire some fics :)

----

General ideas:

Noah knows/learns spanish. Bonus points if Alejandro isn't aware until the perfect moment.

Alejandro thinks he can get away with flirting with Noah in spanish. Noah starts shit talking in spanish. Noah learns so he can hear all the little comments Alejandro keeps making under his breath. etc. so many possibilities.

Now that the show is over and Noah's off to college, he realizes he’s missing something in his life. Maybe it’s his friends, maybe it’s a lack of ever-looming danger, OR maybe it’s Alejandro. Who fucking knows. He’s too busy trying not to be in love with Alejandro to figure it out. 

Their group project is failing, horribly. There’s one thing Noah knows for certain: Alejandro's to blame. At what point does slippery eel turn into a term of endearment?

They have never ever fallen asleep next to each other. Let alone in each other's arms. Never.

Time loop where Alejandro is stuck on the episode where Noah gets voted out and sticks himself to falling in love because he can’t let go of his pride long enough to simply let Noah stay in the game and move on.

Noah loses his contacts and starts wearing his glasses more often. Alejandro notices. Everyone notices Alejandro notices.

Alejandro and Noah team up to get their friends together (insert whatever ship you like) and end up together in the process/the other two were trying to do the same thing for them.

A commentary timeline on how Alejandro's charisma turn into exploitation, how Noah's patience turned into indifference, and how they parallel each other. (I've written a few hundred words for this one lol.)

Each thinks the other doesn't like them. Cut to third party POV that watches and witnesses them completely a mess for each other.

Noah, once voted out in I See London, learns about Alejandro's family. Who have been very vocal since the show started airing.

Exploration of how Alejandro tries really really hard. Yes, He's at the top of the class, but so is Noah. Noah who sleeps through classes and doesn't turn in homework and shows up late or simply not at all and is still right up there with him.

“I would kill to be like you. To just absorb all the information fed to me. If I were you I might actually- “(beat my brother) “Might actually what?” “I told you. I don’t want to talk about it, Noah.” - "Do you know how long I studied for that test? Hours. And you- You got a 96 with no effort at all." It was a 98. But this seems like a bad time to correct him.

Dialogue one-liners prompts i've written down:

"If we make it out of this alive, I'm going to kiss you."

“Why do I feel like I cant say no to you?”

"I know you don't actually care about me, but thank you for trying to pretend that you do." (Said by Noah is joking. Said by Alejandro is bitter.)

"You can't win against someone who has nothing to lose."(Alejandro OR Noah angst.)

Soulmate aus:

My big two: Telepathy/Mentally linked.(imagine this one as a wt rewrite omg) And Whatever you draw on yourself shows up on your soulmate. Matching tattoos.

First words on each other. (I've done this one already here. but feel free to do it as well!!)

Communicating through dreams. (If you know cardcaptor sakura; like that.)

General AUs:

Until dawn AU.

Gakuen Alice AU.

My Babysitters A Vampire AU. Zombie Apoc AU.

Harry Potter AU. Reality Dating Show AU.

Infinity Train AU!!!!!!

Veronica Mars AU!!!! (i wanna do this one ALOT noah is sooo veronica LMAO) OBLIGATORY IDEAS:

seven minutes in heaven.

wrong number.

trapped in a closet.

movie night. noah is sitting under alejandro and lol they are physically, platonically touching for awhile. (leads to finally getting together).

one gets injured, the other fixes them up in the nurses office :P.

short "prompt-ishs" i've started writing:

“What the hell is your problem, Alejandro?” And this time, the tone was so disgusted, so bitter, that something snapped, deep in Alejandro’s chest.

Fuck it.

“What’s my problem?” He asked, incredulous. “What’s my problem? You’ve got to be kidding me, Courtney. I almost died. I almost died, paralyzed and alone, and the only friend I thought I had didn’t give a single shit! The only person who cared was Noah, of all people. I quite literally come back to life and the only thing you can do is whine about your girlfriend problems.”

Courtney takes a step back.

“I was stuck in a robot for months, my legs barely work, my family moved on- actually, I don’t know if they ever actually even noticed,” He laughs, broken, “- and you have the audacity to ask me what my problem is?!”

Alejandro is over playing nice. He’s had enough.

-

this one is a rivals team up to get out courtney blurb

little idea about Alejandro getting into zodiacs.

moments where alejandro questions why Noah is so attractive

-

SEND MORE ASKS IF ANYONE HAS ANY QUESTIONS ON ANY OF THESE IDEAS!!! / IF THEY HAVE ANY IDEAS OR CONCEPTS TO ADD OR EXPAND ON :)))

[steddieasitgoes]

written for @eddiemonth Day 16 Prompt: Library & Curious a/n: This one might be my favorite one I've written yet! It's set at the start of season 2! read on ao3 | link to my ao3 Edde Month series

Eddie’s well aware there are a lot of stupid classes that Hawkins High requires its student body to take. Algebra (there’s no reason for the alphabet and numbers to mix, except in very rare cases, like D20 type cases), Physics (what more do they need to know beyond what goes up, must come down), French (as if anyone from Bumfuck, Indiana could afford to go to France — okay maybe some can, but Eddie’s certainly not one of them that’s for damn sure), goddamn Physical Education (only way he’s running is if someone is chasing him, thank you very much). But the stupidest class of all has to be Study Hall.

An entire class dedicated to doing work for other classes? What kind of idiot dreamed this one up? Instead of letting them out an hour early, some guy, probably in a suit because all bad ideas come from guys in suits, decided to hold them hostage to do more work. It’s ridiculous. Not to mention, it’s one of the few times, outside of lunch, that the grades get to mingle with each other. Sure, lots of studying goes on in between freshmen drooling over seniors and sophomores paying juniors for last year’s test answers.

The only time Eddie actually liked study hall was during his sophomore year when he had it first period and could do all the homework he neglected to do the night before. It’s the only time it actually made sense. And the only time, thus far in his high school career, that Eddie actually turned in more assignments than not.

But now, he’s a senior stuck with study hall as his last class of the day, and he wants to die. Okay, maybe not die die. But die in the sense that he’d rather risk bodily harm escaping the hellscape that is the Hawkins library during 6th-period study hall than sit here. His freedom is so close — nothing but a few windows and a brick wall separating him from the brisk late-October air. Eddie can’t risk it, though. He’s already reached his detention quote for the semester, and if he wants to keep using the drama room for Hellfire meetings, he has to sit in this damn library seat and at least pretend to get some work done.

Which, honestly, isn’t the worst thing in the world. At least it gives him time to work on his latest Hellfire campaign without the prying eyes of Jeff and Gareth or the unnecessary questions from Freak. Sure, he’s supposed to be working on an essay for English Lit, but he doesn’t think Ms. Washington is going to appreciate his take on Frankenstein, so he’ll worry about coming up with a dumbed-down idea another day.

Besides, even focusing on his new campaign is hard enough with the idle chatter going on that the librarian is either pretending not to hear or is too tired of shushing them for.

It’s the usual sort of study hall gossip. Who’s screwing who. What teacher is going to pull a pop quiz tomorrow and become the biggest asshole at Hawkins High. The occasional nervous whispers of the geeks actually studying.

It’s all mindless chatter that drifts into the background when the topic of Tina’s Halloween Bash comes up. That’s the real gossip of the night. Who got the keg, and what other alcohol is being provided? Who is going to be the best dressed? What couple is going to get caught screwing in Tina’s parent’s bed? Are there going to be any good fights or breakups?

Eddie rolls his eyes. Jesus H. Christ, can’t anybody be original around here?

Unfortunately for Eddie, there’s no escaping Tina’s Halloween Bash since he’s been summoned to provide some extra party favors, as the “cool” kids like to call them. Eddie, never one to back down from being a thorn in a “cool” kid’s side, always responds with the same spiel: “Drugs. What you want is drugs, right? Or should I go raid Melvald’s for you?”

Whatever. Money is money, and Eddie can take all the money he can get his grubby hands on if he wants to get out of this shit-hole town when he graduates in June.

Glancing at his watch, he tips his head back in a silent groan of annoyance. Only ten minutes have passed since he slunk into the uncomfortable library seat. Christ, why does time move so slow, sometimes? Eddie tries to focus on his Hellfire notes in front of him, and he’s successful for all of thirty seconds before something catches his attention in the corner of his eye.

Nancy Wheeler and the former Hawkins High King, Steve Harrington, are whispering to each other by the pencil sharpener. He rolls his eyes. Of course, no one else in the library is paying them any mind. And why would they? Harrington fell from grace last year, and Wheeler isn’t exactly the “look at me” type. Still, Eddie finds them morbidly interesting in a way he finds all the tragic heterosexual couples in this stupid small town interesting.

Before Eddie has a chance to fall deeper into his cynical outlook on this stupid Hawkins High couple, Wheeler starts tugging Harrington toward the private study room in the back of the library. It’s a move that shocks Eddie to his core. Don’t get him wrong, he’s heard all bout Harrington’s little trysts in that very room over the years (thank you gossip mill for the very cheap porn), but he never would have assumed Wheeler would be the one tugging him toward it.

It’s that detour from who she’s supposed to be that has Eddie peeling himself off his chair.  At least, that’s what he tells himself as he saunters toward the stack of books in the back of the library closest to the private room. If he hears moaning or anything remotely sounding like they’re hooking up, he promises himself he’ll leave. He’s a freak in many ways, but a creep, he is not.

Glancing over his shoulder, Eddie can see the two of them in the small room. They’re close but not close enough to be doing anything beyond talking. From the look on her face, doing anything of that sort isn’t even on her mind.

Interesting.

Eddie creeps closer.

“Barbara. It’s like nobody cares. Except her parents. And now they’re selling their house.”

“Nance—“

Wheeler rants about something, but he misses most of it. Only catching the very end.

“It’s destroying them.”

No shit, Eddie thinks with another dramatic eye roll. Of course, losing their only daughter is destroying them. The Hollands are one of the few families around here that actually have a heart. At least they did before Barbara tore it from them by running away. Or so the story goes. Eddie’s always been a bit suspicious of Holland’s disappearance. He knows the runaway type, and a straight-A girl, with a well-off family who loves them like Holland had doesn’t fit the bill.

“I know. Okay? I get it,” Harrington says, glancing away from Wheeler to peer out the window. Eddie grabs the first book on the shelf and buries his face in it. It must fool Steve because he starts talking again. “But listen, there’s nothing we can do about it.”

“Yeah, we could tell them the truth.”

“This isn’t some game, Nance. If they found out that we told any…” He trails off again, and Eddie reaches for another book.

Eyes peering over the pages, Eddie watches as he shuts the blinds before presumably returning to Wheeler. With the blinds shut and their voices even lower, he can no longer hear what they’re talking about. Which is a damn shame because Eddie’s never been more curious about what the disgraced King was about to say than right now. 

+ + +

“M’telling you guys. It was weird,” Eddie says through a mouthful of Doritos.

They’re hanging out in Gareth’s garage. Jeff sits in the old recliner while Gareth stays perched behind his drum kit. Freak is running late, as usual, though Eddie’s not too pressed about it today. Too distracted filling the boys in on what he overheard in the library.

“I don’t know man; it sounds like she was just concerned about her best friend,” Gareth says, lightly tapping his drumsticks on his snare.

“Yeah, those two were inseparable, remember.”

“All the more reason why it’s weird she’s been mopping around lately. Obviously, she knows where Holland is. Or what happened to her.”

