#So since I was feeling so cute I decided to make it my warmup :) Which ironically lasted longer than my intended art of the day lol

[sysig]

Sorry, I can’t, I’m just too cute today 💕 (Patreon)

[malfoys-demigod]

Could you do some fluff with Johnny ? (But Cobra Kai Johnny)

Johnny’s love for you - Johnny Lawrence x Reader

A/N/: Hi, sorry it took me awhile!! I’ve been dealing with a lot lately but I’ve seen your request and I hope you enjoy! I also saw some good prompts around so shoutout to these fluff prompts!

Summary: Other ways Johnny shows his love for you

Johnny was always known to be the bad boy ever since. Mr. Badass, the one to kick ass all the time, and the very “stuck in the 80s” kind of guy.

It was kind of cute to see how he was very different when it came with you. Like completely different. He was sweet, sometimes shy, and gentle man with you.

Pulling you into random embraces

Every free time you had from work or busy schedules, you’d visit your friend’s up and coming dojo, which would him (and even his students’) a huge smile.

Your presence would light up the room.

As the door opened with a small bell ring to it, you entered the dojo, seeing Johnny highly focused as he was guiding the kids do their warmup.

“Alright, front kicks!” he yelled, “Hai!”

Right before everyone was about to start their front kicks, Miguel had spotted you, with a grin in his face.

“Ms. Y/L/N!” he greeted you, standing up properly, cheekily waving at you.

Johnny lost focus on his class, as his eyes travelled to you. From a confused face to a relieved face, Johnny showed you a gentle smile and walked towards you.

“Diaz, warm ‘em up, please,” Johnny requested. Miguel let out a small chuckle at his sensei’s “please” which was only done whenever he was flushed to see you.

“Got a break from work?” he asked you, pulling you into a small but sincere side hug as the two of you faced the kids, watching them warm up.

“Oh no,” you reply sarcastically, “I just walked out from my meeting mid-presentation and decided to see you.”

Johnny always loved your sarcastic remarks, which made him smile like a fool.

Luckily he didn’t see the small smirks some of his students were making since it was obvious how smitten he could be because of you.

“Well how damn sweet of you to do that, Y/N,” he joked.

“This reminded me of you.”

Small trinkets happened to be one of Johnny’s favorite things to give you.

Every girl absolutely loves big spontaneous gifts. You did too, but whenever Johnny found something small for you all the time, your heart would still melt.

There was one time when you and Johnny were out by the mall.

You two decided to split up for a while, with you by the food court and Johnny running some errands around the stores.

You were enjoying your favorite food and drink, savoring the taste until some beads of your favorite color flashed upon your face.

“Oh!” you say in surprise, leaning backwards to see clearly what you were looking at.

It was a shiny, adorable beaded bracelet of your favorite color, held by Johnny with a small smile on his face.

“This reminded me of you,” he spoke, “They’re your favorite color, right?”

You nodded with a ecstatic smile, “You didn’t have to do this Johnny!”

He shook his head, dropping his errand bags to place the bracelet on your wrist, “Nah, don’t sweat it, Y/N” he assured you, “It looks good on you.”

Looking at him with heart eyes, you stood up to hug him by the neck and whispered, “Thanks, Johnny.”

When you’re feeling under the weather

Today was totally not your day.

Your cycle had just arrived and it the pain was just intolerable and the absolute worst.

You already called in sick from work and have just been wrapped up in a blanket, lying down in your sofa, watching your favorite tv show.

Johnny, at the dojo, decided to send you a quick “Hey, whatcha up to?”, not knowing how your day has been.

As you were watching television, your screen lit up with a notification ring. You looked over to your phone and saw Johnny’s text.

“Not good. On the cycle,” you texted.

Johnny, confused over the last text, narrowed his eyebrows.

“What the heck is ‘on the cycle’?” he asked himself, “Is that some lady term?”

Tori, who was stretching on the mats, overheard Johnny’s silly question, chuckling to herself. “It’s her time of the month, sensei,” she spoke.

“Oh,” he said, “Is there anything I should be getting for her?”

“Hot compress, some of her favorite food, a hot drink, chocolates, and some pain killers if she needs any.”

“Uh-huh,” Johnny replied, attempting to recall everything mentioned, “Diaz is in charge of today’s session, I’ll be out for today now. I trust you guys.”

Johnny was now on his way to purchase some goods for you.

—

You were about to call it a day and just try to sleep the pain away even though it was only 6pm.

But there was a knock from your door. You wanted to pretend you weren’t there out of exhaustion, assuming you weren’t expecting anyone important. Could be just a delivery package.

But the next knock came with a voice.

“Hey, Y/N, it’s Johnny,” the voice said, “I got some stuff to help you with your cycle.”

You stood up, now eager to open the door since it was from your favorite person.

As you swung the door open, you met a concerned Johnny holding up a paper bag.

“Hey,” he said with a small smile, “Figured you needed this.”

He stepped inside your place placing the paper bag on your coffee table and checked out the television.

“Of course you’re watching that,” he joked, knowing what was on screen was your favorite thing to watch.

He unpacked the things from the paper bag, revealing a compress, your favorite snacks, some chocolates, some pain killers, and a steaming hot beverage from the coffee shop by your area.

You walked over, planting a small kiss on his cheek, “I was about to sleep the pain away actually,” you admitted shyly.

“And not continue watching your favorite on tv without some good old heated snacks and drink?”

You rolled your eyes with a playful smile, “Oops, my bad, Johnny. I suppose that’ll do too.”

“Great!” he sparked, “Ill go heat the compress and snacks and you sit tight here, alright?”

Johnny started picking up the snacks and compress and right before he was about to turn around to head over to the kitchen, you called.

“Hey Johnny?”

“Yeah?” he asked curiously.

“Thanks for being here for me,” you thanked him with a heartfelt smile.

His face warmed up with a sincere grin, nodding his head. “Anytime, Y/N.”

He turned around and made his way straight to the kitchen, unaware that you were still looking at him with admiration and love.

[t0wnspersonb]

Breathe (Oikawa Tooru x Reader)

Word Count: 2,425

Summary: As the manager of Aoba Johsai, you take it upon yourself to make sure everyone is taken care of. Which is why you find yourself making sure that a certain captain isn’t pushing himself, especially after a knee injury. It’s not until an incident in the locker room that you begin to realize just how much Oikawa means to you.

Warnings: FLUFF, making out, language

~~~

I. Fucking. Love. Oikawa. Tooru. With. All. My. Heart.💕💕💕 I hope you guys like this one! I wanted to turn it into a smut but didn’t lol. Everyone is an Oikawa girl, don’t even lie! Please let me know what you think, and also let me know if you guys would be interested in some Oikawa smut👀👀 I’m currently working one on two more pieces. I want to show some Tendou love and everyone needs more Ushijima content in their life! I hope you guys are having a fantastic week and I’m so sorry for the slow updates! Stay safe and stay happy😊😊😊

~~~

“Kindaichi nice receive!” you cheered brightly, giving the middle blocker a thumbs up. 

 The first year blushed at your praise, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, he bowed to you briefly before running off to finish the rest of his warmups.

 As the warmups progressed you continuously shouted out praises towards the players, along with words of encouragement.

 It wasn’t anything new, even as the manager at Kitagawa you did the same thing. It was your way of displaying your never-ending support towards the boys. 

 It was routine.

 It was something they were all used to, and greatly appreciated. You were like the doting older sister, or the motherly friend of the group, either way, you were always there for the team.

 You always took care of them, and it never went unnoticed.

 “Wow! That was a fantastic spike Iwa! That’s our ace!” you grinned cheekily at the spiky haired male, he smirked, throwing you a quick thumbs up before shuffling off once again.

 “Why do you never cheer for me?” a familiar voice said next to your ear, a gentle pressure being applied to your shoulder.

 You sighed softly, reaching over, and patting at his head that was now next to your gently. 

 “Maybe if you were actually on time to practice I would.” you said coyly. 

 “That’s not fair Y/n-chan, I was getting my knee looked at.” Oikawa whined, finally separating himself from you. You turned from your position on the chair, staring at him with calculating eyes.

 “Well maybe if you actually rested and stopped hurting yourself you wouldn’t have to go get your knee looked. Again.” You frowned.

 Oikawa’s eyes flickered over your face before gently resting his pointer finger between your creased eyebrows. 

 “You worry too much. If you keep making that expression, you’ll get wrinkles.” He teased, but his expression was incredibly soft. “You do enough already, you don’t need to be worrying about my knee too. It’s fine.”

 “But I do worry Tooru! You’re the captain, your team needs you in top shape. You’re also incredibly important to me, of course I’ll worry.” You exclaimed.

 He blinked at you for a moment, your words sinking in. Oikawa couldn’t help but wonder if that was a confession, he was important to you? Did that mean you returned his feelings?

 Oikawa was hopelessly in love with you, since middle school. But you either ignored his feelings completely, or you were too dense to even notice them.

 He hoped it was the latter.

 While you were incredibly smart and caring, there were moments that you were just so incredibly oblivious. It was endearing though, he always found it incredibly cute.

 You were just incredibly cute.

 “Besides, your fans would cry if they knew you were hurting yourself.” you finished, and nodded your head towards the balcony, gesturing to the group of girls that were staring at Oikawa blatantly.

 Yeah, you were definitely oblivious.

 Oikawa mentally sighed to himself as he mustered up the strength to smile at the group of girls, he waved at them.

 You could hear them squeal in delight, calling out his name easily and waving back. This however, caught the attention of the entire team.

 “Crappykawa! You got some nerve coming in late and being so relaxed!” Iwaizumi started screaming at him, annoyance clear on his face.

 “Sorry Iwa-chan.” Oikawa laughed, sticking out his tongue as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. 

 “You seriously piss me off!” Iwaizumi growled, stalking over to the captain.

 You stood up immediately, pushing yourself between the two third years, your delicate hands easily pressing against Iwaizumi’s chest. 

 “I already scolded him Iwa, we need to get started on serving before Coach comes back from his call.” you said easily, gazing up at the angry male. His eyes flickered down to you and he sighed in irritation before stepping back, his hand rested on top of your hands, giving them a gentle squeeze before pulling them away from his body.

 “You got lucky this time, if you slack off during practice, I’m throwing a ball at your head.” he scowled before jogging off towards the court.

 A soft frown coated Oikawa’s face as he replayed the scene in his head. Did you like Iwaizumi? Did Iwaizumi like you?

 That couldn’t be right… right? Iwaizumi knew how much Oikawa liked you… so then why - 

 “Tooru?” you cocked your head to the side. “Is everything okay?”

 “Just fine!” He said grinning at you, “I’ll be expecting a cheer too, okay Y/n-chan?” he said before running towards the court to join the others.

 You frowned, that smile was entirely fake, you just didn’t understand why he gave you one, usually all the smiles that Oikawa gave you were genuine. 

 You shook your head from the thought before turning your attention back to the boys and your notes.

 The practice continued without a hitch, your cheers and encouragement loud and proud as always.

 In the middle of practice, you stepped out to refill the water bottles, and that’s when Oikawa turned towards Iwaizumi accusingly.

 “Are you trying to take Y/n-chan away from me!?” he asked suspiciously, pointing at him.

 A ticked off look immediately began to overtake the ace’s face. “Huh!?”

 Oikawa flinched away but then hardened his stare. “I mean it Iwa-chan! You know how much I like her! Did you fall for her too!?”

 The rest of the team sighed at their captain’s antics, everyone on the team knew of Oikawa’s feelings for you, everyone but you it seemed.

 “Yes Shittykawa, I fell for Y/n too.” Iwaizumi said sarcastically, causing Oikawa to gasp dramatically at the statement.

 “Well if Iwaizumi fell for her, then I did too.” Hanamaki mused jokingly. 

 “Then I guess I did too.” Matsukawa laughed. 

 “Oi second and first years you can tell him too. Don’t hold back.” Iwaizumi called out.

 “Y/n-senpai is really pretty.” Yahaba thought out loud.

 Kindaichi nodded. “Yeah, she’s really nice too.” he flushed.

 “Stop it!” Oikawa grumbled. He knew that everyone was teasing him, but… just the thought of you capturing another male’s attention, well, he didn’t like that at all.

 “Then sack up already and confess to her before it’s too late.” Iwaizumi rolled his eyes. “She likes you too… I’m sure.”

 “It’s either she does, or she doesn’t Iwa-chan!” Oikawa snapped.

 Before anyone else could say anything, you had returned with the drinks, you looked over at them in confusion, wondering why they had stopped practicing.

 “Did you guys need a break? Should I have told Coach not to use the new training regime we came up with? I know it’s a bit more taxing than usual, I just thought that you guys have been doing so well in your matches that you needed something a bit more challenging…” you trailed off frowning.

 Why is she so darn cute? Oikawa thought, looking at your worried face. 

 “The training regime is fine Y/n-chan. You worry too much.” Oikawa said simply, before calling attention back to practice.

 The rest of the practice ended all too soon, and you found yourself helping the others clean up the gym before Mizoguchi-sensei pulled you away briefly to make sure the plans for the upcoming practice match were solid.

 By the time you had wrapped up with him the gym was cleaned out and empty, said for a lone jacket that laid on the floor.

 You sighed softly to yourself as you noticed that it was Kyotani’s number. Sometimes it really did feel like you were the mom of the team.

 You packed up your stuff and made your way towards the boy’s locker room to drop off the jacket, you were under the impression that everyone had gone home for the night. It didn’t even register in your mind that you didn’t have to use the key that you had to get into the room.

 But the image before you had your heart stopping in your chest, your bag and Kyotani’s jacket slipping from your grasp and onto the floor.

 Oikawa was gripping at his injured knee pain, soft tears spilling over his cheeks, his teeth gritted together tightly to keep from crying out.

 “T-Tooru! Hold on!” you exclaimed and ran out the door, running to the nurse’s office to grab a bag of ice before running back to the hurt third year.

 You could feel your heart hammering in your chest as rushed up the stairs towards the locker room. 

 You should’ve made him sit out, you should’ve realized that he was probably in pain the entire time and decided to fight through it, for the sake of the team.

 You should’ve known.

 You busted through the door once again, rushing towards the sitting figure on the ground, the door loudly swung shut behind you.

 “I’m here Tooru, hold on.” you murmured softly, carefully crouching down close to Oikawa. You gently pushed his hands away, taking notice of the redness and swelling, before you carefully placed the bag of ice onto his skin.

 A soft whimper tore through his lips at the throbbing pain, his hands shooting out to grab at your jacket, pulling you closer between his legs until he was able to rest his head against your shoulder.

 You had seen Oikawa in so many different ways, except this one. For the most part, he was an open book about his feelings, but for some reason he never let you see the physical pain he would be in, this was a first for you. 

 Despite the soft blush that covered your face at the proximity, your instincts to take care of him overshadowed that.

 But… did Oikawa always smell this good to you? You had never been quite this close to him.

 You could hear his stunted breathing as he tried to bite down the pain, his sobs being choked down.

 “Breathe, Tooru.” You whispered softly, your hand that wasn’t holding the ice pack reached up and rested softly against the back of his head, your fingers carefully playing with the strands of hair at the nape of his neck.

 He sucked in a deep breath, a sob escaping his lips as he began taking in lungful’s of air.

 “That’s right, good. Keep breathing, I’ve got you. Tooru, breathe for me.” You murmured soothingly.

 You weren’t sure how long you were in this position for, or long it took for his breathing to get back to normal, but eventfully it did.

 “Y/n-chan.” Oikawa said after a couple of moments of silence, but before you could respond you felt cool fingers slipping behind your neck, and then something soft and slightly wet pressed against your mouth.

 Oh.

 Oh. 

 He was kissing you.

 Oikawa was kissing you.

 A surprised sound escaped your mouth, the hand that was holding the ice pack to his knee was now pressed against his chest.

 You thought that you were moving to push him away, but somehow you pulled him closer. Your fingers gripped tightly at his shirt, and you found yourself kissing back immediately.

 This was… this was good. This was really good. You would have never thought, never even imagined that this was a possibility.

 Of course, you knew how charming, how attractive Oikawa was, but you never knew how good it felt to kiss him.

 He nipped softly at your bottom lip, your lips parted almost immediately, and his tongue invaded your mouth completely, exploring every inch of it before tangling his tongue against yours.

 A soft whimper escaped your lips and his grip on you tightened, the hand around your neck slid down softly, gently grazing over your breasts before trailing down your stomach to the hem of your shirt. Oikawa’s slender fingers carefully slithered inside, his tips carefully touching the soft skin at your stomach, and then you felt your world beginning to shift.

 Oikawa was carefully leaning you back into the floor before your eyes flew open. 

 “Tooru wait!” you panted; your hand that was resting on his strong chest began to push him away from you.

 He jerked back slightly, his face flushed, and his lips swollen as he tried to focus his lust filled gaze on your panicked expression.

 Shit. 

 Did he go too far? He couldn’t help himself, not after the way you took care of him, the way you comforted him.

 Damn it.

 He should’ve waited before kissing you, he should’ve told you that he’s liked you since middle school before doing that, he should’ve -

 “Tooru your knee! You need to be more careful you were about to put pressure on it!” you exclaimed, looking at his injury in worry before grabbing the ice pack and placing it back on.

 Oikawa blinked at you.

 You… shoved him away because you worried about his knee?

 Soft laughter began escaping his lips, his hand running through his mused hair carefully. He’s never felt more relief in his entire life.

 “Why are you laughing Tooru? This is serious, why didn’t you sit practice out?” you frowned.

 His gaze turned to your face, before slim fingers grabbed your chin gently. 

 “I’m in love with you, Y/n-chan. I wanted to tell you that before I kissed you… but I couldn’t help myself.” he said seriously.

 This time you blinked at him.

 “I love you too Tooru. You can kiss me all you want but please be more careful. I don’t like seeing you hurt.” You frowned, grabbing his hand from your chin and pressing it to the side of your face, gently nuzzling into his palm.

 His eyes widened at your statement. “Y-You love me too?”

 “Of course, I do.” you sighed, “who wouldn’t?”

 A soft blush coated his cheeks as he looked away from you in embarrassment, not only at your confession but also your statement.

 “Can you stand?” you asked gently.

 He nodded, and both of you guys carefully made your way onto your feet. His arm slung over your shoulder pulling you into his side easily.

 “Tooru?” you asked looking up at the tall male.

 “Will you… go out with me then?” he asked, looking anywhere but at your face.

 A soft smile coated your lips, “Of course, I will.”

 He glanced down at you, the red in his face darkening. “Then… tomorrow… let’s go on a date. Okay?”

 “If your knee is better.” You compromised. 

 Suddenly a wide grin overcame his face. “Ha ha. I win Iwa-chan!” 

 You cocked your head to the side in confusion but decided not to say anything about it. 

 You’d ask Iwaizumi tomorrow. 

[sleepysnk]

Team Player: Chapter Eight

Pairings: Eren Jaeger x Fem!Reader

Warnings: None

Word Count: 2.5k

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | Masterlist

A week or two had gone by, and things had been going well for Eren and (Y/N) surprisingly. The two actually were getting along pretty well, they both hung out a lot to help improve on his skills. The improvement was showing and she was satisfied with how much better he was doing compared to the previous weeks. 

Eren and (Y/N) were sitting in the library talking about their project which was due that coming Friday. 

"Does it look good?" Eren asked, leaning over to look at her laptop. 

