#am i still able to hand in these assignments late? totally understandable if no' and hope i dont fail this course

[adhdheather]

fucked up when adhd gets out of control and starts to ruin my life. like this shouldnt be allowed!!!! im suffering due to my inability to do work thats boring or overwhelming!!!! dont wanna have to take thoughts in my head and turn them into college level writing!!!

[sopejinsunflower]

2022.001.003: Nice to Meet You

You haven’t been back since.

Hoseok holds back on a sigh, looking down at his feet as he massages the bridge of his nose. A week has passed since the day you saw them in their semi-opaque state, screamed your head off and had run for the hills and there is no way for any of them to check on you or find out what happened.

He misjudged you, made the mistake of putting you side by side with Soon-hee. She had screamed, too, that first time but it only took her a few minutes to compose herself before casually asking who they were. She was sceptical but rational, even thrusted her hands through Jungkook who was still materialising, causing the kid to yelp. It’s very uncomfortable when that happens, especially when sensations are coming back. It’s the same feeling as when you feel your stomach drop. 

But you were the total opposite - surprising them in the process, too, because as much as he doesn’t want to admit it, they hadn’t expected that reaction - and he doesn’t think you’ll be back anytime soon. The girl has ghosted the ghosts. Ha! Hoseok chuckles to himself but without much mirth. He finally lets out the sigh he’s been holding back, rubbing a hand over his face. It’ll be a few more decades until the next girl, he guessed. And that’s being generous. 

Namjoon is standing over a desk, staring intently at the book placed on top of it, the book that he had been reading the night before. He keeps one eye on Hoseok across from him, reading his friend perfectly well, but his frustration on not being able to read his book is only growing. He lost track of time last night, nose buried in the pages when the sun had risen and now he’s stuck at a cliffhanger and he’s dying to finish it. In his panic, he had accidentally shut the book, a rookie mistake that he shouldn’t be making in this day and age. They can pick up smaller things like a deck of cards but books require more energy and if he could just flip the cover-

“It must be that old housekeeper!” Jimin exclaims from the window, hands in his pockets, scowling at something he’s staring at outside. Namjoon loses his concentration and sighs exasperatedly. He goes to sit down, letting Jimin rant. “She must have stopped her from coming back. Soon-hee should’ve gotten rid of her a long time ago like we told her to.”

“You mean,” Jin says from the sofa, “like you told her to.” Jimin pulls a face but doesn’t respond. “Relax, she’ll be back.”

Hoseok perks up. “You think so, hyung?”

Jin just shrugs his shoulders noncommittally. “Mhm. Just a feeling.”

~~~

I am never going back there. Ever. 

Even if there is a zombie apocalypse and the attic is the safest place to be. Nope. Not in this lifetime. Not even if my late grandaunt rises up from her resting place, claws her way through cement (yes, she’s buried in a family mausoleum from what I’ve been told) and tells me that I’d have to go back to the attic if I was to inherit everything. I would rather walk out of this house for good, take the money already in my account and just leave. Graduate, migrate, find a job and just forget about everything that happened. 

I spent Friday simmering about how to explain missing classes by being sick without a doctor’s note but by the end of the evening, I resorted to sending an apology email to my lecturers and gave them half-truths; I had an anxiety attack and needed time to recover and in this pandemic and being in the middle of nowhere, I couldn’t get to a doctor until I was already feeling better, which by then, no doctor would grant me any sick note. I mean, it’s not really a lie. A couple of lecturers were very understanding, one didn’t buy it at all but since I was generally a proactive student on Zoom with a full attendance before, decided to dismiss it, and two others who gave me short assignments to make up for the lost attendance. Problem solved.

Now onto the main problem: the ghosts in the attic.

My first thought is that if there are ghosts in the attic then they must be everywhere! Thankfully, the month I’ve lived here has been quite uneventful until last week. I mean, if the house is haunted, shouldn’t I be warned, at least? A cryptid letter with a dozen rules and instructions on what to do or not to do? An offering to help them find peace, move on or whatever they say that ghosts do? I don’t know. I didn’t think they existed until now!

And then I had another thought, a more horrifying one: what if they are the souls of those who died here in this house? Isn’t that how ghosts manifest? Trapped forever until someone set them free by finding their bodies or helping them solve whatever unfinished business they had? Holy fuck, there might be dead bodies somewhere in the house! What kind of life did my grandaunt live?! 

Or maybe it wasn’t her but the employees. It’s a big house, anyone could easily sneak past the very busy landlady and commit heinous crimes without being undetected. Which one? The gardener who hardly ever spoke a word to me but is always with a smile and a polite nod? The cook who I see glimpses of, a gruff-looking man with that french-looking moustache, which is a little out of date, who always seems to be frowning? The grumpy, old housekeeper who insists I never go up to the third floor and who doesn’t like me much? She seems more likely but I could be biassed.

The manor ground is large and wide. Anyone can easily hide a body in the woods behind the house if they wanted to and easily get away with it. Or cemented in the walls of the house. What the fuck. Okay, I should stop. Breathe. In and out. This is not productive. 

As I’m taking deep breaths to calm myself and rid of all the dark ideas creeping into my head, I’m suddenly reminded again at the bizarreness of my situation. A grandaunt I’ve never met willed everything to a kin she never even bothered to get to know nor even visited in the time that she was alive with the condition that I live in this creepy, mysterious manor house for a year until everything is released to me. A little suspicious, no? I don’t want a haunted manor, by the way.

I gaze out the window. First thing’s first: I should find out more about the house and the acres of land it came with. I hit up Google but it yielded nothing, not even Google Map could find it. It could locate the area but the house is basically unmarked. Anyone could just travel up to the area and have no clue that it’s actually private property. I remember seeing the signboards miles down the road from the main gate, warning people not to go in further lest they want to be fined for trespassing.  

Then I searched up my grandaunt, Lee Soon-hee. The main result isn’t anything that I didn’t know before; a renown historical archeologist under a local university with quite the rapport among the industry. But what I didn’t know is that she had also been a freelancer in archaeomythology. Interesting.

I dig deeper, going through a few pages of the Google search to find anything related, clicking on any articles that have any mentions of the name Lee that’s connected to archaeology or history. By the second hour of pouring through websites upon websites, I learn that as much as she was a respectable historian, she was very much under heavy criticism regarding her involvement with pseudoarchaeology; a nook of “archaeology” that is driven by people’s crazy, unproven, mostly over-exaggerated conclusions of the past. It’s where the theories of Atlantis and the whole world-is-ending-in-2012 thing stemmed from. That study area. 

I’m neither religious nor superstitious but I do think that there are some things that you can’t explain or prove, and the whole thing with pseudoarchaeology is compelling enough for it to have that many people dedicating their lives for the cause. Grandaunt Soon-hee, however, was more involved with the darker side of the subject, specifically cult archaeology. The more I read about her, the more the items I found upstairs make sense. Or not make sense, depending on how you look at it. She wasn’t just dabbling; she was neck-deep in it. 

And still no picture of her. 

That’s the oddest thing. All these articles and reports on her work, both professionally or not, never included her picture. It’s not like I can look up her LinkedIn profile either; she was ninety-three when she passed, to my knowledge. I don’t think the whole LinkedIn thing is her generation. The pictures I did find were mostly those horrible black and white, tiny panel ones that you can barely make out any features or ones where she’s turned away from the camera, almost at the last minute so her face is blurry or completely hidden behind a book or a paper or whatever that was in her hands. It’s almost like she was careful not to show her face.

Who was she? 

A smattering of articles mentioned that she came from old money, which explains the manor, but there was no mention on who her family was or where they or the money came from. Just this one lady with not much of a background, who happened to be interested in the dark arts as a hobby. Even her obituary wasn’t impressive for a woman of her stature in her field of work; one paragraph, less than fifty, very bland words, like they didn’t know what to say of her now that she was dead compared to when she was alive and kicking. It’s all a little strange. She was a known archaeologist, they could have at least talked about her contribution in that field. 

Huh, that’s strange. 

I enlarge the screen of the obituary, zooming on the date of death. The clip is a scanned picture from an old newspaper so some words are hard to decipher and I had glimpsed over a few while reading through. If I read it right, the date of death is the year I was born, exactly forty-nine days before my birthday. That doesn’t sound correct. If she was already dead, why was she listed as my next of kin my whole life? This means she didn’t recently die, either, and that a dead woman’s name has been listed as my only living relative growing up. Was I lied to? Was there a mistake? What the hell is going on?

There’s a knock on the door and I look up to see Mrs Oliviera hovering by the doorway. I’m lying on my front on the bed with my laptop in front of me and she’s glancing at the screen. I snap the Macbook shut. 

“Dinner’s ready,” she says tersely. “Since you’re feeling better, I’ll set the dining table.”

I nod but don’t move, waiting for her to leave so I can go back to my little research.

She doesn’t budge but says, “You should come down soon or dinner will be cold.”

I nod again. “Okay.”

She takes the hint and walks off, her face tight. She really doesn’t like me, huh.

I reopen the laptop but a message pops up. 

It’s from Ha-ri. Have you started the media report yet?

I hit reply. No, not yet. It’s due in two weeks, right?

Want to hop on a call and discuss work division? I have some time before I have to cook dinner and Ryan’s napping.

Ha-ri is a stay-at-home mother with a one-year-old son, which means partnering up with her entails dividing up the work, doing the work individually and then compiling them together before submission, hoping that somehow it all blends cohesive enough. I didn’t mind it. It’s hard to align everyone’s schedules in a postgrad course so this is the best we can do.

I agree to the call and a few seconds later, the phone rings. We finish in twenty-five minutes, the longest call so far we’ve had in regards to assignments, and I finally get up from the bed. My dinner is probably already cold and sticking to the plate by now and I will suffer yet another disapproving look from the housekeeper for waiting too long to come down and her having to reheat everything, which she seems to be opposed to because the food is no longer ‘fresh’. Okay, but you’re not the one eating it. And why can’t I use the microwave myself? Because I’m not allowed in the kitchen. 

I leave my room, walking down the hallway quietly as I keep my eyes glued to the screen of my phone, typing up a sort of summary of our workload to Ha-ri so we can refer back to the text rather than having to call again. 

Ring, ring, ring.

I pause, tilting my head as I strain my ears to hear. Silence. I could’ve sworn that I heard a bell ringing somewhere. I try to focus on any sounds but the ringing has stopped.

Maybe I heard wrong. Maybe it was one of those phantom sounds you sometimes hear and mistake it for your phone ringing. It’s honestly a disease of our tech-dependent generation. I continue walking, pausing again at the top of the stairs when I hear noises. This time I’m sure it’s not some phantom noise. It’s coming from upstairs, the forbidden floor. 

I tiptoe up the stairs, careful to avoid the creaky spots. I can somewhat hear the tinkling of plates against each other and the typical sound of when someone is carrying a bunch of silverwares in their hands. And then I smell the food. Odd. The kitchen and dining hall is towards the back of the ground floor and the smell of cooking usually doesn't carry this far up. It doesn’t make sense but my curiosity is piqued. 

I take a few more steps up and crouch down by the bannister, keeping myself low and hidden in the shadows as I lean forward to see down the hallway in the direction I heard the noise. At this point, I’m convinced the house is haunted but the logical part of my brain thinks that there is an explanation. An unclosed window and the wind blowing in, a draft, mice. But what I’m seeing as I squint through the darkness is both a relief and a shocker. Mrs Oliviera is partially up the attic, her bottom half standing on the ladder. A cart with a few plates stacked on top is waiting below.

What the hell is she doing in the attic?

I can hear muffled voices. Is she talking to herself? No. The voices are deeper and…multiple? I’m growing more and more confused. I creep closer, sticking close to the walls to stay hidden. The third floor, as it is supposedly a no-entry area, is not lit and the only source of light is coming from the window at both ends of the hallways, which is why I can see the housekeeper’s activities pretty clearly. 

The voices are still audible and it’s clear now it’s not hers, but males. Are there people upstairs? Did we get guests when I was down with the fever? Why wasn’t I inform and most importantly, why the fuck are they put in the attic? We have plenty of room on the second floor, well-kept with comfy queen beds instead. Is she boarding people secretly? Broke students? Runaway teens? Her errant lovers? I scratch that last idea quickly, shaking my head. Fugitives? We’re in the middle of nowhere, it’s the best place to hide from the law. 

Suddenly, she reappears, face as white as a sheet, lips pursed so hard they’re gone. She hurries down the ladder as the trapdoor closes above her, softly. She crosses herself and mumbles a long prayer before starting to push the cart down the hall. I panic, too late to run back down towards the stairs because she’ll definitely catch me. 

I consider coming out and pretend to be all annoyed that she could be up here when I can’t and ask her about the attic, wracking my brain for an excuse to be in the shadows and obviously spying on her. But before I can come up with anything, she turns a sharp corner and disappears. Just completely vanishes into what looked like a wall.

   I wait in the dark, counting to twenty before hesitantly getting up. I follow close to the wall, keeping to the shadows, and approach the area she was last seen. I take a few steps back, standing in the middle of the hallway trying to look at it from a wider perspective. What Harry Potter shit is this?

There’s a soft thud from above and I look up. It’s coming from the attic. I’m still a little perturbed from what happened last time, replaying in my head the things I saw but, with time and the human brain’s ability to suppress, the image seemed blurry and it’s almost like my brain has been trying to purge the memory as soon as possible. The memory itself, or what’s left of it, feels unreal. Like a dream you think you remembered but don’t really. 

Time to find out.

I dawdle at the bottom of the attic door, staring at the dangling rope as if it will suddenly jump to life and start attacking me like a snake. I lick my lips, waiting for something to happen that I can use as an excuse to walk away now, even half-hoping for Mrs Oliviera to yell my name from downstairs. But all is quiet and the house seems to be slowing into a slumber. 

“Come on, don’t be a chicken,” I whisper to myself. “Once and for all.”

I pull the string and the ladder drops down, silent as usual. I climb up and place one hand against the trapdoor. I take a few deep breaths. “Just do it,” I say under my breath. “There’s no such thing as ghosts.” 

With one strong push that throws the trapdoor back on its hinges, I burst through. “There’s no such thing as-”

~~~

Dinner, the only food they can eat in a day. 

Jin watches fondly as the others dig in, exchanging food either between plates or straight from one’s plate to another’s mouth. It’s almost ingrained in them now to share every morsel, sometimes feeding others first before they taste their own food. Jin, especially, has a habit of dividing whatever is in his plate to the three younger ones, like a mother bird feeding its offspring. There are times when he thinks he’s being sneaky by giving Jungkook extra but the others know. They all know how much the kid eats; they do the same, too, when they think no one is looking. 

Jimin is taking his time with his food, carefully rolling the pasta on his fork just to savour the taste when it’s in his mouth. He doesn’t like Ollie very much but he’s aware of how much care she took to deliver the food to them every night, making sure Jean’s, the cook, plating isn’t ruined in the process. Friday nights are the best; the food is usually a little more luxurious. Today is pasta with steak. Jean even added a couple of extra slabs. That man may not look it but he’s a softy. 

While they eat, they talk. Taehyung is insisting he knows exactly how long the steak was grilled for but keeps looking at Yoongi for confirmation, who is just nodding absentmindedly. He wants to correct Taehyung but thinks it’s better to just let him be, he’s not far off. Namjoon is speaking with Hoseok, talking about a book he read while the other nods along, occasionally asking questions. Hoseok is not one to read all that much but he tries to get into it. Jungkook, on the other hand, eats quietly, face contorted in pure concentration, hearing nothing but the sound of his own chewing. 

That’s when the trapdoor swings open with such ferocity the seven of them stop dead in between mouthfuls of dinner, whipping around, eyes wide in alarm.

There, sticking out of the trapdoor, is the one they have been waiting for, looking like you are ready to yell out a war cry. Both you and them stare at each other, eyes as big as the plates the boys are eating out from, neither party saying a word or even breathing.

