#UNFORTUNATELY as i had a bus to catch i didn't have time to check the whole thing

[mistbunny]

accidentally went to an art show yesterday

[aching-tummies]

Circumnavigating on an Empty Stomach

Had an interesting experience that I think people here will appreciate.

Transit in my city took a major blow a day or two ago. My city is large enough to have train lines running through it as well as bus routes. Likening it to anatomy, the train lines are basically like major veins or arteries while the bus routes are little capillary vessels or whatever, often intersecting with the train lines to ferry people all over the city.

A couple of days back I had to be on-campus for a few of the classes I am taking. I usually have to take 2 buses to get from my place to the right train line to get to my campus (there are multiple train lines running through my city and getting on the wrong one could take you to a random quadrant of the city). I ate breakfast around 8AM, found out through checking my emails that a couple of my classes were cancelled, resulting in me getting undressed and tidying up my house for about three hours until I decided to get ready to attend the remaining classes for the day. I headed out for the buses at noon, expecting to get to my campus by around 1:30PM or so and giving me roughly 90 minutes to heat up a packed lunch and eat it before attending a 3PM class.

Buses got me to the station--no problems there. I live diagonally across the city from campus, so it's usually 15 minutes on each bus and just shy of an hour on the train. About two stops since I got on the train, our train came to a screeching halt. Standing passengers got air as they clung to the hand-rails and poles along the train. Backpacks not secured literally soared 6 or more feet over. Loose thermos containers and water bottles went rolling. It took 25 minutes to get an explanation, and part of the explanation was that we would be stalled where we were for at least another 15 minutes. So…45 minutes of my 90 minute buffer disappeared only 2 minutes into a 55 minute train ride.

By the time I got to campus, there was no time to heat up my packed lunch. I just booked it across campus to my class and committed to paying attention as best I could and trying not to think about how it had been seven hours since I'd eaten anything. Breakfast was a distant memory.

Classes ended a little early for me that day and I got word that the train line issues had been resolved, so I headed to the train platform around 5:30PM. I managed to avoid the temptation of buying food on or around campus because I didn't want to justify buying a meal for a day where I went all the way to campus just to attend a class and a half. I was miserable, hungry, and feeling like I had been cheated out of my entire day because classes canceled or ended early without much notice. I spent more time trying to get to campus than I did actually on campus. In my mind, campus had taken my time and my rage--I refused to give it my money too for what I felt had been a day not-so-well-wasted.

Thirty minutes on the train platform with no trains before we got an answer. The incident that had stalled my train earlier had been resolved, but a new one had just occurred on the other side of the line, essentially grinding all train service to a halt. The platform was packed with 5 train cycles full of passengers. Even if a train had showed up, less than a fifth of the people on the platform would have been able to squeeze on. With trains expected to arrive once every half an hour, if at all, we'd be looking at three hours standing on the platform before any hope of catching a train.

I took a detour. I was miserable, frustrated, angry, and hungry. I had zero interest in standing on a crowded platform for three hours.

I wound up walking to a bus zone about twenty minutes (on foot) away from the train platform to board a bus. Unfortunately, from that part of the city my route home would require 5 different buses to get back to my quadrant of the city. Imagine that Campus is about as far to the West as you can possibly plot it on this quadrants thing. My home is just a bit north of the farthest Eastern point of the city. In order to get back home without relying on the failed trains, my trip home was twenty minutes on foot to the farthest Western point (campus is around it, but not directly on it). Bus 1 would take me deep into the SW quadrant of the city. From the heart of the SW, Bus 2 would get me to the city centre. From the city Centre, bus 3 would get me into the SE quadrant. From there, Bus 4 would take me to the eastern point and from there I'd have a choice of Bus 5 or a 20 minute walk up a steep hill to get back home. My alternate route essentially took me on a round-trip through my entire city. (I have altered the quadrants in this telling--what order they appear in to avoid potentially doxing myself, but circumnavigating my entire city on multiple buses on a 3.5 hour, untested route home was 100% real).

I stumbled into my home just after 9PM. Unfortunately, I was so anxious over the experimental alternate route home and making sure that I did not miss any stops that I was pretty tense throughout my journey home. No growls or grumbles 'cuz I guess I was too tightly wound for anything of the sort to happen. There was just this annoying hollow sensation sitting like a ball of led in my gut starting around 3:30 and not budging until I got home and basically face-planted into the patch of floor just within my front door.

[your-divine-ribs]

Drive

Words: 2.2k

Another little something I wrote from 🤍 anon’s thoughts… // the smut part is very brief // I do have another little car fic planned out from a request I received a while ago which will likely be naughtier xxx

Imagines Masterlist Main Masterlist

It's shameful really, how little your boyfriend has to do to turn you on. Most of the time he's all too aware of what he's doing. He's so in tune with you that he knows exactly what his calculated but tender touches and whispered words of sweet praise are doing to you, but there are odd occasions where he's completely oblivious to the effect he's having on you. This is one of those times.

You're on the long drive to Glasgow for the band's headline gig at TRSNMT. Van had chosen not to travel on the tour bus, favouring the drive with you instead, but you both hadn't accounted for quite what an arduous journey it was. He'd opted for the scenic route to avoid heavy traffic on the M74 which meant navigating some winding countryside roads. Whilst this provided some breathtakingly pretty scenery unfortunately it was doing nothing for his pre-gig stress.

"Shit... are ya sure this is the right way love? Feels more like we're driving up to the Highlands rather than into the city. You did put the right postcode into the Sat Nav, didn't ya?"

The hand that's resting on your thigh as he drives gives you a gentle squeeze and you squirm in your seat, your dress riding up an inch.

"I'm sure I did, you told me to programme an alternative route so that's what I did."

You sink down further in your seat, surreptitiously easing your legs apart, your breath catching when you feel the little callouses on his fingertips brush against your inner thigh as he flexes his hand.

"Might have to pull over in a minute," he mumbles to himself. "I know we've got plenty of time but I don't wanna end up driving miles in the wrong direction. Steve'll go ballistic if I turn up late for soundcheck."

He starts rambling on about the last time he'd left only minutes to spare for sound-check for an important gig and the band's tour manager had given him a lecture in front of the rest of the lads, but you're not properly taking in his words. You're too busy longingly watching his hand on your leg, studying his long, slender fingers and the shadows of the raised veins, the way he absentmindedly drags his fingers over the soft flesh of your thigh every now and again as he talks. You know you should be listening to him but to be honest your mind is well and truly at gutter level, imagining how it would feel if he slid his hand higher, his skilful fingers slipping under the lace of your panties to pleasure you as he drove.

"You're not listening to me are ya babe?"  His voice suddenly cuts through your filthy thoughts, and you turn your head to the side to look at him, see the little crease of concentration on his forehead as he peers at the road ahead.

"I am!" You protest, smirking to yourself. It's not a blatant lie but you're definitely not fully tuned in. Your flimsy dress is spread out on the seat, the hem only a few inches from indecency but you don't bother to rearrange it. You're just waiting for the moment Van glances over and catches sight of you. He never can resist you when you're looking all pure and pretty in a cute little summer dress, especially when the salacious curve of your lips adds that alluring hint of wickedness.

"So what did I just say then?" He challenges you, a hint of annoyance in his voice as he takes his hand away to place it back on the wheel as he navigates a tight bend. "You never listen, always got your head in the bloody clouds daydreaming about something."

"I was listening, you were moaning on about being late for gigs," you tell him, immediately missing his touch but trying not to sulk about it. "I don't know why it stresses you out so much to be honest... you never are actually late. Even when you're cutting it fine you always get there on time. Steve just likes to complain."

"Yeah well, I just like to be professional, ya know I do. Don't wanna let anyone down."

You hum an agreement, excitement mounting as he positions his hand back on your leg and it's a little higher this time. You're tempted to place your hand over his and slide it even further up but you don't. You're enjoying this little game that you've got going on, even if you're the only conscious participant at present.

You lull your head to the side to study his profile as he drives. He's so handsome with his long lashes framing his pretty blue eyes, the gentle slope of his nose and the scattering of freckles across the bridge of it, the sharp line of his jaw which is lightly stubbled after he'd foregone his usual morning shave. He's got the sleeves of his shirt rolled up to his elbows and you watch as the tendons in his arms flex under the skin as he relaxes and clenches his grip on the steering wheel.

Fuck... you'd never realised how much it turned you on simply watching him drive. You're not sure what it is but there's just something about it that raises your pulse. It's a warm summer's day but even with the air conditioning turned up full you swear the temperature's risen by a good ten degrees. Maybe you're ovulating. That must be it, your hormones tend to run rampant at certain times of the month and your uncontrollable horniness has got you into a compromising situation with your boyfriend on more than one occasion. Not that he complains about it or ever denies you, his own libido sky-rocketing whenever you take the initiative in your sexual encounters. In fact he'll often tell you it's his biggest turn on when you make your demands of him.

So you take the plunge in a sudden rush of boldness, darting out your hand to place it over his and firmly sliding it higher up your thigh, spreading your legs as you watch his stunned reaction.

"What are ya... oh... oh fucking 'ell," he splutters, eyes darting between your bare legs and the road ahead. His jaw falls slack before he's licking at his lips and shifting in the seat. You can practically see the cogs in his brain whirring as his thoughts take an unexpected filthy turn, the animalistic arousal you spark in him as you brazenly press his hand between your legs and let out a needy sigh.

"So this what you've been so distracted about eh?" He says, voice tight in surprise as his fingers come into contact with damp lace. "You been sitting there next to me thinking about this the whole journey huh?"

"Maybe..." you giggle coyly, pressing your head back against the headrest as you feel a fingertip rub temptingly over your covered clit. "Mmm... that feels nice..."

He lets out a small groan beside you, all need and frustration. "Christ babe, think ya gonna be the death of me... well maybe the death of both of us if I go and crash the car! We can't do this while I'm driving, you're too much of a distraction."

His eyes dart quickly to you then away, full of longing and desire as he reluctantly withdraws his hand, placing it back on the wheel. You know damn well he'll be fighting with his conscience right now, the reliable, dependable part of him telling him to concentrate fully on getting to his destination whilst his wayward naughty side is clamouring to be heard, urging him to pull over and fuck the living daylights out of you in the nearest lay-by.

"It's okay, it's just a little fantasy of mine. I know it's too dangerous..." You bite back a sulky pout, knowing Van's speaking the truth but still fighting the desire which is pulsing red hot between your thighs. "I’ll just have to wait until tonight after the show I guess."

"It's not that I don't want to..." he starts but you cut him off, leaning over the centre console to plant a soft kiss on his jawline, his stubble lightly scratching at your lips.

"It's okay... really... I'm not that sex-crazed! I can wait!" You laugh, finally pulling the hem of your dress down over your bare thighs, pushing away your salacious thoughts, stashing them away for later.

Van reaches over again, this time entwining his fingers through yours, pulling your hand up to his lips so he can press a kiss against your knuckles. "I'll make it up you... promise."

You drive in comfortable quiet for a while, Van humming a Beatles track that's just come on the radio and tapping out a beat on the steering wheel, you gazing out the passenger window at the pretty mountainous landscape. You're so zoned out that when his voice sounds out and you feel the touch on your thigh again you jolt a little in surprise.

"If I pull over and fuck you we're definitely gonna wind up being late. We'd better have a good excuse for the guys."

"What're you talking about? We just agreed to wait... oh..."

Your voice trails off as your eyes dip down to his crotch to note the bulge in his jeans. Even though you'd managed to temporarily switch off your arousal it seems like Van hasn't. A huge smirk breaks out on your lips, quietly triumphant that it seems like you might have got your own way after all.

"So it looks like someone can't wait until after the show then?"

Van chuckles, shaking his head in amusement. "Babe, I'll fuck you now and after the show. Can't stop thinking about you sitting there thinking all these dirty thoughts. I'm guessing it won't matter if we're a little bit late."

"You've certainly changed your tune," you grin, letting your legs fall slack as he kneads at the flesh of your inner thighs. "We don't have to make up some complicated excuse either, we can just tell the guys that we couldn't find the car keys.”

"Nah," Van disagrees. "I texted Bondy earlier to tell him we were just leaving out. Something's gotta happen whilst we're driving."

"Something is happening," you reply, your voice breathy as you feel his fingertips edging ever closer to the crease of your inner thigh. You push your pelvis forward in the seat, eager to feel more than just his teasing touches. "Just tell them we got lost... I'll take the blame. Tell them I was navigating."

This raises another chuckle from Van as he quickly snatches his hand away to flick on the indicator. "That's totally believable with your shit sense of direction. Here, this'll do, I can't wait any longer. I'll fuck ya right here."

He pulls off the road and you look all around to take in your surroundings, your eyes widening in surprise as you realise he's pulled into a roadside cafe, hardly the most secluded of spots.

"Here? You're joking aren't you? It's a bit public isn't it?"

But your caution isn't shared by Van who pulls into an empty space at the far side of the car park. He quickly kills the engine and unbuckles his seat belt in record time, his eagerness apparent as he leans across the centre console to loom over you.

"It'll be fine, we just have to be discreet. C'mon love, live a little!"

He's already reaching for you, one hand tucking around the back of your neck whilst the other releases your seat belt, his lips crashing against yours with passion, stealing your breath.

You're at once like a pair of horny teenagers, moaning and panting into each other's mouths, pawing at each other's clothing like you can't get enough of one another. It's still too risky to go all the way though, despite your love of pushing boundaries neither of you want to end up on an indecent exposure charge with Van's headline slot just hours away. So you settle for a compromise, needy fingers and hands delving under clothing, hot flesh and whispered stifled groans as you pleasure each other in tune to your desperate desire.

"Fucking 'ell! Look at you!” Van exclaims in stunned approval as he pushes your dress up around your hips to reveal delicate black lace, a new purchase you’d made for your trip with your boyfriend in mind. You know how the sight of all that pretty sheer lace drives him wild and it’s having the desired effect, his eyes blazing with lust as he hooks his fingertips under the lacy edge of your panties to pull them aside.