She leaned back against her chair. "Yeah.. it's coming along nicely. It looks nice with the pictures you added," she said and smiled at him.

Eren looked at her as his smile grew. "Nah really it was all you," he replied, looking at his phone. 

Eren was feeling a lot better about his situation, (Y/N) also helped with his ankle. He was off the wrap and was now able to walk on it without limping, which was a huge gain for him. The pain meds did a pretty good job, as he was now off of them since his ankle was now pretty much healed.

"Hey Eren!" 

His eyes averted up to see Jean walking towards him. (Y/N) stayed focused on the project, she knew Jean since freshman year. He was one of the many people who knew about the whole incident, he took the video. She knew him and Eren were teammates.

"What's up?" Eren asked and nodded. 

Jean leaned against the wall. "Oh nothing I just saw ya and I wanted to say hey. Is that (Y/N)?" he asked, pointing at her. 

Eren looked towards her. "Yeah that's (Y/N), she's my partner for the project." he replied, running his fingers through his hair. 

"Hey (Y/N), I haven't seen you in forever." Jean said, a sly smirk forming onto his face. 

She looked up from her laptop. "Yeah.. it really does feel like forever ago," she replied and rolled her eyes. 

"You know… I forgot how cute you were. I miss being your lab partner sometimes," Jean said, eyeing her hungrily.

Something inside Eren made him want to hit Jean, he was talking to (Y/N) first, not him! Who does he think he is? He didn't like the way he was talking to (Y/N) either, it made anger bubble inside of him. He was never one to get mad, but this felt… different.

"We should hangout sometime you know? I can whip up some good food for you," Jean said and smiled at her. 

Heat rushed onto her cheeks as Jean was speaking to her. "U-Uh.. I don't know Jean," she replied, looking down avoiding his gaze.

He nodded. "C'mon (Y/N)! You're so pretty and I wanna show you how a guy should treat you," he said, leaning down towards her. 

"Jean. She seems clearly uncomfortable, just let it go. Plus I was talking to her first," Eren said, his voice stern and serious. 

Jean looked at him with raised brows. "Huh? Hm.. fine I guess. Just know the offer stands (Y/N)," he said, smirking at her. "See you later Eren," he added and made his way out of the library. 

A relieved sigh came from (Y/N)'s mouth. "Thank you for that Eren.. really," she said and placed her hand on his arm. 

He felt tingles coming from her touch. "U-Uhm.. of course! He just seemed like he was bothering you and I felt like you needed the assistance," he replied, smiling a bit. 

They sat there staring at each other for a few moments, Eren's eyes flickered towards her lips. His mouth slightly watering at the idea of leaning in and kissing her, they looked so soft and plump. 

"Eren?" (Y/N) said, snapping him out of his thoughts.

He shook his head, a small blush creeping onto his cheeks. "My bad! What's up?" he asked, nodding his head. 

She giggled a bit at how cute he was. "I gotta head to my next class," she said and began putting her books into her backpack. "It kind of is important too," she added. 

Eren stood up. "Let me walk you to class, I'm gonna head to the practice field anyway." he said, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. 

She smiled and grabbed her backpack. The two exited the library and made their way to the other side of the campus building, the walk wasn't far but it was a pretty reasonable distance. The two chatted about everything that had been going on including the football game Eren was unsure of. (Y/N) assured him that everything would work out. 

"Here we are," she said and stopped at the door of the lecture hall. 

Eren looked down at her. "I hope you have fun in class," he said, chuckling a bit. 

She rolled her eyes playfully, hitting his arm. "Yeah sure! Because anatomy is so fun," she said and giggled. "Let me know what happens if you go to practice, okay?" she added. 

Eren felt a smile form onto his face hearing her laugh, it was so cute to him. 

"Yeah I'll let you know! See you later (Y/N)," he said and waved at her. 

She waved and entered her classroom, the day was now over for Eren. His classes were done and he didn't have much to do, so he decided to make his way towards the locker room. A place he hadn't been for awhile. He missed the way it felt when he walked in after school, his energy was high and it was all he looked forward to. 

He entered the locker room, many eyes bored into his head. Most of his teammates were speaking to him, most of them broke the ice and apologized for acting like idiots. Eren claimed their behavior was valid, considering what happened. 

Many of the players exited and went outside to the practice field. 

"Eren.. funny to see you here,"

He turned his head to see Reiner standing there in his practice uniform. 

"Yeah.. I uh, wanted to talk to coach," he replied, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "You see em'?" he asked. 

Reiner sighed. "Yeah, he just went outside. How's your ankle?" he asked and looked down at it. 

Eren leaned against the lockers. "It's actually fully healed, the nurse cleared me and I can actually walk without a limp." he replied. 

The blonde nodded his head. "That's good to hear.. I hope to see you playing again soon," he said and patted his shoulder before exiting the locker room.

Eren made his way outside after Reiner, he felt the cooler air hit against his skin. A shiver went down his spine, he forgot what it felt like to play outside with this weather. He had been indoors so long his body wasn't used to the colder air. 

He spotted the players practicing blocks, throwing balls, or just doing the usual warmups for practice. Something Eren missed dearly. 

Eren's eyes caught the head of his coach, he was looking down at his clipboard, seeming to be going over the plays. His eyes flickered every so often to check on the people warming up. 

"Coach.." Eren said, looking down at the ground.

Coach Smith looked over at him. "Eren? What are you doing here? It's been quite a bit." he asked and nodded his head. 

He sighed. "Yeah it has… I um, I wanted to see how practices were going. My ankle is healed now," he replied, smiling a bit. 

His coach's eyes averted down towards his ankle, noticing it wasn't wrapped up anymore. 

He nodded his head. "I see… I'm happy to hear that really. How has your teamwork skills been working? Do you have any improvement?" he asked, looking over at him. 

Eren leaned against the bleachers. "Yeah! I've been working really hard actually," he replied. "I've done a lot," he added.

"The championship game is this Saturday… you don't have much time. Not having you at the game last week wasn't good," Coach Smith said, his eyes not leaving the players running around. 

Eren's eyes grew wide at his words, the game was already this soon? 

"Wait, it's this early? I thought it'd be later," Eren asked and furrowed his brows. 

His coach looked at him. "It's earlier because we won last week. I hope to see your improvement soon, you have until Friday to prove it to me. If not, you won't play and your offer for the Chief's becomes slim to none." he replied. 

Hearing those words come out of his mouth made Eren's mind race. He had less than 3 days to get ready for the game, that was barely any time! He had to do as much as he could now before then. 

"I won't let you down Coach.. I promise I can prove how much I've changed," Eren said and looked at him with determination.

Coach Smith nodded his head. "Good.. Mr.Zacharius will be there as well. He was quite disappointed hearing what happened the week before, watch it Eren. You need this season," he said.

He totally had forgotten about the scout that came to see him. If Eren messed up one more time all the offers headed his way would be off the table. That's an option he didn't want to come true. 

"I think I'll be able to do it," he replied.

"You think so? Let's see by Friday," Coach Smith replied, looking at him. 

Eren headed back towards the locker room, he had to find (Y/N).

-

Class ended fairly quickly for (Y/N). She was tired after a long day of helping Eren and doing homework assignments, she just wanted to collapse in bed and take a nap. 

She was sitting in her dorm on her laptop, typing away at her essay she had to do. Her roommate Sasha was out and about with her boyfriend Connie so she had some peace and quiet for the whole night. Maybe she could finish up in time?

A sudden banging on the door caused her to jump in her bed. Her heartbeat quickened at the sudden noise. 

Furrowing her brows, she stood up walking slowly towards the door. Did Sasha end up with some mafia? That girl was always full of surprises..

She put her hand on the cold door knob, hesitating a bit to open the door. 

"(Y/N)! Are you here?!" 

She knew that voice. 

It was Eren's.

She let out a sigh of relief as she opened the door to see him standing there. He seemed a bit flushed, like he was running or he was in a rush to come see her. 

"Eren? Jesus.. you scared me! I thought someone was trying to break in," she said, looking up at him. 

His brown hair was messy. "Sorry.. I should have texted. Can I come in?" he asked, nodding his head. 

She moved out of the way so he could enter her dorm. The faint smell of his vanilla cologne coming off his body filled her nose. 

"Are you okay? You seem like you're in a rush," she asked and plopped down on her bed, crossing her legs. 

Eren plopped down next to her. "Yeah I just needed to come find you," he replied, smiling a bit. 

She felt her cheeks becoming warm. "Well what's up? Did something happen?" she asked. 

He chewed his bottom lip. "I went to practice today and uh.. My coach told me I have until Friday to show my improvement. If not all my offers are off the table," he replied, looking down at the floor. 

Her eyes went wide realizing that Friday was a few days away. They barely had any time to prepare. 

"Shit…" she said, leaning against her bed frame. 

"Look if you can't help-"

"No Eren, I can help you. We just need to prepare," she said and looked around the room. Her mind raced with different thoughts or ideas on what to do. 

Eren was a bit surprised at her response. "We can find a way," he said with determination in his voice. 

She bit at the insides of her cheeks. "What if we went to the field, you know the practice fields? You do need some help throwing balls since you haven't been on your feet, and it can be some good practice." she said, nodding her head. 

Eren thought about the idea. It sounded great, plus he could use the extra practice before the game. It would show his coach that he was able to work well with his teammates and he could actually play without his ankle bothering him. 

"That sounds great, when though?" he asked. 

"How about tomorrow or Thursday?" 

He smiled. "Tomorrow would work best.. it gives us more time," he replied, looking up at her. 

She shook her head. "Alright.. um, tomorrow at 7? My classes end early," she said, opening her phone to add a reminder. 

"Sounds like a plan! I got nothing going on so we can for sure meet up," he replied, throwing a thumbs-up her way with a grin on his face. 

Her cheeks warmed at the sight of Eren smiling at her. She couldn't lie that his smile wasn't charming, it always drew her in somehow. 

"Okay great! I can meet you there," she said, looking at him. 

His emerald like eyes lit up with excitement. "Hell yeah! Ugh, (Y/N) you're the best!" he said before hugging her. 

She felt her face heat up as Eren pulled away quickly. "Oh shit! I'm sorry.. I-I didn't even- ugh shit- oh my god i'm sorry," he said, an obvious blush forming onto his cheeks. 

She laughed a bit. "No, don't worry! You're fine.. it was just a little random, that's all." she replied with a reassuring smile. 

He laughed, running his fingers through his brunette locks. "I just.. I don't know you seem huggable," he said, looking down to avoid her gaze. Embarrassment still written all over his face. 

"I like hugs if that helps," she said, giggling a bit. 

He smiled. "You are the best though, I didn't think you'd help me." 

She rolled her eyes as a playful smile formed onto her cheeks. "I'm not all that special. Plus you did let me do the project, so who was I to say no?" she said, leaning against the bed frame. 

The two stared at each other again, Eren's eyes flickering over her lips. There was that tension again, the way the two stared at each other as if they were waiting for one of them to make a move or lean in. 

"I should get going!" Eren said, breaking the silence between them. 

(Y/N) shook her head. "Oh yeah! Totally.. uh, I'll see you tomorrow?" she asked, cocking her head to the side. 

He smiled. "Yeah for sure.." he replied before standing up and grabbing his things. 

"Don't forget!" she said and opened the door for him. 

He looked back at her. "I won't.." 

She waved at him before shutting the door to her dorm. She plopped down on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. 

"Ugh.. Eren, what am I gonna do about you?" she asked herself. 

It's crazy it's almost a week or two ago she despised the boy for everything he did. Now she was hanging out with him, giggling at his jokes, thinking about him. 

What was going on with her? What was Eren doing to her head?

tagging: @ererokii @eremiie @erensapologist @luvrboykento @callmepromise @katsuhera @just-a-little-sad @bell0214 @flam3bird @moomii-hime @thicmitten @ryan249057 @daughter-of-the-stars11 @lunamoonawatcher @chayauwu @sofi-yeager

[rydeszegras]

hospitals make miracles - r.donovan

hi guys ! this is my first fic and its not good whatsoever but figured id give it a shot haha, hope you enjoy !

wc: 1,623

warnings: minor swearing, mentions of injuries

-

you were a senior at andover high school on a roadie up to your annual trip in duluth. youve been taking this trip since your freshman year as you were one of the first players to ever make varsity as a freshman. that being said, this was your year, this was the year you had to show out. being named captain this season not only did you have to step up and lead the team, but you also had to focus on your game as it was your year to get scouted. you’d been looked at by minnesota-duluth, boston college, and minnesota, but all you wanted was to go to wisconsin, and this was your year to make it happen.

“y/n/n, are you ready to see all the hot duluth boys this weekend? i heard their varsity team plays at the same time of us and they have the wisco hot shot ryder donovan.” lilly said bouncing up and down in the seat next to you. you and lilly had been best friends ever since you met eachother at little wild camp 12 years ago. “y/n are you even listening”, “oh yeah sorry lil, just thinking about this weekend, did you know wisconsin scouts are gonna be there, i dont know if i can do this lil, i cant mess up, my future relies on this weekend” you exclaimed, trying not to freak out. “y/n/n you’ll be great i promise, but we should get some rest, weve still got 1.5 hours left and we’ve got a big game against east tonight.” you nod your head in agreement, dozing off into a deep sleep.

after an hour and a half of driving you arrive at the rink, getting up you fix your hair and adjust your sweats and parka and get ready to go grab your bag. after grabbing your bag, you start to head into the rink when you hear lil and ken start screaming, turning your head you see what all the fuss is about. and there he is. standing right before your eyes. ryder donovan. you’ve seen him in pictures as you followed him and some of his friends on instagram, but wow he was even prettier in person.

stumbling into the rink you make your way into the locker room gearing up to take the ice for warmups at duluth heritage. stepping onto the ice you complete your typical warmup of one-timers, slaps, and some stretching before noticing two big things in the stands. wisconsins top scout, and wisconsins top recruit, ryder. you didnt like it, but you just couldnt take your eyes off him.

the game begins and you take the ice playing your heart out making a clean goal through the five hole and racking in two more assists. after taking the ice to begin the last 20 mins of play, you get ready to take the faceoff for the third period. you win the faceoff clean and go to prepare to set yourself up to take a one-timer on the net. thats when tragedy strikes, when bringing your stick back to recieve the one-timer, before you know it you’re slammed into the boards on a cross check. tumbling down you hear a snap, a snap so loud that you watch the scout and ryder jump to their feet. as the athletic trainer scrambles to try and get you off the ice, you’re taken off the ice on a stretcher as you cant seem to put any weight on your right leg.

on the way to the hospital all you can think is why me, why now, why today. knowing it was probably your acl, you knew you were done for the season, that was it, it was over. scrolling through your twitter you saw your team won 5-2, which put your team in an excellent spot to start the season.

you arrived at the hospital and settled into your bed when a quite familiar but unfamiliar face walked into your toom. left speechless you see the 6’3 brunette standing in your doorway. “hey im ryder, i know you probably dont know me but i know you, you’re all the wisconsin scout has talked about for the past year and as im committed there i knew i had to see what the girls team is gonna have to offer and let me tell you, you looked incredible out there” ryder says shakily, messing with his fingers. you thank ryder and invite him into your room to sit on the chair. “trust me ryder i know you, youre all the girls have talked about after finding out that we played east this season, and youre committed to my dream school so theres that too, but theres no way the wisconsin scout wants anything to do with me, especially now that i have a double torn acl” you said, pointing down at your stitched up and wrapped knee, trying not to cry.

the next day, lil picked you up to bring you back to your hotel. on the car ride there you told her about everything that happened last night but when telling her you felt you sounded crazy, theres no way that thee ryder donovan went to visit YOU at the hospital and there’s absolutely no way that the wisconsin scout actually liked you. that was until you saw the instagram notification pop up on your screen... rydesdono would like to send you a message. you were shocked, theres no way that actually happened, but you opened the dm anyways to see what there was to say.

-

ryder donovan:

hey cutie, i never got your number last night and i was hoping we could catch up a little bit sometime if you feel up to it, i know with your knee it might not be easy, but i figured i would ask:)

you sat speechless. theres no way last night absolutely happened and there was absolutely no way he just called you “cutie”, but of course youre gonna meet up with ryder, no matter how much work it is

-

you:

hey rydes! id love to meet up with you again ! heres my number 952-***-****

-

thinking he might not actually text you because thats what hockey boys do, but sure enough you were proved wrong

-

maybe: ryder

hey y/n its ryder, pick you up at 6?

you:

absolutely, cant promise it’ll be easy with my knee and all, but i’ll make it work:))

rydes:

how about i pick us up food and bring it back to your hotel room, that way you can still have dinner with me but you can rest your knee at the same time;)

you:

that sounds great, ill make sure to leave the door unlocked

-

speechless you instantly call lilly and tell her everything, who freaks out the second you mention his name. as much as she doesnt believe it, you dont either. how is it that getting injured led you to a hot shot hockey player that is committed to the same school you are (yep thats right, wisco gave you an offer!!), one who’s actually genuine and nice AND insanely attractive. its mind blowing, but knowing theres no way this goes anywhere, as youd have to take the 2 hour drive back to andover in two days and probably wouldnt see ryder again until next year when you were both at wisconsin.

about an hour and a half later you hear two quiet knocks at your door, yelling “come in” at the sound. from your bed you see the cute hockey player who walks in from the doorway carrying the bag of food he got from grandmas, which happened to be your favorite restaurant in duluth. ryder sets the food on the table getting your food prepared so you didnt have to get up. he brings your food over to you and you invite him to sit next to you on your bed. you turned on your tv to the umd vs minnesota game as you rest your head on ryder who had just put his arm around you after you both finished eating. after talking for hours, that really felt like 10 mins, ryder decided that he should probably get back home and even if you didnt want him to go, you agreed.

for weeks after that you and ryder talked and talked for hours on end nonstop whether it was through snapchat, messages, or facetime. even though you only lived two hours apart, your schedules clashed too much to ever be able to meet up with eachother again. eventually after a year later you had completed your physical therapy and were ready to start your first year as a badger, but most importantly you were eager for ryder to get into town so you could hug the gorgeous brunette again.

when arriving at labahn, you were preparing yourself for the first day of practice and your next meet up with ryder, as the boys were using labahn as well as kohl center was undergoing some remodeling. you pull your bag out of your grand cherokee when you saw the brunette, and just like the first time you saw him your heart stopped. dropping your bag you ran in a dead sprint to see him as he dropped his bag and ran towards you wrapping his arms around your shoulders as if its been decades since youve last seen him as he held you for what felt like forever, when ryder whispered into your ear, “so hospitals really do make miracles happen” as he picked you up to kiss you before making your way into practice, knowing that without your injury you may have never found eachother the way you did.

[apparentlyaswarmofbees]

Late Top 10 Posts of 2020!

I have fun seeing my posts rise and fall on the Top Posts list, I kind of forgot to do this before but since I have way too much time right now I decided I might as well give it a go with a bit of comentary!

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#10- Pact Marks

This one was literaly made at a moment of epiphany, I really enjoy the concept. I should mention I also really enjoyed the Unconventional Pact Marks made by @/astaroth1357, you guys should go check it out lololol

#9- Papa Mammon's Feathery Babies

This one was also an epiphany I wrote after watching videos of crows being cute, for a long while this one post was actually the second top post of all time! It still gets some rises in notes from time to time when new people find it and reblog it! And again, a huge thanks and all the love to @/hhhany82 for their great fanart made inspired on this post of mine, I was over the moon and I still am everytime I think about it ♡♡♡♡♡

#8- A Compilation of Accidents

After reading many headcanons of people using the concept of accident for agnst purposes (which are great ngl), I decided that no, accidents can make you laugh too, and so I wrote this inspired in my own personal accidents in life l o l.