“Not this again,” Jeff groans, sinking further into the recliner.

“Yes, this again,” Eddie retorts, throwing Jeff an intense glare. “This town is weird as shit. If the Byers kid can come back from the dead—“

“I thought they proved it wasn’t actually Byers they found in the quarry,” The Freak says, finally joining them in the garage. 

“They did, but Eddie still thinks—“

“Shut up!” Eddie shouts, taking a moment to throw a Dorito at all of their heads. “Let me level with you for a second, okay? Yeah, sure, they said that kid wasn’t Byers, but they never said whose kid it was, which is weird. And then right after that, they “find” Holland’s car? It’s too coincidental, man. You know a story isn’t right when it’s too easy.”

“This isn’t one of our campaigns,” Gareth sighs. “Sometimes things really are just accidental coincidences.”

Eddie shakes his head, running his Dorito-stained fingers over his face. “Nah, man, m’not buying it this time. Harrington and Wheeler know what really happened to Holland. And I think they’re responsible for it.”

“So, what?” Jeff asks, leaning forward so his elbows rest on his knees. “You think they made her disappear or something.”

“Maybe Harrington got Holland knocked up, and his family gave her money to leave.”

“See!” Eddie shouts, slapping his hands together as he jumps on the balls of his feet. “Freak gets it! That’s the kind of thing I’m talking about.”

“Okay, but if Harrington knocked Wheeler’s best friend up, why would she still be dating him?” Jeff asks.

“And why would they both be hiding her from her parents?” Gareth adds.

Okay, so maybe these are valid questions, but Eddie doesn’t appreciate the doubts they’re throwing at him. “I don’t appreciate you doubting me,” he says plainly. “You’ll see. M’gonna figure this out.”

“Right, just like you figured out that Ms. O’Donnell was actually failing you for a reason and not because she had some vendetta against Wayne for not dating her.”

“Hey. That was a good theory, okay. One I still think is true, by the way.” Turning his back on the boys, Eddie crosses the room and tosses the empty bag of Doritos into the trash bin before heading towards his badly parked van.

“I thought we were practicing!” Gareth shouts after him.

“Just let him go,” Jeff sighs. “He’s impossible to work with when he’s in conspiracy theory mode.”

Eddie flips Jeff off, climbing into the van. “I’ll see you boys tomorrow.”

+ + +

Eddie’s been at Tina’s party for an entire hour and a half, and there’s still no sign of Harrington or Wheeler. Not that he’s actively searching them out, of course. He’s just had some downtime in between upselling Hagan for the world’s shittiest pot he could get his hands on, and explaining to some cheerleader how Special K hits differently if you snort it. Plus, his supply ran out about ten minutes ago, so he’s just buying time before someone notices him lingering and kicks his ass to the curb.

He’s about to save himself and whatever jock gets thrown his way the trouble, when he spots Harrington and Wheeler arguing by the punch bowl. He’s too far away to hear what they’re saying, but he has a sneaking suspicion it has less to do with the conversation he heard in the library and more to do with Wheeler’s drunken state. Case in point: the red liquid she just spilled all over her blouse.

Chasing after her, Harrington cuts through the crowd and makes his way toward one of the bathrooms. Eddie waits a minute before following them down the crowded hallway. Thankfully, no one is in line for this bathroom — still too early in the night for the alcohol to have hit their bladders — so he’s first in the unofficial bathroom line. Leaning casually against the wall, Eddie angles his ear closer to the door so he can hear inside.

It takes a minute for his ears to tune out the music and nonsense chatter, but when they do, he can clearly hear Wheeler slurring her words.

“You’re pretending like everything’s okay. You know, like we didn’t… like we didn’t kill Barb.”

Eddie’s never experienced shock before, at least, he doesn’t think he has; the early days of his life are a little hazy around the edges, but that’s the only word he thinks fits what he’s experiencing right now. Part of him wants to shove his ear closer to the door to continue listing, while the other part of him wants to run for the hills, screaming in victory. And if he’s straight with himself, maybe screaming in fear a little, too. Harrington and Wheeler murderers? Who knew?

He knew, that’s who!

He knew there was something shady going on between those two.

Pressing his ear closer, he can hear Wheeler slurring more words, though he’s not exactly sure what she’s saying. Honestly, he doesn’t really care what she’s saying. He’s listening for Harrington’s response right now. What does the mighty King have to say about the bomb she’s just dropped?

“This is bullshit,” she slurs.

“Like we’re in love?” Steve asks.

Huh, clearly, Eddie missed a step or two in his shocked state.  He’s not exactly sure how the conversation strayed from them killing Holland to their, clearly, toxic relationship, but the fact it did is all the proof Eddie needs. If they didn’t kill her, Harrington would have been vehemently denying her claim. And yet, he sounds like a kicked puppy dog right now because she doesn’t love him.

Join the club, Harrington.

The doorknob starts to jiggle, and Eddie bolts. It’s not that he’s afraid about coming face-to-face with the two who apparently killed Holland. It’s just that, well, he needs a minute to think about the information he’s just learned.

+ + +

With Gareth and Freak both busy supervising their siblings around Hawkins and Jeff on candy duty for his family’s house, Eddie has no one to share the good bad news with. RIP Holland and all that, but he’s sitting on some serious dirt right now.

The good part of Eddie’s brain knows he should head straight for the police station. Pull good ole’ Chief Hopper aside and gloat about how he did his job for him. But Eddie’s spent enough time at the stuffy station to know no one is going to believe him especially not against Harrington and Wheeler. He’d have better luck marching in there and turning himself in for her murder. Not that he’s going to do that.

He supposes he could tell Wayne about it, but he doesn’t need to be dragging his uncle into any more of his messes. And since Eddie has no proof beyond overhearing a drunken confession, a mess it’ll surely turn into.

So, he opts for the third option and heads out to Skull Rock to do some thinking.

Maybe Freak is right, and it was some sort of jealous rage brought on by a Holland-Harrington pregnancy. Or maybe Holland saw something she shouldn’t have; the possibilities are endless, and Eddie’s imagination is limitless.

Eventually, he circles back to what he’s supposed to do with this information. Should he turn them in? Maybe not Wheeler; she seems like she’s experienced enough guilt as it and the girl has a bright future or whatever it is the teachers are always talking about. Harrington, though? Harrington, he should turn in, right? I mean, he didn’t even seem phased when Wheeler brought up the murder. Eddie’s watched enough horror movies to know that’s psychopath behavior right there. Besides, it would be nice to see the King behind bars. But then again, he hasn’t been the King in a while. And Harrington’s never really done anything to Eddie beyond standing idle while Hagan threw slurs at him. But he’s not hanging out with Hagan anymore, so maybe he should cut him some slack.

Though they did murder someone.

Jesus H. Christ.

Maybe this is why they say curiosity killed the cat — Eddie’s head is throbbing. He’s about to take another hit from his joint when he hears leaves crunching in the distance.

Shit.

Someone’s coming.

Snubbing out his joint against the rock, Eddie tries his best to make it seem like he’s just here, escaping the busy Halloween night. Which, like, he definitely is, but he can’t be too safe. Especially not when there are two teenage murderers on the loose.

“She thinks m’bullshit? She’s bullshit! Bullshit.”

The voice is unmistakable.

Jesus H. Christ could tonight get any weirder.

Eddie’s only escape is to run deeper into the forest, and he’s not about to do that so he makes himself comfortable on top of Skull Rock like a fucking sitting duck. Searching the pockets of his vest, he yanks out a pack of cigarettes and his lighter. Neither of which he was looking for. Of course, he left his pocket knife in his van. Stupid. So stupid!

There’s a moment of silence before Harrington emerges from the clearing. The moon is bright above them, making Steve’s tear-stained cheeks and red-rimmed eyes glow in the otherwise dark forest.

Maybe he is feeling guilty after all.

“Ah, fuck,” Harrington groans, stumbling to the ground.

Eddie watches as he rolls around for a moment, struggling to find his footing. If Eddie were a mean person, he might let Harrington suffer. But something about his behavior reminds him of a wounded animal, and Eddie’s always had a soft spot for bruised and broken things.

“Shit, Harrington, you okay?” Eddie asks, jumping down.

Eddie’s boots crunch against the leaves, startling Harrington. He manages to pull himself into a seated position and brandishes a near empty beer bottle in Eddie’s direction. “Stay back!”

“Woah, man,” Eddie yelps, hands raised in surrender in front of him. “Don’t kill me.”

“Oh, s’you,” Steve says, slumping against the tree behind him. He tosses the beer bottle aside and runs both his hands over his face. “Jesus. Why does everyone think I would kill s-someone?”

“Uh,” Eddie stutters, glancing around. Now’s his chance to make a break for it. Put those hours of physical education to good use and sprint to the van before Harrington has a chance to make him his next victim. But there’s something in Steve’s sad eyes and dejected voice that makes Eddie stay. “‘Cause you have killed someone before?”

“Man, what the hell are you talking about?” Harrington snaps, fumbling to get out of his jacket. “I’ve n-never killed anyone.”

“So, you didn’t kill Barbara Holland, then?”

“No! Jesus, ‘course not. Barb was… Barb was nice. She was good. Like Nance. Better than Nance, maybe. I don’t know,” Harrington whines, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Barb she’s… yeah, man, she’s dead. But I didn’t have anything to do with that. N-not in the way you think I did, at least.”

Harrington’s not making a lot of sense, which only spurs Eddie’s curiosity on more. Closing the distance between them, Eddie hops to a squat in front of him. “But you did have something to do with what happened to her?”

“Shit, man,” Harrington groans, words slurring more more. “S’complicated, okay. I can’t talk about it with you or her parents or anyone. Or else they’ll come for me or Nance or our families and then we’ll all be toast like Barb. And that… that thing that came out of the Byers’ wall.”

Complicated? Jesus H. Christ, Eddie’s never heard anything more complicated than the jumble of words that just left Harrington’s mouth. He can feel his heart racing in his chest, the realization that they’re alone in the woods talking about something someone doesn’t want Harrington talking about.

“What?” Eddie says more to himself than to Steve. “Harrington, what thing in the Byers wall? You’re not making any sense!”

“The thing. You know, the… the,” Steve hiccups. “The thing we can’t talk ‘bout, else they’ll come for us next.”

Someone will come for him and his family if he reveals what happened to Barb? And the thing in the Byers wall? He wants to ask who would come. What would happen? Is he being blackmailed? There are so many questions dancing on the tip of his tongue, but none of them win the war.

“Harrington, man,” Eddie says, shaking his head. “Are you in trouble? Do you, like, need help or something?”

Finally, freeing himself from his jacket, Harrington lifts his head and looks up. There’s a moment where Eddie’s life flashes before his eyes, but then the sad replay of his life is interrupted by Harrington’s hand on his cheek. A dopey-looking grin on his face as he squints up at Eddie.

“You have pretty eyes, M-m-munson. Anyone ever tell you that?” Steve slurs before promptly passing out against the tree.

What the hell has Eddie gotten himself into?

[pleaseeeimjustagirl]

Becoming That Girl In School

♡ Time management is key! For academic success. Most of us are taking 4-6 classes in total and that is a lot especially when you have assignments, tests, and projects. You need to manage your time so you don't feel overwhelmed. An app that I personally use to create my schedule is structured I've spoken about this app before in many different posts. I have the pro version I recommend purchasing the pro version because you get more tools to help you plan out your schedule. 

