#Jab We Matched release | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

xveenusx · 1 year ago

Text

Guilty

Paring(s): JJ maybank x fem!reader

Summary: it didn't matter that she did everything for him. it didn't matter that she loved him. insecurities ruin a great thing, love can't fix these problems

Authors note: angsty angsty angsty, bad JJ

Song rec: grave by tate mccrae

Part 2: Wanted

Perfect.

Everything had to be perfect.

The perfect dress. The perfect makeup. The perfect boy.

The past several days were borderline catastrophic with JJ getting arrested for sinking Topper’s boat. I begged and pleaded with my parents to help me get him out, promising them anything they wanted. They asked for the one thing I couldn’t give them. JJ.

And yet, I said yes. I said yes because the thought of him sitting in a cell all alone, stuck with nothing but his thoughts made my stomach turn. He’s always thought that nobody needed him. Maybe that was something his drunken father drilled into him but it was far from the truth. I needed him.

Everything had spun out of control and it all started the minute I met JJ Maybank. But I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Being with him was like walking for the first time. Nerve wracking yet exhilarating--freeing.

My life before him was just that, a life. Everything revolved around being the perfect little daughter to my parents. Debutantes, charity dinners, polo matches, and country clubs filled my schedule to the brim but they were rarely there. My mother was running a successful fashion line, working on her latest release while my father was a shark in the courtroom. While I loved every second of splurging on clothes, lavish trips to Europe, brunch at my favorite restaurant, I was missing something. I always felt like something was missing in a world where I had everything.

That’s not to say I’m ungrateful for every opportunity my position and family has afforded me. But when you spend enough time with people you realize are only conversing with you for money or to step on you to increase their social capital, nothing seems genuine.

Everything interaction was superficial and it became isolating. But with JJ, each and every moment we shared was intimate and unfeigned.

He taught me how to surf the swells he spent hours in daily. I learned the slight touch of hand in the art of being a mild kleptomaniac. After several failed attempts and many loud complaints, I could finally balance on his dirt bike.

None of these moments could be bought with money and maybe that’s why I cherished them so much. I cherished them so greatly that I refused to let them go.

And in turn, I couldn’t let him go. Despite the ever growing distance that's wedged itself between us the moment he was released from jail. Maybe it was a pride thing, or maybe it could have been the condescending jabs my dad threw his way, but JJ had pulled away.

My father's threats to revoke the bail money hung heavy above our heads. So tonight, I was going to try and change that. I needed to bridge the gap that had us so far apart. Midsummers was how I was going to achieve that.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and held it for several seconds to calm my racing heart. I open them slowly, dragging my gaze along my reflection on the floor length mirror at the entrance to the club. A silky number drapes my dainty figure in the softest brush of yellow with threaded pearls as straps. Ivory satin Jimmy Choo heels from their latest collection decorated my feet.

The familiar rumble of a truck had a grin pulling at the corners of my lips. My parents were somewhere in the building, having been on the board and needed to sign off on some last minute details.

I didn’t mind the constant abandonment. The loneliness that once clung to me had slowly evaporated the moment JJ entered my world.

Grabbing my Chrsitian Dior clutch, I headed for the entrance of the Island Club. A familiar mass of shaggy blonde hair had my feet moving quicker. The minute his face came into view I knew something was wrong.

His lips were tight in a grim line as he continuously shook his head. I quickened my steps, apologizing swiftly to several people who were trying to get my attention.

“I’m sorry, sir. Are you a member here?”

“Well, no, but my girlfriend-.��

“Then I’m afraid you're going to have to turn back around. This is a private club.”

“Listen dude, my girlfriend invited me and-”

“Sir, you need to get back into your vehicle before I call security.” The coordinator, who went by Ryan, dismissed JJ without a second glance.

JJ’s eyes narrowed. “If you’d let me speak-”

“This is private property.”

“Bro, calm down. You’re not protecting the president.” JJ huffed, shoving his hands into his pocket. His cheeks tinted a slight red which had my blood boiling.

He was person. Period. One that didn't deserve to be treated like that especially in such a public setting. I was livid at the thought of Ryan managing to make JJ feel embarrassed.

“You’re not a member-”

“No, but I am.” I snapped coming to a stop beside him, causing the event coordinator to rear his head back in surprise.

“Hey, baby. ” The familiar pull of his voice coated me like the warmest honey. A smirk tugged at his lips at the obvious irritation on my face.

Pausing to give JJ my attention, I placed a soft kiss on his lips and pushed back a wild strand of blonde hair. “Hi.”

The smile he gave me was like a sudden beam of light that hit me square in the chest.

“I am so sorry. I didn’t realize he was with you-”

“Add JJ Maybank to my member account,” My words were sharp and left little room for argument, though they were dripping with the sickeningly sweet tone I mastered at the young age of twelve. “Consider yourself up to date.”

“I’ll get it done.” With that, Ryan tipped his head and left quickly.

I bristled once more, muttering under my breath, ”Dick.” My chest was heavy with guilt at his treatment, wondering if this was actually a good idea. I gnawed at my bottom lip nervously.

This was not how I wanted our night to start.

“I’ve never been a member before.”

Not bothering to conceal my giggle, I turned around and allowed my eyes to drift over every inch of JJ. The black suit I bought him was fitted and hugged every muscle in a way that had my stomach clenching.

Sun kissed hands reached for me the moment I was within his reach. My arms wrap around the mass of lean muscles, my nose buried in his neck. Taking a deep breath, salt and sex wax filled my senses and I let myself relax.

Home. He felt like home.

“You look very handsome.”

A rumble left his chest. “My sugar mama bought it for me.”

Hiding my face in his chest, a loud laugh slipped past my lips. JJ shushed me almost immediately, “People are looking. We can’t have them thinking we’re together.”

I pulled away, trying to keep a straight face at his antics. “We are together.”

“Shit, we are?” He held out his hand, amusement and mischief dancing in his eyes. “My sugar mama can’t find out or she’ll cut me off.”

How could I not love him when he made me laugh so hard my stomach hurt?

I hit his arm with my purse in mock outrage before taking his hand while his other touched my bare back. The feel of his rough calloused hands from all his hard work has me suck in a breath. Those rough hard hands knew my body intimately, inside and out.

“Do that again and I’m finding the nearest bathroom.” JJ leaned down, his lips brushing against the top of my ear.

A clearing of the throat had us both turning our heads. My father stood there with a stoic face, his eyes promising retribution later.

Looking at my father directly in the eye, I place my arm in the crook of his, lacing us together.

“I see you brought a friend.” The last word is spoken with clear disdain.

My grip on JJ’s arm tightened. “I brought my boyfriend.”

“We’ll talk about this later.”

As if they’d actually be home, I thought but decided to keep that to myself.

Deciding that this entire conversation was pointless, I was dragging JJ away from the pair when my father grabbed JJ, whispering something in his ear.

My stomach shrunk and apprehension filled me as the light look of JJ’s face fell, replaced with a flat look and hardened eyes.

“Duly noted, sir.” His mouth curled in a sarcastic snark.

I shot my father a disappointed look. Curling myself into JJ’s side, my arm wrapped around his waist and I tugged us into the party. “Ignore him, please.”

“Already forgotten, princess.”

My eyes watch his face for any sign of distress, but find nothing. Guilt ebbed aways at my walls.

“Let’s go find Mr. Adams. He owns a chain of surf shops. I’m sure if we schmooze him, we can get you a solid job or maybe even a board.” I tossed him a wink that had him grinning.

“I like the way you think. Lead the way, gorgeous.”

Despite his hand on my back, all the warmth we had a mere moments ago was gone. I couldn’t help but notice the small distance he kept between us. One that didn’t exist until my father opened his mouth.

Several hours later, the sun had begun to set and a cool breeze now caressed my bare back. I embraced the cool breeze due to the several glasses of champagne I had.

Despite my love for the warm buzz it gave me, it did little for my bladder. “I’ll be right back.”

His eyes widened in alarm. “You can’t leave me here with these people.”

I smothered my laugh with my hand. “Did you want to come with me?”

“To the bathroom? Kinky, I’m in.” JJ responded, clutching my hand in his before expertly pulling us through the crowd.

Nothing could peel off the cheesy smile that bore my face. Despite the slight hiccup at the beginning of the night, JJ charmed most of the members with his charm and humor. I was hoping with some networking, I could help JJ get some security. I believed he was capable of doing just about anything. He had such determination and never let failure keep him down.

JJ knew how to hussle and I wanted everyone to see his potential, even if at times he didn’t see it himself.

My heels clicked along the granite floor, our hands swinging in the air. A shriek escaped my lips as JJ twirls me around, my dress swishing around my ankles. “Gorgeous.” He puffed out his cheeks, his gaze boring into mine.

Our matching grins were nothing short of radiant. Being with him was easy in a world filled with difficult people.

“Well this is disgusting.”

JJ went rigid. That wouldn’t have concerned me if he hadn’t muttered panicked curses under his breath. “If someone says one more thing to me..”

JJ never let Rafe intimidate him before but for some reason JJ seemed a little more hesitant with this exchange. Realization dawned on me. The boat. Fuck.

I let my hands fall while rolling my eyes and turning to face Rafe. There he stood in all his stuck up glory, not a hair out of place and his suit neatly pressed. He looked every bit of a country member as one could possibly be with the light blue suit paired with a white undershirt and blue bow tie, brown dress shoes on his feet.

“Don’t you have another line to snort?” I asked.

Sure, Rafe was conventionally attractive, if you didn’t pay attention to the blown pupils and the constant brush of his nose or the foggy look in his eyes.

JJ snickered beside me, his hand softly tapping my ass twice in support.

“JJ, go get me a drink.” Rafe cocked his head.

“I’m actually a member here now.” JJ responded, his hand caressed my cheek softly.

Shocked painted Rafe’s face. “That’s not poss-”

Kelce and Topper stood beside him, both in colored pressed suits as well. They kind of looked like the-”You powerpuff girls have fun.” JJ said with a crooked smile and a tip of the hat.

He seized me by the wrist and strode over to the exit. Relief at his plan to avoid a fight was fleeting at Rafe’s next words.

“If I knew a trailer home and food stamps was all it took for you to open your legs, I would have tried a long time ago.”

JJ jerked around in seconds, ripping out of my grip. He stalked towards Rafe, drawing his arm back before connecting with his jaw.

A shout passed my lips, my hands covering my mouth in horror as JJ struck Rafe twice more, one blow hitting him directly on the nose. Blood began to gush out of Rafe’s nose, staining his dress shirt a deep crimson. “Say that shit again. Say it.”

Rafe let out a mirthless laugh, his lips pulled at the sides revealing his red stained teeth. “Once a pogue, always a pogue. Isn’t that right, JJ?”

Kelce jumped into action, his arm wrapping around JJ’s neck, pulling him off a Rafe into an effective headlock. That’s when I noticed two more hulking figures and suddenly we were surrounded.

“Five on one, Rafe? Really?” JJ choked out, tugging at Kelce’s arm.

Without thinking, I walked behind Kelce and slammed the metal clasp of the bag against the side of his head. Once. Twice. Three times. “Let go of him!”

Kelce let out a yelp and jerked back, causing his grip on JJ to loosen just enough for him to get free. I went towards him in an instant, but he pushed me behind him as he surveyed the remaining men in front of us.

Whispers dragged my attention from the scene in front of me as I locked eyes with several members who had poked their heads into the locker area. Shit, this really wasn’t good. I needed to get JJ out of here as soon as possible. I didn’t want to give my father any more ammunition against him.

Clutching his arm, I tugged him once more towards the exit. I could hear more activity outside the locker room which had me pulling at him harder. I wasn’t going to let Rafe make him look bad in front of all these influential people. Over my dead body.

“People are coming. We have to go.”

His chest rose and fell with quick breaths, his steele blue gaze not leaving Rafe’s.

“I’m serious. For me, JJ, please?” My final plea seemed to have pulled him out of his angry haze. Without wasting a second, he let me pull him further and further away from the group. Lacing his hand in mine, I made quick work of fixing his suit and his hair, pressing soft kisses as I went.

“Whenever you’re done slumming it, you know where I am.” Rafe called out from behind us, earning us enough leers from fellow members.

He tore his hand from mine. “Fuck this.”

Apprehension coursed through me.

I could feel the storm brewing with each step he took. I trailed behind, my small steps nothing to his long strides. Rafe hit a nerve. One that JJ refused to acknowledge and let fester for months now. It was the elephant in the room any time I offered to pay anything at all. It bothered him, all the money my family had.

“Ignore him, Jayj.” I called out from behind him but his steps never faltered. “Rafe was just trying to get a reaction out of you.”

I could hear the soft melody of the music drifting over the wind from the party that was supposed to fix all our problems. Perhaps I was sticking a bandaid on a gaping wound.

His shoulders were tense as he stopped a couple feet in front of me, shaking his head. Nerves had my stomach in knots. I only had one shot at trying to fix this. Feelings were never JJ’s thing. He spent months fighting our attraction before he finally gave in. Dating a Kook was never something JJ considered.

Unfortunately, it was something others thought as well because they never failed to remind him. My father included.

So here we are. JJ was backed into a corner and like any wounded animal, he had two choices. He could concede or attack and I knew JJ like the back of my hand. He would never give up, so instead he’d go for the throat.

Too bad it was my throat he went for.

“I understand-” I stopped speaking the moment JJ whipped around, his eyes cutting me deeply.

“You don’t.” I didn’t respond. My eyes lingered on his busted lip and bruised chiseled face. “You don’t understand so please don’t try to make me feel better by pretending that you do.”

I pursed my lips. JJ was right, I didn’t understand what it was like to be in his position, but that didn’t mean I didn’t care. That I didn’t want to take away every ounce of pain if it meant he would be happy.

“You’re right. But Jayj, it’s Rafe.” I argued softly, not wanting to draw attention to us. “He always says shit like that to rile you up but you’ve never let it bother you before. Why now?”

JJ’s face flushed. “Because he’s fucking right. That’s why it bothers me.”

My lips wobbled and I pressed them together. I had gone out of my way to ensure he’d never feel this way. I guess I failed.

I moved closer, my steps unsure and clumsy. “You never said anything.”

My hand rested against his chest, and I could feel the familiar pounding of his heart.

“That’s nothing new.” He lifted his shoulder in a half shrug.

That did little to ease the emotional storm brewing within me. Every interaction since he was little was nothing short of violent and negligent.

He wasn’t used to softness and kindness. We were trying to navigate in uncharted waters but we’re thrown off the boat every time the water got choppy.

“We can go. Let’s just go, baby. Let me just say bye to my parents-“

“Stop.” He demanded, his tone serve. So unlike JJ.

I dropped my hand and instead chose to focus on the sound of our breathing. I had to keep my head on straight, because I could tell he was already building up his wall so high, making his fortress impenetrable.

JJ had never had a consistent thing in his life and I’ll be damned if I let that happen to us.

Squaring my shoulders back, I faced his heated gaze head on. If he wanted an argument, he’d get one, but we’d both be leaving together.

I had no intention of going anywhere.

“Stop?” I echoed, raising my brow.

His eyes were as cold and hard as obsidian. “Yes, stop. How is leaving going to solve any of this?”

“You’re picking a fight with me for no reason. I’m not the one you’re mad at.”

JJ raked his fingers through the sun bleached golden strands causing them to fall along his forehead. “Maybe I am.”

My eyes widened at his words. What had I done? He’d shared every bit of his world with me and I only wanted to do the same.

Was that not what people do when they’re in love? Aren’t you supposed to share your interests with your partner and aren’t they supposed to want to know them?

“For what?”

He tugged at his shirt collar. “Why am I here?”

My brows furrowed in confusion. Why would he even ask that?

“Why am I here, at this Midsummer's bullshit?”

“Because I wanted you to be.” I smoothed out my hair to give my trembling hands something to do. “It’s something that matters to me, it’s not bullshit.”

I had spent months planning this party since my parents were on the board. I wanted everything to be perfect for them and for him. It all seemed silly now. A part of that stung deep in my soul. Bullshit was never a word I used to describe any of the interests he showed me, yet he so easily spouted it at me.

JJ stayed quiet but continued to fidget with the silver ring on his finger. I wanted to close the distance between us but didn’t know how.

“Don’t let Rafe of all people ruin this. His opinion means nothing.”

He lifted his chin. “It matters to your dad.”

I barely held back my wince. “He doesn’t get a say in who I date, JJ.”

“Oh, are we lying to each other now?”

“W-What do you mean?”

“Are we going to pretend that you don’t care about what your parents think?”

I took a step back as though he hit me. “Stop talking before you say something you’ll regret.”

“Everything you do is to get their attention. You’d die without their approval.”

In a manner of speaking, he was right. My parents barely paid me an ounce of attention and it was hard not to think it had to do with me. There must have been something wrong with me for my parents to not want to spend time with me. I spent the majority of my life trying to live up to their expectations hoping to be the daughter they always wanted, but nothing worked. I couldn’t get them to love me.

And he threw it all in my face.

I stared at him with tears in my eyes, hurt and stricken.

At the sight of my tears, he looked away with his jaw clenched.

“Why are you with me?” He hissed, holding out his arms. “It’s not like I can take you to dinner in Paris or buy you the clothes you like so much.”

Insecurity was a cruel thing. It had the power to turn someone as confident and sure as JJ into a puddle of irate nerves. And as his insecurity continued to dig its hooks further into his skin, he continued to rip into me, piece by piece.

“Because I love you. Because you make me laugh.” My voice raised, my hands clenched into fists by my sides. “Where is this coming from?”

Anxiety wound its way up my throat clocking off my air.

“You’re fucking shoes are four grand. Do you know what I could do with four grand? I could get the power turned on in my house, or better yet, pay for the house.” The look he shot me had me wanting to be six feet under. He’d never looked at me like that before. He made me sound vapid and superficial. Like I didn’t spend most of my time on his side of the island.

The guilt I felt early came back tenfold. Guilt for my position. Guilt for the money my family had. Guilt for the things I enjoyed buying, both for him and myself.

Maybe I was just as bad as Rafe.

Pain sliced my chest as his gaze continued to penetrate me like bullets.

“The other side of the island is starving and everyone here is drinking champagne and gambling a mortgage for fun. It’s disgusting.” JJ began to pace, shaking his head in disbelief. “You had me kissing ass to all these people, and for what? A job? Stop trying to turn me into something that I’m not.”

I wrapped my arms around my waist. “That wasn’t what I was doing. I was trying to open doors for you so you had options. All I wanted was to help give you a fighting chance.”

“I didn’t ask for your help.” The words continued to pelt at me, hitting my heart every time. The pressure in my chest only tightened further.

“Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do for the person you love?” My voice shook, matching the trembling of my body. “It never mattered before.”

I'd never been in love before him. I didn't have anything to compare it too since the most affection I get from my parents is a card on my birthday. I thought by doing everything they didn't do for me, supporting and comforting and physical touch, would somehow translate into love.

“Of course it mattered. You’re a fucking Kook.” The raw and angry words seeped into my veins, the audible crack of my heart echoing for all to hear.

My throat constricted. Enough, I couldn’t hear anymore. No, no, no. But JJ seemed to have other plans.

“I mean, I’m standing here in a custom Tom Ford whatever that could have fed me for months. I’m out of my element and it makes my skin fucking crawl. John B is getting sent to CPS and Pope is getting jumped and I’m here at some stupid dinner with the people that did it to him. What does that make me?”

My chest cracked open and my heart caved in. I finally saw the broken boy in front of me. Bruised and broken, completely uncomfortable and unsure of himself.

“Kiara’s a kook.”

“Kiara’s different and you know that.” It remained unsaid but I knew what he was referring to. Kie was a hippie rich chick who didn’t enjoy all the things I did: designer clothes, luxury dinners, expensive food. In other words, I was a self absorbed kook princess that didn’t care for those around me.

It didn’t matter that I spent most of the summer with JJ helping him fix homes in the cut. It didn’t matter that I donated to charities or helped send care kits to those on the cut after the hurricane. It didn’t matter that I spent almost all my free time with him and the pogues just as Kiara did.

To him, I represented everything he hated. It didn’t matter that I loved him so deeply I defied my parents. It didn’t matter that I upended my life and chose to be with him. He could never see past the money, something I had no control over.

I may have been standing in custom Christian Dior and Jimmy Choo, but I’ve never felt more cheap as JJ continued to cut me down with each word.

“Do you want me to apologize?” My pulse spiked as a burst of adrenaline had me spouting the truth. “I had just as much a choice of being born on figure eight than you did on the cut.”

He looked at me like he hated me. “I don’t know how we deluded ourselves into thinking this could ever work.”

“You don’t get to stand there and make me feel guilty for who I am. Just because I have money and like nice things, doesn’t make me an asshole. I’ve treated everyone in my life with kindness. Don't group me with them.”

JJ scoffs, pointing at the crowd on the dance floor. “Them? Them--means your parents, baby”.

“I’ve never treated you less than me.” It was a last ditch effort.

“At least I know what Kook pussy tastes like.” He went for the kill. “Money and daddy issues.”

I stilled. The world stilled. Vicious hurt curled its way into my soul, etching every bit of it until I no longer existed.

Like I said before, I had no intention of going anywhere. But, I guess to JJ, he always had one foot out the door.

I think I stopped breathing. I blinked at him, hoping cameras would pop out and the whole thing came out as a prank. But, no cameras appeared.

Just him and I stood, in a field, an arms length apart but a universe away.

“You don’t mean that.” The words came out strangled. “Take it back.”

He said nothing. I had to bring a fist to my mouth to try and block out the harsh sob that threatened to escape.

“JJ, please.” I begged, my hands catching his arm. “Let’s just go.”

His normal vibrant eyes regard me coldly, a muscle jumping his jaw. I was drowning in my emotions. Everything had escalated to a level I couldn’t fix, because he wouldn’t let me. The bathroom seemed forever ago in the scheme of things. I can see the battle in his eyes of whether to give into his self destructive behavior or to come back to me.

Any hope I had of him coming back to me dissolved in a matter of seconds. A security guard came up behind him, gripping JJ by the forearm and tugging us towards the front of the party. My eyes widened in horror as I realized they were going to parade him around in front of everyone which would just humiliate him more.

“Jeez Daryl, could you loosen up your grip,” JJ complained, attempting to jerk out of the large man’s grip. He didn’t so much as flinch at each of JJ’s gripes either.

"What do you think you're doing?" I snapped, "Let him go, Darryl."

Darryl shook his head and gave me an apologetic look. "No can do. Mr. Cameron complained."

JJ Scoffed. “I can let myself out. I have two legs.”

“JJ, please stop.”

“I appreciate the discretion, Daryl.”

He self-destructed right in front of me. JJ grabbed a drink off an unsuspecting member and chugged it down before tossing the glass on the floor.

In the end, JJ was always going to be JJ. I saw the moment he decided to destroy everything we had. It was a slight shift in his body and that penetrating gaze of his hardened into a cruel amusement. JJ shrugged my hand off his, before his eyes flitter across the crowd as though he's looking for someone. Then I watched as they landed on a familiar brunette.

“Hey, let him go. I’m a member of this club and I invited him.” Kie shouted at Darryl who paused for a brief moment. I could see her parents trying to discreetly get her to stop but Kiara refused. At the sound of her words, an appreciative grin tugged at JJ’s lips.

It didn’t matter that I had said the same thing hours ago. It didn’t matter that I not only defended him but made him a member. I liked shiny flashy things and she didn’t. Apparently, that made her better than me.

“Mandatory power hour at Rixon’s, Kie.” He shouted, pointing at where she stood in front of her parent’s. “Pope, you as well, alright?”

I had a disposition for loving people too much, no matter how they treated me. And for the first time in my life, I didn’t care that I wasn’t presentable. I didn’t care that tears were falling down my face or that my hair was a mess. I didn’t want to be left behind. He promised.

“Let me come-”

Exasperation filled his features. "Take a fucking hint. You can go be with someone like Rafe now. You two deserve each other."

“Alright, Kie c’mon.” He didn’t spare me a second glance. I had to watch as Kie took off running towards him with Pope in tow. JJ held out his arms to catch her, arms she happily jumped into. John B lets out a humored shout while JJ spins Kiara around and they take off.

Leaving me all by myself. My parents nowhere in sight.

And suddenly everything hit me at once. My dress was too tight, my heels were pinching at the skin on my feet, the music was too loud, my hair was a mess. Nothing I did was right. Once again, I was left alone. Abandoned by the one person I thought would never leave. All because I loved him too much and he hated everything I couldn’t control.

I stood there, feeling like a silly little girl in a silly little dress I spent hours looking for, urging him to look back. He never did.

Authors note: I hope I hurt your feelings because I hurt my own writing this :) pls let me know what u think!!! I love hearing from you guys

Tagging my favs: @maybankslover @sipsthecoffee @alyisdead

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bumblesimagines · 6 months ago

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The Clouds and The Stars

Request: Yes or No

Sequel one shot to The Sun and Moon!