"Well..." you smirk mischievously, fingers tracing the outline of his erection through his jeans which sees him biting down hard on his bottom lip to stifle a groan. "Thought I should make an effort since I planned on fucking the lead singer of the band playing tonight..."

"You'd better not be talking about our opener," he teases, his mock-serious tone a contrast to the wide cheeky grin that surfaces.

"The pretty boy with the soft lips and the brown hair is the one I desire tonight," you murmur, your words devolving into moans as you feel him pressing two fingers inside you, the heel of his hand sliding slickly against your clit.

You grip hold of his forearm with a gasp, holding on tight as electric currents of pleasure zip up your spine, your body trembling as he hits all your sweet spots at once.

"I'm all yours love... tonight and every night."

[mikecardenmpreg]

so real quick i need to explain something about warped tour 2008 before i get into this story. bloodsource (you know, the blood donation place) had this thing where if you were 18 or older, signed up beforehand to give blood at warped tour, and then actually showed up and gave blood, you would be given a wristband that allowed you full access to the parking lot where all the artists parked their buses. this a crazy gimmick and i hope it's something that isn't revive with the new generation of warped tour because, as i'll get into, it wasn't executed very well.

so anyway when i was 15 years old, i went to warped tour 2008 with an 18 year old who was on that list. she had signed up with a different friend who was 18 but that friend bailed on her so she took me instead. first thing we did when we met up was head for the bloodsource tent to get our wristbands. my friend swore to the bloodsource lady that we would 100% come back to give blood, knowing we wouldn't be able to because i didn't have ID that matched the name on the list and i wasn't old enough to give blood anyway. the bloodsource lady was skeptical (and rightly so) but gave us the wristbands anyway (does anyone else see the problem with not IDing us? because an underage girl was just given an all access pass to all the musicians on warped tour). after receiving our wristbands, we immediately made our way to the buses. my friend was in love with william, so that's who we were looking for. we didn't find him (we never did, actually), but we did find tai...'s bus. we knew what it looked like because they kept showing it in episodes of taitv (maybe they shouldn't have done that?). andy was hanging out so we said hi and got pictures. really nice guy. we decided to come back later, because there were a few sets we wanted to catch and we wanted to check out the merch.

fast forward to later that evening. we ended up out by the buses again around dusk. this is where i'd like to pause and mention that in this bus lot, there was no security whatsoever and hardly any lights set up. super unsafe, super sketch. the only security was set up outside of the gates and only to check badges and wristbands. once you were inside, you were shit out of luck if something happened to you. idk if this was just a thing at this particular amphitheater or a massive oversight with this bloodsource gimmick in general, but whatever. it's not like there was (and still is) a huge problem with grown ass men sexually assaulting literal children in the scene or anything.

ANYWAY we went back to tai...'s bus to once again look for william. and once again he was not there. but you know who was? mike. and he was literally standing all by himself in the near dark, doing nothing. he wasn't drinking or smoking or seemingly waiting for anything. the man was literally alone outside just standing there. now it had been less than a year since the last time i met him and made a fool out of myself (i was 14 and awkward and in love!!!) and i was pretty anxious about word vomiting at him again so i kind of stayed quiet. and most unfortunately for my friend, mike also decided to stay very quiet and kinda just said single word sentences at us. not in a rude or mean way, just in an awkward, probably high out of his mind way. there was a lot of awkward silences and stares. but nothing weird, mean, or inappropriate. in his defense, we had caught him off guard, in the growing dark, on what was essentially his front porch, and one of us wasn't talking. so whatever, he was weird, we were weird, we took pictures, thanked him, and left.

we were a few buses away when i felt like i was being watched, so i turned around and there was mike again, attempting to hide himself behind the bus but absolutely failing to because i could fully see him. it's too hard to describe what i saw so here's a rough approximation

(except he was not smiling, he had that classic dead eye mike carden stare on his face)

and the thing is, we made eye contact. so he knew i saw him. and i was like well ok that's totally normal and i turned back around and whispered to my friend "so...he's watching us" and she said "he is not" and i said "ok but he is" and she turned around and you know what? he was still there. and she nervously laughed and grabbed my arm and we kinda hauled ass out of there.

now i do not really have any explanation for this, similar to having no explanation as to why william standing in my hallway in his underwear. i have to assume he was simply confused about our presence in the bus lot, but also incredibly stoned, so not able to make quick judgements and act like a normal person. but who really knows what's going on in that dude's noggin. im just glad he's way more normal now.

[sugarepoxy]

Ive been aching to tell this story but since nobody has asked me yet im just going to take it upon myself lmao. Here is:

How I Discovered JRWI :D

It all started with blood in the bayou, the catalyst to the massive brain rot that was about to ensue. The earliest memory i have of it is seeing it recommended to me on YouTube, and scrolling away because it didn't catch my interest. I remember clicking on it but then realizing it was a podcast, and then being like "oh no i can't listen to podcasts my attention span is WAYY too short for that, plus its patreon exclusive! I dont wanna get too attached :("

and then, after it was recommended to me a second time, i clicked, said "fuck it", and watched it over about a week. And i. Fell. In. LOVE. I distinctly remember finishing that first episode on the school bus home and trying sooooo hard not to actually explode. BITB had taken my whole heart and mind and life and i loved it. I decided to check out the channel it was posted to, saw riptide, but was like "nahhh pirates aint really my thing" and left it at that. I proceed to absolutely explode all over BITB and GUSHED about it to my friends. I ended up convincing two of them to watch it and they also LOVED it. Success! One of my friends could fortunately afford the patreon, so we all binged blood in the bayou together each study hall (: . Unfortunately i can't remember much of what happened in each episode, but i do remember that It fuckin DESTROYED me and i loved it. I was also interested in watching prime defenders, but my friends were less convinced so we didn't end up doing it.

Cut to, a few months after that, im watching the new slimecicle QSMP stream. This was the one where juanaflippa had died and he was taking revenge. His acting was sooo godamn good in that stream, i was like "lol maybe i should start watching jrwi, all the comments are saying that if i want more improv i should check it out" And so, after a few more days, i stopped procrastinating and checked it out! I started on the first episode of riptide and immediately fell in love with the characters and world. It was a little hard to follow since i wasnt used to podcasts, and I was intimidated by the sheer AMOUNT of episodes, but i decided "fuck it, ill catch up eventually!" And KEPT GOIN! i did slow down watching at the paramount tournament arc, but i PERSEVERED

This is where i made a tumblr account finnally, and started really getting into the fandom!

And currently, im chipping away at prime defenders and i love it so far (:

[mygainyear2024]

Day 34 Succumbed to a full day on a bus with tourists!

I was really keen to check out Tavira and some other small villages, beyond Faro and around the expanse of the Rio Formosa Natural Park (this was a distance I did not quite feel ready for in the hire car). I managed to find a tour company that would pick me up in Portimão. I'm glad I went as I have a sense of each place and what's on offer if I were to return. But it was a longish day (7.50am-7.30pm) with rushed stops in each town.

After picking up tourists in other places, and a bus change for me in Albufeira to join the English/Dutch speaking tour, as I was on the French/German bus, we finally arrived in Faro around 10am (the place I accidentally went to, getting on the wrong train). The tour guide took us to the Bishop's Palace, and then when he went into the cathedral for an optional extra tour I darted off to find a decent coffee and a couple of shops I wanted to check out. I did like the feel of Faro and this quaint old world department store (picture below). We had a little over an hour here. We were told to meet on a corner at 11.15am. I got there right on 11.15am and saw the tour guide as I was walking toward the meeting point, then I lost him and the whole group! For uma minuto I was slightly panicked. I walked towards a bus and thought better of it, so many white buses. I went back, caught a glimpse of his shirt again and ran and started to call out, but he didn't hear me. Luckily I caught up as I think they were about to take off without me. He asked me if I was alright, told me to sit down and catch my breathe like I was frail (I was breathless, but not about to die!) He then shamed me several times after, once he said "glad to see you!" Prick!

Next stop my favourite spot, Olhão. We had two hours here and I made a beeline for lunch at Vai e Volta, all you can eat fresh BBQ fish for €16 and it was very good. I did ask what each fish was that I was served, but the language barrier was an issue. I know I had tuna, mackerel and squid, plus three or so other varieties. I saw the fresh fish come in to the restaurant while I was sitting waiting and then it was being cooked and served. Even the bread was good. I then wandered around the street art and the great little Saturday craft market that was set up along the river near the fresh seafood and farmer's markets.

We then made the briefest stop to Cacela Velha to see another side of the Rio Formosa Natural Park, it was quite beautiful. It was a brief stop because the tour guide was fixated on beating the other buses to Tavira so we could get good seats for the Fado show!

The Fado show was in an old cathedral, and I thought it was a great venue. From what I can understand the singer won a national competition, not sure what year. She was quite gorgeous, obviously nervous and authentically appreciative of the audience. The show went for 45 minutes and then we had just under one hour to explore at our leisure. Again, I felt rushed. I hopped back on the bus and belted up and then I hear "Ms Bell come with me!" I was moved back to the original bus earlier than anticipated. Unfortunately, two French women were late, very late! That tour guide had to go looking for them, was on the phone to the office, there was no number listed. I learnt later that they had to find the agent who booked the tour, who luckily had their number. They had been waiting in the wrong place and didn't think that something might not be quite right, having been there 30 minutes after the departure time.

My advice, spend a few days here!

My bodily aches and pains were giving me grief all day from all that sitting, so I quickly got changed and headed out to inspect the festival and watch the sunset over Praia da Rocha on the last night of my days in the Algarve.

[shahronak47]

Say no to "YES" Rentals

We had recently been to New Zealand and the trip was awesome. Unfortunately, our trip ended on a bitter note. Self drive is the easiest way to explore New Zealand, I believe. We had rented our vehicle from Yes Rentals, Queenstown branch. They gave us Toyota Aqua Hybrid which had almost completed 80k kms but still was well maintained.

We stayed in Christchurch for 3 days and on one of the day while I was taking reverse in the parking, the car got slightly hit on the back. Since I was in the parking area I was slow and thankfully it did not damage a lot. I had completely forgotten about it until the last day when I came back to Yes rentals to return the car. The operator there noticed the scratch and immediately called it out.

This is the scratch

I said, ok, yes, the scratch was my mistake so I need to pay for it. I went in the office, the operator took the photo of it and sent it to his manager. He said I need to check with my boss to know how much needs to be paid. We waited for a while and the operator said you need to deposit 1000 NZD. We will check how much the cost of fix would be and return the remaining amount to you in 7-10 working days. I was shocked, I mean definitely it was not worth 1000$. It was such a simple scratch but then I thought it must be their process of taking this minimum amount irrespective of the severity of the damage so I just complied.

They asked me to fill up some form. Based on the questions in the form it was to be filled when you met with an accident. It asked when did accident occur, did you call the police etc. I definitely did not call police because of a scratch on my car :P It was end of our trip and I felt really bad to pay 1000$ for a scratch that could have been avoided. However, we had a flight to catch so we left anyway. On the airport, I thought I should have told them to take 100$ or 500$ max and should not have accepted the 1000$ that they asked me to pay upfront. After this thought, I felt more sad because I paid 1000$ + 2.5% transaction charge (25$) and I was also going to lose on exchange rate twice because of this too and fro money transfer. As I was feeling restless, I emailed them from the airport asking for estimate of the fix and how much time it will take to return the money. However, they didn't have answer to both of them.

I returned the car on 2nd March and it was 12th of March today but still there was no response from them so I send them an email asking the same question again where they mentioned that repairs are scheduled to be completed next week. I mean for me it is max 15 mins job to fix this. I think fix is a very big word for it, you can spray paint the car with the same color as your car and that's it. I am not sure why they are taking so long to "fix it".

Waited for another week and after few more follow ups invoice was generated and shared with me. You will not guess the amount they charged me to fix the scratch. The repair costed me 981.24$ . I cannot stress it enough on this 981$. I mean look at the scratch once again.

How can you attach 981$ to this? I mean I am angry and laughing at the same time. How dumb do you think I am? Definitely, me agreeing to deposit 1000$ for this little thing was not the smartest thing I did but charging 981$ for this scratch was stretched too far. They quietly returned me 18$ and said Thank you for choosing YES rentals.

Their detailed invoice looks like this :

I was actually out of words seeing this crazy invoice. I asked them to explain what does this "Real Bumper Panel Repair" mean and why is it 3 in quantity to which they replied that charge is based on 3 hours of repair work billed at 85$ per hour. They also invited me to cross verify these prices from reputable repair companies in Queenstown.

Me being a coder/developer have done quite a lot of freelance work and charging 85$/hour is not that uncommon in tech area but this 85$ for mechanic/auto technician is so much more. No offence to them but it is what it is. So I did some research as they had invited me to and found this

So from 26$ median range, they are charging me 85$. What are you fixing? NASA spaceships?

I get so hyper looking at this every time I remember it. We had lot of emails back and forth where they tried to explain me that Queenstown is an expensive place so rates are higher than rest of NZ etc. I said I understand that since I have stayed in both USA and Switzerland which are more expensive than NZ but still my head just cannot justify this 981$ for the scratch. I mean look at the scratch and put 981$ - this number against it to fix it. I simply can't accept it and the fact that you think this is "reasonable" is making my blood boil even more. I also told them that there is no way to verify these 3 hours. Who knows if you actually worked for 3 hours? Here number 3 was selected so that it solves the equation to come up with a number close to 1000$. If I had paid only 500$ upfront then hourly rate would have dropped to some less number, number of hours would be less as well and everything would be adjusted accordingly. Basically start working backwards (1000$) and find a way to produce a bill that fits the equation. 18$ were returned to make this look like a genuine company and not to make it an obvious scam.

My wife was waiting patiently till now but really got frustrated with these emails and gave them a 1 star on Google review to which they threw their standard reply. We understand your disappointment but you should drive safely and buy insurance from us (so that we can loot you further).

However, I was still fighting with them (over emails) about how non-sensical it was from them to charge me this much. On 20th of March I got an email from the manager of the Queenstown branch and she told me that she has looked into the matter closely and would like to offer me 150$ if I remove the negative review on Google (and also stopped emailing them).

