#and 'do they know about your honors and high grades' ('i mean they have my resume so i guess so' 'i will mention it anyway'

[supercantaloupe]

so maestro told me tonight at the end of rehearsal that he "got an email about me", turns out it was the org that's interviewing me next week for their summer job reaching out to him as a reference. and then when that was figured out maestro proceeded to spend the next, like, twenty minutes standing there writing out a recommendation for me on his phone at 10 pm while i'm Sitting Right There, just trying to get the assignment notes to send to the orchestra,

[popcorn-plots]

Me: I got a 25 on the ACT!

Mom: it won't get you into BYU, especially with your math grade the way it is.

Me: I have a 3.7 GPA, and I can always retake the ACT?

Mom: you're going to need a really good admissions essay if you want to get into BYU.

Me: thanks, mom.

[atlabeth]

unadulterated loathing (pt 1)

pt 2

pairing: fiyero tigelaar x fem reader

summary: you are forced to partner up with fiyero on a history project. things don’t go as you imagine.

a/n: wicked was really good, i love jonathan bailey, and we're coming up on finals season which means im writing about how stressed i am. also halfway through this i realized reader is lowkey paris geller coded lmao. this got away from me so im splitting it into 2 parts, i had a lot of fun writing it so enjoy! also im high posting this so if there's any editing issues im sorry lol!!

wc: 5.5k

warning(s): reader is stressed to the max constantly. she is kinda mean to fiyero but he's into it so it's okay. mostly fluff

Your fingers were beginning to cramp. 

You should have been used to this by now with Doctor Dillamond. You’d been in his class for a few months now, and you graded essays for him often. He often had a propensity for verbosity, but this lecture had been an especially hefty one in preparation for your midterm projects.

He would be announcing partners before the end of class—much to your dismay, for you worked far better on your own than with others holding you down—and you figured you would want to have as much of a head start as possible. 

Great Oz, how you hoped you would be paired with one of your friends. Coralie and Ezura were your only contenders for top of the class—Elphaba had potential as well, not because of the magic she couldn’t control but because of the brain she very well could—and anyone else would frankly slow you down. Doing a large research paper with someone who didn’t care as much as you did would be a drag you didn’t care to go through. 

Midterms were only the most important thing, for they set the track towards finals and affirmed your skill with your assignments, and your first midterm was potentially the most important thing for, when completed successfully, set you on the correct track altogether. 

You tried not to think about it too much (though you failed almost immediately), for you were sure Doctor Dillamond would honor all the work you’d done for him by putting you with a suitable partner. 

“I see some of you are getting restless, so I will cut class short today.” Your eyes snapped up from your paper to see the professor smiling, and you could hear sighs of relief around the room. “I’m sure you’re all eager to know your partners for the midterm paper.” 

The sighs of relief turned to groans, and you had to agree. Assigned partners should have been considered archaic at this point in time. 

Doctor Dillamond trotted back to the projector and, with a bit of difficulty, replaced the image with a piece of paper. Everybody in the class was paired off in groups of two—you immediately started searching for your name, squinting slightly to see despite your spot in the front, and the furrow between your brows deepened when you realized you couldn’t find it. 

You searched instead for your hopeful options. Coralie was with Mayara, Ezura was with Nicholas, Elphaba was with Galinda—of course. You let out a slight huff of annoyance, not just at your disappointment but at the continued lack of your name. 

Perhaps he’d merely forgotten. You didn’t know how Dillamond could have forgotten you, seeing as you were only his best student and literal TA, but things happened. Your anxieties only grew as you heard the beginnings of whispers throughout the room as your classmates saw their pairings, either excited or dismal. 

“Class is dismissed,” Doctor Dillamond said. The room began bustling as students gathered their things, already talking with their friends or searching out their project partner—you heard Galinda squeal and saw her grab Elphaba’s hands out of your peripherals. You could only worry your lip between your teeth as you swept everything in your bag, hardly waiting a second before rushing up to Dillamond’s desk. 

“You didn’t call my name, professor,” you said, managing a smile as you tried to act like it wasn’t killing you. How could he have not called your name? Was there something wrong? Great Oz— had you been somehow moved out of the class? Was your work not exemplary enough? Your assistance not assisting enough? “I don’t have a partner.” 

His mouth opened, but you only found yourself continuing, the words practically tumbling out of you.  

“Of course, if you intended for me to be on my own then I am perfectly alright with that!” Your smile widened as your fingertips dangled over his desk. “I— I prefer it, in fact, so if that is it then there is really no issue at all—”

“Mr. Tigelaar!” he interrupted, and your head turned on instinct to see the eponymous boy arm in arm with Galinda (who was arm in arm with Elphaba) just in front of the door. “I hope you are not about to leave.”

Fiyero flashed a look at his companions before offering one of those easy smiles he seemed to always have up his sleeve. “You dismissed the class. I believe I am part of your class, am I not?”

“You are,” he said, “but you were not assigned a partner. Surely you wouldn’t be trying to get out of the project.”

Your free hand clenched as the threads started to connect. Doctor Dillamond wouldn’t do this to you. Would he?

That easy smile remained on his lips as he turned to Galinda and whispered something in her ear. She giggled and pecked him on the cheek before she walked out, pulling Elphaba behind her, and Fiyero sauntered over. 

“Of course I’m not trying to get out of it,” he said. “Whyever would you think so?”

“Your attempt at a quick exit before you could be assigned a partner,” the professor said. “But it is no matter, for your partner is right here.”

You blinked. He would do this to you.

Why would he do this to you?

“Well, pleasure to meet you.” He held out his hand. “Fiyero Tigelaar.”

You ignored him, for you couldn’t look away from Doctor Dillamond. Would it be mad for you to strangle a Goat?

“Professor,” you said, trying to keep your voice steady, “why?”

“Mr. Tigelaar’s grades in my class have not been satisfactory, as I’m sure he is aware.” Dillamond moved away from his desk, prodding the chalkboard with his head to move it out of the way. “I care about all my students, even if they seem not to care for my course. I believe a partnership for the two of you would be beneficial.”

Your jaw clenched. “So you’re forcing me to tutor him because he hasn’t got a brain.”

Fiyero chuckled. “Ouch.”

“Not tutoring, just working on your midterm together,” he said. “And if you end up teaching him a few things along the way, then we would all be better off, wouldn’t we?” 

“Professor, with all due respect, this is ridiculous!” you exclaimed. “Why should I have to risk my grade, my midterm, my standing altogether at Shiz just to help him?” 

“Should you perform the way that is typical of you, there should be no issues.” Doctor Dillamond gave you that professorly look and your teeth grinded against each other. How dare he try to take the moral high ground. “Now, the two of you better hurry off. You haven’t got forever to work on this project.” 

“Professor,” you whispered, determined to not let up, “why are you punishing me like this?”

“I’m not punishing you, my dear.”

“Fiyero couldn’t care less about any of this,” you insisted. “I’m going to fail my midterm and it will be all his fault!”

“If you believe he can make you fail, then you haven’t got as much faith in yourself as I believed.” Doctor Dillamond looked at you. “Trust me—and yourself—that this will all work out.”

You stared back—it was rather difficult to have a staring contest with a Goat. “I don’t suppose I can change your mind on this?”

“You’d be correct.”

You huffed and glanced away. “Fine. But expect those test scores to take an extra day.”

He let out a bleaty sort of laugh while you walked away. You considered it a credit to yourself that you held back the childish tantrum you wanted to throw as you moved back over to your desk to gather the rest of your things. You shoved your books into your bag with a bit more anger than necessary, and you heard footsteps behind you. You glanced over to see Fiyero sidled up beside you, leaning against the desk next to yours. 

“Surely you won’t be this irritated at me the entirety of our project.” He still had that unbothered smile on his lips, and it made you want to hit him. “It might make this a much more miserable partnership.”

You let out a mirthless laugh as you shouldered your bag. “Don’t act like this pains you. You’re just going to ride my coattails the entire time.” 

“You know, I hadn’t even thought of that,” Fiyero mused. “But now that you bring it up, I just may have to.” 

“For the love of Oz,” you muttered to yourself before mustering the strength to look up at him. “I have a myriad of things I need to do today. Why don’t you go bother your girlfriend for the rest of the day, and then you can meet me at the library first thing tomorrow morning so we can discuss all of this.” 

He shrugged. “Sounds alright to me.” 

“Good,” you said. “Because I meant every word I said back there. I will not have you ruining all my progress thus far because of your absolute refusal to think.” 

“It looks as if you could take a page out of my book,” Fiyero said. “You seem awfully stressed.” 

Your lips tightened into a mirthless smile. “I’m stressed because of you, Fiyero, and we have hardly even interacted. I dread to think of my mental state after a week of working together. Now, good day. I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

You swept past him and walked out of Doctor Dillamond’s classroom. You felt his eyes on you until you turned the corner, and you had to resist the urge to look back. 

Oh, how you loathed group projects. 

-

The rest of your day was far more demanderating than it should have been, and you blamed Fiyero for it. You swore the clock went by half as quick and your lectures twice as long—it didn’t help that you were so distracted in chemistry that you nearly burned your eyebrows off from a potion gone wrong. 

You’d practically thrown yourself onto your bed when you got back to your dorm, and you didn’t get up until your roommate got back and demanded to know what had gotten into you. She didn’t exactly give you the response you wanted. 

“The prince is your partner?” Coralie sighed dreamily. “Oh, you are so lucky.” 

“Lucky is not the way I’d put it,” you mumbled, words muffled by the sheets. You finally tore yourself up off your bed and picked your nightgown up from atop your dresser. You went behind your folding sheet and began to change. “And I didn’t know you had eyes for Fiyero.” 

“I hardly have eyes for him,” she said wryly. “I just have eyes—anyone can see that he’s attractive.” 

“It doesn’t matter how attractive he is if he makes me fail this midterm,” you said. You straightened your nightgown then folded your school uniform while you walked back into the open, passing a glance at your roommate as you placed it on your desk. You then settled on your bed with a huff. “I just don’t understand why Doctor Dillamond is punishing me like this. It makes me reconsider all those late nights spent grading papers for him.” 

Coralie shrugged. “You’re one of his best students, Fiyero is probably one of his worst. I bet Doctor Dillamond figured you would be happy to take him on, what with how happily you take on everything else he throws at you.” 

You grumbled as you laid back against your pillows. “I just don’t know if I can take him on. Fiyero seems to care more about flirting with every student at this school than any actual material.” 

She gave you a mischievous smile. “Maybe he’ll turn the full force of his affections on you in return for your studiousness. Oh, how that would be a sight to see.” 

“Don’t even put that idea into the air, Cora,” you scoffed. “Besides, he’s clearly involved with Galinda. Even if I was interested, which I’m not—” you emphasized with a pointed look at her— “that isn’t something I want to touch.” 

“Well, you can’t deny that he’s dreamy,” she said. “He just showed up at Shiz and people started falling left and right. It’s more impressive that you haven’t.” 

“Because I’m here for one reason,” you said. “His whole… thing doesn’t fit into any of it.” 

“I know,” Coralie mused as she fell back onto her pillows. “You’ve told me your whole plan ten times over. I just think you should also try to enjoy your life instead of bulldozing your way through it.” 

You rolled your eyes with a smile. “I’m enjoying my life just fine, thank you.” 

Interestingly enough, Fiyero was going through something similar a myriad of rooms away. 

He laid on Galinda’s bed, his head in her lap as she trailed her fingers through his hair. She’d been going on about something for the last couple of minutes, but he hadn’t really been able to focus on any of it. 

“Dearest, did you not hear what I said?” 

Fiyero blinked at the sound of Galinda’s voice. He hadn’t indeed. 

“I’m sorry, beloved.” He absentmindedly reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze once he found it. “I was thinking.” 

Elphaba laughed from across the room. She sat on her bed with a book in her lap. “That’s a first for you.” 

“It is,” Galinda said, though with much more concern laced in her voice. Her hand moved from his hair to his forehead. “Are you feeling alright?”

“Just fine,” he assured. “What was it you were saying?” 

“Just lamenting on how awful it is that we’ve been separated for this project,” she sighed. “I’m sure I could persuade Doctor Dillamond to put us in a group of three.”

“You can’t even get him to pronounce your name correctly,” Elphaba said wryly. “How could you get him to do this?” 

“Well,” Galinda huffed, “maybe you could do it. He appears to like you more than me.” 

“I’m sure that really hurts,” she said. 

Galinda placed her hand on her chest. “It does!” 

“It’s fine,” Fiyero interrupted. “I’m alright with my partner. She’s nice.” 

“Nice?” Elphaba scoffed. “I heard her lecturing you the whole time we were out in the hallway.” 

“She’s passionate,” he decided. “Besides, I don’t really care. I haven’t thought about it since she left.” 

That was a complete lie. In truth, Fiyero hadn’t been able to stop thinking about you since you left. Very strange for someone who preferred to go through life with less thinking and more doing. 

He honestly didn’t know why his mind was so occupied with you. 

He’d always been aware of you, obviously—all your professors adored you, your name was always brought up when talking about top of the class, and he was sure you held the record for most time spent in the library at once—but he didn’t know anything about you other than your academic record. And for someone with such strong opinions, especially about him, Fiyero found himself with the strange need to know more. 

He would be at the library tomorrow. Maybe not on time, but certainly there. 

Fiyero would make this the beginning of a beautiful partnership, one way or another.