Pronouns: He/Him/His

~~~

Married life... such a curious thing. Many grew up with an expectation as to how it would be, mostly based on their own parents' relationship. There were the happy parents who formed a love match and loved each other with their whole hearts. There were the friendly parents who were more friends than partners but still cared for one another. Then, there were the saddening parents who either due to a forced marriage or perhaps because of time grew to despise each other, only tolerating each other for the sake of their children whom they unknowingly harm with their arguments and jabs.

(Y/N) grew up with friendly parents. Lucy and Henry had ended their respective social seasons by marrying under the guise of being madly in love in order to chase after what they truly wanted, even if their desires had to be kept behind closed doors and only exposed to trusted individuals. Secrecy had always been a part of his life, even when it involved marriage, and he supposed now, as he lied in bed and watched the sun peek through the curtains, he'd truly followed in his parents' footsteps. At least, however, he'd found someone. Found more than one, in fact.

"Love," (Y/N) couldn't help but smile as Anthony sighed into his ear, his muscular arm tightening around him and pulling him closer to his chest. Anthony buried his face in the crook of his neck and inhaled deeply, lips pressing against his skin before he hooked his chin over (Y/N)'s shoulder. He gently nudged him, a soft grunt leaving him when (Y/N) remained still. "Love."

"What is it?" (Y/N) chuckled and finally shifted, moving onto his back and peering up at Anthony when he propped himself up onto his elbow. Anthony smiled at him, cheeky and pleased, one hand moving to cup his face and rub his thumb soothingly over his cheek, a warm twinkle in his dark eyes. (Y/N) felt his skin flush under such an adoring gaze.

"I simply wished to see my husband's beautiful face, is all." Anthony cooed, and (Y/N) smile widened tenfold, a bashful and breathy laugh escaping him. They weren't married to each other, not legally or in the eyes of the church at least, but in their hearts and to their families they were. Many in the ton suspected but with Queen Charlotte's silence and Lady Whistledown calling their dance together a 'much-needed change for such dreary balls', anyone with suspicions or beliefs remained silent. Of course, they still had to remain a secret, lest someone grew annoyed enough to reach out to the church.

"Such a charmer, Anthony." (Y/N) spoke teasingly, sighing softly against Anthony's mouth when he swooped down to kiss him. Anthony pressed harder against his lips and fully rolled over, laying ontop of the painter and only pulling away to trail kisses down his jawline and to his neck. Always so hungry, so needy and clingy. "Anthony, we have things to do-"

"They can wait," Anthony murmured against his skin, one hand slipping under his shirt while the other took his hand and locked their fingers together. (Y/N) rolled his eyes and released a breathy laugh, breath nearly hitching when Anthony needily rolled his hips. "We have time."

"It's an important day, Anthony. Francesca will need her brother today, you know." (Y/N) reminded him, dipping his fingers beneath Anthony's chin and gripping it lightly so he could tilt his head up. Anthony sighed dramatically, putting his full weight down on him and bringing their intertwined hands toward his face, a gentle kiss pressing against the back of (Y/N)'s hand. (Y/N) smiled.

"Suppose we should be quick, then." Anthony grinned mischievously, his free hand pushing up (Y/N)'s shirt and head dipping to pepper kisses along his stomach.

"Anthony!" (Y/N) tried not to laugh too loudly, mindful of those still slumbering in the nearby rooms. He could hear the maids and servants bustling around, likely readying the house and preparing breakfast. Such a big day for the Bridgerton family again, and yet, there lied the Viscount, acting like a hormonal boy all over again. (Y/N) swatted at his shoulder and pushed himself up but it only prompted Anthony's head to dip even lower. "Anthony Bridgerton!"

Releasing a muffled laugh, Anthony finally relented and sat back, his hand still keeping an iron grip on (Y/N)'s no matter how hard the painter trying to pull back. (Y/N) groaned again in fake annoyance that only made Anthony giggle like a child and reach out to pull him onto his lap. He leaned in, pressing their lips together again. (Y/N) melted against him and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, squeezing Anthony's hand and feeling his fingers tighten even more.

"If only-" (Y/N) leaned back, briefly interrupted when Anthony pecked his lips again. "-you put this much effort into having an heir with Steph."

"Mm, I've been busy and she seems more than content with her... lady friends," Anthony said, nuzzling his face into (Y/N)'s chest. "If you'd been a lady, I'm certain you'd be expecting by now."

"Yes, I'm aware. You've made that abundantly clear, Lord Bridgerton. I don't understand how you can have this much stamina." (Y/N) shook his head with a soft laugh, sweetly kissing the top of his head and exhaling softly. "But, I am not a lady nor your wife, Anthony. You need an heir. I'm sure it won't take too many attempts."

"And what of you and Kate? I'm sure you nor she will have this difficulty if you try for children of your own. We have each other's blessings, you know. If you'd like to have a child-"

"We've been breaching the topic, actually." (Y/N) revealed, finally untangling his hand from Anthony's and rising up from the bed, searching for the clothes he kept in Anthony's home for days he spent the night. Because of their predicament regarding Anthony's position as Viscount and their inability to wed publicly or have children, both men agreed to take on brides. Stephanie provided the perfect candidate for Viscountess and (Y/N) had always held affection for Kate. "She's more than happy to have children. She thinks two is a good number, in fact, so they have someone to keep them company."

"How many do you think Steph will want?" Anthony sighed, standing up as well to get dressed.

"Well, if you have a boy first... I think you'll both be content with just one." (Y/N) chuckled, slipping his coat on and adjusting the ends of it while Anthony began taking clothes out of the closet. The thought of parenthood, of fatherhood, hung over the two of them, both exciting and nerve-wracking. The four of them would care for the children together, that'd already been agreed upon, but still... bringing life into the world? It made (Y/N) queasy yet... pleased.

"If you and I could have children," Anthony whistled sharply, a grin spreading across his face and fingers swiftly buttoning up his shirt. "We'd have a bigger brood than Mother."

"I don't doubt it." (Y/N) retrieved Anthony's coat from its spot draped over the armrest and approached him, helping him slip his arms through and adjusting it for him. He smiled, finishing the last button of his shirt and fixing the collar before tugging Anthony closer to kiss him. "You're insatiable, Anthony."

"Only for you." Anthony cooed, gearing up to lean in again but the sound of the door opening made him pause.

Stephanie dramatically gasped at the sight of them, lifting a hand to her head and fanning herself rapidly. "Oh, Kate, what ever will we do? How could they do this to us?" She gasped again, a teasing smile stretching across her face as Kate giggled and gently nudged her and walked further into the room. (Y/N) rolled his eyes at Stephanie but smiled widely at Kate, pulling away from Anthony to extend his arms out toward her.

"My darling wife." He greeted warmly, coiling his arms around her waist and planting a kiss between her brows. Kate hummed softly, leaning her head down to rest it on his shoulder. Stephanie stopped at Anthony's side, taking a quick look over his clothes before nodding approvingly and curling her arm around his.

"Shall we get to it? Breakfast is ready and Violet has been fretting over Francesca nonstop. She's worried about the poor girl." Stephanie told them and Anthony sighed heavily, leaning over to kiss (Y/N)'s temple and nod to Kate. The Viscount and Viscountess fell into conversation and exited the room, leaving Kate and (Y/N) alone.

"So, my darling husband," Kate began with a small laugh, lifting her head and smoothing out his shirt with her palms, her keen eyes searching for anything out of place before rising to look him in the eye. She smiled, pecking his cheek. "We have a long day ahead of us, as you know. Ready for this social season?"

"As long as I have you and Anthony and Steph, I'll always be ready."

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kisses4kaia · 1 year ago

Text

dark but just a game - ethan landry

summary; you and your boyfriend are what professionals would describe as sadists, and also probably psychopaths. but he didn’t see you that way, nor did you him. sure, what you guys did was dark, but to you two, it was just a game.

warnings; dark!!! very dark!! murder, sadism, smut, dom!gf!ethan + sub!gf!reader. fem reader, oral sex (m receiving), and penetrative sex (p in v), fingering. overall very mature themes. please do not read under the cut if you are under the age of 18.

a/n; you ask and you shall receiveee. i originally got this idea for charlie while listening to dbjag by lana, but y’all wanted ethan so here u go!! (please reblog with tags if you enjoy🖤)

“you can run,” ethan said, voice distorted on one end of the line, speaking to a stupid girl who left her windows open whilst she was home alone.

“but you can’t hide,” you spoke, on the opposite side of the house and line.

and then the chase began. as far as she knew, there was only one person out for her blood. this was your favorite part, the revelation they get when they realize they’re outnumbered.

she screamed bloody murder as ethan chased her throughout the house. she tried to run out of the front door, but you were there, waiting for her.

it’s just so predictable.

she opened the door, saw you with your glisteningly clean knife and costume, turned around but slammed directly into ethan’s cloaked chest.

“we tried to tell you,” ethan spoke condescendingly to the girl as you laughed.

“you want this one?” he constricted her by her arms as she screamed and cried, pleading for her life.

you rolled your eyes at her volume but nodded at your boyfriend. “how could i resist when she’s a bitch annoying as she is?” you went for the first slash across her left bicep.

she screamed in pain, but ethan took one of his hands and pressed his flush against her jaw. “shut the fuck up, bitch,” he growled in her ear, becoming impatient.

you could sense it and quickly went for 2 matching jabs in opposite sides of her hips, being sure to twist the blade.

you continued with multiple painful penetrations to her skin, but none of which would kill her immediately.

her body was going limp after you slashed her achilles tendon and her screaming was becoming more tired, so you decided she’d had enough, and finished the job with a stab directly to her heart.

she let out one final gasp of pain before her weight became dead in ethan’s arms.

he dropped her body and pulled off his mask, speedy to pull yours off too. ethan smashed his lips against yours. “god, you’re so fucking hot,” he whispered as you desperately rutted your core against his thigh.

his hand went down to grab your ass, but halted when he heard the sirens approaching the house getting louder. he quickly grabbed your hand and ran out the back door into the hidden getaway car.

the adrenaline was still running high from the recent kill, your need for him in-between your legs becoming almost unbearable.

he drove fast, trying to make it quick to your shared dorm. you tore your cloak off in the passenger seat and opened your legs to him, revealing you weren’t wearing underwear underneath your skirt.

“fuck,” he muttered, almost instinctively bringing his hand down to your pussy, circling his thumb around your clit fastly, his middle finger fucking your hole, bringing you so close to orgasm, but you arrived at campus before you could meet sweet release.

he kissed you all the way up the elevator and down the hallway, fumbling the key in his jean pocket under his dark cloak.

the moment you two stumbled inside, you had him pushed against the door.

you dropped to your knees almost immediately, hardly even struggling with his belt and pulling his pants and boxers down.

you yearned for the feeling of the weight of his heavy cock on your tongue, the thought of it making your heart skip a beat.

after placing a simple kiss on his painfully red tip, you decided teasing wasn’t needed or even wanted by either party.

you took him in your mouth, hollowing out your cheeks and locking eyes with him. your head bobbed up and down his length, making pornographic slurping sounds.

ethan tangled his hands in your hair, tugging slightly. you moaned around his cock, and the vibrations brought him so close to the edge.

the feeling of his tip prodding the back of your throat made him teeter over, and he came with a mix of expletives, moans of your name, groans, and whimpers.

you swallowed down everything he gave you, the sweet and salty flavor only making you hornier.

you were on your feet again before you know it, kidding ethan passionately, making him taste himself on your tongue.

aaand, he’s hard again.

now he’s pushing you into your bedroom, not even disconnecting your lips.

he’s tearing your clothes off, aswell as his remaining shirt. before you even realize a moment has passed, he’s pushing into you.

the stretch is delicious, forcing a deep moan from your throat.

for your sake, ethan tried to go slow, but he couldn’t keep that up. he rammed into you, his tip hitting the most perfect place at an ungodly speed.

“shit, baby. e-eth, slow- fuck!- slow down!” you said in between moans, your head becoming cloudy and the knot in your stomach tightening.

“i- i c-can’t- nngh,” his whimpers in your ear as well as his hands burning into your hips made you roll your eyes in ecstasy, and become so close to cumming.

the straw that broke the camels back was his lips traveling down to your collarbone, wasting no time in finding that one spot that always made you scream.

your pussy clenched around him as you came. your body convulsed as incoherent whines and whimpers left your lips like nothing else could.

his second release was close behind yours, thrusts getting sloppier and moans getting more concentrated.

soon, he emptied himself into you with a loud moan of your name, repeating it like an orison.

the both of you came down from your orgasms not long after and ethan pulled out. you whined at the emptiness, but it wasn’t for long.

“cant waste any of that cum, can we?” ethan’s grin was wide as he pushed two of his fingers inside of you, ensuring not a drop left your abused hole.

you were so sensitive, tears began to pool in your eyes.

the intense pleasure became too much very fast, and you had to physically hold his wrist to stop his fingers pumping into you.

ethan pulled his fingers out of you and stuck them in your mouth, forcing your throat open to swallow all of the mixed arousal on his digits.

once he felt they were clean, he pulled them out and brought his lips to yours in a passionate, gentle, and loving, kiss.

you felt yourself falling asleep with a hazy smile on your face, but your sleepiness dissipated into thin air when you heard a loud, angry, banging, on the door.

“NYPD, open up!”

#ethan landry #jack champion #ethan landry x reader smut #ethan landry smut #ethan landry x reader #scream #scream vi #scream 6 smut #scream 6 #the endinggg😭#.𖥔 ݁ ˖ִ ࣪⚝₊ ⊹˚ 𝐤𝐚𝐢𝐚 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬 !#kaia writes ethan

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mamayan · 1 year ago

Note

(It won’t let me submit on my other acc but it’s @giyuuzas 🥟🤍)

MY PROMPTS ARE:

12, 21, 46, 63 and 92

With Giyuu obviously 👻✨

Bang! … No bullet was shot—

Giyuu Tomioka

“I told you to sit on my face, not hover baby.”|| Lesson || Tangled hair || Enemies to lovers

tw: NSFW • Fingering • Oral • Multiple Orgasms • Brattiness

wc: 773

“Are your skills in bed just as terrible as your fighting?”

You regretted the taunt almost as quickly as it had left your lips. Your grip on your blade tightening as you dodged another strike from the Water Hashira, who now held a dangerous gleam in his dark gaze you couldn’t decipher. His face remained impassive but his speed and strength in each swing and movement increased incredulously, and you had to wonder if he’d been holding back this entire sparring session. He pushed you further and further into a corner, your exhaustion weighing you down while he hardly broke a sweat.

It wasn’t long before you were on your ass, glaring up into his eyes as his blade hovered just below your chin.

“You were saying?” He taunted back, and you knew the infuriating male was mocking you despite his bored expression. You couldn’t help it. The urge to tear that mask off his face and make him show something too strong for you to resist jabbing back once more.

“I guess you aren’t that bad at fighting as you are in bed.” You shrug, smug expression blooming as you sneer.

His expression truly does change, as it always does in your irritating presence. He looked enraged, aggravation obvious as he matches your nasty look with one of his own.

“Shall we put that to the test then?”

You hadn’t expected such a retort, but the adrenaline from battle and your own petty grudge against the man who pretended to be better than everyone else provoked you into agreeing.

“Fine by me Tomioka.”

It was to your surprise and terrible realization this man had a boiling point. The irony is not lost on you as your body aches with need as you tremble against him, trapped between his firm body and the wall behind you with nowhere else to go as he kisses you with more passion than any other man. One large hand shoved down your uniform pants while he fingers your dripping hole, rough but calculated in each thrust of two fingers he uses to stretch and spear you.

“You were saying?” His voice is nearly a growl as he glares down at you with lust filled eyes.

He likes you more like this than he cares to admit, needy and moaning as he brings you closer and closer to another climax.

“You need to answer me if you want to cum again.” He warns, thrilled by how you tighten and pant, clearly enjoying the aggressive treatment as your sweaty figures hide in the forest behind the training grounds.

“W-we aren’t in b-bed… so this doesn’t, ah, count,” even as you moan and cry for him, you still manage to make him want to bite you.

He does. Leaning down to your neck, he latches his teeth into your tender skin and sinks down just as you jerk and soak his hand again.

“Giyuu,” your vision goes hazy as relief and pleasure wash over you, his name falling past your lips so easily.

It seems there’s a fine line between love and hate.

He grunts, pulling his sticky fingers free and leaning away so he can hold the evidence up to your face.

“Look,” he goads, spreading his fingers to show the shiny string of arousal connected between them.

“You—,” he uses the moment you open your sweet lips to spew venom to shove those fingers inside of your mouth, silencing you and forcing you to taste your own release as he chuckles in satisfaction.

He adores the glare you flash at him, humming as he pulls his fingers free from your lips as you pout.

“Take your bottoms off, I want you to ride to my face.” He leaves your stunned form to quickly lie across the soft grass below, lifting a brow as if to challenge you again.

You fall for the bait easily, huffing indignantly and removing your bottoms to crawl over him, eyes ablaze with competition.

You don’t hesitate, fired up by his riling as you straddle his face with your sex over his lips.

He huffs, shifting as his own pants become painfully tight as he breathes you in.

“I told you to sit on my face, not hover baby.” He groans, annoyed as he grasps your hips and yanks you down to him.

You moan, unable to resist grinding your hips down as he licks and sucks with eager aggression.

Even still, mind blown with pleasure and euphoria, you snark.

“You were saying Tomioka?” Your chuckle turns into a whine as he bites your inner thigh too. You don’t learn your lesson at all.

Post divider by/@cafekitsune

#500 Event #Giyuu Tomioka #Giyuu Tomioka x reader #giyuu tomioka smut #giyuu tomioka x reader smut #KNY Giyuu smut #demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #kny smut #demon slayer smut

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katyawriteswhump · 3 months ago

Text

the freak in the penthouse part 9

E-rated (for sexual content), accidental millionaire eddie/sex-worker steve. Sorry I haven't updated this here in forever...

On tumblr: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3.1 Part 3.2 Part 4.1 Part 4.2 Part 5.1 Part 5.2 Part 6.1 Part 6.2 Part 7 Part 8 or search #thefreakinthepenthouse :)

On AO3

Preview: “Stevie?” spluttered Eddie, mildly winded. “Eddie-babes!” Steve hung with his arms looped around Eddie’s neck. He was in full-on hooker mode—hot-pants, mesh vest, eyeliner wonky, and mascara everywhere. There was a faint pinkish bruise across his left cheekbone, and his breath reeked of booze. “What the heck happened?” asked Eddie. “Nothing bad… good… whatever. Oh man! You’re really bailing on me, huh?” Peeping over Eddie’s shoulder, Steve had noticed the packed cases and bulging garbage sacks. His dopey lopsided smirk was ridiculously cute, though it didn’t reach his glazed eyes. “Okay. One for the road. Fuck meeeeeeee.”

....

Chapter 9: promotion (trigger warnings for past abuse, trauma.)

“You shifty punk-ass son-of-a-bitch.” Kline blocked Steve’s path along the narrow backstairs corridor. “I knew you were playing me.”

Steve queued his answer behind a yawn. “Yeah, my breakfast shift was a bust. I’m sorry, and yeah, you’re not gonna pay me for today, but… Jesus, I wasn’t playing hooky for no reason. You wanted me to puke all over the waffles?”

Steve had, in fact, been slinking off somewhere quiet to get over the general yuck of being unwell. He should’ve tried harder to avoid Kline. He was simply too through with it all to think that far ahead, let alone conjure any ninja skills.

It grew obvious Kline wasn’t gonna let him pass without a shoving match.

“You want something else?”

“Let me think,” drawled Kline. “That’ll be a big fat YES.” Steve couldn’t stopper his groan. Godchester had wasted little time putting his ‘order’ in. “A word in your shell-like ear?”

“Say wha—"

Kline grabbed Steve’s arm. Steve was still so shaky that he let himself be dragged into a walk-in cleaner’s closet. Kline kicked the door shut, releasing Steve with a shove.

“You dirty little hustler.” Kline switched on a buzzing strip-light. “One call to the police precinct and I can have your ass tossed in jail.”

Yeah, it’s always the ass. I guess the rest of me goes straight in the dumpster.

“So, I’m fired?” Steve balled his fists. His limbs felt as liquidy as a Robin Buckley fondue disaster, but if this douchebag was gonna try something… “Say it! I’m fired, right?”

“Hell, no. You keep your lousy job—I mean, who are we trying to fool here? You’re the most popular bellhop we ever had. Let’s call this a promotion, Casanova.” Kline beamed, flicked his dumb floppy fringe. “You got a date tonight. 8pm. I’ll confirm the room number later.”

“Oh.” The dull inevitability of it all trickled through Steve. He addressed a mop. “How much you getting for me?”

“That’s for me to know, and you to peddle your sweet butt for.”

Steve forced his chin up and glared with everything he’d got left. He knew roughly what he’d been ‘worth’—up to five hundred dollars a night. Perhaps more. Kline would’ve demanded top whack out of Godchester.

“If it’s a promotion, don’t I get a pay-rise? A cut?”

“Hah! Not likely. I know you’ve been whoring for that freak in the penthouse.” He jabbed Steve’s chest with his forefinger. “You owe me a cut, son.”

“Or what? Jesus, I… I…” Steve swatted Kline’s hand away, his glare fading and his panic ratcheting up. Kline was breaking the law, too, pimping Steve out like this. He broke the law regularly, sending Deirdre’s girls up on room service. Still, it would be Steve’s word again his, and Steve’s voice would be as lost as a fart in a tornado…

…but this wasn’t Eddie that he was expected to spread his legs for. It wasn’t even some unknown John.

It was Godchester.

Steve swallowed fresh bile. “Go to hell. I’m not doing it.”

“You playing hardball, Harrington? I mean, it’s a cute look, but–”

“I said NO.” Kline grinned harder than ever, teeth gleaming yellow. Then he struck Steve. “Ow! Jesus!”

It’d been a wet-fish slap, but it stung, and the shock of it set Steve reeling. Kline grabbed him by the collar, slammed him back against the shelves. If he hadn’t felt so goddamn peaky, Steve would’ve handed the slick sucker his ass. Today, Steve’s dizziness alone started robbing him of his breath.

Oh God, oh God.

“See my aforesaid statement about throwing your ass in jail.” Kline’s breath stank of Irish coffee and something really gross. “Pretty boy like you—that’s gonna be a jolly few months. Oh, and I don’t think the sob stories about your wretched asthma are gonna wash there. Like with me, they just won’t care.”

Steve curled his lip. ONE TIME he’d shown this lowlife his inhaler, claiming he’d lost it, and only to cover for why he was really outside Eddie’s suite. Other than that, he’d never spun Kline, or anybody, a sob story.

“That sicko Brit wants you in uniform,” Kline was saying. “Fancies you as some poncy, overgrown schoolboy. Oh, and…”

He whipped out a pair of handcuffs and dangled them so close that Steve’s eyes crossed. They sure weren’t the furry ‘fun’ kind. In fact, they resembled proper police ones. The sort that bruised when you struggled.

Like I didn’t already know how tonight was gonna go down.

“One of Deirdre’s girls left them.” Kline hooked them in Steve’s pocket. “Gotta get one of the receptionists to source a wicker cane for your hot date, too. Lordy, the things I do in the line of duty.”

He released Steve’s shirt and was gone.

Steve bumped down the shelves onto his haunches. The strip-light hummed through his veins, and it felt like something sharp caught in his throat. His brain refused to have a coherent thought, let alone make any kind of decision. Eventually, he thudded the side of his fist to his thigh. The cuffs fell out of his pocket with a clatter, as did his inhaler.

He stared down at them both.

Eddie. He’d planned to go and see Eddie. What if Eddie was really through with him?

God, I can’t… I won’t… I can’t think about it right now. But I can’t go to jail. I can’t… I won’t… I can’t.

He used his inhaler, pocketed it with the handcuffs. Feeling calmer, he slowly got up and brushed his crumpled uniform down. Then he went back to the restroom to rinse the chalky taste of his overused meds from his mouth.

After that, he kept doing… stuff. He simply couldn’t keep his scattered mind on what any of it was.

…

Eddie paced around the penthouse, pep-talking himself to the verge of frenzy. “You can do this. C’mon, Munson. Grow a pair already.”

1pm passed. 2pm passed.

He had to be out by 4 o’clock. Another guest wanted to check in that evening. At this point, he was randomly dumping his stuff into garbage sacks. There was no way he was fitting all his hoarded crap into his sticker-covered suitcases.

He wasted twenty minutes searching for Jimi Hendrix’s probably-fake guitar case, which he randomly located beneath the baby grand. Then he sat down on the stool. He dumped his arms then his face onto the keys with a truly un-metal plink.

Joke was, he really did hate this dump.

Everything he’d said to Steve about it was true—it stood for all the ex-frat-boy-corporate-forced-conformity he despised. Henderson was sending a ride over to whisk him straight to the apartment he shared with Suzie in Pasadena. Eddie wanted out.

He still had no clue how he was gonna get to that ride.

It involved walking through a busy hotel lobby, trying not to go completely cuckoo, stepping into the street, and…

…oh God, Steve! He owed Steve at least six-hundred dollars, and he’d no longer gotten a dime to his name. Steve needed that cash for meds. To goddamn live. Eddie got that. For that reason alone, he would’ve forgiven Steve even if he had faked everything between them.

Yet, deep down, he honestly couldn’t accept that Steve didn’t feel… Heck, at least some the goddamn feels which were currently gouging Eddie’s heart out with a spoon. The thought of everything ending in such a car-wreck fashion, let alone of never seeing Steve again?

It hurt so bad that a keening sound leaked from Eddie’s clenched teeth.

He had to find him.

Eddie sniffled, de-hunched his back, and then his jaw dropped . On top of the piano, he spied some rolling papers and some Gamja.

“Obi-waccy-baccy kenobi,” he said to the plastic pouch, “yoooooou are my only hope.”

He’d gotten the reefer between his lips and the lighter poised in his hands, when he hesitated. Memories gushed back of Steve sitting at the piano, serenading him:

“I don't have much money, but boy if I did

I'd buy a big house where we both could live—"

Oh, the kickass irony. Eddie might’ve pulled that one off, before he’d pissed his fortune away. And Steve had been a goddamn revolution for Eddie. When he arrived, Eddie couldn’t even listen to music he loved without ripping his hair out. Last night, thanks to Steve, Eddie had teetered on the brink of packing his trunks and leaving this dump on his own terms. It’d been Steve who’d been triggered by that Queen song, something to do with his parents, and then…