#7- In What Way You Will Match With Them

After a long ass while opening dozens of tabs on my computer of matching things, writing this was hella fun. With some I had trouble deciding on what to match but in the end it was worth it uvu.

#6- MORE Small Things to Imagine

Oh man I remember exactly how I felt then. Many many times I made a small draft in an attempt to make a somewhat continuation to Small Things to Imagine but it never felt quite right. The reopening of requests at that time was really the catalyst of my inspiration. It is the shortest of the series of Small Things to Imagine but I consider it an important warm up for the reopening of requests and a weight being lifted off my shoulders!

#5- Leviathan 'Despair' Fanart

Oh my god drawing that was a pain, I did draft after draft and I was in so much agony coloring his table. But the song was so good my inspiration was on fire the entire time. You guys won't believe how happy I still am from the amount of feedback I recieved out of it. It's a simple fanart, but I felt I managed to send the exact feelings I felt from the lyrics and imagining Levi to all of you, and that makes me really proud no matter the imperfections ♡

#4- While You're Not Looking

The ammount of attention this one recieved in just one single day of being posted was NOT expected. It was again, just a moment of epiphany, and then I had many people screaming and crying in my notifications and all I could think was "oh god I broke them are you guys okay what the fuck is happening". All I had in mind while writting was literally just what they do when you're not looking, and only after some people comented on tags about the yearning this post reeked of that I realized what I wrote 😂. It skyrocketed in notes and it still has me dumbfounded lololol.

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-Honorary Mentions-

#Mammon Red String Fanart

This one is one of my absoluse prides after Belphie's 'Bad Ideas' Fanart. I was just so filled with love and soft feelings due to all the feedback I was recieving in this platform, all my insecurities and anxieties being crushed and thrown out the window. This fanart was made with pure overflowing happiness and gratefulness to all of you.

#No Thoughts, Just Demons

One of my first posts in this blog, it has been on top 3 for a good while before dropping down. It was incredibly fun to draw seeing it was literally a warmup from me staying months without drawing. I still feel sorry for the original artist of the base I used because it literally scaped my mind to credit, specially seeing I cropped the thing without paying attention to any signatures, and I also had no idea the original artist was on tumblr either, though I also didn't bother to search. The moment I accidentally found about the original artist I immediatelly went to put proper credits, but still, sorry.

#'Ho Ho Homicide' Satan Claus Fanart

Oh am I proud of this one. It took so much trouble but it was so satisfying to see it becoming it's final form. But I got so impatient I posted a literal month before christmas 😂. It's one of my favorite fanarts of all time 😏.

#Breakfast In Bed

This fucking shitpost lolololol. This was literally inspired by the fact I don't see breakfast in bed as romantic at all. Although it can be good if you can't get off the bed per example, on circunstances where you can get off the bed it's nothing short of inconvenient. But still, it's endearing to have someone go for the unnecessary trouble to have you eat breakfast in bed, and so this post was born lololololol.

#'Compilation of Flustered Sweet Stuff' Making The Brothers Flustered

Another moment of epiphany where I was high on the blushing faces of the brothers. Lucifer's frown with blushy cheeks that Satan also does, Mammon's and Beel's blushy smiles that make me go (=♡=) everytime, Levi's and Asmo's blush that just make me h o r n y, Belphie's blush that makes me want to s q u e e z e him in a hug. If I could I would make a shrine for each blushy expression from all the brothers.

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And now for the top 3!

#3- EVEN MORE Small Things To Imagine

Oh boy I was PUMPED while making that one. I was listening to the song mentioned on it the entire time and until today I still get so happy while listening to it. I consider this one the ultimate part of the Small Things to Imagine series because it's not only the longest it was also made with a lot more happy feelings than the first part, and it's even higher on top than MORE Small Things to imagine, and I am proud of it 😌

#2- Photos The Brothers Would Have of You

Literally inspired by the shitshow that is the photos both me and my brother take. My brother makes sure all pics he ever takes can become memes, while I always search to take pictures from people at their most natural, even if it means a blurry pic of them laughing in an awkward position, and so I merged mine and my brother's tendencies and this post was born! And honestly I don't think anyone should be ashamed of drolling in their sleep, it's normal lololol, and I do from time to time too!

And finally...

#1- Small Things To Imagine

The number 1 top post that never lost it's position not even once ever since first posted. Not only was it one of my first posts of this blog it is also my most popular to the point it appears on the top posts of the Obey Me Headcanons tag. I am extremelly proud of this post, thank you everyone for their feedback on it and all the love sent to me, it really boosted my energy at the time ♡♡♡♡♡

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Thank you everyone for all the love I recieved in this short 3/4 months of activity! May 2021 give us a break!!

[myhockeyworld87]

Nervous Regrets - Tyler Seguin - Part 36

Word Count: 2,529

POV: Readed

Warnings: Language, Smut, NSFW

Notes: So I didn’t get a chance to work on NSDL but I did get to finish this one, so I hope you guys enjoy it. I know it’s been a minute since I’ve put out a chapter on this, but I haven’t forgot about this little family. Happy Reading!!!

Nervous Regrets Masterlist

It seemed like everyday Jace grew a little bit more though you never admitted that to Tyler, for he thought he was missing out when he was on the road. Jace was Tyler's pride and joy, not that he wasn't yours but there was just this visible change in your husband when he was around your son. Tyler had always been this carefree and loving guy, and he was still that, but now there was this fierce protectiveness for both you and Jace; especially since the Instagram incident. He was extremely careful of anything he posted, even though you told him it wasn't necessary and really only put up one other picture of Jace when he turned a month old.

 What surprised you most was how helpful he was, getting up at all hours of the night with you, even though you told him not too. He needed his rest especially with playoffs coming up, but Tyler would say he wanted to change his diaper and who were you to argue with that. You were grateful for the help and you knew that he wanted those extra minutes with Jace. You'd caught him more than once having a private chat with your son and your heart just melted.

 It was six weeks after Jace's birth and you were finally ready to take him to a game. Tyler had another road trip coming up the last long one of the season that was seven days and you knew that taking Jace to one of the home games would make him happy. True to his word, Ty got you a private box, it was one of the smaller ones which was fine and you called Jenna and Andrea, as well as a few of the other women, to see if they wanted to join you. Tyler rode with Jamie so that he could take both you and Jace home afterward.

 You picked Jenna up and she rode in the back with Jace. "Oh my god (Y/N), he looks freaking adorable." Jace had on his Seguin Daddy jersey, though you knew Jenna couldn't see the daddy part at the moment. In the couple weeks since you took him to practice, he'd gained a little weight and while the jersey was still a little big it fit much better.

 "I think Tyler would kill me if he didn't have that on. I just hope he doesn't spit up on it before the game is over."

 "You could always take it off for a bit after everyone sees it of course. Then put it back on before we go down to see the guys."

 "Perfect, though I hope he'll be warm enough." You tried to pack everything that you thought you'd need, but you never know.

 "Well from the look at his baby bag, you've got more than enough." Jenna was right, of course.

 You pulled into the reserved parking for family and entered the arena in the private entrance, avoiding all the crowds. Once you were safely ensconced in the box, you pulled the blanket off of Jace's car carrier. You'd shielded him from prying eyes just in case anyone would recognize the two of you. The three of you were the first ones there but it didn't take long for the other ladies to arrive. Andrea brought Ben Jr. with her and there was a cute photo session of the two little boys in their jerseys. Ben kept grabbing at Jace, who had no idea what to do when Ben's little hands would touch his. It was all so adorable.

 As the guys came out for warmups you saw Tyler's head immediately look up to your box and search the two of you out. You had been standing back a bit, but walked down to the front seats of the box, so Tyler could see his son. His face instantly lit up and you moved Jace to your shoulder so that Tyler could see the ninety-one and daddy on the back of Jace's Jersey. The smile on Ty's face grew even wider and you saw him nudge Jamie and point up to the box. As if on cue, the jumbotron switched to you and Jace, as well as Andrea and Ben, and you heard a collective 'Aww' from the crowd that was gathered there. You felt a modicum of comfort in the fact that Ben's little boy was up there with yours and you weren't in this by yourself. It stayed on the two of you for a minute, well really it was more about the babies then you or Andrea, but you breathed a sigh of relief when the shot finally went back to the players on the ice.

 Jenna came down then with Jace's headphones as the music got louder and you wanted to protect his little ears. He absolutely hated them on and started crying loudly, which had you taking him back to the interior of the box. "Aww, he really hates those doesn't he?" Alandra asked.

 "Yeah, he's not a happy camper at the moment." You tried bouncing him and rocking him back and forth in your arms but nothing was really working. "Could you hand me his pacifier?" Alandra searched your bag; it took a bit and you almost had a panic attack thinking you forgot it when she finally found it. He quieted after a few minutes, his lids growing heavy the longer he sucked on it and you silently chuckled thinking he was kind of like his dad; temperamental until at times until his mouth was on your breasts.

 The game started and Jace slept through most of the first and second periods, which meant that he was sleeping through two of Tyler's assists and his delay of game penalty.  At intermission time all the girls grabbed pictures with Jace and Ben, and you took one big group picture, which Alandra posted and tagged is as #babesandbabies. It was so incredibly adorable and you clicked the like button immediately. Jace did wake up for the third, where Tyler was able to rack up two more assists both on Radulov's goals. As the period neared the end, you put Jace in the car carrier so you could go down and see Ty after the game.

 Jace was wide awake when all the guys came out and of course, they made a fuss over both the kids. "There's daddy's boy," Tyler said as he kissed you then grabbed the carrier, so he could coo over the baby. "Did you have fun, buddy? Were you good for mommy?"

 "Well, he wasn't nuts about the headphones at first. We're going to have to start wearing them a little bit at home, just to get used to them." You told Tyler as the two of you started to head out to the car. "Why don't you sit back with him this time and I'll drive. He's pretty awake right now, doubt he'll fall asleep before we get home." Tyler sat in the back and your two boys chatted the whole way home.

 "Did you see Uncle Rads' goals that daddy assisted with?" Jace would coo at the sound of Tyler's voice. "I know buddy, daddy got the third star tonight all because you were there to cheer him on." You swear Tyler put in that part so that you and Jace would come to the games more often, which you already decided you'd be at every home game of the playoffs. If Jace would go, you weren't entirely sure just yet, but he would be there at some of them.

 Traffic wasn't that bad and you made it home in no time, Jace still awake though, you knew it was only because he needed to be fed soon. You all piled into the house, Tyler taking Jace so that you could play with the dogs a few minutes before feeding Jace. "Sorry about the jumbotron babe, I'll try and remember to tell them next time to not put you guys on."

 "It wasn't so bad with Andrea being there. Though I will say I'm a bit nervous about sitting in the family section, but the girls said they'll help out with him if he gets fussy."

 "Does this mean you're going to come to the game on Thursday?" There were still two more home games before the Stars roadie happened and you were sure your husband would try his damnedest to get you both there.

 "Maybe, we'll see how he does with the headphones tomorrow around the house and then go from there."

 Tyler came over to where you were burping Jace and bent down to the baby. "You're going to do great with them tomorrow, right bud?" Jace's little head bobbed on your shoulder and Tyler took that for a good sign.

  It wasn't long after that and Jace was sound asleep as you and Tyler crawled into bed, Jace now sleeping in the nursery for the last week, with the dogs guarding him. Even Gerry had taken up a spot under the crib; leaving you and Tyler alone in the master bedroom. Tyler pulled you close to him, his hands sliding up and down your back as he kissed you. Just as it started to get heated, he pulled away. "Don't stop Ty."

 "But babe," he mumbled looking at you with a pained expression on his face.

 "It's ok Ty. I had my checkup today and we're cleared for everything."

 He looked you in the eye as if to make sure you were telling the truth. "I knew you had an appointment but didn't realize it was for that. Like you're sure it's ok? I don't want to hurt you."

 "Just go slow."

 "I will babe, just say the word and I'll stop." You nodded then went back to kissing Tyler. Your body felt slightly different as Tyler's hands roamed up and down it, and you chalked it up to the fact that the last time you had sex you also had an almost seven-pound human growing inside you. Now you could feel Tyler growing hard against you, where you hadn't felt that in months. His hands tweaked your nipples which were sensitive to his touch and you were a bit freaked out when you let yourself think about the fact that you just fed Jace, but then Tyler's hand stole down to cup your core and those thoughts evaporated. His fingers circled your clit outside your panties and you moaned into his mouth. It wasn't long before you felt yourself grow wet with anticipation of what was to come. You reached between your bodies to fondle Ty's cock through his boxers, letting your hand sneak inside so that you could feel his hard length. He hissed out his pleasure as you pumped him with your hand. The last couple of days when he'd been home you'd given him blow jobs now that Jace wasn't sleeping in your room, but you were excited to have him inside you.

 He pulled your panties off you and threw them somewhere in the bedroom, fingers running between your folds as your moans grew louder and louder. Tyler always knew how to get your body excited, something he didn't forget during this six-week hiatus. His lips ghosted down your stomach, which was almost back to normal before they settled on your clit. He flicked and sucked it with his tongue as your body thrashed around on the bed. Carefully he slid one finger inside your wet pussy. "You ok baby?"

 "Yes…Ty…keep doing that." You said breathily and he started to pump that finger in and out of your body while sucking on your clit. It didn't take long for your climax to hit. You'd been so keyed up for this moment that just a few strokes from him and your toes were curling as you screamed out his name. "Fuck Tyler that felt so good."

 "I missed that so much." He told you as he crawled up the bed to hover over you. You spread your legs a little wider, as he settled between them. "Tell me if it hurts." You nodded and tensed slightly as he lined himself up with your center. He must have sensed your hesitation for his mouth was on yours in seconds, kissing away any tension that you held in your body. The head of his cock nudged your folds and it felt a bit foreign as he entered you. Almost as if it was your first time together instead of what was probably your millionth. He went slow, letting you adjust to every inch until he was fully engulfed in your warmth. There was this familiar stretch once he was inside you and it felt wonderful. His brown eyes looked into yours and all you could see was love in them but yet you knew he was holding back, wanting this to be good for you. "You ok?"

 "Yeah…but Ty…" you breathed out and he looked at you all concerned. "Please move." He chuckled, the vibrations going through your body before he carefully slid out just leaving the head inside you. Wrapping your legs around his waist, you pulled him back inside you and the two of you started to build a rhythm. His mouth was on yours kissing and swallow each of your moans.

 When your nails bit into his flesh, he groaned at the feeling. "Fuck baby, I'm so close." You were too, and you clutched at him holding him close as he thrust inside you.

 "Yes…Ty…yes," you moaned out as your legs started to tremble, the orgasm crashing over you. Your back arched as the euphoric pleasure of your climax took control of you and you spasmed around Ty's cock as he spilled deep inside of you, calling out your name. His arms shook with the force of his climax and even with all his upper body strength, you saw it took everything in him not to collapse on top of you. Instead, he rolled you both onto your sides; his cock still inside you.

 "Damn (Y/N), that was amazing." He pecked your lips quickly before pulling back to look at you.

 "Well, maybe we should wait six weeks before we do it again."

 "Why? Did I hurt you?" A giggle escaped your lips as you were only teasing him, but the look of concern on his face had you sobering quickly.

 "Ty, I swear I'm fine. I was just teasing you. There's no reason to wait another six weeks." You took your hand and cupped his cheek. "In fact, we should probably do that again." The fact that you both yawn at that exact moment wasn't lost on either of you.

 "Round two, in the morning?" He asked, swinging your leg over the top of his hip as he drew you closer to him. "I love you baby; now, let's get some sleep before Jace wakes up."

 "I love you too, Ty." It wasn't long after that, that you fell blissfully asleep unaware of the comment left on Alandra's Instagram post or the direct message that had just been sent to you.

[zukoskataraa]

a request i got from @blood-and-lychee a while back. thanks for the request, and sorry it took so long!

prompt #32: “you could have died”

Zuko had been playing baseball ever since he was 6 years old. He had grown to love the sport, and he joined his school’s baseball team when he was in high school. Everyone knew how amazing of a player Zuko was, even though he didn’t like to admit it himself. He was a high school senior now, and he would be playing his last baseball game with his team before going to college. He was headed to school two hours before the game to go warm up. Zuko was lost in his thoughts that he didn’t hear anyone calling his name until that person caught up to him.

“Zuko!” The person grabbed his arm, pulling him out of his thoughts. He looked at the person and smiled. It was his girlfriend, Katara. He noticed that she was wearing his jersey, which was tucked into her mint green skirt. The jersey was white and mint green, which matched her skirt. She was wearing white thigh-high socks, with a few inches of skin peeking in-between the top of the socks and her skirt. Her chocolate brown hair was in a messy bun, with lose strands of hair hanging by the side of her face. “Stop spacing out, dummy.” Katara says, leaning up to give Zuko a peck on the cheek.

“Sorry. I didn’t think you’d wear my jersey.” Zuko says, blushing. Katara smiles as she took Zuko’s hand in hers. “You look really cute though.” Zuko says and Katara blushes. He leans in closer to Katara and whispers, “That skirt looks really great. However, it’s not covering much.” Zuko teases and Katara giggles.

“I think the socks cover more than enough, don’t you think?” She teases as she twirls, her skirt slightly going up. Zuko puts a hand on her waist and leans in to kiss her. Katara pulls away a few seconds later, smiling and leaving Zuko agitated and pouting.

“You’re mean.” He says and Katara giggles as she grabs something from her bag.

“Here, make sure you eat this after warming up.” She hands him a banana and a toast, along with a sports drink. He grabs it, smiling.

“Thanks, babe. Anyway, how come you’re headed to school so early?” Zuko asks as he puts the food and drink in his bag.

“I knew that you would go early and would probably be alone for a while so I decided to come and keep you company until the others arrive.” Katara says and Zuko smiles, giving her a peck on the forehead.

“Aw, thanks Katara. But you didn’t have to do that.” Zuko says and Katara rolls her eyes.

“Whatever, Zuko. Who knows what you’d do at school alone.” Katara says and Zuko smirks.

“Well, I know what I’d do in school if we’re the only ones there.” Zuko says in a teasing voice and Katara playfully shoves him, walking ahead of him. He laughs and quickly catches up to her, taking her hand in his. “I was joking, you know.” Zuko says and Katara laughs.

“I know. Now come on, I wanna sit down already.” Katara says and Zuko smirks.

“On where? My lap?” He asks and Katara looks up at him, trying to keep a straight face.

“On a chair, Zuko.” She says and Zuko laughs. They arrive at the school campus and they head over to the gym. To Zuko’s surprise, most of his teammates were already there. The boys stare at the couple as they walk inside.

“Hey. Stop staring.” Zuko says, his voice loud, and everyone immediately looks away, continuing what they were doing. Katara giggles as she sits down on a bleacher, crossing her legs. Katara glances to the side and she can still see some of the boys looking at her.

“Hey, captain. Sit down and relax.” Katara says to Zuko who was still standing in front of her, arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed.

“They still keep looking at you.” Zuko says and Katara laughs.

