#and I remember feeling very nervous in the theater that they were going to introduce an infidelity plotline

[rabbits-of-negative-euphoria]

some dreams are meant to be kept to oneself

[0and0its0doctor0]

A subtle interest

OFC x Spencer Reid

Borrowed request from someone else.

No warning tags.

Still new. Hope you enjoy. Let me know if I should continue.

Spencer sighed a little as he tugged at his bowtie and Emily smacked his hand away from it. He scowled and she smiled. “I don’t know why I let you talk me into coming to the ballet with you.” He said, shoving his hands nervously in his pockets. “It’s my best friend's performance and she gave me a plus one. I didn’t want to let the ticket go to waste and I know you need to get out of the house for a bit. All you do lately is go to work and go home. You haven’t gone out with us in like a month.” Emily said as they waited for the car she ordered for the night to pull up. “Hey. I just want to make sure you are okay Spencer. If you really don’t want to go you can turn around and walk away right now.” Emily said honestly looking at him. He let out a deep sigh and gave her a bit of a forced smile. “Well I don’t want you to go by yourself.” He said and Emily squealed. “Perfect.” She said as the car pulled up and the two climbed in. 

The drive to the theater wasn’t very long but Spencer nervously spat out facts about ballet the entire time. Emily knew it made him feel better so she just smiled and nodded, she felt kind of bad for the driver. Once they arrived she pulled out the tickets and practically dragged Spencer inside and to their seats which were in the 3rd row. Spencer sat there fidgeting with his bowtie until the lights lowered and the curtain raised to reveal a beautiful redheaded ballerina standing in the middle of the stage. Spencer felt his hands drop into his lap and he quickly became entranced by the girl dancing on the stage. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her. As she moved flawlessly across the stage Spencer bit his lip and leaned forward in his seat a bit. When the music ended and she struck her final pose on the stage he jumped to his feet to give a standing ovation along with everyone else in the theater. Emily smiled as she watched Spencer become so enthralled with the girl. “Come on, there's a gala after the performance and we are invited.” She said, directing the man to the portion of the theater where the gala was being held. 

“So what did you think?” Emily asked and Spencer smiled a little brighter than he had in weeks. “That was…she was…I mean. She was beautiful. Amazing dancer.” He said feeling a bit nervous for some reason. “Emily!” He heard someone call out and he turned to see a beautiful redhead walking towards them. Oh gosh. It was her. Spencer gave a nervous smile as the girl walked up to the pair of them and quickly hugged Emily. “You look beautiful!” She said and Emily smiled, waving her hand to dismiss her. Emily did look beautiful in the red dress she was wearing. “You look beautiful! You were amazing. I can't believe how good you have gotten. I mean I know you were always good but just wow.” Emily said and the girl smiled. Spencer just fidgeted looking between the two. “Oh Spencer, this is Arabella Montgomery. We’ve been friends since high school. Bella, this is Doctor Spencer Reid. He works with me at the FBI.” Emily introduced the two and Spencer gave her a little wave which she returned. “Did…did you uhm. Did you know that ballet started in the 1500s but women weren’t allowed to dance in ballet until around 1681? King Louis XIV of France would actually dance in a lot of the performances himself.” Spencer’s cheeks were bright red by this point and it made Bella smile. “I didn’t know that. I find that very interesting.” Bella said with a grin. Spencer was avoiding eye contact and kept looking down at his feet. 

“Why don’t I go get us some champagne.” Bella suggested and gave a little twirl that caused her short dark green dress to fluff out around her. “I can’t remember the last time I heard you stutter. You okay?” Emily asked, looking up at Spencer whose cheeks got impossibly redder. “What? Yeah. I’m fine, I just. She is really pretty. And I feel like my heart is going to explode. I don’t like it.” He said and Emily chuckled. “Sounds like someone is falling in love.” Emily teased and Spencer frowned. “I’ve never felt like this around someone before. I don’t know what to do?” He asked, looking at Emily desperately. “I know she’s single. Ask her out for coffee or something.” Emily suggested and he nodded. “Okay.” He said and they both watched as Bella walked up with 3 glasses of champagne that she quickly passed out. “To old friends and new friends.” She said looking up at Spencer with a smile as they all tapped their glasses together and everyone took a sip. 

Emily and Bella fell into an easy conversation and Spencer just watched the girl stand there and talk. He memorized the curves of her face and body, how she favored her left leg a little and adjusted more of her weight to her right suggesting a possible injury or precursor to an injury. He memorized how her hips curved and dipped but that her ribs protrude slightly. She was perfect. He took in how her cheeks flushed a little when she noticed that he was staring at her and he quickly looked away. “Did you know that professional tutus can take up to 90 hours and up to 100 yards of tulle to make?” She asked and it caused Spencer to smile. “I know some ballet facts. I have been dancing since I could walk after all.” She said with a soft giggle and the sound made Spencer’s heart clench. He wanted to wrap his arms around her thin waist and kiss every inch of the pale skin of her neck and shoulders and devour her with love. It was such a strange feeling for him that it was kind of scaring him. He noticed very subtly that she shivered and he quickly tugged his suit coat off and draped it around her shoulders. “Thank you.” She said, giving him a smile. “I’m going to go use the restroom.” Emily said giving Spencer a look that she typically reserved for unsubs who wouldn’t confess their sins. 

“So you and Emily work together, that's really cool.” Bella gestured towards the closets table and the two sat down. “Yeah she is really good at her job.” He wasn’t sure what else to say. “Do you want to get coffee with me in the morning?” He blurted out and almost wanted to smack his own face. That was such a stupid thing to do. “Yeah I would love that.” She replied with a smile causing him to pause and look at her with a raised eyebrow. Did he hear that right? “Okay…uhm. McAlpines on 24th avenue tomorrow at 8?” He asked and she nodded. She stood up and took off his jacket and handed it back to him, leaning in to kiss his cheek gently leaving behind a red lipstick print. “See you tomorrow Spencer.” She said and stood up with a grin. “Tell Emily I said goodnight.” She turned to walk away and all Spencer could do was nod…repeatedly. “Why are you nodding?” Emily asked, walking up as Bella walked away and that was when she noticed the lipstick print on Spencer's cheek. Emily quickly pulled out her phone and dialed a number holding it up to her ear. “Hey Morgan, it worked. Yeah. A kiss on the cheek. I think he short circuited.” She giggled and hung up the phone quickly. Things went just the way she was hoping they would. Now maybe Spencer would have a reason to smile. 

[deepest-dope]

Episode 1 Part 7

Continuing the conversation

Yep sounds about right, of course everybody knows each other. Hopefully having to introduce himself won’t be too awkward. He’s only been in his cousin’s life since today, or if you’re feeling particularly charitable since she called and invited him out to the funeral. He takes the juicy tidbit about her and Stella meeting in a play with a small bit of glee, he hadn’t pegged her as a theater kid. So they fell out of touch after highschool...

Huh? Well yeah sure I guess? I haven’t eaten anything besides that pb&j earlier... Biscuits do sound good. He follows her towards the diner and tries to remember where it is for later.

Ah...shit don’t panic! He says to himself but he can’t quite help stiffening immediately and panicking about how he looks. He’s fully aware he’s not the best looking guy, and he only gets weirder the closer a look you get. He’s a sort of papery white that comes with albinism and his red eyes exaggerate the effect of his anisocoria. The different pupil sizes sort of give him a weird sort of look to his face. Or that’s what he’s heard, The trenchcoat makes me look shady doesn’t it? but I really don’t like taking it off...He’s too attached to it, it was a gift from an old foster parent he’s pretty sure he’s never going to see again. He doesn’t really bother to dress nice but he always gets anxious anyway whenever he feels like he’s under any sort of scrutiny like this. He ends up frozen in panic until Stella comes and saves him from saying anything weird.

He tails her into the nearest booth while trying to calm his heart down from that. Thankfully they go back to whatever they were doing pretty much immediately. He takes Stella’s telling him not to be so nervous in relative stride. Someone who seems to know her shows up with some coffee for her.

He briefly considers saying something like “I like your shirt” to the freshly named Avery but thinks better of opening his mouth before he’s calmed down. He reallt wants to make a good impression after his little staredown with the other diner goers. Maybe he’ll ask where he got it later though. Avery slides Gretchen some cut up bacon while Cave overthinks.

Aww He very nearly misses being asked if he wants anything while he watches Gretchen eat her bacon but manages to answer without stuttering anyway, “Could I have a biscuit and a coffee please? I heard they were really good” Stella did say the biscuits were good and he could use some caffeine since he couldn’t sleep.

They pour him some coffee and linger a bit before telling him they’re sorry for his loss. They leave before he can say anything, which is probably better for Cave because he’s got no idea what to say to that. His only loss os an aunt he’s never met and only knows from his mother’s complaints about her.

[butchhamlet]

we'll go on hard mode too. first of all, lear can't be the drama club teacher/director; she has to be a student. second of all, we're making her a girl, which makes reproducing the gender dynamics of og lear automatically harder. this is the challenge i've set myself for no particular reason that has nothing to do with the retelling i'm reading. before i go on, obligatory sorry for being usamerican

now. you may think the crazy shit that happens in high school theater spaces is whatever happens in glee (idk i never watched it) and okay sure maybe there were rancid breakups and outings and pregnancy scares in my high school drama club but i was boring and autistic so i didn't know about any of that shit. the crazy shit that happens in high school theater that everyone knows about is 1. certain people feeling absolutely entitled to certain roles 2. typecasting, specifically 3. talented actors and singers not getting cast because of fatphobia. (+ insert any other bigotry here. but at my high school it was always fatphobia). also, the original play is set in a time of great uncertainty and chaos, so we'll set this, i dunno, in the present day, right after schools came back from lockdown and the drama club has to revive itself and also usamerican politics are a shitshow as usual.

okay so two problems immediately present themselves. 1. lear is a girl, so what do we do about the fact that lear in the original play embodies patriarchy and the reign of the father? and 2. high schoolers are all within 4 years of age of one another, so what do we do about lear being old as fuck?

let's take #2 first. obviously, senility is not going to be a concern with our lear here, but we can adapt, we have the technology. one thing about drama club is that if you're a tiny anxious boring autistic underclassman and the reigning seniors don't like you, you FEEL it. so we make lear the senior who is basically guaranteed to be cast as the lead in every straight-play and musical before she graduates. white thin rich pretty and she hosts all the post-show parties because her family just got their giant basement redone last spring. cordelia is the freshman who just joined drama club this year and is pretty nervous about it and lear instantly took her under her wing and introduced her to everyone and told her how stuff works around here.

goneril and regan are sophomores. juniors would play better with the "we're about to take over, it's our prime time" thing, but making them sophomores emphasizes the age difference between them and lear, who did NOT give a shit about the two of them when they joined drama club last year. goneril is visibly butch, which makes her going for the lead role in anything (male lead OR female lead) automatically tense and dicey, and lear clearly gets the ick from goneril not shaving her legs. regan is the best damn mezzo-soprano in the entire drama club even at 16 but she's also fat so she knows there's no damn way she's getting that lead role. both of them suck up to lear or at least play nice because it's hard to pull off a theatrical show if you don't get along with your cast, but lear is aloof and superior toward them and dismisses any friendliness. the misogyny original lear visits upon the two of them still exists; we've just transferred it to the girl-on-girl violence you can do when you're rich and blond. (obviously lear is blond.) is this progressive? probably not. original lear is very much about men in power. but remember our parameters. ok? we move

anyway they need to elect club officers for next year when lear graduates and lear is clearly trying to train cordelia for the drama club president position even though cordelia is 15 and has "only even done two shows, oh my god," says regan. also, the big audition is coming up for the musical, and it's mamma mia, and OBVIOUSLY lear is a shoo-in for donna since seniors always get the biggest parts but goneril and regan both think they'd slay as sophie but, again, butch and fat so it's looking dire and it looks like fucking CORDELIA is going to be cast as sophie which is like FINE she's cute but she can't belt the girl can hold a note for two seconds at BEST. meanwhile lear is trying to convince cordelia to go for the big wins in both election and audition but privately she's starting to break down about the idea of leaving the drama club she's loved for four years and she's scared no one will remember her after she graduates and she'll never have this level of respect and group belonging again. and secretly cordelia doesn't even want to be sophie because that's a pretty big part for a fifteen-year-old. she wants to be rosie but she can't SAY that

you thought i forgot there are other people in this play. i didn't. called in to paint the set is the whole visual arts department including ONE edgar gloucester, and no he doesn't smoke pot he literally just looks like that because he hasn't gotten 9 hours of consecutive sleep in two weeks because he's studying for the ACT and also having a crisis of faith about whether he's actually going to apply to college as a visual art major because who the fuck gets a job after being a visual art major. WE are aware but HE is not that he's also dealing with having an evil sister, who is not actually involved in the theater drama at all, thank you, fuck theater kids she's in model UN. edmund is edgar's irish twin who ended up in the same grade as him and she fucking HATES this because for some reason everybody fucking loves this guy who doesn't do anything and is a dork with no ambitions and yet when SHE, EDMUND, walks into the room suddenly it's AWKWARD because she's clearly only half edgar's sister because she doesn't look anything like him (like, notably; maybe edmund is biracial in a mostly white school and edgar is a little all-american boy) and also the way she dresses makes people nervous when she walks into the girls' bathroom. also edgar got a car for his sixteenth birthday and edmund didn't even though she passed her driver's test on the first try and he failed twice because "you don't go anywhere except school but edgar is out all the time" yeah dad that's because edgar fucking has FRIENDS for some reason and they're not even going to parties and shit they're going to the fucking city symphony to listen to gustav holst's planets suite!!! what the fuck does that even mean!!! who gives a fuck about the planets!!!

but that argument somehow didn't work so edmund is waiting in the school parking lot at like 6pm for edgar to get out of stage crew duty and drive her home (which sucks because it's COLD out here because it's october in the midwest, that's right, we're setting this in not just any american drama club but specifically the american midwest) so she's there when goneril and regan get out into the parking lot muttering about how it's genuinely unfair that lear and cordelia are gonna be donna and sophie because they're conventionally attractive and goneril is gonna get cast as a minor male character AGAIN and regan is gonna get cast as a comedy relief friend AGAIN and sure cordelia is decent at singing but is she REGAN good? no, obviously not, and ugh somebody should just fucking put glass in lear's shoes or something-- and edmund starts thinking about hey doesn't the stage crew have access to all the costumes and shit backstage and wouldn't it be really easy for someone who could possibly get their hands on a stage crew key fob to put glass in lear's shoes and isn't there a spreadsheet somewhere of all the key fobs and which student got which number fob which would make it really really easy to pick the right fob to make sure you frame the right person for putting glass in lear's shoes? and then SHE could have the honda civic

"glass in lear's shoes" or something similar also takes the place of the eye-gouging scene, in a stroke of genius that means we don't have to figure out how to make yet another fully-adult-man character into a high schooler, because hey man we've only got so much time here and we need to condense. but what about poor tom, you say? well edgar figures that maybe he can get off lighter re: punishment for the thing he didn't do if he fakes a mental illness so he starts reading the symptoms for, like, OCD or schizophrenia or some shit on WebMD but then he has one of those moments that's like "this list is getting uncomfortably real" and then he's like fuck me so not ONLY am i getting expelled and losing the honda civic but i ALSO HAVE OCD???? and lear is like yeah tell me about it i TOO got stabbed in the back by everyone i know (because by this point cordelia has told her that she doesn't even WANT TO BE SOPHIE IN THE FIRST PLACE so what was it ALL FOR ANYWAY) and then obviously nobody dies because it's high school we all just learn a lesson about togetherness and inclusivity or something and . get this. get this. drama club and lear's a girl. IT'S CALLED "DRAMA QUEEN." DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME? YOU UNDERSTAND ME

also there's no storm. one of the lights blows out and the backstage sprinkler system goes off

reading bad adaptations will have you sitting in your kitchen at midnight typing shit like "i could do king lear set in a high school drama club easy" but i could. understand me. i could

[briamichellewrites]

80

Brad was extremely proud of his daughter. Awards shows could be stressful but she was handling everything like a champ! While walking down the red carpet, they stopped to do a couple of interviews with reporters. She spoke to the reporters as if they were friends she hadn’t seen in a while. He could imagine how nervous she was, though she didn’t show it. One reporter helped her when her walker got stuck on some power cables. Thank you!

Going up the stairs into the theater was difficult, so she took his arm, while he grabbed her walker. He was amazed by how many people offered to help his daughter because she was disabled. She graciously thanked them. During the show, he looked over at her every once in a while and saw a look of complete happiness. Her eyes lit up in a way they hadn’t for over a year. This was one of her dreams to come true.

She wanted to be there and he had made it happen. Growing up, she never asked for anything from him. Even after realizing who he was. It made him realize how well he had done as a father. She was one of the least spoiled kids anyone could ever know. He introduced her to movie stars like George Clooney, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, and Leonardo DiCaprio but their fame never impressed her. The only time he had seen her freak out was when she met Bon Jovi.

He hoped to raise Shiloh the same way. Besides Cate Blanchett, who was her favorite person that she met? Robin Williams. He had been part of her childhood in his role as the Genie in Aladdin and never in a million years, did she think she would meet him! They talked about her dogs: Bruce and Freddie. He thought she was a joy to talk to and very outgoing.

At some point during the night, she took off her wig and set it aside on the table. Her head was feeling warm, so she had to cool down. She then got up because she had to use the bathroom. He got up with her and walked with her. After making sure she got in, he waited outside. He took out his phone and sent Anna a text to check-in. It was eight in the evening, so she had put Shiloh down for the night and was thinking of going to bed herself. He knew her routine well enough to know where she was.

Shiloh was experiencing new emotions, which often led to her having tantrums. He and Anna were doing their best to help her. Their parents joked that she was just getting a head start on the terrible twos. They heard that toddlers were the hardest age group because they were learning how to manage their emotions.

It was only three years, right? As tired as they were, they didn’t regret anything about having Shiloh. She was learning new things every day and he loved watching her explore her world. It reminded him of Elliot and how curious she was about everything. Speaking of, he checked the time as a woman asked if he was waiting for someone.

“I’m waiting for my daughter. Can you see if she’s okay, please? She has a walker.”

“Yeah, I can do that. What’s her name?”

“Elliot. Thank you.”

Yeah, she was okay. When she came out, he asked what happened. Her walker decided it didn’t agree with the floor. They went back to where they had been sitting. Around midnight, he took her home. Mike had driven to pick them up and they met him outside. After she got into the front seat, they folded up her walker and put it into the back with Brad. They were both tired but so happy they had gone! Was it a dream come true? Yes, it was!

She would remember it forever! They had to return her dress, purse, and wig but they could do that after a good night’s sleep. Mike and Phoenix couldn’t wait to hear all about it! He congratulated her on beating cancer! How did she feel? It was like all of the stress had completely washed away from the past couple of years. She could work on her physical therapy and focus on figuring out her next steps.

She was eighteen years old, so she was officially an adult. It felt weird because she had wanted to be eighteen for years but it didn’t feel much different than seventeen. He reminded her to take it one step at a time. Don’t rush trying to get back to normal. She just fought cancer for two years. Nobody was expecting her to pick up where she left off right away. The first thing she wanted to do was get into her pajamas and sleep! They laughed.

The next day, Phoenix and Mike came over. Because she was doing much better, they started talking about having a baby together. They discussed hiring a surrogate or adoption. Whichever they chose, she would be a part of the process as their honorary daughter. They found her in her kitchen eating lunch while the dogs played in the living room.

How were the Oscars? Amazing! She couldn’t remember all of it! Was it what she thought it would be? Yes, and more! She met Robin Williams, Cate Blanchett, and Emmy Rossum. How was meeting Robin Williams? He was just as wonderful in real life! She had nothing but wonderful things to say about him! They talked about Matt and her dogs. Why did they talk about Matt? Because Robin had done a movie with him back in the nineties.

“Good Will Hunting.”

“Oh, yeah! I forgot about that movie”, Phoenix said.

“I’m pretty sure it won a bunch of awards. That’s my proud Matt Damon fact.”

They laughed. Brad got Shiloh out of her crib. She put her head on his shoulder as they walked down to the kitchen. They were going to let mommy sleep in. Her hair was all over the place. He tried to smooth it out with his hand but it didn’t work. It would have to be combed later. She put her hand on her head. That’s your head. Where’s dada’s head? She put her hand on his head. Good job! She clapped.

After breakfast, they went back upstairs to play. They didn’t have to go anywhere, so they could stay in their pajamas for a while. He set up a toy a little out of her reach because he wanted to see if she would crawl to it. She pointed to it because she wanted it. After getting on her hands and knees, she rocked back and forth. One step at a time. He watched as she finally figured out how to move her legs and crawl across to her toy. Oh my god! She put pointed at him with the toy in her little fist.

Anna got to watch after waking up around eight-thirty. He put her down on the floor and they both encouraged her to crawl to mommy. She smiled and crawled over to her. Anna excitedly picked her up and kissed her little cheek! After six months, she had finally crawled! Shiloh clapped her hands, making them clap too. Yay! Now, they had to baby-proof the house.

After lunch, they told her their news. Oh my god! She couldn’t wait for a mini Mike and Phoenix! Were they thinking about adopting? They weren’t sure yet because they were also looking into hiring a surrogate. She couldn’t do it because she was infertile, though she would love to. They understood. Would she want to be a part of the process? Yeah! She would love that! They thought she would.

With the band taking a break, it seemed like the perfect time to do it. That’s three good things! She didn’t care what happened next because she was too happy! Phoenix jokingly reminded her she had physical therapy the next day. God damn it, she joked back. They laughed.

@zoeykaytesmom @feelingsofaithless @alina-dixon

[thelegendofjenna]

New Year's Eve with Darren Criss

Okay, so while it's decently fresh in my mind I'm just going to write down everything I remember from Darren's NYE show. This is very stream of consciousness, and all quotes are just paraphrased from my memory (I've already seen some videos floating around, but I don't know if there's any footage of him talking between songs). This is mostly for my own benefit, because I never want to forget this night.

He walked on stage wearing a silver suit with black boots. He started out with Happy Holidays/The Holiday Season, which fit so well with the full symphony accompanying, and the rest of the first half was all Christmas music from his album. Most of his talking in between was about the songs, and really similar to what he said at the Beacon Theater show or other press for the album. He also introduced the conductor, Bruce Kiesling, who was the music director for AVPS (along with like, tons of other impressive accomplishments). When he asked at the start how many people had been to a show of his before, there wasn't a huge response. My guess is that about half of the audience was familiar with him? At least a good chunk were just symphony-goers who were in for a surprise.

While he was talking after the first song he made the same joke about it turning into a stand-up routine, and just talked for a decent amount of time, at one point looking back at the musicians and joking "Bruce is like, 'damn it, we didn't rehearse with you talking so much between songs.'" He then emphasized that he was going to talk a lot "so you'll hopefully learn something new, and you won't notice if I mess up the singing. You'll think back and say 'the singing was...fine. But he was very charming.'" Before the next song, as the orchestra was starting to play but his cue hadn't come yet, he commented, "I can feel my voice going dry and I'm very nervous." He also later in the show said that "singing is the least interesting thing I do, I really like arranging music."

(his voice held up for the whole show though haha, I mean there were a couple iffy notes but nothing significant, and one song where he went an octave low on what's usually a high note, I can't remember which song.)

He did River, St Patrick's Day (before which he said something about how John Mayer is an incredible guitarist or something like that, some audience members laughed, and he said "no, I'm serious - okay, we don't have time, that's a whole other show."), Everybody's Waitin' For The Man With the Bag (as a solo), All Those Christmas Cliches (and explained that "east of Westerly" refers to Rhode Island, which I don't remember hearing before), The Christmas Song, and Christmas Dance (before that one he said "this is probably the last time I'll perform this one until next year...and then, God willing, every year for the rest of my life").

Then there was intermission. For the second half of the show, he walked out in a sparklier, striped suit and sparkly silver boots. He came out and immediately played Somewhere Only We Know, without any introduction, and I DIED. Then afterwards he commented on his wardrobe change ("I'm not a self-indulgent man, but tonight I'm a self-indulgent man.") and then talked about the song - how he sung it on Glee (some audience members cheered), but also his connection with the original Keane album it's from, how he strongly remembered blasting that album when he was driving around SF just after getting his license. "Speaking of Glee," he said, and transitioned into introducing The Luckiest. I think it was also during this break that he said a quote so good I actually wrote it down - he mentioned Glee, kind of paused, and after a moment there were some cheers. "Yeah, I was kind of waiting for that," he said, "for the woo-girl riot." Then he sort of backpedaled, like, 'I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I love it,' and then (this is what I wrote down) "That could be the name of a memoir. 'The Woo-Girl Riot,' by Darren Criss."

Anyway, he explained stuff about the Luckiest (it's the same kind of thing he said in the DEC AID stream about how he would have liked it to be Blaine's last song), mentioned how he had an original song in the Glee finale ("I always like to say that it's an Emmy-award losing song"), complimented Ben Folds' piano playing, and then added that it was also emblematic of how fortunate he feels, to be where he is in life and playing a show in his hometown, etc. He played it, it was gorgeous.