Eddie placed his joint down on his lap.

Okay, Munson. Showtime. Do what you were gonna do before Henderson blasted you with a double six. You blaze out into that hotel, clear-headed, and you find him. No need to be a hero. Baby steps. Just tell him… tell him…

Tell him what exactly?

Eddie heard a distant banging. In an adjoining part of the suite, somebody thudded on the main doors.

Eddie jumped up. His joint unravelled and his weed scattered everywhere. While he’d resolved not to smoke the damn thing, he sobbed a little. Plus, it was still only 2.23 pm, and surely hotels this snazzy didn’t send bailiffs? Besides, Dustin had settled the bill.

The bashing got louder. “Eddieeeee!”

Steve!

Eddie’s every trouble—even his terror of the big bad world—was briefly forgotten. He sprinted to the doors, yanked them wide. Steve’s fist was raised for another thump, and he tumbled forward into Eddie with a thud.

“Stevie?” spluttered Eddie, mildly winded.

“Eddie-babes!” Steve hung with his arms looped around Eddie’s neck. He was in full-on hooker mode—hot-pants, mesh vest, eyeliner wonky, and mascara everywhere. There was a faint pinkish bruise across his left cheekbone, and his breath reeked of booze.

“What the heck happened?” asked Eddie.

“Nothing bad… good… whatever. Oh man! You’re really bailing on me, huh?” Peeping over Eddie’s shoulder, Steve had noticed the packed cases and bulging garbage sacks. His dopey lopsided smirk was ridiculously cute, though it didn’t reach his glazed eyes. “Okay. One for the road. Fuck meeeeeeee.”

“Tempting. Let’s put that on a backburner.” Eddie awkwardly manoeuvred Steve farther into the suite, grunting at the effort. Steve giggled. “I wanna grovel a bit, honey.”

“What the fuuuuuck for?” Steve unwound himself from Eddie, flinging his arms about dramatically. “I lied to you, Eddie, and I’m NOT SORRY. I’m a bad, baaaaaad boy.” He pirouetted about then crashed to his bare knees, landing among Eddie’s sketches. Which Eddie had still not tidied away. Fortunately, the chambermaid had picked up the broken pieces of vase—doubtless, it had been added to Dustin’s list of charges.

“Hey, this is new.” Steve picked up one of Eddie’s flesh-eating plant monsters. “Blood and violence? You dig that, huh? You wanna punish me? Bring it on, oh Skeletor Dungeon Lord!”

“Oh God! Yesterday, I was being an idiot, okay? You know I’m not into nasty shit.” Eddie offered Steve a hand to help him up. Steve ignored it and levered himself up unsteadily. “Look, it was a crit hit when I found you in the restroom like that, a lot to take in. I don’t want us to take a break. I still wanna help you, if you’ll let me, but I gotta ’fess up—”

“Oh, that’s how it is, is it?” announced Steve. He didn’t seem to have listened to a word of Eddie’s attempts to make nice. He had, however, spied an overturned trash can. And the half-dozen scrunched-up approximations of himself, one of which he now grabbed and pitched furiously across the room. “You’re throwing me away? Screw you. SCREW YOU!”

“Honestly. I’m not. It was a shitty likeness, that’s all, and… Christ, you’re totally wasted. Please calm down. Please?”

As Eddie tented his hands in prayer, Steve hurled another curveball. He looped his arms around the fake marble pillar and cuffed his wrists together with what looked like true-blue police-issue handcuffs.

“Gimme your worst!” screamed Steve. “Blood and violence, huh? I can take it. Hurt me, big boy, come on. Fuck me raw. Hurt me… hurt me… hurt me.”

“Stevie, I—” Very gently, he placed his hand on Steve’s shoulder. Steve twitched him off then started whispering again:

“Don’t… D-don’t touch me… Don’t. Go away… go away. Please… please… please.”

“I will never hurt you. I promise.” Eddie hurried around the pillar. Steve stared straight through him like he wasn’t there, his breaths shuddering unevenly. Eddie didn’t think he was having an asthma attack. It seemed more like some kind of panic attack. Jesus, Eddie knew about those, though right now, he was dead set on keeping his head together. He still had no clue what to do. He couldn’t even comfort Steve through fear of triggering something worse.

“Uuuuuh, where’s the keys to the handcuffs?”

No response. Not a flicker.

“Steve? Just to be super-safe. Where’s your inhaler?” Tears trickled from Steve’s unseeing eyes. The last remaining color syphoned from his cheeks. Eddie clawed his hair: “Inhaler, Steve. Did you bring it? Do you need it?”

Steve’s knees buckled and he slithered floorward, still loosely hugging the pillar.

“Holy shit! Okay, try and look at me. Steve?” Eddie crouched in front of Steve, waved his hand near Steve’s nose. “I don’t like this, Stevie. Do you need a doctor? I’ll pay, you don’t need to worry about a thing, okay? I’ll take care of everything.”

I’ll pay with the strips Henderson’s gonna tear off my ass.

When somebody else knocked loudly on the doors, Eddie jumped to his feet. Steve didn’t blink.

“Steve? STEVE!” yelled a female voice from outside. Then, “Let me in, you loaded bastard! I got a rolling pin here, and I swear to God—I’m gonna batter this door in and your face is gonna be next.”

...

Part 10 on tumblr

Part 10 on AO3 (tumblr link coming soon)

Thank you for reading. Likes, reblogs and comments much appreciated and will feed the bunnies🐰💕🐰💕🐰💕🐰💕

On tumblr: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3.1 Part 3.2 Part 4.1 Part 4.2 Part 5.1 Part 5.2 Part 6.1 Part 6.2 Part 7 or search #thefreakinthepenthouse :)

On AO3 All my ST stuff on AO3

#thefreakinthepenthouse #steddie #steddie au #steve and eddie #steve harrington whump #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie fic #steve x eddie #steddie fanfic #steve harrington x eddie munson #steve harrington fanart

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strangelypenned · 1 year ago

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Hello All! I figured since ao3 is down I’d post the first chapter of my fic Heavy Metal Healing here for those looking for something to read! I hope this helps you get by in the drought. If you enjoy this check me out on ao3 under the same username. The next three chapters are up there whenever the site comes back online. Enjoy! 💜

Summary:

When rockstar Eddie Munson and the battle-scarred Steve Harrington collide their journey begins with pain, but quickly turns into something extraordinary. As Eddie embraces his dominant side and Steve explores submission, their connection becomes a steamy oasis of healing and love. Amid pleasure and pain, they rewrite their stories in a harmonious and unconventional embrace. And let's not forget the party and Robin, who never miss a chance to tease them along the way! It's a provocative tale where hurt transforms into hope, and two hearts find solace in the most unexpected places. Get ready to feel the heat!

Chapter 1:

There were a thousand other ways Steve could be spending his Friday night. He had two papers due within the next week, a birthday party to plan, and a doctor’s appointment he was dreading. Yet here he was, allowing Robin to repeatedly stab him in the eye with an eyeliner pencil. Eyeliner he really didn’t even want to be wearing. Going to a show he was about 75% sure he wasn’t going to enjoy.

“Quit blinking Dingus. Unless you want to lose an eye." Robin barked as she jabbed the flat end of the pencil into his ribs.

"I'm only blinking 'cause you're stabbing me in the eye with a sharp object. Also, how much longer is this going to take? If we want to get to Indi on time we need to leave in like 15 minutes." He glanced at the clock over her shoulder. They had been playing dress-up for over an hour and a half now, and the venue was roughly that far away. If they didn't leave soon they'd likely miss the show altogether.

"Fine. Fuck, we'll just call this good then. I got what I wanted mostly done anyways. " She was franticly throwing stuff in her small makeup bag, finally releasing the iron grip she had on his chin. Standing on sleep numb legs Steve took a look at himself in the mirror.

He almost didn't recognize the person looking back at him, Robin had outdone herself. He was wearing her clothes for the most part. A pair of black jeans that fit a little too tight. He remembers watching her cut the holes into them a few weeks ago in a bored crafting fit. A faded black t-shirt that fit a little bit snugly around the biceps. A large golden sun painted across his chest. It matched the yellow polish on his nails, painted by a smiling Jane earlier that week.

What stood out the most though were his eyes. The dark liner drawing attention to the warm hazel. She had even done his hair, It floated around his head softly, looking fluffier than normal. Yes, Robin had certainly outdone herself.

"How do you feel? I didn't overdo it did I? I know it's different than what you usually wear, but you went on that tangent the other day about wanting to change your look. And I know you don't want to touch your move-out savings to do so so I thou-" He caught her eye in the mirror.

Turning he placed his hands on her shoulders, her outfit was a reflection of his. The differences were the denim vest she had covered in pins and patches, and her shirt being actual merchandise for the bad they were seeing. A large 'CC' was pained across her chest above a flaming coffin.

"Robs I love it. You did a great job. It's definitely different, but I wanted that. Now can we please get out f here before we miss the show?" She nodded her head enthusiastically as he tied his favorite yellow sweater around his waist.

"Normally I would harass you about bringing the comfort sweater, but It kind of works. That, and I know I'm pushing you pretty hard already taking you to a metal show and all." She threw the words over her shoulder as they trudged down the stars. Making sure to stand closer to his good ear.

" Well, you've been talking about this group nonstop for like three months now. So I might as well give them a chance. Plus the volume may ring through my thick skull a bit better." His doctor had mentioned something about music with heavier tones being easier to enjoy. Something to do with the base and the vibrations. It was one of the few reasons, other than making Robin smile, he agreed to go. Smiles didn't come as easily after their final round with the upside down.

"I really think you'll enjoy yourself if you give it a chance Steve. She gave him a knowing look as she buckled herself in. Probably picking up on his thoughts with that freaky telephony thing they seemed to have ever since the Russians.

"I promise I'll give it a chance Robbs. God knows I could use some fun," he mumbled the last part as he backed out of the driveway. She laughed at his words as they coasted up the street, hopefully heading for a much-needed night of fun.

🎸

According to Robin's hour-and-a-half-long lecture about the band, they were extremely lucky to be seeing them at this venue. Normally they played for significantly larger crowds, but this is where they had done one of their first shows. They tended to perform here whenever they were in town for nostalgia's sake. It being such a small place meant tickets were normally gone in a flash. Robin, the lucky bird, had won some radio contest. So not only did they get to go to a sold-out show, they got to go to a sound check and a meet and greet post-show. Truly the pinnacle of luck.

He was glad they would be arriving early. This would allow him the chance to survey his surroundings before the crowd set in. His nerves being shot ever since the final battle, as the kids had started calling it. Either way, being able to spot all of the exits before the show started and the people packed in helped. He felt some of the ever-present tension in his body abate at the thought.

He allowed himself to be tugged along by Robin who was all but skipping in excitement. It was nice to see her so amped up. Her excitement tugged at the corners of his lips, and he caught himself chuckling as they grew closer to the venue. The place was a converted bowling alley that still had a few lanes for guests to use before and after shows.

"Did I tell you we even get two free drinks? The royal treatment I tell ya. Must remind you of the good ole days." alluding to the high school nickname he grew to detest with time. She knew better than to actually call him it though. Something about it rattled his heart in the most unpleasant of ways.

"You didn't mention the drinks bird brain. Here I thought I'd be shelling out for overpriced beers. " She gave him a dead look over her shoulder. Both of them knew that he hated the taste of beer and mostly drank it for appearances in school.

They stood in line behind a handful of people, a select few also had early entry tickets. They were snapping bright red bracelets on the wrists of those with VIP entry.

In what felt like the blink of an eye, they were standing in front of a long bar. Robin was shoving a brightly colored cocktail into his hands. He had checked out again. A gift left behind from his fourth concussion. He looked at Robin with a questioning frown.

"It was about ten minutes this time." She rattled off looking at the watch she had taken to wearing when the checkouts had started. That was shorter than the last one so at least there was that. He had grounding tips for when he was at home or driving, but they tended not to work when out and about.

He nodded sluggishly and began to look at his surroundings. Ten or so people were floating around the space while a few people tinkered with equipment on stage. There were doors that led to what appeared to be a balcony, probably a smokers section. The bowling lanes glowed in various neon shades of pink, blue, and purple. They weren't in use but still shined brightly to the left of the stage. And there was the exit, perfect. He felt the slight tremble in his hands ease up when he located the doors.

"Hey Robs I'm gonna go take a quick smoke break and I'll be right back okay?" She looked at him with a question in her eyes, 'Do you need me to come?" He shook his head softly and gave a tired smile before heading for the balcony. He had quit smoking for a while at one point. But after the final showdown, late at night when the sounds of the upside down were loudest in his mind's eye, he found relief in the smoke.

As he stepped outside he noticed the air had picked up a slight chill. He set his drink down and quickly tugged his yellow sweater overhead. The worn fabric brought a level of comfort he rarely found in his closet these days.

Tugging his cigarettes out of his pocket and placing one between his lips, he came to the abrupt realization he had left his lighter in the car. He let out a quiet 'fuck'.

"You need a light?" A melodic voice asked from off to the side of him. He felt himself flinch, he hadn't noticed anyone else outside.

The link since ao3 is now back online:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/48088879

#eddie munson #steve harrington #steddie #fanfiction #fanfic #rockstar eddie munson #steve x eddie #soft steve harrington #eddie stranger things #read on ao3 #not beta read

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kayhi808 · 1 year ago

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Perfect Match - 8

Billy calls out to me as I stomp down the stairs. "Y/N, wait!"

I turn on him & he has to stop short before plowing into me, "If that's the way you feel, that's valid, but I am nothing like your mother," jabbing my finger into his chest. "She may not have loved you," taking a deep breath to calm my voice. I look him in the eyes and I don't see the distrust anymore but the fear is still there, "but I do. Don't ever compare me to her."

He grabs me & pull me to him, "I'm sorry." I let him hug me, more for my sake than his. "I reacted poorly. Looking the way I do, 'I love you' is not something I hear a lot of. It brought my guard up. You're beautiful. My dark angel. You can do a lot better than a guy like me." Billy cradles my face, "I know you needed me. I didn't think you'd love me, too. No one has ever said they loved me before...and meant it like you do."

I pull him down to kiss me. Lightly running my fingertips over his scars. "No one is more perfect for me than you, Billy."

"Am I forgiven?" I nod & stay burrowed in his arms for a bit longer.

*****

Grandfather spared no expense on our engagement party. Security was on high alert. Every major family was represented. The Italians, Romanians, Russians, Japanese, Chinese, Mexicans....the list went on. Bill's whole persona changed. This is the elusive assassin that everyone wanted under contract with them, who will now run New York. Unemotional & controlled, his whole body language changed. I was witnessing the business side of Bill. A little bit of his arrogance and cockiness shows through, which proves my Billy is in there, somewhere.

Father still couldn't support our engagement, not even to show unity as a family. Grandfather made up for it in spades. It was a wave of introductions, turns out Bill was familiar with many people there. It was my mistake to think that things would go smoothly for us. In the beginning of the evening, security came in dragging a man and throwing him down in front of grandfather. Guests backed away & Billy shoves me behind him. My father waves over his security & they converse quietly, but my Grandfather interupts, "Speak up."

"Joe was caught attaching explosives to Mr. Russo's car."

I feel Bill tense and I see red! Bill is under the Family's protection and this happens? I will kill anyone who thinks to harm him.

"There's a hit order when he took her," nodding at me "and now he thinks to run New York. We weren't going to let that happen."

Grandfather speaks loud enough for the room to hear. "The hit was rescinded. Months ago."

"N..no! I was told these orders still stood! I'm sure he got instructions from higher up."

"You thought to kill my granddaughter and her fiance at my home?! Russo will be a part of this family!"

Bill's steely voice joins in the interrogation, "Who's your boss?"

"Gino Palmero."

Idiot doesn't even realize he ratted out his boss in front of everyone. I step out from behind Bill. "Gino here?" Gino hesitantly makes his way to the edge of the crowd. "Were you or were you not told that no one was to touch Russo?"

"Yes."

"Let me get this straight, you were told that the hit was revoked and you relayed that to your men. Him...Joe in particular, to forget about whatever plan he had started."

"I...i think I did." His eyes dart to my father. Gino is screwed. If he admits to not telling his men, he wasn't doing his job. And if he did tell them and knew about the plan, yet did nothing to stop it or alert the others...he's fucked.

"That's a fucking lie!!" In a panic, Joe tells us all about how they planned it together and if caught how they were to say they didn't know about the hit being withdrawn.

Bill looks down at me and hands me my gun before stalking over to retrieve Gino. I quickly look it over & release the safety. I try to take some calming breaths.

My father hisses, "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

One command from grandfather, "Let them," and my dad is forced to back off.

Bill goes for Gino, throwing him down on the floor next to Joe.

"I'm disappointed. These men, not only risked our lives," looking over at Bill who returned to my side, "but also the lives of our family & friends who we invited into our home. That is a crime that cannot be forgiven." I feel Bill's hand at the small of my back, giving me courage & strength. "Joe, for planting the bomb & putting everyone in danger, I have no choice but to sentence you to death. Gino, for failing to end the attack & disobeying your boss' orders, you are sentenced to death." I feel breathless, but I spoke clearly & with conviction.

I block out the pleading and screams & fire 2 shots. Headshots, both. Their bodies fall, and the room falls silent. I feel no guilt. They were a threat to Billy & me. Grandfather usher's people out of the room while his men have the bodies removed. Billy stays behind with me.

Pensively, "Did you see their faces? The other guests?"

Bill takes the gun from my hand, engages the safety & puts it back in his holster. "You probably scared the shit out of many of them, but you also gained respect."

"Gino was one of my father's captains. He is not going to be pleased."

Bill pulls me into his arms, "You had to do it. It shows we will not stop at the person responsible. Anyone who plays a part will be punished." I rest my check against Bill, trying to calm my racing heart. He doesn't say a word, just holds me. After a while, "That was fucking hot, by the way. I'm so hard for you right now."

That makes me laugh & shakes me out of my dark thoughts. He plasters me up against his body & kisses me, his tongue seeking entrance. I lose myself in Billy.

*****

We wake to loud pounding on the door. "Who the fuck is that?!"

I pull a pillow up over my head, I may have overindulged in drinks last night to make up for the fiasco earlier in the evening. "Ugh. Make them go away."

Billy pulls on some sweats and heads downstairs. I follow him, slipping on one of his t-shirts. I get halfway down the stairs when I see Bill, gun in hand. I automatically crouch down. Running towards the door, he yells "Get upstairs! Stay up there!" He runs out.

I notice an opened box on the coffee table. I make my way to the living room and look inside. There's a bloody heart with a dagger stabbed through. I gasp. There's a note that's fallen on the ground. I'm careful not to touch it.

"Y/N, this is your only warning. Give up your claim to New York. Your men don't trust you. Back off or everyone you love will suffer."

@idaofinfinity @imagine-a-fictional-boyfriend @e-dubbc11

#billy russo #billy russo x reader #billy russo fanfic #billy russo imagine #s2 billy russo au

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roanofarcc · 2 years ago

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PROJECT SUNSHINE CHAPTER FIFTEEN → LOST AND FOUND

summary: steve harrington x oc | on Ao3

when another product of Hawkins National Laboratory escaped a long-survived nightmare alongside her sister, she crashed into one unsuspecting teenage boy and dragged him deeper into the dark mysteries that made up their hometown.

word count. 2.4k | masterlist

warnings: cannon typical violence, child abuse, horror, gore, and depictions of mental illness. parts of this story were written pre-season 4 release. cannon divergence.

previous chapter ← → next chapter

Two sets of sneakers ran through the grass, bounding and leaping over the soft earth.

“Come on!” A little girl giggled as she gripped a small hand in her own, tugging her friend along.

“Slow down!” A little boy managed to laugh out, trailing a few steps behind her out of breath. The two kids raced across the grand expanse of a quiet park. A few children accompanied by their parents were scattered around playing and chatting in the warm summer breeze underneath the bright blue sky.

The two kids skidded to a sudden stop in front of a woman. She stood tall with perfectly pinned-back hair that didn’t budge in the wind. The dress she donned matched the color of the sky, and the pearls around her neck and dangling from her ears mirrored the clouds. She had a sunny disposition to her as well; a bright, warm smile spread over her lips at the sight of the two children and she bent down to meet their eyes.

Her hand brushed back the sweaty curls on top of her son’s head affectionately as she said, “Are you all ready to go, sweetheart? I’ve got to get dinner on before your father gets home from work.”

The little boy nodded and returned his mother’s smile, but his hand was still held in that of his best friend. He turned to her, and his smile began a smug one. “We just finished our game and I won.”

With a scoff, the little girl dropped his hand and gave his arm a playful shove. “No way! I won!”

“Well, it sounds like we’ll have to take another trip to the park later this week to see who the real winner is, huh?” The woman stood up and held out her hand for her son to take, and he did so wordlessly. She asked the little girl, “Do you want us to walk you back over to your mom, Ellie?”

Ellie shook her head and jabbed her thumb in the direction of a group of women gathered around a picnic table, eagerly gossiping about the latest news in Hawkins, Indiana. “No, I’m ‘kay. I can walk myself over there.”

“Okay, honey,” she said. “We’ll see you soon. Tell your mother I’ll call her tonight or tomorrow.”

“Bye!” The boy waved and shot Ellie one last smile before he and his mother disappeared from Ellie’s sight and returned home for the evening.

Blowing some air from her rosy cheeks, Ellie brushed back pieces of her hair that fell out of her twin braids and stuck to the sweat that beaded across her forehead.

She sat her sights on her mother and began to drag her tired feet toward her, but she stopped halfway into her journey across the park when a small patch of wildflowers caught her attention.

The Hawkins Park was surrounded on two sides by the looming woods that weaved its way around and between the town. The tall trees provided just enough shade and they were beautifully bordered by thick weeks tangled with wildflowers that bloomed every summer in a rainbow of colors. Almost every time they visited the park, Ellie and her mother would pick a couple before they left, and they’d put them in a vase on Ellie’s bedroom windowsill.

That time, however, she wanted to surprise her mother with the flowers instead. She took off toward the woods with a smile stuck on her face and not an ounce of fear in her bones.

She stood at the edge of the darkened woods and collected a few before she started to follow the path beyond the tree line. The colors of the flowers varied the deeper she ventured over the tall weeks; she was so excited to bring them back to her mother.

However, as Ellie continued, the trees started to look the same, and the footpaths become more and more unworn by parkgoers. The tree branches fractured the blue sky into pieces and their leaves blocked out more and more rays of golden sunlight from lighting her way. The world suddenly became much scarier to the little girl who had always prided herself on being fearless.

Time continued to press on in Hawkins, Indiana, but it froze for Ellie. That day at the park had become the last time she was seen alive, and the day her family had lived in a peaceful bliss inside their suburban bubble where they believed they were untouchable.

From that summer on, the people of Hawkins spent their days wondering what happened to the little girl who vanished from the park.

The Torres family tried to stay optimistic; they desperately believed the mystery surrounding their only child would be solved and she’d return home to them. They promised to be better and to do better. They promised to never let her go again.

They spent every night praying and pushing away a growing pain inside their broken hearts. They placed bouquets of wildflowers on the grass of an empty grave and ignored the passing of time that everyone else in Hawkins relished in. The town healed, but they did not. Their friends and neighbors said they were in denial, but the couple refused to let go of the very last thread of hope they had, by some miracle, Ellie Torres was still out there, somewhere, and that she was alive.

Chief Hopper stood in front of Sunshine with a much less gruff expression upon his face; there was something softer in the glint of his eyes as he unfolded a piece of paper that he pulled from the breast pocket of his uniform. He held out the paper to Sunshine, but she hesitated. Her finger trembled and her head hurt from the tornado events that occurred that night.

With a breath, she took the paper and carefully looked it over, confused. It was a missing poster, one almost identical to the poster she saw buried under the mess of flyers on the telephone pole earlier that day. Only, that piece of paper wasn’t as weathered and the image of the little girl on it was clear as day. It was a black and white photograph. The girl wore twin braids in her hair and wore a bright smile.

Sunshine furrowed her brows as she glanced back at Hopper, not understanding why he had given her that poster.

Clearing his throat, Hopper searched for the right words.

“That little girl, Danielle Torres, went missing around ten years ago, and after Will disappeared, everyone ‘round here tried to find some kind of connection between the two,” he said with a shake of his head and eyes trained on the paper still in Sunshine’s hands. “Mrs. Torres came into the station a couple of days ago, and she was so sure she saw someone, some kid, that looked too much like her missing daughter. Of course, I didn’t believe her. I thought she was as crazy as Joyce, but clearly, Joyce wasn’t crazy; she was right about everything from the jump. Then I started thinking, after you showed up at the station, that maybe Mary-Jane wasn’t crazy either.”

Sunshine still didn’t understand what he was trying to tell her.

However, Steve seemed to piece together the pieces a lot faster. He peered over her shoulder at the poster, his brows pulled in concentration despite the array of cuts across his forehead.

“Whoa, hold on,” Steve shook his head. “Danielle Torres. You…You mean she’s…” His words trailed off as he glanced between the little girl on the poster and the teenage girl beside him.

