#also still cracking up at the thought of my younger self just absolutely getting flustered watching this ep dkfhdklsj | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

tubbyliltuna · 5 years ago

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.The more you learn, the less you know // the hobbit x dragonborn. (1/?)

This here is a story, a rough, horrible, piece of work that needs to be shredded. But I cannot get the idea of a Dragonborn in middle earth out of my head. I can’t, so I’m doing this. It needs work, improvement, lots of work and improvement, but I’m getting this out of my head. Thx.

It’s really long, because i’m a horrible hoe for details and such. Also, Hermaeus is in this, and he does talk, but just remember it’s a slow talk. But he is my favorite Daedric prince, ngl.

Warning: self-hate, PTSD, the usual stuff a person would suffer from what I’m sure we all put our Dragonborn through while playing Skyrim.

Description: It was all suppose to be over - she had sealed all her deals, repaid all her debts, returned all of her favors no matter how dark. Her days of adventuring and dragon slaying were finished. Unfortunately, even after both wars, peace was never to be found in Skyrim. Not with a prince who forever craved knowledge of the unknown, and who a better scavenger than the Dovahkiin herself?

❤️

Chapter One: Radioactive.

It always snowed. It always stormed. The sun never shone through the grey clouds that drowned out the sky like a thick, dirty ocean, except for today it seemed. It was incredibly depressing, though she preferred to stick around this dreadful town. Why? Perhaps because it wasn't the only one practically in ruins these days, and as she bent down to gently run her fingers over a fresh print – a subtle warmth radiating off it – in the deep snow, she hummed in her chest at the thought. They still hadn't cleaned up the wreckage after that civil war. It was also the only place she seemed to really find peace among the world. She cared not for bustling cities, or large crowds, or loud atmosphere's, no, unless she was called to one on duty (not that it would ever happen again. It had been quiet the while since she had been summoned anywhere). Standing back up, she reached her arm to her back and plucked an arrow from her quiver, her pale blue eyes like a bolt of thunder trailed over the tip of the small spear, and the topaz colored glass glistening like a gem in the morning rays that poured through the thinning pine trees. The area was good for hunting, and that was how she spent her time. The forest may have been blanketed in snow ninety percent of the time, but it was still busy with life – new and old – and a variety of fruits even if they were mostly berries, nuts, and ingredients. Speaking of berries, she caught the color of blood peaking from the corner of her eye, and a smirk came over her face as she would remember the path she walked to come back later, but as of now, as her feet sank into the white land with a soft crunch, she continued onwards, gripping loosely to her bow and arrow. She was on a mission. A delicate one.

A snort, a gentle and calming noise came from her side and she stopped, turning her head very slowly, a few flakes of built up snow dropped from her hood, and she saw her prey; a beautiful a healthy Buck, it's rack at least 8 points high. Not only could she get a good amount of stock from it, but she could get a fair price for its head on a mantle. Not that money was a matter, more like a pass-time. She was quiet the collector; gems, ancient weapons, armor, you name it. Settling down further in her spot, she watched with narrowed eyes as the animal's ears twitched backwards, obviously hearing a sound it didn't like and its head shot up, causing her breath to halt and it felt as though everything around her stopped. No, her life didn't depend on this, not at all, but she had her reasons that this was so important to her. Waiting, listening to the sound of her strong heart pounding in her ears, she was so still with her eyes wide that she could almost feel the mixed blood in her veins flow and pump along with her heart, making her whole body feel as though it was shaking. It felt like an hour that she sat with small diamonds glittering down from the sky, and the feel of the warm sun beating down onto her black clothing making her sweat, but it had only been a few seconds, and she heard the majestic animal chewing again. Perhaps it was a good thing she was part Wood Elf, or she would have had to train harder to hear such things. Put into action once more, she quietly docked her bow, and took her shot – a flash of topaz crossed the woods, the sound of the small but deadly shaft buzzing past each tree, and the buck and birds screaming as the beast fell to the forest floor with an encouraging noise.

With a smile, she stood, though she felt guilty as it laid on the ground writhing in pain, crying out for help from its kin or the like. So, with a faster pace, she pulled out a small blackened and worn dagger from her thigh and struck the beast down, silencing it and sending its peaceful soul back home. Sheathing her dagger, she let her hands fall to her side for only a moment, letting the sounds of the forest flow through her pointed ears. Sometimes it was strange to her how things to could go back to moving as though nothing had ever happened, even with the fact a woodland creature had just been slaughtered in front of any surrounding animal's eyes. The circle of life was cruel thing. Reaching down and wrapping her gloves hand around the plush neck of the lifeless corpse, she slowly lifted it up with an inhuman strength, the muscles in her arm rippling and shaking, straining to hold the dead weight in the air before her. She tilted the head to one side, then to the other, examining it with guilty eyes. But it was all for a good reason. "Fear not – you did not die in vain, Beast," she murmured, crouching down slightly and maneuvering so it rested across the span of her back and over her shoulder, and she stood up as straight as she could with a grunt. It would be an agonizing trek, but her destination was not too far from her location.

Beginning her walk, she clutched onto the carcass with a tight grip, dodging trees, roots and, various plants as she slowly walked back down-hill. The tri-blood knew she didn't have to make this journey alone, she could have easily bought a companion with her, but that would defeat the purpose of her 'get-away plan' or her 'vacation' as her apprentice prefers to call it. The poor boy never understood why she felt the need to get away; Winterhold was not even big enough to consider a town (though the boy barely called it a village himself), and the College barely had any activities or anyone new coming. He was a good man, she couldn't deny, Onmund had helped through several things and even when she was a student, she remembered how he fought along-side of her when she needed it. Even now, he had pledged to her, especially the few times she had saved his life when he was reckless with their travels. The young mage had seen things he would never forget, and his blood pumped for adventure like a true Nord, but that was not her… not much anymore. The same could not be said for Tolfdir, unfortunately, as talented as her Master Wizard was, the older man wanted absolutely nothing to do with their childish ways and preferred to stay at the College and keep a watch over the students, the professors and, the town. Though, like the younger Nord, he understood what the tri-blood had been through and the inability to stay settled in one place for too long (even though there had been several times Tolfdir had mumbled under his breath that if he had traveled all over Skyrim and back he would prefer to sleep for a year and never set a foot outside his door unless it was for stock and food, something to which she would always laugh at), but in the end he would touch her shoulder and giver her his blessing, telling her to come back in one piece for several reasons; he was too old to handle the college as Arch Mage, he would miss her far too much, and he certainly didn't want Onmund in charge (the poor boy would always get flustered and defensive at that).

Wrapped up in her thoughts, she realized she had finally arrived at the steps leading up the hill to her small cabin. It was a homey little place, just enough space to live comfortable and keep everything she needed, unlike her quarters at the college that contained … well, all her belongings; her armors, her gems, her books, her weapons, and her … special artifacts. Trekking up the stairs, she stopped dead at the door, squinting her eyes at the sound of multiple thuds inside of the small house. There seemed to be a pause before each one, followed by a disgusted grumble. Looking side-to-side and once behind her, she unsheathed her dagger and gripped It in her hand before kicking the door open. It must have been a sight to see to whoever was in there because they let out a painful noise, followed by the sound of several things hitting the floor; a woman cloaked in all black, a large Beast on her back and a powerful dagger in her hand, and the blinding sunlight flooding the main room. Moving quickly into the room, she shut the door and dropped the Beast. The sound of its skull sent a terrifying crack throughout the room, but before she could act, the dagger was slapped from her hand and thrown into the fire as her vision – no, the room filled with multiple black spots and – "One, I find it absolutely astonishing and quiet offensive you would use a Daedric blade in defense against me, and two … " the monotone voice drug out before it completely cut off, and bright blue eyes bet a single burning yellow one, that of a cat or Kahjit. "Venison, again, Dovahkiin? And here I thought the warrior of the world would at least know a thing or two about a… healthy diet," the voice almost mused, although one who did not know better would guess he did not care at all about the conversation. "Or did that part of yourself die away along with Verulus? Hmmm….?"

To anyone else, it should have seemed strange – scratch that, terrifying, disgusting, revolting, and the list could go on in the Dragonborns mind, to see nothing but a black mass of shadows in the air as though it were stretching across the wall, pale-green tentacles crawling and slithering out and circling around nothing but a large golden eye with a slit pupil. Do not get her wrong, every time she simply laid eyes on Hermaeus, she had to continuously tell herself not to vomit all over a Daedric prince. That would surely end her life into an eternity of being hunted by Hericine himself, or even worse… living her life in Hermaeus Mora's library taking care of his damned books. But aside all of that, the blue-eyed female sighed, turning around to her kill once more, so easily turning her back to one of the most dangerous entity's to ever exist in all Tamriel. "That was once," she mumbled, lifting her catch in both arms with a grunt to throw it up onto the clearing on her wooden table. "I no longer have the ring in my possession anyhow." the tri-blood huffed out, slowly running her hands over the hardening fur on the dead animal, almost as though she were petting it. It calmed her somehow. Maybe she should get a pet…

"It's under your bed, actually. "

She froze, the muscles under her eyes twitching slightly in annoyance at her visitor. Honestly, out of all the dark Princes and Princesses that she had met in her life-time, or the one that seemed to be most interested by her had to be him. Why couldn't it have been someone like Clavicus that was mildly interesting, or Sheogorath the mad who tended to make her laugh, or Vaermina who would want nothing to even do with her after the whole 'skull' incident. No, she got the walking dictionary of all Tamriel, and Divines knows where else. Sighing, she grit her teeth together in annoyance and gripped onto the wooden table a little tighter. "What, do, you, want?" she bit out, holding her tongue from telling him exactly how she felt about him.

It was almost immediately that she felt something slimy and wet slap across the back of her head, and the brunette had to hold back her gag reflexes. "Speak to me in such tone – hold your tongue, Dovahkiin!" the voice seemed almost stern that time, like talking to a child who was stepping over a line that their parent drew. "Or do you forget who so graciously helped you survive Miraak? Or are you already forgetting things in your old age? Interesting, really, the minds of you humans… how important and fragile your brains are…" Then he tapped, the very tip of his tendril poking her temple, and it sent a large shiver down her spine, goosebumps breaking out over her paled skin.

Akatosh, Talos, Divines, help her.

The Dragonborn sighed deeply. "Not that you did it out of the kindness of your heart, because I'm more than sure you don't actually have one – "

"I'm summoning you on a favor," He cut her off immediately, looking over his tendril like he had hands, fingers, and nails he was observing like some high-and-mighty Jarl who was getting bored with the whole situation. She wouldn't doubt if he was, cutting straight to the point like he did. Not many of these Daedric beings enjoyed beating around the bush. A lot of them cut straight to the point, and while she could appreciate that, sometimes these bastards could just be rude-

Wait, what? Favor? A favor!?