Next, he explained the premise of Royalties, and the basic set-up of the song from the first episode. He said that when he knew he was going to have an orchestra at his disposal, he wanted to play this song. He'd never done it live before and it was a very stupid song and he was excited. As he was getting ready he seemed a little nervous ("Okay, I have my lyrics here," he said, shuffling papers on the piano. "I can see people with their phones out so I don't wanna mess up, this is going to be the definitive version") They played Just That Good and it was indeed very stupid and very funny and very well-done. Afterwards he said "I can't believe I just did that. When the SF Symphony asked me to play a show I was like 'are you sure?'"

Then he did Welcome Home, which again he explained mostly as he did at the Beacon, but also emphasized how it was special to be playing it in his hometown, and in the city where he was in Fanny as a kid.

Then he picked up his guitar and explained how he wrote this song when he was fifteen, in response to a Stanislavski quote about the art and the self. He told the orchestra that the song was short, but they'd have a long enough break for "at least one sudoku." Then, just him and his guitar, he sang Human. I died again.

He returned to the piano and introed his next song - apparently while he was living in Italy he saw this upcoming singer on Italian TV that no one else knew about, and he wrote this song with her in mind. The up and coming singer was Adele, lmao. Then he talked about how the song was incorporated into a show he did with Starkid (cheers from the audience), but he wasn't going to try explaining Starkid because "that's a whole other show." And he explained that the song has kind of taken on a life of its own, beyond him ("I played this at the second inauguration of one President Barack Obama. That wasn't just me flexing, it's - sorry, I'm not trying to brag, I'm trying to explain how important this song is to me"), and how the comfort and emotion that so many other people have gotten from the song has made it all the more meaningful to him. And then he performed Not Alone, with a full orchestral backing.

And, you know. I died a third time.

The "final" song was For a Night Like This, which he gave the typical spiel for, but mentioned that it's usually a very pop-rock song, so adapting it to an acoustic orchestra was different. And yeah, it did sound different, but still very good. And yes he said "this one is dedicated to the dedicated" at the start.

So then he and Bruce bowed and waved and walked off stage. But the orchestra didn't leave stage, so we hung around for the encore. Also, he hadn't sung New Year yet, so I knew he wasn't done lol. Then he came back, and they did New Year, which was absolutely gorgeous and poignant as it always is. We all cheered and clapped and stood again. And then he exchanged a few off-mic words with Bruce and said "okay, we're gonna do one more. I'm being self-indulgent tonight."

He wanted to do the last song without his mic, just projecting his voice and taking advantage of the acoustics of the symphony hall, so he put his guitar on and stepped away from the mic and shouted to see if everyone could hear. Mostly we could (I was on the floor level and decently close, so I definitely could). He said, "sorry for those of you in the very back if you can't hear everything, but it'll be a vibe." He had a music stand with sheet music on it (or maybe handwritten notes lol, I don't know), and said that he'd only figured this out a few hours beforehand. So once again, it was just him and his guitar, this time with no artificial amplification. He sang San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair), which was obviously exciting in that "you're singing about the city that we're in and also it's your hometown so there are a lot of FEELINGS" way. Then, partway through the song, he transitioned into Auld Lang Syne, which. I literally got chills, I don't even know how to describe it, it was just a magical moment where you feel so connected with the person on stage and all the people in the audience and the fact that it's new years eve and you're all alive and experiencing this together.

So anyway, it was all fucking incredible and it was so him and it felt like such a special, unique show and I'm SO GLAD that I was able to go.

[johnemulaney]

John Mulaney: From Scratch in Las Vegas, September 4

Once again, spoilers for the show and what will presumably be in the special. This is about his relapse so tread with caution is that will be an issue for you. However, the tone of his struggle is the same one he used in his past specials so if you didn’t have any issues then, I think you’d be ok with this. Of course, use your own best judgement, friends.

The opener was Seaton Smith. 

He opened with trying to find the rich people in the crowd but acknowledged that they’d go mwrmwmwrw money isn’t everything so then he started talking about golf and went aha I got ya’ll. 

There was a joke about weed being the only Christian drug

He had a bit about when white people are nice, be nervous

He had a bit about there being a black man on the Bachelor and was like America (ABC and Disney+) were not ready for a black man to be fucking a house full of 50 white women. That shit premiered on Tuesday and the Capitol burned on Wednesday.

He also did some crowd work and roasted a couple in the front row for having different answers about kids and she was like I didn’t hear the question and was roasted about how not hearing questions you don’t want to answer is certainly a tactic, often used by drug dealers

He also had a bit about how different child rearing is in Texas versus New York and about how hitting your kids is treated differently, like his dad would have just threatened it whimsically. 

Now on to the Main Event!

The first thing he said was “hiiiiiiiiii” exactly in the tone you think he said it in. he followed that up with a little shrug looking adorable and a little bashful

“It’s him! Mr. Problems. Oh Las Vegas, Oh my god” he then talks about how Vegas is a land of vice and a Choice for him to preform in as a recovering addict. He had a sober buddy and 3 bodyguards with him at all times. 

“And here’s what happened” December 18, 2020, he gets invited to a friends apartment for dinner AND HE’S TWO HOURS LATE because he stopped, coked out of his mind, at SNL for a haircut because he still had his building access badge and he went to the hair department and they were like, he’ll leave faster if we just do this, and then he stopped at his drug dealers. 

He called venmo and cashapp, apps for drug deals and was like what do normal people even use them for. He maxed both out paying for drugs. 

He was the best looking person at his intervention. “Coke skinny, new cut” and the 12 people intervening looked like shit. He looked “tears for fears while they all looked jerry garcia” (I hope you know who those musicians are besties). 

He immediately yelled “Can I go to the bathroom” to you know, dump his drugs because when you walk into that, you know what it is. 

He was not allowed to go (he would be asked if he still needed to pee later and would say “what?”

There were 6 people in NYC and 6 people over zoom in LA because he guesses 6 people couldn’t be bothered to fly in for HIS INTERVENTION

Interventions can go two ways, it can be kind of accusatory and this is how you let us all down, or it can be supportive. Everyone but Nick Kroll got the memo to be supportive.

Nick Kroll went first.

Nick Kroll listed all the ways John was a bad best friend and brother over zoom and John was getting texts during the intervention saying Nick wasn’t supposed to do that and they were all sorry. 

Bill Hader went next. he originally wasn’t going to be able to make it so he had recorded a thing but since he was there, he did it live. (He would eventually send the video to John in rehab, which is not what you want on the way to rehab “awesome, more intervention”)

He tried to derail the intervention, “there’s not enough latinx representation” he said he’d go to any rehab except the one they had picked out for him. This was a star-studded affair and he was mad no one was being funny. 

 Natasha Lyons went next, telling him his life and career is in shambles

So he gets carted off to rehab after this intervention. Don’t let 12 comedians pack your bags for 2 months at rehab. it was bombas socks and iphone chargers. 

A little secret about rehab, you’re not allowed to bring drugs in. You remember how he was late? In his pocket on the way to rehab included: a huge amount of pills, 3g of coke (which was 2g by the time he got there, courtesy of a koala station in a gas station bathroom), and $2000 in cash. He had other plans for the weekend. He was admitted for xanax, coke, perocet, and adderall addiction. Say what you will, but he does not do anything half way.

It’s 4am when he’s sent to detox, he’s been awake for 3 days. 

He also gives a small lesson on how to get drugs. Find the lowest rated doctors on yelp and webmd reviews and go ask for them, they need all the business they can get. You become like Captain Phillips, I am the doctor now. 

Dr. Michael was his shady doctor. He was a first avenue apartment where he would write prescriptions from his kitchenette where his girl Minerva was always asleep. “I didn’t kill my wife Minerva.” But John would ask for his drugs, Dr. Michael would write the script and then ask what he needed it for. Dr. Michael would also make John take his shirt off, always offering a flu shot and going no, shirt all the way off (in case you were wondering how bad this addiction actually was)

The first moral is now you know. The second moral is get vaccinated.

He’s sent to the regular ward the next afternoon and they finally get him to sleep. 

He’s sketched out that doctors have last names at this establishment

He asks for drugs such as klonopin and is taken aback a bit when he doesn’t get them. The doctor is like PA state law says no, and so John suggests they go to a CVS in Jersey to get some. 

His bestie Pete Davidson starts calling that night. Except Pete changes his number every month and a half so John has him send a selfie and saves the new number under some other random name, at this point in time, Pete is saved as Al Pacino. (We get an Al Pacino impression) John is asleep and his nurse sees Al Pacino trying to call him 5 times and so she wakes him up. 

Pete Davidson and John Mulaney did not do drugs together. (The author is lowkey surprised and sad about that, like if Pete was my bestie, we’d make so many poor choices) But Pete was always very supportive of his sobriety. 

John needs recognition so badly, in group when they introduced themselves he said “I’m John M.” and no one cared. So he left a tabloid out with the news of his admittance and his face on it in the rec room on the table. The not being someone was “driving him bananas.” When they talked about what they do for a living and he said I’m a a stand up comedian, someone asked if he made a living that way. He said “yeah ask your daughter” (or your son)

One of the things you do at rehab is break up with your drug dealer.

One of his drug dealers only bought drugs to keep John from buying worse off the streets and only got into the game because John kept asking him for drugs and was his only buyer. That guy was originally a painter and John has no idea how they met. John is the only person to turn an innocent man into a drug dealer. 

Here he did the Baby J is back baby joke. the Park Theater is one of the biggest stages in the world so he did that joke in one pace across the stage and said the stage is that joke long. 

“I am no longer on drugs. It’s very good but also ah---” He’s in a 12 step anonymous group. 

“I need attention, clearly.” After a show you think he would be sated, but no. 

He wants that attention that the kid who’s grandparent died and showed up to school dressed for the funeral and got to sit in the beanbag chair for reading despite it not being his turn, gets. He went on about being willing to let one of the lesser important grandparents die so he could get attention, for quite a while. 

He feels left behind in science, like his C’s and D’s in those classes. All those classes were was putting things on a windowsill for the janitor to throw away. He had a bit about how the fuck people put dinosaurs back together, it’s like getting wayfair furniture without the instructions. 

He also things the moon belongs to America. Like we got there first and when other countries say stuff about the moon he’s like mmmmmmm.

He also had a joke about paying to get into college and like, for white people that’s always how it’s been. 

The show ended with him going over the highlights of that GQ interview that he was so coked out for that he forgot he did it entirely. He has no memory of it at all. He was just called up that day and asked for an interview and you know how coke is the best drug to receive attention on? He just did whatever he wanted with that attention. 

And that was the show.

[fridayfirefly]

Sunrise on Gotham

Read Sunrise on Gotham on AO3

Masterlist

Written for Maribat March Day 29 - Wait!

Gotham wasn’t Marinette’s first choice for the location of their class trip. In fact, the grim American city hadn’t even made her top ten list. Marinette wanted to go to Amsterdam, a city rich with history and culture. But when Mm. Bustier announced that a vote for the class trip location would be held, the class voted almost unanimously. After all, Lila’s long-distance boyfriend, Damian Wayne, lived in Gotham. Wouldn’t it be great for Lila to be reunited with him? And Lila traveled so frequently that she had already visited all of the other cities Mm. Bustier suggested. Would it be fair to make her go visit a city she had already been to? Marinette scoffed as she overheard the class discussion. She knew that this was just another one of Lila’s lies, perfectly designed to manipulate the people around her into doing what she wanted.

Marinette kept her mouth shut while her classmates all decided to vote for Gotham. But that didn’t stop her from putting her checkmark next to Amsterdam on the ballots Mm. Bustier passed out. Maybe that would have been the end of Marinette’s bitterness if Lila hadn’t “accidentally” glanced at the ballots on Mm. Bustier’s desk she was leaving the classroom. Marinette could still remember Lila’s sickeningly sweet voice, feigning concern for Marinette, asking why Marinette wanted to go to Amsterdam so badly.

As Marinette scrambled for an answer, Alya turned to her with cruelty in her eyes. “I can’t believe you’re trying to sabotage Lila and Damian’s reunion. You’re so selfish, Marinette.”

Marinette didn’t bother replying - it never helped. As she left the classroom that day, she could see the disappointment in Adrien’s eyes. Her crush on the blonde model had long since faded, and alongside it went the rose-colored glasses she used to see him through, back when they were both thirteen. Now, four years later, all she saw was a selfish boy who cared more about avoiding conflict than actually solving problems.

Four months later, the plane landed in Gotham just as the sun began to rise. As her class walked from the airport to the hotel, Marinette felt herself zone out. Even though it wasn’t her first choice, Marinette could still appreciate the sight that was the Gotham skyline. Looming silver skyscrapers were framed by the gray, cloudy sky. As Marinette took in her surroundings, she began to wish that she could stop and get her sketchbook out. Ideas for a Gotham-themed fashion line popped up in her mind like weeds, and she needed to stop and pick them before she could properly zone back in. Gray was a color she had never properly worked with, which would make incorporating the color a nice way to challenge herself. In her mind, shades of gray instinctively started organizing themselves into the different ways she could pair them together.

“Wait!” A hand grabbed Marinette’s arm, pulling her back. Marinette gasped as she realized that she was about to walk onto the street, straight into traffic. She whipped around to face her savior.

The first thing Marinette noticed was his height. She was used to feeling short, at 5′2″, most people were taller than her. But he seemed to dwarf her. She figured he was 6′0″ at least. The second thing she noticed was the look of concern in his eyes. “Are you okay?” He asked.

Marinette nodded jerkily, trying to control her breathing. Having a panic attack alone in the middle of downtown Gotham would be just about the worst thing for her to do. She was supposed to be Ladybug, the savior of Paris, yet she was so unaware of her surroundings in a completely foreign city that she almost got killed in traffic. “I’m okay, I was just daydreaming,” she babbled, “Usually I’d be more aware of my surroundings, but I just got off of the plane and I’m not used to jetlag.”

The stranger had a bemused smile on his face as he walked her talk. Marinette blushed as she realized how dumb she must look to the handsome stranger. “Your accent, is it French?”

Marinette nodded. “I just got here from Paris. I’m on a class trip.”

“Where’s the rest of your class?”

Marinette looked around, trying to figure out which way her class went, but they were already gone, out of sight. “I’m not sure...” She trailed off. “But I have the address for the hotel on my phone, so I’ll be able to catch up with them there.”

“Gotham is known for being difficult to navigate. I can take you there if you’d like.”

“Sure,” said Marinette, pulling her phone out to check the address. “It’s called the Gotham Grand Hotel. It's on the corner of 7th Avenue and 22nd Street.”

“That’s about twelve blocks away. It’s pretty far. Are you sure you’re up for the walk?”

Marinette nodded. “I’m sure I can make it."

His smile returned as he introduced himself. “I’m Damian, by the way.”

“I’m Marinette,” Marinette introduced herself as Damian led the way.

A moment later, Damian's phone started to ring. He answered it while still walking. "Hello.”

A brief pause, then. “I’m on 4th Avenue, by the Starbucks.” Another pause as he listened to the person on the other end of the phone conversation. “I’m not free right this moment, but I will be in a few minutes." Another pause. "I'm helping someone get around the city. She got a little lost on her school trip, and you and I both know that the city isn't exactly safe when you don't know your way around it."

Marinette was beginning to wonder who exactly Damian was talking to, but she didn't want to be rude and interrupt. Instead, she got her phone out of her pocket and sent a quick text to Alya, telling her that she would be a little late because she got disoriented on the hectic Gotham streets.

"I'll be free until five tonight. Father's insisting that I come and have dinner with the family, and I have my internship afterward, from seven to nine." Another pause, this one longer. "I suppose that would work. I was planning on going out to eat at some point, anyway. I'll just have to ask Marinette if she's okay with it."

Damian put the phone down and turned to face Marinette. "My boyfriend, Jon, offered to pick us both up and drop you off at your hotel on our way to get brunch. If you don't feel comfortable with that, I understand."

"Oh, it's perfectly fine," Marinette assured him.

Damian frowned slightly before replying to his boyfriend. Marinette knew that Damian probably thought she wasn't being cautious enough, but she didn't care. After four years as Ladybug, Marinette was confident that she was capable of taking care of herself.

A minute later, a car pulled up beside them. “This is Jon’s car,” said Damian as he grabbed the door for her.

“Thank you,” Marinette smiled in return as she pulled her suitcase in after her. "Hello, Jon. I'm Marinette."

"Welcome to Gotham, Marinette." Jon leaned past the driver's seat to shake her hand. Marinette noticed that he had a very friendly face: a nice smile and kind eyes. "How are you enjoying the city?"

"It's nicer than I expected, I suppose, but I didn't exactly have high expectations. Gotham has a reputation in Europe for being the worst tourist destination in America."

Damian nodded. "That sounds like Gotham. It'll grow on you, though."

"Like a fungus," added Jon.

"If you say so." Marinette cast a distasteful look out the window of the car at the gray streets.

"Do you have any plans for lunch?" asked Jon.

Marinette shook her head. "Not really. The hotel has a restaurant on the ground floor, but their lunch menu is pretty limited. I'm vegetarian, so my only option is a salad."

"Would you like to come to brunch with us?" offered Jon.

"Are you sure you want me there?" Marinette didn't want to be a third wheel if brunch was supposed to be a date between Jon and Damian.

"Of course," said Damian.

"Alright. I don't think I'll be missing anything if I go with you. Our itinerary keeps us pretty busy at the beginning of the trip, but we were given today to rest up, to help get rid of the jetlag. I switched my sleep schedule a week ago, though, so my body is already running on Gotham time.”

Damian nodded thoughtfully. “Do you want to check the itinerary, just to be sure?”

Marinette shrugged. “It can’t hurt to check it one more time.” She pulled the paper out of her suitcase. “Our class doesn’t have anything planned until tonight. We have dinner at a restaurant called..." Marinette consulted her itinerary, "The Coast, and then we’re seeing Wicked at one of the theaters downtown.”

“I've been to The Coast before with my family. They have very good vegetarian options. It is very expensive for a high school class trip,” Damian noted.

“I go to an accelerated school. The school has a very large budget, due to the amount of tuition, and the number of alumni who give back to the school.” Marinette shrugged, a nervous tick. She didn’t like talking about how much her tuition cost. Even with her 50% scholarship to Francois Dupont, tuition was still a struggle sometimes. Her parents didn’t make that much money from the bakery, and compared to the elite professions of some of her classmates' parents, Marinette was often considered to be poor. It left her feeling out of place, guilty every time she felt embarrassed by her working-class parents.

“That sounds-“

Marinette continued to babble. “I’m grateful for the opportunities that François Dupont gives me. Much more grateful than a lot of my classmates, anyway. Some of them only read the itinerary for the first time on the plane ride to Gotham. One of my classmates, Chloé, threw a fit because she believed that the entire trip would be a shopping spree through Gotham. Other students got mad for other reasons. One of my classmates made some promises that she had no business making - telling everyone that we would be getting way more free time than we were actually given. It’s a shame. I used to love being a part of Mme. Bustier’s class, but everything fell apart after...”

Marinette stopped half-way through her sentence and stared down at her hands as she realized that tears had sprung to her eyes. She felt the red flush of embarrassment begin to overtake her face. "I'm sorry."

"You don't need to apologize. It sounds like you have a lot going on with your class at the moment."

"That's putting it mildly," said Marinette. "It's been... difficult, to say the least."

"Do you want to talk about it?" asked Jon.

Marinette shook her head. "Not really. Even if Gotham wasn’t my first choice for our class trip, I still want to at least try to have a good time.”

“What was your first choice?” asked Damian, a hint of curiosity to his voice.

“Amsterdam,” said Marinette longingly. “But Lila wanted to visit her boyfriend in Gotham, Damian Wayne, so the whole class ignored the fact that Gotham is the most crime-ridden city in America, all so that Lila could visit her boyfriend.”

Damian looked shocked. “Did she say her boyfriend is Damian Wayne?“

Marinette nodded. “Uh, yeah.”

Jon snorted. “I know that you like girls too, Damian, but I figured you would tell me before adding a third to our relationship.”

Damian rolled his eyes, quipping back something just as clever. Marinette was too stunned to listen, as she realized that the rich and powerful Damian Wayne whom Lila claimed to be dating was the same Damian who helped Marinette on the streets of Gotham. Marinette stuttered out, “I didn’t- I didn’t realize that you- you’re Damian Wayne.”

Damian chuckled. “I can tell. I have to admit, I’m not used to not being recognized. I'm pretty famous around Gotham."

“The Billionaire Bisexual Ice Prince of Gotham,” quoted Jon with a grin on his face. “The tabloids love Damian.”

“It’s unfortunate, but it can’t be helped. The tabloids obsess over everything even slightly unconventional, and to them, the bisexual bastard son of billionaire Bruce Wayne is the perfect target. Even more so when he started dating another man.” Damian's voice was smooth, but there was an undercurrent of bitterness to it. Marinette got the sense that he didn't often open up about his relationship, for fear that the media would not be kind about it. Marinette sympathized. Françoise Dupont had been a progressive school: they had a GSA and a no-tolerance policy (not that the policy was ever upheld). She hadn’t been bullied, per se, for being bisexual, but she had experienced the all too familiar feeling of being othered for who she happened to love.

“Nice use of alliteration,” said Jon. His words would have lightened the mood if it wasn’t for the slight strain to his voice.

It was obvious to Marinette that this was a sore subject between the boys. “So how long have you two been dating?” asked Marinette, hoping to lighten the mood.

“Two years, but we’ve been friends since middle school,” answered Jon. “Damian was the world's most uptight twelve-year-old, so I took it upon myself to get him to loosen up. We became friends and everything since then just sort of fell into place.”

“An apt recounting, even if it omitted some pertinent details.” Damian conceded.

“Like what?”

“Like the fact that I was the one to ask you on a date, and you were so shocked that I had figured out that you were bisexual that you dropped the glass in your hand, shattering it,” teased Damian.

“I thought I was being subtle about it,” Jon defended.

Marinette giggled. If she could just spend all of her time with Jon and Damian, rather than her class, she might just have fun on her class trip.

Damian turned to Marinette. “He had a pride pin on his jacket and listened to Carly Rae Jepsen. Subtlety is not, and has never been one of Jon’s string suits.”

Marinette noted that she had a pride pin of her own attached to the front strap of her backpack. Most people never took any note of it - Marinette had quite a few pins on her backpack - but Marinette got the feeling that Damian was aware of it.

"We're here," said Jon, parking the car in front of a little café.

"Café Carlisle has good vegetarian options," Damian assured her as he opened up her car door and helped her out. "They make a superb gourmet grilled cheese sandwich and tomato basil soup. I would recommend it to anyone."

"That's pretty high praise. I get the sense you don't give false compliments."

"I don't." It was a simple answer. Marinette was beginning to get a clearer picture of Damian, who didn't waste unnecessary words but was never afraid to speak his mind.

"Then it had better live up for expectations," teased Marinette.

Damian smiled at her as he held open the door to the restaurant. "It will."

As Damian led Marinette to a booth in the back of the restaurant Marinette caught sight of the reflection of her little group in one of the windows. There was a look on Jon's face that Marinette wasn't sure how to interpret. He had a smile on his face, but it wasn't the joking smile Marinette saw a lot of in the car. It was more of an indulgent smile, giving Marinette the sensation that Jon knew something that she didn't. Marinette wanted to turn around and ask him what it meant, but part of her brain begged her not to ruin this budding friendship before it had even begun.

Marinette had only known Damian and Jon for twenty minutes but already had the strangest feeling that there was a connection between them, some sort of relationship that needed nothing more than a little bit of shown vulnerability to create a deep bond. The only thing Marinette could think to liken it to was love at first sight, but it was beyond that. This wasn't infatuation or obsession (both of which Marinette knew well from her days of crushing over Adrien). This was deeper. This was the knowledge that Damian and Jon had seen her vulnerability and had embraced it, showing vulnerability in their own way. Neither boy had said it out loud, but given that they had both closed themselves off from physical affection as soon as they were in public, Marinette made the assumption that any sort of public display of affection was off-limits to them anywhere that the tabloids could see. It put the fact that they had been incredibly open about their relationship in a new light. It reassured Marinette that she wasn't just imagining their connection. Damian and Jon must have felt similarly about her to be able to talk to her about their relationship.

"Marinette?" Damian spoke her name, snapping Marinette out of her thoughts.

Marinette blushed. "Sorry, I tend to daydream a lot."

Damian smirked. "I'm aware. You almost wandered right into traffic the last time I caught you daydreaming."

Jon stifled a laugh. "What could you possibly be thinking of that would make you so focused that you managed to ignore the traffic right in front of you?"

Marinette launched herself into a spiel about her newest design inspiration, explaining as she went that she was incredibly passionate about fashion and designs and that her designs often had her zoning out for hours at a time. Jon and Damian looked so interested in her explanation that Marinette blushed, not used to having anyone's undivided attention.

Marinette wasn't yet certain where she stood with Damian and Jon in terms of the relationship between the three of them, but she couldn't wait to find out.

