#Like I see ppl complain about how she raised him which yeah that should be criticized on but also

[glitter50000]

I've been thinking a lot about Baghra recently, and have come to the conclusion that I don't think she deserves all the hate she gets. Sure, she's manipulative, sure she's gruff and an awful bitch. But Baghra always does what she thinks is right, no matter how hard it is for her, and I think people miss how incredible this is. She loves her son, and maybe she doesn't express it well, but she does love him, she loves him a lot, and it's a miracle that she does. She's been through so much, lived for so long, been so alone and so traumatised that it's a wonder she isn't killing everyone left, right and centre like the Darkling is. People make so many excuses for her son, but none for her, and he had it infinitely better than her. He grew up with a mother who canonically killed people for him, and who's sole reason for existence at one point seems to have been his survival. He always had her in his corner, fighting his battles throughout his childhood and adulthood and right up until he tries to enslave Alina. And yet people make excuses for him and none for Baghra. Her own mother thought she was a monster. Her father was an obsessive madman, and she killed her sister by accident, watched her be brought back and 'killed'. She nearly died in the forest, and then her mother disappeared. She had no one. No one was ever there to back her. No one to comfort her after a nightmare, no one to protect and love her. All she had was herself. She spent goodness knows how long after that all on her own, as a young, untrained Grisha in a time where Grisha were despised and hunted. Who knows what she went through during the long, long stretch of time between Morozova's martyrdom and Alexsander's birth. It certainly won't have been pleasant. She had a son, and, from the darkling short story, her life's work from that point on was his continued survival, and the fear she's shown as feeling for the entirety of his childhood must have been crippling. Especially when his gifts emerge as her own. Especially when she sees her Shadow Summoner son is revealed as an amplifier. Was the interlude with Annika an isolated incident? How many times did she watch her son nearly die, and how many times was she almost too late to save him? Is it any wonder she spent so much time keeping him alive that she never quite managed to be soft and warm and loving? Do we even know if she had ever been loved? Where would she ever have learned to express and communicate love? And then, the son that she lived for, that was her driving force for so many years, goes and creates the Fold, uses the same dark magic that took her father and sister from her. She doesn’t kill him, notice. If she was indeed the cold, borderline abusive mother everyone displays her as, she would have killed him, or done something to him that would have stopped him doing anything like that again. Instead, she trains his army for him, teaches the Grisha children who grow up in safety as she and her son never had the chance to. Baghra stays. She may not be kind, or warm, or the image of a perfect mother. She is what the world made her. Grisha. A soldier, a survivor. She may not display her love for her son in embraces and soft words, but she kept him alive and mostly unharmed. Her human amplifier, shadow summoner, Grisha son, when Grisha everywhere were hunted down and murdered. Even when she knows her son is lost, she can't fight him. She sends Alina away, foils and frustrates his plans, but doesn't hurt him. She lets him blind her. She kills herself rather than raise her hand or her power to harm him. Maybe Baghra is less than perfect. Maybe she isn't the image of an angelic, long-suffering mother. But don't you dare tell me she didn't love her son with everything that she was. Don't tell me she wouldn't give everything for him, because she has demonstrated time and time again that she will. Baghra is a struggling single mum who never had a moment's love in her life and never learned to express love, but still dedicated her life to protecting her

son. I will literally die on this hill.

[lilzyex]

Bloodstains of a past life ₊˚🕯️♱‧₊˚. M.S

(Chapter 1)

In which

Julia went to a bonfire party where she met a sort of strange set of triplets. She never heard their name before. Never even saw their face, but they felt so familiar. Everyone around them knew them well. Even her closest friends which was weird. They never talked about them. But now it seems as if they attended her high school for years.

pilot Chapter2 Chapter3 Chapter4 (tbc)

I was finishing my eyeliner when I got a call from my friend Ava I quickly reached for my phone and picked up the call “hey” I say

“Yo Julia quickly! We already bought the booze and you have 10 minutes to get to the park before we literally go without you.” Ava said in a sarcastic tone

“Alright alright! I’m almost ready I’ll be there in 15.” I say opening my mascara with my teeth holding my phone in one hand “did you guys buy jäger?” I say taking the mascara out of my mouth putting it on my eye lashes

“Yes, don’t worry we thought of you. But you’re paying gas now because we bought the booze” Ava said

“Alright” I chuckle and hang up the phone on the other line I could hear Ava yell “15 MINUTES JULIA! We’re not waiting 50 years for you mate. Some ppl are already texting me if we’re on our way!”

I look at myself in the mirror one last time checking myself out I look at my black shorts with dark nylons and a white crop top. I did a curly hair method on my hair and looked at my gold jewellery

I quickly take my bag and I close my room door.

I rush down the stairs of my house where I meet my mom “be back by 11!!” She says

“Mom” I whine “at least 12? Please Ava can be out until 1am!” I complained reaching for the front door

“I don’t care what Ava can or can do! Be back by 12 jesus”

“Bye love you” I say closing the front door behind me

It was a really sunny day and it was extremely hot outside my eyes squinted at the brightness of the sun

After 10 minutes of walking I see Ava waving at me from the back of Oliver’s car. I wanted to sit at the front but it already was taken by Abigail

I open the door of the car “hey!!” I say sitting down next to Ava

“Hi!!” Ava hugged me and raised the bottle of jäger “My baby!” I giggle as I take the bottle in my hand pretending it’s my baby “ok alcoholic.” Oliver said sarcastically “Oliver you should be the last person to say that” Abigail defended me as Ava and I chuckle in the back seat

“So how long until we get there?” I ask as Oliver started driving

“About 20 minutes” Oliver said “juli you’ve already been there. You’ll see!” Ava said “I literally don’t remember. Why couldn’t we go to the usual place? The forest that isn’t too far away from town like 5-10 minutes?” I ask

“Oh Chris said that cops go there often and he told us it’s better in the other forest more aesthetic also. Oh did you bring your camera!” Ava said

“Yeah I did.” I realise she said the name chris “who’s chris?” I ask confused. Knowing there’s no chris in our school or town as I know of

Ava and Abigail look at me funny. “Julia hello? Chris sturniolo. He literally is in our history class?” Abigail said

“He’s so hot!! Oh and also he’s a triplet! I’ve never met triplets. But they’re all SO hot.” Ava said

“What?” I became even more confused “yeah their names are Matt and Nick. Too bad Nick is gay.” She explained “Wait it’s not even that bad! We can try to set him up with Oliver” Abigail said Oliver immediately rolled his eyes “Abby stop”

“No this is great! Finally a hot gay guy for you!”ava giggled

“How do you even know he’s gay for fucks sake?” Oliver groaned “oh Stella told us, she tried to flirt with him. Didn’t end well” Ava tried to hold in her laugh

I get a weird wave of Deja vu when I heard the name Sturniolo. I knew them from somewhere, but definitely not fucking school.

I look out the window trying to forget the feeling I have in my chest.

17 minutes later we arrive infront of the woods and we call Bryan who invited us in the first place because he wanted to get with Abigail. We all know it even she does, but she’d never get with Bryan he’s not her type at all. And also he’s a fuckboy. But the invites to the coolest high school parties even tho we weren’t really considered popular in our school were worth it.

“Hey Bryan” Abigail said on the other line we heard Bryan’s voice “hey sweetheart, so where are you guys?”

Abigail awkwardly giggles and says “in front of the woods. Where exactly are you guys?”

“I’ll send someone to get you. Are yall next to a fallen tree?” He asks

“Uhh yep” Abigail says

“Alright. Matt! Can you go to the broken tree a few friends of mine are waiting there they don’t know their way here”

I heard on the other line.

Matt.

A few minutes later I see a tall brunette walking towards us. I could barely see his face but some I could sense some fear inside me for my reason at all

“You okay?” Ava asked “uh. Yeah” I say keeping my eyes on the brunette

“Hey” Matt said looking at Ava chris Abigail but when his eyes met mine his eyes went wide.

“Mary?” He said with a concerned look on his face

I scrunch my eye brows “No im.”I pause “im Julia.”

He tried to laugh it off “oh. You just look.” He tried to get any excuse he could out of his mouth, but still completely shocked by her looks “you remind me of an old friend of mine.” He said “anyways let’s go” he made us following deeper into the woods

The walk was akward when Ava whispered into my ear “girl did you see that?? He totally wants you!!”

I shake my head “stop”

Moments later were being greeted by Bryan who is already handing Abigail a drink “thanks, we also brought some booze” she said grabbing Oliver’s backpack taking out a bottle of vodka and jäger

“Oh that’s great!” Bryan said practically eye fucking Abigail

Matt went to sit down next to his two brother who were sat at the fireplace

Suddenly chris and nick looked at me with horror in their eyes

“If we do kill someone tonight we have to keep a really fucking close eye on that girl her name is Julia. But I don’t fucking believe her.” Matt whispered to nick and chris

“Fuck that’s Mary. You turned her into a vampire?! I thought you killed her!” Nick whispered with a pissed off tone

“I didn’t! Okay. She was dead when I left her.” Matt said “what the fuck.” Chris sipped on his drink

An hour later I found myself sitting next to the fire with Abigail sitting across from me was Matt and chris.

Chris was talking to Ava while Oliver went for another drink.

I felt eyes on me again when I looked up from my drink to see Matt staring at me. The eye contact lasted what felt like minutes and none of us broke it.

I felt a strange feeling in my stomach. I swear I met him before. It’s almost like I know everything about him but at the same time nothing. I look at his bright blue eyes, the eyes I remember looking into maybe in a dream.

Maybe im just drunk. I said to myself, and I continued the conversation I had with Ava.