“So? They can’t have me anyway.” Katara shrugs and Zuko sighs.

“Always a tease.” He says and Katara smirks as he sits down next to her. He takes a deep breath.

“What’s wrong? Are you nervous?” Katara asks as she grabs Zuko’s hand and gives it a little squeeze.

“Kinda. I mean, it’s my last game. And I don’t wanna lose or mess it up.” Zuko says and Katara puts her head on Zuko’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll do amazing, Zuko. You’re gonna kick ass at the game.” Katara says and Zuko chuckles.

“Thanks, Katara.” Zuko says. “Anyway, I think we’ll start warming up. We have an hour before the game.” Zuko says as he stands up. “Are you just gonna stay here?” Zuko asks and Katara nods. Zuko calls everyone’s attention as they start their warmups. And a few minutes later, Katara stands up and heads over to Zuko, leaning close into his ear.

“I’ll see you later, okay? I’m gonna go meet with Suki. Don’t forget to eat your toast.” Katara says and gives Zuko a peck on the cheek. She looks at his teammates and smiles. “Do your best, boys. And don’t give Zuko here any trouble.” She says and winks as she walks away.

–

“We’re late!” Katara says as she and Suki hurriedly head over to the school.

“Kat, don’t worry! We’re only 5 minutes late.” Suki says and Katara sighs.

“I don’t wanna miss his last game.” Katara says and Suki smiles.

“Right. Sorry. Let’s go!” Suki says and they arrive at the ballpark, just in time. Zuko walks up to the homeplate, shaking his arms.

“He’s batting!” Katara tells Suki. “GO ZUKO!” Katara yells as loud as she can and Zuko looks up to see Katara, smiling. He grabs the bat and gets into position. The pitchers swings the ball, but Zuko isn’t able to hit it.

“Strike one!” The referee says. Zuko sighs and gets ready. The pitcher swings and Zuko misses the ball, again. “Strike two!”

“COME ON, ZUKO!” Katara yells and Zuko nods and takes a deep breath. The next moment happened too fast because Zuko couldn’t see the ball, nor was he able to hit the ball. Instead, he felt a sharp pain on his side, causing him to drop the bat. Everyone goes quiet.

“What?” Zuko asks, looking at his side. He felt pain between his ribs and stomach. The referee blows a whistle and everyone goes to Zuko, examining him. “What happened?” Zuko asks, clutching his side.

“You got hit with a ball, son.” The referee says. “The pitcher didn’t aim properly. Thankfully, the ball wasn’t thrown too fast.”

“Zuko!” Katara yells as she makes her way through the crowd and cups his face. “Are you okay? Is there a doctor here?” Katara asks, worried.

“I’m fine, Katara.” Zuko says, his voice weak. Katara fumes.

“You could have died! You could have a broken rib or internal bleeding!” Katara says. “Continue the game. I’ll take him to the nurse’s office.” Katara says.

“No. No. I have to finish the game.” Zuko says and Katara tries her best to keep her cool.

“No. I’m taking you to the nurse.” She says.

“I’ll help you.” A voice says. She looks up to see Sokka, her brother and a player on the team.

“Okay. Thanks.” She says as Sokka gently puts an arm around Zuko’s waist and puts Zuko’s arm around his neck.

“But, the game.” Zuko says.

“Shut up, dude. Katara’s gonna kill you.” Sokka says in a low voice. Zuko sighs as they walk away. The pitcher from the other team heads over to them.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. I swear.” He explains. Katara takes a deep breath.

“It’s alright. But please don’t hit any of our players next time.” She says as she walks away, catching up with Sokka and Zuko.

“I’m shocked you were able to keep your cool.” Sokka says. Katara sighs.

“No point in making the situation any worse.” She says as she walks ahead to call the nurse.

After a quick examination, Zuko had no broken ribs or internal bleeding. But, there was a nasty bruise where the ball had hit him. Zuko was resting on a bed, with Katara sitting on a chair beside him. Sokka was standing up at the edge of the bed.

“I didn’t see you during the warmup.” Katara says to Sokka.

“I arrived a few minutes after you left. They told me you were stealing the spotlight again.” Sokka says and Katara giggles.

“Well, this game sucked.” Zuko says, earning a laugh from Sokka.

“Their pitcher sucks, man. I can’t believe he hit you.” Sokka says.

“You need to rest, okay?” Katara tells Zuko, and Sokka takes that as his cue to leave. “You’ll feel better by later. I think.” Zuko chuckles.

“You were exaggerating when you told me that I could have died, you know.” Zuko says and Katara blushes. “But, I still think it’s cute that you care so much. So thanks, Katara.” Zuko says and Katara smiles, taking Zuko’s hand in hers.

–

a/n: the baseball team’s uniform color is based on aoba johsai’s uniform from haikyuu! hehe

i know this isn’t my best fic ever but i hope you guys still liked it!

masterlist

[ddaenggtan]

are you gonna do anything for kookie's birthday?? i know a lot of writers are and i was hoping you might be one of them :)

I don’t have anything, tbh, because I’ve been mostly working on my fic for the Love Yourself Collab (which you should def check out bc I know at least one or two have posted theirs and I’m so hype to read them!!) and the sequel to mechanic!joon from the poll a while back. 

I will give you this crumb though, for everyone who read Chasing Butterflies and thoroughly enjoyed it the way I did. 

“I just don’t get it,” Nayun says as she straps her pads on. Jisoo doesn’t react and Rose looks like she might actually kick your asses if you aren’t on the court in ten seconds. “What do you not get? Like what about this situation is confusing?” You ask. “I’m whipped for Jungkook, we been knew, and he’s apparently through some great act of mercy also whipped for me, and he’s bringing every single one of his nerd friends to the match today. Which isn’t at all nerve-wracking. Whatsoever.”

Jisoo rolls her eyes and tugs harder at your laces. She always does your laces, she’s the only one with the upper body strength to tie the things well. You think she might actually be moonlighting as a secret BDSM dominatrix just based on the way she handles them. 

“No, I don’t get why you’re nervous. He’s seen you play before, didn’t he tell you that he tries to come to as many home games as possible? And his friends know nothing about the sport, they won’t know if you fuck it up.”

“Which you won’t,” Rose says from the door. "Because you’re good at this.”

“And because you’ll kill me if I fuck it up.” She doesn’t respond verbally, but the look she sends you radiates ‘yeah and what about it’ energy. “Look, I’m just...scared of disappointing his friends. He talks me up all the time apparently, and if they get bored or are unimpressed then...”

“What, you think he’s gonna break up with you?” Jisoo’s tone is teasing, but when she looks up to see the insecuirty on your face, she softens. “You put on a cosplay for him, and he’s liked you for almost as long as you’ve liked him. I don’t think he’s going anywhere.”  

You just nod, tugging at the laces as she finishes tying them. Realistically, you know she’s right. It’s been a couple months since that night in your apartment, and things have only gotten better. He still comes to the coffee-shop to hang out with his dweeb friends, even if he does spend the time waiting for them talking to you now. He still watches his dumbass anime, thoroughly enjoying your flat-screen to do so, even if he gets consistently distracted by the way you lay in his lap. You talk about your practices that he knows a fair bit about because of some anime, he tells you about his nerd shit that you don’t understand but enjoy hearing about anyway, you help him with his essays and he helps you with Organic Chem, and you even buy him little cupcakes every time he gets a new comment on his fanfic. Things between you are good.

You have no reason to worry, you decide as you push out of the locker rooms and head to the court to get warmups started. You spot him, sitting with his group of friends beside where Jimin and Taehyung sit with the rest of the guys’ team to watch your game. Your boyfriend - your whole chest gets warms as you think it, and you let yourself bask in it for a minute because it took three fucking years to get - looks adorable today; big, round glasses, with that soft beanie and a softer looking shirt. It’s got some kind of weird pumpkin(?) on it, with a point and sharp teeth and the back has a scythe and you vaguely recognize it. You’re pretty sure he watched it at your apartment a few days ago, but you also had his dick in your mouth, so you weren’t paying much attention to anything else. 

You wave back when he waves at you, big and excited and cute, and you’re once again hit with the urge to cover him in kisses while also maybe dangling him off a fifty-story building. His nose scrunches in that way you love and you ignore the way it has your stomach flipping. 

Rose pelts a ball at you and you catch it on sheer instinct. 

“Are you actually going to warm up or are you gonna be entirely useless today?” She asks. You glare at her and throw the ball back in response. If you didn’t have firsthand experience with how good she is, you’d wish she was your opponent so you could wipe the smirk off her face. 

Warmups go well. The team you’re supposed to be playing is good, supposedly pretty well-matched to your own, and you’re excited to see if it holds true. They don’t look especially intimidating. The biggest threat seems to be their captain - which is true for your team as well, Rose is terrifying - and there are a couple girls milling around in jackets and over-shirts. One in particular catches your notice; as you look, you realize it’s because Jungkook has the same jacket. Black, with a big-ass Old-English-styled L on the back of it, and some kind of writing you can’t see on the front and can’t remember from Jungkook’s, small and in the corner where logos usually go. 

You make a note to ask which anime that’s from, just to know in the future, and return to your warmups. 

The game itself is...well, it’s challenging. The other teams is as well-practiced as yours, they’re balanced against you pretty well, and all of you are enjoying the competition almost as much as you’re frustrated that you aren’t getting anywhere. Their captain - a shorter girl with pretty eyes and dimples - is an absolute beast and Rose looks simultaneously enraged and turned on, and Weeb Girl has been blocking you at every turn. She volleys every serve you give, manages to block every spike without fail, and you can respect that she’s good at this, but you’re also really fucking frustrated. 

It’s the end of the second set and both teams are ready for the ten minute break. You’re in the process of trying to drown yourself in your Gatorade bottle and really considering using the stuff to summon some kind of demon just so you can win the game, go home, stuff yourself with cheap burgers, and then fuck your boyfriend because you could tell from his face at one point that he was getting worked up watching you play, but before you can you catch sight of your friends whispering quietly to themselves. 

It screams ‘hey we’re doing something really shady and don’t want you to know, maybe you should immediately storm over and find out what’s going on’ so you do exactly that. 

“What the fuck do you mean ‘should we tell her?’“ You demand, keeping your voice as hushed as theirs. Nayun looks repentant and sorry, Jisoo actually literally makes the emoji face with the teeth, and Rose just purses her lips and gestures over her shoulder. 

You really don’t know what you expect to see, but Jungkook hanging over the side of the bleachers to talk to Weeb Girl isn’t it. His eyes are crinkled at the corners like they do when he’s excited, his glasses are half-down his nose and in danger of falling off because you aren’t there to push them back up like he enjoys, and he’s gesturing happily to Weeb Girl. And she....she looks just as excited, twirling a piece of hair between her fingers and batting her lashes up at him as she says something else that makes him laugh. You can’t realistically hear it, it’s too crowded and noisy, but you feel it when he laughs, every time. 

“We should call the police, she’s gonna kill her,” Jisoo says morbidly from behind you. 

“No,” You respond, scoffing. Your eyes don’t draw away from where your boyfriend is talking to Weeb Girl. “No, I’m not. She can flirt all she wants, it’s fine. Yeah, she’s blocked me at every turn this game, yeah she’s kinda really pretty, and she definitely has the ass for those shorts, and she’s wearing weeb stuff that she’s probably interested in and can talk to him about, but it’s fine. I know Jungkook, he’s not gonna do anything. He’s a good guy.” And you mean it when you say it. If there’s one thing that you’re sure of in your relationship that isn’t Jungkook knowing random weeb stats, it’s that he’s loyal. You know it, deep in your bones. 

You watch as Weeb Girl steps forward, cutting off whatever Jungkook’s saying to push his glasses up his nose, giggling as she does. Your fingers twitch because yes, that is your job, not hers, but it’s fine. It’s absolutely fine. Until her captain calls her back and she giggles again and waves, and Jungkook turns to sit and you see it. He’s got that pretty blush on his face, the one that tints his cheeks and makes him duck his head, the one you love so much but especially when you’re riding him and can get him to break out of the dominant persona he loves and turn pink with your words. 

And you know that your boyfriend is loyal and sweet and wonderful, can tell by the way he searches for you and melts into a smile like the ice cream you’re pretty sure you forgot to put back in your freezer before you had to rush out to get to this game. But pushing his glasses up is your job and that is your blush and you aren’t about to let some weeb queen take it from you. 

Rose looks pleased as you all take the court again. Jisoo looks convinced you’re gonna kill Weeb Girl, and you won’t lie; you’re definitely trying to see if you can will someone to set fire with only the power of your brain as you stare her down across the net. She looks entirely too pleased with herself and even dares to send a quick glance and a shy smile off at where you know Jungkook sits behind you, and you wish - not for the first time in your life - that you had Harry Potter powers and could just Crucio this fucker right now. 

Alas, you’re gonna have to settle for slamming a volleyball into her face. 

Nayun looks horrified at the sight, but you can tell Rose is holding back a smile even as the ref gives you a penalty that you willingly take. Weeb Girl looks pissed and also a little confused. Logically it’s not her fault that she chose to flirt with your weeb; and you can’t even fault her for it, because he’s gorgeous and sweet and perfect, but god damn what a day to do it. 

Throughout the rest of the third set, you’re basically unstoppable. You score three times on her, and you take a sick pleasure in the bruise that’s already forming under her eye. Her entire team looks confused, and you are too, because none of you are sure of where this sudden burst of skill and fury is coming from, but you’re determined to ride it out for as long as it lasts. 

When the game’s over, your entire team crowds you to celebrate. You’re a good player, you don’t have any allusions to that, but you’re also pretty much just reliably good. You’ve never played like that, not in your entire life, and you’re thriving with the knowledge that you even can. 

When they finally back up, you bolt before they can throw Gatorade on you, already climbing the stands. Jimin laughs as you shove him to the side, and you decide to feel guilty about the way he almost falls later, because right now you’re on a mission. You straddle the stand and fist one hand in Jungkook’s shirt, pulling him into a heated kiss that he doesn’t hesitate to return. In seconds you’re almost on his lap, one of his hands gripping your jaw so he lick into your mouth the way he likes while your free hand tangles in his hair. When you eventually pull back, he settles soft kisses along your jaw and you take great pride in looking straight at Weeb Girl. She doesn’t look mad, exactly; more resigned and slightly impressed, and you send her a wink that makes her roll her eyes. 

“Hey,” You whisper to Jungkook. He detaches himself from the mark he was determined to make behind your ear, and you revel in the blush on his face. It spreads across his face and along to the tips of his ears, and you want nothing more to than to make is spread further. “You wanna go put on some Haikyuu and break in your new mattress?” 

You don’t think you’ve ever left a game that fast in your life. 

[namirastar]

A meteor shower

Pairing: Analogical 

Authors note: Sorry if its a little longer than most stuff i write or if it comes off as weird, I wanted to do a warmup but went on for much longer than expected. Hope you enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~

Once Virgil heard the satisfying ‘click’ he knew Logan was done setting up the telescope, now if only he could get the same done with his tripod. 

“Would you like some assistance Virge?” 

He chuckled a bit, the dork sure loved to help. “Yes please.” And Virgil always appreciated it.

“If only using a tripod was just as easy as a camera...” Virgil muttered eliciting a soft smile from his friend. “Don’t be too hard on yourself, this is only first time using one, correct?”

“Well technically second since i tested it at home today...” and there was the same satisfying click as before. 

“Looks like we’re ready now.” Logan stood upright again and Virgil stretched a bit looking over at Logan. 

“Even if it was my second try, i don’t think you’ve ever set up a tripod yet you managed to make it work in less than a minute!” 

Logan looked at him a little surprised by the compliment and averted his eyes, his cheeks may or may not have been a bit red but nobody could tell in the dark of the night.

“Well it’s... nothing really. I’ve set up my telescope hundreds of times and it uses a pretty similar mechanic to your tripod to make it stand so it makes sense that I could set it up quickly.” 

Now it was Virgil’s turn to smile softly at the nerd in front of him, oh how cute he is when he gets all shy like that. Virgil quickly shook that thought out of his head, beginning to blush a bit and turned his attention to the sky. 

“So uh... when’s the meteor shower supposed to begin? I kinda need to set my camera’s timer up.”

“Oh right!” Logan said as he glanced down at his clock. “We have exactly 5 minutes and 18 seconds.” 

Virgil chuckled a bit turning to his camera and setting the timer, “I guess I’ll set it to 6 minutes then...” ‘Such an extra and nerdy dork’ he thought fondly.