Something inside of her snapped, or was it the table seeing as she held a piece of ragged wood in her hand, turning around to face the dazed-off Prince. "What favor!?" she shouted, her voice rumbling in question and the ugly eye slid from the small mountain of books her had created over to her. "I already did your favor back in Solstheim. You murdered it – him, remember?"

If Hermaeus had both eyes, he probably would have rolled them, but no, instead he rolled all of them, even the small ones doting the black mass and it was the second most disgusting thing the Dragonborn had ever watched. "Of course, I remember. He was very useful."

"Then your trip was wasted," she growled, her chest rumbling like thunder. It never failed to sicken her at how easily these beings could murder someone for their own selfish reasons, but what right did she have to act all righteous about it? How many times had she killed simply to live? To make money? Or perhaps even for nothing when she had simply gotten an order? The war… all the men and women she slaughtered in the name of Ulfric Stormcloak and a free Skyrim. Two things she wanted to damn away for so long. Damn the Nords, damn the Thalmor, the legion, all the gods – Daedric or not. Sometimes she hated them all, and it was almost in those times she could understand why Alduin wanted to rid this world of every race except for their own and Akatosh, or enslave the mortals that would serve him. But then, she remembered her friends; the Companions, the College, the Blades, the Thieves Guild, even some of her brother and sisters in armor that battled beside her, and she remembered why she fought for this world. Everything deserved a second chance. Though sometimes she thought the world would never change, no matter what she had done for it. It wasn't that she wanted everyone to know of her good deeds… it was just, she wanted them to realize what could have been and that they need to… well, change.

"You fail to understand, Dovahkiin," came a horrendous whisper that chilled her to the bones, and the fire in her hearth flickered fiercely before dying, and her world was cast into shadows. The only thing she could see was a golden eye staring her down, the iris shimmering in the faint sunlight like a pool of melted gold. Had it been anything else before her, it would have entranced her, drawing her in, but a raging fire burned inside the pit of her stomach and it grew ever more, lapping at her immortal heart. Her icy eyes screamed death, and held no fear as the sound of metal clicked against metal, her long sword unsheathing. The cold steel glimmered in the scarce light from her windows as the tip pointed only inches from his eye. She couldn't kill the bastard, but dammit, she could send the old fool back his library in Oblivion. "It wasn't a choice."

"Fid zey zek wah Sovngarde, Sivaas." (Send me back to Sovngarde, Beast.)

She couldn't really die anyway.

#The hobbit #hobbit #hobbit x dragonborn #hobbit x skyrim #hobbit Dragonborn cross over #bilbo x reader #thorin x reader #fili x reader #kili x reader #bilbo x dragonborn #thorin x dragonborn #fili x dragonborn #kili x dragonborn #the hobbit x reader #hobbit x reader #the company x reader #the company x dragonborn

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svedone-writes · 6 years ago

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it was always you | t.h. | year one, part one

pictures from the esquire china shoot and the man about town shoot, others are stock/public domain, moodboard created by me!

series masterlist

series summary: tom holland is your boy next door–well, technically, he’s the boy across the hall, but that’s not important. what isimportant is that you’re now in college, the perfect time to branch out and try something new. tom is the perfect way to do that: he’s attractive, funny, kind, caring–and unfortunately, not into you…or so you think.

chapter summary: you arrive at college and quickly become friends with your boy-across-the-hall (gee, that’s a mouthful) tom holland. he’s apparently not into you, though, which makes your drunken confession even more awkward.

warnings: mature language, underage drinking

word count: 9.1k

author’s note: my first series! i’m very excited to share this with you all. a few notes: in this, tom has experience acting/dancing (he mentions he was in billy elliot) but has not made it big. the reader is female--i tried making the reader as gender neutral as possible, but later on in the series there will be smut and i only know how to write that from a female perspective. also, ____ pretty much means y/n, i just prefer to use that instead. anyway, enjoy!

your stomach was a bundle of nerves and excitement. it was your first day of college—the beginning of the rest of your life, or at least that’s what everyone said. you’d take classes, figure out your place in the world, and be on your own for the first time.

yeah, okay, that might be a little too romanticized. and technically it wasn’t your first day of classes (those didn’t start until tomorrow). but! you were moving in, and that felt like enough of a beginning for you. you were pulling a cart full of your belongings, gripping your new room key tight in your hand and carefully reading the numbers on all of the doors to find your dorm. there were a lot of other students here on your floor already, and you passed a few rooms with doors already open and briefly got glances of students and their parents unpacking luggage and setting up futons. unfortunately, your family couldn’t make it to help you move in, but you found that you didn’t mind much. you didn’t have much to move in, anyway, since your roommate graciously offered to bring a lot of the bigger items (like your fridge and futon) as long as you stocked up on snacks and drinks for a while.

finally, you reached your room and found that it was already open. you nervously walked in, leaving your cart of belongings in the hall momentarily. “hello?” you asked into the seemingly empty dorm. your roommate zendaya—whom you had matched with in the university’s roommate matching process—had told you she was arriving before you. there was stuff half unpacked, and one of the beds was made, but you couldn’t see your roommate anywhere—until she popped her head out of your shared closet.

“hey! i was wondering when you would get here!” she smiled and stepped out of the closet to greet you. “do you need any help with your stuff? i know you said your family couldn’t come today.”

you gestured to the cart in the hallway. “nah, i’ve got it all. thank you, though! it’s so good to finally meet you in person, by the way.” zendaya smiled a little brighter at that and continued to hang her clothes up. “i mean, i don’t want to sound weird or anything, but you’re somehow way prettier in person than in your pictures.”

she laughed. “thanks!” she already seemed like an incredibly easy-going and kind person, and that made you feel all the more relieved. you’d heard several roommate horror stories before, and you didn’t want to have any similar experiences.

you brought the cart into the room and started unpacking your things. it was a little overwhelming, to be honest, but you picked a bag and started there, slowly making your side of the room a little more homey. you were making your bed when you heard loud voices from across the hall.

“—i mean jeez, haz, you don’t need that many sneakers here! you’re taking up way too much space for all three of us to have our shoes.”

“well, it’s a little late for that now, huh? and anyway, you don’t see me complaining about your stuff.”

“what’s that supposed to mean?”

“i mean your ratty ass spider-man bed sheets.”

“fuck off, you know i’ve had those since i was 7.”

“are you hearing yourself talk right now, mate?”

you and zendaya burst out laughing, unable to hold it in any longer. you were both clutching each other to keep from falling over when the door across the hall opened and one of the boys poked his head out. “no, please, carry on,” you managed to get out in between laughs. he looked a little sheepish as he opened their door all the way.

“note to self, the rooms are not soundproof,” he said. he had striking blue eyes and slightly ruffled blonde hair, with a smile that was almost blinding.

“what? what are they saying?” the other voice said. another boy came to the door and took your breath away a bit. you couldn’t even pinpoint just one thing about him that made him attractive: maybe it was the strong jawline, or his biceps (i mean come on, what kind of college freshman has arms like that) or maybe it was the way he looked at you, full of kindness and warmth and laughter, like you had already known each other for years. “oh, hi, i’m tom. this is harrison.” the first boy—harrison, you tried to commit to memory—gave a little wave.

“i’m zendaya, and this is my roommate ____.”

you smiled brightly, happy that you were already making friends on your first day here. “it’s really nice to meet you guys.”

“you as well,” harrison replied. “we better get back to it. let us know if you’d like to laugh at tom’s sheets some more.” he turned and went back into their room. tom followed, protesting and cursing in the same breath.

once their door closed, you turned to zendaya and let out a breath you didn’t know you’d been holding. she cracked a smile. “they’re kind of hot.”

“kind of? they’re almost unreal,” you whispered, now wary of how much sound your dorm walls didn’t block out. “and there’s two of them.”

zendaya shrugged a bit and went back to organizing her dresser, still smiling. “one for you, one for me, huh?” you laughed at that and continued organizing your things as well. “nah, that’s not for me.” she continued.

“what?”

“just…dating. we’re so young, and i don’t think commitment works out very well at this age. besides, i want to focus on school.” it almost sounded like she’d been burned before by a relationship, but you could also tell she didn’t really want to talk about it.

instead of questioning her further, you simply said, “that’s fair.” the room stayed silent after that until you both were finally finished putting away all of your things. you both stood back by the door, surveying your hard work. your side was a little…eclectic, but zendaya’s half of the room was sleek and well put together. “wow, you have much better style than me.”

“hm, maybe i’ll have to be your personal stylist this year.” you both laughed. “c’mon, let’s go get something to eat, i’m starving.”

the next morning, you were leaving to go to your first class of the day. as you locked the door—zendaya was already gone, having left for an earlier class about an hour ago—the door across the hall opened, and tom stepped out.

“hey! ____, right?” he greeted.

“yeah! and you’re tom,” you pretended to confirm, like you hadn’t thought of him for an unhealthy amount of time last night.

he grinned. “that’s me, thanks for remembering. you headed to class?”

“yeah, calculus, you?”

“no way, me too! is it with professor lang?” you nodded as he joined you in walking toward the exit. “god, i’m not excited. i’m absolute shit at maths, but i have to take it as a gen-ed.”

you wouldn’t exactly describe yourself as a genius with math, but you had done well enough throughout high school. “hm, well, looks like i’ll have to help you study then, if you want.”

he seemed to smile even wider at that. “that would be great.”

as you walked together to your first college lecture, you both told each other about your respective majors and what you hoped to do with them before transitioning to small talk about your lives. tom was in the middle of telling you a story about his younger brothers when you finally reached the lecture hall. it wasn’t as big as you were expecting it to be; it was definitely larger than any high school classroom you’d been in, but you had been imagining a huge auditorium with hundreds of other students in it. instead, your calculus lecture couldn’t have been more than 50 or 60 students.

you moved to sit in one of the front rows, but tom lightly grabbed your arm and nodded toward the back. “d’you think we could sit back there instead?” you chewed your lip nervously before nodding and following him to one of the last rows. someone had told you that it was best to sit in the front few rows during lectures…but you supposed it wouldn’t hurt to sit in the back for one of your classes.

when you did finally sit, tom looked at you gratefully. “thanks, i just don’t want the professor to call on me or something and embarrass myself in front of the whole class. it’s one of my biggest fears.”

“what, embarrassing yourself?” you asked as you took your notebook out of your bag.

“not exactly. i do theater, and one of my biggest fears is being on stage in front of a lot of people and then forgetting all of my lines.” he looked a little embarrassed as he grabbed his own notebook.

you, however, were incredibly intrigued. “that’s really cool. did you do school plays and stuff?”

tom seemed to get even more flustered. “um, kind of? i was in billy elliot when i was 12. i was one of the billy’s.”

your eyes widened in surprise, and a million other questions filled your mind—but then your professor walked in and started class. in high school, the first day was usually just going over the syllabus and chatting about the summer. turns out, in college, it’s not like that at all. your professor introduced herself and briefly went over the structure of the class—

(“there will be two exams in the semester, not including your final. you will also have quizzes every monday over the previous week’s material,” your professor had said. at this, tom looked over at you with wide, panic-stricken eyes, to which you responded by mouthing i’ll help you study. the relief and gratitude in his eyes made your stomach twist almost painfully).