“Guys! Did you guys know that the story of the bitten Mary was in this woods?” Bryan yelled out as he leaned against his best friend Lucas

A few people agreed and yelled out. A few people started scaring each other.

I sat there confusion washing over me, why did he call me Mary?. I knew about the story but I thought it was a made up story to scare people into not going into the woods alone.

“What?” I asked Jake he smirked at me and sat down next to me “dear Julia. The bitten Mary is a TRUE story about a girl who died in this woods. She got attacked by a wolf” he explained as a few people came to sit down to hear the story, Jake put his arm around my shoulders “people say her spirit is angry and is stuck in this exact woods. And if you’re alone she’ll kill you but only young people because she’s mad that she died at a young age.”

“And how can she even kill people she’s a ghost?” Some girl said not believing the story

“She’ll bite you and drink your blood until you die. Don’t believe me? Go deeper into the woods and you’ll see.” He said

“Alright someone give me a shot I wanna see if your bitten Mary isn’t an excuse to flirt with Julia.

She takes a shot and gets up to walk deeper into the woods “good luck!” Jake Bryan yelled

“Should we go scare her?” Jake said chuckling

“Nah fuck that I know she’s already shitting herself walking there” Bryan said chugging his beer after.

2 hours later im wasted, my legs feel weak as i feel a warm sensation in my throat. I can’t help but smile at Ava while she’s talking to me and that buzz in my head I love the most.

“I’m gonna go get another drink” I giggle stumbling towards the tree where the alcohol is on the floor

The rest of the night went pretty well before I realised I was supposed to be home an hour ago I look over at Oliver to see him drunk “fuck! Oliver why are you drinking you’re supposed to drive!” I said seeing Oliver sitting with Nick “it’s okay I can drive you home.” Matt said

I turn around my intention is telling me not to let him drive but we had no other option “thank you” I sigh out of relief “I quickly drag Oliver in my drunk state almost making us both fall I see Ava and Abigail next to the drinks

“Guys we’re going home Matt is driving us since Oliver got fucking drunk” I said “msorry” Oliver chuckled

“I’ll take him” Matt said

The drive home was pretty quick since I almost fell asleep. Finally we got Ava home now it was time to get me and Oliver home. A few minutes later we were in front of my house and when Matt stopped the car I said out of pure frustration “who the fuck are you guys?” Matt turned towards me so he can look me straight in the eyes “were in history class together don’t you remember? You remember right?.” He didn’t take his eyes off of me

It was almost like he wanted to hypnotise me or something “no I don’t. I’ve seen you in my life” Matt look confused “yeah. I’m kind of a quiet type of person. Unlike you.” Matt said turning around quickly

I get out the car slamming the door behind me and slowly getting into my house so nobody wakes up.

Soon I changed my clothes and brushed my teeth and went to bed.

(A/N : did yall see the tvd reference 😜 sorry if there’s any mistakes I didn’t re read this)

[the-kr8tor]

Okay okay so a few headcannons I have for TTN

Reader totally has a step by step plan for getting hobie to ask her out (listen she'd ask but like it's Hobie we need him to break the ice or we could be reading this all wrong)

She's definitely at every show if she can be but leaves before the "after party". Not her scene she just came to support her boys (hobie and Ned)

She has a hard time making female friends, which is why the sudden bind with Yuri was so nice!

If Yuri stuck around instead of leaving here soon she'd totally start flirting with reader to mess with hobie all the time now that they're best mates now. She'd flirt and Reader would get flustered as fuck but try to laugh it off and play along and Yuri would be like "see hobie that's how it's done. You better be careful looks like I might be cherry's new favorite~"all playfully smug and hobie isn't bothered knows she joking so it just really messing with reader 🤣

Readers taken hobie on like 1500 dates and he still doesn't get that she wants him. I mean come in we dragged him to a runway show! I'm sure we've done similar else where. Having to "convince" him to come when he'd do anything for her.

Obviously it's the same from hobie's side from above I mean he took us to a fabric shop and got all sweet about it. I know there's been more

Hobie complains to Ned about reader and he's told him Tim and time again just go for it at this point he'll just look at him and raise a brow and hobies like yeah yeah I know I should tell her yada yada. Yuri just figured it out and teases while James is a lil special.

I may or may not have a crush on Yuri

Who said that 🤔 anywayyyyyys I love the series, and I love talking about it with you even if you shattered my heart in that last chapter with that ending after all that sugar. I was reading last night for a pick me up before bed and I was left dangling on a cliff after being loaded with friendship sugar. -_- 🫠 I had to re-read to make sure I hadn't missed something.

OMG @dema-heart you got me giggling, kicking my feet! This is so sweet ❤️❤️❤️

Gosh, that's adorable! I can imagine her doing that! Imagine that she has it all planned out in the back of her lil sketchbook, she writes: if I ever grow some balls. Then she has the step by step guide on it lol I think r is very meticulous when it comes to planning and studying

Oh definitely! She's their number 1 fan for a reason, she'd be too shy to mingle with ppl she doesn't know very well.

Oh I love their interaction! I had so much fun writing Yuri (I've based her on an oc of mine lol)

Lmaooo she's too powerful! Plot twist Yuri and the reader run away together 😂🤣

She always convinces him with the promise of shawarma or food lol and it always works like a charm

They're idiots your honor

I love the Idea that Yuri took one look at them when she first met the reader and went "yep they're in love" LMAOOO JAMES 🤣🤣🤣 he's a himbo okay

It's okay I too have a crush on her 😜 The way I wrote her was very attractive lmao she got me blushing and I was the one writing her

Hehehhe I'm glad you liked it! I'm ready to catch you if you ever fall because of the next chapter hehehe

Im honestly thinking about making a oneshot from chapter 4 where they were putting together Hobie's bed, imagine the banter lmao maybe when I finish the series I'll get to write it

[trickinabucket]

I went to the grocery store for once in a long time, specifically to the one I used to work for.

It made me think of the only weird as fuck/rude thing that happened in the like 6 months I worked there

One evening, I was working a shift that would let me out just in time to catch the last bus of the day. I was really antsy about getting out exactly on time, because I had no other way to get home planned and I didnt have money for a cab or lyft.

I was working as a cashier for the last few minutes of my shift, and I cut off my aisle light, indicating the line was closed.

I was beeping up the next person, and upon another glance back, I saw this old white dude got into the line while I was working.

I said, shit, i mustve forgot to put my light on. Halfway up reaching my hand to flick it off, I noticed that it was already off.

“???”

So I called to the back of the line while my hand was going down, “Sir, my light is off…”

And he left, notably in a huff.

Eventually, I got through the line and was wrapping up, while the last person was talking to me and assuring me that, yeah, that was a weird fucking interaction. She was also a manager of another store in the chain.

The guy who left my line ran up to the back of the conveyor belt and slammed an empty cart against it. To clarify, that means that guy was not in a line, so I’m assuming he finished getting his shit checked out and had decided to spend one last second there throwing a destructive tantrum. He walked away after he had done it, both I and the last person having witnessed it. My only reaction at that point was 🤨

Anyway, while packing up, a manager (of this particular store, one of my immediate bosses) came up to me and asked if I denied the last person who came in my line, to which I answered w a bit of sass, “yeah, I sure did.” Because I had assumed she was just asking about it in a conversational way. I figured the guy complained to her, and that she was on the same page as I was.

Come to find out, she thought I was in the wrong. Turns out the guy told her I turned him away while I still had my light on. This was confusing to me, because that clearly didnt happen. Because at that point I didnt consider the guy would lie. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and assumed he didnt see me do it, and was mistaken because he thought he saw me cut off my light as I talked to him (hand half-raised as I talked to him.)

Thankfully, the other manager was around to explain what happened and said I was absolutely in the right and following protocol. The guy was just a dick.

Well, I just thought about that incident again. He wasnt mistaken. He straight up lied.

I had considered the possibility he might have told a soft lie to save face or backpedal. No, he straight up knew what had happened and was putting my paycheck under compromise because he didnt want to walk over to an equally long line in the same location. Because, once again, I was done when he came back around and slammed his cart into my line.

He knew he was in the wrong and went there planning to intentionally tell a lie just so I could get reprimanded by a manager. He had lost like no amount of time between him checking out somewhere else and checking out through my line. He only had to walk a few lines down.

Lmaooo my ass literally sat here giving this guy the benefit of any sort of doubt because like. It never occurs to me that people would lie, especially to that extent. Maybe it’s just the tism?

It also probably had something to do w me being black, as well, all things considered. At the very least, he’d be less inclined to think of me in any way as a human w my own needs and plans and explanations. I was just a black person who had the nerve to tell him no.

Idk. 😂 it was just funny how I typically do some spunchbob ass shit when it comes to ppl being dicks, even when it should be immediately obvious that someone is being an asshole on purpose.

[dazais-guardian-angel]

Hot take: Bakugou's character wouldn't survive if not for the one he kept abusing all his life. 90% of his character revolves around his victim and yet the fandom paints him as this super developed, fleshed out character when in reality he'd never be anything bigger than a side character if not for Deku.

Also the concequences he supposedly received are just him being teased or not getting the win he wanted, no being kidnapped doesn't count, he literally got away with his shit while even been treated like a victim and the privilege to know something about Deku that isn't any of his business. And now because he sacrificed himself that one time the fandom acts like Izuku owes his ass anything. It's disgusting.

I have given up on him actually being half the decent character ppl make him out to be and the fandom reaction to him makes me hate him even more.

He's not complex, he's just a pretty boy, asshole archetype who gets nicer and has some more cooperative and ppl love to eat that shit up while making up stuff for him. He changes but he's doesn't change for what matters and definitely pales in comparison to other characters who are better written than him.