Jimin, sitting closest to the door, struggles to get his mind turning, forgetting how to even speak, much less say hi, a stray pasta hanging from his lips. Before he can say anything, you call out. “Who the fuck are you?” 

~~~

“Who the fuck are you?”

My mouth is hanging open. There in front of me sat seven drop-dead gorgeous men that I have ever seen in my life, staring right back at me, looking like they had been caught doing something they shouldn’t. The one nearest to me, with a pasta strand hanging from his mouth, blinks a few times before he slurps up the noodle. He runs his left hand through his blond hair, pushing it back before standing up. He uses the back of his hand to wipe his mouth.

“Hello,” he croaks out, cheeks blushing. 

I stare dumbly at him as if he spoke a different language. He takes a cautious step forward, looks back once at the others then takes another so that he’s now standing over me. He holds out a hand. “I’m Jimin.”

a/n: I know that these first three are short chapters so I hope you are patient with meee T_T I'm also trying to maintain a regular once a week update on this series and will do my best to gradually make them longer at at least 5k words. Anyway, lmk your thoughts in the comments and feel free to ask me anything! xx

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@queen-in-the-shadows @singukieee @effielumiere @wray-jeon @mayla548

[comfortbucky]

I’m so happy your requests are open because your writing is so amazing! I’d love to request something with fluffy long hair Bucky. Honestly I’ve been thinking about him being so lovesick while the reader is off on a mission for months and he’s mainly focused on how much he misses them that he doesn’t notice that his hair is getting extremely long because he always keeps it tied up. But when the reader comes back and they are cuddling he realizes how much his hair has grown and how it gets in the way of him kissing the reader when it’s down, so he runs and grabs scissors to cut it back to shoulder length immediately. I feel like this is definitely the himbo type of move that Bucky would make and I just miss long haired Bucky rn (TFATWS Bucky is hot too but I do love Bucky with the good hair haha.) if this isn’t something that inspires you to write this request then no hard feelings either I totally understand! 💖

hi !!!! sorry i’m getting to this so so late🥺 also thank u for ur compliment 😭💗

𝗿𝗮𝗽𝘂𝗻𝘇𝗲𝗹 ⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆ ｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚ ⋆ ｡

pairing: civil war!bucky x gender neutral!reader/avenger!reader

tags: soft!bucky, himbo!bucky, absolutely fluff, at home haircut

A/N: once again i am SO sorry for getting to this late🥺 but i hope u enjoy!! 🥰

word count: 1.3k

my masterlist!

completed requests!

He'd never noticed how big his bed was until you left.

It was a 4-month long mission, the longest mission you had ever been assigned to and although Bucky was immensely proud of you, how far you had come as an Avenger, he hated the idea of you being gone for so long. Despite his pleas, Tony refused to let him go along with you, much to his chagrin.

You both had your own individual bedrooms in the tower, but Bucky became attached to you, fast, and his room quickly became yours. So even though you weren't physically there with him, Bucky was able to find comfort in the little bits of you that you left behind. A drawer in his dresser that never fully closed shut because it was stuffed to the brim with both his and your clothes. You were the last one to sit on the lounge chair in his room, the throw blanket left exactly how you left it, half of it flipped over with part of it hanging over the armrest. Bucky never considered himself to be a superstitious person, but he couldn't get himself to tidy up that space, believing that he had to leave it untouched in order for you to return.

Bucky had become so used to sleeping next to you in bed, he could barely get any sleep the first night you were gone. With time, he was able to sleep a little longer every night, but he still longed for your being. His bed had become both of yours, each of you claiming ownership by referring to it as "our" bed when speaking to others or each other. But without you in it, it felt like it was becoming just his bed again, and he hated it.

So preoccupied with your absence, Bucky barely spent any time looking after himself. He tried anything and everything he could think of in an attempt to make his room feel full again. To try and make the bed feel less empty, he bought dozens of pillows to take up space, only to feel overheated and overwhelmed, kicking them all off by the end of the night. Nat jokingly suggested to him that he buy a body pillow but later that night he ordered one online. When it arrived, he tested it out and immediately sent it back. It didn't feel right, nothing fit in his arms like you did, perfectly made for him.

Which is exactly why when you came back, the first thing he wanted to do was cuddle. He was ready to cuddle you, clad in dirt and grime, but you were able to convince him to let you shower first before cuddles.

You felt like you had shed an entire layer of skin by the end of ur shower, watching the brown sludge swirl down the drain. After changing into comfy clothes, you stepped out of the bathroom, immediately being swept up in Bucky's arms.

"Can't wait any longer," he said, causing you to chuckle, carrying you to his bed and gently setting you down. Bucky quickly climbed into bed next to you, engulfing you in his arms right away. Facing each other, you both simultaneously let out a sigh of relief, finally feeling at peace in each other's arms.

In an instant, his lips were on yours, kissing you with thirst and hunger that you both had been craving for months. Neither one of you wanting to break away from the kiss for oxygen until the very last second, allowing the other to take each other's breath in exchange to keep your lips together for as long as possible.

When you finally pulled apart from each other, panting, Bucky immediately cupped your face in his hands and pulled you in for another kiss. This time, the softness of his lips was obscured by strands of hair. You pulled your face away, just enough to run your fingers through his hair and push it out of the way. As you brushed his hair with your fingertips, you realized a difference in how far back you ran your hand.

"Didn't know I was dating Rapunzel!" You chuckled, teasing him. Bucky's face flushed red in an instant.

"Is it—Is it bad?" Before you could answer his question, he leaped out of bed, making a beeline to the bathroom. Nervous you had crossed a line, you followed after him, the sight of him in the bathroom making you gasp audibly.

Bucky was standing in front of the mirror, holding a pair of scissors open, about to chop off a decent length of his hair, that currently ended slightly below his collarbone.

"What are you doing?" He lowered his arm and turned to face you.

"Cutting my hair," he chuckled nervously, shifting his eyes down to look at the ground. His voice softened as he continued. "Forgot to do it while you were gone. Too busy thinking 'bout you." You felt heat rise to your cheeks and smiled softly at him, gently taking the scissors from his hand.

"I was just teasin' you, Bucky," you said, placing the scissors on the counter. Holding his face in your hands, you gently moved the strands of hair that had fallen to the front of his face. "You don't have to cut your hair if you don't want to."

"I want to," he quickly replied. "It's getting in the way of our kisses." You chuckled at his comment, smoothing his hair back, and kissed his forehead.

"Do you want me to cut it? Might be easier." He nodded in reply and left the bathroom briefly to grab a stool, sitting to face the mirror. Picking up the scissors, you moved to stand behind him, planting a kiss on his head, before starting to snip the ends of his hair. "How much do you want me to cut off?" He looked at you in the mirror, thinking for a moment before speaking.

"Cut it to how it was before; before you left," Bucky said, whispering the latter half of his sentence. You nodded and proceeded to cut his hair.

As you gently combed your fingers through his hair, Bucky closed his eyes and hummed at your gentle touch. You smiled softly and continued your actions, occasionally stealing glimpses of Bucky in the mirror. His entire face had softened, the corners of his lips curved upwards in a smile. When you had finished cutting his hair to be shoulder length, you continued brushing through his hair for a moment longer, soaking in the view of how content and at peace, he looked.

"All done!" Bucky's eyes fluttered open and his face lit up as he studied his reflection in the mirror. He turned to face you and cupped your face in his hands, pulling you in for a kiss. You smiled against his lips and chuckled softly as he pulled away.

"It passes the kiss test." You chuckled at his comment and set the scissors down on the counter. "Now it's time for the cuddle test!" Bucky swiftly picked you up, taking you back to bed as you giggled in his arms.

He set you down and you turned on your side to face him as he wrapped an arm around you, pulling you close to him.

"I missed you so much, honey," he sighed, resting a hand on your cheek, his thumb brushing against your cheekbone. You smiled softly at him.

"Missed you too, Bucky. Thought about you every night."

"Thought about you every day, every second of every day." Bucky chuckled softly. You laughed softly as he pulled your body as close as he could to his. Resting his head in the crook of your neck, Bucky spoke, his voice muffled. "Don't wanna let you go again." You caressed the back of his head, speaking softly in his ear.

"I'm staying, I'm all yours, Rapunzel." Bucky chuckled and nipped at your neck in response, causing you to break out in giggles.

With you in his arms, the bed, not his but collectively, yours, felt full again. Whole.

[gyeomsweetgyeom]

you suck at crushes

College!Yangyang x College!Reader x College!Renjun 

summary: Renjun wants to help you get with Yangyang who wants to help you couple up with Renjun but they’re both annoying, maybe one less than the other

word count: 4.2k

(warnings: swearing, mentions of food) ((lmk if I missed anything))

Taglist! @lanadreamie

A/N: I hope you guys enjoy!! I swear reader ends up with only one guy I just don’t want to give away the ending and I know the summary is ass

-

God it was like the beams of sunshine just followed him around. Providing him with a natural spotlight that only worked to draw your attention to him even more than usual. The voices around you faded into background noise, and everything else besides him became so fuzzy you could only focus on the one and only- Liu Yangyang.

“Hello?” “Y/N!” “Are you listening to us?” Someone gripped your shoulder and shook you until you were out of your Yangyang-induced-haze. “Huh? Oh yeah… totally.” You answered with absolutely no idea about the conversation happening at the very table you sat at. 

Your friends snorted, teasing and making fun of you. A kissing noise, a high pitched teasing exclamation of the man of the hour’s name, and some playful elbows being jabbed into your side. When they finally stopped with the teasing and they actually filled you in you were able to answer some questions about the times at the library. 

You slipped into your seat in your geology class, a poor choice on your behalf and quite frankly the school for describing it as something that would be ‘fun and exciting.’ What a total load of BS that was. The professor was an old man that went on and on about his days in the field 40 years ago and rambled on and on about subjects that were 70% of the time not on the tests. However, the one and only bright side was that you had your favorite distraction in this class, Yangyang.

How could one person asking a question about the tectonic plates or the striations on a stupid rock be so attractive? He made it possible. 

“Staring yet again?” An annoying voice asked quietly, just inches from your ear.

“Who are you?” You asked annoyed.

“Y/N, that isn’t funny anymore. Not the first time you did it and not the hundreds of times after that. We lived on the same street for years before you decided to follow me here.” He answered with a huff. 

“Renjun, will you just go away? You know I’m no good at this so go bother someone else.” You replied. You took your eyes off Yangyang, gave Renjun a quick glare, and focused back on the lab work in front of you. Something stupid about hills or some moutain. Wasn’t this class supposed to be about rocks? 

“I don’t need help, I came to help you. We’re friends- shhhh.” Renjun started, quickly shutting you up before you could interrupt. “I can help you with this lab and help you win over your beloved Yangyang.”

You sent him a quizzical look. In all the years you had known Renjun he had never been this... generous- always wanting something in return. “He and I are friends, he’s been super annoying lately and complaining about some final project we decided to do together, but we have months to do it. If I help you guys get together in order to distract him, then he can stop bothering me about that final project. It’s a win-win-win situation.” He explained.

Well, that made a lot of sense. “What do you even have in mind? Yangyang and I don’t talk like we used to, how could we go from strangers to dating in just a couple months.”

“Don’t underestimate yourself. You were the person to show him around school when he was the new kid all those years ago when we were kids, you’re in better standing than you think. We all went to the same school, we already know each other, we all have this class, and I’m not going to let this fail because I do not fail. If I have to hear about the final project one more time I will rip all the hair off his head, three strands at a time.” Renjun pouted. 

“You sound completely crazy-”

“If you two need some help all you have to do is ask, I don’t need you two to argue and disrupt the class. Mr. Liu, since you seem to have a good understanding of the assignment, would you mind helping them out?” The professor called out. 

You and Renjun sent each other incredulous looks, were you really talking that loudly? “It’s earlier than expected, but don’t worry I got this,” Renjun whispered.

“You know if you guys had just spoken quietly, I could have left early but here I am. You can’t do anything without me can you?” Yangyang teased Renjun. 

“Oh, it wasn’t me. Y/N here is just so stupid, I was trying to explain the lab and it’s like all my words go in one ear and out the other. Maybe you can explain better than I can.” Renjun gestured toward you wildly. 

You immediately went to defend yourself but stopped when instead, Yangyang came to your defense. “Y/N isn’t stupid like you Injun, if you wanted some attention you didn’t have to bother someone innocent.”

Your face felt so hot, god this attention was too much to handle so suddenly. It was as if Renjun had thrown you into the deep end of a pool when you had just learned about the entire concept of swimming itself. If this was his attempt at getting you and Yangyang together you were now questioning the entire idea. It was just too much to handle so suddenly.

Yangyang quickly went on to explain the idea of the lab, giving you some tips to make the work easier and how it connected to past lessons. “Do you understand it a little more now?” He asked you.

You hissed when someone stomped on your foot beneath the table. Your eyes met Renjun’s while he discreetly shook his head, seemingly trying to send you some kind of message. But it seemed whatever he was sending was received because you quickly caught on, answering, “Oh uh, this whole class has actually been a bit more difficult than I anticipated, and you seem to have a way better understanding than I do. Would you be willing to maybe meet up sometime and just help a little more?”

“I’m free on Wednesday afternoons, let’s exchange numbers so maybe we can find out what you struggle the most with and what time works for you. Renjun are you coming too, you seemed to get the lab when I explained it,” Yangyang replied.

Renjun answered with a simple nod, sending Yangyang on his way for the remainder of the class. He was quiet the rest of the time, still sitting beside you. When the class was over he looked over at you, “This is going to be so much easier than I thought.”

-

Some point in the week after class you had all decided on the meeting place and time. Some little cafe just off campus after Yangyang was done with his last class of the day. He said the coffee was good and it wasn’t even expensive, to which Renjun was quick to add that they had friends working there so they got discounts. 

Renjun insisted on meeting you a little earlier to go over the details of the plan he had finally come up with. The plan mainly consisted of you just catching up with Yangyang, which would then progress to just the two of you hanging out, then bam! Dating! Much easier said than done you were quick to point out. His plan was just an idea with no details. Like what do you talk about? How do you make him like you? What kinds of things does he like? Could he even like you romantically?

“He actually mentioned to me that he was happy to talk to you again, so I have very high hopes. That was one conversation with him that was not about the final. Just have some hope.” Renjun shrugged. 

“You make this sound so simple, but you are not the one risking being embarrassed by telling the guy you’ve had a crush on since you were 10 about your feelings and having even less of a relationship than you’ve had for the past like 6 years.” You huffed.

“Since you were 10? That’s a little embarrassing.” Renjun let out.

Ever since you were kids it was like Renjun knew the exact words and actions to push your every button. Always getting on your nerves and getting under your skin. It was foolish of you to believe that he had matured enough to not tease you, even in your 20s and even in college. Huang Renjun sucked.

You brought your hands up to his neck, fully ready to wrap your hands around his neck and just squeeze- just enough pressure for him to get the idea to just shut up. But of course, that would be unacceptable in public and even less appropriate seeing as Yangyang had come right up to the table before you could do so. You improvised, changing your intended action of a throat squeeze to a nice hug, arms wrapped tightly around Renjun’s shoulders. You smiled brightly, tilting your head away from Yangyang so your lips were right beside Renjun’s ear, “I can go another 10 years buddy, learn to shut your damn mouth. I for one know how to follow through with my threats and will actually pull your hairs from your head- Yangyang, so good to see you!”

Yangyang looked between the both of you curiously, side by side, one with a bright, beaming smile and the other flushed, scared look on their face. He shook it off and pulled out his study materials while making small talk. 

By the end of the study session you felt more confident in your geology skills and your chances with Yangyang. He had gotten exponentially cooler as he got older than the kid you met all those years ago. Sure, he was still chaotic and sarcastic, even still a little dramatic, but it nonetheless made your heart skip a beat, just like the first time you laid eyes on him. 

-

Over the next few weeks Renjun slowly stopped coming to the study sessions. He always had some excuse or another, that neither you or Yangyang ever really questioned. In those few weeks you and Yangyang had grown closer as friends, texting each other about more than just class, checking in on each other, sending stupid memes and tiktoks, even a few inside jokes.

But of course, Renjun had to have his time too. Instead of just texting you, he would make conversation anytime he saw you on campus, even going as far as asking you to hang out when he wanted to know what was going on. Every night without fail, he would FaceTime you for at least an hour and a half to ask for very detailed updates which at some point became you two just talking about your days in general. He liked to judge your every decision, giving his own input on even minor things like the seat you sat in for a class he didn’t even have. He said his life lacked drama so he needed to live vicariously through his friends.

“I know we usually meet at the cafe, but even with that discount I really shouldn’t be spending all that money there every week. Do you mind if we meet at mine this week? I promise my roommate buys enough snacks to feed the whole complex and he makes me clean the place every week.” Yangyang suggested about a month and a half into your studying arrangement. 

You of course agreed, you’d be crazy to not want to go to your crush’s home, just the two of you- alone, and talking about… rocks. 

So when the next week came and Wednesday afternoon rolled around, you found yourself standing right outside your crush’s door, fist raised to knock. You were so nervous, just being alone with him in his home! This wasn’t the cafe where you had other people around, where you knew where things were, close to your home. No, this was his house, and that made you beyond nervous. 

He pulled the door open, a wide smile on his face as he welcomed you in. He set your things at his kitchen table and gave you a short tour of the home. “My roommate will be back later tonight, but he made us some food if we get hungry later,” He told you while he brought out his own supplies, once again ready to conquer your weekly study session.

And even though you did at one point struggle very much with the subject, this particular topic seemed easier to understand. So after even correcting Yangyang a few times, the study session became more of a hang out session. So casual that you even answered Renjun’s texts, chuckling at him freaking out in all caps because you were in Yangyang’s home.

“No, but Renjun did that last time we hung out too! We were in public, like full on glass of water spilled across the table and he got so red,” you laughed recalling the memory from just a few weeks ago after watching Yangyang do the same.

Then just a few minutes later when you were both watching TV you mumbled, “I think Renjun would like this show. This is on Netflix right?”

Yangyang being the smart kid that he is, had pieces coming together in his mind, ideas that he wasn’t even sure if you knew yet. He was going to make this happen.

-

Renjun sat in front of Yangyang, a month before the end of the semester, finally working on the final project. Which, thanks to you, had not been mentioned even once since you and Yangyang started hanging out until a week ago.

After finishing his part for the day Yangyang leaned back in his chair, sighed and smiled. “I think I’m going to ask Sua from our history class out.”

Renjun choked on his drink, did Yangyang really have to pick the exact moment he took a sip of his drink to tell him this? He cleared his throat, “Since when do you like her?”

Yangyang shrugged nonchalantly, explaining that Sua worked at the cafe he was always at and at some point they just kind of hit it off.

Renjun nodded, a little excessively. In his head he was trying to figure out what the hell to do. He knew you liked Yangyang and how hurt you would be if Yangyang suddenly had a girlfriend. At this moment, you were the only thing on Renjun’s mind. “Really? I actually thought you and Y/N might be a really good match, and you guys obviously get along well.” He replied.

Yangyang hid his smirk by taking a sip of his drink, “I don’t know, Y/N is really just much more of a friend than anything. Like don’t get me wrong Y/N is cool, but I see Sua more romantically.”

Before Renjun even had time to process his words and think of the consequences, he suddenly blurted out, “Well, Y/N likes you- and has liked you since we were kids. You have to think about more feelings than just your own Yangyang. Think of Y/N.”

“Like you think about Y/N?” Yangyang replied. Renjun tilted his head in confusion, trying to understand what Yangyang was talking about. 

“I know you never grew out of that crush you had in middle school- it’s that cute childhood neighbors to lovers thing. I know that whole plan you made so I could finally pay attention to Y/N, and while I admit it worked, because Y/N is a cool friend, this plan didn’t work the way you wanted it to. I see the way you look at Y/N and every time we hang out that’s all you can talk about. I’m smarter than you Injun, I know.” 

Renjun flushed, these were emotions that he had buried deep down years ago. In just two months Yangyang had uncovered and brought his emotions to light. Emotions that had at one point been disguised as that annoying 13 year old kid that would bother you to your wit’s end and now evolved to Renjun putting your emotions before his own. Days that were once filled with him tugging on your hair or tapping on your shoulder and looking away as if it weren’t him, had now become days of texting or facetiming you regularly just to catch up like he had wanted. 

“I think you should tell Y/N how you feel, don’t underestimate your chances.” Yangyang told Renjun as they made their way out of the cafe. 

-

When Yangyang told you that he knew you liked him, that he wasn’t interested, that he was actually going to date Sua from his history class, you thought you would be more upset. Embarrassed that he knew you liked him all this time, angry that he didn’t tell you earlier, or heartbroken that your crush of almost 10 years didn’t like you like you liked him. But you weren’t. You weren’t embarrassed, or angry, or heartbroken. You felt fine, it felt like he was just telling you what he ate for lunch. “Okay, so how do you tell the difference between these crystals again?” You replied with a nod. 

“And I know you like Renjun.” He added quietly. 

You looked up suddenly, eyes wide with shock, “What?”

“Come on Y/N, I think this whole ‘Renjun annoys me to no end’ is just a ploy. Whenever we hang out he’s all you talk about, you guys FaceTime like every night, right? You smile every time he texts you, and even though you play it off as ironic shit-posting- those stories you always post with all the hearts and cheesy ass captions stopped being a joke at some point. You may not have realized it but even with Renjun as just a friend to you now, he means more to you than I do.” 

You huffed, crossing your arms across your chest, “You know you’re smarter than you look, but I really don’t like you psychoanalyzing me.” 

He laughed loudly, “So what are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t exactly have a good record with crushes, obviously. I don’t know what to do now,” you quietly answered, “Anyway this seems like a good ending point, we’ll meet one more time before the final right? Just text me if you need anything alright?” 

Before Yangyang could even stop you or try to reassure you, you were hastily packing up your things and out the door. How was he going to get the two of you together now?

-

It seemed that mother nature seemed to understand the tornado of emotions that were happening for you and Renjun, though you both had no idea about one another, what had started off as a gorgeous spring day had become a dark and rainy spring night. Even Yangyang laid in his bed, unable to sleep as he remembered that he had failed to mention or even plan out- that neither of you knew you liked each other. That would have been nice to know, but it was a little too late for that now seeing as it was like two in the morning. 

If you liked Renjun, which it sounded like you did, according to Yangyang and the more you thought about it, it really felt like you did. Not some surface level ‘I like to admire you from afar for 10 years’ crush but rather a ‘I like you and want to spend time with you and I’d hate to see you smile at anyone else like you smile at me and possibly fall in love.’ You sat straight up in bed, flashes of the lightning outside lit your room up, did you just think about falling in love with Renjun? Before you could process anymore thoughts you pulled on a coat and some shoes, grabbing the umbrella you kept by the door. You had to tell Renjun how you felt.

Stepping out of your apartment complex, you thanked the love gods for allowing Renjun to live just a few blocks away from each other and not across town. There was no doubt in your mind that by the time you reached him, you would be soaked to the bone, but you had to do this. There was no point in keeping this crush to yourself just for nothing, you had to take the risk and just hope for the best. Best case scenario, you get a boyfriend, and worst case, well then you don’t talk to him for another few years and every time you see him your heart feels like it's being stomped on. You know, something that could become a regular feeling. 

You hurried through the storm, dodging large puddles while trying your best to stay beneath the awnings of the buildings. You stopped at a light, looking out into the rain to see just how much further you had until you got to Renjun’s place. But instead you focused on the sight of someone rushing through the rain to get to the opposite end of the crosswalk. You squinted through the downpour, realizing that the person at the other end of the crosswalk was “Renjun?”

You rushed toward him, lucky that there were no cars at this hour of the night to dodge. He ran forward, meeting you in the middle, pulling your hand forward so that the umbrella covered you both. “What are you doing out here?” He asked you loudly so you could hear him over the rain. 

“I was coming to see you,” you started, meeting his eyes that told you he was waiting to hear more, “Renjun I like you. I really like you. I don’t smile, or laugh, or feel happy or even feel annoyed with anyone else like I feel when I’m with you. I want to be happy and date you, use your stupid plans to plan dates for us. I don’t want anyone else but you.”

“God, you don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to hear you say that. I’ve had a crush on you since middle school, you don’t know how happy this makes me.” He beamed, using his free hand to cup your cheek.

His hands were wet, and his fingers were cold as they cupped your warm cheek. “Are you gonna kiss me or what?” You asked.

He surged forward, lips meeting your own in a passionate kiss as your eyes fluttered shut. Your lips moved against his own, wrapping your free arm around his neck to pull him closer. He let his other arm fall to bring you closer by the waist, deepening the kiss. With one arm holding up the umbrella you decided to just fuck it, dropping the umbrella you placed your hand at the back of his neck.

A sudden honk made the two of you jump apart, rushing back to the end of the crosswalk to avoid getting hit by an angry driver. 

“You crazy kids! Living your movie moment! I did it!” You heard a voice yell over the pounding rain. 

“Yangyang?” Both you and Renjun called out upon catching sight of Yangyang leaning out his car window.

He smiled, gesturing for the two of you to get in the car. You both shuffled into the backseat, hands held close and sitting side by side to warm each other up after being out in the horrible weather for so long. You were both shivering, teeth chattering, and lips nearly blue from the cold. 

“Aren’t you guys glad I meddled? I mean look at you guys, all cute and cuddled up after your adorable kiss in the rain.” Yangyang giddily smiled as he shook some of the water out of hair. 

“Can you just take us back to mine, I’d like to get dry so we don’t get sick. If that’s ok with you,” Renjun asked, whispering the last bit to you. 

You nodded, squeezing his hand reassuringly. Yangyang nodded, putting the car in drive, chatting your ears off about how happy he was that the plan worked even when he didn’t plan well considering he forgot to mention that you liked each other. He told you both that he was on his way to Renjun’s to tell him that you liked him and force him to FaceTime you and confess.

He pulled up in front of the apartment complex, turning to give you a cocky smirk before you could even get out of the car or thank him for the ride, “So is Injun a good kisser?”

“This whole car ride made me realize how much you suck, seriously. I clearly made the right choice, so I hope and pray for your sake Sua has a mountain of patience, like you never shut up- ever. Thank you for the ride.” You ranted angrily before you made your way out of the car.

Yangyang’s jaw fell in fake offense, “You sure know how to pick ‘em Renjun.”

But he wasn’t met with the shocked face he thought he would see, he was instead met with a dazed, lovesick look. “Yeah I do, I might be in love.”

[pikemoreno]

lucky

pairing: marcus moreno x gn!reader

request: from @chibi-liz05​ “Can I request a Marcus Moreno fic (or ficlet, or drabble) where either Marcus or reader gets hurt (not seriously hurt) and end up in a med bay, kinda woozy from pain meds and they have a funny and/or cute conversation when the other one goes to check on the one hurt? Please.”

warnings: mentions of blood, injuries, death. it starts out pretty darn angsty, but gets silly and fluffy i promise. these two are hella married.

word count: 2.7k

a/n: honestly this is nothing like you asked for until the end? but this lil drabble idea inspired this whole one shot so i hope you enjoy what you helped my brain create? i loved this, needless to say.

i love this himbo and i’m so happy to write for him.

And thank you for the medical advice to @disgruntledspacedad! Thanks for helping me choose the right drug! 😆

wanna join a taglist? | masterlist

This was Marcus’s least favorite part of his job. 

As the newly deemed Director of the Heroics, he was the one to decide who went out on what mission when and with who. Normally it wasn’t too tall of an order. After all, he was chosen as director for good reason. He was perfect for the job. He was smart, organized, resourceful, and tried in everything to understand people-- whether that be in their personal habits or in their superpowered strengths. He was often commended for his ability to form the perfect teams for whatever job arose; and it came pretty naturally, it really did. 

That is, until emotion got involved, until personal bias compromised his decision making.

He was determined to not let you go on the mission, absolutely not. The band of powered individuals the team was going after were incredibly dangerous and unpredictable.They’d been a problem for months and this mission was all or nothing. The high stakes and vulnerable position made him incredibly reluctant to make you a part of the team that was heading out under the cover of night to apprehend them. When he didn’t name you among them, he was immediately countered by the rest of the heroes in the room about the choice. 

By all the accounts they were right. Given the tactics of the mission at hand, your teleportation abilities were perfect for the job. And if he was being even a little more honest, he’d agree with Miracle Guy that not sending you with them was a “disservice to the team.” It was and he knew it. In a very un-Marcus Moreno move, he was making the completely wrong choice and he wasn’t going to let the sound judgement of anyone else change his mind.

“Psion is not going and that is final,” he boomed. The room became deathly silent. “Now, go get ready. You leave in 20.” But no one moved, no one could. They were glued to the floor, watching their unflappable leader become uncharacteristically flapped. 

Marcus was the one to stomp out of the room first and you followed him without hesitation.

“Marcus,” you called, nearly running to keep up with long strides. “Marcus!” 

He didn’t even deign to turn around.