♡ Organization. I use my MacBook for note-taking in my classes so I have individual folders for every class. If you use notebooks or a binder organize it so you can keep up with every assignment that is due. To make it more fun get colored notebooks, highlighters, colored pens, and stickers. 

♡ Limit procrastination. Do not wait until the night before to get started on an assignment I used to do this a lot and it caused a lot of stress. Now I have implemented work blocks I select two days out of the week where I sit and do homework for 3 hours. During this time I put my phone on Do Not Disturb, I let my family know I'm busy, and I’ll usually have a YouTube video playing to keep me interested. This has helped me complete all homework assignments so im not doing homework every day and reduce stress.

♡ Studying and tutoring. If you know you are struggling with a certain topic study or go to tutoring. Especially if your school offers free tutoring you should take advantage of that. I struggle with math and this semester I am taking a math class. I started tutoring recently and it has been such a good tool I got help on my homework and I gained more knowledge. If you have a friend who is good at a certain subject become study buddies. To romanticize studying go to a cute cafe, grab a coffee or pastry, sit, and study.

♡ Get a good amount of sleep. No more late nights when you know you have class at 8 am! Our brains need sleep make sure you are sleeping at night when you learn to manage your time you will be able to find time for the fun things you want to do during the day so at night you're not up trying to make up for lost time. Sleep is super important when you are well-rested you can focus in class. I have a bedtime some nights it is different depending on my class schedule but I try to at least get 6 hours of sleep a night.

♡ Reset day. Find a day during the week when you can reset. During this day you will not work on any assignments you will focus on self-care. Sleeping if you need to rest, going to get a facial or doing one at home, binge-watching your favorite show. Make this day all about you and what you want. That day for me is Sunday I love Sundays I have no classes or work so I can stay home resting and pampering myself when Tuesday comes I am ready for my school week to start.

These are a few tips that have been making this semester so much easier for me<3 We are almost close to 300 followers we literally just hit 200!!! Thank you to everyone who has been supporting my blog and welcome to my new girliesss! Comment or click the “lets chat babes” button to submit any topics you want me to discuss or any advice you might need loveee you girliessss muah <3 

[rvp32]

"Will we only ever be friends?"

Another random fluff fic, I wrote this out of boredom but also because I love this outfit for her, she looks perfect here. Not proofread at all, and may contain a lot of grammatical errors and maybe even plot holes. As always please let me know what you guys think and any feedback is appreciated.

You and Chaewon have been best friends since kindergarten. You grew up together in the same neighborhood, went to the same school, and did everything together. You played video games, did homework, and had sleepovers. You always thought of Chaewon as just your friend, but as you got older, you started to see her differently.

Chaewon had a passion for singing that you admired. She spent hours practicing and writing her own songs. She performed at local talent shows and even won a few. When she auditioned for the famous music company, HYBE, you were so proud of her for being accepted.

You knew that being a trainee at HYBE would be tough. Chaewon had to wake up early every morning to attend classes and rehearsals. She had to follow a strict diet and exercise regime, and she barely had any free time. But even with all of that, Chaewon remained determined and never complained.

As Chaewon got more and more successful, you started to feel a different kind of emotion towards her. You realized that you were in love with her. But you knew that telling her would only complicate things. You didn't want to hinder her career or make things awkward between you. So, you kept your feelings to yourself and continued to support her from the sidelines.

It wasn't always easy to hide your feelings, especially when Chaewon would tell you about the guys she was interested in. But you smiled and nodded, never letting on that it hurt to hear her talk about someone else.

Despite your inner turmoil, you were always there for her. You would attend all of her performances, cheering her on from the audience. You would listen to her new songs, offering feedback and encouragement. You were her rock, her confidante, her best friend.

Over the years, Chaewon had become a rising star in the music industry. She had released several albums, won multiple awards, and had a huge fan base. You were amazed by her talent and success, but you couldn't help feeling a twinge of jealousy whenever you saw her with someone else.

Chaewon never seemed to notice your true feelings, and you were content to keep it that way. You didn't want to risk losing her friendship or damaging her career. So, you continued to hide your love for her, burying it deep inside and hoping that it would eventually fade away.

But as time went on, your feelings for Chaewon only grew stronger. You found yourself thinking about her all the time, wondering what it would be like to be more than just friends. You knew that you couldn't keep pretending forever, but you didn't know how to tell her the truth.

And so, you remained in limbo, stuck between your love for Chaewon and your desire to see her succeed. You knew that eventually, you would have to make a choice. But for now, you simply held onto the hope that someday, somehow, things would work out in your favor.

Despite your best efforts to hide your true feelings, Chaewon had started to notice something was different about you. You were more hesitant around her, and sometimes you seemed lost in thought. But she had no idea that you were in love with her.

One day, Chaewon invited you over to her apartment to listen to some of her new songs. As you sat on her couch, listening to her sing, you couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion. You wanted to tell her how you felt, but you were too scared.

Finally, Chaewon turned to you and said, "Why are you so dense? Can't you see that I've been dropping hints for years?"

You looked at her, shocked. "What hints?"

Chaewon rolled her eyes. "I've been flirting with you, idiot. I've been waiting for you to make a move, but you never did. I thought you weren't interested."

You felt a wave of regret wash over you. You had missed all of Chaewon's signals because you were too focused on hiding your own feelings. Now, it seemed like it was too late.

"I'm sorry," you said, your voice barely above a whisper. "I didn't realize."

Chaewon sighed. "Look, it's okay. I just wish you had been honest with me. I could have saved us both a lot of time."

You nodded, feeling ashamed. You knew that you had let your fear hold you back, and now you were paying the price.

Chaewon looked at you, her expression softening. "But that doesn't mean we can't be together. I've always had feelings for you, too. I was just too scared to admit it."

Your heart leapt at her words. "Really?"

Chaewon nodded, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "Really. So, what do you say? Are you ready to take a chance on us?"

You grinned, feeling a weight lifted off your shoulders. "Yes, I am."

As Chaewon's lips met yours, you felt a surge of passion that had been building up inside of you for years. You kissed her back fiercely, your arms wrapping around her waist, pulling her closer to you.

The kiss was intense, filled with all of the pent-up desire and longing that had been building between you for so long. You could feel Chaewon's hands tangle in your hair, pulling you closer to her as she deepened the kiss.

In that moment, nothing else mattered but the two of you. You were lost in each other, caught up in a whirlwind of emotion that had been brewing beneath the surface for years.

When you finally broke the kiss, you were both breathless and flushed. Chaewon looked at you, her eyes shining with a newfound intensity.

"I've waited so long for this," she said, her voice low and husky.

You smiled, feeling a sense of possessiveness wash over you. You knew that Chaewon was yours now, and you would do anything to keep her by your side.

"I won't ever let you go," you said, your voice firm.

Chaewon's eyes widened, a look of surprise crossing her face. But then she smiled, leaning in to kiss you once again.

"I don't want you to," she murmured against your lips.

And so, you and Chaewon began a passionate, intense love affair that consumed your every thought and action. You were both possessive of each other, never wanting to be apart for even a moment.

********

It wasn't always easy, navigating the challenges that came with being in such a public and high-pressure industry. But you and Chaewon were in it together, supporting each other every step of the way.

As the months turned into years, your love for each other only grew stronger. You knew that Chaewon was the only person who could ever truly understand you, the only one who could calm your fears and make you feel complete.

And as you looked into her eyes, you knew that you would do anything to protect her and keep her by your side. Because in a world that was often chaotic and uncertain, Chaewon was the one constant that you could always count on.

Despite the intense love and passion that you shared with Chaewon, your relationship was not without its challenges. As your careers continued to thrive, the pressure and scrutiny from the public and media only increased.

You found yourselves constantly hounded by paparazzi, and rumors about your relationship were rampant. There were times when you felt like you couldn't even go out in public without being harassed or scrutinized.

As the pressure mounted, cracks began to appear in your relationship. You started to argue more frequently, and there were times when Chaewon seemed distant and unresponsive.

You tried to talk to her about it, but she always seemed to brush it off. "It's just the stress getting to me," she would say. "Don't worry about it."

But you couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. And then, one day, Chaewon dropped a bombshell on you.

"I think we need to take a break," she said, her voice soft.

You felt like the wind had been knocked out of you. "What? Why?"

Chaewon sighed, looking away. "I just need some space, okay? I can't handle all of this pressure and stress. It's too much."

You felt your heart breaking in your chest. You knew that Chaewon was struggling, but you didn't want to lose her. You loved her too much.

"We can work through this together," you said, your voice pleading.

Chaewon shook her head. "I don't know, I just need some time to figure things out."

And with that, she left, leaving you alone and heartbroken.

For weeks, you tried to give Chaewon space, but it felt like an eternity. You missed her every moment of every day, and you couldn't bear the thought of losing her.

Finally, you decided to take matters into your own hands. You showed up at her apartment, determined to talk things out.

But when you arrived, you found Chaewon with another man. They were laughing and talking, and Chaewon seemed completely at ease.

You felt a surge of anger and jealousy that you couldn't control. How could she move on so quickly?

"Who is this?" you demanded, your voice tight.

Chaewon looked up, surprised to see you there. "Y/N, what are you doing here?"

You ignored her question, instead turning to the man. "Who are you?"

The man looked uncomfortable. "I'm just a friend. Chaewon and I were hanging out."

You didn't believe him. You could feel the possessive urge rising inside of you, the need to protect what was yours.

"I think it's time for you to leave," you said, your voice cold.

The man hesitated, but Chaewon spoke up. "It's okay, he's leaving. Y/N, can we talk?"

You nodded, but the anger inside of you was still simmering. How could she do this to you?

As you sat down to talk with Chaewon, the tension between you was palpable. You tried to keep your emotions in check, but it was hard. You felt like your heart had been ripped out of your chest.

Finally, Chaewon spoke. "I'm sorry, Y/N. I didn't mean for things to end up like this. But I can't keep living like this. The pressure, the stress, it's too much. I need to take a step back and figure out what I want."

You felt tears prickling at the corners of your eyes. "What do you want?"

Chaewon looked away. "I don't know. But I do know that I can't keep pretending like everything is okay. 

You felt a deep sadness and pain settle in your chest. You had never imagined that things would end up like this. You had always thought that you and Chaewon were meant to be together forever.

But now, it seemed like everything was falling apart. The love and passion that had once burned so brightly between you had faded, replaced by uncertainty and doubt.

"I just wish things could go back to the way they were," you said, your voice cracking with emotion.

Chaewon reached out and took your hand. "I know, Y/N. But we can't force things to be the way they used to be. Sometimes, we have to let go and trust that things will work out in the end."

You didn't want to let go. You couldn't imagine your life without Chaewon in it. But you knew that she was right. You couldn't force her to stay with you if she didn't want to.

The days and weeks that followed were some of the hardest of your life. You tried to keep busy, throwing yourself into your work and your hobbies. But no matter how hard you tried, you couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing.

You missed Chaewon more than anything. You missed the way she laughed, the way she looked at you with those big brown eyes, the way she made you feel like you were the only person in the world that mattered.

But as time went on, you started to come to terms with the fact that things might never be the same between you and Chaewon. You knew that you had to move on, even if it felt like an impossible task.

And so, you started to go out and meet new people. You went on dates, but none of them felt right. None of them made you feel the way that Chaewon had made you feel.