(holy shit, did they remove the character limit on asks?? omg a GODSEND)

Well yeah, if it weren’t for Izuku and how he treats Izuku he wouldn’t have anything to improve from; people only think he’s developed because he no longer outright bullies him and “””worries””” (I say in heavy quotes) about him, and “reflects” on how he treated him even though he.......... comes to the absolute wrongest, most idiotic conclusions imaginable, that put the brunt of the excuses on Izuku instead of himself, but Toshinori validates him because Horikoshi has made Toshi into Bakugou’s uwu stan and stan of the two boys’ “friendship” (completely ignoring the fact that THIS KID FOR TEN YEARS BULLIED HIS SON). He’s basically already been devolved to acting like a side character for a long time now, with his funny anger quirk pun partly intended that’s just treated like a joke at this point, just like everyone else’s character quirks, even though it would be far more interesting for him to, you know. actually get some therapy and learn to calm himself and become an actual pleasant person to be around. But that’s not what makes him “funny”, that’s not him, according to most people, so he’s always going to stay like this, a boring angry pomeranian who flies off the handle at everything for no reason, who has done the absolute bare minimum of “changing”, which makes him a perfect character in everyone’s eyes.

“He changes but doesn’t change for what matters” pretty much sums up the problem with him in a nutshell, and is the exact reason he frustrates me so much, that I’ve ranted about plenty before. Bakugou has never been viewed through the lens of a bully, an abuser, he was never set up to be that, at least not realistically, and so his development hasn’t happened in accordance with that setup either, and people don’t have a problem with it and actively praise it because the manga actively downplay(ed)s the severity of that origin story. People can ignore the reality of how seriously traumatic being bullied for ten years of your childhood, verbally and physically would be, and how seriously and with such sensitivity such a relationship and character arc must be handled, because aside from the very first chapter when Izuku and Bakugou are still in middle school, really, with the “take a swan dive off the roof” comment and others, it’s never focused on in that way ever again; ever since, it’s just been treated as a typical anime “rivalry”, that both of them need to better themselves to overcome. The story and teachers say “the two of them are so alike but they just keep missing each other; if they just made up for each others’ weaknesses and understood that they both want the same thing, they’d be stronger together!”, and Izuku HIMSELF tries so hard to reach through to Bakugou, always still considering him his friend, always feeling like he’s the one equally at fault for their relationship being as rocky as it is, when BAKUGOU!!! FUCKING!!! BULLIED HIM!!! FOR TEN YEARS. bullied a DISABLED CHILD, which again, as a disabled person who relates to Izuku and how he felt about his quirklessness, feelings that continue to affect him even long after he gets a quirk because of how he was treated when he was younger, is DEEPLY unsettling to me. You CANNOT read/watch MHA without the metaphor of quirklessness = disabled being very apparent, and so that makes Bakugou’s bullying and how it is so utterly glossed over and purposefully forgotten a hundred times more disturbing and aggravating than it already is! If this were any other shounen rivalry then yes, it could be resolved with effort from both parties, because both parties have their own personal reasons for why they have trouble getting along with the other, and the fun is watching to see how they will overcome those, but Izuku and Bakugou were never on an equal playing field to begin with; this is a bullying story, with its victim trying desperately to win over and befriend his abuser, when he owes him absolutely NOTHING and has a BOATLOAD of unresolved issues thanks to said bullying, with no outside help from adults for either of them because none of them are acknowledging it as fucking bullying. I guarantee you that if the manga went into much more painful, bleak detail and showed many more flashbacks of how Izuku was treated by Bakugou in the past, and then still continued with the “development” he’s had since, people would be unable to ignore it like they can now, and it would make all of them extremely uncomfortable like it does those of us now who already dislike him. Hori himself has said he doesn’t understand why Bakugou is so popular, but he’s able to just continue as he does with him because no one is complaining, and because he said he regrets making him so awful in the beginning, as if that magically makes it disappear as much as it already has in 90% of the fandom’s collective mind. You wanna know an actual good manga that also deals with a bully of a disabled child growing and improving himself and forming a close relationship with his former victim? A Silent Voice. Such a journey is long, and hard, and it is painful, with many ups and downs and many nasty, hateful, guilt-filled, depression-filled feelings from both sides, along with from other characters who either also partook in the bullying, were bystanders to it who did nothing, or were indirect victims as well. The bully is bullied himself after what he does, and then grows up nearly suicidal, closing himself off and struggling to be social and make new friends because he doesn’t know how and doesn’t entirely feel like he deserves it (and the story notably doesn’t go the route of “he was abused too at home and so that’s why he bullied”), and tries and fails many times to make amends with the person he hurt before he finally is at peace with himself and everyone; the victim, meanwhile, drowns in continued guilt and suicidal feelings over feeling like she’s a burden to others, both from her disability and from watching all the infighting and victim blaming and finger pointing that ensues between her old classmates when all of the nasty emotions are brought back to the surface, along with dealing with budding romantic feelings for her past bully when he genuinely starts being kind towards her and making an effort to connect with her. ASV is entirely about this complex narrative, it’s able to dedicate everything it has to telling this story tactfully and with all the time and attention it needs. MHA, meanwhile, is a shounen battle manga, and so it was never going to do this narrative and Bakugou’s arc justice, even though I honestly think it could have if Hori really wanted to, because Izuku and Toshinori’s relationship has such masterfully subtle and touching emotions and care, at least early on; Horikoshi knows how to write good, subtle character arcs. I’m not asking for something ASV level, of course not, when the series has so many other things it has to juggle. I just wanted Bakugou to be treated as exactly what he is: a former bully, who can be taught, and learn, and reflect, and change, and become a better, more humble, more interesting person, and actually become someone worthy of all the praise and love he gets, not only for Izuku’s sake, but for his own, as well. They don’t excuse his actions in the slightest, but it’s still undeniable that Bakugou himself is a victim of how the adults in his life have treated him and raised his own expectations of himself, giving him the crippling insecurity issues he has, and that they continue to harm him (and Izuku) by simply letting him continue to go on angrily the way he does, instead of getting him help and some therapy in order for him to change and heal from things like being kidnapped by villains (which is no small thing to go through!! on top of his guilt over Toshinori’s final battle!) and becoming a better person to the one he hurt in the past, and it all just makes me so sad, not because I’m all “uwu poor Bakugou”, but just cause his character deserves better, as a person he deserves better, just like Izuku deserves better than everything he’s gone through because of him. This is all just a very long-winded way of agreeing with you OP that yes, none of Bakugou’s “punishments” for his behavior mean anything because he’s punished as a rival student who needs to humble himself in order to get along with his friend he doesn’t like, not as a former(??) bully who needs to be separated from his victim. The bar is set so low, was never set where it should be, and so absolutely no progress to “better himself” Bakugou makes either will mean anything, as long as it’s never acknowledged that he needs to make amends as a bully and abuser.

[gguksgalaxy]

Mix-Up pt. 1

Masterpost <- Prologue | Part 2 ->

Short: After joining the sorority on your new university you accidentally get roomed with a notorious frat boy called Jongdae. Pairing: Jongdae x Reader Genre: Fluff/Angst/Smut Words: 4468 Notes for Update: 25 Warnings: ppl being mean, frat boys being frat boys, really nothing.  A/n: The first part of my new series, i'm excited and had fun writing this actually. It's based on a dream i had once. Thank you to @sechens for inspiring me to write this series.

Your pov

You wrapped your hair up in a towel on top of your head, drying off your skin and rubbing some cream onto your face. The tiny bathroom was fogged up from your warm shower, but you felt properly refreshed now. After that bullshit of a hazing you needed it. You had to be at class in 3 hours, so you had enough time to rest and read a bit before going.

When you exited the shower you bumped into something, staggering back and holding onto your towel for dear life.

“Excuse me?” an unfamiliar, male, voice sounded.

You looked up, finding a boy, or man, how old was he? His hair was pitch black, eyes a dark brown, lips seemingly curled up in a smile. “Uhm, how did you get in here?”

His brows furrowed underneath his messy fringe. “I have a key, this is my room.”

You snorted. “Sure, now please get out and let me get dressed.” You though you must’ve left the door unlocked, so you pushed him aside to get into the room. “Hello, did you not hear me?” you motioned at him to leave.

He didn’t seem so amused though, and reached into his backpack to pull out a paper and hand it to you. Kim Jongdae, room 3 - 85 - N. That was your room, you were staying here. N building, 3rd floor, room 85. What the hell. “See, now there has to be some misunderstanding along to your room. But I’m tired as fuck and determined to catch at least 2 hours of sleep before I have to be in class.” He moved past you, dragging his duffle bag over the floor and flopping down onto the bed you hadn’t chosen as your own.

You snatched your clothes of your bed and grumpily went into the bathroom to get dressed. What the hell was this guy thinking? Just barging in here like he owned the place. What the fuck. His note wasn’t lying though, but yours said the same with your name. Maybe it was an administration mistake, it had to be right? You’d never get roomed with a guy, it wasn’t even allowed for as far as you knew.

When you were dressed and brushed your hair, you went back out and found your note on between your books. He was fast asleep though, one arm hanging off the bed. His lips still curled at the ends, maybe it was natural. It looked like he hadn’t showered in a few days, some kind of mess on his neck that could’ve been lipstick or food. He was wearing a dark grey sweater that was way too big on him, and light blue torn skinny jeans, maybe a bit to warm for this time of year? It was early September, and he was wearing a sweater.

It didn’t seem like he was going to wake up soon, so you decided to just let him sleep while you did your mandatory reading for today’s class. Taking small notes. It started with simple history of Psychology, a recap of what you’d learned in your bachelor.