In a blink you were now in front of Marcus, hands out to stop him from continuing on without talking to you.

“No teleporting outside of work, Psion” he snapped lowly, but he still obliged your silent request and remained in front of you. You blinked at the small outburst.

“Mind losing the ‘tude so we can talk like adults?” You countered. Marcus lowered his head and whispered an apology. At that you stepped closer to him, your hands coming to rest on his tense shoulders in a soothing manner. “What’s bothering you, love? You know you can talk to me. This isn’t like you at all.”

When his eyes met yours again they were pained.

“It’s too dangerous,” was all he could get out at the moment. His exhale was unsteady as he leaned in, his forehead meeting yours in a much more “Marcus” gesture that brought you both back down to earth.

You sighed, fingers carding through the short hairs at the nape of his neck. “Of course it is. It always is.”

“Not like this,” he countered, biting his lip. “These guys are no joke.”

“Neither am I,” you grinned, tapping his nose with your own before pulling back to look at his face in full. He laughed a little, but it wasn’t whole-hearted, you saw it in his eyes.

“And I trust you. I do. I know you’re capable. I just--”

“Worry?” 

“Yeah, that.” His eyebrows were furrowed. You softly ran a thumb across the harsh lines it made, smoothing them and making him smile.

“I’m not going to lie to you and say nothing is going to happen. Because it might.” He winced at the words, not wanting to think too hard on what “it” could be. “But I’m prepared and so is the rest of the team. We’re gonna watch each other’s backs like we always do and getting everyone out safely is going to be our priority over completing the mission. It’s going to be business as usual and it’s going to be OK. I’m going to be OK. You’ve gotta let me go. They need me out there tonight.”

“I know,” he sighed. “Just… Be careful. Be ready in 10.” You sighed in relief.

“Thank you, Marcus.” You kissed him. “It’s gonna be fine.” He kissed you. “We’ve got ‘em this time. I know it.” One last kiss, strong and lingering. You tilted your head, an invitation-- no, a plead-- for a deeper kiss, which he obliged before being the one to break it. 

“Go,” he murmured, “Or you won’t make it before they leave.” You nodded, taking a deep breath. “Be careful. I love you.”

“I love you too.” You smiled through the sudden onset of nerves before turning and walking down the hallway to join up with the rest of the team.

***

That had been hours ago. Now Marcus was in command with a skeleton crew, the late hours of the assignment sending most of the support and technical team home. He quickly decided that was probably for the best. The sweet little interns did not need to see their mentor so stressed and antsy. No, he had to be “on” for them, he had to be the Marcus Moreno. And he couldn’t be that right now. Right now he was an anxious husband and teammate. 

“Where are they now, Connie?” he asked the poor woman at the comms desk behind him for the upteenth time that hour.

“Trackers say they’re still in the hanger, sir. Last update was that they had the grunts and were waiting for the ring leader to respond to their distress call.”

He wasn’t responding. It’d been two hours. And that was a major cause for concern.

“Tell them to just bring who they have back here and we’ll keep searching for him. This is still a win as far as I’m concerned.”

The man who was on comms moved to press the talk button to speak to the team, but the comm crackled to life before he had the opportunity. 

“It’s an ambush!” Miracle Guy yelled from the other side, “We’re sitting ducks out here!”

Marcus’ heart dropped into his stomach. 

“Go! Go! Get back to the-” He heard your panicked voice call out, the sentence interrupted by a cry of pain. 

The room spun. Marcus knew he was yelling but he couldn’t hear a word of what he said. It all just sounded like white noise now, mixing with the jumbled thoughts in his head and the ringing in his ears. He must’ve said something right though, because everyone was working. One was arranging a rescue, one was calling out the vitals of the team via the trackers on their wrists-- everything seemed fine by the tone of voice, but Marcus couldn’t be sure. He couldn’t grasp a word that was said to him. He was totally on autopilot, only able to respond in vague nods of yes or no. 

“Hey,” one voice next to him cut through the fog and he looked up to Lucas, the man who ran comms, “They’re going to be ok.”

Marcus’s response was non-committal, not wanting to pull the young man down to share his current state of mind, but not allowing himself to share in his confident optimism either.

The next hour went by in a whirlwind and the next thing he knew, Marcus was downstairs in the medical wing waiting on you and your team to arrive. He’d been in this position before and the thought of it made his throat close up. The images flashed through his mind of a gurney and too much blood and a confused little girl and black clothing on a rainy day in April. 

He closed his eyes harder as if to block it all out. 

No, it couldn’t be like last time.

It was then that he heard the distinct sound of the sliding doors opening and the murmur of a small group of people. His eyes shot open and, though he stood to his feet, he felt that he could collapse in relief. There was no gurney. Minimal blood-- just a couple of cuts on your face. You were hobbling in, arm around Miracle Guy as he helped you keep pressure off of your left leg. Your face was pained, which probably should have concerned him more, but he was just too happy to see you upright… Breathing. As long as he had that, you could get through anything else together. 

He watched as the medical team surrounded all of you, asking questions, prodding delicately at injuries. Marcus could vaguely hear your voice cutting in and out through it all. 

“Super strength… Kicked… Broken.” 

They had asked you a couple more unheard questions that you responded to in a simple yes or no and then they were leading you to sit on one of the beds. He watched as you went, noticing the way you were looking around for… Something.

Oh.

He smiled.

You were looking for him.

In all his panic and then relief, it hadn’t occurred to him that you would want to see him just as badly in your current state. His heart warmed at the way your tired eyes lit up when they met his. He all but ran to you. 

“Hey baby,” he cooed, leaning in to capture your lips in a deep kiss. He’d never been more in awe of you, that you were real, that way you were his, that he could kiss you freely. When he pulled away he observed your injuries closer. Head wounds were always scary amounts of bloody, but he could see that all of the cuts were minor. He brushed a strand of hair away from where sweat and blood had plastered it to your forehead. “What happened? How are you feeling?”

“I’ve been better,” you hissed as a stab of pain surged through your leg. He looked down to observe it. His immediate diagnosis wasn’t a good one. It was terribly hard to break a femur, but he was certain this was exactly what it would look and feel like. “Some super-strength asshole kicked me in the thigh to knock me down and--” You winced again. “They think she broke my femur, and I would have to agree.”

“I have to say I’m thinking that too,” he sighed. “I’m so sorry.” He kissed your forehead in between the cuts.

“What are you sorry for? You’re the one that tried to keep me from going. I forced you to let me go.”

“I should’ve stood my ground and had you and the team be mad at me,” he said completely seriously. 

“You’re ridiculous.” You side-eyed him, but smiled through the words. One of the medical staff returned at that moment, bringing over supplies to clean your cuts and asking if you’d like something for the pain while they got prepped for surgery. You nodded eagerly. 

“I’ll take this over,” Marcus said, hands open to take the first aid kit, “If you want to go get that?”

“Oh, sir I couldn’t ask you to--” The young woman gawked, slightly unbelieving that her boss’s boss’s boss would volunteer to do her job.

“You’re not asking me, I’m asking you.”

“A-- Yes, right away.” She handed him the kit and seemed to flee his presence to get an IV ready. You sat in silence a few moments as he prepared everything. He seemed lost, even in this small task. It took him longer than it should’ve to get his ducks in a row.

“Someone’s a little edgy,” you prodded, watching as too-intense eyes focused on cleaning dried blood from your forehead. He shook his head, eyes softening, but maintaining their focus. The whole endeavor was very clearly an attempt at keeping his hands as busy as his mind was. 

“I’d thought I‘d lost you. I thought...” His jaw tightened-- and it wasn’t due to the effort of wiping up blood. You stopped his hand from continuing its ministrations, lacing your fingers together.

“That it was all happening again?” you whispered. 

“It was like deja vu, baby. Everything was just like before.” The last word almost came out like a whimper. 

“But it’s not. I’m right here. I’m ok.” You brought your forehead to meet his comfortingly. The cuts stung just a little at the touch, but you remained there with him, feeling a deep, grounding breath fan lightly across your face.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

You kissed his nose and pulled away as you heard the medic return with the Versed for the pain. Marcus stayed right by your side as you were put on the IV, a hand staying firmly on yours. Which more for him than for you if he was honest. It brought him back to reality and out of his head. He no longer had to imagine the worst, because the best had happened. You were really there. It wasn’t a repeat of the aching horror of seven years before, the day that still had you shaking him awake from unspoken nightmares. You’d made it home to him and Missy-- but he was going to be hard-pressed to go against his better judgment again, no matter how much the team needed you.

“Alright, you’ll start to feel it in just a few seconds. We’ll be back soon to take you into surgery, ok?” the medic explained to you as the IV was in place. You nodded. 

“In the meantime, let me keep working on this,” Marcus gestured to the bandages in the kit. As he got to work, he watched the look in your eyes totally change, the Versed taking effect. 

“Are you alright?” he asked, covering the cut that just barely grazed your right eyebrow.

“Yeah, I’m good,” you sighed dreamily in a total demeanor change. The whole room lit up in his eyes. Marcus grinned at the way your posture slumped just slightly in relaxation. “And how are you?” you winked. Oh, this was going to be fun. He really needed to keep you talking.

“I’m doing great. Happy to be here with you, sweetheart. Now, sit still while I take care of this last cut,” he cooed. 

“Ok,” you giggled. “What a charmer.” 

“I try my best, darling.” He played along, enjoying the way the Versed had turned you into a starstruck girl with a crush.

“Oh noooo,” you squeaked suddenly.Marcus panicked, checking you over quickly for further injury. 

“What is it? Are you ok?” 

But you only grabbed his left hand, holding it up.

“You’re married!” 

Marcus blinked. What was in that stuff they’d given you? You put your face in your hands and Marcus tried to contain his laughter at the way your voice was muffled by your fingers. “You’ve been so nice and caring! I wanted to ask you on a dateeee. I’m so sorry if I came on too strong.”

“Baby,” he called with a sweet lilt to his voice-- still trying to hold in a laugh. 

“You shouldn’t call me that,” you sighed sadly, pouting, “You’re married. We can’t be together.” 

“Of course I’m married,” he held your left hand up now, “I’m married to you, you goof.” You blinked at the silvery ring on your finger. 

“Oh!” you practically yelled, “That’s so cool!” Marcus’ heart warmed at the way your eyes lit up at the realization. Even drugged out of your mind you were excited to be with him. He couldn’t help but feel likewise.

“I agree,” he smiled, “It’s very cool.” He intertwined his fingers and yours. 

“I’m so lucky,” you grinned toothily in response. It was so unlike the smiles you usually gave him: too exaggerated and, in a word, dopey. But it held the same affection. 

“No, I’m definitely the lucky one,” he countered. Your grin faltered slightly as you grew sleepy-- another possible effect of the Versed, he guessed. “Now, go ahead and lay back for me ok? I’ll see you as soon as you’re out of surgery.” You nodded in agreement and then right off to sleep.

Oh, he could not wait for you to get out so he could tell you about just how “lucky” the two of you were.

[dreamescapeswriting]

The Late Night Café ~ JJK [M] [Request]

↬↬↬Word Count: 4.9K

↬↬↬Genre: Prince!AU, Non!IDOL, SMUT, Fluffy

↬↬↬Pairing: Prince Jungkook x Fem!Reader

↬↬↬Warnings: Sex without contraception (wrap it before you tap It), cunnilingus,

"I don't think you understand the sincerity behind this Jungkook!" His mother slammed her hand down against the throne as her son treated this as though it was a joke to him but to him it was.

"What's the big deal? You're only going to set me up with someone I do not wish to be with so just get on with it." It was no secret that the Prince wasn't happy with the idea of an arranged marriage but if he wanted to take the throne and become King he had to marry before he turned 24 years old which was less then six months away. No time for him to find someone to fall in love with but plenty of time for his parents to force a marriage onto him where he would not be happy.

"Please Jungkook-"

"No. I don't want to talk about it anymore." He walked out of the throne room and away from his mother who was still calling out for him to stop but he didn't want to hear it. He didn't want to hear another speech about how it was for the good of the Country and if he didn't do it there could be serious consequences, it was always the same lecture.

"Jungkook are you going to sneak out again tonight?" Taehyung - his personal guard asked him as they walked side by side through the stone castle, Jungkook chuckled at how scared Taehyung was about it but it was something Jungkook had mastered over the years. He was always sneaking out of the castle late at night, he'd dress up in normal clothes instead of the suit he always had to wear and then he'd walk around the streets acting like anyone else his age would.

"I am."

"Is there anything I can say or do to stop you?" Taehyung knew it was useless since there was nothing he could possibly do,

"Is there ever?" Jungkook teased as he reached his chambers within the castle, Taehyung sighed bowing and walking away from the doors.

Inside was a huge King sized bed with curtains around it, all draped down to cover the red silk sheets that were on the bed. The rest of the room was quite boring, books were along the walls but nothing that interested Jungkook, all of them were about his training, and royal history, he wasn't allowed anything exciting as it could distract him from his Royal duties as the Prince. Everyone thought that this life was perfect and easy but they were wrong being a prince was far from easy and far from perfect.

A rapid knocking sounded on his door and he ground lifting himself from the bed and going over to the door,

"Yes, Namjoon?" He asked the tutor that had been teaching him for the last 7 years,

"Assignments," He handed Jungkook a folder full of papers and smiled at him,

"I'll see them on my desk next week?" He nodded at the request knowing it was no good to say no to Namjoon, he took the folder into his room and threw it down onto his own desk flipping through the pages. He had no classes that afternoon so he saw no harm in starting to do some of the work he had ahead of him, it was all about the history of the palace, how his family had come into the power and then sections about the royal guards. Boring drabble that made him want to throw the folder out of the window.

Four knocks on his door meant that the guards were changing over, midnight he let out a breath of relief. Jimin - the second personal guard - would be taking over the night shift which meant he would be able to slip out easily and have Jimin cover for him while he wandered around outside of the palace walls for a while. He slipped into some jeans and a hoodie before heading out of the door to his room,

"You have ten minutes, run." Jimin handed him some cash and chuckled as Jungkook lifted up the hoodie hood and began sprinting in the direction of the guard exit within the palace, he had about ten minutes before the next one would come out of the door and see him.

Being in the town was a total bust there was nothing happening, it was a Monday night so everything was practically closed. The bars were empty and Jungkook was wondering about bored but even this was better than going back to the palace. He was about to give out on finding somewhere to sit when he saw a cafe with its lights still on, he walked up to the window to see you sitting on the counter reading from a book with a hot chocolate in your hand eyes glued onto the page you were reading from. He chuckled watching you as your eyebrows furrowed together clearly reading something you didn't like, the way you smiled as you turned over the page made Jungkook feel warm inside and before he knew it he was heading inside of the empty cafe.

The bell above the door made you jump up and look around your eyes landed on Jungkook and you almost slopped off the countertop.

"Are you open?" Even his voice sounded angelic to you but you were so lost by staring at him you hadn't been able to form a sentence yet, Jungkook felt his pulse quicken as you stared at him. For a second he thought you knew who he was - everyone did but whenever he came into down dressed down with his hair down no one seemed to be able to tell he was Prince Jungkook.

"Erm, open? Yes! Sorry!" You jumped down from the counter and left your book on the side so you could serve him without being distracted,

"Sorry, we don't get anyone at night," You laughed nervously taking out a notepad and pen,

"What can I get your sir?" He smiled walking closer to the counter, he pressed his palms against the marble and looked through the menu.

"What do you recommend?"

"My famous hot chocolate, it's not on the menu though."

"Famous?" He laughed looking at while raising his eyebrows, you nodded at him and smiled.

"I make it whenever there's no one here, it's an old recipe because between you and me..." You leant across the counter to whisper to him despite there being no one you both,

"The new machines scare me, I burnt myself once and then they put me on the night shift so I've not had to use one since." You laughed softly and Jungkook couldn't help but smile at how adorable you sounded, the way your throat made a wheezing sound as you sucked in some more air - it was too cute.

"Then I shall take a famous hot chocolate created by the amazing...Y/n." He read off your name tag and you smiled,

"My famous hot chocolate coming right up for?" He smiled at you,

"Jungkook-"

"Ah like the Prince, cute." You wrote down his order and went off to make it while making your self a fresh one at the same time. He looked down at the book you'd been reading and smiled, it was the same book his mother used to read to him as a kid,

"The little prince," He whispered picking it up and flicking through your copy of it, along the margins was small notes you'd made in pen and he read through them all. Analysing your handwriting as he went, it made him laugh that whenever you were angry about something happening inside of the book your penmanship would get a little rougher.

"You like the book too?" You asked while you waited for the milk to warm up, he jumped dropping the book down onto counter as you made him jump up in surprise.

"Sorry, I'm quiet and sneaky." You laughed it off and he chuckled along with you,

"I used to love it as a child."

"Do you read now?" You questioned going back over to the steamer and checking on the milk,

"Not as much as I'd like, I'm in a slump." He lied going over to a table in cafe and sitting himself down.

"Ah, I can give you some titles if you like?" He heard the familiar sound of whipped cream being sprayed from a can and he smiled,

"Please, if you don't mind."

"Of course," He glanced up hearing you closer to him this time and watched as you placed down a giant mug of hot chocolate in front of him, on top was a pile of whipped cream, marshmallows and a flake for a little extra taste.

"Enjoy," You went to walk away but he called out your name to stop you, he was intrigued by you and wanted to know more instead of letting you go back to your book just yet.

"Those books you recommend?" He questioned doing anything to make you stay there with him just for a few more minutes, being with you made him feel normal and not like the prince at all. It was refreshing to him to be around someone like you, someone he didn't have to worry about freaking out on him because he was the Prince.

After a week with you, Jungkook began to realise that the reason you didn't know he was the Prince was that you didn't pay close enough attention to it all, you never watched anything on the news to do with it because you would much rather be reading, doing some of your hobbies or sleeping. Over the last week, you'd lent Jungkook a lot of books - he'd explained that the job he worked he wasn't available to go out during the day so spent most of his nights awake.

"What did you think?" You asked as you slid him a hot chocolate, it had become customary every night for him to come by with the book you'd given him to read and talk to you about it.

"I don't like it, why would she fall for him? He's all types of bad for her." You'd given him twilight of all books. He'd mentioned never reading anything that wasn't factual books and you wanted to give him something on the plainer side as well as a little romance,

"Trust me, in midnight sun it all makes sense." You laughed sipping on your hot chocolate,

"Did you get around to any of the movies I suggested?" He glanced up and you and shook his head, he'd been dying to watch the movies you'd given to him but he never had the time during the day, with reading he could sneak it in between study sessions, practice and while he waited to sneak out but movies were harder.

"Not yet," You sighed scooping up some of the whipped cream from his cup on your finger and placed it into your mouth, he watched in awe the whole time. It would be a huge lie if he said he was attracted to you because he was, very attracted to you in a strong way.

"You'll have to come over one day and we can watch a series together, there's this horror...one I've been dying to show someone." He frowned as you trailed off and stared out of the window, he followed your gaze to see Jimin and Taehyung standing around they were dressed in regular clothes but he knew they were there for him but he continued to ignore them and act as though he had no idea who they were.

"Friends of yours?" You laughed looking at them as they stared at Jungkook and you together,

"Something like that." He mumbled looking down at the hot chocolate, it would be a shame to waste it now so he just held up his hand to them, signalling that he'd be two minutes.

"They don't look happy they have to wait," You whispered feeling slightly disheartened that he was going to leave again, he sighed looking at you.

"I'm not happy that I have to leave, we all have to make sacrifices sometimes." He tied to laugh it off but he was really upset about all of this he could already feel himself falling for you which was bad since he would have to be away from you very soon.

"I'll be back tomorrow, we can talk all about those movies you want to watch with me." He smiled at you taking your hand in his, you felt a jolt in your body as he touched you. Before you knew it he was leaning across the table and leaving a small and gentle kiss on your lips.

"See you tomorrow," He whispered running his thumb along your bottom lip and leaving you alone with the book he'd borrowed and the half drank hot chocolate in front of you.

The Queen tapped her foot as she looked at her son,

"You were spotted kissing her, so who is she?" Jungkook rolled his eyes, Jimin and Taehyung hadn't been there when the kiss had happened so it was evident that she'd had someone else following him for the last week.

"Assuming I'm correct you'd had us followed for a week so why don't you tell me who she is mother," His tone was coming out like a bratty teenager who was being caught in a lie and was being told off but he didn't care. He knew what his mother was about to do and he wasn't happy about it,

"You won't be seeing her anymore, I'm stepping up your security so no more sneaking out." She straightened up and watched as Jungkook scoffed her before leaving the great hall, slamming the doors behind him as he left her alone there.

"Was I too harsh?" She asked Yoongi who was standing beside her, he looked down at the floor.

"No your highness, he needs to learn the rules are there to be followed." But she couldn't help but feel bad for him, she knew what it was like to be in love with someone you could never have and she swore never to let her own child go through that and yet here she was doing the same thing her father did to her.

"Follow him, make sure he's in his chambers." She mumbled to Seokjin and Hoseok who was standing by the doors, they nodded and walked out without another word to the Queen.

Three nights in a row and Jungkook was a no show, you were starting to think he regretted kissing you and that was why he hadn't come back.

"Another night another disappointment." You whispered to yourself as you waited for the next waitress to come and take over,

"There's some dude outside for you, said he's ready for the movie marathon?" Your heart raced hearing those words,

"I cleaned, I've done everything, see you tonight!" You threw down your apron and rushed outside to the street to see Jungkook leaning against the alleyway wall, his head was hanging low as he pulled the hoodie up over his head.

"Movies?" You laughed walking up to him, he looked up at you to make sure you were you before he took your hand in his.

"Lead the way. I'm sorry I haven't been here...I was caught up at work." He lied trying to ignore the pounding in his chest as he held your hand for the first time in three days, being away from you was hurting him a lot. The idea of never seeing you again pained him so he'd slipped Seokjin and Hoseok a sleeping pill each before leaving out of his balcony door and climbing down the drainpipe.

"It's fine, I'm glad you're back." You smiled walking towards your apartment building still holding onto Jungkook's hand as you walked together, he was casually swinging your arms back and forth.

"Are they scary horror films then?" He questioned as you unlocked the front door to the apartment building, you giggled at how nervous he sounded about it.

"No Kookie, they're just a little Gorey," You promised him though that if he got scared he could hold onto you through them,

"Can I hold onto you through them anyway?" He whispered as you reached your front door, your back was against the wooden door but you nodded while staring into his eyes.

"Y-Yes."

You phoned into work that night taking a sick day so you could continue your time with Jungkook, he faked a phone call to his work and came back to you.

"So which film is next?" He questioned sitting down next to you and wrapping his arm around your shoulders, over the day you'd grown more and more comfortable around one another, stealing kisses and glances whenever you could and now it was as if you'd known him forever.

"I'm going to get you into the lord of the rings movies, you're going to love them," He chuckled watching as you got excited over the idea of him loving a movie with you, he stared at the side of your face as you flicked through the channels with the remote in your hand.

"What?" You laughed feeling his hand brush the hair out of your face,

"I just wanted to see your beautiful face again." He laughed leaning across and kissing your cheek softly, you put the remote down after clicking play and turned to look at him.

"Do it again," You whispered turning your head so he would kiss your cheek but at the last second, you turned your head connecting your lips. The same sparks you'd felt the first time came rushing out of you, your heart began to pound as he kissed you lovingly. His hands moving to cup either side of your face as you struggled to get into a comfortable position on the sofa.

"Come here," He chuckled lifting you up and sitting you down onto his lap so he could kiss you better, you giggled bending down to connecting your lips once again, whining out when he ran his hands down your spine.

The makeout session began to grow in heat and he pulled off his shirt revealing his toned body, you bit down on your lip running your finger down his abs as he took off your shirt next as you went to hide your body he shook his head at you.

"You're gorgeous, don't hide from me." He gently kissed you again standing up, you screamed into the kiss wrapping your legs around his waist as he began walking towards the bedroom laying you down against the sheets.

"Are you sure you want this?" You questioned when you watched him slowly begin to undo your pants,

"I've never been so sure about something in my life, are you?" You nodded your head desperately not caring about how desperate you looked. Anyone would be a fool to resist Jungkook right now.

"Need you." You whispered pulling him down into a kiss while your hands massaged his already hard member through the fabric of his jeans, he let out a low grunt as you finally came into contact with him and you smirked hearing him. You couldn't wait to hear more.

Sinking to his knees in front of you he began to kiss up to your thigh, letting his fingers run between your folds as he teased you a little wanting to get you riled up before he'd even entered you.

"J-Jungkook," You begged for him to do something, anything except this constant teasing and he chuckled blowing air onto your clit and smirking as you wiggled under his breath.

"So cute when you're needy Y/n." He slowly pushed two of his fingers into you knuckles deep holding them in place so you could feel him just below your g-spot, you began rocking yourself on his fingers but he pinned your hips down to the bed.

"No baby, let me do the work." The nickname sent shivers down your spine, he hadn't called you anything except for your name yet and that nickname made you needier for him.

"Then do the work," You hissed at him, frantic for him to move his fingers in and out of you. Once he did your head rolled back against the mattress making you cry out his name feeling him spreading his fingers a little each time he thrust them into you, curling them whenever he heard you moan in a way he liked.

"So sensitive," He whispered kissing your clit slowly sending your brain into a fog,

"I wonder-" He cut himself off by licking stripes up and down your clit as he continued to thrust his fingers in and out of you, increasing your moans as if you were an instrument he was playing.

"F-Fuck!" You whimpered hands going out to either side of you on the bed and clutching onto the sheets around you, you clenched around his fingers as he began to suck on your clit, occasionally removing his fingers from your core and dipping his tongue into you.

"S-Shit! Jungkook please!" You begged for him to keep going, your eyes rolling back as you could feel your orgasm beginning to build the more he ate you out like that on the bed.

"You wanna cum Princess? You wanna cum on my fingers?" You nodded frantically and he chuckled returning his mouth to your over-sensitive clit and hummed on you edging you all the more.

"Cum." He ordered darkly continuing the rough movement of his fingers, your eyes screwed shut as you cried out his name loud enough for the neighbours to hear you coming down from your first high of the night.

As you went to sink down onto your knees he brought you back up, kissing you softly,

"No baby, if you suck me off I'll blow right here, j-just lay down okay?" You nodded at him and kissed him again, kissing down his jawline and sucking on the exposed skin and he groaned laying you down against the bed and lining himself up at your entrance.

"P-Please," You whimpered looking him in the eyes, he smiled taking your hand in his as he slowly eased himself into you groaning out at how tight you were around him. He stayed still for a moment, letting you both adjust to the new feeling, if he were to move now he wouldn't last long at all.

"S-Shit you're so fucking tight." He mumbled against your lips kissing you as he slowly began to move in and out of you,

"S-So big." You mumbled back to him making him chuckle as you wrapped your legs around his waist begging him to move faster which he gladly accepted, moving your left leg around his shoulder and angling himself deeper into you.

Heavy grunting and loud moaning filled the room as he pushed in and out of you at a ruthless pace looking into your eyes as you cried out his name,

"Don't stop!" You begged, holding onto his face as you kissed him roughly begging for him not to stop. He was filling you up in ways you'd never felt before and you didn't ever want it to finish,

"I won't baby I won't." He chuckled moving his hand down between you and rubbing your clit, you throbbed around his length making him groan as you got tighter around him. You were letting out loud whines and whimpers that were bringing him closer to his release, he'd imagined you like this beneath him all week, imagining the way you would sound when you called out his name and moaned it loudly for everyone to hear.

"Jungkook!" You ran your fingernails down his back as he pushed himself deeper into you, it was as if something took over him then. He began to get rougher with his hip movements, snapping into you relentlessly as he felt his high drawing closer to him.

"C-Close." You whimpered to him looking into his eyes,

"M-Me too," He added glad that you were close, he didn't want to be the guy to cum without making you cum first, he let out a shaky breath as he pushed you further onto the bed and put your leg around his waist again.

"F-Fuck...Squeeze me-ugh- like that again babe." He begged you as you wrapped your legs around him pulling him deeper into you, he groaned loudly feeling you do that whenever he thrust into you.

"Jungkook I-I can't hold it a-anymore." You whispered to him and he chuckled leaning down to kiss you, kissing from your lips up to your ears.

"Cum around me baby, cum all over me like a good girl." At the mention of you being a good girl you lost control, your hips bucked up and your legs shook as white took over your vision. Sending you over the edge as you cried out his name, a warmth spreading through you as you came around him.

"S-Shit! J-Jungkook I love you!" You cried out loudly hips bucking wildly as you felt him twitch inside of you pulling out and spilling onto your stomach with a few pumps of his hand,

"I love you too." He whispered looking into your eyes as you both laid there panting heavily to one another.

You screamed as the door to your bedroom was kicked open and guns were aimed at you, Jungkook wrapped his arms around you covering you with the sheets. You were panicked while he looked calm about all of this happening around him,

"Mother," You stared at Jungkook as he watched the Queen walking into your room, you knew she was the Queen because of the crown she had on her head and the way she carried herself as she walked into the room.