So please if you are planning to go to NZ, use Yes Rentals!

Lol, you wish!! I told the manager the same thing. What you are charging me is completely unacceptable and does not make any sense. To which manager replies to me that we do not want be stuck in this unpleasant conversation, do we? Just take this 150$ and shut up. Obviously, I am paraphrasing this.

I have been keeping a watch on their Google review since my wife posted the negative review and after her review within 24 hours there were 7 , five star reviews. I doubt how many of them are genuine reviews. For me it felt that those reviews were there to cover up after her review. It achieved two objectives : 1. The newest reviews are the positive review 2. Overall average is maintained.

In the last 15 days, I have not seen their average rating move at all. It has been steady on 4.3 in spite of so many reviews. It looks as if they are trying to maintain that number by manipulating it. I know it is not difficult to buy reviews in this day and age.

I did not accept that 150$ as well because I don't think 830$ is reasonable amount for that scratch and additionally I wanted to write this post. Like their technicians, my hourly rate is very high as well and 150$ is definitely not going to cover it.

[thedaveandkimmershow]

It doesn't happen often... but since my car caught a massive roofing nail on Saturday and no one was open Sunday to fix it (including the Walmart Automotive Center on Airport Way that I discovered is unfortunately and permanently closed), I had to leave my car at the house whilst we went back to the apartment in Seattle. Kimmer had to use her car during her lunch hour on Monday which meant I had no car for getting back to the house. So fine.

Public transportation.

Actually, the way it worked out was walking a half mile to the light rail station, taking the light rail to Northgate, catching a bus right there to the Lynnwood Transit Center, catching a bus directly west to Highway 99, transferring to the Swift Blue Line to a little over a mile-and-a-half from the house, then walking the rest of the way to the house.

It was that kind of morning.

Now, my plan was to do some writing or reading along the way but, right as I left on my travels I called a friend and we stayed with that conversation (catching up, really) through my walk, through the light rail to Northgate, while waiting for the bus, then riding the bus to the Lynnwood Transit center where we had to wrap it up 'cause I had to figure out my next bus and my friend had to hit the grocery store.

So far, the public transportation commute had gone without a hitch with pretty tight connections. Now that I was faced with local buses, however, the schedules were not so tight. There's no need for them to be so tight, of course, except for the fact that the first conceivable connection for me was close to forty-five minutes away and I needed all the minutes I could get to take care of my car as well as meet up with people who wanted to pick up furniture we posted on Craigslist and OfferUp.

Google Maps was helpful inasmuch as it provided variations on routes to the house including ones that started with buses yet somehow ended with a Lyft ride, each iteration of the trip maddeningly eating more time than the previous ones. At some point in there I remembered a long time ago I'd made it to the Lynnwood Transit Center in the midst of a snowstorm and had begun walking toward highway 99 where hopefully the road was clearer for transit. Halfway to 99, I caught sight of a bus heading my way from the transit center on its way to (or in the direction of) 99. So, fast forward back to the present day where I know about that bus, I look it up, and discover it's in a nearby bay three minutes from heading out.

Bingo.

The bus drops me near a corner along 99 where there's a Swift Station with a bus due in five minutes. I swipe my card and wait... wait... then get on the bus when it pulls up. I enter the rear section since it's basically right in front of me, taking the bench seat across from the door. A minute later, someone's standing pretty close to me in this not very full bus so I look up.

It's the transit cops!

Good thing I swiped my card 'cause they really do check who paid and who didn't once you get outside, you know, Seattle.

Anyway...

It's a Swift bus so I'm at my stop in no time which also happens to be the stop for the transit cops, the pair of them. I ask them a little about their job, by the way, and the kind of day they're having which, it turns out is so far thankfully uneventful. I was most curious if they had a list of buses and places they had to be... with the answer being they didn't have a rigid agenda for the day, just a number of buses they needed to ride in both directions. So having ridden up to my stop, they made their way across the street to catch the next bus back. Before parting, they wondered if my interest in their work indicated I was interested in getting a job with transit because, you know, there are jobs available.

I politely denied interest and we went our separate ways.

As I crossed the street, it struck me that I hadn't run into any kind of transit authority on bus or light rail for years now.

Seriously.

Years.

Ain't that somethin' ?

At this point, I checked to see what time a connecting bus would come to take me to the closest point to my house.

20 minutes.

I checked to see how much Uber and Lyft would cost.

8 bucks.

So I walked the rest of the way for the steps. The 12,000 steps I'm aiming for each and every day.

Apparently.

By 'n by, I'm at the house. I beat the bus, by the way. Never saw it pass as I walked. After dropping a few things at the house, I turned around, jumped in my car with the massive roofing nail in its front tire, and drove to Les Schwab where their techs fixed it for free.

For.

Free.

I was outta there in about forty-five minutes, part of which was the techs finishing up previous jobs before getting to mine. They confirmed the no charges nature of the day's work, they gave me a heads up about assessing our rear tires at the end of summer, beginning of fall, and I was on. my. way.

The rest of the day was pretty nothingburger. Coordinating with Craigslist and OfferUp clients, a bunch of shopping at the end, the drive back to the apartment, followed by dinner and The Diplomat on Netflix.

The big deal about the remains of the afternoon is that it was my first opportunity to work in my new edit suite.

Oh... it's not an edit suite yet. All my gear's still at the apartment. However, Kimmer has been working on the room, transforming it from its former glory days as Linzy's bedroom. The brightly colored walls that were really scrapbook design writ large... were muted way, way back, painted over in what experts in color, especially the color brown, call "tope". The curtains Kimmer hung actually hold most of the outside light at bay, leaving the room quite dark. Darker than its ever been in broad daylight. Darkest at the wall against which my workstation will be.

In the meantime, there's a small couch in front of the window, a couch once use at her office in Ballard once upon a time before the pandemic. In front of the couch is a faux leather storage bench coffee table which, if you flip the top over, serves as a table, a super convenient desk/work area for producers when they come up to work, is what Kimmer's thinking.

Speaking of producers, the space that was formerly dedicated to being Linzy's closet, is now an open space with a pair of cabinet drawers painted like Harry Potter luggage with the drawer handles doubling as the "suitcase" handles. The tops of the cabinets combine to form a tabletop upon which rests a coffee pot and other items in preparation for a place for drinks and snacks. Because yeah. Kimmer completely knows what she's doing. And it's exciting to see this space, my future edit suite, take shape.

Even Linzy's a little jealous. 😉

[lemonyfrog]

“An Encounter.”

(This is the first thing I’ve written in nearly a year and the first short story I’ve written in nearly 3 years, so it’s probably kinda janky. It was cathartic to write, though!)

------------------------------------------------------

White snowflakes trickled down lazily from the sky in a gentle, yet steady flurry. It would have almost been beautiful — if not for the long walk back to my apartment. I was woefully unprepared for today’s weather, wearing only a light jacket as insulation from the intruding cold.

I had just closed up shop. Unsurprisingly, I was the only one at work today. My two coworkers were out sick, so I took longer than I would’ve preferred. Now, I was stuck out in this shitty weather; it was too late to catch a bus, and I didn't have the money for an Uber.

“Dammit, why the hell…” I groaned, eyeing the flakes floating down to greet me. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in the mood for such gracious hospitality.

Rolling my eyes, I begrudgingly stepped out of the stale, yet warm comfort of my work and into the freezing, unforgiving weather. If not for my boss’ call early this morning insisting I take over Kaylee’s shift again, I would’ve at least checked the forecast…

Sigh. Whatever. I’ll just have to walk fast. And avoid slipping on ice. I’ll probably manage to find a way to do that, regardless.

Alone in my thoughts, I continued walking down the snowy sidewalk back to my apartment. The snow steadily fell harder as time pushed on. I rarely saw cars pass by down the icy road. My eyes started wandering, bored of staring at nothing.

The streetlights lit up fragments of the sky which reflected a lovely shade of brown. It almost reminded me of home.

As I strolled down the dead streets, an unfamiliar sense of dread crept up on me. I am, naturally, a paranoid person, but something about this felt…different. I quickened my pace, glancing about my surroundings. The streetlights didn’t suggest a feeling of familiarity anymore but instead instilled a sense of unease. What could be lurking in the shadows their lights couldn’t reach? And why was it so damn quiet?

Something’s changed. I can’t hear anything. Is there even anything there, or is my brain just being stupid again? God, I’m fucking freezing.

Crossing my arms in an attempt to comfort myself, I finally made it to my street. If someone were to be actively following me, I knew it would be stupid to show them where I lived, but what other choice did I have? It wasn’t like I was being followed while driving. I can’t exactly take the long way home right now.

I pulled myself out of my thoughts and quickly turned down my street, flinching at any little sound my ears picked up. My eyes darted from dark corner to dark corner, trying to make out recognizable shapes in the dark rather unsuccessfully. It felt as if my entire body was racing, begging me to hurry back to my home so I could be safe away from this unfamiliarity.

I made it to my apartment door and dug into my pocket for my keys, trying my damnedest to keep a hold of them. I didn’t want to be out there a minute longer than necessary.

A shape darted from the neighboring building.

“Fuck!” I whisper-shouted, jankily trying to stick my key in the slot. God, was I always this clumsy with my keys?

Panicked, I turned the knob just in time to see something pop around my building’s corner. I darted inside, locking the door behind me. My legs nearly buckled as I tried to steady myself inside.

“Jesus fucking Christ!” I managed to squawk out. I stood there, frozen, trying to comprehend what had happened. My heart was beating painfully fast, and as I clutched my chest, I wondered what would’ve happened if I stayed out there longer than I had. I felt faint.

As I gathered myself, I realized I was stupid to not lock my windows sooner. Although my apartment was tiny and I’d — probably — hear if someone else happened to be inside, I still picked up a lamp and carried it with me. You know, just in case.

Should I call the police? I doubt they’d take me seriously. They’d just shrug me off and tell me I’d need more proof before they do their damn job. I just need to calm down. Calm down…God, I feel like I’m about to puke.

After checking the few rooms I had, I tiredly set the lamp down and slumped to the floor. With my head in my hands, I groaned loudly. Why did this have to happen today of all days?

I was already stressed out about my job. My boss was demanding more and more from me, although he knew I couldn’t do as much as he’d prefer me to do. He’s already threatened to fire me over my request to have a stool at work. I can’t stand for too long without feeling faint. And my father hasn’t responded to my texts for two weeks at this point…

Focus you fucking idiot, you might still be in danger! Do you want to get yourself killed?

…Oh, right.

By all accounts, my stupid ass should’ve been dead right about now.

I sat there in the living room, scrutinizing the nearby window. I had closed the blinds, but who knew? Maybe the creep was standing right there, peeking through the cracks. I shuddered.

I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight, am I? I can feel my dark circles forming already.

I looked down and found myself tearing at the ends of my hair. I don’t want to deal with anyone right now, least of all a stalker.

I heard something drop to the floor by my front door.

I paused.

Slowly, I peeked my head around the corner; my eyes landed on a grey envelope on the wooden floor of the unlit hallway.

I didn’t know whether I should grab it or not.

. . .

I would have to grab it eventually, I reasoned. I pushed myself up and cautiously made my way over to the mysterious envelope, only to find —

Oh.

Someone drew hearts on it.

Not knowing whether to be shocked or disgusted, I picked it up. Did I even want to know what was inside?

I have to admit, I am not a smart person. So yes, of course I opened it.

Inside, a collage of magazine clippings coated sections of a vintage Valentine’s Day card. At the center of the inner left-hand side, a decoupage featuring a photograph of myself was surrounded by what my brain perceived at the time to be miscellaneous images.

Not alarming in the slightest.

I inspected the writing inside. One might call it chicken scratch, but it was legible enough for me to read every word.

“I have been watching you for quite some time.”

Already a great start.

“You’re a rather interesting individual. I would like to invite you to something special. I think you would enjoy it.”

Nice, this stranger certainly wouldn’t cause bodily harm and/or death if I were to listen to them.

“Join me where the birds won’t sing. I’ll be awaiting your arrival.”

There was no signature.

Whether I set the card down or threw it, I cannot remember. All I know is that I didn’t want it touching me.

They don’t expect me to go wherever the hell they’re talking about, do they?

Someone this delusional wouldn’t go so far out of their way just for someone to say no. I mean, seriously, they decoupaged kittens around my face. Perhaps it would be unwise to ignore this mysterious piece of shit.

“Would the cops believe me now?” I jokingly said aloud to myself. I knew they would tell me they were too busy with other matters. I’ve not once heard of a person with a stalker who the cops helped before it was too late. Not where I live, anyway.

Turning my mind back to the card, I was left to contemplate what it meant. Why was it so cryptic? Were they really expecting someone as stupid as I to understand it?

Where the birds won’t sing?

I clutched my hair nervously, trying my hardest to resist the urge to pull at it. I’ve damaged it enough in recent months.

I have no other choice, do I?

That was my first encounter with him. How was I to know what would’ve taken place after I had accepted his card? I had, unbeknownst to me, taken my first step down his twisted rabbit hole. And there was no crawling back up. Not for someone like me, at least.

[syismycaptain]

Syverson's reaction to you not asking for his help

Masterlist

⦁ You were raised to be as independent as possible, because as you were told, you might not always be surrounded by reliable people, therefore you were to help yourself. Also because you grew up with busy parents , you had learn to rely on yourself when it came to means of transportation, getting groceries, cooking and so on.

⦁ When you got together with our burly captain, you continued with the same mindset.

⦁ So of course our captain nearly had a damn heart attack when he saw you carrying anything that was remotely too heavy for you, huffing and grunting silently under your breath as you struggled.

⦁ "Jesus, woman, are you trying to break your back?" he grunts as he takes the heavy box from your grasp, realizing just how heavy it was. " Next time, tell me and I will carry it." with that he takes the box where you need, leaving you stunned.

⦁ One rainy afternoon you got home from an appointment, drenched from head to toe, umbrella broken beyond repair from the strong wind blowing outside, hanging uselessly from your hands.