As the months passed, you slowly started to heal. The pain and sadness that had once consumed you began to fade, replaced by a sense of acceptance and understanding.

But even though you had moved on, there was always a part of you that would love Chaewon. A part of you that would always wonder what could have been, if things had turned out differently.

And so, you went on with your life, never forgetting the love and passion that you had shared with Chaewon. Even though you knew that it was over, you couldn't help but wonder if, somewhere out there, Chaewon was thinking of you too.

Despite the time that had passed, Chaewon still thought about Y/N constantly. She tried to move on, going on dates and even starting a new relationship, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing.

It wasn't until one day, when she ran into Y/N unexpectedly, that she realized what that missing piece was. Seeing him again brought back a flood of memories and emotions that she had tried so hard to forget.

"Y/N, wait!" she called out, running after him.

He turned around, surprised to see her. "Chaewon? What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you," she said, her voice urgent.

Y/N hesitated, but eventually agreed to sit down and talk with her.

"I know that I hurt you when I left," Chaewon began, her eyes filling with tears. "But I've been so miserable without you. I thought that I could move on and find someone else, but no one compares to you. I miss you so much, Y/N."

Y/N listened, his heart breaking at the sight of Chaewon's tears. He had never stopped loving her, but he had tried to move on, thinking that it was what was best for both of them.

"I can't just go back to the way things were," he said, his voice filled with sadness. "I don't want to risk hurting you again."

"But I need you, Y/N," Chaewon pleaded. "I can't live without you. I know that I made a mistake, but please, can't we try again?"

Y/N hesitated, unsure of what to do. He still loved Chaewon, but he couldn't forget the pain and sadness that he had felt when she had left him.

"I need some time to think," he said finally, standing up from the bench. "I'm sorry, Chaewon."

Chaewon watched as Y/N walked away, her heart aching with sadness and regret. She knew that she had hurt him deeply, and she didn't know if she could ever make it right.

But she was willing to try. She was willing to do whatever it took to win back Y/N's love and trust, even if it meant facing the pain and sadness that she had caused him.

And so, she waited, hoping and praying that Y/N would give her another chance.

Days turned into weeks, and Chaewon heard nothing from Y/N. She tried calling and texting him, but he didn't answer. She started to feel like she had lost him forever, and the thought of that made her heart ache.

One day, she was sitting in a coffee shop, lost in thought, when she saw Y/N walk in. Her heart leapt in her chest, and she stood up, hoping to talk to him.

But as he approached her, she could see the anger and hurt in his eyes. "How could you do this to me, Chaewon?" he said, his voice laced with anger.

Chaewon felt her own tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Y/N. I never meant to hurt you."

"You left me without a word," Y/N said, his voice shaking with emotion. "You didn't even give me a chance to understand. And now you expect me to just forgive you?"

"I know that I messed up," Chaewon said, tears streaming down her face. "But please, Y/N, I need you. I love you so much, and I can't live without you."

Y/N looked at her, his anger slowly dissipating. He still loved her, but he couldn't forget the pain that she had caused him. "I need time," he said, his voice softer now. "I can't just forget everything that's happened."

Chaewon nodded, tears still streaming down her face. "I understand," she said. "I'll wait for you, Y/N. I'll do whatever it takes to make things right between us."

And so, Chaewon waited, hoping and praying that Y/N would find it in his heart to forgive her. She knew that it wouldn't be easy, but she was willing to do whatever it took to make things right.

Days turned into weeks, and Chaewon heard nothing from Y/N. She started to feel like he would never forgive her, and the thought of that made her heart ache even more.

One day, she received a letter in the mail from Y/N. As she read it, tears streamed down her face. In the letter, Y/N told her that he still loved her, but that he needed time to heal. He said that he was willing to give their relationship another chance, but that they needed to start over and rebuild the trust that had been broken.

Chaewon cried tears of joy as she read the letter. She knew that it wouldn't be easy, but she was willing to do whatever it took to make things right between them.

And so, they began the long and difficult journey of rebuilding their relationship. There were times when it was painful and sad, but they never gave up. They talked and listened to each other, and slowly but surely, they started to trust each other again.

Years went by, and Y/N had become a successful businessman. He had worked tirelessly to build his company, and now it was one of the most respected businesses in the country.

One day, Y/N went to visit Chaewon. She was surprised to see how successful he had become, but also proud of him. As they talked, Y/N took her hand and looked into her eyes.

"Chaewon, I know I've been distant lately," he said. "But there's something I need to ask you."

Chaewon's heart started to race. She had been waiting for this moment for years. "What is it, Y/N?" she asked.

Y/N took a deep breath. "Chaewon, I love you. I've always loved you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"

Chaewon's eyes widened in surprise and joy. She couldn't believe that Y/N was asking her to marry him after all these years. "Yes, Y/N, I will," she said, tears streaming down her face.

Y/N pulled her into his arms, and they hugged each other tightly. Chaewon could feel his love and passion for her, and it filled her with happiness.

But as they broke the hug, Chaewon couldn't help but ask him, "Why did you wait so long, Y/N?"

Y/N looked at her with a determined expression. "I needed to become someone who can protect you," he said. "I needed to be successful, so that I could give you the life you deserve. And now, I can finally do that."

Chaewon looked at him with love and admiration. She knew that Y/N had always been the one for her, and she was grateful that he had never given up on her.

As they started to plan their wedding, Chaewon couldn't help but feel a sense of sadness and regret. She knew that she had caused Y/N so much pain and hurt over the years, and she wished that she had realized her feelings for him sooner.

But as they stood together, holding each other tightly, Chaewon knew that she had finally found her true love. And she was willing to do whatever it took to make sure that they would never be apart again.

As the day of their wedding arrived, Chaewon could hardly contain her excitement. She stood at the altar, wearing a beautiful white gown, and waited for Y/N to arrive.

As he entered the church, Chaewon's heart skipped a beat. Y/N looked handsome and confident in his suit, and he was beaming with happiness.

As they exchanged their vows, Chaewon felt overwhelmed with emotion. She looked into Y/N's eyes and saw nothing but love and devotion. She knew that she had made the right choice in waiting for him.

As they exchanged their rings and kissed, the whole church erupted in applause. Chaewon felt like she was on top of the world, and she knew that Y/N felt the same.

As they left the church and drove away in their car, Chaewon couldn't stop smiling. She felt like the luckiest woman in the world, and she knew that Y/N felt the same way.

Years went by, and Chaewon and Y/N continued to build their life together. They faced challenges and difficulties, but they never gave up on each other. They had a love that was strong and true, and it carried them through even the toughest times.

And as they grew old together, they knew that they had made the right choice in waiting for each other. They had found their soulmate, and they were grateful every day for the love and passion that they shared.

[holdupjack]

Daydreaming

——————

Paring: Hermione Granger x Fem!Reader

WARNING: None

——————

Hermione's P.O.V:

I smile softly as I watch Y/n walk into class with her uniform that was obviously put on in a hurry.

Resting my chin in my hand, my eyes follow her as she takes a seat next to Susan Bones a few tables in front of me.

"Why make us do Broom drills at Quidditch practice! It's not like we're first years!" I hear Y/n groan to Susan and I chuckle softly as Professor McGonagall walks in.

"Could you be anymore smitten?" Ginny whispers next to me and I roll my eyes.

"Trust me, I'm holding back a lot" I whisper back and she laughs quietly.

Y/n and I first met in fourth year when I ran into her at the library.

Literally.

I smacked into her so hard, she fell into a shelf and knocked over so many books that we got kicked out of the library for the day for disturbing the peace.

At first I was so embarrassed that I was so caught up in my book that I ran into someone, but then I got a good look at her and...

I'm not usually one to say that it was 'love at first sight' but I can't deny that I, metaphorically, felt my pupils turn into hearts.

It also didn't help that she asked me to accompany her to the lake bonfire that a bunch of fifth and fourth years were throwing that night.

Of course I said yes.

Not without question though.

"Why would you want to go with a girl that just threw you out of the library?"

"It'll make a good story for the party!"

I chuckle softly again and begin to write down the notes that were being shown, my eyes still flickering to her every so often.

We didn't start dating till a year later though, and it wasn't even me who made the first move.

We were talking in my room, she was laying on my bed as I was finishing up some homework for Potions.

I was talking about how strict Snape was being lately with how he was grading our work.

When I looked over to get her opinion on the matter, she was sitting up and staring at me with a small smile.

"What?" I had asked and she just shrugged.

"Nothing, I just like your voice" she answered and I thought my heart had just did a cartwheel out the window.

"Hey Hermione?"

"Y-Yes?"

"Do you want to go on a date with me?"

"Absolutely"

Merlin, I was so blunt.

My eyes shift back over to her and I feel them soften as I catch her writing something other than the notes.

Y/n Granger & Hermione Y/l/n

I could feel my whole face flush as cover it with my hands for a few moments.

"Smitten~" Ginny sings softly next to me and quickly kick her leg, which causes her to chuckle.

Only Y/n can make me this nonproductive in a class room.

I let my hands fall from my face and find her writing down her notes again.

Hermione Y/l/n...

I bite my lip softly as the thought of marriage invades my mind.

A house and a few pets in a small neighborhood near the city.

Maybe kids if she wants them.

I've seen how sweet she is to the first years, she'd be a great mom.

But I wouldn't mind if it was just us and some animals.

Waking up in her arms, or her in mine...sounds like pure heaven.

"Class dismissed!" I hear as I jumps slightly.

I look up to find everyone packing up, then down at my notes and find only a paragraph full of what should be a few pages.

Did I daydream that long?!

"I'll leave my notebook on your desk, since you can't seem to concentrate" Ginny tease as she stands up and I huff.

"Hermione!" I hear and I look over to find Y/n walking up to me with a smile that makes my mind blank.

"Hi my love" I say as I stand up and quickly stuff everything into my bag.

"May I walk you to our date?" She asks and I smile.

"It's our regular study session, it's not really a date" I chuckle out as she grins, holding out her hand for me.

"I like to think they're mini dates" she answers and I intertwine our fingers.

"Cute" I answer as I begin to walk with her to my room.

Our walk is calm as we slowly make our way there, the sun setting quickly.

There really is no rush to hunch ourselves over books for an hour or two.

Suddenly Y/n stops and I raise and eyebrow as she nods her head over to the opening to the  field in front of Hagrids hut.

"We graduate in a month my love, we should really study for the Newts" I mumble and she pulls me into a warm embrace.

"Just an hour Granger, then I promise to study with you all week" she states as her forehead leans against mine.

"Promise?" I ask and she nods.

"Fine" I laugh out as she takes my hand and pulls me towards the now dark field.

We drop our bags at the entrance and dash onto the grass, dozens of fireflies began to fly around us as we do so.

"Wow" I whisper as we both lay down on the grass, watching them all fly above us, blinking like morse code.

We're silent as we watch the sky fill with fireflies, our hands squeezes each other's from time to time.

I knew at this moment that we weren't going to study tonight.

Which I didn't mind.

"I've been thinking about Marriage" Y/n whispers and I can't help but feel my eyes widen in the darkness.

"Are you proposing?" I ask and she laughs.

"No! Not yet anyways" she chuckles and I smile softly.

Not yet.

My stomach is doing backflips at that simple comment.

"I was just thinking, would you ever marry me?" Y/n asks and I laugh softly.