Then he turned back to Logan to see him looking through the telescope, perhaps adjusting the height and where its been pointed which reminded Virgil to do the same for his camera. 

~~~~~~~

“One minute left!” Said Logan as he looked at his watch. He was going to be counting down the remaining seconds in his head if it weren’t for Virgil clearing his throat. He then turned his head over to the emo who was rubbing the back of his neck, looking quite bashful. 

“Hey uh... thanks for joining me Lo... I don’t think I would’ve come out here to do this if I was on my own...” 

Logan smiled fondly at his friend and said “No need to thank me, I was already looking for a reason to see this myself.” It also worked out well for Logan as he had always wondered what it would be like to stargaze with Virgil though he wouldn’t admit it. 

Virgil smiled back at him and Logan felt the need to look away to hide the blush on his face and so he turned his attention to the sky. 

“Oh, it has begun.” 

The sky had lit up with the spectacle and the boys watched on in awe. The shower was to last several hours yet they watched on for several minutes. They hadn’t even noticed Virgil’s camera going off, oblivious to everything but the sky. 

When they finally looked away they turned towards each other. Virgil giggled a bit at how cliche the whole scene was, making Logan blush again only this time it was visible to Virge but that wasn’t important to him as...

“I haven’t even used the telescope yet!” with that he made a move towards the telescope when he had another thought. 

“Virgil... have you ever used a telescope?” Virgil looked back over and with the shake of his head Logan had another fond smile on his face “Would you like to try?” 

He smiled back and made his way towards the telescope, “Sure” He knew to close and eye and look through the hole and Logan felt himself smile at the growing smile on Virgil’s lips. 

Standing upright he turned to him, “Thanks, that was pretty cool!” 

Logan, now very aware of both the sincere thanks as well as how close the other’s smile was, turned away and distracted himself by looking through the telescope instead. 

“Uh... no need to thank me V, it’s-it’s only common courtesy after all...” he felt his cheeks begin to burn as he processed the moment and inwardly cursed himself for stuttering.

And with that the boys went to work, Virgil had flipped through the pictures he got and then began taking some on his own as Logan observed and occasionally took notes, it was quiet but peaceful as both went about their own side projects. 

Then as he was gazing through the telescope he heard Virgil speak up all of a sudden, “Hey, don’t move right now ok?” followed by the sound of his camera shutter. “Ok you can move now.” The boy looked over towards his friend as he scrolls through his pictures. 

“Sorry if you didn’t want your picture taken, it’s just...” he paused for a moment to take a breath. “...it would’ve been weird to come out all this way and not take a picture of the most beautiful star there is.” Virgil let out an awkward laugh, “Sorry it was just perfect, sorry!” But there was no response from Logan, he just stood there completely caught off guard.

Virgil, now visibly nervous, ran over to his friend with his camera and showed him the image, “Hey uh, how do you think it turned out? I managed to capture the shower as well so it looks pretty cool i think.” The picture really did look gorgeous, you could only see the silhouette of the boy and the telescope with the focus being the sky yet it fit in perfectly. 

“Yes it’s quite beautiful.” Logan looked back at him, seemingly having forgotten the comment and the photographer let out the breath he didn’t realize he was holding in.

“By the way... if you didnt want an image taken i’ll delete it for you.” 

“Oh there’s no need,” Another warm glance, “It’s perfectly fine by me.” 

They then started flipping through the photos that he had taken. Some of the ones taken by the tripod were a bit unfocused whereas some looked perfect. Of those the boy took on his own, they were all beautiful and looked professionally taken. 

“These are absolutely stunning Virgil, you’ve outdone yourself tonight!” He exclaimed. Feeling a little flustered he tugged at the end of his hoodie. 

“It’s nothing really, they’re not even ready for the news or my blog!” The boy took a hold of his camera again “I still have to edit them so the meteor shower pops out more...” 

“While I do agree you can always improve you shouldn’t push yourself down. Talking yourself down can harm the creative process in several ways and do believe me when i say you’ve done good as you are aware I’m not one to metaphorically sugarcoat any critique i give.” 

Virgil took in a deep breathe as he felt the heat once again rise to his ears but quickly giggled, drawing Logan’s attention away from it. 

“Alright, I’ll stop if you stop!” The emo said with a smirk.”Deal?” He winked at the boy in front of him causing said boy’s heart to skip a beat. ‘When had the anxious boy gotten so comfortable’ he wondered to himself but wouldn’t dare question it. He needed as much support as he could get tonight.

The man in front of him smirked back “Touche.” and grabbed his hand firmly, shaking it. “Deal.” 

And there was the anxious boy again, who thought he couldn’t get a better moment and continued to hold the boy’s hand far after the handshake should’ve been over. 

“V, is everything all right?” He met Logan’s eyes and could tell by just a glance that he was both confused and concerned. 

“I um... Do you know why I asked you to come with me?”

He watched wide eyes blink in confusion and glance off in another direction. “Wasn’t it because you wanted company and I have a tendency to stargaze.” 

The response made Virgil chuckle a bit, ‘analytical as always’ and calmed his racing heartbeat with another deep breath. “Well that does help but those aren’t the only reasons you know like i said...” They locked eyes. “If you hadn’t come then I would have picked another topic or something, not plan out an outing to an open field like this at least.” 

The bespectacled boy now was even more confused. Was it not due to the fear of being out on your own at midnight? Then why?

Meanwhile Virgil attempted smiling as casually as he could but it was evident he too was nervous. “You- you see...” He took another steadying breath and decided to grab the boy’s other hand as well. “I wanted to tell you something..” 

He focused back at his friend once again who was smiling at him lightly, “What is it Virgil?” 

“I-I..” An inhale and exhale could be heard once again “I really.. like you Logan, uh romantically I mean.”

He had kept his gaze on Logan’s face until it finally showed a sign of shock to which he let go of his hands, looked away and braced himself for the worst but then;

“Am I... free to hug you?” Locking eyes again Logan was staring back at him looking nervous himself but the warmth and adoration radiating from his eyes said it all. Virgil happily flung himself into the arms of his new partner.

[brownhardyho]

Split Decision (Ben Hardy One Shot, Pt. 1)

Pairing: Ben Hardy x Fem!Reader

A/N: So @benshvrdy made me do it since she reblogged those goddamn gifs of Ben boxing. My horny mind just imagined what would happen if I saw Ben at the gym boxing…As always, feedback is very much appreciated! Enjoy my lovelies (I didn’t proofread it, forgive me) 😊

Warnings: NSFW themes (18+) just the classic frantic, quickie session sprinkled in with some voyeurism and unprotected sex, ya feel me?! This may just be the filthiest piece I have written fam! ;)

Word Count: 2,248

 “Today is gonna be a great day” you tell yourself as you walk into the gym, greeting the receptionist with a nod. It’s 6 AM on a Friday morning and being in the open concept facility filled to the walls with various exercise equipment is the last place you wanna be right now, but your gym BAE is here and you needed your daily dose of his smile.

It all started about 3 months ago when you first moved into the city. You needed a place to go to let out all the stress from your job and sometimes from life, a place that had a ton of resources that was also within your budget. Luckily, at the suggestion of your coworker, she recommended this pristine-but-also-plays-banging-music gym and you truly couldn’t be happier. This was until you saw him. The fair skinned, golden locked, emerald eyed, has a body that rivals Adonis, man.

You haven’t officially met (yet) but you knew his name was Ben, thanks to your gym buddy that just so happens to be friends with his trainer. Both you and Ben have definitely made eye contact and even exchanged acknowledging smiles when you see each other in passing. This has only happened a couple times, and each time without fail, you can feel the heat rising to your cheeks and you quickly walk away before a conversation can start. Although it may seem like you are a confident badass bitch when you are doing major work with the kettlebells, you are still shy and a little awkward at times like these.

So cut to this moment: you have just put your wireless headphones in and just pressed play on your workout playlist. Clothed in a strappy sports bra and leggings that do wonders for your derriere, you walk confidently toward the row machines to start your warmup. You woke up today with every intention of being a “badass bitch” and of course that included strutting in the gym with your very best outfit. Hot AF and functional you told yourself.

Just as you get into the swing of your sprint, a figure walks past you, towards the boxing ring. It’s Ben and you can’t help but admire how cute his hat looks as it sits backward atop his blonde locks and how delectable his ass looks in those gym shorts. Your eyes track down his fit body and you notice that he has taken off his gym shoes, his bare feet padding across the facility. This contrasting look of both adorableness and pure sex makes your head spin and your breath to hitch. Not a moment later, do you notice that Ben’s appearance today is causing a spark of heat that you can feel slowly building in your core.  After about 5 minutes of trying your hardest to focus, you decide that you’ve had enough rowing for the day and you head over to the kettlebell rack for the next part of your routine.

What you are oblivious to, and have been for quite some time, is Ben’s hungry gaze towards you as he observes you moving across the room. What you don’t notice is that you have been on Ben’s mind for the entire three months that he’s seen you at the gym. You don’t notice how the receptionists and his trainer constantly tease him about his shyness in actually going up to you and striking a conversation. The way his green eyes darken in intensity when he sees you stretching in a downwards dog position and how a longing soft groan escapes his lips each time when he hears you grunting as you are doing assisted pullups, is something that’s not even on your radar.

So to get out of his feels for you (for now) and focus on his workout, wraps his hands to get ready for a sparring session with his trainer. Ben has been equally aware of your presence this morning, probably even more so than you are of his. His stolen, furtive glances of you gracefully taking off your sweatshirt, only to reveal a strappy sports bra that accentuates the line going down your back has him done for. Add this to the pair of leggings that glide along your strong, thick legs like a water and Ben is a man that is absolutely whipped for you. He is definitely feeling conflicted because although he was looking forward to putting in work on the boxing bag, he is currently sporting a hard on that only seems to grow the longer he stares at you. Ben is currently thanking his lucky stars at the fact that you don’t seem to notice him looking at you like a snack because he’s feeling guilty about it and doesn’t want to miss a chance to get to know (and fuck) you.

Ben slides his boxing gloves on and does everything in his power to not think about you while he is throwing punches at the bag. It’s working very well, because he is imagining the black, heavy, sand filled bag to be a person that could potentially harm you. The frequency and intensity of which his gloved fists land on the bag increase with intensity as Ben gets into the zone. Labored breaths escape his plump pink lips and the muscles of his forearms ripple as he continues to spar with the bag.

You were just about to finish your workout of the morning when you slide your headphones off your ears. As you take a sip from your water bottle, your ears perk up to the labored grunts that Ben is emitting as he is going off on the punching bag. His agile body is following the direction of every combination that his trainer is directing him. When he gets a particular combo down, one that he’s been struggling for weeks, he jumps animatedly on the mat, laughing in victory. He looks up and he is greeted by your lust blown eyes, you unconsciously biting your lip in response. You flash him a small smile in acknowledgement and avert your eyes away. Embarrassed that you had been caught, you hurriedly grab you gym bag and rush over to the locker rooms.

After quickly exchanging goodbyes with his trainer, Ben collects his belongings and follows you trail into the locker rooms. There are barely any other patrons at the gym and Ben makes up his mind to at least talk to you. He passes the men’s locker rooms, his mind dead set on introducing himself to you this time. When he enters the women’s locker room, he is greeted by a sight that he’d never see. Craning his neck around the partition that is covering this body, his eyes take in the sigh of you standing back against the lockers, head thrown back in sexual frustration, eyes shut tight, your right hand buried in your leggings, with the left slowly trailing up your glistening body to grab your breast for relief. The sight of you like this, pleasuring yourself without hesitation, brings Ben back to where he started before he started boxing today: mind horny and cock hard.

What really does it for Ben is when he hears you quietly moan out his name as you bring yourself closer and closer to your release. The sounds of your frantic whimpers and the sliding of your fingers around your clit is enough to encourage Ben to make his presence known.

“Do I make you wet love?” Ben speaks up, smirking when you are shaken out of your frustrated daze. A blush immediately creep up your cheeks, and your jaw drops in shock and utter embarrassment. Remembering the badass bitch mantra you had repeated to yourself this morning, you respond back, your fingers still slowly circling your pleasure center.

“You’ve always made me this wet Ben,” You confidently moan aloud, this time not embarrassed at all about this gesture. “Have I always made you that hard?” You ask, nodding over to the bulge that is confined by his gym shorts.

“Always,” Ben says as steps closer to you, his hand wandering down to massage to provide temporary relief. Your eyes pierce each others, as if to say that a quick fucking will happen, the possibility of it filling the air.

“I never do this,” You gasp as Ben closes the distance between you, feeling the heat of his body radiating off of him. He nudges his knee in between your still legging clad legs, prompting you to grind his crotch on his flexed thigh as it rests against the locker behind you. “I usually let a man wine and dine me first before this happens…” Your voice trails off as his hand trails down the side of your curves.

“We’ve practically been dating for 3 months now,” Ben’s voice deepens as you slip a hand underneath his gym shorts. Your eyebrows raise up in surprise when your hand reaches his hard thick cock. “I hate wearing knickers at the gym” he says in response to your questioning eyes.

“Funny, so do I,” You reply back grabbing his wandering hand and guiding down towards your glistening core.  He growls deeply in delight, his strong, languid fingers doing a dance around your clit and your hand glides up and down his cock, your grip tightening every now and then. All the while, you are both frantically kissing each other. He nips harshy at your bottom lip, swiping his tongue across it before you meet his tongue with yours. Your hot, wet, open mouth kisses are swallowing each others moans.

“Fuck, you’re so tight sweetheart,” Ben groans out in appreciation as your slick allows him to slide his middle and ring fingers into your drenched cunt. You pull your hand out of his shorts and grasp at his shoulders when his fingers make a come hither motion, hitting your G spot so perfectly.

“Ben, baby,” You cry out, chest heaving closer against his chest, your eyes shut as your bring your head back in ecstasy.

“Tell me what you need, love,” Ben murmurs into your ear, kissing the sweet spot below it as he continues his slow, calculated movements against your G spot. He is trying so hard not to come in his shorts because he can feel your walls clenching.

“I need you to fuck me Ben,” you moan aloud, failing to keep your gasps of pleasure in.

“As the lady wishes,” Ben growls loudly as he pulls his now soaked fingers out of your cunt. It’s all happening so fast and your mind is reeling at the way he roughly turns you so that you are facing the lockers. You place your hands atop them for support and hinge your hips back and grind against his still covered cock.

“You’ll be the death of me love, I swear it!” Ben groans lowly as he slides his shorts down to his knees. The mutual need to relieve each other’s frustration is mutual and you slide your leggings down to your ankles. You bring your plump derriere back and you moan in surprise when it comes into contact with Ben’s cock, already slick with precum.

Ben grabs the globes of your ass apart and he is welcome by the sight of your dripping core. With a slow, determined thrust, he slides his thick cock easily into your hole, your glistening walls swallowing each ridge and vein of his thick girth. You both obscenely moan aloud at the joining of your two bodies, not caring at all that someone can walk in on you both. This fact seems motivate you both because you push your ass back, taking in more of his hard length, gesturing him to move faster.

“As much as I wanna take my time and ravish you baby,” Ben gruffly whispers into your ear, quickening his thrusts into your cunt. “This is gonna be quick! I’m so close!”

“s’ok Ben, I comp- “ Your breath taken away when he pounds into a spot that you never knew existed. He takes notice of your surprised expression and increases the intensity of his thrusts, his trembling cock welcomed by the clenching of your wet walls. Ben looks down to where his cock is connected with your core and the sight of your electable ass jiggling with his fastened thrusts. Acting on impulse and need, he brings his hand down to slap your right ass cheek and your trembling walls clench around his cock, bringing both of your to your release. Shouts of each others name fill the locker room as you enjoy the feeling of his white hot cum shooting thick ropes inside you

“Fuuuuck me,” Ben gasps as he slows his hips down, pressing opened mouth kisses along your neck, reveling in the salty taste of your skin and the aftershocks of your walls throbbing around his slowly softening cock. A mixture of your releases trickle down your thigh and you both groan in frustration when he slides his cock out of you.

“Fuck me, indeed,” You smirk, turning your body around to face him, eyes tracking his as you slide a hand down to your pussy to collect the wetness there.

“Holy hell,” Ben exclaims in awe as he sees you bring your hand to your lips, licking the wetness off in a teasing manner “I’m marrying you.”

“Wine and dine me first,” you laugh aloud, lighting the atmosphere. “And we’ll see where it goes, Ben.”

[thefinalcinderella]

Tsurune Book 2 Chapter 5 - Marebito (Part 2)

Glossary here

Full list of translations here

Translation Notes

1. The joya no kane, or New Year’s Eve bell, is a tradition in Japan where temples ring a bell 108 times on the New Year to get rid of evil desires and thoughts, and 108 is believed to be the number of these thoughts.

2. Kin-teki and sen-teki are targets that are used for entertainment on special occasions. And yeah a sen-teki is actually a folding fan.

3. Zenkyuuren, short for Zen Nippon Kyudo Renmei (All Japan Kyudo Federation) is the main organization that oversees and promotes kyudo activities in Japan, including organizating tournaments. University students have their own organization that is not affiliated with Zenkyuuren.

4. A shigetou-kyuu is a lacquered bow wrapped completely in rattan strips. Only high level archers may use one.

5. Anatta is a Buddhist term that refers to the doctrine that states humans do not have a permanent, underlying substance that could be called the soul.

6. Shikoku is one of the five main islands of Japan and the second smallest.

7. This is actually the second time the Shikoku Pilgrimage is mentioned in the series. The Shikoku Pilgrimage is a pilgrimage of 88 temples associated with the Buddhist monk Kuukai. There are also over 20 temples that are not associated with the pilgrimage.

8. Zouri sandals are traditional flat sandals made of rice straw that look like clogs.

9. Green foxtail is called nekojarashi in Japanese, which is also the name for the cat toy that resembled it.

Previous | Next

“I'm going first!”

“Do it, Minato!”

After Ryouhei shouted, Minato jumped into the river with his back facing the sun.

A powerful splash went up, and Minato came up from the water after a pause. Ryouhei and Seiya also dived in the same way from the rock that was jutting out over the river.

It was the afternoon of the second day of training camp. They had finished morning practice, and were immersed in playing in the river.

Just a short walk away from the inn, there was a river with a gentle current that was suitable for swimming. Hearing about the local children diving into it, Minato, Ryouhei and Seiya eagerly changed into their swimsuits. It was hot today as well, and there was a thin sheen of sweat covering their limbs. Since the river bottom was filled with rocks, they fully prepared themselves for it by wearing trekking sandals so their feet wouldn’t hurt.

The rock didn’t look very tall when seen from a distance, but when one stood on it, it had a height that made one hesitate to jump from it. However, the three dived without any hesitation, and were bathed in cheers from the local boys who had done it earlier.

There was no trace of it nowadays, but the three of them were actually mischievous kids when they were little. They also did things that gave scares to the people around them—getting lost in the mountains behind their homes on their “heroes’ adventures,” building a little house on top of a tree and called it their secret base, then falling through the floorboards when they tread through it, and other such things.

The cousin duo of Kaito and Nanao were enjoying a different kind of play. Nanao sat down in a swim ring and floated along with it. Kaito overtook him, swimming in front crawl. He was swimming in earnest, wearing goggles. The two reached a part of the river where it would be dangerous if they went any further and walked upstream against the current. Then, once more, Nanao rode on his swim ring and floated off, and Kaito swam down the river.

Hanazawa, Shiragiku, and Seo were preparing to enter the water on the riverside. Hanazawa tied twintails beneath her ears, and Shiragiku gathered her hair on top of her head. Their pale skin stood out.

“I was quite surprised this morning, by Onogi-kun’s scream.”

“Oh, that. It was probably Kisaragi-kun who scribbled on his cheeks with permanent marker, right? Thank goodness Takehaya-kun was able to erase it with a cooling spray for him.”

“It sure was a bold prank,” Seo replied as she was looking at their feet.

“Oh? You got a pedicure? That pink color is so cute. It really suits you, Shiragiku.”

“I am so happy that you noticed, Seo.”

Hanazawa took off her back-strapped shoes and stretched her foot in front of the other two.

“Ta-da, look at mine too!”