—which only took 10 minutes. the rest of the class was spent going over the entire first chapter of your behemoth of a textbook. most of it was review, thankfully, but tom looked like he was going to break a finger from how furiously he was taking notes. when class finally let out, he turned to you. “this class might actually be the death of me.”

you laughed as you packed up your bag. “you’ll be fine. we can review sunday nights before the quizzes, if you want.”

‘”i’ll probably need more help than that. i require very individualized attention,” he replied with a cheeky smile and a wink.

in that moment, a girl tapped on his shoulder, holding his pencil that must’ve rolled onto the ground. “i think you dropped this.”

tom took the pencil from her and smiled brightly. “thanks, love.”

the girl smiled too, her face much redder than it had been before, before turning and hurrying away. tom turned back to you, still smiling. “you ready to head back?” you were quickly learning your least favorite thing about tom: you genuinely couldn’t tell when he was flirting or just being nice.

“i actually have another class i’ve got to get to, but i’ll see you later?”

he nodded, his shoulders a little lower than before. he almost seemed disappointed that you were parting ways. “i’ll see you later, then.”

the rest of your classes went well, albeit much more boring than the class you shared with tom. by the time you got back to your dorm, you were dead tired, but you still had a few introductory assignments that you wanted to get started with.

zendaya was back as well. when you walked in, she was sitting at her desk, hunched over her laptop. she leaned back at your arrival, though, and smiled. “hey roomie.”

you scrunched your nose as you set your bag down. “ew. please don’t ever call me that again.”

she laughed. “got it. how were your classes?”

“pretty good,” you shrugged, “how were yours?”

zendaya stood, stretched, and then walked over to your shared mini fridge (which you had stocked as requested). “really good, actually. i’m really excited for my journalism class.” she grabbed herself a drink and tossed you one as well.

“that’s really good, z,” you said in between gulps. “i wish i was in at least one class for my major and not stuck taking all of these gen-eds.”

“but then you might not be in a class with tom.”

you choked on your drink at that. “how did you know?”

“i could see it on your face. nah, harrison told me. we happened to be getting lunch at the same time, and he said that tom had mentioned it.”

“did he say what exactly tom said about me?” you questioned, trying (and failing) to sound nonchalant and unbothered.

zendaya didn’t seem to be fooled. “nope. he did say that you offered to help him study for calc.” you looked a little sheepish at that. “just…be careful, okay? i don’t really know tom that well, but…he seems like a bit of a heartbreaker.”

you weren’t sure if you agreed with her assessment of tom, but you nodded anyway. “i promise i’ll be careful.” she smiled and went back to her work, leaving you to do your own and mull over her words.

the rest of the week happened without incident; while your classes didn’t have anything to do with your major, none of them were that unbearable. your worst class would’ve been calc, but thankfully, you had tom to keep you entertained. he was growing on you incredibly quickly to the point that calculus was your new favorite class.

tom had noticed that, too. “why are you always so excited to go to calc?” he asked as you bounded toward him in the hallway of your dorm. you were headed to your friday lecture, and you almost couldn’t believe you’d already made it through your first week of college.

you shrugged. “maybe i just like math.”

“i doubt that, but whatever, keep your secrets,” he smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “hey, uh, can i ask you something? like, for advice?”

“sure, what’s up?”

“well, there’s this girl in one of my classes…i really like her, but i don’t know how to tell her without being a total div.”

you hummed in response, your heart racing. you figured it probably wasn’t you. he obviously had classes outside of the one he shared with you, and they all probably had pretty girls in them. but…you also figured that maybe you had the same chances that they had. “it’s okay if you act like a bit of an idiot. it’s kind of cute, and it shows that you’re really into them.”

“really?” he seemed surprised.

“yeah, guys that are too smooth seem like douches, like they’ve done it a thousand times before and couldn’t be bothered. you can be a little smooth, but being dorky and cheesy is also really attractive, too.”

tom nodded, seeming a lot more confident than before. “i’ll try to remember that then. hey, did it hurt when you fell from heaven?” he asked in a flirty, over-the-top voice. you burst out laughing, and before long, he did too.

that sunday, during your very first study session in your floor’s lounge with tom, you asked him about it. “so, have you tried any of your horrible pick-up lines on mystery girl yet?”

he looked up from his notes and grinned. it was something he did a lot, and yet each smile never failed to make your chest tighten or your stomach do flips. “i did, actually.”

“ooh, how did it go?” despite your cheery tone, your heart had immediately dropped when he said that. a good friend would be happy for him, you reminded yourself, and you should be happy that you at least get to be his friend.

he crossed his arms nervously. “well, she thought it was funny, but i don’t know if she could tell that i wasn’t just having a laugh.”

“aw. well, on the bright side, being funny will probably make her like you even more.”

“more? i don’t even know if she likes me at all.”

you rolled your eyes. “come on, tom, you’re kind of the full package. you’re athletic, sweet, funny, and pretty cute.” tom looked at you a little surprised but incredibly pleased regardless, and you hurried to move the conversation on before he could question you about what you’d just said. “anyway, tell me more about your mystery girl.”

he put his chin on his hand thoughtfully. “well, she’s just…really great, i guess. she’s really nice and funny, and we get on really well, but…i just can’t tell if she’s into me, d’you know what i mean?” he searched your face, then, almost like he was trying to see what your reaction was. after a brief moment, he shook his head a little and turned back to his notes. “what about you? anyone you fancy at all?”

you chewed your lip nervously. you knew if you started rambling, it was possible that you would accidentally give away that you had a little—okay, massive—crush on him. play it safe. “nah, not really. i mean, it’s only been a week, so i haven’t had the time to get to know anyone yet.”

“i’d say we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well,” tom replied carefully. your eyes narrowed, trying to gauge what he meant by that, but he kept his gaze down toward his notes. “hey, could you help me with this problem?”

“sure, what number is it?”

“37.”

“oh, i just finished that one. here, you can look at how i did it.” you grabbed your notebook with the intention of sliding it over to him, but he instead slid behind you to look over your shoulder. he was extremely close, to the point that you could feel his warm breath on your ear. you stilled, then, painfully aware of your proximity to each other and the fact that your heart was beating erratically.

“i’m an idiot. the three is negative, not positive.” tom moved back to his previous position, and like that, the moment was over.

the next day, you and tom were sitting in your calculus lecture hall, glancing over your respective notes before the quiz. suddenly, a girl—the same girl that had given tom his pencil the first day and stared at him every lecture since—tapped on his shoulder. “hi, sorry, i was gone on friday, do you think i could borrow your notes?”

tom smiled and nodded. “of course.” he leafed through his papers before finding friday’s notes and handed them over. a ripple of jealousy went through you. he’s just sharing notes, not marrying the girl. get over yourself, you thought, but it hardly made you feel any better.

soon the professor was striding in and passing out the quizzes. the girl from earlier quickly returned his notes then, and tom stuffed them in his binder. the bottom corner was sticking out, though, which otherwise wouldn’t have caught your eye—except for the fact that the girl had written her number in bright purple ink and signed her name (emma, apparently) with a smiley face.

you took the quiz with your teeth clenched, and for the rest of the class you couldn’t think of anything else but how tom might react. would he be excited? maybe this was the mystery girl he had been talking about. even if it wasn’t, you couldn’t deny that she was pretty and seemed nice, so maybe he’d be excited regardless.

to your surprise, tom didn’t react much at all. “oh,” was all he said before showing you.

“are you going to text her?” you tried to say as nonchalantly as possible.

he looked at you with a curious glint in his eyes. “should i?”

“is she your mystery girl?”

“nope.”

your body finally relaxed at that. “then i don’t know, it’s up to you. you could, to make your mystery girl jealous, but that wouldn’t really be fair to this girl.”

tom looked at it for a little while longer, but before long, he ended up stuffing it in his backpack. “i probably won’t. i don’t want to lead her on or anything. but…you make a good point.”

you smiled. “i always do.”

your suggestion ended up being a horrible move for you. the next study session you had together, tom dropped the bomb. “so i texted that girl.”

“what girl?” you asked distractedly, in the middle of working through a math problem.

“the girl from calc who gave me her number.”

your pencil immediately stilled at that. “i thought you didn’t want to lead her on.”

“well...let’s just say i’m keeping my options open. emma’s really nice, actually. and i don’t think mystery girl is into me, unfortunately.”

you turned fully toward him, your calculus homework forgotten. “what makes you say that?”

tom shrugged like it didn’t really bother him, but you could tell that it did. “she said there’s no one she fancies yet, and that obviously means she doesn’t fancy me. who knows, though, maybe there’s still hope, but i might as well see what emma’s like.” there were several emotions racing through you at that. you were relieved that mystery girl hadn’t worked out, you were frustrated that he had already moved on to a different girl (other than you, that is), but most of all, you were angry with yourself that you couldn’t just be happy for him.

so you forced a smile and turned back to your work. “well, maybe it’s a good thing, then. maybe mystery girl really doesn’t like you, or you and mystery girl weren’t meant to be. maybe emma will be really good for you.”

“do you really think that?” tom quietly asked. you looked at him again and were surprised to see his utterly dejected expression. “i just…really like her.”

“you don’t have to give up hope, then,” you reassured him quickly. “mystery girl could just be nervous, or she didn’t want to give away that she liked you. i mean, it is a little too straightforward to ask if she likes anyone. who knows, maybe she’ll get jealous and realize she liked you all along. or maybe she doesn’t even know you like her! maybe she just thinks you’re being nice.” you’re rambling at this point, because despite the fact that tom was telling you all about the people he liked that weren’t you, you would do anything to make him smile—because he did the same for you.

tom nodded. “how do i make sure she knows, then?”

“well, just be into her, i guess. ask her about herself—not just, like, how her day is going, but about her life and stuff.”

“okay,” he hummed, already looking a bit happier. “hey, you know, i never got to ask you this, but what’s your biggest fear?”

“huh?” you were a little taken aback by the suddenly personal question.

“the first day of classes, you asked me mine, and i never asked you yours. you don’t have to answer if you don’t want, though.”

you closed your textbook, resigned to the fact that you probably wouldn’t get anymore work done that night. “gosh, probably…realizing at the end of my life that i never mattered. like, i never did anything important, or i never truly mattered to someone else.”

both of you were quiet at that, before tom said, “oh. mine seems a little stupid now.”

you cracked a wry smile. “fears are never stupid.”