-

True to your word, you were in the library bright and early after a quick stop at the dining hall. You went through the effort of gathering everything you thought you would need—a myriad of textbooks and encyclopedias, your well-weathered notebook and another one for Fiyero because you doubted he had one, and enough writing material for the two of you.

You sighed. You had to do so much just to even the ground between your groups and the others. Coralie was always so prepared whenever you worked together. 

Fiyero, to your surprise, was only ten minutes late. You already had your head buried in a book when he said your name and scared you witless. 

Your eyes widened as they darted up to look at him, and he chuckled. 

“Sorry. You were in the zone.”

“I just wasn’t expecting you,” you said. “You’re late.”

“Hardly.” Fiyero took the seat across from you, his eyes sweeping over everything you had on the table. “You’ve got quite a collection.”

“I doubt you know your way around the library,” you said. 

“I know my way around a lot of things.” 

You leveled your gaze at him. Leave it to Fiyero to make everything an innuendo. “And is a library one of them?”

“I’m sure I could make it one.”

“If you bothered to think at all.”

“Darling, you know I’d never,” he said with a smile. “Now, what are we doing here?”

“Do you really not know what our midterm is?” you marveled. 

“I have more important things to worry about,” he said. 

You scoffed and shook your head. Ridiculous— it was ridiculous that you had to put up with this. Maybe Doctor Dillamond really did hate you.

“Our assignment is an extensively researched ten page paper on any great Ozian,” you said. “Anyone who has contributed to our society in a relevant way and made our lives better for it.”

“A ten page paper?” Fiyero frowned. “That seems a bit much.”

“Between the two of us, it’s just five pages each, and we’ve got two weeks to get it done,” you said. “I’ve written five pages in a few hours of inspiration.”

“Your life truly sounds thrilling,” Fiyero said. “We could do the Wizard.”

“Half the class is going to do the wizard,” you scoffed. 

“Because he’s a great man,” he said. “There’s no shame in it.”

“There is absolutely shame in copying half the class,” you said as you pushed over a sheet of paper to him. “Now, I’ve already got a list going. Look it over; see if there’s anyone you like or anyone worthwhile you want to add.”

You looked back down at your encyclopedia, opened to your personal favorite choice, and continued scribbling down basic notes. You glanced up a few moments later to see Fiyero’s gaze hadn’t wavered from you. 

You frowned. “Is there a problem?”

“You’re awfully prepared,” he said instead. 

“I figured you wouldn’t be,” you responded.

Fiyero’s lips quirked in a smile. “Then I believe that means you deserve to choose our subject.”

Your frown deepened. “Really?”

“Are you always this suspicious of everyone?”

“Just you.”

“Then consider this an olive branch,” he said. He slid the paper back over. “Who’s your top choice?”

“…Ilara Mayfair,” you finally said as you pointed at her on the top of your list. “She was a historical linguist, responsible for half of what we know about Ozian languages and how they connect and differ. She’s…” you cleared your throat and shrugged, trying to make it sound like it wasn’t a big deal, “she’s kind of my hero.”

“Your hero?” Fiyero’s eyebrows rose. “Is that what you want to do?” 

“…It’s always been my dream,” you admitted. “I grew up helping around my parents’ bookstore and her mark was on nearly everything. I really admire it. I want to make that sort of difference in the world.”

“How noble,” he remarked. What surprised you was how genuine he sounded. “It’s impressive how much of your life you have planned out already. All Galinda knows is that she’s majoring in sorcery—she hasn’t really got anything else worked out.”

“What are you majoring in?” you asked.

“Undecided,” Fiyero said. “I was kicked out of my last school before I could declare, so I figure there’s not really a point in doing it here.”

“Not really a surprise,” you said. 

“Really?”

“On your first day, you snuck off campus with half of Shiz to go dance at Ozdust,” you said. “That’s not exactly a good first impression.” 

“I’d argue the opposite,” he said. Fiyero tilted his head, his eyes narrowing as he focused on you for a moment. His gaze made you uncomfortably aware of yourself. “I don’t recall seeing you there.” 

“That’s because I wasn’t there.” You looked back down at your encyclopedia to avoid his eyes. “I had more important things to do.” 

He frowned. “Do you ever take a day off?” 

“Of course,” you said. “There isn’t any class on the weekends.” 

“I mean with this,” he said, gesturing at all the books around you. “It doesn’t seem like you allow yourself a single moment of respite. When you’re not in class, you’re studying. When you’re not studying, you’re doing work. When you’re not doing any of it, you’re probably dreaming of your future assignments.” 

You felt your skin heat. Surely you weren’t that transparent. 

“...I don’t dream of them,” you defended. “Not— not always.” 

He laughed and shook his head. “You’re ridiculous. Do you know that?” 

You frowned. “How am I ridiculous? You’re incapable of taking a single thing seriously.” 

“And you’re incapable of not taking everything seriously,” Fiyero said. “It can’t be good for your health.” 

“I plan to get out of here a year early,” you said, looking back at your books. “I can’t slack off like you do if I want that plan to come to fruition.” 

“Oh, I’ve gotten out of every school I’ve been in a year early,” Fiyero said. “Sometimes two or three— Oz, sometimes I don’t even make it through the first semester.” 

Your eyes snapped back up to him, widened in instinctual panic. “What?” 

He burst out laughing, and it grinded every one of your gears. “Oh, I wish you could see the look on your face! It’s priceless— truly priceless!” 

“You’ve been kicked out of every school you’ve been to and you think it’s a joke?” 

Still laughing, he shrugged. “It is. Nothing bad has happened, and I’m still having the time of my life wherever I go.” 

You just shook your head as you stared at him, eyes still wide. “Are you always like this?”

“Utterly charming?” 

“Entirely insufferable.”

You didn’t understand how he laughed. Everything rolled right off him, like oil off a duck’s back, no matter how many times you insulted him. 

“You know, there are other things to life than your studies,” he said.

“Not while I’m here, there isn’t,” you said. “It’s the whole point of university.” 

“The point of university is to have fun,” he said. “You’ve seen how this place has perked up since I’ve gotten here, haven’t you?” 

“Not really, no,” you said. “I’ve been more focused on other things.” 

“Like?” 

“Like my studies.” 

“It’s like I’m talking to a broken record,” he marveled. “Have you ever had fun in your life?” His eyes widened comically. “Do you even know what the concept of fun is?” 

“Ha ha,” you said dryly. 

He tilted his head. “Do you?” 

You frowned. “Of course I do.” 

“Okay, then.” Fiyero leaned back in his chair. “Tell me about yourself.”

Your frown deepened. “We aren’t doing a research paper on me.”

“We’re working together on this,” he said. “Is it a crime to want to know my partner?”

A muscle worked in your jaw as you stared at him. He stared back, entirely unaffected. 

“If I humor you, will you actually work with me through this?”

Fiyero held up his hand. “Prince’s honor.”

Finally, you broke. You folded your arms with a short sigh then glanced away. “Fine. I’m from a tiny village in Gillikin that you’ve probably never heard of. I’m here on scholarship with the plan to graduate, become a historian, and make a name for myself.” You looked back at him. “Is that good enough for you?”

“It’s excellent,” Fiyero said with a smile. “Dare I say I’ve learned more about you in one short day than I have in the entirety of my time at Shiz?”

You gave him a fake smile as you tapped your book. “Open your textbook. We have a lot to catch up on.”

He raised his eyebrows. “You’re not going to ask about me?”

“I mean this with all due respect—what could there possibly be to know about you?” You raised an eyebrow as you counted off on your fingers. “You’re from the Vinkus, you’re a prince, and you’ve never read a book a day in your life.” 

“Oh, that’s not true,” he chastised. “I’ve read at least one—I just choose not to.” 

“Well, how about we make that two?” You reached across the table and opened his book for him. “Unless that prince’s honor isn’t worth a thing.” 

“Oh, it’s worth everything,” Fiyero said. 

You raised your eyebrows expectantly. “Then prove it.” 

“Very well,” he nodded. “I believe I can be serious for the next… fifteen minutes.” 

“You won’t even get through a chapter,” you said. “Thirty.” 

Fiyero frowned. “You set awfully high expectations.” 

“Why do you think Doctor Dillamond forced me to help you?” you asked. 

“Because you’re oh so nice and charitable?”

That got a genuine laugh out of you. If you’d been looking closer, you would have seen Fiyero’s smile grow, his eyes soften. 

“Of course. Now, go to the glossary, find Ilara, and start writing. I know practically everything about her already, so you need to catch up.”

“I don’t have—”

You held out your extra notebook and fountain pen and cocked your head. “Don’t have what?”

Fiyero chuckled as he took them from you. “You’re prepared for everything, aren’t you?”

“Always,” you said with a satisfied smile. “Now get reading, my prince.”

He pressed his hand to his chest and bowed his head. “At once, my lady.”

-

You looked at the clock on the wall. Fiyero should have been here by now. 

Granted, he was ten minutes late to your first meeting, but that was before he’d changed your expectations ever so slightly. Almost an hour had passed, and there was still no sign. 

Of course, it wasn’t as if it hindered your progress. You kind of always expected him to fall short—if he showed at all, that was a credit to him—so you already had half the outline done. But a small part of you that you’d never admit to might have actually been looking forward to his presence. 

You enjoyed the bout of verbal sparring he engaged you in. A lot of your classmates thought you were mean, and it never bothered you. Like you told Fiyero, you were here for one reason and one only, and the amount of people that liked you at university didn’t influence that at all. Your professors liked you and your grades were perfect—that was all. 

But you couldn’t lie and say it wasn’t… nice. For Fiyero to take everything you said in stride, with a smile and a retort of equal measure.

It was nice. But that was all. 

You were jarred out of your thoughts by someone calling your name. You looked up to see Fiyero sauntering over, bearing his usual smile and not much else.

“This is a library,” you said once he got closer. “You aren’t supposed to shout.”

He took the seat across from you. “I’d hardly call that shouting.”

“You aren’t meant to be loud,” you decided. “Why are you so late?”

Fiyero shrugged. “I lost track of time?”

“You know, we are partners,” you emphasized your last word, “so it would be helpful if you could try to put in the same amount of effort as me.”

“That seems impossible.” He gestured at your notebook with his head, your current page already nearly full. “You’ve got me beat on nearly everything.”

“It’s not that difficult,” you intoned. “I mean, just do some research outside of class.”

He stared at you expectantly, and you rolled your eyes. “I don’t know what I expect with you, honestly.”

“Exactly what you see, darling. Now,” Fiyero's gaze drifted over to the window, then looked back at you as he stood up, “what do you say we put a hold on things and enjoy this beautiful day?” 

Your brows furrowed. “What, you mean do our research outside?” 

“Is your work truly all you think about?” he asked in exasperation. “I mean leave the books and your notes and your stress here, and take a stroll around campus.” 

“I’ve had my entire life planned out since I was ten years old,” you said. “Of course it is. I am not going to have some— some—”

“Some what?” Fiyero interrupted. He still looked remarkably unaffected by your outburst, that sideways smile of his infuriatingly charming. 

“Some ridiculous, pompous, self-absorbed, lazy Winkie prince ruin it!” you exclaimed. 

“Lazy,” he mused. “That’s a new one.” 

“Of course you’re lazy! Why would we take a break when we have a project to do?” 

Fiyero looked at you like you were crazy— no, like he was worried about you. He shook his head. “You really do have a one track mind.” 

“When we’re in midterm season, yes, I d— what are you doing?”

Fiyero had started stacking all of the books you had on the table away from you, then he grabbed your notebook and your pen out of your hand.

“You need a break,” he said. 

“I don’t need a break, and give that back—”

You reached for your materials but only just grazed his hand before he pulled them back and set them on top of the pile. “When was the last time you saw the sun?” 

You scoffed. “I see the sun all the time.” 

“Not from a window in the library or your dorm.” 

You bit your tongue. Fiyero smiled and held out his hand. 

“You need a break.” 

You stared at his hand. He gave you a cloying look. 

“It’s not a good sign that you’re this against self-care,” he said wryly. 

You sighed and reluctantly placed your hand in his. “Fine.”

Fiyero grinned and he pulled you close. You yelped at the unexpected speed and you tumbled into his chest. Fiyero’s hand dropped to your waist, and for a moment all you could do was stare at him, wide eyed. 

“Shall we?” he murmured. 

You jolted away from him once you came back into yourself, your skin burning where he’d touched you. 

“We shall,” you said, a bit too forcefully as you started walking a bit too fast. 

Fiyero chuckled. He matched your pace easily, soon coming up beside you. “You’re already that excited?”

“Oh, shut up,” you bit out. “You’ve already gotten what you want. No need for more.”

He feigned naivety. “What would I possibly be doing?”

You shook your head with a huff. “I’m not entertaining that with a response.”

Fiyero simply hummed. You glanced over at him, still staying even with you, and then you let out another huff as you stopped. He didn’t miss a beat, pausing at the same time as you, then met your flustered expression with a smile. 

“Yes?”

“You’re the one that wanted to do this,” you said, gesturing in front of you with a hand. “So lead the way.”

“Gladly,” he said. “I’m very good at taking the lead.”

Fiyero started walking and, though you had half a mind to take the opportunity and dart back to the library, you found yourself following him. 

Cora’s words spun around your head as you and Fiyero walked together, about him turning the full force of his flirting on you in return for you being such a stickler for your midterm. 