⦁ "Hey, berry-woah, what the hell happened?" Lucas' eyes widen at the state of his lover, drenched and shivering, instantly making his mission to get her a towel and warm her up, instructing her to strip while he is gone.

⦁ "Sy, I am good, come on-", "no can do, lady bug, if you stay like that you'll catch a cold." "no, I won't- Sy! I can undress myself!" Dripping clothes fall to the floor with a loud wet plop. "Hush, now". Somehow he managed to get you naked and wrapped into a fluffy big towel in under two minutes, ushering you to the bathroom while he took care of your clothes." What happened?"

⦁ " Remember I had that appointment at the dermatologist?" "Yeah", "Well the place is really hard to get to, it is about 10 minutes walking distance from the bus station or subway station to get to it. So, I walked, I am used to walking everywhere, I don't mind but unfortunately on the way back home, the rain started and the wind started picking up real bad and it, of course, broke my umbrella." You reply, shuddering as the hot water came into contact with your cold skin, shoulders hunching to get as much of yourself under the spray of water as you could. "I tried calling an Uber but they were all taken, because of the storm I suppose"

⦁ "Why didn't you call me?" he murmurs, furrowing his eyebrows as he leans against the doorframe, crossing his arms as he takes his lover's glistening form. " I didn't think of it ". you muse, washing the cleanser away from your face before turning to look at your boyfriend. "It's fine though, no harm done, one warm shower and I will be as good as new." You throw him a smile over your shoulder before turning off the water, wrapping yourself in a towel. " Yeah, good as new." Syverson frowns with a tap to the wooden frame before he makes his way to the bedroom to get your pajamas.

⦁ The sudden change of tone left you feeling, somewhat reprimanded? It left you with a feeling that made you lower your head like a child after being scolded. Confused, you start walking towards the bedroom only to bump into the captain who came back with your clothes. "Here, let me." his voice is low and throaty as his hands go to your towel to take it off, leaving you bare to him. Timid of this sudden display of affection, you allow him to dress you, squeaking in surprise when you are picked up and taken to the bedroom.

⦁ That night as you fall asleep cuddled to him, the captain makes a promise to himself and you. " I will take care of you baby, just you wait."

⦁ And he did keep his promise, even if you didn't know he made it.

⦁ He became even more observant than before, checking in with you all the time.

⦁ "Did you bring your lunch today? If not I can bring you some. " ; " Did you need me to pick you up?" ; " You said you wanted to go grocery shopping, I will come pick you up after work, so you don't have to carry them back home all alone" ; " You forgot to take your umbrella when you left, tell me when to come pick you up from your girls' night. Don't want you walking in the rain again. ".

⦁ You learnt that it was alright to ask for Syverson's help and that he would gladly do it for you, without doubt. He still let you do things on your own, he knew you could do them and he encouraged you to, but he didn't want you to feel like you couldn't rely on him.

⦁ Syverson thought he finally got somewhere with you, but he was wrong. You would ask for his help here and there but at one point, you started it all over again.

⦁ He nearly growled you when you arrived home with hands filled with grocery bags but what made his blood rise was the multiple big bottles of water that you had in your backbag, knowing just how much you have been complaining about bad backaches. He wanted to scold the hell out of you but he stopped himself by sucking a deep breath and helping you put everything away. Once everything was done, he wordlessly hoisted you onto the counter, ripping a yelp from you.

⦁ "Sy! " you whine, resting your hands on his chest to balance yourself, only to shut up at the look in his eyes." Y/n, I am really trying to understand what is going on here but...I am getting really frustrated. Why won't you rely on me, baby? Do I make you feel like you can't? Tell me and I swear I will try to fix it but I can't help but feel freaking useless whenever I see you struggling and in result getting exhausted by trying doing everything by yourself, why won't you allow me to help you, baby?"

⦁ You were stunned into silence by his admission, not realizing that this was affecting him in any way. "I-.."you hesitated, pulling at the tender skin of your inner lip before continuing. "It is not your fault as much as it is mine. "you admit, staring at your hands as they rest on his broad chest. " Since I was young, I had to deal with any problem myself, because I was supposed to be a "big girl". So I dealt with it, never asked for anyone's help because there was no one I could ask or nobody offered..so I suppose I feel like a bother sometimes, to ask you to do this or that for me. And instead I do it myself. No matter how hard it is. " you sigh quietly, hesitant to meet his eyes.

⦁ Syverson stares at you with an unreadable look in his eyes before his eyes soften and instead of speaking he chooses to pull you into his broad, warm chest, keeping you close to him as he buries his face into your hair. " I had no idea, love. But you need to tell me these things, I don't mind doing things for you and I don't feel obligated, I like doing them because I love you." he pulls back to press a kiss to your forehead, his beard tickling the tender skin there.

⦁ Overcome with emotions you nod your head silently, nibbling at your lower lip before you burrow yourself further into his chest." I love you." You answer simply, holding him as close as possible.

⦁ From then on, you tried to be as open as possible, telling him what you were planning to do and when or if you needed his help and he couldn't be more happy. Sure, you still had moments where you would stubbornly do things on your own but he let those go, content that most times you feel comfortable enough to rely on him and trusted him to admit when you needed his help.

[wlwmarvelenthusiast]

Turn Your Luck

Summary: After a day filled with bad luck and a series of unfortunate events, Natasha manages to turn your day around

Pairing: Reader x Natasha Romanoff

Warnings: None

Words: 6,167

When you woke up in the morning and smacked your big toe off your bed frame, you didn't even think twice of it. It sent a jolt all throughout your foot, but after a few swear words, you were already feeling a little better. You didn't bother making the bed you'd just stood up out of. All your life you'd reasoned that it wouldn't be 24 hours before you just messed it up again. You grabbed a towel and moved into the bathroom. The hot shower made you forget all about the sore toe you'd been sporting only a moment earlier.

You were feeling great when you stepped out of the shower. The warm water had always instilled comfort into your very bones even this early in the morning. You wiped some of the condensation off the mirror to brush your teeth. The tube of toothpaste was completely empty, and the drawer where you usually kept the new ones was also barren. You rolled your eyes at your own irresponsibility, before brushing your teeth without any toothpaste and then using some mouthwash to try and compensate for it. You stepped out of the bathroom.

You got dressed in your favourite white shirt and black pants before making your way into the kitchen. You tossed your phone onto the counter as you passed it on the way to the small kitchen table. You were after the fruit bowl, which was already needing a refill. There were still a few apples left, though, and you were expecting to have one for breakfast. You were mistaken. You pulled the empire apple out of the blue bowl to find the bottom had grown immensely soft and was clearly not in any condition to be eaten. You were disappointed but tossed it into the compost bin and moved on.

Humming a soft tune as you moved, you popped a pod into the single-serve coffee maker and pressed start. You were moving toward the fridge in no time when a strange noise caught your attention. You whirled to face the coffee maker. Instead of the steady stream of coffee you usually got, it was spraying the hot liquid like it was a shaken pop can. You jumped behind the small island, using it as a shield. Thankfully, you'd managed to keep your white shirt safe from the wrath of the coffee. When it stopped, you finally dared step back into the kitchen. The dark liquid was dripping down every nearby surface. You huffed, running some paper towel across the biggest surfaces quickly.

You gave up on the coffee. It seemed you weren't going to get it anyway. You glared at the machine as if it had intentionally smitten you. Instead, you reached into the fridge instead and poured a glass of orange juice for yourself. You sipped it before setting it back onto the countertop. When your phone buzzed and indicated an incoming message, you reached for it. Your elbow hit your glass and it fell onto its side. The orange liquid spilled off the counter and into your white shirt. You gave the mess the middle finger, tossing a dishtowel on it to soak it up, with the intention of actually cleaning it after work. You already had to clean the coffee up anyway.

Any attempt at breakfast was abandoned. After the three kitchen incidents combined, you were convinced you'd be better off heading to some drive-thru on the way to work. Now in a new blue shirt, you grabbed your bag and headed out your front door. You unlocked your car, slid into the driver's seat, and hit the ignition. The car sputtered for a few seconds, before refusing to start. You tried again, and then again, before groaning, taking out your frustration on the steering wheel in front of you. You stood up and stepped back out of the vehicle, slamming the door behind you with much more force than necessary.

Then, it was off to the bus stop. You headed down the sidewalk to the nearest one, pulling out your phone as you walked so you could check your app to find out when the next bus was coming. When you saw big red letters informing you that the bus was halted until further notice, though, you had to refrain from throwing your phone hard into the concrete. You supposed you should have had a little sympathy for those in the accident that had halted your bus, but you couldn't find it in yourself right then. Your morning was not going well.

It was a good thing you hadn't smashed your phone against the sidewalk. It was the only thing you could use to get you to work now. You switched apps and ordered an Uber to come to pick you up. When the driver arrived, you climbed into the back seat and gave him the address of your place of work. He nodded and pressed his foot down on the gas. Your eyes had been glued on your phone, but your gaze flickered at the driver's movement. He was adjusting the mirror and you were absolutely sure he'd angled it to face you a little better. You could have puked when you realized the creep was checking you out. You didn't say anything, at this point just wanting to get to work and be done with it.

You practically sprinted into the building when you arrived. Security didn't seem to mind your rush, having seen your face every day for over three years anyway. You hopped up the stairs two at a time, faster than the elevator would have been able to carry you anyway. When you reached the meeting room door you took a few seconds to catch your breath, not wanting to seem too flustered in your professional environment. When you finally pushed the door open, everyone was rising to their feet. Their eyes all darted up to glance at you. You smiled sheepishly.

"You're late."

"I know, I'm sorry." That was honest. You might have been frustrated, but you hadn't wanted to inconvenience any of your coworkers as well. "I've really had a rough morning."

Your boss nodded. "We've all had those days. I'll send you an email and give you a summary."

You thanked him and left the meeting room with everyone else. You trudged into your office, throwing your bag to the floor, and refraining from slamming the door behind you. You collapsed into your office chair and closed your eyes for a brief moment. But you didn't have time for that. The paperwork on your desk needed your attention. You gave it. The hours you spent on all the files, emails, and documents were the smoothest thing that had happened all day, even if it was mind-numbingly boring and felt absolutely endless. It might have been smooth sailing, but it didn't brighten your spirits at all.

When your phone rang, you reached out blindly until you felt your hand come in contact with it. You shuffled it until it was upright in your hand. You were so completely absorbed in the document that was displayed on your computer screen that you didn't even bother to look at your phone as you fumbled to slide the answer bar. Only when the incessant ringing had finally ceased did you know you'd successfully answered the call. You hesitated before you slowly raised the phone to your ear, eyes still scanning the lines in front of you.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Hun."

Immediately you regretted not checking the caller ID before answering the phone. You could have kicked yourself. In fact, the move was so ridiculously and incredibly stupid that you could have beaten yourself to a pulp. The voice on the other end of the line was familiar, completely unwelcome, and not a surprise after having the day that you were having. You turned away from the screen, resting your elbow on the desk and massaging the migraine that was beginning to form in your forehead. You sighed heavily, sure she heard it.

"Hi," you stated. "What?"

"Hun-"

"Please stop calling me that, I already asked you."

You had asked her that. Multiple times. You'd broken up months ago after she'd broken your heart. Catching her in bed with someone else had left you shattered and unsure if you could trust anyone. You'd been okay for a couple months now after some comfort and reassurance from your best friend, who you were having dinner with tonight. You glanced at the time. Your attention was unfortunately brought back to the girl on the phone, though, when she sighed your name as if she were the one who was hurt. She had no right to be hurt.

"I just-"

"I'm working," you finally said bluntly. "Is it urgent?"

"No. No, I'm sorry. I... I can call you tomorrow."

You wanted to snap and tell her not to bother, but you didn't. You just nodded despite her not being able to see it, said goodbye, and hung up. Once more you were faced with the urge to smash the stupid phone. Once more you fought it, instead shoving it into a drawer so you could ignore it and work on the mountains of paperwork you had to get through before your six o'clock reservations. You got back to it. Soon enough, the information was able to push your ex far from your mind. You didn't want to think about her anyway.

It felt like it had been eons since you'd arrived at work, and yet, according to the clock in the corner of your screen, you still had over an hour until your reservation. You might have slammed your head down onto the desk in front of you had two things not stopped you. The first was the migraine that was still throbbing in your head, and the second was the ringing of your office phone. Even though you knew she couldn't call you on here, you checked the caller ID before you picked up this time. It was the front desk.

"Hey, Tamara. What's up?

"There's someone here for you. She said you're going to miss your reservations."

"Reservations? It's only 4:45."

Tamara hesitated. "Daylight savings. It's 5:45."

You had entirely forgotten about that and even if you hadn't, you would have expected the computer would auto-update something like that. But you had forgotten, and the computer hadn't jumped forward, and now you were going to be late, and you still hadn't turned in the file that you'd promised to turn in today. You groaned in frustration, but transferred the file to a flash drive, shoved it into your bag, and left your office. Clearly, everyone else had remembered the time change, as the office was empty.

You cursed all of your coworkers in your head. You made for the elevator. When you stepped on and hit the button to bring you down to the lobby, you actually crossed your fingers. With your luck, all of the cables on the elevator would snap and you'd plummet all the way to the parking garage and die in a fiery explosion. Thankfully, your little gesture of luck seemed to work, for the doors slid open safe and sound in the lobby. As you stepped out, though, your bag hit the door, and the company ID snapped off and slipped in that tiny little crack between the elevator and the floor and out of sight. You cursed loudly.

You didn't dare shine your flashlight down the crack to try and see how far it'd gone; either your phone would have gone down after it out the doors would have slammed shut on either side of your skull. Neither of those things were a chance you were willing to take. You abandoned your ID and continued to the front desk, letting Tamara know what had happened. She nodded in understanding before pointing out your best friend, who had come to collect you after you'd let her know this morning that you'd taken an Uber to work. You approached her and tapped her shoulder.

"Hey," she said brightly.

"Hey, Nat."