You’d come to this university for two simple reasons. The first being that it had one of the best Psychology masters in the country, and second being that your mother had attended here when she was your age.

Your focus was broken by the sound of a phone ringing, but it wasn’t yours. Must be his then? Maybe you should go get this sorted now? But right now just going to class and doing what you had to do was more important. You weren’t going to let some guy take you out of your schedule. His phone rang again, and you sighed deeply. Then a third time, which was when you were done with it.

You got off your chair and looked over. It didn’t seem like the sound would wake him anytime soon. So you tried to find the source of it. Hoping it wasn’t somewhere on him. Maybe his bag?

It was on the floor beside the bed, stuffed full of things he’d probably need when he moved in here. You unzipped the top, the sound becoming louder. So it was somewhere in this mess. Nothing was folded, everything just thrown in there messily. The first thing you pulled out was a laptop, a MacBook Air to be precise, and books identical to the ones you had to get. He was in the same classes as you?

The next obvious thing was a leather jacket, a white one, with something on the back. You turned it over. Sigma-Mu. Of course he was one of those dicks. You’d heard of their fraternity, basically the brothers of your sorority Xi-Chi-Phi, they’re renowned for being empty minded fuck-ups though. Smart, but not using their brain for the right thing. Rough parties and lots of wild nights out with girls like you. Ha, not that you’d ever fall for one of them. You especially knew better than to date a frat guy.

“You’re really cute and all, but would you mind not touching my things?” his voice was a bit hoarse and rough from the short sleep he’d had. He looked at you with sleepy and puffy eyes, brushing his hair away.

“Your phone was ringing, it’s annoying.” You stated blankly.

He sighed and flopped onto the floor beside the bed. Rummaging through his bag to find his phone that was now ringing for the fourth time. “Here it is.” He didn’t even bother to look at it before turning it on silent. “Now can you let me sleep?”

You raised your eyebrows at him, sort of offended. “Excuse me? I wasn’t making any sort of obvious noise. It was your phone that kept me from studying.”

Jongdae, that was his name right, smirked lightly. “Most girls wouldn’t be so casual around me.”

Of course. “Your frat sign or status means zilch to me, now let me study.”

He shrugged, climbing back onto the bed. “Not saying that I was offering, I don’t do studious types like you.”

What a dick. But you weren’t going to indulge him, so you rolled your eyes and went back to your book. You felt his eyes on you, staring at you from the bed. With your jaw clenched you forced yourself to focus.

“You wouldn’t last a week with me in here.” He stated then.

You chose to ignore his cocky voice and lingering eyes and moved onto the last pages. Reid, Berkeley, Locke, Darwin, it was almost Philosophy, but you knew that they blended a bit back in the far history. Natural selection, and bananas that when you don’t see them aren’t yellow but certainly bent. Boring stuff, but easy.

When you closed your book, he was fast asleep again, tiny snores escaping his parted lips. He was attractive, for sure, moles dotting his forehead and hairline, ears jutting out cutely. But his mouth told you something else. Frat at heart.

Maybe you should just go, grab a coffee and something to eat before class. So you got up from your chair, put your laptop in your bag and took a thin coat from the hanger. For a moment you considered waking him up to let him know class was starting soon. Maybe you should try keeping him as a friend instead of an enemy.

You wouldn’t last a week with me in here. But you decided against it, and left through the front door.

***

The class started on time, and you didn’t see any of the girls you’d gotten along with from the hazing in here. You did see some older sisters sitting further up the back of the lecture hall but you preferred to sit in the front third of the class. Not completely up front, but far enough up front to concentrate.

Your lecturer, a male in his mid 30’s, was in the middle of his explanation on the banana thing from Reid when someone took place next to you.

“You know sweetheart, you could’ve just woken me up before you left. I’d have appreciated it a lot.” He sounded, and you just wanted to backhand him right there.

You gnawed at your lip, not reacting to his stupid comment, but taking a look out of the corner of your eyes to see what he was doing. He opened a container with grapes, and his laptop. Popping two in his mouth and typing away, looking up at the projector screen.

The whole 2nd half of class he was silent, paying attention and munching on grapes. It surprised you maybe, that he just quietly concentrated and listened to the lecturer. He was a fast typer, and his little container was empty quickly. Your coffee was finished too soon and you wished you’d gotten a refill halfway through the class.

When the class ended and you fully looked at him beside you, you noticed he’d taken the time to freshen himself up. There were still slight bags under his eyes, but his hair was pushed back now underneath his baseball cap. He was wearing a white shirt with a dark blue plaid shirt unbuttoned over it, still in his ripped jeans. Jongdae sneezed into his hand, and looked at you. “See something you like?”

You rolled you eyes. “Just surprised you can keep up the concentration for that long.” When you’d gathered you things in you chair you stood up, but he made no sign of moving. “We have to go, we have biological psychology in 10 minutes.”

He raised an eyebrow at you. “Are you always this snappy?”

“I around guys like you.” You grumbled, turning around to get out on the other side of the isle.  But he stopped you. “What?!” You didn’t really expect the hurt look on his face right there.

“Let’s walk to class together yeah?”

“Why would I walk with you?”

Jongdae avoided your gaze, packing his things. “I’ll buy you coffee, come on.”

The offer was tempting, and maybe you should say no, but you followed him. Up the stairs and down the hall towards your next class. “You’re so typical.”

“What?” he asked when you were in line for the coffee corner. “How am I typical.”

“Frat guy, comes in late, half asleep. Tries to flirt with a girl being cocky, realises it’s not working and tries to bribe her.”

He was silent for a little, and you tries to decipher what the print on his shirt was actually saying, but it was something with palm trees. You couldn’t complain about his clothes, he looked well in them. His backpack was slung over one shoulder and he had his wallet in his hands. There was a ring on his pointer finger, silver with some pattern on it. He apparently chose to ignore your comment. “What do you want?”

“You’re not going to expect something in return?”

“Hmm.” He smiled lightly. “Maybe notes of the things I’ve missed this morning?”

“That’s not going to be a regular thing.”

He sneezed again, and you noticed then that he might just be sick. “Yeah sure. I normally try to not miss class you know.”

“I like Latte’s with an extra shot.” You answered him, stepping out of the line to open up your bag and finding something in the little toiletry bag you kept. When he returned you handed it to him. “Here.”

Jongdae looked at the little tube in your hand like it was something weird. “I buy you coffee you give me pills?”

“It’s flu medicine.” You took your coffee from him and put the little tube in his palm. Not before nothing that his hands were warm and the skin was soft. “Just put it in your mouth and let it dissolve under your tongue. I have more at home.”

For a moment he stared at it, but then unscrewed the top and threw the contents back like taking a shot. “God it tastes disgusting.”

His face made you laugh, and you took your coffee, going in front of him to class. “Thank you.” He smiled at your gratitude, his smile was nice, the corners of his mouth going up further. “What?”

“You’re cute.”

“Don’t try that on me, it doesn’t work.”

“No really.” He chuckled. “I’m not going to try sleep with my roommate, I’m not that stupid.”

“But you are stupid?”

“From time to time.”

***

Jongdae’s pov

“Okay so what’s up with you?” Baekhyun asked him, sitting in his room. “You’re moping around a bit.”

“Flu.” He mumbled, rubbing his nose. His eyes were tired and his mind wasn’t following him. He really just wanted to go to sleep, but you were there and he hadn’t decided on what to do about it yet. On one hand he thought it might be good to room with someone who actually had their shit together and wouldn’t bring home random girls every other night. He’d moved out of the frat house for a reason.

“Jongdae?” Baekhyun flicked his forehead. “Dude?”

“Okay so, you know how I moved out this year right. To the normal dorms?”

“Yeah.” His friend took another slice of pizza from the box. “I’m rooming with Chanyeol now, but I don’t know if that’s such a great thing.”

Jongdae had roomed with Baekhyun for the past 3 years, they’d grown quite close. But he was just done with the whole shit of being at the frat house all week. “Yeah well. I got to my dorm this morning and there was a girl.”

“A girl?” The other’s eyes lit up at the comment. “They sent you a welcome gift?”

He rolled his eyes. “No.”

“Wait, your roommate was fucking someone that early? I mean morning sex I’m all for it but, not when I’m expecting my new roommate?”

“Baekhyun.” He sighed, pinching his nose. A headache was setting in and he wanted to sleep. “No, my roommate, it’s a girl.”

He laughed. “Funny.”

Jongdae shook his head. “No really, it’s a girl. She had moved in already and all that.”

Baekhyun frowned, looking at the last slice of pizza in the box. Jongdae motioned for him to take it, his stomach was done with the greasy shit. “Okay so you’re roomed with a girl, that’s great. Try and get into the good corner with her.” Baekhyun was a ladies man, he liked to play around. Not the way Chanyeol usually did, Baekhyun just had a lot of…friends on call. “Is she attractive?”

Jongdae has looked at you, the way your hair framed your face and the way your top hugged you body. “I guess.” He didn’t want Baekhyun to get too excited about this. He’d probably just call administrations tomorrow to fix it.

“You guess?”

“I mean, yeah.”

Baekhyun squinted his eyes at him. “What’s her name?”

Jongdae thought about that, and realised he hadn’t even asked your name. How could he have been that stupid? He really was out of it. “Not sure.”

“You’re telling me, you’re roomed with this hot chick, and you didn’t even ask her name? Man what happened to you over summer?” His friend sighed, tomato sauce on his cheek.

“I’m not feeling well okay.”

“What did she look like?”

He closed his eyes, laying back on his bed, describing how you looked. It wasn’t like he hadn’t paid attention to the way you walked, or brushed your hair out of your face. But Baekhyun wouldn’t let that go easily. He did mention the tattoo with the Chinese characters he saw peeking up from the back of your shirt.