“if it makes you feel any better, you matter to me. i mean, i know we’ve only been friends for a couple weeks, but you’ve made me feel the most welcome here. you’re like, my best friend after harrison. and i’ll always be here for you, you know that, right?” you met his gaze, and your breath caught in your throat. tom was looking at you earnestly, as if in that moment, you were about the only thing that mattered.

tom had an uncanny ability to make anyone feel important, and that had to be your favorite part of him, you realized in that moment. he was so kind and caring that he genuinely wanted every person he interacted with to feel wanted. he would truly be the death of you, if you weren’t careful enough. (and you weren’t being careful enough, you also realized in that moment, because it had only been two weeks and you already knew that tom could ask you to do anything and you’d say yes.)

“thank you, tom.” you finally replied. there was a sort of tension in the air now—you couldn’t exactly put your finger on it, but it was almost like the entire world was holding its breath.

he stood up and held his arms open. “come on.”

you smiled sheepishly and stood to accept the hug. it immediately felt like the safest thing you had ever experienced. tom rubbed slow circles into your back, and you let yourself bury your face into the crook of his neck. when you both finally stood apart, his hands came back to rest on your arms. you were clutching his shirt, entirely reluctant to go, and all pretense of hiding your attraction to him was out the window.

tom looked at you with eyebrows furrowed, the same way he looked at a calculus problem he couldn’t figure out how to solve. there was a glint of determination in his eyes, too, like he’d do whatever it took to solve the problem he was looking at. at some point, tom’s lips parted slightly, and you couldn’t help but to glance down before quickly looking back up, hoping he hadn’t noticed. when you did meet his eyes again, you immediately knew he had. but whatever he would’ve done about it was interrupted by his phone buzzing.

the spell that had fallen over the two of you was broken, and you jumped apart like you had both been caught doing something wrong. you hurriedly began to put your stuff away.

“sorry, just emma asking if she could sit with us during lecture. is that cool?”

“yeah,” you answered, a little harsher than you intended, “totally cool.”

it was not, in fact, totally cool. during your shared lectures from then on, tom barely paid you any mind, only turning to you to ask for clarification on whatever your professor was talking about. sure, you still walked together in the morning, and during that time it was like nothing had changed. but during and after class, his attention was solely on emma. he was hardly around outside of class, as well, and sometimes missed your study sessions during the week (but never your sunday sessions—you held onto those desperately, because they were the only times you could pretend tom only wanted to be with you). it hurt, deeply, not just because you had feelings for him, but because of all the things he said that night no longer felt true.

however, you couldn’t deny that despite his lessened presence, you were still getting to know him more and more throughout the weeks that went on. you found out all about his childhood full of dancing and gymnastics—which explained his athletic physique—and about his love for acting. (“it’s the best feeling in the world, being on a stage or on set,” tom had said almost breathlessly, his eyes full of light, and you wanted to take a picture in that moment so you would never forget how truly happy he had looked.) in exchange, you told him about your life and your interests, and he paid each story such careful attention that if you tried hard enough, you could forget that you were now his second-best. tom would always be there to listen to your misfortunes, too, and always offered comfort at the end of your more negative stories—although nothing had happened like the night you told him your biggest fear. it all almost, almost made up for the time he was now gone.

in tom’s absence, though, you also got to know his roommates a lot better. you hadn’t found out until recently that he had a third roommate, jacob, who was incredibly witty but also very kind. you, zendaya, harrison, and jacob would get dinner together frequently, and before long, they all knew how hopelessly into tom you were.

“i mean, it just sucks,” you said one night at dinner. zendaya playfully rolled her eyes; she heard about your troubles all day, every day. “one night he’s telling me that i’m super important to him or whatever, and then the following week he barely talks to me except to ask for help in math. who does that?”

harrison chewed on his french fry thoughtfully before swallowing and answering. “he’s always been a bit like that. tom means well, but he’s just a bit clueless, i think.”

jacob nodded in agreement. “his heart is in the right place. tom’s a really good guy, but he can be an idiot sometimes.” he looked like there was more he wanted to say about the subject, but instead he took a bite of his food.

zendaya, meanwhile, merely shrugged. “i’ll kick his ass for you, if it makes you feel any better.” the whole table laughed, and soon the conversation moved on to the topic of all the upcoming exams you all had.

it was already almost the middle of the semester—you couldn’t believe how fast time flied in college—and midterms were rolling around for all of you. you and tom were having your standard sunday study session, but this time it was a lot quieter as you both pored over all the material that would be on your first exam for the class.

“would it be alright if emma joined us? she’s kind of freaking about the exam,” tom asked about an hour into studying.

you turned the page of your textbook, trying to look unbothered. “sure.”

“awesome, she’ll be here in a half hour.”

you simply nodded in response before sitting back and rubbing your eyes. “hey, do you want to order a pizza? i’m getting kind of hungry and—”

“i asked her to be my girlfriend,” tom blurted. you stopped talking, startled into silence at his sudden omission. “sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt, just…thought you ought to know.”

“oh.” you finally managed to say in response.

“oh? what does that mean?”

“nothing, i’m just surprised, i guess. did she say yes?”

“yeah.”

of course she did, why wouldn’t she? “i’m…really happy for you, tom,” you replied carefully.

“you are?”

“of course, you’re one of my best friends. why wouldn’t i be happy for you?”

tom didn’t have anything to say to that, instead turning back to his textbook. an awkward silence fell over the room until emma finally came through the door.

“thank you so much for letting me come study, i’m so nervous for this exam,” she said as she took her things out of her bag. tom gave her a quick kiss on the cheek (which, to you, felt like he was ripping your heart out—wow, get it together, way too melodramatic there, you thought to yourself, it’s been a month and a half, it’s not like you’re in love with him) and, strangely, immediately stole a glance at you, almost as if he wanted to see your reaction. you had quickly looked back at your book, though, so he missed the pained expression in your eyes. “oh! before i forget,” emma continued, “there’s a party one of my friends is throwing this weekend to celebrate being halfway through the semester, you guys should come!”

“i’d love to,” tom responded. he turned to you. “what about you, ____?”

you were about to say no before you stopped yourself. you know what? let’s do this. “absolutely, it’ll be fun,” you answered with a blinding smile. “you know, i’m really tired, and i doubt i’ll remember anything else i study. i can leave my notes for you two to look at, though.”

“that would be so nice, thank you!” emma looked incredibly grateful, while tom looked seriously confused. he was staring at you like the wind had been knocked out of his lungs. you paid him no mind, though, and went back to your room, your shoulders square with determination.

“i need your help,” you said once you got back to your dorm.

zendaya leaned back in her desk chair and turned to look at you. “with what?”

“i’m going to a party this weekend and i need to look hot.”

“this isn’t about tom, is it?” she immediately asked. you smiled guiltily, but all she did was shake her head and stand up. “well, i’m going home this weekend, but i can pick an something out for you now.”

you both began to sort through your clothes. after an hour or so, she had finally assembled an outfit, and you stood in front of your mirror full of gratitude. “damn. thank you, z, this really means a lot.”

“no problem. just…be safe, okay?”

“i will, i promise.” you were 0 for 1 with your promises to zendaya, but you figured this one would be a little bit easier to keep.

the rest of the week was simultaneously a blur and the longest week of your life. your calc exam came and went—

(“____!” tom had yelled from across the hall. you both came out of your rooms at the same time, and he swept you into a bone-crushing hug, lifting you up and spinning you around. you assumed he had gotten his exam score back—your professor promised that scores would be in by the end of the week, assuring everyone that the ta’s would be hard at work to meet that deadline. “i got a b! i did it!”

“i’m so proud of you, tom,” you responded softly, letting yourself be carried around. you truly were proud of him. despite everything, you couldn’t help but be happy for him and proud of him, because he was tom, your boy-across-the-hall, one of the few people that made you feel like you mattered, even when he inevitably left you behind. you’d be damned if you didn’t try to make him feel the same.)

—and before long it was finally the end of the week. you found that you were actually excited for the party, not just because of tom, but because it felt like you were finally going to have the chance to let go and enjoy the fact that you were now a college student, even if it was already halfway through your first semester.

you were just finishing up your makeup for the party when tom knocked on the door. “____? you ready?”

“just a sec!” you called back, giving yourself a once-over in the mirror before opening the door. “sorry, just finishing my makeup.” he was looking down at his phone and tapping out a response to someone—probably emma, if you had to guess.

“no worries, i—” tom finally looked up from his phone. “oh, wow. you, uh, your outfit is really nice.”

you smiled. “thank you, tom. where’s emma?”

he glanced back down at his phone. “she’s waiting in the lobby.” you both headed down, then, and you almost felt like you were glowing from tom’s flustered response.

when you got done to the lobby, emma greeted you both with an enthusiastic grin. “____, you look amazing!” tom walked over to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek as he wound his arm around emma’s waist. “hi, tommy,” she giggled. your stomach lurched, but you shook your head a little and maintained your confidence.

you were quiet on the walk over to emma’s friend’s place, only speaking when directly asked something; you were trying to save your energy for the night ahead. when you finally reached the party, a bundle of nerves and excitement had built inside your stomach. “i’ll catch you later,” you quickly said to the both of them before diving into the crowd to find a drink.

the living room of the house had been turned into a makeshift dancefloor—music played loudly and the center of the room was packed with bodies. most of them were girls dancing with their friends, laughing and taking pictures together, but some pairs of people were dancing a little more sensually (if it could be called that; some were so drunk that they were just sort of moving side to side wildly). it took you a few minutes of navigating through the mass of sweaty, drunk college students, but you finally managed to find the drink table, which was being watched over by a bored-looking—but definitely attractive—boy.

there was an array of bottles laid out, plus a bin full of pink, fruity liquid and stacks of solo cups of regular and shot-glass sizes. you stood back and examined all of them, unsure of where to start. shots might be good to get you buzzed quickly, but maybe it would be better to mix a drink and sip on it.

“having trouble deciding?” the boy watching the drinks asked.

your head snapped up and you smiled sheepishly. “um, yeah, just indecisive. don’t know if i should do a shot first or start with a mixed drink instead.”

he nodded. “well, stay away from the jungle juice,” he gestured to the bin of pink liquid, “i watched them mix it earlier and there’s a whole bottle of vodka in there and then some.”

“oh.” you moved a little closer to hear him better—the music had somehow managed to get louder.

“yeah, in general, avoid drinks that you haven’t mixed yourself, especially at parties like this. you never know what’s in them. obviously, i know what’s in this one, but just for the future.”

you were still straining to hear him until you finally resolved to moving to his side of the table. he raised an eyebrow at that, to which you defensively replied, “i couldn’t hear you! the music is so loud.”

he laughed. “i’m just messing with you. anyway, normally shots are more fun with other people—”

“then i’ll just have a mixed drink then. thanks for the help!”

you moved to make a drink, but he stopped you with his hand. “woah, you didn’t let me finish. who said you’re alone?”

“isn’t it a little irresponsible to take a shot of the drinks you’re supposed to be watching over?” you quipped.

he gave you an overexaggerated smolder. “i like to live life on the edge.” you laughed at that, and he looked a little pleased with himself. “think of it this way: i’m quality checking.”