That was the embarrassing thing; you didn’t even think this was half of it, and he already had you blushing—and for what? It was as if you’d never even talked to a boy before. 

You’d had plenty of experience back home. Village boys coming into your parents’ store to flirt at you, leaving notes in your desk in class, offering to walk you home at night—plenty of experience. 

It didn’t matter that you denied them all and never went anywhere because you had a one track mind even then, and that Fiyero had done what no one else had and gotten you take a break simply because he asked nicely—

You sucked in a sharp breath as Fiyero’s arm suddenly pressed against your chest, stopping you in place. Your head snapped up to look at him, mouth already open with questions loaded, but he gestured with his head before you could ask any of them. 

You’d nearly barreled right down the stairs from being lost in your head, without care nor consideration for actually taking the steps. 

“Mind the gap, darling,” he said. “Wouldn’t want you damaging that brain of yours.”

“…Thank you,” you said once you’d regained the ability to speak words again. “One of us ought to have one.”

Fiyero laughed as he took his arm away. “Certainly.” He used it to gesture down the stairs. “Ladies first—unless you’re unsure of your ability to conquer them.”

“I’ll be just fine, Fiyero.” You started the descent, Fiyero right behind you, and you let out another short sigh. 

There had to be something wrong with you. That was the only explanation for why you were acting this way.

Maybe you really did need to start getting more sleep. 

[owliellder]

Two's A Crowd

College Bully! Leon Kennedy x fem! Reader

MDNI 18+

(Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5)

Description: College is proving to be a lot harder than you imagined. You cannot fail this math class. So when you've tried everything else, a well-known student is recommended to you by your professor for tutoring lessons, not really leaving you with much of a choice but to work with him.

Warnings: Not proofread, No Use of Y/N, Dub-Con, Unprotected Sex, Bullying, Yelling, Cursing

Tags: College AU, Bully! Leon, Shy! Reader, both are in their early 20's, Leon is Rude AF in the beginning, Loss of Virginity, Oral Sex, Fingering, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Additional Tags to be Added

Author's Note: Yay!! New multi-chapter fic in honor of 800 followers!!

I'm a sucker for tropes and mean Leon is one I can't keep out of my head. If you're not good at math then this is the fic for you! (also don't mind me slipping some Sky lore in here...)

Cross-posted onto AO3

Chapter 1

Growing up, college had always been a big dream of yours, leaving you fantasizing day in and out about all the possibilities that would open up, along with actually getting to live through the renowned “college experience”.

In reality, college was a lot harder than you were expecting. Your parents had told you to jump right into it after high school, fearing taking a gap year would ruin your good streak. The stress was starting to get to you and it was only a semester into your freshman year. All the tests, projects, and general studying really wore down on your mental health, not to mention you were failing the one math class you had.

You couldn’t tell your parents, no, they’d probably have a heart attack, especially since that math class was a prerequisite to another class that you needed to take. They were already worried enough that you hadn’t picked a major yet, so who knows how they’d take the news that you were failing right off the bat.

It was hard enough that you were feeling homesick. This was the first time you’d ever been this far away from home, studying at a university when you would’ve been perfectly content going to a community college closer to home. Your roommate was nice, but the two of you weren’t growing any closer than mere acquaintances, so it always felt awkward to just exist in your own dorm room.

Your eating habits worsened with the lack of any real food within five miles of campus. Sure there were a couple fast food chains on the campus itself, but they closed incredibly early. By the time you finished studying, which was around six in the evening, it had already closed. Not to mention that when they were open, the lines were comically long. University food was out of the question after you got violently ill from their “chicken nuggets”, so you were left with the little money your parents provided once a week to order takeout or make quick trips to the store to buy a frozen meal. Only one, since the mini fridge in your dorm was almost always occupied by your roommates stuff.

Everything was so exhausting and you were way out of your comfort zone having to use the community bathrooms for all your hygienic routines. Walking in always made you feel like you were interrupting a meeting in the president’s oval office with how many nasty looks you were given when all you were trying to do was brush your teeth.

The first thing you saw whenever you opened up Canvas was a massive F staring you down from the little box that comprised the majority of your math assignments and tests, making you feel less than worthless. This one semester alone helped you understand why so many people dropped out, this was hard.

By now you’d already gone to your math professor multiple times asking for redos or extra credit work. He was probably sick of seeing you since you showed up after almost every single assignment’s grades were submitted.

“Heeeyyy, Mr. Lebovic..” You said after knocking your knuckle against his open door to grab his attention. “Listen, about that last quiz, I-”

He cut you off with a wave of his hand before gesturing towards one of the chairs sitting in front of his desk. You hurried to sit down, watching nervously as he slowly pulled his eyes off his computer and onto you. “I get it, you don’t need to explain yourself.” His relaxed tone and faint smile was enough to ease your nerves a bit, letting your shoulders slump with a sigh. “You’ve been trying really hard, I can easily recognize that.”

You nodded eagerly, licking your dry lips as you opened your mouth to speak, only to be cut off again. “I’ve been looking into studying options that might help you. Resources are scarce for this material, but I think I finally have a tutor to help you out.” 

A wave of relief washed over you at the mention of tutor. Maybe you wouldn’t have to face the wrath of your parent’s disappointment after all! “Oh.. o-okay…” you stuttered, eyebrows furrowing as you silently beckoned him to continue.

“I teach another math class, it’s higher level, but I have a student in there that’s just taken up tutoring the material you’re learning.” Your professor seemed just as happy as you were about the opportunity. “His name is Leon Kennedy, he’s got one of the study rooms in the library from three to five in the afternoon on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.”

It took you a second to process everything Mr. Lebovic was telling you before you scrambled to pull out a sticky note and a pen to write all the information down on. You heard the older man chuckle softly, looking over at him when he held out a small piece of paper to you. “I wrote it down already for you, don’t worry.” You wished you could’ve thanked him tenfold, but his office hours were closed for the day now, so you said a quick goodbye and hurried back to your dorm, holding onto the piece of paper like a lifeline.

Contrary to what your math professor thinks, you knew the name “Leon Kennedy”. You had a couple friends that you hung out with occasionally out in the grass in front of the science building and they’d brought him up before. The few vague bits of info that you’d heard weren’t flattering, painting this Leon in quite a bad light; the stereotypical jock in a frat flying by on a full-ride scholarship. However, he was your saving grace now and you needed to develop more of an unbiased opinion of him if he was going to help you raise your grade from an F.

“Yeesh, sorry I’m not better at math or I would’ve helped you.” One of your friends, Sky, spoke up as they read the piece of paper your professor gave you yesterday from over your shoulder. “Even if you were better at math, I still wouldn’t trust you.” Ella, your other friend, laughed out.

“Ha ha, yeah, Sky failed math four times. Big whoop.” Sky waved their hands dramatically before walking over to sit down next to Ella in the dead grass. “Seriously though, you’re better off taking a failing grade and dealing with your parents. Kennedy is the devil incarnate.”

“The devil incarnate sounds easier to put up with than my parents, so I’ll take my chances..” You grumbled, taking a seat on a medium-sized rock close to the pair. “Maybe he’s turning a new leaf? Deciding to tutor?” 

Sky crossed her arms and rolled her eyes which made Ella elbow them in the side before giving you a sympathetic smile. “Maybe so, but please just be careful. I don’t want you having to put up with some jackass that has an ego bigger than Texas.” 

You nodded with a slight frown, moving your foot side to side lazily to push the grass blades around. You didn’t even think to consider the repercussions of studying with some random junior. “I’m sure it’ll be alright. Besides, just tell Sky and I if he’s giving you any trouble. I know damn well no man likes to put up with two women yelling in his face.” Sky nodded and pointed to Ella for added dramatics. “Yeah, and I bite. My top six teeth are porcelain so that shit hurts. Trust me.”

Your friends never failed to make you laugh, a slight resolve in a pool full of worries, you suppose. “Don’t worry, you guys’ll be the first to know if Leon is mean.”

“Good. Now, when’re you gonna go see the guy?” Sky rested their arms on their knees before looking up at you. “Uh.. in a couple hours I guess. I already made the appointment.” Your response seemed to surprise both of your friends, giving them a confused look in response to their shocked ones. “Is that.. Is that not a good time?”

“No no, just.. I thought you would’ve maybe taken a little longer to go and see him.” Ella shrugged, reaching a hand up to scratch behind their neck. “Proud of you, taking the initiative like that.” She then looked at her phone before pulling herself off the ground with a small groan. “I got class in a couple minutes. Good luck with the frat boy.” 

She patted your shoulder as she walked off towards the larger building on campus, leaving you and Sky alone for the rest of the time. Part of you wished both of your friends could walk you to the library when the time came, but having Sky was enough. “So.. Leon’s bad bad?” You needed a bit more clarification on the guy you were going to spend one-on-one time with, something to calm you down after running through countless scenarios in your head.

“He’s not all bad, 'least I don't think. I’ve exchanged a few ‘hello’s’ and ‘excuse me’s’ with him here and there since we apparently frequent the same building.” Sky scooted over to the rock you were sitting on, placing the back of their head on your legs. A couple brown leaves blew over from a nearby tree which they grabbed and crunched with their hand. “I haven’t personally experienced any bad happenings around him, but he is part of a pretty notoriously rowdy frat, so you have to promise me that you’ll only study with him on campus and never go to that frat house or any frat house in general, alright?”

Sky pointed up at you, poking the underside of your chin which made you laugh again and swat their hand away. “As much as I rave about wanting to have the stereotypical college experience, going to a frat house was never part of my daydreaming.”

“Good. Keep it that way.” They switched their fingers to give you a quick thumbs up before letting their arm flop down into their lap, eyes closing with a sigh. “Anyways, besides all that, wanna go get some food? I don’t have another class today and you’ve got about an hour and a half to spare, so actually you have no choice. Get up.”

You stood up with a shake of your head once Sky pushed off of your legs who stood up as well with a small stretch. “Don’t burn me at the stake, but I kinda want grocery store sushi. I’m feeling lucky.”

“Please don’t.” You sighed, pocketing the piece of paper before beginning to follow behind Sky as they started to walk across the grass. 

After the two of you shared a sandwich from some random shop not too far off campus, Sky walked with you up to the library, stopping just before the front desk. They agreed to not wander in with you under the condition that you’ll go to their dorm straight after to discuss details.

To say you were nervous was an understatement. Most of what you heard about this guy meant he was bad news, though you really didn’t have much of a choice when it came to seeing him. Like your math professor said, there weren’t a lot of options when it came to studying the material you were learning. Sure you had the internet and other students in the class, but you preferred the idea of a tutor since you’d already exhausted yourself trying to follow along with various youtube videos. You needed the in-person teaching, it just stuck better in your head that way.

Slowly starting to walk, you made your way over to the study rooms lining the back of the library. The rooms seemed pretty private with the only window being on the door, which had glass nearly top to bottom. Thankfully the rooms were numbered and Leon had texted you which room to go to when you made the appointment with him, you had no idea what he looked like and you didn’t want to look like a creep eyeballing people through the door until you hopefully found the right person.

Standing off to the side, you could see the number you were looking for sitting above the door, taking a brief moment to collect yourself and hype yourself up to talk to someone who didn’t have the greatest reputation. Set aside everything you’ve heard and just hope for the best..

You took in a deep breath as you strode over to the door, glancing inside through the window before knocking to let him know you were there. The table was angled off more to the left so you didn’t immediately see him until he leaned over the table to see who had knocked. Confidence left you as soon as you made eye contact with Leon due to the groan you could hear through the door. It took you a couple seconds, but you eventually managed to get your body to work with you, hand turning the handle to let yourself in.

“-the last thing I need..” You caught the end of his little rant to himself as you opened the door. The saying “fake it ‘till you make it” is harder than it sounds since your entire body decided to betray you, deciding that shrinking in was the best move. Quietly, you shuffled over to sit across from him at the table, placing your backpack in your lap in some weird way to provide comfort in this situation.

“You weren’t supposed to show up.” Leon grumbled, sitting far back in the tilted chair as his feet lifted the front end of the chair slightly. His arms were crossed and he was giving you probably the nastiest look you’ve ever seen, next to your parents, of course. All you did was sit there giving him a blank stare. It was obvious what he’d said, yet the sheer forwardness of that snide comment had you more than confused. “What?-”

“You weren’t supposed to show up.” Apparently he felt the need to repeat himself with some added bite, barely letting you get a word in. “No one ever shows up to these shitty tutor- whatever the fucks.”

Wow. Okay. “Uh..” You didn’t even know what to say to that. It completely caught you off guard. You’d run through countless ways this interaction would go in your head, but this wasn’t one of those ways. The two of you sat in a very tense silence with Leon just glaring at you from across the table, continuing to rock back and forth in the chair.

Without uncrossing his arms, Leon lifted a hand and waved it around slightly while shaking his head. “Are you actually still gonna sit here orrr…?” The sound of his voice finally snapped you out of shock, causing you to shoot your gaze down to your backpack, fumbling with its partially broken zipper. “I-.. Mr. Lebovic recommended you..?”

You pulled out a few of your failed assignments from your bag before setting them down on the table with shaky hands, keeping your eyes glued to the papers to avoid that burning stare the man in front of you has. “I need-.. I need help..?”

“Do you?” Leon let the chair fall forward, his sarcastic tone starting to make your whole body tremble. “You don’t sound like you do.” He snatched one of your assignments from the table and held it up, pursing his lips as he studied the various red marks made on it closely. You chose to not respond to that, letting your hands rest on top of your backpack so you had something to squeeze.