“Wait, you said she had a tattoo on the back of her neck? Chinese characters?”

“Yeah, why?”

Baekhyun was smirking, a look Jongdae knew well. “Oh, I know that girl. You’re in for something man.”

“What? How so?” he knew he shouldn’t push Baekhyun on with things like this, but he was too tired to try talk around it.

“Her name is y/n, she’s two years younger than we are, spicy chick. Taking the same classes as you, very nice legs and chest. I think she works out regularly.” He hummed, standing up and moving into the kitchen to grab a glass of water.

Jongdae groaned when he sat up. “You know this how exactly?”

“She’s in Xi-Chi-Phi, I saw her in the hazing, you know, me and Yeol were involved in their hazing. Like Seulna and Noni were helping you guys out.”

“Wait, you’re telling me, I’m rooming with a Xi-Chick? Why…”

Baekhyun was laughing again. “You got it good man, keep her I’d say. I think she’d a nice one.”

“Uhmm, I’d rather keep my ass out of the rumours.” Thing was, each time a Sigma-Mate and a Xi-Chick hooked up it somehow got out and the rumours could last for weeks. Especially if it was more than a simple hook-up. It’s almost like becoming a celebrity couple in the school. Baekhyun was lucky his girls kept silent, Chanyeol tended to be a little less lucky in that department. But Jongdae thought you’d also not want all that attention. You’d just had to find a way to fix it without anyone finding out. “I think I’m going to go home.” He mumbled, getting up and finding his hat from the floor. Pushing his hair back, he set it into place and put his face mask back on. The flu sucked.

“We’ll see how long you last man. Do I see you on friday? At the entrance of the year party?”

“Yeah sure,”

“Jongdae man, really, you used to be so excited for these. We need you there to hype the place up.” His friend whined.

“I’ll come if you keep your mouth shut to Chanyeol about my roommate.” He shot back, smiling lightly. Chanyeol really couldn’t keep his trap shut when it came to stuff like this.

Baekhyun thought about it for a bit. “I mean it’ll only be time before someone sees you together right?”

“Just don’t tell him please.” He begged, whining a little.

“Fine fine. But you owe me Kim!”

“Yah!” jongdae called out from the door. “I’m coming to the party, that’s enough.”

Baekhyun threw something at him, and he wasn’t able to dodge it before it hit his face. He immediately threw it away with a disgusted face as soon as soon as he noticed it was one of his dirty socks. “We’ll talk about this!”

Jongdae waved him off casually before closing the door behind him.

***

When he got back to the dorm, he found you at one of the desks, bent over a book with a steaming mug of tea or coffee next to you. Arrays of coloured highlighters in a glass and a notebook open beside the book. Your hair was up messily on the top of your head, and you’d changed out of your soft striped pants and light tank top. The shirt you were now wearing was a light grey and seemed a few sizes too big. “If you’re going to stand and stare at me from there, please do close the door.”

He snapped out of it. “Sorry.” Jongdae noticed a pan with leftover food on the stove.  “You cooked?”

“Noodles.”

“Oh.” He noticed a sharp edge in your voice, but decided to shrug it off. “I’m going to take a shower okay.” Jongdae walked to his bed, coughing away the slime in his throat. There was a small packet on there, with some kind of medicine.

“It’s the rest of those pills from this morning, you should take them twice a day.” You said when he picked them up. “I emailed you the notes via the uni email.”

He nodded, mumbling a thank you before taking clothes from his bad and walking over to the bathroom. All you stuff, makeup, toothbrush, hair products, were neatly stacked and placed throughout the room. You seemed a lot more organised than he was. His body was aching, and he just wanted to sleep. The warm water soother it a bit, and he took another tube of the stuff you gave him before he brushed his teeth and put on a pair of boxers and a shirt.

For a moment he wondered if he should put on sweats, but he’d left them in his bag. Well you’d probably not even look up at him, so he just went. Not that he was shy really.

“So what are we going to do about this situation?” you asked, closing your book and turning around just as he exited. To his surprise you didn’t even give him a once over. Definitely nothing you hadn’t seen before.

He sighed. “Can we talk about it tomorrow? My head is hurting and I just want to sleep.” Jongdae flopped down on his bed, still unmade and all. “Please?”

You cocked your head to the side. “You really are sick aren’t you? When you came back before I thought you might’ve had a hangover.”

Jongdae licked his dry lips. “Well I did drink yesterday night, but not that much. I probably caught it during the hazing. With all the water and cold nights.”

You sighed, and he watched you stand up to move into the kitchen. “I’m y/n by the way. I realised I never gave you my name.”

He almost said he knew, but decided against it.

“Go to sleep, we’ll talk in the morning.” You said, shooting him a soft smile from the other side of the room. He smiled back and crept under the covers, curling up on his side and willing sleep to take him in.

***

Your pov

The next morning you woke up before him, taking out a minute to look at him sleep in his unmade bed. He looked small, curled up like that. Why were you going soft on him? He was just coming up with the flu, once he’s back to normal he’ll change again.

You quietly tried to take a shower and did your makeup, packing food for the day and the sitting down at the desk to do some reading. But a groan caught your attention.

“Morning.” He said, voice hoarse and deep.

You actually chuckled at the sound. “Hi.”

“So…”

“So what?” you turned towards him, watching his rub his eyes. His hair was falling over his forehead again, messily reaching till just above his eyes.

He moved his mouth and scrunched up his nose. “Are we calling administration this morning?”

“I could also pass by today after class, maybe that’ll be easier?”

He groaned, stretching his body on the small bed, chest bowing up. “I do meant what I said yesterday though.”

You frowned. “That you’re stupid.”

Jongdae sent you an unamused glare. “No, that you wouldn’t last a week with me in here.”

“What do you even mean by that? Have you roomed with a girl before?”

He got up, mussing his hair around and pushing it away from his eyes. “No, but I’ve been around plenty.” His shrug was casual, it annoyed you. “As I said, studios types like you, not my thing. However, I do tend to catch your eye after a while.”

“Jongdae what the fuck are you trying to even tell me?”

“Just saying, if we’d keep this it’ll be time before you develop feelings for me or something. Or we end up in bed together.”

He seemed different from yesterday after class. What even was his deal. Was he trying to scare you away, or trying to keep you here as a challenge. The former was completely unnecessary and the latter totally useless. “Your point is?”

“Nothing, jut noting.”

“Jesus christ you are all the same stuck up kind of pricks aren’t you.” You grumbled, turning your back to him and going for your earphones. If he was going to be like this you might as well cancel him out. Definitely going by the desk today, or you should make him go? “If you’d be so kind to walk to administration? Or call, I don’t care. I don’t have any obvious need to be around people like you.”

He hummed, that you heard before you turned your music on. Behind you he got up, pulled things out of his bag, and shuffled into the shower with a loud cough. All the same, frat boys. You scoffed and shook your head.

Today you had the same lecture as yesterday morning, and the first philosophy lecture. Your favourite. You were doing readings on Berkeley’s full philosophy, much more deeper than yesterday. His theory didn’t always make much sense to you since it was contradictory on it’s own, but you’d learnt to just memorise the stupid thing.

You felt a hand on the back of your chair and a warm breath fan by your ear. “So, what are you studying?” he asked, his wet hair dripping onto your shoulder.

You pulled away, pushing him back. “Philosophy, you should try it, maybe it’ll clear your mind up.”

He looked pretty shocked at the tone of your voice, eyes widening. With his hair wet, and a towel over his head he might’ve actually passed as cute. His black shirt was tight around his biceps, and you duly noted he probably worked out. “Philosophy is good, I don’t mind it. A bit too much blabbering for my liking.” He stated.

“So, you’re going to call?” you asked, pointing at his phone.

He nodded with a look you couldn’t point. “Yeah, do you have the number?”

It had to be somewhere on your desk, you found it under your file, handing it to him and watching him as he dialled the number. He put the phone to his ear and cocked his eyebrows at you with a smirk. You rolled your eyes and got up, towards the kitchen area to grab some grapes from the fridge. They were sweet, you’d always kept some around in your bag as well as snacks.

“Hi, Kim Jongdae.” He said, frowning. “I’m calling because of my room. Or well, my roommate. I think a mistake was made because I’ve been roomed with a girl. We’d like to fix it somehow and get switched or placed somewhere else.” His frown grew deeper the more he talked. You couldn’t hear the person on the other end though. “Are you sure?” he mumbled, and then his eyes grew wide. “That’s not what I’m trying to do! Can’t you check?” his voice raised, the pitch became higher, he sounded a lot different like that. Whining on the phone. “Fine, okay. Yeah, thanks.” He hung up, putting the phone down beside him.

“So?” you asked.

“They’ve made no mistakes, we’re roomed with the right person.”

Well wasn’t that nice.

@oh-beyond @yixings10 @sechens @nunchiwrites @xiubaek13 @yeollieollie @kimjongdaely @paark-haaraa @minseok-baozi @fairyyeols

[isisisak]

Soooo :D after you all requested it (about 3 ppl did - but just let me exaggerate in peace) here is part 3 of Isak and Even doing trust excercises <3  it starts up right where part 2 ended so if you want to read those first: Part 1 / Part 2 

When they stepped back from each other Isak looked over to Magnus and Vilde. Vilde had a frown on her face that changed into a too bright smile when she caught his gaze. Magnus looked a bit deflated when he saw how close Isak and Even had been. The other two had stopped close in front of each other when both decided this was as close as was comfortable, but there was still a hand length between their bodies.

They had been pretty happy with themselves (especially when most of the other couples had stopped a meter or further away from each other) until their eyes landed on Isak and Even. Who were obviously trying to morph into each other to be closer, toes stacked, noses pressed against each other, touching from chests to knees.