“She’s Danielle Torres.” Steve pressed his lips together in a thin line at Hopper’s words, but they still weren’t registering inside Sunshine’s head. The chief seemed to notice that; he looked right at her. “I wasn’t sure at first, but I, uh, got the confirmation I needed.” He paused before he carefully said to Sunshine. “You are Danielle Torres.”

There was still a ringing in her ears and the pain of just having lost her sister left her open like an exposed wound. Sunshine’s mind didn’t truly understand the extent of his statement. She was Danielle Torres; she didn’t know who Danielle Torres was. Sunshine didn’t know who she was beyond the little number tattooed on her wrist.

“I don’t…What does that mean?” Her voice came out as a whisper, laced with the exhaustion that nearly overtook her whole being.

“It means you can go home.” The sincerity in Hopper’s voice was nearly thought to buckle her knees. She swayed and caught Steve’s wrist as Hopper continued, “Your parents believed you were alive years after everyone else stopped. They were right; the whole time they were right. And they’re still here in town. After we’re done, I can take you to them. I can take you home.”

Home. The words didn’t sound real as they entered Sunshine’s ears and rattled around inside her brain. She could go home? She had a home to go home to?

For as long as she could remember the only place she had “belonged” was inside the Lab. Then there was Chief Hopper, standing before her, with a poster with her face on it, telling her she had parents who had been in Hawkins the whole time, waiting for her.

She said nothing, too stunned to utter a word.

Something down the hall caught Hopper’s eye. “I’ll be back,” he said before he disappeared into one of the hospital rooms.

A numbness spread through Sunshine, growing larger than the pain that was there only a moment ago. She didn’t know what to think or how exactly she was supposed to react.

Eleven, the Demogorgon, Will, Barb. All of those things collided with each other and made her feel sick. She had a family too, a real one with a home that she could return to. She didn’t understand how so many things could happen in just one night.

She didn’t feel relief at the news; Sunshine felt swarmed with sudden and violent guilt. She wasn’t the only one who deserved to go home to a family that night. Eleven did. Barb did. Ivy, Nine, Ten, and every other child from the Lab deserved to go home too. Yet, it was only Sunshine who remained; she wasn’t sure she deserved that.

The idea of a family, a home, was nothing but a far-fetched dream inside her head. For a year she pressed her nose through the bars on her bedroom windows and stared out into the woods surrounding the Lab daydreaming of her parents coming to save her and take her back to their home.

After ten years, Sunshine finally did that, but she wasn’t the same little girl that stared back at her in the photograph in the poster. She was more akin to a science experiment than the little girl she had once been.

“Holy shit,” Steve muttered. Sunshine blinked, trying to pull herself out of her daze just enough to glance over at him as he ran a hand through his hair. “I knew you.”

Sunshine shook her head. “W-What?”

“I knew you. I have-” His voice hitched in shock and disbelief. “I have a picture of us. Pictures, actually, of us when we were little. We knew each other.”

She didn’t know him; Sunshine had no memory of Steve or her parents or anything she had before she was taken to the Lab. Her brain had been picked apart and patched back together too many times, and any life she had before was stolen. There was a time when Sunshine, Danielle, had everything. She had friends and a family that had never left the same place she’d been in the whole time. Yet, there was no tangible memory of any of it inside her head.

She needed time to process it all, but there was none. Two shorter figures came running down the hallway right toward her and Steve. They were a little out of breath and much livelier than they had been back at the middle school.

“Will’s awake and he really wants to meet you,” Dustin said. He grabbed Sunshine’s hand and started to pull her in the direction they had just come from. “Come on!”

With no time to protest, Sunshine was all but dragged by Dustin and Lucas.

When she stepped inside the hospital room, Sunshine was greeted by a young boy awake in the bed. The blankets were tucked under his chin and his mother had a hand on the top of his head, brushing his hair soothingly.

Will’s skin was nearly paper white and dark circles hung under his eye, but he wore a small smile on his cracked lips. He was alive, much to the relief of everyone inside the room. His mother and brother flanked his right side while Mike, Lucas, and Dustin lined up along the left.

Dustin hadn’t let go of Sunshine’s hand and dragged her right to the side of Will’s bed. “This is the girl we were telling you about! Will, meet Sunshine. Sunshine, Will.”

“She had superpowers!” Lucas jumped in. “She helped your brother, Nancy, and for some reason, Nancy’s boyfriend, fight the Demogorgon.”

“Yeah, and she took out these guys with guns who were after us at the old junkyard, back when we were fugitives!” Dustin said.

Will looked at her for a moment before he said, “Hi.”

“Hi,” Sunshine replied, offering the young boy a tired smile.

The kids continued to recount everything that Will missed when he was gone; Sunshine watched them with a heavy heart.

There was something both beautiful and heartbreaking about it all. A boy was found, a girl was lost, and a lost girl was found.

Hurt stung the air, and the wounds of everything that had occurred that night still bled, but that night Hawkins began to slowly stitch itself back together. A new sense of normal was born.

Sunshine, who originally had no intention of sticking around Hawkins after escaping the Lab, had become too intertwined with it. She had a couple of reasons to stay for a little longer, at least.

Maybe it wouldn’t last long. Maybe her parents had moved on and didn’t want their long-lost child back in their lives after too much time had passed. If they did, she’d stay. If they didn’t, she go.

She had no idea what the future held, but she’d never been closer to figuring it out.

Tagged: @sattlersquarry @lovefrom-theother-side

#stranger things #steve harrington #mike wheeler #will byers #lucas sinclair #dustin henderson #jim hopper #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington x oc #steve harrington x original character #stranger things 1 #stranger things oc #project sunshine

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letmeshouyouhowitsdone · 2 years ago

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𝕚 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕜 𝕪𝕠𝕦'𝕣𝕖 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕪 𝕔𝕠𝕠𝕝 | 006.

haikyuu x m!reader

masterlist

after [name]'s meeting with the inarizaki team they were more determined than ever to beat the recent powerhouse. atsumu's comments had set a fire alight in the team, anger bubbling as they walked out onto court b. they glared at the black and white team heading to the benches to put their bags down and start their warm ups.

omoikane called them around before they begun their own sets of warm ups. "i don't want you showing off too much today, alright? while i know you're confident, this is a national team, we need to stay on guard"

"osu!" they called, nodding along. [name] headed over to the side, beginning his stretches while keeping an eye on the twins. he had watched videos of their plays before, having studied every team at nationals and while he would admit they were good they were also impulsive and random. their team was able to adjust quite well and that would only cause more of a problem for takumashii.

"don't think too hard, heiwa-kun, it doesn't match your face" kumagai susumu gave him a small polite smile, patting his head as he bent down to join [name] in stretching.

the said boy merely huffed, sending susumu a slight glare. he bent forwards again, fingers reaching for his toes. he attempted to calm his breathing. in, out, in, out.

[name] cracked his neck to the side, watching as atsumu showed off his sets, effectively making use of his spikers. he gritted his teeth in annoyance, he knew atsumu was a good setter, he had every right to be confident and that only pissed him off more. as much as he hated to admit it, inarizaki were a team worth their national title and this win wouldn't be an easy one.

soon enough it was their turn to 'assert dominance' as hattori itsuki so gracefully put it. kousei rolled his eyes from beside the said boy, albeit used to the team's antics.

("senpai, please take this seriously" "hm? i know, it's our chance to assert our dominance!" "that's not what i meant")

they stepped up, kousei twirling a ball around in his hands as he ordered the team to line up in two lines, half hitting his sets and the others serving the ball.

[name] walked to the other side of the court, ready to receive the serves. immediately, the change in his demeanour was obvious, a sort of quiet air surrounding him as he bent low, eyes never leaving the ball despite the constant distractions around.

his concentration was unwavering as his movements were precise and rehearsed. he had nothing to worry about, it was volleyball, he knew volleyball. all he had to do was perform as usual and they would be fine.

the sound of a whistle blowing soon drew his attention to omoikane sensei. it was time.

—

they stepped up to the line, various emotions splayed across their faces as they faced the inarizaki team. his sharp eyes surveyed the team, falling on atsumu who glared back at him just as fiercely. although he looked evidently more excited than he had in their meeting yesterday. the setter was almost buzzing with energy, the urge to play filling him. [name] knew that feeling well, the jittery nerves, desperate to be released.

both player's expressions hardened the minute they realised they were eyeing each other however, neither over their discussion. [name] blankly watched as atsumu narrowed his eyes, message clear as day. 'i'm going to crush you'.

pfft, as if. their staredown was finally broken when osamu jabbed his twin in the side with his elbow, seemingly reprimanding him, distaste obvious in his expression. atsumu bristled, crossing his arms and snapping back. [name] hid a small amused grin when they both settled down the instant their captain's eyes landed on them.

the start of the game was always the most daunting bit, before anything had happened yet. the time when [name] knew they were most likely to give in to their negative thoughts. it would throw the whole game to have doubts now.

seeing is believing. he bitterly thought, chewing on his lip as they bowed to each other.

"we got this, don't look so worried, heiwa-kun!" fujiwara seiichi, the team's budding wing spiker, grinned down at him, landing a slap to his back in an attempt to 'cheer him up'. the future ace sure had more strength than he realised.

"stop slapping me, seiichi-senpai" [name] scowled, dodging the second incoming hit in favour of joining takumi and kousei in the back line to start the match. takumi raised a brow at seiichi, scaring the second year into taking his place on court before he could tease their libero any further.

the whistle rung out again as they all settled into their spots. the match started off strong with a serve from atsumu. the only difference was that, while it would have intimidated other teams, [name] merely bent low hands overhead to receive the ball. the effortlessness of his movements, calculated and calm hit a nerve in the blonde setter. his teeth gritted together, moving to his position when akagi michinari received the spike from takumashii's ace.

the look of pure annoyance on atsumu's face, [name] had to admit, was pleasing to say the least. this was going to be fun.

—

atsumu barrelled spike after spike at [name]. the h/c haired boy huffed, swiping a hand over his forehead, grimacing at the amount of sweat. it was too early in the game for it to be this bad. he sighed heavily, trying to stave off the frustration brewing. the first set was not going in their favour, 17-12 and he needed to stay focused so that it didn't continue that way.

his guard never faltered though, eyes never leaving the ball. despite the persistence of inarizaki's spikers, not once did he fall for their tricks. he wasn't perfect, he knew that as he missed ball after ball by inches but he knew what he was doing. all he had to do was adjust to their plays.

he cracked his knuckles as his fingers cramped slightly, shaking them out and focusing on suna rintarou's technique. the strange bending at the waist had thrown him off at first, putting him off the receive, missing the ball. he had glared at the smirk he received from the fox eyed middle blocker. they were taunting him.

and it was working.

"give yourself a break" kousei smacked him in the face with his towel, covering his head to avoid having to see the irritation written across his expression anymore. "you're doing fine"

[name] grunted, pouting slightly as he wiped down his skin. "i know that" he huffed, indignant. glaring at the inarizaki team over the top of his towel, covering the bottom of his face. atsumu met his glare head on, small smirk on his face. he was slapped upside the head by his twin, osamu giving him a look of disgust and a scolding.

"don't get cocky" takumi shook his head disapprovingly, drawing the libero's attention. [name] felt his eye twitch in annoyance as his head snapped to the captain.

"i'm not!" he stomped, disbelief clear at the accusation.

"woah, heiwa-kun, no need to get angry" ichikawa yuuma pat his head with a bright smile, oblivious to the boy's struggle.

he merely grit his teeth, shifting his glare to his teammates.

"what'd we do to him?" naomura kichirou cowered with seki hikaru who shrugged, both sweatdropping at their libero's expression, turning away to avoid angering him further.

—

he takes it back, this was not fun. [name] grunted, body leaning back with the force of ojiro aran's spike. it wasn't anything new, he had had enough practice against ushijima but the inconsistency of inarizaki's attacks was surely something admirable. he hadn't realised before how much they really switched up, but maybe that was something that they adapted to play his team, specifically.

"tired, heiwa-kun?" suna rintarou grinned a sly smile, panting opposite him. he blinked, knowing he couldn't let them get to him anymore than he already had. suna's style was something that pissed him off, constantly having to be on guard, aiming perfect receives. he was starting to hate this.

"we're just getting started" he feigned innocence, tilting his head slightly. "how could anyone possibly be tired yet?"

despite his words, the whole court was filled with pained faces. the first set had slowly inched its way to the 30s. the match had garnered quite a crowd now, going on much longer than some other teams already. the second day was typically a day where matches ended swiftly, knocking out the teams who were not yet up to national standard, unused to the fierce competition.

this meant that the stands were filled with potential opponents, all cringing at the scoreboard in sympathy. 32-31 inarizaki's match point. they really were only getting started but it felt as if they had been playing for hours.

just one more point. that's how it always went.

unfortunately it wasn't in their favour this time. atsumu cheered loudly, hands reaching up to high five osamu. the grey haired twin gave a small smile, less enthusiastically hitting atsumu's palms. they finally closed the first set, securing their lead.

the takumashii libero groaned, rolling over onto his back, mind replaying that last botched receive over and over.

"cheer up, heiwa, we've still got a long way to go" jun's lazy expression appeared above him, yuichi nodding beside him, hand holding a towel out. he took jun's outstretched hand, allowing himself to be pulled to his feet. he knew they were right.

he followed them towards the team, all huddled in a circle.

"we lost the first set, and that's okay" takumi begun, trying not to let them dwell too much on it. "we held them off well and we know our rhythms now, we'll just take back the second and third sets!"

"osu!" they all shouted, firmly trying to bring back their belief in themselves.

—

the second set went by much quicker than either team had anticipated. takumashii put all the pressure they could on atsumu, attempting to mess up his sets. so far it was working. [name] focused on making sure their defence was a solid as possible, pride blooming in his chest the higher their score went.

the inarizaki team's expressions only added to that. suna stared at him, calculating and cold. there were no more taunts thrown around. the team begun to argue, atsumu and osamu's impulsive behaviour running wild.

it was exactly as [name] predicted. he bit back a smirk, readying himself for atsumu's next serve.

"what do you think, heiwa-kun?" takumi glanced at [name], he and kousei staring expectantly. omoikane held their whiteboard up, allowing the team's captain duo to share their input.

"i think we target miya atsumu-san" he spoke plainly, purely thinking strategically despite his growing rivalry with the blonde setter. "but not with hits or serves, we put pressure on his sets, shut down his spikers, concentrate on blocking. he's impulsive and he can often get angry at his own teammates. we'll use that, he'll use miya osamu-san more often too so we need to be wary of him"

"you're sure it will work?" kousei raised an eyebrow, not doubting, they never doubted their libero, but clarifying he was sure.

"positive" he nodded, eyes finally raising from the board, "we only need him to break just enough to catch him off guard"

then the rest would fall into place.

atsumu was known for his powerful jump serve. everyone knew that, he was constantly praised for his ability. but this one was different. he only took 4 steps back, positioning varying from his usual spike serve. [name]'s eyebrows furrowed, watching carefully.

osamu's mutter caught his attention, "he's trying that now? in the middle of a game? is he serious?"

suna shrugged, hands reaching up to cover the back of his head, obviously not trusting atsumu's skill with whatever he seemed to be trying.

the takumashii libero tensed, shifting to be able to react accordingly. as atsumu threw the ball up, hand coming up to hit it [name] realised where he had seen that type of serve before.

he moved forwards, shouting out to his teammates "i got it!" seiichi and hikaru shifted, allowing him to step closer to the front line, swiftly pulling off an overhead receive to kousei. the said setter tossed to takumi, the ace quickly slamming the ball down before inarizaki was fast enough to react.

atsumu looked the most angered he had been all match. fists clenched and glare harsh. [name] didn't try teasing him, he knew they had done enough to shake the team up, there was no point instigating anything further.

after all, this was their turning point. set 2, 24-17, takumashii set point.

—

takumashii had come into this match prepared. prepared to win and prepared to lose. they knew they had worked hard to get where they were. but no matter what they had done before, nobody could have anticipated this.

[name] was taking a beating. much like their earlier strategy to put pressure on atsumu, inarizaki turned it around, instead pressuring [name]. his knees were beginning to feel weak but he knew he had to push through for his team. he couldn't let them go home so early!

he dropped painfully, landing harsher than usual to dig ojiro's spike. the poor receive didn't bother kousei, easily utilising it for takumashii's offence but they were all watching [name] closely. they had never seen him get so tired, so slow. his movements were heavy and strained, nothing like their heiwa-kun.

he pushed himself up, slightly dizzy as he tried to follow the ball's movements. his head was spinning, thoughts jumbled together. he didn't know how to get himself out. the third set was dragging on and on and the longer [name] played, the more he struggled to push himself back up.

"he's lasting longer than i thought" akagi whistled lowly as [name] positioned himself wrongly to receive osamu's spike, sending it out of bounds. "he's impressive for sure"

"he's not breaking fast enough" atsumu scowled as takumashii called a timeout. his eyes followed the tired boy closely, narrowed in concentration. his team knew that atsumu was secretly enjoying this match, he hated playing weak teams and this was surely an exhilarating game. they had all heard his praise for the h/c haired libero, desperate to see him in action.

he didn't disappoint.

—

[name] could barely think, everything was too loud in here, he could barely hear himself. win, win, win. he knew he wanted to, he needed to. he had to get through this for his team, he-

"heiwa-kun! you're getting sloppy!" yuichi slapped him on the back, instantly snapping him out of his head. the whole team eyed the first years, surprised. takumi immediately made to scold him but jun interrupted first.

"yeah, i don't think i've ever seen anyone walk all over you like that" he laughed, relieving the team when they noticed the annoyance start to show on [name]'s face. any emotion was better than none.

"shut up!" he muttered, crossing his arms and huffing as he looked away. he knew jun and yuichi would never let him live it down if he flubbed a receive anymore than he had this game. "i'd like to see you try!"

"pfft, no way" jun shook his head immediately, hands raising in defence. "i couldn't do what you do"

"but you can, heiwa-kun" yuichi reasoned, hand reaching up to [name]'s head, shaking it slightly. "show us why you have that nickname"

he raised his head to stare at them. most people would have worried at the blank look, thinking the encouragement hadn't worked but they could all tell. he had that fire in his eyes again.

—

the calm stare scared suna as he stepped up to the serving line, ball in hand. there was a different air around the takumashii libero. he breathed softly, posture relaxed, position familiar. he looked like a lion, lying in wait for its prey to fall right into his lap. he knew exactly what he was doing.

the whistle rung out, shaking suna from his gaze, glancing away and focusing on his serve. he was right there, ready for it.

kousei tossed swiftly to itsuki, the wing spiker hitting it straight down along the line of the court. a perfect line shot. he clapped hands with seiichi beside him. 24-23 inarizaki match point.

keep them on their toes, itsuki's voice rung through [name]'s head as he watched the team celebrate their point. he stretched his neck briefly as he sunk down into position again, this time takumi stood beside him, readying himself to serve.

the captain threw the ball up, performing his usual spike serve, sending it towards osamu. [name]'s eyes followed atsumu's movements, waiting for any sign of his next move. everything felt slower, the air was heavier, his breathing loud in his ears. suna was running, ojiro coming from the back on the opposite side. a synchro attack? no.

[name] noticed it first, the slight flex of his wrist, the change in focus. he shifted forwards before anyone else on his team, calling out "mine!" as his voice cut through the chaos. he dove towards the net, catching atsumu's setter dump right before it hit the floor.

the blonde's eyes widened as his feet hit the floor, staring at [name] in shock. there shouldn't have been anyway for him to notice, no one ever noticed.

"kousei!" [name]'s called out, rolling out of the way, jolting the setter into action. the black haired vice-captain sprung up, running over and spinning to toss across the court. takumi was already there, running up, hand coming up to meet the ball perfectly.

it was a perfect set up.

thud.

—

[name] sucked in a breath, eyes wide as he stared at the ball that bounced by his feet. on their side of the court. it was on their side of the court.

he didn't move, shocked. there wasn't any noise, everyone too stunned to properly process it. when he finally looked up, inarizaki was cheering, patting each other on the back, turned away from takumashii already. he didn't understand what had happened.

"come on" kousei was pulling at his arm, pulling him off the floor. "heiwa-kun, get up"

[name] stood bitterly, now staring at the score board with disdain. he couldn't believe the moment had finally come. he knew it was inevitable, it had to happen at some point, but the pain in his heart was still much worse than he had ever imagined it to be.

it wasn't enough. he wasn't enough.

the tears stung his eyes, hands clenched in fists by his side as he scowled at the ground. had it been any other situation he knew the team would have teased him for the rare show of emotion but all they could do right now was collect their things and head home.

they had lost.

previous | +profiles | next

a/n: the profiles will be updated when they change for the next year :)))

#haikyuu #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu x male reader #karasuno #karasuno x reader #aoba johsai x reader #aoba johsai #shiratorizawa x reader #shiratorizawa #nekoma #nekoma x reader #fukurodani x reader #fukurodani #hinata x reader #inarizaki x reader #inarizaki

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seginbeats · 1 year ago

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The Public Reacts

Videos from people participating in the protest, and onlookers, begin to appear on Tink-A-Tok, Chatter, and other social media platforms. They depict scenes of enthusiasm for the most part— with the sprinkling of tension between those who were supportive of the New STAR-T Movement, and Paldean who were against the supposedly rowdiness. One clip shows a confrontation between a pair of academy students in a shouting match between two older graduates, devolving from debate, to baseless frustration. A bottle of water is thrown, somebody is shoved, and the situation is broken up by other responsible protestors.

As the sun grows heavy in the sky, the banner swinging and sign lifting begins to slow down, replaced by strobing rave gear and lights from peoples’ outfits and Cyclizar saddles. Heat from early Paldean autumn had baked everybody throughout the day, leaving many irritable and quick to snap— the break from the sun was welcome.

Covered in sweat, and his voice crackling from shouting and chanting for hours, Giacomo is sitting on the edge of the Segin Starmobile, exhausted, but grinning. He rubs his face, eyeing everybody who continues to linger around. At some point, the energy of the protest shifts from defiance, to almost a party scene. The theme of the revolutionary chants remain as the uplifting spirits emerge.

🎶 Olé! Olé! Olé! Olé! Olé! 🎶

News reporters had been on the scene all day, and now, the outlets are putting out their stories across Paldea, in Kalos, Galar, Unova— the teen uprising had been a point of interest for many institutions!

Mesagoza News at 7:

“Picture Perfect Paldea? Not according to these teens. Hundreds of Paldean youth took to the streets of Mesagoza today, occupying the entrance to Naranja Academy. They called for governmental reform, such as changing the way that programs are funded, bringing attention to several alleged crimes, missing persons cases, and other demands. Those who attended this rally today, believe that the Paldean government has mistreated its citizens, and are ready for a change. “

“This movement is being led by Paldean youth and rising techno star, Giacomo Benassi, who had organized the protest with other movement members, and requested that others participate.”

But not everybody’s opinions were positive.

Taurus Talk, Opinions with Diego Perez:

“— It’s a bunch of spoiled teenagers, who don’t want to go back to school, get an education, and contribute to society, who are now disrupting students and trying to get them to join some sort of street gang. These are kids who haven’t got a clue about politics, and they’re jabbing their fingers, stirring the pot. If we don’t get kids like this under control, they grow up into adults who want to destroy a safe society. What’s next— are they gonna try and run into the Great Paldean Crater, face first and post it on Tink-A-Tok? If they want to act like Squawkabillys, we’ve got a responsibility of not condoning the behavior. Maybe it’s time we start questioning the amount of funding the academy is getting.”

While others, simply speculated.

Rumors Amoongus Podcast, Unova:

“Now look, check— check this out guys, this kid’s saying that he’s got proof of something weird happening around the crater. I dunno about you, but, you got this guy, this Giacomo kid, he’s prepared to release pictures, documents— whatever, about a highly guarded part of the Paldean region. None of us know what’s down there. You think he’s got something worth holding hostage??? What happens if these kids don’t get what they want? Really think we gotta keep an eye on this case.”

Still at the scene of the protest that starting to wind down, Giacomo knew that this was only the beginning. Body sore and ears ringing from the blaring sounds, a young visionary sits and watches— unaware that, from this point forward, nothing was about to be the same.

He’s checked his phone, there’s several people he needs to get back to. For now, he jumps down into the rest of the crowd, where people laugh, cheer, and playfully shove him around. For now, he enjoys himself.

#☆ ‹ ᴅᴊ ᴠɪᴄᴇ ʟɪᴠᴇ › in character #dash event

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bumblesimagines · 1 year ago

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Midnight Beach

Part 3

Request: Yes or No