Hanazawa’s toenails were painted white, with three black circles drawn on each of them.

“Kasumi-mato!? Did you do them yourself, Yuuna? If you don't hide your feet, you'll get targeted, won't you?”

Seo and Shiragiku were hugely impressed. They had Hanazawa promise to help them do the same for their nails tonight before they went to bed.

The three placed their clothes on a rock by the riverside and then slid into the water.

“So cold! The boys just go into cold water like this a lot, huh?”

“I can just barely soak my feet.”

Seo went all the way to around the middle of the river and submerged herself all the way up to her head. After she rose from the water, she combed back her wet hair. Since she was a handsome girl, it was strangely picturesque.

“It’s cold at first, but once you’ll get used to it once you take a soak.”

“If Seo says so…”

Hanazawa and Shiragiku clasped hands and went into the water, submerging themselves up to their shoulders, and screaming, “Kyah, it is cold!” When they were about to get up, water was splashed onto their backs.

“Seo, stop that!”

“Fufu.”

The three had a water fight, running through the water and trying to escape each other. They had fun throwing a beach ball around and swimming breaststroke, but suddenly, laughter turned into screams.

Two boys, lying face down, were floating away from upstream.

At the girls’ screams, Kaito cut around to in front of two boys, striking their heads. Upon doing that, the two planted their feet on the river bottom and raised their heads.

“What’s up, Kaito-kun?”

“Ryouhei, Narumiya! You guys scared us. You looked like corpses floating away. Stop playing like that.”

Ryouhei scratched the back of his head.

“Oh, sorry. We were looking underwater. There’s fish there.”

“…You guys really are wild children. I wanna see your childhoods.”

Without noticing the sarcasm, Minato answered him seriously, “Should I recreate it for you? In the past, if there was a shallower area, we’d often pile up rocks to dam up the stream and make it like a pond.”

“Oh, do it, do it. If we put in the fish we caught, the water turned into a hot soup by the heat of the sun, and then the fish became boiled fish,” Ryouhei added to the topic, and Kaito’s eyes also became like those of a boiled fish.

After Seiya and Nanao joined, the eight left the water temporarily. They covered themselves in bath towels while repeating, “So cold, so cold.” They were in the water for too long, so their finger and toes became swollen and pale white.

Tommy-sensei and Masa-san handed out cups of hot coffee. They stuffed their faces with sandwiches and yakisoba bread, and warmed up their cold bodies around the fire pit.

Minato finished drinking his coffee and placed his cup on the ground.

“Masa-san, you dive too.”

“I’m an old geezer, so I’ll have to pass on that.”

Minato was about to say that he wasn’t an old geezer when he quickly realized something.

Even though Masa-san’s head wound had just been completely healed, wouldn’t it be dangerous if it reopened while doing something like diving…?

After he realized the insensitivity of his words and shut his mouth, Masa-san spoke.

“When you all finish eating, shall all the boys have a race? I’ve put a towel on that rock that looks like a frog downstream, and whoever grabs it first is the winner. The winner will have more meat added to their dinner.”

“Alright!” Kaito said, quickly standing up and beginning warmup exercises. He was so enthusiastic that he even put on a swimming cap. The others also put on goggles and entered the water.

Tommy-sensei raised his hand up high.

“Take your marks, get set, start!”

Kaito, Ryouhei, Seiya, Nanao, Minato, and Masa-san simultaneously kicked the water.

The distance was about twenty-five meters. Their arms rotated in huge circles from their shoulders and they paddled against the water, stretching their knees. Six flexible bodies glided through the water. Kaito, Minato, and Masa-san were neck-and-neck, and in the end it was Masa-san who arrived at the goal first. With a calm smile, he held the towel in his hand and went up to the riverside.

Nanao also got out of the water and protested.

“Masa-san, it’s not very adult-like to swim seriously, you know?”

“Everyone, you’ve misread the current. It’s faster at the edges.”

“Shit, one more round! And this time, let’s change the lineup,” Kaito said.

The six once again submerged themselves in the water. This time, it was Seiya who won. “One more round!” Kaito shouted. It didn’t seem like this competition would end until he won.

The laughter of the ten people continued into the evening.

On the third day of training camp, they decided to hold a competition.

Tommy sensei spoke, “Let us do a ‘hyakuhasshakai’. It is patterned after the ringing of a temple bell for one-hundred-and-eight times on New Year’s Eve (1), and it’s common to do it at the end of the year for kyudo. The way to do it is with teams of five in two shajos. First, you shoot two arrows in zasha, and then you shoot four arrows in rissha for twelve rounds for a total of fifty shots, and this is all done twice. However, the first-year students from Tsujimine High School will finish with fifty shots. Your advisor is right next to you, so I want you to shoot with peace of mind. This is an individual competition, not a team competition, so those who feel that can’t shoot anymore may drop out midway. Why the hundred shots are finished, the remaining eight shots are open to all, so look forward to it since the kin-teki (gold target) and sen-teki (fan target) will be prepared. (2) Item prizes will also be prepared.”

A kin-teki was a three sun (9.1 cm) target with gold painted, and a sen-teki, as its name suggested, was fan-shaped. Both were used for celebrations and events.

The girls from both schools made a merged team, and the total of thirty people were made into six groups and divided into the two shajos. Nikaidou and Minato’s team were in the second shajo.

The team that finished shooting their four shots would have the oomae and second archer watching the targets, the third archer would be recording the results on the blackboard, and the fourth archer would be writing the results down in the books. When one team finished, they would switch roles with the next team. Since it wouldn’t be fair to have only the same person retrieving the arrows, of the five people in a team, they would change the order by having everyone shift forward one spot for every round of shooting. For that reason, the record-keepers needed to pay close attention.

Nikaidou looked at the profile of his advisor.

It was unusual for him to watch over his students without leaving. He wondered what kind of magic the Kazemai advisor used on him. It might have been that he just couldn’t excuse himself from it because an elderly teacher gave him a talk.

The Tsujimine members also exchanged words with the Kazemai coach and members. It was motivating to shoot with archers from another school. It was a fresh surprise to compare the differences between shamen uchiokoshi and shoumen uchiokoshi, especially.

There was someone who felt the same way. Ryouhei spoke to Tommy-sensei.

“What kinds of shooting methods and schools are there?”

“Well, the main organizer of Inter-High is the All Japan High School Athletic Federation, and now what high schoolers are taught in club activities and the like is the same style as the ‘Zenkyuuren’. (3) The rules are slightly different if the competition is sponsored by a university or a company. Zenkyuuren is the abbreviation of the All Japan Kyudo Federation, which is also abbreviated as Nikyuuren. It is roughly categorized into three groups.

“Shoumen uchiokoshi in reishakei.

“Shoumen uchiokoshi in bushakei.

“Shamen uchiokoshi in bushakei.

“Kazemai and Kirisaki shoot in the first category, and the Kirisaki twins shoot in the second category. Tsujimine shoots in the third category. Since kyudo schools are different from Zenkyuuren in things like taihai, it is common for many people to belong to a school and Zenkyuuren. I myself belong to Zenkyouren and Ogasawara-ryuu hosha.”

"Whoa, that’s pretty complicated."

"Even for shoumen uchiokoshi, between reishakei and bushakei there are differences in the spot-the-difference levels, such as the way you hold your arrows and the movements of nocking an arrow, right? For shamen uchiokoshi as well, there are differences such as the one between the methods of not stopping midway during hikiwake and 'sanbun no ni.'"

"Ooh, that's really interesting. Thank you for the explanation."

"Ho ho, was I a little bit helpful to you?"

Fuwa, who heard the two’s conversation by chance, also murmured "Whoa" in his mind.

He remembered that the cheering for university matches was very lively, but conversely, the average kyudo match organized by the Zenkyuuren banned vocal cheering, and showing support was limited to applauding when there was a kaichuu. The way things were done changed with the place. It wasn’t an argument of which was better or worse, but a difference of tone. The variety was very interesting.

The competition continued after that, and when fifty shots were finished, they had a lunch break.

Ryouhei and Nanao were obsessed with Ootaguro’s huge bow and got him to let them hold it. Kaito and Seiya were checking whether or not the records were correct. Seiya was also inputting the records into a self-created smartphone app. Among the Kazemai boys, Ryouhei had the least number of hits with thirty-six, and Kaito and Minato had the strong results of forty-two hits.

Masa-san sat next to Minato, who was drinking barley tea.

"Minato, if your wrist hurts again, don’t overdo it."

"Got it. I really am okay. I’m doing great."

"It's true that you aren't bending your left wrist anymore. You're stretching it straight."

"When I was conscious of not bending my left thumb and pointed my thumb at the target at kai, I didn't bend my left wrist anymore. I think that maybe the line above my arm went straight by me stretching my thumb, and the line below my arm went straight by tensing my little finger."

"You've discovered it for yourself. You probably won't forget what you understood by yourself."

"Yeah, I'm kinda happy."

Minato smiled.

When the call came for the resumption of the competition, he put on his yugake again.

For the second half, the five Tsujimine first-year students and the five girls refrained from shooting, and it became a match with a total of twenty people. The ones who refrained took on the roles of checking the targets.

As expected, perhaps due to exhaustion, the ones who did well in the first half missed a lot. The number of hits had gone down considerably, but the starting members displayed their willpower and produced a hitting ratio of seventy to eighty percent. A dragonfly stopped on the tip of a leaf, as an arrow crossed over the pond, and the sounds of "All right!" came flying.

The results after the hundred shots were over were as followed.

Nikaidou had eighty-two hits, Fuwa seventy-nine, Ootaguro seventy-seven, Higuchi sixty-nine, and Aragaki seventy-four. A total of three-hundred-and-eighty-one hits.

Kaito had eighty hits, Ryouhei sixty-seven, Seiya seventy-seven, Nanao seventy-three, Minato eighty-two. A total of three-hundred-and-seventy-nine hits.

The top two were Minato and Nikaidou with eighty-two hits out of a hundred shots. There was a loud round of applause after the results were announced.

The last eight shots were with the kin-teki and sen-teki.

The targets were changed from a thirty-six-centimeter kasumi-mato to a nine-centimeter kin-teki. Since the sen-teki was just as small, they were hard to hit. In addition to the products, the people who hit them could also get a set consisting of the kin-teki they hit and a small decorative arrow. It was a shooting side-show rather than a competition, so there were lively conversations from the stands while they watched the game.

In the midst of it all, Nikaidou had a grim expression on his face. His usual hitting rate was over ninety percent, but he was lacking life and vividness on this day. Something was getting in his way and his right hand couldn’t move as sharply as usual. When he turned his face towards the azuchi, the kin-teki glittered like it was laughing at him.

Shit, I don’t wanna lose. He’s the only I absolutely do not want to lose to――.

Just when Nikaidou was thinking that, he noticed a defect in what he was holding.

There was a gap in a part of his bow’s yazuridou.

A yazuridou, as its name suggests, is a piece of rattan (tou) wrapped around the part of the bow that the arrow rubs against (sureru) that was just above the grip. Japanese bows were usually wrapped with rattan in three or five places. Bows that had more places wrapped were high-caliber objects, and required a suitable location and level of ability to use. For example, the shigetou-kyuu (4), which was wrapped entirely in rattan, could not be used without a license in the Ogasawara-ryuu school.

The "aim" of the Japanese bow based on the yazuridou, and it was said that the aim was a few notches above the rolled rattan, but as the width of the rattan was only a few millimeters, it was easy for it to result in a deviation. This deviation of a few millimeters was a deviation of about ten centimeters at the target, so there were methods such as making a mark on the bow to make it easier to aim, but that was prohibited.

The place where the gap was located was exactly where his "aim" was.

If that was matched up with the center of the target, the heights would line up exactly…

That’s right, this wasn’t intentional; this was a natural phenomenon. I should just pretend not to notice it. This isn’t like an official tournament where there are equipment checks, and no one looks at other people’s bows in a festive atmosphere.

It’ll be good if I hit. I will hit.

Nikaidou made a grinding sound with his yugake. He took four arrows in hand. It happened when he stepped forward with a heart that was beating with an unsettled rhythm.

"Your yazuridou has a gap in it. Shall I fix it for you?"

He could just barely withstand the feeling of his heart nearly leaping out of his mouth. His trademark amiable smile did not appear on his face.

Following Masa-san, who headed towards the shajo as though he was gliding, Nikaidou headed for the waiting room.

Even from inside the waiting room, he could see what was going on outside. It seemed like the competition still hadn’t started yet, since it was noisy with the sounds of everyone talking.

Masa-san got a bottle of wood glue and a small spatula, used for repairing, and skillfully filled up the gap.

"Wait a little bit longer. I'll be done soon since it's only a little bit dislocated."

"…Did you notice it, sir?"

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"If it weren't for me being called out by you, then I would have intended on going out to the competition as I was. While the yazuridou had the aim marked on it."

"Today's competition is an interschool match, but well, if I had to say it, it's for fun. Why are you so obsessed over whether you win or not?"

"It's because once you lose, you'll get into a habit of losing. I will continue to win, during this summer…"

"During this summer? It's okay to not win after that?"

"I don't care about next year. I don't plan on continuing to do kyudo for a long time like everyone else. …It's stupid, getting all worked up and emotional over such a simple sport."

Nikaidou smiled. Even though it should have been his usual smile, for some reason his face was strained.

Masa-san then spoke, like he was addressing the bow in his hands.

"There's a story that goes like this. There was a warrior who got hayake and was told by his master to stop practicing archery. Resolving to cure himself by any means necessary, he placed a kimono that his daimyo gave to him in front of his aim, and challenged himself to commit seppuku if he let go of his arrow, but as expected, he shot through the kimono. Also, two university students were worried about hayake, and when they attempted to not let go of their arrows by facing each other and drawing their bows, both of them shot their arrows at the same time. Those are anecdotes that really cannot be imitated."

"Really… So what? What do you want to tell me? If it is that you get hayake when you're obsessed with hitting, or that I should sympathize with those who have it, or something like that, then I am afraid those stories have nothing to do with me."

"Since hayake is the condition of releasing your arrow against your own intention, what about its opposite? It is your body moving naturally without you thinking about anything, and all of your released arrows hitting the target——. What do you think the state of reaching that superhuman level, the opposite of hayake, is called?"

"I don't know, the state of selflessness (anatta)? (5) Pretty mystical, isn't it."

"It's called 'the zone.' Achieving the best level of physical activity in the ultimate state of concentration――. Don't you want to experience that sort of state just once?"

For a fleeting moment, the sounds were interrupted.

The sounds that should have been so noisy didn't reach his ears at all.

The buzz of cicadas sounded from a distance.

"When Mr. Eugen asked Awa-hanshi to 'please teach me Japanese archery,' Awa-hanshi replied with, 'Don't think about hitting the target.' If they only heard that, most people would be puzzled, wondering what he was saying, but that was only a conclusion, and the process of reaching that conclusion was omitted.

"Why don't you think about hitting the target.

"How do I avoid thinking about hitting the target.

"Awa-hanshi was speaking about those parts with a Buddhist mentality, so it might sound like something from the other side of the clouds, but it does in fact tell you how to enter the zone. Wouldn't you like to revive the secret techniques that Eugen Herrigel left behind in the modern age?"

"…You're telling me to do that?"

"A high school archer who's able to do kakehodoki is the rarest of the rare. Is it okay for that skill to end with only you? There are some who may admire your shooting. As well as those will evolve further."

"You are the coach for Kazemai High School, aren't you? Is it okay to give your enemy such important information? "

"Even if they know it, no one can do it right away. And, just as you cannot learn a lot by completely copying the answers in a workbook, the answers you derived from the questions that you yourself asked, worried over, and suffered over are more memorable. Rather than just listening to what other people say, there is nothing better than what you gain from experience."

Nikaidou took a breath. There was too much information and his thoughts couldn't catch up with it all.

Masa-san continued to speak.

"Some parts of you overlap with how I was just a little while ago. I can't win more, or hit――. Wanting to win, wanting to hit—those are primitive feelings that we have by nature without requiring training for them. It's fine to set winning as your goal, but if you make it your ultimate goal, then you would definitely suffocate. You need five, six, ten years to be able to boast a high-level hitting rate. So then, when your physical strength and ability decline, what should you do?"

"…You should quit. A person who hadn’t hit a hundred targets doesn’t have any persuasiveness, you know?"

"I have. Since I did it when I was practicing by myself, I can’t provide evidence, but I have continuously hit two-hundred-and-eleven targets."

"…Heh, congratulations."

"I thought that a brilliant future was waiting for me after hitting a hundred targets. That an unknown power would awaken within me, and I would reach a superhuman level. However, in actuality, nothing happened. I was satisfied for only a moment, and just a quiet time passed."

Masa-san narrowed his almond-shaped eyes and smiled.

He looked beyond the door, towards the shajo.

"Now, I am very satisfied. I have fun shooting my bow. And so, I wanted to pass it down. It would be inexcusable if I was the only one who used up what my ancestor left for me and it became lost. I want to hand over all the power I have now and see even more new ways of shooting."

"…Everyone at Kazemai must be truly excellent. Since they keep listening to your sermons."

The call for convening sounded. Masa-san handed the bow to Nikaidou and returned to the shajo.

Nikaidou gripped his bow tightly.

The kin-teki competition began.

The target was small, so there wasn't a lot of hits, but many arrows landed right next to it. Those were places that would have been considered hits if it were a normal target. Since this was different from a regular competition and there wasn't a ban on chatting, things like, "Ooh, what a shame" and "Whoa, so close" could be heard, along with laughter.

In the second round, Fuwa hit the target, and there was applause along with the sounds of "Alright!"

In the third round, a first-year beginner also landed a hit, and he couldn't stop grinning. It was something that came from being genuinely happy when one hit the target. Kaito and Seiya both hit the target in the fifth round, and the gold targets were replaced with new ones.

Fuwa said, "Nikaidou, go and snatch some items."

"Ha, don't boss me around. I'll be hitting next."

And just as he declared, he shot the target.

Thus, Nikaidou carried out all the steps of shooting in order and conquered the hyakuhasshakai. Minato missed all his shots since the kin-teki were brought on. Nikaidou hit half of the eight kin-teki shots and ended up with a total of eighty-six hits.

>

After the competition, Kaito went to the inn's lounge.

There was a bookshelf in the lounge, and besides books about kyudo, there were also books such as a field guide on wild grasses and flowers and a travel book with information on nearby places. Kaito, surprisingly, happened to be an avid reader. Beneath the bright red sky, he sat on the porch and was reading a book when Masa-san visited the room.

"Masa-san, there's some old kyudo magazines over here."

"Those are pretty valuable."

Masa-san sat down next to Kaito. Kaito looked at him.

"During the shakai, you were deep in talk with Nikaidou, but you weren't talking about arrows going missing or anything like that, right?"

"Oh, there wasn't really an issue. It's more like he got annoyed with my unwanted butting-in."

"…Also, Masa-san, to tell you the truth, on the day of the Yata Shrine festival, I heard something that has to do with your privacy. Sorry."

"Was it really something that would make you look so ashamed?"

"I heard from the parishioner's conversations that Ren-san and you aren't blood-related. I thought I was the only one there at the time, but the other club members might have also heard it."

"Oh, that? I wasn't really hiding it, so there's no problem."

"I see. That's good."

During the night festival, Narumiya had said that he had met Ren-san just now and then got really talkative, so Seiya got suspicious, wondering if something happened. Ren had the glamour and appeal of an adult man, or rather, a shadiness to him that gave off a wild allure, and he was no doubt an unreadable person, even for Kaito.

As he was thinking that, cats appeared from out of nowhere and snuggled up to him. One of them looked a lot like his own cat, Lucy.

"You guys again? Well, there's nothing to do about it."

"You're popular no matter where you go, eh, Kaito. You were even mobbed at Shikoku."(6)

"Oh, did that happen?"

Masa-san beckoned over a cat who was sizing him up from a short distance. He rubbed the chin of the cat that approached him quietly, and it closed its eyes in bliss. He held it up when he saw that its wariness was dispelled, and the cat curled up on his lap. Seeing the two of them, it could be thought that Masa-san also had the qualities of a cat-seducer.

Kaito and Masa-san met at a night festival at Yata Shrine. Some bothersome people picked a fight with Kaito, and it was Masa-san who saved him. This was when Kaito was a first-year middle schooler and Masa-san was a third-year university student. At the time, he hadn’t known Masa-san did kyudo. When he was on a family vacation in Shikoku, they stayed at the lodgings of a temple that wasn’t included on the Shikoku Pilgrimage. (7) The chief priest there was an archer, and he unexpectedly ran into Masa-san, who was in the middle of an archer’s training pilgrimage. He learned that Masa-san’s grandfather, who was his kyudo master, had passed away, and that he himself was also a master archer.