Even shot Mags an encouraging smile as the woman – maybe Lille? – announced the next test.

“Everyone, take one of these scarfs,” she said as she went around and handed each couple one of the colorful fabrics.

“I want the light blue one,” Even stage whispered to Isak who rolled his eyes with pure fondness. “You’re a child, Even.” But nevertheless he hurried over to where the women was and plucked the light blue one from her arm (this got him a rewarding cheek kiss).

“Blindfold your partner and take your place behind them,” came the instruction. Even raised his brows at Isak and grinned.

“So, nothing new there,” he said as he turned his back to Isak who snorted at his words.

Magnus gave a high pitched “What?” at that which got ignored by the other three.

The next exercise was to guide your partner just with your voice through an obstacle course that the woman – Laura? God, he knew it had been something with L – placed on the ground in front of them.

While the woman talked on about how important it was to completely trust your partner for this Isak rested his hands on Even’s hips and his chin on Even’s shoulder. Even leaned into him a bit and tugged on one of Isak’s hands. He understood the gesture and wrapped his arms around Even’s middle. When it was time to start Isak placed a quick kiss to the shoulder his chin had been resting on and untangled his arms from around him.

“Ok, go one step forward. For the record, we are talking about normal human-sized steps.” Even laughed and took a relatively moderate step forward.

“Don’t do any of your long spider steps.” This got Isak an offended scoff.

“Spider legs? Really, babe? I call you adorable animal names all the time and I get spider?” Even shook his head which made the blue tail of the blindfold bounce. Isak grinned.

“Lift your leg a bit - I’m sorry I forgot for a second that spiders are a delicate subject when it comes to you (*) – forward and then to your right.” Even grinned. Isak could only see the back of his swoopy blonde head but he just knew that he grinned.

“And anyway – now crouch down a bit, yeah like that, and now one step to your left and forward – you call me monkey. What is adorable about monkeys. They smell,” Isak continued. Guiding Even through that little ‘parcour’ was more than easy and didn’t stop them from keeping up their banter.

“What! I call you baby monkey which is the most adorable nickname anyone has ever come up with.” Isak’s grin at his boyfriend’s dramatics got bigger as he asked “Are you saying you are the master of nicknames?”

Even laughed and he saw the back of his head nod. “I’m saying that.”

Isak only let out an amused “Hmm” before Even continued with “I won’t argue the smelling part, because…” Even let his voice trail off and Isak laughed (loudly, which had Vilde startle next to him and send him a scolding look).

“Fuck you, Even. I kinda want to make you trip now,” he teased, the smile clearly audible in his voice.

“But you won’t,” Even replied. It wasn’t a question and was said with a warm certainty which made Isak want to cross the distance and get his arms back around his boy.

“Nei. I won’t.” He agreed.

Then it was Isak’s turn to be blindfolded and guided. in the process of getting the scarf over his eyes Even kept giving him cheek kisses and nuzzled his nose into his jaw. But it was ok because even though they kept talking and Even was taking his sweet time getting Isak ready for his round they were still faster than the others. -- Vilde had cast Isak an annoyed look after they discussed the nicknames and told him “I call Magnus lion! Because of his huge-“ which was thankfully interrupted by Magnus crashing over one of the obstacles in front of him, since his guide had not been paying attention to him.

“Now, trust is important in a relationship, but for it to be healthy you also need communication.” The woman was collecting the blindfolds again as she began the new instructions.

The women all made wiping gestures that Isak assumed were meant to make sure their makeup was intact. He himself blinked a few times, the room bright after having his eyes closed for a while.

“Communication doesn’t just happen verbally, but also silent.” Isak scrunched his face up at that and threw a huh look at Even, who nodded as if he totally agreed and Isak should listen. Tsss, smartass.

“So, all of you sit down in front of your partner. Don’t touch, don’t talk, but sit as close as you’d like. And then you look each other in your eyes. You will do this for two minutes,” she said and gestured to a clock that hung over the door of the living room they were in.

There was commotion as everyone took their seat. Isak and Even sat in front of each other, legs crossed. This time it was Isak who raised his brows which was answered by a teasing smile on Even’s full lips. Isak’s gaze dropped down.

“Hey, eyes up here,” Even said with a shake of his head, pointing to his eyes and Isak let out a “pfff” with a roll of his eyes. They grinned at each other again.

“Everyone ready? Good. While you look each other in the eyes, try to communicate to your partner what they mean to you. Communicate with your eyes.” The exercise (if you can call sitting on the floor and doing nothing an exercise) started and silence stretched through the room.

At first they both kept their teasing looks and smiles on their faces, both making fun of the idea to communicating through their eyes. But after a few moments something shifted. Communicate to your partner what they mean to you. Isak looked at Even’s clear sparkly blue eyes and something in him melted. What Even meant to him? He meant the world. All his dorky little quirks, the embarrassing songs he serenaded Isak with, the old and cheesy movies he made Isak watch and about which he could hold a passionate speech for hours, all the times Isak had woken up from a bad dream or couldn’t fall asleep and Even had been there. Had held his hand and stroked his back and combed those lovely fingers through his hair. All the post-it notes he found everywhere in his school books with little drawings on them of the two of them or Isak with Jonas or Isak with Sana or Isak with Even’s parents. All the times Even had made him feel like he was the most precious and perfect person to walk the earth. All of it, all of Even meant the world.

Isak saw how Even’s eyes grew soft and loving and he felt a million sparks go off in his stomach. His head felt fuzzy with the idea that Even was thinking the same stuff about him right now. That Even loved him just as much as he did him. Isak placed his hands that were laying on his knees on the ground beside him and pushed himself forward, closer to Even.

Their knees knocked gently against each other and Even’s eyes got smaller when his mouth widened into a fond smile. His teeth showing which normally made Isak’s eyes zip down to the lips of his boy, but right now their stare was too intense to break. Even leaned forward unconsciously which brought them even closer.

The proximity was so small that Isak felt himself go a bit cross eyed, but he didn’t want to lean back. It was all he could do not to climb into Even’s lab and wrap his arms and legs around him. He knew Even would chuckle warmly at him and bring his own arms around his back. He’d whisper “See, you’re my baby monkey” with his deep voice, only meant to be heard by Isak, and...

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR they both jumped when the alarm of Lisle-or-what-ever went off.

“Woah,” Isak let out, sounding as breathless as he felt. He heard Even breath out a laugh as he closed the distance between them by leaning forward, giving Isak a gentle kiss.

“Yeah,” Even agreed and he sounded just as breathless as Isak.

“That was awkward, huh?” Magnus said loudly beside them, gaining him a relieved chuckle from the rest of the room. Isak and Even both smiled in his direction but after that exchanged a look. That wasn’t awkward. That was intense.

“Good. Everyone stay seated. Now that you told your partner non-verbally what you think of them, it’s time to use words!”

Even made a small gasp as if he had been waiting for that forever and Isak could just barely cover up his laugh with a cough. Slapping his back Even looked more than satisfied of himself for making him laugh. Isak couldn’t help but adore this idiot.

“Tell your partner three things you love about them. Three characteristics that made you fall for them or made you love them even more.” The woman rolled up and down on her feet as she said this, clearly the most excited about all of this from the entire room.

“I can’t name just three things.” Even complained, putting both his hands on each of Isak’s knees. Isak rolled his eyes.

“It’s not your cheesiness, that’s for sure.”

Even leaned back and put one of his hands on his chest, offended. “Excuse me, you told me I am the man of your life and I’m the cheesy one?”

“That was more than half a year ago.” Isak protested and went to grab the hand on Even’s chest, placing it back on his knee, leaving his own over it.

“Oh, so that has changed?” Even asked, brows high. Isak shrugged, pursing his lips to keep from smiling. “Maybe.”

“Is it too late to switch partners?” Even asked and pretended to look around the room. Isak giggled and tugged on the hand he still held. “Nei. You are the best thing in my life, Evi.”

Even looked back at him, a mix of wonder and fondness in his eyes, as if he was a bit taken by surprise by Isak switching from their banter to this.

“Three things.” Isak said to divert the attention from himself, his cheeks a bit pinker than before. “Go.”

Even grinned but nodded after a second longer of intensely looking at him.

“Hmmm. I love your loyalty,” Even said and counted it off with his fingers of the hand Isak wasn’t holding in a firm grip. “Your patience. Aaaand” his eyes growing teasing again, “your squishy nose.”

Isak looked at him startled for a second, still very much occupied with his faltering heart at the first two statements, before he threw his free hand up. He sputtered out a laugh and shook his head, huge grin betraying his outrage.

“Hva faen, Even?” He asked, which got him an innocent look.

“You are meant to point out characteristic. And don’t call it squishy. Eskild does that.”

Even shook his head, gesturing Isak to stop, “Eskild got that from me. I said it first.”

“You said it first.” Isak's voice was disbelieving.

“Ja.” Even shrugged with a proud smile on his face, as if he expected praise.

“I repeat: hva faen, Even.”

“What? I love your nose! Remember when I told you it was my favourite part of you?” (*) he said an and reached up to Isak’s face – or rather, to his nose – and stroked over his nose with his thumb. “It’s the softest! And just so bendy. It’s perfect,” he finished his explanation, not putting his hand down but continued to press into Isak’s nose.

“You’re ridiculous,” Isak said, sounding more nasal than usual, but leaned a bit into the touch. His boyfriend was officially the strangest person he knew – he loved it.

“It’s still against the rules to name a physical attribute,” Isak protested which made Even roll his eyes for once.

“Pfff. Oh physical attribute. Mr. big words. Ok, you can name two characteristics and one physical attribute, too.”