Natasha Romanoff was the best thing to happen to you all day. She was your very best friend. Too, maybe you wanted her to be a little more. She was the most beautiful woman you'd ever laid eyes on, the red waves on her head only accentuating her emerald green irises, which sparkled when she smiled at you. That was only her physical beauty. Though she was, to most everyone that knew her, a tough, scary Avenger, you knew it was a façade. Natasha was the kindest, most generous, selfless, and caring person you'd ever had the pleasure of knowing.

"Tamara tells me you forgot about daylight saving time started last night."

"Shut up," you grumbled.

"Irritable because you lost an hour of sleep?"

"Nat," you said, already feeling bad for snapping at her. You rubbed your head. "I'm not having the greatest of days."

That was how your friendship with Nat was. You both understood that not every day was a good day. She tried to convince you not to compare, but you especially understood that. Natasha had been through hell on Earth when she was a child and you wished with every fibre of your heart that you could bear some of that for her. But you couldn't, and you were sure that if you could have, she wouldn't let you. So instead, you understood the bad days, and in turn, she did too. When you stated that today was one of those days, she turned to you with concern sparkling in those beautiful eyes.

"You okay?" She asked.

Your heart fluttered when her hand took yours.

It was a friendly gesture, of course, but you couldn't help but wish it otherwise. You wanted to hold her hand and have it not be just as a friend. You wanted to be able to intertwine your fingers with hers and squeeze her hand tight and feel that constant touch against her. You didn't want it to be friendly, you wanted it to be more. You wanted it to be so much more. You wanted to call her yours and for her to call you hers. But she was just a friend, and it was far better than nothing.

You hadn't always believed that someone could fall in love without some sort of a romantic relationship leading up to it. Now you realized it didn't need to be romantic. You and Natasha were close. You were closer than you'd ever been with anyone before. Because of that relationship, you knew you loved her. You were head over heels in love with her at this point, and you'd realized that a little while ago when you caught yourself fondly admiring her as she drummed her fingers against the table, deep in thought. It was a habit that had once had the ability to drive you up the wall.

"Hello?" She tried again. Her hand squeezed yours.

Your stomach flipped. "Yeah. I'm alright. Just waiting for my bad luck to run out."

"What happened?"

"What didn't happen?" You scoffed. "My fruit is all spoiled, my coffee maker broke, I spilled orange juice on my favourite white shirt, my car won't start, my bus wasn't running this morning, my Uber driver was a creep, I missed my meeting, I almost missed our reservations, I lost my ID badge and... she-who-must-not-be-named called."

Natasha's eyes darkened, her hand gripped yours tighter, and her gaze moved to meet yours. You took a chance and swiped your thumb over the back of her hand to try and get her to ease the tension out of her muscles. It seemed to work, as she relaxed a little. Her shoulders moved back down, the crease in her eyebrow lessened, she loosened her grip on your hand and exhaled carefully. She nodded in thanks, green eyes once against soft and gentle as she searched your eyes. You knew she was looking for any hint of you being upset. You weren't, though. You were with her.

Natasha hated your ex-girlfriend about a hundred times more than you did. She'd begged you to let her sneak over to her house at night and slash her tires and egg her house. You'd given that a firm no, not wanting Nat to get in any sort of trouble. It was Natasha's idea to never speak her name again, and to burn a bunch of photos and clothes that were left behind at your house. She'd gone so far as to have the bench you'd once carved your names into removed from the park and replaced with a brand new one... on Tony's Starks card, of course.

"What did she want?"

"Dunno. I told her I was busy," you actually laughed a little for the first time that day. "It wasn't exactly a lie. I was swamped today."

"Hey, if Fury is overworking you, I'll kick his ass."

Imagining Natasha kicking Nicholas Fury's ass was utterly amusing. You had no doubt she could, but Fury was a force. She'd kick his ass and the next day half of S.H.I.E.L.D. would be at her doorstep to retaliate. But he was a good boss. It wasn't his fault you'd procrastinated your own work for days. That was on you, and you knew it. So, you shook your head no, he wasn't overworking you. She seemed satisfied by that, but the topic of your ex wasn't dropped yet.

"Next time she calls you can direct her straight to me."

"Tasha, you won't answer."

"Damn right I won't."

You laughed again. It brought a smile to her face too.

With that, you continued on down the street without another word of she-who-must-not-be-named. You had almost reached the restaurant where Natasha had left the reservations when you stepped on something that most definitely was not concrete. If Natasha hadn't had your hand, your leg sliding out from underneath you would have left you on your ass. She held tight to your hand, her other arm catching you around the waist. You had to force yourself from blushing red as a tomato.

You glanced down at what you'd stepped in and could have punched someone. The white paint that was being used on the storefront had spilled onto the sidewalk and of course, you'd stepped in it in your new, black shoes. You scraped the bottom of it off on the sidewalk, grumbling all the while. Natasha had let go of your hand when you'd tugged it away from her to wipe the excess paint on the side of your shoe onto the post of the 'no parking' sign next to you. It was still ruined, but at least you'd gotten enough off that you wouldn't stain the restaurant's floor.

"You weren't kidding with the bad luck, huh?"

You shook your head no. You motioned onward, though. She got the hint, and you closed the distance between you and the restaurant. You shifted your bag on your shoulder as you stepped in, hoping they wouldn't notice the wet paint you were tracking onto their floors. If you managed in and out without them seeing, you'd be alright. It was New York City. You were sure people had walked in with worse things on the underside of their shoes.

You watched Natasha closely as she gave her name for the reservation. You hated how the host eyed her even more than you hated how your Uber driver had eyed you this morning. You didn't want anyone to eye her like that. You wanted to be the only one allowed to look at her like that. You knew you weren't, though. You ripped your gaze away from where it had been travelling along her jawline just in time for the host to arrive and lead you to your table. You sat across from her, keeping your eyes down and you collected your thoughts.

"What are you having?"

When you looked up, her eyes were trained on you. Her eyes were your absolute favourite part of her. They always shone so brightly, and so clearly expressed whatever she was feeling. They sparkled like they could see into your very soul and were so deep you could get lost in them for hours. Even the colour was perfect. They were that amazing shade of green that had very quickly become your favourite colour. You often found you'd been staring into them for a little longer than what might be considered normal. Now was one of those times. You looked back down at the menu.

"I'm not sure. Definitely a drink," you hummed. "Though I might get poisoned."

She rolled her eyes. "I don't think your luck is so bad that your assassin will choose to poison you today."

No, because she would protect you from anything. She always had. You might have been a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and perfectly capable of protecting yourself, but she was always stepping in front of you to defend you. You couldn't say you minded. You liked having her at your back. Some people had a physical location where they felt safe. You didn't. Natasha Romanoff was your safe place. When you were with her, you felt like nothing in the world could touch you. She wouldn't let anything hurt you, and you wouldn't let anything hurt her.

Soon enough the waitress was stepping up to your table and taking your order. You gave yours first, opting for a simple fettuccine alfredo. Natasha gave hers, unaware of the way you watched her lips moving as she talked. When the waitress left and she looked back to you, your eyes were cast toward the window, watching a young couple pass by, huddled close together in the cool March evening. When she called for your attention and you gave it immediately, looking over to her. She sipped her wine as you did.

"You said your car wouldn't start?" She said.

"Yeah. It keeps sputtering on and on."

"I'll drive you home and take a look at it tonight. I know a thing or two about cars."

It was a good thing she did, because you knew absolutely nothing about what was going on under the hood of the car. All you could think was that maybe the battery had died on you, but that wasn't possible. If you'd left the lights on, you would have been able to see it through the window in your bedroom the night previous, and you hadn't. There was no other reason the battery could have been drained. You'd driven the car yesterday from your house to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s New York location. You might not have known what the hell was wrong, but Natasha would figure it out in seconds. The thought of her bent over to study the underside of the hood made you shiver.

The image was pushed from your mind when the waitress returned with your food. She placed your pasta down in front of you and you thanked her politely. She set Natasha's down as well. The redhead smiled widely and after double-checking that everything was alright, the server left the two of you to your dinner. Natasha glanced up at you, a very amused smile playing on her lips. You knew exactly what it was about, too. You'd gotten the wrong order and said absolutely nothing of it. Honestly, you didn't really care. At this point in the day, you just wanted to eat.

"You could've said something," Natasha teased.

"It's nothing. I'm hungry and this is just as good."

"We can still say something."

"It's fine," you assured.

"Let's stop and buy you a couple hundred good luck charms on the way back to your place."

You laughed aloud.

Dinner was good, despite having gotten the wrong order. You suspected that was due to Natasha's presence. The two of you had been exchanging stores of the craziest missions you'd ever gone on. Of course, she was winning. She was an Avenger. Your missions as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent were anything but boring, but they didn't compare to the alien invasion last year that Natasha had been at the heart of. You'd been helping from the edges of the city, evacuating civilians and the like, but you suspected she'd killed hundred more of the Chitauri than you did: one.

Before long you'd both finished, and the empty plates were cleared away. The server returned to you with the bill. You made sure your card was out before Natasha could even think about trying to pay. They collected your card, and you gave Natasha a very smug little smirk. She only rolled her eyes and thanked you softly. You thought all was said and done when the server returned. You prepared to leave but she shook her head, signalling you to stop what you were doing. She reached out, handing you your card back. You took it.

"I'm afraid the transaction isn't going through."

It seemed that your bad luck had struck again. You were fully confident that there was enough money in your account. There had been last night when you'd checked it, anyway. Either you'd had the misfortune of your card deciding to kick the bucket while you tried to buy dinner for Natasha, or even worse, someone had gotten into your bank account and cleared it out. That thought made your heart drop into your stomach as you reached for your phone, hardly noticing Natasha pulling out her own credit card this time.

You prayed for one tiny bit of luck today. Your prayers went unanswered. You logged into your online banking to find that someone had managed to get your credit card number and had been online shopping all day. Your card had long hit its limit and you were already dreading the phone call you were about to have with the bank. You huffed as you set your phone down roughly on the tabletop. Natasha glanced over at you as the server took her card this time. She raised an eyebrow. You were sure smoke was billowing from your ears.

"Luck isn't turning yet?"

You didn't answer that. "Thanks for dinner, Natasha."

She laughed. When the server returned her card and wished you both a good evening, she took your hand and dragged you back out the doors onto the noisy streets of New York. She was leading you back to S.H.I.E.L.D., where you knew she must have left her bike. When you got there, she scanned her ID and brought you both down into the parking garage. She brought you right to the motorbike and lifted the helmet off from where it was hanging on the handlebars. She reached out and set it on your head, doing it up underneath your chin. Her fingers brushed your skin as she worked at the straps.

"Normally I would never condone riding without a helmet, but I only have one. This head," she said, rapping her knuckles twice against the helmet on your head. "Is much more important than mine."

"Is not," you laughed. "There's hundreds of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, but there's only six Avengers."

"And there's only one you," she insisted. "The helmet stays on that pretty little head of yours, and that's final."

That compliment seemed to awaken the butterflies in your stomach. They were still present when you both climbed onto the bike. They fluttered even more when Natasha told you to put your arms around her and hold tight. You could have stayed like this forever if she'd asked you to. You almost wanted her to ask you to, because you loved the ways your arms fit perfectly around her waist. Facing forward, she wasn't able to see the smile that was growing on your lips. Maybe all that bad luck was to make up for this.

Reluctantly, you took your arms off from around her when she pulled into your driveway. She put the kickstand down and took the helmet once you'd pulled it off and handed it back to her. You straightened out your hair a little bit in the reflection of your car window. Wordlessly, Natasha had moved to the hood of your car and tapped on the red paint to get your attention. You unlocked the car and popped the hood for her. She unhooked the latch and lifted it up, studying the inside carefully. That scene you'd been picturing earlier was coming true before your eyes.

"Start the car for me?"

You nodded. You dropped your bag on the doorstep, digging through the pockets until your hand had closed around your car keys. You withdrew them by tugging on the dinosaur keychain that Natasha had once given you after winning it at the arcade, where you'd spent hours at all the different games. You slid into the front seat, turning on the car when Natasha gave you the thumbs up. The car sputtered loudly. Then it made a sound you might have mistaken for a gunshot. The backfire nearly made you jump out of your seat. You quickly got out.

"You alright, Nat?"

"I'm good," she nodded. She moved away from the car. "It's probably just your spark plugs. When's the last time you had them replaced?"

You raised an eyebrow. "Hell if I know. I drop it off for a tune-up and expect them to tune it up."

Natasha laughed. "I'll grab some tomorrow and replace them for you."

You nodded. You watched as she reached up and grabbed the hood of the car, closing it again. She rubbed her hands against her pants. You clicked a button on your car keys, locking the doors. The lights flashed to indicate that it was indeed secured. You fiddled with the keys in your hand to get the house key out, opening your mouth to invite Natasha in as well, but found you couldn't find the golden key. You growled at nothing and dug through every pocket in your bag to see if it had fallen off in there, but there was no trace of it.

"My house key is missing."

Natasha actually laughed at this. "Did you walk under a ladder this morning? Spill the salt? Break a mirror?"

You glared at her. "Can you help me get in through a window?"

She nodded. You both moved around to one of the windows that you'd left open last night, after telling her you weren't sure you had locked it when you shut it this morning. Indeed, she found that once you'd removed the screen, she was able to slide the window open. You linked your fingers together to make a spot for Natasha to use for leverage. You boosted her through the open window and then moved back to the front door just as you heard the deadbolt slide out of place.

"My hero," you grinned as she opened the door. "I owe you a drink. Come on."

"I still have to drive home."

"Stay the night," you offered. "If you don't, I could very well just get murdered tonight."

Natasha laughed. "Well, I'd better stay and make sure you're okay, then."

You smacked her gently. She knew her way around your small bungalow well, having visited what could have easily been a million times. She made herself at home on the couch, tossing her leather jacket beside her. You moved into the kitchen, only paying half a glance at the towels you'd thrown over the two spilled beverages. You poured the both of you a drink and then brought them into the living room, kicking back on the couch beside her. You grabbed the remote, clicking the TV on. The screen lit up the room. Out of the corner of your eye, you noticed the beautiful face beside you that had been illuminated. You turned back to the screen.