@maribatmarch-2k21

[prioritysope]

Behind The Scenes

Reader: Female Character: Akaashi Keiji Rating: Explicit Summary: when you start working as an assistant to one of the actors in the Volleyball tv series, Akaashi Keiji. Tags: Actors AU, Drama, Angst, Smut, Slow burn, Fluff

This fic is also in Wattpad and AO3. If you wanto to read it there.

behind the scenes spotify playlist

Table of Contents

Chapters 1/? (without the prologue and epilogue)

Chapter one: Are You Good?

"Are you sure you will sign the contract? Remember I tell you that according to other Akaashi's assistants, he's too strict and grumpy. I don't know how true that is, but I'm just warning you." Miss Nakamura said. She was the former assistant to the most heralded bachelor, Akaashi Keiji. Better known as his role in the famous men's volleyball series, Haikyu.

Right now you were at the show's recording facility in Tokyo. You had been looking for any job for months, and your friend Saeko, who is part of the cast, told you that one of the boys was looking for an assistant, and you didn't think twice. You had previously worked with actors, but they were theater, but you already wanted to aspire to more. You felt able to withstand the pressure of something bigger, or so you thought.

You looked expectantly at the girl who was about your age. This would be your first time working for a highly reputable actor. Deep inside you did not believe the rumors that revolved around Akaashi, because you knew that the assistants are usually somewhat gossipy and like to create rumors. That's why you didn't hesitate for a second to answer her question.

"I'm sure." You nodded, taking the pen and quickly signing in the appropriate places. Since you had already read it before, you were not so stupid to sign a contract without first reading it. You also noticed that Akaashi's signature was already there, which surprised you even thinking about how beautiful his handwriting is. You returned the pen and the papers at the girl, seeing how she stared at you with eyes full of surprise by how you signed without thinking twice.

You waited for her to put a stamp on everything. When she returned, she gave you a smile which you reciprocated in the same way.

"Right now they are verifying the script with the rest of the cast, if you want come with me and I'll introduce you to them. I just warn you, Kuroo Tetsuro is big ass flirt, so don't be surprised if he says something to you." She whispered to you, making you laugh at her comment. She started walking through a huge door, you just followed her. The more you walked, the more many voices were heard, you assumed it was the actors reading their script.

Miss Nakamura opened a door as soon as they reached the end of a corridor. When you opened it, your cheeks were painted a pink color when a number of eyes fell on you. Getting flustered, you bowed to everyone, a nervous smile plastered on your face. Some of them started laughing, because they thought your reaction was cute. It was normal, but every time it happened, they enjoyed it.

"Sorry for the interruption guys, but I want to introduce you to someone who will be here a lot. I hope you treat her kindly." The girl started talking, a huge smile on her face. She seems like she is very happy to no longer work here. She turned a little to the right, pointing at you and you just smiled a little. "She is L/N Y/N, she is a new assistant."

You bowed again, receiving the same from them. With your gaze you took a look at each one. They were quite recognizable faces, others not so much. You noticed Akaashi Keiji in the background, who had a curious expression.

"Nice to all of you, as you already know my name. I'm just telling you that you can call me Y/N, confidently. I'm here to serve you." You were somewhat surprised that you could speak, having so many men staring at you.

"Welcome, Y/N!" They all said in unison.

You could feel your heart pounding into your chest furiously from how nervous you felt. You hoped you weren't saying something old-fashioned so you wouldn't get fired as soon as you've been hired. You heard a few steps next to you, with the corner of your eyes you saw his black hair as if he were just awake and a somewhat strange grin towards you. He made a gesture with his hand, asking for yours and hesitating a little, you gave it to him. However, it was his next action that totally surprised you and you could bet your face was like a tomato at that very moment. The tall, muscular man brushed his lips on the back of your hand, then kissing it before releasing your hand.

"Nice to meet you, beautiful. I'm Kuroo Tetsuro, but you can call me anytime." He murmured loudly, not caring if the others were listening. So that was the one the girl had warned you about, quite cheesy. You were going to answer, but all the boys laughed at what happened. Which made you wish the earth would suck and spit you out into another galaxy.

"In that case, Kuroo, you should call Akaashi directly because Y/N is his new assistant." Nakamura said, then chuckling at the growl of frustration the afore mentioned let out. You couldn't help but laugh too, covering your mouth so no one would see. You have always been ashamed of your smile.

"Why does Keiji take all the beautiful girls? It's unfair." The black haired one snaped, approaching a monochrome haired boy, who was next to Akaashi. Everyone laughed at his comment.

What a comedian.

After a while, everyone went about their business and Miss Nakamura told you to come over to Akaashi to introduce yourself to him. And with the nerves eating you from the inside, you were walking towards him. You thought of a thousand ways to introduce yourself to him, so as not to screw it up.

"Uhm, Sir Akaashi—," You started, but you got interrupted. You could tell in your voice how nervous you were.

"Please don't call me sir, I'm only 25 years old and it makes me feel old. You can use the san with me, it doesn't bother me." Akaashi said. You felt faint. Not only was he physically beautiful, but his voice was a beautiful contrast. It wasn't the first time you heard his voice, but hearing it in person was like a dream. His voice hoarse from him, but soft made your legs shake.

"Excuse me, Akaashi-san." He responded quickly, bowing apologetically, eliciting a soft laugh from the actor. Oh shit I made him laugh. You played with your fingers, not knowing what to say, but ended up saying, "It's nice to meet you and to be able to work with you."

You didn't know if you were dreaming or it was reality, but you managed to see a small smirk with his face before saying, "The pleasure is all mine, Miss L/N."

At this point you could see how nice he is. Which made you confused about the rumors surrounding him. Where did they get that he was rude?

However, you had no idea what was to come.

[dream-a-little-bigger-x]

Meant To Be Yours | Luke Patterson

A/N: this is for all the Heathers fans and Musical Theater lovers out there! I was listening to the soundtrack today and realized how incredibly good Luke would be at singing meant to be yours...  Nobody asked for this but... Here ya goooo! 

Pairing: Luke Patterson x Musical Theater Program!reader 

Warnings: angst, fluff, minor swearing 

Words: 5,470

Being a Musical Theater fan and in Los Feliz High’s Musical Theater program has never made Y/N very popular with her peers. Besides her friends at the Musical Theater program and Julie and Flynn, she never really had many people taking as much as a glance at her. None of that really improved when she and Luke started dating. No one believed she was dating the cute hologram band member from Julie and The Phantoms. Thank God they don’t know the truth. Dating a ghost would get her twice the bullying. 

The first time she saw them was when the boys performed ‘Bright’ with Julie at the spirit rally about three months ago. Julie had never told Y/N she played with a hologram band, and though Flynn was upset about it, Y/N just found it incredibly confusing. Julie would’ve told her and Flynn about a hologram band. There must be something else that she’s not telling her, she figured. Something just doesn’t add up about the whole story. And after an entire night of lying awake in bed, she heads to Julie’s garage before school the next day , finding the three hologram band boys there, hanging around together. 

She glances from the cute guy behind the drums, to the other with the flannel, to finally land on the -- in her opinion -- cutest of the three with the orange beanie covering most of his dark hair, trying to connect the dots. “Oh, hey, Y/N,” Julie greets when she enters the garage, making Y/N snap out of her thoughts. “Dad told me he saw you walk into the studio.” She glances at the boys, trying her hardest to pretend they’re not even there. “So… Are you going to tell me why your hologram band is in your garage?” Julie’s eyes widen at this question, then dart to each of the boys, who look about as confused as her. “Y-you can see them?” Julie stutters, trying to figure out what’s happening. “Yes? Am I not supposed to?” Y/N’s eyes dart over to the boys again as they gather closer towards the two girls. “Why are you all looking at me like that?” She’s growing more and more nervous. Maybe she has something on her face. “You better sit down for this one,” Julie gently pushes her down on the armchair before standing in front of her with the boys behind her. “They’re ghosts… They died in 1995 when they ate some bad hot dogs and I’m pretty much the only one that can see them… Except for you, apparently.” Y/N tries her hardest to understand what’s happening right now. Those three boys are ghosts. And she can see them. She can see three ghosts. “I knew the hologram story was bullshit,” she finally manages to bring out after a couple of seconds of silence. “Why didn’t you tell me?” “I didn’t want you to think I’d gone completely crazy…” Y/N lets a small smile shine out. She’d been there for Julie when she’d lost her mother and Julie  had been there after Y/N’s grandmother had passed away too. “You know my grandmother used to be in this voodoo crap when she was alive, I would’ve believed you if you’d just told me.” The two girls chuckle at this, remembering the times Y/N’s grandmother used to babysit the two after school and she’d tell them these stories about ghosts and witches and voodoo. Back then, the girls used to giggle at them and mimic Grammy Dottie on their sleepovers. “I know, I’m sorry. I should’ve told you…” Julie takes Y/N’s hands in hers, pulling her up on her feet again. “Will you forgive me?” Y/N pretends to think about it before nodding, the two of them giggling as they embrace. Y/N’s eyes then land on the boys behind her. “You might wanna introduce me to your band though,” she whispers in her best friend’s ear. “Right,” Julie lets go of Y/N and turns to face the boys. “Boys, this is Y/N Y/L/N. My best friend since diapers, pretty much. Y/N, this is my band.” “I’m Reggie!” the boy in the flannel raises his finger, “Hi!” He gives her the most excited smile, followed by a little wave. Y/N returns the favor. “I’m Alex,” the blonde guy she’d seen behind the drums earlier, takes his turn to introduce himself. Y/N let out a soft ‘hi’ before looking over at the last member. The one in the orange beanie. The one with the gorgeous, tender  hazel eyes and the soft smile plastered on his face.  He doesn’t introduce himself at first, it takes Reggie nudging him with his elbow before he flinches back to earth. “I-I’m Luke….” A faint blush creeps onto his cheeks. “It’s very nice to meet you, boys,” she says to all of them, but keeps her eyes on Luke. There’s something about him that attracts her eyes to him. Maybe it’s the smile or the eyes. Or the arms. But just maybe there’s something about this vibe he’s giving off. This kind-hearted, passionate, excited vibe that makes him so much more attractive. Just something about the way he carried himself with so much humbled confidence. There was just something about Luke. 

Though Y/N found it weird at first, having a crush on a ghost, she couldn’t stop her brain from thinking about him or her heart from beating faster every time he was near. Julie and Flynn even noticed her drawing hearts in her notes from class, and humming love songs in the hallways. They couldn’t keep themselves from teasing you about it either. “Back on Cloud Luke, Y/N?” Flynn makes her snap  out of her thoughts when Julie and her join Y/N at the lunch table. A scarlet tint crawls onto her cheeks as she subtly hides the ‘LP’ doodles she’d drawn in her musical script. “What?! No!” she yelps out a little too defensively. “I don’t have a crush on Luke, you guys. I don’t know where you get your information…” she chuckles nervously before sipping from her drink. Flynn and Julie exchange glances. “Exhibit A,” Julie starts and tugs the script from underneath Y/N’s arm. “Your billions of doodles of hearts and his initials in your script and notes.” Flynn whips out her phone, opening Twitter on Y/N profile. “Exhibit B,” she stars, and shows her friend the last few tweets, “You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams,” She dramatically reads out the most recent one. “And I'd give up forever to touch you, 'cause I know that you feel me somehow. You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be and I don't wanna go home right now.” “That last one is a great song,” Y/N points out. “Sure, but you never Tweet any quotes or song lyrics unless you’re truly feeling it,” Julie reasons. Y/N knows her friends are right. She does have a crush on Luke but she doesn’t want to admit she’s crushing on a ghost. A ghost. Made of air. “You can’t deny there’s chemistry between the two of  you, Y/N. You’ve been inseparable since day one. Plus, he’s hella cute,” Flynn states. Y/N’s lips curl up into a smile at this. “Just remember he’s made out of air,” Julie adds, making all three of them chuckle. “Cute air,” Y/N retorts with a shrug. Flynn places a hand on hers, making her look up at her friend. “Just don’t get hurt, okay? It’s clear the two of you are mad for each other.” Y/N’s eyebrows furrow at this in confusion. “Luke doesn’t feel the same for me. Who would ever fall in love with the Musical Theater Nerd?” Her voice lowers, as does her head as she stares at her fidgeting hands on the table. “Uh, have you taken a look at yourself in the mirror? Ever?” Julie exclaims, almost angrily. “You are so gorgeous, Y/N,” Flynn chimes in with affirmation. “You have a killer body,” Julie continues. “A killer voice,” Flynn goes on. “And  you are so hilarious. Luke would be really stupid if he didn’t see that!” Y/N can’t help but smile at these compliments. Julie and Flynn always know how to cheer the girl up. “Just talk to him tonight after rehearsals.” Y/N nods her head, inhaling slowly. That night, Julie, Reggie and Alex quickly left after rehearsals, each with another excuse just so the two love birds could be alone. Y/N rolled her eyes at that, turning back to her script. Luke places his guitar in its stand before joining the girl on the couch, swatting away the script from her lap, and lying down with his head in her lap instead. She doesn’t say anything, but just lets him do whatever he feels comfortable doing. She’s now holding her script in one hand, resting it on his chest, while her other goes to his hair. It’s become an automatism for her to do that. Whether he was lying in her lap or they were just sitting next to each other, she always found her fingers tangling up in his hair. Ever since figuring out she could touch the guys, Luke has been very clingy towards her, asking for cuddles or grabbing her hand and playing around with the rings around her fingers or the bracelets around her wrists. “What are you doing?” he asks, looking at the script. “Preparing for the audition for the new musical next week,” she replies without taking her eyes off the script. The boys knew the girl could sing, and they often let her talk about her favorite musicals even though they had no clue about any of them since they’d come out after they died. “Which one is it?” he asks, his fingers running up and down her arm that’s resting on his chest. “Heathers,” she replies, “It’s based on the movie from the 80’s, do you know that one?” “Yeah, I think I watched it with Alex and his sister,” he replies, “They made a musical from that?” Y/N nods her head, her eyes glancing at his. He’s on his back, looking up at her. “Please, tell me you’re not going for one of the Heathers, though?” She shakes her head with a giggle. “Good, because I didn’t really like either of them in the movie.” “None of their parts are really in my range. I’m going to audition for Veronica.” He nods his head slowly, trying to remember which character that was. “The part Winona Ryder played in the movie.” He let out a whispered ‘aaaaaah’. “It’s a pretty big role, so I doubt I’ll actually get it.” Luke frowns at this, and sits up to face her with a disapproving scowl on his face. “You’re insanely talented, Y/N! If they don’t cast you as Veronica, they’re just crazy!” She smiles at his compliment. “Thanks, Luke…” she trails off a little, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “There are just so many talented people in the Musical Theater Program that I doubt they’ll pick me instead of them.” She chuckles at her own pathetic behavior. “It’s lame, I know…” He reaches for her hand when these words roll out of her mouth, capturing her attention again. “It’s not lame, Y/N. I get insecure sometimes too! Sometimes, I get these bouts of anxiety where I think our band will never be good enough for the music industry or for any manager to ever take us on. I sometimes think our songs aren’t good enough, or I’m not good enough. It’s normal, I think.” His words do make her feel a little better. “You just need someone to tell you otherwise and get those ugly thoughts out of your pretty head,” he taps her temple softly twice, making her giggle. “That’s really comforting, Luke, thank you…” She offers him a thankful smile whilst ignoring this gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach. She wants to kiss him so badly, and judging from his eyes darting from her eyes to her lips and back, he’s thinking the exact same thing. She leans in a little, her head tilting and eyes fluttering. Butterflies erupt in her stomach as she catches Luke to do the same. They’re inches away when Carlos abruptly opens the garage doors, making the two of them jump away. The little boy’s eyes widen when he finds his sister’s best friend on the couch, cheeks reddening. “Oh, hey, Y/N. I didn’t know you were still here,” he chuckles awkwardly. Y/N knows why he’s here though. He likes to use the bathroom in the back, especially for all his number two’s. “Yeah, I was uh… Rehearsing for my audition next week,” she holds her script up in the air as proof. “You need the garage, don’t you?” He shoots her an awkward, toothy smile, which is enough for Y/N to know that he needs it for the exact reason he always needs it. “All right, I’m gone…” She glances at Luke whilst reaching past him for her backpack. “Meet me outside,” he tells you before poofing out. You do as told after saying goodbye to Carlos and leaving the garage where you find Luke sitting on the rock near the stairs to the house. She walks up a few of the stairs, so she’s on his eye-level. “I have an idea. If you want, I could help you rehearse some songs and dialogue? I could even ask the boys to help out?” She can’t withhold a smile at this suggestion of his. “You don’t know any of the music, though?” she fairly points out. “We’ll do our homework,” he replies with a grin. “Trust me, Y/N. We’ll be able to help you prepare for this audition, I promise!” Without thinking twice about it, she reaches up and kisses him on the cheek and whispers a thank you in his ear before turning on her heel and leaving the boy flustered on the rock. You didn’t talk to him like you’d promised Julie and Flynn. But at least now you know he kind of feels the same. 

The first kiss happened during the first rehearsal they planned in preparation for the audition. It’s after the Julie and The Phantoms rehearsal. Y/N’s on the couch, waiting for them to finish while going over some lines and lyrics, though her eyes often diververt to Luke. He watches her too, a soft smile tugging at the corners of his lips. He can’t wait to start rehearsing with her. When he told the boys about helping Y/N out with her audition, the boys had given him knowing glances. They told him he had to do something about this obvious crush he had on her. They often teased him about kissing her, even during their rehearsals when they caught the two looking at each other with desire in their eyes. “Are you ready, Y/N?” Reggie asks when the rehearsal with Julie finishes. His voice makes her avert her eyes from Luke’s, clearly far away on Cloud Luke. “Mmh?” she hums, not having registered his question until she repeats it in her mind, “Oh, yeah!” She gets up from the couch to join the boys at their instruments whilst Julie sits down on the couch instead. She offers Y/N an encouraging grin, excited to hear her sing again. Julie and Flynn were always the ones on the front row during any of the musicals the Theatre Program put on. They were there when Y/N played Chris in Carrie, and when she played Janice in Mean Girls. That last one was Julie’s favorite role she’d ever seen Y/N in. “We listened to the entire soundtrack last night, Julie showed us,” Alex informs his friend excitedly, proud he’s so informed on the musicals from the last decade. “We listened to the Broadway version and the West End version, so just tell us what you wanna do.” “I’m kind of stuck between these two songs to do for my audition. I wanna do I Say No, from the West End version because it showcases my range really well. But I also wanna do Seventeen because it’s my favorite, though I’m gonna need a person to duet with.” She can’t hide the fact that she wanted to duet the song with Luke, even though he can’t join her on the audition. Because one, you can only audition with someone from the program, and two… Luke is dead. “Let’s try the first one first?” Reggie suggests, looking over at Y/N. “Sure, you guys know the chords?” she asks the two with the guitars. They both nod before starting to play, Alex joining in with the drums too. Y/N grabs Julie’s white microphone after silently asking for her permission, which she granted by nodding her head. “You are a drug You are a poison pill I've got to kick this habit now Or else I never will I loved the rush When you would hold me close But you will not be satisfied Until I overdose” Julie has always admired how she can switch off from the world around her and get into character so quickly. The passion in her eyes and facial expressions are convincing, to say the least. “This is it Hit the brake I am finally awake Let me be Let me go You need help I can't provide I am not qualified This troubled teen is getting clean I say no” “Veronica, who else is gonna be-” Y/N’s eyes widen for a second when Luke chimes in with JD’s line in the song. But recomposes herself and turns to him completely, singing the next part to him. “No, no, no, no! Don't say a word You speak and I cave in You'll twist the truth again And drill deep down beneath my skin You said you'd change And I believed in you But you're still using me to justify the harm you do” She turns to Julie again, as if speaking to the audience like she would in the play. This leaves Luke a bit disappointed. He keeps his eyes on her, a smile tugging at his lips as he admires her. “This is it Hit the brake Call it all my mistake Long as you let me go You need help I can't provide I'm not Bonnie You're not Clyde It's not too late I'm getting straight I say no” Julie gets up from the couch and moves to the keyboard to back up with some softer tones for the bridge as the boys stop playing their instruments, whilst Y/N turns to Luke again. Imagining him as Jason Dean would be a terrible idea, but she’s going with it. “Blame your childhood, blame your dad Blame the life you never had But hurting people? That's your choice, my friend” The boys join in with their instruments again, building up the rest of the bridge. “'Cause I believe that love will win And hate will earn you nothing in the end This is the end” Luke looks at her in admiration and so much love, and decides to say JD’s line, though with a softer touch. “But I love you!” Y/N almost believes it, but recomposes herself, remembering the role she’s supposed to play and withhold during an entire musical. “Dude” She steps away from him while the boys sing the chorus along with her. “This is it I won't cry Starting now, I will try To pay back All the karma I owe Start again Somewhere new Far from cold guys like you So goodbye 'Cause now I I say no Just in time I say no Somehow I'm saying no Just say no I say no No!” The boys stop playing as Y/N lowers her microphone, panting from the last high notes she had to hit, and hit flawlessly. Reggie and Alex exchange glances with Julie while Luke simply stares at Y/N, a content sigh leaving his body. “That was so good!” Reggie makes Y/N snap out her thoughts -- like why Luke’s ‘I love you’ sounded so real. “I got ghost bumps!” He shows his arm even though it’s covered by his leather jacket. Y/N chuckles, biting down her lip nervously. “Let’s do the other one,” Alex then suggests, “Which was that? The duet, right?” Y/N nods her head slowly as nerves course through her body. She knows Luke’s going to want to play JD, like he’s done in the previous song too. “Luke, are you up for it?” The words roll off her lips before she allows them to. He nods his head eagerly, making the others chuckle, knowing why. They’d talked about this song last night, the boys teasing Luke by telling him he should probably learn this by heart if he wants to conquer Y/N’s heart. Y/N nods at Alex, who counts them in before hitting his drums, Julie and Reggie joining in with their instruments when needed. Y/N turns to face Luke, getting into the character of Veronica Sawyer again. “Fine! We're "damaged" Really "damaged" But that does not make us "wise" We're not "special", we're not "different" We don't choose who lives or dies Let's be normal, see bad movies Sneak a beer and watch TV We'll bake brownies or go bowling Don't you want a life with me? Can't we be seventeen? That's all I want to do If you could let me in I could be good with you” Her soft melodic and angelic voice makes Luke all mushy inside. “People hurt us” “Or they vanish” He sounds as vulnerable as JD does in this moment. “And you’re right, that really blows But we let go” “Take a deep breath” “And go buy some summer clothes We’ll go camping” “Play some poker” Y/N chuckles a little as her eyes tear up slightly at the tenderness of his voice. “And we’ll eat some chili fries Maybe Prom night” “Maybe dancing” “Don’t stop looking in my eyes” The power behind her voice surprises Luke that he has no other choice but to look in her eyes. All while the others join in with their instruments at full force. “Your eyes” “Can't we be seventeen Is that so hard to do? If you could let me in I could be good with you” The music gets more powerful, as do their voices. “Let us be seventeen If we've still got the right” “So what's it gonna be? I wanna be with you” “Wanna be with you” “Tonight” The electricity between the two of them and the desire that had been there all along now takes the better of her. In the heat of it all, she launches herself in Luke’s arms, pressing her lips to his in a fiery, passionate kiss. The others don’t stop playing, but they do exchange surprised and relieved glances. She breaks the kiss, but presses her forehead against his as she continues singing the song like the true professional she is. “Yeah, we’re damaged” “Badly damaged” “But your love’s too good to lose” “Hold me tighter” “Even closer” “I’ll stay if I’m what you choose” “Can we be seventeen?” “If I am what you choose” “If we’ve still got the right” “‘Cause you’re the one I choose” “You’re the one I choose” “You’re the one I choose” Suddenly, the lyrics have gotten an entirely different meaning. Especially the way they’re singing it, makes it seem like they’re actually singing it to each other. Like Y/N is singing to Luke and Luke to Y/N. Not Veronica and Jason Dean. Y/N coughs awkwardly as she steps away from Luke, glancing at the others who have their teasing grins at the ready. “That’s in the script…” she tries, but the laughter that erupts from their friends tells her she can’t lie to them. Luke and Y/N stare at each other, a shy smile on their faces as they let them laugh it out. It takes a little while before they actually die down. “Sure, Y/N, that looked very scripted,” Julie says, patting her best friend’s shoulder. There’s nothing left to hide now. You and Luke are very much in love with one another. Though it still feels weird to be in love with a ghost who, quite frankly, would be about twenty years older if he hadn’t died, Y/N couldn’t hide the feelings she had for this boy. There was no hiding it after that outburst they had just now. But maybe that’s for the better. 