"I was daydreaming about it earlier" I answer as Y/n sits up and leans over me with a smile matching my own.

"Really? Me too" she whispers and I chuckle feeling her lips ghost mine.

"I know, Y/n Granger" I tease as she presses a kiss to shush me.

One of my hands find themselves in her hair as we kiss, my eyes flutter closed at what seems like a simple peck.

Yet my mind goes fuzzy as my toes curl and stomach explodes with the jitters.

I wonder if Y/n feels like this when we kiss?

(Spoiler alert: she does, but at the moment she was trying to figure out my ring size from just holding my hand)

Y/n slowly pulls away and chuckles at me, and I just smile.

"What?" I laugh out.

"I can see like ten fireflies in your hair" she chuckles.

"Ew! Get them out!" I whine as she straddles my midsection and takes out her wand.

"No way, you look like a goddess! Lumos!" she mumbles as her wand shines a dim light in front of me.

"Wow" she whispers as I watch her face study me gently.

"Stop trying to make me fall harder for you, you already have me daydreaming about marriage" I tease and she smiles.

"Shhhh, don't scare them away! I want a few more moments to look at you like this" she whispers and I just smile at her awe filled stare.

Of course a few moments turn into ten minutes, yet I let her continue to gaze.

I felt like the most important person in the world.

In her world.

And that's all that matters to me.

[joanofexys]

jude angst if it’s exists if not gimme that angel/harper angst pleeeeaaasseee <3

- @ninyard

Nin the way I got SO EXCITED when I saw Jude's name related to an angst ask. I have not talked enough about what I've put this boy through

tws for suicide/suicide ideation and self harm

So I mentioned in the first post I made about Jude that in college he started struggling with suicide ideation and thoughts/desires to self harm and then actually acting on that and I didn't go too much into it other than mentioning it was something he sought help for pretty quickly but let me get into it now

Jude was raised as an only child to two loving and very supportive moms. He grew up with an incredible support system and he's always known that he has people who will have his back for everything.

Jude decides to move out of his childhood home and move closer to USC for his sophomore year when he's 19 years old. He moves out in the summer a couple months before school starts. He is, immediatley, incredibly homesick. He made sure to get a dog friendly apartment but his moms convinced him to wait till he got settled in before moving Stevie out with him. And it just makes things so much worse. He hates having an empty place.

He starts just inserting himself into everyone's business. He knows the coaches are at the court building more often than that and he has the code so he just starts showing up unannounced. He'll sit in the nurses office on an exam table, talking someone's ear off. He naps in Rhemann's office. Coach Lisinski lets him go wild with the equipment before she leaves. They'll let him run laps and throw balls at the goals for hours. He sits in on freshman training, ignores starry eyed looks, and doles out compliments alongside criticism when asked. Anything to not be alone.

Then the school year picks up again and he's anything but prepared. He can't be around people, his team, all the time. Outside of practices everyone has classes and even the people who absolutely adore him can't entertain him 24/7. And there's only so much of Jude sitting in his office to do homework that Rhemann can handle.

By October he's actively self harming. It's easy to do in an empty apartment with no one around to catch him. Easy to lie to his teammates when he genuinely feels happy on the court, surrounded by them. By November he decides he's had enough "settling in" and brings Stevie with him when he visits home for thanksgiving. It helps a little. He accepts fewer invitations to go out. Spends most nights on the bathroom floor, cabinet handles digging into his back, and calls his moms every time he's done. Every time he tries to force the words past his throat. To tell them he's not okay, that he just hurt himself again, and he wants to go home. Instead he laughs, puts a smile on his face, says "yeah, yeah it's been good. Yeah I'm really proud of the time. You know, classes have been hard but the challenge is good. Love you too, good night", and hopes his voice doesn't crack. Stevie sleeps in his bed every night, he feels bad that she has to see him cry every night and thinks maybe he's not taking care of her properly. But she's also one of the only things keeping him going and maybe it's selfish but he can't bring her back home.

He goes home for Christmas, enjoys his winter break. For a few weeks it stops. He doesn't know how to hide his self harm when he's sharing space with people so he stops trying to sneak off to the bathroom or his room. It makes him sick to his stomach when he realizes that he misses it. That he had found some comfort and relief in the repitiveness of it and how easy it had become. He goes back to school and by mid January he shoots Rhemann an email asking if he can stay after practice and they can talk. It all comes pouring out and it's messy. He wrote it all down on a piece of paper so he could actually get it out. He managed to get through about 3 sentences before his voice cracked and the ugly crying started. He gave the paper over to Rhemann to read, rambling through an explanation rife with apologies.

He spends 2 weeks benched, a month and a half with shorter play time on the court. Two weeks for trying to find a therapist, seeing a doctor, and getting prescribe anti-depressants for the first time. the month and a half for while he's adjusting to the medication while he tries to find the right dosage. He's tired a lot throughout this, not at his best, more apathetic than he's ever been. He just feels numb. He hates every minute about it.

It's the medication they figure out first. Once they get him on the right meds with the right dose and he adjusts he's not so tired all the time. He starts playing longer during games, he's fully involved in every practice. He swings by practices he doesn't need to be at. He's out of the house again, actively choosing to spend time with his team. Stevie comes with him about 80% of the time. He spends the summer with his moms and moves back in with them his junior year. His senior year he moves back out but gets a roommate this time, a very excited Cody Winter. (the fact that the current senior and 5th year seniors in tsc were Jude's little freshmen & sophomore's is everything to me tbh)

So yeah, I swear he gets better and I guess I couldn't help myself with adding a little bit of comfort and noting that things did get better for him but there's some of Jude's angst. As I was writing this I had another thing for him that's angsty pop into my head but this is long enough as is

[swetearss]

Comfort.

A Patrick Zweig drabble.

College life is so frustrating.

The dark circles under my eyes prove it, I feel like at some point I will collapse from so many sleepless nights finishing assignments and homework. Not to mention the pain in my back from sitting for hours in front of a desk and a computer.

I had developed a routine over the past few days: getting up in the morning, going to class, going to basketball practice, then returning completely tired to my dorm room, but not being able to rest more than 30 minutes because the pile of homework to do, then doing the homework and praying that 4 hours of sleep will keep my body alive for the next day.

I got to a point where I've thought about evading my responsibilities and pretend I'm sick, unfortunately I'm not able to do that, maybe there's a perfectionist part in my mind that forbids me to do it.

I feel so stressed that I want to cry out.

These and more reasons are why I pray for the moment when Patrick sneaks into my dorm. The moment when I run into his arms in search of comfort.

I feel my stress melt away in the way he grabs my thighs when I'm sitting on his lap, the way he strokes them as he intently listen me quickly complain about everything. How he chuckles lightly, asking me to slow down my words.

How he tries to cheer me up even though he's not the best at it. The way his hands go up from my thighs to under my shirt, his calloused hands touching the bare skin of my waist to pull my chest into his.

When I hide my face in his neck, inhaling the scent of his cologne, and he leaves a couple of kisses between my neck and shoulder.

Patrick manages to give me peace with such little, yet comforting actions.

And I know at some point he's going to leave and I'm going to sink back into despair and stress, so I hold on to his body as long as I can, letting him let my mind go blank.

[my-castles-crumbling]

Can I get some advice from both a teacher perspective and a kind adult perspective? I've always been a good student and labeled as "gifted" so obviously I got gifted kid burnout, as one does. I'm naturally smart enough that I can study for exams one day to even 40 minutes before and always come out with a score in the 90s, I think this is also because I listen very attentively in class. But here's the real problem, I have some pretty bad depression and I very easily fall behind on homework and actually studying consistently because of it. I honestly live in my head a lot if that makes sense? Anyway, I'll miss something or forget a unit or not study as well as I'd like (which is inevitable, I know what I do isn't sustainable), and when I forget something I feel (excuse my language) really fucking stupid about it. Not to mention frustrated because I KNOW it's my own fault. I do quite well on tests and exams because I prioritize them but I feel like I'm not as good of a student as I used to be, I'm just a good test taker. Basically: because I don't do work, school gives me anxiety. I get anxious, I refuse to go to school (I don't miss too many days but enough to suffer). When I miss school obviously I fall behind and have work pile up. My anxiety regarding school makes me want to avoid anything that has to do with it, including my work. The depression doesn't help. I don't do most of the work, I feel stupid and embarrassed (people seriously have no idea what it's like to go to school and have to look your teacher in the eyes, in front of your whole class, and say you didn't do your homework. I'm ashamed because I know I could easily bang it out in like an hour and I'm the only fucking person in my AP classes that doesn't do their work. It's not fun to feel incompetent. I'm not avoiding it for fun or because of laziness, I promise. It's not like I exclusively don't want to study and do homework, it's depression. I don't want to do anything. I don't even want to leave my room and sit in the living room. I just want to rot.) and the cycle repeats. I don't know what to do Cas :( I'm 15 and I'm scared. I don't want to be useless and unsuccessful because I can't suck it up and get off my ass.

Hi! I completely understand where you’re coming from and I’ve definitely been there. I think what’s important is to come up with some strategies that break you out of that anxiety-depression cycle and help you stay on track. Once you find strategies that work for you, they can go with you into adulthood too. Now is a great time to test out some of those strategies- does it help to make lists? Take breaks? Reward yourself with food or small activities? Body double with others? Study in or out of your house? Take notes with fun pens or on the computer? Study with others or alone? Use apps to help study?

I challenge you to try one new technique a day. Don’t overwhelm yourself, just use the next few weeks to be an active learner about how you learn and how you study. Be gentle with yourself and remember that you’re still young and you’re still learning ❤️

Also if you find something that DOES work, tell your teachers. Most teachers are willing to make small changes to assignments if you’re making an active effort to still learn.

I hope this helps and I believe in you!

[elliethejellie]

The Lovebug Virus - Chapter 5: Balance

Yandere! Sun and Moon x Reader

Masterlist || AO3 || Chapter 4 || Chapter 6

*****

For once, everything you set out to accomplish in the past few days has been going surprisingly well. 

Since the day you fell asleep in the daycare, Sun and Moon have seemingly made it their personal responsibility to make sure you get enough sleep. You had promised them that you would try harder when you came in for your shift the next day, still not having recovered from your sleep deprivation, energy drink in hand and bags under your eyes. Even if you had only said so to get Sun to stop telling you all the reasons why eight hours of sleep were ideal.

For some reason, you felt some sort of resignation in allowing the boys to take care of you. While you had been used to taking care of yourself for so long, letting some of the weight off of your shoulders in trying to remember all the little things that went into keeping your sanity was refreshing. Sun had even started trying to make a little game out of it, guessing how many hours you had gotten of sleep by all of your vitals he could read. It had surprised you at first when he told you that they had the ability to do that, but honestly, what hadn't surprised you about them at this point?

Your grades stopped suffering from the moment you took this job, it seemed. Every single class got more than enough attention, and you had Kat helping you with homework when you needed it. She was more of a help than you expected her to be. The two of you even had enough time to go out for a coffee date again, like you used to do all the time throughout the summer. 

During said coffee date, she relayed that she was getting even closer with the girl from the party, whose name is Jenny. You had been hearing Kat on the phone with her a lot recently, and you had even joked with her at one point that she was replacing you with her (which earned you an aggressive hair ruffling). She pestered you about the daycare attendant a lot while you sipped your drink, for some reason. And you couldn't help the heat that rose to your cheeks when you embarrassingly rambled on a little too much about how much you enjoyed being around them. 