It had only been a few months since Kaito joined a kyudo club. He requested that he be allowed to watch them, but the two of them spent nearly all of the time having a question-and-answer session rather than shooting arrows, and furthermore, the contents of their conversations was almost incomprehensible. The priest was a stern person who also had a kindly face, and a dignified atmosphere drifted in the kyudojo.

A boy about two years old lived in the temple, and he had frequently curled up on Masa-san’s lap in the exact same way as the cat was doing now. And nowadays he wondered if it was Masa-san who had been the one to have a relieved and easy smile rather than the toddler.  

When they returned from their trips, they were emailing and going to meet each other. They even went to a Japanese rock concert together. For Kaito, who had two older sisters, Masa-san was the coolest big brother ever. It felt somehow refreshing whenever he talked to him. Masa-san was a real charmer—in a good sense—since back then, and had many friends. And yet sometimes, he would look up at the sky with a gaze that screamed, "I can't take this anymore."

He gave off such an unsettled air, like he was perplexed about how to deal with a concealed blade――.

He never talked to anyone about this, and didn’t plan to.

He had only seen Masa-san shoot at Shikoku, and because he was allowed the chance of practicing at a private dojo back at home, he wasn’t able to get him to tell him details like its location. That was why when he learned that Narumiya had Masa-san teach him in kyudo, he was furious. The time when Kirisaki High School's Fujiwara entered Kazemai was no match for it. Even though he never even taught me, why did he teach you, who ran away from kyudo?

"Kacchan, Masa-san, there you guys are!"

It was Nanao's voice. Ryouhei , Seiya, and Minato were also behind him.

"It's a bit early, but Tommy-sensei and Hanazawa-san and the others went for dinner. Aah, kitties! Masa-san isn’t hated by cats either, I see. Must be nice."

"They might see you as a rival. Wait here a little bit."

Masa-san placed the cat on his lap on the balcony, put on zouri sandals (8) and went out into the yard. When he returned, he was holding green foxtail, also known as the cat teaser. (9)

"I think this is just the thing?"

When Masa-san lured it with the cat teaser, the cat crouched, and then jumped at it immediately. While it batted at the tip, it approached the knees of Nanao, who was crouching. Around when the cat was stepping on Nanao’s hand, the cat teaser was raised, and the cat jumped onto Nanao’s knee. He immediately tried to hug it, but was hit with a barrage of cat punches.

"Ow ow ow!"

Next to Nanao, who was pressing his hand to his face, Seiya spoke.

"Masa-san, let's leave it to those two this time."

Ryouhei and Minato held cat teasers in both hands. The two were shaking the tips to attract the cats’ attentions, but they ignored them. Ryouhei tilted his head.

"Why's it not working?"

"Give that to me for a sec?"

The cats approached Masa-san when he had a cat teaser in his hand, so Ryouhei, Minato, and Nanao were strangely not good enough. Kaito held the cat that looked like Lucy and stood up. With a book in one hand, he went back to the bookshelf.

It's pretty irritating that Narumiya is so attached to Masa-san even though he showed up later, but well, there's nothing to do about it. It's probably just as Fujiwara said—Masa-san's shooting can shoot through the hearts of almost any archer. There are tons of skilled archers, but Masa-san's shots have a feeling of depth to them.

Masa-san, if you only pay attention to Narumiya, I’ll kick you hard.

Because you’re our big brother.

Kaito parted with the cat and said, "Masa-san, it’s almost time. Let’s go eat."

"Alright."        

Previous | Next

[kinda-ooc-just-a-little]

Heart of a lion

Chapter 2 Getting to Know You

Shinso x Reader

Rated M for Future Mature Themes (Not Explicit)

Tags: slow burn, mutual pining, secretive quirk

Summary: You never wanted to be a hero. You come from a long family of heroes, so why not just be a normal person? That’s what you hoped, until you re-connected with your old High School friend/crush.

Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7 / Chapter 8 / Chapter 9 /

The first day of school always left a sour taste in every student’s mouth. Especially yours, as you were completely out of your normal elements. UA always seemed like such a prestigious school that was way above your social circle and here you were, taking classes there. Not to mention no one you knew attended UA, not that there were any notable friends you made anyway. You released a sigh and walked into the entrance of the towering building, not missing a green haired student almost tripped onto his face, only to be saved by a girl who made him float so he didn’t dive right into the pavement.

At least I’m not the only nervous one here. You thought as you searched for your class. General Department class 1-C. Your stomach churned outside of the classroom as you willed yourself to open the door. Immediately you were introduced to faces you did not recognize. You sneaked in the room and sat in the only empty desk that weren’t bombarded with students: in the back corner by the window. You sat your stuff down and looked out the window. You started to regret your choice to graduate into this school. Was UA really the best place to go?

As you mulled over your decisions, you didn’t even notice the student with indigo hair that sat directly in front of you.

“Looks like you weren’t kidding when you said you would join me.”

Surprised and caught off guard by his sultry voice, you looked ahead to see your former and current classmate and he was… smiling? Grinning? Either way, you were sure you felt your heart skipped a beat… or maybe that was your anxiety. “Y-yeah! I finally decided to test my luck. I guess they liked me enough to accept me.”

You heard him hum to himself. “Well, they would be idiots not to.”

You were about to ask him what he meant by that, but the teacher entered the classroom before you could. Idiots not to accept you into the school? Or idiots to not like you?

Either way you were glad that you had at least one person to talk to. You can’t help but smile to yourself. It might be an interesting time at UA.

  You wished you had a quirk that made you disappear because gym was the worst. Even though you were in general studies, it seemed the school took the students’ health seriously, even the students who were not heroes. The gym teacher decided to test everyone’s strength and stamina because god forbid you have an easy first day. He challenged everyone in the class to keep running and to not stop moving for one whole lap, or the whole class had to take an extra lap. You didn’t want to be the sorry sucker with the whole class pointing daggers at you, so you were about to collapse when you hit the halfway mark. Your shins were on fire at this point and you were almost ready to give up.

“Come on, I know you got more in you.” You heard that same sultry voice next to you again.

“I don’t know,” you strained to talk. “I think being on everyone’s shit list… is a better option than dying.”

Shinso let out a small laugh. “I don’t think it’s that bad.”

“What? Being on everyone’s shit list or dying?”

“Dying. I don’t think anyone’s ever died from running too much.”

“Well, you’re about to see it.”

You made idle chatter with him like this, forgetting the pain in your body until you saw the finish line. You both finished at the same time and you couldn’t stop yourself from doubling over with your hands on your knees and let out a groan of pain.

“Please god don’t make me do that again.” You cried out to no one in particular.

Shinso walked up to you with a sly grin. “It’s only the first day and you’ve already had more than you can handle?”

“More than you know.” You took a deep breath and released. “Really regret doing nothing but eating chips and cuddling cats all summer.”

Before Shinso could speak, the gym teacher walked up to you and placed a firm hand on your shoulder. “Which is why we need warmups like this! So, you can get your body into tip-top shape for the year!”

This is what you call a warmup?! You screamed in your head; very sure the rest of the class thought the same.

“Come on students! Let’s do some cool down exercises in the gym!”

The entire class groaned and followed the teacher. You stayed behind to catch your breath, noticing Shinso had not left yet. “You don’t have to wait for me you know. I need a minute.”

“I’m not going to the gym.” He simply said and walked in the opposite direction.

You looked at him with confusion. Where is he going?

He stopped and turned to you. “You want to come with?” He asked in a monotone voice.

You weighed your options. Follow a student you barely knew, or, finish dying off with the rest of class in the gym, who are also students you barely knew. You decided that you did not want to die today. You straightened yourself out and followed Shinso to the furthest fence that lead into a forest. He climbed on top of it and offers a hand. You pout and climbed it yourself and threw your leg over the fence and jumped down.

“I can do at least this.” You smugly said to him.

“Really? I thought you said you were dying.” He said as he jumped down to join you.

You followed him through the trees of the forest. “Only temporarily. It was a temporary dying.”

He snickered and you couldn’t help but grin. He has the cutest smile and laugh.

You both weaved through the forest and you started to feel your heart drop the deeper you both traveled into the forest. You didn’t know if it was because you were skipping class, or you were following Shinso into the middle of no-where, but the eerie croaking of the forest unnerved you. Not to mention Shinso could easily make you do anything and have you forget…

No. You were not like those assholes who assumed he was a bad person. Still, you couldn’t help but be on guard. You tried to make light conversation. “Man, I hope this isn’t a part of some convoluted plan to kill me in the middle of no-where.”

“Not unless you like being killed by fluffy lint balls with claws.”

You gave him a quizzical look, but quickly understood when you suddenly heard little meows from a multitude of cats. In the middle of this forest someone built a little shelter that housed two adult cats and two little kittens. You heart clenched at the sight as Shinso walked toward them slowly.

“Hello, Jack and Jill. Kitten and Mitten.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out two cans of cat food. He opened them and gently pushed it toward the family.

“Jack and Jill? Kitten and Mitten?” You questioned from a distance. You didn’t know how the parent cats would respond to you, so you kept your distance.

“I’m not that original, I know.” He responded as he scratched one of the cat’s ear.

“I think it’s cute.” You responded as you walked forward slowly to not to disturb their feeding time. “How long have they been here?”

“Since spring. I found them when I came here to put in my application. It was raining almost every day, so I managed to get my hands on this little house. Been feeding them since then.” They finished eating and immediately started to rub on Shinso leg.

“I can see they’re already used to you.” You said.

“Yeah, I come and feed them a lot, even though they can hunt for small animals.” He looked toward you. “You want to pet them?”

You give him an unsure look.

“Sorry, I just assumed you liked cats when you said you cuddled one all summer.”

He wasn’t wrong but you and felines had a very odd relationship. You looked toward the two adult cats, who were obviously on guard. You thought you might as well try.

You kneeled on your legs and leaned down gently, lowering your eyes.

Shinso observed your actions curiously.

You slowly reach out your hand toward both the adult cats and let them both sniff you a little bit to let them get familiar with your scent. Soon enough, both adults started to rub against your hand to let you pet them.

“Amazing.” Shinso said. “It took giving them shelter and food for them to even think of giving me a chance.”

“Well, me and cats have a pretty peculiar relationship. They either love me or hate me.” You said as the mom cat sat on your lap. “Although, they’re probably only accepting me because they trust you.”

“I hope so. I really like them.”

If only your middle school class could have seen him now. How could someone who so desperately wanted the approval of a bunch of kittens be a villain? You laughed a bit.

“Something funny?” He questioned.

“Nothing, just…” you wondered if it would be appropriate to bring up. “I never understood why our class automatically labeled you as a villain when I’m pretty sure you never did anything wrong.”

He observed the little kittens as they wrestled each other. “It comes with the quirk. People can’t help it, especially when its mind control. Villains give it a bad reputation.”

You felt sorry for him. He’s had to deal with this ridicule most of his life, no doubt being misunderstood simply because of his quirk. If it were irritating when they mocked him in class, you could only imagine what it must have been like his whole life.

“They just fear what they don’t know.” You said as you gently pat the cat in your lap. “And they’re idiots because they don’t know you.”

“You don’t know me either.”

“I would like to.” You didn’t know what possessed you to say something so bold. Maybe because it was a tender moment or because you wanted to tell him this for a while.

Shinso looked away with a slight blush on his face. “Not sure why you would want to but… thank you.”

You both grew silent the next few minutes. You couldn’t tell if it was an awkward or normal moment, but you enjoyed his presence none-the-less. You hoped he felt that way too.

After a few more minutes you both agreed to head back to the classroom. You said your goodbyes to the cat family and started to head back, noticing that Shinso kept glancing at you.

“Like what you see?” You smirked at him.

Shinso turned his head away looking embarrassed. “Nothing, it’s just… I don’t understand why you would want to get to know me. You’ve heard what they say.”

“I’m not one to judge a book by it’s cover.” You answered. “I would like to know someone before I can judge them.”

He said nothing else as you both got back, just in time to see that the class just ended, and students filing into the locker rooms.

“I’ll see you back in class.” You waved to him goodbye.

“Yeah.” He responded as he entered the boy’s locker room.

You walked inside and started to change into your normal school cloths. You wished this wasn’t the first or last time you got to hang out with Shinso, and you hoped he thought the same.

[yaomingmingz]

You’re Pleasant

[kimi ni todoke AU, aka popular student! yuta and misunderstood! reader | fluff, angst, basically you and yuta are both soft and it’s sweet]

summary: you were always seen as scary no matter how many times you tried to make yourself helpful. everyone avoided you and always went silent around you, all except for nakamoto yuta

a/n: honestly this is all because i watched the live action movie and the male protagonist resembles yuta at times and have similar personalities

Word Count: 1.6k

Part 1/Part 2

When you were born, everyone considered you as a pleasant child and you did your best to live up to those expectations. You were taught at a young age to do everything you can to help others. They were easy tasks, but you had hoped it could brighten someone’s day. It became a motto of sorts: “One good deed a day.” It would be simple deeds, like picking up trash, help carrying groceries, finding lost animals. Even though it didn’t seem too special, just one of these tasks made you feel accomplished, that someone could be happier because of you.

However, when you entered elementary, something changed. Your hair had grown long, covering your face at times; this caused the other kids to yell “Look!! It’s Sadako from The Ring!!!!” and run away at the sight of you. You didn’t have a very loud voice and spoke quite softly so then, you were confused as a ghost. It all seemed very childish, but many rumors sprouted because of it.

“I heard if you lock eyes with Y/N for three seconds, she’ll curse you!”

“Shut up! She’ll get angry!!”

“Oh no, she noticed! You guys are doomed now...”

This would happen regularly. You were used to it. But you didn’t really ever have real friends so you never knew how to act around the other students or even dispute the rumors. You just kept your head low and accepted the gossip as it came.

The most you could do was make yourself helpful to be liked by the others. You would help gather papers, stay late cleaning the classroom, volunteer when the others seemed hesitant, helping new students before they ran away.

Which somehow brought you to Nakamoto Yuta.

The first time you saw him it was on your way to school. It had been the first day and you decided to walk; it was beautiful, the cherry blossoms were in full bloom as they were softly carried in the wind, it felt ethereal. But somehow, he was ever more so. He was stuck at a fork in the road, unsure which path to take, but even confused, he was still breathtaking. It wasn’t hard to admire his beauty.

Though, you figured his confusion must have meant he was a new student. “Excuse me,” you cleared your throat to catch his attention. “If you’re looking for SM High, it’s that way.” You pointed in the exact direction you were walking.

For a moment he made an indescribable face, you figured even he had already thought you were scary. You told yourself it was fine, you were used to it. But somehow coming from him, it made you a bit sad. Then he walked over to you and gave you the brightest smile you had ever seen “Thank you..” He trailed off, waiting for an introduction.

You were visibly taken aback but Yuta’s smile never faltered. This was the nicest someone had ever talked to you besides your parents and teachers giving out assignments. “Uh....L/N Y/N”

Yuta looked pleased, “Thank you, Y/N!” He motioned you to put out your hand. “Here.” He placed a small cherry blossom shaped like a heart. “You can have this since you helped me.” He laughed and it was the sweetest thing you had ever heard.

You wanted to say something, to just talk to someone more without them being afraid of getting cursed. But before you knew it, his friends called him over and Yuta gave you a small wave goodbye, that bright smile never once leaving his face.

That’s when you realized it; he was everything you wanted to be. He had a smile that could brighten anyone’s day, he charmed everyone he talked to. And as months went by, it became more clear. He was instantly popular, everyone loved him and wanted to be his friend. But there was never a moment where he wasn’t kind to you. Everytime you would volunteer to stay behind to help clean or gather homework, he was right there helping you. Voluntarily. No one had ever done that. 

Nakamoto Yuta was a pleasant person, you wanted nothing more than to be seen as such too but everyone just steered far away, and they were somehow magnetically attracted to Yuta’s bright personality. You would be jealous, but you couldn’t help but admire Yuta as well. There was no denying that he was a great person.

“Y/N” 

It was during your lunch period and you stood face to face with none other than Lee Taeyong, the leader of the dance team. You knew Yuta, and another Chinese boy that everyone called WinWin, was in it too, but you never really paid enough attention to Taeyong. After all, he avoided you just as much as the others and you figured he thought you were The Ring girl as well. 

“Y/N, look at me in the eyes for three seconds,” Taeyong demanded. You were bewildered but obliged nonetheless. For three seconds it seemed like an eternity. Never had you experienced such an awkward short amount of time, but if there was one thing you could pull away from this situation it was that Taeyong had pretty eyes. 

“What else did you need....?” You asked, trying to break the silence. 

Taeyong looked perplexed. “So, you don’t curse anyone for looking you in the eyes?” 

.....Isn’t he being too superstitious?

You shook your head, but fortunately he took it as an answer and laughed. “So Yuta was right!” 

“Yuta..?” 

Taeyong smiled, “To be honest, I believed all the rumors that you cursed anyone who looked at you for even three seconds.” 

You looked down, “I’m sorry to disappoint but I really don’t have any powers like that.” 

Taeyong laughed again. “Its fine. It just Yuta has been going around and telling us that the rumors are totally wrong. Honestly, its the first time I’ve seen him so serious since he got here. He totally scolded us for believing all of it and I knew I had to see it for myself.” 

A warmth filled your chest when you thought of Yuta having your back. It made you wonder what you had done to have such a nice person to defend you. 

“You know, Y/N, you really have a good friend. But Yuta is actually a trouble maker so you better be careful!” Taeyong laughed for a third time. He must have been someone who laughed at just about anything. Somehow, it made you happy that Taeyong had approached you. For once, you couldn’t be misunderstood. “Hey, Y/N, what do you think of Yuta?” 

“Yuta is a good person,” You started to say. Taeyong just smiled and looked like he knew something but you went on. “He seems to really understand how I think. He is always so nice to everyone. Honestly, it seems like he's made out of cheerfulness.” 

Taeyong exploded in laughter once again. It made you think that Taeyong was a pretty nice person as well. “Yuta really is, isn’t he?!” 

“I’m really what?”

Oh shit.

Your heart stopped. Right behind you was none other than Nakamoto Yuta. You wished to disappear. This was way too cliché, he probably thought you were a weirdo, just going on and on about him. Taeyong, however, had the biggest sly grin. “Y/N just said you were made of cheerfulness itself! Isn’t that cute?” Cue the Taeyong laughter track. 

Both you and Yuta were beat red, you hadn’t spoken to Yuta that often so you were worried he’d feel really uncomfortable by you. You had always tried to be nice and well liked but all you wanted in this instance was to hit Taeyong. 

“Hey, Y/N, is he troubling you?” Yuta asked, still red. He could barely meet your eyes. 

“What?! No, we’re having a fun conversation.” Taeyong pouted. 

Yuta just raised an eyebrow in response. 

“Taeyong was being nice.” You said and Taeyong gave an exaggerated expression like “You see!” 

Yuta just sighed. “Whatever, just tell me if he’s being annoying, Y/N.”

“Hey, is that any way to talk to your nice leader? I might make you do extra warmups you know.” Taeyong teased. He took at his phone and made a face. “I gotta go, Ten is throwing a fit again. See you later, Y/N!” 

“He’s not even gonna say goodbye to me?” Yuta pouted but Taeyong was already making his way back into the school building. 

You stood there in silence for a bit. You never knew what to say to Yuta. Part of you worried he would get uncomfortable by you like the rest of the class, but the other part wished Yuta would never stop talking to you. And a small, tiny part of you wished Taeyong was here to help break the ice but you would never admit that. 

You looked up at Yuta, desperately thinking of something you could say to him, but when you met his eyes he was grinning from ear to ear. That exact smile made you feel warm again. It was weird but you wished you could take a picture of him smiling just like that and stare at it all day. 

“You know, I’m really happy. I kind of thought you hated me, Y/N.” He laughed shyly. 

Hate??? “I don’t hate–I could never! I just really wish I could be more kind like you.”