“oh, well when you put it that way, you’re just doing your job. i can’t fault you for that. in fact, i’d be preventing you from doing your job if i said no.” you cheekily responded. you were surprised at how easy it was to banter with this boy you had just met only five minutes ago. your mind flashed to tom, briefly, before you pushed him out of your mind. he has a girlfriend now. you deserved to enjoy yourself.

“see? somebody gets it!” he grabbed two of the disposable shot glasses and then motioned to the various bottles. “pick your poison.”

your gaze went down the row of drinks before landing on a bottle of blue liquid. “that one,” you pointed.

he chuckled and grabbed it, pouring out the shots. “ah, uv blue. the classic college girl drink. by the way, what’s your name? it’s vital shot-taking information.”

“____, yours?”

“henry. it’s nice to meet you. you ready?”

you nodded and went to immediately knock the drink back. “woah!” henry stopped you before you could. “there’s a little more finesse to it than that.” he grabbed his shot. “okay, so you’ll start with it at the table. then, you’ll bring it up to clink it with mine, then you’ll bring it down to the table again, and finally you’ll bring it up and take it. down, up, down, up. got it?”

“i think so.”

“we’ll do it slow. okay, down,” you both held your drinks at the table, “up,” the plastic glasses clinked together, “down again,” you brought it back down to the table, trying not to spill, “and up again.” you finally brought the drink to your lips and quickly swallowed it.

you shuddered only slightly, surprised at how okay it had ended up tasting. “hey, that wasn’t that bad!”

“yeah, you say that now, but give it until the end of the year. you won’t be able to stand it by then.” henry was throwing away your cups and putting the bottle back while you scanned the crowd. you found tom after only a few moments. he was standing with emma, looking a little bored as she talked animatedly with a few other girls. “is that your boyfriend?” henry asked, making you jump a little.

“no, he’s just…he lives across the hall from me. i’ve liked him a lot since the beginning of the year, but he has a girlfriend now, so…” you finally turned back to look at him. “sorry, you probably didn’t want to know that.”

henry shrugged. “nah, it’s fine. i get it, i’ve been through something like that before. it sucks, but you just have to move on, otherwise you’ll always be stuck on that same person.” he glanced over to where tom was standing before looking back at you. “don’t look, but he’s watching us right now. i think he might be coming over.”

it took all of your willpower not to glance over again, but you stayed facing henry. “what do i do?”

he searched your face. “well, what are you comfortable with?”

you looked at him in confusion before it finally dawned on you. “oh. um…” you were already feeling a bit buzzed from the shot, and you almost wanted to ask him to kiss you—almost. you weren’t quite confident enough for that. (and maybe, just maybe, you didn’t quite want to kiss someone other than tom, but you’d never admit it, even to yourself.) “i don’t know, nothing too serious.”

after a few seconds of thought, henry smiled and tucked a strand of your hair behind your ear before resting his hand on your shoulder. “now laugh,” he instructed, and you did as you were told, putting all your effort into making it seem genuine. “okay, now look at him while still smiling.”

you did, and your heart dropped despite the smile on your face. tom’s eyebrows were furrowed, and even though he was across the room, you could see the hurt in his eyes, which ultimately accused you. he’s probably mad that you abandoned him to take a shot and flirt with a random stranger, you decided as you looked back to henry. “thank you,” you finally said.

“no problem. wanna do another shot?” you eagerly accepted his offer. this time, you went through the motions a lot quicker and didn’t even shudder after you had swallowed. “see? you’re almost a professional now.”

you were definitely feeling the alcohol now. the music seemed to be calling your name, and you moved along with it. “i think i’m gonna go dance,” you told henry. “feel free to come with.”

he gestured to the table. “sorry, can’t abandon my duty. i think someone’s supposed to come relieve me soon, though, so maybe i’ll come find you.”

“bring me a drink when you do?”

“i’ll think about it. now, go, enjoy yourself. don’t let him ruin your night.”

you walked away before you could even process what he had said. before long, you were in the middle of the crowd, dancing and swaying to the music. it felt a little awkward, being alone, but you were tipsy enough that it didn’t matter much to you. every once in a while, you’d feel a hand on your back or your hips, but if you moved away they would thankfully back off. even then, your mind briefly floated to tom, wondering what he was doing and if you should maybe go find him (just to check in, of course), but then you pictured him and emma dancing and decided you didn’t really need to see him.

about five or six songs had passed when someone tapped on your shoulder. you turned around, still swaying to the beat, and you saw henry holding two cups. “hey! you did come find me!” you yelled over the music. he handed you a drink. “oh, thank you, i was actually just about to go grab one. come dance with me!” you took a big drink before holding your cup up with one hand and resuming your dancing.

“yeah, i’m not that great at dancing. i think i’ll just watch.” you raised your eyebrows at that. “okay, yup, that sounded creepy, and totally not what i meant. you are a really great dancer though.”

your cheeks grew hot (but it could’ve been the alcohol, too), and you smiled. “thank you, henry.” you took another drink from your cup until it was empty.

“you might wanna slow down.”

“why? i’m having so much fun!”

“how fucked up are you planning on getting tonight?”

you were about to shrug and tell him you were probably done for the night when you saw tom and emma sitting on one of the couches. she was practically on top of him, laughing at something he must’ve said, and then they were kissing and it was all a bit too much for you.

turning back to henry, you narrowed your eyes and replied, “i’ll stop before i can get alcohol poisoning.”

his eyes widened. “i definitely can’t condone that, but…i suppose i’ll have to make sure you don’t die in the process. come on.”

two shots, a mixed drink, and a few songs later, you could barely stand without starting to fall one way or the other. “how’re you not even drunk yet?” you slurred at henry.

“this isn’t exactly my first rodeo.”

“so you’re an alcoholic then?”

“no!” he looked a little offended at your suggestion. “i’m just not a lightweight. i don’t do this regularly, i just know how to pace myself.”

“wait, what year are you?” you peered up at him. you really hadn’t noticed before just how tall he was. or how sharp his jawline was…

he met your gaze. “sophomore.”

“oh, that explains a lot. i’m a—”

“freshman. yeah, i figured.”

was it really that obvious? “well, i think one more shot should do it,” you moved toward the drinks and almost fell over.

henry gently grabbed you to keep you from falling to the ground. “nope, i think you’re done.”

you giggled. “thanks for saving me from the ground. my hero.”

“yeah, definitely done for the night. i can either walk you home or you can stay in my room.”

“woah, you live here? that’s so cool. i probably should’ve guessed that. i live in the dorms, but,” you looked up at him through your eyelashes, “staying here probably wouldn’t hurt.”

“i’ll take her home,” an icy voice cut in. you turned your head to see tom, and you instantly wondered how long he had been standing there for. “she’s sure as hell not staying here.”

“okay, whatever. here, ____, give me your phone real quick?” you did as asked and he quickly typed something before handing it back to you. “that’s my number. text me when you get back, okay? i’d feel bad if you died along the way and i didn’t know.”

you giggled again as you walked over to tom. “i will.” tom grabbed your shoulder to steady you with a vice-like grip. “ow, tom, you’re hurting me.”

henry smiled and shook his head. “in more ways then one, huh?” tom looked confused as he loosened his grip. “i’ll see you around, ____.” with that, henry turned around and walked away.

tom steered you toward the door before stopping. “i better tell emma we’re leaving.” he walked you over to wear she was sitting. “hey, em, i gotta take her back, she’s shit-faced.”

“i’m not—” you began to say until you felt like you might throw up. you quickly said, “okay, i might be,” before clamping your mouth shut.

emma looked at you with genuine concern. “oh, well make sure you drink lots of water, ___. you looked really good tonight, by the way,” she smiled before turning to tom, “text me when you get back, okay?” that was the worst thing about emma, you realized: she was really just a nice person. no matter how much you wanted to hate her and looked for reasons to do so, you weren’t justified in it because she was so kind and considerate.

“i will,” was all tom said before he walked you to the door. the walk at back to the dorms was at first quiet. tom held on to your shoulders as you stumbled along the sidewalk, and the only sounds were your footsteps and the occasional passing car.

finally, he broke the silence. “who was that guy you were with?” tom sounded much angrier than you expected.

“his name’s henry. he’s a sophomore, and he’s super nice! he was teaching me how to do shots and i think he lives in the house, he offered to let me stay in his—”

“so he got you drunk and then asked you to sleep in his room?” tom stared straight ahead, his jaw clenched and nostrils flared.

you frowned. “it wasn’t like that, tom, it really wasn’t. he was just being nice since i didn’t really know what i was doing.”

“it sounds to me like he was taking advantage of you. i mean, come on, an older guy teaching you how to drink alcohol and then offering his bed? you really are just oblivious, aren’t you,” he snapped.

the silence returned until you felt yourself tearing up. you tried to keep any tears from falling, but you were ultimately unsuccessful as you began to cry. “i’m sorry,” you hiccupped between sobs. “i don’t mean to be.”

“hey, hey,” he said softly, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk. “please don’t cry.” he gently wiped the tears from your cheeks. “i’m sorry. i shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. you’re drunk, and i don’t really know the guy.”

you nodded, sniffling, before wiping your eyes with your palms. “it’s okay. let’s just go back, i really need to throw up.”

tom laughed and moved his hands back to your shoulders. “let’s get going then.”

by the time you managed to get back to your room, you could barely hold back the urge to vomit, so the minute tom closed the door, you hunched over your trash can and emptied the contents of your stomach.

he came over after shutting the door and gently held your hair out of the way with one hand and rubbed comforting circles on your back with the other. when you were finished, you sat back and wiped the tears that had formed in the corners of your eyes. “sorry,” you croaked, “that was a little gross.”

“it’s fine.” tom smiled softly. “do you need some water?” you nodded, and he stood up and grabbed a water bottle from your fridge.

you gulped it down quickly once he gave it to you. “did you have fun, at least?”

tom shrugged as he sat down next to you. your head was still spinning a bit, and the feeling of his arm pressing into yours didn’t help much. “it was alright,” he admitted. “emma was just mainly talking to her friends, and you vanished once we got to the party. i didn’t really know anyone, so i just sort of…sat there.”

“sorry,” you replied guiltily. “i just thought you’d want some time to be with emma.”

he looked over at you. your room was still dark, and the only light in the room was the light from the hall that spilled through the crack under the door and the salt lamp zendaya had on her desk. the soft glow from the lamp illuminated the outline of his face as he spoke. “doesn’t mean i don’t want to be with you,” he murmured. “you’re still one of my best friends. no one could ever change that.” he gave you a hug, then, which was a little awkward as you were sitting side-by-side, but you didn’t mind. tom was a little sweaty, but underneath that you could smell his cologne and traces of his laundry detergent. it reminded you of home.