~~~

"My mom thinks that I did it even though there's no way I could've. I mean, how? It's always my fault, no matter what. She just- she just wants me to be this little robot that just checks her boxes. You know what I mean? SAT prep? Oh, check. Serving food at the shelter? Check. I mean, I literally do everything she wants, and I'm sick of it!"

If (Y/N) had known he'd been invited to the Thornton household just to listen to Topper rant for half an hour about his mother and her distrust in him, he would've made a million excuses to avoid the hangout. But Sarah had made her wishes for him to get along with her friends clear and to please his girlfriend, he accepted the invitation. And now, he suffered the consequences of that decision with a dumbbell in hand and a random hip-hop song blaring from Kelce's speaker beside him.

"Well, we know who did it, right?" Rafe spoke up with a scrunched face, lifting and lowering the barbell in his hands. His green tank top clung to his sweat-covered body and he was forced to squeeze his eyes shut every few seconds when beads of sweat rolled down his forehead and toward his eyes.

"It was that little geek Pope," Kelce affirmed, setting his own barbell down and swinging a leg over the bench to face Topper.

Releasing a breathless chuckle, Topper nodded and clenched his jaw, eyes darting over to the Cameron. "Pope, right... Hey, Rafe, maybe if you wouldn't have jumped him on the golf course, I'd still have a boat."

"You jumped Pope? Pope Heyward? The kid who can't even hurt a fly? Why the fuck would you do that?" Setting his phone and dumbbell aside, (Y/N) stood up from the bench and stared at the three with deep frowns. Rafe silently continued his reps though the way the corner of his lips twitched into a smirk made irritation roll over (Y/N). Topper turned his glare onto him and scoffed.

"Man, when the hell are you gonna be on my side? You think you're better than us?" He snarled, shoving past Kelce and nearly colliding his bare chest against's (Y/N)'s if it weren't for Kelce pushing his arm between the two and disapprovingly shaking his head.

"Sometimes, like now. Last time I checked, Pope only comes here to deliver groceries and you jump him for doing his job?" (Y/N) scoffed. "That's pathetic, Topper."

"They put a fucking gun to my head, (Y/N)!"

"That wasn't Pope! That was JJ!" (Y/N) snapped at him, raising his voice to match Topper's enraged one. "But you're not gonna go after JJ, no, of course not. JJ knows how to fight. You'll go after the one who doesn't like trouble because you-" (Y/N) jabbed a finger in Rafe's direction. "-know JJ can throw a mean punch."

"You calling me weak?"

"You know what, Topper? Yeah, I am-"

"Alright, alright!" Rafe called out, letting the barbell fall to the floor with a loud thud. He stepped over it and lifted his arms, wrapping them around the boys' shoulders and lightly shaking them. "Listen, we're all Kooks here, 'kay? We're brothers! Sometimes that means being honest with each other, even when we don't like it." Rafe said, lifting his brows at Topper. The younger teen huffed softly and childishly looked away from him. "But, it also means sticking up for each other, even when we're mad. Those Pogues disrespected all of us, not only Topper. They put a gun to his head and stole from Ward. And by sinking Top's boat, Pope proved he's just as bad as the others."

"Whatever beef you two got over Sarah, squash it now. The Pogues are the real enemy." Kelce piped in, resting his hand on Topper's shoulder and raising his brows at him. Topper stared at Kelce for a moment, jaw slowly unclenching and shoulders sagging. Exchanging a look, Kelce and Rafe released the two and stepped away, retrieving their bottles and heading upstairs to leave them alone.

Inhaling deeply, Topper scratched his cheek. "Listen, man... I-I've liked Sarah for a while now and when I heard she wasn't dating Denny anymore... I thought it was my chance. And when she suddenly got with you..." Topper trailed off, pressing his lips together and dropping his gaze down to the ground. Sighing, he stuck out his hand and lifted his head. "Can we be good? For Sarah, at least?"

Part of him desperately wanted to say no, especially after hearing what they did to Pope Heyward. The war between Kooks and Pogues had gone on for too long and the ones who egged it on were always Kooks. But rejecting Topper Thornton could result in him being outcasted as they had done to Kiara. And the last person anyone could ever want to be the enemy of was Rafe. So, swallowing down his opinions and some of his morals, (Y/N) took Topper's hand and nodded.

"We're good." He muttered, dropping Topper's hand as quickly as he had taken it but it seemed to pass unnoticed by Topper. "And sorry to hear about your boat. I'd be fine putting some money in for a new one or somethin'." He added, watching a smile spread on Topper's face at his words.

Wordlessly, he stepped forward and swung his sweat-covered arms around (Y/N), pulling him into his equally sweaty chest. "Thanks, man. I appreciate it."

"Yeah, of course," (Y/N) crinkled his nose and grimaced. "Don't mention it, Top."

✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽

Pressing the power button on his phone and looking down at his lock screen, (Y/N) frowned at the lack of messages from Sarah. While Sarah could occasionally be forgetful, she always responded to texts, especially when she had nothing to do. With a soft sigh, he swiped on the screen, typing in his pin before sending Sarah another text. He stared at the message, waiting for it to be read but when it remained unseen, he shut off his phone and sighed again, noticing Kelce watching him out of the corner of his eye.

"You are so whipped, man." He whispered teasingly, snickering under his breath.

"At least I have a girlfriend."

The smirk on Kelce's face immediately dropped and he whipped his head toward Topper when the teen cackled loudly. "Focus on the road!" He barked.

"We're already here!" Topper laughed, pulling into a parking spot and shutting off the engine.

Opening the door, (Y/N) could hear an announcer over the speakers and the chatter of people as they gathered to watch the annual Summer Movie Series. He followed the boys toward the vendors, looking around for any sign of his bubbly girlfriend in the crowd. When he couldn't spot her in the crowds of people, he dug his wallet out of his pocket and approached one of them.

"Can I get a coke?" He fished out some money and slipped his wallet back into his pocket, taking another glance around and spotting a familiar brunette walking toward him. Kiara flashed him a smile and waved.

"Long time no see."

"How have you been, Kie?" (Y/N) asked, looking back at the vendor and exchanging the money for the coke before turning toward her. Kiara let out an awkward chuckle and pushed back a curl, shrugging her shoulders lightly as she looked back in the direction she had come from, likely searching for her posse.

"Same old, same old." She answered. Before she could throw the question back at him, an arm slipped around his shoulders and he was roughly pulled into someone's side. He didn't have to look to see who had joined them as the irritated look on Kiara's features told him enough.

"Kie! Good seeing you!" Rafe greeted with a toothy grin.

"Hmph." Kiara took a step to the side, attempting to walk around them but Rafe quickly stepped in front of her, dragging (Y/N) along with him and making him stumble slightly. Kiara clenched her jaw and lifted her head to meet Rafe's eyes, raising her brows in question.

Leaning in, Rafe whispered, "Tell your boy we know what he did."

"Sorry, what boy are you talking about?"

"He'll know."

"Alright, come on." (Y/N) muttered and wrapped his arm around Rafe's waist, dragging him away from the girl and toward Topper and Kelce. Upon reaching them, (Y/N) dropped his arm and opened his can, bringing it to his lips and drinking as Rafe pointed out Pope and JJ to Topper. When Kiara sat back down with them, the two boys whipped their heads around to look back at them with wide eyes.

"We'll get them alone. Eventually." Rafe quietly said, grabbing (Y/N)'s can from his hand and bringing it to his lips. When (Y/N) reached for it, he tilted his head away from him and kept the can out of reach.

"How about we watch the movie and get back at them another day?" (Y/N) asked, digging his fingers into Rafe's side until he doubled over with a grunt and snatched his can back. But his words went in one ear and out the other.

"Come on, let's grab some seats and wait. They'll have to use the bathroom eventually." Topper pointed out, keeping his gaze locked on the two Pogues. Kelce nodded in agreement and approached some unoccupied chairs, plopping down on one and watching the other three follow suit. (Y/N) sighed heavily and sunk back in his chair, hoping the Pogues were smart enough to remain in their seats until the movie ended.

But after a few hours, the Pogues proved to be less bright than (Y/N) had hoped for. The two stood up and attempted to scurry across unnoticed, heading toward a tree beside the screen. (Y/N) held his breath for a moment when the three Kooks remained seated but when Topper perked up, he released it and sunk deeper into his chair.

"They went off to the screen."

"You and Kelce go around that way," Rafe instructed, pointing to the other side of the screen. "(Y/N) and I will go the other way." He rose from the chair, grabbing (Y/N)'s arm and dragging him up from his seat. His quiet protesting went ignored by Rafe as he pulled him along with an iron grip that would surely leave bruises in the next hour. They reached the tree as the two friends went to return back to their seats. The two flinched and JJ remained in front of Rafe, blocking him from reaching his friend. Pope turned around and hurried over to the other side of the screen, stumbling and nearly falling when Topper and Kelce blocked his path.

"That was some nice work ya'll did on my boat."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." Pope stammered, looking between the four of them whilst JJ looked between the four of them with clenched fists.

"Not so burly without a gun now, are you?" Rafe challenged the blonde, finally releasing his grip on (Y/N)'s arm and chuckling.

"Take one more step and I'll rip that prepubescent face off." JJ sneered in return and stepped toward Rafe, his eyes flickering over to Kelce and Topper in case they swung at Pope.

"Let's not do this here, guys. There are kids here trying to have a good time." (Y/N) attempted, stepping between JJ and Rafe and raising his brows at Rafe. The Cameron met his eyes and for a brief moment, (Y/N) swore he saw Rafe considering it. But Topper's voice filled the air with venom.

"Do you feel good about yourself, Pope? Is your mom proud of you? Is your dad-" Before Topper could finish, Pope leaned back and then suddenly lurched forward, headbutting Topper hard enough that he stumbled back.

"Jesus, fuck my life." (Y/N) whispered with a wince, peeling himself away from Rafe and attempting to check in on Topper. "You good? Let me see, Top-"

"I'm fine!" Topper huffed, straightening himself up with a slowly bruising forehead as Kelce charged at JJ with Rafe. Pope swallowed and faced them, lifting his fists and swinging when Topper went at him. (Y/N) found himself in the middle of a pointless fight. Pope and Topper went at each other whilst Kelce restrained JJ so Rafe could repeatedly punch him in the gut and face. One Pogue very blatantly needed more help than the other.