Thanks to the help of the boys and Julie, Y/N landed the role of Veronica Sawyer in Los Feliz High’s rendition of Heathers the Musical. Not only that, Luke and Y/N have now been dating for a month now. He’s been incredibly supportive over the course of the rehearsals of the musical, and she has been supportive of the band. It’s been fun and games, so far. Making out in the loft after band rehearsals or backstage in the auditorium, singing songs together at the top of their lungs whilst dancing around her room (though her parents complained about that), and cuddling on the couch whilst going over Y/N’s lines together. Nothing ever happened to cause an argument until Luke sat in a rehearsal for the musical when they were going over the Dead Girl Walking scene. Watching his very alive girlfriend kiss another very alive boy isn’t quite the confidence boost. He lasts until halfway through the song when the guy playing JD rips Y/N’s shirt open. That’s when he just had to get out of there. Y/N couldn’t tell anyone they were dating, and if she did, no one believed her she was dating the hologram boy from Julie’s band. Which also meant boys hitting on her when she was in her Veronica costume, mostly the boy who played Jason Dean. “Having a girl on top of you makes you realize things,” he had said. Y/N told him she wasn’t interested, but that didn’t stop the boy from trying. She had told Luke that. Her first mistake. Because ever since then, he has never missed a rehearsal. Y/N knew this scene was coming up, and she had tried to tell Luke he shouldn’t come, but of course he didn’t listen. And now he’s upset with her because she had told him about her minor crush on Christian Slater -- the original JD from the movie -- and about the JD song she loved so much. He knew how sexy she thought that song was, especially when the actor sings it as raw as Jamie Muscato or Ryan McCartan did in the West End and off-Broadway version. She’s not surprised to find Luke and the boys in the studio when she gets back, their instruments in hand, but no Julie to be seen. Only the very familiar riff of a Heathers song sounding through the amps. She halts in the doorway, crossing her arms as she watches the boys. None of them has seen her yet, which gives her the rawest and most honest version of this song. “You chucked me out like I was trash, For that you should be dead— But! But! But! Then it hit me like a flash, What if high school went away instead Those assholes are the key! They're keeping you away from me! They made you blind, messed up your mind But I can set you free!” Reggie jumps around whilst playing the bass, letting himself go on the beat. Even Alex is so lost in his drumming, he doesn’t even notice the girl in the doorway. And Luke has his scowl set on the void, possibly imagining the boy’s face and wanting to punch him in the face. “You left me and I fell apart, I punched the wall and cried— Bam! Bam! Bam!” Y/N flinches at the sudden loudness of his voice. “Then I found you changed my heart and set loose all that truthful shit inside! And so I built a bomb Tonight our school is Vietnam! Let's guarantee they'll never see their senior prom!” His voice grows a little softer at the chorus, showing his more delicate side, the side Y/N has come to love so much. “I was meant to be yours! We were meant to be one! Don't give up on me now! Finish what we've begun! I was meant to be yours!” He sounds angry and frustrated during the next verse, a hint of menace laced in his voice. To his girlfriend, it sounds incredibly sexy. He suddenly seems twice as attractive. “So when the high school gym goes boom with everyone inside— Pchw! Pchw! Pchw! In the rubble of their tomb We'll plant this note explaining why they died!” She sees this as her chance to announce her presence. She quickly runs over to Julie’s microphone and starts singing along on the bridge where the ensemble would join in. Luke’s head snaps up at her, bewilderment and surprise in his eyes, along with some embarrassment. “We, the students of Westerburg High Will die. Our burnt bodies may finally get through To you. Your society churns out slaves and blanks No thanks. Signed the Students of Westerburg High 'Goodbye.'” Y/N gives him a nod of encouragement, telling him to continue. He does as he’s told with even more power behind his voice and even some amusement as a smile plays at his lips. She grabs the microphone from the stand and dances up to him. “We'll watch the smoke poor out the doors. Bring marshmallows, We'll make s'mores! We can smile and cuddle while the fire roars!” Along with Reggie and Alex, Y/N takes care of the backing vocals whilst Luke lets himself go in the song. His voice becomes more and more raspy with the second, sending shivers down his girlfriend’s spine. “I was meant to be yours! We were meant to be one! I can't make this alone! Finish what we've begun! You were meant to be mine! I am all that you need! You carved open my heart! Can't just leave me to bleed!” He turns to her as she offers him her microphone for the next bit. The fact he’s looking into her eyes doesn’t help her subdue her feelings. At all. In fact, it just increases those butterflies and shivers and curling of the toes. “Veronica, open the—open the door, please' Veronica, open the door. Veronica, can we not fight anymore' Please, can we not fight anymore' Veronica, sure, you're scared, I've been there. I can set you free! Veronica, don't make me come in there! I'm gonna count to three! One! Two! Fuck it!” She can’t detain her feelings anymore and crashes her lips onto his again, exactly like that time they rehearsed Seventeen together and they had their first kiss. Reggie and Alex exchange glances, though this time it’s with an eyeroll. Luke pulls away when he has to sing the very last bit of the song, keeping his forehead pressed to hers. His voice is back to its vulnerable side as he stares into his girlfriend’s eyes with so much regret for ever feeling so jealous of any lifer guy she’d ever interacted with. “Please don't leave me alone You were all I could trust I can't do this alone” He steps back from her to hit the last high note whilst Alex goes off on the drums one last time. “Still I will if I must!” Y/N watches her boyfriend for a moment, a tender, proud smile on her face and admiration in her eyes. Luke’s confidence when he plays his music, or any music for that matter, is so hot and attractive to Y/N. Though she loves his more vulnerable and adorable side he mostly pulls up whenever he’s with her, that rockstar side of his really is a close second. “Are you guys really gonna make out every time you sing together or…?” Reggie asks, capturing the couple’s attention. Y/N takes Luke’s hand in hers, intertwining their fingers together whilst her other hand rests on his bicep. “You would too if your boyfriend was so hot,” she answers, and presses a kiss to his bare shoulder. Luke smiles down at her before returning a kiss on her hair. “Now, if you guys don’t have anymore rehearsing to do, I’d like to take Luke to go and rehearse another scene together…” she trails off. As she looks up at her boyfriend and his eyes meet her suggestive glance, he already knows what’s up. “No, we’re done here, I think,” he says quickly, “Right, guys? Yes, yes, we are!” He rushes his girlfriend out the garage and to the house next door to the Molina’s where he helps you ‘rehearse’ the Dead Girl Walking scene.

 Taglist: @hannahhistorian92​ @marinettepotterandplagg​ @thequirkybookaholic​ @bookdealer5​ @tenaciousperfectionunknown​ @hemmingsness​ @iainttakingshitfromnobody​ @ifilwtmfc​ @angryknightstatesmantrash​ @kiss-themoongoodbye​ @parkeret​​ @lukeys-giggle​ @gingerxarmy​ @lovesanimals​ @lolychu​ @perfectlywrongformend3s​ @luckylouiebug​ @kiss-themoongoodbye​ @camiladelrio98​ @myfriendscallmebeans​

[sweeethinny]

Christmas Magic (M)

I wanted to do something for @fightfortherightsofhouseelves #hinnychristmasfest, and as a few days ago someone asked me about how I thought hinny's first time had happened, here it is :) thanks to Dusk who read that one shot yesterday, and the whole group of Hinny at Discord who advised me, helped me with my 8643846353 doubts. And thanks to Google, who explained many things to me so that I could make this as close to reality as possible.

AO3

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Warning: This chapter contains sex, and description of sex

‘’Hermione, I’m sorry, but that doesn’t look like sex.’’ Ginny said, rolling her eyes at the book in front of her. The anatomy of a woman and a man was well exposed on the page, each little part being explained as to why it served, and some even explained how.

‘’And what do you know? You are the one who came to ask me about it.’’ The friend took the book from Gin’s lap. ‘’What else did you expect it to be?’’ Hermione looked at her, and Ginny really wanted to tell her that she hoped it was less… biological, and more real and emotional. She didn't feel all that logical and scientific explanation when Harry touched her last week, not even when she touched him. It was far more chaotic than the book made it appear to be.

The author did not explain that you would feel in the clouds, and that your legs would become so limp that you would think that there were no bones in your body.

But maybe that would change when it came to sex.

‘’I don’t know, but it looks disgusting.’’ She frowned at the drawings in front of her.

‘’Well… I don’t know if there’s any other way to look.’’ Hermione said, shrugging her shoulders and closing the book, starting to look for another one in her huge pile.

‘’Hermione, but don’t you think there are things you can’t explain? Things that don't appear in an anatomy book?’’ Ginny asked, hoping that it would explain to her friend that sex couldn’t be just that. That should be more than... insert and rub. If it were just that, if it meant nothing more, then what fun would it have?

‘’Nah. What wouldn't appear in the books?’’

‘’I don’t know,’’ She shrugged. ''Maybe it will change depending on how you feel about the person, or… I don't know.'' Ginny gave up, getting up from her own bed and walking around the room, a little worried that maybe she wouldn't have made the right decision if only that summed up what it was sex.

Of course, Hermione knew about a lot, and human relationships were always a problem for her, but it didn't seem to be just that. It seemed that really, sex was just… biological. After all.

‘’Ginny, you read... This can increase the bond between two people, but honestly, I don’t think it would change anything more than that. Maybe you've just based yourself on too many novels, and you're thinking this will be the same.'' Hermione spoke quietly, almost as if she wanted to apologize to Ginny that she was dreaming too much about that moment. ‘’Authors tend to glamorize more than necessary in novel books.’’

''Yeah, maybe that's it.'' She nodded, taking her coat and cap from the rack behind the door. ‘ I’m going for a walk.’’ Ginny said, still somewhat discredited that she had been deceived by all those authors.

''Take care. I'll stay here if you want to talk.’’ Hermione spoke before Ginny closed the door, a little angry for the last hour she spent for nothing.

She and Harry hadn't been having much time since he started studying for the Auror exams and she for the NIEM, and every minute mattered a lot, so missing an hour that they could have talked, kissed, or even for throwing snow at each other, it seemed like a lot.

And Ginny didn't even come to an ideal conclusion.

Since the war ended and they came back - not that they had really separated, Ginny always said that - their relationship had evolved in a hurry that she did not regret. They went from, kissing under the peach tree in the daylight, to kissing at night on the lake (where they wore little clothing), and then, to finally kiss in her bed, and touch each other.

They have learned a lot since then. Harry was always patient and very concerned that he was doing it right, and that Ginny was enjoying it, so he paid close attention to all her signs and her advice. He didn't care when she put her hand over hims to help him, or when she asked him to stop because she didn't like it so much anymore.

Ginny also listened to him, even though Harry almost never complained, she learned that he liked when she paid special attention to his balls, his nipples were very sensitive too, and that like her, speed and angle also mattered.

Everything was quite intense and chaotic inside her, it was always as if something exploded and fireworks cut across the sky every time Harry made her feel in a new way, each miserable discovery seemed too much.

It was she who introduced the subject of sex to them. After she returned to Hogwarts alone - not for Hermione - Ginny had plenty of time to think about it. So when they met on one of the Hogsmeade tours and were alone, Gin commented that she wanted to. It was a strange thing, although it seemed right to communicate him about her will, she thought that maybe she was doing something wrong given Harry's minute of silence.

‘’I’ve also been thinking about it, but I didn’t want to be an idiot and make you feel pressured if I commented.’’ He said.

They talked then, she said that leaving aside the romance books where the couple had sex, she didn't know much. Nor did Harry, he said that Seamus used to take magazines to their dormitory, but that there was never a real explanation of what it was like to have sex. Which relieved Ginny, who was afraid to be the only stupid one there.

He said he was afraid it would hurt for her and that he didn't do it right, she said that they wouldn't easily do it right, but that they could learn together. And about the pain... she could handle it.

But if she was sincere, she wished there was a way to not hurt. It didn't seem so much fun if it hurt.

The two talked about their insecurities and fears, and it was interesting to be able to open up that way with Harry, made Ginny love him even more. And she couldn't even remember when he told about years with the Dursleys before Hogwarts, without wanting to cry again.

It was important to talk to him, she knew that.

The two decided they were going to get ready, Harry wanted her to be able to make the most of what he could provide, and Ginny wanted to not be so scared at the moment. 

First, she looked in magazines - muggles and magicians - but nothing seemed to really help her, because even though it was written that she didn't need to fear and that it was necessary to relax, they didn't teach how, and they made everything seem even more important and bigger than it already was. Ginny had to go to Hermione. She knew about everything, she had read all the books, she should have known about it.

But Ginny received that bucket of cold water. Hermione's books made her feel discouraged, the statistics and scientific data made Gin think that nothing was right, and that yes, maybe sex wasn't too much. Nothing more than a biological necessity.

What magazines made it seem like the most important moment, the books painted as just a matter of science.

Ginny was confused.

She wanted to have sex with Harry, while she was a little too discouraged, but she also didn't want to throw in the towel and give up when they had already gone so far. Perhaps there could be a middle ground? Something that would make people sleep with others besides carnal need?

So she went for her second option, even though she was reluctant.

She had another week of Christmas break before she had to go back, and maybe the two of them couldn't even get time together to be able to enjoy it decently, but she just needed to talk to someone. Maybe on Easter break when she got back, or during a trip to Hogsmeade, they could do it. Perhaps she was more prepared, then.

‘’Ginny!’’ Fleur said as soon as she opened the door and found her sister-in-law standing there, her cheeks flushed with the wind and looking more nervous than usual. ''It's all right? Come in!''

‘’Yes.’’ Ginny said, cursing herself for having to ask her for help. ‘‘Bill in?’’

‘’No, he left just now.. do you want to wait for him? It shouldn't take long--’’

'' --No, he better not be around.'' Her voice came out a little too hard, and Ginny forced herself to clear her throat and calm down, thinking that if it weren't for Fleur, she wouldn't have anyone else to talk to about it. - her mother was not an option. ‘’I came here… I came to ask you for help.’’

‘’Oh…’’ Fleur nodded, a little wary. ''Sure. Take off your coat, I'll make tea for us.'' She was being very polite, which Ginny thought was good, because if she had to deal with the same arrogance of Fleur from the past at a time like that, maybe she would just give up and tell Harry that they had better do it without even knowing how it worked.

She took off her coat, gloves, snow-soiled shoes and cap, then, following her brother's house, Ginny reached the kitchen. She didn't quite know how she was going to start talking or how she would feel when she said something so intimate to Fleur, but maybe there wasn't much theater to do and she just had to tell her the truth.

‘’What brings you here?’’ Fleur appeared, floating the cups, milk and sugar in front of her. ‘’Let's sit on the couch, it’s more comfortable there.’’ Ginny nodded and followed. ‘’I hope it’s ‘ze way you like it.’’

‘’Thank you, it’s great.’’ Ginny poured herself the milk and dropped the amount of sugar she liked, taking the hot liquid to see if maybe that would give her enough courage. ‘’Hm .. Fleur, I wanted to ask you something.’’ She started, taking a deep breath and not looking at her sister-in-law. ‘’But you can’t comment on Bill. Not even with my mother.’’

‘‘My mouth is a grave.’’ She signaled as if she had closed her mouth, blond eyebrows raised slightly as she stared. ‘’You’re worrying me a little bit.’’

‘’Harry and I were talking about… Er .. Sex, and I wanted to ask you for help with that.’’ Ginny felt her cheeks were on fire, it was as if the sun was in front of her, so great was the heat. ‘’I don’t know .. I don’t know how to do it, and I think you can help me with that.’’ She admitted, feeling a little more failed than she imagined.

‘’Oh… I can help you with ‘zat, of course.’’ Fleur cleared her throat, placing her cup on the coffee table and facing Ginny. ''What you want to know?''

‘’Everything.’’ Ginny also put down her cup. ‘’Hermione showed me some anatomy books, and I read some magazines, but .. it doesn’t seem very real.’’ Fleur nodded, seeming to think about it. She shifted a little uncomfortably on the sofa and ran a hand through her blond hair, as if searching for the right words.

‘’Ok .. Let’s start at ‘ze beginning; you want this? You know, sometimes we end up feeling pressured to do it, even if ‘ze guy doesn't say it. And sex is an important step, it’s a level of intimacy that you need to be sure of what you’re doing.’’

‘’Of course I do. I was the one who told him I wanted to.’’ Ginny said, confident enough to face Fleur back, not her and Bill's picture frame on their wedding day. ‘’Harry doesn’t pressure me.’’

‘’Good.’’ Fleur nodded. ''If you feel ‘zat way, you need to know ‘zat... ‘zat it can be awful ‘ze first time, because it's ‘ze first time, and that's okay, practice makes perfect.'' She blinked, and Ginny felt her own cheeks flush like fire again, but continued to stare at her sister-in-law. ‘’If ‘Arry .. does things for you first, you’ll be able to enjoy ‘zit more, without feeling so uncomfortable, you know? It's something new, your body is not used to it, so the more relaxed and comfortable ‘ze better. And .. live ‘zat moment, it can last minutes, or seconds, but it is an important experience, maybe even more for ‘Arry. You are new, a long time ago to gain skill and improve performance.''

‘’What if I don’t think anything is too much? And if it’s just… I don’t know, but if it’s boring?’’ She asked, curiosity and fear dueling in her chest.

‘’Ginny, if it were boring, you wouldn’t have ‘zat many siblings.’’ Fleur said, finding it funny even though Gin had made a face at the image. ‘’Sex has to be good for both of you, don’t be shy about asking ‘Arry to do something for you, or change, or even stop. If you want him to stop in the middle and have him stimulate you in another way, that's fine. If you want it to just stop, you can say it too. Sex is communication, you can't just stand there like a dead man.’' The two laughed, much to Ginny's surprise.

‘’Hermione thinks sex isn’t anything other than human need.’’ She commented, not wanting to gossip about her friend, just wanting to get it out of her mind. Fleur shrugged.

‘’It goes beyond that, but I think she will only know when to do it. It’s a different experience for each person, you know? If you want to know, on my first time, I was bored and hated doing that, I thought it was not for me. Afterwards, I just understood what I liked and what I wanted.’’ She smiled sweetly, in a way that Ginny wasn’t very used to seeing. Not that those looks were directed at her, because they were usually for Bill. ‘’You’ll see, just live in the moment and don’t put so much pressure on you two. It’s the first time, not the last.’’

 [...]

 Ginny and Fleur had talked for a while longer that day, and after Bill arrived and was suspicious as to why Ginny was there, she went back to the house. Fleur had convinced her to buy nice clothes for their date; ‘’Not ‘zat you have sex that day, but just to prevent it.’’

On the 24th, the day of their date, Ginny dressed up like never before.

She carefully braided her hair on the side, put on the most beautiful earrings she had (Aunt Muriel's earnings, a few years ago), put on makeup so that her pale face didn't resemble a skull so much, painted her lips an intense red, and she wore the lingerie she had bought - even if they did nothing, she wouldn’t play with fate and let Harry see her with colorless panties and a bra that couldn’t hold anything anymore - and the thick pantyhose that would keep her legs warm.

When it came time for the outfit, Ginny had to stand for a few minutes in front of the pile in her closet, wondering which of those sweaters best suited the skirt she had separated earlier. There were some she stole from Ron, the ones her mother stitch for Christmas, some from George... She didn't have a decent shirt.

She was never on a date itself, even those in Hogsmeade it didn't seem that important.

It was the first time the two of them were going out on their own, for a real date, and it was Christmas, she had to be presentable, even though Harry didn't care and made it clear that he thought she was beautiful even with her torn pajama pants. Ginny cared.

Searching deeper into her mess, she found a sweater that she didn't even remember existed, maybe she received it as a gift in the fourth year, from her parents, or ... she didn't remember, but it wasn't important. The sweater had no holes in it, nor did it look old, and none of her brothers had worn it before, which was perfect. Besides, the fabric was thick enough that Ginny wouldn't freeze to death outside.

After finishing putting on her boots, zipping up her navy blue skirt, and getting comfortable in her white sweater and turtleneck, Ginny was ready. Anxious as never before and looking every second at the slim watch on her wrist.

Harry had said he would drop by to pick her up at six and it was still half past five… Maybe Ginny was in a hurry. Maybe when he arrived, she would show that she was anxious.. Should she have put on that red lipstick?  Was it the best option to go out with a lipstick like that, when you intended to make out with your boyfriend? Maybe she was underdressed because Harry wanted to take her to a very fancy restaurant?

Ginny should look for a better outfit, she--

‘’Gin?’’ The voice startled her, causing her to drop the perfume bottle on top of the pile of clothes she had shifted to the right, and slowly turned to find Harry and her door, looking almost more distressed than she was. ‘’Everything okay?’’ He looked at the mess around her, a chuckle rising from his lips.

‘’Yes, yes.’’ She composed herself, smiling from ear to ear and walking towards him, looking much calmer now that he was there.

Harry was simple, new dark jeans, a gray sweater and his sneakers. He didn't seem to be going to a chic and elegant restaurant - which would use more than 7 cutlery and 3 different glasses -, which calmed her down and made her take a deep breath while hugging him tightly and breathing in his scent.

‘’I brought this for you.’’ He showed her the bouquet hidden behind his back, his right hand shaking slightly as he handed her the flowers. There were all kinds of flowers, jasmine, yellow roses, even blue flowers, and it was the most romantic and cute thing she had ever won. ‘’I didn’t know what your favorites were then, I just chose the most beautiful ones.’’

‘’Harry, it’s beautiful.’’ Ginny kissed him, not needing to stretch this time, thankful for the heels of her boot. ‘’You look beautiful too.’’ She whispered against his mouth, his arms around her waist and keeping their contact even closer.

''Thanks. You're not too bad either.’’ He raised an eyebrow, a wry little smile. ‘’The skirt is fully approved.’’

‘’As if I care what you think of my outfit.’’ Ginny lifted her chin, holding her laugh and placing the flowers in a vase she had conjured. ''We are ready?''

''Yes. I was happy not to run into your parents… it would be strange.’’ Harry made a cute face, wrinkling his nose and wrinkling his forehead. ‘’Your mom would have made a fuss about the flowers.’’

''Of course she would.'' Ginny put her arm around Harry's, letting him guide her through her own home. ‘’She gave me a speech yesterday about how you’ve been changing since you’ve been with me… Apparently everyone is talking about how happy you and I are.’’

‘’They talk too much. They should start worrying about their navels themselves.’’ The two donned their jackets, gloves and cloaks, ready to face the cold outside. ‘’But, I’ve been happier on your side than I have been in my past..16 years? I think.’’ Harry stopped to think, looking at the floor as if he was digging deeply. ‘’Yes, I’m happier than I’ve ever been.’’

‘’And you had to think about it?’’ Ginny pushed his shoulder slightly, already walking out of the house. ‘‘How come I’m not the first and last thought of your day?’’ Harry laughed, openly, in the way that made her laugh and feel her stomach churn.

‘’But you are.’’ He took her arm again, ready to Apparate wherever they were going. ''I was just kidding. I don't need to think too hard to know that I've never been as happy as I am with you.'' Harry said, looking at her as if that was the simplest thing to say, as if he didn't do things for her that Ginny never thought she would feel.

So they Apparated.

It was a place she had never been to. Well, she didn’t walk around London much, so it didn’t mean much, but in particular that place, she didn’t even know it existed.

There were lights, lots of lights, and it looked like it came out of a fairy tale book. She felt like a muggle when they witnessed magic. It was unbelievable that something like that existed.

''Where are we?’’ She couldn’t stop looking and maybe her neck would hurt if she stayed like that for several minutes, but it was totally worth it.

There were those boxes with teddy bears inside and something that Ginny didn't quite understand what it was, that were trying to grab the toy. On the other side, there were stalls with foods so fragrant that she could already feel her belly growling with hunger. And even though she looked at everything and Harry walked around calmly and also looked shocked by that place, it looked like they couldn't make it to the end or see everything.

‘’Hyde Park.’’ Harry was also looking everywhere, and even though the wind seemed to cut their cheeks, neither of them seemed to care. ''This is amazing.''

‘‘Yes.’’ Ginny’s eyes flashed with the big wheel that spun ahead. ‘’And we’re magicians.’’

[...]

 The two had enjoyed themselves at various attractions. They took pictures together with reindeer ears and eating cotton candy, rode the ferris wheel and could see London from above - it was different to be in heaven and not on a broom -, ate and bought several things, and finally, they skated on the rink of ice. A very ... different experience.

‘’We’re worse than that little boy under eight years old.’’ Ginny muttered a little irritably, getting up from what looked like the fifth tumble in less than ten minutes.

''My ass is freezing.'' Harry circled her, not looking much firmer than the old woman next to them.

‘’We should know how it goes.’’ Ginny tried again, flexing her knees and straightening her arms like that 12 year old girl had taught her, managing to walk more than two meters without falling. ‘‘We already ride a broom.’’ She whispered to Harry beside her who risked spinning around like a woman had done. ‘’That was terrible.’’

‘’Don’t laugh at me!’’ He barked, but he also laughed. ‘’I’m trying.’’ They held hands, ready to make the curve that had made them fall like two stooges. ‘’There’s no need for despair…’’

‘’You were the one who despaired when that little girl passed us.’’

‘’She was whirling in the air!’’ Harry stared at her, eyes wide. ‘’And she mustn’t even be ten years old.’’

‘’Calm down, love, we’re doing great.’’ Ginny laughed, managing to stop and without hitting the ground. ‘’We’re learning, see? It was only the first few times, then we take the practice.’’

''You're right.'' Harry walked around her again, a silly smile in his eyes. ‘’Please try not to be jealous.’’

‘’I’m going to try, Potter.’’ She rolled her eyes, following him up the track again, dodging people in a mastery that shocked her.