“i have to tell you something,” you whispered into the crook of his neck. you sat back to look him in the eyes. “i…look, i know i’m still pretty drunk right now, but please believe me when i say this because it’s true. i—i really like you, tom. like, like like you, if that makes any sense. and i know you’re in a relationship, and i’m so, so happy for you, but i just…” you trailed off before starting again. “i needed to tell you, i guess.”

a pained look flashed in tom’s eyes before he gave you a sad smile. “it’s just not the right time, is it?” what did that even mean? probably just trying to make you feel better, you thought to yourself, because this is super awkward.

“i guess not.”

the silence between you was almost palpable. “i better get going, then,” tom finally said. he went to get up, but stopped to press a soft kiss to your forehead. “goodnight, _____.”

you stood up with him, his arm gripping your elbow to steady you. “goodnight, tom.”

with that, he turned and left your room, leaving you to get ready for bed. you also quickly texted henry to let him know you had gotten back alright. he simply replied with a thumbs-up. by the time you laid down, you were crying once more and felt like you might throw up again—not because you were drunk, but because you might have just ruined one of the closest friendships you’d ever had.

what’s up with tom? is henry really a creep? what do you think? feedback is always greatly appreciated! replies, tags, asks, messenger pigeons--they’re all welcome!

#tom holland #tom holland series #tom holland scenarios #tom holland imagines #tom holland x reader #tom holland x you #tom holland/reader #tom holland/you #tom holland smut #(at one point lol)#harrison osterfield x reader #harrison osterfield x you #harrison osterfield/reader #harrison osterfield/you #(again later in the series lol)#zendaya #zendaya coleman

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melodiouswhite · 6 years ago

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Oh No, Emotions! Ch. 04

4. First evening in the new home

Edwina still had trouble to believe that all of this was really happening.

In less than a day she had got a new home, new things, new everything, even people she could turn to. Pensively she looked at the newly full wardrobe.

The shopping tour had been interesting.

Edwina had found out, that Lady Summers had first met the three men in their school days, that she was a conversational therapist (“one of the best worldwide, may I add!”) and that she used to travel around the world a lot, but her health was preventing her from doing it now. She was also German, which explained the muttering in foreign languages and her faint accent.

However, there were topics that the blonde absolutely refused to talk about.

When Edwina asked her about her own family, she became oddly cagey and told the younger woman to never bring it up again. Same, when the she inquired about the older's health, the servants and especially about the other lodgers.

“Ask them yourself”, the Lady had just answered, “They'll tell you once they trust you enough.”

They had come home with almost a dozen stuffed bags (which explained, why the Lady had taken two of her servants with her) and Edwina had needed a while to store everything. She had never owned so much clothing (or so many things at all) in her entire life.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Because you need it.”

“Are you pitying me?!”

“Don't confuse sympathy with pity.”

The countess's finishing tone had ended the argument.

They had arrived back at the villa simultaneously with a flustered Dr. Jekyll, who had remembered, that he was on a holiday. Before Edwina had been able to say something, he had fled to his own room and locked himself inside.

“He has an inferiority complex”, the Lady had explained, “When someone is aggressive towards him, he automatically assumes that he did something wrong and that it's his fault.”

“Oh”, the former convict had mumbled awkwardly.

Now it was almost 6pm and dinner would be soon.

Edwina had never had a regular meal in her entire life, except for her time in prison.

She had just eaten whenever there had been an opportunity and enough money in her pocket. Which hadn't been every day. That much was obvious by her appearance alone. Maybe she was so small and slight because of her malnourishment. Someone had once called her an anorexic emo. She had beaten that person to a pulp in a fit of anger.

Finally, she got bored of sitting in her room and decided to walk around. But when she opened the door, she nearly bumped into the Indian butler. He quickly apologised and informed her, that it was time for dinner.

However, when she wanted to go downstairs, she saw a desperate Mr. Utterson stand in front of Dr. Jekyll's door, knocking and trying to get him out of his room.

“Henry, please come to dinner. You can't stay in there forever!”

“I don't feel like eating”, a hushed voice answered.

“Sweetheart, come out, I beg you!”

The lawyer looked and sounded as if he was about to cry.

Edwina stepped up to him.

“What's going on? Is it my fault, that he's locking himself in?”

“I don't think that it's your fault, but I don't know!”, the lawyer cried in exasperation and threw his hands up. “He won't tell me what the problem is! That hasn't happened in years!”

“So he's been like that before?”

“Yes.”

Okay, now she was concerned for real.

“Can I try?”, she asked.

Mr. Utterson raised an eyebrow. “No offence, Miss Hyde, but you're as tactful as a steam roller.”

“I know, I know! Just let me try!”

He hesitated. But then he nodded reluctantly and stepped to the side.

She knocked thrice on the door.

“Doctor Jekyll? It's me, the newbie.”

“… Oh, Miss Hyde. Can I help you somehow?”

“You can come out”, she said bluntly, “Doesn't matter if you're hungry or not. Your husband is worrying his head off out here.”

“ … I can't.”

She frowned. A sense of foreboding arose in her.

“Doctor”, she asked as carefully as possible, “What exactly are you doing in there?”

Mr. Utterson looked at her in horror. “Miss Hyde”, he whispered, “You aren't saying that …?”

She shushed him and listened.

But Dr. Jekyll wasn't answering.

“Alright”, she called, “If I guess it right, will you tell me?”

“… Fine.”

“Are you hurting yourself?”

Mr. Utterson's face became paler than her own (and she was very pale). His eyes filled with tears and for some reason she really hated that.

The doctor's voice was barely audible, but he said: “… How did you guess?”

She sighed and explained: “Female intuition and experience with self-loathing. Doctor Jekyll, I'm sorry for being such a bitch earlier. I didn't intend to be so mean, I just … I never interacted with polite people in my entire life. Criminals and homeless people are all I have ever known. And if I came off as homophobic, I'm sorry too. I don't care about someone's sexual or romantic orientation or gender identity. I know that I hurt your feelings, but believe me, I didn't realise it in that moment. Don't tell me that it isn't my fault, I know better than to buy that. But you can't just lock yourself in like that. Whatever you're doing, stop it and open the door. Your husband is crying.”

“Miss Hyde, please leave me be.” It was barely a whimper.

“No. Don't think I don't know what you're going through right now. Trust me, I know what's best right now. And what's best is that you come out and be with the people who care about you.”

There was no answer.

Edwina fumbled in the pocket of her hoodie. There she found the security needle she had nicked from the kitchen earlier.

“Doctor, I don't want to do this, but just a fair warning: If you don't come out willingly, I will open the door by force. Remember, I'm a criminal, I can crack that lock with ease. So how about we all act like adults? Just do it for your husband, okay?”

Oh, she hated pleading and bargaining. Usually a cold glare or a threatening undertone to her voice got her what she wanted (she didn't know why, but people were afraid of her, a small, slight girl). But she couldn't resort to either right now.

The blond man's unwillingness to cooperate was starting to agitate her, however.

“Alright, I really don't want to do this, but you leave me no other choice”, she warned and pulled out the security needle.

“Miss Hyde!”, Mr. Utterson protested.

Right in that moment, the door opened and Dr. Jekyll stood before them, teary-eyed and looking just so done with everything.

Before he could close the door again, Mr. Utterson pulled him into the hallway and into a tight hug. The brunette noticed that the blond's sleeves were rolled up and there were scratching marks on his upper arms.

“How about we take care of those, before we go down to dinner?”, she suggested drily.

They spent ten full minutes patching up the bleeding skin.

Then she shooed them down into the kitchen, because she was hungry.

She was surprised to see that they were dining alone.

“Where is the mistress of the house?”, she wanted to know.

Mr. Utterson explained in return that Lady Summers usually ate alone in her study.

“Oh.”

The young woman was a bit disappointed, but didn't voice it.

The butler served them leek soup with lots of other vegetables and mince.

Edwina hated leek soup, but when she hesitantly tried it, she found it was the most delicious thing she had ever eaten. The food at homeless shelters and poor kitchens was mediocre at best and prison food was flat out disgusting. But this … this was heavenly.

It also helped that Dr. Jekyll was slowly brightening up. That was good, a smile suited him so much better.

Both men watched in amazement at how quickly she finished her food.

“What's up?”, she inquired.

“Where has your food gone so quickly?”, Mr. Utterson marvelled.

The brunette raised an eyebrow, but grinned lopsidedly. “I inhaled it”, she joked and the gentlemen chuckled.

“Glad to see you enjoyed it”, Dr. Jekyll stated.

She stared at him. “Enjoyed it? Enjoyed it??? This is the most fucking delicious thing I have ever eaten! And I don't even like leek soup! Who cooked this, a five stars cook?”

Mr. Utterson shook his head. “No, it was Sameer, the butler. Luise has a cook, but she insists that once a week another member of the house staff takes their turn with cooking. This way we have more diversity in our diet.”

Her eyes became even bigger. “This food is home-cooked?”

The older men looked at her in surprise.

“Of course it's home-cooked”, Dr. Jekyll replied, “Why would it not be? We could even tell you each ingredient in this soup!”

Suddenly his eyes widened as well.

“Miss Hyde …”, he began gingerly, “Have you never eaten real food before?”

“Nope”, she declared cheerfully. “Never even had a regular meal until I landed myself in prison one year and a half ago. And prison food is rubbish. But well, it was better than nothing and I have a strong stomach.”

She said it as lightly as she could, even though she had never liked that topic. But that didn't stop her two table companions from staring at her in horror.

She scowled: “Don't give me that look. And don't pity me. I've been a street rat for half of my life and I'm still kicking, so no need to fuss about it. It's in the past now.”

Awkward silence ensued.

I need to change the subject, Edwina thought.

So she told the two men of how Lady Summer's guiding tour around the house and the subsequent shopping tour had gone (Dr. Jekyll looked a bit sheepish, when she mentioned the chaos in the archive and Lady Summers' reaction to it).

Entertaining people wasn't her strong suit, but she managed to lighten the mood at least a little and for her that was a great achievement.

When the men had finished their food, Miss Hyde took the dishes and glasses and loaded the dishwasher (she had to ask them how that thing worked). Then they went back upstairs.

Before the two husbands returned to their shared room, Henry addressed their new fellow lodger.

“Miss Hyde.”

She turned to face him. “Hm?”

“Thank you for your consideration earlier”, he told her with a grateful smile.

She blinked in surprise. Then she grinned for a second and blushed a little bit.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever”, she grumbled, “Just don't get all touchy-feely on me.”

Henry laughed: “Don't worry, I respect your personal space.”

“Good. Hey, you gonna use the bathroom any time soon?”, she wanted to know.

He thought for a moment. “Not for at least another hour”, he estimated. “Why?”

She beamed. “Neat! 'Cause I'm now going to claim the bathtub and take the first long bath in my life! See ya, Doc!”

Then she walked off like nobody's business.

For a minute the blond gaped after her incredulously. Then he chuckled and shook his head.

She may have no manners, but there is something about her …

Gabriel joined him and wrapped an arm around him from behind.

“What do you think of her, love?”, he asked him.

Henry smiled and leaned into him.