He turned the page around, the sound of the paper wobbling the only thing you could hear right after the sound of the central heat blowing through the vent in the room. Suddenly, Leon started chuckling to himself, shaking his head incredulously as he flipped the paper back and forth a couple times before letting it fall back to the table. “This is terrible!” His laugh grew louder as he tilted his body to the side to pull out his phone, taking a picture of the assignments you’d put on the table. 

How on earth were you supposed to react to that other than just sitting quietly? He was actually making fun of you right to your face. Hell, he might as well point and laugh if he’s going to be this brasen. 

The most you could muster up was a quiet yet high-pitched “... huh?” in response to him. This whole ordeal was spiraling a little too fast for you to keep up with. You were expecting to put up with some grown man with a bratty attitude or even just a very uninterested, not all there jock with how Leon’s been described to you, not blatant bullying.

“Huh?” He mocked, taking one last look at his phone while loudly sucking on his teeth before pocketing it again. “Anyways, this is actually sad. How are you managing to fuck simple math up like this?” He roughly grabbed all the papers on the table and stacked them before partially tossing them back at you, some slipping onto the floor. “You’re too far gone, even I can’t fix that.”

You let out a gasp when the papers were tossed at your face, scrambling to catch some of them. Pushing the chair back, you leaned over to grab the few that fell on the floor, desperately holding back tears. “Please, you don’t understand.” You pleaded, voice cracking as you tried your best not to start crying in front of him. “I-I need to pass this class. I’m passing everything else, I just can’t keep up with this one!” You were speed-talking to try and argue your case, sitting back up with the small pile of papers that you struggled to stack properly.

Leon started rocking back in his chair again, arms back across his chest as he watched you with squinted eyes. The corners of his lips soon turned up into a smirk, taking in your sorry state before rolling his eyes with a dramatic groan. “Alright, alright, stop whining, jesus..” He cleared his throat, letting his head fall over the back of the chair. “I’ll help you only because I feel bad for you.” It’s not like he was going to admit that he was being forced to be a tutor, no one needs leverage over him like that

You couldn’t help but give a small smile despite his implication. It was a start. “And I’m not gonna do it today, either.” Well, the sooner the better, but still, it’s a start.

He then stood up from the chair, fixing his jacket with a sigh. “If you show up even a minute late on Friday, I’m not helping” and before you even had a chance to reply, he walked out of the room, the door shutting with a slam which made you flinch. Luckily, you were a very punctual person when it came to this kind of stuff. This was important, so if you had to show up early, so be it. You hurriedly shoved your assignments back into your backpack, not even fully zipping it up before rushing out of the study room, back through the library, and to the dorms.

“He said that?!” Sky yelled, quickly wiping their hand over their mouth to quiet themself once you shushed them. “I don’t really feel comfortable with you going to another ‘study session’ with that guy if he’s just gonna bully you.”

“I wouldn’t call it bullying-”

“He was bullying you.”

“OKAY! So what if he was?!” You fell back onto Sky’s bed with a sigh, arms splayed out with your legs dangling off the side. “I can handle it. As long as I get my grade up, who cares?”

Sky sat down next to you on their bed, giving you a sad look as you sat yourself up with your elbows. “I care. So does Ella. You shouldn’t put up with that just for a grade. I’m sure if you explain to your professor and-”

“And what? Tell him that I’m a grown woman getting bullied over something I should know by now?” You sat yourself up fully now, leaning forward to place your elbows on your thighs as your head rested in your hands. “It’s only until finals are over and we’re already halfway through October. Maybe I won’t even need that much time, maybe I’m just missing one simple… math move and it’ll get the gears in my brain moving again.”

You tilted your head to the side to look at Sky, head now resting only in your right hand as you took in their annoyed look. “Trust me. I can handle this.”

“If you say so.” They ran their fingers through her hair before looking away from you, directing their attention forward to stare off at nothing. “Just remember that I bite and I’m not afraid to use my fake chompers on that no good-”

“I don’t wanna think about escalations right now, but thank you.” You chuckled, playfully nudging Sky with your free hand before moving it back to hold your head up with the other. Though you were trying to convince Sky on this, you were mostly just trying to convince yourself that you could handle this. Handle Leon and his.. alluring charm..

Only until finals, maybe even sooner.

[ghostfacd]

jh86 — in your life, you’ll do things greater than, dating the boy on the hockey team.

au masterlist | hi guys! thanks for reading, make sure you look into my au masterlist for context on yn and jack’s relationship. this can totally be read without having context, but it’ll be much more enjoyable with, so make sure you check it out !! also livvy hughes is from my gabe perreault au which can be found here. this isn’t proofread yet but enjoy, muah & kisses

Jack Hughes.

Although he was known in your high school for being a handsome and incredibly athletic boy, you didn’t care much for him.

Besides, you had too many APs and Honor classes to be worrying about. Like right now; with your nose inside your AP Chemistry textbook, trying your best to not go absolutely insane. So far, it wasn’t working.

It had gotten to the point where you slammed your head against the textbook, making those around you turn to glare at the loud noise. You apologize profusely, deciding to go cry quietly in one of the study rooms the library had, not caring if you’d go home later with red eyes.

“Hey, you okay?”

A guy’s voice pulls you away from your textbook, your sniffles quickly filling the quiet room.

“This room is reserved, sorry.” You say, wiping away your tears with your eyes.

“Oh no, I know. I was just wondering if you were okay. I passed by and heard crying.”

Great. Not only did you look terrible at the moment, a cute guy just heard you crying. How embarrassing.

“It’s just chemistry,” you sigh, “I don’t know why I took it. It’s making me go insane.”

The boy laughs quietly, nodding to your words. “Yeah, I felt the same way about chemistry. Hated it.”

You noticed the equipment he had on his backpack, a long hockey stick and skates.

“You play hockey?”

“Yep. Jack Hughes, 86 on the ice.”

Your eyes widened, not expecting Jack Hughes to be right in front of you. Sure, you’ve heard about him endlessly, mostly coming from giggling girls in your grade, but you’ve never actually seen him up close.

Suddenly, Jack’s phone rang, and he picks it up with quite a bit of annoyance. “Yes. I’m at the library. The one next to the Starbucks, uh huh. Yep, I’ll be out now. Bye mom. Love you too.”

He turns it off, turning around to face you once again. “I have to get going,” he says, frowning. “But I’d be glad to help you with your AP Chemistry work. Here’s my number.”

You glance at the numbers, taking out your phone from your pocket, typing it into your contacts.

“Thanks Jack,” you say gratefully, “I thought you hated chem, though?”

“Oh I hate it.” He laughs. “But it doesn’t mean I’m bad at it. Just give me a call whenever.”

Jack Hughes walked away that day giddy that he had given his number to a cute girl, and you had walked away happy that you were finally getting chemistry help.

However, your happiness didn’t last long when you realized Jack Hughes had absolutely no idea what he was doing when it came to chemistry.

“No Jack!” You say bewilderingly as you watched him scribble a bunch of nonsense on your paper. “What is up with you?”

It was a week after you two had first met at the library and Jack was helping you out in the same study room he had walked into you crying last week.

“I’m sorry okay!” Jack panics, face in a red flush. “I have no idea what I’m doing! I don’t! I just said I did because you’re so cute and I couldn’t help it and I—”

Jack slaps his hands over his mouth before he could say further, shocked that he’s accidentally revealed to you how cute he thinks you are. “Oh my god.”

You furrow your eyebrows, but your stern look doesn’t last long before you burst out in giggles. “Why didn’t you just say so?” You ask.

He finally puts his hands back on the table, “I don’t know.. I guess I was scared of rejection.”

“You? Scared of rejection?” You raise your eyebrows. “Jack, you know girls in our grade and not in our grade would die to even be near you, right?”

Jack blushes at this, keeping his head down. “But those girls aren’t you, it’s different.”

Well goddamnit Jack Hughes, you really knew how to swoon a girl over.

"Really? And you're not just saying that to play me?"

Jack shakes his head quickly. "What? No Y/N, I would never."

And that was the start to yours and Jack's relationship. Although you still very much needed a chemistry tutor, you're glad the hockey player had somehow managed to sneak his way into your life, bringing joy and happiness while he was at it.

"Hey Rory, do you think this looks good on me?" Olivia "Livvy" Hughes, the Hughes' youngest child and also the only girl considered you as one of her best friends because you two were both girls. She was over the moon when Jack had brought you home, claiming she was going to finally have the sister she always wanted.

Needless to say, Quinn, Jack, and Luke were frowning that day at her comment.

The Hughes had started calling you Rory after Jack had. Why did he start calling you that? You really didn't know, but Jack had explained that the nickname was cute, and he had gotten it from your last name, which was Lerory.

"You look gorgeous Livvy!" You gleam happily, watching the younger girl in awe. "He is going to die."

"Who is going to die and why are you dressed up like you're going on a date Olivia Hughes?" The voice of your boyfriend makes you turn to face the boy, who had an unimpressed look on his face. "Who's the guy? Do I know him? I'm gonna kill him."

"Jack!" you scold, slapping his arm. "Your sister looks stunning, doesn't she?"

Jack mumbles something under his breath, to which you responded with an elbow to his side. "Fine. Yes Livs, you look amazing. Don't do anything stupid, alright?"

Livvy nods, before giving you a bone breaking hug for getting her brother off her back. She mumbles a love you thank you in your ear before running outside to Gabe, her date.

Jack places a kiss on your head, leading you to his room and placing a Netflix show on as background noise.

"I'm really glad you and Livvy get along," Jack says quietly. "I was worried you wouldn't for some reason."

"She's a great person J," you say, placing a peck on his lips. "And so are you."

The next time you're over at the Hughes house, there was a bunch of yelling and crying, much of which came from Jack and Livvy. Luke was on Jack's side, Quinn being gone in Vancouver.

"What's going on?" You mumble, feeling like you're an intruder coming into a scene that you were unwelcomed in.

"Did you know?!" Jack huffs angrily, now facing you.

"Did I know what, Jack?"

"Did you know she was dating Gabe Perreault? That kid who plays hockey for Princeton?"

So this is what this is all about. Jack was once again being his overprotective self.

"Yes J, I don't see the problem? He treats her well."

"Well I don't want her dating a hockey player! I know how they are! Luke and I know how they are!"

Livvy watches in tears as her brother continues yelling some more before making her way to you, practically falling into your arms.

"Jackson Rowden Hughes, you better stop yelling at Olivia before I do something about it. You are an adult, Jack. Livvy is an adult now, she's 18, she's allowed to date whomever she wants with or without your permission. Same goes with you, Luke Warren Hughes. You guys need to stop upsetting your sister! Just because Quinn isn't here doesn't mean you can corner and scream at her!"

Your words make Jack and Luke go mute, heads down in embarrassment when they realize how right your words were.

"Rory's right," Jack says awkwardly, clearing his throat. "I'm sorry Livvy. I didn't mean it, I just don't want you to get hurt."

Livvy nods, breaking the hug with you to go hug her brothers.

Later that night, Jack slips under the covers of his bed, putting his arms around your frame.

"You'd be a good mother Rory." He mumbles sleepily.

"Hm?"

"You'll be a good mom. I saw the way you handled my argument with Livvy earlier, thank you by the way. It shows how amazing you truly are." He places a kiss on your bare shoulder. "And I can't wait to have a family with you Y/N Lerory."

His words make you pull him closer, placing small kisses around his face. "I can't wait to have a family with you too, J."

Although Jack's words weren't true, and he wasn't ready at all.

Which is why the both of you were standing in the kitchen of your dorms, mascara running down your cheeks while Jack ruffles his hair in stress.

"What do you mean you're pregnant?" he says, eyebrows furrowing.

"Well what does it mean Jack?! It takes two people to make a baby!"

"You don't think I know that?!"

"Well by the way you're acting, it sure as hell feels like i'm the one at fault here!"

"I don't know Rory, I don't know." Jack's face is in his hands now, which gives you deja vu to when he first blurted out that he had found you cute. "I need time to think. I can't do this right now."

"What do you mean Jack?" you say, voice cracking as you reach out to him. "J, talk to me."

But he shakes his head, "I'm a professional hockey player now Y/N, you're a college student. I can't be doing this right now." With that, he leaves your dorm.

The next few days are spent with you in your bed, crying into your pillows. Your roommate, Madison, frowns as she watches your depressed state. She leaves an ice cream in your fridge, telling you words of encouragement and telling you that you can come to her anytime about anything.

When the news reaches Livvy, she's absolutely fuming, immediately taking out her phone to call you. Seeing your puffy eyes and cracked voice, she dials Jack right after, ready to give him a piece of her mind.

What she doesn't expect is to see him equally broken as you, eyebags heavy and eyes red.

"I know I fucked up Livs. I know." He says, crying at his desk. Although he's got the NHL title, a bunch of girls who would die to be with him, he still feels so utterly alone without you.

"You know what's funny Jack? You always warned me about how shitty hockey guys can be, you threw a fit because I was dating one, but you ended up being the biggest asshole of them all."

And Jack can do nothing but cry, because his younger sister's words were all too true.

[heavenlymorals]

The Tragedy of Dutch Van Dir Linde

Warning: spoilers ahead for both Red Dead games.

Dutch Van Dir Linde is one of the finest characters I've ever come across and that I think about a lot because in many ways, he is represents the dreams that people have and the awful reality of it too.