"M-Mother?!" Your voice cracked as you asked him that, your eyes danced around to each of the guards who were now putting their guns away and standing to attention. Two of them were the boys who had been outside the cafe the last night Jungkook had come to see you.

"At ease, Jimin and Tae stay, the rest of you out." She ordered and all of them left without questioning it, Jungkook was still holding you close to keep you clothed.

"Can you give us a moment?" He questioned looking from his mother to you, you hadn't spoken a word yet and you wouldn't meet his gaze, you just stared at the bed waiting for them to leave you both alone.

"You have five minutes."

When you both emerged from the bedroom the Queen was sitting on your sofa, Jungkook had tried talking to you but you couldn't reply back to him. You hadn't been able to think of a single thing to say to him yet,

"Would you like some tea?" You asked the Queen, bowing a little as she made eye contact with you.

"No thank you, I heard you make a nice hot chocolate but it is neither the time nor the place for that." She stated, looking at you up and down trying to determine if you were good for her son or not but she could already tell that you were, you stopped bowing and stared at the floor.

"I wanted to come and see who was making my son so happy, over the last week he's smiled a lot, it's the first time I've seen him like this since his father died so it's rather refreshing." You looked at Jungkook who was nervously staring at you already, he was trying to figure out if you were okay with everything happening around you.

"I didn't know he was a Prince, your highness-"

"That's okay, he should have told you." She raised herself from the sofa and walked closer to Jungkook.

"I expect to see you home tonight and at dinner, bring her along." She told him looking over at you and smiling brightly,

"We'll figure out a way around the arrangement, I'll speak to Yoongi and the council." She meant the Royal council that had been the ones to decide he needed to marry royalty before becoming King, seeing the way he was with you really made her change her mind on this. Deciding that he needed to be happy,

"I see that you would give it up for her...I'll see what I can do." He thanked her and bowed as she left your apartment.

"Prince Huh?" You asked nervously and he laughed softly at your reaction, he was nervous that now you knew the truth you would start to treat him differently but you seemed okay.

"Do I have to call you your highness now?" You whispered as you walked over to him wrapping your arms around the back of his neck, Taehyung and Jimin were still in the apartment with you watching your every move.

"Only in the bedroom," He winked bending down to kiss you but you groaned pushing him away and looking at his personal guards.

"Do you want hot chocolate?" Jungkook acted offended as you offered them the famous hot chocolate that he'd come to you for.

"That's my hot chocolate," He mumbled watching as you walked into your kitchen getting ready to make everyone a cup he was just thrilled your feelings towards him didn't change when you found out he was the Prince. 

Tagline: 

@writingdreamsnottragedies​ @snowy-meowl​ @jooniesdarlingdimples​ @lyoongx​ @mitzwinchester​ @fan-ati--c​ @callingmyangel​ @rjsmochii​ @kneel-begyourpardon​ @taestannie​

[anon-rebel-writes]

Heavy Rain, Warm Feelings

Hello everyone! This story is kind of different than what I tend to write, but I wanted to branch out and try something new!

I hope you all like it as much as I do! Being someone who tends to write fluff, I’m pretty happy with how this piece turned out :)

The story begins under the cut! Ao3 Link

In theory, being a superhero is amazing. You’re adored by citizens, get free gifts, and have amazing powers. Everyone who was graced with a Miraculous seemed to love the life it gave them. Every superhero seemed to have a great relationship with their hero personas.

For Chat Noir, it brought freedom and a new sense of life. Rena Rouge and Carapace saw the powers as a way to get out of their comfort zone. Ryuko and Viperion took pride in being asked to help save people.

But for Ladybug, being a superhero wasn’t always a good thing. While she got amazing powers, she also had a lot to deal with. Being the guardian took a lot of her time and gave her more stress than freedom. She often found herself in her suit rather than her normal clothes.

Her days lately seemed to consist of coming in late for school, having to deal with akuma attacks afterwards, immediately having to go back home to do any homework/commissions, then going on patrols (which may or may not be interrupted by a certain pigeon-themed akuma), and coming home late to take a short nap before having to repeat the cycle.

Some days, she was able to finish her work in class, or have time between commissions to hang out with her boyfriend, Luka. But lately those days seemed to be far apart. When she couldn’t see him, she would video call him while she worked on any assignments to talk about their days.

Marinette had confessed to Luka about her superheroine identity shortly after becoming the new guardian. He understood her responsibility and seemed okay with being on the sidelines from time to time, but guilt still ate at her everytime she had to see him through her phone. ‘This is fine. We can make this work,’ she told herself. Even if it wasn’t ideal, Marinette would take any time she had to spend it with him.

On one specific day, Ladybug found herself pulled thin. Chat and herself had to deal with a particularly hard akuma and it left them both exhausted. She could feel the bruises forming beneath the suit already. Her muscles were sore and aching as she swung herself home.

Her homework had started piling up and suddenly she found herself drowning in  commissions. After sending a quick text to Luka telling him that she couldn’t call today, she began on the pile of work sitting on her desk.

Getting lost in her assignments, Ladybug realized she was late to patrol. So after apologizing to Chat for leaving him alone, “I’m so sorry, Chat! Work had been piling up and I couldn’t call my boyfriend and I was really stressed out. But then I totally forgot the time and I’m such an awful partner! You must hate being paired with me!” And Chat being totally understanding because, “Sometimes life happens, Bug! Don’t worry about it! This cat could handle patrolling alone for a bit!” She eventually convinced him to let her patrol the rest of the city today alone in order to make it up to him.

But after a long day of fighting akumas and patrolling the city, all Ladybug wanted to do was rest in her bed and maybe call her boyfriend to tell him about this last akuma. ‘Who am I kidding, he’s definitely asleep and I would definitely be bothering him,’ she thought. A long, exhausted sigh left her as she swung on different roofs trying to head home. Unfortunately, that’s when she felt the first drop of water.

‘Great. Because I totally needed it to rain too.’

Her eyes scanned around for shelter as the rain quickly started to pick up. Seeing no other option, she landed in an alleyway. Ladybug felt her body sink to the ground as rain poured on top of her, seemingly pulling her down until her body was resting against the wall. She shut her eyes tightly and held her knees close to her chest. The sound of the rain got louder and her spirit grew dimmer. “Could today get any worse?”

“Ladybug?”

The superheroine’s eyes shot open as she looked at the opening of the alleyway. There was only one boy that voice could belong to. Luka stood next to his bike, his hoodie tight against his body, completely soaked from the rain. He quickly took off his helmet and ran to her side. “L-Luka? You’re wet!”

He kneeled down by her side and put the helmet on her head. “Me? You’re soaked. You should get out of here, I don’t want you to get sick.” Luka cupped her cheek and wiped under her eye. “Did something happen?”

Ladybug’s eyes glanced from him to the street connecting to the alleyway. “What? Luka, why were you out here?”

Something flashed across his face as his eyes widened. He removed his hand and turned his head away from her. “Sorry. You just- My girlfriend was busy so I took a stroll. Guess I forgot the time, huh?”

She narrowed her eyes at him, seemingly confused. “Your girlfriend?” He met her eyes again. His pink lips turned into a smile and he adjusted the helmet once more. “I’m sure you don’t need a- random - civilian to take care of you.”

Ladybug’s eyes began to scan over him. Luka’s clothes were soaked and pulled tightly against his skin. She glanced over his face and saw how even as he tried to play coy, his eyes still showered her with love. His soft smile made her stomach dance. His hair had some wet strands stuck to his forehead. Unconsciously, she swiped the wet strands across his forehead and placed them behind his ear.

His eyebrows rose and his love-sick smile turned sly.

“Come on, you should go home. I heard ladybugs aren’t huge fans of water.” His smirk wasn’t hard to miss. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the comment. “Oh and you are a fan of water?”

He looked over her shoulder and reached a hand out to play with one of her pigtails. “You’re asking me, Luka Couffaine, the guy who literally lives on a boat, if I am a fan of water.” His sly expression grew in size and Ladybug couldn’t help but laugh.

“Right! I forget that I’m dating a pirate’s son,” she replied with a smirk of her own. But her smirk quickly disappeared as she realized what she said. “I- I mean! Not dating! I’m not dating you! You- random citizen!” She tried to quickly move away from him, which resulted in her getting more wet. His hand moved away from her as she began swatting his arm.

“I mean- You live on the water! And you are a boy- friend! I mean friend! Not boyfriend! You are a boy! And also my friend! NOT FRIEND! I am NOT friends with a random citizen!”

Luka let out a peaceful sigh as he leaned in to kiss her check. Ladybug’s typical ‘Marinette Freakout’ stopped as her mouth fell open. All previous thoughts left her as her cheek grew warm despite the cold air blowing on their wet bodies.

“Wow,” she whispered. His smirk returned as he held out his hand. “Wow indeed, Lovebug. Do you think you could detransform so I can take my girlfriend home? I think she needs a bit of relaxation tonight.”

Grabbing hold of his hand and getting pulled up, Ladybug quickly muttered her detransformation words and suddenly she remembered what feeling ‘wet’ was like. “Ah!” Her clothes were suddenly increasing in weight and sticking to her uncomfortably. “Maybe I should’ve just swung us out of here?! It would’ve been faster!” He let his head fall back as rain continued to pour over his smiling face. “Nah, then my bike would’ve been left here. Besides, I think Marinette needs to just be Marinette for a while.”

Her face scrunched up in a pout. “I don’t think being Ladybug for five minutes would’ve changed anything.” She quickly rubbed her arms in order to gain any warmth. Luka looked back at her and quickly pulled her to his bike.

A hardy laugh left him and filled the space around them. Suddenly, the wet feeling didn’t matter. They jumped on the bike and sped away, laughing together as the rain continued to bear down on them. Being a superhero may have its perks, but as the young couple rode off, Marinette realized that she might love everything that came with being a civilian more.

[whitherliliesbloom]

weaving the present, illuminating the future

[ ffxivwrite2021 ] ★ [ masterlist ] ★ [ prompt #30 - abstracted ]

[ illya & friends ] ★ [ 2,849 words ]  ★ [ streamers au ]

modern / streamers / online celebrities au where the spud squad are all popular streamers who frequently collab together. centers around illya and kaye mainly, but briefly mentions a bunch of other friends and illyanaud.

abstracted- withdrawn in mind, inattentive to one's surroundings

the spud squad announce their indefinite hiatus right after releasing their one year anniversary single, and illya cannot help but to feel just a tad bit melancholic.

Illya hasn’t bothered checking her notifications, or looked at either her computer screen or mobile phone, really. The sounds of ping after ping on linkcord, text after text and the flood of new tweets mentioning the one tag she followed on twitter easily made her overwhelmed - and so she’d opted to switch her devices off entirely before burying herself under the covers for the evening, trying desperately to distract herself with a copy of a manhwa that she’d borrowed from Laurelis. 

But it was futile, her head is empty and heavy, yet swirling with a myriad of many emotions all at the same time. And after feebly reading and re-reading the same page over and over only to realize she hadn’t been paying attention to the contents of the book at all, she closed the manhwa shut with a heavy sigh before closing her eyes, praying to the heavens that exhaustion would lull her quickly to sleep.

Outsiders would merely assumed she was simply nervous from the release of their newest single, Ultramarine Hymn, a collaboration between the members of their massively popular streamer group made in celebration for their one year anniversary. They’d prepared for months, working together with a widely renowned music composer and even performing live on stage with a set of professional make up artists, producers and videographers to film their first ever music video.

For everyone barring Mint, it’d been their first time ever singing and dancing for a large audience online. While the experience had been undoubtedly fun, it was still their first real exposure doing anything of such professionalism and scale- and so her flat mate Kaye wasn’t surprised at all to find her shaking like a leaf as she sat next to him on the couch just several minutes prior to the premier of the video.

While the premier of their first music video was indeed a good half of the reason why Illya felt so out of sorts and nervous for the rest of the night up until sunrise, the true reason for the melancholy she bore in her heart came from the announcement that was posted right after the release of the music video, and it’d kept her awake for a good portion of the late night until she mercifully fell asleep, clutching the lavender purple ribbon she’d worn in the music video tightly in her hands.

The spud squad was going to go on an indefinite hiatus shortly after the release of Ultramarine Hymn - a result of an eight months long business trip Kaye had been assigned on as a professional programmer. Streaming and being something of an internet celebrity was never the man’s main source of income, so it’d be unwise of him to turn down the golden opportunity to further his career in favor of staying behind to continue streaming. 

Naturally, Lily was going to move overseas with him as well - and while she has made it clear to her audience that she will continue streaming whenever she could afford the free time to, the radically different time zones between Eorzea and Doma meant it’d be difficult to participate in anymore spud squad activities - at least until she and Kaye would return.

Mint too, announced that she’d been preoccupied with practicing for auditions into several professional idol management companies... and while Illya herself isn’t as busy as the other three, juggling between helping with business at her mother’s florist, studying for an entrance exam into a medical school and streaming on top of that has become quite a hectic endeavor. 

Thus with much reluctance, the six of them came to a consensus and decided to announce their indefinite hiatus, a news that they’d hoped would sit well with their impressively large audience of fans if it came with the release of a music video to remember them by.

Illya knew that it was a necessary change of process - that new doors are being opened for each of them and it was only right for them to seize the opportunity to chase their dreams. Deep inside, Illya truly did feel overjoyed for her friends, loved them all with of her heart so much that the hiatus was but a small fraction of the cost to pay in exchange for their happiness.

But that didn’t mean there wasn’t a hint of melancholy and bitter sweetness within that earnest joy and cause for celebration. None of the six of them knew when they’d next be able to work on something like this again, or if they’d even find the time in the future to work together again at all. It was perhaps because of their shared understanding - that unspoken sadness between all of them that they’d agreed to prepare something special to celebrate one year of their collaboration - a song that spoke of hope and a brighter future. 

‘The more you give up, the more regrets await you.’

By the time the sun rose, accompanied by the shining of morning light through her pastel pink curtains and the melodic chirping of birds nesting upon the wisteria tree just outside her window, her phone has been assaulted with a mountain of unchecked notifications that she dreaded to sort through. 

The girl knew she couldn’t possibly keep her phone locked and switched off forever, and so she’d booted it up after washing up in the shared bathroom, before walking out of her bedroom, staring down at her screen with a light frown.

The smell of fried bacon wafts through the apartment. The sound of sizzling oil intermingles with Hazel’s cheery singing, and Illya takes the time to open the latch of her enclosure, allowing the little sparrow to flutter about the living room until it settled peacefully next to the potted sunflowers that sat upon the window sills of the kitchen, watching the raven haired man flipping eggs effortlessly with a flick of the frypan. 

“Good morning, Kaye. Thank you for making breakfast, again.” Greeting with an ever bright smile, Illya sits herself down at her designated seat at the dining table upon a bright floral cushion, watching as the man turns his head back for a moment before returning his attention to the stove. 

“It’s Sunday, so it’s my turn. You don’t gotta thank me.” He walks over to the dining table to dump the steaming hot sunny side ups and crispy bacon onto their plates, cups of orange juice already poured and waiting, which Illya takes into her hand to take a quick sip out of.

“You checked eorzeatube and twitter yet?” The young man asks as he sets the frypan down, gesturing towards the phone in her hands.

“N-no... Is it urgent?”

“Not really, no.” Kaye raises an eyebrow, sitting himself down and jabbing a fork into his bacon. “But aren’t you curious about how the music video did?”

“I-I am... A little, I suppose... but-” 

Her stammer gives her away her listlessness, and Kaye shoots the girl a furrowed scowl and a frown. 

“Is somethin’ botherin’ you?” The man asks, and Illya’s lips curl upwards into a wide, deceptively warm smile.

“Just nervous is all.. What if the fans didn’t like it?” it wasn’t a complete lie, though not the total truth, but Illya was always exceptionally talented at hiding her negative emotions, and Kaye seems to buy it enough to slump back against the back rest of his chair and toss the bacon into his awaiting mouth, chewing quietly and swallowing before speaking.

“You won’t know till you see for yourself.” 

It’s an unfortunate reality that he’s right, and Illya finally gives in and taps onto the icon for the twitter app, waiting for the timeline feed to load before her star spangled violet eyes widen in complete disbelief.

99+ notifications, an equally unbearable amount of private messages in her inbox as well as the first tweet literally being about the music video - Moth’ir’s retweet of their short promotional video from their official spud squad twitter account, which has garnered over 40 thousand likes and 10 thousand retweets.

#spudsquad and #ultramarinehymn are trending, and Illya gives in to her curiosity enough to tap on the tags and scroll through the tweets.

cosplaycon2022 hype!!! @/oracleoflight  • 18h  my good friend illya and her friends #spudsquad just released #ultramarine hymn and it’s so so so good!!! please give it a watch!! 

EEEEEEEEEE @/driftinintiawind  • 18h @/academician you didn’t tell me your gf was an idol bro???? GOOD SHIT #ultramarinehymn

 pink is JUSTICE @/rosepinkcutie  • 17h OHHHHH I’m goihng to cwyg #ultramarinehymn made me cryuy. iT’S SO GOOD...... #spudsquad i LOVE YOU

Alphinaud @/academician  • 17h Do give your support to #spudsquad ‘s new music video, #ultramarinehymn ! They’ve worked very hard on it!

soliriii @/windupsunshine  • 17h thank you #spudsquad for all the joy you’ve given me for the past year!! what a way to celebrate <3 #ultramarinehymn

hien’s booty @/floortank   • 16h  HEY #ultramarinehymn IS SO LIT THOUGH????? WTF

thancredwaters @/gunbrkrs  • 16h #spudsquad Good job my daughter hasn’t stopped playing this song on repeat for the past 2 hours. 

Nyx @/underthebloodmoon  • 15h Sharing a good friend’s music video here. #ultramarinehymn #spudsquad

Nidhstinien @/azuredragoon  • 15h [youtube link] #ultramarinehymn nice

vergotohelldad @/reveilleur  • 14h only 4 hours after release and #ultramarinehymn is already trending. twitter has some fucking good tastes in music thank the twelve.

Lamittens! @/lalamitt  • 14h Oh to be spud squad long time fan :pleading: I’m so fed... #ultramarinehymn #spudsquad

nhelly @/blackestmage  • 13h I turn around and #spudsquad decided to drop an absolute banger. loving #ultramarinehymn !!

Aymeric de Borel @/officialborel  • 13h A wonderful song that elicits a sense of optimism and hope. #ultramarinehymn

kafuuchi @/cloudsysmile  • 13h hey is it just me or is kaye getting hotter :blush: still a kayelily simp tho!! #ultramarinehymn

KoKomi Komi @/sangopriestess   • 12h @/starblossoms Congratulations on the new MV!! It’s very catchy! #ultramarinehymn

The scroll is endless, timeline filled with a mixture of both familiar and unfamiliar twitter handles, yet all collectively singing praises and awe for the music video and the song. It’s hard to not be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of positive reception their hard work and efforts have received, and Illya tears her eyes away from the screen to look up at Kaye with a twinkle in her wide violet eyes, and the man looks back at her expectedly. 

“I-It...It seems to be very well received.”

“’Seems to be’? The video’s got over five hundred thousand views on eorzeatube from the past 18 hours.”

Illya almost chokes on her eggs, eyes blown wide as she swallows her food abruptly and her voice raises into a high, bewildered squeak.

“F-f-five... hundred thousand???” 

By the twelve, that’s far more than even their highest recorded number of viewers on their biggest stream - and it’s been less than a day since the release of the music video. She cannot imagine just how ecstatic Mint must be at having such a successful idol-esque debut. 

“Does that ease your worries now?” Kaye asks, snapping the girl out of her train of thoughts once more, and he is met with a smile and an affirmative nod in response. 

“It does... thank you, Kaye.” 

Knowing that weeks of preparation, practice and hard work has paid off and finally bore fruit was the biggest relief Illya’s experienced in a while, and the simple knowledge that the sentiment of their song got through to a good number of the fans warmed her heart.

But in the midst of the joy, there was yet an underlying somberness lingering in the air between the pair that was not lost to either of them, as silence quickly fills the atmosphere and quickly turns the space around them cold. 

Scrolling through the top tweets didn’t exactly help either - because while it had quickly eased Illya’s worries of the music video being negatively received, in between praises for the song came the posts of fans who were dejected by the hiatus announcement.

Most of them had been supportive, of course... Their audience has ever been so welcoming, understanding and wonderful to them. But that perhaps made the disappointment they felt even worse on Illya’s melancholy, as she once again quickly slips back into the depths of her own internal mind. 

Because as well received as the music video they’d released is, it still ends with them going their separate ways, and it fills Illya with a sense of already festering loneliness that she refuses to admit verbally to.

She never did like goodbyes. 

‘The time that flows in the blink of an eye. The fear of continuing to be as we are.’

Neither Kaye nor Illya particularly enjoyed talking about their troubles, not even to each other, and so while Kaye could make an educated guess on why Illya seemed so despondent, he makes no comment on it. He was never the best at comforting others anyway.

He lets the silence fester between them even after Illya sets her phone down to focus on her plate full of breakfast, fishing his own device out of his pants pocket and begins to type away at it. 

It isn’t until after a whole ten minutes has passed that he’d finally look up from the screen, expression unreadable yet his voice sounding a modicum more relaxed than it had been a while ago as he calls out to Illya as she was drinking the last of her orange juice. 

“Hey, you’re free tonight, right?” The raven haired man asks, and Illya sets her glass down with a quirk of her eyebrow, if there was even a hint of sorrow in her, she didn’t allow him to hear it.

“Um... I am. Why?”

A smile from Kaye is a rarity, let alone one that carries such gentleness and ease... but the one he’s wearing now is so warm that it blows away the storm clouds that she hadn’t even noticed hanging over her head. 

“Then, are you cool to do an Among us stream tonight? With the other four, of course.”

Sparkling lavender eyes widen, and Illya is silent for a brief moment before stuttering out in response.

“A-aren’t you going over to Lily’s place to help her pack though?? And... the others.. aren’t they-”

“I’ll only be there for the afternoon. We’re only gonna be flying next week so there’s no rush. As for the others, I already asked. You can even invite Alphinaud if you want, the more the merrier.”

“But didn’t we just announce that we’re going on hiatus? I don’t want to trouble the others if they’re too busy either-”

Her pink lips slightly part, voice timid and soft. Hesitation and uncertainty briefly flashing through her twinkling eyes as she averts her gaze from the man and hides them under the shadows of her pure white bangs. But it does little to keep the light red burn of her cheeks and the bridge of her nose from Kaye, who only rolls his eyes at her in response.

“Gods, stop being so nice. I said I already asked and they’re down for it.... well, mostly. Ichi said he wanted to sleep but I’ll drag him outta his bed if I have to. We may be on hiatus, but it’s not like we’re gonna stop hanging out together, right?”

Though Kaye’s tone is rough and his words are painfully honest, his tongue as sharp as the gaze of his midnight blue eyes, Illya knew there was kindness laced beneath his huff, and the tension in her body slowly begins to fade, making way for a brighter, far more honest and radiant smile that washed away the chill of the air like a spring breeze.

He’s right, as he often is. 

Even if they may go their separate ways in the future, they will still always remain connected as friends, holding the memories they made together close in their hearts. 

Her phone’s buzzing with notifications again, and she takes a peek down at the lit up screen, her heart warming at the equally excited messages from her beloved friends. From Mint who is spamming :mikurave: emotes, to Lily who was telling Ichi that no, a schedule with his bed isn’t a valid excuse and Nanami who was offering to set up the stream for the night... Things are all as it should be, right here and now where they are together - where they are home. 

“If everyone’s fine with it then... I’ll join too. Don’t raid Ichi’s flat, though!” 

Illya lets out a giggle that rings out like windchimes in a cool summer breeze, and Kaye clicks his tongue with a shrug of his shoulder.

“He gave me his keys for this exact reason, he doesn’t mind. How do you think he always makes it in time for our streams? All I need to wake him up is a fork and porcelain plate and-”

“Kaye! That’s... that’s so mean-”

‘I'll hug you with equal parts expectation and anxiety. You and I, weaving the present, illuminating the future.’

[joyfulhopelox]

"Right now i don’t know if i want to kiss you or shove you off this building" End

A/N: welp i delayed it as much as possible because life happened and i had no time to do this, but i have managed to finish it whilst procrastinating at work (i advise against that to be honest), part 2 (or the end of this library saga) was meant to be out earlier :( i am pretty sure i wrote most of this high on sleep deprivation but i still hope it is enjoyable to read <3

Picture not mine but i cannot find the owner to credit ><

Part 1 | Part 2(end)

genre: fluff (x100) a tiny bit of angst if you use a binocular, University! au/ College!au

Copyrights @joyfulhopelox do NOT repost

Pairing: J-Hope x reader (College!AU/ University!AU can also call it idiots2lovers au?)

Word count: 4.3k words

Warnings: there one bad word towards the end, if you find libraries to give you a panic attack (i know i did when i was in the midst of exams) be warned and i’m still bad at writing fluff but here we go

-

“I’m Y/N by the way” you looked up in time to see him smile.

“I know”

Ever since that night, you and Hoseok have developed a pattern, you would meet in that spot at odd times in the night and work quietly.

That pattern went on for the last few weeks of your exam period, day after day, or should you say night after night you would rush to the library, albeit telling yourself it was not for the sake of the handsome man with sunshine in his smile and stars in his eyes.

You had to study, and the space that he had revealed to you was convenient and quiet, tucked away from the rest of the prying eyes. Just you and him on that windowsill under the night time sky. As much as you wanted to berate yourself for becoming so mushy, you knew that from the moment he grabbed your hand and took you to that spot trying to carry a conversation with you but immediately going quiet under your glare that your heart had given in. Bit by bit, even if sitting in silence quietly doing your own work your heart had warmed up under his blinding smile. The warmth of his eyes as they would catch your wandering ones did nothing but make your breath catch in your throat and your heart beat at a thousand miles per hour.

You knew you had it bad.

How could you not? After the first few minutes of him having taken you to that spot your annoyance had disappeared into the night below you, leaving room for the feelings of companionship and comfort that Hoseok’s presence brought with him. A week later, as you had started sharing information between the two of you, hushed and secretive as if anyone would be able to hear it, those feelings were replaced by something warmer and softer than companionship and comfort, something akin to safety and friendship. Now as the calendar marks the monthly mark of having met him you realise as you stare at the empty space near the window that it has bloomed into a full fledged....crush.

With feelings of panic raging inside of you, unsure whether they sparked because of your discovery or because the man in question was missing from his usual spot again. The first time even though you had felt the small stab of disappointment you did not think much of it. After all he was not tied to being there every night, maybe he had places to be, other people to spend time with. For a second you allowed a slither of jealousy to pass through your heart thinking that someone else was getting that warm smile for the night, and in the next second you told yourself you are stupid and shrugged it off. That feeling of jealousy never returned, instead it was morphing more and more into worry. The second night he did not appear you wracked your brain for any information that he may have given you that you may have missed about him not being able to come anymore but you could not find anything. In fact, you could not even recall if he has told you what he does outside of your impromptu study sessions. Worry starts gnawing at your stomach after the third and fourth day that he doesn’t come. Even worse is the desperation that takes over when you not only realise you knew very little about Hoseok, but you did not even have a way of contacting him. Briefly chatting about likes, dislikes, dreams and wishes is nothing tangible, nothing that could give you any information on how you could reach out to him and check he is alright.

The fifth and sixth night you start giving up and assume that he has finished his exams and he does not need to study anymore. With a heavy heart you tell yourself he did not owe you anything, he more than made up for stealing your seat that one time. The time you two spent together in silence studying or the times you would secretly bring your heads closer together so that you could whisper random things and share jokes with one another in the silence of the night.

This created an intimacy which you couldn’t lie to yourself, it made you feel fuzzy inside. That elatedness of being so close to this person however, once they had removed themselves from you switched to an empty feeling as if you’ve lost something that you held dear. And maybe you did hold him dear. No, you definitely did.

But he did not arrive, by day seven you had steeled yourself against the tumultuous feelings inside your chest. He was not coming and your exams were not going to pass themselves. The seat by the window did not seem as magical or appealing anymore and thus you also removed yourself from it. Being the end of exam period, multiple departments had already finished theirs and so you found copious amounts of spaces that you did not hesitate to occupy. Trying to get your mind off of the now lonely seat by the window upstairs you threw yourself into your work but once in a while you could not stop yourself from wondering if he ever came back to check whether you were still there or not.

And so, another week has passed and with that it added to another two weeks you had not seen Jung Hoseok. But that was ok.

Until that one fateful day where you had finished your exams and were preparing to finish writing your last assignment which was due in the late afternoon. It was not a night time study session but instead a daytime one. Today would also be the last day you set foot inside the library for the foreseeable future. After today you would have another few days until your break and you had been planning to head home to visit friends and family. Next term you would switch accommodation as well on a different campus which housed its own library. So all in all, today marked the last day of you being in this library for the next year. It also marked the last day you may possibly ever have the chance to see Hoseok again. That thought made you pause in your step and your heart clench for a second. That just did not seem right. It doesn’t matter, you told yourself and kept walking towards the back of the second floor.

Just as you’d finished that thought, as if life had been trying to prove to you that it did matter, or maybe it had been your heart that had conjured him in front of you, there stood Hoseok. Talking with another guy with similar striking features, and yet the total opposite. Whereas Hoseok had dark hair and sharp features this guy had ash blonde hair, was a bit shorter and had a soft look about him. And yet he seemed broodier than Hoseok who seemed to be smiling and laughing at something. You wanted to be angry, and you were, but seeing him smiling so freely released the fist that seemed to have been holding your lungs and it felt like you could breathe easier. He was fine at least, nothing’s happened to him. That did not mean that you would acknowledge his presence. After all, he’s decided that your friendship and companionship was not something he was interested in anymore so you would not force it on him. Steeling your nerves for when you would pass by him, you tried to keep your gaze ahead of you as much as you could, but luck would not have it and his friend’s chuckle made you pause in your step and your brain to react. And so your eyes turned involuntarily towards the two.