"Oh come on, Meatball! You so have a crush on them!"

"Shhh!" you said back, looking around frantically to see if anyone else had been eavesdropping on your conversation. Kat pulled her head down apologetically, but still waved her hands back and forth in front of her face excitedly. When you glared at her in response, she sighed and realized that it was somehow a touchy subject.

"Girl, it's not like I'm judging you," she had responded. "One of the other night guards is actually in a relationship with one of the glamrocks," she said nonchalantly. You had immediately perked up at the new knowledge.

"They're allowed to date?" you asked incredulously. She shrugged, breaking off another piece of her slice of lemon cake and popping it into her mouth. You sighed, slumping back into your seat further. "It doesn't matter, anyways. It's not like they've shown any interest in me anyways." Kat scoffed.

"Seriously? Moon never shuts up about you," she claimed, crossing her arms.

"Really?" She shrugged. "I just thought that-"

"Chipmunk, you literally overthink everything. Listen to the things I'm telling you." She leaned forward intimidatingly. "They. Like. You."

It was that conversation that has you currently trying to figure out how you are going to tell them that you also like them. You currently were running through the daycare play structures, playing tag with Sun and the children. 

"Oh no! I've been tagged again! What ever shall I do?" Sun calls out dramatically from somewhere across the daycare. You giggle along with Evelyn, who decided to follow you around as usual. She grabs your hand and drags you back down towards the entrance of the play structure. You let her, keeping an eye out for Sun in the process. He seems to have disappeared.

Suddenly, you feel yourself being lifted into the air. You screech, letting go of Evelyn's hand and flailing frantically. 

"Tag! Now you're it, Sunbite!" Sun exclaims, holding you in a hug. You can't help but find yourself laughing, enjoying the feeling of playing around like a child again. But you know what time it is, so you put on your best teacher voice as you speak your next words.

"Oh no! Looks like I'll have to be the first person to be 'it' in the next game!" you say, earning whines from a lot of the children.

"Now, now, little sunflowers," Sun chastises, placing you down and then wagging his finger at the young kids. "What do I always say about bringing a game to an end?"

"That it makes room for other fun activities," they all say in unison, excitement forming in their tiny bodies again. You smile as you walk over to the supply closet, pulling out black construction paper and glow-in-the-dark paint. You had come up with this idea yesterday, and when you told Sun about it this morning, he was so ecstatic about it, you had to convince him the entire time you were getting the daycare ready to wait to do the craft until before lunch time.

You walk back over to the tables just as Sun finishes settling them all down in their seats. Sun stands in the middle of them all, looking just about ready to explode. Still, when he speaks, you can't tell from his voice just how excited he is. 

"So, who knows what is out in space?" he questions, looking around the young faces. Several of the older ones' hands shoot into the air, and Sun picks one.

"Stars!" he exclaims. Sun tells him he's correct before picking another one. Several of the children take this as an opportunity to just start blurting out answers.

"Planets!"

"Mars!"

"That's a planet, dummy-"

"Galaxies!" 

"Yes, yes, yes," Sun says to calm the energetic kids, chuckling gently. He waits for them to quiet down before turning to you. "Sunbite, do you have anything to add?" You smile softly as you continue to hand out paintbrushes and paints to the children.

"The Sun and the Moon," you say, and all the kids let out "ooo's" at your answer. Sun somehow seems to smile wider.

"Correct again!" he agrees. He stands on one of the foam blocks and spreads his arms wide up above him. "There is so much out there that we are only just beginning to explore!" He turns back to face the eager faces. "I want you guys to help Moon and I see it all by drawing whatever you want, as long as it's out in space!"

The children scream in delight, grabbing at the glow paints and beginning their art projects. You can't help but feel a warmth in your chest at how much excitement they're giving off as you retreat to the security desk. Just as you're about to delve into figuring out what the children were having for lunch, you hear the door to the daycare open. 

Max rushes in, drawing the attention of several of the children, many of which begin asking Sun who he is. Max waves at them quickly before continuing his approach to you. The apologetic look on his face immediately worries you. "Did I do something wrong already?" you ask half-jokingly, trying to keep the conversation light. He chuckles at that, shaking his head.

"No! God, no. If anything, you're doing everything right, and that's why I'm hesitant to do this..." he trails off the end of his sentence, looking remorseful enough that you feel panic rising in your chest. They weren't going to fire you already, were they? If you had been doing everything right, why would they get rid of you? And right now? In front of all the children?

Max pulls some paperwork off of his clipboard and holds it out in your direction. You take it with shaky hands, looking down and trying to stop the tears that already want to spill from your eyes. But your heart skips a beat or two as you read the top of the paper. 

"ROUTINE MAINTENANCE INSTRUCTIONS: DAYCARE ATTENDANT"

"Something came up and now the Daycare Attendant doesn't have anyone to do the scheduled maintenance or cleanup on them," Max says, lifting his arm to scratch the back of his neck. "I tried to convince them to just let me do it, since you're still relatively new and all, but they insisted. I'm sorry you gotta get the extra workload." 

A shaky laugh escapes your lips. 

Routine maintenance? That's all this was about? Max felt bad because he had to give you extra work? "Max, you scared me!" you say, smacking him with the stack of paper. He looks rather confused, staring at you for a moment before his eyes go wide.

"Oh my god, you probably thought I was going to fire you! I'm so fucking stupid," he says, placing his palm to his forehead.

"Language, Mr. Diaz!" Sun says, earning a flurry of giggles from the children. You smile, relieved at the turn of events.

"It's fine, Max," you assure him, turning back to the desk and placing the papers down to be read later during your lunch break. "Honestly, it doesn't bother me. I'm going to school with Kat literally for robotics engineering anyways, remember?"

He gives you an uneasy smile, probably still convinced that you were being treated unfairly. But still, he says his goodbyes to you and waves at Sun before going to leave the daycare. He opens the door and yelps, though, the STAFF bot having already been waiting to drop off the lunch for the little ones. The daycare erupts into a fit of rowdy laughter as Max's face burns red and he scurries away like a cat.

You walk over to retrieve the meal as Sun begins dismissing the children one by one to go wash their hands. He collects the art projects off of the table and brings them to the security desk to lay out and dry as you set the meal down and begin disinfecting the surfaces. Then the two of you set up lunch as the children wait patiently, talking among themselves. The routine goes by smoothly with you and Sun working in perfect harmony. It makes you smile as you dish up the spaghetti into bowls and hand them to him to place in each of the spots. 

The next thing you know, you're back at the security desk with Sun in his usual place, peeking over the monitors curiously as you skim the front page of the booklet Max brought you.

"So does this make you our new handler?" he asks eagerly, his rays seemingly shivering with excitement. You chuckle as you put the packet back down.

"I don't know, Sunny. Could just be temporary," you say, shrugging. He looks disheartened at that, so you continue. "But even if it is, I'm going to aim to be your handler anyways once I've got my degree." That seems to satisfy him, as he leans on the desk now with a goofy grin on his face. "What?" you ask, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

"Oh, I was just thinking about how much better everything in the daycare has gotten since you showed up," he muses, standing back up tall and staring off into the distance like he was reminiscing over old memories. You can't help but think he looks like he's starstruck, which only causes your heart to flutter as the weight of his words sink in.

"Oh I'm sure you guys were doing just fine without me," you say, waving his praise away to deter the blush that threatens to creep to your cheeks. 

"Are you kidding me, Sunbite?" he exclaims, looking like if his security protocols weren't actively preventing it, he would leap across the desk and engulf you in a bone-crushing hug. "Everything runs so much smoother when you're here! The kids love all the amazing art projects you come up with, and even Moon appreciates the help you provide during naptime!" 

Okay, now you really can't stop the blush as it takes over your cheeks. Thank god the lights are about to go out, because you're not so sure you can take much more praise without just melting on the spot.

"Sunny, stop it," you warn jokingly. "The lights are about to go out, and some of the children are probably ready to start getting cleaned up." 

The solar animatronic places both of his hands to his cheeks as if having just remembered that he had a job to do, before rushing over to handle the little ones. You can't help the goofy grin that tugs at the corners of your mouth as you clock out for lunch. You just felt so... good. You wouldn't have to come up with some lame excuse to spend more time with the jester animatronics now that you had to perform weekly checkups on them. Things really couldn't get much better than this. 

You wave to Sun as you leave through the employee entrance of the daycare and make your way over to the locker room. You've finally been having enough self control as of late to make yourself meals ahead of time, so as you pull open the door to the locker you put your bag in, you feel your stomach rumble at the knowledge of what was waiting for you to dig into.

Your mouth waters as you pull out your insulated lunchbox and a few bills so you can grab yourself a can of Fizzy Faz on the way back. You know Moon will give you hell for wanting it, but something about the nostalgic taste of barely-flavored corn syrup was just too addicting not to have it every once in a while. Besides, it's not like Moon could really do anything to you when you did have it. He would just grumble and glare at you like a cat protesting being moved from a comfy spot. Not really very intimidating.

Drink and food in hand, you wander back into the daycare quietly, trying your best not to disturb the children as they settle down around Moon. He looks up at you and seems to smile a bit wider, which only makes your heart flutter just as it had with Sun earlier. Maybe Kat was right.

Maybe you are falling head over heels for the stupid jester robots.

You take your usual seat at the security desk and pull out your homemade sushi roll and dumplings, excited once again that you had prepared yourself your favorite food. Moon begins telling a story to the children to get them to fall asleep. You don't recognize what tale he is reciting, which only intrigues you to listen to him instead of pulling your phone out like you usually did. After a moment, you realize that he must have begun telling the story before you even walked back in, because his sentence doesn't exactly sound like the beginnings of one.

"The little child asked the Moon when his birthday was, but the Moon didn't seem to hear him," he says, using his hands to emphasize the story as he went. "So the little child climbed up the highest tree he could find and shouted even louder. 'When is your birthday, Moon?' the boy yelled, and this time, it seemed like the Moon heard him."

You feel so absolutely enamored watching Moon that you almost miss how much his story is starting to sound more and more like he's talking about himself and Sun. The boy being the latter and him being - well, himself, you guess.

"'I don't know when my birthday is,' the Moon told the boy, feeling a little embarrassed by the admission. But the boy only smiled brighter at the Moon, instead offering to celebrate it the next day anyways. 'Tomorrow is my birthday, but I don't mind sharing it with you!' he assured the Moon," the lunar animatronic continued. Yeah, this story is definitely about him and Sun. There is no doubt about it. You wonder if he usually tells this story to the kids, or if he is only telling this story because he knows you're listening. Either way, you pop open your container of sushi and continue to eavesdrop.

"And so the boy set out the next day to figure out a present to give the Moon. He tried painting him a picture, but the colors were too bright and he couldn't seem to get the face right." You realize that none of the little ones seem to be awake anymore, which means that Moon is most certainly only telling the story now for you. It makes you feel warm inside, but you keep your head down to hide your blush and shove another piece of the roll into your mouth.

"Then, the boy thought to make him a big, beautiful cake. But he remembered that he didn't have any of the ingredients to do so, and that the Moon couldn't eat anyways." He pauses, looking up at you and tilting his head slightly, just as you crack open your can of Fizzy Faz. Did the stupid lunar animatronic just have some wild instinct when high calorie drinks were being consumed? You had made sure you opened the can below the desk so he couldn't see, and you'd also made sure it wasn't loud enough that he could hear it from where he sat. 