Isak nodded his ok, Even’s hand finally stopped to squish the nose and slid to Isak’s neck instead.

“Ok,” Isak started, “so, I love your hands,” he said and held one finger up to signalize one.

“And second-“

“My hands?” Even grinned widely, his eyes almost vanishing from the force of it. He lifted the hand that was on Isak’s neck and wiggled his fingers.

“This hand?” Isak rolled his eyes and grabbed for it, entwining their fingers of both hands.

“Both of them, yes.”

Even’s smile grew soft and he leaned forward a bit but not crossing the distance, which left Isak to initiate a kiss (which he did, of course). So, after two (or five) pecks Isak continued, “Your positivity and your strength.”

Even’s face sobered a bit at that and Isak saw him swallow and then, to his surprise, there was a slight blush on Even’s cheeks.

Even was barely ever shy or blushy and when it happened it made something primal bloom in Isak. He wanted to just throw Even over his shoulder and lock them into their bedroom for the rest of the week.

Isak squeezed Even’s hands and leaned forward again, nuzzling his nose over the pink tinged cheeks of his boy.

“You’re cute.” Isak murmured against Even’s skin and closed his eyes when he places tiny kisses from one cheek over Even’s lips to the other cheek.

 Some time later that day:

They were at a party, Isak and Even sitting on a wide couch with Jonas. Mahdi and Magnus sitting on the little couch table in front of them.

“You two seem even more cozy than usual,” Mahdi noted, handing the joint over to Magnus.

Isak looked to Even at Mahdi’s comment and couldn’t help the lovey-dovey smile that took over his face. They were not only sitting close, but almost half of Isak’s back was pressed against Even’s chest, hand on Even’s leg.

Even had his arm around Isak’s shoulder and his hand lay flat against Isak’s stomach.

Even mirrored his fond expression and leaned in, placing a soft kiss to the tip of Isak’s nose. Isak’s eyes drooped shut at this.

In the back of his head he registered Magnus telling (complaining to) Jonas and Mahdi all about the trust seminar, but Isak’s focus was pulled back to Even when the hand on his stomach began to gently stroke over it. Isak hummed his contentment and melted further into Even.

[not-so-lonely-star]

(B)romance in the NHL

Summary: A viral article about Kent and Tater’s bromance sparks some confessions. Word Count: 3,700 Rating: G

  The music skips with an incoming text that Alexei ignores as he mixes his smoothie and hums along. Once he adds the last chunk of banana he slips the lid on the blender and turns it on. A few moments later he turns it off and the silence is jarring. Alexei walks over towards where his phone is laying on the counter, hoping his battery hasn't died yet again. His phone has been on the last leg of life for a couple weeks now, but he's too attached to it to change it in for a new one, no matter how much the rookies tease him. 

Alexei picks up the phone. It isn't dead. It buzzes incessantly in his hand as 20 messages turned to thirty with three missed calls and several voicemails. Alexei swipes in his password and scrolls down the list of names until he reaches the first message. It's from Kent. The first is a link with three messages in quick succession after.  

Kent (8:57 am): I didn't even notice them take this   Kent (8:57 am): It makes us look kind of gay... don't you think? Kent (8:58 am): Okay yeah other ppl think it's hella gay too wtf 

Alexei clicks on the link from the first text and his heart feels like it's beating out an erratic rhythm in his chest as he waits for it to load. Once it loads he breathes a sigh of relief, it's just the article about bromance in the NHL. A couple months ago he'd been contacted by Cosmo to participate alongside Kent in a best bros piece about cross team friendships in the NHL in an attempt to broaden the hockey audience. The concept was simple enough, they'd contacted a bunch of different hockey players with friendships well documented via social media and called them in to take pictures and give a short interview. 

Two weeks ago, once they were both free with plenty of time in the off season, he and Kent had flown out to LA and posed for a bunch of pictures together. Each pair of friends was photographed playing some sport other than hockey. 

Alexei knew Snowy and his buddy Kicker from the Schooners were doing water polo, because Snowy had complained to Alexei for a solid three days afterwards that it was 'the lamest of all polos'. Alexei and Kent had been given wrestling. The singlet they gave him was so small Alexei had popped into Kent's dressing room, certain that it was his - it wasn't. Kent's was tight and in aces black unlike the one Alexei was holding in falconer's blue.

Once they'd gotten dressed, after a lot of wiggling on Alexei's part, they'd been brought out to the set where a wrestling mat was set up and they were told how to pose. Most of it was fairly benign, Alexei pretending to have Kent in a headlock, Kent crouching to knock Alexei over, them standing together with arms slung around one another's shoulders, that sort of thing. After a couple hours of taking photos the woman in charge of the shoot, Shelly, stopped them.  

"Alright boys," she'd said, walking over towards them and shaking both their hands. "I think we've got a bunch of great shots here. So you can feel free to go ahead and get changed. We've got a few more photoshoots and interviews scheduled, but the article should be posted in a couple weeks so keep your eye out." She smiled at them before walking back to the photographer. "Thanks again for coming," she said over her shoulder at them, "It's been a pleasure." 

"Thank you," Kent had said, smiling, "it gives me an excuse to drag this lug out to LA finally." 

Alexei had rolled his eyes good naturedly, "I am telling Kent I been to LA many times before -" 

"Playing hockey and never leaving your hotel doesn't count." Kent smirked at him and before Alexei could even think about what he was doing he'd lifted Kent up and they'd both gone crashing down onto the mat. After grappling for a minute Alexei had ended up on his back staring up dazedly at Kent standing above him with his hand outstretched to help him up. 

Alexei puts his head in his hands as he stares down at the photo. He hadn't even realized that the cameras were still rolling while he and Kent were messing around. The picture was taken a moment after Alexei knocked them both to the mat. In it he's pinning Kent's arms above his head and his legs are straddling Kent's waist. Kent has a grin on his face, that's more smirk than smile, which at the time had Alexei's heart skipping a beat before returning in double time. Kent's left brow is raised in challenge, but it's Alexei's face coupled with their position that's incriminating. His eyes are soft, his smile joyous and it's obvious to anyone looking that he's in love. 

Alexei groans, and lets his head thunk down onto the cool counter. He hadn't realized he's been so transparent with his affection for Kent, if he had he never would've agreed to do the photoshoot together in the first place. Maybe no one else really noticed though, he thinks hopefully as he runs to get his laptop because his phone really is a piece of shit. 

His laptop boots up quickly and Alexei holds his breath as he googles his own name. Before he even finishes typing it autofills with Alexei Mashkov Kent Parson gay? He curses softly before clicking on the first article that comes up and it has more than just the picture from the Cosmo site. There's paparazzi photos all the way going back to their rookie year, to when Alexei played for the Aces. None of the pictures would be all that incriminating on their own, but together... 

Alexei groans and takes a deep breath before scrolling down through no less than twenty pictures of the two of them sitting just a little too close at sporting events, smiling at each other over dinner, sitting together in pubs, and most notably a picture of them slow dancing at Chaser's wedding last year. Chaser was the only other rookie on the Aces in their first year and had invited them both to his wedding even though none of them were still on the same team anymore. 

"Why you are not dancing?" Alexei'd asked, having just come back from the dance floor where he'd had six kids hanging off of him like a jungle gym. 

Kent had rolled his eyes and held up his glass, "This is more my style." 

Alexei had plopped down into the chair beside Kent and smiled at him. "I know you like dancing. I see pictures all the time of Ace's Captain dance at club." 

"This isn't really my type of dancing." Kent's nose had crinkled at the thought. Alexei's heart was still a little erratic from his time on the dance floor. 

"You are not knowing how," Alexei'd teased in a singsong voice. 

Kent had scoffed. "I know how to fucking dance." 

Alexei stood up and stretched out his hand to Kent in invitation. "Prove it." 

They'd twirled around the dance floor together, laughing with fingers entwined. At one point Kent had buried his head into Alexei's shoulder and it'd made Alexei's heart race and his palms sweat. The other hockey players at the wedding had teased them afterwards, but the smile Kent couldn't seem to completely wipe from his face the rest of the night had been worth any chirping they'd received.

Alexei knew their picture had been taken, but they'd been goofing off, he hadn't thought anything of it at the time, but now it was showing up on a gossip site less than twenty minutes after Cosmo posted incriminating photos. He isn't sure he wants to read whatever this site has to say about him and Kent, but it's like a car wreck he can't look away from as he scrolls down. 

The article following the photos is short and mostly excerpts from the Cosmo interview.  

Cosmo: So you two have been friends since your rookie year. Can you tell us about how you guys went from being teammates to friends? KP: Well my rookie year was pretty rough, it was a big change from the Q [Parson was in Juniors prior to the 2009 draft] and Tater didn't know anyone - AM: Or any English KP: [smiling at Mashkov] We bonded over a mutual inability to cook and be actual adults. 

Alexei knows there was a follow up question to that about what sort adult things they didn't know how to do, it somehow devolved into Kent ranting about Kit. Alexei's not exactly shocked the site he's on chose not to include that conversation - if it even ended up in the final interview of Cosmo's website. Alexei had gotten so distracted by the picture he forgot to even look. 

Cosmo: I'm sure our readers would be interested to know what the two of you do when you hang out together. AM: We like going [to] movies, I can cook now and Parsnip like[s] to [Mashkov looks to Parson and gestures at him] KP: [laughs] Mooch AM: Yes, yes he mooch[es] off of me. Cosmo: Is he a good cook Kent? KP: Oh yeah, definitely. I love when he cooks for me. 