Heytham, what the hell do you mean that this manic, selfish, delusional piece of shit is like you or me?

Here is an example. When you were a kid, did your parents tell you that your dreams will come true if you worked hard? And did you believe it? I know I did. I studied often, got a great SAT score, joined many extracurriculars, did volunteer work regularly, got a part time job, had all high grades in advanced level courses and in AP/honor programs and I had one goal. To get into my dream college.

I made my resume. I did everything right. I listen to what people better than me told me to do and I waited for that acceptance letter- so confident that I would get into the university. Never once did I imagine that I'd get rejected, but I did. For a 17 year old kid, it felt like the world was ending. I remember sobbing myself to sleep, waking up, and then just laying on my bed disappointed in the world and the lies it fed me. In a perfect world, I'd have gotten accepted. Worst people than me got accepted, why couldn't I?

But I moved on. Life continued and I was fine. I was bitter, sure, but I managed to get over it and work towards better paths and a better future.

But what if I didn't? What if I got hung up on that forever? What if I fought the rejection? What would I have done? What would I have not done?

This little experience, one that many people have gone through, is kind of a microcosm of the much bigger human truth that the world will never be an ideal place due to the human nature.

If I was like Dutch, I would have fought the rejection- I would stick so diligently to the ideal that I believed in so hard, even though that failure was more than likely a guarantee. I wouldn't find an alternative to be better and do better things. I'll get hung up on a dream and never move past it.

That's his dilemma. He believes in the ideal, like we all do, but he will fight tooth and nail to make that ideal real while we will sigh and realize that life will never be the way we want it to be.

Dutch feels betrayed by the world, or at least by his vision of the world- especially America.

America was a country built on the promise of all men being born equal under God and under the law. All men.

That was the dream, the hope, and the promise.

What happened instead? The continuing of the institute of slavery, the massacre of natives, the monopoly of magnates, and the constant discrimination of those not considered 'white'.

It was disgusting and awful and it should've never happened- but it did and people tried to remedy it in ways that were gradual but real. They found different paths and different dreams and though there is still much work to be done, people are finding a way.

Dutch couldn't do that though. He refused to do that. He wanted the ideal and he wanted it immediately, even though it was impossible. He killed for his ideal, he robbed for his ideal, and he led people to hell for his ideal.

But it didn't matter. His ideal will never exist and he couldn't accept that- which leads to his end.

He won't be caught. And he didn't get caught by commiting suicide- a final fight. He wouldn't surrender to John or the Pinkertons, because that would mean admitting that his entire life was a struggle for nothing because his vision will never be realized if people like Cornwall or Favours or the professor continue to exist. Life was hell because of those people and the American dream did not exist because of those people.

"What a beautiful dream. So poorly rendered," - Dutch to Arthur.

And Dutch is right! From the very beginning that this country was created, it relied on an ideal that turned out to be a lie.

And Dutch couldn't handle that and wanted a perfect world that can never be realized and he tried to get that perfect world by lying and stealing and cheating and killing. What a depressing dichotomy.

Now, of course, when it comes to the personal motivations of Dutch, whether pride, hubris, narcissism, or any of that, they can all by factors to Dutch's pointless battle, but his motivation has always been clear and it never changed-

"Yeah, I know it's tough. You like Dutch. He's a charming fellow. He makes sense. He's like one of those nature writers from back East. Only he takes things a tiny little step too far. Rather than just loving the flowers and the animals and the harmony between man and beast, he shoots people in the head for money. And disagreeing with him. Now, I'm not a great intellect, but the metaphysical leap from admiring a flower to shooting a man in the head because he doesn't like a flower, is a leap too far." Edgar Ross to John Marston.

Dutch lived and died to create an ideal that would never be real because he could never accept reality and that is one of the saddest fates a man could have.

[thoughtsforsoob]

could i request a soobin with enemies to lovers prompt? 🥹 i think i have an obsession with this trope atm

a/n: hello anon! i hope you enjoy this. i wasn't sure how i was going to write this but i made it happen! i love the enemies to lovers trope but i cannot write it for my life. please enjoy this! i hope it lives up to expectations. 

you and soobin were total opposites. he was this cool guys with a close knit friend group and lot’s of popularity. he had a set group of people that would eat lunch with him everyday. he was really smart too. he constantly made student of the month and was on track to secure the valedictorian spot for your graduation class. 

you on the other hand…you had only two friends you hung out with everyday and you lacked the popularity he had. you loved your friends group so it’s not like you were complaining or anything. you were also very smart. you were good at pretty much everything you teachers put in front of you. art, english, math, history. anything. 

this is where your story starts. you and soobin usually did not cross paths at all and if you did…it was because he was insulting your intelligence and lack of friends. he didn’t mean to hurt your feelings so deeply but little did he know, you would go home and cry into your pillow because of his hurtful words. he would put you down by both only questioning your intelligence but even your looks. saying things along the lines of, “well, we can’t all be good looking and smart”. When he’d run into you in the hall ways during passing period, he would humiliate you by screaming and then saying, “oh wait, it’s just you. i swear i just saw something straight out of a horror movie.” you would go home and curse him. how could he be so handsome and so mean at the same time? it’s not fair! 

you two were made to cross paths on this occasion because you were both called into the principals office. the principal organized this meeting to let you know you both were tied for the spot of valedictorian and that you both would have to share the honor if nothing changed with your grades. soobin took this as a threat and you, were just fine with it. he started going on about how it’s not fair that he had to share such a high honor with a girl. when you left the principals office, he let you know his intentions to raise his grades to beat you. when you just shrugged him off, he grabbed your wrist. you glared at him. “let me go! i’ll tell someone!” he sighed and rolled his eyes, “as if anyone would actually care.” he looks you up and down, “just back down. you’re too stupid to even formulate a speech to accept this award. why do you even want it so bad?” 

you pull your wrist back, “it’s none of your damn business! leave me alone. I'm not backing down and I'm not going to no matter what you say.” you turn and walk away, back to the class you had left for the meeting. he watches you walk away with a smirk. he was thinking of ways to get you to back down as he walked back to class. 

after school and clubs, he went to look for you. he was going to tell you again to back off when he noticed something strange. he was walking into the gym since he knew you’d be come with volleyball (let’s just say you play) but the gym was really quiet. among the quiet, he heard a small voice, begging the word ‘stop’ over and over. he finally recognized this voice as yours. as much as he pretended to hate you, he couldn't help but go over there and asses the situation. 

you were being back into a corner by a sophomore in your club. his name was Jake. he was much taller than you and much bigger. he’d been asking you on a date at every single club meeting for a whole month. Since he always made you feel uncomfortable and unsafe, you would always decline. he kept asking and asking until he finally got fed up and decided he was going to make you say yes. he decided to do this by backing you into a corner of the gym once everyone was gone after practice. you always stayed behind alone to clean up since your friends had to run off to their part time jobs after club. he decided today was the day and he started to back you into the corner. 

soobin hesitates but decided the right thing to do was to intervene. he walks up behind Jake and when you see him, you gasp. Jake was looking at you with a raised eye brow and suddenly feels a big hand grab his should and pull him back. “hey, Jake. what are you doing?” soobin puts on a fake smile and pat’s the younger boy’s shoulder. Jake rolls his eyes, “I'm asking her on a date and she’s not saying yes! can you believe this? who wouldn’t wanna date me?” Soobin finally stops smiling and does what he came there to do. he pushed Jake back and the younger boy stumbled, falling onto his butt. "you leave her alone. you hear me? i thought you know better than you harass girls who want nothing to do with you?” soobin grabs your hand and looks at you, “come on. let’s get any from this loser. he’s got a lesson to learn later on. i’ll be back for you.” soobin threatens. you follow soobin as he gently pulls your arm to lead you outside safely. he refuses to let go of you hand when asking if you were okay. "did he touch you? I'm sorry he did that to you.” he groan and pull your hand back.

“why do you care? you always talk shit to me. why did you even step in? you could definitely not care less about me.” you look down at the floor, kicking dirt around. you felt back for talking to him that way after he saved you but you couldn’t help it. why did he do this? he looks at you, “i wasn’t going to let him hurt you. no one deserves to be harassed by anyone. not even you.” you look up at him with softer eyes. you notice how he got shy when you looked in his eyes. you smile at him for the first time ever. "thank you. thank you for saving me from him.” he take his hands and look at him again. "are you shy?” you laugh when his face and ears to red. his body betrayed him. "hey, this is no fair, you’re touching me. how am i supposed to react when he pretty girl touches me?” 

you gasp, “pretty? now you’re just messing with me. don’t do that.” your smile turns into a frown and soobin panics. “hey! hey! I'm not kidding. I'm serious. i really do think you’re pretty. im sorry for all those times i said other wise. I'm sorry I've been such an ass hole to you. i’ve treated you like absolute shit for no reason. you’re too pretty to be treated like crap.” he panics when you start to tear up but he wipes your tears away. he goes as far as to pull you into his chest and hug you. you melt into him and hide your face in his chest. he let’s you cry for a while. 

finally, you look up at him with puffy, red eyes. “so…what now? am i gonna have to go home and cry into my pillow because you’re going to tell me you don’t like me the way i think you do?” he smiled at you and wiped your face again. “i don’t think so. i like you a lot. how about i go in there and help you finish cleaning and then i can walk you home? we can stop for some boba tea? my treat for being such an asshole.” you smile at him and hug him again. "sure. but…only if you’ll be my boyfriend.” he turns red once again and whines, “Hey! what’s with your love of flustering me?” you frown, “is that a no?” he shakes his head, “you’re already got me wrapped around your cute fingers, you know?” you smile at him and you both hug. he places a sweet kiss on your cheek and you turn red. 

[dardinan-ingellvar]

Learning The Sad Truth

After a decade with Emmrich, it's become apparent to Dardin'an that they've truly stopped aging. They had already thought it strange that they looked like they did in their mid twenties with no real change by the time Solas' ritual was stopped, but with Emmrich reaching 60, and looking just that much older, Dardin'an doesn't look 40 at all. Not a thing has changed, and it's beginning to scare them. After learning the truth about their life - that they were a wisp who had taken human form - they'd often wondered if there were side effects. Now, it seems they have their answer.

To be certain, they call upon Keepsake and Curio in private, needing that certainty. "It is a pleasure to see you again, Rook" Keepsake says.

"Thank you. It is always an honor to see the both of you. Hail the Dead...But...I have questions. I know I am not truly an Elf. I was a wisp. Am a wisp, I suppose...And I seem to have stopped aging. I look no different than I did when I was 25 or so...How is that possible?"

Curio nods "I am afraid you are not mortal. We have been observing you, Rook. Your state of being is new to us, but we've seen it too."

"But you are no less fragile. You can still fall in battle no differently than any other. I'm afraid, however, unless that happens, you will far outlive Emmrich...Farther than you perhaps previously planned" Keepsake chimes.

Dardin'an pales and has to take a seat on one of the steps of a tomb to keep their head from spinning quite so much "So...I was right...Shit...I should have let him turn Lich...but Manfred..."

"If it is any consolation, it means he can, in theory, return to you...in time. As you did for him. We may be able to guide that, now that we know more about your condition" Curio remarks

Dardin'an winces "I...I thought I could face his death with my head held high. But I thought I'd grow old with him, relatively speaking. I didn't think-...This is cruel! What am I supposed to do? How do I tell him?"

"He is an observant man, Rook. He already knows. That you love him still has kept him from speaking up." Keepsake's tone suggests this isn't the first time they've had this talk

Dardin'an stands and looks horrified "He figured it out...?! How long ago?"

"Six years...He came to us needing to know why you never seem to change. We had realized by then that you were more unique than previously believed"

With years forming in their eyes, they turn from the spirits. "Thank you...I need to speak with Emmrich..."

Dardin'an send Keepsake and Curio back to rest and goes to find Emmrich in their room. He is grading some projects, so he doesn't look up from his work. "Ah! Rook, dearest! Pass me that tome on the desk beside you, will you? I believe one of my students stumbled on something..."

Dardin'an sighs, and does as asked. They let Emmrich make his notes before they speak.

"...So...You've known for six years..."

Emmrich sits up and turns to finally meet Dardin'an's gaze "Oh...my love, I had hoped you wouldn't realize so quickly...Elves seem to age so gracefully...I thought-..." He sighs. "...Well, I knew you'd find out eventually. I just wanted our time together to be less fraught with concern."

Dardin'an shakes their head. "It's not right! You should be immortal too. I robbed that from you...I should've-...!"

Emmrich stands and hugs Dardin'an close "You gave us a son we could raise together...And what a wonder he is! I'd be so broken without that. Losing Manfred would never have been worth immortality...Even if we could share in it after all. And I haven't been entirely inactive since I realized...I'm trying to find out if, perhaps...I could become a wisp myself after-...Well...after the end. If I can possess a form like you did, or even one like Manfred, and grow into my own again...You won't have to bear eternity alone..."

Dardin'an tenses "I can't-...Decades without you...."

"...Will be a blink of an eye, dearest. And then you'll have me again. Though, I may be a tad different...But if I find away to lock my mind within the wisp form I take, I wouldn't be quite so different as you are to my first love. I'd essentially be me, reborn"

Dardin'an kisses Emmrich and hugs him back finally "Please find a way. It was one thing when I thought I would only have a few years without you before I could rejoin you...Forever?...I can't face that."