"I can put Netflix on," you said, pressing a button. "What do you want to watch?"

"Can I test your luck?"

"What?" You responded, turning your full attention to her.

She didn't offer an explanation. You felt her hand touch your thigh. Your breath hitched and the remote almost fell to the floor. You managed to set it down on the table as your cheeks began to burn red. She left her hand there for a few seconds before it slid away, letting you take a moment to remember how to breathe. Her hand moved away and wrapped around her glass. You knew how obvious you were being when you watched her touch the rim to her lips and the slight movements in her neck as she swallowed the alcohol. You needed a drink too, but you were frozen.

"I just mean... I could either turn your luck around or just maintain the bad luck."

You still didn't know what she meant. She was setting her glass down on the coffee table. Her eyes searched yours and you were once again tossed into the sea of green that you were so obsessed with. When she leaned forward and connected your lips, though, you lost sight of emerald green. Her eyes had shut and only a second later, yours had fluttered shut as well. You put a hand on the back of her neck to hold her closer and moved your lips with hers. You wondered briefly if you were dreaming. You didn't have long with your thoughts. Your mind was so overcome with whatever was happening right now.

Natasha pulled back. Her hand had, at some point, moved back onto your thigh, and was resting there gently. Your hand moved to cover it. She flipped hers over so that her fingers could intertwine with yours and for the first time, it didn't feel like it was just in a friendly manner. It felt so much more than that, just liked you'd wanted it to. Your eyes moved from there up to her face. She had been studying you intently. You'd never seen Natasha Romanoff look nervous. Not until that very moment. You chuckled a little, nervousness in your chest as well, and let your eyes fall.

"You definitely turned it," was all you said.

"Yeah?"

"By a long shot. I mean, I think this amount of good luck was enough to actually balance out the bad luck."

You didn't know Natasha could giggle, but she did. The sound made a smile immediately spread over your face. You reached out and took her hands in your own. You leaned forward and kissed her again, infatuated with the feeling of her soft lips pressed against yours so rough and yet somehow so soft. One of your hands pulled out of hers so it could thread through the red waves on her head. You'd wanted to do that for so long. She only pulled back when you'd both lost your breath. Your forehead rested against hers and you could smell the whiskey on her breath.

"Do you know how long I've wanted that?" You breathed.

"I'd guessed it, but I thought it was just my imagination because I wanted the same thing."

You laughed. She put her hands on your shoulders, pushing your back down against the couch and then putting her knees on either side of your waist. Her lips were on yours again, a little hotter this time. You didn't complain. You just let her lean down over you and kiss you and run her hand down your side. You only raised a hand to her chest and pushed her away when you once more felt the need for oxygen burning inside your chest. She didn't move far, face inches from yours, studying you this time from above. You blushed under her gaze.

"I... I've felt really strongly about you for a while," you said, hand moving so you could trace your fingertips across her cheek. "You know what I mean?"

"Are you trying to tell me you love me without saying you love me?" She asked, the teasing back in her voice again. "Because you're not going to scare me off. You can say it if you want."

"I love you, Natasha."

"I love you, too."

You couldn't help but laugh. It wasn't funny in any way, but maybe it was the relief trying to find a way out of your body. The sound seemed to make Natasha's eyes, sparkle. Your heart softened and the laughter fell from your lips and you didn't move a muscle. Her face was so beautiful looking down at you like it was. You felt so right having her touch you like this and touching her the way you were. Her hands were holding her torso up above yours and yours were touching her face so gently. It wasn't like a friend touched a friend anymore.

"Thanks for turning my luck."

"Are you kidding me? I'm the lucky one."

"I think we're both really fucking lucky, Natasha. Thank you."

[beneathashadytree]

BUS RIDES - TSUKISHIMA KEI X READER

Warnings : none, reader is gender-neutral!

Genre : fluff cause he's the loml

Word count : 0.8K words

Synopsis : Whenever Kei and his lover ride the bus on the way back from their dates, little moments happen that they each silently treasure in their hearts.

Requests : Are open! Check the rules over here.

Want to support me financially? Here’s my CashApp!

Masterlist

"How long's it gonna take before we make it home?" I mumbled to my boyfriend, hardly able to keep my eyes open as I tried my best to blink sleep away.

The date we'd went on had been a rather quiet, therapeutic one; a walk in the fields that served as more of a winding-down-together day than anything else. Strolling in dirt roads and sitting at the edge of sunny cliffs might not have sounded all too grand if anyone else were to think about it, but for Kei who was constantly torn between practice matches, night-time shifts, and college work, and for me, who'd been riddled for weeks on end with work I'd procrastinated on, this seemed like a blessing in disguise.

To the both of us, any time spent together was a day well-spent, and a calming date out in nature just about did the trick to ease our muscles and soothe our hearts just a little bit. The only downside to our outing was that to reach our planned destinations we'd been forced to walk for too many kilometers, and after such a long day, come nightfall we were far too exhausted to make it back home on foot. Resorting to catching the bus, it was much closer to midnight than twilight when we'd finally taken our seats at the back next to the window, and that was how I ended up with drooping eyelids beside him.

"Probably an hour," his voice was soft when it was carried by the night breeze coming in through the window, and his blonde curls danced in my hazy vision as he shifted a bit in his seat, producing a pair of earphones instead of his usual headphones that I (alongside everyone that's ever known him) associated him with, "Here."

After taking the right bud from his hand, he plugged the jack in, and no more than 10 seconds later, a soothing melody washed over my ears. If I had the energy in me, I could've squinted my eyes a bit and seen that he'd named the playlist uncharacteristically sappily.

sleep-aid for my love

Unfortunately, I was way too far gone to register the title, let alone bother teasing him (not too much though, since it oftentimes had the adverse effect I hoped for and he ended up pushing his emotions further down). The soft lulling in my ear was getting much too difficult to resist, and the pull of sleep was much too demanding and tempting. My eyes began fluttering shut of their own accord, and I didn't have it in me to even fight it.

Kei's voice, which was in its usual low and gentle register, triggered every single inch of me to succumb to the clutches of slumber when he spoke quietly in my ear after removing the ear-buds, "You can rest your head and sleep. I'll wake you up when it's time to get off."

Barely able to form a cohesive thought anymore, I muttered an 'Mmkay' under my breath, dropping my head onto the nook between his shoulder and neck, nuzzling him and mustering the last of my remaining energy to reach between our seats and thread my fingers between his.

His palm was warm, and the last thing I felt before falling into a deep sleep was that he'd tightened his hold on me so that our hands were perfectly entwined.

Currently unseen to me (and what a shame that was, really), he'd turned his head to watch the blinding lights of the city whizz by the window, in a weak attempt to salvage what was left of his pride, seeing as his face was burning a deep shade of red. He was wondering to himself how it was that after spending all his high school years dating the same person, he still somehow grew incredibly flustered at this physical intimacy. It hadn't ever been something he was accustomed to, and even after slowly easing into accepting the fact that touch was a rather pleasant thing to bask in from your loved ones, he never became any less embarrassed of the way he sometimes loved it a little too much from a certain someone.

With a half-smile on his face as amber eyes watched the changing scenery pass him by, Kei squeezed my hand in my sleep, something akin to a lovesick expression on his face as he secretly wished the ride would be over soon, just so we could spend the night wrapped in a shared warm embrace that he so yearned for (and I did too, even if I wasn't conscious to voice my thoughts).

Taglist: @mrsgiovanna @the-foreigner

[qweeby]

Nine Lives To Short Part 7: And the Ugly

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡💜

Paring: Shinsou x Reader

Genre: Angst

Taglist: @bakuhoetoedoroki @foxypuppy

A/n: MAKING THIS HURT. AAAAAAAAAaaa-

Plot: You only have nine days to tell him how you feel but maybe 9 days just isn't enough.

Bang

.

.

.

You close your eyes bracing for the bullet's impact. But nothing happens. You open your eyes to see Shinsou standing in front of you his body trembling .

He looks back at you and smiles seeing that you're unharmed.

" G-good looks like....I made it in time huh?"

"H-hitoshi...you..."

Hitoshi then takes a knees while holding his shoulder grunting fighting back the pain.

"HITOSHI! OH GOD ARE YOU OK!"

"Y-yeah I'm ok it's nothing b-but a scratch"

Hitoshi moves his hand from the gun shot wound the blood completely covering his palm.

"THAT BASTARD! HE GAVE ME A REAL BULLET! UGH THIS THING IS FUCKING USELESS!"

Your father throws the gun to the ground and run to the door trying to escape but he bumps into someone unexpected.

It's Hitoshi Father Hajime Shinsou.

" H-Haji-!"

Before he can finish even saying his name Hajime gives your father a nasty right hook knocking him out cold.

" That's for shooting my kid".

-A few minutes goes by-

The police and the nearby pro heroes are already on the scene, the police go inside the house to retrieve your still unconscious father and the pro hero finds your mother pulling up in her car and proceed to take her out and arrest her.

"HITOSHI MY BABY ARE YOU ALRIGHT! YOU'VE BEEN SHOT OH MY GOD!"

The lady rightfully freaking out is Mihoko Shinsou.

"Mom please stop screaming. Dad please hold her back If she hugs me I'm pretty sure I'll bleed out" Hitoshi says while a paramedic a tending to his shoulder.

"I'LL BE GENTLE I PROMISE" she cries out.

"Knock it off, Hitoshi has more things to deal with than that shot wound".

Hajime points at the spot you were just standing at but there's no one there.

.

.

.

You hide behind a tree slowly making your way to a weird looking fence. But of course "death himself" catches the "sinner" mid escape.

" And where do you think you're going Y/n?" Yokai turns his head watching struggle to hop over the fence that leads to Shinsou's backyard which also leads to the woods.

" There's no way I'm staying here".

"Running away again? Isn't this song and dance getting old"

"I just....need to go"

"And where are you gonna go"

"I DON'T KNOW the woods maybe! I just can't be here with pros and police around....my parents are apart of the yakuza....a-and there gonna get locked up then the next thing you know I'm getting pulled in jail!".

" Correct my foolish user, Right now your mom and dad are villains...twisted people wanting to clean a mistake that they made. NO the curse they made."

"That's you."

You stay quiet because sadly he's right...

"Y/N! HEY WHERE DO YOU THINK YOUR GOING!".

"S-SHINSOU?!".

You see Hitoshi running towards you at fully speed, as you lean on the fence trying to hop on over it once again. Surprisingly it turns out the fence was gate that just needed to push open .

" ARE YOU SERIOUS!"

"Dumbass there's even a sign that says push".

You run to the backyard trip on garden hose, as Hitoshi jumps over the gate you spends years trying to hop over.

"YOU'RE SUCH A SHOW OFF!"

"WELL YOU'RE STUPID! There's no way I'm letting you run off."

Hitoshi walks up to you holding out his hand "Come on get let's get you up".

"But...What if the police take me away! I won't know for how long they'll hold me for! T-they can't take me you can't let them!".

Hitoshi holds your face rubbing your check in the process.

"Hey hey...it's ok they won't take you it's just your parents don't worry kitty..." he exhales "No need for the waterworks".

" I can't help it...it's just.." you grab onto Shinsou hands with tears streaming down your face.

"I want spend the rest of the time I have on this earth with you Shinsou!".

Hitoshi hands suddenly get real sweaty as his face turns red with embarrassment.

"A-AND YOU WILL OBVIOUSLY! I'LL BE HERE 100% EVERY STEP OF THE WAY!".

Right.

Hitoshi has been with you since way before the curse came along.

Even though you lied to him.

Even though you made him worried

Even though your time is limited....and he's basically wasting his time talking to you

He's still here.

"As you can see I'm here for you now aren't I?, as soon, as I left off the bus I followed you right inside the house and you never suspected a thing ! Then I peeked at you holding a bird mask and that's when I knew I had to call mymhphh-"

Y/n cover Shisou mouth not saying a word.

("Shit! Did I pull a Izuku and rambled on for to long! Dammit...my bad..").

"Shinsou...promise me that you won't say anything until i say so...even when i move my hand y-you can't say anything".

He nods and says "I promise" but it's muffled.

After hearing him promise.... you take a deep breath then move your hand from his mouth.

That night was such a cold night for the two of them but in this moment it didn't matter nothing mattered, as Y/n slowly inches her way towards Shinsou.

He notices that you started to move forward and he can't help but to do the same, as Shinsou moves in he can't help but to look at Y/n.

("Her eyes did they always look this innocent.....and....did her lips...always looked soft.)

Hitoshi gets way to eager and rushes his and gives you a quick peck on the lips.

.....

Shinsou starts stomping his feet as he tries his hardest to not scream at himself. (FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! NOOOOO! I DID ALL.IF THAT BUILD UP JUST TO FUCK IT UP! I- I WANNA REDO I WANNA REDO! I WANNA-)

" Hitoshi I'm in love with you!".

Y/n says before she kisses the angry cat out of his split second rage.

(" She....i-..h-her lips are so fucking soft..)

Hitoshi runs his finger through your hair and you loved that...

You love how Shinsou touches your body, when he's pulling your waste or rubbing your leg or even when his fingers brush up against you.

Y/n loves this feeling and couldn't help but to moan his name.

S-shinou~

.....

"AHEM!"

"AH! S-SHINOU!"

You quickly snap out of if shoving Shinsou back.

"SHINSOU DON'T RESPOND!"

He has completely curled up into a ball rolling on the floor and that can be heard from him is a muffled scream.

" I can see the steam coming off of his head, Y/n is that normal".

Y/n turns her back on Yokai and Shinsou.

"Hitoshi Shinsou".

Shinsou peeks out of his hood looking out the hole with one eye "Hm?".

" Whatever happens from this moment on you can't fall in love with me. Also you can talk now."

"I-I can't fall in love with you? W-what do you mean"? Why does that almost make feel sad.

"This isn't the time nor place to having this conversation"

"BUT I WAS A TIME TO KISS ME! This is just some sick little game to get me to kiss you wasn't it.