You knew that when you had asked him to sit with you on the first day that you had met, you would either make the best decision of your life or the worst. As soon as your eyes locked onto his widened ones, you had decided- it had been the worst mistake of your life.

The clench in your chest is a reminder of the feelings you developed for this person. With his cheerful personality a great contrast of the seriousness with which he treated heavy issues and listened to your problems, it did not take long for your heart to warm up to him.

Eyes locked onto each other it felt like an eternity when in reality it had just been a couple of seconds, before you got pulled out of your thoughts by Hoseok’s friend calling for his attention. Quickly looking away from him as to not rouse suspicion in your own group of friends you missed the furrowed brows and pained look he gave you before his smile took over as he turned towards his companion.

“Is everything ok?” you heard his friend ask. You wish you had not been as close to them as you had been, you had no intention of hearing Hoseok’s reply, but it rang loud and clear in your head.

“Yeah, i just remembered something important.”

That had been a couple of hours ago, and yet his words still rang in your head. You could not understand what he had meant by that. Did he mean you? Did he suddenly remember something else and he did not recognise you? As impossible as you knew that to be, your confused heart kept yelling that the latter was the case. Sighing for the hundredth time you tried to pull your attention back to the last piece of work that kept you away from freedom but it proved to be impossible.

‘I am going to look for a book’ you told your friend who shooed you away, if only for her own piece of mind and quietness. You had been sighing so loudly that you had annoyed everyone around you.

Walking through the shelves perusing for a book- any book, reminded you of that night from weeks ago. Right now that night seemed quite distant and the elated feeling you used to get whilst browsing the shelves was no longer there anymore. Now you were lost in thought, your eyes not focusing on anything really. Randomly grabbing a book without even glancing at the title you prepared to move along and return back to your friends.

You were so lost in thought you almost missed the low whisper of someone calling your name. Your daze now broken and assuming it was one of your friends who’d decided you had been missing for too long, you turned around. Only to discover that it had not been one of your friends- well he was, but you did not know if you had the right to call him that anymore. Most importantly you did not know whether or not your heart had the courage to call him that anymore. Wishing you’d ignored him but now being too late you hummed in acknowledgement praying that you sounded disinterested instead of hurt.

“Hey” he whispered.

“Hello”

After the awkward greeting he did not carry on talking to you and you made no move to carry on with pleasantries. Instead he stood on the spot, his ebony eyes scanning your defensive form. You tried to reciprocate his stare if only to make up for the fact that your shoulders involuntarily hunched and your chin started to slightly quiver. You thought you could act in a civil manner and yet, your body language was saying something completely different. Unable to hold his inquisitive gaze any longer you lower your head and sigh. You were not in the mood to try to chat to someone who clearly has no interest in your person, and pretending would only cause more harm. And yet, when a low indiscernible sound made its way out of his mouth, your eyes snapped back onto him as quickly as they could, hoping and praying that this was it. He would finally say something to you.

He smiled at you uncertainly. ‘Here we are again’ he cleared his throat. You did not know if it was the tone of his voice which read nothing or if it was the way he kept gazing at you. Gentle and sympathetic, as if you would break if anything short of a breeze would touch you. Maybe you would break, if the anger that took over your system was any indication of your haphazard feelings. Looking at Hoseok incredulously you tried to reign your anger in.

“What?”

“You- uhm you stole my book” he motioned to the book you had been carelessly swinging around in an attempt to protect yourself from any attempt of his approaching you. His change in attitude and uncertain tone almost made you miss the reference he was trying to make.

Instead of coming back with a witty reply, as he’d been expecting, your brain frazzled. You did the only thing you could do in this situation. You sputtered an i’m sorry and immediately handed the book to him preparing to leave his immediate vicinity.

Sensing your hesitancy and seeing your distraught face made his heart drop. Had he done something wrong? As hurt as he was for you ignoring him, he cared so he worried about you more than he did about his feelings.

“Hey, you ok?” he inquired and your body froze on the spot. You could have very easily chosen to ignore him and his question, keep walking, out of the library, out of his life. And yet, something stopped you. You needed an explanation, it was killing you on the inside. You would have tried to carry on without thinking about him for months before you’d manage to go back to some semblance of normalcy. But why waste those months wallowing in what ifs. Why not hear it straight from him.

“Where were you?” not one for pleasantries still you turned around and grimaced at his confused expression.

“What do you mean where was i? I told you where i would be” he responded, his brows furrowing. “No you didn’t” you insisted crossing your arms in front of you as if in an attempt to cover your weakness. “I haven’t got a clue what you are talking about, i haven’t seen you here in weeks” trying to tone down the desperation in your voice you blurted out the first words that came to mind, only to regret that decision a moment later.

“That is because i have not been in here in weeks” he had the nerve to look sheepish.

“And you have the nerve to tell me i would know where you were?” he opened his mouth to reply but you carried on, not trusting yourself to be able to get your thoughts and feelings out in the open at a later date. “ I waited to talk to you, i wanted to talk to you….no, i needed to talk to you. And because of that my past few weeks of exams have been spent thinking about whether or not i should go look for you or if i should just give up and leave a….”

Note!

Realisation dawned on you, he had tried to reach out to you. In the only way he could, considering that you had not shared any personal contacts with each other. He had left a note, just as you have done. And just as before, the note had probably fallen down in a place where you had completely missed it. Not responding to him, you grabbed his hand trying to ignore the feeling of coming home that it gave you and headed for the lifts. Pushing the button towards your tower you shushed him as soon as he tried to say your name.

“Where exactly are we going?” you would have laughed at the repetitiveness of the situation if not for the slight anger at your own stupidity and embarrassment at the fact that you had not let go of his hand and you did not intend to. It seemed like neither was he.

Reaching the tower, you headed straight for the window you had called yours and Hoseok’s up until a few months ago. Coming to an abrupt stop, causing Hoseok to bump into your back you turned around and finally addressed him. “We’re both idiots” you chuckled to yourself.

He observed you for a few seconds, his dark eyes taking in every little detail of your features as if committing them to memory before finally coming to settle onto your own eyes. Staring at each other you couldn’t take his gaze anymore so you turned around, figuring that you may just as well look for the note that had been left for you to miss apparently.

Scouring the area and only turning around once you found the crumpled piece of paper in between the foot of the desk you had been using and the wall. “What are you doing?” he tried again taking steps closer to you until he was a step away from bumping into your form. Looking around he motioned behind him, “I thought you said you’d never come back here” then he looked back at you pleadingly, “or talk to me again” he whispered the last part as if it was the biggest of his fears. And maybe it was, for you it definitely was. You did not need to tell him you’d made a huge mistake in anger when you’d said that.

Waving the note around you smiled at him. “We’re idiots” you motioned to the note and finally opened it. As your eyes skimmed through you could feel the smile slipping off your face and the sting of the gathering tears. “Idiot” you whispered to yourself.

“Ah” he was so close to you now, if you tried hard enough you could feel the heat emanating from him. As he talked, his breath fanned the hair that had fallen onto your face. He was close enough that you were sure he could hear the pumping of your heart, your breath hitched. Not daring to look at him, you stared at the note, your hands starting to tremble.

‘Dear Y/N,

I have tried my best to write the best confession I could, but i am afraid i am not able to express myself in the ways i wish i could. These past few weeks have been a struggle for me to not blurt out something that could have prematurely ended what friendship we have formed over a stolen study space. I do not have the courage to say this to your face so i will write it down here in hopes that by the time i meet you again the embarrassment would have passed.

I told you i cannot express myself properly, as i am writing this my hands are sweating and my mind is in chaos. I find it very difficult to not act like an idiot when i think about you, let alone when i see you or speak to you. To be able to convey my feelings in person seems impossible so here i go….

I like you. I like you a lot.

There it is, but please give it a few days. I will stop coming here for now so that i can gather myself for your response and lets meet again in the cafe next to the library in 3 days.

Yours,

Jung Hoseok’

“So you did not find it in the end” he mused not moving away from you. “ That is understandable considering that we seem to have been in this situation before” he softly chuckled. You would have stopped to consider how lovely that sound was if not for the fact that you were still frozen on the spot, your brain calculating how long it’s been since that note had been left there. A sense of excitement then washed over you. He liked you! He shared your feelings. But that was to be washed soon by the sense of dread, it’s been weeks. And you had not fulfilled his request of meeting him, has everything changed now? Would things be different? Would he resent you for not meeting him there in the first place?

“Hey- look at me” he softly tried to coax you, noticing the slow trickle of tears running down your face. Refusing to do so, you shook your head trying to get yourself together. You would face this with your head up, not crying and taking responsibility for missing his note.

“Look at me, please” a gentle finger lifted your head up by the chin. Your stubbornness prevailed, your refusal to look at him still strong. You closed your eyes tightly, willing your tears to subside. A soft touch underneath your eyelids made you gasp softly, the warmth of his fingertips trailing over the tracks your tears have made. The fleeting touch coaxed your eyes to finally open, your blurry vision taking in the affectionate look on his face.

“There you go” he smiled fondly, never in a million years had he thought he’d get the chance to be so close to you in such an intimate manner. The late nights you had shared together, whereas you were sitting closely together you were always divided by a desk. He tried his hardest throughout that period of time to not blurt out his feelings for you, if only to not make it awkward. Unfortunately, as nights went by and you two got closer and closer together, it became too much for him. He knew he had to say something before he imploded and blurted out how cute you looked when you were struggling to not bite the end of your pen in concentration. He tried to be brave and do it in person for a couple of nights in a row, only to chicken out every time you would share a smile with him or laugh at one of his jokes. So he decided he’s not going to tell you in person, he is going to write you a letter and leave it on the desk, in the memory of the first time you’d met.

He should have known though, the first time you’d met was because of a note disappearance disaster. And whereas that had worked in his favour, this time it had not. He’d written- if you could call that blurb writing, the note and waited for a couple of days to prepare himself for your response. He knew it would not be a positive one. And when he ended up waiting in the cafe the whole day with no word from you, he became even more uncertain. Sadness came first, then panic. Not once had he considered that maybe, maybe you haven't seen the note. Really stupid of him.

He could not go back to the library after your refusal to meet him in the cafe, or what he thought was your refusal. That decision seemed to further the misunderstandings between the two of you. You thought he was avoiding you and he thought you did not want to see him at all after finding out about his feelings. Right now though, staring at your tear ridden face he knew your answer, there was no doubt about it.

Laughing in relief he cupped your face. “We have indeed both been idiots, should have known history would repeat itself”

You knew it was now or never. “Is it too late?” Your meek voice reached his ears and he tried his best not to laugh and present you with the most serious face he could muster. Whilst still cupping your face he rubbed the remnant tears that were threatening to leave salt marks on your cheek. Your focus now solely on him and on his expression, you gulped. He was going to say…

“Yes” you closed your eyes again, suddenly feeling a cold shiver gripping your whole body. You had feared that would be the answer, but hearing it from his mouth whilst his eyes were giving nothing away but a mirror of your own pained eyes. You told yourself you would be brave and take the responsibility. But being faced with the decision of having to let him go for good you could not stand it. “I’m sorry” you whispered, lowering your head in shame. “Is there nothing I can do?”

A last desperate attempt but you had to try.

Feeling him move a step away from you, your heart clenched in panic.

“Yes, we lost too much time. You could give me an answer now?” He tried, this time confident in your response.

A myriad of feelings cursing through you at the same time. Shock, relief, happiness; and all from his words. “Idiot, right now I don’t know if I want to kiss you or shove you of this building” you gave out a short laugh.

Hoseok was slowly closing the distance between the two of you once again. A shit eating grin plastered all over his face he cupped your face once again and lowered his head to yours until all you could see were his soft lips and all you could feel was his warm breath on your face. Slowly descending onto yours, lips finally meeting in a brief kiss only making you crave more. But as you went to respond he pulled away, the grin still present.

“How about I make that decision for you?”

You laughed and grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket pulling him to you once again this time in a longer kiss.

A/N: I am not going to lie i think i struggled at the end but thank you for reading this if you have reached this point :) when work stops killing me i will try to post the moodboard i created for this and for future fics that i will be writing, i'm treating my journal as my moodboard for writing inspo instead of actual journalling and i find it more fun and enjoyable that way

Main Masterlist

[clair-void-ance]

Lucky Love (2/3)

Pairing: Cedric the Sorcerer x Alchemist! Reader

Word Count: Roughly 2854 words

Warnings: Mental health and emotional abuse mention

Notes: 😳😳 Yikes, this took too long to post lmaoo; hopefully the third installment is finished sooner than this one. I’m sorry to anyone who has been interested in this for its lateness!! For this one I was going for the same story line as the first part, but in Cedric’s point of view; that’s why it seems so similar. Hopefully you guys like it :) Feedback and requests are always welcomed <3 This one’s for my boi @queen-of-british-tea !!!

“The secrets of alchemy exist to transform mortals from a state of suffering and ignorance to a state of enlightenment and bliss.”

― Deepak Chopra

“He wishes he were a skilled poet, it would fit his chosen image perfectly; the poor, tragic, tortured artiste. But he has no talent for words, neither for paints nor music; his uselessness is tremendously total.”

― Curtis Ackie

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Being born the son of Goodwyn the Great, Cedric was destined to have unreachable expectations pushed onto him; his father’s blatant adoration for fame and glory had been clear to Cedric from an early age and, given he was the only son in his family, he knew that he would soon be groomed into his father’s perfect replacement for when he retired as the Royal Sorcerer. 

The only problem that arose with that goal was that Cedric was only a child and was prone to making mistake after mistake. He knew he wasn’t perfect, no person is, but why did his father have to mention that fact so much?

It appeared that his father just couldn’t understand the notion that he was a conscience, feeling person though and decided to continue his crude actions anyway. No matter how much it hurt Cedric. 

Unbothered by this fact though, his father set out on a mission to make Cedric’s life almost unbearable and filled to the brim with dread over the fact that he would probably never become the royal sorcerer or get the family wand. In Goodwyn’s eyes, Cedric was no more than a mistake that would never be worthy. And at this point, Cedric was starting to believe it.

The days he spent subjected to his father’s emotional neglect and constant taunting when he was tricked into messing up his spells had left him in an emotional limbo that he could not escape from. And who was he to not be affected by this tortuous treatment?

Soon he was counting down the days until he could get away from his toxic family in the castle and attend school at Hexley Hall. 

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One upside to Goodwyn, in Cedric’s opinion, was that he was just as skilled a sorcerer that he claimed he was. Cedric wasn’t sure if this was something he should feel more exasperated about, but he knew that he couldn’t deny the fact. 

No matter how much he desired to demonize his father.

He had the ability to travel almost anywhere in the span of minutes and that was very convenient to a kid who had a very short attention span. And although he couldn’t travel to vast distances, Goodwyn could certainly get to many places three times faster than others. 

Which meant that Cedric could arrive at Hexley Hall faster than all of the other kids and have more time to explore his home for the next seven years. 

In less than one hour, Cedric and his father had travelled from the Castle and made it to the gate of Hexley Hall. The clean exterior of the castle was only rivaled by the beautiful architecture that made it the prestigious academy it is. 

Wasting no time leaving his father and rushing with his items to the front doors, Cedric was awe-struck by the fact that the inside was even more beautiful than the outside. Even inch of it was designed with a purpose and each piece of art was shown with pride and respect. 

And when he saw the warm smiles of the teachers waiting in the hall, beckoning him in, Cedric knew that he could get used to his new home. 

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After being toured around the castle by one of the teachers, as well as given a brief run down of its history, Cedric was left to his own accord and given a map so he wouldn’t get lost. The map had an incantation that would show him his current location and bedroom, which he thought was very convenient. But he wasn’t surprised, he knew how lost kids could get without proper guidance.

Looking down at the map after reciting the spell, he found a glowing mark on where his assigned dorm was located. Ironically enough, his was located with the rest of the sorcerers, witches, wizards, and warlocks. 

Dinner commenced shortly after introductions were made and, after a bout of awkward shuffling, he found a quiet location to eat and then began his trek to his new dormitory.

By chanting the wandless spell to the map once again, an arrow led to his room in the lower regions of the castle where he began to unpack his hefty luggage. 

After neatly organizing all of his ingredients, clothes, and books he quickly laid himself down on the comfortable mattress and ran through the events of the day. Although he still hadn't met any friends yet, he was able to get away from his father and analyze the place he’d be living in for a portion of his teenage life. 

Putting aside those thoughts, he curled into a fetal position and fell into the most blissful sleep he’s had in years. 

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Schedule: Year One- Semester One

Student: Cedric Goodwyn

Study: Sorcery

Study Order

Breakfast

Class One: Potions

Class Two: Intro to Alchemy: The People, The Places, and The Items

Class Three: Intro to Magic: Wands and Guidelines

Class Four: Intro to Magic: Practice

Lunch

Class Five: Magical Creatures and The Human Spirit

Dinner

Looks about right, Cedric thought to himself as he made his way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. 

Being somewhat challenged by wand-based spells, Cedric was relieved to see that he had potions for his first class; it was the one subject that he excelled at and was something that used to calm the nerves created by his domineering father. 

So he had no doubt that he would start his days off good with the way things looked on his schedule. 

What if no one likes me enough to partner up with me though? he asked himself while ringing his wrists. 

I guess I’ll just have to take it one step at a time….

With that thought in mind, he picked up his pace and quickly sat in a secluded spot. Looking around, he found that many people had already begun making friends. And, although this was a troubling notion given he had yet to meet anyone, he had hope that he would meet at leat (one) person that would approve of his company. 

There has to be at least ONE person who will like me right? he questioned while gazing around the expansive room. Looking to the section where all the alchemy students sat, his eyes stopped on a girl with the most adorable (h/l) haircut and beautiful disposition.

Neptune’s Nettles they were gorgeous...Hopefully I share some classes with her. Blushing, he looked back down at his breakfast and waited until it was time to head to his first class session of the year. 

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Nice! Cedric thought. I’ve got the first pick of any seat in the class!

Looking around, he found a spot that felt just right; it wasn’t too far in the back and was just enough to be in the front and in a corner. 

Smiling smugly, he sat down and began to unpack all the necessary items listed on the board in front of him. 

Humming to himself, Cedric slowly stopped when he heard a series of footsteps approaching the classroom. 

Thinking it was just the professor, given how early Cedric arrived, he kept his head down and decided to begin labelling the items in his journal.

That is, until he felt a tap on his shoulder. Whipping his head back, he stared dumbfounded at who was standing behind him: the girl from this morning!

Oh goodness, what if I’m sitting in the spot she wants?? What if she has some sort of beef with me already?? Oh dear, I’m gonna throw up..

This thought process continued until you let out a shy, "Do you mind if I sit next to you? I like the feel of this corner and you don't look half as bad as the rest of our class. Plus, I haven’t had much luck making friends."

OH, he thought, That’s not what I was expecting. Trailing his eyes to yours, he searched for any sign of this being a lie but couldn’t find any. 

Softening his features, he opened his mouth and let out a:

"Really?....I suppose I don't mind." 

He cautiously lifted his palm to you and said, "My names Cedric. I'm coming here to become one of the next Royal Sorcerers. What about you?"

With a firm grip, you shook his hand and settled down into your seat next to his. Watching you take out your schedule he heard you reply, "(y/n) Erwin! I'm studying to become the Royal Alchemist!"

Gripping your chin with an inquisitive look, you added a quick, "You wouldn't happen to be related to Goodyn the Great would you? I thought I recognized you at first, but I couldn't quite place from where…."

"Uhm….Yeah, I am. D-did you live at the castle as well?"

Analyzing you, he tried to remember times in which he would have seen you, but none came to mind. Which wasn’t surprising given he had all of his time stolen from either the prince or his father. 

His thought process was halted though when you looked at him and said, "Yep. My dad's the Royal Astronomer, so we get to live with him at the castle…..I've seen you around you know….I always meant to say hi, but your dad and sister seemed to take up most of your time."

He rubbed his wrists anxiously and let out a, "yeah, they tend to do that…...but I digress. Do wanna compare schedules? I don't have any friends either, and y-you don't seem that bad as well…."

Looking down at the schedule you held loosely in your hand he noticed that it didn't seem so far off from his. You were both new to the school after all, so it made a tad bit of sense but luckily you both wouldn't have to split up very much for the next couple of years.

Schedule: Year One- Semester One

Student: (y/n) Erwin

Study: Alchemy

Study Order

Breakfast

Class One: Potions

Class Two: Intro to Alchemy: The People, The Places, and The Items

Class Three: Intro to Magic: Wands and Guidelines

Class Four: Gnosticism, Occultism, and Esoteric Beliefs

Lunch

Class Five: Magical Creatures and The Human Spirit

Dinner

Surprisingly, it seemed as though you would be seeing a lot of each other. Which didn't seem to bother either of you that much. After confirming your new friendship and planning your day out together, you both set up the rest of your supplies and began your first class of the day.

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

After cleaning up your respective area of the shared potions table when class ended, Cedric reminisced on how well the class had actually gone. Despite both of you being new, you and Cedric seemed to work in a sort of synchronized state. Even your teacher pointed out how good you two were together. This had made Cedric feel elated, it was the first praise he had gotten since leaving his father; that alone made him feel on top of the world. Even more so when he took into account that he gained a friend and intellectual equal.

Picking up the last of his mess, he gently put his bag over his shoulder and looked back to you waiting for him at the end of the desk.

You looked up and down and asked slowly, “Would you mind if I sat with you in our other classes as well today? I’m not really…..friends with anyone else here yet and we seem to make a good team. Plus, you seem really sweet.”

“I’d love to!,” he said in an excitable raised voice. His face broke out in a flustered blush at how desperate he sounded and quickly let out a, “I mean, if that’s what you want to do…”

To that, you chuckled and lightly punched his shoulder saying, “Of course I would you dork. Now let's hurry up so we can get the best seats in our next class."

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After that day, the two of you were like two peas in a pod. Whenever you both had a class, were going somewhere, or ate, you were attached to the hip. Even teachers knew that, if they couldn’t find one of you, they wouldn’t find the other either as well. 

For you two, there was never a subject left unstudied, never a prank left undone, and never a conversation left undiscussed.

It started off with you both teaming up in your shared classes, meeting for meals, and talking on the way to class, but soon branched off outside of school. 

With coaching from you, and years of positive reinforcement on your end, Cedric had been coaxed out of his hesitant and neglected shell. All it took was one fond look and a caress of his hair from you and Cedric was turned into mush. The love you showed him through the years made him see that not everyone was out to get him. And not everyone was untrustworthy. 

In summary, you brought hope in humanity back into his life. Something that he surely would have gone off the deep-end without.

To others, it seemed as though you had put him under a spell and transformed him into a new man; Cedric had never felt so confident in his life.

Especially since he never had anyone to support him. Until you, that is……

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Year 7 at Hexley Hall

Flicking your wand in a cursive “J” formation while pointing your wand at the painted black stone, Cedric watched as you whispered, “Avifors.” 

Within seconds, the rock you had been pointing at morphed in size and began to take the shape of a sleek, black raven that immediately began pecking the tip of your index finger. It cocked its head at you and turned to inspect Cedric.

Cedric, gazing back at the bird, looked absolutely stunned at the sight of this seemingly never-heard-of spell and immediately began to shift his eyes to you and then raven. He wasn’t sure where you had learned that, since you were only taking alchemy classes, but he was beyond interested in knowing.

“Merlin’s Beard! Did you make that spell up all on your own?”

“Not exactly,” you chuckled, “My father and I worked for days to come up with the correct spell and paint concoction when I was a child. But it worked out, and now I have a way to create any type of bird to do my bidding!”

Setting his chin in his palm, he began to gaze fondly at the scene in front of him and think about all the things he has yet to learn about you. 

“Would it be alright if you taught me that spell? I know it’s yours and everything….. but it’s too bloody brilliant to be left unpracticed.”

“Sure!.......I'll write it down for you by tomorrow.”

That confirmation made his heart swoon and a grin break out on his face. Yet another thing that would bring him closer to you. He knew that this spell was very special to you, so you being willing to show him it reassured him that you cared about him as much as he cared about you.

He was willing to do anything for you and perfecting your spell was one of the best ways he could think of to honor your spectacular intelligence. 

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

When night revealed itself and Cedric was tucked away trying to complete his assignment, he began to reminisce on the time he spent with you that day. He knew how special that spell was to you, and knew that you sharing it with him meant something. Right?

After all, you didn’t share personal things like that with just anyone; even he wasn’t privy to most of your private thoughts and feelings. Up until recently that is; you had begun to reveal more and more about yourself to him and, honestly, it made Cedric finally feel special and worthwhile. Which did NOT help the fact that he had been in love with you for the last five years. 

And thought Cedric knew that he had to confess soon, he needed to know if you felt the same before he ruined whatever it was that you two had going on right now. If you didn’t reciprocate his feelings….that would make everything pretty awkward….Which wouldn’t help his situation out too much.

At least it would give him some closure....

He had been with you at every step of the way through your years at Hexley Hall, and he knew that you would be there for him for days to come. Working at Enchancia’s castle wouldn’t stop the bond that you both had formed over the years; it would only make it grow. Which it what he was hoping would help you develop feelings for him.

With each other until the end, that’s what you both had promised one another. 

‘If only she liked me back,’ he thought to himself, gazing into the spell that he had been too distracted to work on for the last two hours. 

With a huff of a laugh, he closed his textbook and laid down to go to sleep.  

As if…………..

[writingsfromhome]

Bad Timing I(.5)

A/N: This is the sort of backstory to Harry and you, I think it can be read on its own if you want, or before you read the first part too. It’s angsty af, but it has some death and sensitive topics jsyk. I tried to keep it concise but it got a little wordy as angst does. xx

Part 1

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About 12 Years Ago:

“So are you coming to that party or not?” My roommate asks. She was one of the first people I’d met last year when we started uni and even though we came from different backgrounds we remained friends over the last year, even choosing to room together again. She got me to open up and find the extroverted part of me that was able to enjoy uni outside of academics.

“Ugh, I’m volunteering for the voting booths for the rest of the week. Maybe if I can make it?”

“You’re actually doing that?” She scrunches her nose. “I don’t get it. You’re just way too nerdy to be my friend.”

“And yet you loove me,” I squeeze her against me and she laughs. “It’s my mom, she said I had to do at least one extracurricular so I could meet friends this year.”

“You already have friends,” she points to herself, and with her came her group of friends that’d quickly taken me in last year.

And my mom doesn’t like that I hang out with you, I think. She thought we partied too much even though my grades stayed decent. “She wants me to have nerdy friends too, I dunno. They’re helping me pay my tuition until I get a job so I kinda have to play nice.”

“Parents suck,” my roommate flicks through her closet. I agreed, this was just something I would get through to get through. Then they would leave me alone for the rest of the year.

Little did I know the person they’d partner me with at my polling station was someone who would be in my life for the next decade.

“I’m Harry by the way,” he’d said after we received our orientation and assigned the building we were going to babysit the votes in. “Second year.”

“Me too! I’m Y/N. What’s your major? I’ve never seen you around.”

“Law--well I haven’t decided if it’s law but that’s what I’m in right now.”

“Really? Law?” I was openly judging, he just didn’t seem the law type.

“Well what are you in?” He demands.

“Business,” I cringe.

“Really? Business?” He has a cheeky smile on, one that would become familiar to me.

“Well, you just don’t seem like the law type. They’re usually more uptight, dress way too smart for me.”