"Rafe! That's enough!" (Y/N) called, glancing back at Kiara as she quickly got involved in the fight by swinging her backpack at Topper. Letting out an irritated groan, (Y/N) managed to grab a hold of Rafe's collar and pulled him off the beaten teen before shoving Kelce off and catching JJ as he stumbled forward. The blonde groaned in his arms and weakly pawed at him, smearing some blood on his shirt from his nose and bruised lip. Brushing back his messy hair, (Y/N) attempted to get a look at his beaten face. "Hey? You with me?"

"Who's side on you on?"

"They're fucking outnumbered, Kelce! Why not make it even when John B is around and make it fair?!" (Y/N) shouted back at him, feeling JJ drop his head down on his shoulder and groan again. (Y/N) turned his attention onto the screen when it was suddenly covered in flames, causing Topper to release his chokehold on Pope and jump back. Kiara stepped back from the screen with a lighter in hand, her widened eyes turning to look at the damage done to her friends.

"Come on!" Rafe urged, pushing Topper forward with a laugh and looking back at Pope as he gasped and rubbed his neck.

"Shit, I'm sorry." (Y/N) breathed, grabbing JJ by the shoulders and pushing him back gently to steady him on his feet. When he felt assured JJ wouldn't fall over, (Y/N) released him and scooped his hat off the floor, handing it back to him and glancing at a coughing Pope. Kiara gave him a thankful nod and helped Pope to his feet.

"Why did you help us?" Pope wheezed, lifting his arm and wrapping it around JJ's shoulder to keep him close.

"Same reason anyone else would." (Y/N) replied, looking back at the Kooks. The three made distance between themselves and the lit screen, glancing back at him every so often. Pursing his lips and letting out a heavy sigh, (Y/N) ran a hand over his face and turned back toward them, already hearing the tantrum Topper would definitely throw at him for helping the Pogues. "Don't do anything stupid again. Rafe isn't exactly someone who cares about putting you guys in the hospital."

"Thanks," JJ muttered, spitting out some blood and snickering when Kiara made a disgusted noise.

"Don't make a habit of it." (Y/N) replied with a small smile and turned around, heading back towards their seats and getting his belongings. Turning on his phone, he noticed a text from Ward but none from Sarah.

'I've been trying to reach Sarah. Is she with you?'

(Y/N) felt his stomach twist and he dug his teeth into his bottom lip, fingers hovering over the keyboard.

'Yeah. Her phone has low battery. I'll tell her to call you when it charges.'

With Ward's response, (Y/N) set off toward his neighborhood. The cool air felt nice against his warm skin still flushed from the fight. His thumb ran back and forth over the side of his phone, hoping to feel it vibrate with a message from Sarah telling him she was fine and safe. Bombarding her with texts wasn't his usual go-to, but something felt different. An uneasiness settled in his chest and he couldn't shake it off. A million thoughts raced through his mind, differing from worries about her well-being to suspicion. Infidelity wasn't new to Sarah Cameron. And that knowledge kept him on edge. He tried his best to shake it off and continued on home.

The next day, (Y/N) woke up fairly early into the afternoon to prepare for the annual Midsummer's party. Ward had gotten him a new suit for it and it'd been, in his words, a thank-you gift for keeping Sarah happy. It'd been more than his own parents had ever given him. The suit was a light olive color with a white shirt underneath and a beige bowtie to go along with it. But no matter how much he tried, just looking at the bowtie made his nose crinkle. So, he yanked it off and hoped Ward wouldn't notice.

Checking his phone, he noticed the messages he'd sent Sarah the previous day had been seen but she'd given him no response. He pursed his lips and sighed, closing his eyes and trying to remember if he'd forgotten any special day or done anything that could warrant being given the silent treatment. Absolutely nothing came to mind. Their anniversary wouldn't come for another couple of months, any birthdays had been celebrated or hadn't arrived yet, and there'd been no holidays to remember. Everything... had been fine.

"Whatever.." He sighed and tucked his phone away in his pocket, grabbing his keys and leaving the house. He got into his jeep and turned it on, reversing out of the driveway and driving down the street. Most cars on the road headed toward the golf resort where the party would take place, seeing as half of Figure Eight had been invited to watch the Camerons be crowned for another year in a row. The parties typically lasted well into the night and the punch ended up spiked by either Rafe or another mischievous teen. Boring stuff most of the time. He mainly went to please Sarah. Always for Sarah.

By the time he arrived, the workers were finishing setting things up. Floral designs and decorations hung around showcasing primarily summer flowers. Music played through the speakers and workers invited guests in with their best smiles. (Y/N) took in a deep breath and walked inside the cool building. A few guests greeted him politely, asking about school and his well-being. Their sympathetic eyes only told him they spoke to him out of pity, to feel better about themselves when they treated him kindly to his face and gossiped behind his back. Ever since his parents had left the Outer Banks, everyone either viewed him as a deformity or glass that could shatter at any moment.

"Hey, man!" Topper greeted him casually, clapping his shoulder and giving him a toothy grin.

"Top-"

"No hard feelings for yesterday." He squeezed his shoulder. "We get it. You're like a pacifist or whatever, it's fine. It's cute, really."

"Right. Good to hear." (Y/N) pushed out through gritted teeth, letting Topper guide him outside. The sun shone brightly on the land as it began setting, nearly blinding (Y/N) when he stepped outside. It took him a moment to properly see everything. Flowered vines had been wrapped around the pillars and decorated the small tables. The women all wore flowers on their heads, either through headbands or woven into their hair while the men wore plain suits. Same as every year.

"There's your girl." Topper shook his shoulder and forced a chuckle. Turning his head, he watched the Cameron family walk through the doors with wide smiles plastered on their faces. Sarah walked alongside her parents, looking stunning in her long white dress. (Y/N) shrugged Topper's hand off and walked forward, catching Sarah's eye. She paused and inhaled deeply, glancing at her family before stepping away from them and approaching him.

"Hey." She greeted, her smile looking far too fake for his liking.

"I texted you yesterday-"

"I know. I saw." She raised her brows, a frown tugging at her lips. "It was a lot."

"I was worried, Sarah. If you'd just sent an emoji I would've let it be." (Y/N) replied. Sarah refused to look at him for long, crossing her arms over her chest and looking around the event. She looked upset, irritated even. Maybe he had done something. His shoulders sagged. Shit. "Are you mad at me or something?"

"Why would I be mad? Should I be?" Sarah's eyes flickered back to his. He stared at her and after a brief pause, she looked away from him and shuffled her feet. Her teeth caught her lip and she sighed heavily, taking his wrist and leading him through the crowd into an area more private. Anxiety clawed at his gut.

"What happened, Sarah? Did I do-"

"We're done. It's over." Her words cut through him like a knife. Her lips pressed into a thin line and she shrugged her shoulders, hand lifting to toy with the ends of her hair. (Y/N) waited for a playful smile and a laugh. A sign that it'd been a cruel joke. Sarah only stared at him. She didn't even look sorry. She didn't even look sorry.

"Why?" A sense of deja vu washed over him. His mother had that same indifferent look in her eye the last time he'd seen her. The day she'd mentioned she'd be getting on a plane and wouldn't be returning for a while. She'd been so casual about it. So unbothered about what it'd do to him.

"I don't want to be stuck anymore." Anymore. "I feel suffocated by everyone. I-I feel like I need to be with you, to stay with you. Ward and Rose keep talking about marriage and grandbabies a-and I haven't even finished high school yet. I don't want that. I don't want this life. I don't want to be sitting on a couch ten years from now raising babies I don't even like while drinking the rest of my days away. I want the freedom of doing whatever I want, you know? Being with whoever I want."

"Who is it?"

"What?"

"Who caught your eye now?"

Sarah stared at him, her thin brows furrowing slightly. Her eyes flickered between his, having the audacity to look hurt. Pursing her lips, she looked down at her feet and lightly kicked up her dress. "John B. We... We were out together yesterday. We kissed."

(Y/N) wanted to laugh. Or cry. He couldn't really tell. Cause of all people on the Outer Banks, she'd chosen John Booker Routledge. The same thief she'd been complaining about only days prior for smacking a bag of lettuce out of her hands and getting in her face. The same guy that ran from the cops on a near day-to-day basis and sat on his ass all day drinking. At least his friends worked. At least they had some moral code. He'd been off mooching a Kook while they got jumped.

"Okay." He nodded and took in a deep breath. She'd chosen someone already. Fighting it wouldn't matter now. "I'll see you around."

"That's it?" She questioned, blinking in shock when he walked past her and kept walking. She said a few things after that, none that he heard once he slipped inside the building. There was no use searching for beer or wine. None of the workers would let him even walk near the available adult drinks. But he knew where to look.

He found Rafe pretty easily. The eldest sibling made no attempt to hide his flask when he drank from it, only turning his back to the guests when he wanted a sip. (Y/N) made a beeline for him and took the flask from his hands, taking a big gulp from it and wiping his lips as he handed it back. Rafe smirked at him and slung his arm around him, tucking the flask away and tilting his head. Topper and Kelce exchanged equally confused yet amused looks.

"What's the occasion?"

"Sarah broke up with me for John B." The three boys tensed and looked at each other with widened eyes. The oh-so beloved couple of Figure Eight. The high school sweethearts that were supposed to be together forever in some made-up fantasy. Rafe's grip on him softened, fingers starting to rub gentle strokes against his arm.

"Fuck..." Kelce drawled out and stepped forward, patting his back and giving him a tight-lipped frown. "Sorry to hear, man."

"For John B?" Topper repeated with a scoff, the tip of his ears and cheeks flushing. His hands curled into fists and he grumbled under his breath, looking more pissed than sympathetic. Go figure. (Y/N) blew a raspberry and leaned his head against Rafe's shoulder.

"Shit happens. Wouldn't be the first time I got dumped out of nowhere."

"At least Liv dumped you for a Kook chick. Sarah did it for a goddamn Pogue." Kelce cringed.

"Liv was nicer about it too." (Y/N) murmured, watching Rafe slip the flask out of his coat and offer it to him again. (Y/N) shook his head and pushed away Rafe's wrist with a grimace. Getting wasted at Midsummer was the last thing he needed. The last push for Figure Eight to look at him as an outsider.

"We got you, brother. We're not gonna let this incident slide now, are we?" Rafe looked up at the two and raised his brows. Topper immediately shook his head, finger running over his bottom lip in thought. He muttered a quick excuse and stepped back, disappearing into the crowd. Grunting softly, (Y/N) peeled himself from Rafe's side and shook his head.

"No need for that-"

"On your right, Rafe. 2 o'clock," Kelce said and (Y/N) turned sideways, spotting him in the crowd with ease. JJ Maybank. Dressed up as a servant and slipping a note to Sarah. Rafe chuckled lowly and patted (Y/N)'s arm, tucking away the flask and grinning at him.

"We got you, (Y/N). We'll show these Pogues who they're messing with."

"Rafe-"

"Dad, hey! (Y/N) needs to tell you something." Rafe called out to Ward and (Y/N) grunted, turning around to face the older man. Kelce and Rafe quickly slipped away, leaving (Y/N) to speak with Ward while glancing back at them. He winced when they blocked JJ's path and called over some other Kooks while backing him up to the building. JJ took his chance and darted into the building, prompting the rest of the guys to chase after him.

"What's up, (Y/N)? You need something-"

"Sarah and I broke up. It was mutual, don't worry. We just decided we'd be better off as friends and everything is okay between us. I have to go now." (Y/N) blurted out and flashed his best smile, but before he could go off to check on JJ and the others, Ward caught his arm and let out a small surprised laugh.

"Wait a minute, son. I... I'm sorry to hear that. I truly didn't see this comin'." Ward shook his head lightly and smoothed out the wrinkles in (Y/N)'s suit. He smiled warmly at him and sighed. "High school has a way of catchin' you off guard sometimes. I'm glad things between you and Sarah are fine. I just hope you know you can still come to me for anything. We're here for you, alright?"

"Thank you, Mr. Cameron."

"You can still call me Ward."

"Thank you... Ward." (Y/N) returned the smile and slipped away from him, trying to keep his pace quick without drawing attention. Heading inside the restaurant part of the building, he spotted the rest of Rafe's friends slipping into the men's locker room down the hall. When they didn't step back out, (Y/N) quickly flagged down one of the security guards and told him about a fight in the room. The security guard gave him a thankful nod, speaking into his earpiece and heading down to the locker room. Relief flooded him when the security guard dragged JJ out of the bathroom, keeping a tight grip on him as he escorted him outside.

Slumping down on an empty chair, (Y/N) ran a hand over his face and let out a heavy sigh. So much for having a good summer.

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fridgimus · 11 months ago

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sergei trailer dropped bruhhh

IVE BEEN OBSESSING SECRETLY OVER IT GWA

i forget tumblr is the last bastion of social media where i can just freak my heart out with no filter sorry it took so long but omg

posting it again so i can look at it on speed dial

youtube

love how u let me know abt this <3 it means i can go sicko mode now

im gonna have to hear ur thoughts too since ive been away LOL but me personally i am eating it up. sergei's voice is very nice and i think it carries the subtelty of the original performance of kenichi morozumi. they snipped the opportunity to possibly hire a russian speaking VA when they redid all the VAs but im ok w it, im sure bamco wouldve fumbled that (shaheen is a waste of a character slot in himself but wow i hear his arabic is awful too...)

i remember on my first watch going crazy over the hums in between one of his jab strings. they have enough budget to remember he has character !!!!! his rage art is a fun rendition of his tk7 one, he takes you to the arctic phewww

his new intros and win screens r so fun... they rendered his steely eyes so so so well oh my goodness this is gonna affect my fanart of him maybe.

as for his character interactions, i know they probably won't take it anywhere but as someone who properly got into tekken during tk7, its already wayyy more than what 7 gave us. since he's on vacation, i like the idea that the people who make a big deal of him are just strangers or nuisances to him at worst, and he doesn't have a true rival. he just leaves a wake of fear and awe in his feats and no one really has been able to match up to it. no one really has him figured out.

its so nerdy but i do really love victor despite his goofy katana (i was kind of a simp for jp in sf6 so when i saw another old man in tk8...), so i like that they have an interaction. i hope they do raven justice too, just as a character. i've been going back to play the previous tekkens to satiate my hunger while i wait and woof tk7 had such tight budget..

but yeah! idk im excited. i hope there's a little more content for the characters now that the franchise isn't on their last legs like they were with the release of 7 (they played the long game by just making the gameplay for that really good lol)

i fantasise that we can go back to tk4 levels of depth for side stories and art (so so so good and grungy and moody). can they at least take the cue from street fighter and just get a bunch of artists to make really nice fanart for them.. i want content but i dont want the monkey's paw to curl and have bamco make some terrible canon for him..

thats enough rambling from me though!! i hope you enjoyed the reveal too :)

#apologies that im a little strange and shy gehehe #i like pumping fanart rather than talking cuz i hate the way i type but the drawing muscles have been weak lately #fridgey texts #ask

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miloscat · 1 year ago

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[Review] Brawlout (PS4)

A competent Smash Bros. clone.

After finally clearing Dead Cells and Hyper Light Drifter from my backlog, I could tackle this, to which the two had contributed guest characters. It's a platform fighter in the vein of Nintendo's Smash Bros., made by a Romanian indie studio as their first big project. From that perspective it's impressive how solid it is, but it struggles to escape the shadow of its more established source.

Brawlout sells itself as for the hardcores as well as being accessible to newcomers, but to me its pace calls to mind competitive Melee's fast and technical playstyle. The thing is... I managed to play this locally with others familiar with Smash a couple of times, but we didn't put in the time to get used to its quirks and decided to return to the big dog instead. This is the problem when trying to compete with something so monolithic.

Those quirks are trying to carve out an identity: the control scheme is streamlined to "focus on aggressive mechanics", by removing shields and grabs from the standard Smash Bros. set. One innovation was a jab-to-special combo which I liked. There's also a rage meter that lets you interrupt opponents or your own momentum when launched, and enter a desperation mode. It's a nice idea but using special moves actually takes rage away from you, which disincentivises employing the novel mechanic or half your useful moves. The movement also feels squirrelly in a way I'm finding difficult to describe, but I did get more used to it the more I played.

I'm approaching Brawlout now not for its technical mechanics but for its indie crossover appeal as a solo casual. Slap City, for example, managed to shine in this regard, but for Brawlout the focus is not on that aspect. There's no items, only a handful of fairly flat stages, and a mere ten characters (not helping the perception that it's aping top-level Melee with its restrictive meta). OK, technically there's 25 but many are essentially skins of the six OCs with some tweaks.

These six characters are fun anthropomorphic animals with some oddnesses in their designs, like the cat lady lacking ears and a tail, not to mention that there's only one lady in the entire cast (plus Laylee). The guest characters also make the other characters look oddly small for some reason. These four guest characters were fun to play as, especially now that I've played Yooka-Laylee, Guacamelee, Dead Cells, and Hyper Light Drifter. They're all faithfully presented (aside from it feeling weird to have Drifter with spoken [text] dialogue and in 3D), but I enjoyed Yooka and Laylee most, and Juan fits like a glove with some tweaks to suit his home playstyle. Only two of them got stages, strangely, with HLD and GM left out. The other point I'll make is that some specific moves seem lifted more or less right out of Smash; I don't have a problem with this per se, it's just the game being obvious about its inspiration... also it's funny to see a hedgehog doing a Sheik motion, etc.

For solo play the best option is the arcade mode, a straightlaced series of battles. It at least has some fun back-and-forth quips before each match, and each character has an ending (although the variant characters don't have unique endings or dialogue). The other main mode has more shake-ups and bonus stages like Smash's Classic mode, but without selectable difficulty or continues I couldn't get past more than a dozen stages, finding myself hard-walled at a boss each time. An in-game store provides some meta-progression in the form of randomly unlocked character skins and such, but that didn't prove an effective motivator for me to grind these lacklustre solo modes.

Ultimately I didn't get a huge amount out of Brawlout. As a platform fighter it's certainly competent, but that's all it is, and it needed to be more. It's so hard to compete with Smash especially with Ultimate's level of polish and its IP access (to be fair, this originally released a full year and a half before Ultimate so was competing with the more mediocre For on a previous generation's consoles). Leaning more into the fun crossover aspect and having more for a casual or solo player to do would have gone a long way for me with this, but those things seem like afterthoughts here, and even the worldbuilding for the original characters needed more room to breathe. But for what it's worth, I was here for the continuity of the guest characters and they did well with that in what they did implement; there's some top-shelf Laylee snark in here!

#brawlout #angry mob games #super smash bros #review #indie #ps4

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cilly-the-writer · 1 year ago

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SHADOWS OF SORCERY | Part 13 | “Shadow of Insecurity” | 1,754 words

"Are you nervous?" Jaelin asked.