“She is incredibly impolite, but I think that her heart is in the right place. Perhaps she's actually a kind young woman, once she learns some manners and gets used to us.”

“She definitely knows her way around”, Gabriel agreed. “And she’s a quick thinker. But most people like her are. That's how they get by. Although I'm surprised at how expertly she handled the situation earlier.”

The blond sighed. “Speaking of which … I'm sorry for scaring you like that.”

“Shhhh”, the black-haired man cooed, “I know what I was dealing with when I married you. It's fine now. But please don't do that again, honey. You know I can't stand to see you hurt.”

Henry turned his head to kiss his husband.

“I love you so much. What would I be without you?”

Gabriel grinned: “A complete mess, that's what.”

They chuckled and finally went back into their room.

Life certainly would never get boring with Edwina Aloise Hyde.

#The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde #Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde #Dr. Jekyll #henry jekyll #Mr. Hyde #edward hyde #female hyde #utterson #Mr Utterson #Gabriel John Utterson #oc #modern au #jekson #jekyllxutterson

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oddeyecadia · 6 years ago

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what if it’s us? (ch. 5)

also posted on ao3 | ch. 1 ch. 2 ch. 3 ch. 4

Quiet and Lance shouldn't ever be put in one sentence. It sounded odd.

Their footsteps and the sounds of the night were the only things filling the gloomy air. Lance had asked Pidge earlier if he could walk her home. She told him he didn't have to and that she was fine on her own yet he insisted. "But I want to. Plus, I made you watch my practice and wasted your time so it'd only be fair if I keep you company for a while."

His reasoning didn't make sense though, she let him. She could use some company.

Lance stayed silent as they walked. Not completely silent because this was Lance she was talking about. Just quiet.

He'd ask her stuff and listen to her talk. But when she'd ask him something, he would just give her a strained smile and a brief answer. No long side stories, no jokes. Nothing.

"Alright. Spill." She finally broke the silence.

"What?"

"What happened back there? Your teammate said something to you before practice. You've been acting weird since then."

"Very observant."

"You're just very easy to read. And I have the people reading skill of a fucking snail so that says a lot."

For the first time since his practice, Lance cracked a genuine smile and snorted. "Yeah, it was nothing. Just temporarily lost my position as flyer."

"Temporarily." She raised a brow. "Meaning you'll get it back right?"

"Not sure about that. Coach said it was because of my injury but I knew they've wanted to replace me for quite a while now."

"The hell would you think that?"

He let out a weak chuckle, his smile straining. "So like, we have three main flyers. I was one of them and was the only guy."

"That's awesome."

"I know right? That was kind of my thing, being Altea's only male flyer. Very proud of that." It was her turn to smile when she saw his proud grin though, it faded away immedietly. "I was doing great y'know? But then this freshmen joined our team and well, he's pretty talented. Super talented, actually. He was already good at things I wasn't when I was a freshmen. He's more flexible, has better footwork, rhythm, balance, everything!"

No wild gesture, instead he kept his hands in the pockets of his jacket. "Ever since he joined, they've been making him try some of my parts and stunts. My team wasn't that subtle about it. They kept praising him about how he didn't even have to try while they kept commenting about how I have to try harder and practice more than anyone in the team just to get on his level."

"Is that a bad thing?"

Lance turned to her with a puzzled look. "Well, yeah? My self esteem is crashing, Pidge. It's not fun getting replaced."

"Not that part. I mean, you practicing more. Why're you making it sound like that's something to be ashamed of?"

The tone of her voice remained the same, calm and curious, but the question somehow made the atmosphere change.

Falling once again into silence, his feet stopped moving. Pidge followed and just stood there beside him, waiting for him to answer.

He didn't. She continued.

"Being talented is good and all but just having talent doesn't really do anything. Sure, you have to work harder if you don't have it -which by the way, you absolutely do- but isn't that the point? I don't know much about dancing but from what I've seen, you got the skills. Skill takes more than just talent to have and improve, it needs practice, it needs you to try." A sigh. "And you always try. Sometimes it's annoying but most of the time it's... admirable." Pidge had to look away saying that last word.

She still wasn't sure why it was so difficult for her to give him compliments without her face heating up.

Nonetheless, she really did appreciate how Lance would just... always try. He tried to study every night at the library even though he'd just end up getting distracted most of the time, he was trying to pursue his dreams of becoming a dancer while taking a medical course at the same time, tried befriending her, tried understanding all of the perplex words that would come out of her mouth whenever she'd ramble about tech.

Pidge liked that about him.

She liked all of him. Even the annoying parts.

...

Oh.

The mystery of why it was so difficult for her to give him compliments without her face heating up was then solved.

Flustered at the realization, she took a deep breath and looked at her feet to calm the pounding of her chest.

"Wow-" He interrupted her thoughts. Confusion struck her as soon as she looked back at him.

He stared at her with a look she couldn't describe. It was frustrating how she didn't know what that look meant, especially when it gave her strange sensations in her belly. She still stood by her comment about Lance being easy to read, she just haven't seen this look before.

"You really don't have a brain to mouth filter huh?" He asked fondly.

"It's a curse."

Giggling, he then gave her another enticing smile with just the right amount of softness that warmth rushed through her. Out of all of his smiles, this one definitely stood out. Huh. She swore she had seen that smile before. "I like it, anyway."

"Want something to drink? We got coffee, peanut butter milkshake, tea."

"Coffee would be nice."

Keith knew it was a little creepy but, he couldn't help looking at him every two seconds. Not when his crush for almost 5 years looked like that.

At least he could distract himself by making said crush's coffee. The bastard had a complicated coffee mix preference, he liked his sweet with a small glump of cream.

Really, the Holts were late bloomers, he knew that. Pidge didn't even have her first period until sophomore year of high school. But this, this glow up was too late, too sudden, and too much that it was shocking. Not in anyway a bad thing.

Matt's hair was longer, just right above his shoulders, his face got sharper and more masculine, he was taller, his shoulders got broader too. But his smile remained the same, playful and cute. His honey gold eyes still carried curiosity and wonder in them. The last time Keith saw him, which wasn't that long ago, Matt looked like a literal hamster. Now-

"Hamsters are cute. Meaning, you're calling me cute."

Well, fuck. He didn't just say that last sentence out loud.

Trying to cover up the embarrassment, he let out a light laugh as he put the cup of coffee on the counter. "You wish. Here, take your diabetes."

"Thank you." The eldest Holt did just that and blew on it before taking a small sip. Keith didn't miss how his lips twitched at the taste. "I'm guessing Pidge isn't here yet?"

"Yeah. She's with a friend." Keith sat across him. "Want me to text her that you're here?"

"No, no! Let me be a surprise."

"But she already knew you were coming tonight."

"Still." Matt wore a proud smirk as if he won an argument, making Keith chuckle. Damn, he was in love with a loser. A hot loser, at least.

Matt took another sip of his coffee before speaking again. "So, uh, how are you guys? Pidge's been updating me twenty four seven but you- you haven't been responding to my texts lately." That last sentence was said more quietly as he fumbled with his cup.

"Sorry. I've been busy with the upcoming game."

"That's cool. Good luck, by the way."

"Thanks."

"Did you read my last text, though? I was kinda hoping I'd get an answer tonight."

Keith raised a brow. "I haven't." He was about to get his phone from his pocket when Matt suddenly spoke.

"I-! I uhm, I'm just gonna tell you what it says. Or ask you, rather, uh..." Scratching the back of his neck, Matt felt his cheeks heating up as he tried to find the right words to use. This was harder than he thought. "Listen, I'm only gonna be here until next week for our team's research. I want to spend that time not only with my little gremlin of a sister but also with you, so I was wondering if I could... take you out sometime this week?" He ended that with a shy but hopeful smile.

Keith swore his breathing stopped right then and there. Matt had asked him out before but it was through text that it was easier to say no.

But now, he was right in front of him, all awkward and red, it made Keith's heart beat so rapidly, his eyes wide, and mouth slightly opened. He was about to finally say yes but then stopped when his eyes fell back on the scar across the bridge of his nose.

"Did you ask Shiro?" The younger asked, his voice a little shaky, heart sinking slightly.

Matt blinked a couple of times before chuckling humorlessly. "Why would I ask Shiro?"

Keith only looked at him with furrowed brows and doubt in his eyes.

All of a sudden, the atmosphere grew tense.

"Keith, we broke up a year ago." Matt said with a sigh.

Keith internally prepared himself for another one these arguments.

"Yeah, but he's still your-"

"Soulmate. I know. And what about it?" He took a deep breath and continued when Keith only avoided his gaze. "Keith, we've talked about this. Shiro and I talked about this, I'm guessing you and Shiro have talked about this too. What's holding you back?"

Crossing his arms, Keith found himself thinking. The only things that were holding him back from saying yes, from finally being with his first love, were priorities and the universe. Shiro was the universe's first pick for Matt and Shiro's happiness was Keith's first priority.

It seemed wrong, or at least disrespectful, to date his brother's ex boyfriend and soulmate.

But it wasn't the early 2000s anymore, it was normal for people to date and even have families with others who weren't their soulmate, right?

Still, Matt was Shiro's soulmate.

Though, Shiro already said multiple times that it was okay, that he was okay.

So if the universe and Shiro were okay with it... Perhaps-

A warm hand gently holding his interrupted his thoughts. "Give me a chance, Keith. Give us a chance. Think of your happiness this time." Gold glassy eyes stared at him, hopeful and loving. "Please." Matt said, almost a whisper yet he still noticed how shaky it was.

With a squeeze to Matt's hand, Keith finally accepted happiness.

His happiness.

A door slam. "Keith, I-! Oh shit, Matt?"

Keith immediately pulled his hand away- an instant regret for he already missed his warmth -as Matt stood and greeted his spitting image. "H-Hey, Pidge."

Pidge's face brightened, leaving the sun jobless. She then ran to her brother and jumped into his arms. Matt lifted her up and hugged his sister so tightly as if they haven't seen each other in years. "Were you and my Keith holding hands or was I hallucinating?" She asked quietly in a teasing tone.

"I missed you too." He answered instead before pulling away.

Choosing the movie had always been Matt's job, because despite being a big ass nerd, the man had a fine taste in films. Tonight though, the choice was on Pidge.

His brother just kept suggesting cheesy, romantic Disney straight to DVD originals that she had to get the remote away from the 22 year old man in love with her best friend who was currently out getting some quick take outs.

"Jeez, does your sudden chaotic change of movie preference correlates with you finally getting a date or are you just in a very Disney mood?" Pidge asked as she set the bowl of popcorn on the sofa.

Matt put the bowl on the table with a click of his tongue. "I don't know. How about you tell this Lance guy that you guys are soulmates, start dating, and let's see if you'll suddenly have the urge to watch Starstruck or Geek Charming. That'd be an excellent mini research."

"How bout you shut up?"

"Rude." He gasped dramatically. "But seriously though, you should just tell him."