“I know, it’s like, we’re not even in the courtroom yet,” he joins in and it makes me laugh--how he could poke fun at his own people. That’s when I knew we would get along fine, and I actually looked forward to the next few days getting to know him better.

“I’m definitely telling my mum about you, she’s been begging me to make friends outside of my circle. I’ll tell her I’m friends with a law student.”

“So we’re friends already?” We’d reached our booth and began setting up the partitions. He takes over when I set it up wrong.

“Obviously,” I say. “I actually like you which means you’ll have a hard time getting rid of me.”

“I’m alright with that,” he grins and I notice the laugh lines that are brought to life as he does. It somehow made him seem more genuinely.

We spend the rest of the time swapping stories, classes, rants. We check student IDs and hand out voting cards in between but it doesn’t feel like a drag anymore. At the end of the day, I invite him to the party my roommate was going to with our friends. If he was going, maybe I would too. He seemed like he might be fun at a party.

“Er,” he suddenly seems nervous. “I’ll have to ask my girlfriend, she wanted to hang out tonight.”

“Well bring her too!” I say excitedly. “Is she law as well?”

“No, she’s in the arts.”

“I like her already,” I push. “Bring her, my friends are fun you’ll learn how to have a good time.”

“I know how to have a good time,” there was the flash of his dimples again. “Text me the address.”

And thus began a friendship for the next four years, partying together, studying together (trying to), and hanging out in each other’s rooms. We would set each other up with other friends, double dated, went out for sunrise-hikes, and took long drives at night when we had to blow some steam off from being over-stressed, over-studied uni students. Our friend circles overlapped, the fabric of our lives eventually bleeding together. We were made of the same fibers, sticking together even after uni, when our friends got more serious about their careers. When they moved out of the country or to another city, we made sure to rent places close enough that we could still see each other often. And somehow, in the new chapter of our lives, without the partying and our other friends to buffer, we became closer than before.

We cared for each other--we didn’t deny that ever. And somehow that platonic love turned romantic as we depended on each other while we navigated adulthood. I can’t exactly pinpoint where things changed, but one evening our relationship was changed forever.

7 years ago:

“She literally wants me to stay until 7, and she was offended when I said no! I’m not even getting paid for that!” I was bitching to Harry about my shitty job.

“That’s bollocks” Harry shrugs. “Just say you’ve got family obligations or something.”

“I said that the one time she wanted us to come in on a weekend and she gave me shite work the following week! I just...I can’t afford to lose this job Harry.”

“That’s shitty, I’m sorry.” He takes the last swig of his beer. “Want another one?”

“I haven’t even finished this one,” I moan at my now warm beer that I’d been nursing for the last hour, too busy ranting to drink it. “It’s getting late though I should head home before it’s dark. Don’t want that nutter that hangs around my building to harass me again.”

“I’ll walk you home,” Harry suggests. He lived a 15 minute walk from me.

“No no,” I get up and take our dirty dishes to the sink. “I didn’t even ask about you, how was your day?”

“Same old,” he sighs against the counter. “I feel like I don’t fit in, everyone my age is finishing their law degree but I don’t think I want to.”

“I knew from the day I met you, you weren’t destined for the courtroom.” I pull him into a comforting hug. “Do what makes you happy, or what doesn’t make you want to say fuck it and quit your job to hibernate.”

“You really know the perfect thing to say,” Harry chuckles but he pulls me tighter against him. I stroke his back, reassuring him he’d be alright in the end.

“Y/N-” he pulls away to say something but freezes mid sentence. I raise an eyebrow but he’s still, staring at my face.

“Harry?” I ask, but he continues staring. “Hello? You alright?”

“Yeah,” he breaks into a sudden smile. That was weird--I make sure he’s okay before letting go.

Before I leave, I kiss Harry’s cheek goodbye--I was never shy in the affection I gave my friends and Harry’s bummed mood needed extra affection tonight. But what I don’t expect is for him to catch me before I pull away, staring intently into my eyes. The lighthearted energy between us disappears instantly as it dawns on me, how close we were, the unspoken feelings in his eyes, the hesitation before he presses his lips to mine.

I kissed him back then, barely understanding what was happening, before pulling away. I give him a smile but that’s just what he sees at the tip of the iceberg, underneath my mixed feelings churn away. My best friend just kissed me, and I wasn’t totally mad about it.

“It’s getting dark I-” I say as Harry says, “Sorry was that okay?”

We laugh awkwardly, neither of us sure what to do at this point. We decide to ignore it instead.

“I’ll talk to you later,” Harry lets me go and opens the door for me. “Watch out for the neighbourhood nutter yea?”

I stand in place, feeling the fibers of our friendship unraveling but feeling hopeless in mending the tear. “Take care Harry.”

I high tail it out, my thoughts going at an impossible rate as I sort out what happened. And we try to ignore it the next couple weeks,

We hadn’t made it official then, too nervous to face what this meant about our friendships. It was only at my sister’s wedding, that I realised what was wrong between us. I’d been mourning our old friendship, and avoiding him in the weeks since the kiss. But what I didn’t realise was that our friendship had been changing over the last year anyway, and getting drunk on champagne and dancing with Harry, while my sister celebrated the happiest day of her life, made me realise there was a cause for celebration here: a new chapter in our lives.

A couple days later, after a stressful day at work, I’d taken the tube to his flat and waited for him outside. He was surprised to see me there, not saying much except to open the door and let me in. As soon as he’d closed it, my lips were attached to his and we’d let our bags drop, coats, and any piece of clothing between us. After that night, we didn’t even try to deny how we felt about each other.

“I didn’t think I could ever be this happy,” he’s whispered to me after. I thought he’d fallen asleep but his whisper in the dark made me grin to myself. “Are you awake.”

“I am. Awake and happy.” I turn to face him, giggling. “Who knew this could feel so right.”

“Our first kiss was quite wrong though wasn’t it?” Harry says and it makes me laugh.

“That’s why I needed to do a redo,” I tease. “Can’t leave you to plan anything.”

“It wasn’t planned I swear, I was trying to be spontaneous.”

“Let’s not try ‘spontaneous’ again then,” I kiss him in the dark. He pulls me snug against him, I never knew how safe it felt. The safest I would ever feel, wrapped in the warmth with my best friend and now something else.

It was a good few months, testing the waters as our relationship underwent a transformation. All of our friends were supportive, but we never missed the glances between them. Apparently, they were waiting for this to happen. But as sweet as those first few months had been, finding out my mum was sick with a timeline was devastating. I came apart at the seams but Harry stayed through it all, holding me together. He’d proposed then, wanting my mum to be part of the ceremony. We had a small wedding, intimate but still magical. It was bittersweet, the amount of love and happiness I felt towards Harry and our loved ones around us as he said I do and as he took my arm and swept me across the dancefloor. But the amount of sadness crushing my chest kept me from being the weightless bride I always thought I would be.

Through it all, Harry stayed by my side. While we were hopeful, the day our hopes were dashed, the days and weeks I mourned. When my sister and her husband came to stay with their crazy toddlers and Harry kept them entertained giving my sister and I time together. I thought he was perfect, that I’d lucked out.

That lasted a few years, 3 and a half to be exact. There were months leading up to our split and we could point to a bunch of things that could’ve led to it. a) him wanting kids, and me wanting to wait or b) long hours we worked as we changed careers and tried to make our way up or c) how hard getting pregnant actually was. Maybe I pushed him away, or he didn’t love me enough to try and make it work.

I think I lied to myself, avoiding the tension creeping into the relationship. The tired excuses and time spent apart, the lack of usual affection, or casual conversations. I was an idiot, I realise every time I think about the end in retrospect. Maybe if I caught on earlier I could have fixed us before we fell apart. Maybe I could have saved us.

“There’s someone coming in Tuesday morning to fix the broken washer, will you be home?” I ask, still in bed and scrolling through my phone. I hadn’t meant to be up this early but Harry woke me as he got up and I couldn’t fall back asleep.

“No,” Harry responds, his back to me as he ruffles through the dresser. “I’ve got a thing that morning.”

“Well I’ve got to go in early Tuesday-I thought you might be home.” I say. I hear an edge to Harry’s voice but I try not to focus on it. He’d been a little cold all weekend and I was scared to think what it meant.

“You couldn’t be bothered to check in when you confirmed the date?” Harry asks harshly.

“I...guess not.” I put my phone down and wait for Harry to turn, maybe I could read his expression. Maybe he was stressed. “Harry?”

“What?” He turns, but he looks at me with no emotion. No stress, no frustration, not even anger. It’s the lack of emotion in his face that cause my eyes to prick with tears. Harry raises his eyebrows and I shake my head, untangling myself from the sheets so he doesn’t see any tears. I rush to the bathroom but forget to close the door out of habit.

“Y/N,” a kinder Harry appears by the doorway. His face has smoothed out the harsh lines, his eyes hesitant and cautious.

“What’s happened with us?” I blurt out. “Why are you so cold all the time? Am I doing something wrong?”

Harry’s face falls and he walks towards me but doesn’t touch me. “It’s nothing like that. It’s...I don’t know. We should talk.”

He reaches his hand out but I flinch away. “Did you meet somebody new or something? What are we talking about?”

“Let’s not do this here. Right now.”

“Why not!” I finally had enough. “I’ve been walking on eggshells for months Harry! I don’t know what’s wrong and I keep waiting for you to bloody tell me!”

“This isn’t working!” Harry raises his voice to compensate for mine. I’m immediately silenced by the volume, and then the words sink in.

“Is there someone else?” I ask.

He doesn’t answer, his gaze on the hanging vines by the window. My heart drops into my stomach like a boulder, and I find it hard to breathe. I clutch the porcelain sink and ask in a surprisingly even tone, “Harry. Answer me.”

“What we have, Y/N...it’s dysfunctional.” He says quietly, meeting my eyes. “It doesn’t matter if there’s someone else, we’ve been fighting for months. Things aren’t the same between us-”

“Who is she?” I ask. I needed to know.

“That’s not relevant,” he shuts my question down quickly. “I’m sorry Y/N, I...I don’t want to hurt you. I care about you, I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Then don’t,” I’d pleaded. “We can go to counseling, talk it through-”

“I can’t Y/N.”

“Because of her.”

“No, because this isn’t good for either of us.” He’d walked up to me, cradled my face. “We’re not good for each other, not like this.”

“Who is she?” I yank his hands away.

“She’s...it doesn’t matter, I swear nothing happened between us Y/N. Knowing who she is isn’t going to help this situation--”

“It is! If it weren’t for her, you’d be willing to work on us--to see a future. You...Harry how could you do this to me? To us?” The tears come with no control. “You’re moving on before we’re even over. How are you giving up on us like that?”

“I’m not!” his voice booms in the tiled bathroom. “I’m not bloody giving up on us! I tried Y/N, so many times. I tried! You just keep pushing at me to be someone I’m not and-”

“I can say the same thing about you!” I throw the brush in my hands into the sink. “We were good! And you got it in your head you wanted a baby even though we’re young, oh my god Harry you kept pestering me to change my mind even though I told you I needed time!”

“It’s not like we could have a fucking baby anyway,” Harry says bitterly before realising what he’d said. “Shit-”

“There you go,” I mock. “I knew it. I knew you were holding that against me. And that,” I jab my finger into his chest. “Is what’s made you so moody, so mean and why we’re always fighting. You held it against me.”.

There was absolute truth to what I said. Last year, Harry had brought the baby topic up. I’d told him we were only in our mid-20s, we had a lot of time, and we still had a career to establish. But he would bring up the topic often enough that I’d given in.To make him happy. And months went by, trying for a baby. Went we finally went to our doctor, she’d told us why it was so hard, it could take us years she’d said.

Harry came home that day dejected, and left me feeling like a failure. I think it tore us up.

“You wanted a baby so fucking bad and when I couldn’t, it made me feel like a complete failure. And I told you that! And you did absolutely nothing to make me feel better. You held it against me, Harry! You didn’t even try to tell me it was okay.”

“It’s not so fucking simple,” he says, his cheeks flushed pink. Maybe it was anger, or maybe it was embarrassment from being confronted with an ugly truth.

“It is. And now you’ve upgraded to a newer model, maybe her version comes with a fertile womb.” I take the cheap shot.

He doesn’t say anything though. And I don’t know why that hurts more than knowing he’d fallen for another woman while he was still married to me. My best friend in the whole world had just broken my heart into a million irrevocable pieces.

“It’s a bunch of things Y/N,” he finally says. “That’s just part of it. We’re not...we’re just not working!”

“Did you even try to make it work?” I ask, swiping my sleeve across my face. “Did you ever think how I felt? How you made me feel Harry? You’ve been slipping away from me without talking to me-” I break off. I couldn’t speak through the heartbreak, the thunderstorm of grief threatens to consume me and my sobs are the only thing that manages to come out.

“I never wanted to hurt you,” Harry tries to place a hand on my shoulder but I jerk away, moving to sit on the edge of the bathtub. “Y/N...”

“Just go,” I say through the tears.

“We can talk more about this later-”

"Just go,” I say louder.

Harry’s phone rings again from the bedroom and he sighs. But he leaves me, crying on the bathroom floor. The sadness that was always in my peripheral consumes me. I’d carried this sadness for a long time--ever since I found out my mum was sick, the sadness plagued me. I’d neatly packed it up once I decided to move forward with my life like my mum would want me to, but now it comes back tenfold, marrying the grief of losing Harry like this. And I stay on the floor crying my grief away for hours, eventually crawling into bed and sleeping the daylight away.

When I wake, it’s 6 and Harry isn’t home. I take that as a sign and get up to pack up a few things. I call my sister who still lived in London then, and crash on her couch, staying there for a few weeks and ignoring any call or text from Harry. When I need to go back, for my things, I find him sleeping on the couch with the TV on, something I always found endearing. But I can’t afford to dwell on how much it hurt seeing him like that.

He must have woken from the noise because when he finds me, he tries to stop me and tell me that we still needed to talk.

“About what?” I ask, just tired now. Too many tears shed and too many hours laying awake thinking about the exact moment we went wrong.

“Us,” Harry looked tired too. He was probably throwing himself into his work with nothing like me to hold him back, I think bitterly. His girlfriend had probably already been to our house--his house.

“What about us?” I barely look at him as I begin folding away all my clothes.

“I don’t know,” Harry sits on the bed. “Don’t you want to talk?”

“I’ve got nothing to say, do you?”

Harry sighs, “I don’t know.”

“Nice talk then,” I say, shoving the rest of my things in just so I could get out.

“I just want you to know I care about you Y/N, I don’t want to hurt you.” He says as I pack.

“It doesn’t matter anymore. If you cared about me, and you didn’t want to hurt me you wouldn’t have done this to us.”

“I wasn’t trying to--I didn’t mean to go and fall for someone else-”

“Just stop,” I cut him off. I couldn’t hear it, how the man I loved fell for someone else. I couldn’t break down here. Again.

He said he cared but it didn’t feel that way. It hurt more than I wished to admit. He knew what I’d been through and he still betrayed me, tossed my heart like it was replaceable. The cut he left in me ran deep.

As I leave he tries to talk to me, but I barrel past him. He still reaches for me and pulls me into a hug, I struggle against him but he’s too strong. He wraps me in his arms until I go still but it’s too much. A sob escapes me, and this time he lets me push him off and leave, my bag banging into my hips every time I take a step. As soon as I got into my Uber, I can’t stop crying. There was an infinite pool of tears where Harry was involved.

3 years ago:

My trust and my heart had been been lost in the war between Harry and I. It only took him a month to mail my divorce papers which sat collecting dust on my dining table until he showed up at work one day and demanded I sign them by the end of that week. I’d taken the day off the day I mailed those in, mourning the end of something that was once so safe and beautiful.

When a close friend calls me on a warm July afternoon, I don’t consider her warning that I shouldn’t check Instagram. That I still had Harry’s friends on my list. I open Instagram before she can tell me why, and see it. Harry was getting married, again. To the woman he gave up on us for. I try to zoom in on a picture without liking it, she was pretty...and blonde. She looked familiar--probably from his office. It didn’t take him long.

It was like someone had taken a retractor to the wound I thought had finally scabbed over. The physical proof that Harry had moved on is just the salt on the wound.

I cry myself to sleep that night.

2 Years ago;

The guy in front of me drones on about his job, mansplaining to me how a mortgage worked as if I wasn’t in finance myself. I excuse myself to use the restroom, checking my phone to see a text from my sister. She’d moved to Scotland this year, to where her husband was from, and I’d missed her terribly in the last year.

A little birdie told me your demon-ex just got divorced 🥂

I stare at the screen, chest feeling tight. I felt vindicated somehow, but I also felt a small bit of sadness. What a fuck-up.

Good for him I had texted back. A part of me wanted him to hurt the way he hurt me.

I went back to my date with a renewed enthusiasm. I’d ordered more wine and got so drunk he was actually interesting enough to take home.

About 1 year ago

“Y/N,” a voice from my past says, one that haunted me some nights. I turn as I exit the shop I was just in. I blink at the sight before me, Harry in a vest and hat. He realises what I’m staring at and laughs awkwardly. “I’m in uniform.”

“You’re...police?” I look up to his face finally. He hadn’t aged a day, although the hat he wears makes him look a little silly.

“Yeah I joined the force uhm...almost 4 years ago now...law didn’t really suit me.”

I know what he was doing, trying to find a baseline to have a conversation. But he was dead to me, and I didn’t want to invite him back in when I was finally forgetting about him.

"Seems like you dropped a lot of dead-weight four years ago.”

I watch his face fall as he realises I wasn’t going to pretend to be friendly.

“Seems that way to you,” he says cautiously. “But that’s not how it happened.”

I shrug. “So. I heard about the divorce. Must’ve been hard being put through that.”

I knew I was being petty, obviously I never got the closure I want (according to my therapist) and I wasn’t over him hurting me the way he did (also according to my therapist). This was how I got my peace, and it wasn’t the best version of me but it was the only one I knew how to be right now.

“Yep,” he crosses his arms over his chest. “So, are you seeing anyone?”

He knew I wasn’t, I don’t know how but the way he stoops to my level I know he knows I hadn’t had a long term relationship since him.

“Not at the moment,” I say awkwardly. “Just focusing on my job...trying to get this promotion.”

“Sorry,” he seems to shake off whatever had come over him. “That was...nosy, I shouldn’t have asked.”

Having him be the bigger person sets something off in me, like there was an anger-bomb inside my mind where he lived and knowing that he was doing okay enough to be able to be the bigger person disrupts this calm I was trying to keep.

“Maybe you shoudn’t have stopped me to ask anything at all. We don’t have anything to talk about anyway.”

I turn around and start to walk away but he catches up, “I wasn’t trying to upset you-”

“Well you have a way of doing that. Please just leave me alone Harry.”

He huffs beside me, “After all this time, can’t we just bloody talk like two adults?”

I freeze and turn to him slowly. He seems to sense this was the wrong thing to say because he takes a step back. “After all this time? Are you serious? I was the one you left behind Harry when you went off to lives your best lift Harry. We’re not living the same life, and we’re not coming from the same bloody place. Don’t fucking patronize me and ask me to talk to you like an adult when you bring out the worst part of me. I meant what I said: I want you to leave me alone. And you know what, if we ever run into each other again, just don’t even talk to me. Pretend you don’t know me. I want nothing to do with you.”

He opens his mouth but his partner calls him from the shop’s entrance. He stays silent, letting me go. As soon as I turn the street corner I rush the rest of the way to the tube, collapsing into a seat and trying to sort out my breathing. It was a shitty feeling, knowing someone was going to be in your life forever because you shared so much history that even when that part of your life ended they were still there. There was so much apart of me, around me, that reminded me of him. And it felt so lonely carrying that around. I wanted to be done with him, I wanted my heart to purge him out. But it couldn’t stop carrying him around everywhere I go.

[rainy-day-gracie]

Falling

hey hey hey !!

this was a Spencer Reid request for Reader to have some kind of past trauma so she pushes Spencer away despite having feelings for him. On a bombing case, she opens up to him.

9/11 disussion, if you are ever in New York city I highly recommend visiting the 9/11 museum. Has lots of artifacts and letters sent from the terrorists, very moving. I visited last summer and was almost in tears.

Fluff and angst, the usual

MASTERLIST

__

“Can you catch it?” I laughed as I threw kernels of popcorn at Reid, him failing at catching them in his mouth. 

“That was definitely your fault, it wasn’t even close,” Reid complained jokingly. I just shrugged, popping a kernel into my mouth and ignoring the way my heart beat when he smiled. 

Nope, my heart is not open for business, I told myself. 

As we were lost in our chuckles, the team and I almost didn’t notice Hotch run from his office to Rossi’s and then down the stairs. 

“Wheels up in 10. We’ll brief on the jet.”

I looked to Reid with furrowed eyebrows. “That’s not good.”

His eyes followed Hotch, who was already headed to the elevators. “No, it is not.”

__

“A bomb just went off in the Forest Brush Elementary school in South Carolina an hour ago. Right now, body count is 24, the number of injuries rising.” Hotch gave us the news with heavy eyes, and the plane was silent. 

“Location is definitely intentional, the unsub probably had a rocky childhood,” I said, not totally sure of what I was saying. Reid noticed my unfocused eyes, but he didn’t say anything. 

Glass windows and foundation shattering. 

“Where was the bomb planted in the school?” Morgan asked Hotch. 

“The unsub didn’t plant it. He kept the bomb in his car and drove it into the school cafeteria before detonating it with a remote. They still haven’t identified the bomber yet.” Hotch said without looking up from his flies. I fought to listen to what they were saying, instead of getting lost in the memories.  

Screams of terror and overwhelming smell of smoke.

“YLN?” A hand nudged my arm gently, and I flinched at the movement. My eyes met Reid’s, and he gave me a questioning look. 

“I’m fine… I just wanna find out who did this.” Reid didn’t buy it, but he didn’t press. 

“Alright, everyone needs to dive into their assignments as soon as we touch ground. Morgan, Prentiss, JJ, Rossi go to the elementary school and help with search and rescue. If there’s any witnesses at all, get them medical help and then do an interview. Reid, YLN and I will go to the police station to meet with families, examine blueprints of the school, and contact the press.” Hotch looked to me, and I shot him a grateful look. The press I can handle. __

After an hour at the police station, I was already exhausted. “The press want a statement from the principal, apparently he ran into the school continuously to save as many kids as he could.”

Reid raised his eyebrows. “Wow, that is really brave. Has the team interviewed him yet?”

I shook my head. “No, he’s still being checked out by medics. I just don’t understand how the press can’t just let the witnesses alone, let them deal with their trauma without a camera shoved in their face.” My words came out bitterly, and Reid noticed. 

“Hey, what’s going on with you? Is everything okay?” For some reason his words only made me angry.

“No, everything is not okay. 24 kids and teachers are dead.” I glared up at him before storming away. 

He caught my arm before I could get far. “YFN... did something happen to you?”

My anger melted away as quickly as it had come, and I pulled on his tie. “Come on,” I said simply, leading us into an empty room. My breath started to come more quickly, and I shut the door fast behind us.

Reid looked at me with kind eyes, and my heart did jumping jacks. “What happened to you? You’ve been different on this case, I’ve never seen you like this.”

I closed my eyes, leaning back against the closed door. “United Airlines, Flight 175.”

His expression changed immediately. “You... were in New York?”

“On September 11th, 2001, I was a 20 year old intern, working in the North Tower of the Global Trade center. I lost a part of myself that day, and that was the day that made me want to join the FBI. To fight people that prey on the innocent.” I gulped, tears biting the edges of my eyes and memories flooding my vision. “When the tower collapsed, I could feel the rubble pressing down on my chest. I should’ve died, but I was coming back from getting coffee so I wasn’t high up when the plane hit.”

Reid tried to pull me into a hug, but I pushed him away. His eyes turned from sympathetic to sad. “I’m sorry, I just-”

“No, it’s not you, I promise. I just don’t...” If I hugged him, my heart wouldn’t be able to keep from falling. Like the towers on that fateful day. “I was engaged to my high school sweetheart... he was going to surprise me with breakfast since I was in a rush that morning, and he was waiting for me when...”

Tears streamed down my face, and when Reid pulled me into a hug, I didn’t resist him this time. “Is that why you push me away?” He whispered into my hair. 

“Yes.”

Both of our phones buzzed, snapping us out of our daze. 

Hotch had sent a text to the team group chat. Need press conference, as many cameras as possible. 

I looked at Reid, having a newfound gratitude for him. “Thanks... for being worried about me.”

He gave a small smile. “I’ll always worry about you. That’s just the way it is.” __

“Earlier today, 29 year old Charlie Calloway drove a black Jeep Cherokee into Forest Brush Elementary, killing 24 people and injuring many more.” I kept my chin high, looking into each and every camera surrounding me. “The FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit is currently working the case around the clock, not resting until we have completed our investigation. With the help of the Charleston Field Office, we have set up a tip line for anyone with information regarding the explosion.” Keep talking, give enough time for the tip line to buzz. “We are here to ensure that nothing like this happens again.”

I rambled for another 10 minutes before Reid from across the room gave me a thumbs up. “Thank you for your time. No questions will be answered for now.”

The team was circling a phone held by Rossi when I reentered the police station. “The unsub called. He had a partner.” Reid murmured in my ear. “The press conference drew him out.”

Rossi glanced briefly at me before turning his attention back to the phone. “What is your goal?” Rossi asked, and there was a brief pause before he spoke again. “Revenge is the oldest motive in the book-” Rossi was cut off, and his gaze landed on me again. “He wants to talk to YFN.”

My heart seemed to beat slowly, too slow. “Um, uh, yeah. Yeah, I’ll talk to him.”

Rossi handed me the phone, quickly talking me through what to do. “Don’t call him a coward, it would set him off on a rampage. Play into his fantasy, act afraid.”

“I am afraid.”

“So show him that. He sees women as lesser, that’s why he got so enraged when he saw you on TV. If we can get him to underestimate you, he’ll slip up and give something away.” Rossi gave me the phone, and Spencer’s warm fingers slipped into my free hand. 

“Who am I speaking to?” I asked, trying not to hyperventilate. 

Police sirens and my eyes stinging with dust. 

“What gave you the right to lie to those reporters?” 

“What do you mean?” My voice shook slightly, and I didn’t try to hide it. 

“‘We are here to ensure that nothing like this happens again,’“ he said in a mocking tone. His voice was slightly out of breath, like he was moving, and the sound of cars said he was on a city street.

“Just doing my job, sir,” I said, squeezing Reid’s hand. 

“Oh yeah? Well so am I.” His voice was on the phone, but it was also close. I looked across the field office at a young man giving me a sick smile. He had on a thick trench coat, and in an instant, he unclenched a fist I didn’t even see. 

The blast seemed to happen in slow motion. The entire team got blown across the office, along with every single law enforcement officer on the first floor. 

My vision went black, and I woke up on a stretcher outside what was left of the building. My head pounded worse than anything I had ever experienced, but I lifted it enough to see the scene with blurry vision. Endless ambulances and police cars, a massive sea of onlookers barely being held back by officers, and my whole team scattered around by different paramedics. 

Except Reid. 

“Reid?” I called out, getting to my feet and stumbling around the pavement. A mass of curly brown hair collapsed on the ground caught my eye from inside the building, flames and rubble surrounding him. “Reid!”

Paramedics tried holding me back from the scene, but somehow I was able to slip out of their grip while running towards the caved in building. 

Dust fell in my eyes and the ceiling creaked, letting me know in my hazy state of mind that the building was about to collapse on top of us. I got to Spencer, who was groaning and crawling as best he could. 

“Hey, hey, Reid, c’mon, time to go,” I hooked my arms around his stomach, lifting him to his knees and unsteadily to his feet. 

“YFN...” he mumbled, his brown eyes becoming focused on my face. Spencer snapped out of his daze. “Time to go.”

We ran out as soon as the ceiling caved in, and the burst of adrenaline wore off instantly. Spencer and I collapsed on the pavement, our chests heaving. 

“YFN... you saved my life.” Spencer looked over at me as paramedics raced toward us. 

“Of course,” I said breathlessly. “I love you.”

“What?” His face was lost in a swarm of paramedics, and I smiled to myself. 

Late that night, we were all silent on the jet ride back. It was concluded that the bombings were over, and everyone wanted to go home anyway. 

I was half asleep in my seat when Spencer sat lazily next to me, neither of us saying anything. 

Spencer was the one who spoke first.

“You are the bravest person I’ve ever met. For you go through what you’ve gone through and still run into collapsing building to save a friend...” 

He trailed off for a moment, probably considering the word ‘friend’. Are we really just friends at this point, after everything we’ve gone through? “I know that you push me away because of what happened to your fiance’, but you can’t keep yourself away from happiness out of fear something might happen to me.” He laced his fingers through mine gently. “I love you, and I’ll wait for when you’re ready. I just want you to be happy.”

A soft smile came to my lips, and I looked over at him next to me. “I love you too, Spencer. But you already know that.”

Spencer chuckled, and I drifted off to sleep on his shoulder. The sound of glass shattering and the smell of smoke left my brain for the first time since that fateful day in New York. 

Spencer lightly pressed a kiss to my forehead, and I fell asleep with a small smile still on my lips. 

TAG LIST:  @squirrellover1967 @yomama-umbridge @tiktokslut @ sknnymnne @pinkdiamond1016 @vixengustin88

[novantinuum]

Fandom: Steven Universe

Rating: Teen Audiences (TW: language)

Words: ~3K

Summary: Lars has no idea what he was expecting the moment Steven texted him in the middle of the night to ask if he could come over, but being immediately tackled in an intense vice-grip of a hug the second he opened the door probably wasn’t it.

Set mid SUF.

I don’t think I’ve ever gotten to write Lars’ POV before this, but it was really fun! If you read this and enjoy, I’d greatly appreciate your support through reblogs here, or kudos/comments on AO3. Thank you! <3

____

Besides the quiet lull of the TV and the electric hum of the attic’s rickety old heater, all is silent in the Barriga household. The nighttime streets outside are vacant. Not a soul roams through his section of town, not even the newer Gem arrivals, who thankfully have been informed of humanity’s biologically mandated curfew by now. Sheesh, it’s about time.

After all, silence is peace. And in this day and age, in a world where the barriers between human and intergalactic politics are becoming increasingly blurred by the hour, peace is a gift.

Which is why having free time to play whatever old video games he wants in complete and total solitude at one AM is probably the single thing keeping him sane at this moment.