Emmrich melts a little at the kiss and smiles with a melancholy glint in his eyes. "I understand, darling, I truly do...If not for my own mortality, I believe I might have spent all my time worrying over you...Yes, you're immortal yourself, but as a Lich, I would be much harder to kill. You are not. And in our line of work, beyond the Necropolis, there is no reality where neither of us is in danger of passing before the other."

Dardin'an groans "I suppose...I just wish we could stop finding salt to pour in our wounds. Every time we get comfortable, something new comes along that hurts...I came into this relationship knowing odds were high I'd lose you one day. But I knew I'd die eventually...Then I find out I'm a wisp that possessed an infant's corpse, and I'm still not able to really wrap my mind around that...But on top of it all, I'm immortal because of it? Now, I get to lose you, like you lost the person I once was? Get me off this runaway cart...I need a break..."

Emmrich strokes Dardin'an's cheek and sighs "Oh, Rook...Such is life. But we have a good life together, and so many happy memories, adventures, stories to tell...Let's focus on that, while we seek solutions to the problems that arise. It's the best way around all that stress."

Dardin'an nods against Emmrich's chest and pulls him to their bed for a desperately needed distraction to aid in working on moving on from this revelation.

[amongemeraldclouds]

The Slytherin Boys as Bridgerton Brothers

Ft. Theodore Nott, Mattheo Riddle, and Lorenzo Berkshire. Some also features x f!Reader as their equivalent partner.

© amongemeraldclouds I do not consent to having my work shared or reproduced elsewhere. Please do not claim as your own, tumblr is the only place I publish my written work.

✿ Masterlist | 808 words | Based on the Netflix show

Dearest Gentle Reader,

This author is pleased to present the dashing, young Slytherins as their Bridgerton counterpart should they ever grace the ton with their presence.

Theodore Nott as Anthony Bridgerton

𝄞 Theodore Nott as Anthony Bridgerton would be a walking contradiction, oscillating between his responsibilities as a viscount who had to grow up too soon and a rake who refuses to grow up.

𝄞 While attending school at Oxford, he never had to worry about grades as he’s naturally intelligent and can ace his classes with little effort. He’s also generally interested in learning so he never has to force himself to study.

𝄞 This allows him more time to goof off with his classmates so they would go on countless adventures and get into all sorts of trouble. Nothing that would stick of course, given their high status in society and the privilege that comes with it. 

𝄞 Given the early loss of his father, he becomes the viscount at a young age and assumes responsibility for their people and his family. It feeds into his serious and introverted side and he initially has strong opinions on Daphne’s suitors, thinking he knows what’s best for her.

𝄞 When he challenged Simon to duel, part of it would be to defend Daphne’s honor, but another part would be his subconscious tendency towards self-destruction.

𝄞 Secretly, he envies and resents his siblings for not having to bear the responsibilities he had to. Still, he cares for them and always tries his best.

𝄞 He prefers having sex with only one partner, but if he doesn’t have one, he will frequent brothels to get his urges satisfied. He never hesitates to do what he needs to do, both in business and his personal life.

𝄞 When he finally opens himself up to marriage, he initially has a strategic plan, refusing to be swept away by whimsical notions of love. All it ever brought was pain, no thank you.

𝄞 And then he met you. The woman he lost a horse race to, the woman who could best him at pall-mall and is not afraid to get her hands dirty, literally. The woman who could carry herself in a hunt. His match.

𝄞 He rarely fell in love, if at all. But when he fell, he fell utterly and hopelessly in love.

𝄞 In his words, “I have never met anyone like you. It is maddening. How much you consume my very being.” He was never one for moderation.

Mattheo Riddle as Benedict Bridgerton

₊✧ As an aspiring artist, Mattheo Riddle enjoys drawing and often has charcoal or ink stains on his hands, just like Benedict Bridgerton.

₊✧ He likes smoking in general and usually bonds with his sister, Eloise, through their regular smoking sessions on the swing. They confide their dreams and fears with each other.

₊✧ He is closest to Anthony, who often seeks his support as the second son.

₊✧ Once he dives into the art scene away from the prestige of the ton, behind doors closed and with curtains drawn, he is pleasantly surprised to discover the sensual side to these parties.

₊✧ He regularly attends these parties for sketching, booze, and orgies - everything his creative heart could desire.

₊✧ He is genuinely passionate about his art and hopes to get into art school of his own accord.

₊✧ He will not hesitate to turn to substances when he needs to relax, even if it means over consuming Colin’s calming tea to soothe his anxiety of getting into art school.

₊✧ He got so wasted that he found himself screaming in exultation from the windows of their quiet countryside home when he was accepted into art school. 

Lorenzo Berkshire as Colin Bridgerton

❥ Much like Colin Bridgerton, Lorenzo Berkshire is also a free spirit who enjoys traveling and sharing stories of his adventures.

❥ Life of the party, he loves joking around with others.

❥ He is loyal to and protective of his family, always ready to support his siblings, especially his older brothers when needed.

❥ However, when he sets his sights on a goal, he is headstrong and not afraid to pursue things on his own. Whether it’s courting Marina or making investments in an attempt to find his purpose.

❥ Given his penchant to see the good in others, he can sometimes come off as naive but is open to learning from his failures.

❥ He remains a romantic idealist, but often has his head in the clouds that he overlooks your affections and only sees you as a loyal friend.

❥ Everything changes when he gets closer with you and your confidence grows the more autonomy you have with choosing your own gowns, for example. He starts to consider you less like a friend and more romantically.

❥ He better get his hands and knees ready for all the groveling he will go through to win your affections after he denied and rejected you for so long.

✿ Masterlist <- read more

Author’s note:

✿ Wrote this while eagerly awaiting Bridgerton season 3. ✿ I will go absolutely feral when Benedict’s season arrives. That man is already so gorgeous, how are they going to give him a glow up? Losing my mind 🥵

[thebrilliot]

As a straight white cis dude, I find it entirely rude that other straight white cis men are not trying to teach me to love myself and others, and instead are selling me cryptocurrency and superhero stories. Don't give me that fake hero-and-money-glorifying crap. Give me the real stuff, like being a kid of divorced parents and trying to survive high school, or a multi-generational story all about community and family in a mountain town in Colorado, or making an unlikely friend in the big city, or even good romance.

Do you know how good girls have it reading literature written by women for women about real women's struggles? Book stores are alive because of women's literature. They're packed full to the brim with books written by women for other women. They're just writing poetry back and forth to each other! It's beautiful! These women love each other! Meanwhile, the only thing I can find that is written for men is sci-fi and fantasy and geez it's all the same thing. I don't need fantastical anymore. I don't want to spend another 6 hours figuring out the story behind your world. I don't care if it's epic and grand. Give me some good, reality-grounded, relatable stuff.

Here's what I want to happen in pop culture. I want men to say, "let's talk about forgotten people in history and lift each other up and support each other" which is Six the Musical's message to women. Which is way healthier than what men write for men. Don't try to convince me that I should idolize a founding father who pulled himself up by his bootstraps (by marrying into an influential family where both daughters were in love with him - and note that there is no evidence that Angelica Schuyler ever had feelings for Alexander Hamilton - because who else would I want to idolize other than a man whom women find irresistibly attractive) and single-handedly against all odds created the American financial system, cheated on his wife, paid hush money to keep cheating on his wife, then publicly revealed the affair because he would rather be seen as a cheater than a traitor to his country because hOnOr Is So ImPoRtAnT, then got his son and himself killed in two different duels because AGAIN hOnOr Is So ImPoRtAnT. Nowhere in the entire plot of Hamilton did Alexander Hamilton actually do something purely because he cared about someone else. The revolutionary war and every political dispute was fought and won through pride and stubbornness. John Laurens died in a different part of the country. He didn't pause his work to spend time with his family. He didn't abandon honor to protect himself or his family.

I didn't mean for this to be a rant about Hamilton, but it is a great example of the literature and art that men create for other men. Great music, pacing, etc. but riddled with things that keep bothering me about patriarchy. Stop telling me to be a hero that does everything by himself. Just tell me how to be happy and love the people I love! Don't tell me that because I'm average and feel overlooked that there's actually something special about me that makes me some sort of chosen one. That's not real! I already got told enough of those lies in school. I grew up in gifted and talent student programs through grade school and they told me the same thing. "YoU'rE gOiNg To ChAnGe ThE wOrLd." Actually, probably not, but because I'm a good kid and just the right amount of neurodivergent, I'm going to take you seriously and put an unhealthy amount of pressure on myself and also then fail to reach any of my vague and lofty goals, especially because no one is telling boys and men that community is a crucial part of human life, happiness and fulfillment, mental health, change and progress, and personal growth and accomplishment.

Maybe I don't want to change the world, and maybe I don't want to do things all by myself, and maybe I don't want to rely on finding a wife and having children as a way to find or create a community or a support system. Maybe I get fulfillment out of things other than fame and sex. Where are the men who are writing to me as an audience?

Anyway, the patriarchy sucks. Fuck patriarchal messaging. I reject that. Men, be better. Write something worthwhile for once.

[alltoomaples]

life in film - LN

pairing: fem!uni student x lando norris

synopsis: after a year-long of hard work, the day was finally here where you present your portfolio project. you're family and friend circle has joined but will lando be able to reach there on time?

type: writing + picture portfolio

a/n: here's the much-awaited and most polled-in for the write-up! part 2 of love.jpg is here! ngl i feel this can be read alone as well as part but you readers can decide whichever way you wish to read i don't and won't mind <33 (linked down below). a bit of reference was used from the film 'five feet apart' as on the previous day, i binge-watched it (yes i do bing watch this movie for unhealthy times) and the monologue kinda gave an inspiration to write for this part. i must say the writing got way longer than i anticipated hence i had to skip the insta au part. although i think the end is quite an unexpected surprise in my opinion? lemme know what you folks think? now, i'll be working on our poll winner 2 and i'd be happy to take in any requests if you have :))

until next one, happy reading <;33

pre-part: love.jpg

. . . .

You were pacing around the backstage, feeling all anxious and panicky as the day you were looking for was finally here!

Your project portfolio presentation.

A year full of waiting now feels like a moment gone by and yet, you were very grateful of the journey that you had. Your family, friends, Lan, and professors have helped and guided you throughout the process, keeping you sane.

"Y/N, the show's about to start! get down to the staging area please" the lady annouced as you nodded to her.

You turned around the room to see whether Lando could make it as it was his last race of the triple race weekender and although you said it's totally fine if he couldn't make it yet Lando being Lando, he promised you he'd be there. quoting his own words, "i wouldn't miss it for the world and i will be there, bubba"

You get to the side staging area and tries to sneak at the couple front rows. You see that your and Lando's family was seated with a couple of your friends and the quadrant squad. you smiled at them, even waved back at baby Mila when she saw you and squealed. and yet, a deep sigh leaves your lips as you see the empty seat beside Max.

He still hasn't reached here. yet?

You fiddled with the ring on your hand and quickly took your phone when it beeped. it was a message from Max.

from Maxy: he's on his way y/n/n. don't worry about it! ps: if he doesn't, then we'll kick his ass fr. your word will be my command, your highness😤

Silent laughter resulted once you read his texts as you looked at him and shook your head.

You heard people's whispers, and as you turned around, the anchor of the event walks up behind you and enters the stage, meaning the show was about to begin.

"Welcome to one and all present here today! it's an honor and privilege to showcase the works done by our talented students of the graduating batch 2022-23" a round of applause echos the auditorium.

. . . .

Few presentations later, the anchor of the event walks up behind me, about to leave for the stage entrance, indicating its your turn.

You quickly opened your phone and texted Lando.

to Lan <3: hey bubba! im about to go on stage now. and before you say anything bad about yourself, its totally fine and don't blame yourself for it bubs. and maybe, I'll give you a private presentation? anywhoo, wish me luck xx

"You're up in a few mins y/l/n. you ready?" the lady approaches to you. You took a deep breath on and nodded.

"And here's our final student who has set her portfolio with an outstanding theme and work of art and graded first rank of her batch, Ms. y/n y/m/n y/l/n"

As the mic was handed over to you, your phone went off. It was a text from Lando.

from Lan <3: you don't need luck cause your lucky charm is here xx

You were slightly confused and before you could register what he meant, you're now walking onto the stage, and the audience applauds, your fam corner goes a bit wild, hyping you up.

You set your speech papers in front of you. And took another deep breath as the audience went silent.

"Greetings to esteem team and faculty members, my colleagues and everyone gathered here today. I am y/n l/n, a very proud graduate in photography and graphic design. And today is not just any ordinary day but it's much more special ordinary day that I've been waiting for a whole year" you say, with smile on your face as you look to the crowd.

And just like that, there he stood. At the entrance gate, very much like in movies.

Now, it made sense. Your lucky charm is finally here.

"Ladies and gentlemen, here i present my portfolio, 'Life in film'" you say proudly, as the projector starts showing your cover page on the big screen.

As soon as the picture is shown on screen, a loud applause echoes, making your head turn in the direction of sound. Lando was the one who made the whole audience clap once again. A smile crippled on your way as you nudged your nose. Lando walked over to his seat quickly, keeping one of his hands over his heart as he nudged his nose back at you.

it was a sign that the two of you made, similar to eskimos' kiss (long distant version).