“I’m not that great you know,” Yuta rubbed the back of his neck. “If anything you’re the kind one, Y/N. You’re always helping people. You stay back in class everyday to help clean, you take the responsibilities nobody else wants to do, you even helped me on my first day.”

Your ears felt hot. “Umm–well, that’s–I mean, its not anything special–” 

“If you talk about your feelings, you won’t get misunderstood. You...really struggle with that right?” Yuta said softly. He was really considerate. When no one else could get how you felt, Yuta said all the things you wanted to. The only other people who could understand you was your parents. And now, Yuta. “Try to be more confident. But until then, I’ll help you, okay?”

You returned his smile. “Okay!”

[rogersmeadows]

study date

Pairing: Roger x Reader (unspecified gender)

Summary: When you complain about your troubles with your biology course to your best friend Freddie he knows just the man to tutor you. Unfortunately for you, that man is his insanely hot drummer who you can’t seem to form coherent sentences around. 

Warnings: like one swear word, this one’s pretty clean

Words: 2.5k

A/N: This is set in the very early days of Queen and also I have no idea how post secondary works in England so I’m just going off what I know from Canada, but I imagine it’s not that different.

“This is it. I’m finally gonna do it. I’m dropping out of school.” You slammed your textbook shut and dropped your head down onto it. Tears of frustration prickled at your eyes, but you fought them back as you hated crying in front of people and your best friend happened to be sitting across the coffee table from you. 

“Darling, stop being so dramatic. It’s a first year biology course. You could pass it in your sleep,” Freddie's blunt response cut your pity party short, he never was one to let you wallow in your own misery. 

“I can’t just pass Freddie. I need at least a B to keep my GPA where it needs to be.” You attempted to open the book again, but gave up almost immediately, “Fuck! I’m an arts student! Why are they making me take science anyway!” It wasn’t that you didn’t like science, quite the opposite in fact, it was endlessly interesting to you which only made it that much more frustrating that you couldn’t seem to grasp the concepts. 

Freddie knew this about you without you ever having to tell him. He knew you were too proud to admit it, but he could see how your eyes lit up when you actually took your time to read the material and he loved how you would spout off any and all interesting facts you learned from the day’s lecture once you got home to your shared flat. He also knew you were serious about needing to keep your grades up and wanted to do everything he could to help  which is why he got so excited when he made the connection, “Roger!”

Your ears pricked up immediately. Roger Taylor. Your best friend’s ridiculously hot bandmate. The one you had had a crush on since the first time you came home early from school to find him sprawled out on your living room couch, tired, sweaty, and shirtless, having just come from a particularly intense band practice. 

“Um. Hi.” How exactly does one greet a shirtless stranger sitting on their couch?

“Oh hi,” the blond stood and made a move like he was going to shake your hand before deciding to cross his arms over his chest instead, suddenly feeling very exposed, “you must be Y/N.” He quickly realized how confused you must be and chuckled at the situation. “Sorry, Fred said you wouldn’t be back until later tonight.” He gestured to the bathroom door where you could now hear the sound of the shower running. 

“Yeah well my later class got cancelled,” at the mention of Freddie you immediately let your guard down before realizing you still had no idea who this man was, “and you are?”

“Right, I guess I should explain that. I’m Roger, I’m in the band with Fred. The drummer.” He had the slightest smirk on his face when he said that as if he knew how much hotter he just became to you. He wasn’t wrong. You had always had a thing for drummers. And it definitely didn’t help that this particular drummer was standing two feet away from you, sans shirt, staring into your eyes with his own impossibly blue ones. 

“Oh, right on!” You cringed at your cheesy words that you knew you said with a little too much forced enthusiasm, but Roger didn’t seem to notice. He was too focused on the cute way you kept nervously playing with your hair. 

“You should come hear us play someday, we’re just starting out so we’re a little rough around the edges,” a confident smile crept onto his face, “but who knows, maybe one day we’ll make it big and then you can say you’ve supported us from the start,” he added a wink at the end and your heart just about melted. 

“I’ll make sure Freddie let’s me know when you boys play next,” you said with a nod. “Well, even though my class was cancelled my prof is going to be expecting us to know this material for the exam so I better get studying, it was nice meeting you.” You had never been good at flirting, but you decided to try your luck in a subtle way, adding, “Can’t wait to see you play, make sure to remember me when you’re famous.” As you turned to leave the living room though, you smacked your elbow on the wall which sent all of your textbooks and papers tumbling to the floor. You quickly refused Roger’s offer to help you gather your books and, mortified, scrambled to your room and shut the door behind you. “Smooth,” you exhaled to yourself as you sat down at your desk and tried not to play that moment over and over again in your mind. 

That was the longest conversation you had ever had with Roger. Anytime you were around him after that you were so worried about embarrassing yourself again that you just avoided talking to him altogether. 

“What about Roger?” You tried not to let your nerves show, but your heart was already racing at the mere mention of his name. 

“Roger’s getting his degree in biology. He’s quite good at it too. He would be the perfect tutor!” The more he thought about it, the more proud Freddie became with himself for coming up with the idea.

“Freddie I cannot ask Roger to tutor me,” you said in a warning tone. 

“Why not?” Genuine puzzlement took over Freddie’s expression. 

Your mind went blank. The real answer was you found Roger intimidatingly hot and didn’t want him to think you were an idiot for not understanding the most basic level of the subject he was majoring in, but you couldn’t very well say that to Freddie. Not that he would have a problem with you crushing on his bandmate, the opposite in fact. If Freddie knew about your infatuation with Roger he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from trying to set you two up which would only embarrass you when Roger inevitably turned you down because why would someone like him want to be with someone like you? 

“See. You can’t think of a reason. That settles it. I’ll talk to Roger about it tonight at our rehearsal. You’re welcome for saving you from dropping out,” he stood and took a bow and then retired to his room to get ready for his rehearsal, you could hear him begin his vocal warmups as he closed his door. 

Roger set your first study date for three days after Freddie first mentioned the idea to him. The first two days he had classes of his own to attend to, but the third day he was “All yours,” as Freddie had put it when you eagerly asked him that night what he had said. That was three days ago. You were now sitting at your coffee table in the living room trying not to obsessively run through exactly how you wanted the night to go in your mind. You were pulled from your thoughts by the buzzer to your flat going off. You buzzed Roger in and nervously awaited his ascent to your fourth floor apartment. In your head you were already running through what you would say when you opened the door for him to make sure you didn’t trip over your words, but instead of knocking he let himself right in, a tray with two coffee cups in one hand, quickly causing you to rewrite the script you were just preparing. 

He took your stunned silence as annoyance and quickly got to apologizing, “Sorry for barging in, Fred always tells me just to let myself in when I come over,” he was rambling at this point, afraid he had offended you, “but he’s not here and we don’t know each other all that well so I suppose it was rude of me to do that. Bad habit,” he let out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding in, “sorry.” 

“No no don’t be sorry, I just,” you shook your head as if you could shake loose a rationalization for your silence that didn’t include how nervous you felt at this very moment, “got thrown a little off guard. Sorry.” Apparently it was your turn to ramble now, “I just haven’t been getting a ton of sleep recently with finals coming up and I think I’m just a bit tired,” you finished, hoping he didn’t take that as you not wanting to do this. 

“Ah, well, that’s what these are for,” he lifted up the hand holding the coffees and gave you a comforting smile. “Fred said you liked vanilla lattes with extra espresso. I’m more of a black coffee drinker myself, but whatever gets the job done I suppose.”

“Oh you really didn’t have to,” you said as you gratefully took the cup he held out to you, “thank you,” you tried to keep your voice even, but the simple act of kindness sent butterflies right to your stomach. You immediately lifted the cup to your lips to try and hide the huge grin on your face. 

“It’s no problem love. Just making sure I don’t bore you to sleep when I start talking about cell division or the circulatory system,” he chuckled. 

Bored was the last word you would use to describe how you felt listening to Roger tutor you. Amazed was a more fitting descriptor. He would skim over the chapter to ensure he knew how in depth to go and then explain each concept to you in his own words in a way that actually made sense and kept you engaged in the material. At the end of each chapter you went over he would quiz you with questions he knew would be similar to the ones on your exam. He never made you feel stupid about the questions you didn’t get right, he would just try to explain it again in a different way until you fully understood. He was endlessly patient and as the night went on all of your fears about him judging you melted away as you two got more and more comfortable with each other. 

It was easily past midnight when he silently looked up from the textbook and let his eyes drift over all the features of your face, pausing for a second on your lips before he cleared his throat and looked back down, “Y/N?”

“Yeah Rog?” 

“Do you like me?” 

“What,” you gulped, wondering if you had been that obvious, “what do you mean?”

“Like, as a person, do you like me?”

Your panic was quickly replaced with confusion, “Of course I do, why do you ask?”

“It’s just that, you’ve barely said two words to me since we first met. And whenever you do, you just always seemed kind of cold towards me. Not in a bad way, God, I don’t mean anything against you, it’s just... this isn’t coming out right...I just, well, I was worried that I had done something to upset you,” his eyes flitted up to meet yours and you could see that he was trying to read your facial expression for any clues as to how you were reacting to his concern. 

“No you’ve never done anything to upset me Roger. I just,” your stomach felt like it was doing somersaults. You definitely didn’t want Roger to think you didn’t like him, but at the same time you weren’t about to tell him the reason you avoid him is because you have a stupid, childish crush on him and get too nervous to speak around him. You felt deflecting was your best bet to avoid having to explain yourself, “Why do you care what I think of you?” You decided to throw in some humour for good measure, “I’m sure you’ve got more than enough adoring fans that are all crazy about Roger Taylor, The Rockstar to bolster your ego.” 

You could tell from his expression your attempt at a joke didn’t make him feel better in the slightest. His voice dropped to just above a whisper as he looked down at his hands, “I wasn’t talking about Roger Taylor the rockstar. I was talking about me. The Roger sitting next to you on this couch right now.” With that he once again looked up into your eyes. Your eyes which were now searching his expression frantically trying to decipher what he wanted from you in this moment. 

“You didn’t answer my question,” you said softly, “why do you care about my opinion of you?” 

He opened his mouth like he was going to answer you, but then shut it again before taking in a long breath. “Forget it. I’m sorry. It’s getting late, I should probably go. We can finish up the remaining chapters next week,” he made a move like he was about to stand up, but something in you told you not to let him leave like this so you put a hand on his knee and took a deep breath before the words began spilling out of your mouth.

“I do like you Roger. That’s the problem. I really like you, but I can’t seem to stop myself from acting like an idiot around you so my solution to that was to just, not be around you. It’s just that you’re you and I’m me and I just get so nervous and I know that if I open my mouth I’ll just keep going on and on and on just like I am right now and-” your speech was cut short by Roger gently pressing his lips against yours. 

It was the sweetest kiss you had ever gotten. His one hand rested on your cheek as the other was placed tenderly over your own that was still on his knee. After a period that was much too short for your liking he pulled back to check your reaction, "Was that okay?” 

You were at a loss for words. All you could think to do was to nod your head before pulling him back in, this kiss much more passionate than the first. Your hand wove its way into his long, blond hair as you pulled him against you even more, deepening the kiss. 

When the kiss finally ended you two were left leaning your foreheads together, eyes still closed. Roger broke the silence first, “I’ve been wanting to do that from the moment I met you. I just never thought you would feel the same about me.”

You looked into his eyes with complete adoration, still not believing what just happened, “Well I think what we can take away from tonight is that we both need to be more honest about our feelings.”

He leaned in for another quick kiss before letting out a soft laugh, “You didn’t take away anything about biology?”

“Oh definitely not after that,” you said with a sly smile.

“Well,” he brought your face in so it was just inches from his, “guess we’ll just have to schedule a few more study dates.”

[teruthecreator]

💘 for macknerva!!

anon, you are a genius. you’ve basically just sent the magical question that has now unlocked for the world: macknerva origin story (bc honestly i realized i just start posting abt it without rlly explaining it??? and someone people are loving it??? so thank yall for being my ultimate favs but u deserve this origin) 

also this is several days late (thank u Depression) and also super long (thank u Dumb Brain) so i hope you can forgive me for both of these things   

💘: who developed a crush on the other first? 

it’s time we take it back....Back To The Start.  

so since this is my magical world of My Own Personal Canon (since i stole griffin mcelroys rights), minerva ends up in Kepler in a completely unnamed and not talked abt manner (bc im too tired to explain my general alternate theory hgkgldlgbfhke but busically she just got on a ship to earth to avoid dying) and is staying with duck until further notice. she doesn’t mind laying low at duck’s apartment until they’re able to figure out Everything and get her set up w a place of her own (spoiler alert: that never happens, but duck won’t admit he just misses having a roommate so they let it slide). 

after about a month (which feels like eons in minerva’s mind), she starts to get antsy. she’s already been introduced to the pine guard and amnesty lodge, by this point, so she’s constantly trying to hang out with someone so she isn’t stuck in duck’s apartment all hours of the day. 

which is how minerva ends up in the cryptonomica the day kirby has to run into his job at the theatre for a good portion of the day. it’s pretty empty in the shop--i mean museum, so it’s not like ned minds (plus him and mack have already struck up an agreement, which i explained in a previous post abt ned and macks friendship) especially when minerva’s around to willingly pick up the slack. 

but this second job has minerva curious: 

minerva: I assumed your assistant, Kirby, had only the singular position at your museum?  ned, from behind the counter: Oh, for a while he did, but then the theatre opened up and his services were needed elsewhere. And who am I, Ned “Theatrical” Chicane, to deny such a marvelous establishment of the skills and technical prowess Kirby possesses?”  minerva: Oh? A theatre, you say? 

here comes some random personal hc: on her homeworld, minerva was involved in her planet’s form of theatre (which i’ve always pictured to be very greek-esque, thus explaining her naturally booming voice) and absolutely adored it as a hobby. she, obviously, understands there will be a difference between Earthen theatre and the theatre she once performed; but there is no denying that that thought barely crossed her mind as she proceeded to pester ned about the theatre until he suggested she get a part-time job there. 

(ned knows mack’s struggles with keeping hires at the theatre, which is why he is quick to suggest minerva get a job there. that, and ned knows enough abt mack at this point to pretty accurately guess her Type. so let’s just say ned was doing this for both macks gain, but also for his gain to be able to harass her abt her hot new employee that he totally inflicted on her on purpose) 

ned probably brings it up later that night, or the next day. just really casually drops that he has someone interested in a position at the theatre:

mack: Holy fuck--yes, Ned! Tell them they’re hired!!! What can they do?   ned: Hmmmmm, well she’s quite fit, and has no qualms with getting her hands dirty.  mack: Oh, perfect! I need some more set builders! Thanks a whole lot, Ned. I knew you’d always have my back.  ned, knowing full well what he’s just wrought: Oh, of course, dear Mackerel. Anything for a friend! 

cue the next day: mack is just going about the theatre, business as usual, staying sort of close to the house doors so she can be Right There when ned comes in with the new hire. she’s faced away from the doors, checking something on her phone (probably her texts with ned, to see if he’s arrived yet) when she hears the doors open and shut. mack turns around to witness the Hottest Woman She Has Ever Seen In Her Goddamn Life. 

she’s tall--holy shit is she tall--with beautiful dark skin painted with these almost glowing blue tattoos that travel all the way across powerful arms and a prominent collarbone. but the tattoos don’t stop there, of course they don’t. they go all the way up to this woman’s bald head, perfectly framing her beautiful face. high cheekbones, strong chin, a wonderful nose (mack doesn’t have much of a preference for noses but this one is perfect she just knows it), masterfully-carved eyebrows that look like they were chiseled out of stone, and those enchanting, bright, beautiful bright blue eyes.  

mack’s brain basically short-circuits once minerva smiles at her (with those pearly white teeth and a grin so inviting it feels like her whole heart is melting), so she’s barely able to process the smug ned beside minerva. 

@goforduck drew this scene for me a while back and imma show it to u all bc i love him, his art, and the hot takes he gives my special lil ship: 

needless to say, mack Is Attracted, but i wouldn’t necessarily consider it a crush. meanwhile, minerva’s pov, she’s so damn excited for this job that she’s practically vibrating on the way in. and then, like romantic poetic would have it, all of that energy halts as time stands still and minerva locks eyes with....mack.  

mack definitely looks a little disheveled, but it’s like every fly-away hair crowns her head like a halo as those gemstones-for-eyes lock w minerva. she’s never seen someone she has felt so immediately attracted to in her life. but, that being said, she still does not Have A Crush. 

so after all the awkward blustering (AKA mack tripping over every eighth word as minerva turns on the Charm to keep that blush on mack’s freckled face) mack starts to get minerva accustomed to the work environment and the tasks she’d need to do. eventually, she hands minnie off to kirby bc shes got work to do, and the rest of the day goes by uneventfully. 

now minerva works at the theatre, and she’s Delighted w it. the job is easy but entertaining, she’s making friends, her knowledge of the world is expanding, and she now has a target for some very playful flirting and obvious showing-off of her muscles. because, listen....she has Eyes. she Knows mack always blusters whenever she’s around. and she knows herself, too. mack is cute and minerva likes making her blush. but there hasn’t been that moment where things are taken seriously.  

until about a month in, when minerva walks into something she maybe shouldn’t have but also definitely should have. 

you see, mack has a very important ritual in the morning. she arrives at the theatre at the absolute ass crack of dawn so she can get her yoga/stretching/vocal warmups in (since she is still a performer at heart and this has been her routine since college) and then sit by herself on the stage just sorta soaking it all in before kirby comes in with her coffee (which she needs in order to get up from her seated position on the stage bc she is that much of a coffee addict). just about every employee on staff knows not to even bother coming in this early bc 1. this ritual is very Private and Sacred to mack and 2. ur not even gonna be able to speak to her unless ur kirby w her coffee. 

“just about” encompasses every employee except for minerva, who decides to show up before kirby to bring mack her coffee (that she memorized after cornering kirby for the specifics one day) 

so she comes in the back entrance and is sort of at a loss as to where mack may be bc she doesn’t know mack’s routine. and she’s just kinda wandering aimlessly through all the shops and little rooms until she reaches the wings, where she hears the gentle strumming of a guitar. 

she approaches, with all the caution of a woman who has spent years mastering the art of stealth along w her combat studies, and comes upon the following scene: 

mack is seated in the exact center of the stage, eyes shut peacefully as her body sways to the tempo of the song she’s strumming on the guitar she’s playing (which minerva recognizes as the guitar that some idiot pit member left here about two weeks ago). she’s singing (the song is Dream A Little Dream of Me), and her voice is so soft yet so resonate that minerva feels as if she could stand right next to her or be 1000 feet away and hear the exact same thing. and she sounds so good, so completely in the song she’s performing and in her contentedness that it eases some subconscious unease minerva was holding. in the time minerva’s known mack, it’s the most natural she’s ever heard or seen her, just playing for an invisible audience in the dim lights of a theatre not yet awakened. 

minerva doesn’t realize she’s drifting closer to mack until she steps on an uneven plank, and the noise snaps mack out of her little world as she turns to the noise. needless to say, she’s a little surprised that minerva’s here this early, but then minerva wordlessly hands her her coffee and so mack could care less. she accepts the drink w a smile and then decides to go to her office to get started on some business emails. 

it isn’t until mack has already left the stage, and minerva is still stuck in the same position she was when she handed mack her coffee--heart racing a million miles a minute, face hot, and stomach feeling as if an entire colony of butterflies suddenly took refuge there--that minerva realizes that she is Endlessly, Hopelessly Fucked In Love. 

So yeah, TLDR; Minerva was first.