Lars’ fingers expertly flick at the joysticks of the controller as if by innate memory. It genuinely feels like forever since he’s been able to lose himself for hours in a solo campaign like this, and quite honestly, if given a choice he prefers it to any other leisurely activity. Chatting with his online friends or with that Gem gang of his is fun, sure, and working the counter at his bake shop can often be emotionally satisfying, but pushed too long and any kind of social interaction feels draining. He shifts on his bed, paying little to no attention to the slight chill against his bare chest. He’s pretty sure it’s like, near freezing outside and yet somehow it’s no more an annoyance to him than having to pause to reload an ammo clip in this game. It’s weird. Really weird. But then, at this point everything about his dumb life is.

It’s the Steven effect, he thinks with a soft scoff. Weird practically orbits him and his moms, and inevitably, every person he comes in contact with is brought into the fold. He’s a good kid, though. Don’t get him wrong. Steven always tries his best to be thoughtful when dealing with people he doesn’t understand— even when initially those people just act like dicks in return— and he for one is grateful for that, for the gift of a... a second chance. He knows full well he didn’t deserve it, (he still doesn’t), but he’s grateful.

The kid’s still on his mind when his phone lights up on the nightstand beside him, like the now familiar glow of Gems synchronizing to fuse.

(And goddamnit, does a part of him still balk almost two years later that it’s so normal to be casually relating everyday things to outer space Gem stuff anyways. What is he, with his pink hair and alien friends, the main character of an anime?)

Eyes skirt away from the grainy television set he’s been playing his favorite Immortal Combat on, and glance at the new notification.

Steven, the name at the top of the text reads. Well, lo and behold. The true shounen protagonist himself. Somebody’s ears must have been burning. Though, hmm. Come to think of it, that’s actually unusual. They pass bullshit memes back and forth sometimes, yes, but he never sends him anything this late at night.

Lars frowns, failing to obscure that annoying, instinctual worry that seizes him like the long lost sensation of hunger rising from the pit of his stomach, and scoots forward on his bed to grab his phone. What’s he want at this hour, anyways?

Steven: hey, sorry i know its late but can i come over ?

His frown deepens as he glances down at himself, clad in only a pair of boxers. He doesn’t mind having an unexpected visitor— after all, it’s not like he requires sleep anymore— but he’s not exactly dressed for company, here.

yeah but gimme a mo, he types back. kinda need to put on a shirt

Steven: k

Yawning out of sheer habit, he leans over the other side of the bed and grabs the first decent smelling tee he can find off the floor. It’s got an overlapping triangular emblem on it, a symbol from one of the game series he used to be obsessed with as a kid. He quickly shrugs it and a stray pair of sweatpants on, then returns to his phone.

decent now, he updates him.

The response is almost immediate.

Steven: be there soon

With a heavy inhale, he leans back against the headboard and begins to mentally prepare himself for the passage of One Whole Teenage Boy through the portal in his hair. For the most part he’s grown used to the changes caused by Steven’s literal magic resurrection, but not this. Who the hell knows how his pet lion puts up with it all the time. Quite frankly, how that creature has remained so docile and patient after years of interloping within Steven’s chaotic world of Gems eludes him, ‘cause it sure as hell isn’t a side effect of all the death-defying space voodoo.

Also, he’s like, 97% sure that “docile” and “patient” aren’t words anyone would pick to describe him at any stage of his life, ever.

And yet, yawning in his boredom, Lars waits.

And he waits.

And he waits.

And when eventually he breaks his stubborn streak and dares to check the time on his phone to see how many minutes have elapsed, how many minutes of his thrice-damned maybe infinite lifespan he’s wasted sitting up against the far wall of his room waiting for that kid to tumble right out of the literal inter-dimensional door hidden amidst the curls atop his head, he’s mildly surprised that his first emotional response to this delay is... dare he admits... disappointment.

It’s been nearly fifteen minutes. For whatever unknown reason, it seems as if Steven may not be coming over after all. Huh. He wonders what changed his mind. Pressing his lips into a thin line, Lars decides to check his texts. It’s possible the guy wrote something else and he just didn’t see it. But when he pulls up his latest conversation, all that comes up are the last messages they sent to each other. Be there soon, he said.

He hovers hesitant fingers over the keyboard, caught in the midst of trying to decide whether or not it’s too invasive and prying to send some sort of casual check-in, when he picks up on a very timid knock on the front door downstairs. And given the lateness of the hour, there’s really only one person it could be. He blinks for a moment, his mind still doing somersaults in order to process the mere concept of Steven not gleefully taking the opportunity to explode out of his hair for once in his life, and then drags himself up to his feet. Walks out of his attic room and down the stairs, being careful not to disturb his slumbering parents. Unlatches the locks on the door.

Truth be told he has no idea what he was expecting the moment Steven texted him at one fucking AM to ask if he could come over, but being immediately tackled in an intense vice-grip of a hug the second he opened the door probably wasn’t it.

He struggles not to stumble backwards at the initial force of the teen’s silent yet yearning embrace, eventually regaining his stability and... slowly, delicately... hugging him back. Honestly, he’s never been much of a hugger himself, but eh. He’ll give the guy this one. After a brief moment Lars gives him a few awkward pats, clearing his throat.

“Uh, Steven? You good to let go, now?” he asks quietly, still keeping his voice in a whisper for his parents’ benefit.

“Oh! Y-yeah, yeah,” his younger friend stammers, immediately pulling himself away. His eyes are drawn to the floor as he wrings his hands together. Timid. “Sorry, I just— I just needed somewhere I could clear my head tonight. Thank you, by the way.”

“No problem,” he throws back, gesturing for him to follow up the stairs. “‘S not like I ever sleep a wink now anyways. So I might as well have company.”

The two of them tiptoe towards the attic, a familiar setting for both. Steven’s been in here quite a few times before, so— already knowing the lay of the land— he plops himself down in the beanbag chair Lars keeps at the foot of his bed. They don’t talk about much of anything at first, merely passing back and forth brief updates about their lives. Small talk, nothing more. As expected though, Steven’s update is infinitely more interesting than his. Apparently he went on some mission to an alien planet with that Lapis friend of his the other day and had to deal with the attitude of some stubborn terraformers who didn’t want to stop working on their shitty old Homeworld assignment. (Meanwhile, the only update he has to offer is how he’s teaching Blue Lace Agate the art of bad baking puns while at work. Gotta leave behind some sort of legacy before he leaves with his fellow Off-Colors, of course.)

When the small talk finally dries up, (which seems... uncharacteristic, given the typical enthusiasm of his current visitor), Lars offers him a second controller.

“We can play the go-kart one, if you want,” he says, knowing full well that his friend isn’t a huge fan of all his war-themed combat games. Still, he figures the guy could probably stand to blow off a little steam. He looks super stressed, with his brow all creased and his stare unnervingly glassy.

The sixteen-year-old nods, adjusting his hands around the grips of the controller as Lars switches out the disk.

They race a few rounds in relative quiet, wholly insulated by the reassuring stillness of the night all around them, before Steven decides to open up again.

“Where do you think the line is?” he asks when they finish their current course.

His whole face scrunches in confusion. “Huh?”

“Between like, doing bad things, and outright being bad?” he continues, seemingly unaware of the comedic pulse of Lars’ initial response.

Lars blinks.

Considers these words deeply and thoroughly for a moment, as any good friend should.

And then...

“Where the heck did you pull that question from?”

Steven merely shrugs, his shoulders drooping a bit lower than they had been when he first entered his house a while back. “I dunno, just musing, ‘s all.”

The edges of his mouth curl downwards as he lets this corker of a conversation starter wash over him, not so much intended as a frown at Steven, but a frown at... whatever force of this universe would lead his friend to start musing about such depressing philosophical quandaries in the first place. Acting numb and brooding at the rest of the world is supposed to be his job, not this kid’s! And sure, yes, yes, yes, he knows he can’t exactly call him a kid anymore— at least not to his face— and that he’s been a teenager for a good three years now. It’s just that... well. For all his complaints about it earlier in life, Lars kinda grew to respect and feel uplifted by his cheery, upbeat, never-give-up-hope outlook. Dare he says, he kinda misses it.

(And for Steven’s sake, he kinda hoped he’d never discover the burnout and cynicism waiting on the other side. Alas, he fears that ship has probably sailed.)

“Sorry,” the sixteen-year-old mumbles upon noting his extended silence, his cheeks flushed with shame. “Probably not something anyone wants to think about at two in the morning. Just- forget I said anything, okay? Let’s play one more round, and then I can lea—“

Eyes widening, he holds up a hand to intercept that train of thought. “No, that’s— you asked an interesting question. Deep, but interesting. It’s fine, I don’t mind. I...”

He inhales deep, collecting his wits and whatever years of wisdom he may or may not have accumulated ever since dying and coming back to life.

“I suppose in my mind, people aren’t truly bad unless they intend to cause harm, y’know?” he begins, meeting Steven’s eyes. “You can still hurt others without meaning it, and like... that’s still not great, and you should still try and make up for it however you can, but... life’s complicated. People are complicated. It’s all a huge mess of emotions and ethics and beliefs all the time.”

He pauses, a twinge of melancholy rising within his chest as he catches a glimpse of a photograph hung on one of the wooden support beams at the far wall. It’s a selfie of him and Sadie he printed out a few years back when they were still low-key dating, one that— for the life of him— he can’t bear to take down. She’s kissing his cheek. He’s caught in the middle of laughter, playfully trying to nudge her away. They look... so young.

So naive.

(So human.)

“And sometimes it can be so, so easy to convince yourself that you’re always in the right,” he continues, quieter, “that people feeling hurt because of something you did is just their problem. In that case, it’s not that you wanted to harm anyone, it’s just... that you were blind to it, I guess.”

(And he was blind for a long, long time.)

“Like I said, it’s messy.”

Lars sighs, willfully averting his glance from the photographic reminder of all the ways he ignorantly fucked up with Sadie as a friend and partner, and with everyone in his life, making the same stupid mistakes over and over with nearly no improvement until he literally died to his old self.

“So, yeah. There. I guess that’s my opinion,” he mumbles, absentmindedly fiddling with the collar of his graphic tee. “Everyone makes bad choices sometimes, but you’re not actually a bad person unless you literally want to harm others. I don’t think people are bad once and bad forever, though,” he adds, pulling his hand away from his shirt.

Inhaling deep, he splays his palm wide, admiring those same old loops and whorls at the tips of his fingers, identical in every detail to his old, living, human self... but now pink. It's haunting, sometimes.

“People can change, y’know? If they make the effort to.”

When he finally glances back at Steven, he seems thoroughly spaced out by all his impassioned rambling, his gaze walleyed and void of any identifiable emotion. He scowls, unsure whether or not he should feel offended, and gives an exaggerated shrug to defuse the sickeningly earnest atmosphere out of this room.

“But hey, I’m biased,” he mutters, letting that instinctual, age-old self-depreciation coat his tone once more. “For all I know, everything I said could be absolute bunk, and I’m still just an asshole.”

“I don’t think you’re an asshole, Lars,” Steven finally speaks up, his expression still perplexingly unreadable.

“I—“ His eyes blow wider, the sheer frankness of this comment catching him entirely off guard, overturning all of his once-impenetrable defenses. “...Thank you. I’m trying not to be.”

The conversation doesn’t advance any further from there, both parties content to fade back into the understated comfort of silent companionship. They play a few more rounds of their racing game, Lars beating Steven handily each time. (Truth be told, he’s not confident he’s bringing his A-game, though.) Then, sometime around three AM, his friend drags himself out of the beanbag chair and announces that he should probably head home and get some rest. Apparently he’s got a lot of planning to do for Little Homeschool's graduation ceremony that’s happening in a few days, or whatever. Which, is fair. Not everyone is blessed enough to be a sleepless zombie like him.

“Y’know, it’s been nice, getting to hang out, just us,” Steven says— quiet, but genuine— as Lars leads him back down the stairs. “We should do this more often.”

Purposefully, given the unusual emotional atmosphere of this whole visit, he decides not to mention the fact that he's planning to leave Earth again when his all Gem friends finally graduate. Later, he thinks, when everyone's in a better place.

“Well, if you’re ever bored, you know where to reach me,” he replies as they reach the bottom step, fondly rolling his eyes. “The good ol’ inter-hair-mensional express. Just, y’know— text me. And not during work hours.”

The teen gives his thanks once again, and then exits out the front, making sure to be extra gentle shutting the door on his way out for his parents’ sake. Huh. Seems that even when he’s (seemingly) in a funk, he’s capable of being uber courteous like that. Goodness, how does he do it?

Lars stands motionless at the entryway for a few moments after he’s gone, staring blankly at the now empty space the sixteen-year-old just occupied. His brow furrows, his fingers curling in perplexion at his side. He doesn’t have enough insight into Steven’s inner life to claim anything for sure, but he can’t help but feel like something with that boy was... off, tonight. Like, beyond your standard teenage moodiness. His demeanor, his bizarre and specific question, his relative silence... it all seems to be pointing towards something, lurking in the background. Still, there’s little he can do for a person who’s not volunteering information. And it ain’t his job to drag it out of him, either. He always hated when his parents tried to do that when he was younger, and it almost ruined their relationship entirely. That’s the last sorta scenario he’d want to force upon Steven. He’ll open up when he’s ready, in the end.

And until then... well.

He just hopes that the kid knows that— beyond the bizarre magic portal in that pink lion’s mane— he’s always got a brother on the other side who’s willing to at least listen. To be but a small source of support.

If he wants him to be.

[youreacowgirllikeme]

After Class

note: so, I wasn’t really able to get that image of Jake as a college/university professor out of my head and this kind of happened, idk if it qualifies as an AU but anyway, here is Professor!Jake for you

(sorry for the grammar, non-native speaker here)

warnings: professor-student relationship, swearing, smut (fingering, oral), nsfw

“Shit, shit , shit.”

You ran through the empty hallways towards the lecture hall, the old clock on the wall telling you what you already knew: you were late, almost 20 minutes. And just because you overslept after working on that essay for your political history class till 4 am last night.

Professor Tapper would be so mad, he absolutely hated unpunctuality. Just the thought of him being angry or disappointed with you made you quicken your step even more, because Jacob Tapper was the very man you desperately tried to impress more than anyone else.

He usually worked as the lead political correspondent for CNN down in Washington DC, but, as he stated at the start of his first lecture, decided to take a sabbatical after the 2020 election, using the time to teach at his alma mater as a guest Professor.

He was brilliant, a walking history encyclopedia and was considered to be one of the sharpest political minds of the generation. His lectures were the perfect mix of both of those subjects, and he was throwing in a lot of his journalistic expertise as well. You admired him and truly enjoyed having him as your Professor. And you would’ve loved nothing more than to take in every single brilliant thing he said. But there was one tiny problem.

Because above all, he was hot. Like, please-bend-me-over-your-desk-after-class-hot. That very fact was often making it incredibly hard for you to pay attention to what he was saying, so you spent your lessons staring at his back, his hands, his face from the last row, letting his deep, smooth voice wash over you.

Even if he was more than 20 years older than you, you really had it bad for him, which was one of the reasons you lost sleep every night. That, and his very demanding curriculum.

Out of breath, you finally arrived at the doors of the lecture hall, opening them as quietly as possible, trying to sneak into the room without anyone taking notice of you.

“How nice of you to finally join us, Ms. Y/L/N“

Shit. He had noticed you.

And as you looked to where he was standing in front of the class you could see a deep frown on his handsome face.

He was, as usually, impeccably dressed, wearing a dark blue suit and his glasses, which were a personal weakness of yours.

It took a small cough from one of your classmates for you to stop staring at Professor Tapper and actually addressing him instead of undressing him with your eyes.

“I am so sorry for being late, Sir, it certainly won’t happen again.“ you stammered, feeling like you might faint from the embarrassment of the situation.

"I will certainly hold you to that. Still, come and see me after class to discuss this, please.“ he said, his stern voice and intense stare making your heart almost burst out of your chest.

He turned to the blackboard again, continuing to talk about McCarthyism, his deep voice carrying effortlessly through the lecture hall.

You were still beyond embarrassed that he called you out like that, and even more so because it was very likely that he caught you staring at him. You hastily made your way to the nearest free seat, fortunately this was a Dartmouth senior class and not Highschool, so there were no snickers or silly comments, you didn’t draw much attention.

You spent the remainder of the lesson trying to focus on the actual topic instead of how broad your professors shoulders looked in that tailored suit jacket, or how perfectly styled his grey hair was. Unsurprisingly, you had no success as your mind wandered even further down the dangerous path of attraction you had for Professor Tapper, thinking about the things those long, elegant fingers holding the chalk could do to you or what dirty words he could whisper against your skin with this sinful voice of his.

You were so caught up in your inappropriate daydreaming that you totally missed your Professor ending the lecture and dismissing your classmates.

You heard your name being called, and looked up, startled. Professor Tapper was standing right in front of your desk, arms crossed in front of his chest, staring down at you with an unreadable expression.

“We definetly need to talk about your attitude regarding this class, Ms. Y/L/N. Not only have you been late for the fourth time this month, your participation is severely lacking, to put it mildly. I...I don’t get it.” He said, his voice staring to get louder. He ran his hand through his hair, looking exasperated.

“Your submitted papers are extraordinarily good, your analysis is always spot on, and you find a way of comprehending the topics that no one of your classmates seem to grasp. And yet you spend each one of my lessons not paying attention, you’re not able to awnser any questions and you never partake in discussions. What is the matter? Am I boring you?“

He grew more agitated with each sentence, now leaning onto your desk with both arms and staring directly at you. If he only knew how far from bored you were in his class.

You felt like you were frozen, held in place by the way his eyes were looking straight into yours. His fingers were gripping the edge of your desk now, it took everything in you not to stare at the veins on the back of his hand. And, worst of all, you felt a blush starting to creep up your neck. You couldn’t get a single word out.

“I asked you a question, Ms. Y/L/N.” there was sincere anger evident in his voice now.

„I’m...I’m so sorry, Professor Tapper. I don’t know what’s gotten into me. It doesn’t come from a place of disrespect, because I have nothing but admiration for you...” you stopped yourself before saying something you might regret. You could feel your blush intensifying.

A look of realization flashed over your Professors face.

“Oh, so thats what this is all about, I see.” he murmured, and turned around, walking towards his own desk in the front of the classroom.

“I’ll make the necessary arrangements to get you transferred to Professor Coopers class. This situation is highly inappropriate and it can’t interfere with your academial career, I won’t allow it.”

You were shocked.

Quitting Professor Tappers class? Never having another lecture with him again seemed like an impossible thing to even imagine. Before you could stop yourself, you began to speak again.

“No, Sir, please don’t do this. I’ll get a grip on it, I promise. It’s a silly crush, I won’t act on it, ever. I’ll never be late again, and I’ll participate, I’ll respond to every single question you give me, just please don’t make me quit your class.” you pleaded.

Your professor didn’t answer, so you got up from your chair and made your way over to him, coming to a halt in front of his desk. He was looking at you, eyes dark, an almost pained expression on his face. You took the paper you spent all night finishing out of your bag, putting it on his desk.

“This is my latest assignment, please read it before you make your decision. I am really putting so much effort into my work for this class, and I can’t imagine going to another professor with my questions. Please don’t send me away.” You were almost begging now, desperation evident in your voice.

Professor Tapper sighed and took of his glasses, the motion making your heart go fast you felt arousal starting to burn in your lower stomach. He was too attractive for his own good. You realized, too late, that you said the last part out loud.

“Sorry.” you whispered, not daring to meet his eye.

“Ms...Y/N” he said, addressing you by your first name for the first time ever.

You looked up to him.

“What you don’t understand is that I can’t allow myself to teach you anymore, considering this new...development. I just can’t do it.”

He took another deep breath, looking as if he was under an immense amount of stress. His shoulders were tense, and the crease between his eyebrows was more prominent then ever.

“But why?” you cried, “we can act like this whole conversation never happened. Nothing has to change, I’ll do better, I promise!”

He slammed his palm onto the table, the loud noise echoing through the empty lecture hall.

“Because it takes every damn ounce of my self control not to throw you over this desk right now and have my way with you, so how the hell am I supposed to teach you every day knowing that this is exactly what you want me to do? Staring at me like you’re doing it right now? I can’t do it!”

he was almost shouting now, breathing heavily. He was leaning over his desk so that his face was just inches apart from yours, close enough for you to see the small wrinkles around his eyes and how his lips were slightly parted.

And then you just leaned over and kissed him. His lips were soft but unmoving under yours. He was absolutely rigid for a second. Then he groaned against your mouth, and one of his hands reached out to cup your jaw and pull you closer, deepening the kiss.

A moan escaped your lips, and he broke free, taking several steps back from you. He was breathing hard and you could see a bulge beginning to form in his suit pants.

“Y/N, you have to leave. Now. We can’t do this.”

But there was no chance you were throwing away this opportunity. You’ve wanted this man for months, and this was your shot. So you slowly circled the desk and stopped right in front of Professor Tapper.

Gathering all your courage, you put one of your hands on his arm...and let the other one brush against his tight, close to his crotch. He let out a hiss, but didn’t make an attempt to remove your hands. His body was tense, but his eyes were dark and full of desire. He clearly wanted this as much as you did.

“No one needs to know. “ you whispered. “We obviously both want this, we’re both adults and you’re not even responsible for my final exam. You’re a guest professor, plus my graduation is only two months away anyway. I’ve wanted this, you, since I first stepped into your class.”

This broke his last resolve, he surged forward and started kissing you again, harder this time, his hands roaming your back, going downwards and squeezing your ass through your skirt as he pressed you against the hardening bulge in his trousers. "Fuck...are you sure you want to do this?“ he groaned into your ear. You just managed a breathy „Oh my god, yes.“

He instantly grabbed your hair to tilt your head back and cover your exposed neck with kisses and nibbles, making your skin break out in goosebumps and heat coiling in your lower stomach. You could feel yourself starting to get wet, and grinded your core against his erection again, your hands fisted into the lapels of his suit jacket. You moved against him, causing him to groan again, the deep, rumbling sound only fueling your arousal.

Your hands were shaking as you started working on his fly, opening the zipper and palming his cock through his boxer briefs.

While he continued to kiss your neck, his hands found their way under your skirt and he quickly pulled your panties down. As soon as your hot center was exposed, one of his long fingers parted your folds, gathering wetness.

Two of his digits entered you in a swift motion and the feeling of his fingers stretching you was like heaven. He was stroking that special spot deep inside you with every move as he plunged in and out of your wet pussy.

You buried you head in Jacobs (yes, you started thinking of him as Jacob, which was fair enough considering he had his fingers buried inside you) shoulder, muffling your increasing moans as you felt your orgasm approaching. The familiar tingling started low in your belly and slowly spread into every part of your body as Jake continued to thrust his fingers in and out of you faster and faster, the heel of his hand rubbing against your clit in the most delicious way.

"I’ve wanted to touch you for so long, feel you come apart under me. Come on, darling, come on my fingers.“ he growled into your ear and bit your earlobe. That was the last straw and you came with a cry, your walls clenching around his fingers as pleasure surged through you.

Your knees were weak as you slowly removed your head from his shoulder to look him in the eyes. His blown pupils and heavy breathing were making it obvious that this was affecting him just as much as you, which was also evident from the very prominent erection that was tenting his boxer briefs through the open fly. He carefully withdrew his fingers and quickly wiped them on his pants.

"Wow“ you said, still trying to find your breath. "That was...amazing“

Your head was still spinning a bit from the intensity of your orgasm, but you were already thinking about how to repay him for making you feel so good.

You reached out your hand to palm his erection again, making him utter a low groan. Leaning forward, you whispered into his ear.

"Let me reciprocate, please.”

"You don’t have to-"

You broke him off with a small smirk.

"Please, I insist.”

Without hesitation, you dropped to your knees in front of him. He watched you intensely, sucking in a sharp breath as you looked up to him from under your lashes while you slowly pulled down his briefs along with his trousers. His erection sprung free, and you wasted no time, putting your hand around the base and slowly started taking the head into your mouth. You could feel his cock heavy on your tongue as you slowly sucked him deeper. One of his hands fisted into your hair and he started thrusting in and out of your mouth.

You put your hands onto his thighs for leverage, softly scraping you nails across his skin, which only seemed to spur him on, his thrusts starting to become deeper.

“God, Y/N, your mouth feels absolutely fantastic. You look so beautiful on your knees, sucking me off, taking my cock between your pretty lips.”

You almost couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of your usually so eloquent Professors mouth. Who would’ve known he could talk so dirty.

It turned you on, immensely, and you increased your efforts, taking him even deeper into your mouth. You could feel his thrusts starting to quicken, and even if it was getting harder for you not to gag, you were enjoying this slightly rough treatment.

"Shit, I’m- I’m going to come, Y/N.” he gasped, locking eyes with you.

You nodded your head as far as it was possible, signaling him to not stop. Instead, you wrapped your hands around his legs and swallowed his cock deeper until it was hitting the back of your throat. He let out a deep, guttural moan and tightened his grip on your hair almost painfully as he came inside your mouth.

You released him, wiping the spit from your lips and looked up at your Professor. He was a sight to behold, dark eyes, tousled hair, leaning against his desk as he was slowly coming down from his high. You spoke first, getting up from the floor.

“I...liked that.” you said, unsure of what to say exactly.

He took a deep breath and rubbed a hand across his face.

“It was absolutely amazing. But we shouldn’t have done it. The very last thing I want is to take advantage of you. You deserve to be treated right.” he said in a low voice as he was readjusting his clothing. Hearing him say those things made a warm, happy feeling spread inside your chest. He cared. This hasn’t been just some quick way to blow off steam.

“You treated me exactly right, please dont worry...Jacob” you said, testing out the unfamiliar first name. He just nodded, and then his arms were around you, pulling you into a tight hug as he pressed a soft kiss to your hair.

“Thank you so much. But if you want this to continue, I must insist that you transfer into Professor Coopers class. Please, Y/N.”

his voice was heavy with emotion and he released you from the embrace to look directly at you.

“I agree. And I very much want this to continue, so I’m gonna transfer. It’s only for a few more weeks anyway. But, and this is my condition, you have to take me out for dinner this weekend.”

“Fair enough. I’d love to take you out properly. And please, call me Jake.”

[an-absolute-travesty]

Secret Santa fic!

Heya @all-eternity it was me all along! I hope you enjoy this :) very much looking foward to actually being able to follow you after this without looking sketchy lmao

Also shoutout to my lovely beta reader @keepersandqueens as if I don’t talk about Salas enough here lol

Warnings: underage drinking, drinking in general, hangover, drugs/medication mention (not abused, basic over the counter stuff dw), mentions of vomit (not described)

Pairings: Kam, background marelinh, ex titz

About: Kam coffee shop college au 

Word count: 5,205

Tag list (tell me if you want to be added or removed): @cadence-talle @ruewen-and-rising @lemontarto @a-lonely-tatertot @clearlyvacksen @percabetn @sewersewersewercouch @everyonehasthoughts @imaramennoodle @enbies-and-felonies @blxckh0les42​ @rainbowtay-11 @callas-starkflower-stew @impostertamsong @appalyneinstitute1 @stars-and-splendor @anna-without-an-e @mistythegenderqueermess @we-have-no-bananas-today @we-wont-dissapear @jadenightthewriter

Tam stumbled into his first 8 am class, anxiety making his heart feel like it was pounding out of his chest and stomach doing backflips.

If he could survive bouncing between foster homes, a short stint at juvie, and worst of all high school, he could survive college.

Well he thought he could until he saw a familiar person right next to the only available chair in the room.

God fucking damn it.

"Hey Bangs Boy!" Keefe waved him down, causing a scene. Tam had no option but to sit beside him, both because of the lack of chairs and the fact that everyone was now staring at him.

Not a great start.

"What a coincidence! I notice you still haven't taken my suggestions on your hair, I'm telling ya' you'd get all the girls and or guys and nonbinary pals with a man bun." Keefe looked smug at the fact he'd be able to taunt Tam for another semester, minimum. Tam was already making a mental note to check when he could swap out of classes.

"Keefe, if I knew you were going here I would've just gotten myself back in jail, oh wait, you were the one who got me in there in the first place." Tam shot him a look, praying that he'd suddenly develop superpowers and shoot lasers from his eyes.

"Hey, just because I came up with the idea...and helped with some of the execution, doesn't mean I'm responsible for you trashing your parents house. Besides, you were only in there for like 3 days max before you got out," Keefe said, shrugging as if 3 days in jail was no biggie.

"Most peaceful 3 days of my life," Tam sneered, turning back to the front of the room as the professor walked in.

"Good morning class!" the prof turned to the white board, writing his name. "I am Dr. Harding," he tapped it for emphasis.

The class was silent.

"And you say good mor..."

"Good morning Dr. Harding," The class said in unison, they all sounded tired and bored.

This wasn't going to be fun.

~*~

"Grande ice vanilla latte for...Hen-are-y?"

The man shot Keefe a look as he grabbed his coffee.

"Henry." He dropped a tip in the jar, fifty cents. How generous.

He had come in before, and never left good tips. Keefe made it a game to pronounce the names of anyone who wasn't a college student and left bad tips wrong, no matter how much they came in. It was a wonder he hadn't been fired yet.

As he turned preparing another drink, the bell at the top of the door rang. He ignored it at first until he heard a quiet, "Fuck," come from behind.

"Bangs boy!"

"Why are you here?"

"I work here obviously," Keefe walked up to the counter. "Now, what'll it be?"

Tam sighed. "Iced caramel macchiato with two extra shots of espresso."

"Size?"

"Venti."

Keefe whistled thinking about how much caffeine that was as he wrote down "Bangs Boy" on the cup.

"Alright, that'll be 5.75, may I ask why the insane amount of coffee? I believe I remember you saying caffeine makes you anxious in high school."

"Yes, but it also helps me focus, and I have a quiz tomorrow I haven't studied for."

"Fair enough," Keefe said, going to prepare the drink. "It'll be ready in five."