‘’Look at you! Without pushing anyone this time.’’ Harry said, also dodging and getting back to her side. ''We were born for this.''

‘’Yes.’’ She smiled proudly. ‘’I knew we were going to make it ... Want to try to spin like that little girl? I hold it around your waist.’’ Ginny winked at Harry, who laughed denying and getting a little flushed when the guy who passed them laughed at both of them.

 [...]

 The day seemed much quieter than it used to be at Hogwarts. Ginny could hear birds singing in the window, but nothing that resembled the morning conversations of roommates, owls flying, people already walking and talking loudly. It was much more cozy.

It was also better when Harry was hugging her half naked, sighing softly and looking completely at peace.

They had returned from the park well after ten o'clock, they still strolled the streets and bought hot chocolate to drink in the comfort of Harry's house. Molly had not enjoyed Ginny sleeping with him, especially when George and Ron weren't there and the two would be alone, but Harry convinced her that they would be fine and that they would be at The Burrow early.

Ginny felt a little anxious when she allowed them to realize that they were alone, Harry was only wearing sweatpants and she was only wearing his T-shirt - even if she had continued with the lingerie, because ... a woman could hope. At the same time that her thighs tightened at the thought, a part of her brain began to process the whole idea.

She still had remnants of yesterday's makeup, and her breath was not the best, other than the hair that was a mess. But Harry was being a very comfortable and warm pillow ... Maybe she could make breakfast for their both? That way she would have reason to get up and look in the mirror.

And that's what she did, after ten more comfortable minutes in her boyfriend's embrace, she slipped out and started her mission. They might not even have sex today, but Ginny was also not going to be with him on bad breath and in the mood to pee.

After taking care of everything needed, Ginny went to the kitchen and started her second job; Cook. She knew the basics, pancakes, frying eggs, sauteed mushrooms, and could even risk making that tea that Harry liked so much. They had to be at her mother's house until ten, and it wasn't even nine yet, she had time.

The kitchen was neat and complete, with utensils she didn't even know what it were for, and like the rest of the house, it was a lot tidier than you'd expect where 3 guys lived. The windows were large and there was plenty of light, the carpets were - at least every time Ginny was there - in place and clean, and there were no socks thrown around the house. Even the plants Hermione bought for them were alive.

Harry always said that George was much more organized than he showed, and that Ron was the only one who ended up leaving things out of place - and she knew that Harry had a terrible cleaning habit thanks to his aunt, which explained the always clean house .

When the pancakes were almost ready and Ginny was pouring tea, she heard footsteps behind her.

‘’I thought you wouldn’t wake up anymore.’’ She said, without looking back, spilling the milk as she knew Harry liked it, waiting for the pancake to finish cooking.

‘’Being happy is tiring.’’ Harry murmured, his husky voice making her skin crawl. ‘’You didn’t need to do this.’’

‘’I wanted to,’’ She shrugged. ‘’And I was hungry.’’

‘’We could have dealt with that too.’’ Harry laughed softly, making Ginny bite her lip and laugh too. ‘’Merry Christmas.’’ He wrapped his arms around her waist, his head resting against her right shoulder.

‘’Merry Christmas.’’ She looked at him, almost knocked over by his cute beauty.

There were days when Harry or she ran away from their rooms and slept together, the nightmares were still quite present and each other's presence there was quite comforting. But something about not having to wake up almost five in the morning to get back to her own room before someone woke up, didn't let her enjoy his face when she woke up; all crumpled by the pillow, his hair even more wild, his eyes a little puffy and small.

Ginny wanted to squeeze his cheeks and kiss him.

‘’Do we still have time before we need to go to your mom’s house?’’ He was looking at her in a way that wasn’t as simple as it normally was. The green eyes were darkening and the pupils dilated, and his breathing seemed to be much faster than before.

Ginny didn't think she was getting any different, feeling the warmth of his bare chest on her back, her belly tightened and the hunger seemed to disappear suddenly, staring at Harry so close, both wearing less clothes than usual, the little sunlight illuminating his face and making him look even more handsome with slightly burnt cheeks of the Cold.

 ‘’We have plenty of time.’’ She spoke almost in a whisper, her body seeming to burn in a new and delicious way.

‘’Good.’’ Harry spoke before he kissed her. It was a kiss that also seemed new, much less delicate than all the others they had already given, even those given at times when the two were very connected and hot.

It was much more hungry, needy, and intimate than everyone else.

Things proceeded with a naturalness that Ginny did not expect. It was like a dance that they had done millions and millions of times together, synchronized with each step and never losing a beat or bumping into each other's feet. It seemed as right as saying that today was Christmas, that it was cold outside, and that she loved him with all her heart.

They danced together in the kitchen, Ginny leaning against the counter as the light came in more and more and the birds sang even louder. Then they went to Harry's room, their hands seeming to take on a life of their own during that short journey, exploring and longing for the moment that there were no more pieces of clothing to stop them.

‘’Are we doing this?’’ She asked, in a hushed voice from Harry’s kisses. His hands went up under her shirt, touching the skin on her belly and looking a little shaky when they touched the bra seam.

‘’Only if you want.’’ He murmured against the skin of her neck, looking a little anxious. ‘’You’re the boss’’ Harry looked at her, his glasses crooked on his face and the black strands being lit by the incoming sunlight, showing some reddish brown strands that Ginny had never noticed.

Her heart exploded, looking at the man on top of her who made her feel things that no one ever dreamed of making her feel. Harry didn't even make an effort to make her feel her body on fire.

Hermione was wrong, Ginny realized, it was about feelings, about giving in, about being comfortable with the other. This was not just science, it was about trusting and a lot of things she had no idea about, she just felt.

She felt the tightness in her thighs, her belly swirling in flames, her head becoming cloudy with any coherent thought beyond her imagination, working hard to remember the times she imagined it.

She imagined that when Michael pressed against her the first time and made her feel like he was feeling during the kiss; it was Harry over there. When Dean touched your breasts; it was Harry over there. When Harry touched her under her skirt in the middle of the Forbidden Forest, the two of them in complete darkness, she pressed against the tree and he moaned in her ear when he first felt her. It was always Harry.

On the nights when her imagination was simmering while reading a novel, during the year that he ran away so she wouldn't feel so alone, during the days after the war when they kissed at the lake, when she returned to Hogwarts and Harry was going visit her clandestinely.

It wasn't just science, friction and something biological.

‘’We’re doing this.’’

Then the dance - the one that Ginny already knew a few steps from - started to unfold naturally.

His shirt found the floor and Harry widened his eyes at her lingerie, stopping to kiss her to run his hand over the lace on her breasts and then dropping down to engage the lace on her hips, looking lost with the light blue fabric that left little for the imagination.

''Wow.'' Harry muttered, looking much more hungry than she remembered seeing him, and Ginny can't help but blush and want to hug her body as if to protect herself.

‘’Does it serve as a Christmas present?’’ She said, trying to sound as confident as possible, but feeling more embarrassed than when she sent the valentine card to Harry when she was 11.

‘’You don’t even have to try so hard, honestly.’’ Harry laughed, which made her laugh, relieved that there wasn’t a strange atmosphere around them. Fleur said that this could sometimes happen - ‘’It’s also important for most boys.’’

‘’Good, because you need to be careful with that, it’s the most beautiful thing in my entire wardrobe.’’ Ginny pointed at her body. ‘’You’ll see me using it more often.’’

‘’Oh.’’ Harry’s eyebrows almost hit the ceiling.‘’So will there be other moments? Ginny, please, we've barely started, don't put so much pressure on a man.’’ She tapped his arm, blushing like a little girl and laughing at his boldness to feel so confident when the two were about to have sex for the first time.

‘’Shut up, Harry.’’ She asked - or order - and kissed him, hands firm on the back of his neck so that it was impossible for him to get away from her again. Not that Harry looked like he wanted to run away, but it was just a worry that was in the back of her mind.

They didn't speak much after that. His mouth parted from her lips, but instead of speaking, Harry dedicated himself to kissing every bit of her, the sun illuminating his skin and hair, as he descended more and more, looking quite focused on not forgetting any details.

His hands also strolled over Ginny, soon reaching for her back and lifting her off the mattress so that he could properly open her bra, causing chills that she never thought to feel. It was different from the times he took her bra off just in moments of making out, it seemed much hotter now, almost feverish, even though it was cold outside.

Ginny's whole body seemed to be on fire, as if summer had come earlier and she was resting under the sun, feeling her skin warm and starting to get that usual red hue. But this time, it didn't burn and made her want to die because of the discomfort. No, this time Ginny was willing to burn. It was one of the best feelings.

Gradually Harry's hand went down her belly, his mouth going down to her now naked breasts, and everything working in a synchronized order that was delicious to feel. Her organs tightened when he finally reached below her navel, on top of the tissue that was starting to become too uncomfortable.

They had never been in that state of nudity, usually pants, a skirt, or even a T-shirt, were on the body, and even though Ginny was feeling insecure because they were so on display for Harry before, now she just wanted nothing more to be among them, that Harry's hand could actually touch her flesh, that he didn't wear anything else too.

‘’Harry.’’ Ginny spoke, the feeling of pleasure building with each second. He had really learned to use his mouth - not his teeth, as he used to do at the beginning.

She squeezed his hand with her own, lifting it up to put it inside her panties, which made him laugh; ‘’You’re in a hurry.’’

‘’Just… hurry up.’’

Harry fulfilled her wish, not only using his hand but also finally getting his face between Ginny's legs. Taking off her panties and looking at that synchronicity they had learned together that made her know heaven and hell in a short time.

It was a little devastating that Harry was so good, and that it made Ginny feel so good when he was there, making her more and more noisy and more and more anxious for reach the peak of the mountain where everything seemed too good, and nothing could stop her from just throwing herself up there, feeling the most powerful person in the world.

Harry groaned along with Ginny when she came, her hands caught in his hair, she was barely able to keep her eyes open as she arched and received a good deal of sunlight from the window behind her, that fireball that had formed in her belly seeming to explode.

It was almost painful, it felt so good.

The next few seconds were followed by a rush and anxiety that Ginny was unaware of. In one moment Harry was in the middle of her legs, in another, he was on top of her naked, moaning her name when her hand snaked over her abdomen and reached for his dick.

It was a perfect dance. Desperate. But still, Ginny enjoyed it.

‘’I want it to be good for you.’’ He murmured against her neck, groaning as Ginny tormented him a little.

‘’Harry, you’re already done.’’ She admitted, sincerely.

‘’I… I don’t know if I can take much.’’

''And I'm not really mad about it ...'' Ginny used her other hand to lift his face, to feel a little breathless at how dark his eyes were, his huge pupils looking like holes in the orbs green. ‘’We have all the time in the world. It's only the first time.’’ She shrugged, stopping masturbating so that it really made him concentrate. ''I love you.''

‘’I love you too.’’ Harry kissed her, in love and making her melt on top of the sheets, still getting used to the orgasm that had totally relaxed her. ‘’Please tell me if you want to stop or if hurt.’’ His voice came out a little hoarse, muffled by the fact that they were still kissing.

When Ginny first felt him there, it was unlike anything she had ever felt. It was strange, different, and kind of uncomfortable. But it was still good. Each time he went in it was as if her body expanded and prepared for the act. It was as if all of her had been waiting for years for that sensation that she couldn't describe what it was.

‘’No,’’ She grabbed Harry’s shoulder when he threatened to take it off, perhaps afraid that her contraction would mean something other than just that she was getting used to it. ‘’It's okay, put it back.’’

It was a dance that Harry and she seemed to be unable to dance to, but the music was not entirely unknown. They knew the melody, now they just had to align the steps.

Ginny waited patiently for the pain Fleur had said she could feel, just like Hermione commented, but all she felt was a slight discomfort - like that when you first get on a broom and don't know what to do with your hands and hands. feet - and then, nothing more, just that expansion that was almost good to feel.

When Harry finally found his pelvis with hers, the birdsong seemed to fill the room, along with the sounds they made as they settled. It was as if they understood what to do with their hands when it came to music, and now they could start waltzing without getting so lost.

‘’Everything okay?’’ He asked, his voice in a tone Ginny had never heard before, looking almost filled with pain and lust just as much.

''Yes. You?’’ They stared at each other, breathing what seemed to be all the air in the room. Or the world.

''Everything's good.''

‘’Are you… are you going to move?’’ Ginny didn’t want to rush him, but the melody seemed to start to speed up in her ears and her body was wishing they didn’t stand still as they were.

‘’Just… I just need a second.’’ Harry closed his eyes, hands steady beside Gin, supporting his weight and seeming to tremble slightly, as if it were too much for him. She was happy to know that it was also messing with him.

Ginny felt strangely good when Harry finally moved, it was still weird - very weird - but he seemed to be doing things for her that she wouldn't know how to explain, even if she thought hard (which she couldn't do). It seemed to mess with all of her inside, as if from one hour to the next, the music changed and took on a rhythm so different and new that you stand between paying attention to learn to sing the lyrics, and dancing awkwardly just following intuition.

It was as if all parts of it, the room, the world, moved out of place and were rearranged differently.

‘‘Sorry.’’ Harry startled her when his glasses fell on her face, his cheeks flushed and sweat was pricking his forehead, looking more focused than she had ever seen.

‘’Let it go.’’ She left his glasses anywhere else, her hands holding Harry’s face as if Ginny never really realized how committed he was to making it good. All focused and anxious, as if he was afraid he might hurt her. ‘’Babe,’’ Gin whispered, as if sharing a secret. ‘‘Let go.’’ She knew it would be difficult for Harry to hold on until they understood how to dance that song the right way. They took many attempts to learn how to use their mouth and hands, but, one hour they learned, at least Harry never complained and she never did.

They had all the time in the world.

The birds sang louder, just as the bed creaked when Harry moved again, kissing her and losing some of the balance he kept in his arms, seeming to finally free himself from the desire to reach perfection when they were just starting.

Harry said her name in a way that would torment Ginny for the rest of her life, she knew that, tightening the sheets even more at the side of her head and biting her bottom lip as it curled over her. The world seemed to stop spinning, the sky let all the stars fall, and everything inside her seemed to change.

She could never forget that.

That’s why they didn’t write it in the books, so there was no data, articles, and difficult names for that; it simply was. It just happened and changed the order of everything. There was no way to explain an event like that.

Harry moaning her name and losing all of his remaining strength, falling on top of her and looking almost shaky, grabbing her like she was the only thing that still kept him on Earth.

It was much more than Fleur, and especially Hermione, they could report.

Ginny wanted to cry, even though it was completely stupid and meaningless, she wanted to cry.

‘’I love you.’’ She said, the birds singing and the sunlight illuminating the two even more now.

Harry continued to hug her, also looking shaken.

‘’Sorry I didn’t make you come, I swear I tried and--’’

‘’--Harry,’’ Ginny interrupted, not knowing how he had the courage to apologize. ‘’Don’t say that. I liked it, I swear.’’ She assured him, feeling his body relax over hers. ‘’We still have a lot of time to learn.’’

‘‘We have.’’ He kissed her shoulder. '’Merry Christmas, Gin. You make me the happiest man in the world.’’

‘’Are you saying that because we just had sex?’’ Harry laughed, looking at her and smiling from ear to ear, even though he looked sleepy.

‘’I’m saying this because it’s the truth. You made me the happiest man in the world yesterday too, and we don't have sex... You always do.'' Ginny blushed, laughing softly and feeling that tightness in her stomach that she always felt when he said things like that to her.

‘’You also make me the happiest woman in the world, Harry.’’ She winked at him, kissing the tip of a finger and touching the tip of his nose. ''Merry Christmas.''

[wrenhyperfixates]

Opening Night

Pairing: Loki x reader Summary: When Loki scores the lead in a production of West Side Story, the two of you become fast friends. You help convince him to face his fears and invite the Avengers to see the show. Warnings: a bit of innuendo, fluffy, and extremely self-indulgent A/N: It isn’t necessary to know the plot of West Side Story to read this, but I still recommend you guys check it out. They made it into a movie that’s pretty much the same as the stage version. And if you’re interested in the songs I used in this, they’re here and here. Also, idk if this is common knowledge, but a stage manager is the person in charge of tech, set changes, and all that jazz. Theater has always been a huge part of my life, so I definitely wrote this with myself in mind but I hope you can all enjoy too!

Permanent Tag List: @lucywrites02​​ @frostedgiant​​ @lunarmoon8​​ @twhiddlestonsstuff​​ @lokistan​​ @lowkeyorlokificrecs​​ @gaitwae​​ @whatafuckingdumbass​​ @castiels-majestic-wings​​ @kozkaboi​​ @cozy-the-overlord​​ @birdgirl90​​ @myraiswack​​​ @mythicalgarlicknot​​ @what-a-flammable-heart​ @mlqcikemenmc​

Disclaimer: Picture not mine.

He looked so beautiful up there on that stage, you thought. He almost didn’t get the part either; Auggie, the director, had been worried that putting the God of Mischief in the lead role would be bad for business. You’d fought for him, though, and you’d been right; tickets were nearly sold out once people found out an Avenger was performing. Besides that, Loki was extremely talented, and you were certain no one else could have carried the role quite so well as he had been. It was a definite plus that he had become a very close friend, too. And you maybe, just maybe, had a tiny crush on him.

“It’s getting late,” you said once he finished singing, applauding as you walked out of the wings. Everyone else had already gone home, so it was just you and Loki. He’d wanted to stay and practice a bit more, and as stage manager, you had to stay to lock the place up. “Are you ready to head out?”

He looked out at the empty seats in the audience of the community theater. You wondered why he hadn’t tried out for off-Broadway, or even Broadway itself; he was certainly talented enough. Somehow, he didn’t see it. You could still remember the look of excitement on his face when you officially met him for the first time. How he’d told you he hadn’t been expecting the lead role. It hadn’t been what he’d tried out for, after all. You assured him that in this production of West Side Story, it was a clear choice who should play Tony. Him. Your friendship moved rapidly after that.

“I do not know, darling,” he replied. “Opening night is this week, and I want to make sure I am as good as I can be. If you would like to lock up and leave, I can just teleport home.”

“No. If you’re staying, I’m staying.” He smiled as you put your bag down and sat on one of the wooden blocks you’d painted weeks before. “Don’t you think you should give your voice a break, though?”

“Ah you forget darling, I have the stamina of a god,” he replied with a wink. You averted your eyes, hating where your mind went after that statement. “Besides, I have been resting it at home.”  

“Fine, but I swear if you lose your voice, I’m not helping you break the news to Auggie,” you giggled.

He chuckled, “Fair enough, darling.”

Convinced that he could handle it, you let him play the track and start singing. As he practiced his part from the Quintet, he walked over and knelt before you. You were certain the expression of complete adoration on his face was just good acting, but it still made your heart flutter. As the music crescendoed, he stood up and offered you his hand, taking you to center stage. He kept singing to you the whole time, his hand coming to caress your cheek as was dictated by his choreography. Again, you knew that’s all it was, but the butterflies in your stomach didn’t care.

As the song ended, he didn’t immediately move to turn off the music like he usually did. Instead, he stood where he was a minute more, one hand cupping your cheek, the other on your waist. A kiss most certainly wasn’t supposed to happen here, but you swore he started to lean in towards you. Afraid to break the spell, you didn’t say anything. When the next song started playing, he came out of whatever trance he was in and moved back, clearing his throat.

“Sorry,” he apologized, the faintest of blushes coloring his cheeks. “I just got lost in the song, I suppose.”

“Oh, uh, yeah,” you replied, rocking back and forth on your heels, disappointed. “It’s fine, I totally get it.”

After turning off all the lights, the two of you finally left, stopping for a coffee on the way home, as had become tradition. You laughed as he told you a story of his childhood on Asgard, animatedly waving his hand about. Waiting for a light at a crosswalk, your phone chimed, and you checked it.

“Shoot. I got to go, Loki,” you informed him. “The copy place finished with the playbills, and I should run to pick them up before it closes. I don’t wan’t to hold you up, though.”

“Nonsense,” he said, changing direction to walk back the way you’d came. “It would be my honor to accompany you.”

You made it just in time to pick up the box, which was heavy enough that you swallowed your pride and let Loki carry it. Since it was cheaper to just fold and staple the pages yourself, you had quite a bit of work ahead of you. Sure, you’d get the rest of the crew to help you tomorrow, but you wanted to get a jump start tonight. You told Loki as much when you’d started the trek back in the direction of your apartment, and his answer surprised you.

“Why not come to the Tower? I can help you put them together,” he offered.

“Oh,” you replied, the butterflies in your stomach returning. “I wouldn’t want to impose.”

“It would be no trouble to have you, darling. Really.” It was already dark out, making it hard to see, but you were pretty sure he was blushing again. “It is much closer than your home. Of course, there is no pressure to say yes.”

You shyly smiled at him. “Thank you, Loki. That’s very generous. I would love to come.”

The smile he gave you could have lit up the whole city, it was so bright. It was probably silly to be so happy that you could make his face light up like that, but you couldn’t help it. That was when you realized that your little crush had turned into something much, much more. You were falling in love with him. You were convinced it was unrequited though, so you wouldn’t say anything. You just hoped that you’d stay in touch once the show was done and rehearsals stopped.

Everyone knew of Avenger Tower, of course, but few had ever been inside. You marveled at the massive lobby as he led you to a private elevator that said “Avengers Only”. It made sense, you thought, that they should have their own if they lived here. And of course it was so high tech that it had to scan his eye to start working. He chuckled a little at the amazement on your face, thinking you looked absolutely adorable.

“Ok,” he whispered as you stepped out of the lift. “I am sure most of the team is asleep by now, so if we just slip past and-”

“Brother!” Thor boomed, cutting off Loki. “There you are! You’ve been gone all day- Oh. And who is this?” he asked, noticing you.

You introduced yourself, and Thor shook your hand with a firm grip. Even though you’d already known Loki for months now, you were still freaking out a little at meeting another Avenger. Really, how many civilians could say they knew not one, but two superheroes? You nearly lost it when Iron Man and Black Widow rounded the corner.

“Hey, Reindeer Games. You made a friend,” Mr. Stark said. Then he wiggled his eyebrows and added, “Or maybe something more.”

“Oh, shove off, Tony,” Nat said, flicking the side of his head. “You’re ridiculous.”

You introduced yourself to the newcomers, and they asked you to call them by their first names. The only other time you’d been this star struck was, unsurprisingly, when Loki had shown up at the audition. You looked over at Loki, who seemed rather uncomfortable. Though you wanted to chalk it up to him just being nervous his two worlds were colliding, you could tell there was something more to it. You worried for a second that he was embarrassed of you, but you didn’t really think it was that either, certain that notion was just your insecurity getting the better of you.

“Well, we should be going then,” Loki said, ready to retreat to his room.

“Oh, come on,” Tony replied. “That’s no fun. Why don’t you guys join us for a drink in the kitchen?”

You were tempted to say yes, but Loki shifted the box in his hands, reminding you of why you were there in the first place. Besides, if Loki wasn’t feeling up to it, you didn’t want to subject him to socializing. Not to mention an evening alone with him sounded absolutely magical.

“No, it’s fine,” you answered, and Loki sent you an appreciative smile. “We’ve got work to do, anyway.”

“Oh?” Thor questioned. “Does it happen to have something to do with the mystery box my brother is carrying?”

“Actually, yes,” you told him with a smile. “See, they’re playbills for-”

“For the show that they are a stage manager for,” Loki interjected, looking absolutely panicked. “That is all. No more questions needed.”

“Oh, that’s so exciting!” Nat smiled. “Are the tickets available yet? Can we come see it?”

“No, sorry, it is sold out,” Loki replied before you could, an expression of utter befuddlement on your face. “Maybe next time. Now, as we said, we have work to do. Alone.”

“Hey, it’s alright, Reindeer Games,” Tony said, winking, and ushered the others away. “I get what you’re saying. You two kids have fun now.”

Loki’s face was burning from embarrassment as he led you to his quarters. Your mouth dropped open at the sheer size of it. You guessed that after the lobby it shouldn’t have surprised you. Besides how vast it was, it somehow screamed Loki. The green furniture with black and gold accents. The numerous floor to ceiling bookshelves that didn’t have a single inch unoccupied. The carefully crafted decor, often featuring snakes subtly carved into it. And you were completely surrounded by his scent that you could never exactly figure out, but was very distinctly his.

You were brought back to reality by the light thud of the box on a table. As you walked toward him, Loki kept his eyes averted, focusing on taking the stacks of paper out. Standing beside him, you worked in silence for a few minutes until you couldn’t take it anymore, and finally had to ask what was on your mind.

“So, uh, what exactly was all that about?” you inquired.

“Oh, they are just very animated people,” he replied with a shrug. “And Stark is, well, Stark, so he has basically no filter. I am very sorry if they bothered you, darling.”

“That’s very sweet, Loki, but I didn’t mind it at all, actually,” you replied, folding the first playbill together. He snapped his fingers and a couple of staplers appeared on the table. “That’s not really what I was talking about, though.”

“Oh? Whatever did you mean then?”

“Please don’t play dumb,” you begged. The light clicks from the stapler filled the silence of the room as you waited for him to reply. When he didn’t say anything, you sighed. “I mean, why didn’t you say you had the lead in the show that these are for? In fact, why haven’t you told them about it already?”