"HITOSHI DON'T BE SO LOUD! AND STOP TALKING ABOUT IT SO CASUALLY".

.

.

.

A lot of time has pass since then. You fill the Shinsou family in on everything explain your unfortunate quirk and your unfortunate fate that has yet to come.

Hajime sips his coffee " So 9 days huh damn that sucks dont it"

" Well Y/n you know you can stay here as long you need"

"That you aunty Mihoko but...I don't think I'll stay for long".

Hitoshi flicks your forehead like always.

"I doesn't matter how long you stay for. When you leave I leave so don't even think about taking off".

"OW! I-I WASN'T THINKING THAT AT ALL!...that really hurts you know."

Mihoko gasp very loudly before screaming realizing her baby boy is gonna leave along side her."HITOSHI YOU'RE GONNA LEAVE ME TOO!"

"Well yeah I wanna spend all the time I have left with Y/n so I won't leave her side".

Y/n and Hitoshi then stare at one another blushing.

Hajime see the two of you making googly eyes at each other. "Ohhhhhhhh....now it makes sense "

"WHAT WAS THAT OHHH FOR!?"

"Nothing Toshi nothing at all".

All of you have a great time just taking and chatting and all around having fun together. Hajime...Mihoko...even though you aren't related to them in any way the Shinsou's are willing to take you in. Saying thank you wouldn't ever been enough to express your gratitude.

But the fun stops abruptly when Hitoshi has to steps outside for moment.

" I'll be right back..."

"Ok kid just don't run away now "

"Shut up old man! I'm not a run away cat!".

"And where are you going~" You say holding up Kabuki like baby. "You're such a cool cat Kabuki! Way better than another cat I know.

"Oh bite me!" Yokai then bites your legs

"OW YOU LITTLE SHIT I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU BITE ME!"

"That's what you get for going in the backyard, there's bugs everywhere back there I'm not surprised you got bit".

As the joints in your leg start to tighten you begin to break out into a sweat.

"Yeah....nothing but a big bite".

Hitoshi stands outside in front of Mei Hatsume. "Why did you answered any of my calls Shinsou".

"Well as you can see-" he waved his arm that's wrapped in bandages " I've been pretty busy. Plus I just got your text...all 65 missed messages and 15 miss calls".

"WHAT HAPPENED?!"

"Eh nothing really I only got shot".

" SHINSOU THIS IS SERIOUS!".

" Look I know you didn't come here to talk about my injury, so why are you here".

" Us. I want to talk about us".

"What are you talking about".

" You been avoiding me...why! Don't tell me it's because of that girl again!"

"That's not her name".

"I DONT CARE! AND YOU SHOULDN'T EITHER! SHE'S GONNA DIE AND YOUR STILL GONNA BE HERE".

...

"Hatsume do yourself a favor and leave now..quietly".

"No-no! NO! I WILL NOT LEAVE AT ALL I CAN'T BELIEVE YOUR SO ATTACHED TO HER! EVERYONE KNOWS SHE'S A LOST CAUSE-".

Mei's body goes stiff and her pupil dilate.

Shinsou let's out a sigh, as he walks up to Hatsume seeing how this is the second time he had to use his quirk on someone he cared for.

Like your dad at the hospital.

Even though your parents were apart of yakuza Shinsou knew them for basically his whole life. He remembers the time his family would go over Y/n's for a big family dinner, he remembers all the trips they would go on like the beach or that one time they took everyone to America.

Then he thinks about Hastume and can't help but to frowns.

"Hatsume I want you to forget about what we had...whatever we had....and I want you to just go home. Please".

Hatsume does just that. Turning and waking away as commended.

.....

Shinsou walks back inside trying to shake off what he just did.

"So care to explain that sweetie?"

"I would rather not", he looks around "where's dad and y/n?"

"Y/n leg was hurting so Hajime carried her to your room so she could rest".

"Oh ok so I'll just-"

Mihoko yanks his hood.

"Don't make use my quirk on you now, Hitoshi"

"....fine I'll talk I'll talk."

"This girl Mei I guess was going around and tell people that we date...it caused a lot a problems so I chose to not talk to her anymore.

She raises one of her eyebrows questioning her son's words.

"We didn't even have anything I just gave her my number after so we can talk about the support item she's making for me".

Mama Shinsou pats her son on the back

"That just means your a lady's man right!"

" M-MOM!"

After his mom picks on him some more Hitoshi finally makes it to his room to see you fast asleep, he walks up to his bed and lays next you watching you sleep.

"I can't blame you for being tired...you've been through a lot today".

.

.

.

Hitoshi can't help but to think about what you said in the backyard.

" Hitoshi I love you! "

Why does that make his heart beat 10 times faster, the way you stared into his soul why does that make him wanna look more. The way you said his name....

"Hitoshi~"

God! He'd give anything just to hear you say one more time. Just thinking about it makes his the tip of his ears turn pink as they twitch slightly.

But then that praise fades, when Hitoshi realize what you really wanted him to remember from that moment....

"Whatever happens you can't fall in love with me".

He lays a kiss on your cheek.

"No promises".

....

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡💜💜

Now...officially...your first life has been lost but at least your wasting away with him by your side.

[sunareii]

masterlist ➛ next

suna intended to slack around his room during the whole spring break, unfortunately for him his mom had other plans, a small trip to hyogo to kyoto for a good few days to visit one old relative. he had no desire and reason to be there, well maybe because his mom forced him to or maybe because of a girl he met

a girl that believes in chances gives him a chance

and with that chance, he takes it

WC ; 1, 099

time had flown by, the coldest season had ended and now it is the time where the plants bloom again. it also didn't took long for the third years to graduate at the month of march, this is where their last high school years end

suna generally doesn't have a problem with their seniors graduating but the idea that now no one is there to keep the miya twins in check when they have a sibling quarrel would be troublesome

"you guys have any plans before the new school year starts?"

ginjima asked, it was late at night as the four walked home together, the graduation ceremony felt long following by a small celebration for the third years treated by their team coach led them at this hour

"play volleyball, i guess?" atsumu stated, it was quiet night, no one else was around. "can't give yer ass a break, huh?" osamu said back, "like yer have any interestin' to do, you lousy cow!" came a laughter after "how about you suna?" suna only hummed away from his thoughts "-how would you spend your spring break?" ginjima interjected, suna tilts his head up for a moment before answering,

"i just want to stay at home, nothing much"

his wishes were ruined by the woman who gave birth to him, herself. "can't you come there on your own, i can handle the household by myself"

he persisted but his mother only shook her head at him, her frown line spoiling the face she had passed on to her son. "we're staying at your uncles place, so your cousin will be there too, wouldn't that be nice?" her statement didn't really helped to convince him to come

suna doesn't consider any of his cousins as a close relative, he definitely doesn't even talk to most of them. "you're coming whether you like it or not" his mother uttered and that was final, there was nothing more that he could do, not that he has any chance to win against his mom anyways. then again, i guess it's better than to lie around the house on his own.

the ride from hyogo to kyoto was only an hour and a half away, it wasn't a great idea to leave by sundown especially in a day where trains and buses are mostly full, it took an hour for a unfilled bus to arrive at the stop, using the train would have been a bit of a hassle considering how many and heavy the bags he was carrying as if his mother brought a whole worth of clothes for one year, suna could only roll his eyes at that.

a chuckle leaves his lips, the bus finally pulls to a stop at last. they got out to be greeted by a man, years older than him

"good to see you again, shiba!" His mother waved before nudging him in the shoulder, he bowed down for courtesy at the older man without saying a word. "not even gonna talk eh? wow! you sure have grown last time i saw you, you were still in your mothers belly" shiba said avidly patting him on the shoulder asking suna if he remembers him after.

'as if i have any memories of you when i was a fetus'

he thought to himself, "anyways, we better get goin' it's gettin' dark and senzo's probably waitin' for us" shiba commented pointing at the car that he was leaning onto, telling them to get it and drove off. the ride was longer then expected

they were staying in good ol' shiba's resident which includes a pretty traditional japanese house, which size is enough for a small family.

"senzo! why don't you help our guests get their bags in their rooms!" shiba yelled as they went inside, the sound of feet going down the stairs could be heard throughout the house.

the short dark haired teenager like suna, gave him a hand and gestured to follow him upstairs whilst his mother chatted away with his uncle

he frowned at his mother behind her back as he took steps from the creaking stairs for the reason that she only made her come to carry her bags which was ten times more hefty than his

long story short, he immediately took a nap and set himself in the night and called it a day.

suna somehow, woke up way too early seeing as the sun hasn't risen yet. he sat down to look at the time.

3:58 am

it read, beside him was senzo on his phone, scrolling up and down, their parents decided to have them in the same room to get along and communicate the night before.

"you woke up early too?"

suna mumbled, senzo looked at him with wide eyes then looked away quickly. "i.. i havent slept yet"

suna didn't said anything after that and decided to take a walk, despite not knowing his way around the place, he'll just let his feet lead him somewhere.

there was nothing much to see at this hour, majority of the shops were closed or prepping for later.

he walked quite far for the past hour, not only that he stopped in a wide place to watch the sunrise. he didn't knew how far he had walked until he noticed he could see various houses and shops below him and that he walked up to a high elevation.

he squinch his eyes as the morning sunrays finally hit him. what didn't hit him sooner was that he wasn't alone there up until he heard inaudible noises just inches away from him.

and there for the first time, he sees her

her hair was a mess, her clothes were all wrinkled out she was out of breath.

'was she trying to catch up to see the sunrise?'

she took notice of him shortly as he was staring at her all aloof

now that we got their first encounter out of the way, this is their story folks.

sunareii is typing...

this was supposed to be posted days ago, but I couldn't because procrastination and lack of motivation told me so

taglist (open!)

@akaaaashit

[btsrmono]

Trial & Error | chapter 1.

A/N: hey guys ik this is really random for my page but i got bored lol pls enjoy?? 

Main Pairing: (jimin): student/idol x (main): foreign student

Side Pairs: main x taehyung,, main x (nct) jaehyun 

CHAPTER 1

"I still can't believe you're moving."

 You sighed, leaning your head on your boyfriend's shoulder. "Don't remind me."

 It had been a month since your parents had told you about the big move and school would be starting the next week, which is when you'd be moving.

  Ryan lied his hand on your thigh as he squeezed it a bit. "I was thinking, you know," he started, "since you're moving and all... y/n, don't you think it'd be better if we--"

  You already knew where this was going. "Break up?" you finished for him. He didn't say anything, causing you to chuckle a bit. "It's alright," you told him. "I've been thinking the same thing."

 "You have?"

  You took your head off of his shoulder, looking him in the eyes. "Yeah. I mean, it only makes sense, right? What would be the purpose of staying together?" You gave him a small smile of which he returned. You and Ryan had only been together for 5 months, not really making it a big deal.

"You know I care about you, right?"

"Yes," you confirmed. "Same goes here. Just because we're 'ending this', doesn't mean we're ending us. I'll still keep in contact with you and check up here and there."

 Smiling at you, he stuck his pinky finger out. "Promise?"

 You quickly interlocked your pinky with his. "Promise."

                                                              ~~

  Turns out, saying your goodbyes to your friends wasn't the hard part. You already knew this was going to be a problem but you had been in Korea for over two hours and still had yet to find someone that spoke English. You guys began to settle in your apartment with the help of moving guys, and you had decided that you wanted to take a look around, maybe buy a snack.

  Little to no avail, you couldn't find many American snacks like you were expecting to, and when you did, they surely didn't taste the same. Anyway, you was trying to make your way back to your new home when you realized you didn't know where you were going. Google Maps was acting up, and you were too afraid to attempt the Korean you actually did know with local natives. Therefore, you tried to ask, using as much broken English as you could to make it simple on them. However, they weren't very helpful but at least they all seemed nice. You thought maybe if you made one more attempt, you could have hit the jackpot. "Uh, excuse me sir."

The older man stopped in his tracks and stared at you. "Uh... Yes?" He asked, sounding quite nervous.

Right then and there, just from his tone, you knew he wasn't going to be much useful. You politely smiled. "Never mind." You bowed and he went on with his day. Ugh, why were you so scared to speak Korean. You were actually pretty good at it at some point due to your childhood best friend, Shi Ah. Practically her sister, you two were around each other all the time and you easily picked up the language. It was fun because you guys would always say things about people with them right there without them knowing what you two were speaking about.

 But, unfortunately, Shi Ah had to move to China Freshman year due to a job opportunity for her journalist parents. The goodbye was extremely hard but you both eventually moved on, you becoming best friends with Mariana and Riley, her doing God knows what. You even fell out of touch so you had no idea what she’d been up to the past few years. It was sad but it quickly became your new normal.

 Anyway, you knew, eventually you were going to have to get over your fear of speaking Korean but until then, you sighed and took in the scenery surrounding you to see if anything looked familiar, but nope. You stood there, deciding that maybe it was time to call a parent. As you went to dial your moms number, you suddenly become very distracted.

"Lost?" you heard a voice say.

You looked up from your phone to the girl that now stood in front of you. "You speak English?" you stupidly asked. The girl laughed. "I'm sorry," you apologized, realizing how rude you probably sounded.

"Don't be, it's understandable. What can I help you with though?" The girl was really pretty. She had perfect skin with long blonde hair and bangs that made her wide eyes stand out.

You let out a breath, looking down at your phone. "I need help getting back home."

She giggled. "Already? Come on." She then proceed to walk ahead of you as you, confusingly, followed.

"But wait, you haven't even asked where I live."

"Its alright, we're in the same neighborhood. I saw you earlier," she explained. It then made sense. However, you had not seen her. The girl was gorgeous, you must admit, so you would have remembered seeing her.

"So we're neighbors," you stated.

"Yup."

"What's your name?"

Still walking, she looked back at you and smiled. "Jinsoul. But my English speaking friends call me Zoè. Say which ever you'd like."

You nodded, repeating her name in your head a few times. A habit you picked up in order to remember people’s names. 

"And you?" she asked.

"Y/n."