Still, he turns back to the sleeping children and brushes the hair out of the closest child's face as he continues reciting his tale. 

"Exasperated, the boy sat down on the floor of his room and wept. He wanted to make the moon feel special on his special day, but he was running out of time! He picked up his favorite stuffed animal and asked it what he should make for the moon. The stuffed animal said nothing back, but it somehow still gave the little boy an idea. He ran to his cupboard and pulled out his sewing kit. He was going to make a hat for the moon!" 

You can't help the smile that tugs at the corners of your mouth as you take a bite of one of your dumplings. Even if the story wasn't entirely true (you knew the hat was always a part of the Fazco brand outfit he wore), you could definitely picture Sun making Moon the hat that always sat upon his brother's head. 

"The boy worked all the way until the sun began to set. The hat was finished, but he didn't know how to give it to the moon. He wandered back outside and stared at the sky, trying to figure out a solution. 'The tree is probably tall enough to reach the moon!' he exclaimed, and so he placed the hat on his own head and then climbed up to the tallest part of the tallest tree in his backyard. The boy placed the hat on the tip of the highest branch. He wanted to wait to see the moon's reaction to the gift, but he yawned, feeling sleepy from spending all day working hard on it. So he climbed back down the tree and went to bed.

"The next day, the boy woke up and ran outside to find that the hat was missing! He smiled to himself and felt satisfied. Surely the moon had to love his gift to him. He made it extra special and with love." Moon tilts his head and smiles down at the sleeping children, being sure to jingle the bell on the edge of his hat as he does so. 

You force yourself to look back down at your food seeing that Moon was now gently standing up to make his way over to you. When the red glow of his eyes signaled his position in front of the desk, you look up at him and smile, trying to play that you hadn't just spent the last ten minutes listening to him tell a literal bedtime story.

"Did you enjoy the show, Starlight?" he muses, which only makes you choke on your bite of sushi. His face immediately turns to that of concern, reaching forward to help you. You cough a few times and hold your hands up to gesture to him that you are okay. He chuckles slightly when you finally calm down, so you shoot a glare in his direction.

"Don't you dare," you say as threateningly as you can muster, but it sounds about as threatening as a croaky voice can sound while also whispering. You know he's lingering on making some kind of joke like he always does. Still, he puts his hands up in front of him in surrender as you grab your can of Fizzy Faz and chug the last of it (though not without a protesting sigh from the jester).

Moon walks back over to your designated naptime hangout spot, and you join him once you get your lunch mess cleaned up. "That was a really sweet story," you admit as you sit down on the mat next to him. "Did Sun really make your hat?" you ask, the curiosity not having left your thoughts since you heard it.

"Oh god no," he responds, seemingly finding the notion rather funny. He then snaps his hand up to his head, which tells you that Sun is yelling at him through their shared consciousness. "But he did fix my hat for me when he saw that it was torn," he admits, shaking his head as if physically trying to jostle Sun's voice from it. "It was a long time ago now, though."

"That's so sweet," you say, smiling gently. "I wish I had someone to mend my clothes when I was younger. Could've saved me a lot of embarrassment, honestly." Moon's red eyes shift to look at you, a curious expression upon his face. 

"Embarrassment?" he asks, and you feel your cheeks burn. 

"Y-Yeah, I didn't exactly get new clothes often enough to afford tossing the ones I had. Even if they were torn," you admit sheepishly. Moon's head makes a few ticking sounds, as if he's processing your words slowly.

"Well, now you have me," he settles on saying, before flinching - probably due to Sun yelling again - and correcting himself. "Us. Now you have us."

You smile up at him, but feel years worth of loneliness tug at your heart, promptly forcing you to snap your head back down. There wasn't ever anyone in your corner. Dealing with things on your own was your go-to way of handling each and every problem you came across up until recently. You stare at your hands, suddenly willing tears not to fall from your stinging eyes. Moon seems to notice that something is amiss, placing a hand on your shoulder gently. But you flinch at the physical contact and lean away from him.

"I-I'm sorry," you stutter, your voice barely above a whisper. "There's uh, there must be something in my eye or- I just... I need a second." 

You stand from your spot next to him and rush towards the opposite side of the daycare and into the 'pillow fort,' covering your face in your hands and struggling to hold back the sobs that threaten to spill from your throat. Why are you even crying? You're such a useless crybaby. He was only stating what you already knew. So why are you reacting this way?

You bite down aggressively on your bottom lip to try to draw your attention to the pain instead of your spiraling thoughts. You didn't need to be so dramatic about this, but for some reason hearing Moon give you such a simple sentence of confirmation of their care for you just made your inner child emotional. God, you really are broken, aren't you?

"Starlight," you hear Moon's voice gently call in through the entrance to the tent. "I meant what I said. You shouldn't have to deal with these things on your own." 

On your own.

But that's always how it's been. So why should now be any different? 

Even if the animatronic jesters do care about you the same way you do about them, who's to say they'll never change their minds? You've always pushed everyone away, even when things go right. Even when-

"Starlight." 

Moon's hand slides under your side and pulls you into his lap, engulfing you in a hug. Your body goes rigid, unsure of what to make of this. You had been so wrapped up in your thoughts that you hadn't even noticed that he'd slipped inside the tent and knelt down next to you. His hand rubs cooling circles on your back just as it had when you were having your panic attack. But the sentiment only brings another onslaught of tears, so you bury your face into his chest and quietly sob.

"Shhh, our little star, we're here now. You're not alone anymore," he assures softly, using his other hand to brush through your hair. You can't remember the last time you've even been consoled so intimately when you cried. Kat has always been great at giving you distractions and cheering you up, but it made her uncomfortable to listen to your dark thoughts and personal traumas. So you resorted to shoving everything down and reassuring yourself regularly that you would find yourself a therapist when you had the money. And then things just kept getting worse and you lost your job, so you never got to fulfill that promise to yourself.

Your silent sobs calm down more and more until you just sit in Moon's lap, sniffling against his chest. Now that you aren't wracked with your crying fit, you can hear faint clicking and whirring sounds coming from behind Moon's chestplate, starting and pausing in a pattern reminiscent of a heartbeat. Finally, you sigh, relaxing into him as he continues to rub your back.

"Better?" he asks gently, tilting his faceplate down to look at you. You nod into his chest and wrap your arms around him, not wanting to get up just yet. "Do you want to talk about it?"

You hesitate. Should you talk to him about the things you've been through? It would probably help you to get these things off of your chest to someone, especially since you still can't afford a therapist quite yet with the catching up you're doing on your savings. But you doubt the robot was built with any level of therapy coding for the children in mind, so you worry that it might have a negative effect on his processing software. 

Still, you were planning on confessing your literally crush to them sometime soon, so you might as well get comfortable with expressing your feelings now.

"Well," you start, sitting up so that you no longer have your face buried away where he can't see you properly. His red eyes stare down at you expectantly, so you turn your head away before continuing. "Like I said, I've always had to deal with things alone..."

For the next half hour, you delve into the dark corners of your past, enlightening the animatronic jester about some of your traumas. You talk about your negative self talk, your absent parents, and even go into a bit of detail about your self esteem issues. You get so wrapped up in explaining the details of why and how you are the way that you are, that you don't even notice Moon's hand gravitate to your hip, holding you steadily in place while you flail your arms animatedly. 

"The hardest part about everything was the loneliness," you say, slowing your talking to look down at the grooves in your palms. "I wasn't ever taught how to do anything. I always felt like a failure, and nobody was in my dark corner to tell me to just open the curtains and let the light in." Moon's head makes the same clicky sound it had earlier as he processes your analogy. "I know that some of my habits are horrible, but I justify them by telling myself that it could be so much worse. Even though I also know that isn't how it works." 

Moon brings his hands up and into yours, so you look up at him. "Starlight," he starts, but the nickname makes you look away and cut him off.

"Why do you call me that?" Your voice is harsher than you meant it to be, but you can't help it. While all of this talking has been helpful for you, there is still that stupid voice in the back of your head screaming that the brothers had absolutely no interest in you or any of the things spilling from your mouth.

Moon lists his head to the side slightly, seemingly taken aback by your sudden change of pace. "I call all of the people we care about 'starlight,'" he says, and you feel your stomach drop. 

So, they really didn't care about you like that?

It was always just a nickname. Programmed into him for the children. Probably just as "Sunbite" was for his solar opposite. Did that mean that they only saw you as another child to take care of? Because you can't do any of this on your own? Because you suck at taking care of yourself? Is that why you were here and he was consoling you? Because their programming won't allow for a crying child to go unnoticed?

Moon seems to recognize the look on your face being that of the beginnings of your negative spiral, so he instead whispers your name. You can't help the way that your heart still flutters at the sound of it, which only makes tears sting your eyes again as he speaks. "Life is about balance." He lifts his hands up, teetering them up and down to simulate a scale. "There will always be bad things that happen - to you, to your friends and family, and to strangers." One of his arms drops down lower while the other raises up. "Adding onto those bad things by speaking negatively to yourself and feeding into the bad thoughts will only continue to weigh you down. But if you begin to take care of yourself-" He brings his hands back to being level. "You'll start to feel like you can handle all of the bad. But you can only do that if you allow yourself time to offload those bad things."

You stare up into the unblinking red eyes of the lunar animatronic. Balance. Like the sun and the moon. One energetic and fast paced and loud. The other leisurely and soft spoken and gentle. Maybe Moon was right. You had been so focused on all of the good things happening recently that you assumed the bad things were all gone. But in actuality, you were just ignoring them.

Embarrassment makes you suddenly well aware of your compromising position with Moon, so you scramble down from his lap and hug your knees to your chest. "I guess I still have a lot to work on, huh?" you half-joke, looking at the pillows before you. 

"Doesn't everyone?" Moon counters. "Speaking of work, I'm going to go back out to the children. Feel free to join me whenever you're ready, Starlight." And with that, he leaves the pillow fort, sticking you with your own thoughts in the deafening quiet of the tent. 

You feel awful. Nothing really came from the last half hour besides a sad theory and the realization that you are still not okay. And after all of the things you've been doing, it was kind of hard to believe that you hadn't been okay this whole time. You felt okay the last few days, but then this? 

You check the time on your Fazwatch and decide to head out of the tent to clock back in. You still have to read the booklet on your new responsibilities with the jesters, so you make sure to grab it before rejoining Moon. Hopefully you can take your mind off of all of the freshly reopened mind wounds by learning about your new responsibilities.

"Sun was telling me that you're our new handler," he says as soon as you sit down. You roll your eyes.

"I don't actually know if this is long term or if it's temporary. So don't get your hopes up," you admit, repeating the same thing you told his opposite earlier. You flip open the first page of the instruction booklet, which is actually an entire paper full of small-scale, neat font listing the terms of a rather lengthy disclaimer. A lot of 'if you die, you can't sue us' bullshit that you really didn't care about. So you flip to the next page and are surprised to be met with an actual table of contents. 

The first chapter is a fairly easy read, showing you each part of the animatronic and the respective names and functions of said part. Moon seems slightly uncomfortable at the diagrams before you, shifting his eyes away from the booklet often as if grimacing. "You know, I can continue to read this at the desk, if you'd like?" you offer, using a finger to hold your place while shutting the booklet. He hesitates.