"Life on film. The name is very simple, minimal, and a daily basis terminology in our lives. So what's the purpose of this theme? You might think what makes such a simple concept of life an extraordinary one?" you say, as you look down at the paper you had in front of you, but then you looked at the ring on your finger. And then looked towards your squad. You show your hand at the big screen and the next slides play along, showing a couple of pictures you shot.

"Well, we humans tend to overlook life. We've stopped taking time and appreciate what we have. The bright sunny sky we rarely see in the UK, a string of laughter from a little baby, flowers blossoming in spring, an old couple walking hand in hand. A moment of stillness amongst the chaos, a moment of laughter, contentment, and love," you say, looking at your loved ones.

The looks on everyone's faces were the best reward you could ever receive! Even Lando's expressions spoke volumes of how much he was amused and in awe by your works. You were getting a bit overwhelmed with joy by seeing this and felt like your heart would burst out of so much happiness. Then, you decided to speak from what your heart says as you folded your speech sheet.

"Life could give some tough times, but it's during these times we remember what our purpose is. That even the sour lemons could be made into lemonade. You just have to find the sweetness, your lucky charms," you say, looking at Lando. You saw everyone around him cooing at him, making him blush.

"From being a small girl who'd roam around with her dad's camera, dreaming her life revolve around films and polaroid, and here's she is! chasing her dreams with her lucky charm, " you say, showing the ring on your finger. People in the audience said, 'aww', as were from your squad side.

"A second turn into a minute, into an hour, a day, a week, a month, a year, a decade, and so does it goes. Yet how crazy it is to be able to live life to its fullest, and not just for those successful moments, but for small, big, and everything in between moments! Cause life's too short to waste a second" you say, as the final picture is being shown.

A picture of you and Lando on the day he proposed you, 4 months back.

"And that's life on film! thank you, everybody, for being here! and special shoutout to my parents and Lan's for all the guidance and love, siblings and quadrant squad for all the support" you say, looking at them and then, looking at the person who's your everything.

"And to the most important person with whom i don't think i could have achieved this without him. my project partner, the boyfriend at the start to now, my fiancé, Lando, " you say, getting a bit teary-eyed as you look at him.

"Thank you for choosing me as your partner cause i can't think of anyone else with whom i would have done this!" You say, voice getting a bit crackling. And as soon as you turned the mic off and took a bow, the lights of the room turned on, and the whole room stood up, applauding and cheers of hoots erupting the room.

Lando didn't think twice as he stood and ran up towards the stage and engulfed you in a tight hug as he picked and spun the two of you around.

"You made it very on time, Mr. Norris" you said, tugging by his coat as he put you to the ground, arms still around your waist.

"I promised you I'd be here. And you did an outstanding and amazing..." he starts rambling, making you laugh as a tear slipped out your eye. before you get it, Lando holds your face in his hands, wiping the tears off while he still continues his ramble of appreciation for you.

"... and gorgeous and adorable work of masterpiece!! I'm soo proud and lucky to be your partner, my future Mrs. Norris" he says, tugging you an inch closer to him.

"Your future Mrs. Norris?? I love how that sounds" you whisper to him, with a smug expression on your face.

"I bet our lives would be a sweet sweet lemonade of lucky charms" Lando says, making the two of laugh before you two pull in for a kiss. You two pull back with a smile and look at the crowd. Lando takes a step back as he raises both his hands and takes a bow at you, making you feel so special, and then photographers capture it as well.

get yourself a goofy gentleman who treats you like a queen and makes you laugh out loud, ladies!

. . . .

Then the two of you lead your way to you squad where both the families hugged you, congratulate, and said that they were so proud of you today. the sibling and quadrant squad did the same as well as asked for copies of your portfolio.

And as you were on your way to the exit, Lando pulled you behind carefully as you had baby Mila in your arms.

"I wanted to ask about that private presentation you texted me earlier" He whispers into your ear, and then proceeds to cover Mila's ears with his hands.

"Is the offer still open??" Lando says, sending shivers down your spine.

"Lando Norris! there's a baby between us" you whisper shout at him.

"Henceforth, covered her ears" he says, a bit frustrated with the lack of answer. You shrug his hands off the baby's ears and walks ahead, Lando following you.

"C'mon baby mils, let's leave your uncle Norris behind and get you on a nap" you say, say you nudge your nose into her belly making her giggle faintly as you saw she was getting sleepy.

"I guess, Uncle Norris gets his presentation later tonight then?" he asks, a tad bit of hope in his tone. You get to the car seat and buckle Mila up.

"You are all good to go baby Mi! You say. once you're all set with Mila, you turn around to meet with Lando, standing close by.

"and I'll see what i could do for you, Mr. Norris" You smoothen his collar of the coat as you leaned in and whispered, with a smile.

"How did i ever got so lucky?" He whispers, pulling you close before you walked by. You squish his cheeks with one hand.

"I guess it's the lucky charms?" you say, with thinking face, making Lando laugh.

"Thank god for that lemonade season" He says, making both you reminisce the day where it all began for the two.

. . . . memory unfolds

"Lemons are soo bitty. So would the lemonade be bitty too, mama and mama norri" the 3-year-old you asked as you stood in the kitchen, watching the two besties, your mom and Cisca make lemonade.

"Sweetheart, even the sour lemons can be made into lemonade. You just gotta add sweetness" your mom says, Cisca carrying the jar of sugar.

"Oohhh i hear lemonade" yells the 4-year-old Lando as he ran into the kitchen and sat next to you. The dads entering the room as they had came back from Lando's go-kart practice.

As the glass contained only lemon juice, you stopped him from drinking it.

"That's sour lemon landoo!" you say, grabbing the glass from him and leads his along with your glass towards Cisca to add sugar.

"Sour lemons can be made into lemonade by adding sweetness, the lucky charms" you say to lando. you and lando had a phase of saying sugar as lucky charms as it was sweet as the cerals luck charms.

Cisca handed back to you the two glass you had and then you mixed it well before handing it to Lando and yourself.

Seeing this scene unfold, your parents were in awe and felt like they're witnessing something special with their kids. And without any further request, your dad picks his camera and shot a picture.

A picture with an embark of new journey. A picture that both set of parents had it framed in their house as well as their hearts.

. . . . back to present

"Yoo lovebirds, come over and have your lemonade drinks" Oliver calls over the two of you.

You two walk over to where everyone was seated and handed a now sleepy Mils to Oliver. Flo hands the drinks for the two as well as your lucky-charm sugar sachets. Once you kept the drinks down, Lando grabbed it to drink it and before he could, you grabbed his hand, stopping him to take a sip.

"That's sour lemon, landooo!" you say as you shake your head at his carelessness. You then tear the sugar sachets and add to both of your lemonades.

"How do i always forget the lucky cha- i mean sugar" Lan mumbles, enough sound for you to hear as you let out a small laugh.

As the two of you have your lemonade drinks, the parents watch the two of you as they did 20 years back. Your dad takes a picture with your camera, that you had given him to hold it for you.

And i guess, the lemonade story have captured your lives in film roll.

. . . .

am i wanting a part 3 for this, just to wrap it?? you guys let me knw ;))

check out my works: until i found you masterlist | other works

[all-pacas]

just for fun writing chase meeting cameron's passive aggressive normie parents for the first time. anyone have other ideas for how to make this the worst dinner of all time

-

Dad is in the living room. He gets to his feet for a kiss and to say hello: by now Chase and her mother have followed her inside: Mom has moved on from movies set in Australia to national stereotypes. “You surf? Really!” Allison hears her exclaim, delighted, and she winces.

“This the boyfriend?” her father asks, looking Chase over critically. Allison remembers suddenly and vividly the time in 10th grade that her brother decided he wanted a ponytail: Chase’s hair is, of course, about two weeks overdo a trim.

“Robert,” Chase says genially, offering his hand.

“Timothy,” Dad says with an unkind smile.

“Dad —“ Allison hisses.

“Great to meet you, Mr. Cameron,” Chase says winningly, and her father looks somewhat appeased.

“So you’re a doctor?” Tim asks.

This time, Allison sees the quick way Chase glances at her. Do your parents know about me?, he’d asked.

The truth is: she’d called. She’d asked if she could invite her boyfriend along. She’d mentioned him now and then, her mother at least knew she was seeing someone. Someone named Chase. Had she ever said he was a doctor? Had she ever mentioned where he was from, what he was like, that… Her mouth feels dry; she’s suddenly nauseous. She forces a smile, but Chase is already telling her father about surgery. About moving to the states.

“We met at work,” Allison says, eager to make amends. “He was one of Dr. House’s fellows when I got hired.”

“How is House?” Tim asks: they’ve never met, but her father often acted like they did; he had looked into House at some point, mentioned him to his GP at a checkup and found out his doctor knew House by reputation. It hadn’t mattered that Allison said House was a genius, that it was an honor to work for him: it was knowing his GP had heard of the man that convinced her father of the honor. Ever since then, he’d been a fan.

Allison tries not to wince. Chase’s smile never falters.

-

Allison has a migraine by the time dinner is over.

Chase had done his best, and her parents did seem to like him. Over dinner he’d cycled through several familiar, charming stories of surfing and Australian wildlife, telling jokes, complimenting Linda and Tim incessantly, ramping up his accent and playing up his foreignness. It had been a disaster.

-

“What do your parents do?” Tim asks over spaghetti.

“My father was a doctor,” Chase says, and then spends several minutes answering questions about Rheumatology.

“A doctor’s kid, too, huh? Your family must be loaded.”

“I suppose so,” Chase says politely, smiling.

-

“You know, Allison,” Linda says over dessert. “I just ran into Sherry the other day. That’s Allison’s mother in law,” she adds, for Chase’s benefit. “Former, I mean! Oh, goodness. I suppose you’ll have a new one soon, eh? Are you and your mother close, Robert?”

“She passed when I was seventeen,” he says, smiling.

“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that. I’ll pray for her. Anyhow, Allison, Sherry wanted to know how you were and I told her you would be in town this weekend, for Thanksgiving. You know, it would mean so much if you gave her a call.”

-

“So, you met at work?” Linda asks over coffees. “A looker like you, I bet our Ally had such a crush!” She winks. “You should have seen her go after boys in high school.”

“Mom!” Allison interrupts, embarrassed and seeing where this is going.

“It’s a mother’s right to tease their daughters over this sort of thing,” Linda says airily. “What does it matter?

“I’m not fifteen anymore,” she snaps.

“Allison,” her father says warningly.

“Allison’s always known just what she wanted,” Linda says as Allison resists the urge to crawl under the table. “When she was a little girl to now. She sees something she wants and she goes after it, and to hell what people say. I'll just bet she asked you out."

"Actually, I was the one with a crush," Chase says genially, still smiling.

-

[animatedjen]

hello animatedjen!! I hope your day has been beautiful 🧡 I've recently moved into an apartment and have decided to get a gaming monitor for my PS5, so I can game at my desk and save some space while still enjoying photo mode sessions. if I remember correctly you play Jedi on PC, so maybe my question for you isn't relevant, but is there a monitor you use & like or would recommend for this purpose? I know these things are expensive and you seemed like a good person to ask about getting my investment right the first time around! especially since I would also use it for professional photo & video editing on occasion, and I know that's relevant to your career field as well. any advice you have on making a flexible set up would be so appreciated! thank you in advance!! I hope this question isn't too bothersome! P.S. I want you to know that you're a micro celebrity amongst my coworker friends because they see your photo mode shots rotate as my desktop wallpapers all day every day haha 😅

Congrats on the apartment!! And I'm very honored to be your work desktop wallpaper 💛 Respawn should be giving you a referral bonus!

Right now I'm using a Gigabyte QHD 34" ultrawide gaming monitor I got secondhand. Good specs for the price, but it's not super color accurate when compared to my Macbook retina screen - it could be calibrated more via software or a physical tool, but for now I use the monitor for gaming, general life stuff, and pre-color editing. I have a DP cable for the PC and HDMI for the Macbook or PS5, so it's easy to switch between devices.

The ultrawide aspect ratio also means I crop my photomode shots to 16:9 to post on socials, since 21:9 photos are very skinny (see above) and people often scroll Tumblr on their small, vertically-oriented phone screens. On the plus side, it's great for video editing since I can see more of the timeline at once. And no black bars during Jedi Survivor cutscenes!

You'll have to decide your budget and what specs are most important to you for photo/video work - I'd recommend a screen somewhere between 24" and 34", with QHD (2K) or UHD (4K) resolution. A higher refresh rate (at least 60hz, if not 120/144/240hz) helps for gaming and video with higher framerates. Color accuracy is tricky, but if you're not creating high-end photo prints or color grading for Netflix, something good (but not perfect) will be just fine. Some monitors will be better for gaming, and some better for photo/video editing, so decide which one to prioritize.

I've seen ASUS ProArt, Dell UltraSharp, and BenQ monitors recommended when I've shopped around before, but I skew towards non-gamer, Mac-friendly tech since more of my client work is on that system and the Jedi stuff is (sadly) not my paid job (yet). But if any other gamer/creative professionals want to drop recs in the comments, y'all probably know more than I do! 🙌

Thanks for the ask and sorry I can't be more helpful. Look forward to seeing the photomode shots from your new monitor :)

[sugusatosluut]

Your first time meeting Satoru Gojo..

Warnings: Flirting, smut, dirty talk, gojo being curious about you, mating press || please notify me of other warnings I missed!