He shrugged and made a noncommittal mumble, focusing on the repetitive task in hopes of distracting himself. You stopped working in favor of resting your hand atop his. It made Loki stop, too, and he finally looked you in the eye.

“Look,” you began. “You obviously don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to; I understand, and I’d never want to pressure you into something that would make you uncomfortable. But I know you bottle a lot of things up, and that’s not really healthy. So if you do want or need to talk... I don’t know, I guess I just want you to know that I’m here for you.”

Then you hugged him. The simple action seemed to startle him so much that you feared it was unwanted and you’d been too forward. But when he hugged you back, you could feel the gratitude in his embrace, easing your worries. It was like he was holding onto you for dear life. As if you you were a lifesaver, and he was adrift at sea. It was a tense sort of desperation leaving his body, you realized, as he sank against your touch. You gently rubbed his back as his head nuzzled into the crook of your neck. You’d always thought he might be touch starved, but now you could feel it in the way he practically molded his body against yours, obviously trying to make the most of the contact. You wondered if that may have something to do with why he kept West Side Story a secret. Maybe he’d been neglected too many times in his life, now thinking the things he does don’t matter to anyone.

“I suppose I am just scared, darling. Scared that they would not want to come, that they would make fun of me, that I would fail in front of them,” he sighed. “Perhaps it is silly. I am sorry.”

“Oh, Loki, there’s no need to apologize. I meant what I said, I’m here for you.” You didn’t think it was possible, but he held you even closer. “Everyone gets stage fright from time to time. And you’ve never even performed before. Whatever the reason, it’s still perfectly valid and understandable.”

“Thank you, darling,” he sniffled, and you realized he was crying.

Leading him over to the couch, you sat and continued to hold him. You whispered and cooed calming things in his ear. He tried to apologize for the tear stains marking your shirt, but you were having none of that. Everyone deserved a good crying session every once in a while, and you told him as much, encouraging him to let it out.

“Better?” you asked, wiping away the last few tears from his cheeks when he did finally calm down. There were some stray locks of hair sticking to his wet face, and you brushed them away, too.

“Mhm,” he nodded. He looked so fragile in this moment that you wished there was something more you could do to help him. “Thank you so much, darling. I think I needed that.”

You were worried that kissing the tip of his nose would be too intimate an action, but you couldn’t help yourself. You were very happy when he preened under the attention. “You’re very welcome, Loki.”

“I must ask, you are not going to tell them, are you? That I have the lead, I mean.”

“Well, no.” You ran your fingers through his hair as he sighed in relief. “But you should.”

“Do I have to?” he asked, giving you puppy dog eyes that made you chuckle a bit.

“I mean, it’s not required. I think you’d feel better if you did, though.”

“I suppose.”

“From what I can see, they love you, Loki,” you comforted him. “They’re your family, don’t you think?”

“How is it that you always know what to say?” he smiled up at you.

“I guess I’m just magic,” you laughed. He made to get up, but it seemed like it was a chore to tear himself away from you. You gently pulled him back down to you. “You don’t have to get up. You know, if you don’t want to.”

“I do not, but we hardly put any of the playbills together.” Even as he said that, he cuddled into your side. “I feel guilty taking up all our time.”

“Believe it or not, I’m perfectly happy to spend our time like this,” you reassured him, reaching for a blanket and covering your bodies with it. You’d been so concerned about Loki’s well-being that you hadn’t really contemplated the situation you were in. Now you couldn’t help but wonder if this snuggling was a normal thing for friends to do, or if it were a sign of something more. “I’d much rather help you through whatever’s on your mind than put together some playbills. There’s still plenty of time for that.”

“Thank you again, darling,” he hummed as both of you began to doze off, tired from a long day of run-throughs. As sleep claimed you, though you felt it must have been a dream, you swore you heard him whisper, “I love you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of the week leading up to opening night was so hectic, you barely even had a second to dwell on that night with Loki. It was probably better that way, for if you had thought too hard about that morning, waking up in each other's arms, you were certain your heart would burst from happiness. So, no, it was better that you were focusing on the show.

“Guess who, darling,” Loki whispered in your ear as you reviewed the script in the wings, making sure everything was set for top of show.

“Loki,” you smiled, spinning to face him and throwing your arm around his shoulders. One of his arms encircled your waste. When you stepped back, his other came around from behind his back to present you with a bouquet of flowers. “Thank you so much! I actually have something for you, too.”

You grabbed the arrangement that you’d bought and gave it to him. You nearly melted under his soft gaze as he expressed his thanks. His makeup was already done, accentuating his already striking beauty. A large part of you wanted to lean forward and kiss his plump, pink lips.

“I have some news,” he declared. “I have told my fellow Avengers about the show. Sort of.”

“Sort of?” you asked, cocking your head.

“Well, I left tickets and a note for them to come tonight.” He nervously shifted his weight. “They do not yet know that they will be watching me perform, though. It was too hard to tell them, so I figured why not show them?”

You beamed at him. “That’s wonderful! I’m so proud of you. You’re going to do amazing.”

There was a slight hesitation behind his eyes, as if he was contemplating something very carefully. “Darling, there is something I have to tell you.”

“Yes?”

Just as he opened his mouth to speak again, the director burst into the wings. “There you are, Loki. I’ve been looking all over for you. Mic checks in five,” he said.

“My apologies, Auggie,” he replied before turning to you and resting a hand on your arm. “We’ll talk later, ok? Have a good show.”

“Thanks. Break a leg,” you nodded as he left, agonized by not knowing what he was going to tell you. You noticed Auggie giving you a look. “What?”

“I swear, you two better kiss before this week is over,” he muttered, leaving the wings shaking his head.

The remainder of the day passed in a blur, and you could hardly believe that it was already time for the show. You’d peeked out before it started and noticed the Avengers sitting in the front row. Those tickets had been sold out for weeks, and you smiled, realizing that Loki had wanted to invite them all along. He just needed a little push to actually do it.

Before Loki walked out onto the stage, you gave his hand a little squeeze. Despite how nervous you knew he was, he gave his best performance yet. After his first song was done, you glanced out at the audience to see the Avengers already giving him a standing ovation. You could see in his eyes how taken aback he was. He waited around in the wings until your set change was done so you could share in his joy. He gave you a quick, tight hug, absolutely radiant.

The rest of the show went perfectly, and Loki stunned the audience every time he stepped on stage. You were beyond happy for him, especially when he received thundering applause during bows. He came and hugged you again as soon as you finished closing the curtain.

“Loki, you were amazing,” you told him.

“Thank you, darling. And your set changes were flawless,” he complimented you in return. “I cannot believe the first show is done already.”

The two of you talked for a minute more before he had to go change out of his costume. You looked out from the stage a little bit later to see the Avengers hugging him and giving him more flowers than you could count. Even from a distance, you could see happy tears welling in his eyes. It made you grin uncontrollably to see him happy like that.

Later that night, you’d told the rest of the cast and crew to go ahead to the diner to celebrate without you, that you’d catch up later. You wanted to stay behind and touch-up a set piece that some paint had slightly chipped off of. Suffice it to say, you were a little startled when a voice cut through what you had presumed to be an empty theater.

“Always you. Every thought I’ll ever know,” Loki began singing his part from Tonight, walking down the aisle towards the stage. “Everywhere I go, you’ll be. All the world is only you and me.”

You chuckled as he ascended the stairs and took your paintbrush from your hand, setting it down on the tarp. He skipped to his next part in the song and began twirling you around the stage. After hearing so many rehearsals, you knew the words by heart and joined in, singing the duet with him. When you reached the dialogue breaking up the song, you stopped dancing, both panting a little.

“Loki,” you laughed. “What are you still doing here? I thought you went to the diner with everyone else.”

“Yes, well, you were not going to be there yet, and I have not had the chance to tell you what I have wanted to all day.”

“Oh my goodness,” you gasped. “I nearly forgot about that in all the excitement of the day. But you have my full attention now. What’s up?”

“I love you,” he said plainly.

You weren’t convinced that this wasn’t a dream or a hallucination of some sorts. But no, he’d said it, clear as day. He loves you. Loki loves you. It was shocking, to say the least. Of course, it was completely welcome, though. In your surprise, you took long enough to formulate a response that his smile faltered a little. His worries were erased when you kissed him, however. The god responded immediately, kissing you back with just as much passion as you did him.

“I love you, too,” you told him just as simply as when he’d said it to you.

After finishing up in the theater, you exited the building. Once outside, Loki couldn’t resist kissing you again before meeting up with the rest of the company. And, being the fluffy sap he was, he absolutely had to tell you he loved you again, this time referencing the show.

“Te adoro,” he said.

You beamed at him again. “Te adoro, Loki.”

[ateezmakemeweep]

yeosang x reader; secret relationship au

word count: 9k

angst, fluff

request

as far as secret relationships went, you had never in a million years thought you'd partake in one. it always seemed as if the two people involved were doing something wrong, lying to the ones they loved and sneaking around for their own personal gain. but the moment you met yeosang, you quickly realized you would've done anything to keep him safe.

you hadn't known anything about the boy when you first saw him, just that he was incredibly handsome, caught your attention immediately and was really excited for his chicken dish. he was with seven other boys and seemed to be the calmer of the bunch, elbowing his tall friend with glasses when he got too loud or covering the dimpled mouth of another.

your eyes had lingered over one another the whole night, shy smiles and grazing hands as he took a plate from you or you refilled his glass of coke. you would always hear the boyish chuckles and teasing mumbles of "oooh" when you left, your cheeks flushing because it wasn't hard to miss that you guys seemed to like each other.

"anyone need refills or want to place an order for dessert?" you asked, quirking your eyebrow up as a polite smile stretches across your face. the eight boys stared at one another before looking back at you happily, a giggle leaving your mouth as you hand them a few dessert menus. "i'll be back in a few minutes to-"

"wait," you hear someone say when you turn around, looking back at a boy with dark hair; you'd picked up that he was incredibly bubbly, a contagious laugh that even had you giggling every time you walked away from their table.

"do you know who we are?"

your eyebrow raised at the question, pursing your lips to the side as you look over them. and you know you definitely don't, because you'd remember a group of men this overwhelmingly handsome.

"i don't think so," you say, shaking your head with a small, confused smile. "why? should i?"

"yes!" the dimpled boy says just as another flustered boy mumbles "guys, quiet!" he had worn a pained smile most of the night, trying his best to keep the peace while the smaller blonde just opted to pinch them.

"she doesn't know anything, it's fine," he says, waving his hand casually before turning back to you. "we're kpop idols. our group is called ateez." your mouth falls open and you're quick to nod your head, an excited smile on your face; you had never heard of them but you find it cool that they just waltzed into your place of work at nine o'clock on a sunday.

"and the one you wanna know is yeosang, vocalist and performer of ateez. he has a pure heart."

you see the blonde boy hide his face in embarrassment as the others laugh, biting down on your lip so you don't add on to his obvious discomfort. "and what are your names?" you ask, eyes meeting yeosang as they excitedly introduce themselves and bring the attention away from him. his gaze is soft and grateful looking at you, his cheeks still pink and causing your stomach to flutter; he is so cute.

"get his number!" your co-worker whispered to you when you went back into the kitchen to wait for their dessert.

"they just told me they're famous, why would he want my number? i'm just a measly waitress."

"i'm just a normal, average girl!" she mocks with a roll of her eyes. "shut your mouth and get his number! you've been eye-fucking each other all night!"

"we have not!" you squeal, hitting her arm roughly. she helps you bring out the eight plates of cake and only smirks at you the entire time, watching again as the boy's shy eyes trail over your smiling face; it's actually a little sick to witness.

"we have not," she mocks again under her breath as you two walk away from the table, pinching her arm lightly and causing her to snort.

but because you totally were eye-fucking, as she so eloquently put, after nearly thirty minutes of the boy hyping himself up with the help of seonghwa and yunho, he caught you after he went to the "bathroom," and apologized for his friends.

"i know they're a lot," he chuckles out awkwardly, "but they mean well."

"they're funny," you assure him with a smile. you can't get over how cute he is, seeing just how nervous and anxious he is to be talking to you alone. it almost seems impossible that someone could look like him but be nervous in the presence of anyone. "i'm not surprised you guys are famous."

another chuckle leaves his mouth as he shakes his head, bowing his head slightly in an effort to hide. it only makes you like him more, seeing how humble and down to earth he is.

"we're not that famous," he mumbles but you know when you google them in about twenty minutes, you'll see just how humble he's really being. because you think just being able to google them in the first place shows a certain level of fame.

"oh no?" you quip with an eyebrow raised. he bites down on his lip to hide his growing smile, shrugging his shoulders before finding it in himself to ask for your number.

"no," he says with a smile, "so maybe...i can get your number?" you can't help the big smile that makes its way on your face, never ever being one to accept a customers advances or phone number; but you know you'd be a fool to deny this one.

so just this one time, perhaps you can make an exception; because who are you to deny kang yeosang, vocalist and performer of ateez?

and thank god you made that exception. because almost a year later, you guys were still together. your relationship had been a whirlwind of texting and facetime calls, meticulously planned out dates and getting to know each and every chaotic member.

when he asked you to be his girlfriend three months after meeting, he had been very straightforward about it. saying that, while the company didn't have a dating ban like most, they weren't too keen on their idols dating. and there'd also be other things to worry about, like crazy fans and paparazzi but most of all:

"to keep you safe," he said hushly in your car. it had been after a quiet date at a movie theater and cafe a few towns away, your hands intertwined and bodies knocking as you walked down the street like any other young couple. "it could be kind of scary and overwhelming and if you got hurt, i would be so-"

"i'll be fine," you told him with a pout. "it's fine. i can handle it."

and for the most part, you'd had been. sure, it was hard for you guys to go weeks apart with sometimes little to no communication. but when you were able to see him, it only made your time together that much more special. you thought there'd be a lot more hiccups than there were, that you'd feel insecure or he'd be tired of spending any free moment he had with you; but that never seemed to happen.

your favorite times were hanging out at the dorm, watching a movie with him and the other boys as you cuddled into his side or ate take out with them on the messy dining room table.

"i think i could pull off being bald."

"you definitely couldn't."

"only if you shave your eyebrows."

"no one is shaving their eyebrows."

"hongjoong, can we please try being bald for our next comeback."

you, yeosang and yunho laugh into your bowls of noodles as hongjoong looks at the boys in annoyance, just one stern look and a shake of the head immediately making it clear no such thing would be happening.

but then the chaos is quickly turned into the form of stealing each other's food, light smacks and whines you're far too familiar with now.

"so your concert's next friday, right?" you chirp, wiggling happily next to yeosang. you'd only seen one other concert of the boys and you hadn't even been there, it was abroad and you couldn't afford the flight so you had to watch online.

but now they're back home and doing shows again, leaving you overwhelmed with excitement that you'll be able to see just how amazing they are live. you sometimes couldn't believe the difference of them on and off stage, knowing all of the long hours and hard work they put into their performances absolutely pays off.

"it is," yeosang says, his voice slightly tight. but it goes unnoticed by you, too excited thinking about what you're gonna wear and telling your friend you guys get to go. hongjoong's eyes are hard and his jaw is tight as he looks at yeosang before moving to yours, immediately deflating when you see how he's looking at you.

because while you got along with everyone, hongjoong was the one person who always gave you a tough time. he thought it was incredibly reckless what you guys were doing, not at all feeling comfortable about you and yeosang potentially putting them all in jeopardy.

you quickly realized his dislike for you, though, when you first visited the dorm.

"i'm five minutes away!" you typed excitedly to your boyfriend, walking down the block to the dorm. it was only your sixth time hanging out with yeosang since you guys had started dating four months ago and you were so excited to see him. you'd only been facetiming or talking on the phone at nights when he didn't pass out and while you loved your conversations with him, you just wanted his arms around you.

you stuck your phone back in your pocket when you rounded the corner, looking up at the familiar address before walking in the building. you made your way to their door and knocked, yeosang answering with his long blonde locks and sweet, almost shy smile; it took everything in you not to throw yourself into him right then and there.

and that's exactly what you would have done, had hongjoong not seen you walk in without a mask or hat on. you smiled and waved at the boy, expecting a hi or how are you but instead getting greeted with "is that how you came in?"

your eyebrows pulled together in confusion, looking down at yourself in fear you had holes in your pants or bird poop on your shirt. but you didn't see anything awry so when you look to yeosang, you see him watching the boy silently, his body language completely different from just a second ago.

"uh, yeah?" you say in confusion, an apprehensive smile on your face. "why, is there something-"

"where's your mask? or your hat?" he snaps, his eyes moving to yeosang. "and why didn't she wait for a staff member to get her like i told you?" your boyfriend doesn't answer though, your eyebrow furrowing because he didn't mention that.

but then your phone vibrates in your pocket and you see a message from two minutes ago, yeosang telling you to wait down for someone to get you.

"oh," you squeak out quietly. "i'm sorry, hongjoong. i put my phone away before i-"

"you can't just waltz in here, y/n, you guys said you would be careful."

you draw your body back at hongjoong's harshly spoken words. you always heard the boy's say he was scary but you never could've imagined how given his smaller stature and sweet face; but now, however, you see exactly what they're talking about.

yeosang pus his hand on your waist noticing your discomfort, squeezing you reassuringly before looking at his older friend. "it was the first time, hongjoong, she didn't know."

"well you guys should've talked about it before," he says, narrowing his eyes as he looks between you and yeosang. seonghwa walks over and greets you with a small smile, putting his hand on the boy's shoulder. "hongjoong," his deep voice says warningly.

but he can only roll his eyes, not shoving his friend's hand away but continuing his lecture. "no, seonghwa. they don't seem to understand how risky this is. we could all get in trouble for this nonsense."

"it isn't nonsense, she's my fucking girlfriend, hongjoong," yeosang snaps. you can tell how tense the room gets once the boy says something, feeling yourself swallow nervously at the escalating tension in the room.

"it is nonsense if it's something that ruins everything," the boy retorts, now shoving seonghwa's arm off of him and taking a step closer. you hold yeosang in place when he tries to move, your hand closing around his warm arm.

"i don't intend to ruin anything," you speak up, voice quiet but firm as you try to prove yourself to the group's leader. "i'll be careful next time, i'm sorry that i didn't-"

"it doesn't matter if you intend to ruin something or not, it could just happen," hongjoong says, the stress of the situation getting to him. "one wrong move and you'll be the one to blame for-"

"go in my room," yeosang mumbles in your ear, cutting hongjoong off before he pulls you behind him. you want to obey because the tension is so thick and you're feeling a pang of anxiousness and sadness in you, but you don't even know where his room is.

"san, can you bring her," yeosang asks, eyes not moving from hongjoong as the boy quickly rushes over and guides you down the hallway. the faint sounds of your apologies and san's assurances quickly gets drowned out when yeosang steps closer to his leader.

mingi and yunho watch huddled into one another on the couch, jongho ready to jump up and separate a brawl as wooyoung debates whipping out his phone to record.

"it was my fault, i should've told her from the beginning," yeosang admits before a dark, harder look is in his eyes. "but you won't talk to her like that again." hongjoong's eyes narrow at him, never once picturing yeosang would seriously talk down to him or challenge him; and it appears he's not taking well to this change in the moment.

"i'll talk to her how ever i see fit. if you two are gonna fuck everything up for us then i'm-"

"you won't if you're gonna make her feel bad," yeosang growls. "this was the first time hongjoong so lay the fuck off. we're not gonna get caught or do something stupid."

"she already did something stupid, she doesn't understand-"

"you don't understand that i just said we're gonna be careful," yeosang snaps, taking another step closer to hongjoong that causes the youngest to stand up. "so don't talk to her like again."

and before yeosang does something he regrets, like pushing the older boy or getting anymore heated, he turns away without another word while the four boys on the couch look at each other behind hongjoong's back.

"that was cute," mingi whispers, yunho smirking as he nudges his friend's arm.

"cute?" wooyoung whisper yells "that was fucking cool, i never thought i'd see him-"

seonghwa's neck snaps back to shake his head at the boys, leading hongjoong into the kitchen as the door to yeosang's room closes. san pads out a few seconds later, looking into the kitchen before at the other boys.

"was she okay?" yunho asks. san can only nod, plopping back down on the couch. "yeah, she's okay."

but that was kind of lie. because the second you were away, you felt tears prick your eyes. you hadn't meant to cause problems or upset hongjoong, you didn't even think to wear some sort of disguise. your brain doesn't think like that, you would never assume someone would take a photo of you or be curious about who you were.

you would hate to be the reason why members got in trouble or were fighting and you mostly certainly won't be the reason all their hard work gets jeopardized. the door opens and san pats your shoulder reassuringly, his soft words and dimply smile calming you every so slightly.

but then yeosang comes in and you feel your composure crack, watching him close the door just a little too loudly.

"yeosang, i'm sorry. i put my phone in my pocket and didn't-"

he's over to you in a second, sitting down on his bed and wrapping his arm around your shoulder. you melt into him and he places a kiss on her head, rubbing your back up and down as his stomach sinks at the tears he saw in your eyes.

"i'm sorry he's such a dick," yeosang grumbles and you feel yourself frown at that; you'd only ever heard him praise hongjoong, say how he's the best leader they could have and always makes sure they're treated fairly.

"he's not, he was right," you say, watching yeosang pull away and look into your watery eyes. "that was stupid. it just didn't occur to me and now i feel bad that i-"

"nothing happened," he says, taking your face in hands gently. "we're getting used to it, baby. it's a weird and new situation but we're gonna be okay."

you don't even realize there's a slight pout on your face until yeosang bend down to kiss your lips. you kiss him back immediately and he hums against your mouth, gently stroking your face with this thumbs as you do so. and then one thing leads to another, his kiss trailing down your cheeks, down to your stomach before he slips off your pants.

you moan into the crook of your arm before he forces you on top of him, lowly spoken praises of you being his good girl and riding him so well until you both come undone.

your head rests on his chest as your heart rates slow, his fingers playing with the ends of your hair as you trace shapes on his skin. "are we really gonna be okay?"

he looks down at your mumbled words, hearing how your voice sounds apprehensive and unsure. his hand moves to your hair, moving the slightly sweaty strands away so he can see your soft, shy gaze.

"of course, baby. why are you asking that?"

"because...it's stressful. and kind of scary. we could ruin not only what you worked so hard for but all the other boys too." you feel him still at your words and you immediately shake your head, in fear that he might be thinking you don't wanna do this.

"i knew that going into this but i'm just...if we have to break up, i don't think i would blame-"

"we won't have to break up," he assures you. his voice is always deep and gruff but much so more after...your time in bed, his lowly spoken words in your ear almost always the reason for another round. but you can't even think about that right now, wanting nothing more to just lay here with him as his fingers stroke your hair.

"how can you be so sure?" you ask him, your chin on his chest as you look at him. he smiles at the soft look in them, grateful to see they're not longer watery with unshed tears.

"because i love you and i won't allow us to break up over something like that. we'll always figure it out, okay?"

and you'll always remember how happy you were that night, the pink blush on your cheeks present until you went home the next morning. he had calmed any and all anxieties you had after hongjoong's scolding and you thought that no matter what happened, you'd be able to endure it.

"i'm... still able to go, right?" you ask quietly, eyes moving from hongjoong to yeosang. he's looking at you with a sad expression, barely able to take seeing the way the light leaves your eyes.

"we'll talk about it later, okay?" he says lowly, throwing hongjoong a dirty look before you nod and move your eyes to the table; this was gonna be a lot harder than he thought.

because just three days ago, the company called them in for a meeting and confessed that they knew about you. about how he was not so discreetly sneaking you into the dorm and has been going out on public dates for months. and they basically gave him two options: end things now or reconsider his goals and see if he still wants to be an idol.

"why can't i have both?" he had asked, shaking his head in bewilderment. he was so mad, he had never felt rage the way he did in that crowded office. "just because i'm with her doesn't mean i'm any less dedicated."

because he hadn't slacked off or missed one practice. he had been doing everything the same and that's how he knew the company had to have found out by something or someone else.

but then they said the same things hongjoong had said months ago, that a public relationship is the last thing an up and coming group needs, that he can't be splitting his time between you and them: he needs to give them 100%.

"so you're basically forcing me to break up with her?" he snapped. it was so out of character and everyone knew it, knowing yeosang as the boy with a shy cute smile despite the way he could lay into the members.

"we're telling you to do what you think is right, for you and everyone else."

he had ended up breaking down the next night, not being able to focus in practice or get down any food, and then the second he crawled into bed and smelt your perfume from a few nights before, he was done.

he didn't wanna break up with you. he loved you more than he thought he could ever love anyone and he doesn't wanna leave you. but he also worked so hard to get here and wouldn't fuck over his members; that's something they all said in the beginning they would never do.

so after much debating and crying on wooyoung's shoulder, he came to his decision.

"so what did we have to talk about?" you ask quietly. you two had snuck into his room a few minutes into the movie the boy's put on, all of them laying on one another like a tired litter of puppies.