Cosmo: Do you two have anything planned together during the offseason? AM: Kent is come [sic] to Russia with me. KP: Since when? AM: I [told] you my mama want[s] to meet you. KP: Yeah I thought you meant in the US man. AM: No, no. I mean in Russia. KP: [Laughing] Apparently we're going to Russia together. 

Cosmo: Kent you always seem to have a new beautiful woman on your arm. Any chance of you settling down soon? KP: [laughs] Is this your polite way of telling me to stop being a player? Cosmo: No, no of course not. I just want to let our female readers to know if they've got a chance. KP: Oh alright then, [laughs] as long as you're not trying to ruin my image.     Alexei knows, he knows he shouldn't be reading the comments but he can't stop himself from scrolling. 

There's already over 800 comments when he starts to read them, and the number keeps scrolling up. There's argumentative comments defending Alexei from what they think are false accusations tinged with disgust at the implications, debates continue in threads below that, a surprising number are supportive and there's a single comment, fifteen responses deep from a gay teen who says he's decided not to quit hockey now from just the idea that there might be professional hockey players like him. Alexei stops reading after that one.  

When he attempts to go back to the original article to see what else had been included from their interview he can't because the site has crashed. Alexei pushes his laptop aside and walks back to his kitchen, ignoring the incessant buzzing and dialing Kent's number without even glancing at his missed calls and texts. It doesn't even finish the first ring before Kent's picking up.  

"Dude, where the fuck were you? I've been trying to call you for twenty minutes." His voice sounds tinny and far away like he's using the speakerphone. 

"Sorry," Alexei says, running a hand through his hair and feeling his heart rate slow from the panicked seizing it was doing moments before. He'd rather not think too deeply about that. "I - are you alone?" 

"Yeah," Kent sighs through the line and Alexei can picture him fingering the brim of his snapback. "I'm in the car on my way to your place now."

"What?" Alexei asks. 

"I was in New York visiting my mom," he says, "I'll be there in like two hours." 

Alexei feels selfish, but the fact that he'll get to see Kent today nearly outweighs everything else. "Okay," he says, taking a deep breath, "I am sorry, котенок.  Is my fault they are saying these things. I should not have -" 

"Shut up Aloysha," Kent says. Alexei sucks in a quick breath at the rare use of his nickname. "This isn't on you. I'll explain when I get there - just don't promise PR or your GM anything before I do alright?" 

Alexei nods, "Yes okay. I tell them we wait to talk to Aces before say anything." "Sounds good man," Kent says before hanging up. 

Instead of sitting in his apartment letting his anxiety brew while he waits for Kent, Alexei calls Georgia and PR who are both surprisingly not upset with him. PR is pissed at Cosmo for using that shot, but the conversation actually goes far better than he thought it would. They even tell him that they were coming up with a plan for one of their other players who's planning on coming out and Alexei has absolutely no idea what to say to that. Georgia tells him that how they proceed is completely up to him; whether or not it's true he can deny it, or if he wants to come out the organization is behind him 100%. Alexei doesn't really know what to say to that because the number of people who know he's gay are exactly 2  - including himself, and the boy he kissed behind the bleachers in Russia nearly a decade ago who he's fairly sure doesn't even remember his name. He tells them he has to think about everything and hangs up before they can say anything else.

His phone won't stop buzzing and Alexei considers turning it off before deciding that it might not be a good idea. He checks the clock every five minutes trying to figure out when Kent'll get here, and when he's got about twenty more minutes to wait if Kent doesn't hit traffic when his phone buzzes with a name he'll actually bother picking up for. 

"Alexei are you alright?" His given name sounds foreign on Jack's lips and he furrows his brow in distaste. 

"Zimmboni," Tater exclaims, attempting to maintain some sense of normalcy. "How are you? When am I getting more pie from your baker?" 

"Tater. You have - you've seen the article, haven't you?"  

Tater sighs and his facade falls. "Yes, I'm seeing." 

"I'm bi," Jack blurts, "well either that or pan. I'm not entirely sure yet, but I just - I thought it was something I should tell you. I mean, no that's not right," Jack says, words tumbling out so fast Alexei thinks Jack may have surprised himself a little with the confession. "It's something I wanted to tell you." 

"Thank you," Alexei whispers, unsure of what else to say. 

"I'm planning on coming out soon," Jack says, "while it's still off season, eh?" Alexei nods. "Is good time I think." 

"I can -" Alexei can hear Jacks gulp clear through the line, "I can do it now. If it'll help - if it'll take the pressure off of you." 

"NO," Alexei near shouts, "no, no. You do not come out for me. You come out for you when you are ready. Yes Zimmboni?" 

The line is silent for a moment and when he speaks, Alexei can hear the undertone of relief in Jack's voice. "Yeah, yeah okay, you're right. I just - I know it can't be easy for you to have these rumors about you." 

"They are not being rumors," Alexei says before he can stop himself. 

"What?" 

"Rumors means not true, yes? " Alexei's never said the words out loud before, and even though his heart feels like it's about to pound out from his chest he continues, "Well they are not rumors because I am gay."  The words fall off his tongue as easy as any other and it seems anticlimactic that his roof doesn't cave in and the world around him doesn't come crashing down. Everything is the same as it was moments before, but it's different too. 

"Thank you for trusting me with this," Jack says, as though it's a phrase he's memorized. "So you and Kenny are..."  Jack's voice has a lilt to it now Alexei can't identify and he feels his heart cracking and splintering around the seams. 

"No, no is not what seems." Alexei corrects him, walking over to the window with his phone held up to his ear before peeking through to see the swarm of reporters camped out at the end of his mercifully long driveway. 

"Then I think you should talk to Kent," Jack says, as though it's that easy. Before Alexei can respond Jack is ending the call and there's a commotion at the end of his property.

A dark blue four door sports car barely even slows for the reporters blocking the end of his driveway. Alexei stumbles towards the switch by his door leading to the garage and presses it, opening the garage door just as the sports car reaches the house. An impossibly quick moment later his door is opening and he's got an armful of Kent Parson. 

Alexei wraps his arms around Kent's shoulders and Kent buries his face deeper into Alexei's chest. After a long moment Alexei moves to pull back out of the hug, but Kent's arms remain firm around his shoulders and Alexei relaxes back into the embrace. When they finally pull apart several long moments later Kent's eyes are rimmed with red.   

"I'm so sorry,"  Alexei says. 

"What?" Kent asks, wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand. "Dude why're you sorry? It's my dumb ass that got us into this mess." 

Alexei looks at Kent with confusion twisting his brow and Kent huffs a sigh, flopping down onto his couch and throwing an arm over his face dramatically. Alexei follows him and lifts Kent's feet so he can sit at the end of the couch. Kent doesn't put his feet in Alexei's lap - which is weird, because they sit like that all the time. He's got his legs squished up in a way that absolutely cannot be comfortable instead. Alexei picks Kent's feet up gingerly and places them in his lap. 

Kent peaks out from under his arm and groans. "Why do you have to be such a perfect asshole, man?" Before Alexei can even come up with a response for that Kent plows on. "I'm gay." 

Blood rushes through Alexei's ears and he drops his head down as his vision swims. Kent is gay, Alexei's best friend who he's in love with is not straight. He isn't sure how to process this information. 

"And I'm sorry that you've gotten roped into this - I didn't think some little fluff piece for Cosmo would -" Kent pinches the bridge of his nose and looks anywhere other than at Alexei, "The interview, along with how I'm looking at you in that fucking picture. I - " Kent pulls his feet from Alexei's lap and sits up straight. "I can fix this, I was planning on coming out soon anyway. I can tell everyone to fuck off that just cause I -" 

"What do you mean?" Alexei says slowly, Kent's words on repeat in his head. "What do you mean how you look at me?" 

Kent rolls his eyes and huffs, but Alexei knows him well enough to see the nerves beneath his frosty exterior. "Are you really going to make me say it man?" 

Alexei shrugs because the only way Kent's sentence would make sense is if he liked him, and that - he knows that isn't what Kent means. 

Kent sighs and his gaze flicks away from Alexei's before meeting it defiantly. "I'm into you, okay? Not in a way that means we can't still be friends or anything because you don't love me back and you're also straight so - "

"I'm not straight," Alexei says, mind stuck on an endless loop of the words love me back. His heart is going to pump right out of his chest. "I am very much not straight," he repeats because it seems like Kent didn't hear him. 

"What?" Kent asks after a long moment, eyes wide and brimming with something Alexei desperately wants to be hope. 

"And I do," he says, and Ken'ts looking at him like he isn't quite sure what Alexei means, so he clears his throat and says, "love you back, I'm meaning." He ducks his head because that is most definitely not when he intended to say but he's not going to take it back because it's true and Kent deserves to hear it.

Kent launches himself at Alexei and suddenly they're kissing and it's - it's everything. It's years of memories seen in a completely different light. It's two rookies who hold hands just a hair too long when they shake for the first time. It's finding Kent crying in the locker room after a reporter interrogates him about Zimmermann the night of their first game and not knowing the words in either language but scooping him up into his arms anyway and leaving that night with a newly minted best friend. It's smiling just a little too long and laughing just a little too hard at jokes that no one else in the room finds funny. It's the bright red flush that creeps up Kent's neck and settles on his cheeks when Alexei catches his eye in locker room. It's playing on opposing teams and going to the fanciest restaurant in town to make the loser pay. It's every touch and look that sends off a flickering trail of sparks deep in his chest that he always tried desperately to smother. 

It's Kent climbing into his lap and kissing him within an inch of his life. It's Alexei's hands dropping down low on Kent's waist as he pulls him closer. It's Kent breaking the kiss to catch his breath, forehead resting against Alexei's.

 It's Kent mumbling, "We're so fucking stupid. We could've been doing this for years," into Alexei's mouth before kissing him again.