Satoru gojo knew all of his fellow professors in Jujutsu High school, but he wasn’t well informed about you. To be fair you were brand new, only starting a month ago. He would linger by your classroom as he was taking a stroll for the third time to the restroom. He was curious after all. His students seemed to be enjoying themselves in your presence and it sparked his interest when he saw that you succeeded in making Megumi smile a couple times. Something he hasn’t seen in a while. The day was going by so slow, but it was planning period. The kids were on lunch, you could eat lunch and grade. It was the perfect time to introduce himself. “Good afternoon Mr. Satoru.” You said never once lifting your eyes from Nobara’s Essay.

“Good afternoon. I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure of meeting yet but I’m honored you know my name already.” He smirked leaning on the doorframe.

“The students talk so much about you. All good things, so don’t chew them out for it. I’m Y/n. So good to meet the best of the best.” You smiled at him.

He walked in and pulled a chair up in front of your desk. He didn’t have to use his powers to sense your intentions. You were oozing with joy and positivity, it reeked but in a good way. To gojo, you smelled like what he would assume sunshine and flowers smelled like if they were put into a physical form. “Can you see through that thing or are you blind?” You asked suddenly. You didn’t mean it to be rude, but honestly you didn’t know anyone who could wear a blindfold and find themselves doing whatever they pleased. Usually people with blindfolds or eye patches struggled to see.

“I can see everything.” He smirked, leaning back in his chair.

“Can I see your face or is that something sacred?”

“Well I like your honesty and straightforwardness so I guess I can show you, but you’ll have to show me something in return y/n.” He smirked. The way his plump lips curled up into a suggestive smile made your heart flutter. “Satoru, do you usually flirt with the other female teachers this way or is it just me?” You questioned him.

“Just you. I don’t really make it a point to get to know everyone else really well, but you peaked my interest when you made Fushiguro smile. Tell me, what did you do to work that miracle?” He asked.

“Oh gosh, Megumi is one of my most passionate students. Always asking questions right alongside Itadori. I don’t know who raised those two but they definitely are the stars in the room. Itadori learns a lot from Fushiguro. He was interested in my lesson on amplifying cursed energy and focused domain expansions and was able to make his dog about eight inches larger. It was such a sight to see and he’s only been in my class a month. Anyways he was excited and told me about how you taught him a similar technique once before but he couldn’t understand it until today. The boy learns incredibly fast.” You complimented.

“He’s one of a kind.” He smiled.

“So, you really wanna see my face?” He smirked.

“Hmm, I don’t know. I don’t like to chase things so you’re really losing me here Satoru.” You chuckled.

“How about if I show you my eyes, you show me your sacred space- huh? It’s only fair I get to see something beautiful with these orbs of mine.” He hummed.

“Is my face not beautiful enough for you?” You joked.

“Your face is the most beautiful thing I think I’ve ever seen. Your personality is pretty great too.” He smirked at you

Satoru had you bent over in the teacher’s lounge. Your knees were propped up on the seats of the couch, and your arms grabbed onto the top part of the comfortable sofa. Your uniformed teaching dress was pushed up over your ass as he pulled your underwear down as was eating you out from the back for quite sometime.

“You’re really- mmm, so good at this..” You sighed with a moan.

His lips sucked harder and slower, his fingers pushing into you at a quick pace as you groaned in pleasure. Your groans got louder and louder. He stopped licking your wet hole with a small pop as his face rose up, slowly taking his fingers out of you. Satoru flipped you onto the couch long ways so that you were lying down on your back.

“Aren’t you a loud one?” He teased you.

“S-Satoru- I was so close, why’d you stop?” You pouted.

“I wanna get there with you, pretty girl.” He smiled and traced your jaw with his hand, then shoved to two fingers he had in your walls, into your mouth. “Just gotta quiet down some. I locked the door but who knows who could be out there.. don’t wanna get caught.” He kissed your forehead as you sucked his fingers. Satoru opened your legs wider, just for himself. He lined himself up with your hole and slid himself up and down with your slick and spit from earlier when he had you on your knees.

“You ready angel?” He asked peppering kisses all over your breasts. He worked his way up to your chin, then kissed your lips passionately.

“Mhm” you moaned.

He slowly pushed every inch of himself into you, moaning at the feeling. After a few slow thrusts, he couldn’t take it anymore, letting himself thrust into you faster and harder with every small moan as he covered your mouth with his own. Your tongues slid over eachother as he picked your legs up and pushed them onto your stomach. You gasped at the feeling.

“I need you to tell me this is what you want.” He panted, his snowy hair sticking to his forehead as he worked so hard to please you. He removed his hand from your mouth as you nodded quickly and moaned all your yes’s and released all your pleasure through groans.

“Then I’m gonna give it you, I’m giving it all to you.” He panted. He was so pussy drunk and lost in you. You warned him that you were close by gripping his arms tightly. “Me too princess. You ready?” He smirked at you. His thrusts became sloppier as he caressed you tightly. He let out a loud groan as he painted your walls white.

He sighed and planted his body on top of yours for a minute until he had the strength to get up. You played with his hair a little and he closed his eyes.

“Tell me Satoru, you this passionate with all your one time affairs?” You held his hand as he stroked your face.

“Who says it only has to be one time?” He pouted. You both giggled about it, then got up from your places on the couch fixing yourselves in your work attire neatly. As you exited the teacher’s lounge you both bumped into Megumi and Itadori.

“Oh hey- it’s gojo-sensei and Y/N-san!” Yuuji called out excited. Megumi looked up from his phone at the two of you.

“I texted you.” Megumi said.

“Oh is that so? Sorry kid, been kinda busy showing Miss y/n here the ropes. She tells me you’re doing great in her class.” Satoru smiled at him.

Megumi motioned towards his phone with a sort of side glance towards gojo, who took note of it to check his own phone.

Megumi: Hey, wanted to run it by you, think we should invite y/n over for dinner, I also want to see if she’ll train me on weekends when you have special grade missions to go on. That cool with you?

Gojo looked as you chatted with them.

“Hey y/n.. Itadori. Why don’t you guys join Megumi and I for dinner tonight? It’s on me.” He smiled

[blackacre13]

can you please continue the teacher/student au?

Part 39 is here: Part FORTY below!

“Well,” a deep voice laughed on the line. “It’s not a date night so this isn’t about the best spot for a whiskey and you refuse to take my advice on women so what do I owe the pleasure?”

Lou raised an eyebrow, but she was grinning. The brunette swatted her, but Lou had already caught sight of her blushing cheeks.

“Danny,” she hissed, through gritted teeth. “I need your help.”

“So you’ve called the superior Ocean. I’m afraid I’ll need to hear you—“

“Cut the shit,” Debbie sighed, looking at Lou with eyes full of worry. “I need your help. I need my big brother.”

“I can be at your place in twenty.”

“I fucked up,” Debbie whispered, falling against the blonde as Lou cradled her, combing through her hair. “He can ruin my life, but I won’t let him ruin hers.”

Siblings were fascinating to Lou. Especially when you could observe them at once. And entertaining, when you only knew one of them and had to take that one’s word when they described the one who you didn’t know.

The only things that Lou knew about Danny Ocean included the fact that he was attached to the hip to someone she thought Debbie had called Rusty? But that couldn’t be correct for a grown ass man. She also knew that Debbie’s initial date with her, that allegedly hadn’t truly been a date at all, but a TA welcome dinner, and the drink recommendation had also come from the older sibling. And now as Debbie opened the front door to let him in, the older Ocean immediately scooping her into a bear hug, him shooting a wink over his sister’s head at Lou, she could see his hair and eyes matched Debbie’s.

She expected Debbie to push him off with an eye-roll and a mention of getting back to business, but she clung to her brother, savoring the embrace for a long time until he spoke over her head.

“She’s not usually much of a higher,” he smirked, but he kissed her forehead before he let her go, just in time for Debbie to smack his shoulder and call him an oaf. “So this is the famous Ms. Miller. Sorry Debs has you under her spell, kid.”

Lou wasn’t sure how to respond, but Debbie was closing the door and rushing to her side immediately as if she had to defend the blonde’s honor, her hand sliding into Lou’s.

“You can cut the big brother teasing shit. This is bad,” Debbie sighed. “And whatever cradle robbing, does she call you professor in bed shit you’re planning on spewing, you can just skip. I meant it. This is big. And Lou—Lou is—“

“I know, Strawdebby,” Danny smiled, ruffling her hair before he took a seat in Debbie’s arm chair, carefully moving the stack of graded papers that currently sat there in a heap and placing them on the coffee table.

Lou tucked the nickname away for later.

“And it really is a pleasure to meet you, Lou. Sorry you got dragged into all this Becker shit when you should be partying and having fun every night. Best years of your life, right?” Danny grinned.

Debbie was pulling Lou towards the couch, sorry evident on her face.

“You think Dr. Ocean lets her TA have fun every night?” Lou grinned. She immediately regretted calling her Dr. Ocean. It was just habit when it came to separating their professional and personal relationship. But Debbie had already hinted at the name/power dynamic jokes and she didn’t want Debbie to think she was giving Danny permission to crack jokes at either of their expenses.

Regardless, he didn’t take the bait. He knew the stakes were too high.

“Tell everything,” he said instead, his face sincere. Lou and Debbie went over their history over the past few months. From Lou’s first class to her interview to her welcome dinner and beyond. Thankfully, leaving out any details that a big brother would find unsavory and would absolutely make Lou turn purple.

Debbie was practically shaking by the time they were done, and wordlessly, Lou swept her closer, letting her rest her head on Lou’s shoulder as Lou traced circles with her finger on the brunette’s slacks.

“You love her,” Danny spoke softly. It wasn’t a tease. In fact, it looked like awe and pride.

“No shit, Sherlock,” Debbie rolled her eyes. But her guard was down. Especially with Lou cradling her for support.

“Hold onto this one, Deb,” Danny smiled, his eyes traveling over to Lou. She supposed he wasn’t used to seeing Debbie this vulnerable or soft. “She’s good for you.”

“That’s the plan, Danny,” she sighed. “That’s why I need you. All the Claude bullshit. I don’t give a fuck about tenure or career or my courseload—“

“Debs,” Lou protested softly, but she waved the thought away.

“This is about her. Protecting her future,” Debbie whispered. “I love her.”

“I love you,” Debbie spoke turning to the blonde. “I hope you know I do. But as much as I love you and I love us, nothing is worth jeopardizing your future.”

Lou wanted to say that Debbie was her future. Because she was. But she also knew that both of them wanted her to keep pursuing her dreams. She knew Debbie wanted the world for her.

“Don’t even get me started about this Becker prick,” Danny grumbled. “I knew he was trouble from the start.”

“Well, what’s done is done,” Debbie hissed. “I hate that he’s a part of my history and that there’s only so much I can control in the present. But I’ll be damned if he destroys Lou’s future.”

[murphysreruns]

26 • THEY/SHE • EYES RODGERS

Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself? Just the basics.

❝ hello. i'm neon. i'm neularian--that's another term form nonbinary, it's just a little more descriptive of presentation, rather than gender. i was born on january 28th. i'm a data analyst specializing in astronomy. and i'm autistic. i think that covers everything?

Q: Where did you grow up? Have you ever moved? Tell us a little bit about your family, if you feel comfortable.

❝ i was made in a small appalachian town the day after a funeral for a mutual friend of my parents. at least that's what i was told. we moved while i was still a baby to astoria, oregon, where i grew up. my little brother was born there. we lived like normal people--well... as normal as we could, but i'll talk about that in a second. we lived like normal people, but we were actually really wealthy. i didn't know that until i was an adult, though. but anyways. we were wealthy because my dad was some really affluent nepo tech bro with a rich ass tech-dad. i never met my grandpa, but that was the deal. my dad's incredibly smart. it's where i got it. he had an addiction to keeping media, and knew his way around a computer. my mom was his total opposite. kind of a crunchy granola type, who foraged and reused and recycled everything--and everything she couldn't recycle, she turned into art. and don't get me started on her love of bugs. they're both where i get the autism, too. my little brother is named chester, and he has autism too. he's mostly nonverbal, and also really smart. he takes after my mom a lot. while i never moved, i've been on a road trip for the last few months. it's been fun, and greenview is beautiful. maybe i'll stay a while.

Q: You said you were smart like your dad. Can you tell us your education history?

❝ yeah. i went to public school. i skipped a couple grades, graduated early, valedictorian. i went to college, graduated with honors. i don't really want to brag too much about it. i did meet my ex there, though. in high school i mean. we stayed together until a few months ago.

Q: If you had to describe your personality in a few words, what would you say?

❝ hmm. this is a bit of a hard question. i guess i'd consider myself intelligent. that's one thing. adventurous, obviously. hmmm.... hardworking? i like to think so, anyways.

maybe... i should probably do negatives too, right? i'm a little deadpan, and i... have issues committing. to people. total opposite of my parents. it's nothing against people, it's just that i'm a little asocial. ...okay, so maybe that one's a little like my dad.

Q: Can you describe some aesthetics that apply to you?

❝ mmm. i don't know... you know those glow star stickers? those on a ceiling. taking the back roads for a better views. ...heavy eyebags from nights spent awake, under eyes always looking to the sky. wow... i didn't know i could be so poetic.

Q: Only one more question. Everyone has a secret. What's some of yours?

❝ … i don't know. is this. is this going to be publicized?

[i love my partner. i do. but... the idea of getting married freaks me out. so... i ran. it's all i could think to do. i don't want to commit forever.]