"a few things," he hums lowly, the way his stomach is twisting in devastation and anxiety too much for him to handle. he's felt tears pricking his eyes all night, watching you smile at him or throw your head back in laughter and thinking this is this last time he might be able to see this.

you hear the slight shake in his voice and feel your heart sink to your stomach, thinking the worst he's about to tell you is you can't go to their concert. and while you were excited, you guess you understand. it's risky to begin with and if there's a chance anyone recognizes you-

"they found out."

your eyes widen when you hear those words fall from his lips but even more when you see him look up at you with tears in his eyes.

"what? h-how?"

"i don't know," he says lowly, walking over to you and guiding you to his bed. you both sit on the mattress, his body leant against the headboard as you sit in between his legs pretzel style. "but they...told me some things."

you turn your head to the side at his cryptic words, looking just as scared and upset as him. but he said you guys would never break up, that he loved you and you guys would make this work so there's no way that's what this is about...right?

he takes your silence as a sign to speak again, a deep shaky inhale before he lets out a sigh.

"we have to break up."

the moment the words leave his mouth you feel your stomach drop. the tears that were building throughout the last hour of waiting and tension and fear watering your eyes. why? why did it matter if you guys were together? you'd almost been together a whole year and nothing bad has happened.

"did...they say that?" you ask quietly, not being able to keep the tremor from your voice. "or is that what you what want?"

his head snaps up at your words and you've never seen him look so angrily at you before. his eyes are watery and narrowed and staring right into your soul. "what?"

you press your lips into a tight line so you let out a sob, shaking your head as move backward. "i don't know, we haven't done anything bad so why would the company-"

"because they think i'm not giving them 100%," yeosang tells you, hating the way you look so small and defeated. "and they told me to think about the guys. i have other people to think about and i still don't really know what to do, y/n."

"but you know we're gonna have to break up," you say quietly, wiping at the tear falling down your face. "that's what you wanna do."

his jaw clenches at the way you're making it sound, abruptly getting up from the bed and walking to the other side of the room. even with your head down and tears in your eyes, you see his fists are balled while his veins pop out of his arms.

"you know that's not what i want, y/n," you hear him say lowly. you look up at him and see him leaned against wooyoung's bed, his arms crossed as he looks over your small, broken figure.

"then why are you doing this?" you cry. you don't mean for it to sound accusatory or blaming but that's how you feel right now. you haven't even fully grasped what he said but you already feel how much your heart and stomach are hurting.

why would he have said that then, all those months ago? why would he get your hopes up and make it seem like he would've done anything to not end things because other people said so?

"you said we would figure out," you remind him. "why would you tell me that if you didn't plan on keeping your promise?"

he's biting his lip hard enough to draw blood and pops his neck to the side, his heart breaking at how wrong this feels, at how sad you look and how at one time he had truly believed that. and for both you, the anger is coming first.

"that's not fucking fair, y/n," he growls and your head snaps up at his tone. "you don't know how hard it was for me to come to this decision."

"as hard as it for me to accept us breaking up even though we're fine?" you say, your voice raiser as your eyebrow quirks up. "we've been careful and i've never impacted your schedule. i'm smart now and always wear a mask and hat, i won't talk to you for hours when i know you're practicing, i don't even get to go to your shows, yeosang."

"you knew that going into this, y/n, i told you a hundred times."

"you also said you loved me and that we'd figure this out."

"i fucking tried, okay," he snaps and the crack in his voice sends a fresh batch of tears right to your eyes. "i cried to them and asked them why i couldn't have both? that we never got caught or were always careful but they just kept saying how a public relationship, or any relationship at all, isn't good for an up and coming group. that i have to think about seven other people."

and once you hear all that, you know in a few days you'll see he made the right choice. but it doesn't stop you from hurting right now, burying your face in your hands as you allow yourself to cry. you hear his footsteps coming toward you and shake your head, knowing that if he hugs you, you're really gonna lose it.

"i tried, baby, i really did," he mumbles, crouched down as his hands rest on your legs. you can only look at him sadly, sniffling as you wipe at your wet face.

"but what if we just-"

and if your sob hadn't cut you off, yeosang pulling you into a hug would have. guiding you off the bed and into his arms where you buried your in head in his chest for one last time. that's all you both you were able to think, that it'd be last time he'd kiss your head or touch your hair.

you'd never be able to wrap your arms around him and surround yourself in the scent you've grown to love. what's served to calm you down no matter what was going on.

"please stop crying," yeosang says into your hair, even though the boy has tears of his own streaming down his face. but you don't stop and neither does he, not until your feet ache and you move to his bed. you two lay in a sad silence, your head on his chest and his arm around you as two wallow in how horrible this situation is.  

you can barely look at him or the boys when you say goodbye, your hands intertwined as he walked you to the door hours later and you left with a small wave. no one missed the way your face was red and tear stained or the way yeosang looked like he was about to completely break down.

which is exactly what happened.

he closed the door and sat himself on the floor, hid his face in his arms as he bent his knees and tried to ignore the way his chest felt empty. it made it worse knowing you had probably started crying again too and that he can't go out and help you. can't take back what he said and pretend you two are just a normal couple who love each other.

because that's the worst part, he loves you and you love him and yet you can't be together.

the boys scattered around the living room don't know what to do, their own stomachs in knots because they knew how hard that was gonna be for him. how you couldn't even look at them as you left and how yeosang's now crying right on the floor.

san is the first to go over, bending down and taking the boy in a hug. and yeosang tries to push him away at first, embarrassed and angry and hating that this is the situation he's in right now. but then san shushes him, tightening his hold on the boy and welcoming the tears that seep into his t-shirt.

"i'm sorry, yeosang," san says quietly. because while he knows it's not their fault exactly, it still sucks that this is what they have to give up. all of them have to give up the chance for a normal life, with a normal dating life and normal stable relationships with everyone but each other.

"i love her," he hears the boy mumble into his shirt and san can't help the way tears burn his eyes. he only mumbles "i know," as he comforts the boy looking at hongjoong who's watching the whole thing unfold silently. and it's at that moment yeosang picks his head up and sees hongjoong looking at him, jumping up as he directs all of his rage and heartbreak at the boy.

"yeosang, i know that was-"

"did you tell them?"

hongjoong raises his eyebrow at the boy whose face is wet and red as he stares daggers into him.

no."

"you're a fucking liar," yeosang growls, pushing the boy backwards and causing the rest of the group to get up. "you hated us being together the second we started dating."

"you think i want you sitting here crying?" hongjoong growls back, his own eyes narrowed as he looks his friend. "i wouldn't have sold you out, yeosang, but you had to know this was gonna happen eventually."

"you didn't even try to help me," yeosang says, his voice deep but wobbling like a heartbroken child. "why did you say anything? you could've tried to help convince them that-"

"there's a reason most of us don't date, it's just too much," hongjoong says, sympathetically but firmly. "and if fans or other people find out, it causes problems yeosang."

"fuck those other people! i love her and she makes me happy."

you could hear a pin drop in the room after that because there's nothing hongjoong could say. he watched yeosang month after month fall more for you, seeing how much more the boy smiled and laughed and was practically glued to his phone.

but never at practice. never at shows. he knew the right things to do and always waited to talk to you or see you when they had breaks; but still, there was too much at risk. he had to keep everyone in mind, their image and success the most important thing for them right now.

"fuck this," yeosang growls, shaking his head as he's desperate to crawl under the covers and just forget about tonight. "you can tell them it's over now." hongjoong calls the boy's name as he shoulder checks him, his footsteps stomping down the hall until the sound of his door slamming shut echoes through the dorm.

"y/n it's been a month, can you please smile again?"

you stare blankly at your co-worker, spraying a dollop of whipped cream on a piece of cake before pulling your lips up in an exaggerated smile. "chocolate cake, coming right up!"

she lets out an annoyed huff, frowning at you before walking out of the kitchen. your smile drops and you lean your head on your hand, letting out a tiny sigh because you really have been miserable these past few weeks.

all the boys apart from yeosang and hongjoong had reached out to you, saying that they were sorry and hope to see you sometime soon. you could only bear to answer with a heart emoji, the reminders of him through them already too much.

you guys hadn't spoke since that night, almost cracking so many times when the tears wouldn't stop and you just wanted him. you hated not waking up to a text or picture from him, you hated not falling asleep on facetime and how dull your life seemed now.

when you guys were together, it had seemed as if a month could fly by because of how frequently you talked; but now it seems like it's been years and you're forgetting everything about him. the way he smelt and the way his arms felt around you and the deep chuckle that always made you giggle no matter what.

"my boyfriend's gonna pick me up later " your co-worker says when she enters back in the swinging doors. "should we stay for drinks?"

"absolutely," you respond immediately, the girl letting out a soft giggle as she shakes her head.

and when the restaurant closed two hours later, you three were sat at the bar downing drink after drink. it was your first time meeting him so they told you about they met and what their first date was like. you couldn't help but compare it to you and yeosang, wondering if you were able to date and live freely how much different your times would've been together.

but you're quickly learning that if there's one thing worse than being sad, it's being drunk and sad. because one minute you're laughing at their story and the next, you have angry tears in your eyes.

"why can't me and yeosang be together too?" you blurt out, words slurred and louder than usual. "why wouldn't they want their artists to be happy?"

"it was probably just for your safety, y/n," your friend tried to say, her arm around your shoulder as she looks at her boyfriend with pity. she knew the second you walked into work a month ago that you weren't right. your face was pale and puffy and there was a sad, brokenness in your eyes that she knew could've only been caused by one thing.

"that's such bullshit," you whine, "they kept saying we were go-gonna get caught. but we never did. we were careful and he never missed practice and why did they make him-

"y/n," she says softly, pulling you into a hug that you melt into. this was the breakdown she'd be waiting for, rubbing your back gently as you cry and hiccup into her shoulder. she hears your broken mumbles of "this isn't fair" and "i love him," against her shirt and she feels her heart break for you.

because you're right. it isn't fair and you do love each other. but she doesn't think saying anything will make you calm down or feel better so she lets you get your tears out, rubs your back and hums against you until all of your drunken blubbering stops.

and then as if crying your eyes out wasn't enough, you feel a churning in your stomach that immediately causes you to jump up and flee to the bathroom. you feel hands collecting your hair a few moments later, the defeat that comes with puking in a public bathroom weighing on you when you lean your head against the wall.

"i'm a fucking mess."

"you're a fucking mess."

yeosang looks up at seonghwa from the couch, the boy breathing and sweating heavily from the late night practice they had. all of them have seen how these past few weeks, yeosang's been a shell of a person. he dances and sings and smiles like a robot programmed to do so but there was no life behind it. there was no light in his eyes or smile, just an incredibly defeated man trying to go on with his life.

and it's not so hard to know why.

"what do you mean?" yeosang grumbles, throwing his arm over his sweaty forehead.

"you messed up the dance three times and you look like you're about to pass out." but the boy only closes his eyes, hiding himself further into the couch while grumbling at him to leave him alone. this has been what seonghwa in particular has been dealing with ever since the breakup, his friend's obvious anger and distress but him not fully coming forward about his feelings.

"you can't keep doing this, yeosang. it's been a month."

and even though his friend means well, speaking lowly and trying to comfort him, yeosang can't stand to hear it.

"you don't get it, seonghwa."

"then help me get it. you've barely talked to us."

yeosang's eyes pop open and his head snaps over at the boy, sitting up from the couch as anger and irritation flood through him. "because what does it matter?" he snaps, "it's over and done with. i ended it."

"but you're still upset."

"no shit i'm upset," he says, jumping to his feet to continue his rant. "i didn't wanna break up with her in the first place and you all knew that. but it didn’t fucking matter.”

"they were thinking about all of us, yeosang."

"and what? you guys think i don’t give a shit about you?" yeosang snarls, "i was being careful for everyone. for you guys and her, we didn't want anybody getting hurt."

yeosang feels tears prick his eyes because this is the most he's talked about it aloud since it happened. he almost texted or called you a thousand times but knew if he did, that he'd beg and plead for you to give him another chance. to prove he'll now do anything to stay with you.

"we just wanted to be together," he says, his voice considerably lower and full of emotion. seonghwa feels his heart tug at the boy's words, a frown on his face as he tries to make his way over to the younger boy. "but nobody seemed to care about that."

"we do care, yeosang, we all hate seeing you like this," he says quietly. "and i'm sorry you can't be with her but you knew that's what was gonna happen when we-

"enough."

it's the voice of hongjoong that makes yeosang's skin prickle. the tension between the boys has been so obvious and it's been the most awkward time for all of them. because they have to fake it at shows and on lives and interviews, smile at each other and laugh and pretend everything is okay.

but yeosang is convinced hongjoong had something to do with it and hongjoong is sick of yeosang moping around and accusing him of things he didn't do.

"hongjoong, we were just-” seonghwa begins to say but hongjoong is quick to cut him off.

"i don't care, we're leaving. let's go."

seonghwa looks between the two boys with a sigh, taking his bag from the couch and meeting hongjoong at the door. but both of them turn around and see yeosang standing in the middle of the room still, his head trained down in front of the mirrors.

"are you coming?" hongjoong asks shortly.

"no," yeosang snaps. "i kept messing up. i'm gonna stay and practice more."

"but you need to rest, too, that's not-"

"let him," hongjoong says, meeting the boy's gaze in the mirror before leaving the room without another word. seonghwa looks at him before letting out another sigh, reminding his friend to drink water before following behind hongjoong.

but yeosang only stays in the room for a few minutes, going over the new choreography twice before making his way outside into the cool night air. the streets are fairly empty and he finds himself walking aimlessly, his mind and brain off like his feet are just leading the way instinctually.

and then his heart nearly falls into his stomach when he hears a male voice call your name, his eyes snapping to see a man catching your stumbling figure by the arm. 

and maybe it's because he can tell you're drunk or because he hasn't seen you or because seeing you with someone else has sent something extremely possessive off in him. but he doesn't even realize he's stomped over and shoved the guy away from you until he pulls your body protectively behind him.

"what the fuck are you doing?"

the man can only look at him in complete shock, his eyes wide and looking between you two before a familiar feminine voice pierces yeosang's ears.

"what are you doing! i told you to help-" her words die when she sees the situation, yeosang looking about ready to kick the other man’s ass while guarding you behind him. her lips quirk to the side as she raises an eyebrow, looking between the two boys before her eyes land on you.

where you look about ready to burst into tears. you grab yeosang by the back of his shirt to spin him around, like you're trying to figure out if he's really in front of you or you're just having some drunken, extremely vivid memory of him before your very eyes.

but when you see it's him, your eyes flood with tears and he immediately feels his heart drop. he can't help the way he smiles softly at you, bringing his hand to your face to wipe at the wetness trickling down your cheek.

"hey, baby."

the next morning, you wake up and nearly scream when you feel someone's arms wrapped around your stomach. your head’s pounding and your mouth is so disgustingly dry but it's nothing compared to the terror you feel at the prospect that a complete stranger is-

"you up?"

that deep morning voice is one you've missed so much, feeling your eyes widen and heart quicken when you turn around. and then you're met with the sight of yeosang laying right beside you, his long waves sprawled out on the pillow as he smiles so softly at you, you immediately feel your heart lift.

memories of last night immediately flood back, him taking you back to your house and sitting you down on your bed. tucking you in and wiping off your makeup before you outstretched your head and asked him if he could stay. giggling when his smile lit up his face and he tackled you in a hug before peppering kisses over your face and neck.

"yeah," you smile at him. "but my head really hurts." he frowns upon hearing that, even though he absolutely knew you were gonna be hungover today. he pats his chest and you place your head there immediately, cuddling into him and sighing contently against his chest. he wraps his arm around you and immediately brings his hand to your temple, massaging gently as he kisses the side of your head.

"i missed you," you mumble against his chest. and you almost forgot that you guys weren't separated because of his schedule. that you guys were supposed to be broken up and forbidden from seeing each other.

but everything still feels just like before. warm and happy and perfect, like you two are meant to be together despite everything and everyone saying you can't be.

"you don't even know how miserable i've been," yeosang mumbles against your head. you pout at that, stretching your head up to place a peck on his cheek.

"i think i have a good idea," you say, your tone laced with amusement. "i cried and drank until i puked last night." the deep chuckle that leaves his mouth causes a smile to light up your face, watching him scrunch his nose playfully as he looks down at you.

"i can tell," he says, his finger bouncing off your slightly chapped lips. you let out a horrified gasp and try to roll away from him but he's quick to catch you around the waist, tightening his arms around your waist before burying his face in your neck.

"no," he whines, his words tickling the back of your neck and causing you to giggle. you lay against him and immediately still in his hold, closing your eyes because you know this moment isn't gonna last forever; it'd been a miracle in the first place he stayed over last night.

so for what feels like hours, you two just lay there. his arms around you and your leg thrown around him, his light kisses pecking your face and you poking at his sides until you're the one to address the elephant in the room.

"what are we gonna do?"

because it's obvious to the both of you in this moment you can't go on the way you were. he's not gonna walk out of here without a plan to stay together and you're not ever gonna smile again if you both don't just try.

"i don't know...but we'll think of something, okay?" he hums against your head. he reaches out and caresses your cheek gently, his heart softening when you lean into his touch. "i'm sorry i had to do that."

but you shake your head immediately, taking his hand off your face and intertwining your fingers. because even through your heartbreak and anger, you had considered that maybe he was making the right decision. that if he had to choose between doing what he loved and you, you were supportive of that decision.

you know how hard he's worked and how much he loves it, the music and the fans and the experience with his seven friends. you also couldn't help but think what if, somewhere down the road, he resented you. blamed you for his dream being tarnished and things coming to an abrupt end.

"i get why you did," you say softly. "and if you think that's the right thing, then maybe we can just stay frie-”

no," he says firmly and your lips fall into a frown. "you didn't even hear what i was gonna say."

"if it's gonna be some bullshit about staying friends so i don't resent you, then save it," he says, bringing his face down to yours and placing a kiss on your lips. "because that would never happen. we're gonna be fine, baby, you’re not going anywhere.”

you can't help the way your lips fall into a pout, pressing your lips to his again and smiling against them when he kisses back. "i could also never do this if i was your friend," he mumbles against your mouth, his lips trailing further down your neck as giggles and shrieks leave your mouth.

but he's not ignorant of the way his phone has been vibrating all morning, terrified for the repercussions he's gonna get from hongjoong and the other members. but they also can't say anything, today was their free day and he wasn't missing any obligations.

"it's not about that, you fucking asshole," hongjoong growls when yeosang's standing in front of him later that day. "you never came home and we didn't know where you were. we were scared out of your minds."

"i was with y/n," he mumbles quietly and wooyoung's quick to say he told them so, a cocky large smile on his face. but hongjoong doesn't even care or reprimand the boy, stepping forward and pushing yeosang back roughly.

"don't pull that shit again, do you hear me?"

and yeosang has learned to pick his battles with the boy in front of him; because while he's tiny and sweet, there's a power and ferocity behind his eyes sometimes that would scare the shit out of anyone.

"yes," he says lowly. "i'm sorry. i meant to text someone and just...forgot." forgot because he finally had you again and didn't wanna waste a second of it.

"little asshole," hongjoong mumbles and the boys, sensing the lessening tensions, all run over and cling to yeosang. they tell them how worried they were and how sorry they are that they didn't fight for you two, that they made him feel like they didn't care and watched him wallow in misery for the longest month of their lives.

"don't be sorry, i was kind of a dick too," yeosang says honestly. "it even felt selfish but i just so badly want to be with-"

"it's not selfish," hongjoong's quick to defend. "you deserve to be with someone you love." wooyoung and yunho squeal at their leader's sweet words, cuddled into one another like two little girls watching their first ever romantic drama.

"idiots," hongjoong mumbles though the smirk pulling at his lips shows his amusement. "so are you guys back together?" yeosang purses his lips to the side, roaming the boy's eyes that are looking down at him with no judgement. they're clear and curious and waiting, like he's been concocting a plan of his own for the past month.

and when yeosang mumbles the softest "yeah," hongjoong's quick to nod his head approvingly.

"good," is all he says. and he almost laughs at the bewildered look his friend throws him, his eyes wide and brows raised as he stares at him.

"good?"

"yeah," he smirks, "good." because he didn't wrack his brain for a full month, in between making songs and practicing and shooting videos, just for his speech for the company to go to waste.

but it definitely doesn't. because within the next three days, hongjoong knocks on the door to yeosang's room and smiles at the boy texting on his phone. 

"hey," he says softly, going over to plop down on the boy's bed.

"hey, where were you?"

yeosang almost doesn't believe his ears when he hears hongjoong's words. that he went to talk to the company and promised them you two would be careful, that he personally would take any blame for the problems and that you and him shouldn't be punished for wanting to be together.

"i told them it wasn't worth it losing you over," hongjoong says and the younger boy's eyebrows pull together immediately.

"i never would've left," yeosang is quick to say. because he wouldn't, he loved you and them and was gonna be adamant about finding a way to keep both this time.

but hongjoong can only smirk at the boy, ruffling the boy's long hair as he gives him a knowing look. "well i knew that but they didn't. it seemed to do the trick."

a bright smile lights up yeosang's face as his heart quickens in excitement, the leader in front of him proving once again he's always gonna have their best interests at heart.

"thank you," yeosang says, choked up with emotion that has hongjoong shaking his head.

"i did this so i never have to see you cry again you pussy," he says with a smirk, chuckling when yeosang punches him in the arm. "now call y/n over, we're off today."

and that last thing you expected today was to get a call from yeosang telling you to come over. because you knew he was gonna try to find a way and you believed him but you didn't expect to be greeted the way that you were.

a group of towering, excited boys running over to you and tackling you into a group hug. there softly spoken apologies and whining pleads to forgive them. yeosang eventually pried them all off of you, taking you into his arms and pressing a kiss to your cheek. you meet hongjoong's gaze and immediately stiffen, curling yourself into yeosang's hold in fear that the boy was about to go off on you the way he always did.

but then he only smiles and waves at you, his softly spoken "happy you're back, y/n," causing your eyes to widen. 

you look at yeosang in confusion and he only shakes his head, placing another kiss on your head before the boys drag you over to the couch. you spend the rest of the rainy day laid out on yeosang's chest, giggling at just how scared mingi and san are watching these cheesy movies and the absurd amount of food you guys had ordered today.

yeosang watches you giggle with a soft fondness in his eyes, pressing a kiss to your cheek until he can't take it anymore and brings you into his room.

you fall asleep that night with his arms around your waist, his quiet mumbles of "i love you," the last thing you hear. it's the best sleep you both had gotten in over a month, wrapped in each other's arms with small smiles on your face.

you wake up in a similar fashion, his hand running through your hair until his deep morning voice mumbles "hey, baby," causes your eyes to pop open. and at first you think this is just a dream, that your sad heartbroken brain is just hearing his voice in your head and about to make you even more sad today.

he sees the confusion in your eyes, like you're trying to figure out if this is real or just another sad dream like the ones he had when you guys were apart. so his hands move to cup your cheeks and he's smirks down at you, his thumb rubbing smoothly over your cheeks. "i'm here, pretty girl," he mumbles softly despite the amusement in his tone. "did you forget?"

and then you know that this has to be real. 

because your own brain would've never thought to call you pretty after just waking up, your hair a mess and cheeks red with the possibility of dried drool on your mouth. it's what brings a smile to your face, lighting it up before you tighten your arms around him and hide your face into his chest with a quiet hum of contentment.

he chuckles against your head, allowing his lips to linger as he tightens his hold around you and promises to never leave you again.

[lovelivingmydreams]

A might have been part 4

Alright! Final part for now! @kingcreativityau au part 4. Please enjoy! More might come later!

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Acting and singing became a wonderful additional coping tool for Thomas all throughout his school career and even after College. Which was when Thomas tried to get a grip on his personality for the first time and actually connected with them. Everyone was very excited and nervous. But Patton gladly took charge. They didn’t tell Thomas their names, Deceit said he wasn’t ready for them to be more than caricatures yet, so they stuck with their titles. Deceit and Remus stayed behind for the same reason. “Okay, so my morality, logic and my creativity… Is there… I mean…” Thomas bit his lip nervously. There was one part of his personality he’d been treating like a person in his head for years. Had he actually known about his sides on some level since middle school?

“You called?” Virgil popped up with a teasing smirk, making Thomas jump in surprise.