"A little…" Imogene smiled, sitting in the arena’s stadium. There were around a couple hundred students in the crowd right now—the constant purple reflections of light tinting the whites of their eyes as two student sorcerers battled it out down in the arena, in a match against each other.

Imogene was up next.

Classes had been canceled for the whole week so they could test everyone for their initial progress monitoring exam. They scored everything from abilities, to strategies, and endurance. The teachers had told them that a loss didn't necessarily equate to a bad grade. But naturally, everyone wanted to win their match and show off a little.

"Well, I can tell," Jaelin said plainly. "I can feel it."

"You're an emotion reader?" Imogene asked.

"Just anxiety. It's kind of annoying though."

"Oh, sorry," Imogene laughed apologetically. There wasn’t much she could do about that.

"Not you. Just in general." Jaelin said, keeping his eye on the fight. "It's just a lot sometimes."

Elora was sitting there next to them. Silent as she watched the battle.

Students were required to observe some of the exams, but they didn't have to see all of them. So far, Charlotte hadn't shown up. She almost thought Charlotte had bailed on them, but just when the arena buzzer sounded—Charlotte appeared at one of the entrances and hastened down the steps to get to their row.

"Sorry I'm late. I didn't want to miss yours, Imogene. You didn't go yet, right?" Charlotte asked as she sat down, catching a sudden glimpse of Jaelin besides them.

"No, I'm up next." Imogene rose from her seat and took a deep breath in.

"Good luck." Charlotte smiled warmly.

"Good luck." Elora and Jaelin echoed.

Imogene thanked them and headed to an exit lit with a neon purple film of light. She pressed her hand against it and the light split apart for her to walk through it. She followed the steps down to the panel of teachers to await instructions.

In the meanwhile, Charlotte felt a funny twinge in her chest at Jaelin's addition to the group.

"Is he sitting with us?" she whispered to Elora.

"Don't worry, I'll be good this time." Jaelin responded tiredly. "One more strike and they said they'll take my magic."

Charlotte couldn't tell if he was being serious or just joking, so she didn't know what to say. She also wasn't sure if the taking-his-magic bit was supposed to be a jab at her father.

"We talked…" Elora said. "We think our incidents are related, so he agreed to help me see if we can find out who gave me the poison core."

Charlotte nodded, a bit reluctantly.

Their attention drifted to Imogene's match soon enough though. There was a countdown buzzer before the match and when it finally buzzed, a slew of daggers flew Imogene's way and Imogene threw her arms out to conjure two shields that struck down to the ground as soon as they were formed.

Impaled like arrows through paper plates.

She had used her dreamer magic to conjure them, so they weren't very useful against daggers made out of pure energy.

"Oh my god," Elora said under her breath, "why does every developer use daggers?"

"That's what Professor Hawkins teaches us," Jaelin said. "They're small, so it's easier to make a lot of them and attack from a lot of different angles at once."

They watched as Imogene's chest rose and fell in the adrenaline dodging of the first attack. Her opponent had paused, seemingly questioning why Imogene hadn't used her casting magic to block her attack. Imogene was on the lean side in comparison to her. It didn't seem like she practiced self defense very much. Her opponent—Lillian Jewels—on the other hand, had a stronger build and moved with a lot more confidence.

Lillian went ahead and shot another wave of daggers at Imogene, and right before she released them, Imogene bolted out of the way. Imogene ran to get in close range, stifling all the students in the audience. That was a dangerous move to pull without casting any energy fields. Except she wasn’t running to face her head on without any magic. She ran to get behind her opponent.

Imogene pivoted and danced on her feet as soon as Lillian turned to slash her with a dagger. Missing her. She threw a series of daggers, but Imogene was out of the way the instant before she released them—every single time. Their little dance went on for long enough that Lillian got annoyed and sent a set of daggers through the air in every direction.

But Imogene dove to the ground before she even lashed out. The daggers zipping straight into the invisible defense fields that had been conjured to protect the teachers and the students in the stadium, where they blew up and the fields sparked a neon color at the point of impact.

It wasn't that Imogene had particularly quick reflexes or that she was very fast on her feet. She just knew the girl's moves before she even made them.

Then, the instant that Lillian threw her arms back to conjure something, Imogene waved her hands simultaneously—forming a huge shield that ended up blocking an equivalent wall of fire at exactly the right moment.

"Whoa," one of the students in the audience muttered. "How did she know to make a shield?"

"It's like she can see the future."

Imogene let the tin metal shield clank to the floor as she ran out to get in close range, only to stumble backwards when she sensed that her opponent was conjuring some kind of double sided spear.

She got a strong feeling that Lillian was very skilled at welding it.

She wasn't just skilled though.

She was scary good.

Her opponent spun the spear fast, like a set of fan blades in her hand. If Imogene got any closer, she definitely would have gotten cut. Her mind reading didn't help her much there.

"I can tell you've got a plan," Lillian said, somewhat impressed but more weary.

Imogene kept her mouth shut, unsure of making conversation right now. She knew that her opponent's plan was to back her into a corner. So she had to think quick.

How was she going to get past that spinning spear of death?

It's not like she could conjure anything with her dreamer magic that wouldn't shatter against her developer magic. The only match for developer magic was casting magic.

Her casting magic was useless though.

All she could cast was a tiny light.

Her opponent's weapon would break straight through it. Pop it like a bubble. Maybe she should have conjured some giant bubble wrap to protect herself… She was probably going to need it. The imagery of giant bubble wrap made her laugh a little, but as she thought about it, she realized it wasn't such a bad idea after all. She could conjure a bunch of helium balloons. They wouldn't take very much dreamer magic, so she could make a lot of them at once.

Right when her opponent bounded at her, Imogene conjured a bunch of balloons. Waving them into existence like she was waving a bubble wand aggressively through the air. Filling the entire room with balloons in less than a minute. It looked like a party.

“Really?” Lillian said.

The developer swung her spear like a machete to pop the balloons and get through all the chaos. But that was proving ineffective real fast. So she tossed the weapon aside and it vanished almost as soon as she let go; developer magic only created temporary weapons.

The girl shoved her way through the balloons with her bare hands and rushed after Imogene without it. She was tired of this silly chase and it seemed like Imogene was running out of ideas anyway. She was only an inch away from grabbing her wrist now and when she snatched it–Imogene grabbed her other wrist right back.

A heavy steel cuff formed over Lillian’s arm, instantly anchoring her to the floor. That cuff weighed more than three times her body weight. She was down. She wasn't getting back up until that cuff was removed.

Imogene fell back, catching her breath as she stared in disbelief. Then the buzzer went off and one of the teachers announced her as the winner of the match.

"That was amazing! But why didn't she use her casting magic?" someone in the distant crowd said.

"Maybe she just wanted to show off."

She did it. She won. Without any casting magic at all.

The volume of applause was lost on her as she headed over to the teacher's table to receive her proof of examination. The teachers were still scribbling away on their scoring rubrics, adding detailed annotations. Someone handed her a preliminary report listing her win, time, and abilities utilized. She would get the detailed report later. But just then, someone else’s voice caught her off guard:

"Well done, Miss Imogene," Professor Hawkins said without looking up from his rubric. He taught developer classes, so she wasn't his student.

She headed back to the audience after holding her palm out to the film of purple light, where she returned to her friends' congratulations and compliments. They were so happy for her.

"Do you want to watch the next one?" Elora asked.

"Actually, I'd rather take a nap after all that," Imogene laughed and they took her cue to leave. They all went out to the hallway and Jaelin said his goodbye before he went his separate way. Leaving just the three girls.

"Elora," Charlotte said, moving in closer to talk quietly, "I meant to tell you… my father told me that the power authority said they wouldn't let you keep the poison core. They said it was too risky. Especially after, you know… the last time they let someone keep a poison core. I'm sorry."

She must have been referring to the incident with Jaelin's grandfather. The power authority must have approved the decoy core.

"Oh," Elora said, masking her relief with a disappointed tone. "It's okay. I figured they wouldn't."

Charlotte made a sympathetic face.

Elora was used to her predicament by now, but she appreciated the concern. She was mostly just bummed that she'd been exempted from taking the initial progress monitoring exam. The school had a healing room powered by a Luminess core, but they didn't want to risk injuring her in her current state.

Next >>

#wip: SoS #very inspired by watching the tests in my hero academia haha #I had a lot of fun writing this one #also #i thought cancelled was the american spelling jahnasdhnf #canceled looks wrong

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jellyfishright · 2 years ago

Text

Still My Beautiful Man - Pt 6

****************Kiyoi**********************

“Kiyoi, do you have a girlfriend?”

“Heh?” Kiyoi uncrossed his legs and sat more upright, the suddenness of the question shocking him.

He looked at the man sitting at his desk.

“I’m sorry for the bluntness of the question.” Nevermind that his words didn’t match his face or tone at all.

“As you know, in this industry, we not only sell talent but dreams. As your fanbase grows, so will the demands. You will have less privacy and also less time which might be hard for a relationship.” He paused thoughtfully. “There is also the issue of availability. You might already know this but we like to keep the image that at least you’re still available.” The man smiled a bit too widely . “Do you understand?”

Kiyoi nodded.

“So. Do you have a girlfriend?” the question was repeated.

All eyes were on him. He wondered if they could hear the thumping of his heart in their own ears.

“No.” the response finally came from his dry throat.

The group released the collective breath they were holding . Only Kiyoi felt the immediate pang of guilt that jabbed his heart when a face with bangs sweeping its forehead popped into his mind.

“Good.” the man clapped his hands together “The response to the work you have done so far has been very positive. There are a few projects that are really interested in working with you.”

Kiyoi nodded again, his mind drifting further and further away from the present conversation as he ruminated on exactly what he’d just said. He thought of one thing —Hira.

So many things had happened in the last few weeks. They’d happened so quickly he barely had time to process it all. Now that he was picked up by a major agency, his dreams of becoming an idol were finally becoming a reality. More people were beginning to recognize him, screaming and blushing at the mere sight of him, stretching out their hands just like he saw on tv. It was finally happening— but what was this feeling in his chest?

“Your university enrolment is complete although you might not be able to attend classes in person because of your schedule.” His meeting with the executive continued. “We’ll also arrange a new place for you to live—covered by the company”

At this,Kiyoi’s ears perked up and he finally jerked back to the present.

“A new place? Why?I don’t need that”

“Standard procedure for idols. You can decorate however you like if it’s not to your tastes. You’ll be living there for at least 2 years.”

The man looked at his watch. “Any questions?”

“How long before I have to move? And what if I start dating?”Kiyoi didn’t even realize he was holding his own breath as he waited for a response, especially to the second question.

“For the first question. There really is no rush at the moment. You can have some time to get your affairs in order.” He looked at him squarely. “As for the second question, I wouldn’t recommend it. At this point it would probably be better for you to focus on your career. Looking at you I can see you’re a young man who wants to take it all the way to the top. A relationship right now would only be a distraction and you might lose your fans before your fanbase even really takes off.”

Kiyoi nodded thoughtfully “I see.”

“Well. I’ve got another meeting.” The man stood up. Kiyoi also stood, offering his respect with a bow. “I’m looking forward to great things from you.”

Kiyoi offered no response as the man left with his assistant in tow, leaving him in the company of someone he’d met since the beginning of this meeting, Tanaka Inojin, his new manager.

“I am looking forward to working with you.” Tanaka addressed him. Kiyoi offered a nod in response. “If there is anything at all you need, please let me know.” Another nod and then silence.

He brought his attention to the skyline. It was a bright, clear morning . The shades of the oversized conference room were not drawn, allowing streams of perfect light to bathe the room. The way the buildings of various heights punctured the sky painted a pretty picture. He thought of Hira again, with his camera dangling from his neck.

Retrieving his phone Kiyoi stood and captured a few pictures. He would show Hira the view later.

“Pretty isn’t it?”

“Hmm?” Kiyoi had forgotten there was someone else in the room

“The view. It’s nice.”

“Mmm.” he nodded.

Tanaka looked at Kiyoi’s phone.

“Do you like taking pictures?”

“Mmm.” Kiyoi nodded.

Tanaka merely smiled. “That’s good.”

Silence descended between them again.

Thankfully Tanaka’s phone rang shortly after and he excused himself.

Kiyoi resumed looking at the horizon. He wondered how Hira was doing.

Suddenly the events of the last hour came rolling in like a cloud. He bit his thumb as he pondered one part in particular.

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

If he was going to be technical about it then his response was the truth--he didn't have a girlfriend. Hira was his boyfriend but he hadn't said that in the meeting earlier. He'd made no mention of Hira whatsoever.

Why hadn't he said anything? Was it fear? Was it pride? or was it selfishness? That might have been the one.He was selfish.

They said he had to move. The address submitted to the agency was the place where he lived before he met Hira again. The place where he had spent many nights looking at the ceiling, longing for those eyes once more. He never officially gave up the place but he spent all his time at Hira's-- that was home.

Hira's place was the only one that had ever felt like home to him. He liked it there.He liked being with Hira and he didn’t want to table the thought of being away from him.

**********************************Hira********************************

“Did you hear?” a group of girls chatted amongst themselves at their lunch table. “Kiyoi Soi has enrolled here.”

“Really? Is that true?”

“It is. I have a friend whose relative works in the admissions office.”

A contained, collective squeal sounded from the table.

“He’s so handsome.”

“I wonder if we’ll get to see him.”

“Do you think he’s dating anyone?”

Koyama glanced across the table before looking at Hira who was minding his business inspecting his camera.

“Is that true?” he leaned in closer.

“Mm.” Hira replied, not shifting his attention. The truth was, he’d heard every word but in the end, it didn’t concern him.

“Did you know?” Koyama questioned. He immediately straightened up, realizing how stupid the question might have sounded to Hira.Of course he knew, why wouldn’t he know, Kiyoi was his boyfriend afterall.

Oblivious to Koyama’s embarrassment of having asked such a question, Hira finally looked up and nodded. “Mm. I knew.”

Of course. Koyama nodded.

Hira looked at the girls who were still conversing excitedly among themselves.

Kiyoi had made the decision a few weeks back. Having taken a year off to dedicate solely to his craft, he would be a year behind Hira who had started university immediately after they left high school.

“What are you going to do?” Koyama asked.

The relationship between Koyama and himself had gradually improved since the day they went to do the photo session in the park.Initially they’d both had their feelings to deal with. Koyama had to face the fallout of his rejected feelings while Hira was completely engrossed in the miracle of having Kiyoi so close. If Koyama wasn’t awkward, he’d be fine, afterall, he was never one to forget the kindness of others.

“Do about what?” Hira was curious.

“Kiyoi will be attending the same university as us.”

Hira tried to follow his friend’s reasoning.

"Nevermind.” Koyama’s exasperation emerged. He took another sip of his drink. “By the way. How are things going with you two?”

He always asked that whenever they met. Any other person besides Hira would probably be curious about whether he really cared or if he was motivated by something else.

“Good.” Hira informed him. “He’s gone off to a meeting with his new agency.”

“New agency.” Koyama parrotted. “His career seems to be really taking off.”

“Mm.” Hira nodded.

“And what about you?”

“What about me?”

“Where do you fit into all of it?”

Hira blinked at the question.The occasion had never arisen for him to confront that question before.He was always content to watch his king from afar. He never imagined he would be able to orbit in the same universe as Kiyoi— it was a miracle. A place in Kiyoi’s life was never something he imagined so Koyama’s question threw him a bit.

“I don’t need to fit into it.” he replied honestly. "Kiyoi is Kiyoi."

Koyama scowled. What was with this response?

“What do you mean? Aren’t you his boyfriend?”

Hira looked around.

Koyama blushed, looking around as well to check if there were any listening ears.

“I’m content with just being close to him.”

Try as he may,Koyama couldn’t hide his displeasure.

“Do you like him that much?” Even though he felt it was a ridiculous question, he still had to ask.

Hira nodded without hesitation . “Mmn.”

Koyama fell silent, curling his fingers together.

“Oh. By the way.The photography club has a guest lecture from Sam Chen this week.He has an exhibit this weekend.Hiroshi-san managed to get him to agree to stop by.You should come by if you’re free.” Koyama tried to keep his voice casual, but the flame of hope burned in his brown eyes.

Hira nodded, his focus back on his camera.

“Remember we meet on Fridays.” Koyama offered, not wanting silence to fall between them.

“Mm..I remember.”

There was nothing else to talk about. In their relationship, Koyama was always the talker.Hira would never fail to answer him but he rarely initiated or tried to maintain conversations.Initially Koyama assumed it was because of his stutter but the more he got to know him, he realized that’s just who Hira was.He didn’t speak much and some might even call him weird– but to him, Hira was the most special.

How then did a person like him end up with a person like Kiyoi?It seemed almost sinful.

Hira always spoke about Kiyoi like he was the special one, always failing to see the truth of his beauty. It was infuriating but there was nothing he could do about it. For Hira there was only Kiyoi in his gaze.His eyes would never shift.

“I have to go.” Koyama stood.

Hira looked up at him, his hair falling into eyes , making him look particularly cute.

Koyama’s heart itched.

“Mmn. See you later.”

“Later.” Koyama waved.

Hira went back to his work with his camera.As he flipped through, he paused on a particular image. The memory was as vivid as when he’d just taken the photo.

He took it after Kiyoi had visited him for the first time after the Koyama incident.A mere few hours before that his heart had been at its lowest as he waited in that classroom, hoping that Kiyoi would show up but preparing for the worst if he didn’t.

That was also the first time they’d made love and Kiyoi was now sleeping soundly. His hair fell delicately across his cheeks, almost forming a curtain over his eye.His pink lips were pouted slightly.Bare chested, he looked like an adonis bathed in the soft glow of the morning sun.Spellbound, he’d taken a few pictures.

There was no one else in the world who got to see Kiyoi the way he did.

Hira’s phone rang.

“Hello”

[Where are you?] Kiyoi asked

“Still at school.”

[Oh I see.]

Silence hung on the line.

[I’ll be home late today.I have a few things I need to get done]

“I understand.Do your best.”

[Mmn] Kiyoi affirmed before hanging up.

Hira looked at the phone in his hand.

“It was good to hear his voice.” he thought to himself.

Just then someone approached him

"Hira.There you are." the professor greeted him. "Stop by my office. I have something I need to need to discuss with you."

********Kiyoi******

Kiyoi looked at the phone in his hand.A little smile on his lips.

“I just wanted to hear his voice.” he thought to himself.

His manager returned to the room.

“Kiyoi. Time to go.”

With a nod, he followed.

#hira x kiyoi #kiyoi x hira #hira kazunari #kiyoiso #kiyoi sou #utsukushii kare #my beautiful man #bl series #yaoi bl #yaoi #boys love #boy love

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