"Well, it's not so much that I don't like that you're reading it," he says, still avoiding looking in your direction. "It's just... embarrassing, I think?" His statement sounds more like a question with the uneasy quiver of his voice, so you smile up at him gently.

"I understand completely, Moon. I couldn't imagine how vulnerable this probably makes you feel, which is why I'm offering to read it later or back at the desk." Moon just shrugs in response, so you check the page number and set the booklet aside anyways. 

The rest of the naptime routine goes by normally - or, as normally as it can given that you were mentally and emotionally exhausted because of your earlier breakdown. By the time you have to clock out for the end of your shift, you feel the physical effects of having emptied all of your pent up emotions, prompting Moon to send you off with strict instructions to rest once you arrived at home.

You didn't need him to tell you that. You were obviously going to crash out as soon as your body hit the bed.

*****

A/N: Hihiii :3 Okay, when I tell y'all that this chapter was incredibly hard to write, I mean it took two weeks for me to finish it. And I still kind of hate it lmaooo

But! That doesn't matter now, does it? It's here, and I hope y'all enjoyed it! I have some more ideas in world building that will give this story a bit more depth, but ehhh I don't know if I'll apply them this late into the story. We'll see, I guess. 

Anyways, stay tuned because this is the cutoff point for kinda boring setup things heheh~ As always, likes, comments, kudos, and reposts are greatly appreciated and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Stay sweet, my lovelies~

Taglist: @senyahgirl @rose-blot @sunyandmony (message me or comment to be added!)

[leaderpinhead]

Ace - The Trickster Type

Prompt: Prank

Ace threw his hands behind his head and sighed. It was the first afternoon he had with no homework, no club, and no dorm chores, but everyone he knew was busy. Deuce, Yuu, and Grim got called out by Trein to stay after class; Jack had spelldrive practice with his dorm; even Cater had shot down his quick message to hang out in the dorm lounge. 

Ace loudly groaned. “I never thought I’d actually wish I had to stay after class, but what’s the point of having a free afternoon if I have nothing to do?” 

A flash of blue from the corner of his eye made Ace pause. Ortho drifted around the courtyard. Ace almost called out to Ortho, but he thought better of it when he noticed Vil directing a small group of students in the walkway on the other side. Figuring he shouldn’t interrupt their club activity, Ace debated whether he’d be better off heading back to the dorm to wait for the others. 

Ortho’s head snapped in his direction. His golden eyes lit up, and the thrusters on his feet sent him flying towards Ace. “Ace Trappola!” 

Ace flinched back and lifted an arm to protect himself from Ortho tackling him. “Ortho! Slow down!” 

Ortho came to an abrupt stop in front of him. Even with half his face covered by a mask, his eyes were as expressive as any smile. “I’m glad I ran into you! I hoped you could help me with a problem I need to solve.” 

Ace lowered his arm. “My help? I guess I got the free time, but it really depends on what you’re asking. Unlike Yuu, I've got my limits. So if you’re wanting a miracle to convince Idia he’s not allergic to the sun, I’m the wrong guy for you.” 

Ortho giggled. “Don’t worry! My request has nothing to do with my big brother. You were actually the first person I thought of when Vil presented my conundrum. You see, I am tasked to play a small role in the Film Research Club’s next short film. I’m designated as the wily trickster who diverts the hero from his path.” 

Ace hummed. “And? From what I’ve heard, you should be pretty good at a villain role.” 

Ortho’s long sigh could rival the one Ace had emitted just a few minutes ago. “That’s the problem though. The Wily Trickster should be a lighthearted and comical role. Vil says I’m being too serious and not supposed to make the hero cry! I’ve cross-referenced several academic and film articles on the trickster archetype, and I believe you fit the criteria the most!” 

“Uh, thanks?” Ace grinned. “So what exactly are you wanting me to teach you?” 

Ortho hummed and tilted his head. “Maybe you could show me how to properly execute a prank? After taking Vil’s critique and comparing the tricksters I found, I believe what I may be lacking is the humor aspect of the situation. I would like to see a prank in action so I can capture the emotions firsthand.” 

Ace rubbed the back of his neck. “Not sure if I totally understand, but I guess that’s easy enough. All we need is—” 

“Hey, Ace! Hey, Ortho! 

His grin widened at the greeting. Kalim smiled widely and waved. Ace leaned down closer to Ortho so Kalim couldn’t hear him. "Watch and learn, Ortho.” 

Ortho enthusiastically nodded and greeted Kalim when the housewarden reached them. Kalim laughed. “What are the odds I’d run into you two? I was just looking for Jamil. Turns out we had to reschedule our club meeting today. Jamil wanted me to meet him at the Mystery Shop in an hour, but I thought I’d just find him now.” 

“You know, I thought I overheard him telling Floyd he’d use our usual club time to do some studying in the library,” Ace said. “I bet you could find him there.” 

Kalim’s face brightened. “Really? Thanks Ace! I’ll see you guys later!” 

Kalim left in the direction of the library after a final wave and a promise to host a party for them later in Scarabia’s lounge. Ace smirked and turned back to Ortho, who stared up at him with wide eyes. “And that’s how you do it.” 

Ortho tipped his head. “That’s it? I’m sorry, but I don’t think I understand. How would that qualify as a prank?” 

Ace’s smirk widened. “It’s a traditional kinda prank, but not all pranks need an immediate payoff. When Jamil shows up at the Mystery Shop later, he’s totally going to wig out when he can’t find Kalim. He’ll start a campus-wide search for Kalim thinking he’s gotten into some kind of trouble. Meanwhile, Kalim will likely find someone to hang out with in the library and completely forget he was supposed to meet Jamil. By the time Jamil finally thinks to look in the library, he’ll be twitchy as all get out.” 

“And that is...” Ortho paused. “Funny?” 

“With someone as tightly controlled as Jamil?” Ace laughed. “Heck yeah! And it’s the perfect revenge for how strict he’s been in our last few practices. The worst to come out of this is Jamil getting inconvenienced for a while. Everyone else gets a laugh, even Kalim!” 

Ortho still didn’t look very convinced. Ace glanced around the courtyard. “Here, why don’t you give it a try? We just have to pick someone who’s pretty gullible. How about—?” 

“MOVE ASIDE HUMANS!” 

Sebek plowed through the group of Film Research Club students. A jumble of protests came from them, but Sebek completely ignored them, even Vil’s snappy reprimand. His long stride took him from one end of the courtyard to the other in the span of a few seconds. 

Ace shook his head at the loud disruption. “Anyway, like I was saying...oi! Ortho!” 

Ortho completely ignored Ace as he zipped across the courtyard. His path put him on a clear trajectory to intersect Sebek. Ace chased after him, but he knew before he took his first step that there was no way he would catch up to Ortho. 

Ortho stopped right in front of Sebek. “Sebek! Is something wrong?” 

Sebek’s entire body jerked to a complete stop. He grabbed Ortho by the shoulders. “HAVE YOU SEEN LORD MALLEUS? SPEAK QUICKLY!” 

“I might have seen him out by the pond beside the alchemy workshop,” Ortho answered without missing a beat. He seemed completely unperturbed by the force of Sebek shaking him by his shoulders. “He was looking really hard at something in the middle of the water.” 

Sebek gasped. He released Ortho so quickly that they both stumbled a step. “The pond? Lord Malleus can’t swim! At least, I’ve never seen him swim...no! He dislikes getting wet for a reason.” 

Ortho’s eyes widened to match the slight crackle in his voice. “Really? Because I thought I saw him fall into the pond.” 

Sebek choked. Ace tried to signal at Ortho to stop with frantic waves, but Ortho continued. “Yeah! I’m pretty sure I saw him fall right in. I haven’t seen him since then.” 

A loud keen escaped Sebek. He shoved Ortho aside and sprinted down the hall. “I’M COMING LORD MALLEUS! DO NOT DROWN WITHOUT ME!” 

Ortho turned to Ace with a giggle. “I think I get it now! I’m gonna go tell Vil I’m ready for a second take. Thanks, Ace!” 

Ortho zoomed back over to Vil, who snapped orders at the other members of the club to regain their attention. Ace glanced in the direction Sebek had sprinted and back at Ortho gleefully talking to Vil. Ortho pointed back at Ace. Ace inadvertently caught Vil’s eye when the older boy followed Ortho’s gesture. 

Ace twisted on his heel. With an innocent whistle, he hurried away without looking too suspicious. Yuu and the others should be finished with Trein by now. He’d just casually mention stopping by the alchemy workshop, and Yuu would just happen to spot Sebek trying to drown himself, and everyone would have a good laugh. 

Except for a guy who didn’t have a mouth, Ortho had the biggest one on campus. Jamil sicced Floyd on him during club time for a whole week; Yuu only glared at him after almost drowning; and Sebek wouldn’t shut up about how great Malleus was after he pulled them all out of the pond. 

The only one happy was Ortho, who mysteriously became the star of Vil’s short film after the trickster character became the leading role. 

[twistedminutia]

Hello! You mentioned it being the one year anniversary for your fic soon — in light of the most recent chapter I think it would be very interesting to know what the teachers thought of Gray

All right, so I said try to limit it to one character per ask, but this one was sent before I officially posted the rules, so I'll do all the teachers, but keep the answers short for each one. Also, I wasn't sure if you wanted Crowley included in there, so I'll throw him in as a freebie.

Crowley:

"The prefect, hm? An unusual human, to be sure. The Dark Mirror has never erred in its time of serving the school, but to summon a student without magic... well, I just can't seem to figure out the reasoning! Adding to that the idea that she's from another world entirely, something that shouldn't be possible... Of course, I am looking into it! But answers have been rather difficult to find. Regardless, she's a fine enough student and quite willing to assist me when needed, so I have few complaints! Though I do think she could try to curb the appetite of her beast. I'm not made of money, you know!"

Trein:

"Gray is a fine student. Attentive in class, completes homework on time, and seems eager to learn. I admit, I was quite surprised by her seeming dedication to her studies contrasted with her lack of knowledge. I recall she scored quite dismally on her first exam here. She was quite distraught over it. Even when she began attending office hours and taking some private tutelage from me, she was still struggling. Of course, it all makes sense now, knowing she's not from this world. Poor girl. I don't think Crowley is taking her situation seriously enough. I've asked her to reach out, but she doesn't seem eager to do so. I'm not convinced staying here is the best thing for her, but if Crowley truly is looking into a way to return her home, perhaps it is best she stays here for now. Not to mention, she has a cat of her own. I think Lucius likes the company when Gray brings her around."

Crewel:

"That pup needs less discipline than her companions, but she also needs some serious assertiveness training! A pup too frightened to bite back is almost as bad as one who bites too much. In this kennel, the runts will get crushed if they don't stand up for themselves. As frustrating as that mangy mutt she spends most of her time with is, at least he knows how to snap back. She remains utterly reluctant to do so. Of course, Crowley hasn't been helping. I'm not sure he knows what he's doing. Despite her lack of magic, Gray is focused in class, which is more than I can say for her companions. Though she still can't keep Grim on a short enough leash to prevent a disaster every other week..."

Vargas:

"The girl? Needs training! Maybe she can't fly a broom like the rest of the guys here, but she can run laps, do pushups, and get herself some MUSCLE! Looks like a twig that's about to blow over and gets winded after one lap of the field. Not having magic is all the MORE reason to make sure she's got bulk enough to protect herself. I'll come up with a training regimen that'll whip her into shape and help her build STRENGTH."