Tam nodded, walking off to the side and scrolling on his phone. Keefe made the drink, occasionally sneaking looks over at Tam. He didn't seem to notice, thank God.

Soon after, they finished the transaction.

"See you at class," Keefe said, he was trying to be genuine, but it came across more taunting.

Tam grimaced, muttered "Thanks for the coffee," and walked out the door.

~*~

The class fell silent as a disheveled Dr. Harding walked in, a pack of gatorade in one hand and bottle of tylenol in the other. He popped one as he sat down.

"Hello class it seems today I have the worst headache imaginable, just give me about 5 minutes of silence and we will go over your assignments."

Keefe leaned over to Tam's desk.

"Well, we know what he got into last night," he whispered. "Heard the bar on the corner of 5th was giving out two for ones for professors."

"Isn't that place run by the alumni?"

"Exactly. Gotta thank Alvar tomorrow, Fitz said it was his idea."

"Wait Fitz goes here too? Why did I not-"

"Boys!" Dr. Harding practically yelled. "I am tired of the racket." He put his face in his hands where his elbows rested on the desk, bald spot showing to the world.

"We were whispering!" Keefe made a 'what the hell' sort of gesture. Tam glared at him, hoping he could communicate 'I will kill you myself if you say another word' with just his eyes.

"Sencen, do I look like I care?"

Keefe winced a bit at the use of his last name. That was something Tam could understand.

"Look, boys," Dr. Harding stood up and turned to the chalkboard, writing something down. "If you all like talking so much, you'll love this next project."

He walked to the side, revealing the board, that read '10 page essay, due the 25th'

"With the person next to you, you'll be writing a 10 page essay on um...the importance of keeping your oil changed in your car. You'll then present it to the class. It's worth 25 points."

A student raised their hand.

"Luka?"

"Sir, I thought this was a psychology course?"

"It is. You are all excused."

With that, he left the room with his tylenol and gatorade in his arms. The students glared at Keefe and Tam as they all got up, muttering amongst themselves about the pure bullshittery of it all.

"So..." Keefe said, slowly standing. "Does the library tomorrow at 3 work? I have work until then, so it can't be any earlier."

"Yeah, sure." Tam promptly walked out of the classroom as fast as possible, he didn't know why but his anxiety was spiking. He tried to tell himself it was just because he was a useless gay that didn't know jackshit about cars, yeah, surely that was it.

Just a useless gay.

~*~

Tam waited at a table in the library, it was 3:05, Keefe was late.

He didn't know what else he expected from him, he always seemed to do stuff like this. At the same time, Tam didn't have the energy to be particularly mad at him. This was going to be the stupidest essay ever written in the history of man, might as well put it off.

The library door slammed open, and in came Keefe. He balanced a large stack of papers and books along with four drinks. He stumbled over to Tam and practically threw them down on the table.

"Sorry I'm late, I thought it would be nice to, like, get you a coffee, but I didn't know how much caffeine you wanted, so I got one decaf caramel macchiato, one normal, and one with an extra shot, and also hot chocolate for me."

He sat down in the chair by Tam, as if getting three different coffees for someone you were forced to do a project with was totally normal.

"Um...thanks, I-I can pay you back-"

"Don't worry about it." Keefe turned to him and smiled, bright and friendly. Tam was frozen. "Okay, now it's car time." Keefe turned back to the desk.

"Yeah."

They were silent for a while as they researched, Keefe going through his piles of papers and books and Tam on his laptop like any sane person would.

Tam finally worked up the nerve to talk.

"So um...this is out of nowhere, but I think you mentioned Fitz went here?"

"Oh, yeah." Keefe put down the absurdly large textbook that was set up in front of him. "He's my roommate, he uh thought it would be best not to tell you after everything, I guess."

"That's fine," Tam shrugged like he didn't care. "I'm over it."

He was, really. They only dated like 2 weeks, sure it ended with a...pretty big fight after Fitz claimed he wouldn't be able to date someone who had gone to jail and Tam reminded him it was his best friend that got him in there in the first place, but he was still over it. There was still something bothering him, nothing to do with Fitz himself but...something. He just couldn't put his finger on what.

"Alright, I'll take your word." Keefe shrugged, setting his giant book back up in front of him.

Tam felt the need to start talking again, but didn't. They were mostly silent for the next 40 minutes or so, just researching and the occasional word exchanged between them.

Keefe checked his phone.

"Shit," He got up. "Work emergency, I gotta go. Same time tomorrow?"

"Yeah that works."

"Chill, see ya' later."

"Bye."

Keefe waved (with a wide grin Tam would've called idiotic in high school) as he went out the door.

Tam found himself with a smile on his own face, he quickly stopped, hoping no one saw.

~*~

Keefe hurried into work, pulling his apron on as he saw the absurdly long line and a panicked Marella frantically making coffees behind the counter. She sighed with relief when she saw him.

"Thank God," She said as he stepped behind the counter with her. "There was a scheduling error, Forkle's useless at that stuff."

Mr. Forkle, their well-meaning but often mistaken manager, was out of town at the moment. The fate of the Starbucks rested on two college kids, what could go wrong.

And so they went, Keefe taking orders and Marella fulfilling them until there were no more to serve.

Marella, quite literally, threw in a towel she had wiped her face with. Promptly going to the back, presumably for her break. Keefe followed her.

"Alright, I think you can probably go back to whatever you were doing before this now if you'd like," said Marella, inspecting the small braids in her hair in the nearest shiny surface.

"Nah I was just doing a project with Tam for Harding's stupid class, he's probably left by now, I might as well rack up some overtime."

Marella turned back at him, clearly caught off guard at the name.

"Tam? As in my-girlfriend's-brother Tam? As in you-had-a-massive-crush-on-in-highschool Tam? As in dated-Fitz Tam? As in you-got-him-in-jail-"

"Yes! Yes! Why does everyone remind me of that, it was one time."

"When you get someone in jail, people tend to remember," Marella went silent for a second, thinking, before looking Keefe in the eye. "Wow, that must be awkward as hell, I mean seriously, if I were you I'd straight up file a restraining order just to avoid him. Maybe move to another country. I hear Estonia is lovely this time of year."

"Eh, it's not as bad as it seems. I mean it was awful at first, mostly because I tried to resume right where we left it on the taunting front, but I think it's ok now."

"Hm. Well good luck with that," Marella turned back to go to the front, but Keefe grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Uh, actually I need your advice on something. It has to do with Tam."

"Shoot."

"Well I was thinking of maybe, I don't know, asking him out or something? Look, yeah, it's an awful idea but is it 'he never wants to talk to me again' awful or 'he attempts to strangle me' awful?"

Marella looked him up and down, eyes uncomfortably cold, as usual.

"I mean, no hetero, but despite your annoying qualities you're a decent looking guy. Plus Tam's, like, super anxious according to Linh, so maybe he'll be too awkward to say no. You can probably squeeze at least one date in there."

"Wow, thanks Mare," Keefe mumbled, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Yes, I try. Also don't call me Mare."

"Alright Ella!" Keefe called as the front door's bell rang, signalling a new customer. Marella went off to take care of it, unable to respond she growled back at him.

~*~

Tap tap tap tap tap.

Tam glared from across the table.

Tap tap tap tap tap tap.

"Why do you keep doing that?"

Keefe looked up, muttered a simple "Fidgety" and went right back to it, tapping his pen against the table. Tam said nothing more.

Keefe had been quiet for this entire meeting, something highly unusual for him.

"Ok, seriously dude, what's up? I haven't seen you this quiet literally ever."

He only seemed to get more fidgety at this question, his bouncing leg shaking the library table.

"I...um..." he looked down, running a hand through his hair "I have a test I need to cram for and no one to study with and keep me accountable. Y'know, ADHD issues."

Tam didn't overthink for once in his life but the moment the sentence was out of his mouth he regretted it.

"I have a test too, maybe we could study together?"

Keefe smiled his annoyingly charming smile.

"Sounds good."

"Good."

Tam quickly looked back down at his computer, trying to look like he was still doing car research when in actuality he was processing he just actively offered to spend more time with Keefe Sencen.

If Linh found out about this he'd never live it down.

He didn't think he cared.

~*~

Dr. Harding walked through the classroom door, clearly much less hungover than his last appearance.

The students waited, would they get an apology? Any sort of remorse?

"Alright, who wants to read first?"

Apparently not.

Keefe raised his hand with too much confidence for what their essay looked like. Tam gave him a confused look. He had his scheming face on, never good.

"Mr. Sencen!" Keefe winced at the use of his last name by the doctor. "What an amazing start, it's only appropriate. One of you boys come up and present."

Tam gave Keefe a look of 'do you want me to do it?' Keefe just smiled and got up from his chair. This would either be really good or really, really bad. Tam was all too familiar with the scheme face.

"Doc, I did depart from the source material a bit here, hope you don't mind. And I use 'I' because Tam had no involvement in this, he deserves full points for his essay."

Keefe cleared his throat, the room was so silent you could hear a pin drop.

"Doctor Harding deserves to get fired: an essay. (And it's only been a week!) Paragraph one, his drinking problem-"

"Sencen! Back to your seat now. I will see you after class, or I will not see you in my next class, understand?"

Keefe gave a thumbs up as he sat back on his chair with a thud.

A few minutes later, in the middle of another student's essay, he passed Tam a note with his loopy handwriting.

"The amount of comebacks I had for 'see me after class' is absurd but if I get kicked out there's no way Elwin is helping me pay tuition a second time."

Tam tried not to smile, certainly failing, as he wrote his response.

"Yeah I think the time you talked back to Miss Cadence she wanted to expel you. Lucky Principal Alina had a thing for pseudo-dad Alden."

"Oh God I haven't talked to him in a whiiiiiile."

"?"

"You haven't heard? Yeah, he sorta found out like ALL his kids were ell gee bee tees and freaked out. Della found herself a new gf though!"

"Sounds like a lovely extra punch in the gut for a queerphobe."

"Yep. Honestly I recommend looking through his Facebook sometime. Just a million rants about how the gays destroy everything, great entertainment."

"Duly noted."

At that point it seemed like the doctor started to take notice of their note passing, and they stopped quickly. Tam wouldn't be surprised if he did the whole high school read in front of the class thing with the way he had been acting so far.

Tam was 100% sure tenure was the only thing keeping this guy's job intact. Apparently being a drunk asshole wasn't near enough to get a person out of their position. He tried to ignore the professor's annoyingly smug face for the rest of the class.

~*~

Keefe sat in his usual spot at the library, Tam sitting across from him, his brown eyes dancing across the textbook page and lips mumbling along the words. He didn't have much to do, often finding himself just staring at Tam, quickly looking away if he seemed to notice.

Eventually he sighed, sitting back.

"Ugh, this test is in a week and I have so much other crap to do, I'll never get this all memorized by Friday."

Keefe silently thanked his brain for managing to get around the having to study thing. Yay, photographic memory!

"Oh, uh, well I'm free to study more tomorrow if that would help? We could do, like, flashcards or something."

Tam seemed to repress a smile. He did that a lot. Keefe always noticed.

"That's okay, I'm sure you have better things to do. The Starbucks is always pretty packed."

"Eh, sometimes you have to get away from Marella. She's mean to me."

"Not just you, once she told me if I ever made fun of Linh's cat's name again she'd make me cut off my own bangs."

Keefe nodded sagely. "The shorter you are the closer to hell. That's why you're worse than her."

"Hey!"

Tam flicked a stray rubber band at Keefe.

"I'm at least 2 inches taller than Marella...we measured."

Keefe thought up about 12 inappropriate jokes he couldn't make before flicking the rubber band back.

"Two inches only counts in roller coasters, none of which you can ride."

Tam stuck his tongue out before returning to his studies. Unlike Tam, Keefe didn't hide his smile.

~*~

Tam strolled into the Starbucks that Friday morning, no longer surprised to see Keefe working the counter. He could barely hold still in line as he thought about the amount of cramming he'd have to do in the next few hours.

When he reached the counter, Keefe said nothing, just busily worked making a drink.

He stuck it right out at Tam.

"One venti iced caramel macchiato with 2 extra shots of espresso because you have a test today in political science and still haven't studied everything and also a muffin because you probably haven't eaten today. On the house. Good luck with the studying."

Tam froze.

"I- um- th-thaks. Y-you too...sport."

Oh, you fucking idiot.

He quickly scurried out of the Starbucks with drink and muffin in hand. Wow, he had screwed that up.

But...

Keefe...

He...

He remembered his order and that he had a test and that he forgot to eat when he was stressed holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit-

Okay, deep breaths Tam, you got this. You can totally handle a frustratingly cute guy showing care for you this is fine...

Not fine, not fine, gotta tell Linh.

He called Linh with no forewarning. Despite the fact that she was currently across the country at a different university, and it was about 3 am for her, she picked up. He barely let her get out a groggy "Hello?" before explaining everything. She only seemed to think a moment before responding.

"Hm. Well it's good to know that college is going good for you. Do you need advice or comfort?"

"Yes."

"Well, first of all, everything's gonna be okay. And I know that doesn't help much but just try to remember we're eighteen, and it's not the end of the world. Second of all, try to ask him out or something. It doesn't have to be framed as a date, like Marella and I got together on a walk in the park, seriously it can be anything."

"Thanks Linh."

"No problem, also can you hug Marella for me?"

"If she doesn't try to kill me first, yes."

"Nice. Okay go do what you gotta do, also don't wake me up at 3 am again or else I'll sic Purryfins on you, I had just gone to bed."

With that she hung up and Tam continued on his way, still trying to not completely freak out.

~*~

Keefe stared blankly as Tam walked right out of the door. Marella appeared by his arm.

"So, how'd it go?"

"Well, he called me 'sport'."

Marella inhaled through her teeth.

"Yikes. Comfort, advice, or distraction?"

"Distraction, please." Keefe replied, absent-mindedly preparing a cup for the next customer.

"Uh, well I meant to ask you what ended up happening with that ass of a teacher, but I got a bit distracted at your attempt to woo Tam-"

"Hey I said distraction not reminder. But basically I just got a slap on the wrist because, and I quote, 'Your father is Cassius Sencen! He wrote half the books we use in this class, I'm sure he can straighten you out!'"

"There's absolutely nothing papa Sencen could do to make you straight, I'm pretty sure he tried that, and it obviously didn't work."

"He actually tried a few times and it most definitely did not. Lucky he doesn't have my number anymore or else I assure you he'd keep trying."

Marella laughed.

"Well, moving on from grade A assholes, I'm supposed to tell you there's a party tonight. I'll have to send you the address later, I have it on my phone though, I am told there's gonna be booze, so I'm going."

"Eh, I'll probably go. Just to get my mind off everything."

"Thata boy." She lifted her phone. "And my shifts over in three, two, one, and I am out of here! See ya' tonight Hunkyhair."

"That's Lord Hunkyhair to you."

She just rolled her eyes and clocked out, leaving Keefe to deal with both the customers and his own thoughts.

~*~

Tam sat in his dorm room alone, constantly refreshing his grades for the possibility that his 70-year-old professor would post the test results at 1:30 am.

His roommate was gone for the weekend, actually he was gone most of the time. Tam didn't think they'd even had a full conversation before.

He jumped as his phone began to ring, a call from Keefe of all people. He hesitantly picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Tam! Tam Tam Tam Tam Tam" Keefe's slurred speech was too loud for a phone call, Tam held his phone a bit away from his ear. "...fuck wait why did I call you..."

There was a long pause, neither said anything.

"Oh yeah! I needed to tell you something...but uh I uhm I forgot what it was."

"Keefe, where are you?"

"At a paaaaaarty, well, actually just outside a party because it was hot in there, but now it's cold out here so uh yeah."

Tam sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Okay, send me the address, I'm coming to pick you up. Wait right there and don't move."

"Okie dokie."

Tam heard a thud sort of sound and the rustling of grass from the other line before Keefe hung up and soon after got a message of his location.

After 20 minutes of walking in the cold, Tam came up to what seemed to be a frat house with Keefe sitting on the lawn in criss-cross, patiently waiting in short sleeves and basketball shorts, way too little clothing for the weather. His ruddy face smiled as he saw Tam approach.

"Tam! I remembered what I was going to tell you." He stood up, face falling right after. "Oh no wait I forgot again. Ooh! You need a drink."

Keefe grabbed Tam's hand, pulling him towards the house. Tam stayed in place.

"Hey, let's get you home dude."

Keefe pouted.

"I don't wannaaaa."

He slouched down, pulling on Tam's arm like a child having a tantrum.

Tam pulled him back up to his feet.

"C'mon, if you go to your dorm without fuss I'll buy you ice cream tomorrow."

Keefe seemed much more ok with going along with Tam with the ice cream deal. He pulled off his own coat and placed it around the very drunk boy, he didn't complain.

Keefe began humming some annoying song from the early 2000s that was playing from the house earlier as they walked back in the direction of the dorms.

Suddenly, Tam remembered something.

Fitz was Keefe's roommate.

Shit.

"Hey uh do you think Fitz is at your dorm?"

Keefe nodded confidently.

"Yep! Said he was gon' study. Wouldn't come to the party because of his 'reputation' or whatever."

Around reputation he did exaggerated finger quotes, nearly knocking Tam's jacket off his shoulders.

"Hm...in that case let's go to my dorm, ok?"

Keefe shrugged, apparently willing to go along with most things in his current state. Thank goodness Linh had made Tam bring extra pillows and blankets to college, he could sleep on the floor and just hope Keefe didn't get sick on him in the night.

It was ridiculously hard to lead Keefe back to his dorm. He tried to pull down his pants halfway there and Tam almost had to carry him up the stairs but soon enough they got there. He sighed with relief as he led his inebriated friend into the room.

"Okay, you can stay here for the night. I'll sleep on the floor."

Keefe plopped himself down on Tam's bed laying flat for only a moment before sitting up with a snap and a look of realization in his eyes.

"OOH! I remember what I was gonna tell you again!"

"Oh?" Tam said playing along, expecting him to forget again.

He patted the spot next to him on the bed, Tam continued to play along, sitting next to him.

"So Marella said that I should just tell you this, and it worked for her, so I'm gonna. And uh and you have to promise to listen 'cause I'm not sayin' it again."

At this point Keefe grabbed his face with both hands, staring right in Tam's eyes and squishing his cheeks.

"You're listening right?"

Tam nodded, mostly to shake Keefe's hands off his face.

"Okay."

Keefe took in an over dramatic breath as if he was preparing to preform in the Olympics before getting another grin on his face.

"I really like you."

"You really like me?"

He nodded mumbling "mhm".

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I like you. Like, like like you."

"Like...as a friend?"

"I said I wasn't gonna repeat myself. As a booooyfriend." At this point Keefe fell back on the bed, looking at the ceiling. Tam's cheeks were burning.

"How long have you liked me like that?"

"Mmmm..." Keefe seemed to ponder for a moment, "Prolly high school."

"Oh um...good to know. You should get some rest. I'll be down here if you need me."

"Alrighty."

Tam shut off the lights and Keefe started snoring quick. Tam could only stare up in the darkness, unable to sleep.

~*~

Keefe woke up that morning in a room he didn't recognize to a killer headache and dead phone.

He turned to the side, seeing a pile of blankets and pillows with a large gatorade, bottle of tylenol, and a note next to it. Suddenly last nights memories came flooding back.

Oh, shit.

He scrambled out of bed, headache and nausea hitting him harder as he stood up.

Despite the fact his head was spinning, he picked up the note from the ground and read it.

Hey, meet me at the reservoir around 6, we need to talk -Tam

F. U. C. K.

Had he really said all that stuff last night? Surely it was a dream, right?

Oh God.

He gathered his few belongings, plus the things to help the hangover, and left the dorms as fast as possible. Only having to stop once along the way to throw up in one of the campus trash cans, hopefully no one would notice.

Keefe didn't have anything to do and he really didn't want to face Fitz so he went about his day in last nights clothing. Then again, it was a college campus. Someone walking around with rumpled clothes carrying a gatorade probably wasn't that big of a deal for most people. By 5:30 he sat impatiently in the empty park where the reservoir was located, it was colder closer to the water.

Just as promised, at 6 o'clock he saw Tam approaching on the horizon.

~*~

Tam was damn near a panic attack as he walked around the park attempting to find Keefe. Eventually he found him, sitting on a bench still in his clothes from last night, face once again ruddy from the cold. He sat next to him wordlessly.

"So," Keefe started.

"So," Tam replied, looking down at his lap.

"Tam I-" Keefe turned to face him. "I'm sorry about everything last night, I probably just made everything super awkward. Not to mention it's a giant violation of the friend code to even have a crush on your best friend's ex-"

"Yeah, about that."

"What?"

"You're gonna maybe kill me for this but uh," Tam pulled on his bangs. "I sorta talked to Fitz about it, I figured you wouldn't and apparently I was right. He said he was okay with it as long as we were ok with it."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

Tam sighed, "Perhaps."

Keefe once again wore that shit-eating grin of his.

"Can I hear you say it?"

"Why don't you have to say it?"

"Already said it last night! Your turn now. Why did you take care of me while I was drunk?"

Keefe stared at Tam excitedly waiting for the answer. Tam sighed.

"Because I love you, little shit."

"Ooh you said it-"

Tam smashed his lips against Keefe's, both quickly melting into it. After only a moment they pulled away.

"Agh, you taste like gatorade and vomit."

"Well you taste like salt so really what's worse."

"Definitely the vomit."

Despite this, Tam leaned back in. This kiss was a moment longer than the last, and when Tam pulled away Keefe chased it.

"Ok, look I'm sorry but you look like shit Keefe you have to go change." Tam removed his jacket, throwing it around Keefe once again and helping him up from the bench. Keefe laughed.

"Yeah, you're right. Ooh now that we're a thing you need a new nickname!"

"I do?"

"You do, how about 'Bangs Boyf' ooh or maybe you can be my 'provoked partner' or my 'snappy spouse' my 'agitated accomplice' perhaps."

"Do you just have these ready and prepared for any situation?"

"A magician never reveals his secrets."

"You aren't Houdini, you're an 18-year-old boy that currently reeks of frat party."

"Eh that's basically the same thing. I've seen some 18-year-olds at frat parties preform tricks Houdini could never dream of."

Tam sighed dramatically. "It's a good thing you're pretty, you know."

"Hey!" Keefe jokingly shoved him.

For the first time Tam's smile wasn't repressed.

[alice-angel12x]

Riddle x Mouse!Reader

The reader is a mouse beast-man that is 7.5 inches tall in normal form.

It was odd going to a school completely designed for larger students, and it took a lot of convincing to get the crow man to let me attend the school.

The entrance ceremony was a little awkward cause the headmaster had to lift me to the mirror to be properly signed to a dorm. And wouldn't you know it, I was assigned to the Heartslabyul Dorm. I happily hopped down and climbed up to my seat, next to a redheaded boy. 

He looked so serious, yet he was shaking in his boots, so I thought I would lighten the mood.

--------

I made it and into Heartslabyul dorm no less.

"Hello there," Squeaked a voice. 

I looked around looking for the source, but only saw Trey and a space next to me.

"Down here," It squeaked again.

I looked down at the chair beside me to see a tiny Person with Mouse Ears and tail. They looked no bigger than a teacup, why is such a tiny student doing here.

"I'm Y/n Angera, What's your name?" Y/n squeaked with a cute smile.

I could feel my heart start to quicken and pound in my chest as I stared at this tiny person, But why, why do I feel this way.

"Are you okay, your cheeks are red," Y/n said in a curious.

"I-It's nothing, M-My name is Riddle Roseheart," I said as I tried to recompose myself.

"It's nice to meet You Riddle," Y/n said as they held out their tiny hand.

"Likewise, So where do you come from?" I asked as I gently shook his hand.

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"I come from Whisker Town," Y/n said squeaked proudly.

Riddle blushed at the tiny person's cuteness, as his heart fluttered in his chest. Riddle tried to compose himself as he looked away from Y/n while muttering something just loud enough for Y/n to hear.

"If you e-ever need help with something just ask, Okay," Riddle mumbled.

Y/n's eyes widened at the sudden offer, but They smiled none the less.

"Thank you, Riddle, that's very kind of you," Y/n squeaked.

"I-It's cause rule #543 of  Heartslabyul, help your fellow Dormmate. You should memorize all the rules," Riddle said with a snobby pout as his cheeks stayed a slight red. 

"well Thank you nonetheless, Riddle," Y/n smiled.

-------

From that day on Riddle would help Y/n around the school, From helping them get to classes, helping them upstairs, Studing, and other big people tasks. The two would enjoy their study sessions and tea parties together. 

"Y/n that tea cup is too tall and big for you. Your going to fall in," Riddle warned, as he watch the tiny mouse person try to drink from the cup.

"NO, no I got it," Y/n said as he leaned over the lip of the cup.

And just as Riddle warned, Y/n fell into the cup of hot tea. Riddle gasped as he quickly fished out his tiny friend. Y/n coughed up some tea as Riddel craddled them in his hands. Riddle could feel his heart race as Y/n continued to cough up tea, and slowly sit up in Riddles shacky hands..

"I told you not to do that!" Riddle scolded as his heart slowly calmed down.

"In know, but.." Y/n paused, " That was some pretty good tea,"

Trey who was also at the table chuckled slightly as Riddle's face turned red from frustration.

"You could have gotten horribly burned you.. you idiot," Riddle mummled as he put his mouse friend down on the table.

"Sorry Riddle. I didn't mean to scare you like that," Y/n apologized.

"it's fine just don't do that again," Riddle mummbed.

As Riddle spent more time with Y/n, he would notice a few students from their dorm would pick on his favorite tiny friend.

But when he brought it up with the dorm leader, he simply shrugged his shoulders and did nothing. This angered Riddle, as he challenged the Dorm head the next day and won. Making him the youngest dorm head ever.

At first, things were pretty good, Y/n was thankful that Riddle put a stop to the bullying, and it helped them to get along with the other Dormmates. 

But naturally, things slowly started to go downhill. Riddle started to become more and more uptight and strict as the months passed. At first, it wasn't so bad, but then it started to get intense.

When Y/n would be a few minutes late to lunch and drank lemon tea passed a certain time, it was an Instant scolding. If Y/n was fooling around with fellow dormmates st a tea party, is punished by forced to write a 2 paged apology. No one was spared from Riddle's punishment, not even his close friends. Y/n soon found it harder and harder to keep up with all the rules that Riddle enforces.

"Hey Y/n are you feeling okay," Trey asked as he helped his underclassmen up the stairs.

"I don't think I can keep up with Riddle and his rules. Just look at me! How can any think sending a 7-inch tall student, to feed 4 feet tall birds, is a good idea?!" Y/n ranted.

"Well Riddle is just trying to uphold tradition," Trey tried to defend.

"I was almost eaten by a bird yesterday, Trey," Y/n said with an unamused face.

"Well, let's just turn in the apology paper," Trey said not knowing how to respond to that comeback.

"I don't think I want to come back to Heartslabyul anymore," Y/n sighed.

"Y/n don't say stuff like that," Trey whispered.

Little did the two know, Riddle heard everything, and Y/n's words caused Riddle's heart to ache. But he quickly shoved those feeling down and locked his heart as he begrudgingly excepted his Tiny Dormmate apology essay.

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

I can't show lenience towards anyone, rules are equal among everyone. If I have to feed the flamingos, everyone feeds the flamingos. I will show no favoritism to anyone, not even you...Y/n.

But it seemed that Y/n meant what they said, cause the next day was the next unbirthday And Y/n was no where to be seen.  They weren't hiding in the tea pots with the door mouses, or playing tricks on fellow Dormmates. They just vanished, but according to Trey he still sees them around and attending to his classes. They've been spending a lot more time with the nonmagic student Yuu and that trouble some first year, then...me.

No if they wishes to be a lazy traitor, fine. So be it. Yet Why do I feel like I've been abandoned?

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

"are you sure you can beat Riddle, Ace?" I asked as I held onto his magic blocking collar.

"He sounds pretty strong," Yuu said with a worried tone.

"I can totally could take on that shorty," Ace said with a cocky smile.

"This won't end well," I sighed.

And It really didn't; Riddle was able to beat Ace in a second. Ace being Ace started to spout off about the unfairness of Riddle's reign, while starting a miny revolution in the process. Then everything went to hell. 

____

"Riddle , I challenge you to a duel for the Drom head stautes," Y/n squeaked as they hopped off Yuu's shoulder.

"Haha, A tiny thing like you, Face me?" Riddle laughed with a Cocky smile, " Your just as much as a rule breaker as that first-year, and you will always need the help of others just to do basic student activities. I'm so many leagues above you Y/n. You amount to nothing just like Ace," 

Y/n simple glared at the taller boy, but Riddles gaze didn't go noticed from Yuu. He could see some sort of anger and sadness trying to be covered up with pride and regalness. Y/n just glared as Riddle kept on monologing on and on about the rules.

"What sort of lessons were you taught that you can't even understand that?" Riddle smirked, " Your home town, Whisker Town must be tragic. I bet that you didn't even receive proper education before you step foot into this school. Truly Pathetic".

Y/n's eyes began to water at Riddle's words as they started to try hold back their tears of frustration and anger. With a battle cry Y/n dashed towards riddle as their body began to glow and grow.

Suddenley Y/n was Trey's height, as he ran and punched Riddle square in the nose. Everyone was still in shock at Y/n's spontaniouse growth, but Y/n slowly began to shrink and just bearly met Riddles hip .

"It looks like Mantaining that form drains to much of Y/n's energy," Crowley said as he observes his students.

"So Y/n has to limit his magic use, or else they'll get to tired?" Grim asked.

Suddenly an egg was thrown at Riddle, and everything escalated, as Riddle's overblot took control. With a swift hand movement everyone was wearing Riddle's magic blocking collar, and Y/n was forced back to their 7 inch tall body. The sky turned dark and rubble started to float up into the air as Riddle changed and turned into a monster.

"I am.....! I'm ALONE!! I AM THE ONLY ONE WHO IS ALWAYS RIGHT AND DON'T NEED ANYONE!!" Riddle cried out.

"R-Riddle," Y/n gasped at the transform class mate.

"I do not need anyone who defies me in my world. Or leaves me, I am the absoute ruler. My world itself submits to me!" Riddle laughed darkly as he grabbed Y/n by the tail," I will not tolerate any other answer except, "Yes, Lord Riddle."! 

Riddle tossed Y/n hard onto the ground and Y/n's world went dark.

------

"Y/n-san, Y/n-san are you okay?" A voice asked.

Y/n opened their eye's to find themselves in the infirmary, with their head ,left leg, and torso wrapped in banages. 

"Good, your alive. Thank goodness," Yuu sighed in relief.

"What... Happened to Riddle. Is he okay?" Y/n asked slowly.

"Yeah he's fine, You were out for 6 days. Oh and know that your awake, Riddle wanted me to invite you to the unbirthday tomorrow. He wanted to apologise to you," Yuu said.

"Well, umm..... It would rude to turn down an invitation," Y/n smiled wearily.

----------

Riddle sat nervesly at the main table as he waited for Y/n and Yuu's arrival. A tiny tea set and table was set up for them. 

Soon Y/n and Yuu arrived, as Yuu set Y/n down on the table. Y/n held their minature cruches at their side as they sat down at the tiny set up for them. The two sat in an awkward silence till Riddle cleared his throat to call Y/n's attention.

"I-I wanted to say sorry... For the things I said and for hurting you. I let myself get out of hand," Riddle apologized as  tears ran down his cheeks.

Suddenly Riddle felt a gentle hand wipe away his tears. He looked up to see Y/n, but about his height and was smiling down at him with a kind and soft look.

"I Forgive you Riddle, just please don't cry. It doesn't suite you," Y/n smiled as Riddle blushed slightly.

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