"That’s pretty," she complemented you. “It’ll be hard to forget.”

Only a short block later, you guys were back into the neighborhood. "Thank you so much," you said as you began to reach your doorstep. "I owe you." 

 After exchanging numbers, she informed you that she only lived a corner away from you and that if you ever needed anything, you could just ask.

______

 The next day, you were starting school. You walked around the corner and saw your mom in the kitchen cooking breakfast. You knew that your Dad didn't leave the house until 9 am. "Morning, Mom," you greeted her.

She turned away from the pancakes she was in the middle of making and smiled at you. "Y/n! Morning baby, are you excited for school?"

 You shrugged your shoulders while smirking as you placed your back pack on the kitchen island table. "I guess. I don't really know what to expect though."

"Well if there's any advice I can give you, it's : Don't stress. Seriously, it'll make everything go wrong."

Instead of a reply, you sighed, still feeling sleepy. "Why are you up so early?" you asked her.

She then proceeded back to making the pancakes. "For you."

"Oh no, you didn't need to do that, Mom. I'm about to leave out."

She looked at you with a confused expression on her face. "Well then what are you going to eat?"

"There's a store around the block, I was just gonna grab a quick snack and head to the school early."

"Early?" she wondered.

You shook your head. "Yup. Want to get my schedule 100 percent accurate and get a mini tour of the building before it gets too crowded." Your mom kind of smirked, looking at you from the side of her eyes. You giggled. "What?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Nothing, it's just nice seeing you be responsible and positive on the first day. I know you didn't exactly picture your senior year to go this way but I just want you to make the best of it and I think you're off to a good start so far, sweetie."

You smiled. She was right, you guess. You did feel very out of place but not in a bad way exactly. You'd rather be home but you weren’t. You were in Seoul, South Korea and what would you be able to do about it? Nothing. So why not do what you can and make it a good experience rather than a negative?

She then turned the stove off and fully looked at you. "Get going. Have a nice day of school!"

As soon as you left the apartment building, you saw the girl from the day before walking in your direction. She beamed widely at your appearance. "Y/n!" she yelled.

You gave her a gentle smile, waiting for her to catch up with you. Once she did, you both continued walking together. "You look nice for your first day."

"Thanks, you look nice too!"

You started to think that she was also going to the store. So you both walked in silence for a little bit until you arrived there. The bell dinged on the door as she opened it. The older cashier man looked at you strangely. She noticed this. "Don't mind him," she said. "He does this to everyone."

You shook your head understandingly. "Okay."

She went over to the fridge section and grabbed banana milk, as did you, then a pack of peanuts and you went up to pay for your stuff while she was still looking. Once she was done, you two stepped back out into the hot heat. Only a few moments later, a group of three good looking guys showed up, talking amongst themselves as they headed to school as well in their uniforms. This made you believe you were getting closer to the bus stop.

On the side of you, you heard Jinsoul let out a slight laugh, making you turn to her. She was looking at the boys. Next thing you knew, they were looking back at her and walking over towards you guys. "A-are they coming over here?" you stuttered.

"Looks like it," she replied cooley, a small smirk glued to her face.

You quickly gave your hair a little fix as you both suddenly stopped walking, waiting for the boys to join.

"Yah, Jinsoul!", one of them said. He continued to speak in Korean as you zoned out, worried about if they would try to speak to you too. Sooner or later, you heard your name being said by Jinsoul and the boys all kind of glanced your way, throwing you off track. 

They eventually turned their attention back to Jinsoul, continuing their conversation. All except the one boy, whom was the most adorable of them all. He blankly stared at you, his eyes even squinting a bit.

You shifted one foot to the other as you looked down at the pavement, slightly uncomfortable with this. You then heard him laugh and when you looked back up, he was smiling at you. You nervously smiled back before he finally went back to paying attention to Jinsoul. They spoke in some more Korean.

After a good minute or two passed, you heard them saying goodbye, the cutest one being the only one to wave at you. Once they were out of ear shot, you turned to Jinsoul. "Uh, Jinsoul?"

"Hm?" she wondered, nonchalantly.

"Who were they?"

She laughed loudly before covering her mouth quickly. "Really?" she asked. "You really don't know who they are?"

Of course you didn't know who they were, why was she expecting you to? You tilted your head slightly. "I mean, I'm not from here," you explained.

"True." She began to walk again, you following. "They're all idols."

"Idols?" you wondered. "As in?"

"As in 'famous', y/n."

 You slightly hesitated, letting this new profound information soak into your brain. "Famous as in?"

"They sing. Dance. Rap. They're idols. K-pop idols."

You knew of K-pop, you looked it up upon arriving to Seoul but were no expert at it and of course the only people you ever even slightly heard of were Psy, Exo and Got7. Other than that, you were completely ignorant to the Korean pop industry. "Are they all in the same group?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Two of them are. The other one, aka, my friend, is still a trainee, which means he hasn't debuted yet but he's training to."

"Interesting." You walked a few more seconds in silence until you absolutely had to ask their names. Specifically for the one guy.

She deviously smiled, already knowing what was up your sleeve. "I see what you're doing," she stated. "But if you insist. My friend's name is Bae Joon Young. We call him Jacob. The other one is Kim Taehyung and the one that you seem interested in is Park Jimin."

"Jimin," you repeated. "But wait. If they're all famous, why were they in uniform to go to school?"

"Because they have to," she told you. "They all made an agreement that if they ever dropped out of school, they are eligible to be dropped from their company. Plus Taehyung and Jimin just debuted so they have to listen to their company right now. It's a pretty logical idea if I do say so myself."

You guys finally arrived at the bus stop and she explained to you what you would do after being released at the first stop. You both went to different schools. While you went to a Foreign school, she attended a performing arts school with a ton of other inspiring and/or famous people.

Of course you saw the boys again at the bus stop but they did not bother you guys this time, instead, they met up with their other friends that were also at the bus stop. The bus eventually pulled up around 7:30am and everyone got on board. Since both schools were basically right across from each other, all students got off at the same spot too. The only difference is that you and about two other students had to walk an extra block before actually getting to the International school. Once you finally arrived there, you took a deep breath and headed inside.

A/N: Bruh, I’m sorry this chapter was so BORING but it was the 1st. It should get a lil more interesting moving forward since we got most introductions out of the way. More Jimin to come next chapter! 

ALSO: I’ll be putting a gif of a main character each chapter at the end! For this chapter, we have Jinsoul, the friendly neighbor and school bus buddy! 

STAY TUNED

PART 2

[onewaigu]

Books

Genre : strangers!au

Theme : mild fluff

Pairing : Kanghyun(Onewe) X Reader

Description : The Little Prince was a popular newly-released book and you can't seem to get your hands on it.

“They're literally just words, Y/N”

Sadly, it's a recurring theme. Being told that books were just words. Nothing more. Nothing special. To which you would always shrug your shoulders dismissively or force a smile on your face.

You loved your friends. You really did but you just wished they'd open their hearts to reading books more. Unlike them, books meant a whole lot to you.

Books were apart of your memories with your dad when you were little. Every night before bed, he would read a book to you. Different books for different nights. And he never missed a single day. Even when he'd come home late.

The day you lost your dad in a car accident was the day you found solace in books. They reminded you of the happiest moments in your life when you had your dad beside you. Since his passing, your love for books only grew stronger. Whenever people saw you, you're sure to have your nose buried in a book.

Recently, you overheard some people in your Literature class talking about this new book that'd just been published— The Little Prince. Being the bookworm that you were, you naturally wanted to get your hands on the book.

Instead of buying books, you had to borrow them from the library because your dorm didn't have enough space. Besides, borrowing books saved you a ton of money and as a typical college student, that was the best option.

You planned on dropping by the library on one of the weekends when you weren't drowning in homework and presentations. You had checked online for the book and it turned out there was only one copy left available. Looking at the computer screen, you tapped your fingers nervously on the table. Hopefully, you would get there in time before anyone else did.

The weekends finally came and you were excited.

You checked your computer once again and thankfully, the book was still available. Breathing out a sigh of relief, you got yourself dressed in a simple black tee and jeans. You decided to skip breakfast entirely and headed out to catch the bus. The library was a bit far from your dorm so after alighting from the bus, you had to take a short trip on the subway.

After all that travelling, you arrived at the library. The place itself was like something out of Harry Potter. It wasn't the typical modern library. The bookshelves were all made of wood and the decor in the library had that sophisticated feel to them. You were always amazed whenever you visited the library. It was your happy place after all.

Once you were inside, you immediately disappeared into the shadows of the large bookshelves, searching for The Little Prince. What you thought would take a few minutes, turned out longer than expected. It wasn't because you couldn't find the section where the book was supposed to be. No, you found the exact spot. It's just that there was no book there.

Your dramatic self spent around thirty minutes staring blankly at the empty spot because you couldn't believe you were too late.

Beside you, someone cleared their throat. Snapping out of your sadness, you slowly turned your head to the person.

“Do you need help, Miss?”, a young librarian asked while giving you a weird look.

He looked at the empty spot on the bookshelf where your hand rested and something clicked in his mind.

“Ahh, were you trying to find The Little Prince?”, he placed the books he was carrying on one of the shelves and pointed his thumb behind him.

“Someone already checked it out a few minutes ago”, he gave you a kind smile.

Your eyebrows furrowed even deeper.

“Are there any other copies that I can borrow?”, you pleaded with the boy.

“I'm sorry Miss, we only have that one left”, he shook his head apologetically.

With the way your head was lowered and shoulders were slouched, anyone could tell you were visibly heartbroken. The young librarian stood awkwardly in front of you, without knowing what to do to comfort you.

After a few seconds of sulking, you crouched down to pick up your backpack and turned around to leave. That's when you heard the librarian calling out for you.

“Hey, Miss!”, he accidentally shouted out which caused him to cower his head as if to hide himself in case some other librarian heard him.

You raised an eyebrow at him.

“The book is due in three weeks' time”

Oh.

Your spirits lifted a bit.

Perfect. You just had to wait.

So for the whole three week's you waited patiently.

Sike.

Who were you kidding? You weren't patient at all.

Occasionally during the weekdays of those three weeks, you would randomly drop by to see if the book had been returned yet. Unfortunately, every visit turned out to be a failure. The only highlight was that the young librarian from the other day was the one who helped check the book out. Meaning, he had a glimpse of who borrowed the book.

Male. Blond hair. Lean build. Looked about your age but slightly taller.

This could be anyone but it was at least something to help you spot him.

When the three-week mark came, you were crossing your fingers. He might be there or he might not be. You just had to go and see for yourself.

Taking the same usual route to the library, you arrived in no time. Without even bothering to check the shelves again, you went straight to the librarian's desk upfront to ask if the book had been returned. Only when you got closer did you realise that there was already someone at the desk.

And that someone turned out to be a blond-haired male with a lean build and looked about your age but slightly taller than you.

He's the one. Tsk, slow reader.

You walked your way towards his side quietly. Unfortunately, he was too focused on whatever he was telling the young librarian that he didn't even notice your presence. But you, on the other hand, could hear their conversation clearly.

“Are you sure it's not possible to extend it?”, Blondie pleaded.

“No Sir, you can only borrow it for three weeks max”, the librarian calmly explained.

“But I really need more time with it”, he said with a slight pout.

“Not possible, Sir..rules are rules”

With that, Blondie heaved a sigh, “It's okay then..”

As he slowly walked away from the desk, you shifted yourself so that you were in front of the librarian.

“Oh hey Miss, you're back..again”, he chuckled.

“Well, you're in luck because..tada! The book's here”, he lifted The Little Prince off the desk and waved it around lightly.

“Hahaha thanks, could you help check it out for me real quick? I gotta be somewhere soon”, you scratched your head sheepishly.

“Sure, no problem”, he did what you asked while you stood there waiting.

“Your name, Miss?”, he looked up from the book with his pen hovering over the name card that was in it.

“Y/N”, you said while turning slightly to look behind you. He was still there.

“All right, there you go Miss..remember, it's due in three weeks' time”, he gave you a knowing smile.

Turning your attention back to the librarian, you gave him a polite smile and thanked him for the book before grabbing it off the desk and heading somewhere else.

While you were walking, you flipped open the book to look at the name card.

Hyungu. So that was his name.

You stopped walking once you saw his blond mop of hair. Tapping gently on his shoulder, you finally got to see his face clearly as he lifted his head up. A sense of familiarity hit you. You knew him from somewhere but you weren't so sure-

“Hyungu?”

“-uhh yeah, that's me?”, he gave you a surprised look.

He's probably confused as to why you were there.

“Um..I overheard that you needed the book for a little more time”, you stretched out your hands that was holding the book to him.

“I was actually waiting for the book since a few weeks' ago but thinking back now, I'm really not in any rush compared to you..w-which I assume you are in..a r-rush I mean”, you stumbled over your words as you stood awkwardly in front of him, trying to explain why you were giving the book to him.

He was surprised, to say the least. His cheeks reddened and he looked beyond flustered.

“Oh..um it's fine really”, he gingerly refused and pushed the book back to you.

But you insisted. And he gave in.

His hands held onto the book like it was precious and his eyes softened as they looked at you gratefully.

“I don't know how to repay yo- actually, let me buy you a coffee”, he offered kindly.

You felt like you were being asked out by someone but you shook away your ridiculous thought. Blondie just wanted to offer his thanks and here you were, daydreaming. Tsk.

Well, he was kinda cute..not gonna lie.

“I don't drink coffee-”

“-tea?”, he said a little too enthusiastically that made his eyes widened. His fingers fiddled with the loose strands of his purple sweater.

You pursed your lips trying to suppress your laughter before nodding your head.

“Yeah, tea sounds nice”

[a/n]

this might probably be the last time i write hyungu as a blond-haired boywhkabskwbdkw

LIKE CMON KANG HYUNGU MY HEART WASN'T READY TO BE ATTACKED BY YOUR GRAY HAIR

I HATE HIM

sobs

oh yeah why did hyungu look familiar? that's probably cause y/n had seen him on tv a few times when he was in mas0094 or something~

stan onewe, oneus, weus everyone