“Kiddo! There you are! Thomas this is your Anxiety,” Patton grinned brightly. “What’s up?” Virgil asked with a two fingered salute. “Oh… Hi?” Thomas smiled tentatively. “Now Thomas, remember, he’s a bit of a Debby downer sometimes but he has good intentions,” Roman assured him making Virgil roll his eyes. Thomas nodded. “Yeah you’re right,” he nodded. Then he smiled carefully at Virgil who gave him a shy smile back, which was somehow reassuring to Thomas. The young man relaxed, easing the pressure Virgil had been struggling with all day. “Well… Um it was nice meeting you all. I’ll… See you guys around?” “We’re always with you kiddo,” Patton assured Thomas. “We are aspects of your personality after all,” Logan pointed out. “And we shall always strive to help you to be the best you can be!” Roman declared. “Or, you know, keep you alive at least,” Virgil shrugged. After that Thomas would occasionally converse with them directly when he was struggling with something. Then Vine came along, Patton's brilliant suggestion actually, and they became characters. Even Virgil got skits both as anxiety and as the villain/best friend to Roman’s prince. The fans insisting he and Roman were lovers got a laugh out of all of them. And then they appeared as themselves on youtube and Thomas started to have group discussions with them. Virgil was reluctant at first and only made a brief cameo during the first two episodes. But the fans demanded more so he got his own episode and somehow the fanders lost their minds. Jan, Remus, Roman and Virgil had a good laugh when Logan learned he and Patton were paired up almost as often as Virgil and Roman were. Patton just thought it was cute. Roman was delighted with all the attention of course. Virgil though, couldn’t help but wonder if he was really helping or making everything harder. His and Roman’s best friends/mortal enemies banter carried over from the vines, and he knew that none of the jabs and insults were sincere or meant to be hurtful, but some hit too close to home regardless of their intent. And Logan sometimes made good points to shut him down. And even Patton tried putting him on the sidelines. And maybe that was where he belonged. They all had their own room now. Remus and Janus’ being near the willow, Roman, Patton and Logan at the front of the mind and Virgil was in the middle. And maybe he shouldn’t be. Maybe he shouldn’t even be here to begin with. He should just leave. Before he did something he couldn’t take back that hurt the others. This had lasted too long already. He shouldn’t be pushing his luck. So he ducked out. Or he tried. Apparently he was needed. And everyone made that very clear. And things were good for a while after that… until Janus showed up.

“What was that?” Virgil demanded after he had made sure the others were doing alright after the whole theater ordeal. And it was Roman’s condition he wanted to talk about. “Virgin! How ya doing!? You’re so busy lately we haven’t gone monster hunting in forever!” Remus grinned as he popped up from seemingly nowhere. Virgil allowed himself a moment to smile at Remus. He couldn’t help that his best friend was being a dramatic jerk. And he had a point. It’d been too long since Virgil had taken the time to hang out with Remus. He could make excuses all day, but fact remained he’d been neglecting him. An issue he could still make right.

“You're right. How about we go nightmare hunting later? You, me and Roman. Like old times?” Virgil suggested.

Remus grinned widely at that. “Promise?”

Virgil nodded. “You go tell Roman to get ready. I'll be there in a sec,” he assured him. And so he was left alone with the yellow clad side.

“Well?” he demanded.

“Thomas is simply at a point in his journey where it was time he got to know me. Your little dilemma just presented a good opportunity to introduce myself. Nothing more,” Janus explained patiently.

“I don't give a damn about you talking to Thomas! It's how you went about it!” Virgil demanded. Then he took a deep breath to reign in his temper. “Listen, I get that it’s been frustrating for you and Remus to hide away like this, but just… remember that we’re your friends okay? That’s all,” Virgil pleaded. “I get where you were coming from today. I really do. But Joan is Thomas’ best friend. And trust between friends is so important. It just wasn’t the right call today,” he explained more calmly. He missed the haunted expression that flashed over Janus’ face. The master of deception had his face back under control in a second. Even if he didn’t have a grip on the stinging in his heart or behind his eyes yet. “Of course Virgil. I’ll keep that in mind,” he promised. And he felt slightly moved when Virgil just took his word for it and bid him goodbye to go see Remus and Roman. The fanders going wild over Deceit with theories and cosplays and art and all the ships was a topic of happy conversation amongst the sides and it was decided to just let bygones be bygones. Dee had his introduction and next time he was needed he’d help Thomas see him in a less black and white way. Jan made a cameo at Halloween where he reminisced on the Halloween pranks the ‘dark sides’ used to play on everyone when they were kids in vague terms that got the fans theorizing on Remus’ identity like crazy. And then… The callback. “How could you?” Virgil demanded when he found Janus after being shut out of Roman’s room with little more than the explanation that he was busy. Patton insisted he was fine, which he was not and Logan insisted that he was ‘not in need of any assistance at the moment’. So Virgil was left with only one thing to do and that was confronting the cause of all this.

“It’s not my fault Roman insisted on pleasing Patton rather than fulfilling his purpose,” Deceit argued bitterly. “Roman was doing his job perfectly fine. If you hadn’t meddled we might’ve actually gotten to something… I mean what were you thinking when benching Logan? And bullying Thomas in the stands like that… Did you even care that you hurt Princey? Did you notice we were all miserable when you were having your one man party? Or did you just choose not to see?” Janus was taken aback by Virgil’s passion. He'd only wanted Thomas to… he'd done that so everyone would be happy. It just hadn't ended how he thought it would. Roman wasn't supposed to be selfless. He was the ego for heaven's sake! King would’ve never…

Oh no… that was his mistake wasn't it? He'd predicted Roman's actions based off of Him. He didn’t know the lighter creativity as well as he knew his brother. They'd been pleasant acquaintances, casual friends even. But they never got as close as Roman as with any of the others.

Janus' scales itched as if to remind him of their part in this. And yet Janus had selfishly insisted on keeping them as a guard against the others. If he hadn't, maybe he could've seen more of this noble side to Roman. Seen him grow from the self-centered, attention seeking, dramatic into… well still all of that but with a true desire to improve. To be better than his worst impulses for his friends.

He'd almost forgotten he wasn't alone. But Virgil was not done. “So congrats Janus. Thomas knows he’s a liar. And everyone in the mindscape feels miserable. But hey, at least you were right. That’s all that matters right?” Virgil bit and when the serpentine side still failed to answer it somehow made him even angrier than if he had tried to defend himself. At least then it would show Virgil was wrong in his thinking somewhere. He needed Jan to say he was magnifying , or jumping to conclusions or whatever. Just something. “You better hope I manage to clean up some of the mess you made,” he warned. “I can’t believe I ever believed you cared about us. About anyone but yourself,” he scoffed as he turned around and left. That finally made Janus snap out of his frozen stare. He started to follow, ready to grab Virgil's hand and explain himself. “Virgil wait…” “Save it Jan! An apology from you means nothing!” Virgil was just mad. He probably would’ve been willing to at least listen once he’d calmed down… But those words… Janus felt as if he was punched in the gut. And the way he chose to deal with this was… Well… “Kiddo? Where is Roman?” Patton wondered as he saw Virgil head to the dreamscape, followed by a litter of shadow kittens. Sadly that last bit wasn’t a startling sight anymore. Everyone was having so much stress and thoughts, Virgil could not keep up. Ignoring them, Logan said, wasn’t going to be less draining than facing them directly in the long run. And Virgil knew he was right. But with the aftershock of Janus’ brilliant performance still echoing through the Thomassphere, Virgil didn’t have the time to acknowledge them, let alone face them. He had to help Patton out so he wouldn’t overwork himself in trying to cheer everyone up. Make sure Logan felt helpful and listened to. Most importantly he had to show Roman that he was there for him, no matter what.

Roman couldn’t even stand the color yellow at the moment. Even his interactions with Remus had gotten strained. That was another thing. Since Roman couldn’t bring it up to spend time with his brother due to his closeness with the snake, Virgil had also had to assure him that he was still important to them. It was just a weird situation right now.

In the past, Virgil would have dragged them both to the imagination to talk things out, but in this instance Roman wasn’t angry with Remus. It was just that none of them could really deal with his antics right now and that meant that hanging out with him would very soon lead to Janus being called to them and… Right. Virgil was exhausted and surrounded by physical manifestations of everyone’s stress and worries 24/7. Good job Jan. “I had him rest up, I’m going to take the night shift today. He’s been working too hard lately,” Virgil explained, thinking back to the grateful smile Roman had given him as he went to bed. It made him feel slightly better he‘d done that right. It had even made a kitten or two disappear. Patton glanced down at the dozen kittens that were left. “So have you,” he pointed out. Virgil chuckled lamely. “Guess we all need a break,” he sighed. “Break what? Your skull?” Virgil nearly jumped out of his skin and Patton wasn’t any better. “Remus? Dude what are you…?” “Just coming to hang out with my good ol’ buddy! But if we are going to crack skulls, can I go first?” Virgil, in a panic, shoved Remus against a wall and clamped his hand over his mouth. “Shush! If you talk like that in here Thomas’ll hear you!” he reminded his chaotic friend. Then the blood drained from is face and he jumped back with a look of disgust. “You licked me!” he exclaimed as he looked at his hand. Instead of saliva there was some sort of slime or mucus dripping from his palm. Gross. He grabbed a towel to white it off. Normally he'd laugh it off, because what did he expect to happen? But now he couldn't handle another thing going wrong.

“Well you surprised me Virgie! I didn’t know you liked it that way. But I’m going to have to decline. Romie would kill me if I took his man,” he teased Virgil rolled his eyes. Remus loved the ships and liked bringing them up whenever possible. “But about that skull breaking…” Suddenly Patton and Virgil recoiled at the images Remus’ train of thought had wrought. Patrick, Thomas imagined he’d… No. “Thomas don’t! What the heck dude!” he exclaimed as he held his head trying not to add to the litter. He was getting close to a break down, he could just feel it. This was all too much.

“You can’t be thinking like that Kiddo!” Patton agreed. It was a long restless night. The only good thing that came out of it was Logan managing to take a huge weight off of Virgil’s chest and in doing so allowing Thomas to breathe a little easier as well.

“You sure you’re okay?” Virgil asked once again as he finished taking care of Roman’s head once he got him back to his room. “I told you I’m fine Virgil. Thank you. For looking after me now and trying to protect me earlier. It is much appreciated,” he smiled tiredly. “Of course…” Virgil shrugged. Picking up a shadow puppy and petting it. Letting the guilt be for a bit. “I just wish-”

“None of that!” Roman insisted with a wave of his hand. “You have been working yourself ragged trying to protect us all. Remus showing up just was too much for all of us.” “I’m sorry about that,” Remus offered sheepishly making both men jump. “Dude!” Virgil hissed as he recovered from his surprise. “Remus! Would it kill you to use a door?” Roman asked as he clutched at his racing heart. Remus' sheepish look was so unexpected that both of them forgot about their annoyance instantly.

“Rem, you good dude?” Virgil wondered.

“Did I hurt you for realsies?” Remus asked his brother carefully. Roman had always been able to handle rough housing just fine. But during the discussion it had occurred to Remus that his brother might not be at full strength right now.

Roman gave Remus a reassuring smile. “Don't worry Remus. This,” he gestured to the bandaging on his head, “is just Virgil being overly thorough. I'll be back to dragon slaying in no time,” he promised. Virgil gave Roman a glare and a shove for that.

“Hey! I am injured! Have some compassion!” Roman whined.

“Either you're fine or you need to be handled with care. Can't have it both ways Princey,” Virgil  pointed out with a teasing smirk.

Roman pouted at that, making his audience laugh which was the point. He was delighted to see the puppy and a few kittens disappearing. He loathed seeing them in such numbers around his friend.

“I did have a lot of fun today though!” Remus grinned.

Virgil let out a sigh and smiled. He didn’t, but if the twins were okay, then that was all that mattered.

“Well, now that Thomas knows I suppose you'll be out and about more in the future,” Roman told him, making his brother grin from ear to ear.

They relaxed and talked for a while, no one mentioning Janus or his part in today's events. Even Remus knew not go bring that up. Or perhaps he was too distracted by a million other things to do so.

“Well, nice catching up! But I’ll let you lovebirds have your privacy,” Remus announced as he got up from the bed.

“Where are you going?” Roman asked.

Remus snickered. “My room. Did I scramble your brain Roro?”

Roman ignored the charming visual, tugging at his sash and frowning.

“You don't have to go back there… Just because Deceit said that's where you are supposed to be… he lies… he does whatever it takes…” He clenched his hands into fists around the sash. He was trying so hard to keep composure that the hand on his shoulder made him jump. He looked up. Virgil was smiling at him, not reassuring, but understanding. He gave him a squeeze and turned to Remus.

“If you want we can move you next to my room. You don't have to of course,” he told Remus.

The resident gremlin grinned back at the two of them. “Aw, that’s disgustingly sweet of you V. But I’ll stick with double d in the back. I don't want to catch the sap bug you all suffer from up here.” He made a gagging sound and turned to leave.

“If you change your mind, we'll be here okay,” Virgil reminded him.

Remus gave them a dismissive wave and left.

“Shouldn't we stop him? Who knows what that snake'll have him do next?” Roman worried ready to chase after his brother.

“I’d love to, but that’s not how Remus works,” Virgil sighed.

Roman hated that he was right. He just hoped his brother wouldn't get burned the way he was.

The tension in the mindscape calmed down, somewhat. But then… the wedding came.

Long before they even got there, Virgil was exhausted. Roman could see that and the event did not give his hooded friend a chance to rest. So Before Thomas got home, Roman took a page out of Virgil’s book and forced the anxious side to sleep. He brought him to Remus in the back of the mind.

“Keep him safe until I come to collect him alright?”

Remus nodded knowing that ‘safe' actually meant away from Deceit.

Or as he was now known publicly, Janus.

Remus was shaking. He'd heard every word. He thought Janus was his friend. He'd sworn that he wasn't bad… but then of course… what made him trust the word of the master of lies?

He wanted to scream, to hit something, to… then he looked up and saw Roman staring at him. A wild look in his eyes.

“Just Listen!” Patton's voice came from the distance.

“Guys?” a groggy voice from behind Remus. Virgil… “What are you doing?”

Remus and Roman were still staring. Having a silent conversation with just their eyes. They'd promised, but this was different. Virgil would be happier with his old friend back rather than two bad copies he had to split his time between right?

It was like their thoughts were synching up. They could see every bit of hurt they had caused Thomas, Virgil and the others by being apart. Together they might be able to fix everything. They reached out their hands.

“Wait! Please don't!” Virgil pleaded. The twins cast their one true friend one last grateful look and then they were gone.

King grinned victoriously as he as once again one. He was different, he could already tell, but that didn't have to be a bad thing.

His eye landed on Morality and he grinned cruelly. The blast of his rebirth had brought Morality to his knees before him, as he should be.

“There you go,” he praised as he held his sword out, daring morality to try something.

“Bow before the king,” he commanded.

He took a moment to commend Morality for his clever ruse. Even bowed to him, relishing in how each word and gesture made Morality shrink and tremble. And he hadn't even begun to play yet.

Suddenly there was a soft gasp behind him. He looked back and spotted fear. Oh good. In all the commotion he'd almost forgotten he was here. He stared up at him in wide eyed disbelief. It was a lot to take in he supposed. Him being back with this brand new look. He should probably greet him properly. “Ah, Fear,” he smiled, showing he remembered him. There was no need for him to worry that he would have to start from scratch with him yet again. He knew everything.

They were going to have so much fun together!

“How are you doing my old friend?”

[hotarutranslations]

Fruits Basket Stage Greeting...!

Fruits Basket –prelude—

 The stage greeting is over Thank you very much

 …… 🥺❤️

 Evening, Its Ishida Ayumi

   1 minute experience……

 The time was over in the blink of an eye 😭

  But that time was really deep…… It was a time spent with love overflowing again

 Director Ibata, Akima-san, Shinkou no Matsuda-san, Everyone involved in the work, Was a big fan of Fruits Basket, Is what I was told, Listening to the various stories, I really felt what they were feeling

To Takaya-sensei’s beloved work, with the love from the production team, And with the love poured in from the wonderful voice actors, Watching it, You are emotionally moved by it, right

   🥺❤️

I think….. 🤦‍♀️ it was a push from the whole team……lol

  Thank you very much for this really wonderful work!

  Getting to hear stories about the production, Is a rare experience, What’s more, getting to be at a stage greeting with them, I think this was something that’s once in a lifetime

 Aah…

 I was nervous…

  🤦‍♀️ Lol

  I wonder if my vocabulary was up to the work!!!

 Taking about what I like, Makes me really, really, really, happy and its fun, I was afraid I’d lose my vocabulary, So I was just keeping up…..is what I thought but,

 As it was over,

 Its mysterious, I don’t really know what I said Eeh

 I remember saying that I wanted you to watch the 14th episode of the new work, “It’s a secret” again as I want you to empathize with me as it was even more painful to watch it again

 Nah its just, today,

 I had to listen to every single word from, The director and Akima-san!!

 Everything that was said was so precious…

 I wanted to listen more like, I don’t want to interrupt anything they’re saying, but is that ok-------

 Immediately after the stage greeting,

 Producers Talks About “Fruits Baket –prelude—"

 Finding and reading articles 1 and 2, just the sentences made me feel like I was going to cry, I’m overflowing with feelings

  I wonder why you like it— Being asked that, its difficult to put it into words again,

 I’ve always thought, Just from watching Fruits Basket, I’ll suddenly feel warmth in my heart, Like, lets do our best tomorrow, I love that feeling 🌷

 For example, when I look back on it 10 years later, I’m sure it will support me again, That’s kind of how I think

  I don’t know who I will be in 10 years but, Somehow that’s how it is!

 But 3 years ago in 2019, when Country Girls Yamaki Risa-chan introduced me to it, from blogging about it, I never thought that I would be able to appear on TV Tokyo-san programs and in 2022 be a part of a stage greeting……

 Life is interesting…… 😭❤️

 Everyone who is in Fruits Basket as well, They suffer a lot and they get lost at parts, I really hope that they are happy now

 That’s right!!! So!!!

  Tohru and Kyo-kun being drawn after!!! This is already!!! a festival of celebration!!! Thank you very much!!!

 …… 🤤

 Everyone who watch the work today at the theater, I’d like to force you to tell me what you thought of it

 Lol

  Of course if you didn’t come today, Its good if you watch it on your own timing~ you can even forecefully give me your impressions~

 Lol

 I think it’s a work that makes you want to talk to someone about it 🍀

  Thank you very much for your support today ❤️

 There is, The phrase, good luck that makes you want to cry, for you—

 Today was such a day that I felt I wanted to cry from good luck

 Thank you very much ❤️

  Also tonight!

 Mayonaka ni Hello! is airing

 Look forward to it!

  See you ayumin ❤

 ……Again, I wrote about me first appearance on TV Tokyo-san’s “AniRecoTV”…lol

 Aiming To Be A Certifified Fruits Musume

https://ameblo.jp/morningmusume-10ki/entry-12728696724.html

[shinisbestboy]

was bored so I thought I'd try writing again since I liked it so much the first time :)

contains joemaru because there is not enough of them online

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a lazy weekend afternoon.. Joe was at his house, playing video games and relaxing as he ignores all the homework he knew Sara will kill him for later. he ate a slice of reheated pizza from.. last night? a few days ago? didn't really matter, he wasn't letting a good piece of pizza go to waste! he was quite engrossed in his game of Zombie Slayers V3 (return of the Chad plague) that he didn't notice his phone ringing.. it vibrated loudly, Joe needed to pause his game so he could pick it up

"Y'ello? your boy Joe here" he started, as he was a creature of habit. the voice on the other side didn't pay it much mind "Joe I need to talk to you about something" it was the familiar sound of Sara.. she seemed a little stressed from what Joe could tell so he decided to take it more semi-seriously "what's up? you decide to confess your undying love for me yet?" he chuckled.. he sure had a loose definition of 'semi-serious'.. lightening up the mood couldn't hurt tho

Sara huffed, Joe imagined her blushing pouty expression and it made him smile.. Sara always looked her best when all flustered "not that!! ugh, no this is important! do you remember that guy I was telling you about at school? the new transfer boy with the white hair?" Sara explained, Joe tilted his head back as he tried to remember "you mean that Ranmaru guy? kinda looks like a dandelion up top?" he asked "yes that's him! we were talking on the phone and he totally asked me out! like he called it a date and everything! I didn't know what to say, I mean I barely know the guy so I wanted to say no but I panicked! now I have a date *tonight* and I seriously don't know how to tell him I'm not interested!" Sara spoke very quickly, definitely needing to get this situation off her chest.

Joe needed a moment to process the words but this was regular panicky Sara.. he could decipher what she said easily. he hummed "so you need a wingman, huh? then I gotcha Sara! I'm a total love expert, you two will be communicating so hard that he'll forget all about the whole silly date!" Joe chuckled, not earning one in return "don't make me regret this.. just meet me at my place in 20 minutes" Sara sighed as she quickly ended the call. Joe stood up from his seat, pizza forgotten and the game saved, finally something exciting to do! I mean he loved video games but there are only so many hours you can handle killing zombies

after getting dressed and packing his bookbag of the dating essentials, he took his bike and quickly made his way to Sara's house down the road. it didn't take long before he parked his bike on the side of the house and went to the main entrance. Sara was obviously there waiting for him, she let him in so they could go up to her room. poor Sara was a mess.. she wasn't so good at the whole high school romance thing, it's a good thing she had her good old pal Joe! "so.. what's the plan? we getting you all pretty'd up to break his heart or we ditching together?" Joe broke the silence as Sara didn't seem to know where to start "I mean.. I don't want to be cruel! maybe.. when he shows up, pretend to be my dad? or just tell him I'm sick in bed! or uh.. make something up, anything will do! I just can't do it myself!" Sara seemed defeated already, usually problems always had a solution with her but this was way out of her comfort zone, Joe understood how she felt

"if that's all it is, then I can do that no problem! seriously, you don't gotta worry about a thing, your good pal Joe is on the case!" he confidently puffed out his chest, this did not give Sara as much confidence as he intended but it didn't matter. a loud ring of the doorbell could be heard throughout the whole house, Joe hummed "wow.. he certainly got here fast.. time to work my charm!" they both got up tho Joe was the one brave enough to venture down the stairs.. Sara was safe from her hiding spot with a view to make sure Joe doesn't royally mess this up

Joe opened the door to be face to face with the shorter fluffy male, he looked not very well prepared.. he probably rushed to get here just like Joe did.. he looked much nicer in more casual clothes tho compared to the school uniform Joe would see at school. Joe smiled "hey! you're Ranmaru from school, aren't cha? I heard so much about you! I'm Joe" he happily introduced himself, taking the nervous boy's hand and happily shaking it. Ranmaru was a little shaken as he hadn't prepared to see anyone but Sara at the door.. this wasn't what he was expecting at all "o-oh um, yeah that's me" he didn't quite know what else to say to that.. I mean he didn't think anyone really knew his name anyway, he shook himself out of his spout of nervousness tho as he had a mission right now. taking his hand back, Ranmaru tried to stand a bit taller "is Sara here? or do I.. have the wrong house..?" he asked, he chuckled awkwardly.. he would feel very embarrassed if he was bothering a random person right now! he was already nervous enough for this date..

"Sara? oh yeah, she uh.. she's super sick right now! barfin' her guts out, not fun at all. she wanted to say no but she's just too polite, you know?" Joe wasn't the best at lying but by Ranmaru's concerned expression.. it looks like it worked easily "oh no! I had no idea! oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to put any pressure on her like that! I just have these movie tickets, but if she's not free then that's totally fine I don't mind" Ranmaru quickly backpedaled, panicking as he realized he may have been too quick to think it'd be that easy. it was weird since Sara didn't sound very sick.. but he definitely had no right to doubt anything, that'd just be nosy and all

unfortunately Joe's interest was perked "ooh wait, movie you say? what kind of movie was it?" he asked, he knew it might be a little salt on the wound to talk about since Sara wasn't going but his curiosity got the better of him. Ranmaru didn't expect any sort of interest from Joe.. but he took the folded-up ticket from his pocket to double-check "it was just the new Zombie Slayer 4.0 movie, Karen vs Chad Jr.. or something like that. I got these tickets for free so probably not the best--" Ranmaru was cut off by an excited Joe "woah wait, you were going to take Sara on a date like that?? she's way not into the zombie slayer series, I have tried getting her into it! trust me on this one, it wouldn't have ended nicely" he chuckled, Sara, unfortunately, was not the cute 'oh no this is scary, I will cling up to the closest person.. she was more of an 'I brought my katana for this very reason' and the tv is covered in sword cracks because of it.. Joe couldn't imagine seeing that happen in a movie theater, tho it would be a funny sight

Ranmaru sighed "I see.. dodged a bullet there then, heh.." he tried to sound optimistic but this wasn't looking good at all.. I mean first, he hears Sara is sick and now the date he was all mentally prepared for was probably going to flop anyway? a great boost for his ego.. he's glad he avoided the worst-case scenarios but he still wished it could have gone better "well.. I don't want to keep bothering you.." the sheep mumbled as he stood back, ready to call it quits. Joe stopped him "oh wait if you've got two tickets then can I come? I mean don't wanna let them go to waste, right?" it was worth a shot, if Sara wasn't going to take a date with the cute boy then Joe will just have to do it for her! plus he seemed like a nice guy, might as well get to know him, right?

Ranmaru was definitely caught off guard by this "huh?? you want to watch a movie with me?" he blushed, the soft pink on his cheeks was very visible on his pale skin.. Joe thought it was cute "yeah of course! zombie slayers is definitely a best friends movie, you know? come on let's go!" Joe closed the door behind him with a smile.. leaving Sara unable to keep seeing what was happening. "well, what are you waiting for?" Joe asked the dumbfounded male, who was definitely speechless by the sudden change of plans but after a moment he thought maybe this wasn't so bad "nothing.. I'm ready to go" he nodded, catching up to Joe as they left on their "date"

((ooc// I will probably write the rest in a part 2 cause this is already getting so long, tysm for reading, and don't be afraid to send me asks <3))