Unlike with other people in her life, Pidge just couldn't keep a secret from Matt. She kept him updated with the things that happened in the past months, soulmate drama and all.

Sitting beside him with a pout and a twist in her stomach at the thought of Lance rejecting her, she said. "It's not that easy, okay? He doesn't like me like that."

"But you like him?"

Her face flushed as she turned her gaze to the TV. "... Maybe." She haven't had the time to think about it deeply when she had this realization earlier, but as much as she wanted to deny it, Lance and his ten thousand smiles made her feel the strangest yet nicest things.

The little scars and bruises along with her left foot tickled slightly at the thought of him.

"How did you know it was the right thing to do?" Pidge suddenly blurted out, either out of curiosity or desperation to change the subject, she wasn't sure.

"Hmm?"

"To let go of Shiro?"

A deep breath. "I just reminded myself that perhaps the universe is wrong. If he isn't happy with me, if we aren't happy, then maybe I'm just not the yee to his haw." Pidge couldn't help but snort at the meme reference. "We shouldn't force ourselves to be together just because the universe miscalculated and picked the wrong brogane. But the universe isn't always wrong."

Hugging her legs, careful with her injured foot, she asked. "What if it is this time, with my soulmate and I?"

"And why would you think that?"

For a second, the soft look on Lance's eyes when he found out about his "soulmate" flashed through her mind. Her chest tightened.

"Because he wouldn't be happy with me."

Matt kept himself from rolling his eyes, only because of how broken her sister looked, and sighed instead. "He doesn't even know yet."

"He seems very much okay with being someone else's soulmate, the universe must've fucked up again for sure."

"What if the universe isn't wrong? You know what dad says, if you keep worrying about what could go wrong, you might miss a chance of doing something great. In this case, if you're so afraid of it being wrong then you might miss a chance of being with someone great."

A small smile appeared on her face at the mention of their father's familiar advice. Although, she missed the weight of his hand on her shoulder, a gesture that would always come with every one of his dad advice.

Those words comforted her, nonetheless.

Pidge took a deep breath, making a decision. "You're right. I should probably tell him." She meant it this time. Pidge then made an internal promise that she would try. Soon. Her lips formed a small smile. "Thanks, Matt."

As if on cue, Keith entered the apartment with two bags of take outs in his hand, holding his helmet with the other. "So what are we watching?"

"A Cinderella Story."

"Matt, no."

#plance #pidgance #pance #katt #past shatt #satri writes #what if it's us?#fic #soulmate au

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all-about-wannaone · 8 years ago

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Wanna One as Princes [Part 3]

Before my school holidays come to an end today, this also marks the conclusion to this requested “Wanna One as Princes” series. :’) This is actually my first time attempting this kind of scenario writing due to the fact that I tend to write either full-on scenarios or simple categorisations with a rationale. Hence, thank you @theresnowarinbasingse for requesting and I really did have a lot of fun writing this. :) For this time around, I had less of a “writer’s block” and hence ended up with a relatively long bullet list for the remaining members of the band. ^^;; Nevertheless, thank you all for your support and I wish you guys another happy reading experience for the third and final part to this series. :)

PART 1: Yoon Jisung, Ha Sungwoon, Hwang Minhyun, Ong Seongwoo

PART 2: Kim Jaehwan, Kang Daniel, Park Jihoon, Park Woojin

Bae Jinyoung:

Will definitely be mistaken for a scholar, tutor or an extremely young government official because his head is always in the books.

Even when he is walking around town, his head will be buried in a new book every 3 days.

Probably developed a skill of walking without bumping into people when he is too absorbed in the text.

Brings about an aura of gentleness and intelligence; all the ladies seem to take notice of him, especially with the way he looks and his decently tall height.

Gets flustered when people bow and greet him, but returns the greeting with a smile and a nod (which leads to a bunch of squealing girls behind him)

Has hidden spots in the city which only he knows of and they are extremely scenic; loves to go to those places to clear his mind and forget his worries for a while.

Also needs a personal bodyguard because of his tendency to wander to these scenic areas.

Always deep in thought thinking of new ways to improve the people’s lives and is pretty innovative.

Delivers without needing to be asked and this leads to a peaceful, hopeful and happy community that he takes care of.

Word will reach him on the success of his new project; if it works, he will smile to himself and heave a sigh of relief. If not, he will go down on site to find out a little bit more with a positive attitude and can be counted on to make the necessary improvements.

Has an extremely friendly relationship with his community and they would casually invite them to their houses for a chat over tea or even a meal.

Loves children and animals; tells the children interesting stories of all the books he has read and is always seen caring for the dog in the city centre.

Probably writes novels or children’s books when he is free under the alias “Prince”.

All in all, he is gentle, sweet, thoughtful and hardworking despite his young age, showing his maturity to be worthy of a prince.

Still, it is recommended not to fool around with this prince, because he is also capable of dismissing incompetent, lazy and untrustworthy officials.

A little clumsy with the sword as well but has a deadly affinity with unconventional weapons and probably has a better knowledge of poisons than actual swords.

Still tries his best anyway and forces himself to read a bit more into the history of swords to aid his appreciation.

His awkward and slightly nervous nature would definitely be brought into his love life, because of the response that he might get.

Prefers to observe first before striking up a casual (and awkward) conversation to get to know her better.

When he wants to tell her, he’ll probably go “Would you possibly, maybe, likely go out with me? Only if you want to of course!” before getting all red faced; probably said this looking at the floor smh.

Has to repeat it because she could not hear and he inwardly cringes as he tries again, only to be greeted back with a grateful smile and a shy kiss on his cheek.

Lee Daehwi:

Similar to Woojin, he would also be mistaken to be a young and innocent teenager who seems too pure in such a cruel world.

Looks too young for his own good; people have doubts about him.

Shocked when they find out that he is actually the true prince and soon start treating him with the respect he deserves.

Returns the greeting with an enthusiastic bow and a bright smile, confusing others because he bows lower than the people themselves when they greet him.

Full of hope, optimism and only sees the good in people; always seen with the brightest smile which definitely brightens up someone’s day when people see him.

Earned the nickname “Walking Sunshine”.

Definitely has a personal bodyguard because of his naive personality, making sure that he does not get into any sort of trouble.

The older people treat him like he’s their own son and often give him homemade snacks and sweets, or perhaps cook him a simple homecooked meal.

Always grateful and is a great listener, whether it’s to the elderly, teenagers his age, the adults or toddlers, and everyone has a friendly relation with him.

Will go back to the palace to see how problems can be solved and will discuss them with his officials with as much seriousness as he can muster.

Luckily, all his officials are level-headed and are free of corruption, realising that the prince has quite a bit to learn but give their input anyway to the best of their ability.

Will try his best to rectify any issues, from basic necessities to solving neighbourly conflicts.

Might not always work, but is always seeking new, efficient and effective ways by reading up on history, writings passed down by generals and society.

Recognised for his hard work and determination by his teachers, parents, government officials, friends and the community.

The community turns out to be relatively peaceful, grateful and hopeful too; mirroring exactly what they see from the prince.

Is often seen taking care of stray animals which lie around the palace grounds or joining the teenagers for a game of football to de-stress.

Sometimes, he wishes that he was not born in a royal family because of the many rules and the requirements and often turns to his eunuch for deep conversations about life and how to overcome his personal obstacles.

Sweet, kind, positive, resilient and has an appreciation for objects and trinkets hand made by the local people (or the Arts in general).

Does not like combat classes because he hates to be involved in conflict which might hurt others; still trains with a wooden sword until he is ready to take on a real one.

With his pure, naive and happy nature, he is probably bound to confess by accident.

When the girl does something such as being clueless about simple things or cracks a really bad joke, he would say, “Why do I like you again?”

Gets all surprised when he realised what he said and plays it off; hoping and praying that the girl would like him back. (of course she would omg he’s such a smol so why not)

Lai Guanlin:

Possibly the youngest official prince that anyone has ever known and even the people are still surprised that he is their prince.

Might be young but is mature for his age and looks the part; extremely noticeable that he is a part of the royal family.

Doesn’t speak very much and occasionally nods in acknowledgement when people greet him, giving a small smile.

Extremely tall so no one really picks or doubts him in any way; looks confident in the way he carries himself and people look up to him (both literally and figuratively)

Usually finds out about the community’s issues from a lady who sells homemade snacks and sweets.

Treats him like he’s her own son too and he is always patronising her stall (he’s a young boy who loves treats like hers)

Gives some form of input but spends most of his time listening as he eats; a great listener to the people’s concerns and issues that they want to change.

Pretty well read and is a quick thinker; able to rectify issues in less than 3 days.

Everyone’s role model, especially for the sons in the community and they are encouraged to sign up for the examinations to become a government official.

Quick to spot incompetence, deception and possible hidden agendas so nobody dares to fool around under his watchful eye.

Only becomes a kid around children (whom he entertains physically) and animals (especially dogs) and shows his more childish side.

Usually found in the palace garden’s main pavilion doing his work and reading; finds his state of calm there.

Serious prince most of the time, but has his moments when he wishes that he could be like ordinary kids (but doesn’t show it)

Another perfect package and is one of the favourite students; good learner, caring personality, smart, appreciates the little things in life and is always willing to perfect his skills.

Adores his younger brother (ahem seonho ahem) and takes care of him extremely well.

The community follows after him; family-like, hard working and incredibly resilient because they can trust their royal family.

Does not really have any sentiments towards combat classes but he just sees it as something that is absolutely necessary if he wants to become a strong and dependable prince for his people.

Not exactly the best when it comes to handling weapons but practices tirelessly under the guidance of his palace guards and sensei.

When it comes to the girl he likes, it will probably be one of those normal confessions (because he is young and does not know very much apart from being completely honest).

Would be quiet and lowkey, but would show more of his inner self i.e. smiling more, opening up and just being at ease for once.

When he’s comfortable, he will ask the girl first because to him, it is less scary that way and he would be able to better judge his reactions depending on the answer.

If she says yes, he will smile extremely brightly and go, “Great, because I like you a lot too.” and if not (why would you do that to such a puppy), he will just nod and move on eventually with a mature mindset.

And with that, I have officially come to the end of this series! ^^ Once again, I would like to thank you all for keeping up with the series and actually having the patience to read through this entire imagine. :) Honestly, I never expected to get that much attention from this blog, considering how many other great Produce 101/ Wanna One blogs there are out there. Now, I stand at a total of 455 notes across 30 posts and 89 followers strong! ^^ Thank you for all your support once again and I don’t know where I would be without you guys leaving your notes and reblogs. :) They might seem small, but they sure make an impact on the writer. :)

Finally, as for requests. I will be taking them in all the way until Sunday, 1st July 2017. To request, simply head over to drop them via messaging or my ask box if you would like to see more of these “Wanna One as ______” posts! ^^ Hope to see you guys there soon and I hope you guys have had a fun time so far imagining the boys in royal garments as princes in an alternate universe. :)

Goodbye for now and see you guys again soon with more requests! ^^

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